Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes, page 77

Book Review: Spectacular Spider-Girl: Last Stand

Spectacular Spider-Girl: The Last Stand by Tom DeFalco

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book draws the Spider-girl Saga to a close collecting Spider-girl stories from Web of Spider-man Issues 5-7, Spectacular Spider-girl #1-4, and Spider-girl: The End.

The story has two overarching stories: There's the gang war between Black Tarantula and a local mob boss that was prominent in the previous issues of Web of Spider-men and then there's the conflict between May and April, one of whom is a clone with April being joined to a venom-style symbiote.

The story also saw the introduction of the Punisher to the MC2 Universe as evidenced by the cover of the trade.

The mob plot really served to bring the other plot forward. We once again have May having to break an unreasonable promise her parents made her make to stay out of the gang war. The villain wildcard as well as his true identity was actually a pretty big shock but makes sense in retrospect. What doesn't make sense is Black Tarantula's decision towards the end of the book in the midst of this war. Plus the re-introduction of another villain seemed to be a dash to tie up loose ends.

The April-May story line is the dramatic meet of the book, and it requires May to reach some key realizations about herself while April goes to an even darker and edgier sort of "hero" as she had been hired to eliminate the Black Tarantula and then planned to eliminate her employer, thus ending the gang war.

That part of the story is wrapped up in Spider-girl: The End which takes us to a post-apocalyptic future and Spider-girl's last day, and the person who caused it has a chance to change the past and make it right while also creating a paradox but never mind that. This is a good issue that wraps up Spider-girl's clone saga and gives her comic adventures a hopeful end.

Overall, this book has a lot going for it. Spider-girl's Clone Saga and is well-done and a bit of redemption for writer Tom DeFalco who was part of the widely panned close saga for Spider-man. This story is good and how May handles it says volumes about the character she is.

Throughout the Spider-girl saga, we've been presented with a character who would rather talk than fight but if fighting's what's called for, she can handle it. She's a kind and good person. She's got high principles, although because she's human, she doesn't live up to them. That goodness shines through this story. This felt like almost like a proxy fight between the old fashioned heroes and the grim and gritty crimefighters.

The crime story wasn't bad though it had some parts that were a little inexplicable. Also, it was really odd for Spectacular Spider-girl to include little shorts about other characters like American Dream in the lead up to the final issues of this series.

Despite its problems, this is a solid farewell to a great series and hats off to Tom DeFalco for creating such a wonderful character.



View all my reviews

Book Review: Mighty Thor Masterworks, Volume 1

Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor - Volume 1 by Stan Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects the first eighteen Thor stories which appeared in the anthology series Journey Into Mystery Issue 83-100. Overall, these are impressive stories with great art by Jack Kirby. Kirby brings Thor and all these amazing Asgardian characters to life with some of his best work for Marvel in the 1960s.

Having read the first adventures of a variety of Marvel heroes, it seems to me that these early Thor Adventures are the most DC-like creation Stan Lee came up with. Throughout most of these stories, Thor is much more iconic than he is human, a lot more like Superman than Spider-man.

The romantic relationship stuff might have been the only thing that was Marvelesque because the general template of Don Blake's relationship to Jean Foster was the same as Peter Parker to Betty Brant, Matt Murdoch to Karen Page, and Tony Stark to Pepper Potts.

However, the villains really work well and provide some of the books' strongest moments. Loki (and his dupes) are perfect foils for Thor and they're in a lot of stories. This book also sees the first appearance of Mister Hyde and the Radioactive Man. The writers also wrote, "Tales of Asgard" which gave Marvel adaptations of Norse legends which was helpful since Norse mythology was not nearly as well known as the Greek or Roman

Overall, this book was a lot of fun. It doesn't rise to the level of emotional engagement of the best Marvel books and it's not quite as fun as DC's most entertaining books, but it's still a very enjoyable read with great art and a good concept for a character.



View all my reviews

Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis Released

The newest story in the Adventures of Powerhouse saga has been released. It's time for Powerhouse's biggest adventure yet, Ultimate Mid-life Crisis. Details are below:


What happens when a superhero endures a midlife crisis?

