Archive for June, 2009

Happy Links!

A little of this, a little of that. Click away, gang!

  • A blog all about the comics of one of my favorite cartoonists, Jack Cole, creator of Plastic Man!
  • Here’s a really entertaining overview of the history of Captain Marvel by NPR, of all people.
  • And a nice article about the very close connections between the Apollo space program and Charles Schulz’s “Peanuts” comic strip.
  • Graeme McMillan ponders why Wonder Woman is such a hard character for people to get. (Simple answer: Superman and Batman are simple characters, and Wondy is much, much more complex.)
  • A bit of a longer rant, triggered by this post by Aaron Williams about the “City of Heroes” MMO game: The new “Mission Architect” feature, which lets players create their own missions and storyarcs for other players to enjoy, is in deep, deep trouble, despite being awesome beyond awesome. You can have only three games available for the other players to play, and even then, no one will ever play them because there’s no good way to promote your stories. My three published storyarcs (which feature evil undead monsters, a cheerleader cult, and my attempt at bleak horror) have been played by fewer than 20 people, and the other impossibly awesome stories I’ve designed (which feature battles against hero teams and villain teams, out-of-control robots, the world’s toughest gangster girlfriends, and hobos) will probably never see the light of day. I sure hope the game’s developers can figure out some solution to all their Mission Architect problems…

Aaaaand that’s it for today. Merry Tuesday, everyone — see youse guys tomorrow!

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Reading the Cards

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Madame Xanadu #11

New artist Michael William Kaluta has his first issue on this title — the coolest thing about this is that Kaluta helped create Madame Xanadu way back in the ’70s.

Nimue is contacted by a young woman whose father has recently died in a case of spontaneous human combustion. The woman believes her father was murdered, and after a quick reading of her trusty deck of Tarot cards, Madame Xanadu agrees with her. She researches the victim’s life and learns that his last months were dominated by meetings with a man named Husam Al Nar and of being mysteriously stalked by dogs. Combined with this, we get flashbacks to Nimue’s life in Spain in the late 15th century as she and the people she loves must contend with the Spanish Inquisition.

Verdict: An enthusiastic thumbs up. Good gravy, is Kaluta’s artwork beautiful! Very lush, very retro, like some of Charles Dana Gibson‘s work. I was worried that the art would fall off with Amy Reeder Hadley’s departure from the book, but I clearly had nothing to worry about. And Matt Wagner’s story, of course, is no disappointment either — this one is set up much more like a traditional drawing-room mystery, except, obviously, for the inclusion of a number of mysterious occult elements.

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The Unwritten #1

Tom Taylor is the son of a best-selling fantasy author who mysteriously vanished after completing his intensely popular series on boy wizard Tommy Taylor. Tom feels conflicted about his fame — after all, it’s tough having the world think of you as the kid who the Tommy Taylor stories were based on. But what’s weird is — there doesn’t seem to be any record of Tom Taylor in his youth. When word gets out, Tommy Taylor fans are divided into two camps — those who want Tom Taylor dead for being a fraud who capitalized on their love of the Tommy Taylor books, and those who want to worship him as the book character brought to life. And when Tom gets kidnapped by someone claiming to be Count Ambrosio, the vampiric villain from the novels, can he manage a storybook ending to escape his own death?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Partly because this one was just a dollar. Just a dollar! These days, that’s just wonderful! And it’s not like you get just a buck’s worth of story — this is 20 smackers’ worth of story. Great characters, great set-up, great plot, and an outstanding mystery. Vertigo offers their first issues for cheap to entice new readers, and it definitely worked on me, ’cause I’m definitely going to pick up the rest of this series.

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Oh Brudder, Where Art Thou?

Via Snell and Kevin Church and Benjamin Birdie: Okay, lemme set this up. The most recent issue of Brian Michael Bendis’ “New Avengers” comic reveals that Dr. Strange is no longer the Sorcerer Supreme — he’s been delving too much into black magic, and he’s fallen from his mystical perch. As the Avengers, Strange, and a bunch of supervillains try to track down Strange’s magical accoutrements, including the Eye of Agamotto, we discover that the new Sorcerer Supreme is very likely going to be Jericho Drum, a.k.a. Brother Voodoo.

Very cool, sez I — nice to see a little shakeup on the mystical front, and Brother Voodoo has been a fairly cool character who has mostly been neglected since he was created in the ’70s.

Brother Voodoo’s debut as the Sorcerer Supreme looks like this:

Oh, wow.

The guy was educated in the U.S., and spent quite a few years stateside working as a psychiatrist, fer gosh sakes. He’s been running around the superhero community for who knows how long. He’s the brand-spankin’-new Sorcerer Freakin’ Supreme, and Bendis sticks him with insulting and possibly racist pidgin dialogue.

Coming up next month in Marvel’s numerous Bendis-written comics, Cecilia Reyes will show up wearing a sombrero and taking a siesta under a cactus, Hulkling will develop a lisp, and Amadeus Cho will get coke-bottle glasses and gigantic buck teeth. Why Bendis has been doing such a good job with Luke Cage, I dunno, but maybe he’s gonna start back up with the “Sweet Christmas” stuff again…

Come on, Marvel, enroll Bendis in a sensitivity class before it’s too late…

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Friday Night Fights: Chestburster!

