Future State: Wonder Woman (comics)

Writers: Becky Cloonan, Joelle Jones, Dan Watters, L.L. McKinney

Artists: Jen Bartel, Joelle Jones, Alitha Martinez, Mark Morales, Leila Del Duca

Collects: Future State: Wonder Woman #1-2, Future State: Immortal Wonder Woman #1-2, Future State: Superman/Wonder Woman #1-2

I suppose it had to happen at some point. Didn't I say with Futures End I like alternate future stories? Today is my first foray into Future State, which was a two month "event" of sorts where the main line went on hiatus and were replaced with special two issue miniseries set in an alternate future. 

That's what it ended up being, at any rate. Originally, the idea was for this to just be the future of the DC Universe. Called 5G, it was essentially meant to move the DC Universe to the next generation by skipping five years, introducing new characters and letting some characters we knew take on familiar mantles. Bleeding Cool leaked a ton of information on it when it was still meant to be where DC Comics happened to be going. Ultimately, the idea of making it the new present of the DC Universe was scrapped, probably because it was a bridge too far, and the company ended up firing the long time editor in chief who spearheaded the move, Dan DiDio.

Credit given where credit is due, it was an incredibly ballsy idea. Dan DiDios time running DC was filled with moments like that for better or worse. Some worked out, some didn't. In my personal opinion, it's likely for the best this got canned. Merging the New 52, itself a ballsy initiative back when it happened, with the old pre-Flashpoint universe breathed a lot of new life into the line with the Rebirth initiative and there was no need to blow the whole thing up again with some radical change that shifted a bunch of characters around and forcibly changed the guard. Now, three years removed at the time of writing, a ton of books have had absolutely stellar runs in the continuing universe, proving it just wasn't necessary, and DC just announced an alternate line akin to Marvels Ultimate Universe, called the Absolute Universe, which will act as a fresh slate and new take.

But Future State was born from the ashes of 5G and I think it's worthwhile to look at them as their own books and ideas. Get a feel for what 5G might have been and see what might have been worth keeping. This volume collects everything on the Wonder Woman end of Future State with the idea seemingly that there were three Wonder Women, each with different mission statements.

The book starts by presenting the chapters involving Nubia, one of the new Wonder Women and the one who seems to still be active in the United States. Nubia is a character that's been around a long time, long enough I'd heard of her despite not being a Wonder Woman mark, but I'll be damned if I can remember much of anything that she's ever done before this. This seemed to do a lot for her, though; despite 5G's cancellation, Nubia's taken on a bit more spotlight in the years since, to the point she leads Themyscira now.

It's some meat and potatoes comics, probably the most familiar feeling sort of story in the book and it has its place as such. Grail, daughter of Darkseid, is gathering some artifacts for an unknown reason, and Nubis has to stop her. She looks to her family for help gathering artifacts, then ends up in another scrap with Grail that has Circe involved. A couple mysteries are teased that may or may not ever appear again in the main timeline, but it ends fairly tidily. Nothing super spectacular, nothing bad, I could see the character maybe holding something down for a bit, a miniseries at least if not an ongoing.

Diana Prince, Wonder Woman Classic, has something a bit more abstract, interesting and thematic. She's who the title Immortal Wonder Woman is referring to, now among the pantheon of gods, and her story takes place way past anything else in the entirety of Future State. In it, we're at the last moments of the universe, thousands of years into the future, as something called The Undoing is swallowing the stars and leaving emptiness in its wake. Earth is gone, what's left quickly follows and Diana is left alone struggling to hold on to hope and find some measure of life left, some reason to keep on fighting.

It's heavy stuff, with plenty of emotional moments. Everything is dying and even the amazons of Themyscira, mired in their ways, would rather fight and die rather than try and rebuild on some new planet in the universe. Swamp Thing is dying, itself the last hope if reviving something of life. Darkseid is in full nihilist mode, accepting the end coming and returning to Earth just hoping to find some challenge left worth fighting. Diana watches everything fall apart, wearing reminders of the people she loved, and has to find a reason to hope the universe can be saved.

The opening sequence is one of the most effective, as she returns to the long abandoned, decrepit, tomb quiet Batcave long, long after Batman is gone. She's looking for a memento of Bruce, something to take with her, and ends up conversing with what seems to be his spirit. She mourns him and obviously misses him, but he simply reminds her of who she is and what she meant to everyone. She was a light of hope. Batman and Wonder Woman have a great friendship, on rare occasion teased as something more, and the sequence leans into their connection as friends, comrades in arms and people who would trust the other with their lives. Of the many items she carries, Batmans utility belt is the one we directly see her acquire and gives us the mission statement of Immortal Wonder Woman.

She's hope. In the end, hope can save the universe, or at least leave it born anew. Two incredibly somber issues that end with her light shining. It's about as perfect a summation of the character as you could ask for.

Our last leading lady is probably the most interesting and, being a new character, has the most page space between her own two issue mini and the one she shares with Jon Kent, Superman in Future State. Yara Flor is immediately differentiated from the other two. Pigheaded but noble. Quick to lose herself in anger but not cruel. Enjoys the fight but not battle crazed. Mischievous but loyal enough to risk her very soul to dive into hell itself to attempt to rescue a departed sister Amazon. She seems to lean more into a modern fantasy sort of story. All in all, she makes a strong first impression, bouyed by some fantastic art, and I was immediately taken with the character. She has a nice friendship with Jon, too, being the voice of reason to his overworking himself. Even the place she seems to live, in the Amazon, gives her an interesting local of her own.

Unfortunately, it feels like she suffered the most for 5G being cancelled. Following this, she got a seven issue miniseries positioning her as DC's new Wonder Girl, but aside from appearing occasionally in Wonder Womans solo book she hasn't had any major spotlight that I've seen since a role in Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths. I'm not entirely sure why, but DC would do well to get on some kind of ongoing place for her adventures, because she's pretty great in what little I've seen of her so far.

Yara and Diana got the best of the art duties in this. Joelle Jones pulls double duty with Yara and she draws the hell out of everything Yara goes through to save her amazonian sister, from jungle dangers to Cerberus to the ferryman at the River Styx. I'll be reading the Wonder Girl miniseries to get more of the character and this art. Diana, meanwhile, has Jen Bartel on art. Shout out to the coloring here. The linework is clean and expressive, but the coloring does so much for setting mood, from the cold, dead, forgotten Batcave to the bright colors of Themyscira, reflected nowhere else in the world, to the glittering stars in the lonely void. It sets a hell of a mood. Plus, I love it when space is depicted with  gentle hues of color, rather than a simple void. Top shelf all around.

This is obviously only one piece of the overall Future State event. Is it an event? I guess it qualifies. It feels more akin to something like Age of Apocalypse, which did the "replace the ongoings for a couple months" trick too. Regardless of what you call it, this volume only handles the amazonian end of things, so the jury is out on anything else. But what is here is, I think, worth at least reading, if only for the first appearance of Yara Flor. Who knows, your local library might have it if you don't feel like dropping some cash.

Batman - One Bad Day: Bane (comics)

Writer: Joshua Williamson

Artist: Howard Porter

Original Graphic Novel

Bane has had quite a journey over the last thirty years of comics and in the process become a rather complex character. There's obviously the work done by co-creator Chuck Dixon. There's everything Gail Simone did with him in Secret Six. It's far from the worst thing Tom King did during his Batman run, might even be low on the list, but his time using the character didn't really reflect any of that.

One Bad Day was an initiative I rolled my eyes at. DC can harp on the Killing Joke too much as it is, making an entire initiative around the line of someone being one bad day away from snapping seemed a little too cute. The first I read, the one dedicated to the Riddler, only reinforced that feeling. But whereas the Riddler book did some dogshit things with the character on top of leaning in too hard on the "One Bad Day" tagline, Banes graphic novel suggests it might play as more of a theme with others. A focus on the things that made the characters who they are and how they shaped them.

In wrestling parlance, Bane is what we'd call a tweener, a character who sits between a good guy or a bad guy and can lean a bit either way depending on circumstances. They can have a grudge against a hero, a case where they're firmly the villain, or a grudge against a villain, which obviously puts them in the opposite position. He has a complex relationship with Batman, both foe and begrudging ally when circumstances are right for it. Tom Kings run nearly ruined this dynamic by having Bane kill Alfred, which is probably why it should just be undone already, because it's a cloud that hangs over the character*. Especially when we get stories like this, where the complexity seeps back in.

Banes story revolves around the substance that empowered him to break the Bat, once upon a time. Venom is a cloud over his life, an addictive substance that can, over time, absolutely wreck your mind and body. On numerous occasions, when he's slipped from its grasp, Bane has dedicated his time and effort to eradicating it so no one can suffer the fate he had. It's his thematic "One Bad Day", the thing that changed his life forever.

