January 24th's Meanwhile in Las Vegas...

This week's Las Vegas Weekly comics review is of Tokyopop's Manga Sutra Vol. 1 by Katsu Aki. Click on over to check it out. I liked it quite a bit, but aside from the book being a good read, I find it an extremely interesting type of book, unlike any other graphic novel I've read so far. And that's always a good thing.

And while I'm linking to things, my fellow Best Shots @ Newsarama.com contributor Lucas Siegel announced earlier in the week that the Shots In The Dark forum is new and improved, and has a few creator forums up and running, including ones for Bump creator Mark Kidwell, Return to Wonderland writer Raven Gregory, and Marvel colorist Christina Strain. Lucas guarantees that "it's a nice, chill place to chat with people who aren't douchebags," so check that out. Additionally, Best Shots mastermind Troy Brownfield's Shotgun Reviews also has a forum, which is a good place to engage the Best Shots critics and tell them what a bunch of jerks they are for not liking the comics you like and disliking the comics you dislike.

Weekly Haul: January 23rd

Blue Bettle #23 (DC Comics) The ongoing conflict between Jaime “Blue Beetle III” Reyes and the alien race known as The Reach that’s been at the heart of this series has been the part of it which interested me the least. Jaime’s relationship with his friends and family, his interaction with the rest of the DCU, and writer John Rogers sharp characterization and sharper dialogue has been the book’s real selling point for me personally.

This issue involves Jaime deciding to finally confront (and hopefully defeat) The Reach once and for all, and I found myself enjoying it much more than I thought I would. It seems our hero doing something he does only really quite rarely—confronting an enemy or problem all on his own. In fact, the first half of the issue deal with him explaining to his friends and family that he has to go this alone, and why he can’t have them or anybody else really helping them. It’s surprisingly touching (Confession: I totally choked up on page 7, panel 5).

While the second half veers into more standard superhero comics territory—the hero, using his amazing powers, combats the evil alien invaders—Rogers’ fairly unique conception of these particular evil alien invaders, and the clever ways in which Jaime uses those powers against them if both fun and fresh.



Teen Titans Go! #51 (DC) I was a big fan of Cartoon Network’s Teen Titans cartoon. Like their Justice League, it started off a little weak, but rapidly got really great. In addition to reinventing the Wolfman/Perez era Titans into cooler, more relevant and sharply realized characters, the show’s writers and artists improved on the most hoary DC character properties, from Speedy and Aqualad to the Doom Patrol and the Brotherhood of Evil, from the Mad Mod and Ding Dong Daddy to Bumblebee and Argent.

I tried to read the comic book adaptation for the first dozen or issues or so, but just couldn’t get into it. It suffered a bit from the adaptation of an adaptation syndrome, and unlike the cartoon itself, seemed to be addressing kids by talking down to them.

This week seemed like a good time to give it another shot though, since it was such a light week for promising looking releases and, what the hell, it’s got the introduction of the TTG! version of Geo-Force.

Now it’s easy to hate on Geo-Force, and Brad Meltzer made it several thousand times easier by kind of sort of including him in his JLoA revamp, having him just kind of appearing in random scenes that never connected with the rest of the story, and seeming like a hanger-on to the team. There’s that stupid green and yellow costume, a color combo that only really works on athletic teams, and the “GF” logo on the chest. Stupid Geo-Force.

Having recently devoured the Showcase Presents: Batman and the Outsiders by Mike Barr, Jim Aparo and others, I’ve come to appreciate G.F. a bit more. Maybe it was the fact that the black and white format meant I didn’t have to look at that green and gold costume (Fun fact: Batman designed that for Geo-Force!), or that Barr and company wrote the guy as something other than an empty costume taking up space in an already decompressed narrative, but it certainly made Brion a little harder to hate. (Or maybe it was just the number of times he said “By my crown!”; characters with catch-phrases are always preferable to those without ‘em).

The old much-missed Young Justice art team of Todd Nauck and Larry Stucker are still on TTG! art duty, and they give Geo-Force a pretty awesome new costume design, by far the best he’s ever worn.

You can see it on the cover there. It has the color scheme of his original one (Which he quit wearing because it reminded him of Terra, I also learned from that Showcase; not sure why he started wearing it in the DCU again, other than the fact that it sucks less than his green and gold one), with the belt, wristbands and “GF” symbol of his second one. However, the “GF” logo is much more stylized, with sharper lines and bigger letters. This one looks more like Superman or Blue Falcon’s symbols than, say something that might appear on the side of a football helmet.

It does feature cargo pants, however. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about them. I kinda like the fact that he’s wearing pants—it gives the costume a sort of military look, and it also covers his modesty.

The DCU version of Geo-Force should totally steal this costume design.

Lame.

Lame.

Lame.

As for the issue, it’s one of the stronger ones I’ve read of the series (although I haven’t been following writer J. Torres’ run on the series, so maybe it’s actually pretty typical). A strange super-powered teenager shows up at the Titans’ tower and starts causing trouble with his powers over rocks and the earth.

When they’re finally able to calm him down, they learn that he’s actually Terra’s older brother and he’s come looking for her, and he blames the Titans for what happened to her. You know, the whole being tricked into working for Slade, going all evil and ultimately turning herself to stone. It was in the cartoons.

It’s a nice done-in-one telling the origins of Geo-Force and Terra, one which convinced me that, as unlikely as it seems, the Markov royal family would actually make for a pretty good shoujo-style manga comic, if DC ever actually starts taking advantage of their characters’ ability to court the legions of manga reading kids out there.



Therefore Repent! (IDW) Writer Jim Munroe and artist Salgood Sam’s “post-Rapture graphic novel” has an appealing hook—a disintegrating romance in a world not unlike that in Left Behind, only with more talking dogs and magic—and a nice, inky black and white look. It took a while to get there, but the conclusion is quite interesting, ultimately redeeming the sometimes too slow journey to get there. It’s a pretty busy book with a lot actually happening, and I’m still processing it. Expect a fuller review next week.



Wonder Woman #16 (DC) Because asking a single art team to draw 22 pages a month is unthinkable, artist Ron Randall comes in to draw the middle of Terry and Rachel Dodson’s story here, which continues to pit Wonder Woman and her mom vs. Nazis on the abandoned Themyscira, and the back story involving a new look at Wonder Woman’s origin story.

I feel like Gail Simone’s take on the character and direction for the title is still coming together—this is only part-three of a four issue arc, after all, and she certainly had her work cut out for her in terms of making sense of the shambles the franchise was left in—and this issue is a third case of a decent Wonder Woman issue, with a trio of pretty good individual threads that don’t really seem to have much of anything to do with one another yet.

I do like the extreme melodrama of the dialogue, and the fact that the super-gorillas have Wondy’s back in her battle—I’ve been spending some more time with the Wonder Woman Archives (still by far the best take on the character), and her ability to turn enemies into friends was an important part of her old mythos, although they were usually evil women becoming heroines, rather than gorilla terrorists becoming Wonder Woman’s gorilla knights, but close enough.

The biggest problem with the book, however, continues to be the damage done to it before Simone got there, and the damage done to the character and the elements of her franchise done around the rest of the DCU.

I believe I mentioned with the last few issues, that there seemed to be two-to-three different versions of Themyscira and Hippolyta in the DCU at the time (I haven’t been reading Green Arrow/Black Canary and Countdown, but they’ve both featured populated Themyscira’s, and this Hippolyta looks nothing like the one in GA/BC).

And the cliffhanger ending is more laughable than dramatic, as Hippolyta is seemingly shot to death. I mean, she was just magically brought to life a couple issues ago; if she does die now, why can’t be magically brought back to life again the following month?

Good, but still not good enough.




