It’s another big week round these parts. DC is making announcements (without much information) left and right and I’ve got them all here. Don’t worry, if the info is scant, I’ll let you know how to feel about it. For now though, let’s start with a story that a lot of people have some pretty intense feelings about.
Well, 2.50 is Sort of 52 Backwards
On May 10, DC Comics presents one of the most eagerly anticipated new debuts of the year: 52: WEEK 1, the first issue of the incredible weekly DCU series written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid with layouts by Keith Giffen and covers by J.G. Jones.
And if 52 wasn’t exciting enough already, each issue will be priced at the special, low price of $2.50 U.S.
Revel in comic fans just losing their $#!+ at Newsarama
I appreciate DC’s sense of humor in labeling 2.50 a “special, low price”. Doing that to fans is the equivalent of poking a lion with a stick. Sure, most lions will ignore it, but those that don’t…watch out. Me, I’m fine paying 2.50 a week on this project (especially since I recently did a reorg of my pull list and found, to my surprise, I was dropping a decent chunk of titles), but a lot of folks will not be and will fail to see how charging 2.50, a price that some DC comics will still bearing up until a few months ago, will qualify as “special” or “low”. You cannot run a business according to the naysayers, but you can be nice enough not to poke them with a stick.
All of them having been said, my God, those with complaints on the talkback thread (and a lot without complaints about the price) have just lost their friggin’ mind. You’d think DC announced that they were charging 6 bucks for every issue and they would kill a kitten for every week one comic fan did not buy 52*. Craziness, my friends, craziness.
Kal-El, Son of Zor-El, Kneel Before…BUSIEKKKKKKKKKKK!
DCU Executive Editor Dan Didio promised earlier that every week in June and July would see a major relaunch or creative team coming on to a series at DC, and it’s time to start spilling on those events. As we reported yesterday, the new Flash series will be part of the June/July launches, and so will Superman’s new creative team of Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco, who join the series with issue #654 in July.
Watch Busiek get handed the keys to the castle at Newsarama
I’m going to utter a bit of comic blasphemy here. I didn’t enjoy Avengers Forever. I was bored, bored, bored by it. And I LOVED Busiek back then. I still like him, but he’s no longer a must buy for me. In fact, I think he stopped being a must buy with that series which I could never even finish.
I only mention that because this is the same team that brought us that book. And because of that, plenty of fans are singing the Avengers Forever story’s praises. Well, I think they are wrong, wrong, wrong. I thought you had a right to know.
Beyond the failure of AF (and yes, now I really am beating a dead horse), I think this is a great choice for a Superman book. Pacheco is born to draw these kind of stories and Busiek is second to none when it comes to getting to the core of heroes that others would label “boring” (myself included if we are talking Superman). As I said last week, Superman is rarely my cup of tea. This announcement by no means guarantees that that will change. However, I do think that this is a great move by DC, regardless of how I end up feeling about the book.
Meet the Lone Kryptonian
Having spoken to Kurt Busiek already this month regarding his upcoming Superman One Year Later collaboration with Geoff Johns, we think readers already got a pretty good feel for Busiek’s thoughts on DC’s Man of Steel.
But co-writing an eight-part story arc and writing one of the two core Superman titles indefinitely are horses of different colors. So with this week’s announcement that he and artist Carlos Pacheco will team on Superman beginning this July immediately following the “Up, Up & Away” story with Johns, Newsarama thought a brief revisit might be in order…
Busiek can take this one solo, thank you very much, Newsarama
“New villains. Returning villains. A new role for Lana Lang. Pericles Hazard. Camelot Falls. Outer space. Paragon. New realms to conquer for a certain bald-headed master criminal. Friends from the past, menaces buried for decades, catalysts in the present from decades ago. Jimmy Olsen’s Blues. Krypto. The problem of Smallville. The Science Police. The Galactic Golem. The strangest object in the universe. When he was a boy. A day that may or may not ever happen. Pete Ross’s post-White House career. Time-traveling tourists and gorilla underclassmen. The bubble city of Metropolis. The Envoy. Maxima. Amalak. The secrets of Lexcorp. Subjekt-17. A shattered Earth. Two new Metropolis-based heroes, for very different reasons. Brainiac. Khyber. Omni-fi. Superman’s true home. Romance, action, mystery, suspense, science fiction, sorcery, and a pie in the face.”
