Flashback Friday: Alan Moore Wrote Some Fun, "Spawn,"-Related comics Back in the Day

Alan Moore was essentially betrayed by the comic industry multiple times. It is understandable if he'd rather write his (admittedly good and well-reviewed) novels he now does, but the man was a skilled comic-crafter without a doubt. Not everything he wrote was an epic that people talk about with reverence, either. Sometimes he just wrote some zany and fun stuff. I'm especially fond of when Alan Moore did some zany Spawn-related stuff back in the day.

As d. emerson eddy discussed in a recent article on Comicsbeat, Alan Moore wrote a three-issue mini-series for Spawn's foe, "Violator," back in the 1990s. It is absurd, violent, and quite hilarious. Bart Sears contributes art for the first two issues, with a then-less-known Greg Capullo doing the finale. The plot basically involves everyone from the mafia to other demons wanting to kill Violator, and the effort he goes to in order to not end up dead and back in Hell. It's nothing earth-shattering, but it is a hoot and relatively easy to find for dirt cheap as individual issues or in a trade paperback. It wasn't only a baddie Moore wrote either, he was involved in, "Spawn," #8, #32, and the, "Blood Feud," mini-series. My favorite piece of Spawn-by-Moore is a crossover, however.

Back in the late 90's Alan Moore was invited by Jim Lee to write, "WildC.A.T.s." and he did a solid job. For my money, the four-issue crossover he did of, "Spawn/WildC.A.T.s" is the most fun Spawn-by-Moore even if (one should emphasize) none of this is anywhere near his best work--that said, many agree how, "Even Moore's 'not very good' can be interesting when looked at critically." Yes, "Spawn/WildC.A.T.s" is very 90's, very silly, and Moore's writing is underserved by art (sorry, Scott Clark) that seems busier making the female characters look as svelte and sexy as possible than doing anything else, but it is a crazy little read. Spawn is quite evil in the story, which is set in the far-future time of 2015 (I mean, the future for when it came out) and full of epic fighting, monologuing, and general wackiness. I'm not alone in liking it despite its obvious flaws. Lots of folks hate it and say it isn't even, "Canon," to Spawn or WildC.A.T.s, although when it comes to anything, "Spawn," continuity is a loose concept at best. 

The art admittedly leans heavily into the 1990s, "Cheesecake," aesthetic.

For my money, in the same way that almost any random, "Punisher," comic by Garth Ennis is better than 99% of other (newer) Punisher comics, a silly crossover of little consequence by Alan Moore is still a good deal more pleasurable to read than a lot of Image stuff in the 90s (this was before Jim Lee took his Image characters over to DC). We've got the WildC.A.T.s. fighting a demon-possessed Spawn and Alan Moore is having fun and telling an engaging story. Not everything has to be, "Watchmen," or, "From Hell," with Moore, so just chill out, random internet haters.

Whether it was the main, "Spawn," comic, the spin-off series, or crossovers, Alan Moore wrote a lot of Spawn, even though his takes on other heroes get a lot more, "Ink," written about them, be they Batman in, "The Killing Joke," or other popular characters in various books he barely touched. A lot of Moore's stuff with heroes could be more dour/serious like his time with, "Swamp Thing," but the man knew how to have a good time too, as any of his comics involving Spawn make clear. Moore is clearly happier now not doing comics, but at least we have these four-color memories of his work to enjoy for years to come.

"Batman," #158 Kicks off, "Hush 2." Time for my Thoughts on this Sequel's Debut

DC has been excitedly promoting a new story arc in, "Batman," that kicked off with this week's issue (#158). Titled, "Hush 2," it is a big sequel-of-sorts to the original, "Hush," storyline that introduced the villain, a former childhood, "Friend," of Bruce Wayne actually named Tommy Elliot (he was secretly quite crazy). The original, "Hush," featured the writing of Jeph Loeb and art by Jim Lee. They've reunited for this new arc years later and what I've read so far is good, but not great.

I have a mix of feelings. I don't know what the point is of a, "Hush 2," storyline as since the original one a lot has changed for the main characters of Tommy and Bruce. The comic acknowledges this, however, and even makes some meta-comments by having Batman's internal monologue express surprise when the Joker tries to recycle an old gag/crime and it throws our hero off as the Joker isn't generally that lazy in his capers. It's almost like Loeb and Lee know we're going to question, "Why Hush 2 and why now?" and they want to head us off. Lee, to his credit, is as skilled an artist as ever when he isn't busy running comic companies and his artwork is a beauty to behold. 

The plot eventually has Hush abduct Joker and possibly plan to kill him to prove a point about Batman's refusal to let even a monster like the Joker die--this is, again, a reused story idea and the comic makes it clear it is aware it is retreading old ground. Does pointing out that you are doing repetitive plotting with a meta-wink at the reader excuse the fact you are still being lazy, however? Your own personal answer to that question may influence how much you enjoy issue #158 of, "Batman," as it kicks off this new Hush 2 story. I myself loved the art and thought the story so far was alright if not amazing. Then again, even the original Hush was more of an excuse to have Batman face a bunch of his villains as they were drawn impressively well with the plot more in place to give Jim Lee an excuse to draw cool stuff. That is a bit of the vibe I'm getting we'll receive with Hush 2 as well so I guess the more things change the more they stay the same, as the saying goes.

3 out of 5 Stars.

