Double Articulation Digest #9

Just for kicks:

My Current Top Five DC Comics

Checkmate – I am saddened—nay, crushed—that Greg Rucka is leaving what has to be the best spy story in recent comics history. The characters actually behave and speak like adults, the plots twist and turn vertiginously—I am constantly surprised, delighted, and entertained by this book. Top of the pile every month. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Justice Society of America – Geoff Johns, Alex Ross, and Dale Eaglesham continue to explore the legacy theme with a tenderness and reverence for their subject matter that verges on the religious. Some people will hate that, but I’m grateful that there is a book like this on the stands. The world they've created has the same intricacy, believability, and depth that the Wolfman/Perez New Teen Titans had back in the day.

Green Lantern – At this point, does anyone need convincing? The Sinestro Corps War was the best sequel to the original Crisis on Infinite Earths that DC has published, and the book shows no signs of slowing down. The “teaser trailer” for Darkest Night gave me the kind of anticipatory tingles I haven’t had since I was a teenager.

Suicide Squad – If DC is going to inflict a Bruce Jones-penned Checkmate on us after Rucka leaves (why?), the least they can do is put Ostrander back on a Suicide Squad ongoing. The current series has everything (love the Windfall/Sister Twister relationship—inspired!). I heard a rumor that DC might forego reprinting the original series in Showcase Presents B&W editions (as originally announced) in favor of full color trades. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Booster Gold – Another Johns book, I know. But what can I say? This is just the most fun you’re going to have for three dollars. Plus, it’s made me rediscover the awesomeness of Dan Jurgens, who, thanks to this, has finally redeemed himself for that hideous reinvention of the Teen Titans in the late nineties.

* * *

Honorable Mentions

Batman and the Outsiders – This is a great, great relaunch. Thank you, Chuck Dixon!! It manages to do what so few relaunches of beloved books ever manage: it stays absolutely true to the premise, tone, and feel of the original, while not seeming at all old-fashioned. (There is a scene in issue 3 where Rex, Brion, Tatsu, and Jeff have a mini-reunion that could have been written by Mike W. Barr. Again, thank you Chuck Dixon!) The “new” Outsiders all work wonderfully and the art by Julian Lopez is stunning.

Wonder Woman – With only one storyline under her belt, Gail Simone has already proven that Diana’s adventures are in the very best of hands. Although I wasn’t as bothered by the group effort on the art as some, I’m looking forward to Aaron Lopresti’s run. Consistency is always a plus.

Nightwing – After a blabbery first issue, Peter Tomasi has begun to get his scripting under control, and I like it. Plus, Rags on art and a storyline that seems to be positioning Nightwing at the center of the Bat-universe? You’re spoiling us!

* * *

Should I be reading…?

The Legion of Superheroes – The answer is yes, isn’t it?

The Brave and the Bold – I probably shouldn’t have dropped this, but I was so annoyed with that stupid Supergirl issue that I had to take a break. Jerry Ordway’s upcoming tenure also tempts me.

Double Articulation Digest #8

There was a cornucopia of DC news today, but most exciting was the announcement of its new Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman weekly, Trinity. The format of the new series (12 pages of continuous story each week by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley, plus backups written by Busiek and Fabian Nicieza and drawn by various artists) and the promise that it can be read relatively independently of the rest of the line at least show that DC has learned from the creative and logistical stumbles of Countdown. A weekly twelve page lead is enough to scratch the serial itch, and a related ten-page back-up by different artists should add a nice touch of surprise to each issue. A bonus, as the interview with Busiek at CBR reminded me, is that this is the same crew who were responsible, at various times, for two of Marvel’s best series from the 1990s: Thunderbolts and New Warriors. This is obviously a perfect gig for Bagley, and even though I’ve never been a “fan” of his art, per se, I love its energy. There’s something bracing about speedy, robust pencils in the current era of “star” artists who produce exquisite pages at a glacial pace. Very excited about this.

* * *

The announcement of two other forthcoming DC events—Rann/Thanagar: Holy War and Reign in Hell—is somewhat intriguing, though I’m not completely sold on either one yet. Countdown to Adventure has been okay, but nothing to write home about, and I’ve passed—perhaps mistakenly—on Countdown to Mystery (I’ve heard that the Doctor Fate story has been good). Will these new forays into DC’s science fiction and magic territories be any better? I really like DC’s space characters, but another Holy War? Ugh. I’m also inclined to agree with the Newsarama poster who said that Starlin and Lim are perhaps too predictable a pair as the creative force behind this type of story. And then there’s the notion of a war in DC’s version of Hell. Again, ugh. I hate Neron—a lot. In fact, I pretty much hate all comic book attempts to turn God and Satan into characters—the effect is invariably shabby and lame. We’ll see.

