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.

Reading Comics 165 "Comics from 6/17/15"

Comics covered: Justice League of America #1, Martian Manhunter #1, MIND MGMT #34, Ms. Marvel #16, Prez #1, and Robin: Son of Batman #1.

Justice League of America #1 (DC)
That image can't help, for me, but evoke Mark Waid's The Kingdom, an attempt at a follow-up to the much more famous Kingdom Come.  Killing off Superman en masse will always have visual impact...Anyway, the rest of Bryan Hitch's debut (he was exclusive over at Marvel for a decade starting in 2002, and has been making a slow return to the DC fold for a few years now) of the latest Justice League title makes it clear that this is not an in-continuity series (although since Convergence, "in-continuity" doesn't mean that much anymore), and as such can be recommended to anyone looking for their DC fix without too much commitment.  The line-up is the same as the original from Geoff Johns' flagship.  That's about it.  Good, competent storytelling.  Nothing wildly exceptional, but then, I guess that doesn't particularly matter.

Martian Manhunter #1 (DC)
I've been waiting for a decent Martian Manhunter story from the New 52 era.  Thankfully, it arrived at the same time the unexpected ongoing series launched.  This is a character ripe with potential because he's never a given for the publishing schedule, which means anytime DC trots him out (for a solo story), chances are good that a creative team came together to tell something decent.  His only other ongoing series was somewhat of an exception for me (spinning out of Grant Morrison's JLA), featuring the creative team of John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake, who somehow made an alien character too alienating.  And this is a character who thrives on that distinction.  The later A.J. Lieberman mini-series was actually the first of the great Martian Manhunter material that I've had the fortune to read, and for me remains the high water mark for the character and his best presentation.

But that might change.  The writer is Rob Williams, whom I've previously encountered in the unremarkable Classwar.  Taking a cue from Ostrander, Morrison, and Lieberman, Williams has focused on how much is really known and/or set in stone in Martian Manhunter mythology, which again is perfect for exploring because while he's iconic his relatively scant publishing history makes him ideal for innovative storytelling (but less ideal for randomly killing, as Morrison discovered in the pages of Final Crisis).

The Eddy Barrows image I included, from the first page of the issue, features "Mr. Biscuits," whom I assume is actually Martian Manhunter.  Again, more of what you can do with a character like this.  The art, especially the depiction of Mr. Biscuits, is a major revelation for a reader like me only familiar with Barrows from the pages of Nightwing, where he was perfectly serviceable if not especially inspired.  Which is to say, he's definitely inspired here, and is a real strength for the series, moreso than Mandrake was in the previous series (nothing against Tom Mandrake, but his art was the major hindrance of that run).  Barrows can convey classic superhero and the rest of the range Williams requires.

It's that range that showcases everything right with this vision.  It's pretty sensational, really, and that's without even mentioning the character Pearl, who is that rarest of superhero characters, someone from the Middle East who isn't at all what you'd expect, but rather a traditional superhero character introducing us to an all-new vision of the Middle East, at least as compared to...everything else you tend to see.  She's the Catwoman of Arabia.  Brilliant.

I look forward to future issues, eagerly.

MIND MGMT #34 (Dark Horse)
I mentioned with the previous issue that Matt Kindt had reached the heist portion of the series, where the plan is explained, and how he exhibited how this story is different because the plan won't go wrong because, well, that's what kind of series this is.  This issue calls to mind Christopher Nolan's Inception.  Which is basically a heist movie.  So I guess this is to say, if you're wondering what kind of story MIND MGMT is, I guess you can say it's like a Christopher Nolan movie.  For me, this counts as a considerable endorsement.  I've been a Nolan fan since Memento.  And now, hopefully, years from now I will be able to say I've been a Kindt fan since MIND MGMT.

Ms. Marvel #16 (Marvel)
For the past few issues, I've been wondering if I should continue reading this series, because more often than not I've found myself disappointed.  Unlike a lot of other readers, I didn't start reading Ms. Marvel for its cultural uniqueness, but because the writer is G. Willow Wilson.  I became a fan of Wilson through work (Air) I considered the best of all the comics I was reading over the course of two consecutive years (2009-2010).  That comes with significant expectations for any future work.  And when this one started, Wilson absolutely lived up to the hype I gave her.  I read Wilson because of her ability to keep things interesting, on a number of levels.  Lately those levels have dropped.

