The man in the corner of this picture has a sinister purpose: Graeme gets endangered.

X-MEN: ENDANGERED SPECIES is a very, very strange event book, if only because nothing really happens in it, and yet it still feels long overdue. Partially, it's because it feels as if this is really the first time that we've seen the X-Men books actually deal with the "No More Mutants" thing and what that means in a real sense. I mean, yeah, we got "Decimation" for a couple of months after House of M finished, but even that was, it seemed, quickly forgotten, and the X-Books quickly returned to the same old same old that we'd read hundreds of times before; it was as if the loss of so many mutants was less a brand new status quo than it was getting rid of Grant Morrison's brand new status quo. And so, purely for using the idea that there are now less than 200 mutants on Earth, and that number is getting lower all the time, as a springboard for a new story, then this book feels worthwhile in some sense.

It's just that nothing really happens in it. The X-Men go to the funeral of one of the 198, who died in a traffic accident, and then think about their own mortality. There's no story here, as much as there is a collection of scenes roughly about the same thing starring characters from different books in the franchise - Perhaps more worryingly, there's nothing in the book that makes me think that I have to pick up the fourteen-part spin-off back-up strip crossover that's going to thread through the X-Books for the next few months, mostly because I have no idea what it's going to be about. Fourteen short pieces about Cyclops and Wolverine crying on each other? Some more scenes featuring characters from New X-Men who get no introduction whatsoever? A plot that got its start here in such an understated manner that no-one even noticed?

Despite the complete lack of story, I can't say that this is any worse than Eh; it's a reminder of the calm, quiet issues back in the day that followed the big fight issues. Mike Carey does a convincing Claremont-esque scene, and Scot Eaton's art is nice enough. I'm sure that it'll be an entirely galvanizing and exciting book for the X-Faithful; I just wish that there was something here for new readers to consider.

Man, they should stay there!

I've just read the worst comic I've read so far this year -- which is kind of saying a lot. Well, maybe its not as bad as all of that, maybe my reaction is amplified because the book is trading on a glorious reputation, but I really really hated the new Papercutz version of TALES FROM THE CRYPT #1.

EC has a pretty amazing reputation, the kind of line of comics that was loved fairly universally by almost everyone who has read them, but there's certainly a lot about them that can't be replicated today -- in particular the narrative style of incredibly text-heavy captions that (mostly) just describe the action going on in the panels is probably not something that a modern, "Bendis-trained" reader is going to stand for.

But the ECs did a lot right that CAN work in today's world -- short short stories, none (?) clocking in at over 8 pages: get in, make your point, have a twist, and then get out.

EC also had some truly astonishing artists working for them: Ingles, Wood, Kurtzman, Elder, Craig, Williamson, and so on and so forth, most of these cats were amazingly talented.

A lot was made of the "twists" of the ECs, and, yes, most of the best stories (though not all!) had a clever twist. But here's the thing that seems to get missed with both the ECs and the often similar TWILIGHT ZONE: the twist needs to come FROM character and setting and plot, building organically, and ending ironically. So, if for example, you decide to murder the old lighthouse keeper and his wife by throwing them in the ocean, then OF COURSE they're going to return from their watery grave wrapped together in kelp (*gasp* *choke*) because that follows from the story logic.

THe second story in this new TALES FROM THE CRYPT #1 is kind of the prefect example of how NOT to do it -- a toy collector buys a cursed toy, without knowing it, which destroys his other toys. Collector blames his mother, destroys one of her toys (a hummel-style figurine) and she has a heart attack that he didn't plan or intend, then his cursed toy kills HIM. The end.

That might, maybe, could work as a Twilight Zone story, but not as a TFC/EC one -- there's no ironic punishment, the events don't connect to one another, and there's no baser motivation than "I want that toy".

Now, if the guy had MURDERED his mother in some toy-related fashion, and then she came back in the form of a vengeful toy, that'd be a whole lot closer to an EC story (though even that's not quite right, is it?)

The first story, about a couple that steals art, kills the painter, then gets attacked by the dead models of the painter is a little closer to it -- but there's like 16 pages of build-up which spins and spins and spins its wheels, all the while COMPLETELY telegraphing its own ending the second you see the art.

And that's the MAIN problem here -- these stories are ENTIRELY too long. 20 pages? Are you mad? That's not a sustainable length for these kinds of tales. These should be 8 pages, maybe 10 max.

Another issue: the art. It's pretty bad for a book trading on the legacy of the ECs. The first story, drawn by "Mr. Exes" is sorta charming in a mid-80s B&W bust kind of way, but it is wildly inappropriate for a horror story, while the second story, by "Tim Smith 3" (what, no roman numerals?) is plain plain plain.

One HUGE problem is the coloring -- man, I don't want to be looking at an EC-inspired comic that is bright lime green in places. Yikes.

I don't know, maybe there's a huge demand in book stores just for the very TFC name, but I don't see it -- this is going to completely die in the comics market, however, and I can't really imagine it will make it to issue #4, let alone issue #6.

It's really really AWFUL.

What did YOU think?

-B

Ah-aaaaaah! Saviors of the universe!: Graeme spoils two DC books from 6/20

So, am I the only one who feels that DC has truly fucked up The Flash? Not the character necessarily - although I'll get to that later - but I'm really referring to what was revealed this past weekend, that they're actually cancelling the current book with today's issue, and that the solicitations that they've released for the subsequent two issues (that fans and retailers have, you know, placed orders for and everything) were fake in order to throw fans off the scent, and will instead be replaced by a one-off special and then a relaunch of the previous series for the character complete with numbering that continues from 2006? I'm really rather surprised that there hasn't been more uproar about DC admitting "Hey, we released fake solicits to fuck with the internet! Ha ha, aren't we funny?" because, I don't know, that just seems like a pretty crappy way to run a business and an easy way to piss off your retailer business partners.

(Of course, for all I know, retailers knew about all of this ahead of time and were just playing dumb, in which case, good show to both them and DC. Hibbs, is that the case?)