When we start, it's seemingly some time in the future. Bane kicked the habit of Venom once and for all and, as far as he is aware, has managed to eradicate the substance from the face of the Earth. He spends his time in Mexico reveling in past glory; he's a participant in a regular wrestling event where he recreates the "breaking of the bat" with whatever local wrestler takes up the role that night. He has a mansion on the outskirts and his life is rather lonely. Over his fireplace, a framed newspaper of the day he broke Batmans back. Sometimes, he will see apparitions of his mother, long gone from his life. 

The obvious parallels Bruce Wayne are stark, only Banes life is far lonelier. He seemingly has no connections, just money, his matches and dark nights in front of his mantle. It changes when a small time drug dealer shows up at his door.

Banes reputation precedes him. You don't get a solid victory over Batman like Bane did and just end up forgotten. Hell, you can argue no one else ever did on the level Bane did. Batman was out for months and even required a temporary replacement. Everyone knows his story and of the drug that gave him great strength. The drug dealer has brought a vial of venom, something he thinks Bane would want. Only Bane is enraged. He thought he'd destroyed the substance entirely. Demanding to know where it was found, he and the drug pusher leave to finish the job.

The story paints a complex picture of the character, one that adds the depth that some writers forget. Breaking Batmans back is Banes greatest triumph in life, but much like some athletes, it's also a great success that he has never been able to replicate in his life. It hangs over his life like a cloud, his one moment of glory in a life ravaged by the drug that gave him the power to do it. He sees a parallel of himself in the drug pusher, a kid who got forced into the life when he was left with the debts of his dead father, a life situation the son of King Snake knows all too well. Bane struggles at moments with the temptation, obvious on his face, of reclaiming that glory while realizing it's a Faustian bargain. He has a subtextual need for Venom to die so he can be free of that temptation.

For a graphic novel clocking in at just under seventy pages, it does everything it needs to, tying back through the history of Bane himself and the very substance of Venom. There are callbacks that go as far as the Legends of the Dark Knight arc that introduced Venom a year before Bane made his first appearance. It looks to paint a full portrait of the man and I'm pleased to say it largely succeeds. It even ends up a positive note, with Bane reflecting on advice from Batman to make a change in his life. It's the closest to a "happy ending" you can picture for Bane at this point in his life, suggesting a change in life direction that could take him to a better place.

Howard Porter holds up his end artistically with some of his best work in years. His depiction of Bane is at times grotesque, always ugly, a man ravaged by time and the obvious effects using a drug that suddenly bloats your musculature might have on your skin and body. Moody colors darken the page during contemplative moments, contrasted with brighter colors in the ring, in action. The storytelling is clear, Porter will even get inventive with layout at times. He does that trick I love, where a ton of tiny panels can depict a long fight in the span of two pages without wasting page space.

The story and art synergize to make something that genuinely does Bane right. I'm unsure if it is in continuity. After all, the Riddler graphic novel was decidedly not. This one also seems to take place after much time has passed, perhaps up to a decade beyond the present day of the DCU. As such, I lean pretty heavily toward it being its own thing. But while I like continuity, it's far from the end all and be all. A good story justifies itself and hell, even if it isn't canon, this story uses past continuity incredibly well to tell its story. Continuity is a tool, it doesn't need to be a shackle.

Of the two One Bad Day graphic novels I've read so far, Bane is the first outright success. Sharply written, well drawn and respectful of its main character, it's the best Bane story I've read in a minute. I'd personally recommend tracking it down and reading it in whatever way strikes your fancy. It's worth the time.

* Speaking of this cloud, the one reference to Alfreds death, in flashback, aptly illustrated my meaning. It's took me out of the story for a brief moment, because if that event happened in this stories internal continuity it makes it harder to believe Batman will work together with the man who killed his surrogate father figure. But it's a rock and a hard place situation. The bedrock of this story is in Banes life story, so can you just conveniently leave it out to make things easier? I don't know the answer. It doesn't wreck the book, but it does remind me of what a mistake that moment was and that, whatever your thoughts on comic death or characters coming back to life, the character of Bane would be far better served if it were undone. It's a moment of cruelty that does nothing for the character.

The New 52 - Futures End Vol. 2 (comics)

Writers: Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen

Artists: Patrick Zircher, Jesus Merino, Aaron Lopresti and many more

Collects: The New 52 - Futures End #18-30

 Volume one was a decent start but felt too slow at times, which became a bit of an issue by the end. The first volume contained eighteen issues worth of material including the FCBD special that kicked it all off, inching close to half the overall weekly in one tome, a lot of ground to cover without speeding up. Thankfully, that's less of an issue with volume two. Containing a lighter thirteen issues, it also shifts out of first gear and actually starts to get some momentum going.

We do start to get some answers as to what exactly is going on and some threads start to converge. The Firestorm arc starts to bleed into Tim Drakes plot, while Terry is also starting to think that he needs Tims help, thereby tying that in. It's made plain who attacked Stormwatch, though if you have a clue about what symbol said enemy uses you'll see it coming. Grifters plotline dips into Brother Eye shenanigans, so we're getting closer to whatever the hell let him take wider control, while also dealing with the mystery of the missing Earth 2 refugees. Most importantly, back in the future Terry escaped, Brother Eye realizes that Terry has traveled through time, which means he has to do his best Skynet impersonation and send someone back to deal with the threat.

By the volumes close, we've got all the pieces in play for the last volume. Brother Eye has escaped to the wider world, we have a new Firestorm, Brainiac is coming, Tim Drake is starting to realize he can't really leave this life behind and Mr. Terrific barrels onward with his tech ambitions, despite warnings from friends. Also, Frankenstein and his team manage to escape the danger they were in, warping away, but we don't actually see where they end up in this volume. For some reason, it happens in the middle of the volume and the remaining four or five issues are dealing with other things. A strange breakdown, but might simply be the nature of how the divisions for the collection broke down.

It's hard to say a lot about the writing that wasn't said last time, because I'm not at the end yet, but as mentioned before this volume moves faster and that does it a lot of good. Unfortunately, my nitpick about Terry needing more page time holds over from the prior volume, but it is what it is. They really are juggling a lot more ongoing plots than I expected and they all need page time. Thankfully we start to see him more as the volume wears on and with plotlines intersecting I expect it will be less of an issue in the final volume. 

As for the art, it's the same deal as last volume. Hard to critique. Competent work that blends together well enough. Never horrid nor spectacular.

Obviously I'm going to hold any opinions on if the weekly is good overall until I finish the final volume, but the second is a bit of an improvement over the first, which I already thought was a decent read. So far, as long as it doesn't completely shit the bed with the ending, it'll probably hit somewhere in the middle as far as ranking DC's weeklies.

Bit of a short review, I know, but there isn't a lot of bad that sticks out and any good I could emphasize depends on how the series closes out.

The New 52 - Futures End Vol. 1 (comics)

Writers: Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens, Kieth Giffen

Artists: Patrick Zircher, Jesus Merino, Aaron Lopresti and many more

Collects: The New 52 - Futures End #0-17

I was pretty excited about this back in the day. It's a time travel, avoid the bad future story and I often dig those. It's a weekly with Batman Beyond, one of the best variants of Batman ever put to paper, front and center. It has a bunch of writers I generally like. But reviews of it week to week were mid and money issues put me off from getting the trades in a timely manner. It became one of those "I'll read it when I get to it" projects, only who the hell knew when I'd get to it.

Well, I finally did. It's pretty decent? I want to say good, but this is only a third of the overall weekly so I don't know how it will shake out. It's not quite the slam dunk I expected from the talent involved, but I'll get into that. Still, I enjoyed it.

The series starts out hot with its zero issue, which is entirely set in the devastated future of thirty five years out from the then DC Universes present day. And when I say devastated, I mean it. Brother Eye has taken over everything its eye can see, assimilating heroes in frankly horrifying ways, and the whole thing is essentially the last stand of the remaining heroes. Seriously, there's some body horror going on, as much as they can get away with for a general audience. Circumstances leave them unable to pull it off, leading to Batmans backup plan; he's going to go back to the past and destroy Brother Eye before he and Mr. Terrific even build it. Unfortunately, he's injured in a standoff, so he sends his protege Terry McGuinnis in his place.

From there, the series is structured similarly to past weekly projects. 52 comes to mind. There are multiple running stories throughout that dip in and out when necessary. The duo that make up Firestorm are on the outs and we see what leads to the two agreeing never to merge again. Grifter is caught by agents of Cadmus for shadowy business. Frankenstein is lured into rejoining S.H.A.D.E. to investigate a sudden attack on Stormwatch. Mr. Terrific is completely up his own ass and marching the world toward the dark future without realizing it. Lois Lane is investigating the Green Arrows death. Tim Drake is in hiding and it's unclear why. Then there's the most important plotline, Terry McGuinnis working to avert the future entirely.

Well, it's the most important in theory, but one of the things that keep it going from decent-to-good all the way to great is that it feels like, at times, that plotline is the one that has the least focus. After we're past the zero issue, Terrys story is around, but as you can tell from the preceding paragraph, it's one of like eight narrative strands the weekly chooses to service. I don't think any of the narratives lost me, but it's a lot to juggle and none of them have fully merged by the end of the volume.

