Captain Britain and MI 13

I Want to be a cowboy
I live in central North Carolina. When I was taking a walk the other evening through a residential area just off the main college drag, I came across a wannabe cowboy taking a cigarette break. Don't see too many cowboys standing around in the Capital City. He was around college age and little shorter than average height, he had perfected that slight sneer of aloof disdain or disgust about the state of affairs as he smoked. He was wearing his cowboy hat, a rodeo/western styled shirt that was slightly wrinkled and worn, slightly faded blue jeans and the brown leather belt with the over-sized oval buckle. What killed his attempted look and gave him more of a humorous appearance of a poser (beyond being in an area where not a single home was on a piece of land more than half an acre) was that he had no boots. More than no boots, but had on nice clean white socks, the toes which peaked out of the end of his too long jeans. My first thought was that maybe he had gotten dressed and couldn't find his boots, and was waiting for his girlfriend to deliver them. Or maybe he got kicked out of the house and she kept the boots. I mean, who would go through so much trouble to put a specific look together like that, but then was jonesing so bad for a cigarette, he didn't have time to slip his boots on but did have time to grab his hat? I just found his appearance slightly ludicrous. I could only think his look would work if he actually rolled up the cuff of his jeans and stood there bare-footed, giving him a more rough edge than that of a typical teen slacker. Just one of those little asides in life that I felt like sharing.

A LETTER: Normally, I just let the replies go into the comment section. However, this came pretty much on the heels of my blog answering a question I raised there about the reported Silver Star mini-series Steve Englehart was to write that never came out. As it deals directly with that question, providing us with a few more facts, I thought it deserved more up-front exposure as not everyone necessarily reads the comments.

Kurt Busiek said... Steve E. did write the first few issues of a CAPTAIN VICTORY revival, which would have followed the VICTORY! crossover. But the crossover was never finished, so the follow-ups never happened. And Steve's right -- the artist who drew his scripts wasn't really up to the job.

Finishing SILVER STAR is something that comes up every now and then -- we're currently talking it over with Image.

There you go. Looks like Topps had big plans for Silver Star, a character with all sorts of potential.

Captain Britain & MI 13 Preview

Comicbook Resources has released some pages of the new Captain Britain series as well as some interviews with the writer and editor of the book. I enjoyed the old Claremont-Davis EXCALIBUR series and so I thought this might be worth checking out. Then I saw the preview pages. The artwork is clear in its storytelling, so that it's easy to follow even minus any words or text. The action is very dynamic and the characters seem to be mostly drawn on model (though why Dane Whitman isn't actually suited up in his chainmail, no idea). And, it's cool to see some preview pages that actually show excitement and some of the actioin. So many previews are obviously put out with no actual thought given to them. They just seem like someone grabs the first few pages out of the book or the first few done and sends them on their way. And we end up with a lot of previews that are just of people talking. Admittedly, with some writers, if they showed some of the more exciting parts of the book, that would be pretty much it for the book. Instead, editors (and the websites as well should strive for this if they can) should treat them like movie previews and trailers. They don't just show you the first five minutes of the movie, they grab bits and pieces from all over to give you a feel for the type of movie is and its story, the previews are advertising, it's supposed to draw people in. They shouldn't be just some advance looks for people ALREADY buying the book but to sway those on the fence.

While these previews do show some action, and we can be sure that's probably more by accident than design as we see so many of the aforementioned bad previews, the effect on me is the opposite. In the space of a 6 pages, every hero on the page graphically and brutally kills one of their opponents. Sure, they're skrulls, but they're still sentient beings. These scenes do raise some plot questions which are enticing such as thought the Black Knight had that pesky curse to worry about and why is Spitfire acting like a vampire, but mostly, I'm just turned off by these heroes casually killing the bad guys. In Thomas' INVADERS, Spitfire didn't even kill the Nazis.


The other turn off? This is from the first issue. Right off the bat, the comic is part of the big crossover event. An event series I'm otherwise avoiding. This heavy pushing of crossovers is why I dropped She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel. It's why I didn't pick up the Nova series. It's a big part of the reason I avoided the Annihilation mini's. And it's liable to play into my not getting Avengers/Invaders as it looks like it too may be crossing over into other books. It's one of the little things that's annoying about the Defenders mini. Something's seriously wrong when even mini-series must strongly tie-in to inter-continuity and not be allowed to be its own entity, to survie on its own. Ultimately, it's going to hurt future tpb sales and collections. Because years from now when the book is collected, one must not only be interested in that title, but be very aware with what was going on in the other books and the larger continuity at the time. Oh, this is when Civil War was going on. This was after Civil War but before so-and-so was revealed to be a skrull. This is after 20 years of history was retconned because so-and-so was revealed really to be a skrull all along. One of the highest selling trades right now? A re-release of THE KILLING JOKE. DC has made quite a bit of money over the years steadily reprinting O'Neil & Adams Green Lantern/Green Arrow run, a run that lost money at the time, but now gets reprinted every so many years. But those titles stand on their own very well, even after all this time. You don't have to be aware of what Superman was going through or who the JLA were facing at the same time.

