Todd Klein's Blog, page 350

And Then I Read: LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES ANNUAL 1

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

I don't usually read annuals these days, but decided to try this one, as it's the first time writer Paul Levitz and artist Keith Giffen have teamed up on a Legion story in quite a while. The focus (no pun intended) is on a new version of the Emerald Empress and her powerful huge green eyeball. The planet Orando, home world of Sensor Girl, is where the emerald power lies, and a woman running from a man she hates, who wants her for his bed, stumbles into it, and is transformed into a powerful new being, as seen above. Knowing nothing of this, Lightning Lass and Shrinking Violet have chosen Orando for what they thought would be a fun vacation. Not so much. The Empress is not only powerful, she's unbalanced mentally, and what she's doing to Orando is not good for anyone living there except her. The Legionnaires try to defy her, but don't get far until more Legion help arrives. A good deal of fighting and explosions occur throughout, but Paul keeps the story rolling along well, too. And there are two fun backup features, a Legion History board game, and an illustrated Interlac alphabet primer.

I imagine Keith Giffen was involved in the plotting of this story, as well as pencilling it. He's going for his Jack Kirby style throughout, in fact maybe a bit too much so: all the women in the story look rather like Big Barda. One thing that really stood out for me was the coloring, especially the vibrant greens that surround the Empress and her powers. Looking closely I realized a spot color had been used throughout the book, something I've never seen done on the inside pages of a comic. On covers occasionally, yes, but never on inside pages. It's an added expense, but in this case I think the results were well worth it, the colors really are stunning all through the story. Colorist credit is "Hi-Fi," don't know who that is exactly, but they've made great use of the spot color as well as the regular ones.

Here's a close look at some of that green, filling the sound effect and used as a color hold on the burst lines. That's all 100% green spot color, not the usual combination of yellow and blue inks, with the blue broken up into small dots to get a bright green. Comics color has come a long way since I was involved in it in the 1980s, and now it's stepping up into even finer levels with tricks like this.

Great looking issue, fun to read, recommended!

And Then I Read (some of): THE SPIRIT 9

Image © Will Eisner Studios, Inc.

I've stopped reading this title because, well, because I don't care for the main feature, but I had to read this backup by Paul Dini and Mike Ploog, and I was not disappointed, it's a gem! If you've ever enjoyed any of Will Eisner's own Christmas Spirit stories, you'll like this one, I think it's just as good as many of them. It shows what the right talent can do with just a few pages, also like Will. The entire art is reproduced from Ploog's pencils, with the only ink apparent in the night sky on this and a few other pages. Some of the pages are scanned too light, giving the art a washed-out look, they should all have taken this one as the standard, but no matter, it's still wonderful in every way.

Highly recommended for this backup, well worth the price of admission!

And Then I Read: BATMAN ODYSSEY 6

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

There's little I can say about the writing of this book that I haven't said about previous issues. At this point, if you're still reading like I am, you've found a way to allow the oddities and excesses go by without thinking about them too much in an effort to extract the story Neal wants to tell. I have to say the presence of The Joker seems to bring out the goofy side of Adams both in the story and in the art, and in places I was reminded of that long ago DC comic, THE ADVENTURES OF JERRY LEWIS, but there are some interesting new ideas if you dig for them, ideas that connect some of the characters in surprising ways. Characters like Deadman, Ra's al Ghul and Man-bat, not to mention Bruce Wayne.

This is quite a goofy Joker, and even the other characters are verging on caricature in places. Adams has always exaggerated reality in ways that work for comics, and this is still that, but perhaps a bit much for a Batman story. Even so, the art continues to be fascinating and well worth a look.

Recommended, especially for Neal Adams fans.

And Then I Read: THE FLASH 8

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

I love a good time travel story, and this is one. In fact, it might be the best time travel story I've ever read in a comic. Eobard Thawne, the Reverse Flash is the focus, in a tale that fills in his background and upbringing, and like the story of Digger Harkness last issue, it's a melancholy story about a person who doesn't fit into his time and place, and tries desperately to create a new life and persona for himself. What makes it a time travel story is that, each time Eobard's chosen path is blocked a figure from his future intervenes to change things, usually in a way that's much the worse for those around him, and even leaving Eobard's life the poorer. I'll say no more, and let you read it for yourself if you're so inclined. This is Geoff Johns at his very best, in my opinion.

The art is once again by Scott Kolins, and I still don't care for it, but the story is so strong I hardly thought about that at all while reading it.

Very highly recommended!

And Then I Read: LEGACIES 8

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

As this series gets closer to the present, the amount of time covered lessens, and I guess that's only fair, since DC's continuity has gotten larger and more complicated over the years as well. This time we see the return of Batman and Superman, and the crisis that befell Hal Jordan, turning him to the entity known as Parallax. The latter was interesting to me, as it happened at a time when I wasn't reading any of the Green Lantern books. Writer Len Wein does a good job with these stories, as well as the more personal story of the family he's been following through the decades, the head of which is a Metropolis policeman.

