writer: Kyle Higgins
artist: Eddy Barrows, Geraldo Borges
Nightwing is not Batman.
I think Kyle Higgins is about to explore that better than he thought he would. The introduction of Paragon is like the Nightwing version of the Court of Owls, someone who thinks they know how to improve Gotham better than the heroes do. That's an important story to tell for any member of the Batman family. For years Batman has waged a crusade to clean up his beloved city. Yet Gotham has not become a utopia. In most respects, Batman's failed. The reason is the same as I've just explained: everyone thinks they have the answer.
Jeph Loeb's The Long Halloween is perhaps the ancestor text for this Batman story type, with the Falcone clan poised to define Gotham City on their terms, and Batman, just getting started, helps to subvert those plans. Bane did it, too. In fact, that's what Christopher Nolan has been doing in all of his Batman movies. Everyone has a solution and no one can get any progress done because they're all fighting each other. As far as I could tell, Scott Snyder's Court of Owls was a conspiracy that sought to accomplish the very same goal.
I didn't read most of the Court of Owls saga, but I know Snyder and Higgins have done a fair amount of collaborating, most obviously in Gates of Gotham, the DC reader's introduction to Higgins. As this issue kicks off the ambitions of Paragon, Higgins has Nightwing muse on the sad state of Gotham, its glory days buried far beneath the collective scum that has for many years manifested itself in the nocturnal activities of the Dark Knight and the corrupt forces he works tirelessly against. Higgins works with a different kind of conspiracy, too, someone trying to frame Nightwing for murder, and a dirty cop who's possibly been at this hobby for months. It's not the first time a writer has flung this kind of story at Nightwing, but it's a welcome return.
Nightwing isn't Batman because he seems capable of taking a little perspective. When Dick Grayson joined the Teen Titans, he found himself in a group of friends. When Batman joined the Justice League, he had maybe one friend and a bunch of people he didn't trust. Dick's had an alien girlfriend and complicated relationships with numerous female colleagues, including Donna Troy and Barbara Gordon, the latter of which Higgins and Gail Simone have touched on in the New 52. He's known the responsibility of living up to an image many times over: with his parents, with Batman, as a leader, as a replacement Batman. Batman's only ever believed in one image, and that was his own. Nightwing might seem more carefree and replaceable, but no Robin since Dick Grayson has so successfully transitioned into his own crimefighting career, not even wunderkind Tim Drake.
Nightwing is the version of Spider-Man that would exist if Marvel let Peter Parker exist in a world where his parents mean more to him than his aunt and uncle, if he had to exist in the shadow of giants and learn how to emerge from it. Nightwing doesn't strike fear like Batman, but then Batman doesn't make friends like Nightwing. The more he works on his own, the more lonely Nightwing becomes, closer to the archetype set by his mentor. But he also establishes the ability to operate independently better than Batman, who will have to reluctantly admit that he works better with a little help than he does when he's completely alone. There will never be a Nightwing Incorporated.
Higgins has put our boy in another bad spot, in the center of another conspiracy, and while the opening issues of this series have already seen that in the remnants of Haley's Circus (which Dick seems poised to transform into his own Wayne enterprise, only instead of a business, an entertainment) and then Nightwing's unexpected connection to the heart of the Court of Owls. Paragon calls himself "Gotham's true son," and perhaps that's what's at the center of this story, that Nightwing is a son by his core definition, and like any son, the world he grows into doesn't always respect the path to responsibility. He's faced a thousand hurdles already, and some ready will consider this story redundant, but it's Nightwing's story, more than the Court of Owls was Batman's. There's a reason why the whole family took on the Talons, because that was a clash for the whole family, a challenge everyone had to face.
Everyone clashes against each other in Gotham. Nightwing, and Kyle Higgins, are about to explore the ego behind this phenomenon. And maybe that's it. Nightwing doesn't have an ego. That's why he's ideal to serve as a counterpoint to Batman, or to usurpers like Paragon. Carry on, Higgins!
Friday, June 29, 2012
Unbeatable Comics: Comedian #1
writer: Brian Azzarello
artist: J.G. Jones
Before Watchmen continues, creating a new ripple in the canon by emphatically stating Edward Blake, the Comedian, was not involved in the assassination of JFK.
