Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes, page 68

Book Review: The Tick: Big Blue Destiny The Complete Works

The Tick: Big Blue Destiny The Complete Works by Eli Stone

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collect Eli Stone's well-regarded run on the Tick collecting The Tick's Back #0, Big Blue Destiny #1-5, The Luny Bin Trilogy Preview and then the whole Luny Bin Trilogy.

"The Tick's Back" is a nice one shot setting up Stone's run with Author and the Tick battling Toy De Force.

The entire run of "Big Blue Destiny" is typical Tick mayhem but with a far stronger story arc built in than you'd see in typical Tick comics. The Tick battles an art-based villain in Issue 1, enters in arm-wresting competition in Issue 2, in Issue 3, he and Arthur travel to an island which is based on honoring Martin Van Buren. In Issue 4, they go into Court to face judgment for the damage done in Issue 1, and then in Issue 5, the story focuses on the true villain behind it all: an art museum curator who wants Arthur's moth suit so he can take over the world.

The Luny Bin trilogy is a fun Tick universe event as the Tick returns to the insane asylum from which he came. Now, all the sides of the story don't touch with the part of the story about Chairface Chippendale and Barry Hubris (formerly known as the Tick) not actually touching the main plot with the Tick and other characters, I have to tip my hat to Stone. He goes back to the original Tick continuity that Ben Edlund made up when he was 18 and completely ignored thereafter. Stone revisits it and reveals some mysteries and tells a good story to boot.

Overall, Stone is in the same league as Ben Edlund, the Tick's creator, which is high praise indeed. If one wants to say Tick comics are "important" (I know a dubious claim at best) than this is probably more important to understanding the character's history that Karma Tornado. And it's not only "important," it's a lot of fun and a great read for those who loved the comics and the cartoon.



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Book Review: Silver Surfer: Parable

Silver Surfer: Parable by Stan Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects two separate Silver Surfer stories that both have to be considered out of continuity. The first is "Parable" in which original Silver Surfer writer Stan Lee teams up with European comic legend Moebius who provides the art. Galactus has landed on Earth but after his promise not to destroy it. Instead, he sets himself up as God and proclaims a lifting all moral code and have yourself good time, putting the Earth in peril. It turns out his plans to feed his hunger is letting the Earth destroy itself.

The story intentionally plays into the typical Silver Surfer religious overtones with style and without apology. The Surfer as a sort of Christ trope has never been quite so obvious as in this story. The art is superb and very appealing and different style by Moebius.

There are some surface level points about what happens when you throw off all morality or moral control as well as people killing in the name of religion, but I have to say that this story is far shallower than it appears in terms of it's overall thrust. This is problematic because Parable is an often illogical story particularly it's central plot point. Galactus isn't going to sit around for years and wait for humanity to destroy itself because he'd starve. For us to ignore that problem, we need a very deep, very involved story. Far more involved than we actually get.

The second half of the book is the 1990 Graphic novel, the Enslavers where Stan Lee teams up with artist Keith Pollard. The story's art is decent. It's the early 1990s, but Pollard hasn't surrendered to the garishness which overtook that decade. Despite a few digressions, the Enslavers is a far more straightforward story than, "Parable." An intergalactic overlord comes to invade the Earth and subdues all of its heroes in short order and it's up to the Surfer to find out the truth, save the Earth, and save Shalal-Bal

It's pretty much a straightforward space adventure. Of course, there are logical problems. Mainly the creation of the villain Mrrungo-Mu who conquered galaxies and subdued all the Avengers and hasn't been heard from in 25 years. Of course, that might be believable with his ending, but still not given the track records of villains like Thanos in the Marvel Universe. Given what happened to these characters, particularly the Silver Surfer, it's fair to question whether any of these events are/were canonical.

However, that doesn't matter much. If you're a fan of the Silver Surfer, the Enslavers gives you a chance to see the Surfer fighting his demons and then opening up the full force of the Power Cosmic with perhaps, the most upbeat ending to a Silver Surfer story ever.

