Review: Stormwatch Vol. 1: The Dark Side

DC Comics seems to have always struggled with what, exactly, they should do with the WildStorm imprint they bought from founder Jim Lee, a move which, in retrospect, seems like a move reluctantly taken not because they necessarily wanted to publish comics featuring any of the WildStorm characters or concepts, but because they wanted founder Jim Lee working for them (That, or they wanted to get their hands on more Alan Moore material they could sell in graphic novel form for pretty much ever).

After messing about with the imprint for a long while, including rebooting the WildStorm "universe" a couple of times, when they last restored their multiverse, they gave the WildStorm Universe it's own Earth, one of the 52 parallel worlds that made up the DC Multiverse. When they decided to reboot everything, they folded the WildStorm Universe (along with the handful of DC Universe characters whose books were published under the mature readers Vertigo imprint umbrella) into the DCU proper, forming The New 52iverse in the cosmic climax of the Flashpoint miniseries.

For the most part, the WildStorm imports haven't fared well. Voodoo was one of the first New 52 books to be canceled, Grifter has been canceled and books prominently featuring WildStorm characters like Ravagers and Team 7, later launching titles meant to replace canceled books, were themselves canceled almost immediately.

Stormwatch is still standing, although probably not for much longer. It's about to pass into the hands of its third writer in the year-and-a-half since it was launched in 2011, and that third writer is going to Jim Starlin, who will be launching the book in a new direction, including Jim Starlin creation Jim Starlin's The Weird.

Having just read the first collection of the series, which includes the first six issues by original writer Paul Cornell and artist Miguel Sepulveda (plus Al Barrionuevo on parts of the second issue), I'm kind of surprised its lasted even this long. Like Cornell's other New 52 book Demon Knights (which has also since passed into the hands of another writer), Stormwatch features a pretty good script with some fairly sharp writing, but poor art that all but nullifies it. In this case, the artwork is much worse than that in Demon Knights however, and I found myself struggling just to make it through the whole volume. I think I would have preferred to just read a collection of the scripts.

Stormwatch was originally a Jim Lee creation, a sort of U.N.-sanctioned super-group of the sort Image Comics had a surfeit of. After runs by a few writers of note, including Ron Marz, writer Warren Ellis slowly but surely started turning it into higher and higher-quality book, ultimately remaking it into his The Authority, a millennial hit he produced with artist Bryan Hitch. They were followed by Mark Millar, who made his name on the over-the-top superhero series, with artist Frank Quitely and others.

Cornell gets the title Stormwatch, but the cast, their headquarters and other elements he uses are taken more from Ellis' Authority. His Stormwatch is an ultra-secretive group of power superhumans whose sole mission is defend earth from alien invasion, which they do from The Carrier, an alien warship parked in hyperspace. They are managed by a shadowy group known as The Shadow Cabinet (a name from another abandoned DC imprint).

At the book's opening, Stormwatch consists of The Engineer, Jack Hawksmoor and Jenny Quantam (all from The Authority) and The Martian Manhunter (featuring his third costume redesign and second head-shape redesign since 2006), plus new characters Adam One (an immortal born infinitely old during the Big Bang and aging backwards since), The Projectionist (whose superpower is the ability to control information media) and The Eminence of Blades (history's greatest swordsman, who has special lying powers).

Adam One is the team's nominal leader, but his spaciness born of his de-aging process frustrates many of the other characters, each of whom think they would make better team leaders. Their attention is divided among two tasks: There's an alien entity taking over the moon and using it to attack Earth for its own mysterious agenda (it wants to toughen Earth up, essentially training the planet to help prepare it for an even greater threat that is apparently on its way), and the team would really like to recruit reluctant superhero Apollo (another holdover from The Authority), something The Midnighter (ditto) also wants. Midnighter thinks he and Apollo should form their own team, and could do more good together than they could working with or for Stormwatch.

And that's pretty much the plot of the first six issues. The surface conflict is about as simple as superhero comics get; "the moon" attacks Earth by showering it with meteors and monsters, of the generic teeth and tentacles variety. That really shouldn't take up more than 22 pages—40 tops— stretched out to over 100. To Cornell's credit, that stretching allows room for plenty of characterization, and interpersonal conflicts between the characters, but the narrative can't help but feel a little flabby, due in large part to all of the stops for splash pages that show off nothing of any great interest—bad renderings of indistinct objects, mostly.

I didn't care for Sepulveda's art at all. Certainly, some of that is stylistic. He goes for "realistic," something there is certainly precedent for with this group of characters, but because of the over-the-top nature of Cornell's story, it's not particularly well-served by that style.

In any case, the art isn't very good. At the risk of sounding overly cruel, it looks like someone who can't draw at all trying to produce Bryan Hitch-like imagery using only coloring effects and photo-collaging, with the only actual drawing going on around the faces of the characters. Many pages look a bit like Barry Kitson drew faces in the middle of a bunch of coloring effects. These effects are so prominent that it can be hard to see the art underneath them at all, and on nearly every page I found myself asking "What am I looking at?" and answering "I don't know or care, but I don't like looking at it."

