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

Posted by percivalhenry in So Random!

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Comic books, Legion of Super-heroes

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.

So Random! New Mutants 62

01 Monday May 2023

Posted by percivalhenry in So Random!

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Comic books, New Mutants 62

New Mutants 62
“To Build a Fire”
Published: Dec. 1987
Writer: Louise Simonson
Artist: Jon J. Muth (pencils and inks)
Letters: Tom Orzechowski
Colors: Glynis Oliver
Cover: Muth

Welcome to a new, hopefully semi-regular new feature, where I examine an issue from my collection chosen more-or-less at random. I say more or less because I don’t want to waste my time on an issue I’ve just read, that’s super well-known or that I dislike. There’s no point in that. But otherwise, my hope is rediscover some hidden gems or oddities lurking in my 6,000+ comic collection. To pick a comic at random, I’m using CLZ, the online database, which has a “shake” feature which pulls a comic from a collection, yes, at random.

So here we go with the first installment …

Synopsis

The New Mutants gather around to read a letter from their former classmate, Amara Aquila, aka Magma, who has joined the group’s rivals-slash-enemies, the Hellions of Massachusetts Academy.

We cut to Magma facing off against the Hellions in a Danger Room situation, then getting into a heated confrontation with Empath, the emotion-manipulating jerk. Emma Frost, aka the White Queen and the school’s headmistress, interrupts to tell Magma her father is summoning her back to New Rome, the enclave of ancient Rome in the Amazon where she was raised. Frost instructs Empath to accompany her so that he can manipulate her father into leasing the Hellfire Club mineral rights.

The pair are soon in a plane flying across the jungle when it it is hit by lighting and crashes, killing the pilot. Magma and Empath endure several days in the jungle, confronting panthers and vampire bats, and each other’s complicated feelings. Magma, it appears, doesn’t want to be rescued because she doesn’t want to be married off by her father. Empath confesses he is a coward who manipulates feelings to protect himself. After they reconcile, they are eventually rescued by Amara’s father.

What’s going on here?

I don’t recall reading this comic when it came out, although I bought it new. By late 1987, my attention was wandering from comics, save from the few that really engaged me, and I had lost interest in the New Mutants when artist Bill Sienkiewicz left the book.

By New Mutants 62, Louise Simonson had been writing the New Mutants for about a seven issues but this issue felt as if Chris Claremont never left. In fact, it reads like a number of his X-Men issues where two characters with feelings for each other are thrown together in hostile circumstances and have to work their through the difficulties and each other. Probably the most wel-know of these is Uncanny X-Men 186, aka Lifedeath, featuring Storm and Forge, but UXM 197, with Colossus and Kitty, has the same structure. There are others.

The similarity to Lifedeath also includes the art, which in both comics are remarkable work by artists not normally associated with the comic. While Lifedeath was a masterpiece by Barry Windsor-Smith, who filled in from regular artist John Romita Jr., New Mutants 62 is a gem from Jon J. Muth, who takes over from Bret Blevins from this issue. Muth is best known for atmospheric comics like Sandman and Moonshadow (which he painted), and his work here is dark and moody, befitting scenes set in a dark jungle, lit by fire light. It’s very effective, and a welcome departure from Blevins, whose cartoony style grates on me.

Muth’s inks are particularly dramatic:

What I liked

Along with the art, the story is an upgrade over recent issues, which featured the introduction of the irritating Ani-Mates and Bird Brain, a truly dreadful character. It was a welcome spotlight on Amara, who often felt lost in the shuffle among the other New Mutants. And it’s always fun to see Emma Frost as a bad guy before her eventual rehabilitation into an X-Man.

What I didn’t like

Part of the appeal of the New Mutants is that it’s a vehicle for teen angst, but a little goes a long way, and the confrontations been Amara and Empath bang to feel repetitive and tedious after a dozen pages. Also, Marvel comics of this era suffered from inconsistent printing, and the lettering particularly can be blotchy.

Overall

A good comic, with beautiful art that borders on great