Captain America and Bucky discuss their relationship

[I've] pretty much been given free rein on Captain America and Daredevil and all the stuff I’ve written for [Marvel] to do whatever I do because they like what I do. Still, I know what I’m doing. I know the superhero comic has to have a fight in it. I know there has to be a bad guy. I know that at the end of the day, the problem will not be solved by talking about it but will be solved by two people punching each other in the face. Although I have gotten away with letting the bad guys win a lot of the time, which is more true, I think.

David Milch said, when he created Deadwood, that part of Deadwood was wanting to exorcise — I think he worked on Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue, and he thought it was bullshit that every week they were solving crimes when in the real world people were always getting away with it. He wanted to do something about crime the way crime really is, where crime is corruption and crime is behind everything. It’s much more about what’s really going on in our country right now, where Bill Clinton deregulates the media and now we have seven companies that basically own America. Sometimes when I’m writing a superhero story I wonder if they really have to punch each other in the face. Is that really going to solve anything? I feel the same way sometimes when I watch episodes of Law & Order. I’m like, “Yeah, right. You found the sex offender and now everything is fine.” TV is big on closure, but I think closure is horseshit in real life. I’m still haunted by stuff I did in my teen years when I think about it too much.

There’s a lot to chew on and pick apart and mull over in Tom Spurgeon’s long, fascinating interview with writer Ed Brubaker on the occasion of the launch of the next installment of his and Sean Phillips’s crime comic Criminal this week, but this is the passage that jumped out to me. I’ve often said that the core idea behind superhero stories is “extraordinary individuals solving problems through violence”; now that I think about it, what sets Brubaker’s Captain America and many of his other superhero comics apart is that the violence committed by their extraordinary individuals tends not to solve much of anything.

Batman and Batman and Robin by Frank Quitely

Not since Bane broke all the lunatics out of Arkham Asylum has Batman had this eventful a week. Perhaps to avoid the avalanche of news coming out of San Diego next week, DC has spent the past few days announcing a slew of new Batman projects and creative teams. And heck, even Marvel got in on the act, sorta…

We already reported that Grant Morrison and David Finch are doing an October one-shot called Batman: The Return, which will lead into an all-new ongoing Bat-series called Batman: The Dark Knight, written and illustrated by Finch (a first for the artist) and sounding supernatural in nature. Meanwhile, newly DC-exclusive writer Paul Cornell will be teaming up with frequent Morrison collaborator and Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne pirate purveyor Yanick Paquette to chronicle the adventures of Batman and Robin’s English analogues in a six-issue Knight and Squire miniseries.

Batman’s traditional core titles are getting a makeover as well. DC has announced an exclusive contract with American Vampire writer Scott Snyder, who’ll be taking over Detective Comics. And Batman will be the line’s second writer/artist-driven title, as Tony Daniel resumes script and art chores on the book.

What of the line’s ersatz flagship, Batman and Robin? Grant Morrison’s leaving the book after issue #18, at which point former Green Lantern Corps team Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason will be doing the Dynamic Duo. Now, given that Bruce Wayne is returning, it’s unclear which Dynamic Duo we’re talking about here. But you can definitely get your Damian Wayne fix in J.T. Krul’s Teen Titans: the young and restless Robin is joining the team at the same time as new artist Nicola Scott.

Yes, everything’s coming up Batman this week — even at Marvel. In a bit of inspired voice casting, Batman TV star Adam West will be playing the Marvel Universe’s Bat-knockoff Nighthawk in the second season of Marvel Super Hero Squad. And finally, the Batmobile made a cameo of sorts in this week’s Invincible Iron Man #28 courtesy of artist Salvador Larocca, who, as Kirk Warren at The Weekly Crisis points out, appears to have inserted blueprints for Batman’s ride into the book as the car of the future Tony Stark is trying to get his company to build. It’s not quite the Armored Avenger/Dark Knight crossover I’ve hoped for, but it’ll do…

Invincible Iron Man #28 vs. the 1989 Batmobile - compiled by Kirk Warren

Drawing for Kurtzman's 'Boat' cartoon

I had no idea Mad founder Harvey Kurtzman ever did any work for Sesame Street, but lo and behold animator Michael Sporn has the images to prove it. (via Cartoon Brew, which also has a YouTube video of the finished cartoon)

Did someone tell me that the English producer/director Tupaq Felber is attempting to do a six-part adaptation of Peter Bagge’s Apocalypse Nerd for the BBC and I just conveniently forgot? Egad, I hope not. At any rate, above is the teaser trailer Felber put together. Hopefully the BBC will pick it up tout suite and BBC America (or some other Brit-loving American channel) will bring it stateside soon.  (via)

Everyone seems to be linking to this Flickr set of “Lost”-inspired cartoons by Graham Annable, and I see no reason not to join the party.

Apparently back in the mid-80s Batman and Robin had to support their crimefighting habits by shilling for a retail store chain. Hey, batmobiles don’t come cheap. No doubt they had an added incentive in the fact that the Joker ran the competing chain. Man, he sure does enjoy gouging customers! (via)

It’s not comics, but I thought I’d share it anyway. The above is Statuesque, a short film written and directed by Neil Gaiman for the Sky1 drama series 10 minute Tales, starring Bill Nighy and Amanda Palmer. (via)

Grumpy Old Fan

We’ve certainly done our share of review-preview posts over the past several days, but I still have this last bit of business to address. This is the third year I’ve done a ten-and-ten list, so why stop now?

(Click here for last year’s post.)

Onward!

2009

1. The Watchmen movie. Last year I thought the movie could bring enough new readers to the book for a good, renewed, discussion about its merits.  However, during its theatrical run the movie didn’t make much more than what it cost, so as far as I know, that didn’t happen. If anything, the movie confirmed that the book was (as we knew) far better by comparison. The movie’s dogged attempts at fidelity were pluses for its fans and drags for its detractors — but by and large, no one really criticized the book itself. From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen might now need some rehabilitation as a result of their film adaptations, but Watchmen remains untarnished.

2. The Blackest Night [which is what I called it originally]. Last year I saw BN as the SUV of the DC superhero line — namely, an outdated concept for a more bloated age. Apparently, though, that didn’t mean no one wanted to buy it. Indeed, while BN has tied more closely into the ongoing books than its predecessor Final Crisis did, DC has done a nice job keeping it from sprawling out over the whole superhero line. It still feels like the end of the Event Cycle, though.

3. Life with Geoff. Last year I said that DC should be “very happy” if any of Geoff Johns’ various ‘09 projects were a hit. Yay me for predicting Blackest Night’s success. However, Flash: Rebirth and Blackest Night: The Flash are both plagued by delays; Superman: Secret Origin is also getting off a regular schedule (and hasn’t been received as well as previous Johns projects); and the “Legion of Super-Heroes” feature is practically in limbo again pending new writer Paul Levitz. Still, BN counts for a lot, and Johns will get another at-bat with Batman: Earth One.

