Endorsement: Justice League Unlimited

There is a lot happening in the DCU right now. And, surprisingly... I endorse almost all of it, including...

Justice League Unlimited, whose second issue I have just read.

Written by Mark Waid and Art by Dan Mora.  Already, it's a winner.  Nobody is better at handling a large cast of characters than Mark Waid (of Legion of Super-Heroes fame), with a demonstrated understanding of core personalities and how to convey them. 

Waid nails Ray Palmer in one panel. Grinningly confident scientist. You know have all the information you need about his personality, organically shown.

Mora's art makes every character solid, colorful, and distinctive but within a unifying style; he's the ideal superhero comic artist, especially when you need to put a wide variety of characters in the same context.

An example of Mora's work from the series that makes my point.

Waid's mastery is evident right from the start.  He overviews the League's new headquarters, its scope, and its principle players, then introduces an Overt Threat storyline (the remnants of Apokalips left in the wake of Darkseid's death), a Shadowy Threat storyline (the "Inferno" group), an Interior Threat storyline (the new double agent within the JLU).  By the end of issue 2, the current manifestation of the Overt Immediate Threat is understood and dealt with; the Shadowy Background Threat is identified as such but neither understood nor dealt with; and the Hidden Foreground Threat isn't even identified (except to us, the readers).

With these three different story levels, Waid is giving us: in-your-face action sequences which tests the League's muscle and tactics; lurking mysteries that test its brains and strategy; and a Columboesque howcatchum that creates Hitchcockian tension for the reader by giving us knowledge of threat unknown to the characters.  

Pictured: threat unknown to the characters and Comic Book Irony.

And even with the Hidden Threat, it's made clear there the reason the Question was engaged to be Head of Security on the satellite headquarters was because the JLU's leader (the Big Three) suspect that there is SOME lurking threat within the group's ranks and that a relenting inquisitive, skeptical detective is just the person needed against such threats.  A potential weird use of DC characters ("Why is former Gotham cop in charge of a space facility full of super beings?") is plotted to not only make sense, but to be almost the only thing that WOULD make sense.  So, too, the assignment of Perennial Problem Character the Red Tornado as the now-bodiless AI running the satellite, takes a character's potential downsides ("He's a robot and blows up regularly") and re-contextualizes them into a logical role for the character. It certainly makes more sense than having demigods bitching about having to sit on "Monitor Duty".

Sometimes, you or I might not agree with the particulars of what Waid does in any story, BUT you cannot disagree that Waid always knows what he is doing.  

Waid is The Batman of DC writers.

Unlike some modern writers, Waid isn't using the characters to act own his own emotion problems or to explore literary theory; he's plotting the bejeezus out of every panel to keep your brain engaged and your feelings invested.

In all this, he makes sure the Justice Leaguers are shown to be competent and expert (in their own ways).

JLU: "Hey, Batman. You're not super, but do you more know about what's going on they we and can therefore advise us?"
Batman: "Yes, of course. I'm Batman, that's what I do. I think and I know things."

Waid does not STOP things to talk about How The Characters Are. He lets the situation show us.

Waid uses this sequence of the JLU solving a problem with the Overt Threat to show ways in which Wonder Woman and Mary Marvel are similar but distinct, connected by different, and he does it in mildly amusing way that doesn't stop the action or jar the overall serious tone.

If it seems I am gushing over what seem like Basic Writer's Doings, I must remember that such things cannot be taken for granted.  I remind you that Some People's Justice League took four issues TO STAND UP FROM SITTING A TABLE.  If there is a Sherman, a MacArthur, Cincinnatus in The War Against Decompression At DC, it is Mark Waid.

In two issues, we are shown, in context, the personalities and abilities of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, both Atoms, Atom-Smasher, the Question, Blue Beetle, Air Wave, Star Sapphire, Flash, Stargirl, Red Tornado, Mister Terrific, Mary Marvel, Martian Manhunter, Dr. Occult. 

