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2019 Spring/Summer Comic Book Preview

Published on March 30, 2019November 30, 2020 by theworldsbestblogwithpaulwrightLeave a comment

Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

It’s been a while since I’ve written an article on comic books. As I’ve often said, one of my main goals at World’s Best Media has been to be an advocate for comic books. To champion comics as a beautiful, thought provoking, worthwhile literature. Like all mediums, comics books and graphic novels can run the gamut from complete garbage to transcendent pieces of art. To use television as an example, for every “Big Bang Theory” (ugh) to masterpieces like “The Wire” or “Game of Thrones”. As we head into Spring with Summer around the corner, DC and Marvel are gearing up for some high profile books from their top writers and artists to tell big event stories. Think of it like the comic book world’s version the Summer Blockbuster Season at the movies. This year is no exception and even after years of reading comics for a couple of decades now I still get excited. (Jesus Christ! Wait a second. When did I do ANYTHING “decades ago”?! When did THAT happen?! Time is a cruel mistress, I suppose)

In this article I’m going to give you folks a look at some of the coolest comics DC and Marvel have hitting stands over the next couple of months. There are some pretty damn cool books here and like I said I never fail to get excited about the Summer Comic Book Events.

However, it can be difficult to get into comics especially if you’re a newcomer. So even if this’ll be your first time picking up a comic book or you’re a lapsed fan comings looking to get back into comics, I have something here that I think will help you out. * if you’re a comic book readers and understand the basics, you can skip right ahead to out Spring/Summer Comic Book Preview. Otherwise…

Here’s a quick refresher: New to Comic 101. This will help you appreciate some very sick new comics and graphic novels coming out this spring and summer when they hit stores and Apps. If you’ve seen a Marvel movie, for example, and are trying to decide where to start, it can be intimidating. No is much is I love Marvel, DC Comics is much better at making comic books accessible to newcomers. They tend to make their stories available in simple, easy to grasp formats. They tend to publish their graphic novels as individual stories that you can pick up like a regular novel and understand without having read anything else about the character (more or less). Then you can go out and grab another story featuring the same character and (more or less) be able to follow along. There might be some confusion here and there about small details, but that’s why god invented Google. Let’s say you’ve read one or two Wonder Woman or Superman graphic novels or collected editions, as you begin to read more, you start to understand when stories take place in a a books history, the overall continuity of a character or universe, the best writers and artists. Basically you start to become a comic book reader.

As I’ve explained in the past, what we call graphic novels are really mostly collected editions which are just collections of individual comics that make up one larger story, in easy to read book/graphic novel form. DC seems to really understand that graphic novels and collected editions are incredibly important because they help draw in new readers. Right now drawing in new readers is by far the most important priority of every comic book publisher.

Now, without further ado…

2019 SPRING/SUMMER COMIC BOOK PREVIEW

DC’S YEAR OF THE VILLAIN #1 (One-Shot)

Release Date: 5/1/19

Writers – Brian Michael Bendis, Scott Snyder, & James Tynion IV

Artist- Jim Cheung, Alex Maleev, & Francis Manapul

Cover- Greg Capullo

This is the must buy comic book of the season. This special one shot is made up of three separate stories from DC’s top writers and artists. Each of the three stories serve to set up the major story arcs and plot points in DC‘s biggest books, featuring their most prominent characters. With a theme like “Year of the Villain“, these stories feature some of the most dangerous and deadly threats that have been brewing in books like Justice League, Action Comics, Batman and more all year. Threats like The Batman Who Laughs, the terrifying and powerful secret society/terrorist group Leviathan, and Lex Luthor’s continuing quest to unlock the secret cosmic powers of the Universe with his Legion Of Doom. Considering the wild cards at play here, expect some big surprises and shocking reveals in this book. Plus, you can’t beat the rock bottom price of $0.25. This book is a good jumping on point if you have been a DC Comics reader in the past and want to start reading them again. This is a MUST READ. Below we have some fantastic art, each of whch accompanies the different stories in this book