4. Life without Geoff. This one, sad to say, seems a little more on the money. Dan Jurgens will apparently leave Booster Gold, Action Comics will likewise lose Greg Rucka, and Justice Society is in the doldrums despite its franchise aspirations. It’s not entirely fair to tag Johns with those books’ fates, especially since we’re talking about the writers which succeeded him, but I think it speaks to the impression Johns leaves on a title.  Definitely a hard act to follow.

5. Variety of genre. For this topic I note that The Spirit was cancelled in favor of a relaunch under the pulp-plus-pulpy-superheroes First Wave banner. The first FW book, the Batman/Doc Savage special, didn’t really sell me on the concept, but I am curious to see it start in earnest. First Wave also strikes me, for better or worse, as a good example of DC segregating genres into their own projects, and thereby making it that much harder for all the books to interact. However, DC is standing by Warlord, Jonah Hex, and REBELS, and the latter two are already part of the DCU proper.

6. The price-point polka. I thought DC would go bigger than it did, with 48 pages for $4.50. While it didn’t raise prices on its regular-sized single issues, but it did charge an extra dollar for 8 more pages of story, often in the form of a thematically-related “co-feature.” Although DC will be changing the co-feature lineup in a few months, it’s good that they’ll continue.

7. Franchise events. Last year I noted that except for Justice League, “[e]ach of DC’s foundational franchises except Justice League ha[d] its own sales-goosing event.” In fact, the big JLA shakeup started in the last half of ‘09, and ramped up with the Cry For Justice miniseries. That, in turn, will lead into both a new JLA lineup starting this month, as well as an angst-ridden Green Arrow/Red Arrow game-changer in the spring. Meanwhile, most of the other foundational franchises seem to be getting back to normal.

8. Aquaman. I wasn’t exactly predicting ‘09 as the Year of Aquaman, so in that respect I got this one right. Apart from his role as a Black Lantern, the original King of the Seven Seas was still missing in action. However, in something of a surprise, Geoff Johns gave Mera a significant role in Blackest Night, and has talked about using her again. Of course, he likes her in part because she’s not permanently tied to Aquaman….

9. The Milestone and Red Circle characters. Oh, I had such high hopes for the Milestone characters, and instead I may have cursed them. Last year I just knew there’d be a new ongoing Milestone title — and what’s more, I didn’t think the Red Circlers would get much further than their one-shots. Silly me. The Red Circle series seem to be doing acceptably well, while Milestone Forever will be wrapping up old plotlines and paving the way for (one hopes) more prominent places in the lineup.

And finally…

10. “Batman: The Brave and the Bold.” I didn’t see as much of it last year as I would have liked, but I did see Neil Patrick Harris steal the show as the Music Meister. He sings the songs that the world longs to hear!

* * *

2010

1. DC at 75. According to Mike’s Amazing World Of DC Comics, Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson’s National Allied Publications (the company which would become DC) published New Fun Comics #1 on January 11, 1935.  Accordingly, if you’re planning a party, I hope your invitations have all been sent.  Of course, New Fun (renamed More Fun a year later, and eventually the home of characters like the Spectre, Dr. Fate, and Superboy) is no longer with us, and the characters which graced its first issue have been pretty much lost to the mists of time.

Still, the publisher apparently intends to celebrate its 75th anniversary with more fanfare than greeted Superman’s 70th birthday two years ago or Batman’s last year, and I appreciate the effort. As much as I criticize DC’s attempts to unify its superhero books, I do think that the occasion is an opportunity for the company to be on its best behavior, and I’ll be looking for signs of that throughout the year.

2. FOX’s “Human Target.” Actually the second series to feature Len Wein’s ace bodyguard (the first one featured Rick Springfield, but you knew that), it’s got a prime Wednesday spot right next to the “American Idol” results show. For its part, DC has commissioned a new miniseries and a collection of the Peter Milligan/Edvin Biucovic miniseries; and the few other HT Vertigo collections are still available. That may be about right in terms of cross-promotion, but it still seems a bit skimpy.

3. Wonder Woman #600. I tend to greet each new year with renewed hope that Wonder Woman will become enough of a hit that people stop asking why it doesn’t sell as well as they’d expect. Most of 2009 was taken up with the “Rise of the Olympian” arc, which DC promoted as something akin to the Batman and Superman mini-events.  Instead, it turned out merely to be a gripping, intense tale which first tore down, and then restored, much of the character’s status quo. While that’s not exactly what readers might have expected in these days where an event’s repercussions tend to be ongoing, it does mean that Wonder Woman remains fairly accessible to those coveted new readers. Thus, if those new readers are intrigued sufficiently by the Blackest Night: Wonder Woman miniseries, they may decide to check out the regular title — and even if they don’t, WW #600 may itself be a big enough event to draw them in. Yes, it’s numerical semantics, but even on that superficial level it represents DC’s recognition of the character’s importance, and perhaps even a reminder of the respect she’s owed.

4. The new Justice League(s). James Robinson’s and Mark Bagley’s tenure on Justice League of America goes full-throttle this month, with the start of a storyline which brings together longtime Leaguers, ex-Titans, a couple of Super-friends, and Congorilla. Between Dwayne McDuffie’s frustrations and Robinson’s oh-so-serious Cry For Justice, 2009 was not a particularly smooth year for the League. While 2010 may be the year everything comes together, it’s in the service of a roster which practically screams “placeholder.” I’ve written at length about my expectations for any Justice League title, so the particular members tend not to bother me as long as the book delivers the kind of adventures worthy of the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes. Accordingly, I’m in no hurry to get Kal-El, Bruce Wayne, or Princess Diana back on the team; and in fact I’d like Mon-El, Dick Grayson, and Donna Troy to stick around as long as they can. Still, I fear that the new roster will be set, and I’ll be satisfied both with it and with the circumstances behind it, and the original Trinity will come knocking.  (That may be where the much-rumored Geoff Johns/Jim Lee Justice League title comes in, but it still leaves the problem of the replacement Trinity.)  Thus, Robinson and Bagley’s JLA has potential, but the clock is ticking.

5. Legacies, History of the DC Universe 2.0, and Who’s Who 2010-11. Indeed, perhaps speaking to this very concern, Dan DiDio noted in this week’s “DC Nation” that

… if we ever planned to take on [History and Who’s Who] again, we wanted to make sure we rolled them out at a time we felt that the universe was no longer in flux and [everything] would stay relevant for [a good long while]. The last thing we’d want to do is to build these books and have them outdated before their final issues hit the shelves.

To me, you do these kinds of valedictory projects under two basic circumstances: either everything has changed and you need quick summaries for the latecomers; or everything has gone back to nominal accessibility but you want to commemorate all the twists and turns along the way. Given DC’s trends over the past few years, I’m going with the latter. I expect to see a lot of “[Character X] died in [Method Y] but was brought back to life by [Method Z]” in the new Who’s Whos.

6. Co-features may be just the beginning. I approve heartily of the co-feature program. I read most of the books which picked up co-features, and thought they worked well with the lead story. I also liked how Green Arrow, Action Comics, and Booster Gold integrated their co-features into the lead stories’ plots. Furthermore, if the current round of reorganization is any clue, the co-features are being consolidated generally in books which don’t necessarily claim one character or concept. It might be nothing, but it could also test the waters for expanding those books’ page counts and (gasp!) turning them into anthologies.

