Batman: What Happened to the Caped Crusader? – A Review

Batman #686 and Detective Comics #853
Written by: Neil Gaiman
Drawn by: Andy Kubert
Published by: DC Comics

It’s always an event when comics legend, Neil Gaiman (Sandman, Eternals) returns to comics to do … anything. I can’t even imagine it being much of a discussion after “hi, I’m Neil Gaiman. I’d like to do a tribute to Batman.” This story harkens back to the classic Alan Moore (Watchmen) story, “Whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” from Superman#423 & Action Comics #583.

“I guess I always knew this was how it was going to end. That we didn’t have him forever.” –Commissioner James Gordon

Gaiman manages to mine some of his favorite themes: childhood and storytelling and the magic and power of both. There’s not much action in this tale of Batman, but it’s more about someone mulling over their life and sorting through who he is and how he got there. There’s almost a bit of Canterbury Tales story structure to the story. Batman has apparently died and both heroes and villains have gathered for a funeral, giving eulogies about how they killed Batman. We go through numerous scenarios of how Batman could have died (including one version where Alfred becomes the Joker in order to facilitate Bruce Wayne’s obsession with dressing up as a bat. Every hero needs a villain to give him purpose).

“I fight until I drop. And one day, I will drop.” –Batman

The point of this story is that it really doesn’t matter how you die but rather that someday you are actually going to die. Your actions in this life have an effect that goes beyond what you may be able to see at the time. You don’t know how many lives you are going to impact, either positively or negatively. Some of the things you could learn from your funeral are: what was your life made of? Who did you impact? What did you accomplish? It boils down to how would you like to be remembered and how can you live the life to lead up to such a eulogy. And that’s something profound for anyone to mull over, even a Batman.

“Then one day someone comes along who makes sense of the madness. Who understand it. Who wants to fix it.” –Det. Bullock

To finish, strictly speaking, means to bring something to an end or to completion. In Acts 20:24, the apostle Paul writes that his own life didn’t matter to him as long as he’d “finish the race and complete the task” that the Lord gave him. For Batman it was a simple core belief, as he puts it, “I believe in laws and in right and wrong” and until he has finished the fight for justice, he lives by his credo of “don’t give up”.

The coolest part of “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?” was seeing Batman from various eras. Kubert’s art matches Gaiman’s story perfectly. The abstracts and symbolism, the nods to the various continuities, create such an insider brew that what’s being said gets rather garbled in the metanarrative. The story didn’t quite come together perfectly for me. This is a fitting capstone, however, to not just the Grant Morrison run on the book, but also for the recent "Batman: R.I.P." storyline. Plus, it’s Neil Gaiman: even slightly off his game, the sheer weight of his ideas and narrative puts him head and shoulders above most everything else out there.

Black Panther – A Review

Written by: Reginald Hudlin
Drawn by: Ken Lashley
Published by: Marvel Comics


I always pick up any new #1 of Black Panther. I just can’t help myself because part of me is always hoping that they’ll do the character right. The quintessential interpretation of the Black Panther was Christopher Priest’s classic run on the book. In it, we saw a king ten steps ahead of anyone else, who had different character motivations, and who was a complex yet driven character. Reginald Hudlin generally continued in this vein, though to a much more hit and miss extent.

From the cover, we’re promised a female Black Panther. Unfortunately, this is the age of stories written for eventual collection into trade paperbacks, meaning that the initial storyline is 4-6 issues long and issue number one, with few exceptions, plays like an extended prologue. In other words, the promised female Black Panther doesn’t make an appearance in this issue.

However, the story picks up against the back drop of Marvel’s company-wide "Dark Reign" storyline (which boils down to Norman Osborn having been given the keys to the Marvel kingdom). The story unfolds in a fractured style, bouncing between past and present, taking a page from the Christopher Priest brand of storytelling. We have royalty (in the form of Prince Namor) seeking out an audience with T'Challa, with eventually another fallen monarch, Dr. Doom, making an appearance.

“They follow his every move. To say they worship him is not a figure of speech.”

The Black Panther is a book about a king protecting his kingdom. What I appreciate most about these characters is that it’s easy to forget that he and Namor aren’t typical of the spandex set. They are monarchs, with different agendas and kingdoms to protect and guide. The Black Panther, along with his new bride, Storm, is practically worshiped by his people.

The natural spiritual connection that stems from this is the idea of the "kingdom of God". After all, Jesus proclaimed that the kingdom of God was at hand. But what does it mean? Allen Mitsuo Wakabayashi, in his book Kingdom Come, defines it this way: "the kingdom of God is about the dynamic of God's kingship being applied". That is, God reigns and when that reign becomes specific one can say the kingdom of God is here. Jesus announces the near-arrival of the kingdom, this continuity between our here and now and a future heaven. His call was simply that all those who wanted to enter this kingdom simply had to repent and believe his gospel message. And we’re all invited into this kingdom.

Too much about the book reeks of hype, from the re-launch as a new number one (making this essentially volume 5 of the Black Panther) to the extension of the "Dark Reign" metanarrative to the promised female Black Panther to paying for a double-sized issue and only getting the standard length comic plus some filler, er, bonus material. Not exactly the best way to deliver on the hype.

Dark Avengers

Written by Brian Bendis
Illustrated by Mike Deodato
Published by Marvel Comics

Mighty, New, Initiative, and now Dark, apparently the Avengers are franchising like they have the words Law & Order or C.S.I. in their name. However, Dark Avengers is not your father’s Avengers. This team consists of Captain Marvel, former Kree warrior; Sentry, a powerful “Superman” with severe mental issues; Ms. Marvel, the villainess known as Moonstone; Ares, god of war; Wolverine, Daken, the “real” Wolverine’s unstable son; Hawkeye, the Daredevil arch-nemesis, Bullseye; Spider-Man, everyone’s favorite villain, Venom; and is led by Iron Patriot, Norman Osborn, yeah, the former Green Goblin. This team is more Thunderbolts than Avengers.

“You will go out there and you will defend this world. You will keep it safe from those who would have it otherwise.”

The espionage group, S.H.I.E.L.D., once led by Nick Fury, has given way to H.A.M.M.E.R. and Norman Osborn’s vision. Finding targets and striking is the spirit of H.A.M.M.E.R., in order to make people feel safe (which makes as much sense as the idea of the Avengers involving avenging, even though they were more in line with the idea of the Defenders, except, well, that that team sucked).

As a division of H.A.M.M.E.R., the Dark Avengers are “a hardcore team” which is “what the world wants right now” (apparently in droves as the first four issues have sold out and gone back to press repeatedly). This is the kind of team that would swoop in and rip off an enemy’s head.

“Today, you—and me—we’re going to decide to live life to the fullest.” –Norman

Dark Avengers wouldn’t be nearly as interesting if it didn’t revolve around fascinating characters in search of redemption. Even (or especially) villains can find redemption, if they truly want it. God works through people to put wrongs right, to fulfill his mission to reconcile creation back to him. And when I think about “villains” doing the right thing, I’m reminded of the following is a quote from C.S. Lewis’ "The Last Battle," from the chapter "Further up and Further in.":

"Then I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death, for the Lion (who is worthy of all honour) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be Tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen him. But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me. Then by reasons of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath's sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted. Dost thou understand, Child? I said, Lord, thou knowest how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou shouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek."

