writer: Scott Snyder
artist: Greg Capullo
In the conclusion to Scott Snyder's Court of Owls story, Batman battles Lincoln March, who last issue claimed to be Thomas Wayne, Jr, Bruce Wayne's secret brother. Thematically this makes leagues of sense, considering the Court was all about secret histories and ties to Gotham City that Batman theoretically could not match, making it an adversary that posed a unique threat to the Dark Knight. The problem I have with it is that this is a development that probably should have been tied in with the whole story.
Here I ought to confess that I did not read the entire Court of Owls story. This is only the second issue I've read of Snyder's New 52 series. I read a few of his Detective Comics previously, but given that my Batman allegiances belong to Grant Morrison, I had a hard time stomaching someone else being considered the architect of the franchise, especially when it became clear that Snyder was setting the Court up to be something of a long-term deal. It seemed kind of sudden, and the idea of the Court seemed a little fuzzy, a giant conspiracy that wasn't really represented by anyone except the Talons. The previous issue I sampled, #6, was a showdown between Batman and a Talon, and stylistically, there's no difference between that issue and this one, a random fight that Batman has to survive and looks at several points as if he won't, as if this whole Court just happens to spring up and serve as a challenge he can't overcome without an extreme force of will. It doesn't chart with Morrison's stories, or the buildup "Knightfall" received, or feel anything like organic. Maybe that's a price I pay for not reading the whole story, or maybe that's what the story has actually been like, I don't know.
I do know that #11 is a pretty good issue aside from these concerns, magnified as they were by the fairly senseless "Night of Owls" crossover event that further signified that the Court was essentially a random creation that could affect any of the Batman family members with equal ineffectiveness, aside from the general pathos of its existence. (There's a Talon series launching in September, in case you were wondering, and will probably make better use of Snyder's creation than anything that's been done so far; consider yourself warned, though, because this is basically an update of Azrael.)
Lincoln March himself is fascinating. I love that he chatters on about his story as he pursues and batters Batman through Greg Capullo's artwork, which takes every opportunity to ape Frank Miller, at least as far as Batman goes. Whether or not he's actually Batman's brother is somewhat irrelevant, and plays into the psychology of the Court really well. These are some points Snyder should have considered more closely when he outlined the story. Given that he writes almost all of his comics the same way (whether American Vampire or Severed), with some kind of weird connection to the past, Snyder should have considered who the star of this story was all along, and how to make it feature Batman without falling into beats that might seem gratuitous or unnecessary. He's good at world-building, but I'm not sure he knows how to maneuver around it.
Bruce has a conversation with Dick Grayson once it's over, and while there are a lot of words exchanged, it's the same kind of hollow writing, a lack of a sense of consequence (in wrestling, it's called no-selling), as if Snyder really doesn't feel responsible in the same way fans (and DC) have gravitated toward him as the new voice of the franchise. Perhaps given more time he's feel more comfortable, but at the moment it's affecting his ability to be effective. In a backup feature with art from American Vampire collaborator Raphael Albuquerque, Snyder (along with co-writer James Tynion IV) explore the Pennyworth side of things, attempting to put a little bow on everyone's lack of awareness. The art is terrific, but again it's like Snyder is writing something other than Batman, and it's not just the shock of a new approach from a reader who liked an old one, but rather an inauthenticity from a voice that doesn't seem to truly know its subject and is therefore trying to fake its way out of a mess.
I don't know, maybe it's best that I simply avoid reading Snyder's Batman. Maybe it's simply not for me. There's plenty of Batman stories I haven't read, and I'm certainly reading others. There's stuff to like and stuff to at best feel apathetic about. I wish there was more of the former and less of the latter. Maybe it's also weird because for Snyder Damian doesn't exist, and to me, it's impossible (Batman Incorporated, Batman and Robin) to picture the current Bruce Wayne without thinking of his son, and in this unbalanced equation everything is thrown off.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Unbeatable Comics From Last Week
Here's a quick roundup of the comics I read last week:
Atomic Robo Presents Real Science Adventures #4 (Red 5) is another fine entry in this anthology series, with a highlight of the continuing Bruce Lee serial, in which the late martial arts master admits recruiting Robo as a pupil because it's hard for a guy like Bruce to find a decent sparring partner.
