Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes, page 49

Book Review: Supergirl, Volume 1: Reign Of The Cyborg Super-Men

Supergirl, Volume 1: Reign Of The Cyborg Super-Men by Steve Orlando

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book marks the re-launch of Supergirl in a way that makes it's reality a little closer to that of the TV show. The big difference is that Kara is much younger than on television (still a teenager.)

The book begins with the Rebirth story with the DEO shooting Kara at the sun to help recharge her Kryptonian powers. As a condition of that, she has to agree to work for the DEO under the supervision of two married yet childless agents who will be her parents.

However, Cyborg Superman returns, this time with a startling revelation and a promise to fulfill her dreams of bring back Argo City but with a high cost to Earth.

The book gets a lot right. It really captures the way she feels out of place on Earth and how difficult everything is for her to adjust. It'd be like a smart modern teenager being dropped off in an Eighteenth Century school and you really get that sense of how lost and homesick she is. And she really experiences a lot of conflict.

Yet, she remains the same hero, showing kindness to vanquished enemies and never giving up on people, even on villains. The story really captures the kindness and compassion of Supergirl that the TV show portrayed in the first series that made her such a likable character.

I also liked the idea of her foster parents and the way they were portrayed with her mother even being willing to follow her into space as part of the plot. I love the Danvers as just such really likable and interesting characters.

The art in the book is somewhat inconsistent. There are several pages where facial features are (for no apparent reasons) very non-distinct. There may be a style to this, but given that it's on some pages and no on others it makes the art seem occasionally lazy.

The DEO Director isn't Hank Henshaw/Martian Manhunter and what we're given instead is a very generic director who just constantly shouts, gives orders, complaints, and threatens. It's like Maria Hill from Marvel but with nothing interesting about her.

I like Cat Grant's character on the TV show, but I don't think using that TV portrayal as a basis for the comics works well. For one thing, Calista Flockheart manages to make the character likable when with a lesser star, the character could have become insufferably smug. Unfortunately, that's how she comes off in the comic, particularly in her first appearance she chews out Supergirl for stopping high tech armed robber and getting in the way of her brilliant plan to interrogate them and find out everything about their evil organization. It's Cat Grant not Batwoman here. In addition, while it's okay for Cat to give a one or two minute speech every episode on a 40 minute television, that sort of verbosity in a comic book slows things down.

Overall though, I liked the book. The story is solid and relatable and most importantly, the lead and her foster parents are likable. Even though Kara's younger than in the TV show, these first issues captured everything that made Supergirl appealing in Season 1 with it's incredibly kind and caring lead character without the burden of heavy duty politics that came to define the series later on.



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Book Review: Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga, Vol. 2

Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga, Vol. 2 by Jiro Kuwata

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 20-39 of Jiro Kuwata's Batman Manga stories from the 1960s. The book features five separate multi-part stories:

The Revenge of Clayface: Clayface escapes from prison enters the house of a professor, apparently kills him, and then goes on a criminal rampage. Overall, it's a solid Clayface story even if Clayface's MO is a little different than we typically see in American comics.

The Hangman of Terror: A pro Wrestler who is hated by fans becomes a hero in the public's eyes after killing a jewel thief who was disguised as him. This one has a little bit of personal tragedy in it for a girl concerned with her brother. The plot itself is absurd but it fits the era and tone of the book.

Fiend of the Masquerade Festival: Batman chases an escaped criminal into a masquerade festival where there are mysterious goings on and eventually, a murder. It's a good solid mystery story like the American comics had though with a very Manga set up in the Masquerade festival.

Mystery of the Outsider: A story borrowed from the American comics that finds Alfred transformed into the Mystery Outsider who is as dedicated to destroying Batman and Robin as Alfred was to protecting them. Overall, a solid adaptation.

The Monster of Gore Bay: There's a Sea Monster at Gore Bay, but Batman doesn't want to get involved. However, he does become involved in a roundabout way when a professor is kidnapped and his daughter comes to Batman for help. This is a solid mystery/monster story with the most manga moment in the book when Robin is incapacitated after a girl kisses him.