Which leads to the other issue that keeps the first volume from being a bit higher up on the quality chain. With so much to juggle, the book often feels like it's moving very slowly. We're jumping between a bunch of narratives, for a good chunk of the volume all of them are in setup mode and you can go a couple issues before you see a plotline return again. I imagine this is a very large part of why the weekly issues god middling reviews. If the pace feels slow to me in a collected volume, it must have been absolutely maddening to follow week to week.

Having yet to finish the overall story, I'm not a hundred percent sure which you cut, but maybe Lois Lanes plotline could have been folded into one of the others at the least. I'd have said Tim Drake just going off this volume, but that's the one plotline I DO know the destination of and yeah, can't really be cut. Maybe some pages could have stood to be trimmed from Grifter on Cadmus island. But whatever could have been decided, Terry needed more pages. He was the big draw of this weekly and he could have stood to be front and center more.

The art is about what you would expect for a weekly. There's a rotating cast of artists, some regular and a few pinch hitters. They all generally hit a baseline of quality so it looks consistent enough to carry the day, you just can't expect any standout artwork because that's not really what you see on these sort of projects. I kind of wish there was more to talk about, but the demands of a weekly schedule mean consistency of the whole mean more than any individual part. No shade from me, it's about the only way to hit a weekly schedule for a year. Wildly different art across one project almost never works out anyway.

It's difficult for me to pass judgement on a single volume of such a large series. A good chunk of the plotlines only just kick into gear by the end of the volume. I'll have more formed opinions by the time I'm finished. But for one volume, it's a pretty decent read with the caveat that you understand that it's a slow burn and there are a lot of plotlines being juggled. If that's not a turnoff for you, feel free to give the first volume a go.

Strange Adventures (comics)

Writer: Tom King

Artist: Mitch Gerards, Evan "Doc" Shaner

Collects: Strange Adventures (Vol. 5) #1-12

I think one of the things I like least about Tom Kings work is that I always feel like shit after I read one.

His writing often has a theme he goes back to, trauma, and he's admittedly good at it. It likely stems from his past experience in the CIA. He knows how trauma can fuck you up and most of his stories are about how it can break you down, lead you to do things you might never have without it, from self destruction all the way to war crimes. It's a good theme, but I wonder if he ever feels the need to write beyond that. I also wonder if he realizes any time he takes a comic character his approach doesn't do a lot more than ugly them up pretty bad.

Adam Strange as a character is very much in the vein of classic space adventurer serials like Buck Rogers or John Carter of Mars. He's one day teleported to a far off planet, falls in love with it and uses its technology to fight against anything that might threaten it. A lot of adventure and sci-fi, pulpy stuff. There's the occasional war, but it's much in the way that sort of stuff is depicted in comic books, without dwelling much on the horrors of it. Pretty clean cut Silver Age fare.

Tom Kings "Strange Adventures"* asks what it looks like when we stuff all the horrible stuff in.

We start after the war on Rann, the planet of which Strange has become an adopted son of sorts, is over. Strange and the Rannians had pushed back the Pykkt and saved their planet. Now, in the wake of the war, a retired Adam has returned to Earth with his wife. What awaits him is adulation and medals. He wrote a memoir about the war, which carries the same title as this comic, and spends his days at book signings. Until one day, one of the people who showed up for the signing turns hostile. He screams about knowing what Strange did, about the things he'd done to the Pykkt, and causes a scene. 

Under intense scrutiny, Strange turns to Batman, asking him to dig into Stranges past and life to absolve him of wrongdoing. Batman rightly decides that he cannot do this for Strange, that given their long history of fighting together and friendship Batman could not possibly be objective, but he promises to turn the case over to someone who could. Michael Holt, Mr. Terrific. A man who lives up to his name. Suddenly, Adam Strange is wary of the investigation he called for. Turns out it's for good reason, as when Terrific starts digging deeper, some things stop adding up. By the end, a lot more will be revealed than Adam Strange bargained for.

As always with Tom King, it's impeccably written. Even when I don't much care for the work in question, I can never deny he's a skilled writer. And he synergizes well with Mitch Gerards and Evan Shaner. The story, as it unfolds, switches between the present day on Earth and snapshots of moments of the war on Rann in the past, both with a different style. On Earth, it's more detailed, almost grimier, reflecting the uglier side of things slowly coming to light. On Rann, it's brighter, cleaner, with simple lines and bold colors, as if to reflect the inspiring story he told of the war, of the biggest moments. It's a neat trick and the contrast can be a gut punch when things start breaking down in the present while we see moments in the past of triumph and love.

Tom King is spoiled for great artists to work with. He's like Mark Miller in that way. Only, you know, actually good at the whole writing thing. Or at least he's a hell of a lot more consistently good than Mark Miller's ever been.

I think I just don't like his approach or what he does to characters or settings. Most of the time it just makes me roll my eyes. I think back to Murderin' Riddler for one example but he does it to almost anything he touches. There's Batman, obviously, which he positioned as a form a slow burn suicide. But he also did it to Mr. Miracle, who may or may not be trapped in an eternal purgatory after a suicide attempt he may or may not have escaped from. He's done it to the JLI, where Guy Gardner is seemingly murdered quite brutally** and Ice ends up essentially fitting the femme fatale role that's never once been even remotely hinted for her as a character. He takes interesting characters, often with depth, and utterly breaks them in ways you can't walk back from.

I cringe when a new Tom King comic is announced with some DC property I like, because there will be some new way in which characters I like are twisted in ugly ways.

That said, I should say that it's fine and despite my probably harsh words I'm not mad about it or anything. His Batman run aside most of his work is self contained and designated outside main continuity. It harms no one allowing him to do his take on these things because he doesn't have to worry about whether he breaks the proverbial toy or not. Adam Strange is as he always has been in the DC Universe proper. For this reason it's not like I'm even saying "why do they keep giving this guy work". They're often Black Label. He can go nuts. I'll either like it or I won't, and that's okay.

I just think, after numerous work, I just don't like the way he takes these bright characters and utterly breaks them. Even when it's not in continuity, it's not fun to see Adam Strange as a war criminal who has done some terrible things beyond that I won't talk about because it would spoil the whole third act. Part of me thinks that taking these bright, colorful characters and doing such utterly nasty things to them is about as childish as you could ever view these fictional entities once written for kids.

That's probably why I've turned on a fair bit of 80's comics. You know the ones, where everything had to grim and gritty it up. Maybe it's because I'm getting older, but it starts to feel so very edgelord, to me, to take things that are meant to be a positive escape from a frankly terrifying real world and drag them through the mud. That's probably why I've turned on a lot of Alan Moores work, long held as classics, including Watchmen. Some like Swamp Thing fit, because that's horror, but everything else? Geez, dude.

But outside my personal feelings about approach? Or content? Strange Adventures is a very, very well written and drawn comic book. And it may well work incredibly well for you. Maybe this approach is what some people are looking for and it's good it's there for them. I don't even regret reading it despite disliking its tone and I would encourage anyone to try it for themselves. It might be their new favorite. It's well written, well drawn, I'd even say that overall it's a good story. I almost never regret reading a great comic, even if it makes me feel like shit.

I simply never need to read it again.

Batman - One Bad Day: Riddler (comics)

 

Writer: Tom King

Artist: Mitch Gerards

Original Graphic Novel

To my surprise, this is the first time I've reviewed a comic or graphic novel written by Tom King. A strange omission, really, given I've read several of his comics. So I might as well get this out of the way first.

I've liked some of Tom Kings work but whenever the man is on something related to Batman he just absolutely loses me.

I didn't review it, partly because it slipped my mind during the years long span I'd been away from this blog, but I had read roughly half of his time on the mainline Batman book during the Rebirth relaunch/rebrand. First arc was shaky but not bad, but he lost me with the second, I Am Suicide. His thesis statement for Batman, at least that early in the run, seemed to be that the very identity of Batman was meant as a form of slow burn suicide in the wake of his parents death. 

I'm not going to go into all the problems I have with that because this review is not about that run, but at least a part of my problem with it lies in what an utterly dour, cynical, selfish slant this places on the entire being of Bruce Wayne and Batman. It removes anything heroic about the crusade and, in some ways, makes him a monster. It colors everything differently. Robin and the Bat family suddenly become less about found family and trauma bonding, instead becoming about a psychotic broken manchild dragging a bunch of kids into something that he intends to kill him someday. It's less about justice and more like a slow form of slitting his wrists.

Suffice to say, I didn't finish the run. I made it farther than you might think, all the way to the wedding-that-wasn't, before I called it. It was around when Catwoman decided Batman couldn't be effective if he was happy. Maybe that was editorial, who knows, but it fit too well with what King was doing even if he didn't originally intend it. I was looking for some kind of refutation of this thesis, but somewhere around fifty issues in it didn't seem to be coming and it was, frankly, a little too late even if that actually was the endgame. The run kind of ruined Batman and Catwoman together for me, to the point I don't really want to read it anymore, and when I saw the next arc was going to be super dark Batdickery like we were still in the 90's, I dipped. Out of like fifty issues I enjoyed the double date two parter and that was pretty much it. Kite-Mans reinvention was great, but it happened amidst an overlong and weirdly bad take on a war between two rogues.

