Saturday, September 10, 2016

 

Superman #6: The Comic I've Been Waiting Six Years For

Thursday, I read Superman #6 and felt something I hadn't felt in a Superman comic in a very long time: Superman.

As I put the book down, I realized something, I was smiling and then, I picked it up again and read it. It was better the second time around. It went deep into my heart. It had symbolism. It had heart. It had family. It had Superman.

Everything that has made Superman, Superman could be found in this issue.  It had hope. It gave a glimpse into the future while giving us the best of the past.

There it all was: Superman rallying the souls of Krypton to simply do what's right. Not just to save his son and wife, Lois but to fight against The Eradicator's singular eugenics.

In a bit of writing brilliance, Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason present Superman to us through his son's eyes. We get to see Superman through the truest of eyes: the eyes of a child. As a kid, there wasn't a battle I didn't believe Superman couldn't win and with issue six, Jon Kent is us.

In an effort to defeat The Eradicator, Superman calls to one of his greatest allies and the minute he sprung into the page, I just... just... man. It's good to have him back and most likely as a faithful companion to the newest addition to the Superman family.

Maybe my favorite thing was seeing Lois Lane be amazing all over again. In the previous issue, to save her son, she donned the suit of armor Batman wore to face the fires of Darkseid's homeworld of Apokolips in order to save his son, Damian. That was deep. In that moment, her love for her family was shown as fierce as any in the DC Universe.

The final pages of this comic end with the corniest but most necessary of moments; Superman being presented with the Key to The City of Metropolis as Jon and Lois look on from afar. *sigh*

And on the final page, Superman presents his greatest creation to the two people, outside of family, who matter most. With a small "Hi," from the new Superboy and new Trinity assembled, Superman's Rebirth era, became something I went into wholeheartedly.

He is, again, a man who is sure.

He is here to stay.

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Friday, July 22, 2016

 

Is It Fun To Be A DC Comics Fan Again?


Between a pretty successful DC: Rebirth, from-what-I've seen decent looks at the upcoming Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad flicks and now, Justice League Action featuring the returns of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill to Warner Animation, are we seeing a return to glory for DC Comics?

Watch the trailer.

Swamp Thing. Plastic Man and Space Cabbie.

Space Cabbie.

Sunday, July 10, 2016

 

Look At That!



That's six DC Comics in one week.

That's as many as I bought in all of 2015.

It's good to have DC Comics you look forward to reading again.

Tuesday, June 07, 2016

 

Black As Black Manta's Soul

If there's anything more quintessentially Black Manta than the picture below, I don't want to know about it.


Costumed. Blowing things up. Running away from said thing he just blew up.

You know there's a smile going on under that helmet. You just know it.

Black Manta, starting sh*t...

This me looking forward to Aquaman: Rebirth #1 by writer Dan Abnett and artist Brad Walker.

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Friday, May 27, 2016

 

My Thoughts On DC: Rebirth

Jose Luis Garcia Lopez would be proud.

Well... DC: Rebirth, the comic I'd been waiting for nearly five years was read and you know what?

I didn't know just how much I missed these characters.

Just so much to take in but my greatest takeaway is that hope has returned to The DC Universe. 

Legacy has returned. Heck, even the term, "DC Universe" is back in use again!

I smiled wide at the return of Ted Kord. I missed his stupid grin.

I laughed my ass off as writer Geoff Johns exploded his sensational character find of who-gives-a-crap, Pandora.

I was heartened by the vast numbers of youthful legacy characters gently easing themselves back into the fray.

The Batman dealing with the revelation that his greatest enemy may have pulled the greatest long con of all time.  Explains a lot and a little bit of brilliance.

I gasped as Johnny Thunder is still causing trouble in this DC Universe.

I gasped as I saw Johnny Thunder in this DC Universe. There will be a Justice Society of America again.

In DC: Rebirth, we saw love return to DC Comics. Ray Palmer is still in love with a crazy person but the heart still wants what it wants. Black Canary and Green Arrow. It is a thing again and I'm looking forward to seeing them see each other again with new eyes. 

Thank God, The Hawks were left out. They need a lot of fixing and Rebirth just ain't the place for that.

And Wally West. Yeah. 

He's back. The Flash of a generation is back and I genuinely got a bit choked up as he accepted his fate in returning to limbo. I caught myself smiling when the one person he needed the most to remember him drew him back into being. Was just a very sweet, long-awaited moment.

New life and love he has to earn all over again. A fresh start worthy of a Scarlet Speedster.