Overall, this book is as good if not better than the American comics of the same era. Batman stories in the 1960s were given 23 pages at most. The multi-part nature of these stories gives them space to breathe. Kuwata's work never felt padded.

This is only slightly more serious than the 1960s TV series. The dialogue is funny with you getting the feeling that something was lost in the translation and the stories often have a silly concept like Batman battling a real pro-wrestler.

Overall, this is a fun book if you can enjoy the slightly more goofy interpretations of Batman that are still well-plotted.



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Book Review: Superwoman, Volume 1: Who Killed Superwoman?

Superwoman, Volume 1: Who Killed Superwoman? by Phil Jimenez

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 1-7 of Superwoman and begins with the New 52 Lois Lane and Lana Lang each being Superwoman but that doesn't long as Lois apparently explodes leaving Lana to carry on alone.

The book has some interesting features. Chief among them is Lex Luthor who has claimed the mantle of Superman and even though he's imprisoned for most of the book, this book gives some insight to his character and Lana points out a bunch of his stuff that's utter abusive nonsense. I can't help but feel a little sorry for him as he really is put through the ringer in this book.

I also thought some of the supporting cast worked well particularly John Henry Irons.

What doesn't work well is Lana Lang. Making her become Superwoman is a big surprise, but there's little in this book that makes me want to read more or her adventures. I think Phil Jimenez was trying for something different: She was emotionally vulnerable and prone to anxiety and her powers are killing her. These are well thought out problems and they don't necessarily make us want to read about her. This is a very wordy book and Lana is the most verbose character in the book seeming to never stop talking. Her overall character lacks sense of fun or even firm purpose.

I think the type of idea Jimenez had for Lana's character is a good one but it's not well-executed. Marvel had Carol Danvers who had to stop using her powers because it was destroying her mind, but they didn't do that in the first book, they got us to know her and cheer for so when she was grounded, we felt the impact of that. Here, starting with this problem when she doesn't understand her powers means that she doesn't really fully understand what she's lost and what she's risking, and neither do we. As for emotional problems and struggling with anxiety, a better character having those sort of issues is Jessica Cruz in Green Lanterns, who despite her open struggles is far more fun to read than Lana.

When writing a book like this with a character concept that's new, it's got to be really good. This book isn't bad, but it's lackluster. It's weaker than Batgirl's debut series. Batgirl could afford a weaker opening volume because it's an established character with a fan base that will keep it around. Superwoman on the other hand is a new heroine and her first book needed to be strong to generate reader interest. This book fails to do that and so while it's worth reading for the stuff about Luthor, this book didn't make me interested to keep reading this series.



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Book Review: Blue Beetle: The More Things Change

Blue Beetle, Vol. 1: The More Things Change by Keith Giffen

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I received this book in digital form off of Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

In this book, Jaime Reyes has the Blue Beetle scarab and is working with Ted Kord, the post-Crisis Blue Beetle, who is now sidelined. Kord provides Jaime support in the field while also helping him study the scarab with hopes of getting rid of it. Their dynamic reminds me a bit of the 1990s series Batman Beyond with Kord being a somewhat more easygoing but also less helpful than Bruce Wayne was in that series.

This book seems to be trying to recapture the spirit of Reyes' original series from the mid-2000s with Jaime being an El Paso-based teenager whose family knows about his superpowers. I liked the series but this just doesn't give the same vibe.

In six issues in this book, there's not really a compelling storyline and it doesn't have the same sense of fun as the earlier series. The dialogue is often repetitive which gets old fast.

The biggest problem in the book may be Jaime. He's not particularly likable as written. There's one story where he spends several pages being a jerk to a metahuman girl who's just trying to be playful and friendly. Jaime is whiny, a fact that is called out by other characters in multiple issues. It only makes the whining slightly less bothersome.

The book has some good supporting characters who sadly don't get enough focus and there are a few moments that call to mind the good old days, but overall, I left the book uninterested in what happens next. I have to say this is one of the more disappointing DC Rebirth titles I've read.



