Not reading this regularly since last summer, there are things that've happened in the pages of Green Lanterns that I've missed, obviously. But thankfully, there are always back issues available in comic book stores. And thank goodness, because Sam Humphries finally told the secret origin of the First Lantern, Volthoom.
Volthoom was a character Geoff Johns introduced late in his run on Green Lantern, in the relaunch volume during the New 52. Johns introduced or revamped so many elements of Green Lantern lore it can be tempting to overlook or underestimate some. Volthoom seemed particularly throwaway, barely a sketch, just an excuse for another overblown event when it seemed Johns had maxed out with Blackest Night.
But fortunately, Humphries is able to handle this one, too. He's already been breathing new life into the Johns creations Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz, the lead characters of Green Lanterns, the two actual Green Lanterns that Johns created, characters who seemed like they were going to head into the scrap heap of history while Robert Venditti did seemingly everything else. But Venditti was doing what DC wanted him to do, which was to chart new waters, same as Humphries, which is to explore the known again.
And again, thank goodness, because what he does with Volthoom is fascinating. He actually completely rewrites the origins of the whole concept. He has Volthoom come from the year 3079, on a parallel Earth. So yes, Volthoom is actually human. And he and his mother create the first lantern to try and save the world. Only, things backfire and Volthoom has to search the multiverse throughout time to try and salvage their efforts. In so doing, he encounters the Guardians before they were the Guardians. And he has the Guardians remove their emotions into a new battery, and in the process the first ring is created, and it is given to Volthoom. But it's too much power for him, and so the Guardians create seven Green Lanterns to defeat him. (Will we get to meet these guys?)
And then, fast-forward to the present, when Humphries presents the next chapter in Volthoom's story, to be explored in other issues.
Venditti's Green Lantern never really clicked with me. He's still writing it in Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, but I'm so, so glad Humphries is writing Green Lanterns, for stuff like this. Maybe he can't be the concept engine Johns was, but he's eminently capable of exploring the world Johns created. And that is more than good enough. For a lot of readers, this will actually be their first exposure to it, to Volthoom and Simon and Jessica, and everyone benefits from that.
Showing posts with label Green Lanterns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Green Lanterns. Show all posts
Sunday, May 28, 2017
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
Reading Comics 204 "Fifth Trip 2017"
American Gods #2 (Dark Horse)
Amazingly, this adaption of the Neil Gaiman book still really hasn't reached the actual concept of the story. Although Spider does drink an amazing amount of mead, and beats up a rather tall leprechaun.
Bane: Conquest #1 (DC)
Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan reunite and return to the chronicles of Bane. The results may baffle readers who are less familiar with Vengeance of Bane (parts 1 & 2) and more "Knightfall," Dark Knight Rises, Tom King's recent "I Am Bane," or any manner of terrible Bane appearances over the years, but they're entirely in-character, especially, again, for the Bane of Vengeance of Bane (parts 1 & 2). The luchadore mask Nolan gives Bane for this comic is a fun little nod to the fact that the character is, technically, Latino, even though that never seems to come up other than his base of operations and/or origins.
Batman #21 (DC)
The Flash #21 (DC)
Batman #22 (DC)
Parts 1-3 of "The Button" see Tom King and Josh Williamson collaborate on a sequel to Flashpoint (the importance of this classic story to yours truly is chronicled in the early period of this blog) that also helps set up later DC-wide storytelling first introduced by DC Universe Rebirth. Very, very good storytelling here.
Blue Beetle #8 (DC)
Giffen/DeMatteis have apparently taken over the title as of this issue, and bring a strong Larfleeze feel to the proceedings. I loved the original Jaime Reyes series post-Infinite Crisis, and so it's great to read his Blue Beetle again. The big draw for the issue, however, is that the magical scarab that has granted him powers (and/or de facto Iron Man suit) all these years has been taken from him. So he and Ted Kord (the second and most famous Blue Beetle) make a bold decision: Jaime will now, even if temporarily, revive Ted's classic costume. Yeah!
Divinity III: Stalinverse #4 (Valiant)
Matt Kindt will be moving on to Eternity, a sequel rather than continuation to Divinity, so this is the conclusion of this particular vision. And I think, having read it twice, he came up with a good one:
Planet of the Apes/Green Lantern #3 (Boom!/DC)
This latest mash-up is about as good as Green Lantern/Star Trek (which is to say, good), but it's the art I came to see. Omega Men's Barnaby Bagenda, to be precise. That guy deserves to reach the stratosphere, like his collaborator, Tom King. Hopefully it'll happen at some point.
Green Lanterns #22 (DC)
The adventures of upstarts Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz have now reached the stage where they're actively interacting with the rest of the Green Lantern Corps. Continues to be what I've long hoped to read in a Green Lantern comic again.
Nightwing #19, 20 (DC)
Well, hot damn. Tim Seeley has turned Nightwing into a must-read after all. Nightwing has been so hit-and-miss since the Dixon/Grayson years, a lot of creators coming in hot and then sort of sputtering out. This includes Grayson, Seeley and Tom King's bold revision that saw Nightwing become a spy for a couple years. But to take Nightwing away from Dick Grayson is to take away the essential part of the character, no matter how intriguing the results. Too many of these writers have tried to forget this or that element of the character. Seeley seems to have built not only on the Grayson momentum, but folded Dick's Batman and Robin days back into his adventures. "Nightwing Must Die" is a Dr. Hurt story (the whole thing plays nicely with Batman and Robin, Grant Morrison memories), but it remembers that Dick's whole history is what defines him, perhaps more than any other superhero. Possibly the two best issues of Nightwing I've ever read (Grayson: Futures End notwithstanding).
