Reading Comics 242 "Fifth and final Forbidden Geek mystery box"

Yeah, so that happened.  The title of this post reads "fifth" mystery box, when it really ought to have read "sixth."  You might recall that I had problems with my fourth box.  Forbidden Geek, when I contacted them, quickly shipped a replacement box when I told them the original had been lost in the mail.  The company sent out an email explaining how they'd had trouble keeping up with mystery box shipments during the holidays.  And then my fifth box never arrived.  Payment was processed for my sixth box, and the shipping information for the fifth box was immediately replaced for the sixth's.  I decided enough was enough.  The sixth box actually arrived exactly on-schedule, the same as the first three boxes had.  But I didn't want to continue supporting an unprofessional company.  It's one thing for shipping to be messed up once.  It's another to know there's a problem and take no real steps to address it and just get back to the schedule later. 

So I missed a box, and this final one, which actually proved all over again the value the service had for me, arrived.  It also included a trade collecting material relevant to the forthcoming Birds of Prey movie, and another Funko statue, plus these comics:

Animal Man #76
from October 1994

I had never read an Animal Man from this initial Vertigo period that wasn't written by Grant Morrison.  I understood that DC was keen to keep the series going without him, but I imagined that the results wouldn't really interest me.  As a result, I don't think I'd read a Jamie Delano comic before this.  Delano was one of the Vertigo originals, but he never had a signature comic like Morrison or Neil Gaiman, much less Peter Milligan (a lesser but still talented writer who continued working with the imprint for years after the original creators moved on).  This issue doesn't even feature Animal Man himself, but rather is part of an arc that includes the Red, a concept that was later used in the New 52 in ways fans didn't think was relevant, and yet here it is.  The New 52 was a job of reintegrating Vertigo characters back into the DC mainstream, and to do so it reclaimed familiar superhero tropes rather than focused squarely on horror elements (though the Red, and the Rot, were certainly intended even later to be considered horrific).  Anyway, long story short, I think I won't be so reluctant to read a Jamie Delano comic in the future.  We all have our biases for familiar creators, and can be shy about sampling unfamiliar ones.  Sometimes that approach is sheer nonsense.  You might discover a new favorite, or perhaps merely someone who is worth reading.

Batgirl #71
from February 2006

An incredibly simplistic story (this writer was totally unknown to me, and I was happy to leave them that way) featuring Cassandra Cain under the cowl, with the mouth covering she's traditionally associated with literally snipped away, apparently from a period where the Dark Knightress was no longer intended to be so ominous.  Great cover from Tim Sale, though.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Annual #3
from 1993

"Bloodlines," yeah!  This is one of those things I'll always be nostalgic about, not just because a few of the new superheroes created during it turned out to be fun to have around (for as long as they managed to; Sparx and Hitman probably had the longest runs out of them, and neither is around anymore, and haven't been for decades).  Like the theme months in the New 52, I'll always be up to sampling the results all over again.  This one actually features two new characters, a hero and a villain, who end up cancelling each other out (both are depowered by the end), which isn't something I'd seen before.  Bonus, of course, that it features Azbats!

Batman #4
from February 2012

There's Scott Snyder's initial "Court of Owls" arc again, which lately I've been cursed to revisit again and again, whether in a Forbidden Geek trade collection or the Batman Giants.  Or this single issue.  Which I actually kind of want to write my own version of.  Y'know, so Snyder can never, ever see the results, and how much better they are.  (Take that!)

Hawkman #8
from March 1987

I admit that I didn't really read this one.

The Kingdom #2
from February 1999

Kingdom Come was a big epic tale that became one of my all-time favorite comics.  Mark Waid decided to follow it up with The Kingdom, which didn't really approach it (like at all) in quality, but was really an excuse for Waid and/or DC to officially bring back the multiverse via the concept of "hypertime," which actually got a bigger bow in the pages of Karl Kesel's Superboy (though, like Superboy in this era in general, is generally forgotten, despite a wealth of great material, and not all of it from Kesel and Tom Grummett).  Much like Morrison's later Multiversity, Waid sandwiched The Kingdom with one-shots exploring individual characters/concepts, which in the end were more valuable.  (Actually, the same is true of Multiversity.)  I actually think Kingdom Come's legacy was tarnished by The Kingdom.  If there were only going to be two issues of the lead story, DC and/or Waid could really have stood to opt for at least more impressive art, even if Alex Ross wasn't available.

The Ray #7
from December 1994

It's Howard Porter on art!  But not quite the Porter art as later depicted in the pages of JLA, meaning his style hadn't yet advanced to that familiar level.  And while I was always interested in at least sampling this series, featuring one of the many teenage '90s superheroes (for reasons, in this particular character, I never really understood), this issue is hijacked by Black Canary, which is kind of hilarious, because it proves how engaging she is apparently right after a series starring her was cancelled due to poor sales.  Stupid readers!

Robin #4 (of 5)
from April 1991

The original solo mini-series, featuring Tim Drake taking on the dreaded King Snake (a villain Tim's stories repeatedly returned to in the '90s, but who otherwise quickly faded into obscurity) while trying desperately not to think about having sex with Lady Shiva (hey, he was a '90s Teenage Superhero).

Stanley and His Monster #4
from May 1993

No, not Stan Lee and His Monster!  Although after Lady Shiva, it's kind of funny that the best thing about this comic is the sexy lady demon.  The best thing about the art is the sexy lady demon, too.  So there's that.

Starfire #2
from November 1976

Ha!  So apparently "Starfire" existed before the New Teen Titans!  And no, not the orange-skinned alien who sometimes is too sexy for comic book fans (it's a distinctly modern problem '90s fans would've been completely baffled by, as that was literally a whole genre back then; Americans still have no idea how puritanical our culture remains, regardless of how we explain it), but...a sword & sorcery Starfire!

As explained in an editorial in the comic itself, DC was desperately trying to launch a sword & sorcery angle to its lineup at the time.  Literally the only success from the many failure attempts in this initiative was Warlord, Travis Morgan, who still pops up from time to time.

And like the later Starfire, this Starfire is a sexy lady whose wardrobe does not attempt to cover large swathes of her body.  Anyway, the comic was also fun to read, and it was just fun to discover that the name had been used before.

The Titans #16
from June 2000

Devin K. Grayson!  I don't know, I think fans never forgave her for Dick Grayson's (no relation) rape.  Maybe there were other reasons, but Devin left comics behind and never attempted (or never succeeded at) a full-time comeback.  Which is absurd, because she was a talented storyteller, and instantly grasped DC continuity and how to continue it.  This team is literally the original Teen Titans, as adults, reunited, and this issue sees them rehashing interpersonal conflicts and deciding it's okay to have them and still maintain relationships (which makes it completely inconceivable in today's environment).  Kind of bittersweet, in hindsight, too, with how it handles Roy Harper, who in current continuity is kind of dead with far less fanfare than what happens to Wally West within the pages of Heroes in Crisis.  And suddenly I want a Devin K. Grayson series starring Roy.  At least they're finally reprinting her Nightwing.  Hopefully.  Sometimes DC ends up cancelling these sorts of things.

So long, Forbidden Geek, and thanks for all the fish!

Reading Comics 240 "Batman #85, Doomsday Clock #12, and more"

Because there were a few comics I had to read at the end of the year, I put in another order at Midtown, and this is what I got:

Batman Annual #2 (DC)

This isn’t the issue I was aiming for, but it was nice to revisit all the same, as it demonstrates Tom King’s lyrical grace, a quality that seemed to have eluded many of his readers, or at least his many critics.  But if something like this escapes them, I suppose it doesn’t matter whether or not they approve.  At the end is a coda for King’s whole conception of Batman, and Catwoman, and it is beautiful.

Batman #85 (DC)

Here’s King’s grand finale, which splits time between defeating Thomas Wayne/Flashpoint Batman, and tying everything up, how the whole thing flowed from Batman’s theory of a “good death” at the start of King’s run, how he finally reconciled the death of his parents and what that meant about the existence of Batman, and his continued existence, and how his relationship with Catwoman confirms all of it.  I think it’s brilliant, but then I think just about everything Tom King does is brilliant.  He has no contemporary equal.  He may in fact be the best superhero comics writer ever.  And he has set the bar very high indeed.

