Something a little different — snippets from my pull list

I’m going to take brief looks at six titles on my current monthly pull list, all released during this past month of April. While these six titles do not comprise my entire pull list for April, they are the lion’s share of it. My more limited finances of late have taken a definite toll on what I’m willing to plunk down for today’s comics. But I’d rather save my money for books I’m enjoying reading. That makes sense, right?

Titans No. 36 (DC Comics) — This is the final issue of the Rebirth Titans title. While the book has failed to recapture the heights of the Wolfman/Perez era of the Titans characters, I was one of the people who enjoyed Dan Abnett’s take with the relaunch. His version of the characters read true to their respective personalities to me; the stories just weren’t all that riveting, especially as the title was held hostage more and more by the overall DC Universe. The new mission for the Titans in the wake of the team’s forced break-up and then the events of “No Justice” just didn’t seem as strong as focusing on the bond these people share with each other. Add to that the loss of several key characters other writers had plans for, and this title just seemed doomed several months ago.

Fantastic Four No. 9 (Marvel Comics) — I like a lot of Marvel characters, but I’m sure it comes as no shock to regular readers of this blog that I collect a lot more DC titles. But I decided to give the 2018 relaunch of Marvel’s first family a try based on past writings by Dan Slott. So far, he hasn’t disappointed. His first arc was a bit *meh* for me, dealing as it did with where the FF members have been for so long. But the long-anticipated wedding of Ben Grimm and Alicia Masters, quickly followed by the latest face-off between the FF and Dr. Doom, which concludes with this issue, were both great reads. These books prove once again that comics can be fun. More titles should follow this example.

Justice League Nos. 21 and 22 (DC Comics) — This is one of those titles that is killing others like Titans. Believe it or not, I like more issues than not of the sweeping epic Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV are weaving with Justice League since its relaunch in 2018 following “No Justice.” I do. But there have been a few clunkers in the past 22 issues. And the problem with having your sweeping epic take over so many titles and story lines and months of publishing time without a resolution is that at some point, it becomes easier to simply ignore the entire thing than to keep up with it. I haven’t reached that point yet, but I think about it more with each passing month. Comics are an ongoing medium meant to continue ever onward, but individual stories are not.

Star Trek: Year Five No. 1 (IDW Publishing) — I have liked a lot of what IDW has done with its Star Trek license, including the Year Four series they did several years ago. This is only the first issue, so it is pretty early to judge with much accuracy, but this series debut seems like a good one. There are references to previous episodes of the television series to please the die-hard fans. The characterizations seem pretty accurate, and the premise, at least so far, seems well laid out for any newbies. I have high hopes for this title.

Nightwing No. 59 (DC Comics) — The Rebirth Nightwing title has been hit-and-miss with me, and I dropped it some time back. While some of the stories were good, many of them seemed to be re-treading ground already covered in the title’s previous incarnations. The changes to the title character since his being shot in the pages of Tom King’s Batman did not inspire me to pick the title back up. What did was the promise of Dan Jurgens coming onboard as the writer. I like both Jurgens’ writing and his art. I’m buying the next few issues hoping he will bring back the character I enjoy — one of my top three favorite characters, in fact. This is only the first issue and there’s leftover baggage to be dealt with from the previous writers. This issue wasn’t great, but I’ll give Mr. Jurgens a few more to win me back to Nightwing.

Criminal No. 4 (Image Comics) — No surprise here for longtime readers of this blog, I’m sure. I love most everything this creative team — Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips — has collaborated on from Velvet to Kill or Be Killed to Scene of the Crime to previous incarnations of this very title. This latest version of Criminal is more of the same, and I love it.

So those are some of the titles I’m currently buying. What are the rest of you buying? And have you thought about why lately? Sometimes reflecting on your buying habits from time to time can be a good thing.

Happy collecting! And come back in two weeks for some thoughts on a Batman comic from my youth!

