Welcome back. Like a lot of comic book fans, I have a bookshelf full of trade paperbacks and graphic novels. I’ve been having fun writing about the books on my shelf- why I bought them, why I liked them, and whatever other thoughts pop into my head. I hope you’re having fun reading about them, too.
Swamp Thing Vol. 1-6
You might have noticed in the first two articles that I collected a lot of series from the ‘70s and ‘80s in trade. These are series that started before I was born or came out when I was too young to buy them. But I’m not regretful. As an adult, it’s been great to go back and buy them as trades. I get to pick and choose, bringing home only the best. I’ve even been fortunate to buy a few series of books as they’ve been released. One of the first series I collected this way was Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing. A new printing of Saga of the Swamp Thing was released in July of 2000. I bought it and was blown away, much as I suspect happened to the readers who bought the original issues back in 1982. I followed the series through the end of the Alan Moore run.
Sandman: Endless Nights
Neil Gaiman wrote seven different stories, drawn by seven stellar artists for this prestige original graphic novel. Each story focuses on an individual member of the Endless. It was a truly incredible piece of work. And it’s the book that changed my mind about Frank Quitely, who I hadn’t liked before.
Wonder Woman: Amazonia
This is an average Elseworlds story featuring Wonder Woman as a circus performer. It’s also oversized which is why it’s out of alphabetical order. I stuck it between a couple of hardcovers (Sandman and Spirit) so it wouldn’t be bent as easily.
Spirit Archives Vol. 1-8
Some day this will be complete. I’ve loved every volume I’ve bought, even the ones drawn by fill-in artists while Will Eisner was away during World War II. After all, the fill-in artists are guys like Lou Fine. But I’m way behind because it’s not often that I have an extra $50 lying around for buying a single book.
Spirit Vol. 1-2
This is the Darwyn Cooke series from a couple of years ago. It’s actually one of the first new series that I decided to buy in trade rather than as individual issues. We even splurged for the hardcover collections instead of waiting for the inevitable softcovers. That’s because Ana is a big Darwyn Cooke fan and she’s the one who brought home the first volume shortly after it was released.
Starman: Sins of the Father
Once again, this is a pretty typical entry on my DC shelf. I honestly prefer single issues to trades for most series. But sometimes the early issues are too scarce or too expensive.
So I fill in my collection with a trade for the opening arc. I did that for Fables, Justice League and Starman. I started collecting Starman around issue 29. It quickly became one of my favorite titles and is still at the top of my all-time list. I find that I have a lot in common with Jack Knight. He was right there beside me, struggling with the same questions of career and family that I was. He loved life and odd little artifacts. I co-opted some of his personal philosophy as my own. We even share an on-again, off-again goatee. But, unlike Jack, I don’t have any tattoos.
Superman: World of Krypton, Death of Superman, Superman/Batman Vol. 1
The next time I prune my trade paperbacks, I expect this section will shrink. I recently read and enjoyed John Byrne’s Man of Steel and early Superman stories. So I thought I’d take a shot at the World of Krypton mini-series that came out around the same time. I still like Byrne’s depiction of Krypton as a science-dominated yet sterile society. I especially like the fashions, which seem suitably alien. But the story was not good at all.
And the back-up stories from the late ‘70s were just as bad.
I didn’t dislike Superman/Batman Vol. 1. I even bought the series for a little while. I just don’t see myself reading it again.
The one keeper in this bunch is the Death of Superman. I loved DC’s early ‘90s epics, such as Knightfall and the Death of Superman. They had great scope and emotion. They were suitably grandiose. They earned the name “epic.” And I re-read this story every couple of years.
Watchmen
No comic book bookshelf is complete without Watchmen (unless you have the original issues sitting in a longbox somewhere). It is truly one of the best comic book series ever. Though, truthfully, I re-read the Death of Superman more often than I re-read the Watchmen. It may be great, but it’s sometimes oppressively pessimistic.
Wonder Woman: The Contest, Second Genesis, Lifelines and Hiketeia
I noticed something when I did a similar set of articles about the comics in my longboxes a couple of years ago: I have more Wonder Woman comics than Batman comics or Superman comics. That’s true of my bookshelf as well. There are two Batman trades, three Superman trades (two which I’ll probably get rid of) and four Wonder Woman trades. The first trade collects the William Messner-Loebs story in which Diana loses her role as Wonder Woman to Artemis. The next two collect the first year or so of John Byrne’s run on the title. The fourth is the best of the bunch, and one of my favorite stories for any superhero. It’s an original graphic novel by Greg Rucka, with Batman and Wonder Woman on opposite sides. It’s well worth checking out.
Y: The Last Man Vol. 1-3
These were a gift from Captain Comics. I don’t remember the exact details- whether I did him a favor or won a contest or something- but I do know that these came in the mail courtesy of Andrew Smith. He was convinced that I would like them. And he was right. I read this shortly before going on a family vacation and spent small parts of that subsequent vacation buying back issues from Calgary to Vancouver until I was all caught up. I’m not a huge Vertigo fan. I find that the imprint is sometimes too dark and, in its own way, as unrepresentative of reality as Pollyanna. Yet there are a few Vertigo series that rise above the rest of comics. Y: The Last Man is one of those.
Alan Moore’s Wild Worlds
Collecting Alan Moore’s Wildstorm work. It’s a real haphazard affair. It has
some of Alan Moore’s worst work (the Spawn/Wildcats crossover). And it has
some stories that rank right there with his best, like Majestic at the end of universe.
Astro City: Life in the Big City
It’s amazing how many of my favorite series fit this profile. I hear about them a year or so late, pick up the first trade, buy the rest in back issues and continue collecting the singles. You can add Astro City to that list. The last couple years of Astro City haven’t been up to standard but these first issues are among the finest ever made. They introduce us to the Samaritan, Winged Victory and the city itself. They teach us to dream and to inspire others to dream. They renew a sense of wonder- of beauty and awe.
Danger Girl: Odd Jobs
I bought the original Danger Girl series as it came out. When it came out. But I missed these odd jobs- specials published outside of the main title. It’s a surprisingly good volume, featuring stories by Phil Noto.
Gen 13
Yes, I like Gen 13. I like Wildcats and Wildstorm and J. Scott Campbell and Jim Lee. This might even be the first series where I bought the initial trade before switching to individual issues.
Top Ten: The Forty-Niners
I’ve mentioned it before but it keeps coming up as I peruse my bookshelf: I miss the days when you could count on DC for several high quality original graphic novels every year. There’d be a great superhero story, like JLA/JSA Virtue & Vice. And there’d be a great Vertigo book like Sandman: Endless Nights. And, right around the same time, there was this excellent story set in the past of Alan Moore’s Top Ten. The story was about the heroes returning from World War II and the new city that was built as their home (the government wanted some separation between superheroes and the normal populace). We read of their struggles, their triumphs and their loves. It’s one of the best stories I’ve read.
Wildcats: A Gathering of Eagles and Nemesis
This is a mismatched pair. The first volume is Chris Claremont’s arc on Wildcats. The individual issues were hard to find and expensive so I grabbed this very early trade instead. The second volume is a mini-series from this past decade that introduced a new character, Nemesis, to Wildcats. It was really well done and it told two simultaneous stories: Nemesis’ introduction to the team in the present and her shared history with Majestic throughout the past.
Whew! That’s it for the DC shelf and part three. But there’s more to come. I still have all of Marvel to go plus quite a few miscellaneous series.
September 30, 2010
September 25, 2010
On My Bookshelf, Part 2
I don’t know if this is interesting to anyone other than me, but I’m having fun so I’m
going to keep going. For those just joining us, I’m looking at the trade paperbacks and original graphic novels sitting on my bookshelf and writing whatever I want to about them. Part 1 was the Dark Horse shelf. This is DC.
All-Star Superman Vol. 1-2
I was planning on skipping this entirely. I didn’t care for Marvel’s second-continuity
Ultimate line which seemed to be the basis for DC’s All-Star out-of-continuity All-Star line. And Grant Morrison tends to be hit or miss for me. But the reviews were glowing. The Frank Quitely art was some of the best I’ve ever seen from him. So I finally broke down and bought the first trade. The reviews were right. Morrison and Quitely crafted some of the finest comics I’ve ever read. Not just Superman comics either. Comics period. The wait for the second trade was interminable (though Ana must not have minded as it’s still sitting on her shelf waiting to be read).
Batman: Prodigal and Thrillkiller
That’s an odd pair of Batman trades. The one thing they have in common is that they star Dick Grayson. Prodigal is the post-Knightfall story in which Bruce gives Dick a turn under the cowl. It’s not actually as riveting as Knightfall but it’s still a nice story- especially for fans of Dick Grayson like me. Thrillkiller is an Elseworlds story by Dan Brereton.
Bizarro Comics
I bought this hardcover featuring independent creators on DC concepts when it was
first released. I can’t say that I enjoyed every story in it. A few of the artists seem to go out of their way to be ugly or obtuse. But, on the whole, it was a great experience. Most of the stories were fun and quirky. I have no idea why I never bought the sequel.
Catwoman: The Dark Side of the Street and Selena’s Big Score
Like a lot of other comic readers, I didn’t think I’d ever buy a Catwoman comic. I associated the character with Jim Balent and big breasts. But Ed Brubaker and Darwyn Cooke brought an entirely different approach to the character. She was sleek and sexy, instead of top-heavy. She was a cat-burglar, with all of the finesse of an Olympic gymnast. She came right out of noir movies. I bought the first of these for Ana as a gift (in return for the Star Wars trades I mentioned in last week’s column, if I remember right). I bought the second one for myself.
Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 3-4
Sometimes a title is capable of helping you crystallize your thoughts and opinions. DC’s collection of the annual JLA/JSA team-ups did that for me. I bought the first couple
of volumes but I didn’t enjoy them. The stories were too formulaic, the heroes too
bland, the villains too insipid. It was a struggle to finish each volume with that many
uninteresting stories in a row. But I kept plugging along thanks to a small completist streak. Plus, it was cheaper to buy these trades than the actual back issues so I thought I was coming out ahead.
Then, I got to volume 3. I actually liked it. I really liked it. It featured great stories
by Len Wein and art that was more my style. Len brought in additional teams
like the Seven Soldiers of Victory and the stories got bigger and bigger as he kept
trying to outdo himself. It was great stuff. I loved it. And volume 4 was just as
good, even as other writers like Elliot S. Maggin and E. Nelson Bridwell took over.
I realized that I just didn’t like Silver Age JLA. I didn’t like the few beat-up back issues I had bought. I didn’t like the trades. I didn’t like the series… at least, not until Len Wein took over around issue 100. I sold off my few back issues. I donated the first two trades to my local library. My completist streak is still simmering, but not for anything before issue 100. I stopped collecting this series after volume four, though. By volume 5, I already had the back issues.
DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore
This is a wonderful collection. It features Alan Moore’s classic Superman stories and incredible nuggets like his work on the Green Lantern Corps.
Fables: Legends in Exile and 1001 Nights of Snowfall
This is a pretty typical entry for me. On the Dark Horse shelf (which I wrote about last week), I have a lot of series that I collected entirely in trades. However, it’s a lot more common for me to try the first trade of a series and then switch to the single issues.
That’s what happened with Fables. I missed the first issue. I don’t buy a lot of Vertigo titles as it is and I had no idea how good this series would be. But it didn’t take long for me to hear about and get interested in it. I bought the first trade and absolutely loved it.
I was able to buy a few back issues and caught up with the regular series just like that. I’ve been a faithful reader ever since, falling in love with Snow White, Bigby Wolf, Rose Red, Little Boy Blue, Cinderella and the rest of the cast.
1001 Nights of Snowfall is a Fables original graphic novel. It was an outstanding collection of short stories with an interesting linking narrative. It also came out when DC was testing the market for prestige graphic novels, something that’s sadly fallen by the wayside in recent years.
Golden Age
An excellent Elseworlds story by James Robinson.
Green Lantern: The Power of Ion
This was a gift from a friend. He knew I liked Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern but hadn’t been following the regular series for a while. He was impressed by Judd Winick’s tale of absolute power and bought a copy for me, thinking I would enjoy it. He was right.
Thanks!
Jack Kirby’s Forever People, Fourth World, Mister Miracle, New Gods and Jimmy Olsen Vol. 1
I have an almost-complete collection of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World. I was really impressed with the scope of these stories and the wealth of imagination. I eagerly
anticipated each successive volume (yes, I bought them as they came out). It was a chance to collect another classic from the ‘70s. And I liked them. I’m just missing the second volume of Jimmy Olsen. The Jimmy Olsen stories were just a little two weird. I didn’t consciously decide not to get volume 2. I just never got around to buying it.
Just Imagine… Stan Lee Vol. 1-3
That’s kind of a fun pairing. I’ve got Jack Kirby and Stan Lee’s DC work sitting side by side on my bookshelf. It wasn’t something intentional either as Jack Kirby and Just Imagine follow each other alphabetically. I skipped Stan Lee’s Just Imagine when it was first published despite the all-star line-up of artists. I know that a lot of other fans were looking forward to it but I was fearful that it would be reminiscent more of Stan’s substandard work from the last 20 years than it would be of anything he had done back in the Silver Age. However, a couple of years later, I found all three volumes on sale and decided to give them a try. I’m very glad I did. I had a lot of fun reading these stories. They were a great re-imagining of the characters, on par with Tangent Comics or some of DC’s better Elseworlds. And they fit together like a pleasant jigsaw puzzle.
Justice League: A New Beginning, A Midsummer’s Nightmare, A League of One, Earth-2 and Virtue & Vice
I like this little collection of Justice League trades. It was easier to buy the first trade of the Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire series than it was to track down (and afford) the individual issues. I have the rest of the series in singles. A Midsummer’s Nightmare is the Mark Waid mini-series that paved the way for Grant Morrison’s JLA which I picked up much later. Then there are three original graphic novels from the short time period when DC was really trying to make a go of that format. The last one, Virtue & Vice, was a crossover with JSA.
Justice Society Vol. 1-2 and Returns
Here’s another fun pair. Those first two volumes collect the run of All-Star comics from the late ‘70s that revived the Justice Society and introduced new characters like Huntress and Power Girl. The last volume is the fifth-week event that prepared the ground for a new JSA series in the late ’90s.
Showcase: Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 1-3
Earlier, I mentioned that I can’t stand the Silver Age issues of DC’s Justice League of America. And honestly, most of the flaws in the JLA show up in these Legion of Super-Heroes stories as well. Additionally, they’re repetitive. How many times did the Legion allow a new member to join only to have them betray the team in their very first adventure together? But there’s a sense of whimsy in these Legion stories that I didn’t find in the early JLAs. And I do have a little completist in me. I just can’t read too many stories in a row. On the bright side, the stories are starting to get better. Jim Shooter in particular is starting to play with the formula, upending our expectations and actually introducing some characterization.
Manhunter
The Archie Goodwin-Walt Simonson classic back-up strip collected into one volume.
Nightwing: The Ties That Bind
DC had a pretty good system for a while. They would try a character out in a mini-
series. If that was successful, they’d come back with a second story. If that worked, the character would graduate to an ongoing title. The system worked for Birds of Prey, Robin and Nightwing. This trade collects the Nightwing mini-series that convinced DC the character might be able to hold his own in an ongoing title.
That’s only half of the DC shelf but that’s enough for one article. With all of
the random single trades on this shelf, it turns out that there’s a lot to talk about.
September 17, 2010
On My Bookshelf
I thought it would be fun to talk about the comic books on my bookshelf. Like a lot of comic book fans, I have a bookshelf full to overflowing of original graphic novels and trade paperback collections.
Abe Sapien Vol. 1 and BPRD Vol. 1-12
Although I primarily buy single issues (I refuse to use the pejorative term “floppies”), there are a few series that I read as trades. At the top of that list is the Hellboy spin-off BPRD. The Bureau of Paranormal Research and Development has great characters and compelling adventures of its own. I especially enjoyed the way it developed into an ongoing series even though it’s still solicited as a series of mini-series. There’s more room for sub-plots, character development and an overarching narrative.
Abe Sapien is one of the best characters of the past 20 years. He stole the show in the second Hellboy movie and his solo adventures in comics are well worth reading too.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus Vol. 1-7
I really like the way that Dark Horse approached their big Buffy collection. They
eschewed reprinting the stories in publication order. Instead, they chose to reprint the comics in the fictional chronology of the series. That means we get some great tales at the outset featuring stories set in the past for Buffy, Spike and the rest of the crew. It also makes for a better mix of stories as long arcs and short stories, and solo features and ensemble pieces alternate. It makes for a better blend of quality (the initial ongoing series took a little while to get really good). Plus, it’s fun to see Dawn written into some of Buffy’s earliest adventures.
I should mention that technically only volumes 1-6 are on my bookshelf. Anacoqui has volume 7 in a “to-be-read-someday” pile on her bookshelf.
The Chronicles of Conan Vol. 1-14
Conan is one of the first older series that I collected exclusively through trade. I
had always heard great things about it but it seemed way too intimidating (and cost-prohibitive) to try buying all of the back issues. Dark Horse’s reprint collection was perfect. I bought the first volume in 2003. I loved the stories, the Barry Windsor-Smith art and the Roy Thomas retrospectives. I eagerly awaited each successive volume, and waited in trepidation when it looked the series might be cancelled (there was an unexplained delay of a year between volumes 10 and 11). After 14 volumes, I mostly had my fill and decided to walk away with Roy Thomas (they’re now up to volume 20).
The Savage Sword of Conan Vol. 1-5
These 500-page black-and-white monsters are a satisfying chunk of story. However, the simultaneous publishing of Savage Sword “phonebooks” and Chronicles may explain why I got burned out on Conan and ready to leave with Roy.
MySpace DHP Vol. 1
I’m funny that way. I rarely read webcomics. But I have no problem buying collections of comics previously available on the web for free. Dark Horse’s MySpace collections
are a wonderful anthology featuring characters from their diverse line as well as entirely new concepts. They’ve introduced me to Usagi Yojimbo, delighted me with Dr. Horrible and impressed me with so much more. Volume 1 is on my shelf. 2 and 3 are on Ana’s (a recurring theme). However, I’m a little behind and haven’t yet bought volumes 4 and 5.
Hellboy Volume 1-5, 8-10
Who says that movies can’t bring new readers to comics- or, at least, to a series? The first Hellboy comic I bought was a $1 reprint of “The Body” that came out with the first Hellboy movie as a promotion. I loved it. I bought a couple of the early trades and started collecting the new stories as they came out. I soon discovered that I enjoyed Hellboy a lot more in trades than in single issues. So I switched back to trades with volume 8.
Spyboy Vol. 1-5 and Young Justice
I started buying this Peter David/Pop Mhan vehicle just as it was being canceled. I loved the blend of action and humor. I loved the characters and the use of chibis (Japanese style animated avatars that crack jokes along the margins). And I would have switched to buying the monthly issues except it was, y’know, discontinued.
Star Wars: A Long Time Ago Vol. 1-7
I enjoyed reading the older Conans in trade form so much that I decided to take
the plunge with another classic series from the ‘70s and ‘80s: Marvel’s Star Wars.
Thankfully, Dark Horse had collected the entire series in 7 distinctive volumes. Ana bought me the first couple as a moving to Rochester present just over 3 years ago. I completed the collection in just over a year. I greatly enjoyed the series. There were some lows (Carmine Infantino had no idea how to draw Chewbacca). But there were some real highs as well right through the end with the introduction of compelling villains like Lumiya.
Classic Star Wars Vol. 1-3 and Early Adventures
These volumes collect the Star Wars newspaper strip. The first three volumes are by Al Williamson and they’re absolutely brilliant. Williamson had an incredible
eye for detail. He drew luscious landscapes, intricate spaceships and recognizable
characters. Early Adventures was drawn by another comics legend, Russ Manning, but unfortunately the strips are some of the worst Star Wars comics I’ve read in any format.
Star Wars: Clone Wars Volume 7, Darth Maul, Force Unleashed, General Grievous and Menace Revealed Omnibus
For a while, I was collecting quite a lot of Star Wars comics. Even so, I missed the occasional mini-series and had to pick it up later in a trade. Clone Wars Volume 7 collects the excellent Obsession mini-series with art by Brian Ching. It features a classic confrontation between Anakin and Obi-Wan on one side and Asajj Ventress on the other. Darth Maul and General Grievous focus on a couple of prominent villains. Force Unleashed is an original graphic novel based on the recent video game. And Menace Revealed is a big collection of issues that came out before and during Star Wars Episode I.
Umbrella Academy Vol. 1-2
I was curious about this series from the get-go, even though I wasn’t a fan of Gerard Way (the writer) or My Chemical Romance (his band)… yet. But I was cautious. Hesitant, even. I skipped the single issues. Yet I kept hearing good things about the series. Finally, I dropped down an even bigger chunk of change to buy the trade. I am so glad I did. Umbrella Academy was excellent. It featured great characters (though I always thought Kraken and Horror had their names backwards) and told an engrossing story over time. Plus, the White Violin is one of the greatest- and most visually interesting- villains I’ve ever seen. The second volume, Dallas, is just as good, though this time I intentionally waited for the trade.
Witchfinder
One more Hellboy/BPRD spin-off to finish off the Dark Horse shelf.
Next week, on to the second shelf and DC.
September 04, 2010
Retro-Review: Peter David’s Incredible Hulk
He’s big and gray and mean. He’s the incredible Hulk. And I’ve never really read his adventures before. Oh, I have a few issues of the Hulk: some from the late ‘90s that received as free give-a-ways and a couple I had read as a child guest-starring the Soviet Super Soldiers. But I can’t say that the Hulk is a character I’ve followed or ever cared all that much about.
He’s bald and white and funny. He’s Peter David. And I’ve read plenty of his adventures before. In this case, I’m talking about the adventures he’s written. His Captain Marvel was one of my favorite titles at the time. I loved his Young Justice, admired his Spider-Man 2099, enjoyed his Spyboy and still love his X-Factor right now. But I had never read the run that had earned him more accolades than any other: his work on the Incredible Hulk.
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a row of Incredible Hulk trades on a library book shelf. And, right in the middle, I saw a half-dozen volumes of Marvel Visionaries: Peter David. I decided to take the plunge. I grabbed the first three volumes (2-4, as number 1 wasn’t there) and figured I could come back later for the rest.
First things first: I liked them. I enjoyed them enough to set any other comics aside for a couple of weeks and plow through these instead. I even took one volume on vacation with me and read it at a friend’s house. If the point of a comic book is to entertain, Peter David’s Incredible Hulk succeeded.
So what did I like about it? And, if I’m being honest, what didn’t I like about it?
In volume 2, I liked the structure. I liked that there was an over-arching story- the Leader manipulating the Hulk- while each issue still had its individual battle as the Hulk fought the Leader’s minions in succession. The structure made sure that each individual issue (or, in the case of the trade, each chapter in the story) was satisfying while also giving you a reason to keep on reading.
(SPOILER ALERT)
I liked that the Leader was able to pull off his plan. It’s not often that you see a villain succeed. Two-thirds into this volume, the Leader successfully completed his plot and exploded a gamma bomb. I like the resolution even better. Peter David gave us a great done-in-one story as Rick Jones, Clay Quartermain and others dealt with the fall-out from the explosion (pun intended, I am reviewing a Peter David book after all).
I liked the abrupt change in status quo. After that, we were introduced to an all-new Hulk as he assumed the identity of a Las Vegas bouncer named Joe Fix-It. The sudden shift kept the title fresh and interesting. I understand that’s one of the hallmarks of Peter David’s work on the Incredible Hulk, and a major reason why he was able to last so long.
