Hornets, Spiders, and Vampires, oh my.

Green Hornet Remastered: There are really only two things to recommend for these books. One, the wonderful covers by Joe Rubinstein that capture the Green Hornet in the middle of a dangerous situation. However, the Hornet is rendered with a simple domino mask and not the gangster style mask that covered the lower half of his face that he wears inside the comic. It also shows off just how minor of a character Kato was at the time, barely appearing in the majority of the stories. There's no doubt that the hero and star of the book is the Green Hornet. Otherwise, these stories are painfully dull and the artwork is either heavily damaged during the remastering stage or/and is really on the low end, even for GA standards. And, this is coming from someone that is generally a fan of the comics from this time. Stick to the radio shows and serials to get exciting adventures of the Green Hornet of this time.

Green Hornet: Year One #7: Not sure how long this comic is going to last and continue being called "Year One." The last issue brought together all of the various threads and backstory of how Kato and Britt Reid would find themselves coming together to fight crime as masked men and how it would result in them being thought of as rival mobsters. This issue picks up on that status quo and continues the story, but it no longer has that feeling of an extended origin tale of neophyte characters. The only change in creative staff seems to be the colorist, the new one going for more traditional color palettes. It's still a good comic, full of atmosphere and mood and feels like an honest attempt at being faithful and true to the source material while being readable by modern audiences. It feels authentic and should have DC kicking themselves for not doing something similar with the Crimson Avenger.

Hellboy: The Sleeping and the Dead #1 of 2: Written by Mike Mignola and painted by Scott Hampton, this is a beautiful little comic. Like most of Mignola's writing, it is basic and bare in the plotting and storytelling, going for creepiness, mood and the visceral experience. Hampton's artwork with Dave Stewart's colors elevate it into something that's darkly beautiful and romantic, like an old Southern mansion falling into disrepair.

Justice Society #45 and 46: If there was a book that screamed it was the right time to stop getting regular monthlies, this title is it. When the day comes that the Justice Society is so bad that I want to stop getting it as a mercy killing, then the comic companies really have passed me by. This comic isn't merely bad but just plain stupid.

It was bad enough suffering looking at pictures of the Captain America movie and reading posts by fans about how faithful and accurate it is, but then I open up #45 and see The Flash and Green Lantern on some secret mission, dressed in military versions of their costumes, complete with grenades and various packets and straps. Words fail me in just how wrong minded this is. Then, the whole mission is a black-ops one, sent to destroy a secret weapon which turns out to be a baby. Why would you send two (and only two) JSA members on a mission like this? 

Then, we have the writer telling us that Drachen (the name of the Nazi project) means "Scythe", the name of the super powered terrorist. Of course, Drachen doesn't mean that at all. It means Dragon, kite and even a vixen or harpy.

We're also asked to believe that a politician from the 1950s still holds office some sixty years later. Impossible? No. But, highly improbable and like everything else in the book, it shows the hand of the writer demanding things to be so for the sake of the story he's writing with little logical extrapolation.

We also have over the course of two issues, three instances by different characters using the term "gallows humor". When a unique phrase gets used that often in so little space and by different characters, it sticks out. Again, it shows the writer behind the scenes as it becomes obvious that the dialogue by different characters are coming from one mind.

We get an appearance by Superman and Blue Devil which is fine. But, there are a whole lot of JSA'ers and hanger-ons that would be better served. Then again, interviews have indicated that Blue Devil is going to be a member for some bizarre reason. Because, there aren't enough JSA and Golden-age related characters that could be used or team members we haven't seen.

Obsidian gets all violent and dark. Again.


Dr. Mid-nite finally gets called in for a consultation on Alan Scott's condition. He claims it's taking too much energy to just keep the Starheart in check for him to heal despite his being an energy being he only sustains physical injury because he thinks of himself as human. Thus, if he's conscious and able to think at all, then his body should become normal without actually having to "heal". And, if it takes that level of concentration, then what the heck is he doing fighting crime when a slip in concentration could cost lives or letting loose the Starheart? What happens when he falls asleep? And, where does he get the power then to build himself a godawful new costume AND GROW HAIR as we've seen in previews?

In both issues and one coming up, Dr. Mid-nite is said to have "ultra-SONIC lenses". What the heck are those and what do they do? Make his eyes able to hear? Allows him to SEE sounds that people cannot hear? Apparently this comes from the Matt Wagner mini that introduced the character, as I've never read it.  Just seeing in the dark and outside of the normal vision range just not good enough I guess. It's something best left forgotten unless we are actually going to see him use said "ultrasonic lenses". Otherwise, it just comes off as sounding stupid when thrown out with nothing to back it up or explain it as in these issues.

I'm not a fan of Kolins artwork, generally the opposite. To give credit where it's due, other than the military styled Flash and Green Lantern (and GL's upcoming new "costume"), the artwork has been good and easily the best thing regarding the book. But, I miss the days of the real JSA when it wasn't a team of legacies, but the original heroes.

Project Superpowers: X-mas Carol: This book is merely "meh". It gives us an origin and background of the villain known as the Clown and updates him for the modern age with powers of his own by him taking over the body of a clone of his foe, the hero Magno. It started off strong with a flashback sequence of the Clown before he became the masked villain with his girlfriend, giving him some sympathetic background juxtaposed against scenes with a mother and son Christmas shopping in the modern day as well as the American Spirit propheting that someone was about to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country. But these scenes ultimately go nowhere, serving as little teases to completely different type of tale, one of impending tragedy and sadness. Part of this is because the book is constrained by the fact that it is to follow the construction of Dicken's A Christmas Carol so we have the Clown visited by the ghost of a past associate and then heroic ghosts of the Superpowers line: The Fighting Yank, the Ghost and American Spirit. Each tries to capture the Ghost and relating events from the past, present and a possible future. But, it only has a few pages to devote to each hero. It then ends on ambiguous ground as we are not sure if the Clown has undergone any kind of spiritual transformation in relation to his physical one or not. We aren't sure if we are to take anything from this tale, if there's anything to take. It might be a foreshadowing of upcoming plots, that the Clown may betray the Supremacy and thus avert the disaster that the American Spirit shows him. Or the Clown may bring about that very future.  There's nothing in the ending to really grab hold of, to see a reason as to why to read this story. We understand a little more about the background of the Clown but it's all upset by the non-descript ending, it cannot be applied to the future. It becomes a tale that's unfinished all the way around, imparting little knowledge, truth or emotion.

Spider-Girl #2: Tying the JSA of a book being not merely bad but incredibly dumb. Part of it is the simple fact that it's merely the second issue and yet managed to go so wrong so quickly in so many different directions. Part of last issue's biggest disconnect was the idea that a father would let his teen-age daughter with no powers go out and fight crime. This was a big source of conflict between Mayday and her parents in the DeFalco series, resulting in her just doing it anyway, and she had powers. Arana doesn't have anything other than good training. This is compounded by that Sue Richards, adult and mother, also supports and aids her in these actions. Well, we don't have to worry about that because the writer decided to go for that standard cliche and kill off the girl's father. And, then spend the whole issue of the character dealing with it. I could see this being done somewhere down the road, it's a big cliche but it does up-end the status quo and gives a change-of-pace story. BUT IN THE SECOND ISSUE? And, it's not a villain she can take on, but the Red Hulk. So we have a story where the character is not only sad and depressed for the whole issue but completely ineffectual. Again, this might be fine later, but it hardly makes me want to read more about this character. She comes across useless, her book is depressing, and now two issues in, there's no status quo or regular supporting cast and relationships to draw me back to.

This issue at least shows that the line she swings by is some grappling line although where she keeps it and the mechanisms that control it is a complete mystery. I guess it's in the same place where she manages to find coins to buy newspapers to fling in the Red Hulk's face.

More bad writing: there's zero introduction of just who or what the Red Hulk is. My brother's first question was, "why is the Hulk red?" I could answer a little of it as I keep up with some of the general goings on in the Marvel U, but there is zero in the story to tell us anything about the character, that it's not even the real Hulk just in different Christmas colors. Remember, every issue is someone's first exposure to the characters. Why should I, reading a Spider-man family book, be expected to know what's going on in the Hulk books?

The book tops the JSA with writing characters with the same voice with this bit of dialogue.
Johnny Storm: Did he seem...crazy to you? He's never talked like that before. Let's find him and find out.
Reed Richards: It was...strange. Let's find him and find out."
In the same panel, we have the world's smartest man and leader of the FF simply repeating verbatim what a high school graduate just said, proposing the same action as if it was his idea. My guess for the future death in the FF, Johnny kills Reed for constantly undercutting him like this. Or Reed is already dead and they are hiding it from the world by using a robot.

We are lead to believe her father was this respected journalist and the go-to press-guy for the celebrity heroes the Fantastic Four, yet his funeral is practically empty, the FF don't even show up. His daughter wears plain clothes but not black and her friends wear nice colorful clothes. Instead of a powerful scene, all I can think is "this is supposed to be a funeral?" Bad, bad storytelling.

