"Inside the Outsiders!"

Written by: Alex Van Dyne

This episode clearly wants to bring us the softer side of Batman. After a long string of the Dark Knight seeming sexless, his loins burning only for justice, we're presented with a cold open involving an alluring 50s-era Catwoman, doing her best Julie Newmar impression. While the captured Green Arrow begs Batman to whip out some "Bat-catnip" or a "Bat-a-ma-jig," Batman turns to another weapon in his utility belt: his masculine wiles! He flirts with Catwoman, distracting her until he can escape-- but she returns the favor and flees into the night, but not before leaving behind her phone number.  "My only interest in her is rehabilitation," says Batman, but those pupiless slits he calls eyes don't lie, baby.

Episodes focusing on the Outsiders tend to put me to sleep. Almost every revamp this show's attempted has been great, but the surly teenaged Outsiders just don't work for me. This week's plot proper begins in medias res, with Batman bursting in on Prinicpal Snyder-- I mean, Psycho Pirate, voiced by Armin Shimerman. Batman, unable to free the teenaged Outsiders from the Pirate's mind-machine without doing them irreversible harm, subjects himself to Pirate's mental realm to rescue the wayward young superheroes. Finally, this mindbending show gets some literal mindbending!

A color theorist might have a field day with this episode, but it seems pretty random to me. Katana's nightmare-- a flashback to her secret origin and the death of her mentor-- seems to flip all the colors, painted with pinks and oranges, like taking the brown acid during an episode of Samurai Jack. The visual aesthetic intrigues me. Anyway, the more rage produced in the dream, the stronger Psycho Pirate becomes-- so Batman tries to prevent Katana from going to the realm of vengeance, and ends up swordfighting with her (naturally). She's got more lines of dialogue here than in all her previous appearances combined. Batman saves her-- from herself--! And Psycho Pirate moves onto the next victim.

Black Lightning's dream-- colored mostly in blue and gray neo-noir tones-- involves him going ape-dung over pet peeves and incredibly minor nuisances. He sweats the small stuff, and then zaps it with thousands of volts.There's a great moment where Psycho-Pirate digs his way out of a seemingly innocent bystander just to laugh maniacally at a little girl. Why? Because he's evil, naturally. Right after this, a zombie army of Yorick the Unicorn clones-- think Barney, but more frightening-- starts demanding hugs. Truly, this is a nightmare. But pull a Peter Pan-- by which I mean think happy thoughts, not kidnap children-- and everything's hunky dory.

Metamorpho's dream characterizes him as a living natural disaster, a giant monster tormented by his apparent freakishness. The colors here seem pretty normal, aside from the garish yellow-green sky. It takes the combined friendship of the Outsiders to make Metamorpho feel like a cool dude, another one of the guys. Psycho Pirate plays a literal devil on 'Morpho's shoulder, goading him on, but the usually silent Katana speaks up! Meanwhile, Batman beats the piss out of Double P. That's how he rolls.

Batman comes to, but the Psycho-Pirate's killed the gang! Of course, Batman quickly realizes he's trapped in his own nightmare, responsible for the deaths of young innocents. The Dark Knight quickly realizes it's a trap, however, and decides to get considerably less dark, grinning as he beats even more piss out of the Pirate. It's the creepiest Batman ever, but it gets the job done.

Batman's true love might be justice, but his mistress? His mistress is violence.

Moral of the Story: Hug it out, yo.

Verdict: Fairly generic, but probably the Outsiders' finest hour.

Comments:

• Batman's cape turns into a jetpack. Yes.
• "What are Batman's happiest thoughts?" Face-kicks. That's what. A certain crush of Brad's would be proud.

7 Comments

• At November 6, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  If only Black Lightning were to keep up his imaginary crusade against the real evil-doers-- people who don't clean up ...

• At November 7, 2009, Alan Coil wrote:

  "...Prinicpal Snyder-- I mean, Psycho Pirate..."

  Help, please, I'm not getting the reference.

• At November 7, 2009, Gavin wrote:

  Bubby the Vampire Slayer reference...I had to google it...can't stand that show.

• At November 7, 2009, Sijo wrote:

  Eh, I didn't care much for Psycho Pirate, they totally changed him from the comics. Also, what were Batman's happy ...

• At November 7, 2009, Thok wrote:

  Also, what were Batman's happy thoughts?

  Catwoman, obviously. Why do you think she was the cold open?

• At November 7, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Violence making him happy would just send a very, very bad message, especially for a kid's show.

  This show occasionally botches ...

• At November 7, 2009, Jeremy wrote:

  Jet-pack cape, smiling Batman? I gotta watch this show more often.

(Really, if everyone here isn't already reading www.the-isb.com, I have no idea what else I can do.)

7 Comments

• At November 5, 2009, DanLarkin wrote:

  That is pretty darn great.

• At November 5, 2009, DubipR wrote:

  7 kinds of awesome!

• At November 5, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I've never read New Gods, so I might be missing some jokes, but I have read a lot of Archie. ...

• At November 5, 2009, Tony wrote:

  This link to Simms is directing to a former pro. football player. :-)

  Funny stuff though.

• At November 5, 2009, Dean wrote:

  That was fantastic.

• At November 5, 2009, chad wrote:

  that thing was hilerious archie as orion fighting reggie who should be darkside. lol

• At November 6, 2009, FuryOfFirestorm wrote:

  This is what happens when you mix NyQuil with DayQuil, kids!

The Best Comic Ever (This Week):

Assault on New Olympus #1 (A.K.A. Incredible Hercules vs. Amazing Spider-Man, A.K.A. Incredible Hercules #137 1/2, A.K.A. Incredible Herc/Agents of Atlas Double Feature With Spider-Man Is Like Nerd Porn For Brad Curran)

So, yeah, this is a comic where Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente writes a fight between Spider-Man and Hercules over a seemingly airhead goddess. It has everything that makes Pak, Van Lente, Incredible Herc, Spider-Man, Marvel Comics, mythological superheroes, and comics in general great. Rodney Buchemi's not too shabby on the art, either. And then there's an Agents of Atlas back up by Jeff Parker and Gabriel Hardman, which is just not fair to other comics that do not have Agents of Atlas backups. Which really oughta be all of them.

And yes, the other comic I considered for this honor was X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas, which really makes me want a Jeff Parker Uncanny X-Men run, even he will probably wind up being as hamstrung by writing Uncanny X-Men as Fraction, Brubaker, and everyone else since... Claremont? The first time? And only like one really good half? Still; Jeff Parker for President of the X-Men is something I'm all for. Can someone start a meaningless petition for that?

Other comics I bought this week in brief(-ish):

Ghost Riders: Heaven's On Fire #4- Now with 99% less Ghost Riders! Kind of an off issue for Aaron and Boschi, but it did at least have a goth spiritual terrorist hottie fighting Madcap. Don't see that every day. I have like negative interest in the back up reprints, for some reason. And that reason is I never wanted to like Ghost Rider before Aaron wrote him, and those things remind me why that is.

Marvel Zombies: Evil Evolution- So, yeah, that's too much zombie viscera in my dopey ape superhero comic. A real sour way for a run of comics I probably liked too much to end (especially with no Peyer back up?!?!?!), but I guess that's what I get for following their attempt to turn a sleeper hit in to a franchise.

Strange Tales #3- A mixed bag, for sure. The highlights for me were: Stan Sakai's Hulk, because it's Stan Sakai drawing the Hulk; the art on Corey Lewis and Dylan McCrae's Longshot story (I mean, it's something that could have been in X-Men Unlimited, and the dialogue almost gave me a seizure, but it looked pretty), Jay Stephens' fun Beast vs. Morbius short (get that guy on a Beast mini/ongoing now!), Jeffrey Brown's "FF are jerks" gag strip (I really like funny Jeffrey Brown), Paul Hornschemeier's downbeat, effecting Nightcrawler Meets the Molecule Man (which features the saddest super villain monologue ever), and Michael Kupperman's Avengers, which is incalculably better than any other Avengers comic ever.

The lows were Peter Bagge's cute but underwhelming Hulk serial (the whole "the story Marvel didn't want you to see until now" aspect of it didn't help at all), Jonathan Jay Lee's trailer for a Punisher revamp we'll never (with art I couldn't get in to at all), Max Cannon's dumb Amazing Fantasy #15 riff, and whatever it is Chris Chua was drawing (that guy works with Khoi Pham? For reals?).

Becky Cloonan's Namor strip was the median. Great art, as you'd expect, but what was with that reveal at the end? (That said, I'd buy the hell out of a Super Villain Team Up revamp with Doom as Namor's deadbeat roomate, so good on Ms. Cloonan there.

I liked Strange Tales overall. People who waited for the trade are in for a nice package, I think, but it was also fun in singles (not $5 fun, each time, but good enough to justify $15 for three issues). Of course, I'm the guy who loved the first Bizarro Comics anthology and have barely read any of the people involved's indie work, so... yeah, I'm that guy. Moving on.

Mighty Avengers Assemble Hardcover- Got this at the LCS's Halloween sale. I really liked the Bendis/Cho arc. The one where Bendis and Bagley team up for the last time, not so much (well, what I've read; haven't finished it, because seriously; Mark Bagley is as not very good at drawing big action comics as Bendis usually is at writing them). But yeah, that Bendis/Cho arc; first Avengers I've ever really liked outside of Kupperman's just now.

I was pretty surprised, since I've always found Bendis's New Avengers (featuring a roster I uniformly like) to be almost good. Mighty (where I like 2 1/2 of the characters, and one (Ms. Marvel) only because she's good in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2) I really dug on a "widescreen comics" level. Also, Cho's actually a pretty good comic book artist, and not just a pin up guy! Who knew? I almost feel bad that they blew up this team for Secret Invasion. And hey, thought balloons! I forgot I missed those!

*Three comics I would have bought on normal weeks were disqualified because I didn't buy them: Buffy because I dropped it (push came to shove, and I was going to just get that Willow one shot and pack it in anyway; now I'll just do that retroactively), Captain America: Reborn because I left it for later (trade if all else comes fails, since I have the rest of Brubaker's run that way), and Deadpool Team Up because I forgot it/didn't get home with it. Also, I only bought Marvel stuff this week, so there's that awful bias going on. Be sure to tell me what else I forgot/why my opinion is wrong, folks!

15 Comments

• At November 4, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  he will probably wind up being as hamstrung by writing Uncanny X-Men as Fraction, Brubaker, and everyone else since... Claremont? ...

• At November 4, 2009, Thok wrote:

  You apparently didn't buy Secret Six this week. You are a horrible, horrible person. (Seriously, it's Ostrander writing ...

• At November 4, 2009, Dave wrote:

  Morrison never wrote Uncanny, though.

  I have to say, Strange Tales #3 was by far the weakest issue of the series. ...

• At November 4, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  (And remember, Casey wasn't hamstrung, he was strung out on coke!)

  I remember Casey's Uncanny got kind of good as he ...

• At November 4, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  I bet Chad will write about it some day. Generic banter about our feud.

• At November 4, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  And yeah, Thok, I really ought to get in on Secret Six/Suicide Squad some day. It's on the list.

• At November 4, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Morrison never wrote Uncanny, though.

  You think that was his secret?

  Working on 'X-Men' and not Uncanny?

  I remember Casey's Uncanny got kind ...

• At November 5, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  WRT Ghost Rider... I'm still scratching my head over who was behind the decision to rename Dan Ketch "Danny." ...

• At November 5, 2009, Adam wrote:

  Boy, Apes vs. Zombies could have been a thing of beauty. I'm not sure if I was turned off ...

• At November 5, 2009, Alan Coil wrote:

  NOT SO RANDOM THOUGHT -- "Best comic" sure doesn't mean anything when you admit to flipping a coin.

  Strange Tales #3 ...

• At November 5, 2009, Stefan Wenger wrote:

  Wow, I read so many comics this week and I totally forgot two really important ones, Assault on New Olympus, ...

• At November 5, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I've bought nothing but Marvels the last couple of years, but I haven't got any of these. And not ...

• At November 5, 2009, Tekende wrote:

  "whatever it is Chris Chua was drawing "

  Yeah, what the F was up with that? It looked like Jackson Pollock ...

• At November 5, 2009, Provolone wrote:

  I'd buy Uncanny X-Men by Jeff Parker... that would be sweet as sweet potato pie. Didn't Parker do a ...

• At November 5, 2009, stealthwise wrote:

  Secret Six came out this week and I don't yet have it? What the Buddha is wrong with me...

2 Comments

• At November 4, 2009, Randy wrote:

  A sad day indeed. My condolences to his family.

• At November 5, 2009, Alan Coil wrote:

  To be fair to the others, he did not create the con all by himself.

This week I'm zipping through John Bierman's Napoleon III and His Carnival Empire, which is a fairly good if not terribly in-depth read. I've always had a soft spot for Napoleon III, because the Second Empire was such an odd creation led by an odd emperor. Plus, it's nineteenth century European history, for which I'm a bit of a sucker. Louis Napoleon is an interesting dude - he may not have been related to Napoleon at all (his mother tended to sleep around), he had a lot of liberal tendencies but ruled over an increasingly autocratic state (to be fair, he clamped down on civil liberties after Italians kept trying to assassinate him), and he apparently slept with every woman in Europe. I haven't gotten to his misadventures against the Prussians in 1870, but it's keen knowing how it's all going to end and what kind of ruler Napoleon was that led him to the disaster at Sedan.

I just started Tom Scioli's latest installment of The Myth of 8-Opus, "The Labyrinth." If you think Scioli's art is Kirby-esque on Gødland, you should check out The Myth of 8-Opus, which is a complete homage to the King. It's a wild space adventure with all sorts of strange things going on and all sorts of weird creations of Scioli's running around, and it really does read like a cosmic comic from the Sixties, complete with overwrought prose. It's a hell of a lot of fun, though, and presumably you can order the trades online somewhere. It doesn't disappoint!

What's keeping you company as my beloved Philles circle the drain and the most evil team in organized sports sits on the verge of another store-bought title?

22 Comments

• At November 2, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  I just bought a huge pile of collections and graphic novels at bargain prices. So I've read Livewires, that cool ...

• At November 2, 2009, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  Just started Cormac McCarthy's The Road. I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic stories.

• At November 2, 2009, Tom Scioli wrote:

  Anyone interested in The Myth of 8-Opus trades can order them directly from me. Drop me a line at sciolit@yahoo.com

• At November 2, 2009, sgt pepper wrote:

  The Road is great.

  Finishing up my David Foster Wallace book and just started James Dickey's To the White Sea for ...

• At November 2, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  I'm re-reading Alan Moore's run of the Swamp Thing tpbs vol. 1-6, vol. 1 being the hardcover kind.

  Man-o-man, am I ...

• At November 2, 2009, Da Fug wrote:

  Just finished the 5th Jack of Fables trade, Ghost of Hoppers, and The Education of Hopey Glass. That means ...

