Reading Comics 238 "Flashpoint Batman, Far Sector, Second Coming, & more"

I haven't been to an actual comic book store in about half a year, so I decided it was time to visit one, given the opportunity, and found some good stuff:

Batman #84 (DC)
And now there's one issue to go.  Ironically or not, but the longer Tom King's run went, the less fans really cared.  The obvious tipping point was when the wedding didn't actually happen.  Fans felt cheated.  They wanted something truly big to happen, and King seemed to promise exactly that.  Instead the reaction has solidified on...pretty much how all of King's DC material has been received, as so much awkward navel-gazing.  The irony here is that when he did it for Marvel (The Vision), everyone lauded him as a new genius, perhaps because Marvel so seldom publishes reflective material, let alone seems to realize that it has, and that it's worth celebrating. 

I still can't think of any comic book writer I've so consistently admired, who has so often grasped the potential of DC's landscape.  His accomplishments go far beyond anyone else's for the fact of delivering on nearly everything he's done, dating back to Omega Men, when he was entrusted with his first spotlight work.  That goes back to 2015.  Half a decade of excellence, and one long stellar run on a major title.

This particular issue harkens back to his first standout mainstream accomplishment, Grayson: Futures End, where I first came to discover King's remarkable talents.  Grayson was a series he typically wrote in conjunction with Tim Seeley, but for the Futures End one-shot, he wrote solo, and even beyond the clever coding gimmick, it was brilliant character-based storytelling. 

So in the issue, he basically extrapolates the Flashpoint Batman's complete story, which is all the more remarkable because that story was already brilliantly told in Flashpoint itself and the acknowledged best mini-series that spun out of it.  And in doing so, explains his whole purpose for the Batman run he's been doing all along.  This is a master class, not only in itself but in the fruitful extension of someone else's ideas.  When all is said and done, it's something that will need to be included not only in the legacy of Batman, but Flashpoint, and superhero comics in general.

Collapser #5 (DC/Young Animal)
I like to try and discover interesting new material, too, when I visit a comics shop.  Granted, this was far easier when I used to spend far more money on comics (money that I, ah, didn't technically...have?), but now I have to use the old "it looks interesting" approach, or even risk taking recommendations (these don't always pan out, naturally, but then, it's how I discovered Young Avengers).  And Collapser #5 had an interesting cover, and it was a Young Animal comic.  I love the Young Animal imprint, even if fans in general seem strangely apathetic about it.  Such is life.  The results this time were adequate, if not sensational.  I didn't regret buying and/or reading it.  Yay!

Copra #3 (Image)
Ah!  So Copra is being published by Image now!  The last time I can think of that Image picked up a popular self-published comic was Bone.  Probably not the only example, but the only one I really care about.  And Copra is another great acquisition!  It may look crude, compared to the slick packages of virtually every other Image comic (but that goes with the name, right?), but Copra remains a good read.

Doctor Mirage #4 (Valiant)
I've sort of let Valiant's comics slip from my radar in recent years, but I like to keep tabs.  Apparently they finally continued Doctor Mirage's adventures!  Sadly, not under the title The Death-Defying Doctor Mirage, much less written by Jen Van Meter, but it's still nice to see!

Far Sector #1 (DC/Young Animal)
Ah!  It's almost like reading King's Omega Men all over again!  Insofar as it's another Green Lantern tale, without "Green Lantern" in the title, that turns out to be a brilliant new interpretation of what a Green Lantern comic can be!  Far Sector features yet another new human Green Lantern, but N.K. Jemisin doesn't linger (at least in this debut issue) on that aspect so much as the murder mystery she's tossed into, in about as grand a miasma as King's Omega Men featured.  Some readers might complain that Jemisin tries to be too hip, but I think it works, and it makes me want to not only keep tabs on Far Sector, but read some of Jemisin's books.  It doesn't always work, but finding talent outside the usual comic book circles has the potential to find a Jemisin or a Tom King.  And apparently awesome new Green Lantern comics.  Love it!

Flash Forward #1 (DC)
After all the complaints about Heroes in Crisis, I loved when DC announced Flash Forward, a new Wally West tale.  Several issues have been released at this point, but I figured I should see how it began.  And I love it.  Scott Lobdell, who has quietly become one of DC's one reliable character writers, captures a Wally who's even more traumatized than readers by his actions, but thrust all the same into a wild new adventure.  Juxtaposing Wally's arc with another wild ride into the multiverse is itself another interesting choice, but I think Lobdell can avoid duplicating what ultimately happened to Booster Gold when he attempted a career revision in similar fashion (and in the process helped form the foundation of the TV series Legends of Tomorrow, which he inexplicably has never factored into).

Legion of Super-Heroes #1 (DC)
I've never been a devoted Legion fan, but I've read enough Legion comics to have built up an interest, and this is Brian Michael Bendis, still firing on all cylinders in his new DC digs, so of course I dig it.

