I don't usually mention it, but does Marvel use color ink that other companies don't? Because occasionally I see little "smears" or other marks on colored work from new comics that I don't see in DC comics or Image that I buy. It results in me having to try to inspect them in store without looking at every page (and thus ruining an issue for myself before I read it) and sometimes I am unlucky. It isn't a big deal, but it just seems like I always encounter more printing, color, or something page errors with Marvel comics than any other company. Granted, I also buy more Marvel, so the numbers are skewed. There was a page error in INCREDIBLE HERCULES too, a little too extra paper for one page. I've simply never encountered such errors for other company's comics, yet with Marvel comics it seems to happen about twice a year, at least.
Oh, well.
Dread's Bought/Thought for 1/28/09: The Other Half
CAPTAIN AMERICA #46: What is there to say about CAPTAIN AMERICA? It took me more than two years to finally get on the book, but once I did it was easy to see why everyone recommended it; it is one of Marvel's best titles since the start of the Brubaker run and has continued to be so. The book often sells within the Top 25 and thus is one of the rare titles that sells almost as much as it is worth, which can be rare in comics. As we near issue #50, which Brubaker has stated in interviews may be big, CA continues on with what makes it great. Solid art by regular artist Steve Epting as well as a format that embraces serial storytelling. While this is technically part one of a new three issue "arc", this is a title that flows from issue to issue, where past actions have reactions and so the idea of 3-6 issue chunks for trade format often do not apply. Every story flows from the last. In the case of this issue, this story flows from the past 3 part story where the past and present of new Capt. America James "Bucky" Barnes come into focus. One of his missions with the Invaders in WWII as well as the brainwashed Soviet Winter Soldier in 1968 (deep into the Cold War) in China have come to a head. An inventive Chinese prodigy that he saved in the 40's alongside Rogers and the andriod Human Torch, and then tried to kill some 20+ years later, has returned. Professor Chin, or Professor Pandemic, has created a super-powered Man Without A Face, and hired Batroc the Leaper to steal the "corpse" of the deceased James Hammond, who died during NEW INVADERS some years back.
Unable to prevent the theft of Torch's body, James has went after Chin on his own, drafting his former Invaders ally Namor in this quest. Contrary to what the cover suggests, the pair don't actually fight at all. Frankly, I don't mind that. The idea of an obligatory fight with Namor every time he guest stars in another hero's book has virtually been played out (unless played for some laughs, as INCREDIBLE HERCULES did a few months ago), and considering the two heroes are war buddies, it makes sense that they do get along somewhat. Still seeking official "approval" of his choice of legacy, Namor in his own way accepts James as the "New Cap". Black Widow gets information and a location on Chin from her U.N. contact in the usual Widow way (dash of seduction with a drop of poison), but soon uncovers some of the secrets that James kept from her, and regrets himself.
James is, of course, torn about the entire mission for various reasons. He saved Chin in the 40's as a boy genius, yet he was sent to assassinate him by the Russians in the late 60's because his experiments were so vile and dangerous, even the Soviets feared him. That alone might make him regret helping him in the 40's, as he would become a future menace. But in the 60's, he ended up killing Chin's fiance in his botched escape, thus giving Chin all the motivation he needed for revenge and cruelty afterwards. James of course regrets his actions as the Winter Soldier, which feel like his own despite knowledge of his brainwashing and assurances from some other heroes. Infiltrating the compound with Namor, the pair seperate, with part of James' plan being luring Chin out by donning his Winter Soldier gear.
Of course, it could also be symbolic; this was a mess created when he was the Winter Soldier, not Captain America, and he wants to finish it as the WS.
He and Namor have a good rapport, with Namor being confident, regal, and arrogant without it being played to such an extreme degree that you feel he doesn't care at all. I also have to imagine a surface battle in the rain has to be an ideal situation for Namor; while he likely would never be as strong on the surface as he is underwater, steady rain would still revive him and likely keep his might constant. Makes me curious if he ever teamed up with the X-Men with Storm on the roster; one could imagine her just summoning the rain and letting Namor go to town. Did Dr. Strange ever try a storm spell during their many Defenders adventures?
There is only about 2 pages of action, but as always Brubaker and Epting pace it well, even though it is merely the dispatchment of a few guards. Like many issues, this is a set up issue for something bigger, but one never feels cheated because there is always the right amount of story advancement, character interaction, and yes, action, for 22 pages a month. The pacing is often cinematic without feeling too decompressed, a balance that is not easy to achieve.
