Reviews,
commentary, general reactions, and random notes on the DC Comics that
were released during April that I received near the beginning of May.
Caution: Spoilers ahead!
[ Link to previous month
]
Well, here it is … “WTF”-month.
Thankfully, no “WTF”-branding, however, at least on the comics.
Continued little bits of news regarding what seems to be total
editorial and creative chaos at DC does, on the other hand, make me
wonder if they ought to just change the overall comics brand from
“DC” to “WTF”....
Actually, no. Just in case some
numbskull there thinks that's a good idea.
Again, I really don't want to go into
details, except to note the two just-announced changes that most
directly affect my reading:
 |
| Yeah, that's how I feel.... |
First, 'round about mid-month the long-dreaded news finally did hit
with the pre-release of next month's Previews
solicitations on-line. Legion
of Super-Heroes
is ending with issue #23. Not unexpected, given the objectively
abysmal sales. I'd hoped the stability of those sales, which were
not continuing to drop appreciably however low they were, plus
Levitz's stature within the company, might save it and keep it as a
low but consistent seller. But realistically, “stature within the
company” doesn't mean dick these days, in just about any industry
(how many older comics creators have been thrown under the bus over
the years, right up to today, in favor of the current new “hot”
writer or artist?), and 16,000 monthly sales just is not sufficient
for a major publisher to keep a title going. Legion
is such a cornerstone franchise of DC that I'm sure it will be back,
but I am afraid that the rumors of late may be true, that it will be
morphed into some kind of “Justice Legion,” i.e., “Justice
Leaguified,” whatever that means. It's pretty clear from Levitz's
own Facebook post that he won't be involved. Another, possibly
related, rumor has Keith Giffen and Kevin Maguire lined up to helm
it, which I could go down with, hoping that Giffen reigns in his
wackier side. (But, these are the guys from the “Bwah-ha-ha”
Justice
League International....)
(Incidentally, Mark Waid's commentary on cancelling LSH
is worth reading. Bear in mind that Geoff Johns helped essentially gut-shot
Waid's “threeboot” series back around 2006-2007, barely a year
in, by introducing the “retroboot.” Waid's bitterness is
understandable.)
Then,
over this just-past weekend (I'm writing this Wednesday 22 May), came
unexpected news that James Robinson is leaving, not just Earth
2,
but DC altogether. His statement
was terse and worded so as not to impugn DC editorial, but I don't
think anybody believes for a minute there weren't some kind of
behind-the-scenes shenanigans that caused him to throw up his hands
and just walk. He obviously had plans for beyond the next few
months. I hope whoever succeeds him in the little side-franchise of
the DCnU that is Earth
2
is able to continue his vision.
There
is, I found just yesterday, however, perhaps a ray of hope that
things might get better. Apparently there has been some kind of
shakeup among the higher Warner Brothers hierarchy that has left a
former head of the division that included DC Comics – and who
reputedly worked well with Levitz when he was DC Publisher/President
in keeping the comics publication on an even keel and somewhat
insulated from the rest of the corporation, someone who apparently
holds comics in a bit higher regard than your typical corporate mogul
– as overall President of WB. I'm going by one article on BleedingCool
that I read, but as I read it it could portend well. I could be
misreading the situation, but I hope I'm right. Right now I'm still
a DC comics fan, but sometimes I wonder why.
Finally, even without the “WTF”-branding,
DC comics released in April had the “surprise” fold-out front
covers. I thought about trying to duplicate the effect in my cover
pics below, such that you have to click on the regular picture as you
would see it on the stands to be taken to a scan of the foldout in
full, but that would be more work than I'm willing to put in. Hey,
I'm lazy. Sue me. What you're getting is the full foldout.
Let's look at some comics....
“Tower
of Fate, Part 2: The Man Who Was Brave”
We
get some background on Wotan, who does indeed have a Norse
connection, as well as an explanation for why he has green skin and
is effectively a transsexual. I didn't see that one coming – or
rather, not in this title this month (see Batgirl).
The main story has Jay Garrick Flash's bravery inspiring Khalid to
take up the helm of Fate – but he insists on being called Doctor
Fate as an attempt to hold onto something of his own identity. As
the foldout shows Mister Miracle and Barda, Steppenwolf sends his
protégée
Fury to find Miracle.
