Saturday, June 29, 2013

Red Sonja (Dynamite) - Year Two

In a previous post, I reviewed the first year of Dynamite Entertainment's Red Sonja series (#0-11).  I sang the praises of that series for having outstanding story and art.  In this article, I will review the second year of this series, issues #12-24.

Year 2 of Red Sonja continues to provide excellent stories and gorgeous artwork. Oeming and Rubi, joined later by new artist Homs, continue their praiseworthy run new story arcs about the red-haired swords-woman. Throughout the arcs, Oeming provides flash-backs of Sonja's origin, where we learn how she came to be the woman she is.  These flash-backs appear, bit by bit, in each issue, usually lasting 2-3 pages at a time.  Oeming walks a fine line here.  Piecemeal flashbacks over a long series of issues can often be done in a way that confuses and disorients the readers (see, for reference, Grant Morrison's issues 1-7 of Action Comics). Fortunately, Oeming has a talent for providing just enough recap in the first panel or two of each flash-back that the reader can follow the back-story and the current story easily each issue.  He also cleverly depicts, in the flash-backs, events that have a clear bearing on the present story as it happens, so the reader can easily connect the two plots.

What we learn of Sonja's origins

Told in flashback (as mentioned above), throughout issues 7-24, we learn the origin of Red Sonja.  We see her with her family as a young girl of 13, learning to hunt at her father's side, and arguing with her mother and brother.  Then we witness as forces from the evil god Borat Na-Fori (with whom we've seen Sonja tangle in the present day) attack her village, and slaughter everyone there, including Sonja's parents.

Starting in issue 12, Oeming slowly tells what happened next.  At the tender age of 13, Sonja was brutally raped by some of the soldiers, who then left her for dead in the burning town.  Bloodied, beaten, and perhaps dying, Sonja crawled away from the ruins, and encountered a beautiful goddess.


After comforting Sonja, the owl goddess set her three tasks. First, Sonja must return to the site of her family's slaughter to discover the face of her enemy. Second, Sonja must climb a great mountain and eat either the white or black lotus (white will bring forgetfulness of the pain and a life with a new family, black the fire of revenge and prowess of a warrior).  And finally, she must seek a great serpent and kiss it.



Having accepted the charge from the goddess, Sonja returned to her home.  She witnessed again the aftermath of the slaughter, and noted the symbol of Borat Na-Fori, the dark good whose followers killed her family. Then she climbed the Lotus Mountain and found the flowers. She chose the black flower - the flower of revenge.  Then she climbed down the mountain where she confronted a giant white serpent - the one she had been instructed to kiss without showing fear.  She stepped forward, and kissed the tongue of the serpent, fulfilling the charge of the goddess, and earning her final blessing.

n.b. - These events were depicted a little at a time throughout many issues. For the reader's convenience, they are presented here as a coherent origin story.

Story Arc 3 - The Return of Kulan Gath (#12-18)

At the end of the previous story arc (Arrowsmith, issue 11), Sonja and her companion Osin were being attacked by a follower of Borat Na-Fori.  In the beginning of issue 12, which starts the "Return of Kulan Gath" story arc, they awake in the care of a north-man named Summaro.  Summaro explains that his mammoth saved them from death, causing an avalanche that distracted their tormentor.

Summaro then explains who he is and where he has come from.  He is a prince from a kingdom far to the north, which had been a land of good people.  However, after Summaro's mother perished, his father, the king, took up with a woman Afrea.  This woman was a vessel for a "dark god," and corrupted first the King, and then the people.  Summaro eventually came to oppose them.  Now, Afrea is with child -- the incarnation of Borat Na-Fori.  He tells Sonja that they must stop this dark god from being born.  Osin, whose main desire is to become famous like Sonja and appear in the bards' songs, decides to go with them.


Together, the three set out for the northern kingdom.  Meanwhile, Summaro's father, the king in the north, leaves his very pregnant wife to carry out the will of their dark god. He amasses an army and leads it forth to begin conquering the neighboring lands.  At the end of issue 12, however, we learn that this is all being manipulated by an even more powerful entity, who controls even the Borat Na-Fori - a being named Kulan Gath.



Who is Kulan Gath?  Dynamite answers this question on the back cover of issue 12, where they explain that he is a powerful sorcerer who first appeared in the pages of Conan, and later was a major villain in the Marvel Universe.  Dynamite has the rights to him, so they decided to bring him back as an enemy for Sonja.

In issue 13, Sonja and her companions arrive in the snowy north, and find an advance guard including Summaro's father. Together they attack and steal horses, after which the advance guard gives chase. Meanwhile, back at the castle, Afrea has died in childbirth, giving rise to the dark god. With its first words, it calls out the name of its enemy: Sonja.  Within a few frames, he grows to adulthood, and begins preparing an army to attack the south.

Sonja's group gives battle to the king's vanguard, defeat them, and capture Summaro's father.  They then see a vision of the goddess, who tells Sonja it is time to return home and acquire her sacred Hyrkanian blade, which she must use in the coming battle.

At this point Summaro suggests they should recruit the assistance of the old, forgotten gods, who he says bear enmity toward Borat Na-Fori.  Together, the group heads north to the ancient temple of those gods.  The dark god, however, tries to bar their path by summoning forth a powerful creature from the depths of the earth.



After defeating the monster, Sonja and her companions continue north until they reach the temple of the old gods.  There, Summaro's father comes to his senses, puts his own eyes out for what he has done, and his blood awakens Kaleval, one of the old gods.  Kaleval battles Sonja and the others, defeating them, but when he hears of the resurgence of Borat Na-Fori, he decides to help them.  With a flying steed, he returns Sonja to her village, which is bathed in blood due to the dark god's curse, and she retrieves her sacred Hyrkanian blade.


Meanwhile, back in the north, Osin and Summaro search out Summaro's band of men, who have hidden in exile from the king.  They find the army, including a bard, much to Osin's pleasure (remember, his goal is to have songs written about him).  Just as they find the men, Sonja and Kaleval return on the flying steed, and all is made ready.  Sonja and Kaleval then lead the forces north into the frozen kingdom, and attack the capital. The battle is joined against the forces of the dark god.



Sonja and Summaro break through, to find Borat-Na Fori waiting on the steps of his castle.  He invites them in, and taunts them, saying that he has defeated gods before, so he does not fear mortals.  Sonja, of course, is not afraid of him.


Sonja then draws her Hyrkanian sword, and leaps forward to attack.  They battle, and the dark god seems to have the upper hand. Then Kaleval smashes through the wall and joins the fight.  Borat Na-Fori defeats him, and pulls out his heart. Then Sonja leaps forward again, and slays the dark god.  But his death is exactly what Kulan Gath wanted.  The death of Borat Na-Fori bathes the castle in the blood of a god, completing an ancient ritual, and Kulan Gath returns to the world from which he had long been banished.


The story arc concludes with Kulan Gath victorious, and Sonja and her friends fleeing his wrath.  Kulan Gath burns down the castle and melts the snows of the north, and to escape the floods, Sonja, Osin, Summaro, and the others flee into an underground river.  The hunter reappears, and Sonja battles him again, this time defeating and nearly killing him.  Then Osin drags her back into the boat, and they go down the river and over a waterfall, finally ending up in a paradise land of plenty.

