30 December 2009

Faster than a DC Bullet, Issue #16: Lex Luthor: Man of Steel

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2005 (contents: 2005)

Borrowed from a friend
Read December 2009
Lex Luthor: Man of Steel

Writer: Brian Azzarello
Artist: Lee Bermejo
Additional Inks: Mick Gray, Karl Story, Jason Martin
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterers: Phil Balsman, Pat Brosseau, Rob Leigh, Nick J. Napolitano

DC Universe Timeline: Seven Years Ago
Real World Timeline: 2005

(When I assembled this timeline, I placed this story after For Tomorrow, Volume Two on the basis of an on-line timeline I saw somewhere that gave this placement. But after reading the story, it's plainly not true: Luthor is still CEO of Lexcorp and doing quite well, so it must come before his term as president. In addition, Superman and Batman don't have a friendly relationship-- Lex gives Batman a piece of kryptonite, and Superman fights him to get it back-- so it must occur early in their careers... but not too early, as Mona, who's probably in her 20s, says Superman's been in Metropolis since she "was a little girl". One timeline cited the apperance of Mr. Orr in both this and For Tomorrow as evidence they go close together, but that actually works in favor of an early placement for Lex Luthor: in For Tomorrow, he's working for shadow governments and fighting Wonder Woman, whereas in this one he's intimidating union bosses. Obviously he's got some mercenary credentials to acquire yet. Considering all that, I've placed the story a year before Crisis on Infinite Earths. Which disappointingly means it's not really the last stop on my chronological journey, but oh well.)

It's a well-established fact that Lex Luthor is my favorite comic book villain of all time. Superman's my favorite hero, and Luthor is the perfect opposite for him:a self-made man, through and through. Both see themselves as wanting the best for everyone around them, but the difference is that for Luthor, what's best for everyone else is always also best for him. I also love his casual arrogance, his manipulation of those around him... which is deserved, because he actually is the smartest man in the room. My preferred Luthor is the accomplished, brilliant businessman-- that's the one I grew up on in the Superman cartoon-- but I also admit a fondness for the Gene Hackman/Kevin Spacey version, who I think still has the same fundamental core. The highest compliment I can give to a villain is to compare them to Lex Luthor; I like to try to do this in graduate seminars, and have thus far succeeded with the man in the yellow suit in Tuck Everlasting and Madame Beck in Villette. But the threat to Luthor is simple and strong: Superman.

The threat that Superman poses to Luthor is something that Lex Luthor: Man of Steel aims to explore. It's a Lex Luthor comic book, told almost entirely from his perspective. What are his adventures? What does he think? Why is he such an utter bastard?

As Azzarello paints it-- and this I agree with, it's how I see Luthor as well-- Lex Luthor thinks that Superman is a threat to humanity. Not because Superman is openly antagonistic or anything like that, but because the idea of Superman threatens humanity. As an outsider, Superman cuts off humanity's potential. Why should humanity aspire to do greater, if Superman is out there, doing it for them? Lex rejects the concepts of fate and destiny: "All of us-- everyone-- deserves a chance at greatness. All that takes is the belief that it exists. But his existence threatens not just that belief... but our existence. I believe there's something inherently dangerous when something real becomes something mythic. I believe when that happens, we lose the part of ourselves that yearns to be great. Because when faced with a myth? We can't win." Superman threatens that achievement time and again... and the possibility of humanity to achieve is something Luthor spends all his time in Man of Steel trying to prove.

The event that's going on in the background of this book is Lexcorp's construction of the Science Spire, a gigantic research facility in the heart of Metropolis. The book doesn't have one strong overarching storyline, but a couple smaller ones, interspersed with moments of Lex Luthor being Lex Luthor. It's one of these moments that's my favorite: Luthor learns that his office janitor's son is interested in science, but that he cuts class frequently, so he's not making the grades he should be. Luthor gives the janitor an invitation for the opening of the Science Spire, one he can only pass on if the son gets an A. But after the janitor leaves, Luthor instructs his personal assistant, Mona, to ensure that the son gets one of twelve spots in the incoming class at Von Rauch Academy, a very exclusive private school. Mona objects that the school's picked its incoming class already; Luthor tells her to make it work. That's Lex Luthor. He's a man who believes every human being has great potential within... and will do totally unethical things to realize that potential.

My other favorite small moment is when Luthor brutally dismisses Mona and her advances:
MONA: Lex, can I talk freely?
LUTHOR: I sign your checks, Mona.
MONA: Do you want to know what I think about this?
LUTHOR: No. Here's what you think: "My boss is getting dangerously close to making a mistake that could ruin him. He's been touched by an ideal, when all I want is for him to touch me. Despite the way I dress, he won't notice me. He only has eyes for his ideal. How can I change that? How can I make myself... ideal?"
MONA: You're a bastard.
LUTHOR: No, Mona... I'm an idealist.
It's one of these small moments that's also my least favorite. The Science Spire is going overbudget, but Lexcorp can't renegotiate its contracts with its construction workers because they have a strong union, so Luthor has Mr. Orr intimidate the union boss and threaten to throw him over the side of the building. Though this is the sort of problem-solving the ever-crude Mr. Orr might partake in, it seems a little bit beneath Luthor, using a bludgeon when a scalpel will suffice. Threatening murder just to get a building finished on time and on budget seems to be overdoing it-- especially when he's thinking about incorporating the Science Spire as a nonprofit and doesn't care about the money he makes! So why all this then?

The best extended plotline is Luthor's trip to Gotham, to meet with one of his business partners... a certain Bruce Wayne. It's a well-done chapter, cutting between Luthor's conversation with Wayne and a Batman/Superman fight precipitated by the visit: Luthor gives Wayne a piece of kryptonite, and Superman's not too happy about that. Does Luthor know that Wayne is Batman? It's never directly said... but it seems strongly implied. He knows that Wayne has something going on, though, and is willing to take a chance to get what he wants. It's a fantastic conversation. To an utterly innocent outside observer, Luthor would appear to be a forward-thinking idealist, Wayne a lackadaisical playboy. Yet, underneath, neither is the man they pretend to be.

The dedication of the Science Spire corresponds with Luthor's revelation of his own, homegrown hero: Hope. Hope is a woman created in one of Lexcorp's labs to be the ultimate superhero. You see, she's human, and the pinnacle of human achievement. Humans created her with human technology. There's a brief time where she supplants Superman in the hearts and minds of Metropolis. And as for Luthor, how does he react? Hope is the ultimate expression of his every desire. How could he react but to fall in love with her? Dang, Lex Luthor, but you're creepy. But it's believable, because Luthor's really in love with one person beneath it all: himself. He is the best humankind has to offer, and he created Hope. The sheer arrogance of that name-- who other than Lex Luthor could believe that he'd personally created hope itself?

But Hope is part of a more elaborate plot, and this is where the book loses me again. She's just not an artificial superhero: she does artificial good. The initial disaster she helps fight is manufactured by Luthor via Mr. Orr (who gets the Toyman to do it for him, in a rare good use of the character). And the book climaxes with Hope apprehending the Toyman for his crime... and dropping him, her body operating at Luthor's will. Superman saves the Toyman, of course, and a battle between the two "heroes" ensues. And during that fight, Luthor causes her to detonate, collapsing the Science Spire himself. I love the idea of a man willing to destroy is own greatest achievements for the greater good. But the justification is weak: "What the world watched you do tonight... if it only changes one mind about what you are..." That's it? Turning one mind against Superman is worth that? I don't buy it; Luthor is too calculating for that. And the fight just doesn't work either; why would saving the Toyman escalate into something like that? It's a disappointing ending, even if it does yield another fantastic Lex Luthor line: "I know I can't beat you... alone. But then, I'm not alone. There are six and a half billion of me... and only one of you."

