Emiko Superstar

Posted by Graig on October 24, 2008

(DC/Minx)

The penultimate book in the all-too-short-lived Minx line of comics for young women, Emiko Superstar isn’t the highlight of the line but another fine example of what Minx was all about. As Johanna Draper Carlson succinctly put it “[Emiko Superstar] is just like the rest of them: the story of a significant (and visual) event that teaches a girl more about what she wants from life, forces her to stand up to her parents, and gives her the possibility of a boyfriend.”

Now, I have to say, this isn’t a bad thing. The rhythms of this story may feel familiar, especially when placed beside the other Minx books, but the voices are always different, the characters stand out on their own with different experiences, different habits, different friends, family and lives lead separating them. But key to it all is they’re identifiable, if not immediately so, then in an empathetic way.

There are many paths to growing up, discovering life and possibly finding love, and the Minx line has been a good (sometimes great, sometimes merely passable) at exploring them with young female protagonists. Now, I’m not a teenaged girl, nor was I or will ever be, but the experience of finding yourself is never ending, and even something like this, directed at a complete other audience than me, can still resonate. It’s a shame that the Minx line has been pulled, a result of low sales (for reasons which I can only speculate about, but likely due to lack of awareness in its target audience) because I think it was an important venture. There’s hundreds of comics every month for guys, which aren’t always at the exclusion of female readers, true, but so very few are constructed with them in mind.

Set in Toronto, Emiko Superstar feels unusually comfortable, more like an extension of Scott Pilgrim’s Toronto than something I actually recognize as the city I live in (probably the same way New Yorkers feel about the comic book NYC when they see it in, say, Spider-Man or Fables). The book’s teenaged protagonist, Emi, is a self-described geek trying to redefine herself. She’s failed at her coffee franchise summer job, and has started babysitting for the new (American) next door neighbors (it’s a truthiness representation, where we Canadians know we aren’t that different from our “neighbours” to the south but there’s still something alien about them), earning some nice money while being stuck in the middle of their relationship drama. She discovers an underground performance art scene, and finds the venue to reinvent herself… but breaking into the group isn’t going to be easy. She finds help from an apparent suitor, though oddly knowing of the scene, he too seems an outsider. She also needs to find the right clothes, the right style, the right attitude, and the right art to make her way in.

Emi does break into the scene, where she finds that the ideal of make-up and fairy wings she’d constructed isn’t nearly as glamorous as it first seemed. It’s a community of people who, though united under a similar purpose, have some of the same issues, insecurities and as everyone else. Though our story’s protagonist, Emi is often a conduit for observing the the stories of others like the neighbours or exploring the people and terrain of an underground art scene.

Writer Mariko Tamaki, a bit of a Toronto scenester herself, constructs a tangible, realistic life for Emi to live, tapping into insecurities, improprieties and far from atypical teenaged drama. It may not be your life, but you could envision it being someone’s. It does venture into twee from time to time, but it avoids TV melodrama nicely.

Vancouver native Steve Rolston handles the art chores and for many non-teen, non-girl readers will be the key draw. A veteran of Queen and Country and his own creator owned works like Pounded, Rolston’s cartoonish style lends itself nicely to simplistic but distinctive characterizations. Emi is drawn like many young women, still growing into their skin, mannerisms often awkward. Rolston is great with physical and facial emoting, helping carry the story forward when the words don’t.

I have to agree with Draper Carlson that the story of the neighbors - of a mother struggling with living in a new country, of being a new mother, while also struggling with her marriage and her sexuality and her husband who tries to be oblivious to it all - is a far more fascinating story, which hopefully Tamaki can expand on elsewhere.

There’s nothing quite explosive about Emiko Superstar, just a quiet, light drama about suburban coming-of-age. When you envelop yourself in superheroes, sci-fi and horror (you know, “boys comics”) as much as I do, this kind of thing, despite its conventions, is refreshing, even more so when it’s well done.

3 and a half out of 5 Vikings

Superman: New Krypton Special

Posted by Graig on

(DC)

I’m a man divided. I’ve been tremendously enjoying Geoff Johns’ run on Action Comics, but I wasn’t too keen on James Robinson’s start on Superman, and I really have no affinity for the current incarnation of Supergirl (my Supergirl will forever be wearing a headband). So the fact that new Johns, Robinson and new Supergirl scribe Sterling Gates are starting to weave their titles together, starting with the “New Krypton” storyline, has me wracking my brain… no it’s not keeping me up at night (that level of geekiness left me long ago) but do I forge ahead adding two new titles of suspect enjoyability to my pull every month, or do I drop the one title I heartily enjoy? I was going to let the Superman: New Krypton Special guide my answer, but now I’m even more perplexed.

To recap, after triumphing in a grueling battle with Brainiac, Superman has experience his greatest loss, with Pa Kent suffering a fatal heart attack. In the wake of Brainiac’s defeat, Superman managed to free Kandor from it’s bottle confinement, restoring it to actual size near his Arctic Fortress. There Superman learns exactly how alien the people of his home planet are to the Earthlings he was raised amongst. While their attitudes may not be as Zod-like, they certainly aren’t interested in adapting themselves to the ways of humanity, instead observing and exploring their new terrain with their new powers, despite Superman’s protestations otherwise. Meanwhile, Supergirl reunites with her parents, and a covert operation attempts to mine Brainiac’s mind for all his data on Kryptonians, in anticipation of eliminating the perceived new threat to humanity.

Sharing writing duties, Johns, Robinson and Gates all provide a lot good story meat here, which actually eliminates my original tentativeness about picking up each of their books. This is the dawn of a new era of high-concept Superman storytelling, harking back to the post-Crisis revamp of the character in enthusiasm and energy (if actually reverting back to pre-Crisis high-fantasy Superman ideas). Hey, I noticed even the “Superman Triangle” is back on the cover to tell you what order to read the books in. The art, with Gary Frank, Pete Woods, and Renato Guedes is aces, terrific stuff really complimenting the high-caliber status these titles should have. So what’s the problem?

A city of Kryptonians roaming the Earth, that’s what.

I want to enjoy this story. With my issues surrounding Robinson placated for the moment, and the promise of less tarty Supergirl stories, I should be embracing this epic story, but somehow I can’t shake the feeling that all three of these writers just don’t get it. “Last son of Krypton”, remember? I can put up with Superman’s cousin, I can get behind the Phantom Zone villains, I can even deal with the super-dog, but hundreds (thousands) more? Way to suck all the “super” out of Superman. I get it, it’s highlighting that it’s not the powers but what’s inside the man that counts, what makes him special, but still, it just doesn’t feel right. This isn’t Top Ten where everyone’s got superpowers. Is there a good story to tell here, the conflict between humans and superhumans…? Sure, it’s comic book staple, time tested, but this just doesn’t feel right for Superman.

Having seen Kandor still active 1000 years in the future in an issue of Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes published a few years back, these Kryptonians aren’t going anywhere, meaning there’s constant homeworld possibilities to plague Mr. Kent and company for a millennium to come…

I can see this playing out one of three ways: 1) I keep reading and come to accept and enjoy the situation; 2) I keep reading that the situation increasingly annoys me; or, the most likely 3) I stop reading now and spare myself the struggle.

If you don’t find this “New Krypton” idea off-putting, it’ll likely be a hell of a story, recommended even. For me though:

2 and a half out of 5 Vikings

[Raided] Flash #245

Posted by Graig on October 16, 2008

(DC)

In his second issue handling the wild West Family, Animation writer Alan Burnett (Justice League Unlimited) is proving himself capable of the job, creating an interesting story about the Flash’s power failing and a new (or returning?) adversary that may require more than what Wally West is able to give in order to triumph. But it’s a good thing Wally has friends. This issue, the Justice League stops by to assess Wally’s decreased powers and scratch their head as to what’s affecting him (my guess: Barry Allen’s return), while Wally takes a trip down memory lane. One of the aspect I like about the Wally West Flash is he lives in his head, and some writers get in there and know how to work the controls, others do not. Thankfully, Burnett has a solid grasp on what makes the man tick, and this issue takes us on an insightful trip down memory lane to Wally’s time as Kid Flash and a member of the Teen Titans (which nicely gels with animation writer Amy Wolfram’s Teen Titans: Year One mini-series from earlier this year). As a fan of the Flash, this is a good book, but as one of those comic book geeks who spends too much time reading stuff on the internet, this feels too much like a build-up to a swansong before Uncle Barry takes over again, which casts a dark cloud overhead. The art by Paco Diaz and Drew Geraci, though, is dynamic, energetic, and emotive… top notch comic book fare.

