Todd Klein's Blog, page 206

And Then I Read: SUPERMAN 46

Image © DC Comics.

There are two common ways to put a popular series or character in the hands of different creators. There’s the relaunch, where you start over with a new series, and there’s the hand-off where things change more gradually. That’s what’s happened in SUPERMAN. The new creative team of Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr. (with Klaus Janson) was heralded widely, then after a decent run, Johns slipped out and writer Gene Luen Yang slipped in, continuing the same storylines and characters while gradually introducing his own ideas. Now Romita and Janson have stepped out as well to make way for Howard Porter on the art. Porter seems to be trying to follow what went before to some degree. How successful the hand-off is in sales, I don’t know. I’ve enjoyed the new creators so far, but this issue loses me a little with a story that takes Superman away from Metropolis to a career of sorts as a costumed wrestler. Only it turns out the other wrestlers are not exactly human either. Jimmy Olsen has a key role to play, as does a recent villain, but otherwise it’s mostly new territory that seems odd for Superman. The art is fine, but I think I’d rather see Porter just being himself. Not a bad issue, but the hand-off is looking just a tad shaky.

Mildly recommended.

And Then I Read: THE ISLANDS OF CHALDEA by Diana Wynne Jones

It’s always a bit melancholy to read the last book of a favorite author. This was uncompleted at Diana Wynne Jones’ death, and finished by her sister. I should say up front that I could not detect any change of voice or tone, and the book read as a complete and well-rounded story.

Chaldea is a group of three islands that used to be four. All the islands have magic and magic users, and the magicians of Logra have cut their island off from the world with magic, creating an invisible wall around it. This has made life difficult for everyone in Chaldea. Trade routes are disrupted, fishing grounds are unreachable, families are divided, and it’s even worse for the few Lograns left behind in Chaldea, like Ogo, even if he is a member of the King’s court on the island of Skarr. Aileen’s Aunt Beck is a Wise Woman with magic ability, the King’s advisor, and she and Aileen are summoned to the King’s castle by Ogo. There are disputes to settle, but later the real reason for the gathering is revealed: a prophecy about how the barrier around Logra can be broken has been discovered. It requires a Wise Woman from Skarr to travel to the other islands collecting a partner from each, and then somehow traveling to Logra. Aunt Beck is reluctantly convinced to undertake this perilous journey, and Aileen must go with her. Ogo will join them, representing Logra, and they will need to find willing partners on the other islands.

The quest format is a familiar one, but Jones makes it fun and fresh through lots of unexpected plot turns, humor, and vivid characters. Even though the goal is clear, reaching it is never predictable, and there are plenty of interesting adventures along the way. When the quest team is finally ready to attempt the journey to Logra, they must do it by hot air balloon, and what they find on Logra is both surprising and frightening.

I enjoyed this thoroughly. Recommended.

And Then I Read: GREEN LANTERN 46

Image © DC Comics

Two villains from recent crossover events, Black Hand and Relic, have their current stories resolved as Hal Jordan returns William Hand to the Source Wall, which gave him his newest powers of destruction, and Relic is, for once, on Hal’s side. I thought the wrap of these worked well, and it looks like Hal’s current space wandering will end here, with him returning to Earth next issue. Nice writing by Robert Venditti and art by Billy Tan and Mark Irwin.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: DOCTOR FATE #6

Image © DC Comics

Khalid Nassour is trying to do the right thing. The Egyptian god of death, Anubis, is trying to drown the world, wash it clean of humanity, as he puts it. Khalid has the helmet and powers of Fate, and the backing of another Egyptian god, Bastet, but he still isn’t sure exactly what he’s doing, and Anubis finds his resistance laughable. Back home, Khalid is trying to keep up with homework, and his parents are at last back together again at home, but for how long before they too are swept away by the floods of Anubis? Great work from writer Paul Levitz and artist Sonny Liew.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: UNFOLLOW #1

Image © Robert Williams & Michael Dowling

If you’re old like me you might remember a TV show called “The Millionaire.” Each week the title character would anonymously give away a million dollars to a complete stranger, and the show would follow that person to see what happened next. It usually didn’t go well for the recipient. This new title is similar, except that a dying multi-billionaire is giving many milllions to each of 140 people. They find out about it through a news broadcast and a 140 app that appears suddenly on their phone.

From the start, we see that the 140 process is in the hands of a dangerous man, and as we meet a few of the recipients, and learn about their lives, writer Robert Williams has made each of them quite interesting and fun to read about, from David — living a small-time criminal life in St. Louis — to Courtney, sky-diving over Manhattan while blogging about it, and more. The story is only just beginning, and I’m already hooked. Looking forward to the next issue.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: GREEN LANTERN 45

Image © DC Comics

This issue is largely a long battle between Hal Jordan and Black Hand. That wouldn’t normally interest me much, but there are some interesting angles to this battle. First, Black Hand has become “infected” with the anti-life equation, so everything he touches turns to dead stone. Even, it now seems, the green power ring constructs of Hal. It’s not instant in that case, but Hal has to be very careful not to let Hand’s power touch him. Kind of like trying to combat the legendary King Midas when everything he touches turns to gold. Also, William Hand’s madness leads to some fairly entertaining dialogue between the two of them. I can’t say I loved this story, but it did keep me entertained.

