Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes, page 92

Book Review: Showcase Presents Justice League Volume 1

Showcase Presents: Justice League of America, Vol. 1 by Gardner F. Fox

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The Justice League of America was the first of several silver age superhero teams. It would be the basis for the popular Super Friends cartoon series in the 1970s. This book collects there 1960 tryout in Brave and the Bold Issues 28-30, their first sixteen adventure in their own book in Justice League of America 1-16 as well as a team up with Adam Strange in Mystery in Space #75.

The team begins with Aquaman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, the Martin Manhunter, Superman, and Wonder Woman. While DC’s two most popular characters, Batman and Superman aren’t honorary members as they were during the golden age with the Justice Society of America, they are absent from several adventures including the first one. Green Arrow would join the team in Justice League of America #4 and the Atom would sign on in Issue 14.

Batman and Superman missed out the first JLA adventure published in the Brave and the Bold #28 as the others take on Starro, a gigantic alien starfish. The character is a more serious threat than he looks, and the story is fun even if the ending is a little silly. Average teenager Snapper Carr is invited to join the JLA as an honorary member. Snapper contributes a little to the plot but mostly adds appropriate 1960s youth slang.

Batman and Superman are presents for B&B #29 that features a man from 10,000 years in the future who believes he’s destined to beat the Justice League. This is one of the best stories in the book. B&B #30 introduces Amazo, a great recurring villain who steals the heroes powers.

JLA #1 introduces Despero. JLA #2 sends the league into the world of magic and need the help of Merlin to get back. Issue 3 introduces Kanjar Ro who arrives in a silly space galley complete with rows and requires the Justice League to defeat his enemies or the whole world will remain frozen.

Issue 4 is actually a somewhat complex story about an alien good guy who has to pretend to be a villain to get the JLA to defeat some dangers so he can return to his home world. Issue 5 has Green Arrow on trial for helping some villains escape, but there’s more to this story than meets the eye. JLA #6 places our heroes against a man who has discovered luck is a scientific formula he can change.

Issue 7 has evil aliens running a funhouse. Issue 8 features a criminal that can control the Justice League and offers their services for sale rather than killing them. Snapper Carr actually proves his worth in this story. Issue 9 attempts to create an actual origin story for the Justice League fighting the meteor people in what’s really an okay flashback. Issues 10 and 11 are the only multi-part stories. In Issue 10, Felix Faust casts a spell making the Justice League his temporary slaves, so he can take over the world. He fails at that but manages to release some demons who the JLA has to fight in Issue 11.

The Mystery in Space story is more about Adam Strange with the Justice League guest starring as Strange tries to get their help to save the Planet Rann. It’s not really a Justice League but is really fun. JLA #12 introduces Dr. Light who is a strong villain with his various light based tricks and presents a real challenge to our.

Another of my favorites in here is JLA #13 which has the league battling robot duplicates of themselves on an alien world. Aquman doesn’t compete because there’s no water on this planet. So instead he serves as a coach/cheerleader which does suggest that Aquaman has value to the team even when not in the water.

JLA #14 begins with the JLA voting to make the Atom a member of their team, but once the ballots are counted, the entire team can’t remember who he is. Neither can the Atom who is testifying in a court case and both he and everyone else forgets who he is and what he’s doing there. It’s an interesting tale as the JLA faces Mister Memory. My big problem with this one is that Mister Memory is that was an existing villain with an entirely different villain identity. Given how much these “theme” villains put into their identities, you can’t just change them to something different and I’m not even sure why they reused this forgettable looking villain.

JLA #15 has the League trying to stop rock monsters from destroying several cities but it’s not just a random monster. JLA #16 has the League facing the Maesto who has a plan that lowers the curtain on the Justice League. This story has a nice fun twist.

Overall, this was a fun book, even if it was a bit silly at time. DC stories of the era were strongly plot based as well as focused on getting the League a chance to show off their powers. The plots are decent and the villains are good for the most part even though there aren’t a ton of heavy hitters in this line up.

If the book’s plot are good exciting sci-fi fun, the book suffers from characters who have no seeming personality in the book. At one point, Green Lantern used his power wing to switch costumes between the characters with Batman disguised as Wonder Woman and you couldn’t tell.

