Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1977) #258

Superboy the Legion of Super Heroes 258

Is Legion supposed to be camp? I’m not sure what else makes sense, given writer Gerry Conway’s actually quite good plot and his reliably insipid exposition. Quite good plotting after tricking me in the opening—I thought the splash page said the issue was jumping away from R.J. Brande’s bankruptcy plot, but I just hadn’t reread the exposition enough to understand what Conway was saying.

The Legion has finally met up with Brande, and finally discovered who took his fortune. Then these rogue science police officers attack them, and we get a reasonably good “Legionnaire’s powers are perfect for this situation” action sequence before cutting away to Brainiac 5’s prison island.

Brainiac 5 is not in this issue. Not unless he turns out to have stayed evil and just gotten worse because now the comic’s about a mystery villain. The cover says his name is “The Psycho-Warrior,” but one of the Legionnaires refers to him that way. It’s not his villain name. I mean, it’ll be his villain name, but it doesn’t make any sense. I’m not sure there’s anyone worse at naming villains than late seventies, early eighties Gerry Conway. It’s like he saved all the okay ones for Firestorm and everything else is like… “Psycho-Warrior.”

Conway toggles between the stories, the Legion and the missing fortune, and Psycho-Warrior breaking out of his and Brainy’s prison. Is he Brainy? Probably not; it’s too obviously logical and can’t be drug out.

Because there’s barely a confrontation between the heroes and this new villain (who already hates the Legion, making him just like all their other villains, who hate them for being shitty white kids). He does his escape thing; they go to the Federation Council to have a showdown.

The showdown’s bad but a good idea. If Conway had built to it over a few issues instead of just having a reason for the twist… might’ve been good.

There’s a good narrative device setting up the cliffhanger and then some otherwise lousy writing.

Maybe slightly better than usual art from Joe Staton and Dave Hunt.

This issue’s the last Superboy and the Legion. I wonder if dropping the Boy of Steel’s going to help Conway at all.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #25

Tomb of Dracula 25

Unfortunately, there’s much to talk about this issue, like writer Marv Wolfman’s use of a racial slur, which was indeed “Code approved.” It’s not clear if the speaker is supposed to be a bad guy for being a racist, which sadly tracks given Wolfman’s Werewolf by Night Black neighbor character.

The issue’s all about private investigator Hannibal King, who narrates the issue like he grew up on pulp novels. It’s the point, but it also shows how banal hard-boiled comes off when not done well or when done for a gag. Wolfman doesn’t do it well, and he does it for a gag. King’s new client is a recent widow, and it’s her wedding day. As they were getting ready to consummate, Dracula came in and killed her husband. Dracula’s motive has something to do with shipping coffins from England to somewhere else, but it’s red herring nonsense. At one point, Drac makes it sound like he killed the guy as a warning to his boss.

The widow comes to see King, who looks her over approvingly (she’s Black, so he’s not a racist if he wants to bang her). Now, he won’t exactly put the moves on her, but he’ll think about it, and he’ll be really shitty to her during their initial meeting. Especially after finding out her husband died. You have to yell at dames to make them talk sense, just ask Marv Wolfman.

Especially since the widow doesn’t believe in vampires, King tells her a bunch of stories about his encounters with vampires, including one with the guy who looks like the dude who killed Blade’s mother.

King investigates, roaming London (he’s originally from Milwaukee, which fits), getting into fights, narrating ad nauseam, and discovering how Dracula fits into this whole thing.

There’s great art. Gene Colan and Tom Palmer are made for London private eye stories. Wolfman, not so much. Worse, he’s doing that strange thing where he writes Dracula from the perspective of the humans, and Dracula’s dialogue’s all of a sudden worse. He’s Fearless Leader, not Lord of the Undead.

The end’s doubly problematic, but it’s such a gorgeous book… read the endless text fast, linger on the beautiful panels.

