Back Issue Bin 124 "The Weather Man and other comics"

True Believers - Jessica Jones: Alias #1 (Marvel)
The True Believer comics are dollar reprints, which have been popular in recent years from a number of publishers to help catch fans up.  This particular one was intended to celebrate both Marvel Knights, twenty years this year as the last time Marvel fans really celebrated a whole creative moment (the Ultimate line coincided with it) and the Netflix shows, of which Jessica Jones is one of them.  Alias was the original title, before Jennifer Garner and J.J. Abrams made it more famous.  But when you think about it, it's appropriate for this particular character to be advertised under a proper name, a post-Starman expansion of the post-Watchmen deconstruction movement, where superheroes could walk away from the life.  Anyway, this is also one of Brian Michael Bendis's most famous creations, and the pattern he's been following in Jinxworld ever since.

Bane: Conquest#10 (DC)
TV shows get revived all the time these days; it sometimes happens in comics, too.  Dan Jurgens was doing it before it was cool, revisiting Doomsday in a series of projects.  Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan have done it with Bane a few times, too, most recently in this mini-series, whose only real questionable decision was the mask revision, where we see Bane's nose.  Yeah, no.  Anyway, otherwise this is perfectly identifiable as continuing the original Bane narrative, perhaps last seen in Vengeance of Bane II.  I never really liked the Bane revisions, which is another reason to admire Tom King's comics, as they're the first time Bane has really been Bane since the old days.

Image Firsts: Curse Words #1 (Image)
Here's another company with dollar comic reprints!  And here's me finally reading Curse Words!  And I really feel bad about it now, more than ever.  I've been a big fan of Charles Soule for years now.  Unfortunately "big fan" for me doesn't mean the same thing it used to.  If I were spending money on comics like I have before (rashly, unwisely, in terms of general finances), I'd've been reading everything Charles Soule I could get my hands on.  I'd've read the complete Letter 44, his complete Daredevil, and this.  But I haven't, and hadn't even had a proper look until now.  But it's great!  This is the story of a fantasy world a wizard escapes from, after realizing his mission to destroy Earth was a bad one and subsequently settling in as a wizard-for-hire.  The whole issue reads wonderfully.  Soule positively crackles with creative energy, and this whole concept encapsulates that really well.  So I will probably have to read more at some point.

DC Universe: Last Will and Testament (DC)
This was a one-shot from Brad Meltzer, who famously made a big bang comics debut with Identity Crisis, and then a sting in Justice League of America.  This is a wonderful spotlight for Geo-Force, a character who otherwise never really stands out.  But this is really, really a story that should've corrected that, and a terrific way of demonstrating a compelling story can be found for any character.

True Believers: Infinity Incoming! (Marvel)
A repackaging of Jonathan Hickman's first issue of Avengers, it's clear how epic Hickman wants to feel, but I'm not sure as a storyteller he ever quite hits the notes he reaches for, which is why I've never gotten into him. 

Marvels #2 (Marvel)
I've never read the complete Marvels.  In fact, this is now the most I've ever read!  It always seemed like a Marvel-exclusive tale, a celebration, and I spent a lot of time not feeling like that kind of reader.  But it was so famous, I've read some of this already.  But not all of it.  The issue is actually geared toward the X-Men and the "mutant problem."  I'm not sure anyone's ever really adequately explained why superpowers in Marvel are considered bad (mutant or otherwise), so I guess that's just a story I'll have to keep looking for.

Mera: Queen of Atlantis #1 (DC)
I love that Mera finally has her own comic!  Even if it's just a mini-series.  That's one of the biggest things Geoff Johns has accomplished over the years, elevating Mera to known status, and I think she's got farther to go.  Curiously this debut issue sort of spends most of its time...focusing on Aquaman-specific elements.  So you can see how far it can still go...

Orion #23 (DC)
The Walt Simonson series; Simonson is one of the few creators who can get away with revisiting the New Gods without anyone thinking he's revising them.  This particular issue doesn't really have anything to do with the New Gods, which is actually a lot like how Jack Kirby himself first used them. 

Thanos #2 (Marvel)
Jeff Lemire!  Another modern creator I'd love to read more extensively, and another comic I'm reading for the first time.  The only thing I don't get (otherwise it's a lot like the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, but without the humor) is why Thanos would fear death.  Maybe I'm not thinking clearly about this because I'm not exhaustively versed in it, but isn't Thanos obsessed with Death?  If he can be united with her in death, wouldn't that help him fulfill his fondest desire?   But maybe this is something Lemire explores elsewhere in his tale.

The Twelve #12 (Marvel)
I read this series as it was originally published, even enduring the long delay halfway through with patience, but it was fun to revisit.  I honestly think that what's happening with Marvel now is that it tried extremely hard to reinvent itself over the past twenty years as a more dynamic House of Ideas, but now that it's gone back to its more traditional mode, fans realize that there was something missing.  There's no reason why The Twelve shouldn't be considered an evergreen title.

