Gen13 #69

“Failed Universe”

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Cover Date: November 2001

Now this, on the other hand, was more like it. Actually written by Adam Warren this time (although the thing last time was entirely my own fault), it’s a surprisingly strong story, featuring Grunge, Roxy, and the Authority’s Swift. It seems some inconsequential villains have taken advantage of Grunge’s affair with Swift to introduce a virus into the Carrier, the Authority’s massive multi-dimensional transport. Grunge is forced to use his elemental absorption powers to become one with the Carrier, leading to a fascinating reverse Flowers for Algernon story that sees the usually dense and self absorbed Grunge (and eventually Roxy as well), suddenly preternaturally aware of himself and of the terrible way he treats Roxy, his supposed girl friend. The duo have a deep and terribly insightful conversation about their love life as they interface with the carrier and each other, resulting in a reflection on fickle teenage love that is far beyond what one would expect from what is customarily a raunchy teen super-hero comedy. Warren adds another layer by employing nonlinear storytelling, told in part by Swift after the fact and using Swift’s own callow attitudes to compliment Grunge’s journey in the issue. Yanick Paquette pencils the issue with a style that is at once sexy and in keeping with Gen13’s usual status quo and sophisticated enough to carry the more mature story, much as he did for Morrison’s Bulleteer. Somewhat surprisingly, it’s a hell of an issue and a complete 180 from #58.

Gen13 #58

“Gotta Kill ‘Em All!”

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Cover Date: December 2000

When I was a teen, I loved Gen13. I mean, seriously, boobies. In the years since, however, I’ve pretty much dismissed the whole affair. I mean, seriously, boobies?
At least I had dismissed it until I started to hear tell that Adam Warren’s run on the book late in the series was worth checking out. A quick trip to the quarter bin later and I was the proud owner of a couple of issues of Gen13 for the first time in years (not counting, of course, Gail Simone’s recent revamp, which was really pretty good). I started with this issue, figuring an Adam Warren penned deadly Pokemon story might be something. Unfortunately for me, this was not one of the Adam Warren issues. I decided to give it a try anyway, but, ugh, it is pretty rough. The story does indeed feature deadly, deadly Pokemon and the Gen13 team, who are inexplicably working as a masked Manga style strike force in Japan. It’s all cluttered action and clumsy dialog and, honestly, I just couldn’t get through the whole thing. Seriously, even the early boob-filled J. Scott Campbell stuff was kind of fun, but this issue is just a mess. The sole bright spot is Ed Benes’ art, which fits pretty well with the established Gen13 aesthetic (again, boobies).

Astro City #1

“Welcome to Astro City”

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Cover Date: September 1996

Kurt Busiek’s Astro City is always a joy. For the uninitiated, each issue of the series tells the story of a regular person living in a world filled with super-hero analogs. This particular issue deals with a single dad and his two daughters moving to the eponymous city and their first experiences with a super-heroic disaster. It’s a pretty low key story and, at first blush, might seem unexceptional or, for your friendly neighborhood blogger, difficult to talk about, but the low key stuff really is the strength of Astro City as Busiek time and again mines the super-heroic world for little moments that, while profound, are dealt with in such a perfectly casual manner that his incredible insight into what it would be like to live in the Marvel or DCU can be momentarily missed. In this issue, it’s the quiet moment when the residents of our protagonist’s apartment building ascend to the roof, some with lawn chairs, to watch the apocalyptic battle taking place in the skies overhead. It’s real Lee/Kirby end of the world stuff, dangerous beyond human comprehension, but the people stand and watch, knowing that, should the worst happen, the brick and mortar of their home won’t protect them, but never truly fearing that such an end will occur. Of course the heroes will win, they always do and you may as well watch, even if, for many of the bystanders, it’s as common as the rain.

