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My Wish List Never Gets Shorter

12134171490?profile=originalI have a problem. My wish list never gets shorter. I buy a bunch of back issues- maybe a complete run from eBay or an assortment of odds & ends from mycomicshop.com- and soon my wish list is just as long as it was before the purchase.


I guess the real problem is that I like comics. I like a lot of comics. And I like a lot of different comics. I like the comics that come from my childhood and give me that warm nostalgic feeling inside, like drinking hot chocolate. I like the comics that came out when I was entering adulthood and discovering so many new things about life, music and well, comics. I like the comics that are coming out right now and I can’t keep up with all of them. And I like to read the classics that were published before I was born, especially the ones that stand up against the test of time. With so many great and interesting comics over the years, it’s no wonder that my wish list is extensive.


Another part of the problem is that I’m easily susceptible to suggestion. I admit it. When I see an ad on TV for pizza, I get a craving for pepperoni and cheese. I hear a song on the radio, I want to go home and play the album. I can’t be coerced into wanting something I don’t like. But I can be reminded of an interest and have it reignited.

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 Last year, I completed my collection of Generation X- a great series that came out in the ‘90s when I 

was getting back into comics. I had a lot of fun re-reading my favorite issues. 

And I enjoyed the work of some of the creative teams that came along after I had dropped the series. However, as I flipped through each issue, I was rem


inded of other series that caught my eye at the time but that, for one reason or another, I hadn’t followed regularly. My interest was rekindled in cool, late ‘90s series, like Heroes for Hire by John Ostrander and Pascual Ferry. 


I remembered that I wanted to finish my collection of Ka-Zar by Mark Waid and Andy Kubert. And my interest was sparked in titles I had ignored back then, like Maverick (was that Jimmy Cheung before he became a superstar!?). I completed one series only to be inspired to pick up three others.

That’s not an isolated incident either. Last year, I also bought a complete run of Firestorm. I loved Firestorm when I was a little kid but I didn’t have that many of the comics. It was a blast to buy them, and an even bigger thrill to read them. That feeling was so good that I wondered if I could recapture it. Maybe I could buy another complete run of something like Master of Kung Fu. Maybe I could complete my collection of another fun ’80s series like Infinity Inc., Legion of Superheroes or Spectacular Spider-Man. Maybe I simply needed to buy more Firestorm- my collection of the Jason Rusch run is woefully incomplete. See, my wish list never gets shorter! Every purchase piques my interest in something else. 

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I suppose there is a bright side. For one thing, it means I always have something to look forward to. Honestly, the anticipation is part of the fun. I take pleasure in the pursuit of new comics- or older comics that will be new to me. It’s fun to go to a comic shop and flip through back issue bins. It’s fun to fill out an order and have it arrive in the mail.

It also means that I always have something that I’m interested in. I don’t get bored of comics. Not in general. I may become disinterested in a specific series but not in the format, not in the medium. It’s good to be re-inspired from time to time. It’s good to be reminded how much interesting stuff is out there.

I also don’t fear the much-predicted end of comics. If Marvel and DC and everybody else went bankrupt, I’d be fine. Sure, I’d miss new comics. And I’d miss going to the store every couple of weeks. But there are so many back issues to buy- so many series I’ve never even read- that I’d be able to keep going for a long time.

I guess the best part is that I always have a nice pile of comic books or trade paperbacks on the shelf. I always have something to read, something to enjoy, something to love. 

My wish list never gets shorter. Although that’s occasionally aggravating, it’s actually a very, very good thing.


Ps. My Netflix queue never gets any shorter either.

Pps. Don’t tell anacoqui. She’ll just roll her eyes at me. 

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Comics for 21 March 2012

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #682
ANITA BLAKE CIRCUS DAMNED SCOUNDREL #5 (OF 5) (MR)
ARMY OF DARKNESS ONGOING #2
ASTONISHING X-MEN WHEDON CASSADAY ULT COLL TP BOOK
AVENGERS ROAD TO MARVEL AVENGERS TP
AVENGERS WEST COAST LOST SPACE TIME PREM HC
AVENGERS X-SANCTION #4 (OF 4)
AXE COP TP VOL 03

BART SIMPSON COMICS #69
BATMAN #7
BATMAN BEYOND UNLIMITED #2
BATMAN ODYSSEY VOL 2 #6 (OF 7)
BIG BOOK OF KOLCHAK NIGHT STALKER TP
BIRDS OF PREY #7
BIZARRO SUPERMAN II SYMBOL T/S
BLUE BEETLE #7
BPRD HELL ON EARTH LONG DEATH #2
BPRD PLAGUE OF FROGS HC VOL 03

CAPTAIN ATOM #7
CATWOMAN #7
CHARLAINE HARRIS GRAVE SIGHT GN VOL 03 (OF 3)
CLASSIC GI JOE TP VOL 14

DARK HORSE PRESENTS #10
DARKNESS #101 (MR)
DC UNIVERSE ONLINE LEGENDS #26
DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #7
DEAD MANS RUN #2
DEADPOOL #52
DIABLO #3 (OF 5)
DOMINIQUE LAVEAU VOODOO CHILD #1 (MR)

EERIE PRESENTS HUNTER HC
ELEKTRA ASSASSIN PREM HC (MR)

FABLES #115 (MR)
FATHOM VOL 4 #5
FEAR ITSELF FEARLESS #11 (OF 12)
FLASHPOINT WORLD OF FLASHPOINT GREEN LANTERN TP
FLASHPOINT WORLD OF FLASHPOINT THE FLASH TP
FORMIC WARS SILENT STRIKE #4 (OF 5)
FREAKY MONSTERS MAGAZINE #8

GENERATION HOPE #17
GFT ALICE IN WONDERLAND #3
GFT JUNGLE BOOK #1 (MR)
GHOSTBUSTERS ONGOING #7
GOON #38
GREEN LANTERN CHRONICLES TP VOL 04
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #7
GRIMM FAIRY TALES #69

HACK SLASH #14 (MR)
HAUNT #22
HEART #4 (OF 4) (MR)
HELLBLAZER #289 (MR)
HOAX HUNTERS #0

INCREDIBLE HULKS WORLD WAR HULKS HC
INFESTATION 2 TMNT #2 (OF 2)
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #514

JOHN CARTER GODS OF MARS #1 (OF 5)
JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY FEAR ITSELF FALLOUT PREM HC
JUSTICE LEAGUE #7
JUSTICE LEAGUE RISE AND FALL TP

KICK-ASS 2 #7 (OF 7) (MR)
KIRBY GENESIS SILVER STAR #4
KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA ARCHIVES TP VOL 02

LAST OF THE GREATS TP VOL 01 (MR)
LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #7

MARVEL FIRSTS 1970S TP VOL 02
MARVELS AVENGERS PRELUDE FURYS BIG WEEK #2 (OF 4)
MEMORIAL #4 (OF 6)
MICHAEL KALUTA SKETCHBOOK SERIES SC VOL 01
MONOCYTE #3 (OF 4)

NANCY IS HAPPY GN COMPLETE DAILIES 1943-1945 (RES)
NEAR DEATH #6
NEW MUTANTS #39
NIGHTWING #7
NO PLACE LIKE HOME #1 VAR CVR 2ND PTG (MR)
NO PLACE LIKE HOME #2 (MR)

PEANUTS #3 (OF 4)
PETER PANZERFAUST #1 VAR CVR 2ND PTG (MR)
PLANET OF THE APES #12
PROPHET #23

RAGEMOOR #1
REBEL BLOOD #1 (OF 4) (MR)
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #7
RED ROBIN SEVEN DAYS OF DEATH TP
REED GUNTHER #9
ROBOCOP ROAD TRIP #4 (MR)
ROCKETEER ADVENTURES 2 #1 (OF 4)

SCARLET SPIDER #1 3RD PTG
SIXTH GUN #20
SMOKE AND MIRRORS #1 (OF 5)
SNAKE EYES ONGOING (IDW) #11
SONIC UNIVERSE #38
STAN LEES MIGHTY 7 #1
STAR TREK LEGION OF SUPERHEROES #6 (OF 6)
STAR TREK ONGOING TP VOL 01
STAR WARS DAWN O/T JEDI FORCE STORM #0 2ND PTG
STAR WARS DAWN O/T JEDI FORCE STORM #2
STAR WARS OLD REPUBLIC TP VOL 03 LOST SUNS
STAR WARS OMNIBUS OTHER SONS OF TATOOINE TP
STEED AND MRS PEEL #3 (OF 6)
STEPHEN KING JOE HILL ROAD RAGE #2 (OF 4)
STRANGE TALENT OF LUTHER STRODE #6 (OF 6) (MR)
SUPER DINOSAUR #9
SUPERCROOKS #1 (OF 4) (MR)
SUPERGIRL #7
SUPERMAN 52.1 SYMBOL T/S

THUNDER AGENTS VOL 2 #5 (OF 6)
THUNDERBOLTS #171
TINY TITANS #50

ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN BY NICK SPENCER PREM HC VOL
UNCANNY X-MEN #9

VAMPIRELLA #15
VENOM BY RICK REMENDER TP VOL 01

WITCHBLADE #154
WOLVERINE #303
WONDER WOMAN #7

X-FACTOR #233
X-MEN FIRST TO LAST TP

YOUNG JUSTICE #14
YOUNG MISS HOLMES COLL TP VOL 01 CASE 1-2

ZORRO RIDES AGAIN #9

I copied this list from memphiscomics.com. Arrivals at your LCS may vary.

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The Best of Friends

12134166686?profile=originalWe read comics for the action- the fistfights and the big explosions.  We read comics for the superheroes- the bright costumes and the capes.  But we also read comics for the relationships- the romances, the mentors and students, the close-knit team.  Over the years, comics have given us some great friendships.  Here are ten of the best of them. 

 

10. Gambit and Bishop: In real life, friendships are usually based on common interests.  But in fiction, the most interesting friendships are often the ones that bring disparate personalities together.  Bishop was initially suspicious of Gambit, thinking he was a traitor to the team.  However, even before Gambit was exonerated, Bishop overcame his aloofness.  Gambit’s charm was the perfect counterpoint to Bishop’s sullenness, eliciting a cheerful side and even a sense of humor that we hadn’t seen before.12134167095?profile=original

 

9. Wonder Man and Beast: This is another wonderfully whimsical combination.  They made a great pair while they were on the Avengers.  However, they weren’t on the same team for that long a time.  Instead, their friendship truly blossomed after they were separated.  Their reunions and guest appearances were always a delight, and something to definitely look forward to.

 

12134168052?profile=original8. Captain America and Iron Man: This may be a controversial choice as their relationship has been rocky since Civil War.  But that’s what made Civil War so poignant.  Before that, Steve and Tony had been staunch allies and great friends.  Their friendship was defined for me by a series of stories in 1994 and ’95 when Captain America’s super soldier serum was wearing off and Stark Industries was beset by scandal.  The two heroes sat down for a chat in Iron Man #303 and I’ve rarely seen a better depiction of “old friends.” 

 

12134168094?profile=original7. Dick and Donna: Whether they’re Robin and Wonder Girl or Nightwing and Troia, Dick and Donna have always been great friends.  This is a particularly unique combination in that it’s one of the few male-female friendships.  When all of the other Teen Titans were flirting with Wonder Girl, Robin treated her as a true peer.  They relied on each other.  They helped each other.  And they were there to support each other when other relationships went sour. 

 

12134168856?profile=original6. Archie and Jughead: When I was a little kid, I wanted friends like Archie and Jughead.  And, to some extent, my friendships in high school and college were a lot like that.  We just wanted to hang out and have fun, eat hamburgers and flirt with girls.  I can see now that their competing interests kept drawing them away from each other.  But I also know that the deep friendships of youth never truly leave you. 

 

12134169272?profile=original5. Green Lantern and Flash: This is a friendship that spans generations.  It started in World War II when Alan Scott and Jay Garrick would team up in Comic Cavalcade.  It blossomed during the Silver Age when Hal Jordan and Barry Allen became best pals.  And it continued into the modern age when Kyle Rayner and Wally West related to each other as the young kids of the JLA. 

 

12134169673?profile=original4. Blue Beetle and Booster Gold: They’re arguably the most famous friendship in comics.  At one point, they were practically inseparable.  They came to the Justice League separately, but they gelled as soon as they were on a team together.  They were the perfect comedy team, cracking jokes and creating hi-jinx.  However, the friendship wasn’t always good for their reputations as heroes. 

 

12134170269?profile=original3. Wolverine and Nightcrawler: This is one of my favorite friendships and it’s summed up for me in a single line on the cover to Uncanny X-Men #172: “Hey elf, don’t forget the beer- W.”  They had a casual camaraderie that was a perfect for hanging out, playing games, drinking beer, joking around and making silly wagers.  But that casualness belied a deep connection.  That line was written on Wolverine’s wedding announcement, singling Nightcrawler out for affection and essentially asking him to be his best man. 

 

12134170471?profile=original2. Cyborg and Changeling: You never forget your first and Cyborg and Changeling comprised the first friendship that I truly experienced through comics.  Like several of the other combinations, they were a bit of an odd couple.  Cyborg was quiet and stoic.  Changeling was outgoing and comedic.  Yet they complemented each other perfectly. 

 

12134170088?profile=original1. Black Canary and Oracle: There have been a lot of pairs of teammates over the years and I considered some of them for this list but no one has ever worked together quite like Black Canary and Oracle.  Their relationship surpassed teamwork.  They acted in concert, almost as if they were one person.  That close connection carried over into their personal relationship as well.  They were the best of friends even as new teammates, students and adopted daughters entered the picture. 

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Vertigo re-launches with four new titles

Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

DC’s re-launch of its 52-title superhero line last September made explosive headlines, and now the publisher is upgrading its mature-reader line, Vertigo – albeit on a somewhat smaller scale.

 

Four new titles launch in March, three ongoing and one miniseries. DC recently published a preview, given away free at comic shops, with seven pages of each new series. That’s not enough to really offer an opinion – but I’m a fanboy, so naturally I will.

 

12134164856?profile=originalThe title I’m most excited about is Fairest, a companion title to Fables, which has run more than 100 issues (and various miniseries) extrapolating adventures of fairy-tale characters as if they have always existed – immortal (if enough people remember them), enchanted and hiding just outside our perceptions. Remember the Prince Charmings from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves,” “Cinderella,” and half a dozen other stories? Writer Bill Willingham posits that they’re all the same guy, which means he’s something of a cad (but very charming). Jack Frost, Jack the giant-killer, Jack Sprat – all the Jacks, every one, are all the same guy. Which means he’s not terribly stable, but he does get around. You get the drift.

