Fair Trade: Tor V.3

Having been introduced to Tor only very recently (pretty much when I stumbled upon that same Dial B For Blog post about the DC Explosion which introduced me to the awesomeness that is Beowulf, Dragon Slayer), I was unaware of the rich history Joe Kubert's hero from the time of "one million years ago."  I just thought it was a short-lived DC series about a caveman.  Boy, was I wrong!  And, while this is the third volume of three hardcovers collecting Kubert's body of work on the character, this book (checked out from my local library) does a lot to expand upon the mythos of the character and my knowledge therein.

This volume begins with the first issue of the DC Explosion series, which itself was a reworking of Kubert's comicstrip proposal.  But this is not some simple panel swapping: Kubert created full page tableaus for his strip panels, formatting the story with not only a comic book design sense but also adding plenty of new art and information to digest.  The story, involving a young Tor running into a strong youth from another tribe, is incomplete here, but is a tempting introduction to the lush world Kubert created.  (I have all six issues of the DC series, so I am not concerned about the story being "incomplete" at the moment.)  The light and somewhat washed-out coloring, clearly a product of the mid-70s, helps the overall look of the issue, even if its on substantially better paper.

The bulk of the volume is Kubert's four issue Tor series from Marvel's "Heavy Hitters" line from the early 90s (a choice I applaud, since DC could have easily just reprinted their own series and left the Marvel work out).  This story is a very important one in the history of Tor in that it was the first to introduce really fantastical elements.  Sure, Kubert had bent the truth a little bit by having some dinosaurs appear previously, but it clearly was meant to be the last remnants of the thunder lizards -- well past their heyday and trying to hold on in the face of Man.  But this story introduces a tribe of scaly, lizard-like Men, whom Tor encounters when he witnesses them sacrificing a young woman to their gods of thunder and fire deep within a volcano.  The girl survives, thanks to Tor's help, and the two are soon embroiled with both the lizard Men and their strange reptilian god, as well as fighting the Hairy Men who murdered Tor's father and took over his tribe.  This series originally appeared on glossy paper, so the deep colors and moody inks Kubert employed are transferred perfectly.  The story is exciting and visceral -- the kind of stuff one would consider for a Tor screenplay, if such a thought wasn't too outlandish to consider.

Also included are some short backup stories, as well as sketches and thumbnails from Kubert's roughs on the Marvel series, with notes from the artist.  There's also a great foreword by Roy Thomas, and an introduction by Kubert.  The book itself is oversized, which really lets the reader study the detail work which Kubert pours into each page.  The fact that the entire book is Kubert's work makes for a consistantly beautiful primitive world, filled with creatures both familiar and alien, but all believably so.

If you are interested in trying some heroic stuff which isn't your typical Superhero or S&S fare, then definitely see if you can pick up a copy of this volume, or one of the two previous ones.  I know I am hunting them down, much as I sought out the original DC series, and am eagerly awaiting the next two issues of the current DC series.  Tor is a classic of the 4 Color world which should appeal to most comic book fans, and this volume, despite being the last in it's line, makes for a good introduction.

Fair Trade: Showcase Presents: The Flash

When DC first announced their Showcase line of phonebook-style reprints, this title was the one I was most looking forward to. Nevermind the fact that it wasn't announced in the first wave. Or second or third. I knew that it was going to come out eventually, and when it did, I would possess it.

I first became a fan of the Flash as a little kid. I distinctly remember receiving the Super Powers Flash toy from my parents, although I do not really remember why. I don't think it was a birthday or Christmas. I think it may have been one of those treasured moments of childhood when your parents gave you something just cuz, and you had no idea why, but your gratitude typically was boundless. Anyways, from there I was always happy to see him pop up (rarely though it was) on Super Friends, and then made it appointment viewing to watch his short-lived TV show. Of course, as it seems to be true for a lot of characters I enjoyed as a kid, I never thought to, you know, go and buy his comic book until I was in high school. And of course, by that time, Wally West had taken over the mantle of the Fastest Man Alive. Still, I became a Flash Fan (Flashite? Flashhead? Flasher?!), and read up on the history of the Scarlet Speedster and his colorful cast; the Flash legacy quickly usurped Big Blue as my favorite corner of the DCU.

Which leads me back here. Starting out with the final adventure of the original Flash in Flash Comics #104, we jump directly into the world of Barry Allen, world's slowest boyfriend, dedicated and brilliant police scientist, and soon-to-be super-quick superhero. This being the Silver Age (that is, the creation thereof), things start out quickly enough -- no sooner does Barry gain his amazing powers than is he out stopping the superslow bank robber Turtle Man, or the exiled ciminal from the future Mazdan. And things pretty much keep to that pace for the balance of the volume.

Straight-faced without being earnest, these early Flash stories are great examples of what was going on at DC in the late 50s which brought about the revitalization of the entire Superhero genre. Peppered with gloriously dubious science, this was a re-imagining of the way a costumed crime fighter would work, with some natural principle or another being held responsible for his amazing feats. How did Flash's uniform work? By expanding in contact with the air, similar to a Navy life raft when it touches the water! Why can Flash run through walls? The same way that at sufficient speed, a strand of hay can pass through a concrete block! It was the modern age of Two-Fisted Science! at it's very best.

Springing from the fertile imagination of writers Bob Kanigher and John Broome, and primary artist Carmine Infantino, we get to see the creation of what would become the Rogues Gallery, including Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Mr. Element/Dr. Alchemy, Gorilla Grodd, Weather Wizard, and the Trickster, not to mention Iris West, Kid Flash, Elongated Man, and Gorilla City. The stories move quickly (as is appropriate), and typically throw in a few twists and turns along the way as Flash has to outthink his enemies rather than just pummel them at super-speed.