“When you deny yourself your humanity. You create something else. You create a …” –Norman “… void.” –Sentry

Sentry, though not strictly a villain, is a perfect example. He fears his dark side, what he calls The Void. “The void is in me” he often says. We all have voids in us, deficits or a shadow self. We all struggle against an inner darkness which we fear may overtake us. We can’t live from a place of fear. We can’t be afraid to love out of fear. All we can do is love without taking one another for granted, pray for one another’s continued safety, and be there for one another when the bad times come. And they will come, no matter how much we may want to protect people from them.

Brian Michael Bendis knows how to weave old characters and new, continuing to build epic stories that will be long-remembered. And he’s made the (Dark) Avengers relevant and popular again, taking their place as the (off) center of the Marvel Universe. Dark Avengers has a countdown quality to it, like we’re simply waiting for this bad idea to collapse on itself and we’re making popcorn so that we can enjoy the implosion from the front row. It’s the coolest thing to come out of Dark Reign (though, I’m quite tired of storylines which wrap through the entire universe and having to buy a bunch of books in order to stay abreast of things).

Chronicles of Wormwood – A Review

Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Jacen Burrows
Published by: Avatar Press

Do you remember Garth Ennis’ The Boys? And how it was cancelled by DC, despite its strong sales, due to content issues? Well, luckily there’s always Avatar, the indie publisher often the home to pet projects from creators like Ennis, Mark Millar and Warren Ellis which the major publishers wouldn't touch. Well, with his Chronicles of Wormwood, it’s not like he has tamed anything. And I have no idea why no major publisher would touch this. I’m going to make a casual list of some characters and scenarios. You decide if this book is for you:

-Danny Wormwood, the Anti-Christ, has decided to turn his back on his destiny and simply goes about his business running a cable company much like HBO.
-He hangs out with a talking bunny named Jimmy.
-He pals around at a bar with Jay, what he calls Jesus Christ. Jay, upon his second coming, had his head bashed in by the LAPD and received brain damage. Yeah, a buddy story between the Anti-Christ and Brain-Damaged Jesus.
-His dad, Satan, isn’t exactly please that he’s turned his back on the family business.
-He spends his evenings buggering Joan of Arc
-There’s a drunken, sex-addicted Irish Pope who has him in his cross-hairs.

To say the book is filled with Ennis’ trademark coarse humor, profanity, blasphemy, and sex, is like saying he puts the “F” in satire.

Exploring the nature of religion and faith is familiar territory for Ennis, with Preacher being the highlight of his career thus far. He has several ideas about Jesus and heaven. For example, he believes that Jay “didn’t want God to be a bogeyman. He wanted compassion and tolerance and peaceful coexistence. He wanted to tear down the temples of the money lenders, wanted men to live by sharing.” … but that “didn’t work out too well for him.”

By issue three, Wormwood and Jay visit heaven and come to find out that heaven’s about being a decent person and loving one another while you’re alive. And that just because you don’t believe in God doesn’t mean you haven’t lived according to the life He’s called you to or done His will.

Despite Ennis wanting to move past the “myth” and constraints of religion, just because you’ve removed God and the devil from equation of your life doesn’t mean that the reality of the spiritual dimension, or its occasional intrusions, is also removed. You still are a free moral agent who has to choose what kind of life to lead, to make heaven or hell.

The other theme that jumps out is the idea that you don’t have to be who you think you are. You don’t have to be trapped by a default setting idea of who you are expected to be. You are a precious creation of God. Precious. Accept this definition of yourself. No, better stated, accept the truth of yourself. Recognize that you, too, are an eikon, an image-bearer of God; worthy of respect, value, and love. We participate in the Divine Being, meant to partake in the Divine Life and Happiness. We were created in love, for love, and are to open ourselves to the possibility of love. Embrace that love.

Here’s the kicker: if you can take it, The Chronicles of Wormwood is fast-paced, entertaining, clever, and surreal. No bit of sacrilege is left unturned. He wants to jab a finger in the eye of religion all the while exploring and getting to the root of religion’s core. It’s not exactly a challenge to make spiritual connections to this book. If nothing else, it’s a definite conversation starter.


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After the Cape – A Review

Writer: Jim Valentino (Writer/Plot), Howard Wong (Creator/Dialogue)
Artist: Marco Rudy
Publisher: Image Comics

Athletes, like actors or musicians, are entertainers. And as much as we, as a society, love to build people up, we love to tear them down, or at least make popcorn and enjoy their tumble from grace. It’s part of the tendency in the human species to want to see our heroes brought low, to revel in their downfalls and use their failings as proof that they were never really better than us after all. And we are just as entertained by train wrecks as we are super star performances.

Superheroes are constantly being constructed and deconstructed. It’s the nature of their mythology which lends itself to this process. And this can be done to great effect and plumb the depths of an icon’s character. It’s part of what makes Frank Miller’s Daredevil run and his Dark Knight Returns such classics. Unfortunately, After the Cape, despite its promise, won’t come close to such classics.

“It feels like we’ve been living this crappy life of ours forever, but after today, that’s all going to change.” –Ethan

After the Cape is the story of Ethan Falls (subtly named), also known as Captain Gravity; a hero with clay … everything. Drummed out of the super hero biz due to his drinking problem, he is much like the flawed hero, Tony Stark/Iron Man. Unfortunately, Ethan continues to use his powers, and because has to support his family, he turns to crime. That is pretty much the entire character study and plot. The story takes several issues to go not much further than that.

When we think of “The Fall”, we go back to the story in Genesis about the sin of Adam and Eve. Moving beyond a literal interpretation of the story, Adam’s sin represents man seeking his own way. Our pursuit of what we hope to create out of rebellion (the lie of independence), attempting to write our own stories; all the while ignoring the grand story of which we’re a part. The Fall also gives us the main themes of Story. Relationships are broken and look at what we arises from this conflict: man vs. man; man vs. God; man vs. self; man vs. Creation. One of the things that makes suffering so bad is the sense, the part of us that knows, that things aren’t as they’re supposed to be.

“This can’t be happening.” –Ethan

Ethan’s fall came with the temptation of power, specifically to misuse power (much like Jesus’ temptation by Satan in the desert). Having been given free will, he, like the rest of us, is free to make good or bad choices … and must face the consequences of those choices. Ethan chose to short cut his way through life, to cross the line, and use his gifts for his own ends (even good, justifiable ends)

“You ruined your own life.” –Shadow Stalker

On the flip side, the mark of a hero isn’t the catalogue of his imperfections, but what he does in spite of them. Heroes only fall so far because they’ve been placed to high in the first place. Some of this is understandable, as heroes are to be held to a higher standard (thus part of why we come to resent them and infer a sense of superiority to them).

Even after a fall from grace, when you’ve watched everything you’ve worked for crumble about you, there’s still hope for redemption. God can still use fallen heroes. Yes, you have to pay the consequences, pick up the pieces, and start over, but that’s the process. Wallowing in your guilt is just as stifling as not facing your sin. Face what you’ve done and repent, then realize that at some point you’re done repenting. You bear the consequences, whatever they may be, and move on. The journey back to being a hero, to be what we were created to be, has to be a careful process.

