More comics from the Mile High mystery boxes...
Doc Savage #1
Here’s one of the Superman precursors (he even got a Fortress of Solitude first) in one of his later revivals (far as I know, still hasn’t had a movie). DC periodically trots him out (was last seen in the First Wave comics), but he seems particularly hard to translate for modern audiences. Technically, I guess, Alan Moore’s Tom Strong was a version of Doc Savage (though Tom Strong was also, technically, a version of Alan Moore’s Supreme, which was a version of Silver Age Superman...), so there’s that!
Doom Patrol #2
Here’s a concept DC trots out a little more frequently than Doc Savage, but never really seems to stick. The last time it did was Grant Morrison’s surreal take, although strangely later readers were only baffled that Young Animal’s revival thought it was a good act to reprise...This one’s from John Byrne, who’s magic to anything he touches. Which of course means the older he gets the less readers give a damn...
The Exinctuon Parade: War #1 (Avatar)
Here’s the Mile High variant cover comic thrown in as a bonus. Max Brooks, who wrote World War Z, is the son of Mel Brooks. Maybe you already knew that. Maybe I already knew that. But it’s a fact I was recently reminded of, and it’s still an interesting factoid. Anyway, this comic is ruined by Avatar’s typical hack artwork, alas, the kind someone hopes the coloring will obscure. But it never does.
Firestorm #27
Firestorm has always been a favorite of mine, but I never really read any Firestorm comics, much less enjoyed the hell out of them, until the brilliant post-Infinite Crisis run I hold up against the best of any superhero comics from that period. Would love some collection reprints.
The Flash #235
I think I finally figured out why Mark Waid’s attempted reprise was so disappointing. He seemed to forget that Wally West was an excellent protagonist, that he had made Wally West a compelling protagonists. And while expanding the family eventually had...interesting ramifications, Waid seemed to be phoning it in. Gone was the spark that made everything so gloriously personal. In fact, Waid seemed to go out of his way to make these comics as impersonal as possible. I still don’t get it...
Fraction #4
Part of the DC Focus imprint. That’s, uh, that’s all I’ve got to say about that.
Green Arrow #61
I think the letters column in this issue just about sums up everything that’s wrong today: “Every letter in the GREEN ARROW #55 letter column had to do with politics and answering another letter writer’s opinions...” wrote Charles D. Brown. You’d expect this in a Green Arrow comic (and this is another great argument for printing letters columns; the internet dies within days or maybe weeks of any given discussion). It becomes a problem when this is routine public discourse. This is relevant, compelling during, say, big historic eras like the American Revolution or the Civil War. Otherwise it’s a lot of counterproductive hot air...
Green Arrow #26
Here’s social crusader Oliver Queen confronting apparent President Luther stooge Jefferson Pierce, the once and future Black Lightning. They really need to collect major President Luther stories like this. It’s the major DC event of the first five years of the new millennium.
Showing posts with label Green Arrow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Green Arrow. Show all posts
Monday, April 27, 2020
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Pandemic Comics #5 “DC Comics...Presents!”
Here’s another batch from the Mile High mystery boxes:
Birds of Prey #96
Wow! Had no idea the series lasted so many issues. But, I was never a regular reader, even when the concept launched in the ‘90s. Of course, it finally became a movie (after being a TV series), earlier this year (if there’s been anything this year besides pandemic) (beginning to doubt that). Written by Gail Simone, writing just as if literally all her logic comes strait from comics, and art to match, impossibly uniform women, even Black Alice, a tormented teenager whose only distinguishing physical feature is her hairstyle. Otherwise the “impossibly perfect body” of her mean girls rival...is exactly the same one she has...
Black Condor #4
You know, the concept of Black Condor rejecting the idea of being a superhero might have been more convincing...if he didn’t dress exactly like a superhero...Otherwise, he’s a lost character I still wish were found.
The Comet #8
DC’s Impact Comics line, which this was a part of, circled back around some twenty years later as Red Circle, and then ended up at Archie Comics, where they began some sixty years earlier. The object lesson here perhaps is that DC and Marvel endured because they were able to persist against all adversity, and didn’t treat superheroes as a fad. There were and have been plenty of other publishers over the years doing superhero lines, but none of them have the longevity. Even Image somewhat rapidly abandoned superheroes, in the grand scheme. Spawn has pushed past three hundred issues, but mostly because it wants to continue, not out of anywhere near the demand there was in its heyday. Anyway, Mark Waid, here in 1992, the same year he took on writing chores in the pages of The Flash, supplies the dialogue.
Connor Hawke: Dragon’s Blood #4
After Oliver Queen died (ah, temporarily), his bastard son Connor Hawke took over as the Emerald Archer, and like Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern, it seemed to be a permanent role at the time. So Connor had his own comic for years, and yet because Green Arrow isn’t near the sales force Green Lantern is, which isn’t near the sales force Batman is, Connor has never even sniffed at another ongoing series. This one’s a mini-series, of course, resuming the sidekick continuity of the ‘90s and featuring Connor teaming up with Shado, a character who better survived the transition to the New 52 than he did...
DC Comics Presents: The Atom #1
After legendary editor Julius Schwartz passed away in 2004, DC put out these one-shots in tribute to him, asking modern comic book creators to take cracks at covers Schwartz had dreamed up in the Silver Age to spur on the creative juices of his writers. The wonderful thing about this particular one has less to do with the Schwartz tribute (an obituary by Alan Moore appears in the back of these issues, with a copyright notice indicating Moore’s ownership) and more the historic art pairing between two ‘90s Superman legends: Dan Jurgens and Jon Bogdanove. Jurgens of course is the writer/artist of Superman #75, while Bogdanove was the longtime artist of Superman: The Man of Steel. Seeing Jurgens inked by Bogdanove is truly surreal. At times it’s distinctly Jurgens, and at others distinctly Bogdanove. One of the greatest comic book discoveries I’ve made, folks.
DC Comics Presents: Superman #1
With this issue the standout is the lead story, as it’s written by Stan Lee, at that time a few years removed from Just Imagine Stan Lee Creating...various DC heroes, and a relative few years away from regularly creating new comics at publishers other than Marvel, and of course thousands of cameos in Marvel movies.
DC Nation #0
Fun to read this again, and by “this” I mean “Your Big Day” from Tom King and Clay Mann, the Joker-waits-for-the-wedding-invitation story that’s among the many best things King has ever written...