One advantage of this volume over the similarly-timed Showcase Presents: Aquaman v.1 is the handling of Kid Flash. In the Aquaman volume, once introduced, Aqualad is a near constant at the Sea King's side. Kid Flash, however, generally adventures on his own, giving him a chance to shine and show himself to be a competent hero in his own right, and not just a doomsaying sidekick. The other main difference between them is that Flash was a featured star; the longer stories afford for more depth and more complex plots, making them more memorable.

Obviously this collection is not for everyone. Readers who don't like the Silver Age will find these tales dull and one-dimensional, in addition to somewhat inane. And if questionable science offends you, then give it a wide berth (similarly, don't even think about the Showcase Presents: The Atom). But DC fans, I think, enjoy reading the foundations of one of the modern pillars of the universe. And with Barry primed to make a comeback of some sort in Final Crisis, now seems as good a time as any to relive his past exploits.

Fair Trade: The Immortal Iron Fist: The Last Iron Fist Story

For whatever reason, ever since I decided to do a Google search one day last year for "Comic Book Blog," and had my eyes opened to the inane "blogosphere" which seemingly popped up all around me without my notice, it has come to my attention that I, evidently, like a lot of comics which suck. And, similarly, that I dislike some of the best comics being published today. I don't know quite why that is, but it is. But that's okay. I don't mind too much, really, because I read what I like and don't read what I don't like.

Take this title, The Immortal Iron Fist, for instance. Now I never really liked Iron Fist as a character all that much until I started collecting Power Man And Iron Fist. From there, the guy started to grow on me, with his naive worldview and the nice contrast between him and Luke. So I was happy to see him popping up a bit more in the last few years, and when Marvel announced a new ongoing series starring "The Living Weapon," I figured I would try it out. And, uh, needless to say I was underwhelmed by the whole thing.

For one thing, the fun, chop-socky hero I was familiar with was gone, replaced with a brooding, moody loner who has all the personality of a mid-boss in a versus-fighting game. The art was flat and lifeless, to the point that even a pitched rooftop battle with a HYDRA battalion -- which should have been a kinetic setpiece -- is an inanimate, cold mural. And the whole affair seemed to be informed more by modern, ultra-violent "serious" kung fu films mixed liberally with smart-mouth dialogue and "attitude" than the Shaw Brothers stuff. I ended up dropping the title after the second draggy issue, and didn't look back. That is, until I found the trade paperback on sale one day at Barnes & Nobles, and thought to myself, 'Hey, you know, everyone else online really raves about this title, maybe it's better in the trade.' So I bought it, hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

I wasn't.

Now, I know what the roar echoing throughout the halls of the Bunker is right now (that is, if I had any readers): You're just pining for nostalgia, you're too close-minded to appreciate what Brubaker and Fraction are doing, you just want everything to stay the way it was when you were a kid. And in most cases I won't deny those accusations, because, honestly, yeah, I like older comics more than the majority of new stuff these days. But in this case, I don't think that's a fair assessment. The are some elements of this book that are good. Brubaker and Fraction seem to have a good handle on what they are doing, and I actually really liked the world-building stuff from the end of the volume. And the costume designs for Danny and the other historical characters that Aja put together are very cool. But if I had to try to put my finger on the reason why I don't like this series, I think it would have to be that I don't like Daredevil.

See, this isn't a series about Iron Fist. It's a series about Iron Fist acting like Daredevil, sneaking around on rooftops at night and getting the crap beat out of him and having his personal life be a mess and having daddy issues. Iron fist isn't Daredevil, despite what went down in Civil War. And again, my idea of what Iron Fist "is" is formed based on what kind of Iron Fist stories I like to read. If you took this series, and photostatted Shang Chi, Master of Kung-Fu into it's pages (maybe replacing Luke Cage with Bob Diamond?), I'd be right there in line ranting about it. But to have Iron Fist behaving this way just doesn't click right in my mind.

I really wanted to like this title, because I think that Iron Fist is a cool character who deserves to have a little bit of attention. So, in that sense I am glad the series is proving to be a decent seller and have a good deal of fans. But, unfortunately, I cannot number myself amongst them.

Fair Trade -- Harvey Comics Classics Volume 2: Richie Rich

Continuing on the mini-theme from the other day, I just recently finished this volume of Richie Rich comics, lovingly constructed by the good people over at Dark Horse comics. if you want to read about The Poor Little Rich Boy, then look no further than this tome.

And believe me, tome is the correct word. Clocking in at a whopping 400+ pages and weighing at least 2 pounds, this is a definitive collection of Richie Rich strips, from his earliest appearances as a backup feature in Little Dot through being the star of his own title (and later, many, many more titles) in the 1960s. Collected are 125 individual stories (the cover pictured above is an early version) which run the gamut from simple, worldess one-page gags to complex, multi-part adventures.

For what is at it's core a simple concept, the various creators who worked on Richie at Harvey got a lot of mileage out of the basics of the character which were there right from the start. The very first strip tells how privledged young Richie ditches his boring dance lesson to go play baseball with the neighborhood kids, then takes down a bully. These aspects -- the desire for normalcy and friendship, standing up for the less fortunate -- became the core of the character, and the stories would be built on this foundation for decades to come.

The book is divided into two halves, the Golden Age and the Silver Age. The Golden Age stories are never longer than five pages, and primarily revolve around Richie having fun with his poor friends Freckles and Pee Wee. The villain of these pieces is usually his greedy cousin Reggie Van Dough, a sadistic little SOB who takes great pride in showing off his wealth and having fun at the expense of others. Of course, he gets his comeuppance in the end, either in the form of Richie finally getting fed up and tricking him, or, just as frequently, Reggie's own arrogance and stupidity. The character of Reggie would soften up over the years, but he remained a constant in Richie's world even as late as the 1980s when I first discovered the character.


