Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

It's impossible for me to write an intro to Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson without hearing the voice of the late, great voice actor Don Lafontaine in my head. So here we go: In a world where all superheroes are evil and all hope is lost, a small group of rebels must work together to save the Earth from total annihilation.

So that's Steelheart in a very small nutshell, although the actual story is a lot more complex and interesting: One day, something appears in the sky, people call it Calamity. It looks like a star or a comet, but nobody really knows what it is or where it came from. What they do know is that Calamity grants a random number of ordinary people super powers, they decide to call them "Epics." Also, for reasons unknown, the Epics are huge jerks.

Each Epic has a specific power, like the ability to fly, see the future, create life-like illusions, repel females without speaking a single word - wait, that last one is my superpower. Since there are no superheroes around to stop them, each Epic takes charge of a city of their choice, ruling without consequence and degrading the quality of life for everyone living there. Just imagine if every major city was run by Rob Ford and you'll get the picture.

Sidekicked by John David Anderson

 Drew is a very sensitive kid- his five senses are amplified. He can see what his classmates are writing on tests from across the room, he can smell what the neighbors are having for dinner. He is a superhero in training, as are all the members of H.E.R.O. a school club formed by Mr. Masters, who himself is a superhero. Drew and his friends are all paired up with mentors who will train them to one day be heroes themselves.  Drew's mentor is battling demons of his own and can't help Drew as he could or indeed should.  When a strange menace begins threatening the city, Drew and his friends must come together to prevent catastrophic consequences.

Book Review: Man of Steel by Greg Cox

Man of Steel: The Offi­cial Movie Nov­el­iza­tion by Greg Cox is exactly what it claims to be, a novel of the sum­mer block­buster. Mr. Cox has writ­ten other nov­el­iza­tion, includ­ing sev­eral in the super­hero genre.

On the doomed planet Kryp­ton a son is born to Jor-El and Lara-El, the boy, named Kal-El is the first Kryp­ton­ian nat­ural birth in cen­turies. Jor-El steals the genetic infor­ma­tion from which Krp­ton­ian babies are “made” of and sends it with his son shortly before the planet explodes. The only Kryp­to­ni­ans to sur­vive, besides Kal-El, are rene­gade sol­diers led by Gen­eral Zod who make it their mis­sion to find the infor­ma­tion Jor-El stole. Thirty-three years later, Clark Kent ( Kal-El) trav­els the world in search of his iden­tity, inten­si­fy­ing the myth of a sav­ing angel wher­ever he goes. In a truck stop he over­hears Cana­dian air­men talk about a UFO found in deep in the ice. Clark goes inves­ti­gat­ing, finds his roots but also sends out a mes­sage into space bring­ing the genet­i­cally engi­neered sol­diers to Earth.

When I saw Man of Steel: The Offi­cial Movie Nov­el­iza­tion by Greg Cox on sale I imme­di­ately grabbed it. I thought the movie was great and wouldn’t mind a quick read of the novel. The oppor­tu­nity to read this book came on Thanks­giv­ing week­end, when I didn’t want to read any­thing heavy or pro­found (and I got the Man of Steel DVD for Chanukah).

I thought the book was very good, a quick read and lots of fun. The book added onto the movie going into more details and into the char­ac­ter heads. For exam­ple, the story cov­ers more thor­oughly the genetic engi­neer­ing of Kryp­to­ni­ans which leads to the con­fronta­tion of Super­man with sol­diers who can feel no empa­thy or remorse.

I used to read many movie nov­el­iza­tions, mainly since I love films as well as books, but as we all know nov­el­iza­tions are some­times bor­ing, some­times sim­ply bad and mostly never bring any­thing new to the reader. For me, the nov­el­iza­tion helped enhance the movie and some of the aspects which I was unclear about (mainly due to the explosions).

Mr. Cox says that he wrote the book before see­ing the movie, read­ing how well he man­aged to cre­ate the fic­tional scenery and descrip­tions to match the movie is a tes­ta­ment to his skill as an author and observer.

The novel fol­lows the movie very closely, is fast paced and easy to read. If you’re look­ing for a fun and enter­tain­ing book, not too seri­ous and enjoy­able pick up this book.

Battling Boy

Something happens to boys around the age of thirteen. For some its the physical transformations of puberty, the ungainly growth, the cracking of the voice. For others its the emotional and chemical roller coaster that creates lapses of judgment and awkward situations. It can also be marked with a ceremony of passage toward adulthood but is most often noted with the exasperation of adults. For he Battling Boy it means being plucked from the middle of his street games with his friends and sent without discussion to another world to serve as a superhero. Tough gig.

