Sunday, February 23, 2020

Sunday Marvel Sunday "Tony Stark: Iron Man #12"

Tony Stark: Iron Man #12

Wow, that was a lot more difficult than it should have been.

I'm talking about finding an image of the cover on Google, which turns out to be a Walmart-exclusive variant (I found one with the title logo in blue, but apparently only Walmart had it in, y'know, Iron Man colors).

It should be noted that all these Sunday Marvel Sunday comics were originally obtained via Walmart three-packs.

Anyway.

Marvel continues to know what the hell to do with Iron Man.  Perversely, the company seems committed to screwing with the character in every way possible.  This has been going on in ridiculous fashion since the '90s, when Tony Stark was, inexplicably, a teenager for a while.  This was okay, in the '90s, if it was Ray Palmer, because even in the '90s Ray Palmer (the teenage thing was thanks to Zero Hour, in case you were wondering, and was featured in Dan Jurgens' Teen Titans) was not really a significant character (he had his heyday in the '70s, I think, in a partnership with Hawkman).  This is not to say The Atom is not a great character.  But very few writers seem interested in him.  I mean, even Ant-Man, with one of the worst publication histories of any major character, now has his own movies.  Ray Palmer in the Arrowverse is basically Iron Man, with shrinking powers.  Played by Superman.

Okay.  I kind of got sidetracked.  Anyway, this rant about how ridiculous Iron Man comics have been of course ties in with the fact that Iron Man has literally been the most significant superhero of the past decade, because of, y'know, the MCU.  And Marvel figured it was okay to exploit this opportunity.  To continue making terrible Iron Man comics.

Iron Man's dad, in the comics, isn't even Howard Stark, by the way.  Multiple writers affirmed that some convoluted adoption nonsense was the new status quo.  And Tony died.  And came back.  And died.  And as of this comic?  Is kind of dead.  And alive.  At the same time. 

Somehow the idea that Tony's a tech genius has gotten widely out of control.  In comics, being a tech genius is futurism, not smartphones.  Tony operates on such an advanced level (and yet, as with his armor, still doesn't...technically share it with everyday peons. despite running a massive business. somehow) he beggars all imagination. 

Part of this is superhero comics as they now exist, almost totally divorced from the real world.  This issue, by the way, is a tie-in with War of the Realms, just another cosmic story in adventures that no longer have anything to do with problems any of us is likely to ever experience outside of, well, a comic book, or another MCU flick.  It's particularly egregious when Marvel does it because this is supposed to be the company that's painfully reflective of everyday struggles.  And yeah, by token references to Tony's alcoholic past, it is.  Pretty much.  His new body has the same history as his old body (just don't even ask). 

Never mind that Marvel is once again replacing Tony as Iron Man, by the way.  Forget that DC may have just fired Dan DiDio because it had second thoughts about a Marvel-like attempt to line-wide replace the icons, again. 

Forget that this was a golden opportunity, with Tony's death in the movies, to remind any interested fans, that Tony's adventures continue well past Robert Downey, Jr. in the comics.  Maybe.  Probably.  Sometimes.  Unless they can help it.

Anyway, it doesn't matter who's writing Iron Man.  Bendis did it for a while, and he actually was kind of more interested in Doctor Doom.  Or Mary Jane.  Or Riri Williams.  This issue it's Gail Simone, the writer most likely to not really conceive of anything outside of comic book logic.  Unless it offends her.  And gives her a career. 

Anyway, I'm noticing that Thought Bubble Comics really only has a readership of one these days (thanks, Pat!), so it really doesn't matter what I say.  Some of these are going to be rants, and some are actually going to have nice things to say about Marvel.  But most of them will be rants.  Coming at you weekly!

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Watching the Walmart Giants 8 "February 2020"

Just when I thought I was out...Recently on Facebook there've been announcements about releases and I've been reading and contributing to the comments section.  Seems fans are finally discovering these things exist, and are happy about it.  And the giants keep finding ways to interest me, even though I'm becoming a little jaded (King/Bendis Withdrawal Syndrome).

Ah!  Before I go any further, let me just acknowledge the news that Dan DiDio, erstwhile longtime Publisher at DC, has been fired.  Apparently he was ruffling too many editorial feathers recently.  But speculation is only beginning.  It's suspected that the "G5" initiative, which hasn't even happened yet, might be responsible.  Anyway, sad to see him go. 

