Hero Squared X-tra Sized Special 1 (January 2005)

Hero Squared is not high concept. Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis’s approach to it, however, is high concept. The plot’s simple–a Superman (and Captain Marvel) analog ends up in an alternate universe where Earth has no heroes (I think it’s Earth-3, pre-Crisis) and has to deal with his powerless alter ego. Oh, and the hero? He’s just a comic book hero on this Earth.

Except his powerless alter ego is a floundering, feckless twenty-something incapable of adult emotion. And the superhero? His entire universe has just been destroyed and he’s dealing with those events while trying to maintain the hero thing.

It’s excellent stuff. It’s a little awkward, pacing wise, since it’s a one shot, but Giffen and DeMatteis write fantastic dialogue; they establish their characters in two lines. Outstanding writing.

Joe Abraham’s art is mostly quite good, it’s sometimes off a little. But mostly good.

DC Retroactive: Justice League America – The ’90s 1 (October 2011)

Bringing Giffen, DeMatteis and Maguire back for a “final” return to their Justice League works quite well. Even though DC’s historically challenged calling them an nineties team–weren’t they the quintessential eighties team?

The issue’s incredibly complex and layered–everyone gets a subplot, except Martian Manhunter, who just gets the unintentionally funny lines. Giffen and DeMatteis plot it like a sitcom episode. They have a couple running jokes; both work well. They’re even able to get all the foreshadowing the ominous future events to be amusing.

Maguire’s best work, besides being able to fit so many characters into panels, is his rendition of the drunken parademon whose presence kicks everything off. There’s just something stunning about a somewhat mystical character so realistically rendered.

All the dialogue is great, all the jokes connect. It’d be the best Retroactive title but its pedigree is too high to compare to the other ones.

CREDITS

Apokolips No!; writers, Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis; artist, Kevin Maguire; colorist, Rosemary Cheetham; letterer, Carlos M. Mangual; editors, Chynna Clugston Flores and Jim Chadwick; publisher, DC Comics.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #2

Dhp2

Wow, does Chadwick ever try hard to be cute. His Concrete story this issue is a completely useless, inconsequential diversion… Maybe I’m missing the point. Maybe it’s supposed to be charming, but it just seems like he wastes a lot of energy. The art’s okay, Concrete being a really boring looking character but the desert setting is fine.

I certainly wish Chadwick was on Mindwalk, just because Emberlin is so weak. He’s got the occasionally well-designed panel, but the art tends to be broad or ugly. The broad stuff is fine, it just doesn’t look like he put in work. The ugly stuff… well, he put in work to no good effect. The script’s goofy in an annoying way.

Thankfully, DeMatteis and Badger’s Hellwalk, Inc. is fantastic. It’s this romantically involved detective couple who handle occult cases. DeMatteis grounds it in depressing and hopeful reality. A very nice closer.

Dark Horse Presents 2 (September 1986)

CREDITS

Concrete, Under the Desert Stars; writer and artist, Paul Chadwick; letterer, Bill Spicer. Mindwalk, Crystal Vision; writer, Randy Stradley; art by Randy Emberlin; letterer, John Workman. Hellwalk, Inc., Cortege; writer, J.M. DeMatteis; artist and letterer, Mark Badger. Editor, Randy Stradley; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

The Life and Times of Savior 28 (2009) #5

S28 5

Looks like DeMatteis has read some Alan Moore, doesn’t it?

In this issue, DeMatteis doesn’t just pull it off, he also reveals an unreliable narrator in Dennis, who’s apparently a psychotic anti-peacenik and has been for years. It adds some layers to him, since he’s really the least fleshed out character. He’s been too busy telling the reader what he thinks about Savior 28 to tell him or her anything about himself.

But some things come through the cracks, especially at the end. He becomes a hurt child.

Having such a dynamic finale, however, seems a wee contrived, since it leaves the series with a better memory than it earned throughout. All of the politics, in the end, were a McGuffin. It’s something else all of a sudden (not to mention the change of POV in the final pages).

It’s a success, but a machinated one, rather than organic.

The Life and Times of Savior 28 (2009) #4

S28 4

You know the all-action issue, where it’s just a fight scene dragged out to twenty-four story pages? This issue of Savior 28 is a mostly-torture issue. I can’t remember much of what happens except the narrator–Dennis, the government stooge–and Savior 28 finally talk. But there’s the whole backstory thing still going on, with more of Savior 28’s history.

DeMatteis likes doing this revisionist look at superheroes–he did it with Hero Squared, only comedically–but the guy’s not a hack, he’s not piggy-backing on other people’s work (with Savior 28 being a Superman and Captain America amalgam), he’s commenting on the whole superhero comic book medium. These books are a lot like Grant Morrison trying to incorporate all elements of Batman’s history, or Superman’s, into the modern version. Except Savior 28 readers aren’t going to be mainstream readers.

I hope DeMatteis finishes well.

The Life and Times of Savior 28 (2009) #3

S28 3

It does seem a little like the comic everyone wants to write is the one where Superman goes batshit crazy and flips out. Mark Waid’s doing it now, DC kind of did it with Superboy, I can’t think of a Marvel example, but maybe the Sentry did it during “Civil War,” but doesn’t anyone remember Superman III? Savior 28 is really flashy, but it’s more “revisionist” than a Frank Miller book. It’s a depressingly stark look at superheroes; it’s a tad much.

While it’s a good book and I can’t wait to see what DeMatteis does in the final two issues, all this “grown-up” handling of superheroes sucks the wonderment out of the genre. Psychoanalyzing their hangups, et cetera, et cetera, it’s a whole new genre on its own.

But who wants only depressing, stark superhero books? Aren’t they still escapist entertainment?

(Sorry for not talking about this issue).

The Life and Times of Savior 28 (2009) #2

S28 2

Yeah, no, DeMatteis isn’t backing down. He’s got Dick Cheney killing Captain America here or Superman (or, what is it, Super-Soldier). It’s stunning, especially given how DeMatteis has got his ultra-liberal heroine (who’s been off panel so far, at least in a speaking role) and his narrator slash murderer slash Cheney flunky commenting on her not giving anyone slightly conservative any consideration (do they really deserve any?).

Obviously, by making the neo-cons the supervillains, DeMatteis is assuring no bigger publisher is going to pick this one up (I can’t believe IDW did, do they think they’re the new Avatar or something?) and, well, it’s a crazy mix. I mean, he’s got Savior 28 breaking up Secret Wars to tell everyone involved they need to stop being so full of shit.

It’s a hell of a comic. Not sure about it dramatically, but a hell of a comic.

The Life and Times of Savior 28 (2009) #1

S28 1

Well, yeah, I didn’t see that ending coming.

Usually 9/11 shows up as a gut shot in comics–Ex Machina, Morales’s awesome Captain America run, Conway’s recent Animal Man–but DeMatteis brings it out here front and center. I have no idea where he’s going with it but it certainly seems a heck of a lot more thoughtful than some guy throwing a soda can at Spider-Man or whatever Marvel did.

Savior 28 is a strange book–Cavallaro’s style, particularly when he’s doing the drunken, downtrodden hero, is an odd fit. Cavallaro, broadly, reminds of Kirby or Infantino, which makes Savior 28 a Silver Age visualization of a very modern story.

It’s also got no laughs in it.

DeMatteis is good at laughs (he’s also good at other stuff, but laughs were his “strong suit”) and it’s a real departure from what I was expecting.

It’s very interesting.