In the end that kind of thing, and all of the other extra-currricular things, surrounding the cancellation of the book are much more interesting than THE FLASH: THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #13. It's not that Marc Guggenheim's writing is bad per se (If you want bad Flash stories, you can just go back and look at the first few issues of this series), but because the shocking end that everyone's worked so hard to keep a secret was revealed last weekend at Heroes Con and Wizard World and then online (And again, what the fuck? They couldn't have either kept it secret for another week, or else managed to make the book ship on time?), there's absolutely no tension in the book - You go in knowing that Bart Allen is going to die, and everything before that happens feels like marking time. It's a shame, kind of; Guggenheim did his best to try and genuinely sell the reader on the idea of Bart being a worthy successor to the name, but knowing his ultimate fate only makes scenes like his splash page "I am the Flash!!!" seem pointless and kind of melodramatic; you read them and think, "No, you're not, dude. You couldn't even make it to two years of your own book."

Reading this final issue, which starts in "Bart Allen's virtual reality childhood" in the future before flashing back to now with Bart knowing about his imminent death thanks to his time-travelling grandmother (who, due to the powers of artist Tony Daniel, looks roughly the same age as Bart's girlfriend. Ah, artists who can't quite manage to draw people, how I love you), is a strange experience, considering that I haven't really been keeping up with the series normally. I know that there's definitely meant to be an emotional core here, but I can only see it from a distance due to the insanely convoluted backstory that's there - This particular book, with the generic "what it means to be a hero is tragedy" theme, the characters and situations that don't get introduced but you're supposed to buy into because everyone's crying so obviously it has to be important, Daniel's blocky and static artwork where everyone shares the same face and body, feels more like a mid-90s issue of any X-Men comic than a Flash comic (or, indeed, anything else); it's a comic that would only really have resonance for comic fans, or maybe even fans of this particular comic. It's really pretty Awful, and the needless death of the character - It doesn't work as tragedy, I don't think, because I honestly spent the issue wondering what was going on, and whether or not Mark Waid would be touching on any of this when he returns to the (old) series next month, instead of having any empathy for what was actually happening in the story - just kind of makes the whole thing seem even cheaper, instead of any kind of event.

Maybe even more confusing, in terms of DC's knack of spoiling their own comics online before they're released, is what isn't in this comic - An announcement that fans should probably check out Justice League of America #10 for the next part of the story. The final part of "The Lightning Saga," you see, ends with the triumphant return of the Flash. And his wife. And his two children, who now seem to be much older than they were when we last saw them. Yes, Wally West is back, which is... great? Maybe?

Here's the thing; I'm glad that Wally's back, ultimately. I didn't understand why he disappeared at the end of Infinite Crisis, because the character fills a role that no-one else in DC's world can fill in the same way: He's the sidekick who grew up not only to replace his mentor, but surpass him, and who is regarded as a peer and equal not only by his Teen Titan buddies but also the peers of his mentor. The closest other character to that is Nightwing, but he didn't replace Batman (well, not for long), so it's not really the same thing. The disappearing of Wally was also clearly not understood by the creators at DC, because his disappearance in Infinite Crisis served no dramatic purpose, and afterwards various creators seemed to duck around the question of what had actually happened to him: Was he dead? Was he in the speed force? In another dimension living happily with his family? In the future? Various answers were given at various times, and it seemed as if no-one had any real idea what was actually going on, or why he had disappeared other than to make Infinite Crisis seem more important and give DC the chance to relaunch the Flash series again. So, in that thinking, I'm glad that he's back.

But.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #10 is an Awful ending to the JLA/JSA crossover. The return of Wally comes out of nowhere - well, kind of nowhere, in that lots of people have been expecting this particular misdirection due to the name of the storyline - and isn't given any attempt at explanation in the story at all. The fact that we're seeing an entirely different Legion of Super-Heroes from the ones who have their own series isn't really given any attempt at explanation (There's one line of dialogue which kind of suggests that they're from Earth-2? Maybe?). Why this alternaretroLegion came back in time to resurrect a character that wasn't definitively dead in the first place is given no attempt at explanation, either; instead, we're given scenes that hint that the Legion had an ulterior motive, but, of course, that's not explained either. It's hard for me to say how truly sloppy this final chapter is, even compared with the earlier parts of this story. It's truly fan-fiction that somehow got published by a real company, with all the entitlement and lack of logic or respect for the reader that that implies. I'm sure that this, as with the Flash and everything else right now, is (ahem) "counting down" towards something that will have glossy cardstock covers and arguably feature superheroes crying as they punch something, but goddamn if they're not making it hard to care with the shitty comics that they're putting out right now.

Little Black Books: Graeme's Marvel Self-Importance Round-Up for 6/13 books.

It's become a common - and arguably meaningless - sight along the top of Marvel's superhero books lately: that black "The Initiative" stripe. And, while I've already covered one of the Initiative books this week, it's time I caught up with everything else that Marvel's telling me is important, don't you?

NOVA #3: Unlike Hibbs, this book seemed especially Eh to me, reading as if it was something that the writers felt as if they had to deal with and get out of the way before writing something that they actually cared about. Every conflict and resolution felt underwhelming and unconvincing, and pretty much a cheap way to explain why Nova stays out in space playing Kyle Rayner instead of going home to his friends and family. Doesn't he know that there's apparently an invasion from aliens going on there under his nose?!? Didn't he read New Avengers this week?

PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #8: I can't believe that it took me this long to realize that Frank Castle is essentially the red state Judge Dredd - A violent, unchangable idiot who you can drop into satirical dark-humor-filled stories pretending to be adventure fiction. I also can't believe that the Punisher seems to be be one of the more interesting characters in the Marvel Universe these days, at least the way that Fraction writes him. The pacing may be off - the issue starts and stops awkwardly, but in such a way that the trade will read wonderfully - but there's still a lot to enjoy in this Okay issue.

SUB-MARINER #1: You know what's awesome? That Namor's armor include little holes for his ankle wings. Sadly, that's about it for this latest "Initiative"-bannered book (Which, really is meaningless, other than announcing "We want to keep this Civil War branding for as long as possible." It's not as if it's got any real currency - New Avengers isn't telling the same story as Punisher War Journal, for example. And why does Captain America have an Initiative banner, when Fallen Son doesn't? And so on...) - The story drags and seems like a cynical attempt to be politically relevant, the art looks like a strange marriage of early Byrne and mid-Pat Broderick, and overall, I'm bored of the supervillainy-as-terrorism meme that Marvel's been aggressively pursuing for the last year or so already. A dull Eh.

