Comic Books: October 2005 Archives

One of the DC books I’m really getting to like is Catwoman. Yes, it’s sad that Ed Brubaker left, but Will Pfeifer has written some solid stories. He’s taking Catwoman down a more superhero-ish path than Brubaker. The Secret Society has shown up and Selina pretended to join their team. Issue #48 has a pretty shocking ending.

I like Pfeifer’s writing a lot; he did such a great job on H.E.R.O. It’s time he was given a major character to write. Pete Woods’ artwork on this title is just awesome. I hadn’t heard of him before this series, but he’s fantastic.

Adam Hughes is really restrained on those covers, eh? Nuff said.

DC fans, drop what you are doing now and read JSA Classified #4. It’s important, and not just because of Power Girl’s amazon gazongas bursting out of her chest. Particularly for those of you who remember Earth-2, when we knew a Huntress who was actually the daughter of Catwoman and Batman (and showed more cleavage if you can believe it). The Robin who grew up to be an adult and take care of Gotham City. Kara, the cousin of the Golden Age Superman. I think we can see the tie-in to the last page of Infinite Crisis #1.

Gosh darn it, I love it when freakin’ third-tier characters suddenly become vital again! Click on the George Perez cover to Infinite Crisis #2 to expand it and see Kara getting swamped with memories of the good ol’ days. Nuff said.

I really think that the current “Spider-Man: The Other” stories is a big rip-off. Three issues into the storyline and what do we know? Spider-Man is sick. He’s sick with what, they won’t tell us, but it appears to be terminal. You paid $7.50 for three issues to find out the same thing you knew in the first chapter. I don’t get it. In the old days, Spidey could do a lot of shit in three issues: defeat the Master Planner, save Aunt May, and throw a fucking ten ton machine off his back! Compared to this, Ultimate Spider-Man progresses at the speed of light. One good thing: Peter David is writing Spidey again and I’ll think he’ll be great once this cross-over is done. And I love Ringo’s art on Friendly Neighborhood. Let’s just hope Peter doesn’t grow six arms like he did in ASM 101. Nuff said.

As reported in today’s LITG, Marvel is letting Frank Cho draw New Avengers #14-15. Rich Johnston posted a preview pic of Ms. Marvel getting her tushy kicked by Klaw. I thought I’d flip the image, like all fanboys will be doing when they read the comic.

I have an idea for a killer mini-series by Cho. Put all the hottest women from the X-Men in a story where they go on beach patrol. Use Storm, Rogue, Psylocke, and Emma Frost. Call it X-Babes. Marvel will make a ton of money and probably get a Maxim spread.

Anyone remember the Marvel Swimsuit specials? Nuff said.

I suppose in the Internet Age, you can’t keep secrets any more. For months, there’s been massive speculation on both House of M from Marvel and Infinite Crisis from DC. In both cases, critical elements of the story were leaked. I am going to discuss both HoM #7 and Infinite Crisis #1, both of which went on sale today—SPOILERS ahead!

House of M #7 proves that the rumors about Marvel’s mutant population getting drastically reduced are true. By the end of the issue, it appears to happen, I won’t say how or who. Speculators were also correct that Pietro (Quicksilver) had as much to do with the alternate reality being created as Wanda did. I just don’t see how they can ever undo the damage to the Scarlet Witch. They’ve ruined her horribly. BTW, House of M is a very brisk read. It reminds of me of a Reader’s Digest story that you can finish in couple of bowel movements. Great art, nice dialogue, but the predictable plot and execution make it breezy.

Infinite Crisis was the big enchilada that everyone’s been waiting for—there’s even an article in today’s New York Times about it. It’s not a fast read—there’s lots of story and the detailed artwork by Phil Jimenez will give you reasons to read it many times. I disciplined myself to read Villains United #6 before IC #1. As I predicted, VU had a much better conclusion that the other mini-series leading up to IC. In Villains United, we learned that Luthor was Mockingbird, the secret leader of the Six who attacked the Secret Society of Super-Villains. But wait, you say…isn’t Luthor also the leader of the SSOSV? Yeah, that’s the secret. There are two Luthors in existence. The Luthor with the SSOSV is the one we’ve known and loved for twenty years. The Luthor behind the Six appears to be the Luthor from pre-Crisis Earth-2!

For years, the older fans have mourned the loss of the alternate Earths. In the pre-Crisis days, we had Earth-1, home of the Golden Age heroes. Earth-2 was the home of the Silver Age heroes. Earth-S was where Captain Marvel lived, while Earth-X was a world where the Allies lost World War 2. There was no problem keeping all these Earths separate, even though it produced two versions of the same hero. DC felt that this concept led to declining sales, so the Crisis on Infinite Earths destroyed all the alternate versions, leaving one Earth with a mish-mash of heroes and villains. In the last pages of the Crisis, we saw the Golden Age Superman, his wife Lois Lane, a version of Superboy, and a good-hearted version of Luthor—pass into a void as the universes died. Presumably, they died as well.

We’ve heard a lot of strange rumors about Infinite Crisis. Mostly about what will happen when it’s over. Will the Flash die and be replaced by Kid Flash? Will Dick Grayson become Batman? Does Barbara Gordon become Batwoman now that she can use her legs? I’d always hoped that DC would return to the alternate Earth concept. I’ve always liked it; I think it makes their stories cleaner. Captain Marvel really doesn’t belong in the same world as Superman. I had hoped that Infinite Crisis would spin off multiple universes again—the title of the series is the inverse of Crisis on Infinite Earths, so why not?