World War Hulk Aftersmash: Damage Control #1 (Marvel Comics) This World War Hulk follow-up seems like it took a little too long to arrive—in the Marvel hype cycle, WWH already seems like two event ago—but that may have more to do with the shrinking time frame between tent pole events than anything else.

All but destroyed by the Hulk’s invasion in Grek Pak and John Romita Jr.’s miniseries, New York City is in need of some serious repair, and Dwayne McDuffie and Ernie Colon creation Damage Control has just won the $164 billion contract.

Writer McDuffie’s history with the characters is readily apparent—several characters are introduced who seem to have had prior story arcs, but they’re introduced so thoroughly, one need not have any prior experience with them to know what’s going on (This is the first time I’ve read a McDuffie D.C. story, and I wasn’t the least bit lost).

Most of the issue is devoted to introducing these characters, and McDuffie gets plenty of opportunity to flex his skill at sharp dialogue and verbal witticisms. It reads a bit like a clever TV dramedy plays—and I mean that in a good way. It’s not like trying to turn The Avengers into The Sopranos or JLA into Law and Order: SVU; these civilian characters and their somewhat mundane job in a more fantastic world fit the pilot episode feel of the issues perfectly.

Artist Salva Espin’s art—colored to closely resemble Civil War by Guru EFX—is great. The characters are sharply drawn and act well, and the details are well realized. There are a few panels I was tempted to reach into and grab some fruit from a bowl in the middle of the scene.

As for super-business, there’s the introduction of a new Goliath, who calls himself “Black Goliath” the first time he grows, and a boatload of cameos in one panel, who are confronted in a cliffhanger by the Thunderbolts.

I kinda hope a fight breaks out. It seems like the SHRA conflict between heroes which Marvel EIC said was instituted to bring a level of danger to the Marvel Universe—the second of his three genies—is constantly being swept under the rug. Almost every time the registered and unregistered are in the same panel, the former forgives the latter. Here, for example, black suit Spider-Man, Dr. Srange, Iron Fist and Luke Cage are all milling around with Mr. Fantastic and Yellowjacket.

DC's April previews reviewed

ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN, THE BOY WONDER #10 Written by Frank Miller. Art and cover by Jim Lee & Scott Williams. Variant cover by Frank Quitely. Batgirl, Catwoman, Black Canary, and even Detective Gordon's better half give Gotham a headache so big it'll split the city in two! Retailers please note: This issue will ship with two covers. For every 10 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Jim Lee & Scott WIlliams), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by Frank Quitely). Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.


Hey, Quitely! What the hell are you doing drawing variant covers that only one out of ten readers of ASBaRtBW are going to see anyway? Is All-Star Superman monthly all of a sudden? No? Then get back to those Morrison scripts and quit fiddling around with variants, dammit!




BATMAN: THE JOKER'S LAST LAUGH TP Written by Chuck Dixon & Scott Beatty. Art by Ron Randall, Marcos Martin, Walter McDaniel and others. Cover by Brian Bolland. The Joker, thinking he's dying, concocts a scheme to carry on his legacy by transforming his fellow villains into "jokerized" versions of themselves in this exciting volume collecting the 6-issue miniseries (2001)!


While this certainly isn’t one of the better DC crossover series, and certainly doesn’t beg for a collection the way many of them do (Where’s War of the Gods? Or Invasion!? Or Armageddon 2001?), I think it gets kind of a bum rap. It’s not all that great, but it’s certainly not all that bad, either. There were a lot of rather superfluous tie-ins, but I imagine most of those will end up being left out of this collection, which, according the solicitation copy, is just the main miniseries.

And come on, check out that Bolland cover!




Hey look, one of the 52 parallel universes is apparently the one on which Superman Returns was set. How else to explain Superman’s belt-buckle in this image?




I spent some time over the weekend just staring at this image, trying to figure out exactly what emotion it was that Superman was experiencing there. Anger? No, there’s some anger in there, certainly, but there’s more to it than that. I mean, look at his posture, his hands, and the fact that he’s kneeling. Anguish? Nah, it seems too angry for anguish. Frustration? Certainly I can see some frustration, but who falls to their knees like that when they’re frustrated?

I’ve just got to assume he’s experiencing some bizarre Kryptonian emotion that I can’t even imagine experiencing, let alone naming.

Please note the character right behind him. Is Kanto the coolest New God of them all, or what? His expression clearly indicates that he is. And that he knows it.




JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #20
Written by Dwayne McDuffie
Art and cover by Ethan Van Sciver
The Flash has not been answering his JLA signal, so now he has to answer to Wonder Woman! But first they have to survive an attack by the Queen Bee and her new drones from the H.I.V.E in a story that only superstar artist Ethan Van Sciver (Green Lantern: Rebirth) could bring to life!


Look, another sexy bug lady in a DC comic! Forager II, Red Bee II, the new Insect Queen, Belthera or whoever from Countdown...DC is all about sexy bug ladies these days!

But wait, what's this...art by Ethan Van Sciver? A good artist? One who can really draw? And draw whole panels? Backgrounds and everything? On JLoA? Wow! I guess I'll give McDuffie's run a sixth chance come April.



JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: THE INJUSTICE LEAGUE HC Written by Dwayne McDuffie & Alan Burnett. Art and cover by Ed Benes & Sandra Hope, Mike McKone & Andy Lanning and Joe Benitez & Victor Llamas. Cover by Ian Churchill. The new adventures of the World's Greatest Super-Heroes continue in this volume collecting JLA Wedding Special #1 and Justice League of America #13-16! As the wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary looms, the new Injustice League forms! The World's Greatest Super-Villains - including Lex Luthor, The Joker, Gorilla Grodd, Cheetah, Poison Ivy, Dr. Light and more - stage an unprecedented attack on the JLA, taking Wonder Woman and other heroes prisoner. It all leads to an epic melee as the forces of good and evil collide, and the JLA will lose a member before rallying for the no-holds-barred brawl of the century! Advance-solicited; on sale June 4 o 144 pg, FC, $19.99 US


In addition to sucking worse than you’d think a McDuffie-penned story possibly could and containing the worst art of any Justice League art ever published, this hardcover collection contains four $2.99 issues and one $3.99 issue, yet instead of costing $15.95, it’s $19.99. You’re paying four extra bucks for the covers and spine, I guess.



NIGHTWING #143 Written by Peter J. Tomasi. Art by Don Kramer & Christian Alamy. Cover by Rags Morales & Michael Bair. In an attempt to stop Dr. Kendall's mad experiments with the dead, Nightwing and Robin head to a remote island hideaway to confront the doctor and his fiendish creations once and for all. The only obstacle in their way: The League of Assassins!


Damn. Morales is off or on-break already? And he’s replaced by Kramer? And we have to watch more pages worth of Bat-sidekicks fighting the League of Assassins?

Sigh.

I like Morales’ design for that Bat-plane on the cover, though.




ROBIN #173 Written by Chuck Dixon. Art by Chris Batista & Cam Smith. Vover by Freddie Williams III. Girl trouble doesn't even begin to describe Robin's situation when he finds himself caught between Violet and Spoiler! Meanwhile, the Peguin's net is getting tighter, and all three of them might find themselves sleeping with the fishes…if another supermafioso on the scene doesn't get to them first!

Wow, they’re just coming right out and saying it now, huh?



SUPERMAN #675
Written by Kurt Busiek
Art and variant cover by Renato Guedes & Wilson Magalhaés
Cover by Alex Ross
It's an oversized spectacular blowout action anniversary issue, as Kurt Busiek, gearing up for his insanely huge next project, brings his Superman run to a close! A three-way battle between Superman, Paragon and the forces of Daxam! The Earth-shattering threat of the all-new Galactic Golem! This one's got it all, including a painted cover by new series cover artist Alex Ross and a variant by Renato Guedes.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!! Busiek's run is over already?! That's, like, the worst news. I have no idea who they have planned to replace him, but I think the Super-books have been in better shape with Busiek on them than they've been in...well, at least since Superman stopped winking at the reader.

