TF Views

Yeah, I'd expect to see some of those titles to be relaunched sooner or later. Several of those books are pretty low in sales, so I can't say I'm all that surprised by some of the titles that are coming to an end, although I wouldn't have expected so many at the same time. I'm guessing that has more to do with the looming event they're building up towards. I'm disappointed to see that 3 of the Lanterns titles are coming to an end.

Sparky Prime wrote:Yeah, I'd expect to see some of those titles to be relaunched sooner or later. Several of those books are pretty low in sales, so I can't say I'm all that surprised by some of the titles that are coming to an end, although I wouldn't have expected so many at the same time. I'm guessing that has more to do with the looming event they're building up towards. I'm disappointed to see that 3 of the Lanterns titles are coming to an end.

Yeah, I thought about the fact that you buy all the GL books when I saw that three Lantern books were on the list. At least Sinestro's still going, along with the main GL title, and like I said I'd be surprised if Green Lantern Corps didn't come back in one form or another.

The one I'm most disappointed ending is New Guardians. That's been the most interesting of the GL titles to me since the New 52 launched, and Kyle is my favorite character of the Lanterns. Although I have to say I miss it having a member of each Corps in it. That's something I wonder where Geoff Johns would have taken it if he'd stayed on Green Lantern... He'd been establishing a member of each Lantern Corps as the New Guardians, a role that has since been given to the Templar Guardians.

Multiversity: Thunderworld #1
"The Day that Never Was!"
I’ll freely admit that this is the issue I’ve been looking forward to the most from this series. I was glad to hear that Multiversity would feature the classic Captain Marvel rather than New 52 Shazam. I vastly prefer a Billy Batson who has a good heart and a smile on his face, and who uses his power to help people simply because it’s the right thing to do. Not every character has to be grim and conflicted and deadly serious.

Before I get into the plot, I want to note that there are a lot more overt links to Multiversity as a whole than we’ve had since the Society of Super Heroes issue. Freddy Freeman sells DC and Major comics at his newsstand. Captain Marvel notes that the Society of Super Heroes was cancelled. Sivana’s whole plan is based initially on communicating with his alternate universe counterparts via messages sent through comic books, and then later by direct visual communication. There are many variations on Sivana, including a female counterpart, a reptilian counterpart and one that looks and acts like Hannibal Lecter, among others. There’s even an honest version, who seems shocked that every other Sivana is a criminal. So after making allusions to parallel universes in The Just and Pax Americana, here we’re back to full-on involvement to drive the plot, which reminds us that this is part of a series as well as a self-contained story.

Sivana’s plan involves using science to trace Captain Marvel’s magic energy back to its source. He is then able to build a mechanical replica of the Rock of Eternity, attack the wizard Shazam, and begin siphoning off all the magical energy to power himself and his children. As Shazam points out, he should have been able to see all this coming from his vantage point at the Rock of Eternity and call in Captain Marvel to prevent it, but Sivana avoids that by creating an extra day (called “Sivanaday”, naturally) using materials sent to him by his multiverse counterparts. It’s a fun conceit by Grant Morrison, the idea of a new slice of time that Shazam isn’t aware of, the titular "day that never was". And then of course Sivana is mining the Rock of Eternity for “crystalized time” that he can use and sell. Don’t ask me how that works. Shazam describes it as “tearing out the heart of the multiverse”.

But of course, Captain Marvel is determined to put a stop to this once he finds out about it. And not just him, but Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel junior, and the full Marvel family. Morrison doesn’t avoid the goofiness of Uncle Billy or Tawky Tawny, he just includes them in the story and runs with it. They all handle the Monster Society of Evil, released to delay the Marvels while Sivana takes control of the multiverse, while Captain Marvel enters the subway and heads for the Rock of Eternity. We get a fight between Captain Marvel and Black Sivana (no sign of Black Adam, thankfully!) and Captain Marvel wins, because all the other Sivanas in the universe cheated and kept some material for themselves, so Sivanaday was only 8 hours long. Sivana loses his power and Marvel wraps things up, with Shazam saying that he chose his champion well.

And then there’s the end of the book, which could have been written with my sentiments in mind, as Captain Marvel bemoans the grim ending of SOS and wonders whatever happened to happy endings in comics? This looks like the first ending where the characters and their universe are not corrupted by the Gentry. I don’t think Ultra Comics ever shows up. Marvel and the others fly off, looking forward to tomorrow’s adventure. And I’ve found my favorite issue of Multiversity. This is the way Captain Marvel should be written. Note that I didn’t say every comic should be this way. Morrison has done an excellent job giving us a wide variety of tone and concept and stories with this series. But some characters work best when they’re fun and lighthearted and embrace the inherent craziness in their own little universe, and I think Captain Marvel falls in that category.

This is one of my favorite single issues in years. I loved it.