3 and a half out of 5 Vikings

Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #2 (of 5)

Posted by Graig on

(DC)

Being set 1000 years into the future, one of the Legion of Super-Heroes’ biggest advantages is it can use and avoid the larger “DC Universe” continuity at a whim. With a thousand years of distance between the team and “today’s” events, how much should what’s going on in Teen Titans affect something in the future. In other words, how much relevance do the events of the 10th century affect our daily lives today? Exactly.

Over 50 years of publishing history, the bulk of the Legion’s stories have forged their own path, defined their own continuity, only occasionally dipping into terrain like “are there still Green Lanterns?” and Darkseid’s continued threat. That’s not to say that the Legion hasn’t had problems. There have been numerous revamps and reboots, which means the internal consistency that was the Legion’s forte for 35 years was thrown out the window. But even still, the isolation of the Legion from the “ongoing” DCU makes them suitable for such measures. If then there’s a major fault with Legion of Three Worlds it’s that it’s attempting to resolve (or rationalize) the different Legions that have existed, and tie them into the “today” events of the DCU.

That’s not to say that I’m not readily enjoying this mini-series, as it is epic in scope and feels even more like an event comic than Final Crisis has, and already is faring better as such than Infinite Crisis ever did. But having a major to-do with three different iterations of the same characters is indeed confusing and if you’re not familiar with the Legion at all, the series will no doubt be a wash. If you’ve ever been into the Legion, though, the geek receptors will tingle away.

Geoff Johns has picked and chosen his legion iterations, which seem to be his revised Paul Levitz team (thus ignoring the Giffen 5-years-later iteration), the Abnett and Lanning Legion Lost from the late 1990’s and the current Mark Waid-created Legion. Of course, Johns has been building his post-Levitz Legion for a few years now, with the “Lightning Saga” in a Justice League/Justice Society crossover a while back, and a recent story in Action Comics, so it’s no surprise where the focal point of the book is. The first issue only featured the Legion of one world, and it’s late in this issue that the two otherworldly Legions arrive on the scene, and artist George Perez is obviously having a ball drawing them all, the pages are awash with vibrant superheroes and villains (and the artist is even managing to reign in Johns’ typical bloodlust to off-panel events).

What makes this book so entertaining but also so challenging is Johns’ weaving nature. He’s stringing together events from his other books, Justice Society of America, Action Comics, Green Lantern, Infinite Crisis and more, creating a complex structure that pays off for readers of the other series but will leave new readers lagging behind. As entertainment for insiders, fanboys, whathaveyou, it’s top notch, but there’s no doubt headaches ahead for recent hopalongs.

3 and a half out of 5 Vikings

[Raided] Action Comics #870

Posted by Graig on October 9, 2008

(DC)

“Brainiac, Part 5″. Oh boy… Metropolis has been shrunk into a bottle city, Brainiac has Superman on the ropes both mentally and physically, Supergirl’s her usual ineffective self, and the odds are looking grim for them making it out of this one. Of course the aggressive marketing over the past two months for the follow-up story, “New Krypton”, foreshadows our hero’s success, but it’s still an interesting pickle Geoff Johns has put the Man of Steel in, and it’s intensely pleasurable to watch him get out of it this issue. Of course, the triumph of the last son of Krypton over the renegade Coluan is undercut by another important event in Clark’s life, and not the restoration of the Bottle City of Kandor, but rather the death of a major supporting cast member, which has been telegraphed from the beginning, and punctuated by the last two covers for the series. This bait-and-switch of important events isn’t necessarily unwelcome, but it leaves the conclusion to the “Brainiac” storyline feeling abrupt and incomplete. Where an epilogue should be in order - a transition issue before the next big storyline - instead we’re told to purchase the extra-sized New Krypton Special in two weeks which launches right into it, making the whole affair, which to this point was some of the best “in continuity” Superman comics in decades, seem cheap and unrewarding. I’m a little peeved, mainly because I was undecided on purchasing the “New Krypton” crossover, and now it feels like the decision is being made for me. Yes, DC should be allowed to have their big Superman universe crossover, but they should also allow for one storyline to finish properly before they launch into another. This is marketing strategy overriding good storytelling, and it’s not for the audience’s benefit. Ranting aside, this was 95% of a pretty damn good story.

3 and a half out of 5 Vikings

Supergirl #34

Posted by Devon on October 7, 2008

(DC)

Wonder Woman, one of the oldest and best characters in comics, doesn’t necessarily need albino warrior monkeys to make her interesting but that’s a whole other story.

Supergirl, over the past few years has suffered “albino warrior monkey syndrome,” meaning too much back plot and background detail and backstory has been used in order to make her “interesting.”

Does Supergirl need to have been trained in the ways of The Amazon by warriors on Paradise Island? Not really.

Does Supergirl need to have formed a bond with Batman while here cousin Superman, wrings his super-powered hands while worrying about how best to approach his little cousin? Not really.

Does Supergirl need to be “the daugther” of The Trinity? No, not really.

This all anyone need know: child, rocketship, Krypton, Earth.

Thank God for Supergirl #34, on sale now.

Supergirl’s life as Supergirl has been in shambles. When not bringing down Air Force One in an ill-advised attempt to talk sense to The President, she’s been trying new and ill-advised ways to cure cancer and the citizens of Metropolis are a bit sick of it and Daily Planet reporter Cat Grant is fanning the flames. Supergirl is at a crossroads and just when things look their bleakest, a very good friend from Superman’s past shows up, offering her a chance at redemption, one simply involving the donning of a pair of glasses.

Writer Sterling Gates pulls together all of the threads laid down in the previous thirty-two issues and presents them as a simple base to build upon. What he smartly does next is simply move on and advance his own agenda and that seems to simply make Supergirl fun again. He does and the last page proves he’s the right person for the job.

Artist Jamal Igle is the perfect choice for this book. There’s no argument here that Supergirl has been hyper-sexualized in her appearance. There’s none of that here. Under Igle, Supergirl owes more to Hannah Montana than Britney Spears. Igle excels at simply drawing what’s needed. From the first page to the last, Igle infuses his characters with an identity. The minute you meet Clark Kent you know who he is by what he does with his glasses. The minute you meet Cat Grant her body language lets you know that this woman’s gonna be trouble. Supergirl, literally, is in good hands.
Supergirl is back on track and infinitely readable again. Albino warrior monkeys need not apply.

4 out of 5 Vikings

Batman #680

Posted by Adam on

(DC)

All the while Grant Morrison’s been dazzling us with his run on All-Star Superman, he’s also been doing something rather more challenging and bent in his run on Batman. In the process he’s attempted to synthesize and redefine the history of DC’s two most well-known superheroes, and he’s done so by specifically referencing the Silver Age. This is perhaps an easier task with Supes, whose goofy but imaginative adventures from the late 40s through to the 60s provided a lot of fodder for the character’s mythology even when re-imagined in the 1978 movie or the post-Crisis relaunch. As silly as some of that stuff is, it does seem to cohere to a consistent theme of optimism and imagination that fits the character of Superman, and besides, even the stuff DC tried to strip away from his history has slowly been creeping back in. As long as it’s all handled with a certain degree of intelligence, the way-out aspects of Superman’s mythology—multi-coloured Kryptonite, Bizarro, Krypto the Super-dog, and so on—all seem natural. They work, and they’re inextricably linked with the character.

Batman’s trickier. Much more so. That’s probably because, ever since the late 60s, the character’s been slowly redefined through a more natural process that culminated with stuff like The Dark Knight Returns and The Killing Joke: Batman as noir on speed, a grim avenger facing off against twisted, monstrous villains whose candy-coloured silliness has become the very thing that makes them creepy rather than juvenile, with the Joker as the apotheosis of this concept.

All well and good, but as we all know, there are aspects of Batman’s history that cause the average fanboy to cringe. If they see Bats as “dark” and “serious” and “gritty”, a supposedly realistic, intense, and badass superhero, then it surely doesn’t help that image to bring up the Adam West TV show. The 50s and early 60s comics are even goofier, often sending Batman off to outer space, saddling him with a weird array of costumes and identity changes, and tormenting him with an imp from another dimension. Yet, here’s Morrison, bringing up these aspects of the Bat-mythology in the same year that gave us The Dark Knight, and introducing (or reintroducing) them into the current, ultra-dark continuity of the books. He’s even doing so in a storyline that features one of the most freakishly skeezy incarnations of the Joker we’ve ever seen. Morrison’s goal is apparently to somehow reconcile these two sensibilities…and while it’s too early to say for sure if he’s succeeded, he’s certainly created something unique here.