Dan Dare (2007) #3

Dan Dare 3

It’s an absurdly good issue, starting with Dan Dare having a showdown with the little shitheels currently calling themselves British officers. He and companion Digby are on a desert planet, trying to evacuate the civilians before they and the garrison have to shoot it out with literal monsters, and some officers are whining about their tours being over soon.

Ace start from writer Garth Ennis. The issue is a mix of talking heads and action, with some history lessons in between. As Dan and Digby walk the remaining colonists (including some of the Venusian Treen aliens) through the desert in hopes of a more defendable position, Dan gives the Dan Dare: The Original Series recap in a page or two. There aren’t any scenes, just a pin-up and great writing from Ennis, who gets to a sad and sweet finish with the scene touching on Dan’s failed romance with previous companion Jocelyn.

The action unexpectedly goes to Jocelyn back on Earth. Her boss, the Prime Minister, has sold out humanity to the enemy, only she doesn’t know it. She does find out, however, there’s something extraordinary going on, and she’s going to figure it out. Her scenes are entirely talking heads; giving an assignment, getting a report, making decisions, but it’s all incredibly tense because the reader knows she’s on the right track and she’s got to save the world–excellent, efficient plotting from Ennis. The series is so far along at this point; despite literally being a handful of conversations and an interrupted space voyage, I thought we were on issue four, not three.

Ennis toggles the tone again when the sci-fi military action starts. Dan gets the soldiers into an infantry square to protect the civilians, and even though they’re doing better than they thought, they don’t have an infinite ammo cheat code.

The cliffhanger’s nice and dry, nice and British—the first time I read Dan Dare, I’d never read any 2000 AD; now I have an Ennis and Gary Erskine’s format homage is cool. It’s good either way, but it’s cool to see what they’re doing and where they got it.

Dan Dare delivers. Erskine’s art is his series best this issue; he’s got the pacing for the talking heads, which usually aren’t in close-up, so there are just lots of panels of people walking and talking, and it’s captivating.

Damn good comics.

Werewolf by Night (1972) #22

Werewolf by Night 22

New writer Doug Moench continues to put his mark (of the Werewolf) on Night.

By soft-booting the thing back to issue three or four. This issue starts with Jack going to see forty or fifty-something best friend Buck Cowan, who’s known Jack’s been a werewolf for a while now, but they never, ever talked about it on page, just went from not knowing to knowing. It’s the full moon, and the regular plan is for Jack to lock himself in Buck’s storage closet.

Jack tried this method last issue, and it’d didn’t work. They think they’ve got it licked this month with iron bars, but the werewolf just… goes through the door. Bet the claws help with it. The werewolf then attacks Buck, meaning Buck’s not as special as the other people the werewolf hasn’t killed because he knows they’re special to Jack. Except then, Jack’s seventeen-year-old sister shows up to see Buck, and the werewolf runs off.

I was getting my hopes up for Moench, and he’s really going back to Buck being a dirty old man.

Cool.

Moench does write excellent Wolfman Jack narration, though he finally breaks it at the end of the issue with Jack—who narrates the werewolf’s adventures in the past tense (meaning it’s already happened, keep that detail in mind)—thinking about how he doesn’t remember anything from the werewolf adventures. All that narrating he’s been doing for twenty issues? Doesn’t remember any of it. So how could he be narrating it during the Wolfman Jack adventures?

It’s tenses. It’s not, I don’t know, Ibsen.

Anyway, the actual story has the werewolf getting into a tussle with a ‘roided out movie star whose former producer got him into a disfiguring accident, so the guy, a former heartthrob, is killing a bunch of Hollywood types.

Who don’t not have it coming.

Moench also brings in a new cop—out for revenge for his missing partner, dirty, murdering cop Lou Hackett; but the new cop doesn’t know Lou was bad. Why get rid of one generic cop to bring in another?

The less said about the Don Perlin and Vince Colletta art, the better. It’s really bad this issue, Perlin’s worst (so far).

Once again, Werewolf’s a slog.

