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Tag Archives: Stan Lee

Top 5 Books of April

29 Thursday May 2014

Posted by ScottNerd in Top 5 Books of the Month, Uncategorized

≈ 8 Comments

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Astro City, Brent Eric Anderson, Brian Wood, Dan Slott, Daniel Zezelj, Dark Horse, DC, Douglas Adams, Dr. Strange, Elmore Leonard, Garth Ennis, Goran Parlov, Greg Rucka, Image, Innie Awards, Jack Kirby, Jason Aaron, Jason Latour, Jordie Bellaire, Justified, Kurt Busiek, Laura Allred, Lazarus, Mark Millar, Marvel, Michael Lark, Mike Allred, Moby Dick, Roy Thomas, Silver Age, Silver Surfer, Southern Bastards, Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, T.H. White, Terry Pratchett, The Massive, The Once and Future King, Vertigo, Watchmen

#5. Astro City #11 (DC/Vertigo): A quick perusal of our past Top 5 lists will tell you that we’re generally not the biggest fans of superhero fare. Oh sure, we have a soft spot in our hearts for the cape and costume set; they were after all our gateway drug into the wider world of comics. But with such a bevy of quality non-superhero books inhabiting the current comics landscape (it really is a golden age folks), why waste our time on the cynical merry-go-round of movie tie-ins, Big Events and the never-ending, never-changing battle? Even worse are those titles which claim to be edgy by adding some nominally ‘mature’ wrinkle to the works: ‘superheroes who swear!’ ‘superheroes who have sex! (full frontal!)’ or some other such trope that was well-worn by Watchmen nearly thirty years ago. It takes something far less gimmicky to add something new to the genre (and that’s what superheroes are, fanboys; not mainstream but a genre).

Luckily, in Astro City, Kurt Busiek and Brent Eric Anderson have managed just that. Nearly a year into the title’s return after an extended hiatus, Busiek and Co. remind us of their mastery of the eye-level approach to the fantastic. This time out centers around a personal assistant, the type of capable multi-tasker who’s invisible to the public and indispensable to her boss. But of course in this case, her boss is a superhero. Like many in her profession, her duties include, but are not limited to: answering mail, keeping track of finances, scheduling appointments, etc. But because her boss is a mystical Dr. Strange type, a missed appointment can mean placating interdimensional gods who threaten our world with annihilation for their inconvenience. The story is an ode to all of the unsung, behind-the-scenes supporting players who, through sheer competence, organization and the ability to keep a cool head, keep the world running, day in, day out. The pleasure comes from watching our harried-but-never-overwhelmed protagonist put out fires, ranging from the mundane to the apocalyptic, with nothing more than a well-placed phone call or a sift through her files. That, and the loving, sideways homage Busiek and Anderson have crafted to some of the stranger Silver Age forays of Kirby, Ditko, Lee, Thomas, et al. To paraphrase, there are a million stories in Astro City. This is one of the best. (DM)

Astro City #11

Astro City #11

#4. Silver Surfer #2 (Marvel): What goes on here? Two superhero books from the Big Two crack our Top 5? Well yes, when one of them is drawn by the inimitable Mike Allred. His wild, Pop Art aesthetic (enhanced by the bold hues of wife Laura Allred) immediately brings the fun to any book it graces. And Dan Slott scripts a tale to match involving intergalactic hucksters (‘the Incredulous Zed’) extra-dimensional god-constructs (‘The Queen of Nevers’) and sensitive Plorpian digestive systems. Not to mention the true protagonist of the story, one ‘Dawn Greenwood’ of Anchor Bay, Massachusetts. Appropriately titled “Everything And All At Once”, the story owes less to typically constrictive superhero dynamics, and more to the expansive exuberance of the likes of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett (despite our American creators, there is  something distinctly British about the proceedings; a compliment, naturally.) In other words, if you’re looking for a rollicking good sci-fi bender of a time (and why wouldn’t you be?), you could do a lot worse than Silver Surfer. (DM)

Silver Surfer #2

Silver Surfer #2

#3. Lazarus #8 (Image): Greg Rucka and Michael Lark are on quite a run: this is the third month in a row that we’re celebrating Lazarus as a top book.  (It’s true: check out what we had to say about the patient perfection of #6 and #7!)  What’s keeping the book pegged to the big board issue after issue?  It’s the storytelling.  The fellas have forged themselves a winning formula–one that’s made all the more impressive by the fact that in no way does it feel like they’re going through the motions; no, they’re keeping it fresh as can be, once again to purpose employing parallelism to amplify further the conflict, which has been an eager flame burning its way through a long fuse to an explosive effect without any bombs going off–at least not quite yet, anyway.  This installment of the 2014 Innie nominee for Best Ongoing Series is once again built upon a foundation of the early days of Forever.  In this case, Forever fails to live up to expectations and misses out on a meeting–on her birthday, no less!–with her frustrated father, who leaves a very significant gift behind: White’s The Once and Future King, an insinuation that speaks to Forever’s growth and purpose–and, in that, to Rucka’s inspiration for the series.  This significant sequence comes back around when present Forever finds herself in an ethical bind, knot courtesy of a catty Daddy Carlyle, over the impending terrorist attack in Denver.  Oh, the road to Denver is paved with good intentions, innit?   Doing most of the paving: Michael Barret and Casey, who, while on their way to the Lift Selection, are willing to offer up a hand to their fellow travelers, including, at the very end, an Angel of Death.  It’s all coming to a head, folks; and the book–and we–couldn’t be in better hands. (SC)

Lazarus #8

Lazarus #8

#2. Southern Bastards #1 (Image): Oh.  Shit.  Jason Aaron and Jason Latour have made quite a splash with their merciless ode to good ol’ boys.  Now, I’m predisposed to liking it because of its being not unlike Justified, with its Southern-fried setting and tone, and even its well-defined yet ambiguous cast of characters, smacking of the late, great Elmore Leonard, and, in that, the often late, great Garth Ennis–which makes even more sense considering that it also reads a hell of a lot like Fury: My War Gone By and Mark Millar’s Starlight because of the big notes of nostalgia and, tying it all together, because Latour’s Earl is plenty Parlovian.  The story’s solid from the get-go: Jason Squared pitches the prodigal son’s return and expertly upsells pathos as the conflict grows–just as a tree grows from Earl’s father’s grave–into the final sequence, itself a grueling duel of duels–a one-two combination (punishing blows received and delivered) of violent events enlivened by the lyrical layouts–that cements this debut as a top book of the month; it’s the love shown by the creators for the South and the story inspired by it that makes it even more than that.  (SC)

Southern Bastards #1

Southern Bastards #1

#1. The Massive #22 (Dark Horse): Thus far, Brian Wood’s apocalyptic take on Moby Dick has focused on one Callum Israel, whose Ahab-like obsession with finding his eponymous ship has led him to the far corners of a world that is slowly falling apart due to a mysterious event known as The Crash. The search has allowed Wood to explore in convincing detail (with the help of an impressive cadre of artists; here Danijel Zezelj does the honors, with Jordie Bellaire on colors) the effects of environmental devastation, economic collapse, and political disintegration in such disparate locales as Iceland, Hong Kong and Mogadishu. The sheer breadth of Wood’s geopolitical knowledge and inquiry is impressive. It also pulls off the neat trick of serving as both the series’ raison d’etre and narrative backdrop to its central mysteries: Where is the Massive? What caused The Crash?

Just as the answers have eluded the increasingly obsessive Callum (did I mention he was dying of cancer?), Wood’s writing has sometimes been frustratingly vague. Many of the arcs (all consisting of three issues) have run like this: fascinating set-up, high stakes climax, baffling denouement. While there’s something to be said for not giving the reader what they want, the considerable tension inherent in the story has sometimes been undercut by endings that seem deliberately anticlimactic, and even obtuse. Well the first issue of the latest arc, “Sahara”, finally promises some resolution, beginning with the one to the other great mystery: Where the hell has Mary been?

