Straczynski Interruptus

I'm starting with the conclusion this time. J Michael Straczynski is best read in the format of The Brave and The Bold. Here's why.

I read Squadron Supreme. It never ended. Oh, it came to a stop, but the story never ended. Now I've read the re-launch of Thor (both of these titles courtesy of Marvel, in case you live in a deep, dark hole). Seventeen issues, and what did I get? A concept that died aborning.

Now, I don't know who's responsible for Squadron Supreme just petering out. Could be Straczynski moved on to other things. Could be sales stank. Could be Marvel gave up on the idea. Truth be told, I don't really care. Sucks for the reader no matter how it came about.

Thor, though, is clearly an editorial decision by Marvel. In September 2007 (really, most likely July 2007) the first issue came out. Nearly two and a half years later and only 17 issues were done. Now that Straczynski is gone from the title, I sat down and re-read them. I've seen carping about the pacing of the story, but I think the pacing of the publication was more of a problem.

Initially, Thor and Donald Blake are in an unnamed void discussing whether to return to Earth, having set from of the cycle of destruction that culminated in Ragnarok. Blake does the convincing to return to Earth, which ends up with Asgard in Oklahoma. That alone was a really interesting touch. Sure, Mjolnir, in its stick form, seems to be found alongside a road by Blake, but that doesn't mean Asgard had to be brought there. It's unclear why Oklahoma. Still, it's a different setting and sets up the possibility of some interesting tales. In these first two issues some local Sooners are developed and Asgard re-created.

From there Thor sets out to bring back select members of the Asgardian pantheon. These various gods are spiritually sharing the bodies of humans around the world. Naturally, the first revived is Heimdal, but in the course of retrieving him, Thor neatly and thoroughly kicks Iron Man's ass. Now, I skipped all the Civil War crap, but this was clearly the tool of government in extremis version of Iron Man, someone Thor holds at least partially responsible for the death of Captain America.

After taking another issue to revive the Warriors Three, Thor is deceived by Loki, naturally, into broadly reviving all the Asgardians, not just the ones Thor wanted to have rebuild Asgard. This occurs after a battle with Destroyer, a mechanical foe animated somehow by Balder. I never could figure that part out. The nice trick coming out of this is what really sets the title in motion for the rest of its all too brief run.

In some unexplained way, Loki manages to thwart Sif's return to her own body, leaving her trapped in the body of an elderly terminal cancer patient. Instead, Loki takes Sif's body to use as his own, convincing Thor and the other Asgardians that his return in female form is unexplainable to him as well, but somehow externally representative of his change from being Loki the deceiver to being Loki the loyal subject of Asgard.

Of course, Loki is still Loki and his machinations here are the best part of Straczynski's work. Loki manipulates Thor and Balder alike, first forcing the revelation that Balder is actually a half brother of Thor and, hence, a prince of Asgard and not just another warrior. Loki further engineers a fight between Thor and his revived grandfather, Bor, which results in Thor killing Bor. Asgardian law dictates that Thor be banished from Asgard, resulting in Balder becoming ruler (Odin's dead from the beginning and not revived with the others, eternally fighting the demon Surtur instead).

Loki then maneuvers Balder into taking the Asgardians to live in Latveria, with the quesitonable diagnosis that the Asgardians are homesick for snow and mountains, as well as the freedom to gambol about untrammeled by American laws.

Along the way there are stories of Blake's rekindled relationship with Jane Foster, though it's rather tentatitive, what with her still being in NYC and him being largely in either Oklahoma or the ill defined other realm where he hangs out when Thor's the one present on Earth. More interesting is the development of a relationship between a storm goddess named Kelda and a young man named Bill who operates a diner in the Oklahoma town near where Asgard has taken root. Both characters are tabula rasa, so Straczynski has room to do what he wants with them, and it's a well developed relationship.

Toward the end of the run, though, odd things happen. Not odd things plotted into the story on purpose, but rather odd things that don't make sense in the internal logic of the story. Once the Asgardians are in Latveria, Loki not only decides to go back to his own body, but for some reason gives Thor a heads up on where Sif's spirit is and that she can be saved if she's returned to her own body before the old woman whose body she shares dies. It seems more like a plot expedient that brings in Dr Strange to repair Mjolnir, which was damaged when Thor killed Bor. The cure for Mjolnir results in a bonding between Thor and his hammer that means that if it's ever damaged so severely again, Thor too will die.

Oddest of all is in the teaser for the issue following the end of Straczynski's run. Kelda's love, Bill, is killed by minions of Loki after Bill discovers that Loki is procuring minor Asgardian gods for Dr Doom to vivisect so that he can pursue his own immortality. Bill reveals this information to Balder before dying, as well as helping Balder to slay the minions. Kelda vows revenge on Loki and is shown leaving the castle the Asgardians occupy in Latveria in a mist form. In the preview for the following issue she's shown confronting Doom, who simply grabs her by the throat and sticks his hand into her, apparently killing her. What? The woman can turn into a mist form. Kind of easy to escape some guy grabbing you by the throat.

Anyway, that's not Straczynski's fault. The main thing I get out of his run is disappointment. It's clear he was setting up a lot of good ideas and places to go with stories for many years to come (especially at his slow production schedule), but Marvel decided to take Thor back into the heart of the Marvel Universe. That's too bad. Simonson's run on Thor, which really brought the Norse mythology into the character in a way Marvel had not done previously, had a good long run. This should have been a similarly lengthy run, with lots of mythology based stories that occasionally touched on the greater Marvel Universe. Now it's going into the land of the base, pedestrian and uninspired. Certainly nothing worthy of the god of thunder nor the potential that Straczynski created.