The art's usually great. Lee Bermejo's work is rough and harsh, perfect for the world of Lex Luthor. Even if he does look a little too craggy from time to time. His Luthor is perfectly expressive, able to go from warm and friendly to cold and calculating and still be the same person. He does a good job at all the other characters, too. There is one very weird sequence with a redhead being reflected in a glass wall that I found confusing, but I eventually puzzled my way through what was happening there. The occasionally switching style is nice, too: the issue that intercuts Lex talking to Bruce with Batman fighting Superman uses a different style for each strand-- the Batman/Superman one looks more painted-- which is very effective. The colors by Dave Stewart really help, too: a lot of dark grays and greens, muddy colors for Lex's world. Superman is brighter than everything else... but only relatively. It's still a dim world.

Superman is an ominous presence in Lex Luthor: Man of Steel, and that works immensely well. He hovers outside Luthor's office, fights Batman, reports on the Science Spire, and battles Hope for the Toyman. His glowing red eyes are a recurring motif. But he only has one line of dialogue: "You're wrong... I can see your soul." It's a line that chills Luthor to the bone, because he knows it's true. Lex Luthor might be the better human being... but Superman is the better person and always will be. And they both know it, even if Luthor will never admit. Luthor will go on fighting that good fight, trying to serve humanity the best he can: the most unethical way possible. And that is why I love him.

Amazingly enough, I've finished my chronological journey through my friend's comics. But Faster than a DC Bullet's not over yet: these have just been the in-continuity ones. We've got three more out-of-continuity stories to go before this thing wraps itself up.

Note that this originally appeared on my old LiveJournal and included pictures back then. Sadly, the pictures are lost in the mists of the Internet.

23 December 2009

Faster than a DC Bullet, Issue #15: Superman: For Tomorrow, Volume Two

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2005 (contents: 2004-05)

Borrowed from a friend
Read December 2009
Superman: For Tomorrow, Volume Two

Writer: Brian Azzarello
Penciller: Jim Lee
Inker: Scott Williams
Additional Inkers: Richard Friend, Sandra Hope, Matt Banning, Eric Basaldua, Jim Lee, Danny Miki, Trevor Scott, Tim Townsend, Joe Weems
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterers: Rob Leigh, Nick J. Napolitano

DC Universe Timeline: Two Years Ago
Real World Timeline: 2006

What the heck happened here? Volume One of For Tomorrow was exceptional-- one of the best main series Superman stories I had ever read. But with this... Brian Azzarello goes completely off the rails.

Let's start with what I liked. Thankfully, Azzarello still gets Superman. I mean, gets him. In this volume, we get an explanation for the mysterious Vanishing and the orb that caused it: it turns out that Superman himself built the orb. Why? It turns out that his entire life, Superman has been haunted by his father's failure: his world about to be destroyed, and all Jor-El could manage to do was save one person, his own child. What kind of protector is that? Superman created the orb to shunt Earth's population into the Phantom Zone, the ultimate fail-safe. So far, so good. I really like this idea that Superman feels this need to outdo his father, to surpass his failures. It fits well. I can even kind of buy the notion that Superman has the technical know-how to design and build the orb to do it.

Where things get kooky, though, is that Superman staffs this world in the Phantom Zone with robot duplicates of Jor-El, his mother Lara, and Clark Kent. Creepy much? He sends the orb with them so that they can reactivate it if the need be. And apparently, having done all this, he wipes his own memory of it.

But the Phantom Zone was not empty, unknown to Superman. For within the Phantom Zone lurked Krypton's greatest threat... General Zod. And this is where things go from kooky to bad, because Azzarello's Zod is terrible. This is not the casually arrogant god played by Terence Stamp, this is a demonic brute, one of many in this comic. There's not really much to distinguish him from Equus, even though one supposedly is the master and the other the servant. The depiction of Zod does absolutely nothing more me; I can see why the fact that Superman had met Zod before was totally ignored for Last Son just a few years later, which was a much superior take on the character. Why bring back Zod if he could just be any old brute? (There is, however, one great bit where Zod asks Superman to save him... then lets go of Superman and falls into a vortex just to get on Superman's nerves.)

Anyway, Zod realized what the orb was and sent it back into our world to ensure that Superman would somehow be drawn back in the Phantom Zone: presumably, that's when it made its way into the hands of the Middle Eastern despot who used it cause the Vanishing. It's all a bit convoluted, but it can be puzzled through eventually. But it just doesn't work for me; it's too complicated to resonate effectively. This world Superman constructs-- Metropia-- represents his ability to atone for his father's "sins", so what does it mean that Zod, another of his father's "sins", populates it for him indirectly and smashes it up? Um...

The other problem with this book is Father Daniel Leone. The center of Volume One were the conversations between him and Superman, as both attempt to navigate their places in the world, as both are the people everyone looks to for help, leaving them with no one to look to. A beautiful relationship was being built there, with each of them as each other's confessor. Yet here, that is all cast aside. They barely talk, and Daniel falls into the hands of arch-mercenary Mr. Orr, who augments him into a replacement for the super-solider Equus, called "Pilate". Um, why? We're told that the fact that Daniel has cancer assists the mutation, but surely there are many more people with cancer, almost all of them more skilled at combat than a Catholic priest? The character is almost cruelly discarded by Azzarello here, becoming a pointless nobody in short order. I mean, there's a neat moment where Pilate saves Superman by figuring out how to send the orb back to him again, but this could have been so much better. What a waste. All that build-up in Volume One was for nothing.

Equus is still dumb, too. Other weird things include Mr. Orr's dealing with the mystic lady, who was never explained in any capacity, and his ability to manipulate Wonder Woman, who ought to know better. I did like that Wonder Woman came to stop Superman from reactivating the orb and sending himself into the Phantom Zone, though, and the Superman/Wonder Woman battle here worked pretty well, especially in its ending.

This does lead me to another point: Wonder Woman has nice legs. In fact, every woman drawn by Jim Lee has nice legs. And Lee wastes no opportunity to show them to you. Wonder Woman wears an improbably short skirt, and this skirt flies upwards at ever opportunity during combat. We even get the occasional glimpse of panties. Classy. Lois Lane is similarly sexualized. Apart from Clark in Metropia, where everyone else wears baggy clothes, she spends her time in a tiny shift that shows off both her legs and ample cleavage. While going tree-climbing. Why? Goodness knows. At least Superman gets his fair share of shirtless time in, too. Other than that complaint, though, Lee's art is typically gorgeous.

I wanted to like this story, I really did. And Volume One is still fantastic. But this volume neglects what made the first one work so well, and muddies the waters with the completely unneeded additions of General Zod and Pilate. A disappointing conclusion to what ought to have been a fantastic story, For Tomorrow does at least end with a great line from Superman: "I will always be there to save you. Because I am Superman. Believe that, until the end. The End. I wonder, when it comes... who will save me?" (Man, Azzarello's characters tend to talk in clipped, dramatic pronouncements. Oh well.)

Note that this originally appeared on my old LiveJournal and included pictures back then. Sadly, the pictures are lost in the mists of the Internet.

11 December 2009

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part XII: Green Arrow and Black Canary: Road to the Altar

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2008 (contents: 2007)

Borrowed from the library
Read November 2009
Green Arrow and Black Canary: Road to the Altar

Writers: Tony Bedard, J. Torres
Pencillers: Paulo Siqueria, Lee Ferguson, Tom Derenick, Nicola Scott, Christina Norrie, Joe Prado
Inkers: Amilton Santos, Karl Story, Rodney Ramos, Doug Hazlewood, Christina Norrie, Joe Prado
Additional Layouts: Mike Norton 
Colorists: Tanya & Richard Horie
Letterers: Pat Brosseau, Travis Lanham, Jared K. Fletcher

And the first volume of the new Green Arrow series begins! Most of this is taken up with a story setting up Dinah's decision to accept Oliver's proposal, which she does when he demonstrates his new ability to not think of himself for once. It's a good story-- Tony Bedard really gets both Black Canary and Green Arrow-- and I especially like getting to see Dinah work as a mother. Her foster daughter, Sin, is a lot of fun, too, so it's a shame this story basically serves to write her out because we couldn't possibly have a mother as the star of a superhero comic! I also am not convinced Black Canary should so easily accept the way Green Arrow manipulates the situation, but maybe it works. Mia gets some good material, too (no Connor, though). The art is pretty good, though I question the occasional choice of clothing for Dinah, especially given she's supposedly in her late thirties by now; the stuff she wears here looks more like what a sixteen-year-old would wear! And skirts of these lengths would be physically impossible anyway. (I have to admit that no artist since Phil Hester has actually drawn her at her proper age.) Overall, it's a very good story and a great start to Green Arrow and Black Canary.

