This Week's Comic Stack

OOPS! This didn't post when I thought it did....

The Good:

• Blackest Night: Flash #3- Wally and Barry try to save Black Lantern Bart. Captain Cold has to deal with the BL Rogues, leading the new Captain Boomerang to a dark place.


• Green Lantern #51- Hal confronts BL Spectre as Parallax.


• Green Lantern Corps #45- Kyle and the other GLs try to save Guy from his Red Lantern infection.


• Incredible Hercules #141- In this issue Hercules Dies!


• R.E.B.E.L.S. #13-


• Captain America #603-


• Guardians Of The Galaxy #23


• The Stand: Soul Survivors #4


• Marvels: Eye Of The Camera #6- long delayed conclusion very emotional and best issue of series, but it should have been a one-shot

The Alright:

• Justice League Of America #42- progressing nicely with the new team.


• Supergirl #50- concludes the Lana Lang subplot, features an amusing backup co-written by Supergirl portrayer Helen Slater.


• Amazing Spider-Man #621- Spidey vs Mr. Negative


• Avengers Vs. Agents Of Atlas #2- time tossed heroes reminiscient of Avengers Vs Invaders maxi series


• Uncanny X-Men #521- Magneto is up to something involving the return of a lost X-Man

Random Thoughts 2

-DC Entertainment announced new positions. Jim Lee and Dan Didio will be co-publishers and Geoff Johns takes the position of Chief Creative Officer.

As much as I have disliked a lot of the stuff that Didio has done in the last few years, I give him full credit for being bold and innovative. That, along with one or two writers on key projects has increased the popularity of DC characters and the company as a whole.

Some of his wins/fails:

• 52- a weekly comic series; a win
• All-Star line- created to be a continuity free, new reader friendly line; a zero sum gain, split between the Silver Age inspired Grant Morrison Superman and the ultra violent Frank Miller Batman (other titles like Wonder Woman and Batgirl failed to materialize) while a commercial success neither was exactly what the line was touted to be.
• Countdown- the follow up weekly to 52; fail
• Trinity- although better than Countdown the third weekly was overshadowed by Final Crisis; fail
• Green Lantern- since Rebirth has brought Hal and Corps into spot alongside Batman and Superman in prominence including two ongoing series, minis and one shots; win
• Wednesday Comics- a weekly newsprint collection of comic strips; win
• Final Crisis/Batman RIP- plagued by lateness, continuity lapses and a densely written plot line these events sold well; just barely a win
• Infinite Crisis/Identity Crisis- brought back the event to comics; win

Jim Lee, while a great artist hasn't exactly set the comics world on fire as an editor. He has been in charge of Wildstorm for over 17 years. In the last five the Wildstorm Universe has been relaunched three times, the last two occurring within a year. Of all the DC imprints it is the weakest.

As a rule, leading by committee is a mistake. SomeONE has got to make the decisions. Whether they are good or bad, that same person takes the credit/blame. So this setup has me wary.

Geoff Johns is the single most valuable person to DC. No other writer has proven that they understand the fans connection to characters or the connections and places that those characters have within the DC Universe itself. It is because of Johns' writing that I'm such a DC fan now. I have hoped that this would happen for quite a while. I hope he can guide other writers to maximize their storytelling. It seems that seems that writers chosen to follow his runs on series (with editors making bad decisions) manage to run them into the ground.

• Hawkman- his second title as sole writer enjoyed a brief stint by Justin Grey and Jimmy Palmiotti, but was turned into Hawkgirl as part of One Year Later.
• Flash- after he left the title struggled before being canceled, relaunched by Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo (creators of the Flash TV series) with Bart Allen as the Flash, it tanked fast
• Teen Titans- Sean McKeever (admittedly losing half the cast to editorial decisions) ruined what was left of Johns' combination of Young Justice and Titans
• JSA- Bill Willingham and Matt Sturges have divided the team in two in a move that is against the creed of the group. While great writers on other titles, neither "gets" the JSA right.

-I can't wait to see Crisis On Two Earths when it comes out Tuesday on DVD/Blu-Ray. The Crime Sydicate main story and the Spectre short.

