Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part XIV: Green Arrow and Black Canary: Family Business

Comic trade paperback, 128 pages
Published 2009 (contents: 2008)
Borrowed from the library
Read January 2010

Green Arrow and Black Canary: Family Business

Writer: Judd Winick
Artists: Cliff Chiang, Mike Norton, Wayne Faucher, Rodney Ramos, André Coelho
Colorist: David Baron
Letterers: Travis Lanham, Jared K. Fletcher, Steve Wands, Sal Cipriano, Pat Brosseau

After the strong The Wedding Album, Judd Winick returns to form: to add insult to injury, at the beginning of this book, the comatose and brain-dead Connor Hawke is kidnapped. Oliver, Dinah, and Mia spend the book hunting for him, aided by some British "bloke" and various other faces from around the DC universe. By the end of the book... they've actually pretty much accomplished nothing, because it's taken them five issues to find out who didn't do it. I could forgive this if other interesting things were going on, but they're not; mostly, Oliver is just snarling a lot. I did like the fakeout with the aliens, though.

The saving grace of this book is the artwork: Cliff Chiang is the best and most interesting artist this title has had since Phil Hester and Ande Parks left. Mike Norton takes over halfway through the book, but does such a good job that you'd barely know.

Faster than a DC Bullet, Issue #17: Superman: Secret Identity

Comic trade paperback, 206 pages
Published 2004 (contents: 2004)
Borrowed from a friend
Read January 2010

Superman: Secret Identity

Writer: Kurt Busiek

Artist, Colorist: Stuart Immonen
Letterer: Todd Klein

DC Universe Timeline: N/A
Real World Timeline: 1990-2050?

Imagine your parents' surname was "Kent", you were born in Kansas, and they gave you the first name "Clark". Wouldn't that be terrible? But then imagine that one day you discovered that you really were Superman. That is the premise of Secret Identity, which follows this boy named Clark up into adulthood. I'd known the fundamentals of the premise, but not much more, before reading it-- enough to know it took him up until he was old enough to hold a newspaper job, at least, but I didn't know quite how far along the story went. 206 pages to cover a man's entire life. The book is narrated by Clark, in the form of extracts from a typed diary he keeps and doesn't share with anyone.

Given Superman action figures he doesn't particularly enjoy by his family and the constant butt of jokes from his cruel classmates, Clark is pretty much a typical teenager until he discovers he can fly. It's a magnificent moment, as you might imagine, and he soon discovers he has all Superman's powers: super-strength, x-ray vision, super-hearing, laser eyes, super-breath, and so on. He spends the rest of the book figuring out what he ought to do with these powers: should he used them for good? Should he go public? Should he hide them from everyone he knows? In the end, events convince him that he can't afford to go public-- the risk is too great.

In the first chapter, when Clark is still in high school, his powers are pretty obviously a metaphor for the need all teenagers feel to hide themselves and fit in with others, yet at the same time be recognized for who one really is. There's a girl Clark wants to impress, of course. But dare he go out on that limb? Of course he doesn't, but he gains some small recognition from her all the same. The end of the chapter, though, introduces this notion that there are darker forces at work: there are people out there who want what Clark is. Only he himself doesn't know who he is-- where did he come from? He's not adopted, so how did he gain these powers?

At first, I was tepid about these plots. Surely the point of the story was how did a boy deal with these things? Explaining where they came from, or introducing a group of evil folks trying to take advantage of him seemed like it would just derail that. That wasn't going to be the interesting part. It's like in Ken Grimwood's Replay-- the powers the main characters have can never be explained because any answer would be boring. But as the story unfolded, I realized that I was wrong: just as Clark's powers stand for the true identities we all carry within us and reveal only to a few others, the government officials trying to uncover him stand for the forces of the world constantly trying to push us out into the world where everyone sees us. It's interesting to have a story that argues we ought to keep parts of ourselves hidden from the world, whereas most fiction tells us "to be who we really are" but it works here-- and truth be told, it's how things actually work in the real world.

Unfortunately, Busiek seems really worried that the reader can't figure out this subtext on their own, and there's a few panels where this is ham-handedly narrated by Clark. "THIS IS WHAT THE STORY MEANS." Ugh. Thank you, I am capable of interpreting literature myself.

