Ranking the first two weeks of Future State, plus Crossover and more!

Fortified with pandemic money, I decided to read at least the first month of Future State, the DC thing that is not 5G but was originally intended to be. I love these DC event blocks whatever their origins, from Tangent Comics to Convergence. Granted, 5G was conceived as a kind of new Silver Age update, a line wide reset, even more radical than the New 52, a new generation of superheroes, including the big three. DC fired Dan DiDio to stop it from actually happening, but it’s...pretty much going to happen anyway. A lot of people were fired to help set up a new generation of creators, many of whom are unofficially beginning their runs here. I feel bad for people losing their jobs in the pandemic, but I also like bold new ideas executed well, and this is what Future State is already proving. From these first two weeks, I see a ton of good.

I’m ordering all this from Midtown. It took ages to get the first box, and then the second of course arrived a few days later, so while everyone else has just digested the third week, here I’m working with just the first two. Well anyway, here’s a ranking, as depicted in the image:

1. Swamp Thing #1 - Ram V, every time I’ve had a look at his work (mostly in the pages of Justice League Dark), has wowed me as working beyond the level of his peers. This might be the project that makes him, or should make him, hard to ignore. This is as good as Swamp Thing has ever been, a return to the famous existential state of Alan Moore. Mike Perkins, another longtime standout, is on art. 

2. Wonder Woman #1 - Joëlle Jones is another creator finally getting her full due spotlight, as writer and artist of this bold new Brazilian Wonder Woman, steeped in mythology, lively, looking and reading brilliantly. 

3. The Next Batman #1 - I have a feeling Future State is happening at all because this past summer’s BLM protests finally made DC publish John Ridley’s Other History of the DC Universe (the second issue of which publishes next week, and which I will write about... a week later?), and this as well. He’s even getting a followup miniseries with the concept. And it will be worth it. This is a Batman who is a fresh look at the familiar concept, a Wayne Enterprises scion who’s been away and is now entering the impossible task of cleaning up Gotham. The big benefit is that it’s a man with an actual family, Tim Fox, whose brother Luke once filled the costume of Batwing. 

4. Dark Detective #1 - Bruce Wayne is dead, Batman is dead. Long live Bruce Wayne, long live Batman. The art is from Dan Mora, Grant Morrison’s brilliant collaborator in Klaus. But the highlight of this book is the Grifter backup feature. It’s the first time I have ever read a competent Grifter comic, so that’s a very welcome development.

5. Superman of Metropolis #1 - The Jon Kent lead is fine, but like the above comic a backup is the real highlight, the Shilo Norman Mister Miracle feature, with standout art from Valentine de Landro.

6. Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1 - Marguerites Bennett and Sauvage are once again a potent combination here, writing a grownup Supergirl still making peace, or perhaps finally having done so, with arriving so much later than Superman (and now having his son to contend with, too).

7. Justice League #1 - The lead features the next generation League, which is great in and of itself, until it gets even better with the return of the Hyperclan (!!!), plus a Ram V JLDark backup in which, among other things, Detective Chimp has become the other half of Etrigan.

8. Harley Quinn #1 - The big highlight here is the art from Simone DiMeo, which subverts all the usual isn’t-she-a-rebel-but-also-sooo-sexy stylings of Harley Quinn by...making pretty much everything else the focal point. It might be difficult for some to appreciate what the panels actually do, but for me it’s hugely refreshing. 

9. The Flash #1 - The whole Flash family is here, and the story is a riff on Wally Is Bad!!! that’s been a thing since Heroes in Crisis, which is only going to further infuriate those fans, but the story quickly gives another explanation for what’s happening here, and thus a clever setup for the classic Flash battles with the science-based weaponry of his Rogues. For me it’s really just great seeing that family back together, including Max Mercury.

10. Green Lantern #1 - The lead story from hardcore Hal Jordan hater Geoffrey Thorne is yet another tale of the Corps in crisis (it’s time to put a moratorium on that, even more than Superman Reveals His Secret Identity!!! or Daredevil’s Secret Identity Is Revealed!!!), but happily it features G’Nort (obligatory reminder that it’s actually pronounced “Nort”). But the Guy Gardner backup is the real draw, in which he actually finds himself in the position of solving (a) world(’s) peace, with a bar. Until Lobo shows up.

11. Robin Eternal #1 - The big draw for me in this one (besides a neat subplot with the deaf lady who possibly comes from the pages of We Are Robin) is the art from Eddy Barrows. I cannot fathom how he hasn’t attained superstar status. 

12. Superman/Wonder Woman #1 - There’s no reason to dislike it except I was seriously wowed by the new Wonder Woman’s solo book so it kind of pales in comparison.

13. Teen Titans #1 - I look forward to reading the second issue so I can hopefully better appreciate the intrigue surrounding Red X (a character making his canon debut after debuting in the manic cartoon). This is a concept that will be showing up in the post-Future State comics slate, by the way. 

I don’t know if I will be continuing the ranking concept with the next batch (much less shuffling all of them together, much less revising at the end of next month), but that was fun. I like to thwart expectations for these sorts of things, besides, the assumption always being that if you like the stuff at the top you probably don’t the stuff at the bottom. I liked all of this, generally. Some of it, particularly at the top, was truly great material. I’d hate for fans to miss out on it because they fear change or dismiss this tangent matter.

I had a look at a preview of the new Eternals comic from Marvel. I know there’s a movie coming at...some point. I have no idea why, except maybe because Marvel knew DC was working on a New Gods movie, and the Eternals are the Marvel version of the New Gods, also created by Jack Kirby, with not even a tenth the legacy. The new comic seems equally pointless.

I read the second and third (I had previously read the first) issues of Donny Cates’s Crossover. It’s a clever concept. It might wear thin, depending how long it goes. Image tends to dilute its best stuff this way. It’s weird, because Mark Millar ruins all his stuff by making it so short, but Image otherwise lets everything else drag on and on. Everyone is currently waiting to see if there’s going to be more Saga (which would have hugely benefited from not just throwing every weird idea at the, ah, saga), while Kirkman finally admitted he really didn’t actually have anything else to say about Walking Dead. 

Snyder ended Death Metal. It’s a thing that happened because it could, weird stuff being weird for the sake of being weird, which is what Snyder does. 

I read the second issue of Kaare Andrews’ AWA comic E-ratic, which doesn’t look anything like his Spider-Man Reign, alas. But is still a pretty good read. Just saddled with a terrible title.

Generations Shattered turned out to be classic DC storytelling straight outta the ‘90s. Which was the whole point. Is there more? Probably?

Green Hornet #5 from Dynamite featured one of several Lee Weeks covers from these two weeks, which admittedly was one of two reasons I bought it. The other being that it was written by Scott Lobdell, recently finishing up a decade at DC. The story, or at least the art, evokes the classic Batman animated series, which I assume was quite intentional, Green Hornet as a TV property spinning out of another Batman show.

We Only Find Them When They’re Dead #4 from Boom! and Al Ewing was interesting enough to justify having already ordered the fifth issue. This was a reprint. I ordered another reprint, from Chip Zdarsky’s Daredevil, in a box arriving...soonish, but passed on the new issue from this coming week. But the cat’s out of the bag: Elektra is now moonlighting as Daredevil.