I just didn’t think DC had the guts.

I may be wrong. The last page of IC #1 gives me hope. I sure as heck didn’t expect to be surprised in either VU #6 or IC #1. They pulled off a miracle. My favorite line in IC#1 comes from Batman: “Let’s face it, ‘Superman’…the last time you really inspired anyone was when you were dead.” Nuff said.

I’ve read all six issues of the mini-series that bridge the gap from Identity Crisis to Infinite Crisis: Day of Vengence, the OMAC Project, and Rann Thanagar War. SPOILERS abound here, so be aware. (Villains United isn’t out yet, so that’s not included here.) All three minis have exactly the same ending: things are pretty much the same at the end compared to the first issue.

There are some key events in each mini. You would probably be lost reading Infinite Crisis if you did not know about them. In Day of Vengence, the Spectre is still on his anti-magic rampage by the last issue. He’s succeeded in destroying Shazam/Captain Marvel’s source of magic, the Rock of Eternity. The Rock actually tumbles down upon Gotham City and it almost seems like a nuclear explosion—poor Gotham, they had corrupt cops, earthquakes, etc., now they have all this bad mojo debris. It cliffhangs with Billy Batson falling in the air, unable to change into Captain Marvel. The third tier magical heroes like Detective Chimp and NightMaster are going to stick together for their own team book and rock band. Bill Willingham talks about this and other factors behind the making of this series here at Newsarama.

In the OMAC Project, Wonder Woman killed Max Lord and now the whole world knows it, thanks to the computer beaming the video through the public airwaves. Batman’s girlfriend Sasha became a weird human-robot combo (I told you she was toast). They have a showdown with the OMACs and Bats uses Blue Beetle’s EMP device to knock out a million of ‘em. The satellite limps away licking its wounds, but it still has 200,000 sleepers ready to cause havoc.

Rann Thanagar War is even worse. The biggest thing that happens is some kind of wormhole opens up in the last few pages. This wormhole reminds you of something in Crisis on Infinite Earths, we won’t know the meaning until Geoff Johns reveals it. They defeated Lord Onimar, a Thanagarian God, so they accomplished something. They also did some housekeeping by killing Shayera, the Thanagarian Hawkwoman left over from the Hawkworld continuity fiasco. There were a lot of enjoyable cameos: Blackfire, Starfire’s evil twin sister; Captain Comet; Tigorr from the Omega Men; and Vril Dox from L.E.G.I.O.N.

Finally, JLA 119 wraps up “Crisis of Confidence”, basically trying to spin more mileage out of Identity Crisis. Batman’s mind was wiped and he’s pissed. So are the original 7-8 Secret Society of Super-Villains (not the whole set in Villains United), who attack the League again. The villains get defeated pretty easily and the League again debates to wipe out their memories. After hemming and hawing, Zatanna does it, and then quits the League. Everyone quits the League, except for J’onn and Superman. On the last pages, we see J’onn sitting in the Watchtower wondering which second-tier losers are gonna be the new League. He’s so desperate, he’s actually considering Gypsy. Supposedly Superman beams in, but J’onn looks up and realizes it’s not Supes, but someone else. Who? Superman from Earth-1 or Earth-2, or UltraMan were some guesses I read. The last thing we see is the Watchtower blowing the hell up. Save for this last event, it was a poorly constructed story. We did get to see lots of fishnet action with both Black Canary and Zatanna on the scene.

There’s one more mini that wasn’t labeled as being that significant, but it turns out that it is. The Return of Donna Troy has the former Wonder Girl, formerly dead but now reincarnated thanks to being a Titan-God, regaining her memories. Now, this story was pretty badly told, in my opinion—Phil Jimenez is a fine artist but whenever he writes, he devises the most convoluted plots and dialogue. However, this plot point is a killer: Donna Troy now remembers the Multiverses BEFORE the Crisis on Infinite Earths. She also remembers the Crisis itself, the Monitor, and the Anti-Monitor. On one alternate Earth, Donna took on the role of Harbinger. When she gets back to Earth and Paradise Island, she gets the Harbinger’s globe (left from the Monitor) which has the entire History of the DC Universe: past, present, and future. Donna sees a terrible event about to happen—the new Crisis. I bet Donna is a catalyst in bringing the heroes together to deal with it. Click on the image to expand the view of Donna remembering the Multiverses.

There’s only one mini-series that I feel was well written enough to buy on its own: Villains United. This takes the terrific concepts from Suicide Squad and Secret Six and mooshes them together successfully. I love seeing villains fight villains. We have Catman, who turns out to be a pretty smart leader, taking on the vast new Secret Society. Gail Simone has the writing chops and the art by Dale Englesham is great. I really want this to be an ongoing series. Issue #6 comes out next week and we might even discover the identity of the Big Bad.

For the rest of us, who paid for all mini-series, plus Donna Troy, plus JLA, it’s a pretty significant investment. Donna Troy was $12 total, Day/Omac/Rann/Villains was $60, JLA five parter was $12.50. $84 to find out all of the above information. Or read my blog for free. Nuff said.