There's a short epilogue that's Dinah's "wedding planner", showing her struggle to plan a quick, easy wedding. Of course, there's no such thing, and that's even less the case when you have to invite the superhero community! Decent fun, especially the interstitials between the main story. The section where she, Wonder Woman, and Vixen try on lingerie is about as gratuitous as they get, though, made all the worse that Lee Ferguson and Karl Story draw a profoundly unattractive Wonder Woman!

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part XI: Green Arrow / Black Canary: For Better or For Worse

Comic trade paperback, 199 pages
Published 2007 (contents: 1969-2003)

Borrowed from the library
Read November 2009
Green Arrow / Black Canary: For Better or For Worse

Writers: Denny O'Neil, Elliot S! Maggin, Alan Moore, Mike Grell, Chuck Dixon, Kevin Smith, Brad Meltzer
Pencillers: Dick Dillin, Dick Giordano, José Luis García-López, Klaus Janson, Mike Grell, Lurine Haines, Rick Hoberg, Rodolfo Damaggio, Phil Hester
Inkers: Dick Giordano, Klaus Janson, Rick Hoberg, Joe Giella, Frank McLaughlin, Vince Colletta, Terry Austin, Robert Campanella, Ande Parks
Colorists: Julia Lacquemont, Lee Loughridge, Guy Major, James Sinclair
Letterers: Todd Klein, Ken Bruzenak, Steve Haynie, John Costanza, Sean Konot

At the time that Green Arrow and Black Canary were getting married, DC released this anthology, collecting the highlights of Oliver and Dinah's relationship over nearly forty years of comics. It has a rather nice introduction by Denny O'Neill, where he explains the genesis of their relationship and its appeal to him.

The book falls into two distinct halves, though more through accident than design. The first half is stories from the 1960s and 1970s. These stories are typically short and fun, and feature both Green Arrow and Black Canary... but not exactly their relationship, as they're more just stories both characters happen to be in. For example, "In Each Man There is a Demon!" (written by Denny O'Neil, art by Dick Dillin & Joe Giella) is simply narrated by the two of them (though it is important to their characters for other reasons). "The Plot to Kill Black Canary!" (written by Elliot Maggin, art by Dick Giordano) has Black Canary confess her love, but it's a one-page coda to an unrelated adventure. Most of the stories in this section do short shrift to Black Canary, too: despite her own status as a superhero, Green Arrow is always rescuing her. I don't understand why in "A Gold Star for the Joker" (written by Elliot S! Maggin, art by J. L. Garcia Lopez and V. Colletta) she simply stands around and does nothing while the Joker wreaks havoc: she's a judo expert and possesses a canary cry, for goodness sake! The two-part "Lure for an Assassin!"/"Terminal for a Tragedy" (written by Denny O'Neil, art by Mike Grell & Vince Colletta) has Black Canary trying to rescue Green Arrow for a change... but two minutes later she's captured by the villains and held hostage to make Green Arrow co-operate, so she sits out the rest of the story. Surely the Black Canary ought to be written differently than Lois Lane, yet she's just a damsel is distress. If you ignore that component, they're decent stories in the goofy way comics were in the period, and the art is usually strong. The Joker one was probably my favorite.

The second half of the book is stories from the 1980s through the 2000s. The tend to take a different tack, focusing more directly on the relationship between the two characters and treating them both like competent superheroes. The first of these is "The Hunters" (written by Mike Grell, art by Mike Grell and Lurine Haines), which shows us the moment that Dinah reveal to Oliver she doesn't want to have a child with him. But it's only part of "The Hunters", showing us the flaw of the second half of the book: there's not a single whole story or even issue in it. In some cases this makes sense, even when it's irritating to have some text filling the gaps for you: most of "Membership Has Its Privileges" (written by Kevin Smith, art by Phil Hester and Ande Parks) actually has nothing to do with the relationship. But in other cases it's annoying: "Auld Acquaintance" (written by Mike Grell, art by Rick Hoberg) does seem to be about their relationship, and it looks like Black Canary even saves Green Arrow from danger for once, but who knows, as half the story has been replaced with a two-paragraph synopsis. But even when you know it's justifiable, it's still annoying to read. I think my favorite in this half of the book was either "The Hunters" (wish we'd had more of it, though) or what we get of "Run of the Arrow" (written by Chuck Dixon, art by Rodolfo Damaggio and Robert Campanella), which has a great scene where Connor Hawke goes to tell Dinah about Oliver's death.

The relationship between the two characters is one I didn't know a lot about (Black Canary appeared very seldomly in the 2000s Green Arrow series), and I was glad this book existed to fill me in. But it didn't do so in an entirely satisfying fashion.

22 November 2009

Faster than a DC Bullet, Issue #14: Superman: For Tomorrow, Volume One

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2005 (contents: 2004)

Borrowed from a friend
Read November 2009
Superman: For Tomorrow, Volume One

Writer: Brian Azzarello
Penciller: Jim Lee
Inker: Scott Williams
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterers: Rob Leigh, Nick J. Napolitano

DC Universe Timeline: Two Years Ago
Real World Timeline: 2006

(It has to have been over a year since Identity Crisis, as "the Vanishing" happened a year prior to the opening of this story, and that has to have come after Identity Crisis. However, just two months remain until the Infinite Crisis-- meaning only three months have passed since Identity Crisis!)

The thing I really like about Superman-- the thing that I think Superman For All Seasons captured so well-- is that he's a guy who feels like the weight of the entire world is on his shoulders. He doesn't angst out over this, not usually, but feels it all the time. He has the power to do the greatest good of anyone in the entire world; how can that not weigh on him? So he does his best, like any hero would do, but not even Superman's best is always enough. Sometimes, he fails.

For Tomorrow begins a year after the Vanishing, an incident where over a million people vanished instantaneously. Superman wasn't there-- he was in space, doing what Superman does, helping people-- and he holds himself accountable, not the least because among the Vanished is one Lois Lane. Superman travels to the apparent origin point of the energy waves that cause the Vanishing, tracking them down to a country in the Middle East. When he arrives there, he doesn't find the source of the Vanishing, but he does find a civil war: one he decides to end.

All of these events are being narrated by Superman to Father Daniel Leone, a Catholic priest. Exactly why Superman feels the need to deliver his story under the seal of confessional isn't clear, but he tells Daniel that his sin "was to save the world", and it's certainly related to the actions he took after the Vanishing, which were drastic, to say the least: he stops a battle in the civil war, tracks down the leader of the insurgents, only to find he's already won. So he helps stabilize things by cleaning up the area. But what he eventually discovers is that the now-toppled regime was who created the Vanishing device, which has fallen into the hands of General Nox, the insurgent leader, and Equus, his cybernetic henchman. The dialogue between Superman and Father Leone runs over all these scenes, proving an insight into Superman's state of mind, and it is immensely well done: Brian Azzarello seems to get Superman. He's upset without being angsty, troubled without being tortured. He sees himself as one of us, and that is why the burden he bears is such a hard one. He doesn't always win, but no one tries harder.

It's hard to judge this story right now, because it's not a story. In its infinite need for profit, DC split the For Tomorrow story up across two different trade paperbacks, so all we get here is the first half. And it's not even really a first half, given the terribly out-of-sequence way we're learning about events. We might have half of the story, but it's not a continuous half. But what's here is good: Superman's frustration is portrayed well, as is his drive and determination. I love the bit where he fights four elementals (summoned by a mysterious woman who I hope is explained in volume two) determined to cleanse the earth of human life, defeating them through cunning and sheer force of will, not punching.

