The King is dead, er, alive, er, dead. Long live the King!

Many people say, and I’m not one to argue, that what started as a brilliant franchise became watered down after a number of sequels that failed to reach the dizzy depths that were plumbed by the original Hellraiser.

‘Oh we have such sights to show you’ became a jaded phrase.

Having said that, I seem to recall I really liked the eighth and final movie, and feel it was much maligned in later recollections. Or maybe it was the seventh. Anyway, moving on…

We lived through Marvel’s abortive attempt at Clive Barker’s derived characters in the Razorline family of titles, which again contained a small number of gems but fell by the wayside. That’s not to mention the prior Pinhead title from Epic, and the less said about ‘Pinhead versus Marshall Law’, the better. At the time everybody had to read it, but it hardly went down in the annals of comics greats.

Nevertheless, when Boom released their recent Hellraiser series, I was excited. Yet somewhere around issues 4 or 5, I lost interest. I can’t specify quite for what reason, but somehow I lost track of quite which character was which (barring Kirsty Cotton of course).  The new issues kept getting shuffled to the bottom of my reading pile, and last night I discovered I had the three of them together.

And now I am so glad I did. Where the title falls down in terms of individual issues halfway through the eight issue storyline, this is perfect for the graphic novel. That is not to dismiss the monthly format, each issue had a more than acceptable cliffhanger; and in terms of Kirsty Cotton and the machinations of Pinhead in the view of the Leviathan, I felt that I knew what was going on.

No, that’s wrong, as a number of reveals drove home time and again. What I did experience however, was those same feelings the original two movies evoked; my skin tingled in both fear and anticipation, and I was open to the idea that horrors were wonders, and every wonder a horror.

Christopher Monfette has struck exactly the right note with this series, his previous five-year association with the master of horror Mr Barker evident in every speech bubble and every twist of the plot. If you haven’t grabbed this series, you will be pleased to hear that #8 ended with the word ‘Next’. Pinhead has become mortal again and tricked Kirtsy Cotton into taking his role in hell. Jump on now, and grab the first eight issues, or the trade as soon as it is released.

There are new sights to behold.

Nor the Huntress we know. Or rather she is. But she isn't. I give up!

How permanent are our comic book universes?

Even as I ask the question, I find myself wondering what that very word means. With DC’s recent announcement of the return of Earth 2 and the Shazam family of characters, we know the enduring characters and settings will return again and again.

The recent (and thoroughly enjoyable) relaunch by Dark Horse of what’s become known as the Jim Shooter stable of characters only serves to prove the point. Dating back to short lived appearances in the Gold Key years Solar Man Of The Atom and Magnus, Robot Fighter et al have returned and again, under the labels of Valiant, Acclaim and then Dark Horse. Changed everytime according to the predelictions of the writers and the fashions of the age, but nevertheless returning again and again.

Yet returning our attention back to DC, the universe is far from permanent. The original multiverse survived a whole fifty years, only to be wiped away in the Crisis, leaving us with the DCU 1.0. Zero Hour took this to DCU 1.5, and the Infinite Crisis to version 2.0, the New Multiverse. Which still sort of exists, if I understand Flashpoint correctly, it is only Earth Zero that was rebooted.

Thus the new Earth 2 we are about to experience should really be the same Earth 2 as we saw in the excellent Kingdom storyline; a brief but tantalising glimpse. So we discover that the Huntress and Power Girl of Earth 2 are loose on Earth, erm, what Earth do we call it nowadays?

Still, as a long time fan, I miss the original worlds, and I fear that DC make a mistake by simply discarding and destroying their previous worlds. We could take a leaf out of Marvel’s book here; the House of Ideas feared that their creations were becoming outdated and thus was born the Ultimate line, updated for a new age with added cliché.

Marvel sat back and let the sales figures decide their fate. Surprise, surprise, the fans stuck with the tried and tested incarnations of the characters, the original Marvel Universe is still going strong. But guess what?

So is the Ultimate line, a vibrant universe with many years left in it yet, surviving disaster after disaster and allowing the creators freedom to tell stories we would never see in the ‘real’ MU.

Maybe DC should keep that in mind next time they decide to have an enormous reality changing event, and open the door for new stories set in the older worlds. Like the old ‘Whatever happened to’ back-up feature in DC Comics Presents, but with the same freedom the Ultimate universe has given creators.

Or in other words – bring back Kamandi!

A new age for the Prophet begins

Regular readers of this column will be well aware of my conflicted opinions of Rob Liefeld early work for Image and the original cast of Extreme Studios characters. Great characters in the right hands, really good ideas that drove the plots, but some of the most terrible execution in their early days.

Youngblood were indeed a good team with a diverse selection of members, motivations and histories, tied nicely to the Spawn continuity before the great split. Let’s not mention how they were also an obvious merging of the Teen Titans and the Avengers. However, Alan Moore’s treatment of Supreme and the excellent three issue Judgement Day demonstrated just how enjoyable the Extreme house could be.

No one could deny the force of Liefeld’s enthusiasm, and so it was truly a pleasure to pick up Prophet #21 last week. Initially, John Prophet was viewed as a second-rate Cable (and back in the days when Cable wasn’t that cool either). Yet the character has so much more potential than that, and thanks to the new offering at the hands of Brandon Graham and Simon Roy, the great heights to which John can ascend can be seen on the horizon.

If I were to compare the new Prophet to anything, my first instinct is to think of the worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Awaking in a world as foreign as the plains of Barsoom seen in the recent re-launch of Burroughs’ once lesser-known property John Carter, Prophet is treated to a far future Earth where everything has changed dramatically.

Apart from the desolation, the first clue has to be wildlife with four jaws rather than two, something that hasn’t been new since the late Eighties, but always remains cool for some reason. Life have evolved, there’s little sight of people as we know them, yet Prophet takes it all in his stride, with very basic actions concentrating on survival he reveals hints of a great politics behind his current situation and this new world.

I foresee great things for this title, if the standard is maintained. The other feeling I get from this title is the same feeling provided by the Dark Tower, only without all of the many volumes that I have missed (maybe with a bit of Kamandi thrown in). If you have never read Prophet before, it really does not matter; none of the previous knowledge seems relevant for this issue.

I also congratulate Mr Liefeld on the new series numbering, which prevents any confusion. Although having a guide for Youngblood when it arrives, detailing which issue of which series is considered which number would be greatly appreciated.

A bold new era? Hopefully a fun read at the very least.

Taking the opportunity of the Christmas period to catch upon my comics reading (and supplementing this with fanfic when I reached the bottom of the stack), I must confess that I re-read Jonathon Hickman’s Fantastic Four and FF (Future Foundation) numerous times.

Although I have raved bout this particular run of the FF numerous times already, and enthused about the quality of story-telling that has gone into the title, it is hardly a dramatic revamp of our favourite Foursome and their family. Cleverly weaving in all of the traditional facets of FF lore, I am finding myself wanting to know where Lyja is (considering the manner of Johnny’s resurrection), or hoping for the return of Sharon Ventura. Exploring the many fanfic sites, one is confronted with multiple line-ups, some making sense and some really out there. Strangely enough, the more bizarre line ups (such as one including Ken Connell the Starbrand) were just as enjoyable, if not more so than the traditional unit.

Do you, like myself, feel a little cheated that we never really saw any quality stories starring the ‘New’ Fantastic Four, the line-up of Wolverine, Spidey, Hulk and the Ghost Rider. Now there’s a Hollywood blockbuster right there, and a grouping that should have received far more attention.

Although changes in the status quo are not necessarily good, nor traditional stories necessarily bad, it would be nice to see a true deviation from the standard formula, and not have to rely on ‘Ultimate’ labels or the appallingly short What-If’s.  Even the ‘massive reorganisation’ of the X-Men strikes me as a repetition of previous themes, as fun as it is.

So, my attention was drawn to Previews and a solicitation from Image Comics set for March. Hell Yeah!, created by Eisner and Harvey award-winner Joe Keatinge and Elephantmen’s Andre Szymanowicz promises to think outside the box when it comes to the lifestyle of super-heroics. Promises that we have heard before, but every so often have actually materialised in the form of a quality product.

This obviously whetts my ‘ooh, new world….’ appetite, although some of Keatinge’s words worry me.

…..when Image Comics debuted, it made me realize all the rules and restrictions I saw in other superhero comics didn’t have to exist. Anything could happen. You could kill lead characters in first issues. Obliterate long-standing villains in a page turn. They could be in different tone than what’s normally presented by the diversity shown in anything from Youngblood to Casual Heroes. They didn’t have to be noble, they didn’t have to maintain the same status quo. It was turned into a genre where the term ‘impossible’ didn’t exist. Due to all this my imagination went into over drive and after twenty years of percolating in my brain, Hell Yeah was born.”