Meanwhile, looking at this week's ship list (in Bri's post below), good GOD, that's a lot of books this week... including the not-as-controversial-as-I-expected Flash #13...

You can knock us all down, try to mute the sound: Graeme speeds through the big event.

A surprisingly quick one from me today, as I try to get caught up on everything that's been happening while I've been in the land of "time off after surgery". Hint to everyone: Taking two days off work - Fun at the time, even with the medication, but really shitty when you get back to the office. And talking of fun...

WORLD WAR HULK #1: As much fun as this issue is - Although, isn't this the third opening for the event, following the World War Hulk Prologue oneshot and Incredible Hulk #106? - it feels as if it's yet more proof that we're heading for some kind of cosmic Marvel reboot down the line somehow. I mean, I can't see the Hulk continuing to be an alien overlord waging war on Earth by the time the next movie comes out... It's just too far outside of his iconic status, if that makes sense. Because of that feeling, it's both harder to enjoy this ("It doesn't count!") and much easier; there's a freeing feeling that comes with the idea that nothing really counts in the long run - They can do whatever they want, up to and including have Black Bolt beaten up and destroying the Avengers Tower or even killing Iron Man. It's that uncertainty that stops this issue (otherwise very very enjoyable, and a million miles away from something like Civil War; things actually happen in this comic, for one thing) from getting higher than a Good for me, and I'm sure that's just me being jaded (Pun not intended)...

Find the treasure within: Graeme recovers and returns...

Oh, irony of ironies (Alanis Morrisette-style, that is); less than a month after Jeff (newly and surprisingly returned below!) told me about his fasting/cleansing ritual and I responded that I couldn't imagine going a week without eating real food, dental surgery lands me in a state where I can't eat real food for a week. Or solid food, at least. Never mind the pain pills - although they're enough to make me wobble when I try to stand up - or the fact that I literally can't remember much about Thursday after they put the eyemask on me and told me to relax, pre-op, this is the legacy of my dental surgery, I think.

All the better to talk about a shitty comic, then.

As soon as I first heard about Marvel's new "Marvel Illustrated" line, my heart sank. It's not because I have a problem with the idea of adapting classic works of literature into comic form, although I kind of do (Because I find cross-media adaptations in general kind of weird; if you like a movie, why do you want to read a novel or a comic that tries to recreate that experience and will, inevitably, fail?), but because of Marvel's formula for the line: Take Roy Thomas and add a relatively untried art team and let them loose on the property. Which isn't to say that it couldn't work, because there are all kinds of wonderful artists out there who haven't had much play from Marvel, but at the same time, there's so much potential for disaster. For an illustration of the latter, all you have to do is pick up TREASURE ISLAND #1.

It's pretty hard to say how much the art of Mario Gully - the artist behind Image's The Ant - and Pat Davidson, and the coloring of A. Crossley completely undermines the book. It's not just that the look of the whole comic doesn't sell the story in the slightest, in terms of action (the scene of the mother fainting towards the end of the book is hilarious in how badly it's executed; literally, she's just suddenly upside down and seemingly floating above the ground) or tone - although in both respects the art and coloring are complete failures - but more that the book looks, more than anything, like one of the Malibu comics from the early '90s. With all overly glossy computer color and linework that is entirely inappropriate for the subject matter or even the timeframe, how the book looks is offputting enough to make reading the book surprisingly difficult, and even if Thomas's script had been better than merely workmanlike, wouldn't have been enough to elevate the book above mediocre. When the visuals for such a classic tale are so incredibly offkey, it'd be unfair to say that the book is anything better than Crap.

Young at Heart

So, I'm 40 today. Jinkies. (perversely, I was really hoping to make Spurge's birthday list -- but all props to my shared date mates Don McGregor, Brent Anderson... and, uh, PAD's 1000th comic) I don't really feel any different than I did when I was 20, though I never really thought I'd make my 30th birthday, let alone my 40th.

I promised I wouldn't do anything comics related today (I'm going to play video games all afternoon, damn it -- because I never get to screw around during the afternoon), but I did want to mention the best OGN I've read this year: Minx's second release, RE-GIFTERS

There's a perverse number of perceived barriers in creating fiction and art -- things are aimed at one target demographic or another, and we moan and cry that there's just not enough comics for kids or girls or Alsatians.

Minx is DC's effort to target girls, specifically tween girls, but, to me, great comics are great comics regardless of who they're aimed at. Not even comics, really -- some of my favorite fiction or films are "aimed" at a different audience than me -- WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY is in my Top 3 films of all, and THE LITTLE PRINCE is in my Top 10

All of which is a longish and roundabout way of me saying: Tween girls may very well love RE-GIFTERS, I dunno, I'm not a tween girl -- but here's one 40 year old bearded white middle-class male who thought it was a very strong tale, with compelling and vivid characters, dealing with a range of human emotions and human feelings, and still having enough action and drama to entertain virtually any comics reader, regardless of age or sex.

RE-GIFTERS is EXCELLENT work, and is, I think, Eisner-worthy when it comes to next year's awards cycle.

There is just two small problems with it, both of them, I think, editorial more than anything else. The first is the chapter note on page 70 (and, digression: HURRAY for page numbers in books. COmics too often skip them) saying "just skip to page 71", when what I think they mean is page 74. It's probably the 71st page of script, where Carey didn't know with certainty of how many "pre story" pages the book would have.

The second one was the double page sequences on 96/97 and 98/99 where the panels read as two tiers running across both pages. It's the only examples of that technique in the entire book, and they really don't work right because the panel borders are deep within the spine. While you CAN change up the narrative flow from the visual "Z" on a single page, to the wider one on a double page, you have to be super careful about bordering to it is achingly apparent to the reader (POWERS also falls into this trap a lot -- "wait, where is my eye supposed to go?!?"), especially the more "casual" comics reader that Minx is aiming itself at.

But that's all of the complaints I got, and both could probably be pretty easily fixed in later printing.

RE-GIFTERS won't cure cancer, and it isn't anything that you generally haven't read before (there are strains of KARATE KID and BETTY & VERONICA and HEATHERS all in here), but it is done with grace and charm and joy of comics, and even the most minor tertiary character (like, say, Megan's brother Gifford) are really well drawn characters who feel real.

I really really liked this, and I think you'll like it too.

What did YOU think?

