My fourth Forbidden Geek mystery box actually is sort of my fifth. The fourth got lost in transit. Realizing it was not going to come when Forbidden Geek was setting up the next shipment, I contacted the company, which responded promptly and shipped a replacement box immediately. That was cool of them!
The resulting box had a Funko statue from Shazam! (I think it was Eugene), a copy of the Batman/Superman: Their Greatest Battles trade collection (a duplicate for me, so I earmarked it as another eventual gift for one of my nephews in Maine, whenever I get to see them and/or ship off the stuff I've been collecting for them), and the following comics:
(Nothing older than 2011 this time, but that's okay.)
Ame-Comi Girls #1 (DC)
from December 2012
The bulk of this is the Palmiotti/Gray/Palmer version of Wonder Woman's origin, with Amanda Palmer happily on art. Until, for whatever reason, a far inferior artist fills out the issue. I've mentioned before how inexplicably terrible I find the title of this series, but the contents are good.
Batman: Arkham Knight #8 (DC)
From November 2015
One of several Howard Porter covers in this selection. Even though Tomasi is writing, I don't really care about this one.
Before Watchmen: Moloch #1 (DC)
from January 2013
I love being a fan who isn't pissed off that Before Watchmen happened. I have a theory that the New 52 wasn't officially written off by fans until Before Watchmen happened. Anyway, I was very happy to see this comic in the selection, as I'm pretty sure I didn't read either issue of Moloch on original release. The creative team is J. Michael Straczynski and Eduardo Risso (a typically strong team for Before Watchmen, typically performing at peak capacity). This first issue explains Moloch's origins, how being treated as a freak (because of those ears, chiefly) led him astray, and how he entered a path of redemption. Until, y'know. At its best, Before Watchmen brilliantly expanded (rather than needlessly duplicated) Watchmen lore (here I'm thinking of Comedian, which I recently reread), and Moloch, it seems, was Before Watchmen at its best. I'm not always Straczynski's biggest fan, but this really is him functioning at peak potential.
Birds of Prey #12 (DC)
from July 2011
One of the 2011s! I'll get back to the significance of this a little later, but as for this comic: Gail Simone. I'm just not a fan.
Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands #4 (DC)
from April 2018
Because blogging, I somehow ended up following Tony Isabella's blog. Isabella is Black Lightning's creator, and is still basically all he's known for, including his periodic revisits of the character (including a great-looking '90s run that I still want to check out). If not this issue specifically, then this mini-series was featured on his blog just before I got the box, so it was pretty fortuitous when I opened it up and found this comic. But, alas, I didn't much care about its contents. Sort of like the CW series (although it was still great to see the character finally show up in the Arrowverse during Crisis).
Earth 2 #24 (DC)
from August 2014
Still one of my favorite things from the New 52, this issue is from the Tom Taylor period (years before he wowed readers with DCeased), already proving his dynamic understanding of DC lore. This issue is pretty neat, as it features both the new Earth 2 Batman (Thomas Wayne) and Superman (Val-Zod), which sort of stole the thunder from the quasi-Justice Society but still made for fantastic developments in that continuity.
The Flash #55 (DC)
from November 2018
The other Howard Porter cover in the selection (this time a variant), featuring the budding expanded "forces" concept Josh Williamson brought to the Scarlet Speedster, sort of his version of the emotional spectrum in Green Lantern lore.
Green Lantern Corps #19 (DC)
from June 2013
The final issue in the Green Lantern family of titles before Geoff Johns' final issue of Green Lantern, as "Wrath of the First Lantern" weaves its way through them. Volthoom! Still a great name, right up there with Larfleeze. I'm not kidding! (I still want another Larfleeze series!)
Red Robin #21 (DC)
from May 2011
Tim Drake borrowing the name and costume from Dick Grayson's Kingdome Come future, but it's not all one-way, as the issue also features an appearance of a version of the red variant of his own costume Nightwing was going to sport in the New 52. Don't think I didn't notice, DC!
Superman #20 (DC)
from July 2013
Clearly DC thought this issue was going to leave a far bigger impact than it did (hyped in the "News Channel 52" feature as it was, a war between Wonder Woman's "two suitors"), as the Man of Steel clashes with Orion! But it's a fun story all the same, which makes the New Gods' lackluster presence in the New 52 all the more painful. There was such potential!
The Unwritten #29 (Vertigo)
from November 2011
I just read the two collections from The Unwritten: Apocalypse, the sequel series that ended this saga, so it was great to get a further glimpse into more of what happened previously (someday I will probably read the whole thing). But more importantly: 2011! So here it is. Just before the New 52 era, DC tried a few things to lure fans back, including "drawing the line at $2.99" and...bringing back letters columns! Which means, all three comics from 2011 featured...letters columns! DC quickly dropped them again with the New 52, which was kind of disappointing, but not before making it clear that they did have their value, a concentrated forum for fans (not angry internet people) to share knowledge and appreciation (which again, not angry internet people). I remember visiting DC's official message boards when they had switched from letters columns to the belief that the internet somehow replaced them, and that's where I found the fans hopelessly devoted the return of Hal Jordan as a clear-cut good guy (I think there was even a dorky name for the movement, but I don't remember what it would have been). I just don't think anyone realizes what's lost when there are big shifts in how things are done, that it matters that some things are lost even while other things are gained. I never understand the rush to shuck off old things, things that can't be replaced, no matter how much change improves things. On the other hand, we now live in an era where the margin for success is wider than ever, that things with a smaller audience can still thrive for years, where they would've been aborted quickly before. So the more things change, the more they stay...interesting. I bet DC brings letters columns back, again, at some point. After all, the more things change, the more they stay the same, too. Sometimes you just have to wait. Like those Hal Jordan fans.
Showing posts with label Before Watchmen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Before Watchmen. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Reading Comics #125 "Bull Moose Grab Bag II"
Ten comics packaged together with a remarkable bargain price! These are all from last year, but that's okay...
Angel & Faith #23 (Dark Horse)
I don't particularly care for Buffy and/or related franchises, so I don't have anything to say about this one. Sometimes you get comics you just don't care about in these things. It's a risk!
Secret Avengers #5 (Marvel)
Even more blatantly than the other time I read an issue from this series (and hopefully this is the last time, but again: brag bags) this is so blatantly a S.H.I.E.L.D. comic, I have no idea why it's called anything but. Are people really assumed not to know that term better than "Avengers" of some extrapolation? Really?
Batman: The Dark Knight #21 (DC)
The New 52 Batman launch that was meant to be a vehicle for David Finch (and, incidentally, has since ceased publication), one that until now I hadn't read (there was a Bane issue early on that...looked like the kind of Bane story I try very hard to avoid). This particular issue was written by Gregg Hurwitz with art from Ethan Van Sciver, who I'm still surprised has been reduced to relative obscurity after being a huge deal not so long ago. Notable people get lost in the shuffle no matter the context. It happens. It's still sad to see happen. Dark Knight was always more of a visceral experience than other Batman comics, and this one's no exception. It features Mad Hatter, but Batman is still in pretty dramatic mode (perhaps only in the pages of Dark Knight would this have happened). It's funny, because within the context of Dark Knight this is kind of the story Scott Snyder has been telling within the pages of Batman proper, whether in the Court of Owls stories or "Death of the Family," what have you. (I noticed as I was making the Ethan Van Sciver label that I was, in fact, making that label. Just goes to show. I've been blogging here since 2011. That's a long trip in obscurity, alas.)
Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre #4 (DC)
I'm on record as supporting the whole Before Watchmen project. As it was being published I eventually had to back off reading the whole thing, and so eventually boiled my experience down to the excellent Comedian, but I enjoyed what I'd read of Darwyn Cooke and Amanda Conner's Silk Spectre when it began, so it's nice to have randomly come across its final issue. This was a story that was thoroughly about Laurie's journey out from the shadow of her mother, the original Silk Spectre. Famously in Alan Moore's Watchmen, Laurie's arc was much more about her relationship with Doctor Manhattan and Nite-Owl as well as reconciling the fact that Comedian was her father. In this comic it was much more about mother and daughter, and so that's how things conclude, a different and perhaps more important reconciliation. That's the whole thing about Before Watchmen, that it was able to explore significant aspects of the Watchmen canon that benefited from being brought to the forefront in ways that were not possible during the original story. If it had been a matter of exploitation for exploitation's sake, I think that would have been obvious. To call Watchmen a finite work and say there were no other stories possible is to miss the point of storytelling entirely, and to limit the impact of the original story, to say these characters who became instantly iconic ultimately had no potential, which is also to say Moore created something that didn't inspire anything. I think we all agree he inspired a lot of what comics became after Watchmen. What about before? In a new context, superheroes mean something else. Not just allegory. A place where superheroes and their own narratives can be taken seriously. Such as this tale of mother and daughter.
