Thunderdog.

Tuesday 10: Top 10 Superhero Origins

Comics flow through a marketplace so fickle and so resistant to innovation that getting off on the right foot is damn near essential to any sort of success. While certain comics have been able to overcome a non-descript opening story (Daredevil came to mind while breaking out this list), today we tip our hats to these ten, who have made it particularly easy for subsequent writers to show us something worth reading each month, some of them for decades. In no particular order:

Oracle. “Babs” Gordon’s transformation from the “cute if not especially interesting” Batgirl into the “sexy in a Hot Librarian way and far, far more useful and interesting” Oracle was rooted in one of the seminal Batman stories of the last 20 years, Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s The Killing Joke. The sequence where the Joker inflicted the genesis for this change on her might have been sickening to behold, but the worst thing to ever happen to the character has also proven to be the best thing to happen to her from a storytelling perspective. And while we’ve been given a couple of (mostly well done) “it sucks to be in a wheelchair” moments, they’ve been few and far between and outnumbered by page after page of just how little of Barbara Gordon’s heroism was wearing that cowl.

Spider-Man. Spidey’s origin works so well less for its details — though those work, too — but for its thematic significance. The phrase “with great power comes great responsibility” is now so well-known and so associated with Spider-Man that it’s taken on its own life, used for other non-Spidery purposes — though if you search Wikipedia for “with great power comes great responsibility,” you get redirected right back to the entry for Spider-Man.

Preacher. When most preachers recount their experience “finding God,” doesn’t it always seem more like God found them? Garth Ennis thought so and gave us a fresher, more accurate use of the phrase. By hitting drunkard and reluctant man of the cloth Jesse Custer in the mouth with Heaven’s dirty little secret angel-demon baby, Ennis set Custer on a far more literal “finding God” story. (Now that I think about it, we could probably have included Preacher’s Saint of Killers and Herr Starr on this list as well.)

Captain America. If loving this tale of one man so patriotic and devoted that he gave up polio for his country means I actually love propaganda, then you can go ahead and sell me the “I <3 Propaganda” t-shirt today. Seriously though, the same basic Cap ideal (One man is Superman, the living embodiment of all that is Good and Right about America, and at the same time Everyman) that thrilled millions in the 40’s has managed to sustain an ongoing comic series for nearly a year and a half (and counting) without him in it.

Superman. Not only does Superman’s origin hold up — and has been used as the basis for the origins of plenty of other heroes, both literally and metaphorically — it’s also a powerful metaphor for the American Jewish experience in the early part of the 20th century. So says Michael Chabon, and I believe him.

Batman. This story’s so good, so primal, that the many, many interpretations of “Which one’s the mask: Bruce Wayne or Batman?” and “What’s Batman’s mission?” — not to mention the many interpretations of Batman himself — have only made the core origin better. Unlike the origins for most superheroes with actual superpowers, Batman’s beginnings resonate because it’s easy for us to imagine ourselves and our reactions to a similar situation. Batman’s the ultimate DIY story.

The Fantastic Four. So sixties “bad science,” it’s almost “good science.” Who knew “cosmic rays” could be so flexible in their application?

Jewel. Teenaged Jessica Jones was about to tell nerdy Peter Parker how she loves him for him — only to get interrupted by a freak accident involving a radioactive spider. Then she gets into a freak accident of her own involving a truck of radioactive chemicals (a bit of origin detail stolen directly from Daredevil’s) which kills the rest of her family. She goes comatose, only to awaken when Galactus sets foot on Earth for the first time and the Silver Surfer flies by her window. You wouldn’t think a casserole of metacomic wink-wink would read that well, but it damn sure does. J.J. might actually be a character created this century that actually sticks around for awhile. If she’s not a Skrull.

Cyclops. OK, yes, mutant — that part’s not especially memorable at this point (though to be fair, Cyke was one of the original five X-Men, making him one of the first official Marvel mutants). But having young Scott Summers’ father shove Scott and his little brother out of a malfunctioning airplane, only to have the parachute strapped to Scott’s back catch fire, leading to a high-velocity crash into a forest, leading to massive head trauma for Scott (largely because Scott was protecting his brother from the impact), thereby causing him not to have any control over the optic blasts he develops when his mutant genes kick in as a teenager? Yeah, that’s an origin.

