Dusting Off : Superman (vol. 2) #12 (December 1987)

Every Wednesday we take turns to delve into our trusty longboxes, pluck out a dusty back issue, and give you our thoughts. We’ll also try and place it in the context of the time it was originally published.

As regular readers of Comics Daily will know, while I’m not much of a fan of John Byrne as a person, I can’t deny that in my eyes, he’s up there with Curt Swan as one of the most definitive Superman artists of all time. This has plenty to do with some of my most formative comics reading being of his late ’80s run, when he relaunched the character in the wake of Crisis on Infinite Earths and had a successful run along with Jerry Ordway and various others that took the character towards the end of the decade.

The writing on these books was solid, rather than spectacular, but he did lay some important groundwork and told a handful of quite memorable tales, one of which is this story, Lost Love, that I remember reading as a kid and which I found a copy of at Bristol last weekend. Looking back over it now, however, perhaps the biggest surprise is just how much it sticks to the original version of the story of which it’s a retelling - that of Lori Lemaris, the mermaid who was Superman’s other great LL-related love.

The original story was by Batman co-creator Bill Finger and legendary artist Wayne Boring, and published in 1959 - and unlike the revamps of various characters such as Mr Mxyxptlk and Metallo that Byrne was busy carrying out in those early issues, this one shows remarkably little deviation from the template. The way in which a college-age Clark and Lori meet - with Lori in a runaway wheelchair - is replicated, complete with almost identical dialogue. Similarly, we get a scene where Lori “talks” to an octopus, again with just a few words changed in the dialogue, and the story rolls on with Clark proposing to (and being turned down by) Lori, and wondering just why she has to be home by eight each night before discovering the water tank in her trailer home. Byrne also homages one of the more memorable of Boring’s panels, as Clark and Lori share a goodbye kiss.

This is all well and good, of course - it’s a classic and well-remembered story, and Byrne’s updating is an effective homage. Where the issue suffers, however, is in his attempt to expand the story beyond the natural end-point of the original. He first adds some material - still part of the “flashback” story that Clark is telling - involving Aquaman and an insane sailor called Schmidt; but while it feels like material that has been told before (from the way it skims over and just picks up the pertinent points), I’m not sure it can have been - after all, the series had only been running for a year at this point, and I’m not sure when all this stuff is supposed to have happened. Worse is the fake-out that Byrne pulls by having Lori stabbed by Schmidt - we’ve already learned that she is either missing or dead from the context of the framing sequence, but this supposedly horrific stabbing shortly leads to a full recovery.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the issue, though, is the changes Byrne makes to Lori’s own character. In the original story, shortly after Clark discovers that she’s a mermaid there’s a great sequence where the pair of them each use their unique abilities to stop a flood disaster - here, though, she simply gets nekkid in the water and they kiss some. After this, she’s given little control over her own destiny - after being stabbed, she falls in love with the doctor that saved her, and rather than making the heartbreaking decision not to be with Clark because of the oceanic distance between them, she simply decides that he probably never loved her in the first place. It rather reduces her to being defined by the men in her life (and by her ability to look good with no clothes on), and it’s disappointing; nor is the lack of proactive behaviour really balanced out by a quick reference to her having “died defending the city she’d searched so long to find” (not least because, well… we got shown the bit where she was stabbed and survived, but we’re not told the story of her death?)

There are still neat touches, particularly when the issue is referencing the original, and the reveal at the end of the nature of the “greatest poet in the world” is nice (although, you know, poets write poems, not songs). And of course, the art throughout is customarily superb - even more so than with his X-Men run, I’d define this as the absolute top of Byrne’s game, perhaps due to his occasionally loose style being reined in by Karl Kesel’s tight inks. But it’s far from the best of those late ’80s stories, and while it does serve the purpose of bringing an important part of Superman history into the post-Crisis continuity, most of what makes it truly memorable can be found just by reading the original.

Buffy, Season 8 #14

As we all know, being happy and in love in a Joss Whedon universe is about as healthy for you as eating deadly nightshade stuffed with razorblades. The more the audience finds themself liking a character, the greater chance there is that they’re about to be neatly shuffled off the mortal coil in the most senseless and random manner possible. I know this, because I’ve seen it happen in Whedon’s work again and again, and again.

Even so, when Xander and Renee finally kissed in this issue after several issues dancing around the subject of dating, I was so completely absorbed by the character moments that I didn’t see the Whedon cogs turning slowly in the background. I won’t spoil the issue, but let’s just say things don’t look good for the future of Xander and Rene’s relationship right now.

