Pandemic Comics #10 “Ichabod Snip/Howard Fleck Expedition in 2020!”

Penultimate reporting on the Mile High mystery box comics:

Infinite Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre #2
The Crispus Allen version of the Spectre had as dramatic an introduction as possible, Allen’s arc beginning in the pages of Gotham Central where he existed alongside another character named Jim Corrigan (no, not the boy genius!), which led many readers to believe they knew exactly what would eventually happen. But then Corrigan murdered Allen, and Allen became the new host of the Spectre. In hindsight, this angle might’ve had longer legs had Allen accompanied his other colleague from Gotham Central, Renee Montoya, into the pages of 52. But then a lot of other things might’ve turned out differently. So maybe Crispus Allen was always destined for the reboot turnover scrap heap...Then again, so was Montoya. Spirit of Vengeance, where art thou???

Star Trek #1
From 1984, in the wake of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, following that exact continuity, the way the old Star Wars comics at Marvel used to try and guess what was relevant to do between films. Here it’s imagined that in a world without Spock, Kirk just kind of continues on without him. Oh, sure, he struggles with the idea, but...Anyway, like those Star Wars comics, these are tales somewhat instantly negated by the next movie, as Search for Spock would make clear...Mike Barr, the writer, points out in an essay that this is technically the first time Star Trek actually happened without Spock. And while later there would be a lot of Star Trek without Spock, it never seemed to work out the way everyone imagined it in those early years. The TV reboot in the ‘70s that was going to end up repurposed as The Motion Picture, which of course heavily featured Spock. Even his death didn’t prevent Spock from soldiering on! Which is to say, Barr indeed wrote history.

Stormwatch: Team Achilles #9
Couldn’t manage to read more than a few panels, alas.

Action Comics #662 
In hindsight it shouldn’t have been so surprising for the Superman writers concluding they literally had to kill the Man of Steel to prevent him from getting married too soon (in case you didn’t know, that was always their story for why Doomsday happened, because Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman was just getting started on TV, although ironically everyone loved it until they got married) (then the wedding was ruined anyway)...This is the big issue where Superman finally reveals his secret identity to Lois (who had just gotten engaged to Clark)...and most of the issue is spent dithering over the Silver Banshee. Although also historically interesting as it deals with the aftermath of Lex Luthor’s death, setting up his heir, no doubt quickly revealed to be his “son,” who ended up being revealed as his clone. (Lex died as a result of Kryptonite poisoning, of all the delicious ironies.)

Adventures of Superman #500
Polybagged, and will remain so, even if it’s never worth anything again. This was both the beginning of “Reign of the Supermen,” and the road to Superman’s return, as he spends the issue in the afterlife, talking with Pa Kent, who’s had a heart attack. (I know it’s as traditional in continuity as the reverse, but I prefer Pa, and Ma, alive versus dead. It’s the Lois & Clark fan in me. I love those three-way phone calls!)

Action Comics #849
(Between #662 and this, we’re talking 1991 and 2007, by the way!) I’m just gonna ignore the issue itself, a somewhat misguided effort to talk about matters of faith in relation to Superman. The back page features Peter J. Tomasi announcing that he’s leaving editing duties behind and commencing a full-time career as a writer. Here we are in 2020, and it was a very good decision, Pete!

Superman Confidential #1
Darwyn Cooke & Tim Sale begin “Kryptonite,” a Year One Superman tale that’s really easy to see in the  vein of Sale & Jeph Loeb’s collaborations, as of course it features Sale on art and Cooke very much writing the Loeb style. I’m frankly mystified that it’s not one of DC’s evergreens.

Swamp Thing #93
From 1990 and writer Doug Wheeler (in the letters column most of the readers are reacting to his recent acquisition of the job, and reflecting on his famous predecessors, like that chap Alan Moore). Anyway, this was a fun issue, and the source of the title to this post, the moops trying to expose the legendary “Swamp Man,” one of them wondering if the results won’t be famous in that fabled far-off future of 2020, which made it funny to read in 2020...Since, outside of the Charles Soule New 52 comics I’ve never really made a habit of reading Swamp Thing, it’s always nice to be reminded that things like Alec’s speaking pattern and even orange word bubbles have long been part of the mythos. And maybe I ought to read more of them.

Reading Comics 225 "Grass of Parnassus, Superman 100 Page Giant #7"

Grass of Parnassus

This is a new webcomic that made me use Instagram for one of the first times ever.  The hook, for me, is Stuart Immonen, working once again alongside wife Kathryn Immonen (realized when I was composing this and adding labels that she didn't have one yet).  Stuart's one of my all-time favorite comics creators, so it's always fun to see what he's up to. 

Grass appears to be an attempt at a kind of slice-of-life-in-the-future.  Readers seem a little baffled as to what exactly is going on, but it seems pretty straightforward to me. The Immonens have an excellent track record (I haven't read all of their work, but Russian Olive to Red King and Moving Pictures are fantastic).  Here's a compilation of Stuart's best-regarded work.  As much as I love Stuart's art, and his collaborations with Kathryn as writer, I really wish he got back into writing; his Superman comics, as artist and writer, have yet to be rediscovered, but they should be.

Superman Giant #7

I'd be remiss if I didn't chime in on this one.  Apparently these Walmart 100-page giants finally made the news for something other than merely existing.  This was last month's edition (I just scooped up this month's full slate, which included the first revamp and expansion of the line, but haven't had a chance to read it yet).  When I read it I thought it was just another typically intricate narrative from Tom King (my favorite among all active writers in the medium, easily), but...

So the story is this: Superman, on a desperate quest to rescue a young girl kidnapped by aliens, places an extreme-long-distance call, deep in space, to Lois back on Earth.  The whole process is tedious and slow, and on top of that Lois seems to take forever to answer.  Superman spends the time imagining all kinds of worst case scenarios, Lois dying horrible deaths from any of the many emergencies Superman's usually there to prevent.

Sounds fairly normal, doesn't it?  I mean, Superman's been saving Lois Lane from certain death since the very beginning.  It's one of the most recognizable tropes in all of superhero storytelling.  Lois actively puts herself in danger all the time as an intrepid reporter.  You'd think no one could possibly object to a story that just sort of points all that out.

But...

Well, people are always kind of outraged about one thing or another.  It only seems that outrage dominates public discourse more than ever before.  Right?  Anyway.  The outrage this time is that this was a comic that featured Lois dying.  Repeatedly.

This was a reported case of a mother being shocked at what her kid was being exposed to.  Big surprise, right?  Story of comic books right there.  Mom buys these Walmart comics every month, never imagining that there was anything to object to, until she takes a gander and...

So you can't really help that sort of thing.  King is no stranger to provoking readers, of course.  He's been doing that since seemingly killing off Kyle Rayner in the Omega Men preview, and he's made an ongoing spectacle of Batman with regular intervals of similar acts, shocking readers who should have possibly seen it all before.  He did it again with Heroes in Crisis (if I get around to it, I'd love to talk more about that one, especially how #5 lets the cat out of the bag, assuming readers were aware that there was a cat, and a bag, and that you could've anticipated that from the very beginning, without really harming the story, because it's all about how masterfully King commands the page, as always).

What I love about all this is that it does put the focus on the content rather than the existence of these giants, and hopefully will get more readers checking them out. 

Reading Comics 223 "The DC Walmart 100-Page Giants, Month 5"

So I've continued buying DC's Walmart-exclusive (although someone...smuggled? them in, as I guess you should expect, to one of the comic cons I went to this fall) 100-page giants.  I've caught every issue of the Superman giants, most of the Batman, and started buying the Teen Titans giants again.  Haven't really gotten back into Justice League after the first issue.

World's Greatest Super-Heroes Holiday Special
The second holiday special, after the Halloween one, is Christmas-centric.  The lead, original story is from Scott Lobdell and features the Flash and his Rogues.  The real highlight of this particular giant is, however, is a reprint from two years ago, "Good Boy," a Batman Annual #1 reprint written by Tom King, his origin of Ace the Bathound, who starts out as a dog used by the Joker.  Batman brings him home, not knowing what else to do, and Alfred spends the next four months taming him, exhibiting his infinite Pennyworth patience.  The sequence, of course, ends on Christmas, with Batman noting wryly that Alfred didn't get him anything this year.  One of King's great characterizations has been Alfred; it'd be great for an extended look at some point, although if this is the closest we get it'll still rank among the highlights of the run.

The other highlight is from Superman #64, originally published in 1991, as you can tell a little less than a year before "Doomsday."  The writer is Dan Jurgens, but the artist is Butch Guice (as he was later known; here he's still known as Jackson Guice), who was later one of the key "triangle era" artists, best known for his Action Comics Eradicator "Reign of the Supermen" arc.  The Guice in this issue is wonderfully moody (even if the inking could be updated to freshen it up), full of shadows, a marked contrast to his later work and not the kind of art you typically associate with Superman.