From Beyond the Unknown Giant #1
  • New story from Dave Wielgosz and Kenneth Rocafort (!!) featuring Green Lantern Hal Jordan being given an object lesson in paying attention to Earth at the expense of his duties to Sector 2814 (to be fair, very little has been done by any writer to expand the idea of the whole sector, which if given an opportunity would probably be one of my priorities).  Love to see Rocafort doing work in these giants, a huge coup (although I'd also love for him to get a big new assignment).
  • New story from Tom Sniegoski and Eric Gapstur featuring Kamandi.  Excellent story with a robot butler sort of upstaging Kamandi.  Sniegoski is another welcome presence in these giants, familiar from work relating to Jeff Smith's Bone.
  • New story from Dan Jurgens featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes, in a fine spotlight.
  • Reprint of DC Comics Presents #3 (from 1974!!) featuring Superman and Adam Strange (cover feature).
  • Reprint of The Brave and the Bold #113 (from 1978!!) featuring Batman and the Metal Men.
  • Reprint from Green Lantern Annual #3 (written by Alan Moore, from 1987!!). 
These giants are finally pushing well past 2003 (I think the previous earliest reprint point).  The collection ads have also gotten an upgrade.  Tom King is finally being put in the spotlight (the giants were slow to acknowledge even his Batman), with one page featuring Mister Miracle, Heroes in Crisis, Grayson and Omega Men (though a misprint identifies it as Batman Vol. 1: I Am Gotham), plus a Batman/Catwoman page spotlighting an 80th anniversary, plus King's Batman Vol. 6: Bride or Burglar?, Batman Vol. 7: The Wedding, and Batman/Catwoman: The Wedding Album.  There are also ads featuring the work of Jack Kirby and Darwyn Cooke, among others, plus Tomasi/Gleason's Batman & Robin.

Titans Giant #1
  • New story from Phil Hester (always great to see new work from him) and Scott Koblish (and Tom Grummett), featuring the adult Titans.
  • New story from Marc Guggenheim (big giants favorite at the moment) and Steve Pugh featuring Raven.
  • Reprint from Teen Titans #50 (from 1977) featuring the expanded old school Titans.
  • Reprint from Starfire #1.
  • Reprint of Adventures of the Super Sons #1.

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Sunday Marvel Sunday "The Totally Awesome Hulk #20"

The Totally Awesome Hulk #20

Ha!  Don't have to worry about explaining which series this one is!

Because, as it turns out, the totally awesome Hulk...wasn't awesome.  Let alone totally.

Ironies, amiright? 

The funny thing is, I should have been someone who ate up the whole concept.  Amadeus Cho was a cherished favorite of mine a decade back, costarring in a succession of Hercules comics that were perennially among my favorite reads.  I'm not a Marvel guy!  This was a huge exception for me!  And Totally Awesome Hulk was even written by one of the writers from that era, Greg Pak (who was also, ah, known for his Hulk comics; who flipped over to DC during the New 52, but didn't stick as well, somehow having landed a Superman gig; Hulk and Superman are two vastly different characters).

Cho got the Hulk gig because, well, Marvel was replacing all its iconic characters at the time.  Literally all of them.  I have no idea why they thought it was a brilliant idea.  This was a '90s thing because the sales for the death of Superman were a huge bonanza for the industry.  Doing it just to keep things interesting (although, technically, Superman's death was actually just an attempt to forestall his wedding, which ended up delayed for years, while the TV counterpart in Lois & Clark actually got far less popular the closer it got) (ironies, amiright?), turned out just to piss off whatever fans were still paying attention.

And for whatever reason, this issue ties into a "Weapons of Mutant Destruction" crossover event.  I have no idea why the Hulk has anything at all to do with mutants, other than...reasons. 

But then, having a Hulk who wants to be the Hulk is also...not the Hulk.  At all.  It's the total opposite of the Hulk!  And...why was Cho even tapped to be the Hulk?  It makes no logical sense to anyone who didn't read the relevant material.  It's just...reasons.  This was a character who made his name by being one of the smartest people on Earth.  He thought Hulk was cool.  Apparently he cured Banner.  That "cure" would've done better to make Banner happy to be the Hulk.  This doesn't even work as a Doctor Spider-Man gimmick.  it defies all logic, ideas approved without being thought out, just tossed out there.  I think "The House of Ideas" can do better than that.

It's bad storytelling all around.