Looking back, it feels a little like we’re the victim of a bit of misdirection. After Buffy slept with Satsu, it seemed fairly likely that the young slayer would be the victim of misfortune - indeed, Buffy and Satsu even discuss it. Satsu even disobey’s Buffy to ensure she comes to the climactic battle with the Japanese vampire gang, who are using Buffy’s axe in conjunction with their own magicks to try and de-power the slayers. This whole story has been leading up to Satsu being placed in danger. Instead, the themes bear fruit with an entirely different set of characters.

Goddard is proving himself as adept a writer of these characters as Whedon is, mixing horror, comedy and action without too jarring a tonal shift - and after all, that’s the classic Buffy formula. The use of Dracula in this arc does, however, feel a little gratuitous. It’s understandable that Goddard wanted to write the character, because he is hilarious, but so far he had failed to prove any specific worth to the story. Presumably, he’ll steal back his powers from the vampire gang in the final issue, though now that team slayer have already figured out how to kill evapourating vampires (that old fallback: kill it with fire) it seems a little unecessary for him to be around now. Perhaps more will now be made of his connection with Xander, given the events of this issue.

Once again, Buffy Season 8 doesn’t disappoint. We’re well past the initial novelty of the concept and it’s still as essential as it ever was, so whatever way you look at it, it’s a total success.

Action Comics Annual #11

Continuity, they say, can be both a tool and a trap. But whether or not you’re the sort of person who will just write what they please and hang trying to make it tie in perfectly with everything that’s gone before, there are certain rules that everyone knows to stick to. Such as - don’t contradict anything less than a year old, and certainly not any stories that are currently happening.

Sadly, that’s exactly what the ludicrously-delayed final part of Geoff Johns, Richard Donner and Adam Kubert’s Last Son storyline has done. Originally intended to come out almost a year ago, the story wraps up the tale of the escaped Phantom Zone Kryptonians, among them Chris Kent (the son of General Zod and Ursa), all of whom end the story by being pulled back into the Zone. There’s just one problem. For the last year’s worth of stories, Chris has been living as the adopted son of Clark Kent (er, hence the name) and Lois Lane. But this issue picks up at the exact moment at which the last part of the story ended some time last year. So, er, just when were all those stories with Chris supposed to happen?

The answer, of course, is that there isn’t an answer. Chris had to be featured in Busiek’s Superman (Johns’ own Action Comics sidestepped the problem with an interminably long story set in the 31st Century), because to not have him around would have spoiled the intended ending of Last Son. But once it became apparent that this was going to happen, was it really not possible to think about a rewrite? Never mind the writing, at editorial level this is a massive, massive screw-up - and it renders this storyline almost entirely pointless and unreadable.

Of course, it’s not the only mistake that was made by the higher-ups. Once it became apparent that Kubert was going to take far too long to finish this (and I don’t like to criticise artists too much for lateness, because it’s something to which all manner of personal problems can potentially contribute - so let’s apportion him only part of the blame for this fiasco), then somebody should have stepped in and hired a replacement artist to finish the job. I mean, this isn’t All-Star Superman or The Ultimates. You wait for Quitely or Hitch art, because the book is as much their vision as the writers’ - and because it’s so good when it finally arrives.

But one of the main problems with this issue is that neither the art nor the story are particularly worth waiting for. Johns and Donner wrap up what was, let’s be honest, a fairly standard story about General Zod (appallingly designed, not looking threatening in the slightest) trying and eventually failing to subjugate humanity with a convenient ending (”anything that has been in contact with the Zone gets pulled back in”) that almost feels directly ripped from the end of series two of Doctor Who. It still grates, meanwhile, that (you would guess at Donner’s behest) the comics have suddenly become so like the films - weren’t they supposed to be a bit more distinct than this? The most recent re-telling of the Jor-El story was only in 2004’s Birthright, and while I know that Infinite Crisis created a “new Earth” that could happily contradict previous stories, there was simply no explanation for his suddenly becoming a bearded white-haired presence in the Fortress - beyond “oh, this is the version I know, this is the version I’m going to write”.

Amazingly, meanwhile, for something that took so long, Kubert’s work feels rushed and sloppy in places (at one point, Zod is seen with those stupid goggles on, despite having previously had them punched off his face by Superman). There are some nice large-scale set-pieces, but he works far better with the big splash images than he does in effectively conveying action in smaller panels. And in many of those smaller panels, there’s simply no detail or definition to his characters.

