Sam Wilson
07-28-2005, 11:09 AM
Wktf’s Reviews
Wednesday’s come and go but every one of them feels like a holiday! My haul, in addition to these three reviewed include Hercules, Black Panther, Superman/Batman, Giant-Size Spider-Woman (love the cover but, after Giant-Size X-Men I’m not sure I like the format) plus the Vision Quest Avengers trade and Swamp Thing: Dark Genesis capturing Swampy’s origin story and the first 10 issues of the original series by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson (I’m a huge Wrightson fan!), not to mention the new Secrets in the Shadows Gene Colan book. Now for my once a month all-DC reviews!
Batman: Dark Detective #6 (of 6)
DC Comics
Written by: Steve Englehart
Drawn by: Marshall Rogers
Editor Eternally Emeritus: Julie Schwartz
This stellar mini-series closes with this issue and it’s a rough one. There was an element of fun in this series, and it’s still there, but this issue has taken a decidedly darker and deadlier tone. The pretense of the Joker’s running for governor is abandoned now, I suppose, because the Joker’s in too deep…having kidnapped Silver St. Cloud, bringing her back to his house of horrors (a broken down mansion filled with death traps) and knowing The Batman, the state police and Senator Even Gregory (Silver’s former finance) are hot on his tail.
But this is the Joker. While he’s trapped in his house, so are his uninvited guests. The booby traps are gruesome and people die in horrible ways even as Silver is bound S&M style and tortured, ultimately, with a branding iron. Batman’s resolve is steady and he’s all business, even though it’s the woman he loves whose life is at stake. Bruce and Silver, reunited in the prior issues, had found happiness and a new commitment to each other. I was wondering if the creators would treat this almost as an Elseworlds story and allow them to remain happy. Unfortunately for Batman, Silver and especially Senator Gregory, such is not to be the case. Even if you haven’t been reading this series, this one issue by itself is good enough to pick up as much for its shock value as anything else. People die and are maimed in really awful ways. Ultimately, this story leaves several loose ends hanging, and the creators are threatening a sequel. Bring it on, I say. I’ve really enjoyed this Dark Detective more than most any Batman comic in recent memory. It should make a terrific trade book, too.
Wonder Woman #219
DC Comics
Written by: Greg Rucka
Drawn by: Rags Morales, David Lopez, Tom Derenick, Georges Jeanty & Karl Kerschl
The Hook: “Sacrifice” ends with a brutal Superman/Wonder Woman smack down.
This OMAC tie-in ends here. The first two Superman issues were ho-hum, the third was a great eyebrow raiser but this one brings it home and delivers the goods. Max Lord, former goof ball backer of a former Justice League, is the Black King of Checkmate and has been revealed to have mind controlling meta-human capabilities. It turns out that, over a period of years, Max has threaded Superman’s mind with his influence and now the Man of Steel is Max’s to control. It was only Wonder Woman’s intervention that prevented Superman from executing Max’s strategy to kill Batman. And now that Wonder Woman knows all that Max has done she must face a Superman who’s mind has been told that she is Doomsday and that Doomsday has just killed Lois.
Others before have controlled Superman, which is why he entrusted Luthor’s kryptonite ring with Batman so long ago. And a mind-controlled Superman and Wonder Woman have gone at it before, most recently after the absurd “Our Worlds at War” cross over. But this issue raises everything to a different and higher level. Superman believes Lois is dead, killed by Doomsday, and believes Diana is Doomsday. He’s holding nothing back and refers to Diana as “…just a rabid animal - - that needs to be put down.” He uses the full extent of his powers by dragging her nearly to the sun, pummeling her unmercifully, and scorching her with heat vision. Despite the fact that she’s the title character in her own book I’m, frankly, amazed she survives this encounter. I’ve never seen a Superman like this and Diana must resort to nearly murderous means just to slow him down. Finally, using her lariat, Diana forces Max to reveal the one way Superman will be free of him and, to Superman’s horror, Wonder Woman carries out this solution with extreme prejudice. The ending is abrupt, almost as if it’s not really the ending. And, in fact, it directly continues in The OMAC Project #4.
There’s a gaggle of artists present in this book but its Rags Morales whose work makes the title. He portrays Superman’s rage and Wonder Woman’s suffering at his hands so realistically I was actually uncomfortable reading this story. What an issue! It’s my pick of the week.
The OMAC Project #4 (of 6)
Written by: Greg Rucka
Drawn by: Jesus Saiz, Cliff Richards & Bob Wiacek
Well, this certainly took an unexpected turn. Superman, bleeding profusely from the throat, is standing over the body of Maxwell Lord whose neck has just been broken by Wonder Woman (see my review, above). Brother I, the satellite computer system created by Batman to monitor meta activity but absconded by Max who changed its program to actively engage against meta-human power abuse, is frantically searching for the Black King. Having determined that the “King is Dead” it initiates its survival mode. Disasters begin cropping up all over the world and the Justice League is stretched thin to address them. In the mean time computer programming begins to control certain members of Check Mate turning them into a One Man Army Corps (or OMAC). With new abilities infused by the Brother satellite, the OMAC agents begin killing Check Mate personnel while Sasha Bordeau, Batman’s former lover now imprisoned by Max, experiences peculiar and unexplained power fluctuations.
Batman, bedridden in the Batcave from the beating a mind-controlled Superman gave him (see the prior issues of July’s Superman series’) has his commlink with The Black Canary interrupted by none other than his own hijacked Brother satellite. But the former Brother Mark I is now Brother Eye (a cool throwback tribute to Jack Kirby’s 1974 OMAC series), states that it is alive and prepared to carry out it’s new purpose as designed by its creator (Batman) and modified by its teacher (Max): the elimination of augmented humans and extraterrestrials whom it perceives as too powerful. It knows how Batman, the League’s master strategist, thinks and is one step ahead of him.