Iron Man. While Tony Stark’s unfortunately suffering from a bit of the “timeslide” too common to characters whose origins are rooted too deeply in a certain era (like the Punisher, Stark’s story was originally rooted in the Vietnam conflict), the basic details of his origin (war profiteer/inventor kidnapped, injured, builds super-powered armor for survival/escape) have stood up to time well, as the recent blockbuster flick displayed so well.

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Review: Astonishing X-Men #25

Astonishing X-Men #25 might be the twenty-fifth issue of this series (twenty-sixth if you could the Giant-Size issue), but for all practical purposes, it might as well be the first. This issue serves as a fresh introduction to largely the same cast we’ve been reading about previously — though the issue contains almost no action whatsoever, it manages to move along quickly and provide plenty of necessary character and plot information in an entertaining — frequently hilarious — way.

One advance reviewer claimed that the characters’ voices don’t sound the way they did during Whedon’s issues. And that’s true enough, I suppose, though of course it’s to be expected with the change in writers – Whedon and Ellis have very different writerly voices. They don’t sound like Whedon’s writing them. They sound like Ellis is writing them. The important thing, though, is that their underlying personalities and motivations are fundamentally the same. Anyone who’s been reading the previous issues of this series won’t feel like they’ve been dropped into an entirely new batch of characters.

What has changed is the title’s overall feel and direction. Unsurprisingly, given Ellis’ involvement and his noted disdain for superheroes, the book feels a little less superhero-y and a little more science hero-y and more than a little more detective-y. But he’s also not forsaking the superhero motifs, either, and in fact plays them up and riffs on them several times, especially where costumes and code names are concerned.

Simone Bianchi’s artwork, while beautifully rendered, is too murky and difficult to read. Bianchi seems as to come at page layout strictly from a design point of view and not so much from a storytelling one. I’d rather he stuck to covers and design work (though if I were an artist on one of the other X-books now forced to draw these overly intricate costume designs, I’d be cursing Bianchi’s name at the drawing board). While the Whedon-to-Warren transition wasn’t especially jarring, going from John Cassady’s clean lines to Bianchi’s heavily textured work truly makes this issue feel like the launch of an entirely new series rather than a continuation of the previous one.

So far, I’m most enjoying Ellis’ take on Hisako, the young X-Man who, in shades of early-80’s Kitty Pryde-Sprite-Ariel-Shadowcat, doesn’t like her code name (”Armor”) [1]. Hisako’s very much an updated version of Kitty, though she’s a little savvier and more confident of her place in the X-world at this point than Kitty was early on – I’d imagine having already survived her first offworld adventure as an X-Man would give her a substantial confidence boost. She has no problem standing up to her older teammates, and interestingly enough, seems to have a relationship with Emma Frost which is exactly 180 degrees from the one Emma and Kitty had.

(Also: it’s nice to have Storm back in an X-book, where she belongs.)

If you enjoyed Whedon’s run on this book, you’ll still find plenty here to enjoy, even if the flavor is a bit different. If you’ve enjoyed pretty much any of Ellis’ mainstream superhero work, you’ll find plenty of Ellisian bits here to make you happy.

GRADE: A-

[1] Ellis seems to be setting up something to do with names and naming in this issue and I’m curious to see where’s going with it; it’s not the kind of thing he tends to do by accident.

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Obviously, I [Galactus] Other Things, Too.

Presenting the Greatest T-Shirt In The Habitated World:

From R. Stevens, mastermind/provacateur at Diesel Sweeties. (Note that the link doesn’t take you directly to the shirts. That’s the plan–don’t go straight to the shirts, read the comics, which are mighty fine.)

Getting this in the mail today drained nearly all the heat from the burning glare I’ve sported since I was told, “We sold out of Astonishing X-Men #25 in 20 minutes.”

UPDATE! Totally forgot he threw this in for free, in convenient sticker form:

Posted in Miscellaneous, Webcomics, links | 1 Comment »

Tuesday 10: Cuckoo for Comic Books!

Batman (arguably) places higher on the fanboy scale than Superman^[1], but why? If comics specialize in wish fufillment and escapism, you can’t get granted a much cooler wish than being bulletproof and able to fly, agreed?