This graphic novel has the benefit of being out of continuity, I assume, and boy is that ever a good thing.

Most of this overlong preamble has been spent complaining about Kings take on Batman, so this is a good enough spot to break that a bit and talk about what works. Tom King is a talented writer. That's obvious even in the things I don't like. He has a nice rhythm and storytelling sensibility that combines to feel very him, if that makes any sense at all. I can dislike a story he writes, but it's less an issue with the mechanics or flow than it is with what the story is about, themes and the like. The mechanics are the aspects of the bookending sequences that I like, even as I don't much care for the ending itself. We'll point of view through a bystander as they set off home from work, texting his wife, then bam, cut to black. We get several black panels for the rest of the page, signifying death, before flipping to the next where confirmation comes with CCT footage of the mans last moments.

It's the trick The Sopranos famously pulled in the very last scene of the show, only this graphic novel knew to set up and explain it beforehand so no one is confused at the final reprise.

Mitch Gerards is one of Kings better collaborators. Which is not a diss on the others, Tom King seems to attract good artists, Mitch is just that good. There's a moodiness to everything, a dreariness, that colors every scene without being dark or grimy. Shadows are heavy, but the other colors contrast through brightness. Slim shafts of white for rain, a near constant in any outdoor scene. Deep in the book, Gerards hands us one of the loveliest scene transitions in comics through use of a basketball court. The change in time period signified by color, the past using the haze of orange that's been part of every flashback breaking into the thick shadows and dark greens hanging over the present day sequences. Top shelf work.

Too bad about the actual story.

I'll preface here by giving a big old SPOILER WARNING. I'm going to talk about the entire plot. Blogger doesn't exactly have spoiler tags, so this is the best I can do. If you somehow made it to my site, I assume you want my opinion and to give that, well, I gotta talk about the story. Otherwise, you might as well cut here and rest assured I didn't like it. I think I'm done with giving arbitrary grades, so there's nothing like that to look for. I'll also note these are all my opinions, so you may feel differently, and also that this is not intended for continuity so it's more or less harmless.

All that now out of the way, One Bad Day: Riddler as a story is essentially bad fanfiction.

Strong statement? Depends on how you mean it. I have a fairly positive view of fanfiction. It's essentially free, democratized writing. Anyone can write whatever they want and put it out for their peers to read. It isn't making any money, so burgeoning writers can play with characters and settings they would otherwise never be allowed to. You know, since capitalism and our copyright laws are an utter joke. 

Most people like to say that "most fanfiction is bad". So? Have you taken a look at a lot of things that have actually been published? Eragon and Harry Potter were once wildly popular despite the actual writing being somewhat pedestrian, at times bad. 50 Shades of Grey made a load of money and that started out as actual fanfiction. You can get enjoyment or like characters even in bad work. That's the entire concept of "good bad" media.

Also, to be blunt, most of todays most popular media are basically corporate approved fanfiction. Stan Lee hasn't exactly written Spider-Man or Iron Man since the 60's. Bill Finger and Bob Kane have been dead a long time, but Batman lives on. We place too much stress and negative feeling on the word simply because it's unofficial or because random people are allowed to put whatever they want out.

When I think of bad fanfiction, I think less in writing quality and more of a bunch of tired tropes or lazy ideas. Things that have been overdone. Possibly pretentious. Often rooted in a misunderstanding of characters and theme. Or maybe they just make everything really gritty and dark and depressing because that's real, man.

Unrelated to the previous sentence, I joke, the Riddler is a murderer in this comic and the smartest bestest man in the world.

Murderin' Riddler is not a take I like, but whatever, I can deal with it. The Batman had him as a killer and that worked. But that film was also trying to tell a story about class inequality that tied into what Riddler was doing. He, along with Catwoman and Batman himself, was a third of a trio that spoke to three different walks of life, status and privilege. It played to the theme of the film and that's why I accepted it.

In One Bad Day: Riddler, the Riddler decides to just start offing civilians because all the riddles prior to this were just one big game to him. Now he's tired of the game and wants to send a message to Batman that old Eddie is his better. Interspersed with all this are flashbacks to Edwards childhood as the son to the dean of a prestigious school. Said father demands perfection or he breaks out the corporal punishment. One of Edwards teachers likes to encourage outside the box thinking so he puts one riddle at the end of tests. Edward cannot think outside the box and gets frustrated so he cheats. He's caught, but the teacher gently chastises Edward. However, when the teacher mentions he'll have to tell Edwards father and hopes at least it'll be a learning experience, Edward coldly murders him on the basketball court, slamming the teachers face into the pavement until it's crushed. 

That is his "One Bad Day".

It's rather groan inducing, really, when you get to the end of the comic and realize everything has just been a pretentious "the gloves are off, the silly villain everyone laughed at is a grim, dark, gritty killer" story. Hell, it's groan inducing even before you get to that point. In order to make this all work, Edward Nygma is given a competency and cognitive ability that borders on superhuman. But really, it's just kind of stupid.

Eddie always knew who Batman was, you see, along with all of Bruces kids. He's been able to sneak in and out of the Manor a lot over the years, get into safes, even found The Pearls. Seen everyone sleeping. He knows who every cop and guard is, who their family is. There's a confusing sequence late in the book where he seems to be able to lay down on the ground, his words causing the guards to shoot and kill each other. He convinces Film Freak to slit his throat after Nygma bests Film Freak in a film trivia game. He knows about Jim Gordons marriage failing, what happened to Sarah Essen, a bunch of personal events he should never be able to find out because how would he have been there. He was apparently the one who gave Joker the plans that led to the famous apartment shooting in Killing Joke.

You see what I'm getting at here? I didn't even get everything. Written out plain, it's absolutely ludicrous. How hard is it to hit that point in a DC Universe story? Where I accept a man who can fly and shoot heat beams. Where a guy dresses like a Bat to fight crime without being crippled by year three. Where a ring powers up and creates things out of green light. It's sudden over competence, reminding me of some fanfiction I've read in the past where a fan of a minor character is upset at how said character is treated in universe so they're going to make them a real threat.

All in service of an ending you know is coming. I sighed halfway through. The threat in the last confrontation is that Riddler knows everything, he's changed and if Batman ever hits him again he'll kill someone, so Batman has to leave him alone. Then a couple page sequence of everyone being scared stupid by him, where mob bosses and bank heads all decide if the Riddler shows up you give him whatever he wants. Everyone laughed at him but now he's scary. No one can stop him, everyone is too afraid.

Did you guess how it ends?

Batman tells the Riddler that he can change too. That Riddler has been abusing his weakness for mercy. We point of view with Riddler. In the mirror he finally notices Batman behind him. Cut to black. Four whole panels of it.

What can I say but "fuck off".

It's definitely non continuity. I don't think I have to explain why at this point. So you can take it or leave it as a what if. But for my money, it's a comic that is unintentionally sillier than any gimmick scheme Riddler's ever done. The book never tells us that Batman killing the Riddler is the only way, only implying it through a seemingly extreme no win scenario. You'll often see some people excuse storytelling beats like this, where a character who kills is suddenly forced to cross that line because they were "left with no choice". The film Man of Steel is a good example with its climax of Superman being forced to execute Zod to save a family, a hollow sequence that occurs after the two practically level Metropolis amidst their fight and likely kill tens of thousands. But there's always a choice.

After all, everything is as it was written to be.

Gotham By Midnight: We Do Not Sleep (comics)

Writer: Ray Fawkes
Artist: Ben Templesmith
Collects: Gotham By Midnight #1-5

Gotham's a freaky place at best, built like a shrine to art deco, clad in stone gargoyles and replete with any number of psychotic criminals on any given night. Would anyone really be surprised to find that things go bump in the night around that city? I mean, hell, Slaughter Swamp is a stones throw away. Solomon Grundy pulled his dead ass out of that muck. Gotham and the supernatural have a long standing relationship. But Batman doesn't deal with that kind of thing, unless he can't help it. It's not his wheelhouse.

Good thing Gotham has a task force just for that, then. Well, good for the citizens. Not so much for the poor saps assigned there, even as weird as they are. Meet the Midnight Shift;  Detective Jim Corrigan - you might know him as the host of the Spectre - Doctor Tarr, Sister Justine, Detective Lisa Drake and Lieutenant Weaver. They're the ones protecting Gotham from the spooky, the biblical, the downright demonic. We're gonna be riding with them for a bit.

So, I've been slowly making my way through Rebirth and a quick glance at the past couple months of reviews will show I've loved it thus far. But if I have any qualms about it at all, it's that it plays things a little too safe. Every single title they put out was guaranteed to appeal to some kind of audience and likely hold down an okay readership. The downside is that there isn't a single risk in the bunch. It's pretty firm in its use of classic superheroes and longstanding properties, to the point that continuing Gotham Academy for another series is the closest it flirts with something different. That's great for the health of the line, I'm sure, and judging by the legs it has and that it went over a year without a cancellation, it's worked, but it's the safest the entire line has felt in a decade.

