Reading Comics 170 "From 7/22/15 plus more"

Covered this edition: Grant Morrison's 18 Days #1, Cyborg #1, MIND MGMT #35, Prez #2, Superman: Doomed #2, and We Are Robin #2.

Grant Morrison's 18 Days #1 (Graphic India)

Back in 2010, Dynamite and Liquid Comics released what was intended to be a kind of graphic novel trailer for 18 Days, which became an online animated series.  Now, that series is being adapted into a comic book.  The original graphic novel was actually more like an elaborate series bible.  And so this first issue covers familiar material, more setup than actual storytelling.  The art is not exactly the lush work from the graphic novel, and that took some getting used to, but that's what the animated series looks like.  I have no idea how long this will last, but I intend to read it for as long as it exists.  This is Morrison's Morrison Version of the Indian epic Mahabharata, which might be described as The Iliad by way of The Lord of the Rings.

I'm reading this one on delay because I had to request the series from the local shop, and it took a while for it to come in.  If I hadn't asked last week about its status, I still wouldn't have seen it yet, because the shipment came up damaged and the shop owner didn't want to sell it like that.  Listen, I don't read comics, much less buy them, as investment potential.  The best comics are some of the best things I read, period.  For me, that's the best reason to read them.

Cyborg #1 (DC)

Incredibly, this is the first time Cyborg has ever had an ongoing series.  He was originally introduced in Marv Wolfman and George Perez's New Teen Titans.  Since the start of the New 52, he's been a member of the Justice League.  Very wisely, this series seems to have been taken directly from the pages of Geoff Johns' work, written by David F. Walker and especially aided by the art of longtime DC standout Ivan Reis.  Everything that isn't familiar, in the best possible way, sets up space robots who will likely further complicate Victor Stone's relationship with his new body.  I think it was incredibly wise to wait this long to launch the series.  Here I'm thinking of Mr. Terrific from the start of the New 52, which had to reinvent the wheel twice over.  Not only did that series also star someone who had never had an ongoing series before, but far less track record and to that point only one context, as a member of Johns' Justice Society.  And it was not only introducing a theoretically new version of the character, but in totally new context.  It's no surprise that Mr. Terrific was one of the early failures.  And so hopefully, doing everything exactly the opposite, Cyborg will be the success it deserves to be.

MIND MGMT#35 (Dark Horse)

Technically the end of the story, since as far as I know the next and final issue is an epilogue (apparently solicited as NEW MGMT #1), because this issue the good guys defeat the bad guys.  Anyway, I guess what I really want to address is editor Brendan Wright, who spent every letters column I saw fawning over the series, saying how proud he was to be involved in it.  I guess it was a pretty big deal for him (as outlined in how he presents his career).  For a series that lasted three years, which would be a long-term failure for a lot of other companies if it hadn't been the creator who dictated its length (the series was originally commissioned at six issues, and was allowed to expand from there), this is the kind of reaction you'd normally expect from a Vertigo series like Y: The Last Man or Sandman.  It is odd, because MIND MGMT in a lot of ways seems like it should have been published by Vertigo rather than Dark Horse.  I have no idea how or why it happened this way.  The advantage to having it Vertigo would have been to bring Matt Kindt into the DC fold.  Except he's been doing exceptionally well in the Valiant fold.  He's the rare talent who helps comics as a whole rather than merely himself or try and puff up his and/or a given company's chest (the way Image tends to do it, say).  But I don't want to read about how special he is from the editor who probably will never be associated with something this good again.  I want to hear from Kindt himself.  Because in my experience, this is a novelty for Dark Horse.  Which is why I'm confused about how it was published by them to begin with.

Prez #2 (DC)

Last time I believe I talked a lot about artist Ben Caldwell.  I love that guy.  Increasingly, I wonder if it's because his work reminds me of Jeff Smith.  Either way, I need to stress that I love Prez for its storytelling, too, which means I need to stress Mark Russell's contribution a little more directly.  I hadn't even made a label for him, so now there's that.  Prez is such an oddity.  There's nothing superhero about it at all.  I have no idea why it's being published by DC and not under the Vertigo imprint.  Ostensibly, it's because it's a new version of a classic DC concept.  And because there are now a lot of series with superhero connections that are aiming for the youth vote, it's harder for Prez to stand out, especially when it seems like it's nothing more than the stupid gimmick the original was.  This Prez is flat out great political and social satire.  "Corndog Girl" is only elected president this issue, expressly because of all the shenanigans the arrogant official candidates were up to, and the compromises the electoral college (anyone still wondering what that's all about in the wake of the...2000 election might look here for an explanation).

And unfortunately, originally set to be a twelve-issue maxi-series, Prez was just shortened to six.  As someone who absolutely loves what Prez is doing, I'm sad that it's been reduced like that, but at least that's not as bad as when The Great Ten, originally scheduled for, well, ten issues, was dropped to nine.