Mary, Callum’s lover, shipmate, and conscience of his crew, seemingly abandoned him in his time of greatest need. This issue finds her, in typical Wood fashion, smack dab in the middle of a geopolitical intrigue with real-world resonance. She’s guarding a convoy of the world’s most precious post-Crash resource: water. As the spotlight shifts to her, we begin to realize what Wood has been hinting at all along: the search for the Massive is a MacGuffin. All mysteries lead to Mary. By turns the most compassionate and the most remote, she has quietly taken on an otherworldly dimension. As we watch Mary cross the desert, now with child, one cannot help but think that as the series builds to its conclusion, Wood is countering the obsession and despair of the white whale with an almost biblical hope for salvation. (DM)

The Massive #22

The Biggest Dis(appointment): Mind MGMT #21 (Dark Horse): To truly understand this choice, you have to understand that disappointment comes from expectations not being met–and in some cases, from expectations being bitch slapped by promises unfulfilled.  In this case, we were led to believe that master storyteller Matt Kindt was going to deliver a “silent issue”; and if you we’re like me, you thought immediately to the silent issue of all silent issues: G.I. Joe #21 from Larry Hama and Steve Leialoha, which blew our minds thirty years ago–yikes!  With the poison–the potent neurotoxin nostalgia–already in the wound, what chance did this stab at a silent issue have–especially after our being rudely welcomed by word one!  Wouldn’t you know: Kindt–ever the clever creator–was playing us from the promise!  His interpretation of silent: no dialogue–which means that thoughts are fair game; and to make the game more fun, those thoughts were insightful, sure, but sometimes ironic, considering the situations in which the thoughts were, umm, thought.  So, fine, it’s “silent,” I’ll buy it–and I did buy it, blissfully ignorant and high on hope; however, while the story works well within the world of Mind MGMT, Kindt has managed to both exploit and execute my innocent expectations.  The former finds me somewhat satisfied, but it’s the latter than leaves me mostly nonplussed–and this issue as our Biggest Dis(appointment) of the month.  (SC)

Mind MGMT #21

Mind MGMT #21

Turning pages,

Scott & Derek

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Top 5 Books of March

21 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by ScottNerd in Top 5 Books of the Month

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Afterlife With Archie, Archie Comics, Brian Wood, Carmine Infantino, Dan Slott, Dark Horse, David Lapham, El Capitan, Epic, FF, Francesco Francavilla, Frank Miller, Garry Brown, Great Lakes Avengers, Greg Rucka, Image, Jack Kirby, Laura Allred, Lazarus, Madman, Marvel, Matt Fraction, Michael Lark, Mike Allred, Moebius, Parable, Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino, Ren & Stimpy, Robert Altman, Roberto Aguirre Sacasa, Silver Age, Silver Surfer, Sin City, Stan Lee, Stray Bullets, Stray Bullets: Killers, The Flash, The Massive

#5. Silver Surfer #1 (Marvel): I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Mike Allred brings out the best in his writers. For most of his existence, the Silver Surfer has been a solemn, portentous presence in the Marvel universe. To be fair, this was written into Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s very concept of the character: he’s the herald of Galactus, destroyer of worlds, after all. If the Surfer showed up, your goose was cooked. Of course, in the end he sacrificed his freedom, not once but twice in order to avert disaster. The tragic nature of the character has been explored by writers ever since, from Steve Englehart to Jim Starlin and perhaps best exemplified in Stan Lee’s Epic return to the character in Parable (drawn with graceful panache by the legendary french artist Moebius). All well and good, but somehow left unexplored in all of this was what was originally suggested by Kirby’s truly rad character design: a genius amalgam of surf culture and space age sleekness (this was the ’60’s after all). Outside of Carmine Infantino’s design for The Flash, the look of the Surfer is simply the coolest representation of that bold, optimistic era. Space Opera meets Pop Art. A gnarly rider of the cosmic waves, he puts the Silver in Silver Age. So why’s he such a bummer all the time? Where’s the fun?

Enter Mike Allred. As many (but not enough) comics fans know, Allred’s seminal Madman was almost single-handedly putting the fun back in superhero comics back in the 1990’s. In an era defined by, dank, “gritty” violence (which somehow purported to be more “mature”) Madman harkened back to a time of limitless, zany possibility. That an “independent” comic had to remind the Big Two how it was done was sad commentary on comics of the era. Now, twenty years later, and “mainstream” (whatever that means) superheroes are finally catching up. And at Marvel, Allred is finding a fertile ground to play in. On the recently concluded FF, writer Matt Fraction wisely amped up the absurdity to take advantage of his artist’s manic sensibility. The result was one of Marvel’s most entertaining books in recent years. Call it the “Allred Effect” (please do, I’m accepting royalties).

Now, with writer Dan Slott, he’s taking on one of the big guns. And if the first issue’s any indication, we’re in for a grand ol’ time. Slott, no stranger to strangeness, what with his runs on Great Lakes Avengers and Ren & Stimpy, again wisely plays to his artist’s strengths, setting the story on a fantastical casino/resort/amusement park the size of a planet (seriously, dig the double-page spread). Slott stays true to the character however; indeed the comedy arises out of the contrast between the ever-serious Surfer and his increasingly ridiculous surroundings. In a similar vein, Slott highlights the bizarre bazaar even further by cleverly juxtaposing it with the quotidian goings-on at the quaintest little New England bed and breakfast you ever saw. And all of it rendered by Allred (with beautiful colors by his wife Laura) whose wild and wooly aesthetic, brimming with possibility, is the guiding principle for the book. This promises to be fun. (DM)

Silver Surfer 001 Mike Allred Cover

Silver Surfer #1

#4. The Massive #21 (Dark Horse): Oh, we’ve been waiting for this!  Boys and girls, Brian Wood has done it!  The patient poet, who tells a mighty fine tale in a most measured meter, has finally followed a spectacular second stanza–the most recent celebrated just last month in this very blog–with a worthy third that doesn’t simply satisfy–it electrifies!  Wood, ever the simmering salesman, at last has boiled over, has pulled the trigger at precisely the right moment, ending the arc by ending Arkady and, perhaps more significantly, the malignant matter of trust between the cancer-ridden Callum and his loyal Ninth Wave mate, Mag.  And, as a bookended bonus, Wood, with a little Bay City backstory at the beginning, teases even more about Mary, and, at the end, marries her mystery to that of The Massive and the Crash.  Garry Brown, busy now with Marvel’s Iron Patriot, delivers some of his best work on the series, evidenced emphatically by a final splash that reveals exactly what’s on Callum’s mind: the song that cinches it–that links the lady in question to the last day of the world as they knew it–and this last issue of The Massive as we know it.  That’s right: expectations have officially been rejiggered: Wood and Brown aren’t all slow boil, after all; if they need to, it’s quite clear: they can scald.  Can’t wait to see how this mystery, one of the more intriguing in comics today, plays out in the next arc: Sahara.  I can already feel the heat! (SC)

The Massive #21

#3. Lazarus #7 (Image): Looking for a lift?  Ain’t gonna find it here; I mean, just look at the cover:

Lazarus #7

Instead, Greg Rucka and Michael Lark segue smoothly into the next sequence of steps in the well-choreographed comparison between Forever Carlyle and Casey Solomon, joylessly juxtaposing the incomparable plights of Family and Waste.  The opening scene, paced patiently in order to deliver an emotional punch, is a trying training exercise that exposes the fledgling Forever’s fragility.  During the revealing conversation between Forever and her mentor, Marisol, Lark plays angles and eyes to perfection, amplifying the pain of innocence lost–of growing up Forever.  Casey, on the other hand, doesn’t have the luxury of training; she must master the moment when it arises–and in the “Badlands,” a moment “Kraks” the night and cruelly cuts down young Leigh, which leads to Casey’s first two “Kraks” at doing what needs be done–and she is masterful.  Yes, the storylines are solid: the terrorist threat still exists, and present-day Forever and Johanna work toward breaking Emma, the one suspect they have in custody, by offering to lift her from Waste to Serf; and the Barrets, whose hopes for the future have been slashed by a third, still have their sights set on Denver, which is where the all-important–and apparently well-attended–Lift Selection will take place.  But what makes this issue one of our selections is the impeccably employed parallelism, which brings a curious parity to a world where there seemingly is none. (SC)

#2. Afterlife With Archie #4 (Archie): “Please don’t…Don’t make me do this,” indeed. I’m crying right now. Crying!  All I did was open the damn book to refresh myself—you know, in order to piece together a proper review—and then “Ker-rasshhh!!!” I mean, I can’t even.  See: when Vegas—Archie’s fiercely loyal four-legged best friend—vaults through the window, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla are the ones sending shards of glass poisoned with flashback-fueled nostalgia into my heart, which bleeds freely during the succeeding sacrifice—a brilliant sequence amplified by the dutiful dog’s thoughts and his pleading eyes—and coaxes my eyes to commiserate in their own salty style. The creators push the pace and impose another emotional toll—paid in more tears!–as Archie must play the same role Vegas played for him as he protects his mother from his zombified father—a smashing sequence in its own right, highlighted by a fifteen-panel masterpiece: a puzzle comprised violently and lovingly of pieces from the present and the past. Even though Archie’s able to hit a regretful homerun, there’s clearly no rest for the weary–or the teary: Vegas is back, this time looking to make a meal of his master; and the only way to escape is to “Ker-rashhh!” an old car through the garage door.  Yeah, despite all of the tears it’s easy to see how it all comes together—into an exquisitely composed book well worth celebrating as one of the very best of the month. (SC)

Afterlife with Archie #4

#1. Stray Bullets: Killers #1 (El Capitan/Image): Picture it: 1995. The comics landscape was a far different place. Mutants were everywhere. Just slapping an “X” in front of a title ensured sales in the bajillions. DC was in between its endless Crises. Image was a far cry from what it is today, with top-selling titles like Spawn, and Witchblade. Scantily-clad women with tiny feet and permanent wedgies threw down with half-metal men who were always missing an eye against demonic bad guys that were all teeth and claws. And oh, the guns, guns, those giant guns, and blades with ridiculous hilts, and bikini armor and all manner of accessories ill-suited for an actual fight. And all of it drawn in a sleek, substance-less style that suggested the artist had never seen what an actual weapon or tooth or woman actually looked like.