The Internet Always Needs Something to Be Mad About/Jim Lee Can Charge What He Wants for Commissions

Jim Lee is one of the top talents in the industry and a busy man with all the work he does basically running the comic-book division of DC. I'd be surprised if he even has time to do commissions, but he apparently does! Considering how big a name he is the man could ask whatever he wants, and someone noticed in an online post he asks for $25,000-$35,000 for an original commissioned piece. This resulted in opinions.

Now, I'm not rich so that is far, far too much for me to ever pay someone to draw me something. I do love having artists draw me Moon Knight whether they are random folks or somewhat-known names who don't charge too much with my budget. That said, Jim Lee can charge whatever he wants to draw you something, and throwing a fit about it as the internet seems to have done is silly. I mean, nobody is making you buy a commission from Jim Lee. Art is worth what people will pay for it, and Lee wants to be paid that much for his creations--as is his right! If you've got the money and the desire for Jim Lee to draw for you, pay the man! Otherwise, you don't! It is as simple as that.

Flashback Friday: The 90s Are Back With Wildstorm

Wildstorm started up under Jim Lee in 1992 as a part of Image comics before it moved over to DC some years later (where Jim Lee became a powerful exec at DC) and it was its own imprint until a bunch of characters were folded into the main DC comic's universe. It was messy. That's beside the point, however, as it is the 30th anniversary now of Wildstorm beginning back in the day. Yes, the 90s were 30 years ago, let that set in. Anyways, DC is celebrating the line/characters' anniversary by doing some assorted special comics and variant covers. 

There will be a, "Wildstorm 30th Anniversary Special," #1. A new, "WILDCATS," comic shall launch as well (set in the regular DC Universe, however). Plus, an out-of-continuity Black Label book about Amanda Waller of the Suicide Squad going against various Wildstorm characters is going to come out too, titled, "Waller VS Wildstorm." The 90s are back with vengeance and considered vintage/retro/a flashback. I'm going to go lay down and rest my back.

We Still Don't Know Exactly Why Dan Didio Was Fired, but We Probably Will Before too Long

I touched upon the sudden event of Dan Didio being fired from DC at the end of my recent news and links post. It came out of utterly nowhere so little was known about how the man who was co-publisher with Jim Lee found himself fired after we assume an upsetting morning hearing from his bosses (e.g. the brass at DC's owner Warner Brothers).

It is Monday and we still have no clear answers outside of how Didio was always a controversial figure, but seemed to get results. Perhaps his results had been less impressive lately, or an assortment of P.R. black eyes for DC slowly built-up to too many (the Batman's penis-reveal controversy, harasser Eddie Berganza finally getting fired after a big news piece), or maybe it was how even though he was co-publisher he still micromanaged things other positions were supposed to be covering.

Getting some R&R on a sudden vacation from work that no longer exists.

Dan Didio has only offered tweets of relaxing in comfy locales with loved ones or images taken from boats of clear blue waters as well as a short video saying he is humbled by the outpouring of support and love and how he wants to say, "Love to you all." Plenty of drama is going to spill-out at some point, and how exactly this impacts DC's upcoming publishing plans for events like their more-and-more promoted, "5G," with multiple generations of heroes is a big unanswered query too. Right now is the quiet before a gossip and rumor shit-storm, I'd argue. Enjoy the peace while it lasts, everyone.

Mini-Run Review: The Wildstorm #1-#6

Wildstorm was an interesting comic imprint. Made by Jim Lee, it started out at Image, was bought by DC, featured a variety of folk writing for it, had a world-destroying event it tried to make stories out of, and then was folded into the mainstream DC-Universe for the New 52 before that was mostly forgotten with, "Rebirth," not having any Wildstorm characters featured right now as far as I recall. One person who wrote a bunch of comics for Wildstorm was Warren Ellis, with his cerebral, "Stormwatch," and its massively successful (and more focused on explosive action) follow-up "The Authority," being remembered fondly.

So, Wildstorm was basically dead, and then it was announced the world was getting a weird and new re-launch with everything heavily re-imagined by none other than...Warren Ellis! With the art of John Davis-Hunt as well we would get a new series that had characters we maybe recalled, but very different in a whole new world. Basically, something friendly to new readers but with some of the old concepts and names. Not so much a reboot as a drastic re-imagining. Could such a thing be good and work however, or show-up as a huge mess? Well, the fact that they got Warren Ellis should assure you that there ain't much of a need to worry.

Yes, "The Wildstorm," is quite good. It is more in-line with Ellis' earlier, "Stormwatch," stuff, focusing on secret organizations that try to run the world and all the complexities that entails. This isn't the hopeful world we had near the start of the new millennium however, this is 2017 and the world is a dark and depressing place, just as this comic reflects. "The Wildstorm," is a 24-issue series split into segments with various spin-offs that occur every once in awhile. Besides the handful of comics that will spin-off this is a pretty self-contained kind of comic-world, not something as big and multi-volume as the old, "Wildstorm books." I like that though, and have found this first arc of, "The Wildstorm," very enjoyable.

Basically, as is explained a couple issues in, there are two major organizations that run everything. International Operations runs most of the planet of Earth, and Skywatch gets space. There is a weak peace between these groups and some outside parties might cause all the treaties to fall apart and war to break-out. A tech-whiz named Angelia Spica has stolen a lot of tech from IO, some of which they had already stolen from Skywatch, so clearly some trouble is afoot. Also, there are space aliens, because why not? It also is nice to have John Davis-Hunt providing such nice artwork, with his clean and precise lines giving everything a sharp and severe look.