 

12134165063?profile=originalAnd in Fables, we’ve met some very formidable women: Snow White (wife of the Big Bad Wolf), Cinderella (an ultra-competent espionage agent), Beauty (of “… and the Beast,” mayor of Fabletown), and so forth. We’ve also met some women with problems, like the emotionally damaged Rose Red and the cursed Sleeping Beauty.

 

The current adventures of these fascinating females have been terrific fun, and now Fairest promises their previous adventures, which should be equally entertaining. Willingham is again the writer, with award-winning “good girl” artist Adam Hughes on covers, and fan-favorite Phil Jimenez (Wonder Woman) on board for the first storyline (starring Briar Rose).

12134165863?profile=originalA second title setting my comic-book senses a-tingle is The New Deadwardians, a miniseries set in a world mirroring England’s post-Victorian period, where the lower classes have all become zombies, and the upper classes have become vampires to protect themselves. The middle class is still human, but even so London homicide detective George Suttle usually has very little to do, given that most people are already deceased. That changes in the first issue, where an aristocrat turns up dead – well, deader – and Suttle must investigate the murder, which promises to show how the world got this way. Vertigo has already tested these waters with two “Victorian Undead” series – starring Sherlock Holmes fighting zombies and vampires – and if that’s any indication, Deadwardians ought to be good, wholesome, corpse-ridden fun.

 

I’m mildly intrigued by Saucer Country, starring the Mexican-American (and female) Gov. Arcadia Alvarado of New Mexico, who is planning to run on the Democratic ticket for president until she appears to be abducted by aliens. I’m not a big UFOlogist (is that a word?), but the part of the premise that intrigues me is the open use of real-world politics. I don’t want all my comics to become political screeds, and most comics publishers avoid politics so as to not alienate any potential reader, so every once in a while I like to see a comics writer try to tackle relevant issues and not just fantasy.


12134166272?profile=originalThe preview of the fourth title, Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child, doesn’t do much for me. It appears to be the cliché of a twentysomething discovering that they are “the promised one,” with various hidden factions battling for control over him or her (See: The Matrix). In this case it’s a her, a Tulane grad student, who – at a guess – will discover she is the descendant/reincarnation of Marie Laveau (the historical Voodoo Queen of New Orleans), or the new Voodoo Queen, or something similar. Been there, done that, played the videogame. Nor do I much care for the art, by comics veteran Denys Cowan, which relies heavily on scratchy-scratchy rendering I find unappealing.

 

These four books join a line that has canceled or ended a few series recently (DMZ, Northlanders, Scalped) but is still running strong on a line of core titles I truly enjoy, including American Vampire (about a new, more dangerous Wild West breed of bloodsucker), the aforementioned Fables, Hellblazer (starring John Constantine of movie fame), iZombie (a black comedy about monsters trying to fit in) and Sweet Tooth (a sweet-natured tale of post-apocalyptic human-animal hybrids).

 

The four new books fit in well at Vertigo, a line where the only thing the books have in common is a unique vision.

 

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

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Comics for 14 March 2012

ACTIVITY #4
ADVENTURE TIME #2
ADVENTURE TIME #1 (3RD PTG)
ARCHIE THE MARRIED LIFE TP VOL 02
ART OF MOLLY CRABAPPLE SC V1 WEEK IN HELL
ART OF TARA MCPHERSON HC V3 BUNNY MOON
ARTIFACTS #15
ASTONISHING THOR TP
AVENGERS #24
AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #1
AVENGERS ASSEMBLE HISTORY OF EARTHS GN
AVENGERS CHILDRENS CRUSADE HC
AVENGERS HERO 8-IN AF ASST
AVENGERS VS X-MEN BY KUBERT POSTER

BATGIRL #7
BATMAN AND ROBIN #7
BATMAN YEAR ONE DELUXE EDITION HC
BATTLE SCARS #5 (OF 6)
BATWOMAN #7
BLACK BAT GN
BLUE ESTATE #10 (MR)
BTVS SEASON 9 FREEFALL #7
BUCKAROO BANZAI #1 (RES)

CAPTAIN AMERICA #9
CARNAGE USA #4 (OF 5)
CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK #67
CHARMED #19 (MR)
COMEBACK KINGS #2 (RES)
COMPLETE CRUMB TP V1 EARLY YEARS
COMPLETE PEANUTS HC VOL 17 1983-1984
CONAN THE BARBARIAN #2
CRIME DOES NOT PAY ARCHIVES HC VOL 01

DAKEN DARK WOLVERINE #22
DARK MATTER #3 (OF 4)
DARK SHADOWS #4
DARKNESS ACCURSED TP VOL 06 (MR)
DC UNIVERSE BY ALAN MOORE HC
DC UNIVERSE ONLINE LEGENDS TP VOL 02
DEADPOOL #50 2ND PTG
DEATHSTROKE #7
DEMON KNIGHTS #7
DOCTOR WHO ONGOING VOL 2 #15
DRAW #22

ELRIC THE BALANCE LOST #9
EXILE ON THE PLANET OF THE APES #1 (OF 4)

FANTASTIC FOUR #604
FATHOM KIANI VOL 2 #0
FEAR ITSELF HERC PREM HC
FLASHPOINT WORLD OF FLASHPOINT BATMAN TP
FLASHPOINT WORLD FLASHPOINT SUPERMAN TP
FLASHPOINT WONDER WOMAN TP
FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF SHADE #7

GEARHEARTS STEAMPUNK GLAMOR REVUE #2
GEORGE PEREZ ART OF HC
GFT DREAM EATER SAGA TP VOL 02 (MR)
GFT PRESENTS NEVERLAND HOOK #4
GLORY #24
GODZILLA LEGENDS #5 (OF 5)
GREEN LANTERN #7
GRIFTER #7
GRIMM FAIRY TALES #68
GRIMM FAIRY TALES SINBAD TP

HAWK AND DOVE GHOSTS AND DEMONS TP

INCREDIBLE HULK #6
INFESTATION 2 GI JOE #1 (OF 2)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #635

KINGS OF THE JUNGLE ILLUSTRATED REFERENCE TO TARZA
KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #184

LEGION LOST #7
LOBSTER JOHNSON THE BURNING HAND #3 (OF 5)

MARKSMEN #6 (OF 6)
MARVEL FIRSTS 1970S TP VOL 02
MARVEL UNIVERSE 6-IN AF ASST 2012
MEGA MAN #11
MISTER TERRIFIC #7
MMW MIGHTY THOR HC VOL 11
MONSTERMEN AND OTHER SCARY STORIES HC
MORIARTY TP VOL 02 LAZARUS TREE
MOUSE GUARD BLACK AXE #4 (OF 6)
MY GREATEST ADVENTURE #6 (OF 6)

NANCY IN HELL ON EARTH #2 (OF 4) (MR)
NINJETTES #2 (MR)
NORTHLANDERS #49 (RES) (MR)
NORTHLANDERS TP VOL 06 THORS DAUGHTER (MR)
NOWHERE MAN #2 (OF 4)

ORBIT CAST OF DOCTOR WHO
ORCHID #5

PC CAST HOUSE OF NIGHT #5 (OF 5)
PETER PANZERFAUST #2 (MR)
POWERS #9 (MR)
PUNISHER #9

QUATERMAIN #2
QUATERMAIN #3
QUEEN CRAB HC (MR)

RAY #4 (OF 4)
RESURRECTION MAN #7
ROBERT E HOWARDS SAVAGE SWORD #4

SAGA #1 (MR)
SAUCER COUNTRY #1 (MR)
SCARLET SPIDER #3
SECRET HISTORY OF DB COOPER #1
SHADE #6 (OF 12)
SHERLOCK HOLMES CROSSOVERS CASEBOOK SC
SHERLOCK HOLMES VICTORIAN KNIGHTS #2
SHOWCASE PRESENTS YOUNG LOVE TP VOL 01
SIMPSONS COMICS #188
SMURFS GN VOL 11 SMURF OLYMPICS
SNAKE EYES ONGOING TP VOL 02
SPAWN NEW BEGINNINGS TP VOL 02
SPAWN ORIGINS TP VOL 14
STAR TREK 100 PAGE SPECTACULAR 2012
STAR WARS AGENT O/T EMPIRE IRON ECLIPSE #4 (OF 5)
STAR WARS KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC WAR #3 (OF 5)
STRAIN #4 (OF 12) (MR)
STUFF OF LEGEND TP VOL 03
SUBCULTURE WEBSTRIPS GN RETURN OF THE KINGS THRONE
SUICIDE SQUAD #7
SUPERBOY #7

THIEF OF THIEVES #1 VAR CVR 2ND PTG
THIEF OF THIEVES #2
TRANSFORMERS MORE THAN MEETS EYE ONGOING #3
TRANSFORMERS TP VOL 07 CHAOS

ULTIMATE COMICS AVENGERS VS NEW ULTIMATES DOSM TP
ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN #9
UNWRITTEN #35 (MR)

WAR GODDESS #6 (MR)
WARLORD OF MARS #16 (MR)
WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #7
WOMANTHOLOGY HEROIC HC

X-23 #21
X-MEN LEGACY #263
X-MEN SEASON ONE PREM HC

The above list has been copied from memphiscomics.com. Arrivals at your LCS may vary.

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Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

 

If you’re wondering who John Carter is, and why there’s a big, splashy movie about him premiering March 9, let me add two words that will make it all clear:

 

Of. Mars.

 

Does “John Carter of Mars” sound more familiar? It should, because he’s a character that’s been around for exactly a century. His first story began in 1912 in the pulp magazine The All-Story, and was called “Under the Moons of Mars.” It was re-titled A Princess of Mars when it was released as a novel in 1917, with 10 more novels following.

 

12134162667?profile=originalStill not ringing a bell? Then maybe the author’s name might help: Edgar Rice Burroughs. That’s right, the creator of Tarzan of the Apes.

 

Got it now? I’d hope so, because John Carter of Mars is relatively famous, which is why it’s a mystery why Disney decided to drop the “of Mars” for this film’s title, given that the ERB series is the great-grandfather of movies like Avatar and Star Wars. I can understand why Disney would avoid naming it “A Princess of Mars,” since a poorly received movie of similar name – one based verrrrry loosely on the ERB work – sank without a trace in 2009 (starring, believe it or not, Traci Lords).

 

But John Carter of Mars is a big fave in the sci-fi crowd, of which I am a happy member. The first book I ordered from the Science Fiction Book Club in 1968 was A Princess of Mars, and Dejah Thoris – the titular princess – aroused strange longings in my pre-adolescent self. I desperately wanted to be John Carter, a Civil War officer mysteriously transported to Barsoom – that’s what the natives call it – where he can hop around like a grasshopper and is much stronger than he should be, due to the lower gravity and thinner atmosphere. So even Superman owes a debt to John Carter, since his powers were the same in his 1938 debut, and his creators used the same explanation.

 

Speaking of Barsoom’s atmosphere, the first novel establishes that it’s slowly dissipating, suggesting that Carter might have moved through time as well as space – and that the planet is doomed to be as lifeless as it appeared to the scientists of the mid-1800s. But as a Confederate, John Carter is used to lost causes, and he won’t let that happen! Not with the gorgeous Dejah Thoris of the city-state Helium at his side! And his buddy Tars Tarkas, the mighty, green, four-armed Thark warlord! (Many creatures on Barsoom have extra limbs. The humans don’t have anything extra, except Dejah Thoris, who has an extra dose of va-va-voom.)

 

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In addition to trailblazing the whole interplanetary warrior thing (say “thank you,” Flash Gordon and Luke Skywalker), the John Carter books also moved in more-or-less real time, and eventually the novels were about the children of Carter and Thoris. One was named Carthoris, anticipating the celebrity portmanteaus of today.

 

While not as successful as his “big brother” Tarzan, John Carter has had his share of media exposure. He appeared in Big Little Books in the 1930s and ‘40s, and in a syndicated comic strip that ran from 1941 to 1943. He appeared in three Dell comics in the 1950s, as a backup in DC’s ERB books in 1972-73 and a four-issue miniseries at Dark Horse in 1996. The most successful series so far is John Carter of Mars by Marvel Comics, which ran 28 issues and three annuals from 1977 to 1979, and enjoyed the efforts of top creators like Marv Wolfman, Gil Kane and Dave Cockrum.

 

Currently the John Carter concepts are appearing in a variety of titles by Dynamite Entertainment, which brings us to another reason why you may have heard of John Carter lately. The character is in the public domain, but the Burroughs family’s company, ERB Inc., is suing Dynamite anyway for trademark infringement and unfair competition.

 

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As to the movie, it features faces familiar to fans of genre fiction, like Willem “Green Goblin” Dafoe, James “Solomon Kane” Purefoy, Mark Haden “Sandman” Church and Mark “Sinestro” Strong. And if the trailers to John Carter bring to mind Avatar or Star Wars, just remember that Edgar Rice Burroughs is a well from which both James Cameron and George Lucas have drunk deep.

 

As did my younger self, who to this day still dreams of red skies, green warriors and beautiful princesses.

 

Of. Mars.

 

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

 

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Photos:

1. John Carter (TAYLOR KITSCH) By Frank Connor ©2011 Disney. JOHN CARTER™ ERB, Inc.

2. Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins) By Frank Connor ©2011 Disney. JOHN CARTER™ ERB, Inc.
3. White Apes, John Carter (Taylor Kitsch, center) ©2011 Disney. JOHN CARTER™ ERB, Inc.
4. The city of Helium, also referred to as "The Jewel of Barsoom (Mars)," is the home of Princess Dejah Thoris. ©Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.
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The State of Star Wars

12134161056?profile=original35 years after Luke Skywalker destroyed the Death Star, Star Wars is a multi-billion, multi-media empire.  Cartoons, novels, video games and comic books stretch from the beginning of history to the distant future.  They explore places and races that are both new and familiar.  This year, Dark Horse is giving a big push to their line of Star Wars comics with new titles and returning favorites. 

 

Agent of the Empire: This is a new title by John Ostrander, set several years before the original movie.  The high concept is Star Wars meets James Bond.  Jahan Cross is an agent of the empire.  He’s a spy and he does his job well, but he’s not a cruel bully or imperial zealot.  The first mini-series, Iron Eclipse, has brought in a few familiar faces.  Jahan’s supervisor is Armand Isard whose daughter was a major villain in the X-Wing series of novels.  Plus, a couple of smugglers named Han Solo and Chewbacca cross paths with the imperial agent.  There’s potential for more guest stars in the future.  Personally, I’d love to see the imperial assassin and Empire’s Hand, Mara Jade.  

