Here Comes the "Reign" Again

Continuing with the "Dark Reign" storyline that Marvel Comics has basically spread throughout all of their series, I've picked up a few of the series that focus on the individuals within Norman Osborn's "Dark Avengers." You know the ones: they vaguely resemble and dress up like actual Marvel superheroes, so everyone thinks that they're the real deal, despite the obvious differences (like swearing, maiming, killing, destroying property) and the fact that the real superheroes are...actually still doing their thing. Anyway, once you suspend your disbelief at this ridiculous notion, there are some pretty decent stories going on...and some rather horrible ones.

The GOOD:
The Wolverine series has become a playground for "Dark Wolverine" instead of the normal, lovable (?), fuzzy, one-of-a-kind Wolverine. Dark Wolverine (blecch! I can't stand the "Dark" titles in every name and/or group) is actually Wolverine's son. Wolverine was apparently married long ago to a Japanese woman (but not the famous Mariko from his first limited series back in the 1980s) and had a child that he thought long since dead. Daken (Dark Wolverine) is all grown up now and sports a mohawk and tattoos underneath his mask and costume. He has similar mutant powers to Wolverine, plus a unique pheromone manipulation ability, which I find very intriguing. It's something unique that I haven't seen in comic books before. He is also struggling with his own identity, and between good and evil. Lastly, Daken seems pretty comfortable in his sexuality...whatever it may be. He made a couple of joking sexual innuendos to "Sinister Spider-Man" and The Thing to f**k with their heads, using his pheromone ability. For all of these reasons, he is a very interesting character and not just the child of a superhero with the same abilities. I hope Wolverine gets his own series back and Daken goes on to new adventures in his own series. I'd definitely invest my reading time in finding out more about him.

The BAD:
In the tradition of the new "Dark" Hawkeye limited series comes Sinister Spider-Man. Why "sinister" instead of "dark" like everyone else? Other than for alliteration purposes, who knows!? Anywho, this new Sinister Spider-Man posing as Spider-Man is actually...Venom. I know, I know. It's pretty hard to believe considering he's actually wearing the black and white Venom symbiote costume while posing as Spider-Man. It would be like me walking into work wearing a rubber Obama mask, toting myself as our President. Deceptive, right?

Apparently there have been some changes to Venom over the years. He's no longer Eddie Brock. He's now Mac Gargan, formerly the Scorpion. This in itself is kind of sad, because I always liked the idea of the Scorpion as a villain. Maybe another one is in the works. But I digress...

I read Sinister Spider-Man and all I can say is {YAWN}. It's a four-issue limited series by writer Brian Reed and artist Chris Bachalo. Reed says, "the whole Marvel Universe thinks Spider-Man is living in Avengers Tower, when it's really Mac Gargan, who has a long history as a sociopath." Venom...er, Sinister Spider-Man...er, "Spider-Man" is a womanizer, a killer, and an all-around a-hole. He's the male equivalent of a Black Widow spider. He bites the heads off the women he f**ks. And it's all on the news. So, you can see why people would naturally believe him to be the real Spider-Man. Especially with the real Spider-Man out there swinging around in his red and blue tights. After the first issue, I didn't want to read the rest (and had wished I hadn't already purchased them), but I did anyway. The story of Sinister Spider-Man felt rushed and randomly thrown together, unlike Dark Wolverine or Dark Reign: Hawkeye (previously reviewed), just to sell comics.

The UGLY:

The artwork on Sinister Spider-Man. With all the talented, unused artists out there looking for employment, why settle for mediocre?

Dork Reign

In case you're unaware, Marvel Comics has this ongoing theme/story running called "Dark Reign" throughout most of their comic books: Norman Osborn (formerly the Green Goblin) has a government job running the agency called H.A.M.M.E.R., which replaced S.H.I.E.L.D. As the director of this new "law-enforcing" agency, Osborn creates his own Avengers and X-Men team, made up of villains posing as superheroes. And nobody notices.

I know, I know. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking WTF? And you'd be right.

Maybe I'm not on the same trippy substance as the current Marvel writers and executives, but seriously...WTF? From the few different series and issues I've read or browsed, I just have to wonder how it is that not a single person has questioned that the "heroes" look a little different than their counterparts...and are killing people. Case in point: the new "Spider-Man" looks like Venom. And IS Venom. The new "Hawkeye" sticks a pen in the eye of a "fan" asking for his autograph. Norman Osborn is a hybrid of Iron Man and Captain America called Iron Patriot, but I guess people just see him as Iron Man or Captain America, depending on who they want to see? Kinda like one of those Magic Eye puzzles? But wait...doesn't everyone know that Norman Osborn is/was the Green Goblin? And everyone is...okay with all this? I feel like I'm in the middle of an I Love Lucy episode where Lucy is trying to deceive Ricky by wearing a fake mustache and...it works! He has no idea who she is!