As Powerhouse, Dave Johnson has become a local legend in Seattle but choruses of voices advise him that he’s wasting his time defending the Emerald City. He’s urged to take on more ambitious goals like defending New York, being a full-time comic book executive, or becoming a bat-breaking evangelist. These questions are pushed into the background when Powerhouse is confronted with an unprecedented crime wave launched by the interdimensional warlord Varlock as part of his effort to help King Bel conquer the Earth.

At the same time, Naomi Johnson secretly possesses her husband’s super powers. When her work slows down during the summer, the Johnson children depart to summer camp, and Dave is never home due to the crime wave., she assumes a new identity in Wyoming as Marie Dubois and becomes a vigilante known as Justice Woman. In the course of this, she confronts her unfulfilled hopes and dreams, and her unresolved anger.

While Powerhouse is pushed to the point of physical and mental collapse by Varlock’s scheme, Naomi has to decide whether she’ll go back to her old life or chart a new course. How she decides will affect her, her family, and the entire world.

Ultimate Mid-life Crisis is available for the Kindle as well as other ebook readers.

More details to come in future days.

Book Review: Showcase Presents Green Arrow

Showcase Presents: Green Arrow by Jack Kirby

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book collects all the short Green Arrow stories in Adventure Comics and World's Finest from 1958-64 as well as his first appearance as a member of the Justice League in Justice League of America #4, a guest appearance as the young Oliver Queen in the Superboy Strip, and three appearances in the Brave and the Bold team up. This takes a look at the Silver Age Green Arrow prior to his rebirth as a left wing ideology in the 1970s.

Like many features of the era, most of these Green Arrow suffered from a strict page count limit. of 6 or 7 pages that gave little time for development. Only the last four appearances in World's Finest got up to 10 pages and those felt like padded six page stories. The guest appearance were interesting but Green Arrow's role was often variable and he ended up out classed at every turn.

The stories aren't bad, but they really aren't all that memorable either following the pattern of the Green Arrow and Speedy firing trick arrows to save the day. The nutty trick arrows were a great feature, but the writers never did enough to make this work. Mostly, the Green Arrow came off as a poor man's Batman.

The book had some highlights. Among the short stories were the Miss Arrowette features. Probably of all the wannabe female crimefighters to "plague" male Superheroes in the early 1960s, the most over the top sexist portrayal was that of Miss Arrowette who had made her own trick arrows around things like hair style or the mascara arrow. She was probably the most entertaining character in the book. The 60 pages of Jack Kirby stories are also pretty god.

The other guest appearances are fun for good writing, not actually for Green Arrow's appearances which are lackluster. The one exception to this is a 1969 guest appearance in Brave and the Bold which debuted the modern Green Arrow look. The character's personality and income status hadn't changed. The Green Arrow was given a fair shake. The art by Neal Adams is fantastic and contrasts nicely with the art in the previous issue which was more of a traditional silver age Batman story.

Overall, the book gives good reason for the Green Arrow's radical 1970s makeover. Without it, there's no way the character would be around today because prior to his radicalization, there just wasn't much of a character there.



View all my reviews

Book Review: Justice League Unlimited Vol. 4: The Ties That Bind

Justice League Unlimited Volume 4: The Ties That Bind by Adam Beechen

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book collects Justice League Unlimited Issues 16-22 based on the Cartoon Network TV series.

