Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes, page 65

Book Review: Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Heroes, Volume 2

Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Heroes, Vol. 2 by John Romita Sr.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


By 1954, a few short years after Superhero books flourished during World War II, only three major heroes were left standing, DC Comics' Big 3: Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. This book continues to look at the revival of Marvel's Golden Age Big Three during the mid-1950s for Captain America, the original Human Torch, and Sub-mariner.

This book collects stories from Men's Adventure #27 and #28, an anthology book featuring all three heroes and then Captain America #76-78 and Human Torch #36-#38 (with Atlas opting to continuing from golden age numbering.)

Here's a look at how each hero played out:

1) "Captain America, Commie Smasher" it's a beautifully politically incorrect cover that Marvel does its best to explain away through retcons mainly because it contradicts their continuity of Cap being in suspended animation after World War II until awakened by the Avengers.

At any rate, the concept is great but Cap fares the worst in this book. The seven page anthology stories in "Men's Adventures" were both pretty good, but Cap's tales in his own magazine were far weaker.

The problem is that while Sub-Mariner and Human Torch could just do what they'd been doing during the War, but the Captain America/Secret identity as a private identity wasn't something they could go back to. In 18-20 page Golden Age stories, you could goof around with that, but in a six page story, this element just distracted.

As a result of this unnecessary padding, the Captain America stories ended up rushed with even good concepts not being given decent space to develop. Ideas like the Chinese Communists blackmailing Chinese Americans, the Communists bringing to kill their own POWs for propoganda purposes, Cap fighting a green monsters with a hammer and sickle on its chest, or a plot to subvert through a sleeper agent could have been good stories if developed.

As it is, the Cap stories feature early art by John Romita who would distinguish himself with so many characters including the Amazing Spider-man.

The Submariner stories are good for the most part, although his role in the book is limited to the Men's Adventure comics and back-up features in the Human Torch books, Namor is pretty much the same as during the golden age: He's prince of Atlantis and mostly gets involved in human affairs with reluctance, but does when he has to. The most insane story in the book features the Sub-mariner trying to stop Half Man/Half Octopi from blowing up Europe. There's also an attempt at a ghost tale which is a bit weird. The introduction promised more Sub-mariner in Volume 3.

The Human Torch stories are probably the best in the book and make up the plurality of the book. The Torch tales really run a gamut of genres: There's crime, cold war spy dramas, and classic 1950s era Sci Fi tales about the dangers of prejudice. There's even a story where (in the style of the Golden Age Superman), the Torch helps a young pilot that lacks confidence through his power of invisibility (which he never had before this book and would never have again.) Really, everything is a lot of fun throughout.

The one flaw in the book is that writers did seem to keep forgetting that the original Human Torch wasn't actually human, but an android. The worst example is an unpublished Human Torch tale that was reprinted in this collection and features the Human Torch giving his actually human buddy Toro a blood transfusion. I'd like to think that someone had the strip withdrawn due to its glaring inaccuracy, and not that if Captain America had had an issue 79, this story would have gone in it.

There's a great introduction by Roy Thomas which always make a collection more enjoyable. In addition, I also have to say that this is one reprint volume where the two page text stories (required to be in comics to meet postal regulation requirements of the day) are actually quite good, with some good storytelling and clever twists across a variety of genres but mostly these are adventure tales.

Overall, this is a very enjoyable volume and it's too bad their weren't more of these stories made. Despite the limitations of length, they were fun reading. Alas, though, the Marvel age was still seven years away.



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Book Review: Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time, Volume 3

Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time, Volume 3 by Scott Tipton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Continuing the Prisoners of Time story from Volume 2:

"Mystery Date"-The quality of the artwork takes a turn for the better as we land in new Who territory with that lovely TARDIS team of the Ninth Doctor and Rose and a planet owned and built as an apparent monument to a rich man who's been dead for many years but is really secretly alive and wants to claim Rose as his "companion." It's an intriguing story in and of itself and it was on par with many of the stories that appeared Doctor Who Magazine at the time. (Though this made me hanker to re-read Doctor Who: The Cruel Sea At anyway, we get the first reveal as to the villain who's behind this, and it's very clever. Overall, a solid story hurt only by some poor lettering decisions early in the issue where you had to guess who was talking. Grade: A-

