Wave 3 Washes Over DC Comics

With the cancellation of four DC titles (Justice League International, Captain Atom, Resurrection Man (ironic, right?), and Voodoo) came Wave 3 and the introduction of four new series.  This is about the three new titles that I've read; I refuse to read the fourth.

Talon.  Yes, I was as sick as everyone else reading about the Court of Owls in EVERY Batman-related title for months on end.  However, I was curious about this new title and one of the Talons as a supposed superhero.  Meh.  It's an interesting concept and I think the characterization of Calvin Rose has promise, but after reading Talon #0, it wasn't enough to get me hooked (pun intended).  

Sword of Sorcery.  Worst.  Title.  Ever.  Sadly, though, this was the title I was most excited about.  Why?  Amethyst!  She was one of my favorite characters in the 1980s and I loved her monthly adventures (up until they made her a Lord of Order).  They took a fun series with a fun, energetic, youthful character and made her all serious and boring in confusing, nonsensical storylines.  Blah!  The reintroduction of Amethyst in the new Sword of Sorcery comic was actually decent.  Instead of being a 13-year-old blond girl who steps into Gemworld as a blond adult, she's now an unpopular punk high school teenager with purple streaks through her dark hair who steps into Gemworld as a blond adult, much to her disgust.  The second story featuring a new character of Beowulf was just okay.  (Although the silver fox was pretty sexy in his tight black boxer briefs.)  I'll keep reading this comic for Amethyst, but I don't expect it to survive at a $3.99 price point.

Phantom Stranger.  I've never been a fan of the Phantom Stranger, and since the disintegration of the Outsiders at Dan Didio's generic writing hand, I wasn't a fan of his writing either (although I loved what he did with DC Comics as a leader to help turn it around several years ago).  I gave PS a shot, though, and surprisingly, this turned out to be my favorite comic in Wave 3.  The writing was spot-on and I loved the characterization of this wandering soul.  And -- spoiler alert -- we got two origin stories for the price of one in Phantom Stranger #0.  There are also ties to the mysterious Pandora, another mysterious character, and the Shazam family as well.  What I thought would be a so-so comic will probably be one of the first ones I read every month if the stories are as good and well-written as this one.

Team Seven.  A team of Punishers wielding guns.  'Nuf said.  No thanks. 

I still wish DC would combine elements of the New 52 with the former DCU and its well-established characters, though.  The replacements just aren't the same...and sadly probably never will be.  They're too angry and there's little room for characterization and  personalization of their private lives.

What a Looker!

Batman and the Outsiders #31 (1986)

When Looker appeared out of nowhere and joined the Outsiders (formerly Batman and the Outsiders) back in 1985 with her heavily eye-shadowed eyes and pink bow above the hip of her bare leg, I was not a fan.  I felt like she was intruding on a great dynamic that the Outsiders had going and was a little too popular and flashy to join a group of supposed outsiders.  

Worse, when I started reading comics again in 2007, I discovered that Looker was now a vampire. WTF?  It was as jarring as learning that Jubilee from Marvel Comics' X-Men had become one, too.  It seemed that both big comic companies were taking two of their silliest creations and jumping on the vampire craze bandwagon.  

I think there's an unnecessary vampire-mania going on right now, mostly thanks to Twilight.  However, I decided to give DC's I, Vampire revival the benefit of a doubt and read the first five issues. As you can see from my review, I thought it was as awful -- if not worse -- than even Twilight.

National Comics Looker #1 (2012)

Recently, though, I purchased and read DC Comics' new Looker one-shot.  I was intrigued by the fantastic blood-red cover, and especially by the National Comics moniker.  (Quick history lesson:  DC Comics was called National Comics long, long ago.  It was the title of an anthology series from Quality Comics in the 1940s.)  

Anyway, today in 2012, DC Comics introduced this new anthology series titled National Comics, which is supposed to showcase a number of one-shot series focusing on some of DC's more obscure characters such as Kid Eternity, Looker, Rose and Thorn, Madame X, etc.  Looker reimagines the vampiress in DC's New 52.  All I have to say is:  WOW.  If only other New 52 series and characters were as interesting, well-written, and beautifully illustrated as National Comics Looker.  Ian Edginton did a fantastic job with character development.  Not just Looker (aka Emily Briggs), but also her supporting characters.  The artist, Mike Miller, gave us vivid depictions of each character and scene, bringing everything (pun intended) "to life."  I found myself reading the comic slowly to savor each panel.  I knew this was only a one-shot and didn't want the story to end.  

My only question is, "Why isn't there a Looker monthly series instead of crap like I, Vampire?" 

The Return of Superboy?

Superboy, pre-DC's New 52

As I've intimated probably way too much on this blog, I haven't been very happy with the Superboy in DC's New 52.  I think Conner Kent became one of DC's best creations (mostly thanks to Geoff Johns in his revival of the Teen Titans in 2003), killed him, resurrected him, and then retconned his entire existence.

With the most recent issue of the Teen Titans, the new Superboy is finally starting to look like himself.  Er, old self.  

He's no longer the scrawny guy who crawled out of a lab.  

from Superboy #1 (2011)

Or the guy wearing a rejected costume from the movie Tron.

Superboy (2012)

The boy has finally got some muscle.  He's also sporting a tank top and jeans. 

There's even a jacket now, reminiscent of his beginnings in the early 1990s after Superman's "death."  

Superboy #1 (1994)

Let's hope that DC is realizing their mistake and recreating the three-dimensional Superboy that once was. 

Better... Stronger... Faster.

As a child of the 70s, I loved the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman.  While superheroes seemed like fantasy, these two were normal, everyday people who received special abilities.  Like, of course, this could really happen with modern technology.  

