I tried Bill Willingham's book Fables shorlty after its debut in 2000. I bought the individual issues for the first story arc and read them all in one sitting and fell in love with the characters, their situation and the way Willingham's writing made each one of this huge cast a distinct individual I would either come to care about or despise. There isn't a lot of middle ground with many of the characters in the series. And that's not to say that the characters aren't well-rounded multi-faceted folk; they truly are.
To my knowledge, Fables was my first exposure to Willingham's work, but it made me think that he and his fellow collaborators on the main series and it's spin-offs (including fellow scribe Matthew Sturges) were just incredible.
But as much as I love Willingham's work with the inhabitants of Fabletown, I just can't get behind his writing when it comes to the superhero set.
I was sadly disappointed in Willingham's thankfully short turn at the helm of the now-canceled solo Robin title. Here's a creator whose work I enjoy working on a character I enjoy, I thought at the time. How can I lose? But reading the story, it just didn't ring right for me. I couldn't quite put my finger on the problem until reading an article somewhere online at the time of Willingham's Robin issues. The article said Willingham wanted to write a story about a young, inexperienced hero and the mistakes he made while starting out. Well, even though the Robin we're discussing in Willingham's issues was Tim Drake, the third young man to wear the Robin costume, Drake hadn't been a newbie hero for quite some time. The character debuted in the early 90s and several novice stories had been done at that time. Since, the character has been portrayed as not only a competent partner to such heroes as Batman, Nightwing and Oracle, but an accomplished, inventive hero in his own right and leader of a newer, younger set of Teen Titans. You can't shoe-horn the character into the role of a novice any longer, unless you clearly explain in your story that it is a tale from the character's past when he WAS still new, something Willingham clearly did not do. In fact, Willingham took pains to mention current continuity in his story to firmly place it in the current time. In my opinion, he had an idea and tried to make the character fit the idea, which rarely produces good stories.
That should explain my trepidation when it was announced several months ago that Willingham and Sturges would be taking over the writing chores on the Justice Society. I was worried, but I love this team and the legacies of many of the characters, so I gave the book a try. But once again, Willingham is not writing these characters correctly to my mind. Not only do several of the JSA members seem to be acting out of character for their established personalities, some aren't even being consistent from page to page or panel to panel.
Take Justice Society of America No. 30, Willingham and Sturges' second issue, for example. The Golden-Age Flash has just brought Dr. Fate to help him and Stargirl fight against a large number of super-villains. At the top of page 7, an obviously uncertain Fate turns to Flash and asks, "How am I doing so far?" and Flash replies with an OK sign and says, "Just fine, son. Keep it up." Just a few pages later, after the villains have been routed and the heroes are splitting up, Flash turns to the unmasked Dr. Fate and demands, "What about you, pal? You aren't familiar, but ..."
Flash went and got the guy, so he should know who Fate is. He also seems to know that a new person is wearing the costume when he reassures Dr. Fate during battle. But then at the end of the fight, he has no idea who this person is under the helmet of Dr. Fate and almost seems not to trust the individual. What gives?
I still read Fables every month, and it is truly a fantastic book filled with rich characterization and solid story-telling; I highly recommend it to anyone, from die-hard comic fan to someone who just enjoys a good story. But Willingham's super-hero work just seems to fall short for me.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Iron Man: Demon in a Bottle
This little gem was re-released in 2008 as Marvel Premiere Classic Hardcover Vol. 9.
It collects Iron Man Nos. 120-128, written by David Michelinie and Bob Layton, illustrated by John Romita Jr. and Carmine Infantino and inked by Bob Layton. And it was previously collected in trade paperback form under the title The Power of Iron Man, which was my first exposure to the stories.
These comics, to my mind at least, are Marvel Comics' version of the socially-relevant comics trend most often attributed as starting with DC Comics' Green Lantern/Green Arrow run by Denny O'Neal and Neal Adams. Those DC books had lefty Green Arrow and right-wing Green Lantern butt heads over social issues such as over-population, race relations, class warfare and drug abuse. They are credited with bringing a social conscience to comic-book stories. In Marvel's Iron Man case, the topic was alcoholism, and the writers used the star of the book to tackle the problem head-on in his own life.
