The Owl #1 (Project Superpowers)

As you may remember from my previous post on the character's Silver Age incarnation, the Owl was secretly Nick Terry, a police detective who felt constrained in his efforts to mete out justice by that silly little thing called the law and thus decided that the solution was to put on a ridiculous costume and go beat up crooks on his own time.  Given that motivation for becoming a super-hero, I suppose that it was only a matter of time before someone targeted the character for a grim and gritty Modern Age revamp as an emotionally tortured urban vigilante complete with dead sidekick.  That time has come as of this past July, courtesy of writer J.T. Krul and artist Heubert Khan Michael, with Dynamite's release of The Owl #1, the first issue of a mini-series set in the publisher's Project Superpowers universe.
This is my first visit to this particular super-hero universe.  Fortunately, this first issue provides all the background necessary to understand the events of this series.  It seems that back in the 1940's, the Owl and a whole slew of other obscure Golden Age heroes who'd lapsed into the public domain were imprisoned in a magic urn by one of their own and only recently released to face the brave new world of the 21st century.  His six decades in the limbo of the urn appear to have granted Terry actual super powers, at the very least the ability to fly.
In the premiere issue, Krul follows the Dark Knight Returns template fairly faithfully.  There's the dystopic urban landscape populated by a new breed of criminals who are so much more ruthless than the ones our hero remembers from back in the day, the first person narrative captions, and, of course, that dead sidekick.  The story consists of the Owl recapping his backstory for us, flying around beating up crooks while reflecting on how much more ruthless they are now than the ones he knew from back in the day, remembering his dead sidekick, flying around beating up more criminals, attempting to rejoin the police force but being told they have no budget to hire new detectives, flying around beating up still more criminals, and ultimately encountering a mysterious female vigilante who appears to be his dead sidekick Owl Girl.  She even turns when he calls her by the dead sidekick's name.  However, this can't be the original Owl Girl because she's, you know, dead.   I assume that the mystery of this new Owl Girl's identity and connection to the original form the basis for the remainder of the story in ensuing issues.
I could say that this is the best thing I've yet read by J.T. Krul.  I could, but I won't.   "Best" is too strong a word.  Its not really that good.  Hell, in fact, to be brutally brutal, the story, such as it is, is naught but a by the numbers recycling of the most worn out cliches of the grim and gritty school of comics writing, lacking even the tiniest spark of originality or anything resembling actual creativity.  However, it is the first comic written by Krul that hasn't left me angry and utterly disgusted, which is the reaction engendered by his butchering of Green Arrow a couple of years back.  I'll admit that that is probably because I have, prior to last week, no history with or special affection for this character as I do with Green Arrow.  Nonetheless, I suppose I can concede that this is Krul's least awful comic so far in my experience.
So, to conclude, while The Owl #1 may not quite be the abysmal abomination that I envisaged upon learning that J.T. Krul was attached to the project, it is by no means worth the four dollars and twenty-seven cents, tax included, that I ponied up to the little bald guy manning the cash register at the Laughing Ogre comics shop yesterday afternoon.  I can by no means recommend that you waste hard earned cash and precious moments of your life on this comic.

Grant Morrison's Action Comics Overview

What had been perhaps the most anticipated run of the New 52 prior to the launch of the rebooted DCU a year and a half ago, Grant Morrison's take on Superman's early years in Action Comics, has come to a slightly delayed end with the release last week of Action #18 featuring the Man of Steel's climactic showdown with 5th Dimensional menace Lord Vyndktvx and his Anti-Superman Army.
In the beginning, Morrison's story line was being promoted as a return to Superman's roots, telling tales of a Kal-El far less powerful than he would eventually become acting as a defender of the common man.  The first issue started out that way, but that direction didn't last long.  The seeds of what was to come were planted in the very first panel with the appearance of "the little man," who would eventually be revealed as Vyndktvx.  Then things got cosmic pretty quickly as Brainiac showed up at the end of the second issue. Following the defeat of Brainiac and Superman's discovery of his Kryptonian heritage, things start to get truly weird and Morrisonian, as the story of Lord Vyndktvx's revenge moved to the fore.  At first, the villain only made cameo appearances in what appeared at first to be a series of stand alone one or two issue stories.  With #14, though, his plot against the Last Son of Krypton swung into full force. 
This is definitely a story that reads better when taken in all at once rather than in monthly installments.  Reading the last few months worth of issues as they came out, I really couldn't make heads or tails of them.  However, when read straight through, the pieces of the puzzle fit together neatly to form a surprisingly straightforward tale of vengeance, albeit one played out across all of time and space and through various alternate dimensions and planes of existence.  Despite taking an extra issue to wrap things up, the ending still in spots comes off a little rushed and disjointed, but that's actually pretty typical of Morrison's epic super-hero sagas.  Despite its flaws, the final chapter was a fittingly grand conclusion to Grant's run.
It does seem to a certain extant that Grant is having his cake and eating it too with this story.  While it reintroduces a new Superman for the New 52 continuity, it simultaneously draws on the past history of the character.  Certainly a working knowledge of Superman's past encounters with Mr. Mxyzptlk helps in order to get the full impact of the tale.
On the whole, Grant Morrison has crafted in these nineteen issues a Superman story in the classic mode, pitting the Man of Steel against a foe truly worthy of his might and once again reinforcing his stature as the world's greatest hero.  If the run failed to live up to some people's expectations, I would say that is likely due more to the fact that,  spurred on by Morrison's earlier All-Star Superman, those expectations were almost impossibly high, rather than any deficiencies of Morrison's story itself.

Constantine #1 Reviewed

Close, but no cigar. 

There is a cigarette, though. I was afraid DC would have bowed to the current social climate to make John Constantine a teetotaling nonsmoker.  This isn't quite John Constantine, however.  At least not the same Constantine created by Alan Moore and developed by Jamie Delano, Garth Ennis, and their successors in the pages of Swamp Thing and Hellblazer.   There are similarities, but in the end the discrepancies are too much for this old Hellblazer reader.

Jeff Lemire doesn't get the character's voice quite right.  In both accent and attitude, John Constantine came to represent, to me at least, the quintessential Britisher.  The Constantine in this issue sounds to me more like an American who has overdosed on British sitcoms.  The fact that this new Constantine lives in New York City adds to that perception.  The city of London was as much a part of the Vertigo incarnation of Constantine as he was part of the city.  

This character seems a little more coldblooded than the original as well.  To be sure, John Constantine has had to sacrifice his friends and companions to save his own ass, but never, it seemed to me, as casually as he abandons Chris to Sargon the Sorceress in this issue.

I don't like that cover either.  It looks like it comes from the wrong Keanu Reaves movie.  Its more Matrix than Constantine, at least the Constantine of the Vertigo comics (to be honest, I've not seen the film).   I prefer the variant cover showing Constantine leaning against his own headstone surrounded by grasping, undead hands.  This is more in line with the character as I knew him. However, the Laughing Ogre wanted fifteen dollars for their sole copy of that edition, so I settled for the action hero version.