They Were This Close To Losing Me

Fantastic Four Vol. 2: Original Sin
Marvel Comics
James Robinson, writer
Leonard Kirk, Marc Laming, Karl Kesel, Rick Magyar and Scott Hanna, artists

I've always liked the concept of the Fantastic Four: it is a fun idea that these four individuals are more explorers than superheroes, and that above all else, they are a family. And I've read a lot of Fantastic Four stories over my collecting years that I have enjoyed quite a bit. But I've never owned and read a run that felt like the definitive FF to me.

I decided to try again when the title was relaunched early in 2014 with writer James Robinson at the helm. Robinson has produced some stories I have very much loved, but also some that have left me disinterested, so his run wasn't going to be a lock. In fact, I'd intended to sample his version of the FF in trades borrowed from the library, but then I found a good deal on the first two trades (issue Nos. 1-10) of Robinson's run and decided to gamble.

The first volume, The Fall of the Fantastic Four, didn't boost my confidence a great deal. I'd read enough advance solicitation information to already know that Robinson planned to take the team down to their lowest point before, I assume, building them back up. The road taken to do the dragging just seemed kind of long and not too inspired. I was getting bored with the story: Some beasties escape from Reed Richards' lab in the Baxter Building and commence terrorizing the good citizens of Manhattan. Eventually, the team devises a way to neutralize the threat, but not before the monsters do a great deal of damage to life and property. And then it occurs to the New York powers-that-be that maybe it isn't such a good idea for these four very well-known adventurers to live publicly in the heart of the city, keeping all manner of nasty weapons and crazy scientific inventions and other-dimensional portals and who-really-knows-what-all-else in what amounts to their back room.

So the FF are put on trial. And even their friend and ally, attorney Jennifer (She-Hulk) Walters, isn't able to defend them against most of the charges. Part of the problem with this first trade was how long the set-up drags on. But also, it becomes kind of obvious early on that someone — we don't yet know who — is manipulating events to turn public opinion and the justice system against the team, but none of the FF seem to catch on to this fact. And neither do their friends, many of whom have been victims of such a strategy before. No, they all complain about how unfair everything happening seems, but no one questions beyond that.

All of that changed with this second trade, which not only continues the downfall of the FF but also ties into a company-wide crossover event, Original Sin. I haven't read Original Sin, but the basic gist seems to be someone killed Uatu, the Watcher, and once he died, secrets he has learned from watching the Marvel Universe all these years become known to some people. In the case of the FF, Benjamin Grimm, aka the Thing, learns that one of Reed Richards' early attempts to cure him of his deformity is accidentally sabotaged by Johnny Storm, the Human Torch.

Maybe part of the reason I liked these issues better than the first five is the focus on the Thing, my favorite of the FF members, but this trade doesn't focus solely on him. There are also continuing troubles for the other three members of the team.

Best of all, we finally begin to see the FF not standing alone against all that is happening to them. The first to stand up against all of the "unfair" charges and accusations is Jim Hammond. For those not in the know, Jim Hammond is an android with the ability to burst into flame, which earned him some fame as the original Human Torch during World War II. Hammond fought Nazis alongside Captain America, Bucky, Namor and his own sidekick, Toro, in the original Invaders team. Being an android, Hammond could still be around, and has recently been reintroduced into the current Marvel Comics Universe as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Along with all of the other charges against the FF, Reed and Sue Richards are ruled unfit parents. Hammond's S.H.I.E.L.D. unit is put in charge of their son, Franklin Richards, and a number of other children Sue had been working with under the Future Foundation program. Hammond not only sees the injustices being heaped on the Fantastic Four, but refuses some orders pertaining to his new charges. In defending his actions to S.H.I.E.L.D. director Maria Hill, Hammond learns that she also recognizes the bizarre nature of the events surrounding the FF and is also suspicious of the motivations behind the trial and subsequent developments.

This still may not prove to be that definitive Fantastic Four story I was hoping for, but I'm a lot more interested in the story and where it's going after reading this second trade. In fact, I'm interested enough to order the third volume when it comes out so I can see where Robinson and crew are taking things. Can't say I felt that way after reading the first trade, and if I hadn't bought both books together, I likely would not have bought the second, which would have been a shame!