 

The mini-series started out a little soft.  It had a big action sequence but not much more than that.  However, I saw enough potential in the concept that I decided to keep going.  My faith has been rewarded.  The series has steadily improved as the double-crosses have started to pile up.  We’re also getting a clearer depiction of Cross.  He will do what he must in order to fulfill his mission, including kidnapping.   But he won’t go beyond what’s necessary, releasing his hostage after he’s acquired his target.  That show of mercy may be seen as weak by other imperials but it makes Cross stand out.  It should provide more interesting dilemmas as the series progresses.  Can you afford to be a spy with honor while working for an empire that has none?

 

12134161468?profile=originalCrimson Empire III: The first Crimson Empire story came out in 1997 and the second in ‘98.  All three stories star Kir Kanos, the last of the Imperial Guard- the crimson clad guardsmen seen protecting the Emperor in Return of the Jedi.  Like Jahan Cross, Kanos is an honorable man who has given his loyalty to an immoral empire.  However, Kanos’ empire has long since been defeated by the Rebel Alliance and his duty is no longer clear.  He has some loyalty to the remnants of the empire but little sympathy for the traitors, tyrants and brutes who lead it now. 

 

It’s an interesting set-up and you’re never quite sure which way Kanos will turn.  Frankly, the other characters aren’t sure which way Kanos will turn either.  He’s greeted skeptically and treated suspiciously by both rebel and imperials.  Kanos must constantly convince people to trust him.  That’s difficult for him as he trained to fight, not to speak.  Kanos is a sympathetic figure with a weariness that comes from too many defeats and too much isolation.  Unfortunately, the art isn’t quite up to the concept at this point.  Paul Gulacy was one of the best in the business once but his characters look waxen at this point and it’s hard to connect with them emotionally. 

 

12134161300?profile=originalDawn of the Jedi: This could quickly become my new favorite.  John Ostrander and Jan Duursema have been responsible for two of the best Star Wars series of the past dozen years: Republic and Legacy.  However, LucasFilm chose to end Legacy as they wanted to reserve the far future of Star Wars for the more profitable novels.  Ostrander and Duursema astutely chose to go in the opposite direction.  Dawn of the Jedi is the earliest setting for Star Wars to date.  It takes place shortly after the founding of the order, which is still known as the Je’daii.  They also throw in a few Easter Eggs for video game fans.  The Rakata Empire, an ancient and almost extinct species from the Knights of the Old Republic, show up here at the apex of their power providing a recognizable but independent foe for the early Jedi.

 

The first issue was a masterpiece.  It begins with a historical narrative, describing the appearance of the Tho Yor temples on various worlds and their eventual migration to Tythos where the new Je’daii order would begin.  It could have been dusty and academic, but it captured my interest and imagination even as it lifted my spirit.  That introduction allowed the reader to quickly become familiar with this new setting for Star Wars while also allowing Ostrander to jump over decades of build-up and into an immediate conflict between the fledgling Jedi and the expansive Rakata Empire.  Duursema’s art remains rich and luscious.  She easily captures the appearance of multiple species, even giving them uniquely appropriate body language.  It’s truly beautiful to behold.

 

12134162093?profile=originalKnights of the Old Republic: This is a returning series by John Jackson Miller.  The lead character is Zayne Carrick, a former Padawan who was framed for murder by his own Jedi Master.  At this point, Zayne is a free agent.  He has become fully trained in the Force but he has no allegiance to the Jedi Order and no interest in the Dark Side.  At the outset of this current series, titled War, Zayne has been drafted into the Mandalorian Wars.  These events are part of the backstory to the Knights of the Old Republic videogame and characters from that game have been known to appear in previous KotOR comics.  However, that’s an added pleasure for fans of the expanded universe and not necessary information for comic book readers.  I started the previous series unaware of the connections and enjoyed it immensely anyway.

 

The new series has been interesting so far.  Zayne is no longer the inexperienced Padawan.  He’s done a lot in his young life and is fairly confident in his abilities.  But, in many ways, he’s still an innocent.  He eschews blasters and is more interested in protecting survivors than in winning a battle.  He’s also still a little aimless as he’s drafted by one force and then another against his will.  Zayne continues to be tossed about by fate rather than someone who charts his own destiny.  That’s an observation, not a complaint, as it’s consistent with his past characterization.  I wish the art was a little better, though.  The original series had amazing art by Brian Ching.  The art on this series is passable, but not particularly distinctive.   

 

That’s not all.  There are other titles set in the past, in the future and in between.  Knight Errant takes place a thousand years before the movies and a generation before the Darth Bane novels when the Sith were numerous.  Invasion takes place during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion from the New Jedi Order novels, about 25 years after Return of the Jedi.  Darth Vader and Dark Times both follow the final movie, Revenge of the Sith.  The former shows the rise of a young Sith Lord in power and prowess.  The latter follows a former Jedi who has become an independent adventurer still trying to work for justice and peace.  There’s also a Clone Wars comic connected to the current cartoon, taking place between the movies Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.  Coincidentally, Dark Horse and LucasFilm recently announced the return of Darth Maul in both the cartoon and the comics at the end of the summer.  There’s a Star Wars series for almost everyone in almost every era.  

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Comics for 7 March 2012

30 DAYS OF NIGHT ONGOING #5
68 TP V1 BETTER RUN THROUGH THE JUNGLE (MR)

ACTION COMICS #7
AGE OF APOCALYPSE #1
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #681
ANIMAL MAN #7
ASTONISHING THOR TP
AVENGERS 1959 TP
AVENGERS ACADEMY #27
AVENGERS CHILDRENS CRUSADE #9 (OF 9)
AVENGERS X-SANCTION #3 (OF 4) 2ND PTG

BATMAN BIRTH OF THE DEMON TP
BETTIE PAGE IN DANGER #2 (MR)
BEYOND THE FRINGE #1
BLUE HC (MR)
BOYS #64 (MR)
BOYS TP VOL 10 BUTCHER BAKER CANDLESTICKMAKER (MR)

CHARISMAGIC #5
COMPLEAT TERMINAL CITY TP

DC SUPERHERO FIG #102 STATIC SHOCK
DC UNIVERSE ONLINE LEGENDS #25
DEFENDERS #4
DETECTIVE COMICS #7
DICKS COLOR ED #2 (MR)
DOCTOR WHO CLASSICS SERIES IV #2 (OF 6)
DOCTOR WHO ONGOING 2 TP V3 CAME OUTER SPACE

EMITOWN TP VOL 02

FAIREST #1 (MR)
FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND #250
FATALE #3 (MR)
FEAR ITSELF FEARLESS #10 (OF 12)
FERALS #3 (MR)
FLASHPOINT TP

GARTH ENNIS JENNIFER BLOOD #10 (MR)
GHOSTBUSTERS ONGOING TP VOL 01
GI JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO #176
GI JOE VOL 2 ONGOING #11
GIRL GENIUS OMNIBUS HC VOL 01 AGATHA AWAKENS
GOTHAM CITY SIRENS TP VOL 04 DIVISION
GREEN ARROW #7

HAWK AND DOVE #7
HELL YEAH #1
HELLBOY TP VOL 12 THE STORM AND THE FURY
HONEY BADGER ADVENTURES #1
HULK #49
HUNTRESS #6 (OF 6)

INFESTATION 2 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #1
IRREDEEMABLE #35
IZOMBIE #23 (MR)

JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #7

KING CITY TP (MR)
KIRBY GENESIS CAPTAIN VICTORY #4

LADY DEATH (ONGOING) #15 (MR)

MAGDALENA #11
MANHATTAN PROJECTS #1
MARVEL MINIMATES SERIES 43 ASST
MARVEL UNIVERSE 6-IN AF ASST
MARVELS AVENGERS PRELUDE FURYS BIG WEEK #1
MEN OF WAR #7
MICE TEMPLAR VOL 3 #8
MIGHTY SAMSON JUDGMENT TP
MONSTER BASH #14

NEXT MEN AFTERMATH #41
NIGHT FORCE #1 (OF 6)

OMAC #7

RACHEL RISING #6
RED LANTERNS #7
RED SPIKE TP VOL 01
ROBERT JORDAN WHEEL OF TIME EYE WORLD #22

SALEMS DAUGHTER HAUNTING #5 (MR)
SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU #19
SPAWN #217
SPIDER-MAN FALLOUT 4 BLK PX T/S
STAR WARS CLONE WARS YR TP V7 ENEMY WITHIN
STAR WARS CRIMSON EMPIRE 3 EMPIRE LOST #5 of 6
STATIC SHOCK #7
STITCHED #3 (MR)
STORMWATCH #7
SUPERMAN LAST STAND OF NEW KRYPTON TP V2
SUPERNATURAL #6 (OF 6)
SUPURBIA #1 (OF 4)
SWAMP THING #7
SWEET TOOTH #31 (MR)

THE LONE RANGER #3
THOR DEVIANTS SAGA #5 (OF 5)
TMNT MICRO SERIES #2 MICHELANGELO GLOBAL
TOY STORY #1 (OF 4)
TRUE BLOOD FRENCH QUARTER #6 (OF 6)

ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #8
UNCANNY X-MEN #8

VALEN OUTCAST #4
VAMPIRELLA VS DRACULA #2
VAULT TP
VENOM #14
VILLAINS FOR HIRE #4 (OF 4)

WINTER SOLDIER #3
WOLVERINE #302
WOLVERINE AND X-MEN ALPHA AND OMEGA #3 (OF 5)
WONDER WOMAN ODYSSEY HC VOL 02
WULF #5 (RES)

X-CLUB #4 (OF 5)
X-MEN #26

This list is a copy of the list at memphiscomics.com. Arrivals at your LCS may vary.

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Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

 

The new Ghost Rider movie’s ticket sales aren’t very hot, but the controversy raging in the comic-book community is an inferno.

 

12134159083?profile=originalThe story begins in 1972, when the flaming cyclist was created at Marvel Comics by writer Mike Friedrich, editor Roy Thomas and artist Mike Ploog. Comics creators in those days – and often today – don’t own anything they create for the major publishers, because of a contract called “work for hire.” But when the first Ghost Rider movie came out in 2007, Friedrich sued Marvel for partial ownership of the character on a technicality – which would result in a windfall from the movie.


A windfall he desperately needed. Friedrich, now 69, is unemployed, broke and suffering from a liver ailment. He has been making ends meet by selling signed Ghost Rider items at conventions as a paid guest, which according to documents filed in the lawsuit, amounted to a total of $17,000.

But ownership of trademark and copyright isn’t something comics publishers take lightly. Both of the major comics publishers make more money from licensing their library of characters than they do selling comic books, and have even dropped the word “Comics” from their names – they are now Marvel Entertainment and DC Entertainment. And here’s the real bugaboo: According to U.S. law, failure to defend a trademark can lead to losing it.

 

So Marvel – and parent company Disney – went after the lawsuit with their own heads on fire, including a countersuit demanding the $17,000. And they won. In December, Judge Katherine Forrest of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York threw out Friedrich’s suit, and ordered him to pay Marvel the 17 grand. Also, his future income was constrained, in that he can only sign and sell Ghost Rider material that he buys retail.

 

This judgment sent a shock wave across the comics world. Fans were appalled at what looked like the Disney Goliath slamming a sick old David who had done them great service in his youth. Freelance comics creators – which is most of them – shuddered at the prospect of this fate in their own future, and of losing the “gentleman’s agreement” allowing them to supplement their income at conventions with sketches and signatures.

12134159854?profile=original

 

Parsing their words carefully – Friedrich plans to appeal – Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley and Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada told the Comic Book Resources website that the latter, at least, isn’t likely. “Marvel is not looking to make any new policy announcements through this lawsuit,” quoth Quesada. “We in no way want to interfere with creators at conventions providing a positive Marvel experience for our fans,” sayeth Buckley.

 

Even so, the creative and fan community responded. Blogs across the Internet excoriated Marvel, or started petitions for the $17,000 to be forgiven. Steve Niles, creator of “30 Days of Night,” led a charge on Twitter (@steveniles) and set up a Facebook page for contributions (www.steveniles.com/gary.html). Creators such as Gail Simone (Batgirl) and Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother) tweeted encouragement. Longtime creators’ rights champion Neal Adams was one of many who auctioned original art, with proceeds going to Friedrich.

 

“Yesterday the comic industry brought me to tears because of selfishness,” Niles tweeted on Feb. 10. “Today, because of community. … You guys rock.”

 

And, naturally, there were calls to boycott Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, despite that not really serving anyone. That might have led to the film’s disappointing third-place finish on its opening weekend, with a $22 million box office. Or it might have simply been lack of enthusiasm, as the first Ghost Rider performed tepidly.

12134160085?profile=original

 My own take on the movie is that it’s not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It’s an over-the-top popcorn movie that doesn’t attempt any deep philosophy or subtle storytelling. It leans instead on bombastic special effects, beautiful Romanian-Turkish scenery and Nicolas Cage being typically unhinged. I’ve always said Ghost Rider is an impressive visual looking for a story, and this movie is Exhibit A.

 

But even if the movie was Citizen Blaze, it would still be overshadowed by the story behind the story. I won’t waste any breath faulting Marvel’s lawyers for protecting the company’s copyrights, because that’s like criticizing a shark for eating. I choose instead to focus instead on the amazing tale of comics creators and fans rising up like a tidal wave to help one of their own.

 

It’s the best superhero story I’ve seen in years.

 

Go to the “Support Gary Friedrich” Facebook page (www.facebook.com/SupportGaryFriedrich) for more. Contact Andrew A. Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics@aol.com.

Photos:

1. Ghost Rider first appeared in the fifth issue of a try-out book called Marvel Spotlight in 1972, before quickly graduating to his own eponymous title. Courtesy Marvel Entertainment.