Savage Dragon #223 (Image)
If you were to read, in 2017, only one comic book series in its entirety to figure out what superheroes are all about, I think Savage Dragon would have to be that series. Erik Larsen is the Image creator who never gave up on the original vision of the company, who never decided to pursue other interests at the expense of the creative freedom and opportunity his vision gave him. The letters column is almost more important than the comic itself this time:
Superman #22 (DC)
I really need to read more of this run.
Old Man Logan #22 (Marvel)
Jeff Lemire continues his concluding run with Wolverine exploring the character's fictional past, brilliantly, literally revisiting famous stories (at one point his origin in the pages of a Hulk comic, complete with the original dialogue). If anyone had to tell Old Man Logan stories as a surrogate to actual Wolverine stories, I'm glad it was Lemire. He proves why it was such a good idea all over again.
Amazingly, this adaption of the Neil Gaiman book still really hasn't reached the actual concept of the story. Although Spider does drink an amazing amount of mead, and beats up a rather tall leprechaun.
Bane: Conquest #1 (DC)
Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan reunite and return to the chronicles of Bane. The results may baffle readers who are less familiar with Vengeance of Bane (parts 1 & 2) and more "Knightfall," Dark Knight Rises, Tom King's recent "I Am Bane," or any manner of terrible Bane appearances over the years, but they're entirely in-character, especially, again, for the Bane of Vengeance of Bane (parts 1 & 2). The luchadore mask Nolan gives Bane for this comic is a fun little nod to the fact that the character is, technically, Latino, even though that never seems to come up other than his base of operations and/or origins.
Batman #21 (DC)
The Flash #21 (DC)
Batman #22 (DC)
Parts 1-3 of "The Button" see Tom King and Josh Williamson collaborate on a sequel to Flashpoint (the importance of this classic story to yours truly is chronicled in the early period of this blog) that also helps set up later DC-wide storytelling first introduced by DC Universe Rebirth. Very, very good storytelling here.
Blue Beetle #8 (DC)
Giffen/DeMatteis have apparently taken over the title as of this issue, and bring a strong Larfleeze feel to the proceedings. I loved the original Jaime Reyes series post-Infinite Crisis, and so it's great to read his Blue Beetle again. The big draw for the issue, however, is that the magical scarab that has granted him powers (and/or de facto Iron Man suit) all these years has been taken from him. So he and Ted Kord (the second and most famous Blue Beetle) make a bold decision: Jaime will now, even if temporarily, revive Ted's classic costume. Yeah!
Divinity III: Stalinverse #4 (Valiant)
Matt Kindt will be moving on to Eternity, a sequel rather than continuation to Divinity, so this is the conclusion of this particular vision. And I think, having read it twice, he came up with a good one:
That's the best argument an hero has probably ever made to their enemy, in a comic book. It's an argument that can only be made in a comic book, I think. It's a perfect synopsis of superhero logic, as has Divinity been from the start. I don't know why Divinity hasn't become more important among comic book readers. It's the Watchmen of intellectual superhero storytelling. It's surely one of the most fascinating comics I've ever read. Every issue has someone involved in creating the issue provide commentary. Most of it is somewhat hugely overblown praise. Most of it seems to miss the point. It's not just how it's executed that makes Divinity great, but its ideas. I'm hugely glad to have read along. And to see where Kindt goes next."This world you've built may be real. But you know it is not true. You read books when you were younger. Just as I did. Do you not remember? We are similar, you and I. We were not forced to read. We were encouraged. But my adoptive parents raised me. Treated me as their own. They gave me books. Science fiction was my favorite. I read everything they gave me. It wasn't until much later that I realized what they'd really done. My parents couldn't force me...or anyone to be good. Just as the Soviet Union cannot. All they could do was present me with their example. And with stories. With writing. With ideas. Through those books I learned the danger of power. I learned of the terrible effects of violence and conflict. Of the unending cycle of war that we should be working to break. And I learned the importance of love and to be loved. Earth...humanity? They are our children, Kazmir. They can't be forced to learn. They must learn by example. They must be taught with stories. With experience. We have the power of gods, Kazmir. Yet you choose to live a parasitic life inside Myshka. And you choose to obey a small-minded oligarch. But there is an entire universe out there for you. Worlds to see. Galaxies to explore. Just like in the books we read when we were younger. I am sorry for what happened to us out there...in the unknown. I am sorry I did not bring you back when I returned. And I am sorry that Myshka broke your heart. I understand why you came back for revenge. What I don't understand is why wouldn't you stay out there? Why wouldn't you go further? Why wouldn't you want to see more? Our conflict will have a winner and a loser. That is the nature of the game. But why should we confine ourselves to the game? Ti these pieces? To this artificial boundary? To Earth? When there is the unknown all around us? Waiting to be explored? I tell you all of this, Kazmir, not to "win." But to set you free."
Planet of the Apes/Green Lantern #3 (Boom!/DC)
This latest mash-up is about as good as Green Lantern/Star Trek (which is to say, good), but it's the art I came to see. Omega Men's Barnaby Bagenda, to be precise. That guy deserves to reach the stratosphere, like his collaborator, Tom King. Hopefully it'll happen at some point.
Green Lanterns #22 (DC)
The adventures of upstarts Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz have now reached the stage where they're actively interacting with the rest of the Green Lantern Corps. Continues to be what I've long hoped to read in a Green Lantern comic again.