There's also a Supergirl tale that's similar to Jurgens' tale about answering mail and humanity; a Harley Quinn; and a Green Lanterns, Rebirth era tale featuring Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz.  Honestly, when that run began I was hugely excited for Baz and Cruz to step into the spotlight, but over time I've grown tired of the storytelling that leaned so heavily on their core insecurities, which of course this tale does, too. 

Batman 100-Page Comic Giant #5
The lead is the third installment of Brian Michael Bendis and Nick Derington's all-new tale, which this issue finally reveals as featuring Vandal Savage as the big bad, after spotlighting an atypically muddled Riddler as Batman and eventually Green Arrow, too, trying to figure out his latest scheme.  Bendis is clearly having a ball (a lot of DC fans expected him to jump into writing Batman, not Superman, when his jump from Marvel was first announced), while Derington has helped keep things lively, too.  I was trying to remember where I knew Derington from, and figured out it was the Young Animal Doom Patrol, famously much-delayed in recent issues.  Hopefully his collaborating with Bendis means Derington is gaining DC's confidence as one of its elite artists.

As has appeared in previous issues, the three reprint comics that round out the Batman giants are the "Hush" arc, plus the New 52 Nightwing and Harley Quinn.  I was initially a fan of Kyle Higgins' Nightwing, but I find myself glossing over the material in the giants, and I have no real interest in Harley Quinn.  "Hush" remains brilliant, although in hindsight it certainly seems obvious that Jeph Loeb's fixation on the previously-nonexistent childhood pal of Bruce Wayne, Tommy Elliot, is a dead giveaway that he was the mystery villain all along.  The Jim Lee art equally remains spectacular.  Honestly I think Lee's DC work will become his lasting legacy.

Superman 100-Page Comic Giant #5
But I'm really here to once again gush over Tom King.  Like Bendis, he's now on the third installment of his giants tale, which features Superman's search for a little girl, and the increasingly desperate lengths he will go to in order to find her.

This issue features his most desperate moment so far in the tale.  It's a kind of update on the classic Superman/Muhammad Ali boxing match from the '70s, only this time it's not Ali he's fighting, but an alien named Mighto.  That cover image is from artist Andy Kubert, who unlike his brother Adam has stuck with DC since they jumped, like Bendis, unexpectedly from Marvel, ten years back.  Until now Andy had mostly been associated with Batman material, but he's proving equally adept, and perhaps, ideally suited, to Superman, and this issue, as it for King's tale, might be the highlight of his DC work to date.  It's really something you ought to go out of your way to track down and read for yourself.

As really only the classic "Doomsday" arc had done previously, the story is all about Superman's incredible endurance, his ability to absorb punishment.  This is superhero comics storytelling usually reserved for Spider-Man (which always seemed fairly beside the point to me, other than Marvel's penchant for tortured characters), and seems counterintuitive for someone like Superman, who's usually thought of as overpowered to the point where an artificial weakness (kryptonite) had to be invented along the way.  But Superman is best understood not by his powers but by his force of will, his humanity, and as such, King has rightly illustrated what putting him in a fight ought to look like.  He takes an incredible pounding, apparently past his ability to endure, and yet he refuses to stay down. 

When you think of DC going out on a limb with something like these Walmart giants, you don't really expect them to throw away exceptional material like this, much less have talent the caliber and prestige of Tom King, Brian Bendis or Andy Kubert.  And yet these are bold decisions that are truly paying off, as these guys are massively delivering, and this installment proves beyond any doubt that truly great material is making its way into the giants. 

Reprints include Green Lantern (the original Geoff Johns series), Superman/Batman (someone at DC no doubt finds it deliciously amusing to look back at President Luthor in the Trump era), and The Terrifics, which continues to prove, well, terrific.  I hope Jeff Lemire can keep it going for a long time.  It's at long last, perhaps, his DC breakthrough, and quite possibly Mister Terrific himself in his breakthrough moment.

Teen Titans 100-Page Comic Giant #5
Dan Jurgens, at his most generic, is about the level of what you'd expect from the idea of Walmart-exclusive storytelling.  This is not to say that Jurgens can't rise well above that perception, but he seems uninterested in what I've read, and why I haven't read all of the Teen Titans giants.

But the reprint material is well worth the price of admission.  Johns' Teen Titans is being serialized (last issue included the classic moment where Bart Allen officially reinvented himself as Kid Flash).  I'd never really read it before; this introductory arc is kind of funny in hindsight, as Johns is clearly presenting a version of his later Reverse-Flash as a villain merely attempting to make the hero better, an idea that reached its zenith in Flashpoint.  There's also Super Sons, which I likewise haven't previously had a lot of experience actually reading. I think Pete Tomasi is better suited to writing this than he was Superman.  And then there's Sideways, which on a superficial level was always interpreted as the New Age of Heroes DC version of Spider-Man, but honestly, like the New 52 Doctor Fate before it is kind of more the DC version of the Kamala Khan Ms. Marvel.  And in two more issues I'll finally get to read the first appearance of the Seven Soldiers of Victory in the series.  But I'll probably have to track down the annual separately to enjoy Morrison playing in that sandbox again...

Reading Comics 219 "DC's 100-Page Comic Giants"

Teen Titans 100-Page Comic Giant #1

News dropped suddenly that DC was publishing four titles of these things, exclusive to Walmart, replacing the three-packs they were putting together for a few years, and I couldn't have been happier.  Besides Teen Titans there's also Justice League of America and Batman, plus Superman, which I have also checked out, below.  These are mostly reprint editions, featuring material from the early millennium, New 52, and Rebirth eras, at least so far, plus lead stories of new material which in later months will feature work from Brian Michael Bendis and Tom King, so DC is definitely taking this project seriously.

The Titans are a team I've followed somewhat loosely throughout my comics experience.  My first one was a battered copy of The New Teen Titans #39, where Dick Grayson and Wally West walk away from the team (in Dick's case in advance of adopting his new Nightwing persona during "The Judas Contract").  I read Dan Jurgens' complete run from the '90s.

That turns out to be relevant for the new story in this issue, because Jurgens is once again the writer.  The lineup is more or less the classic one, insofar as there's Robin, Beast Boy, Starfire and Raven.  No clear indication which Robin, but the costume is classic Tim Drake.  I'm still baffled that there hasn't been a push for a live action Titans movie, but there's a TV version coming up, plus a movie version of the spastic cartoon coming up. 

The first reprint in the issue is Teen Titans #1 from 2003 via Geoff Johns, in which he finally gets to explore a concept he first breached in a famous letter that got published in the waning days of the '90s Superboy comic.  He uses the book as a way to reorient all the characters, streamlining them.  The core of the team had already teamed up in Young Justice, but the approach is totally different.  Peter David's comic was basically a DC version of the teen comics other companies were doing in the '90s, rather than the version DC itself did throughout the decade.  Johns used his Titans as a pilot program for his wider efforts later, expanding on things he was doing with the Justice Society.  Wonder Girl arguably got the biggest push.  Previous to Johns she was almost more of a cosplay superhero, even wearing a wig, for whatever reason, to achieve her blonde look; Johns keeps that hair full-time. 

Next up is a reprint of Super Sons #1, which is the first time I've had a look at it.  Peter Tomasi continues his Damian Wayne experience, this time with added Jon Kent, with Jorge Jimenez on art.  I don't think it works as well, outside of Superman, the adventures of the all-new and all-different Robin and Superboy, but these are fun characters, defining new ones of the modern era, so it's always worth having them in the spotlight.

Finally there's a reprint of Sideways #1, part of the recent Age of Heroes artist-first push, most of which are versions of Marvel characters.  Sideways is a kind of Spider-Man, visually and as far as his being a high school student trying to fit in.  I've been a fan of Kenneth Rocafort since Red Hood and the Outlaws, so I'm glad to see his work get a spotlight like this.  At least as this issue goes, Sideways actually spends more time as plain old Derek James, and Rocafort absolutely sells him that way.  His work looks better that way!  I hope DC recognizes this and finds, I don't know, a Vertigo project for him in the future.

Superman 100-Page Comic Giant #1

The lead new material from Jimmy Palmiotti (who seems to have been contracted to do a lot of the new material in these things) begs the suggestion: if the DCEU wanted a solid new direction for Henry Cavill's Superman, foregoing supervillains and merely having him confront one of those classic apocalyptic weather scenarios would probably sell him really well.  Here he confronts a slew of tornados in middle America.

The next segment is a reprint of Jeph Loeb's classic Superman/Batman #1, an update of the old World's Finest comics with the stars directly in the title, which DC has revisited a few times since, sometimes with Wonder Woman substituting (which was a nice development).  President Luthor!  Bet both DC and Marvel are kicking themselves that they already did their stories like that before Trump.

Then Green Lantern #1 from 2003, the series that followed Green Lantern: Rebirth, in which Geoff Johns works to redeem Hal Jordan.  Ironically few fans seem to realize how common it is for Jordan to need redemption, which works well for his cinematic future, should DCEU ever consider going in that direction.  It's still shocking to think how far Johns truly got to push Jordan.  If it had played out just a few years later, maybe the movie would've had more momentum behind it.  Or maybe just accelerate the Sinestro arc into that first movie.  Would've made a more obvious parallel plot.