The Silver Age section focuses on Richie's own title, launched in 1960. The stories continue along a logical path, with Richie having fun with his friends and otherwise trying to be a regular kid. In this half, Richie's status as a headliner is put to good use, as we get a handful of multi-part stories, ranging from ten to fifteen pages, including the Johnny Quest-esque "Mutiny on the Oceanic." With this development, we also get to see a lot of zany inventions and creations, such as a camera that de-ages whatever it shoots. These never seem to work quite as expected, but usually get put to good use against the seemingly endless gangs of crooks trying to rob the Rich Estate. Also introduced is Cadbury, who at first Richie is skeptical about, but the butler's seeming knowledge and skills in every conceivable field soon win the young man over. Cadbury gets to take center stage in a few strips as well, as does Pee Wee in a few shorts. Irony the Robot Maid even pops up near the end!

The other important change in the Silver Age is the introduction of Gloria Glad, Richie's girlfriend. Though a lot of her stories are formulaic ("Don't spend so much money, Richie!"), they offer a nice contrast to the tales of fishing and baseball with Freckles and Pee Wee, and also allow for the love interest angle for the adventure stories. Gloria's father is a fun character as well, as we see his horrified reaction to the increasingly extravagant gifts Richie buys his daughter, seemingly driving him to a nervous breakdown. (This is ironic, since Gloria's father is nowhere to be seen in the Richie Rich film, but her mother, a minor character in the comics, has a substantial role.)

My favorite story from the book is a five-pager from the early 60's entitled "Anyone Who Sees A Psychiatrist Needs To Have His Head Examined!" The gist is that Gloria, in an effort to break Richie of his spending habit, gets him to see a shrink. Richie's sardonic commentary about his treatments are hilarious, as he comments that his doctor is more than willing to help him stop spending money -- by taking all of his money from him! It's strips like this one, that poke fun at more adult topics which fly right over the heads of young readers, which really make the character appeal to all-ages.


The trade itself is very handsomely put together, with nice glossy paper and heavy stock. There's 64 color reprodution pages, which accurately capture the feel of the old Harvey newsprint -- at least the handful which I still have in my possession. The balance of the book is in sharp, beautiful black-and-white, a real treat to someone who likes inked pages as much as I do. The stories look clean and almost modern in black and white, especially with the high-sheen paper. There is one oddity, though: due to how her eyes are colored normally, Gloria's eyes look a little... strange... in the black and white pages. Also included is a short (but informative) historical summary by Jerry Beck, as well as a two-page interview with artist Ernie Colon, one of the many who worked on the strip. Neither is all that long or in-depth, but at this point they're just gravy anyway.

With a list price of $19.95, this is a little more expensive than your typical black-and-white reprint trade, but it's also a much nicer package than your average Essential or Showcase volume. Richie Rich is one of the most enduring characters ever to grave the comics page, and with this volume, readers can discover (or rediscover) just what made The Poor Little Rich Boy so popular in the first place. A perfect volume for parents to read with their kids, or just to enjoy on their own.

Fair Trade -- The Phantom: Death in the Deep Woods

Take a journey into the African jungles, where legend speaks of a terrifying spirit who haunts all those who stand for injustice and greed. This Man-Who-Cannot-Die, the Ghost-Who-Walks, has stalked the darkest part of Bangalla for the better part of five centuries, and he does not tolerate crime in his adopted homeland. So if you serve evil, and you find yourself deep in the woods on a dark night, watch your back -- because The Phantom will be there.

Collecting the first four issues of Moonstone's relaunched Phantom series, written by Ben Raab and with art by Pat Quinn and Nick Derington, Death In The Deep Woods tells two stories of the Kit Walker, the 21st and current Phantom. For those not in the know, the title of the Phantom is a hereditary one, passed from father to son for generation after generation, each donning the mask and purple and black costume, leading to the legend of the undying hero. And since this hero must produce an heir, the Phantom is a family man, with his wife Diana, their daughter Heloise and son, also named Kit.

The first story (both are two-parters, and as a result this is a pretty short trade, all told) revolves around Diana's work as Bangalla's representative to the United Nations. Namely, an anti-terrorist bill she is working on has attracted the unwanted attentions of a certain Middle Eastern extremist, and he has designs on silenting her. Unfortunately for him, the lady is protected by the Ghost-Who-Walks! The second tale is a little more experimental in nature. Raab introduces a foil for the Phantom in the form of Kua The Undying, a towering member of the Bandar's rival tribe, who has menaced the Phantom many times over the centuries. Turns out that Kua himself is a multi-generational creation, who's mission is to kill the Phantom and enslave the Bandar. Kit has his hands full with Kua, who is smarter than he looks and has plans to strike at the Phantom where he is most vulnerable.

Both stories are fast moving and energetic, with a lot of action crammed into a slim page count. Phantom himself is sort of a Batman figure, using not only his physical strength but also his mystique (Old Jungle Legends) and psychological tactics to take out his opponents. But he's not nearly as grim as Bats, though, adding some levity and almost a swashbuckling-type of tone to the adventure. Raab makes Kit extremely readable, and the reader begins to identify with him very quickly. Same goes for the supporting cast, including Diana and the kids. They are handled not as baggage, but as integral pillars supporting the entire structure. Diana is no stay-at-the-cavw mom, either: she's as much a hero to Bangalla as her hubby is. The Bandar tribe add a nice element as well, and are not portrayed as superstitious or ignorant savages. Even the Phantom's two animal assistants -- the timberwolf Devil, and horse Hero -- acquit themselves nicely.

The art has a nicely weighted feel to it without looking too photorealistic. Quinn and Derington never forget that they are drawing a comic book, and keep things grounded in that reality. The action is intense, but since this series is wat I would call can Adventure strip -- as opposed to a Superhero one -- things do stay relatively low key, but in a good way. I do have to say, though, that Phantom throws the sickest punches this side of Jim Aparo. Don't believe me? Check this out (click to Phantom-ize!):


Yeeouch!

