“Star Trek: Lower Decks” Trade Paperback (IDW, 2023). Writer: Ryan North. Artist: Chris Fenoglio (including the colors, I’m assuming, as no separate c“Star Trek: Lower Decks” Trade Paperback (IDW, 2023). Writer: Ryan North. Artist: Chris Fenoglio (including the colors, I’m assuming, as no separate color artist credited). Reprints: Star Trek: Lower Decks #1-3 (September 2022 to November 2022). Read: 08/21/23 to 08/30/23. Opinion: Very good. If you like the animated “Star Trek: Lower Decks” Paramount+ series then I think you will like this comic book mini-series. (Although I saw one reviewer on GoodReads give it only two stars because he doesn’t like “holodeck stories”. Oh, well.) The ensigns accidentally create a sentient version of Dracula (that looks exactly like Boimler), similarly to what happened with Moriarty on “The Next Generation” (and, this being “Lower Decks”, they make numerous references to that earlier episode). While this is going on, the captain, chief of security, and doctor all embark on a second contact mission that ends them up, at first, about to be burned at stakes for being “witches”. Then, they are put on trial for (accidentally) violating that planet’s leading government’s own version of the Prime Directive (for their accidental encounter with the planet’s other, primitive, culture). They face execution for it, and a fleet of warships will destroy the Cerritos (if they can’t get out of it). Lots of fun Star Trek in jokes (just like on the series) and the artist does a very good job of making this appear visually like just another episode of the animated series. I gave it four out of five stars on GoodReads. I would like to see IDW do more “Lower Decks” comics....more
**spoiler alert** “Star Trek Volume 1: Godshock” Hardcover (IDW, 2023). Writers: Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing. Artists: Ramon Rosanas, Oleg Chudak**spoiler alert** “Star Trek Volume 1: Godshock” Hardcover (IDW, 2023). Writers: Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing. Artists: Ramon Rosanas, Oleg Chudakov, Joe Eisma, Erik Tamayo. Color art Lee Loughridge. Reprints: “Star Trek #400” (“A Perfect System” story, September 2022) and Star Trek #1-6 (October 2022 to April 2023). Read: 08/19/23 to 08/21/23. Opinion: Very good. This is the start of a new ongoing “Star Trek” series featuring a combination of characters from several separate series: Captain Benjamin Sisko from “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”, Data and Doctor Beverly Crusher from “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, and Tom Parris from “Star Trek: Voyager” (plus, at least for awhile, Worf, from “TNG” and “DS9”). Oh, yeah, and a certain chief engineer with a Scottish accent. Plus a couple (younger) new characters. The time frame is, I believe, 2378. Soon after the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager made it safely back to Earth in the same year, and three years after the events of the TNG film, “Star Trek: Insurrection” and the end of the “Deep Space Nine” series. Something very powerful is killing the known “god like” beings of the galaxy. (The teaser short story from the “Star Trek #400” special issue shows this happen to Gary Mitchell, James Kirk’s friend from the original series second pilot episode, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”.) The Prophets return Benjamin Sisko to his corporeal form to stop this. He goes to Captain Picard for a ship and Picard sets him up with a brand new experimental ship, the U.S.S. Theseus. He insists that Sisko take Data on as his first officer on this mission (and Dr. Crusher eagerly volunteers to go along too as Sisko’s return is a medical mystery). The others I mentioned are already part of this new crew or join up along the way. I really liked this. It’s very “comic booky” in all the right ways: the whole “crossover” element of blending characters from the separate series, and the universe threatening circumstances and powers that are much larger than life. The art (a tag team of alternating artists to keep the book on its original monthly schedule) is very appropriate for the type of story being told here. (My one real gripe is that the artist who draws the issue where Worf comes aboard apparently either cannot draw a Klingon that looks anything even remotely resembling Michael Dorn, or perhaps didn’t get the memo that it was supposed to be him. I swear, when we see him I immediately thought Sisko was meeting an entirety different Klingon character and was somewhat shocked when Sisko called him Ambassador Worf. The artists in the following issues do manage to draw him better though.) These first six issues (plus the teaser) did exactly what it should do, which is make me look forward to the next collected edition later on this year. (Worf goes on his own part way through the story, by the way, leading into a second series titled “Star Trek: Defiant”, which has its own “all star” blending of characters: Worf, Spock, Lore, and Ro Laren. That will also be getting its first collected edition soon, as well.) I gave “Godshock” four out of five stars on GoodReads....more
“Star Trek: Picard: Stargazer” Trade Paperback (IDW, 2023). Writers: Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson. Artist: Angel Hernandez. Color art by J.D. Mettle“Star Trek: Picard: Stargazer” Trade Paperback (IDW, 2023). Writers: Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson. Artist: Angel Hernandez. Color art by J.D. Mettler. Reprints: Star Trek: Picard: Stargazer #1-3 (August 2022 to November 2022). Read: 08/16/23 to 08/18/23. Opinion: Okay/average. Story takes place (and came out between) seasons two and three of the Paramount+ “Star Trek: Picard” series which this is obviously a tie-in to. Story is basically supposed to be about Seven of Nine, carrying her from where we see her at the end of season two to her being back in Starfleet already at the start of season