Report what comic books you have read today--and tell us a little something about it while you're here!
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Report what comic books you have read today--and tell us a little something about it while you're here!
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SUPERMAN ARCHIVES v2:
My reading of "Superman from the Beginning" (as I would have titled a thread had I started one) proceeds at a modest pace. Superman: The First Superhero went through Superman #5, and Superman Archives v2 reprints #5-8. Of the four stories from #6, one of them has a full-page splash; from #7 on they became pretty much a permanent fixture. Perry white's first name has yet to be mentioned, but #6 identifies the publisher of the Daily Planet to be one Mr. Mason. Lois Lane receives a transfusion from Superman in one of the stories from #6 and does not gain super-powers (as she certaionly would have a decade or two later). Although she is routinely shown going on assignments with Clark, she is still referred to consistantly as the Planet's "sob sister." It is during this run of issues that the terms "Man of Steel" and "Man of Tomorrow" come into use. A single story in #8 refers to Superman as the "Man of Tomorrow" three times in four consecutive panels!
Each issue of Superman contains four 13-page stories, and each issue of Action Comics one. #5 was the last quarterly issue, which means that, in a given year, Siegal & Schuster were responsible for 36 stories, or 468 pages. Plus over 300 dailies and 52 Sunday comic strips, plus promotional art as well. No wonder they needed their own studio!
STRIKEBACK! and TRINITY ANGELS:
Inspired by my own recent "Miscellaneous New Universe" thread, I decided to read two Kevin Maguire series: Strikeback! (Bravura) and Trinity Angels (Acclaim). Strikeback! was supposed to have been four issues, but the "Bravura" line folded one issue shy of completion. A year later, Image picked it up and reprinted it from the beginning, eventually running not one but two additional issues. I skipped Image issues #1-3 and decided to hang on to #4-5 to read all together someday when I was in the mood. It took 30 years, but that "someday" has finally arrived. Scripter Jonathan Peterson himself described Strikeback! as "Lots of guys in really weird outfits punching and kicking each other into submission!" and sometimes that all I require of a comic book.
I recall Trinity Angels as little more than a "T&A" comic; an entertaining T&A comic to be sure, but a T&A comic nonetheless. I mean, the clue is right there in the title. (That and the cover blurb "Spankin' Good Fun!") You can't get any more obvious than that. (Actually, you can; the cover-blurb of #12 describes it as the "Titilating Final Issue.") Honestly, this is another one of those series I saved for "someday." Back in the '90s I read only as far as the "New Easier to Draw Costumes!" issue (#6). Shortly after we were first married, Tracy was watching the TV show Charmed, about three sisters who were witches. Trinity Angels is about three sisters who become super-heroes through magical "Trinity Gems." I would never recommend this series to her to read today, but I did back then. (Actually, she read the whole series decades before I did.) I asked her about it last night, and she has absolutely no memory of it whatsoever, so I dodged a bullet there.
I rmember the covers to Trinity Angels, but not the interior. I remember feeeling like there was a joke I wasn't getting. Needless to say I did get the T&A reference, and I was quite aware that they were, to some degree, both mocking and cashing in on comics' tendency to put zaftig chicks in revealing clothes. But surely there was more to it than that! So I always felt mildly frustrated. If the totality of the series' purpose was the T&A, then I move from frustrated to annoyed that I wasted money on it. Kevin Maguire or not.
I don't remember Strikeback! in the slightest.
NEW COMICS I HAVE READ TODAY THIS MONTH: Action Comics #1078-1081, Absolute Superman #2, Absolute Batman #3, Absolute Wonder Woman #3, Cruel Universe #5, Shiver SuspenStories #1, Epitaphs from the Abyss #6, Dick Tracy #6, Space Ghost #8, Jonny Quest #5, Babs #4, Toxic Avenger #3, Wrong Earth: Dead Ringers #5, Godzilla's Monsterpiece Theatre #2, Batman & Robin: Year One #3, Wonder Woman #16, Jenny Sparks #5, Black Canary: Best of the Best #2, New Gods #1, Challengers of the Unknown #1, Captain America #16 and Nexus: Scourge #1.
