The big comic book story of the day is, of course, Spider-Man's team up with Barack Obama against the first "super-villain" he ever faced. My shop was sold out, so was yours, but I didn't even want to buy it, so for me it was a quiet week. A solid week, but a quiet week, especially as I didn't care who killed Batman in FINAL CRISIS. Although I have to credit Marvel for their craftiness; without the Obama Team Up, Batman might have been the biggest comic news story of the week. Instead he is #2. That there is some creativity. Of course, outwitting Dan DiDio is a bit like shooting fish in a barrel with a bazooka.
As always, full spoilers.
Dread's Bought/Thought for 1/14/09:
BOOSTER GOLD #16: We have another cover gimmick from DC and this time it is the "Faces of Evil" showing the villain on the cover. How is this different from Marvel's villain variants? Besides, the cover was designed by a color blind person; dull grey on a black page is easy to miss when you are walking through the aile and I thought my shop sold out of the issue and bypassed it a few times. Reminded me of that X-MEN- THE 198 Handbook Marvel sold a few years ago that brilliantly put dark blue text within black boxes and thought it was easily readable. Frankly, considering how many of DC's titles sell poorly, they shouldn't do things like HIDE the title of a book and hope the fan figures it out. Many retailers claimed BLUE BEETLE's sales death-blow was the all Spanish issue. BOOSTER GOLD lost a slew of readers during the last two fill in issues before Jurgens returned, and something like this can't help.
Especially as I don't think ENEMY ACE when I think about Booster Gold.
Aside for that, the issue is the usual goodness from Booster creator, writer, and artist, Dan Jurgens (with Rapmund on inks). Booster Gold has accidentally been transported back to World War I Germany after trying to settle things once and for all with that magical time-traveling knife. He runs afoul of all of the death of the era, a random U.S. soldier, and the infamous Enemy Ace, who is basically DC's version of the Red Baron that Snoopy was always fighting. Jurgens writes him as a loyal German soldier willing to slaughter if it means his country's victory, but a man who is not a sadist and draws no exact pleasure from the act, and is capable of some means of mercy or honor. Not as much as a modern day hero, but more so than some soldiers of the era. Interestingly, the soldier that Booster ended up saving was a relative of Maxwell Lord, the man who would ultimately murder his best buddy, Ted Kord. Got to hate those time travel paradoxes.
Michelle, meanwhile, is stuck with Skeets trying to find Booster without screwing up the mission back in Gotham with Elongated Man. They have some good banter and in a way it is weird to hear someone actually genuinely want to get Booster back because of his EXPERIENCE and so forth. Usually he has been a "loser" so long that it gets lost that he actually does have some experience with the time travel thing now.
It is a solid issue. The artwork is great and iconic as always and naturally Jurgens manages to keep the story flowing with his character. Booster Gold has an impressive time travel niche here, and it seems his mysterious nemesis for this arc is a version of himself. I am curious how that will play out.
Normally I would care about sales listings, but this title still sells within the Top 100 and DC is far more merciful about book sales than Marvel is. They've kept plenty of titles around for well over a year that sell half as well as BG does. I am only curious about how much longer Jurgens will stay on the book. The issues without either him, Johns, or Katz suffered from some genuineness. Still one of DC's best books right now.
INVINCIBLE #58: It is the start of the "On Time In '09" era from Robert Kirkman and his Image titles, including this one. So far, he seems to be on a good start. Granted, having cleared his schedule of Marvel related work probably lightened his load considerably. While some fans and creators did not take kindly to some of his ramblings, career-wise he is at his best with his Image properties, and it is great that he is focusing his energy there. I'd rather get timely issues of INVINCIBLE and ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN than see endless crappy ULTIMATE X-MEN issues from on on the shelf on time that I bypass. Marvel's loss is Image's gain, and I do think it is for the better. He is happier here.
