Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes, page 61

Showcase Presents Aquaman, Volume 1

Showcase Presents: Aquaman, Vol. 1 by Robert Bernstein

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects the early Silver Age Aquaman stories from 1959-62. This contains a variety of stories ranging from 6-13 page stories published as back-up features in Adventures Comics, Detective Comics (believe it or not), World's Finest Comics, guest appearances in the Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane books, the full length try-outs for Aquaman in Showcase #32 and #33 and the first six issues of Aquaman's own comic.

There are some landmark stories in the comic, particularly the Silver Age Aquaman origin story and the introduction of Aqualad. The stories themselves are pretty bare bones. Atlantis is in the book, but there are only a couple stories involving it and Aquaman, while King of the Seas, has no actual political power. The only interaction with the rest of the Nascent DC Universe is seen in crossovers with Superman's friends, and a couple of cases of Aquaman stopping large chunks of Kryptonite from making it to market. The only recurring character introduced was Quisp.

The stories have a laid back feel. There's a sense that they're just trying to be fun adventures and they succeed at that. They're rarely as silly as some of the DC books and never boring. The art is solid and overall, this is just a pleasant uncomplicated read that's great for a young child or just anyone wanting to have a few pages of sea adventures with the King of the Sea.



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What If? Classics Volume 4

What If? Classic, Vol. 4 by Bill Mantlo

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book issues 21-26 of What If?

There are some strong issues revisiting some well-worn Marvel Universe themes. What If? #21 is a sequel to What If? #1 which had Spidey join the Fantastic Four and ended with the Invisible Girl choosing to go off and marry Submariner. This turns Reed so sour that the Thing and Spidey quit leaving Reed and Johnny to plot to overthrow Submariner. It's an interesting turnabout story and a fun tale for the Submariner.

Issue 22 is, "What if Doctor Doom became a hero?" and it's an interesting premise. However, the pivot point for the change seems a little weak and implausibly has him locked in a struggle with Mephisto.

Issue 23 is a bit more obscure, "What if the Hulk's Girlfriend Jarella had Not Died?" It's a good story but nothing the cover feature which has the Hulk dressed like some Barbarian. The end is a bit too uncertain for my tastes. The back up feature in this one is a little dumb as it asked what would hav happened if Aunt May had been bitten by the radioactive spider.

Issue 24 is, "What if Gwen Stacy had lived?" A big question and the answer mostly focuses on how Spider-man deals with the Green Goblin. Given the status of Norman Osborn in so much of the Marvel Universe and spin-off media, I wasn't impressed. It's as if the story's point was that if Gwen Stacy had lived, Spider-man would still have various storylines.

Issue 25 is, "What if Thor fought Odin Over Jane Foster," a tale that allows lots of fighting around Asgard and Avengers getting Asgard-powered. It's harmless fun. It has Quicksilver skipping the trip to Asgard which I guess was meant to illustrate whatever universe he 's in, Quicksilver can be a bit of a jerk.

Issue 26 is, "What if Captain America were elected President?" In the comics, he passed on a run in 1980, but this book asks what would have happened and doesn't do a whole lot with the concept. Because there'd be questions, 'How would this guy get along with Congress?' Would he have added credibility with some people? Less? There's nothing interesting in the story."

The back up tale is actually a little more interesting as it asked, "What if Man-Thing had Regained Ted Sallis' brain?" The outcome is interesting given that Man-thing was usually benign in the 1970s.

The book also features, "Untold Tales of the Marvel Universe" which tell about obscure Marvel mythology about the Celestials and Eternals. It was stuff started by Jack Kirby but really isn't engaging as written in this book

One big positive is that this book reprints the letters page so you can see what fans thought of books at the time. However, because the letters were about two issues behind, you'd have to have read What If? Classic Volume 3 to understand what the early ones were talking about.

Overall, not the greatest of, the, "What if? Books" but a few interesting stories in here.



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Book Review: Wonder Woman: The Complete Dailies 1944-1945

Wonder Woman: The Complete Dailies 1944-1945 by William Moulton Marston

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Wonder Woman's 18 month run as a comic strip character. The book presents the origin of Wonder Woman (improved slightly by not having Wonder Woman having to disguise herself during her competition to come to man's world.) The book includes comic strip adaptations of Wonder Woman having her initial battle with the Cheetah and also h sought toer solving the mystery of a woman whose kisses bring death.

The art continues to be superb, but the stories themselves tend to be too off the wall which makes understanding how the series got cancelled. There was a one week story line where Steve sought to get control of the Lasso to tie Wonder Woman's arms and force her to kiss him.

Overall, while it was too weird for mainstream comic companies, fans of the Golden Age Wonder Woman should find it enjoyable.



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Book Review: Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga Vol. 1

Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga Vol. 1 by Jiro Kuwata

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects more than 300 pages of Batman Manga comics from the 1960s.