"Quiet on the Set"-It begins with the Tenth Doctor taking Martha to the 1940s and showing her an image of Gallifrey which escaped in what was a pretty poignant scene with Gallifey being beautifully drawn and then it's off to a movie set where Martha is cast in the lead and one of Doctor Who's least popular one-shot villains was at work. It was brave, but I'm not certain how good an idea it was to bring them back. The story is okay and ends with the Tenth Doctor setting us up for the finale. Grade: B

"The Choice and Endgame": The final two parts should be reviewed together. At the beginning of the comic, Clara disappears from the 11th Doctor, and he's off to find her, and events lead to the reveal of another villain and a big mash up full of Companions and Doctors. It's very satisfying and a superb celebration of the show and of the Companions love for the Doctor and they manage to give several Doctors good moments, although many of the Classic Doctors were a bit shorted, but somebody's going to be in a story of this sort. The final issue were very satisfying because I think only in a comic could you get in so many different companions and Doctors. In terms of Fiftieth Anniversary Specials, Big Finish was pushing the limit with eight Doctors and eight companions. You get far many more here, although sadly a few of them end up with only a line or two in the final story. Still, despite some flaws, the story is good and it's the right something special that the whole mini-series built towards. Grade: A-





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Book Review: Prisoners of Time, Volume 2

Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time, Volume 2 by Scott Tipton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


So we have four stories featuring the Fifth through Eighth Doctors in the Second Volume of Prisoners of Time

1) In Their Nature: The Fifth Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa, and Adric land in the middle of the Sontaran War against the Rutans. Mixed feelings on this one. On one hand, there's some profundity in the Story and the Doctor tries to help. On the other, he achieves very little. Then again, this was the Season 19 Doctor, so that's kind of in line with the character, I'll give this a grade: B-

2) Facades: The Doctor, Peri, and Frobisher (the only non-TV Companion to appear) are at a nature preserve and the Doctor ends up thrown into an insane asylum, though he does end up fighting Autons. I'm not certain they made use of old sixie, but there's a very intriguing clue at the end. Any story that has the Doctor traveling with a penguin has got some merit. Grade: B

3)Cat and Mouse: A Seventh Doctor story set in an old house with the Doctor and Ace. It's beautifully atmospheric particularly the shades and coloring. It's got some clever turns and a ghostly creature. A very solid tale. Grade: A-

4) The Body Politic: Here's what's weird about this story. The Eighth Doctor had only one full televised story and the character who was played by his co-star opted not to become his companion in the TV movie. However, since then, he's had hundred adventures in novels, audios, and comics. And so what do they do? They have the Doctor go back to pick up the sidekick from the TV Movie. Huh? The story itself is okay, but it's kind of disruptive to the theme and begs her to pretty please take a spin in the TARDIS. I mean if our mysterious villain has been kidnapping the Doctor's closest friends, why kidnap someone who didn't really want to travel with him anyways. It would have been a better had they'd paid a little money to get the rights to use Charley Pollard or Fitz. Still, it undermined the ongoing theme a little, so I'll give this one a Grade: C+



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Book Review: Superman Chronicles, Volume 9

The Superman Chronicles, Vol. 9 by Jerry Siegel

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This volume collections Superman stories from Action Comics #48-#52, Superman #16 and #17 and World's Finest #6. in many ways this volume has Jerry Siegel stepping it up in terms of challenges to Superman. There are more costumed supervillains or powerful scientists menaces. The Prankster is introduced in Action Comics #51 and of course, Lex Luthor returns.

Some highlights:

---Superman #16 features the Runaway Skyscraper with a mad villain who is stealing buildings and transporting them to an alien plane. Nice, probably needed to be longer by a great concept.

---World's Finest #6 has Superman v. Metallo-No, not the silver age version that everyone knows about but a devastating foe that takes the man of steel to his limit. It's a great fight.

---Action Comics #50-Play Ball-A Superman story featuring baseball. The only way it could be more American is if Superman were eating apple pie. Also, a nice return of the plots with Superman helping others with their personal problems.

--Superman #17-Man or Superman-A story where Lois begins to have suspicions about Clark Kent and Superman. Also, probably the first Superman story to real taking a retrospective lookback at some of his cases. Includes a beautiful full page splash.