Thunderstrike #2: At least this title has a teenager acting like a teenager, albeit a surly petulant one, and parents acting and reacting in ways that seem like real human beings and parents would. And, with DeFalco and Frenz at the helm, there's lots of superhero action. If we cannot have the real Spider-Girl or even the real Thunderstrike, this fills the gap nicely.

Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula #3 of 5: The story shifts a bit from how I remember the Dracula story going as Mina has died and one of Lucy's suitors has become a betrayer, thus we are no longer following Stoker's script even discounting Holmes' involvement. It sets things up as the conclusion no longer being pre-ordained. Despite that, it's a fun book, pitting the world's greatest sleuth against one of its biggest villains.

Warlord of Mars #3: A switch-up in artists. The new guy draws Carter as being a little too muscle bound for my taste and doesn't have quite the same texture to his pencils but he does a great job at drawing an alien city. In this day and age, I don't think it's too much to ask that an artist be able to draw faces differently, so that the only way to tell the green-skinned martians apart is whether they have both tusks or not. The series seems intent on having them all drawn as four-armed Hulks as opposed to the more lanky, almost skeletal proportions they are generally shown as. These are small complaints though as overall the book has looked very good and it's going to be hard for anyone to really top what Gil Kane and John Buscema could do with sci-fi/fantasy sword fighters.

Some reviews and the Green Hornet director mouths off

Recently got married, moved to Greensboro and got a laptop computer. Means I have some hard choices ahead of me. Or maybe not so hard after all. My wife's place is smaller than mine (I moved because she has a good, steady job, I'm still looking). There's just no room for 23 or more boxes of comics and looking at things with my mom and my grandmother, I wonder at the need for that many comics, comics I'll never read again. I had posted them for sale at Craigslist at one time but only got a few nibbles and I'll probably post it again. But, as I started going through the comics, I realized that out of all those boxes and thousands of comics, I could probably whittle it down to two boxes. Almost all of the works by George Perez, Walt Simonson, Mignola, and John Byrne have been collected so I don't need all the individual issues of Avengers, Thor, Fantasatic Four, Hellboy, Next Men, etc. All of the JSA and appearances by individual heroes of Earth-2 have been collected, so no real need for all of those All-Stars, JLA-JSA crossovers, etc. I don't even need Ditko's Charlton work as those have likewise been collected. Trades and hardbacks are so much more easily manageable and readable. And, there's a lot of critically acclaimed comics that I just don't re-read though I'm glad I got them at the time: Morrison's Animal Man, Gaiman's Sandman, Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Top Ten. The stuff I'd keep is probably the stuff that is almost worthless to most people but the most fun to me: the various Doc Savage comics (before the current stuff), Gerard Jones' El Diablo and Shadow Strikes. Roy Thomas' All-Star Squadron (not collected). Aparo's Phantom Stranger. My Phantom comics, especially those by Newton and Aparo. At least until a publisher gets around to reprinting them. Giant-Size Superheroes pitting Spider-man against Morbius and the Man-wolf. Tom DeFalco's run on FF, Thor, Thunderstrike, and Spider-Girl. Various comics by Butch Guice, specifically Micronauts and Resurrection Man. My Rom comics. Uncollected works of Gil Kane. But, it's getting so that I don't even expect to see those uncollected forever. After all, we're seeing other publishers publishing reprints of Marvel's past licensed titles.

I don't buy that many more new comics, and I get fewer all the time. I mostly get minis, but those have been souring on me as well as more than half seem to drop the ball in the last issue (see Shadowland: Blood on the Streets for the most recent example or Union Jack, Agents of Atlas, and Sable and Fortune for past ones). Waiting for the trade seems to be the best course on those unless by proven creators and talent. Case in point, I'd really like to get the Dead Avengers mini that is spinning out of Chaos War storyline. It features art by one of the best and under-utilized superhero artists out there, Tom Grummet. But, I've seen how this usually pans out, and with the price, I decided I'd just wait until it gets the inevitable trade. Meanwhile, I am getting DeFalco and Frenz's Thunderstrike.

The prices, decompressed storylines and increasingly unrecognizable characterizations further distance me from the various ongoings. One of the few that I never thought I'd seriously consider dropping was the main JSA book. Putting Scott Kolins on as artist almost did the job, but the recent revelations that Blue Devil and Manhunter were being added to the team hammered that final nail. Manhunter is one of the few characters I cannot divorce from the ego of the creator, whose approach to writing is so diametrically opposite my own philosophies, I am not able to buy a book with her in it (Bucky-Cap is another). I find, if I can drop the JSA book, it's easy to say adios to the rest. I'll stick with odd minis here and there, but the desire to actually "collecting" monthly comics is gone.

Another factor, although small one is the move divorces me from the shop I've long done business with. There's a good store in town, maybe even better in terms of layout and availability of material. And they seem excited about comics, enjoy them to no end. Which is good, but it's an excitement on the stuff and creators I find dreary while likewise they will disparage creators I like, often with ill-founded rumors. Not to me, mind you. They don't know me well enough to make that realization. Just stuff I overhear while they are talking with other customers. They carry tons of classic stuff that you don't normally see, but an actual love over the vast history of comics doesn't come through. I will probably go there for my off and on fixes of the most recent issue of this or that comic, but I'll just make monthly trips to Raleigh for my pulp stuff.

Green Hornet Movie: Read this at the comicbookresources site and just couldn't let it pass without commenting. Apparently, Green Hornet director Michel Gondry complained about comic fans walking out on a viewing at Comi-con, saying, "These ones just reinforce the social rules. Their values are fascistic. All those people marching around in capes and masks and boots. The superhero imagery is totally fascist! When you step into this genre, they feel it belongs to them. They want you to conform, or they won't like you. They want the conventional." He also says the film plays fine for "normal people." Ok. So, comic and super-hero fans equal "Fascist" and low-brow humor, bad-acting and Seth Rogen fans equal "Normal". There are just so many things wrong with his statements. Like many of the modern comic writers, he is basically screaming his disdain for the very characters and concepts he has chosen to work with and the fans of those characters. And, he expects people to like it. Oh, wait, he expects they won't because they aren't "normal". So, anyone that doesn't like it is apparently not normal either. I guess that's one way to shield yourself from any honest criticism or self-evaluation.

Notice all of the inherent contradictions in his statements. On one hand he calls them "fascist", then they dress up in costumes, capes and boots, but somehow reinforce social rules and want conventional, none of which go hand in hand with wearing costumes. Yet because of wanting "social rules" and "conventional" they are not normal (which would be about two of the most basic qualities I'd expect from someone that was "normal").

Yet, it also betrays a very fundamental misunderstanding of superheroes in general, their tradition and history and that of the Green Hornet specifically. It shows us a man that chose to make a film without the least bit understanding the source material beyond looking at the 1960s television show and probably reading Watchmen. How else do you make a blanket statement that all superheroes are fascist? Are cops and soldiers by their nature, also fascist? Private detective fiction? Modern comics have gotten away from their roots a bit, to be sure, but superheroes were originally voices against corruption, complacity, the feeling of powerlessness against the larger injustices of the world. Especially those that came along in the 1930s and 40s, growing out of the pulp movement. They were to serve as voices for justice when the law wasn't enough or when the law was part of the problem due to unfair laws, discrimination, laziness, graft and bribes. They were avatars for the normal people, acting in ways we couldn't.

By his nature, the Green Hornet has in his concept to be every inch a success the way that Nolan's Batman movies are. But, it takes a director that understands a bit more of the concepts of the character, that doesn't attack the characters and fans basic integrities by making fun of them and calling them names.

Reviews: Ironically, the week I decide to cut back on comics turned out to be a "heavy" comic week for me. Although, at one time the money I spent and the amount of comics I got would be a normal or light week.

Archie and Friends #150: Not a title I normally get. But, how could I resist a title that features various and extremely minor MLJ characters such as Kardak the Mystic, Fu Chang, Sam Hill, Inspector Bently, the Midshipman Lee Sampson, and Sgt. Boyle as well as appearances by L'il Jinx, Danny in Wonderland, Suzie, Catfish Joe and probably others I don't recognize? Answer, I couldn't. Not normally my cup of tea, but it's great to see them. Maybe with the failure of the Red Circle line at DC, maybe Archie is looking at the reception of the characters presented in a non-reimagined albeit more cartoony form?

Avengers Academy #7: I got this solely for Hank Pym going back to being Giant-Man. He's had a history of costume and name changes and some of those costumes were badly designed, but his turn of being the Wasp was one of the more ludicrous in a history of bad decisions and bad designs. McKone's redesign manages to echo the classic and iconic with a few modern touches (don't really care for the pin-stripe lines as they don't really seem to add anything to the design other than a desperate attempt to make it not look dated). And, the concept and idea behind AA struck me as the most interesting of the various Avenger relaunches, but I just couldn't accept the Hank-as-Wasp idea.