Readers views of the birth of Image vary widely, as did the quality of offerings. Yet most of the initial characters remain with us to this day, so they obviously got something right. And as a die-hard Savage Dragon, Spawn and Stormwatch fan, I would be the last to criticise. (Well, that last statement is maybe not true.) Even the Liefeld house of characters received a tremendous boost at the hands of Alan Moore, most especially Supreme, and it was a shame that the surge in quality could not be sustained by sales.

So I look forward to the coming year, and I hope that the high quality in the industry we have seen recently will be maintained, but perhaps with some real changes in the status quo for our favorite characters.

Just not another New 52, please.

As more and more of the market turns to mail order or more importantly digital, it is increasingly hard for this fan to tell whether the Holy Grail of ‘New Readers’ being drawn into our cosy little world has been achieved or not. Is the new reader little more than a mythical beast?

Certainly the sales figures would bear out that there is a strong possibility that the new reader is indeed real. Despite the year beginning with the same falling numbers, by November, comic sales had topped sales from the same month during the previous year by an impressive margin, and exceeded the year-to-date figures from the previous year.

However, one has to account for the completists, those serious collectors amongst us that would dive into the events like Flashpoint, Fear Itself or the DCnU with gusto. Yet none of us seem to have escaped the icy grip of the recession that we keep hearing about, so I wonder if the completist has become an endangered species.

Sales have swung from month to month from the comics to the graphic novels. Now the graphic novels are an interesting aspect, they have long been considered the ‘respectable’ face of the industry. Before ‘geek’ was ‘cool’, the graphic novel was how ‘normal’ people were exposed to comics.

The very fact that such terms feel so very long ago shows just how far the industry has come. Why, I almost feel nostalgic thinking about the differential that was assumed between comics’ fans and ‘normal’ people from previous decades. The Frog Brothers, thankfully, remain solidly in yesteryear.

I think I believe in new readers. (And anyway, if they are like fairies, I don’t dare say that I disbelieve in them!)

Now, for the recommendation of the week. Having been drawn to the more noir-seeming titles, my first pick from the pile was Fatale #1 from Image. Written by Ed Brubaker, it seems like a set up similar to the Unwritten, with wonderful noir Forties action juxtaposed with modern descendants of an original mystery. Oh, and a little element of Boom’s Fall Of Cthulhu thrown in for good measure. (Enough to keep me happy at least.)

As the various new spandex titles from DC and Marvel are starting to bed in, Fatale offers a curious mix of a breath of fresh air, and those elements that drew me to Boom in the first place, and I heartily recommend it.

As a long-term science-fiction reader who has yet to actually read all of the dozens of Michal Moorcock books that the genius produced, this is a treat. Regular readers will know just how much I adore seeing long-lost characters returning to the fore (so hurry up Archie with your Mighty Crusaders relaunch), and unlike previous escapades into comics, this is a Moorcock tale delivered with the full cosmic scope the setting deserves.

Chris Roberson deserves every iota of praise I can heap upon him and then some for his tremendous appreciation of the scale and depth of the Moorcockian multiverse, and Francesco Biagini’s art does honour to the master with every stroke of the pen, shifting from scenes of Immutable Law to Abject Chaos without any sensation of discontinuity.

Best new universe award I think must be placed at the feet of the King himself,  without whom the writers of Kirby: Genesis would be floundering. As a reader, to dive headlong into the treasure chest that is Kirby’s collection of unused or little used characters, was both a pleasure and more than a little intimidating. Yes, there is a lot to take in, and one hell of a lot going on. Yet unlike some of the titles in the original Image launch all those years ago, at no point do these characters seem throwaway or irrelevant. Like the golden age of the House Of Ideas, you know that even the slightest mention of a person, planet or race has at least a bare history worked out and ready to expose itself to the reader’s scrutiny.

Best Crossover Event, or maybe the Best Jumping On Point award goes to Zenescope’s Dream Eater Saga. Although I had read one or two issues here and there, I had no idea that it was all set  in a shared universe, thinking it was more in an EC style. Now however, I not only know the Wonderland characters, but much of the universe, and can see how they are all linked together. More importantly, I care.

I cannot let this opportunity pass without mentioning Image Comics’ Memoir either. I do not have a ready made award for this one, maybe Best Moody Title,  or Best Atmospheric Title? Nevertheless, it is a superb read for a cold winter’s night.

Uncanny X-Force #19 and meet teh newest hero on the block - Apocalypse!

So is it me, or have comics actually got better this last year? Despite having one week a month when I am not that excited about the shipping list, overall I have to confess that I think this has been one of the better years in recent memory.

DC, after a dismal start with the entire Flashpoint event, but the DCnU started as a resounding success. Admittedly, at present all of the titles have a very similar feel to them, to a fault. Yet so did Valiant when it started, and some of the titles are really striking out well. Stormwatch for example.

Marvel on the other hand have acquitted themselves nicely. X-Men Schism was another, slightly less disappointing springboard for the new X-Men family of titles. Cyclops’s team seems more of the same as before (not that there was a great deal wrong with that), but Wolverine and the X-Men returned to the early days of the New Mutants, where being a mutant kid at school was fun. Avengers Academy has the same appeal, but without the ever present shadow of mutant politics hanging over it.

Speaking of the X-family, the flagship titles have to be the New Mutants and Uncanny X-Force, both vastly different in the approaches. New Mutants is like seeing numerous old friends that one hasn’t seen for years, and the X-Force seems to be touching those spots that other X-titles cannot reach. Yet finally the X-family have reasserted the fact that they do live in the Marvel Universe, and not in their own little reality.

I have written extensively of the talents of Jonathon Hickman with Fantastic Four and S.H.I.E.L.D, or the Spider-Island event that made me a convert. So if I were to compare the two companies, the House Of Ideas comes out on top, once more deserving of its self-aggrandizing title.

So that’s the Big Two sorted, although it’s disappointing to see the relaunches that we have lost this year. The Red Circle heroes have returned to Archie, where I can only hope they find greater success; but I fear that may not be the case. The return of the CrossGen characters turned into two four-issue flops, so it may be the last we see of them. Still, Marvel, if you want to relaunch The First as part of the MU, give it a go.

Cable returns like we knew he would.

While preparations for the festive season no doubt eat into every spare moment, the opportunity to sit and read the weekly pull list becomes rather segmented. So this week, I thought I would review many of the titles being released this week, and maybe recommend some titles for those quiet moments once the festivities have died down and all that remains to do is digest the food. (Oh, and no doubt wash up, but that can wait.)

The first of today’s shipping is Memoir #5. I have already written of how much I love this series, and now we are swiftly approaching the conclusion. It feels like it has been too long since the last issue was released. If you haven’t tried this title, I still recommend diving in, as the story has gone from a bit weird to really dark weird.

Speaking of weird, last week’s Defenders was a bit of a disappointment really, with only hints of the storyline promised in the Doctor Strange tale in Marvel Point One. If you want your weird in Marvel flavour, grab the Vengeance mini-series, featuring the Teen Brigade among others. (A statement that hardly does the title justice, but for continuity freaks, this is a must.)

That is not to say that the Defenders #1 was bad, only standard. Still, we have been without standard Defenders fare for so long, even this is welcome; and hopefully the weirder aspects will be nurtured and grow.

Demon Knights #4 is out, and like Newsarama, I agree that as a title of the so-called New 52, there is not a lot new in this title, but it is fun, fleshing out an era of the DCU that has only ever been a back drop previously.

X-Sanction this week features the return of Cable. Remember when he was first introduced? I remember judging him has a two-dimensional mutant Punisher that fell out of the mold of Rob Liefeld’s average characters that went to populate the Image/Maximum universe. Yet over time, his character has been refined and developed so much so that when it appeared they were going to kill him off, I was actually disappointed. Yet as with all time-travelling characters, he can always return, and I look forward to reading whether this is the Nathan we just said goodbye to, or an earlier version from further up his timeline.

Speaking of the X-Men, the Uncanny X-Force completes the Dark Angel Saga this week. If you have not been following this, I highly recommend you jump on board, and grab what back issues you can find, this is mutant terrorism at its best. Meanwhile, I finally got round to reading  the first two issues of Wolverine and the X-Men, and it was not what I expected. Gone was the mutant malaise, and in its place, fun, fun, fun. This is work that Grant Morrison would be proud of if he turned his mind to comedy. I feared that I would suffer X-overload, but there is so much variety in the X-titles that I can tolerate a full dose. Now that has been a long time in coming!

Damaged #4

As much as I love my cops shows, devouring a steady diet of CSI (insert place name here) and NCIS (you can practically do the same here), and yearning for the halcyon days of Hill Street Blues, The Bill and even if I may exhibit my nationality, Juliet Bravo; I’ve never really taken to cop comics.