That’s all well and good, but will this guy:
be making an appearance?
And for those of you who are curious who Vartox is, this is Vartox:
Handsome devil, no?
From John Wesley Shipp to ????
So, DCU Executive Editor Dan Didio wasn’t joking with those Crisis Counseling teases about DC’s Crises not being safe for Flashes after all.
Just so we get this out of the way….spoilers ahead for Infinite Crisis #4.
With Infinite Crisis #4, Wally West, who’s been the Flash in the costume at DC for the past 19 years, exited stage left, doing…something with the Speed Force (absorbed by it, bounced off of it to some other place and time, who can say?). Kid Flash Bart Allen was also absorbed into it, and Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash, was left on Earth saying that the Speed Force was gone.
It was the payoff to Didio’s hints that Flash fans didn’t want to come true.
Lace up your track shoes and prepare to run all over Newsarama
I know a lot of comic fans like the Flash TV show, but… I just never did. John Wesley Shipp was pretty awesome though. And handsome. Umm…never mind that last bit.
Anyway, back to the Flash show. It always seemed a bit silly to me. I’ll go back and check it out again, but I can’t imagine what seemed kind of cheesy to me at 12 or 13 will seem cool to me now. Never know though, I suppose.
I will say that I dug Lashley’s vision of an “Ultimate Flash” which he did for Wizard like a year or so ago. Decidedly different without being “too different.” I can’t comment much on the rest of his work though as I cannot recall ever seeing it.
Racing Towards No Information
With the announcement of Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo as the new writing team on the soon to be launched, new Flash series, you could almost see the question marks rise over the heads.
Who?
Sure, they were executive producers on The Flash television series (coincidentally just out on DVD), but who were these guys to be coming into comics from outside? Isn’t this just another case of a publisher tapping Hollywood talent for comics?
Yes…and no.
Yes, they are best known for their Hollywood film and television projects, but no, they’re not newcomers to comics, or even to writing comics.
So – just who are these guys? De Meo took the mic…
Walk fast, talk fast, say nothing at Newsarama
You want to know the most certain way to ensure that people will badmouth your product in the comic book world? Give us little to no information, but still do an interview about it. Then again, by doing so, these guys join the likes of Allan Heinberg when he did his website blitz months before Young Avengers. Of course, YA did release SOME preview images, too. Eh, I’ll still call it an “anything can happen” wash.
Although, with Viper on their resume…well, let’s just say that that show was no Knight Rider.
And in reference to the one piece of art that is provided, hmm… that does not look much like Jesse Quick or Jay Garrick, does it? Is it John Fox aka Future Flash? Or could it be…Wally? Did he “survive” #4? Or even Bart in a new costume? Things to consider/randomly guess at.
Putting the Detective Back in Detective Comics
Ask Dan Didio to explain how he came to decide on Paul Dini and Rags Morales as the new creative team for Detective Comics, and he’ll refer back to the technical term he used when describing how he picked Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco for Superman: “It was a serious no brainer.”
Though Dini’s career has taken him far and wide, for example, to working on ABC’s Lost, as well as his own comic creation, Jingle Belle, he’s probably still best known to comic fans as one of the major creative forces behind Batman: The Animated Series. The series not only revolutionized Warner Bros. animation in regards to superheroes, but is also still pointed to as one of the best interpretations of Batman to appear in any media.
Dini does it at Newsarama
Now this…this is exciting. Batman as a detective once more is great news. Although, isn’t that always what we are promised when ‘Tec gets a new creative team, “We’re going to take Batman back to his roots and since this title is called Detective, we are going to make sure we him being the Dark Knight Detective.”? The only one in recent history who achieved that was Rucka and before him was…I have no idea. I mean, I love Dixon’s ‘Tec run, but his depiction of Batman never came close to portraying him as a detective.
By the way, Detective Comics will always be ‘Tec in my heart and in my column. If that makes me old fashioned, I’m sorry. Come to terms with it.