Wonder Woman wasn’t totally respected in this book. JLA members has a loose structure where any hero could say, “Me, Aquaman, and the Flash will go to Atlantic City.” Wonder Woman never makes such a pronouncement, instead she’s always ordered. The only time she commands is when the Justice League is cleaning up its headquarters. Nice!

Batman is also under utilized in this book. As the JLA served to show off superpowers which Batman didn’t have this was bound to happen, plus they didn’t give him much in the way of “cool batgear” to show off.

If I had one big complaint is that with the early JLA, the sum is less than its parts. Having read Showcase volumes about Superman, the Atom, the Flash, and Martian Manhunter from the same era, all of them were more fun in their own stories, and their own individual stories were typically better than the Justice League stories.

All that said, the Justice League was fun and it succeeded at reintroducing the superhero team concept to the 1960s




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Book Review: All-Star Superman

All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


All Star Superman is deservedly a fan favorite. This 12 Issue out of continuity series by Grant Morrison is a book that's oftentimes poignant and occasionally humorous.

The inciting event involves Superman saving a scientific expedition that is imperiled due to a trap set by Lex Luthor. However, as a result of overexposure to the sun, Superman is dying from absorbing to much energy from the yellow sun.

The book follows Superman as he prepares to die and perform twelve great feats. The book is part silver age homage and part a meditation on life and death. Certainly, the idea of Superman dying and making provision for his friends, family, and the rest of the planet in a story that occurred during the Silver Age (though he didn't die in that story). There are also homages to the Silver Ago versions of Bizarroland and Jimmy Olsen.

However, the story fundamentally is about a noble man focusing on others and finding gratitude in a truly superlife, and making a difference right up until the very end.

While the story has some disturbing subtexts particularly on the whole issue of human cloning, the book is rightfully viewed as a masterpiece of its genre and a great tribute to Superman as a character.

The only thing really missing from this book was Batman. Particularly with all the honor paid to the Silver Age, the absence of Superman's best friend from the book was very conspicuous. Still, it's not enough to stop this from being an amazing Superman book.



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Book Review: Batman: Brave and the Bold

Batman: The Brave and the Bold #1 by Matt Wayne

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Batman Brave and the Bold provides a kid-friendly panorama of the DC Univese. This book collects Issue 1-6 of the series based on the popular Cartoon Network program.

In this book, we get appearance by Powergirl, Blue Beetle, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Captain Marvel (Shazam), and a Golden Age style Kid Eternity. Villians include the pre-Crisis Mad Scientist version of Lex Luthor, the Mad Thinker, the Ultra-humanite, Dr. Cyber, the Queen of Fables, and General Immortus. On top of that, the book follows the format of the series with a short lead in adventure before the main event which allows readers to take a Superman, Wonder-woman, Haunted Tank, and Hour Man.

The book's big benefit is that it introduces kids to more innocent and wholesome versions of comic characters than they'll see anywhere else. Unfortunately, the stories are a mixed bag. Issues 1 and 2 are horendous and Issues 5 and 6 are mediocre. It'd be tempting to merely blame the format, particularly trying to include a 2 page lead in story in a comic book.

However, Issues 3 and 4 are real gems. In Issue 3, Batman has to impersonate the President to save him from being kidnapped and we get to see "President Batman" deal with Congressional gridlock Batman-style. Issue 4 was great from start to finish with the best two page lead-in story in the book and a crazy time travel adventure. True enough, it had some environmentalist propaganda in it, but it was still a fun story.

Series such as Superman Adventures and Spider-girl have shown that you don't have to be banal to create an all ages series: clever writing can be done in a fun and kid-friendly way. The two middle stories proved the same point and I only hope that future Brave and the Bold books are more fun than forgettable and these characters are given the type of stories they deserve.



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Too Many Superheroes Spoil the Movie

I'm definitely feeling bearish about the new Batman-Superman movie after the report that Gal Gadot was cast as Wonder Woman.

This is no reflection on Ms. Gadot who may be a fine actress. This is more a reflection of the fact that the production team appears to be biting off far more than it can chew.