Despite hearing good things, I sidestepped Gotham Central and the various other Gotham PD series. Stories with indepth plots and twists that involve organised crime and/or the various intelligence services of the world have always satisfied me…

….as long that there is the appropriate ration of spandex involved. John Ostrander’s Suicide Squad or even the late Eighties crossover the Janus Directive spring to mind. The recent Secret Warriors from Marvel is another example.

Damaged from Radical Publishing, or which the fourth issue ships today, has none of this. No people flying through the air (unless they’ve been propelled by a bullet or an explosion that would make Hollywood proud), and definitely no skintight primary colours. Surprisingly, such a lack does not bother me in the slightest.

From the first issue, Damaged has been driven by personalities that are strong, yet do not appear stereotypical or two-dimensional characters in the slightest. If I had to boil it down to a stereotype, think of a real-world Punisher and all of the situations that would entail. Now, I don’t really like the Punisher (except maybe all that angel stuff, oh, and of course when Mr Ostrander wrote it), but I adore the dramas being presented to us in Damaged. One lifetime cop, head of a special team dealing with organised crime is elbowed out to make room for a younger model, desperate to proove himself and fill the older man’s shoes, but chosen simply because he appears a little more voter-friendly as a Mayoral election looms.

Obviously that’s over-simplifying a story that is rife with corruption and the Russian Mafya, smothered in a sauce of City Hall politics, and a few dozen words from me do not do justice to the work of the writer David Lapham, of ‘Stray Bullets’ fame. However, you can consider this to be one of my recommendations of the week.

My other recommendation is the upcoming Defenders #1, a book that promises to be steeped in the weird of the Marvel Universe. Weird as opposed to thunder gods, wall-crawlers, space gods and sorcerer supremes? This I have to see.

FF 12, the children go to save the day!

Well, now we have seen what we all knew to be the case, Johnny Storm the fabled Human Torch is alive and well. Not that we couldn’t see that coming, but I am pleasantly surprised as to how the youngest of the original Foursome was able to survive.

Of course, if you have read Fantastic Four #600, then you will know that survived is a very strong term. If you haven’t, I won’t spoil it for you, except to say GO READ IT!

I am pleased (and somewhat disappointed) to see that I was wrong, assuming that Lyja was going to pull Johnny’s fat out of the fire. (I’m sure that is the wrong metaphor somehow.)

Meanwhile the FF title continues with the tale of the children. Now if there are sections of the history of the FF that you have fond memories of even though really they should make you cringe? (Or that you cringe anyway, but you still like them?) The current season of the FF is the antidote to all of that.

Remember the Hyperstorm saga? Erm, saga is a strong word for it. What about when Franklin hung around with Power Pack? The Johnny/Crystal/Quicksilver love triangle? Try adding Ronan!

We have Inhumans and Celestials, Kree and the Dire Wraith, Moloids and children everywhere. Even Kristoff Vernard is getting a look in. This is Marvel at its very best, one eye on history and two more on the future.

So, this lead me to thinking who else deserves a resurrection? Obviously time has come round again that Jean Grey must surely be on her way back sometime soon.

Yet resurrections can take many forms, and I really wonder about some of the properties that Marvel have let languish over the years. Can we see another Starbrand please? Or the return of the Ultraverse? After all, is the Night Man (one of him) supposed to be wandering around the Marvel Universe.

How about the Dark Angel of Marvel UK? (Whose original name none of us must mention, even when selling those early issues apparently as I discovered putting mine on sale on eBay. They became ‘the comic later known as Dark Angel’ due to legal emails I received. Possessive or what?)

We could look at some of the other properties as well. Is the industry really better off without the DNAgents or the Elementals? I for one insist on their return.

So, who would you like to see return?

The League - all you expect, but in a cool new way!

DC has now announced their collaboration with Amazon, releasing their stock, including an exclusive 100 graphic novels for release to users of the Kindle Fire. We are told, not to worry, these stories will be available for other Amazon customers eventually, and following that, DC are not sticking just with Amazon, but promising to look at other outlets, such as Barnes and Noble.

All major outlets I notice, which is really to be expected. But where does that leave your local comics shop?

Now I am personally in a quandary over this. Though I have yet to purchase a Kindle Fire, I adore my eReader. I love how it reduces the weight of my luggage when I travel, and the fact that my library can be squeezed into one corner of my external hard-drive rather than covering every spare inch of shelf space across the house. With the new technologies at our disposal, the need for a real book is lessened; devices with full colour appropriately sized screens and easy to manage are slowly replacing paper simply through that quality of space.

I was amazed one day to watch a young guy reading a comic through his phone, which just shows how well the fans are adapting. For myself, I think a phone screen is just too small, yet here we are, just over a year down the line, and that is no longer an issue. As a consumer, this is a perfect solution for me.

As a former retailer and comic shop manager, I have my concerns. Will the printed material still be relevant? Will the release of full graphic novels through digital outlets devalue my stock? Or will it deliver on a promise of pulling more customers through my door?

What about our community? Each local store has it’s own community, where friendships are made sometimes for life. And let’s face it, these communities are drastically different from their online analogues. Everyone is generally a hell of a lot nicer to each other to start with. I see little that supports your LCS; even these ‘combo-packs’ seem little more than hooks to drag readers into the digital market, rather than genuinely caring for the end retailer.

Is this simply the cost of progress? Is it a return of comics to the newsstand in a sense?

The DCnU has indeed triumphed over all of the fears we had at the abandonment of over seventy-five years worth of history. Three months down the line, and who cares? The history is there for us to read when we want to, and fanfic will always work keep it alive. Now DC expands into new markets, capitalising on the new energy they have injected into the market. As a consumer and a fan, this is good for me.

Yet I cannot forget my successor at my local store. I suddenly have an urge for the Universe X trade paperback, in real paper. What better thing can I give the store for Christmas, than a few sales prior to the big day?

Marvel Point One, and the Watcher has a home invasion

Having only finished my pile of comics from last week over breakfast this morning, I thought I would spend a moment with Marvel, or more specifically, Marvel Point One.

Today we see the shipment of Avengers #19, one of the issues that Marvel Point One claims heralds the return of Ultron. Now I fail to see the connection between an Avengers membership drive (which seem to be occurring with an ever increasing regularity), and the return of Norman Osbourne and Ultron, although I would be the first to admit that the Green Goblin is crazy enough to utilise the genocidal bot. Or maybe it’s Tony Stark’s reparation of the Vision that leads to the adamantium killer’s return?

Except, isn’t there already a version of the Vision already wandering around? A combination of the original Vision’s OS, (what I wouldn’t give to have that installed on my laptop!) and Iron Lad’s armour? I know that Marvel is not one to shy away from duplicate characters; after all, we now have a new Scarlet Spider. And we all know how well that ended the first time around. But still! Does that mean that the Young Avengers Vision should be Vision Lad? No, that’s taken, or at least it was. Maybe Vision-Baby? Or Kid-Vision? (Ughh!)

Yes, I am convinced there is still a place for Sixties kitsch, however much the publishers want to ‘update’ their creations for the ‘new’ generation.

Anyway, I digress. Marvel Point One gave us an excellent foreshadowing of things to come, without promising anything concrete. Is this the future? Or simply a What If? And such high plot points not withstanding, just how can one ‘pay off’ Ultron in the first place? What would you use as currency? Your fertility? Your first born?

What I really look forward to is the new Defenders title that, if the Doctor Strange sequence is anything to go by, will be the Marvel spandex answer to the classic Invisibles by Grant Morrison. It’s a shame that that the She-Hulk starring in this is the Red, not the green, because I’m sure that reference to Jennifer’s ‘Fourth Wall awareness’ would have been able to complicate what already appears to be a promising storyline with a huge degree of hilarity.

The new Uncanny X-Force arc seems promising, with all our favourite anti-mutant bigots joining together to become something they hate, all under the shadow of the Age Of Apocalypse. If you missed that titles recent revisit to the alternate timeline of mutant hell, I highly recommend it. Oh, and they now have a Deathlok as a member as well, how can that be bad?

Something Marvel is doing currently, it’s doing right. Although the titles have all the hot new styles we’ve come to expect nowadays, this is the same universe that I saw in the Seventies and Eighties but that vanished for a while in the Nineties. Additionally, the fact that there are less dragged out ‘deconstructed’ storylines in most titles again makes me believe my few bucks have been well spent. And it’s about time, but congratulations to the ‘House Of Ideas’. It’s been a long slog, but things make sense again.

Greater than even Infinite Crisis' Battle For Metropolis, this issue defined the concept of super-villain team up!

Newsarama have started a discussion asking ‘do fans even know what they want’? This week, the topic has turned to that bugbear of the discussion boards (and articles such as this one); the company crossover.

On such a contentious topic, I could hardly resist contributing my own point of view. One can hardly deny the efficacy of the crossover. From my own experience, Unity introduced me to the rest of the Valiant universe way back when; initially I had only read Solar. Break-Thru helped introduce me to parts of the Ultraverse that had hitherto remained unseen by me. Wildstorm Rising served a similar role, and Dark Horse’s late (and lamented by me at the very least) Comics’ Greatest World began its life as a weekly event, mapping out their universe from the word go. More recently, the Dream Eater saga over at Zenescope’s Grimm Fairy Tales has finally made that universe make sense for me, and I am richer for it.