I wish the writing lived up to the fun aspect of the cover or even the idea of Giant Man throwing down with the Absorbing Man. Like all stories featuring Hank Pym, it just cannot let go of the past and all the bad decisions regarding the character. I haven't read an Iron Man comic in years, but surely not every single writer fashions every important story around him focusing on his arm-dealer days, alcoholism, betrayal of friends in Armor Wars and the Crossing. But, that's what we get here. Instead of actually seeing how powerful a character he is, the writer first has to bog him down by rehashing his "relationships" with Tigra and Jocasta, his history of mental issues, his tumultuous relationship with Janet Van Dyne, psycho-babble of rationales for taking on various identities, etc. Given a few extra pages, I'm sure we'd have seen scenes showing the infamous slap, betrayal of the Avengers, and creating Ultron. By the time we get to the actual fight scene, the writer has done a thorough job of making me not liking the character, I don't really care that he wins the day. He's still a putz.

And, his manner of winning... I am all for characters using their powers in new and interesting ways. But, here we have Pym using his powers in ways that defy logic and any sense of his use of them in the past. One of the traditional differences between Marvel and DC was the scope of the powers. The Flash can run faster than the speed of light, vibrate through solid matter, and use his speed to travel other dimensions including time. Quicksilver doesn't even routinely break the sound barrier. Superman has a host of powers, Thor is strong and has a hammer. Almost every scientist in the DCU is as smart as Reed Richards. Plastic Man can make himself into any shape, Reed Richards merely stretches. Thus, you have the Atom who regularly visits sub-atomic worlds whereas Pym rarely gets smaller than, well, an ant. Likewise, his giant-size growing has always been shown to be as routinely "realistic" in scale.  Lately, he's been depicted as tall as buildings, and as such I have a hard time accepting seeing him going through the city without doing extensive property damage or stepping on someone in a densely populated city like New York. We see that several times in this fight. It's not two men twenty feet tall duking it out, which would be impressive enough with the right artist, but hundreds feet tall or more while leaning on suspension bridges for support. It's stupid. If the battle was at that scale, I'd expect to see dialogue and scenes of the hero trying to control the battle. Then to add insult to injury, Pym gives a speech about their being a limit to the physical growth of a human body, which is in reality much less than what's shown here. Don't bring in an actual physics statement while violating it. But, the statement is to show something never shown before as being part of his power and ability, that at some point, you leave physical reality to one of abstract and conceptual. He can grow so large, that he is able to be in the realm of Order and Chaos, Eternity, the Living Tribunal. How large is that, though? He doesn't just magically immediately go from 6 ft to 12 ft or 100 ft. He grows and  shrinks.  This means to get to 12 feet, he must go through 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 feet tall. How tall would he have to grow to actually change his reality? Two-hundred feet? Five hundred? A mile? Imagine what kind of damage that two such growing bodies would do before they make the transition. It's one of those kewl ideas, but is not thought out and is too extreme of a device to be used so casually and easily.

I went into this comic, preparing to like it. Wanting to like it, especially with how many comics I'm not getting these days, I wouldn't mind having one ongoing title to get from Marvel. But, they blew it.

Captain America: Patriot: There's not much to add to this that I've not said about the previous issues. It ends on a happier note than I would have expected and with un-resolved subplot elements such as what happened with Mary Morgan and was she a spy. Done several years ago, I think this book would have been an excellent read and as such, it might stand the test of time. However, in the context of today's comics that are so bent on giving heroes feet of clay, "realistic" costumes and so on, this book doesn't really stand out. Jeff Mace is portrayed as being dull and luke-warm, second rate in his own title. He's likable but in a girl/boy-next-door way when you really want the bad boy or head cheerleader. The scenes where he exerts his personality and shows backbone are too few and far between.

John Byrne's Next Men #3/1: After a long hiatus, an oft requested title is back after ending its last chapter on a cliffhanger. It doesn't matter if the reader has read the original books or not as Byrne incorporates a summation of the previous plotlines in such a way that it's part of the story. All that has gone before is called in to question as Jasmine/Bounce seems to "bounce" between realities and timelines. How much is her dream and how much is time and reality being flux is left open to question by the issue's end. At its heart, the story has always been a time-travel story, something Byrne has professed to loving to do and many of his best works have been time-travel stories: Days of Future Past, OMAC. The fast-paced transitions serve to leave the reader and Jasmine unsettled as to what is really happening and what really happened and that's a good thing. By the end, both new readers and returning ones are pretty much on the same page as to having insight into the real reality. Of course in the last series, often what I thought was going on was not really what was happening. Making this a good series for those people who actually enjoy television shows like Heroes, Lost, No Ordinary Family. Here is the same thing without actually dragging stuff out.

This is the best artwork that Byrne has ever produced, with the possible exception being the aforementioned OMAC mini-series. It incorporates the best elements from the different periods of his career and make them all work seamlessly together. The only disconnect for me is that somewhere along the way, he picked up a cartooning style of portraying mouth expressions at times. It shows up here where Danny is complaining about his back, while it would work in something like a humor strip, it seems out of place in the relative realism that this strives for. But old Jack's beard on the final pages more than makes up for that, it has feathering and texture and no hard boundaries or outlines. Wonderful stuff.

The colors by Ronda Pattison are wonderfully subdued, often providing just the right amount of shading without looking like it's trying to do the penciler's job for him in providing detail.

Sea Ghost: I recently had the fortune of winning this comic from comicbookcatacombs. I like aquatic heroes in general, and this one has a wonderful old school design behind him. The cover is a neat nod to Bronze-Age Marvel books and the art on both it and the alternate back cover is nicely done. The interior story, style and characterizations have a retro Filmation style to them, deliberately so. Unfortunately, I'm not really drawn to comics drawn in animation style. Partly because it's really a faux or pastiche style. Animation has specific concerns and limitations it has to deal with that have nothing to do with comic books. Adapting that style for a print medium is a deliberate limiting style and usually used to communicate things that weren't really part of the intended message of the animation itself. Such as, when animation style is used in comics, it communicates that it will probably be toned and dumbed down in order to be suitable for kids. The Incredibles movie was suitable for all ages, many adults enjoyed it as much or more than kids. You do a comic drawn that way and it's suddenly aimed solely at 8 year olds.

Yet that style is compromised by the heavy use of computer to color and illustrate it, making it look more like a daily web-comic. So, the end result is feeling like reading a collection of strips of a web-comic that was heavily influenced by Alex Toth's work in animation. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not really what I was expecting when looking at the covers and it struggles in some places trying to mix it all into one style. And, the covers and some background scenes show that the artist really does have a wonderful line along the lines of Guy Davis as well as a strong design and layout skills so some panels are really beautiful where it all works. Give me Sea Ghost in a book with a more conventional style (though can still be influenced by the designs of Toth, just try not to actually ape it) and I think you'd have a winner.

Shadowland: Blood on the Streets: If I had known the mini was going to end the way it did,  I wouldn't have bothered. I wasn't getting the main mini-series, because by all accounts reading it was not required to enjoy the related minis and in this it was true. I was drawn by the inclusion of the Shroud, a long time favorite and the Paladdin who I do find interesting on occasion. Misty Knight and Silver Sable, don't really care one way or the other.

Sadly, most of it really seemed to be from Misty's point of view as the various heroes get drawn into investigating murders by the Hand, controlled by Daredevil. I liked the idea. I liked the idea of a good pulp story mixed in with heroes actually trying to solve a crime and the prospect of heroes fighting ninjas.

As it progressed, it seemed someone was setting the Hand up, using them as a scapegoat. Fine. Maybe not the Hand but some other hidden mastermind using ninjas, or at least well-trained killers, as henchmen. Only that's not where it went. Instead, it went for the cliche, a group of disgruntled cops turning vigilante to kill perps who got off using Daredevil and the Hand as cover. Completely anti-climactic considering the likes of the Shroud, Palladin, Misty Knight AND Silver Sable working on the case. Very little for them to really do and certainly no real physical action or viable threat level from the bad guys to the point that it takes the Hand trying to exact their revenge on the rogue cops that give them a reason for really being there.

It furthers the crime by making the head bad cop be Lt. Scarfe, longtime good cop and supporting cast member of Iron Fist. Another story that chooses to make the bad guy be a formerly good guy just out of the blue with no real supporting rationale. It works for the story being told barely, if he was a character never seen before. That would make the story merely mediocre with nothing to recommend it as it covers ground that other works have done better. But, to take a long-standing if minor character and turn him into the villain screams desperation of trying to make an otherwise dull story be shocking and have real ramifications. The character and the readers deserve better than that. There should be a real story behind it beyond just tired of seeing bad guys getting away.

Spider-Girl: I wouldn't have normally picked this up. It happened to be in my bag since I was signed up for the old series with a different character by the same name. And, I shouldn't like it for many reasons. I was a fan of the other series and hate to see it cancelled just so another character can use the name; while the art was clear, the coloring tried to give everything a sorta faux 3-D pixar feel to it, a popular coloring style these days but not my cup of tea as it just looks false and cold to me; several scenes and just the basic concept that just threw me out of the story; and her and her father's motivation is never explained. Yet, I found myself enjoying it despite that. It had a charm to it that is often lacking in Marvel's comics today outside of something with Squirrel Girl.