I guess it's implied in the comic, and strongly suggested in the movie, but the beauty of revisiting this world is that another writer can given another interpretation of both the character and events as we've come to know them. Blake famously took up the role of the Comedian because he came to believe that the world was a big joke, and he would provide the punchline, but I was never convinced that his motivations were properly explained, nor his particular worldview explored. He was the fall guy for Ozymandias's master plan, the one who figured it out long before anyone else. But he's mostly known as the maverick with violent tendencies and the tenuous link between generations.
I've never really gotten into Brian Azzarello as a writer, and so can't begin to form a basis for comparison with his other work, only that it seems I've more or less avoided him until now, or so it seems. He's a name writer who seems to have avoided being identified with the mainstream. He wrote Superman with Jim Lee on art, and no one really remembers that. (Maybe I'll have to investigate it now.) Anyway, he starts his tale off pretty deliberately, with Blake being good friends with the Kennedy boys, who J.G. Jones draws very much as boys, actually, and I think that's fairly deliberate, and a telling element of the issue. With everything that's been said and seen about John and Bobby over the years, a lot of things have been obscured. I've read that some people found Azzarello's depiction of Jackie as offensive and unlikely, but I take it up with everything else he does in the issue as a way of removing that barrier that's existed for fifty years, and revealing the whole clan as living human beings again. Blake joins this ride as another pragmatist believing the Kennedy vision, assassinating an American legend (Marilyn Monroe) and crying with Moloch over the fall of his good friend. Where do we go from here? That's what the question is in the story, and that's what Azzarello successfully challenges his reader with, too.
Like the Comedian, JFK's legacy has been obscured by the reports of his womanizing. It becomes hard to reconcile the visionary with the man, especially after one of his disciples tried to follow that pattern without any of the vision. (What Clinton never seemed to realize was that Jack wanted anything but to become a politician. It just so happened that he and Bobby were better at it than anyone else in their family.) Yet there's the man and the vision, wrapped up in a tidy, tragic package. The tragedy of the Comedian is that he never really got to play the hero. In fact, Azzarello goes out of his way to suggest that not only was Blake not responsible for the death of JFK, but that he was probably the only man who could have prevented it.
It seems like incredibly heady stuff, and maybe stuff that doesn't even belong in a comic book, much less one that some say by definition impugns a rich legacy. Yet this issue proves beyond a doubt what this project is capable of accomplishing, what someone like Azzarello can give both to fiction and history, because in this case the two are intertwined, inextricably, much like the man and the vision were in JFK, and how we'll learn the same is true of the Comedian.
The real joke is that the story of Edward Blake is just beginning, twenty years after everyone assumed the book had already been completed.
artist: J.G. Jones
Before Watchmen continues, creating a new ripple in the canon by emphatically stating Edward Blake, the Comedian, was not involved in the assassination of JFK.
I guess it's implied in the comic, and strongly suggested in the movie, but the beauty of revisiting this world is that another writer can given another interpretation of both the character and events as we've come to know them. Blake famously took up the role of the Comedian because he came to believe that the world was a big joke, and he would provide the punchline, but I was never convinced that his motivations were properly explained, nor his particular worldview explored. He was the fall guy for Ozymandias's master plan, the one who figured it out long before anyone else. But he's mostly known as the maverick with violent tendencies and the tenuous link between generations.
I've never really gotten into Brian Azzarello as a writer, and so can't begin to form a basis for comparison with his other work, only that it seems I've more or less avoided him until now, or so it seems. He's a name writer who seems to have avoided being identified with the mainstream. He wrote Superman with Jim Lee on art, and no one really remembers that. (Maybe I'll have to investigate it now.) Anyway, he starts his tale off pretty deliberately, with Blake being good friends with the Kennedy boys, who J.G. Jones draws very much as boys, actually, and I think that's fairly deliberate, and a telling element of the issue. With everything that's been said and seen about John and Bobby over the years, a lot of things have been obscured. I've read that some people found Azzarello's depiction of Jackie as offensive and unlikely, but I take it up with everything else he does in the issue as a way of removing that barrier that's existed for fifty years, and revealing the whole clan as living human beings again. Blake joins this ride as another pragmatist believing the Kennedy vision, assassinating an American legend (Marilyn Monroe) and crying with Moloch over the fall of his good friend. Where do we go from here? That's what the question is in the story, and that's what Azzarello successfully challenges his reader with, too.