Into this morass of hyperventilating adolescent fantasy quietly appeared the first issue of a little black and white self-published comic called Stray Bullets. It was written and drawn by a relative unknown named David Lapham who’d done some work for Valiant or something. Like the above examples, it was printed on paper, with a front and back cover and was held together by two staples. And there the similarities ended.

That’s not to say that the first issue wasn’t violent. It’s called Stray Bullets for a reason. But it dropped the reader into the quiet moments between the violence in a way that felt completely natural. This realism made the threat of violence, its inevitability, all the more terrifying. Set in the future year of 1997, the story traced the night where Everything Went Wrong; the night a quiet, easily overlooked nobody became a mass murderer. As the body count mounted, so did our sense of dread, as we recognized this all too plausible world as our own. An act of violence also haunted the second issue. Set twenty years prior (Lapham is constantly time-hopping in the series),  an 8 year old girl witnesses a murder and is robbed of her innocence utterly. She is Virginia Applejack, and she’s the closest thing the series had to a main character. After the character studies of the first two issues, the third introduced an expansive cast in a kinetic, beautifully orchestrated group scene that would’ve done Robert Altman proud. And then, just when you thought you had a handle on it, the sixth issue completely pulled the rug out from under you.

Part of the beauty of these stories was that Lapham designed each to be a complete experience unto itself and yet also pieces of a larger whole. Characters who were the focus of one story might drop into the background of another. A world was being created, one alley, trailer, sucker at a time.

Now, when it first appeared, the comic book that SB got most compared to was Sin City. But, other than an element of crime, Frank Miller’s stylized testosterone noir pastiche had nothing in common with Lapham’s slice-of-life-turned-on-its-head approach. The forced comparison occurred simply because there was nothing else in comics to compare it to. More than Miller’s .45 slug, SB was a cannon blast through the conventions of comics.  No, in order to find suitable comparisons, one had to look to film: Altman, Cassavetes, the Coen Brothers, film noir, etc. In fact, given the interconnected structure of smaller stories forming a larger tapestry, the contemporary work that provided the best correlation was perhaps Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. But whereas that masterpiece juggled three stories over the span of a couple of days, Lapham pulled off his magic trick for forty issues covering a couple of decades. And then, in 2005, he stopped. He started doing work for hire at the Big Two and elsewhere; presumably there were bills to be paid. And while he did some interesting work, none of it ever approached the scope and ambition of SB.

Fast forward nearly ten years. The comic book landscape is a much different place, offering a wider selection of genre, story and innovation than any time in its history. Creators have more freedom and opportunity now to pursue their own mad visions. And actually be paid for them. The time was finally ripe for SB to return. (I don’t know what stars had to align, but it is to Image Comics’ eternal credit that they played a part in it.) But then…foreboding. There’s always a danger in revisiting greatness. Considering how high he’d set the bar the first time around, could Lapham possibly regain his form? Did he still have that edge?

Well the results are in, and man, he hasn’t missed a beat. Killers #1 is everything a fan could ask for and more: sex, violence, secrets, betrayal. Like the story of Virginia Applejack, this issue involves a child who sees things he shouldn’t have, and the consequences thereof. The story structure, the beautiful, clear art, that sweet, sweet sense of dread, it’s all here. From the first panel, there’s no doubt you’re in the hands of a storytelling maestro. If you’ve read SB before, there are callbacks to the original series that enrich the story. If you haven’t, then this is a great jumping on point. But then every issue of SB is a great jumping on point; as I said, Lapham’s designed them that way.

People are calling this the return of the most acclaimed crime comic of all time. But SB is more than just a crime comic. It’s about safe, recognizable lives turned upside down by the awful world around them. Like all great art, it’s a mirror, albeit a shattered one. So instead of calling it a crime comic or restricting it to some other genre, I’ll simply say: it’s the return of the best comic ever. (DM)

Stray Bullets Killers #1

Stray Bullets: Killers #1

The Biggest Dis(appointment): Rachel Rising #24 (Abstract Studio): Here’s a little secret: the book we choose for The Biggest Dis is generally not the worst book we’ve read that month. Rather it is the book that failed, often spectacularly, to approach whatever expectations we had for it. Our expectations are nearly always attached to our experience with the creator(s) involved. So our BD is often directed at a title or creator that we hold in some regard.

We’ve been cheerleaders for Terry Moore’s Rachel Rising almost from the start. Indeed, we included it in our Top Ten Books of 2013. The story of competing, reawakening evils, threatening to consume the sleepy town of Manson and the dead girl caught in the middle, was a slow burn, alternating between between spare, atmospheric lyricism and spasmodic violence. Moore’s considerable chops were on display from the get go: engaging characters, an ear for gallows humor and the perfected art of the unannounced shock, often serving as a cliffhanger for the next issue. And of course, the unparalleled black and white artwork, each page a master’s class in composition, concision and storytelling. Everything clicked, resulting in the best horror comic on the market. For over twenty-three issues the tension inexorably built toward a showdown of biblical proportion.

How truly dispiriting then to read issue twenty-four. The putative climax to the story, it is such a rushed, slapdash affair as to scarcely seem part of the same series. Where we had drama, we now have farce. The interaction of the characters is forced and completely unconvincing. The threat turns out to have been not very threatening at all. And the moment of truth is so anticlimactic, it feels like a cheat.

I understand there may have been financial considerations at play. Moore has publicly discussed ending Rachel Rising due to poor sales. But that, at the risk of sounding mean-spirited, is not the concern of the readers who’ve been faithfully following the story for over two years. Whether or not he could continue in the long or even the short run, his audience, however small, deserved a better effort than this. And, as it turns out, he is continuing the series. A month ago I would’ve considered this cause for celebration. Whether or not I will follow him now is suddenly, and sadly, an open question. (DM)

rachel-rising-24

Rachel Rising #24

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turning pages,

Derek & Scott

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I&Nterview: Danny Fingeroth

16 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by dmainhart in I&Nterview

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A Contract with God, Alain Resnais, All Things Considered, Alter Ego, Chris Claremont, Danny Fingeroth, Dean Haspiel, Dennis O'Neil, Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews Comics and the Creation of the Superhero, Fredric Wertham, Harvey Pekar, Hilde Mosse, Jack Kirby, Jason, Joey Cavalieri, Klaus Janson, Last Year at Marienbad, Leila Corman, Marvel, Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, memoirs, Miriam Katin, MoCCA, NPR, Peter Kuper, Rick Geary, Robert Crumb, Roy Thomas, Sean Howe, Seth, Silver Surfer, Society of Illustrators, Spider-Man, Stan Lee, superheroes, Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us about Ourselves and Our Society, The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels., The SoHo Gallery for Digital Art, The Stan Lee Universe, The Today Show, TwoMorrows Publishing, Unterzakhn, WhirlGirl, Will Eisner, Write Now!

Danny Fingeroth is a man who’s made his life in comics. Best known as the longtime editor of Marvel’s Spider-Man comics line, Danny is also something of an academic authority on the form. His impressive contributions to the underlying power of the medium include such well-received books as: Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us about Ourselves and Our Society; Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics and the Creation of the Superhero; and The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels. He created and edited Write Now!, a magazine dedicated to the craft of writing comics. In a similar vein, he has taught comics-related courses at New York University, The New School and The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA). He has spoken on the subject at The Smithsonian Institute and The Metropolitan Museum of Art and has appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered and The Today Show on NBC. He currently offers classes and educational programs at The SoHo Gallery for Digital Art. His most recent book (co-edited with fellow legend Roy Thomas) is The Stan Lee Universe.

Derek Mainhart: You’ve delved quite a bit into the autobiographical subtext of a lot of comics, especially regarding the original superhero comics of the early 20th Century. What got you thinking along these terms?

Danny Fingeroth: It’s something I just gravitate toward thinking about. Sure, these stories were created to generate revenue, but with that as a given, what were they about under the spandex trappings? Why THESE stories and characters, and not others?  When you start thinking about that, pretty soon you’re getting to “What were the creators—including the editors—trying to express? What personal experiences, yearnings, dreams, did they draw on?”

DM: Interesting that you mention the editors; they often get overlooked in questions like this. To what degree do you think editors influenced some of the autobiographical subtext we’re talking about?

DF: Editors often become part of the creative process, especially in mainstream comics, since you are often dealing in a shared universe. Every comic and every team deals with this differently. Ultimately, the editor is concerned with, “What will sell the most comics while also preserving the long term integrity of the main characters?” (Business imperatives may dictate how much concern is evidenced for those long term concerns.) So if a story ultimately becomes a combination of ideas and experiences from the various parties concerned in making the story, then that’s fine, at least as far as the long term health of the character franchise, if not for the egos of all concerned. Just as a TV series can be the “vision” of one or multiple minds, the same with a comics series. The editor is supposed to not take credit for the creative content, but if you find yourself liking multiple titles, on an ongoing basis, that are edited by a specific person, then you have to think that, at the very least, that editor is catalyzing these particular creators into working at the top of their game, even if he or she is not specifically directing them regarding what to do and how to do it.

DM: What would you say the comics written by Danny Fingeroth reveal about him?

DF: That’s not really for me to say. Let a thousand doctoral theses be launched! (Or at least a couple of blog posts.)