The New 52 is maligned for its visual masturbation to the nineties and uneven quality - and let's be honest, there were as many crap books as there were good, including a largely dismal five years of Superman comics and a controversial five years of Wonder Woman - but one thing it did well is cater to things outside of straight superheroics. I'm not convinced anything like I, Vampire or Xombi would get past the pitch stage right now, they still haven't done anything with Swamp Thing or Animal Man since their acclaimed New 52 runs and I kind of doubt Gotham Academy would have enjoyed a second series if it hadn't already established itself in the previous era.

I can't imagine we'll see anything like Gotham By Midnight again for a while yet, either.

Essentially a horror comic, Gotham By Midnight does well differentiating itself even among all of the other Gotham centric books. Most of them would choose the parts of Gotham that are more immediately familiar to readers. This book centers itself around spooky happenings surrounding Slaughter Swamp. How many people here even remember that's a part of Gotham City? It has its roots deep in the macabre, with nasty, demonic creatures terrorizing families and taxing the squad. The root cause of the disturbance ends up being the psychic remnants of genocide, of the people of settlements that were wiped out to make way for the founding of Gotham. That's crazy dark, in a good way.

But beyond the spooky imagery and ugly revelations lies heart. Jim Corrigan is the only cast member you're going to recognize, but that doesn't mean you won't get to like the rest of them by the end. Each has their quirks and backstory. Each is pretty likable in their own way. I'm not a religious sort of person and I don't much trust the people involved with organized religion, as I find many of them can't even seem to hold to the virtues they preach, but Sister Justine ends up a pristine reminder of the best of them. Late in the book, as Gotham faces judgement and the rest of the cast, scattered across Gotham and struggling to converge, freak out, she casts her gaze to heaven and prays, defending the people of Gotham through her words and asking for mercy, to take her instead. Whether her prayers are answered, I'll leave to you to find out, but it did make me a little misty eyed.

That said, the spooky imagery is still pretty important. I'm pretty familiar with Ben Templesmiths work, as I imagine a good number of people are. Most were probably introduced to it in 30 Days of Night. My first exposure came in the Dead Space comics he did art for. At the time, I have to admit I hated it. I don't know if that's because it's so far outside the norm I just instinctively recoiled or what, but it kind of repulsed me. Over time, I grew to appreciate it and realized that's kind of the point, given how well the style fits with horror. Everything he draws is vaguely ugly and wild, but the oddities grow on you after a while until you just get used to how he draws people.

Where it really works are the monsters. They look nasty without resorting to things like copious amounts of blood or spilled guts. That's the part that made me appreciate his work. A lot of artists would rely on that, while Templesmith can do wonders with simple use of a hue of red washed over everything, heavy inks or simple deformation of a monster. That takes skill.

Unfortunately, there are only two volumes of the book. Despite a lead-in by Batman Eternal and a really strong start, Gotham By Midnight only lasted a year. I guess I should be thankful for the fact that DC likes to give more rope to series, rather than just canceling them at five issues and making something a miniseries when pre-orders aren't amazing, but having now read and enjoyed it, it's still upsetting this book didn't last longer.

I don't know, maybe DC has the right idea after all with Rebirth. Apparently really good books like this that stray from immediate convention just don't sell. See also, the failure of the DC You initiative, which had a dumb name but carried some gems. I can't help being a little bitter about that.

Still, I recommend rolling with the Midnight Shift for a bit. It's a fun ride.

My Opinion: Read It

Nightwing: Better Than Batman (comics)

Writer: Tim Seeley
Artists: Javier Fernandez, Yanick Paquette
Collects: Nightwing Rebirth #1, Nightwing (2016) #1-4, 7-8

I don't really care about Nightwing.

Dick Grayson as a character is fine, serves an important role in the DCU and can fit wherever you need him, but his solo always made me roll my eyes. For all the bitching he's done over decades of comics about how he didn't want to be Batman, he was pretty content to be the Diet version ever since Chuck Dixon first brought him into his own ongoing. He had his own Gotham - which, at times, writers hilariously tried to sell as "worse than Gotham", as if that made Dick look good or something - went on the exact same type of adventures, took the same type of cases and fought the same kind of villains, though his were half as interesting and rarely stuck. Tim Drake has the exact same problem, arguably worse. What Dick had going for him was a slick costume and his character. Admittedly, that's probably more than enough for most people.

So, I wasn't exactly excited about the Rebirth series. It's basically reverting him to his "classic" role when, frankly, it wasn't that interesting to start with. Especially coming on the heels of a reinvention that seemed to suit him, namely as the DCU's James Bond. By the time I'd been looking to check Grayson out, this was on its way. Go figure. But DC won me over with just about everything it's put out under the Rebirth banner thus far, so Nightwing got a chance too.

It impressed me enough to continue, but it admittedly had a low bar to clear and I'm not sure just how much of that relates to hold-overs from Grayson.

The Rebirth issue is a good primer for the series. It catches us up nicely with where Dick is in his life, what happened in the last series and details what he has to deal with now. What it's supposed to do, basically. I haven't read a lick of Dick Graysons adventures in the New 52 era and felt like I knew more than enough to go on by the end, so I'd say it did its job well. I'm not wild about the way it seemingly dispatches a villain, but whatever; it's the cool thing to kill off minor guys these days and he's a member of a group whose whole deal is coming back to life anyway, so it's fine.

From there, the show is put on the road. The gist is that, near the end of Grayson, a global off-shoot of the Court of Owls - the Parliament of Owls - blackmailed Dick through his brother, Damian Wayne. They planted a bomb in his head, basically, and if Dick didn't do what they wanted, brain matter went flying. But Dick has flipped the script without their knowledge and is working to take them down from the inside. He's paired up with a new ally, Raptor, and made to do their bidding. Only Raptor likes the Owls exactly as much as Dick does and wants to take them down too.

There's no way this guy isn't trustworthy, right? This will end well.

The volume is as much about Raptor as it is Dick, setting up common ground, saving some personal revelations for the big moments and positioning him up as a top villain for Nightwing going forward, possibly the first good one he's had. The connection between the two is as convenient as all get out - nothing makes things personal as easily as involving parents - but that sort of reveal is a thing because it tends to work. They've also got a direct clash of ideals and methods stemming from their upbringing; Raptor believes Batman made Dick soft, while Dick has a far better perspective and outlook on the Bat taking him in.

Speaking of the relationship between Batman and Nightwing, it's as natural as its ever been. One of the things I've never liked about Dick Grayson since he became Nightwing is exactly how up his own ass he became about being his own man. While the child becoming resentful of their parents is a thing that does happen in real life, with these two it went to extremes. There were times he'd blame Batman for things that were outside of his control or seem almost bitter about being tied to Gotham in any way. Batman, for his part, seemed mostly supportive even during the dreaded 90's, when he was a raging asshole, leaving Dick to his own devices and trying to keep from dragging his ward back into Gotham as best he could.

Here, they're far warmer to each other and the dynamic feels real. Batman does his very best to let Dick do things his way, but even if they aren't related by blood, they're father and son, and it's never quite that easy. He messes up and Dick is agitated at Bruce saying one thing, but still not completely trusting him to make the right choice. Even that exchange doesn't feel overblown, despite Dick having some harsh words for Bruce. Later, there's a short conversation with Alfred right before he's kidnapped where Bruce laments the fact that for all his attempts, he still ended up blaming Dick for how hard it was to let him go. The words and his general demeanor suggest disappointment and regret. It feels very real, very honest, and far more impactful than most of the tension I've seen in countless Nightwing comics. Batman reacted as you might expect a father to and it created a small rift between them. But when push came to shove, Dick comes for his father figure, values the lessons taught and values Bruce.

It's a hell of a lot better than the pissing matches or angry "I don't want to be him" monologues.

If there's a downside to all this, it's that the book seems like it really wants to put the whole "Parliament of Owls" thing to bed. It started in Grayson, a book that is obviously over, but it's an interesting state of affairs and could easily have held up a full twelve issues worth of comics in Nightwing. Instead, it's mostly wrapped by the end of this first arc. I don't think for a moment that the Owls won't show up again, in Batman or even here, but still, it feels shuffled off too soon. They're not even the main antagonists by the close.

Yanick Paquette does the art for the Rebirth issue, but sadly it's kind of a guest star thing, because he's not the ongoing artist. I say sadly mainly because I could always go for more of his artwork. Javier Fernandez, however, is more than capable, and puts in some fine work, capably illustrating everything from fights to quieter moments. I really enjoyed how he showed Bruce Waynes subtle displeasure in the aforementioned scene, looking the slightest bit forlorn in the panel he put voice to his worries.