Sonja has defeated Borat Na-Fori and revenged herself upon him for what he did to her and her family... but she has also caused Kulan Gath to be freed.  She fears what will happen next.

Story Arc 4 - Animals (issues 19-21)

With issue 19, Mel Rubi departs as the interior artist of Red Sonja, and is replaced by an artist known simply as "Homs." I have no idea who Homs is, but his art is nearly as good as Rubi's, and his layouts are extremely original, so I can't complain.

In this arc, as Kulan Gath begins his cruel reign over Hyboria, Red Sonja and her colleagues discover that the new world in which they find themselves is not a paradise. Flying lion creatures (the Leijona) attack them, and capture half of her party, while Sonja and the rest flee into the forest, where even the plants attack and kill some of them.  Sonja is rescued by some humanoid amphibian creatures, who take her back to their city.  Sonja's friends are put into an arena by the Leijona as a trial by combat while she tries to find a way to help them. Meanwhile, in Hyboria, a pirate named Valera gets into a tavern brawl which is interrupted by the invasion of Kulan Gath's army.



Valera flees the invasion on her ship, the Scorpion, and receives a vision of her death -- that Red Sonja will cause it.  Meanwhile, Sonja leaves the amphibian humanoids to summon another tribe of cat-like creatures who the amphibians say can help her, and the arena trial of Ossin and Sonja's friends begins in the land of the Leijona.  The cat-creatures, who know that Sonja's friends have been kind to normal cats in Hyboria when they were younger, agree to help, and use magic to send Sonja to the Leijona to help her friends.  After a battle, they are recaptured, but Sonja weaves a great tale for the Leijona, and they release her, and give her a ship to send her back to Hyboria.  Meanwhile, Kulan Gath captures the owl goddess who is Sonja's patron.

Story Arc 5 - The Long Way Home (issues 22-24)

As Kulan Gath taunts the owl goddess, Sonja's small boat returns toward Hyboria. However, they are run over by a demon ship, filled with a skeleton crew right out of Pirates of the Caribbean.  The crew's captain tells them that they have been cursed to hunt a whale they attempted to kill long ago but did not.  Sonja and her companions will supply the blood to summon him and end the curse.  As Sonja gets ready to walk the plank, in another part of the northern sea, Valera's Scorpion runs into the ice, and she asks Calibas, the prophet who foretold her doom, to help them. He shows them how to use their horses to pull the ship free, but then he escapes with some of the horses.  Calibas ends up riding a pod of sperm whales toward a meeting place.



That meeting place is, of course, the location of the demon ship. Sonja is sent into the water, but then Summaro, who knows some magic, casts a spell that kills him, but grants Sonja the ability to breathe underwater and resist the cold of the deeps.  Sonja finds an undersea city and defeats the soldiers there, and then the great whale, who is an old god, awakens.  Sonja tames him, and rides him to the surface, where he smashes the ghost ship and swallows its crew. Then Sonja stabs the whale with a spear, finally letting him rest in peace.  Calibas and the whale pod then rescue Sonja and her remaining friends.  As the arc ends, Sonja's whale pod finds Valera's ship, and she takes them on board. Calibas is nowhere to be seen. And the owl goddess tells Kulan Gath that Sonja returns to Hyboria.

Reflections on Year 2

The Red Sonja series in year two continued to dazzle me.  The plot, the dialogue, the characterization, and the artwork are all absolutely top-notch.  Since returning to comics, I have found no other series -- not even Gail Simone's Batgirl -- that has been as consistently good for as long a period.  For two solid years, Oeming (assisted by Rubi and Homs) produced inter-connected story arcs that told one of the deepest and most interesting tales not just in current comics, but that I have ever read in comic-books, period.  This run, which by year 2 was still not quite over, easily parallels the greatest creative team runs of all time, ranking up there with Simonson's Thor, the Claremont/Byrne X-Men, Mantlo and Buscema's Rom, and Wonder Woman by George Perez.  In the 21st century, only Gail Simone's Batgirl comes anywhere close to equaling the quality of this comic, and then only in terms of plot and story.  Red Sonja's art is far superior to Batgirl's.

Perhaps what has surprised me the most about this series through the first 25 issues has been the thoughtfulness and maturity of the stories.  Based on the covers, one might expect these comics to be pure "cheesecake" -- a hyper-sexualized female character constantly placed into one situation after another designed to titillate young men.  To be fair, the covers often serve such a purpose.  However, the stories and art within are nothing like that.  In the first 25 issues, Sonja has sex exactly once, across two pages, and that act fits within, and serves, the larger story.  Outside of that one act, there is nothing gratuitously sexual about the story, or about how Sonja is posed or depicted.  Her companion, Osin, is as scantily clad as she is, for example.

One thing I love about Red Sonja is what a great warrior the character is, and what great heart she has. She will face down any enemy.  Whether it's a horde of skeleton sailors, or a swarm of mer-people, or a giant whale, she willingly brandishes her weapon and heads into the fray -- most often, for the purpose of saving her friends.  This makes Sonja a hero in the truest and most traditional sense of the word. Yes, she's violent and she kills a lot, but never gratuitously or because she fails to value life. Indeed, Sonja most often issues a warning, telling those who face her that they would be wise to stand down. Only when they refuse, and attack her instead, does she pull out the swords and daggers and have at it.  This makes Sonja a sympathetic character, and Oeming does a great job of interweaving her staunch bravery with the softer side that clearly loves and deeply cares for her friends.

Red Sonja is, clearly, and adult comic-book. You would not give this to a child to read. There is blood, and violence, and yes, once every couple of years, there's a little sex.  But this series presents a grown up, sophisticated story in a deeply engaging fantasy setting.  The characters are 3-dimensional. The story has weight. The plot is paced well. And the heroes are absolutely people you will want to cheer on from issue to issue.  In short, what made this series so good through the first two years was that it's everything most modern comics are not.  And it does all that without being a throw-back to the Silver Age, or bowing to the lowest common denominator with Sonja's sexuality.  These first 25 issues represent a body of work of which Dynamite and its creators can be proud. I can't wait to see what happened in year 3.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Uncanny X-Men - Year 2

Over the last couple of months, I have continued my journey into the Silver Age of comics with the second "year" worth of the original Uncanny X-Men series, issues 13-24.  (Again, I put "year" in quotes because, for some of this period, X-Men was published on a bi-monthly basis).

Below, I will briefly review the story arcs of this series.  Note, however, that "story arcs" were not produced the same way in the 1960s as they are today.  Back then, a main plot usually only lasted 1-2 issues, perhaps 3 for a longer plot, but inserted into the main plot were little hints and clues about upcoming stories.  Therefore, "arcs" were not well-defined, stand-alone entities as they are today... so some of my divisions will be arbitrary.

Plot 1 - The Juggernaut conclusion

X-Men #12 had ended in a cliffhanger, with the Juggernaut ready to defeat the mutant team and kill his half-brother, Professor X.  In the action-packed issue #13, the X-Men continue their battle with him, and Professor X joins the fray.



