Back Issue Bin 124 "The Weather Man and other comics"

True Believers - Jessica Jones: Alias #1 (Marvel)
The True Believer comics are dollar reprints, which have been popular in recent years from a number of publishers to help catch fans up.  This particular one was intended to celebrate both Marvel Knights, twenty years this year as the last time Marvel fans really celebrated a whole creative moment (the Ultimate line coincided with it) and the Netflix shows, of which Jessica Jones is one of them.  Alias was the original title, before Jennifer Garner and J.J. Abrams made it more famous.  But when you think about it, it's appropriate for this particular character to be advertised under a proper name, a post-Starman expansion of the post-Watchmen deconstruction movement, where superheroes could walk away from the life.  Anyway, this is also one of Brian Michael Bendis's most famous creations, and the pattern he's been following in Jinxworld ever since.

Bane: Conquest#10 (DC)
TV shows get revived all the time these days; it sometimes happens in comics, too.  Dan Jurgens was doing it before it was cool, revisiting Doomsday in a series of projects.  Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan have done it with Bane a few times, too, most recently in this mini-series, whose only real questionable decision was the mask revision, where we see Bane's nose.  Yeah, no.  Anyway, otherwise this is perfectly identifiable as continuing the original Bane narrative, perhaps last seen in Vengeance of Bane II.  I never really liked the Bane revisions, which is another reason to admire Tom King's comics, as they're the first time Bane has really been Bane since the old days.

Image Firsts: Curse Words #1 (Image)
Here's another company with dollar comic reprints!  And here's me finally reading Curse Words!  And I really feel bad about it now, more than ever.  I've been a big fan of Charles Soule for years now.  Unfortunately "big fan" for me doesn't mean the same thing it used to.  If I were spending money on comics like I have before (rashly, unwisely, in terms of general finances), I'd've been reading everything Charles Soule I could get my hands on.  I'd've read the complete Letter 44, his complete Daredevil, and this.  But I haven't, and hadn't even had a proper look until now.  But it's great!  This is the story of a fantasy world a wizard escapes from, after realizing his mission to destroy Earth was a bad one and subsequently settling in as a wizard-for-hire.  The whole issue reads wonderfully.  Soule positively crackles with creative energy, and this whole concept encapsulates that really well.  So I will probably have to read more at some point.

DC Universe: Last Will and Testament (DC)
This was a one-shot from Brad Meltzer, who famously made a big bang comics debut with Identity Crisis, and then a sting in Justice League of America.  This is a wonderful spotlight for Geo-Force, a character who otherwise never really stands out.  But this is really, really a story that should've corrected that, and a terrific way of demonstrating a compelling story can be found for any character.

True Believers: Infinity Incoming! (Marvel)
A repackaging of Jonathan Hickman's first issue of Avengers, it's clear how epic Hickman wants to feel, but I'm not sure as a storyteller he ever quite hits the notes he reaches for, which is why I've never gotten into him. 

Marvels #2 (Marvel)
I've never read the complete Marvels.  In fact, this is now the most I've ever read!  It always seemed like a Marvel-exclusive tale, a celebration, and I spent a lot of time not feeling like that kind of reader.  But it was so famous, I've read some of this already.  But not all of it.  The issue is actually geared toward the X-Men and the "mutant problem."  I'm not sure anyone's ever really adequately explained why superpowers in Marvel are considered bad (mutant or otherwise), so I guess that's just a story I'll have to keep looking for.

Mera: Queen of Atlantis #1 (DC)
I love that Mera finally has her own comic!  Even if it's just a mini-series.  That's one of the biggest things Geoff Johns has accomplished over the years, elevating Mera to known status, and I think she's got farther to go.  Curiously this debut issue sort of spends most of its time...focusing on Aquaman-specific elements.  So you can see how far it can still go...

Orion #23 (DC)
The Walt Simonson series; Simonson is one of the few creators who can get away with revisiting the New Gods without anyone thinking he's revising them.  This particular issue doesn't really have anything to do with the New Gods, which is actually a lot like how Jack Kirby himself first used them. 

Thanos #2 (Marvel)
Jeff Lemire!  Another modern creator I'd love to read more extensively, and another comic I'm reading for the first time.  The only thing I don't get (otherwise it's a lot like the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, but without the humor) is why Thanos would fear death.  Maybe I'm not thinking clearly about this because I'm not exhaustively versed in it, but isn't Thanos obsessed with Death?  If he can be united with her in death, wouldn't that help him fulfill his fondest desire?   But maybe this is something Lemire explores elsewhere in his tale.

The Twelve #12 (Marvel)
I read this series as it was originally published, even enduring the long delay halfway through with patience, but it was fun to revisit.  I honestly think that what's happening with Marvel now is that it tried extremely hard to reinvent itself over the past twenty years as a more dynamic House of Ideas, but now that it's gone back to its more traditional mode, fans realize that there was something missing.  There's no reason why The Twelve shouldn't be considered an evergreen title.

