Monthly Archives: May 2023

So Random! Uncanny X-Men No. 251

31 Wednesday May 2023

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Uncanny X-Men 251
“Fever Dream”
Publisher: Marvel
Published: July 1989
Story: Chris Claremont
Pencils: Marc Silvestri
Inks: Dan Green
Letters: Tom Orzechowski
Colors: Glynis Oliver
Cover: Silvestri and Green

Synopsis

Wolverine is captured by the cyborg Donald Pierce’s Reavers in the Australian Outback, and attached to a cross, hallucinates about his past and possible future.

What’s going on here?

This comic falls in the X-Men’s “Outback Era,” when, following the events of the Fall of the Mutants, they abandoned Xavier’s school in Westchester and went off the grid in Australia. It was an odd period, when Dazzler and Longshot were members, and they traveled via teleportation provided by Gateway, an aboriginal Australian.

This issue, which features an iconic cover by Marc Silvestri and Dan Green, open with Wolverine essentially crucified, and only through confusing flashbacks do we learn that he was captured by the Reavers. The group features the return of a number of Wolverine’s past enemies, including Lady Deathstrike and the Hellfire thugs he ripped apart way back in issue 133 and who have been reassembled into cyborgs. Most of the issue is a series of flashbacks and / or hallucinations as past friends and foes of Wolverine parade past to taunt or console him. The issue ends as he frees himself and joins forces with Jubilee, in one of her earliest appearances.

(Edited to add: Upon reading some other bloggers reviews of this issue, it seems that the appearances of the X-Men, who travel through the Siege Perilous, is not in fact a hallucination but actually happened. As I’ve said, this stuff is confusing as f@ck).


What I liked

This issue features both the best and worst of Chris Claremont’s X-Men writing. On the positive side, he creates a fantastically gripping scenario for his (and most of the readers’) favorite character, and he launches into the story right away. Putting Wolverine in impossible situations and having him (literally) claw his way out is a Claremont specialty and this is a prime example. Silvestri isn’t my favorite X-artist, but he does a great job here. Oliver’s colors are noticeably atmospheric and moody, too.


What I didn’t like

The flip side of Claremont deep immersion into his characters is his relentless plumbing of their psyches, and his unraveling of their reality through mental manipulation, sorcery or in this case, hallucinations. It’s almost always confusing, over-the-top and tedious. It’s such a part of his legendary, 15-year run that it’s hard to imagine his X-Men without all the psychodrama, and yet as a reader it felt like it was the price we had to endure to get to all the cool stuff.

Another Claremont tic that appears in abundance in UXM 251 is his weird dialogue, where characters seem to be acting in a play instead of , you know, talking to each other. Here’s a classic example of Claremont-ese (featuring a pre-Asian-ninja Psylocke, and Havok):


Overall

A good reminder of what I loved, and couldn’t stand, about the late ’80s X-Men.

So Random! Nexus No. 75

24 Wednesday May 2023

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Nexus 75
“Blowout!”
Publisher: First Publishing
Published: Aug. 1990
Story: Mike Baron
Pencils: Hugh Haynes
Inks: Arne Starr
Letters: Clem Robins
Colors: Les Dorscheid
Cover: Steve Rude

Synopsis

Horatio Hellhop, the original Nexus, confronts an erratic successor, Stan, who is powered by the Bad Brains. Sparks fly as they face off in the orbit of Mars.

What’s going on here?

In the 1980s, few comics were as cool as Nexus. At its peak, written by Mike Baron with art by the legendary Steve Rude, it was a science fiction epic, with a sleek vigilante hero who slaughtered his enemies with cool flair. He was an art deco Punisher. By issue 75, however, Nexus was past its prime and on the downside. Rude had left long ago—although he contributed a gorgeous cover—and the book was just five issues away from cancelation. It’s still a solid comic, and the high points remind you of why Nexus was such a fun read, but it feels a bit like a classic band with some new members. It’s not quite the same.

This issue is the fifth of a five-part arc featuring the rise and fall of Staislaus Korivitsky, a replacement Nexus. I have no recollection of any of this, and I may have just read this comic for the first time (by 1990, I was in college and reflexively buying comics without reading them). Despite that, the story isn’t hard to follow, and features some pretty impressive art from Haynes, who had a short career, mostly at Marvel in the early 90s.