It helps that, in this issue, everything seems to be finally falling into place. Morrison’s Batman run has been a lot more jarring and dense than his take on Superman, or even (and this may be a controversial opinion) his scripts for Final Crisis. Morrison’s tossing out a whole bunch of interesting ideas that tie into Batman’s history, but in his usual style, he often doesn’t bother to develop them in a coherent fashion–or so it’s seemed for much of this run. An issue away from the climax, however, things are suddenly snapping into place. Much of Batman’s 50-era adventures, we’ve learned, took place in his mind during a bout of psychological reprogramming involving sensory deprivation. The current storyline has been centered on “The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh”, a Batman doppelganger from outer space who Batman encountered in the 50s; we’ve now learned that this story was a hallucination meant to create another, emergency backup persona for Batman in the event of a psychological attack. Zur is a sort of positive version of the Manchurian Candidate, a “Batman without Bruce Wayne” who can keep fighting even when everything he cares about has seemingly been destroyed. Likewise, the Bat-Mite, who’s been dogging his footsteps for the last two issues, is revealed as a personification of “the fading voice of reason”, one who’s forced to abandon him completely as Batman enters the inner sanctum of the Black Glove.

We also finally get a better idea of who the Glove and his attendant Club of Villains may be—they’re basically a bunch of rich socialites gambling on Batman and his ability to survive this psychological attack. Almost every plot thread Morrison let loose is suddenly coming together in an extremely dramatic way, and the climax of this issue really packs a punch. Batman goes symbolically deeper into madness than he’s ever gone, entering a David Lynch-style arena to do battle with the Joker and learn a twist that you probably saw coming, yet works pretty effectively anyway.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a comic storyline take this long to really pay off, and then to do so all at once, so near the end…it’s both impressive and a little frustrating. As I said, this has been a far more jarring, disconcerting run than Morrison’s other DC contributions, but that fits the character, after all. If All-Star Superman transforms the Silver Age trappings of his book into something noble and stirring, it’s only logical that Batman’s should wind up in a darker, more psychologically charged place. Whatever you think of the results, the simple fact that Morrison’s actually done something new and interesting with Batman after all these years warrants a thumbs-up. That the book is suddenly firing on all cylinders dramatically is just the icing on the cake.

4 out of 5 Vikings

All-Star Superman #12

Posted by Adam on September 29, 2008

(DC)

This review is coming along a little late in the cycle, since this book came out almost two weeks ago. If I wanted to, I could come up with a bunch of excuses, but subconsciously I think it boils down to one reason:

I was intimidated.

I believe comic books are a great medium, one with an immense potential for both art and entertainment. I further believe that we’re living in an extremely exciting time for comics, because they’re only just starting to tap into their full potential as an art form, breaking free of corporate superheroes while still remaining sufficiently tethered to it to produce works of interest in that genre. These days, you never quite know when the next masterpiece might come around the corner, or whether it’s going to come from some obscure self-publisher or the towering halls of one of the majors.

The trouble is, when one of those masterpieces does come along, it’s a little overwhelming for anyone who wants to do serious commentary on comics. It’s one thing to goof around and toss out your thoughts on a bit of fun and frivolity like, say, the monthly Conan comic, but what do you do when someone produces a dense, awe-inspiring work that serves as a summation of a character with over 70 years of history, a literary analysis, and a game-changing addition to the mythos of superheroes in general, and does it in a mere 12 issues? For the love of Rao, I’ve already read a review of All-Star Superman calling it “the best superhero comic of all time”! How do you engage with that without looking like a fool?

I guess I’ll just have to make myself look like a fool. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

[Trade Winds] Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters: Brave New World tpb

Posted by Graig on September 19, 2008

(DC)

I really enjoyed the first Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters mini-series, and was pleasantly surprised to find others did too, enough for DC to greenlight a second mini which is now collected in trade. As much as I dug the first series, however, I don’t actually recall much about it. Afterall, it was a year and a half and more than a few hundred comics ago that I read it.

But it’s no biggie, the trade sets itself up in a manner that you needn’t have studied the previous series to enjoy this one, its opening pages giving a breakdown of the team’s roster and some quick character tidbits. The book starts in space, aboard an alien ship approaching Earth’s atmosphere. Inside the Freedom Fighters combat a horde of oversized aliens, trying to stomp their way to the Red Bee, trapped in a cocoon. For her part, the Red Bee is trying to maintain a sense of calm, trying to understand her predicament. She’s an entomologist afterall, she should be in here element here if anywhere. True to form she saves the day, or so it seems. Upon returning to Earth, to the United States, Uncle Sam and company return to the land of politics, of backbiting, of buzzwords and public images. It’s not much of a place for heroes, because these days, “hero” is a relative term, and subject to the same propaganda mill and attack ads as any politician to curry the public’s favor.

There they have to deal with not a new enemy, per se, but the new challenges of being politically appointed superheroes in the wake of the Amazons’ attack on Washington D.C., and Infinite Crisis, and their prior dealings with corruption. The task they’re asked to undertake causes a divisive rift amongst the team and the team splits into two, one following orders, the others laying low. Each issue moves the story somewhere different, with a different team member taking on primary narrative duties. For an 8-issue series a tremendous amount happens, and it’s dense structure can feel like it’s laying on too much too quickly, but it’s dalliances into the wilds of superhero physics and and comic book science that make it quite a lot of fun.

Writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti have an interesting team of lesser-caliber superheroes, and although each character isn’t given equal time (Black Condor disappears into the background a lot, and even Uncle Sam isn’t tremendously prominent) the spotlights are interesting. While dovetailing away from political intrigue into more stock capes-n-tights fare after the third chapter, it’s the imaginative nature of the stories revolving around Doll Man, Red Bee, and Neon that make it interesting. There’s a lot of character drama that erupts out of the predicaments that Gray and Palmiotti put them in, key of which is Phantom Lady’s bad-girl public image lampooning the Lohan/Spears/Hilton girls-gone-wild stigma, but it manages to veer away from easy comedy and actually has something to say about it.

The theme of legacy, so prominent in the DC Universe, also makes itself known, with a couple of the current Freedom Fighters having been members of the original, and a couple more descended from them. In fact, the Ray is attempting to mend a bridge with his father, likewise sharing a bond with him by being a member of the team. The book also smartly takes a barometric reading of the current climate for superheroes in the DC Universe, and its resolution seems to reflect that.

The art by Renato Arlem is up to the task of illustrating a city of Doll Men, invading alien hordes, and the acid trip Happy Terrill goes on after drinking Neon: The Unknown’s magical oasis. Arlem delivers richly detailed scenes but with a loose ink brush that gives an unpolished appeal to his otherwise precise lines (let’s say Chaykin-esque). He seems to enjoy embedding photographs into his background and on occasion his people look stiffly like they’re traced from a photograph (sometimes faces, sometimes poses, sometimes both), and he does have a propensity to replicate imagery so that characters hold the same pose on multiple panels. I find his illustrations generally appealing, but there’s also occasionally things not right about them, like they were disparate elements layered together in Photoshop as opposed to being illustrated by hand on the page. It’s a bit of shorthand in illustrating that can prove distracting, but sequential collage may be the next great form of the medium (who knows?).

Despite whatever faults it may have, I still effortlessly digested this trade in one sitting. By mixing the absurd with the astute and big budget action with the soap operatic, while also providing some interesting commentary on society both real and fictional, it didn’t stretch too hard to be more than what it was: a concentrated shot of engaging entertainment.

3 and a half out of 5 Vikings

[Raided] Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam #2

Posted by Graig on

(DC)

I have a stepson, broaching 7-years-old at this point, and he loves cartoons, almost exclusively (live-action TV shows or sports rarely interest him). He likes his little-kid cartoons, filled with achingly sweet lessons about morals and manners, but he also likes the action-adventure and comedy cartoons, mostly from Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. Superhero shows (Teen Titans, Danny Phantom, Transformer Animated) he highly enjoys, but equally Spongebob Squarepants, The Mighty B and Fairly Odd Parents. The latter cartoons are filled with silly humor, sometimes with a nuance that kids just don’t understand, but they enjoy nonetheless. They’re all part of the new face of kids’ entertainment, animation that’s enjoyable for the young ones without excluding their parents. Mike Kunkel’s Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam merges nicely the aesthetic of the Nickelodeon comedy with the Cartoon Network action, but realizes it in a comic book meant for kids but enjoyable for their parents too. While I spent the first issue wondering with my aged comic-book fanboy brain how it fit in with other interpretations of Captain Marvel, this issue just came into its own. The Billy and Mary sibling dynamic is spot on (you can feel the love but also how much they annoy one another), and the new kid in school, Theo Adam, is trouble for them from the get-go. Kunkel tells a simple story, but with heart and depth, he really invests time into developing character and establishing a bond with the reader, as opposed to the kiddie-fluff of Super Friends and Tiny Titans (although sometimes kids need fluff too). Kunkel’s art is terrific, bringing the flat-animated, thick-lined style of cartoons like Dexter’s Lab or Samurai Jack to the page, treated with beautifully rendered watercolors which fail to hide the unerased pencil lines beneath. His layouts are wildly different but also very exciting, and his techniques for illustrating movement are astonishing. It’s a pleasure to look at and an enjoyable to read, and all with nary a punch thrown. Though delayed by a month, this second issue it’s a welcome addition to the stands, and it looks to be on about a 6-week publishing schedule for the next two issues. And now that I’ve reviewed it, I can give it back to my little guy…

4 and a half out of 5 Vikings

Secret Six #1

Posted by Devon on September 15, 2008

(DC)

What is it about the DC Universe villain? DC has bald men who wear three-piece suits who come off more menacing in a man in a porcupine costume.