The story concerns the efforts of Constantine and his soon to be late friend Chris to locate the components of a magical artifact capable of detecting other magical artifacts or magic users before a secretive cult known as the Cold Flame gets to it.  Its not a bad story, over all, but not quite compelling enough to win me over given my problems with this new pseudo-John Constantine.  I most likely won't be continuing with this series beyond this issue.
However, if you're looking for a well done if fairly standard magic tinged super-hero adventure comic, then I actually would recommend Constantine #1.  But if you really want to read about John Constantine, then I would direct you to the back issue bins and trade paperback racks.
By the way, if you read the preview of this story that appeared in the New 52 comics a couple of weeks back, you'll notice if you read the same pages in this issue that there have been some changes in the artwork and narration between then and now.  Old Phantom Stranger foe Tannarak has been substituted for Dr. Occult as one of the founders of the Cult of the Cold Flame.  My guess is that some other writer or editor at DC had plans for Dr. Occult and didn't want him off-handedly declared dead in a caption.

GREEN ARROW #18 Reviewed

Have you ever enjoyed an issue of a comic so much that you couldn't wait to read the next issue, but because you liked the comic so much your expectations for the next issue were so impossibly high that nothing could possibly meet them, so the next issue, no matter how good it turns out to be, turns out to be something of a disappointment?

That was my initial response to the second half of  Alan Moore's farewell to the pre-Crisis On Infinite Earths Superman,"Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?", in Action Comics #583.  That, however, is quite possibly a subject for an entirely different post. 

We are hear today to talk about Green Arrow.

While the above outlined scenario could still occur next month, as of #18, "The Kill Machine", new writer Jeff Lemire's debut storyline, has only gotten better.  In my review of the previous issue I was already ready to place this story on a pedestal alongside "The Longbow Hunters" in the pantheon of great Green Arrow stories, and second installment only serves to confirm that opinion.

After losing his company, his fortune and most of his trick arrows and other equipment, our hero is wanted for murder and on the run from the law in both his Oliver Queen and Green Arrow identities.  New characters are introduced, older characters are violently dispatched, and the mysteries surrounding the secrets of Ollie's father and the time Ollie spent stranded on an island learning to use a bow and arrow and their connection to his current woes continue to deepen.  The action and intrigue move forward at a brisk pace and the issue ends with a mid-air cliffhanger.  We know  Ollie is going to survive, but I can't wait to see how. 

Furthermore, Lemire takes further steps toward making Oliver Queen a mature, interesting and likable character again.

I haven't mentioned the art yet, either here or in my last review, and that is a grievous over site. Andrea Sorrentino's dark, moody drawings wonderfully capture the tone of Lemire's script.

The first two chapters of "The Kill Machine" are a great start to Lemire's re-revamping of Green Arrow, and I'm definitely looking forward to reading more. 

Not With A Bang...Hellblazer: "Death and Cigarettes" Reviewed

Prior to coming back to check out the final story line, it had been ten years since I'd bought an issue of Hellblazer.  Exactly ten years, as a matter of fact.  Excluding the final three issues, the most recent issue of Hellblazer in my possession is #180, cover dated March, 2003.  Thus, on my return to the world of John Constantine's London, I was struck right away at how much had changed in the time I'd been gone.  Several new and unfamiliar characters now populated the story.  The most notable of these was Epiphany, John Constantine's wife.
It seems kind of strange to find Constantine married, though its certainly not out of character.  He's had long term romances before, perhaps the most important being Kit during the Garth Ennis era, but they always seemed to end badly.  So it was a bit surprising to see him in  a somewhat stable and happy relationship.
Another one of the "new" characters, Angie Spatchcock, actually debuted during one of those last Mike Carey  written issues that I purchased a decade ago.  However, I'd completely forgotten that fact until I re-read those issues a couple of days ago.  She was a minor character in those issue,  but she seems to have become a major player in the series since that time and turns out to be critical to the conclusion of the series.
On the other hand, I also noticed how much hadn't changed.  John's old pal Chas was still hanging around, and Constantine himself was pretty much the same character as he had been since his days as a supporting player in Swamp Thing.  He may be somewhat older, but not a whole lot wiser.
Speaking of which, I had wondered if the series had continued to progress in "real time" as it had in the early years when John marked his 35th birthday in an early issue and turned 40 five years later in the first issue under the Vertigo imprint.  Sure enough, in the first part of the current storyline, he refers to having lived some "sixty odd years," which is about how old he should be.
Given that, the series couldn't have gone on forever.  Despite his efforts, including those in this story, to cheat death, Constantine is mortal.  Thus I suppose the 300th issue was as good a time as any to bring the series to a conclusion.
"Death and Cigarettes" begins as John has seen signs and portents telling him that he's going to die soon.  Thus, he makes plans to cheat the Fates and return from the dead, while others, including the aforementioned Fates, conspire to make sure he remains deceased.
The story unfolds as a pretty typical Hellblazer story, with John making his plans and scheming his schemes in an attempt to avoid the inevitable.  I enjoyed the story for the most part, but was ultimately somewhat disappointed by the final issue.
One thing that disappointed me is that there wasn't much of a farewell.  I was expecting, or at least hoping for, a text page containing some sort of message from the editor or writer Peter Milligan looking back on the history of the series and acknowledging its place in the history of comics, and the Vertigo line particularly, while thanking the past creators for their efforts and the readers for supporting the series for the past quarter century.  The closest thing we get to that is the final panel,  which works the names of everyone who has worked on the series into the artwork as writing on the labels of bottles in a pub.  It is, for this series, a somewhat fitting way of acknowledging these talented individuals, but I was hoping for more.
As for the story itself, my big problem is with the ending.  I'm not going to spoil it for you.  I don't really think I can.  After all, despite having read it twice now, I'm still not really sure what the hell happened.  The resolution of the storyline hinges on a story element introduced sometime during that decade that I wasn't reading the book.  Therefore, I'm confused as to where John ended up in the end.  Is it the afterlife...or is it Liverpool?  I can't say for sure.
Although, notwithstanding the confusing ending, I mostly enjoyed the story, ultimately it was a rather unsatisfying conclusion to twenty five years of Hellblazer.

Vibe? Really? What's Next?

One comic that came out last week that I didn't buy, nor have any intention of buying or reading, is Justice League of America's Vibe, the JLA prefix having been added, or so I've read, to forestall action legal action from Vibe magazine.  I have, to my surprise, read several positive, if not exactly glowing, reviews of the debut issue.  However, what really puzzles me is why DC would want to revive one of the least loved characters it has ever published.  

My theory is that it all began with a drunken bet between Dan DiDio and Geoff Johns.  After downing a few too many, Johns began boasting: "Look what I did with Green Lantern.  And Aquaman.  Aqua-freakin'-Man, f'Chrissakes.  I'm a freakin' comics god.  I can take any lame character and make it a freakin' bestseller.  G'wan! Gimme a character."

DiDio thinks for a few seconds, then says, "OK.  How about Vibe?"

"Who?"

"You know.  Vibe.  From back when Conway f***ed up the JLA." 

"Oh. Right. Vibe.  Are you freakin' serious?"