This has been behind at least a couple critically dubious superhero films.

Andrea and I liked the first Fantastic Four movie and just recently watched Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The production crew took elements right out of the comics. Indeed, if you read Essential Fantastic Four, Vol. 3, you'll find the basis for the book's biggest plot points: The Weeding of Reed and Sue, the coming of Galactus and the Silver Surfer , and Dr. Doom stealing the Silver Surfer's powers. Each of these were great comic stories. But if you try and shove them into a movie, the result is a mess. Particularly if the film is taken up by additional concerns such as the military making fun of Reed Richards for not playing football in High School.

Same thing with Spider-man 3. While the film was actually decent in my opinion, it did have problems and chief among them was that there was too much going on: We had Peter wanting to get married, Harry Osborn (the New Goblin) getting amnesia and regaining his memory, the Sandman appeared and Peter found out the Sandman was the one who really killed Uncle Ben, and you had the Venom symbiote merging with Peter and then fighting with Peter.

You had way too much going on and that led to some weak points such as the battle with Venom were not really treated like they deserved.

Compare these films to the recent Disney produced Marvel films. They're all fairly straight forward in terms of plots with the notable exception of Iron Man 2 which was the worst of them. The individual movies knew it was their job to create a movie origin for the main character. The Avengers took four featured characters we already knew and had them fight one villain we also already knew and developed the relationship between them

The problem as I see it with this new project is you have way too many elements . Here are the things the movie needs to do:

1) Establish what normal is for Superman, something we didn't get from Man of Steel

2) Introduce the new Batman to audience.

3) Introduce Wonder Woman and her origins

4) Introduce the villain

5) Set up the villain's plot and execute it. And that plot has to be big enough that all thee heroes are needed to take it on.

There is no way that they're going to do all these things and do to them well, even in a 3 hour movie.

Of course, viewers of The Avengers will recall that the Black Window (i.e. Natasha Romanoff) was introduced with very little fanfare or plot digression as was Hawkeye (Clint Barton).

With respect, neither one of these characters is Wonder Woman. It was possible to give them short shrift because they're not well know outside of comic book fans. However, Wonder Woman is one of DC's flagship character who along with Superman and Batman is the only character to have been starring in her own magazine without interruption since the 1940s.

She also has a big fan base that will expect her to get a lot of attention. Unless, she appears at the end of the movie after the action in a cameo that will set up her own film, the producers have really set themselves up for a lose/lose situation here.

Book Review: Batman in the Fifties

Batman in the '50s by Joe Samachson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The 1950s Batman stories are perhaps the least collected stories in the Dark Knight's history. Only recently have the early 1950s Detective Comics stories come into print. So, I was hoping to see something knew and I did.

This ear of Bat history is pretty well maligned. It's less serious, more sci-fi and gets away from the hero's dark crimefighting roots. The 1960s TV show has more boosters than this era among serious bat aficionados.

There were a lot of stories I loved in the book. A couple took intimate looks at the operations of Batman. In Detective Comics #156, the 1940s Batmobile is demolished and Batman's leg broken. So he builds the 1950s model which screams, "Awesome!" and would be the basis for the 1960s Batmobile on the TV show. We learn about Batman's batarangs in, "The 100 Batarangs of Batman," including their secret weapon, "Batarang X." A great Batman-Superman crossover is included with, "The True History of Superman and Batman."

We meet the "Bat-hound," "The Batwoman," and "Bat-Mite." The Bat-woman was sexist but not nearly as sexist as the introduction indicated. This early version of Kathy Kane could definitely handle herself. It felt more like the writers were leaving it open to be moved by reader response and clearly readers wanted more of her.

The villains section of the book was a bit more mixed. "The Man Behind the Red Hood" was classic and the story featuring the first appearance of the character who would become Mr. Freeze was decent. The 1950s stories that saw Catwoman abandon crime and Two-Face take it up again were weak.

The Sci Fi stories were actually a treat. My favorite was "Batman: The Superman of Planet X" which had Batman transported to a world where due to gravity and atmosphere, he had the same powers on Planet X that Superman has on our world. He was brought by the Batman of Planet X who admired our Batman and modeled himself after him.

