Believe it or not, that fear tagline above was printed at the top of each issue of Spider-Woman, not some Marvel monster book from the 1970s. But reading the character's beginnings in Essential Spider-Woman Vol. 1, I learned that the character owes just as much to those great old Marvel monster books as she does to the spandex set.
Much has been made of the convoluted origin and back story of Jessica Drew, alias Spider-Woman. In recent years, writers such as Brian Michael Bendis have tried to streamline Jessica's back story and bring the character back to prominence in the Marvel Universe. So I knew, or thought I did, a little of how she was first introduced as a villain, an agent of the international terrorist organization Hydra, who later became a hero and was ret-conned as being always a hero, working for Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. as a double-agent planted in Hydra. That's an oversimplification, but essentially my understanding before reading this great Essential volume. Now, I see that it was waaay more convoluted than that.
Jessica does start life as a pawn of Hydra in Marvel Spotlight No. 32 (February 1977) dispatched by that organization to slay Nick Fury. In a tale written by Archie Goodwin and illustrated by Sal Buscema and Jim Mooney, Spider-Woman is revealed to be a secret weapon held prisoner by Hydra and brainwashed into being loyal to the organization. She fails her mission to slay Fury, being overcome by doubts about what she is ordered to do, and is betrayed by her fellow Hydra agents. Spider-Woman is left believing that she was one of the New Men created by a villain known as the High Evolutionary, who mutated various animals to make them more human-like. Spider-Woman believes she only appears human, but began life as a real spider. Also, her costume is slightly different in these early appearances, completely covering her head — except for the area around her mouth and chin — and sporting a black back.
Just a few months later, in July 1977, Marv Wolfman and Ron Wilson take up Spider-Woman's tale in the pages of Marvel Two-In-One Nos. 29-33. This book matched Ben Grimm, the Thing from the Fantastic Four, with other Marvel heroes. Initially, Thing and Shag-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, are battling Hydra, and Spider-Woman comes on the scene. At first, she is again a pawn of Hydra, but her encounters with the Thing again make Spider-Woman question her loyalty to Hydra, and eventually she breaks from the group and sides with the Thing and a modern-day incarnation of Modred the Mystic. With the Hydra cell finally defeated, along with some other criminals along the way, Modred agrees to unlock Spider-Woman's hidden memories to reveal her true origin, which he does off-panel.
Readers had to wait a few more months, until April 1978 and the debut of Spider-Woman No. 1, to find out what Modred revealed. It seems that Spider-Woman was born human and named Jessica Drew. Her father created a serum to help protect mankind from radiation by using the blood of a spider, since spiders are immune to radiation. Jessica's family, along with another scientist named Herbert Wyndham, moved to a place called Wundagore Mountain to complete their researches. The site was chosen for its rich uranium deposits, needed for the men's work, but which, over time, caused Jessica to become deathly ill. The only way to save the girl is to inject her with Dr. Drew's spider serum, but it works too slowly to save Jessica in time. Wyndham suggests also placing Jessica in his genetic accelerator to speed up the healing properties of the serum. After much time in the accelerator, Jessica is revived by the High Evolutionary (previously known as Herbert Wyndham), and her powers are put to use by him in his organization, Hydra.
Jessica has the spider-like ability to cling to walls and other surfaces. She is immune to most radiations, and becomes immune to any poison or toxin after a single exposure. She also is able to generate a bio-electric "sting" of varying intensity. Finally, her costume is made with light-weight filament glider webs which allow her to glide on air currents, simulating flight.
All of those powers sound like a typical superhero, but as I mentioned above, Spider-Woman's solo title tried to play up the horror aspects of the character at first. Jessica's natural pheromones were changed by her transformation, so that many people reacted to her presence with a strong sense of unease. Werewolf By Night, Jack Russell, made guest appearances in Spider-Woman twice in her first 25 issues. And the villains Spider-Woman tended to run into were of the creepy variety, too. She had more run-ins with Hydra, of course, but there was also a Kali-worshipping death cult, a serial killer made up like a circus clown, a flesh-devouring muck-monster and a pair of possessed "dolls" among her most troublesome opponents. She also had a confrontation with Morgan Le Fay and a recurring alliance with a Merlin-like sorcerer.
Aside from her earlier alliance with the Thing and her attack on Nick Fury, the only other superhero she crossed paths with early on was, of course, Spider-Man. But even that somewhat obvious match-up didn't occur until issue No. 20 of Spider-Woman's own title, more than two years after her debut. And she and Webhead didn't really even get along when they DID finally meet.
All-in-all, Essential Spider-Woman Vol. 1 was a great read and an interesting Marvel history lesson. Most definitely not what I expected when I bought it, but in a good way!
Showing posts with label Thing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thing. Show all posts
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Make Mine Marvel ... Once In A While
Most of the people I know in and around this part of Oklahoma and Arkansas seem to have grown up with Marvel Comics and much prefer that stable of heroes out of the Big Two comics publishers. A lot of that affinity seems to stem from the time those folks got interested in comics and a number of Marvel characters on television when they were young. I suppose my preferences come from much the same sources, but took the opposite turn.
Somehow, I managed to miss the first, somewhat crude by today’s standards, launch of Marvel superhero cartoons in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But I did watch the Batman and Wonder Woman and Superman live-action shows when they were on in first-run or syndication. And I never missed the Superfriends among my Saturday-morning TV viewing. Sure, there was also the live-action Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man shows and Spider-man and His Amazing Friends later on. I’m not ignorant of the Marvel characters, but DC’s group was always the ones I knew and loved just a bit more.
That preference is reflected in my collection, especially during the mid-1980s when I discovered my first-ever Comics Specialty Shop. I had a number of single issues of DC Comics from the grocery store as a small child, things like Superman Family or Batman Family, maybe some World’s Finest and Justice League of America. Even an occasional issue of Spider-man, some based on his appearances on The Electric Company, that PBS series for kids too old for Sesame Street. Sadly, many of those silver-age comics are no longer in my possession because smaller children don’t always take care of things like their parents might wish they would. At this time, besides TV, my only other contact with the world of superheroes were some copies of Superman, Action and Adventure (staring the Legion of Super-Heroes) comics while awaiting my turn at the barber shop. Once in a while, they’d also have some Turok, Son of Stone, too. But it was rare that I owned or read any two issues in consecutive order of any title.
The yearning for that to change came about in the early 1980s when I discovered The New Teen Titans annual #2, a story I’ve related here before and won’t bore you with again. But the desire was not matched immediately with access. That wouldn’t come until a few years later when a friend of mine at school introduced me to that all-important comic shop. I was just in time to snatch up every new issue of DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. Of course, I also followed the Teen Titans titles at the time. I tried some other books which I no longer own like DC Challenge and a Rip Hunter, Time Master re-vamp. From Marvel, I tried some Spider-man and Captain America issues, but my favorite title from them was Squadron Supreme, an alternate version of DC’s Justice League. And forget other titles like Jon Sable or Warlord from the time; I knew nothing about them and didn’t try that much new back then. My passion for those titles is somewhat more recent (Thank God for back-issue sales, right?).
Anyway, this lengthy introduction is not meant to bash Marvel, but rather to explain why there aren’t that many Marvel titles in these retro-reviews posts. That just wasn’t my preference then, and while I really like some of their characters, Marvel is still second in my own personal rankings. So, there really aren’t going to be many Marvel titles this far back in my collection. In an effort to make some small amends for that, here are a few Marvel comics I DO have.
The Amazing Spider-Man: The Death of Jean DeWolff tpb (Marvel Comics, 1990) — This collection written by Peter David and illustrated by Rich Buckler was originally published as Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-man #107-110 from 1985-86. I’ve never seen or read any of the other stories featuring Jean DeWolff, but this story makes me think of her as an early precursor to Maggie Sawyer over at DC (there I go again, relating it all to DC). DeWolff is a police captain appearing in a number of previous issues of Spider titles apparently. She was created by Peter David according to the forward in this collection, and though she hadn’t been around long, she was gaining fans. This story, obviously, kills her off. Apparently, that caused some furor at the time because of DeWolff’s popularity. Further angering her shocked fans, she doesn’t die at the end of the story in heroic battle or sacrificing herself to save another like so many characters in comics. She dies off-panel at the very beginning of the story. And it takes not just Spidey, but also Daredevil, to help unearth the true identity of her killer, at first only known as the enigmatic Sin-Eater. The story is a compelling one even if you’re not familiar with DeWolff, and features some nods to classic Spider-man history.
The Thing 33-36 (Marvel Comics, 1986) — These are the last four issues of Thing’s solo series, and in all honesty, I was a little disappointed in them, mostly because there is no final resolution. Obviously, Ben continues to be a character in the Marvel Universe. I didn’t expect them to kill him off, or even necessarily reunite him with the Fantastic Four, but this tale just leaves the reader hanging unless you want to go buy other books.
When last we checked in with Ben Grimm, he was wrestling in the newly formed Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, and was only beginning to wonder where all of the extremely powerful brawlers in the UCWF had been coming from. Before this, all of the other wrestlers shown have been male. Issue #33 shows readers that there is, in fact, a female division, and the champion female UCWF wrestler wants to challenge her male counterpart, Thing. Along the way, we learn that Sharon, the woman Ben is currently interested in, is interested in joining the female UCWF and we again hear the mysterious name, the Power Broker, the individual responsible for powering up many of the competitors. Ben is concerned about Sharon’s plans and tries to stop her. Further complicating things is the fact that Sharon does not share Ben’s feelings.
Ben vows to finally check out this Power Broker person, but is side-tracked in Issue #34 by the appearance of the Sphinx, a villain from Marvel Two-In-One, and the re-appearance of the Puppet Master. Ben manages to make peace with the latter and defeats the former, but along the way, the dizzy spells he has been suffering from grow worse. These spells were first introduced a few issues before.
Issue #35 has Sharon going to the Power Broker, now revealed to be Dr. Malus, a villain I’m not familiar with. He augments volunteers for a price, but then manipulates them into doing his bidding. Unless of course, the aumentation process fails. Those poor, mutated souls are locked away in a dungeon. Sharon is successfully augmented, despite a change of heart on her part, and becomes the all-new Ms. Marvel, or at least a version of the character that I don’t remember seeing anywhere else, so I’m assuming hers was short-lived. She also meets a new friend, Army Lt. Michael Lynch, whose rank changes a couple times in the story, and the two instantly have chemistry. That added to the fact that Sharon has already gone to the Power Broker angers Ben, who storms the Power Broker’s lair only to find it abandoned. First, all of the other augmented wrestlers are against Ben and Sharon. But then, they all join forces to hunt Malus down. That is, until Ben starts to change.