Finally, The Terrifics #1, another Age of Heroes launch, this one a Fantastic Four pastiche, featuring a stretchy dude, a smart dude, a weird-looking dude, and a lady who can become transparent.  Some variations there, but pretty clear prototypes being followed.  Jeff Lemire has been one of the most fascinating writers of the modern era, and this is an excellent new showcase for him, hopefully one that will garner him wider acclaim.  Also another chance for Mister Terrific to shine, plus welcome new opportunities for Metamorpho and Plastic Man, plus the new Phantom Girl.

I certainly look forward to more!

Superman #12, 13 (DC)

Anyone unfortunate enough to be following my lengthy Goodreads reviews knows I recently read the two collections of the New 52 series Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E., which was the first time I read the series.  I'd previously read the New 52 Frankenstein in the pages of Pete Tomasi and Patrick Gleason's Batman and Robin, and fell in love with the guy all over again (he originally debuted in this incarnation in Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory).

So flipping through back issues of Tomasi and Gleason's Rebirth series Superman, I was reminded that Frankenstein makes appearances here, too.  I couldn't have been happier that Tomasi and Gleason were given the Superman assignment.  I knew instantly that DC was rewarding them for knocking Batman and Robin out of the park, even if readers didn't seem to have notice.  But I haven't so far been much of a dedicated reader of their Superman because...I really want Gleason on art.  Every issue. 

Which on a biweekly basis, is never going to happen.

And it really doesn't have to, either, as I've gradually come to accept.  It doesn't hurt to have ringers like Doug Mahnke.  Mahnke has been working at DC since the turn of the millennium, and his stock has consistently risen, even as his profile has remained consistent.  If that makes sense. Anyway, he remains important to the company, and that remains true in the pages of Superman.

He's the artist who did Frankenstein for Seven Soldiers, by the way.  But he's not doing the character the same way in these pages.  He's been softening his style for years.  Some readers think his Superman now contrasts with Gleason's nicely, and I wonder if that has become the point.

Frankenstein himself, though, remains a joy to read.  The version who appears here is once again an agent of S.H.A.D.E., and seems to have become an intergalactic agent of said agency.  By the second issue, however, the point becomes finally resolving something from the old New 52 series, the status of his relationship with the Bride (no, not Uma!).  In that series they'd parted ways, and that was a big part of the reason why Frankenstein was in the shape he was when Tomasi and Gleason found him in Batman and Robin.  So the four of them (five, I guess!) come full circle in the pages of Superman.

Yes, the whole two-part episode is a metaphor about Superman's new status quo as both husband and father, but I can't help but appreciate this nod to Frankenstein, and his previous appearances.

Reading Comics 204 "Fifth Trip 2017"

American Gods #2 (Dark Horse)
Amazingly, this adaption of the Neil Gaiman book still really hasn't reached the actual concept of the story.  Although Spider does drink an amazing amount of mead, and beats up a rather tall leprechaun.

Bane: Conquest #1 (DC)
Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan reunite and return to the chronicles of Bane.  The results may baffle readers who are less familiar with Vengeance of Bane (parts 1 & 2) and more "Knightfall," Dark Knight Rises, Tom King's recent "I Am Bane," or any manner of terrible Bane appearances over the years, but they're entirely in-character, especially, again, for the Bane of Vengeance of Bane (parts 1 & 2).  The luchadore mask Nolan gives Bane for this comic is a fun little nod to the fact that the character is, technically, Latino, even though that never seems to come up other than his base of operations and/or origins.

Batman #21 (DC)
The Flash #21 (DC)
Batman #22 (DC)
Parts 1-3 of "The Button" see Tom King and Josh Williamson collaborate on a sequel to Flashpoint (the importance of this classic story to yours truly is chronicled in the early period of this blog) that also helps set up later DC-wide storytelling first introduced by DC Universe Rebirth.  Very, very good storytelling here.

Blue Beetle #8 (DC)
Giffen/DeMatteis have apparently taken over the title as of this issue, and bring a strong Larfleeze feel to the proceedings.  I loved the original Jaime Reyes series post-Infinite Crisis, and so it's great to read his Blue Beetle again.  The big draw for the issue, however, is that the magical scarab that has granted him powers (and/or de facto Iron Man suit) all these years has been taken from him.  So he and Ted Kord (the second and most famous Blue Beetle) make a bold decision: Jaime will now, even if temporarily, revive Ted's classic costume.  Yeah!

Divinity III: Stalinverse #4 (Valiant)
Matt Kindt will be moving on to Eternity, a sequel rather than continuation to Divinity, so this is the conclusion of this particular vision.  And I think, having read it twice, he came up with a good one:

"This world you've built may be real.  But you know it is not true.  You read books when you were younger.  Just as I did.  Do you not remember?  We are similar, you and I.  We were not forced to read.  We were encouraged.  But my adoptive parents raised me.  Treated me as their own.  They gave me books.  Science fiction was my favorite.  I read everything they gave me.  It wasn't until much later that I realized what they'd really done.  My parents couldn't force me...or anyone to be good.  Just as the Soviet Union cannot.  All they could do was present me with their example.  And with stories.  With writing.  With ideas.  Through those books I learned the danger of power.  I learned of the terrible effects of violence and conflict.  Of the unending cycle of war that we should be working to break.  And I learned the importance of love and to be loved.  Earth...humanity?  They are our children, Kazmir.  They can't be forced to learn.  They must learn by example.  They must be taught with stories.  With experience.  We have the power of gods, Kazmir.  Yet you choose to live a parasitic life inside Myshka.  And you choose to obey a small-minded oligarch.  But there is an entire universe out there for you.  Worlds to see.  Galaxies to explore.  Just like in the books we read when we were younger.  I am sorry for what happened to us out there...in the unknown.  I am sorry I did not bring you back when I returned.  And I am sorry that Myshka broke your heart.  I understand why you came back for revenge.  What I don't understand is why wouldn't you stay out there?  Why wouldn't you go further?  Why wouldn't you want to see more?  Our conflict will have a winner and a loser.  That is the nature of the game.  But why should we confine ourselves to the game?  Ti these pieces?  To this artificial boundary?  To Earth?  When there is the unknown all around us?  Waiting to be explored?  I tell you all of this, Kazmir, not to "win."  But to set you free."

That's the best argument an hero has probably ever made to their enemy, in a comic book.  It's an argument that can only be made in a comic book, I think.  It's a perfect synopsis of superhero logic, as has Divinity been from the start.  I don't know why Divinity hasn't become more important among comic book readers.  It's the Watchmen of intellectual superhero storytelling.  It's surely one of the most fascinating comics I've ever read.  Every issue has someone involved in creating the issue provide commentary.  Most of it is somewhat hugely overblown praise. Most of it seems to miss the point.  It's not just how it's executed that makes Divinity great, but its ideas.  I'm hugely glad to have read along.  And to see where Kindt goes next.

Planet of the Apes/Green Lantern #3 (Boom!/DC)
This latest mash-up is about as good as Green Lantern/Star Trek (which is to say, good), but it's the art I came to see.  Omega Men's Barnaby Bagenda, to be precise.  That guy deserves to reach the stratosphere, like his collaborator, Tom King.  Hopefully it'll happen at some point.

Green Lanterns #22 (DC)
The adventures of upstarts Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz have now reached the stage where they're actively interacting with the rest of the Green Lantern Corps.  Continues to be what I've long hoped to read in a Green Lantern comic again.

Nightwing #19, 20 (DC)
Well, hot damn.  Tim Seeley has turned Nightwing into a must-read after all.  Nightwing has been so hit-and-miss since the Dixon/Grayson years, a lot of creators coming in hot and then sort of sputtering out.  This includes Grayson, Seeley and Tom King's bold revision that saw Nightwing become a spy for a couple years.  But to take Nightwing away from Dick Grayson is to take away the essential part of the character, no matter how intriguing the results.  Too many of these writers have tried to forget this or that element of the character.  Seeley seems to have built not only on the Grayson momentum, but folded Dick's Batman and Robin days back into his adventures.  "Nightwing Must Die" is a Dr. Hurt story (the whole thing plays nicely with Batman and Robin, Grant Morrison memories), but it remembers that Dick's whole history is what defines him, perhaps more than any other superhero.  Possibly the two best issues of Nightwing I've ever read (Grayson: Futures End notwithstanding).

Savage Dragon #223 (Image)
If you were to read, in 2017, only one comic book series in its entirety to figure out what superheroes are all about, I think Savage Dragon would have to be that series.  Erik Larsen is the Image creator who never gave up on the original vision of the company, who never decided to pursue other interests at the expense of the creative freedom and opportunity his vision gave him.  The letters column is almost more important than the comic itself this time:

"Change is inevitable and being more stuck in the past is no solution. Styles change, people change. You loved that old stuff because you were 12 and that was your sweet spot. You may not want change but I crave it. Doing the same drawings the same way for decades is mind-numbingly monotonous. I love nothing more than finding new ways of tackling a similar problem. I look at the older issues and see all the mistakes. I see all the poor drawings and attempts to hide my deficiencies behind a wall of crosshatching and it doesn't do much for me. The lines aren't defining shapes and establishing light sources. They're lines for the sake of lines. Emulating that seems insane. 

