Been working on a few things lately, and hopefully you’ll all be seeing them sometimes soon. I’ve had a few ideas for rambles and rants, and even a reader submitted one that I’m doing a little work on. It’s all well, fun, and good, but I did promise you guys a finale on my list from last week. Hopefully you all have noticed the lack of numberings on this one, which is supposed to indicate that this is NOT a top ten list. It’s just ten great runs on books that you should check out. And hey, never feel bad sending me mail or asking a question, I love to hear reader feedback.
That said, my AC is for some reason not working, so on to business.
Seven Soldiers of Victory
Grant Morrison
Any writer can attempt an epic story, it’s not that hard. Come up with an idea, work it out, develop it, flesh it, and during the writing process find a way to make it seem either more important than it is, or by actually increasing the importance. There is various successes, and countless failures, and every writer has their own way of doing things. Some will try and contain their story to a single run (like Ed Brubaker’s Captain America), while others will try to spread the story out amongst the line while having a strong foundation (Secret Invasion), and others still completely lose focus as things become further and further removed from the core story (Infinite Crisis). And at the end of the day, more often than not, it’s the extra writers coming in to do auxiliary books that wind up hurting the event the most; the writers who are just filling gaps as opposed to writing on the core story.
Then there’s Grant Morrison. When looking at his handling of events it’s incredibly easy to call him a control freak, as when he’s the master storyteller he micro manages nearly everything going on. I read an interview with Dan Jurgens once about DC 1,000,000, where Morrison pretty much ghost wrote the entire DC universe for a month. Jurgens talked about how he left Superman after years of working on the title because DC vetoed his 1,000,000 issue in favor of doing what Grant had originally plotted, which Jurgens found as an insult. I wouldn’t see it like that though, it was Grant having a crazy idea that he wanted to make work, and he succeeded. 1,000,000 was amazing. Let’s skip ahead to right now, Final Crisis. There aren’t a million tie-ins, just a few mini-series and a few one shots, of which Grant is handling a few personally. He’s something of a control freak, but in his case it works. When he has ideas, it’s usually best to just leave them to him to control and develop, as it would be impossible to do his ideas justice otherwise.
Take Seven Soldiers, where Grant started with a lead in issue, did seven four issue mini-series, and then wrapped it up in a final issue. He reinvented seven characters for use with his series, all of which could be shifted into the mainstream DC universe if the need arose. Of the seven, I believe the Manhattan Guardian is the only one to already be completely removed, as current events on Superman have returned Jim Harper to the DCU. Zatanna’s adventures haven’t been mentioned in her appearances since, which is quite unfortunate as Grant’s story about her was a very intriguing one featuring all sorts of zany magic.
It’s a hard book to truly explain, but it had a distinct Morrison feel to it. It was epic on its own level without needing to be acknowledged on the larger scale. Well, alright, so maybe it is being moved up to the big time…..Mr. Miracle, Shiloh Norman is in Final Crisis. Last time I saw him was…..Seven Soldiers #1.
Birds of Prey
Gail Simone
I’ll admit it, I bought this book because of the cheesecake Black Canary cover by Ed Benes. I feel better now. That said, I stuck around religiously for the rest of her run (and to this day). Simone did something that Chuck Dixon tried to varying degrees of success and made a legitimate team of female super heroes that worked under one loose organization. Sure, Babs and Dinah were the main characters. There’s no question about that. But this is the book that gave Huntress a renewed purpose, brought Lady Blackhawk out of obscurity, and gave us Black Alice.
Birds was an interesting concept, Barbra Gordon, Oracle, the original Batgirl, works from her perch in Gotham City as she routes female super heroes (pretty much only the Black Canary for a while) to do jobs. I never read the Dixon stuff, to be honest, so I’m not about to talk about it. What I did read was Dinah feeling helpless after having been beaten, broken, and handcuffed to a bed and then making it a point to better herself. Dinah trained with everyone from Batgirl, to Nightwing, to Wildcat, to Lady Shiva to better herself, and by the time that Simone eventually had to let her fly away to lead the Justice League, it wouldn’t be out of line to call Dinah one of the ten best martial artists in the DC Universe.
