Blog 2.0

DC’s new 52 debuts in earnest next week.  Justice League #1 was this week’s appetizer.  Next week, the real experiment begins.

            It’s been interesting to watch the reactions since this ambitious endeavor was initially announced.  At first, there was an equal mix of cynicism and enthusiasm.  That tells us more about fandom- and humanity in general- than it does about DC.  There will always be pessimists prepared to declare a new initiative the worst idea ever and optimists ready to hope for something brilliant. 

Then there was an exaggerated mood of disappointment when the actual comics were announced as if some fans secretly hoped that the line-up would be designed individually for them.  I remember one of Captain Comics’ great philosophies: “I don’t like wrestling and I have no interest in wrestling comics but I’m glad they make them because it means they’re making comics for more than just me.”  Some of the new 52 titles that I’m least interested in are the ones that have other fans the most excited.  Good.  I wasn’t going to buy all 52 anyway.

I’ve also been intrigued by the way in which many fans have assessed the new 52 for how well the list has conformed to their own continuity checklist.  In the long run, that’s not going to matter.  The books will succeed based more on quality than whether or not the right character is wearing the Robin mask.  After all, I was prepared to dislike the third Firestorm series because it didn’t star Ronnie Raymond.  But Jason Rusch’s adventures were so good that I was persuaded he’s the better Nuclear Man.   

Yet, without the actual books to talk about, it is fascinating to discuss how these books fit with our own personal notions.

The Superman Family: Action, Superman, Superboy, Supergirl

I’ll admit that I was disappointed when I heard about the back-to-basics approach for Superman.  I grew up with John Byrne’s Man of Steel.  I liked having a Ma and Pa Kent around.  And I had no objection to the idea that Superman wasn’t the first superhero.  Like Babe Ruth or The Beatles, he didn’t have to be the first to be the best.  So I didn’t like the idea that DC was returning to the Silver Age status quo.  It struck me as a move backwards. 

But then I thought about it a bit more.  DC isn’t trying to get old Silver Age fans back.  They’re trying to attract new fans.  Those potential readers would know about Superman primarily through the long-running TV series Smallville.  Jonathan Kent died during that series (and Martha too for all I know).  Plus, Clark was the first hero who eventually inspired and assembled others.  I realized this isn’t about the Silver Age; it’s about Smallville.  That’s especially evident in Action Comics where a beginning Superman hasn’t even adopted a costume. 

They’re still not the choices I would have made (I’ll miss you, Man of Steel) but now that I get what DC is trying to do, I’m much more likely to give this new continuity a chance (say hello, Man of Tomorrow). 

The Batman Family: Batman, Detective, Batwing, The Dark Knight, Batman & Robin, Batgirl, Batwoman, Nightwing, Catwoman, Birds of Prey and Red Hood & the Outlaws

I’ve never been a dedicated Batman reader.  I’ve sampled Batman from time to time but there were always too many titles for me to become fully engrossed in the line.  That hasn’t changed- and it’s not going to.  However, I have been a big fan of some of his apprentice heroes.  On that score, the new Batman line has both a hit and a miss.

  As much as I enjoyed seeing Dick Grayson finally wear the mantle of the bat, I knew that it wasn’t going to last.  So I’m glad that he’s landed gracefully on his feet, back in his own title as Nightwing. 

On the other hand, I wasn’t happy that Barbara Gordon was going back to her Batgirl identity.  Like a lot of fans, I liked Barbara as Oracle.  She proved a lot more effective beating the bad guys with her mind.  And she increased DC’s diversity as a handicapped character.  Plus, I liked Stephanie Brown as Batgirl.  She had earned it after long service as Spoiler and a short stint as Robin. 

But then again, I wasn’t currently buying either Batgirl or Birds of Prey.  And I’m intrigued enough by this new series that I’m planning on buying Batgirl.  I want to see if DC can make it work, even if I think they shouldn’t have done it.  I guess it’s another case of fans saying one thing with their keyboards and another with their wallets. 

Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, New Guardians, Red Lanterns

The Green Lantern line was one of DC’s most successful franchises.  So they didn’t have to change a lot.  They did anyway.  I approve.  I like that they’re being bold, rather than rightfully resting on their laurels. 

Some of the changes are slight.  Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner have traded places, but they’re still both Green Lanterns.  Guy and John now share the lead in Green Lantern Corps (Guy had been the lead in Emerald Warriors).  Kyle now takes over the third Green Lantern title as New Guardians replaces Emerald Warriors in the line-up. 

Other changes are significant.  Hal Jordan has been kicked out of the Green Lantern Corps.  Sinestro has been bonded to a green ring against his will.  And, at least initially, the new Green Lantern title will feature Sinestro instead of Hal.  Is it permanent?  Probably not.  Is it interesting?  Very. 

They haven’t changed everything, of course.  The color spectrum is still represented by other corps, and one of them now receives their own title.  Although older fans claim to hate it, the other corps have been incredibly popular.   Even Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory has been spotted wearing T-shirts from the other corps. 

Justice League, Justice League International, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Captain Atom, Fury of Firestorm, Savage Hawkman, Mister Terrific and DC Comics Presents

It’s nice to see Aquaman, Firestorm and Hawkman back in action.  One of the reasons why I loved Brightest Day was that it resurrected so many of these older characters.  Yet it was more than that.  Brightest Day made them relevant again.  I liked the new Aqualad.  I liked that Jason and Ronnie now shared the Firestorm matrix.  I could have skipped the Hawkman storyline, but at least he was alive again.  I always hoped that they would get their own titles coming out of Brightest Day, just as Booster Gold got his own title coming out of 52.  And now, my wish is granted.  I’m especially pleased that they’re going forward with a combined Jason/Ronnie Firestorm.  Their interaction has been a lot more interesting than any previous incarnation.  I would have liked to see a Martian Manhunter title too but we’ll get to that later.

The Flash is the title that reminded me I have my own continuity checklist as much as anyone else.  I like Wally West as the Flash and I’d be a lot more interested in this title if he was the lead instead of Barry. 

            The biggest continuity change comes in Justice League #1 as Cyborg replaces Martian Manhunter as a founding member of the team.  I have no problem with that.  I’ve been through enough ret-cons by now that I no longer bat an eye.  Plus, my allegiance to both characters is about the same- they’re both safely in my top ten for DC heroes.  I’m also intrigued by the new line-up in Justice League International.  It’s nice to see one of the heroes from the Great Ten be integrated into the greater DC Universe, even if their own title didn’t sell well.

The Dark: Justice League Dark, Swamp Thing, Animal Man, Frankenstein, I Vampire, Resurrection Man and Demon Knights

            This section isn’t really for me.  I’m ambivalent about whether or not the main characters belong in a separate Vertigo line or back in the DCU.  I prefer a pseudo-Silver Age Animal Man with the cool orange costume to the warped Vertigo version.  And I’ve never been interested in The Demon. 

            That’s okay, of course.  I’m not the target audience for this and DC should be targeting multiple audiences.  If this reinvigorates interest in Swamp Thing or provides some off beat cult hits like Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE or I, Vampire, that’s a good thing.     

            The one thing I like is the return of Resurrection Man.  That was one of the underrated titles of the late ‘90s and it will be fun to get in on the beginning this time. 

The Edge: Stormwatch, Voodoo, Grifter, Deathstroke, Suicide Squad, OMAC, Blackhawks, Men of War and All-Star Western

The big change here is the integration of the Wildstorm characters into the DC universe.  I’ll lay my cards on the table: I’m all for it.  I’ve read a lot of comments from people who are opposed to the idea.  Some of them simply don’t like the Wildstorm characters.  That’ s fine.  You don’t have to read these titles if you don’t like them.  But these characters have been around for 20 years now and, at a certain point, the complaints sound as ridiculous as old people criticizing rap music.

However, some Wildstorm fans have also opposed the idea.  I’ve seen several suggest that the Wildstorm characters are better off on their own little world.  I strongly disagree.  They’ve been segmented off in their own little world for a long time and it hasn’t been a good thing.  The last series was a great post-apocalyptic tale and it was practically ignored.  The only way for these characters to become relevant again is for them to become part of the DCU.

I’ve heard similar arguments over the years about Captain Marvel, Plastic Man, Blue Beetle and the Freedom Fighters.  “They’re fine in their own world but they don’t belong in the DCU.”  I think it’s ridiculous.  When SHAZAM had his out-of-continuity series in the ‘70s, it was quickly cut back to a bi-monthly and lasted 35 issues.  The in-continuity series in the ‘90s lasted 47 issues.  Ted Kord’s enduring popularity today has more to do with his appearances as part of the Justice League than with any of his solo series.  I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Plastic Man was given his first ongoing series in almost 40 years after joining the JLA. 

The exposure is good for the Wildstorm characters.  And though I’d rather see him in his own title, I’m fascinated by the idea of putting the Martian Manhunter in charge of Stormwatch.

Young Justice: Teen Titans, Static Shock, Hawk & Dove, Blue Beetle, Legion of Superheroes, Legion Lost

I’m impressed that DC came up with a group name.  This is a very disparate bunch.  In terms of continuity, there are some backward steps, forward steps and corrected steps.

The backward step is Hawk & Dove.  I’m one of the few people on this board who actually likes Rob Liefeld but even I’m disappointed by this class reunion.  Why is DC intentionally trying to revive a minor hit from the late ‘80s?  That seems like a bad idea.  I’d much rather see Dove and her sister as Hawk than retread old ground. 

The forward step is Static Shock.  I know that some other observers think this is another backward step.  After all, DC is reviving another ‘90s concept.  But this isn’t a straight retread.  They’re incorporating elements from the successful cartoon and building off of his recent appearances in Teen Titans.  I’m intrigued by this new title and I hope it does well.

The corrected step is Blue Beetle.  I can’t say that I was an avid fan of the previous series.  I borrowed a couple of trades from the library after the series was already canceled.  But it was very good.  So this is a smart revival.  DC could build on the positive reviews and the good will from the previous series.

There’s also a sideways step in the form of Legion of Superheroes.  It certainly seems like the recently re-launched Legion is being re-launched again simply because everybody else is doing it.  It’s essentially the same creative team and concept as before. 

That’s my checklist.  I know that it won’t match with everyone, or even anyone.  We all have our own opinions about which character should bear which codename and which heroes should be in which team.  Those opinions have been shaped by favorite stories and series of the past.  Then again, it’s always possible that these new series could shape new opinions.  After all, who would have thought in 1986 that they’d like a Justice League with Blue Beetle and Booster Gold? 

Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

'99 Days,' 'Cyclops' fail to ignite

Aug. 30, 2011 -- Maybe it’s the heat, but several graphic novels in August simply didn’t wow me.

* 99 Days ($19.99), by Matteo Casali and Kristian Donaldson, is the latest in DC/Vertigo’s crime-slash-mystery line of graphic novels. Set in L.A., the title refers to the length of time two detectives investigate machete murders in a gang war, as well as the length of the time one of the detectives was a child soldier – using a machete – in the Hutu slaughter of Tutsis in Rwanda. Will the machete murders bring the detective’s secret horror to the surface? Well, yeah.

I shouldn’t be snarky, because there are some good bits. There’s convincing sexual tension between detective Antoine Davis and his partner, happily-married Valeria Torres; the scenes of the Rwandan civil war are appropriately horrifying; and Donaldson’s artwork is pleasant and serviceable. But the clichéd gangsta dialogue seems lifted from bad TV shows, and the premise – flashbacks to Rwanda genocide from the perspective of a traumatized survivor – reminds me of a much better graphic novel, Jean-Phillipe Stassen’s Deogratias.

* Uncouth Sleuth ($12.99), by Charles Fulp and Craig Rousseau, is a parody of private eye and Indiana Jones movies, starring “Harry Johnson” in “The Case of the Crabbes.” Get it? See, the clients are named Crabbe, and Harry Johnson is a euphemism for … oh, you got it.

That sort of humor is pretty much the book’s raison d’etre; Sleuth involves lots of double entendres and half-dressed women (drawn cartoonishly zaftig, like Jessica Rabbit, but without any actual nudity). Points are awarded for being completely up front about this: There’s no pretension to high art, and the naughty jokes and puns are delivered with adolescent zest.

I’m not anywhere near adolescence, so I’m not the target audience. But for those who enjoy MAD magazine kind of humor, this is well done MAD magazine kind of humor.

* Cyclops Volume One ($19.95) collects the first 110 pages of Archaia’s ongoing series about a near future where wars are run by corporations to knock off competitors, who make a profit by selling broadcast rights to the combat. The battles are filmed by cameras mounted on the soldiers’ helmets (giving rise to the nickname “Cyclops”), and successful soldiers are paid and treated like pro athletes.

Gee, what could go wrong? I mean, corporations never do anything illegal or unethical, do they? And mercenaries are the cream of humanity, right? Cyclops follows one such mercenary, who for some reason has a conscience, and you can see where this is going with one eye or two.

Not that we get there. Volume One is mostly set up. And while the art is in the excellent Franco-Belgian style, I have to say the coloring on my copy was so overdone and dark as to be muddy.

Still, Cyclops is by Matz and Luc Jacamon, the team that produces the excellent The Killer. That earns them extra time from this critic to show me what they’ve got.