three. Here, she still has her doubts about joining Starfleet and sticks with being a Fenris Ranger despite Picard’s attempts to lead her likewise. But then a mission to check up on a planet that Picard once visited decades earlier while Captain of *his* U.S.S. Stargazer (traveling there aboard the new version we saw in season two of the show) unexpectedly brings him and Seven back together again in a life or death situation, one that Picard is at least partially responsible for due to his actions the last time he was there (and involving Romulans). I thought it was an okay enough little story but pretty forgettable in the end. I don’t know if I would have thought differently if I read it back when it first came out, in between the two tv seasons, or not. I think I still would have felt it was a mostly irrelevant “filler” story. Everything was “okay” but not exceptional, including the art by Hernandez. (I felt his depictions of Seven were very inconsistent, though.) And my main “gripe” with this series is, why did they name this story “Stargazer”? Yes, the two versions of the Starfleet ship and their crews both appear, but not nearly enough to make the story about them. Again, while a fun little side adventure for Jean-Luc Picard, this is clearly a Seven of Nine story. I ended up giving it three out of five stars on GoodReads....more
“Hawkeye: The Saga of Barton and Bishop” (a.k.a., “Hawkeye by Fraction and Aja: The Saga of…”) Trade Paperback (Marvel, 2021). Writer: Matt Fraction. “Hawkeye: The Saga of Barton and Bishop” (a.k.a., “Hawkeye by Fraction and Aja: The Saga of…”) Trade Paperback (Marvel, 2021). Writer: Matt Fraction. Artists: David Aja, Javier Pulido, Steve Lieber & Jesse Hamm, Francesco Francavilla, Chris Eliopoulos, Annie Wu, Alan Davis & Mark Farmer. Color art by Matt Hollingsworth, Francesco Francavilla, Jordie Bellaire, Paul Mounts. Reprints: Young Avengers Presents #6 (August 2008), and Hawkeye #1-22 and Annual #1 (October 2012 to September 2015). Read: 7/22/23 to 8/16/23. Opinion: Excellent! First Marvel material that I’ve read from this period in a very long time, so I was a bit unfamiliar with Hawkeye’s (Clint Barton’s relationships with the other Avengers (including Black Widow, Mockingbird, and Spider-Woman, who all appear here), but it didn’t take long to figure out that this was an entirely “side thing” to whatever else was coming out at the time. Barton here is a complete slacker and loser, relationships wise, here, although he fiercely protects the building he’s bought and lives in along with its fellow residents from the “Tracksuit Maffia” and their underworld bosses who desire to own the building. Meanwhile, Barton at least for a time takes fellow Hawkeye, Kate Bishop, on as a partner (although partway through the series she gets fed up with him and goes off to California on her own for awhile). This series is the basis for the 2021 “Hawkeye” Disney+ series and shares a few common scenes but the two are very different from each other as the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Clint Barton played by Jeremy Renner is a family man and no where near the loner loser figure that this version of the comics Barton is. And also because the tv version (which I also loved) is about establishing the character of Kate Bishop, while, in the comics, Bishop was introduced separately from Clint Barton prior to this material, in the first “Young Avengers” series that started in 2005 on the heels of the controversial “Avengers: Disassembled” story line. (This collection does start off with the first time the already established as “Hawkeye” Kate Bishop first meets Clint Barton (at the time going by his “Ronin” identity) in Young Avengers #6.) Again, I really liked this, especially the issues drawn by David Aja. Unfortunately, it becomes very apparent as reading this collected edition that Aja couldn’t keep up with a monthly schedule because there are numerous fill in issues by other artists, including the whole “Kate in California” side plot (which are all enjoyable but not nearly as much as the Matt Fraction and David Aja issues). I ended up giving this one four out of five stars on GoodReads. (Would have been five stars if Aja could have drawn more than half of the run, and the at times disjointed effect that had.)...more
“The Orville Season 2.5: Digressions” (published by Dark Horse Books, March 2022). Written by David A. Goodman, art by David Cabeza, colors by Michael“The Orville Season 2.5: Digressions” (published by Dark Horse Books, March 2022). Written by David A. Goodman, art by David Cabeza, colors by Michael Atiyeh, lettering by Richard Starkings and ComiCraft’s Jimmy Betancourt.
Dark Horse Books (a.k.a., Dark Horse Comics), third and last (so far) trade paperback collection of comics they released based on the Seth McFarlane sci-fi television series, “The Orville” (which ran on Fox for two seasons, 2017 to 2019, and a third season exclusively streaming on Hulu, June to August 2022).
Dark Horse released their “Orville” comics as mini-series, one or two per year in 2019, 2020, and 2021. They released some of these mini-series with somewhat confusingand contradictory titles, some with both an overall “The Orville” series title (numbered issues #1-4) but at the same time also titled as “The Orville: [First two-issue story title] Part 1 of 2” and “Part 2 of 2”, followed by “The Orville: [Second two-issue story title] Part 1 of 2” (as seen in the two Orville trade paperbacks that came out prior to this one, "The Orville Season 1.5: New Beginnings" (which contains two separate two-issue stories, "New Beginnings" and "The Word of Avis") and "The Orville Season 2.5: Launch Day" (which contains the stories "Launch Day" and "Heroes).
This third Orville trade paperback, “The Orville Season 2.5: Digressions” (2022), reprints “The Orville: Digressions” #1-2 (May 2021-June 2021) and “The Orville: Artifacts” #1-2 (October 2021-November 2021).