Like the Comedian, JFK's legacy has been obscured by the reports of his womanizing. It becomes hard to reconcile the visionary with the man, especially after one of his disciples tried to follow that pattern without any of the vision. (What Clinton never seemed to realize was that Jack wanted anything but to become a politician. It just so happened that he and Bobby were better at it than anyone else in their family.) Yet there's the man and the vision, wrapped up in a tidy, tragic package. The tragedy of the Comedian is that he never really got to play the hero. In fact, Azzarello goes out of his way to suggest that not only was Blake not responsible for the death of JFK, but that he was probably the only man who could have prevented it.
It seems like incredibly heady stuff, and maybe stuff that doesn't even belong in a comic book, much less one that some say by definition impugns a rich legacy. Yet this issue proves beyond a doubt what this project is capable of accomplishing, what someone like Azzarello can give both to fiction and history, because in this case the two are intertwined, inextricably, much like the man and the vision were in JFK, and how we'll learn the same is true of the Comedian.
The real joke is that the story of Edward Blake is just beginning, twenty years after everyone assumed the book had already been completed.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Essential Classic X-Men Vol. 2 #6
X-MEN #s 46-53
The final issues in this volume are pretty random but they
have a few treasures buried in them! But
first, we have another pretty meaningless visit from Juggernaut, in the midst
of Foggy Nelson reading the last will and testament of Charles Xavier and
F.B.I. agent Amos Duncan requesting for their own safety that the X-Men break
up!
That’s from Gary Friedrich, completing his final solo
adventure before helping Arnold Drake establish himself with another pretty
random Merlin adventure, where the one-time Warlock becomes the Maha Yogi in
order to brainwash some worthless support in his continuing plans for world
domination, with Beast and Iceman able to take care of him. Cyclops and Marvel Girl are featured in Drake’s
first solo adventure, featuring another random historical legacy in Quasimodo.
Lorna Dane, the eventual Polaris, makes her first appearance
in #49, part of a wave of formerly dormant, newly activated mutants Angel gets
tangled with, part of a larger plot on the part of Magneto in his continuing
hapless quest to do something meaningful, though he does manage to bring the
X-Men back together after an absurdly brief period made all the more
melodramatic in Jean Grey’s typical thought balloons, wondering what will
happen to her budding relationship with Scott Summers a few issues earlier,
even though they were still paired together…
Anyway, so Lorna Dane is tricked into believing that she’s
Magneto’s daughter, which really only entitles her to being cut into the
megalomaniac’s plans as an equal partner (something only Quicksilver and
Scarlet Witch were privy to earlier…is that why someone figured out they might
as well be revealed as his kids?), until the X-Men convince her that Magneto is
crazy. Which isn’t hard, because in this
incarnation he is! The fiftieth issue
sports art from Jim Steranko, by the way!
The story drags on with a meaningless inclusion of some
villain named Erik the Red, and then another pretty random threat named
Blastaar in #53, featuring art from Barry Windsor-Smith, which looks
suspiciously like Jack Kirby. It should
be noted that the origins backup tales continue, but they’re increasingly
worthless. Beast is depicted as having
been the product of his father’s accident with radiation!
It’s a shame that the series is treated so frivolously, with
one creator caring very little for what the creator before him was doing. Whatever happened to Ted Roberts, for
instance, or Jean Grey’s college education?
She becomes a bikini model during the team’s brief exile. I kid you not. I suppose it’s not so different from how most
X-Men creators in most eras not written by Chris Claremont or Grant Morrison or
featuring Hope tend to be, random and meaningless and having nothing to do with
the “mutant problem” so much as villains with generic goals and defeated less
by the X-Men than by themselves. It’s
not a surprise that the book wasn’t popular, because it featured a bunch of
outsiders desperate to be cool even though they weren’t (the one with the
biggest personality was a total square, after all). I seriously want someone to rewrite these
adventures knowing exactly what they were.
That’s what reading something like this demands. Vindication!
But it was certainly interesting, informative, enlightening. But exciting?
Only in the most exacerbated sense!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Unbeatable Comics: Spawn #220
writer: Todd McFarlane
artist: Szymon Kudranski
It's hard not to see Spawn as the defining creation of Image Comics. He was the most famous one in the early days, and he's one of the few still standing, and in regular publication since the beginning. He was Todd McFarlane's response to the question, "What happens after DC and Marvel?"