Whether Ellis is giving us a new riff on WildCATs, Michael Cray, Henry Bendix, or countless other characters it is fun to see the man who arguably helped make these characters so popular the first time return to them with a new lens to skew everything into something drastically different. As I would only say my familiarity with the old Wildstorm Universe is minimal-to-kinda-decent I can say without too much hesitation this book is quite friendly to new readers and is also fun for anyone who has even a passing familiarity with the old Wildstorm books such as myself.

There was not an issue in August as it was a planned, "Skip month," Ellis previously mentioned in his weekly newsletter I subscribe to so I look forward to issue #7 during this month and reading what the latest story-arc holds!
4.5 out of 5 stars.
You can buy issues of, "The Wildstorm," on eBay and at all finer comic shops.

Is DC's Latest Event-Teasing Comic Any Good? A Review of, "Dark Days: The Forge #1"

I love doing my rant-reviews/capsule reviews but sometimes you just wanna do a deeper-dive into a single comic because there is a variety to discuss. This book was interesting because it was strange, and while I wasn't amazed, I did overall at least like this comic. First off, the artwork is solid throughout as various talents pop-up to provide their talents (Jim Lee, Andy Kubert, and John Romita Jr.), but Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV really have maybe a bit too much going on within the span of this single comic for much to make any sense.

"The Forge," leads into the upcoming DC event, "Metal," which seems to be about how a mystical metal provides many famous artifacts in the DC Universe with power. This isn't just about that though, it involves other worlds, past Universes such as the New 52 one, and the denizens of that universe such as Plastic Man, plus we have one of the, "Three Jokers," a version of, "The Outsiders," so-called, "Immortal Men," the possibility of a dystopia ruled by Batman, and Hawkman and Hawkgirl play a role too. Also, Green Lantern is involved too because something is up with his ring that relates to all this. Yes, there is a lot going on here and it can be a bit much.

Oh, I didn't even mention the dimensional tuning-fork

To the credit of all these competing stories, enough stuff is interesting that I'm considering giving, "Metal," some attention. While I could take-or-leave the idea of various powerful items in the DC Universe all sharing some mystical metal, I'm a fan of stories that involve alternate universes as well as tales where those dimensions meet-up. This book isn't exactly friendly to casual readers of the DC Universe however (like myself) who just dip our toes into various books. No, this is the kind of thing that rewards folk with extensive knowledge of DC and I had to look-up a lot of reviews and break-downs to make sense of some things.

"Dark Days: The Forge," is a comic so loaded with teasers for a variety of story-elements that it hampers the overall flow of the plot a bit with an unclear focus. Is this a tale of magical metals, alternate universes, dark futures ruled over by Batman, or a multitude of other things? Thankfully a variety of these ideas are compelling and--as I said--the book looks quite good, so I overall liked this comic and am curious what comes next--which was arguably its whole intent, to get us intrigued in future stories.
3 out of 5 stars.

Flashback Friday: Warren Ellis' Successful Take on, "The Authority," and the Charming Misfire of Grant Morrison's Attempt

Analogues All Around!

The Wildstorm comic-book imprint and its characters have had a fascinating history, going from an Image-based studio to its founder, Jim Lee, selling it to to DC (ironically enough putting it back into control of a work-for-hire company, the very thing he had initially rebelled against with his earlier defection from Marvel to Image). A lot of the Wildstorm-type books featured heroic characters that were analogues of other well-known powered individuals found at the big 2. The great thing about being like another property but not being that property is that it frees you up to get really crazy with stuff.

Warren Ellis had been writing for a good chunk of time the title, "Stormwatch," and eventually utterly destroyed the team in a cool cross-over with Dark Horse comics where the literal Aliens from, "Alien," killed a bunch of the team (also the last inter-company cross-over I can think of that is in-continuity with the, "Regular," universe of a comic). From the ashes of, "Stormwatch," Ellis gave us, "The Authority," and it was amazing.

A Big Budget Superhero Movie Before Those Existed

Nowadays when people talk about, "Widescreen comics," that, "Look like movies," a lot of folk discuss Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's, "Ultimates," which arguably inspired much of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that continues to dominate the box-office. However, before that we actually had Warren Ellis and Hitch giving us the over-the-top action of, "The Authority." These comics with The Authority are basically the big budget super-hero movies we love today before such a thing even existed. They are a team of immense power that destroys a terrorist nation, obliterates half of an other dimensions' planet, and at the end of Ellis' short-ish run basically kills God. 

The whole thing is bombastically illustrated and comes-off like zany fun but carries a dark undercurrent of asking if maybe these heroes are just a little too gun-ho to do all the things they are doing--a motif that quit being subtext and just became straight-up text when the writer on the book after Ellis--the aforementioned Mark Millar (basically prepping himself for the later, "Ultimates, "stuff) made it clear The Authority were arguably dangerous and then other folk had them literally overthrow the planet and take over Earth for a bit...before the Wildstorm Universe literally (I like that word a lot) was blown-up and then cancelled; things got weird toward the end.

Wide-screen styled action for sure.

"The Authority," under Ellis and his 12 issue-run was essentially super-hero stories at their purest (big action, exciting characters) with an additional postmodern wink about the characters and their actions. Speaking of postmodern, after the universe had started becoming a little less of a big-seller but before DC exploded its planet they decided to make a big deal out of Grant Morrison writing the title...and boy did it go horribly wrong.