“He’s still one of us, even if he thinks differently. And we don’t abandon our own.” –Paladin

After the Cape uses up enough black ink to make me think I picked up an issue of Sin City. The art manages to convey a world shrouded in shadows, and black and whites. Unfortunately, the story was a potentially intriguing character study undermined by not straying from the familiar path of its theme. Its lack of real exploration as it sticks to very surface treatment might have more of an emotional resonance if we “knew” these heroes. Instead, it comes across as deconstruction for deconstructions sake. And thus is ultimately unsatisfying.


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Watchmen The Comic – A Review

“The Greater Good”

Written by: Alan Moore
Art by: Dave Gibbons
Published by: DC Comics

“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes.” (Who watches the watchmen?)

Hailed by Time Magazine’s 100 best English language novels since 1923, Watchmen is considered the masterpiece of the comic book medium. Based on heroes from the Charlton Comics (The Peacemaker, Captain Atom, The Question, Blue Beetle, etc.) line which DC had acquired, Alan Moore crafted a dense tale which explored the reality of super heroes (The Comedian, Dr. Manhattan, Rorshach, Nite Owl, etc.). Not only wanting to get to the real heart of the super hero life and how it differed from public perception, it also examined the roles of super heroes, over two generations (the Minutemen and then the “Crimebusters”), in society.

“Every day the future looks a little bit darker but the post, even the grimy parts of it, well it just keeps getting brighter all the time.” –Sally/Silk Spectre

Taking place on an alternate earth in 1986, the world stands on brink of nuclear annihilation. It’s the height of the cold war, Russia is making noises along its borders and both sides are stockpiling nuclear weapons. Against this backdrop, told mostly through the voice of Rorschach, is the investigation of the death of one of his contemporaries, The Comedian. On surface lies a simple murder mystery, one which explores the sordid tale of a Golden Age (when Hooded Justice first leapt into the masked fray) and a Silver Age generation of heroes (ushered in with the appearance of the superman, Dr. Manhattan) told from modern age perspective. The stories of the two generations not only interconnect, but build thematically on one another.

The book’s literary appeal is what has given it such lasting resonance. Little things made the comic so great, like how so much revealed and foreshadowed in the beginning, that the reader just doesn’t realize until they get to the end. The dense literary allusions. The clocks moving toward midnight. The recurring symbols. The extras at the end of each individual comic, from book excerpts to essays on super heroes. The parallel panel work of issue #5 entitled “Fearful Symmety”. Everything is connected; events even those which are seemingly trivial, are mirrored or referenced later.

Tales of the Black Freighters—a comic a background character is reading throughout the story—is an obvious homage to the E.C. Comics line, at the time the most popular comics line until they were forced out of business by censorship pressures. What happened to E.C. paralleled not only the 50s “Red” trials in our reality and but also the treatment Minutemen when they were forced into retirement in the Watchmen reality. The E.C. stories were described, in one of the appendix extras of the book, as “recounted as small, self-contained tales within the larger narrative that frames them,” a description easily used for Watchmen; just like Moore could be talking about himself when he writes about Max Shea … and it eerily foreshadows much of Moore’s relationship with DC in subsequent years.

“We were doing something because we believed in it.” –Hollis/Nite Owl I

The thing about Watchmen is that it’s not about the spandex set’s fisticuffs, but about their interactions. Most of the book is simply conversations, punctuated by violence which seem that much more violent due to the book’s quiet tone. Even a casual study of the psychology of super hero reveals the kind of extreme personalities it takes to wear your underwear over your pants and don masks. The same impulse to do good which led “normal” folks to become cops, firefighters, and doctors, allowed masked vigilantes to escape into their pulp fiction and comic book worlds. They operated outside the boundaries of laws which in itself, a slipperiest of slippery moral slopes.

“Why does one death matter against so many? Because there is good and there is evil and evil must be punished. Even in the face of Armageddon I shall not compromise in this.” –Rorschach

Inflexible, incorruptible, and pure, Rorschach, with his fluid mask which keeps changing, has a right wing flair about his nature and politics. The Comedian saw life as a cruel joke. Dr. Manhattan’s power made him so transcendent, such a superman, that he became more alien/less human with each passing day. The affairs of humanity mattered less and less. His emergence as a true meta-human heightened the unease people felt in the presence of superheroes as well as the uncertainty of the times. The villains were largely an assemblage of psycho/sexual deviants which the true ones, true evil, wore business suits and kept on marching, regardless of the presence of super heroes.


“They had a choice, all of them. They could have followed in the footsteps of good men … instead they followed the droppings of lechers.” –Rorschach

We look at the world around us, the culture that we’ve made of it, and we realize just how much of a mess of it we’ve made. Ozymandias’ diagnosis is correct: individual crimes/evils “are just symptoms of an overall sickness of the human spirit, and I don’t believe you can cure a disease by suppressing its symptoms.” If the rallying cry is that the greater good must be served, then we have to ask ‘what does it mean to serve the greater good?’ We have choices in how we go about transforming the world. We could layer it in laws and bootstrapping the enforcement of them.

We can trust in ourselves, our own ingenuity, creativity, and intelligence. Like Dr. Manhattan, who is so aware of space and time and the dance of atoms, sees how everything is held together, is free and predetermined, yet loses his perspective. But somewhere shy of “the ends justify the means”, we have to also check ourselves by asking “how can actions that are wrong lead to a greater good?”

“Somebody has to save the world.” –Nelson/Captain Metropolis

We have to ask ourselves “what does it mean to change the world?” One way this might look is for one man to take it upon himself to be the world’s savior. Modeling himself on Alexander the Great, using evil as his means, unaware that the biggest villain it the sin of his own hubris. Not satisfied with something so seemingly simple as “love thy neighbor as thyself,” he has to do ‘big” things, things on a more “meaningful scale.”

Counter-intuitively, we need to reduce our scope. All true change happens at the most local level. We must begin by changing our world, our sphere of immediate influence. Another Savior might set out a kingdom mission with the hope that this world can be rescued, redeemed, renewed, and transformed. In the cross, Jesus takes an instrument of death and destruction and transforms it into a symbol of life. Through his death and resurrection, He sets the stage for a different kind of world, one where grace and forgiveness reign supreme and uses love and peace as its chief weapons. It’s a call to a greater way of living, changing lives one at a time in order to change the world. Doing good, helping your neighbor, such deeds ripple out and help world … ecause everything’s connected.

“Existence is random. Has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long. No meaning save what we choose to impose. This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It’s us. Only us.” –Rorschach

The legacy of Watchmen is that it was a watershed moment which was about striving to see how much it could do with the medium. In the kind of multi-layered stories which could be told, the comics grew up. It’s funny how Watchmen laments how things got “so serious” after the first age of costumed adventurers since that’s exactly what happened to the comic book industry in the wake of Watchmen. Many books became dark for dark’s sake, missing the point of what it means to be adult tales. It wasn’t about having a license to cuss, show nudity, or have graphic violence. It was about interconnecting plots, themes, complex storytelling.

Dave Gibbons nine panel format didn’t allow for a wasted panel, each one meaningful crammed with details that build the story. When a creation hits on all cylinders, with an artist so at the peak of his skills, it seems that he draws above himself; and a writer drawing on so much material, he seems to write outside of himself, the result stands the test of time. It’s like magic.