Issue 16 is the "Holiday Issue" featuring Supergirl trying to cheer up Atom Smasher while Girder tries to break out of prison. The plot has been done better elsewhere, but it's not too bad. Grade: C+

Issue 17 is "Let Freedom Ring" which has The Freedom Fighters, a team of old Quality Comics superheroes being duped into breaking into the Justice League Watch tower. It's really an excuse for having heroes fight and a lame use of the characters. Grade: C-

Issue 18 is "Fare 48,": Superman is picked up by an intergalactic time travelling taxi driver who is a big Justice League fan. Really concept that's very well executed. Grade: A-

Issue 19 is, "The Justice Rangers Ride Again," and finds Wonder Woman, Elongated Man, and the Vigilante going back in time to meet up with DC's stable of Western heroes and also one of the Vigilante's ancestors. It's a good story that's somewhat distracting by the art on Wonder Woman. It's not suggestive but she is drawn doing inexplicably cutesy things like playing with her hair at weird times that's a bit odd. Grade: B

Issue 20: "Just Us Girls" A clunker of an issue that goes out of its way to portray female Justice League members fighting villains in a way that's boring, contrived, and pedantic. Grade: D

Issue 21: "Stormy Weather": This is actually a pretty good story featuring two heroic couples (Green Lantern (John Stewart) and Vixen and Green Arrow and Black Canary) as well as the very fun villainous match of Killer Frost and Heat Wave. The Vixen-Green Lantern relationship is center stage in terms of seriousness but the whole story of a fire and ice villain getting together is fascinating too. Grade: B+

Issue 22: "Outside Looking In" is a great story to wrap up the book featuring a former loner known as Gypsy who views the League as her family but ends up in a hot water when she appears to call them on a false alarm. This is a very nice script and it does a good job of making this very obscure character, someone you care about. Grade: B+

Overall, some good stories, a few clunkers, and a few average ones makes for a three star rating for the collection.



View all my reviews

Book Review: Essential Iron Man Volume 4

Essential Iron Man, Vol. 4 by Gerry Conway

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


If there's a word to describe this book, "inconsistent" would do it. It collects 23 issues of Iron Man with a variety of writing credits though Mike Friendrich has the most. This was a time of transition for Iron Man. He'd been created by Stan Lee as a weapons manufacturer, someone who left wing college students would naturally hate. Yet Lee set out to make the character likable. However by the 1970s, liberal fans and writers were tired of having to look at someone who did things they disagreed with politically as decent human beings, so the focus began to shift Tony Stark and Iron Man away from his roots.

The result is somewhat uneven. At the book's height, it includes Issue 54 which, while silly in itself, introduced Moondragon and Issue 55, the crown jewel of the book, introduced Thanos. The first half of the book has a fascinating storyline where Tony gives Kevin O'Brien the Guardsman Armor, only for the Irishman to turn evil and help manipulative evil corporate overlords try to undermine Stark. He's driven in part by his crush on Stark's girlfriend Marianne, and part by the Guardsman's armor that ends in tragedy. Marianne is a fascinating character and probably one of the best early Tony Stark girlfriends: an ESP-powered sensitive soul that makes a nice balance to Tony's iron-edged personality.

That brings us to the negatives after he and O'Brien died fighting over her, Tony drops her like a hot potato, and the writers aren't content for her to be dropped, they want her to suffer as we see her undergoing trauma counseling and eventually sanitarium. We then return to the well of Pepper Hogan who was bored living at home and decided to sign up to be Tony Stark's assistant, reaching the conclusion that totally abandoning her husband for weeks on end and disregarding his feelings is what being a liberated woman is all about. She still loves him but she'd rather do it from 1500 miles away. Happy's behavior is only slightly less jerky and irrational, making this a very annoying feature.

There are just some really bizarre and forgettable villains. It's odd to have Iron Man up against occult villains and dated villains that just screams, "It's the 70s man." like Firebrand, Mikas, or Priness Python. Thankfully, the Mandarin does return though in a very odd form. Plus Iron Man begins to barnstorm, leaving New York in the middle book for California, and then fighting his last few battles in Detroit.

Overall, this is a very tough book to like. There are some good spots and enough interesting to make this mediocre, but Iron Man at this point in its history was a book that was abandoning its original premise and didn't know what it was going to be about, and constantly shifting things around in ways that were more annoying than entertaining.



View all my reviews

Book Review: Golden Age Submariner Volume 1

Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Sub-Mariner - Volume 1 by Bill Everett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


If you're looking for pre-US entry into World War II heroes fighting Nazis, this collection is for you.