I think that the implication was that Sivana was infected (through "Society of Superheroes"). Note that Sivana reverse engineers the "Shazam" process and creates dark variants of Marvel and his team, similar to his corrupted Superman from "Action Comics".

Odd that Captain Marvel did not intersect with "Final Crisis" at all.


Next issue is the guide book. That leaves Earth 10's New Reichsmen and the Freedom Fighters (the issue I have been looking forward to since '08), Ultra Comics and the final issue.

Dominic wrote:I think that the implication was that Sivana was infected (through "Society of Superheroes"). Note that Sivana reverse engineers the "Shazam" process and creates dark variants of Marvel and his team, similar to his corrupted Superman from "Action Comics".

From what little I've read of 1940s Captain Marvel (the first and third Shazam archives, basically), Sivana seems very much to be who he's always been. He's evil and he knows it and revels in it. He's just in-character here. Which is not to say that he hasn't been influenced by them, since he's been using comics to send messages back and forth between realities. The Gentry may have used Sivana to try and gain entry into this particular reality, but I don't think they managed it. The absence of Ultra Comics is surely significant. I don't think I saw it anywhere in this issue.

I get the impression that the "Thunderworld" universe has largely escaped the Gentry's influence. It's there, on the outside looking in, particular with Lecter-Sivana wanting to horribly mutilate Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel junior. But the fact that Captain Marvel crumples up the SOS issue and tosses it away dismissively means something. He's got the moral fibre to resist what so many others we've seen so far have not been able to resist. I thought last month that it's possible that Captain Atom may have avoided being corrupted by the Gentry, but it seems like this issue is the first time the heroes have won a clear cut victory. The threats are out there, and they know it, but they'll face them and win, just like they did this time.

I would have to recheck the scene at the comic shop. But, I think you are correct in saying that "Ultra Comics" does not show up in this issue. (And, that may well be an important distinction.)

In "Pax America", the President had been infected for years, which is what lead to the insance scheme that the issue focused on. The Gentry did not need to infect Captain Atom. They just needed him off the board. Earth 4 has already been impacted by the Gentry though.

Star Trek #39
The Q Gambit part 5

Now we're getting somewhere. At the end of the last issue, Dukat had released the Prophet and Pah Wraith from the stone they were imprisoned in. The Pah Wraith possesses Dukat, much as we saw at the end of the television series, and he's delighted. He's drunk on the power, declaring that the Dominion and everyone else no longer have any meaning, because he's become a god. He kills Kira, but tells McCoy and Spock that he hasn't decided what to do with them yet, because he's still fascinated by the fact that historical figures like them have arrived in his time. Until he decides, they're still "guests" on the station.

In the meantime, the situation with the resistance is pretty much hopeless. Earth has fallen, and the headquarters of Sisko's group has also been discovered and attacked, though Jake and Dax have survived. The Prophet posesses Sisko, who informs them of the events on DS9, and we learn for the first time that the Pah Wraiths had killed all the Prophets and taken over the wormhole. Kirk decides that he needs to rescue his crew, but as they reach DS9, Dukat is about to take the Enterprise and himself into the wormhole, presumably to absorb yet more power.

It's at this point that Q turns up and informs Kirk that this is the no-win scenario he wanted Kirk to see. Either enter the wormhole to stop Dukat and in all likelihood die, or wait until Dukat comes out with even more power and is literally unstoppable. And then Q says that the wrong choice could well lead to the destruction of the Q Continuum.

It's that last bit that makes me wonder just what's going on. I suspect the idea is that the Pah Wraiths could rival the Continuum for power if they were able to leave the wormhole, or something like that. But Q clearly knows exactly what will happen, and why he didn't just stop it himself if he and his fellow Q are endangered is what I don't get. I'm hoping for a good explanation next month. The story has generally kept going on the novelty of seeing new Trek's crew interact with the DS9 characters, but the sudden spelling out of some pretty big stakes in this chapter is a definite improvement in the plot. I'm reminded of the episode "Sacrifice of Angels" where Sisko took the defiant into the Wormhole alone to face a Dominion fleet of over 1200 ships, with the fate of the war and the Alpha Quadrant at stake. The stakes here are apparently just as big.

The art isn't quite as good. The likenesses have been dead on up until this point, but though recognizable, they're a little off this month. We still get some of the most accurate renditions of the Trek characters that I've seen in a comic though, so I can't complain.

Thunderworld annotation: http://multiversitycomics.com/annotatio ... never-was/

Pretty thorough, except that they call Captain Marvel "Shazam" a couple of times, when Shazam is the wizard in this version.

While every issue of “The Multiversity” is about comics in general, this one seems to be directly coming after the idea that placing definition over wonder is a benefit in any way; it’s something made even more obvious with later visuals but this first one is pretty blatant.