Batman: Last Knight on Earth #3 (DC)

A Batman finale of a different order, this is Scott Snyder and Greg Capulo’s farewell.  As I was reading it, it suddenly occurred to me that if there’s any logic Snyder has followed all these years, it’s probably Dan Jurgens’.  Dan is famously the guy who in the final analysis is responsible for the death of Superman.  He further contributed to DC ‘90s lore with Zero Hour, an event that’s frequently overlooked but is probably one of the greatest event comics ever written, a “Crisis in Time” that expanded on Hal Jordan’s fall from grace to truly epic proportions and offered a plausible reshaping of continuity that hit a very soft reset button.  But Jurgens more often writes his superheroes in broader strokes.  His ideas are seldom as grounded in grace as his best stories (sort of like Mark Waid), and so he’s kind of easy to dismiss as the comics great that he ultimately is, at his best.  Snyder, meanwhile, has so often leaned on the assistance of cowriters it’s probably easy to forget that he has relied so often on them, when his legacy has shrunk to the “one great thing to come out of the New 52.”  He needs someone to temper his crazier instincts.  He’s the kind of writer who looks at the examples other writers have set, and considered only that they look like the most outrageous thing that could’ve been done, and so what he needs to do is the most outrageous thing he can come up with, and the logic will explain itself.  And his ideas are sound, but the execution always beggars the imagination of the reader more than convincingly tells a story.  His big finale, as he seemed to decide after coming up with the Court of Owls in his original Batman comics, centers around Batman’s relationship with the Joker.  As far as the Joker is concerned, everything he has ever done was meant to make Batman the best he could be.  But I don’t think Batman would ever be comfortable with that assessment, even in a scenario where he’s confronted with a version of himself that’s the worst he could be (and even there, Snyder doesn’t adequately account for how Batman could end up wanting to take over the whole world; that’s a story that would contrast Batman with Lex Luthor, not himself, much less Joker) (and while we’re on the subject, Snyder really, really missed a trick with his current projects when he called his upgraded Luthor “Apex Lex,” when, since the rhyme is already there, the logic clearly dictates calling him “Apex Luthor).  As far as Snyder’s own logic goes, I suppose this is as appropriate a finale as he could’ve envisioned.  This isn’t what I thought the original cloning concept he introduced way back in Detective Comics #27 (the New 52 edition), but at least he did something with it.

Doomsday Clock #12 (DC)

The second grand finale I wanted to catch (the above Snyder was merely incidental, not something I had intended to go out of my way to catch), or at least read for myself, since I had allowed the internet to spoil it for me.  Naturally, the internet was most interested in Geoff Johns outlining the theoretical future of DC lore.  I don’t think anyone at DC seriously expects this material to be followed (considering one of the stories referenced is apparently another crossover with Marvel, a situation always fraught with complications, as the long development of JLA/Avengers proved).  The sentiment itself represents the central thesis that DC follows Superman, that wherever he goes, his new continuity is the foundation of DC’s new continuity, even going so far as to suggest that if comics are still being made in 3020, a thousand years from now, the age of the Legion of Super-Heroes, Superman’s origin will take place then, and continuity will resettle around him once again, even though the Legion took its inspiration from the exploits of Superboy a thousand years earlier.  I think the whole project is justified.  It gives Doctor Manhattan a far more satisfying arc than he got in Watchmen (although I think Zack Snyder corrected that in his movie, too), removing the cynicism of Alan Moore himself and allowing a man who can see everything (except his ultimate fate) to adequately comprehend it, given the opportunity to make a decision, or in this instance, rethink a decision.  Which may also have been the point.

Family Tree #2 (Image)

I wanted to have a look at this latest Jeff Lemire project.  The guy is the most prolific creator in comics!  The art is from Phil Hester, whom I always love to see pop up with new work.  A fine variation on familiar Lemire themes.

Flash Forward #4 (DC)

I had already read what happened in this one, too, but wanted a chance to experience it for myself: Wally West meets Lightspeed, Linda Park!  But, of course, a Linda Park from an alternate reality, and who doesn’t particularly care what a counterpart made of Wally.  But the comic is also toying with Wally reuniting with his kids, which is something I’ve become much more fond of in the years since Mark Waid first introduced them in his return to Wally’s adventures, which were sort of a soft launch of the Tomasi/Gleason Superman, which wasn’t as good as their Batman & Robin, but still well worth existing.  And I think most fans will agree, if Wally is back, his whole family ought to get to join him, too.  Hopefully this comic has a truly happy ending.

Incoming! (Marvel)

Basically a tour of the current Marvel landscape, another visit with the Masked Raider (I don’t know if this guy, that name, and his gunslinging costume, is destined for greatness, but he’s nice to hang these stories on), and the push for the upcoming Kree/Skrull invasion of Earth!  The movies are probably headed somewhere in that direction, too, so it’s nice for the comics to get there first, for a change (a lot of recent comics belatedly obsessed over Thanos, which seemed way too obvious at that point), picking up where a famous, but forgotten-except-by-diehards-because-Marvel-can’t-keep-its-defining-stories-in-print Avengers epic left off way back in the ‘70s (or ‘60s? but I think ‘70s).  And central to all this?  My 2005 inner Marvel nerd is excited that it’s characters from Young Avengers! 

Invisible Kingdom #8 (Dark Horse)

Lately I’ve been feeling kind of bad about not caring that G. Willow Wilson has enjoyed so much success in recent years, since Air was such a favorite of mine from when nobody else cared, so I checked out an issue of this project.  It’s okay. 

Joker: Killer Smile #2 (DC)

Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino once again reunite for a tale of a psychiatrist’s descent into madness when he believes he can figure out the Clown Prince.  A bit obvious, but a sort of welcome companion to Lemire’s brilliant Moon Knight.

Klaus: The Life & Times of Joe Christmas (Boom!)

I haven’t had much luck reading the annual Christmas follow-ups to Grant Morrison and Dan Mora’s original Klaus, so I was pleased to order (because as I’ve come to understand, I just won’t be able to find it in an actual comics shop) the latest.  This one’s sort of in the model of a calendar, which counts up from December 1 and ends on the 25^th.  And there is no dialogue, only a chronicle of the life and adventures of Joe Christmas, who sort of becomes Klaus’s sidekick.  I almost choked up when I realized the cat had died.  Great comic.  Might singlehandedly justify Morrison’s whole concept of making Santa Claus a superhero.  Years from now someone could write a whole series around Joe Christmas based on this one comic, or maybe they could base a movie on it.  (Hint hint.)

The Old Guard: Force Multiplied #1 (Image)

I read the original miniseries in trade paperback at the library, and was immediately smitten, so I was extremely glad to discover this follow-up.  Perhaps moreso than the story itself is value of the Greg Rucka essay at the end detailing his thoughts about the origins and emerging legacy of Old Guard, including an upcoming Netflix movie version.  I’m glad things are working out this way.

The Amazing Spider-Man #36 (Marvel)

I was suckered into buying this issue because the solicitation listed Pat Gleason as the artist.  He was not.  But I subsequently picked up a slightly earlier issue, and he was. 

Superman Smashes the Klan #2 (DC)

Gene Luen Yang writes perhaps his most important Superman and/or DC comic, at last, detailing a group of kids’ experiences with Superman as he, well, battles the Klan, centering around a Chinese perspective, not in the way Hollywood has been catering to the massive Chinese market in recent years, but because Yang has more immediate ties, the kind that stretch across American history.  We tend to forget, except for all that Chinese food that was actually invented in America, how long the Chinese have been here, and how complicated their lives have been here.  Thankfully Yang is here to help fill in the gaps.  Included is an essay detailing Superman history that’s both familiar and also relevant to Yang’s perspective and intentions.

Reading Comics 229 "Tom King, Vertigo, Recent Comics"

Okay!  If I'd written this earlier, I'd be talking about less, but here we are and now there's more...

Apparently it was DC's decision for Tom King to leave Batman itself to finish the story in Batman/Catwoman?  Or maybe there's an explanation that doesn't sound sinister?  But, in news that's only relevant to people who aren't on the internet (yay troglodytes!), King's work is still appearing in the Superman 100-Page Giants found at Wal-Mart.  I confirmed this (but have yet to read it) with the recently released Superman Giant #12. 

Apparently DC has cancelled the Vertigo imprint.  There will be a lot of fans freaking out over this, how DC's killing a part of its soul or whatever, but really...I don't see a real problem here.  Vertigo hasn't really been Vertigo since Scott Snyder backed off of American Vampire, which was the last major series launched under the imprint.  And in that regard, the big send-off for trade-friendly Fables might be considered the real end of the imprint, getting a trade-size (and published in trade format, no less) final issue.  Fans will say it's because Karen Berger was released as managing editor, but Fables and the most recent issue of American Vampire were released in 2015.  That's a long time for the imprint to linger in irrelevance.  Meanwhile, times changed.  The Walking Dead, which in a lot of respects was a Vertigo title published by Image, was a game-changer.  Image itself transitioned into a Vertigo mentality after pushing the superhero format in the '90s.  And there are dozens of smaller publishers now operating that also follow the Vertigo template, which itself began by collecting a number of existing DC titles that were intended for mature readers, which...

And that's the new plan, by the way.  The new DC Black Label will now be the destination of anything that might've once been Vertigo.  There's also Brian Michael Bendis's Jinxworld, which is its own DC imprint, which in earlier times would have been part of Vertigo.  (Bendis was operating more or less this way with Marvel, too, which never made a serious move to expand into other creators producing creator-owned material.)

So again, I say there's nothing to complain about here.  Paul Cornell was able to retrieve the rights to Saucer Country, which for all intents and purposes was a post-Berger Vertigo series, and continue it at IDW as Saucer State.  The Vertigo mystique did nothing to salvage G. Willow Wilson's seminal Air, which sputtered under little critical or fan attention under Berger's watch from 2008 to 2010.  What Fables did was itself signal the end of an era, in which Vertigo was previously known for dark genre instead became home to light genre material, which couldn't sustain the same cult following.

Anyway, here's some comics I read recently:

Batman: Last Knight on Earth #1 (DC)
Here's Snyder and Greg Capullo reuniting for one last grand Batman story.  As suggested previously and as I hoped to see since Snyder's contribution to the 'New 52" era Detective Comics #27, it's finally an extended look at the concept of Batman producing a series of clones to continue the crusade past his original lifetime.  I'm not sure this debut entirely squares with the concept, but I do love that Snyder heavily leans into his concept that Batman and the Joker are essentially an odd couple, having progressed well beyond hero-and-villain status.  The idea of Batman carrying around the disembodied head of the Joker is the best thing I've come across in a Scott Snyder comic, where he's finally and truly gone as wild as he could imagine.