I think I may have answered my own question.

The real world seeps into the DCU and gives us a re-imagined Lex Luthor as a corporate head who, intellectually, towers over a man who leaps tall buildings. Yet, his ego cannot allow for him to ever truly defeat his sworn enemy. In that, he is his own worst enemy.

At Marvel, guys buy, steal or make suits based on animals and rob banks in broad daylight. And then, eventually you join the Thunderbolts.

That said, would you rather be a T-Bolt or hang in there, like say, Catman and wait for a writer like a Gail Simone to make you a power player in a group of former C-list villains trying to make good like in Secret Six?
WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

[Raided] Green Arrow/Black Canary #12

Posted by Graig on September 11, 2008

(DC)

I’ve been indulging on comics from the early 1980s lately, and getting used to the rhythm of the books from that era takes a little time. The regular series of the time were long-form, ongoing, soap-operatic in nature, where story lines would start as a few throwaway panels over two or three issues before building up to center stage. Few books were routinely stand-alone/done-in-one stories, which is why making trade paperback collections of the material sometimes proves difficult. The dialogue was almost uniformly stiff, constantly full of exposition (in short bursts describing past events or who a character is or what their power may be… Brainiac 5 will spout off about his 12th-level intellect two, three times an issue), but that just made the books more accessible for new readers and events became legendary for those that missed them (in a time where local comic stores weren’t as prominent and reprints and collections were rare). These days, everyone has a plan and a decisive arc for their stories… “made for trade”, as it were. Green Arrow/Black Canary, a silly title with wildly unbelievable stories, truly hearkens back to that 80’s style, having slowly revealed its mystery over the past 10 issues or so, but in a manner that’s adventurous, outrageous, and, dare I say it, fun. The whole “finding Connor” business was the maguffin that allowed the wild story bits to happen: Plastic Man, Batman, Ra’s Al Ghul etc. Amidst most other comics on the rack, with it’s amazing clean art from Mike Norton (taking over from Cliff Chiang, who continues to pump out spectacular covers for the series) and vibrant coloring alongside some (trying-too-hard-to-be) humorous dialogue, it seems juvenile and out of place. And it is, on both counts. As a reviewer and wanna-be tastemaker, the book is a dry cookie, and I want to hate it, but just sitting back and looking at it for what it tries to do, and what it does, it’s a digestive, dissolving to mush the moment it touches your tongue, and not really all that unpleasant. Sure, digestives aren’t the best cookie ever, but kids sure do like it. And with that in mind, what becomes unfortunate is that Green Arrow/Black Canary isn’t suitable for kids. The violence, sometimes, is too brutal, the language sometimes too mature (would Sivana really say “kick your ass”?), and there’s a level of sexuality in the series that’s inappropriate for younger readers. Then there’s some awful cliches and twists and turns that are too much of a stretch to ask the older audience to embrace, like the “anything for my child” melodrama that occurs in this issue making it difficult to stomach for a mature(r) reader, even with the “fun” level cranked up to 10. The book to this point has been enjoyable but each issue seems to just miss the mark as earnest juvenile escapism, which is probably as much the editor and publisher’s fault as it is the writer’s. Winick is leaving the book in two issues, so it’ll be interesting to see who takes over, and what direction it takes. I wouldn’t say Winick’s run is a outright failure, but it’s no where near as successful as it could have been.

2 and a half out of 5 Vikings

[Trade Winds] Invasion tpb

Posted by Graig on September 4, 2008

(DC)

20 years. It’s been 20 years since the epic crossover Invasion hit the stands. 20 years since I - and so many others - first read it. 20 years that it’s been revered as one of, if not the best Event Comic ever. But as 20 years of nostalgia builds does Invasion withstand the hype, or is it crushed beneath it?

Confession: I didn’t buy the trade paperback. Being budget conscious means no double-dipping when I have my beaten and battered issues tucked away somewhere. I fished them out, three 80-page giants, and started turning the dog-eared pages and let the nostalgia wash over me.

But nostalgia only takes you so far. It took all of 4 minutes of a Dukes of Hazzard repeat for me to question what I ever saw in that show, Spaceballs is anything but the comic masterpiece I recall, and I wince at nearly every thought balloon or line of dialogue Marv Wolfman wrote in the 1980’s. Sometimes you can’t go home again. Invasion not only lets me return home, but it opens the door, welcomes me in, makes me a tea, and lets me sit in Pop’s most comfortable chair.

The opening pages find a control group of 50 humans put before the alien race, the Dominators. Then, they are brutally attacked. The seven survivors each have the metagene, allowing them manifest super-human abilities. The results are not pleasing. Various alien races around the DC Universe have grown concerned about the astronomical number of meta-humans that are surfacing on Earth, and the new “research” from the Dominators proves there is a potential problem. They must come together and declare war on Earth, they must suppress the new dawn of humanity before they can come to full fruition, and perhaps, destroy them all.

The first book, that is an entire 1/3 of the series, establishes the Dominators, their social hierarchy and their cold blooded calculative nature, as well as the confederation of races that have assembled to take on humanity. Seeing the star ships and the powerful might of the various races, one can’t help but think that Earth in serious trouble, even with their proliferation of metas, and one can’t help but think, at least a little bit, that these aliens might be justified in their preemptive attack.

It’s a remarkable entry into the series, utterly engrossing, with nary a single top-tier character appearing until the first chapter of Book 2. It’s audacious even, to start off an Event Comic without a single lynchpin character, a single big name to hook it all around. But everything about the story in those first 80 pages are fascinating. Looking at it from today’s perspective, it would seem that much of what Grant Morrison is writing about in Final Crisis has some groundwork laid here.

By the end of the first Book, the invasion has begun. The start of Book 2 recaps the bulk of crossover events and, for the most part, is all you really need to know about what happened elsewhere. The main event isn’t disrupted by it’s crossover status, which is the failing of many of the early Even Comics. The superheroes have gathered to take on their invaders, getting organized is a must. The battle is fast and furious, with the combined might of so many costumes, the aliens realize that they’re too late, Earth has already become too powerful to stop. They signal the retreat, but an enterprising young Dominator has succeeded in creating a deadly meta-human neutralizer and at the start of the third book, heroes fall, hordes of them. The few whose powers aren’t metagene-derived must venture out into space in search of a cure.

Each book can almost stand alone as a triumphant arc, at 80-pages each, plotter Keith Giffen and scribe Bill Mantlo have more than enough room to maneuver their story in a manner as yet to be reproduced (Giffen’s Annihilation does come pretty close). The first book is essentially the prologue, and yet it alone is more satisfying than the entirety of most Event Comics. Each subsequent book presents a different aspect of the overall story, each stand-alone in some respects, a major turning point at each juncture.

Mantlo employs a heavy narrative, but does so in an almost casual manner, making it effortlessly readable, and engaging. Though Invasion introduces the L.E.G.I.O.N. and the Blasters, they don’t feel forced into the story, like an awkward “spin-off necessity”. Mantlo’s handling of the alien cultures is superb, especially the Dominators, which he obviously had great enthusiasm in crafting. The action is brisk in the second Book, disappointingly so… which is to say it’s good, and more would’ve been welcomed. The final act is odd, in that it moves the epic crossover into microscopic mode, tracing a small band of heroes on their desperate mission, but as much as it’s a drastic shift in scale, it’s also incredibly effective.

The art chores are handled by Todd McFarlane for half the series. I’ve never been much of a McFarlane fan (I’ve never understood the appeal, frankly), but here he makes his errant lines and distorted anatomy work for him. The aliens are decidedly alien and ugly, you never forget they’re the bad guys, even as Mantlo makes their case for them. Their machinery is equally messy and nefarious looking. His humans, well, there’s very few of them throughout the first book, and it’s unfortunate McFarlane stuck around for half of the Book 2 where he got to mar Superman, Aquaman, Captain Atom, and Amanda Waller over and over again. Mercifully he dropped out and Keith Giffen took up the second half of Book 2, where he does some of his cleanest work. Bart Sears, still young in his career at this point, does some of his best work, with a much tighter, calculated line than McFarlane, brightening things up a bit. He’s into very dynamic poses and figures, but has a natural way of using that to move the action and story along. Strangely enough, I like McFarlane’s work in the First Book and Sears’ work in the third and am glad neither illustrated the whole series. I think the only improvement would have been if Giffen illustrated all of the second book, really making each book stand apart from each other.