"Digressions" is by far the more interesting of the two stories in this collected edition as it follows upon the events of the season two Orville episode, "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow", in which a younger version of Commander Kelly Grayson (played by Adrianne Palicki) is accidentally brought through time to the show's present day and learns all of the things that has happened to her in the intervening years before the crew finally figures out a way to send her back to her proper time. As seen at the end of that episode, however, the "mind wipe" that was supposed to make her forget everything she has learned prior to being sent back fails and she remembers everything.
"Digressions" continues this story by showing how different decisions she makes in her life based on that knowledge have far reaching consequences, ones that ultimately threaten the survival of the Union and all of those on Earth when the inevitable Kaylon invasion occurs. This is a very well done two-issue story which, unfortunately, ends abruptly at the end of the second part with a note saying, "Continued in 'The Road Not Taken'..." (which isn't the second story in this collected edition but instead is where the story picks up on the television series). "Digressions" is basically a "filling in the gaps" bridging story between those two episodes, something which I didn't realize when I first started reading it (and therefore couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed when I realized it wasn't a complete story in and of itself).
The second story in this collection, "Artifacts", is a decent enough (if at the same time very forgettable) story of an old academy professor of Captain Mercer's convinces Mercer to take his ship into a dangerous region of space obscured from the rest of the galaxy by a unique four-star phenomenon, inside of which may be hidden an ancient legendary fleet of warships from a now extinct species. The professor has ulterior motives, however, that only perennial goof-off Orville helmsman, Gordon Malloy, seems to be suspicious of.
I ended up giving this Orville collected edition (as I did the previous two) three out of five stars on GoodReads.
(For those who might be interested, Dark Horse has also released a more expensive “The Orville: Library Edition” hardcover collection that is an omnibus of all three of the trade paperbacks (containing all of the Dark Horse “Orville” stories in one volume.)...more
Last night, I finished reading "Batman '89" (2022, published by DC Comics), by Sam Hamm (writer), Joe Quiñones (artist), Leonardo Ito (colorist), ClayLast night, I finished reading "Batman '89" (2022, published by DC Comics), by Sam Hamm (writer), Joe Quiñones (artist), Leonardo Ito (colorist), Clayton Cowles (letterer).
Reprints material originally released in single issue comic books format as "Batman '89" #1-6 (October 2021-September 2022). (Was originally announced to be a DC "Digital First" release starting in July 2021 and to run for twelve digital comic book chapters in that format prior to appearing in print, but the smaller digital release chapters apparently didn't end up happening.)
This hardcover collected edition has a cover by Joe Quiñones, and also original issues cover art by Joe Quiñones, Jerry Ordway and Steve Oliff, Taurin Clarke, Mitch Gerads, Lee Weeks, Babs Tarr, Adam Hughes and Julian Totino Tedesco. Also includes a nine page "Batman '89 Sketchbook" by Joe Quiñones.
Buoyed by the success of recent newly released original comic book series based on the 1966-1968 Adam West "Batman" television series (under the title "Batman '66") and 1975-1979 Lynda Carter television series ("Wonder Woman '77"), DC Comics took things to the next logical step and ventured in 2021 into telling original adventures of their two greatest motion picture renditions of their Superman and Batman characters, namely the Christopher Reeve "Superman: The Movie" (1978) and Michael Keaton "Batman" (1989) versions.
Prior to this, DC's only comic books featuring the Reeve and Keaton versions of their characters were single issue movie adaptations of "Superman III" (1983) and "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" (1987)—there were no comic book or novel adaptations of "Superman: The Movie" (1978) or "Superman II" (1980) due to the deal made between Warner Bros. and original movie story writer, Mario Puzo—and single issue comic book adaptations of "Batman" (1989) and "Batman Returns" (1992) (and also the two subsequent Batman sequels that didn't star Michael Keaton, "Batman Forever" (1995) and "Batman and Robin" (1997). (These single issue comic book adaptations all came out in the same years as their respective movies.)
"Batman '89", this new story by Hamm, Quiñones, et al., clearly takes place after the events of "Batman Returns" (as not only is Selina Kyle--the Michelle Pfeiffer version of the character--a major character in this story but they also make reference to events that occurred in "Batman Returns"). However, this must take place in a universe or timeline where events then led directly into this story rather than into the following two Joel Schumacher directed Batman films, "Batman Forever" and "Batman and Robin", as will become clear in my plot summary.
Before that, however, I should mention that Sam Hamm, who wrote this, is the same Sam Hamm who co-wrote the screenplay for the Tim Burton directed "Batman" 1989 film. (Or, rather, wrote the initial draft chosen to be filmed. The script then received rewrites by Warren Skaaren and other writers.) So, unlike the "Superman '78" comic book, "Batman '89" does actually have a creator who has direct ties to the actual film. (Hamm also received a story credit on "Batman Returns" for two early script drafts he wrote but director Burton then replaced Hamm with script writer, Daniel Waters, and little of Hamm's story contributions remained in the final film.)
Hamm's "Batman '89" story focusses on one of the plot points he had included in his early unused "Batman Returns" scripts, that of Harvey Dent's (played by Billy Dee Williams in the first movie) descent into the villain, Two-Face. Here, he is still Gotham's district attorney, and he is leading a campaign to capture and prosecute the Batman as an out-of-control vigilante, and for removing Jim Gordon as Police Commissioner (despite Dent at the same time being in a romantic relationship with Jim Gordon's daughter, police sergeant Barbara Gordon). Dent is friends with Bruce Wayne, who Dent (of course) does not know is Batman.
