So, Saturday was National Comic Book Geek Day, otherwise known as Free Comic Book Day, which to further clarify (because every time I bring up to my sisters, they assume you can pick up just any comic for free), is when pretty much every publisher puts out a special release that's absolutely free. It's the best comics advertising of the year, and what they provide often gives you keen insight to what they consider important.
Take DC, for instance. This year they published a special reprint edition of Suicide Squad, somewhat obviously because the next DC movie is...Suicide Squad. But more importantly, because DC's next big event is DC Rebirth...which is just around the corner, and the big reveals are waiting to be discovered in Justice League #50 and DC Rebirth Special. So this year there wasn't really much point in doing something other than what it did for the freebie. The company has brownie points to earn for its next movie, because no one actually thought Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was as cool as DC did, and Deadpool looked like it just created a revolution earlier this year, and so yeah, the somewhat tonally-similar Suicide Squad looks like a pretty good horse to back.
But enough about that. But a little more about movies! Because after visiting my local haunt, I went and saw Captain America: Civil War. It was a pretty good movie, all told. It's my favorite Avengers movie, somewhat easily, I might add. Although plot-wise it's full of holes (about as many as people tried really hard to see in Batman v Superman), it does the Marvel method better than any other in that franchise to date. So that's pretty cool.
Getting back to the comics, my local haunt put a three-book maximum, and so I had to be pretty careful. The first choice was really obvious, and so that left two. I'll walk you through my thought process:
Avatarex FCBD Special Preview (Graphic India)
This is Grant Morrison. You know Grant Morrison, right? Chances are, if you've read this blog at all, you'll catch a hint that he's one of my favorite comic book writers. So this was the gimme. Avatarex is something I first learned about last year, but it was a pretty exclusive affair in 2015, being available only through a special online bundle (I assume it was digital, but Graphic India did not go out of its way to make this easy to decipher). Once I'd read this preview, I found out what Avatarex is all about. Basically, it's Morrison's modern 18 Days, featuring Superman as depicted in Man of Steel and Batman v Superman. The whole thought process is very clearly spelled out in the preview. Also included in the preview is an excerpt from 18 Days, which is a project I've wandered from recently but fully intend to read completely at some point, because it's fascinating. This is the primordial superhero epic, the Crisis in Ancient India, as it were. Morrison himself isn't writing the complete story, which is part of the reason I've found it easy to stray, but it's such powerful stuff, a vision Graphic India would really have needed to screw up. And thankfully, from everything I've read to date, the company really hasn't. Which is really good. It's also good that we're getting a writer of Morrison's caliber presenting comics from a totally different landscape than we're used to. And bringing his A-game...
Civil War II FCBD (Marvel)
Brian Michael Bendis and Jim Cheung present this preview of the upcoming sequel (-ish thing). In terms of what they present here, I'm glad I read, and relished, Charles Soule's Secret Wars effort, because as of this material, I have no idea what the fight will be about. This is more like random material they tossed in (which is kind of how most of Captain America: Civil War plays out, but again, I say that out of admiration, because eventually, weird logic ensues), including completely downplaying Thanos. (Somewhere along the way, I have to assume someone making the movies decided Thanos wasn't as important to the overall arc as Joss Whedon suggested, because he's been almost completely insignificant, even in Guardians of the Galaxy.) Unlike the reprint synergy DC brought to FCBD this year, Marvel's just reads cynically. Which is weird, because Bendis is literally one of the chief sources of inspiration that brought about the hugely successful movies, and his work subsequently just looks like afterthought. Even weirder, the special also slips in a random All-New, All-Different Avengers excerpt, which is Mark Waid literally riffing on last year's Ant-Man. I just don't get it. Here's Marvel doing exactly what DC usually does, and ending up looking like it wasted the whole thing. But at least it reminds everyone that Marvel's got comics, too...
Valiant 4001 A.D. FCBD Special (Valiant)
This is a company I've grown quite fond of in the last year. I haven't been reading a lot of it lately, but it made for an easy selection, because there are various previews of upcoming projects, including the titular latest crossover event and Divinity II, both from writer Matt Kindt, who is easily the company's greatest steal, if nothing else than for his Divinity. The second volume of this saga looks just as fascinating as the first, with Kindt pulling back the curtain a little and having a look at the two cosmonauts left behind last time and maybe more about what's really going on. I look forward to reading more of that.
And finally, I was also to slip into another shop later in the day. Predictably, the pickings were slim, but I came away with:
Camp Midnight FCBD Special (Image)
In the spirit of Lumberjanes (which is a huge buzz book I've sampled thanks to comiXology), Camp Midnight is a young readers adventure set in summer camp. The writer is Steven S. Seagle, whom I'd shockingly not yet made a label here, despite his rather formative accomplishments (including the seminal if sparsely-referenced It's a Bird... Superman graphic novel). He's part of the creative group behind Ben 10 and Big Hero 6. And his writing chops are in evidence here, which is an excerpt from a graphic novel. A lot of times, material aimed at younger readers tries to be too clever, so that it ore represents Adult Swim-inspired material like Archer, or the caffeine-inspired cartoons that kids have today. Seagle wisely backs off from that approach, but still maintains an edge. Glad I had a second chance to catch a look.
It's also worth talking a little about the character of FCBD as I experienced it this year, in Virginia. My last two experiences were in Maine, and waiting in line there was a little like experiencing riffraff congregating (plus some Stormtrooper cosplay). This year I had a better sense of the comic book fans who saw this as a special occasion. I got to overhear, and participate, in some of the better chatter I've heard at a comic book store. These places can sometimes be a wretched hive of scum and villainy (it's no wonder geeks largely define the dialogue of the Internet), so it was nice to experience something better for a change.
On the whole, it was a pretty good day.
Showing posts with label Jim Cheung. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jim Cheung. Show all posts
Monday, May 9, 2016
Friday, June 27, 2014
Original Sin #0 (Marvel)
writer: Mark Waid
artist: Jim Cheung, Paco Medina
Original Sin is the current Marvel crossover event. I guess it's about guilt or something (kind of like the pain Sybok frees people from in the always-popular Star Trek V: The Final Frontier). Otherwise it's also known as a story that actually revolves around the Watcher (Marvel's version of the Observers from Fringe, which technically would be the other way around). Except it's a story that revolves around his murder! So, bummer.
artist: Jim Cheung, Paco Medina
 |
| via Inside Pulse |
I picked up this prelude on a whim during Free Comic Book Day (yes, I bought comics on Free Comic Book Day). While the actual mini-series is written by Jason Aaron (whom I still prefer to remember as the guy who did Scalped which, I'm just saying, would make an excellent TV series), this is issue is from Mark Waid.
