Here it is. I will be late in participating tomorrow - out of the office. Day of Judgment #1 came out, though.
Ah, comics.
Day of Vengeance #1: You know, for a book about an aspect of God going a rampage against all magic in the universe, it seems to be lacking a sense of urgency. I guess we’ll actually get to see the whys and how’s of what the Spectre’s doing next month, but as it stands now, I don’t really care yet. Still, there’s potential. Nice work on Ragman, but I’d like to know a little more on the Enchantress.
Legion of Super-Heroes #5: I like Kitson, but damn is it hard to tell his characters apart sometimes. So, the shadowy threat from beyond the galaxy is… another bunch of super-teens? Color me underwhelmed. I did like the ethical discussion about telepathy tactics, and Lone Wolf works great as the team’s “Wolverine” style solo operative.
Superman / Batman #19: I really need a reason to care about Kara as anything other than an extension of Superman. Her powers and origin are essentially the same as Clark’s, and Connor is doing the Teen Super thing better over in TT. Peter David made his SG interesting by completely divorcing her from the Superman mythos and carving out her own, but I don’t think that’s necessary here. She just needs some character trait or hook that takes her away and makes her distinct from Connor and Clark (besides just the blonde hair and breasts). This issue didn’t have that for me. I don’t like the power creep hinted at here either. Superman is the best there is until we start talking about the Spectre and such. No need to one-up him. Her costume is butt-ugly too, especially the sleeves. Ah well, it was nice to see Harley/Ivy vs. Batgirl/Supergirl again.
Batman #639: Very Cool. Batman being a detective, and being snarky with the folks from IC. I like it.
The Flash #221: All hell breaks loose. Heat Wave looses it. Me, I’m rooting for the bad guys. This is pretty damn cool.
Richard Dragon #12: Huh. That’s an odd way to end your final issue.
And I missed out on it because my local comic store sold out. They hadn’t realized it was part of the Infinite Crisis hoo-hah, and hadn’t ordered accordingly. What i want to know is, how could they possibly not have known? DC is hardly keeping it a secret.
I got:
Sleeper Season 2 #11. Looks like two significant deaths, with as many as five to go in the next issue, the last one ever. Most of these characters are so evil that I stopped caring about them a long time ago, but I swore I’d see this series out to the end.
Justice League Unlimited #8. I don’t collect this book which is based on the JLU animated series, but the issue spotlighted The Question, a favorite character of mine. They played up the paranoid conspiracy theorist aspects of the character, as he has been portrayed in the cartoon. It was an excellent stand-alone story.
I got to my local comic shop a little after 6 PM, and Day of Vengeance #1 was already sold out. I don’t think I would have bought it anyway, but I’m just sayin’.
Discount bin mania:
Extreme Justice #0, 1, 2, 3, 4: a mid-'90s series that recast Justice League regulars Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, and Booster Gold as the serious team that struck first and struck hard; Maxima and Amazing Man II rounded out the roster. It featured some nice, flashy, Image-style art from Marc Campos, very reminiscent of mid-'90s comics. However, despite the presence of Beetle and Booster, two of my favorites, this series wasn’t much to write home about and was promptly forgotten when Grant Morrison’s JLA debuted in 1996.
Armageddon: Inferno #1, 2, 3, 4: I don’t think this miniseries is anything special, except for the fact that it brought the JSA back from limbo, where they had been stuck replaying the battle of Ragnarok since the Last Days of the Justice Society of America one-shot from the '80s.
Spartan: Warrior Spirit #1, 2, 3, 4: I’ve never heard anything about this miniseries by Kurt Busiek and Mike McKone, but I’m a big fan of Spartan from the Wildcats, so why not?
21 Down #1, 2: I wish I had discovered this Wildstorm series sooner, as it seems quite cool from the first two issues.
Oh, and I read my friend’s copy of the Hellblazer: All His Engines original hardcover graphic novel, and I thought it was a great stand-alone story and a perfect introduction for new readers or people who had just seen the Constantine movie. It even offered an explanation for why he was in L.A. in the movie (or we could just pretend that Keanu was a completely different character from “our” Constantine). I liked seeing Chaz kick somebody’s ass and not be bullied by John, for a change. The text at the end was perfect–a much-needed crash course in Constantineology, especially given the sporadic nature of the trade paperbacks. I wish more TPBs and OGNs had such rich character histories, but it’s a lot more difficult to do with superheroes, especially the really old ones.
