Photon Torpedoes

Formerly Known as the Justice League: It’s hard to believe now, but back in the late 80s, the irreverent Justice League by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis was all the rage. This humorous take on the gathering of DC’s mightiest super-heroes was so popular that it spawned another title, Justice League Europe. Now it returns with Maxwell Lord, the headmaster (so to speak), forming a non-profit outfit called Super-Buddies. He opens it up in a strip-mall and looks up the most famous cut-ups of the old JLA: Blue Beetle, who has semi-retired and runs Kord Industries; Booster Gold, who is somewhat of a gigolo and has married an older woman for money; Ralph (Elongated Man) and Sue Dibny, who are still happily married (but not for long as this happens just before Identity Crisis); the sexy Fire, a lass who bursts into green flame and has her own pay-for-naked-fire pictures web site; Captain Atom, who normally puts out nuclear holocausts but seems to be bored enough to join Lord again; L-Ron (yes it’s a Dianetics joke), a robot with a sarcastic attitude who becomes Lord’s assistant. The one person they cannot recruit is Billy Batson, who can say “Shazam!” and turn into Captain Marvel. But who they do get is his female counterpart, Mary Marvel. Mary is actually a young girl who gets transformed into a super-buxom hero, and her naiveté provides a good share of the laughs, in a way that such films as “13 Going on 30” seem to miss. Rather than being a watered down recreation of something that happened almost 20 years ago, FKAJL is showing that the creators are better than ever. Giffen’s plot and DeMatteis witty banter is very funny and Kevin Maguire can draw an endless array of facial expressions as well as draw exciting action scenes. If you like to laugh at super-heroes, you’ll love this.

The Ultimates Vol. 2: Homeland Security: It took nearly a year for these 6 issues to be published, but it was worth the wait. Where else can you see Captain America cutting loose like this? When he finds out that Hank Pym is a lousy wife beater, he finds Pym in a bar and berates him into becoming Giant Man for a beat down. Even when he’s the size of a skyscraper, Pym is no match for Steve Rogers. Then we have this groovy extra terrestrial threat of the Ultimate Skrulls, the Ultimate versions of Hawkeye and Black Widow, and a chance for Ultimate Hulk to kick some Ultimate Alien Ass. Iron Man and Thor are pretty interesting as well. I hate most of the Ultimate line, but this re-visioning of the Avengers hits every note right, updating the characters for the modern era but not disrespecting their origins. If you haven’t read the first or second volumes yet, you need to get them, now, Muad’Dib.

Supreme Power, Vol. 1: Call this the Ultimate version of the Justice League that DC is too chicken to publish. When it first appeared we thought this would be a simple updating of the old Avengers’ “Squadron Supreme” concept of JLA-like doppelgangers in another universe. But it takes the origins of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Flash, and completely turns them around. This version of Superman, Mark Milton (aka Hyperion) comes to Earth in a rocket, but then he’s taken into custody by the US government. Trained to be a secret weapon, he’s raised in an environment designed to help gain his trust—basically everyone he knows is a government agent. In Vol. 1 we saw Mark and the other heroes discover their abilities, and in Vol. 2 Mark uncovers the truth about the government’s deception. He has an explosive encounter with Joe Ledger, (aka Spectrum), and also meets this world’s version of Wonder Woman (who is not on a mission of peace). I highly recommend this series, especially in collected form.

Sleeper Vol. 2: All False Moves: If James Ellroy wrote about superheroes, it would probably come close to a series like this. Holden Carver is a secret agent living a double life, infiltrating a criminal organization operated by a mastermind called Tao. The only problem is that no one in the US government knows about Carver’s undercover role since his mentor is in a coma. That leaves Carver alone to foul up the machinations of Tao, Peter Grimm (Tao’s lieutenant), Miss Misery (his lover) and Genocide Jones (his criminal best friend). If you remember a TV series called Wiseguy, Sleeper resembles that in several ways. In nearly ever chapter, Carver is given an assignment by Tao to steal, sabotage, or murder. As Carver twists and maneuvers to get out gracefully, he knows he’s one false move away from getting destroyed himself. If you like dark, adult versions of super-powers, or if you just like spy fiction, this is for you.