Which takes me back to the conclusion. Straczynski is now writing The Brave and The Bold. With each issue often a self contained story, perhaps this is finally the format in which I can read a Straczynski story to its intended conclusion.

Kick Ass Trailer. Too Violent?

In case you haven’t heard, the latest trailer for the movie ‘Kick Ass’ has been released. You can see it here. I thought the trailer was excellent and expressed that to Jim. To say we had opposite reactions to the trailer would be an understatement. But it lead to an interesting discussion about acceptable levels of violence. I condensed the emails to this discussion:

Lee: HEY! Did you see the latest Kick Ass trailer? It makes me want to see the movie even more.
Jim: Wow that (trailer) is so wrong, I’m not sure I want to see it.

Lee: What's wrong with it? There's no blood.
Jim: A father pulling a gun and shooting it at his little girl, nope you’re right, nothing wrong with that. Something is over the line with me when it comes to shooting a little girl, who would have thunk it.

Lee: This is odd... you have a strange line. Aaron's version of Kingpin in ok but this isn't???? There wasn't any blood AND she was ok. 'Ceptin for a bruise or two.
Jim: The act of a father shooting his own daughter is disturbing to me. I understand the absurdity of it, but having two daughters makes it off putting. I agree that my line may not make sense, but one is father/daughter and the other is bad people vs bad people

Lee: With all the violence inherent in every other aspect of comics, I'm still surprised this bothers you. Maybe it’s because my girls aren't older yet but this doesn’t phase me. Didn't you find the fact that the girl was hacking people to pieces in the comic disturbing too?
Jim: The girl in the comic hacked up people based on what I heard, but I stopped getting the comic. Nothing to do with my girls being older, in fact I think it would be more bothersome if they are younger.

My question to people, and you: What would be over the line for you regarding violence in a comic book?
Lee: My violence line is defined by the book I'm reading. And I think books should have a target audience that limits the violence. For example, the latest Punisher Max is very over the top in the violence. I haven't read the latest version but I read Ennis's version and that didn't offend me. BUT, that was labeled as a Max title and I expected the violence. Now, as I've stated many times before, I was offended in the violence levels in The Flash when Johns wrote it. The Flash was/is targeted at teens or younger. It's a brand name character that the ordinary man/woman has a better than average chance of knowing. That kind of book shouldn't show people getting their throats slit... but it did.

Jim: My line comes down to the fact that we as a society have child pornography laws, but can we draw child porn? This book takes the violence down to a young girl and then shows a father shooting her and we are supposed think that is cool? How is that cool? How is that acceptable? Would you think your wife would think this is okay? What age do you think it would be okay to show that scene to your children - especially your daughters?
Lee: Ok, lots there.
(0) There is a difference between porn and violence. And, it's a huge difference. Let's not get into that.
(1) The violence in this case is acceptable because of several things >a<>b< The father & daughter obviously love each other and there's even a certain playfulness to the scene. That's what makes it ok.

There is no harm/threat to push the violence into unacceptable zones.If he were swearing at her, berating her, or even threatening her life then the entire scene, and situation changes. In this case, with the lack of harm it raises the question of why he's doing it, thereby making the movie interesting.
(2) My wife doesn't read comics so it's moot BUT she would probably never think it's cool. And to be fair, I doubt there are very many wives, or women in general, that would like the scene.
(3) I wouldn't show this book to my kids until they were mid-late teens. The book is over the top violent and I don't think it's age appropriate less than that. But, I believe the book was marked, and sold, as such.

Jim: I'm pretty liberal when it comes to entertainment, but there has to be lines that we should not cross and this is it for me. I think it is a form of child porn. Just my opinion, but it is a considered opinion and not just a knee jerk reaction.
Lee: I still think using child and porn in the same sentence gives it the wrong connotation. BUT, if you were to call it violence porn (like disaster porn movies) then I can see it. While I am still the more violence conservative of the two of us, in this case I think you're wrong. Context is everything. For another example, in the latest Werewolf by Night comic there was violence against a pregnant woman... I found that over the top because it was violent just for the sake of violent. This wasn't that bad.

Jim: The problem I have is it is still Dad shooting at the daughter. If he misses - he kills her. Pretty heady stuff. If the vest is not manufactured correctly he kills her. Blunt force trauma to the chest kills kids a far amount of times - it is a father shooting a daughter with the chance of killing her. Just does not sit right.

I use porn idea because I'm trying to equate when violence hits a certain point does it in fact become something which we (as a society) do not want to see portrayed.

I understand context as Punisher Max is ok and I'm even okay with the Johns level of violence. Kick Ass is rated mature - but does that mean anything goes? I say no, but I could argue that the answer is yes as these are just drawings and the market place will determine what is a success.

Lee: Ok. It’s fair to say we’re definitely disagreeing on this one. But, we can settle the argument in a sense. Let’s ask Gwen. She’ll provide a woman’s point of view which, I imagine, will be considerably different from ours.

After watching the trailer, Gwen: umm.... wtf? That makes my brain hurt - I just sat here stunned for a few moments before I could react. Nick Cage is a bit creepy there. And yet, part of me found it to be so over the top that it was funny - kind of goes a bit too far though. Definitely don't care to see the movie.

So, over the top but ok or just wrong? What do you think?

