Everything I Thought I Knew Gone In A Flash

The Flash Nos. 130-133 (1997-98)
DC Comics
Grant Morrison and Mark Millar, writers
Paul Ryan and John Nyberg, artists

I am NOT a Flash aficionado; let's be clear on that right from the start. I like Barry (Allen) and Wally (West) and Jay (Garrick), but I've just never followed any of their solo adventures on a regular basis. Mostly I've read of their heroics in conjunction with the various teams they belong to — the Justice Society, the Titans, the Justice League. But I know the basics.

Jay was granted his speed in the golden-age of comics by hard-water fumes, then Barry, and later Wally, were each doused in a combination of chemicals charged by a bolt of lightning in the silver age. Barry sacrificed himself to save a small number of alternate earths during Crisis On Infinite Earths, prompting Wally to end his career as Kid Flash, and take on the mantle of the Flash in his uncle's memory.

At first, if memory serves, Wally actually wore Barry's old costume as the Flash, but later he adopted his own with a few design tweaks here and there. Still later, Wally was able to generate a costume out of pure Speed Force, the energy the various speedsters tap into for their special abilities. This was around the time he started wearing a more shiny, almost metallic looking version of his costume with opaque white eye coverings — or so I thought.

Apparently, the shiny version of the costume pre-dates the Speed Force generated version by a few years. I know this now because I have just finished reading "Emergency Stop," the three part story that introduces the Speed Force costume.

Fan-favorite writers Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn had a very successful run on The Flash just prior to these issues, taking a break after issue No. 129 to focus on other projects. Following them was the writing team of Grant Morrison and Mark Millar, who started their short run with a bang, creating an imaginative, gripping and fun story that pushed Wally's Flash in new directions. In the course of a story I highly recommend, they first kill and then cripple Wally, leading to his creation of the Speed Force costume as seen above.

They quickly follow that three-parter with a done-in-one tale pitting the Flash against one of the Rogues, the Mirror Master. During their battles, Mirror Master splits Flash into seven rainbow-colored aspects of himself with a prism. Once Wally figures out how to reintegrate his seven personalities, the recombined Speed Force costume takes on the more familiar red and gold color scheme.

Now I've just spoiled all of the details about how the Flash really got his Speed Force costume, but there is much, much more going on in both of these two story arcs than just the wardrobe drama. I heartily recommend these books for anyone who is a fan of the Flash, be it one of the various comics versions of the character or even the currently popular and quite fun Flash television series. The threats feel very real for our hero in these tales and the challenges he faces daunting, but Morrison and Millar remember that key ingredient to any great comic story — fun. These are enjoyable reads!



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Quick peak behind the curtain: Still very busy so forgive me if this post maybe isn't quite as polished as usual. I wanted to get something posted after missing a couple weeks, but I'm writing this just a few hours before it goes up if I am to make this week's deadline. Hopefully I'll be back with more next week!

Millar Writes A Love Letter To Reeve

Superior tpb
Marvel Icon
Mark Millar, writer
Leinil Yu, artist
*** mature content warning ***

The title character of this book may be named Superior, but it is clear that he has more than a passing similarity to Superman, especially the character as portrayed by Christopher Reeve. Therefore, it is no surprise when you get to the last panel and find a dedication of the story to Reeve and Richard Donner, the director of Reeve's debut as the Man of Steel.

Even if you aren't a fan of Reeve's portrayal of Superman, this is still a fun, engaging read, collecting all seven issues of the limited series. Millar's story is set in the real world where superheroes are characters in comics and on television and movie screens. Superior is a once-popular comic-book hero who also anchors a dwindling movie franchise, much to the chagrin of the actor most known for playing the character because he can't get any other work. But Superior still has fans.

One of those fans is Simon Pooni, a teenager recently struck by multiple sclerosis and all of its worst debilitating symptoms. Simon, once a decent athlete, has now lost touch with many of his friends because of his illness, and wishes that he was once again free of the ailment. One night, Simon gets his wish courtesy of a mysterious monkey who transforms him into his hero, Superior. The transformation of a youngster into an adult hero might seem to have more in common with Captain Marvel (now Shazam!), and there are some fun elements of the story that play up that aspect. But again, the main parallel here is to Superman, even down to a female reporter who is determined to get the story on the sudden appearance of the world's first bona-fide superhero.

The only caution I might add involves the language which gives this book a mature content label. Several of the characters are 12-year-old boys, and they swear quite proficiently. I don't think the language was an absolute necessity, but I also can't find fault with Millar's use of it here. In the absence of adults, this is how many young kids talk.

Leinil Yu's art works well in this story, too. I've criticized his work on Indestructible Hulk as being a bit muddy and hard to follow in early issues of that title. There are still a few panels here that suffer from that same over-rendered problem, but by and large, the character faces in this book are much cleaner, causing fewer issues of that nature.

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

I was also a bit surprised by the direction the resolution of this book took, but I can't really talk about that with revealing some pretty major spoilers, something I usually try to avoid. Stop reading if you don't want the plot of this book spoiled.

