by Alan Moore & Alan Davis
This is my 24th review! Virtual champaign all around!
This is again the Finnish edition. The US edition has Marvel Super-Heroes (UK) #377-388, The Daredevils (UK) #1-11, Captain America #305-306, Mighty World of Marvel (UK) #7-16, Captain Britain (UK) #1-14, New Mutants Annual #2, and Uncanny X-Men Annual #11.
The Finnish one has Marvel Super-Heroes (UK) #387-388, The Daredevils (UK) #1-11, Mighty World of Marvel (UK) #7-13. However, the New Mutants and the X-Men Annual have been published here years ago in the X-Men comic.
I’ve been a fan of Alan Davis for longer than I care to remember. Here, his style is yet a bit less streamlined than in say, the Authority or the Fantastic Four, but it’s definitely recognizable and enjoyable.
I like most of what I’ve read from Moore. For example V for Vendetta and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which are all excellent.
Captain Britain, Brian Braddock, is a man of science who, nevertheless, accepts magical powers from a man he believes to be Merlin from the Arthurian tales. He’s loyal and brave but not to foolishness. Here he finds himself in alternate realities, seeing other versions of himself (some of them female), and trying to stay sane. He doesn’t quite succeed. In another reality, he has to fight a mutant who can alter reality with his mind and the superhero killing machine that the mutant has created. The machine kills Brian.
Merlyn and his daughter Roma are playing a deadly game, and their playing field is the whole of omniverse. Merlyn needs a champion and when Brian dies, Merlyn builds him up again and places him back to his own reality.
There Brian has to face the chance that what happened in that alternate reality might happen in his home as well: one well-placed and selfish mutant might manage to rally the whole Britain against super beings and put them into concentration camps.
This story has many classic cosmic superhero elements: alternate universes and histories, and nearly invincible villains. The stories are quite cosmic although there is time for a one more mundane villain beating.
Some of the classic Captain Britain and X-men characters are met for the first time: Betsy Braddock who later becomes Psylocke, Opal Luna Saturnyne and her Avant Guard, and of course Merlyn and Roma the Omniversal Majestrix.
I like the first run of Excalibur where Brian was a member along with Meggan, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler and Phoenix, and which featured almost as much dimension-hopping as this one. Even though the stories are quite old (the first one came out in 1982), they hold up admirably and are quite enjoyable.
My blog: http://mervih.wordpress.com/
Showing posts with label Mervi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mervi. Show all posts
December 12, 2009
December 10, 2009
Hellboy: Wake the Devil
By Michael Mignola
I've only got one more review to go before the doctorate!
The second Hellboy trade is dedicated to Dracula which is appropriate considering that one of the main baddies in this trade is a vampire. Here Mignola continues his mythic tale of Hellboy and adds Norse and Russian myths to the mix. Most of the story is set in Romania in a quite Draculan setting.
Roderico Zinco, a very rich entrepreneur, offers sanctuary to the three Nazis whom we saw emerging from their life preservation bods at the end of the previous story. Their mysterious master had appeared to Zinco and recruited him.
One year later, the trio is in New York and Ilsa kills the curator of a wax museum. Later, the BPRD investigates and finds out that the seemingly simple murder gives a clue to a far larger conspiracy; the owner used to hold the body of Vladimir Giurescu. According to the Romanian folk tales, Giurescu could never die; that the moonlight would revive him when he was in a specific room in his castle. The Nazis made an effort to recruit him but after meeting Giurescu, Hilter ordered him and his family (six women) to be killed and burned. However, it’s possible that one of the Nazis preserved Giurescu’s body and brought it to the US. In fact, the murdered curator turns out to be German.
The BPRD sends three teams to Romania to investigate. Hellboy has the honor to check out Giurescu’s castle all by himself. Meanwhile, Ilsa has brought the crate where Giurescu’s corpse is supposed to be, back to the castle. When Hellboy shows up she makes a cyborg Nazi fight him.
Later, the Nazi trio’s Master from the previous trade appears as a ghost-like being and Ilsa follows him without question. The Master (I’m trying very hard not to spoiler here) is again the main villain of the story. We learn his history and connections to a famous Russian fairy tale character. Also, Hellboy finds out why he’s on Earth and to fight against his inner demonic being.
The art is again very distinctive. It borrows from the ancient mythologies and the more modern vampire mythology. I also liked the close-ups where we could see just how many of the equipment that the BPRD uses are made by the Zinco Corporation. The enemy was nearer than the BPRD agents ever knew.
The story continues from Seed of Destruction and I recommend starting with that trade. The main villain is the same and story of Hellboy’s origin continues here.
Some of the characters get more flesh in their bones. Ironically, they are mostly the villains, the Master and Ilsa, whom we’ll hopefully see in the future. I also enjoyed the return of the old Greek goddess and the way that the people in the village near Giurescu’s castle reacted to his return. Dracula came strongly to mind with the latter.
I found it quite remarkable how well Mignola was able to mix the different myths. Hecate, Baba Yaga, Lovecraftian monsters, the seven-in-one, and vampires can co-exist in the same world without it feeling forced. Not to mention all of the other characters from their respective myths. Impressive.
However, the ending was somewhat disappointing especially if the three people stay dead. Giurescu didn’t really get a chance to do anything; the Master and the Nazis got to do pretty much everything.
I've only got one more review to go before the doctorate!
The second Hellboy trade is dedicated to Dracula which is appropriate considering that one of the main baddies in this trade is a vampire. Here Mignola continues his mythic tale of Hellboy and adds Norse and Russian myths to the mix. Most of the story is set in Romania in a quite Draculan setting.
Roderico Zinco, a very rich entrepreneur, offers sanctuary to the three Nazis whom we saw emerging from their life preservation bods at the end of the previous story. Their mysterious master had appeared to Zinco and recruited him.
One year later, the trio is in New York and Ilsa kills the curator of a wax museum. Later, the BPRD investigates and finds out that the seemingly simple murder gives a clue to a far larger conspiracy; the owner used to hold the body of Vladimir Giurescu. According to the Romanian folk tales, Giurescu could never die; that the moonlight would revive him when he was in a specific room in his castle. The Nazis made an effort to recruit him but after meeting Giurescu, Hilter ordered him and his family (six women) to be killed and burned. However, it’s possible that one of the Nazis preserved Giurescu’s body and brought it to the US. In fact, the murdered curator turns out to be German.
The BPRD sends three teams to Romania to investigate. Hellboy has the honor to check out Giurescu’s castle all by himself. Meanwhile, Ilsa has brought the crate where Giurescu’s corpse is supposed to be, back to the castle. When Hellboy shows up she makes a cyborg Nazi fight him.
Later, the Nazi trio’s Master from the previous trade appears as a ghost-like being and Ilsa follows him without question. The Master (I’m trying very hard not to spoiler here) is again the main villain of the story. We learn his history and connections to a famous Russian fairy tale character. Also, Hellboy finds out why he’s on Earth and to fight against his inner demonic being.
The art is again very distinctive. It borrows from the ancient mythologies and the more modern vampire mythology. I also liked the close-ups where we could see just how many of the equipment that the BPRD uses are made by the Zinco Corporation. The enemy was nearer than the BPRD agents ever knew.
The story continues from Seed of Destruction and I recommend starting with that trade. The main villain is the same and story of Hellboy’s origin continues here.
Some of the characters get more flesh in their bones. Ironically, they are mostly the villains, the Master and Ilsa, whom we’ll hopefully see in the future. I also enjoyed the return of the old Greek goddess and the way that the people in the village near Giurescu’s castle reacted to his return. Dracula came strongly to mind with the latter.
I found it quite remarkable how well Mignola was able to mix the different myths. Hecate, Baba Yaga, Lovecraftian monsters, the seven-in-one, and vampires can co-exist in the same world without it feeling forced. Not to mention all of the other characters from their respective myths. Impressive.
However, the ending was somewhat disappointing especially if the three people stay dead. Giurescu didn’t really get a chance to do anything; the Master and the Nazis got to do pretty much everything.
December 2, 2009
Hellboy: Seed of destruction
By Michael Mignola and John Byrne
This is the collection of the first Hellboy miniseries. It’s also part of the first Finnish Hellboy trade.
The first chapter is set in the final years of WWII when the Nazis are trying to get magical help. A mysterious magician performs a mighty spell which seems to go somewhat wrong.
He was supposed to summon a miracle for the Nazis but nothing happens. Meanwhile, a group of British and USAians are in East Bromwich where something magical is supposed to happen. The group consists of soldiers and three paranormal people. In the end, a scary looking little boy appears. The boy is taken in by the paranormals who are members of BPRD, the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.
The next chapter opens 50 years later. The little boy has grown up to be Hellboy, one of BPRD’s best agents. He still doesn’t know where he came from or why.
Hellboy’s old adoptive father, professor Trevor Bruttenholm, has taken part in an expedition which was seeking something mystical from the Northern Polar Regions. It was believed that the expedition perished just like all the previous ones. However, Bruttenholm survived. He tells Hellboy about a weird statue and how he has lost some of his memories. Soon, a group of frogs appears and Bruttenholm is killed. Hellboy battles a human-sized frog creature whose tongue can make his arm go numb. Even though Hellboy kills the creature, he’s only clues are the other members of the expedition. They were three young men from a famous explorer family of Cavendish. Hellboy’s small team goes to the Cavendish Hall which is rumored to have been built on cursed land.
The story is told mostly from the point-of-view of Hellboy who has to face not only the death of the only parent he has ever known but also the possibility of knowing more about his purpose on Earth – which is likely not a benevolent one. However, he has had a long time to live with the uncertainty. He’s not a brooding teenager but a professional who has a job to do.
His team mates are interesting and I hope we get to know more about them in the later stories. This time we barely got a glimpse of them. Abe Sapien, the amphibian paranormal, was found in an underground tube where he could have been a long time. He seems to be a consummate professional as well. Liz Sherman is a pyrokinetic whose power was first so uncontrolled that she burned her family to death when she was ten. That must have left a lot of traumas and yet she has a job where she probably has to use her powers. She spends most of the comic off-screen so we don’t learn much about her.
Perhaps the most striking thing about the comic is the atmosphere. There are quite a few Lovecraftian monsters around and magic is real. I could even compare Hellboy to sword and sorcery –type fantasy stories where the magicians are almost always evil. There are some references to real myths, especially in the artwork, and Hellboy himself seems to have come out of one, as well.
The artwork is different than the current manga-style or the sleek superhero -style which I’m mostly used to, but that’s good. It emphasizes the setting, the feeling of mythology, and creates a unique feel to the comic.
The first Finnish trade contains Seed of Destruction, Wake the Devil, and one of the later short stories. It’s in black and white which gives the stories perhaps a more intense atmosphere than the standard four color comics.
My blog: http://mervih.wordpress.com/
This is the collection of the first Hellboy miniseries. It’s also part of the first Finnish Hellboy trade.
The first chapter is set in the final years of WWII when the Nazis are trying to get magical help. A mysterious magician performs a mighty spell which seems to go somewhat wrong.
He was supposed to summon a miracle for the Nazis but nothing happens. Meanwhile, a group of British and USAians are in East Bromwich where something magical is supposed to happen. The group consists of soldiers and three paranormal people. In the end, a scary looking little boy appears. The boy is taken in by the paranormals who are members of BPRD, the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.
The next chapter opens 50 years later. The little boy has grown up to be Hellboy, one of BPRD’s best agents. He still doesn’t know where he came from or why.
Hellboy’s old adoptive father, professor Trevor Bruttenholm, has taken part in an expedition which was seeking something mystical from the Northern Polar Regions. It was believed that the expedition perished just like all the previous ones. However, Bruttenholm survived. He tells Hellboy about a weird statue and how he has lost some of his memories. Soon, a group of frogs appears and Bruttenholm is killed. Hellboy battles a human-sized frog creature whose tongue can make his arm go numb. Even though Hellboy kills the creature, he’s only clues are the other members of the expedition. They were three young men from a famous explorer family of Cavendish. Hellboy’s small team goes to the Cavendish Hall which is rumored to have been built on cursed land.
The story is told mostly from the point-of-view of Hellboy who has to face not only the death of the only parent he has ever known but also the possibility of knowing more about his purpose on Earth – which is likely not a benevolent one. However, he has had a long time to live with the uncertainty. He’s not a brooding teenager but a professional who has a job to do.
His team mates are interesting and I hope we get to know more about them in the later stories. This time we barely got a glimpse of them. Abe Sapien, the amphibian paranormal, was found in an underground tube where he could have been a long time. He seems to be a consummate professional as well. Liz Sherman is a pyrokinetic whose power was first so uncontrolled that she burned her family to death when she was ten. That must have left a lot of traumas and yet she has a job where she probably has to use her powers. She spends most of the comic off-screen so we don’t learn much about her.
Perhaps the most striking thing about the comic is the atmosphere. There are quite a few Lovecraftian monsters around and magic is real. I could even compare Hellboy to sword and sorcery –type fantasy stories where the magicians are almost always evil. There are some references to real myths, especially in the artwork, and Hellboy himself seems to have come out of one, as well.
The artwork is different than the current manga-style or the sleek superhero -style which I’m mostly used to, but that’s good. It emphasizes the setting, the feeling of mythology, and creates a unique feel to the comic.