“Putting
It Together”
There are some annoying shifts in art
this time – three different artists or teams – although it ends
with Barry Kitson who's style fits in nicely with those of both
George Perez and Kevin Maguire. Kitson also does the cover, which
has one of the more clever foldout gimmicks of the lot. It plays
with the idea that most people see the facade whom Power Girl is
lip-locked and rubbing thighs with.
The girls are still tracing the
Apokoliptian weapons they've uncovered, as well as Wayne's missing
money-trail and the Holt Industries attack on Starr Island. They
crash a Holt tech expo and come across the supposedly missing Michael
Holt, Karen's former lover – who immediately plants a big on on her
and reveals himself as Darkseid's minion DeSaad, here sporting a more
cadaverous visage than is traditional.
“Hybrid,
Part 1”
Well, Andy Diggle's only issue turns out
to be a full-length over-size story. Too bad he won't be able to
play out the rest of what he establishes here. But maybe, working
with Diggle's outline (presumably), Tony Daniel can complete it
satisfactorily. He does have the ability even if he hasn't really
shown it in the New 52 era. But this first issue of a multipart
story is in itself exciting in both writing and art.
This story takes place in the past, but
just a year rather than five years ago. We see Lois' first meeting
with Jon Carroll. Superman fights some kind of armored war mech in
Qurac, which is really just a ploy by Lex Luthor (is this before he
was incarcerated, or are we seeing some kind of virtual-reality
Luthor as in Supergirl?) to infect the Man of Steel with a nanotech
DNA-resequencing virus. By the end of the issue he starts morphing
painfully.
“The
900” / “Birth of a Family” / “War Council” / “Birdwatching”
/ “Through a Blue Lens”
These
stories are interspersed with a variety of pinups. In the pair of
stories, we've got Man-Bats in Gotham City (including Zsasz-Bat!) in
essentially a New 52 revision to the
Man-Bat origin story since there is a new introduction of Kirk and
Francine Langstrom. Kirk ends up becoming Man-Bat so his body will
produce antigens to restore the people of Gotham to their unmutated
states. The epilogue story gives a bit more background on the
Langstroms. Turns out Kirk is a bit of a mad scientist, who passes
off as a “minor side effect” to his experimental serum to restore
hearing to the deaf the fact that it's actually turning
deaf children into bats!
Evidently somehow Talia secured the serum to create her army of
Bat-Ninjas. Now, Francine transforms herself to join her husband.
In
continuity, this issue is stated to take place after Batwoman
#18; in Batman's own continuity, his relationship with his allies is
shown to be utterly broken by the events of “Death of the Family,”
despite the family's working together in the pages of Batman,
Incorporated,
which has to happen after “Death of the Family.” Ideally, the
rest of Morrison's run there would show the relationship continuing
to worsen, in line with that necessary sequence of stories, but I'm
sure Morrison wrote his own story without regard for contemporaneous
stories going on in other Bat-books.
And it's up to us to fit the pieces together however we can. Oh
well.
The
rest of the issue has Bane declaring war on the Court of Owls in a
story leading into Talon
#7; Penguin's only loyal lieutenant reports to him in Blackgate and
works to free him; and there's a nice little character-piece about
division within the GCPD over Batman.
“Gone
But Not Forgotten”
This
issue purports to tell the story of Harvest and Superboy, but frankly
I can't follow it and have nothing but a bunch of questions. Are we
seeing multiple possible futures? Does Harvest's 30th
century match up with what becomes the Legion's 31st
century? (I still sometimes think of the 30th
century as being the era of
the Legion, but almost a decade and a half into the next I doubt
there was much if any Legion history in the 30th....)
More importantly, are we to take it that Superman and Lois are
ultimately going to get together in the New 52 (sure, I think it's
inevitable, but that hasn't been DC's line)? What is the
significance of Harvest's realization that Superman and Wonder Woman
are now hooked up? Is the third strand in Superboy's DNA Lex
Luthor's – or Harvest's?
