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AVENGERS #1.1
18 DAYS #17
THE ADVENTURES OF ARCHER & ARMSTRONG #9
THE LONE RANGER / GREEN HORNET #5
Raiders of the Long Box: SWORD OF THE ATOM!
Opinions Are Like @$$Holes: Batman Got a Gun!
THE AVENGERS #1.1
Writer: Mark WaidArtist: Barry Kitson
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: Masked Man
I know what you're thinking, didn't I just review THE AVENGERS #1 by Mark Waid last week?! Well that was AVENGERS #1, this is THE AVENGERS #1.1 (don't cha love Marvel). Actually this is more like Avengers: Year Two, but ya know Marvel would never do that! And based on the story, it should be #16.1, because it's mostly a more elaborate telling of Stan Lee's issue #16. Like how Roger Stern and Bruce Timm did THE AVENGERS #1 ½ back in 1999. Which basically slipped a story inbetween Stan Lee's issue #1 and issue #2.
So what's it all about? Basically, it's the start of Avengers Detroit, er I mean the first Avengers new line up, featuring Hawkeye, Quick Silver, the Scarlet Witch and Captain America. You see Thor, Giant Man, the Wasp and Iron Man are all tired of being Avengers (and the Hulk is off somewhere being the Hulk, as always). As they all take a break, Captain America and the Outsiders move into the mansion (no wait). What's fairly amusing about Mark Waid's retelling of this story, is that none of them really want to be there! Cap sure doesn't like the idea of leading a bunch of amateurs into battle. Quick Silver and Scarlet Witch don't know where they belong. While Hawkeye thinks it's all just a bad idea. He's also a dick right up front, trying to belittle Cap (as always, Hawkeye has inferiority issues). Throwing another DC reference into the mix, the new team is treated like the old JLI by the press. “How can this group of villains, ok former villains be the Avengers?!” they ask. Cap and team have no answer.
Seems that the Frightful Four are asking the same question (Waid picks them-up after FANTASTIC FOUR #36, and the history lines up). So they decide to build their rep by whipping these new Avengers; and they do. No thanks to Cap who totally place the wrong Avenger on the wrong FF member. I assume Waid is playing this as, none of these 'new' heroes really know each other.
I don't know about you, but the older I get, the more of a sucker I am for older comics (the ones older than me). And I love when contemporary writers go over the past. Taking that Golden or Silver Age setting and making more in-depth, with a modern sensibility. With that in mind, I enjoyed this first issue. It's also a nice reprise from the current, sometimes overbearing, Marvel U.
Artwork wise, the very talented Barry Kitson joins Mark Waid. Which is kind of amusing, because years back the two of them did JLA: YEAR ONE for DC. While I didn't think this issue was some of Kitson best work, it's still very nice. Overall, he just has a pleasing style to his work.One funny thing before I leave you. I was looking up this new mini-series on Marvel's website and it finally happened, they have so many Avenger comic books not even they can keep them straight, check out this cropped screen grab!
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18 DAYS #17
Writer: Sarwat ChaddoArtist: Francesco Biagini
Publisher: Graphic India
Reviewer: Masked Man
Again, I'll mention the cover says “Grant Morrison's 18 Days”, but he's had nothing to do with the comic for over ten issues. So despite the marketing plan, I'll be more honest with ya, it's 18 DAYS. Which if you didn't know is about the massive Hindu myth, the Bhagavad Gita. It's like the Iliad and the Odyssey on steroids. If you like mythology and you've never read it, stop wasting time and read it! Also this is the myth that a lot of people point to saying the ancient world had atomic weapons and all that jazz!?! Whether or not that is true, the usual telling of this myth is a more grounded sword and sandal adventure. Grant Morrison's idea was to include all the crazy scifi hardware in the story.
Now, because I assume most of you have no idea about this story, I'll break it down quick. Two sets of cousins are fighting over their kingdom. The petty Kauravas vs the honorable Pandavas, 100 brothers vs five brothers. The five brother Pandavas have an advantage though. Their father was unable to have children, but his wife had the ability to summon gods to her bed, so all of the Pandavas are half brothers and demigods (of course no one knows this except their mom). 18 DAYS is about the climactic battle that lasted 18 days.