I doubt it's enough to make me pick it up on a regular basis. There were too many things just glossed over or ignored. It was one thing with May fighting crime, she had superpowers. But, here we have a teen-aged girl fighting crime but with no motivation beyond being a bit of a superhero groupie. She is supposed to have been trained by the best, but that's not really shown or explained. After all, she also once had powers. How much training since then has she had that really prepares her to take down grown men or mediocre supervillains that cops couldn't handle? It's a fine line between suspension of disbelief of having a teen-aged girl manage to outfight and outwit some minor supervillain and the cops commenting on how they had been unable to do so, you either build her up to be exceptional or make the cops seem completely inept. Sadly, the lame villain made the scene veer to the latter. How does she swing through the city, starting from a sidewalk? Did she somehow snag a nearby helicopter? And, is that Spider-man's webbing she's using, otherwise, where is all that line coming from and how is she shooting it? And, even if she's a capable fighter, what kind of father actually would allow his teen-age daughter fight criminals? It's a tired cliche  of irresponsibility when there's an adult hero at least supervising it, how irresponsible is it to just allow her to do it unsupervised?

While not enough for me to warrant to continually get it, I do hope it's successful. I think a book of it's type is needed in the marketplace and fills an underserved niche. However, it's the same niche that the other Spider-Girl filled and she struggled to find a readership and marketplace. Maybe they are hoping with this one tied to the mainstream continuity, it can get needed boosts by crossovers with the Spider-man books and other titles which the other book could not do. Although in my case it was part of what made it attractive, I didn't have to worry about the book getting highjacked by outside storylines.

Thunderstrike #1: Meanwhile DeFalco and Frenz return with another hero. I enjoyed Eric Masterton's turn as Thor and later Thunderstrike. There was a bit of the well-meaning nice every-man about him, struggling to balance job, family and a sideline business as a superhero. In many ways, he was of the same stripe as Peter Parker. He was a nice guy with a big sense of responsibility, struggling to find his way in an increasingly bizarre world without an operator's manual. And, ultimately it killed him. Ads from Marvel suggested that Eric was coming back, but the art and previews pretty much hinted that it's someone else that has inherited his powers and looks. It's no big surprise as it turns out to be his son Kevin who has struggles of his own. He's a teenager and he's never really come to terms with his dad's death. He resents his dad and almost all adults and their involvement in trying to tell him what the right things to do are, he's seen what doing the right thing gets you. He's a supervillain in the making. But, he's a teenager. That means he's full of contradictions and how he deliberately acts and how he instinctively acts are not always the same thing. It's a great beginning, to see how he grows and which paths he ultimately chooses to follow. And, being a DeFalco book, it means there's plenty of action, before the first issue is done, we see the new hero-to-be and a slam-bang fight with the Rhino. More first issues should be like this: introduction of principal characters, external and internal conflicts, angst, and plenty of action of superheroes fighting supervillains.

Time Masters #5: This mini is nearing its end and about the only thing that would make me get the final issue is I got the other four. It might just be easier to list where the comic goes wrong.

1. The cover shows us the climactic reveal from the END of the book. The final scene is played out as the heroes are being attacked by someone moving too fast to be seen. But, thanks to the cover, we already know who it is. Otherwise, has nothing else to do with the rest of the story.
2. After several issues with Claw and non-Titan Starfire, they are returned home without doing much of anything storywise other than to gripe and complain.
3. Likewise, their villains are taken care of in such a casual manner it makes you wonder what the whole point of it was other than to give the heroes something to do other than looking for Bruce Wayne while giving time to relate the story of the Black Beetle's plot to catch up.
4. What happened to Per Degaton, Despero and the Ultra-Humanite? After being in the book from the beginning, they went from interesting classic time-traveling masterminds to mere henchmen and are now gone, disappearing in between issues.
5. Lastly, the art continues to look as if it's drawn with eyes for the sale on the original art market as Green Lantern continues to face the reader while reacting to things and making constructs behind him or the whole group holds a conversation facing the reader instead of each other. Bad storytelling.

Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs Dracula: I bypassed the Sherlock Holmes vs Zombies book, but Holmes is a character I love and with the increasing dearth of comics, a mini I thought I could live with. And, I've read several Sherlock Holmes and Dracula books in the past, so a comic is also going to appeal.

What's great about this mini is it doesn't try to be a pastiche. The art doesn't try to be Victorian illustration and the storytelling doesn't try to do it through Watson's eyes. It is using Holmes, Watson and Dracula as characters and being true to their characters without actually pretending to be done by Doyle or Stoker. Watson is drawn as the cliche'd older man while Holmes looks decades younger and a bit more good looking than he should but otherwise it all looks good. The covers to the first two issues have a great sense of design and color that really stand out, almost like vintage movie posters.

Likewise, the writing provides plenty of space for art and action to move the story, recognizing that it's a modern day comicbook with all the strengths and weaknesses of that vs prose (especially Victorian prose). It tells the story in according to the strengths of its media without seeming anachronistic or out of place. It's been years since I read Dracula, but so far the story seems to follow along the lines of Loren Estleman's Holmes-Dracula book, keeping to the story that Stoker told but telling the previously unrevealed roles that Holmes and Watson played from their point of view, changing very little of the original narrative.

The last mini had zombies and revenants, this has Dracula and vampires, will the next be mummies?

News & Reviews

Comic News: It has probably been a while since there has been quite a bit of good news concerning upcoming comics, especially linking the names "Dynamite" and "Alex Ross".

Dynamite has gotten the rights to various Kirby characters, specifically Captain Victory, Silver Star, Phantom Force and his various Topps-verse characters and Alex Ross is associated with the project. That's not the good news, though. The good news is that Kurt Busiek has been roped in as writer! Kurt Busiek frequently proves himself as a writer that understands the power of continuity and history, that they are tools to be used not hindrances. His writings show that he understands the genres of superheroes, where they overlap other genres and what defines them. He has proven time and again, that he understands characterization and how continuity and history plays into that. His characters are defined by their history, the choices and lives they have lived. Even if you don't really agree with a particular characterization or direction he may take, you cannot argue that it's not at least grounded and reasoned out. So, instead of seeing the typical project by Dynamite and Ross of re-writing the characters to fit an arbitrary artistic vision, we can look forward to a book that truly starts with the basic concepts and characters Kirby came up with and grow out of that. Already, the promo art looks more faithful to the source material than the Phantom artwork did.

And, Busiek already has a history with some of these characters as he had been working on many of these characters for Topps with first issues being published of his Silver Star and Victory mini-series. Hopefully, we'll be seeing more faithful renderings by the artists this time around than Giffen's wholesale redesigns for the Victory comic.

Jurassic Park, Angel & Frankenstein, and Next Men! In the space of a week, three different titles have been revealed coming from John Byrne. Admittedly, the first two are just mini's or one-shots, but all should be a lot of fun with plenty of mayhem. Personally, I liked Danger Unlimited and the Torch of Liberty more than Next Men. But, I'm a superhero type of guy. Still, Next Men was some of the best out and out genre breaking writing to come out of John Byrne with complicated characters and motivations and intricate plotting, the top of his game. It will be interesting to see if he can recapture that lightning for I've felt that sense of depth hasn't been in the majority of his work of late. I'd like to see Byrne create and do his own full-blown superhero universe, full of costumed heroes, super-villains, magic monsters, lost civilizations, prehistoric jungles, alien invasions, etc. The stuff that actually makes superhero comics fun to read. The type of stuff we found in his Fantastic Four, Namor, Alpha Flight, Superman, etc.

Reviews:
Astro City: Silver Agent #1: After all this time, and a very long arc looking at him from the outside, we get an inside look at the Silver Agent, his origins and motivations. First up, Ross pulls off a nice Steranko pop-art feel to the cover. I love the start of the book, looking at some of the heroes of Astro City's past in action filled cameos then moving on to the far future with the Silver Agent fighting alongside a Legion of Superheroes/Alien Legion mish-mash against a cosmic menace that comes across as something that Jack Kirby would have come up with. Unfortunately I just don't buy that anyone would willingly choose to be innocently executed when there were other viable options available that wouldn't damage the outcome of history. He could still travel through time making those sporadic appearances and sending a "geneti-copy" to be executed. The problem is that with the sci-fi elements and raising the issue that they do have the technology to send a copy back through time, it's next to impossible to come up with a truly plausible reason not to take advantage of any logical outs.

There's some art issues. To be a broken record, we have instances of coloring that's too heavy and intense, muddying the clarity of the artwork. In fact, there's one scene that's almost laughable as the coloring of the Silver Agent out of costume with him looking at his palms, it looks like he's fondling his own chest. Then the flashbacks, look like they are going for that large dot pattern of comics past effect, but in this case we are getting a moire pattern that just mars the whole thing. Instead of going for a printing trick or special effects, such scenes would really work best by simply using a limited or muted color scene. It's not as if Anderson is trying to make his work look dated or old, so why should the printing?