The first Finnish trade contains Seed of Destruction, Wake the Devil, and one of the later short stories. It’s in black and white which gives the stories perhaps a more intense atmosphere than the standard four color comics.
My blog: http://mervih.wordpress.com/
November 10, 2009
Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne: vol. 6
By John Byrne and Jerry Ordway
Collects Fantastic Four #276-284, Secret Wars II #2, Thing #23.
In these issues Ordway is inking Byrne’s pencils and to me, at least, the change is noticeable. Ordway has a very distinctive style.
In the first two issues a couple of earlier subplots are tied up: Reed, Sue, and Franklin’s stint as a normal family in Connecticut, and Ben’s return. Next, Dr. Doom steals the Baxter Building and the FF head to Microverse.
The whole “normal family” thing was a nice change of pace in between the superheroics and I was almost sorry to see it end. However, it was quite a long running subplot so it just makes sense for Byrne to end it. Also, I was expecting someone to recognize Susan and Franklin because they should be quite famous. The nosy neighbor brought to mind a similar character from the TV-show “Bewitched” and she was quite entertaining.
The second story was Ben coming back from the Beyonder’s planet. He has already decided to dump Alicia and the FF. Yet, when he comes to Alicia’s place and meets the half naked Johnny there, he starts a fight. I guess he thinks that Alicia is his property. I was happy to see She-Hulk stay.
The next issue is pretty much a recap of Doom’s backstory. Of course, when I first read these comics I didn’t know Doom was, so the recap was appreciated. Doom’s young ward Kristoff is made to think that he is Doom and he “starts his career again” by stealing the Baxter Building. Meanwhile Johnny and Alicia are dealing with racial hatred which seems stronger than usual.
Kristoff as Doom floats the BB up to space and blows it up.
Afterwards, the FF have to deal with the fact that their home is gone. Hatred and intolerance is also building up. Meanwhile, Psycho-Man sends a very powerful woman called Malice after the FF. After a pitched battle, Reed manages to trace their enemy to Microverse. So, the FF shrinks themselves and goes after the bad guy.
Kristoff wasn’t really a match for Victor but I guess he wasn’t supposed to be. He was just a way to show us how far reaching and evil Doom’s plans are.
I rather enjoyed Psycho-Man as the villain because his ability to manipulate emotions was used to a very good effect. It seems, though, that he hasn’t been used much outside this adventure.
Malice was an interesting “character”. I liked the aggressive way she used her powers (and lets face it if she had been a male from the start, he would have used the very aggressively from the start) which clearly showed how dangerous she is. I suspect, though, that her fight with the FF was cut some pages short in the Finnish edition.
The Microverse part of this trade is again one of my favorite stories and the first Microverse story I’ve ever read. I loved it how She-Hulk was trying to overcome her fear. I also liked a lot the surreal FF story that Susan experienced under torture.
Still, the stories here aren’t as classic as the Galactus-story in vol. 2 or the aftermath with Tyros in vol. 4.
This marks the milestone where Susan finally becomes the Invisible Woman.
Overall: a decent trade.
Collects Fantastic Four #276-284, Secret Wars II #2, Thing #23.
In these issues Ordway is inking Byrne’s pencils and to me, at least, the change is noticeable. Ordway has a very distinctive style.
In the first two issues a couple of earlier subplots are tied up: Reed, Sue, and Franklin’s stint as a normal family in Connecticut, and Ben’s return. Next, Dr. Doom steals the Baxter Building and the FF head to Microverse.
The whole “normal family” thing was a nice change of pace in between the superheroics and I was almost sorry to see it end. However, it was quite a long running subplot so it just makes sense for Byrne to end it. Also, I was expecting someone to recognize Susan and Franklin because they should be quite famous. The nosy neighbor brought to mind a similar character from the TV-show “Bewitched” and she was quite entertaining.
The second story was Ben coming back from the Beyonder’s planet. He has already decided to dump Alicia and the FF. Yet, when he comes to Alicia’s place and meets the half naked Johnny there, he starts a fight. I guess he thinks that Alicia is his property. I was happy to see She-Hulk stay.
The next issue is pretty much a recap of Doom’s backstory. Of course, when I first read these comics I didn’t know Doom was, so the recap was appreciated. Doom’s young ward Kristoff is made to think that he is Doom and he “starts his career again” by stealing the Baxter Building. Meanwhile Johnny and Alicia are dealing with racial hatred which seems stronger than usual.
Kristoff as Doom floats the BB up to space and blows it up.
Afterwards, the FF have to deal with the fact that their home is gone. Hatred and intolerance is also building up. Meanwhile, Psycho-Man sends a very powerful woman called Malice after the FF. After a pitched battle, Reed manages to trace their enemy to Microverse. So, the FF shrinks themselves and goes after the bad guy.
Kristoff wasn’t really a match for Victor but I guess he wasn’t supposed to be. He was just a way to show us how far reaching and evil Doom’s plans are.
I rather enjoyed Psycho-Man as the villain because his ability to manipulate emotions was used to a very good effect. It seems, though, that he hasn’t been used much outside this adventure.
Malice was an interesting “character”. I liked the aggressive way she used her powers (and lets face it if she had been a male from the start, he would have used the very aggressively from the start) which clearly showed how dangerous she is. I suspect, though, that her fight with the FF was cut some pages short in the Finnish edition.
The Microverse part of this trade is again one of my favorite stories and the first Microverse story I’ve ever read. I loved it how She-Hulk was trying to overcome her fear. I also liked a lot the surreal FF story that Susan experienced under torture.
Still, the stories here aren’t as classic as the Galactus-story in vol. 2 or the aftermath with Tyros in vol. 4.
This marks the milestone where Susan finally becomes the Invisible Woman.
Overall: a decent trade.
November 2, 2009
Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne: vol. 5
By John Byrne
Collects Fantastic Four #268-275 and Avengers 18, and Thing #19.
This is another batch of classic FF action: Terminus, Reed’s dad in a parallel universe, Jen meets Wyatt, and Johnny’s and Alicia’s relationship starts.
This trade starts right after the previous one. Susan is still in the hospital. Meanwhile Johnny and Jennifer fight a mysterious opponent in the Baxter Building. It turns out to be Doom’s mask which leads to rather disturbing conclusion: either Doom is still alive or someone else is using his equipment.
Soon after, a huge and powerful beam from space cuts into the US soil. People are panicking and the president calls to the FF. It turns out that the beam is writing and in it Terminus declares the Earth as his. Jen and Reed outsmart Terminus while Susan is left to rest. Susan isn’t happy about that at all and is determined that she isn’t going to be shoved aside again. Wyatt wants to see more of the universe and becomes an unofficial member of the FF.
During Reed’s birthday, he confesses to Susan that he has lost some memories. In order to get some of them back, the FF goes to California to the Richards’ family estate. There the servant couple tells Reed that they have seen ghosts and the FF decides to investigate. Soon, they find Reed’s dad’s laboratory which has a working time machine. However, the FF know that you can’t actually travel in time but only into parallel universes. They decide to follow Reed’s dad and perhaps to return him. The FF and Wyatt step through to a very different world which has been ravaged by wars and is now ruled by the Warlord. The dimension has cowboys riding flying, horse shaped metallic steeds and valkyries who ride similar metal dragons.
Then She-Hulk must deal with the photographer from the Naked Truth.
Apparently, there are also a couple of issues of the Thing battling monsters but these weren’t published in Finland.
Terminus is yet another hugely powerful alien who wants to enslave Earth. This time it (while Terminus is clearly sentient, its gender or sex is impossible to know) clearly wasn’t beaten completely so its return (in Avengers, IIRC) wasn’t a surprise.
I really loved the parallel universe. The metallic steeds and the whole post-apocalypse atmosphere. It was one of the first parallel universe –stories I’ve read and it still has that nostalgia -feeling.
IMHO, Jen was far too lenient to the gossip magazine’s editor. That story was a bit too real-life for my taste. In other words, writers should just ignore it or otherwise all super heroines (and heroes, for that matter) should have paparazzies after them.
All in all, a classic collection of adventures although not as good as the previous trades.
Collects Fantastic Four #268-275 and Avengers 18, and Thing #19.
This is another batch of classic FF action: Terminus, Reed’s dad in a parallel universe, Jen meets Wyatt, and Johnny’s and Alicia’s relationship starts.
This trade starts right after the previous one. Susan is still in the hospital. Meanwhile Johnny and Jennifer fight a mysterious opponent in the Baxter Building. It turns out to be Doom’s mask which leads to rather disturbing conclusion: either Doom is still alive or someone else is using his equipment.
Soon after, a huge and powerful beam from space cuts into the US soil. People are panicking and the president calls to the FF. It turns out that the beam is writing and in it Terminus declares the Earth as his. Jen and Reed outsmart Terminus while Susan is left to rest. Susan isn’t happy about that at all and is determined that she isn’t going to be shoved aside again. Wyatt wants to see more of the universe and becomes an unofficial member of the FF.
During Reed’s birthday, he confesses to Susan that he has lost some memories. In order to get some of them back, the FF goes to California to the Richards’ family estate. There the servant couple tells Reed that they have seen ghosts and the FF decides to investigate. Soon, they find Reed’s dad’s laboratory which has a working time machine. However, the FF know that you can’t actually travel in time but only into parallel universes. They decide to follow Reed’s dad and perhaps to return him. The FF and Wyatt step through to a very different world which has been ravaged by wars and is now ruled by the Warlord. The dimension has cowboys riding flying, horse shaped metallic steeds and valkyries who ride similar metal dragons.
Then She-Hulk must deal with the photographer from the Naked Truth.
Apparently, there are also a couple of issues of the Thing battling monsters but these weren’t published in Finland.
Terminus is yet another hugely powerful alien who wants to enslave Earth. This time it (while Terminus is clearly sentient, its gender or sex is impossible to know) clearly wasn’t beaten completely so its return (in Avengers, IIRC) wasn’t a surprise.
I really loved the parallel universe. The metallic steeds and the whole post-apocalypse atmosphere. It was one of the first parallel universe –stories I’ve read and it still has that nostalgia -feeling.
IMHO, Jen was far too lenient to the gossip magazine’s editor. That story was a bit too real-life for my taste. In other words, writers should just ignore it or otherwise all super heroines (and heroes, for that matter) should have paparazzies after them.
All in all, a classic collection of adventures although not as good as the previous trades.
October 29, 2009
Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne: vol. 4
By John Byrne
Collects Fantastic Four #258-267 and Alpha Flight 4, and Thing #10.
These stories deal with the aftermaths of the fight with Galactus in vol. 2. It’s full of many classic moments: Dr. Doom giving the former Terrax cosmic powers and the fight that it leads to, Reed Richards’ trial for saving Galactus, and She-Hulk replacing Ben.
The trade starts with an issue focusing on Doom. During the months that the FF has spent in the Negative Zone, Doom has been busy. He has a young ward Kristoff whom he’s teaching about the rigors of absolute monarchy. Also, he’s trying to find a way to make the Power Cosmic artificially so that he could use it again. In the end, he has to kidnap Tyros, the former Terrax Herald of Galactus, from hospital and use his machine to give Tyros the powers. Then he sends Tyros to destroy the FF. Ben, Susan, and Johnny fight Tyros but can only barely hold their own. Fortunately, the Silver Surfer interferes. Both Tyros and Doom seem to die in the fight.
Afterwards, the FF finds out that a transport beam has taken Reed out of the solar system. Susan decides to contact the Watcher who agrees to take them to Reed. A group of aliens has sentenced Reed to death because he didn’t let Galactus die. However, the FF and the Watcher persuades them to give Reed a trial. The prosecutor is Majestrix Lilandra herself. Many different people and beings speak at the trial.
Then Reed, Ben, and Johnny are whisked away to the Secret Wars while the Baxter Building guards itself against the Trapster. A visibly pregnant Susan is trying to keep busy while waiting for the rest of her family to return. However, the returning members of FF are Reed, Johnny, and the She-Hulk. Susan suffers a radiation attack and is taken to a hospital while Reed wants to consult the foremost expert in radiation: Dr. Otto Octavius also known as Dr. Octopus.
I remember being very impressed with these stories when I first read them in 1988. In the first part, Dr Doom says that he considers Susan to be the most dangerous member of the FF. Of course, practically the only thing that restricts the use of the force fields seems to be the writer’s imagination so I tend to agree with Doom in this.
The trial-part is still entertaining enough but I’m more dubious about it today. I definitely enjoyed how the pregnant Susan didn’t take any crap from the boys who tried to quickly leave her out but instead declared herself the current leader of FF and went right back into action. However, I find the whole idea that the Marvel universe has a “destiny” to be pretty cheesy. It’s also, of course, just a way of saying that the ends (the destiny) justify the means (the suffering of countless beings) which I don’t really care for. I was also baffled by the comments about Lilandra. She wants to relieve the suffering of others and this is now considered… arrogant and evil?
Byrne also put himself into the trial issues as the Chronicler of FF. I found this to be rather cheesy as well. On the other hand, it brought a little comic relief to otherwise rather tense story.
Baxter Building vs. the Trapster is great fun!
I loved She-Hulk in FF! She’s fun and easygoing and broke up the status quo nicely. I also liked her romance with Wyatt a lot.
The last storyline’s end was tragic and poignant in the middle of all the superhero action.
Overall: a great trade!
Collects Fantastic Four #258-267 and Alpha Flight 4, and Thing #10.