Captain America #8 (Marvel)
I'm drawing special distinction to this one because my whole perception of the issue changed remarkably while I was reading it. I don't, or perhaps didn't would be more accurate at this point, have a high estimation of Rick Remender. I figured, based on my experience with his work, that Remender is a goofy sensationalist (perhaps typified by the whole Zombie Punisher run known as "FrankenCastle"). Long story short, when I heard he was the guy replacing Ed Brubaker as writer of Captain America, I couldn't understand it at all. I mean, Remender is pretty much the opposite of Brubaker's gritty realism. And when I heard that he'd definitely gone in that opposite direction, I thought, Well that's all you need to know. So when I found this in the grab bag, I figured it would be just another one in this particular selection that I didn't particularly have to care about. Then I read it. And then the moment happened. Captain America has basically been in a Superman-in-space-exile, "Planet Hulk" moment, and there's this boy he's formed a relationship with, and right away I'm completely lost. But then the relationship between Steve Rogers (that's Captain America, naturally) and the boy crystallizes. And I think Remender totally gets Steve, in a way Brubaker never did. He understands that Steve's journey is a matter of deliberate choices, not random chance (as it can sometimes seem post-thaw). The art is from John Romita, Jr., who has just begun his first-ever DC run, with Geoff Johns, Superman #32. Romita has a distinctive style I've always enjoyed (among many other projects, he's the guy who helped Mark Millar bring Kick-Ass to life), which is perfect for Remender's Captain America, certainly this particular issue. The criticism I always leveled against Brubaker was that he didn't really know what to do with Steve Rogers himself (his most famous contribution was the creation of the Winter Soldier, which audiences everywhere got to see in the movies earlier this year). On that score, I shouldn't have been so critical of Remender, or Marvel's decision. It was just surprising. As of now, I might actually argue that Remender's run has a chance of being better. Start with this issue for yourself if you want to see.
Angel & Faith #23 (Dark Horse)
I don't particularly care for Buffy and/or related franchises, so I don't have anything to say about this one. Sometimes you get comics you just don't care about in these things. It's a risk!
Secret Avengers #5 (Marvel)
Even more blatantly than the other time I read an issue from this series (and hopefully this is the last time, but again: brag bags) this is so blatantly a S.H.I.E.L.D. comic, I have no idea why it's called anything but. Are people really assumed not to know that term better than "Avengers" of some extrapolation? Really?
Batman: The Dark Knight #21 (DC)
The New 52 Batman launch that was meant to be a vehicle for David Finch (and, incidentally, has since ceased publication), one that until now I hadn't read (there was a Bane issue early on that...looked like the kind of Bane story I try very hard to avoid). This particular issue was written by Gregg Hurwitz with art from Ethan Van Sciver, who I'm still surprised has been reduced to relative obscurity after being a huge deal not so long ago. Notable people get lost in the shuffle no matter the context. It happens. It's still sad to see happen. Dark Knight was always more of a visceral experience than other Batman comics, and this one's no exception. It features Mad Hatter, but Batman is still in pretty dramatic mode (perhaps only in the pages of Dark Knight would this have happened). It's funny, because within the context of Dark Knight this is kind of the story Scott Snyder has been telling within the pages of Batman proper, whether in the Court of Owls stories or "Death of the Family," what have you. (I noticed as I was making the Ethan Van Sciver label that I was, in fact, making that label. Just goes to show. I've been blogging here since 2011. That's a long trip in obscurity, alas.)
Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre #4 (DC)
I'm on record as supporting the whole Before Watchmen project. As it was being published I eventually had to back off reading the whole thing, and so eventually boiled my experience down to the excellent Comedian, but I enjoyed what I'd read of Darwyn Cooke and Amanda Conner's Silk Spectre when it began, so it's nice to have randomly come across its final issue. This was a story that was thoroughly about Laurie's journey out from the shadow of her mother, the original Silk Spectre. Famously in Alan Moore's Watchmen, Laurie's arc was much more about her relationship with Doctor Manhattan and Nite-Owl as well as reconciling the fact that Comedian was her father. In this comic it was much more about mother and daughter, and so that's how things conclude, a different and perhaps more important reconciliation. That's the whole thing about Before Watchmen, that it was able to explore significant aspects of the Watchmen canon that benefited from being brought to the forefront in ways that were not possible during the original story. If it had been a matter of exploitation for exploitation's sake, I think that would have been obvious. To call Watchmen a finite work and say there were no other stories possible is to miss the point of storytelling entirely, and to limit the impact of the original story, to say these characters who became instantly iconic ultimately had no potential, which is also to say Moore created something that didn't inspire anything. I think we all agree he inspired a lot of what comics became after Watchmen. What about before? In a new context, superheroes mean something else. Not just allegory. A place where superheroes and their own narratives can be taken seriously. Such as this tale of mother and daughter.
Captain America #8 (Marvel)
 |
| via IGN |
Deadpool #12 (Marvel)
This is part of the Brian Posehn/Gerry Duggan run that I've previously written as making me as close to a believer in this goofy character as I've ever come. I don't have much to say about this issue.
The Malevolent Mr. Burns #1 (Bongo)
With stories from Gail Simone (yes, that Gail Simone) and others. Mr. Burns, of course, from The Simpsons. Reliably entertaining whether in cartoon or comic book form.
Star Trek #22 (IDW)
"Amok Time" as reinterpreted post-Abrams reboot.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #23 (IDW)
Hey, so for what it's worth, reading this issue, which is also part of the "City Fall" arc from the other grab bag-instilled issue I read previously, is a less painful experience. So there's that.
Ultimate Comics X-Men #28 (Marvel)
Basically, I'm really of the opinion that Marvel ought to scrap the whole Ultimate line at this point, other than Brian Michael Bendis's Spider-Man.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Before Watchmen: Comedian #4 (DC)
writer: Brian Azzarello
artist: J.G. Jones
I stopped reading Before Watchmen regularly a few months back. As it stands, I've read issues from Minutemen, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, Ozymandias, and this one, Comedian, but not Rorschach, Dr. Manhattan, or Moloch. Eventually I will most likely read the complete story, in collected form (which was how I first read Watchmen itself), but for now I've limited myself to the story of Edward Blake.
So far Brian Azzarello has put a big stress on Blake's relationship with the Kennedys, his revision of Alan Moore's original suggestion that Comedian theoretically participated in the assassination of JFK. What Azzarello has done instead is put new emphasis on his moral development, from the idealism of Camelot to the quagmire of Vietnam, where we've been the last few issues. This issue, in fact, is more or less the birth of the Comedian we know from Watchmen (incidentally the one we know from his relationship with Silk Spectre might as well at this point be folded into his relationship with Jack Kennedy, himself a notorious womanizer, though not exactly the would-be rapist that all but defined Blake for Moore).
Comedian was the cynic's superhero, the one who looked at the world through a cracked lens, who saw the joke that was its idea of justice, which he quickly saw as not being particularly fair. (Although the cracked lens and fairness parts also speak to each of Moore's heroes. Edward Blake simply saw it before the rest of his old teammates, and not just Ozymandias's plans.) He was ahead of the curve, but in Vietnam he's behind it, at least as the civilian population goes. Last issue he memorably had a hard time reconciling his patriotic idealism with what was developing stateside. Now he's hoping for the war to end and finding it increasingly difficult to cope. The problem for Blake is that he's Captain American in the Vietnam War.
The drug culture introduced last issue (and at the same time in Silk Spectre) finally claims the Comedian, which is the major development of the story this time. Bobby Kennedy has declared his intention to run for the presidency, but won't accept Blake's calls, another sign that the times are indeed changing. Soon he's going to be everything we thought he was all along.
That's the value of Before Watchmen, revisiting and expanding on the familiar story so that new truths can be found. Why I keep reading about Edward Blake specifically is because in Watchmen he can almost be the boogeyman, the other hero-turned-villain who just happened to be eliminated by the other one, though granted a shot at redemption in the memories of those he leaves behind. He looms over the whole story, but almost entirely in the background. It's nice to see him at the front, and Azzarello is taking full advantage of the opportunity.
artist: J.G. Jones
(via dccomics.com)
I stopped reading Before Watchmen regularly a few months back. As it stands, I've read issues from Minutemen, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, Ozymandias, and this one, Comedian, but not Rorschach, Dr. Manhattan, or Moloch. Eventually I will most likely read the complete story, in collected form (which was how I first read Watchmen itself), but for now I've limited myself to the story of Edward Blake.
So far Brian Azzarello has put a big stress on Blake's relationship with the Kennedys, his revision of Alan Moore's original suggestion that Comedian theoretically participated in the assassination of JFK. What Azzarello has done instead is put new emphasis on his moral development, from the idealism of Camelot to the quagmire of Vietnam, where we've been the last few issues. This issue, in fact, is more or less the birth of the Comedian we know from Watchmen (incidentally the one we know from his relationship with Silk Spectre might as well at this point be folded into his relationship with Jack Kennedy, himself a notorious womanizer, though not exactly the would-be rapist that all but defined Blake for Moore).
Comedian was the cynic's superhero, the one who looked at the world through a cracked lens, who saw the joke that was its idea of justice, which he quickly saw as not being particularly fair. (Although the cracked lens and fairness parts also speak to each of Moore's heroes. Edward Blake simply saw it before the rest of his old teammates, and not just Ozymandias's plans.) He was ahead of the curve, but in Vietnam he's behind it, at least as the civilian population goes. Last issue he memorably had a hard time reconciling his patriotic idealism with what was developing stateside. Now he's hoping for the war to end and finding it increasingly difficult to cope. The problem for Blake is that he's Captain American in the Vietnam War.
The drug culture introduced last issue (and at the same time in Silk Spectre) finally claims the Comedian, which is the major development of the story this time. Bobby Kennedy has declared his intention to run for the presidency, but won't accept Blake's calls, another sign that the times are indeed changing. Soon he's going to be everything we thought he was all along.