2. Nicolas Cage (left) and Idris Elba are the nominal stars of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, but the real star is the special effects. Photo by Egon Endrenyi, copyright 2011 Columbia Pictures Industries Inc. 
3. Ghost Rider can not only take a bunch of bullets, he can also spit them back. Courtesy Columbia Pictures. Copyright 2011 Columbia Pictures Industries Inc.
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Comics for 29 February 2012

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #680
ANGEL & FAITH #7
ASTONISHING X-MEN #47
AVENGERS #23
AVENGERS BIG THREE TP

BABA YAGA BD (NET) (MR)
BATMAN BEYOND UNLIMITED #1
BATMAN ODYSSEY VOL 2 #5 (OF 7)

CARNAGE FAMILY FEUD TP

DARKNESS #100 (MR)
DC UNIVERSE ONLINE LEGENDS #24
DRAKAINA MASTERS SC (MR)
EMPOWERED DELUXE ED HC VOL 01

FATALE #1 VAR CVR 3RD PTG (MR)
FATALE #2 VAR CVR 2ND PTG (MR)
FEAR ITSELF HERC PREM HC
FF #15
FF BY JONATHAN HICKMAN TP VOL 01

GAME OF THRONES #6 (MR)
GEARS OF WAR #22
GFT MYTHS & LEGENDS #13 (MR)
GI JOE 2 RETALIATION MOVIE PREQUEL #2
GI JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO ANNUAL #1
GI JOE YEARBOOK TP
GREEN HORNET #22
GREEN WAKE #10 (MR)

HACK SLASH #13
HELLRAISER #11 (MR)

INVINCIBLE #89
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN TP VOL 08 UNFIXABLE

JOE HILL THE CAPE #4 (OF 4)
JUSTICE LEAGUE #6
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA ARCHIVES HC VOL 10

KEVIN SMITH BIONIC MAN #7
KEY OF Z TP VOL 01 (MR)
KING CONAN PHOENIX ON THE SWORD #2 (OF 4)
KIRBY GENESIS DRAGONSBANE #2

LAST PHANTOM #12
LEGION SECRET ORIGIN #5 (OF 6)
LOONEY TUNES #205
LORD OF THE JUNGLE #2 (MR)

MAGIC THE GATHERING #2
MARVEL VS CAPCOM MINIMATES SERIES 2 ASST
MEGA MAN TP VOL 02 TIME KEEPS SLIPPING
MOON KNIGHT #10

NEW AVENGERS #22

ORC STAIN #7 (RES) (MR)

PHAZER #2
PIGS #6 (MR)
PREVIEWS #282 MAR 2012
PUNISHER BY GREG RUCKA PREM HC VOL 01

RALPH WIGGUM COMICS #1
ROBOCOP ROAD TRIP #3 (MR)

SAMURAIS BLOOD TP VOL 01
SCALPED #56 (MR)
SEVEN BROTHERS OMNIBUS (MR)
SHADE #5 (OF 12)
SIX GUNS #5 (OF 5)
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #234
SPACEMAN #4 (OF 9) (MR)
SPIDER-MAN FANTASTIC SPIDER-MAN TP
STAR TREK ONGOING #6
STEED AND MRS PEEL #2 (OF 6)

TEENAGE NINJA TURTLES MICRO SERIES #3 DONAT
THE IMMORTAL DEMON I/T BLOOD #3
THUNDER AGENTS VOL 2 #4 (OF 6)
TINY TITANS #49
TWELVE #10 (OF 12)

ULT COMICS ULTIMATES BY HICKMAN PREM HC VOL 1
ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #7
ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN #8
UNCANNY X-FORCE DARK ANGEL SAGA HC BOOK 2
UNCHARTED #4 (OF 6)
UNWRITTEN #34.5 (MR)
USAGI YOJIMBO #144

VAMPIRELLA SCARLET LEGION TP
VENOM #13.4
VESCELL #6 (MR)
VOLTRON #3

WALKING DEAD #94 (MR)

X-MEN LEGACY NECROSHA TP
X-MEN PRELUDE TO SCHISM TP
XENOHOLICS #5 (MR)

I've copied this list from memphiscomics.com. Arrivals at your LCS may vary.

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Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

Dark Horse gives illustration great Milo Manara the library treatment

Milo Manara is one of Europe’s most famous artists, known for his beautiful women, meticulous craftsmanship, sweeping landscapes, storytelling skills and even pornography. He’s been reprinted in America before, but Dark Horse is doing it in a huge and comprehensive way, commensurate with the Italian artist’s international stature.

 

The Manara Library is a proposed series of nine hardback volumes, two of which have already been published. And, yes, they are flat-out gorgeous.

 

12134158258?profile=originalVolume One ($59.99) contains two of Manara’s most famous stories, “Indian Summer” and “Paper Man.” Both are American historical pieces tempered by tons of artistic license: “Indian Summer” involves a conflict between Native Americans and Puritans in numbers that never existed and with weapons they didn’t have; “Paper Man” borders on being a comedy, a Western with eccentric characters and relationships that are unlikely, to say the least. Both end in tragedy that is both poignant and sobering, and Manara’s skill is such that you will read them twice – once for the story, and again just to drool over the art.

 

But why listen to me? Here’s Frank Miller (300, Sin City), from his glowing Foreword: “Milo Manara must live in a beautiful world. He certainly shares one with us. His work is not coy nor nor cute nor pretty. It is a joyous gift, a celebration.” It goes on in that vein for quite a while, and it’s hagiography I agree with.

 

Another big name attached to Volume One is Hugo Pratt, who is the author of “Indian Summer.” He’s the creator and writer of “Corto Maltese,” the comics adventure character who’s been sailing the world’s seas – and been a popular international seller – since 1967. As noted, Pratt isn’t big on historical accuracy, but he can tell a slam-bang story.

 

I admit to two caveats. One is that no Manara story is ever safe for the kiddies; “Indian Summer” is predicated on a brutal rape, and both stories involve a lot of sex and half-clothed women. The other is that there is a disturbing thread of misogyny just below the surface of Manara’s work, as female characters are generally subordinate (if not outright owned) by the men. In some sense that’s historically accurate, as “women rights” was an oxymoron until the twentieth century. Or maybe, after decades of cumulative female objectification in American superhero comics, I’m a little hypersensitive. But I feel a little twinge of patriarchal guilt now and then, so there’s something there.

 

12134158483?profile=originalThe Manara Library: Volume Two ($59.99) contains “El Gaucho” and a series of shorts under the umbrella title “Trial by Jury.” Another famous creator, Neil Gaiman, writes another enthusiastic (and insightful) Foreword.

 

“El Gaucho” is another historical piece written by Pratt, this one set in the early 1800s, as the British Navy is making inroads into Argentina in competition with Spain. Once again Manara’s gift for sweeping landscapes (and seascapes) is on full display, as are his beautiful women (mostly in the form of Irish prostitutes brought along to amuse the British officers). Unfortunately, once again any woman that shows any backbone is relentlessly crushed by the consequences, leaving my conscience uneasy. I’m hoping for a slew of legitimate – and successful – heroines in future volumes to balance the scales.


The “Trial by Jury” vignettes are imaginary prosecutions of famous historical figures (Nero, Helen of Troy, Hernán Cortés, etc.), drawn by Manara when he was only 24 for Il Corriere dei Ragazzi (Boys’ Courier) magazine. What’s fascinating here is that Manara had at this time yet to discover and incorporate Jean “Moebius” Giraud’s illustrative style into his own, and shows a strong Spanish influence instead. Admittedly, Manara’s art truly blossoms after he begins to ape Moebius, but here we see a strong foundation already in place that hints at the likes of Esteban Maroto. It’s not Manara’s best work, but it demonstrates incontrovertibly that he is not just a Moebius clone.

 

I mentioned Manara’s pornographic work, and Dark Horse will reprint that as well. Wisely, I think, they’re separating it out into the Manara Erotica Library, whose first volume arrives in May. Needless to say, if you’re offended by pornography, stick with the “main” Manara library.

 

And, by all means, check it out! Suggestions of misogyny aside, Manara’s illustrations are so powerful and sweeping that it’s easy to forget the story and just fall into his panels. As Miller says, Manara is sharing the world in his head, and it’s one where you can gaze at a field of grass for hours.

 

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

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What’s In a Store (Reprise)

12134156875?profile=originalFive years ago, when I was in the midst of a move across the continent, I wrote about my experiences looking for a new comic book store.  I eventually found one that suited my needs.  It happens to be on the other side of town- I live in an eastern suburb and my regular shop is just north of downtown- but it has a good selection of comic books, great customer service and a pull list with a decent discount. 

The other stores that I discovered at the time are still part of my occasional rounds.  I’ll stop by if my regular shop has run out of a hot new issue or if the other store is having a sale.  Sometimes, I’ll simply drop by if I’m in the right neighborhood.  What can I say?  I’m a comic book fan and I like to visit comic book stores. 

Recently, however, somebody at work let me know about a new comic book store that had opened in their suburb, a couple of ‘burbs over from mine.  They thought I would be interested and they were right.  I think I already mentioned I’m a comic book fan and I like to visit comic book stores.  While I was looking up the address online, I noticed that another comic book store had opened in the city in the past two years.  Plus, I found out that there was a third comic book store in another town nearby where I was already planning to vacation that weekend.  So, wish list in hand, I set out an all-new all-different journey of discovery.

12134157078?profile=originalThe first thing that I noticed about the new stores is that they were generally well lit and easy to navigate.  There was plenty of room in the aisles.  An online review summed it up best: “You don’t feel like you’re rummaging through someone’s basement.”  As much as I appreciate the selection at some of the older stores, their inventory can be overwhelming.  The aisles are narrow and crowded.  Comics are piled up in every corner and you have to be careful that you don’t knock them over.  On one of my more recent trips, I even had to step over long-boxes that were laying on the floor in order to reach a shelve of trade paperbacks.  But I didn’t have the same problems at the new stores.  Sure, I had to figure out how the new comics were displayed (one was alphabetical, one was by publisher).  Yet I could find the new comics easily and reach them without obstacles. 

            The second thing I noticed was that the newer stores are child-friendly.  That goes hand in hand with the first item.  One of the new stores had a specific children’s section, complete with child-size chairs and a table of toys so that kids could keep themselves entertained while the parents shopped.  One of the older stores also has a good kids’ section at the front of the store and I’ve brought my daughters there from time to time (my regular store isn’t particularly kid-friendly but they enjoy petting the cat when they come with me).  However, I won’t take my children to a couple of the older ones.  There isn’t much there for them and I’d be too concerned about them bumping over a precarious stack of something or other. 

             I quickly noticed that the new stores were also more customer-friendly.   That stands to reason.  The older stores already have a significant customer base.  They don’t have to work as hard to get new customers.  But those older stores can sometimes be rude and unfriendly.  I haven’t always had bad experiences.  Some clerks are quicker to offer assistance than others and I’ve had some fun conversations at one store about ‘80s cartoons or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  But I’ve also overheard clerks complain about new customers to each other and had one owner actually gripe when I asked him to come out to the cash register from the backroom so that I could pay. 

12134157858?profile=originalThe new stores, on the other hand, put in a concerted effort to engage me as a potential customer.  They were eager to help me find what I was looking for.  They offered me subscriptions with discounts on new comics.  They talked to me.  In one store, a few customers were hanging around having an informal round table.  The owner invited me to stay and join in the conversation.  He even said to me, “Everyone has an opinion worth sharing.”  Then he invited me back for a special Avengers vs. X-Men opening.  I felt welcomed and appreciated. 

I also noticed something surprising.  Something I didn’t expect.  The new stores had a different composition.  The older stores had been around since the 1990s or earlier.  They viewed comic book fans as collectors and they carried other collectibles such as baseball cards.  That view isn’t unwarranted.  The kids of my generation grew up collecting baseball cards and comic books, foolishly thinking we might make tons of money on our “investments.”  But that collectible market fell apart.  I’m always amused to see unopened boxes of baseball cards still sitting on a shelf two decades later at one of the older stores.  As purveyors of collectibles, those older stores heavily invest in comics with variant covers.  They buy extra issues and mark up variants for two, three, four times the cover price. 

            However, the new stores tend to view comic book fans as members of geek culture.  They have comic books.  But they also carry manga or anime.  They display lots of T-shirts and hats.  One store even carries unusual board games- not the ones that you would find at a Toys R Us store but the ones that you’d discover at a gamers’ convention.  It’s a very different view of the customer.  We’re not collectors.  We’re part of a subculture.  They see the overlap between comic book fans and science fiction fans and they offer Dr. Who sonic screwdrivers accordingly.

            I’m overstating the difference a little bit.  I can find Magic the Gathering tables and Dungeons & Dragons player’s guides at an old store and a new one.  But not by much.  I was frankly astonished at the difference in philosophy between those stores that had been around for 15-20 years and those that had opened in the last year or two.

            The final thing or, more accurately, the real first thing I noticed is that several stores opened in the last couple of years.  As comic book fans, we hear a lot about how the industry is in trouble yet the future might not be as bleak as we make it out to be.  New stores are still opening and finding customers.  I find that encouraging.

            That being said, I probably won’t change my habits that much.  My complaints were mostly about the other older stores, not my regular shop.  I still get great customer service.  He keeps a pull list for me, gives me a solid discount and is good about placing reorders.  And, for all their faults, those older stores have one thing I’m looking for: a deep selection of new comics if something sells out and I don’t want to wait.  The new stores simply don’t have the margin for error to order dozens of copies.  However, I was able to find a few scarce comics on my trek- like Daredevil #4 and 5.  And it’s nice to know there are a few new cool stores in town.  If I’m in the neighborhood, I’m liable to drop by and throw a bit of business their way.         

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12134027688?profile=originalAnyone who, as I did, read a Lois Lane comic back in the Silver Age, or anyone who might browse through one of those vintage mags now, will come away with one impression.

 

What in the name of Rao’s green Krypton did Superman ever see in her?

 

Lois Lane was petty, conniving, jealous, prying, and two-faced.  It doesn’t matter which Silver-Age issue of Lois Lane you read; most, if not all, of those traits would have been on display.

 

She claimed to be in love with Superman.  Yet, she spent much of her time trying to ferret out his most private secret---his other identity.  A secret which, if exposed, would completely upend his life and cause him no end of distress.  And in trying to do this, Lois violated Superman’s trust; she violated common decency; and she violated any number of local criminal statutes regarding breaking-and-entering and burglary.

 

When Lois wasn’t doing that, she was preöccupied with luring Superman to the altar.  There, no scheme was too underhanded.  She deceived him, hoaxed him, manipulated him.  She toyed with other men’s affections simply to make the Man of Steel jealous.  Any cruel trick was fair game, if it resulted in her becoming “Mrs. Superman”.

 

12134130073?profile=originalOh, sure, every now and then there would be a story showing Lois doing something heroic or selfless.  But that was only to keep Superman from looking like a total nimrod for having her as his girl friend.

 

Occasionally, he would get sufficiently peeved with Lois to teach her a well-deserved lesson, but in the end, no matter how unflattering things came out, the nosy newshen could always count on Superman remaining her adoring suitor.

 

She might not have felt so secure, had she known that the Man of Steel was simply going through the motions.  Superman no doubt remembered the women who had so captured his heart that his relationship with the lady reporter back home dissolved into “Lois---who?”  And it was only the intervention of harsh fate that ruined the Caped Kryptonian’s chance for happiness each time . . . .