The final issue has Sharon take Ben to the hospital, but of course, normal physicians have no clue what to do for the Thing. Ben continues to mutate painfully, a condition reported on in the news and attracting the attention of She-Hulk, Ben’s replacement in the FF. Shulkie travels to California to see what is up only to clash with the new Ms. Marvel, who thinks Ben wouldn’t want to see She-Hulk. Ben, who doesn’t want to see anybody, breaks out of the hospital and disappears. The end. A teaser on the last page says to check out West Coast Avengers #10 for more. Don’t have that book. If anybody knows for sure what happens after this to Thing, feel free to let me know. Most of the illustrations of Ben in this issue are vague, but a few seem to show some points, so I’m thinking maybe this is how he adopts the pointed rocky appearance he had for a while, but it seems like that happened in the 90s. A hint on the letters page also says he will soon be joining a team but doesn’t reveal what team. I wonder if this is when he does, ultimately, rejoin the FF, but again, I don’t know for sure. Little help?
Somehow, I managed to miss the first, somewhat crude by today’s standards, launch of Marvel superhero cartoons in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But I did watch the Batman and Wonder Woman and Superman live-action shows when they were on in first-run or syndication. And I never missed the Superfriends among my Saturday-morning TV viewing. Sure, there was also the live-action Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man shows and Spider-man and His Amazing Friends later on. I’m not ignorant of the Marvel characters, but DC’s group was always the ones I knew and loved just a bit more.
That preference is reflected in my collection, especially during the mid-1980s when I discovered my first-ever Comics Specialty Shop. I had a number of single issues of DC Comics from the grocery store as a small child, things like Superman Family or Batman Family, maybe some World’s Finest and Justice League of America. Even an occasional issue of Spider-man, some based on his appearances on The Electric Company, that PBS series for kids too old for Sesame Street. Sadly, many of those silver-age comics are no longer in my possession because smaller children don’t always take care of things like their parents might wish they would. At this time, besides TV, my only other contact with the world of superheroes were some copies of Superman, Action and Adventure (staring the Legion of Super-Heroes) comics while awaiting my turn at the barber shop. Once in a while, they’d also have some Turok, Son of Stone, too. But it was rare that I owned or read any two issues in consecutive order of any title.
The yearning for that to change came about in the early 1980s when I discovered The New Teen Titans annual #2, a story I’ve related here before and won’t bore you with again. But the desire was not matched immediately with access. That wouldn’t come until a few years later when a friend of mine at school introduced me to that all-important comic shop. I was just in time to snatch up every new issue of DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. Of course, I also followed the Teen Titans titles at the time. I tried some other books which I no longer own like DC Challenge and a Rip Hunter, Time Master re-vamp. From Marvel, I tried some Spider-man and Captain America issues, but my favorite title from them was Squadron Supreme, an alternate version of DC’s Justice League. And forget other titles like Jon Sable or Warlord from the time; I knew nothing about them and didn’t try that much new back then. My passion for those titles is somewhat more recent (Thank God for back-issue sales, right?).
Anyway, this lengthy introduction is not meant to bash Marvel, but rather to explain why there aren’t that many Marvel titles in these retro-reviews posts. That just wasn’t my preference then, and while I really like some of their characters, Marvel is still second in my own personal rankings. So, there really aren’t going to be many Marvel titles this far back in my collection. In an effort to make some small amends for that, here are a few Marvel comics I DO have.
The Amazing Spider-Man: The Death of Jean DeWolff tpb (Marvel Comics, 1990) — This collection written by Peter David and illustrated by Rich Buckler was originally published as Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-man #107-110 from 1985-86. I’ve never seen or read any of the other stories featuring Jean DeWolff, but this story makes me think of her as an early precursor to Maggie Sawyer over at DC (there I go again, relating it all to DC). DeWolff is a police captain appearing in a number of previous issues of Spider titles apparently. She was created by Peter David according to the forward in this collection, and though she hadn’t been around long, she was gaining fans. This story, obviously, kills her off. Apparently, that caused some furor at the time because of DeWolff’s popularity. Further angering her shocked fans, she doesn’t die at the end of the story in heroic battle or sacrificing herself to save another like so many characters in comics. She dies off-panel at the very beginning of the story. And it takes not just Spidey, but also Daredevil, to help unearth the true identity of her killer, at first only known as the enigmatic Sin-Eater. The story is a compelling one even if you’re not familiar with DeWolff, and features some nods to classic Spider-man history.
The Thing 33-36 (Marvel Comics, 1986) — These are the last four issues of Thing’s solo series, and in all honesty, I was a little disappointed in them, mostly because there is no final resolution. Obviously, Ben continues to be a character in the Marvel Universe. I didn’t expect them to kill him off, or even necessarily reunite him with the Fantastic Four, but this tale just leaves the reader hanging unless you want to go buy other books.
When last we checked in with Ben Grimm, he was wrestling in the newly formed Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, and was only beginning to wonder where all of the extremely powerful brawlers in the UCWF had been coming from. Before this, all of the other wrestlers shown have been male. Issue #33 shows readers that there is, in fact, a female division, and the champion female UCWF wrestler wants to challenge her male counterpart, Thing. Along the way, we learn that Sharon, the woman Ben is currently interested in, is interested in joining the female UCWF and we again hear the mysterious name, the Power Broker, the individual responsible for powering up many of the competitors. Ben is concerned about Sharon’s plans and tries to stop her. Further complicating things is the fact that Sharon does not share Ben’s feelings.
Ben vows to finally check out this Power Broker person, but is side-tracked in Issue #34 by the appearance of the Sphinx, a villain from Marvel Two-In-One, and the re-appearance of the Puppet Master. Ben manages to make peace with the latter and defeats the former, but along the way, the dizzy spells he has been suffering from grow worse. These spells were first introduced a few issues before.
Issue #35 has Sharon going to the Power Broker, now revealed to be Dr. Malus, a villain I’m not familiar with. He augments volunteers for a price, but then manipulates them into doing his bidding. Unless of course, the aumentation process fails. Those poor, mutated souls are locked away in a dungeon. Sharon is successfully augmented, despite a change of heart on her part, and becomes the all-new Ms. Marvel, or at least a version of the character that I don’t remember seeing anywhere else, so I’m assuming hers was short-lived. She also meets a new friend, Army Lt. Michael Lynch, whose rank changes a couple times in the story, and the two instantly have chemistry. That added to the fact that Sharon has already gone to the Power Broker angers Ben, who storms the Power Broker’s lair only to find it abandoned. First, all of the other augmented wrestlers are against Ben and Sharon. But then, they all join forces to hunt Malus down. That is, until Ben starts to change.
The final issue has Sharon take Ben to the hospital, but of course, normal physicians have no clue what to do for the Thing. Ben continues to mutate painfully, a condition reported on in the news and attracting the attention of She-Hulk, Ben’s replacement in the FF. Shulkie travels to California to see what is up only to clash with the new Ms. Marvel, who thinks Ben wouldn’t want to see She-Hulk. Ben, who doesn’t want to see anybody, breaks out of the hospital and disappears. The end. A teaser on the last page says to check out West Coast Avengers #10 for more. Don’t have that book. If anybody knows for sure what happens after this to Thing, feel free to let me know. Most of the illustrations of Ben in this issue are vague, but a few seem to show some points, so I’m thinking maybe this is how he adopts the pointed rocky appearance he had for a while, but it seems like that happened in the 90s. A hint on the letters page also says he will soon be joining a team but doesn’t reveal what team. I wonder if this is when he does, ultimately, rejoin the FF, but again, I don’t know for sure. Little help?
Monday, October 09, 2006
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.
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.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Things Get Just A Little More Normal — Linearally Speaking
The Crisis is over. So are all of the revamps (at least the ones in my collection) which changed something about the status quo in the DC Universe without using a contemporary framing sequence. But there are still a few of these older comics I managed to read through before my latest batch of new comics arrived. So, getting back to our various story lines from before the Crisis ...
The Warlord 99-100 (DC Comics, 1985) — We talked a bit about issue 98 last time and how it made a couple veiled references to the coming Crisis, but how there was a natural break between issues 97 and 98. And the references to the Crisis were vague enough that I think the issue can stand and “refer” to some other big event. These two issues wrap up the story line from before Crisis where New Atlantean invaders have captured the kingdom of Shamballah and most of Skartaris. The magical nature of the ruler of New Atlantis is revealed in issue 98 and 99. Morgan, his daughter, Jennifer, and his companion, Krys, devise a plan to defeat both wizard-king and his minions. The epic battle takes place in issue #100, of course, and involves Morgan taking on the wizard-king directly. As Morgan is protected by Jennifer’s mystical spells, the wizard is taxed more than he expected to be by the battle. In his efforts to defeat Morgan, he draws psychic strength from his people, thus weaking them to the point that the rag-tag Shamballan army can conquer the invaders. Once that is accomplished, there is no more psychic energy for the wizard to draw on, and he is finally defeated, as well. Overall, not too bad an ending to this tale, except that the wizard king’s name changes throughout issue #100 from Cykroth to Cycroth, but that’s a minor quibble.
The Thing 28-32 (Marvel Comics, 1985-86) — Before the Crisis, the Thing was wandering the country on his own after quitting the Fantastic Four. Most recently, he’d decided to join the Thunderiders motorcycle stunt group in an effort to get closer to one of its members, Sharon, only to learn that she was leaving the group. Issue #28 picks up with Ben deciding that his heart just isn’t in the motorcycle thing since Sharon left. He decides to leave the group and pursue a career in wrestling, specifically the new unlimited class wrestling league being formed. Ben quickly becomes the star attraction and proven champion of the class, which doesn’t mean there is a shortage of people showing up to challenge him. The first major challenger, the Gator in issue 29, was a former champion looking to reclaim his lost glory and willing to go to any lengths to achieve it. Issue 30 pits Thing against the Beyonder in a crossover portion of Secret Wars II. In this story, the otherworldly Beyonder makes himself human and tries to experience life as one of us. Hearing of the unlimited class wrestling, the Beyonder thinks to try his hand at it. Ben sees this as his opportunity for revenge as he begins to blame the Beyonder for all of the troubles in his life since the first Secret Wars series. Ben beats the Beyonder viciously, almost killing the omnipotent being. Unbeknownst to Ben, Sharon, the woman of his dreams, has been coming to see all of his fights. She is horrified by what she sees when Ben nearly kills the Beyonder. She reveals her presence to Ben and invites him to take a vacation, ease his stress, and accompany her to her new job as a stuntwoman in a movie. Issue 31 takes Ben and Sharon to the set where a movie version of Devil Dinosaur is being filmed. Predictably, Ben mistakes the first couple of scenes he sees being shot as real peril for someone and ends up ruining the shots trying to save actors. It gets so bad, Ben is banished from the set, then fails to respond when — you guessed it — a real monster shows up. Everything works out OK, though, and Ben returns to the ring in issue 32, where he begins to suspect something foul in the way the wrestling league’s promoter keeps coming up with strong men. For the most part, these are some fun issues of a fun comic, although I think writer Mike Carlin went a little far showing Ben’s rage in the battle with the Beyonder. Thing is not normally depicted as a berserker-type fighter like Wolverine, and I believe he crosses the line and ceases to be a hero when the only reason he doesn’t kill the Beyonder is because he can’t kill an immortal opponent.
