Continuing our themes editions of this column, let’s have a look at:
NIGHTWING: THE TARGET (DC)
From 2001.
A little-known prestige format one-shot (hell, the idea of “prestige format” is itself something of a lost art at DC these days), and a comic I only even heard about last year, the main appeal of it was the creative team of Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel. Since neither name carries the same weight in 2011 as it did ten years ago, let’s take a look back at why exactly I would care so much.
While there are in fact many reasons, the most relevant one is that Dixon and McDaniel were the original team behind the NIGHTWING series launched in 1996. Dixon was a company writer, who’d helped make his reputation on books like ROBIN and GREEN ARROW, while McDaniel was known for a run on DAREDEVIL, a comparable vigilante figure, whose style would be well-suited to conveying the animated look of a title featuring Dick Grayson, a former circus performer who had become better known as a stalwart Teen Titan and former Boy Wonder than for his ability to hold his own. Incredibly, he’d never carried his own ongoing series to that point. Dixon was needed to give the character credibility, to establish an entire world around him, one separated from Gotham, Dark Knights and Teen Titans. McDaniel was needed to present him in a fashion that set him apart.
To put it mildly, they pulled it off. There are only a few creative teams I will forever hold in great esteem. Ron Marz and Daryl Banks on GREEN LANTERN. Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos on IMPULSE (and early issues of the mishandled X-NATION). Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett on SUPERBOY. Most of these teams seemed to spontaneously form at roughly the same time, perhaps by sheer coincidence, perhaps by inspired editorial selection.
When fans think about that kind of chemistry, they naturally think of tandems like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Chris Claremont and John Byrne, Marv Wolfman and George Perez, Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, the heavy hitters, who either made history or lasted for obscene lengths of time together, sometimes both. For me, simply because I had to privilege of following them personally, I gravitate toward those who simply seemed inspired by each other, to push characters to considerable heights, even if they didn’t always seem to be appreciated. I know that DC certainly admired Kesel and Grummett together. The duo followed Superboy from ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN to a couple of memorable runs in his own title (I’ll be writing more about them later). Marz and Banks had the job of not only completely revamping Green Lantern mythos, but establishing an entirely new character. Waid and Ramos presented what I consider to be the CALVIN + HOBBES of the superhero set.
But Dixon and McDaniel were still unique. Of all the creators mentioned so far, I feel the most continued interest in a guy like McDaniel, who has maintained against all conventional wisdom exactly the same appeal he first demonstrated (at least for me) in NIGHTWING. All these guys became journeymen. It was the nature of what made them so special in the first place, being in the right place at the right time, finding their perfect matches. I have to believe that he thought DC fit his style better than Marvel, because all these years later, Scott’s still there, one of the unsung tenures of comics history. He’s still waiting, maybe, for that next perfect match. (Never mind that he found it with Tony Bedard on THE GREAT TEN, because fans didn’t seem to notice.)
With NIGHTWING, he and Dixon gave Dick Grayson a whole new lease on life. They pushed him into a strongly independent direction, and worked so well together that DC apparently found it appropriate to give them a further spotlight with THE TARGET, which is like their run in miniature, Dick fighting corruption in his adopted hometown of Blüdhaven, a seedier, more obviously corrupt version of Gotham (thus the unwieldy name, and why it was eventually, spectacularly erased from the DC map during INFINITE CRISIS). The title of the book comes from a separate identity Dick assumes during a particularly tricky case, a one-off deal that shows the nuances of Dick’s war on crime, the way it evolved during the course of NIGHTWING (Devin Grayson, when she came to the end of her controversial run, perhaps did it one better, but I don’t suppose we have to get into that now, but suffice it to say, DC had to reboot Nightwing afterward, the first time in that title’s history, over a hundred issues, which is itself a huge testament to the work Dixon and McDaniel began).
The Dick Grayson that exists today, the one who has permanently (we’ll say) assumed the mantle of Batman, is a direct result of the work begun in NIGHTWING, the strong push for character established by Dixon and McDaniel. Something like THE TARGET one-shot, a terrific find if there ever was one, is just another sign that, among all the teams that I personally have come to enjoy in my experiences with comic books over the years, Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel deserve a permanent record of their achievements, reprints of their trade paperbacks, hardcover commemorative collections. Maybe even a return engagement. Maybe McDaniel doesn’t have to look so hard for that next blockbuster collaboration. If anyone can succeed Tony Daniel on BATMAN, or any team deserves to assume control of BATMAN & ROBIN, it would be these two.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
A quick note on things to expect in the future...
My parents are in the process of attempting to move, and so I've been receiving boxes of things I left behind from when I was still living there (which hasn't been since 2004). Years ago my brother had gifted me with some random assortments of comics, and at the time I simply wasn't interested, being heavily invested in numerous ongoing series. Most of it looked like garbage, and so I never really bothered taking a closer look, and so when I brought my comics with me after moving out, those particular ones stayed behind, and I didn't think about them for years.
When I was first informed about the move, I had an opportunity to personally go through all my stuff (it is to be understood that I live in Colorado, and so rarely have to visit home, which is in Maine), and when I remembered them, I took another look at all those random comics. As I was perusing, I kept thinking, "Huh! I don't remember that! Huh! Huh!" You get the idea. I had found a few back when I originally inventoried them, some that immediately interested me, but even those I'd forgotten about. And when the boxes that were shipped here finally arrived, I looked again, and was even more amazed at everything I had glossed over, things that apparently didn't register. Maybe times had changed enough, my perspective had shifted. Or maybe I'm just more desperate now.
Anyway, I'll be writing about these comics in future editions of Quarter Bin. I've got a lot of back issues still to go through, so a lot of themed columns are still forthcoming, but the apparently popular Thousand Title Rundowns will return. Yay!
Of course, I still need to read them first...
When I was first informed about the move, I had an opportunity to personally go through all my stuff (it is to be understood that I live in Colorado, and so rarely have to visit home, which is in Maine), and when I remembered them, I took another look at all those random comics. As I was perusing, I kept thinking, "Huh! I don't remember that! Huh! Huh!" You get the idea. I had found a few back when I originally inventoried them, some that immediately interested me, but even those I'd forgotten about. And when the boxes that were shipped here finally arrived, I looked again, and was even more amazed at everything I had glossed over, things that apparently didn't register. Maybe times had changed enough, my perspective had shifted. Or maybe I'm just more desperate now.
Anyway, I'll be writing about these comics in future editions of Quarter Bin. I've got a lot of back issues still to go through, so a lot of themed columns are still forthcoming, but the apparently popular Thousand Title Rundowns will return. Yay!
Of course, I still need to read them first...
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
I'm Having My Own Flashpoint, Here!
Okay, so for the record, I am no longer technically reading comics, nor all that interested in regularly reading them.
Now, would somebody please remind me?
Oh, and damn Free Comic Book Day. The annual event that, well, hands out free comic books, was this past Saturday (and hopefully you knew that already), and as I have, well, annually, I paid homage to the event, visiting Escape Velocity in downtown Colorado Springs during a very small window before work that day. I got there early. I hoped the store might be open at 10, so yeah, I got there early, and after wasting a good chunk of time elsewhere (the main branch of the local library does in fact carry a good selection of my favorite authors, as it turns out!), still came back in time to be first in line (yay me!) and so I could say that I was the first patron to enjoy the day (oh the ironies of a “former” comic book nerd claiming such an honor!). Because I lingered at the entrance near the counter, however (collecting FEAR ITSELF #2), I was not the first to the free comics table, however (though big props to Mike and/or whoever else decided we could take three comics this year, rather than two, even though I was able to take as many as I wanted when I enjoyed FCBD at Newbury Comics in Burlington, MA years earlier).