Here, look at this sequence, in which Martian Manhunter's shape-changing powers are revealed:

Sepulveda's affects this by overlaying the form J'onn is in with the form he's taking in one panel between the two forms, the comics equivalent of a cheap TV special effect from the 1960s or so. There are lots of ways to intimate shape-changing powers—during his JLA run, for example, Howard Porter drew J'onn and the White Martians semi-dissolving into little sandstorms of molecules when transforming—and this method isn't invalid or anything. But note that his arm doesn't move at all in that second image, and his size increases so dramatically that he moves closer to the reader.

Basically, Sepulveda didn't want to draw John in human form twice when he could get away with doing it once, so while the script says John lost concentration and slipped back into Martian form by accident, he does so without moving his arm, which was lowering his sunglasses. In other words, his body parts haven't transformed into a different shape, but he turned from one immobile shape to another; his forms aren't action figures so much as sculptures (He changes shape twice more; in one instance, the super-imposed image process is used again, while in the other a special effect suggesting light being bent ripples over his limbs).

Oh, and Sepulveda's Jenny Quantam?

She's a hobbit.

While the art is pretty terrible, it's not all Sepulveda's fault. The book's colorists Alex Sinclair, Allen Passalaqua and Pete Pantazis deserve some castigation, as well—maybe if every millimeter of every page wasn't flashing, glowing and resembling a photograph, the book wouldn't look so terrible (Oh hey, was that the problem? Did all three colorists all color ever page? No wonder the art looks so busy!).

And he's not responsible for these terrible character designs. The Engineer and Jack look unchanged (Well, Sepulveda seems to draw Jack in capris instead of suit pants, but otherwise...). Jenny is just a little girl wearing little girl clothes. Apollo's costume looks okay, and the most radical change with his look is his haircut.

I have no idea what to make of Midnighter's redesign. He originally looked like movie Batman with his ears sanded off, and his cape exchanged for a black trench coat. Now he looks like a leatherboy nightmare, and, for some reason, he wears a lot of bulky armor for a fighter who is so good he should rarely if ever get hit, and he has big spike on his chin because...um...some reason, I'm sure.

Martian Manhunter looks...man, I don't even know where to start with him.

There's a sketchbook section in the back of the book that notes how much trouble they had coming up with a design for J'onn (I thought the last redesign, a variation of his classic costume, but with pants instead of a pair of panties and pirate boots, looked fine). Ultimately, Jim Lee had to step in for a final design, and, in Lee's sketch, we see J'onn's arms are armor-like, and his head is super-weird now, sunken on the sides with a raised, ribbed ridge on either side and funny earl-like shapes. There are sketches of earlier versions by Cully Hamner in which he was apparently also flirting with giving J'onn a new nose.

What I found most interesting in this portion of the book is how many artists were involved with these designs: Hamner (Jenny, Adam, Apollo, Midnighter, Jack), Lee (J'onn), Sepulveda (Engineer, Projectionist) and even Joe Prado (Eminence of Blades). Crazy Jane, a character featured rather prominently in Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol run, was apparently also considered for inclusion in the cast, and even designed. They apparently did a lot of work and had a lot of talented folks behind these designs, but when it came time to actually draw the comic, the designs are almost always buried by coloring effects or weird storytelling choices (The Eminence of Blades, for example, spends most of the first six issues wearing a space suit, so he just looks like a generic astronaut holding some glowing blue swords).

The Hamner drawings show a lot of life in them, life lacking form the characters in the actual story and are also drawings, and thus suggest comic book characters in a way that the comic itself fails to. Paul Cornell and Cully Hamner's Stormwatch might have been an alright comic. Hell, Paul Cornell and Miguel Sepulveda's pencils-only Stormwatch might have been an alright comic.

But the comic DC actually published? I think it's probably the worst of New 52 I've read so far, and I've only been reading the ones that at least look or sound promising to me.

Review: Green Lantern: New Guardians Vol. 1: The Ring Bearer

I just don’t understand the impulse.

The New 52 reboot did away with the tertiary Green Lantern title, Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors, and replaced it with this new series, starring Green Lantern Kyle Rayner and the lieutenants of each of the variously colored Lantern corps. Together they form a loose-knit team to investigate a disturbance that affects each of their respective armies.

The first issue opens with a rather heavily revised version of Kyle Rayner’s origin story.

Originally, he was out dancing in an era-specific NIN shirt, and he stumbles out of the club and into an alley…only to be faced with the last surviving Guardian, Ganthet, who promptly handed the young Earthling the very last Green Lantern ring in existence and then disappeared, leaving Kyle on his own to figure out what the hell was going on.

Here the book opens with Ganthet emerging from a pile of dead Guardians, prone Green Lanterns in the background. He forges one last Green Lantern ring and then heads to Earth to distribute it.

Kyle’s out for drinks and nachos with some friends, quietly sketching, and, when he has to go to the bathroom and finds a line, he heads out to the alley, where Ganthet presents him with the ring and flies him up into the sky, where he starts to instruct Kyle on the GLC and making light constructions with a ring…something Kyle’s already pretty much mastered, simply by being an artist.

A turn of the page takes us to “The Present Day,” so apparently the origin was the past, although not marked as such.

And in that present day, the variously colored Corps all still exist, as do specific characters within them, and specific events from all of the various just-rebooted Green Lantern series, all of which cause continuity problems if you think about them (For example, how did Blackest Night and Brightest Day happen, if various participants didn’t exist, or exist in the same form, how long has Kyle even been a Green Lantern if Hal Jordan has only bee one for five years, etc).

