Sunday Marvel Sunday "Daredevil #1 (2019)"

Daredevil #1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reading Comics 229 "Tom King, Vertigo, Recent Comics"

Okay!  If I'd written this earlier, I'd be talking about less, but here we are and now there's more...

Apparently it was DC's decision for Tom King to leave Batman itself to finish the story in Batman/Catwoman?  Or maybe there's an explanation that doesn't sound sinister?  But, in news that's only relevant to people who aren't on the internet (yay troglodytes!), King's work is still appearing in the Superman 100-Page Giants found at Wal-Mart.  I confirmed this (but have yet to read it) with the recently released Superman Giant #12. 

Apparently DC has cancelled the Vertigo imprint.  There will be a lot of fans freaking out over this, how DC's killing a part of its soul or whatever, but really...I don't see a real problem here.  Vertigo hasn't really been Vertigo since Scott Snyder backed off of American Vampire, which was the last major series launched under the imprint.  And in that regard, the big send-off for trade-friendly Fables might be considered the real end of the imprint, getting a trade-size (and published in trade format, no less) final issue.  Fans will say it's because Karen Berger was released as managing editor, but Fables and the most recent issue of American Vampire were released in 2015.  That's a long time for the imprint to linger in irrelevance.  Meanwhile, times changed.  The Walking Dead, which in a lot of respects was a Vertigo title published by Image, was a game-changer.  Image itself transitioned into a Vertigo mentality after pushing the superhero format in the '90s.  And there are dozens of smaller publishers now operating that also follow the Vertigo template, which itself began by collecting a number of existing DC titles that were intended for mature readers, which...

And that's the new plan, by the way.  The new DC Black Label will now be the destination of anything that might've once been Vertigo.  There's also Brian Michael Bendis's Jinxworld, which is its own DC imprint, which in earlier times would have been part of Vertigo.  (Bendis was operating more or less this way with Marvel, too, which never made a serious move to expand into other creators producing creator-owned material.)

So again, I say there's nothing to complain about here.  Paul Cornell was able to retrieve the rights to Saucer Country, which for all intents and purposes was a post-Berger Vertigo series, and continue it at IDW as Saucer State.  The Vertigo mystique did nothing to salvage G. Willow Wilson's seminal Air, which sputtered under little critical or fan attention under Berger's watch from 2008 to 2010.  What Fables did was itself signal the end of an era, in which Vertigo was previously known for dark genre instead became home to light genre material, which couldn't sustain the same cult following.

Anyway, here's some comics I read recently:

Batman: Last Knight on Earth #1 (DC)
Here's Snyder and Greg Capullo reuniting for one last grand Batman story.  As suggested previously and as I hoped to see since Snyder's contribution to the 'New 52" era Detective Comics #27, it's finally an extended look at the concept of Batman producing a series of clones to continue the crusade past his original lifetime.  I'm not sure this debut entirely squares with the concept, but I do love that Snyder heavily leans into his concept that Batman and the Joker are essentially an odd couple, having progressed well beyond hero-and-villain status.  The idea of Batman carrying around the disembodied head of the Joker is the best thing I've come across in a Scott Snyder comic, where he's finally and truly gone as wild as he could imagine.

Daredevil #6 (Marvel)
Chip Zdarsky's wonderful run continues.  I hope fans are registering its existence.

Ascender #2 (Image)
Lemire and Nguyen's Descender sequel continues.

Doomsday Clock #10 (DC)
I made sure to buy this issue (I committed to tradewaiting the series after missing too many previous issues, including the first one) after coming back to the Geek Twins, a break that corresponded with the death of my mother and the exploding of what had been a regular blogging habit, and finding that they heartily recommended it as a unique way for DC and/or Geoff Johns to once and for all reconcile the multiverse by redubbing it the metaverse.  This issue sees Doctor Manhattan explaining his journey post-Watchmen by, in part, revisiting all the times DC has rebooted its continuity, starting well before the famous Crisis on Infinite Earths.  And my fears that Doomsday Clock would duplicate what Johns had done previously in Infinite Crisis were alleviated.  Basically the pivotal issue of the series and a landmark in DC lore in general.

Heroes in Crisis #9 (DC)
There ended up being a lively discussion as to what exactly this series accomplished over at Speed Force, and then DC solicited Flash Forward, which will act as a sequel and spotlight for Wally West, and I wonder if any of the fans upset over what Tom King "did to him" will begin reconsidering.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see.  Me, as I tend to, I thought King's work was brilliant.

The Immortal Hulk #2, 18 (Marvel)
Al Ewing put himself on the map with this one.  Essentially an in-continuity of the classic Hulk TV series, Bruce Banner's back as the Hulk, but he's skulking around the country trying to keep the beast at bay, and stumbling into horror stories along the way.  Anyway, it's good reading, and fans have certainly noticed, and I'm glad I had a look.