Well, That Derailed Quickly

To much fanfare Morrison's take on, "The Authority," had its first issue released December 2006. In it, the Authority seem to have accidentally ended up in what might be the real world AKA the reality we currently are living in (Morrison does love breaking the fourth wall). The next issue was supposed to come out in two months. It took five. It continued the plot about the team's transport ship (The Carrier) dumping them in the wrong reality and how they needed to find a way home. Then, nothing.

Information seems spotty about just what exactly went wrong, but that was it for Grant Morrison's version of, "The Authority." It wasn't until a good deal of time later--2008--DC announced that writer Keith Giffen would be coming in to finish the story based on Morrison's script-drafts and his own ideas. In January of 2010 we finally kinda-sorta got the third issue, with the new title, "The Authority: The Lost Year," as the rest of the Wildstorm comics had moved-on with The Authority in those books so it had to basically be explained/retconned that this was a lost year they left reality and were missing. The comic went for a total of twelve issues (counting Morrison's first two) and while it is easy to forget with all the drama that surrounded the series, it is pretty good.

Giffen comes on the book, gets them out of a world that looks like our reality but actually features Cthulhu-esque monsters sucking everyone's energy on the planet, and the team proceeds to jump to other realities that are alternatively disturbing, funny, or illustrate the possible logical conclusion of their actions in their home reality (e.g. they become horrible dictators). Giffen has always been a solid writer and I don't envy him having to follow-up with the mess Morrison left him, but he makes it work--even as the art on the series varies between quite-pretty-to-absolutely-amateurish-and-ugly.

Barely Remembered

You won't be able to find this issue in a collection.

"The Authority: The Lost Year," is mostly a forgotten footnote at this point, with more people remembering the hubbub of Morrison starting and quitting the book as opposed to it eventually being finished. In fact, I was able to read the first volume thanks to my library but couldn't find the 2nd collection on sale anywhere. It had been officially solicited a long time ago and even had a barcode number, yet nobody had it in stock and the Saint Louis County and City libraries said it was impossible to order for some reason. I did a lot of digging and discovered that DC never actually printed it. 

You read that right, they were going to release the second volume but orders were so low they just said, "Screw it, " and never did, which sounds crazy but happens with some of the comics out there. I was able to get the later issues thanks to eBay however and as I said earlier, they are pretty good fun. Still, how tragic is it to think a comic that was a huge deal--"Grant Morrison is writing, 'The Authority,' and everyone is so excited!"--ended-up as such a poorly-selling fiasco that DC didn't even care to collect the whole damn thing when it finished under Keith Giffen? Again, I give Giffen immense props for making Lemonade out of what wasn't lemons so much as shards of broken glass with some lemon chunks attached, but it is still sad.

Success Can Be Defined in Many Ways, Right?

Warren Ellis gave us a juggernaut of a hit with his creation of, "The Authority," and Grant Morrison gave us a mess that I still feel is a bit of a charming misfire that thankfully was reasonably salvaged thanks to Keith Giffen. Interestingly enough, Ellis has actually kinda-sorta returned to these characters, with the recent launch of, "The Wild Storm," featuring new versions of many of these characters in a whole different reality, but with Ellis' signature skill and genius on display. I know success can be defined in many ways, and having someone who wrote a version of these characters coming back to them is clearly one example (I strongly doubt Morrison will ever return to this team), and what we got with Morrison (and later Giffen) arguably tried as hard as it could, but despite being a good read in the end honestly failed hard in the general scheme of things.

Riffing on the book's idea of alternate realities, I wonder if there is one just like ours but with the singular difference that Grant Morrison kept writing, "The Authority," and it was actually a really good book. I wouldn't mind visiting a universe a like this sometime, and afterwards checking out the one where doughnuts are somehow good for you. I've gotta have my priorities, after all.

Rant-Reviews: Some Various Recent Stuff

Starting Off
An assortment of interesting comics have come out lately. I read them and then review them, you know how it goes. Shall we?

A Variety of Things
The Multiversity #1: Mastermen
I've been greatly enjoying "The Multiversity" and its titles so far, going so far as to say the "Pax Americana" comic was my favorite single issue of a comic in 2014. "Thunderworld" was fun and the guide-book turned out to be a fascinating mixture of storytelling and encyclopedia-styled facts. Therefore, after that amazing guide I can't help but feel a little let-down by this entry in the series, even with the famous Jim Lee supplying some pretty art.

As this series of loosely-connected comics from the mind of Grant Morrision proceeds, the little ways everything links to everything else are becoming more and more apparent, as well as the theme that almost every issue ends with the world ending or barely surviving a massive cataclysmic event clearly brought about by the ever-so-evil Gentry. Within this issue we see a world where good ol' Superman accidentally lands in Nazi Germany and deals with the fact that his innate Supermanly-goodness really doesn't sync-up with the evil and murderous Nazis--which, if you think about it, there isn't anything in real-life more evil than Nazis. It's expertly-drawn, interesting, and all-around solid.--just not as amazing as some of the other entries in this series.
3.5 out of 5 stars.

Lady Killer #2
Joelle Jones continues to supply art and story (with co-writer Jamie S. Rich) for a comic that has a strange dichotomy of taking place in the "simpler" and "wholesome" time of the mid-1900's but revealing how things weren't necessarily any less violent or disturbing back then. This issue has us continue following, "Mrs. Schuller," someone who clearly has been a contract killer for some time (15 years), yet at some point softened enough to marry a husband and have two kids--with the balancing act of  being a hitwoman and happy housewife proving quite difficult. I'm not sure just what sort of agency our protagonist works for, as I at first thought it was maybe a government-type job, but am now not so sure. Watching our "hero" try to have two different lives has made for a neat comic so far, however, and clearly things are going to come to a head soon. I'm excited to see what happens.
4 out of 5 stars.

