Reading Comics 153 "Blasts from the (Recent) Past"

Detective Comics #29 (DC)

Ever since Detective Comics #27 (the second one), I've been itching to read if not the rest of then at least more of "Gothtopia," the what-if scenario John Layman introduced in the anniversary issue that proposed a happy Gotham and an appropriately coordinated Batman family, free from the grim nature more common to both.  Layman was third tier in the Batman titles after Scott Snyder (in Batman) and Peter Tomasi (in Batman and Robin), so getting the chance to have an extended crossover event of any size was a considerable acknowledgement for what he'd been doing.

To my dismay, no one really seemed to pay attention to the arc, and because Detective proved frustratingly difficult to find in a store before the Manapul/Buccellato run that succeeded Layman's, catching up on "Gothtopia" outside of the eventual collection (and not digitally) seemed like a lost cause.

Obviously I've managed to correct that, somewhat, at last.

The arc occurred in the pages of the 27th and 28th issues of Detective, Batwing, Birds of Prey, and Catwoman, as well as Batgirl #27 and Detective #29, the issue I found.  Before even the first act of "Gothtopia" was over, the cat was out of the bag (not Catbird or even Catwoman, just the metaphorical one) that the whole thing was the result of Scarecrow's fear gas in a new manifestation, lulling the city into a false sense of security.  Which was fine.  I'm assuming the intermediary issues still had some fun with the illusion the gas conjured.

By Detective #29, the illusion was over and it was time for Batman to put Scarecrow away again.  Layman, who is best known for his curious culinary experience known as Chew, proved to be a deft handler of Batman's rogues, and his Scarecrow was no different.

I wouldn't mind reading the whole thing.  If it weren't for Snyder and Tomasi, I think a lot more attention would have been given to "Gothtopia."  One of its signature elements was a New 52 acknowledgement of a classic Batman subplot, the on-again/off-again quasi-romance between Batman and Catwoman, which will surely help it stand out for future Bat-archivists.

Action Comics #25 (DC)

The only Greg Pak Superman I'd read prior to this was the debut issue of Secret Origins.  What made me pick this one up wasn't Pak but rather it's tie-in with "Zero Year," one of Snyder's Batman crossover arcs, which expanded into a number of non-Batman comics, making a limited glimpse into the New 52's past as a whole.

 Overall I wasn't hugely impressed with the issue, but in some ways I was, too.  I chose this particular image to represent it because I like how Pak depicts the young Superman.  It's rare to see Clark gleeful about his powers.  The only other young Superman the New 52 had to this point was Grant Morrison's opening run in the series, which clearly was intended to set the pace.  Pak chooses a time prior to Morrison's take, when Superman is still learning his limits, but already in the t-shirt look that Rags Morales helped make instantly iconic (the Geoff Johns Superboy had this look previously, but it has been, uh, superseded).

Perhaps more notable for me was the back-up feature, also written by Pak.  The artist for all but the final page (which, along with the main story is from Aaron Kuder) happens to be Scott McDaniel.  He's long been a personal favorite, so it's always nice to catch more recent art, especially since he seems to have been relegated to supporting work after the failure of his Static Shock at the start of the New 52 (I still owe the guys at Collected Editions the answer to their challenge of reading the run and coming to a more positive impression than they did; you can read a version of how the series imploded behind the scenes here, although for the record, the difference may still turn out to be their awareness of what happened between the creators, which is far too often the case, above and beyond the material itself).

This wouldn't be the first time McDaniel has worked on Superman (he handled the Man of Steel and also Batman in the early part of the new millennium following his best-known work, on Nightwing), so this is actually a welcome return on multiple levels.

Yeah, I always love his work.  (That's another reason I think Static Shock, on an art level alone, must be worth more than the poor reputation it gained.)  Hopefully, if he's in a doghouse or not, McDaniel can get back to some level of prominence.

Swamp Thing: Futures End #1 (DC)

The more I read of Charles Soule's Swamp Thing, the more I wish I'd been reading it all along.  The Futures End issue is another prime example of how excellent it truly is.

As far as I can tell, Soule has followed in the footsteps of Geoff Johns from the pages of Green Lantern (and to a lesser and/or unknown extent, Jeff Lemire's Green Arrow) and Aquaman, building a whole mythology out of existing material.  I know Scott Snyder began the series at the start of the New 52, and that the idea of the Parliament of Trees and the Green were introduced by Alan Moore in his seminal Saga of the Swamp Thing run, but a significant amount of what Soule has been doing (and will soon conclude before that oft-lamented Marvel-exclusive contract officially kicks in) seems to be derived from his own imagination.

As with other Futures End month issues I have previously discussed (headlined by Grayson and Soule's own Red Lanterns), Swamp Thing took the opportunity to look five years into the future as a chance to piggy-pack a conclusion to a creative run that will obviously not be in-place five years hence.  So I'm glad to have had another chance to catch this one.  Although I have a feeling I will be reading the complete Soule Swamp Thing at some point.

The included artwork also brings up Soule's inclusion of the white ring (from Green Lantern lore, currently in the possession of Kyle Rayner as depicted in New Guardians) originally featured in Blackest Night and its sequel, Brightest Day, the pre-New 52 series that saw Swamp Thing (as well as others) make his in-continuity return.  I like it when a creator has an expansive look at what's been done before them.  Obviously, few will be quite as obsessive about it as Grant Morrison (his Batman is as close to a doctorate on the subject as anyone outside of Kurt Busiek is likely to get in comics), but seeing Soule accept the challenge will always be an excellent reason to admire his work.

(And meanwhile, I will at some point find out exactly how much his Swamp Thing owes to past creators.  It doesn't really matter, though, does it?)