Sunday, February 9, 2020

Watching the Walmart Giants 7 "Crisis On Infinite Earths Giant #2"

Pretty sure this was shipped to Walmart in January, but I only caught it last weekend:

Crisis On Infinite Earths Giant #2
  • New from Marv Wolfman, Marc Guggenheim & Tom Derenick, continuing a story from the previous issue, in which Felicity Smoak somewhat obnoxiously (it seems to be my word of the day) tries to petition for her needs to be greater than anyone else's as she mourns the death of Oliver Queen and demands he be brought back.  Probably intended to be read before the final two installments of the Arrowverse Crisis, but I guess it doesn't hurt to read it after.  Featuring an appearance (advertised on the cover) from the Green Lantern Corps, led by Sinestro (will be interesting if the forthcoming TV series will follow such continuity).
  • New from Wolfman, Guggenheim & Tom Grummett, likewise continuing a story from the previous issue, featuring Lex Luthor(s).  Still great to see Grummett doing Superman art again, and if anything, he seems more comfortable this time, and as if he never missed a beat (I like when there's continuity in an artist's work, especially if they have arrived at a definitive style, over long periods of time).
  • Reprint of Crisis #8, as represented by the cover of the Giant, featuring the death of Barry Allen.
  • Reprint of Crisis #11, which in this reading, at least for me, seems much more weirdly to anticipate Geoff Johns' Infinite Crisis than I remember.
  • Reprint of DCU: Legacies #6, which is like an Astro City take on Crisis.
I'm still kicking myself for missing the crucial moment in the Arrowverse Crisis Arrow installment in which Grant Gustin's Flash meets DCEU Ezra Miller's Flash, by far the coolest cameo of the whole thing, and by far the most unexpected.  As I'm writing this, Birds of Prey just underperformed in its opening weekend, but hopefully DC movies (such as, yes, Miller's Flash) aren't much affected by it.  (Tonight will also reveal how many, if any, Oscars Joker wins.)  I loved pieces of Arrowverse Crisis quite a bit.  Biggest win of these crossovers almost by default, and a fun way to celebrate the screen legacy of DC superheroes. 

Sunday Marvel Sunday "Fantastic Four #10"

Fantastic Four #10

Wait, what?  That cover to the left says #4.  So why did I link it with #10?  Because apparently the same variant cover was used for both issues.  Yeah. 

Anyway:

Yancy Street.

Yancy Street.

Yancy Street.

Yancy Street.

Yancy Street.

Yancy Street.

Get the picture yet?  This is quite possibly the most obnoxious single issue of a comic book I have ever read.  Lots of Tom King Batman readers thought "I'll break his damn back" was too repetitive.  But at least King had a reason.  Dan Slott references Yancy Street so many times in this issue, I know it was deliberate.  Maybe not deliberately awful.  But it might as well have been.

The idea, for this "War of the Realms" tie-in, is that, in typical Marvel fashion, characters are really proud to be New Yorkers, and in this instance, to be residents of a particular neighborhood, a famous one in Fantastic Four lore, but...

You don't need to repeat "Yancy Street" so often to make this point.  It.  Becomes.  Irredeemably.  Obnoxious.

It's the exact opposite of what Slott really needed to do to make his point.  In fact, he ruined his point, with this approach.  He wanted his characters to be proud to be New Yorkers, to defend their own neighborhood, to prove to a bunch of bullies that if they really wanted to make something of themselves, they would embrace the community.

So Slott uses a sledgehammer to wham every single letter of "Yancy Street" into the reader's head.  Every single reader.  Individually.

By the end of the issue, I desperately wanted some urban development done.  Make it a parking lot.  Anything but whatever Slott thought he was accomplishing.

Yancy Street. Yesh.

Friday, February 7, 2020

Reading Comics 242 "Fifth and final Forbidden Geek mystery box"

Yeah, so that happened.  The title of this post reads "fifth" mystery box, when it really ought to have read "sixth."  You might recall that I had problems with my fourth box.  Forbidden Geek, when I contacted them, quickly shipped a replacement box when I told them the original had been lost in the mail.  The company sent out an email explaining how they'd had trouble keeping up with mystery box shipments during the holidays.  And then my fifth box never arrived.  Payment was processed for my sixth box, and the shipping information for the fifth box was immediately replaced for the sixth's.  I decided enough was enough.  The sixth box actually arrived exactly on-schedule, the same as the first three boxes had.  But I didn't want to continue supporting an unprofessional company.  It's one thing for shipping to be messed up once.  It's another to know there's a problem and take no real steps to address it and just get back to the schedule later. 