 Superman: Doomed #2 (DC)

It's been hard to make me care about Superman comics in the New 52 era if it weren't being written by Grant Morrison or Geoff Johns.  Every now and then I check in with what other people are doing.  I was aware of the Doomed event, which was the New 52 version of Doomsday, which was actually a pretty interesting idea.  This and the first issue are the bookends, and are now everything I've read from it.  The writers this time are Greg Pak and Charles Soule, although it's Scott Lobdell who continues to be associated with the concept thanks to his new Doomed series (which does not feature Superman, but will, eventually, have Alpha Centurion in it, which is good enough for me).  There are about a million artists involved in the issue, as well as Lois Lane in her most notable New 52 arc to date (in the least likely way imaginable, unless you're thinking of the Silver Age or Jimmy Olsen), plus Brainiac.  And I read this issue trying to figure out how it related to Convergence, and for most of the issue, I thought not at all, until at the very end.  And I don't know, maybe I'll have to do further research, but that ending makes it look like it might actually completely redefine Convergence.

But getting back to Doomsday, having the concept become something like a Venom parasite is probably better than what DC originally did with Doomsday in the aftermath of killing Superman.  He ended up being a Kryptonian monster who reincarnates after each defeat, no longer able to be defeated that way again, and he and Superman fought again many other times (Dan Jurgens at one point tried his best to further his legacy solely in this way).  While I haven't read the Doomed series itself yet, and generally I've been far more forgiving of Lobdell than fans tend to be, I'm glad this new vision exists even though I'm not immediately interested in delving into it myself.

We Are Robin #2 (DC)

Where you might have expected the second issue to have spent time with members of this Robin gang other than Duke Thomas...Nope, not so much.  This is still the Duke Thomas show in all but name.  I mean, other members are addressed, but they're not really featured.  They exist.  The issue begins to explore the mystery of who has been recruiting them.  There's also teasing of the villain who will apparently kill one of them soon.  Dead Robin.  It's a thing.  So it figures that We Are Robin will be waiting very little to reach its own Dead Robin story.  All the better!  Writer Lee Bermejo's covers continue to represent not at all the interior art, but I guess that's okay.  I can learn to live with it.

The Multiversity #1 (DC)

writer: Grant Morrison
artist: Ivan Reis

via DC Comics

Grant Morrison is going supersized again.  The Multiversity is a project he's been teasing and talking about for years, and his fans have been salivating for exactly as long.  Not that it hasn't been kind of obvious for all that time, but as it turns out, now that it's here and two issues have been released, it's kind of a mix between Seven Soldiers of Victory and The Return of Bruce Wayne.

But to be more accurate, it may actually be his bid to make good with Final Crisis.

Even Morrison's biggest fans have had a hard time with Final Crisis, an event that seemed to go in a thousand different directions at the same time without a great deal of coherence to it.  I personally never had a problem with it, but I'm sure that someone like Morrison would've found that to be a considerable problem for his legacy, a project he and DC were certain about being a surefire success instead becoming a critical nightmare.

As a creator Morrison has always been interested in embracing the total experience.  Famously, he broke the fourth wall in Animal Man, which in some ways still dominates his legacy.  Whenever he's done anything remotely like that again, it could then be argued that he was just repeating himself.  But what's he really been doing?  Pushing, always pushing forward.

A lot like Geoff Johns, the other DC mainstay of the modern era, Morrison loves to look at the history of a character or property, and instead of seeing problems sees opportunities.  Where Alan Moore and Frank Miller famously sought to introduce "realism" to superheroes, Morrison has sought to comprehend and therefore translate what it would mean for superheroes to exist in the worlds they've inhabited in their own context.  (Context, after all, is always king.  With apologies to Jack Kirby.)

The problem, if in fact there was a problem, with Final Crisis was that Morrison in fact was overly ambitious.  He tried to tie a bow around the whole DC experience, when in reality he ended up with a knot.

The Multiversity is Morrison undoing that knot.

It features, in this kickoff issue, one of Final Crisis's key figures, the Monitor known as Nix Uotan, who in that story was banished from among his brethren to the "real world."  Consider this a depiction of where he ended up.  Central to at least Superman's experience in Final Crisis was the unique DC storytelling element known today as the multiverse, where alternate realities sometimes explain how characters who used to be published by other companies suddenly exist in DC proper, or where problems of current continuity are resolved (such as the current series Earth 2, which revived the Justice Society).

As it was with the New Gods for a few years, the multiverse in its totality may be something only Morrison can approach and present in such a way that it stands a chance of being taken seriously.  It's one thing to have a standalone story take place in an alternate reality (one of the enduring examples of the abandoned Elseworlds brand is Superman: Red Son, which imagines, well, a Soviet Superman, although Morrison himself probably wouldn't like that example, since it was written by Mark Millar; he and Morrison were once good friends, but they aren't anymore), another to have them all running around at the same time.  A recipe for disaster.

Not for Morrison.  That's why he's taking the Seven Soldiers/Return of Bruce Wayne approach, but with a twist.  Each issue will feature a different alternate reality, but the interconnectedness of it is that it's all a mission to rescue Nix Uotan.