The Amazing Spider-Man 267 (Marvel Comics, 1985) — Now this is a fun comic. Spider-Man is at his best when he is the typical hard-luck hero. This issue starts out with the wall-crawler feeling somewhat under the weather anyway, but when a non-powered thief manages to escape him, Spidey is furious with himself. The one saving grace is the fact that our hero manages to flip a spider-tracer on the criminal before he makes good his escape. After regrouping, Spider-Man tracks his foe to the suburbs where all sorts of out-of-his-element hilarity ensues. First, the absence of tall buildings means nothing from which to slings his webs. So Spidey hops on the roof of a transit bus which promptly stops as the driver demands fare or he’ll toss Spidey to the curb. When he tries to climb a tree to gain a higher vantage, the tree breaks and a self-important neighborhood watch tries to make a citizen’s arrest. Of course, Spider-Man ends up catching the thief in the end, but not before he vows never to visit suburbia again. Peter David and Bob McLeod remind a person how fun comics can be with this issue.
The New Teen Titans 15 (DC Comics, 1985) — Despite the cover which shows four different puzzle pieces representing the overall Titans mosaic at this point, only three of the vignettes are actually featured in this issue. Wonder Girl, Cyborg and Changling, shown charging determinedly toward something on the cover, do not appear in this issue. However, we do spend a brief time following Arella’s quest to find her daughter, Raven, following rumors of her appearance in a small, southern community. In flashbacks, we hear that Raven was indeed in the town for a while, but once the people there learned of her healing abilities, they took Raven prisoner and forced her to heal more people than she could handle until she escaped. The bulk of this issue pics up with Nightwing, Jericho and Starfire bound for Tamaran on a spaceship. We learn that the political climate on the planet is once again in turmoil, this time, as before, with the trouble being stirred up by Starfire’s sister, Blackfire. The difference is, Blackfire is leading a rather successful rebellion. The Tameranean people have grown tired of the weakness they perceive in their ruler, Myand’r, Starfire’s father. Instead, many of them have embraced Blackfire’s call for open revolt. This, we learn, is the real reason behind Starfire being summoned back home. She is to be wed to the prince of a southern kingdom in an effort to re-unite the Tamaranean people and prevent a civil war. Of course, Starfire is not very happy about this, and neither is her lover, Nightwing.
The Omega Men 34 (DC Comics, 1986) — The tale begun in New Teen Titans 15 picks up again in this title. The Omega Men are a space-faring super team, and one of their members is Ryand’r, Starfire’s younger brother. They are returning to Tamaran after an adventure in their own title. At first, Ryand’r is happy to be reunited with his sister, who has been away on earth for quite some time. But, once the Omegans land and discover the political strife, a traitor is revealed in their midst, and this team, too, is thrown into the middle of the brewing battle.
The New Teen Titans 16-17 (DC Comics, 1986) — These two issues deal with the actual conflict breaking out among the Tamaraneans. First, Blackfire uses the Omegans to battle the Titans for her. We also get some insight into Blackfire’s motivations and learn that while she can be barbaric and cruel, she really does want what is best for her people. Ultimately, Blackfire wins control of the planet because the people are on her side — they are tired of Myand’r seemingly always making concessions to their enemies. This is a warrior race, and they want a warrior to lead them. Unfortunately for the relationship between Nightwing and Starfire, Blackfire does not win until after Starfire is wed to the southern prince according to her father’s wishes. In the end, Starfire, her brother, her mother and her father are exiled by Blackfire. And the starship carrying them to the nearby planet Okaara is destroyed in space. Neither of these issues looks at the other members of the cast during the duration of this conflict.
Jon Sable, Freelance 31-33 (First Comics, 1985-86) — Issues 31 and 32 take Jon on a fact-finding mission to Nicaragua. He is asked by an old friend to be part of a team which will sneak into the country, verify rumors of a munitions storage depot, and if they find the rumors to be false, call off the planned airstrike to destroy the munitions. We meet the various members of the team and follow them into Nicaragua where they find the munitions, but not the ones they expected. Instead of ordinary arms, the weapons they discover are of nuclear strength. An airstrike would be far more destructive than intended, but the team feels they cannot call off the strike and do nothing. So they must find a way to safely destroy the stockpile on their own, and the clock is ticking.
Issue 33 is a more light-hearted tale. In a previous issue, mention is made of turning Jon’s leprechaun children’s books into an animated cartoon. Jon, Eden and Myke go to meet the animator and preview the animation. The illustrator in the story is based on Sergio Aragones, who illustrates the portion of the comic devoted to the leprechauns.
Detective Comics 559 (DC Comics, 1986) — This issue features Batman and Catwoman teaming up with Green Arrow and Black Canary. At this point, Catwoman Selina Kyle knows Bruce Wayne is Batman, the two are romantically involved, and the former thief is the Dark Knight’s sometime ally. Green Arrow and Black Canary come to Gotham trailing a man committing crimes, but for a morally higher purpose, to help bring down a corrupt corporation poisoning unwitting people. The Star City pair stop Batman from catching the thief, and the two male heroes must settle their ideological differences long enough to work together. This tale is by Doug Moench, Gene Colan and Bob Smith.
The Warlord 101-2 (DC Comics, 1986) — A new creative team takes over with issue 101, writer Michael Fleisher and artist Andy Kubert, and I have to say, I’m not so sure about it so far. At the end of issue 100, Morgan returns from his battle with Cykroth to find that Jennifer’s magic spell has taken a toll, Morgan’s daughter is now old and near death. This issue begins the quest to find a cure for Jennifer’s mysterious aging before she dies. First Morgan seeks out the greatest wizard in Skartaris, who agrees to help if Morgan will secure an artifact for him. Once the task is complete, the wizard’s help turns out to be merely pointing the way to look for someone else who might be able to help. In issue 102, Morgan comes across a group of clerics about to perform a human sacrifice. Naturally, Morgan defeats the cleric and frees the damsel who turns out to be an Amazon queen, and the two share an adventure among her people. I don’t know what it is about these issues that has changed for me, and maybe I’ll warm up to them in a few more, but right now, I’m losing interest in The Warlord since Shamballah has been regained.
The Warlord annual 5 (DC Comics, 1986) — This annual is by Michael Fleisher and Adam Kubert. It depicts Morgan on a quest, presumably still the one trying to find a cure for Jennifer, but he is traveling with Shakira, someone who hasn’t been seen in the regular book in a couple issues, so maybe this book takes place a little more into the quest. The focus of this story, however, is not Morgan or his travels, but on outer world events. A group of vacationers is exploring Incan ruins when one of them disappears. Unbeknownst to the others, the man is kidnapped by a secret group of Incans who still live on the edge of Skartaris and travel back and forth between their old home and their new one. Morgan just happens to stumble onto the Incans, tries to help free their captive and seal up their secret entrance to Skartaris. This tale is a bit different from the usual Warlord fare, and just not my cup of tea, I’m afraid. As always, your mileage may vary somewhat as it’s not a bad story.
Whew! That’s was really a bunch of stuff, so I’ll call it a day for now. And again, next time we’ll go back to some truly current comics including a few really good Civil War tie-ins.
The Warlord 99-100 (DC Comics, 1985) — We talked a bit about issue 98 last time and how it made a couple veiled references to the coming Crisis, but how there was a natural break between issues 97 and 98. And the references to the Crisis were vague enough that I think the issue can stand and “refer” to some other big event. These two issues wrap up the story line from before Crisis where New Atlantean invaders have captured the kingdom of Shamballah and most of Skartaris. The magical nature of the ruler of New Atlantis is revealed in issue 98 and 99. Morgan, his daughter, Jennifer, and his companion, Krys, devise a plan to defeat both wizard-king and his minions. The epic battle takes place in issue #100, of course, and involves Morgan taking on the wizard-king directly. As Morgan is protected by Jennifer’s mystical spells, the wizard is taxed more than he expected to be by the battle. In his efforts to defeat Morgan, he draws psychic strength from his people, thus weaking them to the point that the rag-tag Shamballan army can conquer the invaders. Once that is accomplished, there is no more psychic energy for the wizard to draw on, and he is finally defeated, as well. Overall, not too bad an ending to this tale, except that the wizard king’s name changes throughout issue #100 from Cykroth to Cycroth, but that’s a minor quibble.
The Thing 28-32 (Marvel Comics, 1985-86) — Before the Crisis, the Thing was wandering the country on his own after quitting the Fantastic Four. Most recently, he’d decided to join the Thunderiders motorcycle stunt group in an effort to get closer to one of its members, Sharon, only to learn that she was leaving the group. Issue #28 picks up with Ben deciding that his heart just isn’t in the motorcycle thing since Sharon left. He decides to leave the group and pursue a career in wrestling, specifically the new unlimited class wrestling league being formed. Ben quickly becomes the star attraction and proven champion of the class, which doesn’t mean there is a shortage of people showing up to challenge him. The first major challenger, the Gator in issue 29, was a former champion looking to reclaim his lost glory and willing to go to any lengths to achieve it. Issue 30 pits Thing against the Beyonder in a crossover portion of Secret Wars II. In this story, the otherworldly Beyonder makes himself human and tries to experience life as one of us. Hearing of the unlimited class wrestling, the Beyonder thinks to try his hand at it. Ben sees this as his opportunity for revenge as he begins to blame the Beyonder for all of the troubles in his life since the first Secret Wars series. Ben beats the Beyonder viciously, almost killing the omnipotent being. Unbeknownst to Ben, Sharon, the woman of his dreams, has been coming to see all of his fights. She is horrified by what she sees when Ben nearly kills the Beyonder. She reveals her presence to Ben and invites him to take a vacation, ease his stress, and accompany her to her new job as a stuntwoman in a movie. Issue 31 takes Ben and Sharon to the set where a movie version of Devil Dinosaur is being filmed. Predictably, Ben mistakes the first couple of scenes he sees being shot as real peril for someone and ends up ruining the shots trying to save actors. It gets so bad, Ben is banished from the set, then fails to respond when — you guessed it — a real monster shows up. Everything works out OK, though, and Ben returns to the ring in issue 32, where he begins to suspect something foul in the way the wrestling league’s promoter keeps coming up with strong men. For the most part, these are some fun issues of a fun comic, although I think writer Mike Carlin went a little far showing Ben’s rage in the battle with the Beyonder. Thing is not normally depicted as a berserker-type fighter like Wolverine, and I believe he crosses the line and ceases to be a hero when the only reason he doesn’t kill the Beyonder is because he can’t kill an immortal opponent.