For Battling Boy that planet is Earth, and in this parallel universe where the youngest of teens are sent to weaker planets to help them survive, this planet has some serious problems. For one thing, there are monsters about. At first glance it appears these boogie men are little more than cloaked child snatchers, serious enough to require a curfew for children but hardly monsters. Very quickly though their victims are caught in nets, bound and gagged, and promised to be fed to spiders. Then along comes a flying hero to save them -- Haggard West --- in very much the garb and style of 1930s comic strips, with his leather flying gear and improbably gadgets. There's a pulsating variance between the comic and the serious where the expectation, like a serialized radio drama, is that the danger will be averted at the last minute and the bad guys will get away with a cliffhanger threat.

Instead, West is shot out of the sky, dead. The children do not escape their dreaded fates. And somewhere in the universe a boys is turning thirteen and about to be thrust into the middle of this mess.

This is how Battling Boy opens.

Prepare to Die! by Paul Tobin

Usually, when the villain tells the hero to prepare to die, they mean right now.  But it’s points to Reaver that he has the idea to ask for a reprieve.  Well, not a reprieve so much as enough time to actually prepare.  And so the supervillainous Octagon grants him two weeks.  Two weeks in which Reaver has a lot of work to do.

Wait, back up.  Who are these comic book characters and why haven’t you heard of them?

Sidekicks by Jack D. Ferraiolo

After spending the past six year as sidekick to the famous superhero Phantom Justice, Bright Boy (real name: Scott Hutchinson) decides it’s time for a change. Scott still believes in saving people from evil villains, but can’t he do it while wearing something other than bright yellow tights? The tights are embarrassing to begin with, but when television cameras catch him getting a little, uh, involuntarily excited while holding the very attractive woman he just rescued, Bright Boy becomes a joke. Seriously, even the little kids at Scott’s school are laughing at Bright Boy.

It doesn’t help that Phantom Justice’s archnemesis, Dr. Chaotic, returned to town after a five-year hiatus (translation: he just broke out of prison). Dr. Chaotic’s sidekick, Monkeywrench, was always a thorn in Bright Boy’s side, and now Monkeywrench is back as well. Only Monkeywrench now has a brand new, totally awesome, costume.

So not fair.

There Once was a Man in a Mask...

Before heroes wore capes and had frikkin' laser beams or psychic craniums, there was a man, a simple man, if simplicity meant being a true Hero.

Gladstone's School for World Conquerors

Gladstone's School for World Conquerors has just released its third issue, and, so far, it's a fun comic. The art is kinetic and exciting, and the characters are great. The plot is a bit muddled, but it's worth a read.

Flash: Rebirth by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver

Ever since childhood I've always been fascinated with the Flash. There's just something appealing about the Flash as a character - or as a myth, since DC characters lend themselves more readily to operatic, iconic and mythical storytelling. Certainly the idea of instantaneous, high-speed travel has a lot to do with my childhood fascination, but there was also something else, some working class ethic and overarching sense of rightness that was present in the character of Barry Allen that wasn't in Hal Jordan, Bruce Wayne or even Clark Kent. It's that core, almost indefinable motivation of the Flash that writer Geoff Johns and artist Ethan Van Sciver have tapped into in their effort to bring Barry Allen back from the dead and back into the living pantheon of DC characters.

If you haven't followed the Flash comics for a while, you might be in for a surprise. A LOT has changed, and the introduction of a wealth of supporting characters can be daunting for new readers. Barry Allen, probably the most iconic of those who have worn the mantle of the Flash, has been "dead," inasmuch as any comic book character CAN be dead, since around 1985, when he gave his life to save the universe. Since his death, Barry's Kid Flash apprentice, Wally West, has been the Flash, and I suppose there's a generation of comic book readers out there who have known no other Flash but Wally. To add to the confusion, there is a "Golden Age" Flash (Jay Garrick) who is miraculously still around, and another Kid Flash (who WAS the Flash briefly, then was murdered, but now is back.....oh, you get the idea). With this many Flashes running around, you'd think Johns would have a heck of a time making any sort of narrative sense out of this mess. However, the opposite is true.