"Hey, man, you said any character."

"OK, then.  Vibe. Look out, 'cause I'm gonna make him a freakin' star."  At which point, Johns falls off his barstool and passes out.

Now that's all speculation, of course.  What is true is that with the revamping of Vibe and the resurrection a few years ago of Jason Todd, DC has brought back two of the most reviled characters of the 1980's.  This leads me to wonder who could be next--Danny Chase, perhaps?

 

Yes, I said Danny Chase.

I was recently reading through the letters columns of some old issues of The New Titans (I read the stories as well, of course, and may be writing about them later), and it seems that absolutely no one liked the little brat.  The only half-hearted defense of the character that I read expressed no great love for him, but simply excused his obnoxiousness as a realistic portrayal of the behavior of thirteen year old boys.   Having been a thirteen year old boy, I can vouch for that.  Oh, I, of course, was a perfect angel, but all my peers were jerks.

Anyway, given DC's the lack of new ideas in most of DC's comics these days, it probably is only a matter of time 'til we see old Danny again.

Before Watchmen: Dollar Bill Reviewed

Well, as I predicted in my previous post on the subject, Before Watchmen: Dollar Bill DOESN'T suck.  It isn't brilliant, or groundbreaking, or anywhere near as good as Watchmen, but it doesn't suck.  What it does is provide a few moments of mild, if inconsequential, entertainment with an ocassionally clever script by Len Wein and typically lovely art from Steve Rude.  Hardly a ringing endorsement, to be sure, but overall Dollar Bill is a pretty good comic.

"There was Dollar Bill, originally a star college athlete from Kansas who was actually employed as an in-house super-hero by one of the major national banks, when they realized that the masked man fad made being able to brag about having a hero of your own to protect your customer's money was a very interesting publicity prospect.  Dollar Bill was one of the nicest and most straightforward men I have ever met, and the fact that he died so tragically young is something that still upsets me whenever I think about it.  While attempting to stop a raid upon one of his employer's banks, his cloak became entangled in the bank's revolving door and he was shot dead at point blank range before he could free it.  Designers employed by the bank had designed his costume for maximum publicity appeal.  If he'd designed it himself he might have left out that damned cloak and still be alive today."

 That one paragraph, from the faux-memoir of first Nite Owl Hollis Mason, "Under The Hood", which comprises the text section at the end of Chapter II of Watchmen, is the extent of the characterization or background that Alan Moore gives us for Dollar Bill, leaving quite a bit of leeway for Wein to fill in the details.  Wein begins by giving the character something Moore neglected to--a real name.  We are introduced to Bill Brady, an exceptional high school athlete who gains a football scholarship from Dartmouth, leading to eventual fame, as well as hot prospects for an eventual pro career.  All that is ended when he is injured during a game.  Bill barely graduates and finds himself living in New York with no job and no prospects until he decides to cash in on his good looks and become an actor.  When that doesn't pan out, he answers an ad placed by National Bank.  He discovers that the job would require him to play the part of National's resident protector.  His bosses eventually direct him to join the Minutemen for the publicity.  Through his interaction with his fello masked adventurers, Bill eventually comes to be the hero he was at first only playacting as.  Then, inevitably, comes his fateful encounter with that revolving door...
Wein deserves credit for not attempting to emulate the style of storytelling Moore used in Watchmen.  In fact, he makes a couple of storytelling choices that I find somewhat daring, at least for a Watchmen prequel.   The first is the lighthearted, even comedic at times, tone that he gives the story.  He invokes the old "Dewey, Cheatem and Howe" routine familiar to Car Talk listeners and Three Stooges fans and includes a scene reminiscent of those old Legion of Super-Heroes tryouts, featuring a dozen or so lame wannabe heroes, when Bill shows up to join the Minutemen.  There's nothing laugh out loud hilarious here, but there are bits that do raise a smile or a light chuckle.  That's certainly more than you get from Watchmen.  For all its virtues, and they are myriad, there just aren't a lot of yuks in Moore's graphic novel.
Even odder is Wein's choice to have Bill narrate the story in the first person from beyond the grave, which brings a sort of whimsical fantasy tone to the story that Watchmen also lacks.
Both of these choices work, however, allowing the story to stand alone, on its own merits, apart from the work that inspired it.  They also give the book a distinctly Bronze Age feel, which, I suppose, given that it was written by Len Wein, one of the writers whose work defined the Bronze Age, isn't at all surprising.
All in all, Dollar Bill is a pleasant little super-hero comic that in no way denigrates or descecrates Alan Moore's beloved and revered classic.  Given how doomed from the start the whole Before Watchmen project initially seemed, I suppose that's something of an achievement in and of itself.

Earth 2 and Green Arrow Reviews

As promised in an earlier post, on my trip to the comic shop this past Wednesday, I picked up copies of Green Arrow #17 and Earth 2 #9 and now sit before my keyboard in order to share with you my thoughts upon them.

One thing that you get from reading monthly comics that you don't get from waiting for the inevitable trade paperback collection is the thrill of anticipation that you get when you come to the last page of a really good issue and can't wait to know what happens next.  Earth 2 has, more often than not, been providing that sensation throughout its run.  The pleasant surprise for me this week was to find myself looking forward to a new Green Arrow comic for the first time in about a decade.

As advertised, the latest issue of Earth 2 introduces the new Dr. Fate, although he apparently has not yet adopted that name.  He is not, as I sort of expected, Kent Nelson, the alter ego of the Golden Age (and pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths Earth-Two) Fate, but a young man named Khalid Ben-Hassin.  Since the story of Dr. Fate has always been rooted in a sort of pseudo-Egyptian mythology, it certainly makes sense to have the new Fate be, I presume, Egyptian.  Although I assume that the name Kent Nelson, either as a separate character or perhaps as a pseudonym for Khalid, will pop up eventually.

Anyway, we first meet him at his home when Hawkgirl pops in for a visit and it is revealed that they both received their powers at the same time.  Again, not all that surprising, as the Golden Age Hawkman was a reincarnated Egyptian prince, thus linking the  two origins now makes perfect sense.  Hawkgirl persuades Khalid to teleport over to Michigan and keep an eye on Jay Garrick, the Flash, as he goes home to visit his mother.  Needless to say, chaos ensues as Atom Smasher and Wesley Dodds and his Sandmen show up to apprehend Jay.   With Khalid's help, Jay and his mom escape, but they're really jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire as they find themselves confronted by an even greater menace.  

As I said, I am definitely looking forward to seeing how this story plays out over the coming months.

As for Green Arrow #17, I can boil down my review to just one sentence:  This is the best issue of any Green Arrow series that I've read since Mike Grell left the character's first ongoing series.  

Yes, I enjoyed the Kevin Smith written issues, but I think that your enjoyment of those really depends on how much you like Kevin Smith.   Jeff Lemire has crafted a story that can be enjoyed by any fan of the character, weaving together echoes of the character's pre-Flashpoint continuity with plot points from the Arrow TV series while taking the story in an exciting new direction.  

