Decently large week for me, with two new launches featuring super-kids! As always, full spoilers ahoy! And as always, reviews are up at Examiner via the link in my sig.
Dread's Bought/Thought for 6/9/10:
BOOSTER GOLD #33: Word is that that this title is meant to tie in with JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST, a bi-weekly series which is also written by Keith Giffen. I wasn't up for another weekly (or bi-weekly) DC series after 52. Although if I do change my mind, it should be soon, before I miss too many issues. At any rate, I feel this issue has done a fine job of standing alone. I don't feel like I have missed anything just by sticking with this title. J.M. DeMatteis is along for the writing chores, with Chris Batista on art as well as some solid color and ink work.
While this issue is somewhat less comedic than the last, the focus is still very much on comedy, despite Booster Gold's general task. It seems that Max Lord was revived at the end of BLACKEST NIGHT, only nobody on Earth knows he exists except the D-List JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL squad. They naturally have tried going around to convince the other heroes that Lord exists, but they don't know what they are talking about ("We'd have remembered if Wonder Woman snapped someone's neck on TV. That would have been out of character!"). After a fight with an Obligatory Villain, Brigadoom (last month it was Emerald Empress), Booster Gold has coffee and lectures Cyborg about why the "Bwa-Ha-Ha" era of the JLI should be remembered for more than just slapstick comedy. Yes, Giffen & DeMatteis do sound like they are talking through Booster on that one, but I don't find myself disagreeing with them entirely. To this end, Booster decides to go back in time to that JLI era in order to see if Max Lord has covered his tracks via time travel vs. just a major psychic mind-wipe in the present. Upon seeing that Lord still exists in the past, Booster looks for some sort of evidence to "prove" that Lord existed (and that couldn't be alledged to be fake). This also allows him to stalk around the old headquarters, and wear his old costume. Interestingly, his cover isn't as good as it seems; J'onn IMMEDIATELY figures out that this Booster is from the future, and it is assumed that Black Canary would notice his "hairline" as well. Ah, back before "realism" made superheroes into blundering morons. Unfortunately, all Booster does is open up old emotional memories of simpler, happier times.
In the meanwhile, Rani, the kid from the future, shares the headquarters with Rip, who under Giffen sounds a lot more like Booster's son than a mentor, which isn't too bad actually. Two issues into this run, I am not entirely sure how I think about it. It has a lot more comedy than the last run, but it still has emotional character beats here and there. I don't mind the return to comedy, although I don't think the balance between comedy and drama is as well executed as Pak & Lente pull off in their HERCULES/PRINCE OF POWER material. Still, I was glad to not feel lost on this, and will likely continue to buy it.
AVENGERS ACADEMY #1: The first of Marvel's two teen team launches, and the one that will garner the most attention; which is understandably so. Christos Gage did some exceptional work on AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE, which was washed over by the waves of FOUR major line wide crossovers. I've often argued that when he got settled, he wrote that book better that Slott did (at least working off Slott's foundation). Along for the ride on art is Mike McKone, who seems to be using a new inking technique. Some people for some reason dislike his art, but I certainly enjoy it. At any rate, initial expectations would be that this would be what The Initiative would have been if Iron Man hadn't been a well meaning despot, or Osborn a fanatical psychopath. In execution it springboards well off of the end of A:TI as well as MIGHTY AVENGERS, while having a premise that does link up with the future rather than trying to spit shine the past.
Aside for Reptil, all of the new recruits at the Academy are new. Despite being housed in the "Infinite Mansion" invented by Pym, there are only six students; that is good because A:TI at the start got very crowded, very quickly. The P.O.V. character for this issue is Veil, a girl from Long Island who transforms into a black mist. Part of me imagines that this series could take on the format of Matt Fraction's THE ORDER, where every issue begins from the perspective of one of the new characters (a formula so effective it is amazing it isn't ripped off more often). Like the rest of the kids (aside for Reptil), she was initially found by Osborn and virtually tortured to manifest her abilities faster. And like many of the kids, that forceful experimentation has harmed her body; in Veil's case, she is slowly breaking down, and one day may never be able to reform.