So far, Nightwings Rebirth era is a winner. But we'll see how well it holds, because most of the holdover from Grayson has probably been spent here. The next volume has him transition back to Bludhaven, so there's an unfortunate chance we're headed back into territory I've never particularly liked to begin with. I'll give it a chance, as Seeley and Fernandez earned that much with this volume, but it might be hard to keep me.

My Opinion: Read It

Heartwarming Batman Moments: There are a couple, mainly related to him acting as a father. He does his best to let Dick off the leash, but can't help but be concerned when Dick does something he wouldn't, which leaves things a bit tense. He's actually a bit dismayed at it even. At the end, when things look dire for him, Bruce seemingly falls towards his death, which Nightwing naturally saves him from. When Nightwing tries to beat himself up about it and apologize, Bruce explains that he didn't fall, he jumped, because he believed in Dick and knew Dick would be there to catch him.

Superman Unchained (comics)

Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Jim Lee
Collects: Superman Unchained #1-9

Overall, I'd say I've read over half of the New 52 era of Superman. I've tried each creative team on Action and Superman both. On the whole, I've already kind of judged the whole endeavor - picture me as Ceasar giving the thumbs down - but there was one more piece of the puzzle to try.

That piece being Superman Unchained, a project celebrated at its announcement that feels as though it just came and went. I don't see much discussion of it, now or at the time. Strange, for a project teaming Scott Snyder, current comics golden boy, with Jim Lee, the standard bearer of DC art style for about a decade and a half. Now having read it, I can kind of understand why. Superman Unchained is perfectly fine, but doesn't really rise past that point, which is surprising given the talent involved.

A long time ago, American scientists sent an equation into space, asking for help from aliens, because I guess that's a thing you do. I don't know, maybe we've done it in real life. Regardless, something answered, an alien crash landed and America had its own "Superman", Wraith, who it's kept as a well guarded secret for over a hundred years. He was the second "bomb" dropped on Nagasaki in World War II and it turns out much of the worlds technology stemmed from this original alien visitor. In the present day, Superman is now forced to come face to face with Wraith, as well as the US army, led by Sam Lane, who if you cannot recall, is a dick.

There are other elements in play, including a terrorist group screwing things up, but they are the most after of thoughts. They blow themselves up halfway through the collection after they set off every nuke in the world and are just kind of swept under the rug after driving half the plot, just to get to the goods of Lane attacking the Fortress of Solitude with the Army and Wraith in a bid to kill Superman and take his technology.

That might even be the problem in itself. A lot of the threats end in a bit of a whimper, or don't have the gravity they probably should. As mentioned, the terrorist group Ascension just kind of blow themselves up. Wraith is beaten intelligently, but his change of heart has absolutely no build-up. The big alien menace ready to invade feels like a last minute hail mary of a plot point that is teased in the second to last issue, only to show up in the last issue, just to be dealt with. Even Luthor, who escapes mid-way through the book before enacting a plan - which involves Jimmy Olsen ending up in the Artic for no reason I can fathom - to get Superman to blow himself up to save us all, is re-captured by Superman off panel.

Wraith is a bit frustrating, because I don't feel like his conflict with Superman was mined like it could have been. He's very much a soldier, like Lane, who works for his country, believes in it and is upset that Superman doesn't directly tie himself to its cause, going so far as to ask why Superman doesn't turn over all the alien technology to the US. Lane has his own spiel about how Superman is a coward, because at least he and Wraith directly target threats and stop them, potentially saving lives, while Superman is, in Lanes view, a mass murderer because he's unwilling to get his hands dirty and concerned more with staying above the fray.

Superman never has a proper rebuttal that I can think of, or at least he doesn't directly confront the accusations in any meaningful way, which is disappointing because he could give any number of reasons as to why. It would not play well with the more "patriotic" among us - see the overblown, frankly dumb uproar over that one back-up where Superman renounced his American citizenry for an example - but there's a point to be made about how America is typically an aggressor, actively imposing our will and exerting influence in various regions of the world as it is, without even more advanced alien technology only they would have backing them up. There's the idea that it places too much importance and power in one place, too, an idea that resonates even more right now. Superman even passes up the opportunity to comment on how Sam Lane and Wraiths go-to option when he won't kneel and kiss the ring is to kill him, blow up the fortress and take it all. Would you really want people like that to have more power and tech?

The most we get is during the big fight with Wraith, when he's defeated and Superman starts in with a "Shut Up, Hannibal" speech. But instead of bringing up anything that illuminated his position or poked holes in any of the philosophical or metaphorical attacks on his character, he just verbally attacks Wraiths reliance on an army for back-up, while Supermans loner status left him learning how to fight out of necessity. It's the last we see of Wraith until he commits a heroic sacrifice in Supermans place, for no reason I can fathom. Superman didn't really say anything that might have caused him to "see the light" or make that choice, rather than let Superman die so he could live to keep fighting for his country.

Most of the problem seems to be in the back third of the book, where everything is racing toward the conclusion. It almost feels as though the series got cut short, which is why all these plot points and opportunities were resolved in an unsatisfactory way. Maybe it was. I think Unchained was supposed to be an ongoing, or was at least suggested to be such, before it ran into delays; as I recall, it took a year and a half to put out nine issues, so if that's what happened, it makes sense, but might have hurt the overall material.

Even Jim Lee's work doesn't help and might even actively hinder the material. Some of it might be personal preference; it has been a long decade and change since Batman: Hush and Jim Lee's style and sensibilities set the tone for DC for much of the time after, so it's been around a lot. I figured it might just be an issue with me falling out of love with Lee's style, which is thick with extraneous lines and not nearly as eye catching to me today as it was ten years ago. But the more I read, the more I thought that the problem might be elsewhere and not even relate entirely to Lee.

We don't think much about the inkers and colorists unless something goes very right or horribly wrong. After all, there's not a lot to talk about compared to things like the general style of the linework or the story, so they very much end up the unsung heroes of comic books. I could be wrong, but I think that Jim Lee has used the same inker and colorist for all of his work over the years. Having read the prior Jim Lee pencilled Superman story - the Brian Azzarello written For Tomorrow arc - as well as Unchained, I think that the usual choice of color, tone and use of shadow of this team might simply be unsuited for a solo Superman tale.

Coming off Son of Superman, I found I very much preferred the simple, brighter shades employed with Superman, a character who embodies light and hope. Keep in mind that I say this not intending to directly compare the two jobs or praise one over the other - they're both different styles, both are good and both could be superior for different projects - but I think of the difference in the details of how this book portrays something as simple as space compared to that story. In the opening pages of Unchained, where we kick off with an admittedly exciting, very Superman task of saving a falling space station, space is very black, almost oppressively dark in that sense, with only the stars breaking up that feeling. In Son of Supermans final issue, space is brighter, with the glow of the planet and the moon turning into gradients of blue, green and even purple.

Regardless, I should note that the work of Lee and his team is far stronger here than it was for the opening volumes of Geoff Johns run on Justice League. I remember that everything felt a bit more rushed and less detailed there than usual, likely owed to Lee being forced to let up to meet the then-ironclad monthly schedule the New 52 was determined to honor. Unchained was its own thing, divorced from the general goings on of the rest of the line, as opposed to Justice League, which was the first book of the New 52. Unchained could be delayed. It shows, because it's a marked improvement over Justice League. If you like Jim Lees art and have none of the issues I did, you'll enjoy looking at this book.

To loop back to writing, there are things to enjoy there, as well. One thing I noticed, and appreciated, is that Snyder portrays Superman and Batman as friends, with no large amount of tension or bull. Batman is prepared, just in case, but is ready to help Superman out when he needs it, does not seem particularly suspicious of him or his motives and is even appreciated by Superman, who remarks at one point that it's good to have paranoid friends. It's enough to make you want a Scott Snyder penned Batman/Superman title. Better still, while Batman is around and helps, he's a supplement to Superman and even when he has a standout moment, like when he holds the line against Wraith in the Batcave until Superman arrives, it doesn't feel like he's hogging page time. Superman has his friends and relies on them while still showing he's able to get the job done alone.

By the way, this thing apparently had an obscene amount of variant covers, because there's like a million of the things. Yeah, I know, that's hyperbolic. I'll clarify. Apparently, the nine issue run had fifty variant covers through its run. I counted. The cover gallery - with script pages for the first issue and raw Jim Lee pencils - are close to a third of the book. Not saying this is a bad thing, it just surprised me. Quite a few of them are nice to look at, with plenty of homages, so hey, it's a decent extra. I like being able to see the alternate covers in the trade anyway.

Thus far, this is Scott Snyders sole work with Superman. It's a shame, as I get the feeling that he does genuinely get the character and would do well with one of the two ongoings. His work with Batman seems to be winding down for now, so perhaps he'll follow Tomasi's lead over to the other half of the Worlds Finest team for a proper run in the future. I'd be willing to read it. But as for this, I can't give it a hearty recommendation. It might do more for you than me, so check your library system, I guess.