Of course, not everything quite works, not yet. Though I like the disjointed narrative in general, and I love the in medias res opener, there are parts where it's almost impossible to parse what's going on, especially with Superman's talk with the Justice League. Though maybe this will be filled in later. The Justice League's reaction to the Vanishing is oddly muted, too: obviously this is because it's a Superman story in a Superman book... but it makes them look like jerks to tell Superman he's too involved to handle the issue but seemingly do nothing about it themselves. I don't really get what's up with the confrontation with Aquaman, either. And Equus is a pretty uninteresting villain, though on the other hand, General Nox and Mr. Orr are working for me so far. And as for the earth elemental being formed out of Mt. Rushmore...

But the heart of this book are the conversations between Superman and Father Leone, and those work. A lot. Daniel has his own demons to deal with: just like Superman he wants to help everyone, and just like Superman he can't. The rapport the two men have springs up immediately and works very well, giving a focus to the often-disjointed story. I like the banter they have as both attempt to answer the unanswerable, always switching roles as questioner and answerer.

Even when Brian Azzarello's writing slips a little though, it all still works: Jim Lee's art is fantastic. That man knows how to draw Superman in an iconic pose, and that's a good thing given how often the character seems to pose here. His Superman isn't someone you'd want to mess with. All the art is handled well, though, especially the settings, which effectively move from gleaming Metropolis to war-torn desert, from lunar fortress to underwater, from a Catholic church to deepest space.

I don't know where For Tomorrow is going yet, but that doesn't stop me from looking forward to volume two. Superman should always be written this well.

Note that this originally appeared on my old LiveJournal and included pictures back then. Sadly, the pictures are lost in the mists of the Internet.

06 November 2009

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part X: Connor Hawke: Dragon's Blood

Comic trade paperback, 144 pages
Published 2008 (contents: 2007)

Borrowed from the library
Read October 2009
Connor Hawke: Dragon's Blood

Writer: Chuck Dixon
Artist: Derec Donovan
Colorist: Guy Major
Letterer: Phil Balsman

One of my consistent complaints about Judd Winick's run on Green Arrow is that the other Green Arrow, Oliver Queen's son Connor Hawke, doesn't get the amount of play that he should, usually just getting beaten up to prove that the situation is serious. So it's nice to see him get a miniseries all of his own. As far as I can tell, this ran between the end of Green Arrow and the beginning of Green Arrow and Black Canary, so I decided to read it then. It's a good little story, seeing Connor drawn into an archery contest in China-- where not everything is quite as it seems. Chuck Dixon gets Connor in a way that Winick clearly never did, which makes sense given that he wrote for Connor quite a lot on the pre-Quiver Green Arrow series. It's nice to see Connor go through the wringer and come out all the better for it. The fact that there are two Green Arrows, father and son, is one of my favorite parts of the Green Arrow mythos, so I hope to see more of Connor going forward.

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part IX: Green Arrow: Road to Jericho

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2007 (contents: 2006-07)

Borrowed from the library
Read October 2009
Green Arrow: Road to Jericho

Writer: Judd Winick
Penciller: Scott McDaniel
Inker: Andy Owens
Colorist: Guy Major
Letterer: Pat Brosseau

After six years, the revived Green Arrow series that began with Quiver came to an end with the comics collected here. They have three distinct chunks. The first is a flashback to what Team Arrow got up to in the year between Heading into the Light and Crawling through the Wreckage, which is train on a tropical island with Buddhists and assassins. This is pretty good, especially for what it shows us of Oliver's new drive and determination. The second part of the book has Green Arrow and Batman teaming up to take down the Red Hood. I guess this guy actually used to be Robin, which would would explained why Batman is even more ticked off than usual, but the book never actually bothers to mention that-- thanks Wikipedia. Mostly this story is a lot of Winick's usual dramatic punching and hitting. There's a part where the Red Hood works on Mia psychologically, but the effect of this is half-hearted at best and never convinces.

The last part of the book brings everything from Winick's run together by pitting Green Arrow against Brick, Merlyn, Deathstroke the Terminator, and Constantine Drakon. This could be great, right? G.A. finally getting to beat up the villains that have bedeviled him for years, even if two of them are lame? Connor and Mia at his back, not to mention that Black Canary is finally back? Unfortunately, it's not great, as the Justice League randomly shows up and defeats them. And then tears down the wall in the Star City ghetto, even though Oliver didn't want them to do that a book back. That's the ending? Consider me underwhelmed. The political storyline ends up getting much less play than I'd've liked-- I think Ollie as mayor is a great idea-- but the way it's capped off is quite nice. And the book's very last moment speaks well for Oliver's development as a character (though I'd wish we'd seen more of it) and for the Green Arrow and Black Canary series that span off from this one. This series might be finished, but the journey's not over yet.

Though Scott McDaniel continues to not be out-and-out bad like some of the post-Hester/Parks artists on the series, I still can't say that I'm in love with his art. It's usually passable, but all his black characters pretty much look the same, and I hate his interpretation of Constantine Drakon. The man's short, but he shouldn't look like a dwarf.

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part VIII: Green Arrow: Crawling through the Wreckage

Comic trade paperback,143 pages
Published 2007 (contents: 2006)

Borrowed from the library
Read October 2009
Green Arrow: Crawling through the Wreckage

Writer: Judd Winick
Penciller: Scott McDaniel
Inkers: Andy Owens
Colorist: Guy Major
Letterer: Pat Brosseau

This volume picks up a year after the explosive events of Heading into the Light, and it's been a heckuva year-- a wall has been built to separate the ghetto, Green Arrow (both of him) has disappeared, and Oliver Queen has become mayor of Star City. I enjoyed Winick's early work on Green Arrow, but I'm really starting to tire of his approach; this was a bit better than the preceding book, though. The lame villains don't help: I never particularly liked Brick, and I've always thought that Deathstroke the Terminator was just dumb. Dumb name, dumb costume. Also, drugs turning innocent citizens into monsters was done by Winick five volumes ago. The best part of this book is Ollie trying out his new role as mayor, and I wish that we had more of that. The bit where he combines his two roles of politician and superhero to outsmart Deathstroke was great. On the other hand, him refusing to let anyone bring down the ghetto wall makes absolutely zero sense; glad to see you're willing to let people die to prove some kind of point, G.A.

Scott McDaniel's art has the virtue of being consistently decent. His Ollie is especially nice, though sometimes his face looks really weird. I don't really care for the full lips and big boobs he draws on Mia.

31 October 2009

Faster than a DC Bullet, Issue #13: Identity Crisis

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2005 (contents: 2004)

Borrowed from a friend
Read October 2009
Identity Crisis

Writer: Brad Meltzer
Penciller: Rags Morales
Inker: Michael Bair
Colorist: Ken Lopez
Letterer: Alex Sinclair

DC Universe Timeline: Two Years Ago
Real World Timeline: 2005

(Like most comic stories, to be honest, this seems to take place contemporary to its release date. At this point, the Infinite Crisis is rapidly approaching; it's about five months away.)

Brad Meltzer is apparently a famous (or at least best-selling) thriller novelist. He made his comics debut with Green Arrow: The Archer's Quest, which I found fairly good, but there was one real reason I was looking forward to this book: Elongated Man. (Well, sort of.)

Anyone who has the misfortune of discussing comic books with me for a sustained period of time will rapidly learn that one of two ongoings I own a complete run of is Justice League Europe and then proceed to roll their eyes and stop talking to me. But the truth is that JLE introduced me to many of DC's second-string characters... and I love second-string characters, which is probably why Nite Owl is my favorite Watchman. Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man, has a fairly good run in JLE: he's treated decently by Keith Giffen and his various collaborators, he really comes into his own when Gerard Jones takes over the title; his role in the Red Winter storyline is excellent. (Someday, I'll pick up the miniseries Elongated Man: Europe '92, his only-ever title, which was penned by Jones.) But how can you not love him? He's goofy, he's got a fabulous wife, his nose twitched when he smells a mystery, and he doesn't even bother with that secret identity malarkey.

