Have you been to your local comic book shop this week? I have! And here's what I bought:
Amazing Spider-Man 561: It's the Spider-Man/Mary Jane reunion we've all been waiting for -- only neither of them knows it! I really like the way Slott set this up and executed it. I also really liked Paper Doll, the villain of this arc. I hope she remains part of the Spider-Man rogue's gallery.
American Dream 2 & 3: Once again, I managed to miss an issue of a comic I wanted to read. So the good news is I got to read two issues at once. American Dream is the Captaian America analogue in the Spider-Girl universe. These issues give us a flashback to her origins -- she was trained by Hawkeye -- but the real action is in the present (or is that the future?), where American Dream fights a bunch of crystaline monsters. These DeFalco MC2 books are just lots of fun.
The War that Time Forgot 1 & 2: This one doesn't count as a comic I missed, since I didn't know it even existed. The old War that Time Forgot comics featured an endless parade of World War II GIs who happen on an island in the Pacific Theater populated by dinosaurs. Bruce Jones has revamped the concept a little -- instead of being set in World War II, the island is populated by warriors from across time, including some familiar faces from the DC catalog. If you ever wanted to see Enemy Ace, Tomahawk, and the Viking Prince fighting dinosaurs, buy this book. If you don't want to see Enemy Ace, Tomahawk, and the Viking Prince fighting dinosaurs, seek professional help because there's something seriously wrong with you.
Trinity 1: It's DC's latest weekly comic. This one focuses on Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. I know they've historically been the biggest characters in the real world, but it seems like the elevation of the three of them within the DC Universe is kind of a new thing. Or maybe they've just taken it to a new level in the past few years. Anyway, there's a lot of setup here. Then we get the setup again from the villains' point of view. I'll give this a few weeks to grab me -- I usually like Busiek and I usually like Nicieza, so I'm hoping I'll like this. But this wasn't the strongest debut the series could have had.
Avengers/Invaders 2: A whole lot of fight scene, that ends with the Invaders getting captured. Which in turn sets us up for Bucky's daring escape. Meanwhile, this book featured the Republican Avengers (the ones who support Superhero Registration), but the Democratic Avengers (the oens who don't like Superhero Registration) show up on the last page. This looks like it will turn into Avengers/Invaders/Avengers.
Tor 2: Kubert says "Don't ask -- just buy it." OK, he doesn't really say that, but you should still buy it. Tor is Kubert's classic tale of a savage living at the dawn of man. More than fifty years after he created the character, it's great that Kubert is still turning out new Tor stories.
Jonah Hex 32: Speaking of Joe Kubert, I never noticed it before, but Jordi Bernet's art really does have a heavy Kubert influence. The story, as usual, is a nice glimpse into the murky moral issues that surround Hex.
Nova 14: Nova vs. Galactus and the Silver Surfer. It's always nice to see characters who don't think with their fists. Hard to believe that this is the same Abnett and Lanning who wrote those Legion Lost comics I hated so much.
FX 4: Writer Wayne Osborne continues to throw tons of cool concepts into his book without stopping for a breath. This time, it's a new villain (Svengali) and a new superhero team (the classical element-themed Foundation). All pencilled by John Byrne, doing some of his best work ever. I'm really enjoying this book way more than I should. Who would have expected a vanity project to turn out to be professional caliber? But it is.
Detective Comics 845: If I told you that roughly a third of this issue is taken up by transcripts of a chat room in which Batman, the Riddler, Detective Chimp, and Oracle trade tips on solving mysteries, would you believe me? Honest to God, it's true. The mystery at the core of the book is a good one, but really -- do we need to spend that much time reading about Batman telling Oracle that he's LOLing and he'll BRB?
Buffy 15: The conclusion of the Wolves at the Gate arc, and it's a great conclusion. Is it wrong that I'm as excited by the giant Mecha-Dawn as Andrew was? I probably should have kept that to myself.
Posted by Jason Fliegel at June 9, 2008 11:49 PM
I'm intrigued by The War That Time Forgot being a fan of the great Kanigher crack that was the original, but Bruce Jones's work has never really impressed me to the point where I feel it worth a monthly buy. I'll probably check out the trade when it surfaces. Ditto with Avengers/Invaders.
Me, I'm still waiting for JSA/Invaders written by Roy Thomas and Kurt Busiek and drawn by George Perez and Jerry Ordway.
Strictly speaking, only Spider-Man is unaware of the reunion.
