Superman #677

It’s a well-established narrative trope – heck, you could call it a cliché if you want – that as soon as someone goes on about how happy they are with everything, something’s about to happen to make it rather less so. So when we open James Robinson’s first Superman issue with a charming scene featuring Clark playing fetch in space with Krypto (while a bemused Hal Jordan looks on) and remarking on how great things are, I can’t help but get worried. Not for Lois – not even the events of Final Crisis #2 are enough to make me think anything bad’s ever going to happen to her – but for Krypto. Seriously, if something happens to that dog, I’m dropping the book like a stone.

Following that opening sequence – which in its few pages is enough to give us a sense of the way Robinson is approaching the character – we spend the remainder of the issue in a Superman-less Metropolis, and in one of many inevitable Starman comparisons, it’s clear straight away that he intends to use the city itself as a character rather than simply a backdrop for the artist - as a big monster rages through the streets to be taken on by the power-suited “Science Police”, it’s very much an “only in Metropolis” kind of story. For the main narrative, meanwhile, he falls back on another of his preferred devices – looking at the action through the eyes, and thoughts, of supporting characters. In this instance, it’s a member of the Science Police, and it’s good to see a certain amount of ambiguity as regards someone’s reaction to Superman - sometimes he hates him for making their job look trivial, sometimes he’s in awe of what the guy can do. It’s not black-and-white - it’s believable. It’s exactly the sort of vignette we used to see dotted throughout Starman (indeed, unlike with a lot of writers, I wouldn’t necessarily expect the character to show up again after this), and it demonstrates that one of the keystones of Robinson’s run will (hopefully) be character work - undeniably his biggest strength as a writer. And unlike his One Year Later Batman story, a longer run here will hopefully mean that that sort of thing gets time to breathe.

Renato Guedes has already made waves as an occasional Superman artist in the last couple of years, and it’s good to see him locked in to a proper run on the main title - as he’s one of the best out there at drawing the character at the moment. As I’ve said before, he reminds me of Jackson (Butch) Guice’s early/mid ’90s work, and his Superman has the requisite mixture of power and grace. He’s also no slouch when it comes to the action sequences, and there’s a pleasing amount of precision to his linework and Wilson Magalhaes’ inks - although some of the rippling muscle shots of Atlas leave a bit to be desired.

It’s a promising start, anyway. It doesn’t do anything mindblowing, doesn’t promise much in the way of great shakeups - but it shows a measured pace in building things up, and the tone is absolutely spot on. Robinson is clearly, just for the moment, setting himself up to bed in for the long haul - and as long as he doesn’t do anything to that dog, I’m happy to join him.

Dusting Off: Generation X #63 (March 2000)

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.

Dusting Off’s been fairly X-heavy of late, but with Ed Brubaker hastily moving pieces into place for Astonishing X-Men #25, it’s worth taking a look at the last time Warren Ellis was asked to bring something different to Marvel’s mutants. As part of the X-Men’s 2000 re-launch, Marvel hired Ellis to take control of three of the line’s under performing spin offs, and re-conceptualise them under the banner “Counter-X”. The writer took an extremely critical look at each of the titles, stripping them back to their unique storytelling elements. Ellis co-wrote eight issues of each book, before handing over to the series’ permanent writer, in this case a pre-DMZ Brian Wood.

Unsurprisingly, given its promotion as a jumping on-point for new readers, Ellis makes his all-new villain a key part of the issue, choosing to open with an introductory sequence in which Coffin, a “war-criminal for hire” demonstrates his abilities and viciousness. In creating this opponent, the writer has clearly focussed on what made this part of the X-franchise distinctive. Coffin is not interested in mutation, which only features in the story as the means by which Generation X are able to fight him. The “Warden” is a disciplinarian, running a sci-fi/ horror young-offenders institution for the culprits of thought crimes. No punches are pulled in establishing this setting, with the Columbine shootings explicitly mentioned in the dialogue. However, what should be an unforgivable lapse in taste is made much more acceptable by Steve Pugh’s restrained art, which is just as easily able to illustrate decades old cyborg-children as comical exchanges between Jubilee and Chamber. Wood’s scripting also impresses, with some extremely natural-sounding dialogue given to each of the teens. He also finally manages to blend the lighter and darker sides of Emma Frost’s personality, which had been only shown alternately since the character was brought over to the side of the angels.

