Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes, page 81

Mark Waid's Daredevil, Volume 7

Daredevil, Volume 7 by Mark Waid

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book concludes the third volume of Daredevil Comics, collecting Issues 31-36 as Daredevil goes to war with the brotherhood of the Serpent.

I have truly mixed feelings about the Man Without Fear going to Kentucky and meeting with the character Werewolf by Night as it felt like an odd side trip. In addition, while I loved Waid bringing back the Jester for the first time in years, though I was somewhat disappointed on how little actually happened with the Jester.

That out of that way, this book ends this first run with a real bang, particularly the way the Brotherhood of the serpent are dealt with in the final three issues. Issue 36 is a particularly surprising story with Matt Murdoch coming clean about some things in a very moving courtroom scene. The supporting cast is less well. Matt's cancer stricken best friend Foggy Nelson comes on strong and while the Nelson-Murdoch friendship isn't as prominent as in other issues, it's still quite effective. Even Kirsten McDuffie, who came out flat in earlier volumes, is actually very well written here.

What I like about Waid on Daredevil is that he's not under the widespread mistaken impression that Daredevil began when Frank Miller took the character over and that everything prior to that was garbage. He understands a lot of that history and is able to flesh it out to tell great and appealing stories and it's that ability which makes this book such a joy to read.



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Book Review: All Star Comics Archives, Volume 1

All Star Comics Archives, Vol. 1 by Gardner F. Fox

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book collects All Star Comics #3-6 the first appearances of the Justice Society of America in 1941.

Issue 3 is the official first appearance of the Justice Society but all the group actually does is meet and tell stories of their adventures making it an anthology story. Still, I appreciated how special it must have been for kids in 1941 to see the heroes all on the same place, and the interactions are fun.

Issue 4 sees the Justice Society getting to work on special assignment from the FBI rooting out fifth columnist activity. Some of this activity is sophistic, some isn't-such as when the Golden Age Atom who asks people, "You don't like America do you? Wouldn't you like a dictatorship better?" This issue follows the formula of almost all future issues as the JSA meet at the beginning, split up and individual take on the bad guys and then come back together at the end. In this case, they're led back towards that city of Nazi power-Toledo, Ohio.

Issue 5 is almost the reverse of a typical JSA story as a master criminal plans to take out the JSA and teams up crooks to go after them. The way this story plays out is a lot of fun with a great running gag.

After getting his own comic book, All-Flash Quarterly, the Flash was chosen as an honorary member and Johnny Thunder is to replace him on the active list. The JSA gives him an initiation of tracking down a criminal and they show him a series of headlines detailing the criminal's heinous crimes. After Johnny leaves, the JSA reveals the criminal is actually nut who prints these newspapers himself. However, despite this, Johnny Thunder manages to get into so much trouble that every single member of the Justice Society has to come to rescue him once. While I'm not a huge fan of Johnny Thunder in the JSA, this book on his initiation was just hilarious.

Overall, these are some of the most fun golden age comics I've read. The JSA is executed in a way that's fun and lighthearted, but with some decent adventures and with great variety. The solo adventures in the book which are part of every story include true Superpowered heroes (Flash, Green Lantern, and Hour Man), nonpowered Heroes (The Atom and the Sandman), and also supernatural heroes (The Spectre and Doctor Fate.)

Overall, this book is a highly recommended read for any superhero fan.





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Book Review: Essential Classic X-Men Volume 1

Essential Classic X-Men, Vol. 1 by Stan Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 1-24 of the original X-men series, first lauched in 1963, a very different version from the one that was revived by Chris Claremont that are most common today, but the fundamental plot remains: a school for mutants led by Charles Xavier in New York because people fear and hate mutants because humans are fearful and think mutants can't be trusted.

The X-men are a far less complex group than their modern incarnations where only Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, and Marvel Girl (Jean Gray) are the original X-men. So hooray for simplicity, even though I have no clue how Xavier maintains an accredited school with only five students. Or for that matter, while the public is scared to death of the X-men but celebrates the Fantastic Four. However, that's the Marvel Universe.