Nostalgia dictated that I’d be receptive to Invasion, but the quality of the storytelling is what has made it such a revered Event Comic, and makes it still a great read.

5 out of 5 Vikings

Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1

Posted by Adam on September 3, 2008

(DC)

At this point, almost no one seems to know exactly what Final Crisis is about. No, I don’t mean that in a wise-ass, “Grant Morrison’s so weird and confusing” kinda way, I just mean that Final Crisis threatens to transform the DC Universe (again), but the top brass have so far kept it a pretty tight secret *how* it’s going to do so. Our only clue so far seems to be that Morrison wants to deal with the logical endpoint of the creeping “darkness” and “grittiness” that’s been infecting the DCU, and, winkingly, tying it together with the editorial oversight and corporate shenanigans that have been making such a mess out of things. The most obvious connection has been between the cancellation of Kirby’s Fourth World Saga back in the 70s, and the apparent triumph of the forces of Apokolips (a connection that Kirby himself made), but there have been a number of others. Now, in Final Crisis: Superman Beyond, Morrison seems to be dropping hints that the DC Universe is going to somehow be saved from commercialization and violent grim ‘n’ grittiness by the end of this series. Now that’ll be a neat trick.

In the main Final Crisis storyline, a bomb went off in the Daily Planet offices, causing serious injury to Lois Lane. Superman sits at her bedside, keeping her alive by massaging her heart with his heat vision, unable to leave or she’ll die. As this series begins, though, Superman is visited by Zillo Valla, a “Monitor”, one of the extradimensional beings who watch over the multiverse, and to whom we were introduced in “Countdown”. She’s stopped time to allow Superman to join her on a desperate mission that will somehow impact the Crisis; if he helps her, she can provide a means of saving Lois’s life. Superman signs on board Zillo’s vessel (which resembles a certain familiar yellow submarine) with a number of other versions of himself, including a violent, evil antimatter Superman, a Nazi Superman, a guy who bears a suspicious resemblance to Doctor Manhattan, and, interestingly enough, the kiddie version of Captain Marvel we’ve recently seen relaunched by Jeff Smith and Mike Krunkel. Almost immediately, they find themselves pursued by the forces of the “Dark Monitor” (in other words, the Anti-Monitor from Crisis on Infinite Earths) and are forced to flee into the “arteries” between time and space (in other words, the gutters between comic panels).

There’s more–a lot more–and all of it filled to bursting with an extra-strength dose of Morrison’s wild imagination. We get a brief tour of the 52 Universes (for the first time since 52 itself, I believe), as well as some background on the monitors, and a seeming confirmation that, yes, evil is destined to win this particular conflict. And, as you’ve probably heard, it’s all in 3-D. When all of this is put together, it can be a little hard on the ol’ noggin, even for regular Morrison readers, but hey–better a hypercompressed comic loaded with ideas that you have to read several times than a bland, decompressed fight comic, right?

Morrison has had an odd stewardship of Superman for the past couple of years, writing the out-of-continuity “All-Star Superman” which has nevertheless come to redefine the character. In some ways this book seems like the culmination of what he was doing there, but whereas All-Star is optimistic, classicist, and generally warm and fuzzy, this story has a queasy sense of unease about it…like an acid trip that’s just starting to go bad. A big part of that is Doug Mahnke’s artwork. What I find interesting about Mahnke is that he’s able to replicate classical superhero draftsmanship, but he adds a subtle sense of underlying chaos and detail that brings it down to a more tactile level, and not always in a pleasant way. You get the impression that his characters really do engage in bodily processes like breathing and shedding skin flakes, that metals in his world rust, that food goes bad. Frank Quitely, of All-Star Superman, has some of the same style, but Mahnke’s work has a certain underlying…unwholesomeness to it. He’s a perfect fit with this material, showing us a vast, cosmic mythology worthy of DC’s past, but making us feel that things are on the verge of going very, very wrong indeed.

Speaking of Mahnke, he also drew Morrison’s Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein, and his depiction of a decaying, superior civilization in this book seems drawn from Seven Soldiers. In fact, there are a ton of echoes, callbacks and reflections of pretty much all of Morrison’s past work for DC, even The Invisibles (“Ultramenstruum” is mentioned as the Macguffin of the series). As I believe Morrison himself mentioned in an interview, this may not be the “final crisis” for the DCU as a whole, but it’s the culmination, and (mostly) the conclusion, of his own work for the company. One thing’s for certain, then: however the DCU stands at the end of Final Crisis, it’ll be a lot less weird without Morrison in it. Pity.

4 out of 5 Vikings.

Catwoman #82

Posted by Devon on August 29, 2008

(DC)

She’s been everything: hero, villain, dead, reborn, mother, ally, betrayer… and every single one of them fit. Catwoman ends this week the way it began, fighting against The Batman. It ends the way it should, no longer fighting against herself. Catwoman ends, this week, with issue 82, leaving me with an all-to-familiar sense of “bittersweet.” Bittersweet because, while she got the ending she deserved, the current comics marketplace could not provide the sustainability the comic itself deserved.

Whether written by the likes of Ed Brubaker or current series writer Will Pfeiffer, Catwoman has brilliantly and consistently been one of our better-written books on the market. In this issue, Pfeiffer brilliantly and masterfully gives her the therapy she so desperately needs in the form of verbal and physical sparring with The Batman. Pfeiffer has her - and the series - come to a conclusion casting them as things solely and truly unique unto themselves. Using Batman as her spirit guide and with one question, Pfeiffer makes a promise to the reader that they will never see Catwoman the same way ever again.

This issue makes me sad for one simple fact: while we, as fans, shake our collective fist in the air, yelling about wanting well-written, well-drawn comics that also come out on time, series artist David Lopez has for nearly 3 years regularly and devotedly turned in highly accessible, well-thought-out artwork to little or no fanfare. For some reason, we, as a collective, seemed more focused on heaping undeserved attention on consistently late books while comics that could have used our eyes, voices and dollars crept further down the sales chart.

The fact of the matter is that upon finishing Catwoman #82, I realized a sad truth: we’re getting the comics market we deserve.

Well-written. Well-drawn. On time. Always. Catwoman.

We don’t deserve her.

Catwoman goes out exactly as she would want it.

Us needing her more than she needs us.

5 out of 5 Vikings

[Raided] Teen Titans: Year One #6 (of 6)

Posted by Graig on August 28, 2008

(DC)

After five issues of pure gold, even with delays, Teen Titans: Year One ends with this spectacularly disappointing, whisper-thin concluding chapter. Taking all of about 4 minutes to read (6 minutes if you pause to really take in the gorgeous - if somewhat spare this time around - art from Karl Kerschl, Serge LaPointe and colorist extraordinaire John Rauch), it’s not even an empty calorie comic. Though there’s hardly been an ongoing narrative throughout the series (each issue more stand alone than unified), this final part makes shallow pains to connect back to the first issue, following Robin through an ethereal dream sequence which begins to envelop the other Titans. It all (quickly) builds towards a climactic battle which, I guess, is left to happen off-panel, or perhaps in one of Haney and Cardy’s stories (I confess my Titans knowledge begins with Wolfman/Perez)? It’s a massive cheat of a final issue, full of, I suppose, intended weight and meaning, but it feels hollow and cheap, skimping on action, background setting, characterization and team dynamics. Amy Wolfram, Kerschl and company have done a terrific job with the series to this point, it’s just a sad, sorry close. If you’ve bought the series to this point, you can really skip this chapter. If you’ve waited for trade, it’s still a worthy pick-up for any Titans fan. In fact, with the exception of this issue, some of the best Titans we’ve gotten, mixing the feel of the animated series with the classic 60’s style.

2 out of 5 Vikings

DCU: Last Will And Testament (one-shot)

Posted by Graig on

(DC)

The really big names, the Ennis’ and Morrisons and Ellis’ and Gaiman’s get where they are by delivering the unexpected, mainly by using/making/remaking C- or D-list characters and finding that spark in them, lifting them aloft into A-list, or at least B-list, territory (for a time, anyway). The Demon. Animal Man. Stormwatch. The Sandman. Many of these creators continue on to redefine maligned properties, seeing inspiration where others don’t, having an affinity for a minor player that bolsters a book well beyond it’s original creative intent. It may not always be where they get the most attention, but it does bring out some of their most entertaining work.

