Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes, page 105

Powerhouse Hard Pressed: The Birth of a Heroic Cover

The ebook cover for Powerhouse Hard Pressed is done and I'm pretty impressed with it:



The cover was done by Brandi Doane at Ebook Cover Designs.

I'm thrilled with how it turned out.

Really, I've been working on this book since the first of the year and the cover has always been a question. With Fly Another Day, we didn't Powerhouse on the cover and while the cover looks great I didn't want that become a habit.

Fans of the Powerhouse stories no they can be episodic. However, in Hard Pressed, our episodes center around Mitch "The Pharaoh" Farrow's war on Powerhouse and he goes beyond normal supervillain stuff to include using tabloid trash, trying to stir up political strife. And then there's an alien warlord comes in and takes campier route.

I had all kinds of ideas but all of them seemed not to work. I had the thought of having a cover with all the elements of the story. I'd put all the characters who show up such as Mitch Farrow, Kelli Michaels, the Silver Medal, Mister Manners, Plato the Sheriff of Atlantis, and the Boomerang Bloke. Big problem with a cover like that is that those just tend to be too darn busy.

My wife and editor Andrea had suggested, and I'd thought about seeing if I could find an artist who could draw a comic book style cover. I leaned against that because if it looked like a comic book cover, people might expect a comic book which could turn off readers and disappoint graphic novel fans.

Andrea actually had the idea for what would become the cover with Powerhouse holding up two walls that were pressing in on him. This was a more metaphorical cover though it is addressed in the book. :)

I went to a couple different artists and had no luck finding someone who could make the design prior to Brandi. She took it and really added some great touches. I really liked what she did with the title and making the word "Powerhouse" look hard pressed. And the font color she suggested worked great. This was a challenging project that required a lot of details and she really nailed them, and it was done very efficiently and at a reasonable rate. I'm really happy with how this turned out and I hope we can make the book as good as the cover.

Review: The Five Nightmares

The Invincible Iron Man, Vol. 1: The Five Nightmares by Matt Fraction

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book is set in the aftermath of the Marvel Civil War with Tony Stark still director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Stark's nightmares center around the acquisition of dangerous weapons including the Iron Man Armor by terrorist factions.

Ezekiel Stane, son of his 1980s enemy, Obadiah creates a new nightmare for Stark with his decision to use bio-weapons to commit mass murder and to strike at the heart of Stark and civilization itself.

The book itself reflects our 21st Century concerns about terrorism, the same way that comics reflected our concerns about the Atom Age in the 1940s and 50s, and the Cold War in the 1960s. Stark is fighting the war on terror by another name and he has to go to some extreme measures to do it. After Civil War, Stark knows a thing or two about extreme measures.

The book is beautifully drawn with an amazing amount of realism. Tony's relationship with Pepper Potts really takes centerstage in a way that truly works.

There's some fairly disturbing violence and a lot of mayhem, but the book keeps most of it offstage. Overall, though the pace is as slow as most modern comics, the book is worthwhile read.




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The Greatest Iron Man Stories: Mask in the Iron Man

Collects Volume 3 of Iron Man, #26-#30.

The story and began in March 2000 ( a key point) and begins with Iron Man facing Whiplash while dodging commitment to company owner Rumiko when he encounters Whiplash.

Then his life goes into a downward cycle of his secret identity being revealed, losing his friends, getting fired from the Avengers, and going back to the bottle. But that was all dream.

The nightmare begins when Stark finds that the dream was caused by his armor becoming sentient and desperately seeking to grasp for emotions and feelings, and to understand what it means to be alive. Tony is hesitant at the new sentient armor but does agree to join with it to fight Whiplash, only to be shocked when it murders him. Stark comes to believe that he's created a monster, and when he tries to stop it, the armor takes him to an island, times him to wooden X and gives him a choice: agree to join with it or die of starvation.

Really, this is just a fascinating story. it someone ways, it's a deeper version of the incidents in Beginning of the End. You have Tony Stark, the futurist, the man who's whole life is defined by technology, at war with his own creation.

The question, as is so often the case with great Iron Man yarns, is what makes Iron Man-the man or the machine.

The story is fairly complex, deep, and thought-provoking with a poignant ending that makes it worthy of a great science fiction classic.

At times, there are stumbles. The use of the Y2K bug as part of the explanation for the armor's sentience dates the story. In addition, Stark's attempt to explain to the sentient armor why killing is bad really seemed kind of weak. (I might have another post on that later.)

However, the story itself is just a great piece of Science Fiction writing and a must read.

Rating: Four and a half shellheads out of Five.

Reprinted in:
Iron Man: The Mask in the Iron Man

The Greatest Iron Man Stories: War Machine

The 1990s are lost years usually when it comes to great Iron Man Stories. Most lists will include Armor Wars from 1987 and pick up in about 2003.

However, Blogger, The Colossues of Rhodey suggested a couple 1990s story archs including War Machine (issues 281-283).

The story arch begins with Tony Stark confined to bed, seriously ill and dying. He has been framed for treachery and an honorable group of Oriental Assassins known as the Masters of Silence almost succeed.