Batman and Robin #11 (DC) sees Damian continue to work his way through past Robins by confronting Jason Todd (a rare appearance by the Red Hood outside of his own book) while the Terminus gang brands people with the bat symbol.
Before Watchmen: Minutemen #2 of 6 (DC) features the team coming together for the first time and probably sees Darwyn Cooke give more characterization to Silhouette than any previous appearance. (Perhaps more notable given that Before Watchmen collaborator J. Michael Straczynski did a version of the character in his own epic The Twelve.)
Charmed #22 (Zenescope) makes a little more sense than the last issue for readers who haven't exactly been following the series regularly, especially as concerns the return of Prue and her relationship to the Charmed Ones.
Demon Knights #11 (DC) moves the story along more than some issues, with a huge push from King Arthur and assist from the first appearance of Morgaine La Fey.
Peter Panzerfaust #5 (Image) moves the boys along to Paris, where they discover their Nazi troubles are far from over.
Saucer Country #5 (Vertigo) may be the best issue of the series so far, showcasing the cleverness of Arcadia as she kills two birds with one stone, learning more about what happened to her during a hypnotherapy session without letting on what she actually remembers to a duplicitous psychiatrist.
The Shade #10 of 12 (DC) demonstrates our antihero doing pretty much the same thing against the enemies who set Deathstroke against him in the first issue.
Atomic Robo Presents Real Science Adventures #4 (Red 5) is another fine entry in this anthology series, with a highlight of the continuing Bruce Lee serial, in which the late martial arts master admits recruiting Robo as a pupil because it's hard for a guy like Bruce to find a decent sparring partner.
Batman and Robin #11 (DC) sees Damian continue to work his way through past Robins by confronting Jason Todd (a rare appearance by the Red Hood outside of his own book) while the Terminus gang brands people with the bat symbol.
Before Watchmen: Minutemen #2 of 6 (DC) features the team coming together for the first time and probably sees Darwyn Cooke give more characterization to Silhouette than any previous appearance. (Perhaps more notable given that Before Watchmen collaborator J. Michael Straczynski did a version of the character in his own epic The Twelve.)
Charmed #22 (Zenescope) makes a little more sense than the last issue for readers who haven't exactly been following the series regularly, especially as concerns the return of Prue and her relationship to the Charmed Ones.
Demon Knights #11 (DC) moves the story along more than some issues, with a huge push from King Arthur and assist from the first appearance of Morgaine La Fey.
Peter Panzerfaust #5 (Image) moves the boys along to Paris, where they discover their Nazi troubles are far from over.
Saucer Country #5 (Vertigo) may be the best issue of the series so far, showcasing the cleverness of Arcadia as she kills two birds with one stone, learning more about what happened to her during a hypnotherapy session without letting on what she actually remembers to a duplicitous psychiatrist.
The Shade #10 of 12 (DC) demonstrates our antihero doing pretty much the same thing against the enemies who set Deathstroke against him in the first issue.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Aether Flying
Sometimes you read something you found in a bookstore and you know that you're still reading something very few others have. Dick Lupoff and Steve Stiles' The Adventures of Professor Thintwhistle & His Incredible Aether Flyer is definitely one of those experiences.
The edition I picked up was published in 2010, and I was working in a bookstore at the time. It stuck around for so long eventually I had a good look at it, because I kept mistaking it for some kind of companion book for someone's book series (it's exactly the size for that sort of thing). In fact, I lost track of how long it'd been sitting on the shelf. It almost became legendary, just some oversized, thin volume that sat there for what seemed like forever, and all that time I had no idea what it actually was.