We quickly learn that Juggernaut's helmet blocks the mental powers of Professor X, so the X-men use delaying tactics to buy the professor time to construct a helmet to amplify his mind waves. Even this is not enough, however, so they call for reinforcements -- Professor X mentally summons Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four for aid.  At first, Johnny doesn't believe them, so he doesn't come right away, and the X-Men are forced to continue fighting alone.  They cleverly turn the danger room against Juggernaut, which holds him at bay a little longer, and finally Johnny Storm is convinced to come help as the Human Torch.  As the battle progresses, Angel manages to pull Juggernaut's helmet off, which finally gives the Professor a chance to defeat him with mental powers.  When the story concludes, the X-Men are recuperating in bed while being tended to by Jean Grey.

Plot 2 - The Sentinels

As a long-time reader of the X-Men from years back, I was, of course, well familiar with the giant Sentinel robots who are programmed to detect and destroy mutants.  What I did not realize, was that these robots were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby back in the 1960s.  In fact, the Sentinels first appear in issues 14-16 of this original X-Men series, and they are more or less depicted back then as they have remained for many years -- giant humanoid robots who are programmed to hunt down mutants.



In this next story-line, which again covers issues 14-16, we see how the Sentinels came into existence, and we also see, for the first time, the "anti-mutantism" that eventually came (decades later) to dominate the Marvel Universe.  This part was somewhat hard to credit, as it happened very quickly.  In the first 13 issues, when they appeared to the public, the X-Men were generally treated as heroes, if strange ones.  Now, suddenly, because of the efforts of anthropologist Bolivar Trask, who announces to reporters that mutants are a threat to mankind, mutants become hated and mistrusted overnight.  Professor X tries to debate Trask, but then Trask trots out his Sentinels to show that he has found a way to defend mankind -- only to lose control over them.

The Sentinels, you see, think they are superior to humankind, and that the only way to "protect" us is to take over the world.  Most of the Sentinels take off after capturing Trask, but one stays behind to guard the studio audience, and the X-Men arrive to take it on.   Eventually the Sentinel drops inactive for no reason they can fathom, and the X-Men leave it behind to give chase to the others. Eventually, they find the Sentinels' secret base, and Beast and Ice Man wind up captured by the giant robots.

The lead Sentinel, called Master Mold, then has the Beast brought to him, and starts a psycho-probe to learn the secrets of the X-Men. This provides an opportunity for us to learn the background of Hank McCoy, but before he gives up the secrets of the X-Men, Professor X shows up in "astral" form and mentally blocks the probe.  Meanwhile, the other X-Men break Ice Man out of captivity, and begin fighting their way through the Sentinels' base, but they all end up captured, and the base seals itself, leaving Professor X outside.

In the final issue, with the X-Men captured, Professor X returns to the studio to study the one inactive Sentinel, and realizes that a giant crystal decorating a nearby tower, visible through the window, is responsible for deactivating it.  He realizes that it is interfering with control transmissions, and if they can block those, they can defeat the Sentinels for good.  As the X-Men break out of their imprisonment, Professor X and the military arrive with the giant crystal, which deactivates most of the Sentinels.  The Master Mold tries to force Trask to make more Sentinels, but Trask finally has a change of heart, and sacrifices himself to destroy the machine and Master Mold. As the base collapses, the X-Men escape.

Plot 3 - The Return of Magneto

In issues 17-18, we are treated to the return of the original arch-enemy of the X-Men -- Magneto.  While Bobby Drake/Ice Man remains hospitalized in a coma, and the X-Men worry over him, a mystery man breaks into the mansion and prepares to turn it against the team.  One by one the X-Men return, only to have their base turn itself against them and start attacking them (all except for Bobby, who remains in the hospital).  The mystery man traps all the X-Men in a giant metal sphere, which he attaches to a hot-air balloon and sends into the air in a classic Silver Age "deathtrap." The villain, now revealed to be Magneto, then returns to the mansion door to greet Warren's parents, who are there visiting.



As the X-Men soar ever higher in their balloon, heading toward upper-atmospheric death, Magneto uses his "magnetic attraction" vision to hypnotize Mr. and Mrs. Worthington.  Because they produced one mutant already (Angel), Magneto decides to use them to clone an army of mutants.  He uses his magnetic powers to assemble a machine to read and reproduce their genetic code while they sleep.  Meanwhile, high above the earth, Professor X breaks out of the psionic distorter Magneto fitted onto him, and he and the X-Men try to escape. At the same time, Bobby wakes up and heads back to the mansion to stop Magneto.

Finally, as Ice Man battles Magneto, the X-Men manage to deflate their balloon, and Marvel Girl uses her telekinesis to cushion the fall. Escaping the deathtrap, they enter the battle and fight against Magneto. As the battle goes against them, the Stranger who captured Magneto in the first place returns, summoned by Professor X.  Magneto flees, chased by the Stranger, and the X-Men stop the mutation device before it can produce an army of evil mutants.

Plot 4 - Mimic

Issue 19 is a one-shot story about a villain called Mimic, and is the final issue written by Stan Lee (Jack Kirby had stopped doing pencils at the end of the Sentinels arc).  The Mimic has the ability to take on the powers of any super-human he comes near, and he quickly learns who the X-Men are by being around them. He battles Beast, and also detects the powers of Jean Grey, whom he follows back to the mansion.  There, being near all the X-Men, he obtains all their powers, and tries to fight them all. However, he doesn't have the training the X-Men do, and is quickly defeated. Before they can put the finishing touches on, he kidnaps Jean and takes her to an abandoned mine, where he recounts his origin -- his powers result from a lab accident.  But the X-Men arrive just as Mimic tries to make his powers permanent, and stop him.  His machine backfires, destroying the mine, and the X-Men rescue him.  The machine takes his powers away, rendering him normal once again.

Plot 5 - Dominus

In his first foray into the X-Men scripting business, Roy Thomas pens a 2-parter (issues 20-21) featuring the return of Professor X's old enemy (from Year 1), "Lucifer."   The story begins with the old enemies of the X-Men, Unus and the Blob, dressing up as them and pretending to be X-Men as they rob a bank -- with the goal of sullying the X-Men's already-tarnished (from the Sentinel affair) name.  We learn that Lucifer planted the idea in their minds to impersonate the X-Men.  However, Scott Summers, who has walked out on the team because of his dangerous eyes, and his belief that they prevent him ever professing his love for Jean Grey, happens onto the villains and battles them.  The rest of the X-Men except for Marvel Girl show up to help.

However, Lucifer quickly discovers that Professor X is onto him, and he fires off a "mento ray" that paralyzes him. Jean uses a mind amplifier to contact him, and Professor X mentally tells her the story of how he lost the use of his legs -- battling Lucifer the first time.  As the X-Men return to the mansion, Lucifer tells his supreme leader via video conference that it is time to unleash the "dominus."

The Dominus it turns out (in issue 21) is a machine controlled by robots that will allow Lucifer to conquer the earth.  Lucifer claims that the machine is utterly indestructible and will defend itself against any attack.  Lucifer captures the X-Men, but they escape and battle the robots.  Professor X orders them not to attack the Dominus machine itself, and instead to avoid the robots.  As the X-Men duck  and deflect the robots' blasts, the Dominus machine reflects the energy back at them, destroying the robots.  Without the robots, the Dominus cannot be operated. The supreme leader contacts Lucifer and tells him that he is finished. Lucifer and the Dominus are taken up into space, and the X-Men remain behind victorious.