Doomsday Clock #11

Release Date: 5/22/19

Writer- Geoff Johns

Artist- Gary Frank

Man, this great fucking series. Don’t listen to the haters. What’s interesting is Doomsday Clock is kind of a microcosm of all superhero comics. It’s a big gimmicky “Event”, it’s a crossover, it’s messes with classic characters and stories that were previously viewed as untouchable sacred cows, surprise character returns, there are big deaths, surprise resurrections, RETCONING! You find each of those thing a lot in superhero comics. However, none of that takes away from the fact that Doomsday Clock is a fucking incredible comic book. In fact, It’s one of the best books currently being published. When the story was first announced, it was presented as a story that would’ve been about a sort of battle for the soul of the DC Universe. With Superman‘s hope and optimism versus Dr. Manhattan’s cold, inhuman, rationalism. While that still seems to be an element of the story, it quickly became apparent that this story was really a Watchmen sequel. Some fans will always be against the idea of a sequel to Alan Moore’s superhero masterpiece, but I am of the opinion that if there has to be a sequel to Watchmen, this is the best one we’re going to get. It’s a fantastic story that feels both very true to the world Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons created all those years ago as well as the DC comics universe. The art by Gary Frank is beyond phenomenal. I have no idea where the story is going to end up and that’s one of the things I love about it. At the time of writing this, issue # 10 will have been published, With the penultimate chapter (Issue #11) of this saga hitting spinner racks in May. With the grand finale following issue #11. Will we finally get the epic confrontation between Superman and Dr. Manhattan that the series seems to be inexorably heading towards? I’m sure there’s going to be at least some confrontation, but what kind…. I don’t know, but I can’t fucking wait to find out.Though we’ve seen a lot of delays on this series, it seems to be getting back on track with a pretty regular shipping schedule.

Batman: Last Knight On Earth

Release Date: 5/29/19

Writer- Scott Snyder

Artist- Greg Capullo

For nearly a decade, writer Scott Snyder has become the definitive Batman storyteller of his time. Frank Miller had the 80’s, the 21st-century belongs to Scott Snyder. Snyder has often told the story of, how when he was first starting out on the New 52 Batman and how he asked legendary writer Grant Morrison for his advice on writing Batman. Morrison himself had his own successful Batman run and wrote the classic Batman graphic novel Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On A Serious Earth. Morrison told Snyder that the key to writing Batman is to write him as if he created the character himself. Morrison then asked Snyder if he knew HIS version the beginning or “birth” of the character and the ending or “death” of the character. Snyder followed this advice and his story about Batman’s birth is the excellent Zero Year story. Now we’re getting Snyder’s story about Batman’s “death” or the last story of Snyder’s Batman with Batman: Last Knight On Earth #1. It if Scott Snyder is telling his version of the last Batman story, there can be only one artist to draw the book, and that is of course Greg Capullo.

His New 52 Batman run with artist Greg Capullo Is probably in the top two or three best Batman runs of all time, if not number one. A massive part of that book’s success was his collaboration with artist Greg Capullo. Not all comic book artists and writers work this way, but the right artist and writer come together who are an absolute perfect match, you get magic. That Batman run would not have been the masterpiece it is had Snyder not worked with Capullo on the book. There are several more, but it’s more rare than you’d think. Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s work on Preacher together comes to mind as a similar example of what you get when you put the right creative people together.

This three issue prestige format miniseries follows Bruce Wayne waking up in Arkham Asylum; young, fit, and very much sane. Without any memory of how he got there or what has happened before, he finds himself in a post apocalyptic, ruined DC Universe. With a frozen, severed, but very much alive Joker head as his only companion, Batman begins in his trek across what was once the DC Universe he knew, to you find the answers he needs. Considering the pedigree of the talent involved in this project and what phenomenal Batman stories they’ve already told, I’m going to say this is one of the Top 3 absolute MUST BUYS of the summer.

The Flash: Year One

Begins in issues #70 and #71

Writer- Joshua Williamson

Artist- Howard Porter

Release Dates: 5/8/19 & 5/22/19

I’m actually really looking forward to this one. I don’t read The Flash on a monthly basis, but I check it out every once in awhile and Joshua Williams is a great writer. May kicks off the first two issues of The Flash: Year One. There’s not a whole lot to say with this one. It’s pretty much all in the title. I’m a sucker for a good Year One story and we haven’t receive one of those for Barry Allen before. The art is phenomenal. The creative team is excellent; Williamson had been putting out some good Flash stories since DC REBIRTH and Howard Porter is an all time great Flash artist. If you like The Flash TV series or you dig The Flash in general, I’d say this looks like a pretty sure bet for a great book.

Superman: Leviathan Rising Special #1 (One-Shot)

Release Date: 5/29/19

Writers- Brian Michael Bendis

Artists- Various

This is a special prelude to the next comic book event, I’ll be talking about below….

Event Leviathan

Release Date: 6/12/19

Writer – Brian Michael Bendis

Artist- Alex Maleev

LEVIATHAN is rising. Seemingly out of nowhere, intelligence agencies, terrorist groups, cults, some of the most powerful organizations in the DC Universe are taken out by a powerful secret terrorist society, Leviathan. A.R.G.US. Headquarters (DC’s version of SHIELD) is destroyed in a powerful and mysterious blast, the terrorist group Kobra Cult, The D.E.O. (The government organization Supergirl works with if you watch her show on The CW), and more, all destroyed. This story has been building up in the Superman books for the past few months and it was only recently revealed that the Leviathan storyline would have a larger affect on the DC Universe.