 

 

 

Lori Lemaris

 

 

Lois never really had a chance, for Superman met the first love of his life back in his college days, as Clark Kent.  We learn about “The Girl in Superman’s Past” in Superman # 129 (May, 1959).  While attending a football game at his alma mater, Metropolis University, Clark’s thoughts drift back to the day during his senior year when he spotted a brunette in a wheelchair pushing herself down a steep path.  When the chair’s brake fails, sending the girl careering madly down the slope, Clark comes to the rescue by secretly using his heat vision to melt the wheels.  The chair lurches to a halt, pitching the young woman airborne.  Clark catches her on the fly and sets her back in the chair gently.

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Before he can come up with some lame excuse for why the rubber wheels melted, the girl provides an explanation on her own.  Their eyes lock, as if she had read his mind.  Even more intriguing to Clark is her exotic beauty and hint of a foreign accent.  She introduces herself as Lori Lemaris, an exchange student, and she’s equally taken with the reserved, unassuming Clark.

 

It’s a magical semester for Clark.  He and Lori see each other every chance they can, between their studies and Kent’s duties as Superman.  Then, at the end of the term, Lori tells him that she must return to her homeland.  This brings him to a momentous decision.

 

“I love her!  She’s the kind of girl I’ve always dreamed of marrying---a girl of rare beauty and courage!  I’m going to ask her to be my wife!”

 

As if that’s not drastic enough, Clark realises that his career as Superman would endanger the woman he took as his wife, should criminals learn his secret identity.   So there’s only one thing to do---he’ll reveal his true identity to Lori and then abandon his Superman career!

 

12134132866?profile=originalMeeting Lori at an isolated spot along the seashore, Clark proposes to her.  Lori confides that she loves him, as well, and also that she already knows that he is Superman.  His surprise is followed by devastation, when she tells him that she cannot marry him.  Don’t ask why, she entreats him, just accept it.

 

Clark searches for the answers to Lori’s rejection and uncovers the incredible truth---Lori Lemaris is a mermaid!  It’s confirmed when a near-by dam ruptures and Lori joins Superman to aid the stricken victims.  Afterward, she tells him of her home, the underwater civilisation of Atlantis.  She is one of their race, who adapted to the depths by becoming mermen, communicating by telepathy.

 

Once a century, an Atlantean is sent to the surface world to learn of its progress, and on this occasion, Lori was chosen.  She hadn’t expected to fall in love in the bargain.  But she has her duty to return to her people, just as Clark has his duty as Superman.  Reluctantly, the Man of Steel agrees.

 

 

 

But that wasn’t the end of it.  Years after his college days, Superman would encounter his first love again, and old passions would flame anew.

 

In “Superman’s Mermaid Sweetheart”, from Superman # 135 (Feb., 1960), Clark Kent investigates a whaler’s account of a mermaid interfering with his catches.  The sailor’s description of her reminds Kent of Lori, awakening the memories of his first romance.  That night, seized with the desire to see her again, Kent stands on the rocky seacoast and mentally calls to Lori---“eagerly, every fiber of his being atingle with hope . . . .”

 

12134135474?profile=originalTo his amazement, Lori responds, and the two lovers reunite.  After a dazzling night on the town, Clark changes to Superman and returns Lori to the sea.  Marry me, he asks her, and he’ll quit the surface world forever to live with her in Atlantis.  Lori’s heart says yes, but she tells the Man of Steel that she’ll have to get permission from the elders of Atlantis first.  She’ll return in twenty-four hours with their answer.

 

The next night, an ebullient Lori tells Superman the elders’ answer is “yes!”  Atlantis will be proud to have him as a citizen.

 

Joy turns to disaster, however, an instant later.  The whaler, blaming Lori for his lost catches, has tracked her down.  In vengeance, the seaman hurls his harpoon at Lori’s pet dolphin.  In moving to save the animal, Lori breaks her neck on a stony outcropping.  She’s left paralysed and near death.  Only the need to rush her to medical help prevents an enraged Superman from tearing the whaler limb from limb.

 

“If the woman I love dies,” he tells the sailor in cold fury, “there will be no corner in the universe where you can hide!”

 

The Man of Steel super-speeds the stricken mermaid to Atlantis.  Sadly, its physicians report, there’s nothing Atlantean medicine can do for her.  Desperately, Superman scours the galaxy in search of a surgeon who can save his dying love.  After a hundred disappointments, he locates a water-covered world with a race of merman similar to the Atlanteans.  Their greatest surgeon, Ronal, believes he can help.

 

12134135289?profile=originalSuperman brings the merman to Earth and the surgery begins.  The impatient hero waits nearly a week to learn the results.  But it’s worth it.  The operation was a success, and Lori is well and whole, again.  Superman is ecstatic---until he accidentally discovers with his super-senses that Lori has fallen in love with Ronal.

 

For an instant, Superman is blind with jealousy over the injustice of it.  Then, accepting the reality of the situation, he takes the high ground and leaves Lori with his best wishes.

 

 

Lori Lemaris would become a regular character in the Superman family magazines.  The readers weren’t privy to Lori’s feelings on the matter, but their frequent encounters often stirred the Man of Steel’s feelings for her.  Not a good thing, as far as his relationship with Lois went.

 

 

 

Lyla Lerrol

 

 

In the landmark “Superman’s Return to Krypton”, from Superman # 141 (Nov., 1960), Our Hero is accidently thrust back in time, to the world of his birth before its destruction.  He makes the acquaintance of his parents, the newly married Jor-El and Lara, and posing as a science student,  he works feverishly with his father to find a way to save Krypton’s people.

 

To explain his costume, Superman has taken a job as an extra for a science-fiction movie.  He discovers that the leading lady of the film, Lyla Lerrol, is a stunning beauty.  He can’t take his eyes off her.  He’s delighted when, later, Jor-El and Lara throw a dinner party, and Lyla appears as one of the guests.  The Man of Steel is captivated by her gracious, unaffected manner and her sincere interest in him, even though he is a “lowly” bit-player.

 

12134136876?profile=originalSuperman realises that any romance on Krypton is doomed, so he avoids Lyla, which only piques her interest in him.  It’s not the reaction from men that she’s used to getting.

 

As the plans to save Krypton collapse one after the other, Kal-El is even more determined to keep Lyla at arm’s length.  Though, try as he might, he cannot put the lovely actress out of his thoughts.  He can’t keep her out of his life either, for Lyla has grown positively enchanted with him.  She finds more excuses to visit the House of El and the stranger who barely speaks to her.  One afternoon, on a visit to the local zoo, an escaped beast threatens Lyla.  Jor-El and Superman manage to capture the animal, and the Man of Steel rushes to Lyla’s side.  In that moment, their mutual feelings burst free and they embrace in a passionate kiss.

 

In the days that follow, Superman and Lyla take in the sights of their world---the Jewel Mountains, the Rainbow Canyon, the Hall of Worlds---and their romance blooms.  Only Superman’s hidden knowledge of the imminent death of Krypton haunts their budding love.

 

When the last chance for survival---the space-ark, lost when the evil space-pirate Brainiac abducts the city of Kandor---fails, Jor-El tells Lyla of what is to come.  Instead of dismay, she seizes the brooding Man of Steel and encourages him to live whatever time they have left together to the fullest.  Inspired by her courage and love, Superman comes to a realisation.

 

“Lyla’s right!  If I’m to die here on Krypton, I’d be a fool to waste our last days being miserable!  We’ll face the end bravely . . . together!”

 

12134137493?profile=originalSuperman proposes, and Lyla joyously accepts.

 

 

 

But, as with Lori, fate has other plans.

 

Days later, on the set of the science-fiction film, Superman takes his place in the nose of a “space craft”, in preparation for the final blast-off scene.  In a tragic turn of events, a mishap with the firing process turns it into a genuine launch.  Helpless to do anything to halt it, the Man of Steel, inside the prop rocket, is blasted out of Krypton’s atmosphere, into the depths of outer space.

 

Lyla can only watch in horror.

 

Before Superman succumbs to the vacuum of space, the rocket enters a yellow-sun solar system, and his super-powers return.  He cannot return to Krypton---he would die in space the instant its red sun sapped his powers---yet, he thinks of Lyla and, for a moment, considers it.  With no other choice, he speeds through the time-barrier, back to his own time.

 

As he approaches Earth, he fights back tears when he spots a passing swarm of green-kryptonite meteors, reminding him of the death of his home world, and his parents.  And Lyla.

 

 

 

Luma Lynai

 

 

“Superman’s Super-Courtship”, from Action Comics # 289 (Jun., 1962), opens with Linda (Supergirl) Danvers enjoying a quiet evening of television at home with her foster-parents.  The tearjerking ending of a romance picture (undoubtedly, the Danvers women outvoted the man of the house on that one) sets Linda to thinking about her cousin, Superman.  Surely, she concludes, her cousin is miserable in his lonely life as a bachelor.

 

12134138860?profile=originalJust maybe, though, she could play Cupid, and find the right girl for the Man of Steel, so he wouldn’t have to go through life as an unhappy bachelor.  Notably, she immediately discards Lois Lane and Lana Lang as likely prospects.  However, when she confides her idea to her parents, they dash it with the cold water of reason . . . .

 

“Don’t interfere in Superman’s personal life, Linda,” warns Fred Danvers.  “Every man prefers to pick out his own wife!”

 

“Your father’s right,” says Edna.  “Now forget this nonsense!”

 

But, like all teen-agers everywhere, Linda figures her parents don’t know what they’re talking about, and as soon as they’re asleep, she changes to Supergirl and puts her plan into motion.

 

In fact, she’ll succeed beyond all expectations, and in the process, discover that she should have listened to her mom and dad all along.

 

 

 

Keeping her intentions a secret, the Girl of Steel lures Superman into romantic situations with, first, Helen of Troy, and then with Saturn Woman, of the adult Legion of Super-Heroes.  Both attempts bomb big time, resulting in major embarrassments for the Man of Steel.

 

In the Fortress of Solitude, a contrite Supergirl admits her matchmaking subterfuge to her cousin.  Instead of being tremendously peeved at her meddling, as most fellows would be, Superman is touched by her concern and makes a confession of his own.

 

If he ever did marry, says the Man of Steel, it would be to someone like Supergirl herself.  He’s quick to point out that, on Krypton, it was illegal for cousins to marry, but still there’s a creepiness factor going on there.  Nevertheless, Supergirl isn’t put off by it; in fact, it gives her an idea.

 

12134140276?profile=originalShe programs his ultra-sophisticated computer---most likely, the super-ultivac---with all of her own physical and personality traits.  Just to keep things from being too gross, she adds fifteen years or so in age, then sets the device to “Google” the universe for a match.

 

The computer comes up with just one hit---a super-woman named Luma Lynai, on the planet Staryl.

 

Faster than you can say “Kryptonian babooch”, Superman is zipping his way across interstellar space to the orange-sun system of the planet Staryl.  Arriving on the planet, he wastes no time looking up Luma Lynai.  She’s a dead ringer for his cousin Kara, as she’ll be in ten or fifteen years, as Superwoman.

 

It’s a whirlwind romance all right, because only two panels later, when Kara checks up on things with her super-vision, she finds Superman and Luma in a warm embrace.  She’s even more thrilled when her super-hearing overhears that Luma has consented to return to Earth with her cousin and get married.

 

Supergirl is still peeking with her telescopic vision when she sees the happy couple enter our solar system.  Both she and Superman are mystified when Luma suddenly doubles over in agony and her super-powers fade away.

 

The Man of Steel rushes Luma back to Staryl, where she recovers immediately.  She’s puzzled, but Our Hero pieces together the answer.

 

12134141089?profile=originalJust as a yellow sun gives Superman his powers, the orange sun of Staryl makes Luma super.  And where a red sun erases the Action Ace’s mighty abilities, the yellow sun of our world does the same to Luma, only it’s worse.  A lot worse.  A yellow sun is actually deadly to Luna, the same way kryptonite is to Superman. 

 

She can never live on Earth.

 

No matter, says Superman, without reservation.  He loves Luma, and he’ll abandon Earth to live with her on Staryl.  No, insists Luma. 

 

In so short a time, she knows Superman better than he knows himself.  His sense of responsibility is too strong.  Earth needs him, and she won’t force him to make the terrible choice between love and duty.

 

It’s an inconsolable Man of Steel that returns to Earth, and Supergirl realises that her meddling only resulted in her cousin’s heartbreak.  She should have left well enough alone.

 

 

 

Sally Selwyn

 

 

So far, Silver-Age fans had seen an enamoured Superman ready to divulge his secret identity, to give up his career as a super-hero, to abandon Earth completely---drastic choices made unswervingly for the sake of love.

 

12134142486?profile=originalYet, he never considered doing any of these things in his relationship with Lois Lane.

 

It’s difficult to tell just how much Lois did know about his romances with Lori and Lyla and Luma.  According to Lois Lane # 97 (Nov., 1969), she was aware of his three past loves, but probably not how much the Man of Steel had been willing to sacrifice for them.  Even so, she was no doubt gladdened by the fact that all three were denied to Superman’s heart.  Lori was a mermaid and married to Ronal.  Lyla had perished when Krypton exploded some thirty years before.  And Luma Lynai could never come to Earth.

 

Lois did not know about Sally Selwyn.  She never would know about Sally, and the reason behind that, more than anything else, reveals how Superman could never be truly serious about Lois Lane.

 

 

The star-crossed story of Sally Selwyn began in Superman # 165 (Nov., 1963).  “The Sweetheart Superman Forgot” opens on a hot summer day, on a routine mission for the Man of Steel when he is exposed to red kryptonite.  Knowing that he is likely about to undergo some bizarre transformation, Our Hero streaks to a remote part of the countryside to await its developments.

 

The red k takes hold of Superman in stages.  First comes the irresistible impulse to change to his Clark Kent identity.  Then he is compelled to bury his costume, his wallet, and everything else on his person that would identify him as Superman or Clark.

 

Next, as the summer heat beats down on him, making him perspire, Clark realises that the red k has robbed him of his super-powers.  Before he can take the full measure of that, the last effect kicks in---amnesia!

 

12134143876?profile=originalAs dedicated Superman fans knew, the effects of red kryptonite usually lasted no longer than forty-eight hours.  But in this case, an editor’s footnote informs us, Clark was exposed to a freak form of the stuff.  Its effects will last not days, but weeks.

 

For hours, Clark wanders down a lonely country road, under the blazing sun, until he arrives at a farmhouse.  He barely has time to beg for a drink from a blonde girl milking a cow before passing out from heat exhaustion.