There are several noticeable differences between our American Batman and this story. For one thing, except for Batman, Robin, and Commissioner Gordon (and even there the rank sometimes changes from issue to issue) none of the Gotham cast appears. The story is much more action adventure than detective story. And of course, without the Gotham that means the Batman is battling an all-new group of villains including Lord Death Man, Doctor Faceless, the Human Ball, Professor Gorilla, and Go-Go the Magician.

While it's a bit jarring for fans of American Batman comics, this book is pretty good in its own right. All of the villains are actually very good, and most are equal to many members of Batman's rogue's gallery, with Professor Gorilla calling to mind Gorilla Grodd and Go-Go the Magician reminds me of Weather Wizards. The art is superb, particularly the action sequences and there are several wordless sections in this book. The stories are a bit more mature when it comes to dealing with death but definitely not too over the line.

The only story I found iffy was the concluding tale, "The Man Who Quit Being Human" which had a plot that was so absurd that it was really hard to get into the story.

Overall, this is a very enjoyable collection and was a great introduction to the world of Batmanga.




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Book Review: Star Trek: The Next Generation / Doctor Who: Assimilation2, Volume 2

Star Trek: The Next Generation / Doctor Who: Assimilation2, Volume 2 by Scott Tipton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book collects the second half of the Star Trek: TNG/Doctor Who crossover, Issues 5-8. This is decent but not quite as good as the first four issues. One thing is there's a lot of dialogue and a lot of exposition. Issue 5 is a LOT of exposition and dialogue as the Doctor and friends try and convince Captain Pickard to hear out Borg who are wanting an alliance against the Cybermen. We get a ton of backstory on Pickard having been assimilated and events of, "The Best of Both Worlds." I suppose it's necessary for Doctor Who fans who don't know TNG, but it's very involved. We also have an attempt to add on emotional drama by making the Borg representative an old friend of Riker's who doesn't actually play a big role in the story.

However, the good stuff comes in Issues 7 and 8 as we have the TARDIS aboard a Borg ship and we have the Enterprise crew teaming up with the Doctor and a clash between the Doctor and Worf over the raid. It really does feel believable.

So while there's some pacing issues, this is still a decent conclusion to the story.



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Book Review: The Only Good Dalek

Doctor Who: The Only Good Dalek by Justin Richards

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


The Doctor and Amy Pond find themselves on a planet in the midst of a war between the Daleks and humans.

Overall, this story was disappointing. There was some good moments, but the story felt belabored and like there really wasn't enough story for a 128 page graphic novel, and there's also just not enough of a sense of the Doctor and his companion.

I also kind of question who the audience for this is. It's a New Who story with the "Power Ranger" Daleks introduced in "Victory of the Daleks," however it uses the world of the First Doctor Story, the Dalek's Master Plan as its setting.

Beyond that it just lost my interest as the book went on.



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Book Review: Batman: Strange Apprations

Batman: Strange Apparitions by Steve Englehart

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects stories from eight issues of Detective Comics where Marvel Writer Steve Engelhart took over the writing of Detective Comics as well as two issues written by Len Wein.

Overall, the stories are pretty solid. The lead off villain, Doctor Phosphorous is well-written. Two stories, one involving Hugo Strange learning Batman's secret identity and another involving the Joker poisoning the water to give fish his face and then trying to copyright fish were later adapted for the great Batman: The Animated Series. There's also a very solid Penguin story in here.

The individual stories work great, but I have some more mixed feelings on the overall plot arc involving Bruce Wayne's relationship with Silver St. Cloud as well as Rupert Thorn's efforts to drive Batman out of Gotham. Both feel very rushed towards their resolution due to Engelhart's planned retirement from comics (which turned out to be temporary), but there's just too much going on for him to have actually done everything he'd started justice.

Still, this is a nice collection of stories from an era that aren't really collected anywhere else, so it's definitely a worthwhile read.



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Book Review: The Tick: Specials

The Tick: Specials by Sean Wang

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The Tick Specials is a sprawling Seventeen Comic collection chocked full of Big Blue goodness as we're given several Tick Yule Log specials and Halloween specials as well as specials for other seasons such as "Summer" and "Tax Time."

The first seven issues in the book are my favorite. All of them are very self-contained stories without the trappings of comic book continuity. We have a short with Arthur trying to teach the Tick about Hanukkah, Arthur going to Sidekick Summer Camp, old Tick foes Barry Hubris and Chainsaw Vigilante teaming up (and eventually battling it out), the Tick and Arthur in a haunted house, and the has the Tick trying to teach the true meaning of Christmas to a stranded alien overlord. It some ways it reminds me of the cartoon series.


The second half of the book is not bad, but has some problems. The first seven specials of the year 2000 (Big Ydear 2000 Spectacle, Tax Time Terror, Mother's Day Special, Father's Day Special, the two massive Summer Vacation Spectacles, and the Big Cruise Ship Vacation special are essentially another ongoing series masquerading as a series of specials and the last issue leads into the Tick Color series. There are strengths and weaknesses in the series. The Father's Day Special with Kid Tick is hilarious and the idea of criminals making rules with heroes in the Summer Time spectacles is hilarious and very clever. The Year 2000 special was a little hard to follow and the Mother's Day special was a bit odd.

