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By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

The teetering tower of review copies has yielded a bumper crop of historical goodness. Let’s take a look chronologically:

 

* Taxes, the Tea Party, and Those Revolting Rebels (NBM, $14.99) is a history textbook disguised as a graphic novel, much along the lines of Larry Gonick’s Cartoon History of the Universe and Michael Goodwin’s Economix: How Our Economy Works (and Doesn’t Work) in Words and Pictures. Like those two books, Taxes makes history fun and memorable by using cartoon characters to explain and propel the narrative.

 

12134184496?profile=originalThat narrative runs, roughly, from the early 1760s to 1789, bookended by the Writs of Assistance (the first of King George’s onerous tax burdens on the American colonies to help pay for the Seven Years’ War) and the adoption of the Bill of Rights. In between we get the Boston Tea Party, the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War and the election of George Washington.

 

Taxes is written and drawn by Village Voice cartoonist Stan Mack, who has created other historical graphic novels, including The Story of the Jews: a 4,000-Year History. Taxes is information familiar to every schoolchild, but it’s especially important in today’s political climate – where both parties frequently invoke the Constitution – and brought to life by Mack’s irreverent (albeit accurate) approach, which knocks our Founding Fathers off their pedestals. You really can’t get any more American than that.

 

* Americans tend to think of the Japanese enemy in World War II as implacable, fanatical, faceless and terrifying. A new graphic novel by one of Japan’s most celebrated manga artists shows the truth behind the (Western) legend.

 

Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths (Drawn & Quarterly, $24.95) follows some new recruits in a Japanese company on New Britain in what is now Papua New Guinea, from their arrival in 1943 to their deaths in 1945. I guess that’s a spoiler of a sort, but really, you don’t expect any other outcome when you experience these soldier’s daily lives – physical abuse from their superiors, starvation, irrational orders and more. And their deaths are due entirely to a culture we barely understand; when 81 soldiers miraculously survive a suicide attack, their commanders send them back on a second suicide attack to avoid losing face (and force several officers and NCOs to suicide).

 

12134184876?profile=originalDeaths is written and drawn by someone who knows this story, because he lived it. Writer/artist Shigeru Mizuki, now 90, is not only one of Japan’s most celebrated manga artists, but a veteran of World War II, which claimed one of his arms. And the only reason he survived is because he was hospitalized with battle injuries and malaria when his company was sent to its death.

 

Deaths may prove strange to American eyes for reasons aside from content. For one thing, Drawn & Quarterly opted to present it as it originally appeared, which means reading back to front, right to left. Secondly, Mizuki is one of the founders of the manga style that draws realistic backgrounds with cartoony human characters – who revert to a grotesque, photo-realistic depiction in death.

 

Both of those roadblocks evaporate fairly quickly, given the story’s lively pace, rough humor, endearing characterizations … and suffocating sense of inevitable doom.

 

12134185089?profile=original* Baby Boomers like to joke about how the future predicted when they were children, complete with flying cars and personal jetpacks, failed to materialize. Writer/artist Brian Fies (Mom’s Cancer) decided to tackle the topic directly.

 

Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? (Abram ComicArts, $14.95) is much, much more than a one-joke premise, though. It uses a father-son pair in five different decades to explore what each generation expected of the future, plus how the generation gap played itself out. Fries also includes a great deal of history about science fiction through the years, supplemented by comic-book stories starring “Captain Crater and the Cosmic Kid” rendered in different styles to reflect different eras of comic books.

 

That’s a lot of information packed into a small space, but Fries has a breezy, cartoony style reminiscent of Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) that makes it painless. And, despite some friction (the 1970s father-son relationship) and bad news (the abandonment of the U.S. space program), Fries provides a happy ending – one last chapter depicted an idealized future like the one we once dreamed, one in which the father and son have finally grown older, with the son having a child himself. That child is a daughter – the book’s first significant female character – implying that gender equality is one more benefit the future will bring.

 

Sappy? Maybe. But hoping that tomorrow will be better than today is all that really keeps us going sometimes. World of Tomorrow is that hope personified, a love letter to the future from the present – and many of our pasts.

 

1. Taxes, the Tea Party, and Those Revolting Rebels is history in comics form. Copyright NBM Publishing Inc.

2. Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths features Japanese soldiers in World War II. Copyright Drawn & Quarterly.

3.  Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? explores what we've expected of the future from the 1930s to the 1970s. Copyright Abrams ComicArts. 

 

Contact Andrew A. Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics@aol.com.

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12134211061?profile=originalHonorable Mentions:

Angel: Revelations, 2008: I missed this mini-series when it first came out. I was intrigued by the stylish Adam Pollina art but I was skeptical about an Angel origin story. My first impression was wrong. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa pens a compelling tale of Angel’s prep school days before he becomes an X-Man. Angel is an intriguing character. He’s the rich kid who has every excuse in the world to be a snob. But he has a good heart and soon finds himself siding with outcasts against the people who should be his peers. The X-Men have often served as a metaphor for teenage angst- the feeling that you don’t really belong in this world and Aguirre-Sacasa does a great job of bringing that to the fore. And, yes, the stylish Adam Pollina art is a lot of fun, though it may not work for everyone.

12134211296?profile=originalDark X-Men: The Beginning, 2009: I’m not a fan of the Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men crossover Utopia. For one thing, I didn’t like the long-lasting story in which Norman Osborn was in charge of American superhero affairs. For another thing, I didn’t like the idea of having the X-Men retreat from their new headquarters on the Marin Headlands to an island off the U.S. coast. It hadn’t been that long since they’d destroyed Cable’s own island of Providence. Plus, it further isolated them from both humanity and Xavier’s dream of peaceful coexistence. Yet, despite my antipathy for the general concept, the crossover yielded a couple of surprisingly good stories. The first comes in this prequel anthology, Dark X-Men: The Beginning. It’s a very simple premise. Norman Osborn recruits a new team of X-Men to help him against the real thing. In each story, Osborn approaches a different character- Mimic, Dark Beast, Cloak & Dagger, etc.- and offers them a place on the team. I admired the way Osborn used a different approach for each character. He tried bribes, coercion, threats and promises. Plus, there was a great story at the end with Aurora called “The One that Got Away.” This mini-series is an excellent example of a putting-the-team-together tale and I admire the craftsmanship even though it’s part of an otherwise unlikable scenario.

12134212252?profile=originalUtopia Tie-In, X-Men Legacy 226-227, 2009: This is the other Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men story. However, this particular piece took place on the periphery of the main crossover. Rogue and Gambit have recently intervened in a conflict between Professor Xavier and Danger and now they’re returning to the X-Men. Unfortunately, they arrive right in the middle of a big fight with Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers. The two heroes quickly focus on protecting the students, such as Indra and Trance. That leads them into conflict with the Dark Avengers and each issue features a classic fight- first Rogue vs. the current Ms. Marvel (actually Moonstone in disguise), then Rogue vs. Ares. Mike Carey does a great job of showcasing Rogue’s powers. He also provides a strong emotional hook. Fighting someone in a Ms. Marvel costume reminds Rogue of her old days as a super-villain. This is just a great fight with a strong premise- save the kids from the bad guys.

12134212661?profile=originalPixie Strikes Back, 2010: Pixie has been one of my favorite characters since she starred in the 2008 Free Comic Book Day one-shot. Kathryn Immonen and Sara Pichelli bring us a fun and inventive mini-series that’s more of a gal-pal tale than it is a solo story. Pixie is joined by fellow teenagers Armor, Blindfold, Mercury and X-23. They’re caught in some sort of dreamscape where they’re normal high school kids, albeit in a high school populated with demons. Anole and Rockslide discover that the girls are missing and call the X-Men in to help. Meanwhile, Pixie’s mom launches a rescue of her own with the Mastermind sisters as allies. There are some fun mind twists as the characters try to figure out what is real and what is not. There are some surprising revelations as Pixie learns about her origins, her connection to this demon dimension and the Masterminds. Yet, best of all, there are some great character moments between the teenage “besties.”

12134213473?profile=originalTo Serve & Protect, X-Men 7-10, 2011: I didn’t realize it at first but the new X-Men series was designed as an X-Men team-up title. This second tale features a classic team-up with none other than Spider-Man. The X-Men discover a rash of disappearances in New York City and decide to investigate. Spider-Man is working the case as well and they decide to join forces. The initial clues point to the Lizard but there’s a good twist halfway through the story in which we learn that the Dark Beast has actually imprisoned the Lizard as well. Author Victor Gischler plays with timeless X-Men themes like social ostracism and teenage angst. And he does a great job with the wordplay between Spidey and the X-Men. The good-natured insults between Spidey and Wolverine are especially fun and show how those two characters have really meshed since joining the Avengers together. Of course, the real highlight is the Chris Bachalo art. Bachalo is a classic X-Men artist who had recently drawn a Spidey-Wolverine team-up and a Lizard story for Amazing Spider-Man. This story, with its wacky setting and fun set-up is right in Bachalo’s wheelhouse.

You might think I’ve written about every good X-Men story from the past four years. You’d be wrong. I have a few more honorable mentions to go in the last installment of this series. Join me again (please!) for one more (I promise!).

The Best X-Men Stories of the Past 4 Years Part I

The Best X-Men Stories of the Past 4 Years Part I

" target="_self">The Best X-Men Stories of the Past 4 Years Part II

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Comics for 3 October 2012

ACTION COMICS #13
AGE OF APOCALYPSE #8
AGE OF APOCALYPSE TP VOL 01 X-TERMINATED
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #692 2ND PTG
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #695
ANIMAL MAN #13
ARCHIE LOVE SHOWDOWN TP
AVENGERS ACADEMY #38
AVENGERS BRIDE OF ULTRON PREM HC
AVENGERS VS X-MEN #12 (OF 12) AVX
AVX VS #6 (OF 6)
AXE COP PRESIDENT O/T WORLD #3 (OF 3) NEW PTG

BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT HC VOL 01 KNIGHT TERRORS
BATWING #13
BEFORE WATCHMEN RORSCHACH #2 (OF 4) (MR)
BIONIC WOMAN #5
BLACK KISS II #3 (OF 6) (MR)
BLOODSTRIKE #31
BOYS #71 (MR)
BROKEN PIECES #4

CHARMED #24 (MR)
CREEPY ARCHIVES HC VOL 14
CREEPY COMICS #10
CRIMINAL DELUXE EDITION HC VOL 02 (MR)
CROW #4
CRUSADES HC (MR)

DANGER CLUB #4
DAREDEVIL END OF DAYS #1 (OF 8)
DEATH THE DELUXE EDITION HC (MR)
DEFENDERS #11
DETECTIVE COMICS #13
DIAL H #5
DOCTOR WHO VOL 3 #1

EARTH 2 #5
EPIC KILL TP VOL 01
EVERYBODY LOVES TANK GIRL #3 (OF 3) (MR)

FAIREST #8 (MR)
FASHION BEAST #2 (MR)
FATALE #8 (MR)
FERALS #9 (MR)
FUTURAMA COMICS #63

GARFIELD #6
GFT BAD GIRLS #3 (OF 5) (MR)
GFT PRESENTS JUNGLE BOOK TP (MR)
GI COMBAT #5
GI JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO TP VOL 05
GREEN ARROW #13
GREEN LANTERN #13
GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL #1 2ND PTG
GUARDING THE GLOBE #2

HACK SLASH #18 (MR)
HARVEST #3 (OF 5) (MR)
HELL YEAH TP VOL 01 LAST DAY ON EARTHS
HOMECOMING #2
HYPERNATURALS #4

I VAMPIRE TP VOL 01 TAINTED LOVE
ICE AGE PLAYING FAVORITES ONE SHOT

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA RISE OF ECLIPSO TP

LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #1
LIFE WITH ARCHIE #23
LOVE AND CAPES WHAT TO EXPECT #3 (OF 6)

MARS ATTACKS CLASSICS TP VOL 02
MAN-THING OMNIBUS HC
MARVEL PREVIEWS OCTOBER 2012
MARVEL UNIVERSE ULT SPIDER-MAN COMIC READER TP #3
MARVEL ZOMNIBUS HC
MINIMUM CARNAGE ALPHA #1
MUPPETS #4 (OF 4)

NON HUMANS #1 (OF 4)

PATHFINDER #2
PLANET O/T APES CATACLYSM #2
PREVIEWS #289 OCTOBER 2012

QUEEN SONJA TP VOL 04 SON OF SET

RED SONJA #69
ROAD TO OZ #2 (OF 6)
ROBYN HOOD #1 (OF 5) (MR)

SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU #26
SKIPPY HC VOL 01 COMPLETE DAILIES 1925-1927
SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 #6
SPACEKNIGHTS #1 (OF 3)
SPIDER-MAN NOTHING STOP JUGGERNAUT PREM HC
STAR WARS OMNIBUS CLONE WARS TP VOL 02 ENEMY SIDES
STORMWATCH #13
SUPERMAN BATMAN SORCERER KINGS TP
SWAMP THING #13
SWEET TOOTH #38 (MR)

THE LONE RANGER #10
THIEF OF THIEVES #9
TOLKIEN YEARS O/T BROTHERS HILDEBRANDT TP
TRIO TP VOL 01
TWELVE TP VOL 02

UNCANNY X-FORCE #32
UNCANNY X-MEN #19 AVX

V FOR VENDETTA BOOK AND MASK SET (MR)
VOLTRON #8
VOLTRON TP VOL 01 SIXTH PILOT

WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM TP VOL 02 (MR)
WARLORD OF MARS DEJAH THORIS #16 (MR)
WHITE CLAY ONE SHOT
WORLD OF WARCRAFT CURSE OF THE WORGEN TP
WORLDS FINEST #5
WRINKLE IN TIME GN

X-MEN BISHOPS CROSSING HC

Comics & Collectibles of Memphis posted this list on Facebook. Arrivals at your LCS may vary.

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12134027688?profile=originalFor the last couple of entries, we've been talking about Lightning Lad's rôle in the death of interplanetary criminal Zaryan the Conqueror.  This prompted the question from correspondent Commando Cody, "Why didn't the Legion then charge Lightning Lad with violating the club's code against killing?"

 

It's a good question, and as we shall see, Cody wasn't the first one to ask it.

 

To the point where we left off---Adventure Comics # 311 (Aug., 1963)---the Legion could not be faulted for failing to investigate Lightning Lad in the matter, as the same action had resulted in the Legionnaire's own death.  As a matter of propriety and practicality, charging Lightning Lad with breaking the code would have been pointless.

 

12134164489?profile=originalIn fact, there is a suggestion that, had Lightning Lad lived, the super-hero club would have looked into the matter.  In “The Return of Lightning Lad”, from Adventure Comics # 308 (May, 1963), the Legionnaire appeared to have returned from the dead, but lost his super-power in the process.  As mentioned in the last session, Cosmic Boy was insistent on expelling the now-powerless Lightning Lad from the club.  This was despite whatever emotional turmoil it might have caused Garth Ranzz.

 

This implies that at least one Legionnaire would pursue other possible violations of Legion law committed by Lightning Lad.

 

The point became moot, though, when it was discovered that the “resurrected” Lighting Lad was actually his twin sister, Ayla Ranzz, posing as the slain Legionnaire.

 

Thus, through Adventure Comics # 311, Lightning Lad remained dead and beyond the reach of any disciplinary procedure.  However, in the letter column of that issue, editor Mort Weisinger, responding to a number of fans, revealed that Lightning Lad would be restored to life in the following issue.

 

 

 

THE RETURN OF THE ACCUSED TO JURISDICTION.