In some ways, it's an interesting contrast. You have two different Silver Surfer stories by the character's creator. There's the brooding homeless philosophical wanderer of "Parable" and the heroic Sentinel of the Skyways whose as large a legend as any pulp hero.

This is one case with two unrelated stories where the whole is greater than the sum of the two tales as the flaws of the two stories balance out to give us an interesting if somewhat unusual collection.



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Book Review: Showcase Presents Hawkman, Volume 1

Showcase Presents: Hawkman, Vol. 1 by Gardner F. Fox

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book presents more than 30 Hawkman tales. Really this should be Hawkman and Hawkgirl tales since she's the series co-star. The concept by Gardener Fox is great. Husband and wife police team from the Planet Thannagar goes to Earth in pursuit of a criminal and sets up shop on Earth.

This book collects several runs of Hawkman in 34-36 and 42-44, the couple get two separate tryout runs for a full book in 1961 and 1962. A guest appearance in the Atom #7, and a run in Mystery in Space 87-90 as one of two features sharing the book with Adam Strange, a guest appearance in team up version of Brave and the Bold in Issue #51 with Aquaman and then there are the first 11 issues of Hawkman.

There are two very good things about the book. The first is Joe Kubert's art in the first two Brave and the Bold runs which is very distinctive for the era and really fun to look at for the first fifth of the book. The next thing that works well is the team up. Without a doubt they're the most compelling stories in the book, Team ups with the Atom in The Atom #7 and Hawkman #9, the Aquaman Team-up in Brave and the Bold #51, a team up with Adam Strange to save both Earth and Rann in Mystery in Space #90, and Zatara appears in Hawkman #4.

Most of the rest of the book isn't all that special. Hawkman #10 features a nice spy tale with CAW and Hawkman #11 features a very involved tale with the birdman known as the Shrike. That comic's the only non-team up story to really use a 25-page format to its full value.

Mostly, the stories and the villains are forgettable. Not as strong as the Atom's rogues, mostly the Hawks faced one-note alien menaces with a key weakness or they faced local crooks. The stories are okay with some fun science lessons thrown in, but I think the awesome idea of Hawkman doesn't really have its potential fulfilled in this book.



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Book Review: Wonder Woman Archives, Volume 3

Wonder Woman Archives, Vol. 3 by William Moulton Marston

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This third collection of hardback Wonder Woman stories collects Sensation Comics #18-#24 and Wonder Woman #5-#7.

The Sensation Comics stories are pretty much unremarkable par for the course Wartime Wonder Woman stories. The one exception to that is Wonder Woman #19 in which Wonder Woman's bracelets are cut by a villain and they learn that's a big mistake as she goes hog wild. The obvious lesson would seem to be that without moral restraint we'll end up hurting others, but those who interpret Wonder Woman stories probably can find the darker meaning.

The full length Wonder Woman issues really impress and be far ahead of its time in terms of stories and having them interlinked. Issue 5 introduces Doctor Psycho in its lead story and resurrects him in the final tale and in between we have more shenanigans by Mars and their attempts to control the Earth. Issue 6 introduces the Golden Age version of Wonder Woman foe, the Cheetah. Issue 7 shows them more than a Decade and a half ahead of the trend of Silver Age silliness. Amazons have the ability to see the future and they see that Etta Candy accidentally discovers a formula that gives everyone on Earth endless life with no aging, thus allowing Wonder Woman to live a thousand years into the future to see a world in which secretaries dress like they're going to the beach and men either dress as gauchos or sleave shirts, bikini shorts, and capes. It's the most insane story Moulton's written yet. Wonder Woman maintains a double identity as Diana Prince for a thousand years even after she's elected to the Presidency and keep in mind-she has no reason to maintain the identity other than to allow her to serve in Intelligence. After about 900 years, she could have told them the truth.