I picked up this issue with expectations so low as to be nonexistent, but found myself really liking it. If Lemire can sustain the level of quality storytelling on display in this issue, I won't be surprised in the future to see "The Kill Machine" ranked alongside The Longbow Hunters as one of the great Green Arrow stories.

Superman #13 Reviewed (With Accompanying Rant)

DC's PR department certainly earned its pay last week, as they managed to generate a fair amount of unwarranted hype over Clark Kent's leaving the employ of the Daily Planet in Superman #13.

Tuesday must have been what we in the journalism biz call a "slow news day".  (Not to be confused with Andi Watson's charming graphic novel Slow News Day, which I highly recommend, by the way.)  How else would you explain ostensibly serious news outlets such as NPR and the BBC devoting any airtime at all to a relatively minor plot point in a comic book?

It's hardly that big a deal, after all.  This isn't the first time Clark's left the Planet.  He spent most of the 70's and the first half of the 80's working in TV as the anchor of the WGBS Evening News, and in the mid-90's he briefly left his newspaper job to become an editor at newsmagazine Newstime.  Besides, this dramatic  development will probably be undone by the next writer anyway, and, judging from the turnover on this book so far in its New 52 incarnation, that next writer will be along in about three or four months. 

However, all cynicism aside, the publicity was sufficient to induce me to purchase a copy of the issue just to see if the actual story, if there was one, was actually worth reading.  

Truthfully, there really isn't much of a story here.  The meat of the issue is your basic Superman versus giant alien monster story.  I've never been a huge fan of Scott Lobdell, the Superman writer of the moment.  His stories aren't bad, but neither are they all that especially good, either.  This issue is squarely in that area.  It's an entertaining, but not that impressive or especially memorable, few minutes read.  That's  pretty much what I've come to expect from Superman stories, and this issue delivers.

To me, the most interesting aspect of this issue is the confirmation that the  ridiculously powerful Superman of the late Silver and Bronze Ages who could push planets around with his pinky is officially back.  The issue opens with the Man of Steel in some sort of secret underground research facility attempting to discover the upper limit of his super-strength and being told, essentially, that there isn't one.  Further, Lobdell goes so far in this issue as to introduce a new super-power, or rather, perhaps more accurately, a heretofore unseen application of one his long time powers.  Apparently, his super-hearing is able to act like sonar to form an image in his head of distant objects.  

Also back in the New 52 is the proliferation of survivors of Krypton.  This issue features a guest appearance by Supergirl and (obligatory but half-hearted SPOILER WARNING) the aforementioned giant alien monster turns out to be of Kryptonian origin.  This issue also serves as a prelude to an upcoming crossover in all the Superman related titles, except for Action Comics, which takes place five years in the past, called "H'El on Earth," which seems like it will introduce yet another Kryptonian refugee who, from all indications I've seen, looks like he'll turn out to be related to Kal-El in some way.   I'm not sufficiently impressed with this issue, however, to follow the story any further to get the full details.  

Meanwhile, over in Action, Grant Morrison reintroduced the Bottle City of Kandor some months ago and in the latest issue he brings back both the Phantom Zone and Krypto.   Honestly, as my all time favorite Superman stories are from the Bronze Age, especially, as I've stated one or two times  before, Martin Pasko's run on Superman in the mid-70's, these are not, to me, totally unwelcome developments.

Going back to Clark's decision to quit his day job, it seems to me that Kent's actually got a valid point in his condemnation of the state of modern mainstream news coverage in which he laments that news has been totally supplanted by entertainment.   The last time I watched one of the three original broadcast network's evening newscast, I found it as devoid of anything resembling actual news as Monty Python's cheese shop was uncontaminated by cheese.  I tuned into the NBC Nightly News the night before the Olympics began to find that the broadcast was less a newscast than an extended promo for the network's upcoming coverage of the Games.   Later that evening, starved for some real information, I checked out BBC World News America on one of the digital sub-channels of the local PBS station.  There was, as you might expect since the Olympics were held in London this year and the first B in BBC does stand for "British", a fair amount of Olympic boosterism, but it didn't dominate the half hour.  They actually found some time to report on events of actual significance.  

Thankfully, there are still a few outlets, such as the BBC, NPR and PBS, that still believe in actually delivering real news, even if they do ocassionally give into the impulse to report on a fictional character leaving his fictional job at a fictional newspaper as if it actually mattered to anyone besides me and my fellow middle-aged fanboys.

Before Watchmen: Minutemen #1 Reviewed

We all agree that the very existence of the entire "Before Watchmen" project is a slap in the face to poor, mistreated Alan Moore and a heretical desecration of one of the sacred texts of comics literature, am I right?

So, does the fact that I actually enjoyed the first issue of Before Watchmen: Minutemen make me a horrible person?

Hell, that surprises even me, especially after I just got done dismissing the Casablanca prequel/sequel As Time Goes By as unnecessary and unimaginative, two charges that have been leveled against this very comic.  However, about midway through reading Minutemen I found myself appreciating the issue on its own merits, something that I was never able to do with As Time Goes By.  
Of course, it is impossible to forget or ignore this comic's connection to Watchmen.  Darwyn Cooke is no Alan Moore.  The good news is that he isn't trying to be.  He is, however, one of the best storytellers working in comics today and here he tells a well written and drawn retro super hero story about a group of masked adventurers in the 1940's.  On those terms, the comic is a success.
The opening issue introduces the large cast through the reminiscences of the newly retired Hollis Mason, the former Nite Owl.  Through Mason, Cooke gives us a quick sketch of each character without simply regurgitating what Moore wrote in Watchmen. 
There's not really much in the way of an actual story, however, at least not until the last couple of pages, which set things up for next issue, when, I presume, the Minutemen will actually come together as a team.
I still have no intention of reading any of the other "Before Watchmen" mini-series.  It was only Darwyn Cooke's involvement with Minutemen that drove me to sample this one.  Therefore, I haven't even bothered to read the "Tales of the Crimson Corsair" back-up story, as it runs through all the books and I won't be getting the whole story.   For that reason, I don't see any point in reading it at all.
I still feel that the entire "Before Watchmen" project was completely unnecessary.  Watchmen told a complete and self contained story that really didn't need any further extrapolation.  Still, if prequels must exist, Minutemen, at least after one issue, seems like a good example of how they should be done.

The Fundamental Things Apply

We are not here today to debate the wisdom of DC Comics attempting to produce prequels to the most revered graphic novel of all time.  That debate continues on a host of other sites all throughout cyber-land.  No, I wish to dispel, instead, the notion that the mere existence of  "Before Watchmen," no matter its quality, will somehow diminish Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' original.   The truth, most likely, is that in a year's time, Watchmen will continue to be a bestseller and "Before Watchmen" will be all but forgotten.  

After all, who remembers As Time Goes By?

See.  I didn't think so.

I loved Casablanca the very first time I saw it on television.  Of course, I was high at the time, so I didn't quite trust my judgment.  Therefore, I went out and  rented it on VHS a few days later and found myself loving it even more.  I've enjoyed it just as much each of the countless subsequent times I've seen it.  The most recent was just a couple of weeks ago, when Casablanca kicked off this year's CAPA Summer Movie Series at the Ohio Theater in downtown Columbus, Ohio. 