The Spectre #11

“The Mission”

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Cover Date: January, 2002

Hal Jordan’s a really bland character. He’s brave and confident and fearless and whatever and, while that’s great for the Silver Age, it doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for complexity today. Hal has been GL since the late fifties. It’s probably about time we told new and interesting stories about someone new and interesting. J.M. DeMatteis’ Spectre series, however, is a surprisingly refreshing take on Hal. Here, Hal is over his head as the new Spectre, unsure and downright distrustful of his powers. He’s dealing with the wrath of God, judgment, and his own guilt over his time as Parallax. He’s still the brave Hal Jordon, but here there’s a little more depth as we see Hal dealing with his recent troubled past in a heroic and human way, while dealing with situations that are completely new to the jaded space cop. DeMatteis adds a really nice sense of wonder to the proceedings of this particular issue, which deals with Jordon learning that there are different aspects of himself and his personality that even he wasn’t aware of, wandering the world to bring the wrath and redemption of God to people of different cultures and faiths, allowing the Spectre to be in multiple places at once and to cater to a variety of different faiths and expectations. It’s a pretty clever twist on the idea of the GL Corps that leads to some interesting ideas and a nice, refreshing take on a well-worn character.

Batman and Robin Adventures Annual #1

“Shadow of the Phantasm”

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Cover Date: November 1996

I realize that this blog is in serious danger of becoming the blog that just won’t shut up about Mike Parobeck, but there is no better issue to spark discussion about the man and his art than this, his final work. The story, a sequel to the animated series feature film Mask of the Phantasm, features Bruce Wayne’s lost love cum murderous vigilante Andrea Beaumont/Phantasm returning to Gotham to tie up loose ends. It’s a nice enough story with Paul Dini providing some good character work for Beaumont and a nice moment about the Joker’s pre-acid bath identity. The story, however, is rather fittingly overshadowed by the loss of Parobeck, who is beautifully eulogized in the issue’s final page essay by Scott Peterson that describes the merits of the man and his work far better than I ever could and which is worth the price of admission alone. As Peterson says, Parobeck was, by all accounts, a hell of a nice guy with a style that was consistently solid and often amazing, displaying a storytelling craft that is often ironically missing from our favorite visual medium. As I’ve said before, Parobeck’s art was a true bright spot in the dark days of the mid-nineties and the medium as a whole is weaker for his loss. Personally, I wish I’d discovered Parobeck’s art when he was alive, but I’m always grateful that it remains preserved on the four color page to be rediscovered again and again.

Exiles #2

“Long Live the King! – Part One”

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Cover Date: July 2009

Fact: Jeff Parker is writing some really fun comics and this all too brief revival of The Exiles is just another example of that. Second fact: you guys, this Salva Espin guy is pretty great. His art is clean and kinetic and his design sense is great (I particularly love his Morlock-like Beast). His art is also also refreshing in that it’s just left of center for the average super-hero book. In fact, the whole book is a little like that, which is probably why it was cancelled with issue six. Still, we’ll just have to chalk the whole thing up to another creative, unconventional team book, like SWORD, Atlas, and Captain Britain and MI-13, cancelled before it’s time. I just think it’s a shame that even books with only, let’s face it, marginally original characters cannot thrive in the current market place. It’s a shame, too, because this is easily the most enjoyable take on The Exiles yet, in no small part because Parker really gets the appeal of seeing not just alternate universes, but alternate takes on our favorite characters in the form of the Exiles themselves. You see Parker has an unmatched ear for characterization and dialogue, allowing him to use those off kilter characterizations to set up a number of entertaining and believable personality clashes. Also, Polaris makes Forge punch himself in the face and who doesn’t want to see that?

Trinity #1

“Green Lantern” “Darkstars” “L.E.G.I.O.N. ‘93”