These stories deal with the aftermaths of the fight with Galactus in vol. 2. It’s full of many classic moments: Dr. Doom giving the former Terrax cosmic powers and the fight that it leads to, Reed Richards’ trial for saving Galactus, and She-Hulk replacing Ben.
The trade starts with an issue focusing on Doom. During the months that the FF has spent in the Negative Zone, Doom has been busy. He has a young ward Kristoff whom he’s teaching about the rigors of absolute monarchy. Also, he’s trying to find a way to make the Power Cosmic artificially so that he could use it again. In the end, he has to kidnap Tyros, the former Terrax Herald of Galactus, from hospital and use his machine to give Tyros the powers. Then he sends Tyros to destroy the FF. Ben, Susan, and Johnny fight Tyros but can only barely hold their own. Fortunately, the Silver Surfer interferes. Both Tyros and Doom seem to die in the fight.
Afterwards, the FF finds out that a transport beam has taken Reed out of the solar system. Susan decides to contact the Watcher who agrees to take them to Reed. A group of aliens has sentenced Reed to death because he didn’t let Galactus die. However, the FF and the Watcher persuades them to give Reed a trial. The prosecutor is Majestrix Lilandra herself. Many different people and beings speak at the trial.
Then Reed, Ben, and Johnny are whisked away to the Secret Wars while the Baxter Building guards itself against the Trapster. A visibly pregnant Susan is trying to keep busy while waiting for the rest of her family to return. However, the returning members of FF are Reed, Johnny, and the She-Hulk. Susan suffers a radiation attack and is taken to a hospital while Reed wants to consult the foremost expert in radiation: Dr. Otto Octavius also known as Dr. Octopus.
I remember being very impressed with these stories when I first read them in 1988. In the first part, Dr Doom says that he considers Susan to be the most dangerous member of the FF. Of course, practically the only thing that restricts the use of the force fields seems to be the writer’s imagination so I tend to agree with Doom in this.
The trial-part is still entertaining enough but I’m more dubious about it today. I definitely enjoyed how the pregnant Susan didn’t take any crap from the boys who tried to quickly leave her out but instead declared herself the current leader of FF and went right back into action. However, I find the whole idea that the Marvel universe has a “destiny” to be pretty cheesy. It’s also, of course, just a way of saying that the ends (the destiny) justify the means (the suffering of countless beings) which I don’t really care for. I was also baffled by the comments about Lilandra. She wants to relieve the suffering of others and this is now considered… arrogant and evil?
Byrne also put himself into the trial issues as the Chronicler of FF. I found this to be rather cheesy as well. On the other hand, it brought a little comic relief to otherwise rather tense story.
Baxter Building vs. the Trapster is great fun!
I loved She-Hulk in FF! She’s fun and easygoing and broke up the status quo nicely. I also liked her romance with Wyatt a lot.
The last storyline’s end was tragic and poignant in the middle of all the superhero action.
Overall: a great trade!
October 19, 2009
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight: Wolves at the Gate
By Goddard, Jeanty, Owens, Whedon
Collects Buffy Season Eight #11-15
This is my 18th review and so I've now achieved my Masters!
Finally, I have the third Buffy-collection in my hot little hands!
Xander: “It’s always complicated with girls. That’s why I need a man.”
Buffy: “That would be nice...”
Xander: “I mean a guy. Not a man, but a guy, for the guy bonding.”
Buffy: “Well, Andrew...”
Xander: “Do you really intend to finish that sentence?”
In the first story, “A Beautiful Sunset” the gang is still in the Scottish castle and the story deals with on-going storylines and relationships. The second story is the rest of the trade and deals with newcomer vampires who are Japanese and have a new bag of tricks.
In the first story, we find out who was the girl woke Buffy from the sleeping spell with a kiss, in the previous trade. She and Buffy seem to come an amicable understanding but things aren’t, of course, that easy. Also, a mystery man, who at least seems to be the man behind the whole Twilight –thing, attacks Buffy, flaunts his powers, and sows seeds of uncertainty to her mind.
There’s also a brief mention of a Slayer gone rogue and I presume she will be dealt with in upcoming issues. Buffy and Xander wax philosophic over how all the other Slayers have bonded together but as the leader Buffy must remain outside that connection. A very good issue.
Wolves at the Gate –story deals with a gang of Japanese vampires who have many more powers than usual vampires: the ability to turn to mist, wolves, bats, panthers… They attack the castle and steal Buffy’s scythe. There only one other vampire in the Buffyverse who also has these traditional vampire powers and so they turn to him for help: Dracula.
It turns out that Dracula and Xander have a kind of friendship and they have been keeping in touch over the years. So, Xander is the one who is sent to ask Dracula what he knows about the new vampires. Naturally, the Buffy gang has to go after the scythe into Japan and all kinds of wackiness ensue.
There are some on-going relationship stuff in this arc but otherwise it focuses on the new vampires so to me, it feels a bit unconnected from the rest of the story. (Which is ironic considering the first story’s point.)
I was quite surprised to find out that Xander had been keeping in touch with Dracula. After all, in that the end of the episode Xander was pretty frustrated about being everyone’s butt monkey. But their weird relationship is funny. Xander calling Dracula “master” and Dracula calling Xander “manservant”. Dracula was written very comically here and he almost reminds me of House because he throws around racial slurs a lot. He calls Renee Xander’s moor, for example. In the end, Dracula and the Slayers end up working together in Japan.
It did seem more than a bit weird to me that the Slayers did let Dracula off very easily. He is, after all, a many times multiple murderer, which he freely admits.
Willow is back but she’s shown very little and I miss Giles. I’d also like to know more about the Slayers. Now they are pretty much just a faceless mass following Buffy’s orders in fight scenes.
I didn’t really care for the ending of the trade. Too many things were just tied up neatly instead of continuing with them.
Overall: not quite as good as the previous trades but still very funny and entertaining.
Collects Buffy Season Eight #11-15
This is my 18th review and so I've now achieved my Masters!
Finally, I have the third Buffy-collection in my hot little hands!
Xander: “It’s always complicated with girls. That’s why I need a man.”
Buffy: “That would be nice...”
Xander: “I mean a guy. Not a man, but a guy, for the guy bonding.”
Buffy: “Well, Andrew...”
Xander: “Do you really intend to finish that sentence?”
In the first story, “A Beautiful Sunset” the gang is still in the Scottish castle and the story deals with on-going storylines and relationships. The second story is the rest of the trade and deals with newcomer vampires who are Japanese and have a new bag of tricks.
In the first story, we find out who was the girl woke Buffy from the sleeping spell with a kiss, in the previous trade. She and Buffy seem to come an amicable understanding but things aren’t, of course, that easy. Also, a mystery man, who at least seems to be the man behind the whole Twilight –thing, attacks Buffy, flaunts his powers, and sows seeds of uncertainty to her mind.
There’s also a brief mention of a Slayer gone rogue and I presume she will be dealt with in upcoming issues. Buffy and Xander wax philosophic over how all the other Slayers have bonded together but as the leader Buffy must remain outside that connection. A very good issue.
Wolves at the Gate –story deals with a gang of Japanese vampires who have many more powers than usual vampires: the ability to turn to mist, wolves, bats, panthers… They attack the castle and steal Buffy’s scythe. There only one other vampire in the Buffyverse who also has these traditional vampire powers and so they turn to him for help: Dracula.
It turns out that Dracula and Xander have a kind of friendship and they have been keeping in touch over the years. So, Xander is the one who is sent to ask Dracula what he knows about the new vampires. Naturally, the Buffy gang has to go after the scythe into Japan and all kinds of wackiness ensue.
There are some on-going relationship stuff in this arc but otherwise it focuses on the new vampires so to me, it feels a bit unconnected from the rest of the story. (Which is ironic considering the first story’s point.)
I was quite surprised to find out that Xander had been keeping in touch with Dracula. After all, in that the end of the episode Xander was pretty frustrated about being everyone’s butt monkey. But their weird relationship is funny. Xander calling Dracula “master” and Dracula calling Xander “manservant”. Dracula was written very comically here and he almost reminds me of House because he throws around racial slurs a lot. He calls Renee Xander’s moor, for example. In the end, Dracula and the Slayers end up working together in Japan.
It did seem more than a bit weird to me that the Slayers did let Dracula off very easily. He is, after all, a many times multiple murderer, which he freely admits.
Willow is back but she’s shown very little and I miss Giles. I’d also like to know more about the Slayers. Now they are pretty much just a faceless mass following Buffy’s orders in fight scenes.
I didn’t really care for the ending of the trade. Too many things were just tied up neatly instead of continuing with them.
Overall: not quite as good as the previous trades but still very funny and entertaining.
October 12, 2009
Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne: vol. 2
By John Byrne
Collects Fantastic Four #241-250.
This is another classic collection: the FF and Avengers against Galactus, the FF teaming up with Dr. Doom against Zorba, the monarch of Latveria, and the FF versus Gladiator.
The first issue, “Render unto Caesar”, was a pretty weird one. There’s a powerful energy source in Africa near Wakanda and so the SHIELD sends the FF to investigate. After a meeting with the Black Panther, the FF continues their journey on foot until a group of Africans takes them captive. The Africans are mute and dressed like Roman soldiers.
Once again the FF win by using their brains more than brawn, which is always nice.
The next three issues are the classic Galactus story: in the first one, Terrax, the former Herald, battles the FF and then raises the whole of Manhattan up to space. He uses the city as hostage and tries to blackmail the FF into destroying Galactus. However, when they break into Galactus’ ship, they talk with him instead. Galactus is very low on energy and that’s why Terrax thinks that the FF can destroy him now. Of course, Galactus is still immensely powerful and takes way Terrax’s powers. Then, he needs to feed and the only suitable planet near enough is Earth. The FF and some of the Avengers have to fight him.
This is a truly classic arch and I’m amazed that it took Byrne only three issues to get all the way to Frankie Ray’s destiny. I’m also amused by the fact that Byrne is apparently an ElfQuest fan. The short theater scene is straight out of the early issues.
The next story is “Childhood’s End” where Susan is being interviewed in TV when a mysterious man attacks the other FF. This issue deals with Franklin’s powers, as well.
I’m always of a two minds when journalists are shown in comics. It’s realistic, of course, but because the FF would be (if they were real) A-list celebrities so they should be practically hounded by paparazzis all the time. So, it feels like they aren’t spotlighted enough. So, either the journalists should be ignored or the FF should be constantly showered with media attention the same way that real life celebrities are. Of course, it could become tedious quickly, so maybe these infrequent journalists are better. After all, they have other superfolk to chase after and maybe all of them aren’t as suicidal as the worst cases in comics are shown.
The next two issues are Doom-centered and some of my personal favorites: “Too Many Dooms” and “This land is mine!” Doom is always entertaining and here we see another side of him: the monarch who loves his country.
The FF take Doom’s body to the Latverian embassy. However, another Doom is already at the embassy instructing the ambassador to lure the FF into a trap. Then each of the FF members has to fight a Doombot on their own. While they are fighting, the other bots restore Doom’s mind to his real body. When the bots are defeated, the real Doom shows himself and shows the FF what their earlier meddling has caused. Under the rightful king Zorba, Latveria has succumbed to poverty and crime and only Doom can save his beloved country!
There are a lot of things going on here. First of course, there’s Doom and his love of his country and how Byrne subverts the whole “rightful king” trope; the rightful king is actually bad for the country and the usurper (Doom) has to save Latveria. Then the FF has to doubt their previous actions: could Doom be a good king after all? Finally, I love it when sworn enemies are forced to work together like the FF and Doom in this story.
The next issue is another weird science fiction one-off: “Nightmare”. The FF have been invited to Attilan for Crystal’s and Quicksilver’s daughter’s naming day (and a huge thanks for not calling it ‘christening’ by the way and for not giving the girl godparents when the real parents aren’t, you know, Christian…). Suddenly, there’s a disruption when a huge space ship tractors the whole Moon into the ship. Things get rapidly weirder.
The rest of the trade is a big fight: the FF vs. Gladiator from the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard vs. X-Men vs. Spider-Man and Captain America. Generally, I’m not a huge fan of mindless fisticuffs (but I’m not against them, as such, either or I wouldn’t be reading superhero comics in the first place) but this one I liked. Of course, I’m a fan of Gladiator.
I’ve always found Gladiator to be a fascinating character. He’s very powerful and honorable but honorable in his own way; he’s almost like a Shi’Ar Superman but one who is loyal to the throne and whoever is currently sitting on it rather than to a person. This is, technically, how it should be in democratic nations; the people should obey the office (president, prime minister, mayor…) instead of the person. Yet, at least in fiction this is still rarely the case and so, Gladiator is the exception rather than the rule. The irony is, of course, that Shi’Ar isn’t a democracy but a monarchy.
Overall: many enjoyable stories here.
Collects Fantastic Four #241-250.
This is another classic collection: the FF and Avengers against Galactus, the FF teaming up with Dr. Doom against Zorba, the monarch of Latveria, and the FF versus Gladiator.
The first issue, “Render unto Caesar”, was a pretty weird one. There’s a powerful energy source in Africa near Wakanda and so the SHIELD sends the FF to investigate. After a meeting with the Black Panther, the FF continues their journey on foot until a group of Africans takes them captive. The Africans are mute and dressed like Roman soldiers.
Once again the FF win by using their brains more than brawn, which is always nice.