Naomi #5 (DC)
The other Bendis imprint at DC these days, Wonder Comics, launched Naomi with the promise that eventually it would seem important.  Well, I finally got to have a look, and with exactly the right issue, in which we learn that she comes from an alternate Earth, which is an idea that surprisingly hasn't really been done before, even though DC has visited dozens and dozens of alternate realities over the years.  The closest is Superman, probably, who in current continuity is actually a survivor of a previous one (which is something you don't need to know to enjoy his latest adventures, but sounds exactly like the insanity that led to Crisis on Infinite Earths to begin with).

Sasquatch Detective 64-Page Special (DC)
Originally a back-up feature in Mark Russell's Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, this is essentially DC allowing itself to have some family-friendly fan with something that isn't based on an existing franchise.  If it were Marvel, there'd already have been an ongoing series and several dozen more concepts exactly like it.  DC restraint!

Superman: Leviathan Rising (DC)
Originally previewed in Year of the Villain, this intro to the Bendis event conveniently called Event Leviathan was most appreciated by me for its preview of Matt Fraction's Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, which was a real treat to read.  And for those wondering, the Bendis Leviathan is the same as the Morrison Leviathan, this time with (seemingly) less Talia.  So yeah, Morrison's Batman is the gift that keeps giving. 

Readings Comics 201 "Second LCS Trip 2017"

Batman #7, 8, 13, 16, 17 (DC)
The first two issues are Steve Orlando writing, with plot suggestions from Tom King, chapters from "Night of the Monster Men," billed as the first crossover event of the Rebirth era.  Caught up in the mess is Gotham Girl, helping make it relevant to King's run.  #13 is the conclusion to King's "I am Suicide," which has been a breakthrough Batman story.  It segued into a breakthrough Catwoman story, and then #s 16 and 17, the first two installments of "I am Bane," the conclusion of King's initial arc in the series, begun with "I am Gotham."  This is the first time Bane has felt like Bane since "Knightfall."  Actually, this is pretty much "Knightfall: Rebirth." 

Catwoman: Election Night (DC) (2016)
Meredith Finch writes a parody of the 2016 election in the lead story. Penguin is cast as Trump, which is a slightly odd fit, given that Trump has never been outright been accused as a criminal, but the Clinton stand-in is cast as a murderer, so I guess it balances out.  It's just surprising to see someone finally just admit that neither of these candidates was a pinnacle of humanity.  Anyway, the backup feature is Mark Russell and Ben Caldwell reprising their Prez.  I don't remember Russell leaning so heavily liberal in his ideology in the original mini-series so much as skewering the political process in general, but after reading some of his Flintstones it may merely be more obvious to me now. 

Daredevil #14, 15, 16 (Marvel)
These are the first issues of Charles Soule's run on the title I've read.  After his departure from DC, I feared Soule wouldn't get the visibly he deserved at Marvel, and with the news that he'd been tasked with the relatively thankless job of following a much-loved Mark Waid run, I figured I had to be right.  But I'm not always right, and anyway, I was still curious as hell about what he was doing.  Turns out I had nothing to worry about.  These issues are great.  I don't know or care what other readers think about them, but hopefully Marvel is paying attention and will elevate Soule further up the ladder later on.

Quarter Bin 79 "Black Canary, Cerebus, Ultimate Daredevil & Elektra, Drax, Earth X, and Geoff Johns"

More comics from a real quarter bin!

Black Canary #6 (DC)
From February 2016.
So apparently the previous Black Canary I picked up from this sale section is among the back issues I haven't talked about here.  I'm beginning to form the opinion that Brenden Fletcher's Black Canary is DC's equivalent of Matt Fraction's Hawkeye over at Marvel.  This was a bold creative risk, but one that took the more intimate approach than is typical for bold creative risks at the Big Two.  Fletcher's Black Canary is probably what the Batgirl of Burnside, the creative revamp that inspired the DCYou approach that led to Fletcher's Black Canary, was supposed to be.  This is a version of a classic DC character that kind of ditched the superhero model altogether and made it into a rock band fronted by Black Canary  Granted, I don't think rock bands in 2016 are quite what they would have been, say twenty years ago, but as a creative vision, it's still one of the most interesting choices for a Big Two superhero concept that's come down the pike in years.  Of course, it was completely overlooked, too, just like Fraction's Hawkeye.  These were punk comics created for fans who think punk comics don't have to look like what punk comics usually look like.  They can just try something new.  It probably doesn't hurt that both Hawkeye and Black Canary featured the art of Annie Wu.  Coincidences like that just don't exist...

Cerebus #80 (Aardvark-Vanaheim)
From November 1985.
With all due apologies to the story featured in the issue, I'm not really going to talk about that.  (Right, and that's always been the exception...)  What interests me is the letters column, in which Dave Sim engages in a dialogue with Neal Adams over the issue of creator rights.  I know a thing or two about that lately.  Just ask John Seavey.  It's interesting, because it was almost literally the same conversation I had with Seavey, but more than thirty years earlier, and between two far more famous individuals.  It's the conclusion, from Adams, that I'll quote in full:

Dear Dave:

Thanks for letting me reply to your letter, and relative to your letter and [its] basic direction, I agree with you totally.

