Comic Books: April 2008 Archives

There are some great, classic Iron Man runs—Armor Wars by David Micheline and Bob Layton immediately springs to mind, as well as Demon In A Bottle.  After the Micheline/Layton team left Iron Man—the first time, around issue #150 or so—Denny O’Neil became the full time writer.  O’Neil’s run lasted from Iron Man #160 to #208, 48 issues, and most of them pretty lame.  I didn’t think that O’Neil was well suited to writing Iron Man.  He was better at writing comics that were more based on character/mood (like Batman or the Question) rather than high tech adventure.  The preceding creative team had developed an incredible amount of new armor and gadgets for ol’ Shellhead.  There was no way that O’Neil could match them on that score, and he didn’t even try.  The one thing he did know how to do was to expand on Stark’s alcoholism.

O’Neil had Stark hit the bottle again—this time harder than ever before.  He lost his company to Obadiah Stane—a character that O’Neil created and is played in the Iron Man film by Jeff Bridges.  Stark lost everything else as well—his homes, his cars, his money, and probably even his porn collection.  He became homeless for a while, eventually hit rock bottom and joined AA.  I have a feeling this was a personal story for O’Neil to tell, but he dragged it out way too long—it took up about 2 years of Iron Man to move this plot along.  In the meantime, Jim Rhodes (Rhodey) got the keys to Stark’s private lab and took over as Iron Man.  This allowed O’Neil to show a neophyte using the armor and learning the capabilites.

But there was a problem: somehow the classic Iron Man armor was designed only for Stark’s brain patterns.   The longer Rhodey wore the armor, the more paranoid he became.  When Stark rejoined Rhodey and his crew, he had no intention of becoming the Armored Avenger once again.  He blamed his superhero alter ego for driving him to drink.  Rhodey was convinced that Stark had come back to take everything away from him—leading to this classic bitch-slap moment.  I wish the sound effect said “bitch!” instead of “blatch!”.

I like that feller Jeph Loeb.  He knows how to write funny books.  Although he took his time his time gettin' the title character to make an appearance--ol' Greenskin finally shows up in issue #3 of his new book.  But it was worth it, because the Hulk talks like he used to.  "Hulk is Hulk!"  I'd like to go around talkin' like that.  "Dick is not Rick.  DIck is Dick! Dick is Not Dumb!"  Only one complaint about the new Hulk book: the story goes by too fast!  I can't wait for the fight next issue!  Nuff said.

Jason Aaron is quickly shaping up to be one of my favorite new writers at Marvel.  He's done great work on Wolverine and now he's taken the reigns on Ghost Rider--right after Daniel Way exploded the series main premise.  In Ghost Rider #18, Way revealed the real reason that Roxanne Simpson could save his soul from Satan, a mystery that persisted ever since Marvel Spotlight #5 in the 1970s.  When Roxanne prayed to God to save Johnny's cursed soul, she was answered--not by God--but by his lieutenant, Zadkiel.  Johnny Blaze became "The Fire That Rains Down From Heaven", the Wrath of God, the Punisher of all sinners.  This is also the reason why Satan could never kill or trap Johnny permanently in Hell.

Satan and his lost souls were expunged in Ghost Rider #19, paving a clean road for Aaron's first arc, which began in Ghost Rider #20.  Johnny's out for revenge, against Zadkiel and his minions.  But how do you fight a war against heaven?  Johnny just happens to find a boy who ran into Zadkiel while in a coma...but the boy is guarded by an army of Tarentino-kinky naughty Cycle Nurses.  Who wear lingerie and carry firearms that can take out the Ghost Rider.   The nurses pursue Johnny and nirvana-boy through the backwoods of Montana, where Ghost Rider has to fight a road full of demonic creatures on Cannibal Highway.  I think the Cycle Nurses deserve their own MAX limited series!

I think Ghost Rider is the sleeper hit of 2008.  It has humor, horror, action, and mystery.  Zadkiel is trying to take over Heaven and apparently Johnny Blaze is a pawn in this game.  There's a mysterious figure in issue #22 who looks like Danny Ketch to me.  If it is Danny, then Blaze has a big problem--because Ketch is wearing Zadkiel's emblem on his wrist.  Great stuff...check it out!  Nuff said.

There is no doubt that I am going to see the Iron Man and Hulk movies--heck, I'm sure I'll even buy the DVDs. Although I think if I skipped the movie theater and waited for the DVD in a few months, I'll have saved $10.