My only comfort is that Buiek's "insanely huge next project" is the LITG-rumored weekly with Mark Bagley, which all clues continue to point towards.




Cool! It looks like a Teen Titans Go! version of Wonder Girl III which blends her original power and Young Justic era looks. I liked the idea of a Wonder Girl who used a couple of magical items to go from a normal human to a superhuman. Having more-or-less natural superpowers just makes her a blonde version of Wonder Woman or Donna Troy, or Supergirl with a rope.




Nooooooo! A cell-phone with a camera in it? I was off in my estimation of the introduction of IM-ing technology vs. the relative, declared post-Crisis on Infinite Earths DCU timeline, but cell-phones with cameras in them can't have been around for eight or more years now, right?

Fun fact: I do not own, nor have I ever owned, a cell-phone.




TITANS #1
Written by Judd Winick
Art and cover by Ian Churchill & Norm Rapmund
Variant cover by Ethan Van Sciver
A new team of Titans is born in the extra-sized first issue of a new ongoing monthly by Judd Winick (GREEN LANTERN, GREEN ARROW, OUTSIDERS), Ian Churchill & Norm Rapmund (SUPERGIRL, TEEN TITANS EAST SPECIAL)! Someone or something is continuing its attack on anyone who's ever been a Titan, including Nightwing, Starfire, Donna Troy, Beast Boy and Raven.
You won't want to miss this new startling chapter in Titans history that may forge a new team from the ashes of old, dead friends.

Oh wow, what a great cover! And looking at those particular hands this should be a good, it...Aaa! Winick! Churchill! Gah! Nevermind. Honestly, I would at least try this series with almost any other creative team.

Some random thoughts on a book I have no intention of reading:

Kind of a stretch to call those slaughtered in the Teen Titans East Special "friends" isn't it? Most of these Titans never even met those Titans.

Is Donna Troy due for a new (much needed) costume? Because that's a new wristband for her on the cover.

Where's Tempest?!?!




WATER BABY Written by Ross Campbell. Art and cover by Campbell. Surfer Girl Brody just got her leg bitten off by a shark. What's worse? Jake, her shark of an ex-boyfriend, is back and when it comes to Brody's couch, he's not budging. It's up to Brody and her BFF Louisa to embark on the roadtrip from hell, narrowly escaping weird hitchhikers and shark-infested nightmares, to get Jake out of their lives forever. This time it's personal! Two-time Eisner nominee Ross Campbell (Wet Moon, The Abandoned) puts punk rock on paper with his brutally honest characters and perversely lush artwork. Advance-solicited; on sale June 25 o 176 pg, B&W, $9.99 US

Woohoo! I’ve been waiting for this one for quite a while. I love Ross Campbell’s art, and really dug his zombie story The Abandoned. And the blurb that ran in some of the earlier Minx books sure made this sound like a pretty awesome book.

Marvel's April previews reviewed

Is there any action movie as cliché and tired as the group of heroes walking toward the viewer, preferably in slow motion, and maybe with something burning or exploding in the background?

But you know what make that shit fresh? Adding a humanoid raccon with a gun into the group of heroes.

It’s just too bad that Annihilation: Conquest’s cover artist Aleksi Briclot draws a fucking terrible Rocket Raccoon.



AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #12 Written by DAN SLOTT & CHRISTOS GAGE. Pencils & Cover by STEVE UY. "CHANGING OF THE GUARD.” Daddy's home. IRON MAN comes to Camp Hammond, and he's NOT happy. The first year of the Initiative comes to a dramatic close as members are laid to rest, drummed out, declared AWOL, or...awarded their full Hero's License. See who graduates and find out what super-teams they'll be assigned to as the NEXT era of the Initiative begins! Plus: as a new 3-D MAN appears, the base is suddenly short one Skrull...but not how you'd think... Also guest-starring MS. MARVEL!


See, this is why I love this series. Just look at all the stuff going on in this issue. You sure get your $2.99’s worth of stuff happening every month with Avengers: The Initiative.

I do hope Jeff Parker’s already at work on a script introducing this new 3-D Man to the Agents of Atlas. When he’s not working on scripts for Agents of Atlas II, of course.



IRON MAN: LEGACY OF DOOM #1 (of 4)
Written by DAVID MICHELINIE
Art & Cover by RON LIM & BOB LAYTON
"A Knight in Hell" Dr. Doom returns to menace Iron Man in the chilling and long-awaited conclusion of The Camelot Trilogy! Mephisto has apparently found a way to bring about The End Of Days and Tony Stark and Victor Von Doom must form an uneasy alliance to try and stop him. But all may not be as it seems. And it takes a journey to Hell itself before the shocking truth is revealed! Iron Man legends David Michelinie and Bob Layton are joined by penciler supreme Ron Lim to bring you the first part of an epic literally decades in the making!


Mephisto has apparently found a way to bring about The End of Days, eh? So Spider-Man fans are right—retconning away Peter and MJ's marriage really was the end of the world.



KICK-ASS #3
Written by MARK MILLAR
Pencils & Cover by JOHN ROMITA JR.
You were wowed by the first two issues of this comic. But wait until you read issue three. Mark Millar (Civil War) and John Romita Jr (World War Hulk) only up the odds here and the pace is breathtaking. I read it weeks ago and I'm still having nightmares. Never have I seen such sickening violence sold to readers in the name of entertainment. If it wasn’t selling so well we’d have to stop publishing this monster. Follow Dave’s journey from zero to hero as he becomes a youtube celebrity. He sure kicked the ass of those drop-outs, didn’t he? Join us this issue where he inspires others to dress up and hurt people.

Woah, woah, woah! Take it easy, Solicitation Copy Writer! Okay, first I wasn’t “wowed by the first two issues of this comic,” since I haven’t read either of them. In fact, the damn thing doesn’t even launch till next month.

And what’s this “sickening violence sold to readers” stuff? You haven’t sold it to a single reader yet.

And “if it wasn’t selling so well?” At best, you’ve had retailers place orders for the first two issues, so I guess you could say it’s selling well to the people who actually sell it for you, but Jesus. Calm down, guy.




Orrgo the Unconquerable!




Swarm!


OMEGA: THE UNKNOWN #7 (of 10)
Written by JONATHAN LETHEM & KARL RUSNAK
Art by FAREL DALRYMPLE, PAUL HORNSCHEMEIER & GARY PANTER
Cover by GARY PANTER
You know a super hero's in trouble when he resorts to drawing a comic book to try to solve his problems! Omega The Unknown #7, on top of the usual stellar array of talent, features special guest-star creator Gary Panter, known for his work on a legendary children's show, Frank Zappa's album covers, and RAW Magazine—but he's never been between Marvel's covers before. Tune in!

Gary Panter is drawing a Marvel comic book. Gary Panter is drawing a Marvel comic book.



THE ORDER #10
Written by MATT FRACTION
Pencils & Cover by BARRY KITSON
Shell-shocked, shattered, and—worst of all—depowered, the men and women that were once the Order stand face to face with the big-bad that's toyed with them for 9 whole issues in various forms and guises and shapes and sizes. They might be broken—but can The Order be beaten? The end of a strange and vicious trip arrives, and God only knows if the Order will survive. As this is our last issue, y'know, you might think you know the answer. But you might be wrong! You don't know. You DON'T! Hooray! Goodbye! By Matt Fraction (PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL, Casanova), Kaare Evans (Immortal Iron Fist) and Barry Kitson (Empire, Legion of Superheroes).


Wow, I didn’t realize The Order was doing so poorly that it was on the chopping block already. It didn’t even get a year? It seemed to be very well received critically. I guess that should have been my first clue that it wasn’t selling very well. I blame the last-minute title change, myself. I would have bought a book called The Champions monthly, but a book called The Order? That gets trade-waited. Sorry Order fans; I feel this is partially my fault now.