That's the value of Before Watchmen, revisiting and expanding on the familiar story so that new truths can be found. Why I keep reading about Edward Blake specifically is because in Watchmen he can almost be the boogeyman, the other hero-turned-villain who just happened to be eliminated by the other one, though granted a shot at redemption in the memories of those he leaves behind. He looms over the whole story, but almost entirely in the background. It's nice to see him at the front, and Azzarello is taking full advantage of the opportunity.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Catching Up On Some Recent Comics
Action Comics #12 (DC)
Grant Morrison rounds out the first year of the New 52 Action Comics by pitting Superman against Captain Comet, one of DC's cosmic superheroes, in an epic showdown. Hey, it's the most relevant Comet's been in years!
Aquaman #11 (DC)
Geoff Johns continues the saga he may be only spending a little while longer on, if recent reports are to be believed. Still, if it's true, he's still done far more to make Aquaman a vital character than anyone in the dozens of attempts over the years. If nothing else, this will make an epic, massive collection, and be put right alongside Brightest Day, where Johns and Peter S. Tomasi previously worked on the character.
Atomic Robo and the Flying She-Devils of the Pacific #2 of 5 (Red 5)
A better issue than the previous one, filled with Brian Clevinger's trademark wit, and Robo's hapless reactions to the insanity around him.
Atomic Robo Presents Real Science Adventures #5 (Red 5)
The latest issue of this anthology series is highlighted by Robo's confrontation with the man who killed Nikola Tesla (in this comics iteration), who was the creator of Atomic Robo (in the comics).
Batman: Earth One - Special Preview Edition (DC)
Yes, I bought and reviewed the full graphic novel last month, but I thought it'd be fun to see what it might feel like as a monthly-installment-sized edition. Yes, this only covers the first fifteen pages, but it really does have a different feel. There's a bonus preview of Scott Snyder's New 52, but the provided content is practically impenetrable, and certainly doesn't sell the Court of Owls concept, even though that's the name of the collection the preview is hawking.
Batman Incorporated #3 (DC)
The horrific shooting in Aurora, CO, delayed release of this book, though not necessarily shipments. Morrison brings back Matches Malone, Bruce Wayne's underworld alter ego, while we learn what's really going on with Damian, who has for now assumed the identity of Redbird (which was also the name of Tim Drake's Robin-mobile).
Batman and Robin #12 (DC)
Tomasi concludes his Terminus arc with a big bang, which is a little disappointing in that Terminus didn't quite receive enough time to develop as a villain. Long story short, the series was better earlier this year.
Before Watchmen: Comedian #2 of 6 (DC)
I read elsewhere that Edward Blake's introduction to Vietnam seemed a little generic. I guess I haven't saturated myself with enough Vietnam fiction, since I found it to be pretty fascinating. On the one hand, the Comedian considers this battlefield to be just another battlefield. On the other hand, this is a guy whose best friend was just assassinated. He has a right to be a little cynical, have an impulse to let loose a little. That's my perspective, anyway. Brian Azzarello also provides a fascinating insight into the possible origins of the emerging drug culture we still live in today, playing along the same notes as the second issue of Silk Spectre. (If you need a little perspective on it, Before Watchmen is an unlikely but certainly welcome forum.)
Before Watchmen: Nite Owl #2 of 4 (DC)
Whatever else I might have had to say about this issue is kind of overshadowed by the recent passing of comics legend Joe Kubert, who inked this series over son Andy's art. I'm not a historian of the craft, but I can certainly appreciate Kubert's huge legacy, and it's a shame that he had to die in the middle of his last great contribution. As I said in my thoughts for the first issue, Joe's inking made a definite impact on Andy's art in this book, one that spoke to the generational nature of the project. Where some people have only been able to view Before Watchman through the Alan Moore controversy, I've relished it as a chance to view comic books in their most pure and relevant form, something creators like Kurt Busiek and James Robinson have been trying to do ever since, well, Watchmen. Comics have, for better or worse, come to be defined by superheroes and legacies, and that's something Before Watchmen fully embraced, what the original stories were all about, in fact. And Joe Kubert had a huge role in developing that. Sorry to see you go.
Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #2 of 6 (DC)
The genius of Before Watchmen can also be explained this way: we're finally going to see Ozymandias and Comedian on equal terms. That's something the original stories surprisingly avoided. At the end of this particular issue, we begin to see a rectification.
Creator-Owned Heroes #1 (Image)
Image has slowly become the go-to home for every conceivable comic book project, and while the founders envisioned a forum to create superheroes that would contend with the popularity of the books they left behind, the projects that've come along over the past decade have redefined the company as a catch-all for creators who would otherwise look for a place in small presses. Which has in essence made Image a large small press. Sometimes a book like The Walking Dead can happen, but that's very much the exception to the rule. Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, regular writing partners who regularly work for the Big Two, join forces with Steve Niles (best known for his horror efforts) in launching a new anthology format, almost magazine-like offering, working on dream projects. The problem is that the format short-changes those dreams. To be frank, the examples in this debut issue don't feel like they were worth the effort. But maybe they're better with commitment.
Demon Knights #12 (DC)
Paul Cornell may be writing this series for the trades. I think that's the best thing to say about it. I love Demon Knights, and I also wish it could be something more. It's a rolling, sometimes rollicking adventure, but every time it seems like we're finally getting somewhere...it's the end of the issue. So, Cornell may be writing for the trades. This is not a complaint.
Earth 2 #4 (DC)
James Robinson continues his chronicle of the alternate Justice Society, in which everything old is new again. This now includes Al Pratt, the original Atom, who in this version of events is a soldier in the world army that sprang up in response to the Apokolips apocalypse.
Green Lantern #11 (DC)
Black Hand puts together a creepy family reunion and Sinestro brings Hal Jordan to his own personal Batcave, allowing us our first glimpse of the next Green Lantern. Seriously, Geoff Johns could write this franchise forever.
National Comics: Eternity (DC)
The first of a series of one-shots reimagining various DC properties ("National Comics" is what the company was before it embraced the Detective in one of its flagship titles). Jeff Lemire sees Kid Eternity basically as a Ghost Whisperer. That's as much as there is to see here.
Peter Parker, Spider-Man #156.1 (Marvel)
I guess Marvel is releasing Point One issues of cancelled Spider-Man series to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the web-slinger. This one is written by Roger Stern, a veteran I know best from 1990s Superman (but he's been around!).
RASL #15 (Cartoon)
The final issue of Jeff Smith's second comic book opus (his first being, of course, Bone), and finally an explanation for the title (an acronym for Romance at the Speed of Light, which was also the name of the third collection, and title of the eighth issue). Things've boiled down to Rob's need to destroy the journals of Nikola Tesla (yes, the same dude as the comics creator of Atomic Robo) in order to save the universe, lest they be used to destroy it (which in fairness to Rob is a process that was already started across several alternate realities). The big problem Rob gets to overcome in the finale is the revelation that Maya, the source of the eponymous tattoo and motivating factor in so many ways for Rob's journey throughout the series, is also his biggest threat. He's been running the whole time toward this moment. It's still disappointing that the series only lasted fifteen issues, but as Smith himself pointed out elsewhere, that still adds up to a lot of pages for any collection, and one way or another, this will sit proudly next to Bone on any discerning reader's shelf. Perhaps like Demon Knights, it will read better and last longer in the memory in trade format.
Red Hood and the Outlaws #11 (DC)
Again, I have to say how different this series is from just about anything else, not just because of the distinctive art from Kenneth Rocafort, but because of Scott Lobdell's writing, which moves along at its own pace, a little like Grant Morrison's. It is, then, any wonder that Lobdell and Rocafort have been tapped as the latest replacements in Superman? Perhaps this will solve two issues. This is a book that deserves to stand out, but it's also one that can be alienating (much like the heroes in the book themselves, who are all alienated), as has been proven since its launch last fall. Perhaps more a little more convention will help readers discover how awesome it is. This issue, by the way, features some familiar and unfamilar backstory for Koriand'r, better known as Stargirl. Apparently she has some Farscape in her.
Grant Morrison rounds out the first year of the New 52 Action Comics by pitting Superman against Captain Comet, one of DC's cosmic superheroes, in an epic showdown. Hey, it's the most relevant Comet's been in years!
Aquaman #11 (DC)
Geoff Johns continues the saga he may be only spending a little while longer on, if recent reports are to be believed. Still, if it's true, he's still done far more to make Aquaman a vital character than anyone in the dozens of attempts over the years. If nothing else, this will make an epic, massive collection, and be put right alongside Brightest Day, where Johns and Peter S. Tomasi previously worked on the character.
Atomic Robo and the Flying She-Devils of the Pacific #2 of 5 (Red 5)
A better issue than the previous one, filled with Brian Clevinger's trademark wit, and Robo's hapless reactions to the insanity around him.
Atomic Robo Presents Real Science Adventures #5 (Red 5)
The latest issue of this anthology series is highlighted by Robo's confrontation with the man who killed Nikola Tesla (in this comics iteration), who was the creator of Atomic Robo (in the comics).
Batman: Earth One - Special Preview Edition (DC)
Yes, I bought and reviewed the full graphic novel last month, but I thought it'd be fun to see what it might feel like as a monthly-installment-sized edition. Yes, this only covers the first fifteen pages, but it really does have a different feel. There's a bonus preview of Scott Snyder's New 52, but the provided content is practically impenetrable, and certainly doesn't sell the Court of Owls concept, even though that's the name of the collection the preview is hawking.
