Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes, page 70

Book Review: Captain America: Land of the Free

Captain America: Land of the Free by Mark Waid

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


The book is made up of Captain America (1998): Issues 20-24, Captain America Annual 1999, and material from Captain America: The Legend.

Issues 20-23 covers the conclusion of Mark Waid's run on Captain America and it's pretty bad. Waid had a good early run on the last few issues of the first Captain America series with, "Operation Rebirth" and "Man Without a Country" and did some great work in the maxi-series, "Sentinel of Liberty" as well as some of the stories in the later Captain America series as shown in, "Serve and Protect" and "Red Glare." By this book, he's clearly out of gas in terms of having ideas as to what to do with the character.

Issues 20-22 wrap up the long story arc with Cap's Shield being first lost at sea, and then shattered. Waid decides why not have Captain America's shield threatening the destruction of the planet and Cap having to face the choice between destroying what's left of Earth and saving the Shield. It'd be a very sad choice if it wasn't so silly. Even if you can buy into the pseudoscience of this (and I'm not sure how you could), the way it's resolved is basically done in a really cheap way that doesn't involve our hero doing something but our hero getting really lucky. Not satisfying at all.

Issue 23 is a political issue that has Captain America facing a warden of a private prison so over the top evil that he makes a 1940s Superman villain who tried to gas an orphanage to cover his embezzlement look underplayed by comparison. He and his $5.25 an hour guards are mistreating prisoners and refusing them meals.

Also, at the end of Waid's run, Steve Rogers is dating a woman who has a problem with soldiers. He's hiding that he's Captain America from her or that he's ever had anything to do with the military because lying about differences is the best way to build a good relationship.

Issue 24 dumps previous storylines and is an okay story by Tom DeFalco featuring Crossbones and the Absorbing Man. It's fun and good, given that it was written on short notice after Waid left the title.

The Annual is an odd beast. While the cover is about Cap facing Flag-Smasher, the story is as much if not moreso about two reporters for the Daily Bugle covering corporate corruption to which Flag-Smasher is tied. It's a very text-heavy story as helped by a very annoying art style where long conversations are recorded using headshots of a character with text above it and such conversations stretching on for pages. It's got some nice moments, but really text heavy, can't say I enjoyed it.

At the back we have a Howling Commando Story which has some gorgeous artwork and it's about the Commandos encountering Baron Blood. Finally, there's a three page story about Captain America's return and it doesn't really say anything that hasn't been said before.

Overall, I found this a disappointing book, and a quite of sad end to Mark Waid's run on Captain America.



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Book Review: Superman-Batman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told

Superman/Batman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told by Edmond Hamilton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Superman and Batman, two of the most enduring names in Superhero fiction and the two most teamed up.

This book collects eleven stories featuring these characters.

We have the must-include, "The Mightiest Team in the World" from 1952 which features the first meeting of Superman and Batman on board a cruisliner. The villain's nothing to write home about but this is a fun story.

"Superman and Batman's Greatest Foes" from 1957 has Superman and Batman v. Lex Luthor and the Joker. It's a fun, very packed 12 page story.

The next two stories, "The Composite Superman" (featuring a villain who is Half Superman and Half Batman) and "The Cape and Cowl Crooks" (featuring the duo battling a team of villains with similar powers.) are okay, but could probably be easily substituted for any other early-to-mid-1960s World's Finest story, and one of them probably should have been given that their plots seemed somewhat similar.

"The Superman-Batman Split" has Superman and Batman fighting against each other as Superman stands with one alien hunting down a criminal, and Batman sides with a criminal who has another side of the story. Batgirl, Supergirl, Robin, and Jimmy Olsen are drawn into the fight, though it doesn't turn out to be necessary because Superman and Batman are acting silver age. The Art of Neal Adams is a real highlight here. I'd read this in a Black and White showcase and this is one case where the color does make a difference.