I mention all that because this is one of those issues that reminds me why I like Wilson.  It's part of Marvel's Secret Wars event (hence "Last Days of..." printed over the logo).  I've found that sometimes ongoing comics really can knock out of the park what can otherwise be a cumbersome mandatory tie-in for an "end of the world" story (during DC's The Final Night two decades ago, for instance, this happened, and that's one of the reasons I love that event so much).  For Wilson, it seems to have been a fruitful chance to refocus, bring back some of the sharp observations that've been Ms. Marvel at its best, rather than the lukewarm ones that've been floating around lately.

So that was good to see.

Prez #1 (DC)
DC makes infrequent attempts to candor to the youth vote, as it were.  The last time I found it particularly effective was Final Crisis Aftermatch: Dance (the Super Young Team mini-series).  Prez is kind of like that, but I think it has a better shot at being noticed, so long as there's a willing audience out there.  The creative end certainly does its part.  In that above panel alone there's inspiration from Alan Moore, Frank Miller, and even Jeff Smith to be found, which is not bad company at all.

Writer Mark Russell seems to be pretty new, and he's certainly seized this opportunity.  I will, however, be concentrating my praise on Ben Caldwell.  I've been praising Ben since his exceptional Wonder Woman material from Wednesday Comics, which Prez evokes to a certain degree.  I say "certain degree," because I think part of the reason I seem to be somewhat singular in my devotion to Ben and his Wonder Woman is that he took his creative freedom in that project to a perhaps excessive extreme.  He's dialed in it here, but the work is still uniquely vivid, and that's what I love about him.

I think the big fear everyone had about Prez is that it would be more or less like the previous, decades-old version of this narrative, a precocious "kid president" (although as kid presidents go, you know about Kid President, right? he's awesome) that has no real creative value.  That couldn't be further from the case.  Another big post-Convergence winner right here.

Robin: Son of Batman #1 (DC)
Speaking of great art, here's Patrick Gleason in what's effectively a spin-off from Batman and Robin.  I think most of us fans feared that divorced from Pete Tomasi, Gleason couldn't really pull off the same magic on his own.  But as it turns out, he really, really can.  After the massive detour caused by Grant Morrison's murder of Damian in the pages of Batman, Inc. and various other crossover events, it's perhaps best of all to see Robin back in the mode that made for truly excellent comics in Batman and Robin's earliest days.  And for proof, there's even the return (of a sorts) of Nobody, a character the series thankfully picked up from one of Christopher Nolan's ideas in his Batman movies (even if his Henri Ducard ended up...not being Henri Ducard at all).

Given how DC likes to experiment with artists acting as their own writers, the results are always going to be interesting.  One of the last times was Scott McDaniel in the pages of Static Shock, which was one of the more notorious failures of the early New 52 (alas, McDaniel's career still has yet to show any signs of recovering).  As you can see earlier in this very column, one of the latest is Bryan Hitch.  But I think Gleason makes a better case, possibly because he did have that lead time with Tomasi, but perhaps also because he has proven such an excellent match for Damian.  There's no artist who has done the character better.

And now he's got a Man-Bat (don't call Goliath that, though!) as his new partner.  And that's a story we will get to see unfold in future issues, which should be interesting, just one of many Gleason gets to work with, which is a very good thing, because this is a series that has earned a certain amount of autonomy, and as I've suggested, if there was anything wrong with Batman and Robin, it was that it had to earn the same distinction the hard way.  But thank goodness.  Because it seems Damian's adventures just keep getting better and better as a result!

MIND MGMT #33 (Dark Horse)

writer/artist: Matt Kindt

This is the point in any other story when plans are made, presented in their ideal execution, and then subsequently things horribly backfire.

One of the ways you know MIND MGMT has, ah, a mind of its own, has a distinctive voice to its narrative, Matt Kindt has a grasp of the rules he's laid down...is that the second part of that storytelling trope is likely not going to happen.  This is a story about characters who are cleaning up a mistake, not making new ones.  And so at this late stage, things go according to plan.  And victory will be achieved in a few issues?  We'll see.