For example, Action Comics is now $3.99 for 40 pages, which includes a 22-page lead and 8-page co-feature. Again, last year I thought the price points would go up to 48 pages for $4.50. If readers grow accustomed to the current $3.99 format, such an expansion might not be that hard to sell, especially if it means two 8-page co-features. It’s basically the duplexed format of the recent Tales of the Unexpected or Countdown to Mystery, each of which featured a 22-page lead and 16-page backup for, ahem, $3.99. (Admittedly, those were pre-economic-collapse dollars….)

7. The Jonah Hex movie is set for June 18. While much of what I said about the “Human Target” show also applies to Hex, a movie offers a bigger platform — yes, bigger even than “American Idol.”  Unfortunately, everyone’s favorite bug-eyed bounty hunter is in an opening-weekend showdown with Sheriff Woody, so Hex and the Footloose remake (who asked for that?) will be competing for second place. Also in the mix will be the A-Team remake in its second week of release. Now, there’s certainly no shame in losing to Toy Story 3. Heck, it’ll probably be my first choice, and I don’t say that lightly. Still, I dearly hope Hex guns down Footloose.

8. The Legion of Super-Heroes. Perhaps as early as this spring, once-and-future Legion writer Paul Levitz will return to the group with which he is so intimately associated. The question is, how many new readers will care? I am hardly a Legion scholar, but I have followed the team long enough to see it go through familiar periods alternating reinvention and reverence. The Keith Giffen/Tom & Mary Bierbaum “Five Years Later” relaunch was followed by the post-Zero Hour team’s retro stylings.  After that got old, writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning instituted some radical changes; and that was followed by the Mark Waid/Barry Kitson “threeboot.” When Geoff Johns subsequently used the Legion’s relationship to Superman to reintroduce the “original” team, he ended up reconciling all three versions with each other — and, understandably enough, focused on his own. Johns’ popularity, and the Legion’s status as Superboy’s co-feature, might have been enough to bring new fans into the fold, but with Adventure yielding to the Superman titles’ macro-plot, and the Legion itself becoming part of said plot, it sounds like the team might get lost in all the confusion. Heck, I read the Superman books, and I’m not entirely sure about the Legion’s involvement. DC has done this before, with Jim Shooter returning to the threeboot title after Waid left (actually, after an arc guest-written by Tony Bedard), but this time the degree of difficulty seems a lot greater.

9. The Flash family. That two-page spread in Flash: Rebirth #5, with all the speedsters made over according to their secret hearts’ desires, indicated that there was room for more than one currently-active Flash. Indeed, the issue included three Flashes, plus Jesse Quick, Max Mercury, Bart “Kid Flash” Allen, and Iris “Impulse” West. Since both the Kid Flash title (to be written by Sterling Gates) and the “Wally West” co-feature have been put on hold, though, they may all have to fight for space in the Barry-Allen-centric Flash. And that’s assuming the new Flash title starts on schedule. The last issue of Rebirth is some twenty-one weeks late and the second issue of Blackest Night: Flash has already been pushed back a week. For the most part DC has overcome the problems with delays which plagued the publisher a few years ago — but to have these same kinds of problems on a much-anticipated book is never a good sign, to say nothing of the ire the “on hold” announcement has generated.

10. The return of the artist. I may be going out on a limb here, and/or I might sound completely stupid, but I think 2010 may renew DC fans’ focus on artists. By this I mean that writers have been more marketable than artists, both at DC and Marvel, over the past several years; and I think that is changing. DC’s most prominent example of this trend is Detective Comics, where J.H. Williams III’s artwork gets more attention than Greg Rucka’s script. (Williams’ replacement will be Jock, who naturally is no slouch.) Similarly, Batman And Robin’s fortunes rose and fell with its artists, from the acclaim for Frank Quitely’s work to the ho-hum reception for Philip Tan’s and the excitement over Cameron Stewart’s. It happens in the lower-profile books and features too: Milestone Forever will feature many original Milestone artists, but “Metal Men” won’t continue without Kevin Maguire and Secret Six doesn’t feel the same without Nicola Scott. Naturally, DC praises all of its books’ artists, including the newly-exclusive David Finch. However, sometimes I get the feeling that they’re treated as interchangeable, when the attention paid to Williams, Quitely, et al., clearly shows otherwise.

It’s not everything, I know; but again, that’s what the other 51 weeks are for.  Until next time–!

Map of My Heart

Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading. Pull up a chair and sit down, won’t you? Our guest this week is Bill Kartalopoulos, who teaches classes about comics and illustration at Parsons, is a contributing editor for Print Magazine, and a comics reviewer for Publishers Weekly. But he’s probably best known as the Programming Coordinator for the SPX convention in Bethesda, MD.

Bill and everyone else has quite a number of books by their bedside table this week, so we’ll get right to it. Be a dear and click on the link below, won’t you?

Warlord #7

Tom Bondurant: Not really comics, but through the magic of Netflix I have been watching the “Middleman” TV show. After four episodes, it’s pretty charming, although it feels like a very Kevin Smith-y kind of show. Since creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach was involved with this adaptation, I imagine it’s fairly faithful to the comics, but I’m still tracking those down, so I can’t compare.

A little further from comics (Howard Chaykin, Roy Thomas, and Marvel are mentioned briefly), I finally found time to read J.W. Rinzler’s The Making Of Star Wars (2007). It’s an exhaustive coffee-table-sized tome (with dictionary-sized print) which dug deep into the Lucasfilm archives to describe, in nerdgasmic detail, the origins of George Lucas’s 1977 classic. The book is also thick with illustrations and other graphics, including periodic charts showing how each draft of the script crept closer to the final film. By the end I felt like I had been sleeping on a cot at ILM along with the other harried effects artists.

The book stops at December ’77, and seems to draw largely from period interviews, so it doesn’t get into the other movies or Lucas’ subsequent revisions to this one. However — and I don’t think was intended specifically, but I’m sure no one at Lucasfilm minds — it did give me a greater appreciation for Lucas wanting to revisit this movie. He put so much of himself into it, and was frustrated both by Fox and logistical limitations, that I can see where technological advances would make him want to “fix” things. Still doesn’t explain wanting Greedo to shoot first, though.

At last with the comics, I was pleasantly surprised by The Warlord #7, written and drawn by creator Mike Grell. After the initial six-issue arc which reintroduced the residents of Skartaris and brought in a new group of 21st-century explorers, this issue finds Travis Morgan with amnesia (as “The Middleman” noted, the kind which only happens in comic books) and the new best friend of an unfamiliar damsel-in-distress. There’s not much more to the story than that, but Grell tells it well, using double-page spreads both as spectacle and as an exposition substitute. Because there aren’t half-a-dozen characters to manage, the issue has more breathing room, and Grell paces the fights and the conversations effectively. This is also the
best I’ve seen of Grell’s artwork in a while — usually I think his figures are a little off, but not so much here. I don’t think he’ll be on story and art for an extended period, but like Dave Gibbons writing and drawing Green Lantern Corps a few years back, it’s nice to see him in familiar territory.

