Comic Books: May 2005 Archives

I usually don’t enjoy revamps. No matter how cheesy a comic or movie might have been in the 60s or 70s, it possessed a spirit that today’s creators can’t often match. The original X-Men series by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas, and Werner Roth had funky villains like The Mimic and soap opera machinations between Scott Summers and Jean Grey. When Marvel decided to re-imagine this as Ultimate X-Men, the results were mixed. They erased all the lovable qualities of the characters that made them so unforgettable in favor of Jerry Bruckheimer style action. I had written off the Ultimate line of comics for good, and when the updated version of The Avengers appeared, I didn’t buy it until the trade paperback appeared. And I was glad I did, because unlike the other series, this one has heart. Mark Millar spent the time to explore each of the characters before sending them off into action. He updated the series in a way that made sense, by having everyone look at Thor as if he were a nut job and Bruce Banner as a misanthropic nerd. The first trade paperback introduced the Ultimates, while the second put them into action against an updated version of the Skulls.

Now the third arc is complete and you can probably get them all in comic stores today. Pick up Marvel Must Haves with Ultimates V2 1-3, and then get single issues 4-6. Rather than having one story spread among six issues, Millar breaks it up into smaller stories that form a mystery. In the first three issues, someone leaks to the media that the Hulk is really Bruce Banner and the whole massacre of innocent New Yorkers was really the Ultimates’ fault. The Hulk goes on trial and is defended by Matt Murdock. Those old timers in the audience will remember the issue of the 70s Hulk where he got the same defense attorney. Unlike that story, this one concludes as it probably would in the real world, but I don’t understand why the government chooses this particular method of execution. Ultimates V2 4-5 deal with the origins of Thor: is he really a Norse God or is he another super soldier variant? A scientist in Europe, Thor’s brother, claims to have invented the hammer and harness that gives Thor his powers. Thor says that this fellow is really Loki who is bending reality and causing the Ultimates to turn against him. The Ultimates go after Thor and it isn’t your regular superhero slugfest.

Now that we are almost halfway into 2005, I thought it was appropriate to look back at 2004’s notable graphic collections featuring super-heroes and super-teams. There were many memorable tales, and if you’re just getting back into comics, they’re all nicely collected and ready to read. Nearly all of them were involved in re-interpreting classic super-hero myths.

Fantastic Four, Vol. 2: Now there I go, contradicting myself once again, like I’m Jimmy Carter or something. (Dad would have a fit.) Mark Waid's Fantastic Four doesn't re-invent Marvel's first family as much as re-invigorate it. The story involves the aftermath of the team’s recent collision with Dr. Doom. Instead of just waiting for Doom to reappear and wreck havoc in their lives, Reed Richards decides to invade Doom’s country Latveria and dismantle the good Doctor’s infrastructure. This move naturally upsets the United Nations and S.H.I.E.L.D., so Nick Fury gets involved with orders to take down the FF. You’ve never seen Reed Richards like this: angry, driven, and proactive in taking steps to remove the world’s greatest super-villain. Yet it seems like Marvel super-heroes can’t act this way without paying a terrible price. It all concludes in a journey that has the FF paying tribute to their Creator. Mike Wieringo is right up there with the classic FF pantheon of artists. The Thing has never looked so good since Kirby and Byrne drew him, and The Torch's red-glow flame-on is a take on Alan Davis' approach. Ringo is able assisted by Paul Mounts on the colors, who makes the Thing's rocky hide seem three dimensional. Sue Storm ain't bad lookin' either, in a MILF kind of way. I sure wish that Gail O'Grady could play Sue, did you ever see "Sex & the Single Mom" on Lifetime? Watching that allowed me to process the grief I felt when Mark Waid left the FF. Nuff said, but if you like classic FF tales, you’ll love this collection.

This is a 2-fer: I wrote this entry for our other blog, Baytripper. I ran (or attempted to run) the Bay to Breakers 2005 race and encountered my idol. Read the full scoop here about what the Flash really looks like.

There are three initial reasons which might make you pass up buying Action Comics #827:

1. Superman is fighting a master of magnetism. Hardly a threat to someone who is invulnerable, right?
2. John Byrne is the new artist. He can’t possibly draw this better than he did back in the 1980s, right?
3. Gail Simone is the new writer. A woman can’t possibly create one of the best Superman stories of the year, right?

If you those assumptions, you would be wrong on all three counts. Let’s start in reverse order, with Gail Simone. She’s revived Birds of Prey, one of the best ongoing series set in the DC Universe, by turning around the status quo for Black Canary, Huntress, and Oracle. Like Geoff Johns, Simone has an excellent knack for taking older DC heroes and villains and updating them for the modern age. With a wink to the old timers, she knows about the key moments in each character’s life, and exploits those in her stories. For example, a classic Green Arrow story involved Black Canary getting captured and tortured by a group of mercenaries; in one of Simone’s stories, the same thing nearly happens again, but sharpened by her previous experiences, Canary figures out a way to survive the ordeal and overcome her tormentors.

In her debut on Action, Simone shows that she knows how to breathe new life into Superman as well. We first see Superman defending humanity—not in Metropolis, but Africa. It’s new and completely relevant to the situations in countries on that continent. Then we see a refreshing scene between Superman and Lois Lane, and Simone depicts it in such a way that makes me glad, for the first time, that they did get married.

And then there is John Byrne. He’s back and he’s not inking his own work, and it makes a nice change. I like Nelson (the inker), and the depth he gives to some of Byrne’s faces and figures. He’s a very detailed inker who does a lot of line work. I think the best inker for Byrne remains Jerry Ordway, who did an outstanding job on the JLA six-part story from 2004, but Nelson is a close second. One thing that has never diminished with John Byrne is his pictorial storytelling ability. Unlike many of today’s artists, he knows how to tell a story using multiple panels per page, while still bringing dynamics to all of the action scenes. It’s rare that Byrne ever works with a writer who does both plotting and scripting—in the recent past we’ve seen Byrne handle at least the full plotting chores on all of his series—but it’s extremely refreshing.

Finally, there is the source of the conflict in this story: a new master of magnetism. She shows up on the first three pages in an explosive manner, and she resembles Betty Page. She’s much more of a threat to Superman than you might think. When you get to the last page (and you must read them sequentially not to spoil a secret) you’ll be wondering if Superman can really survive this encounter.

Action Comics just got added to my subscription list. Bravo to Simone and Byrne, let’s hope we ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

I usually "wait for the trade" where Ultimates is concerned, but this week I saw that Marvel has collected Ultimates Vol. 2, issues 1-3 in a super-size comic for $5. Considering the original issues would cost you $9, this is quite a deal. I bought this and Ultimates 2 issues 4-5 to get myself caught up with the Ultimate scene. Check back laterz for a review.