Fun But A Little Disappointing

Doom's Day trilogy
Boulevard Books
Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk: Rampage by Fanny Fingeroth and Eric Fein
Spider-Man and Iron Man: Sabotage by Pierce Askegren and Danny Fingeroth
Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four: Wreckage by Eric Fein and Pierce Askegren
Steven Butler, illustrations

I don't read just comic books; I read quite a bit of prose, as well. So I'm usually excited to see characters I enjoy from the comics featured in prose novels -- as long as they are well written. Roger Stern did a nice job adapting the comic storyline into the novel "The Death and Life of Superman," and the book was a joy to read. Peter David's novelization of the feature film "Batman Forever" is a lot better than the film was, especially in the scenes dealing with the origin of Robin. I've also picked up some anthologies that collect prose stories featuring Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Spider-Man that I have greatly enjoyed, largely, I think, because they were such short stories.

There were a number of novels released in the mid- to late-1990s featuring various Marvel Comics characters, and I was very happy to see them appear on bookstore shelves at the time. But now that I have actually had time to read some of them, they are a pretty mixed bunch. Spider-Man and the X-Men were the subjects of the lion's share of these books. Iron Man starred in two adventures, "The Armor Trap" and "Operation: A.I.M.," and I have to say both of those novels fell kind of flat for me.

These three books are a notch above the Iron Man solo novels. They include some genuinely fun moments and great characterization by some writers familiar to the comics field. In the first, a renegade scientist with ties to both Hydra and A.I.M., two Marvel terrorist organization mainstays, attempts to create controllable duplicates of the incredible Hulk in a secret base beneath Manhattan. He must first capture the real Hulk for study, and his actions later draw the attention of Spider-Man when Spidey's friend, Flash Thompson, is one of the poor lugs transformed into a gamma-irradiated beast. In the second novel, first Hydra and then A.I.M. try to take control of Tony Stark's latest invention, the Infinity Engine, which promises to provide a cheap, clean energy source for the world. The terrorist organizations' attempts to pervert Stark technology draw the attention of not only Spidey, but also Iron Man. Both of these novels also include characters from a government organization named S.A.F.E. I'm not sure if S.A.F.E. ever appeared in any actual Marvel Comics of the time, but in the novels, they are a U.S. organization created to stand in for S.H.I.E.L.D., which had taken on a more international role. As one might guess from the name of the trilogy, Victor von Doom, Dr. Doom, is also a background player in the first two novels. Finally, in the third novel, Dr. Doom takes center stage using technologies perfected in both of the previous two novels in his latest bid to conquer the world. This brings together Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four to challenge him.

As I said before, all three books have some great moments and some stellar action sequences. But all three also tend to bog down a bit when it comes to the background descriptions and motivational narration. Descriptions can help a reader imagine the scene, but overkill on descriptions can pull the reader out of the story. That tends to be the issue here sometimes. Other times the descriptions just get a little tedious and repetitive, dragging the story pacing down from what one might expect from an action/adventure type of story. One further criticism, directed solely at the third novel, is the layout of the book. I was surprised at first to see that the third novel is about 50 pages shorter than the previous two. That is, until I started trying to read the third novel and found out why. The page margins on the third paperback are much smaller than the first two novels, running right down to the bottom edge of the page, and quite far into the spine of the book, making it somewhat harder to hold and read comfortably. There also seemed to be a pretty large number of typos in these three books, but that is something more on the editing side of things.

All in all, if you enjoy these characters, these books are fun reads, but I wouldn't put them at the top of the stack. Marvel has recently announced that it plans more prose novels based on some of its more popular company-wide crossover storylines. The plan is to launch the series with a prose adaptation of its popular Civil War limited series from 2006; that novel was released last week. Hopefully, Marvel does a little better with this latest round of prose novels.

Making Sense Of Division

Bear with me; I haven’t changed my focus to mathematics on you. The division I’m referring to is the split in the ranks of the various Marvel superheroes. For the most part, Civil War (at least through issue #3) hasn’t been bad, although I see no way that “the Marvel Powers That Be” can make anyone see Tony Stark as a hero again. But a minor quibble I’ve had is a disagreement with the side chosen by some of the various characters as depicted in the main series.