• At November 2, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  The AVClub is all smart asses all the time (plus Bill Reed),

  I think you mean "especially Bill Reed."

• At November 2, 2009, Andrew Kennedy wrote:

  I actually got a large chunk of Peter David's Fallen Angel and X-Factor along with nearly half of DeMatteis' Dr. ...

• At November 2, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  The thing that really turned me against Napolean III was his takeover of Mexico. As far as I've been ...

• At November 2, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  Rereading the death and return of Superman trilogy...

  Also reading V. by Thomas Pynchon. So far, it's my favourite work of ...

• At November 2, 2009, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  Just finished By Royal Command, the last volume of Charlie Higson's Young Bond series, The Turquoise Lament by John D. ...

• At November 3, 2009, Dan K wrote:

  Hey, I read that Napoleon III a few years back as an offshoot of my Bismarck phase. It wasn't bad ...

• At November 3, 2009, Neil Cameron wrote:

  In honor of Charlie Browns Halloween, I broke out Automatic Kafka #4, the greatest Charlie Brown story not done by ...

• At November 3, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Also reading V. by Thomas Pynchon. So far, it's my favourite work of his -- not as technically impressive as ...

• At November 3, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Mary: Napoleon did that a lot, not only in Mexico. He wanted to live up to his uncle's legacy, ...

• At November 3, 2009, jjc wrote:

  finished Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman in a few hours on Sunday. Reading The Book of Basketball by ...

• At November 3, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  I finished Scalped, vol. 5: High Lonesome and then worked my way through a stack of singles that've been waiting ...

• At November 3, 2009, Neal K wrote:

  Just finished CBR's own Brian Cronin's "Was Superman a Spy" this weekend - it was even better than I expected ...

• At November 3, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Just finished CBR's own Brian Cronin's "Was Superman a Spy" this weekend - it was even better than I expected ...

• At November 3, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  I'm mid-way through Peter And Max, Willingham's Fables novel.

  It's a nice light read - pretty good stuff to read on ...

• At November 4, 2009, Dan K wrote:

  "Dan: I read Taylor's book a long time ago. It wasn't bad. I like Bismarck too - have you read ...

• At November 4, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Dan: I have Clark's book too, and as I read my books in alphabetical order by author (yes, I'm just ...

Hey, Summers, You're On Notice! So, yeah; Buffy Season 8. I've decided that it's got one more issue to not tread water. That will be the Willow one shot. That's it. If that thing is mediocre or worse, I'm dropping it. I don't even care about finishing the run at this point, because I can't remember what happened last issue.

I mean, it's not awful, it's just not working for me anymore. Maybe it would read better as trades? Thing is, at one point, I loved it in single issues. That point was when Drew Goddard and Brian Vaughan were writing it, with Whedon's stuff at least maintaining the good will I had for the concept of more Buffy that counts.

It never recovered from his awful time travel Fray crossover that made me hate Fray, time travel, Whedon, and various other things in their orbit, at least a little, though. At this point, I'm thinking maybe they should just take it away from him and let various comics pros and other writers outside the old Buffy staff (except Goddard) have at it. Yes, I want them to take Buffy away from her daddy.

So, yeah, I'm out of the Whedon Fan Club. I'll send for my things, Bill. At least we'll always have Firefly. (By the way, did everyone catch the Firefly reference on Castle this week? If not, you make me sad, not watching Castle like that. Go hit that up online, yo!)

No, Don't! I'm thinking it's time to maybe accept Mark Millar's writing in to my life again. Or at least finish up his Ultimates run with Hitch. Or get Old Man Logan. I should probably not ever get Old Man Logan, should I? Still, I think if I go in expecting nothing but big splasy scenes strung together, and ignore his characterization, I should be okay, right?

But Then Maybe Mark Millar Would Write Him! So, yeah, why has their not at least been a Fantomex mini-series by now? Can someone (preferably Jason Aaron) get on that? If I ran Marvel, Fantomex would be in the X-Men. Hey, wait a minute! That sounds like a list!

It Is A List! X-Men Who Would Be On The X-Men If I Ran Marvel And The X-Men And Also Their Role As X-Men:

1. Nightcrawler (team leader/best character ever/suddenly Errol Flynn Jr. again because Father Kurt is so lame!)
2. Wolverine (is Wolverine)
3. Beast (tech support/wise cracker/does a lot of stuff with his feet)
4. Fantomex (dashing rogue ally who hangs out with the X-Men due to a combination of self interest, payments from Angel, and writer's crush)
5. Rachel Summers/Marvel Girl/Phoenix/Whatever They're Calling Her That Week (is less annoying than her mom, and you need a telekinetic)
6. Kitty Pryde (my theoretical X-Men run would begin with her space bullet landing on the X-Mansion lawn, or what's left of it these days. Then she'd hitch hike across the Marvel Universe and proceed to kick everyone who said "Nah, don't bother to try and save her" in the face. Including Joss Whedon. And then she'd rejoin the team, and we'd never speak of that again.)
7. Spiral (I just think she looks cool, okay?)
8. Armor (Whedon's only decent addition to anything company owned ever, I think. Wolverine's latest teen sidekick)
9. Jubilee (Wolverine's old teen sidekick. Has her powers again. Can blow stuff up good. Is no longer a mall rat)
10. Cypher (Cunning linguist; doesn't go in to battle, but does all the legwork a guy who can read any language (from sarcasm to binary) could do.)
11. Emma Frost (Shows up to get all the good lines every once in a while. I like her a lot, but she's getting overexposed these days, so I'd use her sparingly.)
12. Shatterstar (He's here! He's queer! He'll cut you if you make fun of his pony tail!)
13. Longshot (He'd be rocking a mullet and doing lucky things, just like when I was 12. NOSTALGIA!)
14. Psylocke (for when the artist really wants to draw camel toe and stabbing in the same panel)
15. Warlock (team mascot; can turn in to whatever set piece I feel like writing; can hang out with Cypher again)
16. Molly Hayes/Princess Powerful (would show up to be adorable/punch things at least every other issue)
17. Cannonball (would say "Mah blast field makes me practically invulnerable" once, then laugh, say "nah, really, people don't talk like that, and also, remember that time I beat up Gladiator?" And that would be my and only slam on Chris Claremont's writing.)
18. Siryn (Like Banshee if Banshee didn't suck at everything. Always liked her.)
19. Iceman (I'd take a stab at making him live up to his potential, then probably kill him off in frustration 3 issues in.)
20. Xorn (He was real to me, damn it! Did they ever acknowledge Chuck Austen bringing him back at the end of his run?)

So, yeah, that would probably be as hated as every other X-Men run ever by people who read X-Men and hate it, I bet. I'd love to do it if I could ever be lucky enough to get a job writing comics.

Hey, Jerks, What Do You Think? Would any of these TV Shows I like make good comics?*:

1. Arrested Development
2. Veronica Mars
3. Family Guy
4. TNA Impact (well, I've liked it since Nigel McGuinness showed up and made Kurt Angle his whipping boy. OH NOES HE WROTE ABOUT WRASSLIN' AGAIN! I WANTS MY MONEY BACKS! I will never forgive you for that, Stealthwise. And it wasn't even in response to me! I don't know why that angered me, but it did. Ahem.)
5. Dexter (I don't consider those motion comics actual comics, even if Kyle Baker's doing one. Sorry.)
6. Castle
7. Venture Brothers
8. How I Met Your Mother
9. ECW
10. Attack of the Show
11. Wolverine and the X-Men (why is there not a comic for the cartoon yet? It's a pretty okay cartoon! Are the X-Men that tainted?)
12. Glee
13. The Craig Ferguson Show
14. Burn Notice
15. The Mentalist
16. The Office
17. 30 Rock

I mean, I'd read a Burn Notice: Year One comic, I bet, but I'm seriously not sure on some of these. There was a Family Guy fumetti thing, I know, but I'm wondering if they could do the cutaway thing in comics form effectively. Would the Mentalist work without Simon Baker being so amusing/charming? Would a 30 Rock comic just be Tracy Morgan running around naked while Judah Freidlander changes novelty hats? Would Dwight inevitably have a fight to the death with Wolverine if he existed in comics?

That's It, I Quit, Go Ahead And Pick Your Nits Yeah, I got shit to do. Later, haters! And... indifferenters? Is that a word?

*I preemptively assume Apodaca thinks ever TV show I like sucks and will make a "they are not good TV shows" crack. That makes me sad. You used to not be so much like this when you were Madman Dan, Dan. I'm sure of it! That or I had better taste back then. I dunno. That was a long time ago.

P.S. Stealthwise just annoys me. Alan Coil, too. I can't help it. So, when you both jumped on Chad for daring to write about wrestling (in a post titled "Random Thoughts"), that it was like the Four Horsemen jumping Dusty Rhodes. It made me so angry, and I wanted to see Magnum T.A. and Sting get their revenge on you in a steel cage. So, sorry? Should I apologize? I'll apologize.

19 Comments

• At November 1, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  I think it helps to evaluate Buffy Season Eight not as a continuation of the show so much as a ...

• At November 1, 2009, Bryan wrote:

  I like wrestling too, but would you really read a comic about it. I don't think it'd translate well.

• At November 1, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  I like all of the following shows:

  Arrested Development

  The Venture Brothers

  The Craig Ferguson Show

  The Office

  30 Rock

  The following shows are terrible:

  Family Guy

  Attack ...

• At November 1, 2009, Ted wrote:

  Glee would not make a good comic. Don't get me wrong, I loves me some Glee, but, as you may ...

• At November 1, 2009, Marcus Foote wrote:

  Venture Brothers NEEDS a comic book series as long as it's handled by the creators of the show. It'd ...

• At November 2, 2009, JasonF wrote:

  I hate Joss Whedon. I though Astonishing X-Men was lame and giant space bullets even lamer. Why bring back one ...

• At November 2, 2009, Craig wrote:

  I think if you go into Old Man Logan looking for a summer blockbuster action movie extravaganza like Transformers or ...

• At November 2, 2009, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  "Old Man Logan" started out fun-summer-movie, but ended up depressingly violent. Not just too violent (although it was for my ...

• At November 2, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Buffy didn't get at least a 6-issue reprieve from you with the most recent ish's SGT. FURY cover homage? For ...

• At November 2, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  So, now I've been compared to Edge AND Dusty Rhodes? Brad, you sweet talker you...

  Kind of surprised to see you ...

• At November 2, 2009, Sijo wrote:

  Your X-Men list works for me. Though you might need to change the title to Legion of Mutant Heroes.

  None of ...

• At November 2, 2009, BRIAN wrote:

  i THOUGHT IT WAS JUST KITTY RIDING A GIANT DICK

  MY BAD.

  CHEERS,

  B

• At November 2, 2009, tk. wrote:

  Who Would Be On The X-Men If I Ran Marvel: A steady cast for more than two consecutive issues, dammit. ...

• At November 2, 2009, Tekende wrote:

  Why is Cyclops not on your list of X-Men? What the hell, man. You can't have the X-Men without Cyclops.

• At November 2, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  " I hate Joss Whedon. I though Astonishing X-Men was lame and giant space bullets even lamer. Why bring back ...

• At November 2, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  Is Cypher alive now? Or are you resurrecting him? I kind of liked the fact that his death ...

• At November 2, 2009, Dave wrote:

  Cypher popped up just last week: *spoilers*

  He's some sort of zombie in the "X-Necrosha" books.

• At November 2, 2009, JasonF wrote:

  "So, because he killed off a character you like, he's a terrible writer. Does that mean Chris Claremont sucks for ...

• At November 2, 2009, Pedro Bouça wrote:

  Why would Fantomex need to be on X-Men when he is such an amazing solo character? He could be Marvel's ...

Top 21 Essential Marvel Runs I've Read:*
1. Wolfman and Colan Tomb Of Dracula
2. Lee, Kirby, and Sinnot Fantastic Four
3. Gerber, Brunner, Colan, and Infantino Howard the Duck
4. Lee and Romita, and friends Amazing Spider-Man
5. Lee and Ditko Dr. Strange
6. Lee and Ditko Amazing Spider-Man
7. Claremont and Smith Uncanny X-Men
8. Claremont, Cockrum, and Byrne Uncanny X-Men**
9. Duffy and Gammil Power Man/Iron Fist
10. Gerber and Sal Buscema Defenders
11. Lee and John Buscema Silver Surfer
12. Gerber, Kane, Sal Buscema, and friends Marvel Two In One
13. Lee, Kirby, Steranko, Colan Captain America
14. Lee, Kirby, Ditko, Severin; just the whole bullpen, okay? Hulk
15. Thomas and Windsor-Smith Conan
16. Lee, Severin, and Everrett Dr. Strange
17. Fleisher and Leialoha Spider Woman
18. Thomas, Colan, and friends Dr. Strange***
19. Lee, Thomas, Kirby, Toth, Roth X-Men****
20. Monech and Trempe Godzilla
21. Lee, Kirby, Heck Ant Man*****

Top 21 Characters I'd Pay For As DLC In Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
1. Hercules
2. She-Hulk
3. The Falcon
4. Blade******
5. Molly Hayes/Princess Powerful
6. Beast
7. Nightcrawler
8. Black Widow
9. Captain Britain
10. War Machine
11. Namor
12. Bullseye
13. Stan Lee
14. Beta Ray Bill
15. Machine Man
16. Sleepwalker
17. Gorrila Man
18. Shadowcat
19. Amadeus Cho
20. Daken*******
21. Cannonball

15 Favorite DC Comics Runs By Writer
1. JLA by Morrison
2. Batman by Miller
3. Batman by O'Neil
4. All Star Superman by Grant Morrison
5. Fourth World by Kirby
6. Manhunter by Goodwin
7. Batman by Morrison
8. The Flash by Waid
9. Justice League International/Europe by Giffen and DeMatties
10. Robin by Dixon
11. 52 by Johns, Rucka, Morrison, and Waid
12. Orion by Simonson
13. Batman by Wolfman***********************************
14. Animal Man by Morrison
15. Detective Comics by Grant

11 Favorite Indie/Non-Superhero/Slice of Life Graphic Novels
1. Locas by Jaime Hernandez
2. Ice Haven by Dan Clowes
3. 32 Stories by Adrian Tomine
4. American Splendor by Harvey Pekar and friends (the one with Paul Giamatti on the cover that tied in to the movies and was like a greatest hits; I was bitterly disappointed with "the Quitter")
5. Ghost World by Dan Clowes
6. From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
7. Same Difference by Derek Kirk Kim
8. Stagger Lee by by Derek McCulloch and Shepherd Hendrix
9. The Eternal Smile by Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim
10. Jimmy Corrigan by Chris Ware*x/2
11. Louis Riel by Chester Brown*V*

*Do not say "You forgot!" Just don't. These are all the Essentials I've ever read. If it's not here, I either read it in another format, don't have it yet, or don't care.
**Yes, I consider this all one run.
***I don't like this run at all, but I consider it just not for me.
****I count this all as one (crappy) run. The only redeeming quality of this collection is the Bruce Timm cover. The X-Men didn't get good until Thomas and Adams got a hold of them. Unless Arnold Drake's run was better than I expect. That's my big hole in the X-Men. Yes, I've read the '90s. I grew up then. In theory.
*****I read Ant Man's origin and realized I never wanted to read another Hank Pym Ant Man story ever again, so this really shouldn't count, and is also why I hate Hank Pym (so much!) and think he should die in a fire.
******Only if his costumes are from Captain Britain and MI-13 and Tomb of Dracula, though.
*******So I could send him charging to his death while I laugh. Or, as I call it, "the Gambit Method"
*********************************** I forgot that Marv wrote Batman when I was a youngin', and introduced one of my childhood faves, Tim Drake. Man, I'm kind of sad with what they've done to poor Tim Drake, even if I like Damien as Robin a lot. So, anyway, something else of his I like besides ToD.
*x/2 I mean, it leaves me cold and I will never read it again, but it is a technical marvel. I will never doubt that Ware's a master craftsman, I just don't enjoy his work. Craft only goes so far in my book if I wish your lead characters would all be eaten by Devil Dinosaur.
*V* I stopped reading it before the end, but what I read was great!