 

 

12134166254?profile=originalIn “The Super-Sacrifice of the Legionnaires”, from Adventure Comics # 312 (Sep., 1963), Mon-El, who had been pretty much absent since his release from the Phantom Zone seven issues earlier, returns to Earth after searching for a means to resurrect Lightning Lad.  He reports to his hopeful fellow Legionnaires that he has failed.  Even the great biologists of his home world, Daxam, were unable to provide a means to bring the dead back to life.

 

Or so Mon-El tells them.

 

Mon and the others travel to a deserted world with an atmosphere that constantly discharges bolts of lightning.  Here is where Lightning Lad’s transparent sarcophagus has been relocated and here is where Saturn Girl is waiting.  They give her the bad news.

 

Early in the Legion’s formation, Saturn Girl had pledged to never use her super-power of telepathy to intrude on the privacy of her fellow members’ thoughts.  In her grief at Mon-El’s failure, however, her self-control slips, and she is startled by the stray thought she has picked up from Mon.  Incredibly, Mon-El does know a way of restoring Lightning Lad!

 

12134167282?profile=originalWhen she attempts to read his mind directly, Saturn Girl finds that Mon is shielding his thoughts, preventing her from confirming what she detected or finding out why he lied.

 

 

Confronted with the hard reality that her brother isn’t coming back, Lightning Lass weeps uncontrollably over his coffin.   WIth two sobbing females on his hands, Superboy, ever the softie, issues a stirring challenge.

 

“We’ve often accomplished feats that were considered impossible when others asked us!  Now we’re going to do something for our own lost comrade . . . we’ll find a way to revive Lightning Lad!”

 

Like a losing football team pumped up by its coach’s half-time pep talk, the Legionnaires rally around the Boy of Steel.  “Superboy’s right!” says Saturn Girl.  “We’ll search the whole universe, if necessary, to find the way!”

 

The first step is to run a Google-search on the Legion’s “mechanical-librarian” computer, collecting several hits on the topic “revival of life”.  Narrowing it down to a handful of the most likely possibilities, Our Heroes split up into small sub-teams to check them out.  A suspicious Saturn Girl ensures that she’s paired up with Mon-El.

 

12134168067?profile=originalThe Legionnaires give it their best shot.  The blue sun of Galaxy AB-213.  The legend of the undying Taroc creature.  The radium-capsule of Skor.  All methods advertised to raise the dead---and each one of them has a hitch which makes it useless in restoring Lightning Lad.  Worse yet, in his frustration, Mon-El’s guard slips and Saturn Girl catches another “glimpse” of his thoughts.

 

Mon-El could revive Lightning Lad right now---but doesn’t want to!

 

She’s had enough of this.  She tricks Mon-El into taking her to Daxam, where one of that world’s physicians inadvertently spills the beans.  Saturn Girl demands the whole truth and Mon agrees to admit all.

 

Summoning all of the other Legionnaires involved back to Lightning Lad’s resting place on the lightning world, Mon-El reveals the information that he’s been hiding.

 

The biologists of Daxam had, indeed, devised a method for returning life to the dead.  A unique conductor is attached to the dead subject and a live person.  This conductor is of a sophisticated and complex design.  When the living person is struck with a sufficient jolt of electricity, his life-force will transfer, via the conductor, into the dead subject, making him live, again.

 

But such a miracle comes with a terrible cost.  The donor whose life-force is used dies!

 

As soon as he’d been able to sneak away, Mon-El had intended to secretly use the device himself, to sacrifice his own life-force to revive Lightning Lad.  And, yes, the conductor will suck the life out of super-beings such as himself or Superboy just as completely as it will out of regular folks.

 

Naturally, being Legionnaires, everyone present volunteers to trade his life for Lightning Lad’s.

 

12134169090?profile=original

 

They decide that the only fair way is for all of them to have an equal chance.  Each Legionnaire grips a conductor running to the body of their fallen comrade and holds a steel rod up in the air.  The lightning bolts eternally crashing overhead will provide the power.  It’s a grim and deadly lottery, with the “winner” being the one whose rod is the first to be struck by a bolt.

 

Yet, one Legionnaire, Saturn Girl, is determined to make the sacrifice.  Unknown to her fellow Legionnaires, she holds a rod made of duralim---an element which actually attracts lightning.  She’s doctored the rod to make it look like the steel ones held by the others.

 

12134170872?profile=originalFor several tense minutes, the six Legionnaires stand, rods held high, over Lightning Lad’s lifeless form, waiting for fate to choose.  Then, a burst of lightning strikes Saturn Girl’s duralim rod!

 

It turns out that it is not Saturn Girl’s time to die---as determined as she was to die for Lightning Lad, there was someone even more determined that she live.  Instead, Chameleon Boy’s shape-changing pet, Proty, lured Saturn Girl away then took her place.  The Legionnaires discover this when, in death, the little protoplasmic creature reverts to its true blobby, yellow form.

 

The good news is---Lightning Lad lives again!  It is a bittersweet occasion of joy and loss, as the resurrected hero retakes his place in the Legion.

 

Oh, and that “killing Zaryan the Conqueror” thing?  Nobody brings it up throughout the rest of the series.  Ever.

 

 

 

CONCLUSIONS.

 

 

12134171883?profile=originalAs to the real-life, behind-the-scenes reason that the Legion was never seen to address the question of Lightning Lad’s hand in the death of Zaryan, I’m tempted to guess that it was because Mort Weisinger and his writers never thought of it.  But that rather short-changes them.  More than any other series produced by DC, the Legion of Super-Heroes took many of its elements and developments from suggestions by its fans, and you can bet that Mort paid attention to the Adventure Comics mail that came over his transom.

 

Weisinger also had an advantage.  DC’s top-tier super-team title, Justice League of America, featured characters who were stars of their own magazines or series.  Thus, JLA writer Gardner Fox was hogtied when it came to introducing any developments in the book that would have an impact on the heroes in their parent titles.

 

But, except for a few of the characters---principally Superboy and Supergirl---no such restriction bound the Legion.  That gave Mort’s staff the latitude to impose permanent, life-altering changes on the various members.  As the writers got their sea legs, more disaster would be imposed on the Legionnaires.  Featured players would suffer death and dismemberment, lose their super-powers, or find themselves kicked out of the club.

 

So, while the idea of writing a story behind Lightning Lad’s killing of a foe might not have occurred to Mort and company immediately, it would have eventually.  Especially when, as discussed below, at least one reader had written in, pointing out Lightning Lad’s apparent violation of the Legion code.

 

12134165670?profile=originalThe problem for Weisinger here was Lightning Lad was one of the few Legionnaires who couldn’t be tinkered with too much.  Several earlier stories had established that Lightning Lad would grow up to be Lightning Man and still solidly a member of the Legion.  And as the letters from Todd Walters and Steven Gerstein and Caroline Dove had shown, Legion fans possessed impeccable memories.  Mort knew that any story involving court-martialing Lightning Lad for the death of Zaryan would not have any lasting impact.  Should L.L. be convicted and expelled, the Adult Legion appearances had established that it would eventually be undone.

 

I suspect that Weisinger did like the idea of examining the consequences to a Legionnaire who killed.  However, when it came time to write a story around it, the central character turned out to be Star Boy, whose future life was unwritten.

 

 

As to the matter of providing an in-fiction explanation for the Legion’s failure to take action against Lightning Lad, after he had been restored to life . . . well, that is the purpose of my one-man review board.

 

Once Lightning Lad was revived and returned to duty with the Legion, he was subject to the club’s rules and regulations.  In this unique case, death had been only a delay to the club’s procedures.

 

After a consideration of all the evidence and testimony, I conclude that the Legion of Super-Heroes failed to pursue the matter of Lightning Lad’s possible violation of the Legion code for one or more of the following reasons:

 

 

 

1.  The Legion Code against killing did not apply.

 

 

There is no direct evidence that Zaryan the Conqueror was killed in Lightning Lad’s assault on the villain’s space-cruiser.  Zaryan’s death was not shown “on panel”, nor was his body shown afterward.

 

12134175863?profile=originalTrue, the level of destruction to Zaryan’s ship, as seen in the single panel showing Lightning Lad’s actual assault, makes it highly unlikely that Zaryan survived.  But, remember, we are dealing with thirtieth-century technologies, some of them alien to Earth.  One-man survival pods, personal protective force-fields, even teleportation, are all within the scope of futuristic technology and were seen in other Legion stories.

 

The sole witness to the incident, Saturn Girl, immediately departed that area of space, understandably, to rush the injured Lightning Lad to Earth and possible medical aid.  But as a consequence, no-one remained to inspect the wreckage of Zaryan’s spacecraft and check for either survivors or victims. 

 

Quite possibly, the Legion took the concept of habeas corpus at its literal meaning---“that you have the body.”  Without clear indication that Zaryan had died, perhaps it chose not to accuse Lightning Lad of violating the Legion code.

 

 

 

2.  Even if Zaryan had died, Lightning Lad did not violate the Legion code against killing.

 

 

This one is a bit tricky because it involves a precedent not yet set at the time Lightning Lad was restored to life.  That is the matter of Star Boy’s court-martial and expulsion from the Legion after he caused the death of Kenz Nuhor in “The Legionnaire Who Killed”, from Adventure Comics # 342 (Mar., 1966).

 

A quandary in the substance of the Legion code against killing resulted from this story.  It’s best looked at in chronological order.

 

12134176669?profile=originalThe Smallville Mailsack of Adventure Comics # 316 (Jan., 1964) published a letter from Barney Palmatier, of Santa Monica, California.  Mr. Palmatier wrote in, raising the question forty-eight years before Commando Cody did:

 

 I see that you have brought Lightning Lad back to life, for which we are all grateful.  But when Zaryan the Conqueror’s ship was destroyed by Lightning Lad, Zaryan was also destroyed.  Therefore, since it is against the code of the Legionnaires to destroy life, he should be expelled from the Legion.  Right?

 

 

To this, Mort replied:

 

It is against the code to destroy life ruthlessly or in a wanton manner.  It is not against the code to destroy life in self-defense . . . Lightning Lad gave up his life to stop a diabolical villain.  He deserves nothing but praise for his heroic deed.

 

An eminently reasonable explanation, one that would have made my Deck Log Entries on this subject unnecessary---except for the matter of “The Legionnaire Who Killed”, which came along two years later.

 

12134177065?profile=originalOne of the key issues raised during Star Boy’s court-martial was the matter of self-defense.  As presented here, the Legion code against killing did not provide for the right to self-defense.  It was a violation of the code for a Legionnaire to kill---period.

 

This lack of a self-defense provision is the reason why Superboy volunteered to defend Star Boy from the charges.  He, along with the other invulnerable Legionnaires, believed that their fellow members should have the right to kill to prevent their own deaths.  The Boy of Steel’s efforts to exonerate Star Boy concentrated on demonstrating why a self-defense proviso was a needed thing.

 

Ultimately, he even persuaded the prosecutor, Brainiac 5, of this.  However, it didn’t stop the court-martial from going forward.  Star Boy had violated the Legion code as it currently existed---without the right to self-defense.  In the end, the lad from Xanthu was found guilty and kicked out of the Legion.

 

Yet, this was clearly a contradiction of Mort Weisinger’s earlier claim that the Legion code did permit Legionnaires to kill, if necessary to save their own lives.  By now, he should have known that the hard-core Legion mavens would jump on that.  At least one did---Alan Anderson, of St. Petersburg, Florida.  His indignant letter appeared in Adventure Comics # 345 (Jun., 1966):

 

12134178493?profile=originalYou’ve finally gone and done it!  Your latest story, “The Legionnaire Who Killed,” simply has no basis.  In your January, 1964 letter column, you stated:  “It is against the code to destroy life ruthlessly, or in a wanton manner.  It is not against the code to destroy life in self-defense.”  Admit, you blew it!

 

With his own words hurled back at him, Mort could only offer a mea culpa and weakly argue that it didn’t matter, anyway:

 

True, we forgot about that provision in the code.  But Brainiac 5 proved that Star Boy could have used his power to beat the killer without doing him in.  So the expulsion still stands.

 

This is the kind of thing that gives loyal series fans fits.  Devotees of Sherlock Holmes have applied contorted trains of thought into justifying how many wives Doctor Watson had or to his war wound, cited variously as in the shoulder or the leg.  The same could be said for die-hard Legion-lovers and the matter of the Legion code providing an exception for self-defense.  Fan sites have debated it for years.

 

Which is why I find the last of the possible reasons the most compelling . . . .

 

 

 

3.  As they did often, the Legionnaires ignored their own rules.

 

 

12134179077?profile=originalIt’s been discussed here before that, as much as the Legionnaires presented themselves as responsible and adult, they were still only teen-agers, on the cusp of maturity.  So many of their actions were based on the whims and superficial concerns of adolescents.  Our own Randy Jackson has raised this point a few times.

 

Many times in the Legion series, the symptoms of “teenage-itis” poke through their veneer of maturity.

 

You have the hair-trigger emotional responses.  In “The Stolen Super-Powers”, the other Legionnaires are so chaffed by Saturn Girl’s behaviour that, at the mere mention of Zaryan, they immediately jump to the conclusion that she is in league with the criminal.  During the events of “The Legionnaires’ Super-Sacrifice”, Saturn Girl believes that Mon-El is withholding his knowledge because he is jealous of Lightning Lad.

 

Not only are they insecure about each other, but like all teens, they are insecure about themselves.  In “The Fantastic Spy”, the secret details of Legion operations are being leaked to criminals.  Immediately, thoughts turn to the possibility of a traitor in the organisation, but no fingers have been pointed.  That doesn’t keep Matter-Eater Lad from worrying about his status with the group.

 

“Since I’m the newest member,” he says, “and my loyalty hasn’t been proven yet, I---I can’t help feeling you veteran Legionnaires suspect me!

 

12134180287?profile=originalPerhaps part of M-E Lad’s insecurity comes from his awareness that his super-power is a pretty lame one, by Legion standards.  To be sure, the most obvious examples of the Legionnaires’ cliquishness and adolescent thinking appear in their membership-offering.

 

Many times, the Legion seems to have accepted new members on the basis of personality alone.  The events of “The Secret Origin of Bouncing Boy” scarcely justify his induction into the Legion.  He gets in because he’s the funny fat kid.  The Legionnaires admit it themselves when B.B. is left behind “to guard the ship” in “The Legion of Super-Monsters”.  Once he is out of earshot, his buddies admit that their plump pal is jolly and they like him, but his power of super-bouncing doesn’t help much on missions.

 

On the other hand, Polar Boy, whose power of super-cold clearly would be of benefit, is rejected.  Polar Boy meets all of the qualifications for Legion membership; he’s also noticeably smaller, and probably younger, than the Legionnaires.  To them, it would be like having one’s kid brother tagging along.  So he’s shown the door on the flimsiest of excuses.  (“It might . . . disable us at a critical moment!”)

 

12134182272?profile=originalEven Star Boy’s court-martial saw some cracks in the Legionnaires’ official deportment.  During the vote for verdict, all of the female Legionnaires---except Saturn Girl---voted for Star Boy’s acquittal out of sentiment for his romance with Dream Girl.  It wasn’t the first time Dream Girl was responsible for the teens voting with their hormones.  Back in Adventure Comics # 317 (Feb., 1964), Dreamy was admitted to the Legion, the girl Legionnaires outvoted by the boys, responding to the blood rushing out of their brains.

 

While they played at being adults, the Legionnaires all too often displayed their immaturity by letting their impulsive emotions override their own policies.

 

 

The failure to indict Lighting Lad for the death of Zaryan might have been simply one more example of the cliquish Legionnaires giving into their adolescent whims.

