Here I go again. I
really shouldn’t have, but I opened a box at Heroes & Dragons, meaning I
will be reading comics on a regular basis again, in a more limited capacity
than I have in the past, when I didn’t have a ton of impulse control. This time I’ll be reading on the stuff I
really want to read. Some of my
selections have been shaped by the extended trial I’ve been on for the past
year, some by decisions I made before it.
It’s really an effort to read books that may be unavailable typically,
things I don’t want to miss, things I won’t have had the ability to catch if I
hadn’t made this decision. For instance,
as visitors to Comics Reader will know by now, I’m a fan of Oni Press’s
WASTELAND, a comic that spent a great deal of time recently not actually being
published, but the circumstances that forced that particular break were
recently resolved, and throughout 2012 it’s been back on a regular basis. I haven’t seen it in any comic book store I’ve
visited since Newbury Comics, so in order to read it without a lot of hassle,
opening up a box was a decision that was more or less necessary.
There are two kinds of people who read comics: those with
arrested development and those who are simply developing. I don’t mean to disparage either group, but
the fact is, it takes a special kind of person to be interested in stories told
in illustrated form, especially when the most popular stories in the medium
feature outsized personalities in colorful costumes. Part of what drove me to reading comics in
the first place was vindicated frustration from a childhood deprived of them
when I was most keen to do so; I’ve been playing catch-up for twenty
years. I was a teenager by the time I
was able to fulfill this ambition, and it so happened that at the time, there
were a lot of comics being published that rewarded continued interest, and that
helped develop a habit. Yes, reading
comics is a habit; otherwise they wouldn’t be released in monthly increments.
Again, none of this is a bad thing. In fact, I think it’s a very good thing,
because comics have an ability to remove the filter many storytellers force on
themselves, making their tales more mundane, more ordinary, more constrained by
things that have actually happened. That
in itself isn’t a bad thing, and in some instances can be a very good thing,
but the universal is at its best in the sublime, when it activates the
imagination. There are more benefits to
looking beyond the simple and embracing the abstract. Comics do this better than any other expressive
form except perhaps music. For some
reason, but you combine a static image with words, the words become more
important, if you let them.
That being said, let’s look at some examples:
AQUAMAN #8 (DC)
Geoff Johns continues to expand his vision of Aquaman beyond
the simple parody that pop culture has embraced in the past ten years, abetted
by lackluster comic book portrayals in endless relaunches throughout many
decades (Tad Williams, I contend, remains the sole exception) since the
character’s creation. Some creators have
understood the potential of his unique setting, the mythology that Aquaman
alone can truly tap into, but Johns is looking beyond that simple vision and
tapping into how Aquaman’s life and career can be shaped outside his
connections to the Justice League and embrace, like his Green Lantern stories,
a far greater world than ever before. To
wit, Johns opens this issue with the young Arthur Curry attempting to distance
himself from humans who could never understand him, following the death of his
father, thrusting him into a dawning awareness of his Atlantean heritage. He eventually meets others who understand
him, but they aren’t the Justice League, but rather a whole myriad of outcasts. As I’ve been saying, anyone who hasn’t read
AQUAMAN yet should probably start doing so soon, because if history is any
indication, Johns has a lot more planned, and this is just the foundation.
THE AVENGERS #1 (Marvel)
A reprint of the 2010 relaunch, Brian Michael Bendis (guru
of all things Earth’s Mightiest Heroes) picks up the pieces of many conflicts
he himself has helped engineer, reassembling the team once more and then
bringing back time-traveling Kang for a more specific purpose. There are moments where the gravity of what
everyone’s been through is clear, but there’s also the trademark flippant style
of Bendis that has likely built him his following (it’s no wonder he moonlights
as the Ultimate chronicler of Spider-Man, since that’s his natural character
vein). This one’s a freebie, which is
really smart, given the movie that pretty much everyone is going to see this
summer, many in multiple visits.