* * *

I’ve never been a Ghost Rider reader, not even back in the 1970s. But I would occasionally leaf through those old seventies issues at the cigar store in Grant Park mall with curiosity. I mean, what ten year old imagination isn’t compelled by a biker with a flaming skull? I realize now that my flicker of attraction to the comic back then was rooted in the fact that it looked more like a horror book than a superhero title—the same thing that attracted me to Swamp Thing, Night Force, House of Mystery, and even The New Teen Titans (I began reading in earnest during the horror-tinged Brother Blood issues). That’s why this item at CBR gave me a little feeling of nostalgia for a book I never read and a character I know little about. Jason Aaron’s intention to take Ghost Rider back to his horror roots certainly sounds appealing. In fact, his plans for the series recall the picaresque structure of Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing. Roland Boschi’s art looks suitably moody. Worth a try?

Double Articulation Digest #7

ITEM! Paul Pelletier’s new job as Marvel’s Nova penciller (with inks by Rick Magyar) is enough to make me give the series another try. Although I’ve enjoyed the Annihilation books, Nova’s own series never quite took off for me. Pelletier’s art, however, is huge draw. His work on CrossGen’s Negation was outstanding, his quirkily-imagined alien races a feast for the eyes. I was sorry to hear that he and McDuffie were ending their great run on Fantastic Four to make way for the “blockbuster” team of Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. I’ll be buying Nova instead.

* * *

ITEM! My wish is granted, sort of. The good news is that I get my Titans team; the bad news… But, you know, I’ve really been enjoying Winick’s Green Arrow/Black Canary, so I won’t prejudge. Not thrilled about Ian Churchill on pencils, but maybe… Wah!

* * *

ITEM! And speaking of Judd Winick, I read the Outsiders/Checkmate: Checkout trade this weekend, co-scripted by Winick and Greg Rucka. I buy Checkmate regularly (one of DC’s best) but I’d skipped the Outsiders crossover issues because I was sulking about that title, having dropped it earlier in the year. It was my loss, because it turns out to be a great adventure yarn with a cracking good script that provides a nice coda to one aspect of 52 and neatly sets up the relaunch of Batman and the Outsiders (more on that in a future post).

* * *

ITEM! Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction sure know how to give the fanboys what they want, don’t they? Just reread The Immortal Iron Fist: The Last Iron Fist Story trade. Wow. This is fun comics. Danny Rand is the distillation of fanboy fantasy—a perfect point of view character. A King Fu master, sure. But, beneath all those burning dove chops and drunken wasp stings, white boy is still a bit of a dork. “Sorry. He always acts stupid when he has a head injury,” says Luke Cage, apologizing to Night Nurse for his old partner’s goofball antics. If the character has a refrain, it would have to be, “Danny, don’t be an idiot…”—a phrase that echoes across the first story arc of this superior superhero adventure series that explores Danny’s relationship to the Iron Fist legacy as he battles the Hordes of Hydra and the Champion of the sinister Crane Mother. A word about the art: dazzling. David Aja adds a touch of classic New Mutants-era Bill Sienkiewicz to a style that resembles Michael Lark. I hate to wait until June for the second trade to be released!

Double Articulation Digest #6

A very grumpy Reverend over at Newsarama preached quite a sermon about the latest issue of Simone’s Wonder Woman and its “laundry list of offenses” in the Best Shots column this week. I share his irritation with the art pastiche, sorta—if I had my druthers, the Dodsons would be chained to Wonder Woman for life, along with Simone. Nevertheless, Ron Randall was a good choice to fill in the missing Dodson pages and the story of Hippolyta’s zealous personal guard and a Nazi invasion of Paradise Island continues apace. Simone is staging a confrontation between two paranoid groups with Diana caught in the middle. The Nazis and the personal Guard (led, significantly, by a skinheaded Amazon) are essentially purity fetishists, so WW’s ape army is a clever reversal of Nazi propaganda about “unclean,” “lesser” races and their supposed evolutionary handicaps. Great issue.