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Pride of Baghdad - A Review

Written by: Brian K. Vaughan
Art by: Niko Henrichon
Publisher: DC/Vertigo

Pride of Baghdad deserves to go onto the list of graphic novels that transcends the medium. Much like Maus, it is based on a true story, one whose characters—despite them being talking animals—are so painfully vivid, they move the narrative to whole new levels. Written by Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Runaways) with art from Niko Henrichon , Pride of Baghdad tells the tale from the earliest days of the war in Iraq. During a bombing run, the Baghdad zoo was destroyed. Four lions escape, an unlikely pride end up in the capital city as the U.S. invades. Even though you know how it’s going to end , it’s the lions first taste of freedom.

This pride is built on complex inter-relationships. Zill, the male head, is a lion in winter, having grown comfortable and fat in his cage, though he “remembers” the old days, spins tales of his hunts, and dreams of one day seeing the horizon again. Noor is Zill's current mate, the fierce warrior hunter not content to be trapped in her cage, however gilded it may be, and constantly schemes of escape. Ali is the cub of Zill and Noor, a child who has only known the cage, but believes in the dream of her father. And Safa, the old lioness and former mate of Zill, who has learned to live in the cage and the safety it offers.

“Freedom can’t be given, only earned.” –Noor

Many of us are like Safa, believing freedom comes with too high a price to personal safety, and thus content ourselves in limiting boxes. We have this fear of ourselves, of others, of community and church, and of the unknown. We become content to “guard ourselves”. We like to define and categorize; it’s our effort to understand. We love to ascribe order to chaos because the world can be a scary and complex place.

“God, you ignorant young ‘radicals’ disgust me. My dung has a deeper understanding of this world than you.” –Fajer

Freedom is a gift, but it’s a gift that comes with certain responsibilities. It requires us to be accountable for ourselves. Too many people want to be told what to do; that’s why there is such a comfort to rules, that’s the draw of becoming legalistic or fundamentalist. They want the black and white picture of reality and hate (or at least distrust) anything that smacks of gray. And they don’t mind the encroachment of their freedoms in order to secure their vision of safety.

“We’re all born wanted this, ” Zill says of freedom, but Noor asks “And how is it unlearned?” We don’t trust freedom and we certainly aren’t comfortable with this whole idea of liberation. Freedom means challenging yourself and exploring new ideas, not sealing yourself away from “the world” and its evil influences. We chafe against expectations and boundaries even as we content ourselves with cages, playing in mud pies and making small boxes that are safe. Order comes at a price and we become trapped in zoos of our own making. Yet “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

“These who would hold us captive are always tyrants.” –Noor

At first I wasn’t a fan of the art; it came across as poorly inked sketches. Then I noticed how convincing the emotions of the animals rang through the pages. How the stark beauty of nature could be conveyed in one moment and the horror and brutality of war rip it apart in the next. Not afraid of political and social commentary, Pride of Baghdad evokes George Orwell’s Animal Farm in its examination of life, relationships, and war from a different perspective.

Pride of Baghad is a tragic and beautiful graphic novel, truly one of the best things I’ve read in a long, long time. It is a powerful and emotional book that deserves to take its place among the best graphic novels ever written.

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The Twelve - A Review

I can’t seem to get away from J. Michael Straczynski’s work. After his long tenure on Amazing Spider-Man and his current runaway hit, Thor, he now tackles the high though achingly familiar concept, The Twelve. The story begins in Berlin during the final days of the Nazi regime when twelve heroes independently descend upon the SS headquarters and fall victim to a Nazi trap. The Twelve are Rockman, Black Widow, Blue Blade, Master Mind Excello, Mr. E, Laughing Mask, Dynamic Man, Firery Mask, The Witness, Captain Wonder, and the Phantom Reporter. These were heroes from the Timely Comics era, Marvel Comics’ predecessor. Placed in “freezing tubes” to be defrosted after the Americans leave Berlin, the plan goes awry and the Nazis never come back for them. The US military is called in after the chamber is discovered by a modern day construction crew and they discuss whether or not they’re going to thaw them out. Then again, considering these are the times of Civil War and Secret Invasions, it’s not like trust in super heroes isn’t at a premium. Awakened, the story revolves around how the Twelve react to the future and how the current heroes react to the past.

We have a long time fascination with the World War II era/The Greatest Generation. It was a simpler time we often long for, when good guys and bad guys were clearly delineated. After all, the Nazis were and are the quintessential evil villain. The idea of altruistic relics of the past confronted with the cynical reality of the present/their future has been done since Captain America was frozen in ice and awakened in a time not his own. Told from the point of view of the Phantom Reporter, a “tourist,” or a costumed hero who tags along with major heroes, The Twelve has a reporter’s feel and tone.

Everyone has a secret, something he or she is running toward or from, as they try to figure out where they fit in this new world. Squadron Supreme and even Rising Stars, in retrospect, either look like they were practice runs for this series or Straczynski going back to his familiar themes, putting different heroes through same paces. Since this is a finite series, it can’t be a matter of all set-up and no payoff.

“But there’s something we can give you that’s more important that money or a place to live. Purpose. We can give you purpose again. The world needs people like you, maybe even more than it ever did before.”

In taking 40s era heroes, patriots of a simpler time, and transporting them to now, The Twelve examines what we've gained and what we've lost as a people. It’s easy to view a bygone era through rose tinted glasses. The 50s-era show Mad Men looks like a grand old time, until you ask yourself “where are all the black folks?” (oh yeah, they’re in the back at the bus still). Instead of sexism and racism, our culture wrestles with terrorism, the erosion of civil liberties, and the loss of national optimism.

The Gospel has power to transform individual and society, so traditions and mindsets need to be periodically examined to see if they remain relevant. For example, some commands in Scripture are time bound and culturally limited. It is dangerous to ignore the voice and lessons of tradition. At the same time, we need to recognize when it is time to jettison traditional beliefs. Culture shouldn’t determine theology, but the impact of culture on the biblical writers and all biblical interpreters (us) shouldn’t be ignored. Many cultural issues, from the role of women to the issue of slavery, have had to be re-examined over time through our culturally impacted lens of Scripture.

Yes, this kind of story has been done been done time and again and your gut instinct might assume this to be a generic Watchman retread, but the characters are intriguing and Straczynski manages to balance sophistication and fun. I love the art work, especially the expressiveness of faces. I’m hoping that all of the potential of this book is fully realized.


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Final Crisis – A Review

A Mess on a Cosmic Scale

As a comic book fan, I just have this sense that Marvel event comics come across as such blockbusters while DC events have such an “also ran” feeling about them. Partly an issue of concepts, take for example, Marvel’s Secret Invasion: the shape-shifting aliens, the Skrulls have been secretly infiltrating all strata of life, government, and the super hero community as a prelude to invasion. Its core cast revolves around the most popular heroes/teams in the Marvel Universe (The Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Spider-Man, etc.).

DC’s Final Crisis has something to do with the New Gods … ties back to Crisis on Infinite Earth (1985), Identity Crisis (2004), and Infinite Crisis (2005) somehow … and the first issue features a lot of characters not immediately familiar except to those of us who have been lifelong fans of DC Comics (we’re talking one page of Green Lantern and one page of the Justice League for the casual fan).

Master of the “big idea” Grant Morrison writes it, so at least the idea is in good hands. Yet by the end of the series I was left with one question: what the hell happened? Somewhere in this mega crossover event the main story got lost. Final Crisis should be the main trunk from which the tie-ins branch.