One sign for optimism is that when Meru visits her foster parents for the first time in years, expecting the worst, actually has an experience that would otherwise have the term "nothing to write home about."  (Yes, the further ironies...)  Which is to say, if things go accord to plan, for duration of the series, all the craziness that Kindt has been exploring will be put to an end.  In an era dominated by intelligence agencies run amok, MIND MGMT is that rare fable: mistakes are rectified.  The end.

I came in late and haven't read the whole thing, but became obsessed and am reading the rest of it regardless.  It's definitely a different experience, reading one issue at a time.  I've never really had that experience before.  You read about that sort of thing all the time, when a comic book actually has a letters column, which of course this one does, and at a certain level it's hard to process.  Great for them, right?  They like the series!  They obsessively read everything that came before their discovery!  But what happens next?  Actually, that's a little of what this whole series is about.  At the beginning, Meru doesn't realize she's already involved.  And then can't help but continue to be involved.  And she was always involved.  She just didn't know it.

Yeah.  Sounds about right.

MIND MGMT #32 (Dark Horse)

writer/artist: Matt Kindt

Recently I discovered MIND MGMT and...went a little crazy trying to catch up.  This is the sort of thing that you read in letters columns all the time (when you find a comic book that has letters columns) but maybe haven't experienced yourself.  That was true for me, anyway, until recently.

So I binged.  Not the complete series, but a good chunk of it.  That makes this the first time I've read a lone issue, a new issue, one piece at a time.  However you want to describe it.

Which is to say, did I discover that I made a horrible, horrible mistake, gone temporarily insane (help me!), been brainwashed...or was this a good use of my time after all?

And also, as the cover states, this is part of the final arc of the series, too.

Okay, I'll end the suspense: Kindt's magic is still in effect.  Lead character Meru realizes at the end of the issue that until recently she "had nothing to lose."  And now she does.  She's made an investment, too, become inextricably tied up in the quest to unravel a chain of events that already ended in disaster once (the odd plane incident that began the series), or at least once.  She fell in love.  Reading an issue with an ending like that is what they mean by "serendipity," folks.

It took me a few issues to realize that Kindt embeds additional layers of storytelling on the margins of most pages.  He also includes bonus material that would be unavailable should I attempt to read MIND MGMT in its collected form.  I would love to watch Salvador Dali's Triple Indemnity, by the way.

Four issues left to go...

Quick Hits 4

Superman #39 (DC)
Geoff Johns concludes his run with a gentle character study replete with his trademark insights.  Sad to see him go, but it's always good to have him visit with the Man of Steel.

Batman #39 (DC)
A cover-stripped and therefore freebie edition because of some issue or another, which nonetheless allowed me to read another installment of "Endgame," in which Batman hopes to discover the Joker's secrets from the Court of Owls, with anemic results, alas.  I keep expecting Scott Snyder to rise to expectations created by his high profile, and he keeps backing off.  Far more intriguing is the James Tynion IV backup featuring an almost-origin of the Joker.  It's clever, how the story unfolds, because at first it really does seem as if we've finally found out who he was and how he came to be, but then of course we find out it's just another of Joker's sadistic jokes, and it may actually be the best thing the Joker has done in the New 52.  Trace the story backward through previous comics (Batman Annual #2), and you've probably got a pretty good standalone collection right there.

Divinity #2 (Valiant)
So I'm becoming something of a Matt Kindt junkie.  I thought this was a standalone mini-series, but apparently it's tied in with Valiant's superheroes.  Still interesting, though.  The whole thing comes from an intriguing angle, a Russian cosmonaut from the '60s inexplicably coming back, without having aged, with extraordinary abilities, having broken the taboo of forming a romantic relationship prior to heading out into space...

MIND MGMT #25-31 (Dark Horse)
Catching up with the series to date leads to a number of fateful encounters (that's the crux of the whole series, really, unraveling the mystery of what happened and in the process leading to a long-in-coming conclusion to something, basically, that's already over).  Like Supreme: Blue Rose, it reminds me of Mike Costa's Cobra.

Reading Comics 155 "Blasts III"

I went sifting through recent back issues again...