All of which is a rather long way of saying this is a book that both reboots continuity and doesn’t reboot continuity, simultaneously, while leaving fairly important information vague.

(As to why Ganthet is seemingly the only survivor of an attack on Oa, and why Kyle is the only Green Lantern at the start of the book but one of scores of Green Lanterns later in the book, long-time readers will know that Hal Jordan went mad—and/or was possessed by Parallax, the avatar of fear, the Sinestro Corps’ part of the emotional spectrum—and murdered everybody else. Either that happened or it didn’t; the first volume of this book doesn’t say, but at some point something killed everyone but Ganthet, and then everyone got better or...something. At this point, one can only assume "Emerald Night," Green Lantern: Rebirth and all that jazz still happened somehow.)

And that’s what I don’t quite get. If things were fine as they were, why reboot them? And if they weren't and needed rebooted, why keep so much of it un-rebooted?

As a first volume, this introduces readers to how Kyle came to be a Green Lantern—kinda—and then skips ahead some years, keeping those years worth of stories as the foundation for this new story, serving neither audience—new readers or pre-existing Green Lantern readers—particularly well.

Much more importantly, however, is the fact that the comic isn’t very good.

In large part that has to do with pencil artist Tyler Kirkham and inker Batt's artwork, which is of the prevalent WildStorm/Original Image revival style that defines the New 52 (Harvey Toliabo penciled parts of second and third issues collected here, which is about the point many New 52 books needed fill-in artists to help meet deadlines, presumably because of the last-minute nature of the sudden decision to reboot). Kirkham's art is flashy and emotive, but the layouts are rather haphazard and somewhat messy and, whether by writer Tony Bedard's design or not, the narrative is dominated by gigantic splash pages that don’t show anything much worth seeing that big (Generally a character or two appearing for the first time, or someone shooting an energy beam of one sort of another at someone else).

There’s not a whole lot of original design work here, as all of the costumes are imported from the old DCU, with the exception of the Star Sapphire get-ups, which have more material and show (slightly) less skin. (It’s still pretty dumb-looking though; there’s a zipper, but no actually zipping part, as if she’s wearing a costume with a broken zipper. Realistic covering is applied with exacting attention to her breasts, which, of course, don’t seem to be anatomically correct, missing an important piece. But, from this one panel below, they seem to be able to talk...?)

The main antagonist, Invictus, is an original design, but not all that original a one, looking like a rather generic superhero hulk with light effects (In fact, on first flip-through, I wondered if it was supposed to be Grayven).

The plot? A ring from each of the Corps, even an orange ring (of which there is only one), flies to Kyle on Earth. Prominent members of most of the relevant Corps—Blue Lantern Saint Walker, Sinestro Corpsmen Arkillo, Red Lantern Bleez, Indigo Tribesman Munk and Star Sapphire Fatality—all come at Kyle, thinking he stole the rings.

He goes to Oa, the rest on his heels, where the rather surprising person behind the unusual ring activity attacks The Guardians, and these “New Guardians” are sent by this manipulator to investigate an unusual structure, an artificial solar system entering the universe through a white black hole.

By collection’s end, the titular team has kinda sorta started to come together, faced off against the new Invictus character, and, in the last panel, is given a new, seemingly impossible-for-Kyle-to-meet challenge (morally impossible, not physically, as it involves killing someone; if this were the New 52 Justice League though, that probably wouldn't be a problem).

It’s not a terrible comic, and probably only of slightly lesser quality than the previous tertiary Green Lantern comic series, but it’s a…weird experience. Whereas the main Green Lantern series completely ignored the reboot, this one reads an awful lot like the main Batman book, where foundational elements were tweaked and recent history left unaltered. A sort of half-assed reboot, basically.

As a new reader, I likely would have found it completely bewildering. As someone somewhat familiar with the Green Lantern franchise already, it was mildly frustrating, in both its premise and its lowered level of quality.

Marvel's June previews reviewed

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Or, as it's sometimes known, Happy St. Caleb-Finally-Got-Around-To-Sifting-Through-Marvel's-June-Solicits-Day!

You can see the full solicits at Comic Book Resources or at ComicsAlliance.

But you probably knew that already, huh?

Anyway—


A+X #9
GERRY DUGGAN & ADAM WARREN (W)
SALVADOR LARROCA & ADAM WARREN (A)
Cover by SALVADOR LARROCA
• SPIDER-WOMAN & KITTY PRYDE (with Lockheed in tow, of course) investigate
some unfinished alien business!
• Adam Warren returns to Marvel with an amazing short story so chock full of awesome that we can’t even attempt to sum it up in one sentence!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Please note: ADAM WARREN!

That is all.


AGE OF ULTRON #10 (OF 10)
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (W)
BRANDON PETERSON, CARLOS PACHECO& JOE QUESADA (A/C)
Cover by BRANDON PETERSON
...
THE FINALE!
The biggest secret in comics will be revealed to you! An ending so confidential…even the artists of this book don’t know what lies on the final pages…! A surprise so big that comic book legend Joe Quesada himself returns to the pages of Marvel Comics to draw a sequence that people will be talking about for years.
40 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
*All covers of Age Of Ultron #10 will be polybagged

The series that began with a gold-embossed cover will end with a polybagged issue, because of course it will.