Catwoman (2002) #1

Catwoman 1

I’ve meant to go back and reread Brubaker’s Catwoman for literal decades now. The last time I tried, I started the post about Catwoman #1 pointing out it proves Ebert’s “no masks in noir” rule from his Batman Returns review wrong.

I’ll never be able to top that one, though it’s impossible not to think of Catwoman in those terms. With Darwyn Cooke and Mike Allred’s brisk, expressive art, Matt Hollingsworth’s lush but dark palette, Catwoman’s a visual feast. Especially once Selina gets back in “the outfit” and goes for an evening constitutional, hanging out on giant heads from a Schumacher Batman only fit to the Gothic city. It’s dark but not depressed; there are moments of such sincere joy in the comic. Not just for the reader but for Selina. She’s been struggling to get her groove back, and she’s finally got the right idea.

The comic’s got full narration from Selina, with Brubaker toggling between first and second person. When Selina’s feeling good about herself, it’s first person. When she’s tearing herself down, it’s second person. Batman ethics and morals have aged terribly, even in the last twenty years—I didn’t even realize I’m starting Catwoman again on its twentieth anniversary—so Selina feeling bad for thinking her friends—poor people, marginalized people—are actually worth it no matter what Batman says… yikes. Batman does show up, and Brubaker (and Cooke) give him the swashbuckler, Zorro feel, not the fascist Frank Miller one, which is good.

But still. Yikes. Find a better role model, Selina.

And she sort of does. She’s been seeing Leslie Thompkins for talk therapy. However, Selina’s been hiding her Catwoman side even though Batman already told Leslie, so she’s known the whole time, which seems professionally questionable. Be careful, Dr. Thompkins; it’s a slippery slope ending it faking the death of the first female Robin or whatever.

The opening has a hook—someone’s killing sex workers and terrifying them before doing so—and the soft cliffhanger gets Selina into the know. She’s been hiding out in the Narrows or whatever it’s called, most people thinking she’s dead, fallen from high society, and not wanting to return to the Jim Balent days of Catwoman. It’s an earnest, speedy character development issue. Not too much backlog, but some panels showing off Cooke’s ability to mix Catwomen of all vintages and costumes; Selina’s trying to move forward and do some good.

It’s such a great first issue. It’s nice. It’s never not tough, never not potentially rough, but it’s also so damn nice.

Stoker’s Dracula (2004) #2

Stoker s Dracula 2

Stoker’s Dracula collects and then continues Roy Thomas and Dick Giordano’s seventies novel adaptation, which ran in the black and white horror magazines, Dracula Lives! and Legion of Monsters. Thomas and Giordano only did six entries back then, and since they’ve only got one chapter of new material in this issue… they stopped before they were halfway done.

Fast forward thirty years, and Marvel gets them to finish it.

The cool part of this issue is it’s all the best material. The first issue would have Jonathan Harker getting to Castle Dracula and his discoveries there. This issue is all the England stuff, first from Mina’s perspective, then Seward’s, and now Lucy’s. Giordano excelled at the British Gothic material.

This issue also introduces the mixed media aspect of the novel. There are newspaper accounts, multiple diarists, and Seward’s monologue to his phonograph. Thomas and Giordano’s best work on the adaptation—as was—is in this issue.

So obviously, there are some differences thirty years on. The lettering is digital. Chris Eliopoulos. They lack the energy of the previous entries’ lettering. There are also some typeset newspaper reprints, which come off wrong, including a really bad “Lorem Ipsum” moment.

But the lettering disconnect is nothing compared to the Giordano art disconnect. While Dracula does look quite different than pages (and decades) before—not for the better–Giordano’s overall work is good. He can still do the Gothic good girl art, which is crucial since it’s mostly a Lucy issue.

There’s some hubbub with Seward, but he’s just a plot mechanism, just like all the characters. Thomas brings in Texan Quincy Morris, clean-shaven with sideburns like Giordano didn’t want to do too much work on him.

Giordano did put a lot of work into Stoker’s, but there’s a difference. He’s older and slicker—just like the letters—but the energy’s different. Stoker’s Dracula isn’t adapting the novel to fit Tomb of Dracula; it’s just adapting the novel to match what’s come before.