In hindsight, what proves most striking about the issue is the ruthlessness shown to the comic’s previous incarnation. In a move somewhat ahead of its time, Generation X’s Academy had functioned as an actual school, well before either 20^th Century Fox or Grant Morrison applied the same approach to the X-Men themselves. Ellis clearly decided to strip the cast down to a skeleton crew of its iconic figures, with the titular generation reduced to its four most interesting members. We rejoin the students in an almost ruined academy, and dialogue makes it clear that some of the missing have died off-panel since the previous story. Although missing the high-concept driven approach that has characterised the writer’s more famous work, there isn’t a shortage of new ideas here, with the paradoxes of government illustrated in a throwaway line. Roots of Ellis’s current preoccupation with communication technology may also be glimpsed, with Paige discovering Coffin’s activities through newsgroups.

It’s almost disturbing how clinically Ellis cuts away vast parts of the book’s previous identity. The “superheroes-in-training” approach that has always characteristed books of this sort is discarded; leaving its cast attempting to find ways they can actually change the almost-real world they’ve been placed in. Deliberately confining himself to a tiny periphery of the X-universe, Ellis still manages to create a compelling story, making his forthcoming centre-stage role an even more intriguing prospect.

Amazing Spider-Man #563

It’s been a while since we checked in on Brand New Day, as it’s still being called. Seriously, isn’t it time to drop that particular piece of marketing-speak? The initial thrill has now roundly worn off, and the glut of new enemies and characters is starting to weaken a little.

It’s fairly confusing that, of all the writers on the Spidey “Brain Trust”, Bob Gale appears to be the one getting the most stories out the door - especially because he’s the got most individual style of the four (and, some would certainly argue, the worst style.) His frequent use of expository captions is quite grating, and his spidey wisecracks seem dated and unfunny, especially when placed alongside Slott’s genuinely hilarious dialogue.

Gale’s last two issues have made use of the interesting concept (recently introduced to the Spider-Man universe) of “The Bookie” - a small-time crook who takes bets on Superhero fights in the Bar With No Name - a super-villain sanctuary. The idea is uniquely suited to Spider-Man, and adds nicely to the fabric of the Marvel Universe. Unfortunately, Gale’s attempt to write a story about the character - while quite welcome - has ended up jettisoning the elements that made Brand New Day seem successful in the first place - as a result it doesn’t feel classically-influenced so much as it feels generic.

There are some good moments - the bartender halting the fight because technically, Spider-Man’s a “villain” and the bar is a sanctuary for crooks was a nice touch, as was Spidey making use of the cross-town train system in lieu of swinging. Finally, too, we get some advancement on the Spider-Tracer killer plotline which has been running through the books - turns out, Spidey’s being set up, though if it’s clear the “victims” died of natural causes, one would hope that it’d be… picked up by the coroner? Personally, my money’s on the “killer” being one of Spidey’s more well-known foes, and that this plotline might actually tie into the return of Venom.

Largely, though, it feels like a bit of a mis-fire, and perhaps because while there’s a lot of Spider-Man, there’s not actually much Peter Parker - he appears in one panel at the end. If the idea behind Brand New Day was to get back to Peter’s life, this issue is definitely a failure in that regard. McKone’s artwork is reliably good, at least, but he colouring seems a little too muddy and dull, and makes the book read about as entertainingly as it’s written.

Certainly Amazing #563 isn’t the worst Brand New Day issue, but it does have the dubious honour of being the least remarkable - and that might ultimately be more of a worry in the long run.

Hellblazer #245

Given that Andy Diggle’s run was just starting to pick up some momentum, I have to admit to not having been hugely enthused by the prospect of this fill-in two-parter by Jason Aaron. Not least because I’ve always been a bit uncomfortable with Americans taking on John Constantine – no offence, but it’s never seemed like they’d get the character in quite the same way (I hold up the Azzarello run and a certain movie as evidence) – although I suppose this is akin to the idea of British writers taking on the flagship Superman, Batman and X-Men titles, so I should probably keep my trap shut.

Particularly since, as it turns out, Aaron doesn’t need any lessons in “getting” Constantine at all, and the opening part of this story strikes all the right notes, even as John himself doesn’t appear until the last couple of pages. Aaron recognises that, as an “outsider” to the UK, the best way to examine the character is through the eyes of fellow interlopers – and so the story is told from the perspective of a group of Americans making a punk rock documentary series, who’ve travelled to Newcastle to find out more about the disappearance of Mucous Membrane.

And maybe it’s just that I’m a sucker for referencing classic British punk and new wave (X-Ray Spex, the Adverts and the Vibrators all get namechecked alongside the usual suspects) along with delving into Hellblazer mythology, but it’s an entertaining read. Aaron draws some great humour in the first half of the issue from his mildly naïve cast (of particular note is the guy from Ohio putting on a bad British accent – slightly metatextual? – the young, hip presenter calling “Basket Case” the greatest punk song ever, and a laugh-out-loud cameo by Chas), before things take a dark and deeply unsettling turn in the second half, with scenes that are more uncomfortable to read than anything I’ve seen in a comic for a good while.

