This Week:
- The Amazing Spider-man #13
- · Batman Rebirth #1
- · DC Comics Bombshells #14
- · Superman Rebirth #1
Warning: The
following post contains spoilers.
Welcome to Comics This Week, where I take a somewhat spoilery look at the comics that I picked up this week.
The Amazing Spider-man #13
“Power Play part 2:
Civil War Re-enactment”
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Giuseppe
Camuncoli
Publisher: Marvel
Synopsis: Peter
takes the day off from running Parker Industries to spend a day with new
Spider-man Miles Morales, but it all goes south when Tony Stark turns up,
leading to a fight between him and Peter.
Overview: With Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War in cinemas,
Daredevil facing the Punisher in Season 2 of his Netflix series and Civil War II as Marvel’s big summer
event in comics, 2016 will probably be remembered as the year of heroes
fighting heroes. And here we have another hero vs. hero fight – the Amazing
Spider-man vs. the Invincible Iron Man, with the Ultimate Spider-man on
commentary.
In fact, given how Marvel’s big tent-poles this summer both
in the comics and movies are both based on the idea of heroes fighting each
other, it’s kind of surprising to see one of Marvel’s flagship books with lines
like:
Bystander #1: Why are
they fighting each other?
Bystander #2: It’s
what super heroes DO now.
Regent: A superhuman
conflict detected within the city… I don’t understand. Where are the villains?
Which seem almost a meta mockery of the concept. This kind
of self-parody would be expected in a comic like Deadpool or Howard the Duck,
but it’s a little odd to see that kind of biting-the-hand humour here.
The humour in this comic is great all around, with Peter,
Miles and Tony (in full-on lovable jackass mode) all getting great lines, and
even supporting characters Harry, Betty and Mary-Jane getting a hilarious scene
where they very quickly work out that billionaire industrialist August Roman is
New York’s newest superhero, the Regent.
Of course, as readers, we know that, a) 99.9% of all
billionaires in superhero comics are either superheroes, or, more likely, supervillains
and b) Regent is the latter. What makes Regent an interesting antagonist is
that not only has he convinced New York that he is the former, but he seems to
honestly believe he is a hero, the
only who can protect humanity from superhumans, whether they’re superheroes or
supervillains. It’ll be interesting to see where this goes, especially since if
the collateral damage and fallout from Civil
War II is anything like the original Civil
War, it could be argued he has a point.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, Regent is still a bad guy, as shown
by his attack and subsequent capture of Miles. It’s nice to see that despite
their arguing and fighting, Peter and Tony immediate stop and put aside their
differences once they realise Miles is in trouble.
Speaking of ol’ Shellhead, Tony works as a hilarious foil to
Peter, acting condescending and insulting about Peter to Spider-man, and even
attempting to headhunt him away from Parker Industries, having no idea who
Spider-man really is. What makes it funnier is Miles constantly attempting at
act as peacemaker between the two, before finally giving up and walking away
and leaving the two to it, snarking that he’s ashamed to be a Spider-Man and
that he needs a new identity. (Is it
a just snarking? Or is Slott foreshadowing a new superhero identity for Miles?
Is it possible that Marvel think having two characters called Spider-man in the
same universe at the same time might be confusing and are planning Miles to
take on a new name? Let the speculation begin!)
Oh, and just as a sidenote: welcome back to Spider-man, Mary Jane Watson. Good to
have you back, it’s been too long. Please stay. And get back together with
Peter.
Yeah, I admit it. I ship those two hard.
Best line: Miles:
One’s a Skrull. And the other’s… a jackass.
Batman Rebirth #1
“Batman Rebirth”
Writers: Scott
Snyder & Tom King
Artist: Mikel
Janin
Publisher: DC
Synopsis: While
trying to stop the latest attack on Gotham from the Calendar Man, Bruce takes
Duke under his wing – but not as Robin, as Bruce wants try “something new”…
Overview: We come
to it as last. DC Rebirth, the event that’s been talked about and discussed for
months, is finally here. And it’s time for the Rebirth of probably DC’s biggest
star, the Batman, and it’s…. pretty good.
There’s not much to say about it, plot-wise. The above
synopsis is pretty much all there is to the story, with Duke joining up with
Batman as he attempts to stop the Calendar Man. The Calendar Man has a machine
that speeds up the seasons, so that it’s a different season each day; spring on
Monday, summer on Tuesday, etc. When it becomes spring again, spores that
Calendar Man has hidden across Gotham will hatch, killing “everyone”. Why
Calendar Man is doing this? Never explained. Where he got the spores and how
exactly “everyone dies” if they hatch? Never explained. Where he got a machine
that speeds up the seasons and how it does this (does it just change the
weather? It’s implied it’s literally
speeding up the seasons, but unless it’s making the world orbit and tilt faster
– which would mean that the spores would be the least of anyone’s worries – it’s unclear how that exactly works)?
Never explained.
And it doesn’t matter one bit.
