There is a lot of weird parallelism in this week’s stack of books. Two beginnings, two presumed endings, two John Carters of Marses, two Bongo comics — it’s a little like a cosmic coincidence, times two. Let’s put on our mottled Dr. Strange gloves and dig into our mystical conundrum, shall we?
Of the beginnings, one is a mistake. I bought Legion Lost 1 because I wasn’t paying attention and assumed Paul Levitz was writing this one. He is not. Fabian Nicieza scripts Legion Lost, which seems to pick up exactly where one issue of Flashpoint left off, which I didn’t bother to read. Timberwolf, Dawnstar, Wildfire, Gates, Tellus, Tyroc and two Legionnaires I don’t recognize are thrown from the 31st century into our era as they pursue Alastor, a bad guy who’s carrying some sort of contagion back through the timeline. It’s your standard “heroes from the future have to adjust to our time/customs/atmosphere” plot, and those two Legionnaires I don’t recognize are dead before the issue’s over. This one registers a pretty solid nothing on the excitement scale. Nothing about it feels like a Legion book which means it has very little to offer fans of LSH, and as a superhero book it reads like a very bland imitation of your choice of a half-dozen X-men storylines. See, this is why I don’t normally buy anything Fabian Nicieza writes.
Paul Cornell and Diogenes Neves’ Demon Knights 1 fares a little better, probably by comparison. I bought this solely for Etrigan, and also for a little swords and sorcery action. It’s surprisingly meh, however. We see Merlin bind Etrigan to Jason Blood — excuse me — Jason of Norwich on the night Camelot falls, and then we jump forward to when Jason is bumming around the Dark Ages with Madame Xanadu. Their soon-to-be enemies are Mordru and I think Morgan Le Fay (she’s never addressed directly, but that’s always Jason Blood’s enemy), but before we can get into that, Jason and Xanadu have to conveniently assemble with five other uniquely gifted stock characters in a pub so they can become, as Cornell notes in his in-book interview, “the Medieval Magnificent Seven.” Please note that that’s his answer to the question, “What new things are you doing with these characters?” Also note that the Magnificent Seven is a rip-off of Seven Samurai. So Demon Knights is a rip-off of a rip-off, and it shows. Of the very small sample size of New 52 books I’ve read so far, this seems to be the underlying problem: There are very few “new” elements, just proven clichés applied to old characters in new ways. I hope Savage Hawkman disproves this theory …
It’s oddly synchronous that in this month of all-new DC Comics, Dark Horse’s attempted relaunch of the Gold Key characters would stagger to a halt. Or at least that’s what the rumors are; I haven’t seen an official word from Dark Horse. There’s one more Turok on their schedule after this month’s issue 3, and nothing else for any of the other titles through the end of the year, so draw your own conclusions. Turok has been fairly enjoyable as far as Native American dinosaur hunters fighting Aztecs goes, but three issues since Free Comic Book Day — 2010 edition — makes it hard to build a relationship with the characters. Doctor Solar 8 is definitely a full stop, as the good Doctor bests his dangerous foe (and inadvertent creator) Nuro in the main feature and discovers that Nuro is responsible for his creation in the back up. Solar and Magnus were the best of the relaunched bunch, both throwback comics that showed the usual Jim Shooter wit and verve, as well as both exhibiting a far-greater-than-average comprehension of what a comic book story should be and how it should be constructed. I know a lot people have grudges against Shooter because of things he did or didn’t do in the past, but I’ve never met the guy. All I know about him comes from his writing, and that guy seems to believe intelligence and heroism are the stuff of life. A little bit of humor doesn’t hurt either. Believe me, I’ll miss Doctor Solar and Magnus a lot more than I’ll miss Demon Knights in a six months.
And whattya know, here come my two John Carter comics. Marvel debuts John Carter: A Princess of Mars 1 of 5 by Roger Langridge and Filipe Andrade, while Dynamite wraps up the first arc of its Warlord of Mars with issue 9 (by Arvid Nelson and Lui Antonio). I’ve regularly praised the Nelson & Antonio book for its adherence to the pulp nature of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ original novels, and the finale delivers the sword-slashing, race-against-time cliffhanger I expected. Nelson had some pacing difficulties in the first two issues or so, but once he got Carter to Mars (and picked up Antonio as penciler), Warlord really established itself as a comic that delivered every month. Fortunately, Dynamite is continuing the book, so there should be more thrills a-coming.
