E for Extinction #1 (Marvel)
Among the many, many Secret Wars spin-offs attempting to pick up the pieces of past Marvel stories is that incredibly rare title, E for Extinction, otherwise known as acknowledgment that Grant Morrison did, in fact, write X-Men stories for a number of years. You may be forgiven to forget this happened, because Marvel has been trying to scrub history of this for years. The minute Morrison left, for instance, Xorn was retconned far away from being Magneto. Perish the thought! To be fair, this run did have a fair impact on the future of mutants, but any and all associations with Morrison seem to have been severed as completely as possible, and everyone agreed that Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men was in fact the true watershed of the franchise, and that was that.
I confess to have played a part in this debacle. Observers today might assume I've always been a hopeless devotee of Grant Morrison. This is true to a point. I became a fan through JLA, which is probably true for the vast amount of us. But then I had to work my way back in. I never read New X-Men, only a few issues here and there in later years (still working my way toward the complete run, as with Invisibles, Animal Man, and Doom Patrol, the titles the truly devoted would call the starting point, although this would be from a critical and not popular standpoint). I was keenly aware of Morrison's mutants, so there's a kind of mythological element to the run, as with the fourth-wall Animal Man breakthrough, mostly what became of Xorn and how Beast became subject to a secondary mutation (to his present look).
All of which is to say, I'm glad E for Extinction exists. Named after the opening arc in Morrison's New X-Men (in all, forty issues, with eight arcs), which along with several others features the art of Frank Quitely (the cover of this issue closely mirrors the famous art for the run), this is a wonderful reminder of how Morrison attempted to push the franchise forward. Morrison himself isn't present, but Chris Burnham is. Burnham is currently collaborating with Morrison on Image's Nameless and also did the art for the second run of Batman Inc., and as such has become associated with him enough that I guess he was a go-to guy for Marvel for this project. That, I guess, and the fact that his art somewhat resembles Quitely's. But he's not doing the art for this, rather another guy who somewhat resembles Burnham's!
Burnham himself has an issue of Batman Inc. in his credits as writer (#11, plus credit for #0 along with Morrison). For most of this issue he's remarkably adequate, although he has instincts that one would not typically associate with Morrison material (although I could be wrong; I'm not familiar enough with New X-Men to identify all the characters in E for Extinction who come directly from it). At any rate, he does an excellent job of conveying everything Morrison hoped to accomplish. The representative panel in relation to that philosophy demonstrates how it's hilariously outdated to suggest today that minority groups in America haven't gained a certain mainstream credential (if not outright equality) that can no longer be denied with the simple moral equivalencies typical for mutant allegory. Magneto (no mention made of Xorn, naturally) leads the new X-Men, with hopelessly dated Cyclops and Emma Frost used in counterpoint (the clearest connection to more recent material like how Bendis started out All-New X-Men). Thrown in as well is Wolverine, because: Wolverine.
I'm just not a big fan of Burnham. I don't like his art, and I think he tends to ruin what he does. As a writer this is less so, but then there's the guy hired because he kind of draws like Burnham, so more or less, this is all Burnham all the time. Unfortunately. Fortunately there's plenty of Morrison present. So as far as this first issue goes, I like this project. I'm very glad it exists. Clearly Marvel kind of desperately wants Morrison back in the fold (going back to the Marvelman annual that finally brought to life one of his old scripts). I guess we'll see where that goes...
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #215 (IDW)
(and #214)
IDW did something somewhat remarkable when it acquired the G.I. Joe franchise. It began publishing new issues of Larry Hama's Marvel run along with its own material. This in itself was not hugely unique, since at the time Marvel itself was doing (or very near to doing) the very same with Chris Claremont and the X-Men. But the Claremont experiment ended years ago, and Hama's G.I. Joe continues. And it's just completed its biggest arc ever: "The Death of Snake Eyes."
And so apparently readers get to discover that when a publisher like IDW does a story like this, the rules are different, because the actual death occurred two issues ago. I found that out because I was only reminded this was happening at all when I looked at the cover and saw the arc's title, so I flipped through the issue. Seeing that the death didn't happen this issue, I went to see what other issues had to say about it. Needless to say, #213 was not available. I'd assumed it did occur in #214, but no such luck. I decided to buy it even though it's a silent issue (appropriate) depicting full G.I. Joe honors for the body.
What this issue does is conclude a journey for the new Snake Eyes, someone Hama is careful to set up in the same mute mode as the original (seems somewhat convenient, but I'm willing to go with it). So a little like "Knightfall," which ended with the new Batman defeating Bane rather than Bane's snapping of the original Batman's spine, the next chapter has already begun.
The issue also includes a tribute to Hama's original collaborator, Herb Trimpe, who passed away earlier this year.