Hey, Mark Waid! I love that guy! Wait, I used to love that guy. I've been of the opinion lately that he hasn't exactly been living up to his potential. No sweat, though, because there's not too much heavy lifting for him to do here. So what is he doing in the issue? Actually...writing a Nova story, apparently. Nova, as in the star of a reboot from last year that I loved...for exactly one issue. The reason I loved that issue so much is touched on in this story, but then Waid seems to forget what the moral of Sam Alexander's journey to date has been when he concludes that Sam always wanted to believe in his father. Which is kind of the opposite of the heart-tugging arc Jeph Loeb introduced and which has basically been discarded...for no reason in particular.
It's funny, because Nova is our guide in the story much in the way the Watcher famously was the guide for so many Marvel stories in the past. That was basically the character's claim to fame. I don't know if Waid and/or Jason Aaron came up with Watcher's backstory for Original Sin, but that's in this issue as well, and that's pretty cool. Adequately explains the character. That's good.
I don't have a particular opinion about Original Sin as a whole, however, because I'm not sure how much this issue really has to do with the rest of the story, because again, the event itself is about what happens after Watcher is murdered. He is not even bleeding by the end of this issue (what???). I really have no idea why Waid wrote this rather than Aaron. I guess because Marvel decided to have a prelude and Aaron was busy having already written his story.
Anyway. The thing about this story is that it also serves as Waid's return to juvenile superheroes. Famously, he created the character of Bart Allen, who started out known as Impulse and then Kid Flash, and I'm of the opinion that Waid and Humberto Ramos's Impulse was one of the indisputable finest comics of the '90s. (Ramos is currently best known for his work with another youthful character, Spider-Man.) I'm not sure the Waid I remember from Impulse shows up. I know, it's good for a writer to evolve, to not repeat themselves. But it seems like the Waid in this issue came from a young adult book, Suzanne Collins in The Hunger Games maybe.
Yeah, plenty of people would consider that a good thing.
Me, I had to look for other reasons to stay interested. Fortunately there was also artist Jim Cheung. Cheung is another guy who's done teenage comics before, Allan Heinberg's Young Avengers. So I'm always happy to see Cheung in action. His work is surprisingly versatile for a style that hasn't really changed in a decade. That remains true in this comic.
Of course, he's no more the artist in the rest of Original Sin than Waid is the writer. Go figure.
Was this worth reading? I guess. Even though it's Nova running around doing stuff and narrating throughout the issue, it's the Watcher who comes off best. A pity that the story this is attached to brings his future to an end.
Monday, May 5, 2014
Reading Comics #122 "Bull Moose Grab Bag"
I love grab bags. One of the shops I frequent these days, which is actually an indy music/movie chain store that also has comic books, is Bull Moose in Lewiston, Maine. I've gotten a few grab bags from them over the last few months, and during the course of my reviews of the stuff I've been reading lately you might have seen some fairly negative ones. Since I've cut back on my spending, I've been reading far fewer comics than I used to, only the stuff that I'm really certain I'll appreciate, so that's the secret origin of that. Bull Moose grab bags are a great bargain (since it's highly unlikely that there will be a lot of Lewiston, Maine, natives in my reading audience, this does not count as a shameless plug), ten recent comics for five bucks. "Recent" means within the past year, usually within the last few months (although the one I got this Saturday must have been one of the older bags they had, because its contents were near a year old).
So at this point I've decided to bring back the roundup feature I sometimes fall back on here. When there's something I haven't really enjoyed I don't have to try and justify it too much. But there can be real gems in the bunch as well!
Cable and X-Force #18 (Marvel)
Cable and Bishop are time-traveling mutants who are fascinating in theory but are more often than not incapable of living up to their potential, possibly because writers aren't really thinking about what they can do but rather what they can't, which is explore the dystopias they come from. Bishop has had a much rougher path to follow than Cable (notice which one is in the title, and has had a lot of series over the years and which...hasn't), although he's been a favorite of mine since I first saw him in the old early '90s X-Men cartoon. (Hey, and speaking of which, is either one of these guys in X-Men: Days of the Future Past?) They've got the same curse every Marvel mutant has, actually, only amplified. Everyone knows that the X-Men are supposed to be a persecuted lot, but the logical gymnastics writers take to keep them that way, or ignore this concept entirely, can sometimes be ridiculous. Recently they've settled on making more Magneto characters, which is to say compromised figures trying to do the right thing but making all the wrong moves (read: Cyclops). Add Bishop to that bunch, unfortunately. And so that's what this issue is all about. Apparently someone also thought it was a good idea to have not one but two teams of X-Force running around (because you can never have too many competing concepts in Marvel), and so that's also what this comic's about. It's not very good, alas. And the art looks a little weird at points. It screws up Cable, for instance. (Since when was his metallic arm a covering for an actual arm? Who am I kidding? I don't care!) Long story short: this is not a comic book I would have read deliberately.
Earth 2 #19 (DC)
I kept trying to find the recent annual that basically mainlined the awesome Flashpoint concept from a few years back of Thomas Wayne becoming Batman instead of his son, but failed everywhere I looked (even though I do digital comics now and am clearly aware of the Internet, I still love operating in the physical world), so it was pretty awesome to randomly come across an issue of the regular series. This series, in case you're not aware, is set in one of DC's alternate realities. It was launched by James Robinson as a surrogate Justice Society landscape but set in the same context as the debut arc from Geoff Johns' Justice League, so that the Darkseid siege of Earth was more successful and so everyone had to figure out how to pick up the pieces. At the start the new versions of the classic JSA superheroes were occupying a landscape devoid of the more familiar DC icons because those guys had been eliminated. But recently they've been resurfacing, including the new Batman. I think it's evolved beautifully, and under the auspices of Tom Taylor remains a leading contender for a mainstream superhero comic that you could pick as your standalone experience should you want to know what that's like without having to worry about picking up any other series. And this is a good issue. Like I've said about Justice League all along, Earth 2 could easily be construed as an ongoing event book. Closing in on two years, that's not a bad thing to consider reading at all. At the moment, Batman and the altered version of Superman have been occupying the center stage, coming ever closing to a reckoning. Well, like I said, good stuff.
Infinity #6 (Marvel)
This was last year's big Marvel event, sort of like something-something Thanos, something-something Inhumans (because Marvel keeps trying to make them a thing just like DC keeps trying to make the New Gods a thing, and only one of them actually has something interesting to explore) (and it's not Marvel). This was Jonathan Hickman's effort to duplicate the classic Jim Starlin stories featuring Thanos, no doubt thanks to the large-chin villain's cameo at the end of Avengers (although he won't appear as a main character until the third movie) (probably). I've always admired Hickman's ambition, but I'm not sure he's quite what Marvel keeps hoping he'll be, which is their own Grant Morrison. He's better than other writers who've tried to handle Thanos recently, but the result is still a fairly poor echo of Starlin's material. Still, the art is from Jim Cheung, who was half of the iconic original team on Young Avengers (along with Allan Heinberg). Good strong stuff there, anyway, as always. Glad to see him still considered a significant player.