Then we have 1971's, "A Matter of Life and Death" which has Clark Kent trying to hire a hitman to kill Superman. The story ends up involving magic and Doctor Light. It's interesting and a little confusing. Not really sure it belongs in a, "Greatest Stories" book.

The first post-crisis story is 1986's, "One Night in Gotham" which records Superman's efforts to bring Batman in and how they two end up teaming up instead. The story is important and belongs here and sets up so much of the conflict between the two characters in the modern era

Follow that is, "A Better World," a story that definitely doesn't belong. Set after the death of Jason Todd and Superman's killing of some aliens in space, he and Batman have a heart to heart. This type of story can be done right, but this story just feels like a filler.

Ditto for the two page story, "When Clark Met Bruce," a somewhat pointless story that imagines a young Clark Kent seeing Bruce Wayne in a limo and deciding he was probably too rich to want to come over and play ball. The only thing significant about the story is that Comic superteam Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale collaborated on it. This continue's a trend of having a story each collection that's only there because of the creators.

Finally, there's "Stop Me If You've Heard This One," a fairly recent tale from the Superman/Batman Annual that imagines the two's meeting on a modern cruise liner.The 40 page story is a blast. The secret identities are played a bit broadly (particularly Wayne's rich guy smugness.) but the story is a blast filled with alternate selves, interdimensional mind-twisting. This is a really fun story and despite its more recent vintage, it still fits nicely.

Overall, this book is enjoyable. While there are some weak tales, this book manages to capture the essence of this great team up and provide some fairly interesting stories featuring them.



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Book Review: Daredevil Vol. 1: Devil at Bay

Daredevil, Vol. 1: Devil at Bay by Mark Waid

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book launches the new series of Daredevil with the Man Without Fear returning to San Francisco (where he briefly lived in the 1970s) and collects Issues 1-5 and .1.

In Issues 1, Waid shows some intelligence with the story. Unlike the 1970s writers who first put Daredevil in San Francisco, Waid imagines the effects of moving to a brad new city on a blind superhero. The action for the rest of the book is set up rather well.

Issues 2-4 focus on Daredevil meeting the Shroud, another blind superhero with an agenda of his own It' a fasinating tale that calls to mind Daredevil's darker days under Frank Miller, Brian Michael Bendis, and Andy Diggle, an era that Waid has rarely addressed.

Issue 5 tells us what became of Foggy Nelson. The exploration of the friendship between Foggy and Matt has been one of the great features of Waid's run. The portrayals of male platonic friendship is somewhat passe. However, Waid has used it and once again, he manages to do this to great effect effect in Issue 5.

Issue .5 was originally released as the Infinite comic Daredevil: Road Warrior series. Seeing it in this book, I feel kind of silly for having paid for the Infinite series, but that's not a mark against the Trade. The book is set at the time that Kirsten McDuffie and Matt are travelling from New York to San Francisco. In Wisconsin, Matt notices that one of the passengers doesn't have a heartbeat. Matt investigates and through a very long ride finds himself against a lesser known (but not less dangerous) Marvel universe villain. I actually liked reading this in one sitting. My only complaint was that this should have been the first comic in the book rather than the last. Overall, I found this an incredible ride and I highly recommend it.



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Book Review: Doctor Who Omnibus: Volume 2

Doctor Who Omnibus Volume 2 by Tony Lee

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book collects all Sixteen Issues of IDW's first Ongoing Doctor Who Story featuring David Tennant as well as stories from the 2010 Doctor Who Annual and the Eleventh Doctor Mini-series, a Fairy Tale Life. The events of the main comic are set between in between the television stories, "Planet of the Dead" and "The Waters of Mars."

Issues 1 and 2 finds the Doctor in 1930s Hollywood teaming up with a knock off Charlie Chaplain to thwart aliens disguised as studio executive. The story is okay. Nothing great, but certainly okay.