I’ve also started reading my TOTALLY FREE REVIEW COPY of Joe Daly’s Red Monkey Double Happiness Book, which arrived on my doorstep in a little wicker basket with a note saying “Please give this book a good rev– I mean, home,” but which for whatever reason I had been neglecting. So far I’ve gotten through the relatively-short first story, “The Leaky Cello Case,” and found it to be nice and laid-back, if a little talky. Our slacker hero Dave must deal not only with various personal crises — creativity stifled at work, a flooded
apartment, a sudden breakup — but with a mysterious and unfriendly new neighbor whose handlebar mustache reminded me of a SpongeBob villain. Naturally the guy’s up to no good, so Dave and his opposable big toes must solve the mystery before Mustache takes him out. It’s an amiable story, meandering through the details of Dave’s life so that the eventual plot feels like an afterthought. However, Daly’s
style is quite appealing, and his use of color really brings his panels to life. The establishing shots of Dave’s Cape Town environs are especially beautiful, and since the second story looks like a road trip I’m eager to see more of Daly’s vistas. Daly observes the nine-panel grid pretty strictly, but he gets a lot out of it — not like Watchmen, mind you, but still good.

I liked Strange Tales #2 well enough, but the story which still sticks with me (with Jacob Chabot’s Chia-Stache a close second) is Jhonen Vasquez’s bittersweet tale of little Donnie and his MODOK costume. Oh, Donnie — if only you knew how much MODOK loved you….

Finally, I thought Justice League: Cry For Justice #4 (written by James Robinson, drawn by Mauro Cascioli) was the least objectionable issue to date. This was mostly due to Green Arrow saying what many readers have been thinking for the past three months — namely, “Why The Face?” — and Shazam backing it up with, of all things, the Wisdom of Solomon. Oh, and having the Shade show up at the end didn’t hurt either. Generally speaking, this is where I thought the story was headed, so (for now, at least) I am happy. Or, you know, less upset.

Flash Gordon

Michael May: I’m not too far into Al Williamson’s Flash Gordon, but already I’m pleasantly surprised. Not only is it all of Williamson’s Flash stuff, but there are some nicely researched text chapters that deal with his life and how important Alex Raymond’s character became to it. And when they say that it’s all of Williamson’s Flash stuff, they’re not kidding. There are even pictures of some Flash-themed wood carvings he made in summer camp. Oh, and the dimensions of the book are huge so that you can make out all the details in the art. It’s a really beautiful book.

I’m also re-reading the original Agents of Atlas mini-series. It’s the first time I’ve read it in its collected form with the original Golden Age stories in the back. I read the Golden Age stuff before digging back into the modern story and I’m glad I did. I understand why Marvel ordered the material like they did, but I wish that they’d put it all in chronological order. The old stuff informs Parker and Kirk’s story a lot more than I thought it would. So much so, that even though Parker and Kirk fixed it so you don’t have to have read them, I’m now curious about the Marvel Boy stories in Fantastic Four and Marvel: The Lost Generation. And I was pretty sure that nothing could make me interested in Marvel: The Lost Generation.

The Doonesbury Chronicles

Tim O’Shea: Tom Spurgeon’s post, On The Subject Of Return Reading, made me track down the collected 1970s editions of Doonesbury. At present I’m enjoying The Doonesbury Chronicles and totally agree with Tom’s statement “I’m struck by how fantastic a character Joanie Caucus is.” Looking at the abundance of characters that Trudeau created back then, I would love to see Trudeau revisit certain character dynamics. (For instance, you rarely see scenes between Joanie and her daughter JJ any more…)

In terms of comics, for juxtaposition I bought Planetary 27 and Astonishing X-Men 31 both written by Warren Ellis. The end of this series (or getting there) was clearly a struggle for Ellis, and no wonder. By his own admission, his own illness as well as the illness and death of his father (among many other factors) are wrapped up in his writing of the series’ end. I wish I could compare Ellis’ writing of two+ years ago with this new issue of X-Men, but it would be an oranges to apples comparison. Just by its nature, I loved getting the closure of Planetary 27. In terms of Astonishing X-Men, I’ll be honest and admit I would not have bought it were it not for Phil Jimenez being the artist on the issue. That being said, Ellis’ ability to juggle the banter of an old familar team in the midtst of chaos and adventure is what makes the issue (in combination with Jimenez’s absolutely intoxicating pencils) a pleasure to read.

My Pal Carla(tm) has already thoroughly examined Doctor Voodoo‘s first issue. In comparison, my reaction is more simplistic. Even though I never read any of Bendis’ Avengers, I’m curious to see someone other than Stephen Strange (admittedly drawn badly in this issue) try his hand at being the Sorcerer Supreme. Jefte Palo’s art is a nice fit for the series — and Rick Remender’s hit-the-ground-running approach with the first issue ensures that I’ll be back for issue 2.

Sweet Tooth 2 has some great fight scenes. I never thought I would write a sentence like that involving a Vertigo book or Jeff Lemire. Keep surprising me, Lemire. I like it.

Dark Reign — The List: Secret Warriors one shot sports two fun things, Ed McGuinness’ splash page homage to Steranko (the book also reprints Steranko’s Today Earth Died! story) and the reveal of Nick Fury’s personal list of “Save the world; Punch Norman (Osborn) in the face; and Have a beer”. Jonathan Hickman is fast becoming one of my favorite Marvel writers. I see no reason why this was a standalone issue (other than the reprint) as this could have been included in the ongoing series (and when released in TPB, I’m sure that’s how it will be handled). I understand that Marvel is in the business of making money,
but the frequency of one-shot offshoots from ongoing series is both annoying and nonsensical.

Grant Morrison’s Batman and Robin is an interesting read for the sheer reason of seeing the character development he’s pulling off with Robin. The more that Damian spends time away from his mother and grandfather, the more he’s acting like a human being. It’s nice to see the character evolve from the one-note “you annoy me and I want to kill you because I’m a psycho” demeanor he frequently sported.

I’m a huge fan of Jeff Parker’s Agents of ATLAS (AoA), so I’m of two minds about this team-up with the X-Men. Hopefully it will get the legion of X-fans into wanting more AoA; but the other part of me gets overwhelmed by the sheer number of characters involved in the ever-growing X-family (Namor is an X-Men now?!? It just seems ridiculous that both Cloak and Namor apparently have to sport X’s on their costumes, apparently so the other X-Men won’t accidentally shoot them.) Also, I was slightly befuddled by the drastic shift in Jason Paz’s inking style (it was like going from Byrne to Colan) with the two-page Venus kidnapped scene. That being said, Parker gives Ken more funny lines, so I’m happy. No really, it’s the talking gorilla that’s always sold me on this series. The back-up tale, Atomic Age Heroes (with the Silver Age incarnation of the teams), is the real delight for me, however. Chris Samnee’s art style is the closest to a modern day Ditko (compliment)–yet more fluid in style than him–that I’ve ever seen.