There is a small point that might be made at this time.  I have never really disagreed with contracts between parties.  In truth, I have never disagreed with contracts which are unfair to one party or another.  (Most contracts usually have at least one signer thinking he got a raw deal.  Sometimes both.)

I have never actually disagreed with the concept of standard contracts, although they are viewed by some as unfair.

What I have disagreed with from the moment of [its] inception, is the fact that the Congress of the United States created a copyright law which includes the concept of work-made-for-hire.  The insertion of work-made-for-hire in a contract removes the possibility of there being fairness in a contract.  It literally turns the publisher into the creator and owner of the work.  Any additional rights spoken about can only be rights returned back to the original creator from the new creator (publisher).  This is base hypocrisy, and that it was able to be slipped into a law, basically in two sentences, a law that is book length, and that it permeates ours and other graphic industries is an example of how a lack of alertness or caring on the part of the people involved, can lead to ethical disaster.

(Incidentally, if we get rid of work-made-for-hire and its contracts, they'll simply be replaced with other unfair contracts.  Right folks?)

Yes, I agree with your letter Dave, but there's a world of difference between the standard form contract which I have never argued with, and a work-made-for-hire contract, which I have always felt was a betrayal by our highest government institutions of the creative community of our country.  People in other countries have been struck incredulous when I have told them that by contract, publishers in America can become the "creator" of a work and that right is written into our law!

And, just in case the idea has gotten across to you and your readers that I (and my white horse0 somehow stand for truth and justice in all [its] myriad forms, that's not the case.  I simply try to point out gross injustices that, on real examination, are obvious and clear to thinking people.  For example: the return of Jack Kirby's artwork.

Sincerely,
Neal Adams
President
Continuity Graphics Assoc., Inc.

...Anyway, I just thought that was interesting.

Ultimate Daredevil & Elektra #4 (Marvel)
From March 2003.
This is Greg Rucka's version of the Daredevil Miller Narrative, and because it's Rucka, it focuses more on Elektra than Daredevil.  With Rucka returning to Wonder Woman in the DC Rebirth era, it's certainly worth revisiting classic Rucka, and I think this one's probably been lost in the shuffle, especially because Marvel's Ultimate comics kind of got summarized, in the grand scheme, by the Ultimates, Spider-Man, and X-Men, even though there were a few other stories worth remembering as well.  This comic was created at the same time the Daredevil movie was released, at the height of the backlash against Ben Affleck.  I always liked the movie, and how it helped return focus to Elektra, one of Marvel's worthier women.  Rucka's Miller Narrative doesn't even feature Kingpin, but rather a stand-in creation, which was nice to see.  Definitely worth checking out.

Drax #2 (Marvel)
From February 2016.
I suppose I should have seen this coming.  This is the same issue I already read, and talked about here.  It was in the same sale section, presumably because of some shipment mishandling.  At any rate, it was as much a pleasure to read the second time as it was the first, and CM Punk's thoughts were just as worth reading in comics form.  He's such a natural, it's scary, and this comic is such a perfect fit, I'm glad it happened.

Earth X Wizard Special Edition, #0, 3, 4 (Marvel)
From 1997, March, June and July 1999.
Now, I've given poor Jim Krueger a slagging, in the past, as Alex Ross's stooge, writing what Ross can't write himself, because Ross is busy reliving his glory days in endless regurgitations, but that's not really fair.  (It's probably not fair for Alex Ross, either, but that's a topic for another day.)  But Krueger has his own credentials, too, including Foot Soldiers, which was a pretty fair creative statement itself, too.

The real kicker is that Earth X is Krueger and Ross's first collaboration, and it's probably the best Krueger I've read to date.

It came about because of Wizard magazine.  Wizard was that great bastion of comic book geekdom that was, in some ways, the Internet before the Internet really exploded.  It was the biggest cheerleader around, and it could even be the launching pad for new projects, such as when it helped Marvel introduce Sentry, or Kurt Busiek create a new villain for Astro City.  It also helped inspire Earth X, when it asked Ross what Marvel's version of Kingdom Come would look like, which is kind of ironic, because it was Marvel's Marvels that inspired Kingdom Come, and fans still haven't given Kingdom Come its due, and apparently even Earth X has a hard time getting respect.

Earth X isn't Kingdom Come.  The Wizard brainstorming special where Ross detailed his ideas makes that clear.  It wasn't until he reveals his version of the X-Men that I was sold on the concept as creatively viable.  But Krueger's interpretation made it clear that this was truly a project I could get behind.

Ross's X-Men have a lot of interesting new mutants on the team, including Double Header, who literally has two heads.  If I ever got to write a Marvel comic, I would definitely write an X-Men story with Double Header.  It's perfect!)

Krueger's dystopian future revolves around a conversation between the Watcher and Machine Man.  This seems completely improbable and perhaps equally inexplicable, right?  All three issues I read are dominated by this conversation.  The concept itself has every human having gained their own mutant powers, thus negating superheroes, right?  It further alienates Marvel's famously alienated superheroes, and pushes everything forward, in a very classic Marvel way.  Previous to reading this, my ideal Marvel comic was Dan Abnett's Conspiracy.  Krueger takes a different stance, but the results are equally fantastic.