I rather liked this trade. It's a bit pricey at $14.95 for 120 pages (in addition to the 4 issues, there is also a two-page short explaining the character's history), but it reads really well and is a lot of fun. I was already a Phantom fan before I bought it -- the only reason I didn't buy these as singles is that I didn't know they were being published, which will teach me to pay more attention to Previews -- but even a Ghost-Who-Walks novice can pick this up and enjoy. Definitely worth reading if you want something a little bit different from your typical superhero fare.

Fair Trade -- GI Joe: A Real American Hero v.1

One of the tasks I had pencilled in to complete this weekend was not really much of a task so much as it was a nostalgic pleasure. Something which produced squeels of delight from your's truly and inspired this post.

See, when we were growing up, my brother and I had a devastatingly large collection of GI Joe toys. Whole battalions of Joes and Cobras (plus some Dreadnoks and Iron Grenadiers to boot!) with massive amounts of armor backing up each side as well. Coupled with the Sunbow cartoon airing in syndication nearly every morning before school (the DiC one as well, but that came later), our playroom often resembled a military base. To say we were enthusiasts of the 3 3/4" Joes is a major understatement.

Earlier this year, Hasbro, in honor of the 25th anniversary of the original "RAH" toys, released a new set of toys, each modelled after the original figures, but with the detail level and articulation in line with the new millenium. And, I don't mind telling you, these toys are awesome. The "task" I was charged with was opening and displaying my new toys -- at least, once I was done playing with them, as Duke, Stalker, and, my favorite, Gung-Ho were done storming the edges of my coffee table and opening fire on the cat. Peow ptow ptow!

I would be remiss not to talk about Larry Hama, and the Marvel comic book series (the subject of the post!). Before the cartoon series started, the comic was already solidified and creating the world of the Joe team. Hama concieved the series as a mainstream Marvel title, to be called Fury Force -- the concept being that the son of Nick Fury would lead an elite squad of counter-terrorists against HYDRA. The concept morphed into the familiar Joe-vs-Cobra battle, and the rest is history.

But what could have been just another licensed toy tie-in became something much, much bigger, again thanks to Hama. In addition to creating the characters (most famously the filecards issued with each toy, spelling out their background and personality), with the comic Hama designed and deployed a real fighting force. This may have been tied to toys, yes, but the subject matter was always treated seriously and usually strived to portray war as not just glory and explosions. Hama didn't write down to the target audience, and drew upon his own military service as inspiration for the Joes adventures. (Not that he was allowed free reign -- in an interview with YoJoe.com, Hama explains how his line of "A soldier's job is to do the impossible, and then be forgotten" was replaced with "...and make it look easy," a saber-rattler's comment.)

This volume collects GI Joe #1-10, and like any good comic book from the early 80s, establishes what the series is about and who the major players are going to be. It's hard to look back now and be objective (a fan finds themselves too enamored, really), but the pairing of Hama's solid scripts with workmanlike, interestingly utilitarian pencils by Herb Trimpe (and later Mike Vosburg) proves to be a winner. With a high action and lingo quotient in each tale, these early issues stand up well to more "respected" War comics, such as Sgt. Rock or supernatural titles like Weird War Tales. The characters shine through, from fan-favorite mystery man Snake Eyes to the quirky Zap, from the tough guy who can back it up Stalker to the dangerous and intelligent Scarlett -- these are real people. Besides the characters and armor, we're also introduced to such lasting concepts as the Oktober Guard (the Soviet equivalent of the Joe team), the Inuit tracker Kwinn, the Joe HQ known as the PIT, Cobra's lovely and lethal Baroness, the brainwave scanner, and the Cobra-controlled town of Springfield ("A nice little town"). This is not merely the domain of Hasbro, but a vital, compelling adventure.

Is it helped by the fact that I like the property? Yes. But even if you never had the pleasure of waging war on a 3 3/4" scale, those looking to try something a little out of the ordinary in the War genre -- ironically, from a more innocent time! -- would be well served in tracking down this volume, as well as the four subsequent ones Marvel published, carrying all the way out to #50 -- amazingly not even one third of the way through this series, which ran until #155.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to kick some Cobra goons' fangs down their throat. Yo Joe!

Fair Trade -- Showcase Presents: Batman And The Outsiders

When I first got into superhero comics in the very early 90s, I was, for the most part, a Marvel Zombie. I read a couple of Image titles (ShadowHawk, woo!), but mostly I read X-books and other random stuff which the Big M was kicking out. I eventually started reading DCs, namely the Superman titles plus manstays like Green Lantern and Flash. It pretty much continued on this vein for many years, to the point that by the turn of the century the only DC I read was Flash, and Power Company, but that one didn't really last. It wasn't until I got out of college that I got more "into" the DCU as a whole and started to learn about it's history. Ironically, I owe that mostly to Identity Crisis and frequent poster Adama. I distinctly remember a conversation over AIM with him while I was at work one day, and he was complaining about what the first 2 issues of IdC was doing to Silver Age Villainy, and my awesome response of "What's IdC?" lead to me reading his copies and asking him who the heck people were, then picking up JSA and going from there, and at this point I would call myself a much bigger DC fan than Marvel. So, given this, it's needless to say, before a couple of years ago, I was not really sure just who the heck the Outsiders were.

I had heard the name from the second series, but never read it, so the history of this team with Batman and all that was new to me. I started reading Winnick's new Outsiders after "OYL," and liked what I read, so I sought out information on the history of the team, and was surprised at how long that name had been kicking around. This team sounded pretty interesting. I liked Katana from the current series, and had taken a shining to Black Lightning when I read a few issues of his series. Plus, Jim Aparo had become one of my favorite DC artists, so when DC announced this trade, I added it to my pull list.