Notice I have left out the Big Two from that description, even though the phenomenal Crisis On Infinite Earths served the same purpose for me, introducing me to the many corners of the DC universe. In fact, until the very first mega maxi crossover that hit the newsstands, the DC universe barely made sense to me. I imagine there will be younger readers out there for whom Flashpoint, or more precisely the DCnU, has served the same purpose.

Yet what we as fans require is a good story. I can think of many such ‘events’ that failed to reach the dizzying heights that we demand. Anyone remember ‘Extreme Sacrifice’ from the Liefeld family of Image titles? Nah, me neither.

Some so-called events are no such thing. As much as I enjoyed Marvel’s Dark Reign, that was not a crossover event. It was a backdrop, much like the Crisis was a back drop in some of the labeled crossovers back in 1985. Some events are so large that, apart from a central pivotal cast, a backdrop is all they can be.

Other crossovers have no need to be all encompassing. With wallets more limited nowadays, does the company really need to draw attention to the entire line all at once? One of my most favourite events was the Janus Directive, which I think occurred shortly after the Millennium crossover in DC. I was already a Firestorm and Suicide Squad reader, but the restrained cast and chapter order led me to Captain Atom, Checkmate and Manhunter, the latter two becoming regular monthly additions to my pull list. This was effective, and more importantly, fun.

Sometimes, smaller is better. Like the Janus Directive, an event does not have to be all-encompassing to be large, and to be successful. What we as readers require is not issues that carry crossover banners and are integral to some uber-story, but simply comics that are obviously in the same universe, and recognise and reference the events occuring elsewhere in that universe. If I want to by Spider-Man, I will. But if I am an X-Men reader, I do not want to feel badgered into buying Spider-Man, but having the events of Spider Island being reported on a television in an X-Men title, would be fine.

Curiously enough, I don’t think that happened. But surely there is a difference between tightly dove-tailed titles or titles that retain their independence?

Independence does not have to mean ignorance, just as recognition does not have to mean inter-twined.

After all, smaller can be better. You know what they say about small packages.

Avengers Academy 21, New rules

I wonder if in years to come, we will look back at 2011 and consider it to be a great year for change within the comics industry? Or have we had quite enough changes already so far, thank you very much?

The DC Universe rebooted itself (again), just the one Earth this time. I think.  Thor died, though he might have done that before, and he’s certainly not the only one. The Human Torch died (yeah, right) and the Richards started employing super-villains while becoming a children’s home.

The Avengers were re-legalised, destroyed, rebuilt, destroyed, had another go at training youngsters, and the X-Men schismed into two factions. Sure, and they’ve never done that before.

Without sounding too critical, I actually like what is happening with the X-Men. It makes sense, at least they are not at war, and it brings some once major characters, such as Storm, back to the centre stage where they belong. Not to mention some interesting combinations of characters.

The independant scene offers transient delights. Pick up this weeks issue of The Strange Talent Of Luther Strode if you doubt me (and if you missed the first issue). There are aspects that we can certainly define as indicative of the ‘Noughties’ as I discussed when I first wrote about the title.  Yet it has a certain individuality so far that is appealing, and I hope that remains.

The Last Of The Greats is another cool series, yet after the first issue, it seems remarkably similar to the plot of Irredeemable, and I hope my visit to the store today will prove me wrong.

Strangely enough, it’s the more ‘retro’ titles that seem to be doing it for me at the moment, such as Kirby:Genesis, or All Winners Squad:Band Of Heroes. I am certainly looking forward to the next Project Super-Powers as well.

My tip for the week though has to be the aforementioned Avengers Academy. Our disenfranchised youth has now been joined by a new White Tiger (erm, this is what? White Tiger number four? Five?), and to my great delight, Julie Power!

For younger readers who may not remember, Julie was the oldest girl (and possibly the most sensible member) of Power Pack, a group of four siblings given powers by horse-faced aliens, in a title that lasted just over half a decade.

The original students, not quite as well-adjusted as your average teen, do not exactly take well to this, but for the sheer characterisation of the Avengers and their hangers-on, this has to be the best of the Avengers titles.

Why, there is an entire story nearly every issue, not dragged out over numerous months at a snails pace. If you haven’t tried it yet, dive in, the waters fine.

Let The Beauty sweep you off your feet.

Top Cow’s Pilot Season continues this week with The Beauty, and despite the quality of the previous offerings so far, I think I have found my winner.

After the first few pages, my instant reaction was ‘Who on Earth thinks this stuff up?”  Of course, that has to be one of my favourite reactions, a reaction surprisingly uncommon after Grant Morrison, Warren Ellis and Garth Ennis established their reputations several years ago. In fact, the work of Mr Ennis made another debut this week in Stitched #1 from Avatar. I hate to say it, but unless the tale is going to have a dramatic twist in the next few issues, so far I only see more of the same.

That’s not to discredit Mr Ennis’ work, but I can’t help but see the resemblance in Stitched with other Avatar titles. No one can deny Avatar has cornered the market in its own unique style, a little gory, a high body count and language that your mother would not approve of. They’re very good at it, and that is why we like them.

Zombies, anti-heroes, anti-Messaihs and more zombies. There will always be a market for them, and we love them. But after several years, discerning fans want that little extra something. That twist.

The Beauty, by comparison, has the twist in the first few pages. A sexually transmitted disease that makes people lose fat, gain muscle mass, lose acne and recoup hair loss. Now who wouldn’t want that?

As always, there is a price to be paid, and the world learns what the price is in this issue. Some sort of not-quite spontaneous, not-quite combustion, but very very icky.

Set against a backdrop of the politics of the situation, people chasing after the ‘Beauty’  (the disease) while purists, fundamentalists and possible some sensible people do their best to avoid it. Of course, both sides have their extremists, the latter resorting to ever more aggressive tactics. Like the X-Men in their time, a good allegory for modern society, but taking a totally different tack.

Written and beautifully illustrated by Jeremy Haun, the title has a certain noir quality and enough surprises that I have no idea where the title is going to head. Another plague? A conspiracy? Alien intervention clearing out the current residents of the planet before they move in? I have no idea.

And I love it.

Xenoholics #1 from Shadowline

So, Fear Itself finally concluded (sort of) this week, and unlike Dark Reign, I find I am quite looking forward to the fallout. We can anticipate a new Defenders series, Hulk and Banner are split, a new Thunder God and a more prominent role for Brunnhilde the Valkyrie, which is not before time.

Yet my attention has been drawn away from the large events with two new mini-series and a third series that should be a HUGE event for fans everywhere.

One question demands to be asked. Just how many stories can companies tell about zombies?

Of course, zombiegeddon makes the perfect backdrop for stories about human nature itself, and the Key Of Z #1 is no different. Created by Evil Ink and released by Boom, Key of Z is a bit of an anomaly where the interior art is far better than the cover art.

Speeding through the actual zombiepocalypse, the story follows in the footsteps of the Walking Dead, and admirably so. Of course, there seems to be quite a few more living survivors of the outbreak than is traditional for such stories, which makes for an interesting mix.

Meanwhile, if your taste varies more towards the humorous, Joshua Williamson has written a light-hearted treatise on alien abduction in Xenoholics #1. At least, I hope this is supposed to be a comedy, as I found myself laughing a number of times. The comic pokes fun at itself, full of thwarted ambitions and wry observations from the very first page. Starring an encounter group of abductees, we see a range of personalities from the ordinary housewife confronted with the less than ordinary aspects of life to the hopelessly eccentric. A reporter that infiltrates the group takes the ‘straight man’ role, but his scoop is soon overshadowed as crop circles are replaced by concrete circles on national TV.

Finally, a crossover so logical it should have been long-awaited, the cast of Star Trek The Original Series (I refuse to say Start Trek TOS, it just sounds wrong,) come face to face with a selection of time lost Legion of Super-Heroes. (There seems to be a lot of that about, if you look at the DCnU.)

These are classic era Legionnaires, from some time during the original Levitz years, and I am ashamed to say I do not recall which story this particular grouping is from, but it quickly overcomes the awkward seven-century difference between their respective eras.

Nicely, this does not transplant either cast into the other’s universe, but both casts into a third, avoiding all the cringe worthy moments and clichés that such crossovers can generate.

Of course, the two teams have yet to actually encounter one another, so no doubt we may yet see the traditional fight before team up, but no matter. This was worth every cent I paid for it.

The Unexpected #1, a new return to comics' horror.