Brian Michael Bendis’ “Secret Invasion” story finally kicks off in earnest. Interesting strategy with the covers, taking classic covers (or possible future classic in the case of that top one, I guess) and Skrullifying them, as they’ve zombified classic Marvel covers to great effect in the past. I don’t see this working anywhere near as well—zombies are more popular than Skrulls, after all—but it’s always fun to watch Marvel try this hard.



SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #8 Written by KEVIN GREVIOUX & NATE PIEKOS. Penciled by RAY HEIGHT & ZACH HOWARD. Cover by DAVID WILLIAMS. So, have you ever noticed that Peter Parker never really grows facial hair? That’s just this side of weird, right? We felt sorry for the wall–crawler, so we went and got him a special guest star, THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN!!!!!! Because I think we can all agree that Tony Stark’s got the sweetest facial hair in all of Marvel Comics. Oh! And they fight a Nazi robot. PLUS…Spidey vs. Iceman! Spider-Man J! And a TON of classic Spidey stories!


This is probably the best solicitation copy for a Spider-Man comic I’ve ever read. It’s just too bad that it sounds like Spidey’s lack of facial hair won’t be the actual focus of the story.



Why are Kaare Andrews’ covers for The Twelve so bad? I feel he’s adopting a terrible style on purpose, and I don’t get it. He’s a brilliant cover artist. In fact, I was buying the Bruce Jones Incredible Hulk for quite a while after John Romita Jr. left just because I couldn’t resist Andrews’ covers.



WAR IS HELL: THE FIRST FLIGHT OF THE PHANTOM EAGLE MAX #2 (of 5)
Written by GARTH ENNIS
Penciled by HOWARD CHAYKIN
Cover by JOHN CASSADAY The battle for the skies continues as young pilot Karl Kauffman takes the fight to the Hun. But as the missions continue and the body count rises, Kauffman learns quickly that combat isn't as glamorous as he'd hoped. Meanwhile, his fellow soldiers begin to question the strange circumstances of his arrival. Kauffman must prove his worth before his past is uncovered. But doing so might cost the lives of his closest friends.


Is it just me, or did this title triple in length since last month's solicitations?

Wait, Janet Van Dyne is a fashion designer?

You know, I knew longtime Avenger Janet "The Wasp" Van Dyne was supposed to be a fashion designer when she wasn't being a superhero, but I never really thought about it until I read Mighty Avengers #7.

For some reason, writer Brian Michael Bendis follows a scene in which the various Republican Avengers engage in some paranoia about who's really a Skrull and who can be trusted by this scene, in which The Wasp informs Simon "Wonder Man" Williams that his costume totally sucks, and marches in some models wearing her costume redesigns for him:


Now I understand Wonder Man's current red jacket costume may not be every one's aesthetic cup of tea, but it's worth mentioning that it's a pretty good look for Wonder Man, perhaps the best of the many he's sported over the years.

I don't mind the jacket-less, sleeveless shirt look he wore in Civil War,Civil War: Frontline or Wonder Man: My Fair Superhero at all. You know, with the red "W" over the black shirt, and red sunglasses?

It's not the greatest superhero costume of all time or anything, but the red and black color combination is fine, and it's certainly not as incredibly stupid as some of his other looks, like, well, any of these featuring a hood and/or the color green:


But the thing about Janet's designs there? They are all much, much, much worse. We'll excuse the Superman one for being a Superman one, but come on, the all-black costume? That's practically Wonder Man's normal costume, sans his "W" icon and the contrasting red highlights. And those other three?

Good God, woman...the green one is biker shorts with a matching top!

Those costumes don't really seem the work of a professional fashion designer, you know?

And what's this?


Damn, Jan. First off, leg warmers totally did come back already. In fact, I think they may actually be going out of style again.

And what's this "leisure suit" business you're talking about?


While Simon's jacket does indeed look like it belongs to a leisure suit, he's clearly not wearing a leisure suit. I think for something to qualify as a "suit" in the most basic sense of the word, it needs to be more than one peice, you know?

Anyway, that got me thinking about Janet's costume design skills in general, and I don't think she's ever designed a not-terrible costume. Spend some time clicking around this site sometime; it chronicles every costume Wasp ever wore, and they're all pretty bad. I think her current look is probably her coolest, and there's really not much to it.

And her husband! Have you seen the things her husband has worn over the years? When your coolest costume has a big stupid yellowjacket in profile picture on the chest and huge, vibrating shoulderpads, you know you're in need of a serious fashion intervention.

So leave Wonder Man alone, Janet. People who get dressed in glass closets shouldn't throw stones.

The little red lighthouse, the great gray bridge, the brave blue vigilante and the ghoulish green grave-robber

In January 9th's Nightwing #140, Dick "Nightwing" Grayson stakes out The Cloisters museum in New York City in an attempt to stop a group of serial museum theives. They do show up, with their sights set on the body of a French knight there, and Nightwing manages to foil them.

He wasn't expecting them to receive reinforcements in the form of a winged monster, however, and it swoops in, scoops up the body and flies away. Nightwing snags its ankle with a grappling line, and is soon dangling from the creature, like so:



After smashing Nightwing into the top of the light house, the creature escapes into the night.

Later, Nightwing and Robin are chatting about the events on the roof of The Cloisters...


What's this book they're talking about?

Let's find out together, shall we?



The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge (This is America, Tomasi; we spell our gray with an a!) is a classic children's picture book originally published in 1942. It was written by the late Hildegarde H. Swift, best known for Newbery Honor cited The Railroad to Freedom, and illustrated by the late Lynd Ward, a Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator with over 200 books to his name.

It's a true-ish story...or is at least inspired by a true events. Swift watched the George Washington Bridge being built beaside a little red lighthouse, and anthropomorphized the structures and boats to come up with a story that apparently delighted Dick Grayson, Tim Drake and their dads.

Here's the lighthouse, as envisioned in watercolor by Ward:


Please note the face on it. This lighthouse was stationed on the Hudson River, and, in addition to being round, fat, red and jolly, it was, Swift writes in all caps, "VERY, VERY PROUD." All the passing anthrpomorphic boats were kind to it, and would always say hello. And at night, a man would come tend to it, and turn its light on.

This would warn ships away from the rocks, and keep them from running aground. When it was foggy, there would also be a bell.

Not only was the lightouse VERY, VERY PROUD, it also thought of itself as, get this, "MASTER OF THE RIVER."

Then one day, he was given reason to rethink his place in the world, when some workmen set to work behind him.

Before long, he wasn't so big anymore.

Now, instead of being VERY, VERY PROUD, he felt "very, very small."


He was already beginning to wonder what the point of his existence was now that there was a gigantic bridge behind him, and then one night a nasty fog rolled in, and his man failed to show up to turn him on. Unable to flash his light and unable to ring his bell, a tug boat crashed into the rocks.

Now he was, "VERY, VERY SAD."

How sad?


Well, it cried about it. (Just imagine how very sad he was when Nightwing smashed open his glass skull the other night).

But, it turns out, the man was just running late, and does come in to turn on his light and bell. The great gray bridge pointed out that his beam of light was to warn away airplanes, while the lighthouses was there to warn away ships. They were really a team. And this, of course, made the lighthouse VERY, VERY PROUD again.


Swift's tale ends with the words, "And every day the people who go up Riverside Dive in New York City turn to look at it. For there they both are—the great gray bridge and the little red lighthouse. If you don't believe it, go see for yourselves!"

I believe it, although I haven't seen it myself. Hopefully it is indeed still there, and Nightwing hasn't completely destroyed it.

Review: The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam

So, have you seen the Young Adult Library Services Association’s Top Ten Graphic Novels for Teens list yet?