 

Not all of them.  Cosmic Boy was certainly a hard-liner, as seen by his insistence that L.L. be expelled for losing his super-power, as he believed, back in “The Return of Lightning Lad”.  On his home world of Braal, its people were considered adults at fourteen---probably owing to a faster maturity rate---and Cos had been the first Legion leader.   He understood the tremendous responsibility of being a Legionnaire.

 

Notably, Cosmic Boy was absent during the events which saw Lightning Lad return to life.  Without his influence, the issue of Zaryan’s death wasn’t raised.  Nor was it likely to be, given that the Legion members who were there for Lightning Lad's revival included Lightning Lass (his sister), Sun Boy (his best friend), and Superboy (who believed that the Legionnaires should have the right to kill in self-defense).

 

And then there was Saturn Girl, whom Legion fans had already pegged as Lightning Lad’s girl friend, based on the fact that Action Comics # 289 (Jun., 1962) had shown them married, as adults.  Moreover, she was the current leader of the team.  Any move to prosecute Lightning Lad would have to get past her. 

 

The other Legionnaires still had fresh memories of their experience with Saturn Girl as a tyrant.  They were probably more than glad to let the matter of Lightning Lad’s violation slide, rather than see the return of “Imra, the She-Wolf from Hell”.

 

12134183852?profile=original

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The Best X-Men Stories of the Past 4 Years, Part II

12134207661?profile=originalAge of X, X-Men Legacy 245-247 and New Mutants 22-23, 2011: I’m a sucker for good alternate universe stories and Age of X is one of the best. Mike Carey takes the Utopia setting to its dystopian, violent extreme. The island is an armed fortress from which the X-Men repel an invasion day after day every day for a thousand days. They’re living in a warzone; they’re mentally and emotionally exhausted. But there’s something sinister under the surface. There are hidden rooms deep in the heart of the fortress and prisoners that no one is allowed to see. The situation begins to unravel when Katherine Pryde returns from the outside world with a roll of blank film. Rogue, Gambit and Magneto delve into the mystery while Cannonball and Moonstar try to stop them. Is it an illusion? A dream? Or something worse? Age of X is an intense, compelling story featuring unusual and unique takes on many of our favorite X-Men.


Monstrous/Meanwhile, Astonishing X-Men 36-42, 2011:
Daniel Way and Christos Gage present these alternating stories in Astonishing X-Men. While they may not have the big names of Joss Whedon or Warren Ellis, they understand that Astonishing X-Men is supposed to feature big-scre12134207900?profile=originalen stories. Way takes half of the team to Japan where they end up fighting escapees from Monster Island. This fun tale includes amusing nods to classic monster movies like Godzilla as well as cameos by classic Marvel monsters like Fin Fang Foom. There’s also a strong emotional heart as Armor is torn between her loyalty to her biological family and the X-Men. Gage takes the other half of the team into outer space where they encounter yet another invasion from the Brood. But, this time, there’s a twist. Instead of killing the Brood, they have to save them from extinction. There’s some great internal conflict as the X-Men debate whether the Brood are worth saving. Plus, this story introduces the “deformed” Broodling born with undesirable traits like compassion. Broo, who winds up in Wolverine & the X-Men, is a fun little addition complicating both the mission and the moral confidence of the X-Men.

12134208874?profile=originalPoint One, Uncanny X-Men 534.1, 2011: It’s a lost art form but I’m glad to see that there’s still a place for an excellent done-in-one story. Penciler Carlos Pacheco joins Kieron Gillen for this instant classic. Magneto has been a member of the X-Men before and he rejoined the team when they relocated to Utopia. But the world didn’t know about this development until now. With the secret out, the X-Men have to deal with the fall-out. More importantly, Magneto has to decide what kind of a person he wants to be. Is he willing to eschew the morally ambiguous methods he employed in the past? Is he ready to become a hero? Why would he even want to? This point one story is a wonderful character examination that includes some huge ramifications for the entire team without resorting to pat answers.

12134209467?profile=originalWelcome to the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, Wolverine & the X-Men 1-3, 2011: Do you know what I love about this series? It’s fun! Jason Aaron wasn’t exactly known for his sense of humor on Wolverine or Scalped but he brings the funny to his new X-Men ongoing. In this opening arc, Wolverine has rebuilt the Xavier Institute and renamed it the Jean Grey School. However, before he can officially reopen the school, he has to pass the New York Board of Education inspection. Of course, this being the X-Men, the inspection isn’t going to go smoothly. Before the day is out, they’re attacked by the new Hellfire Club and Krakoa, “the island that walks like a man.” Iceman, Beast and Wolverine take turns dishing the one-liners and Jason Aaron takes no time in dialing up the ridiculous situations. It’s like a mad farce with miniature Nightcrawlers. Chris Bachalo is the perfect artist for this series. His stylized approach adds to the mayhem yet he’s strong enough with the details to capture the necessary facial expressions. I also love the quick pace. Jason Aaron eschews the now outdated six-issue arc and runs through the opening story in double time, which only increases the frenetic energy.

12134210071?profile=originalTabula Rasa, Uncanny X-Men 5-8, 2012: This is arguably Kieron Gillen’s best arc on Uncanny X-Men and ironically it’s more like a Fantastic Four story than something you’d associate with the X-Men. A rural part of Montana has been cut off from the rest of the world by a giant dome and the X-Men have been invited to investigate. Despite his recent isolationism, Cyclops agrees to intervene- partly at Psylocke’s urging. The X-Men penetrate the dome and discover a world that’s been on evolutionary fast-forward. Gillen toys with evolutionary themes, holding a fun-house mirror up to the X-Men and their own ongoing conflict with humanity. In grand comic book tradition, he also splits the team into smaller squads. The unusual pairings (Sub-Mariner and Hope!?!) and the insightful character interaction highlight this excellent arc.

12134210465?profile=originalTo Love and Die in New York, Astonishing X-Men 48-51, 2012: For some reason, Marvel stopped assigning story titles to some of its, um, stories and titles. That’s okay- it means I get to come up with my own (as I did for Wolverine & the X-Men). In this case, I chose a title that captures the essence of Marjorie Liu’s opening arc. Wolverine has put together a new action team of X-Men in New York City. Gambit, Iceman, Karma, Northstar and the new Warbird join him in a battle with a new team of Marauders. There’s a lot of fast-paced action and collateral destruction. However, there’s a lot more going on than yet another superhero fight. The X-Men pick up on clues that the Marauders aren’t acting of their own volition so there’s a mystery to unravel. Yet, more than that, there’s a second interconnected story. Northstar’s boyfriend Kyle has moved to New York as well. He tries to be a bigger part of Northstar’s life and is nearly caught in the crossfire. Northstar tells Kyle that it’s too dangerous which Kyle takes as a dismissal but Northstar’s apology turns into a wedding proposal. The story made a lot of headlines but I was more impressed by its emotional complexity and depth. Northstar’s profession of love for Kyle is wonderfully well written, especially the part where he tells Kyle that Kyle helps him feel normal.

Well, that’s my top twelve X-Men stories of the past 4 years. But that doesn’t mean I’m done. Come on back next time for my honorable mentions- enjoyable stories that, for one reason or another, didn’t quite make the cut.

The Best X-Men Stories of the Past 4 Years Part I

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Does Hollywood 'get' Judge Dredd?

Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

 

Sept. 18, 2012: Can a faithful movie adaptation of Judge Dredd be made?

 

One reason I ask this question is because the last one missed the mark so badly. (That was Judge Dredd, made in 1995 and starring Sylvester Stallone.) Another is that I’m not sure a faithful adaptation could work on the big screen, and maybe it shouldn’t be tried.

 

That’s because Judge Dredd, the English comic-book strip that began in 1977, works on more than one level. One level is straight action-adventure science fiction, which Hollywood does very well. (It’s something videogames do well, too, and a popular first-person shooter Judge Dredd game debuted in 1997.)

 

12134205097?profile=original1.Karl Urban stars as 'Judge Dredd' in DREDD 3D. Photo credit: Joe Alblas. Copyright Lionsgate.

The premise of Judge Dredd is a dystopic future where atomic war has rendered huge parts of the globe uninhabitable, except for mutant animals and humans. The bulk of humanity lives in walled-off “mega-cities” that cover huge tracts of land, but not nearly enough land – people are stacked on top of each other in city block-size apartment complexes (most with tongue-in-cheek names like “Rowdy Yates Block” and “Ernest Borgnine Block”). And not only are people being driven crazy by the lack of living space, they are also mostly unemployed, as robots do all the work. The combination means that the mega-cities are essentially ungovernable, as people follow fads in a frenzied fashion and occasionally erupt into murderous violence. Virtually all activity is illegal on some level.

 

Enter the judges, who supply the only law enforcement. They are police, judge, jury and executioner all rolled into one, riding the streets on high-tech motorcycles dispensing frontier justice. And the scariest judge of all is our title character, Judge Dredd, a clone of the first judge whose sense of justice is unwavering, who is absolutely incorruptible and whose sentences – including death – cannot be swayed by any appeal to his humanity.

12134205675?profile=original

 2. Lena Headey stars as 'Ma-Ma' in DREDD 3D. Photo credit: Joe Alblas.  Copyright Lionsgate.

Because, essentially, he doesn’t have any. There’s the second level of Judge Dredd: self-parody. The creators of Judge Dredd took the Dirty Harry idea, which Europeans don’t admire at all, to its logical extreme. They also incorporated all the clichés Europeans hold of Americans, of gun-crazy cowboys whose solution to everything is ultra-violence.

 

In short, the judges are not necessarily good guys. Notice, for example, how the judge outfits are vaguely Nazi-like, with a ludicrously large American eagle on one shoulder.  The judges are flat-out fascists, but the irony here is that fascism may be the only solution in this dysfunctional world. So we sometimes laugh at the judges, sometimes admire them, but mostly we dread them – hence the title. That’s a pretty sophisticated underpinning to what on the surface looks like an exaggerated cops-and-robbers strip.

 

Somehow, I don’t think that aspect of Judge Dredd will appeal to American audiences.

12134206660?profile=original

3. Olivia Thirlby stars as 'Anderson' in DREDD 3D. Photo credit: Joe Alblas. Copyright Lionsgate.

But that parody of America is part of the strip’s sense of ironic humor, which is itself part of the strip’s appeal. Sometimes Dredd is a straight-up action hero, but sometimes he’s part of the joke – a joke he can’t get, because he has absolutely no sense of humor. Which is itself played for laughs.

 

Judges are also barred from having any romantic involvement. So, I ask you, how can Hollywood successfully make a movie where the hero borders on self-parody, where romance is out of the question and where tough-guy dialogue is often ironic? Because in 1995 we got exactly that: an action/adventure movie where Dredd was unquestionably the good guy, where he had a romance with Judge Hershey (who is Chief Judge in the comics) and where there was absolutely no irony whatsoever when Stallone growled Dredd’s catch-phrase, “I am the law!”

 

These questions are pertinent because some brave movie-makers are making another stab at a Judge Dredd adaptation. Dredd 3D, starring Karl Urban, premieres Sept. 21.

 

I don’t know what approach the filmmakers have taken – whether it’s straight SF action, or it’s subtly ironic. But I’ll be there, because the trailers look great, the plot sounds interesting and early reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are almost universally positive. Also, Urban impressed me as Dr. McCoy in the recent Star Trek movie, and Dredd 3D villain Lena Headey was terrific in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Plus, the film features Judge Anderson, a popular character from the comics.

 

I’m looking forward to it all, because I don’t think “can a faithful Judge Dredd movie adaption be made” is the right question. All that matter is whether a Judge Dredd movie can be made that’s both good and entertaining.

 

We’ll all find out Sept. 21.

 

Contact Andrew A. Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics@aol.com.

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Comics for 26 September 2012

ADVENTURE TIME #8
ADVENTURES OF A COMIC CON GIRL #2 (OF 3) (MR)
ALL STAR WESTERN #0
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #694
AMERICAN VAMPIRE #31 (MR)
AMERICAN VAMPIRE HC VOL 04 (MR)
AMERICAN VAMPIRE TP VOL 03 (MR)
ANGEL & FAITH #14
ANITA BLAKE VH TP CIRCUS OF DAMNED BK 3 SCOUNDR
AQUAMAN #0
ARKHAM ASYLUM DELUXE TITAN JOKER AF
ASTERIX OMNIBUS HC VOL 06
ASTONISHING X-MEN #54
AVATAR LAST AIRBENDER TP VOL 03 PROMISE PART 3
AXE COP PRESIDENT O/T WORLD #3 (OF 3)

BART SIMPSON COMICS #75
BASALDUA & DEBALFO COVER GALLERY
BATMAN ARKHAM CITY SER 3
BATMAN INCORPORATED #0
BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT #0
BEFORE WATCHMEN OZYMANDIAS #3 (OF 6) (MR)
BLACK PANTHER MAN WITHOUT FEAR TP FEAR ITSELF
BPRD HELL ON EARTH RETURN O/T MASTER #2 (OF 5)

CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BLACK WIDOW #637
CAPTAIN MARVEL #2 2ND PTG
CAPTAIN MARVEL #4
CROSSED BADLANDS #14 (MR)

DANCER #5
DARK MATTER TP VOL 01 REBIRTH
DAVE STEVENS STORIES & COVERS HC
DEADPOOL #61
DEBRIS #3 (OF 4) (MR)
DRAGON AGE THOSE WHO SPEAK #2 (OF 3)

ELEPHANTMEN #43 (MR)

FEAR ITSELF TP UNCANNY X-MEN
FF #22
FINE & PRIVATE PLACE #1 (OF 5)
FLASH #0
FLASH TP VOL 02 THE ROAD TO FLASHPOINT
FURY MAX #6 (MR)
FURY OF FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MEN #0

GAMBIT #3
GASOLINE ALLEY HC VOL 01
GEARHEARTS STEAMPUNK GLAMOR REVUE #4
GI JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO #182
GODSTORM #0 (MR)
GOON #42
GRAPHIC CLASSICS GN VOL 23 HALLOWEEN CLASSICS

HAPPY #1 (OF 4)
HAWKEN #6 (OF 6)
HELLRAISER #18 (MR)
HERO WORSHIP #3 (OF 6)
HIGHER EARTH #5
HIT-GIRL #3 (OF 5) (MR)

I VAMPIRE #0
IDOLIZED #2
INCREDIBLE HULK #14
INVINCIBLE #95
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #525

JOE KUBERT TARZAN OF THE APES ARTIST ED HC
JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #644 BURNS
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #0

KEVIN SMITH BIONIC MAN #13
KICKSTARTER HANDBOOK SC

MAGIC THE GATHERING SPELL THIEF #3
MARS ATTACKS #4
MARS ATTACKS HC
MARVEL LEGENDS 6-IN AF ASST 201203
MARVEL UNIVERSE ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #6
MIND MGMT #5
MIND THE GAP #5
MMW INVINCIBLE IRON MAN TP VOL 02

NATIONAL COMICS ROSE AND THORN #1
NEAR DEATH TP VOL 02
NEW DEADWARDIANS #7 (OF 8) (MR)

PHANTOM LADY #2 (OF 4)
POPEYE #5
PROPHET #29
PUNISHER #16

QUEEN SONJA #32

RACHEL RISING #11
RED LANTERNS #0
RICH LARSONS HAUNTED HOUSE OF LINGERIE 15TH ANNIV

SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING TP BOOK 02 (MR)
SAVAGE HAWKMAN #0
SECRET AVENGERS #31
SENGOKU BASARA SAMURAI HEROES OFF COMP WORKS SC
SHADOW ANNUAL #1
SHOWCASE PRESENTS AMETHSYT TP VOL 01
SIMPSONS TREEHOUSE OF HORROR #18
SIXTH GUN #25
SKULLKICKERS #18
SNAKE EYES & STORM SHADOW #17
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG SELECT TP VOL 06
SOULFIRE VOL 4 #2
SPACE PUNISHER #3 (OF 4)
SPAWN ORIGINS TP VOL 16
STAR TREK TNG DOCTOR WHO ASSIMILATION #5
STAR TREK TNG DOCTOR WHO ASSIMILATION TP VOL 01
STAR WARS DARTH MAUL DEATH SENTENCE #3 (OF 4)
STEED AND MRS PEEL ONGOING #1
SUPER DINOSAUR #14
SUPERMAN #0
SUPERMAN FAMILY ADVENTURES #5

TAKIO #3
TALON #0
TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #76 (MR)
TEEN TITANS #0
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ONGOING #14
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ONGOING TP VOL 03
THE IMMORTAL DEMON I/T BLOOD TP
THE SPIDER #5
TRANSFORMERS MORE THAN MEETS EYE ONGOING #9
TRANSFORMERS ROBOTS IN DISGUISE ANNUAL 2012

ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #16 UWS
ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN BY NICK SPENCER TP VOL 01
UNCANNY X-MEN BY KIERON GILLEN PREM HC VOL 03 AVX

VAMPIRELLA #23
VOODOO #0
VOODOO TP VOL 01 WHAT LIES BENEATH

WALKING DEAD HC VOL 08 (MR)
WHERES MY SHOGGOTH?
WINTER SOLDIER #11
WITCHBLADE #160
WOLVERINE #313
WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #17
WOLVERINE AND X-MEN BY JASON AARON PREM HC VOL 03
WONDERLAND #3 A CVR REYES (MR)

X-MEN #36
X-MEN LEGACY #274
X-MEN WAR MACHINES TP
X-TREME X-MEN #4

YOUNGBLOOD #74

Comics & Collectibles of Memphis posted this list on Facebook. Arrivals at your LCS may vary.