The next three issues are the classic Galactus story: in the first one, Terrax, the former Herald, battles the FF and then raises the whole of Manhattan up to space. He uses the city as hostage and tries to blackmail the FF into destroying Galactus. However, when they break into Galactus’ ship, they talk with him instead. Galactus is very low on energy and that’s why Terrax thinks that the FF can destroy him now. Of course, Galactus is still immensely powerful and takes way Terrax’s powers. Then, he needs to feed and the only suitable planet near enough is Earth. The FF and some of the Avengers have to fight him.
This is a truly classic arch and I’m amazed that it took Byrne only three issues to get all the way to Frankie Ray’s destiny. I’m also amused by the fact that Byrne is apparently an ElfQuest fan. The short theater scene is straight out of the early issues.
The next story is “Childhood’s End” where Susan is being interviewed in TV when a mysterious man attacks the other FF. This issue deals with Franklin’s powers, as well.
I’m always of a two minds when journalists are shown in comics. It’s realistic, of course, but because the FF would be (if they were real) A-list celebrities so they should be practically hounded by paparazzis all the time. So, it feels like they aren’t spotlighted enough. So, either the journalists should be ignored or the FF should be constantly showered with media attention the same way that real life celebrities are. Of course, it could become tedious quickly, so maybe these infrequent journalists are better. After all, they have other superfolk to chase after and maybe all of them aren’t as suicidal as the worst cases in comics are shown.
The next two issues are Doom-centered and some of my personal favorites: “Too Many Dooms” and “This land is mine!” Doom is always entertaining and here we see another side of him: the monarch who loves his country.
The FF take Doom’s body to the Latverian embassy. However, another Doom is already at the embassy instructing the ambassador to lure the FF into a trap. Then each of the FF members has to fight a Doombot on their own. While they are fighting, the other bots restore Doom’s mind to his real body. When the bots are defeated, the real Doom shows himself and shows the FF what their earlier meddling has caused. Under the rightful king Zorba, Latveria has succumbed to poverty and crime and only Doom can save his beloved country!
There are a lot of things going on here. First of course, there’s Doom and his love of his country and how Byrne subverts the whole “rightful king” trope; the rightful king is actually bad for the country and the usurper (Doom) has to save Latveria. Then the FF has to doubt their previous actions: could Doom be a good king after all? Finally, I love it when sworn enemies are forced to work together like the FF and Doom in this story.
The next issue is another weird science fiction one-off: “Nightmare”. The FF have been invited to Attilan for Crystal’s and Quicksilver’s daughter’s naming day (and a huge thanks for not calling it ‘christening’ by the way and for not giving the girl godparents when the real parents aren’t, you know, Christian…). Suddenly, there’s a disruption when a huge space ship tractors the whole Moon into the ship. Things get rapidly weirder.
The rest of the trade is a big fight: the FF vs. Gladiator from the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard vs. X-Men vs. Spider-Man and Captain America. Generally, I’m not a huge fan of mindless fisticuffs (but I’m not against them, as such, either or I wouldn’t be reading superhero comics in the first place) but this one I liked. Of course, I’m a fan of Gladiator.
I’ve always found Gladiator to be a fascinating character. He’s very powerful and honorable but honorable in his own way; he’s almost like a Shi’Ar Superman but one who is loyal to the throne and whoever is currently sitting on it rather than to a person. This is, technically, how it should be in democratic nations; the people should obey the office (president, prime minister, mayor…) instead of the person. Yet, at least in fiction this is still rarely the case and so, Gladiator is the exception rather than the rule. The irony is, of course, that Shi’Ar isn’t a democracy but a monarchy.
Overall: many enjoyable stories here.
October 6, 2009
Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne: vol. 3
By John Byrne
Collects Fantastic Four #251-257 and Annual #17, Avengers #233, and Thing #2.
Fantastic Four in the Negative Zone!
I’m sure many readers where wondering what Byrne could do to top the Galactus-story. The answer, of course, is something completely different. In these stories the FF travel in the Negative Zone exploring the (strangely familiar) cultures while at the same time Annihilus is ravaging Baxter Building and is preparing to annihilate two universes.
In the first story the FF leave to the Zone while Alicia stays to baby sit Franklin. However, soon after they have left, Annihilus takes advantage of the portal and arrives to the Baxter Building.
In the second story, the FF arrives and immediately meets a tribe which sacrifices women to a metal building which they believe to be a god. Unsurprisingly, the FF interferes. The whole story has been drawn sideways highlighting the strangeness of the Zone.
Next, the FF encounters a huge generation ship. After a brief fight, they find out that the crew of the ship has been searching for a new home for 500 generations. The rest of their people are in hibernation. The FF decides to help.
The next story takes up three issues and the Avengers tie-in. The FF arrives to another planet and this time Reed wants to do undercover investigating. However, it doesn’t take long for the local overlord to notice the FF. The ruler invites the FF for dinner but it turns out that he’s after Reed’s brain. The result is perhaps one of FFs most strangest adventures.
At the same time, the Avengers and Daredevil have noticed that a large and invisible force field is around the Baxter Building and it is growing. They try to take it down.
Finally, there’s a story about Galactus devouring the Skrull homeworld. His new Herald Nova doesn’t seem to have many human feelings left.
This is a very good continuation of Byrne’s FF run. My only complaint is that the Negative Zone cultures aren’t any different from the modern day USAians.
Otherwise, FF show once again a great mix of scientists and superheroes. They each have their own distinctive personalities and the villains are properly villainous. Also, not everyone they meet are villains
Collects Fantastic Four #251-257 and Annual #17, Avengers #233, and Thing #2.
Fantastic Four in the Negative Zone!
I’m sure many readers where wondering what Byrne could do to top the Galactus-story. The answer, of course, is something completely different. In these stories the FF travel in the Negative Zone exploring the (strangely familiar) cultures while at the same time Annihilus is ravaging Baxter Building and is preparing to annihilate two universes.
In the first story the FF leave to the Zone while Alicia stays to baby sit Franklin. However, soon after they have left, Annihilus takes advantage of the portal and arrives to the Baxter Building.
In the second story, the FF arrives and immediately meets a tribe which sacrifices women to a metal building which they believe to be a god. Unsurprisingly, the FF interferes. The whole story has been drawn sideways highlighting the strangeness of the Zone.
Next, the FF encounters a huge generation ship. After a brief fight, they find out that the crew of the ship has been searching for a new home for 500 generations. The rest of their people are in hibernation. The FF decides to help.
The next story takes up three issues and the Avengers tie-in. The FF arrives to another planet and this time Reed wants to do undercover investigating. However, it doesn’t take long for the local overlord to notice the FF. The ruler invites the FF for dinner but it turns out that he’s after Reed’s brain. The result is perhaps one of FFs most strangest adventures.
At the same time, the Avengers and Daredevil have noticed that a large and invisible force field is around the Baxter Building and it is growing. They try to take it down.
Finally, there’s a story about Galactus devouring the Skrull homeworld. His new Herald Nova doesn’t seem to have many human feelings left.
This is a very good continuation of Byrne’s FF run. My only complaint is that the Negative Zone cultures aren’t any different from the modern day USAians.
Otherwise, FF show once again a great mix of scientists and superheroes. They each have their own distinctive personalities and the villains are properly villainous. Also, not everyone they meet are villains
September 27, 2009
Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne vol. 1
By John Byrne
To me, Byrne’s FF is *the* FF. As far as I can tell, almost the whole Byrne run have been published in Finland and it was in full swing when I got into comics. Byrne’s tales with the family-feel of the group combined with the cosmic adventures in space and alternate dimensions are still pretty much the yard stick that I use to measure superhero comics. I guess that’s why I don’t much care for the darker stories. (My other superhero reading in my teens was Claremont’s long run in the X-Men.) I think the first time I read about the FF was when they beat Galactus.
I have read some of the Lee and Kirby stories and they were published here in small black and white paperbacks a few years ago. However, I felt that they had aged badly especially with the blatant sexism aimed at Susan who was pretty much always in need of rescue. Byrne changed that.
This collection gathers the first Byrne issues from FF 232 to FF 240.
In the first story the villain Diablo sends four elementals to battle the FF. At the start of the story, we get a glimpse of the heroes’ ordinary lives: Sue getting a new hair style, Johnny on a date with Frankie Ray, Ben coming from the theater with Alicia, and Reed absorbed in his work. The elementals aren’t terribly hard to beat.
The next story stars Johnny. He gets a letter from an acquaintance who had been recently executed for murder. Even though the man had been a criminal most of his life, he swears that he didn’t do this crime and asks Johnny to investigate. How could he resist?
The next is a more cosmic two-part story. It starts with J. P. “Skip” Collins who lives an ordinary life. However, because he was subjected to an experiment during his days in the military, he has the ability to make everything he really wants to happen. He travels to New York and is there when a disaster hits Earth. The Fantastic Four do their best to help people and find out that the threat comes from space. They will, of course, confront those responsible.
The next story is also a two-parter. It starts with the surreal notion of the all the FF living as ordinary people in Liddleville. They have no idea that they have super powers. However, Johnny, Ben, and Sue are having nightmares about their flight to space and about the cosmic radiation. The town has another not-quite-ordinary resident, too: Philip Masters who is also known as the Puppetmaster.
In the next story Frankie Ray reveals her secret to Johnny. Also, a gang of thieves gives trouble to Reed and Sue because they have a strange member: a blue skinned woman who is three meters tall and able to tear apart a human’s mind just by looking at them. At the end, Reed tries to change Ben back to human. Unfortunately, it does change the Thing but not into a human.
The next issue starts with Reed desperately trying to find out what went wrong while Aunt Petunia visits Ben. However, she’s come to the Baxter Building to get help: people in her small, Arizonan town are apparently dying of fear. But can even the FF beat such strange adversaries?
In the last issue Quicksilver races to the Baxter Building looking for help; the Inhumans are plagued by a mysterious disease. Reed comes to the conclusion that even the Himalayans where their city Attila stands, is now too polluted for the Inhumans to live in. So, the city must be moved.
The last issue especially is a classic one with the Inhumans’ move and the birth of Quicksilver’s and Crystal’s daughter. It's a great start for Byrne's long run.
I really enjoy the family aspect of the FF. Ben as the irritable uncle, Johnny as the carefree youngster, Reed as the know-it-all scientist who has a tendency to put work before family, and Sue as the compassionate glue who keeps the rest together. They work together amazingly well.
The FF usually has some guest stars, as well. Frankie Ray is the guest in most of the trade and I definitely enjoy the Inhumans and the rest of the (supernatural) cast. The villains are also, of course, half of the fun. However, this trade didn’t really have the most impressive villains; Diablo and the Puppetmaster aren’t that great. Dr. Doom made a surprisingly short visit.
Overall: a good trade and the last story alone is worth getting it.
To me, Byrne’s FF is *the* FF. As far as I can tell, almost the whole Byrne run have been published in Finland and it was in full swing when I got into comics. Byrne’s tales with the family-feel of the group combined with the cosmic adventures in space and alternate dimensions are still pretty much the yard stick that I use to measure superhero comics. I guess that’s why I don’t much care for the darker stories. (My other superhero reading in my teens was Claremont’s long run in the X-Men.) I think the first time I read about the FF was when they beat Galactus.
I have read some of the Lee and Kirby stories and they were published here in small black and white paperbacks a few years ago. However, I felt that they had aged badly especially with the blatant sexism aimed at Susan who was pretty much always in need of rescue. Byrne changed that.
This collection gathers the first Byrne issues from FF 232 to FF 240.
In the first story the villain Diablo sends four elementals to battle the FF. At the start of the story, we get a glimpse of the heroes’ ordinary lives: Sue getting a new hair style, Johnny on a date with Frankie Ray, Ben coming from the theater with Alicia, and Reed absorbed in his work. The elementals aren’t terribly hard to beat.
The next story stars Johnny. He gets a letter from an acquaintance who had been recently executed for murder. Even though the man had been a criminal most of his life, he swears that he didn’t do this crime and asks Johnny to investigate. How could he resist?
The next is a more cosmic two-part story. It starts with J. P. “Skip” Collins who lives an ordinary life. However, because he was subjected to an experiment during his days in the military, he has the ability to make everything he really wants to happen. He travels to New York and is there when a disaster hits Earth. The Fantastic Four do their best to help people and find out that the threat comes from space. They will, of course, confront those responsible.
The next story is also a two-parter. It starts with the surreal notion of the all the FF living as ordinary people in Liddleville. They have no idea that they have super powers. However, Johnny, Ben, and Sue are having nightmares about their flight to space and about the cosmic radiation. The town has another not-quite-ordinary resident, too: Philip Masters who is also known as the Puppetmaster.
In the next story Frankie Ray reveals her secret to Johnny. Also, a gang of thieves gives trouble to Reed and Sue because they have a strange member: a blue skinned woman who is three meters tall and able to tear apart a human’s mind just by looking at them. At the end, Reed tries to change Ben back to human. Unfortunately, it does change the Thing but not into a human.
The next issue starts with Reed desperately trying to find out what went wrong while Aunt Petunia visits Ben. However, she’s come to the Baxter Building to get help: people in her small, Arizonan town are apparently dying of fear. But can even the FF beat such strange adversaries?
In the last issue Quicksilver races to the Baxter Building looking for help; the Inhumans are plagued by a mysterious disease. Reed comes to the conclusion that even the Himalayans where their city Attila stands, is now too polluted for the Inhumans to live in. So, the city must be moved.