2009 The Year in Review Marvel Comics

The final part of my year in review is Marvel. I think Marvel comes last for me as a segment of the market it is the one I have the most problems with from a few standpoints. Number one I think that since I used to love the characters at Marvel the most as Marvel moves away from how I would like to see them handle them it is almost becomes a matter of resentment. I almost resent how they are handling characters I care about. I know that having that type of emotion tied up in characters is a little much, but I think it is part of it. Spider-Man is still dead to me due to the “One More Day” reboot and it will probably take a long time for me to want to go back to that book.

Another problem with Marvel is that since they do not have the legacy aspect like DC does we are stuck with the same characters forever playing the same roles. In DC we had the teen side kicks that grew up and many of the silver age revivals were updating of characters DC owned from the Golden Age. Marvel did some of that also, but they ignored the Golden Age for the most part, where DC embraced it. So we now have almost fifty years of the same Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Daredevil and X-Men. Very few new characters and new dynamic and right now to end Dark Reign they are setting us up for the reborn big three Avengers of Thor, Cap and Iron Man. Fifty years later and we are right back where we started from.

The real truth is if they can tell great stories with great art, I can live with the same old characters, but I miss seeing some advancement in the lives of these characters and miss seeing anything happen that will have a true consequence down the road. I know all the reasons behind it, but Marvel is more static then DC. Marvel performed a wonderful and market share grabbing illusion of changing the playing field the characters are in, without ever truly changing the characters. I think this is why Marvel is usually my least favorite and why the independent side of books and the reprints where things seemed to happen are becoming my favorite material. Of course no one expected fans to stay around for almost five decades, so I’m not their core audience. Julie Martin from Echo, Dara from the Sword, Mark Grayson from Invincible, Bigby Wolf from Fables actually change as time passes and their stories may end, it makes for a better read as a generality.

The Dark Reign dominated the main core of the Marvel Universe and this year it seemed that an editorial mandate was to drag almost everyone into the core universe and we saw the Punisher come back, Daredevil, Moon Knight, Captain America, Thor was slowly dragged into it and the X-Men were brought kicking and screaming into it. The few areas that remained outside of the DR were the Ultimate line, Max line and the cosmic side of things.

Where Marvel did shine was with Agents of Atlas and Incredible Hercules. I put these two titles together as both are 2009 best of the year books in my opinion. I know that we saw Agents of Atlas cancelled and Hercules is rumored to be canceled (at least the current title soon), but both books are fun and Agents survives just not as a regular series. Each tells a good story, has dramatic moments and still keeps the humor in the books. The characters are respected and are developed, yet it is always with a huge emphasis on keeping the book a little breezier. Hercules is the much lighter in tone of the two, but if you read a lot of Agents of Atlas you can see the irrelevance is all throughout the title.

Under the category of “you only miss them when they are gone” Brubaker ended his run on Daredevil. At times his pacing rivaled the previous writer (Brian Bendis) for mind numbing slowness, but overall the stories that he told were entertaining and very strong, The cast of Daredevil is as important as Daredevil himself and with Dakota, The Tarantula, Foggy, Milla and all the rest the book was a good read and will be a better read when read issues at a time. Diggle has started out okay on his tenure on the book, but it is too early to judge if he will continue the tradition of well told stories. Of course the new artist is very good, but Lark, Guardino and Hollingsworth are tough to match.

Staying with Brubaker his run on Captain America has really slowed down and from what I read I believe his plans for this book were derailed a lot and he was forced to do a lot of treading water. Then the god awful Captain America Reborn was put out and we are still awaiting the end of that story even though the ending has been pretty well put out there in the last few weeks with all the Steve Rogers as Captain America appearances. I have the feeling that Captain America dying was only suppose to last for about one arc after he was shot and then he was coming back in perhaps a less convoluted manner, but editorial came in and I think they wanted to milk the Death of Captain America and then decided he should be involved in this whole rebirth of the Avengers thing. It is a shame, if true at all, as Brubaker’s first 25 issues of Captain America made it a book I wanted to read again. Now it is living off the good will the book built up during that run. The other Brubaker project is Marvels Projects, which is a nice reworking of the origins of the Marvel Universe and a good capping off to the excellent 70th Anniversary work Marvel did with so many updating of their Golden Age titles.

Marvel also did the “Noir” line of books and except for the first Spider-Man one and the Wolverine series I never finished any of them. Not enough originality for the $4 entry price for a 22 page comic. The Ultimate Line came back and I now only get Ultimate Avengers and I could not even tell they did the big Ultimate cross over that changed the Ultimate world forever. Ultimatum was a non-event from what I am reading. It seems that Marvel’s Ultimate Universe has lost its way and there is no buzz on this material. The Ultimate Avengers is my action movie book as Millar writes a good adventure as long you don’t think about it. Eventually even with good art, Millar will probably do something so inane I will have to drop the title.

Another best book from Marvel was Thor by JMS. I have read some people saying how the new writer has done a seamless job since JMS left, but I would disagree as I thought JMS’ last issue wrapped up a lot of stuff quick and the new writer was hitting the reset button with a lot of the story elements also. Thor was a top selling title and I know JMS did not deliver scripts as fast as Marvel wanted, but they could have just used Thor in other books and left JMS’s Thor as its own thing.

Finally another favorite of 2009 is the War of Kings, which led to the Realm of Kings. DnA seem to be having the time of their lives with this stuff and basically are being left alone to do what they want. Since they write all of the books involved the mini-event has worked quite well and I think you could have just read War of Kings and been very content with only that story.

Even though Marvel is not my favorite for the most part they still produce some quality books, but they also produce a slew of add on crap and flood the market with it. For me I would like to see a little more focus on the individuals and less focus on the landscape they are playing in.