Anyway, back in the 1990's, there was a minor trend of producing novels that were sequels to classic motion pictures.  This was around the time that Scarlett, the follow up to Gone With The Wind, showed up in bookstores.  As Time Goes By by Michael Walsh serves as both prequel and sequel to Casablanca.  It seeks to answer all the questions that fans of the film were supposedly dying to have answered.  The novel begins by detailing the exact events that made it impossible for Rick Blaine to return to America, then picks up after the movie, reuniting Rick and Louis Renault with Ilsa Lund and Victor Lazlo.

The problem with the book is not that its bad, because it really isn't.  It's just completely unnecessary.  Like Watchmen, Casablanca is a whole unto itself.  While there may be some questions raised as to Rick's past, the film leaves the answers up to the viewer's imagination, rather than  spelling everything out in dreary detail.

Another problem is that the book's revelations are so painfully obvious. 

In spinning his tale of Rick's past, Walsh draws inspiration from the moment in the film where Renault ventures to guess the circumstances that brought Rick to Casablanca.  Louis wonders, "Did you abscond with the church funds? Run off with a senator's wife? I like to think you killed a man. It's the Romantic in me."  Rick replies that it was a combination of all three.  Well, Walsh strained his somewhat limited imagination to come up with a scenario that truly is a combination of all those elements.  

Of course, its really no spoiler for me to reveal that this festival of fan wish fulfillment culminates with Rick and Ilsa ending up together, and Lazlo dead for good measure. 

For me, As Time Goes By adds absolutely nothing to my appreciation of Casablanca.  More importantly, and more to the point of this post, it takes nothing away from it, either.

The same is true of "Before Watchmen."  I broke down and bought a copy of the first issue of  Minutemen last week.  I'll have a full review of it coming up. However, whether I liked it or not, just the fact that DC published it in no way affects how I will view Watchmen in the future.

The Influencing Machine

My  two main sources of news and entertainment these days are comic books and National Public Radio, and one of my favorite NPR programs, due both to the subject matter it covers and to the way said subject matter is presented by hosts Bob Garfield and Brooke Gladstone, is On The Media.  (Though, due to the fact that my local NPR station no longer carries OTM, I have to keep up with it by subscribing to the podcast.) Combine all of that and you get a book that I just knew from the moment that I learned of its existence that I absolutely had to read: The Influencing Machine by Brooke Gladstone and Josh Neufeld.  A couple of weeks ago, I finally aquired a copy and have read it through from cover to cover twice now, partly to prepare to write this review, but mostly because it is a fun, engaging, and informative book that I absolutely love, as I knew I would.

In the world of graphic nonfiction, dominated mostly by self-indulgent autobiographical comics, the only thing comparable to The Influencing Machine is Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, which also seeks to translate complex ideas and theories into sequential art form.  However, while, in retrospect at least, the idea of doing a book on comics theory in comics form seems something of a no-brainer, The Influencing Machine, which distills Gladstone's quarter century of writing about media into an examination of the media's past, present and future and our relationship to it then and now, seems a slightly riskier proposition to attempt as a comic. It is, however, a gamble that pays off. 

In interviews at the time of the book's release a few months ago, Gladstone stated that she chose to present what she calls her "media manifesto" in comics form in order to foster the same kind of intimate relationship with readers that she feels she attains with her radio audience.  In this regard she succeeds even more fully than she might have hoped, due to the nature of comics, which is what Marshall McLuhan termed a "cool" medium, which more fully engages the reader's mind than the "hot" medium of radio and and creates an even more intimate connection between author and audience. 

This is my first time seeing Josh Neufeld's art, but whoever brought him and Gladstone together should get a bonus as he seems the perfect choice to convey Gladstone's message and create that intimate connection with the reader which she sought.

It goes without saying by this point that I highly and heartily recommend this book to one and all.  To whet your appetite, here is an animated version of the book's intro from YouTube:

Free Comic Book Day Comics Part 3

I'm sure no one's going to be too disappointed if I skip the lengthy, rambling preamble this time out and get right to the comics.

I was in college when Voltron debuted back in the mid-80's.  While I enjoyed the series, mine was more of an ironic, detached appreciation.  I was laughing at it, whereas fifteen or even ten years earlier I would have bought into the premise unquestioningly.  Thus, I don't have the same nostalgic attachment to the show that people that much younger than me might.   Still I can tell a well written and drawn comics story when I read one, and VIZ Media's Free Comic Book Day offering, Voltron Force: Shelter From The Storm, written by Brian Smith with art by Jacob Chabot, presents the opening pages of what looks to be a very well done graphic novel.
Shelter From The Storm picks up several years after the events of the cartoon series with the original Voltron Force training a trio of new recruits to eventually take their places.  On a training exercise, the newbies encounter a runaway robeast created by the team's arch-nemesis King Lotor.  I would definitely consider reading the full graphic novel, though unless you're a real diehard Voltron junkie, I might recommend checking it out of the library.

The free comic from Red 5 Comics, with previews of the cover featured Atomic Robo, as well as NeoZoic and Bonnie Lass, and including stories featuring pirates and dinosaurs, seems shrewdly calculated to appeal to readers' inner child.  Nonetheless, it does hit most of the right buttons.
The titular Atomic Robo of the lead story is a robot created by Nikola Tesla in the 1920's who today leads a globe spanning scientific troubleshooting organization known as Tesladyne. In this tale, Robo is tricked by his old enemy Dr. Dinosaur, a super-intelligent talking dinosaur, naturally, into unleashing a super evolved dinosaur, or Futuresaurus Rex, intended by Dr. Dinosaur to destroy him.   While I didn't enjoy this quite as much as last year's Super Dinosaur free sampler, I can see that Atomic Robo has the potential to be a lot of fun.
I believe that in one of last year's posts in the wake of Free Comic Book Day I expressed a preference for free comics that give you complete stories rather than teasers continued in something you're expected to pay for.  This sampler from Red 5 contains a mix of both of those.  The Atomic Robo story is complete in this issue, while the other two stories are merely the beginnings of longer tales.
NeoZoic posits a world where dinosaurs never died out and have existed side by side with humans, giving rise to an organization called the Predator Defence League whose mission is to protect humanity from the beasts.   This eight page preview provides just enough  of a glimpse into that world to leave me slightly confused about just what's going on, but somewhat curious as to what the deal is.  Adding to the confusion is the art, done in sort of an Americanized Manga type of style.  The story features three female characters and they are all drawn with basically the same face.  The only thing differentiating them is hair and skin color.  If this were a black and  white comic I'd have been totally lost.  This is definitely a comic I'd want to check out from a library before shelling out any of my hard earned cash for it.
Bonnie Lass chronicles the adventures of the daughter of a famous pirate in what appears to be some sort of alternate history present day.  Bonnie and two of her companions have gotten themselves captured by some sort of cult or something looking to retrieve an object she stole from them.  They end up being rescued by probably the last person Bonnie wants to save them. With its cartoony art and irreverent tone, Bonnie Lass looks like it might be the most fun of the three series previewed here.