Well, the bookstore and the whole company went out of business last year, and during the liquidation process this oddity of course lingered just like it had since the store got it, and so I had more opportunities to have a look, and to my surprise I discovered that it was basically a graphic novel. This was a little weird to discover, because the store definitely had a graphic novel section, and this was something that had haunted the sci-fi section. Maybe it was a fluke of categorization (though some notable graphic novels could be found in the biography section, so this wouldn't be the only instance where a graphic novel was not listed with the rest of the graphic novels).
And yes, as the title suggests, there's a certain goofy charm to this thing. The "aether flyer" is basically a steampunk spaceship, and Lupoff's inspiration was a parody of the books he'd been reading, sci-fi published between 1880 and 1920, basically the golden age of the genre. You can enjoy Professor Thinwhistle completely on its own as a totally ironic story that might have been made into a typically bad Ed Wood flick in another lifetime, or appreciate how it reflects the somewhat warped sensibilities of an era when science fiction really was science fiction, before the technology boom heralded by Edison and Tesla. It's like John Carter as viewed through a kaleidoscope. As the movie John Carter recently bombed, it shouldn't be a surprise that Professor Thinwhistle seems to have bombed, too.
Its road to publication is as convoluted as anything else about it. Lupoff tried to make a graphic novel of it in the 60s, but only got any interest at the suggestion he turn it into an actual novel, which he did, Into the Aether, published in 1974. Then Steve Stiles, one of the friends Lupoff originally discussed the project with in 1966, helps him create the graphic version for Heavy Metal magazine, and eventually the whole thing as originally envisioned becomes a reality in 1991.
It's the definition of a passion project, and geared toward aficionados who may not exist in the numbers some might have anticipated. But it's a fun little curiosity, and well worth my accidental devotion.
The edition I picked up was published in 2010, and I was working in a bookstore at the time. It stuck around for so long eventually I had a good look at it, because I kept mistaking it for some kind of companion book for someone's book series (it's exactly the size for that sort of thing). In fact, I lost track of how long it'd been sitting on the shelf. It almost became legendary, just some oversized, thin volume that sat there for what seemed like forever, and all that time I had no idea what it actually was.
Well, the bookstore and the whole company went out of business last year, and during the liquidation process this oddity of course lingered just like it had since the store got it, and so I had more opportunities to have a look, and to my surprise I discovered that it was basically a graphic novel. This was a little weird to discover, because the store definitely had a graphic novel section, and this was something that had haunted the sci-fi section. Maybe it was a fluke of categorization (though some notable graphic novels could be found in the biography section, so this wouldn't be the only instance where a graphic novel was not listed with the rest of the graphic novels).
And yes, as the title suggests, there's a certain goofy charm to this thing. The "aether flyer" is basically a steampunk spaceship, and Lupoff's inspiration was a parody of the books he'd been reading, sci-fi published between 1880 and 1920, basically the golden age of the genre. You can enjoy Professor Thinwhistle completely on its own as a totally ironic story that might have been made into a typically bad Ed Wood flick in another lifetime, or appreciate how it reflects the somewhat warped sensibilities of an era when science fiction really was science fiction, before the technology boom heralded by Edison and Tesla. It's like John Carter as viewed through a kaleidoscope. As the movie John Carter recently bombed, it shouldn't be a surprise that Professor Thinwhistle seems to have bombed, too.
Its road to publication is as convoluted as anything else about it. Lupoff tried to make a graphic novel of it in the 60s, but only got any interest at the suggestion he turn it into an actual novel, which he did, Into the Aether, published in 1974. Then Steve Stiles, one of the friends Lupoff originally discussed the project with in 1966, helps him create the graphic version for Heavy Metal magazine, and eventually the whole thing as originally envisioned becomes a reality in 1991.