The Weatherman #1-5 (Image)
Being a Star Trek fan, (I want to say of course here, but it hasn't been that simple with Star Trek fans for at least twenty years), I watched the first season of Discovery, which featured a lot of twists, one of which was that one of the characters was a Klingon all along and didn't even know it.  I don't know if Jody LeHeup and Nathan Fox were at all inspired by that, but it was impossible not to think about while reading, and remains my favorite way to think about these issues.  Because otherwise they're a lot like...most Image comics, in that they seem to exist merely to indulge shock value, with [hang narrative description here] merely an excuse to do so.  Few of them seem at all interested in anything more than a shallow understanding of their characters, and it's really no different here.  It's not that most comics have more depth, but that as a rule, Image seems to be, well, image-deep.  Back at its founding, it was famously led by artists, with writing that was never really a priority, until it was pointed out and they started bringing in better writers.   But then they seemed to forget, all in the interests of championing independent comics that still had a reasonable chance of, y'know, selling.  So they took shortcuts.  All the time.  And so the image stays the...same.

Reading Comics 224 "King is King, and Morrison's Green Lantern, and Orlando's Wonder Woman"

Batman Secret Files #1 (DC)
Back in the day the Secret Files comics were more or less updates of the old Who's Who files, and they were more or less excuses to hype upcoming events in a particular series or family of books.  They also contained short stories and other throwaway materials like diagrams and timelines, all of it fun little celebratory stuff.  But in the final analysis, you could probably skip them.  Some readers complained when they saw this updated take, which includes...nothing but storytelling.  Why even call it Secret Files?  But if I may...repurposing a title is perfectly fine, especially in an era that really doesn't have any other space for the kind of stories that appear in it.  It's like a one-shot Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, or Batman: Confidential. 

The lead is written by Tom King.  It can be interpreted as a cheap way to get Batman thinking about the past, or as another way King ruminates on the cumulative toll being of Batman.  Then a bunch of new creators have a shot at exploring Gotham, and that's pretty awesome.  Ram V and Jorge Fornes set the tone nicely with a Brubakeresque tale of a cop who was caught in the crossfire of Scarecrow's latest caper, and can't shake the effects of his fear gas.  Cheryl Lynn Eaton and Elena Casagrande offer fairly similar material, although they have a lot more space for Batman, and leave a lot more ambiguity to the aftereffects of a girl on the street being forced to defend herself with a gun.  Jordie Bellaire and Jill Thompson help Batman spend time with himself, waiting to find out what Man-Bat's up to, and for someone like Batman that's almost as bad as confronting Man-Bat right away...Finally, Tom Taylor and Brad Walker revisit Dark Night: Metal's take on Detective Chimp as Batman acknowledges his skills and they try to help a former Riddler goon.  It's a great collection of stories and showcase for these creators.  Anyone who's begun to wonder whether King's the only creator outside of Detective Comics DC's willing to entertain in Batman comics should definitely check it out. 

Batman #59 (DC)
After we learned that the Batwedding didn't happen thanks to Bane's manipulations, it was only a matter of time before Batman once again clashed with one of his most famous foes.  This issue, solicited as part of Batman's unlikely team-up with the Penguin, is really all about Bane driving a wedge between Batman and Commissioner Gordon by pretending to be a vegetative inmate of Arkham, and even allowing the ruse to reach the point where Batman himself questions his conclusions.  In the long run this will prove a highly crucial issue.  Mikel Janin's art has apparently reached an evolution, meanwhile.  He's begun taking on a more stylized approach as opposed to his cleaner look previously.

Green Lanterns #57 (DC)
The final issue of the series, Dan Jurgens completes a short run with another look at Cyborg Superman and whether or not his threat will ever be concluded, this time in the context of what he famously did during "Reign of the Supermen" to Coast City, and what effect that had on Hal Jordan.  But the series ends with Jessica Cruz deciding to once and for all leave her comfort zone, and Earth! 

The Green Lantern #1 (DC)
It's here!  Grant Morrison is now writing the adventures of Hal Jordan!  And of course, once again, he's managed to approach his subject as no one else has before!  After more than a decade of storytelling dominated by the big ideas of Geoff Johns, Morrison grounds Hal back in a more personal context.  In interviews he's described it as putting the focus on the effect Hal's life as Green Lantern has on him, which is something previous decades used to do all the time, how he went through a whole series of civilian jobs because he couldn't hold anything of them and have a power ring's responsibilities at the same time.  And also the mundane oddities of being a space cop!  Liam Sharp (I hate the composition of the cover image, which was available in poster form at the new location of Comics & Stuff, which I declined to accept on that basis, even though it would've otherwise been a great thing to celebrate on a wall) is great in the interiors, bringing a bright new vividness to Green Lantern.  All I can say is, wow!  Never expected this to happen, but am very, very pleased that it has, and that Morrison is clearly bringing all his celebrated wild imagination to it!