(END OF SPOILER ALERT)
I also liked the Todd McFarlane art. I realize that may be heresy in these parts, but I did. The Hulk’s body was bulging all over the place, like his skin couldn’t contain him. He looked like a clay monster, a golem, something simultaneously more and less than human. It was great. I also liked his exaggerated features for the Leader and most of the human cast. Ironically, the only depiction I didn’t care for was Bruce Banner. Banner was so exaggerated- with huge glasses and big bangs- that it was difficult to identify or empathize with him.
That’s not to say that volume two was perfect. I didn’t like that some of the Leader’s scenes were long-winded. I didn’t like most of the villains. We had Wolverine at the beginning (yay!) and Absorbing Man at the end (hooray!) but it was a league of losers in between.
However, my biggest problem was with the Hulk himself. It’s not entirely Peter David’s fault. The Hulk was created to be a Jekyll-and-Hyde character, two distinct personalities sharing one body. I happen to think that Wolverine is more interesting as an anti-hero, knowing that the demons he fights are part of who he is and not some other. But David didn’t help himself either. Triggering the change by the moon instead of by anger
separated the two halves even further. We weren’t reading about Bruce Banner as the Hulk; we were reading about Bruce Banner and the Hulk.
In volume 3, I liked the situation. The idea of casting the Hulk as a Las Vegas bouncer was brilliant. It gave him motivation beyond smashing things for the sake of it. He had a job. He had a reason to beat people up. He had a boss, co-workers, rivals and a potential girlfriend. And he had a secret to protect. The set-up had been established in volume 2 and came to a head in volume 4. In volume 3, it was the background yet it still added to the story over all.
I liked the side-trip to Jarella’s world. It was funny seeing the locals treat the Hulk as a god. It was even funnier seeing the Hulk’s reaction. It reminded me of some of the great Conan stories in which the barbarian is baffled by the customs of civilization. The Hulk’s reactions are just as surprising to the locals and the reader. It’s a great way to keep things interesting. It’s a great way to include humor. And it’s a great way of exposing the foibles of our own society.
I liked the developments with Marlo. She’s an interesting addition to the cast. I was amused by her infatuation with Mr. Fix-It and intrigued by her interactions with Bruce Banner.
Once again, I mostly liked the art. That was kind of a surprise to me. I wasn’t familiar with Jeff Purves and was expecting a bit of a let-down between the bigger names on the title. But Purves did a very good job. He was more consistent than McFarlane and gave the Las Vegas stories his own imprint.
But I didn’t like everything. Volume 3 had a very rough start with crossovers with Web of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. The stories were mediocre. Even the art was bad, and not just on the non-Hulk halves. Purves had trouble drawing Spider-Man, Dr. Doom and Beast (the last in a one-panel cameo).
In volume 4, I liked just about everything. I liked the progression of the relationship triangle between the Hulk, Marlo and Bruce Banner. The web of assumptions, expectations and deceptions was intriguing. It had humor, as Bruce had to keep coming up with stories and excuses. It also had depth, as Marlo and her friend began to fear that Marlo fell for an abusive boyfriend. Mr. Fix-It had never been rough with her, but his tendency towards violence with everyone else was starting to scare her. And it had pathos, as you really hoped that the Hulk would find happiness in love.
I liked the antagonists. This volume had the strongest cast of adversaries- even if some of them were expressions of someone else’s power. The collection of Wolverines, Things and other Hulks was fantastic. The battle with Iron Man was great. And the unknown Ghoul was developed much better than foes from previous volumes. I even liked the opponents from the short stories- Hulk Hogan (though David overdid it a little with the “who deserves the name” argument) and a killer whale. Plus, there was a behind-the-scenes antagonist in Glorian. Like the Leader, he cast a shadow over the entire volume even though he rarely faced the Hulk directly. Unlike the Leader, Glorian was trying to save the Hulk instead of defeat him. It was a great twist, with a lot of possibilities and emotional conflict. There were a few duds in there- I think that Nightmare and D’Spayre are pretty boring as metaphysical threats but that can be blamed on guest writer Bob Harras.
I especially liked that Peter David addressed some of my earlier concerns. Marlo had a great speech in which she told Bruce that he and “his cousin Joe” had a lot more in common than they thought. Bruce had anger in him and Joe had sensitivity. They just didn’t like to show it. Though she wasn’t aware of it, Marlo spoke to the fact that the two of them were halves of the same person.
I’m looking forward to volume 5 and beyond.
August 27, 2010
The Best Vacation Spots in the DCU
Kooey Kooey Kooey
Go krazy in Kooey! This south Pacific Island boasts some of the greatest beaches in the world whether you’re into snorkeling, surfing or simply sitting in the sun. At night, Kooey offers a world-class casino. But the best part is that Kooey offers easy travel. Why take a twelve-hour plane trip when you can be on Kooey Kooey Kooey with your next step via transport tube?
Our newest tour is quickly becoming one of our most popular. Experience the thrill of Venice right here in America. This tour offers both a gondola ride for the surface view and a submarine tour for the underwater experience. Notice: National Tours is not responsible for side-effects due to radiation.
Experience everything! This classic tour starts in Metropolis, the home of Superman. Next up is Boston, the first American home of Wonder Woman. Don’t be afraid to enjoy the Gotham nights (but don’t expect to see Batman; he’s shy). And, finally, the tour concludes in New York City, the home of the original Titans Tower.
Paradise Island
Ignore the rumors: men have been welcome on Paradise Island since the UN expedition of 1990. See ancient Greek architecture as it was meant to be seen. Enjoy the unparalleled sports scene, including track and field, archery and chariot races. Listen to the beautiful all-women Amazon choir sing 2000 year old classics. And best of all-theweather is always perfect. It’s paradise on earth- literally!
August 20, 2010
The Best Vacation Spots in the Marvel U
Savage Land Safari
Bring your zoom lens because you’ll want to remember this prehistoric photo safari. Track the T Rex. Go parasailing with pterosaurs. Snap a shot of a stegosaurus. This five-day four-night tour includes a feast with the Fall People. We recommend taking the boat, however, as planes rarely land safely.
Madripoor is one of the most spectacular cities on the Pacific Rim. It combines the best of the old world with the luxury of the new. Try the local cuisine. Check out some of the tallest skyscrapers in the world. And take a boat tour around the historic harbor. Notice: tour insurance does not cover pickpockets or bar brawls in Lowtown. Tourists are advised to avoid that part of the city.
Watch the earth rise from the fabulous blue area of the moon. As the Inhumans open their culture to other races, the new Tourism Bureau has declared their lunar sanctuary open to visitors. Drive a ball 1000 yards on their galaxy-glass golf course. Relax on the endless beaches of moon dust. Perfect for those who want to get away from it all.
Atlas Travel is proud to continue our Superhero City Classic. Highlights include a bus tour of prominent superhero sites such as Dr. Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum and a guided tour of the Fantastic Four’s famous Baxter Building. If you’re lucky, you might even see Spider-Man swinging overhead. Optional side-trips include a tour of the offices of Marvel Comics.
August 12, 2010
Real Quick Recent Comments
Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine #2: What a wild ride! I have no idea what’s going to happen next. And I loved the role reversal from the first issue.
Brightest Day #5-6: I still love this anthology of high-caliber characters. I only wish Jade hadn’t been shunted aside to the JLA/JSA crossover but that’s not a complaint about the quality of the series itself.
Captain America #607-608: I enjoyed the “Two Americas” arc but I’m becoming very intrigued by the new Baron Zemo story. He’s giving the title a sense of direction and a master villain that could rival the role the Red Skull played in the first couple of years of Brubaker’s run.
DCU Legacies #3: A fun re-telling of the history of the DCU, even incorporating a scene from the Christopher Reeves Superman movie as Supe’s introduction to Metropolis.
Dynamo 5: Sins of the Father #2 of 5: It’s one of my favorite series ever. A wonderful blend of personal lives and superhero action and a wonderful fix of characters.
GI Joe #156: Forgot I had ordered this and ended up being pleasantly surprised. This isn’t the first “Cobra has won and GI Joe is on the run” story but it’s a very good one.
Spike: The Devil You Know #2 of 4: Not a strong mini-series for the Buffy star and Angel spin-off. Artist Chris Cross appears to be channeling Kevin Maguire for funny facial expressions but pulls it off inconsistently. And Eddie Hope isn’t developed enough yet to fulfill the buddy cop role he’s been given.
Star Wars: The Old Republic #1: A disappointment. The Jedi all come from recognizable races but don’t have personalities of their own so they come off as references to more familiar characters. Plus there’s a been-there, done-that feeling to yet another Sith War.
Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier #1: Ed Brubaker can do no wrong when it comes to the Captain America franchise and Dale Eaglesham is a great fit as artist.
Uncanny X-Men: The Heroic Age: I enjoyed this. I agree with Paul O’Brien who wrote that the Beast/Molly Hayes scene would have been better coming out before Second Coming, but it was still well done. And it had some nice moments for Cyclops, Franklin Richards and Hope.
X-Force #28 and X-Men Second Coming #2: Strongly structured and emotionally resonant, Second Coming easily surpasses Messiah Complex. The X-Force issue is the grand finale while Second Coming #2 is more of an epilogue dealing with the emotional fall-out. Great stuff.
August 06, 2010
In Defense of Sequels and Spin-Offs
It happens as regularly as the seasons.
At the start of every summer, some pundit writes an article in Entertainment Weekly or Time complaining about the large number of movie sequels. At the beginning of each fall, some critic writes a column in Rolling Stone or USA Today complaining about the large number of retreads in the new television season. All year long, some blogger writes a post on Newsarama or Comic Book Resources complaining that the latest comic book series is a spin-off of an already successful superhero franchise.
The usual response is that sequels, spin-offs and revivals make money. They sell more tickets, draw more viewers, move more issues. They’re what the audience wants, even if they say they don’t. They vote with their wallets, their eyeballs and their time. And that’s what matters.
However, the other week, I read the best reply. John Lasseter, the head of Pixar and now Disney, was interviewed by Time magazine about Toy Story 3 and Pixar’s upcoming plans. The interviewer noted that Pixar had mostly eschewed sequels up to now but seemed to be embarking on quite a few in the near future. They asked Lasseter why do a sequel, why do another Toy Story? John Lasseter replied, “These characters are like family and friends. We want to see them again.” As creators, they wanted to explore new and deeper emotions for these characters.
The same is true for the audience. We like certain characters. They become part of our lives. Listen to a fan talk passionately about their
favorite character and you’ll hear them talk about a friend. We want to see these friends again. We want to find out what they’re doing now. It’s the same impulse that brings us to
family gatherings and college reunions. That’s a good thing. It keeps us connected. It fills us with joy.
For that reason, I never understood the recurring complaints about sequels, spin-offs and revivals. Admittedly, they’re not always done well. Lasseter acknowledged that some sequels are callous cash-grabs. But that doesn’t mean every sequel is a callous cash-grab. Sometimes the creator is as motivated to revisit these characters as the fans. That’s certainly the case with Toy Story 3.
The audience’s appetite for sequels can also be a bad thing when it excludes anything new. It’s like a curmudgeon who refuses to meet new people or make new friends. Yet that danger occurs more often in the critic’s imagination than it does in reality. The pundit looks at the upcoming season and writes about what’s recognizable, not knowing that The Hangover will become a breakout hit or that Glee will become the most buzz-worthy new show. The audience does find new things to enjoy- new friends to add to their list of familiar favorites.
This doesn’t happen quite as often in comics. Maybe it’s because a character’s exposure is determined by the audience’s appetite rather than an actor’s availability. If the audience has an appetite for five separate Spider-Man titles, the publisher will give it to them.
Yet, even in comics, the same principles apply. The reason why publishers produce so many
spin-offs and revivals is because they make money. But the reason they make money is because we
as an audience buy them. We’re not
interested in the publisher’s profit margin.
We’re interested in seeing our heroes and our friends again.
And yes, even in comics, the audience will find something new. The best-selling franchises in trade paperbacks right now aren’t Superman and Batman; they’re Scott Pilgrim and the Walking Dead.
Sequels and spin-offs aren’t a bad thing. They’re the familiarity of family, the comfort of close friends. They can catch us up. They can take the story further. They can go into deeper emotions. They can make us feel. They can be well done. And they will always be with us.
The end.
July 30, 2010
Driving Action vs. Twisting Action
There are a myriad number of ways to plot a story, but they all boil down to a basic two: driving action and twisting action. A story with driving action is one that points you to an expected climax or conclusion. A story with twisting action is one that surprises you with unexpected turns. The best stories combine these two distinct models. They drive us to an expected climax but get there in an unexpected way.
Driving action gets short shrift from certain observers. They declare a story a failure if it fulfills our expectations. Yet every great story fulfills our expectations in some way. Entire genres are built on fulfilling expectations. In a romance story, we know that the two leads will get together by the end. The story drives toward that anticipated union. The surprises come in how they get there and what obstacles they have to overcome. There are exceptions in terms of the tragic romance story, but the vast majority of romance stories feature driving action. We know how it’s going to turn out, even if we don’t know how.
One of the best examples of driving action comes from a crime story. The movie Heat features two primary characters. One, played by Robert DeNiro, is an expert thief. The other, played by Al Pacino, is a determined cop. From the beginning of the movie, we know that these two characters must eventually, inevitably confront one another. There are twists along the way. There are temporary meetings that foreshadow the coming climax. There is a surprise turn that makes the final confrontation possible. And we don’t know who will ultimately prevail when they meet. Yet the climax of the movie is fully expected, anticipated and even desired by the audience. Any conclusion that didn’t include a meeting between the two primary characters would have left us disappointed and unfulfilled.
Twisting action, on the other hand, often gets full credit. We like to be surprised, caught off-guard. We love the big reveal at the end that we didn’t see coming, a la The Sixth Sense or The Usual Suspects. Yet a story that is all twisting action will often leave us feeling confused or disinterested. To quote our esteemed Captain Comics: “If anything can happen, we eventually don’t care what does.” That problem can bedevil continuing stories that are built on twisting plots. Twin Peaks was a celebrated show when it first aired. Yet the necessity of continual surprises made the show convoluted and contrived. Fans lost interest. In some cases, fairly quickly.
Lost solved this problem by incorporating driving action. Even though the series was built on mysteries and unexpected twists, individual seasons drove to anticipated and foreknown climaxes such the rescue of the Oceanic Six at the end of season four and the atomic bomb at the end of season five. Comic books are no different than any other story media. Some stories rely on driving action. Others on twisting action. The best incorporate a bit of both. They drive to an expected climax but get there in an unexpected way. They thrive on unexpected ways but still work towards a foreseen conclusion.
Blackest Night is a great example of driving action. We knew where the story was heading from the time that it was announced. We watched Geoff Johns and company introduce us to the other colored rings one by one. We were told that they would have to work together to defeat the power behind the black ring. And we debated whether they would have to resort to a white light in order to become victorious. The essential elements of the climax were known ahead of time.
Some observers declared the Blackest Night a failure. It was, after all, what we expected. But that declaration arises out of a narrow view of story-telling. It ignores the important role of fore-shadowing, letting your audience know where the story is going so that they can accompany you. It ignores the necessary fulfillment of expectations that accompanies every successful story, even those that rely on twisting action. And it ignores the fact that Blackest Night arrived at its expected climax in an unexpected way- with Sinestro wearing the white ring instead of Hal Jordan. In a way, Blackest Night defied our expectations even as it met them.
Blackest Night was neither a failure of story-telling nor a failure of imagination. It was instead a classic example of driving action. It incorporated the same kind of driving action that lies behind crime dramas like Heat, westerns like Unforgiven, horror stories like The Silence of the Lambs and romances like When Harry Met Sally. That’s why it was beloved by so many readers, even if a few observers failed to understand how driving action results in satisfying stories. There are a myriad number of ways to tell a story. The best stories both surprise us with something we didn’t expect and satisfy us with something we did.
July 25, 2010
Memories of Comic-Con
Nine
years ago this week, I attended my first and only San Diego Comic-Con.I had a one-year internship on the West Coast (just outside of San Francisco) and my wife Anacoqui and I decided to take the trip down to San Diego. We didn’t know if we’d ever get another chance to go (and so far, we haven’t). We had a great time. Comic-Con was everything I wanted it to be. It was one of the best vacations of my life. I have fond memories of the CrossGen booth. This was 2001 and CrossGen was still on the rise. They had a wide open pavilion and fans could walk right in. We stopped by a couple of times during the week. On the Wednesday preview night, we talked to several of the CrossGen luminaries. We met Tony Bedard, who had just been added to the writing staff. We talked to Mark Alessi (though he was kind of over-bearing). I fulfilled a lifelong dream in meeting George Perez. I also inadvertently insulted him- I made him feel old by telling him that my mom used to buy New Teen Titans comics for me. We came back throughout the week for autograph sessions. We scored small posters for every CrossGen title and Anacoqui won a drawing for a large Scion poster signed by Ron Marz and Jimmy Cheung. It was great. The CrossGen people made us feel like family more than fans. It helped that Anacoqui was seven months pregnant. We were pretty recognizable.
I have fond memories of several panels. One of the best panels that I attended was with Mark Waid. It was a fairly small crowd and Mark simply took questions. He was very open and honest with us, and even cried a couple of times. He cried once when we asked him about his favorite story that he had written. He mentioned Flash #0 when Wally West is displaced in time and gives advice to his younger self. That was a very personal
story for Mark. We also dragged up some painful memories by asking about the fallout he had with an editors that led to his early departure from one of his dream projects: the Legion of Super-Heroes.
We also attended a JLA/Avengers panel with Kurt Busiek and George Perez as they teased the upcoming project. We attended a women-in-comics panel that included Amanda Conner. I remember Amanda specifically because one of the other women who was working in independent comics made a disparaging comment about “who wants to draw superheroes beating up on each other” and Amanda raised her hand to say “I do.” We attended a Farscape panel with Anthony Simcoe (D’argo) and series creator Rockne O’Bannon. Anthony was hilarious. It was especially funny to hear D’argo’s deep voice coming from this blond Australian.
And we unintentionally attended a Battlestar Galactica panel. We were trying to get early seats for another TV/movie panel (Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, I think) and caught the end of BSG. This was 2001, however, well before the second series hit the air. Instead, the actor who played Apollo was pitching his idea for a new BSG project. He complained that someone else was sitting on the rights and asked fans to support him
instead. He showed us his ideas for the series. Honestly, it didn’t look very good. But it all worked out in the end. The rights holders ended up putting a very good project together. And Apollo made peace with them, even showing up in a recurring role as a revolutionary.
I also have fond memories of walking the floor. I was overwhelmed at first. Everything I ever wanted was for sale. I contented myself by buying several Silver Age Teen Titans, including a few that had been part of the infamous IRS collection, and finishing my collection of George Perez’s Wonder Woman.
Yet Comic-Con wasn’t the only highlight of our stay in San Diego. I took Anacoqui to the world famous zoo. We had a great day, though we spent the afternoon on the double decker tour bus because there’s only so much walking a seven-month pregnant woman can do. We bought tickets to a Padres game and lucked into a double-header when the previous night’s game was canceled due to lightning. We got two games for the price of one. We watched Randy Johnson set a record for most strikeouts in a relief appearance (the first game technically picked up in the second inning) and Trevor Hoffman close out the second game with a save. And we discovered quite a few great restaurants in the downtown area including an Italian cafe, an English pub, a pizza place and a seafood joint.
Yeah, it was a great time. Someday, I’ll maybe even get to go back.
International Super-Teams
I like that every country has its own set of heroes: America, Canada, Russia, Japan, and so on. I like how these other heroes represent different cultures and different ways of looking at the world. I like how their interests sometimes conflict and sometimes overlap. I like that people from other countries are shown to be heroes too (even as someone who’s half-American, I get a little tired of a completely U.S.-centric approach).I like international super-teams.
The past two years have given me numerous opportunities to indulge this particular interest of mine. Grant Morrison introduced two new Asian super-teams from Asia and DC gave each of those teams their own mini-series. Japan’s Super Young Team appeared in Final Crisis: Dance last year; China’s Great Ten is currently appearing in an eponymous title. Marvel is also giving a push to the former Soviet Super Soldiers. They’re now known as the Winter Guard and they’ve appeared in a Hulk one-shot before moving on to their current mini-series, Darkstar and the Winter Guard.
Great Ten is the best of this trio.
Tony Bedard and Scott McDaniel are telling a story that is
simultaneously sprawling and compact. It’s been a delight to see how
they juggle the diverse demands of the series. Each issue focuses on an
individual member of the Great Ten, using flashbacks to tell their
origin stories. We’re clued in to their powers and their personalities.
The characters and their stories are different enough that the technique
doesn’t feel repetitive. Meanwhile, the Great Ten are also involved in
an epic story in the present as the gods of old China appear to have
returned. The presence of the gods has split the team: some think it’s a
hoax, some think it’s real, some serve the state no matter what and
some don’t care. It’s a riveting and enjoyable story with sudden
betrayals and other surprising turns. Great Ten has been one of the best
mini-series I’ve read this yearand I’ve eagerly anticipated each new issue.
Unfortunately, Great Ten’s quality has been obscured by a cloud of other concerns. The big one is bad sales. DC infamously canceled Great Ten- initially scheduled as a ten-issue mini-series- with issue nine. It appears that Bedard and McDaniel will still be able to tell their whole story; the tenth issue mentions two featured characters instead of one. But the quick hook turned the Great Ten into an internet punch-line. It’s undeserved as Great Ten is an excellent mini-series.
Final Crisis: Dance is, sadly, the
worst of the trio. Artist ChrisCross does a decent job, though his art
is occasionally obscured by the all-too common complaint of too-dark
coloring. Writer Joe Casey, however, misses the mark by a mile. It’s a
problem that has affected other Casey projects such as Youngblood or the
Intimates. Casey often chooses to portray the superhero life beyond the
battle between good and evil. He’ll explore politics, celebrity or
technology. It could make for an interesting theme or a great setting
but it doesn’t work as the center of the story. It’s all icing and no
cake. We’re not interested in Superbat’s website or twitter account if
we’re not interested in him as a person or a hero. And if we don’t see
him do anything other than tweet, we won’t care about him.FC: Dance almost gets interesting around the fourth issue. The team temporarily
disbands. Shiny Happy Aquazon goes home to Japan and tries to join the Big Science Action team that her father helped found. However, she’s rejected for membership partly because of the Young Team’s celebrity status. It’s a poignant emotional moment as Aquazon feels rejected by her own father. Regrettably, it was a short-lived sub-plot. However, it does show that the Super Young Team has the potential to be interesting.
The focus should be on developing personalities instead of portraying caricatures. Technology and celebrity should be a side-dish to a story with action and emotion as the main course.
Winter Guard falls somewhere in the middle. David Gallaher and Steve Ellis give us a solid superhero story. It’s not as technically proficient or interesting as Great Ten. But they do throw in a slight twist to the concept. The idea of the Winter Guard is more important to Russia than its individual members, so they’re replaced by other heroes with
the same powers when they die or become
too troublesome. In a way, Winter Guard shows FC: Dance how it’s done,
striking a nice balance between a main plot and the government control
concept. I miss the original Darkstar, Laynia Petrova- who I knew from
Champions, X-Men and other comics of the ‘70s and ‘80s- yet I think they
deal with her absence effectively. The replacement Darkstar asks the
same questions about being able to fill the former heroine’s shoes.
Plus, Ursa Major continues to mourn the loss of his sister.It’s a little early to give Winter Guard a full verdict. So far I’ve only read one issue
of the three issue mini-series, plus the Hulk one-shot from this past winter. It’s
off to a good start, though. At least it won’t be canceled early a la the Great Ten.