That ends my year in review and ends my active participation on the blog for the rest of 2009. I have some commentary upcoming and I may pop in on the twitter side of things, but for the most part I will see you all again in 2010.

Thanks for all the support as you can see by the cluster map on the sidebar we get a fair amount of traffic from all over the world. The internet is a wondrous thing.

DC Preview Review for February Part 3 of 3

NIGHT OWLS VOL.1 TP
Written by , Peter Timony
Art and cover by Bobby Timony
Advance-solicited • On sale March 24 • 192 pg FC, 8.375" x 6", $14.99 US
In 1920s New York City, Professor Ernest Baxter, an expert in all things arcane; Mindy Markus, a scrappy flapper; and Roscoe, a gargoyle from the Bronx, are The Night Owls. Together they solve crimes no one else can, specializing in the supernatural, in this first volume collecting the short stories that make up their webcomic adventures.

Jim: Webcomics rule. I think almost every publishing company (save Marvel) has published a webcomic collection.
Lee: And, Zuda has done some very, very good ones. This is very good stuff.
Gwen: Ooo. This looks pretty neat! I'm glad webcomics are getting more recognition as of late.


ABSOLUTE PLANETARY BOOK TWO HC
Written by Warren Ellis
Art and cover by John Cassaday
Advance-solicited • On sale July 7 • 384 pg, FC, $75 US
Snow, Jakita and the Drummer take on their nemeses the Four...then death itself! PLANETARY reaches its conclusion as the field team made a mad decision regarding an old friend. The Absolute Edition Book Two collects issues #13-27 of the stunning series.

Jim: It is the first citing of the Holy Grail. A buddy of mine claims this is the best comic series ever. It is in the top ten for sure and nice to see Vol 2 solicited even if it is for July 2010.
Lee: I’ll be getting the smaller hc version of this but I think I’m just glad the series is over. Maybe now, Ellis can work on Desolation Jones!
Gwen: Ah Planetary... took so long to come out. Really awesome and worth the wait though. Luckily I just read them in trade :)

AREA 10 HC
Written by Christos N. Gage
Art by Chris Samnee
Cover by Lee Bermejo
Advance-solicited • On sale April 7 • 184 pg, B&W, 5.5” x 8”, $19.99 US • MATURE READERS
“An exquisitely creepy crime story loaded with twists. Gage and Samnee make one hell of a team. Thanks to them I’ll forever be uncomfortable around power drills.” – Jason Aaron (SCALPED)
“A moody, compelling thriller superbly told. AREA 10 is a breakneck ride. Time after time, I thought I had it figured out, then got thrown at the next bend of the road.” – Mike Carey (THE UNWRITTEN)
In New York City, a killer known as “Henry The Eighth” leaves a trail of decapitated corpses — keeping the severed heads to use for unknown purposes. NYPD Detective Adam Kamen leads the investigation, until a seemingly unrelated freak incident leaves him with a brain injury in the section known as “Brodmann Area 10.” When he recovers, Adam’s perceptions of time are altered. He becomes slowly convinced that his bizarre condition could be tied directly to the “Henry” case — and that the key may lie in the ancient, mystical practice of trepanation.

Jim: I like both the writer and the artist so I was almost committed before the premise. The premise sounded cool enough and it is only $20. I say only $20 because the page count is 184 which is a decent bang for the buck and $20 for a small hardcover seems reasonable.
Lee: So far, these little crime hardcovers have been very hit-miss. Budget’s being what they are, I’m waiting for a review first.
Gwen: This looks intriguing. I agree with Jim about the creator team - it pretty much sells the book just knowing who the team is.

MYSTERIUS THE UNFATHOMABLE TP
Written by Jeff Parker
Art and cover by Tom Fowler
Advance-solicited On sale March 17 144 pg, FC, $17.99 US
Explore the unimaginable world of magic and adventure with an eccentric magician known as Mysterius the Great in this paperback collecting the acclaimed 6-issue miniseries. When a young reporter named Ella becomes Mysterius’ new assistant, their cases drag them into a world of magic, as well as a pocket dimension... and beyond.

Lee: Jim read the first issue and didn’t like it. I read the first issue and loved it. I’m getting the trade so I can read the whole story. The question for Jim, now that you love Parker’s work on Hulk and Agents of A-, are you willing to give this another try?????
Jim: Nope. I like Jeff Parker, but I have never liked everything any writer has done.
Gwen: I can't say I'm interested in this.


UNKNOWN SOLDIER VOL. 2: EASY KILL TP
Written by Joshua Dysart
Art by Alberto Ponticelli & Pat Masioni
Cover by Dave Johnson
Advance-solicited On sale March 17 200 pg, FC, $17.99 US MATURE READERS
In this second volume, collecting issues #7-14 of the acclaimed series, a militant group makes the Unknown Soldier an offer: To focus the world’s attention on Africa’s problems, kill American celebrity Margaret Wells on Ugandan soil.

Lee: After reading the first volume, I almost felt dirty because this was such an honest depiction of war in Africa. This is one of the best, if not the best, war comic on the stands these days. Honest, real, and incredibly brutal, it’s a fantastic read but not for the squemish.
Jim:I read the first arc and that was enough for me. It felt like a very real picture of what is going on in Africa, but I was not compelled enough to come back for more.
Gwen: I don't really like the war comic genre. At all.