This sentence has no parenthical phrase. I grabbed the usual suspects, a DC, Marvel, and Atomic Robo. I’ll talk more about my selections a bit later, but suffice it to say, that was pretty much the extent of my visit that day. I had made a small list of titles to make sure I wouldn’t forget from the regular racks, FEAR ITSELF being one of them, so I could finally take a look at Stuart Immonen’s work on the book, plus any new issues of BATMAN, INC. and, wildest of dreams, maybe a copy of ACTION COMICS #900 (y’know, the one where he “controversially” renounces US citizenship, but hopefully I will get to talk about this one later, when I actually have a copy). I made the list to limit myself, to make sure I hit the essentials, and yes, because I had very little time. I got out in about four minutes, which was considerably less time than my last visit (comics are just one of those things you can spend a good amount of time shopping). I felt pretty proud, only six comics in all, and three of them were free.
The problem is, I keep fretting that I’ve reacquired “the bug.” That I’ve fallen off the wagon. I’ve already made a commitment to go back when that second printing of ACTION #900 arrives. And I know I’ll have more time. And I really, really want to read the Flashpoint comics.
I’m not just talking about the event book itself. Actually, I’m less interested in FLASHPOINT itself than, say, FLASHPOINT: ABIN SUR - THE GREEN LANTERN. Or FLASHPOINT: CITIZEN COLD. Or FLASHPOINT: DEADMAN AND THE FLYING GRAYSONS. Or FLASHPOINT: CANTERBURY CRICKET (I’m damn curious). You get the point. I was one of the fans who went gaga over Tangent Comics. And, to a lesser extent, Amalgam Comics. I’ve never gotten around to reading a lot of them, especially some of the really famous ones like SUPERMAN: RED SON, but Elseworlds. The thing is, as much as I like a good bit of continuity, I like “alternuity” a lot more. I like when familiar facts are played around with, especially when, like Flashpoint is promising, familiar facts are played around with cleverly, in ways that have unexpected resonance with the facts as we know them.
Did I mention that I really, really want to read Flashpoint? Desperately. I suspect that these comics were be collected, in much the same way that every single scrap of BLACKEST NIGHT was eventually collected into massive hardcovers. Financially, I care. But as a fan, I really, really don’t care. I want to read this stuff. Badly. It’s one of those, I’m-convinced-they’ll-become-some-of-my-favorite-comics things. I really am.
So I’m in a bad place right now. I also want to read those Green Lantern movie tie-ins. Most of the time, any comic that is created to cash in on a movie, unless they’re a straight adaptation, are a waste of time and money. These seem different. Not just because Green Lantern, as Geoff Johns and the filmmakers have realized, has a ton of storytelling potential. The characters, though familiar, have so much more to say than even five years of Johns-inspired expansion have been able to tell. And there’s so much passion. These, too, will undoubtedly be collected. But c’mon. A fan is a fan is a fan. And a fan wants to read RIGHT NOW. Sorry. Usually save the caps for comics titles. But you get what I mean. That’s what reading comics tends to do. It makes people crazy.
So, damn you Free Comic Book Day. And here are the comics that were a part of this breakdown:
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2011 - THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (Marvel)
Dan Slott, so far as I can tell, has been doing, well, an amazing job with Spidey in “Big Time,” pushing all the work that was done during “Brand New Day” to the next level, and whereas that era was accomplished with multiple writers, Slott’s been going it alone, so I cannot give him enough props for that kind of accomplishment. This one’s basically a big advertisement for things that’ve been happening, and a tease for more things that will happen, but it’s a Spider-Man comic. A certain amount of the straight entertainment factor is to be expected. Also, really great to see Humberto Ramos, still riding high all these years after I enjoyed his work in IMPULSE. He’s the rare artist who doesn’t receive all the buzz and hype but who nonetheless maintains the steady awesome output and high profile assignments, year after year. I’m now dreaming of Ramos supplying the art for a Stuart Immonen-scripted adventure…
ATOMIC ROBO/FOSTER BROUSSARD/MOON GIRL (Red 5)
How many years has Robo been commanding Red 5’s Free Comic Book Day contributions now? It doesn’t matter. Not only is Robo the company’s biggest hit, he’s also still waiting to, well, actually hit, become a smash sensation, that is, explode, break out into the mainstream, the way Hellboy has, in other words, over at Dark Horse. And there’s no reason why Atomic Robo shouldn’t be huge. The work of Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener has been consistently awesome from the beginning, and as creators they’ve finally been noticed by their peers, winning work from the likes of Marvel, but like Fred Van Lente without Herc and/or Cho and/or Ryan Dunlavey, they just aren’t the same without Robo. Sure, this particular FCBD effort includes previews for some other books, but it’s all about Robo! Robo! Robo!
BATMAN, INC. #5 (DC)
Now, I don’t know if there were other issues I should have had the opportunity to read (but let’s be honest, reading five issues of this comic when I’ve “stopped reading comics” is already pretty awesome); I’m just glad that I finished another Grant Morrison arc. And unlike previous issues, this one’s clearly, as it proves the arc has all along without anyone realizing it, on par with the massive storytelling structure Grant brought to THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE, the Black Glove saga, and other epics. We learn just how big the threat of Doctor Dedalus really is, as we meet even more heroes, including the Hood (who looks a lot like the current Azrael), how insanely complicated his mechanics are (and no one outplots Grant Morrison, except maybe Geoff Johns), and that there really are challenges for Bruce Wayne, even now. Who else writes Batman so that he can meet seemingly every challenge, but still be challenged, and so that it comes off convincingly? It’s the kind of comic book that mocks every single bad connotation outsiders have toward the industry, and that’s the way Grant’s been writing since his career began, why he still seems hungry, when all his contemporaries have either retired or all but retired. He has nothing left to prove. And yet he just keeps proving himself, challenging himself, and challenging comic books themselves. How does he do it? The man’s a true creative dynamo.
FEAR ITSELF #1 & 2 (Marvel)
Matt Fraction is one of Marvel’s so-called Architects, one of the writers it has identified as being not only integral to the company now, but for its future, yet FEAR ITSELF counts as his first event book. Among the books for which he is known is IRON MAN, where he’s helped to bridge the gap between the comics and movie versions of Tony Stark. This event seems like Fraction’s version of that same effort for Thor, so that fans who are intrigued by the new movie might have something to look at afterward. Those who may not be familiar with SIEGE might still be interested to read about Odin’s return to Asgard, or the plans of comparatively ordinary mortals in helping Thor to reclaim his place on Earth. The rest of the story involves the legacy of the Red Skull, and therefore Steve Rogers, and therefore the new Captain American movie. I figure FEAR ITSELF will more or less be the reason Rogers claims his familiar mantle. It both surprises me and doesn’t that James “Bucky” Barnes has still be been embraced as his successor. Batman, Inc. this is not. Stuart Immonen, of course, is on art for this book, and most of it, as has been the norm for his work with Marvel, by design, is not all that familiar to what I knew from his days at DC. There are tiny glimpses, not terribly flattering actually, of what I used to enjoy, but otherwise, it’s not all that distinctive. It’s competent, and Stuart’s obviously dependable, unlike a great many of those who came after him, and became popular and famous, but he’s capable of so much better. So I probably won’t be reading more of this book. I wasn’t all that intrigued or interested. I don’t really care about anything that I’ve read in the first two issues. And Mr. Immonen continues to disappoint me. But I guess he doesn’t need me to be a fan. He’s entrenched at Marvel, something of a stalwart on staff, and is doing indy work that fulfills him otherwise. I just wish I could believe that he was making a difference, at least in the way I believe he did at DC. Maybe it’s just me.