The new entry’s greatest success is giving Lucy—even temporarily—some agency. She doesn’t do much with it besides write in her diary, but her insight into her situation is very nice. Hopefully, Thomas will find someone else to have good instincts with going forward….

Shadows on the Grave (2016) #3

Shadows on the Grave 3

And now Shadows on the Grave is doing the very bizarre thing where the subsequent issue does what I said it should do; only it’s years later. In this case, creator Richard Corben does differing page lengths on the horror stories and lets the Greek story be the feature with the most pages. It’s twelve pages, which is enough time for Corben to do a prologue, feature, and epilogue setting up the next issue. I had been wondering if the Greek story was good enough, would it cover the rest—it could (the story’s great this issue), but it doesn’t have to do any covering. The other stories work out.

The first story is a four-page quickie. A woman goes to a mansion where she used to know the owners but hasn’t been able to reach them. There she finds some odd brothers and has a tense encounter. Exquisite art. It’s dark, dangerous, and action-packed.

It’s also only four pages, so Corben’s able to ride that momentum into the second story, about a group of grave robbers who get their just desserts. This one runs ten pages, which is a little long but successful. Again, lots of good art and design work with all these curious artifacts. It’s got the most story of the three horror tales, which Corben otherwise truncates.

Like the third story, scripted by Jan Strnad, two hikers get lost in the woods and must stop at a cabin. There’s a hospitable host, maybe a little too enthusiastic about his many cryptid encounters, but it’s all good. The hikers start getting curious about what else is happening in the cabin, leading to a surprise finish.

Or not. I mean, it’s a decent trope-full story, but it’s a little long for the punchline. They could’ve shaved a page, at least.

Though I’m not sure I’d want it on the Greek story, Denaeus. When I started Shadows, I had hoped this one would be the standout and the last issue disappointed. This one does not, far from it.

Corben splits the story between Denaeus on his mission, which seems doomed, but he’s too dense to realize it, and his would-be sidekick, Lustea. Despite clearly being a warrior, some sailors pick on Lustea, leading to a fantastic action sequence. Lots of fighting and hand-held weapons, unlike anything else in the issue for sure.

The fight has a resolution to move things along, then there’s some convenient lightning—or is it because Lustea’s new friend, Malgia, can’t stop cursing Poesidion as they try to cross the sea? Then there’s an epilogue with Denaeus to prepare things for next time.

It’s a fantastic entry. The art, the writing—Malgia’s hilarious and Lustea’s characterization is excellent—Corben’s delivering the goods.

I just hope Grave doesn’t run hot and cold every other issue.

Red Room: Trigger Warnings (2022) #3

Red Room Trigger Warnings 3

Technically, this issue’s outstanding. Creator Ed Piskor takes Trigger Warnings somewhere unpredictable and incredibly thoroughly realizes it.

But as a story, it’s all about the punchline, and it’s a long, long time to get to the punchline, going through an entirely unnecessary flashback to a supporting character. Now, the supporting character’s essential, the comic opens with him—specifically with the protagonist killing him. See, the supporting guy—Dustin—has a flash drive worth $400 million, and the protagonist, Rex, is ostensibly going to help him get it unlocked.

It’s a BitCoin thing. Dustin was a pizza store clerk who comped a customer pies in exchange for the BitCoins back when it wasn’t worth anything. Then he lost the password and can’t be a hundred millionaire without it. Enter Rex, who says he’ll help Dustin decrypt it; they just need to go on his yacht to a tropical island where his former business partner lives.

Piskor takes an engaging stroll through BitCoin culture (and its effects on the greater culture). Still, since the issue opens with Rex blowing Dustin away… it seems like Dustin-related flashbacks might not be too crucial to the overall story. Especially not once it turns out Rex’s friend, Satoshi, rules the tropical island as a man-god, like a late nineteenth-century British daydream. Satoshi and his followers don’t need BitCoins the way Rex thinks they do, especially not since they stream their human sacrifices to a Red Room.

