I had toyed briefly with renaming the blog "Take Them to the Security Kitchen" or "Materioptikon" but thought bettter of it. So, this time round on "Place", I'm going to discuss more titles from DC's New 52 and some other recently-published comics. Fret not, confirmed nostalgists- there may be a post to come on Marvel's King-Size Specials and the Silver Age reprint title, Marvel Super Heroes.
Let's start, then, by looking at some recent comics from the House of Ideas. My joint favourites are Wolverine and the X-men and Daredevil. That homicidal ol' Canucklehead has never meant much to me-apart from the uncanny (ahem) celluloid portrayal by the charismatic Hugh Jackman. But the idea of Wolvie as headmaster of a school for mutants is a delightful and logical progression for the most high-profile Marvel Mutant. I'm particularly interested in the stories of new, alien students Broo and Kid Gladiator. Chris Bachalo's quirky cartooning brings an apporpriately youthful and playful tone to the book; while Elaine Lee's charming and amusing info-graphic of the faculty and student body is a pleasing extra. Frankenstein's Monster-from one of my earliest X-Men stories- is one of the Coming Attractions. And is that Krakoa, the Living Island, rearing up from beneath the school?
The premier issue of Daredevil by Mark Waid and Marcos Martin was a winner with me but I've found it hard to keep up with the series here in the Pictish Wilderness. I really need to plug the gaps because DD 5 (with cameos by Silver Age D-listers, The Flying Gambonnos and the Ox) was an exciting, kinetic and often visually brilliant comic.Ironically so, because Waid concentrates on the heightened senses of the blind superhero to a degree that I've rarely seen before. This is a truly mature comic:pacy, well-written and impressive to look at. It remnds me of the iconoclastic early work of Frank Miller with affectionate nods to DD's rather third-tier past.
Bendis's Moon Knight continues to engage me despite the creeping pace of the story-telling. Maleev's stylised artwork evokes the schizoid worldview of MK and chillingly depicts the awful consequences of failing LA's kingpin (I was hoping for Baron Brimstone but is that the ionic energy-signature of Count Nefaria or a double-bluff?). Poor Echo- I fear for her future. I think she may yet be a casualty of Marc Spector's personality disorder.
My other favourite Bendis book was the spotlight on feisty nanny Squirrel Girl in New Avengers. In the week that saw Steve Ditko's 84th birthday, I'm delighted that this joke character has become a genuinely appealing Assembler. Other Avengers titles were less successful this autumn. The Fear Itself crossover has overstayed its welcome and in the regular Avengers title, despite an Alan Davis cover, I don't find the new Hawkeye/Spider-Woman romance very interesting although Clint and Noh-varr had something to do, at last.
Utilising the "picking photographs" trope from the Meltzer JLA seemed a poor decision, given that none of the often intriguing and ocassionally bizarre candidates ( Storm! Blade!! Female Loki?!) even appear in issue 18. The same problem afflicts New Avengers with Daredevil's no-show. It's like the bad old days of the Dreaded Deadline Doom.
Bendis has revived an 80s tradition: the Avengers Annual crossover. The main problem with the Revengers storyline, apart from the glaring lack of signposting or backstory for characters like Devil-Slayer and Century, is the slavish naturalism of Dell'Otto's art. I appreciate that the Avengers movie is really set in the Ultimates milieu but as a fan of the Buscema Avengers, the prediliction for photorealism is all rather pedestrian and humdrum. Why ape the literalism of cinematography when comics has its own unique visual language?
Now for the Good, Bad and Ugly from the DC Universe:
Celebrate Hallowe'en with the charming Batman: The Brave and the Bold and a knowing wink to the legendary Neal Adams Batman/House of Mystery story! Where else could you get Cain, Abel, Zatanna, Deadman, the Spectre, Etrigan, Blue Devil and Swamp Thing; not to mention Klarion, Dr. Destiny, Hugo Strange, the original Blockbuster , Dala and the Monk? Groovy, ghoulish fun.
I was also pleasantly surprised by Grant Morrison's Action Comics debut of his urban retro Superman. A couple of years ago, as a response to my film-making boys' antipathy toward the "Big Blue Boy Scout", over a few beers I brainstormed a Superman for the Noughties. I drew on imagery from the 30s and from Keith Giffen in the 80s; a hint of Weisinger and a touch of the Fleischer Brothers.A scrappy little Superman (more Kirby than Swan); Clark as a tv or radio journalist ; an Hispanic Lois; a Blue Velvet dwarf incarnation of Mxyzptlk; the tragedy of Luthor's pediatrician wife and the Brainiax plague; a Wonka-esque Toyman and a Jackass-style Prankster.
I was intrigued to see that Morrison has gone back to similar sources, with a very physical, working-class Superman. In a week that saw the final episode of Smallville, it's a pity that the imagery from the Donner movies has been abandoned but I like Morrison's take on Luthor as alien conspiracy theorist.