There is the feeling that so much must’ve happened in the tie-ins that Grant Morrison was basically left stringing together arrows pointing to other books (by issue five, the series had really come off the tracks).

“But what happens in a world where good has lost its perpetual struggle against evil?” –Libra

Darkseid and his forces of Apokolips have essentially conquered earth, turning our technology and our heroes into night-missionaries spreading the gospel of anti-life. Having found the Anti-Life Equation, people are subjected to a message of “loneliness, alienation, fear, despair, self worth mockery, condemnation, misunderstanding, work, consume, die, judge others, condemn the different, exploit the weak.” This corrupting influence brings with it a cycle of destruction, warping man's sense of right and wrong, and spirals into a pattern of fear, violence, and doubt; selfishness, separation, insecurity, and sensuality; causing us to believe lies about ourselves as we become trapped in a cycle of spiritual (and literal) death.


“Sure, life is hard. I fought monsters, gangsters, super-creeps. But I never backed down. I never asked for help. Lord, help me, now. Someone help me. I can’t hold back the storm on my own anymore.” –Dan Turpin

The need to deal with this corruption is one view of how redemption works. Any sense of assurance springs from faith in God as the ultimate protector, that sense that He is the ultimate, faithful judge. It doesn’t mean that He will spare you from every bad thing that could happen to you, but it does mean that we trust in Him ultimately exposing evil for what it is, and avenging us.

[A more cynical me would then make a point similar to this: ****** Died For Final Crisis's Sins (Spoilers)]

Final Crisis, to be generous, is sometimes too clever by half. If I were in a less charitable mood, I would probably do a rant similar to the one I received from a friend of mine …

***SPOILER-LADEN RANT AHEAD ***

“Batman RIP didn't end with him dead. Or even significantly impaired. It was a goofy arc designed to sell books that had a weak-ass ending tacked on to a left-field-if-otherwise-dumb premise. Setting up the battle for the cowl, or whatever they're calling this summer "blockbuster" arc was supposed to be the point of the RIP arc, which sort of petered out. Instead, the wait until the end of Crisis and in a two page spread they shoot up the Bruce-ster with Darkseid's Omega Beams.

“We all know Bruce Wayne has a plan for "In Case of Omega Sanction" - we're talking about a person who has a $30mil asteroid, in case Supes goes rogue. A guy who was so concerned someone might try to drive him mad he created a back-up personality of Batman and sealed it in his subconscious in case he ever lost his wits. He was ready for a known and obvious threat. Bats is as Dead as Supes was. Or Black Canary, Green Arrow, or a half-dozen other DC heroes. Death is about as permanent as a haircut in their universe, which makes it more frustrating that they would do such a cheap ploy to sell magazines.”

***END SPOILER-LADEN RANT***

Yeah, that about covers my sentiments.


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The Amazing Spider-Man: One More Day - A Review

“One Last Stab through the Heart”

I love J. Michael Straczynski. I have to begin by making myself clear on that point. I’ve been a fanboy since his Babylon 5 days and have followed his comic book work from Strange to Squadron Supreme, Book of Lost Souls, Silver Surfer: Requiem, and Thor. And I’ve loved his work though I could see how some might find fault with some of his long-winded stylings. He sometimes takes a long time to get to the point, in the name of character development … I get that.

However, I even I must admit, his Spider-Man run was messed up. I’m talking nearly as bad as that overly drawn out “Am I really the clone?” business from a few years back. Maybe that’s not entirely fair (can you hear my inner fanboy still trying to spin things?). There was a lot of good work, quite a few stories that were excellent. But when I think back on the major developments of Spider-Man under Straczynski’s run, it boils down to three major events: “Sins Past”, “The Other”, and “One More Day”.

“Yours is the rarest love of all. Pure, unconditional and made holy in the eyes of He who I hate most.” –Mephisto

With “Sins Past” we have him revisiting the idea of Peter Parker’s long lost love, Gwen Stacy. The girlfriend whose life was tragically cut short by the Green Goblin, the life Spider-Man was unable to save. The memory of her loss has haunted him almost as badly as the death of his Uncle Ben who pushed him into becoming Spider-Man in the first place. But the idea of their relationship being desecrated, that she had kids via Norman Osborne … I still feel dirty over that entire episode.

Then came “The Other” storyline. Back in the mid-to-late 80s, after Alan Moore revealed the Swamp Thing to be a plant elemental, a lot of DC heroes were suddenly revealed to be elementals of some sort. It was a bit of a mini-fad. The Other felt like a weak, and late, jump on to that. That somehow Spider-Man derived his powers from some sort of spider totem and that he had to fully develop into the rest of his potential … I’d like to forget any of that happened.

Which brings us to “One More Day.” Apparently it was decided that we’d like to forget a lot of what had happened with Spider-Man. Aunt May, the woman who had raised Peter Parker, is near death and no one can save her. Desperate to save her, Peter Parker makes a pact with the devil (Mephisto) to trade her life for the love he shares with Mary Jane, his wife. In other words, because Peter Parker, an adult now, is so afraid of losing his parent (which mind you, not only do we all have to face that eventually, but it’s not like Aunt May hasn’t already died before), he’s willing to trade his entire relationship with Mary Jane, effectively erasing everything through their marriage.

“There will be a very small part of your soul that will remember, that will know what you lost.” –Mephisto

There are just some character re-boots that have left bad tastes in my mouth. Some done in the name of a company-wide edict to revamp characters after a reality altering event (think ever DC character after any of their “Crises”). Sometimes you can lay it at the feet of a writer wanting to take the character in a new direction/put his own stamp on the character (think John Byrne on … just about anything. I still haven’t forgiven him for taking over the Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman, or Doom Patrol and “fixing” books that didn’t need to be fixed). Straczynski’s run feels like a bit of both (the stench of editorial mandate is all over this). And overall, just as bad. The word that comes to mind is disrespectful.

There. I said it. It’s taken me a long time to be able to finally say it, but it’s done.


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Interview with Scott A. Shuford

I'm a big fan of comics even though the cost of collecting them has kept me from enjoying them as much as I would like. Still, I love to stay in touch with creators, fans, and all manner of interested parties. I recently had a chance to chat with Scott Shuford of the Christian Comics Art Society to pick his brain about the group.




What drew you to comics?

God really called me to support Christians involved in comics. It's kind of a funny story. A few years ago, over time while I was seeking God about a few new places to serve, I felt a draw to two areas: comics and film/tv. I continued to pray about both areas, and started looking for opportunities to understand what He was doing in those areas. Over a period of time, one of the places I found for comics was the Christian Comic Arts Society, and one for film/tv was the Biola Media Conference. I met a lot of people and companies along the way. For the first year, I just attended to learn and understand about those organizations. In the second year, I volunteered to serve with my gifts in connecting people and ideas through marketing in various ways. Now I'm serving on the Advisory Boards for both organizations. It has been a huge blessing for me to see what God is doing and to be involved.

What titles do you (still) collect?

As shocking as this might be, I don't collect. I've had several friends who collected various series, and I was a fan of a few series that I can't even remember the names of now. I'm more interested in helping to connect creators and consumers, to see ministry happen through evangelistic comics, and to see culture influenced by story-driven comics and characters.

Are there any publishers folks should keep an eye on?