DM: On the other side of the coin, you’ve written about society’s need for superheroes. Do you think they have a shelf life? The heroic figures of the 19th Century, for example, don’t necessarily carry the same weight as they did in their own time (Sherlock Holmes being, perhaps, an exception). Even the pulp heroes that begat superheroes, while still around, are hardly the phenomena that they once were. Could it be said that, in terms of comics, the 20th Century was the Superhero Century, and that the 21st will perhaps move on to Something Else? Or have waves of blockbuster movies enshrined them in the popular consciousness?

DF: The latter. As our society seems to become more complex than ever (is that an illusion?), people tend to want simple, direct solutions to these problems in their entertainment. Superheroes, even complex ones, fill that bill. The superhero has become for the 2000s what the Western was for the 20th Century—a metaphor system through which Americans tell ourselves our collective story.

Behind the Scenes

DM: Sean Howe’s book Marvel Comics: The Untold Story recently garnered some attention. Naturally, you make a couple of appearances. Would you say his behind-the-scenes look at Marvel’s history paints an accurate picture? Is there anything in it you’d care to comment on?

DF: I’d say given the enormity of the task Sean took on, he did a good job of weaving the company’s history into a narrative with a compelling flow. There is no single “Marvel,” after all. Everyone who worked there experienced it differently. I think Sean delved into some of what was going on behind the scenes over the years with a reasonable amount of accuracy. The hardest thing to convey in a biography of a company is the reality that, while people come together at a place for a common cause, they/we all have our own non-work lives going on at the same time. That’s where personal memoirs would come in. What non-work-related reasons were there for why a particular person made a series of decisions? Who were they when they left the office for the day? How did that affect the work they produced?

DM: How do you think the job of an editor has changed in the last 15 years or so?

DF: It seems pretty much the same to me. I think the replacement of the phone call with e-mail and other electronic communication media is problematic when applied to a creative field. As in most areas of life, communication is now quicker, and while in some ways clearer, in other ways more confusing. We’re probably now at a similar point where, 100 years ago, people were bemoaning the impersonal nature of the phone call. Now we yearn for the shades of meaning that can be conveyed by an actual human voice over a phone. But the roles of an editor as representing the company to the creators and the creators to the company seem to me to be pretty constant.

DM: What about the role of an editor as representing the company and creators to the public/fan base? How important is it to have a presence on social media, for example?

DF: Social media is an accelerated, intensified version of the letters page, and convention interaction which editors and creators used to interact with the public in the pre-digital era. Readers and fans (not always the same thing) may think they want to see a particular character’s saga develop in a certain way, but the fact is that what people want is to be surprised by something that in retrospect was inevitable–which is the definition of a good story. Ultimately, in non-gaming, non-fanfic narratives, we want to see the characters we have an emotional investment in do amazing things that are awesome and cool–but that also make sense given what we know about the characters and their worlds. So social media can serve to help get a more immediate sense of what the readership likes and doesn’t like, or what surprises they may have figured out before you wanted them to–but ultimately, just as they want to hear a singer sing, they want to have the storytellers tell them the best possible stories. Social media helps that process along.  

DM: The fanboy/geek in me has to ask: the Spider-Man line is currently involved in a controversial storyline. Your run as editor on Spider-Man was no stranger to controversy itself. Is there any advice you could give to Spidey’s current editorial crew?

DF: Listen to all advice, but keep your own counsel. If the fan inside you says “I gotta read that!”—then do it!

Memoir-able

DM: In The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels, your top three choices are memoirs, and your top ten is rounded out by books that are at least partly autobiographical in nature. Is there something inherent in the medium that lends itself to this type of personal narrative?

DF: I think so. There’s something so direct and visceral about comics.  The medium can convey complexities of human experience that are simultaneously “realistic” and yet also subjective, and do it in a way that neither print nor film/video can.

DM: How much of this autobiographical strain do you think can be traced back to the “first” graphic novel, Will Eisner’s A Contract with God?

DF: I think it goes back at least as far as Crumb, who often told stories that were from his own life, and then to Harvey Pekar, who refined autobiography to a high level, often with Crumb illustrating. Eisner added a distancing layer by lightly fictionalizing his characters’ names and likenesses. Being of a different generation with a different orientation toward comics, Eisner’s stuff was a synthesis of what he had done over the previous decades, along his realization that adults who enjoyed comics might actually want material that deals with more mature themes and concerns.  Of course, storytellers have been mixing autobiography with fiction forever. Even in Contract and his other work that is considered autobiographical, Eisner is very careful to use fictional street names and somewhat disguised characters, so what seems like memoir is fictionalized.

DM: TRGtGN was published in 2008. Anything since then crack your list of must-reads?

DF: Jason and Seth are pretty fantastic. So are Miriam Katin, Dean Haspiel, and Peter Kuper. Leila Corman’s Unterzakhn was great. Rick Geary’s body of work is astonishing.

And Now for Something Completely Different…

DM: Whatever happened to WhirlGirl?

DF: She hasn’t gone away. More info when and if something happens…

Stan the Man

DM: What was the impetus behind Write Now! ?

DF: I wanted to demystify comics writing and to get it some respect. Also, I wanted people to get some sense of how it’s done and make them think about how they might be able to write comics of whatever type, for the major companies, or 20 of their friends. Art is “sexier” than writing because its appeal is visceral and often immediate, whereas writing takes a little more time and effort to judge and respond to—at least it seems that way on the surface. After all, writing and art combine to make comics, so how can you really separate the two crafts, anyway?

DM: Was putting together The Stan Lee Universe a natural outgrowth of your experience on Write Now! ?

DF: Well, it started as the simple idea to combine my and Roy Thomas’s 85th birthday tributes to Stan from Write Now and Alter Ego magazines. Then it got a whole lot more complicated when we decided that I would travel to Stan’s archives at the University of Wyoming and see what unique material I could find there. And I found lots!!

 DM: Sounds potentially fascinating. Anything you can share?

DF: I found recordings of radio interviews that were broadcast in the 1960s and then never heard again. I had the best of them transcribed and then lightly edited them, and they appear in the book. There’s a lengthy one of Stan with Jack Kirby from 1967, which is fascinating. Then there’s one from 1968, the week after Nixon was elected president, of Stan debating comics-hating Fredric Wertham’s colleague, psychiatrist Hilde Mosse, about comics and popular culture.

DM: Wow.

DF: There’re also pages from the screenplay Stan wrote in the early ’70s for a film that was to be directed by his friend, French director Alain Resnais, who made Last Year at Marienbad, among many classics, and is still making important movies.

DM: Tres avant garde

DF: Plus, there’s a lot of script and pencil art from the 1978 Silver Surfer graphic novel Lee and Kirby did, including many personal notes and comments from both of them. Those are just a few of the incredible things in the book. It’s pretty amazing stuff. I’d love to do a volume two. 

DM: Stan projects a very strong public image. Without giving anything away, did editing all of those interviews from various points in Stan’s life give you some new insight into the intersection of his life and work? The man behind the persona?

DF: I learned that he gives the world more glimpses behind that public persona than is immediately obvious, because he often couches remarkably frank statements within the context of other material that is more purely promotional or entertaining. His public persona, in my experience, isn’t that different from the private one—just louder.

From Behind the Scenes to In Front of a Blackboard

DM: The classes you put together for MoCCA over the years featured an impressive roster of talent (Chris Claremont, Dennis O’Neil, etc). Had any of them taught before?

DF: Dennis had taught for many years at SVA. Ditto for Joey Cavalieri and Klaus Janson. I think at some point most comics creators have done at least a guest shot in a class or been on a panel at a convention. For those with less teaching experience, I would do the lesson as an interview I was conducting with them. Don’t forget, in pitching a story, one uses many of the same skills a teacher uses: conveying an idea clearly and in a compelling manner to someone else. I would generally try to choose people to teach whom I knew had an engaging conversational style, and who were excited about sharing ideas. They were teaching already, even if they weren’t aware that they were.

DM: Any thoughts on MoCCA’s absorption by the Society of Illustrators?

DF: I’m glad MoCCA is surviving and thriving. I’m a big fan of both organizations.

DM: Anything else in the works?

DF: I’m working on several book and comics projects that I hope to be able to speak about in more detail soon. Ditto for events and classes that I’ll be giving live and online. I can tell you that I’ll be teaching my comics writing online class again through The Media Bistro website in the fall, and teaching a comics writing course for undergrads through the department of TV and Radio at Brooklyn College, also in the fall.

DM: What advice would you give to prospective comics creators (other than to take your classes!)?

DF: Don’t do just one thing. Be an artist, not just a comics artist. Be a writer, not just a comics writer. Comics careers are for the most part relatively short, even for people whose talent is acclaimed and in demand. Even if you have a twenty-year comics career, you still have another twenty, thirty, forty or more years of a working life in which you’ll want to stay active and productive.   

 

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Back & Forth: Hail the Future Heroes of Yesteryear!