Thing is, once you get beyond the first few pages of a Superman story, you know (or at least are reasonably sure) you’re never gonna fly your girlfriend to the Eiffel Tower, in your own arms anyway. Sure, he looks like you and me, has a real job and a wife and adoptive parents and that outsider subtext, but as a reader you never fully accept him as “like us”.

Batman’s another story. He is, for all his abilities and talents, only human. And that’s why we like Batman better. At the end of the day, he’s closer to us, and we like to feel like we have something in common with a hero. But it’s not just Batman readers can relate to. Many of us here in the real world have more in common with comic books than we think or care to admit.

They say art imitates life. And sometimes, comics imitate crazy. Here’s ten examples of ways we can all be like funnybooks, as usual in no particular order. And if you have three or more of these, you’re not mentally ill. You are, in fact, Batman.

1. Alcoholism/Chemical Dependency -
Oh yeah, the suit’s cool and all, but Marvel didn’t sell tons of comics or cast Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark because the Iron Man suit is that cool. Ms. Marvel lost a prestigious job because she liked to get loaded. On the other side, DC loves to put a monkey on its bad guys’ backs, with Bane hooked on steroids (since cleaned up, I believe) and Mirror Master actually using his powers to be inside a mirror, the better to snort a line from the other side.

2. Schizophrenia -
Again, Marvel loves to put the mental screws to its heroes, while DC has a separate cottage industry in nutjob villains (Arkham Asylum, anybody?): Marvel’s Sentry has this particular affliction bad, leading most of his writers to bring it up way more than they should. Just because he’s got two or three personalities doesn’t earn him three times the space in Mighty Avengers, okay? DC trots out Rose and Thorn, Dr. Polaris, The Ventiloquist, The Mad Hatter, and yes, Two-Face.

3. Stockholm Syndrome-

Y’know, where someone who’s kidnapped, a hostage, or a prisoner begins to sympathize or otherwise feel warmly towards their captor? Robin, take a bow. We don’t care which one.

4. Pyrophobia-

J’onn J’onzz, rest in peace. Captain Ultra, you get to carry the torch now. (Let it sit for just another moment… wait… not yet…okay, that was bad.)

ADDENDUM: Just realized most of you might not actually have read the above from Fantastic Four #177, in which Captain Ultra auditions for the Frightful Four (who do run into the Human Torch from time to time) IN THE BAXTER BUILDING.

 5. Sex Addiction -

The best of examples of this are probably on the hero side of the ledger (because bad guys with names like the Shocker just aren’t going to get that much action): Oliver Queen can’t seem to keep the Horndog Arrow in the quiver and routinely screws up his life, a common result of sex addiction. Batman? For somebody who “works alone”, he’s certainly gets busy, hooking up with one arch enemy and actually impregnating another foe’s daughter.

6. Claustrophobia

Um… Storm still suffers from it, I guess. This one’s not nearly as common in comics as the real world, as far as we know. But hey, these people operate in giant cities or huge mansions or even outer space, so maybe the situation never comes up. I just thought it was cool and dramatic and surprising in the early days of the Claremont/Cockrum X-Men.

7. Napoleon Complex -

Again with the DC villains and Marvel Heroes: Dr. Psycho has been a much better (and dangerous) character since DC started playing up the doctor’s overcompensation. On the Marvel end, I gotta think Hank Pym was operating under a fog of this Little Man Syndrome early in his career. After all, he only lasted one issue of Avengers as Ant-Man(with the Hulk, Thor, and Iron Man), before he had to do a 180 on day two, showing up as “Giant Man”.

8. Chiroptophobia -

Gotham City wouldn’t have been living in fear of bats for going on 60 years if this wasn’t cool. Anybody can be afraid of heights.

9. Megalomania/Delusions of Grandeur -

Pretty common in villainy across the board, but Lex Luthor and Victor Von Doom rewrite the texts nearly every year. (Except for Doom getting all street on Ms. Marvel in Mighty Avengers a few months back. That’s a whole other maladjustment that’s not on the list.) And give both publishers credit–both are the most enduring foes of their first superheroes, and neither has ever been a copy or caricature of the other, despite having similar motivations.

10. Fregoli Delusion

Not common at all, in either our world or the capes-n-tights one, but it does exist. Primarily so I could toss this image in. And the comic underneath this cover’s pretty bad-ass as well.