That’s what’s going on around the world. At least, around the world as we see it from our vantage in America. That’s a fine thing or a fan of international super-teams like me.
The End.
X-Men East, West and South
Didn’t like my idea last week of a
thrice-monthly Uncanny X-Men? Don’t worry. I have another one.I’m not saying that there’s a problem with the X-Men the way they are now. I’m not automatically saying that the titles have to be obviously distinct from one another. I’ve definitely enjoyed past times when two titles essentially operated as one. Yet I do think there’s an added element of interest, and even fun, when the titles take on separate flavors.
One way to divvy up the X-Men is geographically. The X-Men have, over the years, become associated with several different locations. Instead of choosing one, why not choose all of them? Why not put one squad in New York and another in San Francisco?
I admit that geography alone is not much of a distinguishing feature. At least, not anymore. I grew up with Alpha Flight in Canada, Excalibur in England and a second squad of Avengers on the West Coast. But times have changed. The recent struggles of Alpha Flight and Excalibur to find an audience have demonstrated that it’s not enough to put a team in another country and expect fans to be interested in them.
Geography is only a starting point. But it’s still a good one.
The first thing I would do is put a team
back in New York. Well, not New York City exactly. I would put them back
in the mansion in Westchester County. This would be the classic version
of the X-Men. This would be the title readily recognizable to movie
fans.This would be Uncanny X-Men, and it would have two distinguishing features. One, it would feature classic superhero action. There would be an adult team running into the City to fight villains and so on. Two, it would feature the school. The adult team would double as teachers and trainers. And they would have a body of students to teach concerning both their mutant powers and normal school stuff. This team would be headed by Cyclops and Emma Frost. Beyond that, it’s pretty wide open. I think that Colossus and Kitty Pryde would fit well, here. Maybe Northstar, who turned out to be a good teacher in the past. Or maybe Beast, doing double duty with the Avengers. Plus, there would be plenty of kids like Anole, Pixie and Dust.
The second team would be in San Francisco.
The team has a long history with the area. They first moved here around
issue 200 and made the abandoned Alcatraz Island their temporary base.
More recently, they set up shop in the Marin Headlands north of the
Golden Gate Bridge before relocating to Utopia Island just off the
coast. I like having a team in San Francisco. It seems new and modern,
even though it has traditional connections to the title. 
This would be X-Men, and it would have two
distinguishing features as well. One, this would be the title to
explore the new status quo of mutants. For the past decade or so, the
X-Men have been outed as mutants. Their secret identities are no longer
secret, thanks to Cassandra Nova. This title would explore what it’s
like for the X-Men to be public figures. I would put them back in the
Marin Headlands as they don’t need Utopia Island anymore. I would pick
up some of the storylines that got dropped, including their evolving
relationship with S.F.’s mayor. Two, this title would also
surreptitiously train mutant operatives. They have a lot of room to
roam. The Marin Headlands house several abandoned military
installations. Plus, Utopia Island might not be a nice place to live but
it could still be a great place to train. The New Mutants, now in their
twenties, would stick around and learn to be soldiers.I would put Storm and Wolverine on this team. Storm makes for a great leader and legitimate face for the operation. Wolverine makes for a great sergeant at arms, and I like the developments in his own title as the kingpin of Chinatown. I’d probably leave Magneto out here as well. Professor X could handle some of the political situations. And Angel and Psylocke would round out the team.
The third and final squad would go to
Dallas (you were worried that I was going to say “Australia,” weren’t
you?). The X-Men have a history with Dallas. This is where the team died
in “Fall of the Mutants” (before moving to Australia). And thanks to
Forge’s home, they’ve had plenty of reason to return including a recent
story in Astonishing X-Men.This would be the New X-Men, as I wouldn’t keep the “Legacy” name. Once again, there would be two distinguishing features. One, this would be the title to explore the mutant metaphors. Throughout their history, mutants have substituted for minorities such as African-Americans, Jews and homosexuals. The metaphor has resulted in some of their most powerful stories. I think it would be very interesting to set that kind of story in the South. Of course, New X-Men would burst southern stereotypes as well as tell mutant metaphors- Dallas is a modern city, despite the cowboy hats,and Houston recently elected an openly gay mayor. The southern X-Men, Rogue and Gambit, would be the headliners in this title, with Forge at the base and Iceman as a foil.
Two, this would be the title that featured the newest X-Men. I like Rogue in the mentor role. But it doesn’t work to have her mentor students if they’re all up at the school. So I would have her mentor the new adult heroes. Keep Danger here, and watch the growing relationship between her and Rogue. Bring Marrow back. Maybe recall Darwin from X-Factor (it would be nice to have a Hispanic on the squad). The title would explore what it
means to be a mutant, but also what it means to be a hero.
That’s three different teams, each with several stars to anchor the title and a different story to tell. That could be interesting. And that’s my idea for the X-Men East, West and South.
Image of Dallas, Texas from Ragingwire
Uncanny, Uncanny, Uncanny
Other than the names, there isn’t much to differentiate the four titles. Legacy has the distinguishing feature that it focuses on Rogue as she mentors the next generation of mutants. Astonishing is a playground on the outskirts of continuity for high profile creative teams- currently Warren Ellis and a different artist for every arc. However, Uncanny and the new X-Men are essentially the same title.
I was struck by the solicitations for
this summer. On the covers, the new X-Men and Uncanny have essentially
the same roster of heroes. And they share significantly with Astonishing
X-Men. Cyclops and Emma Frost appear in all three teams. Wolverine,
Storm and Magneto show up in two each. Rogue has two berths as well, if
we include Legacy. That’s a lot of overlap.That hasn’t necessarily been a problem in the past. The separate X-Men titles have sometimes had distinct modes but not always. When the second X-Men #1 got off the ground, the two titles were divided into two squads- gold and blue. But characters started to slide from one squad to the other until eventually the line was effectively blurred. In the late ‘90s, there was another attempt to separate them as Uncanny focused on the original five X-Men and adjective-less featured new teammates like Marrow and Cecilia Reyes. That line was eliminated as well after a change in creative teams.
Today, there doesn’t even appear to be
an attempt to keep the titles separate. They have the same line-ups and
the same mission. The only thing that’s different is the creative team.
So why not go with it? Why pretend that the titles are different?I’m suggesting that the X-Men take a page out of Spider-Man’s book. A couple of years ago, Spider-Man underwent a major change. I’m not talking about his deal with the devil and the marriage with Mary Jane that never was. I’m talking about the decision to replace Spectacular Spider-Man and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man on the schedule with an Amazing Spider-Man that ships three times a month. The idea has been a success. The success has been moderated somewhat by residual feelings about those aforementioned in-story decisions regarding Mary Jane and Mephisto. But there’s no question that the three-times-a-month experiment has paid off for Amazing.
I think the X-Men should try the same
thing. Uncanny, Uncanny, Uncanny- three times a month. The revamped
schedule might be even more successful for the X-Men as they could make
the switch with no hard feelings about a story-telling choice. I admit
that it could be a headache for the editor involved. Imagine trying to
juggle that many characters. Or imagine trying to keep several creative
teams on schedule so that the individual arcs can be published in order.Yet I think there’s also a tremendous upside. The X-Men could retain their most popular core of characters- Cyclops, Emma Frost, Wolverine and Storm. Then, they could rotate other characters into the line-up based on individual story arcs. That would keep many more characters active. The vast stable of X-Men would be an asset, instead of a crowd. Plus, with the quick turnover of stories in real time, a character that missed an arc or two would only be out of circulation for a month or two, instead of a year or two at the current pace of publishing. That could keep more fans happy, too.
Then, there are the natural advantages of a thrice-monthly schedule. Stories seem faster-paced- they’re over in a month and a half even if they last five issues. Fans get a regular dose of action if they go to the store weekly or a two-or-three issue chunk of story if they go to the store monthly.
I’ve certainly enjoyed reading Spider-Man this way. And I think it would be a blast to read Uncanny this way as well.
June 24, 2010
Brightest Day’s Black Eye
That didn’t take long, did it?
It seemed like only yesterday that we were celebrating the possibility of shinier, happier stories. Marvel touted their Heroic Age by proclaiming that heroes would act like heroes again. And DC’s Brightest Day seemed to promise the same. At least, that’s what I recall.
But it didn’t take long before a set of fans were up in arms and editors were on the defensive. DC debuted the new direction for the Titans with the sudden (but not necessarily shocking) death of non-Titan (and non-Caucasian) Atom Ryan Choi. Then, there was the Arsenal mini-series in which Roy Harper does a number of detestable things, including saying degrading things about the women he’s supposedly loved. Now, there’s the solicited cover for Green Arrow #3 with Oliver Queen taking an arrow to the forehead.
It all came to a head at a recent DC Nation panel at Heroes
Con. Caroline, aka Mad Marvel Girl,
reported Ian Sattler’s response to the controversies. The DC editor commented, “We never said
Brightest Day was going to be about nice happy stories, people just inferred
that from the name.” Say what? Is Ian Sattler seriously suggesting that the fault
lay at the feet of the fans? Well, okay
then.
On the one hand, there’s a legitimate point that fans may have over-reached with unrealistic expectations for Heroic Age and Brightest Day. The announcement of these two brands wasn’t going to change everything overnight or be as far-reaching as some fans inferred. It wasn’t like authors were never going to kill a character again. And villains were still going to do bad things; they are villains after all.
Additionally, some of the controversies have little to do with either Heroic Age or Brightest Day. For example, Nightcrawler was killed off in Second Coming, the month before Marvel’s Heroic Age was supposed to begin. Even then, the X-Men aren’t scheduled to enter the Heroic Age until later this summer with the debut of the new X-Men #1. To a lesser extent, this applies to the Roy Harper situation as well. “The Rise and Fall of Arsenal” mini-series isn’t part of the Brightest Day brand, so there’s a possibility that it’s still playing under the old rules. Even if that excuse doesn’t hold, we should note that there is a difference between the Brightest Day title and the Brightest Day brand. All of the controversies have arisen out of other titles- Titans, Arsenal, Green Arrow- but not out of Brightest Day itself.
Finally, DC and Marvel were never going to go back to the
comics of the ‘60s where everything was resolved neatly by the end of 22
pages. They also weren’t going to replay
the TV shows of the ‘80s where a hundred Cobras could shoot a thousand lasers
and never hit a single one of the good guys.
And honestly, most fans don’t want that.
On the other hand, the editorial response is particularly tone-deaf. It’s generally not a good idea to tell your customers that they’re wrong.
Furthermore, miscommunication is not always the fault of the
receiver. I find it hard to fault the
fans for thinking that Brightest Day might indicate a return to slightly
shinier stories. If that’s not what the
story is about, then DC should have named it something else. Or at least, they should have been clear
about the tone and direction of the story during its promotion. Fans were not unwarranted in jumping to the
conclusions that they did.
More importantly, their conclusions were indicative of their
desires. Fans wanted to see a return to
happier stories- where Captain
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it’s a vocal minority demanding the changes and the majority of fans enjoy the senseless killing of supporting characters or the graphic depiction of arrows embedded in foreheads. But, based on the reaction to these controversies, I don’t think so. Maybe DC’s editors need to listen a little more to what fans say they want, and spend a little less time telling them they’re wrong.
I still have high hopes for Brightest Day and Heroic Age. As I mentioned earlier, the controversies haven’t come out of the main Brightest Day title (which I’ve been enjoying immensely) and Heroic Age has just gotten started. But the titles orbiting Brightest Day have been a black eye so far. And my expectations have been tempered somewhat as the editors, based on their comments, don’t seem to share that opinion.
June 17, 2010
100 Greatest Comic Book Characters of the Past 20 Years, Part II
Inspired
by an Entertainment Weekly list, I devised my own list of the 100
greatest comic book characters of the last 20 years. I’ve been
detailing the entries in alphabetical order and the first half of the
list appeared in last week’s column. Here’s the second half for your
reading and viewing pleasure:
51. Liz Noble (Image, 2002): She’s our window into the
world of superheroes, the normal girl who marries the super-speedster
Race of the famous Noble family. She’s sweet, kind, sympathetic and occasionally
overwhelmed. Noble Causes tended to lose its way when she wasn’t there.
52. Lord Pumpkin (Malibu, 1993): The 1990s superhero companies
weren’t often known for their great villains but Malibu’s Ultraverse proved to be an
exception. Lord Pumpkin made his debut in Steve Gerber’s Sludge but
proved to be so popular that he was eventually given his own title- an
honor usually reserved for classic villains like Green Goblin and the
Joker.
53. Madman (Caliber, 1990): Mike Allred’s crazy twist on
the superhero, delightfully absurd and sometimes distractingly
abstract.
54. Makita (Image, 2001): She’s the strong-willed and adolescent rebel who refuses to give in to the great Soviet empire in Red Star.
55. Marrow (Marvel, 1994): A great anti-hero. Marrow
started out as the rage-filled leader of Gene Nation. She was brought
into the X-Men, where her abrasive personality caused tension, not
unlike disturbers of the peace of the past such as the Avengers’
Hawkeye, the Justice League’s Guy Gardner and the X-Men’s own
Wolverine.
56. Maxx (Image, 1993): The Maxx was Sam Kieth’s
unique Image creation. Was he a superhero? Was he a figment of Julie’s
imagination? Was he a homeless bum? Was he a bunny rabbit? Yes, to
all of the above.
57. Mayor Mitchell Hundred (DC, 2004): Every once in a while, a
character is more interesting after they stop becoming a superhero.
That’s true of DC’s Oracle, Marvel’s Jessica Jones (#44) and Ex
Machina’s Mitchell Hundred. After watching the devastation of the World
Trade Center on 9-11 (and saving the second tower), Mitchell Hundred
decides that he can do more good as a politician than he did as the
Great Machine. However, he has a hard time learning that a politician’s
battles aren’t always as clear-cut as a superhero’s.
58. Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man 2099 (Marvel, 1992): Thanks to Peter David, the greatest character to come out of Marvel’s 2099 line. He was an adult everyman, stuck in an unsatisfying corporate job who found an escape as a superhero.
59. Molly Hayes (Marvel, 2003): I could have gone with the
nerdy Gertrude or the goth Niko, but the biggest star from Runaways is
the little girl with the big power. Molly is more interested in Hello
Kitty or Pokemon but that doesn’t stop her from being a superhero.
60. Morph (Marvel, 1995)
61. Mr. Terrific II (DC, 1997): Occasionally an update is so different that it’s essentially a new character. That’s the case with Mr. Terrific and Morph. Morph is ostensibly a new version of ‘60s X-Man Changeling, but with a new look, a new name and an actual personality, he’s truly his own character. Mr. Terrific borrows a name and a catch-phrase (Fair Play) from a Golden Age character but he adds a new look and a new set of powers that completely surpasses the original.
62. Norman McKay (DC, 1996): Two of the greatest stories of
the 1990s, Marvels and Kingdom Come, used human point-of-view
characters to bring us into the story. Norman McKay was the preacher
lost in despair at the state of the world and the diminishing place for
normal people in it. Phil Sheldon (#64) was the photographer eager to
make his way in the world and easily inspired by the heroes who were new
to the scene. Their viewpoints and journeys carried us though these
two modern masterpieces.
63. Patrick the Wolf Boy (Blindwolf, 2000): Originally self-published, Patrick would make a bigger splash when he jumped to Devil’s Due. This werewolf cub is constantly getting into mischief, like a mute and more charming Dennis the Menace.
Side-Bar: And they say comics aren’t for kids anymore. The last 20 years have introduced all kinds of great kids’ comics, including Andy Runyan’s Owly, Mike Kunkel’s Herobear, Jill Thompson’s Magic Trixie and David Peterson’s Mouse Guard. There have also been great kid versions of familiar superheroes with Marvel’s Power Pack and Franklin Richards comics and DC’s Tiny Titans.
64. Phil Sheldon (Marvel, 1994): see Norman McKay (#62).
65. Pixie (Marvel, 2004): The X-Men have a great tradition of teenage supergirls from Kitty Pryde to Jubilee. Pixie is one of the newest in the line, starring in New X-Men, a Free Comic Book Day special and now her own mini-series. She’s sweet, with just a touch of sass.
66. Po Po (CrossGen, 2002): This cranky mentor to a kung fu novice was
a monkey. You can’t go wrong with a smart-aleck monkey. Way of the
Rat even used him as the voice of the letter column where he heaped as
much amusing abuse on the fans as he did on his student, Boon.
67. Prometheus (DC, 1998)
68. Queen of Fables (DC, 2000): Two of the more memorable villains of the last 20 years, they antagonized the JLA at the hands of Grant Morrison and Mark Waid respectively. Prometheus is the anti-Batman who downloads skills directly into his brain and has an unrelenting hatred for heroes. Queen of the Fables is a sorceress who draws superheroes into her myths.
69. Quentin Quire (Marvel, 2002): Another Grant Morrison villain, Quentin Quire
is the dark side of the X-Men mythos. He’s the embodiment of teenage
rage. His charisma and telepathic powers allowed him to bring other
students under his sway, eventually leading to a Riot at Xavier’s.
70. Quinlan Vos (Dark Horse, 2000): John Ostrander and Jan
Duursema created a character as compelling as any in the Star Wars
universe. Quinlan Vos was a Jedi who spied on the Sith, forced to walk
the fine line between the light and the dark, nearly losing himself and
finding love along the way.
71. Renee Montoya (DC, 1992): She was created for Batman:
The Animated Series, then given a quick debut in comics before showing
up in the cartoon. She was a rookie cop on the mean streets of Gotham. She was optimistic enough to
be a little naïve, but steely enough to stand up to even the strangest
super-villains.
72. Rick Grimes (Image, 2003): The hard-luck star of The
Walking Dead.
73. Ripclaw (Image, 1992): Dismissed by many as a
Wolverine rip-off, Ripclaw proved that the X-Man could be re-imagined as
well as Batman or Superman (see #’s 13 and 86). Ripclaw was a Native
American and a poet who was both the fiercest fighter and the kindest
friend in Cyberforce.
74. Rocket (Milestone, 1993): Nominally Icon’s sidekick,
Rocket was the real star of the series. She was the one who had to
learn what it meant to be a hero and then, in a powerful story, what it
meant to be pregnant.
75. Rune (Malibu, 1993): Barry Windsor-Smith’s eternal
and magical vampire was the Ultaverse’s greatest villain. He later gave
a hard time to Marvel’s super-heroes when he got a hold of the Infinity
gems.
76. Savage Dragon (Image, 1992): Ignore his 1986 appearance as a
prototype- the real Savage Dragon was revamped significantly when he
showed up as part of Image. Erik Larsen gave us a superhero who was
both savage and smart, one who wore a badge instead of a cape.
Side-Bar: The biggest isn’t always the best. Other Image characters have jumped to movies or television shows. But they were villains in heroic garb or good girls. I’ll take the Savage Dragon over Spawn or Witchblade any time. Other big stars who didn’t make this list include the bad girl Lady Death, the DC villain Doomsday and the Marvel hoax-turned-hero Sentry.
77. Scary Godmother (Sirius, 1997): Jill Thompson seemed
ill-suited to superhero fare so it was great to see her jump to magical
fantasy instead. Her Scary Godmother isn’t scary at all. She’s a
delightful treat for everyone who likes magic, costumes and Halloween.
And Magic Trixie, an erstwhile junior version, is even better.
78. Sephie (CrossGen, 2000): The best lead character from
any of the CrossGen books. Sephie’s father was supposed to receive the
power of the sigil but his heart couldn’t hold out so it fell to Sephie
instead. She was coerced and then kidnapped by her evil uncle. She
escaped and became an unlikely rebel leader. She was a resolute
fighter, yet compassionate to her enemies. And she experienced all of
the turmoil of a typical teenager including
star-crossed love.
79. Sgt. Kemlo Caesar (Wildstorm, 2000): Alan Moore’s Top Ten was
chock-full of great characters: Jeff Smax, Toy Box, Jetman and more.
But the best of the bunch was Sgt. Kemlo Caesar, the Doberman who walked
like a man. He barked out orders, handed out compassionate pats on the head and blurred the line between man and man’s best friend.
80. Shi (Crusade, 1993): The ‘90s brought a host of good girls and bad girls. Shi was better than any of them. She combined east and west, thanks to an American mother and a Japanese grandfather. She combined Sun Tzu and Christianity. She combined martial arts and fine art (she was a museum director). And, yes, she was pretty easy on the eyes.
81. Skyrocket (DC, 2002)
82. Songbird (Marvel, 1997): Kurt Busiek makes the list with
back-to-back heroines for Marvel and DC. Skyrocket was one of the stars
of The Power Company, bringing a new element to the patriotic hero.
She hailed from St. Louis, is black and was an idealist in a pragmatic operation.
Songbird was the uniquely updated version of Screamin’ Mimi. The former
villainess took a shot at redemption in Thunderbolts and Avengers:
Forever.
83. Squirrel Girl (Marvel, 1992): Her powers? Talking to
squirrels and beating universe-destroying threats like Galactus!
84. Star-Spangled Kid (DC, 1999): Geoff Johns modeled this spunky heroine on his younger sister. She started in her own title, guest-starred in Starman and JLA: Sins of Youth and made the big time in JSA.
85. Static (Milestone, 1993): He’s the Spider-Man of the
1990s. Virgil Hawkins is the slightly geeky kid who’s into role-playing
games. That’s before the Big Bang gives him electric powers and he
becomes one of the most interesting heroes of the ‘90s.
86. Steel (DC, 1993): Tapping into American fable and the Superman
mythos, Steel is a great new character. He’s named after John Henry,
the hammer-wielding rail worker who went up against a steam engine. And
he wears the cape and shield of the greatest superhero of them all.
Side-Bar: Steel started out as a Superman replacement. This has been also been a great era for Superman substitutes. There’s Astro City’s Samaritan, Awesome’s Supreme, Wildstorm’s Majestic, The Authority’s Apollo and even Milestone’s Icon. They’ve each brought their own twist (and their own haircut) to the Superman legend.
87. Steeljack (Image, 1998): He’s the small-time super-crook who tries to go straight,
except the heroes don’t believe him and his old neighborhood needs him.
Steeljack has an eloquent sadness and an innate stubbornness that
overcome both the reader and any obstacles in his way.
88. Stephanie Brown (DC, 1992): She’s worn three
superhero costumes and shone in each of them: Spoiler, Robin and now
Batgirl. What makes Stephanie Brown so special is that she’s the
daughter of a super-villain who has chosen to be a hero.
89. TAO (Image, 1995): The technically-augmented organism was a
great hero. He was an even better villain. Alan Moore added the
hyper-intelligent character during his run on the Wildcats. But he
surprised us all when TAO turned out to have been evil all along.
90. Tom Strong (Wildstorm, 1999): A tip of the cap to the
pre-superhero pulp characters, Tom Strong was a scientist, an inventor,
an adventurer, a husband and a father. He was the best of Swiss Family
Robinson and Superman. In addition to his daughter Tesla Strong, he also inspired a
revival of the Golden Age characters from America’s Best Comics.
91. Topaz (Malibu, 1994): Another example of the independent companies taking a Big Two
character and doing it better. Like Superman’s Maxima, Topaz is a
warrior queen from another planet. Unlike Maxima, she has a great
costume, a well-rounded personality, and a visually interesting fighting
style.
92. Triathlon/3-D Man (Marvel, 1998): Despite initial fan resistance,
Triathlon has become one of the stalwarts of the Avengers family of
titles. He emphasized his legacy connection by changing his name to 3-D
Man, joined Avengers: The Initiative and is now making his way onto
the Agents of Atlas.
93. Venus Dee Milo (Marvel, 2002): I chose Venus Dee Milo from
the all-new X-Force/X-Statix because she had the most distinctive look.