At the start of the story, Wayne (as Batman), makes a serious mistake, leading to the death of an innocent teenager (the police accidentally shooting the teen while firing at him). This leads to additional anti Batman sentiments. Another masked vigilante protecting the poorer denizens of Gotham, this one a black teenager named Drake Winston, at first is antagonistic towards the Batman. (He wears a version of the Robin costume although the only reference to anyone calling him that is two kids in the background discussing what Batman had called him. One says he heard Batman call him "Robin", like in Robin Hood. The other says, "Naw, dumbass! He said the dude was robbin' the store." "Oh... that makes sense." And, at the end, Bruce asks him what he should call Drake and Drake replies, "Well... You're a bat guy, I'm a bird guy... So, I'm think'... The Avenging Eagle." Bruce: "'The Avenging Eagle'..." Drake: "It's not final. I'm still deciding...")
Dent, (again, of course), has an accident that freakishly disfigures the left side of his face, this time in an automobile repair garage fire (that I've already forgotten just who set on fire, just that there were a lot of bombs going off all over Gotham) that Dent runs into to try to same Winston, who Dent believes is still inside. There are also scenes prior to this showing Dent already fixated with tossing a coin (although it's a trick coin with two "heads" sides).
I'm not going to try to summarize the story past this point except to say that Selina Kyle is also present in the story as both Kyle and as Catwoman, that Barbara Gordon is most of the time being pulled in various directions (her love for Harvey Dent, for her father, and her duty as a police sergeant).
There are some nice moments in this story, like showing how Bruce ends up with a giant penny in the Batcave (as in the comics), and his scenes with Winston at the mansion and in the cave.
The Harvey Dent stuff isn't as interesting (despite my always having been at least a bit curious as to how things would have gone with they'd stuck with Billy Dee Williams as Dent in the movies instead of re-casting the part in "Batman Forever" with Tommy Lee Jones). For one thing, we've seen the origin of Two-Face story told so many times by this point both in the comics and also in the various animated television series and films ("Batman Forever" and "The Dark Knight") that it's very hard to bring much of anything new that that story. And the seeds here to Dent's dual personality both prior to the accident and also after it are just not particularly convincing.
(There is an interesting moment, however, during a hallucination sequence where Dent believes it is many years later and he is governor and Barbara Gordon is the new Gotham police commissioner. She explains to him that he was right, that "Bruce Wayne flipped" and admitted to being the money man behind "a small army of mercenaries" playing as Batman. She shows him four photographs of men in the Batman costume without their masks and they are clearly meant to resemble fellow Batman film actors Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, and Ben Affleck.)
So, the story comes across as pretty average due to this and also due to Hamm trying to fit too much into it (Two-Face, Catwoman, the introductions of both Barbara Gordon and Drake Winston/Robin).
The art is what I would call "good overall but not great". Quiñones art here is more of a traditional movie adaptation style in the sense that it's drawn pretty much like he would draw any comic (I'd imagine) just with the faces just generally (sometimes vaguely) resembling the actors (unlike the "Superman '78" art by Wilfredo Torres which looks so much like the Superman movies that he had to have been making extensive use of photo references for the facial likenesses and even for characters posing like when showing Superman in flight).
I generally like both styles. Torres's "Superman '78" comes across as more visually exciting to me, though, than Quiñones's does. For one thing, Hamm's plotting is much "denser" here than Robert Venditti's "Superman '78's", as Quiñones' pages are crammed full of lots of little panels (many of them six or seven panels to a page). So, there's a lot more going on per page here than in "Superman '78", but there are also fewer exciting moments, visually speaking.
And, I hate to say it, but Quiñones' art is done no favors by how dark the artwork comes across in this story, the fault I suppose I have to put upon color artist Leonardo Ito. Now, I get that he was probably going for a tone reminiscent of the 1989 "Batman" film. However, his colors are *so* dark here in the many exterior night scenes and while taking place in the Batcave as to make much of Quiñones line art nearly impossible to make out. It's possible that this is some sort of production issue and not that of Ito's coloring (there are also a couple panels showing computer screens that are so small that it is impossible to read what's on the screen; I suspect this is a hold-over from when they thought this was going to be a "Digital First" release, where one would be viewing the story panel-by-panel enlarged to the size of one's phone or computer screen).
There is a lot of potential here and I suppose that "Batman '89" is probably a must read for die hard fans of the 1989 Tim Burton "Batman" movie. (Comic book direct market sales charts were still coming out at the time the first issues of "Batman '89" and "Superman '78" were coming out and, according to what I saw there, "Batman '89" #1 was ordered by comics shops and online comics retailers by around one hundred thousand copies more than they did "Superman '78" #1. Both first issues had many variant covers, so I have to presume it was just the general "Batman is cooler than Superman" mentality driving this, plus the fact that the Christopher Reeve Superman movies are cultural touchstones for comic book readers roughly my age (I turn 51 in three weeks; I was six years old when "Superman: The Movie" came out in 1978 and eight when "Superman II" in 1980) while the Michael Keaton "Batman" serves the same for a slightly younger generation just turning forty and I have to assume there are probably more forty-year-olds still buying monthly comic books than there are fifty-plus-year-olds. (I was seventeen years old when the 1989 "Batman" movie came out, so part way through high school. To me, the Michael Keaton "Batman" was a really cool new film but I never really thought of Keaton as *the* Batman actor of my generation as I had earlier with Christopher Reeve and Superman).