 

Clark awakens in bed, at the sumptuous mansion of Digby Selwyn.  The pretty blonde he mistook for a farmhand is Selwyn’s daughter, Sally.  A self-made millionaire, Selwyn is sympathetic towards Clark, whom they believe to be a down-on-his-luck itinerant.  When asked, the amnesiac Clark gives his name as “Jim White”, from subconscious memories of his friends Jimmy Olsen and Perry White.

 

In a couple of days, “Jim” is well enough to get out of bed, and the Selwyns give him a tour of the estate.  When a sudden lightning storm threatens to explode a cache of dynamite set aside for blasting a drainage ditch, Clark heroically risks his life to move the explosives out of harm’s way, saving everyone else.  In gratitude, Mr. Selwyn gives Clark a job with his logging company.

 

This puts Clark under the oversight of Bart Benson, the company’s knuckle-dragging foreman and general all-around bully.  Benson has designs on marrying the boss’s daughter and doesn’t like the way Sally is already making eyes at Kent.  He rides “Jim” mercilessly, in hopes of making him quit, but Clark bears up under the harassment, impressing Sally further.

 

12134144657?profile=originalAs days turn into weeks, the readers see a unique perspective on the Man of Steel.  As ordinary, memoryless Jim White, we see him as the kind of man he would have been had he not grown up with super-powers or the need to pose as a mild-mannered Clark Kent.  He’s manly and brave, yet kind and caring.  He and Sally spend more and more time together---much to Bart Benson’s irritation.

 

“Jim” and Sally begin to talk of a future together, and Sally offers him a place running all of the Selwyn operations after her father retires.  No, Clark insists.  He wants to make his own way in the world.  He loves Sally, but with nothing to his name, not even memories of his past, he hasn’t the right to ask her to marry him.

 

Sally doesn’t care.  She’s in love with Jim, not any wealth or prestige he might gain.  Yes, she’ll marry him!

 

 

 

The next day, Clark enters a rodeo contest, with the hopes of winning the five-thousand-dollar grand prize as a stake for starting his own business.  But a jealous Bart Benson feeds loco weed to the bronco Clark is slated to ride.  During the event, Kent is thrown violently and lands hard, damaging his spine.

 

12134145477?profile=originalThe diagnosis is grim.  “Jim” will probably spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.  It doesn’t matter, says Sally.  She loves him.  Do you, asks Clark, or is it just pity?

 

Clark wheels himself out to a bluff overlooking a rushing river, to be alone with his thoughts.  From hiding, the malevolent Benson shoves a boulder Clark’s way, to scare him.  Instead, the hurling rock takes a wild bounce and overturns the wheelchair, pitching Kent into the raging waters below.  Unable to swim, water fills Clark’s lungs and he blacks out.

 

When Sally and her father find Clark’s wheelchair lying at the cliff’s edge, they come to the conclusion that Jim threw himself into the water on purpose.  Sally is grief stricken.

 

 

As for Clark, he regains consciousness a week later, in Atlantis.  Lori Lemaris explains to him that Aquaman had discovered him struggling in the water and brought him to her people before he could drown.  Clark has spent the last seven days in an air-filled respiration chamber, seized with delirium.

 

As Clark begins to explain to Lori, the effects of the red kryptonite finally wear off.  His super-powers return, along with his memories.  Except he has no recollexion of what had happened to him over the past several weeks, while he was under the red-k influence. 

 

He doesn’t remember being Jim White.  And he doesn’t remember Sally.

 

Clark returns to his old life.  At work, a chance comment from a journalism student causes him to ponder the fact that, as Superman, he’ll never know if a woman loves him for himself, or for his fame and powers.

 

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Bittersweet as it was, it would have been much kinder to the Man of Steel if the story of Sally Selwyn had ended there.  But that was not to be.

 

The events that led to “The Man Who Stole Superman’s Secret Life”, from Superman # 169 (May, 1964), began years earlier, during Superman’s boyhood.  Smallville teen-ager Ned Barnes nearly died in a house fire before being rescued by Superboy.  Though the boy's face was disfigured by the disaster, plastic surgery could restore his features.  Ned pleaded with the surgeon to alter his face to look like his idol, Superboy.

 

12134147495?profile=originalThe operation succeeded beyond Ned’s wildest dreams.  His face was a perfect match for the Boy of Steel’s.  Inspired, Ned determined to be as much like his hero as possible.  “I’ll be kind and helpful to others . . . unselfish!”

 

It didn’t turn out that way.  Ned may have looked like Superboy, but his best attempts to emulate him resulted in dismal failure.  The other kids taunted him mercilessly and bullies beat him.  Young Ned’s idealism was pounded out of him, to be replaced by an irrational hatred for the hero whose face he wore.  He left Smallville to become a punk thug, and the punk thug grew up to be a hardened criminal.

 

Now an adult, Barnes works for the mob.  Donning a Superman costume, his resemblance to the Man of Steel gets him accepted as the genuine article at a top secret military installation.  With a hidden camera, he photographs the classified plans to a new missile.  However, his impersonation is exposed when he bangs his arm against a metal post and yelps in pain.

 

To get away from the pursuing guards, Barnes waylays a passing motorist and dons the man’s suit and eyeglasses.  Unknowingly, he is now a double for Clark Kent.

 

To elude capture, Barnes takes the country roads, only to have his getaway halted when some wandering cows block the roadway.  Ranchhands arrive to recover the animals, while Ned waits impatiently.  Suddenly, one of the riders calls out excitedly, “Jim!”

 

The cows are Selwyn cattle, and the rider is Sally Selwyn!  She leaps into Ned’s arms and kisses him passionately.  To her, this is the man she knew as Jim White.

 

12134148675?profile=originalBarnes doesn’t have to say a word.  Sally babbles out her own explanation for how “Jim” survived and regained the use of his legs.  It doesn’t make a bit of sense, even by comic-book standards, but she’s so overcome with joy, she doesn’t care.  She takes Ned back home, and the hoodlum plays along, realising that the Selwyn estate makes an excellent hide-out from the law.

 

 

Back at the Daily Planet Building, a teletype newsflash alerts the real Clark Kent to the incident at the top secret lab.  Investigating as Superman, he is troubled by the reports that the spy was his exact double.  As he dogs his impostor’s trail, the Man of Steel decides, though it will be slower going, he will be less conspicuous as Clark Kent.

 

Meanwhile, Ned Barnes is enjoying the fruits of being “Jim White”.  Sally’s love for him, or rather the man she thinks he is, is pure and genuine.  It’s the first real affection Ned has known in his life and he finds himself wanting to be more like the real Jim.  He decides to give up his life of crime.  But first, he must dispose of the evidence of his final criminal act.  He sneaks off into the woods to bury the Superman costume and the camera holding the photographs he took.

 

By chance, Clark Kent has followed Barnes’s trail to the Selwyn ranch, just as Sally arrives to check on the herd.  Clark is taken aback when she greets him with a kiss.  Instinctively, he kisses her back, and as they embrace, suddenly the memories of his previous life as Jim White flood back into his mind.

 

12134150684?profile=originalHe remembers everything, including how much he loves Sally, and how much Sally loves him---for himself!

 

Despite being awestruck at his discovery, Clark keeps his head long enough to realise that someone else had been posing as Jim earlier.  That person could only be the same man who posed as Superman at the lab.  With his super-vision, he locates Ned Barnes, deep in the woods, burying the evidence.

 

Making an excuse to Sally, Clark slips away to think things through.  It doesn’t take long for him to make up his mind.

 

“Now that I’ve found her, I don’t want to lose her again, ever!  I’ll marry her!  Why not?  I love her and she loves me—and I may never again find a girl who truly loves me for myself!”

 

First, though, he’ll deal with that Superman impostor.

 

 

Out in the woods, Ned Barnes has had time to think things out, as well.  His newfound conscience won’t let him go on deceiving Sally.  She deserves the real Jim White and not a phoney like him.  Ned decides to leave before his resolve to do the right thing weakens.

 

12134153075?profile=originalBefore he can do so, he is surprised by two of the mob’s triggermen.  Since Ned failed to show up with the spy photos, his gangland bosses concluded that he double-crossed them.  The two hitmen were sent to kill Ned.  And to drive the lesson home, they’re going to kill Sally first.  One of the assassins raises a rifle and focuses on Sally with its telescopic sight.

 

Desperately, Ned tackles the gunmen.  The struggle takes them to the edge of a rocky precipice.  Loose rock gives way and all three of them plunge into the ravine below.

 

Seconds later, Superman arrives.  A quick check with his x-ray vision tells him the two hitmen are dead and Ned Barnes, nearly so.  With his last breaths, Ned tells Superman the whole story.

 

With genuine regret, the Man of Steel tells the dying man, “I’m sorry that changing your features to look like mine brought such unhappiness to you . . . .”

 

A second later, Ned Barnes is gone.  Superman is free to tell Sally the truth---that he is Jim White, that he loves her with all his heart, and he wants her to be his wife.

 

Instead, he does the most difficult thing he has ever done in his remarkable life.

 

The Man of Steel flies to the Selwyn home and tells Sally, “Jim was killed while saving you from gun-happy prowlers.”

 

 

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With Sally’s anguished cries stabbing like a kryptonite knife into his heart, he streaks off.

 

The mobsters’ attempt to kill Sally drove home the terrible understanding that he has held all of his life---that any girl he married would be a target for his enemies.  The wife of Superman would always be in danger.

 

Yes, it’s the same reason he gives for not marrying Lois Lane, but it’s not the same thing.  Lois Lane is known to be Superman’s girl friend, and Superman’s girl friend is scarcely less of a target for a criminal’s revenge than Superman’s wife.  With Lois, it’s a handy excuse for dodging the altar.

 

But with Sally, the threat is grimly real.  The incident with Ned Barnes and the gunmen was a chilling reminder.

 

With Sally, there could be no games of girl friend-but-not-wife.  With Sally, he could not risk her having any association with Superman.  He couldn’t chance even marrying her as Clark Kent.  Too many of his foes, such as the Phantom Zone villains and the Superman Revenge Squad, knew that Clark Kent was Superman.

 

The only way to ensure the safety of the woman he loved was to keep her completely out of his life.

 

 

 

Of all of Superman’s lost loves, Sally Selwyn had to be the most agonising.  She wasn’t long dead or married to another.  She was within reach. 

 

Maybe that’s why Superman put up with all of Lois Lane’s shenanigans.  It kept his mind off of what was so close, yet so far.

 

12134154495?profile=original

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Comics for 22 February 2012

AFRIKA HC
ALL STAR WESTERN #6
ALTER EGO #107
AMAZING MYSTERIES BILL EVERETT ARCH. HC V1
AMERICAN VAMPIRE #24 (MR)
AQUAMAN #6
ATOMIC ROBO GHOST OF STATION X #5 (OF 5)
AVENGERS ACADEMY #26
AVENGERS SOLO #5 (OF 5)
BART SIMPSON COMICS #68
BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT #6
BATMAN VS BANE TP
BETWEEN GEARS TP
BLACKHAWKS #6
BROKEN PIECES #2
BULLETPROOF COFFIN DISINTERRED #2 (OF 6)

CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BUCKY #627
CAPTAIN AMERICA PRISONER OF WAR TP
CHEW #24 (MR)
CHRONICLES OF KULL TP V5 DEAD MEN
CLASSIC MARVEL FIG#166 MAGIK
CLASSIC MARVEL FIG #167 BEETLE
CLASSIC MARVEL FIG NORTHSTAR & AURORA
COBRA ONGOING #10
COMPLETE CAPTAIN ACTION TP

DANGER GIRL REVOLVER #2 (OF 4)
DARK HORSE PRESENTS #9
DC SUPERHERO FIG COLL MAG #100 RAVAGER
DC SUPERHERO FIG COLL MAG #101 MON-EL
DC UNIVERSE SECRET ORIGINS HC
DEADPOOL #51
DEADPOOL MAX 2 #5 (MR)
DOROTHY AND WIZARD IN OZ #5 (OF 8)
EXPLORER THE MYSTERY BOXES SC

FANTASTIC FOUR #603
FLASH #6
FRANK FRAZETTA BOOK ONE
FURY OF FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MEN #6

GARTH ENNIS JENNIFER BLOOD #9 (MR)
GFT ALICE IN WONDERLAND #2 (MR)
GI JOE DISAVOWED TP VOL 05
GLITZ 2 GO TP (MR)
GODZILLA LEGENDS #4 (OF 5)
GREEN LANTERN NEW GUARDIANS #6

I VAMPIRE #6
INCORRUPTIBLE #27
INFESTATION 2 DUNGEONS & DRAGONS #2 OF 2
INVINCIBLE ULTIMATE COLL HC VOL 07
IS THAT ALL THERE IS HC (MR)

JIM BUTCHER DRESDEN FILES FOOL MOON #5
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #6

KID FLASH 52 SYMBOL T/S
KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #183
KOLOR KLIMAX NORDIC COMICS NOW GN (MR)

LADY DEATH (ONGOING) TP VOL 01 (MR)
LIL DEPRESSED BOY #9
LOCUS #613

MAGNETO NOT A HERO #4 (OF 4)
MEGAMIND MEGA COLLECTION TP
MIGHTY THOR #11
MMW INCREDIBLE HULK TP VOL 02
MONDO #1 (OF 3) (MR)
MORNING GLORIES #16 (MR)

NEAR DEATH TP VOL 01
NEW MUTANTS #38 XREGB
NIGHT O/T LIVING DEAD TP VOL 03 (MR)
NO PLACE LIKE HOME #1

PATRICIA BRIGGS ALPHA OMEGA CRY WOLFV1#5
PHANTOM COMP SERIES HC CHARLTON YEARS
PHOENIX WITHOUT ASHES TP
PROPHET #22

QUASAR CLASSIC TP VOL 01

RASL #13 (MR)
RAY #3 (OF 4)
RED SONJA #64
RED SONJA WITCHBLADE #1

SAVAGE HAWKMAN #6
SECRET AVENGERS #23
SIXTH GUN #19
SOULFIRE VOL 3 #7
SPIDER-MAN #23
STAR WARS DARK TIMES WILDERNESS #4 (OF 5)
STAR WARS JEDI VOL 01 DARK SIDE TP
SUPERBOY UPC SYMBOL T/S
SUPERIOR PREM HC
SUPERMAN #6

TEEN TITANS #6
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ONGOING #7

ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #7
UNCANNY X-FORCE #22 XREGG

VENOM #13.3
VICTORIAN SECRET WINTER WARDROBE
VOODOO #6

WALLY WOOD EC STORIES ARTIST ED HC
WAR OF THE INDEPENDENTS #2
WOLVERINE AND CAPTAIN AMERICA TP
WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #6 XREGG
WOLVERINE PUNISHER GHOST RIDER INDEX#7

X-MEN #25 XREGB
X-MEN AGE OF APOCALYPSE OMNIBUS HC
X-MEN LEGACY #262

This list was copied from memphiscomics.com. Arrivals at your LCS may vary.