The series really starts out poorly. While the first issue introduced Magnetto, it had the young male members of the team all but drooling and showing all sorts of uncomfortable sexual harassment stalker tendencies when Jean Gray joins the team. Really, for the first three or four issues, the lot of them are somewhat insufferable. In Issue 3, they encounter, the mutant the blob and essentially provoke him into attacking them and have him turn supervillain.

However, this was the Marvel Age of amazing supervillains and that ultimately saves the book. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants comes along and keeps the book entetaining particularly with the Brotherhood's "not really evil but just confused" members Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Plus Submariner turned in a great guest starring appearance.

While this was happening, several of the X-men began to develop more distinct personalities: Cyclops was the leader, and Iceman was the young impetuous one ala the Human Torch. One of the best characters was the Beast, an ultra strong character with huge feet. He was initially conceived as having a brooklyn accent like the Thing but Lee scrapped that and had him speaking in a scholarly way reminiscent of Johnny Littlejohn from Doc Savage.

The middle to later parts of the book had some great stories in it. Issue 12 featured the coming of Juggernaut and was actually one of the very best Marvel comics I've read from that era. The comic doses out backstory on Professor X as well as on the issue's approaching villain This type of story was done to death during the silver age, but Lee did it differently as rather than getting a 10-12 page info-dump we kept being pulled from the flashback back to the story where Juggernaut who was approaching the X-men, so the whole issue built up to a great reveal on the last page that led into Issue 13.

This book also introduced the Sentinels, the giant robots who have been of the X-men's biggest foes who in their first incarnation rather than merely protecting mankind from mutants, the robots went wild and decided to take over the world. Professor Xavier blamed the robot's misbehavior based on the fact that their designer was an anthropologist rather than a robotics expert which begs the question of how an anthropologist built the robots, but I digress.

Other than a weak beginning, the X-men's big problem was an annoying catch and release policy as they released the criminal Blob on his word not to do evil again, and left the villain Lucifer around because they defeated him once. It makes your heroes look not so bright when exercising such a policy, though perhaps it's due to the X-men's own troubled status with the law. It also featured a typical Marvel romance.

At the end of the day, the plot and characters are not on par with other Marvel group books of the era such as Fantastic Four and Avengers, but given the high standards of those books, that may not be a fair standard. Certainly, I've read weaker books and after the initial bumps, the book becomes thoroughly enjoyable. Lee's 19 issue run may not have been the most memorable but it was solid, as are the first five issues we have from Roy Thomas.

Overall, I'd give this book about three and a half stars. Not Marvel's best, but still a great run from a company that was producing some of the greatest comics ever written.



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Book Review: Skull Island

Skull Island by Will Murray

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I picked this up for the amazing idea of having Doc Savage and King Kong in the same novel. However, that wasn't the highlight of the book.

Doc Savage is an iconic figure whose father outsourced his upbringing to others to teach him all the skills he would need to continue the Elder Savage's quest to right wrongs and so he's bred to the peak of physical perfect, a virtual superman by virtue by all of his different teachers training. However, he hardly knew his own father.

After World War I, Doc is summoned by his father to serve on board the Orion, a scooner searching the Pacific Isles for Doc's grandfather Stormalong Savage. However, as the book begins, the sad fact is that Doc doesn't really know his father or understand him. The emotional distance in the relationship is illustrated by the fact that Doc's father makes him call him Captain Savage in the name of "ship's discipline" which is kind of absurd when there were four other members of the crew: all Mayans who couldn't speak English.

However, over the course of the first few chapters of the book, we begin to really get a picture of this father and son that is really quite compelling. Of course, we get to the action scenes, but there's still that development as we understand the complexities of this father-son relationship as well as the father-son relation between Captain Savage and his father Stormalong, it's a wonderful picture. Here, we see a different Doc Savage: Younger, more violent, and still not sure who exactly he is and wants to be, and we get to see some of that character form in the course of this story.