While this all reminds me of a Star Trek episode (it’ll come to me…a machine carrying out its murderous prime directive and refers to Kirk as its creator…), the League is in serious trouble with OMAC. And, should they pull through this, there’s still a lot for which the big three must answer: Batman’s paranoia created this threat that resulted in Blue Beetle’s death, Superman has nearly killed both Batman and Wonder Woman, and Wonder Woman has executed Max. The upcoming Adventures of Superman promises to show the fallout among the big three but in the mean time, OMAC is trying to turn the DC heroes into toast. This is a hot series. It’s hard to believe “Infinite Crisis” (and I still have a hard time taking that title seriously) can be any better or as good as this.
Sam Wilson’s Reviews
Ugh, $100 this week at the LCS. That Avengers West Coast: Vision Quest tpb pushed me over the hump. Damn if that wasn’t John Byrne’s last good story though. Big week for DC with Wonder Woman and OMAC, tying up what started with the last two weeks “Superman” titles. Oh yeah, and we got Warren Ellis (on JLA) and Howard Chaykin (City of Tomorrow), the last part of Hercules, and one of my personal favorites, The Losers. My pick of the week is Reggie Hudlin’s Black Panther (last part of the first story arc, don’t miss this one if you’ve been keeping up). Of course, that being said, on to the reviews!
JLA Classified issue #10
DC Comics
Written by: Warren Ellis
Drawn by: Butch Guice
Meh, I won’t lie to you folks, I’ve never picked up an issue of JLA Classified before. I’ve read JLA off and on, but the spinoff titles did nothing for me (especially that crap JLA black, or elite, or whatever the hell, the Authority rip-off). I knew Warren Ellis was going to be doing an arc, so I had to check this out. Yeah, fine, I’m a Warren Ellis fanboy. No question about that, but no doubt, the guy is one of the most consistently good writers in comics today, for the sheer volume of books he puts out (even though I wish he’s spend a little more time on Planetary) they are consistently well written. Yes, I liked Red, Reload, Ocean and all those other mini series he has done. Anyway, to my knowledge he hasn’t done any mainstream DC work, so I figured I had to check this one out.
JLA Classified starts out with a suicide in Metropolis. A Lexcorp employee decides to take a dive, and hopes Superman doesn’t save him. Well, he gets his wish and goes splat. Elsewhere, Batman is investigating a murder that is being covered up by the feds. Apparently some corporate whistleblower got a hole burned through him. Back in Metropolis, Clark Kent and Lois Lane find out an alarming number of people have commited suicide at Lexcorp, and Perry White really doesn’t want them to dig into it. Jump again over to Wonder Woman in Thymyscira, she’s giving the nickel tour to a bunch of exchange students, when tragedy suddenly strikes. Are these events related? Most likely if they’re all in the same book. So is it interesting? So far I would say.
Warren Ellis is different in this book, no quick dialogue and hardcore sci-fi, just good storytelling. Yes, we have an intricate multi-tiered story, and yes, Ellis seems to have it completely under his control. As always, Butch Guice’s art is crisp and damn, he draws a good Wonder Woman. So I’ll be sticking with this book until the Warren Ellis run is over. It’s nice to read a DC book that is NOT an “Identity Crisis” crossover, and it’s nice to see Warren Ellis do some more mainstream work, if not for a little while anyway.
Silent Dragon issue #1 (of 6)
DC/Wildstorm comics
Written by: Andy Diggle
Drawn by: Leinil Yu
For those of you who don’t know, Silent Dragon is the much hyped futuristic Yakuza epic from 2000 AD and The Losers (read that book dammit!) writer Andy Diggle. Damn if The Losers isn’t one of the best-unsung comics out there right now. Anyway, diving straight into the story, Silent Dragon opens in Tokyo, 2063 AD with our hero, Reizo (at least I think he’s the hero) facing off with someone (or thing) nasty, a bunch of suited dead bodies lay around him, and in his hand is a katanna sword dripping with blood. Some Chica named Takara is pointing a gun at him, and then has an epiphany. Is this cat she knows as Reizo some other dude named Renjiro (someone she is obviously intimately acquainted with)? Before that can be found out, some huge samurai robot dude shows up ready for a brawl. End scene, jump back in time one year…
We soon find out Renjiro is a Yakuza lieutenant and an “old school” cat, preferring to practice with his sword while others seem to rely on cybernetic enhancements. Anyway, Renjiro is visited by an emissary, a spirit named Ikiryo who prophesized to him the Yakuza he serves is evil while he is an honorable man, and should he continue to serve his Yakuza boss Hideaki he will fall along with him (eventually). Soon we find out there is a love triangle between Renjiro, Hideaki, and Hideaki’s wife, Takara. Takara loves Renjiro, and it is mutual, but Renjiro will never dishonor his master, even though Takara does not love him anymore. Oh yeah, and there is Hideaki’s other lieutenant, Manzo, a cyborg who doesn’t care for Renjiro’s “old ways”. Anyway, they all head to a meeting of the three main Yakuza bosses and we learn the history of Japan in 2063 AD. In the old days Samurai were pushed out by technology and driven underground. With the onset of the global economic meltdown, Japanese bureaucrats turned not to the Samurai for help but to the modern army, an army already enslaved to the will of machines. The army then sized all industry and banks, claiming to be the saviors of Japan, but in reality were just communists. During the meeting of the bosses a call is made for the Yakuza to rise up and take the place of the noble Samurai and save Japan by bringing it back to its roots. Of course the plan doesn’t start off as smoothly as hoped, and thus begins our story.
After reading this first issue, one can see influences of Akira Kurosawa, Beat Takashi and even Yukio Mishima (you know, the Japanese author who had his own private army and committed “seppuku” on the steps of Japanese Parliament to protest the westernization of his culture…). Oh yeah, Diggle is on fire again. If you’re a samurai fan, a student of Japanese pop culture or an Andy Diggle fan, you need to be reading this book. Yu’s art is as good as it ever was here as well. Detailed, fine, and vibrant in its own unique way. I’ll definitely be picking this book up for the next five issues.