Birds of Prey #96
Wow! Had no idea the series lasted so many issues. But, I was never a regular reader, even when the concept launched in the ‘90s. Of course, it finally became a movie (after being a TV series), earlier this year (if there’s been anything this year besides pandemic) (beginning to doubt that). Written by Gail Simone, writing just as if literally all her logic comes strait from comics, and art to match, impossibly uniform women, even Black Alice, a tormented teenager whose only distinguishing physical feature is her hairstyle. Otherwise the “impossibly perfect body” of her mean girls rival...is exactly the same one she has...
Black Condor #4
You know, the concept of Black Condor rejecting the idea of being a superhero might have been more convincing...if he didn’t dress exactly like a superhero...Otherwise, he’s a lost character I still wish were found.
The Comet #8
DC’s Impact Comics line, which this was a part of, circled back around some twenty years later as Red Circle, and then ended up at Archie Comics, where they began some sixty years earlier. The object lesson here perhaps is that DC and Marvel endured because they were able to persist against all adversity, and didn’t treat superheroes as a fad. There were and have been plenty of other publishers over the years doing superhero lines, but none of them have the longevity. Even Image somewhat rapidly abandoned superheroes, in the grand scheme. Spawn has pushed past three hundred issues, but mostly because it wants to continue, not out of anywhere near the demand there was in its heyday. Anyway, Mark Waid, here in 1992, the same year he took on writing chores in the pages of The Flash, supplies the dialogue.
Connor Hawke: Dragon’s Blood #4
After Oliver Queen died (ah, temporarily), his bastard son Connor Hawke took over as the Emerald Archer, and like Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern, it seemed to be a permanent role at the time. So Connor had his own comic for years, and yet because Green Arrow isn’t near the sales force Green Lantern is, which isn’t near the sales force Batman is, Connor has never even sniffed at another ongoing series. This one’s a mini-series, of course, resuming the sidekick continuity of the ‘90s and featuring Connor teaming up with Shado, a character who better survived the transition to the New 52 than he did...
DC Comics Presents: The Atom #1
After legendary editor Julius Schwartz passed away in 2004, DC put out these one-shots in tribute to him, asking modern comic book creators to take cracks at covers Schwartz had dreamed up in the Silver Age to spur on the creative juices of his writers. The wonderful thing about this particular one has less to do with the Schwartz tribute (an obituary by Alan Moore appears in the back of these issues, with a copyright notice indicating Moore’s ownership) and more the historic art pairing between two ‘90s Superman legends: Dan Jurgens and Jon Bogdanove. Jurgens of course is the writer/artist of Superman #75, while Bogdanove was the longtime artist of Superman: The Man of Steel. Seeing Jurgens inked by Bogdanove is truly surreal. At times it’s distinctly Jurgens, and at others distinctly Bogdanove. One of the greatest comic book discoveries I’ve made, folks.
DC Comics Presents: Superman #1
With this issue the standout is the lead story, as it’s written by Stan Lee, at that time a few years removed from Just Imagine Stan Lee Creating...various DC heroes, and a relative few years away from regularly creating new comics at publishers other than Marvel, and of course thousands of cameos in Marvel movies.
DC Nation #0
Fun to read this again, and by “this” I mean “Your Big Day” from Tom King and Clay Mann, the Joker-waits-for-the-wedding-invitation story that’s among the many best things King has ever written...
Sunday, November 3, 2019
Reading Comics 237 "My third Forbidden Geek mystery box"
My third
shipment from Forbidden Geek included a Lobo statue, Snyder & Capullo’s Batman Vol. 1 The Court of Owls, and the
following comics:
Astro City #25 (Vertigo)
Kurt
Busiek’s familiar act continues for another issue. It’s the kind of storytelling that perhaps
feels more impressive if you catch it when you’re younger, but begins to seem
regressive the more experience you have.
Interestingly, the only time readers have really revolted was when
Busiek was telling an extended Dark Age
tale that was the only time he was building on the Marvels method that inspired the whole thing, the sequel he never
got to write, which to my mind was perhaps the best Astro City ever got. Perhaps
most recommended to unsophisticated budding comic book writers who have no idea
how character storytelling works.
Detective Comics #14 (DC)
The John
Layman (Chew) era, little celebrated
at the time but an excellent Batman experience all the same (I get that
Snyder’s was sensational, but it wasn’t the only or even best example of the
New 52), with Poison Ivy in the spotlight.
Layman’s Batman is the analytical mind you’d expect in a title called Detective Comics, and he’s constantly
challenged by familiar foes in interesting ways. Perhaps best represented by the “Gothtopia”
arc that went unobserved as a crossover.
Also features early but typically sensational Jason Fabok art, before he
got the plush Justice League
assignment.
Blue Beetle #1 (DC)
From the
Rebirth era, which until now I’d never read.
In fact I skipped the New 52 series, too, and in both cases it’s
entirely down to simply not having the funds.
When the New 52 launched I’d just lost my job of five years and went
unemployed the rest of that year (then got a terrible job and then got a
slightly less terrible job that compensated for that slight increase by paying
far less and giving me far fewer hours…).
Anyway, both series were based on an excellent pre-Flashpoint series I did
read enthusiastically, spinning out of Infinite
Crisis, in which the legacy is passed on to Jaime Reyes in the form of a
magical alien scarab with a fairly unexplored link to the Green Lantern
Corps. In this Rebirth relaunch Jaime’s
friends from the first series are still present with the same witty banter, but
Ted Kord gets to be part of the narrative this time (remember: Ted famously was
murdered by Max Lord just prior to Infinite
Crisis; the best thing about the current Snyder act is the recent Dark
Multiverse one-shot that posits a scenario where Ted shot Max instead). At some point I’ll really have to catch up
with all this Blue Beetle material.
Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #6 (DC)
Another
series I was sorry to have to skip in the early New 52 was this one, as it, too,
was a follow-up to an excellent pre-Flashpoint
series I enjoyed immensely. So of course
I enjoyed this issue. Ronnie Raymond and
Jason Rusch apparently each have their own Firestorm bodies (one of the
familiar gimmicks of the concept is that Firestorm combines two people, with
one providing the body and the other becoming a mental sidekick). In this tale they’re confronted by the
Russian Firestorm, Pozhar. I’m still
pretty convinced that if handled correctly, Firestorm could handle a Geoff
Johns level renaissance.