FCBD 2011 GREEN LANTERN/FLASHPOINT (DC)
For those who haven’t already picked up a copy of the SECRET ORIGIN trade (either before or after the movie cover edition with a few extras that readers of the regular GREEN LANTERN comic will find familiar, beyond the Ryan Reynolds intro), most of this book is another plug for that arc, Geoff Johns’ version of EMERALD DAWN, with liberal allusions to BLACKEST NIGHT tossed in, which is said to have done much to inspire the filmmakers who will soon fulfill many dreams (at the very least, mine). It wisely skips over the first chapter, which revolves more around Hal Jordan’s background, and instead gives us the revision of the familiar origin, with Abin Sur crashing his ship and bequeathing his ring to Hal. There’s also the preview for FLASHPOINT, as much a reminder of who Barry Allen is as a tease for the strange new world he will soon encounter. It’s exactly the kind of thing Free Comic Book Day should be doing, giving fans what they think they want, and so much more. The Spidey comic also includes a tease for FEAR ITSELF, but I wonder if new readers will care as much about that as they will for the free Green Lantern intro, or old readers as much will the FLASHPOINT intro. As a fan, I relished reading me some Dan Slott, and he’s a perfect writer for readers to read a typical Spider-Man comic, and this is a perfect era for vintage Spider-Man. But it’s perhaps better to give the old and new readers something a little more interesting than that.
But the beauty of Free Comic Book Day is that you can have both, and for nothing at all. I often wonder what the new readers really think, based on these samples. I’ve never been one for as long as I’ve enjoyed this holiday (even if I have to work on it). Maybe, if a year from now and I’ve actually been able to maintain this almost-complete-break, I might better experience what that novice is feeling right now.
Or maybe I already know.
Now, would somebody please remind me?
Oh, and damn Free Comic Book Day. The annual event that, well, hands out free comic books, was this past Saturday (and hopefully you knew that already), and as I have, well, annually, I paid homage to the event, visiting Escape Velocity in downtown Colorado Springs during a very small window before work that day. I got there early. I hoped the store might be open at 10, so yeah, I got there early, and after wasting a good chunk of time elsewhere (the main branch of the local library does in fact carry a good selection of my favorite authors, as it turns out!), still came back in time to be first in line (yay me!) and so I could say that I was the first patron to enjoy the day (oh the ironies of a “former” comic book nerd claiming such an honor!). Because I lingered at the entrance near the counter, however (collecting FEAR ITSELF #2), I was not the first to the free comics table, however (though big props to Mike and/or whoever else decided we could take three comics this year, rather than two, even though I was able to take as many as I wanted when I enjoyed FCBD at Newbury Comics in Burlington, MA years earlier).
This sentence has no parenthical phrase. I grabbed the usual suspects, a DC, Marvel, and Atomic Robo. I’ll talk more about my selections a bit later, but suffice it to say, that was pretty much the extent of my visit that day. I had made a small list of titles to make sure I wouldn’t forget from the regular racks, FEAR ITSELF being one of them, so I could finally take a look at Stuart Immonen’s work on the book, plus any new issues of BATMAN, INC. and, wildest of dreams, maybe a copy of ACTION COMICS #900 (y’know, the one where he “controversially” renounces US citizenship, but hopefully I will get to talk about this one later, when I actually have a copy). I made the list to limit myself, to make sure I hit the essentials, and yes, because I had very little time. I got out in about four minutes, which was considerably less time than my last visit (comics are just one of those things you can spend a good amount of time shopping). I felt pretty proud, only six comics in all, and three of them were free.
The problem is, I keep fretting that I’ve reacquired “the bug.” That I’ve fallen off the wagon. I’ve already made a commitment to go back when that second printing of ACTION #900 arrives. And I know I’ll have more time. And I really, really want to read the Flashpoint comics.
I’m not just talking about the event book itself. Actually, I’m less interested in FLASHPOINT itself than, say, FLASHPOINT: ABIN SUR - THE GREEN LANTERN. Or FLASHPOINT: CITIZEN COLD. Or FLASHPOINT: DEADMAN AND THE FLYING GRAYSONS. Or FLASHPOINT: CANTERBURY CRICKET (I’m damn curious). You get the point. I was one of the fans who went gaga over Tangent Comics. And, to a lesser extent, Amalgam Comics. I’ve never gotten around to reading a lot of them, especially some of the really famous ones like SUPERMAN: RED SON, but Elseworlds. The thing is, as much as I like a good bit of continuity, I like “alternuity” a lot more. I like when familiar facts are played around with, especially when, like Flashpoint is promising, familiar facts are played around with cleverly, in ways that have unexpected resonance with the facts as we know them.
Did I mention that I really, really want to read Flashpoint? Desperately. I suspect that these comics were be collected, in much the same way that every single scrap of BLACKEST NIGHT was eventually collected into massive hardcovers. Financially, I care. But as a fan, I really, really don’t care. I want to read this stuff. Badly. It’s one of those, I’m-convinced-they’ll-become-some-of-my-favorite-comics things. I really am.
So I’m in a bad place right now. I also want to read those Green Lantern movie tie-ins. Most of the time, any comic that is created to cash in on a movie, unless they’re a straight adaptation, are a waste of time and money. These seem different. Not just because Green Lantern, as Geoff Johns and the filmmakers have realized, has a ton of storytelling potential. The characters, though familiar, have so much more to say than even five years of Johns-inspired expansion have been able to tell. And there’s so much passion. These, too, will undoubtedly be collected. But c’mon. A fan is a fan is a fan. And a fan wants to read RIGHT NOW. Sorry. Usually save the caps for comics titles. But you get what I mean. That’s what reading comics tends to do. It makes people crazy.
So, damn you Free Comic Book Day. And here are the comics that were a part of this breakdown:
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2011 - THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (Marvel)
Dan Slott, so far as I can tell, has been doing, well, an amazing job with Spidey in “Big Time,” pushing all the work that was done during “Brand New Day” to the next level, and whereas that era was accomplished with multiple writers, Slott’s been going it alone, so I cannot give him enough props for that kind of accomplishment. This one’s basically a big advertisement for things that’ve been happening, and a tease for more things that will happen, but it’s a Spider-Man comic. A certain amount of the straight entertainment factor is to be expected. Also, really great to see Humberto Ramos, still riding high all these years after I enjoyed his work in IMPULSE. He’s the rare artist who doesn’t receive all the buzz and hype but who nonetheless maintains the steady awesome output and high profile assignments, year after year. I’m now dreaming of Ramos supplying the art for a Stuart Immonen-scripted adventure…
ATOMIC ROBO/FOSTER BROUSSARD/MOON GIRL (Red 5)
How many years has Robo been commanding Red 5’s Free Comic Book Day contributions now? It doesn’t matter. Not only is Robo the company’s biggest hit, he’s also still waiting to, well, actually hit, become a smash sensation, that is, explode, break out into the mainstream, the way Hellboy has, in other words, over at Dark Horse. And there’s no reason why Atomic Robo shouldn’t be huge. The work of Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener has been consistently awesome from the beginning, and as creators they’ve finally been noticed by their peers, winning work from the likes of Marvel, but like Fred Van Lente without Herc and/or Cho and/or Ryan Dunlavey, they just aren’t the same without Robo. Sure, this particular FCBD effort includes previews for some other books, but it’s all about Robo! Robo! Robo!
BATMAN, INC. #5 (DC)
Now, I don’t know if there were other issues I should have had the opportunity to read (but let’s be honest, reading five issues of this comic when I’ve “stopped reading comics” is already pretty awesome); I’m just glad that I finished another Grant Morrison arc. And unlike previous issues, this one’s clearly, as it proves the arc has all along without anyone realizing it, on par with the massive storytelling structure Grant brought to THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE, the Black Glove saga, and other epics. We learn just how big the threat of Doctor Dedalus really is, as we meet even more heroes, including the Hood (who looks a lot like the current Azrael), how insanely complicated his mechanics are (and no one outplots Grant Morrison, except maybe Geoff Johns), and that there really are challenges for Bruce Wayne, even now. Who else writes Batman so that he can meet seemingly every challenge, but still be challenged, and so that it comes off convincingly? It’s the kind of comic book that mocks every single bad connotation outsiders have toward the industry, and that’s the way Grant’s been writing since his career began, why he still seems hungry, when all his contemporaries have either retired or all but retired. He has nothing left to prove. And yet he just keeps proving himself, challenging himself, and challenging comic books themselves. How does he do it? The man’s a true creative dynamo.