They’ve got Laika, which was on my own top ten; Sidescrollers, which was incredibly awesome; the first two Blue Beetle trades from before it even got all that good; a couple of manga series I’ve yet to read (Emma, After School Nightmare, King of Thorn); The Wall (which I’ve never even heard of); and Shaun Tan’s The Arrival; which is still sitting there in my “to read” pile.

Oh, and they’ve also got The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam (Riverhead) by Ann Marie Fleming.

This was released in September of last year, and, aside from a single link on Blog@Newsarama.com, I don’t recall seeing any discussion of it anywhere. Did it fly under the comics blogosphere’s collective radar for some reason? Was it not sold through the direct market? Did the comics press not cover it much? Was I just not paying attention?

I stumbled upon it by accident (I really liked the cover design, by Ben Gibson) and checked it out from the library. I was actually pretty surprised to crack it open and see that it was a graphic novel.

According to the cover, it’s “an illustrated memoir.” According to the fine print on the back cover, it’s a “Graphic Memoir.” The title page suggests that it be shelved under the subjects “Long Tack Sam” and “Comic books, strips, etc.” and/or “Magicians—China—Biography—Comic books/strips, etc.” The suggested call number is “793.8092,” which would put it among books about magicians and stage entertainers, rather than graphic novels, biographies or memoirs.

Looking at the three library systems in and around Columbus that carry it, it seems to be shelved in three different places, depending on the system—one has it with memoirs, another with graphic novels, and a third with books about magicians.

However it was ultimately packaged, marketed and shelved in bookstores and libraries, Fleming herself indicates that she thinks of it as a graphic novel in the author’s notes that follow the work.

She had previously made a documentary film of the same name, and says that, “When the film came out, my editor, Megan Lynch, saw it on the Sundance Channel and contacted me, asking me if I wanted to adapt it into a graphic novel.”

And so she has.

I haven’t seen the film version yet, but reading this definitely makes me want to, as in the same passage Fleming discusses how difficult it was to adapt the heavily animated, personally narrated film into a static, 2D medium (film stills, with the subtitles translating foreign languages still on them, make up many of the panels of the OGN version of The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam).

I’m not very well suited to have one of those discussions where a commentator picks apart an official list of some sort, particularly not this particular list, as being a 30-year-old makes me a poor judge of what is and what is not good for teens (The best I can do is remember what I liked as a teen, and I know I wouldn’t like to have been told that I should read books on a list of graphic novels for teens, rather than a list of best graphic novels period).

I can say that this is a really great book though, and I’m down with any effort that gets folks to give it a looksee, particularly other folks like me who spend so much time with comics but may have missed this one when it came out.

So, who is this Long Tack Sam character? Well, he was China’s greatest magician, a prominent stage performer during the days of Vaudeville who didn’t make the jump to Hollywood (in large part because he disagreed with its portrayal of Asians as bad guys) and whose own life story coincides with the highlights of early 20th century history.

He was also Fleming’s great-grandfather, although she didn’t really know anything about him until later in her life, which plunged her on the quest that this book (and the film) chronicles/-ed. Fleming’s father was Australian and her mother was Chinese; her grandmother was half-Chinese and half-Austrian. They lived in Canada. Her family was therefore pretty spread out, and there were great big holes in her knowledge of her ancestry, despite the prominence of her great-grandfather, who she was as ignorant of as the rest of us (Although the surviving people who knew him, and magician aficionados around the world, seem to remember him quite vividly).

(Above: Fleming's avatar shares her own life's story)

Fleming introduces us to her somewhat crudely drawn comic avatar on the first page, and tells us a little about herself. Throughout the book, she’ll switch narrating duties off between this drawing of herself (which changes hair-length and color throughout to reflect the changes to the coif of the real Fleming) and a character she calls “Stickgirl,” a slant-eyed stick figure in a pink skirt and pigtails.

These characters talk to us in hand-lettered dialogue bubbles and blocks of narration, while panels of period photographs, stills from the documentary, and other print artifacts (posters, post cards, handbills, etc.) fill up the panels.

It’s a very interesting looking book, feeling at times like a graphic novel built around the edges of—and occasionally right on top of—a scrap book and family album. And yet it reads just like a graphic novel. Despite Fleming’s intimation of the difficulty she had in adapting the story form one medium to another, it sure seems effortless.

There are several passages where it becomes a more traditional looking graphic novel, when artist Julian Lawrence comes in to draw the secret origin of Long Tack Sam, or rather the secret origins of Long Tack Sam, as Fleming finds a handful of different accounts of how a little Chinese boy became a great magician.

Each of these sections kick off with a somewhat crude approximation of a Golden Age comic book cover, and then switch to pages of six-panel lay outs full of brightly colored art, telling different legendary beginnings of Long Tack Sam’s career.

(Part of one of Long Tack Sam's origin stories by Julian Lawrence)

Information gets much more solid after that, and you couldn’t have keyed his biography more closely into the major world events during his lifetime if you were making him up.

He meets his Austrian wife (and Fleming’s great-grandmother) in Europe and they marry in 1908. He travels the world, playing Vaudeville (sharing a bill with the Marx Brothers and running in circles with other famous entertainers of the day). When World War I breaks out, he and his wife are separated by an ocean, an ocean that he can’t cross due to submarine warfare.

To keep his family with him, he puts both his wife and daughters in his act. His wife’s Austrian nationality causes no end of trouble when World War II breaks out, and they spend parts of it in both Europe and Asia, wars and revolutions seemingly occurring all around them, shifting borders complicating their personal and professional lives.

(Stickgirl conducts an interview)

Fleming tells this amazing life story, but it’s not the focus of the book. Rather, the book is about her learning the story, and we discover it as she does (or at least, that’s how it’s structured…as if we’re looking over Fleming and/or Stickgirl’s shoulders as they uncover and flesh out Long Tack Sam’s life).

In addition to being a pretty thrilling and occasionally educational read, and an idiosyncratic graphic novel, the book seems to be an important one, particularly if it’s successful and saving Sam from the dustbin of history.

One of the things I found most exciting is that even at the end, Fleming still doesn’t seem to have completely nailed down Sam’s story, which leaves the readers with the sense that there’s so much more we’re not seeing. Which, come to think of it, is kind of what stage magic’s all about, isn’t it? Denying the audience the bulk of the information so they can take pleasure not only in what they do know, but what they don’t and can’t.

(An example of a page with no original drawings on it)

Sixteen thoughts about the 52 trades and their "extras"

There was a lot to admire about DC’s first year-long weekly series, 52. One of the more admirable things, I thought, was that it was a sequential comic book completely intended to be read as it was being published, in it’s 20-page, stapled, comic book format.

In other words, it wasn’t a graphic novel that was simply being chopped up into chapters and marketed as a series to make a little extra money in the direct market before tackling the book market, like so many comics these days.

In fact, it was so perfectly created to be enjoyed as a comic book series, rather than a trade paperback, that as I was reading it, I couldn’t even imagine how it would be collected in trade. With different artists handling the art chores each issue, it seemed like it would make for the ugliest trade ever some day.

Well, I recently checked all four volumes of it out from the library. Part of that was simple curiosity, to see how it reads in one sitting, whether or not it works in a trade format or not (It does; Keith Giffen’s layouts really do the trick).

But in greater part, it was because the trades include little afterwords between each issue’s worth of story, with some of the creators involved telling inside stories about the particular issue. These come from Michael Siglain, Keith Giffen, Mark Waid, Greg Rucka, Geoff Johns, J.G. Jones, Phil Jiminez, Dan DiDio and, on one occasion, Paul Levitz. MIA are Grant Morrison and Steve Wacker, the latter of whom has since left the company to work for Marvel.