This issue is quieter than some of the others, and as the cover shows, focuses on Invincible and Atom Eve together. This time, though, they do more than cuddle or go on a typical date that gets interrupted. Eve turns out to have ideas of her own on how to solve their "lack of income or private dwellings" problem by, basically, setting up a company in which a slew of prisons, factories, banks, etc. alert Invincible whenever a crisis happens there and then pay him for stopping it. At first Mark seems hesitant, but Eve reminds him that it is little different from when Cecil and the government used to do that for him, and it will allow them to buy a house in four months (or less if the housing market continues to tank). One of my favorite moments, though, is a showdown with one of Atomic Eve's enemies to which Invincible replies, "Your nemesis sucks" after downing him with a single punch. Classic.
But there is some additional humor in the episode. Shapesmith shows up at Art the Tailor's workshop and shows why shape-shifting aliens can never be trusted to pay their tab. And Lethan, now Atlantis' protector Aquarus, has a pretty boring time protecting the ocean.
There is some tension, of course. Black Samson reassures the new Blackwing that the rest of the team doesn't look down on him because he murdered people in his permanently night-time city. Robot seemingly manages to stop Monster Girl from aging with every transformation with a new hi-tech belt, although I am expecting some sort of side effect. The Immortal is surprised that Dupli-Kate wants a big house to have kids in. Rus Livingston is still possessed by those squid aliens from Mars, which have multiplied from the one that used to be within him. And for the issue cliffhanger, the seemingly reborn Angstrom Levy has gathered various universes versions of Invincible, seemingly to do battle with his nemesis. There are variants of our titualar hero, including one with an Omni-Man like costume, two in Viltrumite garb (one with the iconic mustache) and one that appears to be merged with the Martian squid-aliens. His orbs are still examining Invincible's home, where only he and Oliver are staying for safety's sake. Quite frankly, I didn't miss Levy as a villain and I felt his death was a pivotal moment in INVINCIBLE, and Kirkman had better had a darn good explanation for how he has survived. He has already dismissed the idea that this is an "alternate" Levy. Regeneration would seem like a Norman Osborn cop-out story. So there is a challenge here.
In the letters page, Kirkman defends claiming there are only 50 Viltrumites in the universe by claiming that only about 3-4 characters in INVINCIBLE are capable of fighting them, and I do agree with that sentiment. People compare them to Kryptonians but I also seem some Saiyen in them from Dragon Ball Z, especially as some of the battles appear DBZ ish. When even 2-3 Viltrumites can destroy an entire planet, much less teams like the Global Guardians, there being "only" fifty of them still keeps tension high for me. On the contrary, the idea that victory is somewhat possible keeps the aim within sight. After all, Invincible is 18 years old and can lift some 400 tons, and he's not even near the peak of Viltrumite strength.
Naturally, I enjoyed this issue as I do every issue of INVINCIBLE. I liked seeing Eve show her own initiative with her life as well as Mark's. The issue, as many of the best ones, seemed akin to cramming a whole universe of characters into a single title, and covered many of them. The only drag was the Aquarus bit, which seemed to spend a page for one minor gag. Aquarus has rarely been a major detail in INVINCIBLE so it almost seemed as if to remind us that he was still alive somewhere. I do like some of the slow build with Levy and it will be interesting to see where the Rus Livingston/Squid Alien plot goes. The next issue promises a new villain, and it has been a while since Invincible had one, so it is welcome. Basically, there are always a myraid of interesting plots within Invincible's book and Kirkman usually has fun picking which one to bring to the fore next, and I as a reader usually enjoy seeing it. Over five years and still one of the best superhero comic books on the market. Not as dark most times as the others, it mixes some whimsy in with the gore, which is appreciated. Fco Plascencia's getting the hang of the colors and of course Ryan Ottley's art is the face of the series for me; he's drawn far more Invincible material than co-creator Cory Walker has at this point, right?
With three HC's and a slew of trades, there is no better time to catch up on INVINCIBLE if you haven't. It belongs on the same shelf as CAPTAIN AMERICA, NOVA, and INCREDIBLE HERCULES, even after nearly 60 issues. All-awesome indeed, and I sure do hope the book can stick to a monthly schedule in 2009. Lord knows the sometimes 2-4 month gap between issues in 2006-2008 was irritating.