“Denial”
Well,
now there's no more Batman
and Robin,
but the series continues with everchanging partners for Batman. I
wonder how long that can last? Actually, the official title, per the
indicia, remains parenthetically Batman
and Robin.
Which means there's going to be inevitable confusion regarding how
to file this and subsequent issues, which I encountered immediately
upon trying to find reviews for my link below to Comic
Book Round-Up.
They're choosing to categorize this comic under its cover title,
effectively as a one-issue series beginning and ending with #19!
Peter
Tomasi, continuing as writer along with artist Pat Gleason, doesn't
really miss a beat and is really the one who is most directly dealing
with the longer range effects of Damian's death on Bruce himself,
while Grant Morrison continues detailing the immediate consequences
in Batman,
Incorporated.
Here, Batman is
shown to have basically gone 'round the bend, wanting to reverse
engineer the Frankenstein monster to bring his son back. He kidnaps
and disassembles Frank, which I imagine won't improve relations
between the Justice League and JL Dark when they end up clashing in
Trinity War. Alfred calls in Red Robin to reason with him, and Tim
is forced to actively sabotage Bruce's effort, which means relations
between those two ain't getting better either.
Even
more interesting is the introduction of Carrie Kelly, the female
Robin of Frank Miller's Dark
Knight Returns,
into the mix via a framing subplot. It turns out she's
the “CK” who gave Damian the list of movies, which I and others
had assumed came from Clark Kent. Damian was seeing her for some
kind of lessons, I'm not clear exactly what, but it's apparently not
common knowledge at this point that Damian Wayne is dead. How's that
going to play out?
Incidentally, we
get a specific date on a check from Bruce Wayne to Carrie Kelly –
27 February 2013. I'm sure that can't be considered hard and fast,
but rather should be considered ephemeral “incidental”
information. Tying a comics story about characters who pretty much
do not age over the years to such a specific date over time literally
dates the story, rendering it “old” before its time by
interrupting the reader's suspension of disbelief. Often comics in
the past would contrive for such dates (as on tombstones) to be
obscured somehow, and that would have been easy enough here, say by
Carrie holding the check with her right hand and her thumb covering
the date. The specific year adds nothing to the story, after all.
“Nowhere
Man” / “Ghost Lights, Part One”
We are introduced
to a new, mutating New 52 Clayface who takes on the very identity of
whomever he shape-changes into. That is, of course, implicitly who
shoots Gordon. In the backup, Superman checks on a typically
close-mouthed Batman after the death of Robin, and joins him in
investigating a building into which a number of people have
disappeared. There they encounter a “ghost.” One interesting
facet is that in the presence of this ostensibly supernatural force,
Superman experiences an unusual nausea.
“A
Blade from the Shadows”
Gail Simone's back
just in time for this transitional issue. Batgirl's final (yeah,
right) confrontation with James Jr. leaves her a fugitive on the run
from her own father, who seems here to betray no suspicion that his
daughter Barbara is Batgirl. I'd be surprised if Barbara Sr. doesn't
set him straight on that latter fact, if not on the question of
whether sister has just murdered brother here.
But,
of course, the element of this issue that hit the news was the
revelation that Babs' roommate Alysia is “transgender.” Which
means what, exactly? The word can have a wide range of meanings.
See here: http://www.apa.org/topics/sexuality/transgender.aspx
“The
Blind Man”
Leave it to John
Constantine to be able to outwit the Spectre as well as Mister E
while losing to the latter the needle to the thingamabob he's seeking but finding the compass dial, so he's still one up.
Justice
League
#19
“War
Games” / “Shazam, Chapter 11”
There's
no part number in the main feature, although it's clearly setting up
a story – most likely “Trinity War.” I'm getting echoes of
Mark Waid's JLA:
Tower of Babel
– someone breaks into the Batcave and steals Batman's secret stash
of Kryptonite. Meanwhile, Superman and Wonder Woman create a
diplomatic incident for the Justice League, seen as agents of the
United States, and consequently get a “talkin' to” by Batman, who
reveals that he knows of their affair and the others doubtless
suspect. And the newest recruits Firestorm and the Atom are alone on
the satellite when Despero comes a'calling.