The ultimate goal is Skull Island and here we're treated to a lot of action adventure with attacks from deep sea Dayak Headhunters who are interested in getting the head of Kong but also willing to take the heads of one of the Savages and their crew. I should say that when I said Doc was more violent. This is what I mean. Fresh from the war, Doc has not developed his goal of avoiding taking life at all costs. He doesn't use Mercy bullets and there are some pretty gory chapters that I wouldn't normally associate with Doc Savage as in Chapter 14 he brutally repels a Dayak attack and does so again several times. I lost track of the body count in this one. This book is definitely not for kids.

Skull Island, in addition to boasting of King Kong, also has a prehistoric nightmarescape full of dinosaurs and all sorts of dangerous and frightening beast.

Other than the gore, the big downsides of the book is that given his billing, there really enough Kong in this story. In addition, sometimes the dialog between the Savages does drag particularly when they get into a battle of quotes as each Savage provides one quote after another from Shakespeare, Nick Carter, or Sherlock Holmes. They even did this when one character was dying.

I listened to the audio version and I do want to praise Michael McConnohie's wonderful narration. When he managed the duet between Doc and his father of Stormalong John, it was very powerful and moving.

While I wouldn't recommend this book for kids, it's a solid read for fans of Doc Savage who want to better understand the Man of Bronze and his origins.



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Comic Reviews: Fantastic Four, What The, Doc Savage, Mr. T, Peter Cannon, Star Trek

Fantastic Four: Volume 1, Issue 87:

Issue 87 brings to an end the four part storyline featuring Doctor Doom capturing the Fantastic Four. While the story isn't without its charms and good moments, it highlighted the big problems with the story arch.

It was padded and it gave a truly anti-climatic end to the arch facilitated by an all too convenient Nazi. The book featured some nice art by Jack Kirby but a few full dubious full page spreads including one of Doctor Doom at a dinner table with detailed drawings of what's on the table.

Clearly the great Kirby/Lee run appears to be past its peak. Whether it recovers in the next 15 issues that Kirby drew for it, or the next 28 issue that Lee wrote remains to be seen for me anyway.

Rating: 1.50 out of 5.0

What-The? #3:

This issue of What The? skewers the world of comics in the late 1980s and early 1990s with great humor and without being cynical. It pokes fun at the classic Kraven's Last Hunt, the X-men, and more. The one part parodying DC and Batman was hilarious and I loved the one page story where a poor comic book reader goes into buy a copy of the Avengers and gets horribly confused because there are too many titles and then asks for a copy of the X-men. Poor guy.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5.0

Doc Savage #1:

This book isn't horrible, but it just really isn't Doc Savage. Having experienced Savage through the 1970s Marvel comics, an '80s radio series, and a couple novels, I have to say that the comic book's portrayal of Doc is really weak. Doc Savage is the type of big hulking guy who stands out nearly anywhere with his bronze skin and golden eyes that make him look almost alien. In this book, Doc Savage is just a white guy in a suit.

All of Doc's assistants are there also decked like Ham Brooks (the team dandy) was in charge of dressing them, though maybe it was just the Brooks Brothers.

The Adventure isn't bad, but it doesn't seem to fit or even lay the groundwork for the type of epic adventures that Doc Savage was legendary for.. Apparently for 1933, they couldn't think of anything better.

The cover by Alex Ross was the best part of this book. Here's hoping future stories are better.

Rating: 2.0 out of 5.0

Mr. T and the T Force #3:

An okay issue of Mr. T and the T force with quite a bit less action. It also dealt with the issue of car jacking which was a little bit less emotional than the previous issue's topic. The last page of the book is the most interesting of the book and it gives a hint that we'll have a more action packed story in Issue 4.

Still Mr. T continues to be a very strong likable character with heart and that makes the book worth a read. Also fun fact from the letter's page: Mr. T actually read every line of dialogue in the book to make sure it sounded genuine to him.

Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0

Peter Cannon Thunderbolt #1:

This is a strong premier issue for Dynamite take on Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt, an old Charlton comic character. The book could end up being a series I love but also could go the heavy handed route. The story establishes much of Cannon's backstory: how he saved the Earth from a dangerous monster and how he revealed his secret identity against all his better judgment to save others who were being harassed as potentially being Thunderbolt. This has brought unsought celebrity which has made him powerful enemies, plus he's keeping a secret. All great stuff to establish in your first issue.

What makes the book worth viewing is the artwork. This first issue features eight different covers, all of them pretty eyecatching and appeal plus the interior art is great. In addition, readers get to experience a lost Peter Cannon story. While working at DC, Mark Waid had gotten the right to do a Peter Cannon story for Secret Origins but the title was cancelled before it could run, and this book features the first publication. It's a very solid origin story that's published for the first time here.

This issue is dynamite. While there are some hints that the book might not keep up its high standards in future issues, the first issue is good and makes you want to read more.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0

Star Trek (1967 series) #34:

The Enterprise Crew on an away team meet a group of powerful crystal based aliens who have amazing powers and think they don't need science, only poetry and arts. They determine the Enterprise Crew must die. Overall, this not a whole lot outstanding about this story good or bad. It just is. Unlike early issues, they have the character drawings right but I can't say much more for this story.

Rating: 2.0 out of 5.0

Book Review: Amazing Spider-girl Volume 4

Amazing Spider-Girl, Volume 4: Brand New May by Tom DeFalco

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues #19-24 of the Amazing Spider-girl. Issue #19 is actually a fantastic story that features Spider-girl (May Parker) being baited into battle by Araña. The Spider-girl series is set in the MC2 universe (an alternate universe to the regular Marvel universe). In the mainstream universe Araña would become Spider-girl, so we have a meeting of the two that's quite satisfying to watch.

The issue also offers some key insights to May's character as well as her admiration of her father. In her mind, not only was Araña ripping off her dad, so was every one who claimed to be Spider-woman. Now May is not necessarily right, but that she thinks that says a lot about her. And when Araña badmouths her dad, May's reaction is classic.

Issues 20-24 actually care through several plots. On May's personal side, she's trying to hold a relationship with Gene Thompson. At the same time, an anti-mutant hate group is organizing at May's school while a young scared mutant named Sara is being recruited by Magneta, the Mistress of magnetism to join an evil anti-human mutant group. Finally, the beginning of May's clone saga.

The boyfriend story was at times annoying because the relationship was clearly not making May happy and putting demands on her time that she couldn't really manage, but I think that may have been the point. Certainly, there are teenage girls who have invested too much in High School relationships. I particularly liked the point that May's friend Davida made about May trying to seem like an ordinary high school student. The story worked on that level as a moral lesson.

The mutant story had its points, but I have to say that trudging up a younger female version of Magneto for the leader was lazy. The ultimate story is a battle for Sarah's future and who she's going to be and May makes a great point of that in Issue #24.

The original clone saga in the 1970s was a solid storyline for the Amazing Spider-man. In the 1990s, it became not only a debacle but not a quagmire. May's version begins promisingly enough and ends on a note that will leave you running to buy the next trade.

At the end of the day, this all works very well. You have a character who is a great role model and several complex stories with enough variety to keep them interesting. This is just another classic Spider-girl collection.



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Book Review: Essential Spider-Woman Volume 1

Essential Spider-Woman, Vol. 1 by Marv Wolfman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book collects 31 comic books related to the first Spider-Woman Jessica Drew from the late 1970s including her debut in Marvel Spotlight #32, and her crossover in Marvel Two in One #29-33 and the first twenty-five issues of her own magazine.

There's a lot to like about the character and the magazine. She's a woman who has reached adulthood without a past. When she first appears, she's an assassin for HYDRA sent to kill Nick Fury but she realizes she's been brainwashed and turns against evil Hydra only to be recaptured and attack the Thing and then help him in the five part Arch from Marvel Two in One. Then in her own magazines, she fights all kinds of evils.