-B

(oh, oh, and I forgot to mention: the SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN's "Best of the Bay" readers poll is up on line at this link; if you live in SF, or have visited enough to be familiar with it, go and vote, and consider us for "Best Comics Shop")

Tank you, friends, wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you: Graeme looks back, in anger.

I'm just about to head out to the grand old world of oral surgery, where my gum will be cut open so that the remains of a shattered tooth can be chiseled out of my skull, only to be replaced by new bone to be injected in there in some kind of weird liquidized form or something. Not that I've been thinking about this too much or anything. But I tell you this to give you warning that I wouldn't be surprised if I end up happy with pain drugs for the next couple of days, so don't be too shocked if I happen to not have any reviews up until Sunday again. Then again, I may be fine and writing tomorrow. Who knows?

Being a child of the '90s in oh so many ways, I don't think it's exceptionally unexpected of me to admit that TANK GIRL: THE GIFTING #1 has been one of my more long-awaited books of the year to date (Really, it's this, Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together and Laika as my holy trinity of books I have been eagerly awaiting since they were announced). Hell, even before I was a child of the '90s, I was a child of the '80s, going to the Glasgow Comic Art Convention and being scared of and in love with the Tank Girl lookalikes staffing the Deadline table at the same time. Not only was the idea of the long-lost Alan Martin coming back to the character that he co-created exciting, but I'm a big fan of Ashley Wood's artwork. So what could go wrong?

That's a pretty good question, as it turns out. The issue was, I think, just Okay, and I'm not entirely sure why. It's not that Alan Martin's writing has become any less irreverent or wrapped-up in its own pop-cultural world (More Monkees references from the man who introduced me to "Circle Sky"! Of course!) than it was in his heyday - It's also, refreshingly, free of the pastoral hippiness that marked the downfall of the character for me around the start of the '90s when she was still in Deadline - and Ash Wood's art is as beautiful and grubby as ever; his linework can be wonderfully cartoony and expressive at times, even if he's a little too fond of the zip-a-tone effects. But, for some reason, it doesn't work in the way that I'd been expecting. Maybe it's a fault of my expectations? I was, I admit, hoping for something that would be as adventurous and original as the character seemed when I first read her, almost twenty years ago, something that would be anarchistic and amusing and as contemporary and immediate as Hewlett and Martin were way back when, and that's possibly something that nothing could live up to.

Not that I'm the only one at fault, though - Martin's (enjoyably) stubborn attempt to keep to the format of the original stories has worked against the book as a whole, as the incredibly short, throwaway stories run up against each other without the tonal counterbalance that the other strips in Deadline used to provide; there's nothing more serious or more fulfilling in the book, and so every story seems even lighter and more throwaway. It's a shame, and something that makes me wish that there was some kind of modern equivalent to Deadline these days to act as the home to these strips, instead. Or maybe that's just nostalgia talking one more time, in the same way that it made me pick up the book in the first place...

Hibbs Burbles on

A few quick hits: SUB-MARINER #1: I like the old school logo. I find it funny that he looks like Black Adam on the interior. It opens at the end (I think), and another town full of people is killed, and there's a lot of posturing about Atlantis/Human politics, and have I told you how bored I get by anything involving Atlantis? It also has just about the most boring last page I've ever seen in my life. Thank god it is just a mini. EH.

GREEN ARROW #75: I also dislike "Will you marry me?" cliffhangers that then promise to resolve somewhere else. It worked oh so well for the Dick/Babs thing, didn't it? Other than that, this is basically fine -- the Deus Ex Machina towards the end largely feels organic, and Deathstroke actually feels competent for a change, so, yeah, an easy OK.

NOVA #3: Definitely my favorite "Initiative" crossover yet -- there's well rounded motivations at play, and just the right blend of action and pathos. While I'm not so sure I'll care any more once we get back out into space, these last two issues have been really terrific, and if you're looking for solid superhero action and characterization, this is certainly a book to watch. VERY GOOD.

WORLD WAR HULK #1: I quibble with a few things: a) how is Jen She-Hulk again? Did I miss something? Is it just because SH's own book is about a month off publication schedule? b) We didn't get to see the fight between BB & Hulk (especially after that "I want to hear you scream!" line), just the resolution. But there's no clarity as to what happened after that. Did he kill BB? Throw him in prison? Just walk away laughing "See, told you!", or what? c) I really wanted to see Hulk rip off Stark's head and shit down the stump. Could just be me, however. Despite those quibbles? Yeah, just what I wanted from a big crossover thingy -- punching and shouting and hitting. But I want to see the RESOLUTIONS as well.Still, for the nonce, I'll go with VERY GOOD.

What did YOU think?

-B

Though to us he seems preposterous: Graeme looks at Marvel's "no hype, no BS".

So, this was the solicit for NEW AVENGERS #31:

"No hype! No BS! The most important last page of any Marvel comic this year! Do not miss it!"

And this is the last page from that very issue - Wong and Jessica Jones talking about what has just happened to the team:

Jessica: Are they okay? Is my husband okay?
Wong: I think so.
Jessica: You think?
Wong: They're alive.
Jessica: Okay, then.

And then Jessica and Luke's baby opens his eyes in what may be shock and looks a bit green. The end.

Holy crap, that's definitely the most important last page of anything I've read in a long time. I mean, jeez, a baby opens their eyes? I can't stand the excitement!

(To be fair, there's already a lot of speculation as to what the baby's opening their eyes may mean, but a lot of it seems to be grasping at straws in order to make it seem important and meaningful, as opposed to a ridiculous tease. But who knows? It looks like it'll be something down the road...)

Oh, alright; what the solicit is clearly referring to was something that happened a couple of pages earlier, and I'm not really going to spoil that even though I really want to. What that page shows is a "shocking" twist that has been rumored on these comic internets since New Avengers: Illuminati #1 came out, and despite said rumor being around for months, I'm still somewhat stunned that Marvel appears to be going for it purely because it's such a dumb idea. Suffice to say, not only has the countdown to undoing Civil War probably just begun, but it also appears that Marvel has moved on from aping DC's Legends miniseries to aping their Millennium miniseries instead (They apparently remembered the order of the '80s crossovers badly; Invasion came after Millennium, but World War Hulk arrived in stores this week).