Anyway, onto one single (but long) story of the thoroughly confusing (and dull) Dark Reign storyline: the Dark X-Men / Dark Avengers crossover "Utopia," which runs through a series of one-shots and the Dark Avengers and Uncanny X-Men series. I read most of the storyline, avoiding the Dark Avengers series since I don't currently collect or read them. However, after reading the first one-shot about "Utopia," I was regretting purchasing the rest, including Uncanny X-Men, which I regularly buy. Again...WTF? There was no coherent thought process throughout and I didn't care about anyone or anything I read. To top it off, the Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1 one-shot was drawn by Marc Silvestri, an artist who became big in the 1990s when the women of the X-Men became a lot more bustier, a lot more Asian, and the stories took second (or third) place to all of this. Is it any wonder that's when I stopped reading comics after 15 years of nonstop dedication? Ugh.

I forced myself through all of the issues of "Utopia" I had purchased...and I still have no idea what happened. And, honestly, don't really care to know. All Marvel needs to know is that it's time to drop the lame Dark Reign storylines throughout its titles before it begins to lose readers. DC is currently doing a "MARVELous" job with their "Blackest Night" storyline. It's one of their best ever. Why is Marvel trying to compete with the poorly assembled Dark Reign? Forget Dark X-Men, Dark Avengers, Dark Wolverine, Dark This, Dark That. If I ever hear the word "dark" again, it'll be too soon. There's such a thing as overkill, Marvel.

You had me at "hello."

I don't know how to say this, so I'm just going to come right out and say it. {Deep breath} I got a little teary reading Adventure Comics #2. There, I said it. I cried. Maybe it's from the cold meds I'm on, but more than likely, it was from reading the sweet reunion between Conner Kent (aka Superboy) and Cassie Sandsmark (aka Wonder Girl) after, you know, Conner died for a couple of years and then came back to life. Geoff Johns did a beautiful job writing a fantastic, quiet story that was all about character development and not about good vs. evil.

When it was announced that DC Comics was revamping its old series, Adventure Comics, that ended in 1983 after 503 issues, I was excited to learn that Conner was coming back from the dead (yea!) and would be the star. However, I was SO worried that because Conner now had his own comic book series with Adventure Comics (and living in Smallville, KS) and so much time had elapsed that there wouldn't be room in his life for Cassie (who stars in the Teen Titans comic book and lives in San Francisco, CA). By the end of the story in Adventure Comics #2, though, all was right with the world. These two belong together. It's not too often that relationships are done very well in the comic book universe, but the chemistry between these two has always been very strong, and I'm very pleased to see that DC Comics is recognizing that.

So, thank you DC Comics and Geoff Johns. Not since the story "Chalk Drawings" about a young girl's suicide back in Wonder Woman #46 (1990) have my eyes welled up with tears.

Zero Killer is no Zero

I must confess that I'm one of those comic book readers that doesn't stray too often from DC or Marvel. Why? Well, I'm already spending more money than I should on characters that I already know, love, and grew up with, so I don't see the point in exploring new universes with a whole new set of characters. Occasionally, I do stray, though.

Recently, I picked up a couple of issues of Herogasm by Dynamite Comics, mostly because the idea seemed hilarious. It's about a getaway for superheroes where they engage in...well, carnal knowledge. Apparently it's a spin-off of a series called The Boys. Unfortunately, instead of being entertaining, Herogasm provided little more than the opportunity for its writer to write porn and its artist to draw a bunch of naked superheroes. And, like porn, there was no decent story.

On the other hand, I picked up some back issues of a series called Zero Killer by Dark Horse Comics. Why? Because I discovered that it was drawn by the brilliant Matt Camp, whose work I loved in DC Comics' latest incarnation of Infinity, Inc. His art ranks high in my book, along with two of my favorites, George Perez and Kevin Maguire. The faces of the characters he draws are very expressive. He's definitely concerned with detail. So, since Matt's currently not working on anything else DC- or Marvel-related, I decided to give Zero Killer a try, if only to gaze upon more of his beautiful artwork. I picked up issues 1-3 and read them back-to-back. Not only was I naturally impressed (again) by Matt Camp's art, but I was also absorbed into Arvid Nelson's post-nuclear story of a man named Zero. The story moves along quickly and the characters are each distinct. New York City is in ruins and flooded as a result from a 1973 worldwide nuclear war. Each of the major skyscrapers (Chrysler Building, Empire State Building, and, yes, the Twin Towers) houses a different gang. Arvid gives us pieces of the Zero's puzzle a little bit at a time, which makes the story all that more intriguing. Ironically, issues 4 and 5 are finally coming out this fall after a two-year delay, so I'll get to enjoy those soon enough as well. Check out their website at http://www.zerokiller.com/.

My only wish is that DC Comics hire Matt Camp full-time so I can enjoy seeing him draw some of my favorite characters of all time.

Number Ones

Recently, DC Comics has been putting out a lot of number one issue comics, trying to reinvent themselves and bring back some old favorites, as well as introduce some new, but familiar, characters. With comics getting cancelled and reinstated all the time, starting from the beginning, it's a wonder that any comics ever make it to three-digit numbering.