FEAR ITSELF #1 & 2 (Marvel)
Matt Fraction is one of Marvel’s so-called Architects, one of the writers it has identified as being not only integral to the company now, but for its future, yet FEAR ITSELF counts as his first event book. Among the books for which he is known is IRON MAN, where he’s helped to bridge the gap between the comics and movie versions of Tony Stark. This event seems like Fraction’s version of that same effort for Thor, so that fans who are intrigued by the new movie might have something to look at afterward. Those who may not be familiar with SIEGE might still be interested to read about Odin’s return to Asgard, or the plans of comparatively ordinary mortals in helping Thor to reclaim his place on Earth. The rest of the story involves the legacy of the Red Skull, and therefore Steve Rogers, and therefore the new Captain American movie. I figure FEAR ITSELF will more or less be the reason Rogers claims his familiar mantle. It both surprises me and doesn’t that James “Bucky” Barnes has still be been embraced as his successor. Batman, Inc. this is not. Stuart Immonen, of course, is on art for this book, and most of it, as has been the norm for his work with Marvel, by design, is not all that familiar to what I knew from his days at DC. There are tiny glimpses, not terribly flattering actually, of what I used to enjoy, but otherwise, it’s not all that distinctive. It’s competent, and Stuart’s obviously dependable, unlike a great many of those who came after him, and became popular and famous, but he’s capable of so much better. So I probably won’t be reading more of this book. I wasn’t all that intrigued or interested. I don’t really care about anything that I’ve read in the first two issues. And Mr. Immonen continues to disappoint me. But I guess he doesn’t need me to be a fan. He’s entrenched at Marvel, something of a stalwart on staff, and is doing indy work that fulfills him otherwise. I just wish I could believe that he was making a difference, at least in the way I believe he did at DC. Maybe it’s just me.
FCBD 2011 GREEN LANTERN/FLASHPOINT (DC)
For those who haven’t already picked up a copy of the SECRET ORIGIN trade (either before or after the movie cover edition with a few extras that readers of the regular GREEN LANTERN comic will find familiar, beyond the Ryan Reynolds intro), most of this book is another plug for that arc, Geoff Johns’ version of EMERALD DAWN, with liberal allusions to BLACKEST NIGHT tossed in, which is said to have done much to inspire the filmmakers who will soon fulfill many dreams (at the very least, mine). It wisely skips over the first chapter, which revolves more around Hal Jordan’s background, and instead gives us the revision of the familiar origin, with Abin Sur crashing his ship and bequeathing his ring to Hal. There’s also the preview for FLASHPOINT, as much a reminder of who Barry Allen is as a tease for the strange new world he will soon encounter. It’s exactly the kind of thing Free Comic Book Day should be doing, giving fans what they think they want, and so much more. The Spidey comic also includes a tease for FEAR ITSELF, but I wonder if new readers will care as much about that as they will for the free Green Lantern intro, or old readers as much will the FLASHPOINT intro. As a fan, I relished reading me some Dan Slott, and he’s a perfect writer for readers to read a typical Spider-Man comic, and this is a perfect era for vintage Spider-Man. But it’s perhaps better to give the old and new readers something a little more interesting than that.
But the beauty of Free Comic Book Day is that you can have both, and for nothing at all. I often wonder what the new readers really think, based on these samples. I’ve never been one for as long as I’ve enjoyed this holiday (even if I have to work on it). Maybe, if a year from now and I’ve actually been able to maintain this almost-complete-break, I might better experience what that novice is feeling right now.
Or maybe I already know.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Quarter Bin #8 "Argus"
There’s not going to be much mystery concerning this week’s subject once I say the comics that inspired it, so let’s get that out of the way:
ARGUS #1-6 (DC)
From April through October 1995.
Okay, so you may actually still be scratching your heads, but suffice it to say, but if you guessed “Argus,” then you were correct. Like Sparx (the subject of Quarter Bin #6 a few weeks back), Argus was a product of the 1993 Bloodlines annuals, whose origins have to do with an alien invasion, what began as a series attacks that were supposed to kill, but instead transformed a select group of ordinary joes into members of what was supposed to be a new generation of superheroes.
Argus debuted in THE FLASH ANNUAL #6, and was created by speed guru Mark Waid, and designed by Phil Hester, who also supplies the art for much of the ARGUS mini-series. What helps set this particular Bloodlines character apart from some of the others is the fact that Waid actually used Argus in the FLASH ongoing from time to time, whereas most of the others were quickly abandoned by the host series they sprang from. At the time, Waid was still getting warmed up in his run (these wordplays never get old!), having only recently worked on the seminal “Return of Barry Allen” (which, contrary to its title, did not actually feature the return of Barry Allen, but featured all sorts of breakthrough Speed Force work, including the debut of Max Mercury, one of my favorite characters of all-time). He was busy carving out a whole working mythology, and an extended cast of characters, and while Argus was not, in fact, a speedster, he still worked within the context of what Waid envisioned, which including a broadening of the role a character like the Pied Piper, who began as a Rogue and would eventually (apparently) die as one, could inhabit.
On the surface, Argus appears to be something of a riff on Daredevil, a superhero with vision issues, and a horribly complicated life, and maybe that’s exactly why he never caught on. Now, obviously, I’m arguing that this sells the character short. The mini-series that’s at the heart of this column is a testament to this fact, proves that a good, distinctive story can come out of him. Or that, at the very least, Argus is one of the few Bloodlines creations that remains completely salvageable, along with Sparx, Loose Cannon, and Anima, all of whom have gotten some measure of almost-satisfactory exploration, and comparatively better fates than their contemporaries, excluding Hitman, but not Gunfire (though maybe even he’s redeemable).
ARGUS is written by the team of Mark Wheatley and Allan Gross, and concerns not only an involving exploration of the character as originally envisioned by Waid, but also a considerable evolution of him, taking Argus on a personal odyssey that includes a complicated relationship with his father, his status as a federal agent working deep undercover in a mob, and the loss of his eyes, which has the outcome of bringing out new facets of his powers. Clearly this is not just a book that uses an existing character, but is at every step deeply invested in that character. On that level alone ARGUS is worth reading, since few comic book stories are interested in doing that sort of thing, whether they attempt to mask a thinner version with only the suggestion of such storytelling, or not bothering to write any real characters at all.
Needless to say, however, Argus has been largely absent from comics in recent years, and was quickly forgotten by DC in general not long after this mini-series, and even by Mark Waid himself, who admittedly had a lot of things to work with, and so even when he was working on THE FLASH during that decade, he could only turn to Argus so many times. And, unfortunately, when Waid wasn’t writing him, it was incredibly unlikely, even then, that anyone else would include the character in their stories. As I’ve suggested, Argus appears on the surface to be extremely derivative. When he didn’t catch on like DC might have hoped, even with his own fairly lengthy mini-series, it was only natural for the publisher to forget about him. Argus isn’t flashy enough on his own that his participation in any kind of team book would make much of a difference. DC tried using exactly this kind of character in SHADOWPACT, and that didn’t exactly work out (and it didn’t the first time around, PRIMAL FORCE, either). Without any kind of commitment or substitute home, any hope that Argus might stick around very quickly diminished, and he slipped into superhero limbo.