Heroes in Crisis #2 (DC)
A lot of fans have obsessed over the fact that Wally West died in the first issue.  I just don't know how to make sense of that.  Wally just returned.  He's been gone for years!  But...he just returned!  You really think he can't, I don't know, do that again?  Really?  But we live in outrage culture these days.  You really would think we'd never seen anything at all before.

Anyway, the idea of Booster Gold and Harley Quinn on the run, suspected of the massacre at Sanctuary, it's great, and it's a totally new story, and Booster and Harley are great choices as leads.  Booster hasn't truly been relevant since 52 (anyone with even a fleeting grasp of my favorite comics knows how much I love 52, of which you can find an annotated commentary right here at Thought Bubble Comics).  It's also crazy to think, and also funny that DC's event comics have slowed down so much, that since she became a significant corner of the DCU during the New 52 era, Harley has never been in this position before.  This is acknowledging the changing landscape.  This is helping legitimize Harley.  I get that there's a certain style of Harley storytelling that's been the standard over the years, but allowing her to be seen in different ways, in more dramatic ways, in an important step in solidifying Harley's legacy.

Mister Miracle #12 (DC)
The end of King's epic mini-series (I also picked up a Director's Cut of the first issue, a rereading of which helped me understand this final issue) makes clear that the story was always about Scott Free coming to grips with life, basically, as a war veteran.  It joins Omega Men and Sheriff of Babylon as a trilogy of King's experiences from the Iraq War, and as such an essential artifact of the modern era, in and outside of comics.  Some readers, for any number of reasons, are just not going to be able to appreciate that.  Fine.  Good for them.  Some of them are going to continue to look toward The Vision as King's definitive work, and Mister Miracle as a poor attempt to duplicate it for DC.  A lot of them only discovered King through Vision.  Having first encountered him as a solo creative voice in Omega Men, Vision for me was actually jarring, a slowed down version of what I already knew, impactful but at a scale that seemed small in comparison.  Over the years I've come to appreciate Vision more, and have of course read a lot more King, and if anything, Mister Miracle helps put it in greater context.  This is what he's been doing in the pages of Batman for three years.  Just imagine if he'd done only twelve issues! 

Nightwing #53 (DC)
What I liked about this latest installment of the amnesia saga was the cop who attempts to fill the Nightwing void.  It's become a full-blown tradition for impostor Nightwings to pop up! 

Adventures of the Super Sons #1-3 (DC)
With the dawn of Bendis Superman, Pete Tomasi was forced to vacate his space, and take his Superboy along with him, and also Robin, who he'd been bringing along since the last time he was asked to move on.  This time he leaves with a huge parting gift!  One grand adventure with Jon and Damian, and I think that's exactly the spirit of how he decided to approach this next generation World's Finest from the start.  And just like that, his Superman has officially acquired its final context, just in case anyone was still wondering.

Wonder Woman #51-52 (DC)
I've spent a lot of time at the library over the past year reading comics.  Most of them have been collected editions, but this particular branch also has a somewhat extensive collection of solo issues for Superman and Wonder Woman, which apparently began at the very end of the New 52, so that's how I ended up reading the majority of Tomasi's Superman, and how I eventually first read these two comics.  The first was the one I definitely wanted to own.  Steve Orlando's run is going to be more of a sprint, sandwiched between James Robinson and G. Willow Wilson, but as far as I'm concerned?  It's going to loom large.

#51 is great issue.  It's a one-shot in which Diana makes a series of trips across many years to visit a villain she randomly came across in someone else's story.  It's a redemption arc, as the villain struggles to find peace with what happened, and Diana's insistence on the visits.  It's a perfect encapsulation of what makes Diana different.  You can't really picture Batman doing this, and for all the Superman stories that have been created over the years, I'm fairly certain he's never done it, either.  Anyway, it was instantly one of my favorite comics of the year, and the reread confirmed that.

#52 is the start of an arc, and it features a new female Aztek, a character who debuted in the '90s, written by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar, who eventually joined Morrison's JLA.  Kind of instantly became obscure, especially for having been a Justice Leaguer in an era where it was once again composed almost exclusively of all-stars.  But Aztek was always a great concept, and Orlando instantly grasps it.  He also brings in Artemis, who was recently part of Red Hood and the Outlaws, but who also comes from the '90s, the lesser known Wonder Woman replacement from a time when all the big characters were being replaced.  It feels like a big Wonder Woman story in ways that rarely happen, and it's also kind of a comic book version of the allies she assembles in the blockbuster movie.  Orlando's Wonder Woman will definitely be a collection I will add to my collection.

The Wrong Earth #3 (Ahoy)
Ahoy Comics launched to some amount of buzz in part thanks to landing a Grant Morrison prose backup feature.  The company's whole thing seems to be another of those "we're bringing comics back to how you remember them!" deals.  But these aren't comics as I want to read this.  The Wrong Earth reads like a shallow parody.  Nuff said.