So I missed a box, and this final one, which actually proved all over again the value the service had for me, arrived.  It also included a trade collecting material relevant to the forthcoming Birds of Prey movie, and another Funko statue, plus these comics:

Animal Man #76
from October 1994

I had never read an Animal Man from this initial Vertigo period that wasn't written by Grant Morrison.  I understood that DC was keen to keep the series going without him, but I imagined that the results wouldn't really interest me.  As a result, I don't think I'd read a Jamie Delano comic before this.  Delano was one of the Vertigo originals, but he never had a signature comic like Morrison or Neil Gaiman, much less Peter Milligan (a lesser but still talented writer who continued working with the imprint for years after the original creators moved on).  This issue doesn't even feature Animal Man himself, but rather is part of an arc that includes the Red, a concept that was later used in the New 52 in ways fans didn't think was relevant, and yet here it is.  The New 52 was a job of reintegrating Vertigo characters back into the DC mainstream, and to do so it reclaimed familiar superhero tropes rather than focused squarely on horror elements (though the Red, and the Rot, were certainly intended even later to be considered horrific).  Anyway, long story short, I think I won't be so reluctant to read a Jamie Delano comic in the future.  We all have our biases for familiar creators, and can be shy about sampling unfamiliar ones.  Sometimes that approach is sheer nonsense.  You might discover a new favorite, or perhaps merely someone who is worth reading.

Batgirl #71
from February 2006

An incredibly simplistic story (this writer was totally unknown to me, and I was happy to leave them that way) featuring Cassandra Cain under the cowl, with the mouth covering she's traditionally associated with literally snipped away, apparently from a period where the Dark Knightress was no longer intended to be so ominous.  Great cover from Tim Sale, though.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Annual #3
from 1993

"Bloodlines," yeah!  This is one of those things I'll always be nostalgic about, not just because a few of the new superheroes created during it turned out to be fun to have around (for as long as they managed to; Sparx and Hitman probably had the longest runs out of them, and neither is around anymore, and haven't been for decades).  Like the theme months in the New 52, I'll always be up to sampling the results all over again.  This one actually features two new characters, a hero and a villain, who end up cancelling each other out (both are depowered by the end), which isn't something I'd seen before.  Bonus, of course, that it features Azbats!

Batman #4
from February 2012

There's Scott Snyder's initial "Court of Owls" arc again, which lately I've been cursed to revisit again and again, whether in a Forbidden Geek trade collection or the Batman Giants.  Or this single issue.  Which I actually kind of want to write my own version of.  Y'know, so Snyder can never, ever see the results, and how much better they are.  (Take that!)

Hawkman #8
from March 1987

I admit that I didn't really read this one.

The Kingdom #2
from February 1999

Kingdom Come was a big epic tale that became one of my all-time favorite comics.  Mark Waid decided to follow it up with The Kingdom, which didn't really approach it (like at all) in quality, but was really an excuse for Waid and/or DC to officially bring back the multiverse via the concept of "hypertime," which actually got a bigger bow in the pages of Karl Kesel's Superboy (though, like Superboy in this era in general, is generally forgotten, despite a wealth of great material, and not all of it from Kesel and Tom Grummett).  Much like Morrison's later Multiversity, Waid sandwiched The Kingdom with one-shots exploring individual characters/concepts, which in the end were more valuable.  (Actually, the same is true of Multiversity.)  I actually think Kingdom Come's legacy was tarnished by The Kingdom.  If there were only going to be two issues of the lead story, DC and/or Waid could really have stood to opt for at least more impressive art, even if Alex Ross wasn't available.

The Ray #7
from December 1994

It's Howard Porter on art!  But not quite the Porter art as later depicted in the pages of JLA, meaning his style hadn't yet advanced to that familiar level.  And while I was always interested in at least sampling this series, featuring one of the many teenage '90s superheroes (for reasons, in this particular character, I never really understood), this issue is hijacked by Black Canary, which is kind of hilarious, because it proves how engaging she is apparently right after a series starring her was cancelled due to poor sales.  Stupid readers!

Robin #4 (of 5)
from April 1991

The original solo mini-series, featuring Tim Drake taking on the dreaded King Snake (a villain Tim's stories repeatedly returned to in the '90s, but who otherwise quickly faded into obscurity) while trying desperately not to think about having sex with Lady Shiva (hey, he was a '90s Teenage Superhero).

Stanley and His Monster #4
from May 1993

No, not Stan Lee and His Monster!  Although after Lady Shiva, it's kind of funny that the best thing about this comic is the sexy lady demon.  The best thing about the art is the sexy lady demon, too.  So there's that.