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[1]I say arguably, but how many more Batman stories do you find in most fans’ top 20 list of all time comics than Superman stories? I rest my case.

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Review: WALL-E

For all of the usual Pixar brand of amazing technical virtuosity on display in WALL-E (and believe me, there’s plenty of it), it’s the wonderful characterization which makes the movie such a joy to watch. That director Andrew Stanton and his wizards at Pixar were able to draw such well-developed characters with such little dialogue is testament to the skill of their animation and story departments. I have trouble imagining a more human movie about robots.

If you’ve seen director Stanton’s previous masterpiece, Finding Nemo — and really, if you haven’t by now, you really should — that depth of character won’t surprise you in the least. WALL-E himself shows himself to be one of the more appealing leads of any of the Pixar films; on retrospect, this big-hearted, curious, noble, romantic little waste-collection robot is probably the most likable lead Pixar’s ever created. All of the film’s robot characters have distinct, well-crafted personalities, and almost none of them have much dialogue to speak of (pun intended). I think WALL-E and Eve spoke ten different words between them, yet there was never any problem communicating with each other or with the audience.

During the early parts of the movie, the audience is expected to piece together for themselves what happened to Earth, but once the setting changes, the Kid Gloves of Subtlety come off in favor of the Brass Knuckles of In Your Face. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; the less-subtle bits also provided a good deal of the movie’s comic relief. WALL-E might be a love story between two robots, but it also falls cleanly in the Science Fiction Film With a Message mold. The same segments of the population which allowed themselves to get lathered up about the environmental message in Happy Feet will be thoroughly pissed off by WALL-E, which amplifies the green message and throws in several helpings of condemnation of our consumerist society to boot. The two other main themes I took from the movie — Open Your Eyes to the World Around You and Follow Your Own Directive — likely won’t go over any better with the crowd who’d be upset with the Take Care of the Planet one. But I think all of these points are valid ones to teach our kids (and adults). More than valid, really. Essential.

Anyway , it’s nice to see that Pixar has next year’s Best Animated Feature Oscar wrapped up early. One critic mentioned that he thought WALL-E could be up for Best Picture, but now that the Academy Awards have a separate animation category, I’m not sure any animated flick will ever get a Best Picture nomination again. I’ll be curious to see if it gets a Best Original Screenplay nomination for Andrew Stanton, especially given the paucity of dialogue; my suspicion is not, though my hope is yes. I guess we’ll find out in February.

Grade: A.

(Related side note: the short feature before the movie is one of the best they’ve done yet. Hysterical, and also dialogue-free, as most of their shorts are. Do not arrive to the movie late.)

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Equal Tim(e) For Marvel: Secret Invasion So Far, New Avengers #42 and Mighty Avengers #15

It’s fairly obvious from my reviews that I’m the least studious and analytical^[1] of the Thunderdog stable of writers (all three of us), but I am trying to get a little better at the critical review, especially when discussing DC and Marvel’s duelling Big Thingies.

(See? I’m getting better already.)

Despite Marvel’s efforts to keep it low-key by only releasing 244 books last week, we did notice that Secret Invasion snuck up on the halfway mark (with the actual mini-series midpoint #4 out July 9th), and felt Marvel could maybe use a hand in spreading the word on the internet. Especially after we couldn’t shut up about the competition’s Final Crisis last Thursday.

(By the way: here’s the part where we warn, “So yeah, there might be a spoiler or two below. Proceed with caution, Person Who’s Read A Little Far Into A Secret Invasion Review Expecting To See Nothing About Secret Invasion“.)

This spring arrived as the Invasion began losing some layers of its Secret, and Marvel posed the one question haunting the Marvel Universe: Who Do You Trust? We’re four months in now, and I’d say the series and its tie-ins are raising still more questions, and at a much faster rate than they’re answering them. I’m not ready to let the ever-filling pool of mysteries drive me to complain…yet. Given his track record, there’s every reason to believe SI architect Brian Michael Bendis will give us not just resolutions, but satisfying ones as well.

