The Waking #1

I haven’t spoken a great deal about the Zenescope range of titles, but I really want to draw your attention to last weeks The Waking #1. At the end of the first issue I still don’t know just what the story is about, but I do know I want to know more. And if this series reaches the same high level of quality that the others of the line do, then I know I will be more than satisfied.

The Waking offers a traditional evil little girl, not that we actually see a great deal of her. Dead bodies rise out of the morgue, well, a dead body at least, not a whole zombiepocalypse. (We’ve must have seen enough of the zombiepocalypse by now surely?) Seasoned with a selection of hard-bitten cops that rapidly become three-dimensional characters, the issue leaves you with a whole sense of wanting more.

Now the standard that I will be holding the title to is the excellent Wonderland trilogy, Return To Wonderland, Beyond Wonderland, and the current Escape from Wonderland. Frequently emblazoned with covers that are attracting the T&A market, but, although I wouldn’t accuse the titles of phenomenal depth, the story rolls along with ease, and a not a few surprises. It delivers a warped vision of Wonderland (like the original was so ‘straight’ in comparison), with a voracious evil underlying the entire realm, a form of madness personified that corrupts everything that it touches. I’ve not seen the movie release yet, but I imagine this version is intensely more brutal. And it’s a far cry from the Wonderland Captain Carrot visited in the Eighties.

Now there’s an image. Captain Carrot alone in Calie’s Wonderland! ‘Cos that is one evil Cheshire Cat, and not even Roger Rodney Rabbit could keep his upbeat attitude after being chopped to pieces a time or two. I can see an inter-company crossover coming on.

Zenescope plan to bring the TV series Charmed to comics in the near future. I wonder if they will be able to find the readers in numbers similar to the Buffy series? It’s a brave effort, unless you look at their other offerings, and I hope they catch a mass market appeal with this.

Still, if you like your horror comics, then Zenescope is well worth a look. In my mind, they are the classics of today, a modern day EC. I’m just waiting for the Concerned Mothers Of America to attack them. After all, if they have been entertained by Glenn Beck, you just know they are lurking out there ready to attack comics again!

REBELS Annual 1, the Warlord Starro

I’ve always liked Starro as a villain.

There’s something about a giant mind controlling starfish that you just can’t hold a candle to. My first exposure to him was during my first exposure to the entire DCU, during the CRISIS On Infinite Earths. What a jumping on point eh?

In my early teenage years, I picked up #9 of CRISIS, as Brainiac gathered his army of villains without number to take over three of the five remaining earths. This was my first exposure to that lovable tyrant. In Brainiacs satellite Starro lumbered in the background, appearing again later in the massive battle on Earth-S. That was all I knew, but my curiosity was piqued.

My second exposure was in a back issue of Captain Carrot And His Amazing Zoo Crew. In no way could this be described as impressive, but I immediately loved the series and held them close to my heart ever since. The pathetic and endless puns amused me, small things for small minds I suppose. I very relieved in the climax of Final Crisis as the Zoo Crew were returned to humanoid form – can we have another series please?

Anyway, this appearance really didn’t do Starro any justice, but he rose in my estimation when he managed to con Justice League Europe into assisting one of his invasion attempts. That was my first glimpse of how all-encompassing he promised to be.

Where he really rose to prominence however was (of course) in the capable hands of Grant Morrison in the pages of JLA, where even the Sandman Lord Morpheus himself was forced to get involved. Cold, inhuman, hungry, unstoppable, Grant portrayed Starro in a manner that I don’t think anyway using a giant starfish had accomplished before. This made the appetite of Starro as voracious and implacable as the Borg of Star Trek.

So it was with some dismay that I read in recent issues of REBELS that there is a humanoid warlord in control of the Starros. The Dominion has fallen, and the Gil’Dishpan (who when I first saw them were called Dispan. Dishpan? DISHPAN?!? What the hell sort of name is that? Oooh, watch out, the evil Dishpan is coming for you! Sounds more like a nemesis for Betty and Veronica). Then out of the mists comes this warlord guy.

Fortunately, as revealed in last weeks REBELS Annual, it is not as simple as that, and Starros inhumanity has been preserved.. This warlord is like a cross between Marvel’s Overmind and the Spirit Of Vengeance, the final survivor of a telepathic race so filled with the hate of his entire race for the conqueror Starro that he dominated the group mind. Even so, he is driven for Starros hunger to be everything.

If you haven’t been picking up REBELS, here is space drama to rival the War Of Kings. Oh, and Vril Dox is as manipulative as ever, if maybe a little humbled. If you were a fan of the original L.E.G.I.O.N./R.E.B.E.L.S series, you can’t miss this. Space Opera is doing really well in comics currently, and as readers, we are all the better for it. Keep it coming.