It's the definition of a passion project, and geared toward aficionados who may not exist in the numbers some might have anticipated. But it's a fun little curiosity, and well worth my accidental devotion.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Batman: Earth One
writer: Geoff Johns
artist: Gary Frank
The idea of the the Earth One graphic novels is to present updated origins for iconic characters, so that hopefully new readers will have something they can easily understand. Two years ago J. Michael Straczynski presented Superman: Earth One, and is on the verge of releasing a second volume. Marvel has since launched Season One graphic novels that have borrowed the concept, which is funny, because its Ultimate line was the originator of the concept (though having since become an entirely separate ongoing continuity now more than a decade old), which DC tried to match with its All Star line, also featuring Superman and Batman.
I think Batman: Earth One may be a better representation of the concept. Combining certain elements of Christopher Nolan's cinematic Dark Knight (including character profiles for Alfred and Lucius Fox) with a revised version of the classic origin story, it's a more successful attempt to match the kind of thing movies and TV shows have been doing for decades, presenting a version of a known comics property without any of the baggage decades of comics have dropped on it.
Part of what will energize existing fans is that Batman: Earth One comes from Geoff Johns and Gary Frank, two superstar creators who've done this sort of thing before but have arguably reached the most important phase of their collaboration, a graphic novel that tackles the most successful comic book creation of all-time. Retelling Batman's origin is not exactly a fresh concept, but finding a way to make it relevant again, especially in the pages of a comic book, is. The last time this was done was Frank Miller's "Year One," a companion piece to his famed Dark Knight Returns, which explored a more vulnerable Bruce Wayne trying to find his way. Johns chooses a similar approach, but combines it with the approach Jeph Loeb took in The Long Halloween, with a direct challenge from a new understanding of the status quo as it existed in Gotham City before the rise of Batman.
A vision of corrupt Gotham is not exactly new, but framing it in the way Johns does is. One of the key alterations is with Bruce Wayne's mother, who has become a member of the Arkham family, known for her work with the mentally ill (her previous maiden name was Kane, as in Bob Kane, the creator of Batman). Thomas Wayne's money and legacy is also firmly rooted in his profession as a doctor (something that amusingly comes up with Bruce's later visit to Lucius Fox, which as already noted otherwise sticks to the Nolan template). The manor that for so many decades has served as one of the most famous aspects of Batman lore is abandoned, a legacy of the Arkham family everyone would sooner forget.
It is not so great a spoiler to say that Oswald Cobblepot, the Penguin, is the villain of this piece, and the long-tenured mayor of Gotham, whose personal corruption informs much of what the city has become, including the cynical detective James Gordon, who gains an unlikely partner in Harvey Bullock, a svelte Hollywood personality looking for a shot at redemption by visiting a place he's only seen in recreation on a reality show he used to host. Together, they try to figure out what the deal is with this Batman who crashes Cobblepot's party, looking for answers from a cop who was at the scene of his parents' murders, still unsolved ten years later.
Batman is still learning his craft, and Alfred is a reluctant tutor, who doesn't believe Bruce Wayne is ready to assume a reckless quest suggested to him by a visit to a mausoleum festooned with bats. Alfred, by the way, is an old army friend of Thomas Wayne's, who becomes Bruce's legal guardian, but introduces himself as butler when he doesn't have the heart to reveal the truth to a wounded boy looking for a sense of normalcy. In the brisk 144 pages of this adventure, a lot of details are glossed over, but none of the heart is missing. Much of it is a mystery worthy of a TV detective, and the Penguin will be recognizable to anyone who saw Batman Returns but wished it had been less Gothic. You will recognize this Batman, but will be thrilled to follow him along this adventure, which could easily be mistaken for the first time you've ever read him.
Trust me, you'll want more.
artist: Gary Frank
The idea of the the Earth One graphic novels is to present updated origins for iconic characters, so that hopefully new readers will have something they can easily understand. Two years ago J. Michael Straczynski presented Superman: Earth One, and is on the verge of releasing a second volume. Marvel has since launched Season One graphic novels that have borrowed the concept, which is funny, because its Ultimate line was the originator of the concept (though having since become an entirely separate ongoing continuity now more than a decade old), which DC tried to match with its All Star line, also featuring Superman and Batman.