Plot 6 - Count Nefaria

Issues 22-23 tell the story of a criminal mastermind named Count Nefaria, who runs a cartel called the Maggia.  Nefaria employs several villains, including Scarecrow (not the Batman villain of course!), Plant Man, the Eel, and others, to battle and capture the X-Men, using an illusion machine to trick them into thinking they are fighting themselves. Then he offers them the typical villain's ultimatum -- to join him in holding Washington, D.C. ransom, or suffer the consequences.

Nefaria's goofy plan is to put an "impenetrable" force field around D.C., and then demand 100 million dollars in special gold notes, for setting it free.  Not wanting D.C. to be destroyed, the X-Men agree to play along.  They take the ransom money, only to be ambushed by the five villains, who have decided to double-cross Nefaria.  Meanwhile, a mysterious masked man enters Nefaria's base by hypnotizing his goons, and shows the ability to operate the device creating the force field, thus defeating Nefaria's plan.  Count Nefaria flees on a boat, with the briefcase full of gold notes.  But the masked man is revealed to be Professor X, walking on mechanical leg enhancements, and the briefcase is just an illusion generated by Nefaria's own equipment.

Plot 7 - The Locust

Issue 24 tells one of the goofiest X-Men stories of the entire series to date, as a mad scientist calling himself "the Locust" uses a special ray-gun to grow super-large insects and uses them to attack farming communities.  The villain is actually an entomologist, who has invented a special insecticide. His plan is to produce giant insects to threaten society and then use his insecticide to save us, thereby becoming rich and famous.  The plan itself is not bad (Syndrome's plot in The Incredibles was similar), but the whole idea of the X-Men battling giant mutated insects that were grown to a giant size from small larvae by a special growth ray is just silly.  Add in the fact that the villain is wearing a giant "locust suit" that gives him special powers, including the ability, via his antennae, to control insect behavior, and this story is over the top on the corny meter.  The X-Men defeat him when Marvel Girl uses her telekinesis to tie the antennae together, causing Locust to lose control and be attacked by his own creatures.  In the end he "sees the light" and decides to turn himself in.

Reflections on Year 2

Although I had read some of the Year 1 issues many years ago (my good friend +Stuart Johnson owned reprints of at least the first 6), I had never before read any of the year two stories.  Therefore, this part of the series held some real surprises for me.

Probably the biggest surprise, as I mention above, was how early (issue 14) the Sentinels and the anti-mutantism make their appearance in the Marvel Universe.  I knew this was a long-running story back in the 1970s when I started reading X-Men, but I had not realized that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had created it almost from the beginning.  Although it was a fun read, I thought that the "anti mutant" hostility sprang up in a very unbelievably short period of time -- one anthropologist announces that mutants are evil and all of a sudden people are throwing rotten tomatoes at the X-Men any time they appear?  Given how slow-moving some of the other plot elements (like Professor X's quest to one day get the use of his legs back) are, I find it particularly curious that Stan and Jack rushed this plot idea so radically -- especially given how integral it became to the X-Men.  It almost seemed like they got together after issue 13, said, "let's make mutants hunted!" and that was the end of it.  And so, I enjoyed the Sentinel story, and to someone familiar with the long-running anti-mutant theme in Marvel, it was no surprise... but I bet the rapidity of society's instant condemnation of mutants bewildered a lot of young readers back in the early 60s.

Another, rather unpleasant, surprise for me was the scripting of Roy Thomas.  I knew Stan had stopped writing X-Men by issue 20 (he stepped back to become editor of the Marvel line), so I wasn't shocked that Thomas started writing.  Rather, what surprised me was what a dip in quality both the plotting and the scripting took from the very issue where Stan Lee stepped away.  Published in the Silver Age as they were, I expect campy, corny plots, but Thomas' work is just completely over the top here.... it makes Stan Lee's writing look like Shakespeare.  I ordinarily enjoy the heavy soliloquizing that was so common in this era of comics (and I miss it dearly in modern fare), but the dialogue Thomas wrote here was incredibly juvenile.  This was a huge surprise to me because, in the 1970s, I had read and enjoyed many comics written by Roy Thomas, so I had expected the quality of the writing to go up, not down, once he took over for Stan Lee. Boy, was I mistaken.  I particularly dislike the pattern Thomas fell into, of creating something "invulnerable to any force known to man or mutant" (the Dominus, or Nefaria's force field) and then coming up with a quick one-page way to easily and quickly defeat it, usually a page or two before the end of the story. It almost felt as if he had written himself into a corner, couldn't get out, ran out of pages, and just said, "aw screw it, let's have the machine defeat itself" or something.

One thing I did enjoy about this year of the series, and it definitely contrasts with modern comics, was the incredibly snailish process of Scott and Jean's love for each other.  For 24 issues now, the two have had feelings for each other, but neither is willing to speak the words out loud.  Scott tries to avoid letting Jean know how he feels, because he does not think it's fair to be with someone as long as his eyes remain a threat.  Jean, meanwhile, assumes Scott has no feelings for her, because he hides them so well, but continues to have an immense crush on him.  As I read these comics I keep expecting the relationship to advance, but it only does so in the tiniest little increments.  This really shows how much the writers, and readers, of Silver Age comics liked to savor sub-plots.  Character interactions are drawn out over the long term, and this provides great momentum for the series as a whole. Rather than relying on multi-part story arcs to keep the readers involved, the writers of X-Men (whatever other flaws the series might have had) used character to keep readers hooked. If we like Scott and Jean, we will keep reading just to see where their relationship goes.

Overall, X-Men's second year was similar to the first. There were some great stories, especially the Sentinel arc and the defeat of Juggernaut... and there were some overly corny ones, like the Count Nefaria plot.  The writing quality definitely declined dramatically after Stan Lee left -- although how much is due to him or due to the departure of artist and co-plotter Jack Kirby (who left around the same time) is unclear.  I'm hoping either Thomas "found his voice" in Year 3, or he got replaced in short order, though, because I don't know how many more Thomas-written issues I can take.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

New Comic-book Night - 6/26/13

It's the final week of June, and a fairly decent week for getting new comics as well as some older ones.  This morning I had to turn back the keys to my apartment, and the c-shop is much closer to that than to my new home, so I stopped by there after bidding the apartment complex farewell, and before heading in to work.  Hey, it's summer, and I don't have any classes to teach...

I'm also not saving up for a house or trying to keep my bank balances flat due to lender credit checks any more, so that means I was able to un-clench the wallet a little bit, and pick up one of the last few Supergirl trades I've been wanting.  Actually, the next trade in order for the Supergirl series (volume 5, or series 4) that I'm currently working on should be "Who is Superwoman?" but the comic shop didn't have that one, so I picked up the next one in the sequence, "Friends and Fugitives." That one collects issues 43, and 45-47, but not 44, which was part of a different story arc (Superman: Codename Patriot). I don't want that whole other arc, just the Supergirl story, so I picked up issue 44 as well.



In terms of new comics, there were three this week. One currently residing on my pull list (Justice League), one that's been teetering on the edge of being on or off the pull list (Justice League of America), and a brand new issue 1 release (Batman/Superman).  And so, all told, I bought 4 comics and a trade today.  Below, I will summarize the three new comics -- Supergirl 44 and the trade must wait until I get the "Who is Superwoman" trade so I can read the stories in order.

