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!

Back Issue Bin 122 "The Batgirl of Burnside and other Throwbacks"

Batgirl #42 (DC)
(from September 2015)

The Batgirl of Burnside will be remembered as a turning point in DC lore, not only for permanently reviving Barbara Gordon's superhero career, but as part of the youth movement that also saw Marvel introduce Kamala Khan and a whole generation of young heroes, as well as inspiring the brief DCYou era.  I was already well into a more limited comics reading experience by the time Batgirl went to Burnside, but I appreciated the idea even if I didn't get a chance to read it myself.  (There's a silly notion that just because you haven't personally enjoyed something you somehow automatically count as uninterested; that's poor perception of economics.)  The Burnside revival began in Batgirl #35, and it was as much cosmetic as approach.  Babs suddenly looked youthful again, and she was given a bold new costume and art direction, the latter of which was another primary feature of DCYou.  This issue features a different redesigned member of the Batman family, namely Batman himself, or rather Commissioner Batman, James Gordon.  Y'know, Batgirl's dad.  Commissioner Batman was also a bold creative left turn, always meant to be temporary.  It was only fitting for Batman and Batgirl to team up during this era, so I'm glad it happened.

Batman #457 (DC)
(from December 1990)

Ah!  This was Tim Drake's costumed debut!  Tim Drake, otherwise known as the third Robin, after Dick Grayson and Jason Todd.  In the Rebirth era, continued efforts to distinguish Tim led to his "death" in Detective Comics, as part of the Oz arc that eventually revealed the mystery figure to be Superman's dad Jor-El.  Tim was originally designed to be a dynamic new Robin, a faithful partner of Batman in standing with tradition, but "Knightfall" and its aftermath actually shoved him into full-fledged independence.  He eventually assumed the mantle of Red Robin in an ode to Kingdom Come, even wearing the same costume Dick does in that comic.  In the New 52, even though he was the first Robin to have his own ongoing series, Tim had to make do with leading the Teen Titans while Dick starred in Nightwing and then Grayson, and Jason in Red Hood and the Outlaws while Batman's kid Damian Wayne costarred in Batman and Robin.  For a generation of Robin fans, Tim Drake is the Boy Wonder, so this is a landmark issue.  It's the first time the traditional costume gets a complete overhaul, too!

Captain America #698 (Marvel)
(from April 2018)

Okay, so this one's pretty recent, a victim of a cover tear and subsequent banishment to the cheap bin.  I love that stuff!  This is one of Mark Waid's early comics in the post-Secret Empire revival, Marvel's effort to redeem the character after spending roughly a year with him operating as a natural born agent of Hydra.  Waid kicks off an arc where Cap wakes up after having been frozen again, with America in the grip of tyranny.  Only Captain America can save the day!  Ironically!

Earth 2 #25 (DC)
(from September 2014)

After James Robinson set up the concept, Tom Taylor took over and got to use versions of Superman and Batman.  I loved the New 52 Earth 2.  The Society continuation wrapped up in the early days of the Rebirth era, but at that point really only the DC office cared, which was too bad.  The Earth 2 Batman was actually Thomas Wayne!  I don't know if this was inspired by the Flashpoint Batman, but it was fun to see DC revive the idea in some fashion.  Obviously Batman couldn't dominate the title, even if he makes the cover this issue, at least the Batman 75th Anniversary edition.  Because the issue also features Val-Zod, the Earth 2 Superman, finally decide to embrace being Superman, so he rates the standard cover.

And there he is!  Both the Earth 2 Batman and Earth 2 Superman had unique costume variants on the classic templates.  Thomas Wayne Batman had red where Bruce Wayne typically has white, and Val-Zod sports silver where Clark Kent has red, with a red substitute as the field behind the s-shield.  As events later developed, neither Thomas Wayne nor Val-Zod were adequate substitutes for the icons who died in the first issue, but Dick Grayson later assumes the mantle of Batman in Convergence and Earth 2: Society, marking a true progression in the lineage he only gets to temporarily fulfill in regular continuity.









The Flash #48 (DC)
(from March 1991)

With no offense to William Messner-Loebs (help him here!), Wally West didn't properly become the Flash until Mark Waid started writing him.  That may have something to do with the fact that I was introduced to Wally as Flash by Waid's comics.  So I like to look into Messner-Loebs' work when I get the chance.  Among the interesting guest-stars this issue include Elongated Man Ralph Dibney (as a Flash continuity nerd it's surprising that Waid never got around to that) and a severely aged Vandal Savage (really want to read that next issue now!).  Plus Wally learning new things about his mom.  Waid was definitely part of the mythology movement that came to dominate DC, whereas Messner-Loebs embodied the more grounded ideas of the receding era that came before it.  It's not surprising their takes on Wally were different. 