Marvel Previews #14 (Marvel)
This is Marvel's separate catalog to the industry-standard, Diamond distributor version that handles...everyone else. I don't really know why this ended up in the grab bag. But it didn't exactly convince me to think any differently about Marvel's current output than I have been. On the cover is Nightcrawler, the latest returned-from-the-dead character. Oh, which reminds me, in case you had no idea, Nightcrawler's been dead lately. But apparently he got better.
Red Lanterns #25 (DC)
I haven't really been following the Green Lantern franchise, other than Geoff Johns, since the New 52 relaunch in 2011, but it's been nice knowing it exists, and in such force. One of the odder additions to the lineup was a Red Lanterns series, but it seems the longer it's lasted the better it's gotten. With Charles Soule, always good news, writing it these days, and Guy Gardner having become the face, it's probably as good or better than anything else you'll find in the lineup. Guy has repositioned the remaining members of the corps into defenders of his home turf, not so much on Earth but the territory (Space Sector 2814, to be precise). Soule has particular fun with Guy's allies, while he also continues the saga of Atrocitus, who once ruled the roost. It's as good a sci-fi title as I've read, which is actually pretty rare for a Green Lantern series. Which is pretty odd when you think about it.
The Sandman: Overture Special Edition #1 (Vertigo)
So, clearly I'm kind of the target audience for this series. I'm not sure how many new readers will be coming aboard for the journey, except maybe Neil Gaiman fans who came about after the end of the original series when he'd begun making a name for himself as a prose writer. The casual comics reader probably won't be spending too much time in the Vertigo sandbox, because with Image and a thousand indies running around, there's a lot more competition for the nonsuperhero set than ever before. As someone who loves Gaiman's Sandman but who hasn't read the complete series, I'm a curious phenomenon (for a lot of other reasons, too). I caught the original version of this debut issue of Overture, but was glad to randomly catch the special edition as well. It helped me digest it a little more, not just the bonus features, but being forced to read the comic itself over again. The Corinthian (the creepy dude with two additional mouths where his eyes ought to be) is in the spotlight once again, but only until our title hero stumbles into an existential conundrum that is not anywhere near finished by the end of the issue. Gaiman's approach is serialized in this effort, rather than in some of the fairly self-contained stories he told even in his arcs from the original Sandman. There's plenty to find familiar and interesting here. It certainly helps to have an artist the caliber of J.H. Williams III (there are few others capable of being anywhere near as awesome), whose sense of the page is virtually unparalleled, which as host of the special edition he's capable of walking through with the reader. If you're unsure of Overture, these special editions may actually be your better bet.
Sonic Universe #58 (Archie)
I'm just going to skip over this one. Better for you. Better for me. Better for them.
Swamp Thing #27 (DC)
There's whole corners of the New 52 landscape that have nothing to do with Superman or Batman or Green Lantern. No, really! One of them involves the so-called "dark" characters who most recently were handled by Vertigo rather than DC. Their return has been one of the most interesting things about the relauch (I know, if you hear much about it I bet you much more regularly hear all the complaints about what was lost rather than gained). I confess to not having really taken advantage of this stuff. But it's good. It's probably some of the best stuff DC has. But even fans who know about this corner find reasons to complain, especially since there have been a lot of crossovers. I don't see the problem with crossovers. If it's a shared universe, it's a lot more useful, sometimes, to have an out-and-out crossover rather than have a guest-star. Crossovers, when done right, have a good way of establishing context, and as far as I can tell, books like Swamp Thing have definitely understood that. Unsurprisingly, the writer here is also Charles Soule. The dude has quickly become indispensable. Where the heck did he come from??? A lot of what this particular character means comes from Alan Moore work from thirty years ago. This run, and even this very issue, is a chance for a fresh start. Good stuff.
Walking Dead #119 (Image)
(Comic Book Datebase locked me out of the issue listing without a login, so no cover for you.)
Obviously you know about Walking Dead. Whether from the comic or the TV series or both. Rather than discuss anything specifically from the issue, I want to address the letters column. In it, creator/writer Robert Kirkman discusses the future of the comic, how long he envisions it to last. A couple years ago he was talking a total length of 300 issues. And keep in mind we're only a third of the way there. But apparently now he's thinking 500. And he's already got fans talking about him padding his storytelling. Because of the huge success of the TV show, Kirkman could keep this thing going as long as he wants, long after the show is over. The one doesn't depend on the other. It just sounds ridiculous to me. No writer has five hundred issues worth of material to tell about one story. It's just this dude realizing he's got it made. No matter what else happens, he'll always have this in his back pocket. Now, there are certainly creators in any medium who spend their whole careers on the same property. In comics that's certainly been the case. But other than Dave Sim (who by the way did accomplish 300 issues, over the course of thirty years, on his Cerebus), there hasn't really been anyone who has managed to make such a dedicated run (it's worth noting Sim was his own artist). Kirkman probably ought to stop prognosticating. If fans are already complaining about his output now, he may have very few fans indeed decades from now who care about the latest shenanigans of survivors stumbling from scenario to scenario. Just saying.
Savage Wolverine #14 (Marvel)
Like Walking Dead above, I'm not really going to talk about the issue or the capable talents of Richard Isanove, but rather some of the ridiculous recent habits of Marvel. On the cover, as you can see, there's a giant #1 in the corner, even though this is not the first issue or some reboot (of a reboot of a reboot of a reboot...over the span of...just a handful of years). Marvel has always prided itself as never having rebooted its line. The stories you read today are theoretically related to stories that were done decades ago. And yet, there've been so many shenanigans that it doesn't really matter anymore. It's just one successful gimmick to keep fans interested after another. Such as the equally ridiculous Marvel Now! branding that is clearly Marvel's lackluster answer to DC's New 52. The cover also has the copy #14.now, which means...absolutely nothing. It's just one stupid, we're accessible! argument after another. I think in a few years Marvel will have finally worn out its welcome at the top. Hopefully. Well, I wish...
All images via Comic Book Database.
So at this point I've decided to bring back the roundup feature I sometimes fall back on here. When there's something I haven't really enjoyed I don't have to try and justify it too much. But there can be real gems in the bunch as well!