The last issue especially is a classic one with the Inhumans’ move and the birth of Quicksilver’s and Crystal’s daughter. It's a great start for Byrne's long run.
I really enjoy the family aspect of the FF. Ben as the irritable uncle, Johnny as the carefree youngster, Reed as the know-it-all scientist who has a tendency to put work before family, and Sue as the compassionate glue who keeps the rest together. They work together amazingly well.
The FF usually has some guest stars, as well. Frankie Ray is the guest in most of the trade and I definitely enjoy the Inhumans and the rest of the (supernatural) cast. The villains are also, of course, half of the fun. However, this trade didn’t really have the most impressive villains; Diablo and the Puppetmaster aren’t that great. Dr. Doom made a surprisingly short visit.
Overall: a good trade and the last story alone is worth getting it.
September 22, 2009
JLA: Divided we fall
By Mark Waid and a whole host of artists. I love Hitch and Neary’s art and they’re in a fine form here.
The trade has three basic storylines: in the first one an evil Queen from fairy tales emerges to try to take her “rightful” place as the ruler of the world (and the most beautiful woman in the world, as well). Then there’s a brief story about Dr. Destiny and his apparently ability to change reality. Lastly, there’s a longer story where most of the JLA have been divided into their superhuman and civilian identities.
The first story was clearly influenced by fairy tales, especially Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty but some of the others are dealt with as well. An unsuspecting woman reads an old book and so releases the evil Queen to modern Manhattan. She promptly uses her powers to turn the city into a magical forest and also sends her minions to terrorize the citizens. She sees Wonder Woman on the TV and believes that Diana is her ancient enemy – the only woman who is prettier than she.
The JLA arrives quickly and the Queen kidnaps Diana. The rest of the team then tries to rescue her from the glass coffin where she sleeps. At the same time, they are trying to find a way to defeat the Queen. Many of them miss Batman’s skills and the team is starting to divide into two.
The next story is quite short and is more of a staging ground for the start of the next story. The story starts with Superman telling about the case to Batman. He’s trying to convince Batman to return to the team by telling him how fractured the team had become. Dr. Destiny is causing trouble all over the world at the same time. However, the JLA knows that he is trapped in the Dreamstream. The team uses this knowledge to attack Dr Destiny in their dream forms.
The next story starts when Batman finds a group of people from his Batcave: Clark Kent, John Johnson, Bruce Wayne… He calls in the rest of the team. It seems that the "civilian" people are convinced that they are the real JLA and are baffled about why they don't have their powers. Aquaman and Wonder Woman are the only ones without secret identities and they are also the only ones who aren't affected.
Meanwhile, different people’s wishes come true all over the world. But the wishes have all been twisted somehow: a girl wishes a little bit of chocolate and the whole town is turned into chocolate; a homeless man wishes to be noticed and he’s given the power to change reality. The team has their hands full. Diana and Arthur are keeping a close eye on their team mates and they notice that the others are become more impatient and less human.
I really liked this trade. Throughout, the team is struggling to come to grips with Batman's actions and there's even some character growth.
I love the old fairy tales, especially the non-Disney versions of them, and the first story was mostly a real treat. Mostly, because I was a bit frustrated that the Queen's sole motivation was to be the most beautiful in the land. I know it's a classical motivation but still... Diana is so much more than just her looks. But I enjoyed the flying monkeys and the Hansel and Gretel dilemma poor J'onn had. It was also a great touch that J'onn, Arthur, and Diana weren't familiar with the stories (of course, since they hadn't grown up in modern society) while the Kryptonian who grew up in Kansas was.
However, I was somewhat confused by the ending. I don't think that you can just swap an ordinary book for a magical one.
I also loved the third story where we're shown how much the heroes need their more human halves.
Overall: one of the best JLA trades I've read.
The trade has three basic storylines: in the first one an evil Queen from fairy tales emerges to try to take her “rightful” place as the ruler of the world (and the most beautiful woman in the world, as well). Then there’s a brief story about Dr. Destiny and his apparently ability to change reality. Lastly, there’s a longer story where most of the JLA have been divided into their superhuman and civilian identities.
The first story was clearly influenced by fairy tales, especially Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty but some of the others are dealt with as well. An unsuspecting woman reads an old book and so releases the evil Queen to modern Manhattan. She promptly uses her powers to turn the city into a magical forest and also sends her minions to terrorize the citizens. She sees Wonder Woman on the TV and believes that Diana is her ancient enemy – the only woman who is prettier than she.
The JLA arrives quickly and the Queen kidnaps Diana. The rest of the team then tries to rescue her from the glass coffin where she sleeps. At the same time, they are trying to find a way to defeat the Queen. Many of them miss Batman’s skills and the team is starting to divide into two.
The next story is quite short and is more of a staging ground for the start of the next story. The story starts with Superman telling about the case to Batman. He’s trying to convince Batman to return to the team by telling him how fractured the team had become. Dr. Destiny is causing trouble all over the world at the same time. However, the JLA knows that he is trapped in the Dreamstream. The team uses this knowledge to attack Dr Destiny in their dream forms.
The next story starts when Batman finds a group of people from his Batcave: Clark Kent, John Johnson, Bruce Wayne… He calls in the rest of the team. It seems that the "civilian" people are convinced that they are the real JLA and are baffled about why they don't have their powers. Aquaman and Wonder Woman are the only ones without secret identities and they are also the only ones who aren't affected.
Meanwhile, different people’s wishes come true all over the world. But the wishes have all been twisted somehow: a girl wishes a little bit of chocolate and the whole town is turned into chocolate; a homeless man wishes to be noticed and he’s given the power to change reality. The team has their hands full. Diana and Arthur are keeping a close eye on their team mates and they notice that the others are become more impatient and less human.
I really liked this trade. Throughout, the team is struggling to come to grips with Batman's actions and there's even some character growth.
I love the old fairy tales, especially the non-Disney versions of them, and the first story was mostly a real treat. Mostly, because I was a bit frustrated that the Queen's sole motivation was to be the most beautiful in the land. I know it's a classical motivation but still... Diana is so much more than just her looks. But I enjoyed the flying monkeys and the Hansel and Gretel dilemma poor J'onn had. It was also a great touch that J'onn, Arthur, and Diana weren't familiar with the stories (of course, since they hadn't grown up in modern society) while the Kryptonian who grew up in Kansas was.
However, I was somewhat confused by the ending. I don't think that you can just swap an ordinary book for a magical one.
I also loved the third story where we're shown how much the heroes need their more human halves.
Overall: one of the best JLA trades I've read.
September 15, 2009
JLA: Tower of Babel
The majority of the stories in the trade center on Ra’s Al Ghul’s attack against the JLA. This is one of my favorite JLA trades.
The trade starts with an almost Silver Age-type weird one-short. The Atom is helping doctors to perform eye surgery on a young man and finds that the infection is actually a colony of intelligent bacteria inside the boy’s brain. He enlists the help of the JLA so that they can try to persuade the aliens to move. The JLA shrinks down and travels to the boy’s brain. Wackiness ensues. Written by Dan Curtis Johnson and drawn by Pajarillo.
I was a bit disappointed who very conservative the bacteria were. So, they look like bugs but their civilization is almost a straight copy of our own. Otherwise, it’s entertaining and the three last panels are especially weird.
Then, the Tower of Babel starts with a bang when the Batman arrives to his parents’ grave only to find out that their bodies have been stolen. Then J’onn experiences a weird attack. Later, Flash and Wonder Woman are trying to extinguish a wild fire and find out, to their horror, that the flaming man in the middle of the forest is J’onn. They take him to the Watchtower and try to help him. Apparently, J’onn skin is covered with nanites that turn trace elements of his skin to magnesium and so, ignite his skin whenever his in contact with air. The JLA has no choice but to put him into a water tank.
Then the Aquaman and the Plastic Man are attacked in the middle of a peace conference. The Plastic Man is frozen and then shattered. The Aquaman is subjected to gas that makes him mortally afraid of water. The Green Lantern woke up blind. The JLA is in disarray and the attacks against them only continue.
Alas, the rest of the world isn’t in much better shape: it appears that people can no longer read. People are in panicking.
Meanwhile, Batman is following the trail of Ra’s who took his parents’ bodies. When Batman finds Ra’s hideout, Ra’s offers to bring the Wayne’s back to life through the Lazarus Pit. As always, Ra’s goal is to pare down humanity to a manageable size so that the planet and nature can continue to exist.
The story is fast-paced and full of surprises. Perhaps the JLA manages to overcome their problems a little too easily but otherwise the story is very entertaining. There’s even character development!
There was a nice moment between Flash and Wonder Woman when they had a friendly race and the voting at the end was true to each character. I found the issue with Talia as the narrator to be well done and interesting. The short scenes between Batman and the other character were nice but perhaps a bit too late. There should have been more in the previous issues so that the final revelation would have had more sting.
The epilogue consists of three shorter stories. One is about how Batman’s actions hurt the people around him. In the second story Batman is investigating a murder and all of his clues point towards… Superman. The third features Diana and Aquaman, and I felt it was very much out of character.
Overall: Excitement, betrayal, angst, loss… very nice!
The trade starts with an almost Silver Age-type weird one-short. The Atom is helping doctors to perform eye surgery on a young man and finds that the infection is actually a colony of intelligent bacteria inside the boy’s brain. He enlists the help of the JLA so that they can try to persuade the aliens to move. The JLA shrinks down and travels to the boy’s brain. Wackiness ensues. Written by Dan Curtis Johnson and drawn by Pajarillo.
I was a bit disappointed who very conservative the bacteria were. So, they look like bugs but their civilization is almost a straight copy of our own. Otherwise, it’s entertaining and the three last panels are especially weird.
Then, the Tower of Babel starts with a bang when the Batman arrives to his parents’ grave only to find out that their bodies have been stolen. Then J’onn experiences a weird attack. Later, Flash and Wonder Woman are trying to extinguish a wild fire and find out, to their horror, that the flaming man in the middle of the forest is J’onn. They take him to the Watchtower and try to help him. Apparently, J’onn skin is covered with nanites that turn trace elements of his skin to magnesium and so, ignite his skin whenever his in contact with air. The JLA has no choice but to put him into a water tank.
Then the Aquaman and the Plastic Man are attacked in the middle of a peace conference. The Plastic Man is frozen and then shattered. The Aquaman is subjected to gas that makes him mortally afraid of water. The Green Lantern woke up blind. The JLA is in disarray and the attacks against them only continue.
Alas, the rest of the world isn’t in much better shape: it appears that people can no longer read. People are in panicking.
Meanwhile, Batman is following the trail of Ra’s who took his parents’ bodies. When Batman finds Ra’s hideout, Ra’s offers to bring the Wayne’s back to life through the Lazarus Pit. As always, Ra’s goal is to pare down humanity to a manageable size so that the planet and nature can continue to exist.
The story is fast-paced and full of surprises. Perhaps the JLA manages to overcome their problems a little too easily but otherwise the story is very entertaining. There’s even character development!
There was a nice moment between Flash and Wonder Woman when they had a friendly race and the voting at the end was true to each character. I found the issue with Talia as the narrator to be well done and interesting. The short scenes between Batman and the other character were nice but perhaps a bit too late. There should have been more in the previous issues so that the final revelation would have had more sting.
The epilogue consists of three shorter stories. One is about how Batman’s actions hurt the people around him. In the second story Batman is investigating a murder and all of his clues point towards… Superman. The third features Diana and Aquaman, and I felt it was very much out of character.
Overall: Excitement, betrayal, angst, loss… very nice!
September 8, 2009
JLA: World War III
By Morrison, DeMatteis, Porter, Pajarillo
Collects JLA 34-41
This is my 12th review so I've now reached the Major level!
The trade contains one issue about a superhuman prison riot, one issue about Hal Jordan angsting about being the Spectre, and the rest is devoted to the World War III storyline.
I tend to like long storylines better and this is no exception. It’s not quite as good as Rock of Ages but it certainly has more characters and no time-hopping so I can fully understand why some people like WWIII more.
In the first story, the super powered inmates at Belle Reve are rioting. Aquaman, the Green Lantern, Plastic Man and Zauriel have been sent to contain the situation but things are going worse quickly. Lantern loses his ring during a fist fight, and the inmates are killing wardens. Meanwhile, Orion and Mister Miracle tell the rest of the team that the big threat, Mageddon, has arrived.
After the Hal Jordan-issue, the WWIII continues. Luthor has again gathered up his Injustice gang but the lineup is very different this time: Prometheus, the Queen Bee (who, despite how she’s drawn isn’t, you know, a mammal at all…), and the General in the body of the indestructible Shaggy Man. JLA, Orion, and Mister Miracle are in a war council about Mageddon, which is a weapon of the Old Gods and its nearness can first cause evil people to become violent, and later practically everyone to turn against each other. This is already seen on Earth where military budgets are rising and numerous countries are threatening to go to war against each other. In the middle of all this, the Injustice Gang invades the Watchtower.
Meanwhile Metron, Wonder Woman, and Big Barda are travelling to Wonderworld which was last seen in the Rock of Ages. They are trying to find allies again Mageddon. Unfortunately, Mageddon managed to turn the powerful heroes of that world against each other and almost everyone has died. The trio returns to Earth only to see how badly people have been affected there, too.