Still, page for page, there's more story, more depth and pathos and action than found in many of today's comics.

DC Universe Legacies #3: Wow, three issues in and it already jumps the shark. Tthis issue even has more problems than the others. It seems like it cannot really decide what it's supposed to be. On one hand it seems to be a version of the modern history of the current DCU, which would be fine. On the other, it's a meta-fictional history, explaining superhero continuity and publishing trends through a story such as the fall of the GA heroes, the rise of the detective heroes and western stars (using television to stand in for comics, and the coonskin hat craze explained as a Tomahawk fad...). Except for the fact that the timeline in this issue is all sorts of screwed up. If the kid was around 8-12 in 1939, this story (and many of the characters used and referenced events) suggest that it's taking place in the 1950s. Which is fine when talking about the rise of the cowboy heroes after the GA masked men mostly leave the stage. But, the story then has that the Silver-Age heroes Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern and the Flash all debuted in the mid to late 1950s while our older narrator was still a young man! Which is true publishing wise (for Green Lantern and the Flash anyways, the other four never really left), but no way that jibes with modern continuity! And, considering the age of the narrator, that means that he would have to be narrating from some point in the future, or we're going to acknowledge on some level that the modern heroes have been active for 50-60 years! Where's the editor on this thing? He's definitely not trying to have the story make sense. Or even correct spelling errors unless there's an alternate spelling for "brunette" out there. The only thing going for it is the wonderful art as in this one issue, the comic has no reason for being. It's telling a retcon history so it's all about continuity but it is a history that is completely inapplicable to any known incarnation of the DCU. Worthless.

Green Hornet: Year One #4: This is the first issue that falters a bit. Aaron Campbell's artwork is a bit inconsistent with the faces of Britt Reid and Kato, the two sometimes seem to be drawn from the same model, one with a rather sizable nose and weak chin! Nor do Francavilla's color combinations work as well this time out. The opening page with magenta and purple skies while the city is bathed in reds and yellows and carrying through to the interior scenes makes the color choices seem almost random and work against establishing mood or even place as it lends an otherworldly alien atmosphere to everything.

We get yet another story that depicts Reid being trained by Kato, but that is at least defensible in that a) it's four issues into the story, b) so we've seen how Reid is a hero and the driving and passionate force behind the team without sacrificing Kato as a developed character and c) we promptly see him in physical action showing himself to be a quick study and very capable fighter in his own right. So, while it's Kato training Britt how to fight, it's not Kato being the mentor and dominant factor of the team with Britt just stumbling along the best that he can that most modern Green Hornet takes fall into.

Justice Society of America #41: Not really impressed with Robinson's JSA story. We have have an inappropriate comment between Mr. America and Lightning, Wildcat doing the cliched "poor me with no superpowers but a good left-hook and on an adventure involving magic/superpowers/etc" monologue, Obsidian taken over right after a whole arc whose ultimate issue was about how he'd never be taken over again, Dr. Mid-nite getting sidelined out of an adventure in order to do real doctoring yet again, and by the end, the story's main heroes being just legacy heroes as all the originals or primary ones taken out. And, conflicting accounts as to how the starheart's possessions work. Is it random, possibly targeting anyone with a modicum of superpowers, or just the ones powered by starheart/chaotic energy? We are pretty much told both by Dick Grayson. As the majority of the team that Batman nee Nightwing nee Robin are superpowered, exactly what is his logic that these heroes are the least susceptible, when the whole start of the comic points out to both the reader and Dick Grayson that it is targeting even those with very little super power, that his original assessment was wrong? It's not that the story is following an internal logic we and the characters cannot see yet, it's there is no internal logic between what the characters know and their decisions and how they react.

Otherwise, Robinson does a decent job at telling the story without actually requiring a reading of the previous JLA. Of course part of that is that it's a relatively simple plot despite it's internal inconsistencies. And, Bagley does a good job on the artwork.

I am a bit surprised by how many people don't see anything wrong with a mid twenties at his youngest federal agent Mr. America making innuendo flirtations and holding hands with a girl of about sixteen years old and actually defend it.

Spectacular Spider-Girl #3: Not more that I can say that I've not already. Each issue is better and stronger than the one before. There's plenty of superhero action and characterization. As I've been a long time reader of the character, I'm not the best to judge on the reader friendly quality. New readers might wonder exactly what the Black Tarantula's relationship with Arana and Spider-Girl is, what the whole deal is about April and May and who's the clone questions. Heck, I'd be hard pressed to sum it all up and I'm not really sure exactly what the deal with Arana is, but it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the ride on this title. I give DeFalco props for not trying to draw out the mystery of who Wild Card was as it was very obvious. Of course, it was obvious because DeFalco wrote him as being in character even with his identity hidden. Straight-forward superhero fun by all involved.

Time Masters: Vanishing Point: This title has a few strikes against it. One, the comic has a built in flaw in its very premise of a plotline. It's all about Rip Hunter, Booster and several of the heroes looking for the Bruce Wayne Batman who's lost in time and whose very present is damaging the time stream. That's the mega plot to the story. The problem with that is it's a plot whose resolution will not be in this title as Batman's journey to the present is a whole other mini-series. Either this and that series will cross over before they are through or one of the two cannot really deliver on the story it's promising. Remember the "Death of Batman" mini from not too long back when the actual "death" of the character was in completely different title? It's the same thing here. Imagine a Star Wars story where a young man blames the jedis in general and Darth Vader specifically for the death of his father and sets out to kill him. Only that young man is not Luke Skywalker. You've set up for yourself a story whose logical climactic conclusion cannot be contained in your story because it's covered pretty well in another story. What Dan Jurgens has to deliver is that while the search for Batman is the goal of the heroes, it's only the starting point of the story, what gets the ball rolling and what the story is really about is something completely different. Jurgens does a little bit of that as he throws in a lot of other stuff such as the destruction of the Vanishing Point, where/when Booster and company normally make their home. Of course, that leads to the next problem... if like me you haven't been reading Booster Gold or really following all that's going on, it's hard to keep up with the storyline and characters. I don't know if this Rip Hunter is the same as the old Rip Hunter or the retcon post-Crisis Rip Hunter. He's not blond, no hint of a team nor a Time Sphere and he's a bit too world weary for my tastes, I like the idea of a time-traveling swashbuckler adventuring scientist. I don't know who Supernova is or his powers and we have three pages of him without identifying him. This is endemic of modern comics across the board. In trying to avoid clunky exposition whether in dialogue or captions that slows down stories for long time readers, we have more and more comics written as if everyone reading it has the complete scorecard, knows every character and their stats by heart. It's watching a sporting event that never bothered to tell you what player is wearing what number, what the team or player's stats were nor even bothered to tell you the score because you should be tracking all of that by yourself. That's modern comic book writing.

So, why did I get this? Because I like Jurgens' artwork. Even with the over-coloring and computerized effects (which there is plenty in this alas), his work stands out. I like odd pairings of heroes and characters (personally, I'd love to see obscure out of the past characters such as a pre-Alan Moore Swamp Thing, Ultra the Multi-Alien, DC's original Black Orchard and Shade, the Changing Man, or Prince Ra-Man and Mark Merlin). I generally enjoy time-travel stories though they can be overdone. And, I thought it was cool seeing Per Degaton and Despero in a story that doesn't involve a team-up of the JSA and JLA. It's an odd super-villain team-up and I'd like to see how that comes out. And, despite the link to the Batman mini, I hope for an enjoyable adventurous romp that doesn't require me to read too much of other DC comics as it jumps around in time. Heck, in a mini like this is about the only place where I stand a chance of seeing the above characters without a veneer of cynicism and darkening applied to them. So, I'm willing to give it an issue or two to establish its story and themes before deciding whether to continue or not.

Comic stores and Comic shops

I was in Chapel Hill on Saturday with my girlfriend, heading over to their Botanical Gardens. Along the way we saw the storefront for Ultimate Comics along with Season's Greetings. So, after lunch at a Persian restaurant, she went to Season's Greetings for a little shopping so I went to the comic store although I wasn't actually looking for any comics at that time.

I was confronted with a bare bones store as the store was in the process of moving and was in its last days. The clerk was helpful in telling me about the sale and the location of the new store that was already open. We talked a bit, he showed me the old sign to Second Foundation, THE comic store of Chapel Hill when I was in college. After several minutes hanging around, I decided to go to the new store just about four miles away near I-40 on 54.

The new store is very nice and spacious. Along the wall by the entrance are shelfs spotlighting various single titles while the middle of the store is devoted to bookshelves of trades, arranged solely in alphabetical order, no differentiation between companies. Near the front by the checkout desk is an area devoted to comics AND collections for kids and all-ages. Which is interesting because this means that the shelves with all of the current and new monthly comics is actually two-thirds to the back of the store with back-issues behind those shelves, almost blocked from view.

