Photon Torpedoes

March 4, 2006

Ultimates 10: Did Bullseye Join the Avengers?

This was a big week for comics: Infinite Crisis #5, Batman Annual #25, and a bunch of DC 1-Year Later titles. Even though I'm clearly biased in DC's favor, Marvel trumped them all this week with Ultimates Vol. 2 #10. The bad guys have taken over not only New York City, but many key cities within the United States. It is clearly a reaction against the Ultimates storming into the Middle East at the beginning of this series. There's a Muslim version of Captain America, a Russian version of Thor, and opposite numbers for Hulk, Ant-Man, Iron Man, and Quicksilver. We're still unclear as to Loki's true role. One thing I can't figure out: why are all the bad guys meeting in the Louvre? The French aren't that crazy to sanction terrorists in their own city, but what the heck, Millar loves to pick on them.

Hawkeye makes his way out of a nearly impossible situation. It happens so fast, I was bewildered. Then when I read the explanation and saw what happened afterward--this version of Hawkeye is freakin' cool! I love the Avengers version--Clint Barton was always a cool customer, but this one's more on par with Bullseye. I never thought about that before--what if Bullseye joined a team and fought the good fight? Genius idea.

I'm betting that the Hulk returns before all of this is over to stomp the Abomination's ass. And I will also bet that Donald Trump would love to have Tony Stark's pre-nuptial agreement. Nuff said.

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February 22, 2006

Ultimate Avengers

Ultimate Avengers can't possibly match the brilliant graphic novel by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch, but it does a pretty good job of trying. The movie is aimed at a PG-13 audience, so there are no wife-beating Giant-Men, drunken millionaires, or horny Hulks looking for Betty, although Jarvis still looks a bit gay. The plot follows Millar's outline remarkably close at times, especially with the opening World War 2 sequence involving Captain America (although he doesn't use a gun). Steve Rogers is the main focus, and the film does keep all the bits about being displaced in time. Millar said that when he envisioned the Ultimates, he thought of it as Avengers: The Movie. His introduction of the main characters and the buildup to the first fight would work great in a big budget feature film. Imagine if you had Samuel Jackson (Nick Fury), Tom Cruise (Tony Stark), Brad Pitt (Thor), and Lucy Liu (Janet Van Dyne) all in the same movie? Alas, we don't get the same talent here, as Andre Ware's voice for Nick Fury isn't what I imagined. The animation is what I would call competent, but it's not really as good as most anime or even the Justice League Unlimited series. They did use all of Bryan Hitch's character designs. Iron Man in particular looks so fantastic, I don't know why they wouldn't make an entire TV show around the character.

The plot deviates from the graphic novel in a number of ways besides toning down the adult misbehavior. Iron Man needs to be coerced into joining, which is a bit weird. Bruce Banner's mental deterioration isn't handled as gracefully. The aliens are the main threat, and the Hulk goes berserk after that is over, but he doesn't rampage throughout New York City. There were some great scenes that they could have used: the Hulk knocking Giant-Man into a skyscraper, or Captain America dropping the tank on the Hulk. Why didn't they go for it? I question whether all Ultimates fans will like Ultimate Avengers, but I do think that all longtime Marvel and Avengers fans will be thrilled to see these characters in animated form. Ironically enough, younger viewers may be turned off by the slow buildup to the action. Nuff said.

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January 8, 2006

Iron Man #5 and Reinventing Shellhead

Iron Man #5 (by Warren Ellis and Ari Granov) came out this week. My records indicate that issue #4 came out around August; I don't know if this is really true but it was a long time ago! The series is hurt by these delays, as the story structure is decompressed storytelling at its peak. Issue #1 sets up the new villain (a terrorist injected with Extremis nanotechnology) and Tony Stark takes a ride in his Iron Man armor. Issue #2 has Tony taking a trip to see an old friend while the terrorist starts killing people. Issue #3 they fight. Issue #4, Iron Man is critically injured when the terrorist drops a car on him. And in the latest issue, we get to the meat of the story--Tony undergoes a dramatic change in order to survive. I'm not a big fan of decompressed storytelling, but this particular tale has me hooked (although I'd advise anyone to wait for the trade). Ellis' new technology for Iron Man is fascinating to me for a few reasons. One, throughout the last 40 years, there's been a constant need to make Tony Stark's life depend on technology. Two, Ellis is competing with Orson Scott Card, who has revamped the Ultimate version of Iron Man.

Way back in Tales of Suspense 39 (the first appearance of Iron Man), Stan Lee wrote the classic origin. While Tony Stark is visiting Vietnam (working with military on new weapons), he steps on a landmine and gets captured by the Vietcong. A piece of shrapnel is lodged near his heart. General Wong Chu tells Stark to build him a new weapon and in return, he'll save Stark's life. Yeah, right, buddy, you just gave Stark free access to a lab--he's going to kick your butt! This was how that scene looked when it was drawn by Don Heck, but it's constantly been retold and revamped through the ages.

Archie Goodwin and Gene Colan recapped the origin in Iron Man #1 a few years later. Tony was helped by Professor Ho Yinsen to build the first Iron Man armor. Not only would it help Tony kick butt, it would keep him alive by stabilizing his heart beat. Kind of like a pacemaker, which didn't exist in such a small form in the 1960s.

Kurt Busiek and Sean Chen also revisited this scene in Iron Man #1, volume 3. Pretty much the same story. Tony's dependence on the armor to keep his heart beating was a useful plot device. He would fight a baddie, get his power depleted, and limp over to Avengers Mansion, where Jarvis would plug his chestplate in for a battery recharge.