That's all for now

Random Thoughts 1

This is a new and hopefully frequent posting reflecting the title of this blogsite...

-I'm really enjoying the Marvel teaser images of the new Secret Avengers team. And by that, I mean trying to figure out who they are. (as if the creative team wasn't enough to get me interested)

-I had a fun time thinking about Marvel characters who could become deputized by the DCU Lanterns (ex: Captain America= Hope= Blue Lantern) and then discussed it with a friend.

-I got excited about toys announced at this past weekends NY Toy Fair. Including:

• A Wal-Mart exclusive (generally bad news) DC Universe Classics five figure set made up of Green Lanterns. There's a Hal Jordan with Parallax induced grey temples, a Sinestro in his old GL suit, Tomar-Re (the orange fish-head alien), John Stewart wearing the suit from the Mosaic story and last, but not least, Guy Gardner.
• A DCU Classics Supergirl Vs Lex Luthor in Battlesuit two pack
• The Marvel Universe Galactus that's 19 inches high with light up eyes and seven or eight voice clips.
• Transformers Generations (replacing the Universe line) coming out with a G1 inspired Thrust, the IDW inspired Drift and a Marvel Comics inspired Darkmount (Straxis)
• Masters Of The Universe Classics had a bunch of figures including two that never got a US release. I just wanted the Whiplash figure, who will come with a classic 80's head and a 2002 redesign head.

-I finally got some answers on Lost this Tuesday. Old Smokey or FLocke (fake Locke) tells why Jacob brought the main cast to the Island...as candidates to become the next Jacob.

-I scratched my head as the Losers movie (great comic series BTW) got pushed back to a higher profile opening on June 4th. Then got moved back to its original opening in April.

-I bought a bunch of Masters Of The Universe Classics stuff on MattyCollector.com:

• Battle Cat- 'cause He-Man needs a ride
• Trap Jaw- he was my favorite figure of the original line
• Man-At-Arms- a pet is cool, but you need a wingman

The thing is though,... OK, the new merchandise went on sale at 12:00 noon. I was able to be online at exactly 12:01. The Man-At Arms was a re-release, but the site wouldn't allow me to buy it as it "thought" it was out of stock still. Not wanting to lose out on other figures, I removed it from my cart. I finished my purchase at 12:09 (site traffic slows processing) and I checked to see if that problem was fixed. I noticed that the two other figures have sold out. In not even TEN MINUTES! I checked out the week old forums the site has and they were ablaze with angry customers (formerly potential ones). Now, the website is the ONLY retailer of these figures (other stores buy from them and resell at a markup) you would think that they would know the demand for these figures. Long story, short... I am lucky! I even got the Man-At-Arms when I checked to see if that glitch was fixed.

-As corny and low budget as it was, Smallville will never be as cool as the JSA episodes/movie.

That's it for now....

This Week's Comic Stack

Finally able to get to the comic store after the East Coast snowstorm.....

The Good:

• Adventure Comics #7- Tony Bedard steps in to give an excellent and fairly important Blackest Night tie-in.
• Secret Six #18- The Six and Suicide Squad crossover concludes as the two teams join together to fight Black Lanterns.
• Booster Gold #29- Dan Jurgens run is nearing an end...but this issue ramps up the tension as BG finds out he his in Coast City on the day it's destroyed. But he's still unaware that the mysterious time traveller he's tracking is his sister.
• Amazing Spider-Man #620- Mysterio's plot unravels as "Silvermane", Mr. Negative and Spidey battle.

The Alright:

• Action Comics #27- Chris(Nightwing) learns about the legend of Flamebird and Nightwing before confronting Jax-Ur and Captain Atom prepares to go after Mirabai
• Stange #4- Strange has to heal the magical "stroke" that has happened, and he is going to operate on Eternity to do that. His new apprentice faces Silver Dagger while protecting Strange's body.
• Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard #4- The Guard/Jammers face an infiltrator as the evil beings of the alternate universe bear down on them.
• New Mutants #10- Cyclops observes the team for the leader of the next generation of mutants as they deal with the Savage Land Mutates who are seeking out Magneto.
• Human Target #1- Len Wein captures the feel and style of the TV show well. The source material, while entertaining, doesn't have much else besides the action. Too bad DC doesn't let him revisit the DCU character. A second shorter story comes off like a deleted scene, nice to see but not good enough to make it into the final cut. If you love the show, pick this up, if not then don't bother.