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Cover Date: August 1993

Not to be confused with DC’s recent weekly, 1993’s Trinity was the anchor book for a two month, eight issue long crossover for DC’s space fairing law enforcement agencies: the Green Lanterns, Vril Dox’s L.E.G.I.O.N. and the Darkstars, the extreme, take no prisoners nineties take on the Lantern Corps. Despite the flashy cover, this looked like a good chance to, if nothing else, learn more about the L.E.G.I.O.N., a concept I found intriguing, but which, so far, has failed to hook me (which is a shame because I really like Vril Dox). The Darkstars and Green Lantern stories are mediocre, despite art from Travis Charest and Gene Ha respectively. Ha and Charest may be superstars today, but, unfortunately, they’d yet to crystallize their distinctive styles in 1993. Fortunately, the L.E.G.I.O.N. story is pretty fun. Written by Mark Waid with pencils by Barry Kitson, the chapter sees both creators at the top of their game. The art is clean and distinctive and Kitson handles the large cast well, effortlessly distinguishing one character from another while handling the crowd scenes and alien city without ever skimping on detail. This issue really reminded me just how good Kitson is and it’s a shame he doesn’t get more recognition. Waid’s story is also a lot of fun and serves as an excellent showcase for the conflicting personality types of the characters, particularly the arrogant Dox. I’m looking forward to finding some issues of Waid and Kitson’s L.E.G.I.O.N. and seeing if it holds up.

Star Trek: The Next Generation Special – Riker

“The Enemy of My Enemy”

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Cover Date: July 1998

Let’s face it, unless they’re written by Peter David, Star Trek comics pretty much blow. DC often came the closest, but everyone else, from Malibu to IDW to Golden Key, has pretty much dropped the ball. Still, easily the most spectacular failure is the line of Star Trek comics Marvel released under their Paramount Comics imprint. Here, Marvel paired straightforward licensed properties Deep Space Nine and Voyager with “original” series like The Early Years, featuring Captain Pike, and Starfleet Academy, the Gen 13 of Star Trek, complete with a ridiculously busty Andorian, and two gloriously ludicrous Star Trek/X-Men crossovers. The stories were often of fan fiction quality with art that featured characters with lifeless, over photo referenced faces and unbelievably roided up bodies. The absurdly titled Star Trek: The Next Generation Special – Riker: The Enemy of My Enemy exemplifies all of the worst qualities of the Marvel Trek line. The story shoehorns fan favorite elements like Ro Laren, Tom Riker, the Marquis, and even the Genesis Torpedo into a subpar rehash of the already subpar TNG two-parter Gambit with a plot that never even comes close to passing the idiot test. Character faces look traced while bodies, including Riker and Data, very from fairly human to the nineties vein popping super heroic standard. Frankly, there’s a lot to hate about this comic, but the two worst features are the hideous, slapped together in Photoshop cover and the gigantic boobs given to the previously sleek Ro Laren.

The Batman Adventures #26

“Tree of Knowledge”

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Cover Date: Late November 1994

Here we have another great teaming of Batgirl and Robin, once again by Puckett and Parobeck. What sets this issue apart from #18 is that Puckett stages this story so that Dick and Babs spend as much time working on the mystery out of costume as in, resulting a better dichotomy of the duo’s love/hate relationship (they love each other in costume but hate each other’s guts in civvies) that evokes more of a classic screwball comedy dynamic than the somewhat straightforward flirtation of the previous issue. This extra layer, previously only hinted at in a single page, really takes the dynamic to the next level. Kelly’s story isn’t the only thing firing on all cylinders here, though, as the always amazing Mike Parobeck turns in an absolute masterpiece. Parobeck is definitely an underappreciated master and his cartoony style fits this book so well. It would be easy to assume that books like The Justice Society of American, El Diablo, and Impact’s The Fly, where he wasn’t restricted by an established look and model sheets, would be better showcases, but, as I said before, Parobeck perfectly evokes the feel of the Batman cartoon while always keeping his art his own and this issue is really top notch. His dynamic storytelling, the fluidity of motion he effortlessly brings to his figures, and the retro, minimalist sensibility he brings to his design work combine to create just as much substance as style, easily placing him on par with Cooke, Allred, and Timm.