It’s the end of yet another way-too-long week, and we all need a little chaos and pain to get our weekend started. Ideally, of course, the chaos and pain would come from starting our own real-world fights with various ill-mannered ruffians, but that could lead to unsightly bruising and being beat to death with pool cues, so instead we turn, as always, to comic books and FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

This week, let’s take a look at January 2008’s Green Lantern #25 by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, and Ethan Van Sciver, in which Superboy-Prime blasts his way through the Anti-Monitor’s chest:

Our appropriately-themed musical selection for the night should be easy enough — ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Pat Benatar!

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The New Dynamic Duo

Batman and Robin #1

Grant Morrison is the writer. Frank Quitely does the art. The two guys behind “All-Star Superman.” Like you need any other excuses to buy this one, right?

Unlike “All-Star Supes,” this one is going to be in-continuity — so that means that, after the recent “Battle for the Cowl” series, Batman is Dick Grayson (former Robin, former Nightwing) and Robin is Damian Wayne (Batman’s son by Talia al Ghul). It’s a shaky partnership — Dick was raised by a superhero, Damian was raised by supervillains and assassins — and Damian thinks he’d be a better Batman than Dick is. Damian is also rude to Alfred and unstoppably arrogant. Damian is really a bit of a, um, word-they-don’t-want-me-to-use-here.

So Batman and Robin capture a frog-faced criminal called Mr. Toad, who is transporting a briefcase filled with an unlikely number of dominoes. Toad is apparently waiting for the arrival of someone named Pyg, who seems to have a talent for horrific medical disfigurement and mental enslavement.

Verdict: Thumbs up. A good first issue, and a nice introduction to the new Batus-quo. Good dialogue, excellent art. Loved Damian’s rotten attitude. Not much happening yet, though, and I want to see some of Morrison’s trademark mind-blowing pretty darn quick.

Justice Society of America #27

Obsidian is holding Flash, Green Lantern, Wildcat, and Liberty Belle in the JSA headquarters, because he senses danger to them. And Hourman has had a one-hour-into-the-future prophetic flashes that says they’re all going to be killed. Stargirl gets possessed by evil spirits that use her cosmic staff to force Obsidian out of the building. The spirits then coalesce into a WWII-era Japanese shapeshifter named Kung, who transports Flash, GL, Wildcat, Liberty Belle, and Hourman to Hiroshima 1945 so they can all be killed by the atomic bomb.

Verdict: Thumbs up. A bit of a weird story so far, but fill-in writer/artist Jerry Ordway seems to have a good grasp of the characters, and that goes a long way.

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A Mystery of Violence

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B.P.R.D.: The Black Goddess #5

It’s the conclusion of the “Black Goddess” storyarc, as Gilfryd, convinced that Liz Sherman is loyal to him and that the threat of the frogs is over, turns his magic against the agents from the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, including Abe Sapien, Kate Corrigan, and Johann Kraus. He (possibly) kills Johann, but Lobster Johnson is seemingly resurrected. But in the end, his excesses lead Liz (or whatever powers have taken possession of her) to turn against him. But without Gilfryd, is there any hope that humanity can survive?

Verdict: Thumbs up. A good ending. I hope Johann comes back, and I also hope Lobster gets to stick around. And you better jump on board for all the upcoming BPRD mini-series, too — Mike Mignola has already promised that things are going to get rougher for humanity as this series continues.

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Crossed #5

A cool-down issue — we don’t even see the Crossed in this one. We just focus on the small group of survivors trying to make their way to safety in a world that’s been taken over by insane homicidal maniacs.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Walks in the woods, peaceful encounters with wild animals, quiet conversations with friends. A nice break from the horror — except it’s not a complete break. We still see, in flashbacks and in the present, the psychological effects that the survivors take on. Some commit suicide, some get ill and don’t want to continue. The only people who seem immune are Cindy, the super-competent leader of the survivors, and her son, Patrick. I suspect things are going to get a lot worse and more violent for everyone as this series goes through its last four issues…

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Hey, Hey, Do the Zombie Stomp

As I believe I’ve said before, I think a zombie walk in Lubbock would be beyond awesome.

What’s a zombie walk? Basically, a bunch of people get together, dress up as zombies, and go for a shamble. You hit a few appropriate locations (shopping malls, cemeteries, pubs with excellent jukeboxes), maybe make a few new zombies on the way (always with “innocent bystanders” who know what’s coming and are wearing easily rippable clothing), and just enjoy getting your zombie apocalypse on.

Some cities turn their zombie walks into charity events — food drives and blood drives are especially popular — and some places just do ’em for fun. The largest one ever happened last Halloween in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where over 4,000 people showed up to stumble around and groan “Braaaiiinnssss…”

Why do I think a zombie walk in Lubbock would be great? Very simply, it would be cool, and it would be hilarious. And Lubbock needs more cool and hilarious things. Really, that’s the full extent of my reasoning here. Who needs complex and rational arguments on why to do fun things, right?