BOOM’s Irredeemable continues to pleasantly surprise me through the reveals that writer Mark Waid has built into the overall tale. And speaking of Waid, he convinced me to buy Power Girl 5 with his recent post about one page in particular.

For my day job, I do rudimentary graphic design. In an effort to boost my skill set, I picked up from the libary a copy of Debbie Millman’s 2007 collection of interviews, How to Think Like A Great Graphic
Designer. It includes the following exchange with Chip Kidd:

“Do you regret anything?

“I regret not making the effort to meet Charles Schulz in his lifetime. I tried to make up for it by putting together a book that pays proper homage to his work (Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz). I think I was only partially successful.”

Hero Tales

Brigid Alverson: The Yen Press review copies arrived this week, and one that caught my eye right away was Hero Tales, a new series by Hiromu Arakawa, the creator of Fullmetal Alchemist. Actually, it’s by a bunch of people but Arakawa apparently did the art, and it’s very smooth. The story is your basic shonen martial arts tale of a young man with extraordinary powers who must prove himself; nothing new here, really. If you like lots and lots of fighting, with a few supernatural elements thrown in, then this is a good choice. (Actually, it’s wuxia, Chinese martial arts.) Arakawa has a clean, easy to read style, which makes this a pleasant book even for someone like me who is not a huge shonen fan.

I’m too friendly with the creators of Nightschool to do an objective review of it — I chat with Svet occasionally and the toner, Dee DuPuy, is a good friend of mine—but I’ll mention it here anyway. The story is still complicated, with several strands that haven’t quite come together yet, but it’s more fleshed-out than the first volume. Alex, the main character, seems to have a stronger voice in this volume. I love Svet’s art—like Arakawa’s, it’s clean and deceptively simple. She uses a few simple lines to sketch each character, but she chooses those lines well so that each character has a distinct personality.

One thing Yen Press does a lot of, and seems to do very well, is manhwa (Korean comics). They picked up Ice Kunion’s catalogue and have been publishing the books on beautiful paper with gorgeous covers. I wasn’t impressed with the first chapter of Sarasah when it ran in Yen Press — it’s about a girl who has a stalkerish obsession with a classmate, and at the end of the first chapter, she falls down a staircase and dies. When I picked it up again, though, I was charmed by the fact that she wound up in a heaven where the gods wear traditional robes but talk on cell phones. The story veers off into a past-life romance, which I think I can handle. Yen’s manhwa all has a similar look — it’s very stylized in the big-eyes-small-chin kind of way — and the drawings all seem rather hard-edged and flat. I’m not crazy about it, but if the story is good enough I can get past it. We’ll see.

Finder: Dream Sequence

Matt Maxwell: FINDER: DREAM SEQUENCE by Carla Speed McNeil
FINDER is a treasure in comics, and a rare one at that. In a medium that generally doesn’t serve up science fiction (much less *good* science fiction), FINDER wholeheartedly embraces the best of what makes good science fiction good. There’s both extrapolation and commentary on the current, but at the heart of it is how the technology affects (and even effects) the characters. But FINDER isn’t fetishist in either hardcore cyberpunk tropes or galaxy-spanning storylines that are simply high fantasy in drag. It presents honest and tangibly real stories that could only (as the saying goes) be told within comics. I won’t say that every page is exemplary of formalist wonder, but there are many pages that make you pause and consider what the medium can actually do, and how it can actually tell stories.

The story in DREAM SEQUENCE centers around Magri White, singularly gifted savant whose brain literally contains the most popular fiction/shared world in the world of FINDER. And that world is falling apart because Magri is falling apart. Weaving together a personal story as well as threads of the nature of creativity and the danger of self-loathing (particularly with regards to creative types, which is more destructive more often than you’d think), DREAM SEQUENCE is an outstanding example of why FINDER is among my very favorite comics. Sometimes it’s a daunting read, because McNeil walks her characters and her own voice right out to the edge, but that’s where the good stuff goes.

Sadly, I’ll be all caught up on FINDER books soon. But that doesn’t preclude re-reading (which is a rare thing amongst my comics reading these days.)

There’s other stuff I read this week, but not much of it compares.

Complete Jack Survives

Bill Kartalopoulos: Here are some short takes on some (but by no means all) of the books I picked up at SPX, with a few others thrown in for good measure.

Map of My Heart by John Porcellino
I’m only just now dipping into this. I’ve read bits and pieces of John Porcellino’s King-Cat over the years, and am thrilled to have this nearly complete chunk of ten consecutive issues – covers, text pages, letter columns, and all – to read together as a partial record of this remarkable and hugely influential cartoonist’s life and art. John was an eloquent and inspiring guest at SPX, and I’m looking forward to spending a lot of time with this book.

The Complete Jack Survives by Jerry Moriarty
Another book I’ve only sampled so far, but the two-or-three-pages-at-a-time approach is appropriate here. Moriarty blots out the line between painting and cartooning – he calls himself a “paintoonist” – and Buenaventura Press’s definitive collection appropriately functions both as a lavish art book and as a readable collection of these profound and masterful painted comics and comics paintings.

Inkweed by Chris Wright
This has been out for a little while, but I was pleasantly surprised to see Chris Wright at SPX this year, and grateful when he gave me a copy of his book. This nicely designed short story collection makes a sustained case for Wright as a comics storyteller with a consistent point of view and a distinctive (and still mutating) visual style. His work has its own texture, and his stories resonate.

The Golden Age of Marvel Comics vols. 1 and 2
Among other recent influences, Paul Karasik’s Fletcher Hanks books and Greg Sadowski’s Supermen! have got me looking at – if not necessarily always reading – some early “Golden Age” comics, including early superhero comics. Lots of these are available online, but I prefer reading historical comics on paper when I can, and preferably in color. This kind of material has most often been reprinted in expensive hardcover editions for collectors (though DC has published several titles in its affordable, full-color, paperback Chronicles series). Marvel has just collected several issues of the publisher’s first title, Marvel Mystery Comics, as a $125 hardcover which I will never buy. Fortunately, I stumbled across these two portable, full color paperback anthologies from the late-90s. The first volume, edited by Roy Thomas, offers a court historian’s take on the company’s pre-Code period. The second volume is more specifically focused on the initial heyday of the superhero genre, and features many unknown characters alongside Carl Burgos’s pulpy, primary Human Torch, Bill Everett’s peculiarly misanthropic Sub-Mariner, and Simon and Kirby’s blockbuster Captain America. These books are out of print, but still findable at prices much lower than any currently in-print, deluxe collections of work from this period. FYI.

1-800-Mice #3 by Matthew Thurber
Matthew Thurber’s funny and inventive eco-social picaresque continues in this third, self-published issue (available for order via his website). With each issue, Thurber pursues his preposterous premises toward their illogical conclusions while drawing his expansive and expanding narrative ever more tightly together.