As indicated in an extensive commentary included in this twentieth anniversary issue, McFarlane still has passionate belief in Spawn. When the movie version was released in 1997, he called Spawn the complete opposite of Batman. That may be more relevant today than ever before. Spawn is no longer Al Simmons, the hapless military vet tricked into becoming the occupant of a costume created in Hell. Instead, he's Jim Downing, whose past has been shrouded in mystery, even though he's become a celebrity to the rest of the world as a possible messiah. (It was hard for me to read this issue and not think of Warrior, in which Tom Hardy seemingly comes out of nowhere to be a prime participant in a massive MMA tournament.)
Downing is not only Spawn, but the victim and outcast of a cabal of scientists who would probably be at home in Fringe. There's a lot of reading to be done in this comic. It's definitely, now more than originally, nothing like the superhero comics you'll find at DC and Marvel. In a way, that's hugely encouraging. Truth be told, Spawn used to be the worst offender of the overblown creations Image used to be known for, even after its vaunted sojourn into creator rights. The joke ought to have been, "They wanted the right to create garbage?" But over time, the company got its act together. Of course, sales are marginal even by the low standards of comics today, especially compared to the nearly two million copies the first issue of Spawn sold. (There's a handy timeline of Spawn history included as well, that helps outline its legacy to date, even though it conspicuously overlooks the whole Neil Gaiman flap.)
In losing most of its audience Spawn has finally shaped itself into something that would have been worthy of those readers. That's an irony if I ever saw one.
artist: Szymon Kudranski
It's hard not to see Spawn as the defining creation of Image Comics. He was the most famous one in the early days, and he's one of the few still standing, and in regular publication since the beginning. He was Todd McFarlane's response to the question, "What happens after DC and Marvel?"
As indicated in an extensive commentary included in this twentieth anniversary issue, McFarlane still has passionate belief in Spawn. When the movie version was released in 1997, he called Spawn the complete opposite of Batman. That may be more relevant today than ever before. Spawn is no longer Al Simmons, the hapless military vet tricked into becoming the occupant of a costume created in Hell. Instead, he's Jim Downing, whose past has been shrouded in mystery, even though he's become a celebrity to the rest of the world as a possible messiah. (It was hard for me to read this issue and not think of Warrior, in which Tom Hardy seemingly comes out of nowhere to be a prime participant in a massive MMA tournament.)
Downing is not only Spawn, but the victim and outcast of a cabal of scientists who would probably be at home in Fringe. There's a lot of reading to be done in this comic. It's definitely, now more than originally, nothing like the superhero comics you'll find at DC and Marvel. In a way, that's hugely encouraging. Truth be told, Spawn used to be the worst offender of the overblown creations Image used to be known for, even after its vaunted sojourn into creator rights. The joke ought to have been, "They wanted the right to create garbage?" But over time, the company got its act together. Of course, sales are marginal even by the low standards of comics today, especially compared to the nearly two million copies the first issue of Spawn sold. (There's a handy timeline of Spawn history included as well, that helps outline its legacy to date, even though it conspicuously overlooks the whole Neil Gaiman flap.)
In losing most of its audience Spawn has finally shaped itself into something that would have been worthy of those readers. That's an irony if I ever saw one.
Unbeatable Comics: The Shade #9
writer: James Robinson
artist: Frazer Irving
Having had an opportunity recently to catch up with this series, I've become more eager to read more.
Beginning the final arc of the twelve-issue run, Robinson finally reveals who in his family line was interested in murdering Richard Swift, the Shade. Turns out his enemies are both in league with gods, and in control of them (Egyptian, in case you were wondering). In fact, by the of the issue, for the first time in centuries, he's powerless. Yeah, the stakes have gone way up.
Although the character has possessed spectacular powers since he first appeared, the Shade has never really been defined by them. Robinson has gone out of his way to write him more for his deep connection to legacy. In Starman, he was Jack Knight's best connection to legacy. Jack's father, Ted Knight, was the original Starman, by was now an old man. Jack's brother, David, died in the first arc of the series, and was the reason why the reluctant collector of novelties accepted the role of superhero in the first place. The Shade was once a supervillain, but had grown more ambiguous over time, less interested in taking an active role, perhaps because he no longer felt he had much purpose. Jack helped give him purpose again, and helped redefine him as a theoretical force for good.
The Shade so far has been steeped heavily in the character's history, with two "Times Past" issues (one of the recurring elements of Starman, along with "Conversations with David"), while the last arc saw how his long relationship with La Sangre has affected both their careers. We've gotten to see a portrait of Richard Swift that has convincingly presented him as more interesting than even Jack Knight. Of course, "ambiguous" is the key term here, and perhaps that's why few readers have been reluctant to embrace his successor, because unlike a reluctant superhero, there's no easy thing to grasp onto with this story. The Shade is not a hero and is not even a villain in Robinson's intricate vision.
