Fast Thoughts - The Week of 6/6/07

My apologies for the lateness. A Wednesday morning visit from my mother and my recent adventures playing at being a college professor delayed my comic shop visit to this morning.



BIRDS OF PREY #107 - They didn't kill Ice?

THEY DIDN'T KILL ICE!

*squee*

Somebody please tell me there's a reunion with Guy Gardner planned soon. Please?


COUNTDOWN #47 - You know, I'm not feeling it like I did on 52. And I don't know why.

Sure, 52 had a lot of plotlines I didn't really care about but at least I felt there was some kind of unifying event between everything. Here, everything is random. And most of what is happening doesn't seem to have any relation to any books that have come before or since.

Case in point: Not two months ago, they made a real big deal in 52 and World War III that Black Adam had the magic word that triggered his powers changed. Now, according to this issue, that wasn't true and Black Adam's angsting seems even more nonsensical. If he's had access to his powers all this time, why not continue the rampage he started?

At this point, I'm only reading it for the scenes with Trickster. I don't much care about Mary Marvel gothing it up. I don't care about Jimmy Olsen getting superpowers. I don't care to see the lost DVD extra scenes from Meltzer's Justice League. And I REALLY don't care to see Jason Todd turned into a sympathetic character.


DETECTIVE COMICS #833 - Ah. The one Paul Dini book that I know for sure is ALL him and have yet to find disappointing. This one is a Dini special. Zatanna guest stars and while Dini does personal fan service with a flashback that shows Bruce and Zatanna meeting as children even before Bruce sought her father out to teach him the escape artist craft, he doesn't neglect the recent history between the two characters that he didn't write. Identity Crisis and how Zatanna used her powers to erase Bruce's mind are referenced, adding a higher level of tension to this than your typical Dini story. But it works.

Please do not reveal the surprise guest villian.


JACK OF FABLES #11 - The best anti-hero book in the last ten years, bar none. You know you love it.


SUPERGIRL #18 - You know, I'm really going to miss Joe Kelly writing this title.

Yes, I know I shouldn't feel that way with Tony Bedard's comments this past week about his own plans for the book and the promise of less angst, more clothes and a comic that can be given to young girls without fear.

But in this issue, Joe Kelly gives a subtextual rebuttal to everyone who has criticized his efforts to create a more realistic, modern Kara Zor-El. And the story works both on this level and on the written level of the modern Supergirl fighting an idealized version of herself (seemingly modeled on the Supergirl of the 60s), telling her how utterly worthless she is as a hero.

The key moment of this issue as a tableau of real-life girls in tough situations. One girl cries herself to sleep for an unknown reason. Another tries to ignore her parents fighting as she eats her cereal. A third girl, over-weight and dumpy, walks home alone. The Perfect, Silver-Age Supergirl says girls like that need someone "just like Superman" to look up to and aspire to imitate. The perfect Supergirl then asks if girls like that... girls with real problems... really want to see a heroine who has the same problems they do.

Well, my answer to that - as a librarian who works with a majority of teenage girls with his Teen Library Club - is a resounding YES! Yes, they do want a hero who has to deal with the same issues they do. Not a picture-perfect Barbie doll who never makes mistakes.

Comments? You know how to reach me.

Looking To The Stars: The Week In Reviews For 03/26/07

Birds of Prey #104
Company Name: DC Comics
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Nicola Scott & Doug Hazlewood

I had high hopes for this one from the start simply because of the base concept of the next story arc. Birds of Prey - the team book that Gail Simone saved from cancellation and made into something all her own. Secret Six - a long forgotten team name that Simone took and turned into something very amusing. Pour into bowl. Add plot regarding the recovery of a stolen Rocket Red suit of armor. Measure. Mix. Bake. Watch hilarity ensue.

Yes, we were all expecting this issue to be funny. We were all expecting it to be good. But I do not think a single person was expecting what happened on the last page of this issue when the armor got opened up.