26 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by dmainhart in Back and Forth

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2001: A Space Odyssey, 48 Hours, Adventure Time, Archer & Armstrong, Betty Page, Bravest Warriors, Buddy Cops, Chris Samnee, Cliff Secord, Dark Horse Comics, Darwyn Cooke, Dave Stevens, Dirty Money, Emanuela Lupacchino, Eric Stephenson, Evan Shaner, Fab Four, Fantastic Four, Fonografiks, Fred the Clown, Fred Van Lente, Guillermo Ortego, IDW, Indiana Jones, J. Bone, Jack Kirby, Jeff Smith, Joey Comeau, Jonathan Hickman, Jordie Bellaire, kaboom!, Lethal Weapon, Lisa Moore, Mark Waid, Michael Caine, Mike Holmes, Nate Bellegarde, Nate Crosby, Nick & Nora, Nowhere Men, Robert Osborne, Roger Langridge, Rush Hour, Ryan Pequin, Snarked, Stan Lee, Stanley Kubrick, Starsky and Hutch, TCM, Terry Pratchett, The Beatles, The British Invasion, The Da Vinci Code, The Rocketeer, The Rocketeer: Hollywood Horror, The Rocketeer: The Cargo of Doom, The Thin Man, The Thing, Uranus, Valiant, Wu-Tang Clan

Derek Mainhart: Friends, mutants and aliens, lend me your ears! Join us as we travel back to the future, to a time when heroes roamed the sky and science paved the way for a better tomorrow! A time of ancient robots and futuristic gladiators! Atomic monkeys and electric guitars! Beckoned by the spark of a holographic welder’s torch, we hurtle forward into history to meet our retro-destiny! Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Future Past…

A 1930s pulp hero created in the 1980s and revived in the 2000s? Who better to exemplify nostalgia for an innocent era that never was than The Rocketeer? Like his contemporary Depression-era adventurer, Indiana Jones, Dave Stevens’ legendary creation peddled in, and paid homage to, the wanton exuberance of classic B-movie serials. Stevens’ buoyant, uncynical cliffhangers (hell, the lead character’s name is Cliff) combined with his lush illustration (its classic draftsmenship itself like a relic from a bygone era) to inspire a devoted cult following. And let’s not forget his masterstroke; making pin-up queen, Betty Page, Cliff’s girlfriend. Stevens’ work was so accomplished, it seemed superfluous for anyone else to try their hand at the character, even after his untimely death in 2008.

Some characters however, are simply too good to fade away. Happily IDW has relaunched The Rocketeer, giving the hero his due: first in an anthology series featuring top-flight creators, then in a four-issue mini by creative team par excellence, Mark Waid and Chris Samnee. Now we have Roger Langridge and J Bone on The Rocketeer: Hollywood Horror. Folks, this may be the best new Rocketeer yarn yet. The previous stories tried (and succeeded to various degrees) to recapture the inherent nostalgia of the character via an innocent, never-say-die tone indicative of 1930s and ’40s Americana, perhaps casting it against a major historical backdrop like, say, WWII. Well Langridge goes five steps further and fully immerses him in the era. This should perhaps come as no surprise from a writer whose past work has encompassed everything from the slapstick of early cinema (Fred the Clown, hysterical) to Carrollian nonsense (Snarked!, inspired) to his current work, the vaudevillian, high-seas adventures of Popeye (a gift to anyone with an appreciation for the history of the medium). For The Rocketeer, he’s not satisfied to present his tale in a typical one-size-fits-all B-movie slang; rather he seems conversant in a variety of era-specific patois and idiom. Further, he entangles our hero with fictional characters specific to that time: first, the minions of Doc Savage (that greatest of pulp heroes), and then, seemingly apropos of nothing, Nick and Nora (and Asta!) from the venerated Thin Man film series. Between this and the multitude of references to old movies and forgotten actors (the narrator himself seems to be one), this book is a dream for lovers of pulp and classic Hollywood. It would be right at home being introduced by Robert Osborne on TCM. And let’s not forget J Bone’s pitch-perfect art. His bold, cartoony rendering immediately cues dirigibles, De Soto’s and dames. His work stands well with Darwyn Cooke and Jeff Smith (one wishes he was handling the covers as well; nothing against the legendary Walt Simonson, but his style, all harsh angles and frenetic line, is simply a poor fit – my one quibble). All in all Langridge and Bone are crafting a Rocketeer comic that is not only worthy of its legacy, but builds on it. Somewhere, I daresay, Dave Stevens is smiling.

Scott Carney: Geez, yeah, all that and–  OK, who am I kidding?  I’m not as tuned  into the history of The Rocketeer as you are.  (Is anyone?)  In fact, my first experience with the character was The Cargo of Doom.

DM: Oh, trust me; there are people who know way more about The Rocketeer than I do. What about the movie? Ring a bell?

SC: There was a movie?

DM: I can’t even.

SC: No, really, I liked what Waid and Samnee did in their mini.  If I’m being honest, I bought the series for them; and for the most part, I wasn’t disappointed; but I wasn’t all of a sudden a Rocketeer fan.  As far as I was concerned, it was an act of loyalty–to the creators; and if they were to take on the character again, I’d be there.  Wasn’t planning on ever following the further adventures of Cliff Secord.  In fact, I passed on this one–initially, anyway.  You recommended it–emphatically, if I’m remembering correctly–so I picked it up.  Dude, you were so right.  What a good time!  Through two, I’m thinking, like you, that Hollywood Horror is at a whole other level, thanks to Langridge’s vision and Bone’s fleshing it all out.

DM: Next up in our Canyon of Heroes is Archer and Armstrong #8 (Valiant). Their centuries-spanning pseudo-epic is rich in taste but refreshingly light in calories. Part buddy-story, part sibling-rivalry, part worldwide-conspiracy, this frothy fable features improbable adventure and high satire. It’s like The Da Vicni Code as written by Terry Pratchett. Writer Fred Van Lente (with solid art by Emanuela Lupacchino and Guillermo Ortego) garnishes the high-octane action with Big Ideas and comedic flourish, never failing to entertain. His one misstep here though; in an attempt to counter the usual lighthearted tone with some emotional heft, he has the villain speak of his role in an event that is very like a recent national tragedy. My immediate reaction, for what it’s worth, was a discomfiting “too soon.”  Again, this is a quibble, lasting as it does for all of one panel. Month in, month out, we write about the pleasures delivered by Van Lente & Co.’s work on this book. So pick the damn thing up, if you haven’t already.

Scott Carney: I know you’re glad I picked up Buddy Cops (Dark Horse) for you after your initial pass.

Buddy Cops #1

Buddy Cops #1

DM: Yeah it was all right I guess…

SC: “All right”?  That’s quite an understatement, my friend!  Sure, Buddy Cops–an hilarious one-shot from a publisher that has been making its name seem more and more ironic with each passing week–seemed to come out of nowhere.  In fact, it was an “Oh, and by the way” recommendation from one of my shop guys.  (That’s right: I have more than one.)  There was room enough in my bag and a few bucks still smoldering in my pocket, so I went for it; and I was not disappointed.  As promised, Nate Crosby and Evan Shaner deliver “da muthaf***in’ ruckus” in this crack-a-panel homage-slash-send up of the buddy cop genre.  The ready-to-rumble, Wu-Tang spoutin’ Uranus and the electrode-in-the-mud T.A.Z.E.R. are on the case–three of ’em, in fact–and take on outrageous creatures (including, a ninety-foot-tall orangutan in a monk’s robe, who professes precariously, “da lord iss my sligshot,” while sitting atop a church) and social issues (Gay marriage!  Arbortion!) in one giant “monsterswat!”  They are Riggs and Murtaugh from Lethal Weapon; they are Carter and Lee from Rush Hour; they are Hammond and Cates from 48 Hours; they are Starsky and Hutch from, well, Starsky & Hutch–the T.V. show, dammit!  But despite their being so obviously and so proudly derivative, they’re the freshest pair to hit the funny pages in recent memory.  I laughed out loud and profess my love for this book even louder!  And, borrowing from George Costanza, I say this with an unblemished record of staunch heterosexuality: I hope this isn’t the last I’ll get to see of Uranus.

DM: Ok, ok, it was funny. Yeesh!  Even so, it wasn’t even the funniest book this week, at least for my money.

SC: Keep your dirty money!

DM: Would that I could. But the biggest barrel o’ laffs this week was Bravest Warriors #6 (kaboom!). This time out, our future science heroes are knee-deep in bazookas, beauty pageants and brain transplants; and that doesn’t even scratch the surface. Joey Comeau’s story takes beloved sci-fi tropes and makes mincemeat out of them. And having his hysterically depraved scenarios drawn by Mike Holmes in the faux-naive, child-friendly style of Adventure Time (saturated in pretty, pretty colors by Lisa Moore)  just makes the whole thing seem so, so wrong. (Ditto Ryan Pequin’s giggle-inducing back-up story). The absurdity in this book is so ridiculous, it’s almost profound.

Of course the book that did more than any to bring science adventurers to the modern era was Jack Kirby and Stan Lee’s Fantastic Four. Emphasis on mod. After fifty-plus years of history, it’s easy to forget that these staples of the spinner rack were once downright cutting edge. As Pop Art was breaking the boundaries between ‘fine’ and ‘low’ art, Kirby was exploding the restrictive design of the comics page. In the midst of the Space Race, the costumed quartet were frequent fliers. And at the height of the British Invasion, Lee and Kirby gave comics its own Fab Four. Those early issues still crackle with energy and freshness. As the years wore on however, FF inevitably transitioned from zeitgeist to nostalgia, revolutionary to venerable.