* Anne Steelyard: The Garden of Emptiness, Act III: A Thousand Waters ($14.95) is the third and last in a series set in the Middle East before World War I. Written by best-selling author Barbara Hambly (Blood Maidens) and drawn by experienced comics artist Ron Randall, it stars an English woman who refuses to marry the man her father selects, and instead embarks on a mission to find a lost of city in Arabia, in order to make a reputation, in order to get a position at a university, in order to achieve the freedom denied her gender in the Britain of the time.  The first volume was pretty straight up two-fisted archeology stuff, with pre-Nazi (but still evil) Germans, noble Arab bedouins, stuffy English and untrustworthy Turks. But the second – which I somehow missed – added supernatural elements from Arabic mythology, some of which Anne learns how to use.

My wife read this book, and promptly declared it “stupid.” (My wife is an extremely pithy reviewer.) So, there’s that. But while I generally dislike political anachronisms in period pieces (in this case a feminist before feminism existed), I found Anne’s determination to be admirable, all the moreso because Hambly takes pains to show how difficult her path is. More men help her than is likely, but she pays a price – especially in the romance department, which certainly makes sense.

It’s not Shakespeare, but I found Act III a satisfying finish to a mildly entertaining story.

Art above:

1. 99 Days explores the life of an L.A. detective who was both participant and survivor of the Rwandan Civil War. Courtesy DC Entertainment Inc.

2. Uncouth Sleuth is a parody of Indiana Jones and Sam Spade that leans heavily on double entendre. Courtesy Fulp Fiction

3. Cyclops posits a future where corporations wage war, and their mercenaries are celebrities. Courtesy Archaia

4. Anne Steelyard is an English heroine in the Mideast before World War I. Courtesy Penny-Farthing Press

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

The future arrives with DC's 'New 52'

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

On Aug. 30, comic-book fans, some in costume, will line up in front of Midtown Comics in New York's Times Square. It's a party, although some fainthearts fear it will be a wake.

The occasion is the release of Justice League of America #1, by writer (and DC Entertainment Chief Creative Officer) Geoff Johns and artist (and DC Co-Publisher) Jim Lee. That title begins the replacement of DC’s entire superhero line of comics; it’s one of 52 new titles, all starting at #1, the remaining 51 all launching in September.

Comics fans and the mainstream media have been talking about this for months. By necessity, when DC released its September solicitations to comic-shop retailers two months ago, the Catwoman was out of the bag. (And, yes, there is a new Catwoman #1 in September, thanks for asking.)

Predictably, the Internet broke in half. Many comics fans, like many ordinary people, fear change.  There was much hair-pulling, teeth-gnashing and exploding of heads. After all, nobody believed DC’s official explanation for the re-launch, which was some sort of corporate-speak boilerplate that I don’t even remember. “What awful future,” some fans wondered, “does this massive re-launch portend?”

To quote the Sage of Highland, Texas: “Settle down, Beavis.” Seriously, it’s not the end of the world, nor even a serious omen. Titles get canceled and re-launched all the time. For example, Marvel recently canceled the old Hulk title to publish Incredible Hulk #1 in October, the third or fourth comic book to bear that name and number. Ditto for Daredevil #1, Moon Knight #1 and Punisher #1, all launched at Marvel in the last several months to replace previous versions. What’s unusual here is that DC is renumbering 52 new titles simultaneously, just to get people talking. Which is obviously working.

Also, DC emphasizes this isn’t a re-BOOT, but a re-LAUNCH. That means titles that are already working well – read: the Batman and Green Lantern franchises – will continue as if nothing happened, just with new numbering. But DC will take the opportunity to fix a few things that they think are broken.

Surprisingly, one of them is Superman. They are re-booting the Man of Tomorrow, making him once again the first superhero on the planet (which hasn’t been the case since the 1980s), but one that has only been around for about five years. He isn’t married to Lois Lane any more (they’re not even dating … yet), and the rest of his status quo has been tweaked. For example, Ma and Pa Kent are dead, and his costume doesn’t have the red briefs any more.

One other change has some fans fuming: When DC says it’s rebooting all of their superhero titles, that includes the two oldest in America. Action Comics, which just reached issue #904, is now reverting to #1. And Detective Comics, the 1937 title that gave DC its name, is also re-setting the odometer. Although Detective will remain essentially unchanged, the new/old Action has a purpose: It will show Superman’s first five years in public, to explain the current status quo, which is depicted in sister title Superman, launching with a new #1 Sept. 28. (Justice League is also set in the past for now, showing how the team got together.)

Another change is more diversity in the DC lineup of heroes, most of whom were created as interchangeable Generic Square-Jawed White Guys in days of yore. Cyborg, an African-American, will now be a founding member of the JLA. Other characters of color, like Batwing (African), Blue Beetle (Hispanic) and the new Atom (Asian-American) abound. Nor is the LGBT community ignored; Batwoman features one of DC’s many lesbian crime-fighters, while Apollo and Midnighter, stars of Stormwatch, are a gay couple.

And the last big change is that DC will release digital issues of their comics “day and date” – that is to say, at the same time the print versions hit the comic shops. I’ve heard differing views from various retailers about how good/bad this is, but for now it seems irrelevant, since the digital copies cost the same as print, and therefore shouldn’t cannibalize sales.

But it will position DC for the future, when digital is expected to become more important. And if there’s any lesson here, that’s it: The future is coming, and there’s no use fighting it. Let’s embrace the new DC as we did the old one, and see what the tomorrow’s Man of Tomorrow brings.

Photos above:

1. The revamp of the Justice League replaces Martian Manhunter with the African-American Cyborg as a founding member. Courtesy DC Entertainment Inc.

2.The new Action Comics will tell the tale of Superman's first five years in the public eye, where his initial costume is jeans and a T-shirt. Courtesy DC Entertainment Inc.

3. According to DC, Batwoman is the first eponymous title for an LGBT superhero. Courtesy DC Entertainment Inc.

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

It's been months since my last edition of "Relocating the Marvel Universe," where I profiled the Marvel heroes of Virginia.

What's this you ask? Superheroes in Virginia? Yep, in this blog series, I've moved the heroes of the M.U. out of the "New York City cluster" and pushed them across the U.S.

Now on it's 34th entry, the series takes a look at what heroes are protecting D.C., and if you've read about Philadelphia in the Pennsylvania entry, you know it isn't Captain America (though he makes plenty of appearances in D.C.)

Instead, Washington has a few other patriotic heroes -- 22 of them in fact! --, a couple of robots and the world famous helicarrier to keep the peace in our nation's capitol.

Sound interesting? Then check out ...

"RELOCATING THE MARVEL UNIVERSE -- Part 34 -- WASHINGTON, D.C."

Rick Geary asks: Were Sacco  and Vanzetti murderers or victims?

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

Aug. 16, 2011 -- Like most Americans, I first heard about the Sacco and Vanzetti trial in eighth-grade American history class. But it took Rick Geary’s new graphic novel for me to really learn about it.

In case you slept through eighth grade – and I know some who did – Sacco and Vanzetti were two Italian immigrants who were executed in 1927 for a crime they probably didn’t commit. They were genuine, card-carrying anarchists, and the crime, a payroll robbery with brutal fatalities, was committed by anarchists. Or at least some people who looked like some people who were thought to be anarchists, which seemed to be enough for a jury (and a judge who was openly and publicly prejudiced against them).

But there’s that word “probably” dropping in all through this brief bio, because the trial was such a farce and the evidence so tampered with that it’s impossible to tell then or now if they were involved, or weren’t involved but knew the true criminals, or were just unlucky enough to be anarchists and immigrants at a time when public hysteria over anarchism and immigration was at an all-time high.

All of which is brought to vivid, black-and-white life by Rick Geary’s The Lives of Sacco and Vanzetti (NBM ComicsLit, $15.99), part of Geary’s “Treasury of XXth Century Murder” series. I’ve raved about Geary’s work before; not only his appropriately old-fashioned, woodcut-style, pen-and-ink artwork, but also his painstaking research and objectivity. This book is one of his best, a riveting and thorough documentary that leaves readers fully informed of all the evidence, pro and con, as if they were on a jury in a trial more just than the real one.

Did they do it? Geary doesn’t offer an opinion, and neither will I. Read Sacco and Vanzetti yourself and make up your own mind. While you’re there, you might ponder if this era of political tumult has anything to teach us about our own.

Another excellent addition to the bookshelf is the twenty-first volume in Eureka’s Graphic Classics series, Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery ($17.95). The very first Graphic Classics volume featured Poe, focusing on his horror stories, while this one emphasizes his mystery and detective work.

In fact, if you know anything about Poe, you know he wrote what are considered the first detective stories, one in particular starring an observational sleuth who was almost certainly the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes. That story is “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” and it dutifully leads this volume, adapted by Antonella Caputo with some lovely period artwork by Reno Maniquis.

“Rue Morgue” is the longest of the offerings in this book, which is filled not only with short stories, but also poems that I haven’t read since I was a Poe freak in junior high, and have never seen adapted to comics before. There are also a couple of new adaptations of stories Graphic Classics has adapted in other volumes, but one never tires of “The Masque of the Red Death” or “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Especially this version of “Heart,” which stars a modern tatted-and-pierced female as its maddened narrator.

Also, Poe’s fixations on premature burial, consumptive illness, madness and macabre romantic impulses are well known, and in full display here.  But it’s the obscure “Berenice” – with a bizarre subject I will not spoil for you here – that takes the prize for weirdness.

A third book made my must-get list, a collection of work by comics legend Will Eisner that has never been reprinted before. It’s amazing to discover that there exists any work by Eisner left untouched to date, but it’s true: Between 1951 and 1971, Eisner produced 227 issues of an Army training manual. Now we get to see some of that work thanks to P.S. Magazine: The Best of The Preventive Maintenance Monthly (Abrams ComicArts, $21.95).

True to form, Eisner made this potentially dull material a delight. He peopled it with a cast of his own creation, including savvy pin-up Connie Rodd, perpetual foul-up Joe Dope and the punny Sgt. Half-Mast McCanick.

But there’s also a clue why it’s been left fallow so far. As you peruse these excerpts, it’s easy to imagine how Eisner’s WWII perspective began to fall flat for later generations, especially during Vietnam.

But it’s still Eisner, so it’s not only fine work but historically important. P.S. is going up on my shelf next to “The Spirit” and A Contract with God.

Photos above:

The Lives of Sacco and Vanzetti explores thoroughly what is known about this legendary trial. Courtesy NBM ComicsLit.

Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery adapts a number of the master's detective, mystery and horror stories and poems. Courtesy Eureka Productions.

P.S. Magazine: The Best of The Preventive Maintenance Monthly collects selections from Will Eisner's 20 years publishing a U.S. Army maintenance manual. Courtesy Abrams ComicArts.

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

By 1963, the Batman titles were dancing on the edge of oblivion.

Clearly, putting the Masked Manhunter in a science-fiction milieu had failed to grab readers---which vindicated Bat-editor Jack Schiff, who had argued, insightfully, that SF ran contrary to the core concept of the Batman as a sleuth who operated from the shadows.  As a “reward” for his literary instincts having been proved right, Schiff was removed as editor of Batman and Detective Comics at the beginning of 1964.

The brass at National Periodical Publications at least had the awareness that a drastic overhaul was needed, if DC was to avoid the embarrassment of cancelling the two titles headlined by its second-most-well-known character.  Up against it, they turned to an editor who had demonstrated the ability to draw large numbers of fans by modernising old formats---Julius Schwartz.  In light of Schwartz's impressive successes with the revivals of the Flash, Green Lantern, and the Atom, and the creation of the Justice League of America, it was expected that he would work his magic yet again on Batman and Detective Comics.

As reported in Les Daniels’ Batman: the Complete History, Schwartz was reluctant to take the job.  “I took over Batman, which I didn’t want to do, but they said I had to because the magazine was doing badly,” said Schwartz.  “I wouldn’t say they were going to kill it, but it was certainly being discussed.”

To be sure, there has been some debate over whether the axe was ready to fall.  The Batcave Companion, by Michael Eury and Michael Kronenberg (Twomorrows Publishing, 2009), includes a 2007 interview between Eury and DC artist Carmine Infantino.   Infantino related that he was present at the editorial conference which assigned the mission of renovating Batman to Schwartz.  According to Infantino, editorial director Irwin Donenfeld told them, “The Batman books are dying and you two have six months to save them, or, very simply, it’s over.”

But somebody who wasn’t at that meeting, Jack Schiff, had told Overstreet Price Guide, in that 1983 interview, that there was never any serious consideration of cancelling Batman.

Logically, checking the sales figures for 1963 would provide a hint.  But for some reason, DC released its 1963 Statements of Ownership without sales figures.  So there is no way to readily determine how much sales on Batman and Detective Comics had slipped from the previous year.

There’s another factor to consider, which I’ll get to in a moment.

The first step Schwartz took in creating what would be called the “New Look” Batman was an obvious one:  there would be no more stories involving aliens, outer space, bug-eyed monsters, or freakish transformations.  Schwartz then banned all of the Bat-hangers-on.  Gone were Batwoman, Bat-Girl, Bat-Mite, and Ace, the Bat-Hound (though the intrepid pooch managed a cameo in a 1964 World’s Finest tale).