--Also Superman #17: When Titans Clash: The state attempts to execute Luthor and instead re-energizes him to battle the Man of Steel. It's a sequel to another story, but it's well-done. I think in 1942, there probably wasn't a better supervillain around than Luthor.

---Action Comics #51: The Prankster, a clever plot to introduce another recurring Superman villain, and really enjoyable.

---Action Comics #52: After a lighter but clever tale we're treated to this Dystopian Nightmare that is set as something that might happen after the War. A man has declared himself Emperor and taken over America and only Superman has the will to resist. It's a scary story that has issues of mind control and dictatorship.

It also has to be said that Superman's relationship with the police really does appear to have mellowed and become friendly in this issue. Unlike Batman where the change in relationship was addressed, in Superman it just seems to happen.

Reading through these Chronicles, I continue to be surprised at how genuinely good these early Superman stories are particularly when we get to 1942. These were very enjoyable and the height of golden age comics.



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Book Review: Doctor Who, Prisoners of Time, Volume 1

Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time, Volume 1 by Scott Tipton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book collects the first four Issues of the 50th Anniversary Prisoners of Time story in which the Doctor's companions disappear, kidnapped by a mysterious foe, at the end of each adventure:

1) Unnatural Selection: The First Doctor travels back in time and meets Thomas Huxley and goes underground to fight the creatures from the Web Planet along with the Ian, Barbara, and Vickie. The story isn't all that engaging. Not bad either: C-

2) Bazaar Adventures: The Second Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe land the TARDIS at the one place where the TARDIS' broken Chameleon circuit will pose no problem: a space mall that sells nothing but Police Boxes. However, not all merchants are so benign and the Doctor and Zoe have to rescue Jamie from the slave trade and stop the horrific trade. A little busy but pretty entertaining. Grade: B

3) In With the Tide: The best story in the book. It really has the most authenticity to its era of any of the tales in this first volume as in a brief comic story, this tale manages to capture the Spirit of a typical UNIT story from the 1970s brilliantly as the Brigadier's behaving strangely and he and Sarah Jane look into it along with Liz Shaw who has returned to UNIT temporarily. I love the art on the front page and the picture of the Third Doctor in a cape. With an alien invasion and the threat of global destruction, all this is missing is some good nature banter from Sgt. Benton. Grade: A-

4)A Rare Gem: An interesting situation for the Fourth Doctor and Leela that has the Fourth Doctor meet the Judoon (who first appeared in the new series.) That's the main appeal of the story, which also features Leela fighting the Judoon which is very cool. What weakens the story is that their presence is superflous as the problem was well in hand and its on way to solving that plus the dialogue for Leela on page 97 (No hard feelings and all that, right?) is something she'd never say. Still, I'll give a grade of C+.

So overall this first volume is a bit of a mixed bag with the third story being best and the rest being decidedly mediocre.



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Book Review:Uncle Scrooge: The Seven Cities of Gold

Uncle Scrooge: The Seven Cities of Gold by Carl Barks

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This volume of Uncle Scrooge Comics collect Uncle Scrooge stories from the 1950s by Carl Barks combining epic style adventures that would become the basic for the TV show Duck Tales (one story "The Lemming with the Locket" would be directly adapted.) My favorite story in here is, "The Mysterious Stone Ray," a great story that mixes Science Fiction, mystery, and philosophy.

The shorts are amusing. As they do say in the rather extensive commentary, the latter half of the book comes during a weaker period in Bark's career so, "The Great Steamboat Race" and "The Golden Fleecing" aren't up to high standards. Still, Scrooge remains a fascinating and very fun character, and if you grew up reading these comics or grew up watching Duck Tales 30 years later, this is definitely a worthwhile read.



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Book Review: Superman: War of the Worlds

Superman: War of the Worlds by Roy Thomas

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The premise of this 64 page prestige comic: The Golden Age cast of Superman are inserted into the War of the Worlds in a story that evokes the Orson Welles broadcast which occurred 1938, the year that Superman was first introduced. The Superman of this story is pure Golden Age with Lois and Clark at the Daily Star rather than the Planet and with George Taylor as editor rather than Perry White.

Superman appears on the scene as Martians are invading. This is literally his first appearance as he fights the Martian, he and Lois encounter a scientist named Luthor (who wasn't actually introduced until 1940 but this wouldn't be an Elseworld's Superman book without Luthor appearing.)