Flash forward to 2005, with Ellis and Granov's version of the origin in Iron Man #5, volume 4. This updates the origin, getting us out of Vietnam and into the Afghanistan invasion. Marvel time, ain't it great! As we saw previously in issue #1, Stark was injured in Afghanistan while working with the military. The twist is that he was injured by one of his own landmines. He's taken prisoner by Al Qaeda, but we don't see a General, Bin Laden, or anyone in charge. His predicament is explained by Ho Yinsen, who again helps him build the armor that will save his life. Pretty incredible that the terrorists leave those guys the fuck alone for hours or days to build this incredible weapon!

What happens when puts on this armor for the first time? In the Stan Lee version, he falls down and stumbles before he gets good feel for it. Professor Yinsen distracts the Vietcong and gets killed while Stark is getting his act together.

In the Ellis version, it's time for revenge. His armor still resembles the grey prototype from Tales of Suspense 39. Presumably because the room that Stark and Yinsen were in had old computers and outdated electronics. We don't really see Yinsen get killed in this version, maybe he's still alive.

Even though Ellis has updated the origin, we still have to assume that some of the pre-existing continuity is still intact. What happened to that pesky shrapnel in Stark's heart? It was removed and Stark's heart was repaired with artificial tissue. Archie Goodwin wrote this issue, but later on, many other writers regretted losing this device.

David Micheline and Bob Layton were one of the greatest creative teams on Iron Man, serving two stints on the book (116-157 and 215-250). Tony Stark became a hedonistic playboy, resembling a modern day Richie Rich with his vehicles, mansions, and babes. One of the women, Kathy Dare, couldn't get over being dumped and shot Tony in issue 242 (volume 1). The bullet grazed Tony's spinal cord and left him unable to walk. But he could walk and fly--as Iron Man! He got an operation in issue 248, where a microchip implanted into his spine allowed Tony to walk again. Later, this chip was hacked and it caused Tony to be trapped inside the Iron Man armor.

In the Ellis version, we also have to assume that Tony's shrapnel situation has been resolved. He gets pretty banged up during the fight with the Extremis terrorist. It's so bad he can't lift a bloody car off his chest. Stark is seriously injured. Whatcha gonna do?

Tony works with the scientist who helped create the Extremis nanotechnology, who just happens to be an old girlfriend. He gets shot up with a specially configured dose of this Extremis goo, and he becomes a living, breathing nano-machine. I don't want to show it here and spoil it, because it's rather cool. Suffice to say that Tony's life is intertwined with the tech and the Iron Man armor will now once again fit into a briefcase. Although I didn't see a Tivo in there.

Now here's the interesting part. At the same time that Ellis is revamping old Marvel Universe Iron Man, Orson Scott Card is doing the same thing for Ultimate Iron Man. Card just throws out that business about being in a war and captured by terrorists. He looks at the problem with Tony Stark needing technology to save his life. Card asks, why wasn't it that way from the beginning? We see how Howard Stark, Tony's father, developed a nano bio-armor that protects the wearer from physical harm. His mother, Maria, is working on a regeneration virus that will help missing limbs grow back. She's accidentally infected with the virus while pregnant with Tony. On a fetus, the virus causes Tony's neural tissue to develop at an advanced rate. Tony will be a super-genius kid, but his skin will feel like a bad third degree burn. Right after he's born (and his mother dies), Howard pours the bio-armor over the baby to protect him. Tony has to wear the bio-armor everyday for the rest of his life!

So which origin is cooler, Ellis or Card's? I like what Ellis is doing, but Card's premise is such a departure that I love it. Maybe I'm just a sucker for super-smart kids like in Ender's Game and I love seeing that with Tony Stark. I'm not yet sure why a regeneration virus can grow back Tony's foot in issue 3, but it can't fix his burning skin or his brain tumor in the Ultimates. We are still in the early stages of both revamps, so it will be interesting to see where they go from here. Nuff said.

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December 10, 2005

Ultimates 9 is a knockout!

The best of this week's comics is Ultimates V2 #9. Millar and Hitch really hit this one out of the park. The scenes with Hawkeye and Black Widow are great. And it looks like Thor really isn't that crazy. At the end of the issue, things are so bad that I don't even see how the Ultimates can turn things around. The rampant spread of various technologies (Hank Pym's size changing, Iron Man's tech armor, Super Soldier serum) have created this incredible army against the Ultimates. I'm betting that "Hulk will save day" before it's all over.

I'll be out of town for a few days and probably can't update this site. But I gotta say this is a must-have comic. Nuff said.

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May 31, 2005

Ultimates Vol. 2: The first six issues

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.

Ultimates 6, which just came out last week, had me rolling my eyes when I first heard about the Ultimate Defenders. Marvel can’t ever seem to get the formula right for the regular Defenders, why try it here? But it does work, because Millar goes for comedy. The Ultimate Defenders are a bunch of wannabees with no super-powers: Nighthawk, Son of Satan, Power Man, and Valkyrie. They are basically grown-ups playing dress up, hoping to get corporate sponsorship by inviting Hank Pym to join them. Pym is at his lowest point, having been ostracized from the Ultimates, and he can’t get back in even though he’s created two robots: The Vision and Ultron. The government has taken his Giant-Man formula, improved it and given it to other soldiers. All Pym has left is a new power to shrink and control ants (whenever he can find them). He tries to make a new start with the Defenders, but this is team that has to take a cab to a crime scene. At least he gets a girlfriend out of it with the Valkyrie, but her last request to him will have you laughing hysterically.

Cutting across all the issues is the conspiracy to undermine the Ultimates. Someone on the team is sabotaging their operation. In the first issue of Vol. 2, we see the Ultimates invade Iraq on a rescue mission. We see on the last page of the Defenders issue that this hidden agent is objecting to the misuse of their powers. It’s this threat that carries over into the next six issues, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. Nuff said.

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May 22, 2005

Best Collections of 2004

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.

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).

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