Strong iconic poses are great, sure, but ultimately, I'm trying to tell a story here, not compose pictures to be popped onto T-shirts and lunchboxes. And given the choice of repeating a familiar shot or finding something new--nine times out of ten I'll go with the new.

It's not an easy path. Some artists get stuck in a rut, forever repeating and emulating their old work. Readers get bored and move on. Others keep trying new and different approaches but that can alienate old readers who liked the way things had been. There's no simple solution, clearly, but in order to preserve my sanity, I need to keep moving. If I'm not kept engaged, I can't expect my audience to be. If I'm bored, it's reflected in the work. So I tend to try something new. Sometimes it's successful and sometimes it's not, but hopefully it's worth your attention. 

And honestly, it's important to unlearn what you've learned. A lot of what made earlier work vibrant and full of life was the learning process. I was figuring stuff out. And part of that involved screwing up. I can look back at old art and see where arms were clearly too long or faces were constructed poorly, where compositions and anatomy and perspective are all skewed and line work makes no sense. It's hard to recreate that--and why would I want to? It would be like going back to high school."

To my mind, it reads like Larsen becoming the Bill Watterson of comic books.

Superman #22 (DC)
I really need to read more of this run.

Old Man Logan #22 (Marvel)
Jeff Lemire continues his concluding run with Wolverine exploring the character's fictional past, brilliantly, literally revisiting famous stories (at one point his origin in the pages of a Hulk comic, complete with the original dialogue).  If anyone had to tell Old Man Logan stories as a surrogate to actual Wolverine stories, I'm glad it was Lemire.  He proves why it was such a good idea all over again.

Reading Comics 202 "Third LCS Visit 2017"

American Gods #1 (Dark Horse)
An adaptation of Neil Gaiman's novel, which is soon to be debuted in another adaptation, for television.  I haven't read the book in years, but I liked it quite a lot.  Still, reading some of it in comics form makes me realize it really has been years, so I may have to reread it.

Batman #19 (DC)
Tom King sets up an epic clash between Bane and Batman.  He continues to write sensationally.

Divinity III: Stalinverse #3 (Valiant)
Matt Kindt likewise continues to write sensationally.

The Amazing Spider-Man #25 (Marvel)
Dan Slott's epic run continues, this time with Norman Osborn.  I actually picked this up because Stuart Immonen begins his run (he's done Peter Parker before in the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man) with the issue.  Thankfully he retains his return to streamlined work previously seen in Empress and other recent work.  Actually, the most notable thing about the issue is Slott introducing...the Superior Octopus.  Which is really, really awesome.

Star Trek: Waypoint #4 (IDW)
The first Enterprise-focused comic ever!  Phlox was featured in a doctors confab a few years ago, but this is the first time the fifth live action series has gotten its own comics adaptation.  The writer somewhat flubs the opportunity, but still rightfully puts Porthos in the spotlight.  It's always about Porthos!

Superman #19 (DC)
Action Comics #976 (DC)
Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason are their usual sensational selves in the first issue, while Dan Jurgens continues to struggle to adapt to modern storytelling in the second.  But I like the "Reborn" concept and how Mxyzptlk was revealed to be behind the Clark Kent mystery, and how Jurgens gets to unique disparate continuities in the conclusion, which feels right regardless of my other qualms.

X-O Manowar #1 (Valiant)
Matt Kindt again, in this quasi-reboot of the franchise, completely nailing it.  Might be viewed as the Dark Knight Returns/"Old Man Logan" for comics' most famous Visigoth.

Reading Comics #200 "First LCS Visit of 2017"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reading Comics 195 "DC Rebirth Week Seven, 18 Days, Letter 44, Tokyo Ghost"

Featured this edition: Grant Morrison's 18 Days #12, Batgirl & the Birds of Prey: Rebirth #1, Batman #3, Green Lanterns #3, The Hellblazer: Rebirth #1, Justice League #1, Letter 44 #26, Superman #3, and Tokyo Ghost #8.

Grant Morrison's 18 Days #12 (Graphic India)
Morrison's Avatarex #1 shipped last week, and hopefully I'll be seeing a copy in a couple weeks.  Although I lost track of reading Graphic India's vision of his Indian superwar epic a while ago, I always thought it was well worth reading, and so I checked in again for this issue, which details Bhima's further experiences, from his great familial devotion to a momentum moment for him in the fighting.  This project's being executed with pitch-perfect precision.

Batgirl and the Birds of Prey: Rebirth #1 (DC)
The Birds of Prey was conceived during the '90s, and has been maintained in some fashion ever since.  It's a girls-only team (still unique in comics, but not with Ghostbusters).  This issue features Batgirl Barbara Gordon's biography at the forefront, but also gives nods to Black Canary's DCYou band exploits and Helena Bertinelli's Grayson spy work, and how the team only reluctantly gets back together.  It was a good introduction.

Batman #3 (DC)
Tom King's Dark Knight continues, as we learn the secret origin of the superpowered heroes who have lately been lending him a hand: Hank and Claire Clover.  Hank was saved by Batman years ago, when he was a kid.  King cleverly stages this origin so that the unsuspecting reader might think he's seeing Bruce Wayne's fateful Crime Alley nightmare all over again, but then the story continues and we find out what's really going on.  As always, King is in full command of the psychological beats, including those provided by villains Hugo Strange (always, ah, somewhat strangely overlooked in Batman lore) and Psycho Pirate. 

Green Lanterns #3 (DC)
Simon Baz spends more time in the spotlight this issue, including a killer sequence with Red Lantern soldier Bleez, who is the latest recipient of Baz's ability to unlock his power ring's most surprising abilities, ones rarely experienced by other bearers.  He'll need all the help he can get, because partner Jessica Cruz has just been overtaken by the rage seed...

The Hellblazer: Rebirth #1 (DC)
John Constantine is that unique DC character, in that he's a genuine antihero, which unlike his Marvel counterparts (say, the Punisher) doesn't mean that he goes around shooting people, but that he makes unorthodox moral decisions, possibly because of his ties to Hell (hence, the returning traditional name to his adventures).  Since his return to DC proper (after being a headlining Vertigo act since the brand's creation two decades ago) during Brightest Day five years ago, fans have been skeptical that Constantine can properly function in the relatively sanitized DC superhero landscape (for comparison, imagine if Neil Gaiman had had to make Sandman permanently co-exist with the likes of Dr. Destiny and Martian Manhunter, both of whom made early appearances in the series, but who seem hard to reconcile with Gaiman's later creative pursuits).  I've never really been a Constantine reader, so I welcomed this chance to have a look.  For what it's worth, I do think, at least in this issue of this iteration, he works perfectly well.  It's like the Demon Etrigan (who had a Garth Ennis-penned series in the '90s, that gave birth to one of Ennis's signature creations, Hitman), but without the Demon as the lead, if that makes any sense.

Justice League #1 (DC)
The first issue of the series, like its New 52 Geoff Johns predecessor, has Wonder Woman on the brain, which I love.  Tony Daniel on art (he helped launch Superman/Wonder Woman, which is all kinds of natural for this latest Daniel project) is as always a thing of beauty.  I love how the whole issue is about mobilizing the team. 

Letter 44 #26 (Oni)
I'd previously sampled this Charles Soule series, but didn't really get the hang of what's going on in it, so I'm glad that I've finally read another issue.  This is a story about the end of the world, and all the odd decisions people are going to make if the involved players include aliens, U.S. presidents, a team of scientists, and messianic collaborators.  Actually, I came out of this issue being very impressed.  But then, I was already a fan of Soule, so I'm doubly glad I can now say I like Letter 44, too.

Superman #3 (DC)
Having witnessed the thunderbolt that was Jorge Jimenez's work in the early issues of Earth 2: Society, I'm so happy to be seeing more of his art, in this Tomasi/Gleason series and in the forthcoming Super-Sons, which in some ways this issue helps set up, as we see Jon Kent light up for the first time.  The sequence of events that provoke this (a new vision of the Eradicator that offers some fascinating new wrinkles to established character mythology; Krypto) is breathtaking in ways I hoped this series would be.

Tokyo Ghost #8 (Image)
Rick Remender has joined Mark Millar in the select group of modern writers who have been able to establish a viable brand around their names, and a large net of titles to populate it.  This Remender project envisions a dystopic future directly culled from our own, in which addiction to digital content has literally sucked the life out of everyone, leaving the population susceptible to corrupting influences.  Fortunately, there's a hero in the eponymous Ghost capable of stepping in to stem the tide.  This issue turned out to be a perfect one to sample, involving the Ghost's tragic baskstory, and the man she's tried valiantly through the years to protect, despite increasing odds against her.  But the reason I wanted a look was because of the Sean Gordon Murphy art.  I've been a fan of Murphy's since Joe the Barbarian, his seminal work with Grant Morrison, as well as his personal creative vision, Punk Rock Jesus.  He's also collaborated with Scott Snyder (The Wake) in recent years, as well as Millar (Chrononauts).  I never get tired of his art.