Emphasis would return to the concept of Batman as a detective---a hero who relied on logic, modern forensic techniques, and a store of esoteric knowledge to solve mysteries and track criminals.  His opponents would not be bizarre costumed villains, but crime bosses with a special talent or gimmick which elevated them beyond the reach of regular police, but still within the realm of real-world sensibilities.

In keeping with the new theme, Schwartz called for artistic changes.  To ring in the New Look and to give it a fresh appearance as far from the old Bob Kane style as possible, Schwartz drafted Carmine Infantino.  The scratchy lines and sharp edges of Infantino’s pencils were polished by the inks of Joe Giella and Sid Greene, resulting in a sleeker, more dynamic Caped Crusader.  Gotham City became a cosmopolitan city, providing the perfect backdrop for the realism that Schwartz was shooting for.  As with Curt Swan's work over in the Superman titles, Infantino's work added a gravitas to the Batman stories, carrying a story which might otherwise not work as well.

There’s some static about exactly who---Schwartz or Irwin Donenfeld---fingered Infantino as the illustrator to restore Batman’s credibility.  But either way, Infantino was immediately relieved of all his regular DC art assignments, except for The Flash, to make him available for Detective Comics.

The sudden restructuring of Infantino’s assignments shows an urgency in the effort to put Batman back on his feet.  And that suggests that the possibility of cancelling the Bat-books was a real one, indeed, and a humiliation that DC hoped mightily to avoid.

Infantino did roughly every other Batman story in Detective Comics.  The others, as well as all of the art in Batman, continued to be drawn by Shelly Moldoff.  But no longer was Moldoff required to mimic Bob Kane.  Once he was freed of that constraint, and ably assisted by Giella and Greene, his own style proved to be more fluid and lifelike.  No-one would ever mistake him for Alex Ross, but his night scenes were skillful enough to restore a sense of mystery to the series, particularly in his use of shadows.

Officially, the "New Look" Batman debuted in Detective Comics # 327 (May, 1964), in the story "The Mystery of the Menacing Mask".  This was an eclectic crime drama drafted by John Broome, and rendered by Infantino and Giella.

It would be difficult for to-day's comics reader to fully appreciate what a thrilling thing the debut of the "New Look" Batman was to a reader of that day.  To-day, significant events are presented in hyperbole plastered across the covers:  "After this issue, one Avenger will never fight, again!"; "The all-new, all-powerful Wombat-Man!"  However, it is noteworthy that cover of Detective Comics # 327 announced the New Look in one small banner reading "Introducing a 'New Look' Batman and Robin . . . ."

And, unlike now, in those long-ago days, there were no mechanisms in place for the fans to communicate "inside information" to each other---fanzines were nascent; there were no trade magazines and no Internet comics fora (for that matter, no Internet)---so word of upcoming changes didn't leak out.

So the changes to the Batman presented in Detective Comics # 327 came as a real surprise.  At least they did to me.

The art of "The Mystery of the Menacing Mask" grabbed me from the get-go.  Of course, in those days, I had no idea who the artists were (and in truth, it hadn't been that long since I realised that there were talents behind the stories I had been reading), but I saw that the art in this story was richer, more realistic---and to a youngster like me, "neater".

Interestingly, the plot of this "debut" story engendered as much curiosity in me as excitement.  Even when viewed among the New Look stories that came later, "The Mystery of the Menacing Mask" read as an odd duck.

Except for the Dynamic Duo themselves, their secret identities of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, and the Batcave, none of the regular trappings of a Batman story were present.  No Alfred, no Commissioner Gordon, no Bat-signal, no Batmobile.   And the setting for most of the story was DC's version of Greenwich Village---Gotham Village.  To a boy raised in mid-western Ohio, Greenwich/Gotham Village was as alien to me as the landscape of Rann.  Not to mention the incongruous panel showing Batman holding a handgun on a gang of defeated crooks to keep them at bay (which Julius Schwartz admitted later was a major mistake, stemming from his unfamiliarity with the character).

To my unseasoned eye, the story just didn't "read" quite right.  Kind of like when one reads one of those late-'40's Doc Savage stories which were actually written as standard detective adventures, with Doc substituted as the main character after the fact.  Still, it was a huge leap in sophistication over “The Alien Boss of Gotham City”.

The principal change “The Mystery of the Menacing Mask” brought to the fictional conceit of the series was the addition of the yellow ellipse around Batman’s bat-emblem. This was Schwartz's idea.  Unlike his revivals of the Flash, GL, and the Atom, where he was free to completely re-write the characters and change their costumes, Batman was one of DC's icons, and Schwartz was not permitted to significantly tinker with the Masked Manhunter's basic appearance. The addition of the yellow ellipse was the one visual change he could get away with.

In the chapter covering the New Look Batman in Tales of the Dark Knight; Batman's First Fifty Years:  1939-1989 by Mark Cotta Vaz (Ballentine Books, 1989), the author provides the following commentary, punctuated by a comment from Julius Schwartz himself:

The crowning touch [of the New Look], and Schwartz's own editorial signature, was his enclosing the black bat image on Batman's chest in a yellow moon.

Schwartz had always been as precise as a diamond cutter at reviving and updating the careers of old, out-of-work crime fighters.  One of his own successful superhero reclamation efforts was the Flash, whom he outfitted with a new identity, origin, and costume.  But there were some built-in restrictions on how far and fast he could play with the Batman mythos.

"With the Flash there was a whole new generation [who hadn't read the long-gone Golden Age-era Flash], so I could do anything I wanted," Schwartz explains.  "But I couldn't take over a continuing series like Batman and say, 'Hey!  We've got to change the uniform.'  It just wouldn't work."

Though the yellow oval appeared in that first New Look Batman tale and was the hallmark of the change in direction, it was curiously downplayed. On the cover of Detective Comics # 327, the images of Batman were arranged so that his insignia was not visible and no reference within the story was made to the change.  It was just there.

The next Schwartz-edited Bat-tale---"The Two-Way Gem Caper", from Batman # 164 (Jun., 1964)---was when the New Look really took off.  This was the story which instituted the majority of updates to the Batman mythos.  Bruce Wayne presented them to Dick Grayson at the same time that they were unveiled to the reader:  the elevator to the Batcave replacing the old winding staircase; the new Italian-sports-car convertible Batmobile, replacing the old bubble-top sedan model; the new moveable cave wall entrance to the Batcave; and the Hotline.

These changes were timely and appropriate.  In a matter of three pages, Batman and Robin had become modern and innovative.

The last of Schwartz’s revamps came in the third Batman story to appear under his direction---“Gotham Gang Line-Up”, from Detective Comics # 328 (Jun., 1964).  To blunt the accusations of latent homosexuality in two men and a boy living together without female influence---made by the uninformed, of course; such a thing never occurred to the fans---Alfred Pennyworth was killed off.  At the climax of this tale, a steam shovel operated by a member of the Tri-State Gang dropped a boulder over the heads of an unsuspecting Batman and Robin.  Seeing this, Alfred shoved the Dynamic Duo out of danger.  However, the loyal butler's effort put him beneath the falling rock and it crushed him.  

The death of Alfred launched two new additions to the Batman mythos.  First, in memory of their friend and confidant, Bruce Wayne established the charitable Alfred Foundation (which, upon Alfred's revival later, underwent a name-change to the Wayne Foundation). This rounded and deepened the character of Bruce Wayne.  Now, more than a mere socialite, he was a businessman shown to have a CEO's interests and concerns.  Wayne's work as an executive provided a plausible springboard for many cases.

Second, the hitherto unseen and unmentioned aunt of Dick Grayson, Harriet Cooper, took residence in Wayne Manor. As depicted, Aunt Harriet was warm-hearted, but overprotective; she arrived at Wayne Manor unannounced and insisted on remaining to take care of her "helpless boys".  

Of all the different “eras” of the Batman, the New Look remains my favourite. The scripts provided by Gardner Fox and John Broome, while not scrimping on action, evoked the tone of a police procedural.  Here was Batman, the professional sleuth, respected by the police department, the citizens of Gotham City, and, grudgingly, the underworld.  There was more than one crime boss shown to regard Batman as someone to be avoided, rather than to attack or attempt to kill.  These savvier crooks knew that they would lose going toe-to-toe with the Masked Manhunter. “Getaway Genius” Roy Reynolds and Johnny Witts, “the man who was always one step ahead of Batman”, were two examples of this.

Victor Iago, Mr. Incognito, and B. G. Hunter were other non-costumed criminals who demonstrated a capacity for intelligence which made them genuine challenges to the Dynamic Duo.  In Batman # 167 (Nov., 1964), the Dynamic Duo tackled an international criminal combine known as “Hydra”, a year before Nick Fury ever heard the name.  To keep the stories on the cutting edge, there was occasionally a smattering of science fiction, but never more than a half-step beyond what was currently possible.  And one could count on Fox or Broome providing a footnote or two documenting the actual technology, discovery, or research upon which they based their story elements.

As it had been back in the '40's, the fact that Batman and Robin were detectives was underscored.  Many a scene showed the pair in the Batcave, hunched over a lab table or relaxed in armchairs, capes and masks draped over the backs, while they discussed the salient points of their current case.  One of the more welcome touches was the effort made to show Robin as a contributing member of the team, with his own flashes of insight or day-saving initiative, as opposed to the days when he was just a shill there to be impressed by his older partner.

Writer France Herron made his own contributions to the New Look Batman mythos.  He established a new love interest for Bruce Wayne in the person of Gotham City policewoman Patricia Powell.  Pretty, quick-witted, and very capable, Patricia seemed a good match for the socially conscious Wayne.  But for some reason, she never took off with the readers, and she made only two appearances.

More successful was Herron’s creation of the Mystery Analysts of Gotham City.  The Mystery Analyst tales were creatively crafted puzzlers which brought together the leading crime-solvers of Gotham. Although too often, but naturally, too much of the action and detection was handed over to the Batman (the book was, after all, titled Batman, and not The Adventures of Martin Tellman, Armchair Detective), still it was fun to see Commissioner Gordon out from behind his desk and showing his mettle.  And it was a nice nod of continuity to the reader when, occasionally, we saw one of the members in a story outside of a Mystery Analyst tale, such as when Batman teamed up with private eye Hugh Rankin or when he turned to newspaperman Art Saddows for information.  And, of course, District Attorney Danton would pop up in courtroom scenes every now and then. It gave the reader the feeling that these people really were part of the Batman's professional circle.

The New Look Batman was a badly needed shot of adrenaline.  Julius Schwartz had restored the structural integrity of the Batman concept.  In the letter columns, the readers overwhelmingly approved of the changes Schwartz had wrought.  For the first time in years, there was genuine excitement in looking forward to the next issue.  

Unfortunately, the fans’ runaway enthusiasm did not translate to runaway sales.  The 1965 statements of ownership---twenty months after the debut of the New Look---showed Batman had an average total paid circulation of 453,745; Detective Comics, 304,414.  Up from 1962, but not that up.   Lois Lane was still kicking him around the block.

Still, Schwartz had done what he had been charged to do.  The minor rise in sales was enough to pull Batman from the brink of cancellation, but little more.  It would be the mid-season debut of a television show that once again turned the Masked Manhunter into a cash cow for DC---and ruined the New Look in the process.

I’m also caught up writing about catching up on comics.  I was on the road (or in the air) for most of June and July so when I finally got home, I had a huge stack of comics waiting for me.  That’s a treat, although it can be a little intimidating too.  On the bright side, I was able to read multiple issues of most series and get a real good feel for them.  So here are my thoughts on the remaining series. 

The Stand: No Man’s Land 4-5: The Stand is the best comic book adaptation I have ever read.   I don’t say that lightly.  I have a high opinion of other adaptations like The Hedge Knight and P. Craig Russell’s Ring of the Nibelung series.  Yet I think The Stand stands above them all.  Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s story is expertly paced.  He knows when to linger on an important scene and when to pick up the pace, as with Stu’s morning conversation with Fran.  He knows how to focus on the essentials of each character and how to move deftly between them, as in the sequence that flitted back and forth between Harold and the Council Meeting.  He knows when to change the story and when to adhere closely to it.  Artist Mike Perkins is no slouch either.  His characters are drawn in rich detail.  He knows when to augment his naturalistic style with subtle flashbacks and visual metaphors, such as a side picture of Harold while Frannie talks about him.  He knows how to juxtapose panels so that they impact each other, as on the page that combined reaction shots with a large explosion.  I can’t imagine this series being any better than it is.  It’s perfect.

Star Wars Darth Vader and the Lost Command 4-5, Star Wars Jedi: The Dark Side 1-2, Star Wars Legacy War 5-6:  This hasn’t been a great summer for Star Wars comics.  They haven’t been egregiously bad.   But there’s typically been a noticeable flaw that has kept them from being great.  The problem with Darth Vader was mostly pace.  It was hard to maintain a consistent menace over the course of the series, especially compared to the previous Darth Vader stories in the Purge one-shots.  The weakness on Jedi is mostly the art.  It’s too bad because Mahmud Asrar was one of my favorite artists when he worked on Dynamo 5.  But here, his faces lack expressiveness, so the readers feel as bored as the characters look.  Legacy ran into difficulty with scope, which shouldn’t be surprising.  The grand scale was part of what made the series so incredible in the first place.  But it’s hard to tie together that many different characters and storylines in one grand finale.  I’m a huge fan of the series and even I had trouble keeping everybody straight.  A character guide on the title page would have definitely helped.  Happily, the final confrontation between Cade and Krayt was worth the wait. 