Variant cover for Issue #1. Note some familiar silhouettes in the background

A few years ago, in an attempt to take the Batman concept global, Bruce Wayne started Batman Inc. An organization in which Batman and Wayne Enterprises would give vigilantes who had been inspired by Batman, in cities all over the world, access to Wayne Tech resources and technology. Batman was going global. As part of their very twisted and fucked up love-hate relationship Talia Al-Ghul, daughter of The Demon’s Head, Ra’s Al-Ghul, mother to Damian Wayne, Son of Batman; created a terrorist organization called Leviathan specifically to counter Batman Inc., it’s not clear how much, if any connection this Leviathan has to the previous one, but there appears to be some. The books leading up to this have been a lot of fun and I like how Bendis seems to be opening up the story into the larger DC Universe. You should be reading all of Bendis’ Superman books right now, so definitely check this one out as well. Event Leviathan will be a 6 Issue miniseries that Bendis has described as more of shadowy thriller than a typical huge, bombastic event comic. I’d definitely recommend checking out Action Comics also written by Bendis which looks like it’ll be a key tie-in book. Action Comics is great anyway so you should definitely be reading it, event or no event. In fact Action Comics by Bendis vol.1 hits comic book stores on 4/3 and it get my highest recommendation.

Superman: Year One

Writer: Frank Miller

Artist: John Romita Jr.

Release Dates: 6/19/19, August, & October

Like many comic fans, after train wrecks like The Dark Knight Strikes Again and All Star Batman & Robin The Boy Wonder, I found myself thinking “What the FUCK happened to Frank Miller?”. Where was the man who gave us Batman: Year One and The Dark Knight Returns? The answer, as far as I was concerned as a comic reader, was that he was long gone. The Frank Miller we knew was no more.

Now all of a sudden he’s giving Superman the Year One treatment after years of being a longtime, vocal Superman hater. What to make of all this? Hmmmm…

Well, unlike many of you, I kind of loved The Dark Knight III The Master Race. So, are we seeing a Frank Miller comeback? Well, one good piece of work does not a comeback make. Even if we all agree that The Dark Knight III The Master Race was a very good Batman/DC Universe miniseries, a big caveat comes along with giving Frank Miller any points in the comeback column from this project. There’s a big metaphorical asterisk next to Frank Miller’s name on this book. TDK III was co-written with Miller by the very talented Brian Azzarello and the book was drawn by the legendary Andy Kubert. I strongly suspect that Frank Miller’s contribution to that book consisted of some variant covers, the brief back up stories at the end of each issue, and giving his input to the very broad outline of the story. While Azzarello was responsible for truly writing the issues. However, I could be wrong, who knows?

Now having said all that, will I be reading Superman: Year One? Absolutely. I am a complete sucker for a Year One story and John Romita Jr.’s art looks fantastic. That’s got to be worth the price of admission alone. Even if it’s garbage, it’ll be beautiful garbage. Also John Romita Jr. handling art duties on this miniseries tips things positively in the book’s favor a little. The first of the three prestige format issues will be released on 6/19/19, with books two and three being released in August and October.

I’m a pretty optimistic guy when it comes to my pop-culture. I want it to be good. That’s why I enjoyed The Dark Knight III The Master Race so much, I allowed myself to be open to enjoy it. However, though John Romita Jr.’s art is definitely a huge draw. Hopefully, he’ll be able to help Miller tell a solid Superman story. This miniseries has been described as being Frank Miller’s story, unlike the collaborative nature of TDK III. Basically, he doesn’t have the help he did on his last major project to catch him when he falls. I have great respect for Romita Jr., then again Jim Lee produced some of his best work on All Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder and look how that turned out. Finally, even though I’ll definitely be picking up at least the first issue of this series, I have come to the conclusion that this is going to be a shit show. Everything I know about Frank Miller makes me think Superman: Year One is going to be another massive, flaming, Hindenburg-like failure from the once great Frank Miller. I’ll be the first to tell you how happy I am to be wrong on this one.

I hope you enjoyed my spring/summer comic book preview and as always thank you for reading! This article focused on DC Comics exclusively. DC does a better job of Marvel than putting out accessible, more or less self contained, easy to explain event books and mini series. So if you enjoyed this preview and you’d like to see what Marvel Comics has cooking for the spring and summer, please comment below

So there you have it, a lot of exciting comics coming out over the next few months. Word has it there are some even bigger things coming on the horizon and this is all just from DC Comics! I’ll probably write up a similar article highlighting Marvel’s spring and summer comics to check out this year. Comics are an incredible medium. So, whether you’re reading single issue comics, waiting for the collected editions, reading them on your tablet, or going to your local comic book store, as long as you’re supporting the medium, that’s all that matters.