Professor Pandemic and his creation(s) are worthy enemies for New Cap. The only niggle is that it does feel strange that in an era where most terrorists come from the Middle East, Marvel comics still seem preoccupied with "Oriental" menaces many times. There are few Asian characters who aren't either martial artists or mad scientist/sorceror types. While this story more than makes historical sense and ties into Bucky's past, I could understand some fans being weary of yet another evil Asian mad scientist supervillain. Often when Cap isn't fighting something Asian, he is fighting Neo Nazi's, or ex-Soviets. I would be more than interested in Brubaker trying to have James, at some point in the future, fight an actual supervillain from one of our current hot-spots without making it overly political that it stifles the story (which was the flaw of ULTIMATES 2; it read so much as an "America is evil and deserves to be destroyed" narrative that it overshadowed the rest of the plot). I'm not saying that Brubaker's stories as is aren't great, they are. But few writers have been capable of writing Cap stories revolving around current battlefields and enemies vs. enemies from, say, thirty, forty, fifty years ago, and if anyone is going to try it, I wouldn't mind seeing Brubaker's angle at it. After all, simply because a story may have a Middle Eastern villain, doesn't mean it has to be a story where all of them are evil (Marvel has had a few Arabian/Middle Eastern heroes), or even one that embraces Bush's former policies. It would, however, feel more modern than yet another Asian mad scientist. In the modern Marvel universe, Soviets and Nazi's experimented with super-science or mutation and never any Middle Eastern terrorist groups? There's a wealth of material here, it only needs a writer with both knowledge and finesse to pull it off. I think Brubaker is that writer.
But that's all digression for the future; basically I have to come up with ideas or discussions to keep every review from being 500 words of "CA is great, move along". The Pandemic arc is going along swimmingly, and I can't wait for the next issue, as always. If Brubaker could make it to issue #60, that would be a five year run, which is a long one even by old time standards. I cannot picture the title without him and if Mackie and JMS could each hover around ASM for some 6-8 years, if there is any justice, Brubaker could stick on CA about that long, too. I doubt he'll tap himself out like those two did.
FANTASTIC FOUR #563: As a fan who clearly has biases for and against certain writers sometimes, I have tried to be fair to Mark Millar over the Ben Grimm/Alicia Masters Continuity Debacle over the last two years or so. I have tried to acknowledge that neither JMS or McDuffie, who wrote the book for years before Millar came along, acknowledged that Ben had reunited with his long time live in THE THING #8 and in MCP #1. But after reading this issue, maybe I am being unfair to McDuffie. While he never had Alicia show up, and it seems odd to write the Thing and not have her show up if they ARE reunited as a couple, nothing in his run suggested that they weren't dating off panel somewhere. Millar once called it "continuity by omission" in some WIZARD interviews; by not denying something happened, but not using it, a writer can "sort of" admit it happened.
Millar, however, has completely shattered the situation. His subplot with Ben is that he happens to meet a "regular person", a school-teacher named Debbie from Brooklyn, and is so smitten with her that he is not only happy, but very quickly announces an engagement, which is the crux of this issue. Part of me does feel a bit miffed that apparently in the eyes of Marvel's media and even some writers, Alicia Masters wasn't "normal". Okay, she did have some comic contrivances. She was related to a super-villain, for one. She also was a master sculptress despite her blindness, gaining worldwide renown for her artwork. But it feeds into the idea that some writers have that someone with one exceptional talent isn't "normal" or relatable. Which, frankly, is hypocritical since I am sure most professional writers consider themselves better skilled at writing scripts than an "average" person is. After all, they've made a career of it. Some have won awards or, in the case of Millar, are having Hollywood movies (loosely) made about his stories. It is this kind of logic that has made writers often write Spider-Man, a hero who has at least 12-14 years of Marvel Time experience as a hero, act like a blithering idiot who always is caught off guard because he "needs to be relatable". I've seen beat cops with barely two years experience display better judgement than a guy who has fought everyone and Thanos at least twice.