This book collects Issues 1-4 of the Golden Age Submariner comic with each comic being 60 pages long.Unlike other books, which were filled with back up features, each issue featured two Submariner stories and one Angel story.

The Sub-mariner had been around for a while and actually was the last of Timely's big three to get his own book. The Sub-mariner was an erratic character who would go from being a friend of humanity in one issue to attacking them in the next, to deciding to fight Nazis, and then deciding the whole war thing was kind of stupid.

Bill Everett really comes up with a memorable story for Issue 1 as the Nazis attack Atlantis and killing the Emperor (later ret-conned to a severe injury that put into a severe coma). While in the real world, attacking Russia was the Nazi's big tactical mistake, it's safe that bombing Atlantis had to be the Nazi's biggest blunder in the Marvel universe as Sub-mariner declares war right back on Germany. The first three issues are packed with Sub-mariner fighting the Nazis with Issue 3 featuring Sub in a great mystery adventure story with Nazis and Irish druids that time forgot. Issue 4 features more traditional mystery/light horror stories. All of them are very well-written and the art is a notch above most golden age stories.

What makes Sub-mariner so interesting is that he's not really an anti-hero but he's very alien in his values and priorities. He's not an assassin but he has little compunction about destroying an enemy, particularly Nazis. He's also concerned with Atlantis more than surface dwellers. In the second story in Issue 1, Sub-mariner, captures Nazis who'd stolen radium from a hospital in New York but returned the radium to the sea to save his own angel.

The Angel was the sub-mariner's back up character and while I'm not usually a fan of the character, his appearances is this book are probably the best I've seen as the twenty-page format helps to turn out a quality story. These remain strictly in the Mystery/Horror genre. The best Angel story I've read is in here with issue 3's "The Angels Draw a Comic Strip," featuring an utterly insane villain enslaving a staff of a comic book with the Angel undercover as a comic artist. I will admit it's still a mystery as to why he wears the costume. He says he's a private detective and I guess a blue unitard with wings is what fits in.

Beyond the two stars, there are some interesting text stories including one by a young Stan Lee. Overall, this is just a great volume and with it now in paperback, it's very well-priced. So i strongly recommend.



View all my reviews

Book Review: Flash Greatest Stories Ever Told

The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told by Mike Gold

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book from the early 1990s takes a look at the best Flash stories ever told. The introductory materials are solid. The stories themselves are a bit of mixed bag and not quite as good as either the Golden Age, Superman, or Team Up greatest stories book from this era.

The book features four stories from Jay Garrick's Flash including the widely reprinted origin story from Flash Comics #1. One of the nicer ones was, "The Slow Motion Crimes" which showed the golden age version of the Silver Age Flash's first villain, "The Turtle."

The Silver Age version of Barry Allen defines the book, with pages 68-243 being stories from the Silver Age of comics. While I usually think these books tend to stack the books with too many modern stories this one almost has too few. Still, it has fun with the Silver Age concept with stories featuring top flash villains like Gorilla Grodd, the Mirror Master, and Captain Boomerang (who joins a truce and teams up with the Flash and Elongated Man.) At the same time, the Flash's key allies including Kid Flash, the Green Lantern, and of course, Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash (this story has them teaming up against Vandal Savage.)

The weakest of these was, "The Trail of the False Green Lanterns," which had the Flash and Green Lantern teaming up against three duplicate Green Lanterns who are committing crimes. It's confusing and hard to follow story that's not really a highlight for either character.

The best of the silver age stories is "The Flash-Fact or Fiction" which has the Flash travelling to our universe in an accident caused by fighting a strange alien. A lot of fun, particularly when the Flash comes to DC comics Editor Julian Schwartz to get a treadmill built.

The book then features one single story from the 1970s which really feels like an imaginary story and is kind of weak. The Flash took many historic and memorable turns in the 1980s before Crisis on Infinite Earths, but it was decided not to actually show any of these stories but to have writer Cary Bates do a 10 page text summary of the last 75 issues of the Flash Volume 1. That's really a ripoff for readers who don't buy these books for text summaries.