-Paul

MUST READ: Doomsday Clock #7

Published on October 15, 2018November 24, 2020 by theworldsbestblogwithpaulwrightLeave a comment

Hey Everybody,

Paul here…

Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s Watchmen is widely considered to be one of, if not the best comic book ever written. I remember the magic of getting into to comic for the first time and being blown away by the classics of the medium: The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, and of course Watchmen. Watchmen still holds up as a brilliant, powerful masterpiece of storytelling. I don’t think Watchmen’s impact on the comic book medium can be understated.

However, as comic books have become more and more mainstream, Watchmen itself has become more mainstream. 20 years ago meeting someone else who read Watchmen was special because it was rare. If you read Watchmen, you knew something amazing that everyone else didn’t. As superhero stories and comic books became a part of pop culture in a major way, so did Watchmen. More people started to read the original graphic novel. We got Zack Snyder’s Watchmen film (an under appreciated gem, in my opinion), DC published Before Watchmen (Many of those miniseries’ were excellent), and like anything else, the more there is, the less special it becomes.

I still love the original Watchmen comic book. I’m making this point because Watchmen isn’t the sacred cow to me that it may be to some people. Which is why I’ve been on board with almost everything DC has chosen to do with the Watchmen Universe in the wake of DC REBIRTH. However, I’m mainly here to tell you that Geoff John’s and Gary Frank’s Doomsday Clock is one of the best goddamn comic books on the shelves right now.

I will be discussing SPOILERS here, so fair warning if you want to remain SPOILER–FREE…

A few weeks ago, Issue #7 of the 12 Issue miniseries went on sale and as the story hit it’s half way mark, it really kicked into a new gear. I wanted to wait awhile for people to read the latest issue before I commented on it. This is arguably the most significant series DC has published since the creation of THE NEW 52 in terms of its impact on the DC Universe.
For the most part I’m not going to recap the previous 6 Issues and instead focus mainly on Issue #7. First if all, hats off to the amazing art by Gary Frank. Frank’s been one of the best artists in the business for years, but he’s doing career best stuff here. He perfectly captures the “feel’ of the original Watchmen with copying the work of Dave Gibbons. I don’t think there’s another artist working in mainstream comics that can do what he’s doing here. He’s walking a fine line between being his own artist while making this series feel very much like a follow up to Watchmen.

The entire series, if not everything since DC REBIRTH, has been building to Doctor Manhattan’s full appearance. We finally get it here and it is suitably epic. You could definitely say this is the chapter of the story where the shit begins to hit the fan. Ozymadias, the new Rorschach, Marionette, Mime, The Comedian, Batman, and The Joker finally come face to face with Doctor Manhattan and the whole issue is pretty fucking awesome.For the most part, Johns makes the insanity of all these unique characters coming together wildly entertaining, but I’ll come back to that in a minute.
Before I get too ahead of myself, the book opens with a fantastic scene that involves Doctor Manhattan and old school Green Lantern Alan Scott, that’s pretty damn chilling. It not only gives insight into how Manhattan perceive reality, but it also lets us see Jon ( Doctor Manhattan’s real name) as a more sinister character than he was in the original Watchmen. It gives the reader a sense of ominous dread that sets the tone for the story to come.

Johns is one of the best writers of DC Comics characters of all time. He’s so often able to take characters that aren’t that compelling and turn them into some of the best characters in comics. He did it will Green Lantern, The Flash, The JSA, Hawkman, Aquaman, and more. One of the reasons this issue is so impressive, is that Johns beautifully captures the “voice” of each of the Watchmen characters, which is why the comic works so well. However, for some reason the character he can’t quite get right is Batman.

Geoff Johns has an almost supernatural ability to get inside the heads of DC characters, with sole exception of Batman. Batman should always be the smartest guy in the room, but under Johns’ writing he comes across as being 2 steps behind. That is NOT Batman.

I will concede that Johns may be improving when it comes to writing Batman. There’s a moment in this chapter when Doctor Manhattan finally shows up, in the flesh, for the first time. A moment that has been building since DC UNIVERSE REBIRTH. As the closets thing to God himself that Bruce has ever seen teleports into a room full of killers, mad men, and geniuses, Batman immediately glares right into Doctor Manhattan’s eyes and says “I know how you are”. A very cool, very Batman moment.