All of this and nothing brought me more joy than the shorthand of showing a ring from the future and the hope it brings to the present.

And that ending... many will debate its merits but its the rare circumstance where you can point to one thing that changed so much. I'm looking forward to where The DC Universe is headed.

I haven't thought that, much less said that, in nearly five years.

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Sunday, May 22, 2016

 

My Bleeding Cool Article: Twizzlers, Marvel, Tony Bennett And Jimmy Palmiotti


I wrote an article for Bleeding Cool about one of comics' unsung champions, Harley Quinn writer and the one of the men who pretty much saved Marvel, Jimmy Palmiotti.

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Tuesday, May 17, 2016

 

New DC Comics Logo



Classic clean lines; no guessing as to what it is and would look good in just about any color, I reckon.

Harkens back to DC's 1972 pre-Bullet logo.

Solid thumbs up!


Saturday, May 14, 2016

 

Thank You, Darwyn Cooke.

Got this beautiful piece of art from Darwyn Cooke at Baltimore Comic-Con a little while back; standing in line three hours before the convention opened and four before he arrived.

I wound up being fifth in his line and some guy comes up counting like a schoolteacher counting heads, "One. Two. Three. Four." and puts himself in front of myself and a friend.

We just stared at each other like, "WTF?!?" and proceeded to basically declare in no uncertain terms that we were there first and would f*%k this guy up for even TRYING this nonsense.

Darwyn Cooke had a penchant for leaning towards writing and drawing tough guys and gals such as Batman, Catwoman and Wonder Woman. On top of that, he was sort of known in quiet whispers as kinda "ornery," himself.

As we helped this man learn which hills to die on, the look on Darwyn's face was priceless.

Absolute bemusement!

I can legit say that I stood up for myself in front of the man known for drawing a Wonder Woman who absolutely towered over Superman.

Telling him, in no uncertain terms, that if he didn't like the way she did things, well...

"There's the door, spaceman."

Thank you for all you've done and more, Darwyn.

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Monday, May 09, 2016

 

The World Isn't Ready For A Captain America Movie...

 
About a decade ago, I went to a talk at the Smithsonian where one of the producers of the Batman movies, loudly proclaimed the reason there'd never be a Captain America movie was because the world didn't want it.

China wouldn't want it.

It was deemed "too American."

This weekend it opened with the fifth largest box office in history and a 96 million dollar box office opening in China alone.

Three movies later and two Avengers flicks later and it's safe to say, he was wrong.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

 

My Latest Bleeding Cool Article: A Thank You To Comics Creatives

The one in which I simply thank the creators, writers, artists, letterers, colorists and editors for making me a comics fan. Check it out!

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Friday, April 22, 2016

 

It's Lady Cop's Birthday!

 
Happy 41st birthday, Lady Cop!
 
(How I wish this were happening)

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Tuesday, April 19, 2016

 

Supergirl Season Finale Hope




Watched the Supergirl season finale and at its end, all I could think was, "Please let that be a dog."

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Friday, April 15, 2016

 

My Latest Bleeding Cool Article: The DC Universe And The Rebirth Of Joy?


Got a chance to do a new article for Bleeding Cool and got out some hopeful yet wary thoughts on DC Comics' upcoming "Rebirth."

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Saturday, April 09, 2016

 

I, Fanboy...


EEEKK!!!


Monday, March 28, 2016

 

A Thought On Batman v Superman

Allow me to tell you what I disliked so much about Batman v Superman:

It was two and a half of hours of relentless cynicism. More important to what I'm trying to explain was that BvS is a movie co-featuring Superman where the principal creatives guiding him seem to hate him.

When Superman appears on screen, the first thing you should ever feel is relief.

Relief that things are going to get better.

Not dread.  You should not be met by a man who meets threats with threats. Superman does not break people. Superman doesn't allow you to live. He lifts us up.

His mission is to show humanity the greatness contained within.

This was not Superman. This was a man so unsure of himself that he keeps, just KEEPS hiding himself away. After threatening to break humanity. 

This was a man who just never seems able to find a better way.

This just wasn't Superman. 

This was something I was relieved to see put out of its misery.


Wednesday, March 23, 2016

 

Trading Up

One of the things DC Comics has been doing right is its fairly aggressive re-releasing of fan favorite but oddly formerly-out-of-print trade paperback collections.