Strange Reappearing Apparitions
Steve Englehart let fans know on his newsletter about his latest project: A Marvel Comics one-shot featuring the Black Rider and confirmed he and the rest of the creative team are working on a Dark Detective III.
It’s so dark, you best grab your flashlight before visiting The Pulse
Neat. Dark Detective II did not live up to Strange Apparitions (aka Dark Detective I), but it was not bad either. Good throwback storytelling from one of the teams that definitely “got” Batman as a character.
A Cosmic Book From a Guy Named Marz…It Makes a Certain Amount of Sense
It ain’t easy being green, or creating a new Green Lantern as writer Ron Marz found out when he first introduced Kyle Rayner over a decade ago. Now Marz is coming full circle, in a sense, by returning to scripting Rayner’s life and times in the new Ion series. Marz couldn’t spoil things about what’s coming up, but we’ve got answers to a few questions that should interest PULSE readers.
Buy your million dollars and get on the rocket at The Pulse
“Here’s an analogy I’ve made before. Hal is more like James Bond, the guy who can do it all, who’s destined to be a hero, who’s just better at everything than the rest of us. Kyle is more like the Cary Grant character in “North by Northwest,” just a regular guy who gets caught up in situation that’s way beyond his experience, and must rise to the occasion. I’m not saying one is better than the other, but as a writer, I tend to prefer ordinary people doing extraordinary things, rather than extraordinary people doing extraordinary things. There’s more inherent drama.”
I think that is a pretty great description of how I view the difference between Hal (especially Hal, post-Rebirth) and Kyle and why I tend to prefer the Kyle stories. I came into comics through Marvel and therefore tend to prefer the heroes who have a touch of clay in their feet and are “common men”. That’s not to say I don’t love DC (obviously, I do), but I think the Marvel method of hero development (everyday guy + freak occurrence + tragedy = hero) is by far my favorite.
“THE PULSE: Greg Tocchini is an exceptional artist”
It really, really bothers me when the Pulse does this. I know the purpose of these interviews is to promote a product, but don’t help the creator by editorializing in your very question.
See Also: James Hatton
Come March, Vertigo will publish Steven T. Seagle’s American Virgin, an uplifting story about a Christian youth activist who quickly finds himself immersed in the world of sexual fetishism. If that’s not a can’t-miss comic, I don’t know what is. As the author of House of Secrets, the book that first drew me into “mature readers” comics, I was very eager to get the scoop on Mr. Seagle’s latest venture, and to find out a bit more about his controversial play currently touring America.
If you do not delight in the immature insult comedy of that headline, you still might want to check out Silver Bullet Comic Books
There’s not much here, but I have to say that I am very excited (no pun intended) for this book. I am not even entirely sure why. I mean sure, how politics and faith have merged in the abstinence movement, what moves young people to make such pledges and how many of them stick to it, and Becky Cloonan art all have something to do with. But there is something all intangible that has piqued my interest in the topic as well. Hopefully, my expectations will be met.
Schrek Plays it Safe
In the first two parts of our eight-part weekly series with the Editors of the DC Universe, we’ve talked mostly about One Year Later titles. This week in part 3, we change things up a bit with a conversation with the editor who now more than any other, works outside (though not completely) of mainstream DCU continuity, Group Editor Bob Schreck.
In the following interview, Schreck discuss his one current DC Universe project (but a key one), working outside continuity and with creators like Paul Pope and Matt Wagner, an upcoming brand new ongoing series, and of course, the DC All Star titles – where they’re headed, where they’ve been, and the reaction they’ve garnered so far…
He’s not saying nothing at Newsarama
So many words, so little information. I liked that Newsarama asked some tough questions about All Star Batman and Robin though. See me answer those tough questions next week in Tim’s Tirades. You won’t want to miss it.
Sam Kieth Returns
There are some people who you interview in a very serious fashion and tone about their upcoming projects. You get the facts, key details, and other pertinent information that makes every comic fan satisfied. On the subject of the upcoming Batman Secrets, Mr. Sam Kieth is not one of those people. You’ve been warned.