I remember that she was included in promotional art for the series and I
couldn’t wait for her to arrive in the actual comics. She had red skin
and her arms were replaced by Kirby dots, yet she was still stunningly
beautiful. Of course, a case could have also been made for The
Anarchist, Mr. Sensitive, U-Go Girl, Dead Girl and Doop.
94. Vincent Van Goat (Acclaim, 1997): Other animals made the list, but they were sentient beings who could talk and had powers. Vincent is just a goat. A smelly, stupid, will-eat-everything goat. He heightened the comedy of the superhero buddy comic, Quantum & Woody, and even had his own inaction figure.
95. White Violin (Dark Horse, 2007): The Umbrella Academy introduced a handful of
unique characters such as Rumor who writes everything down because words are her power. But
the greatest is the foster sister turned villainess, White Violin. She
has an incredibly distinct look and an incredibly twisted view of the
world.
96. X-23 (Marvel, 2003): Like Harley Quinn, X-23 was
introduced in a cartoon, yet as a member of the X-Men her real home is
in comics. She’s a programmed killer yet you can’t help but feel sorry
for her. She never chose this life yet she does it anyway so that
others don’t have to.
97. X-O Manowar (Valiant, 1991): Valiant’s best characters
were the ones they updated from the Silver Age: Magnus, Solar and
Turok. However, one of their newer heroes was able to stand side by
side with those others. X-O Manowar was a medieval barbarian abducted
by aliens who escaped with a super-suit and showed up in the modern
world. Simultaneously ahead of and behind the times, X-O Manowar was
the best of the iron heroes.
98. Xorn (Marvel, 2001): Okay, we never really met Xorn. It was Magneto in disguise the whole time. Even so, Grant Morrison’s Chinese mutant with a sun for a brain was one of the most inventive new characters of the past decade.
99. Yorick Brown (DC, 2002): The lead of Y: The Last Man, Yorick was mostly beloved
(though occasionally reviled). He wasn’t a hero, and didn’t want to
be. He was the last man by accident, suffering from a severe case of
survivor’s guilt. He was also an incurable romantic, willing to risk
everything to find the girl he loved. Along the way, he grew up,
learned that love was more than infatuation and became a hero in spite
of himself.
100. Zauriel (DC, 1997): He’s an angel. No really. He’s an actual angel who gave up heaven because he had fallen in love. That didn’t work out so he joined the JLA instead. Grant Morrison did a great job crafting a Christian character, though the faith-based aspects became muddied in the hands of other writers.
Final Side-Bar: Real people make for great characters, too. I didn’t include them because they’re based on real people but historical, auto-biographical and satirical stories are a big part of comics. There’s Marjane Satrapi in Persepolis, and Lily Garcia and Tom Beland in Tom’s True Story, Swear to God. There are the historical biographies of Satchel Paige and Louis Riel. And there’s Stan Lee, re-invented as a carnival barker in Scott Lobdell’s Generation X.
I hope you had as much fun as I did.
Never the end.
June 11, 2010
100 Greatest Comic Book Characters of the Past 20 Years
At the end of May, Entertainment Weekly came out with their list of the 100 greatest characters of the past 20 years. The list mostly included characters from film and television, though they threw in a few from novels, plays and video games. Inspired by their list, I decided to come up with one of my own: the 100 greatest comic book characters of the past 20 years. These lists are always more debate-inducing than they are definitive. But they’re also a lot of fun. So here is my list of the 100 greatest comic book characters of the past 20 years, presented alphabetically:
1. Aayla Secura (Dark Horse,
2000)
2. Abe Sapien (Dark Horse,
1994):
We start off with a couple of supporting characters who eventually became stars in their own right. Aayla Secura started out as the Twi’lek Padawan to Quinlan Vos. She later became a Jedi Knight and was even given a death scene in Revenge of the Sith. Abe Sapien is the sea creature friend of Hellboy. When Hellboy left the bureau, Abe became their most recognizable character. He also had a scene-stealing song in the second Hellboy movie.
3. Anole (Marvel, 2003): It’s the first of our X-Men.
Anole started out as a background character, literally. He was drawn
into crowd scenes in New Mutants to fill out the student body. He had
such a distinctive look that he started showing up more and more often.
Eventually, he got a name and then a place on the team in New X-Men.
4. Ash (Event, 1994): Joe Quesada’s
creation was one of the great independent heroes of the 1990s. Ash is
Ashley Quinn, a firefighter who gains fire powers. That makes him a
hero in both his civilian and superhero identities. Ash’s costume was
based on the suit of New York City firefighters and
was inspired by the firefighters in Quesada’s own family.
5. Bastion (Marvel, 1996): The hyper-evolved sentinel who hates mutants, Bastion was the mastermind behind Operation: Zero Tolerance and is the current big villain in the Second Coming story.
6. Bigby Wolf (DC, 2002): The more familiar fairy tale
figures were the hook to get us to read Fables but Bigby Wolf- the
re-imagined and reformed Big Bad Wolf- is the real
star of the show. He’s a gruff gumshoe
detective and a surprising romantic lead. He’s equally
adept at running covert spy missions and full military operations. He’s
just not so sure he knows how to raise a litter of kids.
7. Bishop (Marvel, 1991)
8. Blink (Marvel, 1994): They’re two members of the X-Men family though they’re both lost in time and space. Bishop is the cop from the future who gets stranded in the present. He’s professional and efficient, though sometimes a little brusque. Blink is the young ingénue who was created as a throwaway character for the Phalanx Covenant crossover. She proved so popular that she came back in the Age of Apocalypse, her own mini-series and the reality-hopping title Exiles.
9. The Bone
Cousins (Cartoon Books, 1991): How can you pick just one? Fone,
Phoney and Smiley Bone are the perfect trio. Fone is the hero who
generally tries to do the right thing. Phoney is the greedy schemer and
Smiley the dim-witted simpleton who keep getting Fone into trouble,
intentionally or not.
10. Cable (Marvel, 1990): He’s the line from the past to the future to the present. He’s the son of Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor, sent into the future to be cured of a virus. He’s the mentor of X-Force, returning from the future to teach mutants how to be warriors. And yes, he’s the guy with the glowing eyes and the big guns.
11. Carrie Stetko (Oni, 1998): The Whiteout
protagonist is the perfect example of grit and determination. And she
was played by Kate Beckinsale in the movie version!
12. Chamber (Marvel, 1994): Now that’s teenage angst! The X-Men have often portrayed people who felt out of place with society. Chamber is a perfect example, forced to cover his face with a scarf because his powers blew off the lower half of his face when they manifested.
13. Confessor (Image, 1996): Kurt Busiek’s Astro
City may pay homage
to classic comic book characters but often, as with the Confessor, those
homages evolve into classic characters in their own right. The Batman influence is inescapable but this dark knight is both a man of the cloth
and a creature of the night- a priest who was turned into a vampire and
now fights crime as penance.
14. Courtney Crumrin (Oni, 2002): She’s grumpy.
That’s not usually the most inviting characteristic in a heroine but
with Courtney Crumrin, it’s actually a little endearing. It also makes
her stand out.
15. Cyclone (DC, 2007): She’s a perky
red-head. She’s an unusual legacy character- Ma Hunkel’s grand-daughter
with powers like the android Red Tornado. She’s one of the more
interesting new characters of late. Here’s hoping she lives up to her
potential.
Side-Bar: DC has had a good stretch of introducing
teenage girl superheroes in the last 15 years. Many of them would
qualify as ingénues, although a few have rougher edges as brats or
anti-heroes. There’s Impulse’s Arrowette, Wonder Girl II Cassie
Sandsmark, Young Justice’s Secret, The Titan’s Argent, the Teen Titan’s
Miss Martian and Ravager. A couple of others show up later on the list.
16. Deadpool (Marvel, 1991): The merc with a mouth. ‘Nuff said
17. Delight (DC, 1990):
Her siblings
debuted too early for this list but Delight sneaks in under the wire.
Her joie de vivre is intoxicating. It’s easy to like someone who loves
life as much as she does. She’s also a mild cautionary tale as Delight
turns into Delirium.
18. Devastation (DC, 1999): She’s not the
most famous character on this list but she’s one of the best villains of
the past 20 years. Eric Luke introduced us to this Wonder Woman foil.
She’s as evil as Wonder Woman is good and all of that evil is housed in
the body of a little girl. Scary.
19. Doc Horror and Halloween Girl (Malibu, 1994): This
father-daughter duo is the heart and soul of the Nocturnals, Dan
Brereton’s modern horror classic.
20. Dr. Soranik Natu (DC, 1995): It’s not easy
to introduce a new character who can immediately stand shoulder to
shoulder with a long line of Green Lanterns. Geoff Johns managed to do
just that in Green Lantern Corps Recharge. Natu is a reluctant ring
slinger, often doing more good as a doctor. She also carries the burden
of hailing from Sinestro’s home planet.
22. Echo (Marvel, 1999):
They’re two of the most unique characters of the past decade, as Marvel once again demonstrates its faculty for standing up for the slighted. Grant Morrison’s Dust is a Muslim. Sooraya hails from Afghanistan and wears a hijab instead of spandex. David Mack’s Echo is deaf. Maya is also half Hispanic and half Native American. And oh yeah, they’re also both heroes with the New X-Men and the New Avengers.
23. Emma Bishop (CrossGen,
2001): Detective Simon Archard was the nominal lead of Ruse, but Emma
Bishop w as the real star. His plucky assistant smoothed his rougher
edges, played a strong social game, and was a stand-out sleuth in her
own right.
24. Frau Totenkinder (DC, 2002): Comic books
are usually a young man’s game so it’s uncommon for an elderly woman to
become a major character. Yet that’s just what happened in DC’s
Fables. Frau Totenkinder was the plotter and the power behind the
throne, leading a circle of witches while dispensing advice to whoever
happened to be in charge that day. She’s occasionally snide and always
amusing.
25. Freefall (Image, 1994): One of the strengths of Gen 13 was that it introduced teenaged characters who were just like its audience. Grunge (at #32) was a slacker, skateboarder and videogamer. Freefall was the naughty girl, sneaking out to smoke a cigarette, go to a club, pierce her belly button or get a tattoo. But, despite traits that would elicit scowls from most adults, they were good kids with the potential to be great heroes.
26. Gambit (Marvel, 1990): Chris
Claremont introduced the classic rogue figure into the X-Men family with
Gambit. The former thief initially becomes an X-Man because of his
friendship with Storm, but his growing comfort in the role leads him
to become a hero.
27. Gates (DC, 1995): The original
United Planets looked a lot like suburban America. That changed
by the ‘80s and especially in the revamped Legion of the 1990s. Gates
wasn’t even human. He was an insect with a strong sentiment for the
masses. Yup, he was a communist bug (but don’t let him hear you say
that). He was sarcastic, blunt and a refreshing change of pace.
28. Ghoul (Malibu, 1993): He graduated
from the Exiles to Ultraforce as a reluctant hero who could talk to the
dead. Visually interesting, and a surprising voice for the
audience.
29. Gilad the Eternal Warrior (Valiant, 1992): The independent companies of the 1990s were often accused of copying the heroes of the Big Two. But, on occasion, their versions were superior. Marvel had Gilgamesh, the forgotten eternal one. Valiant had Gilad, a hundred lifetimes of experience in someone who didn’t seem out of place in the modern world.
30. Go-Go (Oni, 2005): “Ducks are
good poopers.” The least intelligent
monkey from Banana Sunday is a
fountain of absurd humor.
31. Greg Heffley (Amulet, 2007): The Wimpy Kid is the character everyone can relate to and one of the fastest rising stars in any medium.
32. Grunge (Image, 1994): see Freefall
(#25).
33. Halloween Jack (Marvel, 1995): He started out
as the Loki of 2099 before becoming his own unique twist on the
trickster villain. After causing havoc to Spider-Man 2099 and X-Men
2099, he relocated to the present and pestered X-Force.
34. Harley Quinn (DC, 1994): Okay, she’s
actually a cartoon villain. Harley Quinn debuted on Batman: the
Animated Series in 1992 but her real home is now in comics. She’s
become a staple of Batman’s Rogues Gallery and has even starred in
several titles of her own, an eponymous one in 2000 and currently Gotham
City Sirens.
Side-Bar: Characters have long crossed over to comics
from other media. Some of the longest running or most successful comic
book characters of the past 20 years originally hail
from TV or video
games including Bart Simpson, Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
Lara Croft Tomb Raider and Sonic the Hedgehog.
35. Hellboy (Dark Horse,
1993): From comics to movies to pop culture consciousness.
36. Hourman III (DC, 1997): Combining two legacies into one. He’s the android learning to be human, a la Vision, Red Tornado and Star Trek’s Data. He’s also the heir of the Hourman mantle, taking over for the Golden Age Rex Tyler and Infinity Inc.’s Rick Tyler.
37. Hulkling (Marvel, 2005): Hulkling
represents the Young Avengers on this list. He’s visually interesting
as a young Hulk with wings. He’s got a great back-story as a
half-Skrull, half-Kree. And he’s got a great relationship with Wiccan.
38. Impulse (DC, 1994): Bart Allen may go by Kid Flash now (and plain ol’ Flash for a little while) but we were first introduced to him as Impulse, the super-speedster with a short attention span. He was completely unlike the speedsters we had met before: a lot of fun and free to the point of abandon.
39. Infidel (DC, 2006): He’s only been
in one story but that was enough to make this Astro
City
villain one of the most
memorable characters of the last 10 years.
40. Invincible (Image, 2002): Mark Grayson is comics’ newest and greatest Everyman. Robert Kirkman’s creation has the powers of Superman and the personality of Spider-Man. He also has a sleek yellow and blue costume that stands out on the stands.
41. Isaiah
Bradley (Marvel, 2003): One of the most controversial characters
on our list, Isaiah Bradley was introduced as the original Captain America. In a nod to
the historical Tuskegee experiments, Isaiah was the
African-American test subject for the super-soldier serum that was
eventually given to Steve Rogers.
42. Jack Hawksmoor (Image, 1996): Warren Ellis
tried to introduce his version of the X-Files’ Fox Mulder a couple of
times before he got it right in StormWatch (and Authority). Sure,
Hawksmoor has the black suits and the dour demeanor. He also has the
unique power of being able to talk to cities, making him the urban
version of the Swamp Thing.
43. Jack Knight/Starman (DC, 1994): Another great
Everyman. James Robinson’s semi-autobiographical character was a fan
(and personal) favorite. He was the teenage rebel who was handed the
mantle of one of DC’s legacy characters. At first, he preferred taking
care of his second-hand store to taking care of super-villains, but he
eventually became a great hero, before setting the life aside in order
to be a husband and a father.
Side-Bar: Jack Knight is easily the greatest legacy or replacement character of the past 20 years- with his own personality and look. A few others make the list as well. Other updates kept the same set of powers or the same costume as the oringal. Although I find many of them preferable to their antecedents, with more interesting personalities, it was difficult to classify them as all-new characters for the sake of the list. Even so, new characters like Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl, Genis-Vell/Captain Marvel and Jason Rusch/Firestorm deserve a shout out.
44. Jessica Jones (Marvel, 2001): It’s somewhat
surprising that a failed heroine could be so interesting. Jessica Jones
was a reporter with a secret past- she had been a short-lived superhero
named Jewel. But she gave up the costume after an awful
encounter against the mind-controlling Purple Man.
45. Johnny Panic (Awesome, 1998): Comics legend
Alan Moore had a brief tenure on Rob Liefeld’s Awesome line during which
he added “the first post-modern superhero” to Youngblood. Johnny
didn’t consider himself a hero. He was cynical about the whole thing.
But he used his
holographic projections to annoy villains into defeating
themselves.
46. Kiden Nixon (Marvel, 2003): The tragic protagonist of NYX, Kiden loses everything because of powers she doesn’t even want.
47. Kyle Rayner (DC, 1994): One of DC’s
best attempts at an Everyman. Rayner is a reflection of his intended
audience. He’s an aspiring artist. He loves video games. He doesn’t
have life figured out yet. And he brought the power of
imagination to the Green Lantern ring.
48. Ladytron (Image, 1995): Another Alan
Moore creation, this time for Jim Lee’s Wildcats. Ladytron is the
foul-mouthed, sex-starved android lady (and I use that last term
loosely) who shocked, amused and charmed readers.
49. Larfleeze (DC, 2008): A great new
villain, Larfleeze is the living embodiment of greed. He’s like Gollum
with an orange power ring.
50. Layla Miller (Marvel, 2005): She knows
stuff. Originally introduced in House of M, Layla Miller found a home
in Peter David’s noir detective mutant title, X-Factor. She’s
mysterious. She’s bossy. She’s sad. And there’s no one else like her
in comics.
Special Side-Bar: They’re not in my list, but they might be in yours. I’ve read a lot of comics in the last 20 years but I haven’t read everything. For my list, I stuck to the characters I was familiar with, opting to leave out those I haven’t read even if they have stellar reputations. Alas, Francine & Katchoo, Jesse Custer, Jimmy Corrigan, Scott Pilgrim and Spider Jerusalem, I knew you not at all.
June 04, 2010
Newish Number Ones: Generation Lost, Mystery Society and S.H.I.E.L.D.
Justice
League: Generation Lost (DC)
by Keith Giffen, Judd Winick, Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan
I wanted to like Generation Lost. The original Justice League by Keith Giffen, J.M. De Matteis and Kevin Maguire was one of the titles that drew me into comics. I have fond memories of these characters and their adventures together. A great title featuring these characters would have made me giddy. Even a good title would have made me happy. Unfortunately, this isn’t a particularly good title.
There are two major flaws with Generation Lost (and yes, I realize that was also true with two of last week’s reviews). The first has to do with the writing. Judd Winick’s dialogue is poorly constructed. The awkward phrasing keeps taking me out of the story. It doesn’t flow naturally. I keep hearing echoes of Chazz Palmintieri’s character in “Bullets over Broadway”: “people don’t talk like that.” You might think that’s a minor problem but it affects everything else. It makes the characters less believable. It makes their disagreements feel forced. It keeps the reader distanced from the story instead of engaged in it.
The other major issue I had was with the basic threat. The big villain of this series is the recently resurrected Max Lord. Unfortunately, the story isn’t sure what kind of villain Max Lord is supposed to be. In the opening scene, he mentally controls two police officers, forcing them to shoot each other. At that point, he’s little more than a street thug, albeit one who seems to take pleasure in inflicting pain. However, in the main story, he constructs a machine that will amplify his powers so that he can affect every mind in the world at once. His big plan is to make the entire world forget who he is so that he can operate behind the scenes without being hunted down for his former crimes. At this point, he’s the master calculator and world conqueror.
It’s like we’re reading about two different villains. In one scene, he’s cruel and capricious. In the other, calculating and conniving. Now, it’s possible to combine those traits into one truly awful villain, someone who is both Lex Luthor and Joe Chilll, such as the Wild Cards’ Puppetman. Unfortunately, Giffen and company don’t pull it off. Why would Max kill the two cops when he could simply make them forget who he was and walk away? Why draw extra attention to himself with a couple of unnecessary murders before pulling off his big plan? There’s no common thread or character trait between the two scenes.
Instead, consistent characterization is sacrificed for the needs of the story. We need a dramatic opening scene so we’ll have Max Lord kill a couple of cops. We also need a big master villain so we’ll have Max brainwash the entire world. Max Lord changes as the story dictates. If he’s already doing that in the first issue, it doesn’t bode well for the longer series.
Mystery Society (IDW)
by Steve Niles, Ashley Wood and Fiona Staples
It’s one of those ideas that we’ve seen before: paranormal investigators uncovering the secrets of the world. Often, they’re working for the government, as in X-Files or Warehouse 13. Occasionally, they work on their own as private contractors, as they do here. Yet Steve Niles and company take this familiar concept and make it seem fresh and new. The Mystery Society is fast-paced, frenetic and fun.
The stars of this series are a married couple named Nick and Anastasia Collins, though Nick also goes by the name Nick Mystery. We meet Nick first. He’s dashing and debonair, like a modern Errol Flynn. He seems to be in complete control of the situation, even as he’s being walked into prison. Anastasia is smart and beautiful. She’s also fully capable of kicking some butt, as she does when an intruder invades their apartment looking for Nick. Their playful banter is reminiscent of Nick and Nora Charles, though it’s updated to the 21st century when a couple is allowed to be a little more direct about sex. Most importantly, they’re interesting individually and as a couple. You feel like you wouldn’t mind spending some time in their company or reading about their adventures.
This first issue jumps right in by telling us about their adventures. A reporter asks Nick about the origin of the Mystery Society. Nick replies that origin stories are boring and tells the story that got him in trouble with the authorities instead. I happen to think Nick is right. I’ve read enough origin stories to share the opinion that most of them are boring. That’s why second issues (and second superhero movies) are often better than the first. Niles sidesteps that potential flaw with a wink to the audience and leaps into a straight adventure instead. Yet, by doing so, he provides a tease that the mystery of the Mystery Society’s origin may just be a story worth telling one day after all.
In this particular adventure, Nick infiltrates Area 51. There are smoke bombs, giant robots, rope climbing, more giant robots, ice bombs and oh yes, playful banter with Anastasia over their com system. Meanwhile, Anastasia is dealing with her own aforementioned fight scene, giving us a double dose of action. There are also a couple of nice twists at the end, including a scene in which the test subjects that Nick rescues may just have to rescue him.
It’s not always fair to make comparisons, but the first issue of Mystery Society is every bit as good as BPRD. I’ll definitely be back for more.
S.H.I.E.L.D. (Marvel)
by Jonathan Hickman and Dustin Weaver
“S.H.I.E.L.D.” is one of those ideas that could be really good or it could be really bad. The basic premise is that S.H.I.E.L.D., the directorate that protects Earth from all kinds of threats (and no, I’m not going to bother with the acronym), has been around a lot longer than any of us imagined. It didn’t start in the 1960s. Or even in the aftermath of World War II. Instead, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been around for centuries and its former members include such luminaries as Leonardo da Vinci. Inserting superheroes and a modern spy agency into the history of the world could be awkward or ham-fisted. But the promotional art for the series showed that it could also be really cool- especially the ad showing the helmet of Galactus sitting on da Vinci’s worktable.
The first issue starts slowly. A young man is recruited off of a New York sidewalk in 1953 by two men in brown suits. The scene moves at a leisurely pace: one page of establishing shots, one page in the car, a third page on the streets of Rome.
The fourth page contains the first big reveal. Leonid, the young New Yorker, is introduced to a man in a strange helmet. The helmet guy brings him into a very early elevator and the elevator descends to the Immortal City. It’s a beautiful cityscape, stretching down as far as the eye can see and featuring architecture from every era and culture. As Leonid descends into the city, Hickman and Weaver slowly draw us into the story as well. Leonid is introduced to the high council of S.H.I.E.L.D., more guys in funny helmets. They are going to tell him the hidden history of the world.
At this point, I’m still not sure what to make of S.H.I.E.L.D. The story has been more weird than quirky- off-putting instead of intriguing. Plus, not much has happened before we’re promised a big exposition dump. I’m not looking forward to a lengthy explanation of the history of the world.
Then I turn the page and my mind explodes. Hickman and Weaver aren’t going to tell us the history of the world. They’re going to show us. Hickman and Weaver teach us the full potential of that simple lesson taught in every Creative Writing 101 class. We see a Pharaoh in ancient Egypt beat back a battalion of the Brood. We see a soldier in ancient China face off against a Celestial. Each hero utters the same simple phrase, “This is not how the world ends.” It’s both prophecy and defiant declaration. It encapsulates human bravery and institutional perseverance. With each scene, my estimation of S.H.I.E.L.D. increases. I’m being drawn in, almost against my will. This is masterful stuff.