AVENGERS VS X-MEN #0 (Marvel)
I got this reprint, too (had to pay for it, though), the one
that looks like the most obvious gimmick in a long series of Marvel events
since Bendis came aboard, but it spears someone really did figure out that
there’s a story to be had, too. Bendis
started the ball rolling with HOUSE OF M (not to mention “Disassembled”), but
the House of Ideas finally figured out what to do with mutant messiah Hope,
too, tying her in with the Phoenix saga that was the highlight of the Claremont
era that made the X-Men rise to the prominence it still enjoys today. If this event figures out how to handle all
of what it promises competently, it may be the most important story from Marvel
in the past decade.
BATMAN AND ROBIN #5 (DC)
Seeing this even earlier issue from the story I snapped up in
one of my previous visits, I couldn’t pass it up. I am now thoroughly convinced that the series
has already earned a prominent spot in the eventual 2012 QB50. Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason are creating
the most important in-continuity Batman stories, period.
DEMON KNIGHTS #7 (DC)
Another issue that fills in one of my gaps, Paul Cornell’s
period heroics are just as astonishing as everything else he does, featuring
historic heroes in ways only Grant Morrison previously approached with SEVEN
SOLDIERS OF VICTORY. If you want,
consider this an ongoing series inspired by some of the mini-series in that
project.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #8 (DC)
Geoff Johns again, once again putting the focus on a
relative outsider, approaching the League from the outside in. This time it’s Green Arrow, more famously
depicted as an older, more cynical hero obsessed with social causes and his own
legacy. As a younger version, he does
seem a little more superfluous, so it’s no wonder the League wants nothing to
do with him (even if they have other reasons besides), even when he finally,
petulantly, gives voice to the reasons he wants to join, which more accurately
reflect the Oliver Queen we know and love.
The backup Shazam feature continues, and is already a definitive version
of the character. But what else did you
expect from Geoff Johns?
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #8 (DC)
I can’t decide whether I actually want to read this series
on a regular basis, but I keep getting drawn to it because Jason Todd is such a
compelling character, a damaged individual with a tragic past, sometimes awful
tendencies, and a road to redemption.
Scott Lobdell has captured this perfectly, and Kenneth Rocafort is an
extremely unusual artist for DC (the only negative this issue is the cartoonish
fat woman who’s the villain of the story), and another strong draw. Forget the backlash concerning the costume of
Starfire. You need to at least sample
this series.
SAUCER COUNTRY #2 (Vertigo)
Sometimes it’s better to miss the first issue of a comic
book, and in this case, it’s almost mandatory.
Arcadia Alvarado will be running for President, but she believes she was
abducted by aliens. Do you believe
her? That’s the whole thrust of this
series from Paul Cornell, finally getting the chance to stretch himself a
little, with a concept entirely created by himself, in a book that has the
potential to be the next great Vertigo project.
THE TWELVE #12 (Marvel)
WATCHMEN as retold by J. Michael Straczynski and Chris
Weston finally concludes. Okay, it’s not
really WATCHMEN, more like Captain America retold in the manner of
WATCHMEN. Regardless, this was an
ambitious project of motivations and fate that proved fascinating and then
frustrating when Straczynski took an extended break, leading many fans for
several years to fear that it would never be concluded. So important to Weston, actually, that he
produced a one-shot on his own to continue the saga of the WWII heroes
suspended and then revive in modern times, only to succumb to their own
failings, THE TWELVE comes to a worthy if quiet conclusion, befitting its focus
on character ahead of sensation.
Hopefully it will take its place among the seminal superhero stories.
WASTELAND #36 (Oni)
It’s a little strange for this reader to dive
back into the series now that RESURRECTION artist Justin Greenwood has settling
in as replacement for Christopher Mitten, whose distinctive style helped shape
the early issues of Antony Johnston’s epic vision of the future, especially
after having read (and written synopses for here at Comics Reader) the first
six collected editions. I have missed
four issues between the last one featured in the paperbacks and what I was
surprised to find waiting for me last week.
Michael and Abi, on their way to A-Ree-Yass-I, have stumbled into
another town overrun with overblown egos.
If you were at all hesitant about WASTELAND before, it may be easier to
catch exactly what this series is all about with these new issues, with new art
but the same complex storytelling Johnston has been employing from the start.