What writer Geoff Johns does is what so many other writers for the Flash have avoided. Rather than streamline characters, plot lines and conflicts, Johns embraces them all and in doing so creates a sort of "Flash Family" that exists around Barry Allen. There's no confusion...no muddled narrative...just a living, breathing family of characters who have more depth than you might expect. Heck, Johns even dives headlong into Barry Allen's own backstory, which has never been developed or plumbed appropriately. What he creates in Barry's past is a motivation for the character's actions, something that even DC's mythic characters need. After all, what is Bruce Wayne without his parents' murder, and what is Clark Kent without his childhood in Smallville? To this, add the unsolved murder of Barry Allen's mother and his undying love of Iris West. These are the touchstones of Barry Allen's life, and they are the kind of stuff that finally fleshes out an all-too-often two-dimensional character.

On top of all of this psychological depth lies a rollicking good action story, complete with a distinctly dangerous villain. There's melodrama a-plenty, don't you worry; it's just more sophisticated and engaging.

Hero by Mike Lupica

First, beware that spoilers lurk here.

Many moons back, in a review of the Clint Eastwood film “In the Line of Fire,” the L.A. Weekly noted that only in America, could you have a political thriller bereft of politics.

I paraphrase (nor can I remember the specific reviewer) since, shockingly, it’s nearly been two decades since that film came out, but the observation has always stuck with me. In that movie -- for anyone unfamiliar -- John Malkovich is an assassin out to get the President, and Eastwood is the repentant JFK-era Secret Service agent who gets a second chance to keep history from derailing. But the Malkovich character doesn’t have any particular agenda in the movie -- he just wants to kill the President because he’s, well, bad.

I was reminded of that particular review more than once when reading Mike Lupica’s new mid-grade/early YA thriller, Hero. Now, I’m a Lupica fan, when it comes to his oeuvre, having enjoyed, in particular, some good nights reading his baseball saga Heat aloud to my own in-house Little Leaguer.

This superhero-themed tale starts out promisingly enough, with a “first person” narrative, as Tom Harriman, the father of our eventual titular hero, Zach, is in Eastern Europe, nabbing a Radovan Karadzic/ Slobodan Milosevic war criminal for trial -- one guesses -- in the West.

In this prologue -- think a James Bond pre-title sequence -- we learn that Tom has certain “powers.” He’s not quite Superman, but he seems to be a tad more than Batman, based on his ability to leap multi-story distances and to somehow transport himself across rooms, as needed, in close combat situations; a kind of localized teleportation.

Like Batman, he’s still mortal though -- and the plane he pilots back with War Prisoner on board is scarcely indestructible: he never makes it home to his family’s Manhattan co-op. And then we switch to third person, and we meet Zach, understandably grieving for the loss of his father.

Hitman -- Garth Ennis & John McCrea

After reading the news about the upcoming television adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis' Alias comic, I wanted to re-read the books. So I headed up to the attic to look for my copies.

I never found them, though, because I got distracted by Tommy Monaghan.

He's a superpowered hitman. He uses telepathy and x-ray vision and his unbeatable aim (not superpowered, though those he comes up against may wonder) to take out superpowered targets. He's got a moral code, though, and only goes after the bad guys.

He doesn't even use his superpowers to cheat at cards, though he's been known to use telepathy to get in good with the ladies. He's not out to save the world -- he just wants enough money for beer and cigarettes. And, someday, to retire to somewhere that isn't Gotham City.

Incorruptible by Mark Waid and Jean Diaz

Way back in February I wrote about Mark Waid's Irredeemable, a twist on the classic Superman-style superhero comic where the pristine, nigh-indestructible good guy (called The Plutonian) finally gets fed up with the world and unleashes all of his pent up demons upon it. Irredeemable is an object lesson in the old adage, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely," and it works because of its willingness to pervert our notions of good and evil.

While Incorruptible continues as a monthly series (and a nice back library of collected trade paperbacks) Waid has added another title and storyline to the mix with Incorruptible. Occurring at the same time and same continuity as Irredeemable, Incorruptible tells the story of Max Damage (where does he get these character names?) another indestructible, super-strong character who has devoted his life to debauchery, crime and a general maladjusted sense of self. At least, Max DID live a life of crime, until The Plutonian nutted up and destroyed an entire city. Max disappears following the disaster, only to return a significantly changed man - no more illicit sex (with his underaged sidekick, no less), drugs or crime of any kind. In most respects, Max undergoes a religious transformation, minus the religion (Waid may eventually take the series in this direction, but don't look for it in the first collected trade). He returns, in essence, as a super powered monk.