In Issues 3-6, he's put on trial by the Shadow Proclamation, convicted, confined with Ambassadors from old Doctor Who enemies the Sontarans, the Draconians, and the Ograns. Together they have to team up and escape and find out what's going on. The plot is fun, as well as the interaction between the Doctors and these characters. At the end of the story, the Shadow Proclamation tells the Doctor they prefer he travels alone because it makes him easier to manipulate. Even though this could have been an attempt to manipulate him into taking on companions, he does so anyway by adding Emily Winters and Matthew Finnegan (the first two people he meets) as Companions.

These two and their story would dominate the next ten Issues from Issues 7-16 and these stories are mostly okay. If anything, the stories are crowded by too much nostalgia. We have references to Adric and a diary by Turlough (supposedly) and trips back to see Martha Jones and talk about Martha's issues in the TARDIS and with the Doctor. Even Capt Magambo from Planet of the Dead appears. While some of this continuity I liked (bonus points for referencing Charlotte Pollard in Issue 3), I think at some point, it hindered the writer for focusing on making the story he was telling as compelling and original as possible.

The 2010 Annual with, "Ground Control" where the TARDIS is grounded by a bureaucrat who challenged the way the Doctor did it with many flashbacks to the past. Again, it continues the "Nostalgia" theme of most of the book and nothing much actually happens.

"The Big, Blue Box" is an eleven page story of a man who finds him thrust into the Doctor's world. It's a fun little action piece, though not the most original idea for a Doctor Who Comic story.

Then there's, "To Sleep, Perchance to Dream" is an art-heavy piece with lots of nostalgia as the Tenth Doctor dreams and even meets his future self. The art is interesting.

Finally, we have the mini-series, "A Fairy Tale Life" in which the Eleventh Doctor and Amy land on a fairy tale theme park World but find that it's instead become a really medieval country. This story (more than any other in the book) felt like classic Doctor Who in its set up and mystery as it plays out over four issues. The story's a lot of fun and and writer Matt Sturges captures the Eleventh Doctor's voice very well. I can almost hear Matt Smith reading every line as I read this. So, a great story.

It's the only really great story in here. Nothing in here is bad, but most of it's merely okay. If you feel wistfully nostalgic for the Tenth Doctor's era, you'll enjoy this book. If you're looking for really solid Doctor Who comics with the Tenth Doctor, you'd probably do better to check out the Doctor Who Magazine comics collections featuring the Tenth Doctor.



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She-Hulk, Volume 2: Disorderly Conduct

She-Hulk, Vol. 2: Disorderly Conduct by Charles Soule

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This books the second half of Charle Soule's run on She-Hulk, Issues 7-12.

Issue 7 is a fun story where She-hulk, Hellcat, and Hank Pym have to shrink down to find a n inventor whose shrinking experiments have landed him in trouble. This is just typical fun, though nothing special.

Issues 8-10 has She-hulk defending Captain America who has been aged to his actual physical age due to the effects of super soldier formula wearing off (again.) He's being sued by a man who claims that Steve Rogers actions in 1940 led to his brother's death. It's a good solid Captain America "untold story," but the biggest problem is that it is essentially a Captain America story with She-hulk being relegated to guest star in her own book.

Issue 11 is a somewhat run of the mill hero in skirmish with villain story. Then in Issue 12, we find out what's behind the blue file that was introduced ain Issue 1. The solution is clever, but the reveal is kind of week. It felt like Soule would have done gone another direction had the book not been cancelled.

As it is, this collection isn't bad, but it's not really anything special either. It's inoffensive with decent art, and it has some fun moments, but it's a cut below the fun and legal shenanigans with in the first half of the series.



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Book Review: D.C's Greatest Imaginary Stories, Volume 2

DC's Greatest Imaginary Stories Vol. 2 by Bill Finger

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


After the previous Superman dominated volume of "Imaginary stories," this book returns with a set of stories that focus exclusively on Batman, playing on the popularity of that character. These stories come without an Introduction and the stories are far below the best of the previous book.

The book kicks off with a 1959 story, "The Marriage of Batman and Batwoman." It's an 8 page piece of early Silver Age fluff about Dick Grayson marrying Batwoman Kathy Kane and it being his downfall.

