Celebrate our independence, but safely and quietly, please

 

I'm taking a little break from the comics talk this week in honor of American Independence Day -- the Fourth of July -- this weekend.

I don't wish to dictate the right or wrong way for anyone to celebrate; we all celebrate our independence in our own way. But I do want to make a short appeal on behalf of my own and others' four-legged friends.

Pets don't understand the bright lights and loud noises often associated with July Fourth festivities. In fact, many pets experience stress and are frightened into running away from their owners in fear because of such celebrations. That's not fun at all.

Here are some basic tips to consider when planning your own Fourth events:

- Don't take pets to large fireworks presentations.

- Ensure pets have a safe, comforting retreat away from the noise and lights.

- Monitor pets' behavior during nearby celebrations.

- Never aim fireworks at pets or deliberately try to frighten them.

- Be respectful of neighbors with pets when planning your personal celebrations.

For more on considering pets when planning Fourth activities, visit here and here or Google ideas.

Be safe, everyone, and have a happy Fourth!

Here’s another comic-adjacent project with an interesting sci-fi pedigree

Leonard Nimoy’s PriMortals: Target Earth prose paperback
Aspect Science Fiction/Warner Books
Author: Steve Perry
Release date: March 1998

Leonard Nimoy’s PriMortals was a comic series first published by Tekno Comix beginning in 1995. The actor most known for portraying Spock in "Star Trek: The Original Series," as well as in subsequent films and Trek television series, reportedly got the idea for the series after visiting a SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) installation. Science fiction author Isaac Asimov was credited with adding several more concepts to the narrative, and a variety of comics writers and artists also contributed to bringing the series to life.

A race of aliens called the Paxus Majae visited Earth during the Jurassic age and harvested a number of species from the new planet. In the centuries since, the Majae have elevated the intelligence of those former Earthlings and others from a number of other planets. Zeerus, a criminal Avitaur (think a humanoid pterodactyl), escapes from Majae custody and heads back to his native Earth in the late 1990s in a stolen spacecraft. His goal is to trick humans into helping him fight the Majae, who are likely following him.

I was curious about a number of the Tekno Comix titles including Gene Roddenberry’s Lost Universe, Isaac Asimov’s I-Bots, Mickey Spillane’s Mike Danger and others. Most of the company’s initial offerings focused on the concepts and contributions of known authors and celebrities, and I must confess, their strategy worked on me.

The comic version of Leonard Nimoy's PriMortals followed Zeerus as he makes first contact with a number of humans on Earth. Zeerus is indeed pursued by representatives of the Majae, chief among them a being known as PriMaster, who looked like a slightly more alien Martian Manhunter to me. The story was indeed interesting and lasted for 15 issues before Tekno Comix changed its name in 1997 to Big Entertainment and relaunched most of its existing titles with new numbering.

The second volume of PriMortals lasted nine more issues, plus a two-issue limited series and a few one-shots. The story never ended, but as I recall, Zeerus made planetfall on Earth, followed by PriMaster and his entire crew, drastically changing mankind’s view of our place in the cosmos as well as throwing the planet into the middle of an interstellar conflict.

As I said, the story never ended. Instead Big Entertainment stopped publishing its comics titles. While I liked the series when it was coming out, the lack of an ending caused me to lose interest over time, and many of the Tekno and Big Entertainment titles I once owned have since been sold off to other comics readers.

Just before Big Entertainment stopped publishing comics, however, this prose paperback novel appeared on book store shelves in March 1998. The story is much the same as I remember the comics portraying, but this must have been intended to be the first of a series of novels, fleshing out only the earliest stages of the comic tale. Many of the characters in this novel were also in the comic series, but their respective stories are much more detailed, and this novel makes for an interesting read.

As the escaped Zeerus enters our solar system, he send a message to Earth. It will still take the Avitaur nearly six months to travel to our planet, but he wants to reach out, establish contact and begin his manipulation of humans as soon as possible before PriMaster arrives. Among the human characters are Stewart Davies, a college student, computer game designer and part-time SETI worker, who first receives and de-codes Zeerus’ message; Jake Holcroft, the young computer hacker who stumbles on the top-secret communications; Major Steve Hayes, the Army officer charged with tracking down Jake; General Larry Hightower, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States; and Hightower’s girlfriend, White House Chief of Staff Laurie Sherman.