The one thing at is so kick @$$ about the myth is the back story of all the characters and what leads them to this war. Mainly, how many good guys whine up fighting for the bad guys. This issue (finally) spotlights my favorite character, Karna. Unbeknown to the Pandavas, he is their 6th older half brother. For when their mother was young and unwed she tried out her power to sleep with a god. And as my mythology teacher put it, when a god shows up for a booty call, you can't say oh no no, I was just testing. So Surya the sun god shows up and nine months later baby Karna shows up. His mom freaks out and abandons the baby. Who is found by a charioteer. As Karna grows up, he is the most bad@$$ thing on the planet. But not being from royalty he is treated like dirt. And his half brother Arjuna, son of the rain god Indra, is treated as the greatest hero on Earth. Duryodhana, leader of the Kauravas, makes Karna his honorary brother, once he sees he is Arjuna's equal. And so the first born is pitted against his other five brothers, and he is the only one who could probably kill them all.
So how's the issue, well the script and art are serviceable. Since Grant Morrison left, 18 DAYS has been created by a rotating door of artists and writers. Unfortunately, Chaddo and Biagini are not the strongest of the bunch. But it's hard to screw up Karna's story so it's still a good read. I'm not sure what's keeping Graphic India from securing the talent to make 18 DAYS the award winning book it should be (money I suppose). Until they do something different, 18 DAY is going to remain a subpar book about a frick'n awesome story. Instead of a must read book, 18 DAYS is something only to be read by the fan and the curious.
THE ADVENTURES OF ARCHER AND ARMSTRONG #9
Writer: Rafer RobertsArtist: Mike Norton
Publisher: Valiant Entertainment
Reviewer: Masked Man
It's history lesson time in the latest THE ADVENTURES OF ARCHER AND ARMSTRONG. Writer Rafer Roberts gets into explaining the history of the universe to Valiant's crazy, slightly mythological duo. Armstrong, the nearly immortal strong man who was known as Hercules hundreds of years ago and Archer, an elite warrior trained to kill Armstrong. They decided to become friends instead.
Getting right to the spoilers, this issue is all about setting up the next big story arc and/or the next overarching road map for the comicbook. It all starts with Armstrong's ex-wife Andromeda (aka Andy), explaining how the 'creator beings' created everyone in the universe, except humans. But in trying to oversee them, the created the Greek Gods. Who were suppose to watch over and inspire humanity, but instead they all turned out to be bastards. Andromeda is the last one and she is worried about the coming “Great Upheavel”. Archer is taken in by her story and Armstrong thinks she is full of cr@p. But when Andromeda takes little Grub Grub, the kinda failed clone of Armstrong, and manages to drop an extra dimensional being into his body, things start getting real. Meanwhile Mary-Maria, the former head ninja of the Sisters of Perpetual Darkness, now on the run from the other sisters (with loyal fellow ninjas in tow), plans a bank-caper. She's hoping this will keep the girls busy, while they plan their next move against the Sisterhood. And then elsewhere, a new villain with odd partners (the usual talking bear and all) prepares to kidnap Grub Grub. Hoping to get their hands on Armstrong's DNA.
So all very mythological and crazy, which is what you'd expect from this current A&A run. Roberts even tries to explain why the people living in Florida always seem to be so crazy. To paraphrase a line from BATMAN (the Tim Burton film), they've been using Joker Brand! It's all pretty light and breezy, though I did enjoy the new take on the Olympian gods. And while it certainly is crazy, I'm not feeling Roberts voice for humor. To use the phrase, don't show us the joke, tell it to us.
Artist Mike Norton does a good job on the book. He's mostly known for his Eisner winning webseries BATTLEPUG. His work here reminds me of Phil Hester's work. Although, the first few pages are done in a different style. Kind of an older comicbook style, as Andy gives her history lesson.
So THE ADVENTURES OF ARCHER AND ARMSTRONG just continues it's steady course as a decent adventure book.
THE LONE RANGER / GREEN HORNET #5
Writer: Michael UslanArtist: Giovanni Timpano
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Reviewer: Masked Man
So Michael (yes, I own a piece of every Batman movie) Uslan wraps up his latest classic hero mash-up for DYNAMITE. The first one I totally recommend, THE SHADOW / GREEN HORNET: DARK KNIGHTS. The second one, JUSTICE INC. (featuring Doc Savage, the Shadow and the Avenger) not so much. This third, pretty much between those two.