This is not the Marvel that exists today.  Today, Marvel is going after the movie crowd, and the idea that cuter, more kid-friendly comics will probably help ensure the continued viability of the medium, but creatively, it just doesn't compare to a mindset where things like Earth X, like Conspiracy, is possible.  When Marvel does a smart comic now (and maybe this was always the case?), it's the exception.  I wish that weren't the case.  You have things like Tom King's Vision, Jeff Lemire's Moon Knight, and yes, even CM Punk's Drax, but then, you also have Nick Spencer's Captain America.  You can see that the mainstream titles don't get the same kind of freedom.  Say what you will about Scott Snyder's Batman, and I've said plenty, but that was a mainstream title that took the right kinds of creative risks.

Eye of the Storm Annual #1 (Wildstorm)
From September 2003.
There are a bunch of short stories in this one, all of them exploring various facets of Wildstorm's landscape, but the one that I bought it for is written by Geoff Johns in one of his increasingly rare excursions away from DC proper.  As with a lot of Johns material from this period, his story of a team of bounty hunters is not afraid to be a little sexy (although as in The Possessed, it's kind of incidental, as in art-driven).  But like his later Ghosts short, Johns is experimenting with concept more than anything, playing against his type, having time unexpectedly be a factor in the story, which is to say, have a surprise element be as important as anything else.  I hope he has time to do more experiments like this in the future.

Digitally Speaking...57 "Lee Weeks' Daredevil"

Daredevil: Dark Nights #1 (Marvel)
From 2013.

I haven't been reading much from comiXology lately, and been talking even less about what I have been, but I had to make an exception for this.

And what makes it so special?  Well, for one, creator Lee Weeks.  I've been bumping into the guy's work with Dan Jurgens (Superman: Futures End, Convergence: Superman, Superman: Lois & Clark), and as far as I knew, that was pretty much his contribution to comics.  I mean, he popped in out of nowhere, as far as I was concerned. 

Now, of course, I know differently.  This issue is clue enough, for instance.  He's referenced as a Daredevil icon by the editor.  I had no clue, naturally.  The bulk of his Daredevil work came in the early '90s, so clearly he didn't come from nowhere.  Suddenly it seems a real shame that this is the first I'm hearing about him.

The issue itself is a clear revelation.  Weeks is writer/artist for it, the start of a three-issue arc in a greater mini-series featuring mini-arcs from other creators as well.  Since I knew Weeks as an artist (a truly remarkable one), I kind of wondered what his writing would be like.  It can always go either way.  But the more I read, the more I loved.

Simply put, Weeks figured it out.  He figured out how to further the Miller Narrative.  The Miller Narrative is Frank Miller's iconic reinvention of Daredevil, the Daredevil most fans know, the one who showed up in the 2003 movie, and the one currently dazzling folks in the Netflix series, the one who's an even sadder sack than Peter Parker, battling back from one colossal setback (notably, the Kingpin feud) after another.

I mean, I've seen the Bendis variation.  I saw the Waid refute.  But this is the real deal.  This is someone who truly understands what Matt Murdock is all about.

And from Lee Weeks?  Heck ya!  It's truly sensational work.  I don't care if the other two issues are crap.  This one alone is enough to sell me on the virtues of Weeks, well beyond what I thought they were already.  This guy's the real deal.  And needs lionizing!  So I'll do what I can.  Hopefully his Jurgens work will help other people discover or rediscover Weeks. 

Because he's one of the best talents in the game.

Quarter Bin 69 "Eight Below"

As always, "Quarter Bin" is a figurative term.  This is a back issues feature.

The title of this edition comes from the fact that I bought the following comics from the store Five Below (basically another dollar store), two different packs of four comics each.  These are not the first comics I've gotten from Five Below, and not even the first bargain packs I've picked up in the last few months, but there's one excellent, and several good ones, reason to write about this set first (I'll get to the others later).  Namely, it gave me my first look at one of Grant Morrison's Marvel projects I hadn't gotten around to yet.  Without further adieu, let's dive in:

New Avengers: Illuminati (Marvel)
From September 2006.
Civil War was kind of better in a handful of one-shots specials than it was for the event itself or the comics that followed it.  Here I'm mostly thinking about the ones concerning the death of Captain America (I'm sorry, "death"), but this is another of the literate stories Marvel let slip through, Brian Michael Bendis getting to write about the Marvel landscape in frank terms, setting up a cabal (that kind of went nowhere but was intended to be more significant), a meeting of the heads of the big guns before everyone started to become Avengers (even before the movies made it cool).  I guess I'll never understand why Namor has been such a tough nut for Marvel to crack, I guess just too difficult to reconcile with the more juvenile instincts of the company, even though he's one of its founding creations.  He's a standout here.  Conspicuous by his absence?  Captain America.