Batman Incorporated #3 (DC)
The horrific shooting in Aurora, CO, delayed release of this book, though not necessarily shipments. Morrison brings back Matches Malone, Bruce Wayne's underworld alter ego, while we learn what's really going on with Damian, who has for now assumed the identity of Redbird (which was also the name of Tim Drake's Robin-mobile).
Batman and Robin #12 (DC)
Tomasi concludes his Terminus arc with a big bang, which is a little disappointing in that Terminus didn't quite receive enough time to develop as a villain. Long story short, the series was better earlier this year.
Before Watchmen: Comedian #2 of 6 (DC)
I read elsewhere that Edward Blake's introduction to Vietnam seemed a little generic. I guess I haven't saturated myself with enough Vietnam fiction, since I found it to be pretty fascinating. On the one hand, the Comedian considers this battlefield to be just another battlefield. On the other hand, this is a guy whose best friend was just assassinated. He has a right to be a little cynical, have an impulse to let loose a little. That's my perspective, anyway. Brian Azzarello also provides a fascinating insight into the possible origins of the emerging drug culture we still live in today, playing along the same notes as the second issue of Silk Spectre. (If you need a little perspective on it, Before Watchmen is an unlikely but certainly welcome forum.)
Before Watchmen: Nite Owl #2 of 4 (DC)
Whatever else I might have had to say about this issue is kind of overshadowed by the recent passing of comics legend Joe Kubert, who inked this series over son Andy's art. I'm not a historian of the craft, but I can certainly appreciate Kubert's huge legacy, and it's a shame that he had to die in the middle of his last great contribution. As I said in my thoughts for the first issue, Joe's inking made a definite impact on Andy's art in this book, one that spoke to the generational nature of the project. Where some people have only been able to view Before Watchman through the Alan Moore controversy, I've relished it as a chance to view comic books in their most pure and relevant form, something creators like Kurt Busiek and James Robinson have been trying to do ever since, well, Watchmen. Comics have, for better or worse, come to be defined by superheroes and legacies, and that's something Before Watchmen fully embraced, what the original stories were all about, in fact. And Joe Kubert had a huge role in developing that. Sorry to see you go.
Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #2 of 6 (DC)
The genius of Before Watchmen can also be explained this way: we're finally going to see Ozymandias and Comedian on equal terms. That's something the original stories surprisingly avoided. At the end of this particular issue, we begin to see a rectification.
Creator-Owned Heroes #1 (Image)
Image has slowly become the go-to home for every conceivable comic book project, and while the founders envisioned a forum to create superheroes that would contend with the popularity of the books they left behind, the projects that've come along over the past decade have redefined the company as a catch-all for creators who would otherwise look for a place in small presses. Which has in essence made Image a large small press. Sometimes a book like The Walking Dead can happen, but that's very much the exception to the rule. Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, regular writing partners who regularly work for the Big Two, join forces with Steve Niles (best known for his horror efforts) in launching a new anthology format, almost magazine-like offering, working on dream projects. The problem is that the format short-changes those dreams. To be frank, the examples in this debut issue don't feel like they were worth the effort. But maybe they're better with commitment.
Demon Knights #12 (DC)
Paul Cornell may be writing this series for the trades. I think that's the best thing to say about it. I love Demon Knights, and I also wish it could be something more. It's a rolling, sometimes rollicking adventure, but every time it seems like we're finally getting somewhere...it's the end of the issue. So, Cornell may be writing for the trades. This is not a complaint.
Earth 2 #4 (DC)
James Robinson continues his chronicle of the alternate Justice Society, in which everything old is new again. This now includes Al Pratt, the original Atom, who in this version of events is a soldier in the world army that sprang up in response to the Apokolips apocalypse.
Green Lantern #11 (DC)
Black Hand puts together a creepy family reunion and Sinestro brings Hal Jordan to his own personal Batcave, allowing us our first glimpse of the next Green Lantern. Seriously, Geoff Johns could write this franchise forever.
National Comics: Eternity (DC)
The first of a series of one-shots reimagining various DC properties ("National Comics" is what the company was before it embraced the Detective in one of its flagship titles). Jeff Lemire sees Kid Eternity basically as a Ghost Whisperer. That's as much as there is to see here.
Peter Parker, Spider-Man #156.1 (Marvel)
I guess Marvel is releasing Point One issues of cancelled Spider-Man series to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the web-slinger. This one is written by Roger Stern, a veteran I know best from 1990s Superman (but he's been around!).
RASL #15 (Cartoon)
The final issue of Jeff Smith's second comic book opus (his first being, of course, Bone), and finally an explanation for the title (an acronym for Romance at the Speed of Light, which was also the name of the third collection, and title of the eighth issue). Things've boiled down to Rob's need to destroy the journals of Nikola Tesla (yes, the same dude as the comics creator of Atomic Robo) in order to save the universe, lest they be used to destroy it (which in fairness to Rob is a process that was already started across several alternate realities). The big problem Rob gets to overcome in the finale is the revelation that Maya, the source of the eponymous tattoo and motivating factor in so many ways for Rob's journey throughout the series, is also his biggest threat. He's been running the whole time toward this moment. It's still disappointing that the series only lasted fifteen issues, but as Smith himself pointed out elsewhere, that still adds up to a lot of pages for any collection, and one way or another, this will sit proudly next to Bone on any discerning reader's shelf. Perhaps like Demon Knights, it will read better and last longer in the memory in trade format.
Red Hood and the Outlaws #11 (DC)
Again, I have to say how different this series is from just about anything else, not just because of the distinctive art from Kenneth Rocafort, but because of Scott Lobdell's writing, which moves along at its own pace, a little like Grant Morrison's. It is, then, any wonder that Lobdell and Rocafort have been tapped as the latest replacements in Superman? Perhaps this will solve two issues. This is a book that deserves to stand out, but it's also one that can be alienating (much like the heroes in the book themselves, who are all alienated), as has been proven since its launch last fall. Perhaps more a little more convention will help readers discover how awesome it is. This issue, by the way, features some familiar and unfamilar backstory for Koriand'r, better known as Stargirl. Apparently she has some Farscape in her.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Last Week's Comics and an Epic Showdown
It should be noted that sometimes "last week's comics" will include some purchases that were not actually released last week.
Aquaman #10 (DC) Ever since Brightest Day, Geoff Johns has made it his mission to revive Aquaman as a legitimate presence in comics. DC has tried just about everything in many different revivals to achieve this over the years, but Johns alone seems to have had the radical approach of merely making Aquaman himself interesting. As he's done with Green Lantern, Johns has achieved this by widening the scope of Aquaman's career. Previous efforts to this regard have always centered on underwater kingdoms, and while some of these have an impact, they did not succeed in making the character for whom these kingdoms were created...relevant. Aquaman is not defined by underwater kingdoms. If he were, he'd be no better than Black Panther, an incredibly negligent ruler, spending so much time hanging out with other superheroes who notably have no interest in this faraway responsibility. Some creators have also tried to make his human origins interesting, to little avail other than extremely temporary visibility. Aquaman, unfortunately, is a character who can be summed up in an entirely dismissive fashion: he talks to fish. Johns decided to ignore all that and instead reveal a side of the character that speaks to his strengths in a far empowering way, as a guy who had an entirely separate group of allies who link his undersea world to surface concerns in ways that are still being explored nearly a year into the series and a rivalry with his archnemesis that has turned decidedly personal. Aquaman has always been portrayed as the victim in his stories (which is really weird), but Johns is turning him into a multifaceted and even culpable figure. Like Wonder Woman, he has always been a character who was supposed to be important just because he supposed to, and during Flashpoint last year their common significance as warriors was made plain. Yet being a warrior isn't enough. But being a tragic hero might be. This is a good issue to see how Johns is accomplishing this.
Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre #2 of 4 (DC) What's absolutely fascinating about this issue has a connection to Alan Moore's story that could almost have been entirely forgotten in the midst of hype for being the best superhero story ever told. Darwyn Cooke and Amanda Conner remind readers of the social significance of it, too, as they outline the insidious plot to turn drugs into the next big consumer hit, a habit that doesn't need to provide anything lasting in order to create its own constant demand. Laurie is just beginning her career as a costumed crimefighter, something she never thought she'd do, but it's another habit, in effect, that she can't overcome. If there's a message, it's that one of these habits is productive and the other isn't.
Cobra #15 (IDW) Longtime fans of G.I. Joe will know that one of the big developments in the late 80s continuity was the revelation that Cobra Commander had a hidden son named Billy. Billy hits Cobra in a big way this issue, only he's not the boy we used to know, but a man, who in the opening pages sounds suspiciously like the Cobra from earlier issues, the ones trying to sell the organization to the public. If he's not evil, then he certainly has an ego, and could have easily been used by his father's allies, possibly without him even realizing it. It's this malleable sense of morality that allows this series to remain so brilliant. You know who the bad guys and the good guys are, but they're both forced to exist in a world where it's not so easy to keep those distinctions separate when something needs to be done. This is not a G.I. Joe book in any traditional sense. You don't even need to care about G.I. Joe to enjoy it, and I'm certain that you don't even have to have read the several other dozen issues behind this one to start enjoying it now.