We then turn to Alfred's stories from 1960-64 which take up a little less than half the book. Essentially the comic posited that the Silver Age Alfred wrote Batman fanfiction imagining what the future held for the Caped Crusader. A better Alfred story appeared in the previous volume. This volume collects the tales of the Second Batman and Robin team led by Dick Grayson and with Bruce Wayne, Jr. as Robin. The team changed the costumes to illustrate they were a different a Batman and Robin team by adding the Roman numeral "II" to the costume because why should anyone expect the artists to come up with an original costume. The original Batman has retired but has to keep unretiring himself because the new team is hapless and gets themselves into a predictament or once they're out of town. Eventually Betty Kane, Kathy's niece and the first Batgirl becomes the Second Batwoman, so Alfred wasn't the most imaginative fanfiction writer. The most enjoyable of these stories was, "The Son of Joker" which has the Joker pretending to retire to a life of gardening and both Batmans buy it. This whole series would later be the inspiration for Superman-Batman Generations by John Byrne, although he made sure to make it depressing rather than amusingly goofy.

A more interesting What If comes from World's Finest #155 which imagines a world where Superman and Batman are enemies because Bruce Wayne believes Superman killed his father. It's got some interesting twist and is a fairly good tale.

Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane #89 imagines Bruce Wayne marrying Lois Lane and saving the whole secret identity revelation until after the wedding, though he did reveal it sooner than the Flash did in his real wedding. This story is okay, fun, and pretty typical for Lois Lane.

The last story in the book is from the late 1970s, "The Last Batman Story?-" is set in a near future and tells of a final case for Batman. The story is actually a great mystery with some wonderful sci-fi elements. It also features a nicely designed Robin suit that really does work for an adult Robin and makes him look like a serious superhero in his own right. My only complaint is the ending was really tacked on to make it "the last Batman case." Very little hinted that Batman was close to the point and it seemed a contrivance. So that part didn't live up to expectations, but this is still very good.

Overall, the stories are okay and inoffensive. The Silver age stuff is silly and goofy but I enjoyed it for the most part. Still, it doesn't measure to the prior volume. And it feels less like a true second "greatest stories" and more like an attempt to sell books based on Batman's current popular standing.



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Book Review: Tick Omnibus, Volume 5

The Tick Omnibus 5 by Ben Edlund

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Tick Omnibus Volume 5 features, "The Crisis on Finite Tick Spin-offs" and collects the final two issues of Tick spin-offs Paul the Samurai and Man-eating Cow guest starring the Tick and a whole lot of other heroes and villains from the TIck Comics as well as the spin-offs. Overall, this was a very fun and satisfying volume. I never read Man-eating Cow but having read all the Paul stories, I enjoyed this and found it a satisfactory conclusion to the series. It's a pitch perfect parody as the book manages to feature everything from heroes misunderstanding and fighting each other, the introduction of technology for plot convenience purposes, and a hero turning evil for a time. Clay Griffith did a good job capturing the essence of the Tick, though I think this book have used a little more Arthur. Overall, I thought this was a fun adventure, though I recommend reading at least the early Paul the Samurai books to really get the best enjoyment out of it.



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Book Review: Essential Savage She-Hulk Volume 1

Essential Savage She-Hulk, Vol. 1 by Stan Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 1-25 of the Savage She-Hulk. It's argued that the book is truly not "essential." In one way, there's a good argument to be had because these stories aren't "essential" in the way that early Spider-man, Avengers, or Fantastic Four stories are. These are not necessary to understanding anything.

But there's also a case to be made on the other side. Issue 1 is written Stan Lee and She-Hulk was the last hero to be created by Stan Lee for Marvel back in 1979. In addition, during the 1980s, She-Hulk would replace Ben Grimm on the Fantastic Four and then join the Avengers, so her start is important.