One thing that’s huge for me on this page is that as Captain Marvel first appears, he’s smiling. I can’t emphasize that enough, but I think it’s tremendous. Not that “The Multiversity” hasn’t reveled in the positive and upbeat representation of superheroes (see: Captain Carrot in the first issue), but it’s almost a compeltely foreign concept at this point to see a major superhero of this nature show up to a rumble with a positive attitude:

I mean, look at his first words: “Billy’s safe. And don’t think I’m alone.” Not only is he already assuring us the safety of minors, but he’s immediately making a reference to his family, which is a core aspect of this character and something that seems forgotten at DC, let alone 90% of Marvel (I’d go higher, but James Robinson’s been doing a bang-up job with the Fantastic Four). But Captain Marvel arrives on the scene ready for a fight in a good mood and knowing that if he needs it his family will come with a whistle, and he feels no fear at the impending onslaught of three super-powered Sivana’s about to lay some hurt down on him.

It’s another example of the science vs. magic debate, albeit perhaps a more subtle one. If you look at the way that the Sivanas power-up, it’s done with this sense of self-import; their actions, their wants, their needs — all of these are incredibly selfish and revolve around what they can do for themselves and not others. And while they smile, it’s a smile for themselves, seeing how they cheated to get what they want. But Captain Marvel is the exact opposite: he’s here to help, to save the day, to be the hero, and there’s not much more to it than that. It’s simple for him, and it shows.

Meanwhile, Captain Marvel is finally learning about the role of the “SOS” comic, thanks to Freddy, and my question about whether comics are dangerous or not is brought into the dialogue. Of note, the evil cursed “Ultra Comics” issue of “The Multiversity” never appears in this issue, whereas it appears and has a prominent role in every other issue of the series, so “SOS” being the issue that plays that role here is an interesting change of pace.

Also missing from this issue: the Atom. Every issue has had an Atom of prominence in some way except for this one. So, no “Ultra Comics,” no Atom, no obvious form of Gentry. Not that I’m complaining, but there are a lot of things ‘missing’ in “Thunderworld.” Is it because “Thunderworld” is that much more magical than any of the other issues, and perhaps the only one so far that has no inherent cynicism anywhere inside? Not to take a talking point from the next page and put it here, but when Captain Marvel sees the panel of Parallax saying “I’ll get out and destroy everything,” his response is to laugh and throw the comic in the trash, so.

We also get two white doves flying in the final panel — perhaps just a nod towards the peace brought by the Marvel Family as they fly smiling into the distance, but also perhaps a nod to the doves from “Pax Americana” that were symbolically let loose as images of peace only to be shot down. A bit of compare/contrast, if you will.

Groo vs Conan #4 - a bit rushed on all fronts, but Conan's justification for the actions he takes holds up, and ultimately it's still an amusing ish. I did feel like #3 should have carried half this story, that ish was pretty light and this one is pretty dense.

Batman '66 meets Green Hornet #6 - fuck off Kevin Smith, this was the worst-plotted book with the laziest conclusion. This could have been such fun, but yet again it's just back and forth to the Batcave and 2 pointless henchmen battles coupled with a flat ending. Bah humbug.

Afterlife with Archie #7 - finally! This book took forever to come out. I got the awesome variant cover. The story is "Betty RIP" and of course she doesn't die, instead it deals with her recreating her diary and Polly is a slut who gets beaten by her boyfriend, Veronica a manipulative assface, and then hints at Betty and Archie getting it on in present day as our group spends weeks on the run outside of Riverdale, ending on Cheryl Blossom kills her incestuous twin brother Jason. Even though everything I just said was incredibly schlocky, the book pulls it off.

andersonh1 wrote:Batman ’66 #17
I’m not sure what happened to the art this issue. I thought the colors were very murky and poor, and the pencils weren’t all that good either. But the story was fun as, once again, King Tut makes an appearance in Gotham. This time he’s discovered some ancient Egyptian formula that essentially turns the citizens of Gotham into zombies who will obey his every command. So he’s riding around town, laughing maniacally and spraying everyone with the gas that converts them. Batman and Robin get *gasp* buried alive! But dig themselves out when the zombies go away. And Batman uses his Bat-Reference guide to ancient Egypt to learn that the stuff Tut is using only works at night. As soon as the sun comes up, everyone’s back to normal.

It’s a zombie apocalypse story filtered through the lens of the Adam West Batman series, and as such it’s silly and fun rather than grotesque and violent. Chief O’Hara continues to speak in his Irish brogue even as a zombie, and Batman amusingly thinks that being dispatched by the good citizens of Gotham is the worst possible death he can imagine.

I cracked this ish last night after actively trying to avoid it, and it was what I expected story-wise, but focusing on the art, at first I thought I got a misprint it was so bad until I noticed the balloons were crystal clear. I suspect this art is a "style" trying to riff off what Scioli is doing with TF vs Joe but coming off even clumsier. Bottom line, I didn't care for the story or the art.


I gave my dad Batman '66 tpbs 1 and 2 for xmas, he seemed to dig it.