Clark's friends delight in setting him up on dates with women named "Lois" and "Lana" (and even "Cat Grant"), but one of these dates introduces him to the woman he eventually marries, one Lois Chaudhari. (Though I was amused by this element, I found it hard to buy the story's claim that Lois was constantly set up on dates with men named Clark-- is "Lois" really so uncommon?) It's a very real romance, and the moment where Clark reveals his secret identity to her is fantastic.

Stuart Immomen's art is a little odd. It's often glorious, especially in his big wide vistas and such, but often times his faces look a little stiff-- and stuck on an emotion that doesn't actually fit with the dialogue depicted. But his action shots are great, as is his use of color. It would be a very different and somewhat inferior book with a different artist on the case. Possibly the best sequence is when Clark is captured by the government and makes his escape: there's no dialogue, no narration, yet it's utterly harrowing.

As I said, Secret Identity covers quite a span of time, the last chapter taking place when Clark and Lois's own daughters are grown. Some aspects of this I found improbable, but the last few pages of the story, as he goes on one last mission, declares his retirement, and celebrates Christmas... well, I think I must have had something in my eye while reading it, because the alternative is untenable for me. The emotion that Busiek and Immonen drew together at the end was potent and powerful.

This is a fantastic story, told fantastically well. I think the appeal of Superman is that he's an ordinary person, just with superpowers-- he'd be trying to do good even if he wasn't from Krypton, and this story drives that idea home. People often complain (wrongly, I think, but also understandably) that Superman is hard to relate to, but this Superman certainly isn't. He really is just like you or me or anyone else you know. He could be you or me or anyone else you know. After all, don't we we all have secret identities?

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.

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part XIII: Green Arrow / Black Canary: The Wedding Album

Comic hardcover, 175 pages
Published 2008 (contents: 2007-08)
Borrowed from the library
Read December 2009

Green Arrow / Black Canary: The Wedding Album

Writer: Judd Winick
Artists: Amanda Conner, Cliff Chiang, André Coelho
Colorists: Paul Mounts, Trish Mulvihill, David Baron
Letterers: Ken Lopez, Pat Brosseau

After three volumes with other authors (Connor Hawke: Dragon's Blood, For Better or For Worse, and Road to the Altar), I was dreading the return of Judd Winick to writing duties for Green Arrow; I'd gotten mightily sick of him after six volumes of the old series. But quite to my surprise, this books opens exceptionally. The actual wedding of Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance swings between touching, humorous, and shocking with ease, and the story that springs out of that is very good, too, seeing Black Canary, the new Green Arrow, and Speedy hunting for the once-again-"dead" old Green Arrow. There's some good banter, the story moves quickly, the twists are clever, and I liked the sprawling nature of it, a sharp difference from the very street-level old Green Arrow series. It really felt like both Oliver and Dinah's book, not Oliver's book with Dinah tacked on. Best of all, Connor Hawke actually got something to do. Which is why I should have known better...

Winick's favorite tactic on Green Arrow was to beat Connor up to prove the situation was serious, meaning that this expert martial artist-- who had served as Green Arrow by himself for years while Ollie was dead-- always looked a bit useless and never got any good character moments. This really got on my nerves by the end of the series, but Winick goes one further by putting him into a coma and wiping his mind! Argh! Why is this even good writing? How many times do I need to watch scenes of Ollie angsting over his relationship with his son? The only good thing I can say about this development, which ruined an almost-brilliant book for me, is that it finally pays off the revelation at the end of The Archer's Quest, a good five years prior.

On the upside, the wedding story itself is drawn by Amanda Conner, whose work on Wednesday Comics's Supergirl feature was fabulous, and she does a pretty good job here, too (though it's sometimes hard to tell her out-of-costume superheroes apart). The majority of the book is drawn by Cliff Chiang, who has a very clean, "kinetic" style that works well, especially with the bright colors of David Baron. Green Arrow and Black Canary look the best they've looked in years (I mean, look at that slick cover)... it's a shame they just can't have a story to match it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.