My other favourite New 52 title is Keith Giffen's Omac, where he employs the same stylised Kirby homages as he did in the last Legion annual. Kirby's futuristic gladiator and global peacekeeper has been replaced by a hulking blue juggernaut but a couple of other Fourth Worlders have cameos and Max Lord appears in what looks like a holographic surgical collar. I gather the title sold poorly however and may be one of the first casualties of the initiative.
You may be aware that I had ny own ideas about how to revive the JLA and was intrigued to see The New 52 would be launched with a revamped Justice League, after a couple of years of second-string line-ups. The whole enterprise seems rather dated however: the overly-detailed and rendered "hyper-real" uniforms and the sci-fi militarism all scream "Heroes Reborn". Cyborg was always one of the least interesting of the New Teen Titans to me and I don't have the nostalgic connection with Challenge of the Super Friends to regard him as anything other than a token. But all the marquee names are in place so I'll stick with it, at least 'til the end of this first arc although I'd be surprised if Jim Lee is able to pencil every issue.
.Justice League International was one of my favourite 80s ideas and the relaunched version by Jurgens and Lopresti certainly looks like Perez-lite. However, this line-up is clearly lacking in charm and power- led by one of my least favourite characters, sleazy yuppie satire Booster Gold and featuring a shallow and unlikeable Godiva. I also think August General in Iron duplicates Rocket Red and would have preferred Accomplished Perfect Physician to represnt China. Why on Earth does Vixen, a tragically undervalued heroine, now sport tiger stripes? (I'm reminded of the teacher during my training who told his class a vixen was "a female dug".)
Despite having suggested Constantine and Rac Shade for my own JLA line-up, I found Justice League Dark an unimpressive and anodyne attempt to meld superheroics with some of the Vertigo stalwarts. I don't intend
to return to this one.
I'm also disappointed in the umpteenth relaunch of my beloved Legion of Super-Heroes. Should Levitz have been given another opportunity to write the book after the hackneyed and interminable LSV storyline? I dislike sci-fi war stories and I'm also dismayed to see Colossal Boy sidelined for enigmatic elemental Harmonia, Dragonwing and the new (?) Glorith. On the other hand, I am glad to see Comet Queen finally make the team (and the modern incarnation of Chemical King). But when you read Jim Shooter's abortive plans for Projectra and Super Lad, I'm afraid Levitz's LSH seems rather tame and dull. The art has improved a great deal, although the cover of issue 2 was surprisingly static and the logo is unecessarily fussy - like the JLA's costumes.
Another reason for my disenchantment with the LSH is the hiving off of my favourite members for the poorly paced Legion Lost, which should have been a subplot in the parent book. In fact it pretty much is the plot of "The Fatal Five Who Twisted Time".
Why some of the most unusual and intriguing Legionnaires had to be co-opted for this series baffles and annoys me.I really hope Gates wasn't killed off when a dud like Mon-El gets to smash through covers. I may not have to fret for long since this is another title with flagging sales.
There were two further Legion spin-offs in October. Legion Secret Origin is a six-issue miniseries that hopefully will introduce some interesting twists to one of the dullest LSH stories of all. It feels very much like a movie, like Nu Star Trek, in fact, with a sense of scope that some Silver Age Legion stories sorely lack. But, like many modern comics, it's very thin and I would have preferred it as a back-up in the parent title (instead of that ugly Batman graphic novel preview).
IDW's Star Trek/Legion is another comic that's thin on story but heavy on promotional material. However, it features the classic Star Trek crew (Shatner, Nimoy, et al) and the classic 80s Legion, in their Giffen-era costumes. The comic is pencilled in a rounded, cartoony style by 90s Legionnaires artist Jeffrey Moy and features cameos by Space Ranger and Tommy Tomorrow. It's more kitschy, therefore, than Secret Origin but also more fun. Despite the brevity, I think I'll persevere with this one.
Ultimately, I've only had a taste of the New 52 and haven't sampled any of the other mainstays- Batman, Green Lantern, et cetera- but to these jaundiced eyes, there's very little that genuinely is new. There are no new heroes in any of the books I bought. As for the new Legionnaires, one was created in the 80s and two are reworkings of 60s characters; Harmonia is a supporting cast member with virtually no backstory as yet and if I were Fire Lad of the Subs, I'd want an explanation why I'd been passed up for a pasty Goth with a Chinoiserie fetish!
. The tone of the books I have read is nostalgic for the 80s or 90s, with more of the same po-faced Noughties ultraviolence and snarky, adolescent humour. As I posted previously, Wednesday Comics demonstrated how diverse and quirky DC properties could be; but yet again, the company plays safe by imitating Marvel- and in the case of the springboard title, Marvel of a decade and a half ago.
Over the next few weeks and posts, we're going to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of The Five Faces of Doctor Who. It's an almost unbelievable realisation - so much has happened in the intervening decades, both personally and culturally. We won't be looking at the individual stories from that repeat season, however - instead, we'll celebrate the ongoing adventures of five Doctors (at least) in other media. Hopefully, we'll begin and end with Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor ...
Next: Oh, those Russians
The Legal bit: all images are presumed copyright of their respective owners.
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