Reading Comics 213 "Understanding 52 - Part 5"

52, the 2006-2007 series written by Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Geoff Johns, and Mark Waid, with art breakdowns by Keith Giffen and covers by J.G. Jones, was instantly a favorite of mine as I read its weekly installments, and I recently completed a reread of the whole thing.  The following is the conclusion to a commentary, covering the fourth collected volume, including #40-52:

• #40 - Steel suits up in his armor to confront Lex Luthor once and for all, plus rescue his captive niece, Natasha Irons.  He brings with him a new contingent of Teen Titans, to confront the remnants of Infinity Inc.  He loses his armor before he even reaches Luthor, but that doesn't stop him.  Luthor believes his powers make Steel easy pickings, but Steel's hammer is encoded with a kind of off switch for Luthor's powers.  Steel emerges triumphant in their war.  The chaos in Kahndaq leaves Osiris to conclude in a conversation with Sobek that he's the one responsible for the country's ills.  He resolves to do something about it.  The artist is Chris Batista.  Giffen and editor Michael Siglain offer commentaries.  Giffen is surprised that Steel's arc climaxes so early; Siglain explains that the title of the issue is from the famous John Henry folk ballad that gave Steel, John Henry Irons, his name, and that Morrison pulled off one of his obscure references in the script concerning a "Planet Lexor."  For me, it's a defining moment of 52, as Steel had always been a favorite character of mine, but one that had never really gotten his moment to shine.  His fifty-two issues of a solo series in the previous decade had seen him marginalized after "Reign of the Supermen" (where he was equally neutralized), and even in Morrison's JLA, once he'd joined, he served little purpose as the team's Vulcan.  It wasn't until Natasha armored up when they'd returned as supporting players in the pages of early 2000s Superman comics that he was allowed to develop into a conventional superhero rather than a token black character who stuck around for a while.  Cyborg in Johns' Justice League later had the spotlight Steel hadn't had in JLA.  Morrison brought him back in his New 52 Action Comics run, which is the last time Steel has been seen.  Pitting him against Lex Luthor in the pages of 52 is tacit acknowledgment of Steel's true potential.  It's also Luthor's last major run in his classic role as a straight-up villain putting on a positive public image, something he'd already struggled against in the pages of The Final Night a decade earlier, and would reclaim later in a pre-New 52 Action Comics starring role and finally as a surprise member of Johns' Justice League. 
• #41 - Adam Strange  and Starfire struggle against a remnant of Lady Styx's horde.  Renee Montoya struggles in the aftermath of Charlie's death.  Richard Dragon forces her to confront what she's become.  Ralph Dibney reaches the end of his journey with the Helmet of Fate.  Montoya has a conversation with Wonder Woman in Nanda Parbat.  She asks Montoya, "Which will have greater rule over you...your fear...or your curiosity?"  Strange and Starfire rally each other's spirits.  They land on Mogo.  Giuseppe Camuncoli provides art.  Rucka and Siglain provide commentaries.  Rucka admits that the writers were beginning to face the prospect of figuring out how to give enough space to each arc before the end of the series.  He credits Waid with helping figure out Wonder Woman's appearance, this following his "embassy" era and before his Rebirth era return to the character, so Rucka certainly knows enough about her.  Siglain is clearly a guy who can dig as well as Morrison into the DC canon, as he demonstrates in his thoughts.
• #42 - Renee Montoya: "You're going to have to look.  And you want to.  You know you do.  Shine the light into the dark corners.  Gaze into your self-made abyss.  See what stares back.  Don't be scared.  That's right, that's it...Just open your eyes...What do you see?  Good question."  Ralph Dibney's arc concludes as he reveals, like Booster and Skeets before him, his actions this whole time were an elaborate conceit.  Turns out Fate was really Felix Faust all along, attempting to trick Dibney into giving up a pure soul Faust needed for a bargain with the demon Neron.  The gun?  A wishing gun.  The stuff in the flash?  Gingold, what Dibney used to use to stretch as Elongated Man.  He gladly sacrifices himself to trap Faust with his Faustian deal, trapped with Neron for eternity...Fire, whom we've seen in glimpses throughout the series, is there to give Dibney a proper hero's farewell at his grave.  Darick Robertson provides the art.  Dan DiDio provides commentary, explaining how he asked Giffen to rework Dibney's death after the writers had finished their effort, a risky editorial move that sheds further light into the delicate creative process.
• #43 - Osiris and Sobek visit the Rock of Eternity and the Marvel Family, Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Junior and Mary Marvel.  Black Adam and Isis arrive.  They argue over Osiris's contention that his powers are a curse.  Osiris becomes increasingly belligerent, but eventually claims he's reconsidered his conclusions.  The aliens who originally gave Animal Man his powers complete his revival.  He comes with increased awareness of his abilities.  Lady Styx is reborn.  Sobek is revealed as a double agent.  Osiris gives up his powers, and his talking crocodile friend...eats him.  Dan Jurgens provides art.  Johns provides commentary, explaining how Black Adam's arc in 52 developed in its conception, and how Giffen, who never liked Osiris, helped make his death more impactful.  Of course he would.  It's ironic that Jurgens, who had become an archetypical superhero artist a decade earlier, and who gets to feature his Superman style with Captain Marvel and related characters this issue, also does the honors for what seems like the most unlikely Dan Jurgens sequence ever, the grim death of Osiris.
• #44 - Sobek is revealed to be Famine of the Four Horsemen of Apokolips, and he leads his brethren against Black Adam and Isis.  Isis is killed in the resulting battle.  Renee Montoya realizes she's dead, and it's just the impetus she needs to finally leave Nanda Parbat again.  (Richard Dragon: "You're going to find, like Sage [Charlie, the Question] did, that some questions can only be answered by wearing a mask.  Just as there are some that can only be asked when you remove one.")  Eddy Barrows provides art.  Rucka provides commentary.  He remarks that Johns has Isis actually confirm that Black Adam reverting to form is the proper response to what's just happened to him.
• #45 - Black Adam and the Marvel Family attend the funeral.  Renee Montoya is there.  They don't see eye-to-eye.  Bruno Mannheim betrays Bialya, home of the remnants of the Four Horsemen.  Black Adam begins his rampage there.  Green Lantern Alan Scott begins marshalling a response; Amanda Waller attempts to convince Atom Smasher to do the same.  The rampage continues.  The Great Ten realize they will have to confront Black Adam, who defeats Death.  On Oolong Island, Sivana celebrates Black Adam's imminent arrival.  Chris Batista provides the art, with an assist from Jamal Igle.  Giffen provides commentary.  He remarks, "Life is made so much easier for those of us pushing pencils when writers think visually."
• #46 - T.O. Morrow, Will Magnus, Egg-Fu and the others at Oolong Island brace for Black Adam's arrival.  Veronica Cale (I've kind of glossed over her appearances) has her most significant appearance of the series in an impotent reflection of her role in all this.  Morrow incapacitates Black Adam.  Sivana salivates on the prospect of finally getting his hands on a Marvel.  Morrow wins a bidding war for the head of Red Tornado.  Clark Kent helps Steel and Natasha Irons prevent Lex Luthor get away with murder one more time, exposing Everyman as a stand-in and bringing Luthor himself into custody.  Green Lantern Alan Scott and the Justice Society remnant investigate Black Adam's carnage in Bialya.  Atom Smasher offers to help them find him.  Pat Oliffe provides the art.  Giffen provides commentary.  He says Rucka had to make an unpopular argument to save Cale's life, as she'd been slated to die.  Another reference to Jones's genius on covers.
• #47 - Wonder Woman converses with Tim Drake, Robin, in Nanda Parbat.  Bruno Mannheim and the others in Intergang's Crime Bible cult realize they can trap Batwoman in her guise as Kate Kane.  Will Magnus wrestles with his conscience on Oolong Island.  Animal Man and his benefactors discuss how easy it'll be to get home, where he believes his wife Ellen Baker is seeing someone.  Steel and his niece Natasha Irons unveil a hopeful new project.  Nightwing greets the returning Renee Montoya, who's just found out Kate's indeed been caught.  Wonder Woman has an epiphany: "Diana of Amazonia, beloved of the gods.  Of purest purpose.  You who sought to teach.  When did you ever know guilt before this [murder of Maxwell Lord]?  Or doubt or regret?  Or what it is to fail?  When did you, in all your perfection, ever share the pains mortals feel each day of their lives?  Until now.  Welcome to the world, Wonder Woman.  Here is wisdom."  Bruce Wayne emerges from his ordeal reconciled to his role as Batman.  Giuseppe Camuncoli provides the art.  Rucka provides commentary.  He attempts to argue that the conclusions he thinks Morrison wrote concerning Wonder Woman.  He thinks she didn't get enough time to explain her arc, that her problem amounts to not being "human enough."  I totally disagree.  It's a true breakthrough for the character.  Morrison later wrote Wonder Woman: Earth One, a seminal reexamining of her origins.  Clearly creative differences.
• #48 - Renee Montoya and Nightwing launch their assault on Bruno Mannheim, Intergang, and the Crime Bible cult.  (Nightwing: "Would you really die for this?"  Montoya: "Good question.  Wouldn't you?")  It's her official debut as the new Question.  They save Batwoman, who kills Mannheim with his own ceremonial dagger, which he'd previously stabbed her with.  Sivana and Egg-Fu ransom the life of Black Adam, with Green Lantern Alan Scott preparing a response.  Darick Robertson provides the art.  Rucka and Siglain provide commentary.  Both gush over Jones's cover.  Rucka admits he tends to think in human scale for his stories, which he thinks he mitigates this issue with "turning Gotham into a mini-Apokolips." 
• #49 - Green Lantern Alan Scott leads the response against Egg-Fu's mad scientists.  The Great Ten claim sovereignty to stymy him.  Will Magnus employs the Metal Men against Egg-Fu.  Scott realizes the Great Ten are covering for the fact that Egg-Fu is an associate of theirs.  T.O. Morrow confronts Magnus, then vacates Oolong Island.  Sivana continues torturing Black Adam.  The Great Ten strike a deal with Scott.  Magnus obliterates Egg-Fu.  Atom Smasher sets Black Adam free, believing Bialya to be a giant mistake.  That's the giant mistake...Eddy Barrows provides the art.  Giffen and Siglain provide the art.  Giffen explains Barrows' mix-up with the Great Wall of China appearing in both the Oolong Island sequences and Alan Scott's confrontation with the Great Ten.  Siglain doubles down on that.  For what it's worth, I think both make a mistake themselves in believing that.  The only problem is assuming Scott and the Great Ten are on Oolong Island.  Presumably, it's in the South China Sea.  Problem solved.
• #50 - Black Adam barrels through Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family.  Green Lantern Alan Scott and the reconstituted Justice Society  debate Black Adam's actions.  The Great Ten prepares a defense against him.  The Society is refused entry into China to aide in the battle.  General August-in-Iron concedes that the Great Ten can't defeat Black Adam on its own.  Scott, Captain Marvel, Atom Smasher, Steel, and Natasha Irons are among the heroes who answer the call.  Booster Gold steals Steel's weapon.  Infinity Inc. runs away from the fight.  Captain Marvel devices a way to steal Black Adam's powers by changing his magic word.  A depowered Black Adam wanders trying to figure out the new word.  T.O. Morrow tinkers with the head of Red Tornado, but Booster and Rip Hunter arrive to claim it.  The head continues to babble "52."  Justiniano provides the art.  Waid provides commentary, giving full credit to Johns for the issue, with a few of his own ideas thrown into the mix.  I give a lot of credit, personally, to Justiniano, who has since served time in prison for possession of child pornography.  A shame, as he's a truly sensational artist.
• #51 - Animal Man finally returns home.  Donna Troy and Wonder Girl are observed by Wonder Woman in her new role as a secret agent in her civilian life.  Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent talk.  The Teen Titans form a new lineup.  Adam Strange gets a new pair of eyes (yeah, never mentioned that, sorry).  Lobo realizes he can free himself from his religious obligation once the head dolphin finally reveals the whole thing was a trick to neutralize the one weapon that can kill him: the Emerald Eye of Ekron.  Starfire arrives just in time to save Animal Man's family from a remnant of the Lady Styx horde.  The head of Red Tornado ("52"), T.O. Morrow, Booster Gold, and Rip Hunter prepare to confront Skeets, who's really been Mister Mind this whole time...Joe Bennett provides his last solo artwork of the series.  Waid provides commentary, plugging Starfire and Animal Man's continued adventures in Countdown to Adventure.  He also confesses the writers spent a lot of time trying to decide whether or not the mature Mister Mind wears the same goggles as his caterpillar incarnation...
• #52 - The multiverse in its present 52 worlds incarnation debuts.  The head of Red Tornado, Rip Hunter, and Booster Gold pursue Mister Mind across all the worlds created at the end of Infinite Crisis.  Supernova returns, revealed to be Daniel Carter in this incarnation, rescued by Rip from oblivion.  Booster reunites briefly with his old pal, the late Blue Beetle Ted Kord.  Sivana, the initial cause for Mister Mind's rampage, also becomes the solution.  Booster becomes the greatest hero history never knew.  There's a montage with Green Lantern Alan Scott, Steel, Natasha Irons, Wonder Woman, and Black Adam.  Ralph Dibney is reunited with his wife Sue as ghost detectives.  Renee Montoya settles into her career as the Question.  Batwoman, Kate Kane, has recovered from her ordeal.  "Are you ready?"  Art is supplied by Justiniano, Barrows, Batista, Oliffe, Robertson, and Mike McKone.  Waid and Siglain provide some concluding thoughts.

