The Bionic Man #1

Quite the delicacy of first issues this week, and I am beginning to wonder if Dark Horse will retain its mastery of the licensed titles. Both Dynamite and IDW continue to challenge them with impressive offerings, as we see this week with the release of The Bionic Man #1 from Dynamite, and the return of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Kevin Eastman from IDW.

It makes a nice change to not be talking about the DCnU, but on that note – Aaaaaand another thing! I’ve been re-reading Countdown, which at the time was panned and seen as a poor successor to Fifty Two, but compared to the Flashpoint? It’s a thoroughly enjoyable read and considering the reception it received, if this is a good example of the nostalgic ‘good old days’……

Well, I can leave the rest unsaid.

Dynamite in comparison, continues to thrill. Now I never really saw the Six-Million Dollar Man the first time around, I was just a little too young. In fact, I probably know more about the Bionic Woman than the man, and I never really caught the bug.

Scripted by Kevin Smith with Phil Hester, the dialogue in The Bionic Man #1 is what struck me the most. It is fun, realistic and quite witty. I may not know the characters well yet, but I already like test pilot Steve Austin and his lover, the beautiful Jamie. As a teacher, I imagine she is quite the force to be reckoned with.

By the end of the issue, we are not quite at the crash that will turn Austin to such an expensive action figure, but we are only seconds away. Yet after such a well-paced and written issue, I can say that I will feel his pain. This is an excellent relaunch, with interior art to match. Everything that the cover promises is delivered.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles however returns to the hands of their creator, and considering they began as a comic strip, I’m not sure you can call them a licence in the same manner. This I also missed the very beginnings of, so I am not sure if this is a relaunch, or continuing the story from Mirage Comics. However, I found myself soon drawn into the plot as a rival gang attacks Splinter and his boys, while one turtle is AWOL. The issue has the feel of what I believe the very original Turtle work was supposed to be like, (no more Hero Turtles, thank goodness), and even if there was a little too much fight in the story, there was ample exposition, and I shall return for a second dose.

When I first heard about the Kirby: Genesis project by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross, I was initially unimpressed. By their working from the King Jack Kirby’s original notes, it seemed somewhat of a, well, travesty is too strong a word, but it felt like they were walking over sacred territory.

Yet I am a sucker for the beautiful covers of Mr. Ross, and could not resist picking up Kirby: Genesis #0, and I can truthfully admit how wrong I was. The old Kirby magik, personified in the Eternals and the Fourth World, is still present and very much alive, and I really shouldn’t have doubted what I know to be a winning team.

I remember years ago finding an issue of Silver Star from Pacific Comics, one of those Kirby titles that never got off the ground, and it simply wasn’t enough to engage me. Yet putting them against a wider backdrop, and I know I will now be rooting through the back issue bins to see if I can find them again.

Kirby was a huge proponent of the heights that man can aspire too, and the power of the myths we carry from our past and about ourselves. Kurt and Alex manage to encapsulate this in this taster issue, and it is a fitting tribute to one of the fathers of the modern comics industry.

I haven’t been this excited about a new series since Project: Superpowers was launched; not even Stan Lee’s new universe at Boom elicited quite as much metaphorical drooling. (I must stop doing that in public!) If you enjoyed either of those, then pick this up.

At least, that’s how the series starts, but with the latest developments it hints at a more Lovecraftian or Necroscope style take, which harkens back somewhat to the Warren Publishing days, where our Vampi made her name.

Now I missed the original Warren days, and still hunt those back issue bins for precious missing issues. I was recruited to the Rivers of Drakulon during the mid-Nineties relaunch by Harris comics while a comic store manager. I remember railing against the predominance of T&A titles, but a customer said ‘Read it’, and I was hooked. Slightly more spandex than the original, Vampi is a, ah. Now what analogy can I use? Three dimensional or fully fleshed out both have connotations, but Vampi was given depth (I give up), an engaging supporting cast and made great stories about the many origin tales she possessed. She was not your standard semi-clad heroine, rather she set the standard.

In the new series by Eric Trautmann, the story so far takes priority over the characterisation, but it is an engaging story even if I do think I can see where it’s going. (Please surprise me, Eric, I know you can.) Yet there are moments where her personality shines through, and I look forward to an issue where she simply spends some personal time. I want to see Vampi as I know her, I want to see the Light Of Darkness, and yes, I want to see the ‘We are all Vampirella’ addition to the mythos.