I gave "Batman '89" three out of five stars on GoodReads. I really hope that we get to see more of these "Batman '89" and "Superman '78" comics as both have potential for even better stories going forwards (and both have their own built-in audiences, the fans of the films). However, based on the previous similar tie-ins DC has done ("Batman '66", "Wonder Woman '77", and the CW "Arrowverse" tie-in series), they all seem to have pretty short runs. I believe "Batman '66" ran for the longest and most issues, including quite a few crossover mini-series with other tv characters like the Green Hornet, Steed and Mrs. Peel (the 1960s tv "Avengers"), the "Man from U.N.C.L.E.", and Lynda Carter's "Wonder Woman '77"....more
A few days ago, I finished reading "Superman '78" (2022, published by DC Comics), by Robert Venditti (writer), Wilfredo Torres (artist), Jordie BellaiA few days ago, I finished reading "Superman '78" (2022, published by DC Comics), by Robert Venditti (writer), Wilfredo Torres (artist), Jordie Bellaire (colorist), Dave Lanphear (letterer).
Reprints material originally released in single issue comic books format as "Superman '78" #1-6 (October 2021-March 2022. (Was originally announced to be a DC "Digital First" release starting in July 2021 and to run for twelve digital comic book chapters in that format prior to appearing in print, but the smaller digital release chapters apparently didn't end up happening.)
This hardcover collected edition has a cover by Wilfredo Torres and Jordie Bellaire, and also original issues cover art by Wilfredo Torres and Jordie Bellaire, Ben Oliver, Amy Reeder, Brad Walker and Nathan Fairbairn, Francis Manapul, Mikel Janin, Evan "Doc" Shaner, Bryan Hitch and Alex Sinclair, Lee Weeks, Chris Samnee and Giovanna Niro, Jamal Campbell, and Rafa Sandoval and Alejandro Sanchez. Also includes a seven page "Superman '78 Sketchbook" by Wilfredo Torres, and a one-page tribute page to "Superman: The Movie" director, Richard Donner (1930-2021).
Buoyed by the success of recent newly released original comic book series based on the 1966-1968 Adam West "Batman" television series (under the title "Batman '66") and 1975-1979 Lynda Carter television series ("Wonder Woman '77"), DC Comics took things to the next logical step and ventured in 2021 into telling original adventures of their two greatest motion picture renditions of their Superman and Batman characters, namely the Christopher Reeve "Superman: The Movie" (1978) and Michael Keaton "Batman" (1989) versions.
Prior to this, DC's only comic books featuring the Reeve and Keaton versions of their characters were single issue movie adaptations of "Superman III" (1983) and "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" (1987)—there were no comic book or novel adaptations of "Superman: The Movie" (1978) or "Superman II" (1980) due to the deal made between Warner Bros. and original movie story writer, Mario Puzo—and single issue comic book adaptations of "Batman" (1989) and "Batman Returns" (1992) (and also the two subsequent Batman sequels that didn't star Michael Keaton, "Batman Forever" (1995) and "Batman and Robin" (1997). (These single issue comic book adaptations all came out in the same years as their respective movies.)
"Superman '78", this new story by Venditti, Torres, et al., clearly takes place after the events of "Superman: The Movie" and "Superman II" (but appears, just as the 2006 film, "Superman Returns", to disavow the events of "Superman III" and "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace", although it's possible that those events still took place prior to this story and are simply not referred to; there is a character in a few panels in street crowd scenes who very much resembles that of Richard Pryor's Gus Gorman character from "Superman III").
(Warning: Plot spoilers!) This story deals with the coming to Earth of Brainiac, a super advanced alien cybernetic being who travels the universe in his spaceship scooping up sample cities from planets on the brink of disaster, miniaturizing them, and storing them away in "bottles" aboard his ship. Brainiac believes that by doing so, he is preserving cultures about to go extinct (while at the same time imprisoning the inhabitants of those miniaturized cities).
One of his probe robots arrives on Earth first and comes into conflict with Superman, who easily defeats the robot but not before it can send a signal back to its master that there is a "Kryptonian infestation" on Earth needing to be removed. When Brainiac then arrives, Superman at first resists him. However, when Brainiac threatens to "excise" all of Metropolis, Superman surrenders and allows himself to be taken by Brainiac.
Aboard Brainiac's ship, Superman is miniaturized and put in one of the bottled cities where he discovers something he thought could not be possible, and entire Kryptonian city "saved" by Brainiac just before Krypton exploded. And-- again, spoilers!!! -- his birth parents are among them.
He resigns himself to his new life in this bottled city of Kandor, his powers gone due to the artificial red sun radiation inside the bottle and with seemingly no way to escape. That is, until Lois Lane makes a surprising and uneasy temporary alliance with none other than Lex Luthor ("the greatest criminal mind of our time", "the greatest criminal terror of our era", "the...") (Lois: "Enough with the self-styled nicknames!") to rescue Superman.