My Opinion: Try It

Superman: Son of Superman (comic)

Writer: Peter Tomasi, Patrick Gleason
Artists: Patrick Gleason, Doug Mahnke, Jorge Jimenez
Collects: Superman Rebirth #1, Superman (2016) #1-6

Of the trinity, Superman fared the worst in the New 52. The side books were a wash, but Batman itself was in the midst of another blockbuster run. Wonder Woman was divisive the whole way through, but even if they didn't like the tone or direction of the Azzarello run, most seem like they'll at least admit it was well put together. Superman had a year and a half with Grant Morrison on Action Comics and that was it. Nothing else really measured up*.

Worse still, for a majority of the time, the New 52 version did not really feel like Superman. It was like DC consciously decided to take a different tack with him. In some regards, it worked - Morrisons run starts off with a Superman that is more moral crusader for justice, both social and societal - but in others, it felt like we'd diverged too much from what made the character work to begin with. There's a real feeling, both in and out of his books, that the New 52 is a lot more concerned with his alien origins and feeling like an outsider than he typically is. It's the entire reason he hooks up with Wonder Woman - they both feel alone on an alien world, literal and metaphorical - which is just one part of why that felt like an awful idea from the moment they kissed. I feel like they realized they screwed up and were correcting course by the end, but it came late in the game.

I mean, I'd rather deal with that version than something closer to the Superman from the Zack Snyder films, for example, but it still feels like they missed the point of the character.

That's why the Rebirth Superman title was the one I anticipated reading the most. Just prior to Rebirth, the New 52 version died - if I'm being brutally honest, he died because he was a moron - and the classic version of Superman stepped in to take his place. With him came his wife, Lois Lane, and young son Jonathan Kent. Superman the family man is a status quo that just sounds right the first time you hear it, so the idea naturally agreed with me.

We start off with the Rebirth special, which is admittedly a mis-step. It's entirely about dealing with the fallout of the New 52 versions death and coming to terms with it. It does address an elephant in the room; Superman died once before, so of course he'd think the New 52 version could come back and would go looking for the same means he used to do it. It doesn't change the fact that we're leading off a new era dealing directly with the one we just left behind, one a reader coming back after an absence probably doesn't want to deal with anymore anyway. I know new readers are also mystical unicorns, but part of the reason why is we always see stuff like this, where before you recommend something you have to give a disclaimer or primer because of things that are, to a non comic reader, confusing stereotypical comic junk. That stuffs fine when you're deep in the numbers, but why would you ever lead off with it?

It should have been about a light recap of the life and times of the new-old Superman that glossed over some of the "from a parallel universe" stuff. Unfortunately, that's not what we got, so here we are. Admittedly, there's something sweet about Superman teaming with Lana Lang to retrieve his counterparts remains, then, upon realizing there's no bringing him back, burying him with his parents and carving a memorial to him in the Fortress of Solitude.

After that, we reach the first arc of the series, Son of Superman, and it's off at the races. Much like Tomasi and Gleasons Batman & Robin, this book is very much about the relationship between father and son. Jons powers are only just starting to manifest and he doesn't necessarily know how to control or properly use them. His start is a bit like his fathers in that regard. But unlike Clarks upbringing, he has the benefit of a father who has been through this before and is patient and understanding in dealing with it.

Which is not to say that Lois is a background character. She's just as important to the dynamic and brings her usual headstrong attitude to things. When things start going down, she even manages to get her licks in on the villain in a way I won't spoil, but calls back to the aforementioned Batman & Robin run.

Eventually, the Eradicator shows up. In case you're unfamiliar with him, he was one of the replacement Supermen in the 90's**, during the brief period after Death of Superman where the hole needed to be filled. Essentially a cyborg who thought he actually was Superman for a brief time, he stuck around in one form or another after that. This is a new version, whose history starts as a part of a small force that traps Kryptonian lawbreakers for General Zod. Now, having witnessed the death of Krypton and finding a living Kryptonian, his goal is the rebirth of the race. Unfortunately, he's none too fond of Jons human half and wants to wipe it out.

Naturally, Superman tells him to go screw and the fight begins.

Son of Superman is a fun start for the Rebirth era. We get to see both halves of Supermans life, the domestic and the heroic, how they intersect and how they're all a big part of his life. But we also get to see some scenes that are just downright cool. When the action spills into Metropolis and threatens to put innocent lives in danger, Superman retreats with his family to the friggin Moon, where the climax of the book takes place. Turns out Batman has a special cave there, because Batman, which comes in handy. It all leads to a page that feels like a classic Superman shot, where he rights the American flag and lunar module we left on the Moon and strikes a heroic pose for the cameras to see, to reassure the world that Superman is back and he's there to stay.

The book is full of bright Superman imagery. The way he's drawn by Patrick Gleason, he often comes off as a fatherly presence, larger than life without feeling out of reach. He smiles, shoots his son thumbs up, takes time out to receive keys to the city and proudly introduces his son to his colleagues in superheroics. It's hard to articulate the difference, but it comes down to the way the character carries himself compared to the one he's replaced. The body language feels as important in making him feel like the old school Superman as the dialogue and any of his actions.

There's a bit of fill-in art, unfortunately, but it's not too bad. Jorge Jimenez fits in well enough that I actually didn't even know what he'd drawn until I looked through the credits before writing this review. Doug Mahnke is the one that sticks out. He pencils the Rebirth issue - which is fine, as it's separate - as well as an issue late in the book. Doug Mahnke is a great artist, but his work is just different enough from Gleasons expressive, clean style that you'll notice the issue he illustrated. It's not helped by the fact that Mahnkes issue also uses a different inker and colorist; had he used Mick Gray and John Kalisz I imagine it would have helped smooth over the edges. But I don't know if that decision was in his hands or not. Regardless, Mahnke's a top flight talent and ably handles the material he's given.

Only a few things stuck out to me as a negative. The Rebirth issue being a sort of coda to the New 52 version being one, as I previously mentioned. Another is Supermans prickliness toward his new neighbor. Granted, Cobb kind of brushed off Clarks insistence that they had it under control, but it felt off to see Superman give him a stern look while he repeated himself. Perhaps he knows something we don't? I assume it will be addressed. Tomasi and Gleason seem to be setting Cobb and his granddaughter as recurring characters.

We also didn't need to see Jon accidentally fry the family cat in panic as he tries to save it from a hawk. It's appropriately heartbreaking, because of course the poor kid didn't mean to do it, much less understand how to even use this brand new power he's never had before, and ends up showing how supportive his family is, so it has its use. Superman knows immediately, but doesn't let on as such, instead taking his son with him on a distress call, using it as a teachable moment, helping Jon get control of his heat vision and gently encouraging his son to do the right thing and come clean. That said, did we really need to do that to get to this point? It's the one moment that felt a little bit too much like the kind of dumb, dark moments you'd get in that ugly post-Infinite Crisis period, but it doesn't hurt the book much and probably won't bother anyone else as much as it did me.

It could just be that I'm a cat person. Who knows.

Overall, Superman starts the Rebirth era off strong with the best material I've seen with the character in years. It's good enough that I'm optimistic about the future of the book. I'd go so far as to say it's the best of the Rebirth roll-out that I've read so far. Highly recommended.

My Opinion: Read It

* I say this as I have, at the time of this writing, not read Superman Unchained, which seems like the only thing left to try with a shot at being good to great.

** Eradicator isn't even the only callback to the 90's in here. I didn't expect to ever see Bibbo Bibowski again, but here we are. It's a nice surprise. Superman should have a recognizable fan or two we see from time to time.

Batman/Superman: Siege (comics)

Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Ardian Syaf
Collects: Batman/Superman #16-20, Batman/Superman Annual #2, Batman/Superman: Futures End #1

So, now we're at volume four of Batman/Superman. Sadly, we lost Jae Lee along the way. The big Earth Two plotline that dipped in and out of the first three volumes has been scuttled off stage as well, without anything that really feels like a resolution. For better or worse, Siege is something different, holding us over in the time between the prior mission statement and the point where the book has to reflect radical status quo changes for the title characters, born from their solo titles.

Thankfully, it's pretty good. I'd go so far as to argue that it holds together better than anything since Cross World. It's amazing what having one artist draw an entire story or arc can do for you. The past couple of volumes felt patchwork at best, given that it swapped artists like you might change your underwear, sometimes in the middle of an issue. Ardian Syaf brings a stability to the visuals, one that was sorely needed. He has all of the same strengths he did in the third volume of Superman: Earth One, including the expressiveness of the characters.

The story itself is fine. I admit I cringed when I read the synopsis of Superman ending up with his own "Joker". I'm not sure what I expected, but in my head, I envisioned some bad attempt at conjuring an on the nose, Joker style character for Superman to be his new arch nemesis, even if the idea they'd try that seems almost silly. What it ends up referring to is the methodology; a sociopath who is simply out to hurt anyone connected to the hero, just because they can, possibly due to a strange fixation. That's fine, even if the idea of this character being Supermans Joker is directly expressed in dialogue a little too often to illicit anything more than an eyeroll.

