I Admit I Continue To Be Curious

Teen Titans 1
DC Comics
Will Pfeifer, writer
Kenneth Rocafort, artist

I grew up with the members of The New Teen Titans in the 1980s. I don't pretend that I followed the team in their Silver Age incarnation (1966-1978), although I have since read and enjoyed most of those issues. I wasn't even on board in 1980 when the New team debuted in DC Comics Presents No. 26 between the pages of a Superman/Green Lantern tale. But I discovered the title in 1983 in a story I've told here before and followed the title going both forward and backward, eventually collecting the entire run.

I decided to try the next incarnation of the team (1996-98) led by a de-aged Ray Palmer Atom when Dan Jurgens relaunched the title shortly after Zero Hour, and I enjoyed the new characters he introduced to the team name, although in all honesty, my favorite issues were the later ones when the original team members came back into the narrative.

I liked even more when Geoff Johns relaunched the title (2003-2011) with the next generation of Teen Titans. A big part of the appeal of that version was the continuity that was established with the formation of Young Justice, and then those characters' "graduation" to the name Teen Titans, while the original group members dropped the no-longer-accurate modifier and became just the Titans for a couple more iterations.

But I dropped out when the New 52 came along. One of the goals of the relaunch was to shake things up and draw in new readers. Teen Titans was one of the titles that changed the most. Despite some early confusion, the entire history of the group was jettisoned, and the personalities of the existing characters were changed pretty drastically along with bringing in a number of newer characters. I'm not going to say the title after the makeover was bad, but I'd lost my connection to the characters and thus, the title.

Then, a few months ago, I reread the H.E.R.O. series from DC written by Will Pfeifer. Not long before that, I'd reread his fantastic run on Catwoman. After both those titles, I decided to give the fresh relaunch of the New 52 version of Teen Titans a try with Pfeifer at the helm. It's too soon to know much about the direction of Pfeifer's run with only one issue under my belt, but he does have me curious.

As far as I know, not having read more than an issue or two of the previous series, it seems that Pfeifer has elected not to drastically reboot the team again to start his run. I know some of the names, but that is about it with the members of the team so far. But in this age where real teens' lives are consumed by electronic devices, Pfeifer has chosen to make said devices a commanding presence in his story — the Titans use social media and electronic gadgetry to communicate with each other as they take down a group of terrorists holding a school bus of students hostage. Bystanders on the street also record many of the events using their own cellphones and tablets. It even seems that the leader of the terror group is using tech-savvy to lead and control his or her own minions (the lead villain's gender wasn't clear to me from the art, but I think the character was referred to as "she" once).

While I'm not familiar with the revamped history of older characters like Beast Boy, Red Robin, Raven and Wonder Girl or the back story for New 52 newcomer Bunker, I liked what I read in this issue. And Kenneth Rocafort's art, while not always to my liking, works in many scenes of this book. I'm sticking around for more before passing any kind of final judgment, but I'm sticking around.

Adding A Name To My Favorite Writers List

H.E.R.O. (2003-05)
DC Comics
Will Pfeifer, writer
Kano, Patrick Gleason, Leonard Kirk and Dale Eaglesham, artists

I recently re-read this series, rediscovering all of the enjoyment and wonder that kept me coming back issue after issue when the title was new. Picking it up again now, several years after those initial readings, I recognize the name of the writer where I didn't know him as well before. Will Pfeifer wrote that incredible run on Catwoman between 2005 and 2008, and he did a great job when he was handed the reins to the Aquaman title in 2004 for a brief eight-issue stint. I haven't read everything Pfeifer has written, but I enjoy much of what I have read. OK, he wrote the mess that was Amazons Attack! in 2007, but I can forgive him that if we can all just agree that series never happened.

But getting back to this series, it is an updating of the 1960s Dial H For Hero concept, which debuted in House of Mystery and was later revived in Adventure Comics. In those stories, a kid named Robby Reed finds a mysterious dial with the letters "H," "E," "R," and "O" on it. When Robby punches the letters in sequence, he is transformed into a super-powerful individual. Each time he uses the dial, he is transformed into a different powered being, but instantly with each transformation, Robby instinctively "knows" the hero name and abilities that go along with his new body.

