Okay, so for the record, I am no longer technically reading comics, nor all that interested in regularly reading them.
Now, would somebody please remind me?
Oh, and damn Free Comic Book Day. The annual event that, well, hands out free comic books, was this past Saturday (and hopefully you knew that already), and as I have, well, annually, I paid homage to the event, visiting Escape Velocity in downtown Colorado Springs during a very small window before work that day. I got there early. I hoped the store might be open at 10, so yeah, I got there early, and after wasting a good chunk of time elsewhere (the main branch of the local library does in fact carry a good selection of my favorite authors, as it turns out!), still came back in time to be first in line (yay me!) and so I could say that I was the first patron to enjoy the day (oh the ironies of a “former” comic book nerd claiming such an honor!). Because I lingered at the entrance near the counter, however (collecting FEAR ITSELF #2), I was not the first to the free comics table, however (though big props to Mike and/or whoever else decided we could take three comics this year, rather than two, even though I was able to take as many as I wanted when I enjoyed FCBD at Newbury Comics in Burlington, MA years earlier).
This sentence has no parenthical phrase. I grabbed the usual suspects, a DC, Marvel, and Atomic Robo. I’ll talk more about my selections a bit later, but suffice it to say, that was pretty much the extent of my visit that day. I had made a small list of titles to make sure I wouldn’t forget from the regular racks, FEAR ITSELF being one of them, so I could finally take a look at Stuart Immonen’s work on the book, plus any new issues of BATMAN, INC. and, wildest of dreams, maybe a copy of ACTION COMICS #900 (y’know, the one where he “controversially” renounces US citizenship, but hopefully I will get to talk about this one later, when I actually have a copy). I made the list to limit myself, to make sure I hit the essentials, and yes, because I had very little time. I got out in about four minutes, which was considerably less time than my last visit (comics are just one of those things you can spend a good amount of time shopping). I felt pretty proud, only six comics in all, and three of them were free.
The problem is, I keep fretting that I’ve reacquired “the bug.” That I’ve fallen off the wagon. I’ve already made a commitment to go back when that second printing of ACTION #900 arrives. And I know I’ll have more time. And I really, really want to read the Flashpoint comics.
I’m not just talking about the event book itself. Actually, I’m less interested in FLASHPOINT itself than, say, FLASHPOINT: ABIN SUR - THE GREEN LANTERN. Or FLASHPOINT: CITIZEN COLD. Or FLASHPOINT: DEADMAN AND THE FLYING GRAYSONS. Or FLASHPOINT: CANTERBURY CRICKET (I’m damn curious). You get the point. I was one of the fans who went gaga over Tangent Comics. And, to a lesser extent, Amalgam Comics. I’ve never gotten around to reading a lot of them, especially some of the really famous ones like SUPERMAN: RED SON, but Elseworlds. The thing is, as much as I like a good bit of continuity, I like “alternuity” a lot more. I like when familiar facts are played around with, especially when, like Flashpoint is promising, familiar facts are played around with cleverly, in ways that have unexpected resonance with the facts as we know them.
Did I mention that I really, really want to read Flashpoint? Desperately. I suspect that these comics were be collected, in much the same way that every single scrap of BLACKEST NIGHT was eventually collected into massive hardcovers. Financially, I care. But as a fan, I really, really don’t care. I want to read this stuff. Badly. It’s one of those, I’m-convinced-they’ll-become-some-of-my-favorite-comics things. I really am.
So I’m in a bad place right now. I also want to read those Green Lantern movie tie-ins. Most of the time, any comic that is created to cash in on a movie, unless they’re a straight adaptation, are a waste of time and money. These seem different. Not just because Green Lantern, as Geoff Johns and the filmmakers have realized, has a ton of storytelling potential. The characters, though familiar, have so much more to say than even five years of Johns-inspired expansion have been able to tell. And there’s so much passion. These, too, will undoubtedly be collected. But c’mon. A fan is a fan is a fan. And a fan wants to read RIGHT NOW. Sorry. Usually save the caps for comics titles. But you get what I mean. That’s what reading comics tends to do. It makes people crazy.
So, damn you Free Comic Book Day. And here are the comics that were a part of this breakdown:
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2011 - THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (Marvel)
Dan Slott, so far as I can tell, has been doing, well, an amazing job with Spidey in “Big Time,” pushing all the work that was done during “Brand New Day” to the next level, and whereas that era was accomplished with multiple writers, Slott’s been going it alone, so I cannot give him enough props for that kind of accomplishment. This one’s basically a big advertisement for things that’ve been happening, and a tease for more things that will happen, but it’s a Spider-Man comic. A certain amount of the straight entertainment factor is to be expected. Also, really great to see Humberto Ramos, still riding high all these years after I enjoyed his work in IMPULSE. He’s the rare artist who doesn’t receive all the buzz and hype but who nonetheless maintains the steady awesome output and high profile assignments, year after year. I’m now dreaming of Ramos supplying the art for a Stuart Immonen-scripted adventure…
ATOMIC ROBO/FOSTER BROUSSARD/MOON GIRL (Red 5)
How many years has Robo been commanding Red 5’s Free Comic Book Day contributions now? It doesn’t matter. Not only is Robo the company’s biggest hit, he’s also still waiting to, well, actually hit, become a smash sensation, that is, explode, break out into the mainstream, the way Hellboy has, in other words, over at Dark Horse. And there’s no reason why Atomic Robo shouldn’t be huge. The work of Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener has been consistently awesome from the beginning, and as creators they’ve finally been noticed by their peers, winning work from the likes of Marvel, but like Fred Van Lente without Herc and/or Cho and/or Ryan Dunlavey, they just aren’t the same without Robo. Sure, this particular FCBD effort includes previews for some other books, but it’s all about Robo! Robo! Robo!
BATMAN, INC. #5 (DC)
Now, I don’t know if there were other issues I should have had the opportunity to read (but let’s be honest, reading five issues of this comic when I’ve “stopped reading comics” is already pretty awesome); I’m just glad that I finished another Grant Morrison arc. And unlike previous issues, this one’s clearly, as it proves the arc has all along without anyone realizing it, on par with the massive storytelling structure Grant brought to THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE, the Black Glove saga, and other epics. We learn just how big the threat of Doctor Dedalus really is, as we meet even more heroes, including the Hood (who looks a lot like the current Azrael), how insanely complicated his mechanics are (and no one outplots Grant Morrison, except maybe Geoff Johns), and that there really are challenges for Bruce Wayne, even now. Who else writes Batman so that he can meet seemingly every challenge, but still be challenged, and so that it comes off convincingly? It’s the kind of comic book that mocks every single bad connotation outsiders have toward the industry, and that’s the way Grant’s been writing since his career began, why he still seems hungry, when all his contemporaries have either retired or all but retired. He has nothing left to prove. And yet he just keeps proving himself, challenging himself, and challenging comic books themselves. How does he do it? The man’s a true creative dynamo.
FEAR ITSELF #1 & 2 (Marvel)
Matt Fraction is one of Marvel’s so-called Architects, one of the writers it has identified as being not only integral to the company now, but for its future, yet FEAR ITSELF counts as his first event book. Among the books for which he is known is IRON MAN, where he’s helped to bridge the gap between the comics and movie versions of Tony Stark. This event seems like Fraction’s version of that same effort for Thor, so that fans who are intrigued by the new movie might have something to look at afterward. Those who may not be familiar with SIEGE might still be interested to read about Odin’s return to Asgard, or the plans of comparatively ordinary mortals in helping Thor to reclaim his place on Earth. The rest of the story involves the legacy of the Red Skull, and therefore Steve Rogers, and therefore the new Captain American movie. I figure FEAR ITSELF will more or less be the reason Rogers claims his familiar mantle. It both surprises me and doesn’t that James “Bucky” Barnes has still be been embraced as his successor. Batman, Inc. this is not. Stuart Immonen, of course, is on art for this book, and most of it, as has been the norm for his work with Marvel, by design, is not all that familiar to what I knew from his days at DC. There are tiny glimpses, not terribly flattering actually, of what I used to enjoy, but otherwise, it’s not all that distinctive. It’s competent, and Stuart’s obviously dependable, unlike a great many of those who came after him, and became popular and famous, but he’s capable of so much better. So I probably won’t be reading more of this book. I wasn’t all that intrigued or interested. I don’t really care about anything that I’ve read in the first two issues. And Mr. Immonen continues to disappoint me. But I guess he doesn’t need me to be a fan. He’s entrenched at Marvel, something of a stalwart on staff, and is doing indy work that fulfills him otherwise. I just wish I could believe that he was making a difference, at least in the way I believe he did at DC. Maybe it’s just me.