I’d love to be able to post concise reviews for New Avengers #42 and Mighty Avengers #15. I wish I could close here by assuring you that both comics are informative without being too heavy on the exposition and add much to the SI tale without being overly indispensable. I’d be happy to end the review with simple praise for the lovely art provided by Jim Cheung and John Romita, Jr., because it is indeed lovely. But I can’t sign off yet, because of the whole “boatload of new questions” thing.

Both Mighty and New Avengers continue revisiting previously established events (though, strangely, the previous issues of each title ended on “To Be Continued” present-day moments, neither of which is picked up this month) and shed more light on the infiltration before the actual Secret Invasion, mostly from the Skrulls point of view. This month, we get to learn an awful lot about the when and how Hank Pym and Jessica Drew got “Skrullswapped”. And with these new tidbits, confirmations and revelations, we also get a fresh batch of questions, sometimes with a side order of slight confusion. Here’s the five biggest on the plate for me tonight:

1. In Secret Invasion #3, why is the SHIELD Helicarrier now adrift in the Bermuda Triangle?

Yeah, hopefully this will get answered in Secret Invasion #4 or elsewhere^[2], but… huh? I’m no physicist, and I’m not a huge fan of forcing comics to adhere to The Book-Learned Science, but I doubt the Helicarrier’s got much gliding potential. Certainly not enough to carry it from a couple miles above NYC (where it began its powerless descent in SI #1) to the central Atlantic Ocean.

2. How and when do all these events and reveals and Skrullswaps fit together?

I hope Bendis’ reach isn’t exceeding his grasp the further we go, as many of these overlapping plot points were in fact his doing. Following these two newest updates to whatever passes for timeline and continuity through last week, my baby headache has now reached toddler stage trying to reconcile these, for instance:^[3]

Spider-Woman (since revealed as a Skrull) delivering dead Skrullektra to Tony Stark (after the Ultron arc in Mighty Avengers

Tony showing said corpse to his Illuminati (including, prominently, Reed Richards) , then discovering that Black Bolt is actually a Skrull in disguise. Oh, and then they’re attacked by a bunch of Super Skrulls.

The opening pages of Secret Invasion #1, where Reed Richards (obviously the real deal given that book’s ending) acts like this is the first time he’s seen Skrullektra or heard of any sort of Skrull swapping, much less that Skrulls are now undetectable by current methods.

Is Bendis simply trying to retcon/erase a book (Illuminati #5) he just did eight months ago? Or does Reed have short-term memory issues these days?

3. Speaking of Black Bolt… What the hell happened to the humans/Inhumans that were switched out?

My first instinct was that the Skrulls are at war with Earth, and might have some sort of Intergalactic Geneva Convention to adhere to, but there seems to have been a little too much collateral damage involving civilians, and a little too much zeal on the part of the invaders to kill those who oppose them. So should we be flying the flags at half-mast for Electra, Jarvis, Dum Dum Dugan, Jessica Drew, Hank Pym and Black Bolt? For that matter, within 5 seconds of the end of Illuminati #5, why wasn’t any remaining member of the Illuminati (and I realize they stated that the trust issues precluded any of them from working together anymore) on Def Con 4 and at least trying to find out if Black Bolt was alive somewhere?

4. Like DC, why does Marvel even bother with age ratings on their comics?

This is directly related to last week’s books: Both featured a slightly off-putting display of the “pretty much naked” ladies, with Mighty Avengers (and John Romita, Jr.) going a bit further, adding a suggestive serving of ice cream to an already crowded post-coital bed of Hank Pym and a lady who wasn’t his wife. Just like Allen, I’m no prude and certainly wasn’t offended or necessarily even jarred from the tale at hand. But, these comics were indeed both rated “A” (which I’m assuming doesn’t mean “Allen’s gonna shake his head at this one”), so Marvel either needs to pay more attention or admit they don’t pay any and shut off the ratings altogether.

5. Can we really translate the Skrulls’ dialogue?

Nope, doesn’t look like it. So far, it’s been consistent inside single issues, but try and compare, say, Secret Invasion #3 to these current Mighty Avengers and New Avengers (MA and NA have long sections that are helpfully subtitled); they’re not sharing the same “letters” at all. When did Marvel start underestimating our geeky need to learn a new fictional language? If Marvel’s going to assume all their readers are grown ups (see previous question), then maybe expect us to spot this kind of thing pretty easily and give your letterers a little help. It’s only 26 characters, fellas.