During the initial runs of the feature, readers were encouraged to write in with their own hero suggestions and costumes. Contest winners then had their creations appear in a future issue as the next hero Robby Reed would transform into. The entire thing was based on randomness; Robby never knew what kind of powers he was going to get with each use of the dial, and sometimes had a challenge figuring out how to use what he got to resolve the situation he found himself in.

With this series, Pfeifer upped the randomness factor of the entire thing. Instead of focusing his series on a single dial-user, Pfeifer had the dial changing hands often through various means. For instance, one group of users in Pfeifer's series starts out sharing the dial, taking turns transforming themselves. But later, they begin to fight over who will use the device next and end up losing the device out a moving car window. Some people lose the device when it is stolen from them. Others, like Robby, simply find the device somewhere unexpectedly.

Pfeifer takes things even further. Punching the buttons on the dial results in the person possessing it being transformed into someone with superpowers; it does NOT, however, guarantee that a "hero" will result. Some folks have more selfish aims in mind when they learn the power the device gives them. Some of the people who find the dial are villains even before learning what it can do, and they see it as a means to further their criminal goals.

This series was a bit darker in tone than the other works I've enjoyed from Pfeifer's pen. The first issue starts out with a young man contemplating suicide after his disastrous encounter with the device. And that early issue pales in comparison to later ones when a deranged psychotic killer gains control of the device. But that's part of the appeal of this series; you never know from issue to issue what is going to happen next!

All in all, H.E.R.O. was a good read from a talented writer whose work I've often enjoyed. In fact, rereading this series and looking back at his past work I have enjoyed has inspired me to pick up Pfeifer's forthcoming relaunch of the New 52 version of Teen Titans and give it a try after writing off this incarnation of the team previously.

It's All About The Building Blocks

Batman 608-619
DC Comics
Jeph Loeb, writer
Jim Lee and Scott Williams, artists

**********SPOILER ALERT**********

If you don't recognize the issue numbers above, they are from the yearlong, 2002-03, epic story arc "Hush," the Batman story that features a huge cast of Batman's allies and rogues along with the mystery of who Hush really is. This type of story is a theme repeated by writer Jeph Loeb in other Batman stories including "The Long Halloween" and "Dark Victory," both of which also feature a central whodunit mystery and a tour of Batman's rouges' gallery.

The biggest criticism of the initial "Hush" story was that ultimately the villain responsible for everything was a character who didn't exist in the pages of Batman before issue No. 609. That's right, the character's very first appearance as Hush doesn't come until the second chapter of the story, and it isn't until almost the end of that issue that his real name is even mentioned. Then he makes his first unmasked appearance in a flashback. And finally on the next to last page, he makes his first unmasked contemporary appearance.

Loeb provides clues to the true identity of Hush throughout the story, but the character is purely his own creation that was brand new for this story arc. Despite that fact, the emotional impact of the villain's identity hinges on readers accepting that this brand new character is one Bruce Wayne is supposed to have known all of his life, a childhood friend now grown, and seemingly just as twisted as Batman is honest.

Despite the immediate cries of "foul" and "cheat" when Hush's real identity was revealed in the story, the character has returned in a number of story arcs by other creators to very good effect. That, I believe, is testament to the fact that Loeb really did craft a good story despite what many claimed at the time. And beyond just being a good story, it provided the building blocks that shaped a great deal of the Batman universe going forward as other creators stepped in after Loeb's epic.

For instance, Batman and Catwoman have long had a flirtatous relationship in the comics, but it is during the "Hush" story arc that Batman decides to reveal his true identity to Catwoman as a show of trust. Without that development in the modern versions of the characters, I don't think we would have gotten Catwoman's characterization in the latter part of the third series to bear her name, particularly the issues by Will Pfeifer.

I also like the interaction shown in this arc between Batman and his allies, Alfred, Nightwing, Robin, Oracle and Police Commissioner Jim Gordon. Nightwing in particular gets a lot of "screen" time in this story, a further plus in my book. It doesn't hurt that I like the way Loeb writes their interactions and depicts their relationship through their characterization.

If you've never read "Hush," pick it up in single issues or trade. I think you'll be glad you did. It is filled with solid writing and some mighty pretty art.