The end!

Reading Comics 211 "Understanding 52 - Part 3"

52, the 2006-2007 series written by Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Geoff Johns, and Mark Waid, with art breakdowns by Keith Giffen and covers by J.G. Jones, has been a personal favorite comic since it was being published every week.  Here I continue my look back, covering material from the second original collection, #14-26...

• #14 - Renee Montoya and Charlie, the Question, fly to Kahndaq.  They arrive amidst great jubilation.  Steel has been working on a new suit of armor for his wayward niece, Natasha Irons, but fears he may have driven her away permanently.  Will Magnus tries to reanimate Mercury of the Metal Men at the behest of government agents.  His use of medication to suppress the effects of bipolar disorder  doesn't impress them anymore than his refusal to work with them.  He goes to visit T.O. Morrow, only to discover that he's become the latest missing mad scientist.  Montoya and Charlie are mistaken for Intergang thugs.  We discover Mercury still works.  The art is by Dale Eaglesham (who would later collaborate with Johns in the pages of Justice Society of America).  Rucka provides the commentary.  He appears convinced that there's a major continuity mix-up this issue, as the Kahndaq sequence seems to exist within the timeframe of two issues later (in 52, two whole weeks later, as the series plays out in real time), although the happy citizens could just as easily be celebrating the happiness of Black Adam and Isis.
• #15 - Booster Gold continues reacting poorly to the existence of Supernova, demanding Skeets find him something spectacular to help rebuild his image.  In Kahnaq, Renee Montoya is finding prison life particularly troublesome, but shows greatest concern for her friend Charlie, the Question, who for the first time in the series is worn down, thanks to the beatings they've been getting.  The guards aren't crazy for his blank face.  Clark Kent (easily the Big Three with the biggest presence in 52) realizes Supernova will soon be making another heroic rescue and races to the scene ("Ah, store room, my old friend...I miss you already...").  Booster is already there and struggling to contend with the problem.  Supernova arrives and further angers Booster.  He ends up making an apparent mortal sacrifice to prove he was just as good as Supernova...The art is from Shawn Moll.  Waid provides commentary.  He talks about Johns writing exchanges between Booster and Supernova that in hindsight are just one of the many disturbing indications of the psyches creating all this, and that Clark's appearance confirming the impact of Booster's death adds the right amount of weight to the moment, meaning that this right here is why he's in so many early issues of 52.  There's also more Giffen breakdown art included than at any other point in the four-volume collection, proving how tough it was to visualize Booster's death.
• #16 - Black Adam and Isis are wildly in love.  He proposes to her to seal the deal.  Renee Montoya and Charlie, the Question, realize Intergang is probably going to hit the wedding.  Mary Marvel (who becomes a prominent element of DC's second weekly series, Countdown) and Isis talk about the pending nuptials.  Black Adam similarly converses with Captain Marvel.  Black Adam frets about the blood staining his cape.  Montoya realizes the bomber is going to aim for the crowd.  Captain Marvel Junior (who will soon star in The Trials of Shazam! as he graduates to Captain Marvel) addresses Talky Tawny, his talking tiger companion, a nod to the later addition of Sobek the talking crocodile as Osiris's companion.  The wedding happens.  Montoya finds the suicide bomber, who's just a kid.  She's forced to kill the kid and immediately regrets it.  Animal Man, Adam Strange, and Starfire finally leave the cursed "paradise planet" they'd been stranded on.  The art is by Joe Bennett, who more than anyone can at this point claim to be the artist of the series.  Commentary is from Rucka, who explains his theory of why there's a big continuity problem two issues ago. 
• #17 - Infinity Inc. makes its public debut.  Lex Luthor watches the TV footage along with Natasha Irons and the rest of the team.  He keeps giving her special attention.  One of the team members is experiencing "buyer's remorse."  Starfire, Adam Strange, and Animal Man come across Devilance the Pursuer again.  Lobo comes to their rescue.  He reveals he's found religion.  The torso of Red Tornado is discovered by Australian aboriginals.  He's uttering "52."  The art is by Chris Batista.  The commentary is by Giffen.  He talks about how reluctant he was to use Lobo, and how he tricked Morrison into figuring out how to make him work in a way he'd never been used before.  This is one of the issues featuring virtually none of the characters 52 was ultimately known for, but ones I consider essential to the experience.  (Ah, heck.  I consider every element essential to it.)
• #18 -Detective Chimp travels to the House of Mystery, where he encounters the abandoned Helmet of Fate.  Black Adam and Isis are eager to show their gratitude to Renee Montoya and Charlie, the Question, who two issues ago saved their wedding.  Black Adam is less than pleased at Montoya's deteriorated mental state, and where it's left her.  Isis argues for them to put their differences aside.  The matter of Intergang is discussed.  Detective Chimp consults with Ralph Dibney (first time we see him this collection) concerning the Helmet of Fate.  Clark Kent attends the funeral of Booster Gold (an irony, considering the circumstances of the first issue, where Booster is grandstanding at Superboy's memorial service, and Clark puts him in his place).  Skeets recruits Booster's ancestor, Daniel Carter.  Detective Chimp and the rest of the Shadowpact observe Dibney as he holds a conversation with the Helmet of Fate they can't hear, in which he sets out on a new journey...Eddy Barrows provides the art.  Waid provides the commentary.  He mentions that Shadowpact should not have been able to appear in the issue, given that Bill Willingham had made the team in its namesake series lose a year of its life during the 52 timeframe (every series had a "One Year Later" gimmick in which they skipped over the 52 timeframe).  I read Shadowpact religiously at the time, so realistically this should've bothered me, too.  But...there are different ways to interpret "losing a year," maybe.  They might simply have been forced to forget everything they experienced that year.  Also, apparently there's a lost Waid story featuring Abraham Lincoln.  Kinda need to read that...
• #19 - Skeets finds Daniel Carter to be not so different from his future descendent, Booster Gold.  Animal Man, Adam Strange, and Starfire are mystified to witness Lobo (and his dolphin companion; somewhere Seaguy is looking on, jealous) hailed as an actual hero by his fellow believers.  We glimpse the Sheeda Lady Styx and the Emerald Eye of Ekron for the first time.  Supernova defeats Weather Wizard, finds himself confronted by Wonder Girl (like Ralph Dibney, first time we see her this volume), who's convinced he's really Superboy.  Skeets and Daniel visit Rip Hunter's bunker.  We realize for the first time that Skeets has been corrupted.  The artist is Pat Oliffe.  The commentary is from Waid, who credits Morrison with the Skeets breakthrough.  "Grant's big contribution to 52 wasn't that he was the 'idea' guy.  It was that he's fearless."
• #20 - Supernova visits the Batcave.  Steel prevents a building from collapsing during a fire.  He then learns that the Everyman project is giving powers that can just as easily be taken away.  Lobo reveals to Animal Man, Adam Strange, and Starfire that the Emerald Eye of Ekron comes from Ekron himself, who...wants it back.  The art is from Chris Batista.  Johns provides one of his rare commentaries. 