Which is where the trouble begins. Because, as is probably well known by this point, but I shall warn you that there are some SPOILERS AHEAD, this is the book where Sue Dibny dies. How can this happen? All too easily, unfortunately, as the Dibnys are well known to the public. This is why I was sort of looking forward to the book: I love Ralph and Sue, and I knew that their marriage ending like this would be terrible. But I also knew that if it did, a good writer could make something really good out of it.

Meltzer turns out to be a very good writer indeed. The first chapter is nothing short of amazing, even when you know what's coming. It jumps back and forth between "Now" as various heroes hear the news about Sue and a countdown to the moment of death as Ralph goes on patrol with a Justice League newbie, telling her about himself... and Sue. The moment where Ralph finds out what happened is devastating, thanks in a large part to Rags Morales's brilliant artwork, which uses Ralph's stretching ability to great emotional effect: when he finds Sue's body, his face contorts in unreal agony. And when the funeral comes, he literally cannot hold himself together. It's tragic to watch: this normally witty, talkative man doesn't know what to say and can't even compose himself. And why would he be able to? He's lost the love of his life. In a medium and genre where death can often be portrayed all too casually, it really drives home what's happened.

The emotional effect is definitely Meltzer's strong point, and the story is replete with gripping, real moments, from small ones like Clark visiting his parents to big ones like Tim Drake dealing with his father learning of his identity as Robin. This latter one initially seems small, but the importance of this relationship to the book grows gradually as it progresses, eventually culminating in a rather intense sequence involving Batman, Robin, and Captain Boomerang, which I found more than gripping. A lot of the book is about family, as you might have guessed from reading this review so far: husbands and wives, fathers and sons, mentors and mentees. It works well.

Of course, it isn't all high emotional drama; we also get attempts to unravel the mystery of who killed Sue Dibny. But, not quite: while most of the Justice League, the Justice Society, and the rest of Earth's heroes round up suspects, a group within the Justice League thinks they know who did it: Doctor Light. This is where a lot of the drama of the book is centered, and it's also home to what's possibly an even more controversial event than the murder of Sue: the rape of Sue. The book reveals that during the JLA's "satellite era" (the 1970s), Dr. Light broke onto the satellite and raped Sue. Whoa. This is followed by still more revelations: a secret cabal within the Justice League (Green Arrow, Hawkman, Zatanna, the Atom, Black Canary, the Flash, and Green Lantern) regularly mind-wiped villains who learned too much about the JLA, and they not only erased Dr. Light's memories, but rewrote his personality to stop it from ever happening again. And then another revelation, possibly not as big, but one with long-term repercussions. I'll keep this one quiet at least. It's a lot to take in, as Meltzer reworks a lot of old continuity and casts it into a considerably distant light. But, I (admittedly someone who's never read any 1970's JLA comics) think it works. There's darkness for darkness's sake, but this is darkness that explores the nuances of what it means to be a hero, and what it means to be the loved one of a hero. There are lines to tread, and the heroes here crossed them: and they knew it. I think at times it doesn't quite work within their established characters (as someone who's been reading a lot of Green Arrow of late, I don't entirely buy his complicity, or the way it would affect his relationship with Hawkman), but it works well enough-- and it certainly works for this story.

Interestingly enough (and as pointed out by Eric Burns in his articles on Identity Crisis, here and here), the rape of Sue turns out to be a red herring, because Dr. Light isn't behind it at all. But we still get an interesting tale of the supervillain community as well, as they band together (for money, of course) to protect Dr. Light, who is naturally enraged once he figures out what happened to him so long ago. I like the stuff with the villain, especially the new Calculator, and now I finally get what was up with Merlyn after my complaining about Green Arrow: Heading into the Light. He's still kinda lame, though. The sequences where all the villains chill out together are good fun. However, Deathstroke the Terminator, the world's dumbest-named and dumbest-costumed supervillain shows up here, somehow managing to incapacitate half of the Justice League in a highly contrived action sequence where they all take turns attacking him for some reason. This dude couldn't take out Gangbuster, much less Green Arrow or the Flash.

Is it all sunshine? No. Maybe my biggest problem is that though I like the eventual revelation of the actual killer (it's twisted, but it makes sense and works well with the themes of the story), it's one of those stories where as soon as the mystery is solved, the killer is revealed by their own self anyway, rendering all the deduction redundant. So what's the point then? And I can take the point about the portrayal of women here: Sue Dibny is pretty much the ultimate victim, but that's ameliorated by this being once chapter in her very long history. And though the portrayal of Jean Loring might also have its problems, there's enough other female characters here to show that it's not as two-dimensional as it's sometimes made out to be. There's also some side stories I don't get: why was Firestorm even in this?

I've already mentioned the art, but it's worth mentioning again: this is one of those rare comics where it wouldn't work half so well with another artist at the controls. This stuff is intense when it needs to be intense, emotional when it needs to be emotional, action-packed when it needs to be action-packed. Quality artwork all around, pencils, inks, and colors alike. (On the other hand, the original series covers are included between chapters here... and they're by can-only-draw-one-body-type-for-each-sex Michael Turner. Thank God they didn't end up on the cover of the collected edition.)
The title of the story is Identity Crisis, but despite that, it's not about protecting secret identities, it's not some story that could only apply to superheroes. It's about personal identities: who we are and what we stand for and what we're willing to do. And most of all, how our identities derive from those around us, lovers, parents, friends, enemies, and spouses alike. Which is why that final panel of Ralph Dibny, like so many others in this book, just hits you in the gut.

Note that this originally appeared on my old LiveJournal and included pictures back then. Sadly, the pictures are lost in the mists of the Internet.

24 October 2009

Faster than a DC Bullet, Issue #12: Superman Batman: Absolute Power

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2005 (contents: 2005)

Borrowed from a friend
Read September 2009
Superman Batman: Absolute Power

Writer: Jeph Loeb
Penciller: Carlos Pacheco
Inker: Jesús Merino
Additional pencils: Ivan Reis
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: Richard Starkings

DC Universe Timeline: Two Years Ago
Real World Timeline: 2004?

Jeph Loeb can write good comics, right? I know this. I've read Superman For All Seasons and The Long Halloween; he can do absolutely brilliant work. He can, and I know it. So what the hell happened here?

What happened here, as far as I can tell, is that Jeph Loeb ingested the entire DC Universe and then vomited all over some pages and called it a script.

Absolute Power opens with someone traveling back in time and altering the origins of Batman and Superman-- Bruce Wayne's parents' killer is gunned down, and the Kents are fried electrically, and both children are taken away to be raised as the new rulers of the Earth. Of course, you might object that there are a lot of other superheroes out there who would stop that, so our mysterious time travelers also go back in time and kill off Green Lantern, the Flash, and the rest of Earth's great heroes, plus Aquaman. Quite why someone would pick Batman to rule the Earth baffles me-- he has no powers, so they'd have to train him from scratch. What makes him different from anyone else in that case? Might as well pick the Blue Beetle or even Doiby Dickles.

The perpetrators of these time-travel shenanigans are three people called Lightning Lord, Cosmic King, and Saturn Queen. I think they have something to do with the Legion of Super-Heroes, but it's not like anyone ever explains what they're doing or where they came from or why they're taking over the Earth of the 21st century. Or perhaps most importantly, why they can't just take over the Earth themselves, instead of getting Batman and Superman to do it for them. Or why they creepily insist on being called Batman and Superman's parents, while the provide their "children" with hot babes for sexxxing.