What I liked

As mentioned, the art reaches some impressive peaks. The big, double page splashes feel like an early iteration of the wide-screen style later embraced by artists like Bryan Hitch, but the big stakes in the story justify it. And it’s fun to see Nexus and Judah Maccabee, his occasional sidekick, back in action. Oh and that cover [chef’s kiss].


What I didn’t like

Not much. It feels unfair to subtract points for what it isn’t, but unfortunately Nexus hit such great highs a few years prior that even a solid effort like this feels like a let down.

Overall

Not bad, but only really of value to Nexus completionists.

So Random! Spectacular Spider-Man No. 138

22 Monday May 2023

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The Spectacular Spider-Man 138
“Night of the Flag!”
Published Jan. 1988
Story: Gerry Conway
Art: Sal Buscema
Letters: Rick Parker
Colors: Bob Sharen
Cover: Our Pal Sal


Synopsis

Captain America partners with Tarantula to bring Spider-Man to justice after he aided a woman suspected of terrorism in Tarantula’s home nation.


What’s going on here?

This is the second half of a two-part story, and at times Spider-Man feels like a guest star in his own comic. The story focuses on Tarantula, a vicious thug, and his uneasy alliance with Captain America. It’s never said outright, but this is the John Walker version of Cap, an authoritarian happy to do the government’s bidding, which explains why he’s willing to work with Tarantula. Regular readers of Marvel in 1988 probably would have known that automatically, but after 35 years it took me a while to figure it out.

The story and art are by two old pros, Gerry Conway and Sal Buscema, and the issue has a sturdy, predictable feel to it. There’s some heavy-handed editorializing about the plight of immigrants, a sub-plot featuring Robbie Robertson and Tombstone and a page or two of Peter Parker and MJ, now happily married. At the end, Spidey cheats death to beat the bad guy and Walker-Cap has a moment of moral clarity.


What I liked

I confess that Sal is my second favorite of the Buscema brothers. I’ve generally found his pencils to be workmanlike and the faces on his women always look pained. There’s some of that in this comic but he also inked the issue, and it makes a big difference (I don’t know if I can remember another issue he both penciled and inked.) The opening sequence, a Tarantula revenge fantasy, is dramatically inked, and we get glimpses of what Buscema might be capable of if he hadn’t been chained to Marvel’s production engine for decades.


What I didn’t like

Conway’s social-justice message about the flawed immigration system is well-intentioned but feels clumsy. In this issue, at least, we don’t have any sense of these migrants as people, just as victims. Plus, calling them “illegals” as a bit cringey in 2023. (Note MJ’s Buscema-face in the third panel below).

And just in case you didn’t get the message, Gerry and Sal thoughtfully include Emma Lazarus’s poem from the Statue of Liberty at the end.

Also, at some point this comic stopped being called “Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man” in favor of a simpler name. I’m not sure I approve.

Overall

A solid base hit, but nothing special.

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 102

21 Sunday May 2023

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Fantastic Four 102
“The Strength of the Sub-Mariner!”
Published June 1970
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Artie Simek
Cover: John Romita and John Verpoorten


Note: This is a milestone issue of the Fantastic Four, the last issue penciled by Jack Kirby. It’s also a fitting place for me to take a break from blogging duties. After nearly two-and-half-years of writing (almost) weekly posts about the world’s greatest comic magazine, I’m a bit burned out and going to take a short hiatus. I’ll still write occasional entries like So Random!, but I’ll leave the FF alone for a while. I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone, but when I return, I will be looking forward to diving back into the post-Kirby era.


Synopsis

As per usual, the issue opens with Thing and the Human Torch—plus Crystal—hanging out in the Baxter Building. This time, Ben has a cold and is being a baby about it. The action then shifts beneath the ocean, where the Sub-Mariner, investigating a disturbance, discovers Magneto unconscious on a tropical island. He takes him back to Atlantis to recuperate, and there Magneto tries to convince Namor to join him in his fight against humans.

Meanwhile, back in New York, metal objects start to fly out of control, including the machinery in Mr. Fantastic’s lab. Reed uses a “magna-tracer” to track magnetic waves to Atlantis, and as a warning, sends a “sonic probe” which creates tremors under the sea. When the magnetic attacks against New York don’t stop, Ben sends a torpedo to Atlantis, against the protests of Reed, and the provocation leads Namor to declare war on the surface world, with Magneto behind him.


What’s going on here?