The story does have, as usual, doses of the author's kinks and ideology. The tale of the future has a strong bent of how women make the best leaders which may tie into the some very adult ideas, but for most girls reading this in the 1940s was probably just viewed as a rare piece of programming counter to culture. As always, parental discretion advised, but Wonder Woman continued to be a very well-written book.



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The Father Figures Who Made the Flash

My guest post on how fathers shaped Barry Allen in CW's The Flash at Speculative Faith.

Also check out the digital comic based on the TV series in Flash Season Zero #20

Book Review: Captain America Omnibus, Volume 1

Captain America Omnibus, Vol. 1 by Ed Brubaker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ed Brubaker's run on Captain America is historic for many reasons.The chief of these being the return of Bucky Barnes as the Winter Soldier. This change has been felt on television and of course in the recent film.

Brubaker's storytelling is bold, daring, and in-your face. The 1st Issue features the mad-schemeing of the Red Skull and ends with the Skull getting a bullet through his brain. From there, we're on a dark journey for Cap, his friends, and allies, as Cap hopes to find a little bit of Bucky buried within the assassin brain of the Winter Soldier and even after finding Bucky the two can't reunite, can't pick up and the search continues.

Brubaker's tales are tales of espionage, intrigue, and psychological suffering. At the same time, there's tips of the hats to the Invaders and a story in a more traditional style in honor of Caps 65th Anniversary. At the same time, There are many words that can be used to describe Brubaker's run: Evocative, intelligent, frightening, riveting, intriguing.

Yet, there's one word I wouldn't use to describe this book: Fun.

This is a serious book, a very well-written, well-drawn tale but as serious as a stroke followed by a heart attack. It's unremittingly, unrepently grim, gritty, and dark. If that's what you want, you'll love this book. You have Sin being tortured by Crossbones to undo her programming and turn her back into a psycho killer. You have an entire issue dedicated to Jack Monroe sharing his final dreary days. You have Sharon Cartyer's decline into crazyland and the emotional and psychological pain that's coming up on her like a ton of bricks at the end of this volume. And to double darkness, you have four stories set against the backdrop of the ultimate Hero v. Hero event, Civil War. Again, if you like dark comics, you'll really enjoy this book, probably more than I did.





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Book Review: Invaders Classic, Volume 3

Invaders Classic - Volume 3 by Roy Thomas

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Invaders #22 and #23 as well as #25-#34. #24 was a reprint of the Golden Age Submariner/Human Torch story in the Golden Age Marvel Comics #17 which I really wish they'd included but I guess you can't always have what you want and it's not necessary to understanding the stories.

At any rate, here are the issues we did get.

Issue 23 features Toro needing serious medical care after the Invaders last book and Roy Thomas (who loves the Golden Age of comics) retcons a new origin for Toro that makes him a mutant. It's actually pretty clever.

Issues 24 and 25 have the Invaders facing a threat in the form of an anti-imperialistic Egyptian metahuman, The Scarlet Scarab. The character is a lot like Namor which poses some problems for the plot as well as for both our heroes and General Rommell. In Rommell, there's a bit of an anachronism as he's portrayed as a Nazi. While Rommell fought for Germany, he wasn't part of the Nazi Party and was more of a nationalist who ended up trying to assassinate Hitler. It's not a big deal other than for being a rare breach in accuracy.

Issues 26-28 sees Bucky trying to find a Doctor to help cure Toro but the only one who can help is locked in an internment camp. Bucky tries to get the Doctor out to help, but runs smack into Agent Axis, a man who is actually the multi-personality combination of three different Axis Agents.It also introduces the Kid Commandos as a Japanese-American Girl and a black boy get Superpowers. I think it's good that they addressed the internment issue. The Kid Commandos are a far better idea than what Timely put out during the war with the far less interesting, "Young Allies." And I actually liked Bucky and Toro leaving temporarily as it allowed stories with more focus and along with the Liberty Legion (established in prior issues) gives this comic a much better focus.

Issues 29 and 30 involve the Teutonic Knight and begins by explaining how the Big 3 Invaders each encountered him individually and how he became even more deadly based on what he obtained for them with issue 30 being the wrap up. A solid story.