Daredevil #253 (Marvel)
From April 1988.
I thought this would be a Frank Miller issue (shows how much I know, I guess), but it ended up being Ann Nocenti, one of the more long-lived female comic book creators who has been involved in DC's New 52 initiative recently, writing Green Arrow and such.  She writes about what you'd expect from Daredevil.  It's telling, what fans were thinking, or at least what Marvel was thinking, from the letters in the back lamenting the grim turn in then recent years, which would be the Frank Miller era, which was not yet completely over.  The editor suggests to readers still searching for a good Kingpin story Daredevil: Love and War, Miller's graphic novel from two years earlier.  Well, anyway, what's perhaps best to talk about is the debuting artist in the issue, none other than John Romita, Jr., at least as described in the letters column (which was always months behind), actually three issues into his run at this point.  Romita would go on to make quite the name for himself (probably known at the time very much as "Junior"), and a distinctive style.  Which is hard to find in the work here.  So I spent perhaps more time trying to find the Romita I know than to anything else.  But it was still worth checking out for all three reasons.

DC Universe Presents #11 (DC)
From September 2012.
James Robinson, just starting his comeback, though everyone seemed to ignore The Shade (despite its generally excellent quality), writing a Vandal Savage arc, uniquely featuring him as something other than the villain, trying to make peace with a rebellious daughter while trying to avoid the sins of his past.  As the antagonist of Legends of Tomorrow and having apparently resurfaced in the Superman titles recently, Savage is experiencing a renaissance of significance lately.  He's a compelling character, and Robinson certainly helps sell him better than the norm. 

Fantastic Four: 1234 #4 (Marvel)
From January 2001.
I assume Marvel did a roundabout second printing of this, because the copyright fine print says "Vol. 2" and the cover features a 9/11 memorial logo, even though the publication date still lists it as the beginning of the year...Either way, this is the first time I've read anything from this Grant Morrison's project.  Morrison's Marvel work is better known for his New X-Men and Marvel Boy, but there's also this to consider.  And now having read some of it firsthand, I would almost consider it his response to Marvelman/Miracleman, a dystopian twist on a traditional superhero property.  Aside from a classic comic book twist that undoes it, the issue features Dr. Doom turning the team against each other, against themselves, all of that, in ways Alan Moore's opus never adequately explained, except that he just didn't understand superheroes anymore and wanted them to "grow up."  This is  a whole thing among fans, the relationship between Moore and Morrison, how Morrison tried to write in his own contribution to Moore's work on that property (to be printed years later by Marvel), and how they've been "rivals" ever since.  It's a fairly one-sided creative conversation, though.  Morrison did his version of Watchmen in Pax Americana (within the greater Multiversity construct).  But few observers seem to have perceived 1234's commentary.  It even makes Dr. Doom credible for the first time...ever.  So that's good to read, too.  Now on to Skrull Kill Krew!

Force Works (Marvel)
From January 1995.
The Image explosion caused chaos across the board, and one of the weirdest effects was forcing (heh) Marvel and DC to try and ape the style approach, which meant as much about the art as the less subtle storytelling (which eventually gave way to more subtle storytelling, so on the whole it was probably a good thing).  DC created a Justice League that starred in the series Extreme Justice, Marvel created an Avengers called Force Works.  I originally learned about the latter in a calendar I had as a teenager.  I admit, I liked the title.  So now I read an issue for the first time ever.  Scarlet Witch is taken semi-seriously, in a kind of stripper-with-a-heart-of-gold kind of way.  U.S.Agent is in a costume I don't recognize.  There's a Mandarin story that doesn't really feature Mandarin all too well (Iron Man 3  wants its plot back!), and Tony Stark is being a shmuck.  On the whole, seems about right.

Hawkeye #11 (Marvel)
From August 2013.
I think I've read this issue already.  Or maybe Matt Fraction used the dog gimmick again later?  Either way, this is the dog gimmick issue, which features a dog and the only words the reader gets to read are the ones in the dialogue the dog would understand.  Otherwise, it's the various associations the dogs would make, conveyed via icons.  I don't want to underestimate the uniqueness of the artistry, certainly in a mainstream work, that Fraction manages to bring to Hawkeye.  In any other era, this would have been hailed as the second coming of Frank Miller.  For whatever reason, that just never happened with this series.  I don't think anything groundbreaking was achieved, except to highlight that no one really has a definitive Hawkeye story they figure is worth telling (except, you know, that he debuted as a villain?), which even the movies acknowledge, so that Fraction literally could do anything, like this dog issue.  But that's still a breakthrough for a mainstream superhero comic.

Prime #3 (Malibu)
From December 1995.
I used to think that Prime was basically a Captain Marvel) (DC version) ripoff, but after this issue, I guess he's kind of more like the Spectre, a powerful entity that needs a human host to anchor it.  Which obviously was otherwise poorly conveyed.  In hindsight, Prime is just too comically overmuscled.  I mean, was that deliberate? 

Professor Xavier and the X-Men #1 (Marvel)
From November 1995.
I think I got this comic back in the '90s.  I guess it doesn't particularly matter.  It's a '90s version of the early X-Men years.  It still baffles me that Marvel has never considered using Jean Grey more productively.  Here's a character who used to be known as Marvel Girl.  She's the center of one of the most famous X-Men, if not Marvel in general, stories ever in "The Dark Phoenix Saga."  And even the movies had her as second lead after Wolverine.  She's the lead character in this issue, too.  And still...Nothing.  Talk about missing a golden opportunity. 