Second Coming #5 (Ahoy)
Wow.  So I haven't read anything but this issue, but I'm glad this comic exists.  It's exactly what Mark Russell should be writing.  The guy made his name writing stuff like this, so I'm glad he returned to the well.  This particular issue is God and Satan having an awkward attempt at reconciliation, which is itself brilliant, plus the Second Coming Superman analog struggling at another kind of reconciliation, whether or not he'll ever have a child, which '90s Superman (in the comics and Lois & Clark on TV wondered about, too) was also concerned about, although since then we've gotten two versions of Superman's son.  I'm in love with Russell again.  I continue to hope that, even as his profile has risen greatly in recent years, it can go higher still.

X-Men #1 (Marvel)
Jonathan Hickman, riding high from great acclaim for his X-Men universe relaunch, begins to settle in, and I still enjoy the results.

Young Justice #11 (DC/Wonder Comics)
Here's Bendis again, integrating Naomi into the greater landscape.  I love that he's helped Tim Drake finally follow in Dick Grayson (and Jason Todd's! and even Stephanie Brown's!) footsteps and assume an identity that doesn't have "Robin" in it.  I know some fans complain that it's...Drake, which is...already his last name.  But realistically, his secret identity is still firmly intact.  And at the moment, his adventures are so wild, he's far removed from the common element, so it hardly matters.  But I want it to stick.  I want a Drake comic.  (And a comic for everyone in this book!  I wasn't totally committed to the Peter David version of the team.  But I'm glad it's made a comeback.)  And I'm glad Naomi is getting a chance to expand her emerging legacy.  I hope she sticks around for years.

Quarter Bin 113 "Wildcats/X-Men"

Wildcats/X-Men: The Modern Age #1 (Image/Marvel)
from August 1997

I was really hoping this comic would help explain the Wildcats a little better.  I mean, I get the premise, but I wanted more about the characters in the team, what helped make them stand out individually.  James Robinson, I think, didn't have the same interest.

But Adam Hughes at least makes everything look really nice. Hughes was a superstar artist in his own right, maybe not what one thought of as the Image model, but the Marvel/DC equivalent in the '90s.  His work here looks more traditional than his later covers, which really ramped up the Hughes appeal.

For what it's worth, the X-Men don't come off much better. Fans will say that's because the '90s weren't particularly kind to the X-Men, but it was a distinctive era.  Just not one that's reflected in this comic.  It seems to have wanted to present an iconic version of both teams, but in doing so glossed over what made either of them special.  That's always the risk with team books, let alone team-up books, trying to squeeze too many characters into the story, so none of them really get a chance to shine.  I mean, the Hellfire Club gets more of a shout-out than anyone...!

Well, it was worth a try.

Quarter Bin 77 "Avengers West Coast #56, The 'Nam, and other early '90s Marvel comics"

The following comics were not literally found in a quarter bin.  This is a back issues feature.

Avengers West Coast #56 (Marvel)
From March 1990.
This one, apparently, is home to a fairly controversial moment in comics history.  (Read about it here.)  The Scarlet Witch has gone off on one of her periodic turns to evil, and in the process does...something...to Wonder Man.  Writer/artist (and comic book legend and frequent love-him-or-hate-him contender) John Byrne leaves what exactly she does up to the imagination.  I knew something was odd about the scene from the start.  I mean, it's designed to be read into, something that probably wouldn't even happen today, because the increasing absence of any kind of Comics Code rating means literally anything goes.  Well, maybe not in a Marvel series. 

It's hard to know what to make of it.  Fan controversies in comics tend to dwell on what makes women in comics look weak, whether what happens to them or how they're presented physically.  Yet sometimes it really comes down to how they're written.  Is there is a male superhero at Marvel who has been written this poorly this consistently?  (Allan Heinberg's Young Avengers, and its sequel Avengers: The Children's Crusade, is a notable exception.)  Poor, poor Scarlet Witch.  I know I'm supposed to be focusing on what happens to Wonder Man (such an awkward name), but I just can't.  I don't put the blame on John Byrne at all.  Including House of M and a host of other events I don't know about (the character and her brother Quicksilver were introduced as villains, and for some reason as the offspring of Magneto, a fact that's as conveniently overlooked as it's featured, whatever works at the time), there's just no other character like Scarlet Witch in comics.

Avengers West Coast #78, 84 (Marvel)
From January, July 1992.
These later issues are written, or co-written, by Marvel stalwart Roy Thomas, and both feature Marvel's obsession at the time with the movies.  (Hopefully 2016 Marvel is most pleased.)  Wonder Man, having apparently emerged relatively unscathed from his ordeal (whatever it was), is making movies with bad guys.  (It totally makes sense.)  Well, anyway, also featured is Spider-Woman, the Julia Carpenter version, who in both issues is deep into melodrama concerning her private life, the ex-husband and child she has to balance.  These are characteristic elements of the era, including the popular New Titans over at DC, something both the Titans and the X-Men picked up and expanded on in the '80s from the '60s Marvel template.  The second issue features her whole origin and adventures recapped, and also Spider-Man, since he was insanely big at the time thanks to Todd McFarlane's then-recent work with the character.  It's hard to believe that the rest of this decade would become known as a creative wasteland for Spider-Man because of the hugely-prolonged Clone Saga.  But then, the Image exodus of all Marvel's top artists sent everyone scrambling to find new directions.  If not clones then what, right? 