Justice League 21 - The Justice League series has had a persistent Shazam! backup story featuring the retelling of the origin of Captain Marvel (I refuse to call the character "Shazam") for about a year now, but this month, Billy Batson takes center stage.  His arch-enemy, Black Adam (the first to wield the Shazam! power) has tracked him down, and now threatens Mary Bromfield and Freddy Freeman, along with the other foster siblings Billy has joined since being taken in from the orphanage.  Adam tells Billy/Captain Marvel that he can "transfer" the Shazam! power, and Billy gets the idea (aided by a magical genie that keeps appearing in reflective surfaces and giving him advice) to transfer that power to his foster siblings. And suddenly we have the good old "Captain Marvel family" of yesteryear roaming the pages of the comics.  I greatly enjoyed this sequence, because I've always liked Captain Marvel, Jr. (Freddy) and especially Mary Marvel, who is one of my all-time favorite female superheroes (right behind Supergirl and Wonder Woman).  Mary defends the city against the physical embodiment of the Seven Deadly Sins while Billy/Captain Marvel battles Black Adam.  The action in this issue is strong, but there's also plenty of heart, and there are some wonderful nods to nostalgia, including a nod to the old "Mr. Tawny" character.  Johns did a great job on this issue, and proves that the Marvel Family absolutely deserve their own series, rather than to be relegated to guest stars of Justice League.  I hope Cap gets a permanent position on the team soon, and I'd love to see Mary and Freddy rotate in as subs on occasion.  The art by Gary Frank is, of course, phenomenal, but then it always is.  This is a great issue... I'd say "JL is back" but I know it probably isn't, since next month we start another of DC's gawd-awful "events" (Trinity War) -- sigh. But for this issue, 10/10.

Justice League of America 5 - Last issue's manipulative ending, which showed a clearly impossible event (Catwoman having her brains shot out) really pissed me off about this series, and the overall story was not as strong as the first three.  I had been considering dropping it if things did not get better this issue, but they definitely did.  We finally see the JLA fight as a team here, and work together to defeat the Secret Society of Super-villains.  The victory is more like a stand-off, with the SSV vanishing, but two of their number captured.  We get to see Star Girl really unload on a few of the villains here, which I greatly enjoyed -- I love her youthful energy and heroism.  Star Girl is proof that people who insist that all teenagers must be portrayed as recalcitrant bags of angst is just plain wrong. The art's a bit better in this issue as well. As a result, I give it an overall score of 8/10, and it remains on the "maybe" category -- maybe it will make it onto my pull list.  Once again due to Trinity War, I am going to have to wait... it may be October or November before I make up my mind, since I will be sitting out the entire DC line in September (right after Trinity War ends) over my objections to "Villain Month."

Batman/Superman 1 - Since the days of the original World's Finest Comics, the tandem of Batman plus Superman has always been exciting for readers. These two characters, who have such different styles and powers, can, when written well, truly complement each other.  Therefore, I picked up issue 1 of the newest version of World's Finest Comics, Batman/Superman, with great interest.  I'm sad to say, I was highly disappointed.  This story is typical of DC issue 1 offerings in the New 52 -- the writer and artist seem to have as their main goal, making the reader think "What the heck?" over and over again.  Honestly, I have know idea what the hell is going on in this issue. Many panels depict scenes that are simply incomprehensible.  The story doesn't make any sense, and it's clearly not supposed to yet.  Here again we have the annoying motif that I am expected to wait half a year or more, and shell out $4 per month while I wait, to find out what is going on (and whether I like what's going on enough to keep reading).  Sorry, DC, but that is not going to happen. I will give Batman/Superman another month or two, but if it doesn't become penetrable, and I mean post haste, I'm gone.  Which is a shame, since I like these characters enough that I really should collect a series about them -- but so far nothing offered for either Bats or Supes makes me want to spend my money.  My score on this one is 5/10, and that's being generous.

I also had a chat with the owner of my comic shop about my decision to sit out the whole of Villain Month, and he said that I am not alone. Many of his customers are adopting a "wait and see" attitude toward it.  For me, I'm not even doing that. I will not be picking up any print copies of DC titles in September. Instead, I will use September as "sample independent titles month," and if I like a few of them more than I like what DC has been putting out, I will be dropping some of the maybes, like Batman/Superman, The Movement, and possibly JLA.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

New Comic-book Night - 6/19/13

Two items came out on my pull-list today, but only one that I collect in print - Supergirl 21.  The other (Wonder Woman 21), I get via ComiXology and I won't be putting an order in there until the weekend.  My camera and photography equipment are still buried in the pile of stuff that's heaped in my guest bedroom awaiting sorting and organization after my move, and it's only one comic, so once again I didn't take a picture.  I will briefly review Supergirl 21 below.

In the mean time, I got an e-mail from my comic-book shop regarding +DC Comics' "Villain Month" - a month-long interregnum in DC's entire line that will see the villains starring in the various super-books.  The general idea is that each arch-enemy or major villain who fights a given hero will be the star of that hero's book for one month  So, for example, instead of Superman starring in Action Comics, we get Bizzarro or Cyborg Superman or Lex Luthor.

However, this won't be a one-to-one correspondence. DC is still going to put out 52 titles in September during "Villain Month," but not every title will be published. To my knowledge, DC has not publicly admitted the reason for this, which is quite simple -- most of their "B-list" characters don't have an established arch-enemy or rogues' gallery in the New 52 (examples include Batgirl and Supergirl).  The A-listers, however, have many, many arch-foes (examples include Superman and Batman). Therefore, DC is giving the A-listers' series more issues in September in exchange for halting publication of many B-list titles for the month.  As a simple example, there will be four issues of Justice League in September, but none of Supergirl or Batgirl. Because these are not stories about the starring characters (at least, not directly), DC is copying Marvel's asinine "decimal point" numbering system -- JL 23 comes out in August, and 24 in October. So in September? We get JL 23.1, 23.2, 23.3, and 23.4.

Now that we understand what is going on during "Villain Month," I can return to the e-mail my comic shop sent me. Basically, their e-mail says that for the month of September, all DC comics on the pull list are suspended.  They are not, by default, pulling anything for anyone.  Presumably the reasons for this are two-fold.  First, if you "subscribe" (as they call the pull list) to get Justice League, you are technically subscribing to an issue per month.  They can't force you to take four issues in September just because DC decided to change the publication schedule. And second, there's no guarantee that people who signed up to read a monthly comic about Superman, by the Superman creative team, are going to want to buy an issue about Bizzarro, but a totally different creative team.

I was glad to receive this e-mail, because I had already been planning to go down there and ask them to not pull any of the "Villain Month" stuff for me.  But those guys know what they are doing, and they must realize a lot of people won't want to just buy their regular titles as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.  So I have no pull list in September for DC.  I will still, of course, be getting Thor, God of Thunder and Red Sonja, which are not DC titles and therefore are not affected by the pull list changes.

I'll have a lot more to say about "Villain Month" and DC's other events in an upcoming post later this month, but now, on to my mini-review of this month's Supergirl.