If this had been part of the regular Action Comics schedule, it probably would have been quite passable. It’s not amazing, but like the rest of Last Son, it’s a nice big action story with some quite neat bits (a bit more of Luthor gathering a team to “help” Superman would have been nice) - although you probably will have to go back and reread the rest of the story to remember just what’s supposed to be happening. But the year’s wait, and the cost of it being in an extra (and double-sized) issue, simply don’t feel worth it at this point. And worst of all, the one genuinely interesting legacy of the story - the idea of Clark and Lois bringing up a superpowered kid - has already been thrown back in the cupboard. At the end of the day, despite the initial hype and anticipation, the much-heralded Johns/Donner/Kubert event can only be seen as something of a failed experiment. And what with this and Batman, people really need to think twice before putting the Kubert brothers on monthly flagship books any time soon.

Bristol…

Sorry folks, no Sunday Pages today - we’ve been busy all weekend with the Bristol Comics Expo. But stay tuned this time next week for a report on our time there, including some rather exciting news about yours truly and Spider-Man. We’ve also got some interviews to post at some point, too. Normal reviewing service, meanwhile, will resume tomorrow…

Invincible Iron Man #1

Back when Invincible Iron Man was announced, I and everyone else wondered whether there was really any need for a second Iron Man title. After all, Iron Man, as a character, wasn’t even very popular with fandom, having been maneuvered into the position of being the Marvel Universe’s most evil good guy by the events of Civil War.

Then the Iron Man movie came out.

Suddenly, everyone wants more Tony Stark. I know I do. Thing is, I’ve tried the Director of SHIELD series before, and I’m not that fond of it. So where next? Enter Invincible Iron Man,  the answer to that question. A new issue #1, a stellar creative team - what’s not to like? Fraction should be commended for successfully merging the Iron Man of the movies with the Iron Man of the comics without compromising on details. Modern continuity is seamlessly integrated in a way that’ll ease any movie viewer into Stark’s current role, but the Tony Stark being written is one wholly familiar to the movie goers - he even manages to bring in the Movie’s supporting cast of Potts and Rhodes for a nod, just the sort of thing new readers would appreciate.

Stark’s narration over the whole issue binds the story together fantastically - it’s a perfect example of how to do a single-issue that reads well as part of an ongoing story. Stark’s monologue, as a a framing device, comes full-circle, even when the action ends on a cliffhanger - it makes for a satisfying read that’ll sit well in the trade (Bendis, take note). The plot’s not too shabby either - in Ezekial Stane, Fraction has managed to create a compelling new Iron Man villain - one as smart as Tony Stark, but young enough to lack the morals that keep Stark in check. The connection to Stane is yet another element that will make the comic seem familiar to movie audiences - it’s a virtual masterclass of screen-to-comics translation. After failing to grip me with The Order, Fraction has now proven Marvel’s belief in him twice over with this release, as far as I’m concerned.

After years stuck in the X-Men ghetto, Larocca’s artwork on a Marvel Universe character seems a breath of fresh air. I find myself actually likeing D’armata’s colours for a change, though I have a strong suspicion it’s because he’s following the palette of the late Stephane Peru. As long as it doesn’t immediately lapse into D’Armata’s usual dull, metallic-tinged look next issue, I’ll be pleased to see him continue. There is some hint of his typical gloss, but overall the book’s as successful art-wise as it is in the writing. A strong start to what promises to be a fantastic run. I’m still not totally convinced there need to be two Iron Man titles, but when the time comes, this isn’t the one that should get the axe.

Secret Invasion #2

We pick up immediately where last issue ended - the Savage Land. A bunch of 70s-lookin’ heroes have piled out of a crashed Skrull ship and confronted the modern heroes. A fight ensures.

After the killer setup of last issue, this one actually becomes something of a disappointment - it’s mainly composed of people pounding on each other. As readers, we can’t be sure who’s a skrull and who isn’t, and we only get some very minor hints when a couple of the 70s heroes are killed in a… dinosaur attack. Well, it is the Savage Land, I suppose.