The whole Bloodlines project was something of a gamble anyway. Trying to introduce even one new superhero is always difficult, but trying to introduce a whole group of new superheroes is even more difficult, especially when they’re supposed to stand on their own, but in fact have a common origin, one that stems from a single event, and be the result of a scenario that itself isn’t very popular, as evidenced by the singular lack of impact these particular aliens have had on subsequent DC lore. And given that DC somewhat liberally employs aliens in its storytelling (its flagship hero is the most famous alien in history), that’s really saying something.
Still, I like to contend that Argus is not a totally worthless concept for modern readers. A man trapped between worlds, and saddled with abilities he can’t always make sense of, that’s the sort of thing that timeless comics are made of. Give another shot, Argus can be timeless, too. As Mark Waid himself has already demonstrated, the character can function entirely independent of his origins, and as ARGUS further demonstrated, the character can also function within the context of his particular elements, and not a word of those origins, again, are particularly relevant. Some characters are bound by their origins, others aren’t. Argus doesn’t need to be. Maybe he doesn’t really matter to a Flash story now, and he doesn’t have to do that, either. You don’t need to know Wolverine was ever a member of the X-Men to enjoy one of his stories, after all. Maybe Argus could join a team, maybe he doesn’t even need to. Maybe there’s another big story within his own framework just waiting to happen, that will explode his possibilities.
Or, hey, maybe he’s just another great discovery for those reading the comics they can find in the back issue bins, where all superheroes have the privilege to exist. Who really wants to call that limbo?
ARGUS #1-6 (DC)
From April through October 1995.
Okay, so you may actually still be scratching your heads, but suffice it to say, but if you guessed “Argus,” then you were correct. Like Sparx (the subject of Quarter Bin #6 a few weeks back), Argus was a product of the 1993 Bloodlines annuals, whose origins have to do with an alien invasion, what began as a series attacks that were supposed to kill, but instead transformed a select group of ordinary joes into members of what was supposed to be a new generation of superheroes.
Argus debuted in THE FLASH ANNUAL #6, and was created by speed guru Mark Waid, and designed by Phil Hester, who also supplies the art for much of the ARGUS mini-series. What helps set this particular Bloodlines character apart from some of the others is the fact that Waid actually used Argus in the FLASH ongoing from time to time, whereas most of the others were quickly abandoned by the host series they sprang from. At the time, Waid was still getting warmed up in his run (these wordplays never get old!), having only recently worked on the seminal “Return of Barry Allen” (which, contrary to its title, did not actually feature the return of Barry Allen, but featured all sorts of breakthrough Speed Force work, including the debut of Max Mercury, one of my favorite characters of all-time). He was busy carving out a whole working mythology, and an extended cast of characters, and while Argus was not, in fact, a speedster, he still worked within the context of what Waid envisioned, which including a broadening of the role a character like the Pied Piper, who began as a Rogue and would eventually (apparently) die as one, could inhabit.
On the surface, Argus appears to be something of a riff on Daredevil, a superhero with vision issues, and a horribly complicated life, and maybe that’s exactly why he never caught on. Now, obviously, I’m arguing that this sells the character short. The mini-series that’s at the heart of this column is a testament to this fact, proves that a good, distinctive story can come out of him. Or that, at the very least, Argus is one of the few Bloodlines creations that remains completely salvageable, along with Sparx, Loose Cannon, and Anima, all of whom have gotten some measure of almost-satisfactory exploration, and comparatively better fates than their contemporaries, excluding Hitman, but not Gunfire (though maybe even he’s redeemable).
ARGUS is written by the team of Mark Wheatley and Allan Gross, and concerns not only an involving exploration of the character as originally envisioned by Waid, but also a considerable evolution of him, taking Argus on a personal odyssey that includes a complicated relationship with his father, his status as a federal agent working deep undercover in a mob, and the loss of his eyes, which has the outcome of bringing out new facets of his powers. Clearly this is not just a book that uses an existing character, but is at every step deeply invested in that character. On that level alone ARGUS is worth reading, since few comic book stories are interested in doing that sort of thing, whether they attempt to mask a thinner version with only the suggestion of such storytelling, or not bothering to write any real characters at all.
Needless to say, however, Argus has been largely absent from comics in recent years, and was quickly forgotten by DC in general not long after this mini-series, and even by Mark Waid himself, who admittedly had a lot of things to work with, and so even when he was working on THE FLASH during that decade, he could only turn to Argus so many times. And, unfortunately, when Waid wasn’t writing him, it was incredibly unlikely, even then, that anyone else would include the character in their stories. As I’ve suggested, Argus appears on the surface to be extremely derivative. When he didn’t catch on like DC might have hoped, even with his own fairly lengthy mini-series, it was only natural for the publisher to forget about him. Argus isn’t flashy enough on his own that his participation in any kind of team book would make much of a difference. DC tried using exactly this kind of character in SHADOWPACT, and that didn’t exactly work out (and it didn’t the first time around, PRIMAL FORCE, either). Without any kind of commitment or substitute home, any hope that Argus might stick around very quickly diminished, and he slipped into superhero limbo.
The whole Bloodlines project was something of a gamble anyway. Trying to introduce even one new superhero is always difficult, but trying to introduce a whole group of new superheroes is even more difficult, especially when they’re supposed to stand on their own, but in fact have a common origin, one that stems from a single event, and be the result of a scenario that itself isn’t very popular, as evidenced by the singular lack of impact these particular aliens have had on subsequent DC lore. And given that DC somewhat liberally employs aliens in its storytelling (its flagship hero is the most famous alien in history), that’s really saying something.
Still, I like to contend that Argus is not a totally worthless concept for modern readers. A man trapped between worlds, and saddled with abilities he can’t always make sense of, that’s the sort of thing that timeless comics are made of. Give another shot, Argus can be timeless, too. As Mark Waid himself has already demonstrated, the character can function entirely independent of his origins, and as ARGUS further demonstrated, the character can also function within the context of his particular elements, and not a word of those origins, again, are particularly relevant. Some characters are bound by their origins, others aren’t. Argus doesn’t need to be. Maybe he doesn’t really matter to a Flash story now, and he doesn’t have to do that, either. You don’t need to know Wolverine was ever a member of the X-Men to enjoy one of his stories, after all. Maybe Argus could join a team, maybe he doesn’t even need to. Maybe there’s another big story within his own framework just waiting to happen, that will explode his possibilities.
Or, hey, maybe he’s just another great discovery for those reading the comics they can find in the back issue bins, where all superheroes have the privilege to exist. Who really wants to call that limbo?
Thursday, April 28, 2011
To Trade or Not to Trade...?
Okay, so that’s a fairly silly question. Let’s put an end to that debate. Many fans have, through the years, wondered if it’s, shall we say, nobler to read their comics via single issues, the regular release scheduled typified by your average Wednesday shelf jockey, or trade and/or hardcover collections, when you can read entire story arcs at your convenience. You can do both. That’s my conclusion.
But sometimes, and not when you’re hypnotized into making that trip or that order, reading beat by beat, drove by drove of comics, you wonder if you’re not somehow missing out, when you read the collection over the issue, that it’s somehow less special, less privileged. I have that kind of thought at the moment over Grant Morrison and his BATMAN, INC. run. As you know, I have quit my regular reading habits, to alleviate monetary strains, so I no longer read comics with the regularity I once did (or twice, depending how good your memory is). But once an addict, always the impulse to relapse. Fortunately, in this case we’re only talking about comics, so I think I can once and again indulge in the occasional comics purchase, and that’s the topic this week, jumbled as it is with other thoughts, including, yes, whether or not it’s just as well to wait for the collection. For instance, I will likely read Stuart Immonen’s latest major offering, FEAR ITSELF, as a collection. I didn’t mention it last week because it didn’t really fit in with the tone of the rest of what I had to say (that and I had temporarily forgotten about it), but it’s still pretty awesome that Marvel thinks he’s important enough to give him some truly significant work.