But the biggest problem with Debbie is that she is barely a character, and the relationship is moving so quickly and with so little focus that it FEELS forced. If this book was actually connected to SECRET INVASION, I am sure most readers would have presumed that Debbie was the token Skrull sent to the Four. We see Thing and Debbie meet, hear they are dating, and now boom, they are engaged. Aside for being a star-struck school teacher from Brooklyn, we know nothing of Debbie or why Thing is falling head over heals for her, beyond story contrivance. Hell, I would argue Debbie may be more shallow than Alicia; from the start, Debbie seemed to recognize Thing for his celebrity and was encouraged to date him by her peers for that. Alicia loved him back when he was occasionally smashing store-front windows because he hated his reflection in them. The Thing is arguably the most fleshed member of the Four and you cannot, CANNOT write him encountering a new love without at least addressing how he is feeling about Alicia, especially as the last stories that focused exclusively on his romance had them GET BACK TOGETHER. It is an utter botch job by the editorial department and some three sets of writers. Millar, as the third in the line since THE THING, though, has completely made it worse. If I can't take Debbie seriously, then the entire subplot doesn't work. That is a major dilemma.
Plus, it feels a bit wrong to me that any long-term romantic relationship any superhero seems to have had before the Joe Q tenure began in 2000-2001 is often destroyed with all the grace of Spike Lee criticizing a Klan rally (One More Day), yet it seems any writer that Joe hired for a run can automatically shoehorn any hero into any outlandish romance and it is embraced as Instant Canon (i.e. Storm and Black Panther). There have been newer ones that aren't outlandish, like Bucky/Black Widow, but these sometimes are the minority. Cornell in CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13 is doing a similar plotline of a star-struck heroine (Faiza) falling for a well known hero with a former long term relationship (Black Knight) and in about the same amount of issues has handled it about 500% better (yet, of course, Millar/Hitch FF sells three times what CB&MI13 sells). Why? Because the past is acknowledged and it isn't being shoved down our neck like an oral torture device, as Millar is doing with Debbie.
The parts that work about the issue are the reactions the rest of the Four give to Ben. Reed and Sue are of course friendly and welcoming, with Sue trying to gently, but honestly, warn and prepare Debbie for the challenges and trials that come with entering the life of the Four. Even Johnny Storm, written by Millar and some others as an immature, oversexed fop with ADHD, is genuinely happy for Ben and does sky-writing announcements of his intentions in celebration.
Then things get iffy again. Being handed our fourth alternate universe in about 18 issues, we find Doom's evil schoolteachers slaughtering the heroes of another reality, especially the Four, before tending to Victor's quest. Anticipating their arrival from prison, Doom smiles, as 616 Reed takes his threat seriously. While it does make some sort of sense that Doom at one point had to learn some of his magics and whatnot from some being, it usually is out of character for him to beg for help from anyone and anything. He usually has even suffered because he refused to submit before even cosmic demi-gods, and usually prevails. Unfortunately, 2007-2009 so far have been a bad period for Dr. Doom. No longer a villain who is a near force of nature despite being human, Doom is now just another generic villain who jobs to heroes, sits in prison and needs to have fruitless alliances with types he at one point would have dismissed, such as beastly school teachers or America's Most Popular Maniac with a Man Purse, Norman Osborn. While the last arc with the New Defenders (who, god help us, are being sold in a FANTASTIC FORCE comic soon) turned out better than I expected, I have misgivings about this one. While I buy how the Fou are reacting to the situations, I find the situations themselves lackluster and suffering from continuity issues. The Four work as human characters with long, shared histories, and you can't dismiss Ben's longtime love or Doom's personality as story inconveniences and expect it all to work out well.
Hitch's artwork is always what you would expect. His costumes are trying to look real world with pouches and he is good with facial reactions, bold action and amazing detail.
If Debbie does turn out to be some villain, it will be obvious. If not, it will still seem ham-fisted. It seems like a total lose-lose situation. Of course, unlike Dan Slott and Norton, if Debbie is added permanently to the Four, you of course will expect editors to insist on any subsequent Four writer who follows Millar to of course keep her around. People sometimes wonder how fans like me build biases against certain writers; THIS is why. Certain writers can pour their hearts and souls into stories that are dismissed, ignored, and disregarded like garbage; other writers can shoehorn a mediocre idea into their overrated blockbuster and instantly have every writer follow it like canon for years with iron-clad editorial support. We all know who these writers are on both sides of the aile, and many fans react accordingly. THE THING was too good to be ignored, but it has. Marvel sometimes spends a lot of time in interviews dismayed at fan bitterness and cynicism with some stories, unaware of how they almost deliberately create it with sloppy editing and obvious favoritism.
There is the outside chance that Millar of course is aware of all this and plans some grand thing with Alicia at the end of his run. I just am not betting on it right now.
Millar's FF has been pretty solid; like McDuffie's only more overexposed by his name power. But as this weakest link subplot goes into focus, that could all change.