Now, at it’s best, a major crossover event like this one should have all of the basic story elements present in the main title, but give the reader some extra insights in the various tie-in issues. Let’s face it, that doesn’t always happen. Quite often, the various tie-ins add nothing to the overall story. Not so with the issues that are leading off today’s discussion, kiddie-cops.

The Amazing Spider-Man 534 (Marvel Comics) — Jennifer Walters loves the law. Sure she’s been shown as a rebel at times, but she’s an attorney, for crying out loud. Her support of the law of the land makes a certain sense. Ms. Marvel has a military background. She’s used to following orders and a chain of command. No surprise she’s on the side of the government. Not so Spidey. He’s the basic everyman. The down-on-his-luck, anti-establishment-because-the-man-keeps-him-down guy. Now the main Civil War title has given us some insights into how Iron Man is manipulating Spidey somewhat, but this issue paints that betrayal very clearly, as well as showing us some of the moral qualms Spidey is suffering going against heroes like Captain America. This was a good read and added to the overall story nicely.

Fantastic Four 538-539 (Marvel Comics) — These issues highlight the thoughts of yet another puzzler for me: the Thing. Ben has been seen on the periphery of some of the events in the main Civil War title, seemingly siding with Iron Man’s pro-registration forces. That seems out of character for him to me. Issue 538 shows some of the internal strife pulling at the various members of Marvel’s first family: Reed is very much pro-registration; Sue is very anti-registration; Johnny’s in a coma; and Ben is conflicted.

The events set up in issue 538 explode in #539 when the prisoner transfer and Captain America’s sneak attack clash. I bought these FF and Spidey issues based on a review I read by Tony Isabella, and I’m glad I did. Like the Spider-Man issue, these books give some insights, especially into Ben wrestling with what to do. Then the two groups of heroes clash on Yancy Street and the leader of the Yancy Street Gang is accidentally killed — collateral damage. Enter Benjamin J. Grimm — the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing — flipping one of the prisoner transports between the combatants, forcing them to stop for a moment and look around at the carnage they — these so-called heroes — have caused. At this moment Ben becomes the simple voice of reason, showing that neither side is completely blameless, all share some responsibility for the damage and death they are causing by their “war.” I have never been more proud of a hero than when Ben moves forward, carrying the body of the dead young man, and says, “ I barely knew him. But he had parents, he had a life, he had a future ... and you took all of that away from him! Don’t you see what you’re doing? Don’t you see that you’re tearing apart everything that makes this place worth fighting for?”

And then he blows it.

Each side responds by saying they are trying to stop the fighting, the loss, the insanity, and they just need Ben on their side to win and set things right. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not sure what Ben should or can do at this point that would be the right thing. Picking a side and joining in will only start the senseless fighting up again. But simply turning away and leaving — not just from this street or this battle, but from the country, abandoning it to its fate — seems wrong, too.

So, I’m a little disappointed in Ben. But stepping back a bit, this comic made me think. It made me feel. This is why I read comics. They’re fun entertainment, and every once in a while, like with any other medium, the stories and pictures, the characters, speak to you and make you think.

Now, for a couple other, somewhat shorter reviews:

Flash 4 (DC Comics) — I’d already dropped this book from my advance orders based on the first couple issues. This was the last issue that I had pre-ordered before seeing issue number one. I’m not saying this is a bad comic, but it’s just not for me. I found Impulse to be annoying when he was first created. The character grew on me somewhat under the creative hands of Peter David and Todd Nauck in the pages of Young Justice. I even liked him as a slightly more serious new Kid Flash in the modern Teen Titans. But this suddenly adult Bart Allen just does nothing for me. There’s no emotional attachment for me to the character in these pages.

Fallen Angel 8 (IDW Publishing) — Another solid issue of this title. I purchased the original Sachs and Violens series based on George Perez’s art. Those two characters are a nice fit with the other denizens of Bete Noire. I just hope Violens isn’t really dead. Otherwise, Jubal is taking to his job as magistrate better than I expected, and new villain Siroco is intriquing. Hey, I just noticed the title character wasn’t even in this issue.

Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters 2 (DC Comics) — As much as I didn’t like Battle for Bludhaven (There were just too many new characters for most of them to be developed much, and the pre-existing characters were unrecognizable.), that’s how much better this series is. Uncle Sam is a great character, and while some of the other re-imagined Freedom Fighters are not very likable people, this title shows promise.

Nightwolf: The Price 1-2 (Devil’s Due Publishing) — Apparently I have missed some earlier books in this series as there has obviously been some history before these issues. And there are some moments where the story seems to jump a bit, forcing the reader to figure out a transition which should be more seemless. But overall, these issues were a good read. A young Man named Davey Doyle is turned into a werewolf and slays his parents and sister. In an effort to atone for this, he creates Nightwolf, an anti-heroic persona who targets evil-doers. This series starts out as Davey tries to direct his wolf form against a street pimp, but slays a cop instead, albiet a possibly crooked cop. I’m interested enough to seek out more of these issues.

And, I think that’s enough for today. As always, feel free to chime in with comments if you agree or disagree, and thanks for reading, kiddie-cops.

A Week Of The Unusual

Only a few reviews again today. Haven’t had as much time to read again this week, partially because of some recent back issue purchases. I think I mentioned previously (but I’m too lazy to check) about trading for a complete run of DC Comics’ original Checkmate series from the late ’80s. I didn’t know it until they arrived, but smack in the middle of this 33-issue run is a crossover story with Suicide Squad and a couple other books. The crossover is called “The Janus Directive.” Well, I went on a hunt for the other chapters in this crossover so that when I read the arc, I can assess it based on the whole. That led to a number of other finds and impulse buys which have recently arrived.

I was also able to snag copies of the three-issue miniseries , The P.I.s: Michael Mauser and Ms. Tree, by First Comics. Trade ads for this series looked good in the mid-1980s issues of Jon Sable, Freelance. I don’t know Michael Mauser, but I’ve read some Ms. Tree before. She’s a classic, hard-boiled private investigator from the old school except she’s a dame, not a guy. I was also able to pick up the complete 24-issue run of DNAgents from Eclipse Comics at a nice price. Don’t know much about this series either, except it was supposed to be good, was written by Mark Evanier and was compared to Marv Wolfman’s New Teen Titans, which I love. And I also picked up Incredible Hulk #s 210-222 from the late ’70s. I remember reading these issues at a friend's house at the time and liking them, but that’s about it. I dunno if this is a complete arc or several arcs; I don’t remember. But I’ve checked on buying them in the last few years and always found them a little pricey. A few weeks ago, when I found them on sale, I snagged them.

It may be a while before I get a chance to read some of these finds. Back issue buys like the Checkmate series, which started in 1988, can be read and filed when I come to the appropriate dates as I go back through my collection. Older stuff, though, like DNAgents and the Hulk issues, I’ve already passed those respective dates. So they get added to a stack of out-of-continuity trades and such that I have vowed not to touch and read through until I finish the massive undertaking that is making it back through all of those chronological back issues. The stack is getting kinda big.
Enough of that. On to some quick reviews:

Outsiders 38 (DC Comics) — More questions than answers in this book. I want to like it, but it’s teetering on the edge of being dropped right now. How does the grim and brooding Nightwing in this book justify with the more laid-back personality he has in his own book now? DC online has said they will address that, but when? How do the Brain and Monsieur Mallah’s actions in this title jibe with their appearances in Teen Titans? On the fence with this one.

The All New Atom 1 (DC Comics) — This story started out slower than we were promised in Brave New World. I thought that book was the intro and that the new series would pick up from there. Apparently not. If that’s the case, since Brave New World did nothing to change my already-conceived notions aboiut these new titles, was it a waste of my money?

OMAC 1 (DC Comics) — Same thing here. The issue starts out before what we saw in Brave New World. It doesn’t even catch up to BNW by the end of the issue.

Marvel Westerns featuring Kid Colt and the Arizona Girl 1 (Marvel Comics) — I don’t remember these characters, but I like them. I just wish Gray and Palmiotti hadn’t made the villains of the piece aliens. Am I the only person who thinks cowboys and aliens just shouldn’t mix, even in the Marvel Universe? Still a fun read, though.