Never one to let a character off the hook easily, Waid challenges Max's transformation over and over again with multiple temptations. Turning good, it seems, has as many negative implications as suddenly becoming evil, and there are few, if any, who accept or believe in Max as a newly-incarnated super-savior. Thus, this new series allows Waid to further explore the odd, often unstable line between what we consider good and bad, right and wrong, and our own willingness to accept change in others.

It's not a perfect series, and in many ways it is inferior to Irredeemable - most notably because it all but requires that you have read the other series - but it is intriguing to see Waid play out a "Saul of Tarsus"-like conversion in a landscape filled with comic book conventions. Can we accept that someone so bad can suddenly embrace goodness? If we can't, what does that say about us?

Ex Machina Vol. 1: The First 100 Days by Brian K. Vaughn and Tony Harris

For some reason that I simply cannot explain, I resisted the comic Ex Machina for a long, long time. This defies reason for me on a number of levels: it's written by one of my favorite writers (Brian K. Vaughn, the man who is at least in part responsible for the single best season of Lost - the season 5 time-traveling arc, for those who care), and it's meticulously illustrated by another favorite, Tony Harris. So why did I, only now, start reading this series? Beats me, but I'm glad I finally climbed aboard. Better late than never.

For those who, like me, haven't joined in for the fun of Ex Machina, the only place to start is with the first collected volume, subtitled The First 100 Days. It chronicles, albeit often artfully out of sequence, the first post-inaugural days of New York Mayor Mitchell Hundred and his political rise to power. Certainly this is novel material for a comic book, but there's a twist. Hundred used to be a super hero in a world where superheroes don't exist. He strangely called himself "The Great Machine" and flew around New York with an oddball aviator-meets-Rocketeer outfit, saving citizens in distress with his strangely-acquired power over all machines. Something happened on the day of 9/11, however, (I haven't gotten to the specifics of what, exactly, yet, so I'm as in the dark as anyone else) that caused Hundred to both reveal his identity and retire The Great Machine forever.

Still not convinced? How about if I tell you that writer Vaughn uses this premise to dig into all sorts of political minutia and arcana from New York history? Or that the series, unlike conventional comics, spends as much time entangled in the political realities of life in New York (protests over a controversial art exhibit, for example) as it does in the throes of superheroics? In short, it's as mature a superhero comic as has been seen in years, and every aspect of its writing and art screams the love of its creators. Like the best comics, Ex Machina works on multiple levels. Those looking for action and adventure will find it in sufficient supply, but those looking for depth of plot and characterization and a wealth of clever dialogue, will find those as well. Like the Greek device that inspired its name, Ex Machina is truly making something divine to help us rise above the mundane.

Secret Six: Unhinged

Want to know a secret? The best comic book on the market today features no big-name, A-List superheroes. It's not written by Grant Morrison, Warren Ellis or Geoff Johns. And it's pencilled by a fairly obscure artist. The book in question is Secret Six, and if you haven't read any issues of the series, do yourself a favor and pick up the trade paperback collecting the first six issues of the currently ongoing series - Secret Six: Unhinged.

There seem to be a lot of reasons NOT to read Secret Six at first glance. I mean, honestly, who wants to read a book that features D-List Batman villain Catman on a regular basis. Catman? Really? But the bottom line about Secret Six is that writer Gail Simone takes characters no one in the DC universe gives a whit about and makes them engaging, compelling (if not totally likable) human beings. Think of it this way: Alan Moore did the same thing with a previously mishandled property called Swamp Thing, and Neil Gaiman took the Sandman and transformed him/it into an unprecedented literary property. So if they can do it, and make it work, so can Gail Simone.

Don't look for conventional super heroics here. There just ain't any. These aren't lovable, or even in some cases tolerable, characters. Catman was emotionally and physically brutalized by a big game hunting father; Scandal Savage was raised by an immortal demigod bent on world conquest; Bane was addled by the same drug that powered him; Deadshot was, and is, simply a sociopath, and Ragdoll....well, the less said about Ragdoll the better. I don't think I was ready for this new character invented by Simone, and even now I'm not sure my psyche can handle him.

