The "fox girl" was named Ninjara. I believe she was created in response of a few female fans who wrote to the letter pages and complained how few female characters there were in the franchise besides April O'Neil and her TV pal, Irma. I used to reach the Archie TMNT comic too. It was actually a decent "bridge" of a series; more mature than the 80's cartoon, but not as dark and gorey as the Mirage series. It is a shame it hasn't really been collected.
At any rate, full spoilers ahoy.
DREAD'S BOUGHT/THOUGHT FOR 3/30/11 - Part 1:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #657: In the feast-or-famine world of Marvel comic schedules, this week was closer to famine than feast, with a few comics featuring Captain America that fell into definite "meh" territory. This issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is a tie-in to the "Three" arc from FANTASTIC FOUR - or at least its conclusion. Johnny Storm/Human Torch has passed the mortal coil at a time when Peter Parker is already reeling from the death of one of his supporting cast members lately. He also has officially joined the team as of FF #1. Thus, it makes sense to start linking Spidey to the rest of the Four in his own title, in the same manner that the New Avengers have been showing up lately. Dan Slott, whose past credits include THE THING (which guest starred Spidey) and the Eisner worthy SPIDER-MAN/HUMAN TORCH: I'M WITH STUPID mini series (which was one of the best comics of the decade), is more than aware of Spider-Man's long history with Marvel's first family and has skillfully capitalized upon it before. This issue sees a collaboration of artists, which include departing semi-regular artist Marcos Martin (who will soon be part of the art team on the relaunch of DAREDEVIL), present semi-regular artist Stefano Caselli, a SPIDEY/TORCH reunion with Ty Templeton, and Nuno Plati. The structure of the story allows Martin's art to take place for the segments set in the present, and the other artists handling the segments set in flashbacks. Nothing in this issue remakes the wheel by a drastic margin, but it manages to make it spin around properly and effectively.
This picks up from the previous issue to a degree, but could be read cold and still work. In summary, Spider-Man (who has revealed his secret identity to the Four before) visits the Baxtor Building to speak with Sue, Reed, and Ben over the death of Johnny, which is the second major death in his life lately. While tying into a back-up strip from FANTASTIC FOUR #588, the characters bring up previous adventures set in the past that had not been told before. While "retroactive continuity" is a tired practice in comics, it is approached here to provide additional flashback adventures that highlighted bits with Johnny, from the perspectives of the remaining Four. It could be said that it might have been better if actual adventures from the past were referenced, rather than inventing new ones; as a counter to this criticism, such details were to be had in the aforementioned SPIDER-MAN/HUMAN TORCH: I'M WITH STUPID, circa 2005. At any rate, Ben relates a tale of a chaotic camp-out that involved a Jack Kirby era monster; Sue recounts a battle with the Frightful Four that she'd rather forget; and Reed recalls, what else, a mission in space. All were Spidey team up adventures that showcased the dynamic Johnny had with Peter, as well as with the Four in general. The artwork is exceptional, with Martin and Templeton stealing the issue with their work. The issue ends with a moment that is both touching and amusing, which is Johnny to a T. The next arc promises a present day Spidey/FF adventure, complete with their new white team uniforms.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #616 this week was a fat anthology issue loaded with flashback stories, but this issue of ASM was cheaper and far more grounded. While Slott doesn't match his SPIDEY/TORCH mini, his heart is invested in embellishing how these characters interact with each other and have been part of each others lives for a long time, and it shows through with his dialogue and story. What has made BIG TIME a success was taking many elements of Spider-Man's life that had seemed to embellished in every other title but his own and taking it to logical conclusions. While Dan Slott wasn't the writer who had Spidey finally join the FF, but he certainly is going to capitalize. This looks to be a good FF tie in issue as well as a great prelude to the next arc - as well as a proper farewell to Marcos Martin's semi regular run.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #616: This is the 70th Anniversary issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA, thus it is extra sized and priced at $4.99. This is the 70th anniversary of the cover date to CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #1, which was March 1941, even if it was actually sold in December 1940 (a full year before Pearl Harbor). Thus, if Marvel wanted to be greedy they could have sold two 70th anniversary issues and technically not been off. At any rate, for $4.99 the reader gets 93 pages of story (which doesn’t include ads), which is a fair market value in terms of content. The question is how much of this content is actually vital to a regular artist as opposed to fans of particular talent.