Ultimate Comics X 5: I have a general rule: I tend to judge a comic based on the issue itself- on that particular story- rather than criticizing it for how it fits into a larger picture.  But every rule has its exceptions.  Ultimate X, taken on its own, is a great first chapter.  Karen Grant, an incognito Jean Grey, has slowly been gathering a group of mutants.  Each issue focused on one individual as they were recruited to be on the team.  The problem is that there isn’t a second chapter.  The story is all set-up.  The team is finally in place but this is the final issue.  After this, there’s a new series, a new creative team and a new line-up.  It’s kind of irrelevant that they did a good job of building the team because they’re not going to do anything with them beyond this issue.  It’s like they stacked the firewood but never lit the bonfire.

Uncanny X-Force 9-11: The current X-Force continues to be a great comic.  It’s occasionally brutal, but this incarnation has a dark sense of humor.  Deadpool’s wise cracks and Fantomex’s dry wit make for a surprisingly compelling combination.  They keep the title from becoming too bleak even when it deals with difficult subjects- such as killing a senior citizen who once ran a Nazi concentration camp.  As it enters its second year, Uncanny X-Force is delving a little deeper into its cast of characters.  The current saga focuses on Warren Worthington and his recurring transformations into Archangel.  The story is strong on action so far, yet Rick Remember manages to slip in a few comments about the inner beast that make this more than a typical action story.  

Uncanny X-Men 536-541: The first three issues are part of the “Return to Breakworld” story.  The last two are part of Uncanny’s crossover into “Fear Itself.”  In the middle, there’s a one-shot focusing on Hope’s connection to the team.  Taken altogether, it’s been a pretty good stretch for Uncanny X-Men.  It’s tricky to write a follow-up to an acclaimed and beloved story such as Joss Whedon’s original Breakworld in Astonishing X-Men.  This arc obviously doesn’t match the heights of its predecessor but it’s a still a worthwhile read.  There’s some nice sleight of hand in terms of unexpected twists.  And there’s some unusual angst as the Breakworlders mourn the loss of their warrior culture.  That combination of plot and characterization makes the sequel a story that can stand on its own two feet.  The Fear Itself story is one of the strongest tie-ins I’ve read.  An amped-up Juggernaut is on his way to destroy San Francisco and it’s up to the X-Men to stop him.  It’s a straightforward plot, but it gets added depth from the political ramifications of their association with the mayor’s office. 

Wolverine 9-12: I don’t think any title benefited more from reading successive installments than Wolverine.  I had been getting a little tired of the Wolverine in Hell/Wolverine Possessed/Wolverine vs. the X-Men story.  It was too relentlessly dreary.  And while I saw potential in a straightforward Wolverine Gets Revenge story, I was also preparing to drop Wolverine from my pull list.  Instead, writer Jason Aaron threw me a completely unexpected curve.  The story may be called Wolverine’s Revenge but the focus has been on the nefarious cult that sent Wolverine to hell in the first place.  It turns out that they’re a revenge society plotting against Wolverine.  Each one has a reason to hate Wolverine, but their reasons are twisted by selective facts.  For example, one member blames Wolverine for killing her husband but she’s willfully blind to the fact that her husband was a double agent who betrayed the CIA.  This story has been an interesting and unusual look at the unintended victims of violence.  Remarkably, Aaron has simultaneously elevated Wolverine as a hero as most of his enemies fear him for faulty reasons.  Wolverine was usually doing the right thing- such as protecting innocent people from a rampaging Hulk- but they misinterpreted his actions and hated him for it. 

X-23 9-12: Coming out of her crossover with Daken: Dark Wolverine, X-23 has been spending time with Wolverine, Gambit and Jubilee.  That’s a fun combination for me as I have fond memories of that trio in earlier Wolverine and X-Men stories.  Marjorie Liu does a good job of contrasting Jubilee and X-23.  Jubilee grew up in the glitter and light of shopping malls but has now been turned into a vampire.  X-23 was raised in a lab to be a serial assassin but is now trying to become a normal girl.  Their stories overlap and their conversations are interesting as they teach each other.  There’s also enough action to keep things from getting too dull.  I’m not a big fan of the Sana Takeda’s painted manga but I’ll put up with it for a comic this good. 

X-Factor 219-222: X-Factor, the title, has settled into a comfortable groove.   But X-Factor, Jamie Madrox’s isolated team of mutant detectives, is anything but settled.  Rahne Sinclair has returned after her sojourn with X-Force.  She’s emotionally scarred by her time with the other time.  And, oh yeah, she’s pregnant.  That impending bundle of joy complicates more than her life.  It affects Rictor, who once dated Rahne before admitting that he’s gay.  And it puts the entire team in danger considering that numerous deities want to kill the child before it’s born.  I always enjoy that combination of action and emotion.  However, it’s somewhat standard fare for X-Factor and it’s not quite as exciting as it was last year when Peter David intentionally included a shocking ending in every issue. 

X-Men 10-15 and Giant Size X-Men 1: This stretch of comics includes the last installment of the Lizard story guest-starring Spider-Man and an epilogue to the Curse of the Mutants vampire story.  But the majority of these issues make up the “First to Last” story that was billed as a crossover between X-Men First Class and the current team.  It’s not exactly as advertised considering that the two teams never meet up.  Instead, a villain approaches the team in the past with an offer to wipe out humanity in order to clear the way for mutants to inherit the earth.  When the team turns him down, he erases their memory of the event and tries again in the present.  The simultaneous story structure doesn’t really work here.  The stories are too similar so the only real variety comes from the costumes.  And there’s not a lot of suspense to the story set in the past.  The story tries to comment on the changes that have happened to characters like Cyclops and Magneto, but it’s not enough to hold a five-part story together.  In the end, “First to Last” is a muddled mistake.   

X-Men Legacy 248-252: I don’t have much to say about Legacy.  Like X-Factor, it’s moving steadily along.  These issues aren’t as powerful as the Age of X arc that preceded them but they’re still solid.  The first couple deal with the aftermath of Age of X as Rogue, Magneto and others try to process their memories from that alternate world.  The latter issues follow a squad that’s trying to help Legion re-capture his various personas, some of which have manifested physically and escaped.  It’s a fun tale, fighting through the lesser personalities in order to get to the big bad Styx.  I like the mix of characters, especially the addition of Frenzy.  It’s generally good to have a character around who doesn’t care about anything to stir things up. 

X-Men Prelude to Schism 1 and Schism 1:  It’s a good first issue for Schism.  The art is outstanding.  Pacheco has incorporated a little bit of Cassaday into his look so this is distinctive from his earlier run on X-Men.  There’s also nice mix of villains from the chaotic (Kid Omega) to the conniving (Kade Kilgore) to the conventional (the stand-in for Iran’s current president).  However, the series is going to stand or fall on the basis of the schism.  And so far, I like the way that they’re setting up the divide.  Cyclops is shown as the visionary leader who wants to engage the world on a socio-political level.  He’s the one giving speeches to the United Nations.  Wolverine is shown as the mentor to young mutants.  He’s the one learning their names and giving them dolls.  Cyclops wants acceptance.  Wolverine wants normalcy.  There may be a growing divide between them but it’s not a clear-cut case of right and wrong.  Plus, the divide is fairly consistent with previous characterization.  Cyclops has been meeting with mayors and making speeches for a long time.  Wolverine has repeatedly taken young heroes under his tutelage, from Kitty Pryde to Jubilee to X-23.  I like what I’ve seen so far and I’m looking forward to more.  The prelude, however, is entirely skippable.  It reads like an entry in a Marvel Handbook.  It’s boring and clunky and doesn’t offer much for readers old or new.   

Last week, I started a review of the many comics I read after returning from my travels in June and July.  It was kind of fun to read two or three issues at a time.  And it’s been just as much fun to review them that way as well.

GI Joe: Real American Hero 166-167: My patience has finally run out on the retro GI Joe title.  It’s never been the best book but I had room for a mediocre comic with nostalgic appeal.  The biggest problem is the dialogue.  The old GI Joe always had a smattering of military jargon.  At the time, it seemed designed to educate.  But the current title is crowded with it, making every conversation stilted and awkward.

Green Lantern 66-67, Green Lantern Corps 60-61, Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors 9-11, War of the Green Lanterns Aftermath 1: The last few months of Green Lantern have been unusually inconsistent.  I had been enjoying the first half of the War of the Green Lanterns story.  But the second half, represented in these issues, felt a little repetitive and drawn out.  I was particularly disappointed that the four earth Green Lanterns went back to the same pairings after meeting up in the middle.  The story could have introduced greater variety in character conflict if they had shuffled their partnerships.  Post-War, the separate titles have focused on individual Green Lanterns in self-contained stories.  While I appreciate the attempt at a change of pace, the stories themselves have been somewhat trite.  The unfortunate result is that it feels like the titles are biding time until their re-launch in September rather than truly exploring the depths of their characters.  The one exception is the War of the Green Lanterns Aftermath.  That issue packed several strong emotional wallops such as Hal’s despair at being exiled to earth and Sinestro’s desperation to get rid of the green ring.  The story also featured the great character conflict that had made the first half of the War worth reading. 

The Guild: Bladezz: I’ve truly delighted in this series of one-shots.  Earlier issues focused on Vork’s pathos and Tinkerballa’s mystery.  This issue explored Bladezz’s home life.  We learn how teenaged troublemaker Simon became sensational model Finn Smulders.  More importantly, we peek in on his antagonistic relationship with his sister, his tempered affection for his mother and his youthful resentment of her new boyfriend.  It’s a wonderful domestic drama that brings great depth to the main character- something that we don’t see in the more farcical web series.   

Invincible 80/Guarding the Globe 5: Invincible, the hero, is back on earth after the long Viltrumite War story.  And Invincible, the comic, is back to the combination of home life and super-heroics that made the book great.  On the superhero side, Invincible is feeling quite confident.  He has fully accepted his role as earth’s protector.  He isn’t shy about rushing into danger or making major decisions.  But that confidence may just lead him into trouble before the story is over.  On the domestic side, Invincible is feeling out of his depth.  He’s not quite ready to embrace the more adult role that he’s inherited.  He feels a little lost without his mom, who went on a trip into space.  And he’s hesitant about his relationship with Eve.  He wants to be with her, but he’s not quite ready to make a home with her.  Switching back and forth between the two storylines helps both move along briskly.  And there are some great contrasts between civilian Mark Grayson and confident Invincible.  Meanwhile, Guarding the Globe has been a minor disappointment.  The story can’t quite decide what it wants to be.  Is it the story of minor heroes saving the day in the absence of earth’s greatest hero?  Or is it a super-human soap opera?  The lack of commitment to either approach leaves the title with an uneven tone and a story that lurches from one situation to another.  

iZombie 13-15: There aren’t enough superlatives to describe this comic.  I read the first 12 issues in the span of two weeks as I caught up to the iZombie bandwagon.  Now, I’m reading it in (mostly) monthly installments and it’s just as good.  Chris Roberson does a great job keeping us invested in the main character, Gwen.  Her personality is interesting and her problems are intriguing.  I can see why Horatio is falling in love with her.  On top of that, Roberson is doing a great job with the secondary characters too.  Scenes concerning the vampire coven, Scott’s grandfather and Claire, the mad scientist assistant, are as enjoyable as the main story.  I could do without the Dead Presidents back-up strip though.

Kirby Genesis 0 and 1: This has the potential to become my new favorite comic.  Like Marvels and Kingdom Come, Genesis follows an unlikely lead in Kirby Freeman.  He’s the slightly nerdy kid smitten with the hottest girl in school in a world that’s about to explode in wonder.  He’s down to earth, yet knowledgeable.  He’s a little bit awed but skeptical enough not to be carried away.  He’s a little bit funny, but he’s not the class clown.  He has a small dose of teen angst, but not so much to be off-putting.  The art is also amazing, though that should be expected from a team headed by Alex Ross.  I particularly appreciated the humorous style for the flashback scenes and the contrast of shadowed human beings with almost neon alien visitors. 

Legion of Superheroes 13-15/Adventure Comics 526-528: This just isn’t working.  The new Paul Levitz Legion hasn’t been awful.  It’s even been great on occasion, particularly in the Annual and the Legion of Super-Villains one-shot.  But as an ongoing title, it’s been mediocre more often than that.  I almost think this would work better as an over-sized quarterly comic.  There are too many storylines for any of them to move forward that much.  And there are too many changes in direction- such as Mon’El leaving and then coming back right away again.  Adventure has been slightly better thanks to a smaller cast and superior art by both Phil Jimenez (now departed) and Jimenez-influenced Geraldo Borges.  Unfortunately, the kids are often unlikable and that makes it difficult to care about their triumphs or the their setbacks. 