Bottom line: the 1950s were a time when Batman was fun and light. Maybe he shouldn't be as rule, but if you find it enjoyable, this was a great read, and hopefully the whole 1950s will become available to us soon.



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Book Review: Batman Chronicles, Volume 2

The Batman Chronicles, Vol. 2 by Bill Finger

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This 2nd Volume collects Batman stories from Detective Comics #39-#45 which were relatively short 13 page stories as well as stories from Batman #2 and #3, which were larger magazines dedicated to Batman and contained 3-4 stories each and then a Batman and Robin story from New York World's Fair Magazine.

It's worth noting that these are truly Batman and Robin stories. The Boy Wonder continues to bring color, life, and fun to each adventure, saving Batman's bacon a few times with the Dark Knight returning the favor.

The stories themselves are mostly okay. The first concept for Clayface appears in Detective Comics #40. Batman and Catwoman make a couple of appearances each including one joint appearance in Batman #2 which features the Catwoman and the Joker. The other stories are a mix of pulp fiction style stories with a few mysteries thrown in complete with list of clues and suspects for young readers to solve.

A big focus of Batman in these early years was to teach kids that criminals were not worthy of admiration, which is why Robin routinely beats several older criminals at a time as he did when Batman and Robin took on a crime school set up to teach boys the ways of crime. This message was never more clear as the intent than at the end of Batman #3 when a written statement from Batman appears encouraging readers to eschew a life of crime.

The sad irony in this is that many Batman stories with their focus on cool villains may almost seem to cut counter to this old fashioned message. However, in this book, the message comes through loud and clear, and thanks to the plucky boy wonder, it comes through with style.



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Book Review: Essential Fantastic Four, Volume 3

Essential Fantastic Four vol.3 by Stan Lee

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book has so many awesome things it. The best things in this book are better than Five Stars on any scale. At any rate, let's get to the nitty gritty:

Essential Fantastic Four, Vol. 2 had ended with Ben Grimm forced to become the Thing to save the Fantastic Four from Dr. Doom and Ben announced he was leaving again.

The story picks up here with Ben making good on it. Ben is quickly captured by the Frightful Four who brainwash him into turning against his former teammates. This is a great storyline with some pretty good twists that lasts from Issue 41-43.

After that, we have the wedding issue. To be clear, the wedding was not as earth-shattering as some Marvelites indicate given that Aquaman had tied the knot the previous year but this wedding was particularly noteworthy as Dr. Doom used mind control to create an epic attack by nearly every villain in the Marvel Universe to ruin the wedding and the heroes all joined in the attack. Something for the guys here as Thor, Spidey, Iron Man, and everyone dukes it out. Once every settles down, two gatecrashers named Kirby and Lee are turned away by Nick Fury. Classic.

After the wedding, our focus turns to the Inhumans, a superpowered family that thinks of itself as a separate species with characters like Medusa (who is no longer a Frightful Four member), Gorgan, Triton, Lockjaw, and the strong silent type himself, Black Bolt from Issue 44-47.

Then Issue 48-50 feature one of the most important Marvel storylines: the first coming of Galactus, the devourer of worlds. He wants to dine on the Earth. Yet Ben's girl Alicia gets the Silver Surfer to feel compassion for humanity even if it means defying Galactus, who is the most powerful foe the FF have ever faced. The Watcher, a Marvel character who is pledged to observe without interfering breaks the pledge to try and stop and Galactus.

The Lee/Kirby duo had been running on brilliant since at least Issue 29 after a slump between #22 and #28. This featured another one. In some ways, it began in issue 50 where they announced that Johnny would be going to college away from the other three. They introduced Wyatt Wingfoot in Issue #50 as one of Johnny's college classmates. I think they were trying to push the racial diversity envelope but Wyatt was a really boring character.

The Inhumans had become trapped in their own refuge and even though they didn't impact the main plot, beginning in Issue 51, Lee and Kirby took time to explain what was happening with the Inhuman even if they were still just trapped and nothing at all.