Supergirl 21 - Last month, we saw Kara attacked by her own Sanctuary. Supergirl teamed up with her Earth-2 alter-ego Power Girl (also confusingly named Kara) to destroy it.  Now we see her flying through space on a galactic bike, which she has apparently stolen from Dr. Veritas.  Apparently, Kara is still "sick" from Kryptonite poisoning, although other than the statement that this is true, there is no evidence of it in this issue.  Kara finds a planetoid of some sort (from the double-page spread I would guess it is asteroid-sized) that is being attacked by a giant robot. She defends the city and the people thank her. Meanwhile she is being observed by a mysterious guy named "Delacore" who is able to shape-shift. Ultimately Delacore tells her that the whole world is made of a special clay-like material that can change into many other things. To demonstrate, he shape-shifts into a hero of Kryptonian legend.  Kara asks if the whole place could re-create Krypton, and Delacore says it's not really possible. But then the creature behind all this appears -- Cyborg Superman -- and asks Kara if she is really willing to do "anything" to make her wish come true.

Overall, I thought this was an interesting issue.  The art style is rather different, since it is done by Diogenese Neves instead of Mahmud Asrar.  Although I'm not a huge fan of Asrar (his sloppy-looking style has never been one I care for), Neves isn't necessarily an improvement.  The art was OK, but I think Asrar is better with facial expressions.  The storyline of the actual issue was interesting.  However, certain elements of the Kara story are starting to wear thin. For example, the Kryptonite poisoning has been going on since issue 18 now, and it's really enough already.  Superman's been exposed to Kryptonite before, and usually gets better fairly quickly. I don't understand why this "poisoning"being drawn out so much -- Supergirl was not exposed to the green K for all that long.  Additionally, the whole "Kara trying to restore Krypton" thing is wearing even thinner.  Every time it seems like she has finally accepted the fate of her home-world, the writers change their minds hand have her engaged in a hair-brained scheme to bring it back.  I had hoped that at least one good thing to come out of the awful H'el story-line was that Kara would finally accept reality, but here she is again 3 issues later, trying to get a world of shapeshifters to pretend to be Kryptonians.  At some point, she needs to get some closure and start moving forward.

Because the overall story was good and the art was decent, I give this issue an 8/10.  I deducted 2 points for the 2 tired plot elements -- the writers really need to wrap these up and start moving Supergirl forward.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

10 reasons why Man of Steel was not a good Superman movie

Today, I saw the much-anticipated, heavily hyped superhero blockbuster movie of the summer: Man of Steel.  I thought that, as an action movie, it was pretty good.  However, as a Superman movie, it was pretty darn awful.  What follows will be my list of 10 reasons why I thought this movie didn't do the job as a film about Superman.

Please note there will be TONS OF SPOILERS, so do not read this review if you have not yet seen the movie. You have been warned.

Before getting into the actual reasons, I want to reiterate that I thought, as an action movie, Man of Steel worked fairly well.   There wasn't much plot, but then there never is in action movies.  The explosions looked good. The action sequences were quick and looked reasonably "super-powered." If this movie had been something like "Hancock 2," I'd probably say it was pretty good and just leave it at that.

The problem, however, is that this wasn't "Hancock 2."  It was a movie about Superman.  And that comes with a certain burden on the part of the creators, and a certain set of criteria that simply must be met.  The 1978 movie by Chris Reeve and Richard Donner (Superman: The Movie) absolutely met those criteria.  The characters were three-dimensional, and although there were definitely original takes on both Clark and Lois (among other characters like Lex Luthor), all the characters were recognizable in that movie.

In Man of Steel, hardly anyone other than Ma and Pa Kent and Jor-El is remotely recognizable.  I thought Amy Adams was a great choice for Lois before seeing the movie, but she's got nothing on Terri Hatcher or Margot Kidder.  Her performance is flat and uninspired, though this is not entirely her fault, because her role is so decidedly un-Lois-like.  The other actors turn in passable but similarly uninspired performances.  I found myself wondering, where was the emotion?  The movie had tons of action -- but it had no soul.

To some degree I think all the actors probably had the same issue Adams had -- they were playing characters with the same names we all recognize (Perry White, General Zod, Clark Kent, and so forth), but their lines and characters' actions were not what one would expect for these characters.  Some will say that this is "original" on Snyder's part, but I disagree. If he wants to be original, and not follow the expected patterns for Superman characters, then he should have let someone else direct this movie, and he could have directed the sequel to 300 or something.

I could rant about this forever, but I started out saying I would provide 10 reasons why this was not a good Superman movie. So here they are.  Again, MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW. You've been warned.

The 10 reasons Man of Steel was not a good Superman movie.

  1. Lois Lane acted more like a military officer than a reporter. Lois starts out great, following Clark where she shouldn’t and getting herself into trouble, and then writing a story about it. This, unfortunately, lasts all of five minutes in the movie. Thereafter, she acts more like an action star than like a reporter. What the hell is Amy Adams doing in a C-117 programming the retaliation weapon against the Kryptonians? She’s completely out of place in scenes like this, and it destroys her credibility as Lois. 
  2. The romance between Superman and Lois is contrived. If you add up how much time Lois and Superman actually spend together the total can’t be more than 10 minutes in the entire movie. And yet by the end of it they are in love? Are we to believe that being in a couple of explosions together is so romantic that now they can't keep their hands off each other? It was totally unbelievable. 
  3. Superman hardly saves anyone. Let’s be fair here... Clark saves a number of people early on, before adopting the Superman identity. But once he’s Superman, other than saving Lois Lane time and again, and a couple of military officers, he never protects or saves anyone. Where is the scene where he steps in front of someone and takes a blast for him? Where’s the scene where he saves the lady with a baby? Rescues the cat out of a tree for a little girl? How can he be Superman if he’s not saving people and doing good deeds? 
  4. Superman has zero regard for property damage. The Superman I grew up loving would not have just blown villains through buildings, parking garages, and grain silos to do some damage to the villain. He would have been concerned about the people and about property damage. Other than telling the people of Smallville to ‘get inside,’ Superman doesn’t seem to care who gets hurt or how much damage is done so long as he beats the villains. 
  5. Where is Jimmy Olsen? What the hell is a Superman movie doing without Jimmy? He’s one of the most important characters in the Superman mythos. Snyder had time to put in some guy named “Lombard” and an intern named “Jenny” at the Daily Planet but not time for Jimmy? Very disappointing. 
  6. Perry White is an afterthought. This part makes no sense to me at all. They cast Lawrence Fishburne as Perry White, which is an inspired choice, and Fishburne proves this in his very first scene berating Lois. But he is utterly wasted in a 2-bit part that seems like it was added as an afterthought (“Whoops! We forgot to put Perry White into this movie -- quick let’s shoot a few pickup scenes with him!”) 
  7. Lois finds out about Clark too early. This part makes no sense at all. One of the most enjoyable facets of Superman is that brilliant, intrepid reporter Lois Lane never puts 2+2 together about Superman and Clark. Snyder doesn’t even bother to try playing this out. He just has Lois figure it out from day 1, which makes it impossible for him to portray some of the most enjoyable aspects of the Superman story. 
  8. Superman is not Clark for enough screen time. The creators of earlier incarnations of Superman, both on TV and in the movies, recognized that you can have too much of a good thing. They were also limited by budget constraints and technology. Those limits were a good thing, because the earlier Superman versions gave us a lot more “Clark time” and only a little “Superman” time. This left us wanting more -- and that’s a good thing. This movie ODs us on Superman, and we get very little Clark time except in flashback. He doesn’t even put on his glasses until the final scene of the movie. 
  9. Superman used hardly any of his powers. Except when he is trying to “adjust” to his powers as a child, Superman hardly uses any of his non-brute-force powers. 99% of his power use is to punch, fly, or be invulnerable. But Superman has lots of powers. Where’s his Super-breath? Not used. Frost-breath? Not used. X-ray vision? Only used once as Superman, for a laugh line. Telescopic vision? Not used. Super hearing? Used once. Even super-speed is given short shrift -- he uses it in the movie, in the sense that he goes fast, but he doesn’t use his super-speed to do anything that couldn’t have been done at normal speed. It’s like Snyder forgot he had all these other things he could do. 
  10. Superman kills. No no no no no. I don’t care what position Zod put Superman in, the Man of Steel never, ever, ever, kills. Period. This is totally unacceptable and at this point if it hadn’t been so obviously close to the end I might well have walked out. I don’t want to hear “Zod left Superman no choice.” The same could be said in Superman II but Superman still only took Zod's powers away and then dumped him into the snow; he didn’t kill him. This is one of the most fundamental aspects of Superman’s character -- he always finds a way to stop people without killing them, no matter how much (like Lex Luthor) they might deserve it.

