New Wonder Woman and Blue Beetle, a double dose of Hitman, ‘Mazing Man, and Manhunter.
Employee’s Pick
[DC] Hitman #28-33
Writer: Garth Ennis
Penciler: John McCrea
Here’s the aftermath of Who Dares Wins. Tommy and Natt feel like crap for getting beaten so badly, and the mafia’s after them for a murder they didn’t commit (but might as well have). Tommy wants to get out of town to avoid being shot at, and do something good to avoid feeling like a scumbag. Enter Mr. Martindale, who represents the ruler of a tiny African nation trying to fend off a plucky band of rebels. Nasty chaps, those rebels, dealing heroin to the West. Have to put a stop to that. Tommy, Natt, Ringo, and Hacken sign up to kill them some rebels.
The last time this foursome went on a job, hilarity ensued. Not so much here, but it is a good story, the five-part Tommy’s Heroes. As is often the case with rebellions, the regime being rebelled against is made up of not nice people, which Tommy and friends discover only after flying out to Africa. Tommy gets himself stranded in the desert with an old friend of Eddie Baker, one of the SAS guys from the previous story. Very uncomfortable. Upon learning they’ve been misled, the gang meet up with the rebels, grab a tank, and go after the evil dictator and his superpowered bodyguards. All that stuff they were told about the rebels? True. But hey, they promise not to deal drugs anymore once they’re in power. Might even mean it.
This is more in line with earlier stories. Tommy gets to be the hero again, acquit himself well in battle, and the only derisive caricature is a faux-Irish singer who’s more of a dig at Tommy than anything mean-spirited. Plus, Kelly’s Heroes references. Great movie.
New-Type Books
[DC] Wonder Woman Vol. 3 #26
Writer: Gail Simone
Penciler: Aaron Lopresti
I now have my very own Wonder Woman action figure, courtesy of Mattel’s DC Universe line. It’s a great time to be a fan of Amazon princesses. Toys, comics, the upcoming animated movie… Quantity and quality.
In what has become a familiar Simone plot, the protagonist is viciously beat down as prelude to a dramatic comeback. This bothers me with some writers, but Simone makes it work. She clearly loves her characters, so it never feels like torture porn, and however great the adversity, they overcome it and grow from the experience. This time we have a mysterious new villain, which on a basic level is what Simone’s doing right now in Secret Six. New baddie shows up out of nowhere, is lauded as absolutely terrifying, and only shows off after we’ve been told to be impressed. It was a dangerous gamble the first time, and it’s no less so now.
I’m keeping an open mind because of the "mystery" part, but so far I can’t see Genocide as a lasting character. Wonky design, radiates/amplifies hate in much the same way Stalker’s Black Horizon did in the Ends of the Earth arc, and she’s apparently sewn-together bits of gods brought to some semblance of life by Dr. T. O. Morrow. That last bit is interesting, begging the question of what god or gods she used to be. The hate thing is lose-lose, though, in my opinion. If it’s not related to the Black Horizon, then it’s way too early to go back to that well again. If it is, then, well, I don’t care for the idea that Wonder Woman is tainted now. Maybe I should, though. The problem with using adversity to build character is that, in Diana’s case, there’s not much room to grow. She can grow closer to people, and her supporting cast can grow, but she’s pretty much perfect already. Superman has the same problem, at least the modern version, the one that didn’t go around humiliating Lois once a week. These characters are the ideal to which everyone aspires, and more often inspire adoration than jealousy, by going around hugging people and generally being kind. So, yeah, Wondy could use a flaw or two to humanize her. Perhaps the first that comes to mind is her tendency to get caught up in the heat of battle and go a bit overboard, and the whole Stalker/Genocide deal ties into that.
