Comics are Awesome III

[Dominic]

Exactly, it is all about balance and moderation.

Joking aside, Marvel might be losing Hickman after "Secret Wars". I heard that he is slowing down. But, considering that he has been running full-steam over the last two years, this is understandable. But, they still have plenty of talent. Gillen and Taylor are likely to be around, if not on the books they are on now. Bendis is staying right at Marvel.

They are not shitting up their good books.

[andersonh1]

If you can find a copy of "Super Gods", read that as well. (That includes Morrison shoot-talking about those jabs at readers that you noticed.)

I found Supergods at the library today and checked it out, so I plan to read that over the next few weeks. I have to say, I already appreciate the time Morrison takes to go over Action #1 in detail.

[Dominic]

His analysis of older comics is non-sensical in places. (I am not going to attribute anywhere near the level of intent and craft to anything published before 1970 that Morrison seems to.) But, he thoughts on what comics have become are worth considering. His thoughts on the structure of the universe are consistent with what you would expect with a man who has done as many mind-altering drugs as Morrison reportedly has.

[andersonh1]

His analysis of older comics is non-sensical in places. (I am not going to attribute anywhere near the level of intent and craft to anything published before 1970 that Morrison seems to.) But, he thoughts on what comics have become are worth considering. His thoughts on the structure of the universe are consistent with what you would expect with a man who has done as many mind-altering drugs as Morrison reportedly has.

There's a lot more craft in those old comics than you give them credit for. Granted they're not always as sophisticated in many ways as modern comics, but those writers and artists worked hard at what they were creating. I'm glad to see that Morrison gives them their due.

[Dominic]

Morrison spends an awful lot of time assigning intent where there most likely was none. It is very unlikely that the artists of the 60s and earlier were going for the sort of visual brilliance that Morrison is crediting them with. Look at the early work of most talent (including Morrison). Now, consider how much lower the bar was in the 60s and earlier.

Morrison's "Zenith" is painful to read in places. That is despite Morrison's talents as a writer. (Scripts often determine page lay-out.)

(late edit)
Speaking of intent, there was an amusing letter in this weeks "Superior Iron Man". The guy who wrote the letter was whining about how Taylor had made Iron Man a bad guy. The letter stated that the guy had stuck with Tony through thick and thin over the years. And, now, that fan was just sticking with Tony to see him pay for all of the people that he had made suffer....including that fan. (Hoooooo boy!)

Assuming/hoping that the fan was kidding with the tone of the letter, it is funny. If the fan was being serious (and with Marvel fans, it is hard to be sure), then it is funny for wholly different reasons.

[andersonh1]

This week's Convergence is from the Zero Hour era, but oddly gave me less books that made the cut despite that being "my" era where I was really buying a lot of books every week. I'm being a bit selective to keep costs down or I might have picked up a few more books, but in any case, I got three. By the way, does whoever is editing this series realize that pre-Flashpoint, the guy who yells Shazam is not named Shazam, but Captain Marvel? Superman started to call him Shazam last week, and I'm fairly sure several of the books do the same this week as well. Shazam is the wizard, Captain Marvel is the alter-ego of Billy Batson. I doubt it's a trademark problem since Thunderworld was able to use the Captain Marvel name without any problem. I smell an editing error. And there are a few others as well throughout the issues.

Convergence: Aquaman #1
For this issue, Aquaman was taken from after he lost his hand as depicted in the Peter David-written 90s series, but before he ditched the orange shirt. He's in his classic orange and green with the hook hand, long hair and beard. He's shown pining for Mera, but the two of them were not on good terms at the time, so that's not quite accurate. In fact Dolphin was his soon-to-be love interest at the time. He's taken over the Metropolis aquarium and is able to keep himself hydrated there. A lot of this book details Aquaman's attempt to deal with being cut off from the ocean and Mera, and how he's dealing with life in the dome. The character was in a bad place in the 90s Peter David series and that's reflected here with his attitude towards just about everyone around him. When the dome comes down, it looks like he's going to be pitted against some gun toting villain I'm not familiar with. I guess I'll go look him up. It's a decent issue, mainly used to show how Aquaman deals with life under the dome rather than much in the way of action.