The Amazing Spider-Man 267 (Marvel Comics, 1985) — Now this is a fun comic. Spider-Man is at his best when he is the typical hard-luck hero. This issue starts out with the wall-crawler feeling somewhat under the weather anyway, but when a non-powered thief manages to escape him, Spidey is furious with himself. The one saving grace is the fact that our hero manages to flip a spider-tracer on the criminal before he makes good his escape. After regrouping, Spider-Man tracks his foe to the suburbs where all sorts of out-of-his-element hilarity ensues. First, the absence of tall buildings means nothing from which to slings his webs. So Spidey hops on the roof of a transit bus which promptly stops as the driver demands fare or he’ll toss Spidey to the curb. When he tries to climb a tree to gain a higher vantage, the tree breaks and a self-important neighborhood watch tries to make a citizen’s arrest. Of course, Spider-Man ends up catching the thief in the end, but not before he vows never to visit suburbia again. Peter David and Bob McLeod remind a person how fun comics can be with this issue.
The New Teen Titans 15 (DC Comics, 1985) — Despite the cover which shows four different puzzle pieces representing the overall Titans mosaic at this point, only three of the vignettes are actually featured in this issue. Wonder Girl, Cyborg and Changling, shown charging determinedly toward something on the cover, do not appear in this issue. However, we do spend a brief time following Arella’s quest to find her daughter, Raven, following rumors of her appearance in a small, southern community. In flashbacks, we hear that Raven was indeed in the town for a while, but once the people there learned of her healing abilities, they took Raven prisoner and forced her to heal more people than she could handle until she escaped. The bulk of this issue pics up with Nightwing, Jericho and Starfire bound for Tamaran on a spaceship. We learn that the political climate on the planet is once again in turmoil, this time, as before, with the trouble being stirred up by Starfire’s sister, Blackfire. The difference is, Blackfire is leading a rather successful rebellion. The Tameranean people have grown tired of the weakness they perceive in their ruler, Myand’r, Starfire’s father. Instead, many of them have embraced Blackfire’s call for open revolt. This, we learn, is the real reason behind Starfire being summoned back home. She is to be wed to the prince of a southern kingdom in an effort to re-unite the Tamaranean people and prevent a civil war. Of course, Starfire is not very happy about this, and neither is her lover, Nightwing.
The Omega Men 34 (DC Comics, 1986) — The tale begun in New Teen Titans 15 picks up again in this title. The Omega Men are a space-faring super team, and one of their members is Ryand’r, Starfire’s younger brother. They are returning to Tamaran after an adventure in their own title. At first, Ryand’r is happy to be reunited with his sister, who has been away on earth for quite some time. But, once the Omegans land and discover the political strife, a traitor is revealed in their midst, and this team, too, is thrown into the middle of the brewing battle.
The New Teen Titans 16-17 (DC Comics, 1986) — These two issues deal with the actual conflict breaking out among the Tamaraneans. First, Blackfire uses the Omegans to battle the Titans for her. We also get some insight into Blackfire’s motivations and learn that while she can be barbaric and cruel, she really does want what is best for her people. Ultimately, Blackfire wins control of the planet because the people are on her side — they are tired of Myand’r seemingly always making concessions to their enemies. This is a warrior race, and they want a warrior to lead them. Unfortunately for the relationship between Nightwing and Starfire, Blackfire does not win until after Starfire is wed to the southern prince according to her father’s wishes. In the end, Starfire, her brother, her mother and her father are exiled by Blackfire. And the starship carrying them to the nearby planet Okaara is destroyed in space. Neither of these issues looks at the other members of the cast during the duration of this conflict.
Jon Sable, Freelance 31-33 (First Comics, 1985-86) — Issues 31 and 32 take Jon on a fact-finding mission to Nicaragua. He is asked by an old friend to be part of a team which will sneak into the country, verify rumors of a munitions storage depot, and if they find the rumors to be false, call off the planned airstrike to destroy the munitions. We meet the various members of the team and follow them into Nicaragua where they find the munitions, but not the ones they expected. Instead of ordinary arms, the weapons they discover are of nuclear strength. An airstrike would be far more destructive than intended, but the team feels they cannot call off the strike and do nothing. So they must find a way to safely destroy the stockpile on their own, and the clock is ticking.
Issue 33 is a more light-hearted tale. In a previous issue, mention is made of turning Jon’s leprechaun children’s books into an animated cartoon. Jon, Eden and Myke go to meet the animator and preview the animation. The illustrator in the story is based on Sergio Aragones, who illustrates the portion of the comic devoted to the leprechauns.
Detective Comics 559 (DC Comics, 1986) — This issue features Batman and Catwoman teaming up with Green Arrow and Black Canary. At this point, Catwoman Selina Kyle knows Bruce Wayne is Batman, the two are romantically involved, and the former thief is the Dark Knight’s sometime ally. Green Arrow and Black Canary come to Gotham trailing a man committing crimes, but for a morally higher purpose, to help bring down a corrupt corporation poisoning unwitting people. The Star City pair stop Batman from catching the thief, and the two male heroes must settle their ideological differences long enough to work together. This tale is by Doug Moench, Gene Colan and Bob Smith.
The Warlord 101-2 (DC Comics, 1986) — A new creative team takes over with issue 101, writer Michael Fleisher and artist Andy Kubert, and I have to say, I’m not so sure about it so far. At the end of issue 100, Morgan returns from his battle with Cykroth to find that Jennifer’s magic spell has taken a toll, Morgan’s daughter is now old and near death. This issue begins the quest to find a cure for Jennifer’s mysterious aging before she dies. First Morgan seeks out the greatest wizard in Skartaris, who agrees to help if Morgan will secure an artifact for him. Once the task is complete, the wizard’s help turns out to be merely pointing the way to look for someone else who might be able to help. In issue 102, Morgan comes across a group of clerics about to perform a human sacrifice. Naturally, Morgan defeats the cleric and frees the damsel who turns out to be an Amazon queen, and the two share an adventure among her people. I don’t know what it is about these issues that has changed for me, and maybe I’ll warm up to them in a few more, but right now, I’m losing interest in The Warlord since Shamballah has been regained.
The Warlord annual 5 (DC Comics, 1986) — This annual is by Michael Fleisher and Adam Kubert. It depicts Morgan on a quest, presumably still the one trying to find a cure for Jennifer, but he is traveling with Shakira, someone who hasn’t been seen in the regular book in a couple issues, so maybe this book takes place a little more into the quest. The focus of this story, however, is not Morgan or his travels, but on outer world events. A group of vacationers is exploring Incan ruins when one of them disappears. Unbeknownst to the others, the man is kidnapped by a secret group of Incans who still live on the edge of Skartaris and travel back and forth between their old home and their new one. Morgan just happens to stumble onto the Incans, tries to help free their captive and seal up their secret entrance to Skartaris. This tale is a bit different from the usual Warlord fare, and just not my cup of tea, I’m afraid. As always, your mileage may vary somewhat as it’s not a bad story.
Whew! That’s was really a bunch of stuff, so I’ll call it a day for now. And again, next time we’ll go back to some truly current comics including a few really good Civil War tie-ins.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Why I Hate Supergirl
OK, kiddie-cops, I’m back for another lightning round of comics reviews looking back over mags that I’ve recently read. And starting us off is
Supergirl (2005) 7-8 (DC Comics) — OK, I cheated a little bit here in reading order since #8 didn’t come out until almost the end of July, but I didn’t expect to like either of these books much, so I read ‘em both together. Why buy them if I didn’t expect to like them, you ask. It’s the problem with advance ordering your comics. I didn’t expect to like them after reading #6 a couple months ago, but by that time, I’d already ordered these two. I have NOT ordered #9.
I like the original Supergirl. And I’m not necessarily opposed to updating and reintroducing old characters as new ones. I like the new Supergirl, Matrix, introduced after Superman’s revamp. I just don’t like this latest ultra-teen, sorority-chick, stereotype that DC is parading around as the Maid of Steel.
I could handle her introduction in the pages of Superman/Batman. I’m not altogether certain if she truly had an evil personality to begin with or if Darkseid “created” one when he kidnapped her, but that tale was passable, and even had some memorable moments. Her next adventure, kicking off her own title, wasn’t too bad either, tying in with the events of Infinite Crisis and Luthor and such, and the use of her evil side was a nice touch. But the story was so drawn out what with all of the delayed issues, it was a little hard to follow. But now, the midriff-baring whiner moves into One Year Later, dragging Power Girl along with her, into a twisted vision of the bottle city of Kandor. Making this story, even more lame, in my opinion, is the use of Ultraman and the evil Saturn Girl from another Superman/Batman arc. I’m just not buying it, literally.
Detective Comics 821 (DC Comics) — New writer Paul Dini is not the first scribe to return this title to one that lives up to its name, but as a creator on Batman, The Animated Series, he’s proven he gets Batman, isn’t afraid to use Bruce Wayne in a story as more than a fool, and above all, shows us why Batman is known as the World’s Greatest Detective. He doesn’t just punch his way to a resolution in this done-in-one tale, he searches out clues, follows leads and uncovers a new villain with good, old-fashioned detective work.
Teen Titans 37 (DC Comics) — I’ve been reading a lot of people bashing this title of late online. I’m starting to agree that maybe it's lost its focus a little bit with the jump One Year Later. I’m not opposed to having new characters in the group, but its almost like Johns is bored with keeping Cyborg, Robin and Wonder Girl around but feels he has to to keep his audience. Or maybe he’s stretched a little thin right now with all he’s doing. It’s the Titans; I have high hopes, so I’m not dropping it yet, but I’m disappointed in this most recent arc.
Secret Six 2 (DC Comics) — Just not quite sure about this one either. Gail Simone is such a great writer and Villains United such a great read, I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt so far. But this follow-up miniseries seems even more violent, and with somewhat less focus, so far.
The Thing (2005) 8 (Marvel Comics) — Now this is good comics, people!!!! Naturally, it’s the last issue. I don’t like everything Dan Slott writes. I just don’t get the appeal behind his latest reimagining of She-Hulk. It’s just not that funny to me. But he did right by bashful Benjy, the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing. And in true style for a fun comic, Slott takes this book out on a high note. Just about evertbody who’s anybody in the Marvel Universe shows up in this blowout final issue for a rollicking Superhero Championship poker match.
Slott went out on such a high note, how can I do any less? That’s it for today. Happy collecting.