Justice League #11 (DC) I don't think Graves will go down as one of the most memorable villains in JLA history, and I don't think Geoff Johns thinks so, either. He's a catalyst, a means to an end, to make a point, that this team is not perfect, even though its reputation in the book and as a comics commodity suggests so. Readers from any number of eras will tell you that the Justice League is fallible. The different and the distinction Johns is making here, and certainly in this issue, is that even a membership comprised of its most iconic members has visible chinks in its armor. The underlying story from the beginning of the series has been Wonder Woman's journey, and it's fair to say that Johns has been doing more than other writer of the team to make her relevant. Her relationship with Steve Trevor, which takes a considerable step this issue (but not one you might be thinking of), has been at the center of this significance, but the big splash is her fight with Superman and Green Lantern. It's something of a cliche to try and help out a character's reputation by putting them in a situation like this, but for Wonder Woman, she's rarely had a moment like this. In recent years she's come to be defined more closely as a warrior than ever before, but Johns has managed to channel that into someone who can be irrational and rational at the same time. She can be reasoned with. (It's also amazing that Johns is willing to show Green Lantern as so vulnerable in these pages, considering he's gone a good way into making the character his signature work in comics.) The Shazam backup continues, and can it really been only the fifth installment? Johns and Gary Frank are owning the former Captain Marvel as no one since Jerry Ordway. I don't think he'll be overlooked again anytime soon.
Nightwing #11 (DC) The subplot of Detective Nie that Kyle Higgins has been sowing throughout this run is starting to come to a head. I don't know why Nightwing seems to elicit these kinds of characters (Chuck Dixon and Devin Grayson previously worked similarly extended angles), but I'm glad it's another thing that Higgins is most assuredly doing write in this book. There's plenty of story threads to keep reader interested this issue, including a visit from Sonia Branch, the daughter of Tony Zucco (the mobster responsible for the death of Dick Grayson's parents), who turns our hero down for a loan due to the established risk involved; a conversation with Damian, loaded with references to recent comics that also helps Nightwing riddle out some detective work; and the villain Paragon, who's there to exploit as much as possible. Guest artist Andres Guinaldo is hit-and-miss, especially with Dick's hair for some reason, but the coloring makes a good contrast of Nightwing's basic gray and the new red swash. All in all, this is a book that rewards regular readers.
Now here I'm going to talk about some recent new series from cult favorite writers Jonathan Hickman, Brian Wood, and Brian K. Vaughan. Hickman's been famous recently for his work with Marvel, notably Fantastic Four, but he originally made his name on creator-owned titles for Image. Wood is known for Demo and DMZ, while Vaughan is probably the biggest name of the bunch, having crafted Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina, two long-running titles that had readers invested in the unusual lives of their central protagonists.
I read these issues last week:
The Manhattan Projects #3 (Image)
from Hickman
The Massive #2 (Dark Horse)
from Wood
Saga #3 (Image)
from Vaughan
Of the three, I'm most impressed by Saga. Hickman is known for having a wild imagination, but cycling it through either historical figures or established characters (sometimes blending the two, as in S.H.I.E.L.D.), and Manhattan Projects is not so different from this mold, even though it seems to have a little more breathing room than usual. As the title implies, it deals with the development of the atomic bomb, and Hickman's idea of the greater things going on around it. He gets to play with Einstein, Roosevelt, and a wacked-out version of Truman (if this is even close to truth, my history teachers have a lot of explaining to do), among others. This particular issue handles the actual deployment of the bomb that resulted, and so it's fun (insofar as that bomb was "fun") to read Hickman's depiction of these events, although there's little indication of what exactly he's doing to build a larger story. Maybe I need to read another issue. The Massive, meanwhile, appears to be part-Wood and equally parts Dark Horse reviving Arvid Nelson's brilliant Zero Killer, but in a decentralized form. For this reason (because I loved Zero Killer), I'm perhaps less inclined to view Massive as a singular creation, even though it's a book (like all three of these titles) that has a considerable amount of buzz around it, mostly because of Wood's involvement. Saga, meanwhile, is something totally new from Vaughan, at least as far as my experience goes. Maybe his Runaways was similar. At any rate, this is a story set on an alien world, and Vaughan has embraced its otherworldliness, almost to a degree that I must ask you to see for yourself. It's like Neil Gaiman doing Pixar (Coraline only gives you so much of a clue). If you ever sampled Grant Morrison and had a hard time figuring him out, Vaughan might have provided an adequate window into that kind of storytelling, like Seaguy but without being a parody of superhero comics. This one demands to be read again.
Aquaman #10 (DC) Ever since Brightest Day, Geoff Johns has made it his mission to revive Aquaman as a legitimate presence in comics. DC has tried just about everything in many different revivals to achieve this over the years, but Johns alone seems to have had the radical approach of merely making Aquaman himself interesting. As he's done with Green Lantern, Johns has achieved this by widening the scope of Aquaman's career. Previous efforts to this regard have always centered on underwater kingdoms, and while some of these have an impact, they did not succeed in making the character for whom these kingdoms were created...relevant. Aquaman is not defined by underwater kingdoms. If he were, he'd be no better than Black Panther, an incredibly negligent ruler, spending so much time hanging out with other superheroes who notably have no interest in this faraway responsibility. Some creators have also tried to make his human origins interesting, to little avail other than extremely temporary visibility. Aquaman, unfortunately, is a character who can be summed up in an entirely dismissive fashion: he talks to fish. Johns decided to ignore all that and instead reveal a side of the character that speaks to his strengths in a far empowering way, as a guy who had an entirely separate group of allies who link his undersea world to surface concerns in ways that are still being explored nearly a year into the series and a rivalry with his archnemesis that has turned decidedly personal. Aquaman has always been portrayed as the victim in his stories (which is really weird), but Johns is turning him into a multifaceted and even culpable figure. Like Wonder Woman, he has always been a character who was supposed to be important just because he supposed to, and during Flashpoint last year their common significance as warriors was made plain. Yet being a warrior isn't enough. But being a tragic hero might be. This is a good issue to see how Johns is accomplishing this.
Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre #2 of 4 (DC) What's absolutely fascinating about this issue has a connection to Alan Moore's story that could almost have been entirely forgotten in the midst of hype for being the best superhero story ever told. Darwyn Cooke and Amanda Conner remind readers of the social significance of it, too, as they outline the insidious plot to turn drugs into the next big consumer hit, a habit that doesn't need to provide anything lasting in order to create its own constant demand. Laurie is just beginning her career as a costumed crimefighter, something she never thought she'd do, but it's another habit, in effect, that she can't overcome. If there's a message, it's that one of these habits is productive and the other isn't.
Cobra #15 (IDW) Longtime fans of G.I. Joe will know that one of the big developments in the late 80s continuity was the revelation that Cobra Commander had a hidden son named Billy. Billy hits Cobra in a big way this issue, only he's not the boy we used to know, but a man, who in the opening pages sounds suspiciously like the Cobra from earlier issues, the ones trying to sell the organization to the public. If he's not evil, then he certainly has an ego, and could have easily been used by his father's allies, possibly without him even realizing it. It's this malleable sense of morality that allows this series to remain so brilliant. You know who the bad guys and the good guys are, but they're both forced to exist in a world where it's not so easy to keep those distinctions separate when something needs to be done. This is not a G.I. Joe book in any traditional sense. You don't even need to care about G.I. Joe to enjoy it, and I'm certain that you don't even have to have read the several other dozen issues behind this one to start enjoying it now.
Justice League #11 (DC) I don't think Graves will go down as one of the most memorable villains in JLA history, and I don't think Geoff Johns thinks so, either. He's a catalyst, a means to an end, to make a point, that this team is not perfect, even though its reputation in the book and as a comics commodity suggests so. Readers from any number of eras will tell you that the Justice League is fallible. The different and the distinction Johns is making here, and certainly in this issue, is that even a membership comprised of its most iconic members has visible chinks in its armor. The underlying story from the beginning of the series has been Wonder Woman's journey, and it's fair to say that Johns has been doing more than other writer of the team to make her relevant. Her relationship with Steve Trevor, which takes a considerable step this issue (but not one you might be thinking of), has been at the center of this significance, but the big splash is her fight with Superman and Green Lantern. It's something of a cliche to try and help out a character's reputation by putting them in a situation like this, but for Wonder Woman, she's rarely had a moment like this. In recent years she's come to be defined more closely as a warrior than ever before, but Johns has managed to channel that into someone who can be irrational and rational at the same time. She can be reasoned with. (It's also amazing that Johns is willing to show Green Lantern as so vulnerable in these pages, considering he's gone a good way into making the character his signature work in comics.) The Shazam backup continues, and can it really been only the fifth installment? Johns and Gary Frank are owning the former Captain Marvel as no one since Jerry Ordway. I don't think he'll be overlooked again anytime soon.
Nightwing #11 (DC) The subplot of Detective Nie that Kyle Higgins has been sowing throughout this run is starting to come to a head. I don't know why Nightwing seems to elicit these kinds of characters (Chuck Dixon and Devin Grayson previously worked similarly extended angles), but I'm glad it's another thing that Higgins is most assuredly doing write in this book. There's plenty of story threads to keep reader interested this issue, including a visit from Sonia Branch, the daughter of Tony Zucco (the mobster responsible for the death of Dick Grayson's parents), who turns our hero down for a loan due to the established risk involved; a conversation with Damian, loaded with references to recent comics that also helps Nightwing riddle out some detective work; and the villain Paragon, who's there to exploit as much as possible. Guest artist Andres Guinaldo is hit-and-miss, especially with Dick's hair for some reason, but the coloring makes a good contrast of Nightwing's basic gray and the new red swash. All in all, this is a book that rewards regular readers.