Time to live life to the Maxx (ugh, I hate myself) at The Pulse
If you like Sam Kieth, you may like this interview. If you don’t, you might find it a bit…unnecessary to wade through. I’m in camp #2, so I could not tell you the first thing about it. Nice drawing of the Dark Trout though.
The Ghost of Comics Past
Long time co-creators John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake (GrimJack, Firestorm) joined forces once more in the early 90s to give a fresh treatment to a character started way back when Superman was young, the Spectre. With the fantastic art of Tom Mandrake and the rich, labyrinthine writing of John Ostrander, The Spectre series they created may well be some of the finest comic book creating the world is likely to see. Tom and John graciously agreed to re-visit their work in an interview, and what follows is the result of that discussion. So now, brave readers-enter the uncanny world of The Spectre-if you dare!
Do yourself a favor and get on the Spirit of Vengeance’s good side by asking Silver Bullet Comic Books for forgiveness.
Any time a website looks back on a great series, I like to put it here. Spectre was a top notch book throughout its run and this is a good interview about it. Read it, then pick up any issues you can find. Great stuff.
MISC.
Exclusives
Neil Googe, illustrator of the WildStorm series MAJESTIC, has signed an exclusive contract with DC Comics.
Googe is not to be confused with Google at Newsarama
TIM’S TIRADES
Now Departing: Smallville
First off, since we are chatting about Smallville, I’d be remiss in not directing you to Newsarama where they have a rather spirited and smart defense of the Smallville Lex Luthor.
And now, we begin…
If you have read this column long enough, you have no doubt noticed that I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Smallville. I find a lot of good in it: Clark’s parents, Chloe, Lex, Lionel, Clark’s acting when playing “Bad” Clark, and so on. I also find a lot of it maddening: Jonathan’s attitude towards Lex in the early seasons, Clark and Lana’s almost on-again, off-again, REALLY off-again relationship, the proliferation of kryptonite, a tendency to either draw out storylines long past their expiration date or wrap them up so quickly that the show never gets any mileage out of them. And so on. Well, all that’s come to an end. I have finally found a way to quit Smallville. I’m done, out, over it, etc.
The culprit of our dissolved relationship is last week’s 100th episode (please, read no further if you are a spoiler-sensitive person). From the promos and leaks we already knew that SOMEONE WOULD DIE duh duh duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh. The good money had it being Chloe (she does not exist in the “real” Superman universe, after all), but supposedly anyone except Clark was a possibility. Lex, Lana, the Kents, Lois Lionel (how does Lionel count as “close” to Clark? I have no idea); all could be facing the Reaper. I was hoping that Chloe would not meet her demise, but resigned to it. Provided they did it well, I could live with that choice.
But then, the most wondrous thing happened. First, the show FINALLY truly advanced the Lana/Clark relationship. Clark revealed his secret to her and asked her to marry him. I could have done without the second part, but it was a chance to see Clark press coal into diamond (not sure where the gold band came from) and I was so psyched about the first part, I figured what the heck.
The story rolls on, Lana accepts the proposal, Clark’s dad wins, and there is a party. Lana leaves early to console the drunken, depressed Lex and that goes bad. In an attempt to escape his crazed Porsche driving, Lana does not see a bus coming out of a side street and BAM. What?!!
Lana is dead?! Really?!
Yup, really. And it was excellent.
Overlooking my opinion on Lana (sooooooo bland) and her and Clark’s aforementioned waffling, the death scene was just so perfect. Lex standing, stunned. Clark not even attempting to hide his superspeed. Jonathan pulling Clark away from Lana’s corpse and trying desperately to shield him from it all. It was, dare I say, perfect. And Smallville is a show that knows how to a death scene/funeral right, so you know what kind of high compliment that is.
But then, quicker than you can say “Groundhog Day meets Final Destination” (which is, admittedly, not all that quick to say), Clark visits his resident deus ex machina, the Fortress of Solitude, and gets to live the day all over again.