Starfire #2
from November 1976

Ha!  So apparently "Starfire" existed before the New Teen Titans!  And no, not the orange-skinned alien who sometimes is too sexy for comic book fans (it's a distinctly modern problem '90s fans would've been completely baffled by, as that was literally a whole genre back then; Americans still have no idea how puritanical our culture remains, regardless of how we explain it), but...a sword & sorcery Starfire!

As explained in an editorial in the comic itself, DC was desperately trying to launch a sword & sorcery angle to its lineup at the time.  Literally the only success from the many failure attempts in this initiative was Warlord, Travis Morgan, who still pops up from time to time.

And like the later Starfire, this Starfire is a sexy lady whose wardrobe does not attempt to cover large swathes of her body.  Anyway, the comic was also fun to read, and it was just fun to discover that the name had been used before.

The Titans #16
from June 2000

Devin K. Grayson!  I don't know, I think fans never forgave her for Dick Grayson's (no relation) rape.  Maybe there were other reasons, but Devin left comics behind and never attempted (or never succeeded at) a full-time comeback.  Which is absurd, because she was a talented storyteller, and instantly grasped DC continuity and how to continue it.  This team is literally the original Teen Titans, as adults, reunited, and this issue sees them rehashing interpersonal conflicts and deciding it's okay to have them and still maintain relationships (which makes it completely inconceivable in today's environment).  Kind of bittersweet, in hindsight, too, with how it handles Roy Harper, who in current continuity is kind of dead with far less fanfare than what happens to Wally West within the pages of Heroes in Crisis.  And suddenly I want a Devin K. Grayson series starring Roy.  At least they're finally reprinting her Nightwing.  Hopefully.  Sometimes DC ends up cancelling these sorts of things.

So long, Forbidden Geek, and thanks for all the fish!

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Sunday Marvel Sunday "Daredevil #1 (2019)"

Daredevil #1

Yeah, it's another victim of Constant Marvel Reboot, in that at least once a year Marvel resets the issue numbering back to #1.  This used to be thanks to idiot fans thinking it was easier to understand a series if they started from the beginning, but...it's literally impossible for Marvel to feature all of its characters with completely fresh starts every single new series.  It's mostly because Marvel has chosen to reboot with new creators, because apparently it's too confusing to even consider that one creator could have anything remotely relevant to say about whatever the last creator did.  How rude!

Anyway, so this is another Daredevil #1, but the good news is that this is the second creator in a row I actually care about.  The last run was written by Charles Soule, one of those Inexplicably Unappreciated talents Marvel has had in recent years.  This time it's Chip Zdarsky, who is actually Inexplicably Appreciated (because finicky Marvel fans have decided it's somehow been long enough that they've hated Marvel).

Since I don't really read comics regularly (as in, read monthly comics regularly), I haven't really been able to appreciate Zdarsky properly, but I've been consistently impressed with what I've seen, so I'm glad Marvel fans and/or Marvel itself are appreciating the guy's work.  He started making waves with his Spider-Man work, where among other things J. Jonah Jameson finally put aside his irrational hatred of the web-slinger.

So ironically enough, Zdarsky is following that up with a Daredevil run where cops finally noticeably don't like vigilantes.

The famous template for Daredevil comics since Frank Miller has been to recycle Matt Murdock's life being completely ruined and his identity becoming publicly known.  I didn't really care to find out, but I think even the Mark Waid run that apparently wasn't about that eventually turned into that.  There was a Karl Kesel run I think in the '90s that harkened back to the character's pre-Miller roots (but Kesel is a reliable source of Silver Age nostalgia that is less stodgy than the average Alan Moore effort, mostly because Kesel loves Jack Kirby, and Moore is merely nostalgic).

Anyway, so Zdarsky actually picks up where Soule left off (thereby officially negating the whole reboot concept), and like the slightly later issue in the run I previously read, it's a joy reading his work.  It always is.  Few writers are as capable of following standard superhero tropes while making them seem relevant, and Zdarsky is one of those.  He's not just going through the motions, delivering what he thinks and every reader seems to expect this sort of thing is supposed to be.  He's a vibrant voice.

And yeah, he's tackling the rarely explored topic of what actual law enforcement might make of vigilante antics.  Given examples like Jim Gordon, you'd think cops would love it, or gleefully look the other way, or use this activity to their advantage.  But this is Daredevil.  Daredevil is one of those (many, many) hard-luck Marvel heroes.  So that's not what he's going to experience.  So this is exactly the kind of story he should be starring in.