Or something...It was also Spidey's 30th anniversary.  In fact, it was the thirtieth anniversary for most of the Marvel Age.  Strange to think, right?  When a reader said they were life-long fans, they literally could have read everything, fairly easily, and Marvel at that time was still heavily trading on continuing continuity, no matter how confusing it could get (see Scarlet Witch).  So I guess...it only figures.

The Incredible Hulk #395 (Marvel)
From July 1992.
I used to be a big Peter David fan.  This was during the '90s.  He was my favorite writer of Star Trek novels.  But that status didn't last past the '90s.  I mean, I started to wise up to just what kind of writer he was.  This is a guy who's the quintessential fan's writer.  He exists in fan logic.  To him, writing the Hulk as he does in this period makes perfect sense.  The Hulk as Vegas muscle.  It just doesn't make any sense.  I don't care to research how he made Hulk capable of stringing intelligent thoughts together.  Historically, that just isn't the case.  But since this was in the thick of the definitely-part-of-continuing-continuity era, it made sense somehow.  Except to someone who doesn't know how, it really doesn't.  Fan logic.  A story that only makes sense to fans is fan logic.  And this is the worst kind.  It could literally be about anyone.  Artist Dale Keown went on to create another Big Giant Comic Book Character, Pitt.  I mean, it only makes sense.  Because at this point, Peter David was writing Big Giant Comic Book Character, not the Hulk.  It's not cool, maybe, to be ragging on Peter David in 2016, because the dude has been dealing with health issues in recent years.  But the fact remains, while I wish the guy well, I also wish...he were a better writer.

The 'Nam #34, 72 (Marvel)
From September 1989, September 1992.
One of the few non-genre books I know of from Marvel is The 'Nam, a comic about the Vietnam War.  That's about all I knew about it for years.  I used to see it in Marvel's solicitations back in the day, but that's literally all I ever knew about it, that it...was a comic about the Vietnam War.  So when I saw the particular bargain collections these comics came from, I knew I had to find out, at last.  Turns out...they're not particularly good comics.  I mean, they're clearly meant for people with more direct experience with the war, and so I guess it was only appropriate, given that it was launched about a decade after U.S. troops withdrew.  Popular culture today pretty much has solidified the counterculture reaction to it as the mainstream opinion of it, but there persists outlets that attempt to give a more human face to the war.  That's basically what The 'Nam is, or what it set out to be.  I just don't think the talent was there to execute it.  Maybe it's a hasty assumption based on two issues, or maybe its general lack of reputation has already made that judgment, and I just confirmed it for myself.  The second issue features a letters column detailing appearances by Frank Castle, A.K.A. Punisher, who was huge at that time.  I mean, he almost single-handedly led the charge of the more violent action from that era, was the cool character to follow...and who couldn't last long enough to make two later big screen adaptions even semblances of hits.  Apparently the final two issues, printed only in a later collection, also feature him.  Maybe the writers could have saved themselves the trouble and used him to tell the whole story.  Or someone could do that in a series revival...

Nomad #2 (Marvel)
From December 1990.
One of the characters in this issue spends her time researching the history of Jack Monroe, the second Bucky (Captain America's sidekick).  It reads, today, like a template for what Ed Brubaker would do later, much more successfully, with the first Bucky, James Barnes.  That's the most that can be said about this issue.  It's kind of sad that Jack ended up being so easy to dispose of later.  Ironically, it's Brubaker, in his Bucky revival, who kills of the character.

Classic X-Men #45 (Marvel)
From March 1990.
A reprint of Uncanny X-Men #139, this issue features the long-awaited follow-up to Wolverine's first appearance from Incredible Hulk #181, which means his return to Canada ("Logan!") and the set-up for a rematch with the Wendigo (who definitely remained an iconic foe).  Poor Kitty Pryde is apparently saddled with the superhero name Sprite in the story, although the latter Shadowcat isn't really that much better.  For a bit of context, this takes place just a few issues after "The Dark Phoenix Saga," one of the most iconic X-Men stories ever, and a few issues before "Days of the Future Past," perhaps the most iconic X-Men story ever (disappointingly to modern readers, only a few issues long).  And to put it in further context, the Chris Claremont era began with Uncanny X-Men #94.  Uncanny X-Men #139 was originally published in 1980, five years after Giant-Size X-Men, where it kicked off.  I know Claremont better from Sovereign Seven, which fans soured on, much like a lot of his later work, but I liked quite a bit.  It's better than this particular X-Men issue.