Gotham Academy #7 (DC)
(from August 2015)

Batman tends to dominate DC's publishing schedule, as he's been their most consistent seller for...fifty years?  That's about right.  So that gives him a lot of sway, and gives creators a lot of space to play in.  This concept takes place in Gotham but doesn't necessarily involve Batman, although I chose this particular issue because it features his kid, Damian Wayne.  At this point, really only Grant Morrison and Pete Tomasi had written Damian, so this was an opportunity for a fresh set of eyes.  The result is a much softer version, which stands to reason, as Gotham Academy was itself a much more kid-friendly Batman comic.

Grayson #11 (DC)
(from October 2015)

It's sometimes easy to assume Tom King ended up getting the Batman assignment because of DC's respect for his Omega Men, but it's really down to his work on Grayson, where he got to explore the Batman landscape with a writing partner (Tim Seeley, who later built on Grayson's legacy with his Nightwing Rebirth material).  And King even had Mikel Janin on art!  Janin later proved to be a signature collaborator in the pages of Batman, too, of course, which makes it all the more obvious how important Grayson was for both their careers.  This issue, with a typically fantastic cover from Janin, helps the title reach a culmination of the Spyral arc it continued from Grant Morrison's Batman Incorporated (first volume).  Really, even I sometimes underestimate the importance of this groundwork material for King.  Someday I hope to read the complete run, add it to my King collection.  I have pretty much everything else already.



The Adventures of Superman Annual #3 (DC)
(from 1991)

The Armageddon 2001 annuals arc was one of the early themed events DC did that helped set the precedent for what it would later make an annual tradition in the New 52.  In fact, this particular arc is not all that different from Futures End, a kind of fast-forward.  Waverider, a character who could really use a revival, peers into the future of every hero trying to determine who becomes the villainous Monarch.  DC lore has it that it was originally intended to be Captain Atom, who in fact does become a different Monarch years later in the pages of Extreme Justice, but in the meantime it was switched to Hawk of Hawk & Dove (soon to appear on television!).  At any rate, it was never going to be Superman, right?  This issue instead focuses on the then-recent introduction of Maxima as an alien who fancies Superman to be her ideal mate.  Ah...they're later in Dan Jurgens' Justice League together! 

Adventures of Superman #632 (DC)
(from November 2004)

There's a number of things Greg Rucka is known for in his first run with DC (Wonder Woman, Gotham Central chief among them, and eventually Batwoman), but writing Superman isn't one of them.  And yet here he is!  There are two things to know about the issue: one is that Lois has been shot and is possibly dying (hindsight says probably not), and that Ruin is trying to become the next great Superman villain (hindsight says probably not, possibly owing to the fact that he's basically Lex Luthor).  Please also note Paul Pelletier on art!

Marvel Knights: X-Men #5 (Marvel)
(from May 2014)

Industry observers hailed Marvel Knights, along with the Ultimate line, to be one of Marvel's creative saviors in the early millennium.  Somewhere along the way both of them petered out, the Ultimate comics with a bang, the Knights with a whimper.  This is one of those projects that just kind of happened.  It's an ambitious attempt by new creators to give the X-Men new creative relevance (which was the Knights mandate as a whole) without necessarily reinventing the wheel.  Maybe the results this time were a little too woolly to stick the landing, too caught up with the emerging indy aesthetic Marvel would come to try and embrace across its line.  So it didn't really stick out.  But for an X-Men comic it still looks unique.  I think the problem mostly was that it tried to introduce new characters but didn't trust them to guide the story.  The X-Men gained new life when new characters started guiding the story.  Maybe time to try that again?

Predator or Prey?