FCBD 2011 GREEN LANTERN/FLASHPOINT (DC)
For those who haven’t already picked up a copy of the SECRET ORIGIN trade (either before or after the movie cover edition with a few extras that readers of the regular GREEN LANTERN comic will find familiar, beyond the Ryan Reynolds intro), most of this book is another plug for that arc, Geoff Johns’ version of EMERALD DAWN, with liberal allusions to BLACKEST NIGHT tossed in, which is said to have done much to inspire the filmmakers who will soon fulfill many dreams (at the very least, mine). It wisely skips over the first chapter, which revolves more around Hal Jordan’s background, and instead gives us the revision of the familiar origin, with Abin Sur crashing his ship and bequeathing his ring to Hal. There’s also the preview for FLASHPOINT, as much a reminder of who Barry Allen is as a tease for the strange new world he will soon encounter. It’s exactly the kind of thing Free Comic Book Day should be doing, giving fans what they think they want, and so much more. The Spidey comic also includes a tease for FEAR ITSELF, but I wonder if new readers will care as much about that as they will for the free Green Lantern intro, or old readers as much will the FLASHPOINT intro. As a fan, I relished reading me some Dan Slott, and he’s a perfect writer for readers to read a typical Spider-Man comic, and this is a perfect era for vintage Spider-Man. But it’s perhaps better to give the old and new readers something a little more interesting than that.
But the beauty of Free Comic Book Day is that you can have both, and for nothing at all. I often wonder what the new readers really think, based on these samples. I’ve never been one for as long as I’ve enjoyed this holiday (even if I have to work on it). Maybe, if a year from now and I’ve actually been able to maintain this almost-complete-break, I might better experience what that novice is feeling right now.
Or maybe I already know.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Quarter Bin #8 "Argus"
There’s not going to be much mystery concerning this week’s subject once I say the comics that inspired it, so let’s get that out of the way:
ARGUS #1-6 (DC)
From April through October 1995.
Okay, so you may actually still be scratching your heads, but suffice it to say, but if you guessed “Argus,” then you were correct. Like Sparx (the subject of Quarter Bin #6 a few weeks back), Argus was a product of the 1993 Bloodlines annuals, whose origins have to do with an alien invasion, what began as a series attacks that were supposed to kill, but instead transformed a select group of ordinary joes into members of what was supposed to be a new generation of superheroes.
Argus debuted in THE FLASH ANNUAL #6, and was created by speed guru Mark Waid, and designed by Phil Hester, who also supplies the art for much of the ARGUS mini-series. What helps set this particular Bloodlines character apart from some of the others is the fact that Waid actually used Argus in the FLASH ongoing from time to time, whereas most of the others were quickly abandoned by the host series they sprang from. At the time, Waid was still getting warmed up in his run (these wordplays never get old!), having only recently worked on the seminal “Return of Barry Allen” (which, contrary to its title, did not actually feature the return of Barry Allen, but featured all sorts of breakthrough Speed Force work, including the debut of Max Mercury, one of my favorite characters of all-time). He was busy carving out a whole working mythology, and an extended cast of characters, and while Argus was not, in fact, a speedster, he still worked within the context of what Waid envisioned, which including a broadening of the role a character like the Pied Piper, who began as a Rogue and would eventually (apparently) die as one, could inhabit.
On the surface, Argus appears to be something of a riff on Daredevil, a superhero with vision issues, and a horribly complicated life, and maybe that’s exactly why he never caught on. Now, obviously, I’m arguing that this sells the character short. The mini-series that’s at the heart of this column is a testament to this fact, proves that a good, distinctive story can come out of him. Or that, at the very least, Argus is one of the few Bloodlines creations that remains completely salvageable, along with Sparx, Loose Cannon, and Anima, all of whom have gotten some measure of almost-satisfactory exploration, and comparatively better fates than their contemporaries, excluding Hitman, but not Gunfire (though maybe even he’s redeemable).
ARGUS is written by the team of Mark Wheatley and Allan Gross, and concerns not only an involving exploration of the character as originally envisioned by Waid, but also a considerable evolution of him, taking Argus on a personal odyssey that includes a complicated relationship with his father, his status as a federal agent working deep undercover in a mob, and the loss of his eyes, which has the outcome of bringing out new facets of his powers. Clearly this is not just a book that uses an existing character, but is at every step deeply invested in that character. On that level alone ARGUS is worth reading, since few comic book stories are interested in doing that sort of thing, whether they attempt to mask a thinner version with only the suggestion of such storytelling, or not bothering to write any real characters at all.
Needless to say, however, Argus has been largely absent from comics in recent years, and was quickly forgotten by DC in general not long after this mini-series, and even by Mark Waid himself, who admittedly had a lot of things to work with, and so even when he was working on THE FLASH during that decade, he could only turn to Argus so many times. And, unfortunately, when Waid wasn’t writing him, it was incredibly unlikely, even then, that anyone else would include the character in their stories. As I’ve suggested, Argus appears on the surface to be extremely derivative. When he didn’t catch on like DC might have hoped, even with his own fairly lengthy mini-series, it was only natural for the publisher to forget about him. Argus isn’t flashy enough on his own that his participation in any kind of team book would make much of a difference. DC tried using exactly this kind of character in SHADOWPACT, and that didn’t exactly work out (and it didn’t the first time around, PRIMAL FORCE, either). Without any kind of commitment or substitute home, any hope that Argus might stick around very quickly diminished, and he slipped into superhero limbo.
The whole Bloodlines project was something of a gamble anyway. Trying to introduce even one new superhero is always difficult, but trying to introduce a whole group of new superheroes is even more difficult, especially when they’re supposed to stand on their own, but in fact have a common origin, one that stems from a single event, and be the result of a scenario that itself isn’t very popular, as evidenced by the singular lack of impact these particular aliens have had on subsequent DC lore. And given that DC somewhat liberally employs aliens in its storytelling (its flagship hero is the most famous alien in history), that’s really saying something.
Still, I like to contend that Argus is not a totally worthless concept for modern readers. A man trapped between worlds, and saddled with abilities he can’t always make sense of, that’s the sort of thing that timeless comics are made of. Give another shot, Argus can be timeless, too. As Mark Waid himself has already demonstrated, the character can function entirely independent of his origins, and as ARGUS further demonstrated, the character can also function within the context of his particular elements, and not a word of those origins, again, are particularly relevant. Some characters are bound by their origins, others aren’t. Argus doesn’t need to be. Maybe he doesn’t really matter to a Flash story now, and he doesn’t have to do that, either. You don’t need to know Wolverine was ever a member of the X-Men to enjoy one of his stories, after all. Maybe Argus could join a team, maybe he doesn’t even need to. Maybe there’s another big story within his own framework just waiting to happen, that will explode his possibilities.
Or, hey, maybe he’s just another great discovery for those reading the comics they can find in the back issue bins, where all superheroes have the privilege to exist. Who really wants to call that limbo?
ARGUS #1-6 (DC)
From April through October 1995.
Okay, so you may actually still be scratching your heads, but suffice it to say, but if you guessed “Argus,” then you were correct. Like Sparx (the subject of Quarter Bin #6 a few weeks back), Argus was a product of the 1993 Bloodlines annuals, whose origins have to do with an alien invasion, what began as a series attacks that were supposed to kill, but instead transformed a select group of ordinary joes into members of what was supposed to be a new generation of superheroes.