18 Comments

• At November 1, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, regardless of whether it's right or wrong, good or bad, is what I say.

  You ...

• At November 1, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I didn't think Stan did Doctor Strange with anybody besides Ditko. You didn't accidentally write Lee instead of say, ...

• At November 1, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  You can't be all bad if'n you rate Simonson's Orion, which all right-thinking individuals do.

• At November 1, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  I think he wrote Doc until the end of Essential Strange, but that's off the top of my head. Maybe ...

• At November 2, 2009, Brian wrote:

  Glad to see some love for Stagger Lee, one of the best works in years.

• At November 2, 2009, Adam Kirby wrote:

  Man, I like Ice Haven too, but #2? That seems really high, unless you just haven't read many " Indie/Non-Superhero/Slice ...

• At November 2, 2009, Craig wrote:

  I can't help but think that the "Indie/Non-Superhero/Slice of Life Graphic Novels" list is missing a few things:

  - Elk's Run

  - ...

• At November 2, 2009, Blackjak wrote:

  Which Captain Britain costume would you want to download, though??

• At November 2, 2009, Darren K wrote:

  Wait, for your 11 Favorite Indie/Non-Superhero/Slice of Life Graphic Novels, one of them you don't like and another you didn't ...

• At November 2, 2009, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  Have you read any Gilbert Hernandez stuff? Jaime's work is great, and Beto's work is great in a very different ...

• At November 2, 2009, Ed Buskirk wrote:

  Wanting Chris Ware's characters to be eaten by Devil Dinosaur is one of the things I love about his work ...

• At November 2, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  I'm really confused about which Ant-Man origin story you read, as he sort of has two: "The Man in the ...

• At November 2, 2009, Andy wrote:

  Are you saying that Pym has a dead wife? Because that seems odd, as he never mentions it again, ...

• At November 2, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  Pym's first wife, Maria, was mentioned in Avengers #227, when he gave his life history to some guy while he ...

• At November 2, 2009, Andy wrote:

  Heh, that's almost funny. It's gotta be one of the fastest "...And I'm over it" s in the history ...

• At November 2, 2009, Pedro Bouça wrote:

  Sooooo, why didn't you read Louis Riel to the end if yu were enjoying it?

  (I've yet to read it myself, ...

• At November 3, 2009, Leeatard wrote:

  If Herc DOES make it to MUA2, I hope all his attacks are just sound effects.

• At November 3, 2009, BDaly wrote:

  I really need to read more Essentials. I've only read the first four volumes of Claremont's X-Men and the first ...

What I liked best about this issue, beyond John Romita Jr. rendering Dokken Daken slicing Frank's arms off in cutlets, was that the Punisher finally met a super being who he couldn't cheat to win against. He fought dirty, but Wolverine's bastard son was not playing. I almost don't want Frank to steam roll him flat like he did his dad in that one Ennis comic now. Almost.

So, yeah, mark me down for Frankencastle, Marvel and Rick Remender. Angel Punisher comparisons will be ignored. Well, all your comments will be ignored; not out of spite, I'm just gonna not read the internet tomorrow if I can help it.

5 Comments

• At November 1, 2009, Nawid A wrote:

  Lot of people talking about this but I hear no mentions of Punisher #10 which, in my opinion, was almost ...

• At November 1, 2009, Punchy wrote:

  Punisher #10 was fucked up too, I can't believe Remender is getting away with some of this stuff.

• At November 1, 2009, Scavenger wrote:

  I agree..it was kinda nice seeing what would happen if he fought one of these super powered killing machines and ...

• At November 1, 2009, JPop wrote:

  crap. Now I gotta go read both of these comics.

• At November 1, 2009, Sherman Stang wrote:

  I'm sorry, but I think it's crap. I'll just save these dollars until they fix what they screwed up here. ...

Brad's Best Comic EVER (This Week) Of The Week: Dark Reign: The List: Wolverine: One-Shot :Crap, I'm Addicted To Colons Now! I Expect You To Pay For My Rehab, Quesada!

This thing was a blast. Sure, it was false advertising, but I can't fault Marvel for not calling it what it was: Grant Morrison Presents: Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic's Marvel Boy and Fantomex Team-Up: With Wolverine Too, I Guess: And Also Aaron's First Wolverine Story Too: That Will Be Four Dollars. That would sell less copies and a hassle to make a logo of, so I don't blame them for going with the shorter, more fiscally lucrative title.

I guess I should do a half assed review/plot synopsis. Okay, but I don't have to like it (and neither do you, to be fair. You're off the hook, haters)!

Long story short, I loved this comic like a fat kid (okay, me) loves cake, but then again, any comic where Grant Morrison's best Marvel creations trade bon mots and face kicks, and then one of them has to make out with something disgusting, to save the World from Norman Osborn and his team of the lamest zombie cyborgs ever is basically being written for me. And I am nothing if not excessively flattered and grateful when I'm pandered to.

I don't want to jinx this, but I'm hoping this will finally be the weekly feature that will stick for me. We'll see.

19 Comments

• At October 29, 2009, Jeremy wrote:

  I knew it was gonna be Wolverine: The List. The best Grant Morrison Marvel characters teaming up with Wolverine in ...

• At October 29, 2009, Daniel O' Dreams wrote:

  LOL for a minute there I thought you were saying Marvel Boy and Fantomex had to make out.... I was ...

• At October 29, 2009, CF wrote:

  "Crap! I'm addicted to colons now!"

  That's what he said.

• At October 29, 2009, Dan Fleming wrote:

  Picking this up solely for Fantomex. It's a shame so much of Grants X-men run has been ignored. ...

• At October 29, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Also, this is far from Aaron's first time writing Wolverine >_>

  The issue contained a reprint of Aaron's first Wolverine story.

• At October 29, 2009, Punchy wrote:

  This was indeed awesome, as anything with Fantomex in is bound to be.

  #6 of the regular Wolvy book was good ...

• At October 29, 2009, Joe wrote:

  Coming in the mail from my supplier and I'm looking forward to it.

• At October 29, 2009, agent_torpor wrote:

  Secret Warriors was one big boring fight scene. Far from Hickman's best.

• At October 29, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  While I really liked the writing, Esad Ribic's art blew me away -- why does this man not do more ...

• At October 29, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "Secret Warriors was one big boring fight scene. Far from Hickman's best."

  I thought SW was one good ling fight ...

• At October 29, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "Also, this is far from Aaron's first time writing Wolverine >_>"

  Yes. I have "Get Mystique" and "Manifest Destiny." They're really ...

• At October 29, 2009, Stefan Wenger wrote:

  Ehhh... I was actually disappointed by Wolverine: The List, probably because I had astronomically high expectations for it, 'cause I ...

• At October 30, 2009, Rusty Priske wrote:

  WIth all due respect to your choice, I thought Detective Comics was the best book this week... or month.

• At October 30, 2009, Pink Lantern wrote:

  Brad, ask your doctor if you can have a colonoscopy. That will help you with your colon problem.

  "The Best Comic ...

• At October 30, 2009, Andrew Collins wrote:

  "The Best Comic Ever (This Week)" is a poor title for your column. Because most weeks there simply isn't a ...

• At October 30, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Somebody's a Web Soup fan, eh?

• At October 30, 2009, Dalarsco wrote:

  I demand a Cable and Deadpool style team-up book!

• At October 30, 2009, Monica Dickey wrote:

  I love team up books, although they're often goofy.

• At October 30, 2009, sgt pepper wrote:

  Is the reprint the Wolverine in the pit story? Great story, if so.

The review said very nice things about Mickey Duzyj's art, which was nice.

7 Comments

• At October 29, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  Definitely. I design a lot of book covers, and this one is great. A very, very impressive combination of good ...

• At October 29, 2009, SwanShadow wrote:

  We need to find you a thesaurus, Brian. That's three uses of "nice" in a two-sentence post. Four, if you ...

• At October 29, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Hehe...I do like using that word! :)

• At October 29, 2009, MarkAndrew wrote:

  I'm glad that people are giving you good reviews.

  Cover doesn't look a DAMN thing like Chris Ware - The ...

• At October 29, 2009, MarkAndrew wrote:

  OK, I do see what he's getting at here. Little panels and slightly similar coloring. If you HAVE ...

• At October 29, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Of course it's like Chris Ware, it's got comic panels on it, and Ware uses comic panels!

  Gotta remember, non-comic readers ...

• At October 29, 2009, sterg wrote:

  BTW Brian, I have been meaning to ask you, have you written a book lately?

  :p

Cultural Deficiency Alert!

I was originally going to dismiss this collection of Wolverine variant covers as a shameless cash grab, until I read the solicits. Then I realized that if my Art Appreciation class in college had been based on Wolverine cover homages, I'd probably remember something from it. So, got me there, Marvel.

I Bet Old Jim's Rolling Over In His Grave Right Now This is the most adorable Steranko homage I've ever seen. To be fair, I don't think I've ever seen another Steranko homage that registered on the cute scale, but still; that's just below a Lego Rock Band consisting of a puppy, a kitten, a baby, and this lady on the cute scale. And that's pretty damn cute, in case you didn't catch that.

Like dorky transportation for security guards, it's a segue!

And speaking of cute, there's Beasts of Burden. Sure, it's a creepy horror comic, but it also has a pug, so I think that transition was valid. Anyway, that was the best comic I read last week, against not very much competition. I picked up the new Vigilante and Conan issues because they had art from the tag teams of Walt Simonson and John Paul Leon and Tim Truman and Joe Kubert. So I definitely got my $3 worth there. But both stories weren't much more than solid. Sort of like how I feel about Rucka and William's Batwoman, really (even if I am apparently very wrong about that one).

Another book I picked up last week, Power Girl, also falls in to that category for me. Really like the art, but the story didn't do much for me. I'd leave it at that, but I have a slogan to really express how I feel about it!

Power Girl: The Best Perfectly Acceptable Superhero Comic I Don't Care About At All.

And this is why I'd never make it in advertising. That and my lack of interest in Mad Men. You should probably want to watch Mad Men if you're going to get in to advertising. Also, if you're not a mouth breather, appparently.**

I'd Like Marv Wolfman's Comics If Not For All The Marv Wolfman My apathy toward the story in Vigilante reminds me that, aside from Tomb of Dracula (which I've been reading a ton of lately), I don't care for Marv Wolfman's writing too much. I haven't read a lot of it, but I'm not that in to his superhero work. I've never really had that reaction to a writer before. Even writers I find hit and miss, like Bendis and Millar, have more than one than one "hit" in my book.

To be fair, I haven't read a ton of his superhero stuff outside of some scattered Superman and Spider-Man issues and Titans (and even that was in a format that didn't really do the work justice, the Judas Contract TPB). So, like Geoff Johns, I should probably give him a fair chance to win me over and not base my opinion on a small sample size. Especially since I'm ripping off the guys who brought that phrase to my attention.

Hey, now he's talking about wrestling, too! Again! I will surely make a comment about how I do not appreciate this! Or I could just skip it until the next random thought, I guess.

So yeah, I feel obligated to provide my version of Chad's version of 411's (no link because I blog for their competition) list of five wrestlers you'd build a promotion around. And here it is:

1. Bryan Danielson- He lives up to that "Best In the World" tag from what I've seen, and you need a guy who can get a good match out of anyone on your roster. Can work as a face or a heel, and has underrated personality. (In that many people don't think he has one.)
2. A.J. Styles- He can do everything well in the ring, has become serviceable on the mic, and really, I'd just like to book him and Danielson in a feud for months on end, especially since that's a pretty untapped match. Can also work face or heel.
3. Evan Bourne- My favorite high flier to come down the pike in years, and since that's my favorite style of wrasslin', I'd want him around. He doesn't have mic skills to speak of, but he's been able to get over in giant obsessed WWE based on his ring work. Seems like the perfect underdog.
4. Motor City Machine Guns- For my "tag team I count as one entity." Because they are awesome and I'd love to be able to book them as a dominant team.
5. Samoa Joe- I wanted to be a contrarian and not have any overlap with any of Chad's picks, but I fell just short, especially because Joe could fill the "monster" spot on my undersized roster. This does mean that my dream promotion is pretty much a greatest hits version of ROH, but there it is.

He's done with that juvenile, homoerotic wrestling crap! Now he's going to talk about superheroes instead. Thank god!

I read the penultimate issue of Essential Power Man and Iron Fist Volume 1 the other day. It left me with a dilemma.

You see, I'm not the most culturally sensitive guy in the world. I know, what a shock, coming from the guy that said that thing about Dan Didio that one time.

But anyway, I don't always catch racism/sexism unless it's pointed out to me. So, when it kind of bugged me that a supporting character, District Attorney William Hao, is Chinese and happens to know kung fu, I wasn't sure if it should or not. It's a shame that more bloggers don't read Essential PM/IF so I can get a proper outrage barometer and react accordingly.

But really, should I find that iffy at all? I was able to justify it enough to finish the story and like it (it would be kind of hard not to, really, since it opens with Fist and Cage beating up an entire New York cowboy bar), but should it bother me that a Chinese D.A. knows how to handle himself in a karate fight? Is that reverse racism? Would it not at all if I had read his earlier appearances? Also, should I make even a minor stink about this when I give comics from the Spirit to Silver Age Marvel and DC a pass on way more egregious things?

And wait, I just looked at that profile page I linked to again; he went by the name Chaka Khan at some point? Really? And I didn't notice this at all in the comics, or in that profile at first? Was I skimming that much of one/both? Okay, that bothers me more than the whole racism angle. Time to move on.

Consensus with a Canuck I also liked Switchblade Honey. It's one of the few things of Ellis's that I've read that wasn't published by DC or Marvel, actually.