This has to now be my favourite shipping week of the month. Frankenstein, Agent Of S.H.A.D.E., Demon Knights, FF, Legion Lost (which is growing on me), Suicide Squad, just to name but a few. Infestation Outbreak concludes this week, plus we get to see the shape of the new X-Men status quo in X-Men Regenesis #1, at least for as long as it lasts. I give it four months, just enough time for them to all fight each other then kiss and make up.

I don’t know if you have looked at Spider-Island at all. Now, I’m not a regular Spider-Man reader. Like the rest of us, I cannot help but like the wall-crawler, but I find I make assumptions about his titles. Often these are reinforced by postings on the internet boards, ‘it’s all the same,’ ‘where’s the originality’, and the usual noise from the ‘Marvel is evil’ or the ‘Big Two are evil’ crowd.

Let’s make one thing clear. If these comics were so very unoriginal, would they sell so well? Is fashion a bad thing when we all want the comics industry to reinvigorate itself?

You cannot judge the quality of a comic by the company that produces it, beyond the standard editorial guidelines that let’s face it, leaves a lot of scope and shifts with the wind anyway. Do the publications of either of the Big Two resemble the companies they were in the Seventies, Eighties or even the Nineties? Not really. The only thing that is somewhat constant are the costumes, and even then, that’s hardly a given.

So, I dived in to Spider Island, not really expecting a great deal, but found a thoroughly enjoyable Spider-romp. As cheesy as the premise sounds, that the Spider-powers have been granted to pretty much everyone in Manhattan, the actual story indeed carries some meat. Of course, I love the Jackal as a villain when handled correctly, and this is an epic of far higher quality than the much-maligned Clone Saga.

My real treat today has been the one-shot from Vertigo called the Unexpected.  Picking from some of the best writers the imprint has to offer, it is a collection of short stories that evoke the sense of the traditional old horror comic far better than going back and reading the originals, considering how much our cultural sensibilities have changed in the intervening decades.

A purposefully disjointed read, with some stories effectively no more than a couple of pages, there is only one that acts as a springboard for a new series Voodoo Child (hasn’t that title been used before?), so this is less of a marketing tool and more of a lamplit treasure for those dark hours of the early morning. There has to be a name for such ‘updated nostalgia’, and despite the $7.99 price tag, this is my recommendation for the week.

Each potential skin for the main player character available represents a pivotal era of the Caped Crusader’s history that has brought us to the cuddly, borderline paranoid schizophrenic, control freak Batman that we know and love today.

Denny O’Neil and Neal Adam’s Batman

Iconic '70's and 80's Batman

This is the Batman of history that many of us will recall, with the iconic yellow surround of the Bat icon. Debuting in Detective Comics in 1970, this marked a new direction for the Dark Knight, moving away from the cheesier elements that had snuck into the comics from the atrocious TV show.

This was seen as a return to Batman’s roots as Bob Kane originally envisioned him. Many of the antagonists we see in Arkham City were already established by this time, but one of the most pivotal creations was Talia al Ghul, mother to the current Robin and child of Bruce Wayne, Damian.

Talia al Ghul

Talia from Batman #658

Talia is the perfect poster-girl for divided loyalties. Torn between her love for Batman and her loyalty to her father, she has both acted to save the world and been a founder member of the modern incarnation of the Secret Society Of Super-Villains, (who fortunately shortened their name to just the Secret Society).

The romance, like all of Batman’s relationships, kept turning up as Talia reappeared almost every year until her place in the legend was secured by the 1987 graphic novel Son Of The Demon, where Damian was conceived.

Talia is ruthless, lethal and yet operates on her own discordant sense of honour.

Maxie Zeus

Maxie Zeus holds court.

Another villain from this era rumoured to appear in the game is Maxie Zeus. Rather than just your common-all-garden psychopath, Maxie suffers from the greatest delusion of grandeur, believing himself to be the King of the Greek Gods himself. He met his match when drawn into the designs of the true Olympians, but remains to be one of the most entertaining villains.

Batman The Animated Series

Batman continues his animated adventures in The Breave And The Bold

When the Paul Dini Batman series was first released, it was a revolution, and a breath of fresh air to Saturday morning televisions everywhere. This was the home of Harley Quinn, one of the few DC characters to successfully make the jump from the TV screen to the page, unlike say, Black Vulcan. Remember him?

Harley Quinn

Harley in one of her more monstrous appearances.

Passionately in love with the Joker, Harley had been developed over the last few years beyond her two dimensional personality in the pages of Countdown, and more recently the Gotham City Sirens.

Harley promised to be the redemption of another star of Arkham City, the deadly seductress known as Poison Ivy.

Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy fighting the bad fight

Ivy began life as a botanist, but over the years has become more and more attuned to the whims of the plant kingdom, becoming half-plant herself. Her motives vary from simple criminality in the early years to a more developed sense of eco-terrorism. First appearing in 1966, she was modelled after the famous Betty Page.

Now there’s a thought. Batman versus Betty Page. Calling Adam West, report Stage Door One!

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

The transition to Dark'n'Gritty began here

Of course, the Dark Knight Returns Batman would not be so easily swayed by a pretty face. In fact, he would not be swayed by pretty much anything.

The Dark Knight Returns has to be one of the most influential pieces of the ‘Dark’n’Gritty’ era, setting the tone for comics for years to come.

The evolution is complete!

Frank Miller’s work in 1986 may well have had many less than quality repercussions throughout the industry, but no one can deny that this is a brilliant and defining Batman epic, creating the dark and driven version of the Batman we have seen in the last decade.

Allegedly, Batman is to be a little less ‘damaged’ in the DCnU, but Frank Miller’s legacy will never be eroded.

Batman Beyond

Batman Beyond #1, the future's not so dark!

Another legacy of The Animated Series, is the futuristic Batman Beyond. Another anachronism just like the Dark Knight Returns, the future from which the successor of the Bat-legacy, Terry McGuiness, hails from is a little less dystopian.

One would think that the futuristic nature of BB would alienate true Bat-fans, but the character has remained for over a decade, and recently returned to print. We can only hope his inclusion indicates his return to the small screen as well.

Deadshot

Deadshot in the sewers where he belongs!

Returning to the thought of colourful villains, the introduction of Deadshot to the game makes me want to rename the entire production Deadshot: Arkham City (guest-starring Batman)!

Originally appearing back in 1958, Deadshot has become an ever more important force in the DC Universe, once he was recruited into John Ostrander’s Suicide Squad. This lead him to star in two of his own mini-series where we saw the ultimate gun-for-hire struggle with the more personal aspects of his life, such as the one thing he cared about, his young daughter.

Sacrificing his relationship with her for the sake of her happiness, Floyd Lawton continued to be a mover and shaker, becoming a regular member of the recent Secret Six. Yet the government, in the form of Amanda Waller, continue to keep their talons in him, and frequently it is unclear whether he is a good guy or a bad guy.

Calendar Man

Calendar Man, in his less than ergonomically designed costume.

Another character older than he first appears, the Calendar Man is obsessed with dates and cycles. In fact his obsession seems to have replaced any form of fashion sense, as one can see from the illustration.

Yet with petty and unambitious crimes, he is known as a loser, and only attracts losers to him. It is ironic then that he was chosen prior to the Crisis On Infinite Earths to be an instrument of what was the most powerful entity in the DCU, the Monitor, to test the Batman.

His moment of glory that explored his truly murderous nature was the mini-series Batman: The Long Halloween. Here we saw his true depravity, yet since then he has retreated to the sidelines, never warranting more than a few panels exposure.

A costume like that, there’s little wonder.

This is only scratching the surface of the world of the Batman. Arkham City promises to contain many more unannounced villains, opening up a whole new world. In these days of revamp and reboot, it is good to see that the old stories are not being forgotten.

I certainly did not anticipate shades of Flex Mentallo, one of my all-time favourite series. A series that one would think would be very hard to imitate, and I am pleased to report, no such attempt was made.

Other than the similarity between Flex’s Muscle Mystery and Luther Strode’s Hercules Method, the direction of this new release from Image is completely different. The story begins with the familiar convention of the geeky high school teenager, bullied and certainly a candidate for getting sand kicked in his face, seeking a method to toughen himself up. Resorting to the tried and tested (and somewhat failed) method of sending off for a technique catalogue, a series of calamitous incidents eventually unleashed the potential of the techniques that Luther had practiced that until now had delivered a frustrating absence of results.

Yet that is a rather two-dimensional view of the story. It is implied that Luther and his mother have escaped the attentions of an abusive husband and father, they are certainly on the run from someone. Behind the Hercules Method itself, there is some shadowy organisation with no doubt nefarious aims. And the opening scenes are more reminiscent of an Avatar title such as No Hero, a stark contrast to the rest of the issue. This is certainly no standard teen hero book.

Written by Justin Jordan with art by Tradd More, The Strange Talent Of Luther Strode is full of little moments of humour set against the true horror of the story – high school. Seriously though, the whole feel of the issue is like that of the better 2000AD stories, if obviously americanised. After reading and then returning to check the front cover, I was disappointed to learn this is only to be a six issue mini-series, I can see the character having a lot more potential than that.