I think Batman: Earth One may be a better representation of the concept. Combining certain elements of Christopher Nolan's cinematic Dark Knight (including character profiles for Alfred and Lucius Fox) with a revised version of the classic origin story, it's a more successful attempt to match the kind of thing movies and TV shows have been doing for decades, presenting a version of a known comics property without any of the baggage decades of comics have dropped on it.
Part of what will energize existing fans is that Batman: Earth One comes from Geoff Johns and Gary Frank, two superstar creators who've done this sort of thing before but have arguably reached the most important phase of their collaboration, a graphic novel that tackles the most successful comic book creation of all-time. Retelling Batman's origin is not exactly a fresh concept, but finding a way to make it relevant again, especially in the pages of a comic book, is. The last time this was done was Frank Miller's "Year One," a companion piece to his famed Dark Knight Returns, which explored a more vulnerable Bruce Wayne trying to find his way. Johns chooses a similar approach, but combines it with the approach Jeph Loeb took in The Long Halloween, with a direct challenge from a new understanding of the status quo as it existed in Gotham City before the rise of Batman.
A vision of corrupt Gotham is not exactly new, but framing it in the way Johns does is. One of the key alterations is with Bruce Wayne's mother, who has become a member of the Arkham family, known for her work with the mentally ill (her previous maiden name was Kane, as in Bob Kane, the creator of Batman). Thomas Wayne's money and legacy is also firmly rooted in his profession as a doctor (something that amusingly comes up with Bruce's later visit to Lucius Fox, which as already noted otherwise sticks to the Nolan template). The manor that for so many decades has served as one of the most famous aspects of Batman lore is abandoned, a legacy of the Arkham family everyone would sooner forget.
It is not so great a spoiler to say that Oswald Cobblepot, the Penguin, is the villain of this piece, and the long-tenured mayor of Gotham, whose personal corruption informs much of what the city has become, including the cynical detective James Gordon, who gains an unlikely partner in Harvey Bullock, a svelte Hollywood personality looking for a shot at redemption by visiting a place he's only seen in recreation on a reality show he used to host. Together, they try to figure out what the deal is with this Batman who crashes Cobblepot's party, looking for answers from a cop who was at the scene of his parents' murders, still unsolved ten years later.
Batman is still learning his craft, and Alfred is a reluctant tutor, who doesn't believe Bruce Wayne is ready to assume a reckless quest suggested to him by a visit to a mausoleum festooned with bats. Alfred, by the way, is an old army friend of Thomas Wayne's, who becomes Bruce's legal guardian, but introduces himself as butler when he doesn't have the heart to reveal the truth to a wounded boy looking for a sense of normalcy. In the brisk 144 pages of this adventure, a lot of details are glossed over, but none of the heart is missing. Much of it is a mystery worthy of a TV detective, and the Penguin will be recognizable to anyone who saw Batman Returns but wished it had been less Gothic. You will recognize this Batman, but will be thrilled to follow him along this adventure, which could easily be mistaken for the first time you've ever read him.
Trust me, you'll want more.
Unbeatable Comics: Justice League #10
writer: Geoff Johns
artist: Jim Lee
"The Villain's Journey" starts to heat up, with the League finally confronting Graves directly. Graves was formerly the writer who literally wrote the book on the team, but whose faith fell apart when he lost his family and these apparent gods could do nothing about it. It's a classic story of hero worship turned sour, but Geoff Johns is able to put more into than usual because it works so well with everything he's been doing on this book since the beginning, approaching the team much as Graves did, and thus allowing us to feel more of his disappointment than we otherwise would.
Much of what happens in this issue is much what happens whenever a new villain attacks a team, seemingly gaining the upper hand with what appears to be an easy victory, yet Graves is plagued throughout the episode with delusional flashbacks to those he lost and still grieves, and it's not so much to provide him with sympathy or to explain how the League will eventually rally and defeat him, but to continue the tapestry.