The Batman Adventures #18

“Decision Day”

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Cover Date: March 1994

The Batman Adventures may be the most underrated comic of the nineties, featuring excellent Batman stories, usually written with an unparalleled cleverness and brevity by Kelley Puckett and drawn by Mike Parobeck whose style, much like Puckett’s writing, perfectly evokes the feel of the weekday afternoon cartoon show, while still being distinctly original. While the series is always an enjoyable read and an easy pick-up from the quarter bins, this issue, which shines the spotlight on Batgirl and Robin is even better than most. Batgirl, in her civilian identity of Barbara Gordon has just witnessed a would-be bombing of police headquarters. Rather than sit back under witness protection while the GCPD prosecutes the case, she dons her cowl to investigate on her own, which is when she runs into Robin, who is working the same case. The plot then quickly takes a backseat to a charming flirtation that underscores how much fun each has in their masked identities and how their crime fighting styles differ; Robin is more the more experienced, better trained fighter and crime solver, while Batgirl depends more on instinct and intuition. Best of all, though, is the one page exchange between the two when they bump into each other in their secret identities the next day. Expertly combining the tropes of a standard Batman adventure with a post modern romance comic, it’s a delightful forgotten treasure of an issue and one that makes me long for a similar dynamic in the DCU proper.

The Man of Steel #3

"One Night in Gotham City..."

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Cover Date: November 1986

This may be Superman’s comic, but, brother, this issue is all about Batman. This middle chapter of John Byrne’s Superman origin reboot sees Batman and Superman meeting for the first time, while trying to stop an absurdly dressed killer named Magpie. Incidentally, Magpie, whose shtick is to steal shiny things and replace them with explosives, is the only bad part of the issue. Seriously, was the Joker busy? Anyway, Superman has come to Gotham to arrest Batman, but Bats convinces Superman to hold on and help with Magpie by telling Supes that if he even touches Batman a bomb will go off somewhere in Gotham, killing an innocent person. If that sounds out of character, just wait for the twist, which, honestly, is about as Batman as you can get. Batman continues to shine throughout the adventure. There’s some solid detective work and deduction, which, ironically, is often missing from Batman’s adventures, and a great little exchange with Superman about how saving the planet is one thing, but saving a city is something else entirely. As for Kal-El himself, since the story primarily serves to demonstrate to both Superman and the reader the validity of a vastly different approach to crime fighting, the man of steel actually does or says very little in this issue. The result is a fun little meta-commentary wherein Superman is basically the reader, sitting down to read his first Batman comic and learning what a badass Batman is, which is alright with me.

Star Wars: The Bounty Hunters

“Aurra Sing One-Shot”

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Cover Date: August 1999

Aurra Sing as written and drawn by Tim Truman is a character I’d like to read more about. Despite first appearing in the Phantom Menace, she has a look and feel that ties her to the original trilogy’s galactic margins, that area of space just outside of the Empire’s control and ruled by smugglers, bounty hunters, and gangsters. It’s the part of the Star Wars universe we first see on Tatooine in the original film and which is home to anti-heroes like Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, who are sadly absent from the prequels. Unlike a lot of Expanded Universe characters, Aurra is not just a Han Solo also ran. She’s quiet, cunning, and ruthless with a code of honor and business that reminds me of Angel Eyes from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, albeit a sort of sexy female alien Angel Eyes. It’s a personality type not often done well in comics anymore, not to mention in the Star Wars universe, and one that can be difficult for the reader to empathize with, but Truman does his job expertly. The story itself is a fun globe hopping adventure that, despite taking place on Endor, Tatooine, Bespin, and Hot, mostly steers clear of the core Star Wars universe, allowing Aurra to exist in that same seedy world that is home to Han, Lando, Mos Eisley, and Jabba’s palace and which first attracted me to the Star Wars saga.

Star Trek: Countdown #3

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Cover Date: January 2009

I didn’t really care for J. J. Abram’s new Star Trek movie. I don’t think it’s a bad movie per se; it just isn’t for me. Still, I was interested in this mini-series, which relates the events that happen in the Next Generation era leading up to the time travel plot of the movie. Basically, Romulus has blown up and mining ship captain Nero and his cronies decide to kill a bunch of dudes while Spock, Picard, and Data try to save the universe from the phenomenon that blew up Romulus. As you can probably tell by the cast, which also includes the Geordi and Worf, both retired from Starfleet, it’s mostly a bunch of continuity porn that’s too busy using coincidence to get all of your fan favorite characters involved to bother with telling a compelling story that actually enhances the movie. It does serve to answer some unanswered questions from the movie, like what’s up with Nero’s head tattoo, but it largely just creates more, particularly when using ridiculous, fanboyish plot devices to explain things that don’t need explaining, like why is Nero’s mining ship so big and bad ass? Because a Romulan prison satellite outfitted it with indestructible Borg technology that has nanites in it that can fix any damage. Um, okay. Still, it was fun seeing Data run around a little bit, all reconstructed and promoted to captain of the Enterprise in the future, and that’s kind of good enough for me. I like Data.