The art on the main story by Dan Jurgens and Jerry Ordway is fine. Ordway gives everything his own professional polish, so it almost looks like his pencils in many places.

The backup story this time is about Jack Kirby's New Gods, kind of late time-wise, but perhaps DC is intending to push up their introduction in their new continuity from the original 1970 or so to the 1980s. The artist choice is an odd one, Frank Quitely. I like his work a lot in most cases, but his style is about as far from Jack Kirby as you can go in the superhero world, and it doesn't work very well. He probably had fun with it, but replacing Kirby's heavily stylized angles, facets and energetic bursts with Quitely's very soft, rounded and almost pebbly approach is too far off for me.

Despite that, because I enjoyed the main story, the issue is recommended.

Tangled up in paperwork?

Let Tigger and Leo handle it!

No job too short…

…or too long!

And Then I Read: THE BLUE MAN

© Estate of Kin Platt, cover art not credited.

Kin Platt wrote quite a few books for younger readers, and I've only read a few of them. The four I've read are all mysteries featuring a young man named Steve Forrester. For years I thought there were only three, then recently I saw this one listed online, and I had to order it.

Of the four, by far the best is a book titled "Sinbad and Me," and I plan to write about it here soon. I always thought it was the first of the series, and it still is chronologically in Steve's life, but this one is first chronologically in the author's life, having been written first, in 1961. Oddly, Steve in the story is older than in the other books, in his late teens, and old enough to drive up from his home in Long Island to spend the summer working at his uncle's hotel in the woods of Maine.

He's not there long when a very strange customer shows up when only Steve is present to rent him a room. Though heavily bundled in covering clothing, Steve finds out the man's skin is bright blue, and he seems to have an odd effect on electrical systems when near them. Steve decides the man must be an alien, an advance scout for an invasion from Mars (on not very much evidence). He tells his uncle, who confronts the man, and Steve's uncle is struck down by the Blue Man as he makes his escape. More reckless than usual in this book, Steve decides to pursue the man in his hotrod car, a chase that leads him down the interstate highway, where Steve gets into all kinds of trouble, and is only saved from some of it by a girl he meets who seems to want to be part of the adventure. What happens when Steve tracks the Blue Man to his home in New York City makes for an exciting climax to the story.

While not coming close to "Sinbad and Me," this book does have it's moments. It's not a good fit with the others in the series, really, and I think Platt rethought the character for the later books. Another thing very different about this one is, it's very much of the 1950s, from the cars used to the language and themes, and it reminds me a bit of a low-budget science fiction/horror film rather than a typical novel for kids. I kind of like that about it. The copy I have is a paperback reprint from 1971 published by Scholastic Book Services for their in-school book club, so quite a few kids must have read it, I'd guess. I can't help wondering if this version is abridged from the original hardcover, it seems very sparsely developed in places, but unless I ever find that version I'll never know, I guess.

Recommended, if you can find it.

And Then I Read: LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES 8

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

Most of this issue is about a group of Durlan assassins who are attacking folks on Earth they don't like, specifically those they believe brought on the death of R.J. Brande, the founder of the Legion, and in recent continuity, secretly a Durlan himself. Think I've got that right. Thing about Durlans, is, they can take on any shape, and one of any size (how the physics of that works is a mystery best left unplumbed). So, not only are the Legion faced with Durlan assassins they know about, the ones they don't can be even more trouble, and they sure are in this issue. It's a good premise, and with the Legion's best tracker, Dawnstar, in the infirmary, they have their work cut out for them.

Meanwhile, elections for a new team leader are on. I'm not sure how often this happens, it seems to happen a lot more lately than I remember from earlier years, but it's always good to shake things up in a team book, and this is one way to do it. And what can you do when the chosen leader isn't even around to accept or decline?

The art by pencilers Yildiray Cinar and Daniel HDR (is that initials or an actual name?), and inkers Wayne Faucher and Bob Wiacek looks good. In fact, it may be the little touches of extra skill and polish by those long-established pro inkers that gives the art on this one a higher degree of accomplishment than some previous issues.

Recommended.

Dave Stevens, Back Issue 47

Image © Dave Stevens estate and TwoMorrows Publishing, Inc.

If you're at all interested in the life, career and art of Dave Stevens, have a look at this latest BACK ISSUE magazine from TwoMorrows, available now as a digital download at www.twomorrows.com, or very shortly in printed form. It's a long interview with lots of information and pictures I haven't seen elsewhere, and while I only had time to skim through some of it, I hope to get back and read it all soon.

Latest words from Alan Moore

Photo of Alan Moore and Pádraig Ó Méalóid by Brian J. Showers.

From Pádraig Ó Méalóid, an avid Alan Moore fan and friend, comes his latest interview with the man of letters HERE. I enjoyed reading it, and learned a few things!