This, of course, is Jack Kirby’s last issue of the Fantastic Four and one of his final stories for Marvel before he decamped for rival DC. He didn’t even stick around to draw the cover, which was handled by John Romta.

Kirby’s frustrations with Stan Lee and Marvel had been brewing for years, and ranged from creative—such as seeing his character, the Silver Surfer, taken from him and given to John Buscema to draw—to financial. According to author Sean Howe, Marvel was by then licensing its characters to an entrepreneur who sold posters and other merchandise using Kirby’s images, but Kirby wasn’t compensated. Nor did he receive his share of a settlement in a dispute about the ownership of Captain America. After previously rejecting overtures from DC’s Carmine Infantino to jump ship, in March of 1970 a fed up Kirby finally signed a three-year contract with DC.

There’s no easy way to sum up the significance of the Lee / Kirby run on the Fantastic Four and I’m not sure I’ll be able to do so adequately here. There have been longer sustained runs (Dave Sims wrote and drew 300 issues of Cerebus!) and shorter runs with more recent acclaim (Neil Gaiman’s 75-issue Sandman run is often at the top of fans polls). But when combining quality, creativity, longevity and influence, I don’t think there’s really any comparison.

The Lee/ Kirby FF run seeded the Marvel universe, and the concepts and characters they created became the foundations on which a multi-billion-dollar entertainment empire has been built. Even a short list of characters introduced or reintroduced in their run is breathtaking: The Skrulls, Dr. Doom, Latveria, Namor, Atlantis, Rama Tut aka Kang, the Watcher, the Negative Zone, Annihilus, Galactus, the Silver Surfer, the Inhumans, the Black Panther, Wakanda, Agatha Harkness, Ronan the Accuser, the Kree, the Molecule Man, Him aka Adam Warlock and the Microverse. All of them have been recycled dozens, if not hundreds, of times across thousands of comics, TV shows and movies.

When I was a kid I had a Fantastic Four poster by John Byrne, in which the FF are surrounded by dozens of other characters. All I knew at the times that they were cool characters; what I didn’t realize is that they all had debuted in the Lee / Kirby run.

Back to issue 102

After about eight or 10 uninspired issues, Stan and Jack at least go out on a high note. Fantastic Four 102 isn’t a classic, but it it’s a reminder of how good the book could be when the elements combined into something greater than the whole. We have the Ben and Johnny hijinks, the noble-yet-misguided Namor, a dastardly villain in Magneto, and some amped-up stakes as Atlantis is on the brink of war with the surface world. Jack also leaves us with some great images, his best in a while.

Magneto’s presence is an interesting choice. It’s the first time he’s appeared in the FF’s own book, and according to a footnote, it follows his appearance in X-Men 63, a classic Roy Thomas / Neal Adams comic that features Ka-zar and the Savage Land mutates. In that issues, he’s last seen in a burning compound in Antartica that is collapsing above him. How he winds up on an island and in a differently colored costume is not explained.


Jack’s Magneto isn’t a mad genius like Adams’s, or the hero he later becomes in later X-Men comics. Here, he’s a conniving sneak in a helmet that barely fits him.


The sexist seventies

The Invisible Girl doesn’t appear in this comic, and the only time Sue is mentioned is in a passing mention by Reed.


The latest in men’s fashion

Johnny’s sweater looks a bit like Black Bolt’s costume

Dig that Kirby Krackle

In our last installment of DTKK (sob), some great work from the Kirby, including this splash).

More from the King


Also on newsstands

What other comics were on sale in June 1970? Covers by Romita, Adams and Franzetta.

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 101

17 Wednesday May 2023

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Fantastic Four 101
“Bedlam In The Baxter Building!”
Published May 1970
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Artie Simek
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

The Fantastic Four, plus Crystal and Alicia Masters, are relaxing at the Baxter Building when they receive a notice from their doorman they need to vacate the building as it has been purchased by “the maggia,” Marvel’s versions of the mafia. The action cuts to a meeting of a crime family, led by “the top man” discussing how they plan to legally evict the FF to seize their weapons and inventions.

While in the park, the FF see helicopters approaching the Baxter Building. As the team investigates, first the Human Torch, then Mr. Fantastic, the Thing and Crystal are captured by maggia henchmen. The four are placed in caskets and dumped into the ocean, but escape after Crystal breaks free.

Meanwhile, the Invisible Girl resists capture and battles the thugs until the rest of the team arrives. The leader of the maggia is then shot by the Baxter Building doorman, who is revealed to be the “top man” in disguise.