The staff for the school are Pym and Quicksilver from MIGHTY AVENGERS, and Justice, Tigra, and Speedball from AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE. In many ways, Speedball is more like the kids than the instructors. He's in his old Speedball costume and codename, but he was never an Avenger or a teacher before. He was just as manipulated and exploited as the kids by Osborn, only he outright rebelled. He still is acting much like Penance, riddled with guilt and eager to help the kids master their powers, lest they become like him. Pym's the team doctor and Justice is basically the dreamy guidance counselor. Tigra doesn't do a whole lot in this issue, but Gage clearly likes her and always does good stuff with her, so I won't complain. Quicksilver's only on the team to distance himself from Magneto (who is active again, but Pietro acts like Magnus is a villain again when he's a Cyclops invited member of the X-Men, unless I missed something), and while he seems all wrong to be a teacher, by the end it actually makes perfect sense for him to be there, perhaps even more so than Pym.
The other members of the team are filled out, and some could argue they are a tad stereotypical, although most new characters are and have room to grow. Probably my favorite of the bunch is Mettle, who I call Red Skull Jr. No one else does, which is pretty weird as most of the kids are not very nice. He's a big metal lunk but he isn't aggressive at all, which is nice. Next is Striker, who may as well be Lightening Lad from LOSH with a cloaking device on, at least for now. I imagine his costume will be a design that EVERY artist aside for McKone struggles with. Rounding out the feminine portion of the cast is Hazmat, whose skin and fluids are toxic so she has to wear a hazmat suit at all times (and chooses to compensate by being rude to everyone), and Finesse. Finesse seems interesting in that she can learn anything she wants at super speed; this seems similar to Taskmaster, but also similar to Melee, another character Gage created for A:TI. In fact the only differences between Melee and Finesse were that Melee had more piercings, and spoke more words in Spanish. They are so similar that part of me wonders if Gage will say they are the same character, and Finesse is Melee with more skills. It seems a bit odd to have two characters from the same writer with such similar abilities. It is as if Steve Gerber created Man-Thing and Muck-Human, or Howard the Duck and Jerry The Goose. They could be related. Maybe Melee was a "sketch" of what Finesse will become. In terms of character, Finesse is one of those "ice cold perfect military woman" that we've seen a dozen times, so far. One imagines a conversation between her, Maria Hill and Agent Brand would be such a case of one-upmanship that some of the male characters would groan, "and they say MEN want to measure it". Which might actually work.
Part of me also wonders that if the X-editorial office won't end M-Day outright, that other writers on other books will put some cracks into it little by little, and thus eventually force that ridiculous plot line to shatter. Veil is obviously a mutant. There is no accident or artifact to explain her powers, and her origin fits perfectly well with most mutants. And why is that a problem? It works out fine. What matters is how a character acts and engages, not always their origin. I mean if you want a flat character with a great origin, there's always X-23. Unless the rest of the kids were zapped by rays or whatnot, some of them could be, too, and I would have zero problem with it. The problem with the X-Men was NEVER "too many mutants". It was an editorial board stocked full of repetition rather than innovation, and writers telling the same soap opera stories from the 80's over and over until we all die. After M-Day, the X-Books have lacked their central metaphor and thus a lot of focus. When Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction can't make it work, that should be a major warning sign. At any rate, so far Reptil is the only one who has a clear case of a non-mutant origin, powered by a dinosaur artifact.
