Gen13 #69

“Failed Universe”

Cover Price: $2.50
Bargain Price: $0.25
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!”

Cover Price: $2.50
Bargain Price: $0.25
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”

Cover Price: $2.50
Bargain Price: $0.25
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”

Cover Price: $2.50
Bargain Price: $0.25
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”

Cover Price: $2.95
Bargain Price: $1.00
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”

Cover Price: $2.99
Bargain Price: $0.50
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”

Cover Price: $2.95
Bargain Price: $0.50
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.