Speaking of visions, art chores are now given to Frazer Irving. I guess I didn't expect that the art would change with every arc, but now that there've been several, and several good ones, there's no more denying that this was always the plan. Irving is yet another coup, and a testament to DC's interest in seeing the best for this project.
artist: Frazer Irving
Having had an opportunity recently to catch up with this series, I've become more eager to read more.
Beginning the final arc of the twelve-issue run, Robinson finally reveals who in his family line was interested in murdering Richard Swift, the Shade. Turns out his enemies are both in league with gods, and in control of them (Egyptian, in case you were wondering). In fact, by the of the issue, for the first time in centuries, he's powerless. Yeah, the stakes have gone way up.
Although the character has possessed spectacular powers since he first appeared, the Shade has never really been defined by them. Robinson has gone out of his way to write him more for his deep connection to legacy. In Starman, he was Jack Knight's best connection to legacy. Jack's father, Ted Knight, was the original Starman, by was now an old man. Jack's brother, David, died in the first arc of the series, and was the reason why the reluctant collector of novelties accepted the role of superhero in the first place. The Shade was once a supervillain, but had grown more ambiguous over time, less interested in taking an active role, perhaps because he no longer felt he had much purpose. Jack helped give him purpose again, and helped redefine him as a theoretical force for good.
The Shade so far has been steeped heavily in the character's history, with two "Times Past" issues (one of the recurring elements of Starman, along with "Conversations with David"), while the last arc saw how his long relationship with La Sangre has affected both their careers. We've gotten to see a portrait of Richard Swift that has convincingly presented him as more interesting than even Jack Knight. Of course, "ambiguous" is the key term here, and perhaps that's why few readers have been reluctant to embrace his successor, because unlike a reluctant superhero, there's no easy thing to grasp onto with this story. The Shade is not a hero and is not even a villain in Robinson's intricate vision.
Speaking of visions, art chores are now given to Frazer Irving. I guess I didn't expect that the art would change with every arc, but now that there've been several, and several good ones, there's no more denying that this was always the plan. Irving is yet another coup, and a testament to DC's interest in seeing the best for this project.
Unbeatable Comics: Green Lantern
Green Lantern #10
writer: Geoff Johns
artist: Doug Mahnke
Green Lantern Corps #9
writer: Peter J. Tomasi
artist: Fernando Pasarin
Green Lantern: New Guardians #8
writer: Tony Bedard
artist: Tyler Kirkham
Red Lanterns #7
writer: Peter Milligan
artist: Ed Benes & Diego Bernard
The Green Lantern franchise may be a big question mark on the big screen, but in the comics, it's hard to think of a better era.
The latest issue of Green Lantern from Geoff Johns concludes the Indigo Tribe arc, in which we've finally discovered the origins and intentions of the mysterious compassion corps. (In related news, I beg DC, beg, for an extended look at the life and career of Abin Sur, Hal Jordan's predecessor and originator of the Indigo Tribe, a theoretical answer to the Guadians of the Universe's plans for a Third Army.)
The Indigo Tribe lost its central power battery thanks to Natromo, the native of Nok who helped Abin Sur realize his vision, but its members prove more worthy of the cause than he realized, resparking their own rings with their faith and need for redemption. The only ones who are able to walk away from the cause are Sinestro and William Hand, who inadvertently kills himself, only to be once again claimed by the black rings of death. It's Hal Jordan who fights for Sinestro's future, because he's discovered his old foe just may be the greatest ally he ever had.
I haven't read a single issue of the other books in the expanded franchise of the New 52 since their September launches, part of my effort to save money I don't technically have. I decided it was time to check in, and I discovered that they're doing better than I would've thought.
Pete Tomasi, for instance, so good in Batman and Robin, continues to be a worthy chronicler in for emerald warriors in Green Lantern Corps. In this issue, for instance, he helps me understand something I've been going through in my own life as John Stewart faces the consequences of owning up to responsibility, even when those who are to be his judges aren't likely to look after his, or their, best interests. having murdered a member of the Corps, he's once again in hot water. It's not the first time his actions have resulted in jeopardy for his career as a Green Lantern, or a superhero. In Cosmic Odyssey, he was responsible for the destruction of the planet Xanshi (where the character Fatality, once a villain and now a Star Sapphire and not to mention featured player in New Guardians, comes from). He considers his actions justified because the murdered colleague would have betrayed the integrity of the Corps. Guy Gardner, the most famous hothead in comics, is John's main advocate. The Guardians don't want to interfere, since their plans no longer concern a Corps, but an impending Third Army.