The verdict? I'm glad I did.

Other bloggers have tackled BATO as well (The Comic Treadmill has a series of excellent critiques, starting here with the launch and early issues), and it does have it's fair share of shortcomings. The excuse for this team coming together is pretty flimsy, even by team book standards. And Mike Barr, that magnificent bastard, does have a tendency to create foes for his team which conveniently feature five members so everyone can pair off. No series is perfect, and this title is no exception to that rule. But despite these, and in some instances, certainly because of them, this collection is a delight and a success.

Yeah, the setup for the team is weak, but honestly, I didn't care about that too much because once things get rolling it really doesn't matter. This is superheroics in a broad sense, but Barr differentiates things from the more staid Justice League by peppering the stories with early-80s versions of social awareness and urban (sur)realism. When Agent Orange rails against the US government for using the chemical which scarred him in Viet Nam, or Black Lightning is targetted for causing a girl's death, or a supposedly benevolent doctor tortures his supervillain patient and covers it up, Barr shoots for something outside the traditional black-and-white contrast. Of course, it never really goes all the way into ambiguity, but it makes for fun reading in the same mold as the best issues of Power Man and Iron Fist. Another benefit is that Barr writes every issue (save for the crossover with New Teen Titans, which was a team-up with Wolfman), and his devotion to his characters is readily apparent. Everyone is not only consistant, but grows, insofar as one can grow in such a series. His Batman, especially, is a character I like to read: he's a tough boss, sure, but he's not so surly and edgy that we cannot relate to him. He's a teacher and a taskmaster and a counseller all rolled into one, molding his team into heroes he feels can carry on his fight when he's gone. Everyone gets a chance to be in the spotlight, too, as we get origins or features on Geo-Force, Black Lightning, Katana, Halo, and Metamorpho as well.

And it looks wonderful. There's not enough nice things to about Aparo's art, which looks as crisp and dynamic in black and white as it does in color. His Batman, always shrouded in shadows, is an ominous presence, and he makes even the strangest costumes (Halo) work. Given the nature of this series -- translation: there's a lot of fighting -- Aparo is right in his element. Everytime Black Lightning unloads his lightning punch on some poor sap, you feel it, and when Katana collapses some guy's lung, the cut is visceral. And it's not just the heroes, either -- each new enemy Barr throws against the Outsiders gets a unique visual style which helps round them out as baddies, from the Force of July's patriotic duds to the Master of Disaster's elemental looks to Agent Orange's militaristic uniform and gas mask. The villains themselves are of the "made up" variety, but that was the norm for this period. Not every issue has to feature Darkseid or Brainiac, ya know? The Force of July deserved a better fate than what they got, I say!

There are some problems to go with all of this, as well. There's a handful of tales in here which seem to be somewhat rushed, as if Barr wrote himself into a corner and had to wrap things up quickly. It's not that bad, but it is there, and it can be disappointing to have a twist occur for what seems to be little more than the writer's whim. Also, some of the character moments fall flat, namely Metamorpho, who hardly has anything to do but pine for Sappire Stagg, at least until right near the end of the volume. Another complaint is the lack of the Bat-universe at large in this title, which I can understand even if I don't share the sentiment. The Outsiders run in their own circle in Gotham, and save for Maxie Zeus, we don't see any of the regular Bat-Rouges; I count that as a plus, personally, but it is a little unusual for a series with "Batman" in the title.

All in all, though, I would call these relatively minor problems with what is, at it's core, a solid action mag. Like all Showcase volumes, it's an attractive phonebook style trade, and you get more than 500 pages for your money, so its a good value. The stories are light and easy, great for reading before bed or when you're waiting for dinner to cook. I'd heartily recommend this book to any DC fan, or to a younger reader looking for a way to get into comics.

And, with any luck, we'll get a second volume. Think I'll go write a letter to DC's collections department.

Fair Trade -- Superman: The Wedding And Beyond

Sometimes, things just converge.

Now, two weeks ago my wife and I were still just engaged. We were dealing with our respective familes and trying to get everything in order for the wedding on the 22nd. Needless to say it was hectic and we had entirely too many people staying at our house and at a hotel literally half a mile up the road.

On the 22nd, my groomsmen and I got to the wedding site at around 1 in the afternoon to do some decorating and set up some chairs. Obviously my bride was sequestered away in her bride's room doing bridal things. But around 2:00, the photographer let me know that they were going to be taking pictures with the bridal party, and thus me and my gang had to make ourselves scarce for about an hour. So, like any good nerds would do, we went to a comic book store wearing our tuxedos.

Planet Comics is in Anderson, SC, which is about an hour from where I live. I used to frequent this shop about every two weeks or so back when I was in college, since it's only about a 20 minute drive from Clemson University. There's a good sized, full service comic shop who also carries a pretty large chunk of gaming and anime stock as well. And one thing which they have had for a while now is clearance bins for stuff which they just cannot move, including plenty of trade paperbacks. So I was perusing the titles, flipping through X-books I could neither identify nor comprehend, and indy press books which I had never heard of, and what do I find but this little gem, nestled snugly between a Batman "War Games" trade and a volume of Sojourn.

A Superman trade covering Lois and Clark's wedding and honeymoon, found in the clearance bin by me on my wedding day? Like I said, sometimes things just converge. Even my wife was amused by this coincidence.

An added bonus is that this story takes place squarely in a period of Super-history which I am familiar with. I read the four Superman titles at this time, but had to sell them off a few years back primarily for space concerns: reading one monthly for a year in the early 90's produced 12 or 13 issues (assuming an annual); reading four monthlies and a quaterly which functioned as a weekly produced 52. But having read these before, I knew some of the details which were not covered in the trade, including who some of supporting cast were, why Superman is powerless, and why Lois and Clark were fighting and estranged at the beginning. These are not minor quibbles, though, for a reader who is not familiar with this period, so I guess that's a bad mark there.