I find the production of this book incredibly fascinating, and always appreciated whatever interviews any of the creators involved did about it. The four writers—Johns, Waid, Morrison and Rucka—are just so different, and everyone insisted everyone wrote everything together, with a “band” like approach to the creation. I want every look behind the curtain I can get, and this one offers lots of little peeks.

Anyway, here are some thoughts on the trade collections of 52…


1.) While the trades read better than I would have thought, the series still reads best as it was intended—as a weekly experience. The myriad little mysteries running throughout and the guessing games involved were a great part of the fun of the series, and seeing them all solved within a few hours, rather than the course of a year, may be satisfying, but does rob the reader of one of the series’ great pleasures.

Additionally, a weekly comic book that readers feel has to be read immediately in comic book form, rather than six months form now in trade, is, I think, extremely important for DC and Marvel, and any comic book companies that hope to truly compete with them in a meaningful way. If the industry is ever going to be able to resist some sort of all-graphic novel (or perhaps electronic) model, then the future lies in books like these.

It’s not hard to imagine a weekly, universe-wide series like this at each of the Big Two, and weeklies starring Batman, Batman’s sidekicks, Superman, The Justice League, The Avengers, The X-Men and Spider-Man. If weekly series became standardized enough, it would be easy enough to see them even returning to magazine racks.

But back on track for a second, while the story itself reads just fine, the trades are an overall less appealing package. The two-page back-up origins are missing, for one, and while J.G. Jones’ covers are all included, they play a less prominent role, all republished at smaller scale at the back of each volume, rather than kicking off each chapter.


2.) DC and Marvel have both been shying away from using blurbs on their trade covers of late, but 52 is lousy with ‘em. Most are pretty positive, some kind suspiciously vague (“[A] grand experiment…fun.” Or “An unprecedented undertaking…”). But still, they’ve got blurbs from The New York Times, the Washington Post, Salon.com, The Onion, Variety, the New York Daily News, Entertainment Weekly, the Philadelphia Daily News, the Miami Herald, the Newark Star Ledger and the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Can’t wait to see what the Countdown trades look like…


3.) Jones’ covers for these things are pretty weak:




(Note: That fourth one is in color and has trade dress matching the first three. DC hasn't updated the listing on their site though, despite the fact that the trade is, you know, completed and ready for purchase now).

The rendering is fine, and I can see how he was going for a unified theme, with the stars standing front and center in front of other members of the ensemble, but compared to some of the brilliant covers on the 52 individual issues of 52?

These really suck.

I don’t think I like the idea of Doctor Magnus looking so much like Doctor John Dorian, either…


4.) According to Waid, Steve Wacker wrote the notes on Rip’s infamous blackboard scene, and a few of them are things that were meant to be addressed but never were or will be, including “2000 years from now” and “What is Spanner’s Galaxy?” Not sure why Waid sounds so definitive abut it being something that won’t be gotten to eventually.

Looking at the board and Rip’s scattered notes, there’s a lot there that is so vague I’m still not sure if was actually covered somewhere. A lot of it seems to have been things covered outside of 52 anyway.


5.) Despite being constantly concerned with the book going off the rails due to the unforgiving deadline schedule, Giffen was apparently constantly fucking with everyone. He accidentally revealed Batwoman a little too early, which wasn’t caught, and he drew a Spider-Man balloon into the Thanksgiving parade (which was caught) and Zatara in fishnets (ditto).


6.) I’m not in love with Batwoman’s costume, which is just Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl costume with a different color scheme, a Silver Age Batwoman/Bat-Girl-esque mask, and a tweaked bat logo. Ross designed several different masks for her though, and they were all worse, I think. All were borrowed from other iterations—Batgirl’s mask, Batman Beyond’s mask, Huntress’ mask—save one, which looks like a Bat-symbol perched over her eyes, its wings flaring up off the sides of her head.

A few weeks later, there’s a full-color sketch from Ross labeled “Batgirl” (it’s the costume which is just a red and black version of Barbara Gordon’s, with a Batman Beyond-shaped Bat-symbol). The one sentence blurb accompanying it is interesting: “Alex Ross’s proposed sketch was originally intended for a new ‘Batgirl’—but was repurposed later for Batwoman.”

Huh?

This can’t possibly have been sitting in a drawer since the last new Batgirl was introduced (Huntress as Batgirl and then Cassandra Cain as Batgirl in “No Man’s Land”), could it? (Alex Ross did do some “No Man’s Land” covers).

Were there plans for another new Batgirl that were scrapped, then?


7.) There was one thing in the story that I was positive would get fixed in the trade and it didn’t. In week 11, Ralph confronts a member of “The Cult of Conner,” using the name “Cult of Conner” and showing a news clipping with the same name. In the weekly post-mortems on Newsarama.com, the editors and writers maintained that the general public wasn’t using that phrase, only those who already knew Superboy’s identity were. This scene contradicts that, and is still here.

Obviously, if Superboy’s name, even just his first name got out, the fact that there was a Conner Kent in Smallville, Kansas living with Clark Kent’s parents, well…you wouldn’t need to be Lex Luthor to figure out Superman’s identity with a clue that big.


8.) DiDio writes a passage about the introduction of Batwoman, and the fact that she was a lesbian caused a bit of a medium hubbub. He mentioned that he got over 1,000 emails on the subject of Batwoman’s sexuality, split 50/50 between positive and negative.

What I found most interesting was his conclusion:



I said it then and I feel it is worth repeating now: Batwoman is a hero first, and being lesbian only helps to define who she is and how she arrives at the choices she makes. I am proud of her addition to our pantheon of characters and although you are only meeting her briefly in this issue, we expect great things from her character in the future.



That first issue was September of 2006. This trade, in which DiDio wrote that paragraph, was released in May. Is she really in DC’s “pantheon of characters” at this point? Damian al Ghul has been a bigger part of Batman’s adventures and Gotham City since the end of 52 than Batwoman is.

DC has released solicitation through March of 2008, and there’s been no mention of the Batwoman ongoing that’s been rumored since fall of ’06, and had at least two writers attached to it so far.

And even if her title never comes, she’s yet to really play a part in the Bat-books. At least the one’s I read (Batman and ’TEC). Other than last year’s Christmas special and a panel or four of Countdown has she appeared anywhere yet? Has Batman met her yet? Has Barbara Gordon?

Every time a completely irrelevant fill-in appears in Batman or Detective Comics, every time a Bat- event like “The Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul” or Gotham Underground is announced, I can’t help but wonder why DC is literally sitting on a more relevant, more interesting and more eagerly anticipated Bat-related story.

The only conclusion I can come up with is that the fact that Batwoman is a lesbian is apparently a bigger deal than DiDio’s words seem to indicate, and that people within the company hierarchy are of very different opinions on what’s appropriate for a member of the Bat-family.

(I don’t think the company as a whole, or DiDio, are necessarily homophobic, or worried about being perceived negatively by homophobes. Lesbian character Montoya has a current miniseries, gay character Midnighter has an ongoing in the WildStorm imprint, and gay man Piper plays a role in Countdown. On the other hand, Manhunter, which had gay characters in its supporting cast, isn’t being published any longer, but readers were publicly assured it wasn’t cancelled, gay Superman analogue Apollo was pointedly made into a Ray analogue in Countdown: Arena, and Countdown is full of some pretty clumsy gay jokes).

It does seem like an instance of leeriness of a gay character trumping a good business decision though. Surely a Batwoman comic or event is going to outsell, oh, at least half of the books DC is publishing now, and be met with more interest than Batman fighting the Scarecrow for the 456th time.