Now here I'm going to talk about some recent new series from cult favorite writers Jonathan Hickman, Brian Wood, and Brian K. Vaughan. Hickman's been famous recently for his work with Marvel, notably Fantastic Four, but he originally made his name on creator-owned titles for Image. Wood is known for Demo and DMZ, while Vaughan is probably the biggest name of the bunch, having crafted Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina, two long-running titles that had readers invested in the unusual lives of their central protagonists.
I read these issues last week:
The Manhattan Projects #3 (Image)
from Hickman
The Massive #2 (Dark Horse)
from Wood
Saga #3 (Image)
from Vaughan
Of the three, I'm most impressed by Saga. Hickman is known for having a wild imagination, but cycling it through either historical figures or established characters (sometimes blending the two, as in S.H.I.E.L.D.), and Manhattan Projects is not so different from this mold, even though it seems to have a little more breathing room than usual. As the title implies, it deals with the development of the atomic bomb, and Hickman's idea of the greater things going on around it. He gets to play with Einstein, Roosevelt, and a wacked-out version of Truman (if this is even close to truth, my history teachers have a lot of explaining to do), among others. This particular issue handles the actual deployment of the bomb that resulted, and so it's fun (insofar as that bomb was "fun") to read Hickman's depiction of these events, although there's little indication of what exactly he's doing to build a larger story. Maybe I need to read another issue. The Massive, meanwhile, appears to be part-Wood and equally parts Dark Horse reviving Arvid Nelson's brilliant Zero Killer, but in a decentralized form. For this reason (because I loved Zero Killer), I'm perhaps less inclined to view Massive as a singular creation, even though it's a book (like all three of these titles) that has a considerable amount of buzz around it, mostly because of Wood's involvement. Saga, meanwhile, is something totally new from Vaughan, at least as far as my experience goes. Maybe his Runaways was similar. At any rate, this is a story set on an alien world, and Vaughan has embraced its otherworldliness, almost to a degree that I must ask you to see for yourself. It's like Neil Gaiman doing Pixar (Coraline only gives you so much of a clue). If you ever sampled Grant Morrison and had a hard time figuring him out, Vaughan might have provided an adequate window into that kind of storytelling, like Seaguy but without being a parody of superhero comics. This one demands to be read again.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Unbeatable Comics From Last Week
Here's a quick roundup of the comics I read last week:
Atomic Robo Presents Real Science Adventures #4 (Red 5) is another fine entry in this anthology series, with a highlight of the continuing Bruce Lee serial, in which the late martial arts master admits recruiting Robo as a pupil because it's hard for a guy like Bruce to find a decent sparring partner.
Batman and Robin #11 (DC) sees Damian continue to work his way through past Robins by confronting Jason Todd (a rare appearance by the Red Hood outside of his own book) while the Terminus gang brands people with the bat symbol.
Before Watchmen: Minutemen #2 of 6 (DC) features the team coming together for the first time and probably sees Darwyn Cooke give more characterization to Silhouette than any previous appearance. (Perhaps more notable given that Before Watchmen collaborator J. Michael Straczynski did a version of the character in his own epic The Twelve.)
Charmed #22 (Zenescope) makes a little more sense than the last issue for readers who haven't exactly been following the series regularly, especially as concerns the return of Prue and her relationship to the Charmed Ones.
Demon Knights #11 (DC) moves the story along more than some issues, with a huge push from King Arthur and assist from the first appearance of Morgaine La Fey.
Peter Panzerfaust #5 (Image) moves the boys along to Paris, where they discover their Nazi troubles are far from over.
Saucer Country #5 (Vertigo) may be the best issue of the series so far, showcasing the cleverness of Arcadia as she kills two birds with one stone, learning more about what happened to her during a hypnotherapy session without letting on what she actually remembers to a duplicitous psychiatrist.
The Shade #10 of 12 (DC) demonstrates our antihero doing pretty much the same thing against the enemies who set Deathstroke against him in the first issue.
Atomic Robo Presents Real Science Adventures #4 (Red 5) is another fine entry in this anthology series, with a highlight of the continuing Bruce Lee serial, in which the late martial arts master admits recruiting Robo as a pupil because it's hard for a guy like Bruce to find a decent sparring partner.
Batman and Robin #11 (DC) sees Damian continue to work his way through past Robins by confronting Jason Todd (a rare appearance by the Red Hood outside of his own book) while the Terminus gang brands people with the bat symbol.
Before Watchmen: Minutemen #2 of 6 (DC) features the team coming together for the first time and probably sees Darwyn Cooke give more characterization to Silhouette than any previous appearance. (Perhaps more notable given that Before Watchmen collaborator J. Michael Straczynski did a version of the character in his own epic The Twelve.)
Charmed #22 (Zenescope) makes a little more sense than the last issue for readers who haven't exactly been following the series regularly, especially as concerns the return of Prue and her relationship to the Charmed Ones.
Demon Knights #11 (DC) moves the story along more than some issues, with a huge push from King Arthur and assist from the first appearance of Morgaine La Fey.
Peter Panzerfaust #5 (Image) moves the boys along to Paris, where they discover their Nazi troubles are far from over.
Saucer Country #5 (Vertigo) may be the best issue of the series so far, showcasing the cleverness of Arcadia as she kills two birds with one stone, learning more about what happened to her during a hypnotherapy session without letting on what she actually remembers to a duplicitous psychiatrist.
The Shade #10 of 12 (DC) demonstrates our antihero doing pretty much the same thing against the enemies who set Deathstroke against him in the first issue.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Unbeatable Comics: Ozymandias #1
writer: Len Wein
artist: Jae Lee
If Ozymandias has any reputation at all, it's as the member of the Watchmen who went rogue and thought he could fix the world with selective destruction.
In this introductory issue from the continuing Before Watchmen project, we're reintroduced to the man behind the mania, especially his obsession with Alexander the Great, another guy who thought he could make the world better by uniting it single-handedly. As with Alexander, we know Adrian Veidt will ultimately (theoretically, at least, since Alan Moore ends Watchmen ambiguously) fail for the same reason of failing to secure his empire with able allies, capable of supporting his vision.
Yet we now have the chance, as I said, to see the humanity of the superhuman a little better. A boy genius who felt compelled to hide his abilities, Veidt slowly learns that perhaps it's better to keep them out in the open. Yet he becomes Ozymandias for the same reasons he reaches his flawed conclusion in Watchmen, failing to acknowledge those around him, in the instance of this debut issue a lover he leaves behind too much. Writer Len Wein, a DC legend who often doesn't get the respect he deserves, understands that the story of Adrian Veidt is one long tragedy.
Illustrating this book is Jae Lee, whose last notable project was Marvel's Dark Tower comics. Here he's shorn of the painterly sheen exhibited in that effort, but is no less sensational, filled with the appropriate level of presumption that defines Ozymandias.
Like many of these Before Watchmen books, it's not the first issue that defines what the rest of the mini-series will really be like. This one's another superb setup, leading the reader to wonder what the rest of the story is going to be.
artist: Jae Lee
If Ozymandias has any reputation at all, it's as the member of the Watchmen who went rogue and thought he could fix the world with selective destruction.
In this introductory issue from the continuing Before Watchmen project, we're reintroduced to the man behind the mania, especially his obsession with Alexander the Great, another guy who thought he could make the world better by uniting it single-handedly. As with Alexander, we know Adrian Veidt will ultimately (theoretically, at least, since Alan Moore ends Watchmen ambiguously) fail for the same reason of failing to secure his empire with able allies, capable of supporting his vision.
Yet we now have the chance, as I said, to see the humanity of the superhuman a little better. A boy genius who felt compelled to hide his abilities, Veidt slowly learns that perhaps it's better to keep them out in the open. Yet he becomes Ozymandias for the same reasons he reaches his flawed conclusion in Watchmen, failing to acknowledge those around him, in the instance of this debut issue a lover he leaves behind too much. Writer Len Wein, a DC legend who often doesn't get the respect he deserves, understands that the story of Adrian Veidt is one long tragedy.
Illustrating this book is Jae Lee, whose last notable project was Marvel's Dark Tower comics. Here he's shorn of the painterly sheen exhibited in that effort, but is no less sensational, filled with the appropriate level of presumption that defines Ozymandias.
Like many of these Before Watchmen books, it's not the first issue that defines what the rest of the mini-series will really be like. This one's another superb setup, leading the reader to wonder what the rest of the story is going to be.
Unbeatable Comics: Nite Owl #1
writer: J. Michael Straczynski
artist: Andy & Joe Kubert
I don't usually acknowledge the inker (when I wrote for Paperback Reader, I used to get to plug in the entire creative team, so maybe that's why I don't do that anymore), but in this instance it's as notable and necessary as pointing out that this is another entry in DC's Before Watchmen project.
The reason is that Andy Kubert is being inked by his father, Joe, and the difference is huge. It's the first time I'm familiar with where Andy's art ends up looking like his father's, and it's undeniably because his father's inking it, lending a huge influence to the effort that creates something distinctively familiar and new.
Much like Before Watchmen. This one is all about Nite Owl, the Blue Beetle surrogate Alan Moore created that most outsiders will probably assume is a stand-in for Batman, especially for the general look. A legacy hero (like Blue Beetle), Nite Owl is both the Minutemen's Hollis Mason and the Watchmen's Dan Dreiberg. The transition from one to the other is the crux of this issue, which portrays Dan growing up in an affluent household with a father who doesn't understand or support him, leading Dan to idolize and then seek out Hollis, who retires from the vigilante business and decides to train the eager youngster to replace him.