That was a damn good issue.
Interesting choice of heroes at the end.
Perenial cameo fodder Fire. The main 6. Captain Atom and Blue Beetle (good choices to add to a Question issue).
The real interesting choices, though are…Beetle, Firestorm (not in the TV series, since they added Waverider instead - which suggests that my theory that Fire is what’s keeping Jade out is accurate)…and…Power Girl, whose only appearance in the TV series was as a villain.
And who in the world is that behind J’onn and Firestorm? Atom Smasher with his shoulder coloured wrong?
I picked up a LOT of books this week, much more than expected, which now necessitates quick comments to cover ground, which is a kind of shame, given that a lot of books I read today give us, the readers, a LOT to chew over, about ethics and the limits of ideals, like “the common good” and “heroism”,… but first, the “fast stuff”,…
Vigilantes
Gabrych plants a lot of seeds in Batgirl #63, a nice set up issue for the big fight between Rose Wilson & Cassandra Cain, next issue. Along the way, we see Cass push herself a bit, to have something of a life outside cape and cowl. This is remarkable, something we have not seen since Dylan Horrocks run. Horrocks had Cass deal, not all that successfully, with a budding attraction to guys (metahumans, like Connor Kent, and people who operate well outside the law, like Darkwind who may have reminded her both of her father and her mentor) and her conflicted feelings about affection and control from father figures (like when she nearly took Batman’s head off under the influence of designer drugs in #50). The difference is Gabrych’s Cassandra has a bit more control of herself, and a seeming awareness she didn’t have before, of what she wants and needs. Promising stuff here: potential romance with the street kid, and the start of a friendship with the coffee shop owner, who may well become Cass’s next surrogate older sister, filling in gaps in Cass’ experience of the world Oracle wouldn’t even think off, if handled well. (Personally, I look forward to the real estate developers getting theirs, on the street from Batgirl, and perhaps, in the board room, from Wayne Enterprises.)
The untimely deaths of the Braunsteins may well serve a purpose here, for once Cass figures out they died in part so Slade Wilson could provide his daughter with a notch on her belt, the Wilsons may well earn Cass’ undying enmity (and one almost hopes, a future guest shot where David Cain faces off against Slade, the one man he considers better at the killing game than he is). That would be the best way for Cain to bow out: defending the daughter. He’s done it once before, when a crime boss was stupid enough to contract with Cain for his daughters life.
Casali and Walker’s fill in storyarc about pimps, stalking killer rapists, pimps and illegal dogfights comes to a tragic close in Catwoman #42. The serial killer’s put down in due course, of course, but the exploitive bastards behind it all remain on the street Despite his warped, self serving sense of honor, the mid-level crime boss here could make a good continuing foil for Catwoman. (He’s such a sc_mbag that one hopes this won’t be his only appearance,… otherwise one would feel almost cheated that he doesn’t suffer a bit more here - but then I feel the same about the Black Mask, another monster I’d like to see Selena take down someday.) The brief comment about class divisions and the forced compromise at issues end, put me in mind of both Matt Murdock’s compromises with the Kingpin (during Frank Miller’s celebrated run on Daredevil), and hard core European crime comics, like the bleak Son of the Gun graphic novel, recently translated and published through the short lived alliance between DC and Humanoids publishing - though that stuff is much darker by far,…) An interesting arc that flies through issues that deserve a bit more attention. If Brubaker were still on board they might get them: we’ll see when the Pfieffer arc begins in a couple of issues.
Bendis’ little experiment with theatre continues in “Decalogue Part II”, Daredevil #72, which is shaping up as a series of testamonials to the influence a good example can, one hopes, have on those who are more accustomed to more primative(?) styles of almost tribal loyalty in a morally uncertain age. Looking forward to more of his ‘little dramas of conscience’. I also wouldn’t mind seeing the main speaker here, as well as the ex-prostitute from last issue, again, once Matt Murdock takes central stage again, eight issues from now. It would also be interesting to see BMB explore some of the consequences of following examples, good and bad, in these people’s lives - something Waid works very well in this weeks issue of Legion of Superheroes discussed below.