ADAM: LEGEND OF THE BLUE MARVEL #3: I can't help it, but I actually like this title and the character of Adam Brashear. Some might simply call him "an African American Sentry", but quite frankly, he is more interesting to me than Sentry and his story has more parallels with real history so I feel some of his frustration and turmoil. He may be Grevioux's "Mary Sue", but paired next to Jenkins' Sentry "Mary Sue", I'll give the nods to the Blue Marvel. His being a mutant at least makes more sense than some random experimental elixir, and at least Adam wasn't secretly the best friend of every single Marvel superhero in existance before a global mind-wipe, like Sentry seemingly was. There are far more convoluted bits to Sentry's origin and powers than Blue Marvel seems to have.
Not surprisingly, of course, fans are ignoring this title. The first issue in November debuted at 17k, at #115 of the Top 125 comics. It was barely 400 copies less than Grevioux's other title, NEW WARRIORS (which is canceled after issue #20). Considering Grevioux is not a top draw talent with much exposure, and this is a new character, and it was not advertised and has nothing to do with what the rest of Marvel is doing now (in fact, the continuity is clearly based before the start of SECRET INVASION), and at $4 a pop, a debut of 17,000 copies may be about what a reasonable person would expect. On a positive note, it outsold AGE OF THE SENTRY. While I would hardly say that this is a title worth tracking down in trade, I am not regretting hopping aboard it out of curiosity and I would much rather see Adam Bashear get picked up for a team somewhere and utilized than Sentry.
As the story unfolds, we learn more about the circumstances and fall out with Adam's wife, Agent Frazier, who was tasked by the government in the 60's to become Adam's wife to spy on him. Having to research "black culture" to fit the role and ultimately fulfilling her duties, she of course came to genuinely love Adam, and when the administration seemed to lose interest after the assassination of JFK, it never came to haunt her until now, with SHIELD head Tony Stark moving stones to find Adam again. Disturbed to know his wife and mother of his children was performing an act for some of the time, Adam flies into space and to the moon. Okay, Grevioux can't resist giving his creation one "Marvel Universe" friend in Uatu the Watcher. While most artists basically try to make Uatu look as Jack Kirby designed him, Mat Broome really doesn't, and the work looks awkward for it. Instead he makes him look like a tall bald man, almost like half a Conehead, and it was jarring. Distraught about being asked to quit being the Blue Marvel in the 60's, Adam ran into Uatu who told him of the tale of the Kree and their own internal struggle between differently skinned members. Ironically, because of his reluctance to actively fight against the government, Blue Marvel was out of favor even within the African American community. After repelling an alien invasion, Adam tucked in the cape until now, with the past returning to him. Uatu reminds Adam that he was hardly 100% honest with his wife himself, and appears to nudge him in the right direction. With his nemesis Anti-Man returning again (named that because he is made of anti-matter), Adam decides to finally meet up with Tony Stark.
Much as I stated earlier, the continuity of this story is horribly outdated, and was in November. Dugan and Yellowjacket were revealed as Skrulls, and Stark is no longer head of SHIELD. Being about 6-8 months behind current Marvel continuity doesn't quite hurt the story as it is, but it doesn't help it, either.
Rather than being stereotypically angry or vengeful, Adam is an intelligent noble man who is at times frustrated with either his times or the lengths with which the government meddled in his life because of them. Unlike the unstable Sentry, Adam feels more like a well rounded character, or at least has the potential to be one. His past seems to mesh better with the tapestry of the Marvel Universe better than Sentry did, with details like Project: Wideawake beginning at the development phase due to him and a young Sen. Robert Kelly being involved. I can "buy" a Class 100 African American (and mutant) superhero being forced into early retirement in the JFK era at the dawn of the Civil Rights movement more than I buy someone getting "the power of a million exploding suns" from an elixir cobbled together in a college and psychically manifesting a demi-god evil alter-ego while also befriending every single superhero ever and being the "bestest" hero ever, too. Regardless of the quality of the original mini, Sentry has become a punchline, and in comparison, Adam Brashear/Blue Marvel has some more potential. And a better costume design.