It's with Nite Owl perhaps that it becomes clear that Dan Dreiberg is at the center of the whole Watchmen story. Some might argue that the Comedian is, or perhaps Dr. Manhattan, but it's Dreiberg who connects two generations most clearly, and forms key relationships with the second Silk Spectre and notably Rorschach, the psycho who serves as the most colorful of these characters. It's the dynamic between Nite Owl and Rorschach, emerging in this issue, that may serve as one of the more intriguing revelations of Before Watchmen. J. Michael Straczynski writes the standard Rorschach here, and it may seem like a parody or it may prove the real strength of Moore's original vision. Perhaps we won't know until Rorschach's own book, but here he emerges as a more entertaining figure than anyone previously imagined.
There's a lot to learn in Before Watchmen, and Nite Owl may prove to be the source for the most knowledge.
artist: Andy & Joe Kubert
I don't usually acknowledge the inker (when I wrote for Paperback Reader, I used to get to plug in the entire creative team, so maybe that's why I don't do that anymore), but in this instance it's as notable and necessary as pointing out that this is another entry in DC's Before Watchmen project.
The reason is that Andy Kubert is being inked by his father, Joe, and the difference is huge. It's the first time I'm familiar with where Andy's art ends up looking like his father's, and it's undeniably because his father's inking it, lending a huge influence to the effort that creates something distinctively familiar and new.
Much like Before Watchmen. This one is all about Nite Owl, the Blue Beetle surrogate Alan Moore created that most outsiders will probably assume is a stand-in for Batman, especially for the general look. A legacy hero (like Blue Beetle), Nite Owl is both the Minutemen's Hollis Mason and the Watchmen's Dan Dreiberg. The transition from one to the other is the crux of this issue, which portrays Dan growing up in an affluent household with a father who doesn't understand or support him, leading Dan to idolize and then seek out Hollis, who retires from the vigilante business and decides to train the eager youngster to replace him.
It's with Nite Owl perhaps that it becomes clear that Dan Dreiberg is at the center of the whole Watchmen story. Some might argue that the Comedian is, or perhaps Dr. Manhattan, but it's Dreiberg who connects two generations most clearly, and forms key relationships with the second Silk Spectre and notably Rorschach, the psycho who serves as the most colorful of these characters. It's the dynamic between Nite Owl and Rorschach, emerging in this issue, that may serve as one of the more intriguing revelations of Before Watchmen. J. Michael Straczynski writes the standard Rorschach here, and it may seem like a parody or it may prove the real strength of Moore's original vision. Perhaps we won't know until Rorschach's own book, but here he emerges as a more entertaining figure than anyone previously imagined.
There's a lot to learn in Before Watchmen, and Nite Owl may prove to be the source for the most knowledge.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Unbeatable Comics: Comedian #1
writer: Brian Azzarello
artist: J.G. Jones
Before Watchmen continues, creating a new ripple in the canon by emphatically stating Edward Blake, the Comedian, was not involved in the assassination of JFK.
I guess it's implied in the comic, and strongly suggested in the movie, but the beauty of revisiting this world is that another writer can given another interpretation of both the character and events as we've come to know them. Blake famously took up the role of the Comedian because he came to believe that the world was a big joke, and he would provide the punchline, but I was never convinced that his motivations were properly explained, nor his particular worldview explored. He was the fall guy for Ozymandias's master plan, the one who figured it out long before anyone else. But he's mostly known as the maverick with violent tendencies and the tenuous link between generations.
I've never really gotten into Brian Azzarello as a writer, and so can't begin to form a basis for comparison with his other work, only that it seems I've more or less avoided him until now, or so it seems. He's a name writer who seems to have avoided being identified with the mainstream. He wrote Superman with Jim Lee on art, and no one really remembers that. (Maybe I'll have to investigate it now.) Anyway, he starts his tale off pretty deliberately, with Blake being good friends with the Kennedy boys, who J.G. Jones draws very much as boys, actually, and I think that's fairly deliberate, and a telling element of the issue. With everything that's been said and seen about John and Bobby over the years, a lot of things have been obscured. I've read that some people found Azzarello's depiction of Jackie as offensive and unlikely, but I take it up with everything else he does in the issue as a way of removing that barrier that's existed for fifty years, and revealing the whole clan as living human beings again. Blake joins this ride as another pragmatist believing the Kennedy vision, assassinating an American legend (Marilyn Monroe) and crying with Moloch over the fall of his good friend. Where do we go from here? That's what the question is in the story, and that's what Azzarello successfully challenges his reader with, too.
Like the Comedian, JFK's legacy has been obscured by the reports of his womanizing. It becomes hard to reconcile the visionary with the man, especially after one of his disciples tried to follow that pattern without any of the vision. (What Clinton never seemed to realize was that Jack wanted anything but to become a politician. It just so happened that he and Bobby were better at it than anyone else in their family.) Yet there's the man and the vision, wrapped up in a tidy, tragic package. The tragedy of the Comedian is that he never really got to play the hero. In fact, Azzarello goes out of his way to suggest that not only was Blake not responsible for the death of JFK, but that he was probably the only man who could have prevented it.
It seems like incredibly heady stuff, and maybe stuff that doesn't even belong in a comic book, much less one that some say by definition impugns a rich legacy. Yet this issue proves beyond a doubt what this project is capable of accomplishing, what someone like Azzarello can give both to fiction and history, because in this case the two are intertwined, inextricably, much like the man and the vision were in JFK, and how we'll learn the same is true of the Comedian.
The real joke is that the story of Edward Blake is just beginning, twenty years after everyone assumed the book had already been completed.
artist: J.G. Jones
Before Watchmen continues, creating a new ripple in the canon by emphatically stating Edward Blake, the Comedian, was not involved in the assassination of JFK.
I guess it's implied in the comic, and strongly suggested in the movie, but the beauty of revisiting this world is that another writer can given another interpretation of both the character and events as we've come to know them. Blake famously took up the role of the Comedian because he came to believe that the world was a big joke, and he would provide the punchline, but I was never convinced that his motivations were properly explained, nor his particular worldview explored. He was the fall guy for Ozymandias's master plan, the one who figured it out long before anyone else. But he's mostly known as the maverick with violent tendencies and the tenuous link between generations.
I've never really gotten into Brian Azzarello as a writer, and so can't begin to form a basis for comparison with his other work, only that it seems I've more or less avoided him until now, or so it seems. He's a name writer who seems to have avoided being identified with the mainstream. He wrote Superman with Jim Lee on art, and no one really remembers that. (Maybe I'll have to investigate it now.) Anyway, he starts his tale off pretty deliberately, with Blake being good friends with the Kennedy boys, who J.G. Jones draws very much as boys, actually, and I think that's fairly deliberate, and a telling element of the issue. With everything that's been said and seen about John and Bobby over the years, a lot of things have been obscured. I've read that some people found Azzarello's depiction of Jackie as offensive and unlikely, but I take it up with everything else he does in the issue as a way of removing that barrier that's existed for fifty years, and revealing the whole clan as living human beings again. Blake joins this ride as another pragmatist believing the Kennedy vision, assassinating an American legend (Marilyn Monroe) and crying with Moloch over the fall of his good friend. Where do we go from here? That's what the question is in the story, and that's what Azzarello successfully challenges his reader with, too.
Like the Comedian, JFK's legacy has been obscured by the reports of his womanizing. It becomes hard to reconcile the visionary with the man, especially after one of his disciples tried to follow that pattern without any of the vision. (What Clinton never seemed to realize was that Jack wanted anything but to become a politician. It just so happened that he and Bobby were better at it than anyone else in their family.) Yet there's the man and the vision, wrapped up in a tidy, tragic package. The tragedy of the Comedian is that he never really got to play the hero. In fact, Azzarello goes out of his way to suggest that not only was Blake not responsible for the death of JFK, but that he was probably the only man who could have prevented it.
It seems like incredibly heady stuff, and maybe stuff that doesn't even belong in a comic book, much less one that some say by definition impugns a rich legacy. Yet this issue proves beyond a doubt what this project is capable of accomplishing, what someone like Azzarello can give both to fiction and history, because in this case the two are intertwined, inextricably, much like the man and the vision were in JFK, and how we'll learn the same is true of the Comedian.
The real joke is that the story of Edward Blake is just beginning, twenty years after everyone assumed the book had already been completed.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Unbeatable Comics: Silk Spectre #1
writer: Darwyn Cooke & Amanda Conner
artist: Amanda Conner
What's the point of Before Watchmen? Some say that it's gratuitous and disrespectful and unnecessary. Well, two first issues later, and what I can say is: essential.
Far from ruining the legacy of Alan Moore's Watchmen, I believe, now more than ever, after reading Silk Spectre #1, that this project is going to enrich that legacy. Cooke and Conner have already shaped a bigger and better portrait of what could be considered the token female character into something that delves deeply into her motivations, not just backstory, so that she becomes three-dimensional.
Laurie Jupiter (there's a lot of names to choose from, but this will suffice) is the daughter of a superhero. Turns out there's not a lot of glamour in that, especially if your mother had the kind of career hers did. Her classmates shun her, and her only real relationship is with someone who she thinks understands what she's going through, but their shared pain does not equal anymore healthy a solution than the mixed up life they've already been leading. And that's just the beginning of this story.