Uncanny X-Men #1 (Marvel)
I haven't particularly cared about the X-Men since the Hope saga ended.  Of course I've never been a dedicated reader.  Still haven't even read Morrison's complete New X-Men!  So to say I've been part of the legion (heh) of observers who've been wondering if the X-Men were ever going to be relevant again, it doesn't carry the same weight as fans who've spent more time with them. But I wanted to see what this latest effort was going to be like.  I like Bishop being right there on the cover.  Ever since I came across him in the '90s I've always thought this was a character with at least equal potential as Cable.  Both of them were time-traveling mutants from dystopic futures, but Cable always hogged the spotlight.  A number of creators working in converging narratives come together to explain the latest mutant crisis, another drug threatening to take their abilities away.  But this time as a vaccine, that will prevent new mutants from ever knowing they were ever even mutants.

Now, this has a ton of storytelling potential.  A lot of fans accused Marvel in recent years of trying to replace the X-Men with the Inhumans, whose major recent story was the roving Terrigan mists that randomly created new Inhumans.  But this is something very different.  This isn't people being scared that they're going to be victimized.  This is a new twist on the familiar narrative of denying mutants a future.  There's apparently going to be another Age of Apocalypse style event following the "X-Men Disassembled" arc, and Marvel fans, who complain about everything Marvel does these days (we're a long, lone way off from the old Marvel zombies days, which conveniently now exist in cinematic form), are complaining that Marvel is just piling event after event.  But I suspect there's method to this madness, and I'd like to keep tabs on it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reading Comics 222 "Nightwing, Halloween ComicFest, Walmart 3-Pack Residuals"

Been lousy keeping up Thought Bubble Comics, I know, I know...

Halloween ComicFest 2018
Here's another free comics event, one I haven't really participated in as enthusiastically as, well, Free Comic Book Day, mostly because, well FCBD is a legit phenomenon and this isn't.  It's just an excuse for some free comics!  Not that there's a problem with that sort of thing, right?  Of course, participating publishers also have a kind of themed mandate with this one where they don't on FCBD.  As such, it was far harder, and conversely far easier, to make selections.  I ended up with just two, DC/Vertigo's John Constantine: Hellblazer special edition and Marvel's Thor: Road to War of the Realms.  I wasn't really interested in anything else (not even anything particularly relevant to snag for my three-year-old niece, alas), though I hemmed and hawed, because free comics, yo. 

Obviously DC was most interested in selling the Vertigo brand itself, and Constantine is as reliable a selling point, as signature an element, as Vertigo ever had, sort of the last crayon in the box by the end, absorbed into DC proper eventually but never really feeling at home there.  I mean, the whole concept was built for the original Vertigo mandate of the creepy fringe elements.  I never really got into the character, mostly because he seemed to be used mostly as an excuse, a vehicle, more than for whatever he specifically brought to the table, or that his fans were not particularly vocal about his selling points.  I mean, the concept, which became a Keanu Reeves movie at one point, and then a short-lived TV series and then featured player in another show.  This issue was written by Neil Gaiman, who does Neil Gaiman at his most vague.  What always made Gaiman's instincts work so well in the pages of Sandman was that it was always grounded in real human pathos.  There's an attempt made in the story, but Constantine is inherently uninterested in what's most interesting in Gaiman's best material.  And I'm not really much of a horror for horror's sake kind of reader.  So anyway, still haven't figured out the guy's appeal, or waiting for a writer like Lemire, in the pages of I, Vampire, to figure out how to draw him out of his shell.  What he needs is other characters to consistently react against. 

The Thor issue was part of Jason Aaron's sprawling run, apparently somewhere near the beginning (third out of twelve volumes helpfully spelled out in the back pages).  What's most annoying about Thor as a character, to me, is that he's so often, certainly in Aaron's hands, entirely limited to Asgardian business.  It's like Aquaman only concerned with Atlantis court intrigue.  You need to remember that this is a character who will thrive best as a fish out of water, not forever thrust in alienating context.

Anyway...

Batman #57
Tom King's latest successful outrage magnet was hobbling Nightwing (more on that in a moment) in the midst of a mini-arc with the KGBeast.  I was perfectly okay with this for any number of reasons.  One is that he previously made a very early career mark with the Beast in the pages of his seminal Grayson: Futures End, which of course featured Nightwing, years before King wrote an issue of Batman.  Another is that this arc instantly further elevates the Beast's credibility by placing him, basically, at the same level as Bane, who in King's hands has finally reached his full "Knightfall" potential.  And as he has so often demonstrated, King used this moment for another excellent character study.

But let's move on to...