Oddly
enough, the Shazam
back feature does
get a chapter number this go'round, for what that's worth. Eleven?!
Billy gets a lesson on the history of Black Adam, which includes
Ibac as the inventor of evil – then promptly goes and gets himself
captured by Adam.
“Super
Power”
Turns out it was
actually Luthor's operatives who captured Supergirl – but to the
rescue comes Power Girl, who initially feared touching her
counterpart lest it be like matter and antimatter, but all it does is
mind-melds the two of them. “We are me.” And decontaminates
Supergirl. Together the two trounce Luthor's superthug as Luthor
watches from his “Techno-Organic HQ,” but the effort brings
Supergirl's Kryptonite poisoning back full force. Power Girl takes
her to the undersea Sanctuary, whose AI cures her and gives Power
Girl a new costume (because her old one was again shredded) – which
is essentially her classic suit complete with boob-window. The AI
seems initially fine with the notion of two Karas … but suddenly it
declares that one is a clone and must be destroyed.
Is
Power Girl now named Kara Zor-El
rather than the traditional Earth-2 Kara Zor-L?
Or is that just a mistake/typo? One thing various reviewers have
already commented on is Asrar's gorgeous art, which is particularly
good this issue and makes it easy to believe that Power Girl is
essentially a grown up – and rather filled out – Supergirl. They
look
like the same person.
This is writer Mike
Johnson's last issue. At least he goes out on a higher note than the
recent “H'El” crossover that really showed Supergirl in a bad
light.
“This
Blood is Thick: Wounds”
It's
serendipitous that I just read the 1990s Chase series in the collection published a couple years ago. Otherwise the
beginning of this issue would lose me. But how does Cameron Chase's
“cosplaying” would-be super-hero father fit into New 52 history
where there is no elder age of super-heroes, e.g. the Justice
Society, to inspire them? But I think it's becoming a little clearer
that this series is about family, maybe the relationships between
sisters. As far as family goes, I would just observe that the Kane
family of Gotham City really suffers from a dearth of female names.
Assuming that the original Batwoman and Bat-Girl are in continuity
(I'm pretty sure Grant Morrison considers the former to be, at
least), then we have: three Katherines (Kathy Kane Batwoman I, Kate
Kane Batwoman II, plus Jacob Kane's present wife), as well as three
Elizabeths (Betty Bat-Girl I, Kathy Kane's niece; Bette the former
Flamebird now Firehawk [I think], Kate's cousin and perhaps
the same as Betty Bat-Girl despite the variant spelling; as well as
Beth, Kate's missing and criminally insane sister. Now, I know some
of these may not be strictly speaking in continuity, but I wonder if
even the creators really know which is which and how they really go
together! And what do you want to bet that Jacob's son whose
existence is revealed here is named … Jacob!?
Anyway, this issue
takes place after Robin's death, which DEO Director Bones thinks will
make Batman careless and give a prime opportunity for him to finally
achieve his goal of discovering the Dark Knight's identity. Batwoman
refuses to help, whereupon Bones threatens to prosecute Jacob, as
he's been holding over her all the time; Batwoman calls his bluff,
whereupon Bones plays his trump card – the revelation that her
sister Beth is actually alive and well, and in DEO custody.
Question: Just how
freaking long does Scarecrow's fear toxin stay in the blood stream?
“Slam”
Dang. From the
title I thought we might see Slam Bradley reappear in the New 52. No
such luck.
Should
this issue be read before or after Justice
League of America
#3, which I've not even gotten because
it didn't ship until five weeks late!?
But blogger Snell's hilarious commentary on that issue
could well apply here too: This is a dumb plot in which Catwoman is
“captured” by the JLA so she can infiltrate Arkham Asylum just to
break out and thereby establish enough “cred” to be recruited by
the mysterious Secret Society.
After a good
previous issue, I'm just as happy once more that I stopped
pre-ordering this series.
“A
Cold Day in Hell”
So Condor is
American Indian. Could he be the new Black Condor from Quality
Comics/DC's Freedom Fighters? – in other words, the same stable as
the Ray, Phantom Lady and Doll Man, and Human Bomb, as well as Uncle
Sam. Whatever, Canary is having feelings for Condor. There is an
interesting scene showing Strix's fear of the Owls. Basically, by
issue's end, Freeze has tricked the Birds into leading him to the
Owls' lab – and Starling reveals she is working with Freeze. I
don't believe it for a minute.