Richard Dragon #12 felt like a rushed end to yet another title cut short by low sales. Dragon’s move to force Connor Hawke out of the blood tournament was a dramatic high point that deserved a stronger follow up at issues end. Not that there was anything wrong with the ending, but I do wish McDaniel had more room to lay out, and perhaps wrest more drama, from Dragon’s last battle with Shiva. The con implies a new desire on Dragon’s part for a life without needless conflict. While this would make for a perfectly good ending, if so, his conversion comes off as unconvincing, and forced, here - neither set up for properly in the previous two issues, or simply lacking room (or perhaps enough narration) to play out properly. Ah well.
Supersoldiers & other Metahumans
Even when Brubaker’s just hinting at things to come, he writes great intrigue, and, (like Palmiotti and Gray in the short lived Monolith title), great “history”. Captain America Vol 5 #5 is chock full of interesting tidbits, from Bucky Barnes real function as Cap’s sidekick (absolutely chilling - moreso since Ed touches on it only very briefly - I hope to see this idea reflected in Mark Millar’s Ultimates sometime), to the sympathetic origins for the current conspiracy, in the terrible suffering the Russian people bore during the Second World War (which connects nicely to the history lesson about the French experience in the War in the last couple of issues). I realize 9-11 changed a lot of things for Americans, but I was reminded this issue of how grateful we should be that the people of this nation have been spared so much by a lucky accident: that we were born in a superpower protected by oceans to the East and the West, and militarily irrelevant neighbors to our North and South.
The flipside of intrigue and the tragedies that perpetuate seeming endless rounds violence, is escapist fantasy, and however dire the situation, a visit to the (newly created?) World of the Jenny’s (the midwives of history, it seems) in Authority Revolution #7 made for a welcome break among all the dark stuff I picked up this week. (I was praying for a Jenny “Pointed Stick”.) My only complaint this issue is that I wish it had ended with Jenny Quantum remaining a child: there’s been definately something charming in Jenny’s precocious youthfulness over the past couple of issues. Ah well, maybe when Daddy Midnighter comes home,… if ever,…
Having been a big fan of the quips and comments Bendis’ scripts for his New Avengers series so far, I was a bit disappointed in issue #5, as the dialogue takes a bit of a back seat to the advancing plot this time around, a fairly straightforward story about mutants and mutates trying to protect themselves from SHIELD’s implied dirty doings with the cellular material perhaps, gleaned from dear Dr. Lykos (which of course plants seeds for Spiderwoman’s eventual return to “goodness”). Nice to see Yelena Belova again. Loved her in Rucka’s last Black Widow Marvel Max Line story, “Pale Little Spider”.
Not having followed Greg Rucka’s run on Wonder Woman I have no trouble admitting I was almost completely thrown by the subplots surrounding the supporting players in this weeks issue, # 215, though i could guess that the Minotaur is in love with the assistant, whose got understandable bestiality issues going; and Cassandra Sandsmark must’ve been debating whether to “give it up” to Connor Kent on her weekends with the Titans. I picked this issue up mostly to see Rags Morales and Michael Bair’s take on Wonder Woman in action, and I wasn’t disappointed. (I loved their work together on Hawkman and Identity Crisis). I think I’ll pick up the first arc. I will say I never expected Rucka’s Wonder Woman to be so hard core (looking forward to her fights in upcoming issues) and for the villains of the peice, the males in the Greek Pantheon, being so openly mysogynistic. Where’s the more militantly feminist version of Artemis (the Amazon, not the Goddess) when you need her?
Idealism vs. Cynicism: the Inhuman Condition
It would be fair to say the genesis of Millarworld began with the DC Comics/Wildstorm Authority Board a few years back, where a bunch of pretty literate and well spoken comic book fans (if I do say so - for all of us - myself see: Old Authority Boarders, Show Yourself, at http://www.millarworld.net/index.php?showtopic=45751 ) enthused, speculated, celebrated and debated story elements of Ellis, and later Mark Millar’s suprise hit (of the time) The Authority. One of the big questions we addressed was the idea of superheroes in “the real world” or more accurately, fantasy worlds where super-powered people existed, but where some of the conventions of the genre didn’t quite operate so well. To sum, heroes could become celebrities, and were subject to the same vagaries of public opinion as rock stars, politicians, successful actors or business people. Moreover, the superpeople could take action against “the powers that be” and try to change the world, for the better, even if it meant going against those governments and economic elites. And even more importantly, those “powers that be” could perceive them as threats to the status quo and move against them.