And there you have it, 10 reasons I thought Man of Steel was a poor excuse for a Superman movie.

I think if you look at the sum total of this list, an obvious pattern emerges.  Snyder and company were so focused on explosions and big budget effects that they forgot that all good stories are about characters, and that characters are the ones who make us cheer, clap, laugh, and cry.  The guys at Pixar know it.  Marvel Studios knows it.  But the Man of Steel team don't seem to have any idea that character is what counts.

I went to see this movie on opening weekend at a matinee, in a theater where 12:30 Sunday showings are usually empty even under these conditions.  Man of Steel was packed.  There was hardly an empty seat in the house.  So it clearly drew a large crowd. This is similar, at least on the surface, to my experience 35 years ago, as a child, watching Superman: The Movie the week it opened with a large crowd.

One thing struck me as this movie drew to a close -- other than some occasional muttering from people who apparently were lost by parts of the plot (I'm not sure why -- the plot may have been soulless but it wasn't confusing to me), the theater was absolutely silent for almost all 143 minutes.  There weren't many laugh lines in the movie, but the few it had, got barely a few chuckles.  Nobody clapped; nobody cheered. The second the screen went dark at the end, people started getting up and walking out.  It felt like the movie made no impression on them.

Contrast this with my experience in 1978, when the theater was rocking.  People started cheering when the big giant "S" graphic came up.  They laughed at the funny lines.  They gasped audibly when Pa Kent died of a heart attack.  They cheered and clapped when Superman saved Lois from the helicopter. They laughed at Ned Beatty's antics.  And when the now much-reviled "turning back the world" scene happened, everyone applauded, even though we knew Superman couldn't time travel -- because we wanted to see him save Lois. The crowd was invested in the movie by then -- they bought that scene hook, line, and sinker.  When Superman flew away toward the sun at the end and the ending theme started to play, everyone cheered again, and people stayed in their seats, wanting to listen to the music and just not wanting it to end.

I'm sure lots of people will claim this new Superman is "better" than Richard Donner's version. It's grittier. More realistic. Has better effects. Had tons more action.  But the problem is that, despite all of that, Snyder's version has no soul, no heart -- and Donner's version has tons. And that's why the audience whooped and cheered in 1978... and didn't utter a sound this afternoon.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

NCN - 6/13/13

I was one day late for New Comic-book Night this week, because I have had to spend a great deal of time, including yesterday afternoon, at the new home, getting it ready for move-in. I wasn't able to get to the comic shop before they closed yesterday, so I went today.  I also picked up some digital stuff, including one that came out this week.  In the shop I picked up Katana #5, Thor, God of Thunder #9, and Batgirl #21. Digitally,  I picked up Worlds' Finest #13, plus some older back-issues (of Red Sonja and X-Men). There are no pictures this time -- my camera is in the new house and I'm still typing this in my apartment.

Katana #5 - I had already decided before picking up #5 that I would go no further with this series unless this issue was a substantial improvement.  It wasn't.  Although this issue was slightly better than #4, the story-line remains a haphazard mess with no sense of organization or forward momentum.  Random stuff just happens from page to page, with no clear cause-and-effect relationship among events.  It's entirely possible that writer Ann Nocenti is going to explain things later on, but as I have said before of other series that I've dropped (like Morrison's Action Comics and Remender's Captain America), if there is an underlying order to the chaos here, it has taken too long to be revealed.  I'm not going to wait half a year for the plot to start making sense.  To add insult to injury, the art in this series has just been downright awful -- sometimes I can't even tell what is happening in the panel, because it's drawn so poorly.  There's just not enough to recommend this series, and there are too many other potentially good ones coming out that I see no reason to continue wasting my time with it.  I give this issue a 5/10. Thus, I have now officially dropped Katana from the "potential pull list."

Thor, God of Thunder #9 - This series continues to pleasantly surprise and delight me.  Although I am not a fan of over-the-top violence, which Thor has in spades, it is handled well here, and the underlying story is compelling.  Despite the enormous potential for confusion that could result from telling a story with "Thors" from three different timelines, Aaron makes it work seamlessly, and the interaction between Thor's different selves is enjoyable to read. Ribic's art continues to look fantastic, more like oil paintings than pencil and ink drawings.  I have really enjoyed this title to date, and it continues to be solid. 10/10.

Batgirl #21 - Gail Simone turns in another wonderful story-line.  As usual, Gail's strength is characterization, and she does another outstanding job with Barbara in this issue.  Batgirl continues to struggle with the aftermath of (possibly) killing her brother James.  Her parents part company again.  And in the middle of all this, Batgirl has to battle the Ventriloquist in a rather gruesome fight.  Gail definitely has a taste for the macabre.  The art is decent in this issue, but I sorely miss Adrian Syaf, who did a much better job on just about every aspect of the art.  9/10.

Worlds' Finest #13 - Levitz turns in another decent issue about Huntress and Power Girl.  Desaad is going after them, apparently believing they may hold the key to getting back to Apokolips.  There's some great action as a giant blood-hound of Desaad's keeps attacking the two girls, and Helena does a great job of using the environment to fight him.  The dog can take Power Girl's best punches, which prompts her to wonder if she might be getting weaker on this earth.  I'm hoping this is not the case, at least long-term, because I see no reason why DC should want to weaken Power Girl.  The art in this issue was decent, but nothing spectacular.  7/10.

Overall, a pretty good week of comics.  Three of the four were quite enjoyable. And at least now I have made my decision about Katana, which I have bee vacillating over for the last couple of months.  This means there will be some room on my pull list. Katana's place will be taken next month by the new Red Sonja, written by Gail Simone.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

New Comic-book Night - 6/5

Last night was New Comic-book Night.  I only bought one comic, The Movement #2, so I didn't think it was worth posting a picture.  I am also a little short on time this week, because I closed escrow on a house at 2 PM this afternoon.  Hopefully soon I will have some more interesting pictures to share -- about where and how I am storing some of my comics (if I can work out what I am planning).  Thus, I did not bother buying any of the digital stuff that came out this week, and I didn't sample anything or buy any back-issues. Once I get going with my move, I will have more time for that.  In the mean time, I will give a mini-review of the one issue I did buy yesterday.