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CBG #1695: DC's The New 52: One Year Later

Succesful Series and Starts Equals Sales Surge

DC's The New 52: One Year Later

By Andrew A. Smith

Contributing editor

 

The launch of DC’s “The New 52” in September 2011 was a huge gamble, and a huge controversy. Arguments will rage on about various aspects of The New 52 until we’re all old and gray, but there’s one thing few question: It worked.

 

Sales: Up, Up, and Away

 

DC Entertainment wouldn’t gloat much, but we did get Senior Vice President Bob Wayne to crow, “We consider the first year of ‘DC Comics – The New 52’ a big success, exceeding even our most optimistic projections.” While that might sound like hyperbole, a look at the numbers bears that opinion out.

 

Before The New 52, DC routinely lagged behind Marvel Entertainment in monthly comics in both of the major ways Diamond measures pieces of the pie: dollars spent, and units sold. In July 2011, according to former CBG editor John Jackson Miller’s Comics Chronicle site (comichron.com), Marvel enjoyed 43.59% of all units sold, to DC’s 34.76%. In dollars, Marvel trumped DC 39.43 % to 30.55%.

 

The next month wasn’t much better for DC, despite the release of the first The New 52 title, Justice League #1 (which sold more than 170,000 in its first printing, and went on to eight printings). In August 2012, Marvel took units 42.47% to 34.84%, and dollars 37.34% to 30.72%.

 

But what a difference a month – and a complete revamp of a comic line – makes! DC virtually swept September 2011, when it launched the remaining 51 titles of The New 52. For the record, DC won units sold 43.04% to 37.88%, and took dollars 35.74% to 35.37%.

 

But the sales list is eye-popping in other ways. For example, DC took 8 of the top 10 spots on Diamond’s Top 300 list, and 17 of the top 20! The worst-selling of The New 52 was OMAC at No. 82 – allowing only 29 Marvel titles and one lonely Dark Horse title to squeeze into Nos. 1-81. To put it perspective, as many wags have, Aquaman #1 (No. 16) outsold every Marvel title except Fear Itself #6 (No. 8) and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 (No. 9)!

 

All of The New 52 titles sold out, and by the second week of September 10 titles had passed the 100,000 mark. Action Comics joined Justice League by zipping past 200,000, with the latter title far and away the best-seller of 2011.

 

And it got even better for DC the next month, as buzz grew on the re-launch. No doubt bolstered by all the titles that went back to press, DC held a stunning 20-point lead over Marvel in units sold, 50.97% to 30.29%! (DC’s dollars victory was less but still impressive, 42.47% to 29.10%.) And, while one New 52 title sank to No. 87 (Men of War #2), DC took a stunning 17 spots of the top 20 – with six titles easily clearing the 100,000 hurdle (Justice League, Batman, Action, Green Lantern, Flash, Detective).

 

It would be December before Marvel recovered to win dollars and units – barely. Even so, DC still held 8 spots in the top 10 list. And to rub it in, Aquaman was still selling better than Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America, Fantastic Four, Invincible Iron Man, Mighty Thor, New Avengers, Secret Avengers, Wolverine, Wolverine & The X-Men, X-Men … well, you get the point.

 

In 2012, Marvel and DC remain neck and neck. Marvel won February, March, April, and May, while DC took June and July. (They split in January, with Marvel taking dollars and DC winning units sold.) DC still held 10 of the top 13 spots in July, and while Aquaman dropped to No. 27, it still beat many of Marvel’s best-known titles.

 

Also, now that The New 52 titles are being collected, DC has become a major force on the hardcover/trade paperback list. Justice League Vol. 1 topped the list in May, a month where DC took six of the top 10. While not a New 52 title, Batman: Earth One HC was No. 1 in July, with New 52 titles taking four more of the top 10 spots, making DC the clear winner.

 

But while DC has done very well since The New 52 debuted, something unexpected happened: Everybody else did better, too.

 

“DC Comics’ ‘New 52,’ to quote a George W. Bush malapropism, ‘made the pie higher’,” said Allyn Gibson, Marketing Communications – Writer for Diamond Comic Distributors Inc. “The dollars spent in comic shops increased in the year since Justice League #1, but not just to DC Comics’ benefit.  While it's not obvious from the monthly market shares (because there are more dollars being spent on comics than ever before), publishers across the board saw their sales improve in the wake of ‘TheNew 52’.”

 

In the dog days before The New 52, negative numbers were the norm. Reading the numbers at Comics Chronicle for July 2011 was a depressing drumbeat of doom: The Top 300 comics were down 1% vs. the same month the previous year, and down 20% vs. the same month five years earlier. The Top 300 were down in dollars by 5% vs. the same month the previous year, and 10% vs. the same month five years earlier. All comics were down .52% vs. the same month previous year, down 6.46% year to date, down in dollars by 4.27% vs. the same month the previous year, and down 7.26% vs. the same month five years earlier. Even sales of Diamond’s Top 300 trade paperbacks were down 22% compared to July 2010.

 

That’s a lot of numbers to wrap one’s head around. But, obviously, the operative word is “down.”

 

But then The New 52 happened. And suddenly a rising tide at DC lifted all boats.

 

Just looking at units sold in the Top 300, September was up 20% vs. the same month in 2010, and up 10% vs. September 2006. The Top 300 sold 7.27 million copies in September, more than a million copies more than just two months earlier!

 

The next month was even better, with the Top 300 selling 7.59 million copies. That represents an increase of 31% over October 2010, up 24% over October 2006, and up 18% over October 2001! Needless to say, all the metrics for the month – such as dollars – were equally impressive.

 

Amazingly, June 2012 had eight books sell over the 100,000 threshold on Diamond’s Top 300 list – four “Before Watchmen” debut titles bolstering Batman, Justice League, and two Avengers vs. X-Men issues. Collections did well, too, with Walking Dead Vol. 16 and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Century #3 2009 topping 20,000 in sales, and the evergreen Watchmen selling another 11,369. 

 

The buzz over The New 52 – and the extra feet it brought to comic shops – had to cool eventually. But the numbers for July are still pretty good. Once again just looking at units for the Top 300, Diamond reports 6.9 million sold, which is up 17% vs. July 2010, up 10% vs. July 2006, and up 14% vs. July 2001. In dollars, that’s up 23% over July 2010, up 4% over July 2006, and up a whopping 46% over July 2001.

 

Also, there were five titles over the 100,000 mark – and, interestingly, only two were from DC. The Walking Dead #100 led with 335,082 (a number sure to rise with extra printings), followed by Avengers vs. X-Men #7 (179,208), Avengers vs. X-Men #8 (174,910), Batman #11 (127,210), and Justice League #11 (123,971).

 

Editorial: Winners and Losers

 

While The New 52’s sales success is undeniable, judging the books’ content is a bit more subjective.

 

One yardstick we have is cancellation – and on that score, The New 52 has seen some rough seas. In the first year, 10 titles – roughly 20% -- have been canceled: Blackhawks, Captain Atom, Hawk and Dove, Justice League International, Men of War, Mister Terrific, OMAC, Resurrection Man, Static Shock and Voodoo.

 

The demise of two war books (Men of War, Blackhawks) surprised almost no one, although DC deserves kudos for attempting to revive that moribund genre. Some fans registered concern about the loss of two African-American headliners in Mister Terrific and Static Shock, leaving only Batwing and Fury of Firestorm (sorta) which are themselves on shaky sales ground.

 

On the other hand, all the canceled titles are being replaced, to keep the description “The New 52” somewhat accurate. New books – called “Second Wave” and “Third Wave,” for some reason – include Batman Inc., Dial H, Earth 2, G.I. Combat, Phantom Stranger, Ravagers, Sword of Sorcery, Talon, Team 7, and Worlds’ Finest.

 

G.I. Combat, retooling The Haunted Tank and Unknown Soldier, shows that DC hasn’t given up on war books. And Earth 2 and Worlds’ Finest arrived to great acclaim, with fan favorite writer James Robinson (Starman, The Golden Age) reviving the popular Earth-Two concept. Sword of Sorcery, starring Amethyst and Beowulf, shows there’s room for fantasy in the new DC Universe.

 

Dial H takes the venerable concept first seen with teenager Robby Reed in 1960s House of Mystery into more of a horror milieu. The only surprise about Grant Morrison’s Batman Inc. – which, like its “Old 52” predecessor, posits Batmen of different nations – is why it wasn’t part of the original launch. Ravagers is another super-powered-teens-on-the-run book (see: Runaways, Harbinger, et al) and Team 7 integrates the old WildStorm black ops group into DC’s history.

 

Talon is something of a surprise, but indicates that DC can think on its feet. The lead character is one of the bad guys from Scott Snyder’s “Court of Owls” story, which was the debut story in The New 52 Batman and successfully grew into a Bat-title crossover and a huge, new element in Gotham City history. Phantom Stranger has a surprising element as well; DC refused to set the character’s past in concrete in his original incarnation, but DC’s Free Comic Book Day offering suggests he is now Judas Iscariot, whose punishment for betraying Jesus is to forever roam the Earth apart from humanity.

 

The addition of those 10 books brings DC’s New 52 back to 52 titles -- not that DC has ever held itself to specifically that number. In June, DC launched the controversial but best-selling “Before Watchmen” series of mini-series which, while not New 52 titles, were superhero books of a sort. And DC has launched numerous New 52 mini-series in the last 12 months, including Huntress (since revealed to be an Earth 2 title), Legion: Secret Origin, My Greatest Adventure  (starring Garbage Man, Robotman, and Tanga from the Old 52’s Doom Patrol and Weird Worlds titles), National Comics (an anthology), Night Force (reviving the old Marv Wolfman-Gene Colan mystery title), Penguin: Pain and Prejudice, Phantom Lady, The Ray, The Shade, and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents.

 

However, the focus in the first year of The New 52 has been where you’d expect it to be, on DC’s roster of iconic superheroes. And DC spared no effort to make them the best they could.

 

The first book, Justice League, was headed by DC Co-Publisher Jim Lee and Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns – two of DC’s best talent. The Bat-books boast creators like David Finch, Snyder, Peter Tomasi, and Judd Winick. Brian Azzarello on Wonder Woman and Morrison on Action Comics are fandom dreams come true. Johns, whose efforts on Green Lantern keep it a Top 20 title, tackled Aquaman. All of these titles are, in fact, not only widely praised but selling well.

 

But The New 52 has had its share of surprise hits as well. Gail Simone is a fan favorite, but nobody expected her Batgirl to do as well as it has. Both Jeff Lemire’s Animal Man and Snyder’s Swamp Thing have been breakout hits, even crossing over in August. J.H. Williams III has been doing the best work of his career on Batwoman, which is surely headed for some award or other. And did anyone think Aquaman would be one of DC’s top-tier titles, even with Johns writing it?

 

Crystal Ball: The Future of The New 52

 

DC is celebrating the one-year anniversary with a “zero” month in September, with all The New 52 titles shipping a “zero” issue set before last September’s first issues. Not coincidentally, like last year’s re-launchs, the zero issues are another jumping-on point for new or lapsed readers. Maybe fans won’t be lining up for midnight sales like they did for last year’s Justice League #1, but it’s still another remarkable effort by a publisher that’s been racing its engine for 12 months already.


Not all of The New 52’s successes are obvious on the surface. DC won’t reveal digital sales, but Lee and others have mentioned in public that they are setting records, which will likely continue to do so as that market grows. (Lee told ICv2.com that 40% of digital readers of Smallville at comiXology were new readers.) And one quiet improvement for retailer budgets has been Co-Publisher Dan DiDio’s efforts to enforce a no-late-books policy.

 

After the zero issues, readers can look forward to a number of crossovers in upcoming months. The Joker returns for a Bat-title crossover called “Death of the Family” – a play on the story “A Death in the Family” in the “old” 52 in which the Clown Prince of Crime killed Jason Todd, which will involve Todd’s book Red Hood and the Outlaws, and another Bat-peripheral, Suicide Squad (with Harley Quinn). The much-foreshadowed “Rise of the Third Army” will consume the Green Lantern titles in 2013, while The New 52 Green Arrow and Hawkman will meet for the first time in their respective books in November. Finally, the upcoming “Trinity War” – foreshadowed in the Free Comic Book Day book – will pit the “Trinity of Sin” (Pandora, Phantom Stranger, the new Question) against pretty much everybody.

 

There have been disappointments and downturns, which continue to this day – for example, Rob Liefeld announced in August he was leaving Deathstroke, Grifter, and Savage Hawkman, leaving those titles’ future in doubt. But for the most part New 52 has, as Wayne said, outperformed expectations. It’s probably not possible to keep sales at the level established by the first year of The New 52, but it certainly looks as if DC is willing to try.

 

Comics” Smith has been writing professionally about comics since 1992, and for Comics Buyer’s Guide since 2000.

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The Best X-Men Stories of the Past 4 Years

12134201464?profile=originalFive years ago, I embarked on an epic series of columns in which I recounted the best X-Men stories from every decade. It took me more than a year to complete my intermittent examination. With the X-Men about to be reconfigured in the fall, it seemed like a good time to pick up where I left off. So here are my thoughts on the best X-Men stories of the past 4 years. It may seem like 4 years isn’t a large enough span for a list like this but with 3, 4 and sometimes 5 regular X-Men titles, there are plenty of stories to choose from. Plus, I grabbed a few of the better mini-series that were published during this time. So grab a bowl of popcorn, sit back and relax, and enjoy my list of the best X-Men stories from the summer of 2008 to the summer of 2012.

Manifest Destiny, Uncanny X-Men 500-503, 2008: I re-read this story earlier this summer and it was even better than I remembered. After the fall-out of Messiah Complex, the X-Men moved to San Francisco. They established a public headquarters in the Marin Headlands and a working relationship with the mayor’s office. I loved this new status quo. It was great to see the X-Men as public heroes who were respected and who enjoyed themselves. Of course it wouldn’t last, but it’s an era I wish had been allowed to flourish a little longer. Yet my favorable impression isn’t based merely on the new setting. I also appreciate the way Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker reintroduced the X-Men, blended the young and old characters into one title, balanced a large cast and built a new threat in Madelyne Pryor’s Hellfire Cult.