Ed Brubaker, who has been the regular writer of CAPTAIN AMERICA for over six years now, writes the first two 16 page stories as well as a one page recap of the character’s origin. It is in these two stories that has current material. The general thrust of the series at this point is complicated, but can be summarized. Steve Rogers was the original super-soldier hero, but after he was seemingly killed for a bit, his old sidekick James “Bucky” Barnes, formerly a cyborg Commie hit man, donned his mantle. Rogers has come back, but no longer wanted to be that national symbol, and decided to become more of a Nick Fury-esque super-agent. Unfortunately, Barnes’ past crimes as a brainwashed global terrorist have been exposed by Cap’s enemies, and he has been battling legal reactions. While Barnes was eventually sentenced to “time served” for American crimes, he has been shipped to a Russian gulag after being convicted of crimes in that country. Thus, right now nobody is Captain America. James Barnes is in a prison for Russian criminals and political prisoners, many of whom still see him as “the Winter Soldier” and either fear him or want revenge. Steve Rogers, meanwhile, is still head of “I Can’t Believe Its Not SHIELD” but not as Captain America (even if his uniform has stars on it, and he uses a technological holographic version of his old shield). As Rogers tries to handle all of his responsibilities, which include finding a diplomatic way to get Barnes out of prison, some feel he needs to retake the mantle again. These two 16 page stories are drawn by Mike DeoDato Jr. and Ed McGuinness, and the one page origin recap by Travis Charest (who also drew the cover). This kicks off the next arc of CAPTAIN AMERICA, called “Gulag” – what else?
The other 61 or so pages are stories set in Steve Rogers’ past or focus on developments from his past, written by others and drawn by an eclectic range of talent. Howard Chaykin writes and draws “Opaque Shadows”, in which Steve Rogers in the present sees an old WWII painting of him that naturally has its own action packed memory behind it. “Spin” by Cullen Bunn and artist Jason Latour is about Rogers (as Cap) helping with a natural disaster and stumbling upon an AIM bunker (and domestic economic hardship). "Operation: Tooth Fairy” is an account of a WWII battle against the vampire Baron Blood written by Mike Benson and drawn by JACK STAFF creator Paul Grist. “The Exhibit” by Frank Tieri and Paul Azaceta is about Rogers and Sharon Carter tracking one of Arnim Zola’s consistently created clones of Adolf Hitler, who often become the villain Hate-Monger (or Nazi X). This clone is apparently unaware of his past and has yet to commit any crimes, but is that sort of evil genetic? The last story, after WWII flashback, is “Crossfire” by Kyle Higgins, Alec Siegel and artist Pepe Larrez. In it, Capt. America and the original Union Jack hold the fort at a small French town against a Nazi platoon, who ultimately need help from the town’s survivors to triumph. None of these stories are bad, but all of them could be considered “filler” and don’t really effect anything major in the life of the character. An anniversary is perhaps not the best place to be drastic and edgy, and there are stories that impact the series in its current continuity and storyline. All of the talent involved puts in their best. The dilemma is if one has read one 1940’s war flashback story with Capt. America, you have probably read them all. In fact, considering how nearly anything can be calculated by fans online these days, I am curious that if every single Golden Age Captain America story were added together with all the flashback 1940’s Captain America stories from the 60’s until the present, it would literally cover every day that Steve Rogers served in World War II. That would have been from 1941-early 1942 to the middle of 1945 (as Rogers was trapped in ice before the end of the war). That would translate to roughly 900-1050 days, and probably less since most flashback stories seem to take place in 1943 or 1944. Someone at the Marvel Index project will make it happen.