The Incredible Hulk: Destruction issue #1 (of 4)
Marvel Comics
Written by: Peter David
Drawn by: Jim Muniz
What can I say, it’s good having Peter David back on the Hulk. His run on the Hulk was one of the most influential books for me as a young lad back in high school. He brought personality to the Hulk, and too much of his supporting cast, namely Emil Blonsky, aka “the Abomination”, one of the Hulk’s greatest nemesis’s. Emil Blonsky was a cold war spy for the USSR, hired by General Ross as a scientist for the Gamma Project. As you can guess, one thing lead to another, he was exposed to gamma rays, and became the beast known as “the Abomination”, more or less the anti-Hulk: strong, big and green, but unlike the Hulk Blonsky maintained all of his intellect and remained “the Abomination” at all times. When he became the Abomination, Blonsky effectively left his old life in the USSR behind, including his wife, Nadia, a ballerina with the Russian Ballet. Let’s quickly go back to 1991, The Incredible Hulk issue #’s 383 and 384. Blonsky is stalking his wife Nadia as she comes to the states with the Ballet. She believes her husband to be dead, and knows nothing of the Abomination. The Hulk has been shrunk to three inches in height by Thanos (hey, these issues are official Infinity Gauntlet crossover issues), and is tailing Blonsky, and the two end up having a heart to heart. Seriously. The Hulk (currently in “Smart Hulk” mode) tells Blonsky no matter what humans say otherwise, “they consider the outward appearance to be an accurate reflection of the inner soul”. So Blonksy breaks off his pursuit of Nadia, and comes to terms with the fact that in the eyes of all he loves or has loved, he will always be the Abomination, and never Emil Blonsky. So what the heck does this have to do with The Incredible Hulk: Destruction?
This new limited series is supposed to feature the origin of The Abomination. Think of it as the “post Crisis” Abomination. The issue starts with some government muckety mucks sitting around a big table brainstorming on how they can use the now captured Abomination as a weapon. They bring in General Thunderbolt Ross (wait, isn’t he dead or something?), and right away he tells everyone, “the monster that you see on the outside accurately reflects what he is inside,” (familiar?). In short, using the Abomination as a weapon is a bad idea. Enter Leanord “Doc” Samson, the Hulk’s shrink. The government brings him in to analyze the Abomination and determine if he is fit to serve. This story is intercut with scenes of the Abominations origin, and his previous dealings with Ross, Samson, and the Hulk.
I liked the where this story is going so far. Referencing classic Hulk stories, always a plus in my book. After this series, and a few more issues of The Incredible Hulk ongoing Peter David will be off the Hulk, possibly for good. Eh, I’m sure he’s told all the stories he’s had to tell with the Hulk, and it is better he leaves now at the top of his game rather then trying to get blood from a stone like Chris Claremont on the “X-men”, but damn, I’ll miss him, but hey, we’ll always have the memories.
Classic TPB Reviews
As the two of us discussed the theme of this week’s trade reviews (and not every week has to have a theme, dontcha know), we discussed comic’s creators whom we really liked whom, maybe, worked in the main stream but weren’t too terribly well known. We batted around a few names and then thought, maybe, we should just do stories that we really liked. After last week’s reviews we read some high praise from readers on Alan Moore’s “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” which is a story that we’ve referenced a couple of times in the Supeman/Batman “Absolute Power” reviews as well as in last week’s “Kingdom Come” review. This begged the question, “Hey, didn’t Alan Moore also write ‘The Killing Joke’?” Hell, yeah, he did! And does Alan Moore, writer of the British “Miracle Man” strip as well as DC’s “Swamp Thing” and “Watchman,” the latter of which (along with Miller’s “Dark Knight Returns”) helped redefine the super hero comic, get the same props as guys like Frank Miller, George Perez, Mark Waid, and others. Well, maybe, but we’ll bet it happens in smaller circles given his stuff is less in the center of the main stream. We had our winners! On to the reviews!
Wktf’s Review
Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
DC Comics
Written by: Alan Moore
Drawn by: Curt Swan
Inks by: George Perez & Kurt Shaffenberger
The Scoop: The last Superman story.
It’s August 16th, 1997 and ten years have passed since the death of Superman. A huge memorial statue of the Man of Steel stands proudly in a Metropolis park. A reporter named Tim Crane from the Daily Planet has come to Lois Lane’s house to get her eyewitness rendition of Superman’s death for a ten-year memorial piece. Except Lois has since married a man named Jordan Elliot and she not only has changed her last name but now has a baby boy named Jonathan. Jordan’s out, Jonathan’s napping, and Lois begins her harrowing tale of murder, fear and intense grief.
As told by Lois, with most of his foes dispatched, Superman had been spending his time doing research in space. Upon his return bizarre and deadly events began to take place. Bizarro went on a killing spree and then committed suicide with Blue Kryptonite. The Toyman and Prankster murdered Pete Ross and shipped his body to GBS TV where Clark Kent was an anchorman. Small Superman toys, shipped separately to the same location, came to life to fry Clark with heat vision, or so it seemed until the stunned crew, including Lana Lang, then sees Superman standing in Clark’s shredded clothes. Superman’s been “unmasked,” the villains then are captured and Pete laid to rest, and a terrible feeling of dread descends on Superman. In the mean time, Luthor had discovered Braniac’s dismembered head in the arctic which then grafted itself to Luthor’s skull and used him as his puppet. When a group of Metallo-men then tried to kill Lois, Superman began to fear the worst for himself (he tells Perry that he believes he’s going to die) and his friends and transports Perry, Perry’s estranged wife Alice, Lana, Lois, and Jimmy to his Fortress of Solitude. What happens next is the single-handed dismantling of Superman’s life. A team of villains converges on the Fortress and a band of heroes rushes to Superman’s aid, but loved ones and villains die and Superman is forced to break his oath not to take a life. In the end it appears that he then ends his own life in penance and the world loses its single greatest champion.