• #21 - Natasha Irons meets with Lex Luthor in order to argue for the return of an exiled member of Infinity Inc.  Ralph Dibney and the Helmet of Fate strike a bargain to enter Hell.  Luthor sets up a fight for Infinity Inc. against Blockbuster.  The Teen Titans, as they've cobbled themselves together at the moment (a similarly improvised Justice League shows up later in the series), confront the team to question its legitimacy (which is also not the last time this happens).  The wayward Trajectory, who was the member having problems, has her powers shut off and dies as a result.  Steel attempts to confront his niece Natasha again at her funeral.  The head of Red Tornado continues to make the rounds (heh) in Australia.  The art is from Joe Bennett.  Johns again provides commentary.  He talks about the Teen Titans, whose book was one of his early signature long runs.  He also mentions how Bennett nearly drew a male character with fishnets (totally understandable, really!).  Lastly, he notes how Rucka wrote the speedster Trajectory's scene where she's gushing over her hero the Flash.  Johns, and Waid, also had a lengthy run with that character.
• #22 - Lex Luthor is convinced that Supernova is in fact Superman.  (Ironically or not, a later weekly series, Futures End, has a mystery masked Superman, who turns out to be Captain Marvel.)  Super-Chief briefly joins the list of signature 52 creations.  Luthor, ironically, is told he can't gain powers from the Everyman project.  Super-Chief's origin is explained.  Steel is in the shadows as Luthor tries to sidestep the emerging controversy of temporary powers from the Everyman project.  Will Magnus becomes the latest mad scientist to be kidnapped.  The art is by Eddy Barrows.  Dan DiDio provides commentary, referencing the 2007-2008 Metal Men mini-series as something he was looking forward to, as he's a huge fan of the team.  He credits Morrison with the concept for the mini-series, although artist Duncan Rouleau writes it as well.  Even though Super-Chief exits so quickly from 52, I'm still glad he appears and has a whole issue as a spotlight.
• #23 - Will Magnus arrives at Oolong Island, where all the mad scientists have been taken.  T.O. Morrow greets him.  Renee Montoya and Charlie, the Question, spy on a Religion of Crime ceremony where they find Amon, the future Osiris.  Black Adam and Isis (Amon's sister) arrive.  Black Adam transforms Amon into Osiris, and the Black Marvel family is now complete.  Drew Johnson provides the art.  Waid briefly chimes in on commentary, but Rucka quickly takes over.  He discusses the hindsight poignancy of Charlie telling Montoya, "There are some things you just have to accept, Renee."  He also admits Morrison wrote the Oolong Island sequence.  In anyone else's hands (Salvation Run), Oolong Island would've been a trainwreck.  But instead, Morrison.  It also strikes me, in hindsight, that Osiris debuts more or less at the midpoint of 52, but his arc quickly becomes a defining one (whether or not Giffen likes the kid), and sort of the whole point of Isis, who seems like so much a bigger deal. 
• #24 - Elliot S! Maggin, a classic DC writer, is referenced as Green Arrow decides to seek political office ("What can one man do?").  Super-Chief is revealed to have been headed to the formation of a new Justice League, along with Bulleteer (Seven Soldiers of Victory, the other Morrison megaproject from this time), Ambush Bug, Firehawk, and Firestorm (the latter two have much greater chemistry in the pages of Firestorm around the same time).  Ambush Bug, famous for breaking the fourth wall, randomly references "52" while...breaking the fourth wall ("Hello, room service?  Send up a plot and three pages of dialogue right away!  The weekly grind is tearin' me apart!  Fifty-two!!").  Martian Manhunter, at the time famous for having been in just about every incarnation of the League, is not a member.  Instead, he's attempting to honor the memory of Booster Gold by eradicating Checkmate, the organization once headed by Maxwell Lord and therefore responsible for the death of their Justice League friend and ally, Blue Beetle.  (Victory proves short-lived.  But I still can't understand why no one has been able to pull off a Martian Manhunter series centered on his deliberate use of various aliases.  Mr. Biscuits surely comes close.)  Black Adam, Isis, and Osiris confront the Great Ten, who feel Black Adam is reneging on their previous compact.  The League's first mission is a bust thanks to the meddling of the many Everyman heroes who show up with no clue what to do.  Also, Skeets shows up and betrays them.  Super-Chief does not survive.  Turns out he was really just a cautionary tale the Helmet of Fate helps Ralph Dibney experience ("Magic never comes without a price.").  Martian Manhunter's hard work is immediately undone thanks to these events.  Amanda Waller puts together a Suicide Squad team, starting with Atom Smasher, about to confront his old Justice Society ally, Black Adam.  The great Phil Jimenez provides art for the issue.  Waid provides commentary.  He says Morrison actually complained about Bulleteer's appearance in the issue.  She's not the first Seven Soldiers of Victory character to appear in 52 (Frankenstein was at the Superboy memorial way back in the first issue).
• #25 - Bruno Mannheim makes his first appearance of the series (I thought he was a 52 original, but turns out he comes from the '70s and is a Jack Kirby creation).  Captain Marvel Junior and Mary Marvel meet the Black Marvel family, Black Adam, Isis, and newest member Osiris.  Ralph Dibney and the Helmet of Fate tour victims of magic.  It's the first time we see Felix Faust.  We glimpse Klarion the Witch Boy from Seven Soldiers of Victory.  Natasha Irons and Infinity Inc. are in action.  Green Lantern Alan Scott and Mister Terrific don't join in on the jubilation of kids impressed by them. Instead, they discuss the future of the Justice Society.  They decide to join Checkmate instead to, well, keep it in check.  Will Magnus and T.O. Morrow have another discussion, this time on Oolong Island.  Morrow begins plotting to have Will's medication taken from him, so he can be a proper mad scientist.  Mannheim arrives and greets Egg-Fu, who here insists on being called Chang Tzu.  The art is from a combined effort between Bennett, Eaglesham, Jimenez, and Oliffe.  Giffen provides commentary, amazed at Jones' cover and that Egg-Fu is being taken seriously.
• #26 - Black Adam, Isis, and Osiris provide Renee Montoya and Charlie, the Question, a ride to Nanda Parbat.  Probably one of the most crucial developments of the whole series right here.  Charlie introduces Montoya to his ally Tot and mentor Richard Dragon, whom he hopes will help her become his successor.  Jack Ryder, the erstwhile Creeper, delivers an in-joke introduction to his TV show, parodying the old Marvel Bullpen columns.  It's actually to help remind everyone that Steel still has great reservations about the Everyman project.  Ryder hosts another awkward confrontation between Steel and his wayward niece, Natasha Irons.  We see a different Ryder, Waverider, very briefly as we catch a look at the alarmingly '50s style family of Doctor Sivana.  Black Adam, Isis, and Osiris pays the family a visit.  On Oolong Island, Sivana, Will Magnus, T.O. Morrow, and the other mad scientists celebrate Thanksgiving with a mutated turkey.  Osiris meets Sobek at the Sivana compound.  Pat Oliffe provides the art.  Johns provides the commentary for this final issue in the volume.  He mentions how he and Rucka were writing each other's characters this issue.  Waid briefly chimes in on a note that actually belongs to the previous issue...

