Comics are Awesome III

[andersonh1]

Thanks for saving me $20 on that book Anderson.

No problem. Like some of the other books I don't want to put money into, I found it at the local library, so it cost me nothing except time to read it.

What was the problem with the E1 Superman comics?

They aren't bad per se, but there's nothing that makes them stand out as anything other than yet another alternate version of Superman's origin and early days. "Uninspired" is the term I used, and "bland" might also be appropriate. They are better than Batman Earth One, certainly. I think the cover sold that first Superman Earth One book more than the story. It's certainly the cover image that made me curious enough to read it.

The first story has Superman move to Metropolis and fight an alien invasion, so that's nothing we haven't seen before. The second book has the Parasite as the primary threat, while Superman's sex life (or lack of) is explored and Superman debates what to do with a dictator. About the only real bit of inspiration is the treatment of Lex Luthor, which is a visibly different approach to the character.

If you read either one, let me know what you think. I didn't think they were bad, just run of the mill. Given the format and freedom to make changes, I expected more.

[JediTricks]

Okay, so the commentary is on the lower side. Is it stating the obvious ("this is the scene where the guy does the thing with the stuff to the other guy") or telling the reader how big and important it is ("this scene is our Secret Wars and Crisis rolled in to one")?

It's a mishmash, it's some "I wanted to see X so we did this" and it's "this guy looked cooler here so we changed it", but the problem was more just the quality of it slipping.

I read someplace that Wolverine lost the healing factor because of "Age of Ultron". (The idea was that the damage done to the time stream damaged the universe in ways that changed "constants", like Woverine's health. There was a recent issue of "What if....?" that did the same thing with Thor's elemental powers and ragnarok.) It seemed like weak reasoning, and I was really hoping there was something more to it.

They didn't play that up at all, they didn't address the why it happened, they simply said it happened and they were trying to fix it but he should hole up until a cure could be found, except his enemies wanted to track him down... which they didn't, we also got ripped off there, it turned out to be just a case of REALLY BAD FUCKING TIMING in that the one moment Logan loses his healing power is the exact time Doctor whatever the fuck has restarted Weapon X and put a contract on Logan to get his healing power.

[Dominic]

Sounds like the back-matter for "Transformers v/s GI Joe".

Not sorry I skipped this one.

[andersonh1]

Multiversity: Pax Americana
I’m going to have to read this a few more times (and it would probably help me understand it more clearly if I had ever read Watchmen), but this time around the “good” Morrison has vanished, replaced by the guy who likes to do crazy things with the narrative. The structure of the book itself is part of the overall meta narrative and commentary on the nature of comics, rather than the plot per se, which barely even ties into the other Multiversity issues. Every page is a sequence of four, eight or sixteen rectangular panels, and it must have taken Frank Quietly forever to draw this book. I’m not the biggest fan of Quietly’s drawing style, but I have to admit that the artwork looks outstanding. You can’t fault his technical skill. I’ve read reviews of the issue from around the web where people are just gushing praise for how brilliant the book is, and while I think a lot of reviewers are overstating the case, I will admit that it clearly took a lot of skill and meticulous planning to lay this book out, so credit where credit is due.

The story itself is told in reverse chronological order, beginning with the assassination of President Harley by Peacemaker and moving backward to the point where the boy who would become the President accidentally shoots his own father, a costumed vigilante named Yellowjacket. In between we have scenes with the Question (Vic Sage) and Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) investigating a murder, Captain Atom pondering the nature of reality and what he’s able to do with his powers, and various meta comments on the nature of comic book reality. This is all set on Earth-4, with the Charlton characters, so there are a few I’m not all that familiar with, such as Nightshade and Peacemaker And Captain Atom looks and acts a lot like Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen, which makes sense considering that Dr. Manhattan was based on Captain Atom to begin with.