The Flash #19 (DC)
Featuring
the tease for the debut of the New 52 Reverse-Flash. The issue features pretty much the bare
minimum input from Francis Manapul, who was responsible (with Brian Buccellato)
for the best Flash New 52 material, which itself also influenced much of the
current TV series.
Green Arrow #31 (DC)
From the
Rebirth era, in which DC finally figured out that Ollie ought to be allowed to
be awesome again, aligning more with what he was best known for, including
associations with Black Canary, Hal Jordan, and the Justice League, all of whom
prominently appear in the issue. I just
don’t get how the much-influential TV series never seemed to convince the
company, previously, that they should pay a little attention to the comic, help
it shine when not written by Jeff Lemire, misguidedly believing instead that
Green Arrow should be a younger punk.
This is a character defined by
being world weary! One of the main
beneficiaries of Rebirth.
Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #35 (DC)
The Robert
Venditti era continued in Rebirth with this series, which because I became
disinterested in his New 52 comics I never really made an attempt to get
into. This issue is mainly Venditti
deciding that Hal, John, Kyle & Guy are the Green Lantern equivalent of
wrestling’s Four Horsemen.
For…reasons. Although it ends on
a pretty amusing note, as Ganthet taunts the Controllers, by pointing out they
want to, well, control these Lanterns, which, certainly with Hal, has famously
been pretty impossible. The main
difference between Venditti and Geoff Johns, whom he succeeded, is that while
Johns tossed in a lot of bold new concepts, he did so in a manner that built on
existing ones. He seemed like a
fan. Venditti never really seemed to
understand any of it. He tossed in a lot
of bold new concepts, too, but without ever really seeming to understand that
there were existing ones. He never felt
like he connected with the material.
It’s just incredibly bizarre. Now
you’ve got Grant Morrison writing Green Lantern, and he admitted he was
reluctant to do so because he never understood the concept, and yet to read the
results is to see that he got past that.
A lot of readers are confused, they see nothing but 2001 AD, but I see storytelling that comes alive with possibility,
grounded in tradition. Charles Soule,
when he was writing Guy in Red Lanterns,
was much the same, and so too Ron Marz in the uncomfortable position of writing
Kyle ostensibly when the tradition had been exploded. Maybe not everyone will see it, but when you do see it, it’s hard to look past. That’s me and Venditti’s Green Lantern in a
nutshell. Ironically readers rejected
the New 52 era because that’s what they thought they saw everywhere. As far as I’m concerned, Venditti was ground
zero, if nothing else, of the perceived phenomenon.
Infinite Inc. #27 (DC)
Ah! Irony!
This is a whole issue dedicated to the Crisis on Infinite Earths effect, helpfully further spelled out in
the letters column, in which a reader bemoans the cruel dismantling of
continuity in the form of Huntress being “murdered” because she couldn’t exist
outside of her context (Batman and Catwoman being her parents ‘n’ all, on Earth
2). And this was a whole series about the offspring of the
Justice Society. So eventually,
Brainwave Jr. removes Fury’s memories of her parents (y’know, Wonder Woman and
Steve Trevor). Ironically, the
reconciliation of canon effectively obliterated the Infinity Inc. concept, and
Fury ended up a curious footnote, never to be revisited (at least as of now!),
a curious appearance or two in the pages of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman that feel the more elegiac the more you’re aware of her
publishing history. A version of
Huntress did return, eventually, an
independent one with no background ties to Batman or Catwoman, although in the
short-lived Birds of Prey TV series,
she did. Even better, this issue
features a pre-Spider-Man, pre-Spawn Todd McFarlane, whose work is
totally unrecognizable, if anything familiar to the Sandman style (just imagine!) with a few panels emphasizing shadow
on facial features but otherwise looking fairly generic…
Red Hood and the Outlaws #11 (DC)
The Rebirth
era, featuring Artemis & Bizarro, with the spotlight on Artemis (the Azrael
of Wonder Woman lore) as she squares off with an Amazon of a spin-off
tribe. Lobdell’s Red Hood comics are
another I want to catch up on at some point.
Suicide Squad #45 (DC)
From
Rebirth, this issue features an apparent attempt to revisit the exact concept
behind the team, as famously featured in the apparent infamous movie, villains
being recruited by Amanda Waller for missions where their lawful participation
will be disavowed, and if they go rogue the bomb in their heads goes boom. So I guess if you need a random issue to
remind you of all that, this one’s a good one to catch.
Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey #2 (DC)
The second
of three issues, the prestige format follow-up to the more famous
death-and-return saga, Dan Jurgens goes bold, explaining Doomsday’s origin! I’m glad this was the random issue I got,
because I’d never officially read any of it, but had heard of the origin
concept. In hindsight it’s somewhat
convoluted. A better version would be
something like Wolverine, a monster with a healing factor who constantly
evolves from the horrible deaths it endures, reviving on its own rather than
being constantly cloned. I mean, how
would a clone adapt to whatever happened to the previous body? It’s new material. Bad science, Dan. But typical Dan Jurgens art, which sadly lost
pretty much all of its impact and appeal after the sensational work of Superman #75, famously depicted entirely
in splash pages. No comic could ever
justify that format again, and Jurgens himself really had nowhere to go but
down. This issue also saddles us with
Cyborg Superman, who didn’t die in Superman #82, and so he just keeps
coming back. Geoff Johns later used him,
too, but I’ve never been convinced that it’s a concept worth revisiting. If he’s no longer pretending to be Superman,
what’s the point?
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Quarter Bin 119 "DC 3-Packs Strike Back!"
DC doesn't seem to have released new packs recently; these are just more from the last round I hadn't gotten yet (each one has a featured lead comic).
Batman Eternal #1, 16 (DC)
from 2014
I consider Batman Eternal to have been Snyder and Tynion's attempt to sprint through everything they were never going to get a chance to explore during the New 52 as they explored their own arcs, revisiting classic characters and even letting some new ones (Harper Row) a chance to breathe. The first issue is early DC Jason Fabok, who would later have his true breakthrough in the pages of Justice League. #16 is another one featuring art from Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs.
