I'm Having My Own Flashpoint, Here!

Okay, so for the record, I am no longer technically reading comics, nor all that interested in regularly reading them.

Now, would somebody please remind me?

Oh, and damn Free Comic Book Day. The annual event that, well, hands out free comic books, was this past Saturday (and hopefully you knew that already), and as I have, well, annually, I paid homage to the event, visiting Escape Velocity in downtown Colorado Springs during a very small window before work that day. I got there early. I hoped the store might be open at 10, so yeah, I got there early, and after wasting a good chunk of time elsewhere (the main branch of the local library does in fact carry a good selection of my favorite authors, as it turns out!), still came back in time to be first in line (yay me!) and so I could say that I was the first patron to enjoy the day (oh the ironies of a “former” comic book nerd claiming such an honor!). Because I lingered at the entrance near the counter, however (collecting FEAR ITSELF #2), I was not the first to the free comics table, however (though big props to Mike and/or whoever else decided we could take three comics this year, rather than two, even though I was able to take as many as I wanted when I enjoyed FCBD at Newbury Comics in Burlington, MA years earlier).

This sentence has no parenthical phrase. I grabbed the usual suspects, a DC, Marvel, and Atomic Robo. I’ll talk more about my selections a bit later, but suffice it to say, that was pretty much the extent of my visit that day. I had made a small list of titles to make sure I wouldn’t forget from the regular racks, FEAR ITSELF being one of them, so I could finally take a look at Stuart Immonen’s work on the book, plus any new issues of BATMAN, INC. and, wildest of dreams, maybe a copy of ACTION COMICS #900 (y’know, the one where he “controversially” renounces US citizenship, but hopefully I will get to talk about this one later, when I actually have a copy). I made the list to limit myself, to make sure I hit the essentials, and yes, because I had very little time. I got out in about four minutes, which was considerably less time than my last visit (comics are just one of those things you can spend a good amount of time shopping). I felt pretty proud, only six comics in all, and three of them were free.

The problem is, I keep fretting that I’ve reacquired “the bug.” That I’ve fallen off the wagon. I’ve already made a commitment to go back when that second printing of ACTION #900 arrives. And I know I’ll have more time. And I really, really want to read the Flashpoint comics.

I’m not just talking about the event book itself. Actually, I’m less interested in FLASHPOINT itself than, say, FLASHPOINT: ABIN SUR - THE GREEN LANTERN. Or FLASHPOINT: CITIZEN COLD. Or FLASHPOINT: DEADMAN AND THE FLYING GRAYSONS. Or FLASHPOINT: CANTERBURY CRICKET (I’m damn curious). You get the point. I was one of the fans who went gaga over Tangent Comics. And, to a lesser extent, Amalgam Comics. I’ve never gotten around to reading a lot of them, especially some of the really famous ones like SUPERMAN: RED SON, but Elseworlds. The thing is, as much as I like a good bit of continuity, I like “alternuity” a lot more. I like when familiar facts are played around with, especially when, like Flashpoint is promising, familiar facts are played around with cleverly, in ways that have unexpected resonance with the facts as we know them.

Did I mention that I really, really want to read Flashpoint? Desperately. I suspect that these comics were be collected, in much the same way that every single scrap of BLACKEST NIGHT was eventually collected into massive hardcovers. Financially, I care. But as a fan, I really, really don’t care. I want to read this stuff. Badly. It’s one of those, I’m-convinced-they’ll-become-some-of-my-favorite-comics things. I really am.

So I’m in a bad place right now. I also want to read those Green Lantern movie tie-ins. Most of the time, any comic that is created to cash in on a movie, unless they’re a straight adaptation, are a waste of time and money. These seem different. Not just because Green Lantern, as Geoff Johns and the filmmakers have realized, has a ton of storytelling potential. The characters, though familiar, have so much more to say than even five years of Johns-inspired expansion have been able to tell. And there’s so much passion. These, too, will undoubtedly be collected. But c’mon. A fan is a fan is a fan. And a fan wants to read RIGHT NOW. Sorry. Usually save the caps for comics titles. But you get what I mean. That’s what reading comics tends to do. It makes people crazy.

So, damn you Free Comic Book Day. And here are the comics that were a part of this breakdown:

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2011 - THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (Marvel)
Dan Slott, so far as I can tell, has been doing, well, an amazing job with Spidey in “Big Time,” pushing all the work that was done during “Brand New Day” to the next level, and whereas that era was accomplished with multiple writers, Slott’s been going it alone, so I cannot give him enough props for that kind of accomplishment. This one’s basically a big advertisement for things that’ve been happening, and a tease for more things that will happen, but it’s a Spider-Man comic. A certain amount of the straight entertainment factor is to be expected. Also, really great to see Humberto Ramos, still riding high all these years after I enjoyed his work in IMPULSE. He’s the rare artist who doesn’t receive all the buzz and hype but who nonetheless maintains the steady awesome output and high profile assignments, year after year. I’m now dreaming of Ramos supplying the art for a Stuart Immonen-scripted adventure…

ATOMIC ROBO/FOSTER BROUSSARD/MOON GIRL (Red 5)
How many years has Robo been commanding Red 5’s Free Comic Book Day contributions now? It doesn’t matter. Not only is Robo the company’s biggest hit, he’s also still waiting to, well, actually hit, become a smash sensation, that is, explode, break out into the mainstream, the way Hellboy has, in other words, over at Dark Horse. And there’s no reason why Atomic Robo shouldn’t be huge. The work of Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener has been consistently awesome from the beginning, and as creators they’ve finally been noticed by their peers, winning work from the likes of Marvel, but like Fred Van Lente without Herc and/or Cho and/or Ryan Dunlavey, they just aren’t the same without Robo. Sure, this particular FCBD effort includes previews for some other books, but it’s all about Robo! Robo! Robo!

