Art by Tanya Roberts
I delayed going home from Moray for a few days in order to attend Hi-Ex 2012 in Inverness on Sunday. This is the biggest comics expo in the Highlands and featured creators from Scotland and Northern Ireland as well as gamers and cosplayers. For which read: Imperial Stormtropers!
I attended a panel on comics in education, principally because I wrote a primer for my department when we were using Maus as a cross-curricular text for S2 in 2010. It was a pity to hear people still talking about "panelology" and graphic novels and being taken seriously by the general public. I think more comics should be less academic and respectable and more frivolous. However, it was interesting to hear about the M. Litt at Dundee. I also ran into John McShane, who published The Bogie Man. There was a promo poster in the Briggate's Vicky Bar for years and I used to shop in McShane's AKA books and comics in the long-gone Virginia Galleries in the mid-80s.
I stayed for the Vault of Horror event. Irish film maker John Vaughan gave a funny running commentary on The Swarm which, rather remarkably, I'd never seen.Of course, 1978 and '79 never seem that long ago to me.
The second panel I attended was about sequels and prequels. I didn't realise how zealous Star Wars fans were about their canon; I liked Jaxxon the rabbit, Hedji and Don-Wan Kihotay!
The event made the local evening news on Monday. Eden Court is an attractive, laid-back venue and the atmosphere was friendly even if it wasn't very busy. I got a goodie bag with some bookmarks, some Manga and a poster of Dark Horse TPBs I would put up in my new classroom, if I have space. (There are strict rules about that sort of thing). I even bought some comics (in Heroes For Sale).
Avengers Assemble is , of course, a logical cash-in on the upcoming movie, delivering a roster of Assemblers like the one on screen imminently. Therefore no Iron Fist or Protector but as a dyed in the wool Bronze Age Baby, I will never be convinced that the Hulk should be a regular Avenger.
Mark Bagley's pleasingly cartoony art had touches of Alan Davis. I had a few gripes about Bendis' script. It was only the beginning of a story of course but I would have liked to have had a proper introduction to the twelve members of the new cartel. Speaking as a Cancer (the crab) I have to take issue with my counterpart's statement about "mythological creatures". Crabs? Bulls? Scales? Really?! I also cringed a bit at Hawkeye's quip to the Black Widow: " ...at my funeral, will you get up and say something crazy awesome about my manhood?" It lands with a resounding clang and he sounds like a 15-year-old schoolboy (really, he does). It's hardly Steed and Mrs. Peel, is it? Nonetheless, it was a fun Marvel comic.
I missed the wrap-up of Jim Lee's Darkseid story but Justice League 7 looked a lot like any JLA comic from the late 90s. with its nondescript monsters and photorealistic art. I did like Green Lantern's power ring-umbrellas, the new Etta Candy and the way Steve Trevor dealt with creepy Jonathan Ross ( yes, the smug one from television) . I still can't accept Marv Wolfman's sci-fi/Blaxploitation tragedy magnet Cyborg on the League however when we could have had John Stewart or even Martian Manhunter.
But what about the second feature?
There are three iterations of The Original Captain Marvel that work for me: Ordway's Power of Shazam from the 90s; Alex Ross' treasury-sized Power of Hope; and Jeff Smith's Monster Society of Evil I fully expected to hate what Johns and Frank were doing in The Curse of Shazam. I was surprised to find I, er, don't.
The nightmarish elevator trip to the Rock of Eternity (?) was cinematic and spooky. I was completely scammed by Billy Batson's whiter-than-white recitation to his prospective foster parents. I hope the Big red Cheese's Spectre-style cowl is short-lived but I'm intrigued by the new Dr. Sivana ( not a gnome?)
More significantly, the DC Nation animation promo (featuring The Doom Patrol, Animal Man, Supergirl, Batgirl and Donna Troy) suggests that's what DC should be doing rather than this wilful revivification of the 1990s. But then I think the New 52 will be rebooted eventually anyway.
Finally Hi-Ex inspired me to get my sketchbook out again and I finished getting my Moray superheroes The Elgin Marvels down on paper after three months. Maybe one day, I'll figure out how to transfer Whitebird, MinoTom, Fliptrick and the others to deviantart...
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Coming soon: Another Dr. Who-audiobook post; Power Comics and Atlas Comics!
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I thought that Ordway's Power of Shazam series was probably the best thing done with Captain Marvel in a long time. Looking forward to your post about Power Comics.
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