Catwoman #27 (DC)
Detective Comics #28 (DC)

I've been obsessed with trying to track down "Gothtopia" issues since Detective Comics #27 was released last year with (among a lot of excellent content) John Layman's kickoff for the arc.  It turned out to be a Scarecrow story, but its look at a hopeful Batman and surrounding family, including Catwoman, who was dubbed Catbird, complete with a costume update mixing in elements of Robin's traditional look (that cover is from the Dodsons).  Either I've been overlooking that one copy of Detective 28 or I don't know, it spontaneously appeared in bins I've been rifling for months now.  Previously, elsewhere, I found the conclusion of the arc, so it's a nice bonus to fill in some of the gaps.

This is the first New 52 Catwoman I've read, and the first Catwoman, really, since the '90s (in the height of the Jim Balent era featuring a costume and anatomy that in hindsight really makes very little sense for the character).  I'm glad I read the Detective issue, too, as it connects all the cerebral dots and may actually be the finest Batman I've read from Layman.

Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Witches #1 (Archaia)

Based on a short-lived TV series the late creator of the Muppets launched in 1988, this is fairy tale storytelling in the manner of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson.  As represented by S.M. Vidaurri, who writes, draws, and letters in an exquisitely imaginative manner, this is an excellent bid to once again expand Henson's legacy.

Vidaurri also happens to present a tale that fits right in the current trend of strong female protagonists in fantasy, featuring a young princess who cleverly solves the riddle of her brother's disappearance and the only way to avoid the curse that had been meant to be leveled against their father.

The page I've reproduced on the left is one of the easier to follow.  Most of the pages require a little more scrutiny than readers are probably used to employing.  Some of the best creative work I've seen in comics.

Larfleeze #8, 9, 10, 11, 12 (DC)

The final five issues of the series that I greedily (finally!) snatched up.  When the series was still being published, for whatever reason I skipped over it month after month.  What a dastardly shame!  But seriously, Larfleeze was likely always a short-term proposition, especially given how its main character by definition plays extremely hard to play with.  Unless you're G'Nort.  Which, by the way, is pronounced "Nort," not "G Nort," which is what idiots like me have been doing for years, even with occasional correction.  G'Nort is infamously the most pathetic Green Lantern ever, and so of course is the other one famously featured in Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis's Bwa-ha-ha League comics (one clue as to the other: "One punch!").

Finally pairing Larfleeze with G'Nort is just one of the brilliant repositioning moves Giffen and DeMatteis make in these final issues.  They also find Larfleeze a bride, Sena the Wanderer, part of a pantheon about as pathetic as everyone else in the series.  Anyone brave enough to tell Larfleeze stories in the future would be wise to keep all three (plus hapless butler Stargrave!).  The key to telling a good Larfleeze story is to keep him in adequate context (*cough* Deadpool writers), which this series nailed.

The art from Scott Kolins rendered the misadventures with all the dignity absolutely no one deserved, by the way.

MIND MGMT #1, 19, 24 (Dark Horse)

You know how you can hear how awesome something is a hundred times, not really pay attention, and then all of a sudden you give it a real chance and you totally get it?

That's what happened here.

Okay, so technically someone pulled a dirty trick, too, perhaps some mind management (that's the title of the series without abbreviation, by the way; honestly not knowing exactly what that was had been one of my main stumbling blocks), when I looked at the letters column in #19 and saw how Matt Kindt have been advocating Roberto Bolano's 2666.  I love that book.  Subsequently, when I see that someone else has discovered its brilliance, and has been actively recommending it, that's an excellent way to get in my good graces.

The three issues I sampled were more than enough to see that MIND MGMT is special indeed.  It's a little like if J.J. Abrams had combined Alias and Lost (Fringe comes close, actually), about a team of government operatives formed in the wake of Franz Ferdinand's assassination, a story ripe for an era where spying has once again gripped the public's imagination (for dubious reasons, alas).  And it's a story that unfolds more quickly than you might think.  The first issue introduces Meru, a desperate writer looking for her last lifeline and finding it in the anniversary of a flight that became known for every passenger suddenly coming down with amnesia.  All except one (the Henry Lyme seen and referenced on the cover of #24 seen above).  At this point you might expect an Orson Welles story, but Kindt quickly produces Lyme, and the story only becomes deeper from there.

And I've only read three issues.  And you want to know the most insane part of this whole thing?  There are only a half dozen issues remaining!  So I've caught the bug just in time, haven't I?  This happened to me with Y: The Last Man, too, only I was able to follow about the last year of that series.
Next time I'm at the shop, I'll be picking up more issues.  And hopefully catching the rest of the series.