Batman #7 (DC)
from 2016
This was one of the featured lead comics, reprinted as Batman: Night of the Monster Men #1. As I've said before, I love that these are true variants. I have no idea if they'll ever be worth money, but I just love that they exist. "Night of the Monster Men" was billed as the first crossover event of the Rebirth era, and it seems positively tame in hindsight. It's also funny that Tom King bowed out as writer for the tie-in issues, allowing Steve Orlando, fast emerging as a new force in the company, a chance to step in.
Green Arrow #48 (DC)
from March 2016
It's downright baffling that DC didn't make a greater priority of Green Arrow once Arrow, the TV series, began and eventually expanded into a whole franchise. This late issue from the New 52 era seems to have left Oliver Queen a...werewolf?
Infinite Crisis: Fight for the Multiverse #10 (DC)
from June 2015
Injustice: Harley Quinn (DC)
from 2016
The later was originally published as Injustice: Ground Zero. But being reprinted with Harley Quinn in the title isn't merely gratuitous, it's also acknowledging that the story is all about her, plus a review of everything that's happened in the Injustice comics. I'm not a video game guy, so the Injustice comics, and the Infinite Crisis comic listed above, are as close as I'll get to those experiences.
The New 52: Futures End #13 (DC)
from September 2014
It's really shocking that fans didn't really care about this weekly series. The assembled writers were certainly impressive enough: Azzarello (synonymous with prestige), Giffen (synonymous with DC weekly comics at this point), Jurgens (still synonymous with "Doomsday," the biggest comics event of the modern era), and Lemire (now synonymous with the modern vanguard). I still want to catch up with it. This issue features part of the Superman arc, where he's been amnesiac about being Superman. It was also the mainstreaming of Batman Beyond. Terry McGinnis seems on his way to...involuntarily bequeathing the role to Tim Drake in this issue...
Convergence: Action Comics #2 (DC)
from July 2015
I still love Convergence. Maybe it's because it came at a dark moment for me, and it was a rare beacon of life. I didn't read the Action Comics two-parter at the time, and I'm not sure what I missed. Maybe not too much.
Trinity of Sin: Pandora - Futures End (DC)
from November 2014
I've written about Pandora often enough. This version of her story reveals an alternate explanation for the character (Geoff Johns had a different one during the Justice League "Trinity War" event, and a much different fate in DC Universe Rebirth). But it was certainly interesting to see this one, even if the art didn't really do it much justice.
Batman Eternal #1, 16 (DC)
from 2014
I consider Batman Eternal to have been Snyder and Tynion's attempt to sprint through everything they were never going to get a chance to explore during the New 52 as they explored their own arcs, revisiting classic characters and even letting some new ones (Harper Row) a chance to breathe. The first issue is early DC Jason Fabok, who would later have his true breakthrough in the pages of Justice League. #16 is another one featuring art from Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs.
Batman #7 (DC)
from 2016
This was one of the featured lead comics, reprinted as Batman: Night of the Monster Men #1. As I've said before, I love that these are true variants. I have no idea if they'll ever be worth money, but I just love that they exist. "Night of the Monster Men" was billed as the first crossover event of the Rebirth era, and it seems positively tame in hindsight. It's also funny that Tom King bowed out as writer for the tie-in issues, allowing Steve Orlando, fast emerging as a new force in the company, a chance to step in.
Green Arrow #48 (DC)
from March 2016
It's downright baffling that DC didn't make a greater priority of Green Arrow once Arrow, the TV series, began and eventually expanded into a whole franchise. This late issue from the New 52 era seems to have left Oliver Queen a...werewolf?
Infinite Crisis: Fight for the Multiverse #10 (DC)
from June 2015
Injustice: Harley Quinn (DC)
from 2016
The later was originally published as Injustice: Ground Zero. But being reprinted with Harley Quinn in the title isn't merely gratuitous, it's also acknowledging that the story is all about her, plus a review of everything that's happened in the Injustice comics. I'm not a video game guy, so the Injustice comics, and the Infinite Crisis comic listed above, are as close as I'll get to those experiences.
The New 52: Futures End #13 (DC)
from September 2014
It's really shocking that fans didn't really care about this weekly series. The assembled writers were certainly impressive enough: Azzarello (synonymous with prestige), Giffen (synonymous with DC weekly comics at this point), Jurgens (still synonymous with "Doomsday," the biggest comics event of the modern era), and Lemire (now synonymous with the modern vanguard). I still want to catch up with it. This issue features part of the Superman arc, where he's been amnesiac about being Superman. It was also the mainstreaming of Batman Beyond. Terry McGinnis seems on his way to...involuntarily bequeathing the role to Tim Drake in this issue...
Convergence: Action Comics #2 (DC)
from July 2015
I still love Convergence. Maybe it's because it came at a dark moment for me, and it was a rare beacon of life. I didn't read the Action Comics two-parter at the time, and I'm not sure what I missed. Maybe not too much.
Trinity of Sin: Pandora - Futures End (DC)
from November 2014
I've written about Pandora often enough. This version of her story reveals an alternate explanation for the character (Geoff Johns had a different one during the Justice League "Trinity War" event, and a much different fate in DC Universe Rebirth). But it was certainly interesting to see this one, even if the art didn't really do it much justice.
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Quarter Bin 117 "More DC 3-Pack Comics"
I love these DC 3-packs. I love that I can find any comics in retail stores, even if they're grab bags, but the consistency of these 3-packs has been a continuous joy for the past few years. So here's what I got in the last two:
Batman and Robin: Futures End (DC)
from November 2014
I love reading these Futures End issues. I love that so many writers ignored, and possibly at editorial suggestion, the Futures End event itself and just had a look at whatever was most probably five years down the line in whatever was happening in the titles at the time. Ray Fawkes was riffing, here, on Damian's death, and Batman's penchant for going gunshy on his new partners because of things like that. This time he's pulling it on Duke Thomas, who in this Futures End timeline actually did become Robin, as so many fans long anticipated (Snyder has instead opted to give him his own identity: the Signal). The art is by Dustin Nguyen, with inks by frequent collaborator Derek Fridolfs. It's funny to see Nguyen presented as a traditional artist again, after getting so used to his Descender water colors look.
What's funny is that it makes his work look like Jorge Corona's.