Two volumes to go!

Reading Comics 210 "Understanding 52 - Part 2"

52, the 2006-2007 weekly series written by Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Geoff Johns, and Mark Waid, with art breakdowns by Keith Giffen and covers by J.G. Jones, remains one of my all-time favorite comics.  I recently completed a reread of the complete story, and wanted to undertake a sketch commentary for it.  This part will cover issues from the original first collection, meaning #1-13.  So here we go...

• #1 - The first page evokes the ending of Infinite Crisis, to which 52 serves as a sequel.  By the end of the series it'll be explained as the birth (or rebirth) of the multiverse.  Then we segue into vignettes introducing three of 52's main characters: Ralph Dibney, Renee Montoya, and Steel.  Dibney's house was destroyed during the Crisis, Montoya is drinking herself to an early grave thanks to the death of her partner Crispus Allen, and Steel is helping out with recovery efforts.  Then we meet Booster Gold, introducing the gimmick of trying to fill the void left by Superman by being a corporate sellout and all-around phony.  Eventually we return to Dibney, who appears suicidal, as we remember that his wife Sue was murdered viciously in the pages of Identity Crisis.  We'll discover much later what's really going on with him.  Then we meet Steel's niece, Natasha Irons, in her armor, for the first time in the series.  Steel is frustrated that Natasha is taking being a superhero for granted, complaining about being late for a Teen Titans meeting rather than helping the cleanup effort, so he takes her armor away.  Then we head to Kahndaq as Black Adam explains how he intends to set a new standard for international justice, immediately demonstrating it in the most vicious way possible.  Doctor Sivana and Mister Mind are the first mad scientists we meet, and the first mysteriously kidnapped.  Well, Sivana is, anyway.  We don't catch up with Mister Mind until...later.  Booster nearly crashes a memorial service for Superboy and other heroes lost in the Crisis, with some abetting from Skeets, but Clark Kent helps set him straight.  Finally, the Question begins his recruitment of Montoya.  The artist for the issue is Joe Bennett.  Paul Levitz provides the first commentary explaining how the idea for 52 happened, with Giffen and Waid offering additional brief insights. 
• #2 - Ralph Dibney visits his wife's grave, which in the first issue he'd been told had been desecrated.  Booster Gold visits Will Magnus, attempting to find out why Skeets was so wrong about the events of last issue's memorial service.  Magnus then visits T.O. Morrow, who's noticed the disappearance of other mad scientists.  The Question pays a visit to Renee Montoya.  Booster nearly botches another incident thanks to Skeets.  Montoya decides to take the Question up on his enigmatic begin a stakeout.  Dibney visits Wonder Girl, who has joined a cult believing Superboy will be resurrected.  The cult was responsible for desecrating his wife's grave.  The artist is again Joe Bennett.  Dan DiDio provides the issue's commentary. 
• #3 - Lex Luthor appears for the first time, but the Alexander Luthor from Earth-3 Luthor killed at the end of Infinite Crisis.  So, a corpse, indicating Luthor's typical duplicity will once again be at work in 52.  Power Girl pursues Terra-Man, but ends up in Kahndaq, where Black Adam intervenes, claiming sovereignty.  Natasha Irons is once again stymied by her uncle Steel, increasing the growing rift between them.  Arianna, the future Isis, debuts, brought before Black Adam as a "gift" from Intergang.  Black Adam refuses their offer, violently.  Terra-Man mistakenly believes they're on the same page.  Booster Gold and Skeets continue their shenanigans and win another corporate sponsor, but this one is shut down by the government and so Booster loses the deal.  He gets mad at Skeets for failing to know that.  Steel assists in examining the Luthor corpse, and helps identify the hoax.  The real Luthor appears, and the showdown with Steel begins.  Black Adam, with Adrianna in the crowd, makes a violent demonstration of Terra-Man for the world to see of how seriously he's taking his new dedication to justice.  The issue ends with a look at Mister Mind, apparently having woven a cocoon around himself.  The art is again by Joe Bennett.  Rucka provides commentary, the first time one of the writers does so at length.  He remarks that Crispus Allen, who clearly died at the end of Gotham Central (kind of the whole reason for Renee Montoya's state of mind during 52) was mistakenly drawn into the script by Bennett.
• #4 - Renee Montoya  begins the stakeout requested by the Question.  We get the first indication that the heroes who went into space, including Animal Man and Adam Strange, during Infinite Crisis are going to be returning.  Booster Gold has an unhappy reunion with former Justice League teammate Fire, who expresses her disappointment in his conduct.  The Question shows up in Montoya's card.  She blows smoke in his, er, lack-of-face, which is something she'll regret later.  Steel begins to show signs of having been infected by Lex Luthor in their encounter last issue, foreshadowing the Everyman project.  Ralph Dibney and Wonder Girl attend a Cult of Connor (Superboy) ceremony, in which Dibney is the subject, and his wedding ring is stolen.  Montoya and the Question find the first evidence, namely a monster goon and a fancy gun, that Intergang has come to town.  Survivors from the space heroes, including Green Lantern Alan Scott, contingent arrive via Zeta Beam, much worse for wear...Joe Bennett is once again artist.  Rucka again provides commentary.  He mentions that Montoya chewing aspirin is probably a detail Giffen came up with, an old alcoholic's trick.  He also references a sequence that Morrison clearly was responsible for.  Waid chimes in briefly to agree that Montoya and Question's interactions in this issue are a key sequence in the whole series, setting the tone for the development of their relationship.  Well, see what I wrote above...
• #5 - Animal Man's family opens the issue, losing hope that Buddy Baker is coming home.  Green Lantern Alan Scott, who was in the space mission with him, appears and offers new hope.  Lex Luthor announces his Everyman project (Booster Gold takes a quick dig at Skeets for failing to tell him about it; Renee Montoya appears with a bandage over the wound she received last issue; Clark Kent appears).  Steel is called in to consult on the returning space heroes, many of whom are in critical condition, none of whom in the pages of 52 receive any significant follow-up past what we see here.  Alan Scott again offers his thoughts on whether Adam Strange survived; he's not hopeful.  In a glimpse at the chaos that created all the carnage, we see Red Tornado exploding, as well as Animal Man and Starfire near Strange.  He also mentions the loss of his daughter Jade.  Montoya is seeming downright chipper for a change as Maggie Sawyer visits her, trying to figure out where her head's at.  Montoya pulls out the fancy gun she acquired last issue after Sawyer leaves.  Mal Duncan, one of the space hero survivors, is the first to utter "52" in the pages of 52, thanks to the bits of Red Tornado lodged in him.  Then we finally meet up with Animal Man, Starfire, and Adam Strange, apparently stranded in paradise.  Chris Batista provides art for the first time.  Waid provides commentary.  He says this particular script was mostly Morrison with a little Rucka. 