The problem is, there's no suspense or surprise with the Marvel movies. Iron Man's trailer gives the whole plot away. The only question in my mind is whether they will kill off Obidiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) by the end of the movie. Likewise, the Hulk movie pretty much lays everything out--I think old Greenskin will batter the Abomination and be somewhat redeemed as an anti-hero. But will the CGI Hulk look better than the previous one? In the trailer he looks pretty fake, a giant green smurf as Kenneth Johnson (CBS Hulk producer) said in a recent Fanboy Radio interview. They would have been better off getting another body builder and painting him green--that might have more heart and emotion. Iron Man can work slightly better because it some scenes it is a Stan Winston suit that Robert Downey or a stuntman is wearing.

I'm more excited about the new Will Smith movie, Hancock. This looks to be loads of fun and even somewhat more realistic. Superheroes flying drunk, smashing into freeway signs and tossing little girls up in the air? Entertainment Weekly suggests that Hancock will outperform both Marvel movies at the box office. Nuff said.

Ever since Jim Starlin burst upon the Marvel scene back in the 1970s, I longed for this guy to write and draw the New Gods.  Starlin flirted with them a time or two, but it took about thirty years for him to tackle them in Death of the New Gods.  Starlin's artwork is glorious and he depicts characters like Darkseid (a clear inspiration for Starlin's Marvel character, Thanos) in all their evil majesty.  Getting him to do this series was a smart decision on DC's part--what other writer is better at telling cosmic stories about death-obsessed megalomaniacs?  It's interesting to see Starlin handle Superman in this story, who sort or becomes our viewpoint into the story as each New God gets killed off.

However, this series has one really serious, crippling flaw--the freaking conclusion occurs off-panel in Countdown #2!  I can't imagine how pissed I would be if I waited for the trade on this one.  You get to the end, which promises the final knockdown apocalyptic battle between Darkseid and Orion--and it doesn't happen?  Even worse, they denied Starlin the opportunity to draw such a monumental fight.  Man, that is seriously fucked up.

What else is fucked up?  The whole concept of death in comics.  You know the New Gods are coming back in some form.  Regardless, I enjoyed this series except for the ending--Starlin's still got the chops.  Nuff said.

Countdown #1 is the last issue, and I will spoil it for you: nothing much happens! This whole series seemed to be an exercise in how not to write a comic book. Weak characterization, weak plot, stupid events...it seemed little more than an advertisement for events happening in other DC Comics--like "Death of the New Gods". There's no expansion on Darkseid's supposed death from Countdown #2...even though we know he's coming back as the main villian in Final Crisis.

It makes 52 look like a masterpiece. I didn't care for 52 that much at the time, but it had a lot of nice things going for it. Black Adam's character arc was incredible, Doc Magnus shooting the Metal Men from a gun was a touch of Morrison genius, and the ending redeemed both Booster Gold and DC's concept of multiverses being a pretty cool thing.

At the end of Countdown, what happens? Jason Todd is still a murderous jerk...I thought they were going to redeem this little creep? Kyle Rayner--I have no idea what is doing in this series at all. He has a pretty important job in Green Lantern Corps already. And I can't forgive the DC idiots for spoiling Green Lantern's Sinestro Corps War storyline by having Kyle show up before that arc was over--leaving us completely with no suspense about Kyle's fate in Green Lantern. Ray Palmer--the Atom--seems like a pussy, running away to other multiverses when the heat was turned up on Earth-1. Donna Troy--love this character but this ain't the series to showcase her talent. Doesn't it make Donna look dumb to be attracted to super-creepy Jason Todd? Ew.

I can't imagine anyone but a DC completist buying the entire run of Countdown. 52 issues X $3 is equal to $156. Man, for that amount of money, people can buy another entertainment product with solid value. Such as Rock Band ($147 for XBox 360), or a regular edition Sony PSP ($169, but not that far off), Nintendo DS ($130), or a iPod 4GB Nano ($140). Sheesh...and they wonder why no one is reading comics anymore.

Back in the ancient days, I remember when Luke Cage: Hero for Hire premiered to great fanfare.  That was the time when films like Shaft and Superfly (which I could not see as they were rated R) were popular.  I loved this house ad drawing by John Romita that Stan Lee highlighted in his soapbox.

I really dig the fact that the 1970s version of Luke Cage came out of that Skrull spaceship in Secret Invasion #1.  I'm halfway hoping that this is the real deal and the Luke that married Jessica is the Skrull.  I know that is impossible...but I can't stop fantasizing.  Nuff said.

The cover to Superman 675 is simply one of the best Alex Ross paintings I've ever seen. DC Comics should consider making a poster out of this.

Too bad the story inside is so unappealing. I loved Kurt Busiek's Superman Secret Identity, but I've never gotten into his regular Superman run at all. Reading this story leaves me cold. I'm not looking forward to Trinity in the least. Countdown #1 comes out tomorrow--that's been awful too, but let's see if the last issue redeems it.