I'd also disagree that this is typical comic book fare. Certainly, there's an element of that, but when I compare this to the Spider-woman book that a couple years before, this stands out as far different. For one thing, after Lee and John Bouscema created the original story, She-Hulk had one writer and one penciler for the remainder of the book which is rare. David Anthony Kraft took She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters on a journey as a character that was fascinating. At the beginning of the book, her life is actually pretty good, but then her cousin Bruce Banner gives her a transfusion of his gamma-irradiated blood and her professional and personal life go downhill forcing her to confront issues in her life. Instead, Jennifer submerges herself in the She-hulk identity. It's a fascinating twenty-four issue character arc. At the same time, there's a very strong plot arc that runs through the last half of the book parallel to her character story with some plots (such as her Dad's scheming girlfriend) playing out over most of the book. It's impressive structure you don't see in most comics. Keeping all these character and plot threads working together is very hard but Kraft does a great job pulling it off and making this book seem unlike a collection of disjointed comics and more like a single saga.

Another thing that's striking about this book is how few guest appearances there are. Guest appearances by big players in the Marvel universe were a popular wait to boost numbers. Yet, this book features a scant few: Iron Man, Man-Thing, Man-Wolf, and Michael Morbious are the biggest names you'll find. You won't fin d a ton of citations to other books unlike other series which seemed to be a dumping ground for cast off heroes and villains. Kraft really seemed to want this book to be about She-Hulk and really focus on that charactater.

She-hulk faces her own villains, and her own demons too, wrapping up in a super double sized Issue 25 that resoles both character and plot arcs.

Sometimes the book delves into melodrama and there are some cheesy moments, but this was a well-crafted unified series that makes for some wonderful reading as we get to see the woman who would become one of Marvel's most lasting 1980s innovations.



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Book Review: Ant Man Season One

Ant-Man: Season One by Tom DeFalco

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Ant-Man Season One has a mix of good and bad on it as it tells a new version of Ant Man (Hank Pym's) origin story. On one hand, both writing and art are fundamentally good. Tom DeFalco is a legendary comic book writer and his work on this book is up to his usual standards. Horacio Domingues is a talented artist that brings a more European style to the book that looks great.

The story itself manages to be a modern day update of the Ant Man origin story with terrorists replacing the Communists as the culprits behind the murder of the first Mrs. Hank Pym. That event is given more weight and it feels less like the throw away death that the writers created as an excuse for Pym to become a crimefighter. The story imagines Pym as having a history of mental illness from the beginning which explains much of his checkered history as a superhero. There's some great action and Domingues' art really makes the story come alive.

The negative though is that the story is interesting and an okay read, but at the end of the day, it's nothing special. Year One or Season One stories call to mind the idea of an epic story of beginnings and origins and the story feels too small for this purpose. I've read two of the DC Year One books (which if we're honest Marvel was trying to follow) and both imagined an epic series of adventures and first meetings, as well as big over-arching thought. Here we have Hank Pym developing something and deciding to take on an evil bald corporate honcho and that's essentially your story. Again, this isn't bad or annoying. It's pleasing to read, but it's not anything more than average.



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Book Review: Captain America: The Chosen

Captain America: The Chosen by David Morrell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


While on the battlefield fighting Al Qaeda, Corporal Newman sees Captain America joining him. Those around him though he was hallucinating, he wasn't. Cap's body is dying, but he's signed up for one more experiment, one more chance to serve His country and to make a difference.

The book is an emotional powerful work by David Morrell, author of the book First Blood on which the Rambo series was base. The book is less about being a Captain America story and more about the inspiration the ideal of Captain America represents to so many fans around the world. He's a role model and an ideal who represents who we want to be on the best days of our lives. At the same time, the book is about the real heroes of the U.S. Military whose courage and fortitude makes a difference in the real world.

The book was an emotional experience: A story that's simple yet powerful in its examination of honor, duty, and sacrifice. The art is very well-done creating a realistic feel without being gratuitously violent.

If you love Captain America for the heroic tradition he represents, or if you love the American military, this is a beautiful book that shows what it's all about.



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