In the meantime, I am really enjoying the ride. Dynamite has yet to disappoint me.

I’m not saying this is the pinnacle of comic story-telling, far from it, but it is enjoyable, and a welcome return for a character missed by many.

Speaking of returns however, Dynamite have continued their tradition of relaunching characters with Vampirella. If doesn’t seem so long since Vampirella: The Second Coming slightly redefined what the nature of our favourite vampiress is, and now we have a newer version.

This issue does not redefine anything, Vampirella could be from Drakulon, a goddess manifesting through her followers blood or the daughter of Lilith, who knows. That has very little relevance to this story, which is atmospheric and implies some of the previous continuity. We are told that Vampi had a mortal lover, who died. This could be Adam, or some other story yet to be told.  Yet what is important here is not even the story itself, which when analysed is little more than any other vampire story, but the mood that is established.  Far grittier than the old Harris run of the Nineties, far more city based with less fantastical elements, this issue has everything that the recent Vampire PA seemed to lack. And the back-up strip re-printed from years ago, of Archie Goodwin’s relationship with Vampi is not to be missed.

One other title I want to draw your attention to, though it’s hardly a first issue, is Dynamite’s Warlord Of Mars.  Maybe it’s the art, maybe it’s the fact it does not rush into the story, mixing elements of the Wild West with Barsoomian (Martian) culture, as the stories of John Carter and Tars Tarkas are told separately before their first meeting.  Reading the recent second issue (so it’s not too late to jump on) reminded me of why, all those years ago reading the classics of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tars Tarkas to me defined what an honourable hero truly is. This title brings back all of those memories, in fresh, vivid colour.

I’ve been reading over at TechDirt (totally comics unrelated) how copyright itself seems to be an inhibition to innovation rather than a incitement to innovation, as study after study flies in the face of convential wisdom. Considering the excellent stories that I have seen in the past ten years using characters that no longer have owners (America’s Best Comics spring to mind as well as the aforementioned titles).

And I wondered just what comics would look like without copyright. Or at least copyright with severely limited powers from what stands today.

So I go to see what news has come out of the San Diego Comicon, and I find this article, coming from a Variety report about how the potential of termination notices, issued by creators to regain the rights of their creations from their previous holders. They give the example of Tarzan, and how there could be two competing versions of him today (not that we see that unfortunately).

One thing I believe in the comics industry is that quality wins out. Well written compelling stories with fleshed out characters stand the test of time. Poor attempts will not survive, and publishing comics is an expensive business, unless it is constrained to the digital realms (which as time goes by seems more and more likely).  Could we have a form of publish or perish rule? If a character is not published in some form within say ten or twenty years, then it’s open season?

There have been times when I have been reading a story that contains a Superman rip-off, and I have thought, I don’t want the rip -off, I want the real thing. Then again, look at all the rip-off Supermen over the years that have slowly been crafted into valid constructs of their own. Supreme, Hyperion of the Squadron Supreme, the Plutonian.

So, what do we want? To wait forty or fifty years before we see older characters being used? Or to lower that time and let writers strut their stuff with our beloved childhood icons?

J. T. Krul, who impressed me so much with his handling of the Titans in his Blackest Night mini has returned the Emerald Archer (in one single issue) to the levels of greatness of the eighty issue Mike Grell series of the late Eighties. Despite Grell’s rewriting of Oliver’s politics from the left of centre liberal of the Seventies to a right wing libertarian (which rather made a conundrum of his legendary arguments with Hawkman), the Grell series had a realism and edginess that kept me coming back to the title month after month.  Since then I have had two sessions of sitting down and re-reading the entire series, and I highly recommend it if you have never done that.

I use the word edginess because to call the title gritty would be to lump it together with such less than remarkable characters of the period like the Azrael Batman, or the worse exploits of the Punisher.  Gritty would be an accurate word however, it was the epitome of what ‘gritty’ should be, with complex plots and motivations and a failure to shy away from real-world issues. Grell used many devices to craft Oliver an new identity, such as divorcing him from the super-hero community. J. T. Krull does not have such an option, what with the DCU being far more editorially guided nowadays, and events spinning out of the Cry For Justice JLA mini.

This does not detract from Krull’s portrayal of Queen, neither do the mysteries summoned by the Brightest Day. What we have here is an eclectic mix of gritty crime and corruption, fantastical forests, cataclysmic devastation (allegories to Katrina or Haiti anyone?) and good old spandex.  And it works well. I hope that Krull can keep the apparent promises of this first issue, but I have faith that he will.  Every element of every incarnation of the Emerald Archer can be seen here.