Finally for today, we come to Donald Duck Family Comics, presenting two vintage stories by legendary "good duck artist" Carl Barks.  The first deals with yet another scheme by the nefarious Beagle Boys to hijack Uncle Scrooge's money bin, while the other details Donald's efforts to be free of the nightmares which plague him whenever he tries to get some shuteye.  Rounding out the issue are a series of one page strips by Barks featuring Donald and Scrooge.
As to the question of whether the full books that this comic is promoting are worth buying, the answer seems pretty self-evident to me. Any collection of Barks' duck comics would make a worthy addition to anyone's bookshelf.
You know, its kind of funny, to me at least, that two of the best comics for young kids this Free Comic Book Day, this one and Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley, come from Fantagraphics, a publisher not exactly known for its kid friendly fare.  That they both contain material written and drawn over a half century ago is not so surprising to me, however, as I'm rapidly turning into a cranky old man who thinks everything new sucks.
I've still got two more free comics to write about, but I'll get to those next time. 

Earth 2 #2 Reviewed

So.  Alan Scott.  He's gay, huh?  

To quote the leader of the black 'Lectroids from The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension (because I am THAT big a geek), "So what?  Big deal."  

It would be a shame if all the hollow hype surrounding one panel in the middle of the book eclipsed the fact that there's an actual story in Earth 2 #2, and quite a good one, at that, in which Alan Scott is, for the time being, a minor character.  His brief scenes are but a prelude to his star turn next issue.  

The real star of the issue is Jay Garrick or, as he shall be known henceforth, the Flash.  The story also introduces to the book's burgeoning cast Mr. Terrific, fresh from the final issue of his own short-lived series, and the new Hawkgirl, as well as a character with a familiar name, a hero in the old continuity, who for now, at least, appears to be a villain in his new incarnation.

You can't really call Jay's new origin a retelling.  This version is completely different from the character's Golden Age debut in Flash Comics #1. The new tale, quite frankly, more closely resembles Hal Jordan's beginnings as Green Lantern than any previous Flash origin. Reduced to bare bones, the plot is as follows:  A dying being from beyond plummets to Earth and with his final breath bestows awesome power on a deserving human.  That synopsis could just as easily be applied to "SOS Green Lantern" from Showcase #22 as the story in this issue.  

This time it isn't an extraterrestrial officer of an interstellar police force but  Mercury, the last survivor of the ancient gods who seeks to pass on his power.  This Flash's powers are based in magic whereas all previous versions of the character were predicated upon science, or as close to actual science as you get in super-hero comics. 

Along with his gift of power, Mercury also carries a dire warning.  A new threat, even worse than the fairly recently defeated Apokolips, is headed Earth's way. In promising a menace that makes Darkseid, one of the greatest comic book villains ever, look like small potatoes, writer James Robinson has set the bar pretty high for himself.  Only time, and future issues, will tell if he can live up to the expectations he's engendering.

My one, very minor, quibble with the story is that the conversation between Jay and Mercury goes on a little too long.  This is mostly due to the fact that Jay appears not to realize that it is considered rude in some circles to interrupt a god and keeps butting in as Mercury relates his tale.   This does, however, allow Robinson to inject some light humor into the scene as Mercury has to repeatedly tell Jay to shut up and listen.  It's a good sign that the series apparently will not be as utterly grim and ponderous as it has the potential to become.  

Robinson has been given an opportunity with this series that few writers working on super-hero comics for the big two mainstream publishers ever get.  He has an entire world to himself to chronicle unfettered by events in other comics or reality.  So far, he seems to be making the most of this freedom.  He's showing us the aftermath of an alien invasion in the way that no mainstream super-hero comic has ever been able to before.  Usually, once the ETs are sent packing things quickly return to the pre-invasion status quo and no lasting effects of struggle remain.  Earth-2, on the other hand, is a world still struggling to recover and deal with the physical and psychological costs of the war five years later. 

Aiding Robinson in delineating this new world is the beautiful art by penciller Nicola Scott and inker Trevor Scott.  (Between the two of them and this world's future Green Lantern, things could a little confusing.)  They render quiet conversations and cataclysmic explosions equally breathtakingly. 

I am looking forward to future issues of Earth 2 more than I have any super-hero comic for quite some time. 