Now Eric Stephenson and Nate Bellegarde have dusted off the elements that made FF great and reconfigured them (along with a whole bunch of other stuff) to create Nowhere Men (Image), a decidedly 21st century comic. The story (with the tagline ‘Science is the New Rock-N-Roll’) concerns four celebrity scientists (bearing more than a passing resemblance to The Beatles) who banded together in the ’60s, forming a mega-conglomerate called World Corp dedicated to the betterment of mankind. In the present however, they’ve long since gone their separate ways, due to ego clashes, differing visions, (sound familiar?) as well as mysterious circumstances that haven’t been fully revealed yet. One or all of them are also somehow involved in the fate of a space crew whose mission has somehow gone seriously awry.

Here the comparison to FF is particularly instructive: where Kirby and Lee, reflective of their age, presented a utopian faith in scientific progress, Stephenson and Bellegarde present a view that is, not cynical exactly, but knowing, tempered by an awareness of human weakness and fallibility. The innocence of scientific discovery for its own sake has been replaced by the reality of serving corporate profit. Technological advancement is understood as at least as destructive as it is creative. For example, in FF the group is testing an experimental rocket when they are struck by ‘cosmic rays’ endowing them with superpowers, which they promptly use to protect humanity (with the monstrous Thing serving as tragic, though still noble, counterpoint). In Nowhere Men, we have a group of scientists quarantined in a space station due to a ‘sickness’ they’ve contracted under mysterious circumstances. The effects of the sickness affect each individual randomly, even capriciously, as some are granted ‘abilities’ (as opposed to ‘superpowers’) while others undergo grotesque transformations that make the Thing look like Michael Caine in comparison. And some are in between (one of the more appealing characters seems to combine the brute strength and appearance of the Thing with the intellectual remove of Mr. Fantastic). Where one offered limitless promise, the other deals in disillusionment; even the title seems to suggest it.

This is far from a hopeless affair however. For one, the sheer inventiveness of the storytelling will not allow it. In addition to alternating between the past and present, Stephenson’s elliptical narrative is fragmented amongst various viewpoints. Only now, in this fourth issue, are its non-linear elements beginning to coalesce (I didn’t even feel comfortable reviewing the thing ’til now). But that’s not all. The very presentation of information is unorthodox. In the current issue for example, Stephenson thinks nothing of inserting three pages of prose – an excerpted ‘chapter’ from a tell-all history of World Corp – right in the middle of the action. This not only serves as a clever transition, but adds visual depth to the story, as the chapter is presented in a specific graphic style that convincingly suggests the late ’70s / early ’80s. Where FF‘s brash, boundary-breaking style was in keeping with the modern sensibilities of its era, Nowhere Men‘s approach is distinctly postmodern, befitting our own fractured time.

Which brings us to perhaps the most notable aspect of the book: its design. FF had the kinetic genius of Kirby’s art. Nowhere Men instead employs the principles of sophisticated modern graphic presentation. The clean, cold concision of Bellegarde’s art is impressive enough. But it is packaged, along with the aforementioned textual pieces, faux ads and information graphics, in a carefully considered manner that takes into account the comic book as an object. The refined aesthetic has been compared, aptly, to Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odessey.  Fonografiks, the company responsible for the look of the book, is really to be commended; I only wish the name of the specific designer was credited. The inside covers, the selection of fonts, the credits; all act in concert to create a visually immersive experience that reinforces the incidents of the story. When was the last time the design of a comic played such a concerted, integral role in the narrative?

FF has had any number of interesting runs over the years (Jonathan Hickman just finished up a pretty good one at that). But the true successor to Kirby and Lee’s vision, innovation and cultural relevance is Nowhere Men.  Book of the Week.

 Turning pages,

Derek & Scott

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MARVEL: NO!

24 Saturday Nov 2012

Posted by dmainhart in Uncategorized

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Adventure Time, Al Ewing, Alison Bechdel, All-New X-Men, Asgard, Avengers Vs. X-Men, AvX, AvX #11, Baltimore, Barnaby, Battlefields, BOOM!, Brendan McCarthy, Brian Azzarello, Brian K. Vaughan, Brian Michael Bendis, Bush administration, Captain America, China Mieville, Chris Claremont, Chris Ware, Civil War, Courtney Crumrin, Cyclops, Daniel Indiro, Daredevil, Dark Horse, Dark Reign, DC, Dial H, Donald Rumsfeld, Douglas Wolk, Dynamite Entertainment, Ed Brubaker, Eric Trautmann, Fantagraphics, Fatale, Fear Itself, FF, Fiona Staples, Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist, Garth Ennis, graphic novel, Green Lantern, Greg Rucka, Hawkeye, Hellboy, House of M, Hulk, IDW, Image Comics, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Jack Kirby, Jason Lutes, Jean Grey, Jeremy Renner, kaboom!, Mark Waid, Marvel, Marvel Bullpen, Marvel NOW!, Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, Marvel Universe, Matt Fraction, Matthew Southworth, Michael Kupperman, Mike Allred, Mike Mignola, Miles Morales, New 52, Norman Osborn, Oni Press, Peanuts, Phoenix, Popeye, Professor X, Robert Downey Jr., Roger Langridge, Saga, Scarlet Witch, Scott Summers, Sean Phillips, Secret Invasion, Sentry, Siege, Skrulls, Snarked, Spider-Man, Stan Lee, Storm, Stumptown, Superman, Tales Designed to Thrizzle, Ted Naifeh, The Avengers, The Zaucer of Zilk, Thor, Tony Stark, Ultimate Spider-Man, Universal Studios, Void, Watchmen, Wolverine, Wolverine and the X-Men, Wonder Woman, X-Men, Zero Hour

“I’m worried about what’s going to happen next. I’m worried that the power they are holding is more than they can handle. In fact I know it is…What happens when they aren’t able to hold it any longer?” – Captain America, AVsX #11

Captain America is right to be worried. The Marvel Universe is facing a dire threat to its very fabric. It’s not from Thanos, Galactus or even Scott Summers, but from an unexpected quarter. The people in charge.

Every comics fan has one – that comic book that hooked them, that opened their mind to the nigh-limitless possibilities offered within its four-colored, dog-eared pages. For me, as I suspect it was for many boys of my generation, that book was Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars. Here it was, an entire, well-defined universe, brimming with larger-than-life heroes and villains with a shared history, tackling a new, unimaginable threat.  This was my entry point into the master-narrative (a term used by Douglas Wolk, as good a writer on comics as you will find) into the Marvel Universe. And as a primer, it did its job beautifully. My ten-year-old mind was set a-buzz: gods, super-soldiers, mutants, and especially Spider-Man. For the next ten years or so, I would eagerly devour their exploits, breathlessly anticipating each month’s installment, as the previous ones were carefully bagged and filed, to be revisited easily and often.

And then, like many comcis fans, I drifted away. I was in college, reading, creating and experiencing things that made those larger-than-life characters seem more and more inconsequential. This was also a period (the early-mid nineties) that saw some headline-grabbing shake-ups of some of comics’ most iconic characters: Superman was killed! (and then came back), Batman was crippled! (and then came back, like in the movie), and Peter Parker was “revealed” to be a clone! (until he wasn’t). Whatever the merits of these stories, they did, to my mind, have the whiff of desperation. And once the status quo was (inevitably) re-established, there seemed to be no place new for these characters to go. Like never before in my comics-reading experience, a sense of “spinning their wheels” set in. And so I moved on.

I never completely dropped my comic habit, picking up the odd graphic novel or trade paperback (there is a distinction, which I’ll get to later). But for years, I gave up my Wednesday habit (if you don’t know what that is, I both pity and envy you.)

The comic that brought me back into the (stapled) fold was Civil War. Here at last was a super-hero story that had captured the zeitgeist. In the midst of the second term of the Bush administration, we had a story involving heroes fighting passionately over the central debate of the era: To what extent were we willing to sacrifice our rights in the name of security? Like the country, it split the costumed community down the middle. On one hand we had Captain America and his followers, on the side, not surprisingly, of preserving our freedoms. On the other, somewhat more surprisingly, was Iron Man (not yet a movie star) and company taking the security side as a practical manner, with the resources of the U.S. government behind them. Cap and crew, presented as underdogs, were perhaps more sympathetic. But the creators, to their credit, took pains not to take sides; each view was presented as legitimate. Echoes of the real world abounded: people were branded traitors, paranoia reigned, inhumane detention centers were quickly established and filled. Spider-Man, the eternal Everyman, was caught in the middle; he first sided with Iron Man, then switched over to Cap’s team. It was an even bolder move then, when Marvel had Iron Man’s side ultimately claim victory. Iron Man was placed in charge of the country’s security, with all grey ethical dilemmas that implied.

The ending was unconvincing (after seven issues of vicious fighting, Cap, on the brink of victory, surrenders because he’s suddenly worried about losing the moral high ground). But I was thrilled by events (current events, no less!) that truly seemed to shake the good ol’  Marvel U down to its core. That, and (youthful power fantasies aside) there’s just something cool about watching all these super-types get together and throw down. (There’s a reason The Avengers movie made a hundred-gajillion dollars). And so I resumed my Wednesday habit.