Meanwhile, "comic book legend Joe Quesada"...? Er, I think Quesada was a fine EIC and all, despite a few pretty dumb "genie" re-bottling initiatives, and personally producing an awful lot of terrible, terrible art, but "legend" is pretty strong, even from an admirer isn't it? He drew The Ray and Azrael miniseries, a short run on Daredevil, universally reviled miniseries One More Day and...what? Some 35 or so variant covers...?

Not exactly the Paul Bunyan of comic books, basically.

And man, I really feel like there's a good joke to be made in response to "the biggest secret in comics," but I just can't come up with one at this point. Dammit.

Age Of Ultron #10A.I.
MARK WAID (W) • ANDRE ARAUJO (A)
Cover by SARA PICHELLI
Variant cover by PAOLO RIVERA
• One of Marvel’s most classic characters, Hank Pym, stands at the crossroads!
• Faced with a dilemma only he can solve, Pym gambles his past and his future!
• Some men are beyond redemption! By story’s end, Hank Pym will have an entirely new role in the Marvel Universe!
32 PGS./ONE-SHOT/Rated T+…$3.99
I like how this solicitation immediately follows the one marked Age of Ultron #10 (of 10), the one that also says, "THE FINALE!" I think that may even be funnier than numbering this apparently not-that-important epilogue-ish comic as "#10A.I.", whatever, exactly that means (I mean, I know that A.I. means artificial intelligence, and that there's a robot in the series, but I don't understand how it figures into a number, exactly).

I was going to note how similar this cover looks to one for an upcoming issue of Batman and Robin...

...But then I remembered that one-guy's-head-exploding-out-of-another-guy's-head isn't really all that unique. Like, they did that with Batman in 1989 or so, too...

AVENGERS ARENA #10
DENNIS HOPELESS (W) • RICCARDO BURCHIELLI (A)
Issue 10 Cover by DAVE JOHNSON
Issue 11 Cover by MICHAEL DEL MUNDO
IT’S HUGE MOMENTS FOR YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTERS IN PARTS 3 & 4 OF “GAME ON!”
• Issue #10 = Nico’s valiant stand…against Sentinel?
• Issue #11 = Hazmat’s new romance…with Reptil?
• Featuring the debut of guest-artist Riccardo Burchielli (DMZ)!
32 PGS. (EACH)/Rated T+ …$2.99 (EACH)

Oh shit, there are Runaways in this book too...? Oh man...

I'm going to read this at some point, probably when it's collected and available at the library, if only to see what the hubbub was all about (and because I like some of these characters), but I'm kinda surprised Marvel went so long without using the Runaways characters and then brought at least one of them back for their superhero cover version of Battle Royale.

I'm personally hoping that any young heroes that get killed in it are actually just robot duplicates made by Arcade to demoralize the heroes. Because slotting teenagers is so...well, I was going to say passe, which it is, but it's also kind of depressing, too.

I kinda hated that Terror Titans miniseries Sean McKeever wrote for DC that was kinda sorta premised around that fact, and I didn't even feel that emotionally invested in any of those characters the way I would be in, say, Nico of the Runaways.

DARK AVENGERS: MASTERS OF EVIL TPB
Written by JEFF PARKER
Penciled by NEIL EDWARDS
Cover by JOE QUINONES
What force on this planet — nay, this universe — could turn Earth’s deadliest villains into Avengers? Trapped in a dangerous world, Skaar, Moonstone and Ragnarok go to war with…the deadly Dr. Strange! And when Dr. June Covington is turned loose in Tony Stark’s Frankensteinian laboratory, who will be her first subject for “improvement”? When the Dark Avengers find the secret to returning home, can they fight their way out of King Thing’s torture pit and overcome Iron Man? As a world crumbles, what’s up Moonstone’s sleeve? The Dark Avengers may just prove evil is our only hope! Collecting DARK AVENGERS (2012) #184-190.
160 PGS./Rated T+ …$14.99

Yes, but does it come with an Ohio state flag variant...?

FF #9
MATT FRACTION (W) • MICHAEL ALLRED (A/C)
Wolverine Costume Variant ALSO AVAILABLE
• What happens? POOL PARTY.
• Who do they fight? POOL PARTY.
• What do we get? POOL PARTY.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

If I only bought one comic from Marvel in June of 2013, I would want to make sure it was the one with that cover (Not sure why Edward Cullen looks like he's so miserable there though).


GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #4
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (W) • Sara Pichelli (A/C)
...
• The biggest surprise hit of the year continues as critically acclaimed artist Sara Pichelli (Ultimate Spider-Man) climbs aboard!
• Gamora is one the galaxy’s greatest warriors…with a deadly secret that could bring down the entire team.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

I think Pichelli's an amazing artist, and one of the strongest in Marvel's stable, but holy smokes, it's only the fourth issue (or fifth issue, if you count ".1" as an issue, which you probably should). Is that as long as Steve McNiven could take Marvel's accelerated publishing schedule? Because that's not very long. That's, like, one half of a Brian Michael Bendis story arc.

Maybe it's just me, but it's really starting to annoy me that these books are being sold/originally presented as the work of particular creative teams, and then the teams—or, more regularly, the artists—change in a matter of months. See also Savage Wolverine this month, the Frank Cho-written and Frank Cho-drawn title, which is now by Zeb Wells and Joe Madureira, whom I am relieved to see did not actually die of shame after his work on Ultimates 3, as I worried he might.