Nightwing # 50-51
Between Ben Percy and Scott Lobdell, this is the start of a bold new era for Dick Grayson.  Another bold new era.  This is a character who has defined bold new eras in DC. Fans like to slake their need for nerd outrage by claiming Dan DiDio has long had it ought for Nightwing, but...the results?  They kind of suggest the character has blossomed as never before under DiDio's watch.  Whether it was in the pages of the New 52 Nightwing, where he was consistently presented as relevant to Scott Snyder's Batman, which never happened in the long-running first Nightwing ongoing (which went on for a hundred and fifty issues, no less), or the bold new era of his exposed secret identity, which led to the spy adventures of Grayson, which by the way introduced readers to Tom King, the character has had it good.  For a character almost as old as DC itself, who went from a kid sidekick to growing up and claiming his own identity, who had his own team built around him, these have all been milestone events not just for Nightwing but DC and superhero comics in general.

So quit complaining already.

This time it's "merely" a story where he's temporarily forgotten all about having ever been Nightwing, Robin, any of that.  As if that's going to last.  In the meantime, there are going to be entirely new Dick Grayson stories.  That's always a good thing.  Too often, Nightwing stories are most worried about distinguishing him from Batman.  And just as often, a new creative team becomes obsessed with returning the character to his roots.  Somehow Kyle Higgins was the first one to do so as literally as taking him back to Haly's Circus. 

Which means letting him experience something that's not comparing him to Batman or harking back to some previous era (which is not to say material that's done this hasn't been very good) or setting him up in some new territory...This is, once again, a great time to be a fan of Nightwing.  That's the bottom line here, folks.  And Percy and Lobdell in these issues prove they're capable of making it interesting, and good reading. 

Walmart 3-Packs
Ah!  So I've continued reading the latest DC gifts to Wallyworld, the 100-page giants, and while I wish I'd been talking about the King and Bendis tales now unfolding in them here, it's always fun to revisit the 3-packs that still haven't sold out and were trotted out when the giants' display boxes went up.  So I started buying them again, of course, because someone has to...

Batman #1, 25, 34 - These are all from the New 52, and were fun to read.  I was never the biggest fan of Scott Snyder's much-acclaimed and -read run, but I appreciated what it was doing.  And the funny thing is, I always seem to enjoy reading it, too.  The twenty-fifth was a "Zero Year" issue, while the thirty-fourth was written by Gerry Duggan, who later took his talents to Marvel (where the state of its zombies is such that they have no idea Duggan is a great talent they ought to be appreciating).  It's a great issue.

Batman Eternal #1 - The start, all over again, of the weekly series that sort of allowed Snyder (and a host of collaborators) to play in the established sandbox a little more than he allowed himself in the main series.  I'm still surprised that there's so little appreciation for the results. 

Green Lantern Corps #34 - John Stewart is still trying to deal with the fact that he let a planet die in Cosmic Odyssey.  It's just one of those late-80s things that has a longer shelf life than necessary.  But it also gives Kyle Rayner-era villain Fatality more stories, and weaves into the complicated nature of the expanded spectrum.  Good GL mythology snapshot (for an issue with a "selfie variant cover," ironically or not).

Trinity of Sin: Pandora - Futures End
Pandora is that signature New 52 character who kind of helped lead the charge of disappointment for fans, who ultimately found her underwhelming despite a massive amount of hype.  But the funny thing is, and I'm pretty sure I've now read this issue through the acquisition of several copies enough times for it to finally sink in, that the fate of the New 52 era is spelled out, how it always seemed destined to lead to DC Rebirth.  Because as far as this issue is concerned, apparently that was always the purpose of Pandora.  Never mind how Geoff Johns later had Doctor Manhattan unceremoniously obliterate her, a kind of symbolic gesture on the whole New 52 era.  Or maybe even that was intentional.  Most fans are never going to care.  But Pandora deserves a better fate.

Reading Comics 221 "Tampa Comic Con 2018"

This past Saturday I attended my first ever comic con, packed to the gills with geeky goodness.  I picked up a few comics and a bunch of collections (but I haven't gotten around to transposing any of my Goodreads collections reviews here, even though that's been a goal for a few years now).  Here's some thoughts!

The Couch Preview
A typical sketchy-art indy book featuring a twist on superheroes: the lead is actually a psychiatrist whose career is flatlining when he suddenly finds himself with an unexpected new clientele: Wrecking Ball and the Ultra Squad. 

Invincible Iron Man #600 (Marvel)
The last-forever-for-now Brian Michael Bendis Marvel comic!  I've been trying to track down a copy for a little while now, so it was great to find one in one of the vendors' discount bins.  The story wraps up "The Search for Tony Stark," and explains what happened to him, and how he used that to also revive Jim Rhodes.  Marvel also decided to stick with the whole adoption concept another writer introduced a few years back, and Bendis gives us a look at the birth parents.  We see Riri Williams joining a team that also includes Miles Morales, destined to be one of Bendis's lasting contributions to Marvel lore, and his epic Ultimate Spider-Man run.  He skirts the whole idea of Doctor Doom running around as Iron Man recently.  He spends a lot of time with the A.I. Tony ruminating on the nature of his existence, which might as well be considered allegorical for Bendis reflecting on his big transition.  In lieu of one final signature letters/hype column and/or farewell essay, he gives readers some photographs of important behind-the-scene moments from about the last ten years of his Marvel tenure.  It was worth having a look at.