As with the first two, I was really excited to see this mini-series coming out. Uslan is a clever and well researched writer. He gets these characters and does an excellent job fleshing out their world. But sometimes it just gets always from him. With JUSTICE INC the plot just started to make no sense. With THE LONE RANGER / GREEN HORNET, the plot is excellent. Well, Brit Reid's family pushing him to be the new Lone Ranger in the 1930's is weird, but it doesn't break the overall goodness of the plot (goodness??). All the historical Easter eggs are great as always too. But where the book suffers is the dialogue. It's almost always clumsy, as the characters often say lines, opposed to really talking to each other. And when the pace of the story starts to increase, the transitions are all rather inelegant.
Same goes for Timpano's art. I've seen him do some really nice work in the past but, recently he just seems to be degrading with each issue he does. He was the artist for JUSTICE INC. as well, though he did very little to help sell the books as it went along. Here he has flashes of good work and nice layouts. But way too often his figures are clumsy and inelegant looking. It seems like he rushes the figure construction phrase of his drawing, and tries to compensate with some fine detail work. But this can make figures look like forms with floating details, oppose to details defining the form.
Ok, how about some spoilers. So it's been revealed that Black Bart is the man behind all the scientists getting kill (pretty gruesomely too!). Seems he was in league with the Nazis to sabotage the U.S.'s atomic program. But he was also against the Nazi program as well, as he believed atomic weapons and power were too much for society to bear. So in his mind, he was doing everyone a favor, whether they knew it or not. In the end, the very very old Lone Ranger and his great nephew the Green Hornet track down the gang and put an end to them. Although not everyone gets to come home. As the action goes, it's pretty cool to see the Green Hornet riding Silver (kinda) and the Lone Ranger 'riding' the Black Beauty.
I just really wish the art and scripts were as strong as Uslan's concept and plot. So on the Masked Man's scale of Crap, Poor, Decent, Good and Great- THE LONE RANGER / GREEN HORNET just manages a DECENT.
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THE SWORD OF ATOM #1-4
By Gil Kane and Jan StrnadPublisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: Masked Man
What happens when you mix Silver Age Super-Heroes with Edgar Rice Burroughs? SWORD OF ATOM is what happens! Back in 1983 when, The New DC There's No Stopping Us Now, launched their ninth limited series, with a heavy dose sci-fi fantasy. Headed up by veteran superstar artist Gil Kane.
If his name is now some how forgotten these days, Gil Kane was a paragon of comic book art, and perhaps the only person alive who could perfectly draw the upshot view of a nose (he did it in nearly every issue). As a teenage, Kane got some spot work during the Golden Age. As time moved on to the Silver Age, he helped DC re-launch Green Lantern and the Atom, creating their sleek new looks. He also did work for Marvel, helping to create the Abomination, and was the man to draw Gwen Stacy's death. Overall, Kane was known for his extremely elegant and anatomically perfect figures. But if he had a pet passion, it was for sci-fi fantasy. In 1971 he created a John Carter knock off, Black Mark in novel form (with illos, of course). And in 1989 he adapted Wagner's opera The Ring in a prestigious format limited series. Before that, he teamed with writer Jan Strnad to create SWORD OF THE ATOM. Though I'm willing to bet, Strnad was just holding Kane's hand.
Right off the bat, just look at these amazing pages. Gil Kane was such a talent, he even inked everything with a frick'n felt tip marker, and it still looks awesome. Getting into the story, comic book characters were starting to 'grow-up', as it were, in the 1980's. Our hero Ray Palmer a.k.a. the Atom, enters the mature comics age by learning his wife Jean is having an affair. Jean says she is willing to work out their problems and stops the affair. Ray says he needs some time to think, so he heads to the Amazon Jungle, to investigate another white dwarf meteor (fyi- the Atom's suit is powered by a white dwarf material).
While searching in a plane, it crashes and breaks his suit, leaving him stuck at six inches (his default Atom size) and no super strength. Then he stumbles upon the Morlaidhans, a six inch tall alien race. The Morlaidhans crashed on Earth years ago, and have set-up a whole medieval like society in the jungle. The Atom, armed with only his years of experience as a superhero, quickly gets in involved the political powers struggle of the Mordlaidhans. And, of course, he finds a princess to help and fall in love with. It's all sword fighting, toad riding, and battling rats in the arena, as the Atom becomes a hero all over again. Meanwhile, his wife Jean, who doesn't believe he died in the plane crash, searches in vain for him. I won't spoil the ending, but DC did print third more one-shots of SWORD OF ATOM (the first two by Kane), before a Post-Crisis soft relaunch of the Atom.