Secret Identities #1
This surprised me in that I liked it. I mean, another comic focused on what heroes are "really" like out of their costume, haven't we had that enough? Perhaps not, as this comic actually sets us up pretty well with a cast of people who are interesting and complex, with their lives outside of their "hero" activities actually looking potentially interesting. There is the cliche of someone joining the team who secretly wants to take it down from the inside (that's occurred countless times), but the little variations from what we might expect keep this fresh. A super-speedy hero who uses his power to the advantage of having two families (sleazy, but clever), one crime-fighter who is also the President's daughter, someone else who tells lame jokes while in costume and can't get a break in the comedy-scene in their regular life because, well, their jokes are lame. I can see this comic going either way of being intriguing and fun, or falling into genre tropes and being an uninteresting mess. Right now it looks promising, however.
3.5 out of 5 stars.

Hawkeye #21
Well, this took forever...and it still has one more issue to go. I recall how exciting it was when the "Hawkeye" comic was first coming out, between Matt Fraction's great writing and David Aja's incredible art it was a marvelous read. Then it started to get delayed and other artists came in. Then it got even more delayed and felt like it was full of fill-in issues (the one that took place in a cartoon was cute but wholly unnecessary). Eventually it was announced this series would end, and finally here we are limping alllllmost to a conclusion before the book re-launches with a new creative team (because if Marvel has shown us one thing lately, it is that they love re-launching titles with a shiny new "#1"). This all leads to the most important question about this series and its penultimate issue though: Was this good? Yes, yes it was.

Even though it is starting to look like "All-New Hawkeye" is going to come out before the 22nd and final issue of this, at least we are going to eventually get the ending to a story that Fraction and Aja want to tell. Aja actually illustrated this whole issue and did his usual wonderful thing of artsy-meets-action while Fraction gave us more of that now-classic "bro"-talk and hints of just what the overall mystery of all this is (that safe and redhead from the start of the series seems to be integral to all this after-all). It's extremely solid comic-book-reading and a shame it has taken so long for it to approach the finish line. Basically, this is going to read fantastically for anyone who buys the inevitable omnibus and is able to ingest everything in one long sitting-session. Although, for those of us who bought this in single issues and still have some time before the conclusion it has been a basically equal measure of reading-pleasure and waiting-pain. Now to see how long it takes for the final issue to actually come out.
4.5 out of 5 stars.

The Finish Line
That was a good assortment of titles, wouldn't you a agree? Nothing too bad, and some quite impressive stuff. Yeah, this was an overall solid chunk of material.

Rant-Reviews--The Quality Decreases With Each Comic

Out The Gate
Let's review some comics, starting and the best and going to the least enjoyable: Fatale #6, Venom #19, Justice League#10, Justice League International #10.

Fatale #6
As we start our 2nd arc of the story things get even weirder, with a washed-up actor, a mysterious film, and that strange woman who continues to stay young and hold a magic sway over men. Also we get more of the story in the, "present," and see that whatever evil plagued the past hasn't stopped yet. Brubaker is juggling so many plot points and mysteries its amazing he is able to keep things going smoothly and everything hasn't just collapsed into an utter mess.

 Then again, Brubaker does some of his best work with collaborator Sean Philips, who makes art that causes me to want to cry--but in a good way. I cry because it looks so good, and many mainstream comics these days resemble something hideous and hastily-drawn to a point where you can barley tell what is supposed to be going on. In this case Brubaker mentions in the backmatter how Philips got a little extra time to do the issue and damn it, you don't rush something this nice. Criminal may not have gotten huge yet, and Incognito is a bit popular (both published under the creator-owned subprint of Marvel, Icon, and interestingly Fatale is from Dark Horse), but I'm pleased Fatale is becoming a huge hit for these two as they work hard and deserve something for sheer beauty.
4.5 out of 5 stars.


Venom #19
Remender is going to be handing the reins of this book over to Cullen Bunn and they are working together on this issue. I'm not sure who put in more work, but it is clear metaphorical decks are being cleared for something fresh after Cullen takes over the book solo. People are getting killed off (it appears), long-simmering plot-lines are crashing to the fore and man is it dark (to think that villain used his acid saliva to eat an old woman is just...yeesh).

This book has always been quirky, but right now its just dark and twisted...and it kind of works. I'm interested to see where Bunn goes once Remender is done with Venom completely, but right now as everything comes to a close in a way that is really not good for our hero I'm thinking perhaps we will have a comic without the requisite happy-ending--if Remender keeps things going the way they are. I'd like his run to end on a downer with Venom uttery defeated and Bunn building him back up. It beats the, "hero comes back at the last minute," schlock that stops being surprising after the 50th time it looks like Superman is down for the count but somehow finds the energy to win the day.
3.5 out of 5 stars.