Supergirl (2005) 7-8 (DC Comics) — OK, I cheated a little bit here in reading order since #8 didn’t come out until almost the end of July, but I didn’t expect to like either of these books much, so I read ‘em both together. Why buy them if I didn’t expect to like them, you ask. It’s the problem with advance ordering your comics. I didn’t expect to like them after reading #6 a couple months ago, but by that time, I’d already ordered these two. I have NOT ordered #9.
I like the original Supergirl. And I’m not necessarily opposed to updating and reintroducing old characters as new ones. I like the new Supergirl, Matrix, introduced after Superman’s revamp. I just don’t like this latest ultra-teen, sorority-chick, stereotype that DC is parading around as the Maid of Steel.
I could handle her introduction in the pages of Superman/Batman. I’m not altogether certain if she truly had an evil personality to begin with or if Darkseid “created” one when he kidnapped her, but that tale was passable, and even had some memorable moments. Her next adventure, kicking off her own title, wasn’t too bad either, tying in with the events of Infinite Crisis and Luthor and such, and the use of her evil side was a nice touch. But the story was so drawn out what with all of the delayed issues, it was a little hard to follow. But now, the midriff-baring whiner moves into One Year Later, dragging Power Girl along with her, into a twisted vision of the bottle city of Kandor. Making this story, even more lame, in my opinion, is the use of Ultraman and the evil Saturn Girl from another Superman/Batman arc. I’m just not buying it, literally.
Detective Comics 821 (DC Comics) — New writer Paul Dini is not the first scribe to return this title to one that lives up to its name, but as a creator on Batman, The Animated Series, he’s proven he gets Batman, isn’t afraid to use Bruce Wayne in a story as more than a fool, and above all, shows us why Batman is known as the World’s Greatest Detective. He doesn’t just punch his way to a resolution in this done-in-one tale, he searches out clues, follows leads and uncovers a new villain with good, old-fashioned detective work.
Teen Titans 37 (DC Comics) — I’ve been reading a lot of people bashing this title of late online. I’m starting to agree that maybe it's lost its focus a little bit with the jump One Year Later. I’m not opposed to having new characters in the group, but its almost like Johns is bored with keeping Cyborg, Robin and Wonder Girl around but feels he has to to keep his audience. Or maybe he’s stretched a little thin right now with all he’s doing. It’s the Titans; I have high hopes, so I’m not dropping it yet, but I’m disappointed in this most recent arc.
Secret Six 2 (DC Comics) — Just not quite sure about this one either. Gail Simone is such a great writer and Villains United such a great read, I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt so far. But this follow-up miniseries seems even more violent, and with somewhat less focus, so far.
The Thing (2005) 8 (Marvel Comics) — Now this is good comics, people!!!! Naturally, it’s the last issue. I don’t like everything Dan Slott writes. I just don’t get the appeal behind his latest reimagining of She-Hulk. It’s just not that funny to me. But he did right by bashful Benjy, the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing. And in true style for a fun comic, Slott takes this book out on a high note. Just about evertbody who’s anybody in the Marvel Universe shows up in this blowout final issue for a rollicking Superhero Championship poker match.
Slott went out on such a high note, how can I do any less? That’s it for today. Happy collecting.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Oops! Call In the Time Repair Specialists
I’m back with a few more reviews, but first, this little jaunt down comic book memory lane has paid off as it was intended to do. Recently, I talked about how I store my comics chronologically, as if the characters lives were real, linear spans, so not all of the books are in numerical order. For more on that discussion, see the March 2, 2006, post "Meanwhile, back in the Comics Den ..."
Well, in 2000, Ben Raab and Michael Lark did a three-issue, prestige format Legend of the Hawkman miniseries. Now, the events in this story clearly deal with the pre-Crisis Katar and Shayera Hol from the planet Thanagar. So, sometime after reading the story for the first time, I filed the story just before the events of the Crisis, along with other books from 1985. I don’t remember exactly why I chose to place the series so close to the Crisis, maybe it was just easier to find at the time.
Now, in 2006, I’m re-visiting this portion of my collection, and I come across this series, still quite good, dealing with not only heroics, but also issues of faith and bonding. It’s really quite good. But, as I re-read the story, it has the feel of something that should have come earlier. The Hawks still seem somewhat new and unfamiliar to the earth in this tale. The clincher is a cameo by Superman in the second issue. It is clear from the brief exchange between the Hawks and the Man of Steel that this meeting takes place before most of the members of the Justice League have decided to trust one another with their respective secret identities. Superman seems to have no idea that the Hols are also museum curators Carter and Shayera Hall (why is it that only the male had to change his name?). Obviously, this series needs to “occur” much earlier in the history of the DC Universe. Finding and correcting little continuity errors such as this one is one of the reasons I’m revisiting these older tales.
Other books I’ve read in the last few days:
Jon Sable, Freelance 28-30 (First Comics) — These three issues revolve around a charity auction of Hollywood memorabilia and the disappearance of the famous statue from “The Maltese Falcon.” Sable’s friend, Sonny Pratt, gets the mercenary involved in the case, which nicely adds character bits to the relationship between Sable and Police Capt. Josh Winters.
Red Tornado 1-4 (DC Comics) — This was a four-issue series from mid-1985 by Kurt Busiek and Carmine Infantino which explores the android hero’s desire to be more human. I’m not a big fan of Infantino’s artwork, especially during the mid-1980s when everything he drew was so angular (see his work on The Flash during this time), but this book isn’t so bad. Busiek chooses to pit the Tornado against an old JLA foe, The Construct, another mechanical entity. The story has some nice character development for Reddy, as well as his surrogate family, Kathy Sutton and Traya.
Nightcrawler 1-4 (Marvel Comics) — This is another four-issue series, this time both written and illustrated by Nightcrawler creator, Dave Cockrum. A mishap in the Danger Room sends the swashbuckling X-Man to a series of ever-increasingly bizarre alternate universes, finally ending up in one based on a fairy tale imagined by Kitty Pryde and inhabited by cartoonish versions of the X-Men. This series doesn’t do much to change Kurt Wagner’s character or bring about any major changes in his continuity; it’s just a fun romp through some strange adventures, a tale befitting the devilish mutant.
The Thing 27 (Marvel Comics) — Ben Grimm is still on the road, this time running across the Fabulous Thunderiders, a motorcycle group. I don’t know much about the Thunderiders, but from the dialogue within the story, this group has apparently either starred in a title of their own or at least shown up in other titles. They obviously have some history, including some kind of mystical link which can manifest as the Black Marauder, a daredevil cyclist hero, or is he?
The New Teen Titans (second series) annual 1 (DC Comics) — The main story in this book features Tara Markov (Terra) as member of the Titans, which places it before the events told in the Judas Contract storyline from a couple years earlier. But there is a modern framing sequence which shows new Titans Joe Wilson (Jericho) reading through files of the team’s past cases that keeps the story placed with other 1985 tales. In this adventure, the Titans meet a group of representatives from yet another intergalactic police force, The Vanguard, and is obviously an attempt to launch an off-shoot title which never came to be. This is one of the weaker Titans annuals during the Marv Wolfman era (George Perez had left the title by this point), but since I have everything else in this run of the group, I keep this book as well.
And lastly, The New Teen Titans (second series) 12 (DC Comics) — This story wraps up some loose ends from the group’s recent past in a rollicking “Ghost Story.” An occasional recurring foil for the team since it’s 1980 relaunch was a crime family headed by Donna Omicidio. Among other storylines, she played an important part in The New Teen Titans (first series) annual 2, the first comic of this series I ever purchased, and the book responsible for getting me interested in comics again. (For more on this annual, see the February 2, 2006, post "What the hell are 'kiddie cops'?") With the help of an eight-year-old apparition, the Titans are able to solve a 50-year-old murder mystery. A very good read.
And that brings us to the doorstep of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. If you recall from last time, Warlord #97 showed some early effects of the anti-matter wave on Skartaris. The New Teen Titans #13 and #14 both take place in the midst of the Crisis. That’s the next thing in the chronology to read through. I may not offer reviews of every single one of those issues. I think, for a time, I will try offering reviews only of select books for which I have something significant to say instead of saying something about each and every one. Plus, it may be just a bit before I get to the Crisis books. My July shipment of new comics has been sent and should arrive in a few days, so we’ll be back to reading current comics within a week.
See ya next time.
Well, in 2000, Ben Raab and Michael Lark did a three-issue, prestige format Legend of the Hawkman miniseries. Now, the events in this story clearly deal with the pre-Crisis Katar and Shayera Hol from the planet Thanagar. So, sometime after reading the story for the first time, I filed the story just before the events of the Crisis, along with other books from 1985. I don’t remember exactly why I chose to place the series so close to the Crisis, maybe it was just easier to find at the time.
Now, in 2006, I’m re-visiting this portion of my collection, and I come across this series, still quite good, dealing with not only heroics, but also issues of faith and bonding. It’s really quite good. But, as I re-read the story, it has the feel of something that should have come earlier. The Hawks still seem somewhat new and unfamiliar to the earth in this tale. The clincher is a cameo by Superman in the second issue. It is clear from the brief exchange between the Hawks and the Man of Steel that this meeting takes place before most of the members of the Justice League have decided to trust one another with their respective secret identities. Superman seems to have no idea that the Hols are also museum curators Carter and Shayera Hall (why is it that only the male had to change his name?). Obviously, this series needs to “occur” much earlier in the history of the DC Universe. Finding and correcting little continuity errors such as this one is one of the reasons I’m revisiting these older tales.
Other books I’ve read in the last few days:
Jon Sable, Freelance 28-30 (First Comics) — These three issues revolve around a charity auction of Hollywood memorabilia and the disappearance of the famous statue from “The Maltese Falcon.” Sable’s friend, Sonny Pratt, gets the mercenary involved in the case, which nicely adds character bits to the relationship between Sable and Police Capt. Josh Winters.
Red Tornado 1-4 (DC Comics) — This was a four-issue series from mid-1985 by Kurt Busiek and Carmine Infantino which explores the android hero’s desire to be more human. I’m not a big fan of Infantino’s artwork, especially during the mid-1980s when everything he drew was so angular (see his work on The Flash during this time), but this book isn’t so bad. Busiek chooses to pit the Tornado against an old JLA foe, The Construct, another mechanical entity. The story has some nice character development for Reddy, as well as his surrogate family, Kathy Sutton and Traya.
Nightcrawler 1-4 (Marvel Comics) — This is another four-issue series, this time both written and illustrated by Nightcrawler creator, Dave Cockrum. A mishap in the Danger Room sends the swashbuckling X-Man to a series of ever-increasingly bizarre alternate universes, finally ending up in one based on a fairy tale imagined by Kitty Pryde and inhabited by cartoonish versions of the X-Men. This series doesn’t do much to change Kurt Wagner’s character or bring about any major changes in his continuity; it’s just a fun romp through some strange adventures, a tale befitting the devilish mutant.