Daredevil #6 (Marvel)
Chip Zdarsky's wonderful run continues.  I hope fans are registering its existence.

Ascender #2 (Image)
Lemire and Nguyen's Descender sequel continues.

Doomsday Clock #10 (DC)
I made sure to buy this issue (I committed to tradewaiting the series after missing too many previous issues, including the first one) after coming back to the Geek Twins, a break that corresponded with the death of my mother and the exploding of what had been a regular blogging habit, and finding that they heartily recommended it as a unique way for DC and/or Geoff Johns to once and for all reconcile the multiverse by redubbing it the metaverse.  This issue sees Doctor Manhattan explaining his journey post-Watchmen by, in part, revisiting all the times DC has rebooted its continuity, starting well before the famous Crisis on Infinite Earths.  And my fears that Doomsday Clock would duplicate what Johns had done previously in Infinite Crisis were alleviated.  Basically the pivotal issue of the series and a landmark in DC lore in general.

Heroes in Crisis #9 (DC)
There ended up being a lively discussion as to what exactly this series accomplished over at Speed Force, and then DC solicited Flash Forward, which will act as a sequel and spotlight for Wally West, and I wonder if any of the fans upset over what Tom King "did to him" will begin reconsidering.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see.  Me, as I tend to, I thought King's work was brilliant.

The Immortal Hulk #2, 18 (Marvel)
Al Ewing put himself on the map with this one.  Essentially an in-continuity of the classic Hulk TV series, Bruce Banner's back as the Hulk, but he's skulking around the country trying to keep the beast at bay, and stumbling into horror stories along the way.  Anyway, it's good reading, and fans have certainly noticed, and I'm glad I had a look.

Naomi #5 (DC)
The other Bendis imprint at DC these days, Wonder Comics, launched Naomi with the promise that eventually it would seem important.  Well, I finally got to have a look, and with exactly the right issue, in which we learn that she comes from an alternate Earth, which is an idea that surprisingly hasn't really been done before, even though DC has visited dozens and dozens of alternate realities over the years.  The closest is Superman, probably, who in current continuity is actually a survivor of a previous one (which is something you don't need to know to enjoy his latest adventures, but sounds exactly like the insanity that led to Crisis on Infinite Earths to begin with).

Sasquatch Detective 64-Page Special (DC)
Originally a back-up feature in Mark Russell's Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, this is essentially DC allowing itself to have some family-friendly fan with something that isn't based on an existing franchise.  If it were Marvel, there'd already have been an ongoing series and several dozen more concepts exactly like it.  DC restraint!

Superman: Leviathan Rising (DC)
Originally previewed in Year of the Villain, this intro to the Bendis event conveniently called Event Leviathan was most appreciated by me for its preview of Matt Fraction's Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, which was a real treat to read.  And for those wondering, the Bendis Leviathan is the same as the Morrison Leviathan, this time with (seemingly) less Talia.  So yeah, Morrison's Batman is the gift that keeps giving. 

Reading Comics 228 "FCBD 2019"

What I love about Free Comic Book Day is that it's basically the best shot most companies have at being visible to the average reader.  For the folks showing up just for free comics, it probably won't make much of a difference.  For the folks who show up to comics shops every Wednesday or in any other sense on a regular basis, it's a chance to find out what companies outside of DC and Marvel are doing (because let's face it, for the average fan, it's still basically just DC and Marvel).  I don't know how many sales these free comics result in (for a long time, I bought Atomic Robo comics in part because Red 5 always included it in their FCBD releases, when Red 5 had Atomic Robo in its slate), but it says a lot about the companies, what they're willing to release for the annual celebration. 

Here again is what I got, and what I thought after reading through all of it:

Animosity Tales (AfterShock)
Marguerite Bennett's comic is basically the flagship of AfterShock, another would-be Image in a crowded indy scene.  What was more interesting than the story featured in the issue was the summary of the series to date, which reads a heck of a lot like The Walking Dead.  So if you want your zombies to instead be animals, this is the comic for you.

Bloodshot (Valiant)
I've been a supporter of the Valiant relaunch for years (not specifically from the start, but around the time The Valiant came out).  While I don't love everything they publish, I still maintain that this is the discerning superhero fan's best bet for a coherent modern landscape to follow, the Ultimate version of the classic Valiant characters, the condensed version of what the New 52 attempted.  And Bloodshot has been a part of it, and been a favorite of mine, for years.  This take is from Tim Seeley, who's been an underrated star of the modern comics landscape whether in his DC work or elsewhere.  But Seeley's take on Bloodshot feels hollow compared to what Jeff Lemire was doing.  Lemire pulled off Bloodsquirt!  He wants a Bloodshot that's actually the complete reverse of Lemire's, all action and no character study.  I thought that was the best part of the modern Bloodshot!  Anyway, also included is the latest chapter of the Rai saga, Fallen World, which reads a lot better.  It's from Dan Abnett, who could use a breakout solo project. 

Deadly Class (Image)
I'd sampled the series previously, but this particular issue was a brilliant way to highlight what makes it truly awesome, and I'm glad all over again that there's a TV adaptation, which I hope to catch.  Remender's a particularly busy creator, the hardest working concept engine not named Mark Millar, who takes all manner of risks with high concepts. 

H1 Ignition (Humanoids)
Here's Mark Waid's latest attempt at a startup.  Dude's been at this for twenty years now, and...has yet to find one that truly sticks (or as with Boom!...sticks with).  This one's all about straining for modern credibility, the social awareness that actually...turned off a lot of Marvel fans.  Maybe it works better with new characters.  I don't know.  But this preview is somewhat poorly put together.  I have little faith of it sticking any better than his previous efforts.  I have no idea why Waid strayed so far from what he did so brilliantly in the pages of The Flash.  Maybe someday he rediscovers that spark.

Interceptor (Vault)
Donny Cates is another firecracker in modern comics, but one that's working equally hard at mainstream (with Marvel) as with his personal projects.  Since this isn't a well-loved era for Marvel, fans haven't really rallied around him, but I like to see what he's doing.  I like his storytelling in this issue.  He's definitely worth keeping an eye on.

 

Punchline (Antarctic Press)

Here's the best comic I read from the bunch!  It's a superhero book from other than DC/Marvel, which is always an interesting prospect.  There will be great material done elsewhere (see: Valiant) and there will be shoddy stuff.  This looks like great stuff.

Part of what makes it look great is the artwork, naturally.  Matthew Weldon seems like the closest I'll get to classic Stuart Immonen, before he started adding detail into his clean forms.  There's some rough work in there, but Weldon is like Patrick Gleason more interested in shadow than warm figures, a moody look at its best that the touch of reality Bill Williams seeks in a script that looks more to the human than superhuman.

I like the details Williams includes, like the fact that the Black Arrow is actually two people sharing a costume to evade seekers of secret identities.  (I'd read that comic, too, thank you!)  It feels like a genuinely fresh take, just when you thought you'd seen everything.  There's a collection already available with the rest of the story, which I think I might actually track down (read: order online).  And I guess there's more new issues coming. 

Stranger Things (Dark Horse)
As I've said, I haven't been initiated into the Stranger Things cult, and this comic didn't make me consider reconsidering.  Fortunately there was also a Black Hammer backup, with Jeff Lemire presenting the "Cabin of Horrors," clearly an homage to House of Mystery and such.  Eventually we meet Jack Sabbath (familiar to Black Hammer fans?), who has just discovered that his backstory might be different than he previously thought.  Cowritten by Ray Fawkes, in defense of whom I sort of exiled myself from Millarworld a few months back.  Also discovered that Mice Templar artist Victor Santos has been working at Dark Horse recently, with a long-running espionage comic called Polar, which might be worth checking out.  See, Free Comic Book Day???  Success.

Year of the Villain (DC)
Again, not technically a FCBD release, but for the second year in a row a cheap DC comic meant to promote upcoming stories.  Scott Snyder is the brains behind a new Underworld Unleashed/Forever Evil-type event headlined by the bad guys.  I really wish Lex Luthor could just stay the antihero he's done so well in stories like Final Night and Geoff Johns' Justice League, but he keeps getting dragged back into villainy.  This is one of those stories where "he's finally gone too far."  More significantly, Brian Michael Bendis signals he may be interested in working on Batgirl comics, with a tale that finally allows Barbara Gordon to remember she was pretty badass as Oracle, too.

Star Wars Day: May the 4th Be With You (Marvel)
Again, not technically a FCBD release (but part of another of the things last Saturday was culturally).  Besides some previews for various comics, there are some creator interviews, including one spotlighting Kieron Gillen's creation of Doctor Aphra, whom he repeatedly describes as a Star Wars version of Indiana Jones.  (Yes, yes, yes: Harrison Ford played both Indy and Han Solo, but Gillen's point is that Aphra collects artifacts...but with a more nefarious agenda in mind!)  On the whole, I'm quite happy that Marvel got the rights for Star Wars back from Dark Horse (other than Dark Horse's brilliant adaptation of The Star Wars), as it sticks much closer to film material and less creating whatever the hell it wants.  I just can't decide if Aphra is closer to the Dark Horse mentality than Marvel's...

