Friday, May 17, 2019

Turtlepop! #4 "Tom King Pulled From Superman Giant???"

Drunk on tequila and lust for world conquest.
THOUGHT BUBBLE COMICS: Is it true that we're apparently breaking a world exclusive?
TURTLE: Insofar as nobody chatters about the Walmart 100-Page Giants?  Yes.

THOUGHT BUBBLE READER: So when you performed a search, you came up with the same results?
TURTLE: Are we circling around to explaining what we're talking about?  I hope so.  This format is weird.  And used too infrequently.  Apparently the last one was in 2017.  Also, yes.

THOUGHT BUBBLE READER: Okay, so to quit burying the lead, I just picked up the latest issue of Superman 100-Page Giant, #11, at Walmart, and discovered that Tom King's serialized "Up in the Sky" wasn't in it.  What's up with that?
TURTLE: Can only speculate, dude.  Walmart and/or DC might've decided that the controversial "Lois Lane died a million times" installment was too much bad publicity.

THOUGHT BUBBLE COMICS: But will King's story get to be completed?
TURTLE: Maybe?  DC's releasing a version of it in comics shop beginning in July.

THOUGHT BUBBLE COMICS: Basically you don't know?
TURTLE: ...Basically I don't know.

THOUGHT BUBBLE COMICS: Crazy that one of the hottest commodities in comics is writing something that nobody is chattering about?
TURTLE: Totes crazy, dude.

THOUGHT BUBBLE COMICS: Weren't you originally designed to be crazy sarcastic?
TURTLE: Yes, Steve Orlando writes the comic replacing King in Superman 100-Page Giant #11.

THOUGHT BUBBLE COMICS: That has nothing to do with what I asked.
TURTLE: It was still relevant.

THOUGHT BUBBLE COMICS: True.  Thoughts?
TURTLE: Steve's become a favorite of mine, so I guess I'm happy, if anyone has to unexpectedly replace King, in the middle of a story (a great story), it might as well be Steve Orlando.

THOUGHT BUBBLE COMICS: Is it true that Andy Kubert accidentally shot the inker and that's why the King comic didn't get published?
TURTLE: This has taken a strange turn.

THOUGHT BUBBLE COMICS: Can you just answer the question?
TURTLE: Yes.

THOUGHT BUBBLE COMICS: Yes, as in, "Yes, Andy Kubert shot the inker," or "Yes, I will answer the question?
TURTLE: Yes.

THOUGHT BUBBLE COMICS: Helpful as always, Turtle!  Thanks for stopping by!
TURTLE: My pleasure! 

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Reading Comics 228 "FCBD 2019"

What I love about Free Comic Book Day is that it's basically the best shot most companies have at being visible to the average reader.  For the folks showing up just for free comics, it probably won't make much of a difference.  For the folks who show up to comics shops every Wednesday or in any other sense on a regular basis, it's a chance to find out what companies outside of DC and Marvel are doing (because let's face it, for the average fan, it's still basically just DC and Marvel).  I don't know how many sales these free comics result in (for a long time, I bought Atomic Robo comics in part because Red 5 always included it in their FCBD releases, when Red 5 had Atomic Robo in its slate), but it says a lot about the companies, what they're willing to release for the annual celebration. 

Here again is what I got, and what I thought after reading through all of it:

Animosity Tales (AfterShock)
Marguerite Bennett's comic is basically the flagship of AfterShock, another would-be Image in a crowded indy scene.  What was more interesting than the story featured in the issue was the summary of the series to date, which reads a heck of a lot like The Walking Dead.  So if you want your zombies to instead be animals, this is the comic for you.

Bloodshot (Valiant)
I've been a supporter of the Valiant relaunch for years (not specifically from the start, but around the time The Valiant came out).  While I don't love everything they publish, I still maintain that this is the discerning superhero fan's best bet for a coherent modern landscape to follow, the Ultimate version of the classic Valiant characters, the condensed version of what the New 52 attempted.  And Bloodshot has been a part of it, and been a favorite of mine, for years.  This take is from Tim Seeley, who's been an underrated star of the modern comics landscape whether in his DC work or elsewhere.  But Seeley's take on Bloodshot feels hollow compared to what Jeff Lemire was doing.  Lemire pulled off Bloodsquirt!  He wants a Bloodshot that's actually the complete reverse of Lemire's, all action and no character study.  I thought that was the best part of the modern Bloodshot!  Anyway, also included is the latest chapter of the Rai saga, Fallen World, which reads a lot better.  It's from Dan Abnett, who could use a breakout solo project. 