There's a lot to like about this Spider-woman. The first 19 issues of her magazine are pencilled by the great Carmine Infantino, best known for his work on the Flash. Superhero comics are notorious to shoving women into the most bizarre costumes and poses but Spider-woman may be the best designed superheroine with a costume that's classy, well-designed, and functional.

The character also has a mix of courage and curiosity, but also a great deal of naivete which makes for an interesting character. Plus she has a serious problem that gives people (other women in particular) a serious dislike for her which makes finding a job problematic.

The big downside of the book is that they really don't seem to know what they want her to be. The original slant would have indicated a lot of SHIELD like Spy capers and indeed one issue in her series did have her help her boyfriend Jerry stop a terrorist attack. But mostly she faded into horror comic-like stuff. There was nothing magical about her powers though perhaps they thought the color scheme would indicate horror, but whatever the case in her first 19 issues she had two encounters with Werewolf by Night, several with the Brothers Grimm, Morgana LeFaye among others. These were mostly D-list Marvel characters. Nothing incredibly stupid happened in these stories, the book just seemed to drift.

The only truly dumb thing was her relationship with Jerry which began instantaneously for no reason and ended because she kept saving Jerry. Thankfully by the 1970s, Marvel was no longer making us suffer through break ups that lasted a year, but the entire thing was pointless.

Spider-woman went through three writers after Archie Goodwin wrote the origin story, Marv Wolfman wrote the story arch from Marvel Two in One and then the first eight issues of the comic, Mark Grunewald took over for issues 9-20 and 21-25 by Mark Fleischer.

Issue 20 brought the inevitable meeting between Spider-man and Spider-woman which was a fun little jaunt that included her thinking Spider-man had ripped off her identity. It was nice to see Spider-man guest star in a book without being a jerk. Fleischer took the book in a new direction for the last five issues establishing Spider-girl as a bounty hunting crimefighter. I have mixed feelings on her falling in loved with the Gamesman, the first big time crook she snags, but I was satisfied with the conclusion.

Overall, this is an okay book. I give it 3 stars but I consider it to be towards the higher end of that rating. There's not a whole lot bad about the book, but there's nothing amazing, spectacular, or sensational about it either. It's solidly written in most parts with a few above average stories thrown in.



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Comics Review: Iron Man, Mr. T, The Flash, Justice League, World's Finest, Superman, Batman Beyond

From the '70s, the 90s, and the twenty-first century, here are my comic book reviews for the week. The Iron Man book I got off of an out of print Marvel DVD containing every Iron Man comic to 2006, and I own physical copies of Mr. T and the T-Force and Justice League Adventures. The rest come through Comixology:

Iron Man, Volume 1, Issue 52:

This issue features Iron Man refitting and retesting his equipment as he moves to California and enjoys fun in the sun,but quickly finds himself in a battle with a guy with fire powers who runs a satanic cult. The story has potential but is a little odd as he'd recently faced anther fire based villain and Firebrand. Also, the stories features Marianne Rodgers, probably the best girl Tony has encountered in this run and who he heartlessly kicked out of his life. She's still suffering and that's sad

I also have to say that I agree with the letter's page in wondering when we'll see a return of Classic Iron Man villains. The 1970s was a difficult time for Tony Stark and Iron Man.

Rating: 2.75 out of 5.0

Mr. T and the T Force #2:

This issue is T-riffic T-centered extravaganza as Mr. T battles an Incan warrior physically and then when forced to take drugs, battles demons that urge him to surrender to drugs. It's awesome call to stay off drugs and again reflects the heart and spirit of Mr. T in this series. Only problem with this is the somewhat silly and contrived rules that the T-Force operates under, particularly that no one in the T-force but one kid can actually save Mr. T. But for a 1990s Indie comic this was still awesome despite that.