I’ll never be quite sure why *the Authority *became so popular, and opened the door for similar treatments in the superhero genre (X-statix, JLA Elite, ClassWar, Supreme Power). They certainly weren’t the first. Ellis played with similar ideas in his “Change or Die” story arc in Stormwatch (where the powers that be killed off the offending superheroes who were on the verge of eliminating divisive religions, starvation, genocide and war), and the venerated Alan Moore played with similar themes in his much celebrated Miracleman (Marvel Man in England) stories, which drew on heavily on Nietszche, to portray a world not only brightened by the advent of super heroes, but one inexorably changed into a kind of utopian world culture, as a result. Moore followed these up with his tale of a terrorist who completely takes apart the government of a facist England and paves the way to (one hopes) is a better world in V for Vendetta, and The Watchmen which deconstructed the whole idea of superheroes and masked vigilantes, as well as the duality of the supervillain as world beater AND savior, at the same time. And of course there was the grand-daddy treatment of the theme, Mark Gruenwald’s (unappreciated at the time) Squadron Supreme 12-issue maxiseries of the seventies (or was it the eighties?) where JLA Analogues took over the US government, only to fail, tragically to create a better world. (It’s interesting how Millar’s, Ridley, Morrison and now, Brubaker’s Authority has replayed several variations on superheroes failing to change the world for the better, and paying a high price for the sin of hubris).
I admit I was almost utterly ignorant of Gruenwald’s thematic content in Squadron Supreme. I passed on it when it first came out, because I didn’t care for the art. (Stupid Korean!) For me, I first became aware of a serious treatments of the idea of vigilantes and superbeings operating in a much darker America than generally appeared in mainstream superhero books at the time - (though of course there were exceptions here - like O’Neil’s Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Englehart’s Capt. America, to just pick a couple of post-50’s EC examples) during the explosion of creativity in the independent comics movement of the 1980’s. And one of the leaders of that charge were the books published by Comico and First Comics: including Baron and Rude’s Nexus (a variation on Green Lantern where an idealist is pressed into service to an Alien notion of Justice and forced to act as Judge/Jury & Executioner on a Galactic scale), Grell’s Jon Sable, Freelance (dirty wars and serious corporate espionage), Chaykin’s American Flagg! (social satire about human corruption and weakness on an international scale - lots of sex too), and Steven Grant’s and Norm Breyfogles’ Whisper (a book we discussed recently at
http://www.millarworld.net/index.php?showt…8015&hl=whisper ). Those were heady times to be even a moderately intellectually inclined comic book junkie.
What separates these stories from the superhuman epics cited above is a matter of focus: at least three of the characters cited above, Flagg, Sable, Whisper, were all human beings. They weren’t metahumans: they didn’t have the power to change entire cultures (well, Nexus could), but they could be seen, on the ground-level, caught up in the small, sometimes ugly fights, upon which bigger things turn. Nor were any of them particularly heroic (Flagg was an fallen celebrity, drafted into service he didn’t want, Sable an out and out mercanary, and Whisper, in truth, simply a young woman forced to fight to survive in ridiculous, but topical and timely circumstances). They might’ve been inadvertant heroes, but they weren’t icons or living ideals, and would likely have laughed in your face if you tried to make them out to be paragons of virtue.
For me, Whisper was the most significant of these books, 'cause the protagonist, Alexis Devin, was simply a struggling young professional, an architect, who had a domineering boss who dreamed of political influence, a roommate getting started as a model (and an ill advised affair with a rising young conservative senator), and a step-father (who had taught her aiki-jujitsu) with unfortunate ties to Yakuza figures in Japan. She was forced to deal with influence buyers, crooked politicians, Japanese criminals, psychotic young sluts, hitmen, NSA officers involved in Iran Contra, internet hackers (one of the few good guys), murderous richkids, and columbian drug runners. As a last resort, donned a mask in her efforts to protect her step father, roommate, a lover, and herself, from getting ground to bits as these forces collided with each other, losing almost everyone, and having to fake her death (even trigger a nuclear explosion) and assume new identities, just to stay alive. She never wanted to be a heroine of any sort: she was just an everywoman trying to survive.