Surprisingly, though, the shitness of the most important ending of any Marvel book this year isn't the most shocking thing in this issue, though. I don't know if anyone noticed the anger at Marvel's recent solicitation of a future issue of Captain America that showed a black man (the Falcon, for those who are wondering) on fire for being racially insensitive, but it appears that it's just part of a current meme at the House of Ideas; this issue sees Luke Cage being set on fire by Elektra. Because, you know, Elektra is all about setting people on fire, being a ninja and all. The entire scene sticks out due to its strangeness - it's a page long, and doesn't seem to have any purpose or point within the larger story whatsoever; Elektra fights Luke, says "I'm going to light you on fire," and then she does. Am I missing something here? Is this some kind of metatextual or pop-cultural reference that I'm unfamiliar with, or just tasteless?

Overall, the disconnected, uncertain, sloppiness of that scene feels indicative of the issue as a whole; after a strong run on the book from the Civil War tie-ins onwards, this is the first Eh issue in a while, and a sad signpost for where the Marvel Universe is going next.

And I know no-one can do me no harm: Graeme loses his Initiative.

There was a moment where AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #3 seemed to hint at an interesting direction for the Marvel Universe. Spider-Man was being attacked by War Machine and the new, teenage, Lizard, and for the second time in a month, Dan Slott attempts to address the fans who've been left disturbed by what's going on in Marvel's post-Civil War world:

Spider-Man: "I mean, what's your problem? It's like you care more about taking me in that - - "

War Machine: "Oh, we're not here to take you in, Peter. You see... You've been using your powers irresponsibly. And we're here to take them away from you. That's what our weapons do, Parker. That's their sole purpose. But don't worry. We have no intention of leaving the world without a Spider-Man..."

I read that, and thought: "Wait, that last line is really kind of scary in all the right ways. Are they going to try to clone him, like they did Thor? Or is there some kind of evil master plan that's going to try and recreate the superpowers of all the unregistered heroes in people who toe the party line? That's a really rather bold direction to go in..." Not that it's a direction that I necessarily think that they should go in, nor one that I particularly like, but it's a really interesting idea for the entire line (And compare and contrast that to DC's superhero universe, which right now seems to be especially directionless as a line even as they synch their whole line up with Countdown, and everything feels like the build-up to Infinite Crisis, but less so, again); it's one that clearly and definitively makes those in authority in the Marvel Universe the bad guys, and that seems very classic Marvel, in a way, all about the underdog and the little guy, and on that level it does appeal to me in a "getting Marvel back to its roots" way.

And so, obviously, that's not what was going on there at all. Instead, it was a lead-in to the fact that SHIELD agents are now using the Iron Spidey suits as "Scarlet Spiders" - which again, is an interesting idea, but seems disappointing because it's much less of an interesting idea than what I'd been hoping for. In a way, it crystalizes what's wrong with this series in general for me (and, in many ways, Marvel's current books overall) - Willing to hint at moral questions about its characters in passing, but unable or unwilling to actually try and address them in any meaningful way. Partially, this may be because we're in the "second act" of whatever story Marvel thinks it's telling, and partially because this lack of resolution allows Marvel to please/frustrate/tease both sides of the issue as long as they want. Keeping everyone happy without keeping anyone happy may make much business sense, but in terms of storytelling, it makes for pretty Eh reading.

Boxing's been good to me, Howard: Graeme jabs quickly.

DAREDEVIL: BATTLIN' JACK MURDOCK #1: Kate doesn't really pay that much attention to what I review, unless it's something that she wants to read herself (See: almost everything that Brian K. Vaughan writes, or Jeff Smith's Shazam!) or something completely objectionable - The last page of Justice League #7, with the Black Canary/Power Girl splash page had her asking me "Why do you read these dumb booby superhero comics anyway?" - but upon seeing the cover of this pointless-flashback-book, she got very concerned at what was apparently going on. "There's a lot of blood there. Why is everyone bleeding so much?" she asked.

Because they're boxing, and in this book, boxing is pain is a metaphor for life. Which is painful and miserable, apparently.

The problem with this book isn't that it's bad, because it isn't, really - There's nothing that you can point to and say definitively that it doesn't work - but because it's a vacuum of pointlessness. Not only was no-one asking for a book based around the history of Daredevil's dad, but there's nothing in the execution of the idea that makes you think that maybe you were wrong and this book should exist after all. It's the comic book equivalent of eating your greens when you're a kid, in a way: Something that you know you should enjoy more, but can't quite bring yourself to do nonetheless. Entirely Eh.

But who's counting?: Graeme continues weekly.

Here's the thing, Paul Dini and the rest of the writers who put together COUNTDOWN for our entertainment each and every week: If you're ending an issue with the death of a character, and another character asking what that death means for the universe, it's be really, really nice for the next issue (#47, for those who're counting) to have some attempt at follow-up on that question. The most surprising thing about this issue was that - opening dream sequence and background newspaper headline aside - there wasn't even any mention of the death of Lightray at all in the issue, which completely undercut any potential drama or tension from last issue's cliffhanger. Apparently, it's so unimportant that you can afford to ignore it immediately afterwards, after all.

The second-most surprising thing about the issue is that it undercuts the drama of another comic that's not even coming out for months, by showing us not only that Black Adam gets his powers back by the end of his upcoming miniseries, but also that (a) he doesn't want them, (b) he gives them away to Mary Marvel, and (c) his magic word is, somehow, "Shazam" again (after it apparently being "Sorry" at some point - So not only does Adam find his new magic word, but apparently he also manages to change it back at some point). There's something really depressing about seeing one of the smart and relatively upbeat 52 climaxes (Changing Black Adam's magic word as an alternative to killing him, so that he can learn humility and humanity again seemed relatively upbeat to me, at least) undone within two months, and with such a bland return to the status quo. Never mind doing so three months ahead of the series that's meant to be the one that explains why such an undoing occurs in the first place.

Otherwise, Countdown continues along its merry path the same as before: A disjointed collection of scenes that, issue on issue, fail to build any drama or character empathy. Events happen slowly - the Rogues scene this issue really should've appeared in the first month of the series, considering that it was the one that introduced the characters and gave their motivations - and without meaning or weight. It's not just that this series has failed to learn from the lessons of 52, it's that it reads much worse than 52 did, as if 52's successes have been forgotten as well as its mistakes. Awful.