Ganges #3 by Kevin Huizenga
Huizenga uses cartoon language to diagram the fuzzy chaos of mental insomnia with absolute clarity and precision. He’s also really made the Ignatz format his own, with stunning use of limited color.

Pines #2 by Jason T. Miles
I was very excited to get a copy of Jason T. Miles’ latest, hot-off-the-press mini-comic at SPX. My quick browse raises expectations that the new one will be as innovative, mysterious and meaningful as the series’ first issue.

Windy Corner Magazine #3 by Austin English, ed.
This has been out for a few months, but I must put a plug in for my friend (and roommate) Austin English’s strong (yet somehow under the radar) magazine/anthology series. In addition to serving as a vehicle for Austin’s own current stories, Windy Corner features a variety of comics and drawings by other artists alongside thoughtful essays and interviews (this issue features Carol Tyler in conversation with Vanessa Davis; issue #2 boasts the definitive-for-now John Hankiewicz interview). As in the best anthology projects, the range of work suggests a distinct – but not constrained – aesthetic approach to visual narrative and picture making. These digest-sized, full-color, staple-bound issues convey a tactile intimacy consistent with the lush and graceful work on display.

Remember when I mentioned the other week that Kyle Baker was going to be doing a cartoon based on the popular Showtime series Dexter? Well, here’s the first trailer, found via Beaucoup Kevin.

Marvel Comics pays homage to the recently canceled daytime soap opera Guiding Light by making their 2006 Halloween crossover with the 70-plus-year-old TV show available for free on their digital site. I recall the TV version of the mash-up being pretty thoroughly trashed. Can’t speak for the comic though.

Oh, the last episode of Guiding Light runs today as well. Just in case you were interested.

Doctor Strange: The Oath

No doubt inspired by his arrival to Comic-Con, Tom Spurgeon has made up a list of what he feels are 10 properties that should be fast-tracked into movies or TV shows. No. 1 on the list is Dr. Strange, and Tom has an interesting suggestion as to who should don the Eye of Agamotto:

While some folks reading that original post thought I was hinting at Johnny Depp being best suited for the role, the actor I was thinking of was actually Leonardo DiCaprio. A number of you probably just vomited, but DiCaprio is already 34, he can act, he’s as believable as Downey Jr. — albeit in a different way — as someone who once had a glamorous career, lost it and has seen tough times since, he’s a major motion picture star, he has considerable onscreen charisma it’s fun to see him embrace rather than flee and he’s adept at playing romance. But so many actors would do.

Go check out the whole list. There are some interesting and eclectic choices found there.

Registered Weapon

Webcomics | Gardner Linn, one of the creators behind Registered Weapon, sent word that the first print collection of “the webcomic about a crime-fighting robot who used to be a cash register” will premiere at San Diego, “guerrilla style.”

“Booths will soon be an outmoded concept in the every-man-for-himself comics industry of the future (just like paper and paying for things), so writers Gardner Linn and Chris Thorn will be hitting the show guerrilla-style, passing out copies to anybody who wants one (and even more people who don’t),” he writes. “And keep coming back to http://registered-weapon.com for more info as the con approaches, and new comics four times a week.”

BTW, I really dig this webcomic; go check it out if you’re looking for off-the-wall laughs.

Comics | NBM has released their booth signing schedule, which includes appearances by Lewis Trondheim, Neil Kleid, Rick Geary and more. Kleid’s new book, The Big Kahn, will debut at the show.

Eisners | The folks over at Girls Entertainment Network are reviewing a bunch of the stuff nominated for the Eisner Award this year. They also have a contest going on in conjunction with it that ends tomorrow.

Movies | Disney has released their panel schedule, which includes Tim Burton, Hayao Miyazaki, John Lasseter and Robert Zemeckis.

Also, their new D23 fan club will have a booth and will give out lithographs to D23 members attending the con.

TV | The Cartoon Network has released their panel schedule.

Caprica Serge USB Keychain

TV | NBC has produced several Comic-Con 2009 exclusives … a Chuck polo shirt, a Schrute Farms Beets Watch and a Caprica Serge USB Keychain, among others.

However, they aren’t actually selling any of these items at Comic-Con. A note underneath each item says, “This item is being produced exclusively for Comic-Con. It will be seen at panels, events, and/or on the floor at Comic-Con. However, it is NOT available for sale at the show and can only be purchase here at nbcstore.com!”

Update: According to a press release from NBC, they’ll be giving away “a small and highly exclusive batch of numbered, limited edition items” at the con. The items will be displayed at the Entertainment Earth booth.

Fandom | There will be a Tweetup — a meetup of folks on Twitter — at the con on July 22 at 7 p.m. More details can be found here.

Movies + TV | Paramount Home Entertainment sent over some info on their plans for their booth, which will focus on some of their big DVD releases coming later this year. On the Star Trek front, you can be photographed in Captain Kirk’s chair, which they will also be giving away. Plus, “galactic green” booth babes! They’ll also have one of the characters from Monsters vs. Aliens running around, video game demos and a panel featuring the cast of the animated TV show Drawn Together (who apparently are getting their own movie). Then on Friday night, they’ll host a happy hour at Henry’s Irish Pub in support of the DVD Road Trip: Beer Pong.

Grumpy Old Fan

This space is ordinarily reserved for my views on DC Comics’ superhero line, because those books take up the bulk of my comics purchases.  Today, though, we’ll be talking about what is probably my first great love.

For this longtime fan, the new Star Trek movie (directed by J.J. Abrams, as if you didn’t know) is a revelation. It is a terrifically busy movie, full of running and shouting and frantic working of high-tech controls. Phasers are fired, shields are battered, and great starships endure severe poundings (as do their commanding officers). However, ST ’09 is not a mere popcorn film, designed to capitalize on the familiarity of corporately-owned characters. (As if to drive home this point, the movie was playing with trailers for G.I. Joe and the Transformers sequel.) It reintroduces the archetypal crew of the Enterprise convincingly, with winning performances from all involved.

Now, let’s be clear: this is not really a review. A review would talk about the film’s technical aspects, and I’m not ready to do that just yet. Actually, I’m still in the “remember that? That was awesome!!” phase.

Nevertheless, I do have something to say — but first:

SPOILERS FOLLOW for Star Trek (2009).

4

3

2

1

ST ’09 draws considerably from Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, and appears to take a good bit of inspiration from one of that film’s signature moments. You know the one: Kirk and company are, in Khan’s words, “marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet.” Spock (aboard a crippled Enterprise) tells Kirk the situation is grim. Shortly thereafter, Lieutenant Saavik (resigned to a lonely, lingering death) asks Kirk (who’s munching nonchalantly on an apple) how he, as a cadet, dealt with Starfleet Academy’s impossible-to-solve Kobayashi Maru simulation. Kirk reveals that he reprogrammed it so that a solution was possible.

David Marcus, Kirk’s estranged son, laughs cynically. “He cheated!”

“I changed the conditions of the test [and] got a commendation for original thinking,” Kirk counters, adding “I don’t like to lose.” Indeed, Kirk then whips out his communicator, hails the now-ready-for-battle Enterprise, and arranges for everyone to be beamed back to the ship.