The Anticlimatic Ending Those magazines I need to get rid of are stubbornly refusing to fling themselves in the trash. Better get on that, so that brings this installment of everyone's second favorite collection of loosely connected thoughts on comics here at CBR to a close. You can ask for a refund if you don't find that satisfying enough, and I'll see what I can do about getting your time back.

*That was a preemptive pro wrestling reference.
** Am I going to get in trouble for using mouth breather, too? I'm kind of excited to find out, really.

11 Comments

• At October 27, 2009, Matt Bird wrote:

  You do know that Jim Steranko is still alive, right?

• At October 27, 2009, Matt Bird wrote:

  Oh, and strangely enough, just today, on the subway, I was wondering "Would someone with a deviated nasal septum get ...

• At October 27, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  I'm not familiar with Danielson really, having little to no experience with ROH (sadly). But, I can't really argue with ...

• At October 28, 2009, Michael wrote:

  You seem to have forgotten to link to the Steranko homage of cuteness.

• At October 28, 2009, sgt pepper wrote:

  "He's done with that juvenile, homoerotic wrestling crap! Now he's going to talk about superheroes instead. Thank god! "

  I've got ...

• At October 28, 2009, brian wrote:

  Crecy was awesome.

  And Wolfman's run on Green Lantern wasn't bad.

  Cheers,

  B

• At October 28, 2009, Wesley Smith wrote:

  If you thought that Chaka Khan was offensive, you must have forgotten about Cage's pal DW Griffith, the manager (projectionist?) ...

• At October 28, 2009, Stefan Wenger wrote:

  An Asian kung-fu fighter is hardly racist in a book where one of the two stars is a white kung-fu ...

• At October 28, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Steranko's not dead, no, but maybe he sleeps in a grave anyway. Because he is that metal.

• At October 28, 2009, Alexa wrote:

  Yeah, Steranko is definitely alive. Unless he's a vampire. Because he is far to suave and cool to ...

• At October 29, 2009, Coca-Cola Kid wrote:

  http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EverybodyWasKungFuFighting

"Mayhem of the Music Meister!"

Written by: Michael Jelenic and James Tucker and lots of other people

Tongue-in-cheek musicals seem to be the thing to do these days, and I couldn't be happier. I love the musical form when done right, and the Brave & the Bold crew bring a lot of love-- and a helluva lot of skill-- to the table when it comes to the all-singing, all-dancing episode. It's going to be difficult to review, because no other episode, aside from maybe the Bat-Mite one, has nearly this much awesome per second. Every frame, every note of this is just made of pure win.

The cold open this week is about twelve seconds of the Music Meister warming up the orchestra, before the usual opening theme kicks in. Consider this the overture. From there, we're thrown into a high-stakes super-team-up. Aquaman, Black Canary, and Green Arrow drop in on the nefarious Black Manta, Clock King, and Gorilla Grodd-- and they all start bursting into song. Who's the dastard behind it? Why, the Music Meister (Neil Patrick Harris), of course, who belts out expositional songs while the heroes and villains form a chorus line against their will.

Enter Batman, stage left, from something resembling the Whirlybat. Meanwhile, the Music Meister falls hard for Black Canary (Grey DeLisle), who sings more like a nightingale. Her sonic scream kicks in on the high notes, however, blasting the Meister back. But, oh, snap! West Side Story snapping! So the collected goodies and baddies start dance-fighting at the Dark Knight.

Your brains still working? No? Good.

"Something tells me this is only the beginning of the Music Meister's evil orchestrations," says Batman as he rescues allies and enemies alike from their high-kicking, flame-y fate into the exhaust of a rocket. Meanwhile, the Meister reveals his plan-- through song, of course. He's going to use satellites to put the entire world under his evil musical mind control. As far as evil plans go, it's actually a pretty good one.

Batman bursts in once more, and it's at this point that my brain simply couldn't keep up with the frenetic, fun-netic pace of the episode. Music note Segways on power lines? Batusi and shark-repellant references? Manic, random costume changes from the Meister? Absolutely fantastic. And since WordPress doesn't want to let me embed a Youtube clip, I'm just going to link you to the full "Drives Us Bats" number, which must be witnessed in all its glory. Check out that massive chorus with pretty much every villain and guest hero who's appeared yet! I caught a tiny OMAC singing! My life is complete. And there's still two-thirds of the show to go!

From here, we get a great slow-motion love ballad to the Caped Crusader from Black Canary, with what might be the line of the night: "If only he could love me like he loves fighting villains!" It segues into a duet with the Music Meister as he reveals his unrequited crush on the Canary, contrasting with hers on our man Batman. Then it's time for the ode to deathtraps, with the Meister in punk rock mode and all sorts of crazy killing contraptions. "Was the singing really necessary?" Batman asks Canary upon escaping. You bet your blue undies it was, Bats.

The only way to beat the Music Meister is for Batman to start belting out some notes, having a sing-off with a newly mind-controlled Canary, which leads to some sonic scream microphone feedback that breaks the Meister's control, thanks to the Bat Auto-Tuning Amplifier. And, to wrap things up, Batman spurns Canary's come-hither advances, but Green Arrow pitches in with a song of his own to win the heart of his lady love.

Okay, so I'm just recapping the plot here. What we got, however, was a love letter to the musical form woven together out of pure Broadway bombast. I love this show's dedication to craft, and its complete allegiance to fun at all costs. So what I'm saying is, yeah, I want to buy the soundtrack.

Moral of the Story: If you fight crime and can hold a tune, you can get the woman of your dreams.

Verdict: A glorious tour de force.

Comments:

• This makes the second musical super-villain Neil Patrick Harris has played. Who do you prefer: Dr. Horrible or the Music Meister?
• Holy crow, Grey DeLisle can sing.
• So Batman doesn't sing, unless you count the bit at the end, which clearly wasn't Diedrich Bader's dulcet tones. I guess nobody's going to top Kevin Conroy's musical number from JLU.
• Anyone catch those bumper stickers? "Metal Men, Atomic Knights." Rock bands or hints at future guest stars?
• "The show's closing early, Music Meister, due to criminal intent! ... And bad reviews."
• The curtain calls at commercial were a cute touch.
• Atlantean Busby Berkeley shot! Magnificent.
• "Put a sock in it!"
• "Actually, I'm more of a baritone."
• This totally needed more singing Aquaman. Other than that, best episode ever? Quite possibly.

23 Comments

• At October 23, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I've never seen the Brave And The Bold show. I never even heard of it until I starting reading ...

• At October 23, 2009, joecab wrote:

  Also, did you notice that as they rode those Segway notes over the telephone wires ... those wires formed a ...

• At October 23, 2009, Loren wrote:

  One nice touch I enjoyed, but I haven't seen anyone else note as of yet, was the Music Meister's costume ...

• At October 23, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  You could technically count this as NPH's THIRD musical villain performance, if How I Met Your Mother's Barney Stinson doing ...

• At October 23, 2009, rwe1138 wrote:

  NPH is one step closer to dominating all forms of media. And I couldn't be happier!

• At October 23, 2009, Joe wrote:

  Not a particularly huge fan of the show (I'll gladly watch it if it's on, but won't go out of ...

• At October 23, 2009, Mea wrote:

  Since you asked, I prefer Dr. Horrible, but that doesn't mean I didn't love this episode. Extremely fun... ...

• At October 23, 2009, RocketJock wrote:

  Made of 100% Awesome, covered in Awesome Sauce, with a side order of Awesome slaw. Am I being too ...

• At October 24, 2009, Sijo wrote:

  Told you guys it rocked. ;) And the Cartoon Network people were fools for not airing it earlier.

  Wait, this ...

• At October 24, 2009, Company Computer Guy wrote:

  I love this show. Every episode kicks ass!!! This episode singularly wasn't that good though :(. But every other one ...

• At October 24, 2009, Tony Isabella wrote:

  Best...episode...ever.

• At October 24, 2009, joecab wrote:

  This one wasn't that good but every episode kicks ass? How can you say that after last week's meh OMAC ...

• At October 24, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Nothing brings out the quality like a musical ep. Buffy, Scrubs, South Park -- all great shows that got even ...

• At October 24, 2009, Furious George wrote:

  I just watched it this morning and thought it was fantastic. I'm not a huge fan of Brave & The ...

• At October 24, 2009, daiyongo wrote:

  This show is a blast!

• At October 24, 2009, dantecat wrote:

  Grodd and Aquaman ballroom dancing!

  Who was leading?

• At October 24, 2009, Brandon Hanvey wrote:

  >>>And since WordPress doesn't want to let me embed a Youtube clip

  You can embed videos in WordPress.

  Click on the film ...

• At October 24, 2009, Bryan C wrote:

  That was great! I'm going to watch it again to make sure I catch all the little sight gags they ...

• At October 24, 2009, Monica Dickey wrote:

  Batman AND Neil Patrick Harris? I am checking this out ASAP

• At October 24, 2009, Thok wrote:

  It's worth noting that the "Bat Auto-Tuning Amplifier"/"I'm more of a baritone" is a bit of lampshade hanging: Diedrich ...

• At October 25, 2009, Uncle Pinky wrote:

  Loved the posters in the Deathtrap number. Metal Men, Tornado Twins and ...... Trenchcoat Brigade! Would love to ...

• At October 26, 2009, Johnny P wrote:

  If anyone is still reading/posting comments, there is a CD on demand soundtrack at Amazaon. Link below:

  http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Mayhem-Meister-Soundtrack-Demand/dp/B002QQ8TWC/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1256557860&sr=8-6

• At October 26, 2009, King Zilch wrote:

  If the names at the club WERE a preview of future guest stars, does "The Trenchcoat Brigade" mean we get ...

To wit:

1. Robinson is taking over from Dwayne McDuffie, who was recently forced by editorial decisions to do a big ol' thing where Vixen and the various heroes left over for McDuffie to use made this big deal about how THEY were dedicated to being in the Justice League (sort of like Aquaman's formation of JLDetroit years ago).

Well, while editorial decisions put McDuffie in a situation where he had to come up with convoluted reasons why characters were leaving the book, he at least turned it into a "This is why these characters WON'T leave."

Of course, now Robinson is writing the book and he doesn't want to use any of these characters, so now, only a few issues after we got "WE'LL never leave" we get "Okay, we'll leave" and some of them are pretty iffy (Doctor Light, for instance, does a complete 180 from a few issues ago).

2. Robinson's run on Justice League takes over from his mini-series, Justice League: Cry For Justice, specifically the conclusion of that series. Which is fine, except, you know, Cry For Justice hasn't finished yet! So we're discussing the conclusion of that series while it hasn't actually happened!

3. His first issue leads directly into a crossover with Blackest Night for his second issue.

That's a lot for a writer to overcome, ya know?

Luckily, Robinson acquits himself pretty well - he tells an engaging story with a lot of strong action (Mark Bagley is particularly good on the art for the book). If it weren't for those obstacles which are mostly outside of his control, I think this would be a comic I might even recommend, which is a big improvement over Justice League: Cry For Justice.

49 Comments

• At October 22, 2009, Taylor Porter wrote:

  Justice League reminds me of Saturday Night Live: it's a solid concept, it's an institution, it's great in theory...but most ...

• At October 22, 2009, Squashua wrote:

  JUSTICE!

• At October 22, 2009, Burpee wrote:

  Yeah I was expecting to see Robinson's take on the League and instead got him dealing with McDuffie's JLA who ...

• At October 22, 2009, Scavenger wrote:

  Or to put it in a different light. Robinson isn't be forced to use third and fourth tier characters, ...

• At October 22, 2009, Jim wrote:

  JLA should have just been cancelled and re-started after Blackest Night and after Cry for Justice was over. This heavily ...

• At October 22, 2009, Carl wrote:

  The JLA isn't just a good theory. The problem comes when editorial doesn't get how the book should be ...

• At October 22, 2009, smkedtky wrote:

  Wish Zatanna was sticking around after Bagley's first page w/ her in it.

• At October 22, 2009, Jeff Holland wrote:

  Remember during Morrison and Waid's JLA runs, that there would be a fill-in story, or an annual, or a special, ...

• At October 22, 2009, Neal K wrote:

  Good point, Carl. Marvel doesn't have this problem with the Avengers right now because Bendis is basically one of ...

• At October 22, 2009, Adam wrote:

  Slightly off-topic: I notice that we, the readers, tend to overblame "editorial" for not allowing writers to do what they ...

• At October 22, 2009, T. wrote:

  Meanwhile, the JLA has been subject to a temporary celebrity writer given the task of reforming the team, followed by ...

• At October 22, 2009, T. wrote:

  I agree with Adam, I don't like it either when editorial interference is shown as always bad. Another great ...

• At October 22, 2009, Jeremy wrote:

  Carl has an excellent point. Love-it-or-hate-it, the New Avengers are always together as a team and the books work because ...

• At October 22, 2009, MCGroupy wrote:

  The best thing that DC should do once this Zombie-filled, all encompassing Darkest Night saga comes to a conclusion is ...

• At October 22, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  I agree up until the notion is suggested that Robinson's script for this issue had its merits. That Mark Bagley ...

• At October 22, 2009, Brian Lockhart wrote:

  What's funny is how much Robinson's new re-launch mirrors the start of McDuffie's doomed run.

  Stuck with having to tie-up previous ...

• At October 22, 2009, Jeff R. wrote:

  Morrison's run came during a time without any really major crossovers to work around. (The most significant one during ...

• At October 22, 2009, T. wrote:

  I agree up until the notion is suggested that Robinson's script for this issue had its merits. That Mark Bagley ...

• At October 22, 2009, beta ray steve wrote:

  The problem isn't so much the editorial dictates coming from DC editorial, it's their policy of choosing a new JLA ...

• At October 22, 2009, Sijo wrote:

  Writing a team book like JLA is a special kind of challenge. The team exists to deal with menaces the ...

• At October 22, 2009, Alan Coil wrote:

  I think Robinson was a comic book writer before he became a celebrity.

  But I agree that Robinson will be temporary. ...

• At October 22, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  " Wow, that sounds WAY more awful than Brian's charitable review. If this stuff really happened then i think robinson ...

• At October 22, 2009, Matt K wrote:

  I think the main problem is that there is no clear vision for what the JLA are. What's ...

• At October 22, 2009, T. wrote:

  Alan Coil - the temporary celeb writer being discussed was Brad Meltzer

• At October 22, 2009, John Cage wrote:

  I was really let down by the issue. It had all of the hallmarks of Robinson's Cry for Justice work ...

• At October 22, 2009, Tariq Leslie wrote:

  Chiming in:

  I don't think it matters so much who/what characters are on the team, so much as how they are ...

• At October 22, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Firstly, I personally don't think that McDuffie's comments merited his getting the sack.

  Neither did DC until the two years ...

• At October 22, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  I think Robinson was a comic book writer before he became a celebrity.

  He's a celebrity?

  Outside of comics?

  How so?