Cable and Bishop are time-traveling mutants who are fascinating in theory but are more often than not incapable of living up to their potential, possibly because writers aren't really thinking about what they can do but rather what they can't, which is explore the dystopias they come from. Bishop has had a much rougher path to follow than Cable (notice which one is in the title, and has had a lot of series over the years and which...hasn't), although he's been a favorite of mine since I first saw him in the old early '90s X-Men cartoon. (Hey, and speaking of which, is either one of these guys in X-Men: Days of the Future Past?) They've got the same curse every Marvel mutant has, actually, only amplified. Everyone knows that the X-Men are supposed to be a persecuted lot, but the logical gymnastics writers take to keep them that way, or ignore this concept entirely, can sometimes be ridiculous. Recently they've settled on making more Magneto characters, which is to say compromised figures trying to do the right thing but making all the wrong moves (read: Cyclops). Add Bishop to that bunch, unfortunately. And so that's what this issue is all about. Apparently someone also thought it was a good idea to have not one but two teams of X-Force running around (because you can never have too many competing concepts in Marvel), and so that's also what this comic's about. It's not very good, alas. And the art looks a little weird at points. It screws up Cable, for instance. (Since when was his metallic arm a covering for an actual arm? Who am I kidding? I don't care!) Long story short: this is not a comic book I would have read deliberately.
I kept trying to find the recent annual that basically mainlined the awesome Flashpoint concept from a few years back of Thomas Wayne becoming Batman instead of his son, but failed everywhere I looked (even though I do digital comics now and am clearly aware of the Internet, I still love operating in the physical world), so it was pretty awesome to randomly come across an issue of the regular series. This series, in case you're not aware, is set in one of DC's alternate realities. It was launched by James Robinson as a surrogate Justice Society landscape but set in the same context as the debut arc from Geoff Johns' Justice League, so that the Darkseid siege of Earth was more successful and so everyone had to figure out how to pick up the pieces. At the start the new versions of the classic JSA superheroes were occupying a landscape devoid of the more familiar DC icons because those guys had been eliminated. But recently they've been resurfacing, including the new Batman. I think it's evolved beautifully, and under the auspices of Tom Taylor remains a leading contender for a mainstream superhero comic that you could pick as your standalone experience should you want to know what that's like without having to worry about picking up any other series. And this is a good issue. Like I've said about Justice League all along, Earth 2 could easily be construed as an ongoing event book. Closing in on two years, that's not a bad thing to consider reading at all. At the moment, Batman and the altered version of Superman have been occupying the center stage, coming ever closing to a reckoning. Well, like I said, good stuff.
This was last year's big Marvel event, sort of like something-something Thanos, something-something Inhumans (because Marvel keeps trying to make them a thing just like DC keeps trying to make the New Gods a thing, and only one of them actually has something interesting to explore) (and it's not Marvel). This was Jonathan Hickman's effort to duplicate the classic Jim Starlin stories featuring Thanos, no doubt thanks to the large-chin villain's cameo at the end of Avengers (although he won't appear as a main character until the third movie) (probably). I've always admired Hickman's ambition, but I'm not sure he's quite what Marvel keeps hoping he'll be, which is their own Grant Morrison. He's better than other writers who've tried to handle Thanos recently, but the result is still a fairly poor echo of Starlin's material. Still, the art is from Jim Cheung, who was half of the iconic original team on Young Avengers (along with Allan Heinberg). Good strong stuff there, anyway, as always. Glad to see him still considered a significant player.
Marvel Previews #14 (Marvel)
This is Marvel's separate catalog to the industry-standard, Diamond distributor version that handles...everyone else. I don't really know why this ended up in the grab bag. But it didn't exactly convince me to think any differently about Marvel's current output than I have been. On the cover is Nightcrawler, the latest returned-from-the-dead character. Oh, which reminds me, in case you had no idea, Nightcrawler's been dead lately. But apparently he got better.
I haven't really been following the Green Lantern franchise, other than Geoff Johns, since the New 52 relaunch in 2011, but it's been nice knowing it exists, and in such force. One of the odder additions to the lineup was a Red Lanterns series, but it seems the longer it's lasted the better it's gotten. With Charles Soule, always good news, writing it these days, and Guy Gardner having become the face, it's probably as good or better than anything else you'll find in the lineup. Guy has repositioned the remaining members of the corps into defenders of his home turf, not so much on Earth but the territory (Space Sector 2814, to be precise). Soule has particular fun with Guy's allies, while he also continues the saga of Atrocitus, who once ruled the roost. It's as good a sci-fi title as I've read, which is actually pretty rare for a Green Lantern series. Which is pretty odd when you think about it.
So, clearly I'm kind of the target audience for this series. I'm not sure how many new readers will be coming aboard for the journey, except maybe Neil Gaiman fans who came about after the end of the original series when he'd begun making a name for himself as a prose writer. The casual comics reader probably won't be spending too much time in the Vertigo sandbox, because with Image and a thousand indies running around, there's a lot more competition for the nonsuperhero set than ever before. As someone who loves Gaiman's Sandman but who hasn't read the complete series, I'm a curious phenomenon (for a lot of other reasons, too). I caught the original version of this debut issue of Overture, but was glad to randomly catch the special edition as well. It helped me digest it a little more, not just the bonus features, but being forced to read the comic itself over again. The Corinthian (the creepy dude with two additional mouths where his eyes ought to be) is in the spotlight once again, but only until our title hero stumbles into an existential conundrum that is not anywhere near finished by the end of the issue. Gaiman's approach is serialized in this effort, rather than in some of the fairly self-contained stories he told even in his arcs from the original Sandman. There's plenty to find familiar and interesting here. It certainly helps to have an artist the caliber of J.H. Williams III (there are few others capable of being anywhere near as awesome), whose sense of the page is virtually unparalleled, which as host of the special edition he's capable of walking through with the reader. If you're unsure of Overture, these special editions may actually be your better bet.
I'm just going to skip over this one. Better for you. Better for me. Better for them.
There's whole corners of the New 52 landscape that have nothing to do with Superman or Batman or Green Lantern. No, really! One of them involves the so-called "dark" characters who most recently were handled by Vertigo rather than DC. Their return has been one of the most interesting things about the relauch (I know, if you hear much about it I bet you much more regularly hear all the complaints about what was lost rather than gained). I confess to not having really taken advantage of this stuff. But it's good. It's probably some of the best stuff DC has. But even fans who know about this corner find reasons to complain, especially since there have been a lot of crossovers. I don't see the problem with crossovers. If it's a shared universe, it's a lot more useful, sometimes, to have an out-and-out crossover rather than have a guest-star. Crossovers, when done right, have a good way of establishing context, and as far as I can tell, books like Swamp Thing have definitely understood that. Unsurprisingly, the writer here is also Charles Soule. The dude has quickly become indispensable. Where the heck did he come from??? A lot of what this particular character means comes from Alan Moore work from thirty years ago. This run, and even this very issue, is a chance for a fresh start. Good stuff.