Looking back at Saavik, Kirk repeats, “I don’t like to lose,” and chomps emphatically on that apple.

Make no mistake about it, 2009′s Star Trek cheats — or, perhaps more accurately, “changes the conditions of the test.” For too long, Trek as a whole has allowed itself to be defined by its continuity, having reached the tipping point where continuity is more burdensome than fun.

I’m a second-generation fan, having grown up with ’70s syndication and (eventually) the Kirk movies. Back then the “official” Trek universe expanded very slowly, at the rate of one movie every few years. To quench my thirst for Trek knowledge, I’d read a novel, comic book, or one of the Best Of ‘Trek’ fanzine compilations. Therefore, after the cliffhanging events of The Search For Spock (the Enterprise destroyed, the crew fugitives), I was thrilled to see that DC’s Star Trek comic was picking up directly from the movie. That series made the wait for The Voyage Home easier (and also introduced me to the Direct Market, which is another essay). The debut of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” was even more valuable: another weekly TV show, where everything was fresh and new. Sure it was set several decades after the then-current movies, but they were still connected, right from the beginning, what with the Enterprise lineage (whither the -B and -C?) and Dr. McCoy himself giving the new ship a proper sendoff. You can imagine how eager I was for Kirk and Spock to show up.

However, after three seasons and six (and change) movies set in the 23rd Century, twenty-one seasons and (just under) four movies set in the 24th, and four seasons in the 22nd, Trek had accumulated so much baggage that there didn’t appear to be much room left. It was something of a no-win scenario itself. The new had to honor the old, and seem at home alongside it, while remaining accessible to those hypothetical new viewers. To accomplish this, every modern TV sequel jettisoned something of its predecessor’s. “The Next Generation” got rid of the original ship and crew. “Deep Space Nine” traded a vast starship for a vast space station (at least initially). “Voyager” was free to ignore TNG and DS9′s Alpha-Quadrant continuity and politics. “Enterprise” chucked the 23rd and 24th Centuries entirely.

Even so, each new installment continued to expand the overall Trek knowledge base. “Deep Space Nine” ran from January 1993 to June 1999, producing over 170 episodes (including three two-hour installments). This turned out to be Trek’s most prolific period. During those six-and-a-half years, TNG (and its movies) and “Voyager” nearly matched DS9′s output. Keeping up with “the franchise” had its rewards, but looked increasingly impractical for a casual viewer.

And here is where I have some sympathy for the die-hards, because I’m one myself. As with any data-intensive (no pun intended) venture, there is a certain pleasure in mapping the limits of one’s knowledge, discovering unexpected linkages, and simply reveling in whatever minutiae pushes one’s buttons. “60 Minutes” just did a story on Bill James, the baseball statistician whose unconventional crunching of the game’s numbers eventually led to his advising the Boston Red Sox. Likewise, Star Trek fans have devised their own theories about the series and its characters. (Mine uses Admiral Cartwright’s conspiracy to explain why Kirk got NCC-1701-A and Harriman got NCC-1701-B.) Obviously I can’t speak for all of us, but I wonder if fan “ownership” doesn’t really reflect the mental energy we’ve spent over the years just thinking about the darn thing. It’s one thing for producers to wink at fans with Easter eggs and continuity; but it’s quite another to confirm what we’ve suspected for years. I’m pretty sure a fan thought up Uhura’s first name (actually, I’ve seen two contenders), and I hope that fan is a little happier today.

Of course, that degree of intellectual involvement, combined with Trek’s own desire for internal consistency, can cause the fans to judge each installment according to its consistency — and that’s a set of rules which may be not only personal to each fan, but also rather incomprehensible to the uninitiated. Upon learning that the first episode of “Enterprise” would focus on Earth’s introduction to the Klingons, many fans dismissed it for contradicting references in TNG’s “First Contact” episode and the Original Series’ “Day of the Dove.” The historical account that “Enterprise” attempted to dramatize didn’t match the earlier episodes’ secondhand impressions. Still, why shouldn’t the fans — who kept Star Trek alive through the dark days of the early ’70s — have their own rules? It is tempting to say that such an attitude is only logical.

Ah, but Star Trek ’09 is hardly on the side of logic — and I’m not talking about the plot. Screenwriters Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman have crafted a movie dedicated to provoking emotional responses. Spock’s classmates taunt him into showing emotion. Spock goes on to run the fear-inducing Kobayashi Maru test; and when Kirk beats it, Spock verbally wounds Kirk by mentioning his father’s death. Kirk then goads Spock into a violent rage (using Spock’s mother’s death) in order to get command of the Enterprise. Finally, Spock’s older self advises him on managing his emotions. (I can’t remember the exact line.) Likewise, all the in-jokes and references to previous Treks are designed to produce emotional responses in us, the audience.

I saw ST ’09 twice over the weekend, and the more I think about it, the more it seems to treat us longtime fans as the “logical” ones. It has a good bit of respect for us, but in the battle between “logic” (i.e., the Trek we know) and the emotion of this new beginning, it’s siding with the emotional, impulsive James T. Kirk. Logically — “by the book,” you might say — the story of Kirk’s rise from cadet to Captain would involve a whole cast of characters other than the familiar bridge crew and Christopher Pike. There’s Mallory, Finnegan, Ruth, Kodos, Carol Marcus, Gary Mitchell, Number One; probably Kelso, Alden, and Dr. Piper; and who knows, maybe a reference to Boothby, the Academy’s future gardener.  Oh, and Kirk’s time aboard the starships Republic and Farragut.  It could be a good story, and it’s been told at least a couple of different ways: in DC’s first Star Trek Annual (by Mike W. Barr and David Ross) and in Vonda McIntyre’s novel Enterprise: The First Adventure. Regardless, that story is just not the Star Trek people expect to see … because honestly, it’s not the Star Trek which would push a lot of people’s buttons.

Instead, ST ’09 “cheats” in the service of getting to the good parts: making us care not just about Kirk, Spock, Bones, and Scotty, but also about Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, and (the relatively unknown) Captain Pike. (Heck, the opening sequence’s “I die to save our newborn son” is a shameless bit of emotional manipulation, but I got a little misty both times I saw it.) Because J.J. Abrams and crew want us to love these characters, the mechanics of their coming together are secondary to the fact that they do come together. Star Trek began as a way to tell “Twilight Zone”-caliber science fiction using continuing characters — and while the stories are hardly irrelevant, the characters have become far more popular. Moreover, the original Kirk/Spock/McCoy storytelling dynamic remains the standard by which subsequent series have been measured. Thus, Star Trek ’09 goes back to the beginning so that it can rebuild that dynamic and face the future as the original did, unencumbered by continuity. It’s like Spock’s eminently logical sacrifice at the end of Wrath Of Khan — which, you’ll remember, expresses his “solution” to the Kobayashi Maru test he’d never previously taken. The desire to bring Star Trek back to the masses (“the needs of the many”) outweighs the compulsion to preserve continuity (“the needs of the few”). When the choice is between logic and emotion, both ST ’09 and WoK state that logic must yield.