In 1986, with “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” DC was streamlining its universe. Several of DC’s top tier heroes were revamped or completely relaunched to unburden the readers from fifty-plus years of continuity. A new editorial and creative team, beginning with John Byrne’s “Man of Steel” mini series, was about to completely relaunch Superman and this effort would completely redefine all of the character’s prior history as no longer being part of continuity. Editor Julius Schwarts wanted this two part story from 1986’s Superman # 423 and Action Comics # 583, which closed the books on the pre-relaunch Superman, to be perfect, and he drafted the perfect creative team to pull it off. Moore, Swan, Perez and Schaffenberger crafted a beautiful, sad and deeply poignant story which ends surprisingly, ultimately, in happiness and hope for the future. Like “Kingdom Come” (see last week’s reviews), this story is simply too good for today’s creators to ignore. The Justice League Unlimited episode, “Divided We Fall,” borrowed from Braniac’s taking over of Luthor’s body. Jeff Loeb drew from Lightning Lord, Cosmic King and Saturn Woman’s appearance and vanquishing in this story to make them the villains in the Superman/Batman arc, “Absolute Power,” as well as create the link from that story’s end to the end of this tale. I didn’t recall their minor appearance in “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” but, now that I’ve reread it, this certainly explains these villains’ motivation in Loeb’s story 20 years later.
This book is only a two-part story, it’s a quick read and, if you don’t own it, retails for only $6.95. If you spend the brief time it will take to read “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” you’ll have treated yourself to one of the deepest and most gratifying comic reads of your life.
Sam Wilson’s Review
Batman: The Killing Joke
DC Comics
Written by: Alan Moore
Drawn by: Brian Bolland
These days the Joker just seems totally played out in terms of Bat-villains. He’s been in several episodes of the new cartoon “The Batman (rasta joker, word), he was in “Hush”, I guess we haven’t seen him in the whole “Infinite Crisis” thing, but man, I’m sick of him. Back in the Batman “No Man’s Land Crossover” event; remember when Joker killed Sarah Gordon (aka Sarah Essen, Jim Gordon’s wife)? Then Nightwing beat him within an inch of his life and stops shy of killing him cause it’s “wrong”? Then a few years later Batman does the same thing in the “Hush” storyline? At this point who gives a crap, really, it’s all played out. The Joker has killed people close to Bats, been beaten up, poisoned Gotham, teamed up with Lex Luthor, who gives a flying crap what he does anymore, it’s all redundant. He needs to die, or be left to rot in Arkham Asylum, or come back as Braniac 49 or something like that, but I digress…
1988, a banner year for the Joker. He got to kill Robin (well, Batman readers got to kill Robin by calling a 1-900 number, but that’s not important), which one would think is pretty dastardly. Honestly though, that storyline, “A Death in the Family” was a Disney movie compared to Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke. The Killing Joke could have been the last Joker story every told, and I’d be a happy man (maybe it woulda been better that way), for no subsequent drama or outrageousness has been topped by Alan Moore’s character study into the madness that is the Joker. Like in “a Death in the Family”, Joker hurts Batman the only way he can, through those close to him, but he doesn’t just kill them. He dismantles them as people, bringing them down to as close to his own twisted level as he can.
The Killing Joke opens like many Joker stories, an escape from Arkham Asylum, the Joker is on the loose, an evil plan is hatched. Well, in this case the plan is way beyond evil. Cut to the Gordon home. The Commissioner and his daughter Barbara are having a pleasant evening when the Joker comes calling. He promptly shoots Barbara in the spine. The act is utterly appalling. At this point we all know and love Barbara Gordon as sweet, innocent red haired Barb, the librarian and sometime crime fighter Batgirl. Now we see her shot (and not just a “flesh wound”) and degraded. Jim Gordon is in such shock he reacts in slow motion, only to be beaten by one of the Jokers henchmen. All the while Joker is in a Hawaiian shirt and board shorts with a camera around his neck, tourist-style. Jim Gordon is taken away, and Barbara is left for dead, never to be the same again. Batman enters the story in Barbara’s hospital room, he learns Jim has been kidnapped by the Joker but it’s different this time says Barbara, there was “something in his eyes” that gave her an impression of finality. So the hunt begins.
The thing with the Killing Joke is Joker isn’t just out for another revenge kick; he’s playing the end game. Juxtaposed with the scenes of Gordon as Joker’s captive is the origin of Joker, back in his days as a simple (and failing) stand-up comedian with a horrible marriage and an even worse life. We learn the origin of the Joker is much more than a bath in toxic chemicals, he’s a broken man at the end of his rope with nowhere to go. A comedian who isn’t funny, a man at his breaking point. Jump back to the main story, Joker and Gordon; peeling the commissioner apart layer by layer, why? To break him in hopes retaliation will be swift, and final (these days people would call it “suicide by cop”). Of course Batman catches up with Joker, the end game is played, but not the way one would think (well, maybe), and Batman and Jim Gordon show their mettle.
So why did I say The Killing Joke should have been the last Joker story ever told? Simple, where can you go from there? The Joker played his end game, nothing he has ever done was that vicious or personal, and nothing done since (while some writers tried) has ever come close. There was no going anywhere after that, and Batman (and Jim Gordon) reacted the way they did, defining their characters. Anything that has happened with Joker since the Killing Joke (at least in my opinion) is redundant (and played out, at least at this point). Also, you can’t beat Brian Bolland’s art, and you get it for the WHOLE ISSUE, not just the cover. Damn if it isn’t pretty. The Killing Joke is readily in print and available for $5.95 (sheesh, I remember when I bought it for $3.50), definitely worth the price. A modern classic indeed.