Mind you, I'm not saying write for the trade market, at least not in the sense of storytelling structure. Just that much of these crossovers are dictated by short-sighted gains and immediate sales. But, they are choking the life out of the books and the universes. We're getting less creativity and less variety because every book is covering the same one of three plot lines. It's making books too difficult to attract new readers or even casual readers because they demand too much of an investment into other books, other titles and in-depth knowledge of past continuity. It makes it easier and easier just to look for other books that don't require that kind of commitment.

A Call to Action!

Spirit #16. A lot of what I said about this book a few blogs ago, pretty much still stands. It’s now Paul Smith on the artwork, normally a favorite of mine. However, his art here matches the storyline in that it is more of a pastiche of the Spirit. Smith’s lush linework and talent is wasted on him using a more cartoony style. Eisner’s style on the Spirit was often exaggerated, almost a parody of those creators and characters that played it straight, but it was also a bit gritty, the Spirit’s clothes often looking rumpled and slept in. The end result is the book that is almost charming but it and the characters don’t come alive because they are too much about mimicking. And that’s not what Darwyn Cooke was doing that made the book seem so vibrant and a joy to look forward to. It’s like Brandon Routh’s performance in SUPERMAN RETURNS. He’s not allowed to play Superman/Clark Kent as a real character. Instead, he’s playing Christopher Reeve playing Superman/Clark Kent which comes across a little bit creepy and out of place.

JLA #20: Ethan Van Sciver takes over the art chores from Ed Benes this issue. This is a breath of fresh air as we go from Benes’ scratchy lines and muddy artwork giving the impression of detail to Van Sciver’s deliberate linework and meticulous attention to true detail. Ethan Van Sciver’s ability has grown quite a bit since I last saw him. While his work is still very detailed, he goes easier on the amount of lines put on the page so that the panels aren’t as dense and cluttered. In fact some panels would be almost spare if it wasn’t for the colorist making up for it by filling backgrounds with textures and such, really ruining the overall mood of the artwork that would have been better served by leaving it alone. Remember when the Flash used to run with only thin parallel speed lines depicting his speed? Now it’s flashy color blends and zigzaggy lightning cluttering up something that should be streamlined to truly speak speed. In many ways he’s to Brian Bolland the way that Phil Jimenez was to George Perez for the longest time. Both, captured the look and the lines of the originals, but not the actual spirit. Both were very deliberate in their lines, but their figure work and storytelling was limp when compared to the originals. To the degree, that only someone really unfamiliar with the artwork would confuse them. As I said, Van Sciver has come a ways. His figures aren’t as overly rendered as I’ve noticed in his earlier work, but they are still a little stiff in places, maybe because the linework is so impeccable, so deliberate, it gives everything the same type of artificial feel whether it’s a stone or a human being.

The story is a done in one issue that for once doesn’t serve as a lead-in to some story in another book. However, it falls flat considering that it not only doesn’t address any ongoing plot issues, it also doesn’t address the cliffhanger from the last issue, namely that the Martian Manhunter is missing on a planet full of supervillains. Yes, I know that is probably being addressed in SALVATION RUN, but as I’m reading JLA and this was brought up in the last issue, it’s odd to see Wonder Woman cheerfully having a chit-chat with the Flash without addressing it. It’s been an ongoing problem with this title and it will continue with the next issue as we get a story that serves as lead-in to FINAL CRISIS. Bleh.

CAPTAIN ACTION #0: There’s no reason for this to be a “Zero” issue. It’s basically the first issue, just extremely short. To the point of wondering why you’re having to pay for it, online previews are almost as long and they are free.

The artwork by Mark Sparacio is passable, but it makes the new Captain Action’s costume look like it was designed by the people that make the costumes for “Who Wants to be a Superhero” with seams and rubber padding.