The stories themselves are pretty solid 90's fare, with each issue more-or-less telling it's own story but still adding to the overall direction (something the "Diamond Number" era Superbooks did quite well, generally). Starting off with Lois tracking down a story in subcontinental Asia, things segue quickly into a reconcilitation between our favorite couple, and a whirlwind wedding. The second issue collected is the Superman: The Wedding Album, a giant-sized special featuring no fewer than sixteen different artists from various periods in Superman's history, ranging from Curt Swan to Nick Cardy to Gil Kane to Dan Jurgens. It can be a little jarring to go from one artist to the other in the span of a few pages, but it's great fun trying to identify each new penciller. Following the (admittedly epic) wedding, it's off to Hawaii for the honeymoon, only to become embroiled in a little more adventure (and have a visit from Superboy in the process). It's a light read, with a lot of action but a good deal of heart, something which I think DC usually has a good balance with. Interesting to consider is that the issues contained herein (Superman #118, Wedding Album, Adventures of Superman #541, Action Comics #728, and Superman: MOS #63) represented one month of mainline Superman comics. To have this much happen nowadays you'd need 10 months, a few fill-ins, and an Annual.

It's hard for me to recommend this trade to a general readership: there's too much continuity to make much sense of some aspects, and the stories are just adventures, not the Internet-shattering, navel-gazing type of opus modern readers seem to enjoy. But I think DC fans will eat it up if they have a cursory knowledge of the era, and the nuptials of DC's oldest couple are certainly "Big Time" enough to warrant checking out. Superfans will definitely enjoy The Wedding Album for the bevy of artists and the Superboy appearance, and I think they will get a kick out of "Lois Lane, Black Ops Commando" -- I know I did.

So for your 4 Color fans about to tie the knot (or done so recently), see if you can find this volume at your local comic shop. It's a fun little diversion which can help keep you sane before the big day, and give you something to think about afterwards. Superman is someone you look up to, a role model, and if he can handle marriage, by gum, so can I.

Fair Trade -- The Complete normalman

This is going to be a little convoluted, but I promise it has a point, so stick with me here. When I was a young lad of about the age of 12, there was a company starting up you may have heard of called Image Comics. They got all sorts of press and attention from Wizard and Comic Shop News -- the only sources of info on comics as 12 year old could get -- and us readers were bombarded with ads and hype for the new series. Spawn! Youngblood! WildC.A.T.s! To a lesser extent Savage Dragon and Cyberforce! And something called Wetworks which... well, I won't got there. But there was another title in there which didn't get as much play, and looked somewhat different from it's high-sheen and hatch-marked compatriots.

That series of course was ShadowHawk.

'Hawk was not the greatest comic book ever produced. And it generally gets saddled with the "dog" status of the Image launch titles (sales wise it was, at least). But as a 12 year old I ate it up. I adored ShadowHawk. This brutal, metal-shorn maniac had captured my attention, to the point where when Spawn guest-starred in the second issue, my brain read it as "Oh good, Spawn will get a rub from appearing in ShadowHawk." And we all know how that turned out. Heck, when I made that 12 year old attempt to become a comic book artist (who didn't have that dream?), I drew the cover to ShadowHawk #3. So obviously there was something about the character which appealed to my psuedo-adolescent mind.

But the other noteworthy aspect about ShadowHawk was (here it comes!) that it introduced me to the work of Jim Valentino, 'Hawk's creator. I knew who Todd MacFarlane and Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld and Erik Larsen (heck, I owned a few of their comics... well, except Liefeld. Honest!) were, and had at least heard of Jim Silvestri. But this Valentino guy? What did he ever do? Guardians of the Galaxy? Huh? I was intrigued with his new creation and sought out his older work.

Which (finally) leads me to The Complete normalman. Unlike his fellow Image Founders, Valentino was much more at home doing indy comics than working for the Big Two. And, I would soon discover, he was much more suited to doing his indy comics than he was doing superheroes in general. And then we have this little gem. What do you get when you combine those two dissimilar elements together?

You get the story of norm, put into a rocket as a baby by his CPA father, who is convinced that their planet Arnold will blow up in half an hour (it doesn't) only to drift in space for 20 years to land on the planet Levram (read it carefully), which is populated entirely by superheroes. In fact, no sooner does norm land there than he is brefriended by the inane Captain Everything (possessing the power to create a power for every plot twist) and dubbed "normalman." But would you want to live on a planet of high-powered lunatics who spend all their time brawling and causing general mayhem? Yeah, neither does norm, who desperately tries to return to Arnold. But along the way, he will face deadly peril, travel to other dimensions, overthrow a dictator, fight in a war, sire a race, fall in love, travel through time, run for president, get fall down drunk, meet a host of other indy comics stars, and just about anything else which could theoretically happen in a comic book.

What's even more impressive than the astounding amount of cliches is the way Valentino weaves them into an ongoing narrative; no matter what hackneyed device is in the crosshairs, the jokes come organically and flow into the story instead of standing out. Everything from the Silver Age of heroics to EC horror to Archie-style romance ("Love stinks!") to Elfquest and Asterix is lampooned, skewered, and roasted to a golden brown for our enjoyment. But then we take a moment and realize that we're part of the joke as well, and that none of Valentino's gags would mean a thing unless we loved the medium and the genre as much as he does, and recognized all of the potshots and guffawed at what we take for granted with "normal" (how peculiar a phrase!) comics. But it never veers into spite: though norm is typically very cynical, the naive and trusting Captain Everything happily glomps along with every development and twist, every shocking death and subsequent resurrection. Valentino has characters count the pages between fights scenes and declare that they are making "Kirby poses" or wielding "space vacuums," but it's good natured, the result of too many nights staying up late reading the latest 4 Color goodies, instead of having axes to grind. It leaves the reader smiling more often than anything else.