Wednesday’s come and go but every one of them feels like a holiday! My haul, in addition to these three reviewed include Hercules, Black Panther, Superman/Batman, Giant-Size Spider-Woman (love the cover but, after Giant-Size X-Men I’m not sure I like the format) plus the Vision Quest Avengers trade and Swamp Thing: Dark Genesis capturing Swampy’s origin story and the first 10 issues of the original series by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson (I’m a huge Wrightson fan!), not to mention the new Secrets in the Shadows Gene Colan book. Now for my once a month all-DC reviews!
Batman: Dark Detective #6 (of 6)
DC Comics
Written by: Steve Englehart
Drawn by: Marshall Rogers
Editor Eternally Emeritus: Julie Schwartz
This stellar mini-series closes with this issue and it’s a rough one. There was an element of fun in this series, and it’s still there, but this issue has taken a decidedly darker and deadlier tone. The pretense of the Joker’s running for governor is abandoned now, I suppose, because the Joker’s in too deep…having kidnapped Silver St. Cloud, bringing her back to his house of horrors (a broken down mansion filled with death traps) and knowing The Batman, the state police and Senator Even Gregory (Silver’s former finance) are hot on his tail.
But this is the Joker. While he’s trapped in his house, so are his uninvited guests. The booby traps are gruesome and people die in horrible ways even as Silver is bound S&M style and tortured, ultimately, with a branding iron. Batman’s resolve is steady and he’s all business, even though it’s the woman he loves whose life is at stake. Bruce and Silver, reunited in the prior issues, had found happiness and a new commitment to each other. I was wondering if the creators would treat this almost as an Elseworlds story and allow them to remain happy. Unfortunately for Batman, Silver and especially Senator Gregory, such is not to be the case. Even if you haven’t been reading this series, this one issue by itself is good enough to pick up as much for its shock value as anything else. People die and are maimed in really awful ways. Ultimately, this story leaves several loose ends hanging, and the creators are threatening a sequel. Bring it on, I say. I’ve really enjoyed this Dark Detective more than most any Batman comic in recent memory. It should make a terrific trade book, too.
Wonder Woman #219
DC Comics
Written by: Greg Rucka
Drawn by: Rags Morales, David Lopez, Tom Derenick, Georges Jeanty & Karl Kerschl
The Hook: “Sacrifice” ends with a brutal Superman/Wonder Woman smack down.
This OMAC tie-in ends here. The first two Superman issues were ho-hum, the third was a great eyebrow raiser but this one brings it home and delivers the goods. Max Lord, former goof ball backer of a former Justice League, is the Black King of Checkmate and has been revealed to have mind controlling meta-human capabilities. It turns out that, over a period of years, Max has threaded Superman’s mind with his influence and now the Man of Steel is Max’s to control. It was only Wonder Woman’s intervention that prevented Superman from executing Max’s strategy to kill Batman. And now that Wonder Woman knows all that Max has done she must face a Superman who’s mind has been told that she is Doomsday and that Doomsday has just killed Lois.
Others before have controlled Superman, which is why he entrusted Luthor’s kryptonite ring with Batman so long ago. And a mind-controlled Superman and Wonder Woman have gone at it before, most recently after the absurd “Our Worlds at War” cross over. But this issue raises everything to a different and higher level. Superman believes Lois is dead, killed by Doomsday, and believes Diana is Doomsday. He’s holding nothing back and refers to Diana as “…just a rabid animal - - that needs to be put down.” He uses the full extent of his powers by dragging her nearly to the sun, pummeling her unmercifully, and scorching her with heat vision. Despite the fact that she’s the title character in her own book I’m, frankly, amazed she survives this encounter. I’ve never seen a Superman like this and Diana must resort to nearly murderous means just to slow him down. Finally, using her lariat, Diana forces Max to reveal the one way Superman will be free of him and, to Superman’s horror, Wonder Woman carries out this solution with extreme prejudice. The ending is abrupt, almost as if it’s not really the ending. And, in fact, it directly continues in The OMAC Project #4.
There’s a gaggle of artists present in this book but its Rags Morales whose work makes the title. He portrays Superman’s rage and Wonder Woman’s suffering at his hands so realistically I was actually uncomfortable reading this story. What an issue! It’s my pick of the week.
The OMAC Project #4 (of 6)
Written by: Greg Rucka
Drawn by: Jesus Saiz, Cliff Richards & Bob Wiacek
Well, this certainly took an unexpected turn. Superman, bleeding profusely from the throat, is standing over the body of Maxwell Lord whose neck has just been broken by Wonder Woman (see my review, above). Brother I, the satellite computer system created by Batman to monitor meta activity but absconded by Max who changed its program to actively engage against meta-human power abuse, is frantically searching for the Black King. Having determined that the “King is Dead” it initiates its survival mode. Disasters begin cropping up all over the world and the Justice League is stretched thin to address them. In the mean time computer programming begins to control certain members of Check Mate turning them into a One Man Army Corps (or OMAC). With new abilities infused by the Brother satellite, the OMAC agents begin killing Check Mate personnel while Sasha Bordeau, Batman’s former lover now imprisoned by Max, experiences peculiar and unexplained power fluctuations.
Batman, bedridden in the Batcave from the beating a mind-controlled Superman gave him (see the prior issues of July’s Superman series’) has his commlink with The Black Canary interrupted by none other than his own hijacked Brother satellite. But the former Brother Mark I is now Brother Eye (a cool throwback tribute to Jack Kirby’s 1974 OMAC series), states that it is alive and prepared to carry out it’s new purpose as designed by its creator (Batman) and modified by its teacher (Max): the elimination of augmented humans and extraterrestrials whom it perceives as too powerful. It knows how Batman, the League’s master strategist, thinks and is one step ahead of him.