9.) Apparently, one of the most labor-intensive parts of the series was Booster Gold’s death in week fifteen, as multiple drafts were done as the writers tried to work out a way to make the death look final, from the presence of a corpse to Booster’s last words. Waid originally wrote him dying while making fun of Supernova, saying things like, “Look at me, I’ve saving the day, I’m Supernova!” The others talked him away from that as being a little too big of a clue. They were right. What sold the death the most to me was that it was a heroic death. If a hero dies in an unheroic way, you know they’re coming back—and even when they do die a heroic one, they’re still probably coming back sooner or later anyway (See Hal Jordan, Ice, Oliver Queen and Jason Todd).

Also, in Giffen’s lay-outs, Booster Gold’s body was ripped in half by the explosion. That’s gotta be Geoff Johns’ idea.


10.) Abraham Lincoln really was one of Booster Gold’s pallbearers. According to Waid, Wacker chose the pallbearers, and one was “yes, Abraham Lincoln (from—my hand to God—an unpublished Justice League story I once wrote for Steve on a dare).” Now that’s a story I’d really like to read. Forget Four Horsemen and Crime Bible, can we get 52 Aftermath: The Abraham Lincoln Justice League Story Mark Waid Wrote on a Dare? I’d buy one.

I wonder if Waid was referring to the Lincoln story he wrote from the never released Elseworlds 80-Page Giant? A book that was pulped because of the concerns that Kyle Baker’s Super-Baby story would have kids microwaving babies or something like that. It was later published in one of the Bizarro Comics anthologies, anyway.

Font of information Wikipedia has a breakdown of the contents, including a story by Waid and EDILW favorite Ty Templeton entitled “Superman in President Abraham (Brainiac) Lincoln Vs. Clark Kent, Mentallo” in which baby Kal-El’s rocket is discovered by the Booth family.

Or did Waid write two crazy-ass Lincoln stories?


11.) The Ross-designed Batgirl isn’t the only Bat-story that never came to pass referred to in this series of trades. Rucka talks about an unrealized plan during his time on Detective Comics, near the very end of Denny O’Neil’s era as the character’s chief shepherd, which was focused on “moving Batman away from the dour-faced humorless vigilante.” Says Rucka, “There had even been a plan to do so, and a way to bring it to pass, but a change in group editors scuttled that, and, shortly after, scuttled my own participation in all things Batman, at least for the time being.”

I wonder what the plan for that was? The one DC went with was apparently to rejigger the universe so that Batman did catch his parents’ killer, apparently retconning away some of his dour-faced humorless-ness (I guess; I don’t think this has been addressed in any stories at all yet, but it’s specifically referred to in Infinite Crisis as an element of the rejiggering), plus have him take a year-long vacation and have the darkness cut out of him by the ten-eyed surgeons.


12.) Waid refers to Plastic Man’s son Offspring as being a character he created “with Frank Quitely ten years ago for a story from which, I swear to you, he was the only good thing to emerge.”

That issue with Quitely was great, but it’s interesting that Waid won’t even say the words “The Kingdom” and that he’s so down on it, too. Because some pretty significant things came out of that event, including the concept of Hypertime (apparently since forgotten, and only really touched upon in the pages of Superboy and JLA/Avengers anyway), the idea that The Trinity were the lone holders of its secret existence (and a deputized Superboy), and the grown up version of the Trinity’s son.

I remember at the time, reading interviews with Morrison and Waid trying to explain exactly what Hypertime was, and Morrison saying that to truly explain it, he’d have to do a big, Cisis-like miniseries entitled Professor Morrison Explains It All. So I’m assuming Final Crisis is a story that Morrison’s been wanting to tell in some form for ten years now.

Oh, and Funnybook Babylon has uncovered a Morrison interview from 2002 in which talks about Hypertime and what sounds like Morrison’s plans for Final Crisis.


13.) Giffen hated Osiris, quite passionately. In fact, he hated him so much that one of the gag sketches he would occasionally do prefigured the fate the writers had planned for Osiris—it was three panels of Sobek looking upon Osiris and imagining him as a giant dancing roast chicken, then calling some kind of counselor on the phone.

A few issues later, Giffen’s afterword described the Osiris chomping and his own feelings for O. thusly—“I was coming off one of the more satisfying sequences in the series, the death of that annoying little twit Osiris (I HATED that kid!) and was up for more mayhem.”


14.) Originally Veronica Cale was supposed to be killed by Black Adam. That scene where he walks right past her on Oolong Island without even glancing at her? In the original script, Adam smooshed her there. Rucka had to argue for keeping her alive. I’m glad he won that argument. It’s a neat little scene and while she hasn’t been used to much effect since (I didn’t care for the issues of Giffen and Ollife’s Four Horseman mini I’ve read), Wonder Woman needs all the rogues she can get.


15.) Rucka pulls no punches in discussing the botched Wonder Woman relaunch.

Earlier Michael Siglain discusses the fact that though the 52 creators knew exactly where Batman and Superman spent the missing year (Having the incoming Batman writer and incoming Action Comics co-writer on the team), they weren’t sure where Wonder Woman was, and no one at DC could give them a straight answer, which is why she ended up getting only a few Nanda Parbat appearances at the end of the year’s worth of issues.

Rucka attacks the Allan Heinberg spearheaded and DC editorial OK-ed new direction more fiercely:

The Wonder Woman resolve bothered me—I think it was Grant who wrote it specifically—and to this day still doesn’t sit right with me. While Bruce got most of the year to define and then to “solve” his dilemma, Diana was releaged to three appearances in the course of two weeks, and I think that Rama Kushna telling her that her whole problem is that she’s “not human enough” is garbage. It’s reductive and it’s simplistic, and it was, in my opinion, unworthy of the character.

I was, clearly, in a minority, as her entire relaunch was based on this premise.

Heh. “Garbage.” “Reductive.” “Simplistic.” “Unworthy of the character.” And this is Rucka talking about the new direction in a DC comic book! Could you imagine what he’d have to say of it if you were alone with him in a bar after he’s had a couple of beers?

And, though he may have been in the minority at DC, I think that state of the Wonder Woman franchise post-Infinite Crisis as opposed to pre-Infinite Crisis will show that he was right.


16.) According to Waid, they spent a full week deciding whether Mr. Mind should still be wearing his little glasses post-metamorphisis. I think they made the right decision. Clearly his glasses would have fallen off his head when he transformed, given how big his head got and the new shape it assumed. Besides, his new form should have perfect eyesight, shouldn’t it?

Six Things

1.) Meanwhile in Las Vegas…: This week’s Las Vegas Weekly comics review is of the better late than never Teen Titans Lost Annual, which I totally loved.

It wasn’t just the sight of a Dick Sprang-y looking Robin hanging out with a Jay Stephens-y looking JFK, in brilliant all-Allred ink and color (above), although, let’s face it, that is awesome.

It was the happy ending Haney and company gave our most tragic president:


(And, after a week of thinking on it, I wonder if that had anything to do with DC’s decision to release this…the thought that saying Kennedy survived his assassination and it was an alien doppelganger that died in his stead—complete with a drawing of the iconic image of his mourning son at the funeral—crossed some kind of line of good taste?)

The Stepens/Allred/Allred team is seriously great. Their Wonder Girl is probably the best damn Wonder Girl I’ve ever seen. Here she is in flight:


And here she is receiving foot-worship from an alien hippie:


Good stuff!

I know it’s kind of a tired, unimaginative cliché to say things like, “Wow this Bob Haney/Gardner Fox/Grant Morrison comic is so crazy…they must have totally been on drugs while writing it, for how else could the human imagination ever conceive of such wild ideas?", but, well, surely it must have occurred to Stephens that the alien race of hippies he was drawing were totally flying around on giant pipes, right?

And not giant Dr. Will Magnus pipes, but giant hide ‘em when you get pulled over pipes.

I know future Haney “Year One” Titans stories are out of the question, but I do hope to see some more from the Allreds at some point. If only because I think a lot of folks won’t read this story simply because it’s not in a trade. And where could you collect it in a trade?