HAWKEYE #12
MATT FRACTION (W) • Francesco Francavilla (A/C)
• The sleeper hit of 2012 is now the can’t miss book of 2013 (and probably the overhyped book you’re sick of people talking about in 2014!)
• Reeling from the events of the last issue, even Hawkeye wants to know what his new status quo is. Who’s with him? Who’s against him? Who’s trying to kill him and why? So many dang questions!
• And just when Clint’s rock bottom couldn’t arrive fast enough… “Then Came Barney”
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

Another great artist who is nevertheless not David Aja on Hawkeye. Hmmm...

I hope Aja's coming back. This cover, while a fine image, doesn't really look like the cover of a an issue of Hawkeye, does it...?

INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #9
MARK WAID (W) • Matteo Scalera (A)
Cover by PAOLO RIVERA
...
“BLIND RAGE” PART 1!
• Guest-starring Daredevil!
• The secret of the friendship between Matt Murdock and Bruce Banner!
• Hulk--on the witness stand?
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

I've probably said this a few times before, but I really wish this was $2.99, like the Mark Waid-written Daredevil, instead of $3.99. I'm not sure what accounts for the difference. Is it that Hulk is $1 more valuable than Daredevil? Is Matteo Scalera $1 better an artist than Chris Samnee? Does Waid write 33% better on this book than he does on Daredevil...?

Anyway, cute cover from occasional Daredevil cover artist Paolo Rivera.


NEW AVENGERS #7
JONATHAN HICKMAN (W) • MIKE DEODATO (A/C)
Wolverine Costume Variant By Terry Dodson
“WHY NOT WAR?”
• The cold war between Atlantis and Wakanda heats up.
• Who is the secret member of the Illuminati that many of the members do not know about?
• How does Black Bolt lie?
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

In a bed...? Or is that "lay"...?


NOVA #5
JEPH LOEB (W) • ED MCGUINNESS (A/C)
Variant cover BY Mr. Garcin
• The origin of the most talked about new character of the year comes to a shattering conclusion.
• Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness, two of the most popular creators in comics, bring you an Infinite-ly dramatic turning point in the life of Nova as he discovers that something out in the galaxy is threatening everything he knows.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

There's that "talked about" thing in association with Nova again. No one is talking about Nova.

I like this Superior Spider-Man cover, which is apparently drawn by Giuseppe Camuncoli.

RED SHE-HULK #66
JEFF PARKER (W)
CARLO PAGULAYAN & WELLINTON ALVES (A)
Cover by FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA
“ROUTE 616” CONTINUES WITH A NIGHTMARE AT THE NEXUS OF REALITIES!
• Betty needs to save the future, but THE MAN-THING stands in her way!
• The Mad Thinker retools the ECHELON soldiers!
• Red She-Hulk versus Green She-Hulk!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

Let's see, Jeff Parker scripts, She-Hulk, Man-Thing and Francesco Francavilla...this one's got a whole handful of some of my favorite things about comics.


STAR-LORD: THE HOLLOW CROWN
STEVE ENGLEHART & CHRIS CLAREMONT (W)
STEVE GAN, JOHN BYRNE & MICHAEL GOLDEN (A)
Cover by Ed McGuinness
• As a child, Peter Quill spotted a flying saucer — and it ruined his life forever!
• Now a withdrawn, embittered adult, Quill strives to become an astronaut — so he can return to space and take revenge!
• How does a fateful encounter with the Master of the Sun change his destiny — and transform him into the intergalactic policeman known as Star-Lord?
• And can even the newly empowered Star-Lord triumph over a sadistic group of alien slavers?
• Collecting material from MARVEL PREVIEW #4, MARVEL PREVIEW #11 and STAR-LORD SPECIAL EDITION.
104 PGS./Rated T+ …$7.99

Wow, considering Marvel charges $4 for 20-22 pages sometimes, that's a hell of a great value. Especially if you can stand Chris Claremont's narration! (I...struggle with it. Mightily).


THE TOWER CHRONICLES: GEISTHAWK PREMIERE HC
Written by MATT WAGNER
Penciled by SIMON BISLEY
Cover by SIMON BISLEY
HE LIVES TO KILL THE DEAD. Written by Matt Wagner, award-winning creator of Grendel and Mage, and co-created with Thomas Tull, executive producer of 300 and The Dark Knight, this hardcover edition collects The Tower Chronicles: GeistHawk, Volumes 1-4, an epic which tells the first compelling tale of John Tower, a supernatural bounty hunter who tracks and destroys the uncanny evils that haunt our world. His harrowing missions lead him across the globe and into the darkest recesses of mankind’s most dangerous places to banish a wide variety of poltergeists, demons, and other unfathomable evils to free his troubled patrons from their tormentors’ ethereal grasp. Stalked by sultry sirens who want to devour his very life, hunted a by rival mercenary organization, and set-up by sinister corporations, Tower faces more threats than ever before. Meanwhile, his unofficial “partner,” FBI agent Alicia Hardwicke, begins to uncover pieces of Tower’s shadowy past, bringing up the question: What secrets can a man who hunts monsters possibly have that are even more chilling than his prey? Will our hero reach his mysterious goals…or will Tower die trying? Illustrated by acclaimed 2000 AD and Lobo artist Simon Bisley.
288 PGS./Rated T+ …$34.99

No, I don't know why this comic, published by Legendary, is showing up here in Marvel's solicitations.