12134201867?profile=originalMagneto Testament, 2008: This mini-series is one of the best stories I’ve ever read- not only one of the best X-Men stories but one of the best stories period. Greg Pak and Carmine di Giandomenico examine Magneto’s early days growing up during the Nazi regime. He isn’t yet a super-villain. He barely realizes that he even has powers; he only knows that he has an unusual affinity for metal. In this story, Magneto is a young, Jewish boy named Max Eisenhardt who is trying to find his place in a difficult world. He’s torn between the views of his older relatives- one of whom wants to hide and the other who wants to fight. He experiences the first flush of love as he meets a young gypsy girl. But, above all, Max is a survivor, escaping to Poland, scrounging for food in the Jewish ghetto and subsisting in a concentration camp for several years.

12134202087?profile=originalExogenetic, Astonishing X-Men 31-35, 2009: This is my favorite of the Warren Ellis stories on Astonishing X-Men, probably because he’s paired with the best artist in Phil Jimenez. Jimenez is great with the details, bringing precision to every panel. He also has a flair for the dramatic, as when he depicts the giant Sentinels. The combination draws you into the story, making both the emotion and action more real. The story also has a strong emotional core. Someone is grafting sentinel technology onto the corpses of mutants forcing the X-Men to fight their former students and face their former failures. It’s a particularly chilling moment for Emma Frost who, despite her hard edge, has a clear love for her students. There are also some great wide-screen action scenes such as Beast and Agent Brand piloting a crashing Blackbird. If anything, the story feels a little short at five issues as opposed to the now-standard six.

12134202869?profile=originalSecond Coming, Uncanny X-Men 523-525, X-Men Legacy 235-237, New Mutants 12-14 and X-Force 26-28, 2010: I love big X-Men crossovers but I admit that they can sometimes be a little bloated. They have a tendency to get away from the creators, especially in the third act. But Second Coming is a strong story from start to finish. The villains, led by Bastion, have a very clear plan. They want to capture Hope and isolate the X-Men. They intentionally target teleporters like Magik and Nightcrawler. They force the X-Men back to their island home of Utopia and then cut them off from the rest of the world before embarking on a final assault. Second Coming combines a clear progression and a strong pace with near-constant action. It also gives us some powerful emotional scenes. The deaths of Nightcrawler and Cable are particularly well done. I may not like to see my favorite characters die but I can certainly appreciate a well-written death scene. I was also impressed with the way Second Coming laid the groundwork for later stories like Schism (Wolverine blames Cyclops for Nightcrawler’s death) and Avengers vs. X-Men (Captain America nominates Cyclops for a presidential medal which he accepts at first but later throws away).

12134203278?profile=originalCurse of the Mutants, X-Men 1-6, 2010: Though the fourth X-Men title was arguably superfluous when it was launched it 2010, it was inarguably very good. Horror novelist Victor Gischler took the reins of the X-Men and told a rip-roaring vampire story. Xarus, the son of Dracula and new leader of the united clans, approaches the X-Men with the idea of an alliance: vampires and mutants vs. humans. Cyclops isn’t ready to turn his back on humanity that completely and refuses the offer. Instead, he forges an unlikely alliance with Dracula in order to take Xarus down. Curse of the Mutants includes some great twists as alliances shift in surprising ways. It also shows Cyclops at his best, outmaneuvering his opponent and planning for all kinds of contingencies. The tie-ins with Storm & Gambit, the science team and everyone else in an anthology are good too.

12134204066?profile=originalThe Five Lights, Uncanny X-Men 526-529, 2010: The Five Lights, which takes place immediately after Second Coming, is a journey of discovery. It’s a literal journey as Rogue and Hope fly around the globe looking for the newly emerging mutants, aka “the five lights.” It’s also a metaphorical journey, as Hope discovers more about herself and her place in this world apart from her relationship with Cable. Matt Fraction does a good job of introducing the new mutants. They have unique appearances and personalities despite their generic powers (flight, speed, heat & cold). Furthermore, their initial problems and activation scenes show that a mutant’s emergence can be as interesting as any origin story. It’s too bad that these characters faded blandly and badly into the background when they moved into their own title of Generation Hope.

That gets us halfway through this time period and halfway through this dozen. Come on back next time for some more X-Men goodness.

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Comics for 19 September 2012

100 BULLETS HC BOOK 03 (MR)
30 DAYS OF NIGHT ONGOING #10

ARTIFACTS #21
ATOMIC ROBO FLYING SHE DEVILS O/T PACIFIC #3 (OF 5)
ATOMIC ROBO REAL SCIENCE ADV #6
AVENGERS #30 AVX
AVENGERS ACADEMY #37
AVENGERS COMIC FOIL LOGO YELLOW T/S

BATMAN BEYOND UNLIMITED #8
BATTLE BEASTS #3 (OF 4)
BATWOMAN #0
BEFORE WATCHMEN NITE OWL #3 (OF 4) (MR)
BIRDS OF PREY #0
BLUE BEETLE #0
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SPIKE #2 (OF 5)

CALL OF WONDERLAND #4 (OF 4) (MR)
CAPTAIN AMERICA AND HAWKEYE TP
CAPTAIN ATOM #0
CATWOMAN #0
COBRA ONGOING #17
COMP GT FIGURE DRAWING FOR COMICS & GN SC
CRIMINAL MACABRE THE IRON SPIRT HC

DANGER GIRL GI JOE #3 (OF 4)
DAREDEVIL #18
DAREDEVIL BY MARK WAID PREM HC VOL 03
DARK AVENGERS #181
DARK HORSE PRESENTS #16
DARK TOWER GUNSLINGER MAN IN BLACK #4 (OF 5)
DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #0
DEAD MANS RUN #3
DEADPOOL KILLS MARVEL UNIVERSE #3 (OF 4) 2ND PTG
DEADPOOL KILLS MARVEL UNIVERSE #4 (OF 4) 2ND PTG
DEADPOOL TP VOL 10 EVIL DEADPOOL
DOCTOR WHO DAVE GIBBONS COLL TP
DOCTOR WHO SPECIAL #32
DOROTHY OF OZ PREQUEL #4 (OF 4)
DR STRANGE PREM HC SEASON ONE

EERIE ARCHIVES HC VOL 11
EXTERMINATION #4

FABLES #121 (MR)
FATIMA THE BLOOD SPINNERS #4 (OF 4)

GARTH ENNIS JENNIFER BLOOD #17 (MR)
GFT BAD GIRLS #2 (OF 5) A CVR QUALANO (MR)
GHOST #0
GHOSTBUSTERS ONGOING #13
GODZILLA HALF CENTURY WAR #2 (OF 5)
GODZILLA ONGOING #5
GREEN LANTERN CORPS HC VOL 01 FEARSOME
GREEN LANTERN NEW GUARDIANS #0

HARVEST #1 (OF 5) 2ND PTG (MR)
HELLBLAZER #295 (MR)

IRRESISTIBLE #3 (OF 4) (MR)

JANE WOMAN WHO LOVED TARZAN HC
JOHN CARTER GN TP GODS OF MARS
JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY TP VOL 02 FEAR ITSELF FALLOUT
JUST US LEAGUE SER 2 ALFRED AS GREEN LANTERN AF
JUST US LEAGUE SER 2 ALFRED AS WONDER WOMAN AF
JUST US LEAGUE SER 2 ALFRED AS THE FLASH AF
JUSTICE LEAGUE #0
JUSTICE LEAGUE FLASH ACTION FIGURE
JUSTICE LEAGUE PARADEMON ACTION FIGURE

KISS #4

LEGION LOST TP VOL 01 RUN FROM TOMORROW
LOBSTER JOHNSON CAPUT MORTUUM #1
LOCUS #620

MARVEL NOW BY QUESADA POSTER
MARVEL SELECT ULTRON AF
MERCILESS RISE OF MING #4
MIGHTY THOR #20 BURNS
MMW ATLAS ERA TALES OF SUSPENSE HC VOL 04
MU AVENGERS EARTHS HEROES COMIC READER TP #3

NEW MUTANTS #49
NIGHTWING #0

PEANUTS VOL 2 #2 (OF 4)
PENGUIN PAIN AND PREJUDICE TP
PETER PANZERFAUST #6
POUND GHOULS NIGHT OUT #1 (OF 4)
PUNISHER BY GREG RUCKA TP VOL 02

REBEL BLOOD TP (MR)
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #0
RED SONJA ATLANTIS RISES #2
REVIVAL #1 3RD PTG
REVIVAL #2 2ND PTG
REVIVAL #3
RICH JOHNSTONS THE AVENGEFULS TP
ROGER LANGRIDGES SNARKED #12
ROUGH JUSTICE SC DC COMIC SKETCHES OF ALEX ROSS

SHADOW #5
SIMPSONS COMICS #194
SONIC UNIVERSE #44
SPIDER-MAN SPIDER-ISLAND TP
SPIDER-MEN #5 (OF 5)
STAR TREK NEXT GENERATION HIVE #1
STAR TREK ONGOING #13
STAR WARS DARTH VADER GHOST PRISON #5 (OF 5)
SUPERGIRL #0
SUPERMAN THE BLACK RING TP VOL 02
SWORD OF SORCERY #0

THANOS FINAL THREAT #1
TRUE BLOOD ONGOING #5

UNTOLD TALES OF PUNISHER MAX #4 (OF 5) (MR)
ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #15 DWF
UNWRITTEN #41 (MR)

VAMPIRELLA RED ROOM #3
VAMPIRELLA VS DRACULA TP
VENOM #25
VENOM CIRCLE OF FOUR TP

WALKING DEAD #102 (MR)
WARLORD OF MARS DEJAH THORIS #15 (MR)
WATCHMEN RORSCHACH III T/S
WINTER SOLDIER TP VOL 01 LONGEST WINTER
WOLVERINE TP GOODBYE CHINATOWN
WOMANTHOLOGY SPACE #1
WONDER WOMAN #0
WORLD OF WARCRAFT PEARL OF PANDARIA HC

X-FACTOR #244
X-FACTOR TP VOL 15 THEY KEEP KILLING MADROX
X-MEN WEDDING OF CYCLOPS AND PHOENIX TP

YOUNG JUSTICE #20

Comics & Collectibles of Memphis posted this list on Facebook. Arrivals at your LCS may vary.

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[Part of our Grant Morrison Reading Project]

 

Welcome to the second part of my week-by-week look at DC One Million, the JLA mega-crossover from September 1998.  Part 1 can be found here.  Let's jump straight into the Morrison-penned 2nd issue of the central mini-series.

 

DC One Million #2

 

12134190479?profile=originalThere’s a subtext that the future is almost lost thanks to the JLA’s hubris in accepting the honours the 853rd Century wants to bestow on them. I was surprised, or maybe more like disappointed, when I first read DC One Million, that Batman didn’t want to visit the 853rd Century to be honoured along with his JLA team-mates. I’ve seen writers argue that comics should give the readers what they need, not what they want, and that’s true here. Batman was actually right. Their duty was to stay where they were needed. The visit to the 853rd century as proposed seems very short, but it is still too long to be away from their stations, and too ‘far away’ to risk not coming back again.

 

Of course, if they all declined, there would be no story, but at least we have one good man – possibly the best of them – showing us what the truly responsible attitude would be, and how heroes are often defined by the sacrifices they make.

 

The Atom refers to how the trip to the future was actually a huge risk that they are now paying for, when he says they need Superman and the Green Lantern and the JLA to cope with the current crisis facing the Earth. Going forward from this, the remaining JLA concern themselves with getting their teammates back from the future, as the first step in addressing the seemingly insurmountable twin problems of the Hourman Virus and Vandal Savage’s bid for world supremacy.

 

In the Lunar Watchtower, the ragtag remnant of the League, Steel, Zauriel, Huntress, Plastic Man and Big Barda, debate whether or not to try to get to Earth immediately or develop a strategy in the Watchtower. They realise that it’s up to them to save the Earth. They are confused as they aren’t sure what elements of the crisis are caused by Vandal Savage, and what by the Hourman virus.

 

(Regarding the fog of war, future speedster John Fox also assumes that his time-travel gauntlets were stolen recently as part of Solaris’ plan, but when we get around to reading Chronos 1,000,000, we’ll find out different...)

 

The Atom hooks up with Oracle and shrinks down to study the Hourman Virus in her bloodstream.

 

I don’t usually get this far on a first date”, he quips.

 

Back in the ‘ground zero’ of Montevideo, some 20th Century superheroes have started fighting with Justice Legion A.  Morrison uses minor ‘science-based’ heroes Firestorm and Ray to make a few points about how many contemporary writers were missing opportunities to make their comics more entertaining and even educational, and less dependent on repetitive punch-em-ups.

 

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It takes J’onn to remind everyone that at the site of a tragedy such as this, they have more dignified and urgent things to be doing than conducting the standard ‘heroes meet and fight’ manoeuvres.

 

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Morrison is having his cake and eating it here, as he’s just had them do just that!

 

J’onn has an important central role to play in 1998, which is counterpointed by how marginal he seems to those celebrating the JLA in the 853rd Century. There is some pathos in how both he and Green Lantern are sidelined by that far-future time, especially considering how much we discover that J’onn will sacrifice for the people of Earth in the years between.

 

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The Martian Manhunter was obviously highly regarded by the creators during Morrison’s JLA period, but this is perhaps the storyline where they managed to put that respect and affection into the story, and we see why they talked him up so much in the interviews as the moral centre and heart of the team.

 

The sense of events spiralling out of control on a grand scale is conveyed with scenes of the military and the President discussing the situation, followed by a scene at Vanishing Point where some 90s Linear Men start to panic about how things are going crazy.

 

General Eiling mentions the Ultramarines he has on standby in the first scene and the Linear Men refer to Gog’s cross-time killings of Superman in Faces of Evil: Gog and indeed they also refer to The Kingdom, the series to which Gogwas apparently a prequel. Just when everything is getting chaotic might seem like a strange point to signpost upcoming storylines, but it does add to the feeling of bedlam.

 

Reading these pointers to upcoming storylines featuring General “Shaggy Man” Eiling, the Ultramarines, and the Kingdom, they combine to form a reassuring message that we are in the hands of creators who have worked things through, and that this story, complex as it is, is being built as part of an even grander well-conceived architecture stretching over several years. This is very different to the seat of the pants, chopping and changing that has become DC's modus operandi in recent years. That much, at least was better then...

 

12134192692?profile=originalThis is the moment that Vandal Savage reveals his hand. We find that Vandal has started putting the members of the Titans group we saw last issue into the Rocket Red warsuits and firing them as remote-controlled nuclear bombs. In fact, the suit that exploded in Montevideo contained Garth/Aqualad/whatever he was called at this juncture. As in sieges and wars of medieval times, Vandal is using the lives of people beloved of his enemies as psychological warfare. Morrison isn’t just using Vandal as a bad man who has been around a long time, but working the experiences, attitudes and tactics that such a man would have acquired during his life into his scenes.

 

This is top-flight superheroic action-adventure.

 

***************************************

 

The Batman in the Future strand

“This is so far from my world. More than years. More than miles”

 

Batman 1,000,000 ‘Peril Within the Prison Planet’ Moench and Guichet/Buscema

 

12134193254?profile=originalDespite declining the honour of being feted in the far future, Batman was ambushed by his 853rd Century counterpart and his ‘soul’ sent forward to inhabit a body in the 853rd Century. The members of Justice Legion A are not without presumptuous hubris themselves.