“Second
City”
Nightwing has made
it to Chicago, on the trail of Tony Zucco, but it turns out that
Chi-town is hostile toward “masks,” partly because of continuing
depredation by the Prankster. And it turns out that Zucco is
secretly working for the mayor – not Rahm Emanuel.
Thought: Sonia
knows that Dick Grayson has gone to Chicago. If Nightwing's presence
becomes known there, won't she put two and two together?
“Communion”
If
I wasn't committed to this title for at least a while based on James
Tynion IV being part of the Scott Snyder stable of writers and thus
this becoming more directly a Bat-book
(I presume), frankly this issue wouldn't grab me. Hopefully it will
pick up. There is a bit of a disconnect in that it explicitly takes
place after next month's Batman
and the Red Hood
#20, so maybe it will mean more in light of whatever happens there.
On its own terms it is a weird metaphysical issue in which Roy and
Kori chase Jason in the Himalayas to the hidden “All-Caste,”
where, when they find him, he has no memory of them. In order to
expunge the darkness from his soul, he has divested himself of all
his memories.... I doubt that's going to last.
“World's
End”
I
didn't get around to reading this issue until two days after the news
of Legion's
cancellation, which made it a bit bittersweet. Although the art of
this arc is not to my taste, nor typically is such “deconstruction”
(Giffennnnn!)
usually, this story arc is a step up from what we've had so far in
the New 52. I guess it's too little, too late. As much as I like
Paul Levitz, his Legion
style may be just too different from the norm to thrive today. One
thing I've noticed since starting this blog is that it is always
difficult to abstract, but the gist is that the Fatal Five are
stepping up their assault, and more Legionnaires fall – including
their most powerful, Mon-El himself, maimed and critically injured by
issue's end. Just how badly is spoiled by the folded out cover.
Mon's fate seems a sure sign of the end of an era; recall what
happened toward the end of the Baxter run 25 years ago....
“Death
of a King, Chapter Two”
Neptune's
Beard! – Topo
has grown!
The biggest revelation of this issue is that Mera's husband ain't
Arthur! – it's some guy named Nereus. Other stuff happens as
well.... On what planet is the Bermuda Triangle south of the Florida
Keyes (and why spell it that way?)?
“Look
Who's Flying
to Dinner”
After
dealing with an alien invasion in an innovative way that felt more
like “Superman” than any sequence hitherto in the New 52, Clark
meets his date Diana who is already at a housewarming party and Lois
and Jon's (boy, that's hard to write), where everyone is acting
strangely. Clark quickly perceives that it's similar to what
happened last issue, but then he is suddenly swept away – and Orion
of the New Gods informs him he must kill him to save the Universe.
Considering Orion's been appearing in Wonder
Woman,
which I'm waiting for collection to read, I'm wondering what she
will think of this....
“Gotham's
Most Wanted”
Well,
the latest of the pre-Flashpoint
Azraels, Michael Lane, appears to be in continuity – at least in
Grant Morrison's continuity – and spouting authentic quatrains from
Nostradamus, 10:73,
including “The
present time together with the past / Will be judged by the Great
Joker”!
Morrison's esoteric trivia continues with reference to Mendelssohn's
drawings of the Jungfrau Peaks in Switzerland. … Oh, the story? – Basically, Batman becomes Batman-Bat. But
– here, Kirk Langstrom is already an ally of Batman – oops, how
in the world can that be reconciled chronologically with Detective
Comics
#19? (Colin at the The Real Batman Chronology Project
takes up the challenge, and with a couple of assumptions and a great
big crowbar kind of makes it work....)
“Revelations”
Calvin escapes from
Securitas Island with the help of the youngest O'Malley; Casey
escapes Sebastian Clark with Sarah; on his way back to headquarters
once he's gotten Casey's last communique, Calvin escapes being
hog-tied by Batman … but Clark's new ally is Bane – who snaps
Calvin's neck. An issue full of escapes – but I'd like to see how
Calvin escapes from that! I really like this series.