Argus debuted in THE FLASH ANNUAL #6, and was created by speed guru Mark Waid, and designed by Phil Hester, who also supplies the art for much of the ARGUS mini-series. What helps set this particular Bloodlines character apart from some of the others is the fact that Waid actually used Argus in the FLASH ongoing from time to time, whereas most of the others were quickly abandoned by the host series they sprang from. At the time, Waid was still getting warmed up in his run (these wordplays never get old!), having only recently worked on the seminal “Return of Barry Allen” (which, contrary to its title, did not actually feature the return of Barry Allen, but featured all sorts of breakthrough Speed Force work, including the debut of Max Mercury, one of my favorite characters of all-time). He was busy carving out a whole working mythology, and an extended cast of characters, and while Argus was not, in fact, a speedster, he still worked within the context of what Waid envisioned, which including a broadening of the role a character like the Pied Piper, who began as a Rogue and would eventually (apparently) die as one, could inhabit.
On the surface, Argus appears to be something of a riff on Daredevil, a superhero with vision issues, and a horribly complicated life, and maybe that’s exactly why he never caught on. Now, obviously, I’m arguing that this sells the character short. The mini-series that’s at the heart of this column is a testament to this fact, proves that a good, distinctive story can come out of him. Or that, at the very least, Argus is one of the few Bloodlines creations that remains completely salvageable, along with Sparx, Loose Cannon, and Anima, all of whom have gotten some measure of almost-satisfactory exploration, and comparatively better fates than their contemporaries, excluding Hitman, but not Gunfire (though maybe even he’s redeemable).
ARGUS is written by the team of Mark Wheatley and Allan Gross, and concerns not only an involving exploration of the character as originally envisioned by Waid, but also a considerable evolution of him, taking Argus on a personal odyssey that includes a complicated relationship with his father, his status as a federal agent working deep undercover in a mob, and the loss of his eyes, which has the outcome of bringing out new facets of his powers. Clearly this is not just a book that uses an existing character, but is at every step deeply invested in that character. On that level alone ARGUS is worth reading, since few comic book stories are interested in doing that sort of thing, whether they attempt to mask a thinner version with only the suggestion of such storytelling, or not bothering to write any real characters at all.
Needless to say, however, Argus has been largely absent from comics in recent years, and was quickly forgotten by DC in general not long after this mini-series, and even by Mark Waid himself, who admittedly had a lot of things to work with, and so even when he was working on THE FLASH during that decade, he could only turn to Argus so many times. And, unfortunately, when Waid wasn’t writing him, it was incredibly unlikely, even then, that anyone else would include the character in their stories. As I’ve suggested, Argus appears on the surface to be extremely derivative. When he didn’t catch on like DC might have hoped, even with his own fairly lengthy mini-series, it was only natural for the publisher to forget about him. Argus isn’t flashy enough on his own that his participation in any kind of team book would make much of a difference. DC tried using exactly this kind of character in SHADOWPACT, and that didn’t exactly work out (and it didn’t the first time around, PRIMAL FORCE, either). Without any kind of commitment or substitute home, any hope that Argus might stick around very quickly diminished, and he slipped into superhero limbo.
The whole Bloodlines project was something of a gamble anyway. Trying to introduce even one new superhero is always difficult, but trying to introduce a whole group of new superheroes is even more difficult, especially when they’re supposed to stand on their own, but in fact have a common origin, one that stems from a single event, and be the result of a scenario that itself isn’t very popular, as evidenced by the singular lack of impact these particular aliens have had on subsequent DC lore. And given that DC somewhat liberally employs aliens in its storytelling (its flagship hero is the most famous alien in history), that’s really saying something.
Still, I like to contend that Argus is not a totally worthless concept for modern readers. A man trapped between worlds, and saddled with abilities he can’t always make sense of, that’s the sort of thing that timeless comics are made of. Give another shot, Argus can be timeless, too. As Mark Waid himself has already demonstrated, the character can function entirely independent of his origins, and as ARGUS further demonstrated, the character can also function within the context of his particular elements, and not a word of those origins, again, are particularly relevant. Some characters are bound by their origins, others aren’t. Argus doesn’t need to be. Maybe he doesn’t really matter to a Flash story now, and he doesn’t have to do that, either. You don’t need to know Wolverine was ever a member of the X-Men to enjoy one of his stories, after all. Maybe Argus could join a team, maybe he doesn’t even need to. Maybe there’s another big story within his own framework just waiting to happen, that will explode his possibilities.
Or, hey, maybe he’s just another great discovery for those reading the comics they can find in the back issue bins, where all superheroes have the privilege to exist. Who really wants to call that limbo?
Thursday, April 28, 2011
To Trade or Not to Trade...?
Okay, so that’s a fairly silly question. Let’s put an end to that debate. Many fans have, through the years, wondered if it’s, shall we say, nobler to read their comics via single issues, the regular release scheduled typified by your average Wednesday shelf jockey, or trade and/or hardcover collections, when you can read entire story arcs at your convenience. You can do both. That’s my conclusion.
But sometimes, and not when you’re hypnotized into making that trip or that order, reading beat by beat, drove by drove of comics, you wonder if you’re not somehow missing out, when you read the collection over the issue, that it’s somehow less special, less privileged. I have that kind of thought at the moment over Grant Morrison and his BATMAN, INC. run. As you know, I have quit my regular reading habits, to alleviate monetary strains, so I no longer read comics with the regularity I once did (or twice, depending how good your memory is). But once an addict, always the impulse to relapse. Fortunately, in this case we’re only talking about comics, so I think I can once and again indulge in the occasional comics purchase, and that’s the topic this week, jumbled as it is with other thoughts, including, yes, whether or not it’s just as well to wait for the collection. For instance, I will likely read Stuart Immonen’s latest major offering, FEAR ITSELF, as a collection. I didn’t mention it last week because it didn’t really fit in with the tone of the rest of what I had to say (that and I had temporarily forgotten about it), but it’s still pretty awesome that Marvel thinks he’s important enough to give him some truly significant work.
I’m content with the knowledge that there will be collections of all that FLASHPOINT material that has me salivating (I’m more interested in the side projects than the event itself, which is somewhat unusual, but those projects actually seem to be something of the point this time), and probably the Green Lantern one-shots that will accompany the movie, which I will otherwise not have a reasonable chance to reading without breaking my new code. I will, if all goes to plan, however, make a trip to Escape Velocity for Free Comic Book day next week. That’s an allowable exception. As are random trips and purchases such as will be covered in this column.
One of the painful results of that code, of the decision that broke the habit three months ago, was to give up BATMAN, INC., which had only just begun. Morrison was demonstrating a fresh perspective, a more carefree one than he’d exhibited in almost anything else I’ve read from him, except maybe JOE THE BARBARIAN (but more on that a tad later). Grant Morrison collections, are one of the few guarantees to be considered instant in-stock material, however, at the bookstore where I work, so that has been one of my sources for solace, whenever I wish I were still in the thick of it. Strangely, though, I’ve made the transition fairly painlessly. For someone who spent 2005-2010 made weekly trips to a comic book store or receiving orders in the mail, you’d think there’d be more separation anxiety, but there really hasn’t been. That isn’t to say that I received, like some smug jerk, that I was finally “grown up,” “matured” and realized I didn’t need comics anymore, but that not reading comics every week did not exactly turn out to be the end of the world. For one thing, I’ve been writing at Comics Reader during this time, so I’ve had at least one excuse to continue thinking about them, and while that doesn’t seem like much (especially if you consider just how many comics I used to read), I have a reason and that seems like enough. I’ve also been creating a database of all the comics I own, and sometimes, keeping up with the memories is enough, too. (It’s not like I don’t have any comics to read.)
I also have the fact that I will be writing future columns for Comics Reader based around collections, including a series on Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN, which I will be reading for the first time, and so you will have hopefully fresh thoughts on one of the medium’s touchstones, and so will I, to look forward to. There are others, and of course, new collections from new comics.
Speaking of Grant Morrison, JOE THE BARBARIAN comes up again later in this column when I talk about the comics that interrupted the exile, but I can’t help but wonder again, as I have when reading other issues of this book, if this might not be one of the better arguments that some comics really are made almost directly for collection. I suspect it reads better as a whole, and almost wish I had actually waited for collection. But now that I own all the individual issues, do I really need that collection? That’s the kind of thorny issue that still remains in this debate.