Issue 31 is an oddball that has the Invaders battling a version of the Frankenstein monster created for the Nazis by one of Frankenstein's ancestors.

Issues 32 and 33 have Hitler and his scientists scheming to contact Asgard bring the Norse gods into the War. The story does a good job playing off Hitler's belief in the Norse mythology and their vision of gods and shows how he's able to trick Thor into temporarily entering the war on the side of the Axis by pointing out that their enemies are known as the Invaders and in Russia, they're helping an evil man named Stalin. True enough but not the full story. There's a guest appearance by a future Marvel baddie who still despises Hitler (it was a very clever cameo) and a power up for Union Jack.

Issue 34 has the Invaders dealing with the Destroyer (formerly Union Jack's identity and now held by his friend) apparently going evil. This is an okay issue more than anything else.

Overall, in its the third volume, the Invaders continue to be a very well-written book. It's success is driven by writer Roy Thomas' love for the Golden Age era of comics and for his ability to reimagine it in a way that's believable.




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Death in Heaven: Stephen Moffat's Lesson in Love

Science Fiction often tries to teach lessons…Give a hoot, don’t pollute and be kind and unbigoted. Lessons on hot topic issues are fired at the audience with all the subtlety of a “This is Your Brain on drugs” ad. For Series 8 of Doctor Who, show runner Stephen Moffat took a different tact in talking about the military and along the way was criticized by fans for having the Doctor be anti-military, while the World Socialists organization has accused the show of being jingoistic and militaristic.

The Doctor’s relationship with the military is often complex. The Doctor, more often than not, ends up butting heads with military authorities. At the same time, he’s often found military allies. Most famously, the Doctor served as a scientific advisor to U.N.I.T. during the 1970s and is technically still on their payroll. He formed an occasionally contentious friendship with Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, Captain Yates, and Sergeant Benton. Other times, he’d have random military allies such a group of soldiers who volunteered to fight Cybermen in Earthshock. The Eighth Doctor asked to be a warrior in “Night of the Doctor.” Originally, the Doctor ended the Time War by wiping out his own people as well as the Daleks.

***Spoilers for Series 8 ahead***

However, after “Day of the Doctor,” the destruction of Gallifrey was done away with and from episode two it became clear the twelfth Doctor had a distinct dislike for soldiers. In his second episode, “Into the Dalek,” he meets a brave female soldier named Journey Blue who is fighting the Daleks. After the adventure, she asks to join the Doctor and the Doctor rejects her outright, saying, “I think you're probably nice. Underneath it all, I think you're kind. You're definitely brave. I just wish you hadn't been a soldier.”

In that episode, we also met Danny Pink, who teaches math at Cole Hill School. He was a former soldier and gets questions about it. One student asks whether he killed anyone. The students have an excuse, being kids. However, adults can be cloddish, too. Danny says there’s a moral component to modern soldiering, and it just wasn’t about shooting people. Clara says, “Ah. You shoot people and then you cry about it afterwards.” This is very unkind as Danny is shown to suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome

After the Doctor’s unkind dismissal of Journey Blue, Clara decides to date Danny, saying she has no rule against soldiers. Yet she manages to be amazingly insensitive in “Listen,” when they joke about a flighty student and Clara says she could kill that girl some days. Danny agrees and Clara says, “From you, that means something.” He explains in utter exasperation that in the Army, he dug twenty-three wells that saved whole villages of people that he didn’t kill. Clara still doesn’t get it and ends up walking out of the date in total cluelessness. We later learn that episode the whole reason Danny became a soldier was to keep people safe.

Throughout this season, we’re shown even out of the military, protecting people is what Danny does. At the same time, it becomes clear, though he was a soldier, he was no fan of war or every aspect of military culture. He and the Doctor meet half way through the season in, “Caretaker,” where the Doctor continually mistakes Danny for a PE teacher despite Danny explaining multiple times he teaches math. Danny throws back the Doctor’s attitude against Danny as a soldier by identifying him with nobility and officers who push people around and give people orders but then claim to have clean hands.