“Pool
of Tears”
Well, it seems that
Natalya the pianist took Bruce's revelation well, but he slipped up
in letting Batman be seen dropping her off for her next concert,
which brings her to the attention of the Mad Hatter, who sees her as
the perfect Alice in his sick fantasy.
“Horror
City, Part 1: House of Misery”
Steve Trevor works
on recruiting Deadman as a spy on the “Justice League Dark” –
“We hate that name.” / “Whatever....” But the main
action this issue has the House of Mystery up and disappearing.
Constantine conjures up an irate Swamp Thing – which seems fully
aware of itself as Alec Holland – to help track its wood through
his connection to the Green, but too late. The House of Mystery
unleashes nightmares on the world, including on the various Justice
Leaguers Dark. Doctor Destiny has hijacked the House because of its
import in the war to come – obviously ramping up to “Trinity
War.”
What
about the Flash, you ask? In this case, the cover is extremely
deceptive. He shows up on the last page, long after the Swamp Thing
portion is done.
“Trigon-ometry”
Didn't
Red Robin hook up with both Solstice and Wonder Girl on the same
night? – the dialogues don't reflect this. … Who is Wonder Girl's
father? – please don't let it be Trigon! … Trigon attacks, so
the issue of Red Robin's being uncharacteristically dickish is set
aside for a battle in which a lot of soldiers end up killed, and Red
Robin realises, “Those
soldiers
were killed in the line of duty – / – just doing what we
were doing … / saving the people of this city from Trigon.
// But when the rest of the world finds out what happened – / –
all they are going to remember is a bunch of teenagers tried to take
down this monster … / … and people died.”
Where upon Superboy speaks very familiarly to Raven, who joined them
in combating her demonic father – when had they met before?
This
issue, this title, seems to be the epitome of what's wrong with the
new DC – pointless flailing around, too many plot threads started
and then left hanging with no progression or resolution, an overall
theme of “heroes” being feared, hated, and hunted. This may
indeed be more realistic, more like the real world would greet such
beings, especially in the modern world, but it is not what I want to
read in my comics. It's too much like Marvel, and I believe has led
at least in part to the implosion of sales over the past decades.
They say the definition of insanity is continuing to do the same
thing over and over expecting a different result. Maybe I am
for continuing to buy DC comics expecting – hoping – they will
break out of this rut and become great again. But as we approach two
years into the New 52, DC seems more and more off the rails. It's no
wonder that sales are tanking on most titles except for a select few,
and that in order to try to raise the bottom line DC has resorted to
a “churn-based model” of cancellation and replacement hoping to
get a lasting bump – but the bumps generally don't last and slowly,
inexorably, we seem to be watching DC's death throes. It's hard for
an old-time DC fan to say, but even harder to watch.
Boy, that ended up
being a downer!
* * *
DIGITAL
“A
Season of Change”
I
picked up this issue digitally mainly to give it a chance since
there's a new writing team, Gray and Palmiotti. They're usually
pretty solid. I may end up having to go back to print if indeed it
ends up being more closely integrated into the main Batman
universe. This issue looks promising, but doesn't really hook me
yet.
“Caribou”
Final
issue. I intend to come back and expand this note (and the past
several months) now that the series is over and I have a chance to
read the ending arc all at once.
“Valkyrie,
Parts 2 and 3” / “Argo, Parts 4-6”
In
the Lana and Lois story, Lana's ally in Tinasha is named “David.”
Since it seems that Bryan Q. Miller does not assign names or include
things haphazardly, I would hazard a guess that David's last name is
“Zavimbi”.... In any case, the issues here are similar to some
that have been addressed in Batwing's
early days – fighting the exploitation of children through both
sex-slavery and child-soldiers. The warlords perpetrating those
atrocities, however, have hired John Corben, who attacks Lana and
Lois and now proves to have the ability to absorb Kryptonite –
taking Lana's Kryptonite-laced nanites renders her powerless in this
month's cliffhanger.
Well,
with Smallville
Season
11,
I was at least able to end on a higher note. That digital-first is a
weekly joy to read.
Cheers!
– and Thanks for reading!
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