There are lots of things happening in the story and again the JLA has to break up to teams in order to deal with all of the crisis: stop the world leaders from bombing each other (and the Earth) to oblivion, to stop Mageddon, and to deal with the super villains. JLA also asks the help of every available super hero. In fact, there’s almost too much going on and no storyline gets the most time.
There are a lot of fights in the trade but surprisingly, there’s even a little character development and very nice way to show the trust and friendship that is between Superman and Batman (which is ironic, of course, considering that the next trade is Tower of Babel. But with a different writer).
There are also nice little scenes like the one between Batman, Huntress, and Prometheus in Prometheus’ tower, and in Heaven when Zauriel is asking for help from his fellow angels and, of course, the way that that help is given. I also quite enjoyed Prometheus vs. Batman round 2.
Overall it’s a nice, long fight against deadly, cosmic level enemies. Not, perhaps, JLA at it’s very best but quite close.
Collects JLA 34-41
This is my 12th review so I've now reached the Major level!
The trade contains one issue about a superhuman prison riot, one issue about Hal Jordan angsting about being the Spectre, and the rest is devoted to the World War III storyline.
I tend to like long storylines better and this is no exception. It’s not quite as good as Rock of Ages but it certainly has more characters and no time-hopping so I can fully understand why some people like WWIII more.
In the first story, the super powered inmates at Belle Reve are rioting. Aquaman, the Green Lantern, Plastic Man and Zauriel have been sent to contain the situation but things are going worse quickly. Lantern loses his ring during a fist fight, and the inmates are killing wardens. Meanwhile, Orion and Mister Miracle tell the rest of the team that the big threat, Mageddon, has arrived.
After the Hal Jordan-issue, the WWIII continues. Luthor has again gathered up his Injustice gang but the lineup is very different this time: Prometheus, the Queen Bee (who, despite how she’s drawn isn’t, you know, a mammal at all…), and the General in the body of the indestructible Shaggy Man. JLA, Orion, and Mister Miracle are in a war council about Mageddon, which is a weapon of the Old Gods and its nearness can first cause evil people to become violent, and later practically everyone to turn against each other. This is already seen on Earth where military budgets are rising and numerous countries are threatening to go to war against each other. In the middle of all this, the Injustice Gang invades the Watchtower.
Meanwhile Metron, Wonder Woman, and Big Barda are travelling to Wonderworld which was last seen in the Rock of Ages. They are trying to find allies again Mageddon. Unfortunately, Mageddon managed to turn the powerful heroes of that world against each other and almost everyone has died. The trio returns to Earth only to see how badly people have been affected there, too.
There are lots of things happening in the story and again the JLA has to break up to teams in order to deal with all of the crisis: stop the world leaders from bombing each other (and the Earth) to oblivion, to stop Mageddon, and to deal with the super villains. JLA also asks the help of every available super hero. In fact, there’s almost too much going on and no storyline gets the most time.
There are a lot of fights in the trade but surprisingly, there’s even a little character development and very nice way to show the trust and friendship that is between Superman and Batman (which is ironic, of course, considering that the next trade is Tower of Babel. But with a different writer).
There are also nice little scenes like the one between Batman, Huntress, and Prometheus in Prometheus’ tower, and in Heaven when Zauriel is asking for help from his fellow angels and, of course, the way that that help is given. I also quite enjoyed Prometheus vs. Batman round 2.
Overall it’s a nice, long fight against deadly, cosmic level enemies. Not, perhaps, JLA at it’s very best but quite close.
September 4, 2009
JLA/Avengers
By Kurt Busiek and George Pérez
This is eye candy to Avengers and JLA fans. Busiek manages to include every member of both teams at least once. The story is as silly as they usually are in these cross-overs.
The being Krona (a blue-skinned man) is seeking truth about the birth of the omniverse itself and he doesn’t care how many universes he destroys during his quest. His probes are already sending beings from DC universe to Marvel and vice versa. The JLA are fighting Terminus while the Avengers battle Starro.
The Grandmaster intercepts Krona and proposes a game: the Grandmaster will tell Krona who is the one being in the Marvel universe who has lived through the birth of the universe if Krona’s champions win. If Krona’s champions win, he will not destroy the Marvel universe. The champions are, of course, the Avengers and the JLA. Metron tells the Avengers that there are six objects from their world which are scattered throughout the DC universe and the Avengers must retrieve them. The Grandmaster tells the JLA the same thing.
During the scavenger hunt, the teams get glimpses of each other’s world. Superman believes that the other world is in such grim place because its heroes haven’t done enough. Captain America is convinced that the JLA forces people to worship them. Of course, this leads up to big confrontation between the teams.
The story isn’t as cheesy as it could have been, though, and I rather enjoyed the sequences that show what it could have been like if the teams had had frequent contact during the years. Most of the time, it’s pretty pure eye candy.
This is eye candy to Avengers and JLA fans. Busiek manages to include every member of both teams at least once. The story is as silly as they usually are in these cross-overs.
The being Krona (a blue-skinned man) is seeking truth about the birth of the omniverse itself and he doesn’t care how many universes he destroys during his quest. His probes are already sending beings from DC universe to Marvel and vice versa. The JLA are fighting Terminus while the Avengers battle Starro.
The Grandmaster intercepts Krona and proposes a game: the Grandmaster will tell Krona who is the one being in the Marvel universe who has lived through the birth of the universe if Krona’s champions win. If Krona’s champions win, he will not destroy the Marvel universe. The champions are, of course, the Avengers and the JLA. Metron tells the Avengers that there are six objects from their world which are scattered throughout the DC universe and the Avengers must retrieve them. The Grandmaster tells the JLA the same thing.
During the scavenger hunt, the teams get glimpses of each other’s world. Superman believes that the other world is in such grim place because its heroes haven’t done enough. Captain America is convinced that the JLA forces people to worship them. Of course, this leads up to big confrontation between the teams.
The story isn’t as cheesy as it could have been, though, and I rather enjoyed the sequences that show what it could have been like if the teams had had frequent contact during the years. Most of the time, it’s pretty pure eye candy.
August 26, 2009
JLA: Justice for all
By Morrison, Porter, Pajarillo, Millar
This trade collects JLA 24-33, about a year's worth of stories. To me, this is a fairly average collection; nothing spectacular but not bad, either.
First there is the story about the Ultramarine Corps where some of the military bigwigs have become distrustful of JLA and they want their own super humans. Of course, that story never ends well unless it's the origin story of the main team of the book. Then JLA gets a hot tip from T. O. Morrow that Professor Ivo is going to use Amazo to break himself out of prison. Then JLA and JSA team up against the threat of genies from the fifth dimension fighting each other on Earth. At the same time a forgotten founding member of JLA is getting his revenge. Finally, there’s a two-part tie-in to Batman's No-Man's Land story.
The first story is perhaps the most average of them. Someone steals the Shaggy Man from the undersea containment where JLA has placed him. At the same time General Eiling is introducing a new, military-controlled super force of four super powered soldiers who will be USA’s own line of defense. Eiling also implies that he doesn’t trust JLA. A bit later, JLA is lured into a trap where the super soldiers and the army attack JLA. Meanwhile, Batman and Huntress are investigating the disappearance of the Shaggy Man. There’s also foreshadowning when the Source warns the New Gods that Maggedon is coming.
The first story felt more like a Marvel story than DC. To me, one of the biggest differences between the two universes is how the general public sees super heroes. In Marvel, it’s ridiculously easy to turn the public opinion against any super group. X-Men are already reviled but Avengers have also suffered their share of mistrust. Perhaps the Fantastic Four are the least mistrusted super heroes in Marvel universe and even they have had their times. However, JLA and JSA have pretty much always enjoyed the trust of the people, Superman especially. In this story, there’s a scene where the normal army is attacking JLA! To me this feel likes the army attacking the police. Not bloody likely. However, some of the soldiers resist the attack order and after Superman talks to them, they pretty much cave in. So, not a complete Marvel-moment.
I was intrigued by the city-state Superbia and the implications it had, but apparently it was destroyed quickly in a later story. Bummer.
The two-issue story about Amazo was pretty much a long fight with lots of brief guests, including the Atom.
The JLA and JSA team-up was the longest story and I liked it the most. The 5th dimensional beings are always entertaining although they tend to be so powerful that the endings are usually cheesy but this ending was a bit better than most. Here we have a man who used to be one of the JLA’s founding members: Triumph. However, he was lost in time and nobody remembers him. He’s bitter about that. He managed to get his hands on the 5th dimensional imp Lkz who gives him his powers back. Then he sends Lkz on a rampage at Central City so that he can save the city when things are most desperate. When JLA is on Earth fighting the genie, he walks into the Moon base with two mind-controlled JLA members Gypsy and Ray.
However, a kid named Jakeem Thunder also possesses one of the genies. He doesn’t understand the being and is reluctant to use him, though. Jakeem lives in Central City and soon the very powerful genies are tearing the city apart in their fighting. Meanwhile Captain Marvel is searching for a way to stop the genies. Zauriel knows that the Spectre has been imprisoned and he and Sentinel are trying to free the Spectre.
The story has a lot of different plotlines which I enjoyed. The Spectre plot gave a nice moral dilemma to the characters.
Again, the JLA had only one female member and this time it was Huntress. I like Huntress and think that she worked very well in Birds of Prey. However, I fear that here she’s badly outclassed. Since Batman wasn’t in this story, Huntress was the only member without powers at all. JSA had Hippolyta who was also the token female character in that team.
The last two-parted was also a pretty weak effort. I haven't read No Man's Land but I've heard of it. This story felt like an excuse to readers who were wondering why JLA wasn’t doing anything. Batman should have been resentful about that.
This trade collects JLA 24-33, about a year's worth of stories. To me, this is a fairly average collection; nothing spectacular but not bad, either.
First there is the story about the Ultramarine Corps where some of the military bigwigs have become distrustful of JLA and they want their own super humans. Of course, that story never ends well unless it's the origin story of the main team of the book. Then JLA gets a hot tip from T. O. Morrow that Professor Ivo is going to use Amazo to break himself out of prison. Then JLA and JSA team up against the threat of genies from the fifth dimension fighting each other on Earth. At the same time a forgotten founding member of JLA is getting his revenge. Finally, there’s a two-part tie-in to Batman's No-Man's Land story.
The first story is perhaps the most average of them. Someone steals the Shaggy Man from the undersea containment where JLA has placed him. At the same time General Eiling is introducing a new, military-controlled super force of four super powered soldiers who will be USA’s own line of defense. Eiling also implies that he doesn’t trust JLA. A bit later, JLA is lured into a trap where the super soldiers and the army attack JLA. Meanwhile, Batman and Huntress are investigating the disappearance of the Shaggy Man. There’s also foreshadowning when the Source warns the New Gods that Maggedon is coming.
The first story felt more like a Marvel story than DC. To me, one of the biggest differences between the two universes is how the general public sees super heroes. In Marvel, it’s ridiculously easy to turn the public opinion against any super group. X-Men are already reviled but Avengers have also suffered their share of mistrust. Perhaps the Fantastic Four are the least mistrusted super heroes in Marvel universe and even they have had their times. However, JLA and JSA have pretty much always enjoyed the trust of the people, Superman especially. In this story, there’s a scene where the normal army is attacking JLA! To me this feel likes the army attacking the police. Not bloody likely. However, some of the soldiers resist the attack order and after Superman talks to them, they pretty much cave in. So, not a complete Marvel-moment.
I was intrigued by the city-state Superbia and the implications it had, but apparently it was destroyed quickly in a later story. Bummer.
The two-issue story about Amazo was pretty much a long fight with lots of brief guests, including the Atom.
The JLA and JSA team-up was the longest story and I liked it the most. The 5th dimensional beings are always entertaining although they tend to be so powerful that the endings are usually cheesy but this ending was a bit better than most. Here we have a man who used to be one of the JLA’s founding members: Triumph. However, he was lost in time and nobody remembers him. He’s bitter about that. He managed to get his hands on the 5th dimensional imp Lkz who gives him his powers back. Then he sends Lkz on a rampage at Central City so that he can save the city when things are most desperate. When JLA is on Earth fighting the genie, he walks into the Moon base with two mind-controlled JLA members Gypsy and Ray.
However, a kid named Jakeem Thunder also possesses one of the genies. He doesn’t understand the being and is reluctant to use him, though. Jakeem lives in Central City and soon the very powerful genies are tearing the city apart in their fighting. Meanwhile Captain Marvel is searching for a way to stop the genies. Zauriel knows that the Spectre has been imprisoned and he and Sentinel are trying to free the Spectre.
The story has a lot of different plotlines which I enjoyed. The Spectre plot gave a nice moral dilemma to the characters.
Again, the JLA had only one female member and this time it was Huntress. I like Huntress and think that she worked very well in Birds of Prey. However, I fear that here she’s badly outclassed. Since Batman wasn’t in this story, Huntress was the only member without powers at all. JSA had Hippolyta who was also the token female character in that team.
The last two-parted was also a pretty weak effort. I haven't read No Man's Land but I've heard of it. This story felt like an excuse to readers who were wondering why JLA wasn’t doing anything. Batman should have been resentful about that.
August 17, 2009
JLA: Strength in Numbers
Or rather the Finnish edition which consists of JLA 16-21 and New Year’s Evil: Prometheus. The US trade seems to also contain JLA 22 and 23. The preview at DC's site seems to have a few pages out of them.