From the first issue, Johns has been careful to write this series straddling the line of iconic and grounded perceptions of the characters, and this has extended to the figures of Steve Trevor, the team liaison who has a troubled relationship with Wonder Woman, and now David Graves, whose transformation into a superpowered villain is depicted in the opening pages. It has a mirror in the continuing Shazam backup feature, in which Billy Batson struggles to get past his resentment and become the hero he already is while Dr. Sivana releases Black Adam in an effort to claim power he's only read about. Johns has an ability to understand the psychology of superheroes (and villains) and infuse his stories with it, and Justice League has managed to do that with multiple characters.
artist: Jim Lee
"The Villain's Journey" starts to heat up, with the League finally confronting Graves directly. Graves was formerly the writer who literally wrote the book on the team, but whose faith fell apart when he lost his family and these apparent gods could do nothing about it. It's a classic story of hero worship turned sour, but Geoff Johns is able to put more into than usual because it works so well with everything he's been doing on this book since the beginning, approaching the team much as Graves did, and thus allowing us to feel more of his disappointment than we otherwise would.
Much of what happens in this issue is much what happens whenever a new villain attacks a team, seemingly gaining the upper hand with what appears to be an easy victory, yet Graves is plagued throughout the episode with delusional flashbacks to those he lost and still grieves, and it's not so much to provide him with sympathy or to explain how the League will eventually rally and defeat him, but to continue the tapestry.
From the first issue, Johns has been careful to write this series straddling the line of iconic and grounded perceptions of the characters, and this has extended to the figures of Steve Trevor, the team liaison who has a troubled relationship with Wonder Woman, and now David Graves, whose transformation into a superpowered villain is depicted in the opening pages. It has a mirror in the continuing Shazam backup feature, in which Billy Batson struggles to get past his resentment and become the hero he already is while Dr. Sivana releases Black Adam in an effort to claim power he's only read about. Johns has an ability to understand the psychology of superheroes (and villains) and infuse his stories with it, and Justice League has managed to do that with multiple characters.
Unbeatable Comics: Earth 2 #3
writer: James Robinson
artist: Nicola Scott
The dude on the cover of this issue is Alan Scott, which is ironic, because it's the previous issue that most observers will associate with the character, in which this incarnation is revealed to be gay. That was big news for the media, but not so surprising for James Robinson as a writer, who's started making a career of revealing characters to have different sexual orientations than previously assumed.
Anyway, this issue is more significant as far as the storyline goes, since Alan emerges from the wreckage of the explosion from last issue, scarred and approached by a green flame, which rehabilitates and recruits him to be Green Lantern, which as before (since the Guardians had not yet been invented) has nothing to do with the space corps most people now associate with the name. Like Jay Garrick before him, Alan converses with his unlikely benefactor, trying to understand what exactly is going on, but unlike Jay, it's likely we'll have more chances to uncover the mystery of this new origin.
The new (old) Flash, meanwhile, has an interesting encounter with Hawkgirl, who impresses on him the importance of knowing how the fight above and beyond his spectacular new abilities. Robinson has been making a fine serial of this series, and Jay and Alan have both been beneficiaries so far. Perhaps this is necessary because both of the characters he's been putting at front and center were in a previous lifetime very much old and experienced, whereas now, with nothing to take for granted, everything needs to be built back up again from the ground up. From an objective standpoint, I can't imagine anyone really having a problem with this. I haven't been reading the New 52 Flash series, so this is the most I've had from anyone able to identify themselves as the fastest man alive, and I'm liking it.
artist: Nicola Scott
The dude on the cover of this issue is Alan Scott, which is ironic, because it's the previous issue that most observers will associate with the character, in which this incarnation is revealed to be gay. That was big news for the media, but not so surprising for James Robinson as a writer, who's started making a career of revealing characters to have different sexual orientations than previously assumed.