Reading Comics 205 "Trips from the past month"

Here's a rundown of what I've been reading lately, sort of a hodgepodge of new and slightly less new material (new titles in bold, slightly les new titles in italics):

Batman #23, 25, 26 (DC)
Tom King is still doing wonders in this title.  The first issue is the Swamp Thing issue, while the latter two are the beginning of "The War of Jokes and Riddles".  I was thwarted in my attempts to find a copy of #24 (the proposal issue) and Batman/Elmer Fudd, alas.

Dark Knight III: The Master Race #9 (DC)
Miller/Azzarello/Kubert finally delivered the conclusion of this story.  I like how the ending is basically that Batman is finally acknowledging that he can learn from someone else.  Seems like a metaphor, Miller's concession that it was okay for Azzarello to help out.

Codename: Baboushka #1, 3 (Image)
What with Atomic Blonde hitting screens soon (based on his Coldest City graphic novel), I figured it was time I had a look at another Antony Johnston spy comic.  It's good stuff.

Dark Days: The Forge (DC)
The title of this event and the manner of starting it are peculiar things that still elude me, but this particular piece struck me as pure Scott Snyder.  He may not be my favorite, but I'm glad he's finally getting to tell a DC event comic.

Earth 2 #24 (DC)
Funny to go back to the early days (relatively speaking) of Earth 2 and read the story where this reality's Superman first reveals his costume.  Also interesting to see the Thomas Wayne Batman in action.  That's honestly one of my favorite Earth 2 elements to this day.

Earth 2: World's End #7 (DC)
The weekly comic spinoff got crapped on ten ways to...Wednesday, I guess.  But it reads okay to me, every time I sample it.  Includes a nice nod to the "lost" Alan Scott gay storyline from Earth 2's early days.

The Flash #14 (DC)
It's, I don't know, hilarious or sad, but I was reminded recently that Josh Williamson worked on Captain Midnight, a Dark Horse comic that received a Free Comic Book Day back in Williamson's pre-DC days, and a collection I received from one of those crate companies a few years back.  I was not a fan.  I outright dismissed it both times.  So this is one of the more remarkable turnarounds I've experienced as a reader, because I remain a fan of Williamson's recent work.  I'm torn about rereading the Captain Midnight collection.  What if I dismissed it for all the wrong reasons?  What if I convince myself I like it now just because I now associate good things with Williamson?  Anyway, this issue begins a Rogues arc.

Green Valley #1, 2, 3 (Image)
Max Landis made a name for himself writing the movie Chronicle, but I became a fan reading Superman: American Alien.  I'm glad I got around to reading some of his original concept comic Green Valley, about knights being confronted with what as of the last issue I read seems to be a time-traveling dude from more or less the present with future tech he doesn't really understand. 

Justice League Dark #35 (DC)
Focuses mostly on Zatanna.  Honestly, if her main distinguishing feature weren't casting spells by speaking backwards, Zatanna would be so much bigger.  Also glimpsed: Frankenstein and the lead from I, Vampire, two relatively short-lived New 52 characters whose series I caught up on in their collections a few months back.  Also, Zatanna's Identity Crisis actions are coming back to haunt her in the Rebirth era.  That's cool.

Justice League #33 (DC)
Funny to see what's become of the concepts Geoff Johns was exploring in this issue: 1) the Doom Patrol, in a different incarnation, now stars in a Young Animal series, 2) Jessica Cruz now stars in Green Lanterns, and 3) Lex Luthor has continued his strange heroics in the pages of Action Comics.  Clearly fruitful ideas, Geoff!

Justice League vs. Suicide Squad #1 (DC)
Love that DC gave Williamson a soft event book.  He deserves it.  Also love that Max Lord is revealed as the villain on the last page.

King #1 (Jet City)
I really wish Joshua Hale Fialkov could enjoy greater exposure.  This thematic update of Kamandi, however, is probably not the best way to go about it, entertaining though it may be.

Monstress #1, 12 (Image)
This is one of those books I've heard and heard and heard about, and so I figured I should finally have a look at it.  The extra-length first issue was reprinted at $1.99, so I scooped that up, plus what's counted as the most recent issue for a few months now (returning from hiatus soon!).  Marjorie Liu actually kind of interests me more as a creator who like Gene Yang is bringing an international voice to the table.  Seems a lot like Saga, insofar as it includes random elements of mature material.

Saga #43 (Image)
Speaking of which!  This special twenty-five cent issue (it's Image's 25th anniversary, yo!) was practically a gimme on two scores: 1) the price, obviously, and 2) the price combined with the fact that I've been a faithful reader in the past, but've lapsed in recent years.  So here was my chance to catch up.  Again the series seems almost as interested in cheap shock tactics as decent storytelling, which is what bumped me off the bandwagon, the seeming increased inability to balance these instincts.  I guess at this point it seems necessary, the cheap shock tactics.  The tactics this issue, of all issues (!), where potential new readers might have no idea what they're in for, include what's apparently a flippant trip to an abortion clinic, which is such a galvanizing issue, where you'll either get people to love or hate you depending on your conclusions.  And what's become typical of Saga, it reaches different conclusions (probably) than what they initially seem.  So I don't really know if I should care about this series again...

Saucer State #1, 2 (IDW)
I could not have been happier when Paul Cornell announced that his short-lived Vertigo series Saucer Country was due for a revival at IDW.  So when I had a chance to scoop it up, I scooped it up.  Funny that artist Ryan Kelly seems to have somewhat changed his style since the last time he drew these characters, but colorist Adam Guzowski does what he can to keep thing fairly consistent.  The story itself remains intriguing, by the way!

Superman: Doomed #2 (DC)
I've been trying to track this down (not too hard, but y'know) for a while, so I'm glad I finally succeeded.  This update of Doomsday not only led to the short-lived Doomed series that saw an updated Alpha Centurion debut in the New 52 (!), but also featured Brainiac a relative handful of months before his big New 52 event, Convergence, which this issue, knowingly or otherwise, alludes to.  There were so many complaints about Superman in the New 52, but I think a lot of them were a result of previous complaints that just kept snowballing rather than had a real basis in the comics themselves.  This was good stuff.

Superman #33, 42 (DC)
Speaking of Gene Yang (a little earlier; feel free to scroll up a little!), the latter issue is one of his, while the former is Geoff Johns'.  I think this was an especially good time to be reading Superman, personally, and yeah, it was New 52 material.

Wonder Woman #1 (DC)
Greg Rucka got a lot of hate, surprisingly, for his Rebirth run.  I guess he was too ambitious.  He ruffled feathers by contradicting Brian Azzarello's New 52 run (even though it wasn't all that popular...until fans didn't much care for the Finch run that followed it).  I still want to get around to reading more of it.  It's funny that the origin story is being revisited so much lately. Just goes to prove how neglected the character has been.  If she were as popular as she is important, this would not be happening.

Reading Comics 198 "DC Rebirth Week 10, All-New All-Different Avengers, Civil War II: The Accused, and The Fuse"

Featured this edition: All-New All-Different Avengers Annual #1, All Star Batman #1, Civil War II: The Accused, Deathstroke: Rebirth #1, The Flash #4, The Fuse #18, New Superman #2, and Superwoman #1.

All-New All-Different Avengers Annual #1 (Marvel)
I kind of had to buy this one as an early fan of G. Willow Wilson's Ms. Marvel, because this whole issue is dedicated to fan fiction, or Marvel creator versions of fan fiction, which turns out to be pretty funny.

All Star Batman #1 (DC)
Scott Snyder is never a sure-thing for me, although I did read through much of his New 52 Batman run, which was that era's biggest success story.  I had to at least give his follow-up a shot.  Turns out I love it, at least in this debut.  This is a Two-Face story, which may have things to say about the current US presidential campaign season, and it's some of the best writing I've ever seen from Snyder.  It doesn't hurt that he has John Romita, Jr., to help guide him along to greater creative heights.  That's something few fans appreciated about Romita's Superman run, which was a real shame, but I think they'll have less of a problem accepting his style in this series. 

Civil War II: The Accused (Marvel)
Screenwriter Marc Guggenheim has hopefully done enough comics where fans will accept him as one of their own.  It can't possibly hurt his cause exploring one of Civil War II's touchstone moments: Hawkeye murdering the Hulk.  Guggenheim helps Matt Murdock (Daredevil) navigate the intricacies of the resulting trial, exploring a range of relevant social topics.  The only knock is that this could easily have been expanded.

Deathstroke: Rebirth #1 (DC)
Unlike other Rebirth one-shots, Christopher Priest's (he's now billing himself strictly as Priest) Slade Wilson primer doesn't really make the origin explicit so much as exploring his complicated history as a father, and the kind of morality he inhabits as DC's most famous mercenary and frequent star of his own series.  The results are certainly fascinating, and they allow the reader to reach their own conclusions.  I haven't read too much solo Deathstroke, but this may be the start of his best run yet.

The Flash #4 (DC)
Joshua Williamson continues to nail it.  What else can I say?  Even moreso than Sam Humphries' Green Lanterns, this is feeling like comics that will be remembered fondly for years to come.  When this happens in the pages of The Flash, it usually means someone has managed to become the new standard by which all others follow.  Williamson joins the ranks of Mark Waid and Geoff Johns in that regard.