Talking of the ‘feel’ of a story, this week sees the release of both Stormwatch and Justice League International #2′s. If I was to sum up what I thought of the new DCU, I rather see these two titles, alongside Frankenstein and Animal Man as the flagship of the new approach. It’s not quite WildStorm, but it’s certainly not any DCU that we have seen before. Pre-Crisis, Post-Crisis, Post-Zero Hour, Post-Infinite Crisis; this is different to all of them. There’s a grittiness that is worlds apart from the dire ‘Dark’n'Gritty’ era of the Eighties and Nineties, a whole new texture. So far, it seems to be a winner, at least for this writer.

Let’s hope the sales support this.

All-Winners Squad Band Of Heroes #1

Cast your mind back some twenty years, and you may remember the great legacy that Roy Thomas tried to tie together in the form of the All-Star Squadron. Taking multiple stories based during war-time from the then nearly fifty years worth of history that DC had already produced, Mr Thomas added a smidgeon of his own material and crafted the All-Star Squadron.

Based mainly on the-then Earth Two, DC’s star-spangled wartime heroes and mystery men gathered under presidential decree and fought in World War Two as much as they possibly could. To prevent them winning the war over-night, Hitler was said to possess the Spear Of Destiny, which would immediately turn a super-human to his cause.

Hopefully, once the Justice Society comes back into print, the DCnU will consider re-visiting the concept, again for the new Earth Two.

The Marvel Universe however never had the limitations set upon its heroes by the Spear. However, no one yet has tried to gather together the various legacies of World War Two in the House Of Ideas, despite the slow trickle of Golden Age era characters that have finally resurfaced in minis like Mystery Men or The Twelve. (Both are quality series, and I highly recommend them.)

Let’s face it, the Invaders at a title were never more that a two-dimensional attempt at a wartime story. They lacked that certain something that Roy Thomas captured in the pages of the All-Star Squadron; that being the actual atmosphere of war and the personalities of the central characters. Even the Liberty Legion’s short stint in Marvel Premiere had more guts to it than the average Invaders story.

The most masterful attempt at this so far was in the realm of fan-fiction, with the excellent Liberators from Jess Nevins. The story is now easily at least a decade old, and not all of the chapters remain online. Even so, I recommend you dive in and read what you can.

With the release of the All-Winners Squad: Band Of Heroes #1, this is no longer true. Set equally within the present as in World War Two, the opening pages show a troop of G.I.s who are all Golden Age Mystery Men. I saw the name ‘Merzah‘ and nearly whooped for joy. (And then gave thanks to Mr Nevins, else I wouldn’t have known who he was.)

Finally, we see a title that really feels like war, set in the chaos that is the world of the Marvels, at the dawn of the Age Of Marvels. I hope that this will lead to an ongoing series; after all, it does rather seen that Nazi’s are the en vogue villains once again.

Yet for many heroes, death is not the mid-point of the story, but the beginning. This follows a timeworn tradition that has encompassed horror through the ages, tales of mythic romance and tragedy, and forms the backbone for shamanic or religious transformation in myriad traditions.

There is little imagery so powerful as the sacrifice of the self, whether though voluntary means or otherwise.

Frankenstein’s Monster

Frankenstein as one of the Seven Soldiers

Frankenstein was a ground breaking fiction in its time, combining elements of horror and romance, and considered by many to be the very first science-fiction story; despite an initially unfavourable reception.

The Monster has seen a resurgence in the past few years, becoming an important character for both DC and Marvel, as seen by the release of his own title as an Agent Of S.H.A.D.E., while joining forces with Howard the Duck and the Man-Thing in the Fearsome Four.

Never having been one specific person himself, our Frankie was composed of a combination of corpses, not all of which were human. His appeal has never faded, and in the real world, he is the oldest of the characters having first appeared in 1818.

Spawn

Spawn

Vanguard of the ‘Image Revolution’, Spawn was the brainchild of Todd McFarlane after his amazing (excuse the pun) run on Spider-Man. Once a CIA hitman and former Marine, Al Simmons was murdered on the order of his superiors, went to hell for his crime, made a deal with the devil for love and returned to watch over his wife and daughter.

Of course, it was not that simple. In undeath as well as life, Simmons was a tool for the powers that be, but managed to turn the tables on both his agency boss and the Devil himself, by becoming God. Although not unheard of in the world of comics, very few central characters reach these lofty heights and still manage to sustain a title. Spawn just passed its bicentennial, yet I think he had become God by about issue 150.

Haunt

Haunt

One could easily detect a theme here, as Haunt was created by Todd McFarlane and Robert Kirkman, featuring a CIA operative dying, coming to haunt his brother a priest; and lots and lots of webs. He is only one of the most recent titles that demand a death to kick-start not just the action, but the entire super-powered identity.

With an engaging cast of characters that we have come to expect from Mr Kirkman, a glance at the covers of Haunt make imply you have seen it all before, but you haven’t.

Brother Voodoo

Dr Voodoo, the excellent beginning to a tragically dismal career.

Haunt was not the first man to be haunted by his brother. The 3-D Man comes to mind, but perhaps the most interesting of the archetype is the recently failed Sorcerer Supreme of the Marvel Universe, Brother Voodoo.

The educated psychologist Jericho Drumm returned home to find his twin Daniel, the local houngan, dying of a voodoo curse. After a vow elicited on his brother’s death bed, Jericho seeks out Daniel’s teacher, and ends up leaving the world of science behind. Assuming you call psychology a science.

Jericho was thrust from being one of the many victims of the Skrull infiltration of Earth in Secret Invasion, to replacing Doctor Strange as the Sorcerer Supreme. It didn’t end well, but for the master of the Loa, would death really be such an obstacle?

Ghoul

Ghoul's first appearance in Exiles #1

In the early days of the Malibu Ultraverse, Johnathon Martin contracted the Theta Virus in the pages of the original Exiles. This virus delivered superhuman powers, but also killed its host. In Johnathon’ case, both outcomes occurred fairly instantly; he became a zombie-like being, neither truly alive nor dead.

Eventually becoming a member of Ultraforce, Ghoul was perfect grist to the mill of Warren Ellis, frequently being the main comedic character against a backdrop of darker and darker storylines.

SwampThing

Swamp Thing as a Black Lantern, or not.

Of course, this is comics, and nothing is ever as simple as just simply dying. Alec Holland was immolated in a fire, covered in a bio-restorative formula, in an isolated laboratory in a swamp. Death ensued, and he rose again as the muck-encrusted Man-Thing. Sorry, Swamp Thing. Back in 1971, their first appearances were but a month apart. Swampy may have been second, but was an entirely different shambling mound of moss.

Selected by the Parliament of Trees to be the protector of The Green, (that’s the plant kingdom to you and me), Swampy generated his own revolution in the world of horror comics, becoming one of the initial flagship characters of the Vertigo label.

Recent developments have shown that the soul of Alec Holland was nowhere near the elemental, but now may well be forced to carry on in his cellulose caricature’s footsteps.

Spectre

The Spectre delivers a scolding to five Earths at once.

While Frankenstein’s Monster is the oldest character in our world, you don’t get much older than the Angel of Vengeance, God’s wrath incarnate. Forever fated to be bound to a human host, in the 1940’s he joined with a cop Jim Corrigan, who had had the inestimable pleasure of being murdered, stuffed into a barrel which was then filled with cement and dumped into the river.

Initially serving ‘The Voice’, his master evolved into ‘The Presence’ and his mission in the world of man solidified from eliminating evil to serving divine justice, (and all ideas inbetween). He sees all acts, from the tiniest indiscretion to the great cosmic sagas that tend to befall the Earth every other month of so, as we see above, in the Crisis On Infinite Earths.

Deadman

Deadman in his 'Life's so unfair!" pose

Clue’s in the name really. Boston Brand has really taken centre stage in the DCU since the events of the Blackest Night/Brightest Day. A circus acrobat who was more than a little self-absorbed, he was denied his eternal rest and made into an Eastern deity’s errand boy.

Immortal Man

The Immortal Man, thinking he is more influential than he was ever allowed to be.

First appearing in the pages of Strange Adventures in 1965, the Immortal Man erupted from the eight or twelve page tales so common in the anthologies of the time. Originally Klarn of the Bear Tribe, he was the mortal enemy of Vandal Savage, and thought erased from existence in the Crisis On Infinite Earths. Turns out he was only kidnapped and hidden by his counterpart caveman, yet had to sacrifice himself again to protect reality on meeting with the man who would become his replacement.

Resurrection Man

Resurrection Man #1,000,000

Death is not so much an origin for Mitch Shelley, as it is a way of life. Receiving new life in the New Fifty-Two, Shelley was an unwilling experiment, infected with ‘tektites’ that would only allow him to rest for mere seconds after every death. Each new rebirth would grant him with some new combination of super-powers.