Another title that has grabbed me recently has to be Army Of Darkness from Dynamite.  I state ‘not so much’ in the title because let’s face it, the Evil Dead/Army Of Darkness mythos (and Ash most definitely) is not and never has been ’great’. It is cheesy and almost camp in a horror fashion, and Ash himself is a stupid, slightly bigoted idiot, who has less brains than your average rat.  What the mythos is however, is fun.  We can cringe as Ash makes his mistakes and we can take great pleasure in his triumphs, because Lord knows, he has had to work so very hard and rely on so much luck to have achieved them. Rather than a character we wish we were, or can easily identify with, Ash is everything we are glad we are not.

The recent storyline of Ash and the League of Light is vaguely superhero-ish in this same light. (Adversely, this is certainly not you average JLI.) As with anything in our hero’s life, it doesn’t last, in fact after causing the apocalypse he only just succeeded in going back in time and preventing everything from happening. But boy, was it fun! A spectacularly big romp, unhindered by any form of continuity or other such logical pressures. Which means the next issue when it comes out is a good jumping on point. If you enjoyed the trilogy of films, give this a chance. Our least favourite blockhead hero (of whom the Green Lantern Guy Gardner in the worst period of his life could still only be a poor imitation) remains the object of ineptitude, stupidity and blind luck that we have all known and vaguely liked. This is a hero whose character should never ‘develop’ too much, lest the universe collapse around us. Nice to know some things in this world are constant.

Well, Blackest Night #1 is out on the shelves, and as set up issues go, it was okay. As I feared however, it looks like the Blackest Night is going to swamp the War Of Light storyline in Green Lantern unless that carries on after this crossover is finished, which I doubt. It does run the risk so far of just being a zombie story I think, but I will refrain from criticism until we are at least three issues in.

Speaking of super-zombies however, the Super-Zombies title from Dynamite has sucked me in. A whole new universe of characters, politics and intrigue established from the get-go, and in four issues I have already begun to care about the characters. This has risen to the top of my must-read list, and if you haven’t seen it already, I advise picking the issues up and giving them a chance. Yes you will be confused as to who everyone is to start with, I still am and need to re-read it to check who’s who. However, I started reading the DC Universe with Crisis On Infinite Earths, and you can imagine how much back-reading I had to do to find out who everyone was there. My only regret is that with Super-Zombies, that back material is not available to dip into.

What has me really pumped however is how the return of the Milestone universe is rolling on, this week in The Brave And The Bold #25, starring Hardware and Blue Beetle. Hardware is his usual sociable self and we see the return of his age old adversaries The System. Oh yeah, and the new Blue Beetle was in it as well.

I adored the confrontation recently between the JLA and the Shadow Cabinet, culminating in Justice League Of America #34, where we learnt just how it is that the Milestone Earth is now part of the DCU. The mysterious Dharma used the power of Rift Fred Benson (from Worlds Collide) to merge his universe with the DCU.

(Erm, from pre Zero Hour to the New Multiverse, did he misfire and shoot past the post-Zero Hour earth? Hell of a pattern that, knit one, drop one, knit one. “Ma, I lost a universe, have you seen it anywhere?)

Anyway, for a geek like me that means for once, all the previously titles still stand in continuity. There was some really good stuff in the old Milestone, and I was very disappointed to see it go.

Now, we’ve seen Holocaust, but I can’t wait to see what’s left of the rest of the Blood Syndicate and what they are up to nowadays.

Of course nostalgia seems all the rage at the minute. Anyone else dig that updated sixties-vibe in Superman World Of New Krypton? And how about the latest revamp of the Red Circle characters? !mpact comics was a bit of a flop, although it too had some good stories. However, I am just old enough to remember some of the actual Red Circle comics themselves. The Crusaders, The Fly and Fly-Girl. Villains like the Brain-Emperor and Eterno.

I am pumped about these, and I look forward to seeing the latter four characters again. The legacy of The Fly with the legacy of Shazam – now that would be an interesting mix.

Oh and have you seen Octobers solicitations? The X-Babies are coming back, but get this, WITH PLANET TERRY! I was too old to read Planet Terry the first time round but that didn’t stop me then, and it won’t stop me now.

Recycling in the music industry is bad. But here in the comic world? It’s good to see all of these old friends again.

As long as they are not zombies.