Now for those of you not up to speed, Ice is a heroine from the Justice League International days, back when it was more of a comedy book than an action/drama. Something of an anomaly among superheroines, she didn’t have a big defining tragedy, a checkered past or some big traumatic event that shaped her into a heroine. She was just a very modest (in every since of the word – she wore a tank-top over her spandex bodysuit!), very sweet and very compassionate woman who just happened to have powers. She was so sweet and innocent she made Guy Gardner mushy. Yes, THAT Guy Gardner!

Ice was killed off in a fashion that everyone – even the man who write the story – thinks was a mistake. Despite this and her continued popularity nearly two decades after her death, nobody has ever bothered to bring her back. Until now. The funny thing I distinctly remember Gail Simone saying she was dying to bring Ice back but was just waiting for the right moment. I hope that this is indeed that moment.

So please, please don’t let this be a fake-out. Do not kill her off again at the end of this arc. Do not let this be a clone or an illusion or something equally trite. Because the comic world needs a little more sweetness and innocence in it. And because I wanna see Guy Gardner’s reaction to the news that Ice is alive again. Preferably with Simone writing it.

Grade: A



Brave and the Bold #2
Company Name: DC Comics
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: George Perez

I was concerned that my opinions upon the sheer awesomeness of this book – for how can anything with Waid’s writing and Perez’s artwork NOT be the sure epitome of raw awesomeness – might have been colored by the first issue starring my two favorite boyhood superheroes; Batman and Green Lantern Such worries have proven unfounded based on the second issue which, if anything is better than the first and an indicator of further good times to come.

What can I possibly say about a story that comes up with a good, logical and completely in-character reason for Supergirl to don a pink baby-doll dress before entering a life-and-death gladiatorial arena struggle? It is silly. It is jaw-dropping. And it is one of the funniest moments in any comic in recent memory simply because of how it parodies the host of equally ludicrous but no-less exploitive moments in other media. And it works because it is played totally straight.

I also appreciate the sly little asides that Waid puts into the book for long-time DC fans that add a little something without distracting from the story or scaring off newer fans. Case in point; last issue had Bruce Wayne’s dry comment on Hal Jordan’s blackjack winnings – “I wish Barry could have lived to see you with money” - referring to a running gag in Waid’s original Flash/Green Lantern: The Brave and the Bold mini-series, where Hal was always bumming money off his more reliable best friend, Barry Allen.

This issue contains a similar ironic note, with a flirtatious Supergirl attempting to clumsily seduce Hal Jordan – as only a teenage girl with good looks but little experience can - and Hal’s repeated mental notes that Kara is only 17. This is funny in and of itself but is also a laugh riot for those of us who remember Hal’s exploits with fellow Green Lantern Arisa - an alien girl with a crush on Hal, who used her ring to age herself because she knew he saw her as a girl even though she was of legal age on her home world and older than Hal!

Now there’s an idea for a team-up story - Hal is forced to answer a paternity suit on another world because after years of beating off all the gorgeous blonde alien teenage girls, the odds will finally catch up with him. And he hires Kate Spencer (Manhunter) as his attorney. It’ll sell a mint, I tell ya! A Mint!

Grade: A



Conan #38
Company Name: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Timothy Truman
Artists: Cary Nord & Richard Isanove

A great improvement over last month’s issue – a well-meant but pointless attempt to put a Robert Howard boxing story into the world of Hyboria with a t-shirt clad sailor – this issue is slowly setting the seeds for an adaptation of one of Howard’s best Conan tales - Rogues In The House.

What is truly impressive about this issue is how Truman has built upon the scant details that were given at the start of Rogues and has been slowly expanding upon them in his own work, developing characters who are mentioned in passing and giving us a point of reference so that we know and care about them as much as Conan himself. And I like the nice touch that has allowed the temptress Jiara to have betrayed Conan without actively having betrayed him, thus earning the much-anticipated non-lethal revenge that is coming to her.

Confused? Well, at the risk of spoiling what I’m sure will be an amazing comic, I suggest you all read the tale for yourselves.

Grade: A



Supergirl #15
Company Name: DC Comics
Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: Ian Churchill and Norm Rapmund

Stalkers and abusive boyfriends are not often used as villains in mainstream comics with female leads. On reflection, I believe there are two reasons for this.