We saw his potential in the pages of DC One Million, a major crossover during the run of his first title. Tactical advisor to the Justice Legion Alpha of the 853^rd Century, Mitch embodied the qualities of patience and planning so very absent in his origins.

Do I really need to mention the buffoon Mr Immortal?

Voodoo #1 Priscilla strikes out on her own

Reading the shipping listing in text format can lead to a number of amusing misunderstandings, as happened this week. I saw the listing for Voodoo #1 and all thoughts of the DCnU had escaped my mind; I wondered what it could possibly be? Maybe another independent title such as the almost retro Witch Doctor that brought such pleasure a few months ago?

Of course, upon arriving at the store, I realised my mistake. The integration of the Wildstorm characters into the mainstream DC universe had intrigued me since I first heard of it. Absorbing the characters of other companies has been a long-standing tradition at DC, from Fawcett and Quality that gave us such greats as the Marvel Family and the Freedom Fighters, to the more recently distinguished Milestone and the brief visit of the Red Circle characters. I hope the latter will come back for another stay, DC is a perfect home for them.

From Charlton’s Captain Atom and the Blue Beetle to Tower Comics T.H.U.N.D.E.R.Agents; DC has been a literary analogue to The Blob, absorbing all that it touches. Or would the Borg be a more appropriate example?

No one could deny that doubts hung in the air when fandom considered Wildstorm’s new position in the cosmic scheme of things. Vertigo aside, DC can err towards the family friendly side of the street, or at least, that’s how it has always seemed in many titles.

Our fears were allayed with the arrival of Stormwatch, granting us the edge and scope of the old Authority, while seamlessly integrating the Martian Manhunter into a whole new paradigm.

The Wild C.A.T.S. however, had yet to make an appearance. In the month of first issues, only Grifter had made an appearance so far.

Voodoo, of course, focuses on Priscilla Kitaen, the bi-racial (in so many different connotations of the phrase) dancer who unlike the arrogant and seemingly angelic Kherubim, was born on the wrong side of the tracks.

Ever since Wild C.A.T.S. volume three, I have long thought that Priscilla was a much under-used character, whom I would love to see blossom to her true potential. If you will excuse the pun, it is good to see her getting such exposure.

We can assume that she is half-Daemonite, but as for the politics behind that statement in the DCnU, that has yet to be revealed. The first issue, by Ron Marz and Sam Basri, certainly sets the scene by focusing on the visuals, harkening back to the tradition of the ‘bad girl’ character that was so popular when Image comics and these characters first appeared. We see little of the inner workings of Priscilla’s mind, and are maybe led to believe that there are not a great deal of them, but long time fans of the character know that still waters run deep.

If I were a new reader to this title, I’m not sure what I would think. It has the sense of both DC (nice, clean lines) and Wildstorm (an adult, potentially smutty backdrop), and has yet to declare any identity for itself. That being said, it is a pleasant read. Maybe not one that I would immediately share with a child of say thirteen or younger, but certainly one I would be willing to stick with for a few more issues. Mr Marz has a very talented pen and is always able to entertain me, and I would follow the title purely on that basis.

Still, I have to wonder. Have our cultural standards dropped so much that there is no need to a ‘Parental Advice’ label on the issue? This is hardly full on ‘Mature Readers’, but may of the new Fifty-Two have been near to the knuckle in terms of graphic depictions of sex, violence or just sheer nastiness. (I still have the image of Maxine Baker and the walking animal corpses in my head, which goes to show how effective the story was.)

I love the stories. But I am fast approaching my middle age. Does DC really think that my age group are the main purchasers? Or should it look to a system of labelling?

Come back Dr Wertham, it seems all is forgiven!

A smooth new world of intrigue

Two first issues caught my eye this week, the first eagerly awaited and the second a total surprise.

Some months ago I promised the esteemed J. T. Krul a review for Captain Atom #1, and the day has now arrived. To be honest, I have mixed feelings about it. I like it, but there are a number of factors that make me question the whole ‘soft-reboot’ business, to which I need to go into further detail.

Firstly, I love the Captain’s new look. If anything based on a masterful use of colouring, his illuminated form simply exudes power. Thing is, I loved his old look as well, the chrome skin (the fabled alien metal that granted his previous two incarnations their power) is gone. Or at least obscured by the internal furnace of his power.

I fear that he seems even more generic in appearance than previously. Reminding me of the Acclaim incarnation of Solar, Man Of The Atom, or numerous Marvel characters as they achieve cosmic power. Remember the Ethicals from Machine Man? Or maybe he is Nova Frankie Raye with a small mohecan hairstyle.

As his appearance tends more to the ephemeral angelic being, so to has his personality shifted. No longer the brash, confident military man, he seems somewhat humbled. Of course, if his recent experiences in Action Comics and previously as Monarch are still valid, this is only to be expected.

To the latter half of the issue, this can be explained by some news he receives, yet this insecurity is apparent from the first page.

Dr Megala has returned, not as a little red-haired cyborg trolley this time, but more as a balding Stephen Hawkings. Again, I love the new look, it adds a degree of realism. (Yeah, realism. That why we read comics. For the realism.) I will miss Megala the shopping cart, but I applaud his return.

But what does this do to the story of Invasion!? Both the Captain and the original, (well, second) incarnation of Megala were essential in that story. We have seen that the Crisis On Infinite Earths still happened, but has the Invasion? Maybe the new Hawkman will let that cat out of the bag.

No sign yet of General Eiling. Does this mean he was the monstrous General seen in the pages of JLA? Or did that never happen now? Where does that leave the good Captain’s stint with the JLE?

I almost wish we had seen a full reboot. Or at least have a character or two who recalls the previous timeline, so we can identify the differences. For example, since when can the Captain perform molecular re-arrangement? Since this issue it seems.

Who does he think he is? Firestorm? My thoughts wander back to Solar again.

There, that’s the gripes out of the way. If the Captain was a totally new character however, I would love this. If you are new to Nathaniel’s adventures, this is an ideal title. Having some prior knowledge only helped me to jump to conclusions or at shadows.

My other treat has to be Vescell #1 from Image. By Enrique Carrion and John Upchurch. There’s no being burdened by years of history with this title, nor any lengthy exposition; nothing more than one paragraph on the inside cover.

Setting the scene: there’s another dimension that scientists broke into that contains scary demonic things, and a company that markets personality transfers between bodies. Got that?

Then in true cinematic style, we dive straight into the tale of one guy, a bodyguard who has a gun in which lives a fairy and a girlfriend who can only enter this world by possessing others. His tale is told against a backdrop of corporate intrigue and political corruption and has to be the best thirty-four pages I have read in a long time. This is a title of which I want to see a lot more of, as the tale leaves a lot of plot threads lying around as mere decoration, in a fashion that does not overload the reader. At the end of the first issue, I was satisfied. Hungry for more, but satisfied at the same time. A rare occurance these days, I normally find either one or the another, but both is a treasure.

Think Pulp Fiction with fairies and demons. Or maybe what would happen if Disney fell under the control of Tarantino, with a smidgeon of Clive Barker thrown in for good measure.

Please sir? Can I have some more?

So where do you go, when a Watch Tower on the Moon, or a swamp that touches every possible reality (and then some) just are not enough?

The Fortress of Solitude

Classic Silver Age Fortress, Action #241

We all know of the Silver Age version, of an ice cavern with a gigantic metal door, unlockable only by an equally massive golden key. Or a blowtorch I imagine. Yet it was home to an Interplanetary Zoo, Superman robots and science labs more advanced than anything on Earth; technology that Superman chose not to share even with his colleagues of the Justice League.

Post-COIE Fortress, AOS #461

Yet after the Crisis, the creation of the base was entirely organic, at least in terms of the story, as the Eradicator Artifact turned itself into a little piece of Krypton, this time at the South Pole. This didn’t last, it got wrapped into a pocket dimension, a portal to which was placed in the Daily Planet Globe.

The Peru Fortress

Then more reboots. In an effort to find himself, Superman relocated to an Amazon Jungle fortress, and of course, there was a Kryptonian Sunstone creation in the post-Infinite Crisis reboot, to mirror the Fortress of the classic movies and the Smallville series.

The birth of the crystal fortress, Action #480

The most outlandish has to be the Fortress in the C853rd, based inside the very sun itself. Which makes sense really.

The Pyramid of the Aztec Ace

The Twin Pyramids of Aztec Ace

Jungle properties are obviously hot. You kinow what they say, it’s all about ‘Location, Location, Location’.

The Anachrony Den

Based in the Gardens of Tenochtitlan circa 1518 sit twin step-pyramids. In one sits an egg shaped time capsule better known as the Azure Crosstime Express; while the other contains Ace’s living space, better known as the Anachrony Den, where cool limestone conceals technology from multiple eras. From here, Caza monitors the entire timestream, working to undo paradoxes created by his enemy Nine Crocodiles who wishes to destroy history, and frequently saving the existence from himself.