Brad Meltzer, isn’t necessarily a name you’d fit amongst the mainstream’s luminaries; his output sporadic, his contributions often as questionable as they are inspired (see Dr. Light/Sue Dibney/Justice League of America). It’s clear by what he has done that he’s a fan of the mid-80’s comics from Jerry Conway, Mike Barr and Marv Wolfman, team books all, where certain characters seem overshadowed or underdeveloped. Just looking at his team selection for his Justice League revamp, you can tell who those were: Vixen, Red Tornado, Speedy, Black Lightning, and Geo Force.

However, the New York Times bestselling author is dabbling without really applying himself and he hasn’t stuck with anything long enough to champion these characters above their lowly status. But here, in this unofficial Final Crisis tie-in, he nails one of them to the proverbial cross, raising their status, lifting them up amongst many of their peers. It’s not enough to tell a good story with a crappy character, you have to make people give a damn, and dammit, I think I now care about Geo-Force.

One thing I have to say about Meltzer is the guy can write a damn fine narrative. He may not be able to craft the best action sequences or ever take full advantage of what superheroes and comic books can offer, but he knows how to get into characters’ heads, he knows how to set a mood, building tension through setting and pacing, and he can certainly weave disparate strands into an admirable whole. That’s exactly what he does here.

As the story is set up, the world looks like it’s about to end, it could very well be everyone’s final day, and it seems everyone is preparing for it. In close proximity to Morrison’s Final Crisis that’s obviously the connection, but it could just as well be Crisis on Infinite Earths or Final Night or Zero Hour or any other of the Earth-decimating threats that have occurred (or will occur). Meltzer keeps it vague intentionally, and it helps the book stand-alone in a sense, although it will likely send continuity-minded fanboys into a tizzy. The story centers on Geo-Force who will spend his last night seeking revenge on Deathstroke for killing his sister, Terra, lo those many years ago. Everyone warns Geo-Force that he’s completely outclassed, despite his incredible power, and also that revenge is the least heroic of actions. Geo-Force struggles with his decision, but feels the weight of the plans he’s set in motion pulling him forward. Can he best Slade Wilson? Doubtful. But eventually he realizes that in losing, he can still win.

Interspersed throughout are moments between Wonder Woman and Donna Troy, Batman, Robin and Nightwing, Superman and Pa Kent, Green Arrow and Roy Harper, and others which highlight these characters and what they perceive to be, perhaps, their final moments. It’s not as dark as it could have been, which is surprising, and it is quite touching at time (if a little empty, knowing that the good guys will eventually win), even providing some interesting counterpoints to the central story, and adding to the overall building atmosphere of the book (it’s an interesting bait and switch, where Meltzer builds the mood around the end of the world, but substitutes the conflict between Brion and Slade instead.

The art is an intriguing amalgam of Adam Kubert, and inkers Jon Dell and Joe Kubert. The elder Kubert’s influence is obvious and provides an anachronistic feel to the book. Though not always the most attractive looking, it services the story well, flowing along with the copious text boxes naturally.

Although there’s a resolution to the conflict between Geo-Force and Deathstroke, it’s definitely not the end of the story. That end of the world is happening elsewhere, and the impact of Geo-Force’s decision will no doubt continue on in Batman and the Outsiders (as we are so told), but if Meltzer really wanted to see a journey for Geo-Force and the Outsiders through, he would be taking over the reigns of the maligned series, and I just don’t see that happening. For all the heights that he has lifted the character to, he’s just as quickly going to fall afterwards, and (to my surprise) it’s really too bad.

4 out of 5 Vikings

Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #1 (of 5)

Posted by Devon on August 25, 2008

(DC)

Wanna not make someone a fan of comics? Let their first comic be The Legion of Super-Heroes. Let me explain. It’s not that The Legion is bad or evil or anything, it’s just, shall we say, complicated. On the surface, all of the superhero tropes are there: the X-Men’s angst; costumes inspired by the world’s most famous hero, Superman; various ties to current superhero continuity.

What makes The Legion unique is also the thing that, to a degree, kills the deal. To read The Legion of Super-Heroes is to have to contend with time and continuity. To read The Legion, one almost needs a four-year degree from DC (Comics) University. And as we all know, the cost of education is at an all-time high. This week, education clocks in at $3.99, American. Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #1 is on sale now.

The alien who would become Superman crash lands in a Kansas cornfield. Soon, Martha and Jonathan Kent will come upon this place, the latter bearing a double-barreled cannon. The alien who would become Superman trains his gaze upon The Kents, forever changing the future. The alien turns his focus upon his legacy and is intent upon destroying it. A prison planet burns, 20,000 guards lie dead, the convicted turned free. Knowing this threat will not pass easily, the heroes of the future call in their greatest champion, past, present and future: Superman. Time is, literally, testing these individuals, testing their strength. Their greatest strength has always come in their number. It’s left to The Legion to find The Legions of Two Other Worlds in order to save themselves, and, most importantly, a Superman who has lost his way.

Writer Geoff Johns does what he does best, telling a tale that weaves the past into the future. While I enjoyed it, there was a ton of backstory that needed explaining simply in order to get to the good parts, using Jimmy Olsen as our guide was an inspired bit of casting. The good parts being Superman and The Legion are fighting for the future and that makes Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds well worth coming back for.

George Perez is given worlds to draw and one gets the sense that he couldn’t be happier. Every page comes across as a love letter to the Curt Swan-drawn Legion comics of his youth. Perez infuses these designs with an energy that lets you know that the late, great Swan got it all right the first time.

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #1 is a fun little read, succeeding on two levels: giving newbies an enjoyable Legion primer while giving the Legion faithful even more reason to be so.

3 and a half out of 5 Vikings

Final Crisis: Revelations #1

Posted by Devon on August 19, 2008

(DC)

If someone would have told me in early 2002, that DC Comics would be launching a comic centered around the Gotham City Police, I would have jumped up and clapped.

In 2003, DC gave us Gotham Central and I jumped up and clapped. This was the comic I’d been waiting for. A comic that focused on not hard it is to be a cop but how hard it is to be a cop in a city where Killer Croc is seen as a minor player in the Gotham scheme of things. Gotham Central was special in that it showed how hard it is to prosecute a crime when the villain is dropped off on your doorstep by a man in a cape. How do one fill out the paperwork on that?

How does a criminal be Mirandized by an urban legend? Answer: he doesn’t. Gotham Central was unique in the fact that it was a Gotham City crime book minus its greatest crimefighter, the then retired, Commissioner Gordon. How did it work around that? With a supporting cast of characters that included Gordon’s former second, Renee Montoya and a new transplant from Superman’s Metropolis, Crispus Allen.

These two were eventually partnered and then things… got weird.

Allen was later killed in the line of duty, setting of a chain of events that would lead partner Montoya on a path that would eventually lead to her becoming, of all things, The Question, in the pages of the 2006’s mega-series, 52.

Former detective and family man Crispus Allen was resurrected in the pages of Infinite Crisis as the latest and most remorseless iteration of God’s wrath, The Spectre.

For years now, Allen and Montoya have walked the earth in their refashioned roles as protectors of the innocents: the Spectre knowing of his former partner’s new lot in life; The Question believing her former best friend dead.

For years their paths had no reason to cross, that is until Final Crisis: Revelations #1, written by Gotham Central co-creator and writer Greg Rucka, on sale now.

The underworld, lead by Libra, congratulates itself following the death of Justice League mainstay, The Martian Manhunter. Vengeance must be served, enter The Spectre, only this time evil overcomes wrath. The Spectre is transported away to seek vengeance elsewhere.

Elsewhere fights Renee Montoya, The Question, resulting a reunion no one would have called in early 2003.

Rucka’s story weaves threads from DC’s mega-events, Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, 52 and last year’s 52: The Crime Bible and the results are understandably a bit jumbled. There’s a lot of story to tell and the story’s all over the place, even by DC Universe standards. The scripting along with the final page, however, is as solid as anything Rucka’s ever done, earning this title a trip to my pull file over the coming months. Under Rucka, loyalty is rewarded from the first page to the last.

Artist Philip Tan art is moody and atmospheric and specifically suited for the story Rucka set forth. Oddly enough, Tan shines brightest in the superhero-esque Spectre/Libra sequence, displaying a knowing command of the “fight scene.” Those years on Spawn did him well.

Final Crisis: Revelations #1, may be no reason to jump up and clap, but it is an interesting little read for the Gotham Central faithful.