The Movement #2 - The only reason I started buying this series last month is because it's written by Gail Simone, who is my favorite current comic-book writer. On Batgirl, at least, Gail Simone is inimitable. She has become Barbara Gordon over the years, and writes her with a powerful empathy for the character.  I became so enamored of Simone's writing that I couldn't resist trying The Movement.  However, I found the first issue to be remarkably mediocre (honestly, that's being generous), with characters who I found it difficult to like, and a plot I had trouble following (or, to be honest, caring about).  I hoped that #2 would improve things, but sadly, it did not. So, why am I having such a hard time liking this series?  I think there are two problems.

The biggest problem with The Movement is the characters. I just don't like any of them.  There is nothing sympathetic about them, nothing that makes me want to cheer for them.  They have annoying attitudes, frequently acting like jerks toward one another (and definitely acting like that toward people outside their clique).  They have strange powers that grate on me rather than intriguing me -- especially the rat boy whose big super-power is to summon an infestation of rats against his enemies. Wow, what a cool power. Then there's Burden, whose main superpower is to be possessed by a demon. I'm not sure if these are existing DC characters or made up for the series but either way, they do nothing for me in terms of powers or personality.

The second problem with this series, however, is that I despise the fundamental premise, which at its core is basically pro-anarchy.  Cops are bad -- down with cops. Government is bad -- down with government.  Everyone in authority is bad -- down with authority. Now, I'm as frustrated as the next guy at how inept and abusive our government can often be, especially lately, but that doesn't mean I think we should overthrow it.

Beyond the story/characterization issues in this series, there is the art, which I find sub-par (and again, that's being generous).  Combining sub-par art with characters I dislike and a philosophy I simply cannot embrace, I started to think it may already be time to end my dabbling with this new series.  However, it's Gail Simone, and she has earned some of my trust.  So, I will probably give it one more issue. But if she can't clean things up and make the book (and characters) more likable by the end of #3, I'm done.

My rating for issue 2: 6/10

Monday, June 3, 2013

Have DC and Marvel jumped the shark?

In 1977, a famous episode of the popular TV show Happy Days depicted Henry Winkler's character, "Fonzie," jumping over a shark in water skis.  For a series that had gotten its start depicting events most adults at the time would remember about their youth in the 1950s, this was a rather severe departure.  The stunt was viewed by the show's critics as a shameless attempt to "goose" the ratings, and many people mark that event as the "decline" of Happy Days.

Now, to be fair, Happy Days was a successful enough show that it ran for another seven seasons. But its ratings slowly declined year after year following this event, and many of the original fans felt that the show had lost something.  The shark-jumping episode is seen as an "inflection point" in the show, with higher quality, more "true to form" episodes before it, and increasingly hype-oriented, gimmicky shows following it.

Since that time, many TV shows have followed a similar pattern.  They start out with a certain thematic emphasis, and the show remains good or even improves each year for several seasons. But then, something happens. Maybe the writers run out of ideas. The episodes become flat, stale.  Perhaps people feel they have seen it all before. Ratings begin to decline, and that means the show is not making as much money (from advertisements).  The show's producers need to do something to get people to watch. So they start resorting to gimmickry in the hope that people will tune in to see this new change for the show.  Common changes to TV shows include events like having a new baby, or pretending (and not ironically) whole entire seasons have been "just a dream."

This descent into gimmickry in the desperate attempt to keep viewers tuning in has been named after that famous Happy Days episode.  Whenever a show starts churning out episodes with the express purpose of "getting people to watch," rather than just putting out quality stories, people say it has "jumped the shark."

What does this have to do with +DC Comics and +Marvel Entertainment? Well... everything.

Recently, for example, DC announced "Supervillain Month."  This will be a month where every single title in their line will star the hero's arch-enemy instead of the hero.  Additionally, each comic will sport a "3D effect" cover.  As I read the announcement for this "event," I could only shake my head. They're not even trying to cover up the fact that this is pure and utter gimmickry at this point.  This event is pure hype -- a bare-knuckled attempt to goose their badly slumping sales figures.  Rather than instructing writers to just write really great stories, DC is making its creative teams put out contrived one-shot stories whose only purpose is to sell comics.  This is the very essence of shark jumping.

And let us not pretend that Marvel is any better.  They have multiple "events" going on over there right now, including one that spans the mutant books, and the "Age of Ultron" crossover.  Books that are participating in Age of Ultron have an "AU" after their number (e.g., issue "14 AU") to try and induce readers to buy them for the "crossover content."  Here again, we have the companies attempting to attract readers using gimmicks, rather than just telling quality stories and figuring that quality will sell itself.

And let us not forget both companies' recent penchant for canceling and renumbering series back on issue 1 at the drop of a hat. Everyone knows issue 1 sells the best for any series, because thousands of people will pick up a first issue "just to try it." They may not buy any more, but #1 will get them to sample, and some will stay, and even if no one does, that first issue will make the companies a lot of money just because of its number.  This is yet another contrivance, designed to induce sales because of a numeral printed in the upper or lower corner of the cover, regardless of what is on the inside.

In the meantime, what is actually on the inside is, in many cases, unreadable sewage. Take the Superman Family's H'el on Earth crossover, for example.  Once again, the crossover is pure gimmickry.  The villain (H'el) is utterly contrived and given whatever powers they need him to have so that the entire Justice League plus Superboy and Supergirl can't defeat him.  The trajectory of stories in the Superman Family of books was utterly ignored by the writers.  The story-line was, in a word, awful.  DC seems to have figured that people will buy any issue with a gimmick in it -- again, this is what is meant by the term "jumping the shark."

What can be done about this? Well, that's hard to say. Although many TV shows have limped along for years after jumping the shark, I don't think I've ever known one to recover once the tailspin has begun.  Instead, typically, the show continues to spiral downward, getting worse and worse over time, until one can't bear to watch it any longer.  These shows tend to peter out, with ratings in the toilet during their final season, and everyone sighing with relief when the network finally pulls the plug.

The only other real option seems to be "going out on top." The cast and crew, writers and producers, realize that the show has run its course, that they are out of ideas, and they just stop.  The shows that do this tend not to last as long as the ones that jump the shark, but they also tend to be remembered as the greatest series in television. Examples include the Mary Tyler Moore show (which ended after 7 seasons), the Dick Van Dyke Show (which ended after 5 seasons and coincidentally co-starred Mary Tyler Moore), and Star Trek: The Next Generation (which ended after 7 seasons).  Each of these series produced some of their best work during the final season or two, and each was purposely ended while things were still good, explicitly because the creators did not want to have the show wither and die, to outlive its popularity.

And perhaps that's the real problem.  To keep publishing series long after they have outlived their popularity, there's really no option but to use gimmick after gimmick.  I would argue, however, that if the comics companies have been reduced to such contrivances, it's better to just put the series out of their misery, and let the creative teams replace them with something new, and different, and hopefully fresh and interesting.  I guess what I'm saying here is that I'd rather see them cancel Superman, than keep resorting to hype-oriented gimmicks to keep it afloat.

Either way, I think there isn't any argument about one thing: DC and Marvel have jumped the shark with nearly every series they currently publish.