The Weatherman #1-5 (Image)
Being a Star Trek fan, (I want to say of course here, but it hasn't been that simple with Star Trek fans for at least twenty years), I watched the first season of Discovery, which featured a lot of twists, one of which was that one of the characters was a Klingon all along and didn't even know it.  I don't know if Jody LeHeup and Nathan Fox were at all inspired by that, but it was impossible not to think about while reading, and remains my favorite way to think about these issues.  Because otherwise they're a lot like...most Image comics, in that they seem to exist merely to indulge shock value, with [hang narrative description here] merely an excuse to do so.  Few of them seem at all interested in anything more than a shallow understanding of their characters, and it's really no different here.  It's not that most comics have more depth, but that as a rule, Image seems to be, well, image-deep.  Back at its founding, it was famously led by artists, with writing that was never really a priority, until it was pointed out and they started bringing in better writers.   But then they seemed to forget, all in the interests of championing independent comics that still had a reasonable chance of, y'know, selling.  So they took shortcuts.  All the time.  And so the image stays the...same.

Detective Comics #27 (DC)

(via CBDB)

writer: various

artist: various

The original Detective Comics #27 was released in 1939.  It immediately entered into history as the first appearance of Batman.  When the New 52 company-wide reboot in 2011, DC fans probably weren't thinking about the possibility of a unique anniversary issue suddenly becoming a real possibility.

The reboot already celebrated a soften celebration previously with #19, which was also the 900th issue in the title's history.  This particular milestone was not only much more hyped, but featured plenty of high profile material, and creators.  Funny enough, but writer John Layman is the common link between the issues, and may still be the highlight of both.

Infrequent comics scribe Brad Meltzer kicks off the festivities with his version of the very first Batman adventure, sharing the same title ("The Case of the Chemical Syndicate").  I don't know how well the two stories mirror each other.  I know Meltzer's is more a character study (with a series of statements Bruce Wayne makes as to why he's fights crime as Batman), as well as a version of the Joker's origin.  It's always fun to see Meltzer dabble in comics.  His origin effort, Identity Crisis, revitalized the whole DC landscape.  I've become a fan of him as a novelist, too, although I don't typically read thrillers of the kind of he writes.  I guess I love his ability to identify American icons and spin stories out of them.  (His Book of Lies actually involves the creation of Superman.)

The art for this segment comes from Bryan Hitch, by the way.  Hitch's legacy has turned out to be his work in the original Ultimates comics, and so he's the artist on record responsible for turning Nick Fury into Samuel L. Jackson.  He's known for photorealism, like Greg Land, a style that's sometimes criticized for appearing to come directly from traced source material.  In this effort, Hitch has relaxed those instincts.  It may signal a shift in his approach.  I don't know that it'll make him more or less popular, but it certainly shows a willingness to do something different.  

The second story comes from Gregg Hurwitz, another novelist who sometimes dabbles in comics, most recently taking over Batman: The Dark Knight.  With all due respect to Hurwitz, however, it's more significant for the art, supplied by Batman legend Neal Adams.  Adams last worked on Batman Odyssey, with his inimitable style that is a hallmark of the Silver Age.  Cleverly, however, he takes the occasion to draw not like Neal Adams, but to evoke classic Batman in general, a tale that winks at the character's more lighthearted past.  

My boy Peter J. Tomasi, whose work in Batman and Robin has constantly impressed me, writes the third segment, which is essentially the anti-Dark Knight Returns.  An aging Bruce Wayne has his Bat-family help him celebrate his birthday, and then he slips away to operate once more under the cowl, even though it kills his body to do so.  Once more taking a cue from Grant Morrison, Tomasi knows that this does not have to be a grim legacy, even though it looks nothing like the Hurwitz/Adams tale that precedes it.

Francesco Francavilla is usually associated with pulp characters, and he delivers an appropriately moody entry, minimalist and effective.

Mike W. Barr is another classic creator who makes an appearance.  Barr is responsible for a lot of Batman mythology, including the Outsiders and the idea of the liaison with Talia al Ghul that created an offspring (Son of the Demon).  In his tale, the Phantom Stranger gives Batman a glimpse of what might have been had his parents not been murdered.

John Layman comes next with the first part of his "Gothtopia" arc, which imagines what Batman's world would be like with the grim aspects completely eliminated.  I was soundly impressed with Layman after Detective 19, and so it's a real treat to see him finally receive a standout crossover of his own, even if it still won't rival Scott Snyder's continuing "Zero Year" arc in the minds of most fans.  The whole alternate reality Layman envisions is pretty awesome.  I hope to read the complete story later.

Snyder, meanwhile, rounds out the issue along with Wake collaborator Sean Murphy (who always impresses me).  And even he comes up aces.  I tend to marginalize his efforts in strict contrast to how everyone else tends to greet him, but here I think he does an excellent job.  He worries less about what he's allowed to do when he's not concerned with current continuity.  It's one reason why I look forward to exploring "Zero Year" later.  This effort is like the Batman version of Moon, a succession of Bruce Waynes creating their own legacies as Batman over the years, a clever way of extrapolating the character's 75 years and many permutations.  

Overall, a truly excellent celebration.