That's all I'll say about the plot. However, as a person who was six years old when the first Christopher Reeve move came out in 1978, and eight years old for "Superman II" in 1980 (which I recall as being one of the very first non animated movies I ever saw in a theater), *this* is a pure joy to read. Is the story all that original. No. We've had loads of Superman vs. Brainiac stories in the mainstream DC comics continuity. *This*, however, is like stepping back into a childhood memory, those cherished first two Superman movies of Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman, Jackie Cooper, Marc McClure, Marlon Brando, etc. Torres art style isn't "photo realistic", per se, but does a great job of capturing the spirit of the original actors (and at times does do amazingly accurate depictions of Kidder, Hackman, McClure, and Reeve).
My one slight criticism of Torres' art is that at times his action sequences are a bit hard to follow exactly what is happening. He'll have Superman standing there fighting Brainiac or Brainiac's robots with energy blasts surrounding him but it not being exactly clear just where the blasts are coming from (Superman or the robots) and where they are going (and if the robots are converging on Superman or falling backwards).
However, another thing Torres does very well is in how he depicts this Christopher Reeve inspired Superman in flight (generally a straighter flying position, as if "diving" through the air, as in the movies--as Reeve had to be positioned most of the time while in a flying harness in front of a blue screen--rather than how Superman is generally depicted as flying in the comics), and also in the use of his other powers (x-ray vision, heat vision, super cold "freeze" breath, etc.).
To younger readers (ones who were not brought up on the Christopher Reeve movies), this will read as just another of the many, many Superman stories they might come across, each giving them a different seeming version of the character. To someone like me who considers Christopher Reeve "my Superman" (no offense to 1950s television Superman, George Reeves, who I also watched as a child), this "Superman '78" is magical. I gave it four out of five stars on GoodReads.
(P.S.: Another really cool thing about this story and its the use of Brainiac as the villain is that it has been said that if there had been a fifth Christopher Reeve movie that it might have featured Brainiac, and many fans have wished ever since that we could have seen this. So, we finally now have a version of what that might have been like.)...more
Read today: "The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special" (November 2022) by various creators (see below), published by DC Comics.
The actual 1992 "Read today: "The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special" (November 2022) by various creators (see below), published by DC Comics.
The actual 1992 "Death of Superman" story remains a pivotal moment in comics publishing regardless of one's personal feelings as to the quality of the story itself. Due to various factors that I don't really feel like going into here, the mainstream news media latched onto the news that DC was "killing off" Superman and next thing you know oodles of non comic book reading people were pouring into comic book shops buying up copies of "Superman" #75 (cover dated January 1993, released on November 19, 1992) because, not being regular comic book readers, many of them believed that Superman would stay dead and not be brought back (which he was less than a year later) and that it would one day be worth lots of money (which was pretty much impossible because DC printed reportedly over six million copies to keep up with the demand).
The "Death of Superman" was also a creative key point in DC publishing history as it was at a high point to many Superman readers, all four of the monthly Superman comic book titles ("Superman", "Adventures of Superman", "Superman: The Man of Steel", and "Action Comics"; later including a quarterly "Superman: The Man of Tomorrow" title, as well) continuing one into the other every week as if all one big single weekly Superman title. Some didn't care for this approach as each title's creative team was very much restricted from telling their own individual stories under this approach, but at the same time many did really like these "triangle number years" (referring to the small triangle numbers put on the covers to indicate the suggested reading order) because it resulted in, as a I already mentioned, a new continuing Superman story each and every week.
"The Death of Superman" also resulted in two even better (in my opinion) follow up story arcs, "Funeral for a Friend" (a.k.a., "World Without a Superman" for later reprints), which detailed the DC superheroes and general world reactions to the loss of Superman, and "Reign of the Supermen", which introduced four new Superman stand-ins (including John Henry Irons "Steel", who is in this special, and a new "Superboy" clone who would much later play a key role in one of the biggest DC events of the mid 2000s, "Infinite Crisis" (2005-2006), and, for better or for worse would start of chain of subsequent "big character events" (or "stunts", if you prefer) trying to repeat the Death of Superman's commercial success, such as the "breaking" of the Batman ("Knightfall" (1993-1994)) and the fall and replacement of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern ("Emerald Twilight" (1994)).
Okay, enough preamble. As I said at the top, this is the "Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special". It has a #1 on the cover and in the inside indicia (small print publishing information section) but it is almost certainly a one-shot (no further issues planned). It's only date inside or out is copyright 2022. It's official release date was November 8, 2022, which, if it had a cover date matching the other DC comic books released that week would have been January 2023 (just as with the original Death of Superman "Superman" #75 issue).
As is the custom these days, it was released with a "main cover" illustration (by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding) and many "variant cover" editions by other artists (ones by Jim Lee, Ivan Reis and Danny Miki, Dan Mora, Francesco Mattina, and Rafael Sarmento; I choose to buy the Rafael Sarmento variant cover).
This special is essentially the comic book equivalent of a short story collection, as it is not one long single story but is instead one 41 page lead story ("The Life of Superman") followed by three other shorter stories ("Above and Beyond", "Standing Ground", and "Time", all ten pages long), interspersed with single page pin-ups by various artists (Clay Mann and Tomeu Morey, Lee Weeks, Walter Simonson and Laura Martin, Fabio Moon, Bill Sienkiewicz, Gabriel Rodriguez, Jamal Campbell, Carmine Di Giandomenico, and Cully Hamner).