Like the clerk at the other store, the clerks here seem focused on customer service, engaging customers in conversation and freely talking about the history of the store and what they are doing in the community in regards to organizing comic shows and such. They also push a mailing list for people interested in order to communicate sales and such and talked of business, of being open to buying comics for trade, etc. They communicated their love of comics and such without actually denigrating any creators or particular style. Despite my rather odd choices for purchase, two different clerks spoke positively of them. All giving a positive shopping experience (compared to going to Acme Comics where I feel like a dinosaur as clerks freely talk about their favorites of current crops of writers, their disdain of others like Byrne).

Overall, the store communicates a very professional atmosphere. It is interesting to see the subconscious message that it communicates due to the prominent placement of trades over the monthly comics, where it sees the direction of comics going and where the money is to be made.

The store really only had two flaws against it in my eyes. One, it actually needs more trades. The place has the space to easily double or triple the shelves they have and what they carry. Especially as that seems to be their focus. Maybe that's the plan as they get more established. I didn't see any Manga collections nor recall many if any copies of the b/w Showcase and Essential volumes. While they give prominence to the trades and a professional and uncluttered look, they don't have a bigger selection of said books than Acme Comics out of Greensboro, really not much more so than your Barnes & Noble when you take into account the mega bookstores DO carry manga.

The other is that all of the current comics are already bagged and boarded. This cuts down on people handling and reading comics in the store without buying them, but it cuts down on browsing and casually checking various titles to see if you're interested in picking them up. Such as I saw they had Birds of Prey and had heard some good things concerning the title now that Gail was back on it and was a bit curious to try it out despite my ban on buying Black Canary these days. However, I wasn't going to pick it up without looking inside of it first. And, there was nothing on the racks that prompted me to go through the trouble of asking the clerks if I could open it. In fact, it did bite me in the posterior when I did pick up one book without checking the insides based solely on the fact it featured GA characters, Larsen and Image's issue of Silver Streak Comics.

I also picked up a collection of the color strips of The Norm, an overlooked gem of a comic strip from a couple of years ago. The fact that I didn't know this latter book existed and had not seen Silver Streak at any of the other stores I frequent though I had heard it had been published does speak at the very decent variety actually offered. I don't know if it will ever replace my shopping at Foundation's Edge in Raleigh, which is closer after all and I have two decades of knowing the owner nor the convenience of Acme Comics as I'm in Greensboro half the time. However, if I'm looking for something specific or they have a good sale going on, it's only an hour away from either place I call home.

Comic Reviews:
As I've already talked about them, we'll start off with the recent purchases before moving on to to other titles.

The Norm: A great collection of the Sunday strips and a few notes in the back talking about a few key strips and what the Michael Jantze was trying to do. Norm is a twenty something working in the world of publishing, navigating the worlds of best friends, girl friends, and later married life, in-laws and unemployment and having a baby conversations. Along the way, we get what it is to be a man in the modern age, of being a man on the inside but often feeling like a boy in a man's body given to flights of fancy. Unfortunately, the Sunday strips don't really show the strip always at its best and it seems to skip many of the ongoing events and narrative of the overall story such as him just waking up one day married and a whole year of his life gone by. Instead, we move from strips with him hanging out with whatever girlfriend he has and his best friends to just being married. Funny when it was part of the narrative, but this snapshot approach, it feels clunky and non-sensical. Also a downer is that the strips are at different sizes, a couple of them done at an extra large size that a single Sunday strip extends across the spread of two pages. This doesn't work as it doesn't take into account the center fold of the spread and so details and text are completely lost in the gutter. Still worth the money for the creativity that Jantze shows in his approach to the medium and storytelling. If you want to see a bunch of the strips and just how much his art and storytelling grew over the years go to gocomics.com.

Silver Streak Comics: I really have myself to blame. I wasn't too impressed with their Fantastic Comics in the Next Issue Project and given the fact that the comic was bagged and boarded so I couldn't check the insides first, I should have listened to that little voice in my head.

Larsen's Daredevil story is a thin-bare plot suitable for a Hellboy comic but without the charm or spookiness. Larsen's writing has always been episodic, much like a soap-opera. He writes action scenes and vignettes that build into a larger narrative. However, as standalone shorts like this, what we have is just a vignette or a scene not a story.

And, it's the best out of the bunch. The rest is full of self mockery and pastiche, not playing the characters as straightforward heroes but as commentary either on superheroes or the differences in the times. Silver Streak and Captain Battle almost succeed but have that same undercurrent of not taking the characters seriously. The one-page comedy strip has to do it with a post-modern bent and instead of coming up with something funny delivers something that makes you want to slash your wrists. Actually makes you want to read the Superpowers versions of the characters.

Speaking of Larsen's comics, I recently picked up an issue of Savage Dragon as it guest-stars Daredevil. Sadly, it looks as if he has embraced modern coloring. Everything was dark and intense, and the colorist putting highlights on individual muscles making them look plastic. I couldn't get past the coloring to even see if the story itself struck me as being any good.

DC Universe: Legacies: DC has launched a new mini-series, a sorta Marvels as a look at the history of DC comics starting with the golden-age and working more or less towards the present through the eyes of a common man.

As the first two issues deal with the JSA and the golden-age, and has artwork by Andy Kubert inked by papa Joe Kubert, they were pretty much must buys. It is interesting to note that the title is fairly literal. The heroes prominently featured are ones with modern day legacies: the Atom, Sandman, Crimson Avenger (though his legacy is very minor), Dr. Fate, Spectre, etc. The scenes of the various heroes also seem to be mostly from actual GA stories, the exception being the Atom and Sandman working together on a case but not as part of the JSA.

Now, with a universe that undergoes major continuity revisions every couple of years and minors ones constantly appearing in ongoing titles, a series like this can be helpful in smoothing out a few wrinkles and setting stuff up. Yet, with the second issue, the mini already goes astray in that it applies an all new retcon on top of other retcons ie it makes TNT and Dyna-mite the replacement heroes for Green Arrow and Speedy in the Seven Soldiers of Victory.

This is a bad retcon on several layers. One, the Seven Soldiers are a team of non-powered heroes. The Shining Knight is the powerhouse in the sense he has magic armor, sword and a flying horse. TNT and Dyna-mite upset that dynamic. Not only that, they are so powerful that although they are the retcon characters, they are now the power-houses of the team. It violates the spirit and balance of the team. Two, there are already retcons in place that explain who replaced Green Arrow and Speedy. Two retcons actually. The first was just the promotion of Billy Gunn and Wing to full status. Not a good explanation really since both are partners of other members it still leaves no one to plug into Green Arrow segments of the adventures. A second retcon was of the Spider whom James Robinson had made into a villain and traitor. Again, not a comfortable fit since it adds un-necessary baggage and not one I like as it takes a hero and recasts him as a villain, a specialty of Robinson's. But, it is an explanation. So, unless a later retcon is going to come along and clear things up and be a better fit... but, that brings us up to point number three. Some fans with whom the Spider as a traitorous member and/or TNT's death in Young All-Stars doesn't sit well, optimistically rejoice, seeing this as over-writing both events. Others, are just curious what this actually means for TNT and Dyna-mite as well as the Spider. The story involved does not implicitly contradict anything concerning previously published history of TNT and Spider as TNT may have just been a member before his death and it was that death that lead to the Spider joining. Which means, this would be a retcon without any purpose since it doesn't really correct anything. But, it's also one that instead of answering or addressing any questions, it raises questions and concerns, instead of simplifying things it complicates them.

The lead story of issue two covers the influence of the JSA, causing a heroic explosion of individual heroes along with other super groups such as the Seven Soldiers and the Freedom Fighters in a nice two page spread. The spread shows the core heroes of both groups along with others such as Mr. America, Air Wave, Sargon and Zatara. Of course, in the real publishing history Zatara preceded the JSA. And, there are no depictions or mention of the Fawcett characters such as Minute Man, Bulletman, Mr. Scarlet, etc and their GA superteam Crime Crusaders Club. In addition to an overview of the history and the dissolution of the JSA we get a wonderfully rendered look at the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion. Wonder if we'll see an account of what happens with them over time in the future issues?

The back-up story covers an adventure of the Seven Soldiers establishing TNT and Dyna-mite as members. It also may be a retcon of an actual story as in this story the team is challenged to stop a series of crimes by Black Star. Which they do in individual vignettes before teaming up to take down the master villain... the Dummy! Only, the Soldiers really did have an adventure fighting against a mystery villain called the Black Star. Just like the retcon of TNT, this story only raises questions.

Justice Society of America #39: Mr. T's plan on undoing the bleak Nazi controlled future is revealed and we see the powerless heroes fighting back to give him a chance. We also find out a little more just how the Fourth Reich took over the world with a little snide remark about America not liking having casualties while waging a war. The more time they spend on this, the more holes it has. We don't see who actually organized all of this, that came up with a way to neutralize ALL superpowers on the planet including power-rings and magic. And, how, realistically they managed to take over America so seamlessly with only a handful of super powered joes that they couldn't even use while keeping the powered heroes in check... so how did they have a huge enough army to fight America's armies AND non-powered heroes? The longer they spend on it, the more glaring these improbabilities become.