I liked the first volume well enough; it was pretty generic stuff, really, but it was well-done.

Jeph Loeb and the advent of $4 comics scared me away from the Ultimate imprint, so I don't know: Will June's Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #24 be the first appearance of Ultimate Cloak and Dagger? Or should that be Ultimate Cloak and Ultimate Dagger...? Not feeling there Utlimate costumes as much as their regular costumes, but I guess it's just a single cover image in profile.

Clever. Another clever cover for X-Men: Legacy, perhaps the most inappropriately named title at Marvel at the moment ("inappropriate" as in the contents don't seem to match it).

YOUNG AVENGERS #6
KIERON GILLEN (W) • KATE BROWN (A)
Cover by JAMIE MCKELVIE
...
• Ever wonder what the super hero equivalent of a terrible soul-sucking talent-wasting temp job is? You haven’t? Oh go on. Actually, don’t. We’ve done it for you and written a story about it. This one.
• Wonder what Tommy (aka Speed) has been up to? Discover herein.
• Wonder why mutant David Alleyne (aka Prodigy) hasn’t been even in the background in any one of the eight thousand X-books? Discover that herein too.
• Existential horror turns cosmic horror as something emerges from the shadows of the past. It seems the Young Avengers have yet one more thing to worry about.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

Oh look, another comic with a new artist after not-very-many issues. I don't know who Kate Brown is, but I hope she's awesome, because the art is at least half of the reason I so enjoyed the first two issues of Young Avengers.

At least the cover is still McKelvie. And still awesome.

Super Dinosaur, is that you?

I saw this on a clearance rack in the toy section of a big box retailer the other day, and thought immediately of Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard's Super Dinosaur comic.

What came first, I wonder, Super Dinosaur, or Fisher Price's T-Rex with robot arms...? Or were they both pre-dated by other, earlier T-Rexes with robot arms...? Perhaps it's one of those ideas that seems really awesome when you first encounter it, but is actually a little more common than you might expect?

Like, when I was in college, I used to always draw this snake with robot arms that I thought was an ingenious invention of my own (I used to really like drawing scales when doodling in class, so I drew a lot of snakes; this one was the archenemy of a squirrel-man who wore a tweed jacket and boots and carried .45s that I also used to draw all the time back then. I liked drawing tweed patterns as well as scales). Then one day someone saw it, asked what it was, and when I said, "Oh, it's a snake with robot arms" they responded with, "Oh, like in that one Easter special?" (I never saw that particular Easter special, but have ever since wanted to).

I later found out one of the Legionnaires from one of the various Legions of Super-Heroes was also a snake with mechanical arms.

So, you know, as with snakes with robot arms, it's likely no one necessarily owns the idea of T-Rexes with robot arms. Still, if I were Robert Kirkman and I saw that toy in the store, I might be pissed. Actually, that's not true—If I were Robert Kirkman and my personal shopper told me they saw that toy in a store, I'd probably shrug and then dive back into my pool filled with Walking Dead money...

Meanwhile...

Today at Robot 6, I have a review of Steve Ditko's Monsters Vol. 1: Gorgo, a Craig Yoe-curated collection of all the Ditko-drawn portions of Charlton's 1961-65 series, based on the pretty terrible giant monster movie that was the subject of an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

As I mentioned, I was looking for any Objectivist subtext in any of the stories, but came up empty. The only politics of any kind came in this one story, wherein--well, check this panel out:

Talk about a one-issue party! Death to Gorgo and his mother! I wish I knew the name of their pary: The Death-to-Gorgo-crats? The Gorgo Death Party...? What?

Earlier in the week I reviewed Barry's Best Buddy, Renee French's new Toon Books book, at Good Comics For Kids.

Also at Good Comics For Kids this week, I participated in a roundtable discussing Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli's Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Vol. 1.

Early literacy training:

DC's June previews reviewed

Yesterday we celebrated the thirty-sixth anniversary of my birth, but other things happene din the world as well. For example, DC Comics released their solicitations for the comics they plan to ship this June.

Among the notable news to be sifted out of those solicitations are the new Green Lantern creative teams, none of which make me want to read any Green Lantern comics, the new Scott Snyder/Jim Lee Superman comic with its unpredictably dumb name, a reboot of "Batman: Year One" by Snyder and artist Greg Capullo and the fact that "The New 52" has apparently become "The New 50" for June (I imagine that's due to production and scheduling issues, and that at least two new titles will appear in the July solicits. After all, those Green Lantern artists are going to have to draw something, right?).

Anyway, to read the full solicits, you can check out Comic Book Resources and/or ComicsAlliance. Otherwise, read on...

ALL-STAR WESTERN #21
Written by JUSTIN GRAY and JIMMY PALMIOTTI
Art by MORITAT
Backup story art by STAZ JOHNSON
Cover by HOWARD PORTER
On sale JUNE 26 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T+
The old West meets The New 52 as Jonah Hex visits the 21st century!

I liked that episode of Batman: The Brave and The Bold where Jonah Hex was summoned to the present by...Mongul, I think it was...?....in order to capture contestants for War World, based on Hex's reputation as one of the best bounty hunters of all time. I remember thinking that was a neat idea, and wondering why they never tried something similar in the comics.

Well, looks like they are!

Not sure who the back-up star is, but I like Staz Johnson; nice to see that byline appearing somewhere again.