My second number two reference of the day: Graeme goes indie.

SUPERIOR SHOWCASE #2: I can't work out if the existence of this book is pragmatism on the part of Adhouse - realizing that perhaps the best way for an indie anthology to survive in this market is for it to be a superhero anthology - or a failure of the comic readership en masse. Or, perhaps, somewhere in between but touching on both bases. Nonetheless, it's not too surprising that this second issue is Good but wildly uneven, with the worst strip tending to be the most traditional and reverential to the source material.

That strip, depressingly, is Farel Dalrymple's "The Awesomest Super Guy, Hollis, in: Shadowsmen". I'm a massive fan of Dalrymple's artwork - there's something about the way that everything seems offkilter and handmade, especially when coated in the texture that he works into his shading that really makes me very happy indeed - but it's wasted on this story that's just kind of pedestrian; not only is there no twist on the formula that he uses, but it's a pretty tired formula. If you're going to essentially do a Batman story and play it relatively straight, then it's not enough for the twist to be that the hero isn't Batman but a slightly overweight guy called Hollis, you know? Or maybe I'm missing something else from the experience.

Likewise, Joey Weiser's "The Unremarkable Tree Frog" is somewhat underwhelming, but for less obvious reasons. It's got a smart central idea (superheroes as fandom, with all the social anxieties and outcasting that comes along with that), but doesn't really do anything with it, and is too short for the lack of action to be any kind of lengthy commentary about the mundane, eventless nature of reality (Yes, I said it was too short to be something lengthy. There was a real point in there as well, however, I promise); instead, it's just... there. Which, admittedly, may be a point in and of itself.

Maris Wicks' "A Long, Strange Trip," meanwhile, takes a well-worked idea and, through playing it an off-beam version of straight, makes it into something curiously enjoyable and fun: "The human body is policed by superheroic versions of natural bodily functions!" There's an innocence about it that reminds me of James Kochalka's stuff, but without the self-satisfication and smugness that ruins the majority of his work for me, and it's that innocence that both makes the story work and is missing in the other, less successful, stories. The moral, then, may be this: If you're going to do superheroes, make them innocent. Or make them bodily functions. Everything else pales in comparison.

Surprise Surprise: Graeme's favorite book of 6/6.

Okay, so ever since I started doing these reviews semi-daily, I've kind of drifted away from the whole PICK OF THE WEEK/PICK OF THE WEAK thing. It's mostly because, well, who really wants to wait until Tuesday for me to tell you what I thought the worst book that came out the previous Wednesday had been? But my favorite book this week is so out of left field, so surprising, that I really had to share. This week's PICK OF THE WEEK, people? SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #3.

No, really.

It's not because of the Spider-Man J strip, I have to admit (For those who haven't seen Spider-Man J, it's this weird little manga version of Spider-Man that bears little resemblence to the original Spider-Man outside of his costume and the names of the characters. It's charming enough on its own, but nonetheless, somewhat weird when included in an anthology like this). Nor is it anything to do with the Scorpion back-up strip, where Fred Van Lente's new version of the character fights the new Venom, who used to be the old Scorpion, back when the old Venom was still the one that's in the new movie. Or whatever (Although, again, that strip is fine enough). It's not even - despite my secret love for the strip - the Mini Marvels strip that closes out the issue.

No, there are three reasons why I found myself unexpectedly falling in love with this comic.

The first is that it reprints What If... #1, which I have a really strong nostalgic bond with, having read possibly six pages of it at most reprinted in a Marvel UK comic when I was a kid. Luckily, the story itself stands up to such strong critical scrutiny and actually surpasses it, being surprisingly good - Roy Thomas using his continuity powers for good entertainment, if not the good of the world in general, in a story that pretty much boils all of the fun and potential of the entire What If series into one shot (Especially fun is the care that the Watcher takes to explain the concept so that even the dumbest reader ever could get it: "One of your mortal poets, Robert Frost, has spoken beautifully of the 'road not taken' - - the chance missed, the decision deferred").

The second is that, let's face it, 104 pages for $4.99 is a pretty good deal in anyone's eyes. Especially when there isn't an actively bad strip in there at all.

But the third reason is the main reason: The cover feature, which teams movie franchises Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four up again, is really, really amazing. It's not so much the writing of Paul Tobin (although that manages to keep things both simple and moving nicely; it feels as if it's written not for comic book fans but just casual readers, which is rather refreshing) but the stunningly beautiful artwork of Pierre Alary and Jean Paul Fernandez, both of whose names I'm completely unfamiliar with, that makes the story so memorable. The art is cartoony in a European style unlike anything else in American mainstream comics right now, and it's a style that completely suits the characters as much as it amuses and surprises the eye; the characters seem individual and full of life in a way that the regular books miss for the most part (It has, in a way, the sensibilities of a genetic mix of Bruce Timm and Fabio Moon, if that makes sense). I have no idea where this team came from or where they're going to appear again, but their much-too-short take on the characters in this issue is something that elevates the entire book to a Very Good for me. People who like to see some really nice art, who don't care too much about continuity and who like dumb old reprints - This book is for you. Trust me, I know.

The Search for the New: Hibbs does a review (oh my!)

NEW WARRIORS #1: In the post-CIVIL WAR Marvel U, Marvel is trying their damnedest to spin-out a whole lot of new franchises. There's this, the AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE (which is going to need a new logo in a few months, when the "The Initiative" cover banner gets played out), the soon-to-launch not-CHAMPIONS, and so on. This is a smart move, I reckon -- trying to build new franchises by playing out on the end of CIVIL WAR, without having those be "cross overs", or be part of an "event", per se. Marvel really appears to be looking forward, while, to my eyes, DC is right now looking inside.

The "New Warriors" is an odd attempt -- while there's probably some certain amount of nostalgia for the name (I've been having far too many conversations lately where someone says to me "yeah, Darkhawk was totally my favorite character as a kid" -- when did I become so OLD?!?!), but until the very last page there's absolutely no relation to the former incarnation in any way shape or form. For those of us too old to really care much about "Heroes For The 90s", that last page was kind of "Ugh, not that guy, the lamest of the lame... and we're talking about a team with Speedball on it, for gods sake!" And for those readers new to the Marvel U, who might have possibly been brought in by CIVIL WAR, the reveal is probably "Who 'dat?"