The Thing 27 (Marvel Comics) — Ben Grimm is still on the road, this time running across the Fabulous Thunderiders, a motorcycle group. I don’t know much about the Thunderiders, but from the dialogue within the story, this group has apparently either starred in a title of their own or at least shown up in other titles. They obviously have some history, including some kind of mystical link which can manifest as the Black Marauder, a daredevil cyclist hero, or is he?
The New Teen Titans (second series) annual 1 (DC Comics) — The main story in this book features Tara Markov (Terra) as member of the Titans, which places it before the events told in the Judas Contract storyline from a couple years earlier. But there is a modern framing sequence which shows new Titans Joe Wilson (Jericho) reading through files of the team’s past cases that keeps the story placed with other 1985 tales. In this adventure, the Titans meet a group of representatives from yet another intergalactic police force, The Vanguard, and is obviously an attempt to launch an off-shoot title which never came to be. This is one of the weaker Titans annuals during the Marv Wolfman era (George Perez had left the title by this point), but since I have everything else in this run of the group, I keep this book as well.
And lastly, The New Teen Titans (second series) 12 (DC Comics) — This story wraps up some loose ends from the group’s recent past in a rollicking “Ghost Story.” An occasional recurring foil for the team since it’s 1980 relaunch was a crime family headed by Donna Omicidio. Among other storylines, she played an important part in The New Teen Titans (first series) annual 2, the first comic of this series I ever purchased, and the book responsible for getting me interested in comics again. (For more on this annual, see the February 2, 2006, post "What the hell are 'kiddie cops'?") With the help of an eight-year-old apparition, the Titans are able to solve a 50-year-old murder mystery. A very good read.
And that brings us to the doorstep of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. If you recall from last time, Warlord #97 showed some early effects of the anti-matter wave on Skartaris. The New Teen Titans #13 and #14 both take place in the midst of the Crisis. That’s the next thing in the chronology to read through. I may not offer reviews of every single one of those issues. I think, for a time, I will try offering reviews only of select books for which I have something significant to say instead of saying something about each and every one. Plus, it may be just a bit before I get to the Crisis books. My July shipment of new comics has been sent and should arrive in a few days, so we’ll be back to reading current comics within a week.
See ya next time.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Still Playing Catch-Up
Civil War Front Line 2 (Marvel Comics) — The second issue of this Civil War spin-off was good. I’m enjoying following these reporters as they watch and react to events unfolding — must be the journalist in me. But in this second issue, the backup story following Speedball is overshadowing the main one. I’ve never really followed Speedball or much cared one way or the other for the character before, but in light of the registration act, he is the perfect focus character for this story.
Daredevil 86 (Marvel Comics) — I haven’t made up my mind for sure on this title. I’ve followed Daredevil from time to time in the past. Brubaker is a great writer. But this whole Daredevil in prison thing needs to start moving to some kind of resolution as I am starting to loose interest. This issue seems to be moving DD toward an escape, so maybe change is coming.
New Avengers 21 (Marvel Comics) — This Civil War tie-in issue felt like a fill-in. It was nice to see Captain America between his dramatic escape from S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in Civil War #1 and leading the group of resistance fighters in Civil War #2, but there really isn’t much going on in this issue besides filling in those gaps, which most readers probably assumed happened anyway. The only information revealed in this issue — which side the Falcon and Ant-Man/Giant-Man Hank Pym are on — could be deduced from the pages of Civil War itself.
Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes 19 (DC Comics) — This latest incarnation of the Legion is my third attempt at following the group’s adventures. I always seem to loose interest after a while. This latest approach by Mark Waid and Barry Kitson seem to be quite novel, but with the introduction of Supergirl and her ascent to the lead spot in the title seems to have thrown the rest of the book off its focus. This particular issue doesn’t even have much to do with Supergirl, per se. It is more a solo spotlight for Chameleon. And it’s not a bad story, it just didn’t grab my interest like earlier issues did. This book is also in danger of being dropped like a few others discussed last time.
Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre 2 (DC Comics) — I have high hopes for this series, and so far it hasn’t let me down, unlike its companion title, Crisis Aftermath: The Battle for Bludhaven. I really liked Gotham City police detective Crispus Allen when he was alive. I like what writer Will Pfeifer is doing by offering Allen the chance to join with the Spectre and using Allen’s perspective to help us explore the astral avenger. I hope this pairing moves beyond the scheduled miniseries.
Brave New World (DC Comics) — This preview comic offers advance glimpses of several upcoming series and miniseries — at least in theory. The problem is, when a person has to order his comic books several months in advance, he (or she) has to decide which of these books to follow before ever reading the preview. I’ve never cared much for the Creeper so I opted to pass on that series, and nothing in this book changed my mind. Other advanced online information convinced me to give the Shazam, Martian Manhunter and Atom series a try; this book leaves me hopeful that they will be worth the trial. I was curious about Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters, and still am after reading this comic. And I wasn’t sure about the OMAC series, but figured I’d give it a try based on their role in Infinite Crisis. This preview story looks promising.
Solo 11 Sergio Aragones (DC Comics) — This has been an uneven title as most anthologies are. That’s probably why it has been canceled. I think the concept is sound, the company sponsoring such a project just has to accept and expect uneven sales. Aragones is a funny guy. This issue shows why. I especially liked his true tale of Marty Feldman and the Batman story. The rest was so-so.
Marvel Milestones: Rawhide Kid and Two-Gun Kid (Marvel Comics) — This book is exactly what I expected the Outlaw Files to be: reprints of the first stories to feature Johnny “Rawhide Kid” Bart and Matt “Two-Gun Kid” Hawk. Great classic western fun.
And that was the last of my June new comic purchases. Moving on, we resume reading from the mid-1980s:
The Thing 26 (Marvel Comics) — Recapping, in the aftermath of the Marvel Super-Heroes Secret War, Ben Grimm opted to stay on the Beyonder’s world for a while. When he returned to earth, he found his one-time girlfriend Alicia masters had become involved with the Human Torch. Feeling betrayed, Grimm left Manhattan and the Fantastic Four. This issue finds him wandering the country and stumbling across a sinister circus run by — no, not the Ringmaster, but the Taskmaster. “runaways” isn’t a bad story, but it’s not a remarkable story, either.
Superman annual (1985) 11 (DC Comics) — This is one of the greats. “For the Man Who Has Everything” was written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. It’s Superman’s birthday. Batman, new Robin Jason Todd and Wonder Woman arrive at the arctic Fortress of Solitude to give Superman birthday gifts and discover the Man of Steel under the thrall of a parasitic organism given to him by the alien conqueror Mongul. This story is so iconic it was adapted into an episode of Justice League Unlimited on Cartoon Network. If you’ve never read it, I highly recommend it. If you can’t find the original issue, it was recently reprinted in trade paperback form by DC in a collection of Alan Moore DC Universe stories.
The Warlord 97 (DC Comics) — Travis Morgan is leading his band of rebels in an attack to retake the besieged city of Shamballah. But the bad guys know about the “secret” attack plan in advance. Not only is the attack repelled, but the oppressors follow the rebels back to their camp and counter-attack there. All this disaster and the beginnings of the Crisis on Infinite Earths begins to be felt in the inner world of Skartaris.
Wow, if that’s not enough comics for you, come back next time for more.
Daredevil 86 (Marvel Comics) — I haven’t made up my mind for sure on this title. I’ve followed Daredevil from time to time in the past. Brubaker is a great writer. But this whole Daredevil in prison thing needs to start moving to some kind of resolution as I am starting to loose interest. This issue seems to be moving DD toward an escape, so maybe change is coming.
New Avengers 21 (Marvel Comics) — This Civil War tie-in issue felt like a fill-in. It was nice to see Captain America between his dramatic escape from S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in Civil War #1 and leading the group of resistance fighters in Civil War #2, but there really isn’t much going on in this issue besides filling in those gaps, which most readers probably assumed happened anyway. The only information revealed in this issue — which side the Falcon and Ant-Man/Giant-Man Hank Pym are on — could be deduced from the pages of Civil War itself.
Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes 19 (DC Comics) — This latest incarnation of the Legion is my third attempt at following the group’s adventures. I always seem to loose interest after a while. This latest approach by Mark Waid and Barry Kitson seem to be quite novel, but with the introduction of Supergirl and her ascent to the lead spot in the title seems to have thrown the rest of the book off its focus. This particular issue doesn’t even have much to do with Supergirl, per se. It is more a solo spotlight for Chameleon. And it’s not a bad story, it just didn’t grab my interest like earlier issues did. This book is also in danger of being dropped like a few others discussed last time.
Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre 2 (DC Comics) — I have high hopes for this series, and so far it hasn’t let me down, unlike its companion title, Crisis Aftermath: The Battle for Bludhaven. I really liked Gotham City police detective Crispus Allen when he was alive. I like what writer Will Pfeifer is doing by offering Allen the chance to join with the Spectre and using Allen’s perspective to help us explore the astral avenger. I hope this pairing moves beyond the scheduled miniseries.
Brave New World (DC Comics) — This preview comic offers advance glimpses of several upcoming series and miniseries — at least in theory. The problem is, when a person has to order his comic books several months in advance, he (or she) has to decide which of these books to follow before ever reading the preview. I’ve never cared much for the Creeper so I opted to pass on that series, and nothing in this book changed my mind. Other advanced online information convinced me to give the Shazam, Martian Manhunter and Atom series a try; this book leaves me hopeful that they will be worth the trial. I was curious about Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters, and still am after reading this comic. And I wasn’t sure about the OMAC series, but figured I’d give it a try based on their role in Infinite Crisis. This preview story looks promising.
Solo 11 Sergio Aragones (DC Comics) — This has been an uneven title as most anthologies are. That’s probably why it has been canceled. I think the concept is sound, the company sponsoring such a project just has to accept and expect uneven sales. Aragones is a funny guy. This issue shows why. I especially liked his true tale of Marty Feldman and the Batman story. The rest was so-so.
Marvel Milestones: Rawhide Kid and Two-Gun Kid (Marvel Comics) — This book is exactly what I expected the Outlaw Files to be: reprints of the first stories to feature Johnny “Rawhide Kid” Bart and Matt “Two-Gun Kid” Hawk. Great classic western fun.
And that was the last of my June new comic purchases. Moving on, we resume reading from the mid-1980s:
The Thing 26 (Marvel Comics) — Recapping, in the aftermath of the Marvel Super-Heroes Secret War, Ben Grimm opted to stay on the Beyonder’s world for a while. When he returned to earth, he found his one-time girlfriend Alicia masters had become involved with the Human Torch. Feeling betrayed, Grimm left Manhattan and the Fantastic Four. This issue finds him wandering the country and stumbling across a sinister circus run by — no, not the Ringmaster, but the Taskmaster. “runaways” isn’t a bad story, but it’s not a remarkable story, either.