Rating: 4.75 out of 5.0

The Flash (2011-Present) #22:

A solid issue as the story of the Reverse Flash's rampage against those connected to the Speed Force continues. In this issue, the Flash takes some precautions protect Iris and we get the first hint I can remember of her having a thing for Barry which could create a love triangle situation with Patti.

Also, we get the re-emergence of Darwin Elias who seems to have become practically a mad supervillain and is plotting to kill the Flash but instead becomes a target for the Reverse Flash.

Only complaint is that it's too short, that plus not having Barry working in the lab is dumb. Besides that, this is solid issue that has me looking towards the next issue.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5.0

Justice League Adventures #4:

In this book, the Amazons go crazy and start trying to take over the world by force. Part of the key to the Amazons success is that they have magic that makes every woman born on a country's native soil loyal to their cause. This leads to a suggestion that all female members of the Justice League stay at the Watch Tower since they might turn on them in battle which would be a valid point if not for the fact that Wonder Woman wasn't effect and more importantly that Hawkgirl was an alien from Thanagar which means the Amazons were unlikely to have her native soil lying around.

After that silliness, this actually turns into a really good comic. It's a lot of battle scenes but it's all well-told and well-scripted action. The story's plot bears a strong resemblance to the much-hated Amazons Attack. However, the big difference is that this story is actually good. It's helped by the one-and-done nature of the Justice League Adventures and also by having a more comprehensible plot with a satisfying conclusion. This is a fun story that really does work.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

World's Finest (2012-Present) #5:

This book doesn't quite fit the description. There's a bit of a framing story about Powergirl and Huntress talking about getting back to Earth 2 but the story ultimately revolves around the two flashing back to solo adventures. Karen goes to check out one of her investments in research that she hopes to use to get home and instead encounters a robot beast from another dimension that she has to fight in a decent action sequence.

At the same time, Helena is attending a "Take Back the Night" rally in Boston when a sniper begins taking potshots. We don't find out where the alien robot was from or why the Sniper was taking shots. Indeed, Huntress made it clear she didn't care why the guy was taking shots, though she assumed that it was because he was pro-rape rather than just a nut of a sniper which was probably more realistic.

In the end, the story has some moments but this was a pure filler issue and not very entertaining at that.

Rating: 1.75 out of 5.0

Superman Adventures (1996)

The mind-controlling villain, The Commander escapes from prison and implants a post-hypnotic suggestion on live TV telling people to kill Superman. Whenever Superman shows up for the rest of the book and performs a rescue, the crowd shouts, "Kill Superman!" and that's the plot. Even dumber is that Superman thinks of leaving Metropolis over this.

David Michelinie, famed Iron Man writer wrote this book which is what makes it so disappointing. There was a lot that could be done, but instead we get a lazy story. There's a twist at the end but at this point, Superman Adventures was being written by a rotating group of writers, so I'm not optimistic it'll be picked up.

Rating: 2.0 out of 5.0

This is another solid chapter in the continuing story. Batman battles Shriek in a battle that's a distraction from Rebel One's main plain. Max is part of that plan and has to find a way to get a message to Batman without alerting Rebel One who's threatened to murder her family. The book has real tension and the fight scene is solid. Batman Beyond really has the whole digital first thing down and it's a fun book to read.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

Superman Beyond #19 (2012-13):

Essentially, this is a battle issue with Superman and the Justice League trying to stop the war. Some decent battle scenes and a promising ending sets up the finale of the series.