Fantastic Four Presents: Franklin Richards, Son of a Genius Super Summer Spectacular (Marvel Comics) — Whew, what a name! Typical cartoon fun. These books are fun for what they are, but then, after reading three of them, the humor is starting to grow a tad stale. A Calvin-espue Franklin shares misadventures with his robot nanny, H.E.R.B.I.E. (Why does that name sound familiar?)

Justice League Unlimited 23 (DC Comics) — The Royal Flush Gang is always fun, even this overly-serious grouping from the Cartoon Network series. This story also has Martian Manhunter insights to boot.

52 Week 10 (DC Comics) — Some nice character bits with Clark Kent and a whole lot of time spent with Black Adam, a truly fascinating character in the DC Universe the last couple years. I’m guessing the young lady, Adrianna Tomaz, will become the new Isis soon. But y’know, we really only spend time with Clark and Adam. Did none of the other players in this little drama do anything this week, or are we seeing some of the working of having multiple writers on this title: each one takes one story and we don’t get development on a particular storyline if that writer didn’t get his stuff done that week? Hmmmmm.

That’s it for today. See ya next time, kiddie cops.

Thing Has Changed

Hello, again. We’ve been talking about the ongoing series I am currently reading or re-reading as I work my way through the back issues of my own comic book collection. So, far, we’ve discussed The New Teen Titans, The Warlord and Jon Sable, Freelance. The fourth book that fits into that time frame is the first Marvel Comics title devoted to the solo adventures of the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing.

Now, Ben Grimm has always been my favorite member of the Fantastic Four. I tend to gravitate toward some of the more monstrous-in-appearance heroes from the Marvel Universe. I like Thing, I like Hulk, I like Beast, I like Nightcrawler and I like werewolves, so, since we’re talking about Marvel, I like Werewolf By Night.

Currently, Ben has his own solo title again. It’s already been canceled, but Dan Slott’s take on the character was spot-on. And during the Silver Age of comics, Thing starred as the recurring character in Marvel team-up title Two-In-One. But, today we are discussing the early ’80s series The Thing by John Byrne (writer) and Ron Wilson (drawing). A few of the issues in early 1984 were written by Mike Carlin, too.

This series started out pretty good. Ben battled a collection of strange villains and had some unusual adventures in his first several issues. It was the Thing we all know and love - a grounded everyman who just happens to be incredibly strong, has a big heart and muddles his way through whatever life throws at him.

And that’s why this series is only so-so for me. Those first issues were great. But then the Marvel Powers-That-Were came along and screwed things up. 1984 was when Marvel Comics produced its first Secret Wars miniseries (certainly not the last to bear that name) in which a god-like being called the Beyonder whisked several heroes and villains off to an artificial planetoid and pitted them against each other. At the conclusion of the 12-issue extravaganza, Ben decided to stay on the artificial world, a place where he could inexplicably transform back and forth from human to the Thing, and sort out some of the relationships in his life.

So, naturally, in his own title, Ben ceases to be Ben. It doesn’t so much bother me that for the next 10 to 12 issues, he can transform; that doesn’t change the core character. But many of the storylines during this “Rocky Grimm (where the hell did that name come from), Space Ranger” arc were just too fantastical for my tastes. Sure Thing has been put into some fantastic situations as a member of the FF, but again, what makes the character great is his everyman groundedness. Take that away from him, as in these stories, and I just don’t care much for this “new guy.”

OK, so I’m bashing several of these issues. You guessed it; you will find a number of them that I didn’t care for on my Web site for sale. See, that’s one of the beautiful things about comics. These stories weren’t my personal cup o’ tea. That doesn’t mean noone will want them. Somebody out there might think I’m crazy for my “narrow” opinion, love these issues, and snatch them right up. The stories aren’t bad, they just aren’t Ben Grimm to me.

Next time, we’ll move on to something else. In the week it’s taken me to post about these titles from 1984, I’ve almost worked my way on in to 1985.