But giving up comics entirely? Well, that’s just crazy talk. Some of the following comics come from Escape Velocity in downtown Colorado Springs, and a few others from the aforementioned bookstore, when it seemed as if it was never longer going to be receiving new comics, so I thought I was going to be commemorating, not just enjoying, a fond memory. Anyhoo:
BATMAN, INC. #3-4 (DC)
Morrison takes Bruce Wayne to Argentina in his continuing quest to find recruits for the Batman family, and finds more and more intrigue, as only Morrison can, with a broader spectrum of possibility than most creators consider in a whole career (I’m not here referring to Stan Lee, who never saw a gimmick he didn’t want to appropriate for himself). That’s what’s typified Grant’s whole run with the Dark Knight, either focusing on the iconic, or seeing what can be done, with that same stance, with the least likely tangential characters. Morrison is the only writer who truly seems to be enjoying himself, on a continual basis, discovering at every turn that comics aren’t a challenge, but an opportunity. These two issues, glad as I was to find them both, are not the complete story. Hence, all that brooding over collections earlier.
COMIC BOOK COMICS #5 (Evil Twin)
Very pleased that this one was available, since the book itself was one of my proudest placeholders in my Midtown pull list, which, I think, didn’t publish a single issue the whole year-and-half I had that account. No matter! This issue, the penultimate in a study of comics history from Fred Van Lente, explores the various thorny monetary matters that can arise from the medium, some of which I was familiar with, others I wasn’t, but all amusing detailed, as Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey have been doing since ACTION PHILOSOPHERS (but more on that later).
JOE THE BARBARIAN #8 (Vertigo)
The much-delayed conclusion from Morrison and Sean Murphy is exactly what you might have expected, and with a few surprises, and is just as appropriately magical as the rest of the book has been. Like an animated movie with all the cookie cutter elements left on the floor, JOE may end up being a significant element of Grant Morrison’s legacy, unexpected, given that Grant is as well known for his subversive impulses as his icon-busting/embellishing. If you want a version of the Morrison archetype that won’t deeply unsettle you or change everything you thought you knew, JOE THE BARBARIAN is the book for you. It quietly explores epic storytelling with an authentic emotional core, almost like a streamlined BONE (to keep that comic alive at Comics Reader).
BATMAN #707 (DC)
Tony Daniel concludes his sequel to “The Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul” (as I like to view it), confounding students of Sensei and letting Dick Grayson win the day without a lot of help from Peacock and I-Ching (when I’m not sure that could have been said, at least by Peacock, earlier). I still stand by Daniel’s work as a successor to the work of Morrison, Loeb, and Miller. It makes me wonder what an epic story would look like, if he truly cut loose, once he feels completely at home as a creator.
THE FLASH #9 (DC)
The kind of issue Geoff Johns only does very occasionally with Hal Jordan over in GREEN LANTERN (and I hope is more frequent here), a more character-based interlude with Barry, clearly in anticipation of FLASHPOINT (hello Hot Pursuit/Barry Allen!).
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #57 (DC)
Tony Bedard rounds out his Weaponer arc. Maybe it’s just me, but I really didn’t see it coming, when Sinestro actually convinces the Weaponer to join his corps. Nice bit of continuity, this whole arc, which has only affirmed my interest in Bedard, one of the least-heralded but probably best writers in comics today.
All this DC talk makes it seem like I’m sliding back into partisan mode. I intended to pick up some more Hickman FF (both the final issue of the previous series, and the first of the book literally called FF), but I decided to pass. I remember that I wrote about “Three” as if Hickman would be jumping ship right after, and even now, knowing what he did next with the franchise, I wonder if there’s much point. Oh, and hey, Steve Rogers is going to be Captain America again! I just expect more from Hickman, who did such unusual, subversive work with Image. But I am still interested in the new “Big Time” Spider-Man comics. I’ll be reading some of those collections, definitely.
But this whole column should still be considered an exception!
But sometimes, and not when you’re hypnotized into making that trip or that order, reading beat by beat, drove by drove of comics, you wonder if you’re not somehow missing out, when you read the collection over the issue, that it’s somehow less special, less privileged. I have that kind of thought at the moment over Grant Morrison and his BATMAN, INC. run. As you know, I have quit my regular reading habits, to alleviate monetary strains, so I no longer read comics with the regularity I once did (or twice, depending how good your memory is). But once an addict, always the impulse to relapse. Fortunately, in this case we’re only talking about comics, so I think I can once and again indulge in the occasional comics purchase, and that’s the topic this week, jumbled as it is with other thoughts, including, yes, whether or not it’s just as well to wait for the collection. For instance, I will likely read Stuart Immonen’s latest major offering, FEAR ITSELF, as a collection. I didn’t mention it last week because it didn’t really fit in with the tone of the rest of what I had to say (that and I had temporarily forgotten about it), but it’s still pretty awesome that Marvel thinks he’s important enough to give him some truly significant work.
I’m content with the knowledge that there will be collections of all that FLASHPOINT material that has me salivating (I’m more interested in the side projects than the event itself, which is somewhat unusual, but those projects actually seem to be something of the point this time), and probably the Green Lantern one-shots that will accompany the movie, which I will otherwise not have a reasonable chance to reading without breaking my new code. I will, if all goes to plan, however, make a trip to Escape Velocity for Free Comic Book day next week. That’s an allowable exception. As are random trips and purchases such as will be covered in this column.
One of the painful results of that code, of the decision that broke the habit three months ago, was to give up BATMAN, INC., which had only just begun. Morrison was demonstrating a fresh perspective, a more carefree one than he’d exhibited in almost anything else I’ve read from him, except maybe JOE THE BARBARIAN (but more on that a tad later). Grant Morrison collections, are one of the few guarantees to be considered instant in-stock material, however, at the bookstore where I work, so that has been one of my sources for solace, whenever I wish I were still in the thick of it. Strangely, though, I’ve made the transition fairly painlessly. For someone who spent 2005-2010 made weekly trips to a comic book store or receiving orders in the mail, you’d think there’d be more separation anxiety, but there really hasn’t been. That isn’t to say that I received, like some smug jerk, that I was finally “grown up,” “matured” and realized I didn’t need comics anymore, but that not reading comics every week did not exactly turn out to be the end of the world. For one thing, I’ve been writing at Comics Reader during this time, so I’ve had at least one excuse to continue thinking about them, and while that doesn’t seem like much (especially if you consider just how many comics I used to read), I have a reason and that seems like enough. I’ve also been creating a database of all the comics I own, and sometimes, keeping up with the memories is enough, too. (It’s not like I don’t have any comics to read.)
I also have the fact that I will be writing future columns for Comics Reader based around collections, including a series on Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN, which I will be reading for the first time, and so you will have hopefully fresh thoughts on one of the medium’s touchstones, and so will I, to look forward to. There are others, and of course, new collections from new comics.
Speaking of Grant Morrison, JOE THE BARBARIAN comes up again later in this column when I talk about the comics that interrupted the exile, but I can’t help but wonder again, as I have when reading other issues of this book, if this might not be one of the better arguments that some comics really are made almost directly for collection. I suspect it reads better as a whole, and almost wish I had actually waited for collection. But now that I own all the individual issues, do I really need that collection? That’s the kind of thorny issue that still remains in this debate.
But giving up comics entirely? Well, that’s just crazy talk. Some of the following comics come from Escape Velocity in downtown Colorado Springs, and a few others from the aforementioned bookstore, when it seemed as if it was never longer going to be receiving new comics, so I thought I was going to be commemorating, not just enjoying, a fond memory. Anyhoo:
BATMAN, INC. #3-4 (DC)
Morrison takes Bruce Wayne to Argentina in his continuing quest to find recruits for the Batman family, and finds more and more intrigue, as only Morrison can, with a broader spectrum of possibility than most creators consider in a whole career (I’m not here referring to Stan Lee, who never saw a gimmick he didn’t want to appropriate for himself). That’s what’s typified Grant’s whole run with the Dark Knight, either focusing on the iconic, or seeing what can be done, with that same stance, with the least likely tangential characters. Morrison is the only writer who truly seems to be enjoying himself, on a continual basis, discovering at every turn that comics aren’t a challenge, but an opportunity. These two issues, glad as I was to find them both, are not the complete story. Hence, all that brooding over collections earlier.