For the longest time, I'd tell people of 52, the one time DC Comics got four of comics' biggest names, Mark Waid, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Geoff Johns, together to tell a weekly story of how the DC Universe reacts to a world without Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. I'd tell folks how incredible not only the story was but how you'd most likely never see writers of that caliber writing together towards one goal on one project.

And couldn't really show anyone because DC had allowed so much of 52 to go out of print.

As I get older, I find myself wanting to carry less through life. Months ago, I found myself switching mainly to trade paperbacks. For whatever reason, I feel less ownership over a trade. Now, don't get me wrong, no one will clutch their beloved comics runs to their breast faster than I but do I really need to carry nearly 100 issues of The Flash with me into the 21st century?

Naaaah...

As much as I enjoyed buying the comic and bringing it home and reading it, today, I find myself more grateful for just having had the experience of having read the comic. It's just the best thing. The hope of that a comic's final page will leave you not ready to wait for another month. Today, I find myself wanting to share that feeling so, over the years, I've sold bits off and given chunks away in the hopes that someone else will find joy within the seemingly infinite borders of a comics page.

Of course there's digital but guess what, the digital platform doesn't truly allow for sharing. So, in order to share, analog is, for me, the only way to go.

Years ago, nothing brought me more joy than reading writer Chuck Dixon's Nightwing, Birds of Prey and Robin runs. There was a grit to these adventures that you could not find anywhere else and I ate it up. Month in, month out, DC Comics won my dollar, word balloon by word balloon and panel by panel. Over the years, as much as I loved those comics, I couldn't bring myself to crack open the long boxes and dig them out again. Love has its limits.

Thanks, to DC's trade paperback re-releases, I can access these memories easily. In the coming months, I'll be able to get my hands on Legends, the book that singlehandedly made me a DC Comics fan. In those pages, I saw Guy Gardner for the first time. Wally West saw action as The Flash for the first time in the pages of Legends and later, became my Flash. The Justice League became a thing again in those pages. The Suicide Squad was re-introduced and made into something decidedly more sinister within Legends.

Within those pages, for good or for bad, Darkseid was being positioned as the biggest of the bad within The DC Universe and I loved every second of it.

The past few month have seen me pick up these books and remember why I call myself a comics fan. The backlist is a virtual time machine allowing me to revisit the places that brought me joy.

As bad as it may be, I look forward to going to the comics shop tomorrow and picking up the first volume of Dan Jurgens' Justice League run in trade.

Please believe that I know it may not be in any way as good as it was when I read it with fresh eyes over twenty years ago but I'm going to have the chance to find out again.

So, yeah, bring on 52 in trade paperback again so I don't have to break out 52 single issues again.

Let me wince at Mike Deodato's fashion choices for Wonder Woman. Let me wince at that thong. Let me wince at those leather half tights. I want to remember and more importantly, I'm happy to travel the universe again.

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Tuesday, March 15, 2016

 

Watch This Space...


Taking a bit of a break from other things and firing up the engines again for DC Comics' reboot/not-a-reboot/not-a-DC-You/Nor-a-New-52 Rebirth!

A new initiative that promises legacy and the putting back of things where we old DC Comics fans left them.

I admit it, I am a bit excited. I want to be a DC Comics fan but in the past five years, DC hasn't given me much to crow about. Now, wouldn't it be great if DC actually acknowledged that "Fox and Crow" was a once thing?

Anyway, in those nearly five years, I have not followed one post-DC Universe title for any longer than six issues.

Not that I didn't want to. I just wasn't excited about a universe where you launch a Blackhawks title with, you know, no actual ties to The Blackhawks in it.

"She a lady hockey player?"
(High fives and laughter at the DC conference table)
At my peak, I was reading between 25-40 DC Comics a month and in the time it takes for the "Heroes" TV series to squander a ton of buzz and receive a second mercy killing, I was down to reading one lone DC Comic.

Prez. Since Prez, I've picked up Midnighter in trade and loved it. Just in time to see it cancelled. See, the weird thing is that DC actually was doing some fairly interesting books but in the rush to gain new readership from constant first issues and hype behind lenticular covers, they forgot that folks just want to enjoy the books they're reading.

Say what you will about the Harley Quinn series but the folks reading it are buying it and most important to sales, sharing that they're actually enjoying it.

More than anything, I just want to like DC Comics again. 

I want to be excited about what Superman does. I want to see Dick Grayson standing next to Donna Troy and know that something works again. I want to feel a connection. I want to be excited to have a DC Comic in my hands again.

So, watch this space... I'm going to read some DC Comics again.

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