Maybe a trade full of Allred Teen Titans stories? So far we’ve got the Lost Annual, and this gem


“Doom Patrol Vs. Teen Titans” from Solo #7.

But that’s still not enough to fill a whole trade. So People In Charge of Assigning Awesome Projects at DC, please see that Mike Allred gets at least one more project featuring the Year One Titans at some point soon, okay?




2.) Careful! Comics blogging can make you so used to bitter nitpicking you’ll find yourself dissecting and criticizing the most innocent and innocuous stuff: While at my local library the other day, I saw a rowdy group of little boys leaving the children’s area with their moms. I would guess they were around four years old or so.

They were all excitedly shouting, “I spin the web! I spin a web!” and I soon realized they were playing Spider-Man.

The boy closest to me made a fist and held his arm out straight in front of him, making a spittle-fueld “Foosh!” sound and saying, “I spin a web!” again.

And I thought to myself how he was holding his hand wrong. Spider-Man only shoots webs from his fist while wearing his black costume. Otherwise using his web-shooter requires him to tap the palm of his hand with his middle two fingers and make that Ditko sign.

And the sounnd of his web-shooters is clearly “Thwip!” and not “Foosh!”

And then I realized I was nitpicking a four-year-old’s imaginary play in the back of my head, and hated myself.

I heard the mother telling the boys to calm down as I passed them, and the one who went foosh protested, “But we were just spinning the web to save the day.”





3.) On second thought, let’s stick with complaining about “One More Day” for a while longer: Sorry gang, but I just can’t muster even an iota of outrage over the fact that there’s a quasi-famous naked lady painted as Wonder Woman on the cover of some issue of Playboy. I honestly don’t see anything wrong with it at all.

As a standalone image, there isn’t really much difference between that cover image and your average Adam Hughes Wonder Woman cover, beyond the difference in media.

In fact, I think DC hyper-sexualizing their flagship superheroine in their comics is a lot more offensive than Playboy doing it in a shrink-rapped softcore porn and men’s interest magazine.

The little kids who see Wonder Woman on the Justice League Unlimited cartoons and in their toy aisles can go into a comic shop and pick up an issue of Justice League of America and see Ed Benes drawings of Wonder Woman’s body straining to escape her tiny costume—including that one issue where Lex Luthor seems to be alluding to sexually torturing her, or that one where her pants completely disappear. These hypothetical little kids hypothetically reading JLoA would see the “real” Wonder Woman in a constant state of undress being treated as a sex object by the villain (if they’re not sophisticated enough to realize it’s actually the artist responsible).

The same little kids won’t be able to buy an issue of Playboy and see what’s inside it because, well, they don’t sell issues of Playboy to little kids. And if kids were to somehow get their hands on a copy—maybe finding it under their dad’s bed or in his closet—it should be clear to them that it’s not the “real” Wonder Woman they’re looking at. First clue? She’s clearly wearing paint, not a costume. And she’s in a magazine, not a comic book or cartoon.

So, what we have here is what I gather is a professional celebrity (she’s from reality TV, right?) getting paid a good deal of money to take her clothes off in a magazine for adults who want to look at pictures of ladies not wearing any clothes, one who happens to be painted up like Wonder Woman—a sort of naughty superheroine look instead of, oh, a naughty nurse or naughty school girl or naughty librarian or whatever.

(Do nurses associations get upset every time they see a scantily clad lady in a tiny white dress with the zipper halfway down clenching a stethoscope in her teeth?)

For other examples of characters dressed as naughty superheroes and superheroines, please see Justice League of America Wedding Special #1, in which Green Lantern hires a bunch of strippers dressed like Marvel heroines for Green Arrow’s bachelor party, and the Green Arrow/Black Canary Wedding Special #1, in which Black Canary’s bachelorette party is at a male strip club called “The Meat Locker” wherein the strippers are all wearing scanty versions of DC’s male superhero costumes.




4.) Which of my favorite Justice Leaguers will die next?: I do hope this item from this week’s Lying in the Gutters column is misinformation Rich Johnston was purposely fed by DC (it’s marked with a “caution” light in Johnston’s system of accuracy): “If Warner won’t let DC Comics kill off Batman in “Final Crisis," who can DC get away with introducing to the Grim Reaper? I mean it has to be decent names, but it also has to be someone that a major franchise license isn’t totally resting on… the two names marked for karking I’ve been given by a DC source are Martian Manhunter and Aquaman.”

I thought both of them were supposed to be involved in some capacity in the upcoming Justice League movie (which I kinda hope never actually gets made…oh hey, good news on that front!), so I would assume Warner Brothers wouldn’t be enthusiastic about either of them dying either.

But regardless, Aquaman is already dead. He’s been dead for months now. When his last series ended, it was revealed that part of his spirit went into Arthur “Aquaman II” Curry and the rest of it mutated into The Dweller of the Deep, who then died and turned to water. So he’s, like, dead, but it’s a death so stupid that he should be pretty easy to bring back. But if they’re going to re-kill him in Final Crisis, they better hurry up and bring him back to life soon.

It’s worth noting that a lot of DC creators and editors don’t seem to even know this. There was Brad Meltzer writing Aquaman II as if he was Aquaman I in his last issue of JLoA, and I saw this panel from Green Arrow/Black Canary in Rachelle Goguen’s reviews of last week’s comics:

So I don’t know, unless they, um, kark Aquaman II in Final Crisis, that just leaves Martian Manhunter. He’s not currently appearing regularly in JLoA or any other title, and DC seems to have a hard time figuring out what to do with him when he’s not in a Justice League comic.

On the other hand, his whole “last of his race” angle makes killing him seem kind of drastic, and the peculiar nature of his shape-changing physiology pretty much makes him impossible to kill-kill anyway.

On the other other hand, unlike Superman, Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman's mom, Hawkman, Aquaman, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Green Lantern Guy Gardener, Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, Green Arrow Oliver Queen, Donna Troy and Ice, he hasn’t died for longer than a few minutes and come back to life yet*, so I guess that killing him off temporarily might seem like a fresh idea.





5.) Elsewhere on CBR this week, there’s an interview with both writer Tom Peyer and pencil artist Rags Morales about one of my favorite DC comics of all time, Hourman. If you missed the not-in-trade book, you might want to give the interview a read and see if you can find it for cheap somewhere.

It’s interesting to consider the creative success (if not the financial success) of this particular brilliant but cancelled series today, in part because it was the result of a creative team taking a character recreated by Grant Morrison and running with it, and it resulted in some pretty great comics.

More recently, we’ve seen Gail Simone and a small army of artists try to run with Morrison’s ideas for a revamped Atom and Ivy Town in The All-New Atom, “Graymiotti” and a couple of artists try to turn Morrison’s ideas for a revamped Freedom Fighters into a couple of miniseries, and Duncan Rouleau try to turn Morrison’s ideas for a revamped Metal Men into a miniseries.

Of the three, none of them seem to come anywhere near the quality of Hourman (It may have helped that Peyer seemed to genuinely be on Morrison’s wavelength—having edited his work and having been part of the foursome who were notoriously forbidden from taking over the Superman titles—while having a writing style that was quite different).

I like Rouleau’s Metal Men okay, although it can be so narratively jam-packed it can get awfully confusing at times (particularly in the earlier issues), and I tried both ANA and Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters, and both failed to click for me.

Apparently turning Morrison’s ideas into comics gold is a very difficult challenge. Maybe they should give Peyer a call next time they decide to release a new series “based on concepts and ideas by Grant Morrison.”




6.) Trade-waiting this series was probably a terrible idea: I am worried that I won’t be able to avoid hearing about the end of Y: The Last Man online before I get around to actually reading it.



*Unless you count “Obsidian Age,” during which he and the rest of the League all died only to be reanimated as unkillable zombies and then brought all the way back to life via magic.