The motivations behind the monkey, Ormon, transforming Simon into Superior are kept a mystery at first. Once they are revealed, a religious aspect is introduced, which is rare in superhero fiction. In fact, the religious angle becomes a pretty important part of the story. Based on that, when the final conflict is introduced and Simon is forced to make a choice about keeping his new abilities and persona or going back to his old life, I expected the religious theme to still be a major factor. Basically, Ormon is a demon after Simon's eternal soul. Granting the boy these powers is the bait, and all he has to do to keep them is sell his soul. To further entice Simon to keep Superior's powers, Ormon also transforms the neighborhood bully into one of Superior's arch-rivals from the comics and films. When Simon ultimately chooses to keep the powers of Superior, it is not for his own benefit, but rather to stop the death and destruction being caused by the villains. His choice to sell his soul and keep the powers at first delights Ormon; this was his ultimate goal after all. But I fully expected things would work out OK for Simon because his selfless act -- opting to forgo his own soul's protection in favor of saving others, Simon's sacrifice -- would protect him from his soul being damned forever. That would be the logical conclusion to the religious aspect introduced into the story, I expected. Instead, while the end result of Simon being spared and Ormon being thwarted was achieved, it was done through superhero rationale, not religious. It works in the context of the story, but seems a little disappointing, too. Why introduce the religious aspect, then not follow through on it? It's a minor quibble, but it bugged me.

Audiences May Be Blown Away, But Not In A Good Way

Today, we're going to combine purposes just a bit. We're still going to be looking at a recent comic read, but this one also has the distinction of being made into a movie that will be coming to a theater near you in April. Whether or not that ends up being a good thing remains to be seen.

Let me start off by saying that I'm going to try to keep specific plot spoilers to a minimum. The comic contains many twists and turns that I found genuinely surprising when I read them, and if the movie stays true to the inspiration -- which most accounts credit it for doing -- I don't want to spoil those for anyone seeing the story for the first time. But there is one major "reveal" that I think the general public needs to be let in on ahead of time.

I recently received my copy of the much delayed final issue of Kick-Ass, the Marvel Icon book by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. This final book has come out so much later than the first seven issues, in fact, that I re-read the entire series, just to refresh my memory. I enjoyed re-reading the earlier issues just as much the second time around, so make no mistake, I think this is an excellent comic created by two greats in their fields who know how to utilize this medium to great effect. Millar weaves a great story with believable characters that an audience can come to care about quickly. And Romita is perfect to illustrate the gritty tale Millar weaves. And make no mistake, this story is VERY gritty, grisly, almost painful to witness at times for its graphic violence.

That's right, I said graphic violence. Now, this revelation isn't a surprise to anyone who's read the book. Far from it as the graphic nature of the story was disclosed up-front in the solicitations for the book. That's where I fear the movie is going to generate problems and hurt itself, and possibly the medium, as well.

Let's take a minute and review the basic plot for anyone not familiar with it. Kick-Ass is Dave Lizewski, a high school student who frequently describes himself as "not the class jock or the class geek. Not the class clown or class genius or class anything." He is a fan of movies, video games and superhero comic books -- a fan who wonders why no real people ever got the idea to put on a mask and costume and hit the streets looking for wrongs to right. When Dave can't come up with a good answer to that "why not" question, he decides to give it a try.

Things don't go spectacularly well on Dave's first outting, except for the fact that he manages to save someone's life. So he continues to go out in costume, discovering others who are doing the same thing. Sound about like what you'd expect so far? Well, keep in mind that this comic's creators are trying to keep the story firmly grounded in the "real world." So, when someone gets punched or kicked or slammed into a wall, foes fight back, flesh yields, and bones break. Also bear in mind that in the "real world" not everyone has the same values. Not everyone would have a problem employing lethal force for the "greater good." In fact, some folks might thrill at a permanent solution to criminals.

I've seen the trailers for this movie being shown in the theaters right now. They are playing up the "fun" aspects of the book, which are very much present. Dave sets out to be a superhero because he thinks superheroes are cool. I do, too, so who am I to argue? But there's more to this young man's story than fun. Things which might not be appropriate for young children to watch.

Yes, this film has an R rating, and, if the film stays true to the book, that rating will be deserved. But potential viewers don't always pay attention to the ratings. Some parents might find the R rating puzzling if they see the fun superhero trailers being shown. So they bring their children to the film anyway and subject the tykes to some pretty horrible deaths and dismemberments.

There are too many folks still out there in the world who view comic books as only children's fare. These folks fly into a rage of righteous indignation when they encounter adult themes and mistakenly believe such comics are being sold to children instead of realizing that comics -- like almost any other medium -- have many different categories of stories geared for many different audiences.

Can you imagine what these folks will think when this movie, after being marketed as a fun superhero film, turns out to be a bloodbath of mayhem in their eyes?

This is the kind of backlash I fear from the way the Kick-Ass film is being marketed right now. Without any regard for whether the film is good, I'm afraid it is going to be attacked for being unfit. I hope time proves me wrong, but that's my concern.