I’m content with the knowledge that there will be collections of all that FLASHPOINT material that has me salivating (I’m more interested in the side projects than the event itself, which is somewhat unusual, but those projects actually seem to be something of the point this time), and probably the Green Lantern one-shots that will accompany the movie, which I will otherwise not have a reasonable chance to reading without breaking my new code. I will, if all goes to plan, however, make a trip to Escape Velocity for Free Comic Book day next week. That’s an allowable exception. As are random trips and purchases such as will be covered in this column.
One of the painful results of that code, of the decision that broke the habit three months ago, was to give up BATMAN, INC., which had only just begun. Morrison was demonstrating a fresh perspective, a more carefree one than he’d exhibited in almost anything else I’ve read from him, except maybe JOE THE BARBARIAN (but more on that a tad later). Grant Morrison collections, are one of the few guarantees to be considered instant in-stock material, however, at the bookstore where I work, so that has been one of my sources for solace, whenever I wish I were still in the thick of it. Strangely, though, I’ve made the transition fairly painlessly. For someone who spent 2005-2010 made weekly trips to a comic book store or receiving orders in the mail, you’d think there’d be more separation anxiety, but there really hasn’t been. That isn’t to say that I received, like some smug jerk, that I was finally “grown up,” “matured” and realized I didn’t need comics anymore, but that not reading comics every week did not exactly turn out to be the end of the world. For one thing, I’ve been writing at Comics Reader during this time, so I’ve had at least one excuse to continue thinking about them, and while that doesn’t seem like much (especially if you consider just how many comics I used to read), I have a reason and that seems like enough. I’ve also been creating a database of all the comics I own, and sometimes, keeping up with the memories is enough, too. (It’s not like I don’t have any comics to read.)
I also have the fact that I will be writing future columns for Comics Reader based around collections, including a series on Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN, which I will be reading for the first time, and so you will have hopefully fresh thoughts on one of the medium’s touchstones, and so will I, to look forward to. There are others, and of course, new collections from new comics.
Speaking of Grant Morrison, JOE THE BARBARIAN comes up again later in this column when I talk about the comics that interrupted the exile, but I can’t help but wonder again, as I have when reading other issues of this book, if this might not be one of the better arguments that some comics really are made almost directly for collection. I suspect it reads better as a whole, and almost wish I had actually waited for collection. But now that I own all the individual issues, do I really need that collection? That’s the kind of thorny issue that still remains in this debate.
But giving up comics entirely? Well, that’s just crazy talk. Some of the following comics come from Escape Velocity in downtown Colorado Springs, and a few others from the aforementioned bookstore, when it seemed as if it was never longer going to be receiving new comics, so I thought I was going to be commemorating, not just enjoying, a fond memory. Anyhoo:
BATMAN, INC. #3-4 (DC)
Morrison takes Bruce Wayne to Argentina in his continuing quest to find recruits for the Batman family, and finds more and more intrigue, as only Morrison can, with a broader spectrum of possibility than most creators consider in a whole career (I’m not here referring to Stan Lee, who never saw a gimmick he didn’t want to appropriate for himself). That’s what’s typified Grant’s whole run with the Dark Knight, either focusing on the iconic, or seeing what can be done, with that same stance, with the least likely tangential characters. Morrison is the only writer who truly seems to be enjoying himself, on a continual basis, discovering at every turn that comics aren’t a challenge, but an opportunity. These two issues, glad as I was to find them both, are not the complete story. Hence, all that brooding over collections earlier.
COMIC BOOK COMICS #5 (Evil Twin)
Very pleased that this one was available, since the book itself was one of my proudest placeholders in my Midtown pull list, which, I think, didn’t publish a single issue the whole year-and-half I had that account. No matter! This issue, the penultimate in a study of comics history from Fred Van Lente, explores the various thorny monetary matters that can arise from the medium, some of which I was familiar with, others I wasn’t, but all amusing detailed, as Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey have been doing since ACTION PHILOSOPHERS (but more on that later).
JOE THE BARBARIAN #8 (Vertigo)
The much-delayed conclusion from Morrison and Sean Murphy is exactly what you might have expected, and with a few surprises, and is just as appropriately magical as the rest of the book has been. Like an animated movie with all the cookie cutter elements left on the floor, JOE may end up being a significant element of Grant Morrison’s legacy, unexpected, given that Grant is as well known for his subversive impulses as his icon-busting/embellishing. If you want a version of the Morrison archetype that won’t deeply unsettle you or change everything you thought you knew, JOE THE BARBARIAN is the book for you. It quietly explores epic storytelling with an authentic emotional core, almost like a streamlined BONE (to keep that comic alive at Comics Reader).
BATMAN #707 (DC)
Tony Daniel concludes his sequel to “The Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul” (as I like to view it), confounding students of Sensei and letting Dick Grayson win the day without a lot of help from Peacock and I-Ching (when I’m not sure that could have been said, at least by Peacock, earlier). I still stand by Daniel’s work as a successor to the work of Morrison, Loeb, and Miller. It makes me wonder what an epic story would look like, if he truly cut loose, once he feels completely at home as a creator.
THE FLASH #9 (DC)
The kind of issue Geoff Johns only does very occasionally with Hal Jordan over in GREEN LANTERN (and I hope is more frequent here), a more character-based interlude with Barry, clearly in anticipation of FLASHPOINT (hello Hot Pursuit/Barry Allen!).
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #57 (DC)
Tony Bedard rounds out his Weaponer arc. Maybe it’s just me, but I really didn’t see it coming, when Sinestro actually convinces the Weaponer to join his corps. Nice bit of continuity, this whole arc, which has only affirmed my interest in Bedard, one of the least-heralded but probably best writers in comics today.
All this DC talk makes it seem like I’m sliding back into partisan mode. I intended to pick up some more Hickman FF (both the final issue of the previous series, and the first of the book literally called FF), but I decided to pass. I remember that I wrote about “Three” as if Hickman would be jumping ship right after, and even now, knowing what he did next with the franchise, I wonder if there’s much point. Oh, and hey, Steve Rogers is going to be Captain America again! I just expect more from Hickman, who did such unusual, subversive work with Image. But I am still interested in the new “Big Time” Spider-Man comics. I’ll be reading some of those collections, definitely.
But this whole column should still be considered an exception!
But sometimes, and not when you’re hypnotized into making that trip or that order, reading beat by beat, drove by drove of comics, you wonder if you’re not somehow missing out, when you read the collection over the issue, that it’s somehow less special, less privileged. I have that kind of thought at the moment over Grant Morrison and his BATMAN, INC. run. As you know, I have quit my regular reading habits, to alleviate monetary strains, so I no longer read comics with the regularity I once did (or twice, depending how good your memory is). But once an addict, always the impulse to relapse. Fortunately, in this case we’re only talking about comics, so I think I can once and again indulge in the occasional comics purchase, and that’s the topic this week, jumbled as it is with other thoughts, including, yes, whether or not it’s just as well to wait for the collection. For instance, I will likely read Stuart Immonen’s latest major offering, FEAR ITSELF, as a collection. I didn’t mention it last week because it didn’t really fit in with the tone of the rest of what I had to say (that and I had temporarily forgotten about it), but it’s still pretty awesome that Marvel thinks he’s important enough to give him some truly significant work.
I’m content with the knowledge that there will be collections of all that FLASHPOINT material that has me salivating (I’m more interested in the side projects than the event itself, which is somewhat unusual, but those projects actually seem to be something of the point this time), and probably the Green Lantern one-shots that will accompany the movie, which I will otherwise not have a reasonable chance to reading without breaking my new code. I will, if all goes to plan, however, make a trip to Escape Velocity for Free Comic Book day next week. That’s an allowable exception. As are random trips and purchases such as will be covered in this column.