Nicole's Life Better Go Smoother Than Helena's Does

Catwoman (2001 series) 53-82
DC Comics
Will Pfeifer, writer
David Lopez, Alvaro Lopez and Adan Hughes, artists

Despite some great writers, I never picked up the early issues of the 2001 relaunch of Catwoman's solo title. But I heard good things about the book when DC had its line-wide event, "One Year Later," and jumped all of their books' storylines ahead one year. The creative team that launched Catwoman: One Year Later -- Pfeifer, Lopez, Lopez and Hughes stayed with the book until the series' final issue, No. 82. And it was a truly great run.

Catwoman started out as a cat burglar influenced by the appearance of Batman to adopt her own costume and animal motif. Throughout the character's history, Catwoman has walked a fine line between good and evil, sometimes committing crimes and leading Batman on merry chases like the rest of the Gotham rogues and other times working with the Dark Knight as an ally on the side of justice. On the pre-Crisis On Infinite Earths version of Earth 2, Catwoman even reformed completely, and Selina Kyle, Catwoman's alter ego, went on to marry Bruce Wayne.

The main conceit of the 2001 Catwoman series was that Catwoman was still not above committing the occasional crime for profit but spent most of her time as a resident of Gotham City's East End and spent her nights in costume defending the downtrodden in that poor area of Gotham. Maybe she wasn't quite a hero, but she was at least an anti-hero, and the people of the East End grew to love and depend on her protection. Prior to "One Year Later," the crime boss Black Mask took an interest in the East End and was making life miserable for Catwoman and her supporting cast, including Holly and "Slam." Holly Robinson is a longtime supporting player in Catwoman's life. Her back story has changed a bit over time, but she was basically a young runaway Catwoman took in and saved from a life on the streets. She has long been a protege, though I don't think Holly had ever donned a costume before this point. Samuel "Slam" Bradley was an aging private eye working out of Gotham's East End. Bradley's publishing history dates all the way back to Detective Comics No. 1 in the mid 1930s. He is hired by the mayor of Gotham to find Catwoman in this modern series, but instead, befriends her and sometimes aides her in her adventuring.

With "One Year Later," readers find that Black Mask is dead, and it is uncertain who killed him although many suspect Catwoman. There is also a question about what became of "Slam" Bradley's adult son, Sam Bradley Jr., a recently disgraced Gotham cop with good intentions. And the biggest change is that Selina, having learned she was pregnant, decides to give up being Catwoman in favor of being a full-time mother. She hands the costume off to Holly, who decides to take up the role of Catwoman and protect the East End.

The father of Catwoman's baby, a little girl she names Helena, is kept a mystery for several issues. Remember that pre-Crisis Earth 2 Batman and Catwoman who tied the knot I mentioned earlier? Well, they went on to have a little girl they named Helena. Helena was trained by her father to be a crimefighter while still just a child after her mother died. Then later, after he also passed away, she adopted the costumed identity of the Huntress, carrying on her father's mission to protect Gotham City. Would this little girl turn out to be the daughter of Batman?

A great deal of the action of this series for these final 30 issues centers around Selina trying to remain retired and safeguard her child from the dangers of being the child of Catwoman. Several old enemies and a few new ones crop up to threaten the pair's safety. Adding to Selina's worries, Holly isn't quite the efficient Catwoman that Selina was, and when some of those old enemies come calling, they mistake the new Catwoman for the previous one. That leads to a number of opportunities for Selena to once again don the ears and goggles. Along the way, other DC Universe events leave an impact on Catwoman's world, events like Amazons Attack! and Salvation Run. There are also a number of guest stars, including Batman and Zatanna, and several references to the events which led to the popular Identity Crisis storyline and the fallout of same.

All of that may sound like a lot to take in, but these issues were great reads when they were first released between 2006 and 2008. Pfeifer does an excellent job of giving readers enough information to follow Catwoman's involvement in the various crossovers without confusion, but reading the various other series can also enhance a reader's enjoyment of this series, if desired. And rereading these stories now, they take on an entirely different sense of enjoyment and connection. I'm not running around on rooftops or fighting for my life at my job, but I have a new-found respect for trying to get my work done while also taking care of our new daughter!

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.