Avengers: Millennium #4 (Marvel)

writer: Mike Costa

artist: Carmine Di Giandomenico

The conclusion of Mike Costa's four issue weekly is a worthy ending to a project that at times seemed like it was spinning its wheels.

Costa's trademark is springing a well-devised trap, and that's exactly what this story promised and what it delivered.  Getting there was a little more complicated.  Working with any set of characters other than the good and bad guys of G.I. Joe over at IDW has for one reason or another proven to be something of a problem for Costa.  With Millennium he tended to swing radically from manic dialogue to the kind of character work he does best.  In an effort to be mainstream, he lost sight of his writerly instincts.

It's not a bad thing to be goofy.  At times it seems to be a mandate in comics, whether working with superheroes or otherwise (Chew is kind of what you get if you try to be goofy and clever all the time; personally I found Chew to be exhausting after a while; however, this is a formula that Atomic Robo has routinely made work extremely well).  So it's not surprising to see Costa attempt it, because the Avengers have been that kind of franchise since Brian Michael Bendis and/or Robert Downey, Jr. took control of its voice.

Fortunately that's not all Costa did with his story.  The thing is, however, that four issues ended up seeming like he needed to rush the ending, having characters explain what needed to happen rather than let it play out.  This may be a problem of trying to have too many lead protagonists.  This is always a gamble of superhero teams.  In his G.I. Joe stories, Costa normally has one lead per story and a bunch of supporting players (and all of them have motives that are clearly established; that's what makes them so great).  Likely he was given permission or didn't feel comfortable doing this with the Avengers.  But he should have.  He should also have, as I've previously pointed out, featured more than a generic Hydra agent as the bad guy.  Hydra was the basis for Cobra.  Costa knows Cobra.  He could be the guy to make Hydra as interesting as Cobra became.  If he was at all interested in doing so, this particular opportunity got away from him.

But this is still a step up from other non-Joe projects I've seen from him.  Hopefully Marvel took notice and will entrust him with bigger projects.  He uses Hawkeye pretty well in this finale; maybe Costa can write Hawkeye at some point.  Already there's Clint Barton and Kate Bishop and their complicated relationship, which is something right up Costa's Joe-honed instincts.

(Seriously, make this happen, Marvel.)

And no, it doesn't matter that the big threat Hydra set up was so easy to defeat, because this was a story about the Avengers out-thinking rather than outfighting their enemies, which should definitely happen every now and then.  Plus, dinosaurs are awesome no matter how they're used.

(I'm looking at you, Atomic Robo enemy Dr. Dinosaur!)

Digitally Speaking...48

Digitally Speaking...covers comics I've read from my comiXology account...

CBLDF Defender #1 (Creator Owned)
From April 2015.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund takes comics seriously, as in they champion creator rights, and the right for readers to have access to comic book material.  It's basically the comic book version of the inexplicable banned book phenomenon.  Banned books, as in the concept of allowing ninnies to censor what you're allowed to access.  Mostly this takes place at schools and libraries, which means the very institutions intended for society to build itself up are in fact breeding ground for people to tear each other's potential down.  This strikes me as wrong.  This debut issue of a journal detailing CBLDF's activities and relevant discussions such as Neil Gaiman's experiences (via an interview) and the Charlie Hebdo controversy (in which one culture violently attempts to tell another what is acceptable, and the other responds with cartoon drawings) is pretty dry.  Usually the Defense Fund enlists industry veterans to make actual comic book material out of the discussion first begun with Seduction of the Innocent (also covered in the issue, by the way), but for whatever reason chose not to do so here.  Insightful material, but could use more innovative analysis.  Personally, using more examples of challenged material would be more interesting.  An excerpt from Persepolis is almost completely unreadable in even the greatest enlargement, which only enhances the size of the pixels.  Alas, comiXology's Guided View is useless in this instance.

Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #1 (Marvel)
From 1993.

This issue begins Frank Miller's origin of Daredevil alongside artist John Romita, Jr.  This was years after Miller's famous work on the character, and it shows, how well he knows Matt Murdock, calling back to mind things Miller had done previously.  By the end of the issue, Matt's father has refused to throw a fight (this is depicted in the movie released a decade later) and been murdered for it, following Matt's blinding and subsequent training under Stick, although his interest in the law and even nickname "Daredevil" is presented as predating all of this.  Romita has a distinctive style that is already in full evidence, pretty much exactly as seen in his current Superman work.  Perhaps tellingly, it looks much like Tim Sale's work.  And hey! speaking of which...

Daredevil: Yellow #1 (Marvel)
From 2001.