The plot is partially a series of paradoxes, where the time-traveling Captain Atom inspires Harley’s actions, and then Harley in turn inspires Captain Atom to go back in time and speak with him. And we get the infinity symbol turning up throughout the story, with the final appearance as the dead Yellowjacket’s domino mask, while a character comments at one point about getting the same stories over and over only a bit different each time.

There are two points where this issue ties into the main plot of Multiversity. The first has Captain Atom reading Ultra Comics and commenting on the nature of two dimensional reality. The second immediately follows when the scientists think they’ve killed Captain Atom and proclaim “he’s left the universe”. I’m willing to bet that he’ll turn up later in the series, possibly even as a pivotal character. He doesn’t seem to have been corrupted in the same way that Alexis Luthor or the SOS characters were, interestingly.

I’m not going to jump on the bandwagon and call this book “brilliant”. I do think it’s cleverly constructed and well drawn, and it contains some fun ideas and meta commentary on comics. At the very least it makes the reader work to figure things out rather than giving him or her a five minute reading experience. It suffers a bit from trying to cram too much story into 40 pages, but in the end it’s a pretty good comic.

Batman ’66 vs. The Green Hornet #6
I don’t often say this about a series that I’ve generally enjoyed, but I think this mini-series was too long. The plot could have wound up by issue 4, and we’d have been good. Instead it covered the same ground multiple times in the middle issues, and by the time it gets to this final issue, the writers were too busy wrapping up the plot and explaining things to insert enough humor. In other words, there were some major pacing issues. I will say that the way the villain and his plan ties back into the first issue is welcome, but I had already forgotten the details by this point and had to go back and refresh my memory. This was, overall, a fun series and I’d welcome more like it, but it needed better story pacing, less repetition, and more humor. Still, I’m glad it was produced, and I’ve enjoyed it overall.

Star Trek #38
The Q Gambit part 4

The Dominion continues to be a few steps ahead of the main characters at every turn. Once again we’re in the middle chapter of a longer story, and it’s basically “stuff happens”. Characters go here, do that there, and while it’s fun to read, there’s not a lot to say about it. The highlights of the issue are character interaction, such as Scotty and O’Brien bonding over their engineering knowledge, or a nicely done scene featuring the old Kira/Dukat conflict of wills, when Kira is captured by the Cardassians along with Spock. The end of the issue features Dukat releasing a Prophet and a Pah Wraith from captivity, which as we saw on DS9, can only lead to bad things happening soon. Things should be escalating from this point on, so we’ll see if that happens or not.

[Dominic]

There is a good cheat-sheet for "Multiversity" #4 to be found here.

http://heshouldreallyknowbetter.blogspo ... icana.html

The structure of the book itself is part of the overall meta narrative and commentary on the nature of comics, rather than the plot per se, which barely even ties into the other Multiversity issues.

Every issue of "Multiversity" is meant to stand alone as an example of the world it is set on. Last issue's Earth 16 was about shallow egocentricism. This one is about stylistic narrative. It took me about 30 minutes to get through this book, and I was still digesting it an hour later.

I’ve read reviews of the issue from around the web where people are just gushing praise for how brilliant the book is, and while I think a lot of reviewers are overstating the case, I will admit that it clearly took a lot of skill and meticulous planning to lay this book out, so credit where credit is due.

The technical skill needed to plan, never mind execute, a single issue like this is why is warrants every big of praise it has gotten.

This, more than any issue of "Multiversity" (arguably anything Morrison has ever done) was going to be be scrutinized. "Morrison riffs on Moore" implies and obligates a ridiculous standard of scrutiny and analysis...and Morrison not only delivers, but tells people they are wrong to appreciate his work. But, he says it in a recursive way, so that the only way to get what he is saying is to have already done the thing he told us not to do and....

I’m willing to bet that he’ll turn up later in the series, possibly even as a pivotal character. He doesn’t seem to have been corrupted in the same way that Alexis Luthor or the SOS characters were, interestingly.