Here's what Nguyen looks like in Descender, by the way:
The story, by the way, involves Batman's showdown with a revived Heretic, most likely a clone, the villain who killed Damian in the pages of Morrison's Batman Incorporated. I'm sure I've read it before, but it's another of the excellent Futures End specials.
Green Arrow #1 (DC)
Wal-Mart reprint from July 2017
This is a reprint of the Rebirth debut issue from the ongoing series, and does an excellent job of spotlighting Benjamin Percy's vision for the series, integrating a lot of different elements of Green Arrow's publishing history, including his social views, relationship with Black Canary, and penchant for having a sidekick, except this one...It becomes a wonderful development for the character, having Ollie take on a half-sister, whose mother turns out to be his enemy Shado. Makes me think I really should've made this series a priority read at some point. Will have to check back in...
Justice League #36 (DC)
from January 2015
This is the first chapter in the "Amazo Virus," where Geoff Johns started amping the series back up to its "monthly event book" (my designation) status as it geared toward "Darkseid War." The art of Jason Fabok was an immediate sensation, and certainly helped drive eyeballs back to the title.
Justice League United #2, 5 (DC)
from August, December 2014
I never did get around to sampling this series at the time, but I'm glad I finally have. Jeff Lemire (writer of Descender, by the way!) launched it, and these issues make it clear that United helped launch the New 52 version of Adam Strange, which was fun to read, especially for someone who's just finished rereading 52.
Batman and the Justice League: Outbreak #1 (DC)
Wal-Mart reprint from July 2017
This is what's really fascinating about these 3-packs, that the comic in front is always the newest, and often features a custom Wal-Mart cover and even, with some of them, custom titles. Batman and the Justice League is actually the Rebirth Justice League from Bryan Hitch, and this is actually #10 from the series. It's kind of funny, too, or maybe calculated, that the issue is related to the above Justice League, as it also features Amazo.
Batman and Robin: Futures End (DC)
from November 2014
I love reading these Futures End issues. I love that so many writers ignored, and possibly at editorial suggestion, the Futures End event itself and just had a look at whatever was most probably five years down the line in whatever was happening in the titles at the time. Ray Fawkes was riffing, here, on Damian's death, and Batman's penchant for going gunshy on his new partners because of things like that. This time he's pulling it on Duke Thomas, who in this Futures End timeline actually did become Robin, as so many fans long anticipated (Snyder has instead opted to give him his own identity: the Signal). The art is by Dustin Nguyen, with inks by frequent collaborator Derek Fridolfs. It's funny to see Nguyen presented as a traditional artist again, after getting so used to his Descender water colors look.
What's funny is that it makes his work look like Jorge Corona's.
Yeah, Corono drew Duke, too, as a kind of Robin, in the pages of We Are Robin. Seems appropriate, anyway.Here's what Nguyen looks like in Descender, by the way:
The story, by the way, involves Batman's showdown with a revived Heretic, most likely a clone, the villain who killed Damian in the pages of Morrison's Batman Incorporated. I'm sure I've read it before, but it's another of the excellent Futures End specials.
Green Arrow #1 (DC)
Wal-Mart reprint from July 2017
This is a reprint of the Rebirth debut issue from the ongoing series, and does an excellent job of spotlighting Benjamin Percy's vision for the series, integrating a lot of different elements of Green Arrow's publishing history, including his social views, relationship with Black Canary, and penchant for having a sidekick, except this one...It becomes a wonderful development for the character, having Ollie take on a half-sister, whose mother turns out to be his enemy Shado. Makes me think I really should've made this series a priority read at some point. Will have to check back in...
Justice League #36 (DC)
from January 2015
This is the first chapter in the "Amazo Virus," where Geoff Johns started amping the series back up to its "monthly event book" (my designation) status as it geared toward "Darkseid War." The art of Jason Fabok was an immediate sensation, and certainly helped drive eyeballs back to the title.
Justice League United #2, 5 (DC)
from August, December 2014
I never did get around to sampling this series at the time, but I'm glad I finally have. Jeff Lemire (writer of Descender, by the way!) launched it, and these issues make it clear that United helped launch the New 52 version of Adam Strange, which was fun to read, especially for someone who's just finished rereading 52.
Batman and the Justice League: Outbreak #1 (DC)
Wal-Mart reprint from July 2017
This is what's really fascinating about these 3-packs, that the comic in front is always the newest, and often features a custom Wal-Mart cover and even, with some of them, custom titles. Batman and the Justice League is actually the Rebirth Justice League from Bryan Hitch, and this is actually #10 from the series. It's kind of funny, too, or maybe calculated, that the issue is related to the above Justice League, as it also features Amazo.
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Reading Comics 190 "DC Rebirth Week 3, 4001 AD, DKR: The Last Crusade, Dept. H, and catching up with Secret Wars"
4001 AD #1 (Valiant)
Valiant's latest event series takes a look at the future courtesy of the ever-resourceful Matt Kindt, imagining the tyranny of New Japan and the rise of a new Rai to challenge it. Once again Valiant has proven that its unique superhero vision, the first comprehensive ongoing revision of the 21st century, has incredible legs, where just about anything's possible, and it nearly always seems completely plausible, not to mention remarkably cohesive. It's not like others haven't tried, but it helps to have talent like Kindt and Jeff Lemire leading the charge.
Batman #1 (DC)
Tom King's first regular issue of the series once again demonstrates his remarkably analytical mind, as Batman and Duke Thomas pull back the curtain on what it takes to pull off the impossible. Of course, it's also Batman doing so at the expense of his own life, in yet another layer of King showing that Batman isn't like other superheroes. When an out-of-control plane threatens to crash in Gotham City, he can't just fly in and guide it safely down. No, for someone like Batman, it takes considerably more effort. If this were the movies, you might expect something like this from the show-stopping exploits in the Mission: Impossible series. Few writers would be bold enough to expose Batman's limits in this way. King is merely setting himself up for that moment you though you'd never see: some other hero calling Gotham his home, someone who can fly, who represents everything Batman can never be. This ain't no Superman. Is King preparing to White Martian us? Time will tell...
The Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade (DC)
This prequel to the original Dark Knight Returns depicts the circumstances in which Batman originally retires. It's in effect his last statement on Robin, the Boy Wonder, too. In the Dark Knight universe, Frank Miller offered up his judgment quite effectively: Dick Grayson goes insane. Yet there was also, before "A Death in the Family," a dead Robin to account for. The Last Crusade is a rephrasing of "A Death in the Family," actually, the Joker once again being responsible for the death of Jason Todd, under the same circumstances, the second Robin increasingly demonstrating that he isn't mentally prepared for Batman's crusade. And yet, unlike "A Death in the Family" and its follow-up, "A Lonely Place of Dying," Miller (along with co-writer Brian Azzarello, around so Miller can't go wildly out of control again) has determined that the problem isn't Jason's attitude, but Batman's notion of having a kid sidekick in the first place.
This was what he was getting around to explaining in All Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder, I think, and as I'd hoped, The Last Crusade is the finishing statement we'll probably never get from the earlier project. All Star Batman became a joke among readers for its brutish portrayal of the Dark Knight, a true maniac who was difficult to root for, in a story featuring Dick Grayson's initiation into crime-fighting. Miller never conceded that it was a good thing. Comics fans never really picked up on that, and they probably still won't with The Last Crusade, even though by this point his conclusions are unmistakable. The Batman of this story is aging, and his body is fast betraying him. He reveals that he hoped Robin would prove to be his successor. On the second try, he's proven brutally wrong. You can only duplicate so much of what created Batman.
It's an incredibly bold statement. I think the whole concept of the Dark Knight stories is creating a reality where Batman exists in a finite world, where he can't escape consequences. This can never exist in the ongoing comics, because fans will always clamor to see old favorites return, and creators will always be there to help them in that goal. In Miller's reckoning, Batman is human, and as such is completely fallible, and bad things happen as a result of his actions, whether to himself, to those around him, or in the world around him, not because of anything he does, but because that's just a fact of life.
As a summation, The Last Crusade may be the most crucial element of the most important Batman story ever told.
Dept. H #2 (Dark Horse)
Matt Kindt again, in his creative follow-up to Mind MGMT, his innovative look at the spy world. Dept. H seems to be an unrelated story, but Kindt is once again handling writing and art chores, so the look is the same, and so is the storytelling. In this second issue, someone has died, and someone else, burdened with a perfect memory, realizes that it could only have been murder. Clearly, Kindt continues to have the mind on the mind, and this continues to be a good thing.
Green Arrow #1 (DC)
I tended to skip Green Arrow in the New 52, but figured I'd give the guy another shot in the Rebirth era. Not only is Black Canary back in the picture, but so is Oliver Queen's moral compass. At his best, Green Arrow will always be the Batman whose inner Bruce Wayne dominates his goals more than his crime-fighting. This is one of those rich guy characters whose transformation into a superhero made him socially conscious for the first time in his life. This issue does a good job of bringing that back into focus.
Green Lanterns #1 (DC)
Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz don't play well together. They have conflicting mindsets, and as rookies, they both have plenty to prove. That rounds out to good Green Lantern storytelling, as we learn more of what makes Baz stand out (we now have him deemed the bearer of Emerald Sight), which is an important distinction for all these human Green Lanterns, as the new Red Lantern threat continues to unfold. I'm so glad DC is letting this franchise return to its recent Geoff Johns roots.
Secret Wars #9 (Marvel)
Flashing back to the last Marvel event, and its ending, we find Jonathan Hickman closing out the book on his Fantastic Four adventures, imagining the last conflict between Dr. Doom and Reed Richards. Doom had found himself in possession of ultimate power, and decides Richards is, once and for all, jealous of him, because he could never do as good as Doom. Someone decides to put that to the test, and so the Marvel landscape is reshaped (to its current state), and Richards retires from the superhero game to act as a kind of gatekeeper (thus allowing Marvel to remove the Fantastic Four from its lineup). Hickman was always a big game hunter, and I guess it was appropriate that he wound up telling the biggest Fantastic Four story ever, so we'd see what that finally looked like.
Superman #1 (DC)
Tomasi and Gleason reprise their Batman and Robin act, this time on the grand stage. Once again, a DC icon has a son struggling with his place in the world, and once again, Tomasi and Gleason are ready to knock it out of the park. I couldn't be happier for them. The story starts out pretty heavily focused on Superman, but then we meet his son Jonathan, who is struggling with his new powers. This was something Tomasi and Gleason touched on in Batman and Robin, when Damian briefly gained superpowers in the wake of his resurrection. It's one thing to have an indomitable youth on your hands. It's another when it's Superman's son. All these years, whenever someone wanted to tell a story about the young Superman, it was always the exception, and then more often than not something glossed over until he hit puberty and, in some continuities, became Superboy. This is the first time we'll see it play out in an ongoing capacity. Framed as Superman's son, this is an intriguing opportunity, and again, Tomasi and Gleason are well up to the task. They know when they need to provide dialogue, and when the story speaks for itself. Anyway, I'm hugely, hugely glad this is happening, no matter how long it lasts.
Titans: Rebirth #1 (DC)
The return of Wally West continues, as he reconnects with his oldest friends, the original Teen Titans, in a series of encounters that prove all over again how personal these DC stories are to these characters, and how they can connect on an emotional level with fans, too.
Valiant's latest event series takes a look at the future courtesy of the ever-resourceful Matt Kindt, imagining the tyranny of New Japan and the rise of a new Rai to challenge it. Once again Valiant has proven that its unique superhero vision, the first comprehensive ongoing revision of the 21st century, has incredible legs, where just about anything's possible, and it nearly always seems completely plausible, not to mention remarkably cohesive. It's not like others haven't tried, but it helps to have talent like Kindt and Jeff Lemire leading the charge.
Batman #1 (DC)
Tom King's first regular issue of the series once again demonstrates his remarkably analytical mind, as Batman and Duke Thomas pull back the curtain on what it takes to pull off the impossible. Of course, it's also Batman doing so at the expense of his own life, in yet another layer of King showing that Batman isn't like other superheroes. When an out-of-control plane threatens to crash in Gotham City, he can't just fly in and guide it safely down. No, for someone like Batman, it takes considerably more effort. If this were the movies, you might expect something like this from the show-stopping exploits in the Mission: Impossible series. Few writers would be bold enough to expose Batman's limits in this way. King is merely setting himself up for that moment you though you'd never see: some other hero calling Gotham his home, someone who can fly, who represents everything Batman can never be. This ain't no Superman. Is King preparing to White Martian us? Time will tell...
The Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade (DC)
This prequel to the original Dark Knight Returns depicts the circumstances in which Batman originally retires. It's in effect his last statement on Robin, the Boy Wonder, too. In the Dark Knight universe, Frank Miller offered up his judgment quite effectively: Dick Grayson goes insane. Yet there was also, before "A Death in the Family," a dead Robin to account for. The Last Crusade is a rephrasing of "A Death in the Family," actually, the Joker once again being responsible for the death of Jason Todd, under the same circumstances, the second Robin increasingly demonstrating that he isn't mentally prepared for Batman's crusade. And yet, unlike "A Death in the Family" and its follow-up, "A Lonely Place of Dying," Miller (along with co-writer Brian Azzarello, around so Miller can't go wildly out of control again) has determined that the problem isn't Jason's attitude, but Batman's notion of having a kid sidekick in the first place.
This was what he was getting around to explaining in All Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder, I think, and as I'd hoped, The Last Crusade is the finishing statement we'll probably never get from the earlier project. All Star Batman became a joke among readers for its brutish portrayal of the Dark Knight, a true maniac who was difficult to root for, in a story featuring Dick Grayson's initiation into crime-fighting. Miller never conceded that it was a good thing. Comics fans never really picked up on that, and they probably still won't with The Last Crusade, even though by this point his conclusions are unmistakable. The Batman of this story is aging, and his body is fast betraying him. He reveals that he hoped Robin would prove to be his successor. On the second try, he's proven brutally wrong. You can only duplicate so much of what created Batman.
It's an incredibly bold statement. I think the whole concept of the Dark Knight stories is creating a reality where Batman exists in a finite world, where he can't escape consequences. This can never exist in the ongoing comics, because fans will always clamor to see old favorites return, and creators will always be there to help them in that goal. In Miller's reckoning, Batman is human, and as such is completely fallible, and bad things happen as a result of his actions, whether to himself, to those around him, or in the world around him, not because of anything he does, but because that's just a fact of life.
As a summation, The Last Crusade may be the most crucial element of the most important Batman story ever told.
Dept. H #2 (Dark Horse)
Matt Kindt again, in his creative follow-up to Mind MGMT, his innovative look at the spy world. Dept. H seems to be an unrelated story, but Kindt is once again handling writing and art chores, so the look is the same, and so is the storytelling. In this second issue, someone has died, and someone else, burdened with a perfect memory, realizes that it could only have been murder. Clearly, Kindt continues to have the mind on the mind, and this continues to be a good thing.
Green Arrow #1 (DC)
I tended to skip Green Arrow in the New 52, but figured I'd give the guy another shot in the Rebirth era. Not only is Black Canary back in the picture, but so is Oliver Queen's moral compass. At his best, Green Arrow will always be the Batman whose inner Bruce Wayne dominates his goals more than his crime-fighting. This is one of those rich guy characters whose transformation into a superhero made him socially conscious for the first time in his life. This issue does a good job of bringing that back into focus.
Green Lanterns #1 (DC)
Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz don't play well together. They have conflicting mindsets, and as rookies, they both have plenty to prove. That rounds out to good Green Lantern storytelling, as we learn more of what makes Baz stand out (we now have him deemed the bearer of Emerald Sight), which is an important distinction for all these human Green Lanterns, as the new Red Lantern threat continues to unfold. I'm so glad DC is letting this franchise return to its recent Geoff Johns roots.
Secret Wars #9 (Marvel)
Flashing back to the last Marvel event, and its ending, we find Jonathan Hickman closing out the book on his Fantastic Four adventures, imagining the last conflict between Dr. Doom and Reed Richards. Doom had found himself in possession of ultimate power, and decides Richards is, once and for all, jealous of him, because he could never do as good as Doom. Someone decides to put that to the test, and so the Marvel landscape is reshaped (to its current state), and Richards retires from the superhero game to act as a kind of gatekeeper (thus allowing Marvel to remove the Fantastic Four from its lineup). Hickman was always a big game hunter, and I guess it was appropriate that he wound up telling the biggest Fantastic Four story ever, so we'd see what that finally looked like.
Superman #1 (DC)
Tomasi and Gleason reprise their Batman and Robin act, this time on the grand stage. Once again, a DC icon has a son struggling with his place in the world, and once again, Tomasi and Gleason are ready to knock it out of the park. I couldn't be happier for them. The story starts out pretty heavily focused on Superman, but then we meet his son Jonathan, who is struggling with his new powers. This was something Tomasi and Gleason touched on in Batman and Robin, when Damian briefly gained superpowers in the wake of his resurrection. It's one thing to have an indomitable youth on your hands. It's another when it's Superman's son. All these years, whenever someone wanted to tell a story about the young Superman, it was always the exception, and then more often than not something glossed over until he hit puberty and, in some continuities, became Superboy. This is the first time we'll see it play out in an ongoing capacity. Framed as Superman's son, this is an intriguing opportunity, and again, Tomasi and Gleason are well up to the task. They know when they need to provide dialogue, and when the story speaks for itself. Anyway, I'm hugely, hugely glad this is happening, no matter how long it lasts.
Titans: Rebirth #1 (DC)
The return of Wally West continues, as he reconnects with his oldest friends, the original Teen Titans, in a series of encounters that prove all over again how personal these DC stories are to these characters, and how they can connect on an emotional level with fans, too.
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Reading Comics #140 "Bull Moose Bargains IV"
Atomic Robo: The Savage Sword of Dr. Dinosaur #1 (Red 5)
From 2013.
From 2014.
From 2013.
From 2013.
From 2013.
From 2014.
From 2013.
From 2013.
From 2013.
From 2014.
 |
| via Razorfine |
Hey, so I love Atomic Robo. The genius creation of Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener is, among other things, the perennial highlight of Free Comic Book Day, the headlining act of Red 5 Comics, and the indy answer to Hellboy. And Dr. Dinosaur is the best thing about Atomic Robo besides Atomic Robo himself. I missed this whole arc last year, so once again I have to give thanks to Bull Moose's new trend of importing random back issues into its dying comics spinning rack. Savage Sword opens in a pretty bleak scenario, with Robo having fallen out of public favor thanks to a trumped-up scandal, which adds valuable emotional context to his adventures. By the time Dr. Dinosaur shows up late in the issue, it gives the story an unexpected twist, which only an Atomic Robo comic could do with the spoiler in the name of the mini-series. Dr. Dinosaur is a character who breaks the fourth wall all over his dialogue ("It was I! Behold, the dramatic reveal!"), just a fun character who knocks all pretension out of what comics are supposed to be. This is exactly what fans are talking about when they ask for comics that younger readers can enjoy without be condescended to and not featuring some previously-established-in-another-medium properties. That being said, how about an Atomic Robo cartoon? A live action Robo might even be better!