Red Skull: Incarnate 1: Wow, what a great comic.  When I saw that Marvel was publishing a Red Skull origin story, I merely hoped that it would be as good as 2008’s Magneto Testament.  I didn’t realize that this was an intentional follow-up by the same author, Greg Pak.  The previous series explored the events that caused a young boy victimized by Nazis to become one of the world’s greatest villains.  This series is an interesting counterpoint.  What would cause a young boy to become one of the most fearsome Nazis in comic book history?  It’s been an intriguing case study so far.  We see a childhood penchant for cruelty and early lessons against weakness.  Red Skull Incarnate is heading to a dark place.  But, on occasion, that can make for a fascinating story. 

The Red Wing 1: Jonathan Hickman’s new sci-fi series has the potential to be a really cool comic.  The series focuses on a team of pilots, kind of like Kurt Busiek’s Shockrockets but with the added twist of time travel.  That twist introduces unique dangers: instant aging, four-dimensional dogfights and being stranded in the age of dinosaurs.  There’s a strong human angle as the two main characters are trying to follow in their famous father’s footsteps.  And there’s a mystery to hook you in- are their fathers dead or merely lost in time?  The art has a Frank Quitely influence, though it’s lacking his polish.  Yet it’s strong enough to carry the story and convey the tension. 

Rocketeer Adventures 1-3:

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

Cartoon Network’s Young Justice cartoon isn’t your daddy’s Teen Titans. It’s not even your older brother’s.

Young Justice is its own animal by virtue of playing mix and match with the various teen sidekicks from different eras of DC superhero comics, plus inventing a couple more. For example, the show features the original Robin at age 13, even though in the comics he hasn’t been that age since the 1950s. By contrast, YJ features the contemporary comic-book version of Superboy, a teen cloned from Superman in 1993.

One new character is a black Aqualad, although the original in the comics was white (and is dead). Evidently DC liked what they saw, since the new guy was recently introduced as Aquaman’s partner in the comics, too. Another new character may be confusing if you know too much; she’s a girl archer named Artemis who is NOT A) the Amazon warrior with that name in Wonder Woman comics, or B) the girl archer in the 1998-2003 Young Justice series named Arrowette.

But you don’t need to know all that to enjoy the cartoon. The ensemble cast is fine without prior knowledge, and entertains by depicting the interactions of an immature Robin, a reckless Kid Flash, a brooding Superboy, a flighty Miss Martian, and so forth. The flirting, fighting and search for identity and acceptance all ring true.

My one complaint is how they portray the Justice League. The show’s premise, you see, is that the sidekicks had demanded to join the League and be treated as adults. But that wouldn’t create a show starring that all-important demographic, the teenager. So story considerations required heroes like Superman to refuse to associate with the kids, and force them instead to become a covert superhero team. That’s not only more dangerous, it’s cruel. Thankfully, these jerks masquerading as super friends don’t show up much, except for Batman (assignments), Black Canary (combat trainer) and Red Tornado (supervisor).

And it seems to be working; Young Justice has been renewed for a second season. If you can’t wait, Warner Home Video released the first four episodes on DVD July 19 as Young Justice: Season One, Volume One ($14.97) and DC Kids has launched a companion comic book.

REPRINT ROUNDUP

* Sweet Tooth is ongoing mature-readers series set in a post-apocalyptic America where a plague has wiped out most of humanity, and animal/human hybrids are being born. These hybrids are immune to the plague, and are pursued by the ruthless human survivors for their secret. The eponymous star is one such hybrid, a boy with antlers who loves chocolate. Hence, “Sweet Tooth.”

I have to say I’m not a fan of the impressionistic art style of writer/artist Jeff Lemire (Nobody). On the other hand, my wife is crazy about every aspect of the book, so it’s really a matter of taste.

You can judge for yourself with the latest collection, Sweet Tooth Vol. 3: Animal Armies (DC/Vertigo, $14.99). Collecting Sweet Tooth #12-17, this volume sheds some light on the plague’s origin, re-unites Sweet Tooth with the big man who’d sold him for experiments (and has since had a change of heart) and begins a quest to learn Sweet Tooth’s origins.

Naturally, all of this complicated by the usual inhabitants of an apocalypse: brutal survivors, religious fanatics, mad scientists and rogue militias. Which, in Lemire’s hands, feel fresh. I may not care for the art, but Sweet Tooth is an absorbing and disturbing read.

* When Deluxe Comics re-launched a beloved 1960s series in 1984 as Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, I bought them while holding my nose. I was a purist, you see, and was irritated by the title and concept, because Wally Wood – the heart and soul of the series – had died in 1981. I didn’t think of these characters as the “real” agents of The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserve.

Now DC has reprinted those five issues as T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents Archives Volume Seven ($59.99), and I was surprised: They were much better than I remembered. With work by Rich Buckler, Dave Cockrum, Paul Gulacy, Jerry Ordway and George Perez, it is more consistent in quality than the original 1960s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, which featured two or three superstars (like Wood) but also a whole lot of drek. Given that DC has re-launched T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents currently with the welcome revelation that all previous stories remain in continuity, this volume of obscure stories is simply that much more necessary for any hard-core comics fan.

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

Among amateur comic-book historians, National Periodical Publications (DC) editor Jack Schiff is often tagged as “the man who nearly ruined Batman.”

In the late 1950’s, the Batman was yanked from his familiar dark alleys and moonlit rooftops, to be thrust into alien dimensions and distant solar systems.   Even readers of that era were left scratching their heads and muttering “What th--?”  But especially the fans of to-day, accustomed to the notion of the Masked Manhunter as a dark avenger of evil, and with the benefit of hindsight, regard the “science-fiction Batman” as a genuine “What were they thinking?” period.

Truth to tell, by the start of ‘50’s, the Batman's mystique as a grim, mysterious figure warring relentlessly against all criminals---the image so embraced by modern Bat-fans---was passé.  The Caped Crusader had dropped the article the from his name and had become plain old familiar “Batman”.  He and Robin operated more often during the day, travelled the world, and enjoyed a great deal of acclaim as lawmen.  Yet, Batman hadn’t strayed that far from his roots.  He was still a detective, following clues, donning disguises, and employing modern forensic techniques.  He had emerged from the shadows, but his adventures were still squarely in the realm of what was plausible for a costumed hero without super-powers.

Then, in 1957, that plausibility hit the wall when the direction of Batman’s adventures took a radical shift---a thematic “left turn at Albuquerque”---and the Gotham Gangbuster went plunging into a climate more suitable for Flash Gordon.  As the editor in charge of Batman and Detective Comics at the time, Jack Schiff is viewed as the guy who gave him the shove.

A managing editor for National Periodical, Schiff also held the reins of such DC titles as House of Mystery, House of Secrets, My Greatest Adventure, and Tales of the Unexpected.   By the middle of the decade, these titles had shaken off their supernatural overtones and featured tales centering on weird creatures, alien devices, and the occasional adventure in space.   (The futuristic Space Ranger was the headliner in Tales of the Unexpected for five years.)  It is his association with these titles which, I think, causes many finger-pointers to blame Schiff for putting Batman into the same milieu.

The irony is that, unlike Julius Schwartz and Mort Weisinger, who thrived on science fiction elements, Schiff never really warmed to the genre.  Gerard Jones and Will Jacobs, in The Comic Book Heroes, provided some background on Schiff.  He had begun as a pulp editor at Standard Magazines in the 1930’s, but strictly over the mystery and horror titles, not Standard’s SF output.  In fact, he convinced Standard to hire Mort Weisinger to handle to its SF titles.  Later, after Weisinger jumped over to DC, he returned the favour by having Schiff hired to take his place when he left to join the military during World War II.

The fact that Schiff was uncomfortable with science fiction adds to the criticism of his handling of Batman.  After all, while merging the detective genre with that of science fiction is an odd fit, it isn’t unworkable.  Chester Gould was able to insert SF into the adventures of Dick Tracy---Batman’s kindred spirit---and it wasn’t too terrible.  But not only did Schiff shove SF down Batman’s throat, insist the detractors, it was bad SF.

It was bad science fiction; Schiff should probably take a hit for that.  But the detractors are wrong in holding Schiff to blame for putting Batman in space in the first place.

For that, one needs to look at Irwin Donenfeld, son of NPP’s co-founder, Harry Donenfeld, and editorial director for the DC line.

Donenfeld noted how the company's science-fiction titles were outselling its standard super-hero magazines.  He had also observed the public's growing interest with flying saucers, the launching of Sputnik, and the space programme.  Thinking he was on to something,  Donenfeld issued marching orders to the DC editors to add aliens and space travel to their stories.  

Or, at least, that’s how most accounts have it.

(Years later---as related in Les Daniels’ Batman: the Complete History---Irwin Donenfeld dissembled a bit on the subject, by stating that he couldn’t recall exactly what his rôle was in the SF shift.  “I like to take credit for everything,” he said, “but truthfully I just don’t know.”)

Conversion to a science-fiction slant wasn’t a problem for Schwartz, who was already operating in that genre, nor for Weisinger, whose Superman family of titles leant themselves to SF.  But for Schiff’s Bat-titles, it was a disaster.  And he knew it.

Schiff recognised that such alien concepts ran against the basic premise of the Batman as a sleuth and argued against the changes.  As he stated in an interview published in 1983's Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide:  "I was having disagreements with the management about the 'monster craze' everybody was into.  I fought the introduction into Batman and Superman of this trend, but I was pressured into using them."

Most sources cite the tale “Batman’s Super-Enemy”, from Detective Comics # 250 (Dec., 1957), as the beginning of the “science-fiction Batman”.  To be sure, there had been earlier Batman stories that had been based at least in part on SF (e.g., the two adventures involving the Batman of the 31st century from Batman # 67 [Oct.-Nov., 1951] and Detective Comics # 216 [Feb., 1955]).  But this was the first of what proved to be a six-year run of overwhelmingly SF-oriented tales in both Bat-titles.

Almost immediately, the Batman comic followed suit with “Batman---the Superman of Planet X”, in Batman # 113 (Feb., 1958).  And the concept was off and running.  Between December, 1957 and April, 1964, the Dynamic Duo were confronted by a giant lizard-man from Planet X, alien creatures springing from the mysterious space seeds, a crystal being from an atomic dumping ground, a jigsaw menace, a super-powered sky creature, a chemical monster created by lightning, a Cyclops from a space capsule, a giant wasp-monster, the Beast of Koba Bay, ogres created by a cosmic Z-ray, an other-dimensional silver thief, and a volcanic rainbow beast.

They conducted a manhunt for an alien criminal in outer space, ended an extra-terrestrial duel, thwarted two alien invasion forces, captured a space pirate, led a coup to overthrow the despot of another world, represented Earth in the Interplanetary Olympics, and became the captives of an alien zoo.

Batman visited the planets X, Ergon, Tora, Alcor, Zur-En-Arrh, the world of the Bat-People, and the Dimension of Doom.  He teamed up with the other-worldly lawmen Mahan, Tal-Don, Goga, Ardello, and Inspector Tutian.

And when he wasn’t dealing with “another bizarre creature with a fantastic weapon“, the Masked Manhunter was undergoing some bizarre changes of his own.  He was transformed into a giant and into a merman.  He was rendered invisible.  He acquired super-strength.  And at various times, he was turned into Zebra-Batman, Mummy-Batman, Element-Batman, Flame-Batman, Negative-Batman, Batman Genie, and Bat-Baby.

On the surface, one could see a certain logic in Donenfeld’s insistence on spacemen and monsters.  The late ‘50’s were also a time of some phenomenally popular science-fiction and monster movies.  Films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Blob, Them!, Earth Versus the Flying Saucers, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and The Thing (from Another World) were packing movie houses and drive-in theatres.  The thing was, in the case of the Batman, rocket ships and garish monsters stood in direct opposition to the mood that had been originally established for the Darknight Detective.  He was meant to operate in an environment as much like the real world as comic-book convention would permit.  Let Buck Rogers fight giant space dragons and Martian death-rays.

And if the premise was flawed, the execution was worse.

No matter how much one loves steak and lobster, if he eats nothing but steak and lobster every day, pretty soon he’s going to be dying for a grilled cheese sandwich, and Batman fans were exposed to almost a steady diet of aliens and monsters.  But overkill was only part of the problem.

As I mentioned, Jack Schiff never connected with the theme of science fiction, and I would hazard a guess that the writers were similarly flummoxed.  Most of the Batman stories during this period were written by Bill Finger---the man who had originated most of the aspects that marked the original concept for the hero, as a mysterious foe of evil, who assumed a bat-like motif because criminals were a cowardly, superstitious lot.  Finger must have had a difficult time wrapping science-fiction elements around the character he had envisioned as a dark avenger.

On rare occasion, it worked.  One of the most fondly remembered stories of the period was “Robin Dies at Dawn”, from Batman # 156 (Jun., 1963), and it has emerged as one of the classic Batman tales.  But it worked because Finger was able to provide a grounded explanation for the aliens and monsters.  The Masked Manhunter’s off-world visit, in this case, was actually a hallucination, the result of a sensory-deprivation experiment for which Batman had volunteered, to enable scientists to measure the effects of isolation on U. S. astronauts.  In fact, the true thrust of the story was how the after-affects of the hallucination interfered with the Batman’s ability to handle his regular duties.