________________
[1]I’m also the least discriminating–I bought three issues of Salvation Run before deciding it was actually neither awesome nor anything approaching it.

[2]And maybe it already has been; Again, we don’t buy every comic (read: most comics) out there, so feel free to let us know if any of our current queries have been addressed. Quoth the D: “That’s fucking teamwork.”

[3]This post is already way too long, so I’m shelving my “Hank Pym in Civil War” related questions ’til I dig out the last two issues of that miniseries.

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RIP Michael Turner (1971-2008)

Hanging on the wall of my office is an Identity Crisis poster my wife got me for Father’s Day a few years ago. It features the art from the cover of issue #1 — and it’s signed by artist Michael Turner. The poster also came with a photo of him signing it (or one much like it, I suppose). My children look at it all the time and like to rattle off the names of the characters on it.

Rest well, Michael Turner. From what little was made public about your health, I know it was a hard battle for the last few years. Thirty-seven is far, far, far too young.

Posted in Miscellaneous, links | 1 Comment »

Tag-Team Review: Final Crisis #2

Tim: Unlike any other previous miniseries or even regular story arc, I’ve decided to read the entire series as a whole each time a new issue comes out. Sure, my comic-buying process required me to immediately read the latest installment over Chinese on New Comics Day, but I did read both issues together last night, the better to feel the rhythm of the work. I think I got more out of Final Crisis this way, and will continue until further notice.

First thing I noticed under the new method? The art, while solid in #1, was stunning in #2.

Allen: As much as I enjoyed this issue, I’m still wondering where, exactly, Morrison’s going with this story. We’re two issues into a seven-issue series with the word “crisis” in the title, implying some sort of multiversal shakeup, and the multiverse is, so far, just a bit part of one of the storylines weaving through the series. I have every faith that Morrison has something planned, but these first two issues have really all been setup. And I have a feeling that #3 will also be setup for The Big Stuff which will start going down in #4.

T: I don’t know… I’d say “RUN!” was a pretty charged way to end part two and send us hurtling into part three. Yeah, there’s some continuing setup, but the mood that goes along with that (creepy and dire) is right on for me. And the pace is a little quicker in #2, as it should have been if he’s giving us some kind of “full on, no bull&@%& twilight of the gods” in #3. The question: is there a story being told in Final Crisis so far, or is it just A Repository of Hints? I side with “story”, though the extended caveman bit in #1 has to be some kind of treasure chest of clues, right? That’s the only explanation I see for how long that dragged out. And the 4th-wall-breaking opening page to FC #2 is probably more informative than my lazy butt’s willing to discover.

A: This seems like it would be a good time to break in tell our readers to go check out Douglas Wolk’s Final Crisis Annotations — he had the first batch of annotations for #2 up by yesterday afternoon, and he has some really good stuff on there I certainly didn’t catch.

T: Good stuff I didn’t catch? For me, that was Sonny Sumo. Had no idea he was a Kirby 4th World creation. Didn’t care that I didn’t know and I enjoyed his appearance anyway (the half-finished heart transplant that skeeved us out a little notwithstanding).

A: I can’t believe I didn’t catch the reference to Flash #163 on the first page. And I know you didn’t, either, based on what you said above.

T: Totally missed that. And it does bolster your point about the added benefit to looking for that kind of Easter egg. I just have a harder time reading anything from that point of view at the same time I’m trying to absorb surface-level action-n-talkin’. If I do analyze a comic like FC in more depth, I’m usually more jazzed when I see something that charges the atmosphere or emphasizes What’s Going On (the Human Flame’s getting video of Libra and of J’onn’s execution on a “DAMRUNG” phone, for example) than I am at some quarter-inch billboard in the background of page 2, panel 4 telling you What’s Going to Happen In the End.

Which makes me ask: should the reader really have to embark on some panel-by-panel dissection of Final Crisis? Should they even want to? Is there that much caché in guessing the Shocker before it happens in print? In knowing exactly who all these characters are? These are Grant Morrison comics, not M. Night Shyamalan movies.