Christian comics is still in its infancy. The Christians involved in comics are where Christians involved in film/tv were about 10 years ago. There are a lot of creators looking to increase the quality of their work. Distribution is a major challenge. Two of the major Christian publishers, Thomas Nelson and Zondervan, are experimenting with comics distribution. This is a time of growth. I think that God wants to do something with comics. There are some great pioneers out there looking for ways to blaze a trail, people like Nate Butler, Brett Burner, Patrick Scott, Eric Jansen, Doug TenNapel, Buzz Dixon, Scott Wong, Mark Carpenter, Robert Luedke, Ben Avery, Bud Rogers... That's not an exhaustive list certainly.

With changes in technology, what impact to you foresee for the medium? What does it mean for the creators? And what impact do you see it having on distribution and the artist's ability to get their name/work out there?

The internet and social networking systems have allowed any creator to connect to as large an audience as they can build. For the first time in history, a creator can reach out beyond his local area without leaving his house! This has been great as a new distribution channel, but difficult for many because it takes a tremendous amount of consistent effort to reach out and build a loyal following. It would be a lot easier for the creator to be able to sell 5,000 or 50,000 copies of something through retail stores including comic stores, Christian stores, or even mass market stores like Wal-Mart, but that's not really an option for many at this point. There's a shift happening with the move to online digital comics and to digital readers, just like the music shift that occurred to MP3 players and the iPod. It will be interesting to see how consumers adapt to and adopt these new technology options. Distribution cost drops considerably with these new options, so there can be a whole new audience ready for comics, or they may decide they don't like the technology and prefer to hold their comics in their hands. Really, some of both will happen.

What is the CCAS?

The Christian Comic Arts Society has existed for over 20 years through print publications, conventions, and local meetings. In the last 3 or so years, the Society has really seen a lot of growth, and with the recent debut of the CCAS Social Network at http://christiancomicart.ning.com, there are amazing things beginning to happen as God connects industry people and comics fans together. In just a short time, we've gather almost 500 comics pros, amateurs and fans together in one place, and we're increasing our presence at the various Cons in 2009.

Is there a specific message/platform that the CCAS stands on?

Our goal is to provide opportunities for networking, mentoring and fellowship among Christian comic book enthusiasts and professionals. We are strongly committed to living out the Gospel through both evangelistic comics and through our personal lives as living examples of Christianity as we work in our professions. God calls us all to be different parts of one body. Some of those parts work professionally in the comics industry, some work in full or part time ministry, others are fans who spread the word through their passion for comics. The sum of all the parts is greater glory to God than the individual parts are alone.

How can it benefit creators?

Creators will find fellowship with other creators and fans: collaborators and constructive critics, information and inspiration, and encouragement in their comics passion to be faithful to their calling(s) for what God has for them to do through their lives.

What is on the horizon for you? What can we be on the look out for from you?

We have a few irons in the fire as they say. I am very excited about the growth for CCAS. I'll be traveling to the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in February, the CIA Summit in March, Gospel Music Week in April, and then at the The Biola Media Conference on April 25th at CBS Studios. At FrontGate Media (www.frontgatemedia.com), we were recently featured in Adweek. As the largest pop-culture media group reaching the Christian audience, we recently expanded our promotions and advertising services to include Social Networking and Public Relations. In first quarter of 2009, we're making our official announcement about Extra Mile Merch (www.extramilemerch.com), my latest venture in partnership with Scott Brinson, co-founder of Truth Soul Armor. We've already created truly fashion-forward merch lines for The Groovaloos who are featured on NBC's Superstars of Dance, for the tween brand and movement iShine and its affiliated artists The Rubyz, Robert Pierre and Paige Armstrong, for B. Reith (Gotee) and for Matt Brouwer (Indie Extreme), and I'm looking forward to several new projects there as we coach brands and bands, church ministries and companies on how to create and execute a strategic merchandising line to generate revenue and for promotional purposes. For me, all these things are a fit with my calling to help connect companies with consumers in the overall Christian movement.

If you could pick one, what would your super power be?

That's a tough question! A bunch of things came to mind, but the very first thing was that I would be invisible. I'd love to be able to watch all that is going on and influence it without anyone knowing or caring that I was there.

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Ambush Bug: Year None – A Review

“Adventures in Idiocy”

Written by: Keith Giffen and Robert Loren Fleming
Art by: Keith Giffen
Published by: DC Comics

I’m not ashamed to admit that I loved Ambush Bug. In my personal comic book collection, I have just about his every appearance. He brought me great joy in my teen years, the 80s, during the good old days of comics. A couple decades later, he comes across like the kid too smart for the room, many of the gags funnier in thought than in execution. Here’s the thing though: it’s fun. Stupid fun, but fun.

Taking aim at the “dark” and “gritty” writing done in the name of relevance, Ambush Bug: Year None mines grins from it’s non-stop parade of odd cameos and its complete irreverence for any of the sacred cows in comics. It serves as a meta commentary on the DC Universe and the state of comics in general from the writing style (-contrived plot devices, omniscient narrators, 22 page limit, thought balloons) to company-wide crossovers (Final Crisis says what?).

“If you want to ‘find your bliss’ and ‘explore your true nature,’ then knock yourself out!” –Rama Kushna … in Groucho nose and glasses.

In issue one, we find the bug investigating the death of Jonni DC, continuity cop. During the course of his “investigation” he checks in on some of the other little known/remembered DC characters (‘Mazing Man, Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew, Space Cabby) and ends up causing one of the events (Identity Crisis) and at the same time points to the elephant in the room: the fair amount of women in jeopardy/abused in the name of event comics and the inherent misogyny that drives the plots.

Ambush Bug is simply an idiot stumbling through life, leaving a trail of inadvertent chaos and destruction in his wake. He doesn’t know any better. He’s a sheep in need of a shepherd, without identity of his own, happily living through others.

“Help me, Rama Kushna, to rediscover my true inner self.” –Ambush Bug

We put on masks, masks that become part of us, ones we wear in order to interact with others and the world. Before too long, we become trapped by these false ideas of ourselves. We must strip away anything that hinders us from being the people we were meant to be. We must always be growing, be “becoming”, in order to get to our true selves. But with Ambush Bug, it’s not even a case of true self vs. false self, but true self vs. no self.

Yes, Ambush Bug: Year None is a non-stop series of comic book in-jokes. Replete with punny named villains like Argh!Yle!! (his abandoned sock) and Don Gayle Apparel (his … I have no idea), either you’re in on the joke or this book will annoy you to no end.


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Doktor Sleepless – A Review

“Future Science Jesus”

Warren Ellis (newuniversal, Thunderbolts, Desolation Jones) is one of those writers who even at his most lackadaisical, his stories are interesting, hyper, and edgy, not easily slipping from the mind. Sometimes his ideas are big (Planetary), sometimes he’s simply exploring what the comic book form can do (Fell). Sometimes he likes to mount philosophical campaigns with a measure of technofuturism thrown in for good measure, integrating every half-possible speculation into his writings (Transmetropolitan, so the comparisons between these two books is understandable).

As much anarchist manifesto, V for Vendetta with a more science fiction bent, Doktor Sleepless is chock full of Ellis' philosophical musings, throwing out some interesting ideas about the present and future of technology and its impact on social networking, community, and our individuality.