The issue also seems to confirm at least one resurrection, though the nerd in me would be amiss if I didn’t point out it does so at the expense of a couple of (admittedly bad) issues of Thunderbolts and one of Busiek’s Avengers run from back in the day. Ho hum. Unless the character turns out to be a skrull after all, that is…

Unfortunately, Bendis and Co. have so expertly established that telling Skrull from Human is virtually impossible that we can’t even believe the test that leads our heroes to believe the resurrected character actually is who they claim to be. Some of the skrulls don’t even know that they’re skrulls, so the cover must be pretty deep - does it involve brain-scans and such that could convey otherwise forgotten information? Maybe! Who knows? It’s a little frustrating, because we’re unable to take the events at face value, even now. Still, with one apparent resurrection, I can’t help wondering who’s going to be the first person to die because they get mistaken for a Skrull…

The fight in the Savage Land, does, at least, prove to have a point beyond throwing a spanner into Marvel Universe continuity - with both Avengers groups distracted in the Savage Land, the Baxter building opens up and out spill a bunch of armoured, super-powered Skrulls, with only half of the Young Avengers on hand to help out. Things can’t end well.

Still, plot-wise the massive fight scene that takes up 3/4 of the issue makes it all seem a bit… thin on the ground. I was hoping for a little more payoff and a bit more plot. Yu’s art looks better than it ever has, so seeing him draw all these characters makes up for that to some degree, but as ever, Bendis’ event pacing needs a little more work, and less of an eye on the trade release, where this fight will no doubt read very well indeed.

Dusting Off: X-Force v1 #1 (August 1991)

Every Wednesday we take turns to delve into our trusty longboxes, pluck out a dusty back issue, and give you our thoughts. We’ll also try and place it in the context of the time it was originally published.

With the new series of X-Force riding high on the charts, it almost feels like the 1990s again. So, I figured, why not go and see what the 1990s actually felt like? Rob Liefeld plots and draws, Fabian Nicieza scripts, and as I recall, a lot of New Mutants fans get very, very upset and what’s being done to their characters.

Rising from the ashes of New Mutants, X-Force #1 features the former New Mutants as they strike out on their own under the guardianship of the still relatively new character, Cable. The idea behind X-Force is that Cable thinks the X-Men are too reactive, and he wants to train the new guys to go out there and fight the mutant threats before they cause trouble. It’s actually a pretty good idea, and one which applies (more or less) to the current incarnation of the team.

Now, with a solid idea, we then introduce Rob Liefeld into the equation. He’s a real divisive figure. You either love his work, or you hate it. And if you love it, you are objectively wrong. Nonetheless, something about his artwork appeals to some section of people, and he’s made a career out of being a severe unit shifter, so bafflement aside, he was justifying his appearance by making X-Force one of the biggest selling debuts of all time, as it hit the stands during what was already one of comics’ biggest sales periods ever, and shattered records.

The comic is partially redeemed by Nicieza’s script, though I’d hate to think how it felt plotting over Liefeld’s pencils. The story opens with a trademark incomprehensible fight scene, though it does actually show X-Force doing what they planned - taking the fight directly to the MLF in their own base. There’s some really painful dialogue going on, though this sort of thing was as stylistic in the 90s as Bendis-style naturalism and decompression are now, so it’s hard to blame it too much. Eventually, Stryfe and some of the MLF escape, and then there are a few disconnected scenes showing various parties reacting to the aftermath of the battle. Mixed in is a scene with Sunspot, who wasn’t in X-Force at this point, hanging out with Gideon, one of those long-forgotten 90s villains with no personality or motivation worth remembering. The book ends with Bridge calling in Department K and… WEAPON X! Unfortunately, next issue this turns out to be Deadpool, or Kane, or someone else who isn’t Wolverine. Ah well.

Truly, this comic doesn’t remotely compare with modern standards. It looks horrible, and even Nicieza’s dialogue can’t save it. The title makes the frankly odd pacing decision of opening with a massive fight scene and ending with a bunch of subplot advancements. The one thing I enjoyed about re-reading this was seeing Zero, Stryfe’s mute teleporter who was, back in the day, quite a cool character. Probably because he looked really badass, but never did anything. Unfortunately, he lived up to his name, and continued to never do anything before he died in an issue of Excalibur, of all the places to make your exit.

Truly, reading X-Force one was a horrible experience that I do not wish to re-visit. The modern incarnation is much better, probably because it’s got Wolverine in it, not a sprawling cast of under-developed nobodies. X-Force #1 is so abundantly available, you can probably find a copy for 25p. Try to save your money.