Black Science #3 (Image)
 |
| via Image Comics |
Having finally cracked the Rick Remender egg in the pages of his Captain America comics, I've become more interested in exploring his other work. Black Science is a little like Sliders if it were done in the Fringe manner, a team of scientists who are able to cross between dimensions. It's pretty interesting stuff, and once again defies my previous impressions of Remender's work.
Green Arrow #26 (DC)
 |
| via IGN |
"The Outsiders War" is an arc I wanted to have a look at all year. It's another instance of DC repackaging a concept for the New 52 era. In other words, this is not the Outsiders as you remember it. This is a new vision that is tied directly into Green Arrow's mythology, concerning that all-important origin on the island (in a lot of ways, DC has finally realized that Oliver Queen has all along been a kind of Lost figure). The Outsiders this time are a whole network of clans that are like a human version of the spectrum of power rings introduced by Geoff Johns in Green Lantern. In the past it's been difficult to define what exactly makes Green Arrow special, and sometimes that answer has been making him a modern Robin Hood, and sometimes a very political, liberal figure, and even sometimes, his unique relationship with Black Canary. Finally, it seems, they've hit the nail on the head. A couple years into his New 52 tenure and several creative teams later, the archer is being handled by Jeff Lemire during this arc, and this is exactly what the comic needed to be as relevant as the popular Arrow TV series (the emphasis on the island is the greatest link between them). Great, great stuff. I will have to read the whole story at some point.
Imagine Agents #3 (Boom!)
 |
| via the Geek Girl Project |
I thought this looked pretty interesting, but it kind of degenerated into gibberish and so I guess I was wrong. It happens.
Katana #9 (DC)
 |
| via DC Wikia |
Along with Vibe this was one of the risky simultaneous launches along with Justice League of America last year, and it's another series I've long wanted to have a look at. It's very similar to Lemire's Green Arrow, actually. Unfortunately, there was only one more issue left in the series at this point.
Saga #18 (Image)
 |
| via Image Comics |
Okay, seriously, Fiona Staples does the best covers ever. Just look at that! Oh, and by the way, that's Lying Cat, who's able to tell when you're lying (as you may or may not have guessed). Saga is packed with these seemingly simplistic characters who are nonetheless dynamic figures, and always shifting around the story, which this most recent Bull Moose Bargains selection from the series helps fill in a few more of those gaps that cropped up from my erratic experience with Saga last year. There's a great moment in which Marko tricks Alana into flying, forced to happen thanks to Marko's reunion with Gwendolyn, who's trying save The Will, while Prince Robot IV is walking around desperately needing a reboot. Is this also The Brand's first appearance? The Brand is The Will's sister. A seriously awesome series.
Swamp Thing #26 (DC)
 |
| via Pick of the Brown Bag |
I wish I had been reading Charles Soule's Swamp Thing all along. It's the DC commitment he'll be finishing out next year before his exclusive contract with Marvel officially kicks in, and his work in the series has been seriously good, another case of a DC property with a mythology a creator has been able to lucratively crack. Much of what Soule has done has also been undermined by fans, though, because of the tie-ins the series has had with other comics in the post-Vertigo line. Batshit insane logic. Anyway, Alec Holland is no longer the avatar of the Green, which is to say he's no longer Swamp Thing. His role has been usurped by Seeder. There's a great sequence involving Animal Man, too (part of that post-Vertigo line). After the places Alan Moore took Swamp Thing and Grant Morrison took Animal Man, it seemed impossible to do relevant material with either character again that had nothing to do with that material. Proven wrong.
Thumbprint #2 (IDW)
 |
| via comiXology |
Joe Hill, in case you didn't know, is Stephen King's kid. He's also likely the reason King finally started actively dabbling in comics. Until Hill came along with Locke & Key in 2008, King's efforts were few and far between, and suddenly there were adaptations of The Stand and the Dark Tower series, the American Vampire stint (if you want to be technical, King started these efforts a year prior to Locke & Key's launch, but c'mon), and various other projects. This issue marks the first time I've read Hill, though he certainly seems to have established a reputable career all his own, in case there was any such fear on my part. Like his old man, some of Hill's comics are not by Hill himself, but are adaptions of his prose material. Thumbprint is one of those. It concerns a hardcase of a woman who was a soldier and now an investigator. I like this particular bit of narrative:
"Everyone has a story, a secret. That's what I want...the secrets. Most humans are terrible at keeping secrets. We're storytelling animals. It hurts to keep things inside and feels good to spill. The act of confession feels as right as breathing and as good as a kiss. If you can use your voice to tell your story, you must be alive. Only dead men are comfortable with silence."
Is there some King in Hill's literary voice? You bet. But I like what I've seen...
Trillium #5 (Vertigo)
 |
| via Weekly Comic Book Review |
Lemire is a heck of a talent, one I've started appreciating in 2014, thank goodness, and Trillium was his latest creator-owned opus that concluded earlier in the year. The nifty yet tricky first issue I've caught recently, the flip book that introduced the parallel narratives of the story, was adapted to even trickier heights in later issues, it seems, a flip book on every page. Helpfully, there's always instructions or at least an indication as to which side to read first, and of course it's not always the one you expect it to be. Maybe not the best way to read Trillium, though, in fits and starts. I'll have to catch up on this one later, too...
The Unwritten: Apocalypse #1 (Vertigo)
 |
| via Yuko Art |
Previously I may have suggested that Vertigo dumped The Unwritten at the worst possible moment, after its Fables crossover, just at the moment that readers (possibly including me) might have finally started paying attention. But it was relaunched, as it turned out, with a concluding mini-series. And. Holy. Crap. Mike Carey knocked this first issue out of the park. It's the kind of material I've been expecting from The Sandman Overture, just a creator completely letting loose with full-on narrative fantasy potential. Instantly became one of my favorite comic book memories of 2014. And now I'll have to read the rest of Unwritten...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)