First, your average comic book heroine is too tough to be dramatically threatened by an overly-aggressive male. Indeed, this subject is often played for laughs on the rare occasions when it is brought up. One good example of this is JSA #39, in which Power Girl has to fight off the advances of “Da Bomb” - a would-be suitor with explosive superpowers. For anyone else, a big burly biker who won’t take no for an answer would be a source of worry but for Power Girl, Da Bomb is only slightly more of an annoyance than a broken heel.

Secondly, these are very serious issues and not dealt with as lightly as other social issues might be in what is, for the most part, a form or popular entertainment. A comic that says “drugs are bad” or “child slavery is bad” can be easily polished off in one issue to make a Very Important Statement. But abusive relationships, by their very nature, require a longer set-up in a story and a greater commitment than many editors are willing to give and few writers are willing to tackle.

This is why, for the most part, serious discussion of these issues is limited to background characters and nameless victims who are rescued by the hero. This strikes me as a crying shame given that most recent studies show that a substantial number of women have an abusive relationship in their teens and twenties. And that is why I am very glad that Joe Kelly has told this story. And more, I am amazed that it is as good as it is.

By all reason, this story shouldn’t work. Supergirl is the last teenage girl in the world who should ever have to worry about a man hitting her. And yet, by making her boyfriend an Apokoliptian refuge, what should never be an issue suddenly is. And it makes perfect sense. Who else but a boy born of a world of pure evil and raised by Granny Goodness – the original proponent of tough love child-rearing – could possibly build up an obsession with Supergirl and be able to seriously hold a “I’ll hit you until you love me again” attitude AND seriously pose a threat to Kara Zor-El?

But the truly amazing part of this issue is not that Kelly created this device and made it work. It is that for all of the trappings it possesses as a “Very Special Issue”, it does not read nor feel like an after-school special. Even when Kara shouts in a splash-page that you don’t hit people you love, it does not feel the least bit cheesy or over the top. There is a message but it doesn’t feel like there is a message. Indeed, I believe this is the best such story Kelly has written since the now legendary “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice And The American Way”?

Grade: A

Looking To The Stars - All American Supergirl

I had something of a revelation this week at the comic shop while I was reading the new Supergirl. You see, last month I was told to read the book and I didn’t regret it, though I usually find Joe Kelly’s writing to be hit or miss. But this time – now that he is not tiding up Greg Rucka’s abandoned storylines – it seems that he is hitting the kind of notes he once played back in the days of Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow.

I say this because for the first time since her return, Kara Zor-El seemed to be a real teenage girl. I thought about why this should be so after reading Supergirl #10 and why so many of the professed fans of Supergirl whom I know can’t stand the way that Kara Zor-El is portrayed these days. And no, it has nothing to do with the anorexic way she is often drawn nor the belly-baring costume. Lest we forget, we’ve had a belly-baring Supergirl for a goodly while now – just not in the classic blue costume.

These friends of mine don’t like the idea of a Supergirl who tries smoking, hangs out with Captain Boomerang or who is actively trying to get away from her cousin’s shadow. But all of them agree with me that since her return in the pages of Superman/Batman, Kara Zor-El did not seem like a real teenage girl.

I reread the story that reintroduced Kara into the modern DC Comics Universe this past week and I had a further revelation – that the character of Supergirl has, in an odd way, always been a reflection of the zeitgeist (or spirit of the times) for young women in the United States of America.

Unfortunately for me, my research into the history of Supergirl found that someone had already written a rather good article on this point– Supergirl as the ideal All-American Girl – that repeated most of what I thought were brand new, original ideas. I highly recommend you all read this article by Mike Madrid [EDIT NOTE: Apparently Mike turned his articles about Supergirl into a book. You can read this chapter on-line here.] as it is one of the more thought provoking pieces regarding the character of Supergirl and how female characters are viewed I have ever seen.

Regardless, this had little effect on my original idea of Supergirl’s becoming more “real” as a female character. And having reread Jeph Loeb’s original story, I now see what the problem is.