• At October 22, 2009, Sean Whitmore wrote:

  - Taking decent characters (Vixen, Plastic Man, Red Tornado, etc) and making them appear ineffectual to make pet characters (Hal ...

• At October 22, 2009, Desaad wrote:

  Well, I guess I'm in the minority. I thought it was a pretty good start, with solid characterization, excellent action ...

• At October 22, 2009, John Cage wrote:

  Re: Sean Whitmore -- I guess it came across that I was saying that Robinson's cast were made to appear ...

• At October 23, 2009, T. wrote:

  Nitz - I can't speak for Brian but my guess is maybe he's using lowered expectations to judge Robinson's writing ...

• At October 23, 2009, Brian wrote:

  I still have faith in Robinson as a writer. I've been enjoying his Superman stuff so far and am willing ...

• At October 23, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  Morrison's run came during a time without any really major crossovers to work around.

  No, it came at a time when ...

• At October 23, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Yeah, Genesis happened directly in the middle of Morrison's multi-part storyline!!

• At October 23, 2009, Jeff R. wrote:

  Hm. It occurs to me that I haven't read the Morrison run as issues since it actually happened, only ...

• At October 23, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  But my point sort of stands, in that neither Genesis nor Day of Judgement killed or made unavailable any of ...

• At October 23, 2009, T. wrote:

  No, it came at a time when there were yearly megacrossovers that got their own miniseries: Genesis was part of ...

• At October 23, 2009, Jeff R. wrote:

  The Flash replacement was a strictly Flash-titles-generated event, so that goes into the same bucket as NML and Electric Blue. ...

• At October 23, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  This was because Morrison, as was originally pointed out by a commenter above, didn't write the cvrossover issues. Those ...

• At October 23, 2009, T. wrote:

  This was because Morrison, as was originally pointed out by a commenter above, didn't write the cvrossover issues. Those were ...

• At October 24, 2009, Alan Coil wrote:

  T. -- Re: celebrity writer = Meltzer -- Right you are. I missed that.

• At October 24, 2009, Alan Coil wrote:

  FunkyGreen Jerusalem -- Robinson is a Hollywood screenwriter who wrote the screenplay for a famous (infamous?) movie.

• At October 24, 2009, Brian wrote:

  I'm beating a dead horse here, but again I'm going to argue that Morrison's tenure on the JLA (and to ...

• At October 24, 2009, Justice League of America #38 | the Captain's JLA blog wrote:

  [...] Brian Cronin @ Comics Should Be Good numerates the editorial challenges facing this issue and then concludes: Luckily, Robinson ...

• At October 24, 2009, Game tape EXTRA! « Legend of the Exciting, Mighty Uncanny, Raging Comics Blog wrote:

  [...] As much as I’d like to believe this volume is cursed by a stench left by Meltzer, it boils ...

• At October 25, 2009, Christopher Stansfield wrote:

  I'm sort of getting mixed messages, here. On the one hand, the continued mediocrity under Robinson is being blamed on ...

• At October 25, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  FunkyGreen Jerusalem -- Robinson is a Hollywood screenwriter who wrote the screenplay for a famous (infamous?) movie.

  So?

  That doesn't make on ...

• At October 28, 2009, Generic Lad wrote:

  And I'm sure some editor also nixed Mark Millar's idea to end Civil War with a bunch of Hulk ...

So congratulations to this character for managing to outrun the chopping block this long.

Read on to see who it is who finally got pulled out of limbo to be killed to set up a new storyline...

Yup, Blue Jay.

It's hard to believe some other writer hadn't kill him off already, isn't it? Heck, it's surprising Robinson hadn't already killed him off.

Check out The Source for more sample pages from tomorrow's issue of Justice League of America.

76 Comments

• At October 20, 2009, Matt wrote:

  ... who?

• At October 20, 2009, Scott Harris wrote:

  NOOOOOOO!

  As an Avengers fan, this distresses me, as Blue Jay first appeared way back in Justice League of America #87 ...

• At October 20, 2009, Adam wrote:

  Is this the same guy? If so, he's a lot older than 1992.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Jay_(comics)

• At October 20, 2009, Matthew E wrote:

  On the one hand I think that the DCU is overpopulated and could stand to lose about half of its ...

• At October 20, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  I thought he was already dead. But anyway, cue the "James Robinson is killing off all gay superheroes," what with ...

• At October 20, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  Didn't Blue Jay guest-starred way back in Giffen/DeMatteis' JLI series?

• At October 20, 2009, Michael wrote:

  So, who gets Dyno-Mutt now?

• At October 20, 2009, smkedtky wrote:

  @Michael: HA!

• At October 20, 2009, Mr. M wrote:

  No worries, he'll be resurrected within a few years.

• At October 20, 2009, Joe H wrote:

  I'm surprised Johns hadnt already killed him.

• At October 20, 2009, kushiro wrote:

  I'm pretty sure Blue Jay was in the "Back In Action" story in Action Comics, just a few months after ...

• At October 20, 2009, Squashua wrote:

  I also thought Blue Jay was long dead.

• At October 20, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  Oh James Robinson. How you have fallen.

• At October 20, 2009, Beacon wrote:

  ... and yet people will still claim that there's no bias against the JLI.

• At October 20, 2009, Monica Dickey wrote:

  I guess in a way he's lucky to be dead, otherwise who'd have ever really noticed him? haha poor jay

• At October 20, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  You can see it can't you...

  'What's the deal with this guy? He just gets small and can fly.... that's pretty ...

• At October 20, 2009, Christopher Stansfield wrote:

  DC killing off a member of the JLI? I've never HEARD of such a thing!

• At October 20, 2009, Dean wrote:

  James Robinson really needs a new gimmick.

• At October 20, 2009, Chad wrote:

  Remember when comics were about a sense of wonder and fun?

• At October 20, 2009, Eric TF Bat wrote:

  @Chad: Remember when James Robinson's comics were about a sense of wonder and fun?

  Damn.

• At October 20, 2009, Thok wrote:

  Remember when James Robinson's comics were about a sense of wonder and fun?

  Like in Starman, when Robinson had a bunch ...

• At October 20, 2009, Christopher Stansfield wrote:

  Yeah, much as I loved *most of* Starman, I can't say I've ever associated the man with "fun." I mean,. ...

• At October 20, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Like in Starman, when Robinson had a bunch of JLE killed off (including the Crimson Fox) just to make the ...

• At October 20, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  Oddly enough, Robinson said at the time of that Starman issue -- #38, for the record -- that the JLI ...

• At October 20, 2009, Christopher Stansfield wrote:

  Two things.

  1. Starman is one of my favorite comics of all time. But I really can't imagine anyone with a ...

• At October 20, 2009, Wesley Smith wrote:

  I want Giffen to go back in time and make Dan Didio a member of the Justice League so he ...

• At October 20, 2009, Christopher Stansfield wrote:

  Actually, a third thing- whether he chose the characters who got killed off in Starman or not is pretty much ...

• At October 20, 2009, Busterchops1 wrote:

  Yeah Starnan was a great series. I loved it when he found out that he could change his face ...

• At October 20, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  But I really can't imagine anyone with a straight face calling it "fun" or "light-hearted."

  I said fun, but not ...

• At October 20, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Strangely I don't remember a lot of heroes dying in it. Hmmm.

  Don't worry, no one else remembers that series.

• At October 20, 2009, Christopher Stansfield wrote:

  Really? I'm pretty sure James Robinson did, considering he made one of the main characters his main character's love interest. ...

• At October 20, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Really? I'm pretty sure James Robinson did, considering he made one of the main characters his main character's love interest. ...

• At October 20, 2009, T. wrote:

  In today's Didio DCU, I don't even get fazed about cannon fodder anymore. I'm just impressed, not being sarcastic ...

• At October 20, 2009, T. wrote:

  I just googled the Assemblers. GEEZ LOUISE were they lame in comparison to the Squadron Supreme. That was ...

• At October 20, 2009, Rob Schmidt wrote:

  This sure looks like the character from Justice League of America #87 (February 1971). Check your info, Brian!

  Now...where's the ...

• At October 20, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  And apparently, Robinson has heard the outcry, and twittered that Blue Jay may not be out of the game yet.

• At October 20, 2009, Eric wrote:

  "I thought he was already dead. But anyway, cue the "James Robinson is killing off all gay superheroes," what with ...

• At October 20, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Maybe he felt the need to show how straight he is after all the 'Gay For Justice' jokes.

• At October 20, 2009, Wesley Smith wrote:

  I think what Brian was saying was that Blue Jay had been living on New Earth unmolested since 1992, not ...

• At October 20, 2009, Rob wrote:

  Wait! When was it revealed that Blue Jay was gay? I thought he was in love with Silver ...

• At October 20, 2009, Christopher Stansfield wrote:

  He made every Starman, no matter how brief, a player in the series - doesn't mean he cared for ...

• At October 20, 2009, Christopher Stansfield wrote:

  Rob, I'm pretty sure Blue Jay was never revealed as gay in continuity, though it was frequently discussed in JLA ...

• At October 20, 2009, Sijo wrote:

  This isn't that bad in itself, if it were an isolated thing. But coupled up with what DC has been ...

• At October 20, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Oh, no doubt. Still doesn't explain why he would make the main supporting character of Starman v1. the love of ...

• At October 20, 2009, Sean Whitmore wrote:

  Heh, I remember Blue Jay. He was a wiener.

  I'm not sorry he's gone, though I am sorry about how ...

• At October 20, 2009, Christopher Stansfield wrote:

  Thanks for the tip. BTW, we're in agreement that Blue Jay trumps Will Payton. I just don't tend to think ...

• At October 20, 2009, Michael wrote:

  "I just don't tend to think it's wise or warranted to ever assume that just because you don't like something ...

• At October 20, 2009, Christopher Stansfield wrote:

  No kidding. Which is why I like or dislike something, I say, "I like/dislike this" because of this reason," rather ...

• At October 20, 2009, omni-man wrote:

  Holy shit! They're killing superheroes?!??.....Holy shit! There's gay superheroes?!??

  Things really have gone to hell in a hand basket, haven't they?

• At October 20, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  recall there being a fairly vocal Will Payton fanbase- enough so that just about every issue of JLA has someone ...

• At October 20, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  And it turned them into quotes again!

  Sorry Chris, can't show you how it works without it turning them into quotes ...

• At October 20, 2009, Christopher Stansfield wrote:

  LOL. My hardline stance is basically to make it my (quixotic, and admittedly, sometimes off-putting) mission to get comic book ...

• At October 20, 2009, Sean Whitmore wrote:

  Y'know, speaking of, when did Looker become a vampire? Was it that 90s Outsiders series? I remember a vampire in ...

• At October 20, 2009, Christopher Stansfield wrote:

  Yep, you got it. I'm actually amazed that it's "stuck"- most writers would have conveniently forgotten it by now.

• At October 20, 2009, Ricardo wrote:

  We should have a new column: Who's the next JLI character that is going to be popped?

• At October 20, 2009, Christopher Stansfield wrote:

  Just based on history, I'd say Metamorpho (since he's been killed about four times) but my gut says "Maya."

  I've decided ...

• At October 20, 2009, Sean Whitmore wrote:

  Maya would be a good, clean kill. Female, obscure, and colored...a trifecta!

• At October 20, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  hat kind of purpose happens to a man when he's spent a decade reading comments from people that "Nobody liked ...

• At October 20, 2009, dantecat wrote:

  Tasmanian Devil wasn't gay. It was the JLI Australian embassy attache, or liason, or whatever, that was gay.

• At October 20, 2009, Anonymous wrote:

  I can't believe no one did the "That's what she said" bit yet...

• At October 20, 2009, Chris Jones wrote:

  Who...

  ...is Bluejay?

• At October 20, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  He's from an alternate world, and has the powers of flight, and the ability to shrink to the size of ...

• At October 20, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  I think what Brian was saying was that Blue Jay had been living on New Earth unmolested since 1992, not ...

• At October 20, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Tasmanian Devil wasn't gay. It was the JLI Australian embassy attache, or liason, or whatever, that was gay.

  True.

  Maggie Sawyer wasn't ...

• At October 20, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  I'm pretty sure Blue Jay was in the "Back In Action" story in Action Comics, just a few months after ...

• At October 21, 2009, Christopher Stansfield wrote:

  Man, those two are easy - 1. Best selling titles at the time, snd 2. Yeah, I can't wait ...

• At October 21, 2009, Lt. Clutch wrote:

  Blue Jay, eh?

  I could have sworn some other writer had offed him already.

• At October 21, 2009, azjohnson5 wrote:

  "Who gets Dyno-Mutt now?" Best response ever.

• At October 21, 2009, kushiro wrote:

  Hairs well split, Brian.

• At October 21, 2009, Matthew E wrote:

  This sure looks like the character from Justice League of America #87 (February 1971). Check your info, Brian!

  Now...where's the Silver ...

• At October 21, 2009, Scott Harris wrote:

  I don't want to throw fuel on the "Robinson should get a new schtick" fire, but if you really want ...

• At October 21, 2009, buttler wrote:

  Aw man, not Blue Jay. Dang it, Robinson! I also kind of loved that he'd somehow managed to ...

• At October 21, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  It's funny, Scott, I liked Firearm as well, but re-reading it now, I wonder if it wasn't a little bit ...

• At October 21, 2009, Scott Harris wrote:

  I just recently re-read Firearm and the main issues I had with it were the random art, since every issue ...

• At October 21, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Yeah, I think that's it exactly, Scott.

  The standalone stuff was really quite good (and that last arc was mostly detached ...

• At October 22, 2009, Eric P wrote:

  I miss the Will Payton Starman series. I wasn't really that happy with Robinson's "revelation"/retcon, though at least in ...

"When OMAC Attacks!"

Written by: Stan Berkowitz

As we all know, I'm quite the fan of Jack Kirby's OMAC series, and had been salivating in the usual Pavlovian manner for some time now in anticipation of this episode. Could it live up to my expectations? Well, no, not really.

Our opener this time around slips us a bit of the Ditko before the episode goes all Kirby. Batman's off in space, trying to solve an alien war without bloodshed, and he's got Hawk and Dove in tow with him. These two fall in line with the usual portrayals-- they've got the mentality of Hank and Dean Venture and the bickering of Casey Affleck and Scott Caan from Ocean's Eleven through Thirty-Seven. Batman does all the work here, but the opener sets up the themes of this episode-- war and peace, and the balance between them.

The episode proper begins with Batman getting chewed out by the faceless faces behind the Global Peace Agency, so I was immediately giddy at the prospect of Kirby Kraziness. The Dark Knight's on the trail of classic OMAC nemesis General Kafka, and the GPA is providing him a partner-- in the form of puny Buddy Blank. But with a laser from orbiting Brother Eye, the Southern-drawled Buddy transforms into OMAC, the One Man Army Corps, complete with Kirby Krackle effects.