This leads Stark to build new more powerful armor to once and for all thwart Justin Hammer and clear his name.Stark is seriously ill and shouldn't be anywhere but a hospital bed. However he declares, "All I have left is my honor." And says that if clearing his name means death, than, "So be it."

This is a really a great moment. It reminds us that through all of the drama and trauma of Tony Stark, this is the core value of Iron Man: one man going above and beyond with a will of Iron.

War Machine is a good and underrated story.

Rating: 3.5 shellheads out of 5.

The Greatest Iron Stories: Doom Quest 2

100 Issues after the original Doom Quest, this 1989 story running in Issues 249 and 250 and written by David Michelinie and Bob Layton reunites Iron Man and Dr. Doom when two nearly identical artifacts appear with one falling into Iron Man's hands and the other into Dr. Doom's. However, it's also an intricate plot by Merlin the Magician to get the two together to transport to 2093 where King Arthur needs their help against an older version of Doom and Tony Stark's grandson who have teamed up.

There's a lot to like in this story. Doom and Iron Man are a great mix of characters. And the story itself is just a great science fiction story. The battle between Tony and Andros once again offers Iron Man the chance to show that he's greater than the strength of superior technology. And Doom v. Doom, quite poignant, particularly given the ending.

On the other hand, I don't care for reincarnation stories. (Arthur being reincarnated as a boy.) Though they managed to poke fun at freezing embryos for career reasons, so that helped. Also, many of the characters didn't talk right. Having Merlin talk like a Broadway Agent, and Doom was not imperious enough. He even warns Iron Man that his behavior wouldn't get him on Doom's "good side." (Doom has a good side?)

It's a solid comic book story, but probably not among the greatest for Iron Man.

Rating: 3 shellheads out of 5.

Another Goodreads Give Away: Fly Another Day

If you missed out on our previous Giveaways, we're doing it again. You can enter now to win Fly Another Day, the first book in the Adventures of Powerhouse series.

Also my digital short, "Your Average Ordinary Alien" is free for the Kindle

Indie Life: Author of Unpopular Fiction

At a recent writer's group meetings, I was asked to let new members know what I wrote. I responded that I wrote books that people didn't buy.

This was not meant as a "woe is me" complaint, but as a somewhat humorous statement of reality.

I have a knack for coming up with absolutely fun stories that I love which unfortunately aren't written in the popular genre.

One of my first big efforts as an adult was a novel about a dying pentecostal preacher remembering his life while the young man who visits tries to uncover his own identity. I showed a few chapters of it at a writer's convention and was told that while it was beautiful, there was no market for books targeted towards male readers.

I'd brought this to the conference as it was one of my more marketable ones. I've another manuscript that has been with the publisher since Bush was President. When one is writing religious speculative fiction, there's a basic reality to be dealt with: the publishers are few, and the help they can provide you is limited due to small budgets as are the number of publishing spots available.

The obvious answer to that problem according to some is to shift your focus and write books that are in a more popular genre. It is often thought by many Christians, the secret is to move towards mainstream general market fiction (because we all know that sells well.) Or even to change genres to something more salable.

There are some authors who can do this quite easily. It can be because their work isn't far off from a popular genre to start with: the distance between a "historical" and a "western" is not as far as you might think. For others they are like the artists who can create from any sort of canvas they're asked to paint from.

For me that just doesn't work. If given the choice between: spending my life writing material I don't enjoy or writing part-time while keeping a day job, I'll choose to write only part time.

Clearly, the type of stories I write do not have a built in audience for the most part. This is definitely true of Superhero fiction, particularly superhero fiction without pictures. The audience has to be found.

Rather than trying to convince the publisher that I can find them, I'd rather just set out on the search myself, which is why I've begun to independently publish. There's quite a few headaches over issues such as covers, layout, proofreading, and deadlines. But there's also the freedom to experiment and write the type of stories I enjoy, to, with a minimal investment, take chances and find that elusive audience.

So in conclusion, I write books that don't sell, but hopefully someday they will. In the meantime I'm grateful to write what I enjoy.

Linked back to Indie Life

The Greatest Iron Man Stories: Armor Wars

Iron Man: Armor Wars by David Michelinie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Armor Wars is a book that lefhe writing is usually good with plenty t me with mixed feelings. On one hand, tof twists and lots of action. The plot simply put is that Tony Stark realizes his arm specs have been stolen. Driven by guilt, he decides to reclaim his stolen technology. Good as far as it goes when taking on bad guys such as the Stiltman and the Controller. It begins far more problematic when Stark decides that he's going to take on armor that Stark has sold legitimately to the government. Along the way, he loses his longtime friendship with Steve Rogers and then is kicked out of the Avengers. He doublecrosses S.H.I.E.L.D.

Good times.

The story line is without a doubt revolutionary within the Marvel world. It makes Iron Man's role in Civil War seems very believable. Would Tony Stark choose to betray and even imprison friends and allies who risked his life for him and fought by his side due to his own subjective view of what's appropriate?