Pym and the rest make a big deal about telling the kids how they are the best and brightest of the kids that Osborn recruited, but Finesse becomes suspicious and the kids end up learning the "omigod" surprise truth; that they're in fact the recruits Osborn tormented the most, and the teachers want to make sure they don't become villains. While they aren't mentioned, wild packs of rotten teenage superhumans such as the Young Masters or the new "Bastards Of Evil" roaming around Marvel lately with little regard for property damage or human life add some intangible urgency to that goal, which helps the book. Part of me imagines that Tigra will be most involved with Reptil, since she mentored him before (and like him, is coping with a lost family member or members; Reptil's parents are MIA and presumed dead, while Tigra's husband was murdered). The touchy issue is whether it was right for the Avengers teachers to lie to the kids outright. Their options were limited. Telling them to quit and be normal wouldn't help, especially as some of their experimentation made a normal life not an option (such as for Mettle and Hazmat). Treating them like criminals wouldn't help. Personally a best of both options would have been ideal rather than outright lying, but it is worth noting that out of all of the Avengers teachers, the only one with the best instructing experience is Tigra. Pym was offworld for most of the Initiative, replaced by a Skrull. Justice spent most of his Initiative days exposing the corruption. Speedball spent most of it in a padded cell. And Quicksilver can't even handle his own kids well. Tigra was the only one of them who was a mentor from Initiative to now, and Pym seems to be calling most of the shots. But in the end, Quicksilver seems to be the one most like the kids; spawn of a villain, started out a terrorist and has spent time on both sides of the fence more often than many Avengers, including very recently. In fact while Veil, Reptil, and Mettle could likely listen to the more "noble" heroes, from what I have seen so far, it may take someone like Quicksilver to get through to types like Striker or Finesse. Out of anyone, he should be the one who advocated not lying to the kids; didn't Magneto lie to him for half his life about being his father?
Justice also acts as if he doesn't quite know that Firestar recently got, and overcame, cancer to the point that the chemo mangled her hair, and she needs wigs. Maybe she's not told him about some of that. He merely mentions the times in the 90's when Pym was able to save her from her microwave powers. It isn't a major deal; one imagines for Angelica, telling her ex-fiance (who has moved on) that she had and fought off cancer last month would be an awkward subject. But it perhaps shows that Firestar would probably be better off here than in YOUNG ALLIES; the drama would write itself. But I digress.
I still haven't decided which of these launches I liked more, this or YOUNG ALLIES. While neither are perfect, this one offers better original characters and I probably have a little more faith in Gage than McKeever. Plus, it follows up from two prior Avengers titles very well. The crossover with the THUNDERBOLTS should be very interesting.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #606: Ah, for the first time since DEADLY GENESIS, a Brubaker comic issues controversy. Baron Zemo is back after a hefty absence from comic books (mostly to get off the stage of THUNDERBOLTS once Osborn took it over), and he's a villain again. For some readers, the internet is cracking in half. Me? I have to admit hypocritical bias. I never read T-Bolts with Zemo in them. I never attached to him as an anti-hero. Therefore, I don't give a damn that Brubaker's making him a villain again. It's blunt, but it's honest. I imagine many people felt that way when Venom was made into a villain again after a long turn as a vigilante in the 90's. I'm more concerned that Techno has seemed to join up with Zemo already, which seems to be giving away a plot point to the next issue of THUNDERBOLTS pretty early (and if not, is a continuity hiccup).