Both Buddy and OMAC are voiced by Jeff Bennett, who gave us the brilliant Rat-Pack-ian Joker earlier this season. He's more well-known, however, for providing the pipes of one Johnny Bravo, the big-haired, big-muscled, small-brained Elvis soundalike from the bygone days of Cartoon Network, back when they showed cartoons. OMAC reminds me of Bravo, and it's not just because of their tall coiffures-- they're both the blustery type who rush in without thinking. In OMAC's case, this means punching things in the face, a lot-- "Hit hard or not at all, I always say"-- but, this being Brave & the Bold, that type of headstrength comes back to bite one in the posterior.

Most of the episode, in true OMAC fashion, is one long fight scene, but it lacks a lot of charisma. I enjoyed the first act of the episode, especially the homage to that time OMAC punched seven guys in the face at once and the presence of the Castro-esque Kafka, the existentialist's Communist, but once the incredibly generic and overly mysterious Equinox strolls in out of the shadows, revealing himself as the mastermind, I lost interest. Things go all FUBAR, and Kafka's sci-fi goo turn him into a giant robo-monster-thing calling himself, in true diabolical bad-guy-must-say-his-name fashion, "Shrapnel!" OMAC gets hit in the eye-signia and transforms back into Buddy Blank, who, of course, is unaware that he is also OMAC.

Batman saves him, of course, and confronts the Global Peace Agents, who are, in this universe, a bunch of dicks, claiming Buddy is simply "a mannequin we dress as OMAC." Interesting choice of words from guys who have featureless plastic-y heads. Pretty soon, though, Buddy's back as OMAC and back in action.

Equinox shows up from stage left again, and acts enigmatic some more. I really don't enjoy this character. He casually beats up Batman, pulls random powers out of his butt, and delivers all his lines in the most bored manner possible. Oded Fehr's probably going for mysterious, but it comes off simply as monotone. Equinox reveals, however, that the Peace Agents are less peaceful than advertised, having caused a village's destruction-- so he's gonna let Shrapnel nuke whatever city they're in, to balance the scales.

Meanwhile, OMAC figures out, somehow, that all of Shrapnel's power comes from getting pummeled, or somesuch, so he decides not to hit back. This works or something. Blah blah, cut to the chase. Reduced to Buddy Blank, he takes on Equinox to save Batman-- who runs protection-free into the nuclear reactor to shut it down. With a wave of Equinox's hand, however, Batman lives to fight again. So what's this bad guy's angle? I have a feeling we'll find out in a future episode, maybe.

The episode ends pretty abruptly, with the GPA never getting the comeuppance they clearly deserve, Equinox getting away, and Buddy Blank, though feeling better about himself, completely still a tool that some faceless pricks use when they need some dirty work done. The Batman I'm used to wouldn't stand for this BS.

The Moral of the Story: War is the same thing as peace, so long as you couch it in the right terminology. (What kind of lesson is this for a kids' TV show?)

The Verdict: A couple Kirby trappings, but no Kirby spirit.

Comments:

• Of course Batman's got an Alien Nullifer Beam. It's his Easy Button.
• OMAC's response to imminent nuclear meltdown? "Aw, nerts."

Next week: The musical episode! With Neil Patrick Harris!

13 Comments

• At October 16, 2009, The Mutt wrote:

  Evacuate this section! It's vagina is haunted!

• At October 16, 2009, Monica Dickey wrote:

  If I'm flipping through channels and see any DC character animated in this fashion it's over... I'm hooked for the ...

• At October 16, 2009, Tanzim wrote:

  That pic on top of this post makes me weep tears of joy.

• At October 17, 2009, Sijo wrote:

  Actually, this episode (and the rest of B&B Season One) has ALREADY premiered EVERYWHERE ELSE in the world EXCEPT in ...

• At October 17, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  I wholeheartedly agree that Equinox sucked the fun right out of this episode. I can appreciate wanting to have a ...

• At October 17, 2009, sgt rawk wrote:

  The cover of OMAC #1 scarred me for life.

• At October 18, 2009, fashionwarsjournal » Blog Archive » More Fashion News Feed wrote:

  [...] B&B TV: "When OMAC Attacks!" [...]

• At October 18, 2009, My Fashion News Stream « Fashion Marketing Articles wrote:

  [...] B&B TV: "When OMAC Attacks!" [...]

• At October 18, 2009, Some Fashion Rounup « mensfashionarticles wrote:

  [...] B&B TV: "When OMAC Attacks!" [...]

• At October 18, 2009, My Fashion Rounup | Vogue Fashion News wrote:

  [...] B&B TV: "When OMAC Attacks!" [...]

• At October 18, 2009, Sijo wrote:

  Eeep!! We've been taken over by link bots!! Somebody call Batman!!! O_O

• At October 19, 2009, Scavenger wrote:

  Sijo: The Xmas episode is awesome in that not only is it Christmas, but they go to the movie to ...

• At October 19, 2009, Sijo wrote:

  Scavenger: I'm not saying it wasn't an original twist... I'm saying it would be OK in the comics or the ...

Danielle: With volumes 5 and 6, Yazawa essentially doubles not only the cast of NANA, she also expands the story to include twice as many relationships (and therefore complications) than were there before.  Of course, Trapnest has always been lurking in the shadows of NANA but now they've suddenly got distinct personalities and conflicts that are starting to bleed into the formerly cozy world of Nana O. + Hachi and Blast.  Looking back, how does this sudden expansion of the NANA universe feel to you?

Melinda: Great question, Danielle!  You know, I think I went through phases. At first it was exciting. I loved all these new, complicated, glamorous characters arriving on the scene, stirring things up. Then somewhere around Nobu and Shin's confrontation with Takumi at the Trapnest after-party, I started to feel like they were really in the way. Then as things got even more complicated, I got swept up in all the fabulous drama all over again.  I do love to have my heart kicked around, after all. Basically, I think I experienced these two volumes very much like Hachi does.  As I was re-reading the volumes for this discussion, I was really struck at the end of volume six by Hachi's realization that somehow it is Takumi, who approaches their relationship in the most shallow way possible, who can understand and even revel in the emptiness in her that seems invisible to everyone else. The new characters come in to make a mess of things, that much is certain, but Yazawa could never have told such an emotionally complex story without them. Blast is such a nice group. Sure, they're deeply scarred just like the others, but between the lot of them, they could be simply and truly happy. I think the story needs the sickly-sweet poison Trapnest carries with it in order to go as deep as it does.

Michelle: I have mixed feelings about the arrival of Trapnest. On the one hand, the relationship between Hachi and Takumi is utterly fascinating, because only with him can she shed her cheery facade and show just how empty she feels inside. Without his presence, would we ever see this darker side of her? Even adorable Nobu, when he confesses her love to her, is seeing an idealized version of her, so it makes sense why she'd be drawn to someone with whom there's no need to pretend. And, too, the addition of the added complications has the retroactive effect of making the first few volumes seem like halcyon days in comparison, which is kind of nice, too.

Melinda: Michelle, (and I hope I'm not getting ahead of things here) your comment about Nobu reminded me of how much I appreciate Shin's view of Hachi in these two volumes. Though Shin sees Hachi differently than Takumi does (mainly because he actually cares for her) he is also free of Nobu's need to idealize her,and I truly love the talking-to he gives Nobu on the subject. Though his love for Hachi is not romantic in nature, I think actually he may be the person who sees her the most clearly during this period, regardless of what Hachi thinks. He not only admires her strengths but also recognizes and understands her weaknesses, and he still loves her. That's something neither Takumi or Nobu (or Nana, for that matter)  is prepared to offer her at this time.

Danielle: Melinda's pretty much put her finger on how I first experienced these volumes -- I identified so strongly with Hachi that it really was exciting to be involved a little more deeply in Nana's world.  This perhaps points to this early stage where we identify with Hachi but we may "desire" Nana, since she still seems somehow distinct from the trivial and dulling nature of everyday existence.  This will change over time as we get to know her more and see her more as a flawed individual but early on she still has this mystery about her.

Looking back, though, these volumes now seem almost chilling to me -- I'm trying not to get ahead of myself as well, there is still a sense that anything could happen and that there is nothing particular holding these folks down.  That makes for fairly easy reading since the worst that can happen is that one might get caught up in a "non-relationship" with a selfish guy.  Towards the end of volume 6, however, we start to get the distinct impression that Hachi is suffering because her inability to show Takumi the door.  This is also the volume where I believe Hachi starts to address a Nana who very obviously is not around anymore (but no concrete information about death versus absence is offered) in the opening and closing monologues, which reveal a bleak future on the horizon.

Michelle: I know what you mean by chilling.  I had forgotten that it's actually Nana who arranges for Takumi and Hachi to meet as a kind of "thank you" gift for Hachi's help in bringing her back together with Ren, which only makes it worse for her when they hook up and she begins to feel that Takumi's taking something precious away from her.

Melinda: "Towards the end of volume 6, however, we start to get the distinct impression that Hachi is suffering because of her inability to show Takumi the door."  How true and how deeply unfortunate. Again, I don't want to rush ahead, but you're right, Danielle, these volumes do read as chilling on the second read, with more knowledge of what's to come.

Melinda: Michelle, It's interesting to look at Nana's reaction to Takumi's new place in Hachi's life, isn't it? She liked bringing him to Hachi as a gift as long as he remained just something for Hachi to admire from a distance. And though Hachi fears telling Nana about her relationship with Takumi because she thinks Nana will think she's being stupid, Nana passes up the opportunity to try to save Hachi from being hurt by letting her believe she's okay with it. Hachi's feelings are actually not her concern at all.  It's pure jealousy--a jealousy that perhaps even turns to spite. I'm not trying to rag on Nana here--I understand her feelings. But it's so deeply selfish. I think of that often when fans complain about how selfish Hachi is.

Michelle: But in Nana, who has seemed so strong up 'til now, this flaw kind of manifests more as vulnerability than selfishness, in a way.  I'm thinking of her conversation with Yasu, after she flees the apartment when Takumi comes back from tour, in which she says that she knows people aren't possessions, and she knows that she can't make them hers, but that admitting makes her feel so lonely. She knows she's not being fair to Hachi, but can't seem to help herself.

Melinda: Oh, you're absolutely right, it is vulnerability.  As are all of Hachi's moments of selfishness. Pretty much everyone's are, really.  This is a great truth in life.  I just get irritated with the fan double-standard.

Michelle: Yeah. I guess it's more squee-making to see a cool person finally display a vulnerability than to sympathize with someone who constantly wears her heart on her sleeve.

Danielle: I'm really curious about Yazawa's view on what it means to love someone.  There is this whole thread running through these volumes about wanting to possess the person you love and how in reality that is a flawed and troubled way of looking at love and other people in the first place.  Nana seems so scared because she wants to hold on -- to Ren and to Hachi -- but can't seem to find a way to do it that won't ultimately undermine her sense of self.

Melinda: I think Yazawa makes a similar point about placing someone you love on a pedestal here as well.  I admit I'm really hoping she'll follow this through to the end and show us what she sees as real, healthy love.

Danielle: Okay, one significant effect of the increased page count for Trapnest we should probably address is the introduction of a new and fairly central female character, Reira.

Michelle: I have zero interest in Reira and her angst and resent the "page time" devoted to her. It's not so much in these two volumes, but it starts here.

Melinda: Heh, I was wondering when we'd get to something like this with Reira. I, too, feel a bit cold towards her, though I do have sympathy for her feelings of doubt and anxiety about herself as anything more than a valuable talent and her wish to be able to shed her humanity and really be only that. Also, since she's so intimately involved with Shin (which begins here), who is one of my favorite characters, I'm interested in her role in that relationship.

Danielle: Reira has a lot of potential when she is first introduced -- particularly when she takes Takumi down a peg at the Trapnest part after Shin throws a drink in his face (not to mention her immediate come on to Shin and Nobu is funny, rather than creepy).  However, I don't think it is an accident that when Shin and Reira first "hook up" (as the young people like to say) we are witness to a voice over about one of the two lovers' past.  After a few lines it becomes clear that it is Reira speaking but when the reader probably is dying to know more about Shin (since we get very little concrete information about him, even by volume 6), we instead get Reira.  Talking about herself.  Which.  Well.  Says it all, as far as I'm concerned.

Michelle: I remember that bit. One cool thing is that, as she's talking, Shin's in the panel, but is completely in shadow. The focus is all on her and we only know he's there because of the smoke wafting up from his cigarette.  It is, as you say, telling.

Danielle:  New Question: One thing I noticed this time around is how incestuous the relationship between Blast and Trapnest becomes (and perhaps has always been).  This is probably where NANA branches out into serious soap opera territory rather than being a story about two girls named Nana.  Romantically speaking, we've got Nana-Ren, former relationship between Yasu-Reira, Shin-Reira, Takumi-Hachi, possibility of Nobu-Hachi, hints of Yasu-Nana....not to mention flat out antagonistic relationships, i.e. Nobu-Takumi.  (And then there are the friendships.  And the relationships I can't even mention yet because I would be spoiling later volumes. But I could go on for days....some days I think Noaki is the only sane one of the bunch for not boinking a co-worker or rival bandmember).  Does entangling the bands to this degree draw the reader further into the world of NANA?  Or does it just put poor Hachi in a miserable position of trying to "sleep" her way into the inner circle?

Michelle: You left out Hachi's short-lived crush on Yasu! And Naoki may not be boinking anyone, but he has some fanboy tendencies, which may show up more later on. I'm not sure it draws the reader further into the world of NANA, but it does play into something Nana says: "Why does Trapnest take over everything important in my life?”  Trapnest is suddenly everywhere and completely, possibly inextricably entangled with the band that was Nana's dream. Of course, she doesn't realize that Yasu is in essentially the same position she is until he points it out.

I also don't see Hachi as trying to sleep her way into the inner circle. True, she's attracted by Nana's glittering life, but ultimately, she does want love. She just encounters Takumi at a particularly low moment and then can't break free. It's not as if she's going around indiscriminately boffing the fellas.

Danielle: No, not at all!  But the "short-lived" crush on Yasu, the attraction to Nobu....I don't think it is an accident Hachi is scoping out potential mates in Nana's universe.  But I don't want to imply that this says anything bad about her or that she is scheming in anyway.  I think this is just how she operates -- she, just like Nobu, is looking for "accessible" partners.  And at this point in her life, accessible is inextricably bound up with Nana's world.

Melinda: What an interesting pair of questions. I admit I've never thought about Hachi's situation that way. I agree with Michelle--I don't think Hachi is in the position of having to sleep her way into the inner circle. I don't even think her string of crushes is a very unusual thing. I think when you're young and unattached, it is very natural to evaluate your immediate circle (whatever that might be at the time) as potential material for love, even if you end up actually pursuing few or none of them.  I certainly did when I was her age. More to the point, though, I don't think Hachi needs to do this to be part of the crowd, whether she realizes that or not. I think what she may fail to appreciate is just how refreshing she is for everyone in that group (Blast, in particular) mainly because she's not a part of their incestuous history.