The story on the other hand makes a big blunder. At least it’s a blunder if you are planning on creating an ongoing series vs a limited story. It ties in the lead character’s origin and motivation too tightly with the conflict of the plot/story that it makes it hard to resolve the story and yet keep a reasonable motivation for the character to continue on as the hero. Ultimately, the market tires of the ongoing, never-ending battles of maintaining the status quo. Dr. Kimble cannot find the one-armed man, the lost space travelers of “Lost in Space” and “Voyager” cannot find their way home, etc. It’s why both Rom and Micronauts floundered once they succeeded in their primary missions. Otherwise, the zero issue doesn’t do much other than establishing the basic plot and status quo. Captain Action is the leader of an organization that exists to combat microscopic alien parasites that get in the blood and control people. Time’s passed and the threat is neutralized. There are now superheroes in the world, making Captain Action a bit redundant as he only had some cool weapons and ability at disguise going for him. Then the aliens come back and it looks like Action's son is the world's last hope. Again, these other superheroes all have one origin, they are beneficiaries of knowledge gained while fighting the alien menace. By tying everything in to one core concept, we have a superhero universe that is self-limiting. This is fine when planning a finite series. But, when you start out from the offset and define things so narrowly, it also takes out a bit of the sense of wonder and excitement that fuels superhero universes. It’s where the books of Valiant started becoming dull as they tried so hard to reflect the world outside the window apart from the “superheroes” and spider-aliens. Got tired of the one trick. It’s fine to build one book around a central concept, but one shouldn’t build the whole fantasy world around one with such limiting boundaries.

With Moonstone doing Captain Action, think Dynamite will respond with Big Jim and his P.A.C.K?

A HISTORY OF PACIFIC COMICS:

An interesting look at the early days of the comic publisher Pacific Comics and the impact they had on comics today. Go, read it and come back. I’ll wait. History of Pacific Comics

Definitely learned a lot there. I think a big problem with some of Pacific's early comics was they hired big-name artists, but not writers. Any fan of Kirby's should have been able to recognize that his biggest successes were done in conjunction with someone. And I say this as enjoying Kirby's superhero work, even his 70's run on Captain America and Black Panther. But it doesn’t take a genius to recognize that even with all the creativity behind projects like Omac, the New Gods, Kamandi and the Demon, his actual writing style wasn’t the stories strong points. And I liked the concepts and the art on Silver Star and Captain Victory, but the execution of the stories lacked. And the shoddy printing didn't help. I'd snap up a nicely done trade in a heartbeat. Then you have Neal Adams. Hardly a proven writer/character creator or even a timely artist, his biggest achievements being re-designing long-standing characters and some wonderful covers.

Another thing that struck me as strange that needs a little more information was this: Jack Kirby’s Captain Victory was revived in the ‘90s, planned for a short-lived publisher called Topps Comics, owned by the baseball card company. Comics legend Steve Englehart wrote the revival. “I wrote three double-sized issues,” he says on his website, “but the artist they chose for the interiors - not Paul Gulacy, [who did the covers for #1 and #2 below] - turned out to be not ready for prime time. They chose not to publish the issues they had, and by the time they went to look for a new artist the company was abandoning comics.”

Now, Topps did release a single issue of SILVER STAR (as well as VICTORY), but Steve Englehart wasn't involved with either of them. Silver Star was by Kurt Busiek and James Fry. No Gulacy cover either. Another project if I had the money for my own company, to get Busiek to revisit and finish those comics.

Captain Midnight & the Secret Squadron

This little blog will be a bit link heavy. Much of it got it's start from a posting to one of my favorite online hangouts and I ended up with some neat stuff that I wanted to share.

Anywho, the following little song on Youtube was posted which I found enjoyable and funny. Hot Girl in the Comic Shop

I've been to a few comic stores that actually had the audacity to have women employees. In the context of the song, I wondered if that helped bring in customers or maybe it made some of the geekier fans a little uncomfortable. Then, I got to wondering, what if you combined the concept of Hooters/Flying Saucer with the comic shop, having the employees dressing up in a short shorts and too-small tees. It prompted me to use a little artistic license of what one of those potential employees would look like.

Now looking for Captain Midnight artwork to make use of, I came across another really cool site, devoted to Captain Midnight and his radio adventures! Meanwhile, Moonstone is in the process of releasing new adventures of Captain Midnight in both prose and comic stories, having him join the ranks of the Phantom, Kolchak, Captain Action and others. The artwork there looks like the stories will be in the present day with futuristic aircraft blasting across the pages. And, he'll be a bit more in line with his radio/movie serial persona and not the Fawcett version with the gliding superhero costume. Ought to be interesting.