This is the kind of storytelling that undoubtedly makes it worth the Before Watchmen project. What's even better is that it's got someone like Amanda Conner behind it. At first, she seems to be the total opposite of the creator one would expect to tackle Silk Spectre. She's too bubbly, right? After reading this issue, you won't think that. Same style, new context. But isn't that what all of this is about?
artist: Amanda Conner
What's the point of Before Watchmen? Some say that it's gratuitous and disrespectful and unnecessary. Well, two first issues later, and what I can say is: essential.
Far from ruining the legacy of Alan Moore's Watchmen, I believe, now more than ever, after reading Silk Spectre #1, that this project is going to enrich that legacy. Cooke and Conner have already shaped a bigger and better portrait of what could be considered the token female character into something that delves deeply into her motivations, not just backstory, so that she becomes three-dimensional.
Laurie Jupiter (there's a lot of names to choose from, but this will suffice) is the daughter of a superhero. Turns out there's not a lot of glamour in that, especially if your mother had the kind of career hers did. Her classmates shun her, and her only real relationship is with someone who she thinks understands what she's going through, but their shared pain does not equal anymore healthy a solution than the mixed up life they've already been leading. And that's just the beginning of this story.
This is the kind of storytelling that undoubtedly makes it worth the Before Watchmen project. What's even better is that it's got someone like Amanda Conner behind it. At first, she seems to be the total opposite of the creator one would expect to tackle Silk Spectre. She's too bubbly, right? After reading this issue, you won't think that. Same style, new context. But isn't that what all of this is about?
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Controversies Edition!
ACTION COMICS #10 (DC)
Grant Morrison is probably the first writer after Geoff
Johns to write the Justice League in the New 52. Perhaps predictably, he goes against the
grain. This is the Morrison of JLA, but
rather the one willing to subvert the mainstream, defy expectations, and end up
with Superman as an outsider rather than the cheerful face of “normal.” That’s about what Morrison has done with the
Man of Steel since ALL STAR SUPERMAN, where he first postulated that Kal-El
possesses a hyper sense of responsibility, rather than the more usual notion
that he’s nothing more than a Big Blue Boy Scout. He’s the one trying to get the team to have a
little ambition, not to mention compassion, and if you really stop to think
about it, it makes sense. The rest of
the team has very specific areas of interest and the one most identified as his
opposite number is obsessive and controlling (that would be Batman, who even in
Morrison’s interpretation of his best possible mode has established a network of
allies that are most effective only in relation to him). The thing that Morrison has been trying to
stress in ACTION COMICS is the humanity of Clark Kent, which is an identity he
readily sacrifices this issue (SPOILER ALERT, by the way), something he doesn’t
even think twice about, because he’s more interested in his humanitarian mission
than his own reputation. Yes, he no
doubt hears when Batman cracks that he’s going to be the League’s problem some
day (and not in an IRREDEEMABLE way), but that’s not his problem, and he cares
a great deal that his teammates don’t care about what he does. That makes him irreplaceable. Just like Grant Morrison.
AQUAMAN #9 (DC)
Okay, so this issues pretty much makes it official: Geoff
Johns has gotten into GREEN LANTERN mode.
For the past few issues, he’s been exploring Aquaman’s association with
a whole different set of superheroic allies from around the world, totally
different from the Justice League, a lot more similar to him, actually. He’s also brought back Black Manta, Aquaman’s
greatest foe. This issue, he inserts a
key bit of mythology into their relationship, one that deepens both characters
as well as the story I hope Johns will be telling for years to come. I guess in hindsight it was clear that he
wasn’t going to stick around THE FLASH with Barry Allen for too long, because
that’s not something he did on that book (but definitely something he did in
FLASHPOINT). When he starts to shape an
entire world that’s when you know he’s really invested, and that’s something he’s
started to really get into here. Here is
an issue any self-respecting fan of superhero comics ought to read, because it’ll
be important later.
AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #5 (Marvel)
This should be another of those moments, but owing to the
length of the event book, the Phoenix choosing its new host becomes a little
convoluted, leaving Hope behind and entering into a few of the X-Men, who are still
contractually obligated to be diametrically opposed to the Avengers. On the other hand, Matt Fraction does a good
job writing Iron Man as he appears in the movies, so that’s something right
there, right?
BEFORE WATCHMEN: MINUTEMEN #1 (DC)
The big controversy here is that someone other than Alan
Moore, and without his consent, is playing in the Watchmen sandbox. This is being viewed as a violation of
creator rights, mostly because everyone really loves WATCHMEN (but not the movie,
which I always found odd, because the movie rocks). MINUTEMEN is the first of several
mini-series, and is handled by nostalgia-rich Darwyn Cooke. It concerns the first generation of heroes
envisioned by Moore, essentially the golden age, the birth of superheroes, and
narrated by Hollis Mason, the original Night-Owl and author of the fictional
UNDER THE HOOD autobiography that served to give the original story its first
measure of authenticity, the quality that everyone dances around when speaking
about WATCHMEN. At heart, the story of
the Watchmen is about weaving a self-contained world where everything makes
sense, even the bits that get swept under the rug, and so it’s about perspective. It’s always seemed odd to me that fans of
WATCHMEN seem to utterly lack perspective, including Moore himself, a man so
steeped in his own favorite memories that he barely seems to exist in the
present. Cooke is very much like that,
but like his art style, he’s far more whimsical about it. Perhaps it’s because he exists to play in not
just other people’s sandboxes but their memories as well, that he serves as the
perfect introduction to the BEFORE WATCHMEN project, which seeks to expand the
narrative back to the characters and not just their story, because as Moore so
cleverly demonstrated in the first place, without them the story couldn’t
exist. He already took the liberty of
modifying the creations of others to reach that point in the first place. Now we get to see how strong his own
creations were.
EARTH 2 #2 (DC)
Years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Mart Nodell, creator
of Alan Scott. He was a gracious man who
didn’t mind signing comics that featured Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner, even
though they had nothing to do with his Green Lantern. I’m thinking he would have been fine with a
little reinvention of his own character.
You may have heard by now that James Robinson made Green Lantern
gay. This is no surprise on the part of
Robinson, who’s incorporated gay characters in his other comics, and was made
as an official press release only days before this issue was published, just to
allay, or at least moderate, the reaction.
The whole EARTH 2 series is about redefining a whole generation of
superheroes, some of the oldest in comics, by ironically making them once again
the successors of Superman and Batman.
Robinson has handled it beautifully so far, with the second issue better
than the first, with more time to explore his brave new world. The character on the cover is Jay Garrick,
the original Flash, now endowed with the powers of Mercury but an inexperienced
hothead (like a certain Bart Allen!), and it’s not until the third issue that
Alan Scott is supposed to steal the spotlight.
He’s already been cast as a key figure in the narrative, shaping the
public reaction to the aftermath of a parallel version of what happened in the
first handful of JUSTICE LEAGUE issues, where events turned tragic and created
a bleak (brave?) new world with awesome consequences. So he also happens to be gay. Some observers are saying it’s convenient,
that he’s an alternate version in his own pocket world, but I don’t think
Robinson ever had the media in mind when he made his decision. Oh, well, it’s just that much easier to
ignore if that’s easier for you. Except
you’ll be missing out on a great read.
THE SUMMER OF SPIDER-MAN/ WOLVERINE: SABRETOOTH REBORN
(Marvel)
This is another of those free preview flipbooks, showcasing
a bunch of upcoming Spider-Man stories as well as the latest from Jeph
Loeb. The Spidey previews are a little
awkward. First there’s something from
Dan Slott’s AMAZING SPIDER-MAN that involves the Lizard but has no relation to
the upcoming movie. It paints a pretty
generic portrait of the Lizard and leaves anything human out of the picture. Is that really the point of the
character? Then there’s SPIDER-MEN, from
Brian Michael Bendis, a crossover between the regular wallcrawler and is
Ultimate doppelganger, who happens to be Miles Morales these days. The only problem is this excerpt is generic
Peter Parker bemoaning his life, and only begins to suggest what will actually
happen in the book. This goes on for
pages. Finally there’s AVENGING
SPIDER-MAN that’s supposed to sell you on the new, female Captain Marvel, but
ends up doing a far better job for a character who doesn’t even technically
have a name yet. Get that girl her own
book! On the other side, Loeb and artist
Simone Bianchi talk about their new Sabretooth project (they previously collaborated
on WOLVERINE: EVOLUTION). I wish Loeb
hadn’t gotten so skittish about working with Tim Sale, but it seems these
Wolverine tales are in that same basic tradition, character-rich stories that
are probably worth checking out, even though they’re on the fringe of
continuity.
WASTELAND #38 (Oni)
At this point Justin Greenwood has nicely settled in as the
new artist of the book, and Antony Johnston is free to dive back into the
mythology of the story, finally explaining the deal with Gerr, the assassin
sent by Lord Founder Marcus of Newbegin to dispatch Michael and Abi, but only
after they find A-Ree-Yass-I, fabled oasis of the Big Wet, the apocalypse that
led to our little wasteland. The bigger
news is that next issue we may actually learn more about Marcus, Michael, and
Abi, who share superhuman abilities, including the inability to age, that has
kept them youthful for some hundred years.
But that’s next issue. This issue
finally provides closure to at least one long-standing arc in the series: Gerr
has loomed as a threat over Michael and Abi for some twenty issues now (ever
since BOOK 3: BLACK STEEL IN THE HOUR OF CHAOS, to be precise). This is what THE WALKING DEAD should be like.
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