In New Guardians, meanwhile, Tony Bedard continues his own fruitful contributions to the franchise, playing in the expanded sandbox of the spectrum created by Geoff Johns. In Green Lantern, Johns did away with the Sinestro Corps. In New Guardians, Bedard gets to explore what happens to its remaining members, including Arkillo, who gets help from the Weaponer whose story Bedard himself previously explored in shaping a new ring and new battery to continue the legacy of the Yellow Lanterns.
Pete Milligan, meanwhile, is still working at Red Lanterns, including the first human to become a member, Jack Moore; as well as Atrocitus, the founder of the brood, who is currently seeking vengeance on Krona, the rogue Guardian, but instead running into the undead revenge of his own son; and Bleez, the new leader of the Red Lanterns who also co-stars in New Guardians. Another crossover this issue is Guy Gardner, who once wore a red ring, trying to process the significance of Jack Moore, who is himself trying to figure out what his new life means. For anyone who struggles to see the need for a series based on anger, this may be the issue to read.
I found quite a lot to like about this family.
writer: Geoff Johns
artist: Doug Mahnke
Green Lantern Corps #9
writer: Peter J. Tomasi
artist: Fernando Pasarin
Green Lantern: New Guardians #8
writer: Tony Bedard
artist: Tyler Kirkham
Red Lanterns #7
writer: Peter Milligan
artist: Ed Benes & Diego Bernard
The Green Lantern franchise may be a big question mark on the big screen, but in the comics, it's hard to think of a better era.
The latest issue of Green Lantern from Geoff Johns concludes the Indigo Tribe arc, in which we've finally discovered the origins and intentions of the mysterious compassion corps. (In related news, I beg DC, beg, for an extended look at the life and career of Abin Sur, Hal Jordan's predecessor and originator of the Indigo Tribe, a theoretical answer to the Guadians of the Universe's plans for a Third Army.)
The Indigo Tribe lost its central power battery thanks to Natromo, the native of Nok who helped Abin Sur realize his vision, but its members prove more worthy of the cause than he realized, resparking their own rings with their faith and need for redemption. The only ones who are able to walk away from the cause are Sinestro and William Hand, who inadvertently kills himself, only to be once again claimed by the black rings of death. It's Hal Jordan who fights for Sinestro's future, because he's discovered his old foe just may be the greatest ally he ever had.
I haven't read a single issue of the other books in the expanded franchise of the New 52 since their September launches, part of my effort to save money I don't technically have. I decided it was time to check in, and I discovered that they're doing better than I would've thought.
Pete Tomasi, for instance, so good in Batman and Robin, continues to be a worthy chronicler in for emerald warriors in Green Lantern Corps. In this issue, for instance, he helps me understand something I've been going through in my own life as John Stewart faces the consequences of owning up to responsibility, even when those who are to be his judges aren't likely to look after his, or their, best interests. having murdered a member of the Corps, he's once again in hot water. It's not the first time his actions have resulted in jeopardy for his career as a Green Lantern, or a superhero. In Cosmic Odyssey, he was responsible for the destruction of the planet Xanshi (where the character Fatality, once a villain and now a Star Sapphire and not to mention featured player in New Guardians, comes from). He considers his actions justified because the murdered colleague would have betrayed the integrity of the Corps. Guy Gardner, the most famous hothead in comics, is John's main advocate. The Guardians don't want to interfere, since their plans no longer concern a Corps, but an impending Third Army.
In New Guardians, meanwhile, Tony Bedard continues his own fruitful contributions to the franchise, playing in the expanded sandbox of the spectrum created by Geoff Johns. In Green Lantern, Johns did away with the Sinestro Corps. In New Guardians, Bedard gets to explore what happens to its remaining members, including Arkillo, who gets help from the Weaponer whose story Bedard himself previously explored in shaping a new ring and new battery to continue the legacy of the Yellow Lanterns.