Not sure which studio owns the Saw franchise, but if it's not Warner Brothers, DC Comics seems to be asking to get sued with this dumb cover by Alex Garner.

BATMAN #21
Written by SCOTT SNYDER
Backup story written by SCOTT SNYDER and JAMES TYNION IV
Art by GREG CAPULLO and DANNY MIKI
Backup story art by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE
...
On sale JUNE 12 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Combo pack edition: $4.99 US
...
Witness The New 52 origin of The Dark Knight in BATMAN: ZERO YEAR! Twists and turns are around every corner as Bruce Wayne takes the final steps toward his destiny! And in the backup story, learn more about how different Gotham City was at this dangerous point in time

I suppose this will cover all the stuff about Batman's New 52 origin that they just didn't have time or space to cover in Batman #0, Detective Comics #0, Batman: The Dark Knight #0, Batman and Robin #0 and Batman, Incorporated #0...?

I don't know if it simply reflects Snyder and Capullo's confidence in light of their recent success, or their cockiness, but over-writing Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's Batman: Year One seems like a pretty big and bold move. I'll be curious to see what they come up with (I just started reading Snyder's run in trade, having read Black Mirror just this last Sunday night).

I'm pretty confused with the choice of "Zero Year" over "Year Zero," though, given the currency of the "Year" followed by number convention at DC Comics, and within Batman comics specifically.

Okay, I give up. Why is Batgirl's bat-symbol covered in Kirby dots...?

That's the cover to Batman and Batgirl #21, by the way. Apparently with Damian dead and Batman Robin-less (unless you count Tim Drake, Dick Grayson or Jason Todd), they're changing the title of Batman and Robin every story arc to reflect a different Bat-family guest-star, but keeping the numbering. That worked great for Captain America and Bucky...!

Not sure why they don't just dust off Batman: Gotham Knights, a book that had the exact same Batman plus a Bat-Family guest-star premise, and would have the added benefit of giving them a new #1 issue and make following the book slightly easier (like, what happens if you dig this book and want to read the first twenty issues of Batman and Batgirl....?)

BATMAN, INCORPORATED #12
Written by GRANT MORRISON
Art and cover by CHRIS BURNHAM
...
On sale JUNE 26 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Combo pack edition: $3.99 US
...
Leviathan and the Heretic are on the ropes...could Batman be on the verge of avenging all he’s lost?

Apparently the only way Batman can process the feelings of grief and guilt he's experiencing after losing his son Damian was through an opera he wrote, which he can be seen singing here on the cover of Batman, Inc #12.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN #1
Written by GREG PAK
Art and cover by JAE LEE
...
On sale JUNE 5 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
...
A new epic begins with the debut of this new, ongoing series! Don’t miss the first fateful meeting of Batman and Superman in The New 52!

Actually, we already saw the first fateful meeting of Batman and Superman in The New 52, back in Justice League #1 and #2. Remember? Superman punches Green Lantern out of the panel, and approaches Batman and says something like, "Look at my dumb armor! I'm Superman! What can you do?" And later Green Lantern's all like, "Oh, you know about Superman? Have you guys had a first fateful meeting before?" and Batman's like, "No, we've never met. But I've studied him." I'm paraphrasing.

Anyway, they made it pretty clear that Superman and Batman were meeting for the first time, unlike Flash and Green Lantern, who had exchanged phone numbers and secret identities already.

Your continuity's not even two year's old yet guys, you can't be fucking it up and having to retcon it at this point already! It's gotta last you a decade or two!

In any case, congrats to Pak on what will likely be a pretty swell gig, and to DC for getting a talented writer like Pak. I'm curious if Jae Lee is the ongoing artist or just the artist of the first story arc, as he doesn't seem like a 20-pages-every-30-days kind of artist. His is a nice style though. That's a pretty generic, two-dudes-posing-before-a-void-with-their-feet-hidden type of cover, but he's able to pull it off so much more elegantly than, say, Jim Lee (Take his cover for Superman Unchained, for example).

Oh, and note that the last Superman/Batman team-up comic was entitled Superman/Batman, whereas now Batman gets top billing.

CAMELOT 3000 TP
Written by MIKE W. BARR
Art by BRIAN BOLLAND, TERRY AUSTIN, BRUCE PATTERSON and DICK GIORDANO
Cover by BRIAN BOLLAND
On sale JULY 24 • 320 pg, FC, $19.99 US
The classic tale that exploded into comics shops in the early 1980s is back in a new trade paperback collecting the entire 12-issue maxiseries! Featuring a cover by acclaimed artist Brian Bolland, this collection of the mythical tale of honor and bravery includes preliminary artwork by Bolland and developmental material from Mike W. Barr!

It's to my shame that I must admit that I've actually yet to read this series. That seems like a very good price point for a 300+ page trade (especially for color), although I'm fairly certain with a little persistence one could find the whole thing in its original single issues for about $12. I've seen plenty of issues in dollar boxes over the years, but never all 12 in the same box at the same time, so I never bought any.

DETECTIVE COMICS #21
Written by JOHN LAYMAN
Art by SCOT EATON
Backup story art by ANDY CLARKE
Cover by JASON FABOK
...
On sale JUNE 5 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Combo pack edition: $4.99 US
...
Harper Row joins Batman on a case that leads all the way back to DETECTIVE COMICS #0, but will The Dark Knight be willing to accept her help? Illustrated by guest-artist Scot Eaton!