Her kung fu was just that awesome.
Babs also had her fair share of moments, as she continued to prove why she was one of the big brains of the DC Universe, at one point even beating Brainiac (in a fashion). She became a strong female lead, and truly found her own place in the universe, which unfortunately came at being without Dick Grayson at her side. During the craptacular War Games storyline in Batman a few years back, her homebase was destroyed and she took things mobile, giving her organization a different kind of feel for a few issues before settling in Metropolis.
Lady Blackhawk and Huntress were show stealers all their own though, as we got to experience Zinda’s old fashioned ass kicking attitude mixed with her ability to drink like a fish, as Helena did her best to figure out just what kind of hero she wanted to be at the end of the day. Black Alice was introduced and became an instant fan favorite, while later on Misfit took a little getting used to. It was a girls club, but a fun read for everyone. By the end of Gail’s run the organization went from Babs, Dinah, and Helena to virtually every female heroine in the DC Universe, Nightwing, Robin, Green Arrow, Connor Hawke, Richard Dragon, and Savant.
My regrets about Gail leaving? We’ve seen no mention of Babs being able to wiggle her toes. That’s it, Bedard has given the book an incredibly smooth transition and, while McKeever’s horrible run was brief, Bedard managed to pick the pieces back up when he returned. Maintaining the feel of Gail’s baby.
Nextwave
Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen
“Victim? Victim?! Do you think this E on my chest stands for America?!”
Warren Ellis has quite a few knacks as far as his writing is concerned, and one of them happens to be his ability to deal with the absurd in a manner that takes it over the top without completely removing you from the story. Normally when something too crazy happens it’s enough to pull you back to reality, and yet in Nextwave it’s just the message of the day. Everything the team does is absurd; from fighting the Broccoli people, to Fin Fang Foom and his giant pants,
I read this book for the first time a few weeks ago and it makes my list, which is cool and weird at the same time. It means I went in knowing about it being over, and how it probably wont ever come back because Immonen is busy doing Ultiamte Spider-Man, and that no other artist could fill in. I wasn’t buying it, there’s no such thing as an unreplaceable artist. Well, except Immonen. With this book. It’s as much a visual story as it is one you read, it’s a complete package in ways that most books can’t even get half the equation right. It’s chaotic, jumbled, edgy, and fun.
One thing that surprised me was the low number of new characters on the main cast, as with Ellis I come to expect him to use mainly original characters for the sake of doing what he wants to do. Instead we only had three; The Captain, Elsa Bloodstone, and Dirk Anger. And H.A.T.E., of course, the Highest anti-Terrorism Effort. The ones who originally formed Nextwave in the first place, who happen to be funded by the Beyond Corporation, who happen to be run by terrorist agency S.I.L.E.N.T., which is why Nextwave happens in the first place.
They fly around and fight U.W.M.D.s (Unusual Weapons of Mass Destruction), and quip. Aaron Stack needs beer, Tabitha Smith is quite possibly legally retarded trailer trash, the Captain always gets his ass kicked, oh, and don’t you ever forget that Monica Rambeau led the Avengers. If she finds out…..
The book is something that can only be done in comics. It has violence at the most extreme level without having gore. It has people blowing up for no apparent reason, and giant lizards trying to throw people in their pants. Hell, I’m pretty sure I saw a dinosaur wearing a Cyclops visor and a bunch of monkeys with Wolverine masks and claws. Its utter insanity and I fucking love it.
*So after finishing this I found out that Elsa actually did have her own book and wasn’t new, but I’m not going to change it because I’m honestly wondering how many other people thought she was a new Ellis creation after reading this*
The Flash
Geoff Johns
I remember growing up around comics everyone talked about Mark Waid’s Flash like it was the best thing ever, but I couldn’t really get into it. Once I started reading comics again, I hopped on to Flash at number, I want to guess, 194, an issue where this new Rogue named Peek-A-Boo was trying to save her dad. I didn’t really care, to be honest, but the ending of the issue had this guy named Hunter Zoloman, who I’d never heard of, trying to use the cosmic treadmill and blowing up the Flash museum. It was cool, so I stuck around. Five issues later Blitz had reached it’s conclusion, and I started picking up back trades.