Reading Comics 192 "DC Rebirth Week Five, Astro City"

Covered this edition: Astro City #35, Batman #2, Green Lanterns #2, Justice League: Rebirth #1, and Superman #2.

Astro City #35 (Vertigo)
Kurt Busiek's pocket superhero universe, which literally resides entirely within the boundaries of Astro City, has long been fascinating.  It's one of those self-contained concepts that could easily satiate a given reader's interest in superhero comics, whether they're jaded older readers, or younger ones who aren't particularly interested in tracking down multiple titles to try and catch up with something they've just discovered.  The series has been around, in one incarnation or another, for twenty years, and was clearly inspired by Busiek's interest in following up on his Marvels success, where he was able to look at the full portrait of a given superhero landscape and provide nuanced insight into it.  His Astro City work rotates from character to character.  This particular issues features Jack-in-the-Box, a costumed vigilante with an outlandish gimmick but who Busiek otherwise presents pretty straightforwardly, getting at the heart of the character's human struggles, which in this case mean the legacy the grandson of the original Jack feels increasingly as a burden he can never live up to, with his father and uncle having carried it on but a reckless decision in his youth cost him his chance to do the same.  Jack-in-the-Box joins the league of black superheroes who sport all-covering masks, so that you wouldn't know his race otherwise, but the comic spends probably more time with the mask off of any given Jack than necessarily caring about his costumed exploits, treating that as more a McGuffin than anything.  There's a letters column page featuring the letter of the month (a rarity in a DC title of any extraction these days), and also a preview of Paul Dini's Dark Night: A True Batman Story, which details his experiences recovering from a mugging, and that's part of the reason I bought this comic, because I've seen plenty of hype for the graphic novel, but none of the interior.  But it's always worth checking in with Astro City.

Batman #2 (DC)
Tom King's era continues as Batman introduces Jim Gordon to Gotham and Gotham Girl, the superpowered new heroes who are eager to lend a hand in the ongoing war on crime.  It's Batman's sense of mortality that permeates the issue, however, the lingering aftereffects of his near-sacrifice in trying to prevent a fatal plane crash last issue.  It's King's grasp of character that strikes this material as fresh.  At one point Alfred explains to Duke Thomas how a young Bruce Wayne became disenchanted when Alfred made a prudent judgment call.  For someone like Bruce, there's no such thing as prudence.  He doesn't have the patience for something like that.  The current Bruce abandons a lady mid-dance when he spots the Bat-signal in the sky, and the woman is positively baffled.  You can imagine how it plays out just by the way it's depicted: Bruce doesn't want to attend function; he reluctantly agrees, puts on his best game face; is positively overjoyed when he gets to go back to work.  For him, it doesn't even matter what other people are expecting.  That's Batman in a nutshell.  He lives by his own rules.  It's great when a writer like King comes along and knows the psychology that well.  For those looking for something a little easier to digest, there's the young hero Gotham discovering for himself Batman's classic disappearing act, or Gordon wondering how on earth a mask doesn't become uncomfortable in this line of work (casually sidestepping Scott Snyder's depiction of Commissioner Batman)...

Green Lanterns #2 (DC)
Sam Humphries keeps hitting all the right notes.  His depictions of Simon Baz and especially Jessica Cruz as novice Lanterns is the perfect way to explain all over again what the Green Lantern concept is all about, and how it can be a little hard to comprehend.  Jessica is so neurotic that Simon's confidence makes him seem like a veteran, even though it's just his different personality that's creating the effect, because he's just as lost as she is.  Returning the Red Lanterns to the role of the villain is also a good move.  Readers don't particularly need to know that in their late ongoing series, they became sympathetic heroes.  The idea of them existing to help people cope with powerlessness further underscores Jessica's feelings of inadequacy.  Just good stuff, and very, very good to see for a reader who hasn't had a lot of Green Lantern he found worth reading lately.

Justice League: Rebirth #1 (DC)
The Bryan Hitch era, as the headlining act of the franchise, begins as he brings the "new" Superman back into the fold, showcasing what a significant difference Superman makes both by his absence and presence.  That's something few writers have done, for whatever reason, but Hitch dives right at it, not so much at the cost of every other member, all DC icons in their own right, but in the role of leadership, which Superman embodies not so much because he takes charge but because he's capable of identifying what needs to be done, by example.  The whole issue makes the case for the team in general, as necessary guardians in the turbulent reality DC presents.  It does its job.

Superman #2 (DC)
I can't say too often how brilliant I think it was for DC to let Pete Tomasi and Patrick Gleason recontextualize their Batman & Robin work in the Rebirth era.  This was a dynamite team working in the shadow of Scott Snyder's work.  If readers sometimes wondered why Tomasi and Gleason were putting their previous charges into outsize adventures not typically associated with them in the modern era, it's completely justified with their new ones.  The young Jonathan has found an intriguing accomplice in Kathy, the figurative girl next door (insofar as adjacent farms can call have such things).  She's like his Lana Lang, knowing his secret and not being interested in anything else but the boy he otherwise is.  She and her grandfather lug Jon back home after he falls from a tree, which gives him a concussion.  His parents are necessarily alarmed, especially Clark.  It's a little odd seeing Lois as anything but a reporter (she writes fiction now; I don't know if it was a slip-up, but she gets a piece of mail under her given name, and it's not addressed, even though the family has been living under assumed names since emerging from Convergence into this reality).  Anyway, the big news occurs at the end of the issue, in which the Eradicator makes his New 52/Rebirth debut (coincidentally, I've just finished reading some of his original appearances).  But I love this series so much, already.  Seeing father and son, in the early pages, engaged in a rescue operation, and then disarming a monster, is everything Tomasi and Gleason couldn't do before, and everything I'd hoped they'd do in Superman.  For me, with just work like this, and King's Batman, and Humphries' Green Lanterns, the Rebirth era has already proven its worth, to a remarkable degree.

Quarter Bin 84 "Spider-Man, Starman, Superman, '90s edition"

This penultimate edition of a series covering comics found in an actual quarter bin is no indication that this feature's title can always be taken literally.

Sensational Hornet #1 (Marvel)
(Sensation Spider-Man #27)
From May 1998.
This was part of a storyline in which Peter Parker felt his Spider-Man persona was becoming more trouble than it was worth, and so he adopted several new superhero identities.  Clearly a nod to the Superman replacements of a few years earlier (although as far as I know none of these identities made it past this arc, in any form), this was '90s Spider-Man once again taking a direct page from DC, as anyone would easily argue that extended Clone Saga was created to do, to the chagrin of readers who had absolutely no interest in it.  For me, I had a look at the issue for the Mike Wieringo art, which if you'll remember was also the intent with the Flash comic I read earlier in this series of Quarter Bin columns (follow them alphabetically, or just root around the recent ones).  Ringo was a big part of my enjoyment of '90s comics, whether in his Flash or Robin runs.  Like every other creator that decade, he went on to launch a creator-owned series, Tellos, except fate played a cruel trick on him, and his fans, and comics fans in general, when he died unexpectedly in 2007, at the far-too-young age of 44.  His was a playful, expressive style that proved incredibly adaptable, and he was a natural to draw Spider-Man's adventures.

Spider-Man: Blue #4 (Marvel)
From October 2002.
The magic team of Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale produced a series of stories for Marvel's superheroes, each of them featuring narration directed at the biggest influences in the characters' lives.  For Spider-Man, they chose Gwen Stacy, whose untimely death in a 1973 comic forever altered the destiny of Peter Parker, again.  Interestingly, both this and the above issue feature one of Spider-Man's most intriguing, and oldest villains, although the Vulture takes the latter title pretty literally.  I would almost say that the melancholy Sandman of Spider-Man 3 might almost have been better replaced with Vulture, who still has yet to appear in the movies. 

Starman #45 (DC)
From August 1998.
For a lot of fans, James Robinson's Starman was the comic that redeemed '90s DC as something that wasn't merely reacting to the scene around it but producing something new, a commentary on the superhero tradition.  Which admittedly, for me, already existed in the pages of Mark Waid's Flash, but Robinson's efforts were perhaps easier to spot because he began them in a fresh title, with a fresh, new character in Jack Knight, who as of this issue launches himself into space, which someone observes in the issue is only appropriate for someone calling himself Starman.  His task is to locate one of his predecessors in the role, and he's accompanied by another of them, an alien who happens to also be gay.  For me, I always kind of saw Starman as being perhaps a little too impressed with itself, although its role as the DC equivalent of what had previously resulted in the birth of the Vertigo line remains a unique achievement, duplicated in brief by such efforts as Chronos and Primal Force, and most recently by Tom King's Omega Men, but on the whole a lasting testament to what's possible when a creator is allowed truly free reign in a mainstream comic, has the talent to pull it off, and seizes the opportunity.