Trade watch:

R.E.B.E.L.S. Vol 1: The Coming of Starro- If you (like me) passed on this excellent series by Tony Bedard, Andy Clarke and Claude St. Aubin. Then got sucked in through the Blackest Night crossover issues, here is the chance to start over. Vril Dox tries to assemble a team to fight against Starro who has taken over several planets and his own police organization L.E.G.I.O.N. Cloned from Brainiac on Colu, he isn't evil but doesn't care about using people to get what he wants. A fact that will often put his allies in as much danger from him as his enemies.

This Week's (and the last two) Comic Stack

I've been so bad at writing and posting... plus this week Lost returned, so I was rewatching season 5 preparing for it...Anywhoo, without further ado (nor any pics)....

The Good:

• Invincible Iron Man #23- more suspense as we wait for Tony to regain his mind
• Nova #34- alternate reality fun and games
• Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #3- WW as Star Sapphire vs BL Max Lord
• Zorro #19- top notch as always

The Alright:

• Torch #5- Triple the Torches in this issue was fun
• Question #37- The art and story gets lost under the scratchings of Seinkienwicz
• Superman: World Of New Krypton #12- To be concluded...in Superman? Why did they do it this way?
• Zorro: Mantanzas #1- Old school writer Don McGregor gets off to a clunky start, but lots of promise for next issue
• Lone Ranger #20- more drama and little action

The Bad:

• Siege #2- {Incoming} the awful dialogue and pacing totally destroy the "WOW!" moment in this issue, as a character Marvel has built up for the past few years is literally ripped apart.

And some outstanding books from previous weeks:

• Atom & Hawkman #46- Atom saves the Universe
• Green Lantern #50- Return of Hal Jordan Parallax
• Starman #81- The Shade is awesome...too bad no Jack or Tony Harris interior art
• Mighty Avengers #33- Hank vs Norman for a Cosmic Cube and Hank's distraction is the best "You already have the Cube"

Hopefully I'll be on schedule next week

Essential Showcase Of Masterworks 5

Green Lantern/Green Arrow by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams

This book marks a turning point of sorts for DC Comics. Since revitalizing the superhero genre in the late 50's and early 60's, DC played catch up to their innovative competitor Marvel Comics. Being the old hand, DC was less open to change and began to pay the price for it at the...umm...newsstands. As Marvel heroes gained popularity due to their "flawed" heroes and "realistic" stories, DC's prim and proper perfect heroes lost popularity.

To compete DC would have to change.

Enter in one of the titles that DC had revitalized the genre with, Green Lantern. Following the adventures of test pilot Hal Jordan who inherits an alien power ring that can create an energy field into any shape he can imagine. He becomes part of an intergalactic peacekeeping organization. Sagging in sales and with long time artist Gil Kane leaving, it was headed for cancellation. A perfect (and frequent back then) opportunity to experiment.

DC handed the title over to Denny O'Neil who had some success on Justice League Of America and Beware the Creeper (created and drawn by Steve Ditko). O'Neil had made some dramatic changes to other characters recently. He had stripped Wonder Woman of her Amazon powers and turned her into an Emma Peel type super-spy complete with "mod" new outfits. O'Neil also had turned Green Arrow from a bored millionaire who moonlit as a superhero to a champion of the forgotten and oppressed by having Oliver Queen (GA) lose his inherited millions. This last change would directly influence the Green Lantern title.

While O'Neil had reworked Green Arrow's character, artist Neal Adams had revamped his costume to fit a gritty urban Robin Hood in the pages of The Brave And The Bold. Adams had previously been teamed with Roy Thomas on the also soon to be canceled X-Men title (it went into reprints instead) at Marvel and had followed Carmine Infantino on Deadman for DC.