The Finnish edition has three stories: one about Prometheus’s quest to destroy JLA, then Julian September and his successful attempt to alter the probabilities of the universe, and lastly Adam Strange kidnaps the JLA and forces them to work for him.
The trade starts with Prometheus who is telling his origin story to Retro, an ordinary man who has won a day as member of the JLA. The issue is really an info-dumb about Prometheus but to me, at least, it was rather entertaining. At the end of the issue, Prometheus kills the poor Retro and disguises himself to look like Retro. That’s a fine way to get himself into the Watchtower and to take on the whole JLA.
The JLA team itself has grown: in addition to the core team (where Diana’s mother Hippolyta is Wonder Woman) they now have Huntress, Zauriel, Steel, and Plastic Man. Later, Oracle is also revealed to be part of the team. I’m not at all familiar with Steel but since JLA isn’t about characterization, that doesn’t really matter.
A group of almost hundred reporters have been invited to the Moon Watchtower to see the next incarnation of JLA. Lois and Clark are among them and J’onn uses his powers to disguise himself as Clark while Superman welcomes the reporters to the Moon. Prometheus as Retro is also teleported to the Moon and he starts this campaign against the JLA with downloading the schematics of the base and cutting off the JLA’s air supply. Impressive!
I enjoyed the first story quite a lot. Prometheus is very much an over-the-top comic book villain and he was used very well this time. The combination of reporters and superheroes has always tickled my funny bone for some reason and sure enough, the reporters ask laughable questions ("Any advice for menopausal women, Hippolyta?" add an eye rolling smiley here.) They are also a nice, innocent crowd to threaten.
The second story wasn’t quite as enjoyable but still quite good. JLA gets (whether they want them or not) new additions Big Barda and Orion. Since I like established couples, Mr. Miracle and Big Barda are some of my favorites. However, Barda by herself is very impressive, too. Here, she's used a bit too much as a peacemaker between Orion and, well, other people.
The story itself is about vanishing people and odd coincidences that start to crop up with alarming frequency. Aquaman, Huntress, and Steel are the first ones to disappear and others follow. Similarly, seven air planes are in trouble at the same time and in close proximity to each other. Seven independent super villains decide to kidnap the president of USA at the same time. The JLA must try to quickly find out what is going on.
It also contains possibly one of the most chilling pages ever: Batman is just about to explain what is going on and how it can be fixed, when he vanishes. It also shows clearly, how dependent JLA is on Batman's brains and detective skills.
I thought the remaining JLA was a rather arbitrary group and I was a bit disappointed that the first members to vanish were pretty much the newest ones. What's the point of adding them if you aren't going to use them?
But otherwise the story was pretty entertaining.
The third story felt almost like filler. But I'm not familiar with Adam Strange; in fact this the first time I've seen him. He does seem like an interesting character and I think that he has interesting parallels to John Carter of Barsoom. (From another planet, rises to a hero, and marries a princess.) However, the story wasn't enough to become familiar with him.
Here, he has used his Zeta-beam to bring the JLA to Rann. He and the En'Taran slavemasters use collars to keep the JLAers in line and force them to work rebuilding the Rann world in honor of Adam's wife's retun to it. The problem is that she's been dead for a few years and Adam is insane.
Orion was in a fine form here; frothing at the mouth and raging all the while. :)
Overall, the trade has classic JLA action even though it's not exactly the best.
My blog: http://mervih.wordpress.com/
The Finnish edition has three stories: one about Prometheus’s quest to destroy JLA, then Julian September and his successful attempt to alter the probabilities of the universe, and lastly Adam Strange kidnaps the JLA and forces them to work for him.
The trade starts with Prometheus who is telling his origin story to Retro, an ordinary man who has won a day as member of the JLA. The issue is really an info-dumb about Prometheus but to me, at least, it was rather entertaining. At the end of the issue, Prometheus kills the poor Retro and disguises himself to look like Retro. That’s a fine way to get himself into the Watchtower and to take on the whole JLA.
The JLA team itself has grown: in addition to the core team (where Diana’s mother Hippolyta is Wonder Woman) they now have Huntress, Zauriel, Steel, and Plastic Man. Later, Oracle is also revealed to be part of the team. I’m not at all familiar with Steel but since JLA isn’t about characterization, that doesn’t really matter.
A group of almost hundred reporters have been invited to the Moon Watchtower to see the next incarnation of JLA. Lois and Clark are among them and J’onn uses his powers to disguise himself as Clark while Superman welcomes the reporters to the Moon. Prometheus as Retro is also teleported to the Moon and he starts this campaign against the JLA with downloading the schematics of the base and cutting off the JLA’s air supply. Impressive!
I enjoyed the first story quite a lot. Prometheus is very much an over-the-top comic book villain and he was used very well this time. The combination of reporters and superheroes has always tickled my funny bone for some reason and sure enough, the reporters ask laughable questions ("Any advice for menopausal women, Hippolyta?" add an eye rolling smiley here.) They are also a nice, innocent crowd to threaten.
The second story wasn’t quite as enjoyable but still quite good. JLA gets (whether they want them or not) new additions Big Barda and Orion. Since I like established couples, Mr. Miracle and Big Barda are some of my favorites. However, Barda by herself is very impressive, too. Here, she's used a bit too much as a peacemaker between Orion and, well, other people.
The story itself is about vanishing people and odd coincidences that start to crop up with alarming frequency. Aquaman, Huntress, and Steel are the first ones to disappear and others follow. Similarly, seven air planes are in trouble at the same time and in close proximity to each other. Seven independent super villains decide to kidnap the president of USA at the same time. The JLA must try to quickly find out what is going on.
It also contains possibly one of the most chilling pages ever: Batman is just about to explain what is going on and how it can be fixed, when he vanishes. It also shows clearly, how dependent JLA is on Batman's brains and detective skills.
I thought the remaining JLA was a rather arbitrary group and I was a bit disappointed that the first members to vanish were pretty much the newest ones. What's the point of adding them if you aren't going to use them?
But otherwise the story was pretty entertaining.
The third story felt almost like filler. But I'm not familiar with Adam Strange; in fact this the first time I've seen him. He does seem like an interesting character and I think that he has interesting parallels to John Carter of Barsoom. (From another planet, rises to a hero, and marries a princess.) However, the story wasn't enough to become familiar with him.
Here, he has used his Zeta-beam to bring the JLA to Rann. He and the En'Taran slavemasters use collars to keep the JLAers in line and force them to work rebuilding the Rann world in honor of Adam's wife's retun to it. The problem is that she's been dead for a few years and Adam is insane.
Orion was in a fine form here; frothing at the mouth and raging all the while. :)
Overall, the trade has classic JLA action even though it's not exactly the best.
My blog: http://mervih.wordpress.com/
August 10, 2009
JLA: Rock of Ages
Darkseid is!
JLA issues 10-15.
This one of my favorite JLA albums: cosmic stuff, alternate futures, Darkseid, Lex Luthor leading the Injustice Gang. What more can you want from a simple super hero comic?
The all-male JLA is investigating attacks which are done by hard light constructs about themselves. The man behind the constructs is, of course, Luthor who has brought together a big team of super villains to beat the JLA; Joker, Mirror Master, Circe, and a few others I’m not familiar with. Luthor also controls the mind of an alien and makes the alien work for him.
While the team’s heavy hitters are dealing with that problem, New Gods’ Metron appears to Aquaman, Green Lantern, and the Flash. Metron tells them that they have to find the Philosopher’s Stone which is also called the Rock of Ages. If they don’t, Darkseid will destroy all life from the universe. Somewhat reluctantly, the trio agrees and Metron sends them to other realities. Unfortunately, they don’t quite succeed. After an arduous search, they are thrown 15 years into the future and into their future bodies on Earth which Darkseid has conquered. A few heroes and heroines are still alive and the trio tries to convince them that they need to get to Darkseid’s time machine and reverse everything that has happened.
In the future, only Aquaman is somewhat his old self; Flash doesn’t have any powers anymore, and the Green Lantern was captured and brainwashed in to one of Darkseid’s zombie soldiers. So, it’s a good thing that they get help from the heroes still left: the Atom, Wonder Woman, reprogrammed Amazo, elderly Green Arrow, a female Aztec, and Silver.
I really enjoyed all the alternate universes; the Wonder World at the end of existence where the greatest heroes of all time are waiting for the final battle and of course oppressed Earth. The future Wonder Woman was very impressive.
I also enjoyed the sequence where J’onn and Superman are trapped into hard light construct and the only way for them to get out of it is for J’onn to start thinking like Joker who designed the trap.
The plot does have some holes in it, though. For example, if the trio left Earth 15 years ago, why are their older selfs there? I also felt that Luthor wasn’t using the Stone much. The rest of the Injustice Gang was also pretty useless. The hard light constructs of JLA were there just for some gratuitous super brawling. But I like the rest of it so much that I’m willing to overlook those.
All in all, a very enjoyable cosmic romp!
JLA issues 10-15.
This one of my favorite JLA albums: cosmic stuff, alternate futures, Darkseid, Lex Luthor leading the Injustice Gang. What more can you want from a simple super hero comic?
The all-male JLA is investigating attacks which are done by hard light constructs about themselves. The man behind the constructs is, of course, Luthor who has brought together a big team of super villains to beat the JLA; Joker, Mirror Master, Circe, and a few others I’m not familiar with. Luthor also controls the mind of an alien and makes the alien work for him.
While the team’s heavy hitters are dealing with that problem, New Gods’ Metron appears to Aquaman, Green Lantern, and the Flash. Metron tells them that they have to find the Philosopher’s Stone which is also called the Rock of Ages. If they don’t, Darkseid will destroy all life from the universe. Somewhat reluctantly, the trio agrees and Metron sends them to other realities. Unfortunately, they don’t quite succeed. After an arduous search, they are thrown 15 years into the future and into their future bodies on Earth which Darkseid has conquered. A few heroes and heroines are still alive and the trio tries to convince them that they need to get to Darkseid’s time machine and reverse everything that has happened.
In the future, only Aquaman is somewhat his old self; Flash doesn’t have any powers anymore, and the Green Lantern was captured and brainwashed in to one of Darkseid’s zombie soldiers. So, it’s a good thing that they get help from the heroes still left: the Atom, Wonder Woman, reprogrammed Amazo, elderly Green Arrow, a female Aztec, and Silver.
I really enjoyed all the alternate universes; the Wonder World at the end of existence where the greatest heroes of all time are waiting for the final battle and of course oppressed Earth. The future Wonder Woman was very impressive.
I also enjoyed the sequence where J’onn and Superman are trapped into hard light construct and the only way for them to get out of it is for J’onn to start thinking like Joker who designed the trap.
The plot does have some holes in it, though. For example, if the trio left Earth 15 years ago, why are their older selfs there? I also felt that Luthor wasn’t using the Stone much. The rest of the Injustice Gang was also pretty useless. The hard light constructs of JLA were there just for some gratuitous super brawling. But I like the rest of it so much that I’m willing to overlook those.
All in all, a very enjoyable cosmic romp!
August 2, 2009
JLA: American Dreams
By Morrison, Porter, Dell
JLA issues 5-9
For some reason, the Finnish super hero comics have always focused on Marvel and specifically on Spider-Man and X-Men. From the DC side, we got a Superman comic which ran a while a couple of different times. The latest was during Byrne’s relaunch. Batman has appeared as a second hero in the Superman comics and a while with his own run. But usually we get at most a couple of DC special a year. Now even these seem to have stopped.
JLA ran four issues in 2001. However, each issue was as thick as an American trade paperback. I’ve got all four Finnish issues but I can’t just find the first one right now. This second Finnish edition includes the American Dreams trade and a couple of stories highlighting the Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter who aren't known pretty much at all here.
Anyway, this trade feels to me like three separate stories rather than one coherent story arch. Granted, there are a few hints in the Zauriel story about the Key story.
The first story is about the Woman of Tomorrow, an android who was built by two evil geniuses to destroy JLA. During her brief time in the team she learns to value friendship and freedom. In the story, the JLA are hunting down a sphere called If which is wrecking havoc around the US.
I rather enjoyed the different characters which were introduced in the recruitment drive at the start. Although, I’m a bit puzzled by the whole “discrimination” accusations. Sure, they’re discriminating; they must only accept members that can be expected to *survive*. Perhaps law firms are also discriminating for only wanting to hire lawyers?
I’d classify this as a “nice” story; rather predictable one-shot with a character which is never seen again. Even though as an android she might even be logically resurrected.
The second story is the one I enjoyed the most: Heaven’s war against Zauriel the angel. Zauriel falls (or is thrown? We never know) from Heaven into the San Francisco Bay. In his wake follows couple of angels who have been sent to erase Zauriel from the Book (the Earth). JLA can’t allow that to happen, of course. And later, the angels’ boss shows up.
Meanwhile, Neron in Hell gives a couple of creatures (demons?) a chance to take the Moon out of its orbit. They gleefully do just so.
I really enjoyed the international feel of the JLA and the multiple threats. I also enjoy the camaraderie between Flash and Green Lantern. Although, after all the hype Asmodel was a bit of a let-down. I was a bit amused how Green Lantern couldn’t believe that Zauriel is a “real” angel. On the other hand, this revelation didn’t make any of the JLA to do any soul searching. None also had any qualms about fighting angels. But as far as I understand, none of the JLAers are particularly religious. Except for Diana.