BATMAN REBORN SERIES 1 ACTION FIGURES
In one of the most exciting, ongoing comics events in recent years, a cast of familiar characters assumes the mantle of the bat. And out of the events of BATMAN REBORN, a new generation of heroes rise!
Now don’t miss out on the action figures based on this award-winning, best-selling series, which includes both Azrael and Batgirl in their new costumes.
Includes:
Batman: Jason Todd 6.65” h
Batman: Two-Face 6.7” h
Azrael 6.75” h
Batgirl 5.75” h
4-color clamshell packaging.
Advance-solicited; on sale July 14, 2010 * Action Figures *

Jim: These should have been coming out with the Batman Battle for the Cowl series as the Jason Todd costume is already a thing of the past, the Batman Two Face was a hallucination by Dick Grayson, Batgirl was not even in the series and Azrael no one cares about. DC has gotten it right with Blackest Night and is releasing the action figures as the series is still ongoing.
Lee: Wheee more action figures I don’t care about. I’ve noticed that the local store has as many action figures on the wall as back issues in the bin. I wonder what that says about our hobby?
Gwen: What was the latest action count at your office Jim? 80?
Jim: More - closer to 100.

AME-COMI HEROINE SERIES: STEEL PVC FIGURE DESIGNED BY DUSTIN NGUYEN
SCULPTED BY JONATHAN MATTHEWS
There’s no messing with the newest heroine to join the AME-COMI series!
Between her high-tech, armored costume and her trademark hammer that can replicate the powers of Superman, Natasha Jasmine Irons, daughter of the original Steel, means business!
The limited-edition, non-articulated, approximately 8.25” high PVC statue comes with a base, is packaged in a 4-color window box with J-hook and is manufactured to order.
AME-COMI HEROINE SERIES: SUPERGIRL (V.2) PVC FIGURE
DESIGNED AND SCULPTED BY JONATHAN MATTHEWS
Kara Zor-El can’t resist smiling at herself when she finds this side-view mirror on the streets of Metropolis.
Sure to be just as popular as the sold-out, original Ame-Comi version of Superman’s cousin, Supergirl (V.2) is a non-articulated PVC statue, standing approximately 8.75” tall, including a base and packaged in a 4-color window box with J-hook.
Limited Edition. Manufactured to order.
Advance-solicited; on sale July 21, 2010 * Statue * $60 US

Jim: Steel got a sex change operation and was vamped up to make the cut for this line. It just cracks me up.
Lee: Yeah, yeah Steel's fun and all but Supergirl is where it’s at. Super short skirt, a wink and a nod and… OMG! Is that a video camera in her hand!!!! Yeah baby, nothing screams love like home movies!!!!
Jim: I think I feel bad because Supergirl recently came out and said she had sleep with Tiger Woods also.
Gwen: Tiger Wood's wife can probably take Supergirl.

Heroes of the DC Universe: BIZARRO BUST
DESIGNED BY GARY FRANK
SCULPTED BY JEAN ST. JEAN
Superman’s “imperfect duplicate” is the latest villain to infiltrate the HEROES OF THE DC UNIVERSE bust line!
Designed by New York Times best-selling artist Gary Frank, this bust features Kent Clark wearing his trademark “Bizarro #1” medallion while posed atop a base of his cube-shaped home planet, Htrae. The bust is hand-painted, cold-cast in porcelain, measures approximately 6” high x 5” wide x 3” deep and is packaged in a 4-color box.
Limited Edition. Manufactured to order.
Advance-solicited; on sale July 7, 2010 * Bust * $70 US

Jim: To be done correctly shouldn’t this be his ass sticking up from the base? He is opposite man after all. Me am no understand.
Lee: And this comment makes up for my stupid comment about Ame-Comi statues. We’re even.
Gwen: Who buys all of these figures? I can see having a handful of cool ones, but seriously? Bizzaro? Not for $70.

Jim: Two major hard covers were solicited this month, with one coming out in May and one in July, I want them NOW!
Lee: It’s not often that I add a bunch of books but Vertigo stepped it up this month so there’s a lot to look forward to.
Gwen: Haha, and I wondered where I got my need for instant gratification....

2009 The Year in Review Vertigo and Wildstorm

In some ways the Vertigo side of DC Comics has to be my favorite. Three of the top series are from Vertigo with a lot of other titles that are very good and the new line of OGN that have been coming out from Vertigo.

Scalped has to be one of the best all time series. It started out slow but has been building ever since. At this point it appears the proverbial crap is going to hit the fan as Dash’s identity as an undercover FBI agent who has infiltrated Red Crow’s organization is going to be exposed. But there is so much more to this story. Red Crow is the Chief of the reservation and the owner of the new casino. Dash has recently been strung out on heroin and been banging Red Crow’s drugged out daughter. Dash’s Mom (who was killed a few issues back) used to run with Red Crow when they were sort of Native America rebels fighting the US Government. It all got mixed up with a FBI agent who is now Dash’s boss. Of course Red Crow borrowed money from the Hmong’s for the casino and then got tired of their hit man screwing around in the reservation so Red Crow shot him and now the Hmong’s are after Red Crow. I told you a lot was going on. The raw emotions are what stay with you, one little scene where Dash has hit the wall and he is punching a car until the door is dented and his hands are bloodied was riveting. The fact is that this book seemed to be focused on Dash and slowly Red Crow has become the center of the book. No one is 100% a bad guy and no one is 100% good and the shades of gray run the gamut up and down the spectrum. This series is the seminal work of Jason Aaron’s young career and hopefully is a harbinger of future great works. The main artist on this book is RM Guera and his work is outstanding as he delivers the emotion and power of Jason’s story. As it was last year, it is again this year as one of the best series of the year.