O'Neil decided that Hal had been in space so long that he had forgotten what it was like to be on Earth. The now liberal outspoken Green Arrow would make a nice foil for the conservative spacecop GL on his quest to reconnect with the common man. Added into the mix would be one of the Guardians (the GL's bosses) themselves to give a totally alien perspective. This quest would take the trio (and Black Canary who joins up with them) through America's west and on to other planets, all the while exploring many social issues that are still relevant today.

Race, overpopulation, pollution, cults, religious fundamentalists and drug addiction are just some of the topics O'Neil addressed.

One of the most famous comic covers and stories was the two issue arc in which Green Arrow discovers that his ward and partner, Speedy (ironic?), has turned to drugs and become a heroin addict. Following the Spider-Man story that involved generic "pills" that was printed without the Comic Code Authority seal, it was the first to come out and name a specific drug. Not only is the story about the effects of drugs, but the toll and consequences of addiction.

The second biggest event in the run was the creation of the John Stewart character. With the reserve GL Guy Gardner in a coma, the Guardians tell Hal Jordan to find another. The ring selects an activist and "angry black man" John Stewart. Initially adverse to the idea of serving the "Man" he realizes that he can accomplish a lot with the power of the Green Lantern. John Stewart would go on to become a big part of the Green Lantern mythos. He became the Green Lantern of the Justice League/Justice League Unlimited TV series.

O'Neil and Adams followed their run on GL/GA to a backup feature in the Flash and later teamed up for DC again for their famous run on Batman introducing Ra's Al Ghul and Talia. Adams had a run on the Avengers during the Kree/Skrull War and did many covers for both DC and Marvel. Adams also was instrumental in broadening creator rights. O'Neil became the editor of the Bat titles for most of the eighties.

The run was reprinted in the late eighties as a mini series that had new cover art by Adams on high quality paper. In 2000, DC came out with a hardcover complete with slipcase featuring all new coloring for the art. This in part led to the Adams Batman and Deadman runs being collected in to similar hardcover volumes.

This Week's Comic Stack

This time it's actually for this week:



The Good:

• The Power Of Shazam! #48- Poor Osiris gets to be a hero once again. I don't know Eric Wallace but he does a good job here. The art by Don Kramer gets a strange watercolor look to it. I don't know if that's his art work, the inker or colorist. It's not bad, just loses the style and lines that I've enjoyed in JSA, Dr Fate and his other work.


• Secret Six #17- Continues the showdown between the Six and the Squad. Great action, great character bits and that's before the Black Lanterns show up.


• The Marvels Project #5-The Angel runs into Captain America on his first mission. Nice mix of history, mystery and action with great art.


• Invincible Iron Man #22- With Tony's mind still MIA and the Ghost after his body, Dr. Strange is consulting. Although nothing big happens, the mood set up is a good lead in to next issue.


• Adventure Comics #6- Superboy learns how bad Lex Luthor is. Geoff Johns bows out of the title

The Alright:

• Realm Of Kings: Imperial Guard #3- While the team scouting the Fault tries to repair the Starjammer, Gladiator regrets his assuption of the throne. Then, a face from the RoK one shot shows up...Quasar. But he's followed by some of the H.P.Lovecraft "Old Ones"so next issue is gonna be fun. This series is really picking up now.


• Strange #3- Dr. Strange vs kid beauty pagents (they're diabolical)


• R.E.B.E.L.S. #12- The Starro story continues after the break for BN crossover. This is a great title, good thing the first trade is out next week as I didn't pick up the initial issues.


• Action Comics #885- Mon-El tries to stop the SP and the military from fighting over taking Nightwing and Flamebird into custody.


• Booster Gold #28- Booster makes sure Hank Henshaw goes into space while his sister finds out she's in the doomed Coast City. And Blue Beetle's suit takes over and starts the Reach's evil programming.


• Catwoman #83- Selina has to save her sister from BL Black Mask. Harley and Ivy help out.