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Book Review: Batman, Volume 1: The Court of Owls

Batman, Volume 1: The Court of Owls by Scott Snyder

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects issues 1-7 of the New 52 Batman series. Batman has heard of the Court of Owls but views them as mere bedtime stories and his attempts to investigate them have always borne that out., But when as Bruce Wayne, he decides to make radical changes to Gotham City, Batman learns they're a deadly reality.

Overall, this book builds a great sense of mystery and danger around the Court of Owls Batman is broken down a bit. At the beginning of the book, he's arrogant about how much he knows about Gotham and how because of that, the Owls couldn't possibly exist. The biggest challenge the book has in many ways is getting us to believe something as big and dangerous as the Court exists with Batman never having discovered it and it pulls that off nicely.

The book also sees the introduction of a nice supporting character in Lincoln, a Gotham Mayoral candidate. The art is good, occasionally going surreal or over the top in the scenes where the court has Batman. Overall, this is a great beginning for one of the most praised series in the New 52.



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Book Review: Green Lanterns, Volume 2: The Phantom Lantern

Green Lanterns, Volume 2: The Phantom Lantern by Sam Humphries

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book collects Green Lanterns #7-14 with Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz. This time, we get two inter-related story arcs. The Exiled Guardian that arrived in Issue 6 is present for Baz's family Halloween but also is kidnapped by hostile aliens who want what he possesses which turns out to be the phantom ring which sets up the titular Phantom Lantern Arc.

The series really does focus on these two characters and their own personal struggles. Yet, it doesn't depend on retreading the same ground, going back to the same well over and over again. The two are definitely comfortable with another as a team. Jessica shows more of a sense of humor and friendliness. She has insecurities and fears that come through the story particularly that she may not really fit as a Green Lantern due to the power of the Phantom Ring's ability to bring out whichever energy is the strongest. I like the resolution to that arc a whole lot. Simon is not sure he's strong enough. They literally have to face their fears in the course of the story.

At the same time, the Phantom Lantern is a great character: a man who was saved by Hal Jordan and who became obsessed with becoming a Green Lantern. He gets the phantom ring and we find he may be the worst person in the world to wield it due to his emotional instability and his tendency to drift across the emotional perspective. He's dangerous and unstable, but he's not a monster. It's interesting to see how this plays out.

The long-exiled first lantern was the key to helping him achieve his goal, but what that figure is playing at remains a mystery until the end and even then, it appears only acquired a means to an end.

Overall, this book exceeded the first and I like Simon and Jessica more than I did after the first volume. This is probably the biggest surprise I've had in reading DC Rebirth. Highly recommended.



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Book Review: Showcase Presents Superman, Volume 2

Showcase Presents Superman, Volume 2 by Jerry Siegel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is the second in DC's Silver Age Black and White Superman reprints. It collects Action Comics Issues 258-275 and Superman #134-144, a period stretching from November 1959-May 1961

There's no big over-arching plot. What you do have, for the most part, are some of the Silver Age's goofiest superhero adventures. One story is "The Super-Clown of Metropolis," in which Superman has to try to get a dying wealthy man to laugh for that man to leave his money to charity. In many ways, I think that could describe this era of Superman.

Superman is Superman. He knows what he's about. He knows evil has to be fought and disasters have to be averted but he's having the time of his life doing it. This is Superman who will take advantage of the fact that Clark Kent went to a party dressed as a devil to just mess with some criminals heads. This is Superman who gets tired of Mr. Mxzyptlk messing around with his life and so he flies to the fifth dimension to mess around with the inter dimensional imp. Both the Golden Age and modern Superman are above that sort of thing, but this is a job for Silver Age Superman!

The book also has several stories featuring Bizarro World and they are mostly fantastic and goofy in their own right.

This isn't to say that the book is all laughs and chuckles. Superman meets his underseas Mermaid girlfriend again and loses her in a way that makes you think he was lucky not to marry her. He also fakes his own disappearance in an elaborate attempt to make Lois happy so that she'll marry the nice guy who is trying to pursue him rather than continuing to fawn over Superman.

Though, for more serious moments, "Superman's Return to Krypton is a classic of Superman travelling back in time, landing on doomed Krypton, and trying in vain to save, and really falling in love in a doomed romance. It's tragic, sad, and beautiful that few things in the Silver Age are. This is followed by "The Old Man of Metropolis," which finds Superman awakening in a world where he's old and life has passed him by and his decisions have left him alone and Lois miserable. It's an obvious dream, but one that makes Superman think about all the decisions he made.