The first of which was the Return of Barry Allen, the pinnacle of the Waid run, and I loved it. Oddly enough though, I went right from there to Blood Will Run, Rogues, and Crossfire. I got myself caught up on the current stuff in time for Ignition to wrap up and the book to find it’s way into the bottom of my stack every week.
Wait, the bottom? Maybe I should explain that, I organize my books in an incredibly OCD manner for reading lists, and I tend to build from the most “Meh” of the week to the “OMG!” of the week. So the bottom is the best.
Johns made Keystone City live and breathe in a way that most writers can’t do with cities. Metropolis and Gotham have personalities, but then again, when you use the same locale for seventy years it tends to get developed a bit. In fact, the most recent example I can come up with for a writer doing this sort of thing with a city for the hero is James Robinson with Starman, but that’s a league all of its own.
Johns showed us a love for the characters in the book, from the minor little supporting cast, to the entire extended Flash family (he brought Iris out of seclusion), but especially the bad guys. Captain Cold was the star of the run, hands down. A month or so ago I did my top villains list, and Cold was near the top. That’s because of Johns.
When Rogue War hit the stands, those of us who read the book knew that Johns was leaving when it was done, and quite a few of us were relieved at the knowledge of the looming cancellation. Sure I loved the book, but how could you follow what Johns had accomplished? Simple, they couldn’t, and the series went out with a whimper.
But not without Johns giving us quite a few very important plot elements. We had a new set of Rogues, the only Rogues. Wally and Linda had their twins. Hunter was still Zoom, and he was still out there. And Barry? Barry got to help Wally in his time of need, again, with a promise that we’d see him again.
And now Johns has just finished the amazing Rogues Revenge mini-series, and is writing the upcoming Flash: Rebirth.
This man was born to write the Flash.
The New Frontier
Darwyn Cooke
I can’t tell you what was going through my mind when I bought New Frontier #1 back during my freshman year of college. I was strapped for cash, already buying too many comics, and I hated Hal Jordan. And yet, I find this oversized book by a writer I wasn’t at the time familiar with, way more expensive then I wanted to deal with, and I walked out of the store with it. I went back to my dorm, read it three times in a row (skipped a class for it, seriously), and decided that I needed the next issue.
For those who aren’t familiar with it, The New Frontier is the telling of the DC Universe as it would have been had every character debuted during their chronological debut. That means that Hal Jordan fought in Korea, and gets his ring in the late 50’s. We see Barry struck by lightning in 57, and Superman and Wonder Woman working for the government. It’s not just about the main heroes though (though the story can easily be called Hal Jordan’s origin), but it tries to reflect the entire time in American society.
J’onn J’onnz comes to Earth by accident and is forced to acclimate himself to the society, which he does through TV (in a wonderful series of panels), eventually deciding to be a police detective simply because of how he sees them on the TV. The Batman is a dark and mysterious vigilante who publicly beat down Superman, and he maintains his bad ass aura by pointing out to J’onn later on that all he needs to beat him is two cents for some matches. Hardcore.
The most heart wrenching story though is the one of John Henry, a black man in the south. The Ku Klux Klan came through and hung him, then burned his house to the ground killing his wife and daughter. Thing is, the noose snapped and John didn’t die, he just layed there helpless as he watched his life burn to the ground. He put on a hangman’s hood, got himself some hammers, and took his fight to the White Supremecists of the south. He was the scourge of the KKK, busting their heads in wherever he went, until one night they shot him, and as he tried to climb to safety he sees a little white girl and asks her for help, only for……I can’t spoil it.