There is some concern that Secret Six may not last much longer as an ongoing series, and I think I'd like to do my own part to help rectify this situation. This is a great book, well worth the time and energy it takes to read it. It challenges the norms of the conventional, melodramatic funny book and it does so in seriously subversive ways. This is comic book writing without a safety net, since there doesn't seem to be any editorial edict against killing off these characters. No one is safe, and if that isn't the beginnings of good storytelling, I don't know what is.

Fantastic Four Volume 1 by Jonathan Hickman

The Fantastic Four really haven't gotten a fair shake in the 2000s. Some might say that their basic premise, that of an oddball adventuring family, is simply out of date and way behind the times. I disagree. Clearly, very few writers have been able to handle the FF in the modern age of comics. John Byrne was one. Heck, Byrne is one of the main reasons why I read comics at all. His efforts on the Fantastic Four in the 80s were dead on perfect and unfortunately over before they should have been (blame creative differences - always the bane of Mr. Byrne).

There have been glimmers of hope since then, of course. Alan Davis tried, but didn't stick with the FF long enough. Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo (R.I.P.) had a spectacular run focusing on the four as imaginauts, but again it wasn't nearly long enough to re-establish the Fantastic Four as the preeminent team in the Marvel Universe (thank Marvel's ever-destructive editorial policies for that one).

And then there were the movies. Yeah...hmmmm....best leave it at that.

In recent years the Fantastic Four have been vehicles for Marvel's so-called "event" books, but the team and its core humanity has taken a back seat to plot-driven crossovers. My friends, that time is over. The FF are back and better than they have ever been, and it's all because of Jonathan Hickman.

If you're unfamiliar with Hickman's writing credentials, you've got some great reading to catch up on. One of his major projects before turning his attention to Marvel was Pax Romana, about the Catholic church sending a group back in time to right the wrongs of the church throughout history. Hickman is also systematically rewriting the Marvel Universe with his audacious S.H.I.E.L.D. series. But his Fantastic Four work is truly inspired and is a welcome return to the real meat of the series and the characters at the heart of it.

Volume one of Hickman's work has recently been released and I encourage anyone who once loved, still loves or possibly could love the Fantastic Four to read it. This arc primarily involves Reed Richards' attempts to solve every problem imaginable, which brings him into contact with a cohort of like-minded individuals. The ideas are big - monstrously big - but Hickman grounds them in an understanding of the characters that honestly has not been seen since Byrne or Waid. The focus of the series is now on family, first and foremost, and while that may seem cheesy and cornball to some, read the book before you make so many snap judgments. The FF has ALWAYS been about a dysfunctional, yet loving, family, albeit with superpowers. By drawing on that inspiration, Hickman has crafted a book that is thought-provoking and darn fun to read. I can't remember when I've enjoyed reading a comic book story as much as this.

After Civil Wars, Final Crises and every kind of Blackest Night you could imagine, it's refreshing to read a comic that inspires this much awe and wonder.

Leaping Iambic Pentameter In a Single Bound

Any guess where the idea of the heroic adventure story had its foundations laid in recognizable form for the first time? Probably poetry wouldn't be your first guess, but -- while mythology introduced numerous elements -- the first true heroic adventure narrative was in the form of epic poems. Every comic you read, every summer blockbuster you see, owes a direct debt to Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. So, in a deft move of cutting out the middle man, All-Action Classics have adapted Homer's Odyssey (by Mucci and Caldwell) with the pulse-pounding adventure intact and combined it with the crackling energy and imagery of a Samurai Jack cartoon. It's all here: Odysseus's battle with the giant cyclops, his breathless course between the vast whirlpool Charybdis and the tentacled monster Scylla, and his clobbering of oafish suitors with their eyes on his land and his wife. What might take you by surprise though, is the underlying characteristics of the tale and how they differ from the values and virtues of today's heroic adventure. Odysseus's quest was nothing more than desperate journey to get home to his family; his greatest battles were against temptation; his greatest strength was his faith in the gods who watched over humans like they were children and often played with them like pawns; and though he was a great veteran of the Trojan War, his greatest weapon was guile. This one proves both a great adventure and a fascinating glimpse into the dogma of a bygone era. And there's no need to stop there. Have a look at All-Action Classics' first adaptation, Bram Stoker's Dracula (by Mucci, Halliar and Caldwell). Same faithful but energetic re-telling, same vibrant, modernized graphic sensibility, but fittingly atmospheric with its Gothic castle, its monstrous count and the desperate hunt through shadowed subterranean passages.