A: I don’t think they have to, but I think it’s rewarding that they can. The fact that Morrison has clearly put a lot of thought into what’s going on and tried to load it down with symbolism and foreshadowing adds to that feeling that this story is something Epic and Important. It’s part of what makes reading Watchmen so rewarding (not that I’m saying this series is on the level of Watchmen, mind you) — I’ve read Watchmen seven times and I’m still catching bits I had never noticed before. It’s nice to see the creators taking their work so seriously.

Also, you certainly nailed the “mood” part. Creepy and dire it is — there’s definitely a feeling that we’re building up to something Big and Unspeakably Evil. I still have the feeling that the “multiversal upheaval” is going to require a rebuilding of the universe(s) after Evil destroys all of the good, including killing all or most of the DCU’s heroes. (Which could mean that the characters who implicitly died in the issues, and J’onn J’onzz in the last, could be Actually Really Dead yet still be back good as new when this series is done.)

But if that hypothesis is even in the right ballpark — that this series will result in some kind of redesigned or rebuilt DCU, whatever form that takes — well, it certainly seems like none of the rest of the DCU books are playing along right now, doesn’t it? It doesn’t feel like the books in the rest of the line are building toward any sort of apocalyptic (or Apokoliptic?) death-and-rebirth. Seems like the creators many of the books have long-term plans which don’t involve the Cosmic Reset Button. And if Morrison is going to be rebooting the DCU (in whatever form that takes), shouldn’t the rest of the line be playing along? (Though with what we’ve seen of DC editorial over the last few months, it’s likely not safe to assume that there would be any interoffice editorial communication.)

T: Is Morrison’s Batman R.I.P. even one of the threads to be woven into FC? Doesn’t read like it.

A: I agree — it’s just about the only book which we’ve been told is pretty directly Final Crisis-related… but so far, I’m having trouble seeing how. Given the high-concept pitches of both series, I don’t know how they’re going to be part of the same story, though given that Morrison’s writing both, I’m sure he’s up to something.

It’s inevitable that we stack up what’s gone on here so far against Marvel’s own summer megalith, Secret Invasion (a series we’ve talked about surprisingly little on this site so far). Compare and contrast the Final Crisis arc thus far to Secret Invasion’s: SI might have jumped right into the Big Action more quickly, but Big Action happened in #1 which hasn’t been even referenced again in the main series — for instance, opening the Negative Zone inside the Baxter Building. I don’t think that’s going to be an issue with Final Crisis. I think we’ll get some serious payoff for what’s been set up already. If FC is Batman Begins — more thoughful, leisurely-paced — then SI is Transformers, bigger and louder and punchier. Both have their place, but I think FC will wind up feeling more cohesive and, ultimately, satisfying.

T: Except Michael Bay didn’t make you go watch Iron Man to see how we got from Point A to Point B in Transformers. (Or more accurately, Transformers didn’t have an intermission during which you really should go to the lobby to watch these Mighty Transformers and New Transformers DVD’s.) I think both Big Events will satisfy in different ways, as you say.

A: A digression: at what point, exactly, did the comics industry decide to give up the pretense that we were expecting kids to be reading comics? Not that this topic is specific to FC #2 (and not that it’s the first time I’ve talked about it), but it occurred to me while reading it — the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, which was to DC 1985 what Final Crisis is to DC 2008, didn’t have a freshly-ripped-from-its-owner’s-chest heart in a bar glass. It also certainly didn’t feature the word “asshole” — the strongest cursing you got in mainstream comics back then was an occasional “hell” or “damn,” and Marvel wouldn’t even use those. It’s not that I have a problem with either element on their own — I mean, c’mon, Preacher is one of my favorite comics ever. But Preacher is clearly marked NOT FOR KIDS. Final Crisis is DC’s flagship event for the summer, kids are going to be reading it, and I think maybe a little more editorial control and forethought could’ve gone into those elements of the story.

T: “Asshole,” while character- appropriate, really took me out of the scene. There was an awful lot of @!$&#$ being used, so why let that one blue word go? It sucked all the coolness out of “…give you brain damage with a toilet seat!”

A: My thought exactly — it would’ve taken nothing from the story to throw a “@!$&#$” in there instead.

T: So do you want to talk about some of the happenings this issue? To me, that Libra “co-plot” (not really a subplot, not quite the main thrust) needs to do something different or just more in #3. It hasn’t strayed too far from Underworld Unleashed at this point.