I only bring that up because it is strange, to me, to launch a book with such a nostalgic name (and loaded, too, in the context of CIVIL WAR), then not have that be an effect on your first 21 pages of story, really.

There's two plot threads here, really -- first off you've got the unnamed kid on the cover being a clandestine super-hero, followed by several pages of procedural stuff. This is all fairly uninspiring, especially with the 3/4 page reveal of New Warriors graffiti that is staged in such a way to lead me to beleive everyone else in the scene is literally blind, and ends with a line that no detective would ever say.

There's also a long meandering plot involving "Sofia", apparently a depowered mutant of some kind, though there's no narration here to indicate who she might be. I'm thinking I very vaguely remember her from NEW X-MEN (not the Morrison version) -- could she be a Guthrie sister? I suppose it doesn't really matter THAT much, but without some sort of context, I kept thinking "am I SUPPOSED to know this cipher-girl?"

There's one more character -- Barnell Bohusk, who really has the most awesome name ever, and who I remembered readily -- but I think the decision to make him a pretty boy from a CW network show is a really bad one. We've not seen any other purely-physical mutations be reversed, and even if his was, you'd think he'd stay ugly in any case...

There's nothing wrong with this first issue (except I don't think those checking it from nostalgia are going to be rushing back), really, in a technical sense. It reads adequately, the art is fine. But I did very much keep thinking "and why do I care?" as I read it. 22 pages of story, and reasonably dense story at that, and I don't really know what the premise is, yet. I don't really care about the characters at all, because there's nothing memorable about their circumstances. And I pretty much have no reason to pay another $3 for issue #2 unless I care why "He rides a skateboard.... at night!" isn't dead.

Which I can't say has spent even a pico second in MY brain at least.

Overall: Very EH, which is hardly what you want from a brand new monthly ongoing title.

What did YOU think?

-B

I was hoping for "Foggy" or better, not "Black": Graeme starts the week all over.

Whenever a creator talks about a new project in the context of their old ones, I always get oddly nervous. I can't help it; I start to fear the worst. Grant Morrison's pre-release interviews for The Filth mentioned it being the flipside of The Invisibles, and I shuddered ("I like The Invisibles, I thought it was good. Doesn't the flipside mean that it'll be bad?"). When Garth Ennis talked about The Boys "out-Preacher-ing Preacher," I knew it was the end (if only because it seemed as if Ennis was believing his own hype). And, when the hype for Warren Ellis's BLACK SUMMER #0 started namedropping The Authority, I was convinced that things couldn't be good.

Black Summer, for those who don't know, is Ellis's return to superheroes of his own accord (as opposed to his return to superheroes as lured by Marvel's truckloads of money and personal connections to Mark Millar and Brian Michael Bendis). In a text piece at the back of this short first issue - despite it being a #0, it's quite clearly the first chapter of the story and not just filler preview meaningless - Ellis describes it as being "a political take on superhero fiction" like Authority and Stormwatch, and that's both true and somewhat misleading. Yes, it's very much in the same mindset of Authority (and, somewhat interestingly, surprisingly reminiscent in a way to the "Coup D'Etat" crossover that the Authority participated in, years after Ellis left that series), but to call it political feels false. The set-up is that the most powerful superhero in the world has, essentially, murdered the President and his flunkies because they lied to the world in order to get permission to invade Iraq, but there's something... I don't know... non-political about that for me, these days, if that makes sense - Maybe it's my filthy liberal spider-sense working overtime or something, but it feels like a curiously safe, toothless, position to me: Not only is the idea that the President et al lied to get us into Iraq a fairly well-accepted one (or, at least, a non-sensational one) amongst the left-leaning amongst us, but the right-leaning have the comfort blanket of the superhero quite clearly being a murdering psychopathic bastard undermining democracy to offset any claim against Bush and his cohorts. Yes, yes, I know that it's moral ambiguity and grey areas and all of that, but I couldn't help but feel that it was also straddling the political fence and playing it safe, at the same time. I want my political fiction to pick a position and argue it out, you know?

Ignoring the political aspect, this is pretty much what you'd expect from a Warren Ellis superhero book - the cynical smoking bastard who's really a secret idealist, the hokey sciencetalk ("John, what I'm talking about is a second cerebral cortex. Let me put it this way: In the future, will five senses really be enough?"), the romanticized superhero with impossible ideals... Ellis, for all his bluster and true hatred of what the superhero genre has done to the market, clearly loves the genre in and of itself, I think, and he tends to do - if nothing else - interesting work in it. It gives his writer's tics something to work against, and reins them in. Give him a good artist (and Juan Jose Ryp is definitely a good artist) and enough space to work in, and at the very worst, you're not going to bored. This isn't the very worst; as a shorter, cheaper opener issue, it's too short to make any grand pronouncements as to how the series is going to work overall, but this in and of itself was a Good tease for the future, and worth your 99c.

No time for love, Dr. Richards: Graeme gets the silver.

Firstly, isn't SFO big? I always used to think of it as a fairly small airport, but then last night, I ended up doing laps of the building when a number of snafus sent me from terminal 1 to terminal 3, and then back again, while meeting my vacationing father off his flight. Of course, in a perfect world, parents give you the correct arrival time and flight number, and airlines wouldn't tell you that it can't be them, it's actually another airline you're probably looking for, necessitating said airport laps, but since when did we live in a perfect world?

SILVER SURFER: REQUIEM #1: So, picking this up at the store last week, I pointed out to Hibbs that the cover had the same design and logotype as Spider-Man: Reign. "I can't wait to read about Norrin Radd's Power-Cosmic-Sperm," I said. Little did I know that this really would turn out to be a story about how the Power Cosmic was, indeed, killing poor Norrin. Admittedly, there's no cum-related incidents, but it's only the first issue. There's still time.

Here's the thing, though; Marvel Knights is obviously becoming the imprint for Marvel to push what they've decided are their more prestige and self-important projects featuring their superheroes, between this and Reign. It's just somewhat strange that the first two projects were both in some sense about the twilight days of the characters - I wonder if someone at Marvel feels as if the only way to tell a timeless story about someone is to make it happen at sometime outside of when they were at their best?

(DC does the same thing in reverse, of course; they'd rather go back to "Year One" at any given opportunity.)