Recommended.

Rereading: THREE BY HEINLEIN

This is one of the books I ordered when I joined the Science Fiction Book Club around 1965, and I haven’t read it for at least 30 years, maybe more. It contains a novel, “The Puppet Masters,” and two shorter works, probably of novella length, that have long been published together. The three works do not go together thematically in any way, and even Heinlein thought it was an odd combination, but when this book first saw print in 1951, getting any science fiction into hardcovers by a major publisher (Doubleday) was still a rare event, and welcomed by the author and fans alike.

“The Puppet Masters” is Heinlein in top form telling a suspenseful and chilling alien invasion story. It was written in 1950, when reports of flying saucers were spiking in the news, and the cold war was getting underway. Both inform this book, in which the alien invaders are slug-like creatures who take over human minds, riding the neck and spinal column of their victims, and operating people like we might drive a car. The victim is aware of some things, but cut off from all self-control and emotion. From the time the first invader ship lands in middle America to the final battle for control of North America, Heinlein paints a convincing portrait of the invaders and the special forces crew trying to stop them. Sam and Mary are the young operatives, their boss, The Old Man, is in charge, and has the President’s ear, but even once they understand the threat, the invaders make it very difficult for anyone to believe it, as they keep up outward appearances wherever they take over. This would have made a great 1950s film with the same kind of impact as “Invaders From Mars,” and it almost happened, but was spoiled by an American International rip-off of the idea called “The Brain Eaters.”

“Waldo” has the distinction of having a Heinlein idea in it that became a word in the dictionary. The main character is a brilliant inventor with a disease that makes him almost immobile and helpless on Earth. In space, though, he can get along okay with the help of mechanical extensions of his hands and arms that mimic his weak movements with power and strength, over a wide range of sizes. The story was written in 1941, and by 1945 had been realized for work on radioactive materials from a distance. Remote manipulators are still widely used today, though the name “waldo” seems to be fading. The other part of the story involves some very unlikely theories about how things work that borders more on magic than science, an unlikely story concept for Heinlein, and the story gets harder to believe as you read it, even as you root for Waldo himself to overcome his disability.

“Magic, Inc.” on the other hand, written in the late 1930s, takes ideas for magic, magicians and demons that have appeared in fantasies for centuries, and imagines a system of using them in everyday life in a sort of alternate world where magic is used for everything and everything, and magicians are well-paid and respected members of every small town and community. In one small town, though, the building business of the protagonist, Archie, is being squeezed by a thug who wants Archie to only use HIS spells and magicians. If Archie doesn’t comply, their magic will ruin his business. It’s a protection racket, and it’s happening all over town. Archie is not going to agree or sit still for it, and is soon gathering friends and allies to fight the racket. Before long they’ve discovered the gang has powerful allies, even in Hell, and a dangerous trip there will be necessary to get to the bottom of things. This fun story is really a gangster crime one with clever magic taking the place of guns and muscles, and it holds up well on rereading today.

Recommended

Thanks!

Just a quick post to thank everyone who ordered my prints in the Holiday Sale. It was the most successful one yet, largely due to Neil Gaiman sharing it on Facebook and Twitter. I’ve filled about 140 orders since Monday, and I’m exhausted, but very grateful. I should be getting back to the usual blog posts next week.

It’s a Print…it’s a Game…it’s GO FREELANCE!

Perhaps the most fun I’ve had making prints to sell was this one with charming and hilarious big-head art by Shawn McManus. I got to skewer the comics industry in many subtle ways, and yet it still works as a game, too, if a very hard one to win. One of the prints on sale through Friday on my WEBSITE, act soon if you want up to 50% off!

Incoming: THE SANDMAN GALLERY EDITION

Images © DC Comics

Just when I thought I had every possible version of Sandman, this monster arrived. It’s a stunning collection of SANDMAN original art from Graphitti Designs and Vertigo, about 13 by 20 inches and over 270 pages on thick, archival paper. Leo the cat for scale.

Inside are beautiful and revealing images of the original art for SANDMAN #1 by Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg, or at least as many pages as could be found (missing pages are filled in with large images of the black line art from printer film I think), about 65 pages of original art from a range of issues throughout the rest of the series, mostly one or a few per artist and story, a complete DEATH short story by Jeff Jones, then the complete art from THE DREAM HUNTERS, as adapted by P. Craig Russell (about half the book) and a gallery of pinups and commissions.

It really is odd for me to look at these pages of art that I worked on, mostly without any thought of posterity but simply doing my job of lettering. Here’s a small marginal note from me on a page from issue 25, I think the first Dead Boy Detectives story, where I offered some alternate Latin words that weren’t used. You can see so much of the process in many of these pages that goes unseen in the final printed books. Some pages, as on SANDMAN #1 are full of notes, corrections, things pasted on, all manner of information you can’t see elsewhere. At the other end of the spectrum are P. Craig Russells immaculate inked pages with his pencilled lettering and notes, pristine and lovely as if delivered from the gods. He was so great to work with, even if he didn’t like the fact that I lettered DREAM HUNTERS digitally instead of on the art. A little of that has been used in the Sandman balloons.

This is a cool book. I don’t know where I will put it, but very, very cool.