It’s an interesting study in how the mainstream slowly catches up to these predecessors: anti heroic vigilantes and stories exploring politics and power (super-, economic and otherwise) are de riguer these days, played out in books as varied as Identity Crisis, Countdown and subsequent miniseries; as well as the many spin-offs of Millars, Bendis, Ellis and Vaughans work on the Ultimate Line; and the more “human scale” titles in Marvel’s Icon and DC’s Wildstorm line.
What do all these books have in common? They posit a world where corruption and greed are realities, recognized authorities cannot necessarily be trusted, and metahumans, soldiers and spies (much less the occassional highly trained everyman or everywoman) cannot protect themselves or “do good” with impunity, and without threatening vested interests. It’s a world that wasn’t made for them, and often, really would prefer to do without them, and struggle to hold onto whatever **positive impulse or idealism **(however minor) motiviated them in the first place. And that’s an element of these themes that have dominated the superhero genre over the last few years, that ties the books listed below together.
The innovative thing about Mark Waid and Barry Kitson’s Legion Of Super-Heroes is the way he’s wedded the social politics of historical youth movements (in this case galactic, reflecting the composition of the Legion, made up of practically powered sentient youth from the known planetary cultures) and the generational opposition they often engender (personified by the Science Police and parents groups), with the politics of a society (in this case, the United Planets). Waid’s youth are struggling for a place in society, one that allows them to do more than their present multi-globalized culture allows, and more importantly, advance and defend that society.
This promises to be a very mature, expansive and complex treatment, with the internal politics of the Legion just as potentially divisive as generational prejudices without, and the threat of attack from beyond. Here “history” gives the Legion a chance. In issue #5 it appears that the Legion’s internal and generational conflicts will likely be shoved aside, at least for a while, as the Legion gains an opportunity to stake their claim for a place in UP society, though very likely at extremely high cost, as we begin to see exactly what threatens the UP from beyond. What makes things so fascinating is two Legionnaires, Saturn Girl (on the ground at a threatened UP outpost) and Cosmic Boy’s (at headquarters, dealing with the almost inhuman Brainiac 5), awareness of the principles they stand for, and idealism they engender - as abstract ideas that not only have to be defended, but manipulated and used, and at times compromised, for a greater good.
However realistic and believable the pressures on the Legion, and thier responses to those pressures, as individuals, as a group and as a movement, they are helped however by the presense of their followers, and some support, high up in the governing bodies of the nascent (at least in this version) United Planets. The potential superheroes in Supreme Power #16, have no such luck. There’s hope and a very mature kind of idealism at work in the Legion, in everything they do, even though some of thier members (the thrill seeking Ultra Boy and Night Lass are good examples) are a bit too thick to get it. In contrast, hope is a commodity that 's very quickly disappearing in Mark Milton’s (Hyperion) life. Though the characters in Supreme Power gained their power from a (potentially sinister) variation on Miracleman’s “first contact” (and Stormwatch’s ‘comet effect’), Milton’s celebrity and exceptance as a “superhero” is entirely a creation of a government, one that does not take his present AWOL status lightly.
Along with the Blur, Hyperion is the only near innocent among the future members of the Squadron (this is an adaptation after all of Gruenwald’s original). The younger men genuinely mean well (while Nighthawk is driven by anger and a racial near hatred), and Doc Spectrum, a soldier, who efficiently does the dirty work demanded by his superiors). What’s interesting here is that it’s likely, the General, acting in what he percieves to be the best interests of the military and the country will more than likely CREATE just the threat he is acting to prevent. By underming Hyperion’s public image (and laying waste to the young man’s already tenuous loyalty and idealism), he hopes negative public opinion will bring Mark back under their protection and control. Sadly all it will do is make Milton open to that “other agenda” Power Princess exists to serve (and he doesn’t remember), and that’s something they really should be scared of. The most surprising thing about his issue for me, is that Spectrum, of all people might join up with them out of love, of all things; and Nightwing out of guilt and the good natured Blur, out of resentment. I suspect this story will end up being about the “recovery of idealism” and sadly, its eventual defeat (which depends on how closely JMS plans to stick to the original story, of course).