In terms of the future of the present CAPTAIN AMERICA series, Brubaker and Marvel seems to be telegraphing certain moves. With Barnes in Russian prison and Steve Rogers behind a secret agent desk, there is no one who is acting as Captain America. In CAPTAIN AMERICA #615.1 from last week, Nick Fury literally set up a new super-soldier in the role simply to attract Rogers’ attention, and this issue further tempts him. It is no coincidence since “CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER” debuts in theaters in July. To be fair, Steve Rogers has not been Capt. America for longer than one specific mission (or two) since April 2007. Some might say a 3-4 year gap is perfectly long enough to make it seem like an event again and spike sales for the ongoing series, which has started to slip back to 2005 levels. Brubaker has acknowledged that Barnes’ tenure behind the mask has lasted longer than he originally intended. Prediction: Barnes will escape the Russian gulag and act as a sort of “noble fugitive” again in U.S. based adventures – in which he is technically a fugitive on the run but still takes on bad guys and helps other heroes, and things are morally ambiguous enough that the other heroes let him walk off at the end. This is where Barnes was in 2006, only this time he would be on the lam for Russian crimes, not American ones. The strength and also a dilemma with Steve Rogers is how “perfect” he appears to be. He is the ultimate good guy and soldier, and while that does a lot to inspire others, it can make him difficult to write as the star in a solo series (but fine on team books like AVENGERS). James Barnes is a deeply flawed man with literal skeletons in his past, which has made his tenure as Captain America interesting. Before Brubaker, Rogers had never “retired” or “quit” from his role as Cap for longer than two years; the fact Marvel has kept him from it for four (give or take) is commendable and not something everyone could have predicted. The decision to “just return to status quo” for Rogers may not be an easy one for Marvel Comics despite the film. Under the current set-up, they have been able to sell additional Steve Rogers comics without him being the solo star of CAPTAIN AMERICA, either in SECRET AVENGERS (which under Brubaker is very close to a solo series with other heroes as supporting players) or in his own mini series, such as STEVE ROGERS: SUPER SOLDIER (also under Brubaker). Other writers in other Marvel comics have enjoyed the premise and employed it well. In attempting to liven up CAPTAIN AMERICA as a title, Marvel has stumbled upon an ideal exchange of masks to a super hero legacy, which as DC may tell them, is very rare. Both Rogers and Barnes were in Captain America costumes for SIEGE, and there was no backlash (even if it was a challenge for artists to draw them as different men in extreme close up shots). The simple answer is to get Rogers back as Cap and Barnes to return to being a “noble fugitive”, but if Marvel honestly believe they could sell comics with two, they will (and have). Could two men each being Cap sell in two titles? Does Marvel have the fortitude to continue with their mask swap? Time will tell, and at least in the case of CAPTAIN AMERICA, Marvel has not always gone with the choice that was the easiest to predict, which has done wonders to spice up a 70 year old franchise.
Here’s to 70 more!
CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BATROC THE LEAPER #1: This one shot actually shipped last week, but the benefits of slow weeks is that it allows an opportunity to double back on missed material. In preparation for his feature film debut in July, Marvel is releasing a metric ton of additional CAPTAIN AMERICA side material, via spare one-shots or mini-series set in Steve Rogers' past. This is similar to the loads of THOR side material that has shipped in preparation of his film in May. The goal is to try to capitalize on the extra attention and perhaps sell trade collections in a few months time. In practice, it often buries shops in comics that only franchise completists collect. This one shot is written by Kieron Gillen, former writer of THOR and current writer of UNCANNY X-MEN, as well as drawn by Renato Arlen and colored by Nick Filardi. The gimmick of some of these one-shots is that while the titular CAPTAIN AMERICA appears, it instead focuses on the secondary character in the title. In this issue's case, this is a story set from Batroc's perspective. As the color reprint of TALES OF SUSPENSE #85 from the 1960's details, Batroc the Leaper was originally created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as a stereotypical French themed villain for Capt. America to fight; thick accent and all. Despite the cheesy moustache and orange and lavender costume, Batroc's gimmick was that he was capable of providing Cap a fair challenge despite not being a metahuman character; he specializes in being an agile kick-boxer in so many words. This one shot tale capitalizes on that fact as well as the fact that Batroc has been defeated an awful lot in his career; he has specifically never beaten Captain America. Batroc is a mercenary who is often hired specifically to fight a particular hero that the "criminal gang of the week" believes will interfere with them, complete with advance fees and hazard pay rates. Because Captain America (ANY Captain America) is a rival for Batroc, he makes sure to train especially hard to prepare for his next rematch for him, and is the hero of local French parkour youths and customer of local prostitutes.
It all works because the story capitalizes on Batroc's sense of honor as well as the fact that he is an entirely normal man who is pitting his skills at their peak against chemically mutated super-soldiers or cyborgs (in the case of James Barnes). Batroc isn't going to win, but it is the dedication to an honest try that makes him sympathetic here. It helps that he is a professional - a thug for hire - rather than a psychopath or a megalomaniac. While this isn't as good as Fred Van Lente's TASKMASTER mini, it is a far better 22 page tale about a C-List villain than one would expect at the generic title and cover image. The $3.99 is a bit unfortunate as it may ward off casual readers, but this is a one shot worth the time of a reader who enjoys solid and simple character pieces about often stereotypical characters.