And it's funny as all get out. Witness: The Legion of Superfluous Heroes, whose rollcall lasts for several issues! See: The Unnecessary A-Men, the Tight Teens, and the Cloned Kids -- superpowered teens all, and all exactly the same! Cower Before: Sgt. Fluffy, Agent of S.C.H.M.U.C.K.*! (*Stands for nothing-in-particular.)

Collected here is literally everything normal: the first short entries from Cerebus and A-V in 3-D, the original series, a few other appearances, then covers and other art. One of the best reads in the volume is the normalman-Megaton Man Special which features two of comicdoms great lunkheads getting a whirlwind tour of the comics industry, as well as the normalman 20th Anniversary Special, which sees norm and Cap head to San Diego Comic Con!

As a genre, superheroes is taken entirely too seriously by its fans. If you have ever found yourself arguing about the best Green Lantern, or rationalizing how Psycho-Man couldn't possibly bypass Mr. Fantastic's energy-shield generator, then this trade is for you. You'll laugh, sure, but you might just gain a deeper appreciation of the characters whom we shell money out for each week, as well as the creators behind them.

Fair Trade -- "Devil Dinosaur" Omnibus

When I was very young, my family went on a vacation to the "train country" of Pennsylvania. My father is a model train enthusiast, and this area has tons of railroad history to explore. It was a fun vacation; at least, I remember it being fun, with all the model railroads and stuff. Anyway, at one point we were doing some antiquing, long before it became fashionable to do so. One such shop had some old comics for sale, and my parents let my brother and I get some reading material. My brother picked up a pair of G.I. Combats featuring the Haunted Tank, while I decided on Devil Dinosaur #2.

Little did I know what I was in for!

I think all little boys are fascinated with dinosaurs at some point, and I was no different. But this dinosaur, bright red even on the yellowed paper, stomping around and generally causing havoc with his little companion, was unlike anything I had ever seen save the Aurora "Prehistoric Scenes" T-Rex model. I didn't know who Jack Kirby was at the time, but I knew that the art was fantastic to me. The colors were dazzling to my young eyes and I fell in love with this big dino.

Of course, being a kid, I promptly forgot about Devil and Moon Boy not too long after we got home.

But Devil was always there in the back of my mind. I'd look out for back issues even if I never sought them out, and I'd pick up his appearances elsewhere if I heard about them. But I neve gave much thought to what others ever thought about him until I got into the blog scene, and it seemed that most people at least thought the series was kooky fun even if they didn't have the child-like affinity for it I had. So when a few months back, Marvel annouced this Omnibus, collecting the entire affair in one full-color hardcover, the "blogosphere" lit up, and I was ecstatic.

The book itself does not disappoint. Besides including the entire series, the volume also includes Jack's "Dinosaur Dispatches" columns and a nice introduction to the man and the work by Tom Brevoort. The issues themselves hold up nicely for what they are: this is not high literature, but it's a heck of a lot of fun, with fast paced adventures and colorful characters. Things tend to skew a bit younger than a lot of Marvel output from the time, but to me, this adds a certain sense of timelessness to the proceedings. Brevoort calls this a story about "a boy and his dog," and in the broadest sense, this is very true. It's a an easy theme to identify and get behind. Couple this with Kirby's world building and you have a series which appealed to children because of the titular star, but also challenged them to think and imagine beyond what is generally accepted as fact by creating a living breathing valley for his creations to play in.

Kirby's art remains bold and vibrant, especially in color, and with Royer's solid inking, everything has a certain enjoyable mass to it. Most issues have a double page splash early on, and these are always a treat to the eye. And while the scripts may not have the modernist, psuedo-social awareness of his other 70s work, each tale crackles and pops in its own way, such as the epic alien invasion which brings the fantastic into conflict with the prehistoric. If Kirby had intended to adapt Devil and Moon Boy to animation (as the story goes), one can easily see how the transition would have gone down. This is a fun, high-spirited comic book.

The pricetag is a bit high ($30 for 9 issues), but considering that it's Kirby, as well as a hardcover, that's not that bad, honestly. The volume itself is handsome, with a bright dustcover reproducing the first cover, over a black binding with silver lettering. After reading this, I was disappointed in only one sense: That DC didn't do the same for his Fourth World books, and release each one as it's own Omnibus. This is one trade which I can recommend to anyone who likes their comics bold, brash, and fun.

Fair Trade -- JLA: New World Order

It's a weird thing, but a good portion of the current crop of "super-writers" in the comic book world do not appeal to me. Brian Michael Bendis made me give up reading Avengers after many years (and giving him two and a half years to win me over). Mark Millar's work leaves me feeling cold and uninvolved in the story. And I never cared really for the television shows written by J. Michael Straczynski or Joss Whedon, so it's not surprising that I don't care for their comic work, either.

Very often a writer who falls on that list is Grant Morrison. He has a legion of devoted fans, especially online, who praise everything he does as genius and blast those who criticize him as philostenes. Well, maybe that's a bit of an overstatement, but Morrison's rep is pretty untouchable online, to the point where he is his among his most vocal critics. I first read Grant Morrison back when he was penning Doom Patrol under the Vertigo imprint, and my first impression was that it made no sense. For my benefit, I was 12 at the time. Looking back on it now, it certainly is understandable, but no less weird. A lot of his work reads like the journal of an egomaniacal seventeen year old Honor student, quick to break out the big words and unusual sentence structure to demonstrate just how far superior his own brain is to your own. His New X-Men seemed to me like one big joke, with Morrison laughing his way to the bank.