Yes, you could really see the Kubert influence in Bernet's Torpedo 1936.
Matt Wagner did Trinity in 2003. The three of them were pretty clearly a trinity in Kingdom Come ('96?) as well.
1: I've read the stray Bruce Jones Hulk here and there, and I checked out the first issue of his Warlord revival (it was terrible, although artist Bart Sears shares some of the blame for that), so I don't really have a good Bruce Jones baseline to compare this to. But it's a fun book that -- so far, anyway -- feels very Bronze Age-ish.
As for Avengers/Invaders, I'd love to see a Busiek/Thomas take on this book -- especially if they were using the "real" Avengers instead of the post-Bendis team(s). That said, there's something about these Ross/Krueger collaborations that I really dig.
2: Absolutely correct. What I meant to say (and lost in the editing) is that Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson have a reunion without either of them knowing it.
And now I bet you're all shocked to find that I actually edit these things.
3: I looked up Torpedo 1936 on wikipedia and my first thought when I saw the illustration they used was "now that I think about it, Bernet is actually Kubert crossed with Toth." Then I read the entry and saw that Torpedo 1936 was created by Toth and Bernet took over the art in part because his style worked well with the story.
4: Good point about Kingdom Come, so it goes back at least that far. I don't know. It seems like Green Lantern should be more of a big deal than Batman within the context of the DC Universe. Of course, Green Lantern doesn't sell as many T-shirts and toys here on Earth Prime, so I understand why it is the way it is.
Does anyone know who the fifth person in the detective chat sequence was? Batman, DC and the Riddler were there, Oracle was there (slightly more subtly), but (and I don't have the issue in front of me, so hopefully I'm not misremembering) there was another guy there. Should we have known who that was too?
Jonathan, it was someone from the Gotham City police -- we can see a sign reading GCPD behind him in one panel -- but I don't know enough about those characters to say who it was, other than that it wasn't Commissioner Gordon. I thought I could also rule out Harvey Bullock, but then I went looking for picture of him on the web and it looks like they had him lose weight. So now I'm thinking maybe it is Harvey Bullock.
On the other hand, this wiki suggests that it was just a generic Gotham police officer (and that the woman wasn't Oracle, but just a ageneric criminology student). Knowing how wikis are, I'd be inclined to believe that.
The more I think about Trinity #1...the more i dislike it.
The setup with Clark, Bruce, and Diana meeting up: "Hey buddy!" Really? Buddy?
And wouldn't someone wonder why World Famous Playboy Bruce Wayne is meeting with Nationally Famous reporter Clark Kent and someone who some not to difficult checks would likely turn up as a government agent? Why did they just not meet in costume?
Further, WW's comments about their Secret Id's shows' no relation to how the characters have been portrayed.
She's there as "Diana Prince"--a non powered secret agent who's id was created by Batman and few even know about. How is that less of a production of the other two? Clark Kent is (unless it's been retconned to non-existence) who he is and who he was born as. Superman is the costume he wears when saving lives, like a police uniform. Bruce Wayne is also who he was born as (but a costume for his "true id" that is Batman).
And I really despise the in-story "Superman, Batman, & Wonder Woman are the superrest greatest there is!" trinity worship.
Sorry for the late followup on this: Scavenger, you don't go nearly far enough. Midway through their "secret" public meeting, random semi-celebrity Kent, random semi-celebrity Wayne, and totally unknown but incredibly hot person Prince are joined by a superhero with a publically known identity.
Buh-bye, all of the others' secret identities.
Kevin, while I wasn't reading the Flash at the time, I believe public knowledge of Wally's identity has been erased from people's minds by some magic thing or other. (Thus his protection of such in the current series--the kids aren't supposed to call him dad in costume, etc. etc.)
And even if Wally's identity were known, why would that blow the ID's of the others? He could have lots of reasons to talk to the three of them; I don't see why anyone would leap to the conclusion that they were Justice Leaguers.
Clark Kent, reporter with a close relationship to Superman; Bruce Wayne, socialite star of Gotham City; Diana Prince, secret agent tasked with hunting Wonder Woman--and the Flash *just happens* to stop by their random, in-the-middle-of-nowhere meeting? Sure, it won't *blow* their secret IDs, but it's a huge and stupid risk to them.
I hadn't realized that Wally's public ID had been magicked away, but then, I haven't read The Flash in well over a decade; I should have realized some writer would have hit the reset button on that by now.