3 out of 5 Vikings

[Raided] Jonah Hex #34

Posted by Sean on August 18, 2008

(DC)

A few months ago, I made an informal vow to review every issue of this series. As an extremely well-written and entertaining “one-and-done” Jonah Hex represents everything that monthly comic books should be (What’s more, any book without capes and tights needs all the help it can get). So, I’d be dishonest if I only reviewed the great issues of this series, and overlooked the less than great. The latest issue of Jonah Hex is less than great. Just slightly above average in every respect. Maybe it’s that writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray have now been at this for three years and the well is running a little dry. The retired gunfighter called back into action to right an egregious wrong can be one of two things - classic (Shane, Unforgiven) or tired, familiar and uninspired. That’s the danger of working in a genre with so many conventions. Making contact with the ball isn’t always enough. You have to hit it out of the park for anyone to take notice, and that’s the problem here. Gray and Palmiotti tell a competent story about Jonah Hex finding a quiet piece of land in Oregon to finish out his days, only to pick up the steel on behalf of the hooker with the heart of gold. But at the risk of sounding flippant…been there, done that. This is still a great series though, one of my favorite ongoings, and the fantastic cover by Andy Kubert makes up a little for an otherwise disappointing issue.

2 and a half out of 5 Vikings

[Trade Winds] Millennium tpb

Posted by Graig on August 14, 2008

(DC)

I have a lot of nostalgia for comics of 1980’s, particularly the 1980’s post-Crisis DC Universe, a time where everything was new again, where the rules weren’t yet defined and anything could happen. The 1980’s also brought us the “Event Comic” building the idea of team-ups but on a mass scale to tackle one massive problem. Secret Wars was the first big “Event Comic”, although self-contained, and it was Crisis on Infinite Earths which we have to thank/blame for the “Epic Crossover” which have pretty much been inescapable since 1985. Every company that’s done superheroes in the past 20 years has done them… from Milestone to Valiant to Wildstorm to Continuity, they’re inescapable. Though each one of them promises some “earth shaking” or “ground breaking” or “internet cracking-in-halfing” changes to their universe, but rarely do they deliver anything of lasting value (sub-plots and spin-offs tend to last a few years at most before they too disappear or return to status-quo). These days, once you get through all the hype, most Epic Crossovers aren’t doing much other than baiting the fans into buying more comics. That hint of cynicism you read there is as a result of what they call “Event Fatigue”. After almost 25 years of these epic smash-’em-ups, they’ve lost purpose, meaning, distinction and individuality, they’ve started to blur together into a mass of crises that, in their center have very little heart.

Obviously, things weren’t always this way. In the mid-to-late ’80’s these events were intriguing, fresh, and exciting, especially for DC. Over their then-50-year publishing history, DC had amassed numerous characters from different eras and different publishers, each inhabiting a separate “Earth”, and post-Crisis most were reborn on one sole Earth. Now, not only were there ongoing stories to be told but also stories of the past to be revised, revised, retconned, what have you. For the first time all of DC’s pantheon could meet with one another without having to detail “dimensional rifts” or explain away the hows of the meet-ups, instead focusing on the whys. After Crisis, they had a success in Legends which launched a new Flash title, Giffen’s Justice League and the Suicide Squad amongst it’s notable accomplishments. DC wanted to make these events an annual tradition, and they wanted to go bigger the following year, to weave together their new universe even more tightly, so what they delivered was a 45-part, 8-week crossover bridging together 21 different ongoing series with an 8-part mini-series. It was an incredible endeavor, still unsurpassed even by the likes of Infinite Crisis or 52, but the annals of time have rendered it’s an abysmal failure (surpassed only by, presumably, Countdown) for one main reason: it’s bloody boring.

20 years on and most DC fans from that time (which, were I a cynic, I’d say still comprise the bulk of DC’s loyal fanbase today) will recall Millennium as an atrocity, which, if it had one blessing, was over and done with in a two month span. Quickly overshadowed the following year by the tremendous Invasion (which DC is publishing a collected edition of within the next month), Millennium sprang forth from the Green Lantern Corps series, at the time operating on their own volition, as their Oan overseers had paired off and departed with their female opposites, the Zamarons, “to do it”, as Millennium’s first issue so eloquently puts it. One pair has returned to Earth, to the Green Lantern’s Earth-based citadel/spa-and-resort, to request the help of the Earth-based heroes. The dawn of man’s new evolution is upon them, their destiny must be thrust forth, and the Oan and Zamaron are going to be the ones to do it (heh). Contacting 10 humans from around the globe, the pair give them a choice to join them and evolve. The most interesting element of the series is the people that are selected as “The Chosen”: an Australian Aboriginal; a Jamaican transplant to “fascist England”(!?); a South African politician and bigot; a Communist Chinese party member; a man from Communist Russia; a South American homosexual (though he’s never OUTRIGHT identified as such, it’s fairly obvious); a Japanese businessman; Hal Jordan’s Eskimo ex-sidekick, Thomas “Pieface” Kalmaku; and the Floronic Man (a last minute sub for Terra). Unfortunately, little of the era-specific hot-button issues percolating underneath Gerber’s character selection were dealt with in the series outside of anything but superficial terms, and there would have been plenty of meat to pursue had he been free to.

Instead, the series focuses more upon the Manhunters, robotic policemen that were predecessors to the Green Lantern Corps. They’ve since become a cult of some kind, determined to stop man’s evolution, and thus conveniently surfacing to stop the Guardians of the Universe’s plan. The trick is that the Manhunters have stolen the secrets of the DC Universe (don’t ask) and know its entire history, and in preparation have seeded the earth with sleeper agents, one conveniently placed in the life of each of the superheroes with ongoing titles at the time. Lana Lang, the Greek God Pan, Wally West’s dad, amongst others, surface to vex the heroes, but naturally each threats is overcome and the heroes move on to either blow up the Manhunter’s home planet or destroy their secret base in the core of the earth.

The Chosen, meanwhile, are trained by the Oan and Zamaronian, readied to receive their new abilities. Their training, most taking place in the fifth chapter, consists of horrible, plodding, new-age mumbo jumbo masquerading as some kind of philosophical doctrine. It’s an inane and nonsensical (especially when given in the context of the series) philosophy centering around the power of the numbers one through ten, but given the group’s constantly fluctuating size (as people are killed or decide not to join or are substituted for at the last minute, truly diminishing the whole “Chosen” bit), it doesn’t hold water. The end result finds the Chosen renamed “the New Guardians”… their raison d’etre, or what exactly they’re supposed to guard, barely defined.

The story was built for one primary purpose, to unify like never before DC’s line of superhero titles for this singular event, no matter how ill-suited various heroes or teams were to dealing with the problems they posed. The biggest problem remains that the main 8-part mini-series collected here isn’t a whole story. It’s 8/45ths of a story. At the end of each chapter, cliffhangers and storylines are set-up which then carried forth into the tie-in books. By the time you return to the next chapter of the main Millennium series, most of the threads have been resolved and the story is moving forward in the wake of whatever happened elsewhere. As a collected edition, there’s likely no read more disjointed than this.

Even if I could forgive it’s compulsory tie-in reading, it’s tedious pace (which, for something that was a weekly series is saying a lot) and it’s pointlessness, the book’s script, written by Steve Englehart, is abominable. Englehart seriously tries to give his Chosen distinctive personalities and not play into cultural stereotypes, but he doesn’t do the same with all the other characters he’s given to write. There’s no distinctive voice between Superman, Green Lantern, Blue Beetle or Harbinger. They’re all privy to the same mood swings, the same contrived thoughts, and the way out-of-character sentiments. Englehart writes them as he needs them to act, not as they would act. He’s also in the unfortunate position of having to dole out copious amounts of exposition. Given the nature of the beast he’s written, the exposition not only relates to what had happened in the tie-in titles, but also past stories in many of the character’s histories. It’s a compounding mess of bad dialog, overwrought narration and cheesy thought balloons festering atop spoiled execution.

On art chores is Joe Staton, a veteran illustrator even at the time. A curious choice for an Event Comic, Staton has never been a fan favorite illustrator, not on the level of George Perez or John Byrne before him anyway. Even though he’s praised by the editor for his ability to draw distinctive figures, I find his work contradicts that, that his figures more often than not have a uniform look to them (although in a style uniquely his own) distinguishable only by costume or haircut. He tends to draw his characters lean (near emaciated), with long limbs and necks, thin (gaunt, even) faces, totally lacking any physical presence or power. His scene compositions range from decent to downright ugly, storytelling generally flowing okay, but breaks in panels often getting in the way. His figures are routinely stiff, losing the dynamics from the action, and consistency is also a problem. I noticed in the supermarket check out recently that Staton is now drawing Jughead comics, bringing to them a more “realistic” style. His work seems to have improved, and is well suited to the new Archie aesthetic, though still not something I find appealing.

Fan reaction for Millennium, in my experience, has never been positive, making this collection a curiosity. What’s the purpose of reissuing it? Most trades that come out reprinting older material play off nostalgia or lingering good will, neither of which Millennium has. It’s doesn’t work as a complete story, its script is painful, the art is unappealing, and it had no lasting effect on the DC Universe at all (The New Guardians series that spun out from it lasted 12 issues, and most of its characters never used again with any real meaning). Is it trying to bank off it’s tenuous conceptual connections to Final Crisis (the evolution of the human race into new gods) or Secret Invasion (the idea of dopplegangers or sleeper agents awakening to cause some angst)? Given the “Trust No One” subtitle, I’m guessing the latter.