In the Wildstorm Universe, sinister government agencies, like International Operations (a kind of SHIELD) has routinely attempted to create, control and employ metahumans in it’s operations. What’s funny is how often the metahumans (Team 7, Gen13, DV8, Wetworks, Deathblow, WildCATs, Backlash have gone AWOL (though some returned to government service) or turned against the government that created them. Sleeper Season 2 has been the story of the hapless metahuman undercover operative, Holden Carver’s attempts to “come in from the cold”. Holden is long past idealism (though he was a “good soldier” once), but what was interesting here, is the way he reflexively falls back on “heroic hopes”, even now, in the dirty “end game” of double crosses he hope will get him out of the war between his IO boss Lynch, and TAO, a supercriminal (and as it turns out, another IO “mistake”. Brubaker does something remarkable here: given the dark world we’ve followed Holden through for the past couple of years worth of stories, that Holden’s “confession” in issue #11 doesnt’ fall flat, or appear ridiculous. Pretty remarkable when you consider how corny and out of place similar statements can sound in books like JLA Elite, which kinda’ of represents the limit of how “bad” DCU heroes can be.
Anyway, odds are, Holden will be left with only one choice, killing himself or one of his “masters”, TAO or Lynch. I see no alternative.
Alone among the titles discussed above, Kabuki #4: the Alchemy actually posits a solution to the dilemma of the superhuman/agents who just wants to get out of “the game”; one that on the surface reminds me of Whisper (run away, and change your identity) but I suspect, on close reading, has much more to do with the Nietschzean solution implied by chapters of Miracleman or the “life” of Alan Moore’s Ozymandias in Watchmen: transcendence via success and self-realization (in this case, through recognition and success as an artist). It’s a marvelous dream that’s presented here, and one that would appeal to anyone who has felt like a corporate “wage slave” at one time or another. I may be horribly pessimistic here, but I have to admit I had a problem with the solution presented: not that it isn’t possible, but it assumes great talent, and great luck. Moreover it assumes that what one creates doesn’t threaten anyone, and is of such high quality, one cannot be undercut by competitors. And ultimately success may well involve becoming as dangerous and powerful as those pursing her. (I always thought there was a thin line between Nietschze and Ayan Rand, at times.) It’s an interesting dream solution and conundrum, but one I’m hard pressed to buy into. (Sleeper seems much more “real” to me in this regard.)
Nevertheless, ever a cog in the machine of state sanctioned murder, it seems Mack plans to have Kabuki develop a kind of individualistic idealism, a development I would never have expected.
I’d appreciate hearing people’s thoughts on the matter.
Hope this makes sense.
Hope to get to Howard Chaykin, City Of Tomorrow #1, Legend #3, Solo #4 sometime soon.
Huh–looks like my sub hasn’t expired–probably tonight. Therefore, once more, with feeling:
Day of Vengance–Loved it. Willingham is a genius (I’ve enjoyed his stuff since his back-up story in…um…Justice Machine Annual #1 and he’s just gotten better over the years). I enjoyed the sense of mounting tension/horror. Um. But how/when did Enchantress get better? The late lamented Suicide Squad had the Enchantress spirit ripped out of June Moone and put into Nightshade (one of the very few missteps Ostrander made in that series*) An Eclipsed Jean Loring? Given that she already apparently has anger-management issues? Kewl. I wonder how this ties in with Lois over in one of the Super-books being eclipsed? Also, dig out your copies of Ostrander’s Spectre series from the '80s, kiddies–he’s the one who came up with the Eclipso/Specter relationship (they’re both aspects of God). I suspect that we’ll get some flashback from that. One thing that they’d better fucking not do is bring back Jim Corrigan. Dammit. 
New Avengers–yawn. Is this still being published? Why?