Been there,done that, will do it on a higher scale. With this story, it sets a new direction and a new definition for the Iron Man character. The problem is that as well-written as it is, it turns Iron Man into someone that's hard to cheer for.

In the beginning, Tony Stark was a patriotic weapons manufacturer who escaped the Vietcong and regularly came close to death's door as he fought evil even though he constantly risked death due to his damaged heart. By the end of this series, Tony Stark fights on because of guilt. He is a great mind that is driven by reasoning that's often arbitrary and based on his own whims rather than any objective sense of morality. Tony Stark makes his own rules and with power like his, that makes him a dangerous man.

While the writing and art were good, it should be noted that they aren't perfect. In the 1990s animated adaptation of the story, Jim Rhodes sees how dangerous Stark's actions are and tries to stop them. Here, despite having spent two years in the 1980s as Iron Man, he's merely a passive assistant in this obviously mad quest.

The story had its fair share of improbabilities including a convenient supply of whole blood on an airplane. Then we learn in the second to last issue that the U.S. Government developed a giant robot with a built in Nuke, not for taking on rogue superheroes, but for handling riots by outraged citizens. This may have been probable for the writers as the story was written in the tale end of the Reagan years and the government is always 50% more evil during Republican administrations in comics, it seems just silly.

Silly or not, the story is a well-told tale that makes key changes to a significant character in the Marvel Universe. However, we're reminded that change isn't always for the better




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Superman Red and Blue: Build Your Own Utopia

Superman in the late 1950s and early 1960s became well-known for his imaginary stories. Imaginary Stories were the way that DC in the Silver Age told stories that didn't effect continuity, because they were only "imaginary."

One of the most famous from 1964: The Amazing Story of Superman Red and Superman Blue (appears in begins inThe Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told and also Showcase Presents Superman VOL 04) the bottled Kryptonian City of Kandor that was shrunk down and put in a bottle by the villain Brainiac. Superman rescued the citizens and kept them same in the Fortress of Solitude.

However, they're not happy because Superman has failed at three tasks: 1) He hasn't restored Kandor to full size, 2) He hasn't found a cure for green Kryptonite, and he hasn't eliminated crime and evil from the world. They ask that he complete these simple tasks within thirty day or let someone else from Kandor get grown to full size and do it.

So Superman sets about it and his brain machine turns Superman into two Supermen both good and both 100 times smarter and that set out to solve these problems.

It is the best of Utopian stories. Everything turns out okay. Even the dueling Lois Lane and Lana Lang both end up happy as one marries Superman Red and the other marries Superman Blue with one couple staying on Earth and the other one going to the new red-sunned planet where the Kandorians have relocated.

You might wonder, how did the Supermen solve the problem of crime? It's simple they design a hypnotic anti-evil ray that makes all the villains on Earth cease their villainy and aggression. Even Castro and the Soviets both relent while Lex Luthor cures all diseases including his own baldness. With this done, Earth's Superman retires and leaves his robots to do search and rescue work.

It's a great comic book story which if weren't considered "imaginary" would end not only Superman but the DC superhero universe.

But what does it mean for real life?


Clearly, there are times of great tragedy when a nice anti-evil ray sounds like a great solution. If it could be sprayed over the world, it'd prevent tragedies like Newtown or 9/11.

Taken to its most literal point, the writers seem to hope that science will solve all our problems, if only we're smart enough, we can invent invent evil away. This would be silly, particularly from a Christian perspective where sin is our problem and it is inborn, a spiritual problem that science can't even begin to deal with it as it's not equipped to solve problems of the soul.

In its own simplistic way, the story does comes close to recognizing the problem-evil. And until evil is irradicated, Superman has to continue his battle for what's right and so do we.

However, while it may seem so, our battles will not be neverending.

As Christians, our hope lies not in uncertain science but in the second coming of Christ. The Prophet Micah describes that time well writing:

And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.-Micah 4:3,4 (KJ21)

And that's better than an anti-evil ray any day.

The Great Iron Man Stories: Doom Quest

We continue our look at great Iron Man Stories as we await the release of Iron Man 3.

Doom Quest pits the Marvel universe's best Meta villain, Dr. Doom against Iron Man. It's relatively short, set in issue 149 and 150 which marked the end of David Michelinie and Bob Layton's first run on Iron Man.

In Issue 149, Tony Stark stops a shipment of equipment to Latveria and Doom has it stolen. Iron Man and Doom battle and both get hurtled to Camelot where Doom seeks a favor from Morgana Le Fay and leads her army against Arthur. Iron Man fights on Arthur's side.

The comic is not epic-ally great, but it is pretty interesting. Iron Man has to deal with magic and he hates magic about as much as Indiana Jones hates snakes. He's really not set to deal with, but he acquits himself well.

The story includes a temporary truce between the two metal clad geniuses that's pretty well-drawn and fun to read.

Overall, this was a great two issue story that worked pretty well.

Rating: 4 shellheads out of 5.

Reprinted in Iron Man vs. Doctor Doom: Doomquest