Superman #57 (DC)
Action Comics #667-668 (DC)
From July, August 1991.
The truly sensational thing about the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Superman was that it was allowed to break all the rules.  Superman reveals his secret identity to Lois.  Lex Luthor dies.  The death.  The wedding.  And now, because of the Convergence rebirth, even a child.  There was also the time Superman executed some of his foes, and the Eradicator, a Kryptonian menace that presaged Doomsday, and in fact was incorporated in the monster's aftermath.  The first two of the three comics above feature the end-battle with the first humanoid version of the Eradicator, who originally appeared as a robotic relic with a mission similar to what later played out on the big screen in Man of Steel.  The replacement Superman with the visor?  That was the Eradicator, too.  First, Superman engages in mortal combat with this foe, and is probably the moment this generation of creators first dreamt of going all the way with such a scenario.  The last issue features the specter of Lex Luthor, who had died, ironically, due to Kryptonite exposure, having worn a ring embedded with a chunk of the stuff.  Later, the clone would be introduced, and later still, be magically reborn following a lethal clone illness back into the familiar bald form we all know (the clone, "his son," had the youthful look of the vision of the villain's father as portrayed in Smallville).  The issue is fascinating, because it opens the door to the perception that among ordinary citizens of Metropolis, Lex Luthor really was seen as the good guy, which is usually impossible in comics that relentlessly feature his war against Superman.  The creator involved include Roger Stern and Dan Jurgens, both classic members of the '90s generation, Stern near the end of his career and Jurgens near the beginning.  I'd known the post-Doomsday comics I enjoyed the rest of that decade were a direct continuation of material I hadn't read, and so every now and then I like to have a look at the earlier stuff.  And now, this period gets little respect, but it deserves it.  For anyone who started reading at, and only ever cared about, Doomsday, the lasting impression probably makes perfect sense.  But it really doesn't.  This was truly a rich vision, an impressive tapestry, a whole era that saw some of the best-ever Superman stories told, a cohesive, comprehensive story that didn't end until the end of the millennium, when DC started looking at ways to "make Superman relevant again."  The stories changed, the vision changed, but it took a while for anyone to even approach getting better than what had come before...

Reading Comics 190 "DC Rebirth Week 3, 4001 AD, DKR: The Last Crusade, Dept. H, and catching up with Secret Wars"

4001 AD #1 (Valiant)
Valiant's latest event series takes a look at the future courtesy of the ever-resourceful Matt Kindt, imagining the tyranny of New Japan and the rise of a new Rai to challenge it.  Once again Valiant has proven that its unique superhero vision, the first comprehensive ongoing revision of the 21st century, has incredible legs, where just about anything's possible, and it nearly always seems completely plausible, not to mention remarkably cohesive.  It's not like others haven't tried, but it helps to have talent like Kindt and Jeff Lemire leading the charge.

Batman #1 (DC)
Tom King's first regular issue of the series once again demonstrates his remarkably analytical mind, as Batman and Duke Thomas pull back the curtain on what it takes to pull off the impossible.  Of course, it's also Batman doing so at the expense of his own life, in yet another layer of King showing that Batman isn't like other superheroes.  When an out-of-control plane threatens to crash in Gotham City, he can't just fly in and guide it safely down.  No, for someone like Batman, it takes considerably more effort.  If this were the movies, you might expect something like this from the show-stopping exploits in the Mission: Impossible series.  Few writers would be bold enough to expose Batman's limits in this way.  King is merely setting himself up for that moment you though you'd never see: some other hero calling Gotham his home, someone who can fly, who represents everything Batman can never be.  This ain't no Superman.  Is King preparing to White Martian us?  Time will tell...

The Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade (DC)
This prequel to the original Dark Knight Returns depicts the circumstances in which Batman originally retires.  It's in effect his last statement on Robin, the Boy Wonder, too.  In the Dark Knight universe, Frank Miller offered up his judgment quite effectively: Dick Grayson goes insane.  Yet there was also, before "A Death in the Family," a dead Robin to account for.  The Last Crusade is a rephrasing of "A Death in the Family," actually, the Joker once again being responsible for the death of Jason Todd, under the same circumstances, the second Robin increasingly demonstrating that he isn't mentally prepared for Batman's crusade.  And yet, unlike "A Death in the Family" and its follow-up, "A Lonely Place of Dying," Miller (along with co-writer Brian Azzarello, around so Miller can't go wildly out of control again) has determined that the problem isn't Jason's attitude, but Batman's notion of having a kid sidekick in the first place.

This was what he was getting around to explaining in All Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder, I think, and as I'd hoped, The Last Crusade is the finishing statement we'll probably never get from the earlier project.  All Star Batman became a joke among readers for its brutish portrayal of the Dark Knight, a true maniac who was difficult to root for, in a story featuring Dick Grayson's initiation into crime-fighting.  Miller never conceded that it was a good thing.  Comics fans never really picked up on that, and they probably still won't with The Last Crusade, even though by this point his conclusions are unmistakable.  The Batman of this story is aging, and his body is fast betraying him.  He reveals that he hoped Robin would prove to be his successor.  On the second try, he's proven brutally wrong.  You can only duplicate so much of what created Batman. 

It's an incredibly bold statement.  I think the whole concept of the Dark Knight stories is creating a reality where Batman exists in a finite world, where he can't escape consequences.  This can never exist in the ongoing comics, because fans will always clamor to see old favorites return, and creators will always be there to help them in that goal.  In Miller's reckoning, Batman is human, and as such is completely fallible, and bad things happen as a result of his actions, whether to himself, to those around him, or in the world around him, not because of anything he does, but because that's just a fact of life. 

As a summation, The Last Crusade may be the most crucial element of the most important Batman story ever told.

Dept. H #2 (Dark Horse)
Matt Kindt again, in his creative follow-up to Mind MGMT, his innovative look at the spy world.  Dept. H seems to be an unrelated story, but Kindt is once again handling writing and art chores, so the look is the same, and so is the storytelling.  In this second issue, someone has died, and someone else, burdened with a perfect memory, realizes that it could only have been murder.  Clearly, Kindt continues to have the mind on the mind, and this continues to be a good thing.

Green Arrow #1 (DC)
I tended to skip Green Arrow in the New 52, but figured I'd give the guy another shot in the Rebirth era.  Not only is Black Canary back in the picture, but so is Oliver Queen's moral compass.  At his best, Green Arrow will always be the Batman whose inner Bruce Wayne dominates his goals more than his crime-fighting.  This is one of those rich guy characters whose transformation into a superhero made him socially conscious for the first time in his life.  This issue does a good job of bringing that back into focus.

Green Lanterns #1 (DC)
Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz don't play well together.  They have conflicting mindsets, and as rookies, they both have plenty to prove.  That rounds out to good Green Lantern storytelling, as we learn more of what makes Baz stand out (we now have him deemed the bearer of Emerald Sight), which is an important distinction for all these human Green Lanterns, as the new Red Lantern threat continues to unfold.  I'm so glad DC is letting this franchise return to its recent Geoff Johns roots.

Secret Wars #9 (Marvel)
Flashing back to the last Marvel event, and its ending, we find Jonathan Hickman closing out the book on his Fantastic Four adventures, imagining the last conflict between Dr. Doom and Reed Richards.  Doom had found himself in possession of ultimate power, and decides Richards is, once and for all, jealous of him, because he could never do as good as Doom.  Someone decides to put that to the test, and so the Marvel landscape is reshaped (to its current state), and Richards retires from the superhero game to act as a kind of gatekeeper (thus allowing Marvel to remove the Fantastic Four from its lineup).  Hickman was always a big game hunter, and I guess it was appropriate that he wound up telling the biggest Fantastic Four story ever, so we'd see what that finally looked like. 

Superman #1 (DC)
Tomasi and Gleason reprise their Batman and Robin act, this time on the grand stage.  Once again, a DC icon has a son struggling with his place in the world, and once again, Tomasi and Gleason are ready to knock it out of the park.  I couldn't be happier for them.  The story starts out pretty heavily focused on Superman, but then we meet his son Jonathan, who is struggling with his new powers.  This was something Tomasi and Gleason touched on in Batman and Robin, when Damian briefly gained superpowers in the wake of his resurrection.  It's one thing to have an indomitable youth on your hands.  It's another when it's Superman's son.  All these years, whenever someone wanted to tell a story about the young Superman, it was always the exception, and then more often than not something glossed over until he hit puberty and, in some continuities, became Superboy.  This is the first time we'll see it play out in an ongoing capacity.  Framed as Superman's son, this is an intriguing opportunity, and again, Tomasi and Gleason are well up to the task.  They know when they need to provide dialogue, and when the story speaks for itself.  Anyway, I'm hugely, hugely glad this is happening, no matter how long it lasts.

Titans: Rebirth #1 (DC)
The return of Wally West continues, as he reconnects with his oldest friends, the original Teen Titans, in a series of encounters that prove all over again how personal these DC stories are to these characters, and how they can connect on an emotional level with fans, too. 