There are what might be considered meta tricks involved.  So what?  This is unabashedly Morrison's love letter to comic book geeks.  Perhaps that's all you really need to know.  It sounds complicated, but it's really just an excuse for him to let loose (hence Captain Carrot), and suitably, it's something of a fanfare for his current run with DC (he's been absent, actually, since Batman Incorporated and his Action Comics run wrapped up, which made the wait for this that much more interesting and all the more rewarding when it was finally announced to schedule, and of course now that it's finally in print).

For me, perhaps the most interesting thing about the debut issue is the appearance of Bloodwynd.

via The Escapist.  That dude in white is Bloodwynd

In his nonfiction book on superheroes, Supergods, Morrison thoroughly dismissed Bloodwynd as perhaps the prototypical DC version of the forgettable, laughable '90s comics image.  To see him in a Grant Morrison comic, then, is not only surprising, it may be the biggest turnaround in pop culture history (a slight exaggeration).  I happen to love Bloodwynd.  He was intriguing for all the right reasons, and perhaps disappeared at exactly the right moment, leaving his best moments still in his fans' imaginations.

Aside from that, the other character I loved seeing again was President Superman, who first appeared in Final Crisis and was also memorably the featured character in Action Comics #9:

via DC Wikia

I loved that issue, and at the time thought it might be a tease for Multiversity.  Turns out I nailed it.

Justice League #15 and 16 (DC)

writer: Geoff Johns
artist: Ivan Reis

(via dccomics.com)

"Throne of Atlantis" is the crossover event with Aquaman, also written by Geoff Johns.  These are the first two issues of the arc outside of the other series, showing how the conflict begins and how the League finds a formidable challenge in Ocean Master, Aquaman's brother and current holder of the eponymous rule.

Moreso than in Aquaman, Geoff does a good job of juggling ongoing arcs within Justice League itself, notably the relationship between Superman and Wonder Woman.  In #15 they talk about the concepts of secret identities, with Superman explaining what Clark Kent means to him, which also means Wonder Woman dons glasses in the New 52, as her civilian presence routinely did previously.  It's a sequence you wish could play longer, even though there's a lot of superhero goodness that follows, big epic stuff that Justice League has been doing since the start, what I've called the monthly event book, though after the first arc of the series this is the only the second instance where the book actually feels like an event.

A lot of that is owed to artist Ivan Reis, who is a regular collaborator of Geoff's in his Green Lantern work, including Blackest Night.  He knows exactly how to do big action, and these issues are almost worth it just to see him at work.  If anyone could follow Jim Lee, it's definitely Reis.

An interesting undercurrent of the issues is also Cyborg's continuing arc.  He's been a featured member of the League since the first issue, including his origin.  Originally Cyborg was a founding member of Marv Wolfman's New Teen Titans thirty years ago.  His graduation to the League was one of the biggest shifts in DC lore in the New 52, though Geoff has taken his time returning to him.  These issues feature as has been the undercurrent of his role Cyborg's conflicted feelings about being a man with so much machinery, fearing that he's losing his humanity.  Yet it's this concern that keeps him human.  Otherwise he can be fairly functional in nature, providing tech support in most situations.

By the end of #16 he's made a huge personal decision as well as the call to bring in backup for the League, essentially acting as the voice of the team.  Most of the other members tend to represent themselves first, and that's as much as it should be.  Cyborg is there not only as the only member without his own book, but as the glue that keeps it together and the connection to the larger community.  For the record, the faces seen on the last page are labeled Green Arrow (who previously failed to draft himself into the team), Shazam (who's the star of the backup feature and erstwhile Captain Marvel), Black Lightning, Hawkman, Black Canary, Firestorm, Vixen, Zatanna, Element Woman, and Goldrush.

Now, Firestorm just had his monthly book cancelled.  It seems whenever that happens the editor is quick to say the character will live on in a team book, and this is most times a totally wasted reassurance, because these appearances tend to be meaningless.  Geoff himself made good on this in Teen Titans when he redefined Bart Allen (formerly Impulse, since Kid Flash) and even Superboy, and Cyborg is all but another success in that regard.  Time will tell if Firestorm joins those ranks.

Element Woman, meanwhile, is a new version of a character associated with Metamorpho, who made her first appearance, technically speaking, in Geoff's Flashpoint.  Goldrush is an entirely new character, which is something that should happen in a Justice League book, especially one written by Geoff Johns.  The others are all more or less established players in League lore.  Vixen and Black Lightning are two characters who were elevated in previous revivals of the team, so it's good to see them back in the mix.

Shazam, meanwhile, continues in the backups with Geoff and Gary Frank.  He and friend Freddy Freeman are still trying to exploit his powers for mischief, but Billy Batson is beginning to learn that there are certain responsibilities involved as well.  He alienates Freddy when he claims he won't switch out of the Shazam form, but decides differently when Black Adam shows up and proves that it's after all not just fun and games.  To escape his dark mirror, Billy switches back to being a kid.  Black Adam was a signature element of 52, which Geoff wrote in conjunction with Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, and Greg Rucka.  Chances are that future installments will reflect the character's more subtle features.