Justice League #10
A guy who wrote a book about the league is fighting them, there is lots of talking, it's kind of dull but looks pretty with Jim Lee's art. In the end its still dull even if it looks nice. This all is disappointing as this arc started out in a way that looked somewhat promising with the Justice League as heroes who the government didn't trust but were too powerful to do anything about--a kind of "The Authority" vibe, really. There was also some hinted intrigue with the Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, and all these other little plots that seem to have been dropped for some supposed-to-be-imposing-looking-bad-guy, who in order to convince us he is a the real deal writer Geoff Johns let's him take out the whole league without breaking a sweat. Trying to make us think your character is badass by having them beat up a bunch of heroes is just played out, kind of like having a villain talk about how they are going to not just kill a hero but kill their family too...which our new villain did in issue #9 as I recall. Yeah.
2 out of 5 stars.

Justice League International #10
A villain who looks like Spawn but breaks things down at the molecular level and his fellow baddies spout off vaguely occupy-wall-street/tea party jargon about taking the country back (it seems more to make the liberals look bad with its comment about CEOS, you know how much liberals apparently hate CEOS and business). The Justice League International fights them, and spouts off corny dialogue, but appears defeated at the issue's end. Before that we get attempts at heart-touching moments in a hospital with various hurt heroes but it all falls flat.

There, I just summed up the comic for you and now you don't have to read it. I guess the message is if you don't like big business and CEOS you might as well join terrorist super-villains to destroy America, because you're already hurting our nation by not supporting big oil, big tobacco, and big-whatever.
1.5 out of 5 stars.

Crashing Into The Finish
There we go, from noir-ish horror to ham-fisted politics. Comics can run the gamut in quality and we sure ran that wheel of life today.

Rant-Reviews--Heroes, Failing.

In four out of these five comics the heroes are currently losing/failing miserably at whatever goal they are attempting to fulfill. In only one comic do they win and that is because it is the last issue of a mini-series--and that mini-series was at one point made an ongoing before being downgraded back to a mini-series, so they kind of already lost as hard as possible.

The Twelve #9
Holy crab-apples, this mofo actually came out? How many years late is this thing now? Well, I was enjoying the comic and someone who we saw die at the end of the first issue in a flash-forward finally bites it in this one, so that's progress, I suppose. Still, it took so long for this to come out I'm kind of just beyond caring too much even if I was really liking the tale--when it originally was being released, in 2008. However, it is nice to see something by Straczynski actually maybe come to a finish and/or not be terrible. I remember when he did good work like Supreme Power. I miss that Straczynksi. Plus, Chris Weston always provides killer art. Enjoyable enough.
3.5 out of 5 stars.

Glory #23
The first issue of the re-launch of Rob Liefeld concepts where the interesting idea to get writers and artists completely unlike Liefeld to tell his stories strangely continues to pay off (as with Prophet, which I plan to review later on). Here we get a more extreme version of Wonder Woman that I had never read about before, a person with strange dreams, interesting flashbacks, nice art from the author of "Wet Moon", Ross Campbell, and things turn out to make a really good comic. Apparently when you take Liefeld, erase everything except the most faintest of his presence, and let people loose with it, you get some good stuff. As for the failing in this issue? Great last page reveal, that's all I will say.
4.5 out of 5 stars.

Justice League #5
Jim Lee's monsters look nice, I can give the comic that. Um, and there is a nice moment between Batman and the Green Lantern even if it feels pretty tacked-on. Also, it is cool how the bad guy, Darkseid, just does his damage and doesn't talk. I find it annoying when bad guys monologue endlessly instead of actually enacting their evil plan. Besides that though, not much else I'm really too big on here. This comic has been slow to develop an actual plot, the characters have been coming off as somewhat one-dimensional, and I'm just bored. It's sort of like the most indulgent comics of the 1990s where writers and artists got to engage in their masturbatory fantasies of drawing super-handsome and muscular men and pretty ladies who looked impossibly perfect while writing them as cardboard cutouts with one particular personality trait and patting themselves on the back with their free hand as they felt somehow what they were doing was genius by taking a story you could tell in one issue and stretching it out over six.

I read this and I just hear, "Wonder Woman likes to fight" "Batman doesn't trust the super-folk," "Green Lantern is cocky," "Look at their cool armor-like outfits," and mainly, "Buy 5 issues of this comic and bag up 3 in hopes they rise in value even though so many copies are sold you'll find it in a dollar bin in a few months!" Geoff Johns can write better than this, and Jim Lee has done better art even though he is pretty much known for a style that people think of when they think 1990s comics (well, he and Rob Liefeld, but that is more-so a painful memory for many folk). If this is the comic people are supposed to read from DC to get interested in reading comics again then hoo boy do we have some problems. Oh, who loses in this issue? Well, all the heroes get beat up, but I'd say the biggest loser is the reader.
1.5 out of 5 stars.

Alpha Flight #8
Poor, poor, Alpha Flight. Yes, technically they win the battle against their foe in this issue, but considering how at one point this was going to be an ongoing before it was made a mini-series again after a joyous announcement...well, Alpha Flight pretty much lost as badly as any comic can--through cancellation. True, one of the writers (Fred Van Lente) and the artist can write their happy little essays in the back saying how they are pleased they told a complete tale and its all okay, but I can taste their salty tears that mixed with the ink of the comic. You may ask why I'm licking my comic, and I refuse to answer that question. All that aside, this issue does feel a bit rushed too so I'm kind of let down overall. It still was pretty good though.
3 out of 5 stars.