Superman: Rebirth #1 (DC)

I've made few bones about how much I loved Tomasi and Gleason's Batman & Robin.  As far as I was concerned, it was the definitive Batman of the New 52 era.  This went against the grain, for fans obsessed with Snyder's work.  I never cared.  I didn't overlook Gleason's follow-up in Robin: Son of Batman, either.  And neither did DC.  Because now Patrick Gleason is joining Peter J. Tomasi as co-writer in a more high-profile project.  Namely, Superman.

This launch issue features the art of Doug Mahnke (always a stand-out), but the series will feature Gleason pulling double duty as co-writer and artist.  For now, you can forget about the fact that the series will feature Tomasi and Gleason creating father-and-son comics again, because this one's all about the father, and bridging a few gaps.

The Convergence Superman, last featured in the pages of Superman: Lois & Clark and Tomasi's Superman #52, is the '90s Superman in his next logical incarnation: as a father.  The post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Superman reboot saw the Man of Steel finally get married to Lois Lane.  The big thing that never happened was the happy couple rounding out their family with a child.  The soft post-millennium reboot that preceded the New 52 broke off from the continuity that had guided the '90s, effectively postponing if not outright removing that possibility from ever happening.  Then Convergence happened, and the '90s Superman returned.  In Superman: Lois & Clark, he adopted a black costume variant not unlike the one he sported in the wake of his return from death at the hands of Doomsday.

Tomasi and Gleason don't go over all of that, but they acknowledge the Doomsday event, something that for all intents and purposes didn't exist in the New 52 (fans tend to ignore that Grant Morrison alluded to it in his Action Comics run), and how the Convergence Superman is forced to reveal himself more than ever before on a world he's tried to stay out of the way of in deference to its Superman.

If that sounds complicated, it really isn't, and Tomasi and Gleason explain it probably better than I could. 

The issue is all about how the old Superman must decide to take up his replacement's mantle, more or less.  It's the ongoing series that will delve into his parental adventures.  Which is just as well.  If I made it sound complicated, it's because it really did need to be explained.

The problem with a lot of the New 52 Superman stories is that the continuity was frequently getting in the way, even though the results were supposed to be exactly the opposite.  I mean, that was the whole point of the New 52.  But a series of creative teams meant continuity was an issue.  So having a backup Superman, with a backstory rich enough but also suddenly streamlined (you won't have to worry about everything that came before) means a Superman who will once again be easy to follow.

And if that's not good enough, Tomasi and Gleason will be doing what they do best: stories about family.  Really, that's what's always made Superman great.

Superman #52 (DC)

I haven't been following the complete "Final Days of Superman," the Peter J. Tomasi epic that rounds out, as much as any other story, the New 52 era.  The conclusion speaks for itself, however, so I'm not too worried.

In it, Superman is confronted by a doppelganger it takes everything he has to defeat.  Quite literally.  This issue counts as the official second death of Superman.

This is as clear a metaphor of the New 52 era as there could possibly be.  Grant Morrison helped launch it with the second Action Comics #1, presenting a new vision of Superman.  A series of writers within the pages of Superman itself attempted to keep up, and none of them, and indeed including Morrison himself, proved to produce that definitive New 52 Superman in quite the manner fans found with Scott Snyder's Batman. 

So it's only fitting that, out of Convergence emerged a third Superman to contend with in this issue.  Technically, he's been running around the pages of Lois & Clark, but for all intents and purposes (because, I believe, he'll be the star of Tomasi and Patrick Gleason's Rebirth-era Superman), this is his debut, in this epic clash of Supermen.

The solar flare power Geoff Johns introduced, and which has been driving Superman comics ever since, becomes a crucial element in how Tomasi concludes his epic.  The would-be Superman, Denny Swan (a name that combines Denny O'Neil and Curt Swan, two iconic DC creators), has now superseded Ulysses, another would-be Superman Johns introduced and previously featured in "Final Days of Superman," can only be defeated by this new power.  Which, because of circumstances, will prove deadly, should Superman use it again.

Of course he does.  And the Convergence Superman chooses this opportunity to finally reveal himself to the world.  It's kind of perfect.

Helping pull all this off is Mikel Janin, whose work was fascinating within the pages of Grayson, and so it's great to see him given such an opportunity to truly let his work shine.  He absolutely nails it.  This is some of the best Superman art in ages.  He'll next be seen in the pages of Tom King's Batman.  Couldn't be happier for him.

With that, in a way, Tomasi closes the book on the New 52.

Reading Comics 181 "Always a Fan"

I went shopping again, in part because Christian Mock got a letter in a comic book, and so I'll be heaping further praise on Tom King's masterful Omega Men, plus some other thoughts.

First, a word on Comic Shop News.  This is a free weekly newsletter you can find in most comic book shops (although I've had a rough time finding it in recent years with a lot of stores simply not making enough to give away stuff like this).  It's basically the last print source for fans in the age of the Internet, which is probably what killed Wizard.  While its interior content is more or less superfluous these days, its main articles are an excellent resource, the rare all-inclusive source for notable projects throughout the medium.  Without it, for instance, I may never have heard of Andi Ewington's breakthrough 45.  I'm talking about it at all because I picked up a copy, which turned out to be #1,500, which is a milestone if there ever was one.  The cover feature this issue concerns Paul Dini's forthcoming graphic novel Dark Night: A True Batman Story, which looks like an amazing project.

Before I get into the comics I bought, it's also worth noting that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is opening this weekend, and the merchandising blitz is in full force, including select cereal boxes including mini-comics.  Most of these mini-comics aren't much to write about, but Jeff Parker's "Playground Heroes" turned out to be a pretty good one.  In it, he explores Superman's impact on a boy struggling with how to respond to bullies.  It's a worthwhile character study where these things tend to be fairly generic storytelling.   Presumably, the other three mini-comics in the set are equally worth reading. 

Plus, y'know, that movie they're technically hawking is a pretty big deal.  As a fan of Man of Steel, I'm glad the Justice League franchise is spinning out of it.  Even if fans still prefer the irreverent hijinks of the Avengers and Deadpool at the box office, this is still some of the best superhero material on the big screen, ever. 

Anyway, onto the comics proper:

Dark Knight III: The Master Race #3 (DC)
I nearly bought the deluxe version of the second issue.  In my more limited comics experience these days, I won't read the complete story until the eventual collected edition.  I previously read the first issue digitally.  As of this issue, I would equate DKIII with DC's previous Before Watchmen, with Brian Azzarello once again stepping up to help make it a reality.  Frank Miller's voice is still there, but there's clearly a filter this time around.  I decided to pick up this issue because the mini-comic this time features Green Lantern, apparently from the perspective of the ring itself rather than Hal Jordan.  It's interesting stuff. 

Martian Manhunter #10 (DC)
I figured I had to revisit this series when the cover boasts, "The Secret Origin of J'onn J'onzz," which otherwise means Rob Williams is getting around to explaining exactly what's been going on, and that's exactly what this issue is all about, a new version of Mars mythology and origin of the Martian Manhunter, how J'onn is involved, and why he ended up splitting himself up into a variety of guises, including Mr. Biscuits.  I liked it.  Should anyone be interested in expanding on these concepts, they could easily once again tie in Bloodwynd with the rest of it, as confused readers two decades ago...

The Omega Men #2, 4, 5, and 9 (DC)
While accidentally duplicating my print collection of #5, now I'm only missing #3, which I'd read previously in digital form.  I can't get over how brilliant this series is.  Tom King obviously got to write the greatest non-Geoff Johns Green Lantern story of the New 52 era by making the ostensible leads the terrorists/freedom fighters Omega Men, making alien politics as realistic and intriguing as possible, and featuring a heavy dose of Kyle Rayner to move the narrative along, including #9 finally featuring him reuniting with the white ring.  I think Omega Men represents what DC has routinely done better than Marvel, which is to look deeper into the superhero narrative, looking for alternatives in storytelling approach.  Marvel does it on occasion, like Frank Miller's Daredevil, Matt Fraction's Hawkeye, and King's Vision, but more often than not it clings to the tradition more than anything else, even in the Ultimate Comics experiments.  DC, meanwhile, routinely pushes the boundaries of literature storytelling, not as exceptions but increasingly as the rule.  It frustrates fans to no end.  They want simplicity and familiarity above everything else.  They want what they always had.  Omega Men flies in the face of all the rules.  Nine issues in and we're still waiting for Kyle to pick a side.  Shouldn't it be obvious?  Isn't it obvious?  And yet King is writing something truly great here, buried in a series that has some of the worst sales of DC's whole catalogue, which DC itself saved from cancellation in order to give King the chance to complete his story.  Because, as I've said time and again, DC knows better than the readers what it has with Omega Men, and King.  Word is that King will be writing Batman once the full details of DC Rebirth are revealed.  I couldn't be happier.