He warned Clara the Doctor was someone who pushed Clara to her limits to be better, but would someday push her too far, and made her promise to come to him when that happened and warned they would be through if she broke that promise. “If you don't tell me the truth I can't help you. And I could never stand not being able to help you.”

She does tell Danny when it happens in, “Kill the Moon,” and plans to leave the Doctor after one last trip in the TARDS but changes her mind while hiding the change from Danny, lying to him until the penultimate story of Series Eight, “In the Forest of Night” when it’s revealed she’s still been traveling with the Doctor behind his back.

Throughout the series, Danny is rock solid but quiet. When Clara is in danger, he fights a robot to save Clara in, “The Caretaker.” “In the Forest of Night,” Danny saves the Doctor and Clara from a tiger. When the Earth appears to be doomed, Clara knows Danny would never leave the children to save himself. Danny is a grounded hero. He doesn’t want to go on adventures in the TARDIS. “I don't want to see more things. I want to see the things in front of me more clearly. There are wonders here, Clara Oswald…One person is more amazing, harder to understand, but more amazing than universes.”

Danny dies at the start of “Dark Waters” and we eventually learn Missy has been using Time Lord technology to capture the souls of the deceased for quite a long time. So he finds himself inside a cloud server “afterlife” where we learn what traumatized him so. While overseas in a war zone, he accidentally killed a child while searching for terrorists. The scene where he meets the child and tries to talk with him is heartbreaking.

Then in “Death in Heaven,” Missy’s insane plan plays out and the dead turn into Cybermen, including Danny. His emotions aren’t deactivated, but as a Cyberman he can never be with Clara and Clara’s words wound him further. (yes, this was a pattern for this relationship.) So he asks Clara to turn on the inhibitor to deactivate his emotions. The Doctor fears if she does, Danny will kill her immediately. However, Clara gets her way.

Missy has the Cybermen do aerobics then gives the Cybermen to the Doctor by handing him a controller to prove that they aren’t that different. A cloud will turn everyone on Earth into Cybermen which will be under the Doctor’s command. The Doctor sees what Missy doesn’t. Danny isn’t obeying. He realizes that while Danny’s emotions have been deactivated, some things hasn’t. “Because love, it's not an emotion. Love is a promise. And he will never hurt her.”

The Doctor throws the controller to Danny, who realizes the cloud threatening to convert the living, too, can be destroyed by the converted dead blowing themselves up. Danny speaks to his troops, “This is Earth's darkest hour. And look at you miserable lot. We are the Fallen. But today, we shall rise. The army of the dead will save the land of the living. This is not the order of a general, nor the whim of a lunatic… This is a promise. The promise of a soldier!” And he turns to Clara and tells her, “You’ll sleep safe tonight.”

So he dies saving the Earth, and its people, along with the woman he loved. The episode aired November 8, 2014, just days before Remembrance Day in the U.K. (known as Veteran’s Day in the U.S.). Danny’s speech was a tribute to the fact it was because of the fallen that the land of the living had been saved. It was the promise of soldiers who had gone to their deaths to save wives, sweethearts, and children from evil by which free peoples sleep each tonight.

However, as fans of Doctor Who will tell you, ever since Moffat took over in 2010, one death or even two deaths is not enough to be final. The control device’s magic offers Danny has one more chance to return to life. Instead he sends back the boy he’d accidentally shot.

The entire Eighth Series of Doctor Who had been set up to lead to this moment, to this tribute to the fallen warriors of the First World War right down to its scheduling. The series finale had to be on the date it was to really carry the weight Moffat wanted it to. It’s perhaps one of the most strategically planned messages ever. It’s easy to write a song or insert some random patriotism, but the planning on this showed dedication.