A: Yup, I think that’s a plotline that’s going to blossom next issue, likely with the return (somehow, some way) of Darkseid. (Funny to think of it as a “return” when he hasn’t been “gone” very long at all.)

T: What are the odds that Libra’s “boss” isn’t Darkseid? Long, I’m sure, but hear me out: If Libra’s all about the balance, and Darkseid represents the idea that Evil Won, wouldn’t someone like Libra be a counter to that? Maybe’s he’s giving the bad guys what they want in exchange for something that’s gonna bring the Goodness back.

A: Hmm, not sure I buy that theory, but if it turns out to be true, I’ll certainly give you all due credit! I’m pretty sure “the boss” is indeed Darkseid — in fact, I think Morrison or Johns might have admitted as much in an interview with Newsarama around the time of DC Universe #0. Might have to go look that up. I think the theory was that the balance Libra was correcting was the fact that good guys always come out on top in the current DCU — it was time for the bad guys to win a few rounds. But I suppose we’ll see! (Let’s not even get into the “Libra is Barry Allen” theory just yet…)

T: Oh, I realize Darkseid’s the Big Bad here — I’m just wondering if we’re just assuming Libra’s working for him. Again, the odds are long that he’s not. (And to the Barry Allen as Libra supporters: Morrison can twist with the best of ‘em, but he’s more conventional than he gets credit for. I wouldn’t even bet my copy of Zero Hour #0 on this happening.)

Bludhaven as a Apokolips Firepit franchise — this was truly chilling, and succeeds mightily in a crucial way for something Final and Crisis: it suspends that belief that the good guys will always find a way to save the DCU. Even if you only allow a .0001% chance of it happening, you do allow it. Bravo, with emphasis on the “brrrrr”.

A: And I think what Morrison’s very strongly getting it is that this time, they’re not going to find a way to save the DCU — at least not until after the fact.

T: Overall? I say the last page of FC #2 is a blatant shout from Glorious Grant that we’re going to be moving a lot more quickly from here on out. And while I admit there are rewards available by reading the book with one eye on a magnifying glass and the other on Wikipedia, there’s also a thrilling ride to be had by letting the story itself do the driving and not worry so much about seeing every mile marker and street sign on the way to the final destination.

Posted in DC Comics, Reviews | 1 Comment »

The Deafening Truth That Is Stan Lee

Discovered while researching yesterday’s now-legendary Tuesday 10^[1]:

While this particular Bullpen Bulletin (from Avengers #71, December 1969) also saw Stan trumpeting an upcoming Jim Steranko romance comic, “a hearts-and-flowers assignment for one of our love books”, we prefer to see this crystal ball as half-full.

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[1]Why’s it legendary? See that post’s comments, specifically the first one.

Posted in Marvel Comics | No Comments »

Tuesday 10: Updated “Stan the Man”-style Nicknames

Remember way back in the ’70s when — what? You weren’t even born in the Seventies?

…damn, we’re old.

OK, well, back in the ’60s and ’70s, even up into the front half of the ’80s, Marvel overlord Stan Lee would assign nicknames to the creators of most of the comics they were putting out which, we assume, were probably supposed to sound either funny or hip… but really just came across as kind of lame: Stan “The Man” Lee. “Joltin’” Joe Sinnott. “Dauntless” Don McGregor. Jack “King” Kirby. (Okay, we’ll admit that one wasn’t lame at all.)

We decided that’s a tradition which could use some back-bringin’ and updatin’, so we slapped together new Stan-like nicknames for some of today’s creators. And while we’d like these to seem funny or hip, we realize that, like Stan’s, they’re probably just kind of lame.

10. “Mad” Joe Madureira. (Stan took the easy way out sometimes, too.)

9. “Glorious” Grant Morrison.

8. “Marketshare” Mark Millar.

7. “Junior This” John Romita, Jr.

6. “Maximum” Matt Fraction.

5. “Death-Dealin’” Dan DiDio.

4. “Electable” Ed Brubaker.

3. “Goddamn” Frank Miller.

2. Robert “Captain” Kirkman.

1. Warren Ellis. We dare not even try hanging one of these on him. Except maybe “Yessir, Mr. Warren Ellis, Sir.”

Posted in Tuesday 10 | 4 Comments »