Pete Milligan, meanwhile, is still working at Red Lanterns, including the first human to become a member, Jack Moore; as well as Atrocitus, the founder of the brood, who is currently seeking vengeance on Krona, the rogue Guardian, but instead running into the undead revenge of his own son; and Bleez, the new leader of the Red Lanterns who also co-stars in New Guardians. Another crossover this issue is Guy Gardner, who once wore a red ring, trying to process the significance of Jack Moore, who is himself trying to figure out what his new life means. For anyone who struggles to see the need for a series based on anger, this may be the issue to read.
I found quite a lot to like about this family.
Unbeatable Comics: Paul Cornell
Demon Knights #10
writer: Paul Cornell
artist: Diogenes Neves
Saucer Country #4
writer: Paul Cornell
artist: Ryan Kelly
Paul Cornell has been one of the best writers in comics for several years now. One of these two books may finally help comic book fans realize that.
"Look! It's a pirate sea serpent!" Lines like that, combined with a guest character who briefly breaks into the heavy British dialogue used so well in Cornell's Knight & Squire, are just token examples what helps set his work apart. The whole book demonstrates his ability to juggle both character and story, whether he's dancing around the nature of Shining Knight or once again using the juxtaposition between Jason Blood and Etrigan to convey the depth of relationships any good story should have. By the time the climax of the issue reaches Zombie King Arthur, you realize anything can and will happen in a Paul Cornell story.
In Saucer Country, meanwhile, everyone's still trying to figure out if the alien abduction that serves as the crux of this book actually happened, but that's proving trickier than expected (which is exactly what Cornell's going for). Arcadia Alvarado is currently governor of New Mexico, but she's going to be running for president, so there's good motivation for her wanting to know exactly what happened to her. She's not the only one.
Her ex-husband Michael is the one with the least amount of credibility, and exploring his side of events has been equally fascinating, especially since it's far less likely anyone will believe him. Last issue we saw how he started to rationalize his experience by turning the aliens into rabbits, trying to cover up his own memories. To retrieve them, he visits a hypnotherapist known for his radical views on alien abduction. Naturally, when Alvarado's men hear his version, they're skeptical, or to be more accurate, dismissive. Then Arcadia makes the radical decision to visit the hypnotherapist herself.
The whole point and approach of Saucer Country is that the truth is not a simple thing. In The X-Files, it was famously declared to be "out there," and perhaps it is, but some people have to live with that ambiguity a little closer to home, with incredibly high personal stakes. There's a lot of ways this can be explored. Cornell has decided to let it speak for itself, and nothing about it is easy. That's a testament to his ambition, and vision.
The thrill is always waiting to see what he does next.
writer: Paul Cornell
artist: Diogenes Neves
Saucer Country #4
writer: Paul Cornell
artist: Ryan Kelly
Paul Cornell has been one of the best writers in comics for several years now. One of these two books may finally help comic book fans realize that.
"Look! It's a pirate sea serpent!" Lines like that, combined with a guest character who briefly breaks into the heavy British dialogue used so well in Cornell's Knight & Squire, are just token examples what helps set his work apart. The whole book demonstrates his ability to juggle both character and story, whether he's dancing around the nature of Shining Knight or once again using the juxtaposition between Jason Blood and Etrigan to convey the depth of relationships any good story should have. By the time the climax of the issue reaches Zombie King Arthur, you realize anything can and will happen in a Paul Cornell story.
In Saucer Country, meanwhile, everyone's still trying to figure out if the alien abduction that serves as the crux of this book actually happened, but that's proving trickier than expected (which is exactly what Cornell's going for). Arcadia Alvarado is currently governor of New Mexico, but she's going to be running for president, so there's good motivation for her wanting to know exactly what happened to her. She's not the only one.
Her ex-husband Michael is the one with the least amount of credibility, and exploring his side of events has been equally fascinating, especially since it's far less likely anyone will believe him. Last issue we saw how he started to rationalize his experience by turning the aliens into rabbits, trying to cover up his own memories. To retrieve them, he visits a hypnotherapist known for his radical views on alien abduction. Naturally, when Alvarado's men hear his version, they're skeptical, or to be more accurate, dismissive. Then Arcadia makes the radical decision to visit the hypnotherapist herself.
The whole point and approach of Saucer Country is that the truth is not a simple thing. In The X-Files, it was famously declared to be "out there," and perhaps it is, but some people have to live with that ambiguity a little closer to home, with incredibly high personal stakes. There's a lot of ways this can be explored. Cornell has decided to let it speak for itself, and nothing about it is easy. That's a testament to his ambition, and vision.
The thrill is always waiting to see what he does next.
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