Of course, I could certainly foresee some problems with a zombie walk here. Some folks in Lubbock tend to be, well, gee, how can I say this diplomatically…?

You’d have to do a lot of legwork before the event making sure that business owners wouldn’t totally freak out about it. You’d have to talk to the police beforehand to make sure they didn’t decide to shoot everyone. You’d sure need to make sure all your zombies knew not to involve anyone who wasn’t already in on the joke.

So which of you go-getters wants to organize this thing?

(In related news: ya seen the new game trailer for the “Left for Dead” sequel?)

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Make a Wish

Marvel Adventures: The Avengers #36

Tigra has accidentally released a genie, and while he’s willing to grant her some wishes, what he really wants to do is kill the Hulk. Apparently, in the future, the Hulk goes back in time to 500 years ago and gets the genie imprisoned in a necklace — so the genie’s mad at the Hulkster for something he hasn’t even done yet. Tigra could just use her wishes to wish the genie away, but she knows that magical wishes tend to get twisted into something really awful. But the problem with fighting a genie is that he can do anything, and the Avengers, for all their power, can’t do that. Is there any way for the team to survive?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Yet another extremely fun issue, with Tigra accidentally making wishes, Wolverine scarfing down sausages, and Spider-Man making lots of great wisecracks. The solution to the problem ends up being perfect and fairly funny all on its own.

Wonder Woman #32

Most of this issue is a slugfest between Wonder Woman and Genocide, revealed as the future corpse of Wondy empowered with her own Lasso of Truth. Genocide makes her plans to kill pretty much everyone and forces Diana to tell Tom Tessier that she never really loved him. And beyond that — really, just a whole heck of a lot of people smashing each other in the face.

Verdict: Thumbs down. I don’t mind an all-smashing issue, but it’s gotta be really spectacular smashing, and this just ain’t it. And even worse, this storyarc still isn’t over! Haven’t we all had enough of storyarcs that take most of a year to complete?!

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Orange Crushed

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Green Lantern #41

Larfleeze, a.k.a. Agent Orange, is the sole possessor of the Orange Lantern. He’s the greediest being in the universe, and he’s taken Hal Jordan prisoner. Why? Hal has a green ring and a blue ring — and Larfleeze desperately wants the blue one. Hal gets him to reveal how he came to have the Orange Lantern — he was once a thief who stole an important item from the Guardians and fled to the planet Okaara. There, he and his fellow crooks found a glowing orange lantern and struggled greedily to possess it. The Guardians and the Manhunter robots tried to stop them, but the orange light was too powerful. In order to get their important box back, the Guardians bargained to let the last surviving thief keep the orange lantern and to never interfere with him, as long as he stayed in the Vega System. Larfleeze ended up having the Orange Lantern all to himself, and now he wants his very own Blue Lantern ring. And he’ll stop at nothing to get it, even if Hal can’t get the ring off his finger…

Verdict: Ehh, kind of a wash. Agent Orange’s story is really less than compelling, and the Guardians’ and the Green Lantern Corps’ battle against Larfleeze’s orange light constructs is fairly pedestrian. But the cliffhanger is pretty good. How the heck is Jordan gonna get out of this one…?

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Green Arrow and Black Canary: A League of their Own

A compilation of a lengthy storyline from the “GA/BC” series — this one focuses on the quest to find who shot and then kidnapped Green Arrow’s son, Connor Hawke. With Batman and Plastic Man tagging along to help out, Ollie and Dinah eventually trace the hit to Ra’s al Ghul’s League of Assassins — but Ra’s is dead, so who was masquerading as him? Turns out it was Shado, a Yakuza assassin who is the mother of another of Ollie’s kids — she raped him while he was unconscious. Her son is dying of cancer, and Dr. Sivana offered to cure him, as long as she killed Green Arrow. When the hit went wrong and Connor was injured, Sivana had him and Shado’s son kidnapped and genetically treated with some of Plastic Man’s skin cells. So Connor ends up cured, but he’s completely lost his memory and his ability to shoot a bow. On top of all this, we get Mia Dearden, the new Speedy, out on a date. Will her new beau be able to accept her HIV-positive status?

Verdict: I think I’ll give this a thumbs up, because I was quite entertained by the story. The big problem is that writer Judd Winick put this together from the fragments of two of his signature “Let’s kill a random superhero” storylines — first, he “killed” Green Arrow himself, then after handwaving that one away, he “killed” Connor. One gets the feeling that, even for DC’s notoriously kill-happy editors, they thought Winick needed to be reigned in, so we get this long storyarc trying to get the Green Arrow status quo back to normal. I will say that Winick’s strongest abilities lie in characterization and dialogue, so I very much enjoyed Mia’s date and Connor’s post-coma amnesia, which both felt genuine and charming. And Mike Norton’s art is just grand throughout — nothing real flashy, but solid, beautifully created artwork.

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