• #6 - Booster Gold opens the issue by officially revealing he's been supplementing his heroic adventures with some outright shams, including a fake villain-for-hire.  The Great Ten debut, informing Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and John Stewart that China is not their jurisdiction.  The Great Ten are the first significant new creations to appear in 52.  Will Magnus and T.O. Morrow have another discussion, this time veering in the direction of the missing mad scientists.  We get a glimpse of Egg-Fu, who's responsible.  As the Green Lanterns continue their showdown with the Great Ten, Black Adam appears, bringing with him his emerging global coalition, including the Great Ten and Russia's Rocket Reds.  Booster visits Rip Hunter's bunker, where he and Skeets find chalkboards and other notes full of clues about the future.  We're led to believe that Rip has pegged Booster as the biggest real threat, while we learn later...Joe Bennett is again on art.  Giffen provides commentary, including the first glowing praise of a Jones cover.  Waid also chimes in concerning Rip Hunter's clues, stating for the record that some of them will never be addressed. 
• #7 - Animal Man, Starfire, and Adam Strange begin to discover that their paradise isn't what it seems.  Renee Montoya realizes she's got to find some sources outside the enigmatic Question if she's going to get to the bottom of their mystery.  She decides it's probably going to be Kate Kane, the future Batwoman.  Booster Gold is visited by Ralph Dibney, who like Fire before him is greatly disappointed by him.  Montoya visits Kate, and it's awkward, as they're former lovers.  Booster is exposed as a fraud by the fake villain-for-hire from last issue.  Starfire comes face-to-face with Devilance the Pursuer, whom we first glimpsed two issues ago.  The art is by Ken Lashley.  The commentary is by Waid, who discusses the finer points of ratcheting up the drama between Booster and Dibney. 
• #8 - Steel and his niece Natasha Irons aren't getting along any better.  Natasha mentions interest in the Everyman project for the first time.  Steel's Everyman infection continues to evolve.  Ralph Dibney visits Green Arrow to discuss the Cult of Connor.  Steel gets his DNA analyzed to find out what's going on, realizing that Lex Luthor deliberately infected him with the Everyman metagene.  We get our first glimpse of Supernova, who becomes a signature new superhero of 52 (until we learn who he really is).  Booster Gold angrily confronts Skeets about this latest unannounced bit of significant history; Clark Kent is on the scene to catch the rant.  Natasha becomes convinced that Steel has become involved in the Everyman project he's previously warned her to stay away from, and their relationship further deteriorates.  Animal Man, Adam Strange, and Starfire fall further into Delivance the Pursuer's trap.  Luthor personally recruits Natasha to the Everyman project, and begins the process of giving her powers.  Eddy Barrows provides the artwork.  Rucka provides the commentary.  He mentions how Barrows gives Natasha cleavage in a welding sequence, whether by his own initiative or an editor's, a sexy look the script did not call for.
• #9 - Lex Luthor explains his vision of the future, "where every man becomes a super man."  Steel, his skin now fully encased in, well, steel, angrily confronts him about Natasha's disappearance.  She shows up with the rest of the new Infinity, Inc. and angrily rejects her uncle.  Adam Strange, Animal Man, and Starfire work on escaping Devilance the Pursuer.  They succeed, for now.  The Question shows his face (heh) inside a lesbian bar to chat with Renee Montoya.  He calls himself Charlie for the first time.  We catch our first glimpse of Batwoman.  Shawn Moll is the artist.  In commentary, Giffen laments his initial design for Infinity Inc.'s costumes.  He also gives Morrison props for the deep cull of Devilance the Pursuer. 
• #10 - Black Adam's posturing before his new allies is interrupted by Adrianna, the future Isis.  Perry White chews out Clark Kent (who lost his powers at the end of Infinite Crisis) for losing his reporting edge.  This inspires Clark to pull a Lois Lane so he can get the scoop on Supernova.  Black Adam and Adrianna talk, in which she's the first to succeed in piercing his hard exterior.  Clark and Lois talk about Supernova, whom later observers will be convinced is Superman.  Clearly not.  Booster Gold and Skeets wonder who's under the mask, too. Ironically, as it turns out.  Will Magnus and T.O. Morrow again chat.  Morrow produces the husk of Mister Mind's cocoon.  Chris Batista is the artist.  Rucka provides the commentary.  He declares the Clark/White confrontation to be one of his favorite 52 moments, and admits it was written by Waid. 
• #11 - Ralph Dibney begins to lose his cool over the Cult of Connor, attacking some kids for wearing a button emblazoned with its symbol.  Renee Montoya and the Question, Charlie, chat about smoking.  Kate Kane, Batwoman, provides some useful information.  Charlie tries to get Montoya to admit her biggest problem.  They discuss key Intergang figures, and then are confronted by them.  They survive thanks to Batwoman's full debut.  Montoya realizes Batwoman and Kate are one and the same.  Dibney visits a storage shed that's been ransacked, with only an outfit of his late wife Sue's missing.  We see Wonder Girl at a Cult of Connor ceremony with a wicker figure wearing the outfit, and Dibney's stolen wedding ring from the fourth issue.  Joe Bennett and Todd Nauck provide the art.  DiDio and Rucka provide commentary.  DiDio laments that Batwoman in the media was dismissed as a lipstick lesbian.
• #12 - Renee Montoya chats with Maggie Sawyer again, her old boss from Gotham Central, who advises her to quit playing detective.  The Question, Charlie, naturally disagrees, and suggests they visit Kahndaq, where we've previously seen Intergang surface.  In Kahndaq, meanwhile, is a suddenly benevolent Black Adam, thanks to the influence of Adrianna.  They visit the Rock of Eternity and Captain Marvel, who's having a rough time replacing Shazam as its main occupant.  Ralph Dibney visits Wonder Girl, suggesting he may want to take the Cult of Connor's attempts to resurrect his wife Sue seriously after all.  Adrianna is transformed into Isis, another signature creation of 52.  The art is by Eddy Barrows.  Jones provides the commentary, explaining how he came up with this issue's cover.
• #13 - Ralph Dibney attends the Cult of Connor's ceremony to resurrect his late wife Sue.  He brings with him Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Green Arrow, Metamorpho, and Zauriel, all of whom have either been themselves resurrected or have intimate experience with the afterlife.  Wonder Girl is also in attendance as she hopes for the eventual resurrection of Superboy.  Isis helps Black Adam continue redeeming his image, and in the process they begin the search for her brother, Amon, the future Osiris.  Dibney has decided that the ceremony is a fraud, but...was it?  Did he act too hastily? The issue and the volume ends with Dibney having apparently gone mad, clutching at the wicker husk of his late wife...The art is from Todd Nauck.  Waid provides commentary.  He mentions how original series editor Stephen Wacker caught a continuity mistake before it happened, replacing Hawkwoman in the Dibney sequence with Zauriel, Hawkwoman being one of the space heroes on the mend and last seen...supersized.  As I said, they didn't really follow up on those guys...He also mentions the real menace in Dibney's arc throughout 52 appearing in shadow for the first time this issue. 