What’s going on here?

Sadly, this is another lackluster issue of the FF as we count down the few issues remaining in the Lee/ Kirby partnership. While the structure of the comics is sturdy enough—Stan and Jack have used this basic formula and pacing for one-and-done stories many times—the plot is ridiculous. The mob buys the Baxter Building (signing a note announcing that’s who they are?) and the team has to vacate immediately, leaving all their stuff behind? Even the average 12 year-old reader has a better sense of real estate law than that. Then there is the problem of mobsters taking down four of the most powerful heroes in the marvel universe. None of it makes much sense.

By this point Marvel had been using “maggia” instead of mafia for years (it dates back to Avengers 13) but it never stops sounding odd to me. I’ve never read why Stan felt he couldn’t use “mafia” – was he really worried the real-life mob would object? Given how often they are portrayed in TV and movies, it seems overly sensitive.

Stan and Jack attempt to give the story a bit of a twist with the reveal at the end that the doorman was the mob boss, but it falls flat. We don’t have anything invested in either the doorman or the mafioso, and his infiltration of the Baxter Building hardly seemed worth the trouble.


It’s bedlam, I tell you


This is the second of at least three FF comics that use Bedlam in or at the Baxter Building. (For those curious, the term “bedlam” derives from the name of a mental hospital in London).

The first instance was in FF Annual 3:

And it appears again on the cover of FF 169 (although that’s not the name of the story)


The sexist seventies

Reed once again wants to protect Sue and the other “girls” from bad news.

Later in the comic Sue does hold her own against the maggia thugs and kicks some ass. Silly Reed.


Half bad

This issue has another one of these awful half pages (thankfully they are consolidated into one in the digital comic).


We get letters

Longtime comic writer Alan Kupperberg has a letter in this issue (at least I assume it’s the same guy). He had his first published story, in Hulk 172, just two years later.


Dig that Kirby Krackle

Another subdued issue from the great Mr. K. There’s no interior splash pages, although the lead one is very fun.

As befitting the nature of this issue, we don’t have much gee-whiz images, but lots of Jack’s city scenes, which can be just as good (note how the mob restaurant is called “sleazy.”)

And I loved this panel of Crystal:


Also on sale

What else was on newsstands in May of 1970?


Next issue: The return of the Sub-Mariner!

So Random! The Thing 5

12 Friday May 2023

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The Thing 5
“With Friends Like These …”
Published July 1983
Writer: John Byrne
Pencils: Ron Wilson
Inks: Hilary Barta
Letters: Jim Novak
Colors: Bob Sharen
Cover: Wilson and Al Milgrom


Synopsis

The Thing is attacked by Wonder-Man, She-Hulk and Spider-Man, all of whom are revealed to be under the control of the Puppet Master. The story continues in the next issue.

What’s going on here?

The Thing’s solo comic, written by John Byrne with art by Ron Wilson, followed the cancellation of Marvel Two-in-One, which co-starred the Thing and a different guest star each issue and was often very entertaining.

I’m not sure why Marvel’s powers-that-be made the change, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Byrne, then writing the Fantastic Four, wanted more control over one of his main characters. In general, the Thing’s solo book never really delivered on its promise, and after about a year of indifferent stories, took a (literal) detour when Ben Grimm was stranded in space and the stories got loopier and loopier. Byrne left the book after issue 22, Mike Carlin took over and made Ben a professional wrestler and the comic was mercifully canceled with issue 36.

I started collecting comics in August 1983, the month after this issue came out, so my first issue was Thing 6, which is the second part of the story. This issue, which I eventually bought as a back issue, feels very much like a prelude to the next issue, in which Ben battles the Puppet Master in his mind in a very dark issue (literally and figuratively). That was a challenging first issue to read, but was much more ambitious than issue 5.

What I liked

I was never a huge fan of Ron Wilson, whose pencils often felt workman-like and static to me. But there’s a lot of fun action in this comic, which he does well. And he draws a great looking She-Hulk.


Interestingly, Byrne, includes a page at the end showing how to draw the Thing. It’s a fun guide that feels like it’s out of the classic How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. But looking back now, I wonder if Byrne was using it to answer critics who felt his Thing was too odd looking. (Also, for whatever reason, this page isn’t included in the digital edition).