After years of telling Batman stories together, Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale went over to Marvel and started a series of character sketches there, too.  Their Daredevil read a lot like Frank Miller's, and looked like it, too.  Probably not a coincidence.  Miller's work paved the way for Loeb, who always seemed to have an instinct for superhero psychology and an intuitive grasp of their personal narratives.  Later he'd bring this to his greatest success, Superman/Batman, which began life as a series of dueling monologues straight out of the work he'd done in Batman: The Long Halloween and Daredevil: Yellow, among others.  Yellow is another origin story, and the first issue covers the same fateful sequence concerning Matt's father as detailed above.  Yet repetition, as always, creates resonance, especially when covered by expert hands.  One master to another...

The Defense Fund could find a lot of illustrations in Matt Murdock's story.  Miller depicts the formative days of the boy who would become Daredevil as full of delinquency and fallen heroes.  Yet this only serves to create the man who would become a hero best known for never giving up.  Surely a message worth spreading?  Comic book fans, especially superhero fans of the Marvel persuasion, are always arguing that this is a medium that celebrates triumph over adversity.  Isn't that the CBLDF mission statement?

Django/Zorro #5 (Dynamite)
From 2015.

Django/Zorro, and Grant Morrison's Annihilator, became the first time I read a comic book first-run digitally.  I haven't made that clear until now.  My local comics shop is supposed to have the series (both of them, actually) pulled for me, but then, the guys who run this store are always screwing up.  So I didn't even realize I hadn't read this particular issue yet until I checked in on my comiXology account.  I don't always have time to read the material there, which is why my alphabetical journey through it has taken such a long time.  As it turns out, this is the issue of Django/Zorro I've been waiting for all along, the moment the Quentin Tarantino in the story really pops.  Not just because the late Dr. King Schultz makes a cameo, or that Don Diego de la Vega (a.k.a. Zorro) pulls off the same trick Schultz does in Django Unchained concerning revealing the identity of someone he has a bounty on, or that gunfire irrupts abruptly.  Okay, maybe a combination of all these is enough.  It's the first time Matt Wagner seems interested in more than a superficial juxtaposition.  Here he's making a clear effort to evoke not just the spirit of Tarantino's movie but its feel as well.  And this is a good thing.

(I've also added Descender to my subscriptions.  Where will I strike next???)

Ms. Marvel #14 (Marvel)

writer: G. Willow Wilson

artist: Takeshi Miyazawa

In this second of three chapters of the "Crushed" arc...I find myself asking all over again, am I over my fascination with Ms. Marvel?

This is the second time now that G. Willow Wilson has come up with an unsatisyingly generic twist to an intriguing story.  The first was with the Collector, the villain who dominated the first year of the series.

The problem is the same: Wilson is apparently bold enough to challenge the status quo but too shy to have Kamala Khan openly rebel.  Maybe I'm asking too much.

"Crushed" started out promisingly.  Kamala unexpectedly meets a Muslim boy who is her perfect match.  But it turns out to be one of those "too good to be true" developments.  Which is exactly like Wilson's tepid conclusion to the Collector dilemma involving today's youth and their overall worth in society. Just as things were becoming interesting on an intellectual level, everyone just starts throwing punches.  I realize this is superhero comics.  I've read plenty of superhero comics.  I know how this goes.  But I've also read Wilson's Air.  I know she's capable of going deep.

Maybe she's compromising for the sake of keeping it mainstream?  Or maybe she truly believes she's pulling it off.  Maybe other readers are perfectly fine with all of this.  But I expect better.

And if it continues like this, I'm done with Ms. Marvel.

G.I. Joe: Snake Eyes, Agent of Cobra #4 (IDW)

writer: Mike Costa

artist: Paolo Vinanelli

We're getting to the point where Mike Costa's really going to trick the uninitiated to love his comics, because finally Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow will clash.

And it's because of Ronin.  The funny thing is, she's been in this position before, the exact position Costa leaves her in by the end of this issue.  So I'm not worried about her.  I mean, I should be, because Costa been evil like that before.  But he wouldn't do it again.  Would he?

Even if that's how he chooses to go, Costa has once again deepened his overall Cobra experience by continuing to spotlight characters he's been writing for years across a variety of titles but all basically the same continuing story.  In this instance it's also a direct continuation of last issue, which featured Billy, the son of the late Cobra Commander, whom Ronin has been watching since some prior point in this complex tapestry.  So this issue is all about Ronin's perspective.  This is the first time Costa has allowed Ronin to be the hero of the story rather than merely a supporting player.  All with all his characters, Costa has previously explained her poignant origins, but that's not what's important here.  The more time she's spent with Billy the more important he's become to her.  This is what Costa does, folks.  He twists the knife.

Again, hopefully not literally...

Django/Zorro #6 (Dynamite)

writer: Matt Wagner

artist: Esteve Polls

I've been waiting six issues now for a true Quentin Tarantino moment.  There's one more issue to go.  Should I expect one then?  And will that be what signifies this as a satisfying experience?