Next up is Madame Xanadu from Vertigo and this is also one of my best series of 2009. Matt Wagner has crafted an excellent story and has been slowly telling us the origin of Madame Xanadu and then started to just flow right into her life once she hit the 1940’s. What has been another great element of the book is the way that Matt has refused to stay out of the DCU proper. She has run into the Phantom Stranger, the green lamp that would ultimately power Alan Scott, Sandman, The Spectre and John Jones (the Martian Manhunter’s human identity). I love that we have a Vertigo title that is in fact part and parcel and the regular DCU. This year we had a “fill-in artist” for five issues and the fill in artist was Michael (frigging) Kaluta. I mean this guy is a master artist and I loved his five issues, but Amy Reeder Hadley owns this title. Mike’s work was great but his style is very different from Amy’s and her work is the prettiest artwork in all of comics. I’m in love with Madame Xanadu as she is drop dead gorgeous when Amy draws her. Her style is so fluid and has such grace, but she knows how to design a page and tell a story at the same time. She also can do expressions and tell more with a character’s look that five paragraphs of exposition could ever tell us. With a writer who is also an artist it works perfectly as Matt Wagner knows when to let the pictures tell the story.

The third series which falls under the radar at times for me because it is not one long story is still one of the best series on the stands. Northlanders has been ignored by me at times because it can have one shots and story arcs of three or four or eight or whatever number of issues is right for the story. Each arc has a different artist, but they are all tied together as they are stories of the Viking People and are set in the 10th and 11th Century if memory serves. Brian Wood has been telling some great stories that give you a sense of the time and is based on historical facts, but focuses on the people of the time. As you come to know each character you hate to see an arc end. This year we got a one shot story following up on Sven from the first arc, a sort of ten years later type deal and with the original arc’s artist back. The current story line about the Plague Widow is a fascinating look at a culture trying to deal with a viral outbreak and is rather timely as we are still dealing with the Swine Flu in the world this year.

Okay so that is three best series from one tiny segment of the market and DC could make some big bucks off of me by publishing some hard cover collections of these books, but I may have to pick up the trades just to keep them on my own shelf.

Quickly coming up in the ranks is Sweet Tooth by Jeff Lemire. A decidedly different take on the post apocalyptic world story where our main hero is a clueless young man who appears to be part animal with his Antlers (at least he is a six point buck). Vertigo gives us Fables which while not blowing me away is still a solid entertaining title and had their first hard cover collection come out this year, which I bought. Cinderella has a mini-series going, House of Mystery is decent and Hellblazer continues to be a very good series. Add in some OGN and the crime OGN and you have a great mix and brand that has produced a lot of classics.

Since I’m covering all of the corners of DC Comics I would be remiss to not mention Wildstorm and the fact that Planetary finally got the last issue out and we have the second collection coming out in July 2010 (why so long I have no clue). One of the best all time series has finally concluded and I can’t wait to read it over the course of one week.

Wildstorm has had fits and starts and while I enjoy some of their books the WU has never been able to sustain any long term direction and is rebooted more often then Hawkman. One day they will get the right formula and take off from there. It is interesting as Wildstorm is still building up the way Dark Horse, IDW and Boom have with license deals for video game based comics. I’m curious to see what Wildstorm will do for 2010.

DC Preview Review For February Part 2 of 3

MILESTONE FOREVER #1
Written by Dwayne McDuffie
Art by John Paul Leon, MD Bright, Romeo Tanghal & others
Cover by Admira Wijaya
On sale February 3 • 1 of 2 • 48 pg, FC, $5.99 US
DC Comics and Milestone Media entered into an unprecedented creative partnership 16 years ago this month by producing 14 interlocking, creator-owned titles including HARDWARE, ICON, and the multimedia hit that would best be known as STATIC SHOCK. Now, nine Parents Choice Awards, four Eisner Award nominations, and one Emmy and Humanitas Award-winning hit TV series later, Milestone is back, its continuity mysteriously merged with the DCU. While we saw the DC side of the story in JUSTICE LEAGUE: WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, the 2-issue MILESTONE FOREVER gathers the original artists from Milestone’s launch titles – including John Paul Leon, Mark Bright, Chris Cross and Milestone founder Denys Cowan – to complete the tales told in the original runs of STATIC SHOCK, ICON, HARDWARE, SHADOW CABINET and BLOOD SYNDICATE. Milestone editor-in-chief Dwayne McDuffie reveals the final fate of each of Milestone’s launch characters in a bittersweet tale that chronicles the literal end of a universe and the birth of something new…with major consequences for the future of the DC Universe.

Jim: I’m real curious to see this after all the convoluted history with Dwayne and DC on this project. Will the Milestone heroes survive and become part of the DCU?
Lee: I hope the Milestone heroes survive, I just hope they don’t become part of the DCU. I thought they always worked better on their own. The problem becomes, do I want “untainted” heroes I very rarely see or do I want continuing adventures even if they are watered down in the DCU.
Gwen: I'm not too concerned with the Milestone Universe. You guys can let me know how good or bad it is and we'll see how intrigued I become.


BATMAN AND ROBIN DELUXE EDITION VOL. 1: BATMAN REBORN HC
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Frank Quitely, Philip Tan & Jonathan Glapion
Cover by Frank Quitely
Advance-solicited • On sale April 7 • 160 pg, FC, 7.0625" x 10.875", $24.99 US
Batman and Robin hit the streets with a bang in their new flying Batmobile to face an assemblage of villains called the Circus of Strange and investigate the abduction of a child by the mysterious Domino Killer. But can this new Dynamic Duo find a way to work together? Find out in this new Deluxe hardcover collecting the first six issues of the hit series!