Honestly, I could kiss Waid simply for so strongly introducing Dr. Occult.  Not because I am some huge fan of Dr. Occult, because I am SO sick of John Constantine even typing his name brings me close to throwing up.  Dr. O fits the Arcane Consult role perfectly and without sticking out from the JLU's tone.

Waid gives more definition and personality to Dr. Occult in one issue than the rest of DC's writers have in the NINETY YEARS since he was introduced.

Waid even recognizes that J'onn J'onzz is a secretive, deceptive, lunatic and uses that to add another Potential Threat storyline. More on that tomorrow.

If you are reading more than one DC title currently, you'll notice that incidents in them are referred to in JLU and vice versa.  The title isn't just its Own Wacky Thing; it's the hub for what's going on in the DCU. In two issues, Waid (supported by Mora's matchless art) has made the Justice League something it has always deserved to be (and in my memory, has almost never been): 

an essential, exciting, enjoyable read for any DCU fan.

I have no trouble endorsing that fully.

I cried today

I cried today because of a comic book.

It wasn't a sad comic book. It was simply so beautiful. So beautiful that it made me cry.

It was Batman & Robin: Year One, title by writer Mark Waid and artist Chris Samnee.  

I couldn't believe a "Batman and Robin: Year One" hadn't been done before, but... this is it, now, apparently.

At first glance, you might just lump it in with the Mazzuchelli style (the one "Batman: Year One" was drawn in. Thick lines, with a vague air of Madison Avenue-era ad art.

But it's much better than that. A little more on that later.

Both the writing and the art do a great job of (SUBTLY) referencing the Batman '66 television series.  For example in the cover art above, you can see references to the show's opening credits in the villains they are fighting.

See for yourself.

Dick Grayson chaffing at some obscure study at home, then being reminded how important studying (Egyptology, leaf structures, bird songs, etc.) was for proper education. With a slight change in dialog this is nearly a scene from the show.

Then a Death-Trap Escape complete with "follow my movements exactly", which could have come straight from the show.

That was a LOT easier than the killer player-piano roll machine.

Add to that a nearly pitch-perfect version of Two-Face

which references the essential irony that he is both extremely predictable in some ways and extremely unpredictable in others.  Nowadays, a good characterization of Two-Face is so rare as to bring tears to my eyes all by itself.

There's even an old school mystery of the type we seldom get in stories about the World's Greatest Detective: Two-Face has stolen a FILE from Commissioner Gordon and neither Gordon NOR Two-Face will tell Batman what's in it.  

Batman is puzzled by the villain's apparent uncharacteristic diversion  from the "two" motif in this crime.  

My bet is that the file is Gordon's deductions on Batman's DOUBLE identity.

All this is very Silver/Golden age.  But wisely there are certainly nods to modern sensibility, such as Gordon balking at the "kid sidekick" and Robin being confounded by the supercriminals who don't simply kill you on sight.  The whole issue is a truly timeless story, using lots of very traditional elements of Batman history that most modern writers would be scared to death of attempting.  It's the kind of thing that, currently, only Mark Waid can pull off.

Well, Sholly Fisch could.  
Because there's nothing Sholly Fisch can't pull off.

All this storytelling is ideal for a long-time fan like me and Chris Samnee's ability to draw in essentially an abstract, Golden Age style, but through a modern lens is the perfect complement.  This, though, is the panel where it really hit me what I was seeing:

At first, it might seem unremarkable to you. I mean, there's little action, no dialog, no interactions, no captions.

But I just keep staring at.  Maybe five minutes. Then I realized I was crying.

Because it's perfect Golden Age composition, where the art tells the story.  The Batmobile, unassuming, is headed for a conflict with THAT MAN, who is high above, but in a direct line across from its path, from our view.  And colored with meaningful and tasteful contrast.  

Let's put this in some context.

This is Golden Age art.  It is a study in economy and contrasts.

This is modern comic book art.  It tends toward photorealistic and maximalism.