Anyway, this issue is more significant as far as the storyline goes, since Alan emerges from the wreckage of the explosion from last issue, scarred and approached by a green flame, which rehabilitates and recruits him to be Green Lantern, which as before (since the Guardians had not yet been invented) has nothing to do with the space corps most people now associate with the name. Like Jay Garrick before him, Alan converses with his unlikely benefactor, trying to understand what exactly is going on, but unlike Jay, it's likely we'll have more chances to uncover the mystery of this new origin.
The new (old) Flash, meanwhile, has an interesting encounter with Hawkgirl, who impresses on him the importance of knowing how the fight above and beyond his spectacular new abilities. Robinson has been making a fine serial of this series, and Jay and Alan have both been beneficiaries so far. Perhaps this is necessary because both of the characters he's been putting at front and center were in a previous lifetime very much old and experienced, whereas now, with nothing to take for granted, everything needs to be built back up again from the ground up. From an objective standpoint, I can't imagine anyone really having a problem with this. I haven't been reading the New 52 Flash series, so this is the most I've had from anyone able to identify themselves as the fastest man alive, and I'm liking it.
Unbeatable Comics: Ozymandias #1
writer: Len Wein
artist: Jae Lee
If Ozymandias has any reputation at all, it's as the member of the Watchmen who went rogue and thought he could fix the world with selective destruction.
In this introductory issue from the continuing Before Watchmen project, we're reintroduced to the man behind the mania, especially his obsession with Alexander the Great, another guy who thought he could make the world better by uniting it single-handedly. As with Alexander, we know Adrian Veidt will ultimately (theoretically, at least, since Alan Moore ends Watchmen ambiguously) fail for the same reason of failing to secure his empire with able allies, capable of supporting his vision.
Yet we now have the chance, as I said, to see the humanity of the superhuman a little better. A boy genius who felt compelled to hide his abilities, Veidt slowly learns that perhaps it's better to keep them out in the open. Yet he becomes Ozymandias for the same reasons he reaches his flawed conclusion in Watchmen, failing to acknowledge those around him, in the instance of this debut issue a lover he leaves behind too much. Writer Len Wein, a DC legend who often doesn't get the respect he deserves, understands that the story of Adrian Veidt is one long tragedy.
Illustrating this book is Jae Lee, whose last notable project was Marvel's Dark Tower comics. Here he's shorn of the painterly sheen exhibited in that effort, but is no less sensational, filled with the appropriate level of presumption that defines Ozymandias.
Like many of these Before Watchmen books, it's not the first issue that defines what the rest of the mini-series will really be like. This one's another superb setup, leading the reader to wonder what the rest of the story is going to be.
artist: Jae Lee
If Ozymandias has any reputation at all, it's as the member of the Watchmen who went rogue and thought he could fix the world with selective destruction.
In this introductory issue from the continuing Before Watchmen project, we're reintroduced to the man behind the mania, especially his obsession with Alexander the Great, another guy who thought he could make the world better by uniting it single-handedly. As with Alexander, we know Adrian Veidt will ultimately (theoretically, at least, since Alan Moore ends Watchmen ambiguously) fail for the same reason of failing to secure his empire with able allies, capable of supporting his vision.
Yet we now have the chance, as I said, to see the humanity of the superhuman a little better. A boy genius who felt compelled to hide his abilities, Veidt slowly learns that perhaps it's better to keep them out in the open. Yet he becomes Ozymandias for the same reasons he reaches his flawed conclusion in Watchmen, failing to acknowledge those around him, in the instance of this debut issue a lover he leaves behind too much. Writer Len Wein, a DC legend who often doesn't get the respect he deserves, understands that the story of Adrian Veidt is one long tragedy.
Illustrating this book is Jae Lee, whose last notable project was Marvel's Dark Tower comics. Here he's shorn of the painterly sheen exhibited in that effort, but is no less sensational, filled with the appropriate level of presumption that defines Ozymandias.
Like many of these Before Watchmen books, it's not the first issue that defines what the rest of the mini-series will really be like. This one's another superb setup, leading the reader to wonder what the rest of the story is going to be.
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