Where commenters are impressed with the production values of the ancient Polynesian temples.

The story’s more “set in the Red Room universe” than a Red Room story (at least how Piskor’s defined them over the last six issues), and he makes lots of off-hand remarks about big things, but since they’re one-liners, he doesn’t take any responsibility for them. It’s the first time he’s tried to be buzzy with Red Room. Hard pass.

It’s a solid issue, obviously. Piskor’s really good at his job. It’s just not the level he usually reaches. And the ending’s funny, just slight.

Beware the Creeper (2003) #5

Well, I remembered the twist ending of Beware the Creeper, but without the problematic, reductive, low-key, passive misogynist, ableist context.

For a while, it’s a surprisingly good issue. Writer Jason Hall has finally gotten his bland white guy police detective narration down. Not for the resolution epilogue, of course; there’s nothing to be done with that section but the opening. Except when the death of the cop’s favorite—sincerely favorite, not in a creepy way—prostitute is an afterthought. There’s no room for it, since Creeper’s not a mystery.

It’s not a mystery; it’s not a character study (Madeline is barely present, save a great scene with Hemingway); it’s not a history lesson. It’s a sometimes admirable effort, with excellent art from Cliff Chiang—though even he can’t make the conclusion work—and okay writing from Hall.

It’s not successful, but it’s also not exactly a disappointment. Since I remembered the twist, it couldn’t disappoint me again. If I were going in cold… well, again, I’m surprised I’ve been remembering this series with such a fondness. Even leaving out the twist and how much it changes the previous three issues, there’s also the lack of character development. The willful, manipulative lack of it.

And the French cop is too bland a narrator.

Hall tries for a melancholy last moment, tied into the lost potential of “The Lost Generation,” but it’s a complete fail. Despite being on top of the Eiffel Tower, it’s one of Chiang’s least successful scenes in the issue.

The book’s got such a weird finish. If it were a movie, you’d swear they’d reshot it. But Beware the Creeper was always five issues, and if they didn’t stop now, they’d have had to go much longer, and Hall doesn’t have the story for it.

Ernest Hemingway cameos, amusing or not, aren’t something you do when you’ve got the story cracked.

Anyway. Good art. Sometimes okay script.

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1977) #257

Superboy the Legion of Super Heroes 257

If it weren’t for the backup, which pairs writer Gerry Conway with Steve Ditko (penciling, with Dan Adkins inking), this issue would give the impression Conway doesn’t like the Legion. Or, if he does, he thinks their positive traits are being smug asswipes.

In addition to the charming, sexy (really) backup story about Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel’s misadventures trying to be regular people colonists, Conway writes the feature. Joe Staton and Dave Hunt are on the art. Maybe if the story weren’t so lackluster, something about their lackluster art would’ve stood out more (I mean, there are some weird Cosmic Boy panels thanks to that outfit, but otherwise).

The feature story is all about how important it is to lie.

The Legion is in trouble with the science police for hijacking the amusement park hovering over the Grand Canyon last issue. They needed to holographic something something to make Brainiac 5 sane again. Except now, no one knows if it works, so they’re just supposed to trust Brainy as the cops and the amusement park owner yell at them.

The issue basically takes place over fifteen minutes, with the morale of the story—for Superboy, no less—being sometimes it’s better to lie to escape accountability. Did the Superboy from Superboy and the Legion go on to be the bad guy in Final Crisis or whatever? It would make sense. They’re all a bunch of assholes.

The subplot involves the rich guy who funds them being out of money—for like the sixth straight issue—but now the Legion knows about it, so Chameleon Boy’s going to get it resolved. At least there’s some momentum on that story, though it’s also a little obnoxious. Especially since it turns out the Legion does have most of their base left, just not the ostentatious part.

This book’s a trip.

The backup’s wonderful, though. Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel are a cute couple; Ditko’s layouts and Conway’s script have a lovely retro but not condescending thing going on.

I wish they’d take over the feature slot.