What I didn’t like

As mentioned, this comic really feels like a setup for the next issue, and in itself doesn’t offer much besides nonstop fighting. That’s OK as far as it goes, but Ben is such a great character it would have been good to have more substance (besides his usual fretting about his relationship with Alicia, which gets tedious). Also, it takes him an awful longtime to suspect his friend are under the control of the Puppet Master. Given their history, wouldn’t that be his first guess?

Overall

Not terrible, but certainly not memorable.

So Random! Batman 403

08 Monday May 2023

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Batman 403
“One Batman Too Many”
Published Oct. 1986
Writer: Max Allan Collins
Pencils: Denys Cowan
Inks: Greg Brooks:
Letters: John Costanza
Colors: Adrienne Roy
Cover: Cowan and Dick Giordano

Synopsis

An insane former cop believing he’s Batman escapes from Arkham Asylum and, discovering the Batcave, steals a Batman costume and the Batmobile. The real Batman hunts him down.


What’s going on here?

This is an interesting issue, for a few reasons which editor Denny O’Neill very helpfully explains in a note at the end. First, this is the last issue before Batman: Year One, the Frank Miller/ David Mazzucchelli tour de force that would rock my (and lots of comic readers’) world starting with Batman 404. Secondly, it’s written by Max Collins, who I knew was the writer of the indy Ms. Tree comic but who also wrote the Dick Tracy newspaper strip. The man knows detectives!

Thirdly, the art is by a relatively young Denys Cowan, drawing his first Batman comic on his way to a long and distinguished comics career.


What I liked

This is an entertaining noir-ish comic that is technically a sequel of the previous issue but works as a one-and-done comic. This was written before the “Bat-God” of Grant Morrison—the all-knowing, all-powerful character without humor or pity—and instead Batman here is pretty much a normal hero, juggling a secret identity, telling jokes and having his car stolen by the bad guy.

Collins has fun playing Bruce Wayne against his secret identity and he wins and dines Vicki Vale, who has no patience for masked vigilantes.

Here he is hanging out with Jason Todd —yes, this is when Todd was Robin—and telling him about his date.


Collins also has fun with the two Batmen and the stolen Batmobile, first with the imposter finding it:

And the real Batman recovering it:

Cowan’s art looks great here, too. It’s appropriately dark and gritty but easy to follow.


What I didn’t like

Not much! I suppose the action wraps up pretty conventionally, and there’s not a lot of angst about the Batcave being discovered, but I’d rather the story be told in 22 pages than over six issues, like it would be today. And I’m not sure the cover does a great job of capturing the story, but these are quibbles.

Overall

Almost a text book version of a great Batman story.

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 100

07 Sunday May 2023

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Fantastic Four 100
“The Long Journey Home”
Published: April 1970
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Sam Rosen
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

As they return from Attilan following the events of last issue, the Fantastic Four—plus Crystal, who has rejoined them—are attacked by Kang and Doctor Doom, who shoot down the FF’s flying saucer (again, the saucer’s origin is never explained). It quickly becomes clear these are not the real Kang and Doom, but androids, and that the Puppet Master and Mad Thinker are behind them.

The FF are then attacked by a wave of androids in the form of virtually ever villain the FF has faced in its first 100 issues: The Kree Sentry, Namor, the Red Ghost and his apes, Diablo, Dragon Man, the Hate Monger, the Frightful Four, the Super Skrull, etc. The only obvious omission is Galactus. The FF scramble to escape, via camels, boat and eventually a car in what appears to be Egypt, and eventually make it to a NATO air field when the Puppet Master accidentally destroys the Thinker’s command center.

What’s going on here?

One hundred issues (plus some annuals) is a lot of comics, and it’s obviously an occasion worth memorializing with a big issue. Fantastic Four 100 is the first comic of the modern Marvel era to reach that milestone (other titles with higher issue counts, like Thor and Captain America, were renamed from older titles). Among super hero comics, only old DC stalwarts like Action Comics (issue 389 at this point) and Batman (200) had published more issues.

But despite the big anniversary, FF 100 is still a standard-sized comic with just 20 pages of story. Double-sized anniversary issues didn’t come along until years later (FF 200 in 1978 is a double sized issued) and the big, blow-out issues with extra-long stories, back-up features and pinups were still reserved for annuals at this point. It’s possible FF 100 was originally intended to be a double-sized issue or an annual, because there is a lot of story jammed into relatively few pages and Jack has to resort to a handful of nine-panel pages to fit it all in, something he rarely does at this point in the FF. Needless to say, there are no interior splash pages and overall the art looks pretty cramped in this comic.