Don't get me wrong; these are both "good art".  But the modern art impresses me with its technical proficiency while the classic art moves me, emotionally and intellectually with its skill at choosing the right art for the storytelling at hand. It is art that is there for the story, not for itself. That, to me, is the appropriate role of art in this medium.  And seeing Chris Samnee's work in Batman and Robin: Year One made me realize that it was NOT a lost art, as I had feared.

The relief that gave me was worth more than a tear or two.  Thank you, Chris Samnee.

Just read Mark Waid

Well, thank goodness for Mark Waid or I don't think I would have had anything enjoyable to read this month. 

I did pick up the Shazam/Wonder Woman crossover, featuring Mary Marvel, as she is now (again), called (cleverly enough, I suppose).  But it disappointed in three major ways and that's a lot for one small story.

Its depiction of Hera as a shrill harpy was over the top. I mean... even for Hera.  There might have been some irony to be wrung out of Hera, a long put-upon woman under the thumb of a tyrannical, philandering husband, rebelling against, killing and supplanting him, only to become even worse.  

This could work very well in a Wonder Woman comic: "See what you have become, sister!"   But, no; it was mostly a slugfest. Exactly how the Gods should not be used.  Which was the second disappointment. I like that the Greek gods are part of DCU's mythos and DC is often good about treating them as Something Apart. But when they don't --when they treat being a god as just some other flavor of superDUPER-supervillain-- well, that just misses the point of having gods in the mix at all, doesn't it?

Yes, it does miss the point.
So, leave "The New Gods" alone, kids. Kirby had at least SOME idea how to handle them and you do not.

And, third, of course, was the nearly inevitable re-apotheosis of Wonder Woman. Re-apotheosis: that's a word that should NEVER have to be written.  But at this point, Wonder Woman might as well be classified as a were-god: every 30 months or so, when the publishing moon is full, she becomes a goddess (again).  

I'm tired of explaining how stupid this is. It shouldn't even NEED to be explained (unless, you know, you're a Marvel reader and that sort of thing makes sense to you).  Just stop it, DC.  

Fortunately, I read the most recent issue of World's Finest, because, by Jasper, I wouldn't miss Simon Stagg's funeral for the world!  And... and...

"characterized by even his few mourners as 'opportunistic' and 'abrasive' "

and it read LIKE A COMIC BOOK.

Things HAPPENED. They happened fast, but clearly and things I didn't need to see happened off-panel and things I DID need to see happened in-panel.  Friends like Batman and Superman (or mere colleagues like Metamorpho) had differences but worked through them quickly and the fact that they would remain friends was never called into question for cheap drama.  Heroes were falsely accused but no one tried to trick us the readers into thinking they were guilty; the mystery was in how they were framed, and why, and by whom.  The mystery was solved with effort, but within an issue and with contributions from all involved.  The solution was logical but surprising and pulled in characters who broadened the scope and seriousness of the plot; it didn't foreclose the action but escalated it and ended on a cliffhanger that left me waiting for the next issue. It was a COMIC BOOK, like, well, like the Legion reboot that Mark Waid wrote almost 25 years ago in 1999, which I still remember as the most engaging on-going series I've ever read. 

Thanks for making it look easy, Mark. I hope some other writers read your books, too.

World's Finest #9 Strange Visitor Chapter Three: Fears of a Clown

 Just a few words about this issue of Waid & Mora's marvelous World's Finest, which is the best book on the stands right now.

Wrong answer, Batman. The right answer is:

Curbing your emotions in the field doesn't mean being CYNICAL. It just means being RATIONAL and not acting impulsively. And Superman, of all people, would agree.

Don't make false dichotomies between Batman and Superman. Batman certainly wouldn't.

THANK YOU, Mark Waid, for remembering that Wally doesn't like Roy because he's an annoying hipster.

And that everyone feels that way.  DC; give Waid and Mora an on-going (or limited) series of the Original Teen Titans and I will be THERE for it.

There are few things scarier in the DCU than Superman trying hard not to be angry.