Nightwing #19, 20 (DC)
Well, hot damn. Tim Seeley has turned Nightwing into a must-read after all. Nightwing has been so hit-and-miss since the Dixon/Grayson years, a lot of creators coming in hot and then sort of sputtering out. This includes Grayson, Seeley and Tom King's bold revision that saw Nightwing become a spy for a couple years. But to take Nightwing away from Dick Grayson is to take away the essential part of the character, no matter how intriguing the results. Too many of these writers have tried to forget this or that element of the character. Seeley seems to have built not only on the Grayson momentum, but folded Dick's Batman and Robin days back into his adventures. "Nightwing Must Die" is a Dr. Hurt story (the whole thing plays nicely with Batman and Robin, Grant Morrison memories), but it remembers that Dick's whole history is what defines him, perhaps more than any other superhero. Possibly the two best issues of Nightwing I've ever read (Grayson: Futures End notwithstanding).
Savage Dragon #223 (Image)
If you were to read, in 2017, only one comic book series in its entirety to figure out what superheroes are all about, I think Savage Dragon would have to be that series. Erik Larsen is the Image creator who never gave up on the original vision of the company, who never decided to pursue other interests at the expense of the creative freedom and opportunity his vision gave him. The letters column is almost more important than the comic itself this time:
"Change is inevitable and being more stuck in the past is no solution. Styles change, people change. You loved that old stuff because you were 12 and that was your sweet spot. You may not want change but I crave it. Doing the same drawings the same way for decades is mind-numbingly monotonous. I love nothing more than finding new ways of tackling a similar problem. I look at the older issues and see all the mistakes. I see all the poor drawings and attempts to hide my deficiencies behind a wall of crosshatching and it doesn't do much for me. The lines aren't defining shapes and establishing light sources. They're lines for the sake of lines. Emulating that seems insane.
Strong iconic poses are great, sure, but ultimately, I'm trying to tell a story here, not compose pictures to be popped onto T-shirts and lunchboxes. And given the choice of repeating a familiar shot or finding something new--nine times out of ten I'll go with the new.
It's not an easy path. Some artists get stuck in a rut, forever repeating and emulating their old work. Readers get bored and move on. Others keep trying new and different approaches but that can alienate old readers who liked the way things had been. There's no simple solution, clearly, but in order to preserve my sanity, I need to keep moving. If I'm not kept engaged, I can't expect my audience to be. If I'm bored, it's reflected in the work. So I tend to try something new. Sometimes it's successful and sometimes it's not, but hopefully it's worth your attention.
To my mind, it reads like Larsen becoming the Bill Watterson of comic books.And honestly, it's important to unlearn what you've learned. A lot of what made earlier work vibrant and full of life was the learning process. I was figuring stuff out. And part of that involved screwing up. I can look back at old art and see where arms were clearly too long or faces were constructed poorly, where compositions and anatomy and perspective are all skewed and line work makes no sense. It's hard to recreate that--and why would I want to? It would be like going back to high school."
Superman #22 (DC)
I really need to read more of this run.
Old Man Logan #22 (Marvel)
Jeff Lemire continues his concluding run with Wolverine exploring the character's fictional past, brilliantly, literally revisiting famous stories (at one point his origin in the pages of a Hulk comic, complete with the original dialogue). If anyone had to tell Old Man Logan stories as a surrogate to actual Wolverine stories, I'm glad it was Lemire. He proves why it was such a good idea all over again.
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Reading Comics 203 "Fourth Trip 2017"
Grant Morrison's 18 Days #20 (Graphic India)
I love to keep tabs on it. Would love to read the whole thing sometime.
Atomic Robo: The Temple of Od #4 (IDW) (2016)
Still an absolute pleasure to read.
Avatarex #3 (Graphic India)
This was the best issue of Grant Morrison's other Graphic India project to date. Issues seem to be released sporadically.
Batman #20 (DC)
Best issue of Tom King's run so far, ties a lot of stuff together, including some further personal reflections he'd hadn't gotten to yet.
DK III: The Master Race #8 (DC)
Can't help but feel as if Frank Miller envisioned this as a career statement, his current role and how he remains as relevant as Batman. Also, the Amazons are truly Amazonian basically for the first time ever. Wonder Woman has really joined the trilogy.
The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom #4 (DC)
To say that Captain Atom has had an interesting publishing history would be an understatement. Cary Bates returns from the past, too, to co-write a thoroughly considered story.
Green Lanterns #20 (DC)
Checking in. Still loving it. Still am hugely pleased that someone is finally getting Green Lantern(s) right again.
Ninjak #25 (Valiant)
Here's a character who always seems so important when I see him in other Valiant titles. Despite the fact that Matt Kindt has been writing his solo adventures, I hadn't read them until now. A mistake.
Providence #12 (Avatar)
The conclusion of Alan Moore's latest comics vision, an ode to Lovecraft and those obsessed with him.
WrestleMania 2017 Special (Boom!)
The recent Boom! launch of WWE comics has placed an emphasis on retelling stories originally presented in WWE programming itself. There's a good bit of that to be found here, and it's done excellently. Plus the New Day!
Superman #7, 20 (DC)
I had a look at an older issue because I'd heard Tomasi/Gleason were up to their old tricks of telling personal, standalone stories again. I thought it was drawn by Gleason, too, but it turns out to have been Jorge Jimenez, who is typically excellent. The latter issue is also the newest one, and once again features guest-stars from Tomasi/Gleason's last project, Batman and Robin. You guessed it, Batcow and, ah who am I kidding? Tomasi/Gleason continue to be master storytellers.