I'd assign a mini-slump to Kirby and Lee from #51-#54 and it's a small one. Issue #51 actually had a pretty big emotional payoff as a mad scientist found away to become the Thing while returning Ben Grimm to normal. His plan was to use the power to defeat Reed Richards, but he learns a lot about Reed and about himself. And Ben gets a moment of clarity regarding the love the others feel for him.

Issue #52 and #53 introduce the Black Panther, so again they're not really bad. But this version of the Panther is a little more cheesy and less well-developed than I've come to expect. Just a rich African guy with a ton of money based on vibranium. And then there was Wyatt Wingfoot sucking up oxygen in the story.

Issue #54 is the worst issue in the whole book. Johnny's "love" for Crystal of the Inhumans was the result of a chance meeting that ends in "being in love." The type of thing you see in a Broadway show. Johnny and Wyatt set out to travel the world to find a way into the refuge of the Inhumans with Johnny nearly destroying the world before Wyatt Wingfoot can blandly save the day.

Issue #55 shows a turning point. It's not a great moment for Ben Grimm when he gets so stupidly jealous that he attacks the Silver Surfer but it makes for a great fight.

Then in Issue #56, they get a rematch with Klaw, the Master of Sound and I think the second battle was better than the first one that occurred three issues previous.

Annual #4 is dominated Johnny Storm battling the original Human Torch and is solid

Issues #57-#60 are epic as Dr. Doom deceives Silver Surfer and steals his comic power and uses it against the Fantastic Four. Really, it doesn't get any better than this. Courageous action by every male member of the FF makes for an awesome battle with Torch taking his power to new levels.

Issue #61 sees the return of the Sandman, this time in a suit that looks like it was designed by the Wizard. Really don't like this look on the Sandman who should be a more blue collar villain. Other than that, the story's good. Richards can only defeat the new and improved sandman by putting him into the negative zone, and Reed falls through himself.

Issues #62 and #63 focus on efforts to get Reed out and then to defeat Blastar, the deadly villain who gets out along with Reed. Here the Inhumans at least begin to justify all of the digressions that have occurred in this volume on their behalf.

Additional thoughts:

Positives: Beyond the normal story synopsis, I have to say this book includes a lot of great Kirby artwork including some fine full page drawings particularly in the Galactus and negative zone stories. The book is also amazing in the concepts it introduced that would be so crucial to Marveldom to this very day.

Negatives: The biggest negative in the book is the treatment of Sue Richards. In the stories in #21-#40, Lee and Kirby really worked to solidify the idea that Sue belonged in the team. In these issues, she's relegated to hostage and bit player. In addition, in some of the issues right around the time of the wedding, Reed is almost contemptuous of her calling her, "Woman!" Sue deserved better.

Still, as bad a negative as it is, with all of the surpassing trailblazing positives of this book, it's still a five star collection.






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Book Review: Essential Fantastic Four, Volume 2

Essential Fantastic Four, Vol. 2 by Stan Lee

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


After a Fantastic run that was chronicled in Essential Fantastic Four, Vol. 1, this book begins off strong with Issue 21 featuring the first appearance of Nick Fury after World War II. Up to this time, he'd only been seen fighting with his Howling Commandos as they battle the Hate Monger turning the FF against each other.

Issues 22 and 23 were pretty weak despite featuring Mole Man and Dr. Doom and Issue 24 was silly with an alien infant wreaking havoc.

Issue 25 features a great Thing v. Hulk battle, but is continued in a less than stellar entry which featured the Avengers. The two groups of heroes incessantly got in each other's way in a not so satisfying comic book.

Issue 27 featured the return of the Sub-mariner and guest starred Doctor Strange as he once again attempts to woo Sue Storm via kidnapping. The Strange cameo works quite well.


Then Issue 29 features the Fantastic Four's return to Yancy Street and facing off against the Red Ghost in a surprise return appearance. Things really pick up with Issue 30 when Diablo is introduced and takes control of thing.

Dr. Doom returns and triumphs (or so he thinks) in Fantastic Four Annual #2 which also includes a solid 12-page origin story for the bad doctor.