Countdown to QB50 2015: September

18 DAYS #3 (Graphic India)
In which I realize Grant Morrison will not actually be writing the series.  But turns out not to drastically affect its quality.

ATOMIC ROBO AND THE RING OF FIRE #1 (IDW)
New home, same great storytelling.  Very glad to see Clevinger and Wegener back in print.

BATMAN #44 (DC)
Snyder and Azzarello make for a potent combination.  Out of current continuity, this flashback tale made the news thanks to its commentary on the spate of police shootings making news.

ROBIN: SON OF BATMAN #4 (DC)
If Deathstroke (with all due apologies to Tony Daniel, etc.) were as awesome in his own comic as here is here, I'd read that, too.  Reminds me how awesome it was to see him in The Shade, too.

BLOODSHOT REBORN #6 (Valiant)
In which Bloodshot realizes there's a bad guy who's also attempting to absorb all the stray nanites...

CAPTAIN AMERICA: WHITE #1, 2 (Marvel)
Seven years in the making, Loeb and Sale finally return to this latest collaboration.  I'm ecstatic to see this happening.  Curiously, the first issue reprints the long-ago zero issue, but after the contents of the new material.

CIVIL WAR #4 (Marvel)
Black Panther turns out to be a Skrull.  And suddenly the follow-up to the original Civil War, Secret Invasion, seems less random.  Yet another thing this reprise gets more right than the original.  Thanks, Soule.  Again.

DAREDEVIL #18 (Marvel)
I assumed all along that Waid was headed to a quasi-rehash of the classic Daredevil narative, and in this finale that's exactly what he does.  The comic itself is not so bad, but then Waid writes in his going-away thoughts how this run has been his most creatively-rewarding to date.  How he forgotten writing Wally West?  Even if the style was more deliberate, I'd hold the best of that run to anything Waid has written in a regular superhero comic since...

DIRK GENTLEY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY #4 (IDW)
I've settled in to really enjoying the random pleasures of this experience.  Viva Douglas Adams!  Who makes a cameo this issue!

DOCTOR WHO: FOUR DOCTORS #4, 5 (Titan)
Cornell concludes the crossover epic.  Eventually gets around to explaining why the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) wasn't included.

DOOMED #4 (DC)
The only objection I have to this series, as it turns out, is the poor choice in style for the lead's narrative captions.  Otherwise, more solid material from Lobdell.

E FOR EXTINCTION #4 (Marvel)
The conclusion to this Secret Wars tie-in seems to be a comics version of X-Men: The Last Stand's final encounter between Wolverine and Jean Grey.  Nice save, Burnham.

EARTH 2: SOCIETY #4 (DC)
I love, love, love how this series has completely embraced the full potential of being its own continuity.

FIGHT CLUB 2 #5 (Dark Horse)
Finally had a look at this.  That's about all I've got to say about that.

THE FUSE #14 (Image)
I'm settling in as a regular reader.

GRAYSON #11, 12, Annual #2 (DC)
Yeah, I've finally decided to read this series more regularly.  It's just too darn good to continue overlooking.

GREEN LANTERN Annual #4 (DC)
Venditti promised, or someone promised, answers.  But there are frustratingly few.  Darn you, Venditti!

IMPERIUM #8 (Valiant)
Divinity, the guy from Divinity (no, seriously!) pops up in something other than Divinity.  Although this is kind of more or less a rephrasing of Divinity except in an Imperium context...

JUSTICE LEAGUE #44 (DC)
Don't tell anyone else that Darkseid dies in this installment of "Darkseid War"!

JUSTICE LEAGUE 3001 #3, 4 (DC)
Don't tell anyone that I snuck back into this series because I realized all over again, this is supposed to be Legion of Super-Heroes territory.  But Giffen/DeMatteis have managed to create yet another platform for their genius instead...

MAGNUS, ROBOT FIGHTER #12 (Dynamite)
I caught up with this release from earlier in the year because it concludes a story I finally got around to seeing in its inception from a first issue I read in my comiXology account (don't tell anyone I'm still working away at that!).  I don't think the muted impact (the first issue was better) is because I skipped, oh, ten issues.  But it's still fun seeing Van Lente in something I actually wanted to read again.

MARTIAN MANHUNTER #4 (DC)
Through no real fault on my own, I missed the previous issue.  But I still love this series.

MIRACLEMAN #1 (Marvel)
This new first issue marks the start of the reprints as they reach the Gaiman material, having concluded Alan Moore's The Original Writer's.  Turns out to be very similar to Sandman, somehow...

MS. MARVEL #18 (Marvel)
Kamala's mother knew!

NAMELESS #5 (Image)
Morrison's weird comic (his latest weird comic) finally saw another issue published.  Burnham shows restraint (for a change).  Reads a lot like the first issue.  Made me interested again.

THE NEW DEAL (Dark Horse)
See thoughts elsewhere.