Superman annual (1985) 11 (DC Comics) — This is one of the greats. “For the Man Who Has Everything” was written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. It’s Superman’s birthday. Batman, new Robin Jason Todd and Wonder Woman arrive at the arctic Fortress of Solitude to give Superman birthday gifts and discover the Man of Steel under the thrall of a parasitic organism given to him by the alien conqueror Mongul. This story is so iconic it was adapted into an episode of Justice League Unlimited on Cartoon Network. If you’ve never read it, I highly recommend it. If you can’t find the original issue, it was recently reprinted in trade paperback form by DC in a collection of Alan Moore DC Universe stories.
The Warlord 97 (DC Comics) — Travis Morgan is leading his band of rebels in an attack to retake the besieged city of Shamballah. But the bad guys know about the “secret” attack plan in advance. Not only is the attack repelled, but the oppressors follow the rebels back to their camp and counter-attack there. All this disaster and the beginnings of the Crisis on Infinite Earths begins to be felt in the inner world of Skartaris.
Wow, if that’s not enough comics for you, come back next time for more.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
More Reviews From Early June
Hey, had a chance to read a few more books this week, so let’s jump right in with my thoughts on ’em. Not sure if I’ve said it before or not, but some spoilers will be included from time to time.
The Thing 7 (Marvel Comics) — This is a fun book. I didn’t care so much for writer Dan Slott’s humor in his revamp of She-Hulk a couple years ago, but as I’ve said in discussing the 1983 Thing series, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Fantastic Four’s monstrous quarter. Well, Slott succeeds quite nicely with bashful Benjy’s adventures in this series, at least as far as I’m concerned. Naturally, next issue is the final as this title has been canceled waaaaaaay before its time. This issue has Ben trying to surprise one-time girlfriend Alicia, a blind sculptress, by taking her back in time to witness the creation of the Venus de Milo, her favorite sculpture. Naturally, things don’t work out quite like Ben intended, and maybe even a little history is re-written.
Superman/Batman 26 (DC Comics) — I can’t quite make up my mind about this issue. The Superman/Batman book can be fun, but I really didn’t like issue #7, the first to focus on Robin and Superboy instead. The characterization just seemed off to me. Not so much Superboy and Robin’s personalities, but Batman and Superman’s. The elder heroes seemed to not even like their younger counterparts, let alone trust them. Issue #26 is a continuation of that earlier story in more ways than one. It’s a fun little tale, and the true-story behind its origins tugs at the heart, but again, the adult heroes seem overly judgmental concerning the teen titans.
JLA Classified 16-21 (DC Comics) — First, a side note: Whenever I’m buying a multi-part story that doesn’t fit into continuity, I wait and read the whole thing when I have all of the issues — kinda like “waiting for the trade” without really waiting all that time for the actual trade. Most of the tales in Classified happened sometime in the undefined past, so they fit this bill. That means I just read all six of these issues for the first time this week. Conclusion: This is the Justice league done right!!!!! They work together as a team. They don’t always agree, but they like each other. Even Batman. He’s unquestionably their strategist. He’s coordinating the moves of the others in the final battle in spite of the fact he’s the only one of them without some fantastic power. But he’s not ordering them about like his own personal pawns. He tells them the plan ahead of time so they can better play their respective roles. Gail Simone turns in great plots each month on Birds of Prey. This arc proves she gets more than just the girl heroes.
52 Week Five (DC Comics) — We learn more about the messed up condition of the returning space heroes. And sure enough, Alan Scott is missing an eye (actually two of them as he points out in the story). That was one of the most significant things for me in this issue because it messed up my system of ordering these books. Scott has two good eyes in current issues of JSA, or seems to at least. That means I have to place the current story arc from JSA somewhere before the events of Infinite Crisis when he went out into space since he returns without the eye. Since the beginning of the story arc involves the golden-age Superman, placing this arc before Infinite Crisis can’t be done. I’ll have to wait and see when each arc wraps up, but maybe the solution will have to be that GL went out into space, lost an eye, came back, and has ring-created sight in the JSA arc in question. The fact that Alan lost his eye in space also blows my theory that he was going to lose it in the current JSA Classified arc with Vandal Savage.
Anyway, back to 52, they’ve delayed telling us about what happened to John Henry Irons in the last issue. He’s too busy trying to help the injured now to bring it up to anybody, but it looked like his armor took him over. Whatupwidat? It’s nice to see that Adam Strange, Starfire and Animal Man aren’t dead, but where the heck are they? Why did DC turn Renee Montoya into such a butt-head when they made her gay? I don’t care that she’s gay although that turn of events seemed to come outta left field, but since she came out she’s been angry and bitter and self-destructive. I’d almost say they are moving her into position to be the new gay Batwoman, but that character is supposed to be a re-vamped Kathy Kane. Oh, and one more 52 question, why is the backup History of the DCU so un-interesting so far? I like this series but I don’t like parts of it a lot.
Detective Comics 820 (DC Comics) — I’m enjoying this Face the Face story bringing Bats back after his year away, and I’m really liking the Jason Bard backup feature. I hope it doesn’t go away when Robinson ends his run as writer, but I imagine it will. This is a competent Batman who likes and works together with Robin and Commissioner Gordon. Finally.
JSA 86 (DC Comics) — I’ve heard some grumbling about the incoherency of this final JSA story arc before the book ends. I don’t see it. The sequence of events isn’t that hard to follow to me, and since I’ve never followed Hawkman to any large degree, I have only a passing knowledge of the Gentleman Ghost, so there’s less history to contradict for me, if this story does indeed contradict what has gone before. I’m liking this ghost story by DC president and publisher Paul Levitz and golden-age artist extraordinaire Jerry Ordway.
Outsiders 37 (DC Comics) — Since One Year Later began, this title has taken a decidely darker turn. I’m not opposed to that on principle. Darker stories can be good stories. But each issue recently has made me worry about reconciling Nightwing’s behavior here and in his own book. I don’t want to drop this book. I like the concept and I like what Winick did before the Crisis. But this issue’s confrontation between Nightwing and Superman, I mean, this issue’s Nightwing threatening Superman, I just don’t know ...
Justice League Unlimited 22 (DC Comics) — This book is just plain fun. It follows the characters as they were envisioned in the Timm-verse of the recent departed Justice League cartoon. The stories aren’t simplistic, but they can be equally enjoyed by youngsters and older fans alike. They are filled with nostalgia, wonder and awe. Bravo to Adam Beechen and Rick Burchett for their outstanding work month in and month out.
Whew! That’s a bunch, but that’s what I read since the last post.
The Thing 7 (Marvel Comics) — This is a fun book. I didn’t care so much for writer Dan Slott’s humor in his revamp of She-Hulk a couple years ago, but as I’ve said in discussing the 1983 Thing series, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Fantastic Four’s monstrous quarter. Well, Slott succeeds quite nicely with bashful Benjy’s adventures in this series, at least as far as I’m concerned. Naturally, next issue is the final as this title has been canceled waaaaaaay before its time. This issue has Ben trying to surprise one-time girlfriend Alicia, a blind sculptress, by taking her back in time to witness the creation of the Venus de Milo, her favorite sculpture. Naturally, things don’t work out quite like Ben intended, and maybe even a little history is re-written.
Superman/Batman 26 (DC Comics) — I can’t quite make up my mind about this issue. The Superman/Batman book can be fun, but I really didn’t like issue #7, the first to focus on Robin and Superboy instead. The characterization just seemed off to me. Not so much Superboy and Robin’s personalities, but Batman and Superman’s. The elder heroes seemed to not even like their younger counterparts, let alone trust them. Issue #26 is a continuation of that earlier story in more ways than one. It’s a fun little tale, and the true-story behind its origins tugs at the heart, but again, the adult heroes seem overly judgmental concerning the teen titans.
JLA Classified 16-21 (DC Comics) — First, a side note: Whenever I’m buying a multi-part story that doesn’t fit into continuity, I wait and read the whole thing when I have all of the issues — kinda like “waiting for the trade” without really waiting all that time for the actual trade. Most of the tales in Classified happened sometime in the undefined past, so they fit this bill. That means I just read all six of these issues for the first time this week. Conclusion: This is the Justice league done right!!!!! They work together as a team. They don’t always agree, but they like each other. Even Batman. He’s unquestionably their strategist. He’s coordinating the moves of the others in the final battle in spite of the fact he’s the only one of them without some fantastic power. But he’s not ordering them about like his own personal pawns. He tells them the plan ahead of time so they can better play their respective roles. Gail Simone turns in great plots each month on Birds of Prey. This arc proves she gets more than just the girl heroes.
52 Week Five (DC Comics) — We learn more about the messed up condition of the returning space heroes. And sure enough, Alan Scott is missing an eye (actually two of them as he points out in the story). That was one of the most significant things for me in this issue because it messed up my system of ordering these books. Scott has two good eyes in current issues of JSA, or seems to at least. That means I have to place the current story arc from JSA somewhere before the events of Infinite Crisis when he went out into space since he returns without the eye. Since the beginning of the story arc involves the golden-age Superman, placing this arc before Infinite Crisis can’t be done. I’ll have to wait and see when each arc wraps up, but maybe the solution will have to be that GL went out into space, lost an eye, came back, and has ring-created sight in the JSA arc in question. The fact that Alan lost his eye in space also blows my theory that he was going to lose it in the current JSA Classified arc with Vandal Savage.
Anyway, back to 52, they’ve delayed telling us about what happened to John Henry Irons in the last issue. He’s too busy trying to help the injured now to bring it up to anybody, but it looked like his armor took him over. Whatupwidat? It’s nice to see that Adam Strange, Starfire and Animal Man aren’t dead, but where the heck are they? Why did DC turn Renee Montoya into such a butt-head when they made her gay? I don’t care that she’s gay although that turn of events seemed to come outta left field, but since she came out she’s been angry and bitter and self-destructive. I’d almost say they are moving her into position to be the new gay Batwoman, but that character is supposed to be a re-vamped Kathy Kane. Oh, and one more 52 question, why is the backup History of the DCU so un-interesting so far? I like this series but I don’t like parts of it a lot.
Detective Comics 820 (DC Comics) — I’m enjoying this Face the Face story bringing Bats back after his year away, and I’m really liking the Jason Bard backup feature. I hope it doesn’t go away when Robinson ends his run as writer, but I imagine it will. This is a competent Batman who likes and works together with Robin and Commissioner Gordon. Finally.