Perhaps it’s the colouring that does it, but in the last couple of years there’s been a quite consistent “look” to Hellblazer even as the artists have shifted, and Sean Murphy’s art generally sticks with a similar style to that of Leonardo Manco (still in my view the best artist the series has had since Steve Dillon). He handles the grisly part well, and the only point at which he really falls down is in the final-page splash of John himself – there’s character to it, but it just feels a little off, and more than a bit sketchy. Oh, and while it’s fairly uncharacteristic of the series, that’s an excellent cover.

If you could aim a criticism at recent Hellblazer – Diggle’s run included – it’s that it’s relied on fan-pleasing references to the past rather than building a new chapter of the character’s mythology. But to be honest, for a series that’s struggled to really grasp its own identity in recent years, it’s nice to have stories that feel like Hellblazer, even if they’re not hugely original. Aaron at least takes an original storytelling perspective, and he writes well. Constantine’s punk days are generally underexplored – most writers have used them as a character backdrop rather than a story setting – and just as with Peter Hogan’s unpublished Marquee Moon, it’s good to see a writer with a genuine understanding of the cultural context of 1977 London taking it on – not to mention a writer that really clicks with the horror sensibilities of the title’s early years. Not bad for an American.

The Sunday Pages #19

In something of a quiet week, our attention switches to British football comics, with the sad news of the passing of writer Fred Baker, and the rather more pleasant prospect of a happy nostalgia trip for Roy of the Rovers fans. Elsewhere, we bemoan the fact that it’s… well, a quiet week, really - and the usual linkspamming of articles written elsewhere that we don’t even really need to mention in these leads any more, do we?

X-Factor #32

Coming at the end of a sub-par arc, this issue feels like something of a return to form for X-Factor. The book’s speciality is placing relatively conventional X-Men plots in a more realistic setting, and Peter David imbues the story with a real sense of pace as Mutant Town collapses in the aftermath of Arcade’s appearance. The adjustment that the writer makes to his team’s status quo here is one of the most obvious that could be implemented; yet his constant fake-outs and red herrings make the result feel like anything but a foregone conclusion.

It’s a misunderstanding to say that X-Factor has been derailed by its eagerness to participate in Marvel’s crossovers. In part, the concept seemed tailor-made to show such events form a different perspective. The book managed to thrive during its Civil War story, providing an interesting street-level look at the conflict, but the hasty curtailment of its Huber arc in time for Messiah Complex left a bad taste in the mouth. What sets this issue above its immediate predecessors, in addition to some superlative art from Valentine De Landro, is the way David allows Jamie some victories, however fleeting. The bleakness of the present story, with Mutant Town burning and Madrox overcome by despair, felt slightly odd when placed alongside the comedy that has always characterised the book. The easier tone here is a great relief. Another part of this success is the resolution of the slightly forced grievances between the cast members, and the appearance of a familiar face. The manner of Layla Miller’s partial return to the book should irritate, but the sheer check of David’s approach eventually wins the reader over. Her new status as Madrox’s imaginary friend allows the reader to enjoy some of David’s sharpest dialogue, and allows us to hear the main character’s thoughts without the sometimes-clunky use of narration.

A slight fly in the ointment is the confirmation that Val Cooper will be an ongoing part of the book’s furniture. Despite her longevity, she’s a character who has acquired remarkably little depth, and the sheer number of anti-mutant bigots she’s worked with makes it hard to accept her claims a responsible approach to mutant affairs at face value. David uses this in an excellent gag during her first meeting with Rictor, and it’ll be interesting to see if the writer is finally able to imbue her with a more rounded personality. The final page makes explicit her role in X-Factor’s pseudo-noir world. She’s the all-powerful mob boss, whose dirty work the team will occasionally have to do to stay in business. The agency’s relocation to Detroit gives a strong feeling that David has finished his adjustments, taking the strongest elements of the concept’s original incarnation, and transplanting them to a setting more compatible with the X-Franchise’s new direction.

The Third Man

As part of Comics Daily’s attempts to expand, diversify and (most importantly) prevent any fatigue setting in after a good 8 months of TIRELESS, uninterrupted daily posting, Seb and I have invited our good friend Julian Hazeldine to join the Comics Daily roster. Plese extend to him the appreciative, if largely silent welcome that all bloggers can hope to receive from their audience as you read his first review, which will be going up shortly.