Jupiter's Legacy 2 #4, 5 (Image)
The final issues of the second (technically fourth, if you include the two Jupiter's Circle series with a different artist) volume of Mark Millar and Frank Quitely's bid for a grand superhero generational statement.  It's sometimes hard to separate the hype from the emerging legacy of a Millar comic.  All I know is Quitely feels constrained compared to stuff I've seen him do with Grant Morrison (their Multiversity: Pax Americana is my favorite collaboration between them).  I do like the emphasis on generations, though by "generational," earlier, I was talking about a generation-defining comic like Watchmen. 

Kamandi Challenge #9 (DC)
Tom King's issue in the grand concept of new creators every issue for a year, with each new team finishing whatever cliffhanger the one before it left them.  I'm not sure if King's goal here was to do that or comment on the existential nature of the concept.  Not sure it's one of his better comics, but certainly interesting, as King always is.

Millarworld New Talent Annual 2017 (Image)
Two years running I entered this contest and lost, and it's always interesting to see the script that beat me.  (Two years running I'm not impressed).  The highlights from the results this time are more plentiful than the previous one.  The Empress story (that's the one I entered this time) features great art from Luana Vecchio, with watercolor coloring that helps it additionally stand out.  Simon James' Superior script is pretty great.  Martin Renard's Super Crooks script is pretty clever.  The whole Huck package, writing from Stephanie Cooke and art from Jake Elphick, sells the concept pretty well.  I'm glad I was able to catch a copy of this finally, too.

Nibiru and the Legend of the Anunnaki #1, 2 (Fat Cat)
This is exactly the sort of thing you hope to find at a convention, especially one with name creators (I went to one in Colorado Springs, much smaller, with a bunch of local talent).  Neal Adams was there, and Fabien Nicieza ("creator of Deadpool," his table said, with the only official line of all the creators), and Scott Lobdell!  But the one I stopped at was Pat Broderick's.  The Pat Broderick who spoke to me was actually his wife.  Pat Broderick the classic Marvel/DC artist didn't really do much talking and/or interacting in general, which was fine.  The Pat Broderick who was his wife was very, very eager to talk, constantly hyping Nibiru even after I'd said I would buy it, and even after I bought it!  That's exactly the kind of help you want at something like this!  The comic itself features landscape formatting inside and...fairly atrocious editing.  The art can be a little rough, too.  Still, I appreciated having a look and supporting a guy who's been in the business a long time and sometimes not had the easiest time staying in.  Apparently he's a Tampa local and has had some professional jobs around town, too.  I figured Nibiru was his bid to get back into comics, in the thoroughly modern sense (the project was launched via Kickstarter, naturally).  The storytelling is very much in the Prince Valiant vein. Two issues in and it's basically still setup, though the action picks up with naked men fighting each other in the second issue.  The Pat Broderick who was his wife assured me the third issue was publishing soon, and I've seen art from the next few issues.  These two were published in 2016. 

Scout Comics Presents #1 (Scout Comics)
For a small publisher, there's a lot of excellent art and even decent storytelling on display in the previews included.  The least successful concept is actually Stabbity Rabbit, which had its own table at the con, separate from the one where I picked this up, which is too bad, because something called Stabbity Rabbit sounds like it really ought to be awesome. 

Back Issue Bin 123 "Copra, Green Lantern, Milk Wars, and others"

The Brave and the Bold #23 (DC)
(from July 2009)

Dan Jurgens writes a fairly standard Dan Jurgens tale featuring his signature creation Booster Gold as well as Magog, from the time Magog wasn't just a signature Kingdom Come creation but rather a part of the ongoing DC landscape thanks to Geoff Johns' Justice Society of America and even, briefly, his own ongoing comic.  I don't think Jurgens was ever going to be someone who could sell Magog properly.  He could pull off Cyborg Superman, but Magog requires more subtlety.  I'm glad Jurgens got a full-fledged career renaissance in the pages of Rebirth's Action Comics, but Jurgens circa 2009 was a long ways away from feeling relevant again.

Copra #13
(from April 2014)

A pastiche on John Ostrander's classic Suicide Squad, Michel Fiffe's Copra is something I've long wanted to have a look at, and thanks to this random issue appearing on the eclectic shelves of Comics & Stuff, I finally have.  And it was worth the wait.  This issue features Fiffe's Deadshot analog in a classic revenge saga spotlight.  It seems that after the series hit 31 issues, Fiffe moved on to other projects.  No idea if that's it or if he's just taking a break.