Dark Reign: The Cabal #1

“Doctor Doom: …And I’ll Get the Land” “Emma Frost: How I Survived Apocalyptic Fire” “The Hood: Family Trust” “Namor, the Sub-Mariner: The Judgement of Namor” and “Loki: Dinner with Doom”

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Cover Date: June 2009

Perhaps because of the somewhat unusually high level of talent involved for such an ancillary special, including Matt Fraction, Rick Remender, Jonathan Hickman, Kieron Gillen, Daniel Acuna, and Adi Granov, this anthology is largely quite good, if often inconsequential. The Namor and Hood stories are both good character pieces, that ulitmately, perhaps because I don’t have any real attachment to the characters, fail to resonate. Emma Frost’s tale is the weakest and largely rehashes the old saw about her students always dying while recapping the origin bits from her cancelled solo series. It is, however, saved by some inventive narration from writer Matt Fraction, who really has a knack for getting inside Emma’s head. The Loki story by Pete Milligan is a bit of stand out, although it largely only teases at events in upcoming Thor issues, making it feel more like a trailer than a story. The standout though is the Doom story by Jonathan Hickman, which gives us a delightful if creepy look into the sorts of things Doom fantasizes about, including world domination, copious murder, and scantily clad ladies. It’s an excellent tale that simply and with very few words sums up Doom and his opinion of his erstwhile colleagues. Of all the stories, it’s also the only one that feels somewhat necessary as this glimpse into Doom’s plans helps explain why he’d bother to associate with Osborne anyway. This story alone is honestly worth the price of admission.

Batman Annual #14

“The Eye of the Beholder”

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Cover Date: Annual 1990

Every once in a while, the quarter bins will cough up a true forgotten classic. That’s the case with this story from Andy Helfer and Chris Sprouse, who have crafted the best Two-Face story I’ve ever read. It’s basically an origin story that, for the first time, focuses on his life as District Attorney and his eventual decline to Two-Face, with much of the book spent exploring Harvey’s powerful, preexisting split personality a story that has been echoed in both the animated series and in The Dark Knight. We see Harvey as the crusading, but human DA. We revel in his righteousness and regret his loss in a high profile serial murder trial that is easily the best court drama I’ve ever seen in comics, with a terrific villain whose secret informs both Batman and Harvey’s evolutions. As Harvey slowly gives in to his dark side, we truly feel the tragedy at the heart of his origin, a tragedy compounded by a new dynamic between Face and Batman. The Batman in this story is new at the game and very green. He and Gordon are both frustrated at the lack of convictions Batman’s arrests bring, due to lack of evidence. Dent teaches Batman the importance of building a case over time and being able to prove what he knows to jury and not just himself. Dent even advises him on how to do it, helping Bruce take the important step from simple vigilante to the Batman we know and love.

Gargoyles #9

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Cover Date: October 1995

For those not in the know, Gargoyles was pretty good cartoon produced for Disney Afternoons. The last of their kind, the Gargoyles have various adventures around modern day New York, where they pal around with a female cop and fight Jonathan Frakes. Unlike a lot of licensed books, this one does a pretty good job of capturing the feel of the show in both story and art. The story focuses on the gargoyles trying to recover an unhatched gargoyle egg from the Chinese mob, and regular series villain Demona, the other last remaining gargoyle who spends most of her time being sexy (for a gray skinned monster) and hating our heroes. It’s a fun and action packed little story, if, expectedly, a little light on character development and consequences. The surprise of the issue, though, and the reason I decided to pick it up, was the art by Amanda Conner, recently of Power Girl fame, whose fun, sexy, cartoony style should be a perfect fit for Gargoyles. Unfortunately, Conner only provided breakdowns for this issue, resulting in a dilution of her signature style that is a little disappointing. Still, it’s more than serviceable art, especially for a nineties licensed comic, and little bits of Conner do shine through, particularly in renderings of Demona and the Triad leader. The Comic Book Database is vague on whether or not Conner does full art for any of the other issues of the series, but I’ll be tracking them down to find out.