While this all reminds me of a Star Trek episode (it’ll come to me…a machine carrying out its murderous prime directive and refers to Kirk as its creator…), the League is in serious trouble with OMAC. And, should they pull through this, there’s still a lot for which the big three must answer: Batman’s paranoia created this threat that resulted in Blue Beetle’s death, Superman has nearly killed both Batman and Wonder Woman, and Wonder Woman has executed Max. The upcoming Adventures of Superman promises to show the fallout among the big three but in the mean time, OMAC is trying to turn the DC heroes into toast. This is a hot series. It’s hard to believe “Infinite Crisis” (and I still have a hard time taking that title seriously) can be any better or as good as this.
Sam Wilson’s Reviews
Ugh, $100 this week at the LCS. That Avengers West Coast: Vision Quest tpb pushed me over the hump. Damn if that wasn’t John Byrne’s last good story though. Big week for DC with Wonder Woman and OMAC, tying up what started with the last two weeks “Superman” titles. Oh yeah, and we got Warren Ellis (on JLA) and Howard Chaykin (City of Tomorrow), the last part of Hercules, and one of my personal favorites, The Losers. My pick of the week is Reggie Hudlin’s Black Panther (last part of the first story arc, don’t miss this one if you’ve been keeping up). Of course, that being said, on to the reviews!
JLA Classified issue #10
DC Comics
Written by: Warren Ellis
Drawn by: Butch Guice
Meh, I won’t lie to you folks, I’ve never picked up an issue of JLA Classified before. I’ve read JLA off and on, but the spinoff titles did nothing for me (especially that crap JLA black, or elite, or whatever the hell, the Authority rip-off). I knew Warren Ellis was going to be doing an arc, so I had to check this out. Yeah, fine, I’m a Warren Ellis fanboy. No question about that, but no doubt, the guy is one of the most consistently good writers in comics today, for the sheer volume of books he puts out (even though I wish he’s spend a little more time on Planetary) they are consistently well written. Yes, I liked Red, Reload, Ocean and all those other mini series he has done. Anyway, to my knowledge he hasn’t done any mainstream DC work, so I figured I had to check this one out.
JLA Classified starts out with a suicide in Metropolis. A Lexcorp employee decides to take a dive, and hopes Superman doesn’t save him. Well, he gets his wish and goes splat. Elsewhere, Batman is investigating a murder that is being covered up by the feds. Apparently some corporate whistleblower got a hole burned through him. Back in Metropolis, Clark Kent and Lois Lane find out an alarming number of people have commited suicide at Lexcorp, and Perry White really doesn’t want them to dig into it. Jump again over to Wonder Woman in Thymyscira, she’s giving the nickel tour to a bunch of exchange students, when tragedy suddenly strikes. Are these events related? Most likely if they’re all in the same book. So is it interesting? So far I would say.
Warren Ellis is different in this book, no quick dialogue and hardcore sci-fi, just good storytelling. Yes, we have an intricate multi-tiered story, and yes, Ellis seems to have it completely under his control. As always, Butch Guice’s art is crisp and damn, he draws a good Wonder Woman. So I’ll be sticking with this book until the Warren Ellis run is over. It’s nice to read a DC book that is NOT an “Identity Crisis” crossover, and it’s nice to see Warren Ellis do some more mainstream work, if not for a little while anyway.
Silent Dragon issue #1 (of 6)
DC/Wildstorm comics
Written by: Andy Diggle
Drawn by: Leinil Yu
For those of you who don’t know, Silent Dragon is the much hyped futuristic Yakuza epic from 2000 AD and The Losers (read that book dammit!) writer Andy Diggle. Damn if The Losers isn’t one of the best-unsung comics out there right now. Anyway, diving straight into the story, Silent Dragon opens in Tokyo, 2063 AD with our hero, Reizo (at least I think he’s the hero) facing off with someone (or thing) nasty, a bunch of suited dead bodies lay around him, and in his hand is a katanna sword dripping with blood. Some Chica named Takara is pointing a gun at him, and then has an epiphany. Is this cat she knows as Reizo some other dude named Renjiro (someone she is obviously intimately acquainted with)? Before that can be found out, some huge samurai robot dude shows up ready for a brawl. End scene, jump back in time one year…
We soon find out Renjiro is a Yakuza lieutenant and an “old school” cat, preferring to practice with his sword while others seem to rely on cybernetic enhancements. Anyway, Renjiro is visited by an emissary, a spirit named Ikiryo who prophesized to him the Yakuza he serves is evil while he is an honorable man, and should he continue to serve his Yakuza boss Hideaki he will fall along with him (eventually). Soon we find out there is a love triangle between Renjiro, Hideaki, and Hideaki’s wife, Takara. Takara loves Renjiro, and it is mutual, but Renjiro will never dishonor his master, even though Takara does not love him anymore. Oh yeah, and there is Hideaki’s other lieutenant, Manzo, a cyborg who doesn’t care for Renjiro’s “old ways”. Anyway, they all head to a meeting of the three main Yakuza bosses and we learn the history of Japan in 2063 AD. In the old days Samurai were pushed out by technology and driven underground. With the onset of the global economic meltdown, Japanese bureaucrats turned not to the Samurai for help but to the modern army, an army already enslaved to the will of machines. The army then sized all industry and banks, claiming to be the saviors of Japan, but in reality were just communists. During the meeting of the bosses a call is made for the Yakuza to rise up and take the place of the noble Samurai and save Japan by bringing it back to its roots. Of course the plan doesn’t start off as smoothly as hoped, and thus begins our story.
After reading this first issue, one can see influences of Akira Kurosawa, Beat Takashi and even Yukio Mishima (you know, the Japanese author who had his own private army and committed “seppuku” on the steps of Japanese Parliament to protest the westernization of his culture…). Oh yeah, Diggle is on fire again. If you’re a samurai fan, a student of Japanese pop culture or an Andy Diggle fan, you need to be reading this book. Yu’s art is as good as it ever was here as well. Detailed, fine, and vibrant in its own unique way. I’ll definitely be picking this book up for the next five issues.