Old Man Logan #20 (Marvel)
Jeff Lemire will be taking a trip down memory line in his final issues, and this one's the setup. A good one.
I love to keep tabs on it. Would love to read the whole thing sometime.
Atomic Robo: The Temple of Od #4 (IDW) (2016)
Still an absolute pleasure to read.
Avatarex #3 (Graphic India)
This was the best issue of Grant Morrison's other Graphic India project to date. Issues seem to be released sporadically.
Batman #20 (DC)
Best issue of Tom King's run so far, ties a lot of stuff together, including some further personal reflections he'd hadn't gotten to yet.
DK III: The Master Race #8 (DC)
Can't help but feel as if Frank Miller envisioned this as a career statement, his current role and how he remains as relevant as Batman. Also, the Amazons are truly Amazonian basically for the first time ever. Wonder Woman has really joined the trilogy.
The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom #4 (DC)
To say that Captain Atom has had an interesting publishing history would be an understatement. Cary Bates returns from the past, too, to co-write a thoroughly considered story.
Green Lanterns #20 (DC)
Checking in. Still loving it. Still am hugely pleased that someone is finally getting Green Lantern(s) right again.
Ninjak #25 (Valiant)
Here's a character who always seems so important when I see him in other Valiant titles. Despite the fact that Matt Kindt has been writing his solo adventures, I hadn't read them until now. A mistake.
Providence #12 (Avatar)
The conclusion of Alan Moore's latest comics vision, an ode to Lovecraft and those obsessed with him.
WrestleMania 2017 Special (Boom!)
The recent Boom! launch of WWE comics has placed an emphasis on retelling stories originally presented in WWE programming itself. There's a good bit of that to be found here, and it's done excellently. Plus the New Day!
Superman #7, 20 (DC)
I had a look at an older issue because I'd heard Tomasi/Gleason were up to their old tricks of telling personal, standalone stories again. I thought it was drawn by Gleason, too, but it turns out to have been Jorge Jimenez, who is typically excellent. The latter issue is also the newest one, and once again features guest-stars from Tomasi/Gleason's last project, Batman and Robin. You guessed it, Batcow and, ah who am I kidding? Tomasi/Gleason continue to be master storytellers.
Old Man Logan #20 (Marvel)
Jeff Lemire will be taking a trip down memory line in his final issues, and this one's the setup. A good one.
Monday, July 25, 2016
Reading Comics 195 "DC Rebirth Week Seven, 18 Days, Letter 44, Tokyo Ghost"
Featured this edition: Grant Morrison's 18 Days #12, Batgirl & the Birds of Prey: Rebirth #1, Batman #3, Green Lanterns #3, The Hellblazer: Rebirth #1, Justice League #1, Letter 44 #26, Superman #3, and Tokyo Ghost #8.
Grant Morrison's 18 Days #12 (Graphic India)
Morrison's Avatarex #1 shipped last week, and hopefully I'll be seeing a copy in a couple weeks. Although I lost track of reading Graphic India's vision of his Indian superwar epic a while ago, I always thought it was well worth reading, and so I checked in again for this issue, which details Bhima's further experiences, from his great familial devotion to a momentum moment for him in the fighting. This project's being executed with pitch-perfect precision.
Batgirl and the Birds of Prey: Rebirth #1 (DC)
The Birds of Prey was conceived during the '90s, and has been maintained in some fashion ever since. It's a girls-only team (still unique in comics, but not with Ghostbusters). This issue features Batgirl Barbara Gordon's biography at the forefront, but also gives nods to Black Canary's DCYou band exploits and Helena Bertinelli's Grayson spy work, and how the team only reluctantly gets back together. It was a good introduction.
Batman #3 (DC)
Tom King's Dark Knight continues, as we learn the secret origin of the superpowered heroes who have lately been lending him a hand: Hank and Claire Clover. Hank was saved by Batman years ago, when he was a kid. King cleverly stages this origin so that the unsuspecting reader might think he's seeing Bruce Wayne's fateful Crime Alley nightmare all over again, but then the story continues and we find out what's really going on. As always, King is in full command of the psychological beats, including those provided by villains Hugo Strange (always, ah, somewhat strangely overlooked in Batman lore) and Psycho Pirate.
Green Lanterns #3 (DC)
Simon Baz spends more time in the spotlight this issue, including a killer sequence with Red Lantern soldier Bleez, who is the latest recipient of Baz's ability to unlock his power ring's most surprising abilities, ones rarely experienced by other bearers. He'll need all the help he can get, because partner Jessica Cruz has just been overtaken by the rage seed...
The Hellblazer: Rebirth #1 (DC)
John Constantine is that unique DC character, in that he's a genuine antihero, which unlike his Marvel counterparts (say, the Punisher) doesn't mean that he goes around shooting people, but that he makes unorthodox moral decisions, possibly because of his ties to Hell (hence, the returning traditional name to his adventures). Since his return to DC proper (after being a headlining Vertigo act since the brand's creation two decades ago) during Brightest Day five years ago, fans have been skeptical that Constantine can properly function in the relatively sanitized DC superhero landscape (for comparison, imagine if Neil Gaiman had had to make Sandman permanently co-exist with the likes of Dr. Destiny and Martian Manhunter, both of whom made early appearances in the series, but who seem hard to reconcile with Gaiman's later creative pursuits). I've never really been a Constantine reader, so I welcomed this chance to have a look. For what it's worth, I do think, at least in this issue of this iteration, he works perfectly well. It's like the Demon Etrigan (who had a Garth Ennis-penned series in the '90s, that gave birth to one of Ennis's signature creations, Hitman), but without the Demon as the lead, if that makes any sense.