But no simple preaching is found in the pages reprinted in this volume. Rather, this is good, compelling story-telling at its finest. Tony Stark (Iron Man to the uninitiated) had been dealing with a number of conflicts in previous issues leading up to No. 120 beyond the usual superhero slugfests. As these stories begin, those problems continue to get worse and grow in number, prompting Stark to turn increasingly to the bottle rather than his friends or his armored alter ego. As one might expect, rather than helping, the alcohol merely adds to Stark's problems. In that regard, there aren't many surprises in this story.
What is unexpected is how the alcoholism is dealt with by these creators. The problem isn't resolved in a matter of panels or even a few pages. Instead, they take the "hero" of the book lower than might have been expected, then allow several issues' worth of time for even the beginnings of a resolution to take shape. In this way, Michelinie and Layton make Stark's problems seem all the more real, and his eventual victory, never in doubt as this is a monthly superhero title, more powerful for its portrayal.
I had never been much of an Iron Man fan prior to reading The Power of Iron Man, and only picked up the book on a whim. This story gave me an appreciation for the character under these creators' care and has been read and re-read to the point that the original trade has almost been worn out. With that in mind, I recently purchased the new hardcover edition and re-read this story for the first time in maybe 10 years. It was well worth the price, and the writing and artwork are still spectacular! I have no hesitation whatsoever about recommending this book for anyone to whom it might be a new read or a refresher on a true comics classic.
It collects Iron Man Nos. 120-128, written by David Michelinie and Bob Layton, illustrated by John Romita Jr. and Carmine Infantino and inked by Bob Layton. And it was previously collected in trade paperback form under the title The Power of Iron Man, which was my first exposure to the stories.
These comics, to my mind at least, are Marvel Comics' version of the socially-relevant comics trend most often attributed as starting with DC Comics' Green Lantern/Green Arrow run by Denny O'Neal and Neal Adams. Those DC books had lefty Green Arrow and right-wing Green Lantern butt heads over social issues such as over-population, race relations, class warfare and drug abuse. They are credited with bringing a social conscience to comic-book stories. In Marvel's Iron Man case, the topic was alcoholism, and the writers used the star of the book to tackle the problem head-on in his own life.
But no simple preaching is found in the pages reprinted in this volume. Rather, this is good, compelling story-telling at its finest. Tony Stark (Iron Man to the uninitiated) had been dealing with a number of conflicts in previous issues leading up to No. 120 beyond the usual superhero slugfests. As these stories begin, those problems continue to get worse and grow in number, prompting Stark to turn increasingly to the bottle rather than his friends or his armored alter ego. As one might expect, rather than helping, the alcohol merely adds to Stark's problems. In that regard, there aren't many surprises in this story.
What is unexpected is how the alcoholism is dealt with by these creators. The problem isn't resolved in a matter of panels or even a few pages. Instead, they take the "hero" of the book lower than might have been expected, then allow several issues' worth of time for even the beginnings of a resolution to take shape. In this way, Michelinie and Layton make Stark's problems seem all the more real, and his eventual victory, never in doubt as this is a monthly superhero title, more powerful for its portrayal.
I had never been much of an Iron Man fan prior to reading The Power of Iron Man, and only picked up the book on a whim. This story gave me an appreciation for the character under these creators' care and has been read and re-read to the point that the original trade has almost been worn out. With that in mind, I recently purchased the new hardcover edition and re-read this story for the first time in maybe 10 years. It was well worth the price, and the writing and artwork are still spectacular! I have no hesitation whatsoever about recommending this book for anyone to whom it might be a new read or a refresher on a true comics classic.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
I'm Back!
Hey, Kiddie Cops! I'm back!
Did you miss me?