Countdown Arena #1 (DC)
(from February 2008)

I read the Countdown weekly comic itself back in the day, but I skipped over some of the side projects like Arena, which now seems like it foreshadowed not only Marvel's similarly-named Avengers Arena but DC's own Convergence event.  Anyway, I picked this up because of the typically sweet Scott McDaniel art.  I never get tired of it, never understand why he's since faded into comics oblivion.  Hopefully he gets to emerge at some point

Green Lantern #11-16 (DC)
(from June 2006-February 2007)

I wasn't instantly a fan of Geoff Johns' Green Lantern.  When Rebirth began I was just getting back into comics after a near half-decade lapse, and I still thought of Johns in relation to some of the Marvel work he'd done that desperately sought attention.  I ended up liking Rebirth itself well enough, but I didn't feel motivated to dive into the subsequent ongoing series.  I caught up with it about a year into its run, and liked what I saw.  This is a reunion with that material, in which Hal Jordan reunites with some of the Green Lanterns he steamrolled in "Emerald Twilight," and they still hold a grudge despite magically surviving the rampage.  Now they're all trying to survive the Manhunters and their new master, the Cyborg Superman!  At some point I'll own the complete Johns Green Lantern run in collected edition form.

Hawkman #18 (DC)
(from October 2003)

Like his later Aquaman, Johns had a brief run on Hawkman, spinning out from the pages of one of his long runs, Justice Society, and it's something I like to catch glimpses of every now and then, when I come across it.  This issue is Johns doing the Hawkman version of Gaiman's Sandman.  Shocking that this isn't done more often. 

Justice League Canada #5 (DC)
(from December 2014)

I picked this up because I thought it featured Lemire's take on the Legion of Super-Heroes, as he's recently launched another Black Hammer spinoff features a Legion analog (The Quantum Age), but it's not.  Funny that there've been so many secondary League title launches in recent years, increasingly hard to keep them all straight, and that among them was this short-lived Canadian team.

Kingsman: The Red Diamond #6 (Image)
(from February 2018)

As a frequent contributor to the MillarWorld forums, I'm not actually a frequent reader of Mark Millar.  I've read a fraction of his output over the years, but I've liked some of it ("Old Man Logan," Starlight, Empress) quite a bit.  Kingsman is his version of James Bond, and Red Diamond the first time he's let a professional writer (Rob Williams) play in his sandbox, just the kickoff to a bold new era, perhaps thanks to his Netflix deal.  Williams holds pretty close to the Millar formula, as it turns out.  If you didn't know it wasn't Millar himself writing the comic, you probably wouldn't even guess.

Manhunter #27 (DC)
(from March 2007)

I'm pretty surprised that DC hasn't tried to revive Kate Spencer's Manhunter since her original comics, perhaps because Marc Andreyko has de facto creator rights to her?  I don't know.  Either way, in this issue Spencer's role as lawyer reaches its zenith as she defends Wonder Woman circa the second most famous DC neck-snapping, the Infinite Crisis death of Maxwell Lord.  The cover evokes Lord's murder of Ted Kord.

Mother Panic/Batman #1
Doom Patrol/Justice League of America #1 (Young Animal)
(from April 2018)

Part of the "Milk Wars" Young Animal event that featured familiar DC characters (notably Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman), not to mention Frank Quitely doing a cover version of his own art.  I guess I don't really get why Young Animal hasn't caught on.  I don't know if there's a cult-level appreciation I just haven't heard about or if the disappointment over Doom Patrol's erratic publishing schedule, or that Gerard Way heavily expected readers to be familiar with and fans of Grant Morrison's '90s run, or...Just another of the peculiarities of modern times, subverting expectations every step of the way...Anyway, Mother Panic finally meets Batman!  And Robotman figures out whether he's merely a comic book character who thinks he's Robotman!  Probably!

Mister Terrific #2 (DC)
(from December 2011)

One of the things I'll always credit the New 52 with, right from the start, was giving Michael Holt his first ongoing series.  To my mind, Holt was a signature creation of the early millennium, and I always want to see the dude find the breakout success he deserves.  In a lot of ways, he's the new Martian Manhunter.  Anyway, to my shame this is the first time I've read past the first issue of the New 52 series.  Granted, at the time I didn't have a lot of money to spend so I had to make a lot of brutal choices (thankfully I had enough to discover Tomasi and Gleason's brilliant Batman & Robin).  I didn't know what to make of the first issue, so I quickly gave up on the series.  If I'd read the second issue, I would've gotten a much better idea, it seems, and a much better impression of the series...

Teen Titans #100 (DC)
(from October 2011)

Just before the New 52 era, it seems, was this milestone issue of the popular Johns relaunch of the team.  I had to remind myself that Superboy was officially back a few years earlier, and star of his brief second ongoing series (third if you count Superboy and the Ravers, which I definitely do!), ahead of a New 52 reimagining. 