Earth-2 #1 Reviewed

I was going to start off this post with the old cliche "This isn't your father's Earth-2", but then, while reading other reviews of this comic trying to find one that I wanted to link to later on, I noticed that Martin Gray at Too Dangerous For A Girl, whom I mistakenly remembered as the source of the quote I was looking for, had already used that line, or at least a version of it, and I wouldn't want to be accused of plagiarizing a fellow comics blogger, especially one who occassionally reads this blog.  (At least he is listed among the "members" of this site down there near the bottom of the page, so its somewhat safe to assume that  he checks in here from time to time.) It occurs to me though, that, being old enough to remember the pre-Crisis On Infinite Earths multiverse, what I really meant to say is that this isn't MY Earth-2, or at least not the Earth-2 that I once knew and that Roy Thomas spent a good chunk of his career mapping out.
Back then, Earth-2 was the place where the characters and stories from DC's Golden Age lived and where their adventures continued.  This Earth-2 is a new world whose past, along with its future, remains largely unwritten. The spirit of the old Earth-2 is preserved, however, in that this is a world that is just slightly different from the one we know and where the heroes may have familiar names and powers but almost everything else about them is different. It is also once again a world that had super-heroes well before ours, though not quite as early as World War II.
Speaking of which, it seems to me that the old Earth-2/Justice Society of America characters were overdue for a reboot.  Even in comic book terms, it was beginning to stretch credibility to have a bunch of characters who must have been in their mid-20s in 1940 still running around and fighting crime as if they were in the prime of their youth.  This had been something of issue since about the mid-80's, but all previous "solutions" to the conundrum, including sending them off to limbo to fight in a neverending cyclical Ragnorok, magically de-aging them, or flat out killing several of them off in Zero Hour, somehow failed to take hold permanently.  But that's neither truly here nor there, and ultimately irrelevant to the topic of this post, so screw that blather and let's get back to the review at hand.
The first issue of Earth-2, the series, begins with an ending.  Earth is in the midst of what has come to be called the Apokolips War, besieged by hordes of Darkseid's parademons under the command of his uncle (at least he was Darkseid's uncle in the old continuity, in the new 52 multiverse I'm not sure of his familial status) Steppenwolf.  The world's greatest, and, it appears, only, heroes, Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman, prepare  a desperate bid to turn the tide in humanity's favor. It is a gambit that succeeds, but at a terrible cost.  The "trinity" of heroes give up their lives for the cause, while their young proteges, Supergirl and Robin, are whisked off in a stray Boom Tube to a strange new world and their own adventures as Power Girl and the Huntress in the companion title Worlds' Finest.
Five years later, media mogul Alan Scott puts the finishing touches on a web documentary commemorating the anniversary of the heroes' sacrifice as he sits aboard his private plane enroute to China.  Meanwhile, recent college graduate Jay Garrick has himself quite an eventful day.  First his girlfriend dumps him and heads off to take a new job on the West Coast, then he is confronted by Mercury, the last survivor of the gods, who carries a dire warning of a new threat arising.  Mercury says that the Earth now needs a hero, and it seems pretty obvious that Jay is going to be that hero.
Along the way we are introduced to diminutive Army sergeant Al Pratt, and Jay's erstwhile girlfriend Joan mentions that her new job is with an outfit called Tyler-Chem, providing hints of possible future developments to those with even a passing knowledge of the old continuity.  
Now, if I read fewer blogs maybe I'd be able to keep them straight.  The review of this issue at The Back Issue Bin, in a sentiment that I, as I stated above, mistakenly attributed in my mind to TDFAG (hmm...perhaps I'd best not use that initialism anymore, lest I be accused of hate speech), states that the comic " felt more like a 'zero' issue" than a number one.  If by that the writer meant to imply that the story is more of prologue than the true beginning of an "epic", despite what the cover blurb decries, then I agree with him one hundred percent.  But it is a prologue that accomplishes beautifully what it sets out to do, which is what a prologue is meant to do.  It establishes the world of the story and draws the reader into the world, filling him with anticipation for the beginning of the tale proper.
This is not, by any means, a startlingly original story.  Tales where the old guardians have long since disappeared and new heroes must rise up to meet a new or reborn menace litter the annals of super-hero comics and all of fantasy literature in general.  That's not a criticism.  After all, I heard it said that all storytelling is simply a series of endless variations on a mere seven basic plots.  The merit of any story, then, is judged on how well the tale is told, and writer James Robinson and artists Nicola Scott and Trevor Scott (coincidence? or kinship?) tell this particular tale exceedingly well.
I began this review with the comment that this wasn't my Earth-2, but ,truth to tell, I was never all that invested in the stories of that long gone alternate world, although the annual epics wherein the veteran heroes of the JSA would cross dimensional space to team up with their younger counterparts in the Justice League of America and perhaps some other team of long forgotten Golden Age heroes who'd been set up on their own alternate Earth remain some of my favorites of the Silver and Bronze Ages.  (By the way, I don't see much potential for a new series of JLA/JSA team-ups, at least not as long as the basic premise of Worlds' Finest depends on the near impossibility of bridging the gulf between dimensions, leaving that books protaganists stranded on Earth-1 or whatever its official New 52 designation is these days.  Still, the fact that the old guard of heroes on Earth-2 died while fighting off the hordes of Darkseid while their counterparts on another Earth were coming together as a team in the first arc of the relaunched Justice League of America to face the lord of Apokolips and his parademons on their own world does seem to me to be fodder for a future crossover somewhere down the line.)  However, I did thoroughly enjoy this comic and as long as Robinson can keep up this level of quality, this is, in fact, MY Earth-2.

Comics You Could Have Picked Up at SPACE Part One

So, I've been away from the blog again for another extended period, though a mere month this time, due to various "real world" circumstances, among them the remodeling of my apartment which had me staying with my sister for a few days.  This has only increased the backlog of stuff that I want to write about, as during this latest down period has occurred the Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo (SPACE), and Free Comic Book Day, not to mention that DC, Marvel and other publishers have continued to put out new comics during this time.

So, let's get started with some of the comics I picked up at SPACE.

I am not even going to pretend to attempt any sort of objective review of A Bowl Full of Happiness, an anthology of comics and pin-ups about Sea Monkeys published by Columbus cartoonists group Sunday Comix and benefitting the Hero Initiative in their efforts to provide assistance to comics creators in need.  After all, I am a founding member of Sunday Comix and I have worked with the Hero Initiative before, and, of course, I have a piece in this book, as do several of my closest friends and, most importantly, my niece Tamara Marshall, which is the reason I cannot be objective about this book.   This is a great book for a very good cause, and if  you didn't get your copy at the show, I recommend that you do so as soon as possible.  Hopefully, by the time I get this post, editor Canada Keck will have updated the web-site to allow you to order your own copy.  If not, shoot me an e-mail and I'll arrange to get you a copy.

Speaking of my closest friends, I got my copy of Matt Wyatt's Joking Victim #0 well before SPACE, and you can pick a copy at various locations around Columbus, including What The Rock, Kafe Kerouac and the Laughing Ogre, or order a copy through Matt's web-site.  He will also be appearing at Ratha Con in Athens, Ohio this coming weekend.  Once again throwing objectivity to the wind, I highly recommend that you do so.  Featuring a variety of comics and cartoons by Matt, Joking Victim is loaded with parody, satire, silliness, wordplay and puns, and a heaping dose of what MAD artist Will Elder termed "chicken fat", little throwaway visual gags in the background. The mention of MAD is apt, because this book is very reminiscent of early MAD, when it was a comic book and reflected the sensibility of one man, Harvey Kurtzman.

Another comic to which I personally contributed (That's an excerpt from my contribution down there in the lower left corner of the cover.) is the SPACE Anthology 2012, a full color trade paperback collection featuring work from many of the artists who were present at the show this year. This is the third year, I believe, that there's been a SPACE Anthology, though in the past it has been available only as a pdf download on-line.  This is the first year that the collection has  been available in physical book form, with proceeds from sales at the show going to fund the SPACE Prize, recognizing excellence in small press publishing.  You can download a copy of the anthology here, or go here to get a print copy.

Small press veteran J. Kevin Carrier did not have a table at the show, however he was present on Saturday carrying copies of the latest issue of his long running anthology Fantasy Theater, a showcase for his extensive reportoire of comics characters.  FT #22 features brand new adventures of Kevin's futuristic sword and sorcery warrior Glorianna and second generation super hero Cappella.  You should be able to order a copy at Kevin's blog. 

I'll  close out this post by mentioning Suzanne Baumann's As Eavesdropped Volume Three, in which Suzanne illustrates in her charming and simple style dialogue that, I assume from the title of the book, she has actually overheard.  This comic is free, and, I assume, available at her web-site, along with all her other great comics.

That covers the comics from me and my friends.  I did actually get out in the room and talk to some people whose work I wasn't previously familiar with and who weren't among my closest friends and associates, and I'll be looking at the comics I got from them soon.