Each of these characters get some great moments together, but I wish there was a more substantial confrontation between Batman and Doctor Manhattan. I don’t mean physical, obviously, but I would have liked to see them interact more. We’ve still have a fair amount of issues left before the series wraps up, so I’ll probably get to see something like that sooner or later.
Without getting into too much detail, we finally find out why Doctor Manhattan came to the DCU. It’s a great scene where we’re given some answers, but even more questions.The scene also underscores the slightly darker character Doctor Manhattan has become. One thing he makes very clear to Adrian Veidt is that he has no intention of going back to the Watchmen Universe. He believes that world’s time is over. It beyond saving and not worth his attention. Needless to say Veidt is not happy. The scene ends with some shocking revelations about Veidt that fundamentally change his relationship with Reggie, the new Rorschach.

This is perhaps an Adrian Veidt more dangerous than we’ve ever seen. He’s just as ruthless and cunning as he’s always been. This issue shows us that the man who killed millions in service of “the greater good”may not have learned from his mistakes after all. He’s the same manipulative sociopath he’s always been and he’s got a plan. By the end of the Issue it seems like Ozymandias has gone “full villain”.
Finally, the most unsettling revelation is that in one month, Doctor Manhattan will have a fateful encounter with an enraged Superman. We know Doctor Manhattan doesn’t perceive time in the way everyone else does. He sees the past, present, and future all at once. So, what makes this information so disturbing is that Jon cannot see the future beyond the point of his confrontation with Superman.Which means one of two things, either Superman will destroy Doctor Manhattan or Doctor Manhattan will destroy everything. Considering that we’ve seen very little of the Man of Steel in this series so far, it seems like that’s about to change in a big way. It’s hard to see a scenario where Superman comes out on top in a fight with Doctor Manhattan, so I’m anxiously awaiting their meeting. After all, Doctor Manhattan has screwed with Clark’s life in significant ways recently. Most notably “resurrecting” Jor-El, who’s been running around the DCU causing trouble as Mr. Oz.

Though the shipping schedule has been somewhat frustrating, the series began in November 2017 and Issue 8 is slated for release in mid-November, at least it’s picking up slightly. Regardless of these minor flaws, Doomsday Clock has been a fantastic series that has vastly surpassed my expectations. What could have easily been a cash grab by DC has become a truly worthy follow up to Watchmen.
If you were skeptical about what is essentially a sequel to Watchmen, rest assured that these characters are in good hands. I can’t recommend this series enough. It’s a must read.

Doomsday Clock: 9/10

Thanks for reading!

-Paul

Comic Book Review: Doomsday Clock #4 (No Spoilers)

Published on March 29, 2018November 18, 2020 by theworldsbestblogwithpaulwrightLeave a comment

Since the “Death of Superman” in the 90’s, death being a revolving door has been somewhat of joke in the comic world. Unfortunately, frequent deaths and resurrections can often hurt the Superhero genre. Mainly because it pushes people away. To some readers it takes the sense of urgency from the story, they don’t feel any substance in a story they read because this is used so often it’s a trope of the genre. Once I realized how many Watchmen characters would actually be used in Doomsday Clock, I expected immediate negative backlash from the fan community. ESPECIALLY when The Comedian turned up alive. To be honest I wasn’t exactly thrilled by his return. This entire story needs to be handled very delicately to work. The Watchmen characters we saw before The Comedian showed up were used really well, but I felt like The Comedian might have been a bridge too far. Geoff Johns and Gary Frank better have a very important reason for bringing him into the story or else it will feel like bad fan service (I have faith that a good explanation will be given, especially because everything else in this miniseries has been excellent so far).

Having said all that, none of it really has much to do with THIS issue. I haven’t reviewed Doomsday Clock in awhile and since then I’ve noticed that some fans are unhappy with the return of certain characters. But lets focus on Doomsday Clock #4.

This is the most character driven issue of the series so far and it almost exclusively focuses on one main character: “New Rorschach”. I put the name “Rorschach” in quotes because we already know that this isn’t Walter Kovacs, Original Recipe Rorschach. This is Reggie, the young man how took on the mantle of the legendary crime fighter/ infamous lunatic vigilante.

For readers looking for a story that pushes the narrative further in a significant way, you may be disappointed. Otherwise this is an excellent character study of this new Rorschach. We not only get to see how he became the next Rorschach, we also find out exactly who Reggie is and where he fits in the Watchmen story (which I won’t spoil here). All I’ll say is that this person wasn’t even on my list of suspects.

Up until this issue, I was pretty sure that Reggie was an original character because, after going back to the Watchmen graphic novel there really wasn’t anyone who fit what we know about him (which is pretty much just; that he’s a relatively young man, African American, and more than a little bit of a psychopath.). But after reading the issue, I tip my hat to Johns and Frank because they have delivered an excellent vigilante origin story. They did a great job of creating Reggie’s backstory. My one criticism is that even though the creators found a very clever way of showing us how Reggie acquired his fighting skills, it doesn’t seem like enough to make into a fighter that would make even Veidt uneasy. But maybe there’s more to the puzzle coming up.