The Fuse #18 (Image)
This issue was released earlier in the year, after which the series took a hiatus that just ended last month.  The Fuse is Antony Johnston's police procedural set aboard a space station, and the issue concludes the "Perihelion" arc, which represents the day of the year Earth and the station are closest to the sun, which seems to bring about more communal chaos than usual.  I like that Johnston (who became a legend, at least as I'm concerned, with his masterful Wasteland) not only builds scenarios but thinks of scenarios-within-scenarios like this.  Also, the plot of what brought Ralph Dietrich to the station ramps up, and continues in the next arc, "Constant Orbital Revolutions."  That's another Johnston trademark, the ability to build his stories a layer at a time, so that different arcs actually mean something and don't just mean another story in the series.  This is much rarer than you'd think.  Geoff Johns in his epic Green Lantern run would be another such example.

New Super-Man #2 (DC)
What Wilson's done in the pages of Ms. Marvel is something Gene Luen Yang is doing in the pages of this comic, introducing a unique cultural perspective that also presents a unique perspective on superheroes.  I love that DC let Yang do this even after the lackluster response to his Superman.

Superwoman #1 (DC)
The blockbuster "Last Days of Superman" story that helped round out the New 52 era has proven to be reach creative groundwork for the Rebirth era, which now proudly includes Superwoman in its ranks of successes.  Marvel has been swapping the identities and genders behind their icons for a couple years now, which in truth is kind of old hat in comics.  On the surface, Superwoman probably seems like it's climbing aboard the bandwagon, but DC has at least put considerable thought into it.  "Superwoman" is actually "Superwomen" in this issue, in which long-time creator Phil Jimenez gets another chance to shine in writing and art duties (he's previously done so with the likes of his early millennial Wonder Woman run), and features longtime supporting cast members Lois Lane and Lana Lang gaining powers.  As Lois points out, this would hardly be the first time for her (perhaps the most famous example was in Grant Morrison's All Star Superman, but she also had Brainiac powers in the New 52, among other instances).  Jimenez also acknowledges Lois's role in the controversial "Truth" arc, in which she exposed Superman's secret identity.  The clever thing, though, is that Lana is along for the ride, too, and so any fans still grumbling about how Lois Lane was depicted in the New 52, and the lack of a romance with Clark Kent, can instead focus on Lana, Clark's Smallville crush.  In fact, without giving too much away, Lana Lang is actually the star of this comic.  I also like that her costume and powers harken to the much-maligned "Electric Superman" (as did Strange Visitor fifteen years ago).  Good creators always know better than naysaying fans.  This issue more than proves that Jimenez is a good creator.

Batman: Rebirth #1 (DC)

It's the dawn of the Tom King era in Batman comics.  Although, basically, it's King and artist Mikel Janin reprising their Grayson act.  (It'll be the same for Tomasi and Gleason in Superman, and thank goodness!)  If this is what Rebirth will be like, I can see that DC has indeed learned where its best talent has been. 

Scott Snyder is ostensibly along for the ride.  As with Geoff Johns in Green Lanterns: Rebirth, I think it's a purely ceremonial act, meant to assure wary fans that the old guard was there to make sure the new one knew what came before them.  Because this doesn't read like Snyder.  Snyder was all about diving into what King avoids in this issue, which is the chaos of Gotham around Batman's adventures.  King's Calendar Man, in fact, reads almost exactly like Snyder's Mr. Bloom, unleashing spores that cause chaos.  There's even Duke Thomas (assuming a new, as-yet unnamed heroic persona) along for the ride.

King's an emerging force for psychologically strong superhero storytelling.  His Batman is prone to pushing his limits in the classic sense (one of Snyder's best Batman comics involves a scenario very similar to what is presented in these pages, in Batman: Futures End as he sets about the clone agenda Snyder had previously explored in Detective Comics #27).  Otherwise, King's vision of Batman's strength of character remembers that Bruce Wayne still exists, too, and that his business acumen, and persistence, amount for something, too, the allies he made there, and what they have to say about where all of this came from.

The best lines in the issue come from Lucius Fox, who remembers this about the late Thomas Wayne:

"I once tried to talk your father into coming into the business.  Told him being a doctor drives you crazy.  Whatever you do, people just get sick again.  You make no progress.  He looked at me for a bit, got real quiet, stern almost.  It's a look I've only ever seen once again.  And it was in the face of a masked man [Batman].  Finally, in a dark voice, he said, 'You're right, Lucius, I am crazy.  But the sick need someone crazy enough to believe they can be better.  So what else could I be?'"

Now, recently, in the pages of a Marvel comic, Nick Spencer decided that Steve Rogers needed a neglectful father, that it would somehow help make his origin better.  (This is to say nothing about Hydra.)  That's the difference between Marvel and DC right there.  Steve's dad has been a nonentity all this time.  You can do whatever you want with him.  Thomas Wayne has never had that luxury.  Rarely seen, but every time he's brought it, it counts for something.  Is it a shortcut to make Batman's dad a good guy, too? 

Absolutely not.  Welcome aboard, Tom King.

Quarter Bin 76 "Automatic Kafka, and other stuff"

A lot of comics bought from an actual quarter bin.  Don't say it never happens...

Automatic Kafka #2 (WildStorm)
From October 2002.
Joe Casey was one of the big names in comic at that time, but then he split off with a couple of his fellow luminaries to form Man of Action, which produced hit concepts like Ben 10 and Big Hero 6.  But before he left, he left a splash, with stuff like Automatic Kafka.  Chances are if he hadn't left, Kafka would have a lasting memory.  Like a lot of Casey and WildStorm's efforts from that time, it was a post-millennial superhero deconstruction project, although today it looks like a precursor to Matt Kindt's MIND MGMT, which to my mind is a very good thing.  So it was certainly a pleasure to read some of it, and I certainly wouldn't mind reading more.  It was certainly the most pleasant discovery of this particular lot, although there was plenty of other good stuff, such as:

Batman: Futures End #1 (DC)
From November 2014.
The Futures End specials were such a rich creative opportunity, and I love checking out what the more adventurous ones attempted.  This one wasn't an attempt, it was Scott Snyder, with Ray Fawkes scripting, revisiting his fascinating vision of the future Batman, so obsessed with his mission that he sets up a series of clones who will continue it indefinitely.  It was easily Snyder's richest Batman concept, and one seen otherwise only sparingly, from a short story in the pages of the anniversary Detective Comics #27.  I didn't read this special when it was originally released, because I didn't imagine that Snyder would revisit the concept, and fan reactions at the time didn't catch on to the significance of the issue, but I eventually read it digitally, and so now I've got a physical copy as well.  This is the origin of the clone initiative, an older Batman who defies the odds and breaks into Lex Luthor's secret lab to get what he needs for it.  I'd love if Snyder eventually returned again to the concept, but a small collection of these two stories wouldn't be out of order, either, so fans know they exist...

Bone Holiday Special (Hero)
From 1993.
This was something of an unbelievable find, a Hero magazine special from the early days of Jeff Smith's Bone.  In it is an exclusive story, plus an interview (Smith comes off as less than impressive, alas), and reprints of early strips predating Bone, back when it was called Thorn.  Bone is an endlessly charming memory, one of my all-time favorite comics, and Smith has proven to be an enduring talent as well, with RASL and Tuki (an ongoing project) also under his belt by this point.

Cerebus #201 (Aardvark-Vanaheim)
From December 1995.
Dave Sim is such a unique character in comics lore.  He was a virtual god of the indy press at his prime, but since Cerebus ended fans have tended to reflect more on his alleged shortcomings than on what he accomplished.  This issue begins the "Guys" arc, and seems to feature parodies of George Harrison and Ringo Starr (and virtually incomprehensible dialogue to match their accents).  I have no idea how representative it is of Cerebus as a whole, but it was certainly unique reading.  Sim includes an origin of Cerebus (and the name of its publisher, Aardvark-Vanaheim) in an essay, so that was pretty lucky for a guy who's not usually lucky enough to find an issue...

Chosen #2 (Dark Horse)
One of Mark Millar's formative projects (he's since retitled it American Jesus, and plans on further volumes) features a boy who may or may not be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.  It's actually pretty interesting.

Empire #3 (DC)
From November 2003.
Mark Waid was my favorite '90s comic book writer.  Eventually, he started to try and figure out how he was going to follow up all the stuff he'd accomplished in that decade, and everything he's done since has been a continuation of that.  Empire was his first shot at what the kind of superhero storytelling he later developed in his Irredeemable comics.  The concept was, What if the bad guy wins?  This issue features the superhero who the villain only wants the world to think died.  I don't know, maybe my lackluster opinion of Waid in the last few decades colors my impression of Empire, but it's hard to see now why fans were so wild about it.  But they've consistently been wild about a lot of minor work from Waid.  I should know.  I knew his work when it was great...

Green Lantern: Mosaic #6 (DC)
From November 1992.
1992 was from the era I last saw bargain packs all over the place, and how I first discovered Green Lantern: Mosaic.  This was, as I know understand it, the Vertigo version of Green Lantern.  Gerard Jones ruled the whole Green Lantern landscape at that time, and it was surprisingly expansive landscape at that time.  Mosaic was the big gamble.  I guess I couldn't really appreciate how big a gamble it was until I read its letters column.  The first issue of the series was the first issue I read, and for decades remains the only issue.  But I loved that issue.  Eventually, I caught another issue, and then even the arc from Green Lantern where it originated.  Turns out, fans really didn't know what to make of it, and Jones didn't go out of his way to make it any easier.  I mean, this was a Vertigo title.  And it seriously needs to be rediscovered.  It's pretty much the Green Lantern version of Grant Morrison's Animal Man.  And this is how you make John Stewart relevant.