Mat Broome has some help on pencils from Roberto Castro, and it is a little disturbing when a regular artist can't even seem to be able to draw 22 pages at a monthly rate for even a 5 issue mini anymore, although the book has shipped on time so far. Still, Broome's art is solid for the most part, aside for the aforementioned Uatu, who IMO he botched. The cover of the next issue implies a fight against Namor the Sub Mariner, and he seems to be fighting everyone these days, from the Order to Hercules. We are at the midway point of the series and while this mini isn't the best story ever, I like the writing and premise enough to invest in the character and genuinely want to read more about him, at least in the short term. Frankly, this series is coming along better than a slew of Grevioux's NEW WARRIORS issues did, which were more decompressed. I won't deny that I actually like the title just because this isn't everyone's pet mini of the moment. Hopefully the climax lives up to this interesting beginning, which managed to win me over from curiosity to genuine investment.
BIG HERO 6 #5: This mini, on the other hand, unlike ADAM: LEGEND OF THE BLUE MARVEL, has become essentially pointless. This very issue seems mostly pointless, an excuse to inflate the issue count of the mini from four to five. While there are some mini's which are unfairly ignored, I don't blame most fans for side-stepping this. The first issue debuted at 13k and the 3rd issue in November barely sold above 6,000 copies (less than some issues of TALES OF THE TMNT from Mirage Studios), and outside the Top 200. That is completely dire for Marvel and Claremont. Even the canceled NEW EXILES managed to sell 20k in November. The number of fans devoted to Claremont on X-projects has dwindled dramatically, and his audience for anything else is essentially gone. He outsells ARCHIE, but not by much.
The irony is that BIG HERO 6 isn't bad work. It isn't offensive and there are clear beginnings, middles, and ends. There is a sense of whimsy, even. But all in all it is just a mediocre adventure with a team you've never heard of, and there seems little reason for this series to have existed. Had Claremont played up the Japanese angle better, it might have found a niche. But by basing the story (or at least 4 out of 5 issues) in New York City, he killed whatever premise the team had.
This issue, however, takes the annoyance a step further with a completely random adventure. After defeating the main threat of the series (yet another mind control villain from Claremont, this time a gal with dreads named "Bad Gal", oh, how clever!), the Big Hero 6 are detained by the FBI and randomly run into aliens, who they have to help get home. Turns out they're alien kids lost on a field trip, and the team has to do all sorts of antics to avoid the FBI (or distract them) while Hiro can get their ship out of the ocean and into the stars. Honey Lemon defines herself by beating Bad Gal without her "power purse", but essentially all this issue seems to be is padding out a story that already had a successful conclusion. In fact, without the aimless football sequences in issue two, I dare say this story could have been compressed to three issues, rather than four or, heaven help us, five. I will be surprised if more than 5,000 people even bought this issue.
Nakayama's art is kinetic and fun, but boy, he's gotten to draw a lot of cute girls in bikinni's or in provocative poses, hasn't he? It makes me remember that the "bad girls" craze that started in UXM and XM in the 90's happened on Claremont's watch, and makes me wonder if his script direction asked for bikinni's or sexy poses when they seem close to being gratuitus.
The only good thing about the series as a whole is that it tried to justify the $3.99 price tag by throwing in extra content, whether it be production sketches, Handbook Bio's of the entire team, color reprints, or even some fan-fiction from the editor revolving around some neglected team members. It at least helps to justify the extra buck rather than, "Mini's are expensive, sucker!" that one feels from other titles.
Comic fans were right to ignore this. While nothing bad and it probably is among the better of Claremont's works within the last few years, the series had no unique hook and didn't grasp the premise properly; instead Claremont stuck to tried and true formular, right down to T&A and a mind control villain. And of course endless narration. It's so middle-of-the-road that it is basically one french fry among many, which are easily ignored for the burgers of other comics.
The covers were always interesting, though. This series has been forgotten, and if there were any reason why Marvel should pay Claremont some sort of X-royalties and allow him to retire and stop insulting himself with some dire or pointless writing, this series may be it. The only step lower would be MARVEL ADVENTURES X-MEN (not to be confused with X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, which has far more spunk than Claremont usually can deliver these days). Even Rocky knew to retire after 6 movies, and that was after taking a 15-16 year break so Stallone could actually cobble together a halfway decent story. BIG HERO 6 was just "there", and that isn't enough for 2008-2009.