Convergence: Shadow of the Bat #1
Bruce Wayne and Jean-Paul Valley working together right after Bruce returns as Batman? I don't know how that story could possibly fit into the KnightsEnd storyline or when either character would have travelled to Metropolis, but okay. It's a good hook for a storyline. But I wasn't too impressed with this issue. The two men do work together to infiltrate a criminal organization operating in Metropolis, and the villain is suitably grotesque in the Alan Moore style, but a lot of time is wasted on uninteresting scenes and unclear action sequences. And I'm not sure Valley was all that sane at the end of KnightEnd, making his characterization here dubious. Aquaman had a few continuity errors, but this issue is worse, in my opinion. Was it that hard to do the research? Spend a few evenings reading the collected Knightfall trades, and you have what you need. There's some real wasted potential here. And I have no idea who the villains the two Batmen have to fight are supposed to be. A confusing mess of a Batman comic, sadly.

Convergence: Parallax/Green Lantern #1
The best issue of the three, by far. Kyle Rayner is a regular visitor to the Metropolis jail, where Hal Jordan has turned himself in and insists on being locked up, because he's eaten up with guilt for killing so many Green Lanterns and the Guardians. He's drawn looking very haggard and tired, and of course has the grey hair of the early 90s. Kyle tries and tries to convince him that it was the power that corrupted him as Parallax and that Hal is a better person than he gives himself credit for, but Hal's not buying it. His one comfort is that his successor is a better man than he was. The characterization and interaction between Hal and Kyle all through the issue is authentic and well-written, with Kyle coming across as a thoroughly decent and down to Earth person. And Hal''s sanity and guilt is consistent with the mid-90s, particularly the zero issue of GL, where he often seemed sane when he was depowered, but would go back to ranting and raving when he assumed the Parallax identity. And that's what happens here: the dome comes down and Kyle gets his powers back, but so does Hal, who's in full mid-90s Parallax mode, ready to go on a rampage to get what he wants. Kyle almost talks him down, only to be knocked out of the sky by ... Princess Fern, whoever that is, and that really sets Parallax off. Yeah, some random character who can control plant life is pitted against the guy who destroyed and remade the universe. You can probably guess how that fight goes. The cliffhanger sees Parallax about to destroy Princess Fern's city and all the innocents living there. It's a very good issue that nicely straddles the line between being faithful to the era while using the more recent retcons to good effect. I really enjoyed it.

[Sparky Prime]

Princess Fern, whoever that is,

Let's see, Google search says that she was from the planet Quark of Earth-6 which was destroyed during CoIE. Odd choice to throw into this book, not really any background to the character at all. I can see how the dome might cut off Kyle from his power, but does the book explain why Hal is cut off from his? Having absorbed the energies of the Central Battery (and being possessed by the Parallax Entity), I'd have thought his powers wouldn't be affected.

[andersonh1]

Princess Fern, whoever that is,

Let's see, Google search says that she was from the planet Quark of Earth-6 which was destroyed during CoIE. Odd choice to throw into this book, not really any background to the character at all. I can see how the dome might cut off Kyle from his power, but does the book explain why Hal is cut off from his? Having absorbed the energies of the Central Battery (and being possessed by the Parallax Entity), I'd have thought his powers wouldn't be affected.

No, it doesn't explain it, but then Kyle's ring had a charge as well. Kyle makes a point of noting that the percentage of the charge is exactly the same as it was when he was last able to use it a year earlier. So the same logic would apply to him as well as to Hal, even if Hal has magnitudes more power.

I'm not sure any explanation would suffice for why all these many superheroes with so many different abilities and sources of power would all be affected. So I'd be surprised if any was offered, because no matter how they tried to explain it, fans would be quick to figure out why it wouldn't work on someone.

[Sparky Prime]

No, it doesn't explain it, but then Kyle's ring had a charge as well. Kyle makes a point of noting that the percentage of the charge is exactly the same as it was when he was last able to use it a year earlier. So the same logic would apply to him as well as to Hal, even if Hal has magnitudes more power.

I'm not sure any explanation would suffice for why all these many superheroes with so many different abilities and sources of power would all be affected. So I'd be surprised if any was offered, because no matter how they tried to explain it, fans would be quick to figure out why it wouldn't work on someone.

Kyle's ring still had a charge but didn't work? Ok then... It makes sense Brainiac would need to de-power at least some of the heroes so they couldn't break out of the domes, especially given someone like Parallax having enough the power to remake the universe itself. But that kind of annoys me not to offer up any explanation at all. Even if it was something vague like 'some sort of interference from the dome' that was causing it, I'd prefer that over nothing.

[Dominic]

Fern is from one of the Earths listed in the "Multiversity Guidebook". (Earth 40---something or another).

I may forget which Earth she is from. But, I distinctly recall Morrison saying that the new Earths were not going to be used as fodder for events. Hahahahahah. I believed him. Silly me.

Joking aside, pre-CoIE Earth 6 (or modern Earth 40-odd) is one of the settings I wanted to see *something* done with.