Issue 31 features a much better Mole Man story and also an injury to Sue that brings a surprise visitor. Issue 32 features Sue and Johnny's father acting strangely and escaping from prison to emerge with all the FF's powers. What's really going on?

Issue 33 features the Fantastic Four fighting on the side of the Sub-mariner in a well-done story set in Atlantis. Issue 34 is another Fantastic Four turns against each other battle, but Lee and Kirby put a little different spin on the reason.

Issue 35 tells the most "okay" story in this book with Diablo's return and Reed Richards finally popping the question. Then in Issue 36, we're introduced to the Frightful Four, a great villain team to battle the FF. In Issue 37, after having fought the Skrull numerous times, the FF take the fight to the Skrull themselves to settle a score. Issue 38 features the FF's defeat at the hands of the Frightful Four, costing them their powers and setting up a two part battle with Doctor Doom with an assist from guest star Daredevil in Issues 39 and 40.

My first edition copy also contained a Spidey-Human Torch meet up in Strange Tales Annual #2 which features Spidey needing the Torch's help to clear the name while the Torch is determined to bring Spidey to justice because he envies Spider-man's media coverage.

Volume 1 was easily an overall 5.0 rating. This book is a little bit more of a mixed bag. If you can get by with weak stories in FF #22-24, and 26 and the more okay stories like X-men crossover in #28, this is a great book that I'd give a 4.5 rating to. These are some great adventures and in addition to featuring the Richards-Storm engagement, we also see Susan develop her invisible forcefield power which makes her perhaps the FF's most powerful member after struggling with reader acceptance in the past.



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Book Review: Spider-Man/Human Torch: I'm with Stupid Digest

Spider-Man/Human Torch: I'm with Stupid Digest by Dan Slott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book by Dan Slott (before he started destroying Spider-man to be replaced Spider Otto) is actually petty good. It collected the limited run Spider-man/Human Torch series that celebrates the unique relationship between Spider-man and the human torch. It's similar to Mark Waid's 1990s story Brave and the Bold doing the same concept with the Silver Age Flash and Green Lantern, though in this case, these two go way back as friends and rivals and these untold stories highlight it.

Of the first stories in the book, the first two are written with the vintage Silver Age feel of the 1960s including one in which Torch hires Spidey as his official photographer as he tries to grab the headlines eventually taking Dr. Doom at the Latverian Embassy and one fun event where the two switch places as Spider-man goes exploring with the rest of the FF while Torch tries to bust up a crime ring. The third issue comes right in the Bronze age, in the 1970s after Gwen Stacy's death and with Spidey wanted for murder. The fourth story is from the early 1980s and features a great guest appearance by the Black Cat. The last is in a more modern setting where Johnny at last learns Spidey's identity after a ton of other people in the Marvel universe and isn't happy about it.

Slott really has some fun here. He plays up the idea that while Spidey envies the Torch, the Torch envies Peter Parker. And he tweaks Marvel convention which has the Statue of Liberty as the Torch and Spidey's meeting spot even though there's really no way Spidey could get there through typical means. The book's not very deep, but it's fun and at the end, a bit heart warming. It's worth a read for fans of these two great characters and their amazing relationship.



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Book Review: Spider-man Family: Back in the Black

Spider-Man Family: Back in Black by Sean McKeever

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Spider-man Family was as short lived comic book published by Marvel from February 2007-June 2009. This book collects Issues 1-3 and takes stories from throughout the Spider-man history and stories featuring Spidey back up characters.

Issue 1 features a story of Spidey wearing the black suit that's just boring dreck. The back up story featuring Black Cat is just plain lame.

Issue 2 is a more current story featuring Spider-man battling Venom, but Venom for once interested in fighting someone else. This was a decent story and probably the highlight of the book. The back up featuring the Lizard was again weak.

Issue 3 has a good story featuring Spider-man and the Fantastic Four from early in Spidey's career. It's fun, but really not on par with the classic stuff. The back up story featuring Matt Gargan as Venom battling the new government agent calling herself the Scorpion was fun even though I had no clue who she was.

Overall, this was a hit and miss book. It has its features and the digest is available dirt cheap. Just be warned you get what you pay for.



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