Jim: DC is ticking me off, Marvel takes their big names and does an Omnibus is something collection giving us the entire run of a creator on a book. I’m not sure DC will do that so I feel forced to pick up these hard covers as they come out. If they ever do a better collection, Gwen will get these.
Lee: I’m really on the fence with this book. On one hand, I really want it and on the other I’m worried it so bogged in continuity that I won’t be able to read it. I miss the days where you occasionally got a stand alone story.
Gwen: Ah, my Dad, always trying to encourage me to like Grant Morrison more than I do. Seriously, I actually have enjoyed this run so far.

DC COMICS CLASSICS LIBRARY: THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA BY GEORGE PEREZ VOL. 2 HC
Written by Gerry Conway
Art by George Pérez, Gil Kane, Brian Bolland, Joe Kubert & others
Cover by George Pérez
Advance-solicited • On sale April 28 • 192 pg, FC, $39.99 US
The second half of the 1980s JLA stories illustrated by George Pérez is collected from JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #193-197 and 200. Also includes select covers by Pérez!

Jim: Lee said he read volume 1 and it did not hold up as well as he hoped, I still remember this as some decent JLA stuff so I will pick up volume 2.
Lee: Volume 1 was fine. And I mean fine as in acceptable. It was expensive for the number of issues and incomplete stories. But, the art was nice, if a little crude. Perez was not well served by his inkers. This one will be much better. I still have all the original issues in question so I know how good they are. A three issue battle-supremo with the Injustice League and issue 200 make it well worth the price.
Gwen: Actually this stuff looks like it could be fun to read over.


HARDWARE: THE MAN IN THE MACHINE TP
Written by Dwayne McDuffie
Art by Denys Cowan, J.J. Birch & others
Cover by Denys Cowan
Advance-solicited : On sale March 24 : 192 pg, FC, $19.99 US This first-ever HARDWARE collection, featuring HARDWARE #1-8, introduces inventor/engineer Curt Metcalf whose high tech armor enables him to break free of his corrupt employer, mob connected businessman Edwin Alva.

Lee: I recently reread the Icon trade and loved it. And, I remember Hardware being even better than Icon. This is an awesome Iron Man type super hero story with great writing and art. I’m really looking forward to this.
Jim: The Milestone books had a lot of great elements in them and the first few years were great.
Gwen: I have no idea what this is. Before my time perhaps? Either way, the armor as a super power stuff is always a hard sell for me.


SHOWCASE PRESENTS: WORLD’S FINEST VOL.3
Written by Edmond Hamilton & others
Art by Curt Swan & others
Cover by Curt Swan & George Klein
Advance-solicited • On sale March 17 • 496 pg, B&W, $17.99 US
Collecting WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #146-160, 162-164 and 171-173.

Jim: I have had enough of these phone book collections. Still if your collection is not overloaded with these books this is a good one. It has some great work from the Silver Age. Edmond Hamilton always wrote entertaining stories and Curt Swan was the George Perez of his era.
Lee: Wow, this proves I know nothing about DC silverage! Edmond who? DC had a stable of corny writers during this period and I’m sure these are unintentionally laugh out loud funny, but I have enough of the phone books too so I’ll pass.
Gwen: I don't know. I've been passing a lot of this stuff along to my boss's little brother and he seems to enjoy it.


WEDNESDAY COMICS HC
Advance-solicited • On sale MAY 26 • 200 pg, 11"x17.5", $49.99 US
This is it! The oversized, hardcover collection of DC’s 2009 weekly comics sensation that USA Today called "cool, classic-looking." Featuring composite cover art, the WEDNESDAY COMICS HC includes:
• ADAM STRANGE written and illustrated by Paul Pope
• BATMAN written by Brian Azzarello with art by Eduardo Risso including additional panel art on each page!
• METAMORPHO written by Neil Gaiman with art by Michael Allred
• DEADMAN written by Dave Bullock and Vinton Heuck with art by Dave Bullock
• THE DEMON AND CATWOMAN written by Walter Simonson with art by Brian Stelfreeze
• THE FLASH written by Karl Kerschl and Brenden Fletcher with art by Karl Kerschl
• GREEN LANTERN written by Kurt Busiek with art by Joe Quinones
• HAWKMAN written and illustrated by Kyle Baker
• KAMANDI written by Dave Gibbons with art by Ryan Sook
• THE METAL MEN written by Dan DiDio with art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez & Kevin Nowlan
• SGT. ROCK written by Adam Kubert with art by Joe Kubert
• SUPERGIRL written by Jimmy Palmiotti with art by Amanda Conner
• SUPERMAN written by John Arcudi with art by Lee Bermejo
• TEEN TITANS written by Eddie Berganza with art by Sean Galloway
• WONDER WOMAN written and illustrated by Ben Caldwell
Plus: Don’t miss previously unpublished pages — one starring The Creeper (written by Keith Giffen with art by Eric Canete) and one starring Plastic Man (written by Evan Dorkin with art by Stephen DeStefano)! And, as if that weren’t enough, this can’t-miss collection also includes a bonus sketchbook section and intro by series editor Mark Chiarello!