I love Roger Langridge’s writing, but I’m not so sure Marvel’s John Carter is going to do it for me. I think Andrade’s art is striking, but it’s not right for Barsoom. Everybody’s a little too skinny, and the Tharks aren’t menacing enough. Which leads us to the second problem with the book — this is an all-ages title, and Barsoom needs to be more red in tooth and claw than that rating will allow. This is a fine comic book, but it’s no Warlord of Mars, if you get what I’m saying. Slightly sanitized, all John Carter has going for it is the fantastic scenery and a web of coincidences that hold the plot together. That’s not a criticism of ERB’s work, but a point of fact: atmosphere is everything in the Barsoom stories (literally, in the first novel), and the more atmosphere that’s lacking, the less interesting the book is. If you want the real Barsoom experience, Dynamite’s is the version you should be reading.
Now, about my twin Bongo set. Simpsons 182 is another solid effort, as Marge starts selling a spot remover formula on Springfield’s Home Shopping Network and Ralph Wiggum acts as Bart’s conscience at Principal Skinner’s insistence. Ian Boothby’s book-length story has at least a half dozen solid laughs in it, which is all you want from a humor comic. Sergio Aragones’ Funnies 3 (how did I miss issue 2?) also delivers laughs, a couple of them at Sergio’s expense. His story about a comic book he developed through much effort but that came to naught still somehow allows Sergio to tell the story he originally wanted to tell — and then the punch line reveals that as brilliant as Sergio is, he occasionally coughs up an idea so terrible that his friends continue to tease him about it years later. There are more spot-the-difference puzzles (I’m 0-for-5 on these) and one-page gags as well, and another slice-of-life story from Sergio’s youth in Mexico that demonstrates his basic human decency and zest for life’s funny twists. I dunno, I love the guy and his comics make me happy. Lately everything I’ve added to my pull list has ended up cancelled within three months, so I’m reluctant to add this now, but I hate that I missed issue 2. I shall have to be more vigilant, because I want this book to last.
As difficult as it is to believe, I actually bought some comics this week that have no doppelganger. Alpha Flight 4 is a pretty good version of the Canadian superhero team everybody in Canada currently loves to hate. Fred Eaglesham has toned down Marina’s costume, Mac Hudson has to do some inspirational Canadian stuff (he’s their Captain America, you know — he’s even been dead once or twice himself), and even Northstar finally comes around and rejoins the team (he needs the help in order to free his boyfriend, who’s currently a prisoner of the evil Canadian government). There’s some stuff I don’t understand and don’t care to (it’s a Fear Itself crossover, ’nuff said), but on balance this is a solid if not spectacular superhero book. Fred Van Lente & Greg Pak have done a good job balancing all the characters’ storylines (I’m enjoying Puck as a conspiracy theory buff living the dream of being right about most of his crackpot ideas), with the possible exception of Sasquatch’s “football-induced brain damage” plot. They’ve left open the possibility that the government doctors are lying to him, but I don’t see a good way out of that corner. If the doctors are lying, then the storyline is unnecessary; if they’re telling the truth, that’s a moment of depressing reality injected into my escapist literature. I just don’t know that I like either option.
Amazing Spider-Man 669 is rife with things I like, however. Just as the Spider Virus is cracked by Reed Richards, it enters its second phase, which involves transforming people into actual spider-faced bipeds. Dan Slott has Peter step up in a huge way, using his recently-learned martial arts powers to save Carlie and impress her in the act. It’s elements such as this that make me appreciate Slott’s brilliance even more. He keeps a lot of plates spinning at all times, and then dips back to remind you of plates he set up a few months ago — and he does it while maintaining an exhilarating forward motion at all times. Ohh, and guess who’s been infected with the Spider Virus? I’ll give you a hint: his/her initials are JJJ. You know, for a multi-issue, cash-grab, mega-event storyline, the Spider Island ain’t so bad. (This is the only book in the chain I’m reading, however.)
Batman: The Brave and the Bold 11 is another all-around good time story from Sholly Fisch, but with art by Dario Brizuela rather than Rick Burchett. Brizuela approximates the house style well enough, and Fisch’s time-travel story about Batman meeting Jonah Hex and Ra’s Al-Ghul in 1879 Gotham is another story that wouldn’t have been out of place in the 50s. It’s a lot of fun — that G-rated Jonah Hex is rather courteous, which is hysterical if you’re familiar with Jonah’s normal personality — but I missed Burchett’s art. There’s something Sprangian about his page layouts and poses that would have given this story an extra oomph. It’s still a fun read, and recommended for people who don’t care about any of the new Batbooks — this series is more fun than Bats has been in a long time.
Taking all that into consideration, I’m torn between Warlord of Mars and Amazing Spider-Man. Warlord fulfilled its early promise, told its story truly and kept me entertained for nine months. Amazing Spider-Man has also done all that, plus there was something joyously goofball about Peter resorting to some very old tricks in order maintain a secret identity in a city full of people who can now pass for Spider-man. I think that has to tip the scale in Spidey’s favor. All right, so Amazing Spider-Man is the best thing I read this week. That’s becoming a more frequent refrain around these parts, isn’t it?
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