I didn’t acquire or even read the physical Millenium trade paperback, instead dipping into my back issue boxes and pulling out the crumpled and ignored 8-issue miniseries to reread. I did look at the trade in my LCS this week and noticed that, sadly, the back-matter from the original 8-issues were missing. Each book had a page-long essay or interview with the creative team by Mark Waid and/or Andy Helfer. These garner some curious insight into the burgeoning Event Comics concept, and DC’s interest in them, as well as providing historical context for them. The interviews, which offer a look at the creation process and Englehart’s intent behind the series, would have been a really good addition to the collection (as would DVD-esque special features like a “writer’s commentary” or at least an essay or two from the writer/editors about their feelings on the book two decades later. If you’re going to republish crap at least give it some context).

1 out of 5 Vikings

[Raided] Batman #679 (RIP)

Posted by Eric on August 13, 2008

(DC Comics)

Zur-en-arrh, eh?

Grant Morrison, you’re in a very small minority of writers that can have the editorial and artistic leeway granted by the publisher of a major character to do anything you desire. And you don’t waste a panel, do you? There’s definitely a part of me as a reader that gets excited about the unlikely idea of Bat-mite providing the exposition in a Batman comic published in 2008, but there’s another part of me that wonders how new readers or people unfamiliar with the Bat mythos will receive something as far out as this. I mean, all in all the story of Batman RIP is fairly straightforward; a group called the Black Glove is trying to destroy Bruce Wayne and Batman while ruining everything in his life. The motivations behind that, and how the plan came together are still mysteries, but it’s the details and how the story is getting from A to B that is why this book is worth reading. I’ve made it in no ways unclear that I’ve absolutely loved this story arc thus far, and when all is said and done I think it’s going to blow us away. That being said, I was wondering in which issue was the story going to drag ever so slightly, but enough that it’s noticed due to the ridiculous pace the first three issues put forth. While the first issue’s main criticism was it retread on plot points that had already been established for the sake of getting new readers to catch-up, this book takes a break from the revelations and twists to set up the last two issues which seem as though they’re going to revolve around the Joker and the ultimate destruction of Bruce Wayne. As with the rest of this story, this issue had it’s reasons and place in the arc, but we’ll have to wait a few weeks to see where it’s all heading. The issue is good, the art is great and for the next installment I cannot wait… See what I did there?

4 out of 5 Vikings

[Raided] Robin #176, Nightwing #147, Detective Comics #847

Posted by Graig on August 8, 2008

(DC)

Otherwise known as “this week in “Batman R.I.P.”, three of the “Bat-verse” titles have all hit the stands, each touting their affiliation to the non-event of “R.I.P.” happening over in Grant Morrison’s Batman run. From everything I’ve read, be it on-line or the books themselves, I do get the sense that “R.I.P.” was not intended as a massive crossover, but a self-contained story, and that the changes that may affect the character in the central Bat-title was deemed so integral that it influenced the publishers to inflict them upon the other titles that share characters and environments, but not after the fact, instead during. Rumor has it that’s why Chuck Dixon got the boot off Robin and Batman and the Outsiders, but it’s a moot point to belabor because they’re both trucking along without him.

Robin #176 concludes its two-part “R.I.P.” tie-in, which, given how little it actually reveals, was an abrupt and mildly annoying shift from what Dixon was doing with the title. Fabian Nicieza has taking up writing chores, and on such short notice, I’ll admit, has done an admirable job. He’s managed to quickly capture the feel of Robin while also lacing in a bunch of threads fed to him from corporate to loosely tie it to Morrison’s work. In the two-parter, Robin is trying to cope with the fact that Batman has mysteriously disappeared (assuming as a result of what’s happening over in the main “R.I.P” story) and with the recently returned Spoiler side-kicking along is trying to track his mentor down. Nicieza has quickly turned Robin grim and sullen, whereas Dixon had been restoring some lightheartedness, fun, and general teenage shenanigans to the title, which is unfortunate (and leaves speculation about whether Tim Drake will be taking up as the Dark Knight). Nicieza’s take works, but I liked Dixon’s better. The title is also exploring some of the concepts introduced back in 52 but left abandoned by most writers, and teases at bringing in some of the Jason Toddedness of Countdown. it’s a very loose connection to “R.I.P.” though, and that it concludes its tie-in well before the Batman “R.I.P.” run ends, leaves it somewhat hollow and unessential.

Over in Nightwing #147, a new storyline begins, bringing Two-Face to New York in search of Nightwing’s help in rescuing a former love interest of Harvey’s from mob bosses who want her dead (because she is that tired cliche of key witness in a court case). Of course, things aren’t exactly what they seem (they never are with someone called Two-Face), and Dick finds the danger far more serious than he’s prepared to deal with. It’s another high-action, borderline-absurd romp from Peter J. Tomasi, who is absolutely keen on making the title as action-packed as possible, no matter how many conventions of the genre he has to flagrantly use. Tomasi’s dialogue has in previous issues been fun, but it’s pretty tin-eared this issue. Artist Don Kramer has usurped “series regular” Rags Morales as penciller, but he’s a decent substitute. As for the “R.I.P.” connection, it’s non-existent, and seems more a cash-in on Two-Face’s role in the The Dark Knight movie. I expect, though, an “R.I.P.” connection will start making its way then usurping the story by it’s third chapter.

Meanwhile, Paul Dini is still doing his thing in Detective Comics #847, and like Nightwing seems to be affiliated with “R.I.P.” in trade-dress only. Issue 847 continues “Hush Returns”, Dini’s first story arc since taking on DC’s second-oldest title two years ago. As is typical, Dini is focusing on the bad guy, delving into Hush’s childhood, his burgeoning hatred of Bruce Wayne, and introducing a mentor, who certainly hasn’t been doing Tommy Elliott any favors in the mental health department. In further disassociation from “R.I.P.”, Batman, Robin and Nightwing are all together battling The Wonderland Gang, while simultaneously discussing the danger of Hush’s presence since he know’s their secret identities. A sweet little scene between Zatanna and Selena Kyle has the two (verbally, no, ahem, catfight here) hashing out Bruce Wayne’s lovelife. Dini’s certainly threading together a few clever plot and character ideas, and is executing them as nicely as most of his previous run on the series. The issue takes no pains to connect to current events of Robin, Nightwing and Batman, and the “R.I.P.” banner seems to undermine the great work Dini is doing by stretching to connect it to Morrison’s work.

So, there we go, three titles, each featuring the same dripping-blod-bat header and each barely, if at all, connected to another story that was actually meant to stand apart. It’s kind of insulting to the reader and the writer of the books, a cheap market ploy, a manufactured event where none existed. Dini’s Detective is, for now, a solid, stand-apart venue for some Bat-storytelling if the whole R.I.P. thing isn’t your cup’o'tea.

Robin - 2.5/5 Vikings

Nightwing - 2.5/5 Vikings

Detective Comics - 4/5 Vikings

[Raided] Final Crisis #3

Posted by Graig on August 7, 2008

(DC)

If, at this stage, you’re not reading Final Crisis but want to, I’ll give you a piece of advice: wait for trade. This issue, like those before it, presents the series’ story as a collection of fragments, each adding more to the overall broken picture, but what that picture is actually supposed to look like? I’m fairly confident that only Grant Morrison truly knows. For those that enjoy such things, this series is an incredible mind-tease, as only Mr. Morrison can present it, working in corroboration with an artist who seems to understand well how to visualize what’s more a concept rather than character-based narrative, and an scattershot one at that. Part of the fun for many may be the month-to-two-month gap between issues allowing them plenty of time to troll the interweb for message boards where they can play the deductive reasoning (or wild fanboy speculation) game, attempting to suss out what’s going on. They can buy the Final Crisis #1: Director’s Cut Special (also out this week) to tease them even further without actually revealing anything before its time. I guess the question those who haven’t bought into yet are asking is, “Is it worth it?” It just may be, but I don’t know yet. I’m certainly intrigued, but still at a loss to see how certain fragments actually apply, like when you’re doing a puzzle, and you have the frame completed but you’ve also got three tiny clusters forming seemingly disparate images unconnected to each other…so far. Soldier through, though, and eventually everything will join together. However, I acknowledge that some people just don’t like puzzles. I also think Morrison is experimenting with narrative to see how much his audience can actually process at once. Event books have rarely ever been well-rounded reading, but at the very least, Final Crisis stimulates the mind in different ways. Whether it’s an acceptable or distasteful stimulant is really an individual call.

3 and a half out of 5 Vikings