What “creepy new organic web-shooters”?? When did Spider-Woman get all this S.H.I.E.L.D. training? Why don’t I care what happenes to these characters? Why, (especially after this adventure) will they permit Bendis’s version of Wolverine to hang around with them? This simply doesn’t feel like an Avengers book. It’s too “street-level” (yeah, even in the Savage Land), I don’t like the boring “Evil government conspiracy” overdone sub-plot and it really doesn’t belong in an Avengers book anyway–frankly, the team in the past has taken on Kang, Thanos and the combined might of the Kree and Skrull empires—if they’re having trouble with Sauron ( :rolleyes: not one of Thomas/Adam’s better creations and really…what a bad name for a vampire-pterodactyl with hypno-eyes.) or some naughty SHIELD agents, there’s something fudimentally wrong with the basic make-up of the team. I’m about >< this close to dropping the book.
Boneyard TPB #4–Damn, this book is good. One of the two funniest books being published at the moment (PS 238 is the other). The “Doomsday frog” subplot had any number of laugh-out-loud moments. What’s nice is that Richard Moore knows what Terry Pratchett knows–for a book to be truely funny, you need to have serious and or even dark/sad moments as well to contrast the funny bits. If there were any justice in the world, this title would get an Eisner.
Superman/Batman–#1) The name of the book is just bad. Just call it “World’s Finest” and be done with it. #2) Ditto to what Menocchio said about Supergirl. I just don’t care about her. And the writing is mediocre.
Flash–Thank you Geoff Johns for bringing back the Rogues. Damn this is good stuff. AND I really liked the panel with Heat Wave and Cap’n Cold zapping Flash in homage to a cover from the '60s. Very nice touch.
Legion was good and I suspect that the rival team of super-teens is going to turn out to simply be minions for the big scary menace
Ultimate Secret-Good, but not stunning.
I just read that 12(?) part Superman run by Brian Azaraello(sp) and Lee. Holy crap this was just atrocious. The plot was gibberish, the pacing was terrible, the storytelling was abominable and the dialogue was cringe-worthy–really cringe-worthy. I mean this was ghastly, start to finish. It was so bad that I actually felt like reading it had cost me a few IQ points. Plus, in addition to all that, the writer is apparently just dim. He was constantly making mistakes that someone with a third-grade education could have caught: Superman, bragging poetically about his powers talks about how he can “Fly across galaxies at the speed of sound”…um dood? So has anyone who’s ever flown on the Concorde.
Anyway, if I’m still able to post later, I’ll add more. If not, so long and thanks for all the fish!
Fenris
*On the other hand, if you wanna see why Dr Light is so pissed about having been lobotomized, check out Ostrander’s treatment of him. :: snerk ::
I should point out that Superman/Batman #19 is borrowing from the Animated Supergirl’s immunity to Kryptonite. I don’t know what’s going on, but something is.
The animated Supergirl is immune to Kryptonite? Since when? I can recall several occasions when she was weakened by the stuff.
Animated Supergirl isn’t from Krypton – she’s from the planet Argo, a sister world of Krypton’s that was pushed out of its orbit when Krypton exploded.
WonK, could you please stop with the 48-point titles and the yellow text? I find your posts exceedingly difficult to read. So I don’t read them. Spoiler boxes can be created with the [spoiler] tag.
–Cliffy
A polite request…
WonK, some of us read this at work, and big bold letters talking about comics are not something I wish my co-workers passing by to see. Pages full of text, fine. I do lots of research, so no one pays much attention. Also, yellow lettering on a white background hurts my eyes.
Thus far, I read the Superman/Eclipso issue; predictable, just like I remember Superman stories. The artist doesn’t do anything for me, either. But I’ll finish out the three part story just to see another throw-down between Supes and CM.
My dinky store sold out on The OMAC Project by day 2, and Day of Vengeance by 6:30 Wednesday. Have to wait for the reprints.
Such as the kryptonite tipped device Dr Hamilton used to open her up to a) opperate on her, and b) extract DNA to create Galitea from.
Checking Toonzone, Kara’s more resistant to Kryptonite, apparently, but not immune. (Never seen her Superman appearances.)
More resistant, either way. There’s a comic issue where Kanto breaks a Kryptonite knive on her chest.
The point being it’s clearly related.
Ultimate Secret: Aw, I like it so far.
Invincible #0, good story, short, cheap.
New Avengers: Well, it’s still better than some of the OLD Avengers, but… well, it’s not ruining personalities as bad as Infinite Crisis. What they did to Maxwell Lord…
What’s Shakin’ Chaykin?