Probably not. If I had any regular readers before, they've probably long since given up waiting for updates, and since my previous round of posts never generated any comments (at least none about the actual content of the posts), I doubt too many people were reading my musings back then anyway.
Not that I don't welcome readers; far from it. If you've stumbled across this blog, then welcome. Feel free to just browse, or to comment or whatever. Maybe some of my thoughts on the titles I'm reading or have read may spark an interest in someone else, or give them incentive to try something new. That would be fantastic!
But in all honesty, the first round of posts ended up helping me in unintended ways, and I'm back in an effort to recapture a bit of that "magic" I experienced the first time around.
Like most folks out there, I'm not made of money despite my collecting hobby — or maybe because of it. (I'm not made of unlimited time, either, which also proves to often be a hinderance, but that's another post.) Anyway, every so often, I find myself for economic reasons needing to trim the number of comics I buy each month. I know which books I'm still enjoying and which are maybe dropping on the interest-scale, at least in a basic sense. But it can get very easy each month when it comes time to order, to fall back on the habits of previous months without really thinking. Or to give a slacking book "one more month" to get good again for five months without realizing you've been disappointed for that long.
Writing this blog and these little reviews forced me to spend more time thinking about what I liked and why, as well as what I didn't care for anymore and how far some titles had fallen. That, in turn, made it a little easier to make cuts when it came time to order each month. Often I'd remember my reactions better after posting them, but even if my memory was somewhat vague, I could quickly revisit my thoughts in the blog.
Well, I find myself in need of that assistance once again. I'm trying to trim some dead weight from my "pull list." So why not resume putting my thoughts down here? I had no good answer for that question, so here I am, giving the blog another whirl.
Don't think that means this will be all comic-bashing. Far from it. Trying new things means once in a while having to spit something back out. A person can get tired of a steady diet of even something great that has become somewhat stale. But by and large, I love comics as an entertainment medium. I guarantee there'll be loads of good here to counter the bad.
Next time we'll dive right in to some recent reads, but until then, Happy Collecting!!
Did you miss me?
Probably not. If I had any regular readers before, they've probably long since given up waiting for updates, and since my previous round of posts never generated any comments (at least none about the actual content of the posts), I doubt too many people were reading my musings back then anyway.
Not that I don't welcome readers; far from it. If you've stumbled across this blog, then welcome. Feel free to just browse, or to comment or whatever. Maybe some of my thoughts on the titles I'm reading or have read may spark an interest in someone else, or give them incentive to try something new. That would be fantastic!
But in all honesty, the first round of posts ended up helping me in unintended ways, and I'm back in an effort to recapture a bit of that "magic" I experienced the first time around.
Like most folks out there, I'm not made of money despite my collecting hobby — or maybe because of it. (I'm not made of unlimited time, either, which also proves to often be a hinderance, but that's another post.) Anyway, every so often, I find myself for economic reasons needing to trim the number of comics I buy each month. I know which books I'm still enjoying and which are maybe dropping on the interest-scale, at least in a basic sense. But it can get very easy each month when it comes time to order, to fall back on the habits of previous months without really thinking. Or to give a slacking book "one more month" to get good again for five months without realizing you've been disappointed for that long.
Writing this blog and these little reviews forced me to spend more time thinking about what I liked and why, as well as what I didn't care for anymore and how far some titles had fallen. That, in turn, made it a little easier to make cuts when it came time to order each month. Often I'd remember my reactions better after posting them, but even if my memory was somewhat vague, I could quickly revisit my thoughts in the blog.
Well, I find myself in need of that assistance once again. I'm trying to trim some dead weight from my "pull list." So why not resume putting my thoughts down here? I had no good answer for that question, so here I am, giving the blog another whirl.
Don't think that means this will be all comic-bashing. Far from it. Trying new things means once in a while having to spit something back out. A person can get tired of a steady diet of even something great that has become somewhat stale. But by and large, I love comics as an entertainment medium. I guarantee there'll be loads of good here to counter the bad.
Next time we'll dive right in to some recent reads, but until then, Happy Collecting!!
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