PREZ #4 (DC)
The comics shop had a giant mix-up in its shipments that week.  So I panicked and got a digital edition.  I've had some fun digitally lately, but I'm not gonna tell you anything else.  Then the shop got the print edition.  And this becomes the latest comic where I have both, and don't mind.  Just two issues left, alas.

SANDMAN: OVERTURE #6 (Vertigo)
All along I've been reading how this whole story leads back to Sandman #1.  And that's exactly what happens.  This was probably my favorite issue of the series.  Sad to see it go.  Very, very gorgeous work, Williams (III).

STAR TREK/GREEN LANTERN #3 (DC)
Larfleeze on the cover...!

STAR WARS #9 (Marvel)
I thought they promised answers from Sana Solo this issue?

STAR WARS: SHATTERED EMPIRE #1 (Marvel)
Takes place concurrently with the Battle of Endor (at least during this issue).  Features Poe Dameron's parents.  No idea who Poe Dameron is?  Perhaps this prequel to The Force Awakens just isn't meant for you, son...

The, ah, misshipment issue prevented me from reading a new Star Wars: Lando...

STRINGERS #1 (Oni)
Guggenheim and Greenwood (Resurrection) started working on this years ago.  Guggenheim and Greenwood, meet Loeb and Sale...

SUPERMAN #44 (DC)
As far as I'm concerned, some of the best Superman storytelling...ever.

THIS DAMNED BAND #2 (Dark Horse)
Cornell's second issue was good enough to helped the series get a foothold in the QB50 running.

WE ARE ROBIN #3, 4 (DC)
In the fine tradition of the original Robin ongoing being the best thing about Jean-Paul Valley's stint as Batman, Bermejo has turned this one into the best thing about the Commissioner Batman era.  That second issue, which doesn't feature Duke, is the best one to date.

SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN #21 (DC)
My periodic sampling of this series continues.  Superman is a dick.  But he kind of has a reason to be.

Digitally Speaking...48

Digitally Speaking...covers comics I've read from my comiXology account...

CBLDF Defender #1 (Creator Owned)
From April 2015.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund takes comics seriously, as in they champion creator rights, and the right for readers to have access to comic book material.  It's basically the comic book version of the inexplicable banned book phenomenon.  Banned books, as in the concept of allowing ninnies to censor what you're allowed to access.  Mostly this takes place at schools and libraries, which means the very institutions intended for society to build itself up are in fact breeding ground for people to tear each other's potential down.  This strikes me as wrong.  This debut issue of a journal detailing CBLDF's activities and relevant discussions such as Neil Gaiman's experiences (via an interview) and the Charlie Hebdo controversy (in which one culture violently attempts to tell another what is acceptable, and the other responds with cartoon drawings) is pretty dry.  Usually the Defense Fund enlists industry veterans to make actual comic book material out of the discussion first begun with Seduction of the Innocent (also covered in the issue, by the way), but for whatever reason chose not to do so here.  Insightful material, but could use more innovative analysis.  Personally, using more examples of challenged material would be more interesting.  An excerpt from Persepolis is almost completely unreadable in even the greatest enlargement, which only enhances the size of the pixels.  Alas, comiXology's Guided View is useless in this instance.

Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #1 (Marvel)
From 1993.

This issue begins Frank Miller's origin of Daredevil alongside artist John Romita, Jr.  This was years after Miller's famous work on the character, and it shows, how well he knows Matt Murdock, calling back to mind things Miller had done previously.  By the end of the issue, Matt's father has refused to throw a fight (this is depicted in the movie released a decade later) and been murdered for it, following Matt's blinding and subsequent training under Stick, although his interest in the law and even nickname "Daredevil" is presented as predating all of this.  Romita has a distinctive style that is already in full evidence, pretty much exactly as seen in his current Superman work.  Perhaps tellingly, it looks much like Tim Sale's work.  And hey! speaking of which...

Daredevil: Yellow #1 (Marvel)
From 2001.

After years of telling Batman stories together, Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale went over to Marvel and started a series of character sketches there, too.  Their Daredevil read a lot like Frank Miller's, and looked like it, too.  Probably not a coincidence.  Miller's work paved the way for Loeb, who always seemed to have an instinct for superhero psychology and an intuitive grasp of their personal narratives.  Later he'd bring this to his greatest success, Superman/Batman, which began life as a series of dueling monologues straight out of the work he'd done in Batman: The Long Halloween and Daredevil: Yellow, among others.  Yellow is another origin story, and the first issue covers the same fateful sequence concerning Matt's father as detailed above.  Yet repetition, as always, creates resonance, especially when covered by expert hands.  One master to another...

The Defense Fund could find a lot of illustrations in Matt Murdock's story.  Miller depicts the formative days of the boy who would become Daredevil as full of delinquency and fallen heroes.  Yet this only serves to create the man who would become a hero best known for never giving up.  Surely a message worth spreading?  Comic book fans, especially superhero fans of the Marvel persuasion, are always arguing that this is a medium that celebrates triumph over adversity.  Isn't that the CBLDF mission statement?