The book closes with the second issue of the Wally West Flash comics which has Wally fighting Vandal Savage, winning the lottery, and inviting his girlfriend to shack up with him. This wasn't even all that good of an issue and definitely very flawed for what's supposed to be just Issue 2.

Still, if you can get this cheap enough, the Gold and Silver age material make it a worthy read.



View all my reviews

Book Review: Avengers Forever

Avengers Forever by Kurt Busiek

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This twelve issue 1990s Maxi-series finds a team of seven Avengers, all from different eras coming together to fight for the life of Rich Jones who, as a young man, aided the Hulk and brought the Avengers together. They're opposed by Immortus who, working for the Time Keepers, is determined to kill Jones who possesses the Destiny Force which has lead humans in many timestreams to become the terror of the galaxy. Along the way, as the Avengers cross time and space they meet the 1950s Avengers (later known as Agents of ATLAS), Kid Colt and the Rawhide Kid, and plenty of alternate universe Avengers.

They're joined by some surprising allies, most notably Kang the Conquerer who wants to stop himself from becoming Immortus because he views Immortus as weak because he serves the Time Keeperrs.

Overall, this is a surprisingly entertaining book. I say surprising because (superficially anyway), it does some of the same things that the very worst event comics do, with a lot of backstory explained, introduced, retold. One whole issue is basically Kang's complicated history and another focuses on how Immortus has been pulling the strings on every decision on behalf of the Time Keepers. There's also a lot of characters running about: too many to keep track of usually.

However, all the continuity makes the book's scope feel larger, more important. It lets you know enough so you can understand what's going on at a basic level, while also giving you the sense that there is a far bigger, more epic story going on. The last three issues really pay off, particularly the end of Issue 11.

Overall, this is an intelligent, fun, and action-filled series that stands above most similar event comics and is highly recommended.



View all my reviews

Comic Book Reviews: Star Trek, Batman'66 Meets Green Hornet, Mr. T and the T Force

Star Trek (Gold Key) #38:

There are Gold Key Comics that are laughably silly and then there's this issue which feels like a true Star Trek story. In some ways, the plot calls to mind the TNG story, "Chain of Command." as Kirk has to leave the Enterprise on a secret mission to thwart Klingon attempts to subvert a peaceful civilization. The story isn't without its faults, but it really does shine with Kirk involved in a truly interesting mission and a chance to see how much Kirk is beloved by his crew. A fantastic story.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

Batman '66 Meets Green Hornet #6

I had problems with the first few installments of this series, but I really feel that it hit its stride in the last two issues. This one sees the cliffhanger from part five resolved in style and then the Dynamic Duo putting their heads together in classic 1960s Batman fashion to find the Joker and Colonel Gumm's next target. And then it wraps up with a great twist ending. For those who have been patient with this series' faults, it's really starting to pay off nicely.

Rating: 4.75 out of 5.0

Mr. T and the T-Force #9


This comic delivers what we’ve come to expect from Mr. T and the F-Force: Mr. T being awesome and beating up bad guys. The story, like many prior versions has two plotlines running at once but they combine them well. Mr. T is wanted for questioning in murder. At the same time, he has to find a distraught young pregnant girl who has already attempted suicide. Good action and suspense building towards the series finale in Issue 10.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5.00

flash Gordon #2:

Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, and Professor Zarkoff are pretending to be agent from the Planet Mongo in a forest kingdom ruled by Arborians, who are blue people. The comic is a lot of fun as we get to see a lot of Flash's daring do and his love of adventure but also get to see his heroic instincts when confronted with how Mongo turns men into their warrior slaves. Those pages are chilling and Flash's reaction really gives a picture of what type of hero he is.

Rating: 4.75 out of 5.0

Superman Adventures #47:

I have to admit I was somewhat concerned when I saw the cover as Superman Adventures had already done the whole "shrinking Superman" concept but I was pleasantly surprised to see them take a different angle. What they produce here is not a ripoff of the prior story but a much more surprising sort of Science Fantasy story. It's a very fun issue.