This is the latest in a series of changes you’ll see being made to the site over the summer as we expand our remit a little bit to feature creator-interviews, articles and other comics-related content. Perhaps you’ve already noticed the X-Men Legacy Annotations that I have been tirelessly plugging? Expect more stuff along those lines! 

Even so, all this will be on top of what we already do, and the site’s focus will of course remain our original mission statement: One new comics review every week day!

Wolverine #66

Unlike “Enemy of the State” which was little more than a murderous free-for-all, Millar’s first issue of “Old Man Logan” shows a nice amount of depth to Wolverine. He’s become a pacifist following some horrifying event in the past where most of the heroes died, and as a result he’s settled down and become a family man, running a farm. He’s still struggling with his inner-rage, but it’s pretty much under control. Of everything in the book, Wolverine is the best character, and it actually feels a lot more like Wolverine: The End than Paul Jenkins’ dubious effort a few years ago.

However, the problem with “Old Man Logan” is that it’s set in a future that’s been gratuitously constructed out of Marvel continuity, rather than any specific logic. The Hulk’s grandchildren ride around in the Fantasticar, beating rent out of farmers. Hawkeye turns up in…the Spider-Mobile? Wolverine has named his son after Cyclops, for some reason that will either be very symbolic or… not. It’s yet another mix & match Marvel Future, and god knows we’ve got plenty of those as it is. The unique selling point of this one? It’s a little Mad Max-meets 1930s US-depression inspired. Yay.

There are some really cringeworthy elements in the book, including the big double-page reveal of a map filled with the kind of nonsense a 4 year old would write if he was asked to imagine a Marvel future. Electroville, the Mutant Forbidden Quarter, Paste Pot Creek… seriously? Unlike Kick-Ass and 1985, Old Man Logan returns to the Millar of Civil War, who has a lot of ideas but struggles to find a clear narrative to wrap them around.

At least, on the other hand, McNiven’s art is fantastic. It’s not really clear why Wolverine suddenly looks the same age range as Hawkeye when everyone knows Wolverine barely ages, but we can let that slide simpley because McNiven’s version is so damn accurate. Even without the classic hairstyle, it’s immediately recognisable. The art has as much characterisation as Millar’s dialogue.

It’s not a hideous comic - certainly, no worse than the rest of Wolverine’s solo series has been for a while, but coming from Millar and McNiven, we’re trained to expect better than this days of future past/age of apocalypse type alternate future riff. Apparently it’s going to tie into Millar’s Fantastic Four run, which is currently setting the low end of the top 30 alight, and that in itself feels a bit strange - Wolverine is actually outselling F4, shouldn’t the tie-in be the other way around? If you’re reading F4, I’d certainly recommend picking this up, but let’s be honest - this run is going to have to pull something seriously entertaining out of the next issue or two if it wants to be held up alongside Millar’s work in title’s like Ultimates, and it’s beginning to look like he might never get that good again.

Dusting Off: Incredible Hulk #300 (October 1984)

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 Hulk movie out, I was thinking of finding a classic Hulk comic to review for this week’s Dusting Off. After all, the Hulk - done right - is one of my favourite characters. While looking through my back issues, I got to this one and stopped without even bothering to check the others - this is easily one of the greats.

There’s a lot to love about the justifiably-classic Incredible Hulk #300. The fact that Hulk runs around entirely in purple underpants for the entire issue, the fact that it features the BLACK SUIT Spider-Man, and, of course, the fact that the cover rather prosaically claims: “Special Abnormally Large Size Issue!” on the front.

The real reason, though, that it’s become a well-loved favourite, is the simple, fun and timeless nature of the story: The Hulk fights pretty much everyone, and he only loses on a technicality. The issue starts with SHIELD bearing down on a rampaging Hulk. Daredevil and Spider-Man are helping out where they can, but the battle between Hulk and SHIELD is causing all kind of damage to the streets, which are full of fleeing pedestrians. Meanwhile, Dr. Strange is at home, lamenting the fact that he caused all of this by helping Bruce mentally decide to become the Hulk, burying his personality forever (this is, of course, not as permanent as it sounds). As the Hulk ploughs through more SHIELD agents, Johnny Storm, Luke Cage and Iron Fist all fail to stop his rampage.