Jim: Yeah, they did this collection justice with the size of it. Boo as it will be an odd duck on a bookshelf. Still I’m very happy that DC got this collection out so soon. I hope they try the newspaper comics again one day.
Lee: I cannot wait for this. It should be awesome. I wonder if they’ll collect the stories together or leave as printed so you’ll have to skip pages to read the next installment.
Gwen: I know Jim is excited about this. This was certainly a fun idea from DC. I had fun with the format.


PART 3 Tomorrow

2009 The Year in Review The DCU

DC had a great year as Blackest Night has been lighting up the sales charts for DC with some astounding numbers. I would make the Blackest Night series one of the books of 2009. What Johns and Ivan Reis have done with this series is to make it feel like it was an organic event as opposed to a forced event that was being pushed for by the company. Infinite Crisis was a perfect example of editorial trying to mandate an event and then constantly putting its nose into the project and what happens is an event that never quite works out. I mean all you have to do is look at 52 that editorial basically let the writers alone and Countdown where editorial had a heavy hand in it and you see why the creators should be left alone.

Blackest Night has been building for awhile and DC was also smart to let the impact hit other major players in a separate mini-series so that Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman’s own stories would not have to be heavily impacted by Blackest Night and then any integration into their own books could be done naturally as opposed to just shoved down a writer’s throat.

This year also saw the end of Final Crisis where we had a book that was really about the New Gods, but it felt odd as we are all preprogrammed to think that something this big should impact the DCU. Now while Batman was “killed” by Darkseid, the actual mini-series had zero effect on the DCU at this point. I want to re-read Final Crisis in one sitting to see if it works better that way. I understand what Morrison was doing, but I thought it failed as an episodic comic.

When Morrison misses he misses, when he hits he hits it big (usually). Batman and Robin is a great series and one of my favorite books of 2009. Dick Grayson and Damien are the new Batman and Robin and when Bruce gets back I hope he is no longer Batman and becomes more of the mentor. The dynamic between Batman and Robin is fantastic and it really works having the happier Batman and the dangerously demented Robin. The battles with Professor Pyg, The Red Hood and the Flamingo have all been wonderful issues.

In fact DC did a good job with the entire revamp of the Batman line up. Personally I think Gotham Sirens will be a failure and Birds of Prey was a better book, but Batgirl, Red Robin, Streets of Gotham and Detective Comics have all been well done. In fact only the actual Batman book itself seems to have issues. Detective Comics has been spectacular with Greg Rucka writing and JH William III on art giving us our first extended look at the new Batwoman.

Power Girl was a great surprise from DC this year. Amanda Connor, who at first I was hesitant about her art style on the book but now love, has given us a great book with tons of expressive and humorous pictures. The writers have keep the book light hearted, but not made it into a kiddie book. Too many comics are still the grim and gritty material and too few have the old time lighter feel to them. This book keeps it light with strong modern writing and great art. Power Girl is busting out on her own this year and another winner from DC.

Two other series I enjoyed this year from DC are The Mighty and Rebels. The Mighty is one of those creator owned books published under the DCU banner and never get much attention (see Simon Dark). Both have been great concepts and may have fared better under the Vertigo banner. Rebels has been a delight and a joy for me as it has picked up on all the old LEGION and REBELS stuff from before. Tony Bedard seems to have a good long term story to tell and I hope this series last long enough that we will get to see the entire thing.

To switch gears let’s look at some of the things that have gone the wrong way for DC. Except for Superman Secret Origins, the entire Superman franchise is a mess. I know in 2010 we are building to a Superman event, but right now all of the Superman titles feel like the sub plots and not an actual main plotline. A year of little things happening and character building has burden and slowed down the titles Superman, Action, Superman World of New Krypton and Supergirl. All the books have all been treading water. Here and there we have gotten a decent issue, but all in all the sub plots need to be just that and a strong main story also needs to be told. Wonder Woman has been pretty tough this year also. Gail Simone is a great writer normally but the multiple story lines going on and the gorillas as her sidekicks and all the other elements seem disparate and never comes together for me. There are elements of a great story, but it never pulls together or works. Maybe it reads better as a trade.

Two other series that seem to have a level of importance for DC but are missing the mark a little are Justice League Cry for Justice and Flash Rebirth. I think both series are okay, but I think both series are serving the wrong master. What I mean by that are both series are setting up things and laying the groundwork for stuff to come, when they need to remember to be a good story first and foremost. It is okay to be laying groundwork for future events, but you have to tell a good dynamic story first.

We also got a hint of the First Wave coming out in 2010 with the Batman/Doc Savage special. This series looks great as we have a world that is both the 21st Century and 1930’s mashed together. Bruce Wayne is a rookie hero and a little bit of a hot head, Doc Savage is the cool and calm perfection of humanity that Bruce is maybe aspiring to be. We have the promise of Black Canary and other non-powered heroes showing up in this new world.

Last and far from least was Wednesday Comics. I will eternally love DC for giving us this weekly series. I have to think that there was no way anyone had a clue how well this would go over as you have to be a Sunday funnies fan of single page strips (like Prince Valiant) as well as a super hero fan. They gathered a wide array of talent and let them each tell us a twelve part story using the large single page of a newspaper size to tell their stories. There were great successes and some misses, but all in all it was glorious and well worth the money. Heck I got four copies every week and gave all four away to share the joy.

Finally we got back up features in a few DC comics and I like the idea, but not sure I like the extra buck I have to pay for them. Plus I would prefer it if the back up takes the front of the book every fourth issue or so. Not sure where the back up feature is going as Marvel has basically said screw it and charging everyone $4 whenever they feel like it.

Next up is Vertigo and Wildstorm as the year in review continues.