* * *

I needed a comic fix a couple of nights ago, but the comic store was closed, so I hoofed it down to the nearby mall to check out the selection of comics at Coles. Unsurprisingly, it consisted of a bunch of major event trades (X-Men: Age of Apocalypse, vols. 1-18—no thanks!) some prestige projects (Superman: Red Son, etc.), and a variety of things that don’t much interest me (various “Ultimate” titles, reprints of silver age DC material). I was almost tempted by DC’s Man of Steel trades, which are reprinting the John Byrne/Marv Wolfman relaunch of all the Supertitles, in sequence. I’ve picked these up and put them down about a dozen times in my comic store. Did the same thing here. I loved this stuff at the time, but the Superman stories that I really find myself wanting to reread from that era are not in print yet: the Eradicator story in particular (Superman in space) and all the Kerry Gammill/Jon Bogdanov art that followed. I liked that so much better than the Byrne-illustrated Supes. All of which is to say, that I ended up getting Superman Batman: Absolute Power instead. Not half bad! I haven’t been reading the series, but I couldn’t resist (yet another) alternate history tale drawn by Carlos Pacheco. Seriously. Avengers Forever, the Camelot Falls epic in Superman, and now this too? The plot was fairly slight—just an excuse for Loeb to animate some of DC’s distinctive characters from various eras, but it was fun all the same. Its cast resonates nicely with current happenings in the DCU: the presence of the classic Legions (of heroes and villains), Kamandi, Darkseid, Ra’s, the revival of various Western heroes, etc. I enjoyed it more than I expected to.

* * *

Also in the category of enjoying it more than I expected to is Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente’s The Incredible Hercules # 112 and 113. Tapping into Herc’s mythological roots and teaming him with bratty boy genius Amadeus (“What do you say to you and me spending our summer vacation totally destroying S.H.I.E.L.D.?”) Cho makes for a hugely entertaining read. Herc’s renaissance is superficially inspired by the Spartan success of 300, perhaps. But, in addition to being hairier than any of Sparta’s lunkheads, Herc turns out to be a more interesting lunkhead too, with a tragic past that gives the character more depth than you might expect. Along with Ellis’s Thunderbolts, this is a deeply satisfying remedy to the rest of the company’s post-Civil War, OneMoreDaygate world. The art by Khoi Pham and Stephane Peru attractively channels the styles of Oliver Copiel and John Romita Jr. Covers by comics legend Arthur Adams.

Double Articulation Digest #5

I caught the first two episodes of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles last week. Newsarama's Tom McLean found various things to complain about, but this is exactly the kind of TV SF I love. It perfectly captured the aesthetic of the films, and the cast is so good that I'm happy to go along with whatever character tweaking they've done bringing the franchise to TV. Summer Glau is much better here than she was in Firefly, as much as I loved that one too. My wife walked in as I was watching the last ten minutes of the premiere and caught the giant grin plastered all over my face. "What are you watching, Jim?" Time machine in a bank vault. Heehee!

* * *

Countdown to Final Crisis #15 was almost readable. The sections with Pete Woods art managed to inject a little grandeur into what is otherwise a conceptually and visually flaccid war between Monarch and the Monitors. (Surprising no one, I enjoyed the Donna Troy splash page.) Less enjoyable was the climax of her fisticuffs with Wonder Girl of Earth Whatever. Sorry, but..."I'm Donna Troy, Bitch" is not something our girl would say--in any reality! The Brother Eye stuff was kind of exciting, though. A mixed bag.

* * *

"Meet the Beetles" was a cute title for Booster Gold #6, and the issue was (as always) an enjoyable romp through DC history. Having Dan Jurgens illustrate this title is a feel-good editorial decision on many levels. It's always nice to see a creator back on one of their own characters, but even better is the genius of having Jurgens work on a time-travel book. I literally feel transported back to the eighties and early nineties every month--in a good way!

* * *

Birds of Prey #114 was fun, though I've been rereading Gail Simone's run from the beginning, and was struck by how different the current book is from Simone's take on it. Sean McKeever seems to be positioning this book as more of a superhero title than the mystery/detective/kung fu/action thriller-thingy that was Simone's Black Canary epic--and that's okay with me, though I miss the tight focus on a core team of Birds. I'm a little worried about the foregrounding of Misfit, given that she's kind of a Danny Chase character, right down to the red hair and freckles. Nevertheless, McKeever is great at writing teens, so it's all working well at the moment. Loved the Zinda/Killer Shark encounter, Bonus: the next issue blurb actaully made me laugh out loud; that doesn't happen often. Nicola Scott rocks the artwork, as usual.

* * *

My comic store missed my copy of Wonder Woman #16 this week, so I have that to look forward to next time.

* * *

Erik Larsen has a wonderful last word on the whole One More Day debacle at CBR. I didn't read the comics, but derived a shameful amount of pleasure from the hissing and booing they elicited.