Book Review: All New Batman Brave and the Bold, Volume 1

The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Volume 1 by Sholly Fisch

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 1-6 of the All New Brave and the Bold, the second comic book series based on Batman: the Brave and the Bold. Here's an issue by issue rundown:

"The Bottle of the Planets:" This book features Superman and Batman teaming up to solve crime in the Bottled City of Kandor. Crime in the bottled city is pretty rare. It's not a great Superman/Batman story, but it's okay even with a dumb title. Grade: B-

"The Holiday Feeling" has Billy Batson showing up in Gotham city on Christmas only to find that Psycho Pirate has been driving the city haywire with emotions and Batman's in a deep depression and it's up to Captain Marvel (Shazam) to snap him out of it. This is a nice tribute to what Captain Marvel traditionally represented in comics and sees a nice cameo by the Marvel family who then disappear so Batman can go take care of the villain on his own. This wasn't a great story but compared to the other Christmas specials Brave and the Bold has done, this was actually pretty good. Grade: B

"Mirror, Mirror" This story was a blast. Batman and the Flash battle the Mirror Master and Mad Hatter and get stuck in an Alice and Wonderland world in what's a beautifully fun story. Grade: A

"The Bride and the Bold": Under the influence of powerful Greek spirits and an enchantment Batman and Wonder Woman get engaged, and villains crash the wedding. The result is a madcap scene reminiscent of Sue Storm and Reed Richards wedding in Fantastic Annual #3. Grade: A-

"Man-Hunted": An alien comes seeking Batman and Guy Gardener's help. He's being pursued by the robotic manhunter cops. Batman wants to find out if the fugitive is innocent, while Guy wants to smash the Manhunter robots. Everyone gets what they want in a really enjoyable romp. Grade: B+

"Now You See Me"-An issue that had a few annoying parts as the Martian Manhunter turns to Batman to teach him detective skills because the Martian Manhunter says he's too dependent on telepathy. I really don't get why writers (this one included) decide they have to make the Manhunter weaker to make Batman look more awesome. Still, the story has a certain silver age flavor to it as the Nartian Manhunter challenges Batman to teach skills by finding the Manhunter who can change forms. There's a nice twist at the end. Grade: B-

Overall, despite a few bumps in the road, this collection succeeds in producing Batman comics that are kid-friendly and make heroes accessible. Unlike some later and earlier collections, it doesn't make stupid stories, but tells tales that parents can enjoy with their kids. An excellent read.



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Book Review: Captain Marvel, Volume 2: Down

Captain Marvel, Vol. 2: Down by Kelly Sue DeConnick

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I was not a huge fan of the first volume of this series but this volume (collecting Issues 7-12) of Carol Danvers' (Captain Marvel) adventures was just awesome.

Issues 7 and 8 have Captain Marvel teaming up with a previous Captain Marvel named Monica Rambeau, who had held the title of Captain Marvel in the 1980s. This was important because one problem with the last book was its own self-importance about Carol Danver being a female Captain Marvel when there had already been one. But more than that, the story was just great with some mystery and Danvers bringing some awesome action.

Issue 9 is a bit of a one-off but leads into a larger story. It features Tony Stark trying to micromanage Carol Danvers' day only for her schedule to be shot to heck by many catastrophic incidents. Most famously she and Spider-woman (Jessica Drew) team up to fight a dinosaur leading to my favorite line of the book when she tells a cab driver, he's an honorary deputy Avenger. She leaves her cat with him (telling him that it's really Spider-man) and announces, "Now if you'll excuse me...I need to go punch a dinosaur."

How can a book with a line like that not have at least four stars?

However, events take a turn for the worse at the end of Issue 9 and into Issue 10 with a diagnosis of an anomaly in Carol's brain and she's grounded by Doctor's orders, a very painful thing for a woman who loves flying. Here I expected the story to get maudlin and woe as me, bu o Kelly DeConnick's credit...she didn't go THERE. Instead, we get to see Carol fighting back, first ignoring Doctor's orders and then adjusting and then ignoring them when she has to. Of course, she has a villain to face a, and while I've never heard of this particular baddie before, it's still a very compelling story of Captain Marvel continuing to be awesome even while she faces this challenge.

Overall, this book is exactly the type of thing people look to superheroes for. The art takes some getting used to, but other than that, it's perfect pitch. It wasn't trying to be edgy or some sort of polemic on feminism. And to be clear, it's not some masterpiece epic that people are going to insist is "must read" but it is incredibly awesome and a book that really makes this Captain Marvel worth reading about.



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