And that’s only half the story. The second half gives us Leonardo da Vinci, Galactus, the Night Machine, gravity boots and a pertinent connection between the past and the present. By the end, I’m practically out of breath. SHIELD is ambitious, brilliant and beautiful. I can hardly wait for the next issue.
Newish Number Ones: Kill Shakespeare, Fevre Dream and Ultimate X
One of the things that I love about comic books is discovering
something new: meeting new characters, exploring new universes and
finding new titles. Over the past couple of months, I’ve been scouring
for something new to love. That doesn’t mean I’m dissatisfied with my
current titles. I’ve been having a great time with Green Lantern, I’m
excited about the X-Men and The Stand has been outstanding. It’s
just that there’s a unique thrill to enjoying something new. So here
are some reviews of new comics that I’ve sampled over the last month or
three.
Kill Shakespeare (IDW)
by Conor McCreery, Anthony Del Col and Andy Belanger
“Kill Shakespeare” had one of the best high concept pitches I’ve seen in a while. “It’s like ‘Fables’ with the characters from Shakespeare.” What a cool idea. It would be fun to watch Hamlet and Falstaff and Caliban running around in the same world together. Unfortunately, the actual comic doesn’t live up to its promise. And the problem is all in the execution.
There are two major setbacks. First, despite his pedigree, this version of Hamlet is not a compelling protagonist. Hamlet’s most famous line is “To be or not to be”-- debating whether it’s better to be active or to allow things to happen on their own. This Hamlet has firmly come down on the side of allow things to happen. He’s a primarily passive protagonist. He’s banished; he’s shipwrecked; he’s abducted. Things happen to him but he doesn’t do much himself. There’s no inner turmoil. And there’s certainly no activity. It’s hard to cheer for- or even be interested in- this particular Hamlet.
Second, the co-authors, McCreery and Del Col, don’t really know what to include and what to leave out. They give us a three-page recap of Hamlet, one of Shakespeare’s most well-known plays and one which least needs a recap, but they don’t bother to introduce us to Richard III other than having the character walk up and tell us his name. They give us several dream sequences, which isn’t entirely out of character for Shakespeare’s Hamlet who has a vision of his dead father. But the time spent on lengthy exposition and dream sequences makes it feel that not much happens in the actual story.
The promotional copy for Kill Shakespeare compared it to Fables. Well, some of Fables’ greatest strengths are its ensemble cast and sense of fun. Those key elements are missing from Kill Shakespeare. This is a wild idea. The authors should have more fun with it and not take themselves so seriously. After all, Shakespeare wrote comedies as well as tragedies. Also, the time spent on dream sequences and long speeches in Kill Shakespeare might have been better spent introducing additional characters in separate stories. Then, part of the fun would be seeing in how these characters come together, as with television’s Lost or the first season of Heroes.
The problem with Kill Shakespeare isn’t that it’s historically or literarily inaccurate, despite the claims of certain Shakespearean scholars. The problem is that it’s neither captivating nor fun.
George R. R.
Martin’s Fevre Dream (Avatar)
by Daniel Abraham and Rafa Lopez
I admit that I was tentative about buying “Fevre Dream.” I’m a huge fan of novelist George RR Martin and this is one of my favorite horror stories. It’s a mix of Dracula and Mark Twain as vampires ride the steamboats of the Mississippi River. But it’s being published by Avatar, a company known for filthy language, excessive violence and explicit sex. The actual comic exceeded my expectations of the company, but still failed to live up to my hopes.
There were two major disappointments. The first had to do with the art. Rafa Lopez has a decent style. It’s generally pleasing to look at. And certain pages or panels work well on their own. Lopez could probably draw great pin-ups. But he doesn’t yet have the skills for a whole story. The main character, Captain Marsh, is overweight like John Goodman or John Candy. Unfortunately, Marsh’s shape changes depending on our viewing angle. This is especially apparent in the first few pages as his apparent weight fluctuates wildly. The lack of anatomy and consistency detracts from the story. Another problematic scene has to do with a race between two steamboats. Lopez successfully shows a narrowing of the gap from panel to panel. But he includes little to indicate movement in the individual panels.
I was also disappointed that Avatar couldn’t fully escape its reputation. Admittedly, Fevre Dream is a very vivid story. There are some brutal murders and some scenes that will haunt your dreams. It is a horror novel, after all. However, Lopez took a scene that is supposed to be shocking and turned it into something titillating.
Fevre Dream takes place in the pre-Civil War South and one of its early scenes involves a slave auction. The auction includes a pretty, young girl. The bidders leer at her and tell the auctioneer to strip her so that they can get a good look at the merchandise. The novel tells the scene in such a way that we are sympathetic to the slave woman’s humiliation. The twist is that she isn’t bought to be a bedroom slave. Instead, she’s brought to a plantation where she’s offered up as a meal to a coven of vampires. It’s a shocking sequence that shows you the utter depravity of the villains and fosters the reader’s hatred for them. But Lopez focuses on the slave woman’s nudity, putting her in suggestive poses instead of a posture of embarrassment. It completely undercuts the power of the scene as we feel neither her humiliation nor her relief.
Lopez does a better job with the death scene. There’s a difficulty in translating a written story to a visual medium as some things are better described than depicted. In this case, Lopez focuses on the victim’s face so that we get a greater sense of her horror. And he uses long distance shots to establish what’s happening without having to show it in graphic detail. If only he had shown such restraint with the auction.
Ultimate X (Marvel)
by Jeph Loeb, Arthur Adams and Peter Steigerwald
I’ve never been much of a fan of Marvel’s Ultimate line. I tried Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men and Ultimates and dropped them all within the first year. They just weren’t for me for a variety of reasons and I’ve stayed away ever since. However, one thing drew me back: Art Adams’ art. I kept seeing the beautiful covers for the first issue. Wolverine’s son slouching in front of a couple of high school cheerleaders and a school bus. Four characters jumping out at the reader, including Wolverine’s son and what looks like a Gray Hulk. Finally, the temptation was too great. I decided to give an Ultimate title a try for the first time in eight years.
I’m happy I did. Ultimate X #1 is a familiar story. It’s the story of a young man discovering he has powers. It’s the story of a young man coming of age. It’s the story from the first Superman movie and first Spider-Man movie. And, in this case, it’s a classic story well told.
Jeph Loeb gives us an inverted story structure, with a fast-paced opening and a quiet ending, and it works. The story starts with a drag race which Art Adams infuses with a sense of fun, sex and danger that overcomes its status as a cliché. The race ends in a crash which Jimmy miraculously survives.
His survival raises all kinds of questions. There are questions for the characters. But they’re also questions for the theme to explore. The girl Tammy asks, “What are you?” Jimmy puts it more personally, “What’s wrong with me?” And with those few short moments, Loeb captures the appeal of the X-Men. They speak for adolescents (and minorities) who feel out of place in the world. This isn’t the story of Jimmy discovering his powers. This is the story of Jimmy discovering himself.
In the next major scene, Loeb introduces Kitty, another young mutant. She gives him information about who he is and where he comes from. It’s a nice touch, using a young girl as the mentor character instead of a wizened old man like Obi-Wan Kenobi. Loeb deftly- and quickly- handles exposition while Adams does a great job with the facial expressions of curiosity and surprise.
The final scene features Jimmy and his adopted father sitting on a dock. They’re simply talking. About what Jimmy is. About what that means for the family. About what happens next. It’s a quiet sunset. But it’s a masterful scene.
May 21, 2010
Memories of Nightcrawler
One of my favorite characters- for almost as
long as I’ve been reading comics- is Kurt Wagner, aka Nightcrawler.
The funny thing about it is that Nightcrawler wasn’t even in the first issue of X-Men that I bought- Uncanny X-Men #202. His first mini-series was being published concurrently so Nightcrawler was given a short break from the main title. But, when I finally met the character, he quickly became one of my favorites.
I like that he enjoyed his powers. Especially in the X-Men, a large number of characters view their powers as a burden or even a curse. But not Nightcrawler. He enjoyed surprising his friends with short teleports. He laughed off complaints about the smell of sulfur that his teleports left behind. He had fun climbing on walls and was pleasantly surprised when he learned he became almost invisible in shadows. He swung through Danger Room exercises with delight. In doing so, Nightcrawler reminded us that being a superhero is supposed to be fun. That’s one of the reasons why we read about them, after all, especially when we’re young. We want to be superheroes. We want to fly and run fast and beat up the bad guys. Nightcrawler embodied that attitude. He was able to do incredible things that no one else could do and he had fun doing them.
I like that he
made jokes. More than that, I like the kind of jokes that he made.
Nightcrawler wasn’t the class clown, cutting up all the time whether or
not it’s appropriate. And he wasn’t mean-spirited, making fun of other
people instead of having fun with them. He was simply good-natured. He
kept things light. He smiled even in the midst of dire situations. And he helped others feel better. This was true of both
other characters and readers who appreciated his positive outlook on
life and his sense of humor.
I like that he wasn’t ashamed of who he was. When Nightcrawler joined the X-Men, Professor Xavier borrowed image inducers so that mutants who didn’t look human would be able to go about unmolested. At first, Nightcrawler treated it like a game. He didn’t come up with some anonymous alter ego. He walked around looking like Errol Flynn. He drew attention to himself, instead of hiding from it. Eventually, Nightcrawler rejected the need for an image inducer at all. Although it meant that he was occasionally left outside as sentry or back-up, Nightcrawler refused to pretend he was something other than what he was. He wasn’t embarrassed by his three fingers, blue fur or tail and he saw no reason why someone else’s discomfort should impede on his freedom. That’s a powerful example. The X-Men have often served as models or metaphors for those who feel out of place, particularly teenagers and minorities. By being comfortable in his own fur, Nightcrawler showed us that we could be comfortable with who we were as well.
I like that he made friends. Nightcrawler was personable. He
was able to get along with just about anybody. He hung out with the
surly Wolverine and brought out the best in him. He hung out with
the quiet Colossus and brought him out of his shell. He patiently
overcame Kitty’s initial fear of him and eventually became one of her
greatest friends. He meshed well with the stoic Captain Britain and the
emotional Rachel. He was often the first to befriend new members, such as Kylun
and Douglock. He also held on to friendships for a lifetime,
such as childhood friend and intermittent lover Amanda Sefton. He was kind to
those with very different backgrounds and attitudes, such as Stacy X.
Even in his solo title, Nightcrawler made a new friend in Night Nurse. Maybe that’s
why he was so beloved by fans. It was easy for us to imagine being his
friend as well.
I like that he was a man of faith. As a Christian, I’m used to seeing negative depictions in popular fiction. However, Nightcrawler was a shining example of how faith can have a positive impact on someone’s life. He was the exact opposite of so many religious stereotypes: accepting instead of prejudiced, joyful instead of dour, intelligent instead of dim-witted. His faith was a source of his strength of character and jubilant personality, not an impediment to it. Kurt Wagner was a wonderful public face for Christianity, without being a commercial for it.
I like that he became a leader. There’s a well-known
aphorism: some are born great, some have greatness thrust upon them. Nightcrawler was
not a born leader. In the circus, Kurt Wagner was the acrobat, not the
ringleader. Yet he stepped up into leadership roles when he needed to
and gradually grew into them. His first leadership experience came when
both Cyclops and Storm were absent from the X-Men. At that time, he
wasn’t yet confident in the position. Yet, when Nightcrawler later
helped found Excalibur, he naturally rose as the team’s leader. He successfully
steered Excalibur through numerous challenges and changes. He even put
together a substitute team of “N-Men” when his regular team was out of
commission. Even so, Nightcrawler didn’t have Cyclops’
innate need to be a leader. When he returned to the X-Men, he willingly
took supporting roles, allowing Angel to serve as squad leader and
stepping in later only when called upon. It was nice to see
Nightcrawler change and grow. It was also nice to see that a leader
didn’t have to be stoic and gruff.
I even like the way in which he died. After all, in addition
to all of his other traits, Nightcrawler was also a hero. He pushed
himself to be better. He refused to accept limits- working on
teleporting over greater distances, with greater frequency and with more
passengers. He risked his own safety to save his friends and his own
life to save the world. In the end, he sacrificed himself to save a young
girl
named Hope. That’s a fitting legacy. Having
dedicated his life to protecting the world, Nightcrawler died to
preserve hope.
I like to think that Nightcrawler and I have a lot in common. That’s one reason why I’m so attached to him as a character. He’s also a better version of me, reminding me to be both joyful and unashamed. He’s both who I am and who I aspire to be.
Nightcrawler was a lot of fun to read about and a lot of fun to have around. I will miss seeing him in X-Men stories, though I can always go back and read my favorites again. And yet, I have hope for there is always the chance that we will one day see him again. Until then, good-bye fuzzy elf, my favorite fictional friend.
The End.
May 14, 2010
Where Are They Now: CrossGen Part III
CrossGen continued to hire new
talent and add new titles in 2002. They eventually expanded to a robust
line of twelve monthly titles at which point they seemed poised to
become a major player in the comic book industry. However, their
continued expansion in 2003 led to a bloated line, increased debt and
decreasing individual sales. Though this series of articles hasn’t been
entirely chronological in nature, this third entry includes many of the
creators who came aboard during this time. Some of them helped build the
company to its twelve title peak at the end of 2002. Others found new
opportunities as the company added freelance projects and licensed
properties. And, even as the CrossGen faced the struggles that would
lead to their bankruptcy, they continued to unearth new talent.
Chuck Dixon: Dixon arrived at
CrossGen as one of the most prolific writers of the 1990s. He was
predominantly associated with street-level heroes such as The Punisher
at Marvel and Batman at DC. For CrossGen, he wrote Sigil and Crux,
co-created Way of the Rat and Brath,and helmed one of the
company’s last hits, the pirate comic El Cazador. When CrossGen
folded, Dixon was no longer the high-demand writer he had been before.
However, he still managed to keep working for companies like Devil’s
Due, Moonstone and even DC. Currently, he’s one of the focal writers for IDW’s GI Joe.
Scott Beatty: Beatty was
one of the freelance writers hired later in CrossGen’s lifespan. He had
previously been one of the writers for DC’s Batman office,
working on Robin: Year One with Chuck Dixon. For CrossGen, he was
given the task of replacing Mark Waid on Ruse. After CrossGen,
Beatty continued his Bat-work with Batgirl: Year One, as well as
stints on Gotham Knights and Nightwing. He also worked for
Wildstorm, penning their Revelations series. His most recent work
includes Buck Rogers for Dynamite Entertainment.
Ian Edginton: Edginton was the other freelance writer brought in near the end of the company. The British writer had previously worked on Warren Ellis’ update of X-Force, as well as other comics such as Blade, Star Trek, Aliens vs. Predator and Xena. His biggest contribution at CrossGen was a nine-issue run on their most popular title, Sojourn. He also wrote the last few issues of Scion. By the time CrossGen came to an end, Edginton had become a frequent contributor on Britian’s premier title, 2000 AD. He’s also worked for Wildstorm as the regular writer on Stormwatch: PHD. His most recent release is Radical Publishing’s Aladdin comic.
Paul
Pelletier: Pelletier drew Darkstars, Flash, Green Lantern and
Superboy for DC comics before coming to CrossGen. At CrossGen, he was
placed on the space opera Negation with writer Tony Bedard. They
became a much-loved team and were assigned to the massive crossover, Negation
War, which was left unfinished when the company collapsed. They
reunited at Marvel, when Pelletier was named the regular penciler during
Bedard’s run on Exiles. More recently, Pelletier has played with
Marvel’s cosmic heroes, serving as the artist on Fantastic Four,
Guardians of the Galaxy and War of Kings. His latest work
appears in Incredible Hulk.
Karl Moline: Karl Moline
was a different hire for CrossGen. The company usually discovered new
talent or grabbed veterans from the Big Two companies. Moline, however,
was an established talent but he was best known for his work at Dark
Horse where he had collaborated with Joss Whedon on Fray.
At CrossGen, he teamed with
writer Tony Bedard on the ‘50s-style horror comic, Route 666.
Since CrossGen, Moline has worked on Marvel’s The Loners and
returned to Dark Horse with Buffy
the Vampire Slayer and BPRD.
Jeff Johnson: A martial artist himself, Jeff Johnson was the perfect choice to draw CrossGen’s kung fu comic, Way of the Rat. Before coming to CrossGen, Johnson had worked with writer Gerard Jones on Marvel’s Wonder Man and Malibu’s Solitaire. He had also drawn the Fantastic Four. Later, he teamed with former CrossGen writer Ron Marz on Star Wars: Empire and contributed covers for Marz’ Dragon Prince. However, he has spent most of his time in animation.
Matthew
Smith: Also known as Matt Smith, he took over The Path, when
Bart Sears was promoted to art director. Before CrossGen, he had worked
on Sandman Mystery Theatre, the DC crossover Day of Judgment
and Marvel’s Nightcrawler Icons mini-series. Since CrossGen, he
has worked on Stormwatch: PHD and Lobster Johnson. Last
year, he contributed an arc to Doctor Who: The Ongoing Series and
was recently named the regular artist on that series, beginning with
issue 13 (not to be confused with the actor of the same name currently
playing the role).
Mark Pennington:
Pennington started out as CrossGen as an inker. Like Andy Smith, he
worked over Bart Sears pencils before becoming a penciler himself.
Pennington inked both Sears and Matt Smith on The Path before
becoming that series’ third penciler. Pennington had extensive
experience as an inker before CrossGen, having worked on such titles as Judge
Dredd, Death: The Time of Your Life and Shade. His
post-CrossGen work includes inking duties on the Vertigo comic Crossing
Midnight and penciling IDW’s Angel Spotlight: Gunn.
Pennington is currently associated with Baraka Studios, from which he
contributes art to comic books and collectible cards.
Jim Fern: Fern filled in
for Jimmy Cheung on several arcs of Scion. Also known as James Bosch,
he had previously worked on titles such as Green Lantern and LEGION
before coming to CrossGen. After CrossGen, Fern found a home with DC’s
Vertigo imprint. He drew an arc of Fables. He was the co-plotter
and penciler on Crossing Midnight. And he’s currently working on a
Fables graphic novel.
Ivan
Reis: Reis wasn’t new to North American comics when he was hired by
CrossGen. He had previously worked for Dark Horse on Xena, the Mask
and Ghost. He had even drawn one issue of Grant Morrison’s The
Invisibles. At CrossGen, he was named the first regular artist on Lady
Death. He left that title for better opportunities at DC and was
given an exclusive contract in 2004. He worked on Superman and Teen
Titans but is most associated with Green Lantern. He has
been one of several artists during Geoff Johns’ run and recently
finished work on the huge Blackest Night story.
Greg Tocchini: Tocchini was a relatively unknown Brazilian in comics when CrossGen hired him as the artist for their second DemonWars mini-series. But that was just the doorway he needed. Since working for CrossGen, Tocchini has drawn Thor for Marvel, Ion for DC and The Odyssey for Marvel’sline of illustrated classics. He is currently working on Last Days of American Crime for Radical Publishing with writer Rick Remender.
As CrossGen expanded, they also
hired a number of veteran writers to work on their licensed and
creator-owned comics, as well as in their regular universe. The list of
established pros who did work at CrossGen includes Pablo Marcos, Rudy
Nebres, Ron Wagner, Rod Whigham, Ernie Colon
and Mike Ploog.
Although I focused on the
writers and pencilers, CrossGen also employed many inkers and colorists.
Many of these artists had distinguished careers in their field before
coming to CrossGen, such as JLA inker John Dell. And many of them are
still working in comics today, such as colorist Justin Ponsor. Their
contributions were important to CrossGen’s success, short-lived though
it may have been.
May 08, 2010
Where Are They Now: CrossGen, Part II
CrossGen launched its comic
book line in the summer of 2000 with four titles: Meridian, Mystic,
Scion and Sigil. That initial success demonstrated that they were
a legitimate, viable comic book company and it allowed them to attract
even more big-name creators. In that first year of publishing,
CrossGen added veteran artists Butch Guice and Bart Sears and popular
writer Mark Waid. However, their biggest splash came when they
announced that they had signed superstar artist George Perez.
With these new additions, CrossGen was able to introduce some of their
most successful titles in 2001.
Mark Waid: Mark
Waid was one of the biggest writers in the comic book industry before
coming to CrossGen, with Captain America, the Flash,
JLA and Kingdom Come to his credit. At CrossGen, he
co-created Crux with artist Steve Epting and wrote one of
CrossGen’s
most successful titles, the detective comic, Ruse. He also took
over Sigil from Barbara Kesel and co-created Negation
before handing it off to Tony Bedard. Waid was also one of the
first high-profile departures from the company. He had one of
his greatest successes after CrossGen, as the writer on Fantastic
Four with artist Mike Wieringo. Mark Waid is now the
editor-in-chief
at Boom Studios where he also writes their superhero/supervillain titles
Irredeemable and Incorruptible.
Tony Bedard: Bedard was relatively unknown in comics even though he had been working in the industry for almost a decade- interning, editing and writing for companies such as Valiant, Crusade and Malibu. CrossGen became his coming out party. He took over Mystic from Ron Marz, co-created Negation with Mark Waid and wrote Route 666 with artist Karl Moline. After CrossGen, Bedard became a regular presence as a free-lance writer at both Marvel and DC. He wrote an acclaimed run on Exiles and was part of the rotation of writers on Countdown. Bedard is currently the writer of REBELS and will take over as the writer of Green Lantern Corps next month.
Bart Sears: A graduate
of the famous Joe Kubert School of Art, Sears worked on a number of
high-profile comics in the ‘90s, including Justice League Europe
and X-O Manowar. His first CrossGen assignment was the
melodramatic The First, featuring that universe’s pantheon
of gods. Sears then moved on to the samurai epic, The Path,
becoming the first CrossGen artist to put his artistic stamp on two
different titles. After CrossGen, Sears returned to superhero
work, with stints on Captain America and the Falcon
and Weapon X, before diving into more fantasy-related titles
again with DC’s Warlord and Dark Horse’s The Helm.
He has been working for the video game company, Heatwave Interactive,
since 2008.
Andrea DiVito: DiVito was part of the contingent of Italian artists who gained a foothold in North America through CrossGen. He started at CrossGen as an associate penciller doing fill-in work before becoming the regular penciller on The First. He then became the first penciller on Brath. Since CrossGen, DiVito has kept busy at Marvel working on Thor: Disassembled, the Thing, Annihilation and World War Hulk. His most recent work is on the cosmic hero Nova.
Andy Smith: Andy Smith
started out at CrossGen as an inker, working on Bart Sears’ pencils
on The First. He switched to pencils and after a couple
of fill-in issues on other series, eventually became the third regular
penciler on that title. Smith found occasional work in comics
after CrossGen, providing freelance work on Marvel’s Weapon X,
DC’s Green Lantern, Atom and Superman: Confidential.
He is now mostly a corporate artist, having worked for companies such
as Bally’s Total Fitness and Fidelity Investments.
Steve Epting: Few
artists
improved their standing as much as Steve Epting. Before joining
the company, he was considered a stalwart but not a standout, putting
in long runs on Marvel comics such as The Avengers and X-Factor.
At CrossGen, he opened a lot of eyes, first co-creating Crux
with Mark Waid and then co-creating El Cazador with Chuck Dixon.
He is now the critically acclaimed artist on Captain America
with writer Ed Brubaker though he most recently spent time with the
same writer on a side project: The Marvels Project.
Paul Ryan: Ryan had
one of the longest-resumes in comics before coming to CrossGen.