The general assumption is that "Pax Americana" precedes "Final Crisis", and that Allen Adam went to Limbo ("Superman: Beyond" #1 and #2) after disappearing.

The plot is partially a series of paradoxes, where the time-traveling Captain Atom inspires Harley’s actions, and then Harley in turn inspires Captain Atom to go back in time and speak with him. And we get the infinity symbol turning up throughout the story, with the final appearance as the dead Yellowjacket’s domino mask, while a character comments at one point about getting the same stories over and over only a bit different each time.

This one tied in most directly to "Final Crisis". The 8/infinity rune theme and Adam's breaking the fourth wall are not only references to viral information, they also call back to the 80s, when Morrison got his start.

The algorithm is probably a reference to the Anti-Life Equation.

And, the page layouts force the reader to physically react and interact with the book, representing both the viral nature of information (impacting the real world) and the reader's will being subverted.


Grade: A This book was worth the wait.

[andersonh1]

One thing I haven't seen commented on much with regard to Pax Americana is the Christ imagery. When we see the future President Harley near the end of the book, he's drawn very much like the traditional long-haired and bearded Christ depiction. His plan involves allowing himself to be killed and then being resurrected so he can "save the world". Only the plan presumably fails because Captain Atom is removed from the universe so he can't bring the President back to life. I'm not really sure if Morrison is trying to make any sort of statement here, or if it's just an extra bit of imagery thrown into the mix, or what. Any thoughts on that?

[Shockwave]

One thing I haven't seen commented on much with regard to Pax Americana is the Christ imagery. When we see the future President Harley near the end of the book, he's drawn very much like the traditional long-haired and bearded Christ depiction. His plan involves allowing himself to be killed and then being resurrected so he can "save the world". Only the plan presumably fails because Captain Atom is removed from the universe so he can't bring the President back to life. I'm not really sure if Morrison is trying to make any sort of statement here, or if it's just an extra bit of imagery thrown into the mix, or what. Any thoughts on that?

OMG, that has so many potential implications for the DCU and I find all of them hilarious! Acient Aliens maybe?

Would he really need Captain Atom? Aren't there like, a million other ways he could be resurrected in the DCU?

[Dominic]

There is another Christ reference (in the transition from the line about taking a "leap of faith" and the first seen with the Question, literally leaping around as Beetle exclaims "Jesus Christ!"), so there is probably something to it.

My guess is that Morrison was going for a Judas style intrigue (which became more common in 80s comics, and arguably referencing some elements of "Watchmen") on the part of the Vice President who proceeds to have his scientist co-conspirators murdered.

[andersonh1]

There is another Christ reference (in the transition from the line about taking a "leap of faith" and the first seen with the Question, literally leaping around as Beetle exclaims "Jesus Christ!"), so there is probably something to it.

My guess is that Morrison was going for a Judas style intrigue (which became more common in 80s comics, and arguably referencing some elements of "Watchmen") on the part of the Vice President who proceeds to have his scientist co-conspirators murdered.

I can buy that.

[JediTricks]

Catching up on comics...

Groo vs Conan #3 - fun stuff but premise strained via "storytelling" from unreliable narrators that aren't clear at the end. The end battle definitely was more serious than expected, considering it was predicated on Groo making no sense at all. All in all, not the finest but worth the price of admission none the less.

Batman '66 vs The Green Hornet #5 - Anderson I believe it was said of #6 that this felt like a series which should have ended 2 issues prior, I'd echo that for #5, this series is now totally into repetition mode and nothing is truly happening, it's just moving pieces back and forth on a chessboard.

Transformers vs. GI Joe #3 - all vs comics? I didn't notice that until now. Anyway, since #4 is supposedly imminent, I caught up. This was the worst issue of the series by virtue of being so story-dependent on past issues and on having so many unclear things going on. It's still a page-turner and there are a few good art scenes, but it's not surprising issue 4 is nearly a month late, Tom Scioli is wearing too many hats and just stretched too far.