Green Lantern #30

As I’ve mentioned in the past, Green Lantern is a series I’ve always found more interesting in concept than in execution. Despite the odd excellent story here and there (usually involving Alan Moore and/or Dave Gibbons, or when teamed up with Green Arrow), I’ve often felt that a great idea has been wasted on some pretty boring characters – John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, and none moreso than Hal Jordan himself. I was mildly entertained by Green Lantern : Rebirth, which brought Jordan back to life and hastily retconned his evilness (short version : a big yellow space worm did it), but it didn’t take long for the resurrected Lantern’s own title to become a snoozefest itself.

Nevertheless, I like to pop my head around the door from time to time to see what’s happening with the series. Lately, though, that’s proven difficult as the interminable Sinestro Corps War has gone on – while I’ll admit the idea of a “negative” version of the GL Corps isn’t a bad one (and we’ll gloss over the fact that it was already done decades ago with the Star Sapphires), it’s possible to run something into the ground, and so it’s proven, with the imminent promise of a whole spectrum of Corps based on different emotions (and the Black Lanterns, who rather than being a civil rights movement are apparently all dead. See, never say that power rings aren’t equal opportunity). It’s all a bit tiresome, to be honest, and despite Geoff Johns’ enthusiasm for building a “new” GL mythos, it’s also somewhat impenetrable for new or casual readers.

That said, the latter point is something you can’t really aim at the current story arc – dipping in this month, I was somewhat surprised to find the second part of a story titled Secret Origin. Yes, despite the fact that there’s nothing about Emerald Dawn that really needs retconning, and that all the pertinent details were conveyed back in Rebirth, we’re once again being taken back to Jordan’s flyboy days and the appearance of a certain red-skinned alien. While it may appear pointless at first glance, you can at least see a few reasons for doing this – for starters, it provides a handy few months worth of material at a time when, Batman aside, the big characters can’t really do all that much as they wait for Final Crisis. Secondly, it allows Johns to retroactively insert elements of his newer mythos into the history of the character – and so we see that Abin Sur’s death was, at least in part, down to a growing sense of fear corrupting his ring and will-power, and we’re even shown the Sinestro/Parallax logo in his eye at the critical moment.

Just because there are reasons to revisit Jordan’s origin, though, doesn’t mean that the book itself really justifies its existence. This isn’t Superman : Birthright, after all - nothing truly significant is being changed here. It’s simply a retelling, with a few extra details added in to make it more relevant to the current state of play. There are various examples of… well, I don’t know what you’d call it, really - “retrospective foreshadowing”? It’s all “Oh, look, Carol Ferris hates Hal, we know how that turns out” or “Hector Hammond is Carol’s boyfriend, that adds a new layer!”, and that kind of thing. Perhaps the one interesting addition - an explanation of just why Abin Sur was flying a spaceship in the first place - isn’t even Johns’, it came from an old Alan Moore story (the same short story, in fact, out of which the entire “Spectrum Corps” and forthcoming Blackest Night storyline has been spun).

I mean, it’s all perfectly solid, serviceable stuff - Ivan Reis’ art is decent enough, it’s never jumped out at me but it does the job and there are no glaring flaws - but you just wonder why the current GL readers need a fresh telling of a well-trodden story. If you like classic, All-American flyboy type tales, then I’m sure you’ll get a kick out of it, as you probably find Jordan himself far less annoying than I do (I mean, his Superman-esque debut appearance comes when he rescues a fighter jet… from an accident that he caused himself). But, while this is evidently being pitched as a Big Deal - the sort of thing that will get collected in future trades as “the definitive GL origin story” - it winds up feeling like little more than pre-event filler.

It had to be done.

Just a quick note to say that there won’t be a Comics Daily update today due to the UK Mayday Bank Holiday. Hence the hilarious image.

Ah, Spider-Girl. Not a bad title at all, second-person narration aside, but seriously - who on earth came up with that nickname? Painful stuff. Regular reviewing service will resume tomorrow!

The Sunday Pages #13

Comics Daily coverage of Final Crisis continues as our more qualified DC enthusiast, Seb Patrick, takes a look over the events of DC Universe #0 and, elsewhere, the viral marketing for The Dark Knight. I geek out about the latest Spider-Man announcement, and then there are more examples of articles we’ve written for Den of Geek, which covers Moore’s defining Batman/Joker story, The Killing Joke, and everyone’s new favourite Marvel character, Iron Man.