Deadly Class (Image)
I'd sampled the series previously, but this particular issue was a brilliant way to highlight what makes it truly awesome, and I'm glad all over again that there's a TV adaptation, which I hope to catch.  Remender's a particularly busy creator, the hardest working concept engine not named Mark Millar, who takes all manner of risks with high concepts. 

H1 Ignition (Humanoids)
Here's Mark Waid's latest attempt at a startup.  Dude's been at this for twenty years now, and...has yet to find one that truly sticks (or as with Boom!...sticks with).  This one's all about straining for modern credibility, the social awareness that actually...turned off a lot of Marvel fans.  Maybe it works better with new characters.  I don't know.  But this preview is somewhat poorly put together.  I have little faith of it sticking any better than his previous efforts.  I have no idea why Waid strayed so far from what he did so brilliantly in the pages of The Flash.  Maybe someday he rediscovers that spark.

Interceptor (Vault)
Donny Cates is another firecracker in modern comics, but one that's working equally hard at mainstream (with Marvel) as with his personal projects.  Since this isn't a well-loved era for Marvel, fans haven't really rallied around him, but I like to see what he's doing.  I like his storytelling in this issue.  He's definitely worth keeping an eye on.

 
Punchline (Antarctic Press)

Here's the best comic I read from the bunch!  It's a superhero book from other than DC/Marvel, which is always an interesting prospect.  There will be great material done elsewhere (see: Valiant) and there will be shoddy stuff.  This looks like great stuff.

Part of what makes it look great is the artwork, naturally.  Matthew Weldon seems like the closest I'll get to classic Stuart Immonen, before he started adding detail into his clean forms.  There's some rough work in there, but Weldon is like Patrick Gleason more interested in shadow than warm figures, a moody look at its best that the touch of reality Bill Williams seeks in a script that looks more to the human than superhuman.

I like the details Williams includes, like the fact that the Black Arrow is actually two people sharing a costume to evade seekers of secret identities.  (I'd read that comic, too, thank you!)  It feels like a genuinely fresh take, just when you thought you'd seen everything.  There's a collection already available with the rest of the story, which I think I might actually track down (read: order online).  And I guess there's more new issues coming. 

Stranger Things (Dark Horse)
As I've said, I haven't been initiated into the Stranger Things cult, and this comic didn't make me consider reconsidering.  Fortunately there was also a Black Hammer backup, with Jeff Lemire presenting the "Cabin of Horrors," clearly an homage to House of Mystery and such.  Eventually we meet Jack Sabbath (familiar to Black Hammer fans?), who has just discovered that his backstory might be different than he previously thought.  Cowritten by Ray Fawkes, in defense of whom I sort of exiled myself from Millarworld a few months back.  Also discovered that Mice Templar artist Victor Santos has been working at Dark Horse recently, with a long-running espionage comic called Polar, which might be worth checking out.  See, Free Comic Book Day???  Success.

Year of the Villain (DC)
Again, not technically a FCBD release, but for the second year in a row a cheap DC comic meant to promote upcoming stories.  Scott Snyder is the brains behind a new Underworld Unleashed/Forever Evil-type event headlined by the bad guys.  I really wish Lex Luthor could just stay the antihero he's done so well in stories like Final Night and Geoff Johns' Justice League, but he keeps getting dragged back into villainy.  This is one of those stories where "he's finally gone too far."  More significantly, Brian Michael Bendis signals he may be interested in working on Batgirl comics, with a tale that finally allows Barbara Gordon to remember she was pretty badass as Oracle, too.

Star Wars Day: May the 4th Be With You (Marvel)
Again, not technically a FCBD release (but part of another of the things last Saturday was culturally).  Besides some previews for various comics, there are some creator interviews, including one spotlighting Kieron Gillen's creation of Doctor Aphra, whom he repeatedly describes as a Star Wars version of Indiana Jones.  (Yes, yes, yes: Harrison Ford played both Indy and Han Solo, but Gillen's point is that Aphra collects artifacts...but with a more nefarious agenda in mind!)  On the whole, I'm quite happy that Marvel got the rights for Star Wars back from Dark Horse (other than Dark Horse's brilliant adaptation of The Star Wars), as it sticks much closer to film material and less creating whatever the hell it wants.  I just can't decide if Aphra is closer to the Dark Horse mentality than Marvel's...

Saturday, May 4, 2019

Reading Comics 227 "Ascender, Heroes in Crisis, The Green Lantern, Batman, DCeased"

Ascender #1 (Image)
The sequel series to Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen's robot saga Descender, has already been compared to and/or described as Star Wars.  I'm very glad to see the story continue.  At some point I figure I will add the complete collected editions to my library.  Among all the comics I've read from Lemire, it's my favorite.