Justice League #1 (DC)
The first issue of the series, like its New 52 Geoff Johns predecessor, has Wonder Woman on the brain, which I love. Tony Daniel on art (he helped launch Superman/Wonder Woman, which is all kinds of natural for this latest Daniel project) is as always a thing of beauty. I love how the whole issue is about mobilizing the team.
Letter 44 #26 (Oni)
I'd previously sampled this Charles Soule series, but didn't really get the hang of what's going on in it, so I'm glad that I've finally read another issue. This is a story about the end of the world, and all the odd decisions people are going to make if the involved players include aliens, U.S. presidents, a team of scientists, and messianic collaborators. Actually, I came out of this issue being very impressed. But then, I was already a fan of Soule, so I'm doubly glad I can now say I like Letter 44, too.
Superman #3 (DC)
Having witnessed the thunderbolt that was Jorge Jimenez's work in the early issues of Earth 2: Society, I'm so happy to be seeing more of his art, in this Tomasi/Gleason series and in the forthcoming Super-Sons, which in some ways this issue helps set up, as we see Jon Kent light up for the first time. The sequence of events that provoke this (a new vision of the Eradicator that offers some fascinating new wrinkles to established character mythology; Krypto) is breathtaking in ways I hoped this series would be.
Tokyo Ghost #8 (Image)
Rick Remender has joined Mark Millar in the select group of modern writers who have been able to establish a viable brand around their names, and a large net of titles to populate it. This Remender project envisions a dystopic future directly culled from our own, in which addiction to digital content has literally sucked the life out of everyone, leaving the population susceptible to corrupting influences. Fortunately, there's a hero in the eponymous Ghost capable of stepping in to stem the tide. This issue turned out to be a perfect one to sample, involving the Ghost's tragic baskstory, and the man she's tried valiantly through the years to protect, despite increasing odds against her. But the reason I wanted a look was because of the Sean Gordon Murphy art. I've been a fan of Murphy's since Joe the Barbarian, his seminal work with Grant Morrison, as well as his personal creative vision, Punk Rock Jesus. He's also collaborated with Scott Snyder (The Wake) in recent years, as well as Millar (Chrononauts). I never get tired of his art.
Grant Morrison's 18 Days #12 (Graphic India)
Morrison's Avatarex #1 shipped last week, and hopefully I'll be seeing a copy in a couple weeks. Although I lost track of reading Graphic India's vision of his Indian superwar epic a while ago, I always thought it was well worth reading, and so I checked in again for this issue, which details Bhima's further experiences, from his great familial devotion to a momentum moment for him in the fighting. This project's being executed with pitch-perfect precision.
Batgirl and the Birds of Prey: Rebirth #1 (DC)
The Birds of Prey was conceived during the '90s, and has been maintained in some fashion ever since. It's a girls-only team (still unique in comics, but not with Ghostbusters). This issue features Batgirl Barbara Gordon's biography at the forefront, but also gives nods to Black Canary's DCYou band exploits and Helena Bertinelli's Grayson spy work, and how the team only reluctantly gets back together. It was a good introduction.
Batman #3 (DC)
Tom King's Dark Knight continues, as we learn the secret origin of the superpowered heroes who have lately been lending him a hand: Hank and Claire Clover. Hank was saved by Batman years ago, when he was a kid. King cleverly stages this origin so that the unsuspecting reader might think he's seeing Bruce Wayne's fateful Crime Alley nightmare all over again, but then the story continues and we find out what's really going on. As always, King is in full command of the psychological beats, including those provided by villains Hugo Strange (always, ah, somewhat strangely overlooked in Batman lore) and Psycho Pirate.
Green Lanterns #3 (DC)
Simon Baz spends more time in the spotlight this issue, including a killer sequence with Red Lantern soldier Bleez, who is the latest recipient of Baz's ability to unlock his power ring's most surprising abilities, ones rarely experienced by other bearers. He'll need all the help he can get, because partner Jessica Cruz has just been overtaken by the rage seed...
The Hellblazer: Rebirth #1 (DC)
John Constantine is that unique DC character, in that he's a genuine antihero, which unlike his Marvel counterparts (say, the Punisher) doesn't mean that he goes around shooting people, but that he makes unorthodox moral decisions, possibly because of his ties to Hell (hence, the returning traditional name to his adventures). Since his return to DC proper (after being a headlining Vertigo act since the brand's creation two decades ago) during Brightest Day five years ago, fans have been skeptical that Constantine can properly function in the relatively sanitized DC superhero landscape (for comparison, imagine if Neil Gaiman had had to make Sandman permanently co-exist with the likes of Dr. Destiny and Martian Manhunter, both of whom made early appearances in the series, but who seem hard to reconcile with Gaiman's later creative pursuits). I've never really been a Constantine reader, so I welcomed this chance to have a look. For what it's worth, I do think, at least in this issue of this iteration, he works perfectly well. It's like the Demon Etrigan (who had a Garth Ennis-penned series in the '90s, that gave birth to one of Ennis's signature creations, Hitman), but without the Demon as the lead, if that makes any sense.
Justice League #1 (DC)
The first issue of the series, like its New 52 Geoff Johns predecessor, has Wonder Woman on the brain, which I love. Tony Daniel on art (he helped launch Superman/Wonder Woman, which is all kinds of natural for this latest Daniel project) is as always a thing of beauty. I love how the whole issue is about mobilizing the team.