Wonder Woman and Uncle Sam round up a group of should-be superheroes to take down the Axis of Evil. A storyline about the Earth's heroes striving to take down an evil Superman and Batman-- you might think that this is where things would start to get interesting. Well, you'd be wrong. This is where things start getting stupid. They assemble a team in about two pages, then there's lots of incoherent fighting, including some of that good-old Superman-on-Wonder-Woman violence Jeph Loeb needs to work into every issue. Then Batman dies. Then everyone travels through time! Why? WHO KNOWS.

This is where the Jeph Loeb Upchucked Continuity Tour really begins, as we randomly hop through the DC Universe, visiting Kamandi, some Wild West characters (in Gotham for some reason), and Apokolips. Also, the Kingdom Come Superman shows up. Again. Plus, the demon Etrigan. Oh, and Metron. Seriously, Loeb, is there anyone else's better idea you need to work into your story? Then Superman and Batman go back in time and stop the villains from changing history. Then Batman shoots his parents' killer before he shoots his parents. This disrupts history even further! OH NO! MORE RANDOM TIME TRAVEL.

Now they have to fight R'as al Ghul, who's apparently taken over the Earth and killed everyone ever with Batman gone. Also, World War II is still going on for some reason. Bruce Wayne learns to be Batman again in twelve minutes (apparently it's not that hard after all), the Justice League is brought back to life only to be killed minutes later, overly portentous narration bubbles mention "The Age of Heroes" a lot, Superman gets stabbed, and then everything's okay. Except-- can Superman ever live with the guilt of killing Wonder Woman in a world that never happened? And can Batman mention the life he should have had one more time? And will Steve ever recover from having to read a bunch of nonsense held together with no rhyme or reason?

WHAT THE HECK. It's like Jeph Loeb has ADD and no plotline interests him for more than five pages. I'm not sure what this was supposed to be about, why most of it happened, or why I should even bother to figure it out. These aren't Batman and Superman, they're two random people with the costumes. It's amazing, but Loeb seems to have created something with even less redeeming value than Supergirl. Thank God this is all James owns of the Superman Batman series, because I'd hate to see what comes next. Actually, it's probably just Batman and Superman making out while Wonder Woman gets beat on by sixteen hundred copies of Doctor Polaris and the Anti-Monitor.
I'm actually kind of disappointed with this review, as I don't think it adequately represents the sheer depth of loathing I have for this story, though the only way to do that might be to just say "please make it stop" a dozen times, and then I'd be too much like Tat Wood for comfort. But dang, this was awful. At least the artwork was pretty.

Note that this originally appeared on my old LiveJournal and included pictures back then. Sadly, the pictures are lost in the mists of the Internet.

21 October 2009

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part VII: Green Arrow: Heading into the Light

Comic trade paperback, 157 pages
Published 2006 (contents: 2005-06)

Borrowed from the library
Read September 2009
Green Arrow: Heading into the Light

Writers: Judd Winick, J. Calafiore
Pencillers: Tom Fowler, Ron Garney, Ron Lim, Paul Lee
Inkers: Dan Davis, Rodney Ramos, Bill Reinhold
Colorist: Guy Major
Letterers: Rob Leigh, Pat Brosseau, Phil Balsman, Jared K. Fletcher

I've occasionally wondered if there's such as thing as overdone continuity in comic books-- they are, after all, a continuous medium, so surely continuity is always par for the course? How fortunate for me, then, that Heading into the Light has seen fit to give me the answer. This story has two big continuity elements. The first is that it spins out of the events of Identity Crisis, a story I haven't read. But I soon will, I know what it's about, and it had just came out when this story ran. So that's fine. What's not fine is that the Big Bad behind this story turns out to be some guy called Merlyn. Who the heck's that? Who knows, because this story never bothers to reveal who this guy is or why he might be so ticked off at Green Arrow. I guess they have a vendetta of some sort, but nothing here sells it enough to make me care.

Also: people often complain that the problem with writing Superman is that he's too powerful, and he's out of his antagonists' league. But the problem with Green Arrow is that he's not powerful, and his antagonists are always out of his league. This is at least the third volume is a row where I've seen Green Arrow and company just receive beating after beating from some antagonist with a huge advantage over him. I'm getting tired of it. And Connor is fricking hospitalized yet again. Get a new deal, Winick.

This book is penciled by four different people, but specific credits aren't given to specific bits, so I have no way of telling who did the bit of the book where the art ceases to be dire. Also, I've no idea which part J. Calafiore wrote, but it seems odd that he could write any issue here, as this is a pretty tight story arc all the way through.

23 September 2009

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part VI: Green Arrow: Moving Targets

Comic trade paperback, 252 pages
Published 2006 (contents: 2004-05)

Borrowed from the library
Read August 2009
Green Arrow: Moving Targets

Writer: Judd Winick
Pencillers: Phil Hester, Tom Fowler, Eric Battle, Tommy Castillo
Inkers: Ande Parks, Rodney Ramos, Jack Purcell
Colorist: Guy Major
Letterers: Clem Robins, Rob Leigh, Pat Brosseau, Phil Balsman

The sixth volume of the Green Arrow series is the thickest yet, encompassing a few story arcs. In the first, "New Blood", Oliver Queen has to deal with the aftermath of City Walls in more ways than one-- a new crime lord named Brick has arisen to replace those killed off in that story, and Mia is becoming the new Speedy more and more. The latter of these plot lines is quite good-- and the reveal of Mia's HIV-positive status is handled fantastically well-- but the former I find hard to buy. Brick has a tough hide, yeah, but I have hard time seeing why he's so dang hard for two Green Arrows to beat. (Also: Brick keeps on saying he'll do something really awful if GA interferes again, but GA keeps on doing things... and Brick suddenly stops caring.) In "Teamwork", Mia joins the Teen Titans, a story which for some reason has Mia taking the exact opposite stance on being HIV-positive as in the previous story. Okay, then. The final part of the book is taken up by "New Business", where Constantine Drakon and the Riddler take on Team Arrow, and the Outsiders show up. It was fun to see Drakon again (his opening scene was fabulous), but otherwise, this is a bit of an explosion-and-punching fest. Roy "Arsenal" Harper steps into the role of GA-dependent-character-beat-to-within-an-inch-of-his-life-to-prove-the-situation-is-serious in this one, giving Connor Hawke a break for once.

The biggest event of note here is that penciller Phil Hester and inker Ande Parks leave the title for good after "New Blood". Sometimes you don't quite realize what you've got 'til it's gone, and though I always sang their praises, their skill was sure made apparent by appearing right alongside their replacements. The sense of mood is all gone, panels are busy, and people are impossible to tell apart. Worst of all are the facial expressions; everyone here looks angry and ugly.

28 August 2009

Faster than a DC Bullet, Issue #11: Superman Batman: Supergirl

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2005 (contents: 2004)

Borrowed from a friend
Read August 2009
Superman Batman: Supergirl

Writer: Jeph Loeb
Artist: Michael Turner
Colorist: Peter Steigerwald
Letterer: Richard Starkings

DC Universe Timeline: Two Years Ago
Real World Timeline: Late 2003?

(This story picks up immediately after the events of Public Enemies, with Superman confined to the Watchtower until the bits of the kryptonite asteroid from that storyline are cleaned up.)

Well, it's time for another rollicking team-up of the World's Finest. Jeph Loeb is back on writing duties for this second volume of the Superman Batman series, with Michael Turner taking over the art. This story explains some of the background behind what has happening in Public Enemies (no explanation for the abortive the-guy-who-killed-Batman's-parents-is-still-out-there plotline, though), telling us that the kryptonite asteroid had a Kryptonian space capsule with Supergirl in it at its heart, and the reason it came straight for Earth was because the capsule was following the one little Kal-El was sent to Earth in. I think the reason Lex Luthor knew this was Darkseid, but how Luthor was going to go public with that explanation and maintain his credibility, I have no idea.