Structurally, FF 100 reads a lot like FF Annual 3, which featured just about every villain attack the FF during Reed and Sue’s wedding. Unlike that story, this one tries to have its cake and eat it too; instead of coming up with an explanation of how all these villains would coordinate with other, Stan and Jack just turn them into androids. As Reed explains, they are androids with the memories and power of the villains they are modeled on, which is somehow a result of the Puppet Master’s radioactive clay. It’s not exactly clear how that works, or why the Puppet Master’s clay seems to work differently in every appearance to date, but no matter, it serves to move he story along. (As we have discussed earlier, Stan and Jack often blur the lines between human and machine when they use androids).

Unfortunately, for such a big occasion, the story falls flat. There’s no real tension or drama, all the action feels rushed, and ultimately it seems like a bit of a gimmick. Great cover though.


Happy anniversary!

Here are the covers from the other FF comics ending in “hundred.” Unfortunately they’re not all great comics, and some of the best FF creators didn’t get a chance to write one. Note that issue issue 400 had a holographic foil cover (it was the 90s!) and issue 700 is due out in about 10 days of this writing.


A message from Stan and Jack

The pledge to continue their efforts “unabated” will last another three issues.


Kang who?

Kang’s appearance here is an odd one. He’s the first bad guy to attack the FF, yet he’s never really faced them in the FF’s own book to this point, with only the briefest of appearances in FF Annual 3. He has of course fought them as Rama-Tut, but it’s not clear that the FF knows they are the same person. He did face the Thing and the Human Torch in Strange Tales 134, which explains Ben’s comments about waiting years to fight him (and a reminder that I really should read those Torch stories in Strange Tales).

There’s also this odd reference from the Doom android, suggesting Kang is a future version of himself, something that came with Rama-Tut in FF Annual 2. In later comics it’s explained that Kang may be a descendent of Doom ( and how an android would know all this is not clear).

Speaking of Doom, I love this line:


Crazy credits

If only this were true …


Clobberin’ time


Say what?

Crystal appears to be taking syntax lesson from Yoda


Half and half

There are two of these atrocious half pages in the comic. Neither are included in the digital version on Marvel.com that I use to all these images.


Dig that Kirby Krackle

This is the first installment of “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” where I had to actually search for great Kirby panels. As mentioned above, the art feels cramped and workmanlike, and there are not a lot of examples of Kirby’s genius. But there are a few notable panels, particularly the splash:

Also this sequence:

And these (tiny) panels:


Also on newsstands

What other comics were for sale in April 1970?


Next issue: The FF face the mafia maggia!

So Random! Iron Man No. 230

05 Friday May 2023

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Iron Man 230
“The Day the Hero Died”
Published Jan. 1988
Plot: Bob Layton and Dave Michelinie
Script: Michelinie
Pencils: Mark Bright
Inks: Layton
Letters Janice Chiang
Colors: Bob Sharen
Cover: Bright and Layton

Synopsis

This is chapter six in “Stark Wars,” a story arc detailing Tony Stark’s attempts to round up all the illicit uses of his technology. So far it’s been at a high cost, as he explains that an innocent was killed in the Soviet Union as he battled the Titanium Man. To disable all other uses of his tech, Tony is now deploying a “tapeworm” program, essentially a virus that infects all other technology.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military is working with a contractor developing “Firepower,” its own high-powered armor that utilize stolen Stark technology, with the intention of taking down Iron Man. A senator and generals lean on Tony to help them corner Iron Man, and Tony agrees, reasoning he has to confront Firepower at some point. They battle in the desert, and Tony is badly beaten, and in the last panel appears to have been killed.


What’s going on here?

This is satisfying comic, even jumping in without having read (or more accurately, remembered) the first five installments in the Stark Wars story. It features a lot of the Iron Man set-pieces from this era: Tony looking suave in his fancy Stark offices, Rhodey being the helpful voice of reason, Tony tempted to drink but rejecting booze, etc. It also features the Silver Centurian armor, which, although relatively short-lived, was the main armor for much of my Iron Man-collecting youth and an underrated look for the character.

The comic was also produced by the longtime Iron team of Michelinie and Layton, with Bright on pencils. Layton, particularly, feels like the quintessential Iron Man artist, and manages to make the armor gleam like no other other.