But such logical space-age stories were the exception.  Most often, the readers were subjected to an endless parade of little green men, bug-eyed monsters, and grotesque distortions.  In short order, the tales grew repetitive and unexciting.  The effect on the Batman was disastrous.  As DC historian Les Daniels put it:  “There was no core character left, just a hollow man being battered from place to place by whatever gimmick could be concocted . . . . “

Schiff occasionally resisted the publishorial dictates and inserted some stories pitting the Dynamic Duo against ordinary crime figures, and he managed to include a few of the vintage villains, like the Joker and the Penguin, in adventures hearkening to the old days.  He was also responsible for the early 1960's Batman Giant Annuals which reprinted the old Batman-as-dark-detective stories.  Again, from Overstreet, Schiff related, "Letters from fans indicated their liking for the old stories," and he felt vindicated by this evidence that readers preferred the earlier-era traditional Batman foes over aliens and bizarre transformations.

Unfortunately, the suits at NPP refused to see what was clear-as-crystal to Schiff---even though sales on the Bat-titles were dropping precipitously.  Figures for 1962 showed an average total circulation of 410,000 for Batman and 265,000 for Detective Comics (and those numbers were down 82,000 and 49,000, respectively, from a mere two years earlier).  In contrast, for the same year, Superman sold 740,000 copies and Action Comics, 435,000.  Even Lois Lane (at 490,000) and Jimmy Olsen (470,000) outsold the Bat-titles.

Certainly contributing to this slide was the decline in art.  The dynamic, detailed art of Dick Sprang had been a drawing point on the Bat-titles for years.  Then, in 1954, he ended his regular run on Batman and Detective Comics to take over as the primary artist on World’s Finest Comics.  Stepping up to replace the loss of Sprang was Sheldon “Shelly” Moldoff.

Moldoff had served briefly as Bob Kane’s assistant back in 1939; in 1953, he returned to work for Kane as his “ghost”.  It was a good fit.  Moldoff matched Kane’s art perfectly in many ways:  the uneven sense of perspective, the stiffness of his figures, their undersized hands and feet, and the characteristic poses, such as characters stroking their chins.  What Moldoff couldn’t replicate was the sense of mood that Kane, for all of his shortcomings as an artist, managed to instil in the earliest Batman tales.

At least, the exceptional brush of Charles Paris was able to provide some strength and depth to Moldoff’s pencils.  But often as not, Moldoff inked himself, with a flat, scratchy, cartoon-like result.

It was a dismal showing for the Cowled Crusader under any circumstances, but as it was, it came at the worst possible time.  The other DC shops---the ones for which science fiction was more suited---were enjoying a renaissance.

Mort Weisinger had consolidated Superman and his various off-shoots---Superboy, Supergirl, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane---into a solidly unified mythos.    Weisinger saw to the introduction of one startling concept after another. The Fortress of Solitude.  The Phantom Zone.  Bizarros.  The Legion of Super-Heroes.  Multi-coloured varieties of kryptonite.   The bottled city of Kandor.  And they weren’t just one-shot wonders.  They crossed over, interlocked, opening new vistas for the Man of Steel’s adventures.

And even that paled next to what was going on over at Julius Schwartz’ editorial fiefdom.  Schwartz had scraped the barnicles off of some of DC’s Golden-Age characters---the Flash, the Green Lantern, Hawkman, and the Atom---and gave them space-age updates.  Green Lantern was one of an interstellar police force.  Hawkman and his wife, Hawkgirl, were cops too, from the distant planet Thanagar, sent to study Earth’s law-enforcement methods.

The revised origins of the new Flash and Atom emphasized the “science” in science fiction.  The physics were a little shaky but sounded sufficiently authentic for the readers to buy into it.  The rising generation of comics readers appreciated the new sophistication and swarmed each new issue.

It didn’t hurt that Weisinger and Schwartz employed the top tier of DC’s artists:  guys like Curt Swan and Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson.

Meanwhile, poor Batman was left to die of creative anemia.

Uninspired in both script and art, sales on Batman and Detective Comics continued to plummet. The concept of a science-fiction-oriented Batman hadn’t just failed; it had sucked the life out of the franchise.  By 1964, NPP was considering the unthinkable---cancelling the two titles featuring DC’s second-most-famous character. 

It was going to take a “Hail Mary” play to keep Batman alive, and fortunately---as I will discuss next time---DC had just the quarterback to call it.

This is my first Blog attempt and I've been thinking about it for a while now. I picked the title "Reflections" because you can see reflections in Gold, Silver, Bronze and the Brand New. Comics have always reflected pop culture, politics, social issues, current events and the world that they were created in. These are my opinions, my views and my conclusions. And I welcome comments and corrections.

With the relevation of the New Ultimate Spider-Man being half-Latino, half African American, several of us (myself included) observed the lack of original minority/non-White heroes. I'm focusing on Marvel now but DC is equally lax on it. There are notable examples of black characters taking the names/personas of established white heroes: Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Goliath/Giant-Man, even Ultimate Nick Fury. To be fair, Marvel created all-new minority non-White heroes in their Silver Age but there were always problems.

The Black Panther is a real African king from the super sci-fi nation of Wakanda so it was difficult for readers to identify with him. He was a guest star for his first years, joining the Avengers. Then the term "Black Panther" took on a whole new meaning with the rise of the militant group, thus robbing him of a marketable, "safe" name. He was addressed as The Panther, the Black Leopard and his true name, T'Challa but this denied him any solo series until the regretably named Jungle Action. There have been many attempts to make the Black Panther a star; five different series, numerous minis, married to the X-Men's Storm and lately being treated as a major player in the MU. It may work yet though his lack of real powers and a dull costume are definite disadvantages.

The Falcon was always featured prominently but always as the second part of Captain America And... This sidekick label never left him and then there is his convoluted origin and constant attempts of upgrading him. Powers, no powers and the same falcon, Redwing, for over forty years! Maybe he has the super-powers!

The Prowler added some variety to Amazing Spider-Man but he's a very minor character, especially compared to Daily Bugle editor Joe Robertson.

But Marvel's best bet for a non-White superstar was:

Created by Roy Thomas, John Romita and Archie Goodwin, Luke Cage debuted in Hero For Hire #1 (Ju'72). His origin was definitely from the headlines. He was a black prisoner, wrongly convicted, mistreated by racist guards, who undergoes an experimental process to gain parole. But one of those guards tried to kill him but the overloaded treatment gives him "steel-hard skin and muscles to match!" He quickly escapes and starts a new life as a super-hero that the public can employ.

Luke had a hard life which he does not sugarcoat. He has committed crimes and done acts of violence but he was trying to better himself when he got framed. He is wary of the law and authority and rightfully so. But he wants to be a force of good, he just wants to be paid for it. This does has some precedence in the Marvel books. Both the Fantastic Four and the Avengers get stipends and the public believes that Iron Man works for Tony Stark.

Many complain about his outfit but it is appropiate. The metal handband shows his strength and nobility. The much-mocked yellow shirt works with his dark skin and makes him stand out. He does not hide in the shadows. He is in your face and proud. The chain belt reminds him of his wrongful imprisonment and gives him resolve to aid the helpless. He looks like a hero, an individual and a warrior.

Also worth mentioning is that not all whites are bad and not all blacks are good. Cage fought black foes (Diamondback, Black Mariah, Senor Muerte, Chemistro, Shades and Comanche) and white foes (Mace, the Christmas Bomber, Stilletto, not to mention Doctor Doom). The latter smacked in the middle of the Marvel Universe. The Doom issues of Hero For Hire #8-9 also have him meeting the Fantastic Four, which would pay dividends in the future. HFH #12 refer to Amazing Spider-Man #124 where he was hired by Jolly J. Jonah Jameson to capture the Wall-Crawler.

But in what would have been HFH #17, the big change comes as the title becomes Power Man, a strong and memorable name. He also battles Iron Man and holds his own.

Power Man had all the potential to be a super-star. Compelling origin, real powers, an interesting supporting cast but sales were never strong. He may have been Shaft Among the Super-Heroes but he never really fitted in. Too strong for urban crime and too urban for super-hero fare. He was even part of the Fantastic Four for three issues, replacing the Thing briefly. He was paired with fellow fad hero Iron Fist and for a time, Power Man & Iron Fist was one of Marvel's best comics.

Luke had several problems for success. His strength was seemingly purposely left vague. He battled Spidey, Iron Man and the Thing but no one knew how strong he really was. He was part of the Defenders for a time but was never asked to be an Avenger even though he had his own title. Simply put, he was never treated like a headliner. Flavor but not the main course! 

He could have been a contender. He really could have!

"Sweet Christmas!"

I was travelling for roughly 6 out of 7 weeks in June and July.  Among other things, that means I fell way behind in my comic book reading.  I still managed to make it to the shop occasionally and pick up whatever was sitting in my pull box.  But I simply couldn’t keep up with that many comics while on the road. 

On the bright side, that meant that I had a huge stack of comics waiting for me when I finally settled down again.  Even better, I had multiple issues of most titles.  Though I prefer single issues to trades, it can be a lot of fun to read two or three issues in a row.  You get a much better sense of where a story is going when its individual installments aren’t interrupted by 40 other series.    

Amazing Spider-Man 659-665: In these issues, Spidey joined the FF, took a turn teaching the Avengers Academy, got mixed up with Anti-Venom and Mr. Negative and ditched a movie night with Betty Brant.  I read some online reactions from people who didn’t like the first two stories, since they seemed to be about the guest-stars more than Spidey (the Avengers Academy issues were even written by the AA writer rather than the regular Spidey scribe).  But I loved them. I like Spidey’s niche in the FF.  He’s a perfect substitute for the Human Torch bringing both power and levity.   Yet Peter still feels like he’s a little bit out of place, so there’s still some of that typical Parker awkwardness.  The Avengers Academy story was just a fun read.  It reminded me of classic Marvel Team-Up stories, pairing Spider-Man with the newest hero in a way that shines light on both of them.  The one down note for me was the Anti-Venom story.  I find Anti-Venom one-dimensional and boring.  Plus, I was much more interested in Mr. Negative when he was influencing Aunt May, instead of serving as Anti-Venom’s foil.  However, it appears as if the Aunt May/Mr. Negative story was resolved in a side series as she only showed up for one panel.  Happily, the title quickly recovered with a great one-shot that focused on Peter’s friendship with Betty Brant.

American Vampire 14-16 and American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest 1-2: American Vampire is quickly becoming one of my favorite titles and a strong contender for series of the year.  Both stories take place during World War II.  In the main title, Henry Preston is serving in the Pacific where he’s been sent to destroy a vampire nest on the island of Taipan.  Skinner Sweet came along for reasons of his own, and Pearl Jones is back in Hawaii trying to unravel the mystery.  In the special mini-series, vampire hunters Cash McCogan and Felicia Book are posing as Nazi sympathizers in an attempt to acquire a potential cure for vampirism.  Both stories are full of setbacks and unexpected twists, deadly situations and heightened emotional drama.  My one small complaint is that the artists don’t do a good enough job differentiating stylistically between Pearl and Felicia and Skinner and Cash.  The separate leads should have separate looks. 

Astonishing X-Men 37-39: I like what Astonishing X-Men is doing right now.  The title is alternating between two stories that are supposedly happening at the same time.  In the first, one squad- Cyclops, Emma Frost, Wolverine and Armor- is in Japan fighting escapees from Monster Island.  The story is a lot of fun, riffing off of classic Godzilla movies.  Yet it also has a strong heart as Armor deals with the emotions of returning to her homeland as a hero for the first time.  In the second, another squad- Beast, Colossus, Shadowcat and Storm- has flown into orbit to help SWORD fight off a Brood incursion.  Once again, there’s a fun movie flavor to the story.  This time, the plot evokes the original Alien.  And, once again, there’s a strong emotional component with awkward reunions between Kitty and Lockheed and Beast and Brand.

Captain America 617-619 and Volume 6 #1: The biggest news for Captain America occurred in Marvel’s summer crossover, Fear Itself.  James “Bucky” Barnes, who had been carrying the shield, was killed.  Back in his own title, James was serving a prison sentence in Russia for crimes he had committed as the Winter Soldier.  It was a strong story, with the Black Widow and Sharon Carter working for his release while Bucky fought for redemption.  However, the emotional impact was lessened by Bucky’s appearance in Fear Itself, presumably after his release.  As for the new title, I should have known that I could trust Ed Brubaker.  The reason I’ve loved Captain America for the past seven years hasn’t been Steve Rogers or Bucky Barnes.  It’s been writer Ed Brubaker.  He delivered a great individual tale.  Plus, he set up Baron Zemo as a shadow threat, giving the title the continuing menace that it’s been missing since the Red Skull was defeated. 

Dollhouse: Epitaphs 0 and 1: This comic is not for the faint-hearted.  Based on Joss Whedon’s television show, the comic is set in the near future.  The Rossum technology to erase and replace personalities is about to go global.  This mini-series tells the story of those early survivors, the ones who resisted the technology, kept their own minds, banded together and began to fight back.  But their experience is not pretty.  They are abandoned and isolated.  They don’t know who or how to trust.  Some become callous killers.  Others look for love among the ruins.  There are even a few surprise appearances of characters from the TV show.  It’s an epic and emotionally satisfying tale so far, but it’s not a place I’d want to live. 