This was the perfect point to tell us Reggie’s backstory and what drives him. Because among the cast of new characters, we know a relatively significant amount about The Marionette and The Mime and what makes them tick (even though there are still some huge questions surrounding these two). Four issues into a 12 issue series, we need to understand the goals and motivations of all the main characters for the story to work. We also get a great appearance of a relatively obscure Watchmen character that’s both sweet and heartbreaking.

Though other issues of Doomsday Clock have wowed me in a ways that this chapter didn’t, it is nonetheless a beautiful character tale that’s tragic, sad, and illuminating. If you don’t mind one or two comic book tropes, I highly recommend Doomsday Clock as a series. This issue was definitely weaker than others, but it was still great. I can’t wait to see what Geoff Johns and Gary Frank have in store for the next 8 issues.

Doomsday Clock #4: 8.5/10

Review by Paul J. Wright

ALL NEW PODCAST!!! Paul’s Pulls!

Published on January 26, 2018November 17, 2020 by theworldsbestblogwithpaulwrightLeave a comment

Hey everybody,

It’s Paul and I’m very excited to announce my brand new Podcast… PAUL’S PULLS! As you all know I LOOOOOOOVE comic books and superheroes, so this podcast is all comics all the time. It’s a shorter show than “The World’s Best Podcast with Paul & Tim”, but it’s perfect for the format. Each episode I’ll be recommending the best comics of the week and talk about comic book or comic book movie, Comic book TV, COMIC BOOK ANYTHING news! I really hope you’ll enjoy it. In the first episode I give an annotated breakdown of the awesome new DC series Doomsday Clock. Then I wrap thing up talking about the very cool new superhero show Black Lightning. The podcast will be available on iTunes soon but for now you can listen to it right here:

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/13889474

As always, thanks for listening!

-Paul

The Best Superhero Comics You Probably Haven’t Read…

Published on May 12, 2017November 13, 2020 by theworldsbestblogwithpaulwrightLeave a comment

This is the second article in my series spotlighting lesser known, but excellent comic books. This week I’m going to tell you guys about some fantastic superhero comics that may not be as well known as the JLA or The Avengers, but they’re wonderful Comics nonetheless. So, let’s get started…

Somewhere between the late 1990’s and the beginning of the 21st-century, the superhero genre as a whole begin to exhibit a dramatic stylistic change. The superhero movie explosion had yet to occur. Publishing giants like Marvel we’re on the verge of bankruptcy. (It’s crazy to think in a time when Superheroes and comic books permeate our pop culture, Marvel almost went belly up). The 90’s was a cynical decade, the decade of conspiracies and The X-Files. That cynicism coupled with the approaching Y2K paranoia produced a landmark era of comic storytelling. Some of the books published at the time were the best deconstructions of our most famous superhero archetypes since Watchmen. All of the books and stories below feature characters that are very deliberate analogues for our most famous superheroes. Specifically the DC superheroes, like the Justice League.
This is not a coincidence. I often say that, unlike Marvel, the heroes of DC Comics are MYTHIC, larger than life, they are the modern day gods. They’re our Zeus, Apollo, Mercury, Hera, and Hades.

However, from all of our superheroes there is one that rises above the rest. The first and arguably the greatest superhero. Every single book on this list either centers on an analog of this character or features one prominently. I am of course talking about the Last Son of Krytpton, The Man of Steel… SUPERMAN. Every comic book writer wants to play with Superman at least once, and they all have an idea that wouldn’t quite fit in a traditional Superman comic.

After all, Superman has rules. He upholds truth, justice, and the American way. He works at The Daily Planet newspaper with the love of his life, Lois Lane. He always does the right thing and, with a few notable exceptions, he doesn’t kill.

The stories below are fantastic because you have some of the greatest writers and artists in the industry taking characters that are very much like our most beloved heroes and doing things with them that they could never do in 1 million years in a normal comic book. These stories prove that sometimes when you take risks with old ideas, you get some damn fine storytelling as a result.

Now you’ve got to understand, some of the stories are almost 20 years old, so when you read them they may not seem as new or exciting because a lot of the tropes present in the stories were revolutionary at the time. They reinvented the genre, so of course everyone copied what they were doing. A lot of theses ideas have been adopted into mainstream comic book storytelling as the culture has changed. Regardless, it’s important to understand that at the time these tales were revolutionary and mind blowing. They were risky, they made you uncomfortable, and they made you look at your favorite heroes in the whole new light. Some of the stories are better than others but they’re all great reads and essential for any comic book reader new or old.