The book closes with a hilarious Halloween special with the Tick battling killer Pumpkins, and then an okay Yule Log special with the male members of the Tick's superhero team on vacation. It's okay but ends a bit weird.

Overall, this is one of the better Complete works books with a lot of fun. If you're wanting to keep right with continuity I'd recommend purchasing this one after Big Blue Destiny but before the Tick and Arthur. Overall, this is a very nice collection for fans of our big blue hero.



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TV Review: Supergirl: Hostile Takeover

Summary:

Aunt Astra's got a game plan to save the Earth from humans through methods of murder and mayhem we won't like while some mysterious person has hacked Cat's email and is trying to destroy her.

*Spoilers Ahead*

The positives:

---"Seeing Red" established that Kara's got anger issues and this episode right to the core of them about Astra's betrayal and then learning that her mother used her as bait to catch Astra really shows how her life had already been messed with Krypton.

---Astra caring about Kara makes Astra a far more interesting character and it's odd to have someone that Kara so thoroughly hating someone as it's not her typical nature but that goes back to the anger which is shown in a fight where Kara doesn't risk innocent lives and can't bring herself to kill Astra but also one where property damage is at a premium.

---Cat Grant gets played for both comedy and drama as we learn about her minor foibles and then the biggest mistake of her life, having an illegitimate son and then not being part of his life. Her loyalty to Kara when it looked like she'd be forced to resign to save her son was very touching and felt sincere and shows how these character have grown close over the course of the last eight episodes.

---Cat figuring out Supergirl's identity shows she's smarter than the average boss. The minor slip that keyed it was added to numerous clues that Cat had picked up on. It'll be interesting to see what the writers do with the secret. There have been hints of one possible "out" which I hope they don't take. It would be convenient for Kara if her boss knew what she were up to and I also think that given all that Kara has learned about Cat, the strength of the relationship dictates the secret be shared. I think Cat is responsible enough not to plaster it all over the paper, but she might be tempted to abuse her Supergirl connection. But that's something for two weeks later.

---"Superman doesn't kill." So this isn't in the same Universe as "Man of Steel" and it's fair to wonder why the makers of Supergirl figured this out but the makers of "Man of Steel" didn't.

---Finally, Jimmy Olsen recognizes that Winn is pining for Kara and shows some real class in encouraging Winn to make his affections known, and we finally get a little bit of a reveal of what Winn is thinking rather than just guessing.

---Cat's nickname for Winn, "The Handsome Little Hobbit" is awesome.

The Bad

---While the Cat Grant getting hacked plot does allow a development of the relationship between Cat and Kara and some comedy, it's not particularly well-handled. It takes over half the episode and feels like padding and distraction for Aunt Astra's plot to set up a "To Be Continued." Another reviewer suggest a plot to topple Cat would have been an interesting season arc. I wouldn't necessarily go there, but having this play out over four or five episodes and having a more interesting solution than, "Cat's powerful White male nemesis is behind this effort. Shocker!" would have worked better. And a more complicated resolution would have helped too.

--Astra's plot is a little daff. Her plan was to get captured by Kara so to distract the DEO and Supergirl while her men broke into Maxwell Lord's corporate headquarters. The problem is that neither were guarding the corporate headquarters and both arrived before her people were finished. The only difference her being locked up made was to get Kara upset and make sure Astra wouldn't be able to provide support to the operation. Maybe there's some genius twisting we're missing but this plan looks incredibly dumb.

---Kara is a little too easy to let Alex's "explanation" or lack thereof for Hank not being responsible for Alex's father's death go, but I'll attribute it to Kara's trusting nature, but there's a fine line between trusting and naive.

Overall: A great cliffhanger sets the stage for a January return and there's some wonderful character work in this story. Still, the mishandling of the Cat Grant hacking plot makes this a little weaker than recent episodes, so I give this a 7/10.

Book Review: Star Trek: The Next Generation / Doctor Who: Assimilation2, Volume 1

Star Trek: The Next Generation / Doctor Who: Assimilation2, Volume 1 by Scott Tipton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Two of the greatest Science fiction franchises meet in one comic. This book collects the first half of the series as the TARDIS lands smack dab in the middle of the Enterprise Holodeck just in time to find out the Borg and Cybermen have teamed up.

Most of the book is set up but it's very well-done. No character seemed out of character and there are lots of great scenes of the Eleventh Doctor, Amy, and Rory on board the Enterprise. It's also clear something has clearly gone wrong as the Doctor has crossed into another universe and in Issue 3 we learn he's been here before as we get to see a team up between the Fourth Doctor and Kirk shown in a more retro four color style than the painted style of the rest of the book. The book definitely holds your interest and Volume 1 ends on a very compelling note that makes Volume 2 a must read.



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