With said resumption I quickly learned some things about the Marvel U that had occurred in my absence. It seems the powers that be had, at some point, decided to shift the focus away from the X-Men franchise and toward the Avengers. To speed this along, the X-men’s most popular character, Wolverine, was now an Avenger, as well as the company’s flagship hero, Spider-Man.  All well and good. But at the same time there was a conscious effort to de-emphasize the X-Men.

Now the X-Men had long been fan favorites. Much of their popularity stemmed from their role as perennial underdogs. As mutants, they were heroes who were born different, forced to deal with a world that feared and hated them. This was a simple, brilliant paradigm (especially during Chris Claremont’s unparalleled run) that could encompass any number of themes on a societal or personal level; civil rights, sexual orientation (as seen in the X-Men movies) or just the onset of adolescence. Many was the comics fan who could identify with such feelings of alienation. Well, in the X-Men’s world, the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters was a learning institution filled with such outcasts.  And the X-Men, more than being just super-heroes, were their role models, what they could aspire to be. This mixture of melodrama, family dynamic (often dysfunctional), social consciousness, and of course all-out action enthralled fans and kept the X-Men at the top of the sales chart, virtually unchallenged, for twenty years.  The decision by the powers that be to give a major push to the Avengers at the expense of the powerhouse X-Men seemed curious. But that’s just what they did in House of M.

House of M was the epic event prior to Civil War; the previous chapter in the Marvel master-narrative, if you will. It centered around the Scarlet Witch, a mutant B – lister who was previously best known for being married to a robot (now that was a comic with potential!) In HoM, her ill-defined hex power was suddenly and without explanation boosted exponentially. Mentally unbalanced at this point in her life, she first creates an entire alternate universe to escape her torment. When that doesn’t work she famously (and somewhat bafflingly) utters the phrase “No more mutants.” And – poof! – 99% of the world’s mutants instantly lose their powers. X-Men de-emphasized. This was actually the first manifestation of the Scarlet Witch’s most advantageous superpower: what I like to call the power of editorial dictum. In other words, why was she able to accomplish these great feats? Because the story needed her to.

Anyway, in the aftermath of Civil War a couple of things happened. Captain America was killed (very temporarily). And Spider-Man (I still can’t believe this, even as I type the words) sold his marriage to the devil. Why? Because it was suddenly decided that it was uncool for him to be saddled with a wife. So instead of having him get a divorce like a normal person, they had their flagship character, Marvel’s most selfless, noble hero, make a deal with the devil to erase his marriage (the devil has always, in literature, had the power of editorial dictum). In what warped view is a Faustian bargain a more palatable option than just ending a marriage? In any case, the result? The adventures his readers had been following for twenty years? Irrevocably altered. A disastrous decision from which Marvel’s most beloved character still hasn’t recovered.

Returning to the overarching master narrative, Civil War was followed by Secret Invasion, a series in which shape-shifting aliens, called Skrulls, had meticulously planted themselves in all levels of society in order to conquer humanity from within. This series was undeniably entertaining for a number of reasons. The Marvel writers (most notably Brian Michael Bendis) had been peppering their stories for years with clues that something was seriously amiss. This story was the culmination of all that impressive, meticulous planning; part of the fun was going back and finding the clues, and being rewarded for your patient detection. Like Civil War, this story pit hero against hero, but this time not because of ideology, but because of paranoia; anyone could be a Skrull. While this was all a lot of fun, it was difficult, in light of Civil War, not to see this in the parameters of society at large. The enemy was among us. It was not much of a leap to replace “Skrull” with “Terrorist” (indeed the Skrulls’ mission was recast in extremist, quasi-religious language). By the logic of the story then, the infringement of rights to ensure security was entirely justified. In fact it didn’t go far enough, since the Skrulls were so successful. In short, the master narrative of the Marvel U had taken a hard turn to the right.

Secret Invasion resulted in a couple of developments. First, Iron Man was fired as head of US security. The reason given in the comic was that the Skrull invasion had happened on his watch. The real reason of course was that Marvel had an unexpected blockbuster on its hands in the first Iron Man movie (largely due to Robert Downey Jr.’s magnetic performance; so magnetic that Marvel gave Tony Stark’s personality and appearance a subtle makeover in the comics to try to match it). With Iron Man suddenly a hot property it wouldn’t do to have him in the unpopular, compromising position of being The Man. But apparently removing him from power didn’t go far enough in redeeming his character. No, Marvel actually took the extraordinary step of having Tony Stark erase his memory (in a story by Matt Fraction, that was actually pretty compelling in an old-movie-serial kind of way). He then rebooted his brain (he’d been saving it on a hard drive. No, really.) But, conveniently, his rebooted memories stopped just before the events of Civil War. Character instantly absolved of all guilt and messy moral quandary! Ready for Iron Man 2! Here we have another disturbing example (along with Spidey’s erased marriage) of selective retcon-ing in order to free a character (and lucrative property) of being dragged down by any undesirable story lines (you know, the stories the fans have been following for years).

The second development was Iron Man being replaced in his national security position by Norman Osborn (aka The Green Goblin). The narrative rationale for handing control of our national security apparatus to a proven maniac was wholly unconvincing (he took the shot that killed the Skrull Queen), though, I must admit, Norman Osborn was certainly a better approximation of Donald Rumsfeld than Tony Stark was.  In any case, this had the sum effect of removing all the grey areas of the previous couple of years. Moral complexity be damned! It was Good Vs. Bad. And the bad guys were in charge. The story title? Dark Reign. The heroes were once again the underdogs.

This was certainly safer from a narrative standpoint. And it did set up a compelling showdown between the forces of Norman Osborn and the newly resurrected Captain America (he’d managed to stay dead for eighteen months!) And that’s what was promised in the next Big Event in the master narrative: Siege. But that’s not what we got.

The conflict in Siege is fairly preposterous: Osborn decides to attack Thor’s home of Asgard (which is floating over Oklahoma for some reason) on the pretext that it’s an incursion on U.S. soil. Whatever, it gets the action going. Osborn’s vaunted forces are fairly quickly (and anti-climatically) dispatched by Cap’s crew (the whole thing lasts just four issues), but Osborn has an ace in the hole; a character called the Sentry.

The Sentry was a fairly new character, whose history had been ret-conned (don’t ask) to establish that he had at one point been the greatest hero of the Marvel Universe, and certainly the most powerful. Someone they all looked up to and admired; sort of their Superman. But he had a dark side/nemesis called the Void, which threatened to take over his psyche. Hence he was highly unstable and easily manipulated by Osborn. Siege culminates with the Sentry losing control, and becoming the Void. The Sentry briefly regains control and begs the Avengers to kill him. Thor obliges, striking him down with a lightning bolt (it appears Thor, too, can wield the power of editorial dictum).

So Siege ends with the Avengers killing one of their own. Not just that, but supposedly their greatest hero. Perfectly understandable right? Had to be done. There was no other way.

Except…isn’t that why we admire these characters? The best of them, like Superman and Captain America, no matter the odds, no matter how hopeless things get, always find a way. Isn’t that why they inspire?

Siege then, seems like a means to an end. Like the decision to kill the Sentry, it was expedient; driven by the need to get from Point A to Point B in a way that was cold, calculated, and dare I say, corporate? This seems to be the new mindset of the Marvel offices and sadly, the Marvel Universe. Now Marvel is, of course, a business. Like any other major publisher, they have to make decisions based, at least partially, on their bottom line; it would be naive to imagine otherwise. But never before has this attitude manifested itself so baldly in the stories, even in the characters themselves. It seems we are a long way from the legendary, free-wheeling Bullpen days of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

(The next big event after Siege was something called Fear Itself, a story so bereft of purpose, cohesion and narrative logic, that it made Siege seem like Watchmen.)

Which brings us to the latest chapter in the Marvel master-narrative: Avengers Vs. X-Men. (Deep breath) Like Civil War, AvX features an old-fashioned throw-down between two groups of Marvel heroes. Unlike Civil War, one of the groups is clearly presented as being in the right. The Avengers, having been re-positioned over the previous few years to the center of the Marvel U (and newly-christened as box-office champs) are The Good Guys. The X-Men, overlooked for years, are repaid by being re-introduced into the master narrative not simply as mistaken or misunderstood, but as a threat to the earth’s very existence. And at the center of this folly stands the abused figure of Cyclops.

Now Cyclops is, of course, the X-Man. Central to their mythos, their alpha dog, their leader, their best (not that you’d know it from the movies.) He is their Captain America,  the man with the plan, the one who will always, as I have said, find a way. Destroy his character and you delegitimize the worldview that the X-Men have represented over the last 30 years.

Let us skip the preliminaries and head straight to the nadir of the story (and indeed of the master-narrative in general): AvX #11. This particular issue is worth special consideration, emblematic as it is of the current state of the Marvel Universe. Cyclops has been infused with the power of the Phoenix, an unpredictable cosmic force capable of destroying existence (and which, years ago, caused the death of his true love Jean Grey – but not to worry! No compassion here.) Our issue begins with Captain America making an entreaty for help in the fight against Cyclops from an unknown source (the quote that began this unwieldy diatribe is taken from this plea.) Here are some choice nuggets from Cap’s opening address:

“…I am at the end of my rope.”

