Fortunately, after last week's wallet-buster, we'll have a few weeks of lower than average books in my pull list due to the big two's wiggy shipping schedules. This week is only 3 books, and the next week looks the same. That's fine, though, I get to leave the shop paying less than $9. DC's weekly event book proves its lasting power by keeping me buying SOMETHING DC every week, which rarely happened before. Its also going against Marvel's latest CW book, and Kirkman's pet title too. It also allows us to see how each universe deals with its heroes during and after a crisis.
As always, spoilers ahoy!
DREAD'S BOUGHT/THOUGHT FOR 7/7/06
52 WEEK #5: The slowness of the story is still a concern, but as there are still so many cogs to work through in this weekly thing, I am starting to ease up a bit. DC warned us that this weekly thing would "star the entire DCU aside for the Big Three", and they are mostly correct. It also allows the DC world to showcase their recovery from the INFINITE CRISIS that swept the Earth in a way that DC comics (and some Marvel) usually gloss over. In fact, they're STILL recovering missing heroes and trying to account for who lived and who died. Many of the space-faring heroes have returned, only their bodies are mangled up from all the energy waves; Alan Scott lost an eye, Firestorm & Cyborg are MERGED, Hawkgirl's 25 feet tall, and many of them are missing, including Animal Man, Supergirl (who's in LOSH's future now), Adam Strange and Starfire. There's an entire hospital being set up for superheroes that is run on PRIVATE DONATIONS. As in, a lot of people care enough to spend good money to making sure injured heroes after the crisis at least get medical care and don't, like, die. Because heroes are important in DCU. They matter, like cops and firefighters, only they have powers and keep people safe from the rotten people who have powers, because there IS A DIFFERENCE and typical citizens are somehow, "unrealistically", able to tell the difference between a guy with powers who robs a bank and a guy with powers who stops him, or saves an airplane, or something. Y'know, sort of like I can tell the difference between a gang-member with a gun and a police officer with a gun. But what does DC know, right? Meanwhile, Steel and Dr. Mid-nite are on hand with Alan Scott as he tries to explain everything and hold himself together "because he's got to", since he's a Golden Age hero. He also mourns losing not only his daughter, but so many "young heroes" and how unfair it is to watch the young die. Meanwhile, Montoya denies her adventure with Question ever happened to some police people, Luthor reveals he's made his own metahumans to protect Metropolis since Superman's MIA (and Superboy's dead), and it turns out that Animal Man, Starfire, and Adam Strange are alive and stuck on a planet after all...only Strange's lost his eyes (OUCH) and they're being stalked by something nasty. Starfire has more cheescake art, but I don't mind too much. This is definately a comic book version of a weekly soap or TV show with a massive, ensamble cast, that manages to provide a good dose of unapologetic superheroism and heart. Many people claim that DC's "unrealistic" because they're so engrained into old-school superheroics, but this title shows they can still have plenty of real emotions and reactions behind the spandex, so long as the writing is effective.
CIVIL WAR: FRONTLINE #1: Not to be caught napping by 52's arrival, Marvel's starting this biweekly (as in, 2 a month so long as they're not late) series to run alongside CIVIL WAR and all the accompanying mini's and tie-ins for CW, which clocks in at 70 chapters. Urich and Sally, Marvel's only two reporters with names apparently, are covering the story of the Stamford attack and the subsequent reactions involving the SHRA. As Urich notes, J.J. and the BUGLE are the equalivent of the NY POST and the real NYC; a paper with a definately right-wing POV in the heart of a blue state like NY. Unfortunately, the BUGLE's editorial staff, even an editor like Robbie, seem concerned with selling papers, and are allowing that to get in the way of some good, honest journalism, which seemed a little wiggy coming from Robbie (who was always depicted as a more moderate, left-leaning voice to balance out Jonah's extremism). The act is expected to pass through Congress rapdily as the President and the nation want to find a way to "reign in" dangerous superhumans and police superheroes. Sally even makes a point about how the incident seemed to "play right into their hands", providing the right angle to push this act through (much as 9/11 gave America the right to be evil, I mean, go to war). FRONTLINE makes the case of Marvel's event being a definitive "commantary" on the current U.S. situation very clear, as the back-up story is about a tale of Japanese internment during WW2, a sour spot in U.S. history that has come up as supposed Muslim "profiling" has arisen. It is very obvious that the pro-registration side are being played up, at best, as overzealous conservatives, which in Marvelese means "more evil than Hitler and Osama Bin Ladin combined". Iron Man gives a press conference spelling out the deal (and FINALLY spelling out the difference between "identifiying yourself to the government" and "revealing yourself to the public". FRONTLINE also covers JMS' arse a little bit by laying in the groundwork that, somehow, superheroes who push for the registration act but still hide their identities from the public are somehow "hypocrites" (like those nasty, rotten undercover agents or intelligence spies), and Iron Man reveals his identity to the public. Again. What? Only a few years ago it was public, and then he pulled a DAREDEVIL for a few years hemming and hawwing after DISASSEMBLED, and now he's revealed it again. Color me unsurprised. Spider-Man also lays out his fears for his family for Sally. The second story is the survivor of the Stamford attack. As usual, Marvel kept the secret poorly; for weeks, Speedball was the obvious survivor due to powers and leaks, and true enough, he survived. His powers absorbed Nitro's blast and sent him miles away, where the discharge killed two investigators (including a local cop) and fizzled out, rendering him powerless in the strain. Marvel was in a very steep slippery slope with automatically painting the New Warriors as being reckless and the cause of the act while Nitro & Co. were merely "defending" themselves, so having Speedball accidently blow up two men after landing was a sure nice way to make his arrest seem more justified; why didn't Jenkins go all out and have had Speedball land on a PUPPY while he was at it?