Django/Zorro #5 (Dynamite)
From 2015.

Django/Zorro, and Grant Morrison's Annihilator, became the first time I read a comic book first-run digitally.  I haven't made that clear until now.  My local comics shop is supposed to have the series (both of them, actually) pulled for me, but then, the guys who run this store are always screwing up.  So I didn't even realize I hadn't read this particular issue yet until I checked in on my comiXology account.  I don't always have time to read the material there, which is why my alphabetical journey through it has taken such a long time.  As it turns out, this is the issue of Django/Zorro I've been waiting for all along, the moment the Quentin Tarantino in the story really pops.  Not just because the late Dr. King Schultz makes a cameo, or that Don Diego de la Vega (a.k.a. Zorro) pulls off the same trick Schultz does in Django Unchained concerning revealing the identity of someone he has a bounty on, or that gunfire irrupts abruptly.  Okay, maybe a combination of all these is enough.  It's the first time Matt Wagner seems interested in more than a superficial juxtaposition.  Here he's making a clear effort to evoke not just the spirit of Tarantino's movie but its feel as well.  And this is a good thing.

(I've also added Descender to my subscriptions.  Where will I strike next???)

Reading Comics #137 "Bull Moose Bargains III"

Bull Moose probably won't be receiving any more shipments of comics to sell at steep discount, so this may be the final entry of this series.  So I made sure it was a good one.

Daredevil #33 (Marvel)
I've taken for granted for years that everyone loved Mark Waid's Flash as much as I did.  I've learned recently that maybe this isn't the case.  I know, however, that his Daredevil has been receiving a pretty good following.  It's something I've commented on elsewhere, but for the most part I really hadn't read much of his Marvel work, at any point in his career, until recently.  So I figured I'd finally give it a shot.  This is as random an issue to choose as any.  It seems to feature a bunch of characters Waid cobbled together from the old Universal monster days, a somewhat clever juxtaposition of Matt Murdock's superhero identity and something of what he's always evoked.  You know, actual ghosts and goblins, as it were.  Has anyone ever done that?  He also makes clever work of Murdock's blindness.  It's not a brilliant issue, and there's plenty of material (including the hapless Foggy Nelson's current predicament) that I simply won't be able to completely follow, but it's a decent read with some of that trademark concept work from Waid that others probably hadn't thought of before.  Probably good enough to reconsider my opinions.  Just a little.

Thunderbolts #18 (Marvel)
Here's Charles Soule doing work at Marvel, as opposed to DC.  I figured I'm going to have to get used to the idea, because he's signed an exclusive contract there that'll take effect next year (the one exception is Letter 44, a creator-owned title he does over at Oni that I probably should also have a look at).  Thunderbolts is a series that has somewhat dramatically changed course since it debuted under Kurt Busiek in the '90s.  At that time it was a new superhero team that was secretly the villainous Masters of Evil.  It's since become a sort of Marvel version of DC's Suicide Squad, a collection of hodgepodge characters who aren't necessarily bad guys but also not necessarily good guys.  Soule's team includes Red Hulk (the "Thunderbolt" Ross revision introduced by Jeph Loeb), Elektra, Punisher, Deadpool, Venom (the "Flash" Thompson version), someone named Red Leader, and Mercy, who could be the most interesting one of the bunch.  In this issue she presents the team a considerable problem, because she's a classic rogue element.  She's also the closest tie to Soule's Red Lanterns work I can find.  The tone is more flippant (which you would expect from a title featuring Deadpool) but otherwise it's not completely different from the Soule I've come to expect (his Deadpool is not as random; actually he seems to be somewhat holistic).  It's not a bad issue.  Enough to make me read more of the series?  Maybe not.  But maybe enough for me to not bitterly lament that Marvel contract he signed...

Trinity of Sin: Pandora #5 (DC)
Ray Fawkes won me over recently, and now it appears to be easier to admire his work overall.  This is the second issue of Pandora I've read (the series recently ended, and I've just read the first issue of Trinity of Sin, the catch-all title that now carries Pandora and Phantom Stranger together, along with The Question), and now I'm wondering if I've been as unfair to the series as I once was to Fawkes.  It's not that bad.  This issue even features some of that character work I thought was absent from the series.  It helps to juxtapose Pandora against someone like The Outsider, a character last seen in the alternate reality of Flashpoint (and originally conceived as an alias for Alfred Pennyworth!).  Good stuff.  Glad I stopped by!

The Wake #5 (Vertigo)
Another creator I've been unfair to is Scott Snyder, who is otherwise known as one of the current darlings of comic book fans in general thanks to his Batman and probably also American Vampire.  I long wanted to have a look at Wake, though, because of artist Sean Murphy, who wowed me in his two previous projects Joe the Barbarian (with Grant Morrison) and Punk Rock Jesus (which he also wrote).  But as it turns out, Snyder's storytelling is pretty compelling, too.  It's not that this is a great revelation or anything, but it's a matter of degrees with this guy.  On this project, he seems really keyed in.  That's good to know.  So now I probably want to read the rest of it.

via comiXology