To be honest, this isn't the greatest story. Despite some good high adventure, it's still pretty formula, even with the Atom as the lead. If you enjoy the adventures of characters like John Carter, Tarzan, Carson Napier, and David Innes, then you will totally love this series. And any fan of Gil Kane would be crazy not to have this series, which was tradeback-ed in 2007. One thing you'll miss in the trade paperback, are the great old ads. Like the KOOL-AID MAN VIDEO GAME (wtf), the Saturday morning line-ups on ABC and NBC, and the house ad of a brand new era for GREEN LANTERN, featuring Len Wein and Dave Gibbson (it barely lasted more than a year)!
The 1980's was a great time for DC, and comics in general. DC was tried of getting whipped by Marvel and they just started to try anything and everything to be different and new. SWORD OF ATOM is a clear example of that! One other amusing thing about these issues, there an editorial, by the late great Dick Giodano, explaining the need to increase prices for 60¢ to 75¢ an issue. If not for any other reason, you can see why the 80's ruled!
BATMAN GOT A GUN
By Masked ManOne thing that always gets my goat, is people constantly pushing misinformation about comic books, their stories, their characters. One that I was bumping into recently (though we've heard it for years) was that Batman used to shoot and kill bad guys in the old days. As you may guess (or may have said this yourself) this has been used to defend Batman killing in other media. Well, let's just take a look at those comics and see just how many people Batman killed with a gun.
First off, let's put things into perspective. Batman is superhero, but back in 1939 (where Superman had only been published for a year) the concept of a superhero really hadn't been defined yet. Heck, when National Comics (now DC) asked Bob Kane to create a new hero like Superman, Kane and his partner Bill Finger didn't even give him superpowers! They basically created a (typical for the time) 'weird adventure hero', like The Shadow (1930) or The Spider (1933), and put him in a Superman like costume. And as was common with all the weird pulp heroes, they gave Batman a gun (or as you will see toyed around with giving him one).
By the 1940's, when the superhero boom really hit, the concept of the superhero was becoming more set. Which is basically: a superhuman ability (a gadget is fine), a costume (secret ID encouraged), and a moral code of being better than the villains they fight. Mind you none of these things alone were brand new. Many adventure heroes already had moral codes like The Lone Ranger (1933), Doc Savage (1933) and The Green Hornet (1936). So when Kane and Finger created Batman, they weren't quite sure what they created. Was he the weird vigilante or the moral hero?
Now let's check out what Batman actually did, before the 1940's, in that first year, before the introduction of Robin and the superhero boom!
DECTECTIVE COMICS #27, Batman's first appearance. Batman socks (get it) the murderous business, and as the railing breaks under the big man, allowing him to falls to his death.
DECTECTIVE COMICS #28 - Batman lying on the ground, uses his legs to flip a knife wielding gangster off the roof of a building.
DECTECTIVE COMICS #29 & 30 - Basically a two-part story where Batman battles Doctor Death! In the first part, Dr. Death's bodyguard and manservant Jabah is lassoed around the neck, is he chocked out or killed, it's hard to say. As he lays on the ground a fire breaks out, one that Batman leaves him and Dr. Death in. In the next issue, Dr. Death has survived the fire, while Jabah has been replaced by Mikhail. So by lasso or fire Jabah must be dead now. As Batman battles Mikhail, he swings down at him and very purposely kicks him in the neck, killing the thug (see jpg 2). This is the fourth person to die in combat with Batman, but the first really on purpose kill.
DECTECTIVE COMICS #31 & 32 Next up is a two-parter against the Mad Monk! And in DECTECTIVE COMICS #32 Batman is shown holding a gun for the first time! Loading it with silver bullets, he puts an end to the vampire known as the Mad Monk (see jpg 3).
DECTECTIVE COMICS #33 - This is the first and only issue to actually show Batman running around with a handgun (see jpg 4). It's also the first time we are told the secret origin of Batman. The famous two-pager as his parents are shot dead. The actually story though, is about a would be American Napoleon, armed with a zeppelin and some spotlight looking death rays. Batman fires a handgun for the second time, destroying some of the death rays (see jpg 5). To take out the final death rays, on board the small zeppelin, Batman pulls out the Bat-plane for the first time ever (though we had seen a Bat-Gyro two issue prior). Then five years before the Japanese, Batman kamikazes the zeppelin, blowing it to piece. We only saw one crew member on-board, but there must have been more and only the main villain and Batman are seen escaping (see jpg 6). They continue to battle on the villain’s small plane. Batman hits him with knock-out gas and unconscious, his plane crashes in the river. So a lot of death, but Batman doesn't shoot anyone.