To address your first question, Danielle, yes, I do think the complicated mess of relationships (past and present) between the two bands draws the reader in further, partly because this is one of the aspects of the story that is so easy to relate to, especially for readers from small towns (or small communities within huge cities), where everyone knows everyone and the older you get, the more tangled that web becomes.  The mutual history these characters share brings them down to earth and closer to the reader, just as it brings them each closer to Hachi, one way or another.

Poor Naoki. I feel sad that he doesn't get any. Though I suppose an argument could be made that he's better off for it.

Danielle: “It's not as if she's going around indiscriminately boffing the fellas.” Once again I return this because I think I didn't express myself very well the first time around. I used value-laden and judgmental language (i.e. Hachi "sleeping her way to the inner circle"), when I didn't mean to judge the character at all.  Instead, I think I wanted to stress the emotional state that leads to Hachi sleeping with Takumi.  I don't think just any guy would have done that fateful day -- I don't even think "Takumi" as an individual would have done.  She accepted his advances because he was "Takumi from Trapnest" and that is really all she knew about him.  She accepted his advances because for one disastrous and fleeting moment she somehow thought it was bring her closer to Nana's "glittering world."

Melinda notes that it is natural to evaluate one's immediate circle of friends for partners and I agree...to a degree.  There are two catalysts that effect Hachi emotionally that lead to her accepting Takumi's advances.  The first is obvious -- the loss of job that undermines her confidence and literally makes her available to Takumi.  The second is less obvious, but I think quite significant -- the night before at the Blast-Trapnest party she discovers Yasu had once dated Reira -- a beautiful and talented women who goes on to become famous after their break-up.  In that moment she starts to feel very distant from Nana's world, as if she really can't compete.  Of course, Nana has no idea this is going on in Hachi's head, and if she did she would set Hachi straight, but I think my point is that these particular insecurities of Hachi's ultimately lead to some really bad decisions and serious consequences.

Now, the regret that comes afterward is both immediate (hell, she regrets it even before they've even had sex) and three-fold -- 1) this action has nothing to do with getting closer to Nana, 2) after she's slept with Takumi once, she returns to him in order to "justify" that first action, and finally, 3) Hachi is a young woman who can't easily distinguish between love and sex.  In other words, she's signed up for some serious heartbreak by continuing to see Takumi.

Melinda: I don't disagree with anything you've said here, Danielle, though I think another factor we shouldn't forget is that Hachi idolized Takumi long before she met Nana. It's not just a reaction to Yasu's past with Reira and the loss of her job, or even just a way to get closer to Nana's world. It's also this sort of surreal, warped version of a dream come true that she isn't quite able to pass up even after it's clear to her that the reality is so far removed from what her fantasy would have been. Most of us will never find ourselves in a situation where we are faced with a real, flesh-and-blood opportunity to go to bed with a celebrity we've fantasized about on any level, so we'll (thankfully, in my opinion) never be in her shoes.  I find Hachi's reaction here to be stunningly real (at least as I would imagine it) and it makes a lot of sense to me that even after she's been awakened to the true reality of the situation (which I think happens for her pretty fast) she still goes through with it.

Michelle: You make some excellent points, Danielle, particularly about the two catalysts that lead Hachi to sleep with Takumi.

I disagree somewhat with your final point, though. I think Hachi does initially distinguish between love and sex, and realizes she's just another "dumb girl" who's all over him.  "As long as I admit it, it's okay, right?"  But afterward, when it becomes known, it's clear that everyone except Shin (who, as Melinda pointed out earlier, is the only one to get that maybe she just wanted to sleep with a hot guy) believes she did it because she loves him. I wonder if this doesn't start to affect the way she thinks about what happened. She starts getting confused when she'd still choose Takumi even after Nobu's confession, and wonders if she really does love him after all, which ties in with your point about continuing to see him as a way to rationalize/justify having slept with him.

Melinda: Ah ha! I think both your points together have helped crystallize something for me. I think Hachi's main confusion here is less about distinguishing between love and sex and more about distinguishing between love and infatuation. She's infatuated with her image of "Takumi from Trapnest" and has been for some time. Her feelings for Takumi the man (whom she's barely met) are unformed and vaguely negative, which makes her feel ashamed of her infatuation, but it doesn't actually stop the infatuation which she is able to convince herself (with help from everyone around her, whether they intend it or not) might be the same thing as love. It's a justification, certainly, but also a point of genuine confusion for her.

Danielle: I think it is quite amazing that we’ve been able to analyze so many complex motivating factors leading up to a single act – i.e. Hachi sleeping with Takumi.  This really speaks to Yazawa’s skill in developing extraordinary characters and compelling situations.  I get the feeling we could keep on going but I suspect there are many more debates we’re going to have about why these characters do the things they do as Trapnest and Blast grow ever more entangled in each others’ lives in future volumes.

Thanks to Melinda and Michelle for being such great partners in the project!  We’ll see you all in about a month or so for the next installment.

12 Comments

• At October 15, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I only read Nana when it appeared in Shojo Beat, which I think left off right about where this part ...

• At October 15, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  I think the difference between Hachi and Reira is that Reira always expects others to support her (which is why ...

• At October 15, 2009, Ahavah wrote:

  That was a really absorbing discussion. You are helping me see Hachi in a whole new light. When I first ...

• At October 15, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Ahavah -- I always remind myself Hachi was around 17 when that first affair happened (or just turned 18? ...

• At October 16, 2009, Why are there no women ukes? « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] Danielle Leigh, and Michelle Smith post the latest entry in The NANA Project, their review of vols. 5 and ...

• At October 16, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  Ahavah, I had a similar reaction to Hachi. In my reviews of early volumes, I was dismissive of her and ...

• At October 16, 2009, NANA Project #3! | Manga Bookshelf wrote:

  [...] the Salt Lake City airport waiting for my flight home. First of all, the third installment of the NANA ...

• At October 17, 2009, Melinda Beasi wrote:

  Mary: I'd love to hear elaboration on your point regarding Reira and Hachi. I tend to think that Reira is ...

• At October 17, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  Maybe it's just been too long since I watched the anime. (Although it's only been a few months.) ...

• At October 18, 2009, Melinda Beasi wrote:

  Hi Mary: Ooooh I think Reira is a complete mess, and in a way that makes it much harder for ...

• At October 20, 2009, Ahavah wrote:

  Shin's relationship with Hachi is probably my favorite in the series. It's the most beneficial for both parties.

  I'm actually glad ...

• At October 23, 2009, Sara K. wrote:

  Thanks for the engaging discussion.

  I think around volume 5, when Hachi/Takumi began to vaguely look like something which could actually ...

Fanboy talks about indie cartoonists on superheroes; makes it about himself/superheroes: I was excited about Strange Tales when I remembered it existed and was being published imminently last month. Then I remembered this post from my old nemesis and became less so, because he pretty well says you're a jerk if you only want to see talented creators do corporate superheroes. And he's Canadian, so he's extra scathing when he makes that kind of proclamation. Just like Edge! Hopefully Nevett won't be doing any live blogging sex celebrations to up his hits.

So, yeah, I was wondering why I was so happy to see a gaggle of indie creators whose work I by and large will probably go on to ignore after they're done doing gag strips about MODOK (except Paul Pope, but does he even count as an indie creator anymore? When was the last time he did anything outside of Marvel and DC's confines? If he did do some creator owned stuff lately (since Batman: Year 100) do call me on it, because I need to read more of his non-superhero stuff).

After writing that absurd parenthetical paragraph, I've come to a conclusion: I like superheroes so much that I want to see as many different takes on them as possible. I'm the guy that likes it when Jim Mahfood draws Spider-Man. I loved all the indie/alternative/not the usual suspects involved in the Jemas/Quesada-era Marvel. I also like that the creators on ST are getting to put their own spin on the characters. I seriously doubt anyone but Tony Millionaire could ever write that Iron Man story, for instance. Also; whatever it was that Junko Mizuno did (which was charming and all, but still).

And hey, I am more inclined to check out, say, Jason's work now that I've had a taste of it in one of my comfort zones. The Bizarro Comics anthology did the same kind of thing; it at least made me aware of a lot of creators I may not have heard of otherwise, even if I haven't followed a lot of their work.

Me am love Brad's Transitions! Speaking of Bizarro Comics, my only real complaint about Strange Tales so far is that it would be much better as an OGN. Maybe it's just my wallet stinging from paying $5 for a single issue talking, though. I could swear last issue was $4, but then, I was so excited about it that I may not have even looked at the price. Thanks for ruining my enthusiasm retroactively, Nevett!

Pot shots at the Rated R Reviewing Star aside, I have to say that I'd be willing to buy a Strange Tales anthology monthly. Either as an ongoing showcase for that one story with a Marvel character a given cartoonist wants to do, or just for offbeat stories from any creator, or as a Nick Fury/Dr. Strange double feature like God (or at least Stan) intended. I'm down with any of that, really.

That's Fantastic, I guess I wish I could get more excited about Jonathan Hickman and Dale Eaglesham's run on Fantastic Four. I enjoy it, but I'm not as crazy about it as I wish I was (or at least, as much I was about Hickman's Dark Reign: FF mini with Sean Chen, which was just released in a collected edition and is worth checking out if you missed the singles). It strikes me as the flip side of the Rucka/Williams III Batwoman run: I find the art to be solid if not spectacular, but the story's holding my interest enough to keep me from dropping it in singles and waiting for the trade. Because I'm more in to story than art (and Marvel than DC, before someone in the comments calls me on my bias), I'm more likely to stay with Hickman's FF.

Well, that and I like Hickman more as a writer than Rucka. Sure, Rucka wrote Whiteout, but he's never done anything I've enjoyed as much as that Shang Chi/Deadpool team up. Or the really bad ass parts of Secret Warriors.

Hey look, another transition! This isn't that random at all! I demand a refund Which brings me to this week's Secret Warriors: The List one shot. I'd love to bitch about how it's Secret Warriors 9 1/2, or Secret Warriors: You Just Paid An Extra Dollar For A Regular Issue And A Reprint, Sucker!. But I can't. Because the main story was your daily requirement of great Nick Fury moments and the reprint was drawn by Steranko. Even though I already own said Steranko story, how can you snark on Hickman and Steranko Fury in one comic? I sure can't.

Essentially Random I've been alternating between Essential Power Man and Iron Fist vol. 1 and Essential Spider-Woman vol. 2 in my trade reading lately. I'm enjoying both more than I expected to, given that I more or less sprung for them because they were cheap. Jo Duffy and Kerry Gammill's run on PM&IF has been a lot more fun than I expected. After years of reading epic, cosmic superhero stories by people like Morrison and Kirby, it's nice to read something as down to Earth as two guys trying to eke out a living working at car shows and occasionally running afoul of the Living Monolith. This practically Harvey Pekar compared to what I've been reading in the past couple of years.

Meanwhile, Michael Fleisher's Spider-Woman (while not nearly as grotesque or lawsuit spawning as his Spectre run), is pretty solid work. Jessica Drew can't help but feel slightly generic, and the captions can get pretty hilarious in their attempts to combine descriptions of how hot she is with tradition Marvel purple prose, but it's all as readable as everything else I've read from Fleisher. I also really like Steve Leialoha's art. Considering that I mainly know him as an inker (and the guy that worked on that wordless G.I. Joe comic), it's interesting to see his pencils here. Also, I'm pretty sure one of the villains is a Rupert Murdoch analogue, so that's pretty cool.

And now he's gonna shoe horn in the video games. You can go to bed now, Dan Bailey! As much as I can agree with certain people from South Carolina I used to link to obligatorily that Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 isn't as good as the first one, I still enjoy it a lot and play it pretty often. While it's nowhere near as great as this year's other big licensed superhero game,
Batman: Arkham Asylum, I also see myself playing it more than I did that one. Well, partially because I traded Arkham Asylum in, but also because I just really enjoy action/RPGs, especially ones that are more action (this game is practically a modern version of the '90s X-Men Arcade Game in some ways) and that is certainly MUA 2. Also, can you make a fire tornado in that Batman game? Sadly, no.

There's also that Marvel fanboy thing; there's a lot of servicing of that here. Of course, I'm a huge Batman fan, and there's a lot of fan service in that game, too (not in the way Danielle talks about, though, although Harley Quinn's skanky nurse outfit comes close); I just had my fill of it (I found every damn thing Riddler hid on that island) and couldn't imagine playing through it again (well, maybe if I get a PS3 and really want to play the Joker maps). Well, that and I needed to pay off my Brutal Legend pre-order somehow.

Anyway, I'm thinking of doing a big post on MUA 1 vs. 2. So, fair warning, old man video game haters. I may not do it, but the mere thought may annoy the crap out of you curmudgeons. The fact that I once had a series about comics and video games planned should also cause y'all some psychic pain.

Did You Know There's A Geek Dating Site? That's not a new category for me to pontificate on. I'm just saying there is, and that's why I have to go now. Well, that and it's 2:17 and look at all these words! I really have to re-evaluate my life.

7 Comments

• At October 11, 2009, stealthwise wrote:

  "Rated R Reviewing Star"? Really? Edge still calls himself that? Or are you referencing when he first ...

• At October 11, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>You can go to bed now, Dan Bailey!

  And yet, *if* this entry hadn't still been leading to a Page Error ...

• At October 11, 2009, Eliot Johnson wrote:

  There was this Paul Pope release from AdHouse, http://www.adhousebooks.com/comics/thbcfm1.html .

  Probably some other stuff too.

• At October 11, 2009, Julian wrote:

  Paul Pope also did new THB, but good luck getting your hands on it now.

• At October 11, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  For me, the appeal of something like Strange Tales is the old "peanut butter in my chocolate" effect.

  Superheroes AND awesome ...

• At October 12, 2009, BDaly wrote:

  Strange Tales rules, because it's characters that you know and love having the piss taken out of them by cool ...

• At October 13, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  I have no problem with indie creators doing work for Marvel or DC if they want -- whatever makes people ...

I'm zipping through Matthew Bondurant's The Third Translation, in which an Egyptologist trying to decipher a stela gets caught up in a theft of a scroll that somehow relates to the stela. It's far less of a thriller than you might think - it's definitely more of a "serious" novel than something like the Dan Brown books. It's much more about the protagonist and the mess he's made of his life and how this is his last chance to make his life mean something. It's a character study that happens to have this theft, which, 176 pages in, he's just getting around to trying to figure out. Underlying it all is the central tenets of fiction written by men: Middle-aged men (and probably all men, but middle-aged men are often the protagonists) think mainly with their penises, and women are not to be trusted. This doesn't automatically make the book bad, but it's strange how that's a subtext to a great deal of "serious" literature. Still, it's an interesting book.