The Incredible Hulk: Destruction issue #1 (of 4)
Marvel Comics
Written by: Peter David
Drawn by: Jim Muniz
What can I say, it’s good having Peter David back on the Hulk. His run on the Hulk was one of the most influential books for me as a young lad back in high school. He brought personality to the Hulk, and too much of his supporting cast, namely Emil Blonsky, aka “the Abomination”, one of the Hulk’s greatest nemesis’s. Emil Blonsky was a cold war spy for the USSR, hired by General Ross as a scientist for the Gamma Project. As you can guess, one thing lead to another, he was exposed to gamma rays, and became the beast known as “the Abomination”, more or less the anti-Hulk: strong, big and green, but unlike the Hulk Blonsky maintained all of his intellect and remained “the Abomination” at all times. When he became the Abomination, Blonsky effectively left his old life in the USSR behind, including his wife, Nadia, a ballerina with the Russian Ballet. Let’s quickly go back to 1991, The Incredible Hulk issue #’s 383 and 384. Blonsky is stalking his wife Nadia as she comes to the states with the Ballet. She believes her husband to be dead, and knows nothing of the Abomination. The Hulk has been shrunk to three inches in height by Thanos (hey, these issues are official Infinity Gauntlet crossover issues), and is tailing Blonsky, and the two end up having a heart to heart. Seriously. The Hulk (currently in “Smart Hulk” mode) tells Blonsky no matter what humans say otherwise, “they consider the outward appearance to be an accurate reflection of the inner soul”. So Blonksy breaks off his pursuit of Nadia, and comes to terms with the fact that in the eyes of all he loves or has loved, he will always be the Abomination, and never Emil Blonsky. So what the heck does this have to do with The Incredible Hulk: Destruction?
This new limited series is supposed to feature the origin of The Abomination. Think of it as the “post Crisis” Abomination. The issue starts with some government muckety mucks sitting around a big table brainstorming on how they can use the now captured Abomination as a weapon. They bring in General Thunderbolt Ross (wait, isn’t he dead or something?), and right away he tells everyone, “the monster that you see on the outside accurately reflects what he is inside,” (familiar?). In short, using the Abomination as a weapon is a bad idea. Enter Leanord “Doc” Samson, the Hulk’s shrink. The government brings him in to analyze the Abomination and determine if he is fit to serve. This story is intercut with scenes of the Abominations origin, and his previous dealings with Ross, Samson, and the Hulk.
I liked the where this story is going so far. Referencing classic Hulk stories, always a plus in my book. After this series, and a few more issues of The Incredible Hulk ongoing Peter David will be off the Hulk, possibly for good. Eh, I’m sure he’s told all the stories he’s had to tell with the Hulk, and it is better he leaves now at the top of his game rather then trying to get blood from a stone like Chris Claremont on the “X-men”, but damn, I’ll miss him, but hey, we’ll always have the memories.
Classic TPB Reviews
As the two of us discussed the theme of this week’s trade reviews (and not every week has to have a theme, dontcha know), we discussed comic’s creators whom we really liked whom, maybe, worked in the main stream but weren’t too terribly well known. We batted around a few names and then thought, maybe, we should just do stories that we really liked. After last week’s reviews we read some high praise from readers on Alan Moore’s “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” which is a story that we’ve referenced a couple of times in the Supeman/Batman “Absolute Power” reviews as well as in last week’s “Kingdom Come” review. This begged the question, “Hey, didn’t Alan Moore also write ‘The Killing Joke’?” Hell, yeah, he did! And does Alan Moore, writer of the British “Miracle Man” strip as well as DC’s “Swamp Thing” and “Watchman,” the latter of which (along with Miller’s “Dark Knight Returns”) helped redefine the super hero comic, get the same props as guys like Frank Miller, George Perez, Mark Waid, and others. Well, maybe, but we’ll bet it happens in smaller circles given his stuff is less in the center of the main stream. We had our winners! On to the reviews!
Wktf’s Review
Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
DC Comics
Written by: Alan Moore
Drawn by: Curt Swan
Inks by: George Perez & Kurt Shaffenberger
The Scoop: The last Superman story.
It’s August 16th, 1997 and ten years have passed since the death of Superman. A huge memorial statue of the Man of Steel stands proudly in a Metropolis park. A reporter named Tim Crane from the Daily Planet has come to Lois Lane’s house to get her eyewitness rendition of Superman’s death for a ten-year memorial piece. Except Lois has since married a man named Jordan Elliot and she not only has changed her last name but now has a baby boy named Jonathan. Jordan’s out, Jonathan’s napping, and Lois begins her harrowing tale of murder, fear and intense grief.
As told by Lois, with most of his foes dispatched, Superman had been spending his time doing research in space. Upon his return bizarre and deadly events began to take place. Bizarro went on a killing spree and then committed suicide with Blue Kryptonite. The Toyman and Prankster murdered Pete Ross and shipped his body to GBS TV where Clark Kent was an anchorman. Small Superman toys, shipped separately to the same location, came to life to fry Clark with heat vision, or so it seemed until the stunned crew, including Lana Lang, then sees Superman standing in Clark’s shredded clothes. Superman’s been “unmasked,” the villains then are captured and Pete laid to rest, and a terrible feeling of dread descends on Superman. In the mean time, Luthor had discovered Braniac’s dismembered head in the arctic which then grafted itself to Luthor’s skull and used him as his puppet. When a group of Metallo-men then tried to kill Lois, Superman began to fear the worst for himself (he tells Perry that he believes he’s going to die) and his friends and transports Perry, Perry’s estranged wife Alice, Lana, Lois, and Jimmy to his Fortress of Solitude. What happens next is the single-handed dismantling of Superman’s life. A team of villains converges on the Fortress and a band of heroes rushes to Superman’s aid, but loved ones and villains die and Superman is forced to break his oath not to take a life. In the end it appears that he then ends his own life in penance and the world loses its single greatest champion.