DECTECTIVE COMICS #34 - Things get weird, seriously, as Batman meets a man with no face and flowers with faces that talk! In the climax of the issue, Batman leaps from the villain’s car, as it falls off a cliff, killing the villain. On a 'neat note', we don't see the Bat-Plane in this issue, instead the Bat-Gyro makes it's second appears- I assume because, you know, the Bat-Plane blew up last issue.
DECTECTIVE COMICS #35 - The title page of this story has the famous picture of Batman holding a smoking gun (see jpg 7), although he has no gun in the story. This issue is also of note, since it's the first Batman has to punch out a cop to escape (ok, he open palms him). As for the action, Batman pushes a sword wielding thug on to another one, causing him to be stab. Though it doesn't seem to be fatal. The gun wielding villain gets bonked in the head with a small idol, thrown like a baseball by Batman. He falls out the window and dies.
DECTECTIVE COMICS #36 - Brings us the first appearance of Prof. Hugo Strange! In this issue, after whipping a bunch of gangster (some armed) Batman takes a gun and shoots into the air, to alert the police (see jpg 8). It's unsure if the gun is Batman's gun or one of the thugs, since Batman isn't carrying one like he did in issue #33. And that is the last time we ever see Batman with a handgun.
DECTECTIVE COMICS #37 - Batman punches the main villain, knock him back onto a sword blade stuck through a door, killing the man.
DECTECTIVE COMICS #38 – This issue finally introduces Robin to the mix! And it also has one of the creepiest deaths in a Batman comic. High up in a building still being constructed, boss Tony Zucco pushes one of his flunkies to his death. Instead of trying to save the man, Batman shouts at Robin to take a picture of it. The photograph will prove Zucco killed him. Oh, and Batman figured this might happen, which is why Robin was standing by with a camera- sheesh!
DECTECTIVE COMICS #39 - Here Batman pushing a large idol on to at least six thugs, to quote, “The idol of the Green Dragon kills it's own” (see jpg 9). But just like the exploding zeppelin, no telling how many people were killed.
In the same month, BATMAN #1 came out. In one of the five stories, Hugo Strange returns (Joker and Catwoman get their first appearances, and Joker even scores his second in the other stories). And Hugo has turned four people into monster men (think Solomon Grundy types). Batman tricks two of them into fighting each other, where they beat each other to death. Then in the Bat-Plane (he finally got a new one), with a mounted machine gun, shoots at two trucks, apparently killing the six men inside (three per truck- as stated in the dialogue) as both trucks crash (see fig 10). Also inside each truck was a monster man. Batman lassos one from the Bat-Plane, and hangs him until he's dead. The second one climbs the Empire State Building (or at least it sure looks like it!) and Batman hits him with the knockout gas. The monster man then fall off the building and dies, ala King Kong. Wow, what a body count Bruce.
As the issues rolled on, Batman never really kills anyone again, aside from badguys falling during fight, which still happens to this day. Now 1940, everyone pretty much has this superhero thing figured out (at least until Wolverine shows up), and guns are a no-no. Not to mention they really didn't want Batman running around shooting people with Robin at his side. And, as it's been said, Batman's parents were killed by gun, so that is a weapon he wants nothing to do with.
So adding it all up is kinda messy. How many thugs died in the Zeppelin? How many thugs died under the idol? Did all six thugs died in the machine gunned truck crashes? Do you count all the thugs who died by 'accident' during combat? Do all the monsters count? You can see how coming up with a grand total is kind of hard. For non-accidental confirm kills (don't counting monsters) we got: 1 (+6? in the trucks) (+10? for the zeppelin) (+6? under the idol), at best 30, but it's probably less than that. But the vampire is the only confirmed kill with a handgun.
You know, maybe it's easier just to count issues. In 13 issues, Batman purposely tried to kill someone (including monsters) in only five issues. Only once with a handgun (the vampire) and once with a machine gun (causing trucks to crash). So while it's true that Batman could be more ruthless in that first year, as they were figuring out his M.O., he was never a gun toting vigilante.
So the next time you hear someone say Batman used to blow people away with a gun in his first year, you can correct them and say, he only ever shot a vampire- and a couple of trucks.
Proofs, co-edits & common sense provided by Sleazy G
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