Oh, yeah, the Greek gods come back, too. Guess that’s why the story’s called Rise of the Olympian. Or not, since "The Olympian" is apparently meant to be some character’s name, and unless it’s an alias of Genocide’s, she doesn’t appear here. At any rate, Zeus & Co. fly back to Olympus on a sunproof spaceship to find their home trashed by Darkseid and his lot. Having happily skipped everything between the end of Greg Rucka’s run and the start of Simone’s, I’m not sure how this fits into continuity. I remember the gods leaving, and there was some business with Granny Goodness that obviously led to Olympus’ current shabby shape, and now they’re back, but they don’t seem themselves. Athena cries?! and has long hair, and they all have these pseudo-spaceman uniforms, like they just got out of a 70’s sci-fi show. I wonder if these are meant to be the same gods from Rucka’s run, or if Simone’s taking them in her own direction. I loved the Rucka versions, so I’d prefer that. We’re already a long ways off, visually; one of the few times I can compare Lopresti to someone else and find him lacking. The gods had distinct looks before, a unique style. We’ve only seen them for two pages in Simone’s run, but so far they’re generic.
Nemesis continues to worm his way into hearts everywhere – positively insidious – and Diana shows off her people skills with a bit more tell-before-showing. Another excellent issue, though it remains to be seen how good the story as a whole will be.
[DC] Blue Beetle Vol. 7 #33
Writer: Matthew Sturges
Artist: Rafael Albuquerque
Yay, Albuquerque’s back! Well, kinda yay. His work, inking over his own pencils, seems a bit more rushed than usual, on the sketchy side. Still it has more character than fill-in artist Andre Coelho brought to the book, and I’m glad to have it, full strength or not. Won’t be much more of it, as the series has been cancelled. Only three issues left after this one.
EXTREME FROWN. I made an exception with this series, stuck through fill-ins and a permanent writer change even though John Rogers was the main reason I read Blue Beetle. Can’t say as I regret it exactly – Sturges has been solid – but it’s disappointing that my support for the book couldn’t save it from the same fate as series I don’t every own every issue of. I could’ve waited for the trade, tracked down cheap back issues, saved some money and still got the story in the end. And it would be no more cancelled than it is. I suppose that’s not the point, though. You support the book in the hope of saving it, not because it’s a sure thing. Still, if it had gone downhill, I wouldn’t feel bad now for dropping it. Hard to recommend it to people, too, unless they’re interested in fighting against the odds to get it uncancelled. We’ll always have the first twenty-five issues, which were great and are neatly collected in four trade paperbacks, along with the gimmicky but OK twenty-sixth issue. And Sturges’ five, going on eight, issues are worth a look. Good enough that I’ll buy the last three for more than completism.
More than ever, I wish he hadn’t started his run with a decompressed, six-issue arc. It’s been a bumpy start, and thanks to the cancellation, we only get one more story after this, a two-issue wrap-up that threatens to be rushed, as cancelled titles often are at the end. I was hoping we’d get several one- and two- and three- and four-issue stories after this. Maybe longer ones, too, and certainly plenty of ongoing subplots, but bite-size chunks are where it’s at. Plus, this first arc hasn’t been about anything. Basically a big smokescreen leading up to the real story, the Blue Beetle/Dr. Polaris fight next issue.
It’s fun, though, this issue particularly. Almost a checklist of Blue Beetle fan service. Jaime is witty, adorkable, and heroic, Brenda and Paco are awesome, Peacemaker is… Peacemaker. All that’s missing is Traci 13 and the Reyes family, who were conveniently a big part of last issue. It might read better in trade. That’d figure. There’s something about immigration, too, but whatever. And the Teen Titans drop by to be vaguely interesting. Next, we watch a comic die.
Back Issues
[DC] ‘Mazing Man #11
Writer: Bob Rozakis
Pencilers: Stephen DeStefano, Sven D’Carlo
What’s this? No Zoot Sputnik story? He’s relegated to a two-page interlude that’s actually funny, a joke at DC’s expense. The rest of the comic is taken up by a single story, a trip to the beach that, again, is entertaining. If all the issues were like this, it’d be a halfway decent series. Still too dependent on situations for its comedy, though, and too light on real conflict.
[DC] Hitman #1, 000, 000
Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: John McCrea
Tommy gets flung into the future, because it’s a crossover and historical records aren’t reliable. Some dumb kids think Tommy was a superhero, and through some futuretech jibba jabba plan to "siphon his iconic energy" to turn themselves into superheroes. Then some of the future’s heroes show up, and Ennis makes merciless sport of them. Good times, good times… All utterly irrelevant to the regular series, but you get that with company-wide crossovers where everyone’s forced to join in.