Superman: Red Son: One of the best Superman stories in years is this tale by Mark Millar. It’s an Elseworlds story (meaning that it’s an Imaginary story that doesn’t affect continuity) that retells the Superman legend by seeing how things would have turned out if Superman’s rocket landed twelve hours later in the former Soviet Union. Rather than growing up in Smallville, Kansas, this Superman grows up on a collective farm in the Ukraine. The story begins back during the cold war when President Eisenhower announces to the nation that the Soviets have a new weapon in their arsenal: Superman. After his abilities are demonstrated on (black and white) television, Americans face a new “red scare” where Superman could potentially threaten any US city. Yet even though he is Stalin’s right hand man, somehow this makes the decent core of Superman’s personality shine through even more. The one person that America has to stop Superman’s threat is Lex Luthor, who in this world is a brilliant and trustworthy scientist. There are alternate takes on Wonder Woman, Lois Lane, Braniac, Bizarro, and of course, Batman. How many times have we seen Batman fight Superman? Here it’s a different story: Batman’s parents were killed by Stalinist guards and he sees taking down Superman as a blow against the communist regime. The artwork by Dave Johnson is well suited to this tale, and his redesign of the classic Superman symbol with the hammer and sickle is well executed. As for Millar, he loves Superman so much that he’s vowed to take over the ongoing Superman series one day with his Ultimates partner, Bryan Hitch. Let’s hope that we will see that dream come true.

Superman: Secret Identity: This is another Elseworlds story, but this mini-series was inspired by a one-shot DC Comics Presents #87, published during the last months of the infamous Crisis on Infinite Earths. In that story, Superman met Superboy of Earth-Prime. Earth-Prime was like our Earth, without any superheroes. While Kurt Busiek never calls this world Earth-Prime, it has all the hallmarks: Superman comics, toys, and movies are available, and a young boy with the name of Clark Kent takes an awful lot of ribbing. His parents live in Kansas and called him Clark as a joke: naturally he has Superman themed birthday parties and gets teased about girls called Lois or Lana. One day in the woods, Clark discovers he can fly, and he has other powers as well. He approaches this with caution, not telling his parents or friends. He learns the value of keeping his abilities a secret in order to have a truly private life. Yet even with a secret identity, he doesn’t truly become a public super-hero like the Superman in the comics; he zips around saving people and moves so fast that no one can really see him. His life becomes complicated as an adult when the government starts tracking him down. And then he falls in love with Lois, not Lois Lane but Lois Chaudhari, and Indian-American who is not a reporter. The story follows Clark and Lois through several periods in their lives, and this Superman ages as the years progress. It’s a fascinating tale, like Red Son it captures the spirit of Superman and Busiek throws his own unique twist by planting Clark firmly in today’s multicultural world. Stuart Immonen is the artist here and it’s the finest work of his career: by providing the pencils, inks, and colors, Immonen renders all the characters in a perfect blend of shadow and light to make them seem real. If you like Busiek’s series Astro City, you are certain to love this one.

DC: The New Frontier, Vol. 2: You could call Darwyn Cooke’s New Frontier an Elseworlds story, but I prefer not to; to me, this is what happened to the 1950s era of DC super-heroes. In a way it’s a sequel to James Robinson’s excellent Golden Age series, which ended with the old guard of heroes, the Justice Society, stepping down before the HUAC in Congress. In New Frontier, we have the heroes being outlawed, Superman fighting Batman (again, yeah, but it’s pretty good), and Wonder Woman breaking the rules to go fight in an Asian country that looks like Vietnam. Barry Allen is The Flash, but he’s hunted by the Feds, and so is J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter who masks himself as a human detective. The New Frontier is a magical story about the transition from the Golden Age World War 2 era heroes to the Silver Age era in the 1960s. But even though Cooke is dealing with a different era doesn’t mean it’s a simpler era. He strips the heroes down to their core essences but preserves the complications of the specific period. And while there is currently a mini-series that’s just concluding called Green Lantern: Rebirth, this story, for my money, is where Hal Jordan really got reborn, because everyone who read this fell in love with the classic Green Lantern all over again. Jordan is involved in Korea and later as test pilot, for several chapters until he gets the ring. Cooke’s skill as a writer is complemented by his abilities as an artist, which was honed by years working in animation (he did the opening credits to Batman Beyond). By time this story is over, you’ll be rushing out to buy those old 1960s Justice League of America Archives, Vol. 1 (DC Archive Editions).