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A New Look at New X-Men, Part III

12134125092?profile=originalWe’re getting close to the end.  Over the past two weeks, I’ve written about Grant Morrison’s run on New X-Men.  I wrote about some of the problems I had with his tenure.  But I wrote even more about the things he did right.  So here’s the third and final installment, dealing with the last three trades.  And feel free to take a look at Part I and Part II when you're done.

 

Assault on Weapon Plus

(Issues 139-145: Murder at the Mansion, Assault on Weapon Plus)

 

Grant Morrison’s greatest weakness is plotting.  Sorry, Morrison fans- it’s true.  He has a ton of ideas.  He’s good with characters and even dialogue.  But he is not the best at crafting a tight story or keeping track of a big epic.  During his JLA run, he would occasionally lose track of characters during a big story- forgetting that he sent Martian Manhunter off into space, for example.  Morrison managed to keep things together for most of his X-Men run, but his weakness is exposed in Murder at the Mansion.

Morrison tried to write a play-fair murder mystery.  Emma Frost was murdered and there are more suspects than answers.  Morrison even brings in Bishop and Sage from X-Treme X-Men as investigators.  Character-wise, it’s still a good story.  We see grief and frustration on the part of several students.  We get a greater glimpse into the growing rift between Scott and Jean.  Bishop’s interrogations enlighten us about many of the X-Men.  Morrison also rightly shifts suspicion from one character to another, one of the key hooks of any murder mystery.  

12134125474?profile=originalUnfortunately, Morrison never truly resolves the story.  He provides an answer and then undercuts it.  Perhaps, he was trying to create a cliffhanger.  Perhaps, he wanted to upend the reader’s expectations one more time.  But it doesn’t work.  The ambiguity isn’t intriguing; it’s annoying.  Morrison’s plot promised an answer he never delivered. 

I also had a problem with the second story, Assault on Weapon Plus.  However, this time, the problem may be more about me than it is about Grant Morrison.  I previously mentioned that Fantomex was part of an “Everything You Know Is Wrong” story- a comic book trope in which the previous understanding of a character or situation is completely overturned.  This can be done brilliantly and it can be done terribly.  For me, Morrison’s new take on Weapon Plus was unnecessary.  We already knew a lot about the Weapon X program and its ties to government agencies like Department H and K.  We had already met multiple Weapon X agents, like Deadpool and Kane.  I didn’t see what was gained by changing Weapon X to Weapon 10.  Instead, I could only see what was lost.

Looking back, I see more possibilities than I did at the time.  By changing Weapon X to Weapon Plus, Morrison was able to move Wolverine’s history out of the ghetto of Alpha Flight.  As much as I like Alpha Flight (I am a Canadian after all), they aren’t exactly major players in the Marvel Universe anymore.  Instead, Wolverine now has a stronger connection to pivotal figures like Captain America and new ties to villains such as Nuke.  Those old ties haven’t been erased either. 

 

12134126064?profile=originalPlanet X

(Issues 146-150)

 

Back in the first installment, I mentioned a recent debate about Grant Morrison’s X-Men on the website Comic Book Resources.  This is the story that prompted that debate.  In this tale, Magneto reveals that he has been posing as Xorn this whole time.  He has been manipulating events within the mansion, working behind the scenes to turn things against Xavier.  Now, he takes charge of the outsiders- some of whom had previously fought at the side of Quentin Quire- and leads a new revolution.  He conquers New York and dares the X-Men to challenge him.  He also magnifies his magnetic powers with use of the mutant drug, Kick. 

The depiction of Magneto was the heart of that debate.  Magneto has had a lot of incarnations over the years.  He’s been a terrorist and a revolutionary.  He’s been tragic and noble.  He’s been a teacher and a dictator.  But he had never before been a drug-addled old man and apparently, a lot of fans, didn’t like it.  Personally, I found it fascinating.  Magneto has rejected so-called human morality before.  Why wouldn’t he use drugs?  He’s ambitious enough to want any power he can get and conceited enough to think he could master the drug.  Why wouldn’t he take advantage of a young woman?  Like Deathstroke and Terra, the relationship between Magneto and Esme is supposed to be creepy.  He’s a villain after all.  He’s not above manipulating a young girl to his own ends.

12134126669?profile=originalMy objections concern a different character, although I admit they’re based on emotion as much as any objections to the depiction of Magneto.  I think it was a mistake to get rid of Xorn.  I know that there’s a long history of heroes and villains posing as other characters: Martian Manhunter was Bloodwynd; Booster Gold was Supernova; even in the X-Men, Cyclops was Erik the Red.  But Xorn was an awesome new character.  He was the best addition to the X-Men in a decade.  And I miss him.  I loved the idea of a mutant with a brain for a sun.  I loved the wide variety of things he could do, from gravity manipulation to healing.  I loved his calm and curious demeanor.  I think the X-Men are a more interesting team with him in it.  So I was disappointed to find out that it was all a sham.

Morrison knew that a lot of fans would share that reaction.  As a writer, you want people to be invested in your stories and you delight in eliciting an emotional reaction that strong.  He even gave voice to those emotions by having Ernst repeatedly mention that she missed Xorn.  But the clever ploy backfired.  While I can admire the craft of the story, I would have preferred to have a great new character kept in play. 

 

12134127283?profile=originalHere Comes Tomorrow

(Issues 151-154)

 

I honestly don’t have much to say about Here Comes Tomorrow.  It’s an alternate future story and we’ve seen a lot of them.  Some of them have been great, including Morrison’s Rock of Ages story in JLA.  Some of them have been lousy.  This one was somewhere in the middle.  It had a lot of action.  It had some good moments, like the new Phoenix.  But altogether, it was kind of mediocre. 

I think that part of the problem is that we were given an unfamiliar character as a protagonist.  It’s hard to get invested in his story when we don’t know who he is.  Another part of the problem is that the story didn’t have a direct connection to the present.  We didn’t have one of our characters trying to get back from the future, like Rock of Ages.  We didn’t have a future character trying to change things in our own time, like the classic X-Men story, Days of Future Past, which inspired this one.  It didn’t feel as if the outcome of the story mattered either way.  It was an interesting exercise.  And it answered a few questions.  But it wasn’t a compelling story.   

 

And that’s the end. 

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Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

 

We're all Yiddishkeit now

 

Shalom!

 

Ever wonder why you know so many Yiddish words, fellow goyim? I know I have – I’ve used words like putz, schmuck, klutz and schnozz most of my life, without any idea where I picked them up. Was it from MAD magazine? The Marx Brothers? Fiddler on the Roof? Stan Lee (Stanley Lieber) and Jack Kirby (Jacob Kurtzberg) at Marvel Comics? Blazing Saddles and other Mel Brooks movies?

 

12134127857?profile=originalIt could have been any or all, because American entertainment is thoroughly suffused with the sensibilities of Yiddish-speaking Jews, a people who fled pogroms in places like Poland and Russia to the New World. These gentle folk from the rural villages of Eastern Europe had a unique viewpoint and wry sense of humor that was embraced in cultural meccas like Hollywood and New York City. From there, they taught boys from Tacoma to Tampa to want to be a mensch, and girls to want to be zaftig.

 

Which is why I have always wanted a book like Yiddishkeit: Jewish Vernacular & the New Land (Abrams ComicArts, $32.95). Edited by Paul Buhle and the late Harvey Pekar, Yiddishkeit traces the history and influence of Yiddish from medieval Europe to the tenements of New York’s Lower East Side through a collection of comics stories.

 

It’s more than just a history, though, because Yiddishkeit is a sprawling, untranslatable concept that embodies a language, a culture, a set of values, a way of thinking, a sensibility. Sure, we learn a lot of historical facts in Yiddishkeit,but if you don’t feel what the words and pictures are conveying, you’re missing the best part.

 

And there’s probably nobody better for this task than Harvey Pekar, famed for his American Splendor comic books and movie, and the Our Cancer Year graphic novel. Pekar’s relentless perfectionism and irritable kvetching are as much a reflection of Yiddishkeit as the funny stuff, and his stamp is all over the book, especially in the pieces he wrote. Pekar died in 2010, and Yiddishkeit is probably his last sustained professional effort.

 

Comics fans will recognize other names as well, including Danny Fingeroth (a long-time Spider-Man editor), Peter Kuper (The Jungle, among others) and Spain Rodriguez (Trashman, Che: A Graphic Biography). Plus there’s co-editor Buhle, who’s written 42 books, several about the intersection of Jews and comic books.

 

From these diverse – and all-star – hands arises Yiddishkeit, felt more with the heart than understood with the head. Which is itself reflective of the Jewish experience, and its influence on America.

 

So don’t be a schmoe! Get off your tukhus and buy Yiddishkeit already!

 

Elsewhere:

 

12134128065?profile=original"Good girl art” is a comic-book term that really means “good and sexy.” Which gives you an idea what’s in Naughty and Nice: The Good Girl Art of Bruce Timm (Flesk, $50).

 

But there’s a twist: Timm is the animation genius who gave us Batman: The Animated Series, and a veteran of various animation studios, so these sexy girls – most in states of undress – have a definite cartoonish vibe. So, although I wouldn’t show this book to the kiddies, it’s more arty (cartoony?) than dirty. Somehow, despite the nudity, these pin-ups are almost wholesome, more coquettish than slutty.

 

Another delightful aspect of the book is that DC Entertainment has allowed Timm to include a number of (fully dressed) heroines from their comic books, some of which Timm has personally re-invented for the small screen. So you’ll see Batgirl, Poison Ivy, Catwoman and other Bat-characters, plus a great many DC supergirls we’ve never seen him draw before.


A further interesting angle is that Timm is clearly not a fan of the exaggerated busts so typical of comic books. His girls are all petite. Even when dealing with notoriously top-heavy characters like Power Girl and Big Barda, he keeps the hip-waist-bust ratio plausibly proportioned.

 

I confess that after a while a lot of these pin-ups – all of the same body type, all of them sloe-eyed and girlish – tend to blur together. But the book amply demonstrates something I’ve always admired about Timm’s art: His ability to effortlessly render his women with a perfect center of gravity, their weight balanced as easily on the page as it would be in life. When you consider he is doing this with just a few curved strokes – where other artists fail at the same task with labored “photorealism” and heavy textures – it leaves this wannabe artist slack-jawed in amazement.

 

In short, Naughty and Niceis pretty much the only title this book could have.

 

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

 

ART

1. Yiddishkeit is an anthology of comics stories illustrating the history and influence of Eastern European Jews on American culture. Courtesy Abrams ComicArts

2. Naughty and Nice is a collection of pin-ups from master animator Bruce Timm. Courtesy Flesk Publications
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Comics for 15 February 2012

ACTIVITY #3
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #679.1
ANITA BLAKE CIRCUS DAMNED SCOUNDREL #4 (OF 5) (MR)
ANNIHILATORS TP
ARMY OF DARKNESS ONGOING #1
ASTONISHING X-MEN WHEDON CASSADAY ULT COLL TP BOOK
AVENGERS #22
AVENGERS OMNIBUS HC VOL 01
AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #4

BATMAN #6
BIRDS OF PREY #6
BLUE BEETLE #6
BPRD HELL ON EARTH LONG DEATH #1

CAPTAIN ATOM #6
CATWOMAN #6

DAREDEVIL #9
DAREDEVIL REBORN TP
DARK TOWER GUNSLINGER WAY STATION #3 (OF 5)
DARKNESS #99
DC UNIVERSE ONLINE LEGENDS #23
DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #6
DEADMAN TP VOL 02
DOMINO LADYS THREESOME #1
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS DRIZZT #5 (OF 5)

END OF NATIONS #4 (OF 4)

FABLES #114 (MR)
FEAR ITSELF FEARLESS #9 (OF 12)
FLASH GORDON ZEITGEIST #3
FORMIC WARS SILENT STRIKE #3 (OF 5)

GENERATION HOPE #16 XREGB
GHOSTBUSTERS ONGOING #6
GI JOE 2 RETALIATION MOVIE PREQUEL #1
GLAMOURPUSS #23
GLORY #23
GOBS #4 (OF 4)
GODZILLA KINGDOM OF MONSTERS #12
GOLD DIGGER #135
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #6
GRIMM FAIRY TALES THE LIBRARY #4

HALO FALL OF REACH INVASION #2 (OF 4)
HELLBLAZER #288 (MR)
HELLBLAZER PHANTOM PAINS TP (MR)
HELLRAISER MASTERPIECES #8 (MR)
HOW TO DRAW & DESIGN STEAMPUNK SUPERSIZE TP

INFESTATION 2 DUNGEONS & DRAGONS #1 (OF 2)
INFESTATION 2 TRANSFORMERS #2 (OF 2)
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #513

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA MONUMENT POINT TP

LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #6

MADWOMAN O/T SACRED HEART GN (MR)
MARVEL ZOMBIES SUPREME TP
MOONIE VS. PHOBIA SPIDER QUEEN TP (MR)
MORIARTY #9
MY GREATEST ADVENTURE #5 (OF 6)

NEW AVENGERS #21
NIGHTWING #6

PETER PANZERFAUST #1 (MR)
PIGS TP VOL 01 HELLO CRUEL WORLD (MR)
PLANET OF THE APES #11
POWER GIRL OLD FRIENDS TP
PRINCELESS #4

QUATERMAIN #1
QUEEN SONJA #27

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #6
RETURN O/T MONSTERS PHANTOM DETECTIVE VS FRANKENST
ROBERT JORDAN WHEEL OF TIME EYE O/T WORLD #21
ROGER LANGRIDGES SNARKED #5
ROY G KRENKEL SAVAGE WORLDS SC

SHERLOCK HOLMES VICTORIAN KNIGHTS #1
SIMPSONS COMICS #187
SONIC UNIVERSE #37
SONIC UNIVERSE TP VOL 02 30 YEARS LATER
STAR TREK CLASSICS TP VOL 2 ENEMY UNSEEN
STAR TREK LEGION OF SUPERHEROES #5 (OF 6)
STAR WARS DAWN O/T JEDI FORCE STORM #1
SUPER DINOSAUR #8
SUPERGIRL #6

THUNDERBOLTS #170
TRANSFORMERS TP VOL 06 CHAOS POLICE ACTION

ULT COMICS SPIDER-MAN BY BENDIS PREM HC VOL 01
ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN #7
UNCANNY X-FORCE TP VOL 02 DEATHLOK NATION
UNCANNY X-MEN #7
UNDER THE MOONS OF MARS NEW ADV ON BARSOOM HC

VAMPIRELLA #14
VENGEANCE HC
VENOM #13.2

WAREHOUSE 13 #4
WARLORD OF MARS DEJAH THORIS #10 (MR)
WHISPERS IN THE WALLS GN (MR)
WINTER SOLDIER #2
WITCHBLADE #153
WOLVERINE #301
WONDER WOMAN #6

X-FACTOR #232 XREGG
YOUNG JUSTICE #13
X-FORCE NECROSHA TP

ZOMBIE RECOGNITION GUIDE GN

This list has been copied from memphiscomics.com. Arrivals at your LCS may vary.