Overlooking that, it's a fun issue full of slambang action and a bit of fun in picking out the characters with them looking quite a bit older and out of costume.

The Phantom: Moonstone may have lost the rights to the Phantom so that Ross can do his revision update on the character, but at least they are going out with a bang by putting out several Phantom comics at a time. There's the monthly Phantom (with a purple cover and no logo this go around) that sports the wonderful art by Silvestre Szilagyi. Then Phantom Generations that has text stories and art by a different creative team each month focusing on Phantoms of different eras. And, the weakest of the bunch, The Phantom Double Shot with b/w artwork and two stories, one featuring the Phantom and the second another luminary of Moonstone, this time Captain Action.

Moonstone is also advertising "The Return of the Originals" ie various pulp heroes such as G-8, the Black Bat, Phantom Detective and Domino Lady whom they already publish. I'd be excited if not for the fact that so far, the Phantom has been the exception and not the rule in regards to Moonstone's handling of the various characters. They are just as guilty of modern revisionistic takes that bear little to the spirit of the original characters beyond superficials.

Alex Ross meanwhile sees the Phantom running through the jungle in a purple costume as being unrealistic, that painting himself in red berry juice is more realistic and edgier. And, he's right. It is unrealistic. So is Batman wearing a costume that limits eyesight, a cape that enemies can grab, and spending all that money on gadgets and such to fight crime when he could have just joined the police or FBI. Or teenage Peter Parker who could make a fortune with his temporary adhesive (but thought the best way to make money was entering a wrestling ring) and then uses a costume to fight crime that makes him a target of both crooks and the police. Or pretty much every other costumed crime fighter. What part of the Phantom is a superhero does he fail to understand? It not only works within the conventions of the genre, the Phantom is pretty much the first guy to do so and establish it! Tell you what, Alex, how about we see you actually create a character and story and stop trying to put your name on everyone else's.

The Spectacular Spider-Girl #2 of 4: Gang war has engulfed NY and half the crooks are running scared due to reports of the Punisher returning. The balance already upset, his quarry decides to bring his own powered operatives into play, one of whom seems to be May's clone who has the venom symbiote and is calling herself Mayhem. Great, old fashioned fun and artwork by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz. This time out, the back-up serves more of a purpose as it follows up on one of the scenes in the main story and follows how the gang war is affecting other heroes of the MC2-verse, in this case the Buzz and American Dream.

Star Trek: Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor #2: The review of this issue is a bit late due more to the fact that it either 1) didn't show up at my usual store or 2) they sold out. So, I didn't get it until the same time as #3. Byrne tells the story of an alien race that is mysteriously dying of no apparent cause. Dr. McCoy's irascible nature gets the better of him as the race has very specific customs and laws that not only hinder his work but gets him into legal trouble as he tries to delve into the mystery of both the deaths and the secret that the race is guarding. We see Scotty appearing in a guest role. Romance between Duncan and Theela move along at a quick pace.

The coloring is not as much a distraction this time out, a few places where it creates patterns on the alien skin and adding definition in the faces where the artwork doesn't call for it. In places where less is more, the coloring seems to want more is more, over-doing it. At least the coloring is not too dark and dense.

Star Trek: Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor #3: This issue brings in various characters from Byrne's little corner of the Star Trek original series universe all together, as McCoy and company end up on the planet where warlike clones were left in the Assignment Earth mini and so Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln aren't too far behind. However, everything needed to follow the story is pretty much explained in the issue, not requiring the reading of the other minis.

I don't know if it's deliberate, but Byrne's inking seems harsher, both grittier and splotchier in the blacks fitting a grim and gritty world. The flashback is marred by the benday dot screen, meant to get across that it was from an older comic. Of course when that is used, it usually refers to a comic printed in the 1980s or before or a comic within a comic, setting up a level of unreality between the comic and the story-within-a-story. The only other throw-out is the space battle where the explosions in space are obviously generated through the computer and thus not fitting the style of linear artwork. Like the previous issue, a little too much effort is given to painting in definition on the faces.

However, Byrne's handling of the Star Trek characters and his telling single issue stories makes me wish they'd just go ahead and greenlight an ongoing series set in the original series universe and time period (and maybe incorporate a few of the alien crew members from the cartoon, giving the crew a more interstellar mix beyond just Spock).

The Torch #8: The mini ends about where one would expect where Torch and Toro must fight a more powerful version of themselves but leaving both characters intact to continue along their way in the Marvel U. What it doesn't really do is set them up with any kind of lives or status quo beyond existing. It does establish the Mad Thinker though as a major bad guy and a veritable threat as he tends to stay one step ahead of everyone else. May not be the definitive Torch storyline, but it comes almost off as the definitive Mad Thinker story.

As I talked about the coloring of the Star Trek books, this one is full of all the bad coloring that is pretty indicative of the Dynamite books. It's often too saturated and dark. So flesh tones are high contrasts and orange where the Star Trek books excelled in subtlety. Several scenes of blurring backgrounds, using the coloring to providing textures, etc. It's hard to judge the pencils due to the overpowering colors.

Sadly the followup is a modern Invaders comic. As much as I like golden-age comics, my interest in Bucky-Cap is in the negative numbers. And, the work on this comic was passable but never outstanding and it's the exact same team. So, we'll wait and see.

** Interesting little note, while writing this, I was listening to an old radio show of the Green Lama. In the radio show, everyone knows Jethro Dumont is the Green Lama, his phrase accompanied with "the Green Lama strikes!" seems to give him some super-strength. It also gives an explanation of why the color green. In "The Last Dinosaur" the script is peppered with educational proverbs much like the pulps were. Strangely, his assistant is not called Tsarong but Tulku, a form of address of honor generally used by Magga and Tsarong in talking to the Green Lama. With the Green Lama calling his assistant Tulku, it would be establishing Tulku as his mentor and teacher.

Some old fashioned Comic reviews

Haven't really talked about specific comics that I've been reading in a while, so...

The Faces of Evil at DC are a mixed bag in that it seems to have been left up to the various writers how to handle it. In the SECRET SIX, the cover spotlights Deadshot, and while the issue does focus on him a little bit in the beginning, the book really focuses on Bane if any single character. And, the story continues along organically as it would if there is no event whatsoever going on. If you use the cover to go by, you might be disappointed. The Vigilante cover features... the Vigilante. It doesn't even go for the effect of the villain's name overprinting the title. Whereas the JLA with Starbreaker is clearly focusing on the character and his "new" history and pretty much hijacks the title (though it does tie in to the ongoing storyline in the end).

The Amazing Spider-Girl #26: This book will be ending shortly as Spider-Girl will find a new home in the anthology Spider-man Family. Sad for me, as I have no interest in the other features of that book thus won't be picking it up. I can only hope that maybe her features will be collected.

The cover is very striking with a limited color scheme and painterly effects that don't overwhelm the fine lines. The story is nearing the end of what is a long plotline for this book. There are two Spider-Girls, one a clone the other not but which is which is unsure. The girl we've been following is just recently returned to her own body after Arana had hijacked it but she is still being aided mentally by a youngish Aunt May (who has long since died in this reality). Peter Parker has been taken over by the mind/spirit of Norman Osborn, while all of his and his daughter's friends and allies are trying to find him. Practically non-stop action and body-swapping all wonderfully rendered by Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema.

BPRD: The Black Goddess #1: On one hand, this is part of the larger ongoing plot as the world is going to heck and the BPRD are looking for Liz Sherman, mainly by trying to get some info on the Yellow Peril menace that kidnapped her and seems to have all the information. However, it is compellingly told by tying it in to the history of Lobster Johnson. One group is searching through his headquarters while another agent talks to the Lobster's last surviving aide. I love the bit as we see from Guy Davis' artwork that Lobster Johnson's headquarters has fallen into decay, metal is rusted and warped, debris and dust everywhere. Not just that, but it looks "real", leading to the comment by one of the BPRD team that they'd thought it would be "cooler looking". This has been one of the better monthly issues in a while that doesn't really leave you wishing you'd waited for the trade.

The Brave and the Bold #21: This has been an interesting storyline looking at an alien culture and we don't really see the Phantom Stranger much in sci-fi stories, especially on alien worlds though he works pretty well in that Doctor Who type way. The art team gives the book a wonderful painted look with a lush feel. However, part of the attraction of the B&B stories has long been the idea of single-issue stories and various team-ups. So, this story that seems to be a four parter with Green Lantern and Phantom Stranger teaming up, seems to be getting away from the point of the series, it could have been it's own mini. Waid had seemed to hit upon a good formula of being able to have smaller stories with different characters each month but tying into a larger storyarc. Another big flaw is the cover. While beautifully done, it tells you the team-up is between Green Lantern and Green Arrow. While GA is in the book, it isn't until near the end with him on Earth on a mission given by the Phantom Stranger.