Haven: The Broken City #9 (DC)
From October 2002.
A couple of upstart creators were given a shot at creating something new at DC.  This was a time of pretty wild experimentation at DC, and so it was as good a time to let upstart creators try their thing as any.  The result is better than its complete lack of impact indicates.  I caught the first issue from the same quarter bin a little while back, so it only seemed appropriate that I caught the last issue, too.  Bookending the series were two specials featuring the Justice League.  I don't really know what happened, why the upstarts vanished and the whole thing forgotten.  But it didn't really deserve that fate.

Hawkeye #3 (Marvel)
From December 2012.
But then again, the much better established Matt Fraction couldn't help this series make a bigger impact...

Infinite Vacation #5 (Image)
Back when I thought I was going to continue to be a big fan of Nick Spencer, I caught the first issue of this one, and so reading the last one seemed like it would finally be appropriate.  In hindsight Infinite Vacation may be remembered, if anything, for helping launch Image's continuing obsession with really bold coloring.  This is the era of colorists, folks.

Infinity Man and the Forever People: Futures End #1 (DC)
From November 2014.
This Futures End special is pretty good, too, and is the first time I actually read this New Gods series.  I think its only shortcoming is that it...really doesn't seem all that relevant a New Gods concept.  But it's still a good read!

Justice League Europe #36 (DC)
From March 1992.
Gerard Jones again, this time helping smooth the transition from the Giffen/DeMatteis era to the Jurgens era, as he dismantles the old Bwa-Ha-Ha League (a lot of the members in this issue join Jurgens' Justice League America).

The Mice Templar: Volume IV - Legend #3 (Image)
From June 2013.
I was such a fan of Mice Templar, but I kind of got...tired of it after a while.  The black and white art doesn't help, because it's hard to distinguish characters, especially since they're all rodents.  But it was such an ambitious concept, and eventually ran for, I think, forty-two issues across five mini-series.  This is actually a pretty good issue, and the new essay writer explains the history of anthropomorphic storytelling, which is kind of handy.  So it was a good random issue to help revisit the concept.  Plus, the Salmon of Knowledge! 

Moon Knight #16 (Marvel)
From August 2015.
Predictably, Cullen Bunn features the least imaginative version of Marvel's project to make Moon Knight its second most interesting character (actual storytelling results may vary), after Deadpool.  Although I hear Jeff Lemire is doing some truly killer work with the concept at the moment...

Promethea #22 (ABC)
From November 2002.
Alan Moore is the comics genius (so proclaimed by at least one whole generation of fans) I consider more lackluster than not.  Promethea was his project with future superstar J.H. Williams III, who later collaborated with Neil Gaiman on a new Sandman.  Speaking of which, this issue reads like a lackluster, Alan Moore version of Sandman.  And speaking of which...

Sandman #63 (Vertigo)
I've been trying to catch up with Gaiman's seminal comics saga for a while (as evidenced by my annotations of The Annotated Sandman, a project that will continue at some point).  This issue is from late in the series and, more specifically, "The Kindly Ones."  It is not, however, particularly an issue to hold against counterfeit Alan Moore Sandman.  It's a pretty busy issue, and certainly better than Moore's effort, but not an easy issue to laud among the greater Gaiman material available...

Smax #3 (ABC)
From December 2003.
"ABC," by the way, stands for "America's Best Comics."  Which these really aren't.  They were pretty popular at the time, and Alan Moore's last real stab at popular work (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen came from this era), and the funny thing is, they were all variations on stuff he originally did for Rob Liefeld.  It makes sense somehow.  Anyway, if Moore weren't so completely obsessed with sex, he might do better work.  That's my theory, anyway...

Superman/Wonder Woman Annual #2 (DC)
From February 2016.
This is pretty much how the romance ends.  It's kind of sad.

The New Titans #66 (DC)
From May 1990.
The cover of this later issue from the seminal Wolfman/Perez collaboration features Raven...not making out with Dick Grayson.  It only looks that way.  Raven's meddling in Dick's love life would come a little later in Wolfman's run (a development that's routinely overlooked by fans, by the way).  It's worth noting that George Perez is not on art duties this issue, but rather co-scripting (the beginning, perhaps, of his writing career).  The art, rather, comes from the formative pen of Tom Grummett, whose style is somewhat evident in this early work.  If memory serves me right, he's also drawing when Wolfman has Raven crash Dick's would-be nuptials with Starfire...

The Legend of Will Power #1, 2 (Primal Paper)
From March, August 2011.
A local comics creator produced these comics (it's always worth sampling the native talent, which includes Drew Moss, who was in the store sketching once, and complaining about his publisher complaining about him...).  This isn't Moss, however, but Vince White, and the reason I picked up these issues was because I had the suspicion there might be some Green Lantern in these pages.  But the utter lack of connection between the superhero and his name (which is actually his real name) shows the disconnect between White's ambitions and his actual talent.  He's a better artist.  He needed a co-writer.  Live and learn?

Quarter Bin 75 "Some old, some new"

This is a back issue feature.  The title is not always literal.

Recently I dipped back into the same comics pack source I hit a few weeks back, and came up with some stuff I'd already read, and some new stuff, too (hence, the title).  But let's just dive in, shall we?

Detective Comics #1 (DC)
From 2011.
These packs featured some reprints geared toward the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.  You can tell, because the reprints have ads for the movie littered throughout them.  I'm glad this was one of the reprints, because it's a reminder that Tony Daniel was still writing Batman at the start of the New 52.  He's one of the many artists DC has helped transition into writing.  He was Grant Morrison's artist from "Batman, R.I.P.," which led to him writing Batman before the New 52 relaunch.  He brought the same stuff to Detective Comics, including the character responsible for the Joker's grizzly new look ("look ma! no skin on my face!").  But fans by that point hopped on the Scott Snyder bandwagon (Snyder had been writing Detective Comics, so it was a flip flop that worked extremely well for one of them).  Daniel's work on Batman is by no means lousy.  But I guess it couldn't compete with Snyder's.  Like Snyder, he was keenly interested in creating new villains.  But again, I guess Snyder just did it better.

Batman Eternal #2 (DC)
From June 2014.
The weekly series Snyder and sidekick James Tynion IV launched featured some good storytelling, although perhaps it failed to be considered as iconic because its storytelling was less precise (I mean, like Geoff Johns on Green Lantern before him, Snyder managed to make a crossover arc of every story).  This second issue features Jim Gordon in trouble with the law.  The oddest thing is that Eternal really had nothing to do with Snyder's work in Batman itself.  They existed as two separate entities, and weaved visions that really had nothing to do with each other.  Eternal was a gimme to the fans, and Batman was busy making new ones.  I guess it makes sense...

Batman #41 (DC)
From August 2015.
Featuring the debut of Commissioner Batman, this was among the most recent issues included in the packs.  It still strikes me that Snyder basically parodied the whole "Knight Quest"/"Reign of the Supermen"/Doctor Spider-Man concept.  He knew from the start that fans wouldn't really buy Gordon as Batman, and yet went with it anyway.  Took real guts.  But by this point, he literally could get away with anything, and he knew it.

Batman: Arkham Knight #1 (DC)
From 2015.
Based on the series of video games, this is part of a series of mini-series that weave a story around them (like the following title).  Peter J. Tomasi, at his best, is among the best.  But he's not always at his best.  Sometimes, he's merely functional.  That's what he is in this.

Injustice: Gods Among Us - Year Two Annual #1 (DC)
From December 2014.

Injustice: Gods Among Us - Year Three #1 (DC)
From December 2014.
These are based on a fighting game, but the reality they pose might as well come from Batman's fever dream in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.  They posit a Superman gone wildly out of control, attempting to bring order to Earth as a despot.  The best story in these issues features Green Lantern Hal Jordan and Sinestro, in a dynamic that's reminiscent of how Geoff Johns depicted them.  Also featured: Detective Chimp.  But not nearly enough of him!

Justice League #1 (DC)
From 2011.
This reprint features the beginning of Geoff Johns' seminal introduction of the team at the start of the New 52 era.  I've been an eager champion of this from the beginning, but it was fun to read it again (and incidentally, this is the fourth time I've purchased this story; one time was in the collection).  After rereading Frank Miller and Jim Lee's All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder recently, it was fun to see how Johns and Lee did a variation on the Batman/Green Lantern confrontation, and how it, and its relation to Miller and Lee's work, helped set the tone of the series.  Some really great stuff.

Justice League of America #1 (DC)
From August 2015.
I read this issue when it was originally released.  Reading it again was to find it better than I remembered.  I mean, I liked it then, too, but to read it from a time when I know Bryan Hitch will be handling the DC Rebirth Justice League is to know the title will be in good hands.  So that was good to find out.

Superman #32 (DC)
From 2014.
The start of the Johns/Romita era is an exceptional as I remember it.  Johns was truly at the top of his Superman game in this run, and he was no slouch the last time.  The Ulysses character apparently plays a role in Tomasi's "Super League" arc that's helping to round out the New 52 era.  He's basically Johns' new Superboy Prime.  That's good, too.

Action Comics #36 (DC)
From January 2015.
Greg Pak's Superman just doesn't do it for me.  Although I love Superman sporting a beard. 