“…We just cannot win the fight in front of us.”

“We can’t win it.”

Again, this is Captain America. The man who never lost hope in the depths of World War II. (The fact that he’s supplicating himself to the Hulk, whose strength would be negligible against a force that could destroy the universe, is beside the point.) He may be wearing the flag, the big “A” and the little wingtips on his head, but I do not know who this character is.

To the ignominious climax. The Avengers have Cyclops surrounded, alone and raving, like some rabid dog (spittle, literally flying from his mouth). So I suppose it should come as no surprise when one of them, Hawkeye (y’know, Jeremy Renner in the movie) shoots him in the neck. Another Avenger callously observes, “Nice shot.” I’m sorry, since when do the Avengers resort to attempted murder to solve their problems? Much less the killing of a hero? (Oh that’s right. Since Siege.)

When this fails, Cyclops yells, “You see that?…They’re trying to assassinate us!!” If this is some kind of meta moment, where the character becomes aware of his creators’ intentions, then it is brilliant. Yes, Cyclops, they are trying to assassinate you, or worse, your character.

Storm, Cyclops’ former teammate (and at this point, like Wolverine, an Avenger, I guess?) pleads “Stay down Scott. I beg you.” Good ol’ Captain America adds “I don’t.”, in a misguided attempt to sound, I don’t know, bad-ass? (Maybe he’s a leftover Skrull…)

Cyclops, of course, doesn’t stay down. He is confronted by Professor X, who is, in every way that counts, his father. And then the moment that set the internet a-buzz, (and is possibly the lowest point in Marvel history): Cyclops kills Professor X.

X-Men destroyed. In one fell swoop.

Let’s be clear: it is not the death of Professor X that rankles; this is a character, after all, that has died and come back a lot, even by comic book standards. No, what is galling is the act of Cyclops murdering his father. There are some things even a comic book character can’t recover from. (DC tried a similar tack with Green Lantern nearly two decades ago in a story called Zero Hour. It took the character years to recover, and all he tried to do was destroy the space/time continuum; fairly standard super villain operating procedure. Killing Dad? Not so much.)

So take heed all you outcasts and undesirables! Professor X had a dream. And now it’s over. Society was right to fear and hate you. It turns out you were a menace after all.

(Want further proof that the X-Men worldview has been vanquished? The one holdover X-book, Wolverine and the X-Men, whatever its merits, is virtually a parody of everything they have stood for over the last thirty years. Comic books, too, repeat themselves, first as tragedy, then as farce.)

In the wake of AvX (oh yeah, Cyclops is finally put down when a mutant named – I would argue ironically – Hope, and again, the Scarlet Witch [ah that all-purpose power of Editorial Dictum] double-punch him. Game over!) we have been promised a shiny, sorta-newish Marvel Universe. It is being called Marvel NOW! and its coming has been foretold by months of advertisements which prominently feature Cap, arrogantly posed and smugly staring out at the viewer (who is this dick?) surrounded by various cohorts. These ads are further festooned with thick red-borders and imperative statements in bold, block lettering and resemble nothing so much as poorly-designed Soviet propaganda posters. Some coming highlights: Lot of Avengers books (featuring a bunch of former X-Men – I mean, where else were they gonna go?), a new, darker Spider-Man (oy vey) and, for the beleagured mutants, something called All-New X-Men. The concept: with the current X-Men in disarray, the original X-Men, still teenagers, are zapped to the present (y’know, bypassing all that messy civil rights stuff) as a way to hit the refresh button. The conceit: they are horrified by the current state of the Marvel Universe (well on that we can agree).

Which brings me to a Helpful Suggestion. The Marvel Now! initiative was done largely as a response to DC’s hugely successful New 52! relaunch of last year, in which they wiped the narrative slate clean and rebooted their entire universe from scratch. DC has a habit of doing this sort of thing every so often. A point of pride at Marvel is that they have never taken this approach. The stories you’re reading today are, ostensibly, a continuation of the stories begun by Stan and Jack over fifty years ago. Marvel has taken great pains to explain that Marvel Now! is…um…well, I’m not sure, but it is emphatically not a DC-style reboot. My question is, given the above snapshot of the Marvel Universe, why the hell not? Instead of just playing musical chairs with your established cadre of creators and using that as an excuse to haphazardly introduce some new #1 issues, why not just start the whole damn thing over? You don’t have to abandon your veteran creators, but bring in some fresh blood! Put them on your major books! The ship is sinking! History be damned!

Now. The above should not be interpreted as so much inchoate Marvel-bashing. (Just the fact that I’ve read these comics should tell you something.) They do, in fact, produce a number of very good books (just scroll down and see!) This is meant to suggest however, in the view of this lifelong fan and observer, that the master narrative (last time I’ll use the term, I promise) has been heading in an untenable overall direction for quite some time, and that those in charge (are they still called architects?) are ill-suited keepers of the flame.

So, does this mean that, once again, I’ve been disillusioned? That I’m about to give up my Wednesday habit a second time? Of course not. Having been reintroduced into the four-colored realm, I have surveyed the landscape. And I am excited by what I see. More than that; I’m convinced. The comic book medium has always had the same potential as any other narrative form (films, novels, television, etc.); that is to say, limitless. A casual glance will show that the sheer breadth of talent, diversity, subject matter (of which super heroes are an ever shrinking genre) and experimentation happening now (right NOW!) proves beyond any doubt that they are finally fulfilling that potential. It is my argument, my thesis, my conviction, that there has never been a better time to read comics. Saying you don’t like comics is like saying you don’t like movies. If you think they aren’t for you, you aren’t looking hard enough. A small sample of evidence:

Image Comics: currently the most exciting publisher around. Initially a boutique for a handful of superstars, their current mixture of established names and active scouring for new talent makes them comics’ equivalent of that cool indy music label (back when there were music labels) that is trend-setting by virtue of being fearless. Standout titles include the rollicking, sci-fi space opera, Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, and the neo-noir terror of Fatale by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.

Not far behind is Oni Press, with its line of intriguing creator-owned work, such as Ted Naifeh’s moody, supernatural coming-of-age tale, Courtney Crumrin, and the laid-back, funky detective work found in Stumptown by Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth.

Like a modern-day incarnation of Universal Studios from the 1930’s, Dark Horse Comics has a wide-ranging catalog, but their specialty is horror. And nobody does it better. The cornerstone of their house of horrors is Mike Mignola’s line of books (Hellboy, Baltimore, etc.) that combine a healthy respect for the history of the genre with the cold, unblinking eye of an auteur. They manage to feel classic and edgy at the same time.

The “ID” in IDW might well stand for “idiosyncratic”, as their eclectic range of titles include Roger Langridge’s retro, thoroughly excellent Popeye series as well as the Carrollian psychedelia of The Zaucer of Zilk by Brendan McCarthy and Al Ewing.

Dynamite Entertainment does some wonderful things with the heroes of yesteryear, whether they be of the pulp variety (the exuberant fun of Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist by Eric Trautmann and Daniel Indiro) or more historical in nature (Garth Ennis’ superlative Battlefields series; not only one of the best war comics ever, but also one of the best comics being produced right now, period.)

Speaking of history, Fantagraphics does truly commendable work reprinting the classics of funny pages past (Peanuts, Barnaby, etc). They also publish the funniest comic book on the planet, Michael Kupperman’s Tales Designed to Thrizzle.

How about something for the kiddies? kaboom! (BOOM!’s all-ages imprint) provides a healthy does of childlike wonder with the comic version of Adventure Time! as well as Roger Langridge’s (him again) inspired nonsense in Snarked!.

I haven’t even mentioned the rich world of graphic novels – not trade paperback collections of ongoing titles, but singular, literary works expressly conceived in the comic book medium. There just isn’t enough space to even scratch the surface of the wide array of practitioners of – oh, here’s three: Chris Ware, Alison Bechdel, and Jason Lutes. Go discover.

And, not to leave out the so-called Big Two: DC publishes some fine work, such as Brian Azzarello’s revisionist take on Wonder Woman and especially China Mieville’s nigh-undefinable Dial H. And finally, bringing things full circle, over at Marvel: Mark Waid’s award-winning run on Daredevil justly deserves the accolades it’s been receiving. And Brian Michael Bendis’ bold, risky choices on Ultimate Spider-Man have led to the introduction one of the most engaging new heroes in years, in young Miles Morales. (Hell, I’ll even cop to my excitement over one of the Marvel NOW! titles – Mike Allred drawing a goofy cast of B-listers in FF? Yes please.)

Marvel Comics will always hold a special place in my heart for igniting my love for the medium in the first place, and then again for bringing me back into the fold when I had strayed. And who knows? Perhaps their new initiative will produce some fun comics. But now, given the state of things as I continue to indulge my Wednesday habit, and peruse the embarrassment of riches that today’s comics have to offer (of which the above is only the smallest fraction), I am more likely than ever to say, “Marvel? Nah…”

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