I was a bit surprised how ordinary Zauriel appeared. He used idioms and was quite mouthy. Not at all how I would have thought an angel to behave.
The third story deals with Key and his ambition to rule the world with his brains. I’m not familiar with Key but apparently he’s an old opponent. Perhaps that’s why he takes over the Moon Base so quickly that we aren’t even shown how he did it. He has captured the JLA and keeps them unconscious. He injects into them a virus that makes them all dream about being in an alternate world. The twist is that Key *knows* that the JLA is going to figure out what’s going on and wake up. He going to use the brain energy produced by waking up and use it to his own nefarious purposes.
However, JLA’s possible newest member, the new Green Arrow, has teleported to the base and found out Key’s plans, much to the surprise of both of them. Key manages to shoot Arrow’s, er, arrows and after that Key pretty much ignores him. GA is, however, quite resourceful although I was surprised that he didn’t find any other weapons on the moon than his dad’s old trick arrows.
I rather enjoyed the alternate universes here, especially Superman’s and Batman’s.
American Dreams is a pretty standard JLA romp without much cosmic action or surprises.
JLA issues 5-9
For some reason, the Finnish super hero comics have always focused on Marvel and specifically on Spider-Man and X-Men. From the DC side, we got a Superman comic which ran a while a couple of different times. The latest was during Byrne’s relaunch. Batman has appeared as a second hero in the Superman comics and a while with his own run. But usually we get at most a couple of DC special a year. Now even these seem to have stopped.
JLA ran four issues in 2001. However, each issue was as thick as an American trade paperback. I’ve got all four Finnish issues but I can’t just find the first one right now. This second Finnish edition includes the American Dreams trade and a couple of stories highlighting the Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter who aren't known pretty much at all here.
Anyway, this trade feels to me like three separate stories rather than one coherent story arch. Granted, there are a few hints in the Zauriel story about the Key story.
The first story is about the Woman of Tomorrow, an android who was built by two evil geniuses to destroy JLA. During her brief time in the team she learns to value friendship and freedom. In the story, the JLA are hunting down a sphere called If which is wrecking havoc around the US.
I rather enjoyed the different characters which were introduced in the recruitment drive at the start. Although, I’m a bit puzzled by the whole “discrimination” accusations. Sure, they’re discriminating; they must only accept members that can be expected to *survive*. Perhaps law firms are also discriminating for only wanting to hire lawyers?
I’d classify this as a “nice” story; rather predictable one-shot with a character which is never seen again. Even though as an android she might even be logically resurrected.
The second story is the one I enjoyed the most: Heaven’s war against Zauriel the angel. Zauriel falls (or is thrown? We never know) from Heaven into the San Francisco Bay. In his wake follows couple of angels who have been sent to erase Zauriel from the Book (the Earth). JLA can’t allow that to happen, of course. And later, the angels’ boss shows up.
Meanwhile, Neron in Hell gives a couple of creatures (demons?) a chance to take the Moon out of its orbit. They gleefully do just so.
I really enjoyed the international feel of the JLA and the multiple threats. I also enjoy the camaraderie between Flash and Green Lantern. Although, after all the hype Asmodel was a bit of a let-down. I was a bit amused how Green Lantern couldn’t believe that Zauriel is a “real” angel. On the other hand, this revelation didn’t make any of the JLA to do any soul searching. None also had any qualms about fighting angels. But as far as I understand, none of the JLAers are particularly religious. Except for Diana.
I was a bit surprised how ordinary Zauriel appeared. He used idioms and was quite mouthy. Not at all how I would have thought an angel to behave.
The third story deals with Key and his ambition to rule the world with his brains. I’m not familiar with Key but apparently he’s an old opponent. Perhaps that’s why he takes over the Moon Base so quickly that we aren’t even shown how he did it. He has captured the JLA and keeps them unconscious. He injects into them a virus that makes them all dream about being in an alternate world. The twist is that Key *knows* that the JLA is going to figure out what’s going on and wake up. He going to use the brain energy produced by waking up and use it to his own nefarious purposes.
However, JLA’s possible newest member, the new Green Arrow, has teleported to the base and found out Key’s plans, much to the surprise of both of them. Key manages to shoot Arrow’s, er, arrows and after that Key pretty much ignores him. GA is, however, quite resourceful although I was surprised that he didn’t find any other weapons on the moon than his dad’s old trick arrows.
I rather enjoyed the alternate universes here, especially Superman’s and Batman’s.
American Dreams is a pretty standard JLA romp without much cosmic action or surprises.
July 27, 2009
JLA: Earth 2
By Morrison and Quitely
This is my sixth posted review so I've now made my Minor!
This is one of my favorite alternate realities where the JLA equivalent metahumans are actually the biggest baddies in their world.
The book starts very, very nicely: three shapes who are not quite Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman are talking about the prisoner who got away. Then a weird ship of some kind crashes to the US countryside and Luthor steps out in his armor. There’s something about that opening the visually appeals to me very much.
The JLA is trying to rescue a plane coming down. They succeed but in the end the passengers are all dead. After a closer look, the JLA finds out that the passengers’ hearts are all on the right side in their bodies.
Next, Luthor starts his day in the office by donating the day’s armament budget to Greenpeace and giving his employees a 300% raise. However, he can’t do much else because the JLA pays him a visit. Luthor proceeds to convince them that he is, in fact, Alexander Luthor from the antimatter universe. He has come to this universe to beg for help from the heroes because in his world the metahumans are all bad guys. Of course, everyone is rather skeptical at first but in the end the JLA agrees to help him. Luthor has a plan which should guarantee that the JLA can take out their counterparts and save the other world in just 48 hours. Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash, and the Green Lantern leave with Luthor while Aquaman and J’onn stay.
Meanwhile, the antimatter-JLA, called the Crime Syndicate, isn’t idle, either. They continue to make people’s lives miserable in their own big and small ways. The Owlman tortures Commissioner Wayne in Gotham City while Ultraman deals out counterfeit money to destabilize the economy. They have also tried to track down Luthor and are aware of the existence of the matter-Earth. They would like to conquer it and Owlman has even a plan for it.
I really liked the twisted JLA versions. We get to know most about Owlman who isn’t Bruce Wayne. Superwoman, Power Ring, and Johnny Quick stay quite two-dimensional characters which might be understandable given the small amount of space that Morrison has to work with. Superwoman seems to be rather stereotypical seductive femme fatale which I personally don’t really care for. After all, why should she limit herself to just sexual appeal when she has powers to do a lot of different things? Anyway, I rather enjoyed Owlman and the twisted little scenario he had going in Gotham. Ultraman is an astronaut and not Clark Kent.
Antimatter-Luthor is his world’s only heroic figure and he loses every time to the Syndicate. He has no choice but to seek help. He seems just as altruistic as the super heroes in the matter-world. He’s also just as much a genius as “our” Luthor. I guess he has to be in order to survive.
The antimatter-Earth is a world where evil triumphs every time. Everyone in authority is corrupt. Everyone is looking for his or her own gain. (Frankly, I’m amazed that they’ve managed to get to our level of technology but that’s beside the point.)
Excellent story. I’d like to know more about the Syndicate members, though.
My blog.
This is my sixth posted review so I've now made my Minor!
This is one of my favorite alternate realities where the JLA equivalent metahumans are actually the biggest baddies in their world.
The book starts very, very nicely: three shapes who are not quite Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman are talking about the prisoner who got away. Then a weird ship of some kind crashes to the US countryside and Luthor steps out in his armor. There’s something about that opening the visually appeals to me very much.
The JLA is trying to rescue a plane coming down. They succeed but in the end the passengers are all dead. After a closer look, the JLA finds out that the passengers’ hearts are all on the right side in their bodies.
Next, Luthor starts his day in the office by donating the day’s armament budget to Greenpeace and giving his employees a 300% raise. However, he can’t do much else because the JLA pays him a visit. Luthor proceeds to convince them that he is, in fact, Alexander Luthor from the antimatter universe. He has come to this universe to beg for help from the heroes because in his world the metahumans are all bad guys. Of course, everyone is rather skeptical at first but in the end the JLA agrees to help him. Luthor has a plan which should guarantee that the JLA can take out their counterparts and save the other world in just 48 hours. Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash, and the Green Lantern leave with Luthor while Aquaman and J’onn stay.
Meanwhile, the antimatter-JLA, called the Crime Syndicate, isn’t idle, either. They continue to make people’s lives miserable in their own big and small ways. The Owlman tortures Commissioner Wayne in Gotham City while Ultraman deals out counterfeit money to destabilize the economy. They have also tried to track down Luthor and are aware of the existence of the matter-Earth. They would like to conquer it and Owlman has even a plan for it.
I really liked the twisted JLA versions. We get to know most about Owlman who isn’t Bruce Wayne. Superwoman, Power Ring, and Johnny Quick stay quite two-dimensional characters which might be understandable given the small amount of space that Morrison has to work with. Superwoman seems to be rather stereotypical seductive femme fatale which I personally don’t really care for. After all, why should she limit herself to just sexual appeal when she has powers to do a lot of different things? Anyway, I rather enjoyed Owlman and the twisted little scenario he had going in Gotham. Ultraman is an astronaut and not Clark Kent.
Antimatter-Luthor is his world’s only heroic figure and he loses every time to the Syndicate. He has no choice but to seek help. He seems just as altruistic as the super heroes in the matter-world. He’s also just as much a genius as “our” Luthor. I guess he has to be in order to survive.
The antimatter-Earth is a world where evil triumphs every time. Everyone in authority is corrupt. Everyone is looking for his or her own gain. (Frankly, I’m amazed that they’ve managed to get to our level of technology but that’s beside the point.)
Excellent story. I’d like to know more about the Syndicate members, though.
My blog.
July 18, 2009
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future for you
By Vaughan, Jeanty, Owens. Issue 10 by Whedon and Richards.
The second part of the eight season in comic book form. This trade gathers issues 6 to 10.
This arch brings back Faith and Giles. Giles has found out that one of the girls who got Slayer powers isn’t a good guy but intends to bring about the Apocalypse. Unfortunately, the girl is a rich English heiress so killing her isn’t going to be easy. So, Giles drafts Faith. He promises that after Faith kills Lady Genevieve, she can go to an early retirement away from Slaying and her criminal record. Faith agrees reluctantly and Giles starts to train her to be an English lady so that she can infiltrate into Genevieve’s social circle and strike unexpectedly.
Lady Genevieve Savidge, or Gigi, is a spoiled young aristocrat who wants to rule the world. Her trainer and bodyguard is Roden who is quite a powerful warlock. He can summon gargoyles out the air to defend Gigi. In order to prepare herself for the coming battle Gigi fights and kills other Slayers. She also seems to have an interesting ability to sense when another Slayer is near. Gigi and Roden are quite a formidable pair.
We also get some glimpses of the Scottish castle where Buffy and the gang have their base. Willow is trying to cure Dawn’s gigantism and Buffy is seeing terrifying dreams.
Both Faith and Giles are the same as in the show. In fact, I heard their dialogue in my head with the actors' voices. I love the dialogue and the art is okay. I didn't expect Giles to resort to assassination which seem a bit too dark for the Buffy gang to do.
In issue 10, "Anywhere but here", Buffy and Willow are trying to find out more about the mysterious Twilight-group. Willow flies them to the lair of Sephrillian who minds an unstable reality field. There Willow and Buffy hope to be able to find some answers. But first, they see glimpses of past and future and eventually have to face some ugly truths in the finest Buffy fashion.
I liked both stories and I'm really interested to see how the story continues.
My blog.
The second part of the eight season in comic book form. This trade gathers issues 6 to 10.
This arch brings back Faith and Giles. Giles has found out that one of the girls who got Slayer powers isn’t a good guy but intends to bring about the Apocalypse. Unfortunately, the girl is a rich English heiress so killing her isn’t going to be easy. So, Giles drafts Faith. He promises that after Faith kills Lady Genevieve, she can go to an early retirement away from Slaying and her criminal record. Faith agrees reluctantly and Giles starts to train her to be an English lady so that she can infiltrate into Genevieve’s social circle and strike unexpectedly.
Lady Genevieve Savidge, or Gigi, is a spoiled young aristocrat who wants to rule the world. Her trainer and bodyguard is Roden who is quite a powerful warlock. He can summon gargoyles out the air to defend Gigi. In order to prepare herself for the coming battle Gigi fights and kills other Slayers. She also seems to have an interesting ability to sense when another Slayer is near. Gigi and Roden are quite a formidable pair.
We also get some glimpses of the Scottish castle where Buffy and the gang have their base. Willow is trying to cure Dawn’s gigantism and Buffy is seeing terrifying dreams.
Both Faith and Giles are the same as in the show. In fact, I heard their dialogue in my head with the actors' voices. I love the dialogue and the art is okay. I didn't expect Giles to resort to assassination which seem a bit too dark for the Buffy gang to do.
In issue 10, "Anywhere but here", Buffy and Willow are trying to find out more about the mysterious Twilight-group. Willow flies them to the lair of Sephrillian who minds an unstable reality field. There Willow and Buffy hope to be able to find some answers. But first, they see glimpses of past and future and eventually have to face some ugly truths in the finest Buffy fashion.
I liked both stories and I'm really interested to see how the story continues.
My blog.
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