For a few months we've been reading A Tale of Two Cities to my younger daughter (the one with the ninjas) at night before she goes to bed. I've never read it (the only Dickens I've ever read is Great Expectations), and it's not bad. My dad always made a joke about Dickens getting paid by the word, and reading this, it's totally believable. We're in the middle of reading the Harry Potter books to my other daughter, but she tends to be a pain in the butt at bed time, so it's going slowly. Norah simply settles down in Mommy's arms and lets me ramble on about Lucie Manette, Charles Darnay, Mr. Lorry, Dr. Manette, and all the damned Jacques. They just stormed the Bastille, so things are picking up!

What's warming the end table next to your bed this week?

9 Comments

• At October 6, 2009, Stephane Savoie wrote:

  Shoot, I thought you meant the version of Tale of Two Cities with ninjas.

• At October 6, 2009, joshschr wrote:

  I kind of wondered if I missed the ninjas for a few seconds also.

  I've never read any Dickens ...

• At October 6, 2009, Neal K wrote:

  Just finished reading the entirety of Grant Morrison's New X-Men run. I'd like to get around to writing a ...

• At October 6, 2009, David Hackett wrote:

  Keep in mind, that "Tale of Two Cities", like most of Dickens work, was published a chapter at a time ...

• At October 6, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  Finished Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon this weekend and began rereading The Crying of Lot 49. Although, today, in the ...

• At October 7, 2009, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  Project Read The Damn Books That Are Piling Up is underway again. Trying not to purchase anything until the pile ...

• At October 7, 2009, Ralf H. wrote:

  Yesterday I read a Walt Disneys Lustiges Taschenbuch (Walt Disney's Funny Pocketbook), a german edition of Duck and Mouse Comics ...

• At October 7, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  I just read The Crying of Lot 49, my first Pynchon. It was very enjoyable, but I had to ...

• At October 8, 2009, sgt pepper wrote:

  I'm reading Peter Straub's Ghost Story with the AVClub book club--the Turn of the Screw homage was so terrifying I ...

That’s always made sense to me, as the content of a pre-Code book may not be approved by the CCA. What I really found odd, however, was the fact that ACG reprinted several of its CCA approved covers in the early 60s, making alterations that toned done the subject matter. Take a look at these examples and see what you think:

The transformation from Confessions of the Lovelorn #94 (June, 1958) to My Romantic Adventures #130 (March, 1963) is one of the most interesting I’ve seen. The ‘Accusing Fingers’ style of cover was very popular pre-Code, but was not seen very often in post-Code comics, as it was perhaps a bit too harsh for the CCA. The original cover really focuses on the world “Jilted” and warns women “not to be the kind Men jilt”. What we’ve got here is the sense that the man has ‘cheated’ on the woman. That theme will subtlety be removed from many of these covers. You’ll notice that the modified cover simply accuses the man of being a ‘braggart’ and a ‘liar’.

The cover Confessions of the Lovelorn #92 (April, 1958) was altered quite significantly to create the cover to My Romantic Adventures #131 (April-May, 1963). This is an ‘ugly duckling’ story, but I don’t think that this is the same one reference by Michelle Nolan, as that would have been a pre-Code story. You’ll notice a couple of things about this cover. First, our heartbroken heroine is no longer referred to as an ‘ugly duckling’. Second, our lovers have been taken from the back seat of a car (too lewd?) and placed on a park bench. These tweaks create a fundamental shift in the overall tone of the cover.

The cover to Confessions of the Lovelorn #78 (February, 1957) is really rather shocking, as the woman stumbles upon her fiancée kissing another woman. When the cover was reworked for My Romantic Adventures #127 (Oct-Nov, 1962), the reference to the upcoming nuptials was removed. Suddenly, the bride-to-be is transformed into the ‘Brainless Type’ and seems to be assigning herself some of the blame, stating that ‘he couldn’t love a fool like me'. Perhaps the series should have been re-titled My Self-Esteem Issues.

Confessions of the Lovelorn #87 (November, 1957) is a strange one and I can’t quite put my finger on why it was changed for My Romantic Adventures #138 (March, 1964). The cover blurb in the original states : The Path of True Love Didn’t Run Smooth For Andrea. Learn Why in a Romance that Pack a Punch! 'Professional Man'. Andrea’s beau, states “It’s Just a Dream House Now Sweetheart – but Someday It’ll be Ours”. Seems like a typical American Dream type story, but it was changed so that the blurb reads: An Amazing Romance – Straight From the Heart. 'Anything Can Happen In New York'. Here, our Romeo states "The Girl I've Dreamed of... and our own Honeymoon Cottage". Well, I guess it's now clear that they are married (or at least that the nuptials are pending), but the I really don't understand this switch, unless they felt the phrase 'Professional Man' would be interpreted in a lurid way. Also, the house has been downsized considerably - so maybe they were removing the implication that the woman was a gold digger. The only thing I find 'amazing' is that they got such a large yard in NYC.

Confessions of the Lovelorn #100 (December, 1958) ) is a pretty typical cover, except for the fact that the message is a bit negative. The caption states that our heroine always ran from those Awful Young Men, and she states that she'd always "Been Afraid of Men". Perhaps the editors thought it was a bit of a downer cover, or perhaps they felt that too much could be read between the lines, but they did a complete 180 degree turnaround with the reworked cover for My Romantic Adventures #136 (Dec-Jan, 1963). Here, the caption indicates that the tables are turned and that our fella has "Got To Do Something For Her", and she states, somewhat cryptically, that "It's Always Been This Way With Me". Huh? Is she in love or is she infirm. The latter wouldn't surprise me as we saw a lot of disease and injury centric love stories in the 60s and early 70s.

And that's not all of them, folks. There are plenty more. I’m sorry to say that I’ve not investigated the actual stories in these books to see if they have been altered, or if the covers correspond to completely different stories. The romance genre is vast, and it gets a bit difficult (and pricey) to investigate properly. If you are interested in finding out more about classic romance comics, I encourage you to dig up any Michelle Nolan articles you can find, as well as checking out Sequential Crush.

For more comic book nonsense - stop by my blog, Seduction of the Indifferent

9 Comments

• At October 6, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  Maybe they meant New York state?

• At October 6, 2009, Scott Harris wrote:

  Cool feature. Over the last year I've developed an appreciation for old romance comics, so I'd love to see more.

• At October 6, 2009, benday-dot wrote:

  Great feature Scott. I knew from previous exchanges that you have long been a fan of Michelle Nolan's great CBM ...

• At October 6, 2009, Ethan Shuster wrote:

  Maybe someone considered the "someday we'll live there" suggestion without mentioning marriage suggested they would have house before marriage? Changing ...

• At October 6, 2009, Jacque Nodell wrote:

  Nice interpretation of the changes, Scott! I only have one ACG romance book, but it is a rather early ...

• At October 7, 2009, Scott wrote:

  It really is to bad that digital versions of Comic Book Marketplace were never made available. I have nearly two-thirs ...

• At October 7, 2009, Thelonious_Nick wrote:

  But why would they change the cherry tree on the first cover, which is really quite beautifully done, to a ...

• At October 7, 2009, Sean wrote:

  "Or am I reading too much into it, and they just didn't want to put the effort into the coloring?"

  Maybe ...

• At October 8, 2009, jazzbo wrote:

  Were some of these a case of just slightly altering an old cover to make it work for a new ...

Bomb Queen vs. Obama #1- Yeah, I know, I know. It's a <a href="Boob War comic and an Obama cash grab guest appearance comic, and I'm an awful person for buying it. That said, this is suitably shameless about mocking all his cash grab guest appearances while still being an Obama cash grab guest appearance (that's four parts long), so there's at least some self awareness (which makes sense, since this is also a superhero parody comic).

While I have nothing against Boob War (or superhero parody*) as a genre, this particular entrant in it is just not my thing. In that I kind of hate the titular character and want her to die and be replaced by Editor Girl, a character who appears in this issue and defeats villains with the power of magical copy editing. I think the exact opposite of that will happen, so I'm not stick around for next issue. I am all over an Editor Girl mini-series if you want to ever do it, former contributor Jim Robinson. Just putting that out there. I think we could both help comics with that.

JLA 80 Page Giant- So, I bought this based on the solicit, because it's structured like an old JSA/JLA team up, with the JLA splitting in to smaller groups (in this case, duos) to defeat a huge enemy, and I love that trope to death. So, I can not be even slightly objective about this, which makes any praise I give it even more suspect than usual. I can admit it has some major flaws: the art quality peaks at okay and dips well below that a couple of times (especially in the Superman/Dr. Light chapter), Steel is randomly comes and goes, and it's got a framing story with an obnoxious open ending.

But, well, I love these kinds of stories, and this was one of them. If you do too, you probably already own this. If you don't yet, well, I thought it was worth my $6, but your mileage may vary.

Simpsons Treehouse of Horror #15- Or, Homer's Ergot, as Sammy Harkham and a bevy of indie boys run wild on Matt Groening's creations. Jog did it, but I'm giving my rundown anyway, because my perspective (Simpsons fanatic not in to alternative comics scene) is the flip side of his, so it will be like reading the Bizarro version.

The highlights to me were the Tim May/Harkham Moe story, Ben Jones' "Boo-tleg", and Jeffrey Brown's "Bad Milhouse", because they all seem like actual "Treehouse of Horror" stories. That's one of my major criteria for judging licensed comics. Well, pretty much my only one.

The other stories work pretty well in their own way, and as Jog pointed out, everybody here seems to have some familiarity with the Simpsons that might be lacking in similar anthologies from Marvel and DC. Some get laughs ("C.H.U.M.", especially its resolution), some impress me with their art (have to find more of Will Sweeney's work), some are just interesting takes on the characters (Thurber and Huizenga's "Call of Vegulu").

Throw in a couch gag and only one strip that didn't work for me (C.F.'s bat shit closer, and that's a damn good strike rate for any anthology, I'd say. So, what Jog said, and I'll throw in my own recommendation for any stragglers.

Secret Warriors #8- Loved that reveal, and most of the rest of the issue. For once, the kids get the good moments and Fury's left with the scraps, but it works. Getting this one two extra times this month may be a bit of overkill, but I'm not complaining, especially with Ed McGuinness drawing a comic I want to read for once.

Shang Chi, Master Of Kung Fu- Don't have much to add that I (or Sims) didn't say previously. This is a nice pastiche/homage/parody of the old MOKF material, and worth your time if that's even remotely your thing.

Spider-Man Supplemental (Wherein I review four Spider-Man comics I bought this week):

Amazing Spider-Man 606-607- The dialogue occasionally grated (quoting Tommy Boy? Really? In 2009? Is that a classical allusion now?), I really enjoyed Joe Kelly and Mike McKone's two part "Return of the Black Cat" storyline, and will read more from them if they collaborate again.

Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #55- Wait, 55? Really? Wow, that's more longevity than I thought this line had. At any rate, this is as good an all ages Spider-Man comic as has been advertised.

I'm not really the audience for that, despite Paul Tobin's considerable skill. This is a pleasant comic (and a team up with Captain America, too, so it's in MarkAndrew's wheelhouse), and I enjoyed reading it, but I'm just not in to it enough to buy it every month, I don't think. Also, I do wonder if some of the jokes will mean anything to the youngsters this is aimed at, since a lot of teenagers I deal with have no idea what culinary means.

So, I like this but I don't love it. If you want your Spidey as a teenager and can't stand Bendis, or if all that casual sex and satanic marriage annulment in ASM is not your cup of tea, or whatever reason adults (and whatever John Seavey is) have for buying this comic written for younger audiences and raving about it, then have at it. I do hope some actual kids get a hold of it (I think the digests help in that regard; I've seen a lot of them in English classes in my travels), but hey, if you desperately need an all ages Spidey comic (or two) this is one of them, and it is good.

Spider-Man: Clone Saga #1- Look, Todd Nauck's my Facebook friend, all right? I felt obligated. And I have a little nostalgia for this era of Spider-Man, even if it helped nudge me out of comics (along with puberty). And I'm hoping it will turn out like this, but in comic form.

All those justifications aside, all I have to say about this that, the American Idol reference aside, it could very easily pass for a comic written in 1994. Which is the point and part of its strange charm for weirdies like me, but is also what makes it very uninspiring once that charm where off. There's not much else to say. I can see why Hibbs gave it the rating he did. I wouldn't compare it to fecal matter, but it is a very bizarre niche product, coming as it does after years of everyone cheerfully ignoring how this storyline almost destroyed the franchise (except DeFalco in Spider-Girl). I'm sort of bewildered that I spent $4 on in at this point, but may very well wind up reading the whole thing one day anyway (see also, X-Men: Forever**).

Sweet Tooth #1- So, yeah, the quirky Vertigo thing follows the Clone Saga. Sorry about the whiplash in content. And this is a quirky Vertigo thing, boy howdy! I love post apocalyptia, and this certainly is a new take on it, as Lemire promised in his editorial in Vertigo's Bullpen Bulletins equivalent. That said, it's pretty necessary to read that editorial after the story to have any idea where the story's meant to be going.

It's quirky enough to be interesting, and not enough to be annoying, but also not enough to make me desperately want to follow it. A lot of Vertigo stuff strikes me that way these days. In one ear, out the other. That said, I'll keep sampling their first issues as long as they keep giving them away dirt cheap, and given their trade program, I'm sure I'll be able to catch up on all this stuff someday, long after it ends prematurely. Despite the cynicism, I'm pulling for this one more than, say Air or Greek Street, due to the premise and sub genre. I'm just not invested in it enough to try and keep it from tanking.

*Well, I sort of do, especially with the way Robinson executes it here. It reads like all over Garth Ennis's work in the sub genre done by a guy who isn't Ennis and hasn't earned the same benefit of the doubt I give him, and who also doesn't draw as well as any of Ennis's good collaborators. But maybe it just hits to close to home. I'd still buy an Editor Girl comic, though!

**I am wondering if those two series are part of a trend, and we'll eventually see what, I dunno, Kurt Busiek meant to do with Night Thrasher had it not been canceled, or if they were just published as a practical joke that got out of hand. Well, at least the Clone Saga one. It seems like Chris Claremont can basically write whatever he wants in his own corner of the X-Men franchise and get it printed up.

6 Comments

• At October 3, 2009, Joseph wrote:

  People (usually with a Q in their name) say the Clone Saga or the marriage ruined Spider-man. Which wasn't true ...

• At October 3, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  I miss Dave's Long Box. I know he has a new blog, but damn, I miss Dave's Long Box.

• At October 3, 2009, Marianne Farleybaconcheeseburgercombo wrote:

  These days almost anything with the words DC or Marvel printed on the cover is a non-starter for me. Luckily ...

• At October 4, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  So, why did you buy Bomb Queen, again...? You kind of lost me on that.

  Personally I thought the concept seemed ...

• At October 4, 2009, Michael wrote:

  Quoting Tommy Boy will never be a classical allusion.

• At October 4, 2009, Jace Mace wrote:

  I don't read Spider-Man, but I'm interested in this Tommy Boy allusion. Anyone care to fill me in?