Walking Dead #119 (Image)
(Comic Book Datebase locked me out of the issue listing without a login, so no cover for you.)
Obviously you know about Walking Dead. Whether from the comic or the TV series or both. Rather than discuss anything specifically from the issue, I want to address the letters column. In it, creator/writer Robert Kirkman discusses the future of the comic, how long he envisions it to last. A couple years ago he was talking a total length of 300 issues. And keep in mind we're only a third of the way there. But apparently now he's thinking 500. And he's already got fans talking about him padding his storytelling. Because of the huge success of the TV show, Kirkman could keep this thing going as long as he wants, long after the show is over. The one doesn't depend on the other. It just sounds ridiculous to me. No writer has five hundred issues worth of material to tell about one story. It's just this dude realizing he's got it made. No matter what else happens, he'll always have this in his back pocket. Now, there are certainly creators in any medium who spend their whole careers on the same property. In comics that's certainly been the case. But other than Dave Sim (who by the way did accomplish 300 issues, over the course of thirty years, on his Cerebus), there hasn't really been anyone who has managed to make such a dedicated run (it's worth noting Sim was his own artist). Kirkman probably ought to stop prognosticating. If fans are already complaining about his output now, he may have very few fans indeed decades from now who care about the latest shenanigans of survivors stumbling from scenario to scenario. Just saying.
Like Walking Dead above, I'm not really going to talk about the issue or the capable talents of Richard Isanove, but rather some of the ridiculous recent habits of Marvel. On the cover, as you can see, there's a giant #1 in the corner, even though this is not the first issue or some reboot (of a reboot of a reboot of a reboot...over the span of...just a handful of years). Marvel has always prided itself as never having rebooted its line. The stories you read today are theoretically related to stories that were done decades ago. And yet, there've been so many shenanigans that it doesn't really matter anymore. It's just one successful gimmick to keep fans interested after another. Such as the equally ridiculous Marvel Now! branding that is clearly Marvel's lackluster answer to DC's New 52. The cover also has the copy #14.now, which means...absolutely nothing. It's just one stupid, we're accessible! argument after another. I think in a few years Marvel will have finally worn out its welcome at the top. Hopefully. Well, I wish...
All images via Comic Book Database.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
My All-time Favorite Comic Books, 25-21
Every comic book reader worth their salt has a list of their favorite comics, the ones they treasure the most and most recommend to new and fellow readers. Here's mine:
#25. Spider-Man Reign
Creators: Kaare Andrews
Publication dates: 2007
Issues: 1-4
This is my personal favorite version of The Dark Knight Returns, one of the most famous Batman stories ever told. Marvel was a little slow to respond to it, but along with the excellent Wolverine story arc "Old Man Logan," it was easily Spider-Man Reign that finally rose to the challenge. Where Reign trumps DKR is its ability to capture the essential message of the lead character in a way that goes backward and forward. In the future, Peter Parker is an old man who once more dons his costume to battle an insidious plot to enslave all of New York City. It's the quintessential "pathetic loner" Spider-Man story, told evocatively and sparsely, featuring most of the familiar supporting cast although each of them in surprising ways. When you picture Spider-Man you usually have the wise-cracker in mind, but far more deep to the core is a guy who has never fit in and never quite got over that feeling of exclusion. That's what this story is all about, how the story ends for one of the greatest heroes ever.
#24. Mister X
Creators: Dean Motter
Publication dates: 1984-present
Issues: 1-14, Brides of Mister X, Condemned, Eviction, Hard Candy
One of the greatest comic book characters I've ever read isn't a superhero, but rather Dean Motter's archetypal retro-futurist creation, the reclusive Mister X, originally published by Vortex Comics but by increasing demand finally staging a comeback at Dark Horse with new graphic novel releases every few years. Along with Motter has been a number of other creators who have helped shape one of the most breathtaking artistic achievements in comics history, comparable to Will Eisner's more famous Spirit, creating an impact that's still only beginning to be felt.
#23. Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason's Batman and Robin
Creators: Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason
Publication dates: 2011-present
Issues: Batman and Robin Vol. 1 20-22, Vol. 2 0-present
I've been increasingly impressed with this dynamic duo, who first came together for Green Lantern Corps and were later again paired together in the pages of Brightest Day. Yet it's in Batman and Robin where Tomasi and Gleason have truly peaked (so far), creating a book that's almost a companion to contemporary Batman lore, offering the best commentaries on current storylines while also immersing themselves in the private lives of Bruce Wayne and his son Damian. Key issues include #0 (Damian's origin) and 23 (a perfect eulogy to Damian's death). Bucking every expectation, this has the potential to climb much higher. Or Tomasi and Gleason can somehow top themselves in a different collaboration entirely.
#22. Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung's Young Avengers
Creators: Allan Heinberg, Jim Cheung
Publication dates: 2005-2012
Issues: 1-12, Avengers: The Children's Crusade 1-9
To my mind still the most perfect of the monthly depictions of the Marvel universe, even if it lasted for one year and then years later for a reprise about as long. Heinberg took the Infinity Inc. formula of looking at how the next generation of famous archetypes would perform (a thing Marvel had tried before in things like M2 and 2099) and perfected it, with an entire bumper crop of characters with the same angst as the '60s boom generation and all the room to explore and grow as their story continued. Children's Crusade remains inexplicably underrated, even though it was the sequel to House of M years in the making and completely unexpected, as well as a natural sequel to Heinberg and Cheung's original run.
#21. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's Challengers of the Unknown
Creators: Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale
Publication dates: 1991
Issues: 1-8
Later collected under the title Challengers of the Unknown Must Die!, this is Loeb and Sale's earliest and to my mind best collaboration, a complete deconstruction of the superhero narrative in a way Watchmen could only dream, literary and therefore mostly untouchable to anyone expecting traditional material. And the fact that it features a group of undiscovered icons makes it all the better.
(All covers via Comic Book Database.)
#25. Spider-Man Reign
Publication dates: 2007
Issues: 1-4
This is my personal favorite version of The Dark Knight Returns, one of the most famous Batman stories ever told. Marvel was a little slow to respond to it, but along with the excellent Wolverine story arc "Old Man Logan," it was easily Spider-Man Reign that finally rose to the challenge. Where Reign trumps DKR is its ability to capture the essential message of the lead character in a way that goes backward and forward. In the future, Peter Parker is an old man who once more dons his costume to battle an insidious plot to enslave all of New York City. It's the quintessential "pathetic loner" Spider-Man story, told evocatively and sparsely, featuring most of the familiar supporting cast although each of them in surprising ways. When you picture Spider-Man you usually have the wise-cracker in mind, but far more deep to the core is a guy who has never fit in and never quite got over that feeling of exclusion. That's what this story is all about, how the story ends for one of the greatest heroes ever.