 

As one of the tie-ins showing the adventures of ‘our’ JLA headliners in the year 852,571, this one has pretty much the same plot as the others. The hero is first talked through their ‘challenge’, then manages to get halfway through it when everything goes crazy and their lives are seriously endangered. Then they overcome the obstacles and realise at the end of the comic that they have to reach the Justice Legion A HQ on Jupiter to hook up with their teammates and save the day.

 

This Batman comic is much the same. It follows a very linear A to B plot as Batman makes his way through the futuristic versions of his rogues gallery imprisoned on Pluto to reach the Batcave where he can access a Boom-suit to take him to Jupiter. The main difference is that his journey isn’t over yet. The Bat-family suite of titles in 1998 was quite extensive and they have been divided up into two strands. One group of Batbooks follow Bruce’s attempts to reach Jupiter in the 853rd Century, whereas the other follows the adventures of his Justice Legion A counterpart in the 20th Century.

 

Perhaps not a lot happens in this comic, but there is plenty of dialogue and the world of Batman 1m is fleshed out well, with plenty of texture added to the background of Morrison’s story. Morrison has developed the idea of Batman representing Hades, God of the Underworld in his modern pantheon by casting the future Batman as the sole jailor of the cold, dark prison planet Pluto. The cleverest twist on the Batman mythos that Morrison has added is the relationship of Robin the Toy Wonder to his Batman.

 

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There’s feeling and sadness and comicbook fun in this scenario. Only in a superhero comic could an adult scarred by such a severe trauma be accompanied on their adventures by something with the persona of their own childhood, pre-traumatised self. Writers of heavy ‘literature’ would struggle to show how the young victim never leaves the adult survivor, but in comicbooks, both personalities can just drive around in a crazy-cool flying car, having a conversation together.

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Viewed from a distance, the plotting of the whole saga is quite careful and controlled. Alan Grant’s script for Shadow of the Bat, in Week One, showed us the origin of Batman 1m intercut with his adventures in 1998. It worked very well as a story-based insight into his psyche and what had made him what he is. However, it says nothing about the bittersweet ‘saving grace’ that Batman 1m was granted, in being accompanied by a robot with the persona of his innocent, younger self programmed into it. The revelations are being measured out week by week. The hand of a single guiding architect on all of the tie-ins becomes more and more evident as we go through this event.

 

Morrison’s notes are all very well. The origins of Batman 1m and his Toy Wonder add up to a very clever twist on the Batman myth, which also comments tellingly on the whole mythos. The childhood persona of Batman wouldn’t be as well used in a story until Neil Gaiman’s Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader in 2009. Whatever about how great these concepts are, Alan Grant and Doug Moench (and as we shall see, Chuck Dixon), each do excellent work in translating those notes into stories. Alan Grant’s is a more self-contained revenge tale. As is clear from so many of his Judge Dredd stories, Grant would seem to be a big fan of Spaghetti Westerns, and his Batman 1m story is very like a revenge western in that mode. Moench’s linear narrative is less self-contained, but is a fun segment of Bruce’s journey as we accompany him on one portion of his long quest to get off Pluto.

 

‘Our’ Batman in the 853rd Century can be followed in Catwoman 1,000,000 and then Robin 1,000,000, before Bruce finally gets to Justice Legion A HQ in DC One Million#3 (in week 4).

 

Catwoman 1,000,000 Devin Grayson and Jim Ballent (week 4)

 

I was looking forward to reading this comic as I find Devin Grayson’s personal story of how she became a DC writer a fascinating one, and I was hoping for an opportunity to talk about her work through this DC One Million tie-in. Alas, her input here seems to be quite minimal as she only seems to have supplied the dialogue after Ballent had plotted and drawn the comic, Marvel style. Even then her work is twice removed, as Ballent would have been working from Morrison’s plot notes in the first place.

 

As for Ballent, I have heard his name mentioned in despatches but my knowledge of his work doesn't extend past his fondness for drawing bowling-ball breasted women. Catwoman 1m’s physique doesn’t diverge from his usual depiction of the female form.

 

Of course, an artist of Ballent’s school has to be up to the difficult (but, it seems, necessary) task of posing the female body so that her boobs and her butt are both on display. In Catwoman1,000,000, however, Ballent goes the extra mile for Morrison’s project and gives us a single frame where the same woman is showing T&A in 3 of the 4 poses in the frame. You go, Jim!

 

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Catwoman 1m has to get through the computer defences to allow Batman access to the Boom Suit which will take him to Justice Legion A’s HQ on Jupiter. This being an age when information is the most valuable currency, Batman 1m’s burglar foe is a hacker who can break into any programme and steal data.

 

The linear plot involves the old trope where what we know of as programming firewalls and virus protection are manifested as robots and sealed doors that Catwoman has to get past. Morrison would return to this story set-up with issue 8 of Batman Inc (Vol 1) where Oracle is the master hacker.

 

What’s amusing is that the terminology for 853rd Century programming and hacking dated after just 15 years never mind 83,000 years later, with lines like the following - 

‘As quiet as a headnet chatroom lobby’

‘Password accepted. Next screen’

‘a 404 wasteland’

One of Grayson’s non-superhero projects was a mini-series called ‘User’, about a young woman who became obsessed with a computer role-playing fantasy life, so perhaps Grayson was a good choice to write the computer hacker version of Catwoman.  Grayson and Mark Waid were an item around this time, so perhaps Morrison knew a little about her, and plotted this issue towards her interests to some extent.

 

Robin 1,000,000 (week 4) Chuck Dixon, Staz Johnson and Stan Woch.

 

This is the final chapter of the ‘Bruce Wayne in the 853rdCentury’ strand, before he joins his teammates for the rest of the adventure.

 

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Like the others the plot simply involves Batman getting a little closer to the means for getting off Pluto and on his way to Jupiter, the headquarters of Justice Legion A, and in this one he eventually makes it off the planet.

 

This is a fine little comic. There are some nice lines in it, such as the “More than years. More than miles” realisation which occurs to Bruce here. Batman is also told that “The light of billions more stars reach us than in your day” in a surprising little revelation when he leaves Pluto’s solid ice atmosphere.  Points like this make the science fiction seem more real, and this particular point highlights the themes of optimism and hope that run through the whole crossover.

 

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Doug Moench, Alan Grant and Chuck Dixon are all to be praised how they manage to handle the fresh new concepts while still fitting them into well-crafted stories, full of meaningful character moments. As we shall see in the Legionnaires / Legion of Superheroes issues, a bunch of cool and weird Morrison ideas thrown into a comic do not always a great story make, if you don’t have something in there that engages the heart too.

 

Robin 1,000,000 is an especially good spotlight on the title character. The Toy Wonder might be Morrison’s single cleverest idea in the whole series. It really illuminates the relationship between Batman and Robin, and cleverly makes what is just figurative – that Robin is the younger, innocent form of Batman - into something that is literally real, and dramatised in front of us.

 

The little guy makes the ultimate sacrifice for Batman here and gets a rather heart-tugging death scene.

 

“Dying? Diagnostics gone to black -- Time for a new model --“

 

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“-- Going now -- Back to the headnet.. “

 

Awww!  Poor little guy!

 

(I will have more to say on Robin faith in a net-enabled eternal life in my next installment.)

 

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The Rest of Week 2

 

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(I'll be looking at Man of Steel, Starman, Green Arrow and Legionnaires in future posts.)

 

Impulse 1,000,000 William Messner – Loebs & Craig Rousseau

 

"Desperate Times -- A Million"

 

In this comic, John Fox, the Flash of the Future, teams up with Impulse to stop the Rocket Red suit manned by Jessie Quick from hitting its target.

 

12134197875?profile=originalThe comic hits the right plot beats, and the time spent with the characters is pleasant enough, probably helped by the fact that we are in the hands of the regular creative team of the time, and Waid had done such good work establishing the great Flash family set-up and supporting cast which Impulse benefits from.

 

Reading it as part of a complete readthrough of DC One Million, however, much of the content of this comic is redundant. There is a lot of space given over to explaining the back-story to this issue – essentially all the important plot elements of DC One Million of the first two weeks. Of course, this is to bring regular readers of Impulse, who haven’t bought into the important issues of the crossover up to –ahem – speed. All the background info does highlight what a strange beast DC One Millionis.

 

Morrison would go on to sell Seven Soldiers of Victory as a modular story that could be read in a number of ways. A reader could follow a particular character or characters as 4-issue arcs, or they could read the issues ‘chronologically’ so that the issues starring the seperate characters are interspliced with each other.

 

The fact is, however, that Seven Soldiers of Victory adds up to a self-contained story, that sooner or later a reader has to read as a single work for it to all add up and make sense. DC One Million, however, is a truly modular story, that was designed to be enjoyed whether the reader read every issue, or just a handful of them. Possibly a reader might only read Impulse, and still get their DC One Million story’. At the other end of the scale however, there must have been very few readers who bought all the issues of the crossover. It would have cost an outlay of around US$80 at 1998 prices, and involved the reader taking a punt on a huge array of creative teams and comic series that they would already have an opinion on.

 

(As for seeing a complete 'Absolute' edition of it now, I'd imagine that the cheif obstacle is that the permissions and royalty rates for each and every creative team involved would have to be negotiated, and perhaps the lawyers and administrative costs of that are prohibitive.)

 

Whereas SSoV was meant to be collected eventually as an artistically complete ‘whole’, DC One Million looks meant to be experienced differently by each and every reader who buys into some or all of it. As many of the issues were, like Impulse 1,000,000, presented as another monthly adventure in a longer series, then the crossover opens out at various points to include whole series, as with Impulse and Starman.

 

12134196296?profile=originalFor myself, I only bought the Morrison-penned issues and a handful of other comics that I’d been buying anyway. What I read then was a hyper-compressed JLA story that affected me in two notable ways. First it gave me the same thrill that superhero comics gave me when I was 10, which is quite an achievement. Secondly, it was one of a handful of reading experiences around the late 90s that made me realise that Superman is actually a hugely interesting and worthwhile character with more to his personality and his potential, than just the big dumb boy-scout that The Dark Knight Returnshad painted him as.

 

Reading DC One Million now (and rereading it over and over for these blog posts), it is a huge, baggy epic that contains so many different storytelling styles and tones, and curious side stories. I also see more clearly the single unifying hand behind it all in some very complex plotting that hit its beats week on week, to tell one long complex story that in one month ‘contained’ the entire DCU of its time.

 

The bagginess, profusion of styles and untidiness is very Morrison, as is the deceptively well-hidden deeper structure and the ‘fractal’ effect of containing everything about the DCU, including just about all its creative staff, in one story told over one month’s output.

  

Azrael 1,000,000 Denny O’Neill/Vincent Giarrano

 

I mentioned last week that this was one of the worst, most insulting comics that I’ve ever read. Perhaps I shouldn’t take it so seriously. It’s clear that the rightly esteemed and venerable Denny O’Neill didn’t take it his contribution to DC One Million at all seriously.

 

12134198697?profile=originalWe begin with the reconvened Order of St Dumas bestowing a powerful costume and wings on a blonde, long-haired muscle-brain type much beloved of 90s fanboys. The comedy turns on how stupid this champion of justice turns out to be, but that leaves us wondering how he was picked for the role in the first place.

 

I guess O’Neill is having fun with what certain Hollywood scriptwriters found to be the central comedic thrust of the Green Lantern mythos. If you give all that power to some guy, what happens if he turns out to be a klutz?

 

12134199669?profile=originalThus Azrael 1m travels through space and time, trailing chaos and needless death in his wake. At one point he almost gets the original Azrael killed by Two-Face, and then kills a Frixit, which a group of Thanagarian Hawkmen were watching over until it wakes up from its centuries-long sleep. Usually the Frixit goes on a cosmic destruction spree, but just sometimes, if it happens to be a Bodlean Frixit, its awakening hastens an age of enlightenment and harmony. Guess which one Azrael discovers this one was after he kills it?

 

Finally he gets a lesson on the nature of evil from his Mentor Sister Dumas, whose cod-profundity betrays O’Neill’s hippy Sixties roots.

 

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The more I read this stupid comic about a stupid lunkhead the more it makes me smile. Sometimes comics are just dumb, preposterous stuff that passes 10 minutes of your time.

 

Denny O’Neill wrote some of the most interesting and ambitious comics DC had produced in the previous few decades, and his stewardship of the Batman titles in the Eighties was assured and consistent, even if some of the directions they took might be frowned on in hindsight.

 

As O’Neill was such a senior DC figure, it’s hard not to see this Azrael 1,000,000 as a thumbing of the nose at Morrison’s whole project. It just feels so tossed off and dismissive of what DC One Million was about. This sense that I get of O'Neill's lack of engagement, verging on contempt for the project, is all the stranger when we consider that O'Neill was the senior editor of the whole Bat-line at this time and the other Batman comics lock into the overall story pretty well.  Thematically, Azrael 1,000,000 rips right through the central thesis of the whole project: that we can trust people endowed with great power to act for the greater good, and with a degree of responsibility and restraint commensurate with their power.  Admittedly real-life would seem to indicate that those with power tend to be motivated by the heedless self-absorption shown by Azrael here, but still...

 

I’m only guessing that O’Neill diverged from Morrison’s plot (and probably ignored it completely) to write this comic. It’s hard to imagine Morrison pegging O’Neill, the regular writer of Azrael, from the outset, as the guy to write a comedy issue. It’s a pity O’Neill didn’t give it his best shot, as some great creators were able to harness Morrison’s far-out ideas to their own strengths to put some very fine comics on the shelves in September 1998.

 

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That's it for Part Two.  Thanks for reading along.  Hope you can join us for Week 3, where the epic events on Earth, 1998 head towards a resolution.

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Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

 

Sept. 4, 2012 -- Michael Goodwin hasn’t just written a great graphic novel – he’s written one that should be required for every school, newsroom and library in America.

 

Economix: How Our Economy Works (and Doesn’t Work) in Words and Pictures (Abrams ComicArts, $19.95) condenses and explains how modern economies work, from roughly the beginning of capitalism to the present. In the process Goodwin explores the great works, models and philosophies of a lot of economists we’ve all heard of, but never understood, including Adam Smith (The Wealth of Nations, 1776), Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels (The Communist Manifesto, 1848), John Kenneth Galbraith (The Affluent Society, 1958), Milton Friedman (Wealth and Freedom, 1962), and Joseph Stiglitz (Globalization and Its Discontents, 2002).

 

12134189689?profile=originalIf that sounds like an unlikely topic for a graphic novel, consider Larry Gonick’s The Cartoon History of the Universe (which, Goodwin told me in a phone interview, was an inspiration). Goodwin was ably abetted by the award-winning artist Dan E. Burr (Kings in Disguise), whose loose, cartoony style complements and brightens up material that usually puts most of us to sleep.

 

Goodwin covers a lot of ground, and it took him more than a decade of writing to boil it down to its essentials. “Often what happened is, I would look at a book on my shelves,” he said with a laugh, “and remember ‘I read that book,’ [so I’d write] like, 20 pages on it, cut that down to two, cut that down to one, cut that down to a panel, [then take] the panel out.”

 

That was one reason he wrote Economix in comics form, he said; the enforced discipline of the medium kept him “from writing a 20-volume work.” But it’s also a natural way for Goodwin to express himself, having grown up with his stepfather, cartoonist Rick Meyerowitz of National Lampoon. Also, he said, “I knew from Larry Gonick that you just remember things better when they’re in comics form.”

 

Which is only important if Goodwin succeeded – and, boy, did he. Not only did he condense hundreds of years and dozens of economic models into an engaging narrative, but he took time out to explode a few modern myths as well. For example, he says, today’s free-market advocates completely misrepresent Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, as do many economists, who fall back on ideal models that don’t take into account the real world.