Now, speaking of heroism old and new: there's an awful lot of super-hero comics out there, and plenty do fun, exciting stuff with classic characters and situations. But it sometimes comes to the point where you feel like everything's been done, everything's been tried . . . and then someone comes along with a new twist, a fresh way to look at the tried and true metaphors. Such a book is Forty-Five (by Ewington), which is a crackling original in both its conception and its execution. A journalist who is about to be the father of a baby with the Super-S gene (the gene that gives humans super-powers) and sets out to interview forty-five super-powered people at various stages of their lives. Add to this ingenious hook the work of forty-five very talented artists who each contributed a splash page to go with a character/interview and you've got a whole new way to explore these powerful ideas. Character, narrative, emotion and a beautifully constructed fantasy world emerge from this combination of interview and art, and it reminds you that no matter how many times you may have seen something, there's always room in the collective imagination for something new. Apparently, you can tell a good super-hero story without poetry, as well.

Cory Doctorow's iPad (and Comic Book) Thesis

BoingBoing creator, author and agent provocateur Cory Doctorow has posted a lengthy missive on Boing Boing pointing out all of the reasons he (and by extension, you) will not buy an iPad. Some of the reasons I agree with and some I don’t, but since this is a book blog I thought I would take Doctorow to task regarding his stance on the Marvel Comics iPad app from Comixology, an app that aims to finally bring digital comics and digital distribution to the masses.

One of Doctorow’s major points is that the Marvel app has locked down content so that a user cannot freely share comics with friends. This is of course true, but the problem is that I don’t see a sustainable model for digital comics that doesn’t impose SOME restrictions on user sharing – at least not until the notion of buying comics online has become as ubiquitous as, say, iTunes. Every digital distribution method I’ve seen for comics thus far (and this includes several iPhone apps such as Comixology’s, Longbox and others) involves some measure of DRM. I don’t like it, but I can see the necessity of it until digital comics become the mainstream. Yes, this does mean that kids won't (for the time being) be able to share comics like they used to in the old days, but I'm not so sure it's still kids buying comics anymore anyway.

Doctorow also waxes nostalgic about the mom and pop comic book stores that have been the mainstay of many comic book geeks (myself included) over the years. Yet there are many details left out of this fond remembrance. Ever seen how much a direct market comics store marks up books just a week or two after they have been released? Ever seen a speculator clear the shelves of books before anyone else can get their hands on a single copy? Ever walked into a comics store to buy an issue, only to find out that you have to have a subscription with the store to get a copy of what you want? At my local store, the shelves are clear of most new issues by the time they arrive. The stores can’t afford to hang onto back stock, so there’s no room for issues that might attract a casual or even a new comics fan. These so-called mom and pop shops have been mistreating and alienating customers for decades. Is it any wonder, then, that more and more fans are looking to purchase digital comics – where prices aren’t arbitrary (and generally are lower than the skyrocketing prices of print comics) and where issues are available when they want them? Isn't this just the sort of distribution channel that might encourage new readers to try out comics? Isn't it time for comics to exist outside of the "bag it, board it, box it" subculture that has kept its audience limited for years?

Like Cory Doctorow, I’ve been reading comics for a long, long time (going on close to 30 years now) and I’m more excited about the future of comics than the past. Maybe he likes musty, ramshackle stores with rude and often dismissive (if not strangely elitist) employees, but I don’t. I don’t have room for that kind of business in my life any more than I have room for dozens of comics-filled longboxes in my house.

Bring on the digital age!

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Seriously, do you need to know anything more than the title?

The big "what if" here is basically little more than Buffy the Vampire Slayer merged with the life story of the sixteenth president of the United States. Lincoln was born, fated as it were, toward a life of vampire killin' in the name of preserving the Union. Unlike Buffy, however, Honest Abe takes his marching orders from a master vamp who finds the purpose and methods of his Southern brethren reprehensible. Add a dose of revenge to Lincoln's early life and the tall, soft-spoken gentleman of our history books becomes the axe wielding vampire assassin with more blood on his hands, literally, than any other president in history.

Oh yeah, there's blood alright. Red blood, and plenty of it.

Why the Justice League Never Works

Take a good, close look at the first image above. It tells you all you need to know about why current incarnations of the Justice League of America just haven't worked out. This is the kind of JLA issue I regularly saw when I was a kid - circa 1979 or so. Notice the heroes who made up the league back then? Sure, there are some B-Listers and C-Listers up there, but the big five are fully represented - Flash, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman (Aquaman didn't even get any love in the 70s. Can the man EVER catch a break?). Without all of these five - ALL OF THEM - there really isn't a reason for the League.