Clark is careful not to reveal his secret to Lana this time and instead re-establishes the “I love you, but if I even speak anything at all, never mind my planet of origin or abilities, all will be tragic” status quo and allows Lana to re-establish her “your silence is the greatest sin on earth and I cannot bear to look at you a moment longer…until next episode” status quo. Later, when Chloe does the reasonable thing and suggests that he still tell Lana and just make sure that she’s safe after that, Clark rejects it with some vague “she’ll always be in danger” nonsense. This is even more nonsensical considering he is speaking it to Chloe who seemed to have a lot more brushing with death before she knew Clark’s secret than she does these days.
The next part of the day plays out very similarly except Lana does not die and Lois almost does. Since Lana did not die, however, Jonathan has no reason to stop and instead speeds all the way home. There he argues and tussles with Lionel then has a heart attack and dies.
So, instead of a gutsy move that would resolve why Clark and Lana do not get together, add a bit of poetic tragedy to Clark’s life, and, perhaps, provide the final breaking point of the Clark/Lex dyad, this death removes one of the stronger actors from the show and ensures that the Lana/Clark saga continue on, unabated and increasingly repetitive.
Plus, the funeral scene? Worst in Smallville’s history.
So, I’m standing out from the table and folding my hand. This show, in the eternal words of Stephen Colbert, is dead to me.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
SEVEN SOLDIERS BULLETEER #3
This book showed a definite uptick in quality between the first and second issues so I’m curious to see if this maintains the trend. Plus, Seven Soldiers is so good I cannot help but look forward to each new installment.
GOTHAM CENTRAL #40
The end of the line for this book. Considering Allen’s new status in the DCU and Montoya’s role in 52*, I am expecting big things occurring in this issue. Not big as in “universe shattering” but rather big as in “emotionally devastating for all involved.”
I can’t wait.
OPINIONS ON THE WORK OF PEOPLE FAR MORE TALENTED THAN I
BATMAN #649
Dirty trick on the cover there DC. Mahnke and Nguyen have nothing to do with this issue, ceding those responsibilities to Eric Battle and Rodney Ramos.
It is unfortunate, because story-wise, Winick has all his ducks in a row. However, the Battle/Ramos collaboration yields lumpy, overdrawn figures that undermine a lot of action in the book. Still a good effort, but with Manke/Nguyen on the scene it would have been a lot better.
VIGILANTE #5
I told you. I. Told. You. From issue #1 or 2, I’ve been saying it. I guessed the true identity of Vigilante. That pleases me as it demonstrates my GIANT brain. However, it displeases me in that it was so very obvious. Besides a smart bit of subtlety this issue (see how Vigilante and his alter ego end up with split lips), the “mystery” was never covered up particularly well. There was no real alternate choices (maybe the photographer from the first issue). There were no red herrings.
I fill say that artwise, however, I like this issue. Oliver has gotten better over the course of this mini (even with having only done three of the five issues) and the coloring really works.
Overall, however, I have to say that Jones disappoints again.
GREEN LANTERN CORPS RECHARGE #4
What the hell happened to Patrick Gleason? His work on this issue is just…awful. Sketchy, poorly laid out, and (although this is not entirely his fault) muddy. He does not even stay on model with his own work from previous issues of this mini.
Writing wise, the book is not bad, it’s just…flat. There is a lot of chaos and action going on here, but I do not feel invested in any of it. Art is part of the problem, but writing shares the blame. With the exception of Guy, no one seems to have a real personality (and Guy is getting more irritating). Also, can we please stop having Kilowog say, “Poozer” every second or third sentence. I get it, its sort of his catchphrase. Even Wolverine does not say “bub” that much in a typical month though and he appears in like 10 books.
By this issue I’ve made up my mind about the new Lantern Corps book. I’ll finish this mini (it is only one more issue, after all), but I will not be picking up the ongoing.
And that was the week in DC. Did you get it? Mmm, I hope you dug, cause I certainly dug talking about it. I dug it… a lot.
Tell me how much you dug it (for example “a lot”, “slightly less than a lot”, etc) at parallax2@juno.com or swing by the good ol’ message board. I guarantee that handsome devil Talowolf will be hanging around there, at the least.
Also, do yourself a favor and check out this column’s sister, Marvel News & Views. That James Hatton is a real cutup (in addition to being an American Virgin) and he has a ton of nice things to say about me this week.
Un Gajje. He Writes the BROTHER Column.