“All are welcome in my house for it has many rooms.” –Doktor Sleepless

Doktor Sleepless, aka John Reindhart, our post-modern shaman and techno-messiah, stopped being real and became a character. By his thinking, the only way for a messenger to promulgate his message is to create an image of himself, shifting from man to legend, in order for his ideas to take root and spread. The reader right away dives into a techno-fetishist world of drugs, IM on contact lenses (Clatter), extreme body modifications, abortions kept as jewelry, shriek girl subculture (girls who are wirelessly connected for simultaneous experience), and tulpas (idea thought forms made manifest).

“The one thing I can tell you about the world is that it doesn’t work. It is in fact so fucking broken that if it were this computer here, you’d take it to the store and demand a new one.” –Doktor Sleepless

The grinders, the everyday work class, toil in what passes for their lives in Heavenside, a place separated by a mountain range from Hellside. Signs have popped up expressing their disappointment with the future they were promised: No flying cars, no jet packs, no space ships, no ray guns. Doktor Sleepless has taken it upon himself to lead them from their mundane lives of complacency and acceptance and move them toward a path of fulfilling who they were meant to be.

The first step on this path to individual freedom is the realization of the dilemma that we find ourselves in. In their world, there is something terribly wrong. The people live lives of coerced conformity, their freedoms curtailed. They sense that they weren’t who they were supposed to be. For the grinders, their shame, their sin, is in their very ordinariness, aggressive apathy, not life to their fullest potential.

“Changing the world is as easy, and as hard, as just changing the way every thinks about their world.” –Doktor Sleepless

The true revolution begins, with a new idea and faith in a new hope. For such a revolution to take root, it needs messengers to carry the idea forth and converts to live out the mission. Doktor Sleepless and his assistant, the murdering assassin/bodyguard Nurse Igor, weave a tapestry of symbols, propaganda war, and the occasional spot of violence to nudge the grinders toward taking ahold of their situation, living for their future rather than waiting on it.

“Stop looking for something that isn’t there. You live in the future and you don’t know it.” –Doktor Sleepless

Doktor Sleepless is more than Ellis being Ellis. It’s science-fiction at its highest, full of ideas examining community, identity, ideas, future, technology. It also sees Ellis at his most poetic, though admittedly some of the prose in the book began as flash fiction pieces for him. He’s not walking through this one, doling out fanboy biscuits of violence and bastards. There is a brooding intentionality, a philosophical scraping, as he pulls together not only this graphic novel but in a bit of meta collaboration, a shared/network experience, a wiki emulator website so that entries can be added to by anyone. Everything is connected.


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Secret Invasion – A Review

“Who do you trust?”

Written by: Brian Michael Bendis
Art by: Leinil Yu
Published by: Marvel Comics

“And out of nothingness will you outstretch your hand and take in that which needs you. Only then will the doors to the heavens open for you and your brothers.” –The Book of Worlds

The problem with “summer blockbuster” comic books is that, well, they’re comic books. Event comics have to live up to being events which typically means the first issues are about the big reveals rather than the story. Secret Invasion is no different, except for the issue of scale. As event comics go, Secret Invasion is huge. Three years in the making—with clues and hints strewn from various titles from Secret War to the first story arc of the New Avengers to Civil War to Illuminati—Secret Invasion is big, its repercussions felt for years (hopefully in more ways that just a bunch of lame spinoff titles). The hype for the event has been off the scales. And it’s all the brainchild of Brian Michael Bendis.

The story is simple and familiar. Shape-shifting Skrulls (an alien race introduced early in the history of Marvel Comics, so they are longtime foes) have infiltrated Earth. They have secretly kidnapped a number of important figures in the governments and superhuman community and replaced them. The superhero community has been distracted by a number of stressful events (Civil War and House of M to name just a couple), thus the secret invasion. When anyone can be a Skrull, including the teammate you’ve fought alongside for so long, the question rightly becomes “Who do you trust?”

Big event demand big payoffs. If the criticism of House of M was its slow pace (since event comics can’t spend too much time rooted in characterization apparently), Secret Invasion is its polar opposite. One can’t quite escape the feel of this being little more than a storyline within the New Avengers, as the series revolves around them with a few other characters, like the Fantastic Four, making guest appearances (only fitting considering that the Skrulls first appeared back in the Fantastic Four #2 in 1962 and the pivotal Kree-Skrull War depicted in Avengers #89-97 back in 1971-1972).

The back-history of the Skrulls is part of the fun of the book. Longtime fans appreciate the shoutouts strewn throughout the book, like the "classic" Marvel heroes of the Jim Shooter era emerging to battle the current Marvel heroes of the Quesada era. The bit of metafictional play at work here acts as its own commentary on the more innocent days (when Iron Man was called "Shellhead" and Luke Cage shouted what ALL black people must have used as profanity—you know, when he was written by folks who’d never actually met a black person—“Sweet Christmas!”). I’m just not sold on Leinil Yu's artwork. Maybe the ink work was off in the faces, but most of the guys look like forlorn old men in close up.

“If, in the name of their God or money or both, they believe something to be theirs, they just take it.” –The Skrulls

Secret Invasion is the story of the colonizer run amuck. An aspect of colonialism is its conquest mentality that works by making other cultures less than theirs, debasing one while exalting the colonizer’s. Think of how the western imperialist colonizers viewed Africa as an untamed land with ungodly people, that there was nothing good in this dark and scary continent–other than its resources–and that its people were entirely under the power of the devil. Or how the United States was a revolutionary country in that it threw off the shackles of its own colonial masters.

“And when all is said and done, they write the history books themselves and they make sure they come out the heroes.” –The Skrulls

Without the ability of one cultural story to communicate with another, their interactions become a history of miscues and misunderstandings, then paranoid pre-emptive strikes, followed by the blame game of who hit who first (which justifies the other hitting back). The colonizing mentality then becomes one of cultures moving to eradicate other stories. When stories are reduced to law or dogma (cryptic references in the Book of Worlds), their vitality is drained. When people no longer tell or listen to others’ stories, they become locked in their provincial mindset, cultural ghettos of their own making. In fact, when people become so removed from another’s story, they become compelled to destroy those (other’s) stories for they suggest other ways of living. Their stories become a threat.

“We have travelled across the universe to save you from yourselves. You have so much potential, but you’re on the brink of complete disaster. You are at constant war and living in disease you cannot cure … what most disturbs us is that you are fully aware of your situation and actions … and though you’ve evolved to a place to do something about it, you do nothing.” –The Skrulls

Lastly, Secret Invasion has the same spiritual implications of other Invasion of the Body Snatcher type stories. The fear of evil, of death, of monsters, be they inhuman or entirely too human. We have this sense that things aren’t as they should be, that people aren’t who we think them to be. The people we know and love being ... different. Looking the same on the surface but being strangers underneath. This disrupts our fabric of trust. And in a fight, especially among the spandex set, you have to be able to trust the one next to you. Without it, community—the band of brothers—is destroyed.

The monsters, the extra-terrestrial biological entities, represent the unseen power that we suspect lurk around us, are a part of our everyday lives even if we don’t realize it. Metaphorically, they capture the reality of us struggling against our own flesh (our inherent weakness as human beings) as well as powers beyond us. We forget who we really are, what we were created to be, and are left as lost, bewildered, and stumbling through this life as those infected by the alien presence.