The Authority writer– Warren Ellis & Mark Millar/artist – Bryan Hitch/Frank Quietly/Some Shitty Fill-Ins

This book popularized the concept of “Wide Screen Action” in comics. “Wide Screen Action” basically refers to superhero action on a scale and scope that hadn’t been seen up to that point. They were trying to devise action set pieces like something out of the coolest 90s blockbusters. The book was first launched by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch in the late 90s. The Authority, led by chain smoking British bad ass Jenny Sparks and her mega powerful team consisted of Apollo, Midnighter, Swift, Jack Hawksmoore, The Engineer, and The Doctor. Between Ellis’ unique vision and Hitch’s incredible artwork the book was a sight to behold. The book also tapped into the late 90’s fear and mistrust of the government I wrote about earlier. Because of shows like The X-Files, conspiracy theories were big. The book was groundbreaking at the time for another reason, in that it featured a gay couple prominently on the team, Midnighter and Apollo, who were analogs for Batman and Superman, were lovers. Smartly, this never defines the characters. The books didn’t exploit the characters sexuality and they made it clear that these two were very much in love with each other. They were two of the most bad ass superheroes on the planet, their sexuality didn’t matter one damn bit.

During Ellis’ tenure on the book, the idea that Superheroes could be quasi-fascist popped up from time to time. The Authority were the most powerful superheroes on the planet, when the world was at stake, they felt like they didn’t have a time for democracy, committees, due process, or international borders. In fact, they viewed these things with contempt. With beings this powerful who’s to stop them? These are themes that would be ratcheted way up when Mark Millar took over after Warren Ellis departed after the second story arc. Along with Millar came genius artist Frank Quietly. Though Ellis and Millar are quite different writers, there was a pretty smooth transition. In my opinion this was Millar’s best work. Similar to some of Ellis ideas, Millar attempted to answer the question that we’ve all asked: If Superman and the Justice League were real why wouldn’t they topple dictators and evicirate terrorists? Shouldn’t they be solving the problems that really matter instead of engaging in silly fights with supervilains? What’s to stop them from drastically changing the world? Of course, when you start messing with the establishment at that level, the establishment begins to push back.

The Authority: Book One (Warren Ellis & Bryan Hitch) and The Authority: Book Two (Mark Millar & Frank Quietly) are available at your local comic book store and online on ComiXology.

Rising Stars writer– J. Michael Straczynski/artist-Various

On paper a lot of these stories sound very similar as they’re all basically deconstructions of superhero stories. However, if you read them, you’ll see that they all have their own unique feel. Rising Stars perfectly exemplifies this. Rising Stars was really the first comic book I read that showed me superhero stories can be more than traditional conflicts of good vs evil. They can be complex and adult. As you can imagine Rising Stars was a revelation to me. Created by J. Michael Strazcynski, also the creator of the groundbreaking sci-fi TV series Babylon 5, who was famous for his intricate story planning. He new the beginning, middle, and, end of Rising Stars before he sat down to script the first issue. The story is all the stronger for it. Here’s the basic set up without going into spoilers: It all began with The Penderson Flash, 10 years before our story begins a strange ball of energy that was dubbed The Penderson Flash dissipated over the small town of Penderson in the heart of America. When the Flash hit Penderson, 113 children were in utero at the time. Of course this being an extremely bizarre incident, the United States government decided to keep their eye on the town of Penderson and its residents. For years there was no apparent effect. No one was any closer to figuring out what the Flash was or what it did to the populace. Until one day, one of those 113 children in utero at the time of the Flash, now around nine years old, saved hundreds of people at his school when the roof of the gymnasium collapsed, dropping hundreds of tons of concrete and rubble. The boy was able to hold the debris over his head like it weighed nothing, so everyone could escape. One by one, each of the 113 Penderson children began to exhibit various abilities, some very dramatic, some relatively benign. One or two of them seemed not to develop an ability at all. But each time one of the kids discovered they had a power, it was a brought about by a trigger event of some kind. So perhaps the kids who didn’t have abilities, simply hadn’t experienced their specific trigger moment? Fast forward more than a decade later, the children have grown up and been dubbed the “Specials” by the public. A few of them chose service and protection like traditional superheroes. But most of them went on to do a variety of different things. The main character of the story is Poet, a private, introverted Special who’s also a struggling writer. One day, seemingly out of the blue, the 113 Penderson Specials begin to be murdered one by one. For reasons I won’t go into here, Poet believes it’s his responsibility to catch the killer.