At the same time, it made some people who had been comfortable uncomfortable. Many people who will loudly trumpet themselves totally unbigoted and rail against racism, sexism, etc. Yet, they will often make judgments of people who serve or have served in the military as a bunch of bloodthirsty nut jobs who slaughter civilians and treat the streets of foreign nations like Warcraft and are unthinking killing machines.

Danny Pink is closer to what most actual soldiers are like. The whole of Series 8 had a lot to say about how the people often treat soldiers and the unfair assumptions made about them. Most soldiers serve to protect people, not to kill them. If they know some innocent died as a result of their actions, most would gladly trade their own lives if they had the chance to do over again.

The story shows the great love of a good soldier who lays down his life for his friends. it paints a picture of a love that has more in common with the Biblical concept of love rather than the “you make me feel good” love that’s so exalted in our culture.

This doesn’t deny the reality that many wars are unjust or ill-advised. At times, negotiations make more sense than war. It also doesn’t deny that there are some bad soldiers. However the take away from Series 8 if you have a problem with a conflict, contact the White House, Downing Street, or whatever address you have in your country. Don’t disrespect the people who wear the uniform.

Book Review: Superman Chronicles, Volume 6

The Superman Chronicles, Vol. 6 by Jerry Siegel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The Superman Chronicles continues its journey through the Man of Steel's early years, collecting Issues 10 and 11 of Superman, Action Comics #37-#40, and Superman Stories from World's Finest #2 and #3.

The stories are all by Jerry Siegel, but the art chores are down by four different artists with Leo Nowak being the best of them.

My favorite stories in there include, "The Invisible Luthor" which involves Luthor making things disappear and holding the city for ransom. The art on this one is superb.

Action Comics #37 features an attempt by the city to reform police with new Commissioners, but each new Commissioner is killed until someone has the idea of appointing Clark Kent.

Action Comics #38 features people committing crimes under radio control.

In Superman #11, there's the Corinthville Caper which has Clark and Lois heading to investigate a story of giant animals and finding more than meets the eye.

Action Comics #39 has a seemingly invulnerable radioactive criminal whose crimes are blamed on Superman. It's interesting that in some ways the early golden age Superman has a few themes in common with the oft-misunderstood Marvel characters of the 1960s and 1970s

There are also some weak stories in here, "The Yellow Plague" from Superman #11 has the Man of Steel going to an India tribe to find a cure from the stereotypical natives and Action Comics #40 has Superman playing nursemaid to the daughter of a billionaire.

This book being from Summer to Early Autumn 1941, there are quite a few stories of sabotage and intrigue. Two separate spy rings appear in Superman #10 in back to back stories. The most interesting one was in Zimba's Gold Badged Terrorists where an entire suburb disappeared.

There did seem to be a bit of a tonal issue as Superman was a bit rougher in this book than he had been some of the previous volumes. In many ways, Superman in this book feels like a throwback to the Superman earliest Golden Age stories as Superman is a bit more menacing than he has been for the last couple of volumes.



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Book Review: Young Justice: Creature Features

Young Justice Vol. 3: Creature Features by Greg Weisman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 14-19 of the Young Justice Comic book based on the popular Cartoon Network series and contains three separate two issue stories:

Issues 14 and 15 feature Aqualad, Superboy, and Miss Martian going to Atlantis where they encounter an undersea coup. This is a fun story made even moreso by Miss Martian who has some very fun moments in Atlantis particularly using her shape-changing ability.

Issues 16 and 17 catch up on what the rest of the team was doing. The idea behind Issue 16 is to show Robin, Artemis, and Kid Flash doing sidekick duties. in separate stories that do eventually come together. The book was too short to make the separate stories interesting and the coming together story was only so so.

Issues 18 and 19 has the team facing gorillas and encountering Grodd for the first time. Again, Miss Martain was a highlight and I really enjoyed their different spin on Grodd as the book sets up some key differences between the world of the Young Justice comics and the rest of the DC universe.

Overall, despite a weaker middle story, this book is a well-written all ages comic book and enjoyable in its own right even without seeing all the episodes the book revolves around.



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