Fables 103-106: I’m sorry to say it but, for me, the Super Group story has been a giant misstep.  The only good stuff happened in sub-plots that had little to do with the main story.  I liked the final confrontation between Bigby’s dad and Mr. Dark.  But that had nothing to do with the gathering of heroes and could have happened just as easily without it.  Even worse, the plot device of putting together a super-team was contrived and out-of-place.  It is possible to tell a great story that breaks the fourth wall and comments on the nature of comic book superheroes.  It might have even worked in Jack of Fables, which regularly commented on literary devices and conventions.  But it was an awkward digression for Fables and never fit smoothly with the established tone of the series. 

Fear Itself: Every crossover walks a tightrope.  It needs to tell a main story that is engaging, exciting and complete in its own right.  It also needs to leave other strands of story that can be explored in the tie-ins.  Blackest Night got it right on both counts.  Civil War managed the first, Secret Invasion the second.  Fear Itself is teetering on the edge and in danger of falling.  The main story is bold and beautifully drawn.  However, significant plot points are being designated to the supporting series- specifically what happens to each of the hammer-wielders.  The two main story threads- Thor’s expulsion from Asgard and Captain America’s confrontation with Skadi- are going well.  But the other scenes feel more like an update about what’s happening in other comic books rather than sub-plots of this particular story.  Though, to be fair, there are a lot of pretty explosions. 

Fear Itself tie-ins: I sampled a few of the Fear Itself mini-series.  My recollection was that the series were hit or miss.  But when I looked back, I realized that was because I was including ongoing series.  The four mini-series that I sampled contained a lot more misses than hits- Alpha Flight, Uncanny X-Force, Wolverine and Youth in Revolt.  Alpha Flight had a decent premise- fighting Attuma after he’s been powered up by one of the magical hammers (see the previous entry).  Yet, despite my love for Alpha Flight, it’s a fairly mediocre comic.  Youth in Revolt is an attempt to salvage characters from the recently canceled Young Allies series and it’s about as bad as that series had been.  I had the highest hopes for Uncanny X-Force because the parent title is so good but this series inherited the violence but not the humor or the heart.  Surprisingly, Wolverine has been the only series worth reading, mainly because of the presence of Melita Garner.  I like the way that various writers have been slowly building her relationship with Wolverine in one-spots and specials like this. 

FF 2-6: First off, I don’t like the all-white costumes.  I wanted to give them a try, but then I saw the all-black costumes they wore for mourning and those were so much better.  Second, this is a pretty awesome comic if my only complaint is about the color of the costumes.  I like the mix of personalities.  Peter Parker is a good fit, bringing a similar sense of humor as Johnny Storm.  Alex Power is kind of cool as a Mr. Fantastic in training- learning to be a hero, a leader and a genius.  The kids and the guests keep the series light and surprising.  Oh, and I love the twists such as recruiting their greatest enemies to help defeat the Reed Richardses of parallel worlds.  The Inhumans issue was a minor misstep, but one that could be salvaged depending on how that story is integrated in future issues.  

Flashpoint 1: I feel a little like Barry Allen.  Despite reading comics as fast as I can, I still haven’t caught up with Flashpoint.  So it’s not quite fair to compare Flashpoint to Fear Itself.  After all, I liked the first issue of Fear Itself.  The series didn’t start to wobble until the third and fourth issues.  All I can say by way of comparison is that I hope Flashpoint stays steadier on its feet because it’s done a great job of bursting out of the starting block.  I like the set-up- Aquaman and Wonder Woman are warring over Europe while Cyborg is trying to put together a team to stop them.  And I like Flash’s confusion.  Expected allies are adversaries.   Expected friends are practically strangers.  Now we see if Cyborg (and Geoff Johns) can pull the confused and scattered misfits into a force capable of bringing peace to this world. 

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

July 26, 2011 -- With the arrival of the Captain America movie, Titan has released two excellent books shining a light on the character’s creators.

For those just coming in, Cap was created in 1941 by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, in a story lifted almost intact for the movie. While Kirby died in 1994, his partner is still very much with us at age 97, as demonstrated by his new autobiography, Joe Simon: My Life in Comics ($24.95).

Given that comic books more or less came into being in the 1930s, Simon’s Life in Comics is also the story of the industry. He was present for most of the major events in the history of comic books, and was the cause of a few of them. For example, Simon was the first editor at Marvel Comics (called Timely in the 1940s), where he hired a teenager named Stan Lee. Simon worked with nearly every major creator through the 1960s, co-created entire genres (including “kid gang” comics and romance books) and worked for publishers as small as Crestwood and as huge as the company we know today as DC Comics. “Simon and Kirby” was such a recognizable franchise that the duo received royalties (which was unheard of in the 1940s), were the first to have their names on the covers of comic books as a sales tool and today have an entire archives series devoted to their works.

And as much insight as Simon’s book gives us to comics personalities like Bob Kane (creator of Batman), Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (creators of Superman) and Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit), he also managed to be around for a lot of non-comics twentieth century history. Which is how he managed to run into comedian Sid Caesar, actor Cesar Romero, boxer Jack Dempsey, writer Damon Runyon and other luminaries.

One can easily glean from the book how Simon managed to be so popular. His easy, affectless prose reveals an affable, flexible, generous and optimistic personality. Add to that Simon’s obvious creativity, and he was no doubt a lot of fun to be around. Since most of us will never have the fortune to meet him, this book is the next best thing.

The next best thing after the autobiography are the comics Simon created, and Titan has collected one of the oddest and funniest titles he and Kirby ever did.

Simon and Kirby left Captain America Comics with issue #10 in 1942, after an acrimonious dispute with publisher Martin Goodman. So when they heard Goodman was going to revive the Living Legend in 1953 (Cap had been canceled in 1950), it rubbed salt into a still-open wound. But the proactive Simon, always looking to turn a negative into a positive, had a brainstorm. He quotes himself as saying to Kirby, “You know, there’s no reason we can’t do our own character again. They can’t corner the market on patriotism, after all. Why don’t we show them how it’s done?”

Thus was born Fighting American at tiny Prize Comics, another star-spangled hero in the tradition of Simon and Kirby’s own Captain America … sort of. Naturally, the powerful pencils for which Kirby was known were present, and as bombastic as they ever were on Captain America. But something was different this time: a sense of humor. Fighting American was so over the top in Red-baiting, Commie-bashing, flag-waving hoo-ha that it was practically a parody of itself (and of Captain America).

“Sure, the book was full of Commies and offbeat villains,” Simon says in the foreword to Titan’s new Fighting American collection ($19.95). “But it also poked fun at the whole superhero thing.” The ever-earnest and jingoistic Fighting American (and his sidekick Speedboy) battled characters like Poison Ivan and Hotsky-Trotski with the same campy seriousness Adam West would affect in the Batman TV show more than a decade later.

The Fighting American trade paperback collects every story in the series, which ran only seven issues (with a two-issue reboot), but was still around longer than the Captain America revival, which died in 1954. (Cap wouldn’t become the popular fixture he is today until his second revival in 1964.) And even 60 years later, the humor and inventiveness shine through every page of Fighting American.

Both books offer welcome insights into both Simon and Kirby. Creating Captain America alone would be enough for most, but for this pair it was just a beginning.

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

I moved to York, Pa., about 12 years ago, and my wanderings through the area lead me to an interesting discovery: This was once the headquarters to the Record Club of America, a company that frequently advertised in 1970s-era comics.

Through a little bit of internet Google-fu and some on-site snooping, I've found a little bit about the company that duked it out with BMG and Columbia House, two more well-known music mail-in clubs.

You can read all about it in the latest entry at Comics on the Brain!

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

'Cowboys & Aliens' movie lifts graphic novel's high concept

Another comic-book concept makes its movie premiere July 29: Cowboys & Aliens. And therein hangs a tale.

Cowboys & Aliens debuted as a standalone graphic novel from Platinum Studios in 2006 by writers Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley, penciller Luciano Lima and a host of inkers. The story involved an expansionist alien species crash-landing in 1870s Arizona and annexing it while building a transmitter to contact their fleet to finish the job. Apache warriors, gunslingers and pioneer settlers joined forces to battle them, stealing alien equipment where they could to equal the odds.

While the thrust of the story was action, action, action, there was some social commentary too. One gunslinger remarked that the aliens had no right to conquer our turf just because they had better weapons, which resulted in a sheepish “Oh” after a stern look from the Native Americans. The “all men are brothers” theme was underscored by some cross-racial romance, as a gunslinger and a (female) alien science officer fell in love, as did a (white) female gunslinger and an Apache warrior.

None of which seems to apply to Cowboys & Aliens the movie. Starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde, the film seems to take very little from the graphic novel except the name and the high concept.

But what a concept it is! It’s almost impossible to look at the GN cover, the movie posters or movie trailers and not have a thrill of anticipation. A cowboy shooting at a UFO with a sixgun? That begs the who, what, why and how response.

Which answers in part this question I hear a lot: How come Hollywood has come to rely so much on comic books as their source material? This is especially remarkable when you consider how comics were once fiercely snubbed by pop culture in general, especially the much-maligned superhero genre. For this 40-year comics reader, it’s a 180-degree turn from my youth, when I had to hide comics to avoid getting beaten up.

So what’s changed? A recent “Simpsons” episode depicted Bart explaining, “Hollywood has run dry of ideas.” While that may be partly true, I think some other things are going on here:

• Comics have really grown up. And I’m not just talking about more sophisticated themes in superhero comics (which are also on display in the X-Men and Spider-Man movies). What I mean are terrific non-superhero comics that have been turned into occasionally terrific movies like 300, Constantine, Kick-Ass, Ghost World, Hellboy, A History of Violence, The Mask, Priest, Men in Black, Red, Road to Perdition, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Sin City, V for Vendetta, Wanted and many more. Regardless of their medium of origin, these are just good stories.

• Movie F/X have caught up to comics. It used to be that if you wanted to see an exploding sun or a plausible space ship, you’d read a comic book (or a science fiction book and imagine it). Now the movies can do it – which means they can finally do comic books and science fiction right.

• Comics concepts come pre-vetted. If you’re writing a Batman movie, for example, you’re standing on the shoulders of giants. The Dark Knight has appeared in hundreds of thousands of stories over more than 70 years, and has had hundreds, if not thousands, of writers. That means all the mistakes have been made; those authors have found what works and what doesn’t, and have discarded the dross. They’ve already done the focus groups, involving millions of readers over decades. If a concept is still in a long-running comic book, that means it’s popular and it works and movie writers should use it. No thinking required.

• Comics are basically movie storyboards. Comics do all the work for a director. The pacing, camera angles and storytelling have all been thought out in advance.

Movies that ignore these lessons do so at their peril. When you compare a list of the worst comic-book movies with a list of comic-book movies where the writers jettisoned or fundamentally altered the existing mythos, many names appear on both. (See: Catwoman, Elektra, Jonah Hex, etc.)

That deviation from source material is happening with Cowboys & Aliens, but here we’re talking about a single graphic novel, one which was a a fairly pedestrian take on what is clearly a cool concept. This time, the movie-makers might be right to start over.

And, honestly: Cowboys shooting at UFOs! How can you go wrong?

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

Those of you who have been regular Deck Log followers have seen me discuss the mid-‘60’s phenomenon known as “Batmania” a few times.  It’s one of those things impossible to convey in the written word.  You had to experience it.  When the ABC network launched its new series Batman on 12 January 1966 . . . well, the phrase “overnight sensation” would not be an overstatement. 

Fads come and go, of course.  But normally they infect only a particular sub-set of society and that’s usually a segment of the younger generation.  Batmania was different.  It was one of those rare crazes that swept across the entire culture, regardless of age distinctions.  So, naturally, opportunists found a way to make a buck off of it.

Comics publishers weren’t the only folks to jump on board the super-hero gravy train inspired by the Bat-craze.  Television executives from rival broadcasters CBS and NBC set out to fashion their own super-hero spoofs and, hopefully, leech some of Batman’s ratings-smashing popularity to their own networks.

Comics enthusiasts occasionally discuss the coïncident timing which saw DC’s Doom Patrol and Marvel’s X-Men, two strikingly similar concepts, debut mere months apart in 1963.  And there were other curiously fortuitous instances of this kind, such as the Red Tornado/the Vision in 1968 and the Swamp Thing/the Man-Thing in 1971.

In the case of DC and Marvel, maybe it was happenstance, maybe it wasn’t.  But television has never been that coy about it.  Not only did CBS and NBC present the public with a pair of super-hero sitcoms featuring closely matching characters and premises, but they were introduced on the same night, 09 January 1967, and only a half-hour apart.  Like their spiritual progenitor, Batman, they were both mid-season replacement shows.  And that would not be the end to their parallels.

For those of you who, like me, were around then, this will bring back some memories.  Possibly, even fond ones.  For those of you who came in late, it should be an interesting glimpse of television’s own Silver Age of super-heroes.

A Scientist, Both Wise and Bold, Set Out to Cure the Common Cold;

Instead, He Found This Power Pill . . . .

The first of these Batman wanna-bes was shown on Monday nights, at eight p.m.  (I won’t go into what it says about my brain that I remembered the day of the week without having to consult a 1967 calendar.)  This was the CBS product and it was titled Mr. Terrific, and if you’re thinking that it was about the old DC hero, Terry Sloan, the Man of a Thousand Talents, you’re wrong.  It would probably have been a better show if it had been.