He had co-created DP7 as part of Marvel’s New Universe and
paired with Tom DeFalco on that company’s flagship title, Fantastic
Four. Ryan first worked for CrossGen as a freelance artist
doing single issue fill-ins. However, he was eventually offered
the job of taking over as the regular penciler on Crux after
Steve Epting started work on El Cazador. Ryan has been working
on The Phantom newspaper comic strip since 2005.
Sergio Cariello: He’s the Ted McGinley of CrossGen comics (from the pop culture book, Jumping the Shark). Sergio Cariello worked on the final issues of Crux, Scion and Sojourn as each of those titles came to an end. Cariello actually had a productive career in comics before coming to CrossGen, working on Daredevil, Deathstroke and Azrael among other titles. He’s kept active since the company folded as well with his most recent work appearing in Dynamite’s The Lone Ranger series.
Greg Land: Greg Land
came to CrossGen off of two very successful runs on DC’s Batman family
of titles, Birds of Prey and Nightwing. At CrossGen,
he was assigned to the traditional fantasy epic, Sojourn, with
writer Ron Marz. His gorgeous art quickly won Land (and CrossGen)
popular acclaim though his increasing use of photo references also won
him critical scorn. Undeterred, Land landed at Marvel where he
provided numerous covers as well as the interior art for titles such
as Phoenix: Endsong. He is currently one of the regular
artists on Uncanny X-Men.
Butch Guice: Guice had been working in comics for about 15 years before coming to CrossGen. He was most famous for being one of the Superman artists during “The Death of Superman” storyline and had most recently worked on DC’s Birds of Prey. At CrossGen, he was the regular penciler on the mystery title, Ruse. Guice seemed to take some time re-establishing himself after CrossGen. He worked for the French company Humanoids and put in a short run on Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis. More recently, he worked on Marvel’s Ultimate Origins and Captain America Reborn.
George Perez: One of
the biggest names in the history of comics, the signing of George Perez
was one of CrossGen’s greatest coups. Perez had worked on almost
every superhero for the Big Two companies of Marvel and DC: Fantastic
Four, Avengers, Justice League of America, New Teen Titans, Crisis on
Infinite Earths, Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, Incredible Hulk
and Avengers again. CrossGen first assigned Perez to their
anthology title, CrossGen Chronicles, so that he could play in
every one of their worlds. After a break to work on JLA/Avengers,
Perez returned to CrossGen with Solus. Perez has continued
to be one of the masters of comics since CrossGen closed down, working
on Infinite Crisis and Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds.
He is reportedly finishing work on the oft-delayed Titans graphic
novel “Games.”
May 01, 2010
Where Are They Now: CrossGen
In the year 2000, a new comic book company entered the
scene. They would eschew the superhero fare that was typical of most
comic books and concentrate on underrepresented genres such as
science-fiction and fantasy. They would borrow corporate techniques,
developing an in-house art studio and attracting veteran comic book
creators with benefits and health plans. They garnered a very loyal
audience of fans and grew quickly- briefly passing Dark Horse and Image
as the third largest publisher. And then it all fell apart. Their
expenses mounted too quickly and they fell behind on payments to
creators and other companies. This led to public spats with freelance
artists such as Robin Riggs and their printer, Quebecor. The company
slashed its titles, but even the leaner line couldn’t survive. They
filed for bankruptcy in 2003 and closed up shop soon after. That
company was CrossGen comics.
During their brief heyday, CrossGen was also notorious for getting into public feuds. Marvel-publisher-at-the-time Bill Jemas made multiple disparaging comments about the little-company-that-could and even insulted the talent of their creators as not being good enough to work at Marvel. Even Marvel writer Mark Millar got into the act, publicly criticizing CrossGen for not working enough with freelance creators. Yet despite the insults lobbied at both the company and its creators, when CrossGen finally folded, most of their talent found work at other companies, including Marvel. That’s not entirely surprising as many of the creators were comic book veterans with well-established careers before CrossGen. Yet many of the creators left CrossGen with higher profiles and moved on to major projects. Of course, working at CrossGen wasn’t a boon to every career. A few prominent names failed to re-surface in prominent roles after the company collapsed.
Barbara
Kesel: Best-known as a writer for her work on DC’s Hawk and
Dove with Rob Liefeld, Kesel was the first writer hired by CrossGen.
She worked on one of their most-lauded titles, Meridian starring the adolescent
Sephie, and one of their most-lambasted, The
First. Kesel was one of the few creators to go down with
the CrossGen ship. She is now part of a comic book packaging company
called The Pack with former DC
editor Brian Augustyn.
Ron Marz: Ron was the writer of Silver Surfer, X-O Manowar and the controversial Green Lantern story that turned Hal Jordan evil and replaced him with Kyle Rayner. Despite all of that experience on galactic superheroes, Marz found his niche at CrossGen working on fantasy titles such as Mystic, Scion and Sojourn. He is now the top creative force for Top Cow, writing Witchblade and Magdalena.
Joshua
Middleton: Josh was one of the first young creators
discovered by CrossGen. He had a brief run as the first artist on Meridian. He re-surfaced at Marvel
as the artist on X-Men Unlimited
and NYX. Recently, Middleton
specialized as a cover artist. However, he just completed his run as
the cover artist for Supergirl,
which he claimed on his blog is his last mainstream work for a while.
Steve McNiven: A school teacher in Toronto before being accepted into CrossGen’s associate artist program, McNiven became the second regular penciller on Meridian. He found a new home at Marvel, working on Ultimate titles and New Avengers before working on the biggest story of the decade, Civil War. Since then, McNiven has re-teamed with Civil War writer Mark Millar on the recently concluded Wolverine story “Old Man Logan” and the upcoming Marvel Icon comic Nemesis.
Brandon Peterson: Peterson was a bench player at the X-office, filling in for other artists and pitching in on mini-series such as the second Astonishing X-Men, before coming to CrossGen. For CrossGen, he launched Mystic, became the company’s art director and created Chimera. He went back to Marvel and worked on titles such as Ultimate X-Men. More recently, he’s contributed covers to the X-Men’s Divided We Stand, War of Kings and Deathlok.
Fabrizio Fiorentino:
One of several Italian artists hired by CrossGen, Fiorentino became the
second regular penciler on Mystic
and the second regular penciler on the company’s version of Lady
Death. He’s kept active in the US market, drawing Doc Samson for Marvel and Countdown to Adventure for DC. His
latest job is working on DC’s Titans:
Villains for Hire special.
Aaron Lopresti: Lopresti made his debut for Malibu’s Ultraverse line when he worked on Steve Gerber’s Sludge. However, he was still relatively unknown in the comics field when he was hired by CrossGen and made the third regular penciler on Mystic. Lopresti went from CrossGen to Marvel, where he was the regular penciler on a new Excalibur series from Chris Claremont. He then went from Marvel to DC where he was the regular penciler on Gail Simone’s Wonder Woman for a time. He is currently working on Justice League: Generations Lost.
Jimmy
Cheung: Jimmy had worked at Marvel’s X-office before coming
to CrossGen, launching a Maverick
ongoing series and contributing a vastly underrated run on X-Force. At CrossGen, he was the
other half of the long-running Scion
team with writer Ron Marz. He also contributed a few issues of Lady Death in the company’s waning
days. Since then, he’s been a major presence at Marvel Comics. He was
the co-creator of Young Avengers
with writer Allen Heinberg, and contributed covers to both Avengers: Initiative and Secret Warriors. A new Young
Avengers story, Avengers: Children’s
Crusade, by Heinberg and Cheung is scheduled to debut this
summer.
Luke Ross: Ross was associated with CrossGen for only a short period of time. He did some fill-in work on Sojourn and some of the final issues of Scion. Before that, he had done work with Innovation, Malibu and Valiant in the US and other companies in his native Brazil (his real name is Luciano Quieroz). Since then, he has become the highly-acclaimed artist of DC’s Jonah Hex.
Ben and Ray Lai: The
Lai brothers were some of CrossGen’s young discoveries. They were the
original artist team on Sigil.
However, their tenure with the company didn’t last very long. They
showed up again at Marvel in 2003 as the artists on Dan Jurgens’ Thor. Despite the occasional issue
or pin-up after that, the Lai brothers do not appear to be currently
active in comics.
Scot Eaton: Scot took over for the Lai brothers as the regular artist on Sigil and became the longest-serving artist on that title. However, Eaton wasn’t new to comics when he came to CrossGen having previously worked on titles such as Marvel’s Silver Surfer. After CrossGen, Eaton went back to Marvel. This time around, he was handed bigger properties, following the Lai brothers again by working on Thor with Dan Jurgens and contributing art to the X-Men’s Messiah CompleX crossover. Currently, he’s working on the Black Panther mini-series, DoomWar.
Dale Eaglesham: The third of the Sigil artists, Eaglesham came to CrossGen after approximately 15 years in the comic book business. Some of his earlier work includes issues of Eternal Warrior for Valiant and Conan the King. Dale’s career has been pretty steady since his CrossGen days. He was the artist on Villains United for DC and on the re-launch of Justice Society of America. Most recently, Eaglesham signed an exclusive contract with Marvel and was assigned to the Fantastic Four.
That’s a look at a dozen former CrossGen creators, which is by no means an exhaustive list. Some of the artists are currently working on Justice League: Generation Lost, Titans: Villains for Hire, Avengers: Children’s Crusade, DoomWar, Fantastic Four and Nemesis. And an original CrossGen writer is currently the top scribe at Top Cow.
April 24, 2010
Astro City’s Season of Discontent
I wish I didn’t have to say it. I wish it wasn’t true. A
title that I have long championed is in the midst of a prolonged slump.
Astro City: The Dark Age has gotten so bad that
I’ve stopped handing the single issues to my wife when I’m done reading
them. Oh, I’ll finish the story out. I’ve come this far after all,
and I’ve only got two more issues to go. But my enthusiasm
for this story has long since waned.
So what’s the problem with Astro City’s Dark Age?
Well, the most obvious answer is that it’s too long. Even the title sounds long; the latest issue to hit the stands was Astro City: The Dark Age Book Four #3. Ouch. The Dark Age was planned as a 16-issue epic. Let that sink in for a moment. That’s longer than the two previous Astro City epics combined: Confession lasted 6 issues, The Tarnished Angel 7. That’s longer that either of Kurt Busiek’s big epics for Superman or the Avengers: Camelot Falls lasted 10 issues, Avengers Forever 12. Remember that several of those epics were also criticized for dragging on too long. In retrospect, The Tarnished Angel and Camelot Falls read much better as completed stories. They fit together very well when one doesn’t have to worry about delays between issues. And maybe that will be the case for The Dark Age when all is said and done. Yet both of those earlier stories were completed in roughly a year and a half (April ’98 to Jan ’00 for Tarnished Angel; Sept. ’06 to Jan. ’08 for Camelot Falls). In comparison, Astro City: The Dark Age is closing in on its fifth anniversary. The first issue is cover-dated August 2005. The final issue is scheduled for an April release and a June 2010 cover-date. Sixteen issues, almost five years- that’s a long time for any story.
Of course, almost nobody minds if a great story takes a long time. Sure, there will be some readers who complain about the wait. But those complaints are kept to a minimum as long as the quality is kept high. That means that the obvious answer can’t be the only one. And, to be honest, I wouldn’t be writing this article if I didn’t think there were additional answers. I think Astro City’s Dark Age has problems in terms of format, perspective and tone. I think that the length of the story exacerbates those problems and is caused by them. And I think that’s the real problem.
First, I think that Kurt Busiek is struggling to tell two
stories at the same time. On the one hand, he’s trying to tell the
story of two brothers, Charles and Royal Williams, who were orphaned.
It’s a very personal story, showing us how the tragedy of their youth
impacted the way they interacted with the world as adults. On the other
hand, Busiek is trying to tell a historical retrospective, filling the
reader in on the changes to the superhero community through the late
‘70s and early ‘80s. Early on, those two stories meshed together well.
We saw the world through the eyes of Royal and Charles and the changes
we noticed were the ones they witnessed. That’s a wonderful technique.
Many of the best stories combine the personal with the epic, from Star Wars to
Babylon 5.
However, as The
Dark Age has progressed, those two stories have diverged. Charles and
Royal have been going through their own changes and the shifts in the
superhero community are no longer the ones that they witness directly.
In some cases, the two stories have only tenuous connections. In other
cases, they’re not related at all. If you’re following and fully
engaged in the story of the Williams brothers, the historical
perspectives feel like interruptions. They take you away from the main
story. Unfortunately, the scenes that tell you what’s happening in the
superhero community are often more interesting than the story of the
Williams brothers. The superhero changes come with greater significance
and frequency, while the story of the Williams brothers seems to drag
on. Astro City has always been good at giving us a
glimpse of a greater story. But, in this case, we rarely want to return
to the story we’re supposed to be reading. It seems tedious by
comparison. The historical retrospective is simultaneously interrupting
the main story and making it look bad. And, oh yeah, that’s a big
reason why The Dark Age both is long and feels long.
Second, I think that Astro City has lost sight of two of the features that made it great. One of Astro City’s strengths was its view-from-the-street perspective. Another was its sense of joy and wonder. These also happen to be traits that it inherited from Marvels.
Marvels introduced Phil Sheldon, a New York City photographer who took pictures of superheroes. We saw their world from his perspective. Astro City had that same perspective. We saw what a superhero world was like from the point-of-view of a hotel doorman, a woman riding the bus, a father new to town and a public defender. Astro City did more than that. We also watched through the eyes of a superhero daughter who wanted to experience real kindergarten, a cartoon lion and a busboy-turned-sidekick. But even when the protagonist was a superhero, Astro City always managed to keep that view-from-the-street perspective. We followed a superhero’s dreams in one issue and his date in another, not his battles.
The Dark Age has gotten away from that. Charles and Royal Williams started out as view-from-the-street protagonists. They were a beat cop and a minor criminal, and we saw the world through their eyes. They’ve moved on from there. But even in the second book, they were relatable as regular guys. One was a flunky in a super-villain mob. The other was a newbie in a paramilitary organization. Yet they moved on from there as well. The further they’ve moved up the food chain, the further they’ve moved away from the readers. We can no longer relate to their position, their obsession or their lust for vengeance. We’ve lost our point-of-view characters. And, as a result, we’ve lost interest.
Astro City was also one of the books that brought a sense of wonder back to comics after the hard-edged approaches inspired by Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. It had joy. It had awe. It reminded us of what it was like to be a kid dreaming of flying. It reminded us of how cool it would be to be a superhero. It also had depth and maturity. We felt sad for Samaritan even as we wanted to be him. But we still wanted to be him.
The Dark Age has
lost some of that sense of wonder. It isn’t gone completely. There are
still those cool moments when we can imagine what it would be like to
be a superhero. But that joy is often overshadowed. The Dark Age has a
more pessimistic view, evidenced in its title. This darker tone
creates a disconnection for fans looking for that sense of wonder that Astro
City once
championed. It creates a further disconnection for fans who don’t
happen to think that Ghost Rider and the Punisher heralded the demise of
superheroes. The Blue Shield and Street Angel are cool
characters yet The Dark Age sometimes seems to discourage us from liking
them or even being fascinated by them. In a way, The Dark Age is like a
grumpy old fan yelling at those young kids to get off of his lawn. It
expresses discontent, when what we used to love about it was its sense
of wonder.
That isn’t to say The Dark Age has been all bad. I’m
impressed by its creativity. Kurt Busiek has introduced a whole slew of
characters, many of whom represent the milieu of the late ‘70s and
early ‘80s. I already mentioned Blue Shield and Street Angel.
Hellhound has a great Ghost Rider vibe. The Apollo 11
would fit in well with Marvel’s Cosmic comics. There’s Simon
Magus, Starfighter, the Green Man and Mirage.
Astro City’s Dark Age also has a wonderful design sense. Alex Ross has contributed some of his best covers for this series. I appreciate the way that each Book has had its own cover dress. I liked the two or three color palettes for the covers of Book Two. Plus, I think that artists Alex Ross and Brent Anderson have done a great job of designing the characters. Simon Magus has a great look. The Blue Shield is certainly memorable. And I loved the use of neon in the costume for Mirage. There’s no question that Astro City has continued to be wonderful to look at it. It’s a feast for the eyes. It’s just too bad that the story has so many shortcomings in terms of plot, point-of-view, tone and length.
Who knows? Maybe I’ll change my mind if I re-read this epic. As I noted earlier, it worked for The Tarnished Angel and Camelot Falls. But, for now, I’m deeply disappointed in The Dark Age.
After Easter Reviews
I
picked up these comics on the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter.
The Guild #1: Wow. This was a really good comic
book. I think I like it even better than the webisodes. The web series
pushes hard for the funny. The comic book is more natural. It’s still
funny, but it allows the humor to grow out of the situation. It also
makes more room for pathos and characterization. Highly recommended-
even for those who have never seen the show.
Invincible
Iron Man #1: Sure, the
comic is a couple of years old but the freebie just came out the other
week. Now I see why other members of the board have been raving about
this comic for the past couple of years. It is truly excellent- modern,
fast-paced, well-written, visually captivating and full of suspense.
Haunt #6: I decided to give
the Kirkman/McFarlane title a try with this special done-in-one issue.
Unfortunately, it’s not as new-reader friendly as advertised. Issue 6
basically tells the story of issues 1-5 from the perspective of a
supporting character. It’s very
disjointed, though many of the scenes work on an individual level.
Justice League of America
#43: I want to like
this book but it’s just not firing on all cylinders. There’s good stuff
here like the new villains who somehow got a hold of New God technology,
a great double-page spread of the multiverse, and Congorilla and
Starman’s enthusiasm as new recruits. But there’s also bad stuff
like
the
over-lapping multiple narrator effect and a line-up pulled apart by Cry
for Justice and Blackest Night less than an issue after it’s been put
together.
Cloak and Dagger #1: This one-shot
exposes the strengths and weaknesses of the mutant metaphor. Strength:
Cloak is captured by a pro-human group that wants to re-train him not to
use his powers- reminiscent of the camps that purport to help gay
people not be gay. Weakness: many of the X-Men, including Cyclops and
Storm, are less than welcoming to Dagger because she’s not technically a
mutant. It’s hard to hold the moral high ground when you’re just as
ready to reject people who are different than you.
X-Men: Second Coming #1: Great art by David Finch. Great pace: slow
build- including lots of establishing shots- to a frenetic finish. Great
villains: an all-human cabal of Steven Lang, Bolivar Trask, William
Stryker, Graydon Creed and Cameron Hodge under a surprise leader. Great
set-up for the next great X-Men crossover.
Wonder Woman #42: The Green Lantern
Corps guest appearance lasted so long that I forgot I was reading a
Wonder Woman comic. It also took a while before that opening sequence
was connected to the main Wonder Woman story, making it feel like you
were reading two stories instead of two different parts of one larger
story.
Star Wars Legacy #46: Consistently
excellent. Jan Duursema’s art is absolutely luscious and John Ostrander
does a great job of juggling a big cast. This issue has
Jedi vs. Sith vs. Imperial Knights, competing nightmares, heroic moments
for supporting characters, a long-time coming declaration of love and
Cade Skywalker claiming a purpose for his life.
Blackest Night #8: It’s hard to
review this issue quickly because there’s so much to take in. I’ll just
say that the panel of the White Lantern Corps made me giddy and I’m
excited about the resurrections (especially Ronnie Raymond and Jade). I
also thought that the twists were phenomenal- such as resurrecting the
Anti-Monitor as a by-product of defeating Nekron and the unanticipated
resurrection of Deadman.
Amazing Spider-Man #627: Reminded me of Uncanny X-Men 322 when
Juggernaut took it on the chin in order to establish that Onslaught was
coming. That’s okay. I liked that earlier story and enough time has
passed that this issue isn’t derivative. Other positives include Spidey
stopping a purse snatcher and Wong’s phone manners.
Angel #31: With this
issue, the pieces of “The Crown Prince” start to come together. Connor
has a cadre of demon warrior ladies fighting under his command.
Illyria
has a long
and awkwardly amusing one-sided conversation with Angel. And Spike
shows that having a soul doesn’t necessarily make you a nice guy.
There’s also a good twist in the villain’s plans and a great final page.
Angel: Lorne: I’m so glad that
John Byrne is working on the Angel titles for IDW. This is a great
one-shot. It opens with Illyria
in action
and Groosalugg in meditation before bringing in the main stars of this
particular tale: Angel and Lorne. The foursome face off against a
demonic menace that is somehow using the music of the spheres to turn
the world inside-out and upside-down. The non-violent but very musical
Lorne holds the key to victory. The extras- an earlier Byrne/Lorne story
for “After the Fall” and memorial by Mark Lutz (“Groo”)- make this a
truly excellent tribute to the recently deceased Andy Hallett (“Lorne”).
Captain America #604: I know that
it
has
generated a lot of controversy and I wouldn’t say that it’s Brubaker at
his absolute best, but “The Two Americas” is a strong story. It’s nuanced but
also very forthright. It follows in the tradition of superhero stories
such as Superman’s radio adventure against the KKK and Cap’s own battle
with “The Secret Empire” and might one day stand shoulder-to-shoulder
with those classics.
Green Lantern #52: I goofed and read
Blackest Night #8 first. Oh well. It was still enjoyable out of
sequence. I especially enjoyed the origin sequence for the avatars of
the rings and the huge battle against the undead planet of Xanshi. The
former was wonderfully creative and the latter incredibly powerful. A
small character moment or two, however, might have balanced out those
two big moments.
Mighty Avengers #35: I haven’t enjoyed the last couple of issues
quite as much since Mighty Avengers became more of a Hank Pym solo title
than a team title. There were some good moments, such as Jarvis
answering Captain America’s call even if
Hank ignored it. There were some creepy moments, such as Hank giving
synthetic flesh limbs to Jocasta. And there were some big moments, such
as the return of Ultron. Plus, there was a big surprise setting up next
issue’s series finale.
The Stand: Soul Survivors #5:
Roberto
Aguirre-Sacasa and Mike Perkins continue their masterful adaptation of
Stephen King’s classic novel. This issue focuses on a pivotal
conversation between Nick Andros and Mother Abagail in which she
explains what is happening in terms of the bigger picture. Perkins
makes great use of Nick’s notepad (Nick is a deaf-mute) to carry the
conversation forward. And Aguirre-Sacasa nicely balances the
conversation with a travel/relationship montage of Stu, Fran and Harold.
Uncanny X-Men #522: Yay! It’s the return of Kitty Pryde. I don’t
know that it’s a great issue though it does feature a lot of good
moments: Cyclops telling Colossus’ away team that they should hurry
home, Mr. Fantastic’s videophone conversation with Nemesis, and the sad
twist that Kitty is stuck in her intangible state. The Portacio art is
unfortunately inconsistent. There are some great panels and pages, but
others that are off-kilter.
I’m Enjoying Spider-Man Now More Than Ever
It’s always personal. What we
like, what we enjoy. It’s based on our personal preferences. Even more
than that, those preferences are based on our personal experiences.
Two months ago, the founder and
namesake of this community and my friend Captain Comics announced that
he had stopped buying Spider-Man comics for the first time in 40 years.
The sad truth is that he wasn’t enjoying Amazing Spider-Man
anymore.
I’m not here to tell Captain Comics- or anyone else- that he’s wrong. I’m not here to change his mind. But I would like to share a different perspective. You see, I’m enjoying Spider-Man comics now more than I ever have before in my life. In my humble opinion, Amazing Spider-Man has never been more exciting or more interesting. It’s one of my favorite comics right now and has been for the better part of two years. It’s always one of the first comics I read when I bring home a stack of new goodies (it helps that the title starts with an A and my local shop puts comics into my pull file alphabetically). And I’m always happy to get a satisfying chunk of two or three issues of friendly neighborhood goodness. That’s right. I don’t think I’ve ever looked forward to reading Spider-Man as much as I do now.