Green Lantern: Lost Army #1 (DC)
I figured I'd give this one a shot because with the end of Red Lanterns I would otherwise not have been reading Green Lantern, and generally speaking, for as long as I've been reading comics I've been reading Green Lantern. And I'm still not particularly interested in Robert Venditti's run (his revamp in the main title is something that looks radically...desperate to me). And this does feature Guy Gardner, although the how and the why of his having a red and a green ring will apparently have to wait.
Otherwise, the most interesting thing about Lost Army is the inclusion of Krona, a traditional Green Lantern villain who for some reason or other is working alongside the heroes. If anything, Lost Army reads like New Guardians crossed with Red Lanterns. I have considerable doubts about whether I will be reading this long-term. Why oh why did Venditti have to be given control...
Superman #41 (DC)
In Gene Yuen Lang's debut, quite unexpectedly "Truth" technically has not even begun yet. Unlike the rest of the titles included in the arc, which have already released their first entries, anyway, the moment of, well, truth hasn't been reached yet.
Actually, thanks to the continuity of artist John Romita Jr., this issue reads as seamlessly with the Johns run as Romita's own issue, and I guess that's probably the point. The other common link is Superman's apparent obsession with his new solar flare power. It seems likely at this point that Superman will have probably used it once too often, and thus deprived himself of all his powers, which accounts for the other gimmick of the "Truth" arc. The other being the loss of his secret identity.
And that is to say, I think the whole point of the arc is a complete deconstruction of Superman. At this point, DC probably feels more than ready for something to dramatically shake things up. Other than Grant Morrison's run in the early issues of Action Comics, nothing any creator has done since the start of the New 52 has really stuck. This tends to make DC think there's a problem, and the answer invariably is a defensive one. So: "Truth."
Given that he has managed to make himself at home in the Romita era, Lang already has my endorsement for being able to pull it off. I'll be skipping the tie-ins from other series. As far as I'm concerned, Superman is absolutely worth reading again.
We Are Robin #1 (DC)
For whatever reason, DC decided to be all mysterious about this series from writer (usually known as artist, but in Suicders, both) Lee Bermejo. But to clarify, this series stars Duke Thomas, one of the many characters Scott Snyder has tossed off in the pages of Batman. As depicted in a possibly unreliable Futures End: Batman and Robin #1, Duke at some point does in fact officially become Robin. For now, he will have to content himself with a more unofficial distinction.
It's perhaps helpful to mention, as well, that Bermejo has made at least one thing official: finally, a connection between the concept of Robin and the legendary Robin Hood. Traditionally, DC has attempted to make such distinctions with Green Arrow (most blatantly during the "Brightest Day" era just before the New 52). In a nutshell, that's what the concept behind We Are Robin seems to be.
But really, it's just good seeing Duke again. Featured in "Zero Year" and "Endgame" (the timeline seems a little muddled, but then as far as Batman's concerned that's been true throughout New 52, so it's just best not to worry about it), this is the first time he's gotten his own story (which is one better than the other Snyder castoff, Harper Row, who fans must be content to find in the pages Batman Eternal, apparently). The artwork is nothing like Bermejo's cover, and it's easy to suspect that DC may have been thinking of Miles Morales with art that somewhat evokes Humberto Ramos (who has been identified with Spider-Man for a number of years now).
Also along for the ride is Leslie Tompkins, a Batman staple whom fans have been protective of over the years (she was tied up in the Stephanie Brown arc when the once and future Spoiler took on the role of Robin), so that's good to see. Overall, I like this series quite a bit.
The Multiversity: Pax Americana Director's Cut (DC)
The local shop finally stocked copies of this, so I snapped one up. As you can see, the crux of this is the entire issue reprinted with Frank Quitely's original pencil art, which I think actually looks better than the finished work. There're also excerpts from Grant Morrison's script and looks at the art in development. For some reason it always humbles me to see how much Morrison is involved in helping to visualize the art, since I stopped doing artwork of any serious nature years ago. If I were to try what he does, it would not be fit to print.
To the extent that I've read any reaction to this release at all, it's griping that this is all it is. "Director's cuts" in comics usually tend to include creator commentary if not outright added story (which is impractical in comics). Morrison's script is represented only in part, his descriptions for panels, showing just how much he does in collaboration with Quitely to accomplish this ideological answer to Watchmen. It begins with a full-blown description of intent, actually, which for the subsequent reader is also like an introduction-after-the-fact.
It was also an excellent excuse to read the whole thing all over again, by the way. Still love it.
Also included in this polybagged issue is a larger version, in fold-out poster form, of the Multiversity map.
If you put the green ring and red ring together will it conjure up Santa Claus? It was interesting when I read Morrison's script and notes for Arkham Asylum; a lot of it tended to be different because of whoever did the artwork for that.
ReplyDelete