That said, this is a perfectly respectable first issue - I had an issue with J. Michael Straczynski's plodding narration (Ending the issue with "I am dying" three times felt like overegging the pudding to me, if you can forgive the food metaphor. I know what JMS was going for, but it seemed off for some reason), but Kate - who ended up reading the book after falling for Esad Ribic's admittedly beautiful painted artwork - pointed out that the Silver Surfer is meant to be a bit over the top and pretentious, and she's kind of right - despite just being entirely set-up. Despite the protestations of the characters, I don't believe that the story really is going to end with the Surfer dead, but I'm sold on the idea that the characters believe it, which is enough to start with. There's more than enough potential for this to go off the rails at any moment (and with the cover for the next issue featuring Spider-Man, I actually somewhat expect it to), but for now? It's a high Okay.

Look, up in the sky: Graeme celebrates 850 glorious years.

It's the start of another week - The start of the longest week in the world if you're me (but that kind of griping should really be saved for the middle of the week, I'm sure). So let's begin with a nice, refreshing dip into the anniversary pool, shall we?

ACTION COMICS #850: A story so big that it took three writers to tell it! Somehow, having not paid too much attention to the credits of this before I read it - I was happy enough to see Renato Guedes on artwork again; he's slowly becoming one of my favorite artists working in superhero books these days, and his Supergirl concept art that's been floating around the internet recently has made me excited about the idea that there may be a Supergirl comic out there soon for people who aren't fans of Michael Turner and/or stick figure big-eyed blondes - the fact that this was written by Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza and Geoff Johns seemed wrong, somehow; it doesn't read in an incredibly patchwork manner (despite the patchwork, flashback-nature of the story - There's a unity of purpose and tone here), or as if three different writers were involved. Nonetheless, there's a temptation to look at various scenes and look for fingerprints ("That part where Superman talks about being visited by the Legion of Super-Heroes, and the current-Legion - Waid's version - say that they've never visited Superman? That's got to be Geoff Johns." And so on), and in writing that, I'm suddenly reminded of 52, and the way that this issue is reminiscent of that series, both in terms of groupwriting and continuity injokiness. This is somewhat smoother than that weekly juggernaut, though, in that the writing still manages to have an individual voice that evaded 52, and that there's - somewhat obviously - a clearer throughline and clarity of purpose on a single issue than 52 weekly ones.

Anyway, getting back to the comic itself instead of digressing aimlessly: This is a surprisingly effective anniversary issue, acting as both an introduction to Superman and Supergirl to new readers (if there are any? Not that this issue doesn't deserve them, but I'm just wondering whether the 850th issue of anything would be something potential new readers would pick up. Hey, DC? You should make this your Free Comic Book Day book next year) and, maybe more interestingly, an introduction to longstanding readers to the post-Infinite Crisis history of Superman - There's a lot of backstory clarification here, which has become more welcome than may have been expected in the last year or so of not only the Superman titles, but also the current Justice League/Justice Society crossover. Most importantly, though, it still reads well - it's very much a continuity fix and clip show, sure, but there's fun and value in and of itself.

It's an old-fashioned anniversary issue, in many ways; it doesn't kill off any major characters or go for the big change in the status quo, but instead celebrates the past and reminds you why you liked the characters in the first place. It hits the main points of who everyone is and why they do what they do, and sets up all the relationships between everyone, and does it all with some very good art (and also very good coloring). Overall, then, a wonderfully enjoyable Very Good issue that won't change the world, but doesn't feel the need to, anyway.

Read the color supplement, the TV Guide: Graeme, 5/31, part four...

If it's Sunday, then it's time for me to catch up on random things that I won't be talking about elsewhere across the week...

DAREDEVIL #97: It's only when I type that out that I realize how close we are to the 100th issue; I knew it was coming, I've seen the double-page cover in the solicits and all, but somewhat refreshingly, the story in this issue is entirely devoid of dramatic "the tension is building towards something big that's going to happen in three months' time" moments. Not that there's no tension here at all; just the opposite, in fact - It's just that all of the tension is for drama that's a lot more immediate. Is Brubaker so kill-happy after killing off Captain America that he's going to kill off Matt's wife? What's going on with the magic smelly woman? Who do I have to threaten to get a Brubaker-written Dakota North series (Yes, I was one of the few who read her first series, waaaaay back when)? It's not all drama, though; there's also humor in the reason why the cops don't unmask Matt when they arrest him (He gets arrested for Civil War/Initiative-related reasons that don't seem too obtrusive, happily enough. I hope there's a sales bump for the scene, nonetheless) and in Foggy's appearance. Between this, Captain America and Criminal, Ed's so on his game these days that I'm almost tempted to check out his Uncanny X-Men after all. It goes without saying that Michael Lark and Stefano Gaudiano's artwork is as effective as ever, so you can consider this a safe Very Good.

GREEN LANTERN #20: There are two things that save this from being Geoff Johns' uncomfortable fanfic made public ("Why doesn't every woman in the universe love Hal Jordan as much as I do? I know! I'll make that a plot point in the actual comic!") - the sense that he's actually going somewhere with the Green Lantern/Sinestro/Zamaron Corps storylines, and more tellingly, artist Daniel Acuna's attractively-sloppy art, which manages to be sketchy and convincingly finished at the same time, and gives the story much more credibility than it probably deserves. Okay, but if regular artist Ivan Reis had drawn this, as much as I normally like his stuff, his idealized-realism would've shot that down a couple of ratings...

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #6: I can't quite tell if there's self-aware humor in this issue (I'm pretty sure there are shots at Kingdom Come and old Legion stories) or just some kind of pre-exemptive snark strike at those who don't love what Geoff Johns loves, but even that's not enough to save what feels pretty much like extended filler so that Brad Meltzer gets to finish the story over in Justice League. There's even more continuity self-love with the Triplicate Girl appearance (And, appallingly, I fell for it, thinking to myself "Wait, wasn't she Duo Damsel by the time Dawnstar joined the team...?" I am nerd, hear me moan), and the reveal of the final time-tossed Legionnaire was unexpected, but still... Eh.

If my response to The Lightning Saga is any indication of how other JLA and Legion fans are feeling about the story, then I'm sure that somewhere in DC's hallowed headquarters, there's a team of crack scientists wondering just how a story with so many of the right ingredients is leaving the target audience so cold...