Pandemic Comics #8 “Mark Waid and the Khunds Appear In These, But Not Together”

More comics from the Mile High mystery boxes...

The Justice Society Returns: National Comics #1
Here’s Mark Waid writing the Flash. No, not Wally West, Jay Garrick! But Waid actually gives more focus to the original Mister Terrific, whom he characterizes as...great at everything. I don’t know if it’s only in comics, but it’s really funny how in comics the idea of the renaissance man is such a cartoon, that not only are these people better at one thing than has ever been humanly achieved before, they’re better at a wide range of things. I don’t think comic book writers understand how this works. They really don’t understand how Olympic athletes perform, for instance. They seem to assume that because someone has reached the Olympics they’re absolutely flawless. Anyone who has ever watched the Olympics knows even the winners often show flaws, and a lot of reaching the gold medal is that the vast majority of the field has flubbed horribly. This is not to say that just anyone could beat them. It takes real talent, but real talent does not mean it comes without flaws...Anyway.

The Kingdom: Son of the Bat #1
Here’s Mark Waid again (he’ll come up again!), expanding on the version of this character that isn’t Damian Wayne. In this case, reconciling competing legacies pretty much by default goes in Damian’s favor. This one (will not dignify his terrible name) doesn’t even care to carry on the Batman legacy, and the story is basically about how ineffective he is at outthinking the end of the world. Which is of course something Batman does, uh, every other day (and twice on Sunday).

L.E.G.I.O.N. #32
I think this whole team concept was basically doing a present-day Legion of Super-Heroes. Stupid name all the same. If you’re going to have an acronym in the title, make sure...Okay, just don’t do a series with an acronym in the title. Basically, only S.H.I.E.L.D. gets a free pass with this (and really only because of the TV show, and the movies, has it ever actually gotten one).

L.E.G.I.O.N. #44
Anyway, I’m not spelling out any acronyms again. Ever! Pain in the ass, aside from everything else...Anyway, these issues feature some of the Khunds of which I speak in the title line of this blog entry. The Khunds are kind of like the Klingons at DC, a badass warrior species.

Legion of Super-Heroes #310 
Relationship drama. It’s hard to remember now, but the Legion was about as popular as the X-Men and the Teen Titans in the ‘80s. But they were building less real history, so there’s less to remember. Even “The Great Darkness Saga,” the team’s surprise Darkseid epic, seems to recede easily into the past. Er, future. Also: Khunds.

Lobo: Infanticide #4
Lobo battles his bastard kid! The artwork probably deliberately obscured the gruesome action. More importantly, I’m pretty sure this comic (cover-dated January 1993) is the first time I’ve seen ads heavily promoting the launch of the Vertigo line. I remember a TV spot from the general time period that promoted DC and Vertigo (took me years to have any clue what “Black Orchid” was about, and even now I’m not hugely sure; one of the big early Vertigo comics, but quickly got left behind).

Manhunter #33
This was the Starman of its era, but the acclaim didn’t stretch nearly as far, and it hasn’t received strong collection support. And this issue is perhaps too busy to let any if its material really land. But still impressive work.

Metamorpho #2
Honestly, I assumed some of the stuff I was reading in The Terrifics was created specifically for it, but apparently it’s all right there in these earlier Metamorpho adventures, so that was great to see. Rex Mason would be a much bigger deal, I think, if his superhero design weren’t so...weird. Also: Mark Waid wrote this, too!

The Next #1
At the time, DC seemed to have heavily invested in fantasy writer Tad Williams as a comics creator. Along with this he was also given Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis, and as it happened I read both and thoroughly enjoyed them. But Williams didn’t stick around long (unlike the epic lengths of his fantasy books), and I never did revisit his comics until now. What it read like this time was someone in the vein of Grant Morrison with far more interest in being weird, and no real grounding to support it. Which makes me glad the Tad Williams experiment didn’t pan out. And I only read one of his massive fantasy books, too. He’s someone else’s favorite writer, I guess.

Reading Comics #200 "First LCS Visit of 2017"

Batman #14-15 (DC)
This two-issue interlude features Tom King working alongside signature collaborator Mitch Gerads (Sheriff of Babylon) exploring King's vision of the Batman/Catwoman dynamic.

Divinity III: Stalinverse #2 (Valiant)
Divinity III: Aric - Son of the Revolution #1 (Valiant)
Divinity III: Komandar Bloodshot #1 (Valiant)
Divinity III: Shadowman and the Battle of New Stalingrad #1 (Valiant)
Matt Kindt's epic vision continues, this time in full-on event form with multiple writers participating in spin-off one-shots.  Love the debut and concept of Red Legend, as well as where Kazmir, the third cosmonaut, has been all this time.

The Flintsones #3, 5, 8 (DC)
Figured I'd check out this Mark Russell (Prez) interpretation of the classic cartoon.  I learned more about his creative vision, certainly.

Justice League of America: Rebirth #1 (DC)
Steve Orlando has officially joined the ranks of elite writers at DC.  Love his Lobo, which is the classic one and not the much-derided New 52 version.

Kamandi Challenge #1 (DC)
Dan DiDio (can't believe I hadn't created a tag for the guy until now) and Dan Abnett help launch this latest ode to Jack Kirby with his Last Boy on Earth, which is a concept as set up by DiDio could really be a great story well before he ever learns the truth. 

Star Trek #57 (IDW) (2016)
Star Trek: Waypoint #3 (IDW)
The first issue features the third of four installments from an ode to Spock's legacy as a tribute to the late Leonard Nimoy.  The second features Voyager and Deep Space Nine stories that I found pretty insightful.

Superman #11, 14 (DC)
Pete Tomasi and Patrick Gleason set up Super Sons with the first issue and begin "Multiplicity," which is a direct ode to Grant Morrison's Multiversity, with the second.

X-O Manowar #50 (Valiant) (2016)
I was never particularly a fan of this Valiant rebirth title, but I figured I'd have a look at the final issue.  Most notable are the bonus stories from Fred Van Lente and Matt Kindt, whose effort gives a brief preview of his upcoming relaunch.  I hadn't really considered until this issue that the character is pretty similar to Alpha Centurion.