“I know something about having voices in your head. Voices pulling you in different directions. And I also know something –this might sound strange, and it is—but I know something about not being sure if youre really pink or green. And I can tell you this … only one person can decide who you are inside and out. And that is you.” –Norman Osborne

Similar to summer event movies, fans can keep complaining about event burnout all they want, but if they keep buying the events in droves, don’t look for the corporate machines to change their strategies anytime soon. All we can hope for is that the story justifies the event (World War Hulk, I’m looking at your massive letdown) or that the world changing nature of the event has time to fully coalesce and be felt by the characters before the next title expansive storyline hits (X-Men, this is why I quit collecting your family of books). For all of the tie-ins, one-shots, and spinoff books, Secret Invasion is a great story that can be enjoyed strictly within the core book. And enjoy it I have.


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1985 – A Review

"Age of Innocence"

Written by: Mark Millar
Art by: Tommy Lee Edwards
Published by: Marvel Comics

The 80s were such a boom decade for comics, one which many of us fondly look back upon as the good old days of comic book collecting. It was a more innocent time. Comics were all of 60 cents an issue when I started collecting. Many titles experienced creative resurgences: X-Men, The New Teen Titans, Swamp Thing, Daredevil, Secret Wars (ushering in the age of stunt marketing and company-wide cross-overs).

In 1986, Frank Miller gave us The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore began Watchmen. So yes, that year holds special significance to the avid comic book collector. It was when the medium grew up, when comics got darker. So 1985 was the last year comic books were … fun.

The comic book 1985 is told through the eyes of Toby, a young boy who collects comic books. Toby comes from a broken home, caught between his divorced parents. He’s also a young boy many comic book collectors can relate to. He spends his days lost in his fantasy world, imagining what it would be like to be a superhero. His mom rips up his comic books (or in my case, burning and throwing them out). He’s often distracted from school work (I’m not saying my grades necessarily suffered). He has a 20 book a month habit (hey, someone had to buy Dazzler. A twenty book a month habit cost $12 back then, as opposed to $79.80 now)

Now we’re writing the books. Mark Millar brings us 1985, a book with a simple conceit: what if, in 1985, a group of villains burst into our universe.

“I guess I wanted to believe in Spider-Man because my mom and dad had let me down as much as Santa Claus.” –Toby

The book tends to bring out the nostalgia in long time comic book readers. In 1985, comic books, and the essence of what it meant to be a hero, seemed more pure. Comic books have taken a rather dark turn in the last couple of decades, wanting to be gritty and relevant. Part of this era of “being real” and dark involves the deconstruction of the myth of the iconic hero. We love heroes, but it’s like we hate the example they set so we have to prove that they are no better than us. We constantly compare ourselves to one another anyway, but it’s as if we are trying to find a kind of redemption by trying to show that everyone, especially our heroes, has feet of clay.

And this book got me to thinking about what draws us to the idea of super-heroes. As we look around our culture, we find that we don’t have many heroes; in fact, we live in the age of the anti-hero. Heroes ought to offer hope, the possibility of what we could be. They are meant to inspire us to use our giftedness to be a blessing to the world. To find meaning and purpose in the mythic adventure we call life. Which isn’t to say that there aren’t intriguing tales to be told with anti-heroes, or within shades of gray, just that those aren’t the only stories – we don’t need to keep tearing down heroes in order to tell them.

In a way, 1985 reminded me of a previous mini-series, Marvels, where the beginning of the age of super-heroes is told from a human perspective. 1985 is fun for any reader, but the attention to detail by artist Tommy Lee Edwards is its own joy. You will be transported by to the year and be thankful for it.


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Dead of Night: Devil Slayer – A Review

"One Foot in Hell"

Written by: Brian Keene
Art by: Chris Samnee
Published by: Marvel Max

There are three Garth Ennis-es. The bad (like when he wrote Goddess), the mediocre (you know when he’s walking through a book, like with Ghost Rider or Midnighter), and the great (Preacher, Hitman, or the fun he’s having on The Boys) And he was truly at home writing war comics, like with Enemy Ace, Unknown Soldier, and War Story. And it was Garth Ennis in his war story mode (with a hint of Preacher) that I thought of when I started reading Devil Slayer.

I didn’t know what to expect of Devil Slayer given the cover and my unfamiliarity with the character. I also suspect that it wouldn’t matter: this seems to be the re-working of a B-list character so revamped that he barely resembles the original (so beware both of you Devil Slayer purists). As its writer Brian Keene (The Rising, Terminal, Kill Whitey) explained in his IGN interview:

The original Devil-Slayer (Eric Simon Payne) was a Vietnam veteran, mob hitman, and occult assassin who eventually became a member of the Defenders. He was psychic and had a magic cape that allowed him to travel to other dimensions and carry around an unlimited cache of weapons. He was to demons what the Punisher is to organized crime. The new Devil-Slayer is Danny Sylva, an American soldier on his third tour of duty in Iraq. He has no super powers or magic clothing. In fact, he's got a good bit of disdain for superheroes in general (as well as everything else—he's a young man who's lost his trust and faith in just about everything). So yeah, this is an all new incarnation. Same name, but different character.

Here’s what we get in the first issue of the introduction to the character: character and the war in Iraq. Danny Sylva returns to the frontlines for another tour after a failed bid at returning to a normal life Stateside. And the story reads like the beginning to a really good war story. Just don’t get married to the idea of this remaining “just” a really good war story.

Keene’s strength lies in his dialogue, breakneck pacing, and his ability to create relatable characters (and he manages to namedrop his friends, though there was no Private Broaddus to be found!). Here, the plot has a more leisurely pace (setting up the big reveal at the end) so the book moves like the initial ascent of a rollercoaster, building tension and atmosphere.

Miles Ochse: “So what do you believe in?”
Danny Sylva: “I don’t know anymore …”

Faith is a tenuous then, fragile and strong at the same time. Many of us are barely a stone’s throw from where Danny Sylva finds himself, his faith laid waste by war and circumstances, failed love, disappointment, frustrations, the realities of life. Even as he declares “Don’t rely on God. Just rely on me,” he finds that his faith in himself also fails.

Faith is also a difficult journey, one where we’re simply called to hang on, persevere, and push through the walls we sometimes hit. That journey inward that happens, typically signaled by when God feels especially absent or at least silent.

“If praying works for you, go for it. It’s just never worked for me.” –Sgt. Danny Sylva

True faith is not without hardships, nor is it all that pragmatic. So when problems arise, there are no pat answers. There are no steps. It sucks. The key is to endure it and hold on, even if you are reduced to simply trusting in the few things you know with absolute clarity.

At the end, or at least once one gets through their dark night of the soul/their crisis of faith, they still may not have the answers, but they may be able to make peace with that. Maybe they’ll be in a place, a journey outward, where this time of shattering reflection causes one to turn outward in focus. These times of crisis will either break us and cause us to abandon God or break us down and draw us nearer to Him. We, as a community of believers, need to be there for each other.

Though Devil Slayer is a grittier work, Chris Samnee makes great use of shadow to convey mood and he has some of the most expressive faces I’ve seen in a while. The sheer … normality of the scenes heightens the moments the story goes off the rails. Once again, Brian Keene bleeds or his readers, drawing on personal experience and demons (hopefully long slain … but never as slain as they should be). The story is lean, firmly entrenching us in the character of Danny Sylva and introducing us to his figurative demons. I can’t wait for the literal ones to appear.


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