Eventually the Avengers turn up. Unfortunately, at this point in Marvel history, the Avengers are made up of Monica “Captain Marvel” Rambeau, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Starfox and Vision, all of whom are a load of weaklings compared to the Hulk. He beats the crap out of a few of them, before he starts to fight the one decent Avenger - Thor. While this battle goes on, Dr. Strange is giving all of his evil friends a dimensional phone call, but decides that none of them are trustworthy enough to take care of the Hulk without killing him. Thor and Hulk battle to a stalemate, and the situation looks grim when suddenly, Strange shows up and tricks Hulk into jumping into a dimensional crossroads. Cue a year’s worth of stories about the Hulk’s nomadic, inter-dimensional exile.

Sounds a bit ridiculous, doesn’t it? Well, that’s because it is. Gloriously so. Mantlo - the first writer to introduce the idea that Banner was the victim of child abuse, adding significantly to the character - does his best to make it clear that the Hulk has finally become what everyone thought he was. A beast of pure rage and strength, without any humanity at all, tearing through the city unable to be stopped. The artwork comes from Sal Buscema and Gerry Talaoc, and even compared to today’s high standards, it holds up remarkably, with some brilliant splash images and some dynamic page layouts - be that Hulk smashing a billboard containing the credits, or Starfox being thrown the entire length of the page, top to bottom.

This story is very much a relation of the recent Hulk storylines. For example, Strange decides that the best way to deal with Hulk is to send him somewhere nice and out of the way (in this case it’s dimensional crossroads, not another planet as in Planet Hulk). Prior to that, he’d got everyone on the ropes, destroying the town and generally being unstoppable - much like in World War Hulk. It’s clearly a big influence with today’s creators, and justifiably so.

The occasionally simplistic nature of the character means that it’s fairly hard to find as many truly classic Hulk stories compared to the amount his peers have, but there’s no doubt that Incredible Hulk #300 is one of them.

Captain Britain and MI:13 #2

Following the quite surprising media “storm” brought about by the appearance of Gordon Brown in issue #1 (something that yours truly, who was reading the comic anyway, hadn’t even spotted), Paul Cornell’s Captain Britain and MI:13 suddenly finds itself under something of a spotlight. It’s a good job, then, that it’s already proving to be such a good series. Cornell seems to be bringing one of the strongest attributes of a certain time-travel related TV show for which he writes to the comics table – that is, a reliance on strong central ideas.

Finding himself in the position of having to essentially show “the British front” of an editorially-dictated war with the Skrulls, Cornell’s priority is therefore to find a unique angle, rather than simply playing out the events of Secret Invasion in different costumes. This he does by having the Skrulls go after the strongest card that Marvel’s Britain holds – not superheroes, as in the States, but magic. What we get, therefore, is a twist on the usual trope of magic always being able to win out in a technological situation - bring technology into a magical world, and the unfamiliar technology will triumph. It’s a neat idea, and at the same time as this victory enhances the Skrull threat, we can already see from the world of Avalon that Cornell is building up (even the Green Knight gets in there at one point!) the sort of themes that are going to inform the series as a whole, the strengths of Marvel’s “British mythology” that it’s going to play to.

That aside, there’s little that’s hugely remarkable about Captain Britain (save for the fact that its titular character is afforded a significant impact without actually appearing in its pages, right from the excellent opening page that compares the difference between the British and American public’s “discovery” of the deaths of their champions - although, you know, if Braddock is actually dead, I’ll buy the trade paperback and EAT it). But as with the first issue, this is simply a finely-crafted, strongly-executed, terrifically entertaining slice of superhero comics. Cornell already brings no small measure of confidence to his storytelling, even this early in his comics career, and he litters the pages with sharp dialogue (choice examples including “Don’t call me ’sir’, it’s… weirdly horny” and “this voice… is half like Gandalf and half like Mr Kipling”) and great characters (it’s no small feat that Faiza is already so likeable and well-defined, given that she’s only had a few pages of each issue in which to be introduced).

The solid craftsmanship extends to the art, as well, with Leonard Kirk on career-best form - although there are certain action beats that could do with being a bit clearer, his character design is strong and there’s a great sense of energy. He’s clearly going for something of a Bryan Hitch style, and on the whole pulls it off rather well.

The overriding feeling about Captain Britain and MI13 - quite aside from the fact that getting Paul Cornell into the industry was an absolute masterstroke on Marvel’s part, and they need to take full advantage of his talent while they can - is that, from a UK-based reader’s perspective, it’s fantastic to have a proper, British superhero comic of which to be proud. The last one I can really think of was Miracleman, and before that… well, Moore’s Captain Britain, really. Cornell is carefully building up his own little corner of the Marvel Universe here, and packing it out with characters about whom I can’t wait to read and discover more. And that’s before Cap himself has even had a chance to come out fighting.