The book does have its weak points. There are way too many stories that end in, "It was all a dream..." The fact that Superman is not only Superman but has an army of Superpowered robots willing to his bidding and an entire city in a bottle full of advanced Kryptonians who can help leads to some lazy resolutions. And there are a few stories that cross the line from charmingly silly to just plain stupid.

Still, this is a nice book if you have a warm spot in your heart for Silver Age silliness because at the end of the day, there is no silver age silliness quite like Superman Silver Age silliness.



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Lois Lane: Back at the Planet and Stay at Home Parents

I'm way late coming to my thoughts on Action Comics #966. It's a consequence of being a Trades reader as opposed to a regular issue buyer.

Anyway, for those who haven't been following Superman and Action Comics in the DC rebirth storyline, the new 52 Superman died and the post-Crisis Superman returned married to Lois Lane and with a 10 year old son Jon. The new 52 Lois had also disappeared which in Action Comics #965 said Post-Crisis Lois to investigate by going undercover as her alternate dimension's younger self. No one notices she's 8-10 years older than the woman she's impersonating but then she ends up in Lois' apartment facing down the new Superwoman.

*Spoilers ahead*

Once bloodshed's averted, Lois learns her New 52 counterpart has died and so she decides to take old Lois' place working at the Daily Planet.

Lois returning to the workforce isn't a bad idea, nor is it bad for Jon. In general, I tend to think it's a good idea for one parent to stay home with a child during the early developmental years, though that happens less and less frequently these days. Jon is past those early years, and having your mom home all the time until you're ten is actually way above average these days.

In addition, Jon is discovering his superpowers and his dad is spending a lot of time training him, and he's also getting involved in other superhero stuff as Superboy and spending time with Damian Wayne. Truth be told, Superman would probably rather not have Lois home all the time thinking about her son hanging out with Damian Wayne. So there's good logic to her returning to the workplace.

Add to this, the fact that having Lois as a reporter for the Daily Planet is kind of a default position and this makes sense if you don't think about it, too much.

Given the state of 21st Century life, you'd think Lois' decision would be fairly low-key. You'd be wrong.

Writer Dan Jurgens makes this a big deal with Superman having a 2-page conversation with Jon, a 2-page conversation with Lois and Lois narrating on and on about her decision to go back to work. To quote Hamlet (which you rarely get to do when writing about comics), "Methinks the lady doth protest too much."

Jurgens has been writing comics for nearly three decades and that can have many positives in terms of his writing, but occasionally he seems to forget the world has changed a lot since the 1980s.

Jurgens' approach in this issue also seems to denigrate those who parents (Mothers and Dads) who choose to stay at home. Clark describes Lois as "wanting more" out of life which implies all stay at home parents are settling for less from life.

More to the point, Lois' debate over returning to the Planet is essentially a never-ending list of why she should go back to work there with exactly zero items on the items on the other side of the ledger. So if you're a stay at home parent, you're settling for less out of life and there's no reason at all for it.

This makes for somewhat dull reading and it takes you out of the story and makes you actually think about it.

Will her life at the Planet not hurt anyone as her narration insists rather insistently. Are there any negatives? Actually as this book makes me think about it, there's a big problem here that's different than any working parent faces. Because this book's Lois impersonating her doppleganger a woman who is secretly married with a ten year old. Most employers today will make some allowances if you need to be there for a loved one. Perry White would certainly be sympathetic. It would also be really weird if Lois were to continue to rent her apartment and never stay there. Does that mean she's going to have to stay in Metropolis and effectively live the life of a separated woman who doesn't have custody? These are just some of the potential problems that could arise as a result of this situation.

However, weighing pros and cons isn't really something that this book allows because it seems convinced that their can be no "con" argument of going back to work, even if it means hiding the existence of your family from your employer so you can pull off an absurd imposture that Lex Luthor has probably already seen through. Because supervillains (even if semi-reformed) notice when you're ten years older than you're supposed to be even if your closest friends are oblivious.