Now, don’t misunderstand me- I like Jeph Loeb’s writing quite well and think he’s a very talented man. But I do believe that he is better at writing Icons than he is People. That is to say, he can write the larger than life colorful characters quite well but that he is somewhat less skilled in handling more common and realistic characters. To put it another way, he writes in metaphors quite well but isn’t much for plain speech.

This is all very well and good when dealing with iconic figures such as Superman and Batman... but not so good when you are introducing what is essentially a brand new character with a new personality. And here we have the problem. Kara, as written by Loeb, was not so much a teenage girl as she was a metaphor for ALL teenage girls.

Here’s the basic back-story. Kara arrives on Earth in a rocket launched from Krypton. She is found by Batman and Superman, who is astonished to find that the girl in this Kryptonian rocket is his cousin. After that, he locks her up inside the Fortress of Solitude and doesn’t let her out for an extended period while he himself is forced into hiding due to the Kryptonite raining down on the Earth at this time. Even when Batman chides him into letting her out, Clark is severely over-protective and doesn’t let this 16 year old girl out of his sight for a moment.

An overreaction? Without a doubt. And yet, this goes beyond Clark’s need to protect people in general or his worries about her adjusting to her new strength on Earth. It even goes beyond his selfish wanting to keep her around so he can learn more of Krypton from one who was old enough to (amnesia aside) remember it. Quite simply, Clark has fallen into the traditional father role – wanting to protect Kara from the world regardless of how mature she is and how ridiculously well protected she is from the physical dangers of Earth. He even goes so far as to literally lock her away from the world in an effort to protect her.

Wonder Woman learns of this and insists that being locked up anywhere is no place for a young girl who is, eventually, going to have to learn how to live in the world. Diana takes Kara to Themyscira – the Amazon homeland – and starts putting her through a boot camp of sorts over Superman’s objections. All part of Diana’s efforts to prepare Kara for what will, presumably, be a life of superheroism.

The problem here is that despite Diana’s good intentions in trying to prepare Kara for “the real world”, Amazon warrior training is not doing much in that regard. Oh, Kara has learned how to fight and how to control her powers much better. But Themyscira is not, for most people, the real world. Diana has forgotten that despite her power, Kara is still a young woman. More intelligent and wiser than her years, perhaps, but she still has a lot of growing up to do.

What is more, Diana has fallen into the same trap that her mother, Hippolyta, did years before. Hippolyta tried to guide Diana’s destiny and decide what was best for her – forbidding her to compete in the contests to become an ambassador to Man’s World because she thought Diana’s place was to be her successor and watch over the Amazon homeland. But Diana wanted more than that and knew she was destined for something other than what her mother saw for her. So it is with Diana and her own blindness as to the difference between what Kara needs and what Diana THINKS Kara needs.

In essence, Diana has become a foster mother to Kara. Like most mothers with regards to their daughters, they are a little more realistic about what to expect – at least, more so than fathers. Despite this, mothers are often quite clueless about how things have changed from when they were young. And despite Diana being the only child to be born and raised on Themyscria she seems surprisingly dense in regards to Kara’s similar status as an outsider. Wonder Woman confuses education with empowerment and leaves Kara with little of what she really needs – support. Small wonder then that the closest friend Kara seems to have among the women on Paradise Island in this opening story arc is the heroine Harbringer – who is not an Amazon and also separated from the Amazons who have never left the island by her power.

So here we have this girl – ripped from everything she ever knew and granted the powers of a god. She doesn’t remember much about her homeland and she’s as much of an outsider as you can be in her new one. Her closest relation has basically imprisoned her as part of his misguided efforts “to protect her” because he doesn’t trust her to be able to take care of herself. And then, when she finally does escape the prison she was in, she finds herself on what is an island paradise but is essentially just another prison. And yes, there are other women here she can talk to but they all see her as an outsider because of her age and her alien nature.

Taking all of this into account – an controlling father figure trying to keep her innocent, an oppressive mother figure pushing her towards adulthood and the general atmosphere of feeling imprisoned, mistrusted and like a perpetual outside and freak... Sweet Lord Almighty, is there any better description of the feelings of your average American teenage girl?