What I liked

This was a well-paced story, with the action alternating between Tony and his plans to eliminate rogue uses of his technology, and the military eagerly testing its powerful new weapon. There’s also a grim sense of inevitability as Tony prepares to take on a foe that seems more than capable of handling him, and in fact kicks his ass. It’s rare to see a hero get as badly beaten as Iron Man was here.

Also, I love the cover logo. Maybe the best Iron Man logo ever.

What I didn’t like

The Firepower design is pretty clumsy and unattractive. The last panel, suggesting Tony is dead, seems like such an obvious red herring. Only someone reading their first comic book would think Tony is dead. And while it’s cool to have Black characters like Rhodey and Jack Taggert, the soldier in the Firepower suit, in prominent roles, Michelinie is too quick to resort to stereotypes, such as Rhodey’s dropping letters in his speech and Taggart’s off-handed mention of “the projects.”

Overall

A solid, entertaining mainstream comic.

So Random! Legion of Super-Heroes (Vol. 6) No. 1

04 Thursday May 2023

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Legion of Super-Heroes (Vol. 6) 1
“The Scream Heard ‘Cross the Universe”
Published: May 2010
Writer: Paul Levitz
Pencils: Yildray Cinar
Inks: Wayne Faucher
Letters: Sal Cipriano
Colors: Hi-Fi
Cover: Cinar and Faucher

Synopsis

A number of story arcs are introduced in this comic, some of which tie together by the end. In one, Earth-Man, a xenophobic villain who hates “off-worlders,” is in custody and being drained of his powers. But to placate anti-alien forces on Earth, the United Planets government is forcing the Legion to take him on as a member in exchange of allowing them to maintain their headquarters on Earth. The unhappy legionnaires, led by Braniac 5, offer Earth-Man a Legion ring, with special modifications to keep him in check

Meanwhile Saturn Girl is on her home moon of Titan, where time-travel researchers are conducting an experiment to witness the birth of the universe (which longtime DC readers know only means bad things). The experiment goes awry and sets up a chain reaction that transports Saturn Girl’s children to another time and ultimately destroys Titan.

The act of witnessing the birth of the universe reaches Oa, home of the Guardians, where Sodam Yot, last of the Green Lanterns, has his ring removed by Dyogene, an alien being. Dyogene then presents it to Earth-Man, naming him the new Green Lantern for Earth’s sector.


What’s going on here?

Sometimes it feels like the comic industry goes out of its way to complicate things. The inaugural issue of (yet another) Legion reboot should be an opportunity for new readers to jump on with a clean slate, but writer Paul Levitz—who wrote the Legion in the 80s and is back after 20 years—can’t seem to help himself.

Instead of a fresh start, we are evidently picking up a story that began in Superman and Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds. While the Final Crisis series appears to have restored the Legion back to the version Levitz last wrote, there’s still lots of loose ends to be dealt with. As a result, we are presented with a tangled plot concerning Earth-Man and Green Lanterns, and featuring Saturn Girl and her own complicated backstory.

All of this might have made lots of sense 13 years ago, when this comic came out, and I was more-or-less following along as a monthly reader. But now, sadly, it’s all a bit bewildering.

What I liked

Despite it all, it’s still the Legion, and no one has a better handle on this sprawling team than Levitz. It’s always fun to see these characters again, and we get fun snippets of their personalities from the legionnaires who get their moment on stage. The Earth-Man concept is a good one, and the idea of a Xenophobic element on Earth threatening the highly diverse Legion creates an interesting political dynamic. I’m just not sure I have the energy to read all the stories leading up to this to fully understand it.

I particularly liked this tour of the Legion universe, as the psychic shock of Titan’s destruction ripples across the galaxy.


What I didn’t like

As discussed, too much background knowledge is assumed and an awful lot of story is crammed into this comic. I also disliked Levitz’s handing of Braniac-5, who has gone from merely smug to dismissively arrogant. And the cover—Earth-Man’s fist with the Legion and later rings—feels like an odd choice for a first issue.

It’s also never been clear to me why the Legion has had so many reboots. More than any other mainstream title from the Big Two, the Legion seems a victim of the industry’s commercial forces, as every new event or company-wide reboot seems to produce a new vision for the Legion. The irony is, way out in the 30th century, they should be isolated from all the chaos in the here and now.


Overall

It’s fun to see these characters again but it feels like a missed opportunity.