SOLO #4: HOWARD CHAYKIN Fun stuff. Chaykin uses suprisingly old school layout styles, which somehow serves to make these short sweet stories fun. I love the short autobiographical piece that closes the collection.
LEGEND #3 the third part of Chaykin’s adaptation of Philip Wylies’ seminal novel Gladiator updated to what must have been the formative years of Chaykin’s life – the Vietnam Era. I can’t help but feel for Hugo Danner: his story is taking on the unmistakable air of a tragedy. There’s no place in the “real world” for a Superman, at best he’s a monster, and I cannot help but think we’re all poorer for it.
CITY OF TOMMORROW #1 probably the most promising new Howard Chaykin story I’ve read in a while. Rebellious son of visionary real estate developer becomes a spec ops man, returns to his home town to discover his father’s utopian robotic-regulated community has decayed in unimaginable ways. (Think Asminov’s “I Robot” gone horribly, horribly wrong.) Still I’m a bit hesitant to commit to this one: as I’ve sadly found Chaykin’s recent miniseries and graphic novels Mighty Love, Bite Club, Challengers of the Unknown strangely lacking, particularly when it comes to their conclusions.
The Escapist Special has a Will Eisner scripted crossover with the Spirit as the cover story.
Big pile this week.
Invincible #0 - 50 Cent Special. Basically takes place between last week’s Invincible and next month’s, and consists of Mark relating his origin to his girlfriend. Good little recap or jumping on point.
Red Sonja #0 - I’ve always been a fan of the She-Devil with a Sword - this little 25 Cent introduction is pretty much the comic equivalent of a teaser trailer.
Ultimate Secret #2 - I’m actually starting to warm up to this little mini, and it made me wish I’d read Ultimate Nightmare.
Breach #4 - The Captain Atom who isn’t called that. Decided to pick up and issue, see what it was like. It’s not bad - not loving the art though.
Adventures of Superman #639 - Eclipso Arc part 2. I dunno, I liked it. Art and all.
Richard Dragon #12 - Goodbye, little gem. A very odd conclusion indeed - but this title’s run has got me wondering about the hierarchy of martial artists in the DCU. Not sure why Neron does what he does, though.
Flash #221 - Geoff Johns is Da Man.
Exiles #63 - Exiles’s gimmick explained - feels like they’re winding down this title, and that’s a shame. Beak can save the multiverse? I hope it involves self-sacrifice. Or thirteen herbs and spices.
New Avengers #5 - See, I’m still sold on this title. The naked stuff was amusing. But the line of the month has gotta be Wolverine’s reply when they ask him where the Blackbird is.
Legion of Super-Heroes #5 - They’re definitely still warming up - I love the political conflicts in this book.
Superman/Batman #19 - It SHOULD be called World’s Finest, I agree. I like the angle that Supergirl’s abilities may be a little different from Superman’s - adds a nice bit of mystery to her characters. Clayface as Batgirl, though? Felt like they were just jerking us around.
More to come.
Adventures of Superman: Eh. Maybe if I wasn’t promised Captain Marvel (who shows up on the last page) I would have enjoyed it more. I’m looking forward to the smackdown next week in Superman.
Legion of Superheroes: I love this series. End of story.
Day of Vengence: Despite only having a little knowledge of the characters I loved this story. Captain Marvel again? Isn’t he also being featured in the next JSA arc? Busy time for the Cheese.
Apparently my shop got shorted on Flash this week and extra OMAC Projects haven’t shown up yet. Maybe next week.
All of CM’s appearances you mention tie into Day of Vengeance, I think. I’m assuming the Superman arc takes places before Day of Judgment #1.
My thoughts thereof : I love the parade of DCU Mystics we see; I’m not sure I like the crazy Spectre angle; I hope Zatanna’s inclusion in Morrison’s Seven Soldiers of Mediocrity won’t preclude her inclusion here; Ragman! Yes!; Animal Man, Zauriel - nice; Well, at least the Phantom Stranger’s alive, but oh, the indignity. Still, if you’re going to be turned into a mouse, you’d want it to be done by the Spectre.
One wonders why there’s a huge variance in the punishments doled out - Buddy mentioned getting depowered; numerous other magic types have been slaughtered; and the Phantom Stranger turned into a mouse?? Weird.