"The Life of Superman" is by Dan Jurgens (story and pencils), Brett Breeding (inks), Brad Anderson (colors), and John Workman (lettering) (the same creative team as was on the "Superman" montly title at the time the Death of Superman story happened). It, like the special itself, takes place in the now current DC continuity on the anniversary of Superman's death while fighting Doomsday. The story focuses on Superman and Lois Lane's son, Jon*--a character that I'm not at all familiar with as I haven't read a new in-continuity Superman comic book in probably ten years or more; but, then again, I haven't read hardly *any* new comic books in that time frame, not out of disinterest, just out of me taking a ten year hiatus away from the hobby while other things were going on my life--discovering for the first time in school the story of how his father "died" years ago, and the arrival of a very Doomsday looking "monster" suddenly showing up in Metropolis on this anniversary day, one that Superman immediately has to confront. (* It amuses me that an indexer at the Grand Comics Database website has added this note for this story: "Story is set in the past when Jon Kent is still a boy attending school, but several years after the "death" of Superman during the first encounter with Doomsday". That I obviously have missed quite a bit because this story doesn't even take place in the current DC "present" but in the "past" because Jon is only a boy here. I obviously am waaay behind what's going on these days.)
I like the plot here and also very much the art. Dan Jurgens was always one of my favorite Superman artists of the post John Byrne run era. My only hesitation in really liking this story a lot is Jurgens dialogue. It is excessively wordy and exposition-driven for much of the story (especially the parts where Lois is explaining to Jon what Doomsday was and what happened when his father had to fight Doomsday the first time). I understand that Jurgens was trying to frame this story as a remembrance of that now 30 year old story and to also explain it to today's younger readers who were not old enough to have read the original release (or any of the many reprint editions DC has released over the decades since then), but it come across as very clunky. And a lot of his little bits of character dialogue with the characters talking to each other seems rather dated, too. I don't know if he was emulating his writing style back then or if that's just how he still writes dialogue, but this story would have benefited from a separate dialogue writer, I believe. Still, it was a good story overall (if very conveniently wrapped up in the end, the key piece to defeating the monster being an item Lois discovers in... well, I don't want to spoil it.)
"Above and Beyond" is by Jerry Ordway (writer), Tom Grummett (pencils), Doug Hazlewood (inks), Glenn Whitmore (colors), and Rob Leigh (lettering) (the creative time back from the 1990s "Adventures of Superman" monthly title). This ten-page story is entirely on Superman's Earth parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent, in real time at the same time as Superman is fighting Doomsday the first time, at home in Smallville fretting over what they are watching on the television about what's happening in Metropolis. They decide they must break away from the coverage for awhile because it is too stressful for them and begin to reminisce about some of the other dangerous circumstances their son had been in up to that point and how he repeatedly was willing to sacrifice himself for the well being of others. A nice little story. Again, overly expositional (as is the entire point of the story, so hard to avoid here) that at times comes across as unnatural/forced. And Grummett, another favorite Superman artist of mine from the 1990s, is just okay here (some of his Superman figure work doesn't look quite as good as it did back then, although I don't know if that is him or his inker, Hazlewood; their Ma and Pa Kent are fine). In the end, the least memorable story in this special (but, again, not a bad story by any means).
"Standing Guard" is by Roger Stern (writer), Butch Guice (pencils and inks), Glenn Whitmore (colors), and Rob Leigh (lettering) (the writer-penciler team from the 1990s "Action Comics" run, although back then Guice was usually inked by Denis Rodier). This is my favorite story in this special. It follows the character of the Guardian (the 1990s clone of Jim Harper who was a product--and security head at--the secret Cadmus Project. I'm not even going to try to explain all of that here.) He is shown meeting up with Superman at least twice on that fateful day during Superman's cross country battle with Doomsday, who was relentlessly marching towards to Metropolis, wrecking death and destruction along the way. In the second scene, Guardian himself briefly sees the power of Doomsday which briefly knocks both him and Superman out. When he catches up with the battle again in Metropolis, it's too late. It's all over and both are dead. Everything is top notch in this short story, the plotting, the dialogue, and especially the art by Guice. This is perhaps the first artist to successfully depict well the extent of the injuries the normally "invulnerable" Superman was taking from Doomsday. His Superman looks genuinely beat up in the scenes he shares with Guardian. Truthfully, it is this story along with the Jurgens-Breeding lead in that I would recommend fans to buy this special for.
Lastly, "Time" is by Louise Simonson (writer), Jon Bogdanove (pencils and inks), Glenn Whitmore (colors), and Rob Leigh (lettering) (the writer-penciler team from the 1990s "Action Comics" run, although back then Bogdanove was usually inked by Dennis Janke and some other inkers). This is another "in between scenes" (like with the Ma and Pa Kent story) of what John Henry Irons (later dubbed Steel) was doing that day, fitting in between scenes depicted in the "Superman: Man of Steel" story introducing him back then. As depicted in the previous story, John Henry Irons had been saved (or so I seem to recall) by Superman some how and on the day Doomsday arrived Irons was buried in his collapsed building during the battle. He dug himself out and immediately went to try to help Superman. This new story picks up with him trying to get to the battle but repeatedly having to help others also impacted by the catastrophe along the way. Like with Guardian, he arrives too late to help Superman. A nice character piece on Steel (and it's nice to see Jon Bogdanove's art again after all these years), but like the Ma and Pa Kent story is in the end not very memorable.