Zemo's back and he's irritated that Osborn reached a position of power that Zemo wanted, and instead of changing the world, he squandered it. Thus he fears his time as an "anti-hero" has passed, because this is the "Heroic Age". Unless Anti-Venom joins the Secret Avengers, of course. Outside of the X-Men, everything is black and white again. He's further irritated when Ghost informs him that the new Captain America is James Barnes, the "Bucky" that Zemo Sr. seemingly iced. The original Baron Zemo was one of those dime a dozen WWII villains, always second fiddle to Red Skull or Master Man. He only accomplished two worthwhile things in his entire career of villainy; killing the original Citizen V, and killing Bucky. Obviously no one gives a damn about the former, but the latter always at least gave Steve Rogers some sort of guilt or turmoil. Zemo Jr., on the other hand, accomplished a lot more. He's organized squads of Masters of Evil. His team nearly killed Hercules and Jarvis. He made Rogers cry. He even tricked the world a few times with the T-Bolts. Zemo wants to honor his own legacy, so to see some aspect of his father's legacy made moot, I can perhaps understand the logic circuit of wanting to do something about it. To be frank I always found the concept of Baron Zemo becoming a hero a little silly, but then again until recently I never bothered with T-Bolts. My issue was it robbed Marvel of good, genuine villains with history and character, because absolutely ZERO new villains ever were created to fill the void. Tell me, while Baron Zemo was being an anti-hero, who replaced him in Cap's rogues gallery? Protocide? If you can't replace a villain removed from the stage, don't remove him. Besides, Zemo was a post-modern Nazi war criminal; him becoming Rogers' best friend always felt odd to me. It's like if Mr. Sinister became a superhero, an X-Man, and Cyclops' personal physician. It'd be too absurd for words. Although I admit I never read the T-Bolts issues, so, I could be talking out of the wrong end here. And I'll admit giving Zemo the angle of, "wanting to take over the world to save it" like Dr. Doom probably isn't a bad motivation. Even if it is Dr. Doom's. But Doom's been knocked down a peg lately, so Zemo could always fill that gap.
Honestly, some of the best stuff of the issue comes from showing Barnes' obvious turmoil from the Grand Director arc. It was the second time he'd had to fight an evil version of Steve within a few months, and this time he had to shoot to kill (and did). Guice, often an inker, pencils an issue himself and does a bang-up job, especially on Barnes' dream page. Barnes' head is so out of the game that he screws up a fight alongside Falcon and the Wrecking Crew (sans Wrecker) actually manage to escape from a robbery, because Barnes is a bit careless. Rogers and Wilson stage a bit of an intervention at a bar, and it's solid stuff. Even the little bit with Natasha always being away on SECRET AVENGERS or solo stuff is a nice touch.
Zemo naturally is out on a personal vendetta; he cleans house at the old Island Of Exiles (another nice touch), he consults Sin at a mental ward, and he blows up Barnes' bike, injuring Wilson (poor fella just can't catch a break). Maybe it helps if you remember that the original Baron Zemo was such a bungler he literally killed HIMSELF with a laser gun and some debris - because lord knows the best thing to do when Cap screws up your aim is to fire a wild shot over your head (and unlike his son, didn't manage to cheat certain death a few times). Icing Barnes was his masterstroke. Or at least that is how I see it. I suppose Brubaker could have handled Zemo's turn a little better than, "and now I DESTROY him!", but we'll have to see what future issues bring. Barnes will inevitably be captured and then his conversation with Zemo should be interesting. Still, I wasn't a fan of the pre-Parker T-BOLTS so to me Zemo is still another villain, and one I don't mind seeing show up during Brubaker's run. It puts me in the minority, but such is life.
There's also the NOMAD strip, by McKeever & Baldeon. That means that between this and YOUNG ALLIES, Baldeon managed to pencil 30 pages of material within a month, and may have to do so for longer (as well as the inker and colorist). That's quite speedy. The story itself has Rikki struggling to make ends meet while living in some abandoned shack, while lying and making it seem to her friend Arana that she's just living solo. A bit interesting that Natasha is willing to give Rikki her Nomad costume, but not set her up with some sort of pad; on the other hand, the impression is that Rikki wants to rely on her own gumption (such as refusing social services). At any rate, she ends up trusting the wrong person and trapped in the basement of a killer. A bit low key, but I imagine it'll somehow connect to the Secret Empire. I didn't mind it. YOUNG ALLIES was better.
So in short, I liked this issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA, although I was less disposed to be offended by anything Brubaker did with Zemo. He probably could have layered it a little better, but it isn't a deal breaker for me at all. I imagine the lure of legacy vs. legacy here as well as the intertwined history was more than enough for Brubaker, and me as well.
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