Every time some writer tries to experiment with the tried-and-true formula of the classic JLA, it ends in dismal failure. Case in point - the grotesque aberration that was the Detroit-based JLA.

Justice League Detroit? A terrible, terrible, TERRIBLE idea! Note that NONE of the big five were present. No wonder this was a doomed effort from the get-go.

I have fond memories of the Giffen-Dematteis-Maguire JLA years, but their efforts were also in vain as they did not follow the cardinal rule of five. Even Batman, who was a league stalwart at the beginning of this run, was later ditched in favor of - I can't believe I'm saying this - the likes of G'nort. And let's not even begin discussing Justice League Europe. What hope does a team have when its anchors are Captain Atom and Metamorpho?

The only hope for the JLA in recent years was Grant Morrison's run on the series. Again, like many others before him, Morrison started off strong by focusing on the core power players. But even Morrison gave into temptation and began adding and deleting characters from the roster ad nauseum. Credit where credit is due - Morrison's stories were still damned good, mostly because he viewed and presented the League as a pantheon of god-like characters, so even his additions of characters like Azrael, Orion and Big Barda made sense within the confines of that conceit.
I highly recommend the recently-collected deluxe editions of Morrison's tenure on the JLA. They are not as narratively complex or challenging as, say, his more recent work on Batman or Final Crisis, but they capture the essence of the team far better than anything in recent memory.

The recent return of the Justice League of America, courtesy of writer/novelist Brad Meltzer, has just been a damned mess. It started off with an interesting premise - Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman discussing who should be added to the team - but the recruitment ended once again with a League featuring a select few of the Big 5 and mostly lesser-known characters. While I dig Speedy (now known as Red Arrow), he's just not JLA material, you know?
Once Meltzer departed, the League was once again on editorially shaky ground, with writers and artists hamstrung by what DC said could and could not be done with the characters. Perhaps the current creative team of James Robinson and Mark Bagley can do something to bring back the magic of the JLA, but I'll believe it when I see it.
Is there any hope for the League? Can anyone write for the Big 5, or is it simply too creatively (and/or editorially) challenging? Is there any way to revive the current incarnation of the League? If so, how?
Cross-posted at PastePotPete

Be a Super-hero . . . Until You Grow Up.

Graphic novels and comic books aren't the only place to find super-heroes these days. Just have a look in Noble's Green, a town where kids can fly, have super-strength, can turn invisible. But in the novel Powerless (by Cody), the super-kids know there are four laws which guide their lives: 1. Use your powers to help. Never hurt. 2. The North Face and the Old Quarry are off-limits. Danger waits there. 3. It ends at thirteen. 4. Never, ever let grown ups know. From this great high concept, Cody tells the story of the new kid, the one who doesn't have the powers, but nevertheless finds himself in charge of unraveling the mystery behind these rules. And new kid Daniel can imagine, like any reader, what a remarkable gift it would be to have such extraordinary powers, just as he can imagine how horrible it must be to see your thirteenth birthday closing in and know it's all about to end. Worse yet, when your powers go, so does your memory of them, your memory of your friends; an entire part of your life simply disappears. Powerless is not only an exciting adventure that remembers the magic of old comic books, but a great mystery with surprises that keep coming. Most importantly, it's also a powerful statement on being a kid and being a hero (even without the powers).

And speaking of kids and super-heroes, what about the Marvel Adventures titles? All the big guys (and gals) in fast, fresh stories without the burden of continuity slowing them down. Just because they're labeled "All Ages" shouldn't give you pause either. Of all the comics out there, these comics most passionately and cleverly reflect the sense of fun and character-driven action that Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko pioneered back in the day -- and believe me, I do not say that lightly. There's a lot of collections out there already, but if you're interested in investigating, check out Marvel Adventures Thor Featuring Captain America, Dr. Strange & Ant-Man Digest (by Tobin, Van Lente and Simonson), which includes a hilarious re-telling of Ant-Man's origin and also stars Spider-Man (even though they don't tell you). Marvel Adventures Spider-Man Volume 14: Thwip! Digest (by Tobin and Lolli) is also an excellent jumping-on point, filled with great fights, but also the human drama that Spidey is famous for.

Super-heroes aren't just for kids any . . . wait a second, maybe they are.