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Reflections #2--Why Norman Osborn?

What is Marvel's fascination with Norman Osborn, formerly the Green Goblin and the Iron Patriot? This resurrected villain has become the face of evil in the Marvel Universe some forty years after dying!12134123875?profile=original From his first appearance, his identity revealed which led to Steve Ditko leaving the book, the drug issues that plagued his son Harry to finally his murder of Gwen Stacy and his own death, Norman has been Spider-Man's most relentless foe and his most tragic during the Silver Age because he had this split personality where Norman forgot that he was the Goblin. But in times of stress, the evil that dwelt within would emerge and his hatred for the Wall-Crawler took over.

Amazing Spider-Man #121-122 should have been the crescendo to Norman's career. He murdered Gwen Stacy only to accidently spear himself with his own glider. Kirk G writes about that here and I added this about his legacy. Mortality had taken Spider-Man's mortal foe and that should have been the end of him. But in the 90s, Marvel brought back the Green Goblin, citing unknown healing powers. No one except the writers was happy about this. Then they had to have Gwen Stacy have an affair with Norman in the past! This was done to justify another Gwen-look-alike in the MU and bolster Mary Jane as Peter's true love. It is beyond the scope of this article to fully explain how wrong that was! And it was never mentioned again!

But Norman was on the brink of madness when he made his big mistake and foolishly revealed himself to be the Green Goblin. This got him arrested for the first time and placed him in Tony Stark's custody who put him in charge of the Thunderbolts, an easily controllable man doing the dirty work.

As an aside, I would rather believe that this Norman was some alternate reality version trapped in the 616 MU and that the true Norman indeed died. It makes me feel better.

After the events ofCivil War, World War HulkandSecret Invasion!, Norman becomes a national hero, put in charge of HAMMER, creates his own Dark Avengers and pushes through his own agenda. He re-christians himself the Iron Patriot and hunts down the real heroes, now outlaws. But he goes too far (naturally) and it all falls apart during theSiegewhere he is captured and discredited. He should have been locked away and forgotten. But he was not!

There was theOsbornmini-series that shows us how Norman escaped the custody of the US government and why he surrendered. That he learned about a cult that sees him as a messiah. That introduced both Ai Apaec, the South American spider-god and June Covington, the Toxic Doxie who are part of his new Dark Avengers. He now commands HYDRA and AIM and truly believes himself to be the destined leader of the country, if not the world.

No longer costumed, Norman is a charismatic evil. People simply believe that he will win. He has no shame and feels he has been wrong and that history will champion him.

I feel that the current Avengers creators have morphed Osborn into a nightmare version of George W. Bush. A totally corrupt version preying on the liberal fears that such a man may return to power, completely disregarding the will of the populus and ran rampant over the world. Certainly in this year of election, the term "Republican Conservative" brings up bad memories and worse possibilities. Again I stress this is an amped up take on Bush, not a commentary of the actual man. But the boldness of Osborn is frightening. He is not hiding. He is demanding that he be restored to power. Was there not a movement to legally allow Bush to run for a third term? The criminals serving Norman gained authority, much like those in the Bush admonistration quoting over and over again: "I serve at the pleasure of the President." They are not responsible and the President is beyond accountability. This is Norman Osborn's dream and an American nightmare!

What do you think?

 

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Comics for 8 February 2012

ADVENTURE TIME #1
ALL NEW BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #16
ANITA BLAKE VH LAUGHING CORPSE ULT COLL TP
ARCHIE BEST OF DAN DECARLO TREASURY ED
ART OF THE MASS EFFECT UNIVERSE HC
ARTIFACTS #14
ARTIFACTS TP VOL 03
AVENGERS ORIGIN TP

BATGIRL #6
BATMAN AND ROBIN #6
BATMAN TIME AND THE BATMAN TP
BATTLE SCARS #4 (OF 6)
BATWOMAN #6
BERLIN #18 (MR)
BLACK PANTHER MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE #529
BLUE ESTATE #9 (MR)
BTVS SEASON 9 FREEFALL #6

CAPTAIN AMERICA #8
CAPTAIN AMERICA PATRIOTIC SOLDIER SHAMROCK T/S
CARNAGE USA #3 (OF 5)
CAVEWOMAN FEEDING GROUNDS #1 (MR)
CONAN THE BARBARIAN #1

DAKEN DARK WOLVERINE #21
DARK MATTER #2 (OF 4)
DEADPOOL #50
DEAN KOONTZ NEVERMORE #6 (OF 6)
DEATHSTROKE #6
DEMON KNIGHTS #6
DICKS COLOR ED #1 (MR)
DOCTOR WHO CLASSICS SERIES IV #1 (OF 6)
DOTTER OF HER FATHERS EYES HC
DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS #15

ELRIC THE BALANCE LOST #8
ENDERS SHADOW ULTIMATE COLLECTION TP

FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND #260
FANTASTIC FOUR SEASON ONE PREM HC
FEARLESS DAWN SECRET O/T SWAMP ONE SHOT
FERALS #2 (MR)
FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF SHADE #6

GARTH ENNIS NINJETTES #1 (MR)
GFT MYTHS & LEGENDS #12
GFT PRESENTS NEVERLAND HOOK #3
GI JOE MOVIE PREQUEL TP
GREEN LANTERN #6
GRIFTER #6
GRIMM FAIRY TALES #67

HACK SLASH TP VOL 10 DEAD CELEBRITIES
HAUNT #21
HUNTRESS #5 (OF 6)

ILLUSTRATION MAGAZINE #36
INCREDIBLE HULK #5
IZOMBIE TP VOL 03 SIX FEET UNDER AND RISING (MR)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #634

KEVIN KELLER #1
KEVIN SMITH BIONIC MAN #6
KING CONAN THE SCARLET CITADEL TP
KIRBY GENESIS SILVER STAR #3

LADY DEATH (ONGOING) #14 (MR)
LAST OF THE GREATS #5
LOBSTER JOHNSON THE BURNING HAND #2 (OF 5)
LONE RANGER ZORRO TP VOL 01 DEATH OF ZORRO

MARVEL UNIVERSE BY NICK BRADSHAW POSTER
MEGA MAN #10
MEMORIAL #3 (OF 6)
MISTER TERRIFIC #6
MMW UNCANNY X-MEN HC VOL 08
MURKY WORLD ONE SHOT

NEW AVENGERS BY BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS TP VOL 02
NEW MUTANTS #37 XREGB
NEXT MEN AFTERMATH #40
NORTHLANDERS #48 (MR)

PC CAST HOUSE OF NIGHT #4 (OF 5)
PEANUTS #2 (OF 4)
PENGUIN PAIN AND PREJUDICE #5 (OF 5)
POWERS #8 (MR)
PUNISHERMAX #22 (MR)

RED SONJA #63
RESURRECTION MAN #6

SCARLET SPIDER #2
SECRET AVENGERS #22
SECRET AVENGERS BY ARTHUR ADAMS POSTER
SEVERED #7 (OF 7) (MR)
SHERLOCK HOLMES ON SCREEN SC UPDATED ED
SHOWCASE PRESENTS GHOSTS TP VOL 01
SNAKE EYES ONGOING (IDW) #10
SPAWN #216
SPONGEBOB COMICS #7
STAR WARS AGENT O/T EMPIRE IRON ECLIPSE #3 (OF 5)
STAR WARS CRIMSON EMPIRE III EMPIRE LOST #4 (OF 6)
STAR WARS KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC WAR #2 (OF 5
STAR WARS LONG TIME AGO OMNIBUS TP VOL 05
STRANGE CASE OF MR HYDE TP
SUICIDE SQUAD #6
SUPERBOY #6
SUPERMAN THE BLACK RING TP VOL 01

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ONGOING TP VOL 01
THE STRAIN #3 (OF 12)
THIEF OF THIEVES #1
TORPEDO HC VOL 04

UNWRITTEN #34 (MR)

VENOM #13.1

WARLORD OF MARS #15
WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #5 XREGG
WOLVERINE AND X-MEN ALPHA AND OMEGA #2 (OF 5)

X-MEN #24 XREGB

YOUNG ROMANCE BEST SIMON & KIRBY COMICS HC

ZORRO RIDES AGAIN #8 (OF 12)

This is a copy of the list posted at memphiscomics.com. Arrivals at your LCS may vary.

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A New Look at New X-Men, Part II

12134172682?profile=originalWelcome back.  Last week, I began an overview of Grant Morrison’s New X-Men.  I tried to bridge the debate divide by discussing the series’ strengths and weaknesses.  And now I’m back for more, looking at the third and fourth collections, New Worlds and Riot at Xavier’s. 

 

New Worlds

(Issues 127-133: Of Living and Dying, New Worlds, Fantomex, Weapon Twelve, Some Angels Falling, Ambient Magnetic Fields, Dust)

 

New Worlds is very much a continuation of the ideas that we saw in the first year of Grant Morrison’s run.  The X-Men continue to grow as international public figures and Morrison continues to introduce new characters.  However, there are some changes and developments. 

First, as evidenced by the number of names listed above, Morrison shifts his story-telling focus to shorter features.  Instead of one long arc, Morrison writes several shorter stories, including multiple one-shots.  They still work together as part of the larger tapestry, yet the change in focus is appreciated.  It’s an opportunity to simultaneously retrench and expand on the ideas already introduced.  It allows Morrison to shine the spotlight on individual characters, such as Xorn, Phoenix, Emma Frost or Dust.  It gives characters the opportunity to react to earlier events, such as the issue in which the survivors of Genosha erect a statue to Magneto.  It’s a refreshing change of pace for the reader, as well.   

Second, in the middle of this stretch, Grant Morrison alters a major relationship.  He already established that Scott and Jean’s marriage had grown distant and stale, especially since Scott had spent time as the host of Apocalypse.  Now, Scott begins to turn to Emma Frost for relationship advice and a little bit of telepathic counseling.  It’s obvious that this is a bad idea.  Yet something that is a bad idea for a character can be a very interesting idea for the readers.  Scott, Jean and Emma make for an intriguing love triangle and a compelling change from the previous perfect couple posture.  It’s notable that this is one of the Morrison changes that stuck when so many others have been reversed.  While many fans reacted the way they would if one of their real-life friends had an affair, writers saw the potential in this relationship for the kinds of conflict that are the lifeblood of any story.  12134173286?profile=original

Finally, Morrison introduced a significant new character- Fantomex.  Although I’ve praised Morrison for the ingenuity he displayed in creating new characters (a mutant with a sun for a brain- that’s brilliant!), I think he mishandled the introduction of Fantomex.  Part of the problem is that Morrison approached Fantomex as a fan.  Fantomex was based on earlier incarnations from France (Fantomas) and Italy (Diabolik) but Morrison forgot to give new readers a reason to like him.  We were told he was cool before we had the chance to decide for ourselves.  He was arrogant and acted superior to the X-Men, and it’s not a good idea to upstage the heroes in their own book.  Plus, Fantomex was introduced as part of an EYKIW (“Everything You Know Is Wrong”) that upended much of the established history of the Weapon X program.  Then again, I could be wrong.  Fantomex is another addition that has lasted.  A lot of fans love him.  He’s currently appearing in Uncanny X-Force and I admit that I’ve grown to like him in spite of myself. 

These last two changes reveal one of the contradictions of Grant Morrison.  Although he’s known as an idea man, he’s also a great borrower.  That trait has become more evident in recent work, like Batman, but it was already present during New X-Men.  However, the fans weren’t yet as aware of that trait and so Morrison was erroneously given credit for ideas introduced by others.  Scott Lobdell had previously suggested a love triangle for Scott and another shameless telepath, Psylocke.  Scott Lobdell was also the writer who added Emma Frost to the X-Men, first as an uncomfortable ally and then as the teacher of Generation X.  Plus, as noted, Fantomex had existed in several previous incarnations.  Morrison saw the potential in these ideas and took them further.  He definitely deserves credit for delving those ideas with greater depth but he didn't originate them. 

 

12134173683?profile=originalRiot at Xavier’s

(Issues 134-138)

 

Riot at Xavier’s is the mid-point of Morrison’s tenure on New X-Men, and arguably the high point as well.  It is simply a great story about generational struggle.  Quentin Quire rejects the competing dreams of Professor Xavier- peaceful coexistence- and Magneto- mutant superiority.  He’s like the Black Panthers, throwing off the leadership of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.  He’s like the Sex Pistols, kicking over the influence of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.  However, while Quire knows that he doesn’t want a part in other people’s plans, he doesn’t actually have a plan of his own to put into place and his revolution quickly devolves into anarchy.    

I like the way in which Quire and his compatriots co-opt negative stereotypes for their image.  It’s very consistent with the ways in which some minorities have taken the signs of oppression and turned them inside out.  It’s like Native Americans wearing Washington Redskins jackets, black rappers using the n-word or homosexuals adopting the pink triangle as a symbol of pride after it was used as a mark of identification in concentration camps. 

I like the way in which Quire manipulates his classmates.  He takes their unfocused anger, which is common in a lot of youth, and gives them a target for their rage.  Quire and his crew don’t need a philosophy beyond “we’re angry at the world and we’re going to lash out.” 

I also appreciate the way in which Morrison shows the downside of the riot.  Quire may see himself as a hero, but he isn’t.   He’s selfish and cruel to the people who are supposed to be his friends.  Furthermore, the crew may think that they’re in control of their drug use, but they’re not.  It unleashes their potential but it also impairs their judgment.  It’s a major part of their downfall. 

Riot at Xavier’s is a nuanced morality play, depicting both the allure of anarchy and the awful consequences. 

 

That’s the end of Part II.  Don't forget to check out Part I for the start of this discussion.  Then, stop in again for Part III and the final three trades in Grant Morrison’s seminal stint on New X-Men. 

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