Letter 44 #26 (Oni)
I'd previously sampled this Charles Soule series, but didn't really get the hang of what's going on in it, so I'm glad that I've finally read another issue. This is a story about the end of the world, and all the odd decisions people are going to make if the involved players include aliens, U.S. presidents, a team of scientists, and messianic collaborators. Actually, I came out of this issue being very impressed. But then, I was already a fan of Soule, so I'm doubly glad I can now say I like Letter 44, too.
Superman #3 (DC)
Having witnessed the thunderbolt that was Jorge Jimenez's work in the early issues of Earth 2: Society, I'm so happy to be seeing more of his art, in this Tomasi/Gleason series and in the forthcoming Super-Sons, which in some ways this issue helps set up, as we see Jon Kent light up for the first time. The sequence of events that provoke this (a new vision of the Eradicator that offers some fascinating new wrinkles to established character mythology; Krypto) is breathtaking in ways I hoped this series would be.
Tokyo Ghost #8 (Image)
Rick Remender has joined Mark Millar in the select group of modern writers who have been able to establish a viable brand around their names, and a large net of titles to populate it. This Remender project envisions a dystopic future directly culled from our own, in which addiction to digital content has literally sucked the life out of everyone, leaving the population susceptible to corrupting influences. Fortunately, there's a hero in the eponymous Ghost capable of stepping in to stem the tide. This issue turned out to be a perfect one to sample, involving the Ghost's tragic baskstory, and the man she's tried valiantly through the years to protect, despite increasing odds against her. But the reason I wanted a look was because of the Sean Gordon Murphy art. I've been a fan of Murphy's since Joe the Barbarian, his seminal work with Grant Morrison, as well as his personal creative vision, Punk Rock Jesus. He's also collaborated with Scott Snyder (The Wake) in recent years, as well as Millar (Chrononauts). I never get tired of his art.
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Reading Comics 192 "DC Rebirth Week Five, Astro City"
Covered this edition: Astro City #35, Batman #2, Green Lanterns #2, Justice League: Rebirth #1, and Superman #2.
Astro City #35 (Vertigo)
Kurt Busiek's pocket superhero universe, which literally resides entirely within the boundaries of Astro City, has long been fascinating. It's one of those self-contained concepts that could easily satiate a given reader's interest in superhero comics, whether they're jaded older readers, or younger ones who aren't particularly interested in tracking down multiple titles to try and catch up with something they've just discovered. The series has been around, in one incarnation or another, for twenty years, and was clearly inspired by Busiek's interest in following up on his Marvels success, where he was able to look at the full portrait of a given superhero landscape and provide nuanced insight into it. His Astro City work rotates from character to character. This particular issues features Jack-in-the-Box, a costumed vigilante with an outlandish gimmick but who Busiek otherwise presents pretty straightforwardly, getting at the heart of the character's human struggles, which in this case mean the legacy the grandson of the original Jack feels increasingly as a burden he can never live up to, with his father and uncle having carried it on but a reckless decision in his youth cost him his chance to do the same. Jack-in-the-Box joins the league of black superheroes who sport all-covering masks, so that you wouldn't know his race otherwise, but the comic spends probably more time with the mask off of any given Jack than necessarily caring about his costumed exploits, treating that as more a McGuffin than anything. There's a letters column page featuring the letter of the month (a rarity in a DC title of any extraction these days), and also a preview of Paul Dini's Dark Night: A True Batman Story, which details his experiences recovering from a mugging, and that's part of the reason I bought this comic, because I've seen plenty of hype for the graphic novel, but none of the interior. But it's always worth checking in with Astro City.
Batman #2 (DC)
Tom King's era continues as Batman introduces Jim Gordon to Gotham and Gotham Girl, the superpowered new heroes who are eager to lend a hand in the ongoing war on crime. It's Batman's sense of mortality that permeates the issue, however, the lingering aftereffects of his near-sacrifice in trying to prevent a fatal plane crash last issue. It's King's grasp of character that strikes this material as fresh. At one point Alfred explains to Duke Thomas how a young Bruce Wayne became disenchanted when Alfred made a prudent judgment call. For someone like Bruce, there's no such thing as prudence. He doesn't have the patience for something like that. The current Bruce abandons a lady mid-dance when he spots the Bat-signal in the sky, and the woman is positively baffled. You can imagine how it plays out just by the way it's depicted: Bruce doesn't want to attend function; he reluctantly agrees, puts on his best game face; is positively overjoyed when he gets to go back to work. For him, it doesn't even matter what other people are expecting. That's Batman in a nutshell. He lives by his own rules. It's great when a writer like King comes along and knows the psychology that well. For those looking for something a little easier to digest, there's the young hero Gotham discovering for himself Batman's classic disappearing act, or Gordon wondering how on earth a mask doesn't become uncomfortable in this line of work (casually sidestepping Scott Snyder's depiction of Commissioner Batman)...
Green Lanterns #2 (DC)
Sam Humphries keeps hitting all the right notes. His depictions of Simon Baz and especially Jessica Cruz as novice Lanterns is the perfect way to explain all over again what the Green Lantern concept is all about, and how it can be a little hard to comprehend. Jessica is so neurotic that Simon's confidence makes him seem like a veteran, even though it's just his different personality that's creating the effect, because he's just as lost as she is. Returning the Red Lanterns to the role of the villain is also a good move. Readers don't particularly need to know that in their late ongoing series, they became sympathetic heroes. The idea of them existing to help people cope with powerlessness further underscores Jessica's feelings of inadequacy. Just good stuff, and very, very good to see for a reader who hasn't had a lot of Green Lantern he found worth reading lately.