Star Trek #7 (IDW)

My friend Jonathon Riddle has told me several times of a former roommate of his, a huge Star Trek fan, who objected to the very premise of the last Trek TV series, Enterprise, which chronicled the early days of Starfleet, because to him Star Trek was supposed to be about moving forward, not looking back.  (Never mind that the series was still set 150 years in the future.)  I'm sure this fellow would also have turned up his nose upon hearing the premise of IDW's monthly Trek comic, which adapts episodes of the original series into the alternate timeline continuity of the new movie.
To tell the truth, I thought the idea was kind of pointless myself.  After all, the movie gave us an entirely new Trek universe.   Why not explore it instead of wasting time on what would inevitably be greatly inferior retellings of forty-five year old stories?
The first issue pretty much proved my doubts correct.  I only bought it because the episode it adapted, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", just happened to be airing on MeTV the same week as the book's release, and I wanted to compare the adaptation to the original.  Needless to say, I found it somewhat lacking. The necessary compression of the plot for space, and the substitution of the likenesses of Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and company for William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and the old crew, combined with some odd, seemingly arbitrary changes, such as the exclusion of Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, a major character in the old episode, made the comic seem even more of a pale imitation of the original than most comics adaptations usually do.  Also, it was kind of weird to see Gary Mitchell drawn as Gary Lockwood, the actor who played the character on TV, and standing alongside the movie crew.
With the series' seventh issue, writer Mike Johnson gets to try his hand at an original Trek story, and acquits himself quite well.  "Vulcan's Vengeance" is a direct sequel to the events of the film and has the Enterprise preparing to enter the Neutral Zone in pursuit of a Vulcan ship stolen by what appear to be the last survivors of Nero's crew who have stolen the only remaining sample of red matter, the substance that destroyed the planet Vulcan. 
What I really like about this issue is that it feels much more like a classic Trek adventure than the movie or even the first issue did.  Though they are drawn as Pine and Quinto, the Kirk and Spock of this story talk and act more like the Kirk and Spock I know from the TV series and earlier movies than their counterparts from the new movie.  The only problem I have with the story is that Johnson gets Chekov's accent wrong. 
Unfortunately, "Vulcan's Vengeance" does not herald a new direction for IDW's Trek.  After this tale wraps up next issue, it's back to strip mining the past with an adaptation of "Return of the Archons."  That's too bad, because based on this issue, I'd like to see more original Trek sagas written by Johnson.

Green Arrow #'s 7 & 8

Overall, the last couple of issues of the relaunched yet again Green Arrow weren't as bad as I thought they'd be.  That's not to say that they were good, you understand.  It's just that I expected them to be a lot worse. 

Previous to her taking over as writer of Green Arrow, I'd read only one other story by Ann Nocenti, where she introduced the character of Typhoid Mary in Daredevil, and I was, to say the least, less than enthralled by her writing.  In fact, it was pretty awful.  The big problem with that arc was the dialogue, which was all written in the same voice.  I could read you a random passage from the story and you would be unable to tell whether it came from Daredevil, Karen Page, the Kingpin or a caption.  The whole thing read more like an essay than a story.  Her run on that book is generally well spoken of these days, but based on what I've read, I can't see why.

But this isn't a review of a thirty year old Daredevil story, but of the current Green Arrow arc.  Nocenti  hasn't quite developed an ear for naturalistic dialogue in the intervening years.  It comes across as slightly less "written" than in Daredevil, but still not anything you could imagine real people saying.  

The plot involves Green Arrow being seduced and kidnapped by genetically engineered triplets who finish each other's sentences and go by the collective name of Skylark.  He is taken to an Arctic retreat where he meets the Skylarks' father, an albino man-beast named Leer who performs experiments on the local wildlife in order to prepare them to survive some sort of coming disaster.  It comes off as kind of a weird cross between King Lear and The Island of Dr. Moreau that has yet, two issues into a three issue arc, to coalesce into a coherent story. 

Slightly more interesting is the subplot involving the struggle for control of Queen Enterprises after Oliver Queen is presumed dead when the Skylarks crash his jet.  This plotline, at least, makes sense.

Perhaps my biggest problem with the new series as a whole is the title character.  I'm not really all that crazy about this new guy calling himself Green Arrow.  This is definitely not the same Ollie Queen who was re-invented by Denny O'Neil in the 70's.  He's shallower, more reckless and impulsive, and, frankly, not as smart.  

Part of it may be the way Nocenti writes him, which really emphasizes the character's many bad points.  He was slightly more tolerable in the preceding arc by Keith Giffen and Dan Jurgens.  Still, even then, he wasn't the sort of hero whose adventures I'd really want to follow over the long term.

I was planning on waiting 'til next month, when Nocenti's initial arc was finished, to write this review.  Issue #7 was intriquing enough to get me to come back for the next one, but after reading the mess that is #8 I think I'll spend my three bucks on something else the first week in May.  The same goes for every subsequent month, at least until a new writer decides to have Ollie grow up a little.

OMAC # 8: The Best for Last

You're probably familiar with the old show biz saying that you should always leave your audience wanting more.  Keith Giffen and Dan DiDio certainly are, as O.M.A.C. #8, the series' final issue, proves.  The writer/artist team go out with a bang, producing the best issue of yet of this regrettably short lived book.
In this jam-packed issue, we finally, albeit belatedly, get some real insight into the character of Kevin Kho, O.M.A.C.'s alter ego; a knock down drag out throwdown between O.M.A.C. and the forces of Checkmate; the final showdown between Brother Eye and Maxwell Lord; and a final twist that sets in motion a new direction for the character when he appears again.
Giffen's art over the course of these eight issues has been the best of his career and for the finale he outdoes himself with a kinetic, frenetic, Kirby-inspired tour de force.  I'll miss seeing Giffen's art on a regular basis and I hope it won't be too long before he picks up another pencilling assignment.
You know, sales on this title must have been really bad if even the fact that it was co-written by the company's co-publisher couldn't save it.  I really can't figure out why that is, though, because this book was everything fans say that they want in a super-hero comic.  I'm going to miss it, but at least I've still got these eight issues to read over and over again.

Tribute #4

Is it some sort of serious breach of comics blogger ethics to review a book that I'm involved in?  Is there even such a thing as "comics blogger ethics"?  If so, then you'd better convene that review board, because here I go with a look at Tribute #4.

Published by Main Enterprises, veteran small press publisher Jim Main, Tribute is a pin-up magazine giving independent and small press artists the chance to take a crack at their favorite mainstream characters.  Each issue has a different theme and the latest one spotlights classic cartoon characters, featuring over forty drawings of characters ranging from the obscure (Colonel Bleep???) to the iconic (Bugs Bunny, Yogi Bear, etc.).  As you would expect in a publication of this sort, with contributions from over twenty different artists, the range of talent on display varies a great deal, from fairly amateurish to scarily professional.  
An example of the latter are the contributions of Terry Pavlett (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tom and Jerry and the cover, featuring a plethora of classic toons).  Based on his art herein, I find myself wondering why he isn't drawing DC's Looney Tunes comic.
Another favorite of mine are the pages by Gary Fields, who brings a slightly underground feel to his depictions of Hanna-Barbera luminaries Yogi Bear, Huck Hound and Peter Potamus. (Ok, so the last one isn't exactly a "luminary", but its still a great drawing.)
Then there's my piece, shown at the top of this post, featuring characters from Schoolhouse Rock.  I was quite proud of it when I turned it in, but now, perhaps because of the high quality printing of this book or maybe just seeing it presented alongside the work of the two gentlemen cited above among others, I can suddenly see every flaw in it.  Still, I suppose its not all that bad.
At first, $4.99 might seem a bit pricey for a forty page pin up book, however it is an incredibly professional looking package, printed on slick high quality paper with full color covers.  When you think about it, for a small print run comic with this level of production values, its actually well worth the price.
You can order a copy for yourself at Jim's web-site.  While there, you can also check the rest of Jim's wide range of publications.