One of the painful results of that code, of the decision that broke the habit three months ago, was to give up BATMAN, INC., which had only just begun. Morrison was demonstrating a fresh perspective, a more carefree one than he’d exhibited in almost anything else I’ve read from him, except maybe JOE THE BARBARIAN (but more on that a tad later). Grant Morrison collections, are one of the few guarantees to be considered instant in-stock material, however, at the bookstore where I work, so that has been one of my sources for solace, whenever I wish I were still in the thick of it. Strangely, though, I’ve made the transition fairly painlessly. For someone who spent 2005-2010 made weekly trips to a comic book store or receiving orders in the mail, you’d think there’d be more separation anxiety, but there really hasn’t been. That isn’t to say that I received, like some smug jerk, that I was finally “grown up,” “matured” and realized I didn’t need comics anymore, but that not reading comics every week did not exactly turn out to be the end of the world. For one thing, I’ve been writing at Comics Reader during this time, so I’ve had at least one excuse to continue thinking about them, and while that doesn’t seem like much (especially if you consider just how many comics I used to read), I have a reason and that seems like enough. I’ve also been creating a database of all the comics I own, and sometimes, keeping up with the memories is enough, too. (It’s not like I don’t have any comics to read.)
I also have the fact that I will be writing future columns for Comics Reader based around collections, including a series on Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN, which I will be reading for the first time, and so you will have hopefully fresh thoughts on one of the medium’s touchstones, and so will I, to look forward to. There are others, and of course, new collections from new comics.
Speaking of Grant Morrison, JOE THE BARBARIAN comes up again later in this column when I talk about the comics that interrupted the exile, but I can’t help but wonder again, as I have when reading other issues of this book, if this might not be one of the better arguments that some comics really are made almost directly for collection. I suspect it reads better as a whole, and almost wish I had actually waited for collection. But now that I own all the individual issues, do I really need that collection? That’s the kind of thorny issue that still remains in this debate.
But giving up comics entirely? Well, that’s just crazy talk. Some of the following comics come from Escape Velocity in downtown Colorado Springs, and a few others from the aforementioned bookstore, when it seemed as if it was never longer going to be receiving new comics, so I thought I was going to be commemorating, not just enjoying, a fond memory. Anyhoo:
BATMAN, INC. #3-4 (DC)
Morrison takes Bruce Wayne to Argentina in his continuing quest to find recruits for the Batman family, and finds more and more intrigue, as only Morrison can, with a broader spectrum of possibility than most creators consider in a whole career (I’m not here referring to Stan Lee, who never saw a gimmick he didn’t want to appropriate for himself). That’s what’s typified Grant’s whole run with the Dark Knight, either focusing on the iconic, or seeing what can be done, with that same stance, with the least likely tangential characters. Morrison is the only writer who truly seems to be enjoying himself, on a continual basis, discovering at every turn that comics aren’t a challenge, but an opportunity. These two issues, glad as I was to find them both, are not the complete story. Hence, all that brooding over collections earlier.
COMIC BOOK COMICS #5 (Evil Twin)
Very pleased that this one was available, since the book itself was one of my proudest placeholders in my Midtown pull list, which, I think, didn’t publish a single issue the whole year-and-half I had that account. No matter! This issue, the penultimate in a study of comics history from Fred Van Lente, explores the various thorny monetary matters that can arise from the medium, some of which I was familiar with, others I wasn’t, but all amusing detailed, as Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey have been doing since ACTION PHILOSOPHERS (but more on that later).
JOE THE BARBARIAN #8 (Vertigo)
The much-delayed conclusion from Morrison and Sean Murphy is exactly what you might have expected, and with a few surprises, and is just as appropriately magical as the rest of the book has been. Like an animated movie with all the cookie cutter elements left on the floor, JOE may end up being a significant element of Grant Morrison’s legacy, unexpected, given that Grant is as well known for his subversive impulses as his icon-busting/embellishing. If you want a version of the Morrison archetype that won’t deeply unsettle you or change everything you thought you knew, JOE THE BARBARIAN is the book for you. It quietly explores epic storytelling with an authentic emotional core, almost like a streamlined BONE (to keep that comic alive at Comics Reader).
BATMAN #707 (DC)
Tony Daniel concludes his sequel to “The Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul” (as I like to view it), confounding students of Sensei and letting Dick Grayson win the day without a lot of help from Peacock and I-Ching (when I’m not sure that could have been said, at least by Peacock, earlier). I still stand by Daniel’s work as a successor to the work of Morrison, Loeb, and Miller. It makes me wonder what an epic story would look like, if he truly cut loose, once he feels completely at home as a creator.
THE FLASH #9 (DC)
The kind of issue Geoff Johns only does very occasionally with Hal Jordan over in GREEN LANTERN (and I hope is more frequent here), a more character-based interlude with Barry, clearly in anticipation of FLASHPOINT (hello Hot Pursuit/Barry Allen!).
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #57 (DC)
Tony Bedard rounds out his Weaponer arc. Maybe it’s just me, but I really didn’t see it coming, when Sinestro actually convinces the Weaponer to join his corps. Nice bit of continuity, this whole arc, which has only affirmed my interest in Bedard, one of the least-heralded but probably best writers in comics today.
All this DC talk makes it seem like I’m sliding back into partisan mode. I intended to pick up some more Hickman FF (both the final issue of the previous series, and the first of the book literally called FF), but I decided to pass. I remember that I wrote about “Three” as if Hickman would be jumping ship right after, and even now, knowing what he did next with the franchise, I wonder if there’s much point. Oh, and hey, Steve Rogers is going to be Captain America again! I just expect more from Hickman, who did such unusual, subversive work with Image. But I am still interested in the new “Big Time” Spider-Man comics. I’ll be reading some of those collections, definitely.
But this whole column should still be considered an exception!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Quarter Bin #7 "Stuart Immonen"
The comics that prompted this week’s topic:
ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #540 (DC)
From November 1996.
INFERNO #1-4 (DC)
From October, November (1997) and January, February (1998).
ACTION COMICS #750 (DC)
From January 1999.
SHOCKROCKETS #1 (Image)
From April 2000.
RISING STARS #14 (Top Cow)
From May 2001.
Now, let me close the loop from those comics, and say the topic is Stuart Immonen. He only provides the cover for ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN in this instance, but provides all honors (cover, writing and art duties) on INFERNO and ACTION COMICS, and then just art in SHOCKROCKETS and RISING STARS. These specific comics are back issues I ordered from Midtown some months back (there’ll be other editions of Quarter Bin culled from such orders, just as the previous Sparx spotlight was), during a recurrent spate of nostalgia for when Stuart came to dominate, at least for me, not just Superman comics, but DC as a whole, when he provided the art for Karl Kesel’s seminal FINAL NIGHT crossover event.
Now, I know for a lot of fans, Stuart is about as relevant as a FINAL NIGHT reference is as a DC event beginning with “Final” (though coming in second to FINAL CRISIS, is, again, a peculiarity and positive connotation that’s somewhat unique to your Comics Reader). I’m not suggesting that Mr. Immonen is totally unappreciated by the fan community, but as far as I’m concerned, he really is, and criminally so. For the last few years he’s been mired in a fairly unexceptional run with Marvel (which, against, is a fairly relative statement, since I very much appreciated the fact that he got to work on ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN while such a statement was still relevant, and thought his evolving style had gotten better than how I’d last seen it), a far cry from how I like to remember him, and hope that he might still one day return to, one of the definitive styles and takes on the Man of Steel, managing to stand out in a time when there were regularly four unique takes, even when all of them were working on pretty much the same stories.