In his column, Captain Comics
shared the incredibly personal story of his relationship with
Spider-Man.
He told us how l’il Cap’n first discovered Spider-Man while reading his
older brother’s comic books. He told us how they grew up together.
Spider-Man was always just a little bit older- in high school while Cap
was 
in
grade school; in college when Cap was in high school; in grad school
when Cap was in college. Peter Parker served as a mentor, imaginary big
brother and, in Cap’s own words, “a life preserver.” It’s a story I had
heard several times before but never with that level of passion. I truly
think it’s one of the best things Captain Comics has ever written.
So I can understand why Cap
feels like the current Spider-Man isn’t his Spider-Man anymore. I get
why he feels like his Peter Parker is gone and never coming back.
I understand and sympathize with his need to grieve. Yes, grieve.
However, my experience with
Spider-Man was completely different. I didn’t get to know Spider-Man
as he went through the natural progression of maturity. In fact, I
didn’t even get to know Spider-Man as one person. I got to know several
versions of Spider-Man at the same time. The first Spidey I met was the
cartoon version from Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. I was a
kid when that show was on television and it was my introduction not only
to Spider-Man but to the entire Marvel Universe. It’s how I met Dr.
Strange and Iron Man and Professor X for the first time as well. Yet
even as I was enjoying
a childhood cartoon classic, I discovered another version of Spider-Man.
A different channel would air repeats of the Spider-Man cartoon from
the Electric Company. So, as a kid, I had two different versions
of Spidey before I even read a Spider-Man comic book.
Then,
when I was a little older, I met the Spider-Man of the comics in Spectacular
Spider-Man #111. He was an older Spider-Man than what I was used
to- out of college and part of the work-force- but that wasn’t a problem
for me. I was becoming accustomed to the idea of different versions of
Spider-Man. It wasn’t that one version was right and another was wrong.
It was a question of whether each individual version was done well.
Maybe that’s why I didn’t
develop the same kind of personal relationship with Peter Parker that
Captain Comics did. I’ll admit that Spider-Man doesn’t mean as much to
me as he does to Cap. I was a fan, not a friend. But I was a fan. I had
Spider-Man pajamas and action figures. I still do. Uh, an action figure,
not the pajamas.
My experience with Spider-Man was very different. I would watch Spider-Man cartoons or movies and read Spider-Man comics when they were being done well. But I had no problem walking away when they weren’t. I wasn’t following the natural progression of one person; I was searching for the best depictions of that character.
Based on those very different
experiences, Cap and I had a very interesting contrast of opinions when
it came to One More Day. Initially, Cap applauded the idea. I remember
him writing enthusiastically about restoring a younger Peter Parker, who
wasn’t married and would more closely resemble the character
he had liked in the first place. On the other hand, I was very leery. I
thought that JMS had shown that an adult Peter Parker could work well. I
liked that Aunt May and Mary Jane knew his secret. I thought it made
for some great changes and some great scenes. And I was worried that the
character would go backward and be frozen in amber.
Again,
these reactions are personal. They’re a by-product of how we met
Spider-Man- what he was like at the time and what we were like at the
time. Captain
Comics had been introduced to a high school Peter Parker. He was a
lovable loser. But when I met Spider-Man in the comics, Peter Parker was
already an adult. I have no nostalgia for a teenaged Spider-Man. It’s
one of the reasons why I never got into Kurt Busiek’s Untold Tales of
Spider-Man despite the many assertions of others that it’s one of
Busiek’s best books (trust me, I tried it) or, for that matter, into
Brian
Michael Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man. They may have been great
depictions of the character, but they didn’t speak to me.
Despite his initial enthusiasm, Captain Comics detested One More Day. As he wrote so eloquently, this wasn’t his Spider-Man anymore. His Spider-Man wouldn’t have made these choices. As he saw it, this Spider-Man was “irreparably damaged.”
However, I skipped One More Day. I didn’t have a 45-year collection that I needed to maintain or a professional obligation to follow a story I didn’t think I would like. I had no reason to buy it if I didn’t want to. So I didn’t. That meant that there was no bad taste to wash out of my mouth. The faults of One More Day couldn’t spoil the success of Brand New Day.
Even then, I didn’t initially embrace Brand New Day. As I mentioned earlier, I had no interest in what seemed like a step backward. I was content to ignore Spider-Man once more. However, another friend and member of this board, Doc Beechler, took it upon himself to change my mind. He wrote enthusiastically about the new Spider-Man on multiple occasions. He sent me a gift: the first hardcover collection of Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
I
read it, mostly to humor Doc. I loved it. It wasn’t a backward looking
comic after
all. It was fresh and exciting. It was free and forward looking. Brand
New Day introduced a new supporting cast. It brought back Harry Osborn
as a friend and Harry introduced Peter Parker to his girlfriend Lilly
and her friend Carlie and on from there.
Suddenly, Peter had a circle of acquaintances again. And these
acquaintances were roughly my age- Gen X’ers at the early stages of
adulthood, embarking on relatively new careers. Suddenly, I could relate
to Peter Parker in a way I never could before.
Brand New Day also brought a
bushel full of new heroes and new villains. There was Jackpot and
Screwball, Menace and Mr. Negative, Anti-Venom and Paper Doll. The
stories were fast-paced. The plots were constantly over-lapping and
impacting each other. It was a great read.
Even better, Brand New Day
didn’t stay in place. That had been my biggest fear- that Peter Parker
would be placed in the so-called perfect stage and left there, frozen in
time. But that’s not what happened at all. The status quo was shifting.
The Daily Bugle was sold, turned into the DB and destroyed. Peter’s
newspaper friends navigated their way to Frontline and then to internet
blogs. Aunt May dated and got married. J. Jonah was hospitalized,
released and elected mayor. There’s movement, there’s progression,
there’s always something new to explore and enjoy. And I love it.
That’s
not to say that every story has been perfect. I thought that Amazing
Spider-Man hit a rough patch last summer with a clone story and a
Deadpool guest
appearance. But it’s back on track this winter. I’ve enjoyed “Gauntlet”
and the way that the Spider-Man comic has been updating his cast of
villains. I loved the new look for Electro, the new take on Mysterio and
the clash between the new Rhino and the old one. I also like the way
that these seemingly separate stories tie into a greater whole.
This is great stuff. And I can’t wait for the epic confrontation with
Kraven’s daughter.
So yeah, I’m enjoying Spider-Man more than I ever have. I’m excited to see what’s happening now. And I’m excited to see what’s going to happen next. Spider-Man is fresh and fun. It’s one of the best comics I’m reading right now. And, in my humble opinion, it’s the best it’s ever been.
April 02, 2010
Four First Issues of Gen 13
I’m back for another round.
Having previously looked at first issues of Wildcats, Youngblood
(15
months ago) and Cyberforce (last week), I’m ready to take on another one
of
Image’s super-teams. However, this time,
I’m moving on to the second wave of Image comics. The
first wave of Image featured the original
founders, three of whom presented team titles and three of whom
presented solo
stars. Those comic books were so
successful that a second wave of artists followed the founders,
including Sam
Kieth with The Maxx, Dale Keown with Pitt and J. Scott Campbell with
Gen13.
Gen 13 #1 (1994)
by Brandon Choi, J. Scott Campbell and Alex Garner
The first issue of Gen 13 reads more like a solo title than a team book. The story starts with Caitlin Fairchild, a mousy bookworm in her sophomore year at Princeton. She’s overshadowed and pushed around by her sexbomb room-mate until some strange men in black suits tell her that she’s been accepted into the Gen 13 program. The next time we see Caitlin, she’s just finished her first day of orientation at the Gen 13 facility. She’s still mousy and bookish. Now, she’s also slightly dazed and confused. She meets a couple of the other initiates, goes through training with them and starts to experience severe headaches.
The big moment comes when Caitlin decides to sneak out of her room to find out what’s going on. Since she’s super-smart, she attempts to hack into the facility’s main computer. She becomes nervous about the Gen 13 when she discovers the high level of security on the system. Then, she’s startled by Eddie and Roxy who were hiding in the security room since it’s the only one without cameras. The three of them are accosted by security guards wearing SWAT gear. The confrontation triggers something in Caitlin and she transforms into a superhero with super-strength and a super-hot bod.
It’s a decent first issue. We have a point-of-view character to lead us through the action. We have enough of a mystery to keep us interested. And there’s a strong cliffhanger at the end to bring us back.
However, the devil- as they say- is in the details. And in this case, the details are somewhat problematic.
The first set of problems has to do with the introduction of the villains. We meet the villains in a long scene between Caitlin’s introduction and her orientation at the Gen13 facility. Caitlin is supposed to be the point-of-view character, but we spend more time on the villains bickering (6 pages) then we did on her introduction. The long scene introducing Bliss, Lynch and Matthew interrupts the story’s flow and our connection to our main character. It’s also bogged down in exposition, with arguments about government programs and references to a bunch of organizations we don’t know yet. Plus, it undercuts the mystery that should keep the story going. We know that Caitlin is being used, leaving us only the question of when will she find out.
The second set of problems has to do with the introduction of the other team members. Choi and Campbell do a decent job of introducing Eddie, aka Grunge, and Roxy. We get two significant scenes with both of them. First, we see Eddie running away from a nurse while wearing a hospital gown. Then, we see Roxy’s minor confrontation with the same nurse about her cigarette. Those short scenes give us a sense of their characters, which is only confirmed when we meet them again later hiding from the security camera. So far, so good. However, we also meet a fourth Gen active- Bobby. Except Bobby doesn’t do anything. He simply stands in the background and scowls. Campbell and Choi should have made a choice- either tell us something about Bobby or hold off on his introduction until the second issue.
Of course, the main selling point for Gen 13, as it was for almost all of the early Image comics, is the art. J. Scott Campbell brings a fresh manga influence. His art is very graceful and whimsical. It’s also a little over-sexed (though I didn’t mind at the time).
The final verdict is that the first first issue of Gen 13 is a decent comic that’s flawed in terms of its pacing and its introduction of its main characters.
Gen 13 #1 (1995)
by Brandon Choi, J. Scott Campbell and Alex Garner
After the success of the initial mini-series, Campbell, Choi and company came back with an ongoing Gen 13 series. As noted in last week’s column, Marc and Eric Silvestri had difficulty writing a second first issue for Cyberforce so soon after the first one. That’s not a problem here. Choi and Campbell do a much better job the second time around.
This time, they fully introduce five team members, a mentor and a housekeeper. Every single member of the team is given something to do and a reason to stand out. Caitlin re-establishes her nerd bona-fides by working on the computer, Bobby shows a bit of personality by playing the guitar and Sara (added to the team after the first issue) shocks the house by going skinny dipping.
Yet all of these introductions are arranged in such a way that they don’t interrupt the flow of the story or get in the way of some action. The opening scene is a delight. It initially appears to be a fight between two characters we haven’t met yet only to be revealed that it’s actually Eddie and Roxy playing a game of Mortal Kombat. That little scene gives us a little bit of action. More importantly, it gives us a great deal of characterization. We see the blossoming romance between Eddie and Roxy. Plus, we see them acting like teenagers, which is something that other books about super-teens sometimes forget. Their youthful exuberance and vitality is part of the appeal.
The main story gets underway when Roxy, aka Freefall, sneaks out at night to go to a dance club. Again, it’s a typical teenager thing to do. But Roxy isn’t a typical teenager. An older goth guy hits on her. Roxy appears to be attracted to him but a bathroom break breaks the spell. She ditches him, but that isn’t the end of her adventures. The dancehall is attacked by a band of mercenary freaks. Roxy finally makes a break for it, only to discover that an alien creature had stowed away in her coat.
The rest of the Gen 13 team noticed that Roxy had gone missing. They find her at the same time that the mercenaries find their alien, resulting in a big superhero fight. The good guys win. But they’re left with a bunch of questions. Like where did this creature come from? What did the mercenaries want with him? And, though Roxy doesn’t mention it to the others, what’s up with the goth guy?
All in all, it’s a stellar first issue. It’s a complete tale into itself, while also leaving unanswered questions for future issues. It maintains the sense of whimsy (and playful sexiness) that was a part of the first mini-series. Campbell’s art is even better. It’s still graceful, but now it’s more consistent from page to page and from character to character. Plus, it comes with thirteen different covers.
Gen 13 #0 (2002)
by Chris Claremont, Ale Garza and Sandra Hope
Gen 13 survived the comic book crash of 1996 and several changes in style. But, in 2002, after 77 issues, WildStorm decided to re-launch a brand new Gen 13. They handed the reins of the title to X-Men super-scribe Chris Claremont and up-and-coming artist Ale Garza. The new series was promoted as being part of a grittier, more mature WildStorm and it was grouped with other new titles such as 21 Down and the Resistance. The marketing created some cognitive dissonance, both with the earlier version of Gen 13 and with Chris Claremont’s new take.
Claremont did indeed try to bring Gen 13 into the real world. He set the first issue of the new series (which was a zero issue, rather than a number one) at the San Diego Comic Con. He introduced a New York firefighter/comic book fan father who had brought his family to the greatest comic book convention in the world. His teenaged sons were less than interested.
However, despite the cover and the marketing push, this wasn’t a gritty comic. Ale Garza’s art is sunny, like Todd Nauck on DC’s Young Justice or Teen Titans Go. That’s not a bad thing. I like Nauck. And I like Garza’s work here. But it showed that this version of Gen 13 wasn’t sure what it was supposed to be about.
The story picks up as the two sons, Ethan and Dylan, attempt to ditch their dad and the comic book convention. Outside, they see some men in black attempting to subdue a teenage girl in short shorts and a halter top. They run to intervene, and tackle the men in suits as if they were a couple of linebackers. Ethan offers a hand up to the girl. The girl takes his hand. And then she runs. At superspeed. Dragging Ethan along in her wake. When they stop, they’re in Big Sur instead of San Diego. They have a tender moment and then the girl, Maria, brings Ethan back to San Diego.
After a good-bye kiss, Ethan finds his family in their hotel room. Meanwhile, Maria finds Caitlin Fairchild. However, men in black suits have been to see Ethan’s family. They warn them that they’re in great danger. Other men in black suits attack Caitlin’s house, injuring Caitlin and apparently killing Maria. And that’s where the story ends.
As I said earlier, it’s a story that isn’t sure what it wants to be. It’s schizophrenic, at odds with itself. It’s not that a light-hearted story can’t pull the rug out from under the reader with a surprise, tragic ending. That tactic is a big reason why Invincible became such a success, turning the all-American family inside out by revealing that the father was an alien spy. And Claremont has pulled a similar twist off in othe r places, such as interrupting a Gray family reunion with a Shi’ar death squad in Uncanny X-Men. But it doesn’t work here. The change in tone, and even art style, is too abrupt. It feels as if we read two different comics- one with Ethan and Maria, and then another with Maria and Caitlin.
The result is that we don’t know what to expect next. That can be a good thing when talking about a comic with lots of plot twists, like Thunderbolts. But it’s not a good thing when talking about a comic’s tone or style.
Gen 13 #1 (2006)
by Gail Simone, Talent Caldwell and Matt Banning
Wildstorm introduced a fourth volume of Gen 13 in 2006 as part of its WorldStorm event. This time, however, the team would start over from scratch with what appears to be a new continuity.
Caitlin Fairchild is back to being the bookish girl with glasses who is picked on at school by the cool kids and the sporties. However, Gail Simone makes sure to introduce all five members of the team and not just one point-of-view character. Bobby is another high school student getting beat up by bullies. Eddie plays hooky while riding his skateboard. Roxy is a teenage delinquent, in trouble with the law and with a mother who seems to hate her. Sarah flirts with a coffee barista while getting away from the reservation.
Then, Simone and Cantwell play with our heads. The characters continue to go through their day-to-day lives. Except, suddenly, they’re wearing their superhero costumes. They don’t notice. Other characters in the scene don’t notice either. And we’re left to wonder if what we’re reading is real or if they’re only dreaming. Super SWAT teams break in on every unhappy family. They brutally kill foster parents and abduct the kids. The kids then wake up together in a prison cell. They don’t know each other. And we’re once again wondering what’s real and what’s not.
On the one hand, it’s a very effective comic. Simone does a masterful job of playing with our expectations. We don’t know if this is a new continuity or if these are the same old characters with their minds re-written. We don’t know if they were dreaming of normal lives or if the sudden appearances of the costumes were all in their heads. We don’t know what’s going on. And neither do the characters. It’s a step up from the very first issue of Gen 13 when the reader was immediately let in on the mystery while the characters were left to figure it out. This time, the mystery is even greater for the reader than it is for the characters.
So what’s the problem? I guess my biggest problem has to do with the opening scene, before we meet the members of Gen 13. We spend several pages watching along with several internet voyeurs watch a snuff film. It’s supposed to show us the villains. And it does contain a twist, as the supposed rape victim turns out to be a Gen active who kills her attacker. But the constant text message boxes really slow the scene down. And I felt a little dirty after reading the scene, as if I wasn’t simply watching the villains but I was participating in their villainy. It’s entirely possible that Simone was trying to make a profound point about our infatuation with violence with that scene but it left a bad feeling that the rest of the issue had a hard time overcoming.
Still, when I look at this issue again, I can’t help but be impressed by its strong structure, concise characterization and many mysteries.
March 25, 2010
Five First Issues of CyberForce
Fifteen months ago, I took a look at five first issues of Wildcats and Youngblood. It was appropriate at the time as both of those original Image titles had recently come out with new number ones. Jason Marconnet, aka Lime Coke, enjoyed those articles so much that he asked me to do a similar survey with other Image or ‘90s titles. It’s taken me fifteen months to get around to it, but never let it be said that I let down a reader. So, for Lime Coke, for me, and for everyone else, here are reviews of five first issues of Marc Silvestri’s creation CyberForce, and it’s spin-off StykeForce.
CyberForce #1 (1992)
by Marc and Eric Silvestri
Welcome to the Image Revolution! Marc Silvestri was one of seven artists who left Marvel Comics in 1992 in order to take control of their own careers and start their own company. Silvestri had already established himself with popular runs as the regular penciler on Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine. He even contributed art to the famous X-Men arcade game that debuted out in 1992, helping to define the look of the X-Men for a generation of fans.
For his initial Image title, Marc Silvestri stayed in his comfort zone. He created a new team called CyberForce. However, his new team had a lot in common with his old team, the X-Men. There are five characters featured on the cover of the first issue and each of them bears a strong resemblance to one of the X-Men. There are a few key differences- Stryker has four arms, Ripclaw is a Native American- but the initial resemblance is- dare I say it- uncanny. Silvestri even calls his characters “mutants,” though in this case they are also cybernetically enhanced (hence the name, CyberForce). The familiar building blocks aren’t necessarily a problem. Other characters have grown from imitations, parodies or homages to become fully realized creations such as Captain Marvel, Cerebus, Savage Dragon and The Authority.
Marc Silvestri and his brother Eric craft an interesting world and a strong opening story around these central characters. That includes some interesting supporting characters. The first character we meet is Velocity, a teenaged girl on the run from a private military who is rescued by CyberForce’s Ripclaw. There’s a superficial resemblance to the X-Men’s Jubilee- teenage girl, runaway, befriends the gruff guy with the claws. However, Velocity has different powers (speed) and a different back-story (she was abused). We also meet two boys, Chip and Timmie. Chip is a teenaged genius. Timmie looks like a little boy, but he’s actually an android. These younger characters also help give CyberForce their own identity. They’re more like a band of refugees than a superhero team.
Silvestri also introduces a strong cast of villains. The first is Ballistic, a cybernetically enhanced bounty hunter who is trying to capture Velocity. Then there’s a reference to Gammerung, either a person or an organization, dedicated to killing mutants. Next up is Mother May I. She’s the head of Cyberdata, the organization that claims to have created all of the cyber-mutants and that still wants to control them. Mother May I is a cyborg herself, with a unique blue Cleopatra look. She’s one of the best villains in any of the early Image titles. Finally, Ballistic comes back with an as-yet-unnamed squad of mutant villains who all work as enforcers for Cyberdata.
These different villains and supporting characters show that the world of CyberForce is nearly as multi-faceted as our own. One of the other secondary characters is Bluestone, a mutant running for political office (although there’s some confusion in that he’s running for mayor on one page and then called a senator on another). That gives us a whole range of mutants and political perspectives- those who are open and attempting to engage in public life, those who are in hiding, those who want to kill them and those who want to capture and control them. It makes for a much, more complex and interesting world than many other superhero stories. Altogether, it’s a great introduction to new characters, a new team and a new world.
CyberForce #1 (1993)
by Marc Silvestri, Eric Silvestri and Scott Williams
Unfortunately, the second CyberForce #1 isn’t as good as the first one. The main problem is that it’s really a continuation of the recently completed mini-series. The initial Image titles were all popular. Some of them were set up as ongoing series from the beginning. But most had been planned as mini-series. Youngblood stayed with the original numbering as it extended from a mini-series into an ongoing. On the other side, Savage Dragon and CyberForce opened up the ongoing series with a new number one.
Yet, despite the new number one, this issue of CyberForce is really part of a continuing story. Its fine as an installment of a larger story if you’ve already read the initial mini-series and the zero issue that was published in-between. But it doesn’t really work as a first issue. The previous first issue shared back-story such as the abuse Velocity experienced as a child. But that was presented as new information for the reader, even if it’s in the past for the character. In this issue, the characters also make numerous references to earlier events. The multiple references make this issue exposition-heavy. Plus, some of the references are oblique, telling you that something happened in the previous stories but not what. As a reader, you definitely feel as if you’ve missed something.
This is especially true of a scene in which Stryker apparently attempts to recruit Ballistic into CyberForce. Stryker explains what happened- they removed an implant that was forcing Ballistic to work for CyberData. But the scene works much better and carries much greater emotional weight if you’ve read the previous story. It’s a good piece of Ballistic’s overall arc but it’s an awkward introduction to the character for a new reader.
Another problem is the sub-plot in which Ripclaw is experiencing bad dreams. The visions feature two other people- a man with long green hair and a woman with big red hair. By the end of the issue, it’s revealed that the green-haired guy is Warblade, from Wildcats, and the red-haired girl is named Misery. In the back, there’s an ad for an upcoming crossover between CyberForce and Wildcats in which misery splits the two men and the two teams.
It isn’t a bad thing to have a B or C plot setting up storylines down the road. However, this issue of CyberForce doesn’t really have an A plot. The other part of the story is a training exercise, helping Velocity acclimate to the team. The result is that one plot looks back at the previous story and the other plot looks ahead to an upcoming crossover. Nothing of importance actually happens in this particular issue. It’s truly a middle issue and not a first issue. Yet, even as a middle issue, it fails to deliver anything on its own.
Codename: StrykeForce #1 (1995)
by Marc Silvestri, Brandon Peterson and Josef Rubinstein
Image was wildly successful and many of the initial titles launched spin-offs. Youngblood led to Brigade, Wildcats to Stormwatch, Savage Dragon to Freak Force. And yes, CyberForce led to a spin-off team, Codename: StrykeForce. After clashing with Heatwave over leadership of CyberForce, Stryker struck out on his own. His new team would be less defensive and more proactive (now where else have we heard that one?). They would be more like a black ops team, taking the fight to the villains on their own turf. They would also get paid. That contradiction aside, this is a very strong opening issue.
The first scene echoes Stryker’s introduction in CyberForce #1. In that issue, he was assigned to watch Bluestone, the mutant political figure running for mayor. Stryker saved Bluestone from assassination. In this issue, Stryker has been paid to watch out for “President Bill” as he listens to a speech by Mikhail Gorbachev. And yes, once again, Stryker stops an assassination attempt. It’s a great heroic moment for Stryker, and a strong introduction to the lead character.