Ultimate Comics X-Men #7
An issue all about the Ultimate Universe version of Quicksilver, whom was one of my favorite aspects of this re-launched title being written by the sometimes-great sometimes-pretty-bad Nick Spencer. This issue has a whole lot of death and blood as Quicksilver's plan  (whatever it was, I still don't understand) fails and results in thousands of mutants being slaughtered. The fact that the end of this issue is so much like the conclusion of issue #6 but with a different person maybe-possibly being back from the dead or just in our hero's mind is annoying. I wanted to like this more than I did. Sort of like hearing about a girl who sounds wonderful but then you actually go on the date and she turns out to be more unpleasant than gangrene.
2.5 out of 5 stars.

"It's About Power and Money" AKA Nu DCU, Soldier X, and Tupac

Opening
This post we have my thoughts about how the "old" DC Universe ended in Flashpoint #5 along with how it began in Justice League #1. Then I say my own thoughts about the highly-popular Cable and Soldier X comics that occurred back in the early 2000s, having been inspired by series of cross-over posts between some writers I really enjoy reading.

Also, tomorrow is the 15th anniversary of the death of one of my favorite music artists, Tupac Shakur. I'll discuss my two favorite albums by him a little bit and why his death matters even if you don't like rap.

Yeah, it's a lot of content to share, but with my new format of only posting every 2, 3, or 4 days I'm hoping you dear readers will drink down every word I type now like a rare can of Surge soda. Remember Surge? That stuff was tasty, and had more caffeine than humanly possible. Yeah, I could go for a Surge if all those cans wouldn't be super-expired.

Flashpoint and Justice League

Flashpoint #5 was a decent comic, even if it pretty much consisted of Barry Allen either standing around doing nothing so Thomas Wayne could (spoiler) kill the Reverse-Flash, or Barry Allen going back in time and undoing all the trouble he caused because--TWIST!--it seems he is the one who caused this alternate reality by making it so his mom didn't die or something. Oh, and in the process these different realities come together and this mysterious woman who is appearing in all the other DC comics in a cameo (probably as a way for DC to have an emergency undo-the-recon-button) spouts some enigmatic gibberish. Then Barry Allen gives Bruce Wayne a letter from his father and Bruce cries because its sweet--of course, it technically isn't our Bruce Wayne as this is the new DC Universe, but whatever. I liked Thomas Wayne and the action was good, so I'm satisfied.

3 out of 5 stars.

Justice League #1 is a fun Batman and Green Lantern team-up comic set in the beginning of the new DC Universe, but it isn't really a first issue of a Justice League book. At least, it doesn't feel that way. It feels like the first part of something that was written for a trade paperback and then suddenly split into a comic-book issue format--the cliffhanger is just sort of weak (Hm, Superman, a fight next issue, eh) and things seem to move sooooooo slowly. Oh, we also meet Cyborg before he becomes a Cyborg and is just really good at football. I don't know, Geoff Johns wrote both this and the Flashpoint books, and Flashpoint #1 jammed in a ton of content, whereas this just seems really decompressed--if I may use a term comic fans often employ. At least the Jim Lee art looks decent.
2.5 out of 5 stars.

Cable and Solider X

INTRO
The Hooded Utilitarian and The Factual Opinion did a series of reviews about the comic book/s Cable and its follow-up Soldier X. There was the first installment, the second, a first part to the third, a 2nd part to the third, and a fourth and final post. I've read the books because I was inspired to pick them up after initially reading this excellent article on Robot 6 long ago.

When I picked up the Cable comics the funny thing is I had to get some before its dramatic shift in focus with issue #97 that lasted to #107 (and made for some awesome comics), and boy, was it a terrible comic. Issue #96 is this lame one-off about Cable helping this ancient huge-man fight these other huge ancient huge-guys because the first one wants a doll he gave to his deceased daughter they stole. Oh, and this ancient huge-guy who has lived so long knows Cable is special because Cable beats him at arm-wrestling and no one can do that. Seriously.

The arc before that is some miserable stuff about Jean Grey having genetic Phoenix sisters or something that no other comic has ever acknowledged so just forget it and a reporter named Irene (who is in Soldier X) has to have her skin color changed from white to black so that she can avoid being killed by this evil cult and learns that racism still exists when a police officer picks on her--so we learn from the comic that racism is bad in this really ham-fisted way! Wow, how touching!

 If you're going to try and talk about racism, please don't just do lame, "Hey, you know racism, yeah, it still exists, shocking, huh?" type stories with someone who was white magically becoming black and learning a valuable lesson--that is just the most cliche, "look at me, I'm a message" type story. Anyways, yeah, they were bad. However, then something awesome happens, namely issue #97 and on.

CABLE #97-107
This here is some good stuff. Basically, writer David Tischman and excellent artist Igor Kordey came in and made this comic go from horrendous to awesome in the span of one issue. Tischman took the idea that Cable is from the future, and has knowledge of how little conflicts in history could grow and become huge problems that lead to the nightmare scenario that mutants face in the future--so why wouldn't he get involved and try to fix things now? This led to Cable going into hotspots around the world and considering that Igor Kordey is himself a vetran of Balkan wars and this comic involves post-soviet areas you know this isn't too fantastical. Also, this comic was happening right around 9/11 and didn't hesitate to address it. Right on the opening of one issue is a drawing of the towers, on fire, broadcast on a television. This comic was about Cable addressing terror around the world, so it noted the fact that yes, terrorism had happened close to home too. It was a serious, clever, and beautiful-looking comic. You can actually get it collected in two trades, "Shining Path" and "The End", and I would recommend doing as such.