Stuart has a larger career than will be covered in this column, but I’m still getting around to the rest of it, so what I write will seem to be a little limited by some estimations, but even a little is a lot more than most fans generally enjoy. I want to circle back to FINAL NIGHT for a moment. Even though it isn’t written by Stuart, it perfectly represents the kind of vision his work embodies, a deeply human and evocative interpretation of superhero comics that seems to be entirely ignorant of the vast tradition other creators draw from and add to on a monthly basis, even in this fairly expansive era we now enjoy. Karl Kesel is another deeply unappreciated talent, from the school of Mark Waid, Geoff Johns, and James Robinson, ideological successors of Alan Moore who took an abiding appreciation of the past and merged it with a dynamic present. But while it’s apparent with other creators, with Stuart, it’s a part of the background flavor, just another element that is combined to present an original vision.
You might say that it’s obvious that he came from the Legion of Super-Heroes factory, since partisans of that corner of DC lore often seem to bend in a certain direction, and every now and again, his DC work would reflect back on his time with the original teen team sensation, as with the cover of ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, which sees Superman reflected in the face of Ferro, a new version of an established Legion character who was one of the most prominent efforts of the company’s efforts to make the team relevant by sticking a few of its members in the present (a trick the company has tried again in recent years, and this time, it might actually have stuck). INFERNO, in fact, is another such effort, and while Stuart’s vision of modern youth culture might owe more to Dan Jurgens than Justin Bieber, I was more than happy to finally read it because it is, after all, one of the few projects where he was able to have total creative control.
He was a precursor to Tony Daniel in that regard, graduating to ACTION COMICS after apprenticing for several years with Kesel on ADVENTURES, and beginning a distinguished run on his own. His ultimate statement with DC’s flagship hero, SUPERMAN: END OF THE CENTURY, would be published in February 2000, and pretty mark his end with the company. (By the way, I highly recommend, if you want to sample Stuart’s work from this era, reading it. Or read it just to read a forgotten gem.)
SHOCKROCKETS, by the way, is like a more contemporary STAR WARS, and is from the mind of Kurt Busiek. I would probably recommend reading that, too. You’ll know RISING STARS from J. Michael Straczynski’s early comics days. Stuart was a guest artist.
On the one hand, I can understand why it would have been difficult for fans to get into his art, since it was pretty much the opposite of what Image had conditioned them to expect, and since it wasn’t painted, not impressive enough for those who were wowed by Alex Ross. It was simple, but deceptively so, not too enamored of the strict realism others would glom onto as a counterbalance to the cartoonish proportions most artists favored. Stuart, better than anyone, knew the “man” inside Superman, but still made him look inspiring. In many ways, if you were to compare any modern Superman comic with the originals by Siegel and Shuster, it would be Stuart Immonen’s that feel like a real successor, a real update without the sense that you’re being hoodwinked.
How exactly a talent like that becomes an afterthought is completely beyond me. He’s changed his style to fit in with the times, to blend in, to, in essence, become Clark Kent, rather than Superman, but Stuart Immonen, with all due apologies to Clark, is no Clark Kent. He’s Superman. And he deserves the sky to soar in.
ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #540 (DC)
From November 1996.
INFERNO #1-4 (DC)
From October, November (1997) and January, February (1998).
ACTION COMICS #750 (DC)
From January 1999.
SHOCKROCKETS #1 (Image)
From April 2000.
RISING STARS #14 (Top Cow)
From May 2001.
Now, let me close the loop from those comics, and say the topic is Stuart Immonen. He only provides the cover for ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN in this instance, but provides all honors (cover, writing and art duties) on INFERNO and ACTION COMICS, and then just art in SHOCKROCKETS and RISING STARS. These specific comics are back issues I ordered from Midtown some months back (there’ll be other editions of Quarter Bin culled from such orders, just as the previous Sparx spotlight was), during a recurrent spate of nostalgia for when Stuart came to dominate, at least for me, not just Superman comics, but DC as a whole, when he provided the art for Karl Kesel’s seminal FINAL NIGHT crossover event.
Now, I know for a lot of fans, Stuart is about as relevant as a FINAL NIGHT reference is as a DC event beginning with “Final” (though coming in second to FINAL CRISIS, is, again, a peculiarity and positive connotation that’s somewhat unique to your Comics Reader). I’m not suggesting that Mr. Immonen is totally unappreciated by the fan community, but as far as I’m concerned, he really is, and criminally so. For the last few years he’s been mired in a fairly unexceptional run with Marvel (which, against, is a fairly relative statement, since I very much appreciated the fact that he got to work on ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN while such a statement was still relevant, and thought his evolving style had gotten better than how I’d last seen it), a far cry from how I like to remember him, and hope that he might still one day return to, one of the definitive styles and takes on the Man of Steel, managing to stand out in a time when there were regularly four unique takes, even when all of them were working on pretty much the same stories.
Stuart has a larger career than will be covered in this column, but I’m still getting around to the rest of it, so what I write will seem to be a little limited by some estimations, but even a little is a lot more than most fans generally enjoy. I want to circle back to FINAL NIGHT for a moment. Even though it isn’t written by Stuart, it perfectly represents the kind of vision his work embodies, a deeply human and evocative interpretation of superhero comics that seems to be entirely ignorant of the vast tradition other creators draw from and add to on a monthly basis, even in this fairly expansive era we now enjoy. Karl Kesel is another deeply unappreciated talent, from the school of Mark Waid, Geoff Johns, and James Robinson, ideological successors of Alan Moore who took an abiding appreciation of the past and merged it with a dynamic present. But while it’s apparent with other creators, with Stuart, it’s a part of the background flavor, just another element that is combined to present an original vision.
You might say that it’s obvious that he came from the Legion of Super-Heroes factory, since partisans of that corner of DC lore often seem to bend in a certain direction, and every now and again, his DC work would reflect back on his time with the original teen team sensation, as with the cover of ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, which sees Superman reflected in the face of Ferro, a new version of an established Legion character who was one of the most prominent efforts of the company’s efforts to make the team relevant by sticking a few of its members in the present (a trick the company has tried again in recent years, and this time, it might actually have stuck). INFERNO, in fact, is another such effort, and while Stuart’s vision of modern youth culture might owe more to Dan Jurgens than Justin Bieber, I was more than happy to finally read it because it is, after all, one of the few projects where he was able to have total creative control.
He was a precursor to Tony Daniel in that regard, graduating to ACTION COMICS after apprenticing for several years with Kesel on ADVENTURES, and beginning a distinguished run on his own. His ultimate statement with DC’s flagship hero, SUPERMAN: END OF THE CENTURY, would be published in February 2000, and pretty mark his end with the company. (By the way, I highly recommend, if you want to sample Stuart’s work from this era, reading it. Or read it just to read a forgotten gem.)
SHOCKROCKETS, by the way, is like a more contemporary STAR WARS, and is from the mind of Kurt Busiek. I would probably recommend reading that, too. You’ll know RISING STARS from J. Michael Straczynski’s early comics days. Stuart was a guest artist.
On the one hand, I can understand why it would have been difficult for fans to get into his art, since it was pretty much the opposite of what Image had conditioned them to expect, and since it wasn’t painted, not impressive enough for those who were wowed by Alex Ross. It was simple, but deceptively so, not too enamored of the strict realism others would glom onto as a counterbalance to the cartoonish proportions most artists favored. Stuart, better than anyone, knew the “man” inside Superman, but still made him look inspiring. In many ways, if you were to compare any modern Superman comic with the originals by Siegel and Shuster, it would be Stuart Immonen’s that feel like a real successor, a real update without the sense that you’re being hoodwinked.
How exactly a talent like that becomes an afterthought is completely beyond me. He’s changed his style to fit in with the times, to blend in, to, in essence, become Clark Kent, rather than Superman, but Stuart Immonen, with all due apologies to Clark, is no Clark Kent. He’s Superman. And he deserves the sky to soar in.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Finite Vacation
I'll be on vacation for the next two weeks, but will be back with more exciting comics thoughts!
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