The novel focuses on Zeerus’ and humanity’s preparations for this historic first contact and ends when the giant Avitaur lands his craft on Earth. PriMaster and a few members of his crew are mentioned in flashback thoughts Zeerus has to give the reader Zeerus’ background, but the tale is really just getting started when this nearly 300-page book comes to an end. I’ve looked for subsequent books in the series, but while Steve Perry has authored many other novels, this is the only PriMortals book I have ever found besides the comics themselves.

Having said that, Target Earth is still an excellent read that held my interest despite my already being familiar with the story being told. It has my heartiest recommendation, and if anyone connected with Big Entertainment is still out there looking, I would be interested in more of the story.

Switching from trades to comics-adjacent

Justice Society: World War II Blu-ray
DC Animated Universe movie
Creators: Jeff Wamester, Jeremy Adams and Meghan Fitzmartin
Release date: May 2021

I’ve talked about a number of trades in the past few weeks. This week, I’d like to turn the focus to the latest DC Animated Universe direct-to-DVD — or in this case, Blu-ray — Justice Society: World War II. And let me warn readers right off that there will be some spoilers in this post. Generally, I try to avoid spoilers so new readers can experience the material fresh. In this case, I can’t really address some of what I’d like to say without some spoilers. You have been warned.

I’m also going to say right from the beginning that I very much enjoyed this film. I want there to be no mistake about that despite me leveling a few criticisms of the movie in the following paragraphs. I’ve said before that I prefer to focus this blog on celebrating the good in comics, not on the bad. This movie is good despite a few quibbles.

I’ve long liked the Justice Society, and the promise of an adventure following this group set firmly in the World War II era sounded like an excellent idea to me. I enjoyed some of the brief flashbacks to this era in the Justice League cartoon, and this film goes those one better, ramping up the action and the consequences of war, as viewers would expect from a feature movie rather than a 30-minute episode. This Justice Society is led by Wonder Woman and includes Hourman, Hawkman, the Flash and Black Canary. They also are joined by Steve Trevor and a couple other cameo heroes I won’t spoil here, except to say kudos to the creative team for tying in the Showcase Short moreso than I have seen a previous DCAU film do.

*** SPOILERS BEGIN NOW ***

The cover art for this movie offers one of the first spoilers, i.e. the inclusion of the modern-age Barry Allen Flash alongside the other golden-age heroes. Yep, this is a time-travel story, sort of. While the framing sequence of Barry and Iris West traveling to Metropolis for a picnic leads to a team-up between Flash and Superman, Flash’s unplanned trip to meet the Justice Society, and serves to inspire Flash to suggest a Justice League of heroes upon his return to his own place and time, I wish the creators of this film had simply told the Justice Society tale and let it stand on its own. The title says this is the Justice Society fighting during World War II. The framing sequence is nice, but unnecessary.

My other quibble involves the inclusion of Aquaman in this film. Again, the package art for the Blu-ray spoils this as Arthur Curry is prominently displayed on the back cover of the jewel case. I like the touch of giving Aquaman the yellow gloves the golden-age Marine Marvel is usually depicted with. I also like the fact that one of my favorites is included here when he easily might not have been. His inclusion is one of the reasons I was anxious to see this film when it was released.

What I wasn’t as thrilled to see is Aquaman’s inclusion as an ally of the Nazis, albeit a mind-controlled unwitting pawn. It’s not so much that he was mind-controlled into helping the Nazis; that kinda thing happens to superheroes a lot. They eventually shake off the mind-control and redeem themselves. Aquaman was denied this heroic turn in this film. He almost shakes off the mind control once or twice, but ultimately fails until the very end of the film. Then, instead of redeeming himself, he runs away in shame and is not seen again for the rest of the film. That hurts.