Housekeeping does not seem to be Caza's forte

Originally native to the Twenty-Third Century, he picks up a girlfriend from the Nineteen Forties. One would hope coming from such an advanced era, he has installed air-conditioning and central heating.

The Fortress of Solidarity

Superman #708 The Fortress Of Solidarity

A base operating outside the regions of Space and time, the Fortress Of Solidarity is home to yet another incarnation of the Superman Squad, that we will no doubt never see again after the events of Flashpoint.

The Fortress is ‘a tesseract housed in a pentagonal icositetrahedron’ within the Still Zone, which is not quite the Phantom Zone, but related. This zone touches all times, yet has sometimes been used as a prison! Go figure!

Within the Fortress itself, there are portals/windows into spacetime, through which certain events or moments can be observed. No doubt this is related to it’s shape, which basically means a solid with twenty four pentagonal faces. Or for the less mathematically inclined of us, a twenty-sided die.

Has to be the oddest D20 I've ever seen

I’m not sure what Aztec Ace would make of this. How would this team ensure the stability of history if they are taking a proactive, interventionist role? Or is this more of a glorified social club? They claim they banded together to protect the timestream. Hmm, how’d that work out?

Vanishing Point

The original Vanishing Point in Zero Hour

Speaking of maintaining the integrity of the timeline, whatever happened to the good old Linear Men? They briefly blossomed into the Linear Authority, then appeared to collapse under their own weight. After all, when we see their later schism in Time Masters: Vanishing Point, Rip Hunter had locked the rest of his comrades away, and upon their escape, Liri Lee departs in a snit after refusing to agree with Rip’s rules of time travel. Of course then the Flashpoint happened, so it doesn’t look like she was very successful in keeping to her own ideals.

Home to the Linear Authority

The Heartland

Now, it may be okay for the Sandman to live within a conceptual realm when is the very embodiment of Dream, but for a team of government operatives, you would think it is a little more difficult.

The Heartland from Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #2

Not so for Uncle Sam and his Freedom Fighters. It seems that being the living embodiment of the Constitution allows him to create his own living space as well. Now here is a concept I would like to see again.

The Soul-Society and the Seireitei

Now, how many heroes can claim their base in deep inside of the after-realms? Even Deadman hovers around the land of the living.

The Seireitei of the Soul Society

Not so in the anime Bleach. Ichigo Kurasaki may be based in the living Karakura town, but his powers and authority (and lack of respect for authority) derive from the Soul Society, better translated as ‘dead spirit world’. The Thirteen Court Guard Squads are based in the capital city, known as the Seireitei, or Court of Pure Souls.

If this is Heaven, it certainly seems far from paradise; controlled by social order and etiquette and leaving little room for the individualism we in the West so treasure.

One would think that a city in the after-realms would have the decency to stay dead, but no, it seems happily able to transport itself into the living world, swapping places with Karakura Town in order to protect it from a former Shinigami who wants to destroy the very natural order itself. (Seems like a popular pass-time!)

The Ant-Farm

The Ant Farm, the new base of S.H.A.D.E.

Seen in the pages of Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E, and earlier being the object of the Atom’s short lived series last year, the Ant Farm is a 3-inch mobile sphere that agents can access via Ray Palmer’s shrinking technology. The Farm seems to fly randomly (and quickly) around the world undetected.

What better base could one ask for covert operations, especially since it is also provided with its own teleportation network? This is the type of ingenuity we need to see more of, if the real estate war is to continue!

The H-Dial

Now you may wonder why I would include the origin of the super-powered identities seen in Dial H For H.E.R.O.

The fabled H-Dial

Yet in Superboy And The Ravers, it was implied not only that each super-powered identity adopted by the Dial bearer had its own personal thought patterns and style of reactions, but that each identity was a personality in and of itself, that merged with the bearer. That must make the H-Dial one of the most crowded super-hero bases, even more so than a fully staffed Legion Of Super-Heroes Clubhouse.

No wonder Vicki Grant went so schizophrenic in the pages of The New Titans.

The Infinite Mansion (Avengers)

The Infinite Avengers Mansion was created to be the headquarters of Hank Pym’s Mighty Avengers. It was created by Pym from the ever-expanding body of his ex-wife Janet Van Dyne and is located in a pocket dimension.

Infinite Mansion, Mighty Avengers #27

Though it has suffered recently in the events of Fear Itself, I rather hope this one will stick around. Plus one has to admire the cheek of a man to create a base out of the corpse of his dead ex-wife. It seems there is no limit to the abuse that he will subject Janet to, yet this fails to raise an eyebrow from anyone?

With millions of floors, and a potentially infinite amount of doors leading to everything the team will need and anywhere on Earth. Jocasta is the resident counterpart to the ever-faithful Jarvis, being both the mainframe and guide of the base, with an infinite number of bodies throughout the mansion available for duty at the flick of a digital switch.

The TARDIS

Of course, with all these bases floating outside of time, whizzing around the planet or dependant purely on conceptual ideals, I would be remiss if I failed to mention the not quite first but greatest of them all, the TARDIS.

The original TARDIS console room. Ah, memories!

The Fortress of Solitude first appeared in 1958, which predates the first voyage of the time-travelling Doctor and his granddaughter, but this is surely the creation with the greatest scope. Able to traverse both space and time, the TARDIS is sentient, and contains an entire universe within itself. Indeed, if it were not a universe, it would be unable to function.

Though the gothic or steam-punk looks are cool, I cannot but help feel nostalgic about the clean white lines of the very original console room, presented her for your pleasure.

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Dr Strangefate, one of the best Amalgam titles.

With the stunning sales figures of many of the DCnU  first issues, minds no doubt turn towards how the industry can sustain this momentum? As I have said before, I have doubts as to how many of these sales are likely to be new readers, although I imagine by far the largest segment of these extra sales will be returning readers. Unfortunately, there are no metrics available to either support or refute my assumption, so I will just have to resort back to my experience in the Nineties as a comics’ store manager, and join the ranks of self-appointed experts.

One of the major comics events of the Nineties was the DC vs Marvel event. I would say trilogy, but lets face it, the latter two mini-series were hardly earth shattering in terms of quality. Conversely, the trilogy was succeeded and the long awaited and phenomenally successful JLA/Avengers, that despite a hefty price tag delivered impressive figures and a treat for the fans.

Over at Newsarama, Michael Doran delivered an op-ed suggesting that Marvel and DC should embark upon another crossover, or series of crossovers. Considering that the secret of sustaining the industry is generating cash flow for the retailers, this could only serve to further this aim.

That’s my LCS-manager side speaking. Yet as a fan, I would take Mr Doran to task with some of his suggestions. He claims that the standard formula of: a) two villains from respective universes team up/come into combat; b) two sets of heroes meet and fight and then c) team up to save the day; is not enough.

I cannot disagree with a word of that. And I love the idea of simple DC hero versus Marvel villain (or vice-versa) being the focus of the story.

Yet he implies that these stories should simply occur in isolation, with no thought to continuity or the respective cosmologies of the parent companies.

As a continuity geek, I find this blasphemous heresy, and I’m shocked to the very core of my being. Unless we re-establish the theorised ‘Crossover Earth’ of say, X-Men and the New Teen Titans, then I want context. I want ramifications. I want something more than a three-panel appearance of the Access Axel Asher in the pages of Green Lantern.

Yet there is a compromise that can satisfy both myself and Mr Doran. The trusted mechanism of bookends.

Have a commencing issue that sets the stage for these crossovers, setting up some great cosmic threat, imbalance or whatever. Make it really, really large in scope.

Then, do the crossovers, whether they are hero team ups or one company’s hero against another company’s villain. Let them contain their own self-contained stories, either ignorant or only tenuously linked to the uber-plot. (In fact, by my plan, these crossovers should be composed prior to the bookends, giving the writers a challenge as to how to link these seemingly unrelated stories, taking the art of retroactive continuity to its peak.

Let’s start with killing Access. As much as I like him, I’m not convinced my opinion is shared by the multitudes.

However, one comment in Mr Doran’s post really aroused my ire.

And the less said about “Amalgam,” the better, don’t you think?

One thing that the Amalgam was, was fun! In my eyes, some of the series had a lot of potential, while others had the kitschiness of some Sixties material that endeared them to my heart. To see it denigrated and cast aside as a mistake is in my eyes a crying shame. Taking such events as Final Crisis, Civil War, Fear itself or Flashpoint, as good (or bad) as you may consider them, the over-arching themes were ‘dark’. I enjoyed them all (except maybe the latter two), but they lacked that element of joy in discovering a new character or idea, the appearance of a name that could make me laugh out loud.

Who’s to say that Doctor Strangefate would not make the perfect uber-villain?