Captain Britain and MI13 #9: The crew must fight their way out of a dream dimension. Various characters that I have no idea who they are and their abilities. Such as Pete Wisdom and Alistaire Stewart who seem to have magical abilities and knowledge when needed. Captain Midlands started out as a seemingly interesting low-budget Captain America for England riff, but ends up being a traitor and broken down old man, a scrawny one at that. Sadly, Blade seems to be there to stay despite his joining the team in order to kill one of them. The most interesting part of the whole story is the ending with Dracula on the moon and suggesting a team-up with Doctor Doom.

The Death-Defying 'Devil #2: This issue is a marked improvement in the Project: Superpowers books in that the story has a bit of pathos, a real reason for a hero-hero battle and the lurking menace of one of the biggest supervillains of the golden-age, the Claw. The Dragon is obviously one of the Little Wise Guys that hung around with Dare-devil in the past, only he has somehow been rejuvenated and given a costume and skills that are a reflection of Dare-Devil's. He thinks the returned hero is a fake usurping the hero's name and identity (as the returned heroes are framed by the government to be murderers and terrorists) and thus has set out to take him down. The 'Devil can't really set him straight because since his return he has been rendered mute. We also have the return of two other heroes that fought the Claw, Silver Streak who is as loquacious as 'Devil is quiet and the Ghost.

The art really doesn't seem to be up to par though, the work often looks more sketched than finished or solid and the colorist filling in big spaces with cool color blends further robs the book of vitality. The Silver Streak's original costumes were hardly iconic and had no silver (the name actually came from the race car he drove in his first appearance and referenced here), but this costume designed by Alex Ross is wretched. I don't know what the deal is with his fondness for the masks that go up the sides and back of the heads but leave the hair and most of the face visible are, but it is a terrible look. The artist does a better job with many of the quiet moments of the book and the appearance of the Ghost Plane.

One of the problems of this line has been the changing of the characters abilities and such with nary an explanation that establishes who and what the characters were before their time in the urn. Such as 'Devil's muteness. He gets another change this month, a healing ability that apparently includes his costume. Most of the changes, I have been aware of because I've read some of the original comics featuring all the characters that have so far been involved. Not so with the Ghost and if it continues in the same vein as the others, I will be at a loss to know where the original character ends and the Superpowers one begins. I know he fought the Claw and he had a plane and his look was somewhat similar to what we see here, but that's it.

The muteness of the lead character is also problematic. While the plot hinges on it, it prevents us from really getting to know the character at all. He ultimately has zero characterization, he's defined by how others react and refer to him. Even with Man-Thing and the Heap, we got hints at the tortured souls due to solid storytelling and narration. But, there's no narrative here, no thought balloons to direct us. There's no real reason to like this character as a character.

Green Arrow and Black Canary #16: Not one of Ladronn's better covers, it veers a little too much into Scott Kolins territory in style which doesn't really impress me much. The story and art are passable, but there's not really much meat to the story. While the cover is a "Faces of Evil" cover spotlighting Merlyn and he's the chief villain of the piece, he remains a cypher for most of the comic, just a paid assassin good with a bow and arrow. Some of the shots are outrageous, even for a comic. The shot through the bus is along the lines of the bus jumping the gap in the bridge in the movie Speed, enough to throw you out of the story. Neither story nor art sell it as a scene: why does he shoot through a moving bus when an easier shot is available? The angle is all wrong as he's ontop of a multi-storied building and is shooting at an extremely downward angle. And then on top of all that, the arrow is able to not only go through the body, but through a telephone pole as well. And, a word of advice, Arrow? Villains lie. Even if he tells you that you have no more arrows in your quiver, you might want to check as the art clearly shows there is one (and no mention as to what happened to the almost dozen that were in the quiver just on the previous page and he hadn't shot any more).

And, after the final battle and it's revealed who hired Merlyn and all, nothing is done with that. Did he run away during the battle to get apprehended by the cops? Who knows. Of course, the reason behind this is the whole story is NOT really about Merlyn or the theft of a green engine for autos and such. It's a set-up encounter and not really meant to mean much despite the cover playing Merlyn up. It's really about a girl that Arrow had saved in an earlier issue who has developed a fixation on him and is to become his Poison Ivy only she's called Poison Arrow and will be in the next issue. It's all about the readers seeing just how creepy she is and to set up for her big debut next issue. In a sense, Faces of Evil just occurred a month too early for the book.

Justice League of America #29: In this case, the Faces of Evil event does mean something. The cover is particularly effective in showing off the JLA villain of Starbreaker. Starbreaker is one of those cases where DC creates a villain similar to one at Marvel but the character comes off as being pretty hokey and deserving of ambiguity, in this case Starbreaker is their version of Galactus. He talks himself up a good deal in this comic and gives the reader his "new" back story with the League thanks to all the reboots and such. The writer is Len Wein who wrote a good many of the JLA tales back in the day and the art by Chris Cross is wonderfully old school dynamic. There are a few scenes that made me think of a couple of Silver-Age Neal Adams covers. The art does have a few problems. This takes place very early in JLA history apparently as it is Batman without the yellow oval. However, it's Green Arrow in his Neal Adams designed look which was quite some time after the "new look" for Batman. However, it's great seeing classic Aquaman treated seriously and looking impressive. And, lest readers are wondering exactly what happened to the ongoing storyline, the final page ties into the final page of the last issue, to show that this isn't a complete aberration.

Phantom Annual: A full blown team-up with Mandrake and he gets a slightly updated look, though I could do without the soul patch. But, at least he's not going into the jungles in full formal dress. The storyline is decent as Mandrake and Lothar start off investigating the murder of Lothar's cousin and get involved in a bigger plot of a criminal trying to find the location of a plant that can be made into a drug that will give him complete mind control over the subject. The story ultimately falls in the details. No effort is made to explain Mandrake or his abilities for anyone not at all familiar with the character. Like the artist in The Death Defying 'Devil, the artist here is mostly capable but at times doesn't really seem ready for the big leagues. In this case it's in his storytelling that renders various scenes and scene changes confusing. All in all, enjoyable if you're already a fan but nothing to really recommend it to others.

Solomon Kane #4: Wonderfully done cover by John Cassaday, moody and spooky. The sketchy artwork continues to work for this title, giving the comic a pulpy look over all, with a feeling for texture and a slightly flayed look of anatomy dummies. The biggest drawbacks continue to be the dried dead fish look of the skin-tones, especially Kane himself.

The Spirit #25: I'm looking forward to the creative change on this book. DC a month ago put out a comic with a few of Eisner's stories (even though at least one was originally written for a different character) but reading it and the regular monthly back to back illustrates where the book has gone wrong. Eisner had that cutesy way of naming his women that Kirby often had with characters, and his artwork and storytelling also had this kind of less than serious quality as well. But, it wasn't dated. He's a legend not because he did stuff in a nostalgic style but because he was cutting edge in his storytelling. His storytelling verged on satire and parody but it was also about life. His women were sexy, sultry and practically subversive. The Spirit was the equivalent of John McCain of DIE HARD only in a suit and mask. There should be this balance between the fairy tale of the character to the realness of crime and poverty, arbitrary nature of life and death.

In many ways, this book is more like a character DC already had access to and published off and on, Jack Cole's Midnight. Midnight WAS a parody and satire character of the masked man set. Midnight was all about poking fun at the juvenile nature of comics, he was the classic type to go into a bar and order milk and be gosh-wow earnest about it all despite the surreal nature of the rules of the world he operated in, that would make a talking monkey possible. Where the Spirit seemed to be trying to elevate the form, to write something that would on the surface seem juvenile but aimed at older readers, Midnight and Jack Cole was about taking the form to its extremes and bringing out the outrageous and ridiculous side of it.

So, the book looks good. I liked the cover and the suggestion of a villain and scene that unfortunately doesn't appear in the books. The insides are all well-done, an enjoyable all-ages type story. There are two artists which might explain the somewhat schizophrenic feel in the artwork or it could be just because of having to juggle some of the more caricaturistic styles of Dolan and the Spirit's lantern jaw with the depictions of the other characters. At times though the art seems to find its own pulpish style vs conforming to the pastiche style the book hews to.

Vigilante #2: It's great seeing Rick Leonardi doing a superhero comic again and Wolfman writing a character that he seems to naturally have an affinity for. I don't know anything about this incarnation of the character and the first two issues aren't really illuminating although this issue goes out of its way to say it's not Adrian Chase. Part of me just wishes Wolfman took advantage of all the reboots of the DCU and ignored all the issues after he left the character and just picked up where he left off. We have the current Vig going undercover as an inmate in a prison to uncover some information about the ordering of some bombings. Meanwhile, the Electrocutioner is on death row in this same prison and has been hired to take the man out. Great use of some minor league villains like Electrocutioner and Tobias Whale and yet making them capable and dangerous. Leonardi's artwork has bit of that John Romita Jr feel to it. He lacks JrJr's sense of weight and power and laying out a scene but there's more expression, atmosphere and detail. The insanity and evilness of the Electrocutioner when he survives his execution is palpable.