And I’m not even going to touch the fact that Kara’s first exposure to Earth culture is an island full of mostly gorgeous, mostly young, all-thin, physically perfect, scantily-clad women and the obvious comparisons to women’s portrayal in American Pop Culture. Too easy.

What isn’t immediately obvious is that until recently, Kara has been a blank slate with no real personality outside of being a metaphor for teenage girls in general. Her stories by Loeb were not so much about Kara as they were the reactions of other, more-developed characters to Kara. Much was said about Superman’s feelings about this cousin and wanting to protect her. Much was said about Batman’s suspicions regarding this long lost relative suddenly showing up. But even in the first few issues of her own book, Kara seems to be more of a reactive character – with the first few issues showing how The JSA, The Outsiders, The Teen Titans reacted to this new Supergirl – but very little was done to show how Kara was feeling about everything apart from her not feeling like she belonged anywhere and still felt mistrusted by everyone.

This is why Kelly’s run, even after only two issues, has been such a breath of fresh air. Yes, the idea of Kara being an outcast who feels (forgive the unintentional pun) alienated from everyone around her is still a strong theme but at least now she is doing something about the problem and trying to make a life for herself and friends outside of her being a superhero.

Speaking of friends, Good on Kelly for doing something Loeb neglected – setting up a friendship between Kara and Cassie “Wonder Girl” Sandsmark. Given the connection that both girls had as having Amazon-training while not actually being born and bred Amazons, it is amazing that the two never had a peaceful on-panel meeting until Supergirl #9 where Kelly showed the two morning the loss of Themyscria during Infinite Crisis together. Ditto Captain Boomerang.

Yes, I know. He’s a reformed (somewhat) villain in his early 20’s who is trying to make good and become a hero. And yet, who better for Supergirl to befriend out of all the new generation of heroes? Yes, he has a bad streak and no doubt part of Kara is attracted to the bad boy element and the fact that Clark would probably flip if he knew. But it goes deeper than that. For all his personality problems, Owen Mercer isn’t a judgmental person which is probably a welcome change for Kara given all the expectations everyone has of her based on her costume and her legacy. And who knows better about being mistrusted by other superheroes than a villain who is trying to reform?

Issue #10 was a perfect continuation of this theme and these relationships, with Kara trying to adopt a secret identity and become a “normal” girl for a time because of her need to try and fit in somewhere. And for a time, she does find a cliché that she can fit in with. But Owen and Cassie both warn her that what she’s experiencing isn’t typical and indeed Kara starts to remember her youth on Krypton and being taunted because of her family name (presumably Jor-El was the Al Gore of Krypton only even less respected) and this leads her to try and reach out to an overweight, unpopular girl.

Sadly, all Kara gets for her trouble is the experience of finding out that her friends aren’t really her friends and that the girl she tried to help would forget everything in order for a chance at revenge. – Kara having been blamed for a prank that completely humiliated the overweight girl. With nary a word, Kara removes her disguise and walks out of the school in costume, declaring that she’s decided she’s better off being herself than trying to fit in by being someone she’s not.

This is all metaphorical as well, of course. But for the first time, Kara shows signs of being concerned with acceptance on a normal level – not just as a superhero wanting the respect of her peers. And what is more she tries to be a better person and to make a difference on a level that doesn’t involve beating up Lex Luthor or pulling girls out of the way of oncoming cars. In short, she tries to be a good person and seems like an ordinary girl without doing anything super.

And that, to my mind at least, is everything Supergirl should be. Belly-bearing outfit or no.

Tune in next week. Same Matt time. Same Matt website.

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Looking To The Stars: A Rant On Green Lanterns

Green Lantern has always held a special place in my heart. When I was a kid and watched Superfriends, he quickly became my favorite hero. In the first place he had brown curly hair, just like me. Silly, I know. But for a five-year-old boy that was an identifying factor and a stand-out feature in a world where most of the superheroes were black haired and blue eyed.

In the second place, his powers appealed to me; to be able to do anything I could think of. Who wouldn’t want that? Even if I couldn’t effect yellow.

That was a third point. Green was a color I liked. I hated yellow.

And then there was the fact that whenever Superman got in trouble, it was usually Green Lantern who saved him. Now being the guy who saves Superman…. that’s just super ultra cool!