Sabrina, the Teen-Age Witch #66

“Zap Flap” “Potion Commotion” “Rabid Robots” “Goal Toll” “Accidental Fun”

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Cover Date: April 1981

Thank you, Sabrina, for restoring my faith in the Archie line and for introducing me to Dick Malmgren. Dick wrote and drew every story in this particular issue, combining a highly enjoyable art style with somewhat atypical stories, many of which eschew a standard three act structure for stories that just suddenly end without wrapping up any story points. Take for example the first story, “Zap Flap,” wherein the head witch depowers Sabrina while on a ski trip for overusing her magic. The story ends with Sabrina and her pal having a grand time snowed in with a pair of hunky boys, unconcerned at the loss of her powers and even failing to have them returned by story’s end. My favorite story in the issue and easily the weirdest for any number of reasons is “Rabid Robots.” Sabrina, her aunt Hilda, also a witch, and some dude go see a Star Wars rip-off movie, the amazingly titled The Empire Flips Out, and decide they need some robots. So Aunt Hilda uses her book of Ancient Robot Incantations (!) to magic up three robots who create havoc. It’s a cute, sometimes funny little story, punctuated by that pair of unbelievable panels, the idea of witches needing (and magically summoning) robots, and, best of all, a simple panel of Sabrina walking down the hall past a framed picture of Dracula. That’s right. Sabrina just happens to have a framed picture of Dracula in her hallway. ‘Nuff said.

The Man of Steel #1

“From out of the Green Dawn”

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Cover Date: October 1986

This issue begins John Byrne’s reimaging of Superman, and, while I mainly enjoyed the issue, there is a lot here that just isn’t my cup of tea, raised as I was on the Superman’s Silver Age iteration. Mainly, I just don’t care for Byrne’s sterile version of Krypton. I simply can’t help but think that making Jor-El and Lara so alien, so much so that Lara is repulsed by a human farmer (irony!) and that the duo doesn’t understand our hu-man concept of love, is a bit of mistake. I feel the same way about presenting little Kal-El as an unborn embryo who isn’t actually “born” until his ship lands on Earth, denying any real emotional connection between the infant and his parents and somewhat undermining the tragedy at the heart of the origin. Oddly, there is also no arguing about the planet’s demise nor any attempt by Jor-El and Lara to flee, even though doing so seems entirely within their power. The scenes on Earth fair better, with Byrne making up for dehumanizing Jor-El and Lara by increasing Jonathan and Martha’s role in the book and by keeping Jonathan alive, itself easily the best change Byrne makes. Otherwise, the issue is almost interminably wordy. Still, the art is great and the issue is overall likeable enough that I think that, now that the controversial origin is out of the way, the rest of the mini aught to be pretty fun.

Final Crisis Aftermath: Run! #6

“Step Six: Stop Running”

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Cover Date: December 2009

Having read the intervening issues, I’m sorry to say that Run fails to live up to its first issue, but only just. As the story progresses, it quickly becomes a tale about the Human Flame’s rather inept quest for power, coupled all along with his penchant for self delusion, particularly among a cadre of DC’s lamest villains, and for carelessly taking advantage of those around him. Still, it’s hard to think of him as truly evil. He does commit horrible, despicable crimes, but he lacks the Machiavellian mindset to seem truly evil. Instead, he’s just kind of a douche, and while that’s pretty entertaining for two or three issues, it does begin to grate a bit by the end. As I hoped, there is no road to redemption for the Flame, but, as I feared, the result is a lead character who becomes increasingly annoying, so much so that writer Matthew Sturges brings in Jon Steward, Firestorm, and Red Tornado to give us heroes to latch onto and through whom we can witness the Flame’s inevitable and slightly ironic end. Still, I’m being perhaps a bit too harsh on the book. Even if it isn’t quite what I wanted, it is still entertaining and wonderfully off kilter with some terrific art from Freddie E. Williams II and, for a quarter, you can’t ask for much more than that.