Regardless, the danger is real, as this villain hits Superman where it hurts, several times, using what we learn is something directly connected to the Superman corner of the DCU to do it. Despite being heavily tied to the Superman half of the equation, Greg Pak does a fine job of keeping Batman in the mix, rather than letting him fade to the background a bit too much. In fact, at one point late in the volume, Superman impulsively activates his Solar Flare, leaving him powerless for twenty four hours just as a cadre of villains come looking to kill him. Batman has to keep Clark alive from that point on.

Also included is a Futures End tie-in issue. I'll admit I'm interested in the weekly and kind of looking forward to reading it. I also like the idea of an extra issue exploring the alternate world presented to us, much like DC One Million did in the late 90's. Unfortunately, this one is a bit of a wash. It's really just a Batman centric issue, with him dealing with a Superman villain and lamenting the breakdown of their friendship at some point in the history of this alternate future. The issue was kind of left between a rock and a hard place - from what I do know of Futures End, Superman is missing for the first half of it, possibly in a Kingdom Come-esque self exile - but it's still unfortunate. I don't feel like I really got anything out of it, aside from knowing why the Futures End Batmans back is quite possibly wrecked for good.

There's not a lot to say about Siege, otherwise. It's fine meat and potatoes team-up comics. I'd say it's an improvement over the past couple of volumes as well. It's unconnected to anything else, so you could just pick it up and read it if you felt like it. Siege is worth a shot if you're in the mood or don't have anything else to read, I'd say.

My Opinion: Try It

Titans: The Return of Wally West (comics)

Writer: Dan Abnett
Artist: Brett Booth
Collects: Titans: Rebirth #1, Titans (2016) #1-6

If you care about the big mystery of the relaunch, this was probably the title worth keeping an eye on. DC Universe Rebirth was, after all, about Wally West - the original pre-Flashpoint version - and what his return meant. As it turns out, it doesn't have quite as much to do with that as I expected, but it does touch upon it more than most of the line did in the early months.

While the team itself is prominent, this volume is, as the name suggests, Wally Wests story. The entire Rebirth issue is spent getting the band back together, or getting them to remember him at least, and the rest is Wally dealing with the memories of another life, that of the pre-Flashpoint universe and his family with Linda Park. Wally's obviously having a hard time adjusting, making it the perfect time for Kadabra, claiming he was the one who erased Wally from the timeline, to strike.

There seems to be some fudging of lines going on here, though. I'm not sure if we're supposed to believe this really is the pre-Flashpoint Wally West, or if there really was a New 52 version of white Wally that was just erased. The story makes a point of suggesting that maybe Wally just glimpsed other realities while he was lost in the speed force, including the like of his pre-Flashpoint self, and took the memories into himself. It looks like a minor mystery to deal with in the future, but frankly, it seems like it might be making things a bit more convoluted than it needs to be.

I do wonder where Rebirth leaves the New 52 version of Wally West, though. He doesn't show up here, obviously, but he's still out there, participating in the Rebirth version of Teen Titans, even, during its first year. Having two versions of the same character in the same universe isn't something that typically holds, so I imagine there's going to be some story shenanigans or maybe he merges with Wally Classic, sort of like what goes down with Superman a bit later. I wonder how that would go over. I don't think anyone got too attached to that version, because he did a whole lot of nothing during the New 52, but they made a fairly decent deal out of that version of Wally being black and the last thing DC probably wants is to look like they eliminated another black character, of which comics are in short supply in both major companies, in favor of the white counterpart.

Best case scenario is probably that someone just has a name change, in story. Like, New 52 Wally takes the last name on his mothers side or something. Still, kind of an awkward situation DC's in with this one.

Regardless, Kadabra causes trouble for our heroes by summoning magic clones of their younger selves, from their Teen Titan days, to wreck their world and cause Wally undue pain. This includes kidnapping Linda Park, who is kind of freaked about everything and doesn't remember Wally at all. Like I said, it's Wallys story, right down to use of a Flash villain. It's a fairly simple superhero plot at its heart, buoyed by Wallys character struggle with a life he's not even sure he actually lived anymore. It ends with Wally accepting that he needs to move forward, a fresh start between him and Linda and the promise of Deathstroke, historically a major figure in the Titans line, causing trouble down the line.

I'm a little concerned with how heavily it plays off on our nostalgia for the Wally of the old universe and his life there. Wally was a cornerstone of the old universe, one of the few sidekicks who actually assumed a mantle and held it for a very long time. There's a lot of history there and if you've read any DC comics prior to the New 52 you're probably familiar with some of it. If DC uses nostalgia for the old days too much in the hook of their stories going forward, it's going to get old fast. In what I've read so far of Rebirth, it's confined to Titans, so for now it's fine. But I could see it becoming a crutch if used too often.

Brett Booth is our penciller for the book. His work is perfectly fine, if nothing spectacular. Actions scenes are perfectly understandable, everything is clean and good looking. It's nothing you'll remember the next day, but not every comic needs art like that. A lot of superhero comics are built on the backs of perfectly cromulent artists who know how to put a page together.

If I have any complaint - and it's subjective - it's that our heroes seem maybe a little too muscular? Also, there's a point where, like, Roy sucks his gut in during an action pose, for example, and his abs get weird. It's not Kelley Jones level, "oh my god, why dies Bane have a billion individual gut muscles on this cover" noticeable stuff, but I might as well bring it up. On the writing side, some of the dialogue feels a bit too awkward. But none of it harms the overall product much.

We'll see how it holds up going forward, now that this story is out of the way, but so far, Titans Rebirth is worth the read.

My Opinion: Read It

Superman: Before Truth (comics)

Writer: Gene Luen Yang
Artist: John Romita Jr.
Collects: Superman (2011) #40-44, Superman story from Divergence: FCBD Special Edition #1

I said a while back that if the Superman book didn't improve, I was out until Gene Luen Yang took over. Well, if you want to check the Superman tag, you'll see how that worked out. But the honest truth is that, having read this volume, I'm about ready to call the New 52 era of Superman a wash, because Grant Morrison aside I haven't read anything that's going to be remembered even a couple years removed from it.

It's not that this volume is bad so much as it feels like Yang never got the chance to do anything. All of the other books jumped forward to after Supermans secret identity was blown, with Yang left lining things up to get us there. As such, it feels like he's trying to do that at the same time he tries to get his own ideas through. That leads into some of the cast doing stupid things that feel out of character, simply because we need to get from point A to point B.

The "how" of Supermans identity being exposed is one of these things. I won't spoil it in case you missed the coverage of it when it happened or are coming in after the fact, but I didn't exactly buy it because I couldn't imagine that character doing what they do, even if she convinced herself at the time that it was the right course of action. It's too pat, too clean, and ignores any of the more interesting reasons the character might have ever thought to do it.

I'm not a hundred percent sold on the bad guy, either, partly due to lack of development and partly because it's not going to amount to anything. The basic story is that the evil head of Not-Facebook has figured out Supermans secret identity and is using that knowledge like a dangled carrot to get Superman to do what he wants. Interesting idea. The idea of social media being used for evil feels almost prescient now, in the aftermath of an ugly election cycle - and, frankly, the Presidency that followed - that saw the rise of "fake news" both as a thing to worry about and as a catch-all boogeyman for various ills. It's easy to forget that a company owns the crap all your personal data, thoughts and moments are thrown on and that, if they wanted, they could probably use it against you.

It sucks, then, that Hordr-Root - yeah, I know, it sounds kinda dumb - just kind of vanishes at the end of part three of a four part arc. Supermans identity is exposed and, without that leverage, Hordr-Root just kind of kicks a rock and shuffles off, with the entire final issue dedicated to the aftermath of the reveal. With three issues left to tell this story - because let's be honest, this isn't coming up again after Rebirth and Yang has a different, unrelated Super book now anyway - there's no way it goes anywhere interesting or reaches a satisfactory conclusion. It feels like wasted potential. That and the design isn't super amazing.

As for the whole "blown secret identity" thing, well, Rebirth is not even a full years worth of monthly issues away by this point. What are the odds anything interesting is done with it in that time? Yeah. Exactly. I have to believe they weren't a hundred percent locked into doing Rebirth yet when they greenlit Truth, because there would have been no point in bothering if they did.

All of that is compounded by the art. I respect John Romita Jr's long tenure in comics, but somewhere along the way he transitioned into a style I'm not wild about. It's very simple, with a lot of straight lines and even blockiness. There isn't a ton of detail on certain things, either, unless it's extra lines everywhere. There's a prototype gun bandied about early on that looks almost Liefeldian, like something Cable might have been packing in the 90's. I don't compare it to Liefeld to be super insulting, because it's still competent work, but I'm just not into JR Jr's art these days.

With all the negatives dragging Before Truth, I really can't recommend it. I'm still interested in a book where Gene Luen Yang is able to actually do something, so I'll probably read Rebirths New Super-Man - and I may even read the following volume of this just to see if the story does go anywhere - but as it stands it's worth giving this a pass.

My Opinion: Skip It