SOLDIER X #1-8
There were issues after #8, but screw them because they had writers who missed the point of the awesomeness that was Soldier X. Soldier X was half the time a parody of super-hero comics, at other times it  was about the God-complex we have in regards to super-hero characters, thinking of them as if they are religious figures, and then other times it was just about the futility of violence...in a comic about a character whose main modus operandi was violence--thereby making his own existence pointless. Then again, Cable being pointless was sort of what writer Darko Macan was going for in his darkly funny comic, almost mocking the idea of Cable while at the same time elevating him to a God-like level of power, but with the knowledge that using this power to wreak havoc just proves nothing. Igor Kordey continued to provide great art and its some super stuff. I'm sort of unique in actually maybe liking the Cable stuff a little bit more though--don't skip this Soldier X material however, it's dynamite too.

Tupac--15 Years After Death

Tomorrow, September 13th, will be the 15th anniversary of the death of Tupac Shakur (June 16th, 1971-September 13th, 1996). Tupac was arguably one of the most talented music artists I've ever heard. When it comes to listing the most gifted talents in music ever some names I give in no particular order would be Mozart, Kurt Cobain, Beethoven, Bach, Andre Benjamin AKA Andre 3000 of OutKast, Miles Davis, Coltrane, and of course Tupac (there are other people I'm not listing, but you get my point for whom I think of as "cream of the crop).

Just listen to "The 7 Day Theory" AKA "Makaveli". David Brother's writes his thoughts about it beautifully on the 4thletter; it truly is an album so loaded with textual meaning you could work on "decoding" it forever. I also am a huge fan of "Me Against The World" easily saying those are my two favorite albums by Mr. Shakur. Just listen to "Death Around the Corner" and tell me the paranoia and despair doesn't seem to just hang in the air around you as the song plays--or as a complete counter, try "Dear Mama" and see just how gentle and sweet Tupac could be. In contrast, to go back to his last album he was directly involved in before his death and the first to be released posthumously, "Makaveli" has some incredibly incendiary tracks. "Bomb First (My Second Reply)" is pure fire.

There are also some love songs. "Just Like Daddy" is both sweet and dark, talking about love and how it's pretty much about young women with daddy issues. There is also, "Me and My Girlfriend," which for those of you who are a bit slow with metaphors, is in fact about guns. Listen closely and you'll catch on. Yeah, the Jay-Z and Beyonce version completely ruined it and missed the point, but never-mind that. Don't forget the inspirational songs like, "Hold Ya Head" which even in trying to be supportive carries an air of depression--something you find often with Tupac. My point is that the man was a lyrical genius, and no slouch when it came to contributing to the production of the tracks either.

By the way, my favorite Tupac song is a tie between "Lord Knows" and "Outlaw" on "Me Against The World". A close second are both "Life Of A New Outlaw" and "Bomb First (My Second Reply)" on "The 7 Day Theory"/"Makaveli".

There is plenty more I could say about Tupac, but I just wanted to say, this was a man who had incredible lyrics that spoke so much truth, and carried so much sadness, but with a glimmer of hope--but always with that darkness. The best way to sum it up is how on, "Just Like Daddy," it is being said by a member of the Outlawz (E.D.I.) that a young woman a he met was, "A diamond in the rough, the kind that you can love, not yet touched but so much..." and at that moment we hear Tupac quietly come in saying, "Pain" before E.D.I. states, "Potential." That bit says so much, that its the pain that Tupac jumps to. There was so much sadness, but that slight tiny bit of hope he had was what made things all the more beautiful.

Then he was murdered. We still don't know for sure who did it. It happened 15 years ago tomorrow. Life is a real bitch sometimes.

Sorry to end on a downer, but sometimes that's how things are.

New Thoughts On The DC 52 In September--Must Buy

What are those books DC has coming out in September that you've just got to purchase? I dunno, it depends on your taste. I'll tell you what ones I've gotta have though!

I Break Down the New DC Books

I'm going to list the new books DC has annouced by how interested I am from ones I am absolutely going to buy to those I won't be touching with a ten-foot pole. Some I'll just list other ones I'll have a little note to go along. This should be fun...

Whatever Happened To Batman: Europa?

Remember back in November 2010 when DC Comics had a new Batman mini-series on the cover of Previews magazine called "Batman: Europa"? Well not even the first issue has come out and despite others asking about it awhile ago when it missed the first ship date, it now seems to have fallen completely off the radar. This is disappointing because it sounded neat. It had Jim Lee doing painted art in an issue, Jock doing art for another, and Brian Azzarello writing a tale about Batman having to team up with the Joker to find the cure for a virus that has infected the ol' Batman.

I honestly haven't heard a peep about this series since March-ish and can only figure that work is progressing on it very slowly with DC planning to re-solicit it when they actually have enough of a complete product that they can release the darn thing.I mean, it is in-continuity--I'm pretty sure--but it isn't too important to the current comics story-wise so they can pretty much just release it whenever they finally get this thing done.

Flashback Friday--Absolute Superman For Tomorrow

Absolute Superman For Tomorrow (Collecting Issues #204-#215)
This is one good-looking mess of a story. Seriously, as I discussed in my podcast post (why not listen to it and subscribe via iTunes?) this is confusing as hell despite having great art. Let's look at just where things go wrong after the break--and yes, I try to be funny again like in some of my posts.

Podcast Episode 4--Old Comics and New News.

In this episode I discuss my disappointment with the Marvel series 5 Ronin, discuss stupid politicians or wannabe politicians like Donald Trump, and get confused by the Absolute Edition of Superman: For Tomorrow.

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