 

“Basically they took one part of his idea, which is the invisible hand [of the marketplace], and it’s very important, [but] sorta plucked it out of the book and forgot everything else in there,” Goodwin said. “Smith’s approach was to look at everything in the real world and draw conclusions from that. … People who came after him … didn’t even look at how the free market worked any more. They took Smith’s free market, assumed that it had already done its work, and looked at what the economy would look like if that had happened. That’s often still the case today.”

 

Another problem with those ideal models is that they exclude the exercise of power to influence the free market, so that it’s no longer really free. “Trying to explain the economy without mentioning power is like trying to explain politics without mentioning money,” he said. “Economic power and political power always go hand in hand. If you have money you have power, and if you have power one of the things you use it for is to get money.”

But for all the problems and myths surrounding the “dismal science,” and despite today’s political and economic logjam, Goodwin – and by extension Economix – remains fundamentally optimistic. This is due to the experience America had in 1920s and ‘30s.

“If you look at the 1920s, the Great Depression, the way it ground on, the paralysis, the fact that these business leaders clearly had no clue and nobody was doing anything and politics was just paralyzed,” he said. “And the only solution to many people seemed to be a revolution from the left or the right. When Roosevelt was elected – people forget this – a lot of lefties just rolled their eyes. ‘Oh great, a rich kid, like he’s gonna help us.’

“And then the ice cracked. And then you got a massive amount of reform very quickly which set the stage for what was, for all its problems, a good 30-40 years of real prosperity. What’s forgotten now is how unthinkable all these advances seemed in even in 1932. Social Security? But there was a whole generation there when people actually remembered the Depression and the New Deal and the war, which were a great economic lesson. So for a whole generation nobody listened to the conservatives.”

Which raises one problem for Economix – it skewers a lot of sacred cows on the right of American politics, like free-market fundamentalism and trickle-down economics. Is Goodwin worried about a conservative backlash?

“I should be so lucky to become big enough that they have to respond to it,” he laughed.

Contact Andrew A. Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics@aol.com.

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12134027688?profile=originalPreviously, Commando Cody suggested that Lightning Lad, of the Legion of Super-Heroes, violated the Legion code against killing.   In Adventure Comics # 304 (Jan., 1963), the Legionnaire destroyed the space-cruiser piloted by the interplanetary criminal Zaryan the Conqueror.  Nothing in that sequence indicated that Zaryan had been able to escape the destruction of his spacecraft.

 

The issue raised by Commando Cody’s charge is . . . why did the Legion of Super-Heroes subsequently fail to take procedural action against Lightning Lad for causing Zaryan’s death---a direct violation of the Legion Code?

 

In the last session, I reviewed the information regarding the accused, the victim, and the sole witness to the incident, the Legionnaire known as Saturn Girl.  I also reviewed the known facts of the incident.

 

My one-man board of review now reconvenes to examine the factors which may have had a bearing on the Legion’s failure to prosecute Lightning Lad for his apparent violation.

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RESPONSE TO THE INCIDENT.

 

 

In the immediate aftermath of Adventure Comics # 304, it’s clear as to why the Legion did not initiate procedural action against Lightning Lad.  He was killed in the same action that caused Zaryan’s death.  Lightning Lad’s actions, however rash, prevented the major death and destruction that the rogue attack would have inflicted on the Earth.  Any indictment of Lightning Lad would have been a mere formality, pointlessly causing disproportionate injury to the slain Legionnaire’s legacy.

 

In other words, why kick mud on a dead hero?

 

However, in the ensuing months, certain events occurred which should have forced the Legion to reëxamine the question of Lightning Lad’s violation of the Legion Code.

 

 

 

REPORTED SIGHTINGS.

 

 

12134184671?profile=originalThe final panel of “The Stolen Super-Powers” carried a note to the readers, suggesting that Lightning Lad might one day return.  At the time, there was no way to determine if this was a foreshadowing of actual events to come, or if it was simply a narrative hook to keep fans interested in the series

 

There’s no question that the memory of the fallen Legionnaire was kept alive for in the scripts for the upcoming months.  The next few stories contained some reference to Lightning Lad’s noble sacrifice.  The otherwise joyful event of Mon-El’s permanent release from the Phantom Zone, in Adventure Comics # 305 (Feb., 1963), was book-ended by grieving Legionnaires visiting the shrine to their dead comrade.

 

But a mere three issues later brought the most startling remembrance of Lightning Lad, yet.

 

“The Return of Lightning Lad” opens with an honour guard of Legionnaires draping the Legion’s new official flag over his transparent coffin.  During the solemn ceremony, Bouncing Boy is stunned to see Lightning Lad’s arm twitch.  Cosmic Boy writes it off as a trick of the mind caused by their plump buddy’s deep grief.

 

12134184696?profile=originalFortunately for B.B., any plans to schedule him for a mental competency hearing are scratched when the other Legionnaires see the “body” move, as well.  They open the casket and haul out a clearly alive Lightning Lad.  Anyway, he looks and sounds like Lightning Lad, but he claims to be unable to remember anything after he was hit by Zaryan’s freeze-ray.

 

His fellow Legionnaires accept that, but ever the cynic, Cosmic Boy pulls Sun Boy aside and draws a somewhat questionable inference.  Cos suggests that if Lightning Lad’s memory has been impaired, then “his super-power may also have been affected by his death-like experience!  He may have lost his power!”

 

If he no longer possesses a super-power, Lightning Lad cannot remain in the Legion.  He must be expelled.  Sun Boy is aghast at the idea.  It’s unfair to welcome Lightning Lad back to the land of the living and then, in the next moment, tell him he’s out of the club.  Nevertheless, Cosmic Boy holds firm.

 

Of interest, with regard to this board of review, is the fact that Cosmic Boy and, at least, some of the other Legionnaires have no problem with following Legion procedure regarding membership qualifications.  Even to the point of coldness---if Lightning Lad has lost his super-power, then he’s out!  Yet, there is no discussion of his apparent violation of the Legion Code by causing Zaryan’s death.

 

It may have been that the Legionnaires just hadn’t gotten around to that one, yet.  Still, Cosmic Boy was pretty quick on the trigger in raising the matter of Lightning Lad’s possible expulsion.  Saturn Girl was absent for this story; maybe Cos was waiting for her to return, so that she, as the Legion’s leader, could initiate the official charges.

 

 

 

12134185090?profile=originalInstead of taking the immediately obvious tack and having Lightning Lad demonstrate his power right then and there, Cosmic Boy and Sun Boy decide to take their revived buddy along on the next few Legion missions and test his power secretly.

 

Thus begins a coy game of “Does He or Doesn’t He?”---both for the Legionnaires within the fictional tale and for the fans reading it.  Sun Boy becomes convinced that, if called upon to do so, his back-from-the-dead buddy will not be able to cast lightning.  So he decides to cover for Lightning Lad.  Every time L.L. has to use his power, Sun Boy secretly manipulates his own control of light and heat to make it look like their old pal is just as mighty as ever.

 

The story depicts the action in such a way that the reader cannot be sure if Lightning Lad really is firing off bolts of super-lightning, or if Sun Boy’s machinations are only making it seem so.  The Legionnaires, especially Cosmic Boy, are also sceptical.

 

In the climax to the adventure, though, to the surprise of everyone, Lightning Lad is able to unleash a barrage of electricity to defeat the villain of the piece!

 

Sun Boy is particularly astonished.  You see, the reason he was so certain that Lightning Lad was powerless was he had deduced that Lightning Lad wasn’t Lightning Lad, at all!  From various clues, Sun Boy realised that it was Garth Ranzz’s twin sister, Ayla, in disguise.  And, naturally, Sun Boy assumed that Ayla did not have her brother’s super-power.

 

12134185301?profile=originalIt all comes out in the last-page wash.  We learn that when Garth Ranzz’s space-flyer was forced to land on Korbal, his sister was with him, and she was caught in the same blast of energies discharged by the lightning-beasts as her brother was.  Both of them had acquired the power to cast lightning.

 

Ayla, though, had kept her power a secret.  However, after her brother’s death, she kidnapped his body, disguised herself as Lightning Lad, and took his place in the casket, pretending to “come to life.”  In that way, she intended to carry on his work.

 

In a way, she would.  In her own sex and costume, Ayla Ranzz is inducted into the Legion, on her own merit, as Lightning Lass.

 

 

 

REBUTTAL TESTIMONY.

 

 

With the addition of Lightning Lass to the roster, the gloom of her brother’s shadow lifted off the next few Legion stories.  Some fans assumed this was the development hinted at in the final panel of “The Stolen Super-Powers”.  Lightning Lad would, indeed, remain dead; yet, he would “return”, as well, in the character of his sister, Lightning Lass.

 

Other readers were a lot sharper than that.  At least three of them, we know for sure---Todd Walters, of Ithaca, New York and Steven J. Gerstein, of New Rochelle, New York and Caroline Dove, of Wildwood, Nebraska.

 

12134186652?profile=originalTheir letters all appeared in the Smallville Mailsack from Adventure Comics # 311 (Aug., 1963).

 

Todd wrote:

 

In issue No. 155 of SUPERMAN, in the story entitled “The Downfall of Superman” . . . you also had Samson and Hercules in the same adventure.  At the conclusion of this story you revealed that Hercules was COSMIC MAN (Cosmic Boy grown to an adult) and Samson was LIGHTNING MAN (Lightning Lad grown up)!  Now, if Lightning Lad is dead, how could there ever have been a LIGHTNING MAN?  Am I correct in assuming, therefore, that Lightning Lad’s death will not be permanent?

 

Steven said:

 

In ACTION COMICS No. 289, in the story “Superman’s Super-Courtship”, Supergirl and Superman traveled into the far future and discovered that SATURN WOMAN (Saturn Girl, grown up) was married to LIGHTNING MAN (Lightning Lad as an adult).  Yet, in ADVENTURE No. 304, Lightning Lad died to save Saturn Girl.  So the only possible way for Lightning Lad to marry Saturn Girl is for him to be brought back from the dead.

 

And Caroline really didn’t pull any punches:

 

Who are you kidding?  You’ve got all of America’s comic book fans crying their eyes out, grieving at Lightning Lad’s death, except that you and I know that he never really kicked the bucket.  I call the attention of your readers to the story “The Legion of Super-Villains”, in SUPERMAN No. 147, which shows LIGHTNING MAN in one of the sequences.  Since he is our deceased friend, Lightning Lad, grown up, obviously he will be brought back to life.  Right?

 

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If you asked Superman editor Mort Weisinger, he knew all along that he wasn’t pulling any wool over the keen eyes of Legion fans.  And while Mort was known to equivocate from time to time, I think he genuinely did respect the readers’ savvy in this instance.  He responded:

 

Right!  Ever since we published the story which told how Lightning Lad died, we received hundreds of letters similar to the proceeding from sophisticated readers who guessed that Lightning Lad’s demise would only be temporary.  We did not print any of these letters so that his revival could come as a surprise bombshell. 

 

Weisinger goes on to explain that the actual shocker wasn’t in the depicted death of Lightning Lad, but rather in the grim and incredible fashion in which he is restored to life---a resurrection which can only take place at the cost of another Legionnaire’s life!

 

“. . . We defy you to guess which member volunteers to die in his place!” he concludes.

 

 

 

 

Since the testimony in this session ran overlong, this board hereby adjourns until the next court date, when it will review the final evidence and submit its conclusions.

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What’s On My Bookshelf?

12134180458?profile=originalSome time ago, I wrote an article about the trade paperbacks on my bookshelf.  I thought it would be fun to reprise that exercise, but this time with the actual books on my bookshelf.  What does a comic book fan read when he isn’t reading comics?  

 

The Top Shelf: This is my George R.R. Martin shelf.  I became a big Martin fan over a decade ago when my friend Dave recommended Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire to me (Dave also introduced me to Neil Gaiman so I owe him a lot).  I read A Game of Thrones in the summer of 2001.  I immediately moved on to A Clash of Kings, which I picked up at a beachside bookshop because I had finished the first volume and couldn’t wait for the second.  I read A Storm of Swords that fall.  I remember that I bought a hardcover copy the morning before my first daughter was born.  When my other friends found out that I had become a Martin aficionado, they quickly recommended his other work to me.  My friend Jason lent me a copy of Wild Cards.  I promptly devoured it and moved on to the rest of the series.  My friend Ed knew Martin from his sci-fi days and turned me on to Tuf Voyaging.  At that point, I was off to the races.  How could I not love an author who wrote fantasy, science-fiction and superheroes well?  I read Windhaven, Fevre Dream, Dying of the Light and Armageddon Rag.  I read the short story collections like Sandkings, Nightflyers and Portraits of His Children.  I read the Anthologies like Legends and Legends II which introduced me to more great fantasy authors.  At this point, I own a copy of all but two of his books (the long out-of-print Songs the Dead Men Sing and the recent combo reprint Starlady/Fast Friend)

 

12134180671?profile=originalThe Second Shelf: This is my Fantasy Masters shelf, featuring C.S. Lewis, J.K. Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkien (what is it with fantasy authors and initials?).  The Martin shelf takes up the same amount of space because I have more of his hardcovers but I have nearly as many Tolkien books.  Of course, I have The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  My friend Dan introduced me to it when we were in high school.  I read it during my senior year when I was supposed to be in study hall.  I have the complete 12-part History of Middle Earth that features earlier drafts of Tolkien’s epic.  I actually wrote posts about it on the old board before I had an official column.  I may have to dig those out some time for special articles “from the vault.” I also have The Silmarillion and a couple of non-fiction books about Tolkien (The Gospel According to Tolkien and The Inklings).  J.K. Rowling is represented by the full set of Harry Potter books.  I own the British versions that were also published in Canada.  I like that they kept all of the British slang (the American versions removed a few colloquialisms) and I prefer the cover art.  C.S. Lewis is represented by a not-quite-complete set of The Chronicles of Narnia.  I recently noticed that The Horse and His Boy is missing but haven’t replaced it because a) I would want it in the same out-of-print format and b) we have a second complete volume in my daughter’s room. 

 

12134181257?profile=originalThe Third Shelf: This is my Favorite Authors shelf and this is the place where I start to stray from the sci-fi/fantasy ghetto (though not entirely).  James Clavell has a prominent spot on the left hand side.  I fell in love with Clavell’s work when I was a high school student in the late ‘80s.  At the time, I would read anything as long as it was big.  What I like about Clavell is his epic storytelling, his diverse casts and his overlapping plot lines.  Those are some of the things that I like about Tolkien and Martin as well.  I have two copies of Whirlwind.  It’s one of my favorite books and I re-read it every couple of years so I picked up a spare copy at a library sale.  I also have Noble House, King Rat and Shogun though I need new copies of Tai-Pan and Gai-Jin (maybe I can find them at another library sale in October). 

Leo Tolstoy sits next to James Clavell.  I first read War and Peace when I was 15 years old.  It’s another one of my favorite novels and I’ve re-read it every couple of years since.  At this point, I’ve read it somewhere between 10 and 12 times.  I also have Anna Karenina, The Cossacks, Resurrection and collections of shorter novellas.  Tolstoy inspired me to try other Russian authors so I have books by Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Goncharov, Trifonov and Turgenev as well.  I had Solzhenitzen’s Gulag Archipelago at some point but must have misplaced it in one of my many moves.  Keeping with the theme, I store Robert Massie’s biography of Nicholas and Alexandra with my Russian novels (I borrowed his Peter the Great biography from my dad when I was in high school).