Robin: Son of Batman #5, 6 (DC)
These are the remaining issues under Patrick Gleason's creative direction (although I guess I missed #4) in the follow-up series to his and Pete Tomasi's brilliant Batman and Robin.  The more issues I read, the more I'm convinced that Gleason had more creative input in Robin: Son of Batman's predecessor than previously thought, because he proves a deft hand as writer, so similar to and in the same spirit as it that it's a seamless continuation.  These issues features Damian's reunion with his mother Talia, confronting the matter of what happened in Grant Morrison's Batman, Inc. while also exploring Goliath's secret origin and rounding out Maya Ducard's story.  I have no idea why fans wouldn't embrace this series.

Superman #50 (DC)
Gene Luen Yang's final issue is a big one, concluding both the 'Truth" and "Savage Dawn" arcs.  I follow two blogs that both savaged (heh) the issue, and weren't particularly keen on Yang's run in general.  For me, putting aside my incomplete reading of it to this point, it was a natural extension of Geoff Johns' (it's rare when two different writers can do this; previously I can think of Chuck Dixon and Devin K. Grayson in the pages of Nightwing, and...really, that's about it, except for maybe Karl Kesel and Stuart Immonen in the Superman comics).  The whole point of it, taking away Superman's powers, was to provide one of those extreme situations that the '90s did on a constant basis.  And in fact, Superman lost his powers in the '90s, too (in the wake of The Final Night).  This time, however, his identity was exposed at the same time.  He began to feel hounded, and no longer knew who to trust.  For a lot of readers, this didn't feel true to character.  Yang's fight club, I think, was what most alienated readers.  It's a common trope, but as far as I could tell from the issue that debuted it, Yang's version was uniquely positioned to explore Superman's insecurities, kind of like if he'd ended up in the Bottle City of Kandor instead, or some other environment where he had to rediscover what being Superman means.  Because that's really what it was all about.  It was a place where he was safe when he felt unsafe everywhere else, both because of the powers and the identity being compromised.  So this issue has him dealing with Vandal Savage, who presents him with further options, ultimately forcing Superman to once again affirm what he does and why he does it.  At the end of the issue, he's reunited with Lois (and Jimmy), who tell him, "Go be Superman!" and, "Go be Clark."  Because far too often, there's confusion as to which he is.  When he's really both.  Which, again, was the whole point of this crisis.  We've become too comfortable with the notions of Superman and his secret identity.  The modern era has been trying to dismantle that for twenty years.  I guess it'll have to keep trying.

All-New Wolverine #5 (Marvel)
Mock's letter appears in the letters column of this comic.  It's one of those letters from a fan who has found a comic that's let them be a fan again.  Mock as been a reader longer than I have.  He's probably a different kind of fan than I am.  Which is fine.  This is another of the many Marvel series in recent years featuring a new character in a familiar guise.  It's an old DC trick but one Marvel has only recently begun to embrace.  A lot of them have been about switching the gender.  This is one of them.  Since Death of Wolverine (which some have interpreted as Marvel's campaign to undermine the X-Men movies by removing the most popular mutant from the comics landscape, except in the pages of Old Man Logan), classic Wolverine has remained dead.  In his place is now the character formerly known as X-23 Laura Kinney.  This particular issue reminds me a great deal of Valiant's Bloodshot Reborn, which features a character who is very much a Wolverine variant himself.  I can't say I find this to be a bad thing, because it's always nice to see the big guys pay attention to the competition, and to have a comic that pays attention to mythology in general.  I can't say the issue made me want to read the series faithfully (all told, I guess I'm more interested in Bloodshot Reborn), but it was certainly worth reading at least once.  Cheers, Mock!

I guess, if there's an overall lesson to be learned from this particular post, it's that I'm always going to be a fan, no matter how my readership evolves.

Reading Comics #180 "A Brief Check-in"

I think I can, I think I can...

So I went back to Hampton, VA's friendly Heroes & Villains comic book shop last week.  It was my first visit this year.  I was sorely tempted to buy the deluxe copy of DKIII #2 available, but I didn't.  I've been keeping tabs on what's going on in comics since I wrapped up my most recent ongoing readership experience last fall.  Marvel's preparing an official Civil War II (I contend readers will find a perfectly good follow-up in the Secret Wars spin-off), while DC is still in the midst of unveiling its latest brand revision under the Rebirth banner (which includes bringing Action Comics back to its original numbering in time to let the series reach #1,000 without looking like another cheap publicity stunt).  This is a period where I will be happy, as a reader, to begin reading in the trades.  Yes, it finally happened.  Although obviously I'll have to keep informed to know what's worth reading in the trades...

So every now and then, I have to check back in!  So, here's what I read.  Mostly, it was checking in with previous favorites or things I was merely curious about.  Without further adieu:

Captain America: White #5 (Marvel)
The final issue in the latest Loeb/Sale collaboration left me wishing there was more than simply Cap pining for the lost Bucky, but the Loeb/Sale Marvel titles have all been written in some way under that model.  It's a reminder, at the very least, that there was a considerable period in Cap's history where he truly did believe Bucky was gone forever.  So this is a useful testament all the same.  At some point I will read the complete story.

Earth 2: Society #7-8 (DC)
The first issue is Daniel H. Wilson's last on the series.  Honestly, I think fans didn't care for his run because they're still unaware that Wilson is technically a big deal.  His breakthrough novel, Robopocalypse, was optioned instantly by Spielberg (whether it's been in development heck because of Spielberg's association with the Transformers movies I can only speculate), and has subsequently lost the luster of, say, The Martian, which obviously became a very successful movie in the meantime.  I've argued his Earth 2's merits previously, and Society's in particular.  It's a fascinating concept, but it's bound to irritate traditionalists, especially ones who saw Earth 2 begin under the auspices of the far better established James Robinson.  However, Wilson's day is now done.  The second issue is the first under Dan Abnett's tenure.  Abnett is best known in his collaborations with Andy Lanning, but as a solo act I previously found his Conspiracy scintillating.  His opening pages with Hawkgirl, and then concluding ones where Hawkgirl meets Fury, are some of the things that affirm what a great idea Earth 2 and Society remain.  So that was all good to experience.

Huck #4 (Image)
I belong to the Millarworld message board community these days.  This is the first issue of Huck I've caught.  To me, it's clearly a Superman analogy, if based on nothing but the evidence in this issue.  But no less an authority than Mark Millar himself insists otherwise, that it's actually a Captain America metaphor.  The empirical evidence certainly disagrees further.  Maybe Millar is more sarcastic than I previously knew...

Omega Men #7-8 (DC)
This is me literally picking up where I left off.  These issues bring Kyle Rayner forcibly into the team's plans, by showing him what happened to Voorl, why they recruited him in the first place.  It also features a typically tragic origin for another member, Doc, who was originally programmed to enact the Voorl tragedy itself.  That's the kind of writing from Tom King that has made me a bona fide believer.

Robin: Son of Batman #9 (DC)
Patrick Gleason's final issue as writer/artist returns the series full-circle to its Batman & Robin origins, having Damian realize that now he's the one that's been left behind, just Batman was before him.  It's depth that was probably unexpected and unwanted by readers who just wanted to see Robin being a smart aleck, as is still what most fans know about him.  Even though I missed a few issues, I'm glad to see that Gleason also wrapped up his Maya arc in a satisfactory manner.  I don't know if there ended up being a Goliath origin story somewhere in there, but this is a series I will be proud to add to my trade collection, alongside its predecessor, as one of the great experiences I've had in comics.

Superman #45 (DC)
The most recent new issue that the shop had was also the next issue after the last one I'd previously read, which was pretty neat.  Readers apparently took poorly to Gene Luen Yang's run, but I found it fascinating.  This issue began the Mythbrawl arc, sort of the traditional underground fighting trope mixed with Neil Gaiman's ideas from American Gods.  Which, needless to say, I found fascinating.  To have Superman included in such an idea is novel, and takes in the concept to a greater scope than most writers often consider.  Too often he's dismissed by fans as being too godlike in his abilities.  (Never mind that the New Gods are hardly ever presented as godlike at all!)  Here's an example of taking that concept to its next logical step.  Cheers, Yang.  Bonus points for Howard Porter on art!

Telos #3 (DC)
Jeff King's Convergence spin-off was quickly dismissed as roundly pointless by fans, but I find it to be a continuation of DC's interest in expanding its space mythology, which is often relegated to the Legion of Super-Heroes, Adam Strange, and Green Lantern.  Along with Omega Men, I think Telos does a good job of filling that gap, not only in further expanding the Brainiac narrative, but by including the New 52 versions of Captain Carrot and Captain Comet (the latter of which last seen in Grant Morrison's Action Comics).  I think Telos as a new character fails for the same reason Bloodwynd failed in the '90s, because his origins are deliberately cloaked in mystery.  Fans don't tend to like that.  They like the instantly iconic.  It worked with Wolverine mostly because fans didn't even realize or care that Wolverine appeared without origins.  He was just cool, and was different enough from the rest of the Marvel landscape (he debuted in the pages of a Hulk comic, remember, not X-Men) that he stood out without needing everything spelled out immediately.  It doesn't stop me from liking characters like Telos and Bloodwynd, but then, I'm a crazy person who actually took Mark Millar's sarcasm seriously at first...