That’s the basic set up and I’ve only scratched the surface of the story. It becomes so much more than a superhero murder mystery. These children were given these abilities for a reason. They were meant to change the world. The question is, is the world ready? At the time, the only thing that had ever been done with superheroes that was even vaguely similar to this was Alan Moore’s Watchmen. Of course, Rising Stars is no Watchmen, what could be? However, despite that unfair comparison, Rising Stars an is excellent read. The story asks, and not in a dark or cynical way, what would you do if you truly had the power to change the world for the better? It’s a real gem if you’ve never read it before. Though it does it enjoy a cult following, Rising Stars deserves a higher status in our pop consciousness.

Rising stars is spread out over three graphic novel trade paperback’s that include the entire series:
Rising Stars vol.1 Born in Fire
Rising Stars vol.2 Power
Rising Stars vol.3 Fire & Ash
Buyer bewear! Rising Stars also put out two compendium editions that collect the whole story across two massive volumes. I can’t stress enough to not waste your money on the compendiums. The binding is flimsy and hard to keep open and the pages and binding come apart almost instantly after you start reading it. So, grab Rising Stars vol. 1-3 at your local comic book store or on your device at comiXology

Supreme Power writer– J. Michael Straczynski/artist– Gary Frank

This one may be my personal favorite on this list. J. Michael Straczynski is such a gifted writer it should come as no surprise he appears on this list twice. This is the story that’s most directly parallels Superman and The Justice League. This is a brilliant execution of the question: “What would happen in the real world if superhumans began to appear?” It begins with a familiar setup. A young couple driving their pickup down a back country road. Something streaks across the sky and crashes into the field down the way. They investigate and find a small baby in the wreckage of what appears to be an alien ship. They bring the baby home, but instead of being raised by the kindly couple, black helicopters and blacks ops soldiers are taking the baby and hushing up the couple. The child is then taken to a government research facility. Even as a baby, when the government scientists first test him, they see his strength and durability are off the charts. There’s no telling how powerful he could become. After deciding not to just kill the child out right before that becomes impossible, the U.S. government decides to raise this boy to be the quitenssential American Hero. They hire government agents to play his parents. They use focus groups to pick the perfect dog he should have as he grows up (it goes bad). They’re very careful about what they show him of the outside world. Above all the instill him with a deep love of America, or at least they try to. The boy is named Mark Milton (another name chosen by focus group to sound the most “American”) and he will become the superhero known as Hyperion.

But when Mark’s ship crashed on earth, it released something into that the atmosphere, something that affected other people, giving them extraordinary abilities like Mark. There’s The Blur who can move with superspeed, Doctor Spectrum, a former special forces officer with a Crystal from Mark’s ship fused to his hand that will act as a weapon that responds to his mind. You can see where this is going. Slowly but surely were introduced into an entire real world Justice League analog, including versions of Batman (Nighthawk), Wonder Woman (Zarda), and Aquaman (A girl named Kingsley who eventually gets the lame code name Amphibian). What makes this story so compelling is that it has a real ripped from the headlines kind of feel, in the sense that this is what it really would be like if beings like Superman came into our world. Everything from the abilities of the characters to how their potential destructive power is measured is presented in a really cool way you haven’t seen before in most Comics. There’s a dread that hangs over this entire book that permeates the story with tension. Especially when it comes to the character of Mark. This is a man whose entire life has been a lie. He’s been raised to believe he’s this perfect American weapon, never told his true origin. But what happens when he finds out the truth? How does somebody with truly no limits look at the world and its problems? And then of course is the old classic: does absolute power corrupt absolutely? These are the ideas that lie at the heart of Supreme Power. I’m not even coming close to doing this story justice, but I can’t recommend it enough. Unfortunately for reasons I’m not certain of, JMS never finished his superhero epic. I heard it came down to disagreements with Marvel. It’s a shame we’ll never get to see JMS complete one of the all time great superhero stories.

The series did eventually continue, picking up months after where Straczynski’s cliffhanger book departure left off. I haven’t read the follow up series myself. I’m sure I eventually will out of curiosity. I’ve heard it’s…fine. But YOU dear reader! YOU only read the Supreme Power stories written by J. Michael Straczynski. For some reason, the trade paperbacks for Supreme Power are a little more difficult to find than some other books. They can be easily found on Amazon or ComiXology. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to call your local comic book store to see if they have any copies (local comic shops can be a treasure trove of hidden gems). Regardless, here is the reading order:

Supreme Power Reading Order

– Supreme Power vol.1 Contact

– Supreme Power vol.2 Powers and Principalities

– Supreme Power vol.3 High Command

– Supreme Power: Hyperion

– Squadron Supreme: The Pre-War Years

If you like these books here are a few more that you may want to check out:

Invincible writer– Robert Kirkman/artist– Ryan Ottley

The Ultimates writer- Mark Millar/artist- Bryan Hitch

Anyway, as usual thanks for reading guys. I hope you enjoyed it.

– Paul