The absurdity of this situation in this situation is why Peter Tomasi has a better idea in the Superman book when he had Lois apply for a job at the local paper which would eliminate nearly all the problems she'd face.

If this was truly a tough decision, we should have seen Lois weighing the options just like really families do. In making the decision of whether to work or stay home, parents make trade offs. In some cases, it goes no further than the family can't make it without two incomes. In some, it may be a decision of more income or a need to continue a career v. the gift of being home each time a child comes home. What choice families make will depend on them and it's a condescending to say that every parent who chooses to stay at home is settling for some lesser form of existence. Certainly Lois wasn't doing that for the years she was at home and writing books anonymously to expose corruption and crime. She wouldn't even let the fact that she shouldn't exist on this world stop her from making a difference ( a point Jurgens unfortunately somewhat retcons in Issue #965.)

Families to have to make the best decision for them. Whatever decision they make will involve sacrifices and they can only hope they make the right ones.

Book Review: Batgirl, Volume 1: The Batgirl of Burnside

Batgirl, Volume 1: The Batgirl of Burnside by Cameron Stewart

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 35-40 of the New 52 version of Batgirl and represented a radical change in direction for the character after Gale Simone's run on Batgirl.

The book finds Batgirl settling into college life at Burnside, a sort of Silicon Valley area filled with high tech jobs. I like the underlying idea of Gotham City not being this strange monolithic zone, but having various suburbs and surrounding communities with their own distinct personality.

The story finds Batgirl becoming a celebrity driven by others claiming to be the Batgirl of Burnside. Eventually, she figures the only way to have any control over this social media driven insanity is to actually take her own part. This puts her on the outs with Black Canary.

The book raises a lot of issues including the nature of celebrity and reality TV culture in the real world as well as the undercurrent of narcissism present in so much of it. At the same time, it also wonders in-world whether superheroes are good and what you can gather from the book is that there's a narrow line that can easily be crossed (and Babs does it in this book.)

The book is not without problems. It has a few moments where you wonder if this is really a superhero book with all of its focus on social media and online dating profiles. Babs has some out of character moments. The big one that stands out is when she gets totally wasted at a party and actually puts a lot at risk.

Perhaps, the out of character stuff can be explained by Barbara's justification for her decision to enjoy the glow of social popularity: She's had so much hardship that she's owed it. In some ways, It's understandable. It's comparable to the lightening of Daredevil under Mark Waid. There are differences, mainly that Babs' change seems to have negative consequences and we end the book not entirely sure who she's going to be at the end of it. In addition, the confrontation of her darker time is more sudden. While I'm not entirely sure, I like Cameron's approach to Barbara I do have to respect it.



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Book Review: The Adventures of Tintin, Vol. 1: Tintin in America / Cigars of the Pharaoh / The Blue Lotus

The Adventures of Tintin, Vol. 1: Tintin in America / Cigars of the Pharaoh / The Blue Lotus by Hergé

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collect three Tin Tin graphic novels from the 1930s featuring everyone's favorite European boy and his dog Snowy as he battles mobsters in America before investigating the curse of the Pharaohs and taking on opium dealers the Far East.

The stories are simple, but fast paced. It's astounding how far Tin Tin can go in the course of sixty-four pages and how incredibly complex these adventures can get with numerous sidetrails he can take in a sixty-four page story.

For those of us who watched the Tin Tin cartoons growing up there are some key highlights. A big one is the introduction of the comical detectives Thomson and Thompson in the second of the three adventures, Cigars of the Pharaoh. There are also some key differences such as Tin Tin packing gun and Snowy talking.

These books are pioneering. These don't have all the thrills of modern comic books, but reading them you can see how they've inspired comic artists and creators for decades since their first publication. They're adventurous, exciting, and fast-paced.

Some aspects of the book are politically incorrect for our time, but there are also some attempts to clarify misunderstandings about how the Chinese people live as well as slams as the U.S. Government's mistreatment of native Americans.

Still, all things considered, these books hold up pretty well as some exciting and fun comic stories peppered with bits of social commentary. Overall, a very fun read.



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