COMIC BOOK COMICS #5 (Evil Twin)
Very pleased that this one was available, since the book itself was one of my proudest placeholders in my Midtown pull list, which, I think, didn’t publish a single issue the whole year-and-half I had that account. No matter! This issue, the penultimate in a study of comics history from Fred Van Lente, explores the various thorny monetary matters that can arise from the medium, some of which I was familiar with, others I wasn’t, but all amusing detailed, as Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey have been doing since ACTION PHILOSOPHERS (but more on that later).
JOE THE BARBARIAN #8 (Vertigo)
The much-delayed conclusion from Morrison and Sean Murphy is exactly what you might have expected, and with a few surprises, and is just as appropriately magical as the rest of the book has been. Like an animated movie with all the cookie cutter elements left on the floor, JOE may end up being a significant element of Grant Morrison’s legacy, unexpected, given that Grant is as well known for his subversive impulses as his icon-busting/embellishing. If you want a version of the Morrison archetype that won’t deeply unsettle you or change everything you thought you knew, JOE THE BARBARIAN is the book for you. It quietly explores epic storytelling with an authentic emotional core, almost like a streamlined BONE (to keep that comic alive at Comics Reader).
BATMAN #707 (DC)
Tony Daniel concludes his sequel to “The Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul” (as I like to view it), confounding students of Sensei and letting Dick Grayson win the day without a lot of help from Peacock and I-Ching (when I’m not sure that could have been said, at least by Peacock, earlier). I still stand by Daniel’s work as a successor to the work of Morrison, Loeb, and Miller. It makes me wonder what an epic story would look like, if he truly cut loose, once he feels completely at home as a creator.
THE FLASH #9 (DC)
The kind of issue Geoff Johns only does very occasionally with Hal Jordan over in GREEN LANTERN (and I hope is more frequent here), a more character-based interlude with Barry, clearly in anticipation of FLASHPOINT (hello Hot Pursuit/Barry Allen!).
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #57 (DC)
Tony Bedard rounds out his Weaponer arc. Maybe it’s just me, but I really didn’t see it coming, when Sinestro actually convinces the Weaponer to join his corps. Nice bit of continuity, this whole arc, which has only affirmed my interest in Bedard, one of the least-heralded but probably best writers in comics today.
All this DC talk makes it seem like I’m sliding back into partisan mode. I intended to pick up some more Hickman FF (both the final issue of the previous series, and the first of the book literally called FF), but I decided to pass. I remember that I wrote about “Three” as if Hickman would be jumping ship right after, and even now, knowing what he did next with the franchise, I wonder if there’s much point. Oh, and hey, Steve Rogers is going to be Captain America again! I just expect more from Hickman, who did such unusual, subversive work with Image. But I am still interested in the new “Big Time” Spider-Man comics. I’ll be reading some of those collections, definitely.
But this whole column should still be considered an exception!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Quarter Bin #7 "Stuart Immonen"
The comics that prompted this week’s topic:
ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #540 (DC)
From November 1996.
INFERNO #1-4 (DC)
From October, November (1997) and January, February (1998).
ACTION COMICS #750 (DC)
From January 1999.
SHOCKROCKETS #1 (Image)
From April 2000.
RISING STARS #14 (Top Cow)
From May 2001.
Now, let me close the loop from those comics, and say the topic is Stuart Immonen. He only provides the cover for ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN in this instance, but provides all honors (cover, writing and art duties) on INFERNO and ACTION COMICS, and then just art in SHOCKROCKETS and RISING STARS. These specific comics are back issues I ordered from Midtown some months back (there’ll be other editions of Quarter Bin culled from such orders, just as the previous Sparx spotlight was), during a recurrent spate of nostalgia for when Stuart came to dominate, at least for me, not just Superman comics, but DC as a whole, when he provided the art for Karl Kesel’s seminal FINAL NIGHT crossover event.
Now, I know for a lot of fans, Stuart is about as relevant as a FINAL NIGHT reference is as a DC event beginning with “Final” (though coming in second to FINAL CRISIS, is, again, a peculiarity and positive connotation that’s somewhat unique to your Comics Reader). I’m not suggesting that Mr. Immonen is totally unappreciated by the fan community, but as far as I’m concerned, he really is, and criminally so. For the last few years he’s been mired in a fairly unexceptional run with Marvel (which, against, is a fairly relative statement, since I very much appreciated the fact that he got to work on ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN while such a statement was still relevant, and thought his evolving style had gotten better than how I’d last seen it), a far cry from how I like to remember him, and hope that he might still one day return to, one of the definitive styles and takes on the Man of Steel, managing to stand out in a time when there were regularly four unique takes, even when all of them were working on pretty much the same stories.
Stuart has a larger career than will be covered in this column, but I’m still getting around to the rest of it, so what I write will seem to be a little limited by some estimations, but even a little is a lot more than most fans generally enjoy. I want to circle back to FINAL NIGHT for a moment. Even though it isn’t written by Stuart, it perfectly represents the kind of vision his work embodies, a deeply human and evocative interpretation of superhero comics that seems to be entirely ignorant of the vast tradition other creators draw from and add to on a monthly basis, even in this fairly expansive era we now enjoy. Karl Kesel is another deeply unappreciated talent, from the school of Mark Waid, Geoff Johns, and James Robinson, ideological successors of Alan Moore who took an abiding appreciation of the past and merged it with a dynamic present. But while it’s apparent with other creators, with Stuart, it’s a part of the background flavor, just another element that is combined to present an original vision.
You might say that it’s obvious that he came from the Legion of Super-Heroes factory, since partisans of that corner of DC lore often seem to bend in a certain direction, and every now and again, his DC work would reflect back on his time with the original teen team sensation, as with the cover of ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, which sees Superman reflected in the face of Ferro, a new version of an established Legion character who was one of the most prominent efforts of the company’s efforts to make the team relevant by sticking a few of its members in the present (a trick the company has tried again in recent years, and this time, it might actually have stuck). INFERNO, in fact, is another such effort, and while Stuart’s vision of modern youth culture might owe more to Dan Jurgens than Justin Bieber, I was more than happy to finally read it because it is, after all, one of the few projects where he was able to have total creative control.
He was a precursor to Tony Daniel in that regard, graduating to ACTION COMICS after apprenticing for several years with Kesel on ADVENTURES, and beginning a distinguished run on his own. His ultimate statement with DC’s flagship hero, SUPERMAN: END OF THE CENTURY, would be published in February 2000, and pretty mark his end with the company. (By the way, I highly recommend, if you want to sample Stuart’s work from this era, reading it. Or read it just to read a forgotten gem.)
SHOCKROCKETS, by the way, is like a more contemporary STAR WARS, and is from the mind of Kurt Busiek. I would probably recommend reading that, too. You’ll know RISING STARS from J. Michael Straczynski’s early comics days. Stuart was a guest artist.
On the one hand, I can understand why it would have been difficult for fans to get into his art, since it was pretty much the opposite of what Image had conditioned them to expect, and since it wasn’t painted, not impressive enough for those who were wowed by Alex Ross. It was simple, but deceptively so, not too enamored of the strict realism others would glom onto as a counterbalance to the cartoonish proportions most artists favored. Stuart, better than anyone, knew the “man” inside Superman, but still made him look inspiring. In many ways, if you were to compare any modern Superman comic with the originals by Siegel and Shuster, it would be Stuart Immonen’s that feel like a real successor, a real update without the sense that you’re being hoodwinked.
How exactly a talent like that becomes an afterthought is completely beyond me. He’s changed his style to fit in with the times, to blend in, to, in essence, become Clark Kent, rather than Superman, but Stuart Immonen, with all due apologies to Clark, is no Clark Kent. He’s Superman. And he deserves the sky to soar in.
ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #540 (DC)
From November 1996.
INFERNO #1-4 (DC)
From October, November (1997) and January, February (1998).
ACTION COMICS #750 (DC)
From January 1999.
SHOCKROCKETS #1 (Image)
From April 2000.
RISING STARS #14 (Top Cow)
From May 2001.
Now, let me close the loop from those comics, and say the topic is Stuart Immonen. He only provides the cover for ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN in this instance, but provides all honors (cover, writing and art duties) on INFERNO and ACTION COMICS, and then just art in SHOCKROCKETS and RISING STARS. These specific comics are back issues I ordered from Midtown some months back (there’ll be other editions of Quarter Bin culled from such orders, just as the previous Sparx spotlight was), during a recurrent spate of nostalgia for when Stuart came to dominate, at least for me, not just Superman comics, but DC as a whole, when he provided the art for Karl Kesel’s seminal FINAL NIGHT crossover event.
Now, I know for a lot of fans, Stuart is about as relevant as a FINAL NIGHT reference is as a DC event beginning with “Final” (though coming in second to FINAL CRISIS, is, again, a peculiarity and positive connotation that’s somewhat unique to your Comics Reader). I’m not suggesting that Mr. Immonen is totally unappreciated by the fan community, but as far as I’m concerned, he really is, and criminally so. For the last few years he’s been mired in a fairly unexceptional run with Marvel (which, against, is a fairly relative statement, since I very much appreciated the fact that he got to work on ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN while such a statement was still relevant, and thought his evolving style had gotten better than how I’d last seen it), a far cry from how I like to remember him, and hope that he might still one day return to, one of the definitive styles and takes on the Man of Steel, managing to stand out in a time when there were regularly four unique takes, even when all of them were working on pretty much the same stories.
Stuart has a larger career than will be covered in this column, but I’m still getting around to the rest of it, so what I write will seem to be a little limited by some estimations, but even a little is a lot more than most fans generally enjoy. I want to circle back to FINAL NIGHT for a moment. Even though it isn’t written by Stuart, it perfectly represents the kind of vision his work embodies, a deeply human and evocative interpretation of superhero comics that seems to be entirely ignorant of the vast tradition other creators draw from and add to on a monthly basis, even in this fairly expansive era we now enjoy. Karl Kesel is another deeply unappreciated talent, from the school of Mark Waid, Geoff Johns, and James Robinson, ideological successors of Alan Moore who took an abiding appreciation of the past and merged it with a dynamic present. But while it’s apparent with other creators, with Stuart, it’s a part of the background flavor, just another element that is combined to present an original vision.
You might say that it’s obvious that he came from the Legion of Super-Heroes factory, since partisans of that corner of DC lore often seem to bend in a certain direction, and every now and again, his DC work would reflect back on his time with the original teen team sensation, as with the cover of ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, which sees Superman reflected in the face of Ferro, a new version of an established Legion character who was one of the most prominent efforts of the company’s efforts to make the team relevant by sticking a few of its members in the present (a trick the company has tried again in recent years, and this time, it might actually have stuck). INFERNO, in fact, is another such effort, and while Stuart’s vision of modern youth culture might owe more to Dan Jurgens than Justin Bieber, I was more than happy to finally read it because it is, after all, one of the few projects where he was able to have total creative control.
He was a precursor to Tony Daniel in that regard, graduating to ACTION COMICS after apprenticing for several years with Kesel on ADVENTURES, and beginning a distinguished run on his own. His ultimate statement with DC’s flagship hero, SUPERMAN: END OF THE CENTURY, would be published in February 2000, and pretty mark his end with the company. (By the way, I highly recommend, if you want to sample Stuart’s work from this era, reading it. Or read it just to read a forgotten gem.)
SHOCKROCKETS, by the way, is like a more contemporary STAR WARS, and is from the mind of Kurt Busiek. I would probably recommend reading that, too. You’ll know RISING STARS from J. Michael Straczynski’s early comics days. Stuart was a guest artist.
On the one hand, I can understand why it would have been difficult for fans to get into his art, since it was pretty much the opposite of what Image had conditioned them to expect, and since it wasn’t painted, not impressive enough for those who were wowed by Alex Ross. It was simple, but deceptively so, not too enamored of the strict realism others would glom onto as a counterbalance to the cartoonish proportions most artists favored. Stuart, better than anyone, knew the “man” inside Superman, but still made him look inspiring. In many ways, if you were to compare any modern Superman comic with the originals by Siegel and Shuster, it would be Stuart Immonen’s that feel like a real successor, a real update without the sense that you’re being hoodwinked.
How exactly a talent like that becomes an afterthought is completely beyond me. He’s changed his style to fit in with the times, to blend in, to, in essence, become Clark Kent, rather than Superman, but Stuart Immonen, with all due apologies to Clark, is no Clark Kent. He’s Superman. And he deserves the sky to soar in.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Finite Vacation
I'll be on vacation for the next two weeks, but will be back with more exciting comics thoughts!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
A Bone to Pick!
Having previously explored the new Jeff Smith material found in BONE: TALL TALES, now’s the time to have a look at QUEST FOR THE SPARK, the recently released novel from Tom Sniegoski and Scholastic.
This is a pretty huge development for the BONE franchise, the first tangible results from the Scholastic initiative to broaden its fanbase. While many have anticipated some kind of animated movie over the years, it probably never even occurred to anyone that prose fiction would eventually turn up. For one thing, BONE is a uniquely visual experience, drawing on the combined comic book and cartoon strip heritage and combining it with epic fantasy to create something that has transcended both. While Smith has over the years allowed other to play in his sandbox, there has been little doubt that BONE and Jeff Smith are synonymous. There are already a number of contradictions that seem to surround QUEST FOR THE SPARK.
There’s little doubt that Scholastic, the childrens publisher who has just finished publishing in color the complete BONE catalog, plus a few additional volumes, including TALL TALES, is the primary motivator in this development, bringing the franchise more in line with the more traditional concepts of literature. QUEST FOR THE SPARK happens to represent the first material Scholastic can claim as its own as well. With the success of Harry Potter (for which the publisher serves as the US distributor), there was a flood of similarly ambitious properties to serve the young readers market that a wizard awakened, and BONE now officially joins this trend. Sniegoski crafts his tale more out of this tradition than from what Smith established in the graphic novels. This in itself is not a bad thing, and is in fact very much a good thing, further broadening the appeal and possibilities of BONE, though it does serve new readers more than it does older ones (in any number of senses).
I came to TALL TALES and its promise of this book late, but still early enough to join in the anticipation, since this was still very much an event for me. Smith provides sporadic illustrations for QUEST, to which his new drawings in the revised STUPID, STUPID RAT TAILS now seems like a prologue, though when I say “sporadic,” I really do mean it, and sometimes, it seems as if they were done without a lot of consulting with Sniegoski’s manuscript. But more than TALL TALES, Smith has a chance to create new characters, even just in visualization, representation. There are Bones here, an older explorer and his two young companions, a nephew and niece, but they’re more like the hobbits of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, supporting a human lead, a boy thrust into unexpected adventure. There’s also a disgraced Veni Yan warrior, and a pair of Rat Creatures, used to typical comic effect.
How all of it reads leads to some interesting comparisons, and I’m glad I’ve already referenced Jackson’s Tolkien adaptations, and Harry Potter, because they have further relevance. I don’t claim to be a Tolkien scholar (because that’s the best term at this point), but I’m familiar enough with his Rings trilogy that I could make a few observations on Jackson’s versions, which have a greater divergence than most fans of either version often admit. Jackson clearly has a visual feast to present, and he cast the parts perfectly, though he alters enough material that it ultimately throws the whole balance of the protect off, from a strong and confident beginning to further developments that seem to miss the point, until he finally realizes he has to end strongly on Frodo’s triumph (though the glory really falls on Sam). He spends so much time with Aragorn, the strapping human destined to be king, and muddled in the novelty of Gollum, that he loses the magic he began with (it’s perhaps no surprise that Gandalf is the clear distinguishing mark of these transitions, beginning with Frodo and ending with Aragorn).