In 1986, with “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” DC was streamlining its universe. Several of DC’s top tier heroes were revamped or completely relaunched to unburden the readers from fifty-plus years of continuity. A new editorial and creative team, beginning with John Byrne’s “Man of Steel” mini series, was about to completely relaunch Superman and this effort would completely redefine all of the character’s prior history as no longer being part of continuity. Editor Julius Schwarts wanted this two part story from 1986’s Superman # 423 and Action Comics # 583, which closed the books on the pre-relaunch Superman, to be perfect, and he drafted the perfect creative team to pull it off. Moore, Swan, Perez and Schaffenberger crafted a beautiful, sad and deeply poignant story which ends surprisingly, ultimately, in happiness and hope for the future. Like “Kingdom Come” (see last week’s reviews), this story is simply too good for today’s creators to ignore. The Justice League Unlimited episode, “Divided We Fall,” borrowed from Braniac’s taking over of Luthor’s body. Jeff Loeb drew from Lightning Lord, Cosmic King and Saturn Woman’s appearance and vanquishing in this story to make them the villains in the Superman/Batman arc, “Absolute Power,” as well as create the link from that story’s end to the end of this tale. I didn’t recall their minor appearance in “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” but, now that I’ve reread it, this certainly explains these villains’ motivation in Loeb’s story 20 years later.
This book is only a two-part story, it’s a quick read and, if you don’t own it, retails for only $6.95. If you spend the brief time it will take to read “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” you’ll have treated yourself to one of the deepest and most gratifying comic reads of your life.
Sam Wilson’s Review
Batman: The Killing Joke
DC Comics
Written by: Alan Moore
Drawn by: Brian Bolland
These days the Joker just seems totally played out in terms of Bat-villains. He’s been in several episodes of the new cartoon “The Batman (rasta joker, word), he was in “Hush”, I guess we haven’t seen him in the whole “Infinite Crisis” thing, but man, I’m sick of him. Back in the Batman “No Man’s Land Crossover” event; remember when Joker killed Sarah Gordon (aka Sarah Essen, Jim Gordon’s wife)? Then Nightwing beat him within an inch of his life and stops shy of killing him cause it’s “wrong”? Then a few years later Batman does the same thing in the “Hush” storyline? At this point who gives a crap, really, it’s all played out. The Joker has killed people close to Bats, been beaten up, poisoned Gotham, teamed up with Lex Luthor, who gives a flying crap what he does anymore, it’s all redundant. He needs to die, or be left to rot in Arkham Asylum, or come back as Braniac 49 or something like that, but I digress…
1988, a banner year for the Joker. He got to kill Robin (well, Batman readers got to kill Robin by calling a 1-900 number, but that’s not important), which one would think is pretty dastardly. Honestly though, that storyline, “A Death in the Family” was a Disney movie compared to Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke. The Killing Joke could have been the last Joker story every told, and I’d be a happy man (maybe it woulda been better that way), for no subsequent drama or outrageousness has been topped by Alan Moore’s character study into the madness that is the Joker. Like in “a Death in the Family”, Joker hurts Batman the only way he can, through those close to him, but he doesn’t just kill them. He dismantles them as people, bringing them down to as close to his own twisted level as he can.
The Killing Joke opens like many Joker stories, an escape from Arkham Asylum, the Joker is on the loose, an evil plan is hatched. Well, in this case the plan is way beyond evil. Cut to the Gordon home. The Commissioner and his daughter Barbara are having a pleasant evening when the Joker comes calling. He promptly shoots Barbara in the spine. The act is utterly appalling. At this point we all know and love Barbara Gordon as sweet, innocent red haired Barb, the librarian and sometime crime fighter Batgirl. Now we see her shot (and not just a “flesh wound”) and degraded. Jim Gordon is in such shock he reacts in slow motion, only to be beaten by one of the Jokers henchmen. All the while Joker is in a Hawaiian shirt and board shorts with a camera around his neck, tourist-style. Jim Gordon is taken away, and Barbara is left for dead, never to be the same again. Batman enters the story in Barbara’s hospital room, he learns Jim has been kidnapped by the Joker but it’s different this time says Barbara, there was “something in his eyes” that gave her an impression of finality. So the hunt begins.
The thing with the Killing Joke is Joker isn’t just out for another revenge kick; he’s playing the end game. Juxtaposed with the scenes of Gordon as Joker’s captive is the origin of Joker, back in his days as a simple (and failing) stand-up comedian with a horrible marriage and an even worse life. We learn the origin of the Joker is much more than a bath in toxic chemicals, he’s a broken man at the end of his rope with nowhere to go. A comedian who isn’t funny, a man at his breaking point. Jump back to the main story, Joker and Gordon; peeling the commissioner apart layer by layer, why? To break him in hopes retaliation will be swift, and final (these days people would call it “suicide by cop”). Of course Batman catches up with Joker, the end game is played, but not the way one would think (well, maybe), and Batman and Jim Gordon show their mettle.
So why did I say The Killing Joke should have been the last Joker story ever told? Simple, where can you go from there? The Joker played his end game, nothing he has ever done was that vicious or personal, and nothing done since (while some writers tried) has ever come close. There was no going anywhere after that, and Batman (and Jim Gordon) reacted the way they did, defining their characters. Anything that has happened with Joker since the Killing Joke (at least in my opinion) is redundant (and played out, at least at this point). Also, you can’t beat Brian Bolland’s art, and you get it for the WHOLE ISSUE, not just the cover. Damn if it isn’t pretty. The Killing Joke is readily in print and available for $5.95 (sheesh, I remember when I bought it for $3.50), definitely worth the price. A modern classic indeed.