I watched both TV shows (and their TV special reunions), and had all of the dolls (Steve Austin, Jaime Sommers, Oscar Goldman, and Bigfoot), and their accompanying playsets.  I never did get that Fembot doll, though -- dammit! -- which, I'm convinced, was the inspiration for Austin Powers' fembots (minus the gun nipples).  

Bionic Man #1

I was excited when Dynamite Comics started to release Kevin Smith's Bionic Man monthly comic book.  I was even more excited that it was released monthly, as scheduled.  Kevin Smith doesn't have the best track record with completing his assignments on time.  Dynamite probably knew that and that's why they took the basic story idea(s) from him and had someone else more reliable actually scribe it.  The series started out really good and then started to get a bit lackluster.  It lost its character edge and everyone seemed so generic and uninteresting in the latter single digit issues.  

Bionic Man #11

With issue #11 (the first one not bearing Kevin Smith's name across the top), character development was at its peak.  Steve's adventure-filled life comes to a slow crawl as he returns to his family's farm.  Here, we meet Steve's dying father, his strong-willed but tender mother, and his doting sister.  They all thought Steve was dead (because that's what the news reported) and are surprised and happy to see that he's still alive.  His secret soon comes out, though, and they realize that he's no longer just a man anymore. But while this story was the best in the series so far with character development, it also felt a bit weak at the same time.  The family doesn't seem truly overjoyed with the news that Steve is alive.  It was as if Steve just told his family that he got a small promotion of work and his mother replying, "That's nice, dear."  

The story does have some tender moments, though, and I'm glad that we, the readers, got to meet Steve's family.  Ironically, it made him more human than previous issues depicted.  

After reading issue #11, I can honestly now say that I'm looking forward to the next installment of the Bionic Man.  Why?  Toward the end of issue #11, we get a glimpse of something watching Steve from the woods.  It's no secret who/what it is, though, because they reveal the secret already in the "next issue" column: it's Bigfoot.  I love the image, too, because not only is it Bigfoot, Steve's nemesis from the old TV show, but Steve's wearing the red track suit (that the Steve Austin doll came with).  Euphoria washed over me seeing that nostalgic image.  

On a related note, like the TV show, Jaime Sommers was so popular in the Bionic Man series that Dynamite gave her her own monthly series in Spring 2012.  After two issues, though, the series was apparently abandoned.  I guess sales weren't as good as they had hoped, but I was really getting into the story...and I always did prefer Jaime Sommers over Steve Austin.  

I hope Dynamite continues producing a great monthly comic and that we one day will see the return of the Bionic Woman. 

Crossing Over

I remember when two crossover events in the 1980s really shook up and reshaped the comic industry's two biggest players.  DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths and Marvel's Secret Wars were two of the best series I'd ever read and really started the annual crossover boom.  I loved that they were both so different than each other, but both so engaging and so much fun.  Well, not fun for characters like the Flash and Supergirl, but they've been resurrected since then...several times.  Out of those came a shift from DC's multiple earths to one.  And, for Marvel, Spider-Man's black suit and The Thing manning his own series, staying on the Secret Wars planet.  Yes, they were indeed creative times. 

Sadly, following those two very successful limited series came a string of unimaginative "sequels" that played on the words "Crisis," "Infinite," "Secret," and "War." The best DC crossover since then has probably been Identity Crisis, wherein the members of the Justice League cross lines of morality.  With the exception of House of M, I haven't seen a decent Marvel crossover event story until now with Avengers Vs. X-Men (but don't get me started on the shortcut name AvX).  I tried reading Civil War, Siege, Fear Itself, Doomwar, etc.  All of them felt subpar.  And sometimes didn't even make any sense to me.  I was really looking forward to Secret Invasion because I thought the concept was fantastic.  Unfortunately, Marvel really let me down.  It was so poorly executed that I stopped reading several titles.  

Anyway, despite my initial lack of enthusiasm for Avengers vs. X-Men when hearing/reading about it, so far, I've really been enjoying it.  It feels fresh, and I don't feel like I have to read additional comics to understand what's going on.  Best of all, the Phoenix Force entity, although overused in the past, is being used in a manner that it different than previously.  It didn't bring back Jean Grey.  It didn't inhabit the body of a red-headed Jean Grey lookalike (yes, I'm talking to you, Madelyne Pryor, Rachel Grey/Summers, and Hope Summers).   Instead, it inhabited five X-Men, giving them immense powers to (so far) do good in the world, but altering their minds and personalities. 

 

While I'm on the subject, let's talk about Madelyne Pryor.  Bringing in this first Jean Grey lookalike was brilliant.  It complicated matters by confusing Scott Summers (Cyclops) and toying with his emotions.  At the same time, Madelyne had to deal with the fact that the man she loved only loved her because she looked like his one true love.  This was some amazing character development.  Unfortunately, Marvel ruined all of this by making Madelyne yet another villain.  Worse, a Phoenix knock-off and Jean Grey clone.  

Avengers Academy #32

With Avengers vs. X-Men, I can truly see why they'd be at war.   The X-Men still hold a grudge against the Scarlet Witch for what she did to their race in House of M.  Meanwhile, the Avengers are trying to stop the Phoenix Force by removing Hope Summers from the equation; the X-Men are just trying to protect their own.  With that many characters involved, though, it's difficult to actually illicit any sort of emotional response from the readers.  There is some decent character development, though mostly in related titles like Wolverine and the X-Men between Kitty Pryde and Colossus, and in Avengers Academy between Juston and his Sentinel.  

I'm looking forward to seeing where Marvel takes the remainder of this series and beyond.  However, I'm skeptical (again) about the new Marvel NOW (secret) plans that promise (threaten?) to reboot the Marvel Universe and restart with all #1 issues, much like DC's New 52 which, as you know from reading my blog postings, I'm not AT ALL happy with.