BATMAN INCORPORATED #1 (DC)

Grant Morrison’s vision of the Dark Knight finally returns.  For those unfamiliar with this saga, it began in 2006, with BATMAN #655, when Damian was first introduced into the mythos (having been conceived in SON OF THE BAT), adding a ripple of complication into Bruce Wayne’s life.  Damian is his child with Talia Head, daughter of Ra’s al Ghul.  Morrison previously put Batman through the ringer in “R.I.P.,” FINAL CRISIS, and THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE, though he developed the budding Damian in BATMAN AND ROBIN, and brought Bruce back up to speed the original volume of BATMAN INC.  The culmination of Morrison’s run has concerned the emerging threat of Leviathan, who has necessitated the building of an alliance around the world of Batmen (including Batwing, who stars in his own New 52 series).  This issue is the beginning of the end, and reveals the identity of Leviathan, but doesn’t miss an opportunity for another rollicking (as has been the pattern for every issue of BATMAN, INC.) adventure, this time centering around a would-be assassin obsessed over his own son, even as he puts Robin in the crosshairs.  There’s a thousand things that would help you better understand exactly what’s going on, but Morrison helpfully frames most of it in pithy moments that ground the action, and leaves you begging for more.  Well, hopefully at least eleven more issues.

COBRA #13 (IDW)

Mike Costa and Antonio Fuso have been doing some of the best comics around for a few years now, and now they’ve folded both the villains and the heroes under their auspices.  I haven’t been able to read COBRA regularly for some time now, but clearly they haven’t missed a beat.  Ever since Cobra Civil War began (which, by the way, was an event initiated by these guys), the series has been able to dive still deeper in the rich psychology available with existing characters these stories have mastered.  The best example from this issue involves the confrontations Chameleon (who used to work for Cobra) has with defector (by matter of elimination in choices) Tomax Paoli (yes, the surviving brother of the two Cobras who seemed to exist to have silly names in some previous life) and other Joes who try and walk her through this process.  She has a violent reaction, but the situation plays out beautifully, as does ever other moment in the issue, and the series, in its several incarnations at this point.  If you’ve never read any of it, you owe it to yourself to correct this omission.  This is one of the best comics being published today, and that has been true for years now.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #9 (DC)

This is the first issue where Jason Todd might once again be considered the villain he was when he first returned as the Red Hood, back from the dead and menacing Batman.  There’s good reason for that, because he’s back in Gotham for “Night of the Owls” in a story that seems like Scott Lobdell was both rushed into this moment and therefore wasn’t entirely prepared for it, and what he embraces it like he has the whole challenge of this series.  None of this should have worked.  After “Under the Hood,” no one really seemed to know what to do with Jason (COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS seemed like just another in the series of missteps, including an awkward stint in NIGHTWING), but suddenly the New 52 fresh start seemed like an excellent way to start over.  This is a series about a team that’s not really a team, just three characters running around together, and Jason happens to be at the center, and it’s Lobdell’s narrations for him that really makes everything work so well, what keeps me coming back.  Although it seems like barely the surface of the book’s potential has been scratched so far, it’s one of the best books to come out of the reboot.  I’m hoping Lobdell and Kenneth Rocafort stick together for a long time.  Then they can get around to telling that story where Jason gets to confront these Batman family chuckleheads on his own terms.  Except this time he’ll really get to make his point.

THE WALKING DEAD #97 (Image)

I’ve been meaning to read another issue of this one ever since discovering what a wonderful series the TV show has become.  I read a handful of issues fairly regularly a few years ago, but have never become a devotee.  It just never caught my imagination as something that needed to be read regularly to have processed and understood as a worthy enterprise.  Basically, it’s the same thing every issue, these survivors struggling to survive, without a lot of progress being made one way or the other.  This issue, it seems they’re finally at the point where they must decide whether they’re the predator or the prey.  Maybe that’s what Robert Kirkman has been driving toward.  You’d think after a hundred issues he’d have gotten around to something else, too, but maybe that’s what he really wants his fans to think about, the act of survival, how it changes you.  Maybe the title of this thing is more ironic than you’d think.

Batgirl #3

Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Ardian Syaf

There may be two redemptions underway in this book: not only is Barbara Gordon reclaiming her mobility and heroic identity, but Gail Simone is finding a way to play to her strengths as a creator.

I didn't much care for Simone in Wonder Woman, and her cult work in Secret Six, for me, wasn't just irreverent, but irrelevant. With Babs, she seems to have found a purpose, combining her perspective with Batgirl's. This particular issue features a guest appearance from Nightwing, otherwise known as half of a schoolyard crush from earlier days. The beauty of the appearance is that it speaks both to a part of comics lore that many fans still admire (but perhaps, like Babs and Dick Grayson, don't actually need anymore) as well as the continuing evolution of both characters.

I hadn't particularly expected to care all that much for this particular element of the "New 52," but this is the kind of issue that can totally transform perspectives.