In this way, the new film makes a fine bookend to Wrath Of Khan. At the end of the latter, Kirk is shaken and demoralized, having finally faced the no-win scenario. “I know nothing,” he says. “I haven’t faced death. I’ve cheated death. I’ve tricked my way out of death and patted myself on the back for my own ingenuity.” With David’s advice, though, he finally learns the lesson Spock tried to teach him, both on his birthday and (as revealed in ST ’09) all those years ago.

I’ve been watching Wrath Of Khan off and on all weekend, before and after seeing the new movie, and I’m convinced that Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are the younger selves of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Wrath Of Khan was the high point of the Kirk movies because it showed Kirk working through his mid-life crisis to get back his swagger, mojo, whatever you want to call it. Star Trek ’09 gives us a Kirk who’s full-to-bursting with that mojo, and whose cocksure natural leadership is enough to carry him from academic suspension to command of Starfleet’s newest ship. It might not be logical, and it might have changed the traditional rules, but it’s still great fun.

Iron Man: Armored Adventures

“I couldn’t stand boy companions. If the theory behind Robin the boy Wonder, Rory the Superboy, the Sandman’s Sandy, the Shield’s Rusty, the Human Torch’s Toro, the Green Arrow’s Speedy was to give young readers a character with whom to identifiy it failed dismally in my case. The super grownups were the ones I identified with. They were versions of me in the future. There was still time to prepare. But Robin the Boy Wonder was my own age. One need only look at him to see he could fight better, swing from a rope better, play ball better, eat better and live better … He was obviously an “A” student, the center of every circle, the one picked for greatness in the crowd — God how I hated him.”

– Jules Feiffer, The Great Comic Book Heroes

So what is it with Marvel these days taking all their core characters and turning them into sulky teen-agers? First there was Wolverine: Prodigal Son, the Marvel/Del Rey book which attempted to “mangify” the character by turning him into a generic angsty shonen hero — thereby robbing everything that made him interesting to begin with — and now there’s Iron Man: Armored Adventurers, which imagines Tony Stark not as gadabout playboy but nerdy youth.

The show, which debuts tonight at 7 p.m. on the Nicktoons Network, takes everything I liked about the character — filthy rich, likes booze a bit too much, porn mustache — and chucks it straight out the window. Tony Stark is now a young high school-age lad who just happens to be so brilliant that he doesn’t have to go to school. He just putters around a high-tech lab making futuristic red and gold armor for kicks, as well as Gundam-like machinery that is tototally to be used for peaceful purposes only, I swear. That’s when he’s not joshing about with his CEO Dad, whose no slouch in the brain department either.

And now you know why I put that quote at the top of this review.

Enter employee Obidiah Stane, who announces his villainy so loudly that he might as well be wearing a cape and top hat and be twirling a handlebar mustache, while having a large neon sign lit up over his head that says “I am evil.”

Stane wants to Stark Industries to develop weapons for the government. Tony’s dad says “No way man, I want to use that 500-ton, 100-foot tall robot that shoots lasers for archeology purposes only!” So Stane has his plane blown up.

Iron Man: Armored Adventures

Tony is the only survivor of the crash, but as a result has to have a thing implanted in his chest now to stay alive (one of the show’s many faults is that it skimps on a lot of details, like how Tony’s armor works or what exactly is keeping him alive. I guess the producers figured everyone already saw the movie and can put two and two together). He also has to attend public high school now — horror of horrors — with his best friend Rhodey and put up with the incredibly annoying Pepper Potts.

One of the things that amused me at this point was how the cartoon shows Tony acting like a braniac in all of his high school classes and outperforming his teachers, but no one once beats the crap out of him in the hallways for it. Hell, the jock guy even seems to act like a friend!

As with the Wolverine book, Armoured Adventures drains the unique aspects of the franchise until it becomes utterly generic. Stark is the bland hero, dedicated to avenging his father. Rhodey is the best friend and surrogate mom figure (he’s always nagging). Pepper Potts is the snotty love interest while Stane and the Mandarin (oh yeah, he shows up too) are the obvious villains. There’s not a single character here that doesn’t seem capable of moving out of the etched-in-stone roles they’ve been assigned.

Iron Man: Armored Adventures

I’m not even sure why they felt the need to de-age the character in the first place. Wasn’t there just a hit movie last year featuring the adult Iron Man that tons of kids went to see? Wouldn’t the producers have felt more comfortable ripping off that instead of offering the umpteenth version of “Spider-Man But Not?”

Are there other problems? You betcha! For one thing it animation style is horrid, adopting an antiseptic, flat, computer rotoscoping effect that make the characters look horribly stiff and alien. The environments look like they came out of Doom Generator 101 and the city is remarkably devoid of people and objects. Imagine a day-glo version of your average PS2 video game cut scene and you’re on the right track.

Will kids like it? I suppose so, in the sense that kids will like anything that’s shiny and loud and will keep them from having to think about their homework or the fact that mommy’s drinking again. But there’s nothing really unique or special about Iron Man: Armored Adventures. It’s a hopelessly dull affair that reeks of corporate cynicism and a desperation to please without the faintest idea of how to do so. As a kid, I know I would have easily preferred the older, alcoholic Stark to this annoying twerp any day.

Also, I really hated the theme song.

Iron Man: Armored Adventures

Snake and Bacon fight crime. Ssss!

Yes, it’s true. Tales Designed to Thrizzle auteur Michael Kupperman has revealed that his seminal, wacky pairing of meat product and reptile will debut on the small screen. What shenanigans will they get up to?

Snake ’N’ Bacon the TV show pilot is going to be broadcast as part of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block of programming, on May 10th at 12:45 AM. The cast includes Kristin Schaal, Dan Bakkedahl, Bill Hader, Peter Serafinowicz,  James Urbaniak, Brian Stack, and David Rakoff, in live-action and animated segments.

Kupperman also has a plethora of screenshots at the link to whet your appetites. Mark your calendars now. (And also remember that the fifth issue of Thrizzle comes out soon, not to mention the first trade paperback collection).

Todd McFarlane faces off with Spawn

While the American comics community has the Emerald City ComiCon in Seattle this weekend, Australian fans in Brisbane can meet Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, Heroes star Hayden Panettiere, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac creator Jhonen Vasquez and many more guests at Supanova.

Writing for the Courier Mail, Suzanna Clarke profiles McFarlane, who is making a rare convention appearance:

About 20 years ago, McFarlane became a comic book superstar as a result of his work on Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man. So how did he get into the comic biz?

“I was the proverbial best artist in the class,” he says, from Berkeley in California, where Image Comics is based. “I spent a lot of time doodling . . . around 16, I started collecting American superhero comic books. It seemed cool.”

Taken on at Marvel comics in 1984, he was filled with doubt about his abilities. “Every year there was a new kid coming along. I realised I had to get better and figure out how to draw.”

McFarlane said if he had one piece of advice for young people, it is “don’t buy into the corporate line that there is only one way to get what you want in life.”