X-Nation 2099 #2 (Marvel)
(from April 1996)

One of my key memories of the '90s scene was this abortive 2099 version of Generation X, coming at the end of the initial push for Marvel's look at a century in the future, since collapsed mostly into the line's Spider-Man, Miguel O'Hara.  I remember the quick creator collapse in X-Nation itself, how Humberto Ramos provided the art for the first two issues and then left, back to DC (he'd eventually wind up back at Marvel), and subsequent issues wobbled wildly out of control.  It was mostly the Ramos art, it seems in hindsight, that I loved so much about the early issues.  I tried reading this again more than twenty years later (apparently I forgot who the writer was, Tom Peyer, convincing myself it was Mark Waid, mostly because Ramos and Waid made such beautiful magic together in the pages of Impulse), and the art was all I could still bring myself to follow.  Anyway, I was amused in later years to reacquaint myself with the exact details of what happened creatively.  Ben Raab and Terry Kavanagh took over writing chores, while none other than Ed McGuinness helped round out the art in the final issue (#6).  I remember being hugely disappointed with the series after Ramos and Peyer (apparently) departed, and only enjoying the series again with #6.  The art finally looked like Marvel cared about the series again, and I can see why.  It'd probably be interesting to revisit that issue...

Reading Comics 220 "Spotlight Nation...and a sort of Batwedding"

Picked up one of Marvel's Free Spotlight comics with Dan Slott's Fantastic Four on the cover, with four pages from this month's relaunch.  There's been a lot of talk that Marvel took the FF off the board as a bargaining chip (seems to have worked) to get the movie rights back, dating back to Jonathan Hickman's Secret Wars, where Reed Richards and Doctor Doom had their most epic showdown to date.  Since then Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm have appeared in various team books.  And of course it's Johnny and Ben who appear in these preview pages.

There's also Gerry Duggan offering a look at Infinity Wars, which apparently will feature an Infinity Watch of heroes and villains protecting the various Infinity Gems.  Clearly calculated as an event to follow on the heels of Avengers: Infinity War at the movies.  Then there's Extermination, another X-Men event; a page detailing various Miracleman collections, including a Neil Gaiman volume called The Golden Age perhaps in the hope more material will eventually follow; various other one-and-two-page ads, including for Charles Soule's Return of Wolverine featuring the infamous new flaming claws; four pages of Cullen Bunn's Asgardians of the Galaxy, which is another cue from the movies, borrowing elements from Thor: Ragnarok; and finally four from Kelly Thompson's West Coast Avengers, which features both Hawkeyes and land sharks that do not try and pretend to be delivering things.

DC Nation #0 (DC)

Besides looks at Brian Michael Bendis's Superman and Scott Snyder's Justice League, this quarter-priced special released just before Free Comic Book Day this year featured a wicked Joker story from Tom King in anticipation of the Batwedding, in which the Clown Prince breaks into someone's home and he waits there, along with the poor guy, for an invitation.  It's as perfect a representation of Joker's twisted logic and sense of humor as I've ever seen.  A lot of fans swear by Alan Moore's Killing Joke, but I think that one speaks more to Moore's proclivities than it does Joker's.  King's Joker had a great spotlight in "War of Jokes and Riddles," in which he tries to figure out why nothing seems funny to him anymore, before realizing that Batman gives him bold new context, a challenge that will never get old.  Here he's just free to terrorize the poor guy, using his singular logic.

Batman #50 (DC)

The main event, though, the issue that promised the actual Batwedding, angered a lot of fans because the wedding...doesn't happen.  Instead, it proves an elaborate setup to the events of "I Am Bane," the earlier arc where Batman prevented Bane from attaining his Psycho-Pirate happy ending.  Holly Robinson, who has proven so crucial to King's Catwoman, turns out to be a stooge of Bane, and whispers in Catwoman's ear doubt about what a happy ending would do to Batman.  So the issue is instead really another caption character study of Batman and Catwoman's perspectives.  No one has done that sort of thing as well as King since Jeph Loeb's early Superman/Batman. 

Eternity #2, 4 (Valiant)

I went back and read #3, which I'd caught earlier, too, and that turned out to be a good idea, because it reads better in context, obviously, and is just a pleasure to read again in general.  Eternity is the fourth volume of Matt Kindt's brilliant Divinity suite, in which Kindt reimagines the idea of the omnipotent hero previously featured in Moore's Watchmen under the guise of Dr. Manhattan, this time as a Russian cosmonaut and his colleagues, one of whom became his wife and the other a foe, while he inspired a fanatic who has proven far more troublesome than he could've possibly imagined.  Eternity was pitched as beyond imagination, so its ending is apropos, the true consequences of Abram Adams's transformation far more wild than anything he discovers from the world that changed him forever.  Hopefully there's a fifth volume of this stuff.  The ending of this one certainly suggests that the story continues, anyway...

The Flash #50 (DC)

Josh Williamson continues his Rebirth buildup of previous lore by concluding the "Flash War" fight between Barry Allen and Wally West amicably and bringing back the classic Bart Allen in his classic Impulse costume.  Howard Porter's career renaissance continues, and that's great to see from a reader who well-remembers his JLA heyday.