Batman #70 (DC)
Tom King seems destined to anger and/or fascinate readers (see below!).  His most recent arc in the series featured a series of nightmares.  I've been adding every collected edition to my library, and have yet to be disappointed in reads or rereads.  I haven't read the complete nightmare sequence; that'll follow in the collected edition (see above!).  This issue sort of wraps it up and begins a new arc.  Batman marches on Arkham!

DCeased #1 (DC)
Tom Taylor, who had some excellent material in the most recent Batman collected edition (Tyrant Wing), and has been toiling away in digital-first comics for probably too long, finally gets to seize the spotlight in a comic I think has been wrongly characterized as the DC equivalent of Marvel Zombies.  But then, I haven't read Marvel Zombies and this is only the first issue of DCeased.  But I like what I see.  Besides Taylor, the coup here is art from Trevor Hairsine (Divinity).

The Green Lantern #7 (DC)
I've kind of officially become a trade-waiter.  I haven't made an effort to read an issue of this Grant Morrison comic (!!!) since the first one.  Issues like this are a surefire way to ensure I will get the trade.  Morrison spends most of it in a literary disposition as he casually rewrites Green Lantern ring lore.  Great issue.

Heroes in Crisis #8 (DC)

Well, it's official.  Wally West did it.  It's a Tom King comic, so of course it's controversial.  A website I follow posted a bad review, which I'm inclined to take with a grain of salt, as it's admittedly a Flash site, and of course Wally West was the Flash, at least solidly in the '90s (most famously in the Mark Waid run, and how Geoff Johns first made his name writing Flash comics before solidly redefining it with Flashpoint). 

Anyway, the site argued that King, who's made his career in comics drawing on his war experiences, somehow goofed the issue, which is clearly a PTSD story in an event comic about PTSD.  Another site I follow gave the issue a poor review claiming it definitely betrays King having altered his original plans for Heroes in Crisis, which does have a documented history of change (first solicited as Sanctuary and as seven rather than nine issues).

Clearly I disagree with these negative reviews.  I'm a fan of King, but I'm not a reader who uncritically accepts things.  Every new project (whether a new comic, or a book, or a movie, or music, etc.) has to justify itself.  Being a fan of a creator or franchise is merely a way to guarantee my interest. 

King's thought process is clearly spelled out in the issue.  He even goes back over ground he covered previously.  This issue is mostly about explaining exactly how Wally did it.  The Flash site claims the issue is a poor representation of PTSD.  I respectfully disagree.  I think everyone who suffers from it (or from anything) believes their suffering is unique.  That's Wally's perspective throughout the issue.  Believing a predicament is unique is intrinsic to human nature; believing any condition is unique is intrinsic to the species.  We're often entirely bound up in our egos.  But in pain it's worst, as we become despondent, and the pain only encourages itself to continue. 

Wally reaches a breaking point.  Interestingly, King actually explains it by expanding on Flash lore, the idea of the Speed Force and what it takes to use it, which has always been Wally's hallmark.  His ability to command the Speed Force became Waid's ticket to a series of great stories.  And yet, in his new circumstances Wally has been cut off from everything he once took for granted, the family Waid ultimately left him with.  Even Barry, his famous "Trial of the Flash," endured considerable mental torment (with or without the intervention of Eobard Thawne).  He loses control for a moment, and accidently kills a handful of heroes.

In panic, he deliberately takes more lives.  At this point it becomes a Parallax situation.  Parallax was the fear entity that took over Hal Jordan following the loss of Coast City.  A momentary lapse of willpower compromised Hal for years.  This is really no different.  A Wally already suffering makes a terrible decision.  That's it.

There's one more issue.  And, folks, this is comics.  Wally West will run again.  He will be a hero again.  And regardless, we have those great Waid stories.  Hopefully, if nothing else, Heroes in Crisis will lead readers to read them for the first time.  They're among the all-times great.  I've listed "The Return of Barry Allen" as my all-time favorite in the past.  One story can't change that.  Why in the world would it?  Could it? 

This would be one thing if King were just mucking around.  But King doesn't muck around.  He tells compelling stories, that challenge, that go well beyond the scope other comic book writers typically conceive.  Heroes in Crisis is no different.  Fans heaped praise on King for The Vision.  DC clearly expected that for Mister Miracle.  He delivered, regardless of fan response, and he has delivered again with Heroes in Crisis.  This guy's one of the all-time greats.