In contrast, the Harry Potter adaptations seemed to grow into their strengths, recognizing the important elements, and better utilizing all the things that were put in place at the beginning. That seems to be the way Sniegoski warmed into his role as caretaker of the BONE franchise. QUEST begins awkwardly, even clumsily, slipping from one cliché to another, so that the author seems to have assembled something reader will already be familiar with, and it isn’t necessarily BONE, but as the story builds, so does Sniegoski’s confidence. I realize there’s a world of difference from the way the Potter films, Jackson, and Sniegoski have worked. A succession of directors have worked closely with J.K. Rowling and in the warmth of blockbuster sales to get Harry right, while Jackson worked decades after Tolkien’s death, and only in the midst of a cult following, and shot his three films virtually simultaneously. Sniegoski himself has enjoyed working on his own projects, and a miniaturized version of the fallow period the Lord of the Rings books enjoyed, building and maintaining fan interest, but not a lot of pressure, and he ahs worked with Jeff Smith himself. There’s a mingling of experiences, from just the examples given, that has allowed QUEST FOR THE SPARK to be more of a success than it really had to be. BONE is not primarily a prose experience, but it can apparently work that way, too, with a few modifications.
There’s always going to be something changed in the translation from one medium to another, and that doesn’t necessarily mean one will be better than another, whether you’re talking the original material or the new incarnation. In most instances, bringing new voices to talk the same language but in different words only helps to strengthen the material, proves its enduring appeal. Scholastic has helped make that happen with BONE, and Sniegoski proves that he’s capable of being that new voice with QUEST FOR THE SPARK, which is itself only the beginning of a whole new epic tale. If Scholastic had commissioned someone to adapt the original stories themselves, who knows what I’d be writing right now? If that movie had ever happened (or will happen in the future), many things fans now cherish will not make it into that new version of what they already know. But what remains when you strip those things away? One would hope, something you may still enjoy.
We’re at the point where we’re beginning to find out.
This is a pretty huge development for the BONE franchise, the first tangible results from the Scholastic initiative to broaden its fanbase. While many have anticipated some kind of animated movie over the years, it probably never even occurred to anyone that prose fiction would eventually turn up. For one thing, BONE is a uniquely visual experience, drawing on the combined comic book and cartoon strip heritage and combining it with epic fantasy to create something that has transcended both. While Smith has over the years allowed other to play in his sandbox, there has been little doubt that BONE and Jeff Smith are synonymous. There are already a number of contradictions that seem to surround QUEST FOR THE SPARK.
There’s little doubt that Scholastic, the childrens publisher who has just finished publishing in color the complete BONE catalog, plus a few additional volumes, including TALL TALES, is the primary motivator in this development, bringing the franchise more in line with the more traditional concepts of literature. QUEST FOR THE SPARK happens to represent the first material Scholastic can claim as its own as well. With the success of Harry Potter (for which the publisher serves as the US distributor), there was a flood of similarly ambitious properties to serve the young readers market that a wizard awakened, and BONE now officially joins this trend. Sniegoski crafts his tale more out of this tradition than from what Smith established in the graphic novels. This in itself is not a bad thing, and is in fact very much a good thing, further broadening the appeal and possibilities of BONE, though it does serve new readers more than it does older ones (in any number of senses).
I came to TALL TALES and its promise of this book late, but still early enough to join in the anticipation, since this was still very much an event for me. Smith provides sporadic illustrations for QUEST, to which his new drawings in the revised STUPID, STUPID RAT TAILS now seems like a prologue, though when I say “sporadic,” I really do mean it, and sometimes, it seems as if they were done without a lot of consulting with Sniegoski’s manuscript. But more than TALL TALES, Smith has a chance to create new characters, even just in visualization, representation. There are Bones here, an older explorer and his two young companions, a nephew and niece, but they’re more like the hobbits of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, supporting a human lead, a boy thrust into unexpected adventure. There’s also a disgraced Veni Yan warrior, and a pair of Rat Creatures, used to typical comic effect.
How all of it reads leads to some interesting comparisons, and I’m glad I’ve already referenced Jackson’s Tolkien adaptations, and Harry Potter, because they have further relevance. I don’t claim to be a Tolkien scholar (because that’s the best term at this point), but I’m familiar enough with his Rings trilogy that I could make a few observations on Jackson’s versions, which have a greater divergence than most fans of either version often admit. Jackson clearly has a visual feast to present, and he cast the parts perfectly, though he alters enough material that it ultimately throws the whole balance of the protect off, from a strong and confident beginning to further developments that seem to miss the point, until he finally realizes he has to end strongly on Frodo’s triumph (though the glory really falls on Sam). He spends so much time with Aragorn, the strapping human destined to be king, and muddled in the novelty of Gollum, that he loses the magic he began with (it’s perhaps no surprise that Gandalf is the clear distinguishing mark of these transitions, beginning with Frodo and ending with Aragorn).
In contrast, the Harry Potter adaptations seemed to grow into their strengths, recognizing the important elements, and better utilizing all the things that were put in place at the beginning. That seems to be the way Sniegoski warmed into his role as caretaker of the BONE franchise. QUEST begins awkwardly, even clumsily, slipping from one cliché to another, so that the author seems to have assembled something reader will already be familiar with, and it isn’t necessarily BONE, but as the story builds, so does Sniegoski’s confidence. I realize there’s a world of difference from the way the Potter films, Jackson, and Sniegoski have worked. A succession of directors have worked closely with J.K. Rowling and in the warmth of blockbuster sales to get Harry right, while Jackson worked decades after Tolkien’s death, and only in the midst of a cult following, and shot his three films virtually simultaneously. Sniegoski himself has enjoyed working on his own projects, and a miniaturized version of the fallow period the Lord of the Rings books enjoyed, building and maintaining fan interest, but not a lot of pressure, and he ahs worked with Jeff Smith himself. There’s a mingling of experiences, from just the examples given, that has allowed QUEST FOR THE SPARK to be more of a success than it really had to be. BONE is not primarily a prose experience, but it can apparently work that way, too, with a few modifications.
There’s always going to be something changed in the translation from one medium to another, and that doesn’t necessarily mean one will be better than another, whether you’re talking the original material or the new incarnation. In most instances, bringing new voices to talk the same language but in different words only helps to strengthen the material, proves its enduring appeal. Scholastic has helped make that happen with BONE, and Sniegoski proves that he’s capable of being that new voice with QUEST FOR THE SPARK, which is itself only the beginning of a whole new epic tale. If Scholastic had commissioned someone to adapt the original stories themselves, who knows what I’d be writing right now? If that movie had ever happened (or will happen in the future), many things fans now cherish will not make it into that new version of what they already know. But what remains when you strip those things away? One would hope, something you may still enjoy.
We’re at the point where we’re beginning to find out.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Quarter Bin #6 "Sparx"
Let’s start this new phase of the Quarter Bin off a little differently, by listing the comics that led to the topic we’ll be looking at this week:
BLOODBATH #1-2 (DC)
From December 1993.
SHOWCASE ’94 #6 & 12 (DC)
From June and December 1994.
BLOOD PACK #1-4 (DC)
From March to June 1995.
SUPERBOY #65 (DC)
From August 1999.
SUPERMAN/BATMAN #32 (DC)
From February 2007.
Okay, so the subject, in case you were wondering, is Donna Carol Force, otherwise known as Sparx. Debuting in ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN ANNUAL #5 (which was part of Quarter Bin #2), Sparx was a part of the BLOODLINES initiative, a 1995 effort that ran throughout that year’s annuals intended to create a whole new generation of heroes (Hitman ended up being the most enduring, but because he belonged to Garth Ennis, he lived and died almost exclusively in his own series) based on an alien invasion that activated the meta genes of random victims. As you can tell, given that you yourself no doubt have a very tenuous awareness of any of this, it was a general failure, as has been pretty much every other effort from the past twenty years to create genuinely new superheroes within both DC and Marvel with enduring, mass appeal. Sparx, though, was a favorite of mine, thanks to her continuing adventures alongside Superboy, notably in SUPERBOY AND THE RAVERS, a hugely unappreciated comic I hope to fully explore later on in this blog, an issue-by-issue affair that will be legendary.