Only three volumes to go!

Reading Comics 169 "Comics from 7/15/15"

Covered: Robin: Son of Batman #2, Book of Death #1, Hawkeye #22, Justice League #42, and Martian Manhunter #2.

Robin: Son of Batman #2 (DC)
Pat Gleason picks up where...Batman and Robin #0 left off, delving more deeply into Damian's formative years with Talia, while also further introducing the new Nobody (totally counts as this Boy Wonder's first romance) and not really getting much more into how exactly Goliath became Robin's new partner except to say that he's probably more rude to the Man-Bat than he's been to anyone else (even Pennyworth!).  And it's another fantastic issue.  I love that Gleason has turned out to be such an excellent chronicler as well as illustrator.  He knew he had plenty to build on.  And he's making the most of it.

Book of Death #1 (Valiant)

Robert Venditti is definitely one of those writers I have a tough relationship with.  Understandably, Geoff Johns had to leave Green Lantern at some point, but I hoped his replacement would be some version of inspired and thus not be a complete disappointment.  Venditti hasn't been a complete  disappointment (the funny thing for me to remember is that I didn't think Johns himself was as good as his Rebirth suggested when he first launched the ongoing), but I've just never been able to get into his Green Lantern.  Then over at Valiant, which is where he first came onto the scene with X-O Manowar, I wasn't overly impressed with his material there, either.  So to see Book of Death, a direct sequel to The Valiant, which I found brilliant, written by Venditti was a cause for concern.  Turns out, the only thing immediately objectionable about it is how the lettering seems enlarged, or done in bold, whatever the case may be.  Just makes the issue seem off.  But it's not Venditti's fault!  Probably.  So maybe I will continue reading Book of Death.  For now.

Hawkeye #22 (Marvel)

Apparently much, much delayed (although not really), this is the final Matt Fraction issue of Hawkeye (a Jeff Lemire reboot comes next).  I've caught enough of the series to know that this was something special, a truly unique "indy style" comic featuring a mainstream superhero (pretty much), the kind of storytelling you only wish Daredevil had received post-Miller (instead of endless rehashes or attempts to ignore Miller entirely).  Some of the impact of the issue is lost on me, as I didn't really have anything invested in the big showdown, but it was still fun to see and be a part of.

Justice League #42 (DC)

"Darkseid War" continues, and Geoff Johns reveals that both the female warriors he's introduced are basically villains, not only Grail, the daughter of Darkseid, but apparently even Myrina Black, Grail's mother, who willingly conspired with Darkseid (including, ah, knocking boots) in a thorough rejection of Amazonian dogma.  Maybe either or perhaps both will get a little more nuance later.  Because I'm still digging Johns' depiction of the New Gods, especially Metron, who loses "his" Mobius Chair (remember, "Mobius" is actually the Anti-Monitor!), with Batman taking seat and finding out disturbing things.  One is that Joe Chill murdered his parents.  This we knew.  But he also finds out Joker's real name.  No, Johns doesn't spill the beans.  But this is something DC has been teasing in Scott Snyder's Batman for a few years now.  Somehow I have the feeling that we finally are going to have a definitive origin for the Joker (although I'll always be partial to "Lovers and Madmen" from Batman Confidential).  Batman's reaction when he finds out?  "No.  That's not possible."  I love it.

Martian Manhunter #2 (DC)

Continues to be a pleasant surprise.  This issue is trickier than the first one.  At first Eddy Barrows seems to have stumbled in a simplistic "Angry Martian Manhunter" presentation as Superman and the Justice League attempt to intervene.  But Rob Williams backs Barrows up in the script, explaining the central premise of this arc and thus vision of the character, that pretty much everything we know, anyone knows, including Martian Manhunter himself, is subject to telepathic overwrite.  It's brilliant.  Why is this the first time anyone has ever thought of that?  This is a series that will challenge the reader in nearly every way.  I say it's a worthy challenge.

Reading Comics 165 "Comics from 6/17/15"

Comics covered: Justice League of America #1, Martian Manhunter #1, MIND MGMT #34, Ms. Marvel #16, Prez #1, and Robin: Son of Batman #1.