In a contrary to 52, the Marvel Universe, or at least America, is a place where superheroes are not welcome anymore. No one gives them the benefit of the doubt, and the line between "hero" and "villian" is made intentionally blurry. But in a way it is not unlike the real world, where the entire Western Hemisphere is reluctant to admit that "militant Islam" exists, and stubbornly believe that enemies who go, "we want to kill all infidels, we don't want to talk" will simply go away if you appease them and ask them nicely enough. It is also not unlike the real world where the military is vilified if a war is not going well politically, or police who only get recognition when one of them breaks the law. Jenkins writes a great story with FRONTLINE, and the art is good. Its a well written story, but one that definately hits close to home in scrutinizing many of the things going in in America, which may not be what some fans who would rather be entertained by comics, instead of preached to, wanted. If any title made it more obvious that the "Pro-Registration" side are meant to be overzealous republicans, and the "anti-registration" meant to be free-thinking liberals, its this title. I can admire the honesty. But I don't admire Joe Q & Co. insisting that the issue doesn't have "clear sides", because it does. Its not as blunt as ULTIMATES 2, thank goodness, but its still obvious that the pro-registration side, at least for now, is meant to be wrong. CW's a vehicle that so far looks to use Marvel to talk about the current political situation as well as claim that heroes and villians are not something that is set in stone, but can be variable dependant on the situation. Maybe that is true, but it is an excuse given for those who are evil that I am very sick of. No, NOT everyone's morality changes with the situation. Things like good and evil CAN be found in the world, and in men's hearts. That's a very scary thing; no wonder the world collectively burries its head rather than admit it a lot of the time.
But I guess a comic that can instill emotional reactions, whether angry, sad, or whatever, is notable as art. An art that can't stir emotions in an audience is not art. So many in that way, CIVIL WAR will be a success. You CAN'T ignore it easily. And it IS relivent, even if it smells as scummy as the real world often does. The MU's overreaction to the Stamford thing mirrors the US's percieved overreaction to 9/11, and also Marvel's overreaction to the lack of "inter-title continuity" (rather than just, well, doing inter-title continuity, they only use it in the service of overly large crossover events, and when not, pretend it doesn't matter in a universe of "good single stories". God, is a middle ground impossible?).
MARVEL TEAM-UP #21: Considering that THE THING, which sells not much differently than MTU, is cancelled and MTU so far is not; maybe it is because Kirkman's keeping ULTIMATE XM afloat and scored a bit hit with MARVEL ZOMBIES, that this is like his "POWERS", his pet title? Regardless, "FREEDOM RING" continues along with a new hero who is disturbingly familiar with Kirkman's OTHER new creation, Elliot, in UXM. Both control reality, only FR does it with a magic ring, and Elliot is a mutant. Both are in "generic hero" mode, with not much to set them apart from other characters well (FR has the edge on that, being gay and all, but even that is hardly as "edgy" as it used to be. Its been 25 years, Kirkman, homosexuals just ain't that rare anymore, and comic writers continuing to believe that a sexual orientation can make up for a lack of character is getting annoying). Freedom Ring explains the "rules" of his power, perhaps in the name of a future bio in the OFFICIAL HANDBOOK, and dons a costume that is sort of a cross between Green Lantern and Havok. A date is interupted by a fight between Spider-Man and Abomination, and FR goes off to help, only to be overwhelmed and slugged by the bruiser, and near death. Fortunately, the X-Men arrive to fight Abomination while Spider-Man tends to FR. Am I the only one who was more interested in watching X-Men vs. Abomination than a lot of the rest of this issue? The X-Men so rarely fight non-mutant, outright supervillians, even while they claim to be in "hero mode" again, so it was great to see it. This issue had what MTU does best, which is a team-up and some good ol' superheroics. I wonder, though, if Freedom Ring's influence on reality has a 30 foot radius, and he can obviously effect his body enough to create clothes and even change his skin color (from caucasian to red), why can't he heal his own wounds? Oh, well, maybe next issue. It was good at least to know even reality warpers can be caught off-guard, because the power is often invincible and makes you wonder why they ever lose (beyond just simple incompetance). A better issue than the last, but I am not a big fan of Kuhn's art. Its blocky and static. One wonders if Kirkman realizes that NO CHARACTER INTRODUCED IN MTU HAS EVER BEEN BETTER THAN C-LIST, which means that I doubt we'll see much of FR once MTU folds or Kirkman leaves the book. In details, "alternate Iron Man" frees himself at SHIELD, just in time to give the arc a main villian (or possibly wrap up Kirkman's last dangling plot-threads, as cancellation may be inevitable). MTU's still a fun read, but this is a definate step down, in both writing and art, than "LEAGUE OF LOSERS" was, so its noticeable. It still deserves to sell better, though. THING too.
OHBOTMU #5 Tidbit of the Week: Mr. "Unbreakable Skin" Luke Cage was once injured by a guy armed with a gun that was simply a shotgun with "6 barrels". Considering a 2-barreled shotgun is not uncommon and that a 6 barrel can't be THAT powerful a blast when compared to other superhero/villian attacks, Cage's REALLY improved since the 70's, otherwise grenades should beat him quickly.
. I've never been a big fan of Steel, Booster, or Renee, and I'm quickly becoming so. I know a lot of people weren't, but I was one of those that were really interested in the space war in the Crisis, and it's cool to see those storylines wrapping up and continuing. The idea of that motley crew out there fighting in an intergalactic war, and now Animal Man, Starfire, and Adam Strange -- three of the most unlikeliest people to be together -- stuck on an alien planet in the middle of nowhere...I mean, I might just be easily amused, but this is really amusing to me. And it just goes to show how very interconnected the DCU is even between characters that seem to have nothing to do with each other, because it all feels so natural and in-character.