BATMAN, INC. #5 (DC)
Now, I don’t know if there were other issues I should have had the opportunity to read (but let’s be honest, reading five issues of this comic when I’ve “stopped reading comics” is already pretty awesome); I’m just glad that I finished another Grant Morrison arc. And unlike previous issues, this one’s clearly, as it proves the arc has all along without anyone realizing it, on par with the massive storytelling structure Grant brought to THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE, the Black Glove saga, and other epics. We learn just how big the threat of Doctor Dedalus really is, as we meet even more heroes, including the Hood (who looks a lot like the current Azrael), how insanely complicated his mechanics are (and no one outplots Grant Morrison, except maybe Geoff Johns), and that there really are challenges for Bruce Wayne, even now. Who else writes Batman so that he can meet seemingly every challenge, but still be challenged, and so that it comes off convincingly? It’s the kind of comic book that mocks every single bad connotation outsiders have toward the industry, and that’s the way Grant’s been writing since his career began, why he still seems hungry, when all his contemporaries have either retired or all but retired. He has nothing left to prove. And yet he just keeps proving himself, challenging himself, and challenging comic books themselves. How does he do it? The man’s a true creative dynamo.

FEAR ITSELF #1 & 2 (Marvel)
Matt Fraction is one of Marvel’s so-called Architects, one of the writers it has identified as being not only integral to the company now, but for its future, yet FEAR ITSELF counts as his first event book. Among the books for which he is known is IRON MAN, where he’s helped to bridge the gap between the comics and movie versions of Tony Stark. This event seems like Fraction’s version of that same effort for Thor, so that fans who are intrigued by the new movie might have something to look at afterward. Those who may not be familiar with SIEGE might still be interested to read about Odin’s return to Asgard, or the plans of comparatively ordinary mortals in helping Thor to reclaim his place on Earth. The rest of the story involves the legacy of the Red Skull, and therefore Steve Rogers, and therefore the new Captain American movie. I figure FEAR ITSELF will more or less be the reason Rogers claims his familiar mantle. It both surprises me and doesn’t that James “Bucky” Barnes has still be been embraced as his successor. Batman, Inc. this is not. Stuart Immonen, of course, is on art for this book, and most of it, as has been the norm for his work with Marvel, by design, is not all that familiar to what I knew from his days at DC. There are tiny glimpses, not terribly flattering actually, of what I used to enjoy, but otherwise, it’s not all that distinctive. It’s competent, and Stuart’s obviously dependable, unlike a great many of those who came after him, and became popular and famous, but he’s capable of so much better. So I probably won’t be reading more of this book. I wasn’t all that intrigued or interested. I don’t really care about anything that I’ve read in the first two issues. And Mr. Immonen continues to disappoint me. But I guess he doesn’t need me to be a fan. He’s entrenched at Marvel, something of a stalwart on staff, and is doing indy work that fulfills him otherwise. I just wish I could believe that he was making a difference, at least in the way I believe he did at DC. Maybe it’s just me.

FCBD 2011 GREEN LANTERN/FLASHPOINT (DC)
For those who haven’t already picked up a copy of the SECRET ORIGIN trade (either before or after the movie cover edition with a few extras that readers of the regular GREEN LANTERN comic will find familiar, beyond the Ryan Reynolds intro), most of this book is another plug for that arc, Geoff Johns’ version of EMERALD DAWN, with liberal allusions to BLACKEST NIGHT tossed in, which is said to have done much to inspire the filmmakers who will soon fulfill many dreams (at the very least, mine). It wisely skips over the first chapter, which revolves more around Hal Jordan’s background, and instead gives us the revision of the familiar origin, with Abin Sur crashing his ship and bequeathing his ring to Hal. There’s also the preview for FLASHPOINT, as much a reminder of who Barry Allen is as a tease for the strange new world he will soon encounter. It’s exactly the kind of thing Free Comic Book Day should be doing, giving fans what they think they want, and so much more. The Spidey comic also includes a tease for FEAR ITSELF, but I wonder if new readers will care as much about that as they will for the free Green Lantern intro, or old readers as much will the FLASHPOINT intro. As a fan, I relished reading me some Dan Slott, and he’s a perfect writer for readers to read a typical Spider-Man comic, and this is a perfect era for vintage Spider-Man. But it’s perhaps better to give the old and new readers something a little more interesting than that.

But the beauty of Free Comic Book Day is that you can have both, and for nothing at all. I often wonder what the new readers really think, based on these samples. I’ve never been one for as long as I’ve enjoyed this holiday (even if I have to work on it). Maybe, if a year from now and I’ve actually been able to maintain this almost-complete-break, I might better experience what that novice is feeling right now.

Or maybe I already know.