I reeeealllly hope Harper Row doesn't become the new Robin. With Red Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl and God knows how many Batman Inc. sidekicks hanging around (Red Raven, The Squire), it beggars belief that Batman would recruit a new civilian to train on the heels of losing his second kid sidekick.

Although looking at that particular cover, she doesn't seem to be too terribly teenaged...

DIAL H #13
Written by CHINA MIEVILLE
Art by ALBERTO PONTICELLI and DAN GREEN
Cover by BRIAN BOLLAND
On sale JUNE 5 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+
This issue must be read to be believed! Open-Window Man tells the tale of a world of living graffiti that’s on the verge of erasure. Send up the Open-Window signal—we need a hero!

In a perfect world, Open-Window Man would fight The Defenestrator at some point, in a comic with the words "It Had To Happen!" emblazoned across the cover.

The curtains as cape on that costume are a nice touch, by the way. I really can't wait to read this book in trade.


DJANGO UNCHAINED #5
Based on the screenplay by QUENTIN TARANTINO
Adapted by REGINALD HUDLIN
Art by R.M. GUERA and JASON LATOUR
Cover by FRANK QUITELY
...
RESOLICIT • On sale JUNE 26 • 48 pg, FC, 5 of 6, $4.99 US • MATURE READERS
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information This issue is resolicited. All previous orders are cancelled.
The latest chapter of the miniseries adaptation of the screenplay from the Quentin Tarantino film, with a cover by Frank Quitely! Based on the entire, uncut story, containing scenes that may not appear in the final film!
In this issue, it’s no holds barred as Django goes all out to save his beloved wife, Broomhilda!

SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #1
Written by SCOTT SNYDER
Art and cover by JIM LEE and SCOTT WILLIAMS
Backup story art by DUSTIN NGUYEN
1:300 B&W Variant cover by JIM LEE and SCOTT WILLIAMS
On sale JUNE 12 • 32 pg, FC, $4.99 US • RATED T
Combo pack edition: $5.99 US
...
When thirteen satellites fall from the sky in one day, the logical suspect is Lex Luthor—even though he’s still locked up in prison! But a stranger question remains: If Superman didn’t stop the last satellite from falling, who did? There’s a mystery hidden where even Superman can’t see it—Can The Man of Steel drag a decades-old secret into the light? Don’t miss the debut of this red-hot new series from two of comics’ brightest superstars: SCOTT SNYDER and JIM LEE!
This debut issue also includes a bonus two-sided, tipped-in poster measuring 11.6875” x 18.875” that is part of the reading experience and can be easily removed for display!

With Django and Superman both unchained, can a revival of DC Comics Presents pairing the two together on an adventure be far behind...?

Looking closely at that Superman solicit, it sure seems like something is off. $5 is a lot for a 32 page comic, if it's the now-usual 20 pages of story, 10 pages of ads, and it would seem to indicate that readers are paying an extra two bucks for that poster that's part of the reading experience. On the other hand, a back-up is also mentioned, and, DC books with back-ups usually are usually solicited as 40 pages (see Action and All-Star Western in this month's solicits, for example), as ten pages are devoted to that as well.

I'm assuming there are at least 30 pages of comics content in the issue (20 pages of Snyder and Lee, 10 pages s of Nguyen), and the poster is only adding an extra dollar to the price, but I don't know. Like I said though, something's wrong with the solicit information listed above.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #21
Written by JAMES TYNION IV
Art by JULIUS GOPEZ
Cover by AL BARRIONUEVA
On sale JUNE 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
There is a bounty on the heads of the Outlaws, and Jason can’t remember what he did to cause it.

Looking at this cover, I'm fairly certain it's fashion related.


SHOWCASE PRESENTS: DC COMICS PRESENTS SUPERMAN TEAM-UPS VOL. 2 TP
Written by MARV WOLFMAN, LEN WEIN, GERRY CONWAY and others
Art by RICH BUCKLER, JIM STARLIN, JOSE LUIS GARCIA-LOPEZ and others
Cover by JIM STARLIN
On sale JULY 17 • 568 pg, B&W, $19.99 US
Superman battles for justice alongside heroes including Supergirl, Black Canary, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Starman and more in these stories from DC COMICS PRESENTS #27-50 and DC COMICS PRESENTS ANNUAL #1!

FY,SP!

SUPERBOY #21
Written by JUSTIN JORDAN
Art by R.B. SILVA and ROB LEAN
Cover by KEN LASHLEY
On sale JUNE 12 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Krypto comes to the rescue as Superboy is on the trail of Dr. Psycho and the new, mysterious H.I.V.E that has infested Metropolis.

Ha ha, look how dumb New 52 Krypto the Superdog looks!

I notice Wonder Woman villain Dr. Psycho is in Superboy this month, Hawkman villain Lionmane is in Batwing, Superman villain The Prankster is in Nightwing and Green Lantern villain Hector Hammond is in Superman. I wonder if that's just a coincidence, or some part of the overarching Secret Society plot (which apparently emanates from Justice League of America involves the villains choosing one another's heroic counterparts to mess with...?

For crimes against character design.

Today is my birthday.

Thirty-six is still mid-thirties, and not late-thirties, right...?

Anyway, I can't update EDILW tonight. I'm busy finishing off all this birthday cake.