Justice League of America #1 (DC)
That image can't help, for me, but evoke Mark Waid's The Kingdom, an attempt at a follow-up to the much more famous Kingdom Come.  Killing off Superman en masse will always have visual impact...Anyway, the rest of Bryan Hitch's debut (he was exclusive over at Marvel for a decade starting in 2002, and has been making a slow return to the DC fold for a few years now) of the latest Justice League title makes it clear that this is not an in-continuity series (although since Convergence, "in-continuity" doesn't mean that much anymore), and as such can be recommended to anyone looking for their DC fix without too much commitment.  The line-up is the same as the original from Geoff Johns' flagship.  That's about it.  Good, competent storytelling.  Nothing wildly exceptional, but then, I guess that doesn't particularly matter.

Martian Manhunter #1 (DC)
I've been waiting for a decent Martian Manhunter story from the New 52 era.  Thankfully, it arrived at the same time the unexpected ongoing series launched.  This is a character ripe with potential because he's never a given for the publishing schedule, which means anytime DC trots him out (for a solo story), chances are good that a creative team came together to tell something decent.  His only other ongoing series was somewhat of an exception for me (spinning out of Grant Morrison's JLA), featuring the creative team of John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake, who somehow made an alien character too alienating.  And this is a character who thrives on that distinction.  The later A.J. Lieberman mini-series was actually the first of the great Martian Manhunter material that I've had the fortune to read, and for me remains the high water mark for the character and his best presentation.

But that might change.  The writer is Rob Williams, whom I've previously encountered in the unremarkable Classwar.  Taking a cue from Ostrander, Morrison, and Lieberman, Williams has focused on how much is really known and/or set in stone in Martian Manhunter mythology, which again is perfect for exploring because while he's iconic his relatively scant publishing history makes him ideal for innovative storytelling (but less ideal for randomly killing, as Morrison discovered in the pages of Final Crisis).

The Eddy Barrows image I included, from the first page of the issue, features "Mr. Biscuits," whom I assume is actually Martian Manhunter.  Again, more of what you can do with a character like this.  The art, especially the depiction of Mr. Biscuits, is a major revelation for a reader like me only familiar with Barrows from the pages of Nightwing, where he was perfectly serviceable if not especially inspired.  Which is to say, he's definitely inspired here, and is a real strength for the series, moreso than Mandrake was in the previous series (nothing against Tom Mandrake, but his art was the major hindrance of that run).  Barrows can convey classic superhero and the rest of the range Williams requires.

It's that range that showcases everything right with this vision.  It's pretty sensational, really, and that's without even mentioning the character Pearl, who is that rarest of superhero characters, someone from the Middle East who isn't at all what you'd expect, but rather a traditional superhero character introducing us to an all-new vision of the Middle East, at least as compared to...everything else you tend to see.  She's the Catwoman of Arabia.  Brilliant.

I look forward to future issues, eagerly.

MIND MGMT #34 (Dark Horse)
I mentioned with the previous issue that Matt Kindt had reached the heist portion of the series, where the plan is explained, and how he exhibited how this story is different because the plan won't go wrong because, well, that's what kind of series this is.  This issue calls to mind Christopher Nolan's Inception.  Which is basically a heist movie.  So I guess this is to say, if you're wondering what kind of story MIND MGMT is, I guess you can say it's like a Christopher Nolan movie.  For me, this counts as a considerable endorsement.  I've been a Nolan fan since Memento.  And now, hopefully, years from now I will be able to say I've been a Kindt fan since MIND MGMT.

Ms. Marvel #16 (Marvel)
For the past few issues, I've been wondering if I should continue reading this series, because more often than not I've found myself disappointed.  Unlike a lot of other readers, I didn't start reading Ms. Marvel for its cultural uniqueness, but because the writer is G. Willow Wilson.  I became a fan of Wilson through work (Air) I considered the best of all the comics I was reading over the course of two consecutive years (2009-2010).  That comes with significant expectations for any future work.  And when this one started, Wilson absolutely lived up to the hype I gave her.  I read Wilson because of her ability to keep things interesting, on a number of levels.  Lately those levels have dropped.

I mention all that because this is one of those issues that reminds me why I like Wilson.  It's part of Marvel's Secret Wars event (hence "Last Days of..." printed over the logo).  I've found that sometimes ongoing comics really can knock out of the park what can otherwise be a cumbersome mandatory tie-in for an "end of the world" story (during DC's The Final Night two decades ago, for instance, this happened, and that's one of the reasons I love that event so much).  For Wilson, it seems to have been a fruitful chance to refocus, bring back some of the sharp observations that've been Ms. Marvel at its best, rather than the lukewarm ones that've been floating around lately.

So that was good to see.

Prez #1 (DC)
DC makes infrequent attempts to candor to the youth vote, as it were.  The last time I found it particularly effective was Final Crisis Aftermatch: Dance (the Super Young Team mini-series).  Prez is kind of like that, but I think it has a better shot at being noticed, so long as there's a willing audience out there.  The creative end certainly does its part.  In that above panel alone there's inspiration from Alan Moore, Frank Miller, and even Jeff Smith to be found, which is not bad company at all.

Writer Mark Russell seems to be pretty new, and he's certainly seized this opportunity.  I will, however, be concentrating my praise on Ben Caldwell.  I've been praising Ben since his exceptional Wonder Woman material from Wednesday Comics, which Prez evokes to a certain degree.  I say "certain degree," because I think part of the reason I seem to be somewhat singular in my devotion to Ben and his Wonder Woman is that he took his creative freedom in that project to a perhaps excessive extreme.  He's dialed in it here, but the work is still uniquely vivid, and that's what I love about him.

I think the big fear everyone had about Prez is that it would be more or less like the previous, decades-old version of this narrative, a precocious "kid president" (although as kid presidents go, you know about Kid President, right? he's awesome) that has no real creative value.  That couldn't be further from the case.  Another big post-Convergence winner right here.

Robin: Son of Batman #1 (DC)
Speaking of great art, here's Patrick Gleason in what's effectively a spin-off from Batman and Robin.  I think most of us fans feared that divorced from Pete Tomasi, Gleason couldn't really pull off the same magic on his own.  But as it turns out, he really, really can.  After the massive detour caused by Grant Morrison's murder of Damian in the pages of Batman, Inc. and various other crossover events, it's perhaps best of all to see Robin back in the mode that made for truly excellent comics in Batman and Robin's earliest days.  And for proof, there's even the return (of a sorts) of Nobody, a character the series thankfully picked up from one of Christopher Nolan's ideas in his Batman movies (even if his Henri Ducard ended up...not being Henri Ducard at all).

Given how DC likes to experiment with artists acting as their own writers, the results are always going to be interesting.  One of the last times was Scott McDaniel in the pages of Static Shock, which was one of the more notorious failures of the early New 52 (alas, McDaniel's career still has yet to show any signs of recovering).  As you can see earlier in this very column, one of the latest is Bryan Hitch.  But I think Gleason makes a better case, possibly because he did have that lead time with Tomasi, but perhaps also because he has proven such an excellent match for Damian.  There's no artist who has done the character better.

And now he's got a Man-Bat (don't call Goliath that, though!) as his new partner.  And that's a story we will get to see unfold in future issues, which should be interesting, just one of many Gleason gets to work with, which is a very good thing, because this is a series that has earned a certain amount of autonomy, and as I've suggested, if there was anything wrong with Batman and Robin, it was that it had to earn the same distinction the hard way.  But thank goodness.  Because it seems Damian's adventures just keep getting better and better as a result!