If I wasn’t already half-insane, this week would have made me so. Times are tough down at the pencil stand, and I’m not sleeping well, and — hey, are those new comics and a case of beer? What a great time to be alive.
It is 2010 and Stan Lee’s name is on the cover of a comic book that’s not published by Marvel. It’s still weird, right? Marvel’s Mr. Marvel should always be at Marvel. Soldier Zero #1 is a concept by Stan, written by Paul Cornell, illustrated by Javier Pina and published by Boom!, and it’s mildly derivative of X-O Manowar (alien powered-armor suit melds with the body of an Earthling soldier), and also a touch derivative of Iron Man, especially in the suit’s appearance. Those are the obvious knocks. I am disappointed that Stan didn’t write the actual issue; I really wanted to see what a Stan Lee book reads like in 2010. I can not definitively state where Stan ends and Paul Cornell begins, but I would guess that paraplegic veteran Stewart Trautmann is all Stan Lee.
This being a first issue there is much scene-setting, but the best part of this is a lengthy conversation between Stewart and potential love-interest Lily about the physical and emotional restrictions of Stewart being paralyzed from the waist down. Stewart’s muted anger at the rudeness of people who patronize him or view him as helpless, his frustration with a brother who only now views him as a hero because he’s been wounded in a war and his conviction that there is something fundamentally wrong with a society that shunts disabled people into the background is as honest and non-sappy an expression of the realities of people who can not use their legs as I’ve seen in any medium. There is something quintessentially Stan Lee about making a minority very human — complex, emotional and intelligent — and then giving them superpowers so that their physical difference is erased so quickly that they mentality have not adjusted to their new life. I don’t know yet if it’s a great comic, but it is compelling in its uniqueness and Stan Lee-ness.
There are 22 pages of actual story in Doctor Solar #3 — I counted them because it sure feels like more. Jim Shooter continues to build and expand upon his strong start to this book. Doctor Solar is revealed as something of a stalker, checking up on his unrequited crush object, Gail, between bouts of mortal combat with ancient gods Moloch and Surya. Much like his former boss, the aforementioned Stan Lee, Shooter understands that clearly defining the character of your characters is fundamental. Doctor Philip Solar is all-powerful in terms of energy manipulation, but he’s vain (he recreated himself as a much younger and more virile man), he’s insecure (Doctor Philip Solar discovers Gail is dating another man and it eats away at him) and he’s very “scientific method” in his approach to all problems. This all combines to cause him troubles in dealing with Moloch, who is blissfully and intelligently evil. Moloch’s also a bit of a chatterbox, and his dialogue is great. Shooter’s long time away from comic book scripting seems to have done him no harm — I’m really enjoying this book.
I was blindsided by the quality of Loki #1, Robert Aguirre-Sacasa and Sebastian Fiumara’s re-telling of the folktale about the forging of Mjolnir. A beloved and familiar story, it is set on its ear by altering the focus — it is told from Loki’s point of view, and as such it reads less like a funny story about Loki’s cleverness and more like a quick stab of insight into the nature of evil. The realization that Loki knows what he does is wrong and that it will bring punishment upon his head (actually his mouth in this case, which is sewn shut with leather thongs), but that he can not stop himself from doing evil is a brusque one. How culpable are we for our actions? “Entirely” seems a good answer, but our nature drives us to do things our intellect will never explain or rationalize. There are some things that are out of our hands, even for a god.
And then along came Tiny Titans. Issue #33 — “The All Robin Issue” — features more hilarious bursts of DC Universe-centric jokes at the expense of beloved characters Dick Grayson and Tim Drake, and crap-horn reject Jason Todd as well. That’s just what Art Baltazar and Franco do — I know it’s coming every issue and I love it. I’m going to issue a *SPOILER ALERT* and tell you that the Baltazar/Franco image of Jason Todd as Red Hood consists of Jason wearing a cruddy leather jacket, a red bucket on his head and blindly stumbling around the Bat Cave. This is the finest metaphor and cruelest satire I have seen for how useless and dumb the entire Jason Todd story is. The fact that Dick Grayson changes into his Nightwing costume out of shame and then sneaks away from Jason out of embarrassment is the icing on the cake — a delicious, seven-foot deep layer of icing.
Conan #24 is the penultimate issue of this iteration of the title. Perhaps it is my longstanding fondness for the character, perhaps it is because Tim Truman and Tomas Giorello are really firing on all cylinders for this arc, perhaps it is because this is the most action-heavy this title has been in some time — whatever the reason, I enjoyed this issue with a fervor that had been lacking up ’til now. Trapped on an island with murderous pirates, murderous statues and a murderous hulk lurking somewhere out there in the jungle, Conan does his thing with a verve and bloodthirst that I love. I can not wait until Truman and Giorello’s new King Conan title comes out. CAN. NOT. WAIT.
If you’ve been paying attention, that’s five books I read and relished this week. I’m not going to declare a tie, a two-way tie or even a three-way tie. Instead, I’m going to say that Soldier Zero was the best thing I read this week. It is way after midnight and I have dranken many beers and whiskies and yet I can’t shake the frisson I experienced when I hit the middle of that book. They say you can’t buy happiness, but Stan Lee’s name and fingerprints all over a new comic book seems to be proving them wrong.
Should I? Really? It seems so corny, but I’m gonna do it anyway. EXCELSIOR, EVERY BODY. Excelsior, everyone.
-Paul
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