Trade
[DC] Manhunter Vol. 4: Unleashed
Writer: Marc Andreyko
Pencilers: Javier Pina (issues 24-30), Fernando Blanco (issues 24, 25, 27 & 29), Brad Walker (issues 28 & 29), Diego Olmos (issue 30), Cafu (issue 30)
DC sure like to tease the return of Ted Kord. Similar to Dan Slott’s remasking of Spider-Man in Avengers: The Initiative, Andreyko offers a perfectly reasonable out for DC to resurrect Blue Beetle. Unfortunately, logic and Batman get in the way, as both writers knew they would when writing their respective stories. The old "nuh uh, this is what really happened" defense only works in certain cases, and Max Lord being replaced by an evil robot/clone/alien/shapeshifter is not (yet) one of them. He kills Ted, Wonder Woman kills him, and one of her villains arranges for an indictment after Diana gets through being cleared by the World Court. Enter: Kate Spencer, defense attorney, who is apparently only taking superhuman cases now.
Supervillain cases, exclusively, before Wonder Woman, though she’d only done the one. Dr. Psycho’s trial comes to a humorous end in issue twenty-four, the first of seven collected in this, the most recent volume of the series. I’m tempted to call it the best volume, but that’s no easy title to claim. Volume two was the tightest, most self-contained. Three was when the series, in my opinion, came into its own. Four is the loosest yet, but that’s arguably a good thing, or would have been had the series continued much longer. It’s full of unresolved subplots that keep you coming back each month, where "you" means "probably not you," since most comic readers avoided this series from start to finish.
The flipside of the argument is that there are too many subplots, spread too far out. Some, like Kate possibly becoming the godmother of her ex-husband’s daughter, and Kate’s grandfather, whom she’s never met, showing up looking for her, are brought up early in the trade and then dropped, completely ignored by everyone until some future issue. There’s also not nearly enough Damon/Obsidian, though what there is is a high point in a consistently good read. Equally cute is Dylan/Cameron, which continues to turn serious in spite of its humble beginnings.
By genre conventions, both relationships must be interrupted by supervillains trying to kill one or more parties involved. The Sweeney Todd guy comes back, technically targeting Manhunter, and Obsidian gets in the way. With the way that business resolves, I have to wonder whether there’s more to it. As it is, I’m left unsatisfied; we’ve yet to learn why "Sweeney" is hunting women, other than that he’s crazy and is eating their pituitary glands. That’s something, but it’s all a bit random without context. Dylan and Cameron get more directly sidetracked – and more prominently featured – by a specter from Cam’s past, Trap Jaw of Masters of the Universe fame, who killed her father decades ago and has it out for the whole Chase clan for some reason.
Also dropped for six issues is the ulterior motive behind Director Bones ordering Kate to switch from prosecutor to defender. It’s a scheme, probably to catch someone nefarious, though I’m not sure who or how. It has to wait for the Wonder Woman plot to wrap up, which takes the rest of the trade. Wondy’s great in this. Not sure I buy her confusion over the complexities of the American justice system, but otherwise she’s spot on. Majestic, lovable, drop dead gorgeous… And her idea of a good time is a no holds barred sparring match. I thought Javier Pina was only serviceable in volume three, but he seems to have improved here. Maybe all the fill-ins left him time to concentrate on his parts. His Wonder Woman makes me think of the Mattel action figure. Different costume, but very similar proportions.
With two fewer issues than each of the previous two trades, this volume is no less packed. Among everything else, there’s a major subplot with Mark Shaw and the Knights of St. Dumas. Hard to tell if they’re evil or just jerks, but their tangential relationship to the whole Azrael mess is a bad sign. Not clear how imbalanced Shaw is at this point, either. Certainly not someone I’d want for a roommate, but he’s been kicking around over a year of comic time and hasn’t assaulted any good guys since yanking the Manhunter nanites out of his neck.
Truncation
Hitman – Another great story.
Wonder Woman – Final judgment pending on Genocide and the Greek gods. Still one of DC’s best series.
Blue Beetle – C-c-c-c-c-c-cancelled!
‘Mazing Man – Surprisingly bearable.
Hitman – Ennis turns editorial stupidity into comedy gold.
Manhunter – Trap Jaw will eat your face!
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