I didn’t read many comics as a kid, but at some point I learned there was more than one Green Lantern. In fact, there were a whole LOT of Green Lanterns; all of them aliens from other planets. And that was even cooler to me. Because that meant that any one…. any thing, could be a superhero!

I didn’t actually get into comics until my first year of college. I had a job in a bookstore and was unpacking magazines one day. There were comics mixed in with the magazines and one of them was an issue of Green Lantern. I was amazed by the cover, as it showed a strange man in a strange costume with black hair. This was not the Green Lantern… what was his name again, Hal something… that I grew up with!

Intrigued I opened the book up and learned of Kyle Rayner; the latest man of Earth to bare a Green Lantern ring. But I found no explanation in that issue of what had happened to Hal Jordan. One trip to the local comic shop later and I was hooked, picking up Green Lantern every month since then.

At first, I was a bit apprehensive when I learned of what had happened to my favorite boyhood hero. Still, I came to appreciate the merits of Kyle Rayner. Later, I began to enjoy them. See, at the time I was in much the same place as Kyle. I was just starting college, a new job and was slowly and clumsily trying to find my place in what was a whole new world. Like Kyle, I’m artistic and creative, though my art is words and drawing or painting. Kyle also had a sense of humor which similarly matched my own: self-depreciating and sarcastic.

In short, it was Hal Jordan who got me into superheroes. But it was Kyle Rayner who got me into comics. As such, it was with a great deal of disturbance that I read this week’s most recent news.

The basic upshot of the news is that Green Lantern is being canceled. Ron Marz (the creator of Kyle Rayner) is writing one final six-part story arc to close the book out and has said that this story is his final word on Kyle Rayner. Geoff Johns (writer of JSA, Hawkman, Teen Titans and The Flash) has announced that after that, he is doing a five-issue mini-series which will end with Hal Jordan coming back from the dead with a Power Ring.

This news has been hailed by members of HEAT (Hal’s Emerald Attack Team- an organization dedicated to getting Hal Jordan back into the comics as Green Lantern) and by die-hard fans of artist Alex Ross (a notorious Kyle Rayner hater, who swore he would only paint Hal Jordan) as a sign of great news. Conversely, it has also been hailed by devout fans of Kyle Rayner as a big mistake, a step backward and the final straw that will make them drop the book.

Of course this is all assuming a great deal. Just because Hal is coming back that means that Kyle is going to lose his ring or be killed off. Small chance, because if that happens then, by this twisted logic that Kyle must die in order to redeem Hal as “The One True Green Lantern”, then they are going to have to kill off John Stewart, Kilowog and everyone else on Oa who rejoined the Corps under Kyle.

This is all, in my professional opinion as a Green Lantern fan, pretty damn silly.

Ignoring the fact that it is just a comic book and that there are much more constructive things to argue about in this world, there is plenty of room for more than one Green Lantern in DC Comics. They got along fine for many years with a few thousand of them: I don’t think we need to pick and choose which one we have to keep.

Besides, what about the new generation of fans who, thanks to Justice League, think John Stewart is the one true Green Lantern? What about the vocal but sizable minority of fans who want to see Guy Gardner come back into the role of ring barer? What about us lonely few who consider Kilowog the definitive Green Lantern? And what about all the people clamoring for the return of G’nort?!?!

Thanks to the efforts of Judd Winick, Joe Kelly and Ben Raab we now have the planet Oa and the Guardians back. The ability to create new rings and raise a new GL Corps is there. Why then, is it totally unreasonable to think that we can all have our cake and eat it too? The Hal fans can have Hal back un-Specrteized. The Kyle fans can have their Kyle. Heck, we can even get G’nort back if we want. Anything is possible now. And deep down, wasn’t that the whole idea behind Green Lantern in the first place?

So color me optimistic. I’m looking forward to this next year immensely, as a fan of Ron Marz and Geoff Johns. As a fan of Kyle Rayner and of Hal Jordan. As a guy who realizes that Green Lantern isn’t just One. Indeed, it is a symbol of every One.

Tune in next week. Same Matt time. Same Matt website.