#24. Mister X
Creators: Dean Motter
Publication dates: 1984-present
Issues: 1-14, Brides of Mister X, Condemned, Eviction, Hard Candy
One of the greatest comic book characters I've ever read isn't a superhero, but rather Dean Motter's archetypal retro-futurist creation, the reclusive Mister X, originally published by Vortex Comics but by increasing demand finally staging a comeback at Dark Horse with new graphic novel releases every few years. Along with Motter has been a number of other creators who have helped shape one of the most breathtaking artistic achievements in comics history, comparable to Will Eisner's more famous Spirit, creating an impact that's still only beginning to be felt.
#23. Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason's Batman and Robin
Creators: Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason
Publication dates: 2011-present
Issues: Batman and Robin Vol. 1 20-22, Vol. 2 0-present
I've been increasingly impressed with this dynamic duo, who first came together for Green Lantern Corps and were later again paired together in the pages of Brightest Day. Yet it's in Batman and Robin where Tomasi and Gleason have truly peaked (so far), creating a book that's almost a companion to contemporary Batman lore, offering the best commentaries on current storylines while also immersing themselves in the private lives of Bruce Wayne and his son Damian. Key issues include #0 (Damian's origin) and 23 (a perfect eulogy to Damian's death). Bucking every expectation, this has the potential to climb much higher. Or Tomasi and Gleason can somehow top themselves in a different collaboration entirely.
#22. Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung's Young Avengers
Creators: Allan Heinberg, Jim Cheung
Publication dates: 2005-2012
Issues: 1-12, Avengers: The Children's Crusade 1-9
To my mind still the most perfect of the monthly depictions of the Marvel universe, even if it lasted for one year and then years later for a reprise about as long. Heinberg took the Infinity Inc. formula of looking at how the next generation of famous archetypes would perform (a thing Marvel had tried before in things like M2 and 2099) and perfected it, with an entire bumper crop of characters with the same angst as the '60s boom generation and all the room to explore and grow as their story continued. Children's Crusade remains inexplicably underrated, even though it was the sequel to House of M years in the making and completely unexpected, as well as a natural sequel to Heinberg and Cheung's original run.
#21. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's Challengers of the Unknown
Creators: Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale
Publication dates: 1991
Issues: 1-8
Later collected under the title Challengers of the Unknown Must Die!, this is Loeb and Sale's earliest and to my mind best collaboration, a complete deconstruction of the superhero narrative in a way Watchmen could only dream, literary and therefore mostly untouchable to anyone expecting traditional material. And the fact that it features a group of undiscovered icons makes it all the better.
(All covers via Comic Book Database.)
Monday, May 6, 2013
Reading Comics #113 "Free Comic Book Day, Part 2"
By Saturday evening I'd lost my opportunity to experience Free Comic Book Day in its purest form, and yet the hangover proved perhaps more interesting than the regularly-scheduled celebration. I've previously discussed my visit to Muse Comics in Colorado Springs on the day itself. Now we'll talk about Sunday.
There are a surprising number of comic book stores in Colorado Springs. As of this year there are even two shops for Escape Velocity, formerly known as Bargain Comics, which should be considered the godfather of them all. There's also Heroes & Dragons, which was my entry point in the city when I moved here in 2007. Ed's Cards and Comics is the third of these, rounding out the shops carrying new releases on a regular basis. Yesterday I didn't go to any of these. Instead I felt like making a trip to CK Comics in Manitou Springs, just to visit it for the first time.
After some initial scouring I wasn't terribly impressed. It seemed like much more of a comics novelty shop than anything, and doesn't even overtly display new releases. Yet it had been advertised by the FCBD site as participating in the event. I already knew that Heroes & Dragons doesn't participate. Escape Velocity is usually good to have some extra copies after the day itself, but doubtfully the main ones. So CK it was...hopefully. I looked and I looked. Eventually I found one of those comic book boxes on the floor, and it contains oodles of FCBD comics. Not all of them, but at this point I'm far more of a beggar than a chooser, right?
Still, this was a bountiful offering. Here's what I got and what I thought of them:
Bongo Free-for-All (Bongo)
This publisher almost exclusively deals with Simpsons comics (with Futurama tossed in every now and again). I've read some of it, strictly on a sporadic basis. I love the cartoon, have for years (but mostly must abstain from the ever-persistent is-it-worse-than-before? debate as I don't get to watch on a regular basis these days, although every time I've watched new episodes I've still been amused), and the comics do a good job of capturing its spirit in a different format. The characters do in fact translate well even without their distinctive voices. There are several stories in the issue. The first involves Bart behaving atypically well, which itself isn't the apocalyptic development everyone takes t for, but merely the result of a bet he made with Milhouse, his best friend. It's the lead and best story. Another one features L'il Homer concerning his reluctance to take a bath and his father (known as Grampa or Abe) trying to tell him a cautionary tale that is welcomed much differently than intended. The art takes subtle liberties from the Matt Groening archetypes, which is always nice to see.
Chakra the Invincible (Graphic India)
The most notable thing about this one is that it's the latest of the latter-day Stan Lee creations. What's different about this one is that it's very much from the basic '60s archetype (I guess that's the word of the day) he established at Marvel, set in India. I don't know if there's a wide American audience for this, but seems much more natural and capable of sustaining more than just a novelty act than just about anything he's done for years. He's credited for concept and story, but he's not a writer. The other thing of note is the "Invincible" subtitle. Invincible is also a long-running Robert Kirkman series over at Image (a hundred issues and counting!), so it's a little funny to see this word (also frequently used in association with Iron Man) in use again.
Grimm #0 (Dynamite)
Dynamite is one of many smaller publishers that lives and breathes on licensed comics and established properties. Grimm is also a TV series, one that seems to be amassing a cult audience that grows over time. It's pretty clever, and this issue explains the whole concept, how the main character is a descendant of the famous brothers who helped codify fairy tales. He alone is capable of seeing the true faces of the monsters who have integrated themselves into modern society. The issue also includes a preview for the upcoming Damsels, which is a lot like what Bill Willingham has been doing in Vertigo's Fables, or the TV series Once Upon a Time, or even the cheesecakey comics of Zenescope. The writers, Leah Moore and John Reppion, have been Dynamite's in-house literary classics/adaptation experts since their work with Alice in Wonderland and Dracula. With the success of this spring's Oz the Great and Powerful in movie theaters, it may very well prove that fairy tale characters are due to succeed vampires and zombies as the new obsession.