These are the important questions concerning Django/Zorro.  As I've remarked previously, this is otherwise an extension of Matt Wagner's prior Zorro comics, which is not at all a bad thing.  But it's also a "sequel" to Tarantino's Django Unchained, and as such there are certain expectations.  Such as, if Tarantino's Django is to return at all, should it be in a story that has a true Tarantino ring about it?  Wagner has gone out of his way to echo Django Unchained itself, but is that enough?  Furthermore, Django has found himself in a situation where he has found another group of people being exploited as abused.  Is that enough?  Is that the true legacy of the character, being an avenger in much the way as, well, Zorro?

I leave this review filled with questions.  The answers may or may not be found in the final issue...

Convergence: Superboy #1 (DC)

writer: Fabian Nicieza

artist: Karl Moline

For me, it will always be tough to beat DC in the '90s as the best era in superhero comics, and to further categorize me I admit Superboy as one of the defining elements from that time.  Exactly the Superboy depicted in Convergence: Superboy.

I mean, the recap at the back of the issue even references Knockout.  And Sidearm!!!

And it's good to see Dubbilex, the so-called DNAlien assigned to Superboy by the scientists of Cadmus (just like in the pages of Convergence: Green Lantern/Parallax, the later Geoff Johns elements are overlooked, so you won't find any reference to Lex Luthor here).  Granted, he doesn't look as good in the issue as when he was depicted by Tom Grummett, but you can't have everything.  Although the inclusion of Serling Roquette is a nod to the later Karl Kesel/Grummett era that is otherwise not technically represented.

Superboy's costume is usually referred to as one of the most comically-dated elements of any superhero from that time, but I don't know, I always liked it, and I was sad when it went away.  The New 52 Superboy gets a nod-of-sorts in the opening pages, too, although so too does Superboy's Jack Kirby connection.

Otherwise this is a story featuring Superboy in all his brashness and need to justify himself, a version of the character that hasn't existed since the end of "Reign of the Supermen," when he learned how to be humble at the expense of a close brush with death.  So this is a particular snapshot of an era that was technically never truly given a chance to shine, the character as originally conceived but almost instantly replaced with a horndog who obsessed over Supergirl and then later Tana Moon, Knockout, and having a good time with the Ravers (*sign* I will always wish Superboy and the Ravers could receive half the love from other readers that I heap on it).

And it's written by Fabian Nicieza, whom I last enjoyed in the pages of Robin, and was sufficiently far enough in the past that until now he was yet another favorite creator had nonetheless not been featured at Comics Reader.  So it's good to finally include his work.

Convergence: Green Lantern/Parallax #1 (DC)

writer: Tony Bedard

artist: Ron Wagner

The thing about Convergence is that it could drive you crazy trying to reconcile when, exactly, these snatches of DC history would have been gobbled up by Brainiac and/or Telos.  Green Lantern/Parallax, for instance, freeze-dries history apparently in the middle of Zero Hour, and obviously no such thing actually happened in Zero Hour.  Maybe Convergence itself will explain, and maybe that doesn't really matter. There are other things to care about.

One of which is certainly to have the ability to revisit favorite eras.  Hopefully new fans can use these stories to discover older stories, too, but there's a certain nostalgia built into Convergence.

One of the things to keep in mind about Green Lantern/Parallax is that it doesn't involve the later developments from Geoff Johns.  This is the Parallax you will remember from "Emerald Twilight," Zero Hour, and other stories prior to Green Lantern: Rebirth.  There's a remorseful Hal Jordan involved, but that's because he's spent a year completely powerless just after the point where he punches Superman upon the big reveal in Zero Hour, the moment depicted in the included panel.  The Kyle Rayner present, meanwhile, is taken from just after the infamous murder of his girlfriend Alex (I won't get into the controversy here, but the one thing you will always have to grant DC is that it's never let the girl be forgotten; at this point she's about as crucial as Gwen Stacy to Kyle's narrative).

Hal is remorseful up to the point when the domes are lifted and powers are reactivated.  Then he turns right back into Parallax and is right back in full Parallax mode.  The interesting thing Tony Bedard does is depict Hal in a remorseful mode at all.  He's suggesting that the guy (not Guy) was redeemable all along, with or without changing the nature of Parallax.

There's a fair bit of manipulating the classic story involved.  At one point Kyle suggests that Batman doesn't hold Hal's actions against him.  This is not the case in other stories like Day of Judgment and Green Lantern: Rebirth, for instance.  Batman does hold a grudge.  (Uh, would he be Batman otherwise?)  Kyle even has Hal killing off the entire Green Lantern Corps, although Hal at first limits his greatest atrocity to genocide of Oa.

It's funny to me that it's possible for anyone familiar with comics at all who don't identity Hal Jordan as Green Lantern.  It's much more likely that they "know" comics from other media, the way the kids were at the time of Tim Burton's Batman who subsequently had no idea who Robin was.  No, Hal is synonymous with Green Lantern.  But he's also synonymous with Parallax.  And seeing that made clear again is one of the great pleasures of Convergence.