Of the two super-hero send-ups produced by CBS and NBC, this one was, technically, first---and not just because it aired a half-hour before NBC’s effort.  In the summer of 1966, the Tiffany Network had already turned its eye toward producing a Batman clone.  The result was a pilot starring Alan Young, coming off a successful run in Mr. Ed, as Stanley H. Beamish, a nebbishy department-store clerk.  As the plot relates, the efforts of a government laboratory have resulted in the creation of a pill which will bestow a human being with the basic array of Superman-like powers---super-strength, invulnerability, flight, super-speed, and X-ray vision.  Hilarity ensues when it’s discovered that the only person the pill will work on is Stanley Beamish.

As Beamish, Alan Young was clumsy and addle-brained, kind of a dumber version of Wilbur Post.  Young is a talented actor, as was Edward Andrews, who played the head of the government bureau in charge of the super-power pill.  But here, they both played their parts too broadly, and frankly, the script didn’t give them a whole lot to work with.  It was an embarrassment to all involved, and CBS wisely passed on it.

That would have been that for TV’s Mr. Terrific---except that a few months later, CBS got wind that NBC was busy producing its own super-hero satire and the buzz was that it was pretty good.  Not wanting to be left in the lurch, it locked some writers in a room and told them they couldn’t come out until they fixed Mr. Terrific.  The result was a revamp with about as much housecleaning as Julius Schwartz’ revival of the Flash.

The premise---that a “power pill” would give super-powers to only one man---was retained, as was the name of that fateful subject, Stanley Beamish.  Aside from that, everything else, including the cast, was changed.  Now, Stanley Beamish, played by Stephen Strimpell, was half-owner of a small-time garage and filling station.  Where Stanley is meek and mild, his partner and best friend, Hal Walters (Dick Gautier, best remembered as “Hymie the Robot”, from Get Smart), is self-confident and an inveterate skirt chaser.

When a government scientist invents the power pill---accidentally this time, instead of on purpose---the Bureau of Special Projects determines that the only subject in all the country that the pill will affect is Stanley Beamish.  Barton J. Reed (John McGiver), head of the Bureau, and his aide, Harley Trent (Paul Smith), seek out Stanley and recruit him into super-powered government service.  Stanley must keep his rôle as a super-hero secret from everyone, including Hal.

Instead of the ridiculous costume worn by Alan Young in the pilot, which resembled an old-fashioned deep-sea diver’s suit painted gold (and probably was), the new Mr. Terrific costume showed a bit more decorum:  a gold-lamé jacket, which reversed into a regular sport coat, so Stanley could hang it up in his locker at the garage; and an aviator’s scarf and goggles.

In his portrayal of Beamish, Stephen Strimpell was more subdued than Young.  Strimpell’s Beamish was impish and easy going, but didn’t come across as a total nimrod.  Clearly he was out of his depth performing espionage work for the government and often screwed up because of that, but it never devolved into the can’t-walk-and-chew-gum-at-the-same-time level.

The same kind of restraint was shown in the characters of Reed and Trent.  While they occasionally displayed moments of childishness---generally, to accommodate the insertion of a joke---they usually came across as competent.  Or, at least, sitcom competent.

When assigned to a mission, Beamish would be provided with three power pills---one large white one, which rendered him super-powered for one hour; and two small, red pills, which were ten-minute “boosters”.  This was the “maximum dosage”, after which Stanley would have to wait an unspecified amount of time before taking any more power pills.

The need to take to pills to become super-powered and the imposed time-limits served as a major source of drama and comedy in the series.  Frequently, Stanley would drop one of the pills, or it would wear off, at the worst possible time.

The writers had generally done well in revising the series.  They had certainly moved it a notch or two up from the pilot.  There was just one problem . . . .

It wasn’t funny.  It was silly; it was whacky; it was lighthearted fluff, but it wasn’t funny.  And it sure didn’t drag in anywhere near the audience that Batman did.

Mr. Terrific’s competitor over at NBC wasn’t that funny either, which was astounding, considering its pedigree.

Look!  It’s the Man Who Flies Around Like an Eagle!

Look!  It’s the Enemy of All That’s Illegal!

As soon as the closing credits had rolled on the adventures of power-pill-popping Stanley Beamish, it was eight-thirty, and time to switch the channel to NBC and catch its super-hero spoof, about a mild-mannered man who gains super-powers by ingesting a chemical substance.  Only this one was different:  instead of swallowing a pill, he drinks a potion!

O.K., there were more differences than that, but not enough.

The Peacock Network’s foray into super-hero farce was called Captain Nice.  This was the show that spooked CBS into resurrecting Mr. Terrific.  And no wonder. It was created by and written by and executive produced by Buck Henry, one of the comic geniuses behind Get Smart.  And it was directed by Jay Sandrich, who also directed Get Smart and would go on to helm Mary Tyler Moore for most of its run and the first three seasons of The Cosby Show.

Unlike Mr. Terrific’s premiere episode, which began with the format already in place (relying on Paul Frees’s rhyming narration in the opening credit sequence to bring the viewers up to speed), Captain Nice kicked off with his origin. 

In the beginning, our hero is Carter Nash, police chemist for the Big Town Police Department and general all-around nerd.  Nash is played by William Daniels.  (Yes, that William Daniels.)  He lives in his parents’ house and under the thumb of his gently domineering mother (Alice Ghostly).  Though he owes his position on the police department to his uncle, the mayor of Big Town, the meek, socially awkward Nash is actually a quite capable chemist.

Through research and experimentation, Nash succeeds in his goal of developing a serum that imbues whomever drinks it with the usual set of super-powers---super-strength, invulnerability, flight.  (No super-vision, though.)  Unfortunately, this comes in the middle of a crisis---master criminal Omnus has escaped from prison and is loose in Big Town---and the mayor and the police chief have no time for Nash’s boring recitations.

Dejected, Carter returns to his lab and pockets the phial of “super-juice”.

In one of those situations that exists only in sitcoms, the meek Nash is the romantic interest of tall, willowy, attractive policewoman Sergeant Candy Kane (Ann Prentiss, sister of Paula).  She aggressively pursues the shy chemist, who is befuddled by her attentions.  She inveigles Carter into walking her home through the local park.  Unfortunately, they stumble across the fugitive Omnus and his gang.  The hoods overpower Nash and kidnap Candy.

With no other option, Carter drinks the sample of the formula he has with him.  It works, but the explosive release of power shreds his outer clothing, leaving him in tatters and his long johns.  He stumblingly rescues Candy and captures Omnus and his henchmen; “stumblingly” because he doesn’t know how to manage his newfound strength.  A park employee who witnessed his feats notes the “CN” monogram on Nash’s belt buckle and asks him what the initials stand for.

“Uh . . . Captain,” he replies.

“Captain what?”

“Captain . . . Nice.”

When Carter returns home, he tells his parents about the formula, deciding to destroy his notes so it won’t fall into the wrong hands.  Instead, his mother persuades (read: orders) him to fight crime as a super-hero.  Using old sheets and some curtain remnants, she redesigns his long johns into an ill-fitting costume and Captain Nice, hero of Big Town, is born!

Despite the difference in set-ups, Captain Nice was pretty much Mr. Terrific separated at birth.  Taking the super-juice did nothing to remedy Nash’s shyness or awkwardness.  As with Mr. Terrific, the Captain’s inability to hold his super-strength in check inadvertently resulted in more damage than would have been caused by the bad guys he caught.  Also like Terrific, Captain Nice had difficulty manuœvering himself in flight and his landings invariably smashed walls or gouged pavement.

In another echo of Mr. Terrific, the effects of the super-juice lasted for only an hour, so all too often, Captain Nice reverted back to his non-powered self at inopportune times.  On the other hand, one marked difference was, while the power pills worked only on Stanley Beamish, Nash’s formula would work on anybody.  A couple of episodes had Captain Nice dealing with someone else who had drunk the stuff.

Buck Henry’s fingerprints were all over the Captain Nice series.  His taste for quirky villains.  His overuse of catchphrases, some of which---the old “I asked you not to tell me that” gag, for example---were lifted straight out of Get Smart. 

And his reliance on running gags.  The most notable of these in Captain Nice was the fact that Carter Nash’s father was always shown reading a newspaper which concealed his face.  He spoke only rarely, but when he did, sharp-eared viewers could recognize the voice of long-time character actor Byron Foulger.

Curiously though, these things, which had helped make Get Smart such a hit, fell flat on Captain Nice.  The humor never quite seemed to gel.  If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say the reason for that was the fact that the character dynamics in Captain Nice were an inversion of those in Get Smart.

Maxwell Smart was arrogant, pompous, and completely unaware of his own ineptitude.  This made him both a foil for the madcap events around him and a source of them.  But Carter Nash, unlike most goofy characters on television, was self-conscious about his shortcomings.  His flaws might have been mildly humorous in and of themselves, but they also made Nash sympathetic.  He came across as a victim of the zaniness, rather than a part of it.  That made it hard to laugh at him.

That might have been one of the reasons that Captain Nice failed to attract an audience.  Like Mr. Terrific, the show limped along for half a season, then finished out the year in reruns.

What Went Wrong?

I wasn’t about to write this entry based only on recollexions that were forty-four years old.  Fortunately, the original Alan Young pilot for Mr. Terrific is available for viewing on line.  So are the first episodes of both series, along with excerpts of the others.  I watched all of these, not only to confirm my rote memories, but to be able to evaluate the shows from an adult perspective.

Here’s what I found.

There was nothing wrong with the acting, on either series.  The regular players in both shows delivered measured, competent performances.  Granted, there was no stretching or going against type.  We’re not talking Anthony Hopkins here.  The character actors stayed strictly within their established personas.  That’s not a criticism; they were matched to specific rôles and played them well.  There was no scenery chewing or over-the-top emoting.

The two leads---Stephen Strimpell, on Mr. Terrific, and William Daniels, on Captain Nice---approached their similar characters differently, but effectively.  Strimpell’s Stanley Beamish was whimsical, evoking a childlike sense of fun.  Daniels, as Carter Nash/Captain Nice, was adjusted to his shyness and social geekdom.  He brought a certain dignity to the character.  Neither of the two heroes was a buffoon.

The problem, as I saw it, lied in the writing.  I once stated the term “situation comedy” can be broken down in two ways:  “situation comedy”, in which the humour comes from the dialogue and the character interaction, with the situation being almost incidental; and “situation comedy”, in which the yuks are supposed to come from the whacky or outlandish situation and the characters’ response to it.

Mr. Terrific and Captain Nice both fell into the latter camp (though Captain Nice tried a little harder to bring in some of the elements of the first category, too).  Unfortunately, the situations presented in the two shows were tepid and predictable.  Captain Nice rips the door off the mayor’s office because he doesn’t know his own strength. Har har har.  Mr. Terrific misses the window of Bureau Chief Reed’s office and flies through the wall.  Ho ho ho.  Not only predictable, but repetitive, for these sort of things, with only minor variations, happened over and over.  The plots were little more than frameworks to move the hero from one of these set-pieces to the next.

As I mentioned earlier, the time limits on their super-powers was a convenient device to create situations where the hero’s powers suddenly fade away and he has to face his enemies as his normal inept self.  This quickly became a crutch for writers stuck for an amusing scene.  Few episodes failed to contain a sequence in which poor Stanley or poor Carter found himself powerless in front of a gang of bank robbers or a nest of hostile spies.  Or while in mid-air.  (Going by the shows, anyone watching would think that, in 1967, the United States was covered with haystacks.)

This sort of thing, especially if done right, can be funny once or twice.  But it wears out its welcome pretty fast after that.

It didn’t take long for me to develop an admiration for the actors’ professionalism.  They had been handed listless, carbon-copy scripts and they were doing the best they could to make them work.

No doubt the CBS and NBC folks were confounded as to why their super-hero spoofs weren’t rising to the popularity of Batman.  That was because their producers had completely missed the element that had made Batman such an effective satire.

The Batman television series simply took comic-book super-hero conventions and exaggerated them.  This was brilliant because it worked on two levels.  The kids enjoyed the show as a straight adventure, while the adults recognised the absurdity inherent in the super-hero concept.  They chuckled at the seemingly endless supply of gadgets that the Caped Crusader pulled out of his utility belt or his lectures to Robin on the importance of good citizenship while they were bat-climbing a wall.

Where Batman made super-heroes funny, Mr. Terrific and Captain Nice tried to make funny super-heroes.

The last culprit in the early demise of Mr. Terrific and Captain Nice was, I suspect, the fact that the suits at CBS and NBC didn’t want to devote more money or time than was necessary into developing their respective series.  They didn’t expect to have to.  They figured any programme that looked like Batman would be as popular as Batman.

They misjudged the timing, too.  Fads, by their very definition, have a short shelf life.  Batmania had peaked and was winding down.  By the time their super-hero spoofs hit the airwaves, it was “been there, done that” as far as the viewing public was concerned.

Both Mr. Terrific and Captain Nice ended, with their last rerun episodes, on the same day---28 August 1967.  Together at birth, together at death.

If it was any consolation, Batman---the series they had tried so hard to copy---would reach its end a mere seven months later.  And the Bat-craze would become a Bat-memory.