And yet... he does pull out some gems. I really enjoy All-Star Superman, he helped turn 52 into a big hit, We3 is one of the saddest and most heart-rendingly strange comics of all time, his work on Animal Man is off the charts creatively, Seven Soldiers challenged the idea of what an "event" was, and, yeah, Doom Patrol may be a little bizarre, but it's pretty cool. And I had always heard good thing about his run on JLA, which restored the title to its former "World's Greatest" glory after the rise and decline of the "franchise" days in the 80s and early 90s.

So when I was at Barnes & Noble looking for a gift for my father, I couldn't resist picking up the first volume, priced rather nicely at $7.99.

Our story starts fast, with a new group of super-powered "heroes" arriving from space. The Hyperclan promise to bring about paradise on Earth, fixing all of the problems which the Justice League of America seems unable -- or unwilling -- to address. In a show of tremendous power, crops are seeding throughout the Sahara, and public opinion of the JLA begins to sour. Superman doesn't trust Protex, the Clan's leader, but his motives appear to be benevolent. That is, until an attack on the Justice League satelite and some disturbing information about how the Clan is operating forces the new team -- composed of heavyweights Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, GL (Kyle), The Flash, and the Martian Manhunter into action. (Don't worry, Aquaman shows up too, but he needs a little, how shall we say? Convincing.)

The story itself (and thus, this trade) is short and sweet. In four issues, Morrison crams in not only the new threat of the Hyperclan, but ingloriously ditches the old team, unites the neo-classic group, throws down countless action sequences, fleshes out his take on the characters and their relationships, reveals the true threat, has the big blow-off, introduces the new HQ, and even has time for a little philospophizing at the end. Tales like this work for the Justice League, and Morrison has little problem with either the pacing or the juggling here. There's no reason to have issue after issue of people standing around a table -- these are action heroes, and Morrison and Porter are well to the task, with each character not only having their own voice but little traits which help define them for readers of all experience levels. The bickering between Wally and Kyle is classic, and comparing that to their interplay years down the road in Identity Crisis is thought-provoking (to me, anyway). Furthermore, Morrison is not afraid to show these characters at full power -- ALL of them. When Aquaman dominates his enemy's mind by telepathically tapping into a part of the brain which evolved from marine life, the Aquafan in all of us stands up and cheers.

All in all, for folks like me who made a point to watch Justice League on Cartoon Network every week, and find the title in it's current state to be a little, well, lacking, I cannot recommend this trade enough. It's fast, fun, and full of energy, and best of all it's not even 10 clams. It may not convert you over to being a Morrison-worshipper, but it delivers a ton of bang for not a lot of bucks.

Fair Trade -- Showcase Presents: The War That Time Forgot

When I first saw the first wave of Marvel Essentials back when I was in college, I really fell for the idea of inexpensive, bulk, black and white reprints of classic material. And as I eagerly tore through each volume of Essential Iron Man and Essential Avengers, I couldn't help but wonder: why did DC do the same thing? Obviously there was a demand for this format of trade paperback, and DC had a really varied and diversified offering back in the late 50s and through the 60s, including plenty of "genre" comics which are not well represented today, including Western and War. So when DC finally announced their competing format, I was very happy to see Jonah Hex and Haunted Tank amongst the early editions, not to mention Unknown Soldier following closely behind. But never, ever, could I have predicted this.

I mean, it's soldiers fighting dinosaurs. Every story. Every issue. Think about that.

Star-Spangled War Stories did feature some other, more standard War comics inside its anthological pages, but for this collection, the entire focus is on the "War That Time Forgot" feature, with a smattering of recurring characters, and quite a few anonymous grunts, ending up tangling with prehistoric beasts "from the dinosaur age!" By the way? Get used to that phrase. You're going to see it a lot.

For sheer inanity and Silver Age oddness, this is a hard volume to top. Beyond the basic concept, which is pretty out there in the first place, you have such elements as the Flying Boots, a trio of brothers who are also a circus high-wire act, or the G.I. Robot, long before a similar character took over the pages of Weird War Tales. There's a strange group called the Suicide Squad (!), consisting of various men who seem to all have it in for one another in addition to the enemy, including Mace and Morgan, who have a few starring roles towards the end. There's even a few adventures with a giant, friendly albino gorilla, Dino, the Baby Dinosaur, and G.I. Caveboy. G.I. Caveboy. To call this "unusual" is the understatement of several centuries.

But that's not say it's bad, because it most certainly is not. This is, for the most part, entertaining stuff, with outlandish creatures and a crazy rendition of the US Armed Forces. Bob Kanigher could write war stories like nobody's business, and on these tales he seemed to be just cutting loose and having fun. The art, mostly done by Ross Andru, but with some Kubert mixed in there, is clean and creative, with most of the beasties given some unique traits to differentiate it. The sound effects are superb, crackling and vibrant, and also are very useful at highlighting the difference between modern and classic effect work. And, individually, the stories are not bad especially considering that this is Silver Age DC.

Notice I said individually. The problems begin to show up when you read the stories in fairly rapid succession, like I have. The repetition of not only basic plot but also of phrases and elements starts to drag the reader down from the grin-inducing silliness. I suspect that this was due more to the fact that "War That Time Forgot" was a feature in an anthology, so every two months you'd not only get your dinosaur fix, but also some more staid fare as well, so it wasn't hitting over the head like it is here. It gets to the point where you start dreading reading the phrase "Mace and Morgan -- who hate each other more than the enemy!" or "Blockbuster from the dinosaur age!" again and again, and the stories start to bog.


But ultimately, I cannot hold that against this volume too much. It's not the material's fault that it is best read spread out, and not condensed. One could purchase this trade, and spend a year reading stories out of it, and would probably enjoy it more than I have pounding it out in a month or so. If you've grown bored with what's sitting on the racks of your local comic shop, you will get a good deal of mileage out of Showcase Presents: The War That Time Forgot, with which you can shut off your brain and dream about tossing "lead pineapples" at "tank crushers" from, that's right, "the dinosaur age!"