Superman/Wonder Woman #1 (DC)
From December 2013.
I became such a fanboy of Charles Soule's at that time, it's fun revisiting some of that time.  I thought the concept of this relationship was one of the genius moves of the New 52, but I guess it was something DC was just as quick to shut down, because the "Truth" arc wasn't especially kind to it.  Doomsday was a busy monster at that time, too.  Since I didn't read further issues of this story, or the complete "Doomed," I only know so much of what the monster was up to.  I don't even know if the arcs were related!  Oh well...Oh further note is the course of journeyman artist...Tony Daniel!  He ended up bouncing from project to project.  But at least DC kept finding work for him!

Superman Unchained #1 (DC)
From August 2013.
It's funny, because ads for Man of Steel can be found in this issue, and so I guess everything comes full circle.  Snyder and Lee, reporting for duty.  But I'm not sure what either accomplished with this project.  Certainly there's evidence of more important work elsewhere in this edition of Quarter Bin...

Quarter Bin 73 "Coming back to Snyder's Batman"

Bought cheap.  Title is figurative.  And so on.

Batman #1 (DC)
From 2011.
Sometimes I find myself forming opinions as a reaction to what I consider to be the stupid opinions of others.  Hey, we all do it.  I tend to be accused of it probably more than others, but this is a far more common phenomenon than people think (probably for obvious reasons).  Thankfully, I sometimes catch myself.  I hated how much Scott Snyder's Batman caught on.  As an affirmed Grant Morrison fan, I just wanted to shout, Morrison's Batman hasn't even finished yet!  What's wrong with you?  But I can also acknowledge that Morrison is an extremely divisive writer, and his Batman had already gone through several permutations, and had long since moved on from its most sensational story, "Batman R.I.P."  By this point, he was approaching concluding it with the second volume of Batman Incorporated.  Snyder, meanwhile, had created some positive buzz with his initial Batman work within the pages of Detective Comics.  DC obviously recognized his unique new voice, and gave him the chance to get the widest exposure with the Batman relaunch at the start of the New 52.  And it caught on like wildfire.  In the following years, the company even began touting the first collection of his run, The Court of Owls, as a new classic, a must-read.  I thought that was beyond the pale.  I mean, does popularity really qualify something as a classic?

Well, in some cases, probably.  But that's kind of beside the point.  Snyder's work wasn't just considered good Batman material, it became the gold standard of success in the New 52 era, one that every other title DC published failed, time and time again, to match.  I mean, eventually Harley Quinn caught on in a big way, but for the same reasons Deadpool was a surprise blockbuster earlier this year.  That's just the character of fans at the moment.  Snyder's word, ideally, really does transcend the moment.  There's a reason why.  This first issue subconsciously evokes another moment in which Batman broke out of a slump, 1989's Batman movie, actually, which remained the gold standard of Batman movies until The Dark Knight.  Snyder has Bruce Wayne overhear a conversation Jim Gordon has about an open crime scene, and a fat detective waits on-scene (this time one of the good guys, ol' reliable Harvey Bullock). 

Like I said, it's a subconscious connection, probably one few readers realize even now, but it sets the tone.  Snyder's Batman is a hopeful one, in the manner of what Morrison had sought to accomplish, but perhaps mistakenly associating it with a whole movement.  Batman works best when it's clear he's in control, even when he loses control (as he often does in Snyder's series).  Whether he has partners is beside the point.  It's not about subtracting grim from the equation (it's been observed that Snyder's Batman was basically a horror series), but that Batman himself doesn't have to be grim.

I read this issue again, thanks to another lucky find of bargain packs that seem to be popping up everywhere I go lately, before reading the final issues of Snyder's run, and it's the reason I bought those to begin with.  I mean, I've been reading the run sporadically since the beginning, and sometimes I've really loved it, but I've never really shaken my basic reaction, Of course this isn't as good as they say it is.  There will be a lot of reasons why fans eventually cool on the run, all the things Snyder never quite accomplished but easily could have but for whatever reason never did, and while those points will be valid, they don't take away from the base accomplishment, which was to present a whole era in which Batman's popularity was guided by a single man, who more or less lived up to the occasion.  Sound like faint praise?  It isn't.

Batman Annual #3 (DC)
From February 2015.
Snyder's partner in crime during this time was his protégé, James Tynion IV, with whom I recently read an interview that explained the whole relationship.  I never realized what a lucky bastard Tynion really was.  Because I could sometimes slip in my appreciation of Snyder, you can bet I had less kind thoughts concerning Tynion.  But the truth is, he's put in some good work, such as this issue, part of the "Endgame" arc that saw Snyder's vision of the last battle between Batman and the Joker.  One of the running themes of the arc was the true identity of the Joker, which actually doesn't feature into the issue, but rather his twisted relationship with a reporter who found himself in the unique predicament of asking what the hell is wrong with the Joker, to his face, and theorizing that it's because the Joker is incredibly...lonely.  So the Joker agrees to make the guy his special friend, which seems to be a sincere joke, as it were, on his part, but which absolutely terrorizes his most uncomfortable victim.  The fact that I took the time to actually explain what happens in a comic book should tell you that it was pretty memorable.  So it was good to read, while rediscovering Snyder, Tynion as well, and come to a similar conclusion.

Batman/Superman #13 (DC)
From October 2014.
I could never quite bring myself to read this series, which I originally thought was a sad attempt to recapture the glory of Jeph Loeb's Superman/Batman, which later writers in that series, to my mind, amply proved already was all too easy to accomplish (the failure, you understand).  But I knew the series was different, that DC was making a serious attempt.  While certainly a quieter entry than its predecessor in the chronicles of the World's Finest, it attracted some quality talent, like Greg Pak, as part of his overall Superman duties, and Jae Lee, who has consistently produced some of the most gorgeous art in comics.  This issue features the duo with amnesia, and some interesting moments with the likes of Catwoman, Bruce Wayne, and Lois Lane as a result. 

Thus rounding out a pretty good bargain three-pack in what is usually a pretty dicey prospect.

Reading Comics 185 "I am being Broot, plus the end of Scott Snyder's Batman and the penultimate Geoff Johns Justice League"

Batman #50, 51 (DC)
These are Scott Snyder's final two issues of the most successful run from the New 52 era.  I've done my fair share of waffling on Snyder's Batman, but in the end I can agree that it was historic, and in a good way.  #50 counts as the end of Jim Gordon's run as Commissioner Batman.  Bruce Wayne, in an earlier issue I haven't read, finally reconciled himself with his Batman destiny again, and aided in the thwarting of Mr. Bloom's plans to deconstruct Gotham (via methods that made him a cross between Christopher Nolan's Ra's al Ghul in Batman Begins and Poison Ivy).  Along the way, Snyder brings Duke Thomas, the would-be next Robin who went on to somewhat fill that role in We Are Robin, back into the fold, providing sort-of closer to one of his signature creations (along with the Court of Owls and Harper Row) during the run.  #51 is a better issue, as it directly reflects on the very first issue by bringing back the "Gotham is..." newspaper column feature in the captions, along the way providing a hopeful interpretation of what Batman means to his city.  I think that about sums up what Snyder brought to the character, building on Grant Morrison's earlier Batman Inc. mentality and allowing Batman to be less grim, while still pursuing monumental stories (just about every story was a crossover arc).  This was something that was largely absent from of the New 52, a truly cohesive vision that looked like something new but was also, for those paying attention, something familiar.

(Snyder returns in the DC Rebirth era with All Star Batman.)

Justice League #49 (DC)
Geoff Johns pens the penultimate chapter of "Darkseid War" and his run in this series, his last regular writing assignment for the foreseeable future, and he continues to drop big moments, such as the death of Moebius (the responsible party is hardly someone you would expect), setting up a finale in which all the remaining players must sort out their variously tangled relationships, enemies of so many orders that you kind of might confuse this for the best-ever X-Men story (or the rest of the Marvel universe lately, as has been heavily depicted in its movies, soon to be seen again in Captain America: Civil War).  So that's exactly what Johns has accomplished in this very DC series that has stood as the uncrowned monthly event series I've been describing since the first issue...

Omega Men #11 (DC)
The penultimate issue of Tom King's masterpiece sees war grow more and more entrenched, as the individual remaining members of the team rally the individual worlds of the Vega System to the cause.  This is where we get to see the results of what the rest of the series has accomplished, and my favorite moment comes from Scrapps, the dirtiest player in the game (no, silly, not Ric Flair!).  Scrapps is the girl I will probably have to go back and read to find out if King ever actually explored her background, but she's been the toughest soldier in an army that was packed with all kinds of muscle.  She confronts Broot's father, the pontifex of Changralyn (where Omega be praised), and utters the phrase leading the title of this column, "I am being Broot."  ("Broot" means heretic, by the way.)  It's a great moment, and points to what King, and DC, may have been intending all along with Omega Men, which was to present DC's version of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, which a couple of years ago became a hugely successful movie, famously with the tree creature Groot, whose dialogue nearly exclusively consists of uttering the phrase, "I am Groot."  And as far as I'm concerned, that's exactly what King has accomplished.  DC has always been the thinking man's comic book company.  There are plenty of people who would love to dispute this, but they'd be wrong, and I'm not even just talking superhero comics (no other company has been able to so successfully juggle those and so many other genres like DC).  But even in terms of between DC and Marvel, DC's always been the more philosophical one, whereas Marvel has always tried its hardest to play the superhero game straight (again, you can see that clearly in the movies).  Right now we have a lot of fans who prefer the Marvel method.  When it swings around again (and it will), Omega Men will be waiting to be rediscovered.  And make a better movie...