The plot of this story is astoundingly simple. It opens up with Batman discovering a space capsule with a Kryptonian in it while taking part in cleanup operations-- a Kryptonian who turns out to be Kara Zor-El, Superman's cousin. The problem with this series is that it wants to show you the conflict that comes from Superman and Batman's very different worldviews-- something's that been done well in other stories-- but Jeph Loeb seems capable of doing this only by making the two characters act like total jerks. Superman wants to raise Kara and take care of her-- she is, after all, the only member of his race he's ever encountered-- but Batman doesn't trust her for some reason. Of course, it's because he's Batman, but we're never sufficiently sold on the notion that she might be in some way untrustworthy, so he just comes across like a snarling jerk. Especially when he, in a move I cannot understand, convinces Wonder Woman to help him kidnap Kara and take her to Paradise Island. No one even asks Superman if he would like this idea, and I have a hard time believing that any of these people would actually ever think it was necessary. Superman doesn't come out good here, either, though, refusing to explain anything to his friends, and making fun of Batman for losing the second Robin, Jason Todd, an act so out of character that Superman spends the rest of the book thinking to himself, I can't believe I made that crack about Jason Todd.

Loeb's inability to get the characters right is not limited to the Big Three, however. Harbinger, of Crisis on Infinite Earths fame, makes an appearance... an appearance where instead of being the scion of one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse, she giggles like a schoolgirl as she swaps teenage gossip with Kara. Harbinger would never shout "Go Kara! Kick her butt!" Her power was speaking in overly portentous prose! And then she gets killed off-- what a load of nonsense. The book's real crime in this regard is, however, Darkseid. Loeb's Darkseid is a brute and an idiot, not the cunning demigod created by Jack Kirby. There is no way that Batman could have brought Kirby's Darkseid and the forces of Apokolips to their knees within minutes given the centuries of battling the New Gods have put in. And the plan Superman and Kara (now operating as Supergirl) use to trick Darkseid makes no sense. Supergirl throws herself in front of Darkseid's omega beams to protect Superman, but actually teleports out at the last second, and some ash is teleported in to make it look like she's been vaporized. But if she wasn't actually there when the omega beams hit, surely they would have gone right through and killed Superman? Notwithstanding the fact that the power of the omega beams is that they always hit their target! They bend and twist to avoid any obstacle, to catch any runner. If Supergirl was in the way, they'd just go around her! But the worst part of this is that Superman beats up Darkseid and throws him into the Source Wall! What the crap? The entire might of New Genesis can't bring down Darkseid; there's no way that Superman can-- he might be the strongest man on Earth, but Darkseid is a New God! This is justified by Batman at one point, who says that Superman "knew Darkseid would get overconfident if he believed his Omega Effect killed Kara. And it certainly put Superman in the mindset he needed to go into battle." Um, what? Sure, Darkseid may have momentarily dropped his guard after he thought Supergirl was dead, but this isn't an RPG; someone getting the drop on you isn't a deleterious effect on the entire battle. Surely after Superman jumped on Darkseid and threw him into the sun, Darkseid would put his guard back up and stop gasping "I... am... Darkseid" like he's some ineffectual powerless goon. This isn't Mongul we're dealing with here.

Possibly the worst bit of characterization in the whole thing is the titular character, Supergirl herself. Or rather, her total lack of characterization. This is a girl who lost her home planet as a young adult (not as an infant like Superman)... but she doesn't really seem fussed about it at all, content to take baths with Harbinger. Really, the only thing we learn about her is that she loves shopping. Of course she does, she's a teenage girl, right? Hahaha, oh that joke is so great Jeph Loeb, and it never gets old. Girls like to shop! Of course! What else would they do after waking up on an alien planet, newly orphaned? Why does Kara decide to become Supergirl? Who the heck knows! She spends most of the book either amnesiac or under Darkseid's mental control; this book isn't about her in any way, shape, or form, it's about a bunch of people talking about her. She's agency-less in her own story.

In my Public Enemies review, I said the story was saved by some excellent artwork. Can I say the same here? You would think so, going by Loeb's introduction to the collection. He says of Michael Turner: "he drew the darndest sexiest women in comics. What made them sexy wasn't the typical pinup shot of adolescent male fantasies. Mike imbues all his female characters with a strength, both externally and internally..." I think Loeb was confusing the sparkly anime eyes every female character has for inner strength, because there's so such thing going on here. How is Supergirl stalking naked through the streets of Gotham not an adolescent male fantasy? Our first full picture of her is in the nude with a strategically placed sheet and cape magically held in place!

I would criticize Turner for drawing Kara with an improbably long torso and improbably large boobs yet thin body, but I don't think it's a fault with his drawing of Kara so much as his drawing of women, because everyone in this comic has the same body type. Even Wonder Woman. Even Big Barda, who's supposed to a be a colossus; in Turner's hands, she looks like just another teenage girl. She also wears improbably sexy outfits, of course. We're told Lois bought her clothes, but would Lois really buy her a shirt that does this?

What is that shirt even doing? How can it just tuck in in the front like that? Later we get her in a shirt that stops just below her breasts and a g-string that rises up above her jeans. What the heck? Who actually dresses like that? I guess that maybe maybe some girls do, but I find it improbable in the extreme that Lois Lane bought clothes like this for a girl she'd never even met! And she's supposed to be a teenage girl; this just makes me feel dirty. And DC wonders why no girls actually read their Supergirl comic. I also can't believe that Ma Kent would ever devise a Supergirl costume that looked like this:

Conservative, Kansan, sixty-year-old Ma Kent designs Supergirl an outfit that shows her entire improbably long midriff and has a miniskirt!? Right. And we won't even get started on the costume Darkseid puts her in. The art is not noteworthy otherwise: a little too rough from time to time, which shows up in how similar Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne look out of costume.
So, with Supergirl, the Superman Batman series has gone from bad to worse. These books are written so unsubtly they should come with a two-by-four; every narration box hits you over the head with, "They're different... but also the same! And because they're the same... but different they're strong together! Like a team of people who are different... but also the same! Makeout time!" And the only reason they're even different is because Jeph Loeb writes them like total jerks. And Batman doesn't even do anything in this book; why was he even here? Good Lord, what a bunch of crap and nonsense.

Note that this originally appeared on my old LiveJournal and included pictures back then. Sadly, the pictures are lost in the mists of the Internet.

18 August 2009

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part V: Green Arrow: City Walls

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2005 (contents: 2004)

Borrowed from the library
Read July 2009
Green Arrow: City Walls

Writer: Judd Winick
Pencillers: Phil Hester, Manuel Garcia
Inkers: Ande Parks, Steve Bird
Colorist: Guy Major
Letterers: Sean Konot, Clem Robins

Another decent installment in the ongoing saga of the Green Arrow. The real highlight of this volume is Oliver's relationship with Mia, who seems to be growing up despite his best efforts. They have to hack it out over both Oliver's infidelity and her desire to take a more active role in crimefighting; the latter of these reaches an excellent climax, and I look forward to seeing what is done with this in future volumes. The main plot of the book, a group of overly legalistic demons taking over and sealing off Star City, is a good one, though I think the pacing is off a bit; one less chapter of eventually-irrelevant buildup about the Joker, and one more chapter about the heroes trying to hold together their coalition army of cops and criminals would have been better. Oh, and the short story that opens the volume with Connor Hawke bonding with Roy Harper manages to be utterly cliche and unfunny. And it's contradicted by the main story, which states that Roy is still so injured as to be in hospital. Some good art could save it, but for the first time in these GA volumes, we get someone other than Phil Hester and Ande Parks on art duties (though they're back for the main story, and as good as ever, of course), and Manuel Garcia has no ability to draw attractive faces.