Justice League: Rebirth #1 (DC)
The Bryan Hitch era, as the headlining act of the franchise, begins as he brings the "new" Superman back into the fold, showcasing what a significant difference Superman makes both by his absence and presence. That's something few writers have done, for whatever reason, but Hitch dives right at it, not so much at the cost of every other member, all DC icons in their own right, but in the role of leadership, which Superman embodies not so much because he takes charge but because he's capable of identifying what needs to be done, by example. The whole issue makes the case for the team in general, as necessary guardians in the turbulent reality DC presents. It does its job.
Superman #2 (DC)
I can't say too often how brilliant I think it was for DC to let Pete Tomasi and Patrick Gleason recontextualize their Batman & Robin work in the Rebirth era. This was a dynamite team working in the shadow of Scott Snyder's work. If readers sometimes wondered why Tomasi and Gleason were putting their previous charges into outsize adventures not typically associated with them in the modern era, it's completely justified with their new ones. The young Jonathan has found an intriguing accomplice in Kathy, the figurative girl next door (insofar as adjacent farms can call have such things). She's like his Lana Lang, knowing his secret and not being interested in anything else but the boy he otherwise is. She and her grandfather lug Jon back home after he falls from a tree, which gives him a concussion. His parents are necessarily alarmed, especially Clark. It's a little odd seeing Lois as anything but a reporter (she writes fiction now; I don't know if it was a slip-up, but she gets a piece of mail under her given name, and it's not addressed, even though the family has been living under assumed names since emerging from Convergence into this reality). Anyway, the big news occurs at the end of the issue, in which the Eradicator makes his New 52/Rebirth debut (coincidentally, I've just finished reading some of his original appearances). But I love this series so much, already. Seeing father and son, in the early pages, engaged in a rescue operation, and then disarming a monster, is everything Tomasi and Gleason couldn't do before, and everything I'd hoped they'd do in Superman. For me, with just work like this, and King's Batman, and Humphries' Green Lanterns, the Rebirth era has already proven its worth, to a remarkable degree.
Astro City #35 (Vertigo)
Kurt Busiek's pocket superhero universe, which literally resides entirely within the boundaries of Astro City, has long been fascinating. It's one of those self-contained concepts that could easily satiate a given reader's interest in superhero comics, whether they're jaded older readers, or younger ones who aren't particularly interested in tracking down multiple titles to try and catch up with something they've just discovered. The series has been around, in one incarnation or another, for twenty years, and was clearly inspired by Busiek's interest in following up on his Marvels success, where he was able to look at the full portrait of a given superhero landscape and provide nuanced insight into it. His Astro City work rotates from character to character. This particular issues features Jack-in-the-Box, a costumed vigilante with an outlandish gimmick but who Busiek otherwise presents pretty straightforwardly, getting at the heart of the character's human struggles, which in this case mean the legacy the grandson of the original Jack feels increasingly as a burden he can never live up to, with his father and uncle having carried it on but a reckless decision in his youth cost him his chance to do the same. Jack-in-the-Box joins the league of black superheroes who sport all-covering masks, so that you wouldn't know his race otherwise, but the comic spends probably more time with the mask off of any given Jack than necessarily caring about his costumed exploits, treating that as more a McGuffin than anything. There's a letters column page featuring the letter of the month (a rarity in a DC title of any extraction these days), and also a preview of Paul Dini's Dark Night: A True Batman Story, which details his experiences recovering from a mugging, and that's part of the reason I bought this comic, because I've seen plenty of hype for the graphic novel, but none of the interior. But it's always worth checking in with Astro City.
Batman #2 (DC)
Tom King's era continues as Batman introduces Jim Gordon to Gotham and Gotham Girl, the superpowered new heroes who are eager to lend a hand in the ongoing war on crime. It's Batman's sense of mortality that permeates the issue, however, the lingering aftereffects of his near-sacrifice in trying to prevent a fatal plane crash last issue. It's King's grasp of character that strikes this material as fresh. At one point Alfred explains to Duke Thomas how a young Bruce Wayne became disenchanted when Alfred made a prudent judgment call. For someone like Bruce, there's no such thing as prudence. He doesn't have the patience for something like that. The current Bruce abandons a lady mid-dance when he spots the Bat-signal in the sky, and the woman is positively baffled. You can imagine how it plays out just by the way it's depicted: Bruce doesn't want to attend function; he reluctantly agrees, puts on his best game face; is positively overjoyed when he gets to go back to work. For him, it doesn't even matter what other people are expecting. That's Batman in a nutshell. He lives by his own rules. It's great when a writer like King comes along and knows the psychology that well. For those looking for something a little easier to digest, there's the young hero Gotham discovering for himself Batman's classic disappearing act, or Gordon wondering how on earth a mask doesn't become uncomfortable in this line of work (casually sidestepping Scott Snyder's depiction of Commissioner Batman)...
Green Lanterns #2 (DC)
Sam Humphries keeps hitting all the right notes. His depictions of Simon Baz and especially Jessica Cruz as novice Lanterns is the perfect way to explain all over again what the Green Lantern concept is all about, and how it can be a little hard to comprehend. Jessica is so neurotic that Simon's confidence makes him seem like a veteran, even though it's just his different personality that's creating the effect, because he's just as lost as she is. Returning the Red Lanterns to the role of the villain is also a good move. Readers don't particularly need to know that in their late ongoing series, they became sympathetic heroes. The idea of them existing to help people cope with powerlessness further underscores Jessica's feelings of inadequacy. Just good stuff, and very, very good to see for a reader who hasn't had a lot of Green Lantern he found worth reading lately.