Infinity (Marvel)
A preview for an upcoming event book, Infinity is also a canny bid to capitalize on the appearance of Thanos in the credits of last summer's blockbuster Avengers flick. The company is making a concerted effort to shift its space-based properties to greater prominence, and this is a huge art of that. The writer is Jonathan Hickman, who continues to try and elevate his name in the comics pantheon (Thanos was previously the baby of legend Jim Starlin). The title is a nod to the classic Infinity Gauntlet (and its various sequels), which is also one of the odd bit of convergences between Marvel and DC, which bases a lot of its legacy on Crisis on Infinite Earths (and its various sequels). Most of this preview with weird alien creatures and a mythology that only in its final pages points to Thanos, thereby making the whole thing exactly like Avengers. (Marvel tends to repeat itself a lot.) The artist is Jim Cheung, whom I still associate with the original Young Avengers. He's got a playful yet serious style, which looks quite different in this altered context. There's also a reprint of a vintage Thanos appearance. For the record, Thanos has my vote as undisputed best Marvel villain.
KaBoom! Summer Blast! (Boom!)
KaBoom is the young readers imprint of Boom!, a company that at this point might as well admit that it has all but been driven into irrelevance by the licensed properties on display here. Adventure Time is a crudely animated cartoon series that captures the spirit of the way children play (when they're playing something other than video games). Amusingly (and confusingly), the story of Finn and Jake featured here takes the form of the classic Choose Your Own Adventure books. There are a lot of crazy arrows directing how to read it, but it's almost as much fun (and appropriate) to read all of the possible directions at the same time. There are a few other such segments (including one based on te Ice Age movies), and there are also ones based on Peanuts and Garfield, two classic comic strips. Peanuts creator Charles Schulz has been dead for more than a decade, and newspapers have continued to rerun the old strips, plus the regular airing of the Christmas TV special, but it's good that these characters live on in new adventures. Amusingly, this one is all about Charlie Brown teaching the reader how to draw Linus, all while obsessing over baseball. In fact, he uses baseball images to guide the entire process! It's good stuff. If this special guides readers to any of the featured titles, would think they would undoubtedly be Adventure Time and Peanuts, unless readers don't like imaginative storytelling.
Star Wars/Captain Midnight/Avatar: The Last Airbender (Dark Horse)
This one's a grab bag, too, features three different spotlights, two of which are featured on the flipbook format's covers (the first and last I've listed). I'm mostly familiar with Last Airbender thanks to the M. Night Shyamalan movie (which I loved). The story in this issue is a tad like the Phil Hester comic I talked about in Part 1 of this FCBD series. The Captain Midnight episode, meanwhile, is part of the company's periodic effort to enter the superhero game, mostly using characters they tried in the '90s as well. A lot of these smaller publishers seem to equate prior publishing history as a built-in legacy that will compete with those of DC and Marvel. I think they're slightly mistaken. Captain Midnight is very much a pulp hero, which is something Dark Horse is going for this time (and so did DC when it did the Doc Savage comics a few years ago, in a line that also revived Will Eisner's The Spirit, while some other publishers are doing every unsigned Golden Age hero). Anyway, the final one is Brian Wood on Star Wars. Dark Horse has done thousands of Star Wars comics at this point, as much the definition of the expanded saga as any of the books. "Expanded" means mostly noncanonical, but that doesn't seem to bother the publisher. Wood is an indy star, and has recently burnished that reputation with Dark Horse as writer of The Massive (which reminded me of an earlier and superior series from the same publisher known as Zero Killer). He seems to think it's just as well as anyone else who has written Star Wars in comics or books to pretty much play fast and loose with logic in order to have "kewl" moments. In fact, that's what his whole story with Darth Vader, set just before the events of A New Hope, is all about, and yes, Boba Fett (as is often the case with these comics) is shoehorned into the story. Although Dark Horse does score some points from me for the soon-to-launch comics based on George Lucas's original notes for The Star Wars.
The Walking Dead (Image)
The extremely clever thing that Robert Kirkman did for this special issue was to include new material. Most of it is reprinted from origins of characters like Michonne and the Governor (both of whom were heavily featured in the latest season of the TV series), but one of the more obscure characters (as far as my experience goes) also gets some significant love. Tyreese appeared pretty early in the comics, but has really only just popped in the series. He's the one who gets the exclusive material. Apparently he was envisioned as the replacement Shane, who in my mind not only completely stole the second season but was also the best reason to watch both the season and series as a whole, emblematic of what I think is the true strength of the series, not the sensationalism but the very human foibles on display, whether in extreme circumstances or otherwise (although yes, Darryl was an immediate standout for me, too). I've read the comic sporadically (although pretty regularly for a few months), but I think the series does it more justice. Kirkman, especially in this special spotlighting reactions to a suddenly apocalyptic setting, does a good job of being thought-provoking, but I'm not sure if he's just incredibly cynical (although not as much as Cormac McCarthy was in The Road, and certainly not as redemptive as Stephen King in The Stand) or taking an extremely long time to explore his story (he says he envisions two hundred [or maybe it was three?] issues), and that just seems excessive and leaves most of it seem unfocused rather than methodical.
There are a surprising number of comic book stores in Colorado Springs. As of this year there are even two shops for Escape Velocity, formerly known as Bargain Comics, which should be considered the godfather of them all. There's also Heroes & Dragons, which was my entry point in the city when I moved here in 2007. Ed's Cards and Comics is the third of these, rounding out the shops carrying new releases on a regular basis. Yesterday I didn't go to any of these. Instead I felt like making a trip to CK Comics in Manitou Springs, just to visit it for the first time.
After some initial scouring I wasn't terribly impressed. It seemed like much more of a comics novelty shop than anything, and doesn't even overtly display new releases. Yet it had been advertised by the FCBD site as participating in the event. I already knew that Heroes & Dragons doesn't participate. Escape Velocity is usually good to have some extra copies after the day itself, but doubtfully the main ones. So CK it was...hopefully. I looked and I looked. Eventually I found one of those comic book boxes on the floor, and it contains oodles of FCBD comics. Not all of them, but at this point I'm far more of a beggar than a chooser, right?
Still, this was a bountiful offering. Here's what I got and what I thought of them:
Bongo Free-for-All (Bongo)
This publisher almost exclusively deals with Simpsons comics (with Futurama tossed in every now and again). I've read some of it, strictly on a sporadic basis. I love the cartoon, have for years (but mostly must abstain from the ever-persistent is-it-worse-than-before? debate as I don't get to watch on a regular basis these days, although every time I've watched new episodes I've still been amused), and the comics do a good job of capturing its spirit in a different format. The characters do in fact translate well even without their distinctive voices. There are several stories in the issue. The first involves Bart behaving atypically well, which itself isn't the apocalyptic development everyone takes t for, but merely the result of a bet he made with Milhouse, his best friend. It's the lead and best story. Another one features L'il Homer concerning his reluctance to take a bath and his father (known as Grampa or Abe) trying to tell him a cautionary tale that is welcomed much differently than intended. The art takes subtle liberties from the Matt Groening archetypes, which is always nice to see.