Free Comic Book Day 2019

The first Saturday in May has come and gone for another year, and like last year I celebrated it at Nerd Out Comics and Comics & Stuff in sunny Tampa.  Comics & Stuff has since moved to a new location, but the experience was comparable.  Inexplicably, Tampa folk just aren't interested in queuing up, with or without costumes!  This was always a highlight for me, in three other states, three other stores, by which I know I have a decent sampling of the event.  Comics & Stuff, with its larger new location, had a bigger turnout than last year.  I got there after it opened, but the place was crammed, I mean literally crammed (also, I hate people who have no spatial awareness, as in won't even consider moving unless you ask them, and then ask them again when you come by again).  Nerd Out, I arrived early.  Like last year they had a table of this year's releases, and other tables filled with older freebies, right outside the store.  I got a ton of comics there, all freebies.  Didn't go inside.  Comics & Stuff, obviously I went inside, bought a few new comics, too. 

Anyway, here's what I came away with (Comics & Stuff had a four comic limit, Nerd Out three), for this year's releases:
  • Animosity Tales (Aftershock) I've sampled Marguerite Bennett's comic as a paying customer in the past. 
  • Bloodshot (Valiant) I've been a fan of this incarnation for a few years now. 
  • Deadly Class (Image) Kind of want to see the TV version.
  • H1 Ignition (Humanoids) Mark Waid's attempting another startup...!
  • Interceptor (Vault) Written by Donny Cates, who I imagine to be one of those current writers capable of securing a real audience.
  • Punchline (Antarctic) Looked good.
  • Stranger Things (Dark Horse) With all due respect to fans of the TV show, my hook was the Black Hammer backup.
  • Year of the Villain (DC) This was actually a twenty-five cent comic released a few days earlier, but Nerd Out was giving it away.  (Yay, Nerd Out!)
  • Star Wars Day: May the 4th Be With You (Marvel) Another unofficial Nerd Out freebie that didn't count to its limit.
And what did I score with Nerd Out's older freebies?
  • Avatar (Dark Horse) A FCBD 2017 release.  A lot of people have been attempting to downplay James Cameron's achievement in the past decade.  I've kind of been part of it, by dismissing the basic story as Pocahontas redux.  But I've been coming around.  It's still like nothing else anyone has done.  The last time that happened at the movies, it was Star Wars.  See where that one went?
  • Bad Machinery (Oni) A FCBD 2017 release.
  • Battle Angel Alita (Kodansha) A Halloween ComicFest 2018 release.  I have yet to see the Robert Rodriguez movie.
  • Comic Book Legal Defense Fund: Defender Vol. 2 #2 (CBLDF) Released in 2017, featuring Batwoman on the cover.
  • Help the CBLDF...Defend Comics (CBLDF) A FCBD 2017 release. I feel bad not really having supported the fund financially.  But certainly a worthy cause.  Featuring Jeffrey Brown.
  • Fresh off the Boat (Boom!) A FCBD 2017 release, featuring Gene Luen Yang and Jorge Corona.
  • Guardians of the Galaxy (Marvel) A FCBD 2017 release.  Also featuring the Bendis Defenders.
  • The Incal (Humanoids) A FCBD 2017 release.  Apparently a much-admired graphic novel, by Jodorowsky and Moebius.
  • Marvel Previews: Captain Marvel (Marvel) I liked the movie.
  • Marvel Previews: Avengers Endgame (Marvel) I haven't seen it yet...!
  • Ms. Marvel  (Marvel) A Halloween ComicFest 2018 release.  Revisiting the beginning of a run I much admired in the beginning.
  • People of Earth: Experiencer's Guide to Aliens (DC) A promo comic for the TV show.
  • The Amazing Spider-Man #1: Behind-the-Scenes Edition (Marvel) The Spencer/Ottley reboot, pencil art only...!
  • Spill Night (First Second) A FCBD 2017 release.  Written by Scott Westerfeld.
  • Steam Wars: Strike Leader (Antarctic) A FCBD 2017 release.  I think it might be safe to say that a project that began as a steampunk Star Wars has become its own thing at this point.
  • The World of Krypton (DC) A promo comic for the Krypton TV series, featuring a vintage John Byrne reprint...!
  • Wonder Woman (DC) A FCBD 2017 release...!  Clearly a good year for Nerd Out...not to have given away enough of its freebies.  And a good year to find good stuff two years later.  Reprinting the Rucka Rebirth launch.
  • Marvel Universe: War of the Realms (Marvel) The Jason Aaron event primer.
  • Captain America 75th Anniversary Magazine (Marvel) Pretty sure I've actually gotten and read this before.  Didn't seem to hurt to pick up another copy and do it again.  Dude just helped defeat Thanos (uh, spoiler!!!).