Justice League: Rebirth #1 (DC)
The Bryan Hitch era, as the headlining act of the franchise, begins as he brings the "new" Superman back into the fold, showcasing what a significant difference Superman makes both by his absence and presence. That's something few writers have done, for whatever reason, but Hitch dives right at it, not so much at the cost of every other member, all DC icons in their own right, but in the role of leadership, which Superman embodies not so much because he takes charge but because he's capable of identifying what needs to be done, by example. The whole issue makes the case for the team in general, as necessary guardians in the turbulent reality DC presents. It does its job.
Superman #2 (DC)
I can't say too often how brilliant I think it was for DC to let Pete Tomasi and Patrick Gleason recontextualize their Batman & Robin work in the Rebirth era. This was a dynamite team working in the shadow of Scott Snyder's work. If readers sometimes wondered why Tomasi and Gleason were putting their previous charges into outsize adventures not typically associated with them in the modern era, it's completely justified with their new ones. The young Jonathan has found an intriguing accomplice in Kathy, the figurative girl next door (insofar as adjacent farms can call have such things). She's like his Lana Lang, knowing his secret and not being interested in anything else but the boy he otherwise is. She and her grandfather lug Jon back home after he falls from a tree, which gives him a concussion. His parents are necessarily alarmed, especially Clark. It's a little odd seeing Lois as anything but a reporter (she writes fiction now; I don't know if it was a slip-up, but she gets a piece of mail under her given name, and it's not addressed, even though the family has been living under assumed names since emerging from Convergence into this reality). Anyway, the big news occurs at the end of the issue, in which the Eradicator makes his New 52/Rebirth debut (coincidentally, I've just finished reading some of his original appearances). But I love this series so much, already. Seeing father and son, in the early pages, engaged in a rescue operation, and then disarming a monster, is everything Tomasi and Gleason couldn't do before, and everything I'd hoped they'd do in Superman. For me, with just work like this, and King's Batman, and Humphries' Green Lanterns, the Rebirth era has already proven its worth, to a remarkable degree.
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, June 5, 2016
Green Lanterns: Rebirth #1 (DC)
I haven't really been interested in Green Lantern comics for a few years now. This coincides directly with the end of the Geoff Johns run and the beginning of Robert Venditti's. Venditti had some really interesting ideas, but by the end he'd gone in a completely alienating new direction that bore no resemblance to anything I cared to read in a Green Lantern comic. It just never seemed relevant.
So I'm pretty darn happy about Green Lantern: Rebirth. (For those Venditti fans, he's got his own book, where he continues to write Hal Jordan comics however he sees fit.)
Finally, Johns' two Green Lanterns, Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz, will be featured in their own stories, on an ongoing basis. Both have been presented as more controversial than any previous human ring-bearer (that's saying something, Guy Gardner fans!), but Johns is around to guide Sam Humphries into introducing a reason why: because they're necessary.
Like Johns before him, Humphries has tapped into the past for inspiration, finding a Guardian with a secret weapon (hopefully better than the gauntlet Venditti trotted out to little mythology significance) and a desperate mission. He also brings the Red Lanterns back into the mix, after a New 52 era that saw them operating in an admittedly increasingly fruitful vacuum, even when they came to Earth. Well, they're coming again, and this time it will mean trouble.
Baz and Cruz are interesting characters. Humphries explains Baz's situation again (it was pretty well covered by Johns already), and then starts in with Cruz (Johns only ever got around to sketching hers out). This is a Green Lantern tradition. Those who aren't familiar with it will only see a lot of Green Lanterns. On the first page of the issue, we have the tradition spelled out. The best Green Lantern comics have always emphasized the troubled lives these ring-bearers tend to have. They have the greatest weapon in the universe, but that doesn't make their lives any easier, with or without the powers.
The New 52 was about giving people like Venditti an opportunity to do something new. He ended up telling his rogue gauntlet stories. And now Rebirth is putting things back into classic patterns. For Green Lantern? Absolutely a good thing.
So I'm pretty darn happy about Green Lantern: Rebirth. (For those Venditti fans, he's got his own book, where he continues to write Hal Jordan comics however he sees fit.)
Finally, Johns' two Green Lanterns, Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz, will be featured in their own stories, on an ongoing basis. Both have been presented as more controversial than any previous human ring-bearer (that's saying something, Guy Gardner fans!), but Johns is around to guide Sam Humphries into introducing a reason why: because they're necessary.
Like Johns before him, Humphries has tapped into the past for inspiration, finding a Guardian with a secret weapon (hopefully better than the gauntlet Venditti trotted out to little mythology significance) and a desperate mission. He also brings the Red Lanterns back into the mix, after a New 52 era that saw them operating in an admittedly increasingly fruitful vacuum, even when they came to Earth. Well, they're coming again, and this time it will mean trouble.
Baz and Cruz are interesting characters. Humphries explains Baz's situation again (it was pretty well covered by Johns already), and then starts in with Cruz (Johns only ever got around to sketching hers out). This is a Green Lantern tradition. Those who aren't familiar with it will only see a lot of Green Lanterns. On the first page of the issue, we have the tradition spelled out. The best Green Lantern comics have always emphasized the troubled lives these ring-bearers tend to have. They have the greatest weapon in the universe, but that doesn't make their lives any easier, with or without the powers.
The New 52 was about giving people like Venditti an opportunity to do something new. He ended up telling his rogue gauntlet stories. And now Rebirth is putting things back into classic patterns. For Green Lantern? Absolutely a good thing.
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