The shelf is rounded off with six other authors.  There’s Stephen King, another old stalwart.  The Stand ranks as one of my all-time favorites and I’ve re-read it as often as War and Peace.  I’ve gotten rid of most of my other King books over the years but I now have electronic versions for my eReader instead.  There’s Morley Callaghan.  This is another author that goes back to high school with me.  Callaghan was a contemporary of Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald and he’s considered “the Canadian Hemingway.”  Most of his books are set in Montreal and I love the way that he deals with relationships, introduces social themes and incorporates Biblical imagery.  There’s Robin Hobb.  I was introduced to her work through George R.R. Martin.  He recommended her to people waiting for the next volume of his series.  I have about half of her books, though I’ve read all of them.  The library is a wonderful thing.  There’s Lawrence Watt-Evans.  I was introduced to his work through Kurt Busiek.  They both live in the Seattle area and Busiek credited Watt-Evans as a consultant on his fantasy series, Arrowsmith.  Again, I only have a couple of his actual books.  The library and the eReader supplied the rest.  There’s Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park.  It’s not quite a top five book for me but it’s probably in my top ten and I’ve read it several times.  I’ve enjoyed a few other Crichton books as well but I tend to leave them at our beach house.  It seemed like the perfect place for Pirate Latitudes in particular.  Finally, there’s Mario Puzo.  Like Jurassic Park, The Godfather is in my top ten and I’ve read it a few times.  I was disappointed in a lot of his other novels as they seemed like Godfather-lite but his last book about the Medicis, called The Family, is another masterpiece. 

 

12134181476?profile=originalThe Fourth Shelf: I was an English Literature and Theatre major in college so this is my English Lit shelf.  You can find a bunch of books on mythology, including the classics by Edith Hamilton and Bulfinch.  You can find a solid selection of Shakespeare’s plays like King Lear and MacBeth.  I don’t have a complete set, however, as my student copy was ruined in a leaky basement.  I wanted one for years so Ana found me an e-version through the Gutenberg Project.  I may still get a hard copy someday but it’s no longer a big priority.  You can find copies of plays that I participated in from Restoration comedies like She Stoops to Conquer to modern dramedies like Marvin’s Room.  You can find plays that I watched or studied like Tom Stoppard’s India Ink and Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt.  You can find classic novels like Utopia, Frankenstein and The Great Gatsby.  You can find modern classics like The Robber Bride and The Adventures of Cavalier & Klay.  You can find a few fun things like Shakespeare parodies.  And you can find a few recent additions like Les Miserables (I read it a few years back) and The Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe (which I bought this past winter).

 

The Bottom Shelf: This is where I store my Science Fiction Series.  I’m not trying to hide them as if I’m somehow embarrassed.  Rather, I have so many of them that they’re stacked double and triple deep so the bottom shelf is the best place for them.  This is where I keep all of my Wild Cards softcovers (the couple of hardcovers are up on the George Martin shelf).  Wild Cards is one of the few things I would describe as a “guilty pleasure.”  I enjoy the characters and the superhero action.  But in their attempt to create a grittier world than found in most comic books, Martin and company strayed too far in the other direction.  It seems like every third character is a pimp or a 12134182083?profile=originalprostitute and half of the characters are on one drug or another.  I don’t deny that’s part of the real world but it’s overrepresented in Wild Cards.  Where’s the housewife?  The high school valedictorian?  The people most of us meet everyday?  Oh well.  I’ll keep stopping by as long the characters have unique powers and interesting adventures. 

This is where I keep several dozen Star Wars books.  Timothy Zahn and Kevin Anderson are two of my favorite Star Wars authors.  I was also very impressed with the New Jedi Order series featuring the extra-galactic invasion by the Yuuzhan Vong.  I don’t buy as many Star Wars books as I used to (another tip of the hat to the library and the eReader) but I still have quite a collection. 

I’ve also followed a few of the better Star Wars and Wild Cards authors into their original novels, like Michael Kube McDowell’s Vectors and Carrie Vaughan’s After the Golden Age.  The rest of the shelf is filled up with Babylon 5 books and a few random fantasy authors like Neil Gaiman, Tad Williams and Roger Zelazny. 

 

12134181686?profile=originalThe Extra Shelf: That’s it for my big gray bookshelf.  But that’s not it for my books.  Even after years of downsizing, I have too many books for one bookcase.  I store a bunch of other books in a second bookcase that’s otherwise dedicated to trade paperbacks.  This is my Oversize Shelf.  It’s also my Non-Fiction Shelf.  It houses books about baseball and hockey.  I have a nice collection of histories, encyclopedias and (now mostly outdated) statistics.  It’s the home of musical biographies.  There’s an autobiography by Sting and another by Leonard Cohen.  There’s a book about the Rolling Stones that I bought the same morning as the aforementioned Storm of Swords (memorable because my daughter was born later that night) and there’s Keith Richards’ Life which might be the best biography I’ve ever read.  There are resource books about some of my favorite genre properties like Firefly and Lost.  There’s a book about church history and another about world history (called The Chronicle of the 21st Century which I won as a graduation prize from high school).  And, just for kicks, there’s a book about dinosaurs that I bought at the dinosaur museum in Drumheller, Alberta. 

 

So that’s what I read and what I’ve read.  My bookshelf tells you a lot about me- about my tastes and interests, about my hobbies and inclinations.  And, as much as it may surprise some people, it’s not all comics. 

 

The End

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Comics for 12 September 2012

ACTIVITY #8
ADVENTURE TIME MARCELINE SCREAM QUEENS #3
ALIEN ILLUSTRATED STORY TP
AMAZING FANTASY #15 WALL POSTER
AMERICAN VAMPIRE LORD OF NIGHTMARES #4 (OF 5) (MR)
AVENGERS #1 WALL POSTER
AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #7
AVENGERS CELESTIAL QUEST TP
AVENGERS VS X-MEN #11 (OF 12) AVX
AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #12

BAD MEDICINE #5
BATGIRL #0
BATMAN #0
BATMAN AND ROBIN #0
BATMAN ARKHAM CITY TP
BATMAN ARKHAM UNHINGED #6
BEFORE WATCHMEN COMEDIAN #3 (OF 6) (MR)
BETTIE PAGE IN DANGER #4 (MR)
BIONIC WOMAN #4
BIRDS OF PREY TP VOL 01 TROUBLE IN MIND
BRIGHTEST DAY TP VOL 03
BTVS SEASON 8 LIBRARY HC VOL 02 WOLVES AT GATE
BTVS SEASON 9 FREEFALL #13
BUCKO HC
BULLETPROOF COFFIN TP VOL 02 DISINTERRED (MR)

CAPTAIN AMERICA #17
CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BLACK WIDOW #636
CAVALIER MR THOMPSON A SAM HILL GN
CHEW #28 (MR)
CHRONICLES OF KING CONAN TP VOL 03
CONAN THE BARBARIAN #8
CRACKLE OF THE FROST HC
CREEP #1
CROSSED BADLANDS #13 (MR)

DARK SHADOWS #7
DARK SHADOWS VAMPIRELLA #2
DARKNESS #106 (MR)
DEADPOOL KILLS MARVEL UNIVERSE #1 (OF 4) 2ND PTG
DEADPOOL KILLS MARVEL UNIVERSE #2 (OF 4) 2ND PTG
DEATHSTROKE #0
DEMON KNIGHTS #0
DICKS COLOR ED #8 (MR)
DOCTOR WHO ANNUAL 2012
DOCTOR WHO KEEP CALM IM THE DOCTOR BLUE T/S
DR STRANGE PREM HC SEASON ONE

ESSENTIAL PUNISHER TP VOL 04

FANBOYS VS ZOMBIES #6
FANTASTIC FOUR #610
FAUST COMMUNION COLLECTION TP VOL 03
FEAR ITSELF TP SECRET AVENGERS
FFURY OF FIRESTORM NUCLEAR MEN TP VOL 01 GOD PARTIC FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF SHADE #0

GAME OF THRONES #10 (MR)
GFT JUNGLE BOOK #5 (OF 5) (MR)
GREEN ARROW ARCHERS QUEST TP NEW ED
GREEN ARROW LONGBOW HUNTERS TP NEW ED
GREEN HORNET #28
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #0
GREEN LANTERN THE ANIMATED SERIES #6
GRIFTER #0

HARBINGER (ONGOING) #4
HAUNT #26
HE MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE #2 (OF 6)
HIT-GIRL #1 (OF 5) 3RD PTG
HIT-GIRL #2 (OF 5) 2ND PTG
HOAX HUNTERS #3
HUGO TATE GN (MR)

INCREDIBLE HULK #13
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #1 WALL POSTER
IT GIRL & THE ATOMICS #1 2ND PTG
IT GIRL & THE ATOMICS #2

JENNIFER BLOOD FIRST BLOOD #1 (MR)
JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #643
JUDAS COIN HC

LEGION LOST #0
LOVE AND ROCKETS NEW STORIES TP VOL 05

MANHATTAN PROJECTS #6
MARVEL UNIVERSE AVENGERS EARTHS HEROES #6
MASSIVE #4
MEGA MAN #17
MICHAEL AVON OEMINGS THE VICTORIES #2 (OF 5) (MR)
MMW IRON FIST HC VOL 02
MONDO TP (MR)

NEMESIS TP (MR)
NEW AVENGERS #30 AVX

PUNK ROCK JESUS #3 (OF 6) (MR)

RAVAGERS #0
RESURRECTION MAN #0
ROCKETEER CARGO OF DOOM #2 (OF 4)

SAGA #5 2ND PTG (MR)
SAGA #6 2ND PTG (MR)
SAINT #0
SAUCER COUNTRY #7 (MR)
SCARLET SPIDER #9
SHADE #12 (OF 12)
SO YOU WANT TO BE A COMIC BOOK ARTIST ULT GUIDE SC
SPONGEBOB COMICS #12
STAR WARS CRIMSON EMPIRE III EMPIRE LOST TP
STAR WARS CRIMSON EMPIRE SAGA HC
STAR WARS KNIGHT ERRANT ESCAPE #4 (OF 5)
STAR WARS LOST TRIBE O/T SITH SPIRAL #2 (OF 5)
STRAIN #8 (OF 12) (MR)
STUMPTOWN V2 #1
SUICIDE SQUAD #0
SUPERBOY #0

TEAM 7 #0
THUNDA #2
THUNDERBOLTS TP LIKE LIGHTNING
TRANSFORMERS MORE MEETS EYE ANNUAL 2012 #1

ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN #16 UWS
UNCANNY X-FORCE #31
UNCANNY X-MEN #18 AVX
UNCANNY X-MEN BY KIERON GILLEN TP VOL 01

WARLORD OF MARS #21 (MR)
WINTER SOLDIER #10
WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #16 AVX

X-MEN #35
X-MEN LEGACY #273
X-O MANOWAR (ONGOING) #5
X-TREME X-MEN #3

Comics & Collectibles of Memphis posted this list on Facebook. Arrivals at your LCS may vary.

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A Different Perspective on Spider-Man

12134176856?profile=originalI recently read the Stan Lee- Steve Ditko Spider-Man for the first time. It was an interesting exercise, to say the least. This is one of the revered hallmarks of comic books, the foundation of Marvel and the beginning of modern storytelling. At times, I caught glimpses of the greatness everyone else had seen at the time. I appreciated the way in which Peter Parker’s personal life and Spider-Man’s exploits intersected with each other. But, for the most part, I was underwhelmed. For every classic villain like Kraven the Hunter or the Green Goblin, there was a generic bad-guy like the Crime-Master or the Molten Man. Character motivation tended to be paper-thin.
However, my biggest problem was with Peter Parker himself.


Allow me to explain.


Years ago, I was assigned the task of mentoring a young man who was serving as a chaplain to several local high schools. I approved of his mandate, advocated on his behalf with local churches and looked in on his finances. Before our official relationship, I considered him a friend. I was happy to be the person he would turn to for encouragement and advice. But my estimation of him dwindled the more I became involved in his life.


This young man experienced a run of misfortune. At first, I was inclined to agree with him that he was the victim of bad luck. Yet as unfortunate events piled up, I had second thoughts about the original diagnosis. A lot of this misfortune was easily preventable. For example, he ran out of gas and had to pay for a tow truck to bring him back to town. Then he couldn’t afford groceries because he had spent his money on a tow truck. When someone gave him food, half of the groceries spoiled because he forgot to put them away.


12134177462?profile=originalWe’ve all been in similar situations. When I was in college, I needed a tow truck after my car battery died. So I don’t want to sound unsympathetic. We’re forgetful people sometimes and accidents happen. But when the same kind of misfortune keeps happening to the same person, you begin to wonder if it’s not bad luck. Maybe, that person makes his own bad luck through a lack of planning or some other fault. In this case, I tried to be as encouraging as I could, to offer advice about planning ahead (and having insurance that offers free towing). But I was relieved when my term was over.

That’s kind of the way I felt about the infamous Parker luck. Sure, bad things happen to Peter Parker beyond his control. He’s late for dinner with Aunt May because a super-villain is tearing up midtown. He has to borrow a Spider-Man suit from a costume shop because his regular duds were ripped in a battle. However, a lot of the bad things that happen to Peter Parker are well within his control, especially in social situations.

Peter repeatedly complains about his money problems but he also admits that J. Jonah Jameson only pays him half of what his pictures are worth. Yet for some reason- his lack of initiative, his fear of inconvenience or some other issue- Peter never follows through on his threat to take his pictures elsewhere.

Peter is rude on a regular basis to people who are supposed to be his friends. He often has an ulterior motive that he considers altruistic. For example, he wants to get Betty out of the Daily Bugle building before a villain attacks. But there are other ways to achieve the same goal- methods that don’t involve browbeating and belittling the woman you supposedly love. Later, Peter is befuddled that Betty is mad at him and chalks it up to his typically bad Parker luck. Uh, no, Peter. That wasn’t bad luck. That was you being rude.

12134177687?profile=originalPeter also has problems with his classmates at Empire State University. They consider him standoffish, stuck-up and, once again, rude. Now, this is partially attributable to bad luck. Peter’s Aunt May is in the hospital when he starts a new semester and he’s consumed by his family concerns. That’s understandable. One of my college friends lost her father to cancer while we were in school and pretty much lost a semester out of the ordeal as well. But Peter compounds the problem of bad timing with his own bad manners. When Peter discovers his classmate’s poor impression of him, he doesn’t apologize or explain his personal situation. Instead, he lashes out at them, insulting them and accusing them of perfidy. Uh, Peter. That’s not the way to win friends and influence people. If you told them that you were distracted because your aunt was in the hospital, they would be a lot more sympathetic. They’d probably apologize and maybe even offer to help you out.

For a guy whose motto is “with great power comes great responsibility,” Peter regularly fails to take responsibility for his actions and their impact on other people.

I can understand how this wasn’t a problem at the time. For one thing, Peter Parker’s travails were a step forward from the bland personalities of prior superheroes. Despite his own flaws- and maybe even because of them- Peter’s travails are often as interesting as Spider-Man’s exploits. There’s a soap opera element to his home life that is as intriguing as any mystery villain. It’s a big reason why we come back issue after issue. We aren’t as concerned about Spider-Man beating the Scorpion as we are about Peter winning Betty back.

Secondly, Peter’s main audience at the time was made up of teenagers. They would typically share his self-centeredness, attributing misfortune to outside influences and bad luck rather than his own prickly personality and poor planning. Believe me, I’ve been there. I wince when I recall long rants to my friends about the problems caused by other people. Peter’s original audience might not have noticed this peculiar quirk or hold it against him.

Yet with the perspective of adulthood and of history, I found myself disappointed in Peter Parker. Sure, he’s the everyman of comics. But he’s not the heroic ideal that he’s often touted to be.

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