Overall, this is a decent collection of stories, so I gave it an overall three out of five stars on GoodReads. I would recommend it to anyone who is old enough to have read the original 1992 "Death of Superman" story and enjoyed it (or, at the very least, didn't hate it), and who, like me, were regular Superman readers throughout that time period as it does bring back some nice, nostalgic memories of looking forward to each week's new issue of whichever Superman title was coming out that week. ...more
"Fantastic Four: Full Circle" by Alex Ross (writer and artist), Alex Ross with Josh Johnson (colorists), Ariana Maher (letterer) (Abrams ComicArts in "Fantastic Four: Full Circle" by Alex Ross (writer and artist), Alex Ross with Josh Johnson (colorists), Ariana Maher (letterer) (Abrams ComicArts in conjunction with Marvel Comics, 2022) Original graphic novel. Thoughts: Awesome. One of the best comics I've read all year. Alex Ross is famous for his usual "Norman Rockwell-esque" photo-realistic painting style that he's been using since 1994 ("Marvels" four-issue mini-series). This, however, is Ross's first major experiment with an entirely different art style, one more of a traditional line-art style (with clear nod to that of classic Jack Kirby Fantastic Four) combined with fantastic (pun intended) pop art style coloring. The story is adequate (a call back to a classic FF Stan Lee and Jack Kirby issue from the 1960s) but Ross has the four main characters down perfect in terms of their mannerisms, dialogue, and visual depictions. This is so far only available in hardcover from Abrams ComicArts (under license from Marvel Comics). Highly recommended. I gave this five out of five stars on GoodReads....more
"Charlie's Angels vs. The Bionic Woman" by Cameron DeOrdio (writer), Soo Lee (artist), Addison Duke (colorist), Crank! and Tom Napolitano (letterers),"Charlie's Angels vs. The Bionic Woman" by Cameron DeOrdio (writer), Soo Lee (artist), Addison Duke (colorist), Crank! and Tom Napolitano (letterers), Cat Staggs (original primary covers and collection cover artist) (Dynamite Entertainment, 2021; originally released in single issue format as "Charlie's Angels vs. The Bionic Woman" #1-4 (2019-2019 (couldn't find the original months). Thoughts: I have to say that I was disappointed with the execution of this one. Supposedly taking place in 1983 (after the ends of both the "Bionic Woman" and "Charlie's Angels" tv series), what could have been a very interesting story (especially as depicted on the *covers* of the individual issues, which depicted very close likenesses of Lindsay Wagner and the three "Charlie's Angel" actresses, Jaclyn Smith, Cheryl Ladd, and Tanya Roberts) is sabotaged by both not bad but a poorly matched artist to this type of material (Soo Lee's art here is what I would call very "manga-esque", although I admit that I am not very knowledgeable about manga and some might disagree with that assessment; regardless, I found that Lee drew the three "Charlie's Angel's" ladies pretty much identical to each other with only their hair color as distinguishing characteristics). The other big fault I found here was that Jaime for the first part of the story acts very out of character, and that the Oscar Goldman shown here is *clearly* not the same character as portrayed by Richard Anderson on the tv series. He is drawn differently, he is shown sparring with Jaime in hand-to-hand fight training several times (something I could never see Anderson's Oscar doing), and (spoilers) is written in such a way to give me the same feeling I did at the end of the first "Mission Impossible" movie with Tom Cruise in regards to the use of the Jim Phelps character there (that's all I'll say about that for fear of going too much away). Again, I think Soo's art is nice in a general sort of way but not a very good match for a licensed tie-in comic book like this one. Oh, yeah, and not only do the three "Charlie's Angels" characters look alike here we also get pretty much zero character time with any of them except for a bit with Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith's character). We don't get any back story of them aside from a bit of the opening narration from the tv show ("Once upon a time, there were three little girls who went to the police academy...") And, of course, the requisite "Hello Charlie" meetings with Bosley and Charlie (over the desk loudspeaker) at the office. I gave this two out of five stars on GoodReads....more
"The Six Million Dollar Man: In Japan" by Christopher Hastings (writer), David Hahn (artist), Roshan Kurichiyanil (colorist), Arian Maher (letterer), "The Six Million Dollar Man: In Japan" by Christopher Hastings (writer), David Hahn (artist), Roshan Kurichiyanil (colorist), Arian Maher (letterer), Michael Walsh (original primary covers and collection cover artist) (Dynamite Entertainment, 2020; originally released in single issue format as "The Six Million Dollar Man" #1-5 (March 2019 to July 2019). Thoughts: Okay, this is probably one of the more polarizing Dynamite Six Million Dollar Man mini-series because it's clearly an attempt at a completely separate "reboot" version of the character (the mini-series when it initially came out in the monthly single issue format was simply titled "The Six Million Dollar Man"; they added the "In Japan" for the trade paperback), one more cartoony in the art style and humorous in the way the character is depicted. He's a bit Steve Austin and a bit Inspector Gadget. (He *clearly* has much more of his body replaced by cybernetic parts than just the one arm, one eye, and two legs that the tv Steve Austin did.) Since the writer and artist made it quite clear what sort of story this was going to be right from the outset, though, I was able to enjoy it for what it was, a fun different take on the character (as if for a possible spin-off cartoon series). I gave this three out of five stars on GoodReads....more
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