JSA 86 (DC Comics) — I’ve heard some grumbling about the incoherency of this final JSA story arc before the book ends. I don’t see it. The sequence of events isn’t that hard to follow to me, and since I’ve never followed Hawkman to any large degree, I have only a passing knowledge of the Gentleman Ghost, so there’s less history to contradict for me, if this story does indeed contradict what has gone before. I’m liking this ghost story by DC president and publisher Paul Levitz and golden-age artist extraordinaire Jerry Ordway.
Outsiders 37 (DC Comics) — Since One Year Later began, this title has taken a decidely darker turn. I’m not opposed to that on principle. Darker stories can be good stories. But each issue recently has made me worry about reconciling Nightwing’s behavior here and in his own book. I don’t want to drop this book. I like the concept and I like what Winick did before the Crisis. But this issue’s confrontation between Nightwing and Superman, I mean, this issue’s Nightwing threatening Superman, I just don’t know ...
Justice League Unlimited 22 (DC Comics) — This book is just plain fun. It follows the characters as they were envisioned in the Timm-verse of the recent departed Justice League cartoon. The stories aren’t simplistic, but they can be equally enjoyed by youngsters and older fans alike. They are filled with nostalgia, wonder and awe. Bravo to Adam Beechen and Rick Burchett for their outstanding work month in and month out.
Whew! That’s a bunch, but that’s what I read since the last post.
Monday, June 26, 2006
A Crisis Is Brewing
Just some brief thoughts today on the comics I’ve read over the last few days moving into the year 1985.
For one thing, several of the comics, regardless of publisher, have been running an advertisement listing the results from Amazing Heroes Best 10 Books of 1984 poll, per R.A. Jones in Amazing Heroes #63. The list is first, Swamp Thing; second, Jon Sable; third, American Flagg; fourth, Teen Titans; fifth, Fantastic Four; sixth, X-Men; seventh, Blue Devil; eighth, Atari Force; ninth, Dr. Strange; and tenth, Power Pack. Two out of those top ten are complete runs in my collection.
I’ve also been paying more attention to the letters columns, editorial features and First Notes and such as I read over some of these comics than I used to when I was younger. I still don’t read every letter or comment, but I notice writer’s names and editorial opinions and such a tad more than I used to. I am seeing a lot of letters by “T.M. Maple,” a pseudonym not unfamiliar to a large number of comics collectors. T.M. was a very prolific and insightful writer to many letter cols. I don’t know the entire story of this individual, but I’ve read some things. It is interesting to see the number of books in which his missives appear.
For specific storylines, the Thing has finished up his adventures on the Beyonder’s planet and returned to Earth. I knew there was a point when his long-time girlfriend, the blind Alicia Masters, started dating the Human Torch instead. Now I know more about how and when that event came about in the life of Ben Grimm. One of the reasons Thing stayed behind on the Beyonder’s world was to sort out his feelings for Alicia. He was thinking he should break up with her because he was too dangerous for her to have a relationship with. Ben resolved to go through with the break-up and returned to Earth to find that Alicia had suspected what was coming, and when he didn’t return right away from space, she took the hint and moved on with her life. Johnny Storm was there to help out, and their relationship grew while Ben was away.
In the New Teen Titans, the team recovered from their emotional and psychological battles with Trigon. Then they discover something of the true origin of Lilith, a longtime, on-again-off-again member from the old days. It seems that Lilith is the daughter of Thia, one of the Titans of Myth, parents to the gods of Olympus. The goddess Thia kidnapped Lilith claiming to have been searching for her since she was stolen away as a baby and commenced to usurp control of Mount Olympus with designs on Earth next. Before defeating this menace with some mythical help, the Titans meet Kole, a young crystal-powered teenager whose parents the Titans attempt to track down in their next story arc.
Jon Sable’s title included a three-part story taking him to the Middle East titled, The Contract. A special back-up feature in those three issues was a real-life prose account of Sable creator Mike Grell’s first safari in Africa, complete with photos and sketches to illustrate the tale. Next begins a two-part story about Jon Sable’s mother before her death.
In addition to these regular books, I also have Sword of the Atom Special #2. In late 1983 or early 1984, artist Gil Kane and writer Jan Strnad turned the shrinking hero's world upside-down. In a four-issue miniseries, they took physicist Ray Palmer from his Ivy Town university job, ended his marriage to Jean Loring-Palmer, and plopped him down in the middle of the Amazon rainforest among a hidden civilization of six-inch tall yellow aliens stranded and living in the jungles. It sounds hard to believe, and the Atom probably wouldn’t have been most people’s first choice as the next big sword and sorcery hero, but the story and art in the series were incredible and the characters likable. The series was popular enough to generate two sequels, a 1984 Special and the second one in early 1985, but never an ongoing series of its own.
And then there’s the Warlord. For quite some time in that title, Travis Morgan and his Skartaran mate, Queen Tara of Shamballah, have been in hiding, building their forces and preparing to re-take their kingdom from the New Atlantean usurpers who have been little more than a subplot since they took over the land. But what is most interesting to me about the recent Warlord stories is how often the Monitor has been depicted watching the exploits of the characters. The Monitor is a mysterious figure, always shown in shadow at this point, who appeared in several DC books over the course of 1983 and 1984, usually as just an observer watching events transpire, but sometimes acting as a type of referral agent, connecting bosses with super-powered muscle for a fee. Readers wouldn’t learn who the Monitor was or what his motivations and goals were until the maxiseries Crisis on Infinite Earths. This is my first time reading Warlord stories from this period, so I am curious just how much of a role the Crisis plays in the life of the Warlord and vice-versa. I know Travis Morgan is pictured in the Crisis series in several group shots of heroes, but the number of appearances of the Monitor in the the pages of the Warlord, makes me wonder if the Crisis will play a large role in Skartaris.
Moving forward from here, in addition to Titans, Warlord, Sable and Thing, I also have a four-issue Red Tornado series and a four-issue Nightcrawler series from early 1985 and a three-issue Legend of the Hawkman prestige series from 2000 which I have placed here chronologically because it obviously deals with the pre-Crisis Hawkman from Thanagar. Then, of course, Crisis on Infinite Earths, after which the dates in my collection get really muddy. But more on that when the time comes.
For one thing, several of the comics, regardless of publisher, have been running an advertisement listing the results from Amazing Heroes Best 10 Books of 1984 poll, per R.A. Jones in Amazing Heroes #63. The list is first, Swamp Thing; second, Jon Sable; third, American Flagg; fourth, Teen Titans; fifth, Fantastic Four; sixth, X-Men; seventh, Blue Devil; eighth, Atari Force; ninth, Dr. Strange; and tenth, Power Pack. Two out of those top ten are complete runs in my collection.
I’ve also been paying more attention to the letters columns, editorial features and First Notes and such as I read over some of these comics than I used to when I was younger. I still don’t read every letter or comment, but I notice writer’s names and editorial opinions and such a tad more than I used to. I am seeing a lot of letters by “T.M. Maple,” a pseudonym not unfamiliar to a large number of comics collectors. T.M. was a very prolific and insightful writer to many letter cols. I don’t know the entire story of this individual, but I’ve read some things. It is interesting to see the number of books in which his missives appear.
For specific storylines, the Thing has finished up his adventures on the Beyonder’s planet and returned to Earth. I knew there was a point when his long-time girlfriend, the blind Alicia Masters, started dating the Human Torch instead. Now I know more about how and when that event came about in the life of Ben Grimm. One of the reasons Thing stayed behind on the Beyonder’s world was to sort out his feelings for Alicia. He was thinking he should break up with her because he was too dangerous for her to have a relationship with. Ben resolved to go through with the break-up and returned to Earth to find that Alicia had suspected what was coming, and when he didn’t return right away from space, she took the hint and moved on with her life. Johnny Storm was there to help out, and their relationship grew while Ben was away.
In the New Teen Titans, the team recovered from their emotional and psychological battles with Trigon. Then they discover something of the true origin of Lilith, a longtime, on-again-off-again member from the old days. It seems that Lilith is the daughter of Thia, one of the Titans of Myth, parents to the gods of Olympus. The goddess Thia kidnapped Lilith claiming to have been searching for her since she was stolen away as a baby and commenced to usurp control of Mount Olympus with designs on Earth next. Before defeating this menace with some mythical help, the Titans meet Kole, a young crystal-powered teenager whose parents the Titans attempt to track down in their next story arc.
Jon Sable’s title included a three-part story taking him to the Middle East titled, The Contract. A special back-up feature in those three issues was a real-life prose account of Sable creator Mike Grell’s first safari in Africa, complete with photos and sketches to illustrate the tale. Next begins a two-part story about Jon Sable’s mother before her death.
In addition to these regular books, I also have Sword of the Atom Special #2. In late 1983 or early 1984, artist Gil Kane and writer Jan Strnad turned the shrinking hero's world upside-down. In a four-issue miniseries, they took physicist Ray Palmer from his Ivy Town university job, ended his marriage to Jean Loring-Palmer, and plopped him down in the middle of the Amazon rainforest among a hidden civilization of six-inch tall yellow aliens stranded and living in the jungles. It sounds hard to believe, and the Atom probably wouldn’t have been most people’s first choice as the next big sword and sorcery hero, but the story and art in the series were incredible and the characters likable. The series was popular enough to generate two sequels, a 1984 Special and the second one in early 1985, but never an ongoing series of its own.
And then there’s the Warlord. For quite some time in that title, Travis Morgan and his Skartaran mate, Queen Tara of Shamballah, have been in hiding, building their forces and preparing to re-take their kingdom from the New Atlantean usurpers who have been little more than a subplot since they took over the land. But what is most interesting to me about the recent Warlord stories is how often the Monitor has been depicted watching the exploits of the characters. The Monitor is a mysterious figure, always shown in shadow at this point, who appeared in several DC books over the course of 1983 and 1984, usually as just an observer watching events transpire, but sometimes acting as a type of referral agent, connecting bosses with super-powered muscle for a fee. Readers wouldn’t learn who the Monitor was or what his motivations and goals were until the maxiseries Crisis on Infinite Earths. This is my first time reading Warlord stories from this period, so I am curious just how much of a role the Crisis plays in the life of the Warlord and vice-versa. I know Travis Morgan is pictured in the Crisis series in several group shots of heroes, but the number of appearances of the Monitor in the the pages of the Warlord, makes me wonder if the Crisis will play a large role in Skartaris.
Moving forward from here, in addition to Titans, Warlord, Sable and Thing, I also have a four-issue Red Tornado series and a four-issue Nightcrawler series from early 1985 and a three-issue Legend of the Hawkman prestige series from 2000 which I have placed here chronologically because it obviously deals with the pre-Crisis Hawkman from Thanagar. Then, of course, Crisis on Infinite Earths, after which the dates in my collection get really muddy. But more on that when the time comes.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
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.
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.
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