Chakra the Invincible (Graphic India)
The most notable thing about this one is that it's the latest of the latter-day Stan Lee creations. What's different about this one is that it's very much from the basic '60s archetype (I guess that's the word of the day) he established at Marvel, set in India. I don't know if there's a wide American audience for this, but seems much more natural and capable of sustaining more than just a novelty act than just about anything he's done for years. He's credited for concept and story, but he's not a writer. The other thing of note is the "Invincible" subtitle. Invincible is also a long-running Robert Kirkman series over at Image (a hundred issues and counting!), so it's a little funny to see this word (also frequently used in association with Iron Man) in use again.
Grimm #0 (Dynamite)
Dynamite is one of many smaller publishers that lives and breathes on licensed comics and established properties. Grimm is also a TV series, one that seems to be amassing a cult audience that grows over time. It's pretty clever, and this issue explains the whole concept, how the main character is a descendant of the famous brothers who helped codify fairy tales. He alone is capable of seeing the true faces of the monsters who have integrated themselves into modern society. The issue also includes a preview for the upcoming Damsels, which is a lot like what Bill Willingham has been doing in Vertigo's Fables, or the TV series Once Upon a Time, or even the cheesecakey comics of Zenescope. The writers, Leah Moore and John Reppion, have been Dynamite's in-house literary classics/adaptation experts since their work with Alice in Wonderland and Dracula. With the success of this spring's Oz the Great and Powerful in movie theaters, it may very well prove that fairy tale characters are due to succeed vampires and zombies as the new obsession.
Infinity (Marvel)
A preview for an upcoming event book, Infinity is also a canny bid to capitalize on the appearance of Thanos in the credits of last summer's blockbuster Avengers flick. The company is making a concerted effort to shift its space-based properties to greater prominence, and this is a huge art of that. The writer is Jonathan Hickman, who continues to try and elevate his name in the comics pantheon (Thanos was previously the baby of legend Jim Starlin). The title is a nod to the classic Infinity Gauntlet (and its various sequels), which is also one of the odd bit of convergences between Marvel and DC, which bases a lot of its legacy on Crisis on Infinite Earths (and its various sequels). Most of this preview with weird alien creatures and a mythology that only in its final pages points to Thanos, thereby making the whole thing exactly like Avengers. (Marvel tends to repeat itself a lot.) The artist is Jim Cheung, whom I still associate with the original Young Avengers. He's got a playful yet serious style, which looks quite different in this altered context. There's also a reprint of a vintage Thanos appearance. For the record, Thanos has my vote as undisputed best Marvel villain.
KaBoom! Summer Blast! (Boom!)
KaBoom is the young readers imprint of Boom!, a company that at this point might as well admit that it has all but been driven into irrelevance by the licensed properties on display here. Adventure Time is a crudely animated cartoon series that captures the spirit of the way children play (when they're playing something other than video games). Amusingly (and confusingly), the story of Finn and Jake featured here takes the form of the classic Choose Your Own Adventure books. There are a lot of crazy arrows directing how to read it, but it's almost as much fun (and appropriate) to read all of the possible directions at the same time. There are a few other such segments (including one based on te Ice Age movies), and there are also ones based on Peanuts and Garfield, two classic comic strips. Peanuts creator Charles Schulz has been dead for more than a decade, and newspapers have continued to rerun the old strips, plus the regular airing of the Christmas TV special, but it's good that these characters live on in new adventures. Amusingly, this one is all about Charlie Brown teaching the reader how to draw Linus, all while obsessing over baseball. In fact, he uses baseball images to guide the entire process! It's good stuff. If this special guides readers to any of the featured titles, would think they would undoubtedly be Adventure Time and Peanuts, unless readers don't like imaginative storytelling.
Star Wars/Captain Midnight/Avatar: The Last Airbender (Dark Horse)
This one's a grab bag, too, features three different spotlights, two of which are featured on the flipbook format's covers (the first and last I've listed). I'm mostly familiar with Last Airbender thanks to the M. Night Shyamalan movie (which I loved). The story in this issue is a tad like the Phil Hester comic I talked about in Part 1 of this FCBD series. The Captain Midnight episode, meanwhile, is part of the company's periodic effort to enter the superhero game, mostly using characters they tried in the '90s as well. A lot of these smaller publishers seem to equate prior publishing history as a built-in legacy that will compete with those of DC and Marvel. I think they're slightly mistaken. Captain Midnight is very much a pulp hero, which is something Dark Horse is going for this time (and so did DC when it did the Doc Savage comics a few years ago, in a line that also revived Will Eisner's The Spirit, while some other publishers are doing every unsigned Golden Age hero). Anyway, the final one is Brian Wood on Star Wars. Dark Horse has done thousands of Star Wars comics at this point, as much the definition of the expanded saga as any of the books. "Expanded" means mostly noncanonical, but that doesn't seem to bother the publisher. Wood is an indy star, and has recently burnished that reputation with Dark Horse as writer of The Massive (which reminded me of an earlier and superior series from the same publisher known as Zero Killer). He seems to think it's just as well as anyone else who has written Star Wars in comics or books to pretty much play fast and loose with logic in order to have "kewl" moments. In fact, that's what his whole story with Darth Vader, set just before the events of A New Hope, is all about, and yes, Boba Fett (as is often the case with these comics) is shoehorned into the story. Although Dark Horse does score some points from me for the soon-to-launch comics based on George Lucas's original notes for The Star Wars.
The Walking Dead (Image)
The extremely clever thing that Robert Kirkman did for this special issue was to include new material. Most of it is reprinted from origins of characters like Michonne and the Governor (both of whom were heavily featured in the latest season of the TV series), but one of the more obscure characters (as far as my experience goes) also gets some significant love. Tyreese appeared pretty early in the comics, but has really only just popped in the series. He's the one who gets the exclusive material. Apparently he was envisioned as the replacement Shane, who in my mind not only completely stole the second season but was also the best reason to watch both the season and series as a whole, emblematic of what I think is the true strength of the series, not the sensationalism but the very human foibles on display, whether in extreme circumstances or otherwise (although yes, Darryl was an immediate standout for me, too). I've read the comic sporadically (although pretty regularly for a few months), but I think the series does it more justice. Kirkman, especially in this special spotlighting reactions to a suddenly apocalyptic setting, does a good job of being thought-provoking, but I'm not sure if he's just incredibly cynical (although not as much as Cormac McCarthy was in The Road, and certainly not as redemptive as Stephen King in The Stand) or taking an extremely long time to explore his story (he says he envisions two hundred [or maybe it was three?] issues), and that just seems excessive and leaves most of it seem unfocused rather than methodical.
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