In the past couple of months alone, I've started reading six "new" series: Adventure Comics, Batgirl, Batman and Robin, Gotham City Sirens, Red Robin, and Streets of Gotham. Unfortunately, although I love the characters, the comics haven't all wowed me. When I think of first issues, I think "spectacular!" This is the jumping off point, and it should be a story that really grabs hold of you and forces you to add the series to your monthly comic book order list because it's that good. The majority of these series hasn't done that, but I'm sticking with them because I love the characters.

I was most excited about the return of a Batgirl monthly series, and I was glad that it wasn't going to be about the most recent Batgirl in DC Comics history. That Batgirl, also named Cassandra (I guess someone really liked the name?), wore the mask over her entire face and never seemed to have that "flair" that Barbara Gordon, the original Batgirl, did. She was more like a vigilante/assassin. There was much mystery over who the next Batgirl was going to be. Would Barbara Gordon regain the use of her legs and take up the mantle again? Would it be a new Batgirl under Barbara's tutelage? I'm sad to report that the mystery was solved immediately within the first few pages of issue one. So much for intrigue. I thought DC would draw out the mystery and excite us with further anticipation. Alas, no. We find out it's Stephanie Brown, aka the former Spoiler character from the cancelled Robin series. Yawn. She's like the teenage girl that everyone's annoyed by. Barbara is still in the comic, though, and I hope she maintains a prominent role since her Birds of Prey series was cancelled.

Adventure Comics features the return of one of my favorite DC characters: Superboy. Not Superman as a boy, but the clone made from both Superman's and Lex Luthor's DNA. When he was created back in the 1990s to help replace the void from Superman's death (due to his fight with Doomsday), I did not like him. He was an arrogant punk who wore sign-of-the-times apparel, a surfer's cut, and even sported an earring in one ear. Now, Conner Kent (aka Superboy again now that the licensing battle over the name trademark has been resolved) is a sexy, young adult who's trying to find his place in the world, much like Superman once did. His costume is a T-shirt and jeans. How cool is that? He's like the jock that everyone idolizes, but without the superior attitude. Deep down, he just wants to feel accepted and loved like everyone else. Of all the "restarts," this is definitely my favorite. I've missed Conner since he "died" a couple of years ago. Teen Titans hasn't been the same since his absence. I'm very curious what will happen with his previous budding relationship with Cassandra ("Cassie") Sandsmark (aka Wonder Girl) now that he's returned. After all, she did lose her virginity to him.

After reading the putrid "Batman: RIP" storyline and Final Crisis mini-series by Grant Morrison, I swore that I would never pick up another comic book written by Morrison. But...there I was picking up -- and enjoying -- the new Batman and Robin series. There's never actually been a "Batman and Robin" title, so this is definitely a milestone. The series features Dick Grayson (the first Robin) as the new Batman and, as Robin, Damian Wayne (Bruce Wayne's son with Talia, the daughter of Ra's al Ghul). The relationship between these two is comical, and that's what makes the series enjoyable. Damian is...a smart-ass prick. But Dick deals with it because he's Bruce's son and wants to show him the ropes. I think Morrison must have (finally) set down his joint and started writing something coherent because I've enjoyed the first couple of issues of this new series thus far. And the art by Frank Quitely is amazing. The level of detail harkens back to the days of Kevin Maguire on Justice League International in the 1980s. And, as an aside, I love the title logo for the series.

Catwoman was cancelled and they put her in the new Gotham City Sirens, adding Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn to the roster. I like all three characters, but Catwoman's own series had so much more depth. Thus far, Gotham City Sirens hasn't done much for me. We don't get to see the women as individuals outside of their costumes. Who hangs around together wearing their costumes all the time? Don't they ever have to be washed? And I'm not crazy about the title either. It screams "unsuccessful series" and "cancellation." I'll keep reading it, though, because I like to support female-lead series. They're so few and far between.

Speaking of poor title choices, what's worse than Gotham City Sirens? Streets of Gotham. It's about the people of Gotham who may from time-to-time interact with Batman. The only reason I'm buying this is because the back-up feature is Manhunter, written by the fantastic Marc Andreyko. DC also cancelled her own series and put her here in small vignettes with a $3.99 price tag. I think this will be the first of the new series to go, if only for the series' lackluster title.

Lastly, we get to Red Robin. No, not the restaurant chain that serves up awesome burgers and bottomless steak fries. Red Robin is the new identity of Tim Drake, the former Robin. I find it odd that he'd take on that name when Jason Todd, the former-former Robin, took on that name (and very similar costume) during the Countdown series. It's like Tim's just following in Jason's footsteps every step of the way. And Jason isn't someone you'd want to emulate. Anyway, I'm still waiting for something spectacular to happen with this series since Tim left the Teen Titans and the Robin identity for it. The series is very action-driven, but seems to lack a lot of story-driven quality and character development.