But for now, I thought it would be fun to revisit Sparx a little more singularly. In the beginning, she was just another of the BLOODLINES creations, and the first comics listed at the top of this column are the concluding mini-series for that event (for most of the Nineties, it was customary for DC to link their annuals through some kind of event or gimmick, back when annuals were something the company made an effort to produce for most of its line, if indeed at all, and not just to conclude or explain some major event from the regular series). That was 1993 Sparx.
In 1994, the company began making an effort to grant these new heroes more exposure. Gunfire, who would eventually sink into a deep obscurity, was probably the first one to receive an ongoing series commitment. Sparx and others began exploring the potential of being featured in SHOWCASE, a traditional DC title that had at that point become a series of twelve-issue annual anthology projects. While SHOWCASE #12 is a glorified cameo appearance hyping BLOOD PACK, #6 is a return to her true potential, revisiting the Force family intrigue originally apparent in AOSA #5. But it was BLOOD PACK awaiting her immediate future. A mini-series that revisited many of the BLOODLINES creations (notable exceptions included Gunfire, Hitman, Argus, and Loose-cannon, the latter two being my other favorites, whom you’ll no doubt hear more about in the future, but probably Argus first), it was also an attempt to cash in on the then-fledgling reality show craze (THE REAL WORLD was just getting started). Reading a lot like recent efforts such as FINAL CRISIS AFTERMATH: DANCE (featuring Super Young Team) or INFINITY, INC., it wouldn’t be entirely out of place with a new collection (though the audience would probably still be…just me). That was 1995 Sparx.
And aside from SUPERBOY AND THE RAVERS, that was pretty much Sparx, period. SUPERBOY #65 is another random appearance that doesn’t really amount to much. SUPERMAN/BATMAN #32 is kind of a funny story, since it’s the wrong issue, but based on another random appearance. It’s a shame, too, because Sparx is a wonderful character whose potential is so much greater than her association with Superboy. As Donna Carol (D.C.) Force, there are so many more possibilities than are typically associated with not just the creations of BLOODLINES, but most superheroes. The Force family is known for its meta genes. The only reason why Donna didn’t already have powers was because hers hadn’t activated yet. Otherwise, she’s already part of a rich tradition, even if very few creators really seemed all that interested in exploring it. Ignoring Sparx is like saying there’s nothing interesting about mutants. While that was an argument readers apparently wanted to make in the Sixties, you’d look like a fool trying to assert such a sentiment today. And that’s basically what’s happened with Sparx. I would not hesitate to term her absence in comics today to be foolish.
That’s a little of what it’s like to combine past experience with the potential of back issues and quarter bins, the ability to rescue treasure from the scrap heap. While her backlog is small (excluding …RAVERS, which again I will come back to at some point), Sparx has a potentially huge future ahead of her. She may seem like just another failed effort now, almost as completely forgotten as Gunfire, but with the right kind of effort, she can become, well, a whole new force in comics. Having a whole family of superheroes is nothing to sneeze at. Ever heard of the Fantastic Four? Or the Incredibles? Well, this is a whole bloodline that’s been living with the meta gene for years, and they don’t have the benefit of the public eye to contend with, or benefit from. I guess, then, that it’s only natural, that Sparx has faded into the background, since that’s where her family has always been. But Donna Force has already demonstrated once the ability to transcend that.
And she can do it again.
BLOODBATH #1-2 (DC)
From December 1993.
SHOWCASE ’94 #6 & 12 (DC)
From June and December 1994.
BLOOD PACK #1-4 (DC)
From March to June 1995.
SUPERBOY #65 (DC)
From August 1999.
SUPERMAN/BATMAN #32 (DC)
From February 2007.
Okay, so the subject, in case you were wondering, is Donna Carol Force, otherwise known as Sparx. Debuting in ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN ANNUAL #5 (which was part of Quarter Bin #2), Sparx was a part of the BLOODLINES initiative, a 1995 effort that ran throughout that year’s annuals intended to create a whole new generation of heroes (Hitman ended up being the most enduring, but because he belonged to Garth Ennis, he lived and died almost exclusively in his own series) based on an alien invasion that activated the meta genes of random victims. As you can tell, given that you yourself no doubt have a very tenuous awareness of any of this, it was a general failure, as has been pretty much every other effort from the past twenty years to create genuinely new superheroes within both DC and Marvel with enduring, mass appeal. Sparx, though, was a favorite of mine, thanks to her continuing adventures alongside Superboy, notably in SUPERBOY AND THE RAVERS, a hugely unappreciated comic I hope to fully explore later on in this blog, an issue-by-issue affair that will be legendary.
But for now, I thought it would be fun to revisit Sparx a little more singularly. In the beginning, she was just another of the BLOODLINES creations, and the first comics listed at the top of this column are the concluding mini-series for that event (for most of the Nineties, it was customary for DC to link their annuals through some kind of event or gimmick, back when annuals were something the company made an effort to produce for most of its line, if indeed at all, and not just to conclude or explain some major event from the regular series). That was 1993 Sparx.
In 1994, the company began making an effort to grant these new heroes more exposure. Gunfire, who would eventually sink into a deep obscurity, was probably the first one to receive an ongoing series commitment. Sparx and others began exploring the potential of being featured in SHOWCASE, a traditional DC title that had at that point become a series of twelve-issue annual anthology projects. While SHOWCASE #12 is a glorified cameo appearance hyping BLOOD PACK, #6 is a return to her true potential, revisiting the Force family intrigue originally apparent in AOSA #5. But it was BLOOD PACK awaiting her immediate future. A mini-series that revisited many of the BLOODLINES creations (notable exceptions included Gunfire, Hitman, Argus, and Loose-cannon, the latter two being my other favorites, whom you’ll no doubt hear more about in the future, but probably Argus first), it was also an attempt to cash in on the then-fledgling reality show craze (THE REAL WORLD was just getting started). Reading a lot like recent efforts such as FINAL CRISIS AFTERMATH: DANCE (featuring Super Young Team) or INFINITY, INC., it wouldn’t be entirely out of place with a new collection (though the audience would probably still be…just me). That was 1995 Sparx.
And aside from SUPERBOY AND THE RAVERS, that was pretty much Sparx, period. SUPERBOY #65 is another random appearance that doesn’t really amount to much. SUPERMAN/BATMAN #32 is kind of a funny story, since it’s the wrong issue, but based on another random appearance. It’s a shame, too, because Sparx is a wonderful character whose potential is so much greater than her association with Superboy. As Donna Carol (D.C.) Force, there are so many more possibilities than are typically associated with not just the creations of BLOODLINES, but most superheroes. The Force family is known for its meta genes. The only reason why Donna didn’t already have powers was because hers hadn’t activated yet. Otherwise, she’s already part of a rich tradition, even if very few creators really seemed all that interested in exploring it. Ignoring Sparx is like saying there’s nothing interesting about mutants. While that was an argument readers apparently wanted to make in the Sixties, you’d look like a fool trying to assert such a sentiment today. And that’s basically what’s happened with Sparx. I would not hesitate to term her absence in comics today to be foolish.
That’s a little of what it’s like to combine past experience with the potential of back issues and quarter bins, the ability to rescue treasure from the scrap heap. While her backlog is small (excluding …RAVERS, which again I will come back to at some point), Sparx has a potentially huge future ahead of her. She may seem like just another failed effort now, almost as completely forgotten as Gunfire, but with the right kind of effort, she can become, well, a whole new force in comics. Having a whole family of superheroes is nothing to sneeze at. Ever heard of the Fantastic Four? Or the Incredibles? Well, this is a whole bloodline that’s been living with the meta gene for years, and they don’t have the benefit of the public eye to contend with, or benefit from. I guess, then, that it’s only natural, that Sparx has faded into the background, since that’s where her family has always been. But Donna Force has already demonstrated once the ability to transcend that.
And she can do it again.
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