It’s a gripping and motivating tale, one that was recently (fine, last year) translated to an animated DVD. The movie doesn’t retain a lot of the smaller stories (like John Henry, the Challengers of the Unknown, or the proper use of Task Force X), but it does have NPH himself, Neil Patrick Harris, voicing Barry Allen. Actually, it’s a really good flick, but treat yourself to the original book and witness a true labor of love. Darwyn Cooke went out of his way to do this, handling the writing and art himself, and it’s by far one of the best things he will ever do, and if he were to go down remembered for this, well, it would be a great legacy to leave behind.
Well, I don’t know, but I’ve been told, you never slow down, you never grow old. I’m tired of screwin’ up, tired of going down, tired of myself, tired of this town. Oh, my, my. Oh hell yes. Honey, put on that party dress. Buy me a drink, sing me a song. Take me as I come ’cause I can’t stay long.
Of the most important rambling, having just watched it three times, I just want to say one word about the Entourage finale.
Wow.
I’ve been sitting back all season just watching and waiting for something positive to happen. I’ve shot called almost everything, from Eric being more successful than ever, to Vince being unable to do anything right, to Turtle finally getting a girl, hell, I even took one look at webcam Drama and said “He’s going to blow up on camera”. It was cookie cutter, I was unimpressed, and the show had no really good happy moments (the exception being Ari for studio head, which I also called as going to Dana Gordon), So season finale rolls around and I’m not excited, but by the time it was over? Just wow. Amazing episode and I just wish the next season was next week!
And how about Dexter? The stuff with Miguel I also called months ago, but damn it, that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it! This is the best show on TV, and with only like three episodes left, you know things are going to explode in a big way.
There was something about Uncanny this week that I liked, and it wasn’t the story (sadly). It was opening the book and getting the refreshing original pencils of Terry Dodson, and not feeling like I was flipping through a clipbook of recolored and reused Land art. This book needs more real artists.
Anybody remember a few months back when I reviewed the Layla Miller one shot and said that the artist should be on X-Factor full time? I got my wish!
Invincible did the best sex scene ever part two, where Mark gets ready to do the deed and the story cuts across the universe to give us a thrilling adventure of Allen the Alien! This is the only book I know about a single title-centric character that doesn’t lose any steam in an issue where the main character only appears on three pages. Oddly enough, this is the kind of book that takes that moment and uses it to do more with a long term ongoing plot then has been done in the past year. On time in 09!
Deadpool is a must read for a single moment. His comfortable chair made out of plastic explosives.
Death of the Invisible Woman was pretty much cookie cutter, as anyone who’d read the arc could probably figure out how things were going to go and that the modern Sue Richards wasn’t dying anytime soon. After all, had she died then it would reveal that this entire future deal is an alternate reality, and since Millar is doing two future stories right now that seem to somewhat acknowledge each other (so I’ve been told, not reading Old Man Logan), it’s a good little touch.
I liked the Magog one shot quite a bit, but than again, Tomasi. This was, I think, the first time David Reid was given more then a handful of pages to gain some character since his debut, so it was long overdue. Thankfully it was well done, and we were given some nice back-story on him while also seeing the marine in him come back out. The ending visual of him in the river cleaning the blood off of his armor was a blatant bit of symbolism, but I still enjoyed it. The Starman back up was also fun, then again, I love Thom Kallor.
Red Robin was revealed in Robin this week and….I have no idea who he is. Apparently Robin knows, but I don’t. Not sure I care either. This book has been slipping majorly lately, and it really feels like Fabian is just trying to keep it afloat until it ends in a few months. Sad really, that this book is going to most likely go out on a whimper.
X-Men Legacy gave us the reveal that Ms. Sinister technically is Mr. Sinister in his “daughters” body, which just makes the scene of Daken making out with her that much creepier.
What I read this week:
- Brave and the Bold
- JSA Kingdom Come Special: Magog
- Robin
- Supergirl
- Tangent: Superman’s Reign
- Invincible
- Deadpool
- Fantastic Four
- Punisher War Journal
- Thunderbolts
- Uncanny X-Men
- X-Factor
- X-Men: Legacy
Best of the week:
- Invincible
- Magog
- X-Factor
The Gold Standard