Overall, while the book isn't essential reading but it's fun. Roy Thomas is probably the only writer who could pull this off with his extensive knowledge of Golden Age comics. Other than the inclusion of Luthor, the story captures the spirit of the era perfectly. Michael Lark's art is really well-done and captures the feel of the era. While, I'm not certain about Thomas' decision to set this at the beginning of Superman's career, it does create a contrast between two aliens on Earth that works powerfully in the story. Overall, a good work by one of comic's legendary writers.



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Book Review: Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman: Trinity

Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman: Trinity by Matt Wagner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This graphic novel centers around DC's Big Three Characters: Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, the three comic book characters who have published consistently since the Golden Age of Comics.

You might expect a thoughtful or profound epic like All-Star Superman or perhaps Kingdom Come. By this measure, the book is a failure. While it boasts about being about their "formative years," there's little indication that they're figuring things out, except for Wonder Woman. There's no period feel or nostalgia about the book.

What the book does achieve is being a very good story in its own right. Without the contrivance of this being the first meeting between the big three, this is actually a very solid tale in its own right. It's got some great action and is terrific thriller involving Ra's Al ghul and Bizarro of all people in a crazy messianic plot.

Where the book does fall down a bit is that Wagner doesn't have much clue on what to do with Wonder Woman in a way that's classy, so instead he has Ra's al Ghul talking about wanting to rape Wonder Woman. And then there's the scene where Batman stumbles on a bathing Wonder Woman out of the river on Paradise Island and is unable to resist kissing her. That's not a Batman thing to do and as bad as al Ghul is rape isn't something he'd threaten. I'm not some radical SJW, but it seems to me that in a comic book co-starring Wonder Woman, you could at least treat the character with some respect.

Beyond these issues though, the comic is fairly good reading, but just don't expect a classic tale.



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Book Review: Showcase Presents World's Finest Volume 2

Showcase Presents: World's Finest, Vol. 2 by Jerry Coleman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The second volume of Showcase Presents World's Finest brings us Superman-Batman team ups from November 1960-September 1964 in Issues 112-145 of World's Finest.

The highlights of the book include two separate meetings between Bat-mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk. There's also plenty of Lex Luthor in the book including a second Luthor-Joker team-up. Outside of that, the only other name supervillains in this book are Clayface and Brainiac.

Mostly the book features fun high concept sci fi. There's a different sense that's apparent throughout the book that if you're going to do a proper Superman and Batman Adventure, you have to really provide something special, so you have stories of time travel, of strange alien creatures. There's some overused tropes in there such as mind control, somebody else getting superpowers, and our heroes fighting each other or pretending.

I prepare the earlier stories in the book that are a bit shorter. They feel more light and breezy at 13-14 pages, while the latter stories that are 18 pages long really feel too long and have trouble maintaining their credibility. And I think the last five stories written by Edward Hamilton are a bit of a down note for the series. With tales like, "The Composite Superman," "Prison for Heroes," and "The Feud Between Batman and Superman," the book goes from being amusing to being over the top absurd.

Still, the first four hundred pages were quite enjoyable and I hope Hamilton's work in other volumes is better.



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Book Review: Hulk Volume 3: Omega Hulk, Book 2

Hulk Volume 3: Omega Hulk Book 2 by Marvel Comics

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 11-16 of the Hulk and brings the year long Omega Hulk story to an end. I had read the first books in comics through back issues and decided to get the trade to finish the story. Overall, it's an enjoyable story that sees Deadpool and Steve Rogers guest star among others. It's true the book changes pace from Doc Green's relentless "Armor War of the Hulks" storyline that had dominated Book 1. Of course, that's brought to a hault when things going horribly wrong with his efforts to stop Lyra and it dictated a change in his character as he experienced a character arc and came to grips with his inner Bruce Banner.

My one complaint is that at the end of Book 1, the question of She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters) was teased and it was teased throughout this book too and the end in that regards was a bit disappointing although understandable and of course we do have the big throwdown between the Hulk and Red Hulk.

I only even picked up the Hulk because Mark Waid was writing it but I have to say that I like what Gerry Dugan did to it. This was impressive and really impactful character arc. Nicely done.





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