SUPERMAN ARCHIVES v3 - "Superman from the Beginning" (Part 4):
Superman Archives v3 reprints Superman #9-12. The introduction is by Jack Burnley, even though none of his work is on display in the volume itself. I think that was a good call because he provided some good insight into the production of the stories that are in this volume. (The "Shuster Studio" at this time consisted of Paul Cassidy, Watne Boring, Leo Nowak and Dennis Neville.) Last time I concluded that, once the full-page splashes arrived they were her to stay, but they're gone again this issue. (That must have been a "Burnley thing" initially). I am beginning to regret my decision not to duplicate any archives in omnibus editions, because I'm not reading the early appearances of Superman (from Action Comics, Superman and World's Finest) in strict chronological order. Also, these early archival volumes are not very good about providing credits, or even tables of contents with publication dates. For example, it is difficult to determine when, exactly, he started flying rather than leaping. Throughout most of this volume I think he's leaping. Sometimes he seems to be defying gravity, but then he's shown later not being able to. In my head canon, the Golden Age Superman developed the power to fly gradually over time. It's difficult to argue that he's not flying in the third story of #12 ("But in mid-flight, Superman changes his mind and arches back"), but time will tell if that remains consistent.
Lois and Clark go on dates occasionally, and in #12 they even vacation together. Police Sgt. Casey is a frequently recurring character. In perhaps the earliest "LL" (other than Lois Lane), Lamson Laboratories (complete with "LL" logo) appears is #9. Clark almost always beats Lois to the scoop in the stories in this volume. Lois Lane is revealed to live with her mother in #10. #11 is the first issue in which she begins to entertain the notion that Clark Kent might be Superman. Superman twice uses the power to "contort his face" to disguise himself. In one story, he reveals his identity to a character (who later dies). Luthor appears for the fourth and fifth time (possibly; not reading these in strict order, remember) in #10 and #12. In #10 he adopts the persona of "The Voice" for most of the story, but when his identity is revealed he is bald for the first time.
I just wrapped up my reading of all of the New 52 Earth 2 material, which is largely Earth 2, Worlds' Finest, Earth 2: World's End, and Earth 2: Society... with some issues of Superman/Batman and a couple other things here and there. When I got to the end of Earth 2: Society, I was amazed -- the E2 books were pretty dire for a while, particularly World's End ...but bit by bit, using magic and pseudoscience (and better creative teams) they actually put Earth 2 back together again, until it's almost a reasonable facsimile of the E2 heroes used to visit pre-Crisis. There's a Justice Society (with some different heroes, but some of the same ones), and kind of a simpler, more innocent feel to the world itself. It's quite a trick to get there, since the whole story started with gloom and doom (Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman all get killed in a war with Apokalips) and things get worse from there (the planet is destroyed!). I have to admit, I like knowing that there's some alternate version of the JSA out there, waiting for the dimensions to open up again and let travelers through!
Just read a handful more of the original Milestone books -- in this case, Static 25-30. These issues seem to be a real sea change for Virgil. His high school gang is changing: His girlfriend Daisy's grandmother passed away, so she had to move to Paris Island and go to a new school. His friend Rick (who always seemed to have money) was discovered to be a drug runner, and then was killed by the gang he was running for. Ivan Velez Jr is moving on from the writing, and is replaced by Maddie Blaustein for a little while, and then others. It's a good run of issues, including the Long Hot Summer event, in which an amusement park is built on Paris Island, and then destroyed in a riot.
ACTION COMICS ARCHIVES v3 - "Superman from the Beginning" (Part 5):
Action Comics Archives v3 reprints Action Comics #37-52. The highly informative introduction by Michael Uslan provides sales figures for early issues of Superman and Action Comics, proving why Action deserves the title "World's Largest Seilling Comic Magazine" which began appearing on covers starting with #22. It is at some point during this run that Superman begins flying rather than leaping, although it's difficult to ascertain exactly when that happened. Clark Kent and Lois Lane consistently refer to Perry White not as "Perry" or "Mr. White" or even "Chief," but simply as "White." Also, Jimmy Olsen (arguably) makes his first appearance. Here are some other things I found noteable.
This last story, "The Emperor of America", is noteable in light of current events. "Thjis is a tale that could occure only after the war... many years hence! It's up to all of us to see it doesn't!"
LIMITED COLLECTORS' EDITION #C-48:
Superman and the Flash have raced many times over the years, and this week DC released a replica edition of the 1976 Treasury Edition that reprinted the first two of them (Superman #199 and The Flash #175, respectively), both from 1967. I used to buy all of these TEs from both Marvel and DC, but I had dropped them by the time this one was originally released, and consequently I have not actually read either of these stories before. I knew the results, however, having read about them many times in the past.
That's Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez illustrating the cover, is it not? The insides probably weren't as good.
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