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part IV: Green Arrow: The Archer's Quest

Comic hardcover, 175 pages
Published 2003 (contents: 2002-03)

Borrowed from the library
Read July 2009
Green Arrow: The Archer's Quest

Writer: Brad Meltzer
Penciller: Phil Hester
Inker: Ande Parks
Colorist: James Sinclair
Letterer: Sean Konot

This is the only trade left in the Green Arrow series not penned by Judd Winick. Despite being volume 4, it actually collects the issues that ran before Straight Shooter, which is just kind of annoying, as it plainly takes place before them. The first three volumes focused on Oliver Queen's growing relationships with his family of Dinah "Black Canary" Lance, Connor "Green Arrow" Hawke, and Mia Dearden; this one gives some much-needed focus to his connection to Roy Harper, his former sidekick "Speedy", now known as "Arsenal". The two of them hit the road to recover some artifacts Queen left behind after his untimely demise. Unfortunately, the story never quite comes together: why does Queen think recovering these things is urgent now, as he was plainly fine with them being where they were before he died? (I do like the whole bargain he set up with the Shade for after he died, though.) And why does he have to be so sneaky about it? If he just teleported up to the JLA satellite and asked for his old trick arrows, surely they'd just give him them? Some of the sneakiness is explained by the final revelation of the book, but not all of it. And as for the final revelation, I'm undecided as to what I think about it; I feel like it undermines Quiver somewhat, but I'll reserve judgement until I see what (if anything) is done with it later on. Meltzer gets Oliver Queen himself, though; I especially like the almost-not-proposal to Dinah, and the final touch in his relationship with Roy is great, as is the moment where Oliver and Connor decide that they can both be Green Arrow. The story may be somewhat problematic (what's with the thing that randomly pops out of a wormhole and eats Catman?) but as a character piece, it's first-rate.

19 July 2009

Faster than a DC Bullet, Issue #10: Superman Batman: Public Enemies

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2005 (contents: 2003-04)

Borrowed from a friend
Read July 2009
Superman Batman: Public Enemies

Writes*: Jeph Loeb
Pencils: Ed McGuinness
Inkers: Dexter Vines
Colors: Dave Stewart
Letters: Richard Starkings
Prologue Art and Colors: Tim Sale with Mark Chiarello

DC Universe Timeline: Two Years Ago
Real World Timeline: Fall 2003

(Luthor's president, but hasn't yet served a full term, so this must be before 2004, as he was elected in 2000. In that case, the publication date of issue #1 of this series is as good as anything else. He doesn't seem to be gearing up for reelection, though, so perhaps it occurs even earlier? The last six years of DC continuity have to squeeze into two years, which seems a bit of a tight fit, especially when you consider that the events of 52 occupy an entire year of that by definition! No doubt DC will retcon it to being called 26 soon enough.)

Incidentally, last month was the one-year anniversary of Faster than a DC Bullet, a fact which went distressingly unnoticed by myself. I kicked off with Superman: Birthright, but a week after that, I reviewed Superman For All Seasons, one of the best Superman stories I have ever read. Three months after that came Batman: The Long Halloween, a very good Batman story. Both of these stories were penned by Jeph Loeb, so it makes sense that a storyline uniting the two would also be his work. After all, he has to have a good grasp of the characters.

And he does. His Superman is an optimistic, stand-up guy while his Batman is a brooding pessimist. The problem he runs into, though, is the need to continually set them up as perfect opposites of one another, especially via cute narration boxes where they're always thinking parallel but different thoughts. This results in both characters being somewhat uncharacteristically exaggerated-- his Superman is a little too much of a brute-force guy sometimes, and his Batman is pretty joyless.

Mostly I think I just quickly got aggravated by the alternating narration boxes, though; outside of these, his characterization is fine, and usually it's very good. I particularly liked the fact that Clark Kent got to show off his investigative journalism skills. Also excellent is the sequence where Superman has been shot by a kryptonite bullet, and Batman much take him back to safety (fortunately for them, the cave they are in connects to the Batcave). It showcases the strength of both men well: Batman's fantastic ability to think of his feet, where he blows a hole in a wall, shielding himself from the blast by standing on the other side of an ailing Superman, as well as Superman's sheer determination, as he continues to do what has to be done even though he's minutes from death.

Unfortunately, the characterization for the rest of the characters is not so great. Indeed, the characterization for other versions of the same characters is not so great; a future Superman comes back in time to stop a disaster from transpiring. Mostly this is an artificial attempt to heighten the jeopardy our characters are in, as it contributes very little to the story, but it's made worse by the fact that future-Superman is an idiot. For some reason, he thinks the best solution is to murder his previous self as well as Batman as soon as he shows up, which seems like it would cause more problems than it would solve, given the role they play in resolving the situation. Why not sit the two of them down and say, "You need to do x, but not y, as that will result in the destruction of the Earth"? It's a clumsy way to shoehorn a Superman/Superman fight and a Superman/Batman fight into the narrative. Also, why in a postapocalyptic future did Superman take the time to change his outfit to the Kingdom Come version? Nothing better to do after seeing the human race wiped out? Loeb's characterizations of the other supporting heroes is similarly clumsy; to make Superman and Batman look better, they're all written as brutes. Captain Atom is a particular offender in this regard; he feels nothing like the character I remember from Justice League Europe.

The biggest offender is this regard is Lex Luthor, which is surprising, as Loeb wrote an absolutely fantastic Luthor in Superman For All Seasons. This Luthor, however, is nothing more than a ranting maniac whose plan makes very little sense. He tells the world that Superman is responsible for the kryptonite asteroid heading towards the Earth, but never tells anyone why they should believe this. Fortunately for him, everyone just goes along with it. When he can't find Superman and Batman anywhere, he announces that they've been captured, causing a cadre of heroes to break into the White House to liberate them (because of course that's where you'd imprison two of the most dangerous men on the entire planet), so that when they show up, Luthor can ask them where Superman and Batman are. Um, hello? If Nightwing knew where Superman and Batman were, he wouldn't have fallen for your trick, would he? In the end of the story, Luthor abandons all signs of intelligence or reason, puts on a battlesuit, and starts beating up on people left, right, and center. Why? Who knows? The problem here is that Luthor keeps on doing things seemingly just because he's a villain. Why would he want an kryptonite asteroid to destroy the Earth? It doesn't help him in any conceivable way (he lives on the Earth after all); it's just something EVIL for him to do. I've always liked the idea of Lex Luthor as President of the United States (the election arc in Justice League Unlimited was fabulous), but I've never actually read any of the "President Lex" tales before. If this is the kind of terrible use that was made of that idea, I'm glad I haven't.

The other big logic problem here is in the resolution of the story-- it absolutely comes out of nowhere. All of a sudden Batman and Superman are talking about having to get to "the boy". He turns out to be the Toyman's son (the Toyboy? the Boytoy?), who has built a charmingly bizarre rocket that looks like Superman melded with Batman, which can blow up the asteroid by punching it real hard. When did they set this up while being chased by various supervillains and then Captain Atom's forces? And why does Power Girl need to distract the boy, aside from providing an opportunity for a joke about her prominent boobs? How did Superman and Batman escape from the custody of Captain Atom and Hawkman and steal their outfits when they were unconscious? It's a great moment when the two of them turn up in disguise, but as soon as you think about it, it makes no sense. (The narration box implies that Hawkman and Captain Marvel were distracted by the news that Luthor has captured Superman and Batman, which is really really dumb.) What the heck is even going on here?

Loeb's cartoony, exaggerated writing is perfectly complemented by Ed McGuinness's cartoony, exaggerated artwork. Except that McGuinness's artwork is cartoony and exaggerated in a good way. Superman and Batman look fantastic, and his rendition of all the other characters is spot-on as well. It's a clean look, and McGuinness rarely fails with even the most complex and crowded of battle scenes; we always know exactly what is happening. Looking at the pictures is probably the best part of this thing.

Apparently, Public Enemies has been chosen as the source material for one of the upcoming direct-to-DVD DC cartoons. I can see why-- it looks great here, and I imagine it'll look great in motion, too. But hopefully the vocal performances of Kevin Conroy, Tim Daly, and especially Clancy Brown can give the story a credibility and logic it utterly lacked in its original form. I've got two more Superman Batman trades by Loeb to read; they'd better be better than this.

* "Writes"? That's one of the dumbest things I've ever read.

Note that this originally appeared on my old LiveJournal and included pictures back then. Sadly, the pictures are lost in the mists of the Internet.