Secret Origins #10

“Tarry Till I Come Again” “…And Men Shall Call Him Stranger” “Revelations” “Footsteps”

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Cover Date: January 1987

I’ll be honest, The Phantom Strange is one of those characters I love, but whose origin I couldn’t care less about. What makes him interesting is the enigma, a stranger to reader and character alike. Editor Robert Greenberger apparently felt the same way as, when tasked to dedicate an issue of Secret Origins to the Phantom Stranger, he commissioned four unrelated stories, each telling a distinct origin without ever confirming which, if any, was the true one. It’s an intriguing idea from the get go and one that benefits from a dazzling array of talent, including Jim Aparo, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Paul Levitz, and Alan Moore. Each story is really solid, with at least three of the four interestingly rooted in Judeo/Christian mythology, including portrayals of the Stranger as both a Lot analog and the Wandering Jew of folklore. Unsurprisingly, though, Moore’s is the most intriguing, thanks to a parallel story in which the Stranger watches a modern Street Angel vigilante fail to choose sides between warring factions of his own association. The segments set in the celestial city are the most interesting, though, particularly a glimpse of the angel Etrigan and a fascinating, even probable explanation for the deformed forms of the fallen angels. The best part, though, is that the story wisely embraces the tone of the whole issue, with Moore only ever implying that the Stranger and the half-fallen angel are one and the same, never stating so explicitly and leaving the story open to interpretation.

Final Crisis Aftermath: Run! #1

“Step One: Make a Lot of Enemies”

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Cover Date: July 2009

Being the Human Flame sucks, although Mike Miller hasn’t realized it yet. An early convert to Libra’s religion of crime in Final Crisis, Miller got his wish of seeing the Martian Manhunter burned alive only to be betrayed and brainwashed. Now, the Final Crisis is over and a restored Miller quickly realizes that he is one of the most wanted men alive, tied as he is to a Justice League founder’s homicide. None of this phases Miller, though, as he is, quite simply, a total jerk and that is easily the best thing about this series. It would be easy to portray Miller as a sympathetic hero, changed by the events of Final Crisis and on a road to redemption. Instead, Matthew Sturges writes Miller as a slovenly loser falsely convinced of his own greatness. Still, there is something likable about this supremely unlikeable character. Perhaps it is the detailed, yet caricature laden style employed by Freddie E. Williams II or perhaps it is his everyman portrayal. I’m very interested to see where Sturges and Williams take the character, especially now that he’s being pursued by the mob (for stealing drug money) and the JLA alike. It seems like the inevitable arc of the story will be for Miller to yet find some redemption, but I’m not sure I hope he will. It might end up getting old, but, for the moment at least, I’m enjoying reading about a completely wretched human being who can shoot fire from his nipples.

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser #2

“The Circle Curse” and “The Howling Tower”

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Bargain Price: 3/$1.00
Cover Date: November 1990

Excepting Hellboy himself, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser may be the perfect characters for Mike Mignola. Mignola’s angular, gothic art and spare, contemplative writing are unlike anything else in comics. Likewise, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, who, before reading this issue, I had known only by reputation, are completely atypical fantasy characters, a towering barbarian and a smaller, rapier-wielding thief, respectively, who speak and act like real people. That said, it’s easy to see how Fafhrd, the Gray Mouser, and Mignola would be a match made in heaven and a combination that made picking up this particular issue very easy. Mignola and Howard Chaykin, who scripted this miniseries, portray the duo as an immensely amiable pair of adventurers, entwined in two stories that in plot and style closely resemble Mignola’s Hellboy work. The first sees our heroes leave the city of Lankhmar following the deaths of their lady loves. They seek new lands and adventures, hoping to forget, but never quite doing so, facing instead a grim, real world reality: they haven’t forgotten, but, as time has passed, their deaths mean less than they once did. The second tale is a more conventional action tale involving a sorcerer and a ghostly pack of wolves. This volume was definitely Mignola at his finest and as satisfying an introduction to these characters as I could have asked for. I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for the remaining issues (I picked up #1 already) and even for the duo’s prose adventures.