Reading Comics 164 "Comics from 6/10/15"

Featuring Batman #41, Descender #4, Earth 2: Society #1, Nameless #4, and Saga #29.

Batman #41 (DC)

This whole issue is Scott Snyder doing the hard sell for his new direction.  This can be seen as a good thing, even a smart thing.  But it might also be considered...an acknowledgment that maybe it's not such a good idea after all.  Veteran comics readers know how this game works.  Original character is replaced.  New character attempts to solidify their right to the role.  Original character returns.  Snyder has been playing a little fast and loose with the concept from the start, "killing off" Bruce Wayne while also making it clear (to anyone paying attention) that this didn't actually happen.  And this issue makes that clear, too.  He's sitting in a park on the first and last pages.  Some readers will wonder, is that really Bruce Wayne?  Of course it is.

And that's really Jim Gordon playing at being Batman, too.  Even he pokes fun at the new getup, by the way.  As I said, Snyder plays with fire in the issue.  And it's a little hard to swallow after a while.  I know what you'll say, you veteran of this blog.  I've acknowledged problems reading Snyder in the past.  The conclusion to "Endgame," I said, might have been the point where I put all that behind me.  But I guess it really doesn't work that way.

So this is Snyder trying to do his version of the replacement trope.  As you can see from the above panel, Snyder even gives lip service to all the reasons why this typically happens.  The oddest thing is that there's no one saying Batman needs this right now.  And so why is Snyder even doing it?  Because he's subverting even that part of the narrative?  Hey, since when was Scott Snyder even known as a guy who subverts expectations anyway?

So the issue is actually pretty uncomfortable, and once again I'm telling myself, I'm done with Snyder.  I won't be fooled again!  

We'll see...

Descender #4 (Image)

In strict contrast to Snyder and even to a comic I'll be talking about a little later is this one from the combined genius of Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen.  I happen to love comics, or stories in general, with a lot of moving parts, which is to say components that are being used not necessarily in direct conjunction with each other but that keep things interesting, and this has nothing to do with being simple or complicated, but a general awareness that the creator(s) have figured out what they're doing in an obvious, even if subtle, way.  This means, for instance, what's illustrated above.  What Snyder's done in Batman has sometimes seemed like it wanted to do something like this, but then it turns out most of that was geared toward Batman Eternal and not Batman itself, which is fine and all, but there's a clear difference, and the distinction is that Snyder himself didn't want to affect what he was doing in trying to create an iconic Dark Knight by introducing a lot of dynamic new elements (Court of Owls notwithstanding, or perhaps included).

The above illustrates the difference nicely.  The Driller is somewhat one-dimensional, but serves as a nice contrast to Tim, the little boy robot who's the heart of Descender.  Tim convinces Driller not to be a killer because that would be bad for its future.  But later in the issue, when more mayhem surrounds Tim, he releases Driller from this restriction.  Lemire writes this perfectly, and of course Nguyen is doing the same killer work he's done since Batman: Li'l Gotham.  While Tim's creator Dr. Quon remains about as one-dimensional as Driller, there's also Telsa to be considered.  This is the issue where we begin to find out what makes her interesting.  At first not only as one-dimensional as Driller but as function-centered, she's a reflection of what the series may ultimately be about, breaking away from what others perceive you to be (and hence a sign that Quon will likely receive similar treatment at some point).  Tim himself, especially to Telsa, is just a boy robot programmed to be a "real" boy's best friend.  

Anyway, while Lemire has been careful to keep the action and plot moving, he doesn't do that at the expense of character development, and not just development, but exploration, which is a concept that is usually ignored.  Snyder, for instance, constantly flirts with it, but only in the safest ways possible, which was he allowed himself, and was allowed by DC, to do such a radical Batman/Joker story as "Endgame" ended up being.  But he always backs away.  When other writers aren't backing away, they aren't even attempting it.  Lemire pushes boldly ahead.  Descender, this is to say, is looking like an all-around classic.

Earth 2: Society #1 (DC)

Speaking of character exploration, the thing I liked best about Convergence was how it took Earth 2 and made it better.  When James Robinson started that series, it was about as character-centric as anything DC was publishing at the time.  Convergence came around and took one of Earth 2's characters, Dick Grayson, and pushed him forward.  And interestingly, as with Convergence as a whole, the story clearly didn't end there.  This is to be understood as a hook.  If you care at all about the character, you will want to know how the story continues.  The debut issue of Society keeps that idea going.

The panel above once again is selected for illustrative purposes.  A lot of the successful comics these days are ones that feature a hook for the real world.  The paralyzed Dick Grayson will hopefully join those ranks.  Most of the issue he is in fact running around, but this is also an issue that jumps back and forth in time.  The hook, then, is for the reader to want to continue reading the series, see how exactly Dick reaches the point where he is running around again.  Likely for the same reasons he was in Convergence, because he has some sort of artificial support.  This should be no big problem for someone looking to him as a role model.  Amputees, for instance, are very familiar with this narrative.

So for me, my interest in Earth 2 was absolutely elevated by Convergence, which I believe was one of the main points of the event, and Society is an excellent way to keep that momentum going.

Nameless #4 (Image)

For those two panels (the rest of the page becomes much like the rest of this particular story), Nameless evokes Grant Morrison's own We3, which is one of the best things he's ever done.  The problem is, Nameless is otherwise hellbent on being the weirdest thing Morrison has ever done, The Filth taken to the next level.  Weirdest as in most disturbing.  It's very easy to interpret Nameless as the culmination of Morrison realizing his Batman Inc. collaborator Chris Burnham as being capable of this exact kind of story.

For some comics readers, the weirder is in fact the better.  Comics, in their view, are supposed to shock.  And they have been shocking readers for many decades, sometimes deliberately so.  And Nameless is also a culmination of Morrison's own basic instincts, by the way.

But it's still very hard to enjoy.  I didn't particularly like Burnham in the pages of Batman Inc. either, by the way.  He's a definite proponent of gross-out material. It's sad, because in those panels above, he is clearly capable of stuff that doesn't need to do that.  (Sometimes I assume people who specialize in gross-out do it because they think they need to.)  To link more of this edition of Reading Comics together, Burnham can perhaps take lessons from Fiona Staples.  (I've been leading toward Saga.  There.)  Staples can do a lot of things.  Saga in one sense is designed to let her do a lot of things.  Some of it is explicitly to let her shock the reader.  But it never quite seems as shocking as what Burnham has routinely demonstrated in Nameless.

And it gets in the way, too.  That's the thing.  It distinctly feels as if Morrison is letting Burnham sell most of the concept for him.  And Morrison is routinely guilty of letting the story sell itself rather than bothering to explain it himself.  And when this works, it absolutely works.  But sometimes it doesn't.  And I think that's ultimately why I backed away from The Filth, too, because the more I thought about it, the more I wished Morrison didn't rely so much on the actual filth.  Imagine how much more readers would have hated Final Crisis if it had done that!

So more and more, that's what I think about Nameless.  I wish it evoked Morrison's best instincts more often.  But I also think this whole project is Morrison working his worst instincts out of his system, or simply trying to prove that old image he created of himself was real after all.  Except more and more, I'm convinced it really wasn't.  But what do I know?

Saga #29 (Image)

This issue is something of a bloodbath for supporting characters in Saga.  If this were Star Trek, it would be the redshirt issue.

And there's an image that's not about that at all, and may be one of the defining gross-out images of the whole series, and that's all I'm going to say about that.  Visually, this is about the sum of everything anyone who doesn't like what they've seen could possibly fear to see throughout a whole issue.

Which is also to say, just another issue of Saga.  But really, this really is Saga to the extreme.  And this is definitely one of the odder things about the series.  It doesn't need any of that to be awesome.  Why Brian K. Vaughan has done it at all, and repeatedly, is probably just because he absolutely knows he can get away with it, or because he just really always wanted to see a sci-fi story do it.  There are plenty of people who like their stories like this.  I'm not necessarily one of them.  Usually it's kept to a minimum, one shock per issue, and usually with a bunch of issues that don't feature this sort of thing at all (mostly).

And the thing of it all is that Fiona Staples otherwise has some of the most lush art around, and could as easily sell itself without any of that as Vaughan could write Saga without any of these distractions.  And yes, at this point it has to be considered one of the primary elements of the series, so there's little use complaining about it, especially so many issues into the series, and from a reader who has read a majority of the series...

Anyway, some of this was absolutely inevitable.  And I suppose Vaughan's greater point is that sci-fi that isn't dirty is simply ignoring a great too many realities.  But the long-term potential of Saga is somewhat compromised if this sort of issue will be routine.  Walking Dead does this all the time.  And I've mentioned before that I absolutely think Walking Dead was ruined by making this sort of thing routine.  You can't do a long-term story where the same thing happens over and over again.  After a certain point, the idea becomes routine and therefore pointless, especially if the writer clearly has nothing to say.

The point of this particular issue is that the things that have been happening throughout the series really have been messy, and are doomed to messy conclusions until and perhaps even when the same mistakes stop being made.  We'll see if that's where Vaughan is actually going with this.  The important thing is, the important people are still alive.  For now.