This first issue also does a good job of introducing the other members of the team. Their introductions are spread throughout the issue as Stryker calls on them at certain junctures of this mission and the next. That keeps the reader from being overwhelmed by meeting an entire team all at once. Marc Silvestri had used a similar effect in the first issue of CyberForce- introducing each member of the team one at a time- but the technique is even more effective here as they’re all connected to one main incident.
First up is Icarus, who flies and looks a lot like Nate Grey. Then there’s Anvil, one of my favorite characters in the world of CyberForce. He’s short and squat, built like an anvil and hard as iron. He’s sort of a mixture of the Thing, Puck and Wolverine but he’s not any one of them. He is truly his own character. There’s Bloodbow, an albino, elven archer. There’s Tempest, the token girl, who apparently has weather powers. And there’s Killrazor, a villain who’s willing to work with the good guys for a price.
There’s also a super-villain. In one sense, he’s like every other super-villain, berating his henchmen and cackling about plans to conquer the world. But Silvestri and company at least try to drape him in mystery. He refuses to mention his name, telling a group of hostages that they don’t need to know and insisting that all of his lackeys call him “sir.” It doesn’t make the boss as memorable as CyberForce’s Mother May I- that’s also the downside to not having a name- but it’s at least an attempt to make him different.
I also like the Brandon Peterson art. He does a good job of weaving Silvestri and Jim Lee influences so that this title fits in with the general Image vibe. His characters are a little more muscled-up than Silvestri’s but that fits the tone of this team. And he does a great job with panel lay-out and story-telling. There’s a great contrast on two pages- one which very clearly depicts Gorbachev giving a speech and another which coyly hides “President Bill” in Stryker’s shadow. There’s also some good action scenes with planes, missiles, submarines and torpedoes.
CyberForce had more of a team feeling than StrykeForce. This is like Stryker and the Jordanaires. But other than that, it’s a very well done first issue- possibly the best in the batch.
Strykeforce #1 (2004)
by Jay Faerber, Tyler Kirkham and Marco Alquiza
We go from arguably the best first issue to arguably the worst. I apologize in advance to all involved. I’m a huge fan of Jay Faerber’s creator-owned work at Image (Noble Causes, Dynamo 5, Urban Myths) but this Top Cow mini-series is a turkey. And Tyler Kirkham is a good artist on other titles but it’s hard to defend his work here.
The main problem has to do with the company itself. It had been a dozen years since CyberForce had hit the stage and nine years since they launched the successful StrykeForce spin-off. In the meantime, a lot of other things had happened for Marc Silvestri. CyberForce became a victim of the superhero glut. There were a lot of titles and a lot of teams. And CyberForce struggled to remain as popular as the X-Men and the Wildcats or as relevant as Gen13.
Meanwhile, Marc Silvestri expanded his little corner of the Image universe by adding new artists, new characters and new titles. One of those artists was Michael Turner. And one of those new characters was Witchblade. Witchblade was more of a supernatural superhero than CyberForce. She became very successful, arguably the most popular “bad girl” in comics. Silvestri slowly transitioned his output to cater to those fans. CyberForce and StrykeForce made way for Witchblade spin-offs like Darkness or imitations like Aphrodite XI. The imprint became known as Top Cow and Top Cow became known for “bad girl” art.
By 2004, comic books had bounced back. The time seemed right for a resurrection of Top Cow’s superhero characters, most of whom had sat on the shelf for several years while Silvestri’s imprint focused on “bad girls” and “good girls” like Witchblade and Tomb Raider.
Unfortunately, Top Cow’s house style infiltrated their newest superhero title as well. It’s not that the earlier superwomen had been ugly. Cyblade was drawn to be beautiful and Velocity was cute. But they pretty much received the same treatment as the guys, and they at least wore full costumes. That wasn’t the case this time around. Jay Faerber introduced four new characters to this version of Strykeforce, including two women. One was Sly who had the power to turn invisible. Naturally, she could only turn herself invisible and not other objects. Like her clothes. Which meant that she spent half of the issue walking around naked. The other woman was Tia Katana. Her power was a magic tattoo from which she could draw a sword (or technically, a katana). However, in order to reach her sword, she had to wear next to nothing (or occasionally nothing) on her torso. Apparently, just to make sure she was consistent, she also wore next to nothing on her lower half. That there were in-story reasons for the two women to spend the whole issue half-naked or half the issue completely naked isn’t a defense. In actuality, it makes it worse. It shows that they thought they needed an excuse.
It’s such a major flaw that it undercuts an otherwise decent story. Stryker and his team are hired to rescue some corporate executives who are being held as hostages in the mountain jungles of Peru. They’re successful. But they’re wanted by the FBI for being independent operatives. And the FBI has planted a spy on the team. That’s a good set-up for a good story. It’s too bad that Strykeforce couldn’t get out of its own juvenile way. And Top Cow wonders why it developed its reputation.
Cyberforce
#1 (2006)
by Ron Marz and Pat Lee
The latest first issue of Cyberforce serves as a retroactive lesson for the 1993 first issue. By this point, Cyberforce has a long history and Ron Marz has to let the readers know some of that history in order for this issue to make sense. Then, this is also the first issue in an era when most stories are written, at least partially, for the trade. So Marz has to look at setting up a longer story over several issues. That means that this issue has to simultaneously look backward and forward while still being a satisfying issue on its own. That’s the test that the 1993 issue failed. But it’s a test that this 2006 issue passes with flying colors.
In terms of looking backwards, Marz gathers the three female members of the team for a dinner party. They’re wearing evening gowns and drinking wine- showing that female characters can look sexy and beautiful, without being exploitative. They’re drinking to the end of Cyberforce. The team is fractured and devoid of any future. The women are agreed: it’s best to end the team now. There’s just one last piece of business: Ripclaw has gone rabid. They feel that they need to clean up their own mess, and kill off their own teammate. The scene certainly shares exposition- for example, we learn that Velocity and Ripclaw had become lovers- but it does so in a way that resonates emotionally.
In terms of looking forward, Marz uses the sub-plot to do that. Marz opens with a scene from a far-space station. The sentries complain that there’s nothing to do out here on the edge of civilization before being run over by a massive armada. That oncoming armada hangs over the rest of the story. How can a dispirited and disbanded Cyberforce stand up to such a force?
Then, the story is satisfying in its own right. At least one major bit of action is completed in this issue. The rabid Ripclaw attacks and the three women of Cyberforce- Ballistic, Cyblade and Velocity- fight to take him down. The rabid Ripclaw appears to have won. Ballistic and Cyblade have been taken out of the fight. Ripclaw has Velcoity at his mercy. He threatens to kill her, or rape her. And then, another claw bursts through his chest. The rogue Ripclaw falls to the ground and another Ripclaw is revealed behind him. The rogue was a faulty imitation. The real Ripclaw is back and he just might be able to help the women defeat the alien armada that they don’t even know about yet.
That’s both a complete incident- the defeat of the rabid Ripclaw- and also a tease of a larger story yet to be told- the gathering of Cyberforce and the battle against the alien armada. That makes for a great first issue.
Pat Lee’s art is also perfect for this story. It’s a little dark and rough around the edges, wonderfully matched to the story of a shabby super-team on its last legs.
March 18, 2010
What Age Is It Now Anyway?
I’ve been talking about the ages of comics for the
past
three columns (if you think I’m being long-winded, you should see all of
the
stuff I left out). Either way, I
appreciate your perusal and participation.
So far, I’ve speculated as to whether or not Brightest Day and
Heroic
Age will launch a new age, sided with the broad consensus that there is
such a
beast as a Bronze Age, and struck out on my own to propose a Fourth Age
from
1987-1996. That leaves the issue of what
do we do with the last dozen years or so.
Is it another age?
If you’ve been reading along, then you already know that my answer is “Yes.” However, I’ll readily admit that this is my own opinion rather than a widely-accepted theory.
There are two major arguments against this being a fifth age. The first is “everything since **** is just one big age.” There is some validity to that argument. Indeed, every new age has had to overcome that perception.
Jeff-of-Earth-J had a great quote in response to the first column: "Modern Age" is a term I use for whatever the current age which has not yet been defined. For example, I used to say "Golden Silver and Modern," but now I say "Golden, Silver, Bronze and Modern."
This shows that, despite initial resistance, the
idea of a
defined age of comics can gain acceptance.
The argument would have been at one time, “everything since 1970
(the
end of the Silver Age) is just one big age.”
Now, it’s more likely to be “everything since 1986 (the end of
the
Bronze Age) is just one big age.”
However, I argued that the years 1987 to 1996 have all of the features and characteristics of an age, with one notable exception- a widely agreed-upon name. However, if we were to insert one of the suggested names, we would have Golden, Silver, Bronze, Iron and everything after. In other words, “everything since 1996 (the end of the Iron Age) is one age.”
I’m glad to say that I’m not the only one who has considered this. In 1997 and ’98, Wildstorm Studios produced a crossover between the X-Men and their own Wildcats. The story would span several eras of time, reflecting the different ages of comics. The four issues were the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Dark Age (one of the other suggested names for the Fourth Age) and the Modern Age.
The second major argument against this being a fifth age has to do with sales. Figserello wrote, “Sales follow successful new storytelling fashions, so the two are interlinked.” Indeed, the earlier ages are defined not only by peaks in creative output, but also by spikes in sales.
That causes a problem for the current age. After all, current comic book sales pale in comparison with earlier ages. The best-selling comics of today would be mid-level performers in the ’80s or in danger of cancellation in the ‘60s.
However, I don’t think that necessarily precludes
the possibility
of a fifth age. For one thing, an age is
not necessarily a direct comparison between peaks. By that
definition, the Silver Age wouldn’t
count as an Age either. After all, the
sales of the Silver Age were one-fifth of the sales of the Golden Age.
Similarly, the Bronze Age peak may not have
been as high as the peak of the Silver Age but it was still a peak
compared to
the years that had come between.
On the other hand, the last fifteen years have given us a valley and a peak that help shape the ages of comics. The years of 1997-99 had the lowest comic book sales in history. They’re so low that I wouldn’t even include them in an age. They’re kind of like the years between the Golden and Silver Ages (which saw great sales in other genres but the near-extinction of superheroes) and the years between the Silver and Bronze Ages (according to some definitions). In contrast, the years 2000-2007 saw seven straight years of growth. That’s something that hadn’t happened since the Golden Age (the Silver Age’s best stretch was 4 years).
Another issue is that sales contrasts across eras are not apple-to-apple comparisons. Silver Age numbers are based on the number of issues printed for returnable newsstand distribution and could be double the number of issues actually sold. Current numbers are based on issues sold to the direct market- while ignoring subscriptions, newsstand distribution and international sales- and could be half of the actual number of issues sold. I’m not saying that current comics sell as well as Silver Age comics. They don’t. But the gap isn’t as great as some observers would have you believe. Plus, modern comics are also sold in trade paperbacks, a secondary market that extends shelf-life and raises readership.
The current age may not be as commercially successful as the Silver Age, but that doesn’t have to mean it’s not an age at all.
I think it is. I think the sales are part of the story (including the seven straight years of growth that I mentioned previously). I think the expansion of the market is part of the story. Comics have expanded into new genres, new formats and new territories. The last decade has seen the explosion of manga, trade paperbacks and bookstore sections devoted to comics. You can even buy comics in airport terminals.
Of course, it’s not only about sales. It’s
also about style.
Luke Blanchard asked (yes, I’m quoting Luke again; sorry, Luke), “Is there the same kind of contrast between superhero comics of today and of fifteen years ago as there was between the superhero comics of the mid-70s and those of the early 60s?”
I think so. Modern comics have very different features than Iron Age comics. Comics of the early ‘90s were often fast-paced, action-packed affairs. An actual story sometimes took back-seat to a sequence of fight scenes. Comics of the mid-aughts were slow-paced. They were deconstructed and fans would sometimes wait four to six issues for a big fight.
Compare Jim Lee’s first issue of Wildcats in 1992 with Joe Casey’s first issue of Wildcats 3.0 in 2002. Compare the “Reign of the Supermen” in 1993 with “World without a Superman” this past year. Compare Joe Madureira’s X-Men in 1994 to Grant Morrison’s New X-Men in 2004. They’re completely different animals.
And I’m not the only one who’s noticed. John Dunbar made a good point when he discussed the history of Marvel comics in terms of its chief editors. The comic books from the Joe Quesada era are as different from the Tom DeFalco era as the Jim Shooter era is from the Stan Lee era.
So yeah, I think we’re in the fifth age of comics. Call them what you like: Chromium and Platinum (I haven’t given up on them yet), Dark and Prismatic (with a tip of the cap to Figserello), Iron and Modern. But I think that they’re two very distinct and different ages, rather than one big “everything after.”
And, yeah, I’m worried that we’re actually at the end of the fifth age of comics. After the highs of 2007 (the best-selling year since the pre-crash days of ’95), we’ve seen two years of slight decline. The industry isn’t back to the lows of 1997-’99. At least, not yet.
Which brings me back to the subject that started this all. I sincerely hope that DC’s Brightest Day and Marvel’s Heroic Age can reverse the trend. I hope that new technology like Apple’s iPad can be a jump-start for the industry the way that the direct market was at the beginning of the Bronze Age. I think things have been pretty good for the past decade. And I’d like to see it keep going.
Thanks for listening, everyone. The End.
March 13, 2010
What Comes After the Bronze Age?
In discussing the existence of a Bronze Age, I neglected to define it. Happily, the Legion of Superfluous Heroes (otherwise known as the members of the Captain Comics Message Board) took up the task. The discussion centered on two main theories. The first is that the Bronze Age lasted from 1970-1986, starting with Green Lantern/Green Arrow #76 (sometimes in conjunction with other key issues of ’70-’71). The second theory is that the Bronze Age lasted from 1975-1986, starting with the introduction of the all-new X-Men in Giant-Size X-Men #4 (with 1970-1974 serving as either a period between ages or a proto-Bronze Age). Both theories shared a common end-date of 1986- the year that the Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, Crisis on Infinite Earths and Secret Wars II brought significant changes in both tone and continuity. Those weren’t the only theories- there are still those who reject the concept of a Bronze Age and others who offer a different end-point- but they seem to be the main ones.
This week, I want to move beyond that part of the discussion. What comes after the Bronze Age?
One major view is that nothing comes after the
Bronze
Age. Luke Blanchard wrote, “The last
twenty years seem to me one long period.”
Jeff-of-Earth J described the ages of comics as “Golden, Silver,
Bronze
and something else.” Wikipedia- a reflection of
popular consensus-
agrees. It follows entries for Golden,
Silver and Bronze Ages with one for a Modern Age, encompassing
everything from
1987 until now.
I’m on record with another view. I admit that I’m probably departing from the majority on this one. But I think that the past twenty-five years contains at least two distinct ages, bringing us to a total of five.
I see several different factors contributing to the
beginning of the Fourth Age (which, for now, will remain nameless).
One is the change in tone initiated by Alan
Moore’s Watchmen and Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns. Those
two stories led comics to a different
approach that was clearly distinct from the comics that came before.
Story-telling was darker and more mature, which
is why one of the most popular names for this period is the Dark Age (a
quick
aside: those two features are not always the same thing though they’re
often
treated that way). Those two works paved
the way for other successful properties such as Neil Gaiman’s Sandman
and DC’s
Vertigo imprint.
Luke Blanchard is right when he writes, “I don't know that the post-Crisis DCU immediately got darker.” It didn’t. But the Silver Age didn’t happen over-night either. The new Flash debuted in 1956. Superman and Wonder Woman didn’t enter the Silver Age until 1958. Green Arrow and Aquaman entered the Silver Age in different years despite co-starring in the same title. Some people even argue that Batman didn’t enter the Silver Age until his “New Look” in 1964.
Another factor giving rise to the Fourth Age is the change in continuity. This was especially apparent at DC. Fans even developed a new lexicon of “pre-Crisis” and “post-Crisis” to refer to the many changes wrought by that series. This became particularly evident to me when I recently read the trade collection of Superman: Man of Steel. The changes to the character, the cast and the universe were far-reaching. The changes were so significant that the editorial and accounting departments actually credited the writers with creating new characters (Marv Wolfman mentioned in a preface that he receives royalty checks for creating a new version of Lex Luthor). In its way, the introduction of a new Superman in Man of Steel is as significant as the introduction of a new Flash in Showcase #4. This time, the new Superman was followed by a new Wonder Woman, a new Justice League and a new Flash. In a couple of years, Marvel followed with new titles for Spider-Man and X-Men.
That leads us to several more factors. The
previous ages were all defined, in part,
by an expansion of new characters, new titles and new companies
accompanied by
a noticeable increase in sales. Well,
that is certainly true of the Fourth Age. The Fourth Age
brought Dark Horse (1986), Malibu (1987), Valiant (1991), Image (1992),
Topps (1992) and
Malibu’s
Ultraverse (1993). Marvel and DC also
expanded rapidly. The result is that the
early 1990s saw more new companies and more new characters than any era
since
the Golden Age. Did all of these
characters and companies succeed?
No. But that was also true of the
Golden Age. Most of those characters
were canceled quickly as well. On the
other hand, many characters from this period achieved popularity,
longevity or jumped
to other media (a category that includes Cable, Deadpool, Spawn,
Hellboy,
Witchblade, Static and Hitman).
The early ‘90s can also boast of publishing the most titles since the pre-Comic Book Code 1950s and achieving the highest individual sales since WWII. Yes, you read that right. The early ‘90s beat the Silver Age on several (though not all) peak markers. I know that many older fans don’t want to give this era the status of an official age, but objectively, it stands out as much as the Silver Age did.
Of course, all of this could be true and we’d still
be
dealing with only one post-Bronze Age era if not for another factor.
There is a very clear end-point. In the first
article, I mentioned that previous
ages were characterized- not by the cancellation of one title such as
Captain
Marvel or X-Men- but by the cancellation of many titles and even the
cessation
of multiple publishers. This was true of
the Golden Age. This was true of the
Silver Age. This was partially true of
the Bronze Age. And this was
dramatically true of the Fourth Age.
The comic book market, propped up by speculator and investment buyers, collapsed in 1996 and 1997. Almost all of the aforementioned companies went out of business or were sold. Even Marvel, the biggest publisher in the industry, declared bankruptcy. And both Marvel and DC slashed their titles until they were publishing between one-third and one-half of their peak numbers. The shock to the industry was so significant that George cites it as the end of the Bronze Age (which didn’t have the cataclysmic ending of earlier ages). And even Luke Blanchard seems to agree with me (phew! I didn’t want to disagree with Luke on everything) when he writes, “I suppose the speculator boom was a distinct period, since it brought with it new companies and characters which were wiped out when the boom collapsed.”
That’s a beginning, a middle and an end. That looks like an Age to me- the Fourth Age of comics.
March 06, 2010
Is There a Bronze Age of Comics?
Last
week, I wrote about the possibility of Marvel’s Heroic Age and DC’s
Brightest Day ushering in a new age of comics. Along the way, I
discussed the previous ages of comics, the eras by which many categorize its history. I received some excellent feedback and I’d like to respond in this follow-up column.
First of all, let me say thanks for the compliment, Jeff of Earth-J; the thoughtful reply, Luke Blanchard; and the exceptional reference, Turning Point.
Luke Blanchard wrote, “I'm always uncomfortable with attempts to continue "age" periodisation down to the present.”
You're not the only one, Luke. Besides Turning Point (who posted in response to the initial column), there's also Maggie Thompson, the editor of Comics Buyer's Guide. When they had their Bronze Age issue, she commented that she didn't believe in the existence of a Bronze Age. As far as she was concerned, there's the Golden Age, the Silver Age and everything after (that’s a paraphrase, not a direct quote).
However, I think there are a couple of problems with that stance.
The first problem is that the ship has already sailed. Bronze Age has entered common usage. I mentioned eBay in the first article; I recently
typed “Bronze Age comics” into eBay and it came back with 2,253
results. That’s more results than “Golden Age comics” and within a
1000 results of “Silver Age comics.” I tried Google and got over
800,000 results including a very lengthy description on Wikipedia and several blogs that specifically focus on Bronze Age comics.
Retail sites use the term as well. Capital Comics and House of Comics
have entire Bronze Age sections (in addition to Golden and Silver Age
sections). The term exists and it’s here to stay.
The second problem is what to use instead. No offense intended, Luke, but I think your post illustrates this. You rejected a historical categorization of comic books based on capital- “A” Ages but you then proceeded to discuss the history of comics based on a different set of ages. It’s just that you used decades rather than the metallic nomenclature of Golden, Silver and Bronze Age. Are decades the best way to categorize and understand the history of comics? Maybe they are. We certainly use decades for other facets of pop culture, especially music. But maybe they aren’t. A comic book in 1983 has a lot more in common with a comic in 1977 than it does with one in 1989. The beginning and end-points of some movements coincide with the beginning or end of a decade, but not always.
On the other hand, I think there are advantages to using Age categorizations to comics. The main one is that it does a better job of reflecting the periodic nature of comics and conveying the movements within that history. The history of comics isn’t a steady march over time, as a decade-by-decade survey might suggest, but a story of rises and falls.
Some
of the best evidence for the existence of a Bronze Age comes from
people who don’t use the term, including those who were involved or who
were there. Mike Richardson, publisher of Dark Horse Comics, doesn’t
subscribe to the notion of a Bronze Age. But in his book, Comics between the Panels, he writes about a “creative revival” in the late ‘70s with Claremont and Byrne on Uncanny X-Men, Frank Miller on Daredevil and Walt Simonson. Jon Cooke, the editor of Comic Book Artist,
refers to Marvel’s “Second Wave” in the ‘70s including the origin of
the new X-Men, Jim Starlin’s cosmic books and Mike Ploog on Ghost
Rider. Actually, many issues of Comic Book Artist are celebrations of the Bronze Age, despite the fact that Cooke doesn’t use the term himself.
I wish I had the reference handy, but one of the creators of the time (I think it was Walt Simonson) even called the late ‘70s and early ‘80s “Marvel’s Silver Age” (Marvel’s real Golden Age being the Lee/Kirby/Ditko years upon which most of the company was built). In addition to the previously mentioned creators, there was also Shooter and Perez on Avengers and Roger Stern’s Spider-Man.
Then, there’s the 1981 article
from Amazing Heroes that Turning Point posted for us. The “Third Wave”
that Michael Catron writes about is what we now call the Bronze Age.
He got a few things wrong. He anticipated the possibility that DC’s
Third Wave would inspire their main competition at Marvel to follow
suit, as had happened in the early Silver Age when Marvel responded to
the success of JLA with Fantastic Four. But he didn’t notice that the
tables had turned and that DC’s Third Wave was coming in response to Marvel’s Second Wave (as coined by Jon Cooke). Specifically, the New Teen Titans were a response to the Uncanny X-Men. However, he also got a few things right. He noticed that the advent of new publishers
like Eclipse and Pacific were indicators that a Third Wave was already
underway. Indeed, Pacific and Eclipse (as well as other companies like First and
Comico) played a similar role in the Bronze Age that secondary
superhero publishers Archie, Charlton and Tower played in the Silver
Age. They were part of the creative resurgence that contributed new titles and new characters.
Richardson’s Revival, Cooke’s Second Wave, Simonson’s “Marvel’s Silver Age” and Catron’s Third Wave are all terms for the same time period. It’s the Bronze Age. You don’t have to embrace the term in order to notice that there was a creative, cultural, and consumer ascendance. The Bronze Age is a handy term for describing it.
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