It reminds me of a couple other recent story arcs in the comics that I have enjoyed overall despite unkind characterizations of Aquaman in the process of telling said tales. The first is the “Legacy” six-part story from Justice League Rebirth Nos. 26-31. The other is Aquaman’s characterization in the Flashpoint reality from the limited series of the same name. Neither series had very flattering portrayals of one of my favorite heroes, and I hope this trend does not continue.

But again, overall, I think this film is good and well worth a watch.

It’s an intense, worthwhile package

Batman: Creature of the Night tpb
DC Comics
Creators: Kurt Busiek and John Paul Leon
Release date: May 2021

I had pretty low expectations when I pre-ordered the trade collection of this miniseries. Not because I have been disappointed previously by the creative team. I was not familiar at all with John Paul Leon’s art, and I’ve rather enjoyed a number of projects written by Kurt Busiek, so no problems there.

I’ve read several other tales loosely based around a particular comics character’s mythology yet supposedly based entirely in the real world, without super-powered heroes. The conceit has yielded some good stories and some I haven’t cared much for.

This story focuses on Bruce Wainwright, a normal boy in the aforementioned real world who loves Batman comics, based in part by the similarity of his own name to that of his hero. But when crime makes Bruce an orphan, he becomes obsessed with the idea of Batman preventing crimes like the one that took his family from him. He wrestles with the unfairness of life and a yearning for a vigilante who can tip the scales in favor of justice. Bruce wishes so strongly for such a hero to exist that one suddenly, inexplicably does.

This story is populated by a number of other similarities between Bruce’s life and that of his comic book hero’s — some of the similarities are real while others are conveniently created by Bruce himself. These parallels don’t really detract from the story or stretch a reader’s suspension of disbelief too much, simply because Bruce himself is aware of his tendency to “create” some of them.

Rather the young boy’s intensity of emotion, his earnest yearning for justice and a hero who can make the world right with his fists and his intellect draw the reader in and make him or her hope right along with the protagonist. John Paul Leon’s moody illustrations emphasize that very intensity and passion. Even the back matter, of which this trade includes a lot, enhances the experience of this book.

This was a truly enjoyable read I did not want to put down until I finished it. If you enjoy a good Batman story, I think you’ll like this one, too. Give it a try, and let me know what you think.

More early adventures of the first kid sidekick

Showcase Presents Robin, the Boy Wonder tpb
DC Comics
Creators: Too many to mention
Release date: 2008

I marveled recently about how Robin, the Boy Wonder, had a number of solo adventures in Star-Spangled Comics as early as the 1940s and 1950s. Dick Grayson is one of my all-time favorite characters, and I had not known that he headlined his own solo series that far back. Those stories are collected in the Robin Archives Volumes 1 and 2.

I bought this giant phone-book sized black-and-white trade paperback collection when it came out back in 2008, but at that time, trades like this one were tossed onto a pile of stuff to read when I had more time. I decided to make the time after reading those Robin Archives volumes, and I’m glad I did.

This collection covers stories from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. It begins with a re-telling of Robin’s origin from Batman No. 213 from 1969. From there, it drops back to 1964 for World’s Finest Comics No. 141 and the formation of a Robin-Jimmy Olsen team. The junior partners fake their own deaths in an effort to aid their respective mentors.

Several other Robin-Jimmy Olsen team-ups follow from the pages of World’s Finest Comics and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, as well as Robin solo stories and team-ups with Batman, Batgirl, Superman and the Teen Titans from the pages of World’s Finest Comics, Batman and Detective Comics.

The adventures also see the Boy Wonder leave high school and Wayne Manor for the campus of Hudson University and the new name, the Teen Wonder. There’s even a two-part adventure with the Justice League of America and the Justice Society of America in 1971 in issue Nos. 91 and 92 of the League’s own title. That last even has the Earth-1 Dick Grayson meet his Earth-2 counterpart and briefly adopt a new costume.

As sometimes happens with Silver-Age stories, some of these tales seem a bit dated now. But most all of them are fun reads showing the continuing growth and development of a classic comics character. I’m definitely calling this a worthwhile purchase!