Batman Rebirth #1
isn’t about the plot. It isn’t even about the characters, although Bruce gets
some nice interactions with Duke, and a great scene with Lucius, where it’s
heavily hinted that Lucius knows that Bruce is the Batman.
 |
| The fact that Bruce takes meetings like this should be a clue. |
No, Batman Rebirth #1
is all about the theme. And the theme is, unsurprisingly, rebirth. This is most
obvious with the idea of the seasons changing throughout the story, coming back
to spring, which coincides with a literal
rebirth for the Calendar Man. Yes, in one of the best reinventions of Julian
Day since Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale turned him into Gotham City’s own Hannibal
Lector (minus the eating people – that Killer’s Croc’s thing) in The Long Halloween, Snyder and King
introduce the idea that Calendar Man isn’t just a man obsessed with dates of
the year but, in Bruce’s words –
Batman: Julian Day’s
body ages with the seasons. A true “Calendar Man”, he dies in winter, molts his
skin, and is reborn a young man in his prime.
Later on in the comic, we get to see this, with a
wonderfully creepy scene of Calendar Man ripping his way out of his old,
used-up, dead husk. It’s a fantastic twist on one of the less-known, goofier
villains in Batman’s rogue’s gallery, and here’s hoping we get more stuff like
this in King’s upcoming Batman run
and Snyder’s All-Star Batman.
Besides the “to every thing there is a season, turn, turn,
turn” symbolism (great, now I’m going to have that song stuck in my head for days), there’s a fair bit more in this
issue tying into the idea of the overall DC Rebirth. In the aforementioned
scene with Lucius, we learn that Lucius has restored Bruce’s ownership of Wayne
Enterprises, and his family fortune. While this can be seen as simply Snyder
restoring the status quo that his run changed, a kind of “putting the toys back
into the box” moment as he hands over to Tom King, Snyder and King use this
moment to reflect on the cyclic nature of their relationship, and it’s not hard
to see the parallels drawn to the cyclic nature of superhero comics.
Bruce: How many times
have we done this? I lose a fortune. You save it. How many times?
Lucius: Too many,
Mister Wayne.
Bruce: But we’ll do
it again, won’t we? It’s like a calendar. Seasons. It always comes around
again.
Because that’s the nature of superhero comics, and it’s
especially noticeable at the moment with DC Rebirth. The nature of ongoing
superhero comics is that the story will always never be truly over – no matter
what happens, there’s no “the end”, just “to be continued!”, “what happens
next?”; “on the next exciting instalment!”. Things change, but sooner or later most
things circle around again. Bruce Wayne loses his fortune, he regains it. Bad
guys are defeated, but will always return to cause more havoc. Characters die,
and/or are wiped from continuity, and they return. It’s a cycle, and it’s this
that Batman Rebirth #1 is all about.
The New 52 was one turn of the wheel, DC Rebirth is another.
It’s easy to get cynical about this. It’s all too easy to
think that just because nothing lasts forever in comic books that the changes
don’t matter. But just because the wheel is ever turning, it doesn’t mean the
wheel is simply being turned back. The
idea behind DC Rebirth is that it’s as much about moving forward as bringing
things back from the past, and Batman
Rebirth #1 addresses this as well, both with Bruce literally unveiling a
new (so far unnamed) superhero identity for Duke Thomas –
Batman: I’m not
training you to be Robin. I’m trying… something new.
And symbolically, once again the Calendar Man.
Duke: Every time he
comes back, he comes back slightly different… He’s a different person, but he
retains all the memories he had last time. He’ll come up with new ideas… He
comes back better every time.
It’s clear by now that this is the basic idea behind DC
Rebirth. Will it ultimately turn out that way? It’s too early to tell, but I
think that Batman Rebirth #1 and Superman Rebirth #1 (see below) are a
good start.
Best line: Lucius:
I once tried to talk your father into coming into the business. Told him being
a doctor drives you crazy. Whatever
you do, people just get sick again. You make no progress. He looked at me for a
bit, got real quiet, stern almost… Finally, in a dark voice, he said “You’re
right, Lucius, I am crazy. But the
sick need someone crazy enough to believe they can be better. So what else
could I be?”
DC Comics Bombshells #14
“Love Stories”
Writer: Marguerite
Bennett
Artists: Laura
Braga & Mirka Andolfo
Publisher: DC
Synopsis: In a
trio of short stories, Mera meets the Bombshells-verse version of Arthur Curry,
we learn how Zatanna got involved with the Joker’s Daughter and Harley Quinn
reveals what’s happened to this universe’s Joker…
Overview: DC’s
Bombshells have had a meteoric rise, starting as a series of themed variant
covers back in 2014, their popularity led to another run of variants, statues,
a ton of other merchandise and a digital comic, which is now getting physical
reprints. It’s easy to see why it’s so popular. On top of the important fact
that all its main characters are female, they’re interesting, likable and well
developed. Plus it has a great look, combining beloved DC characters with a
pulpy, Dieselpunk aesthetic.
The online DC Comics
Bombshells comics are published as short, digital chapters, with three of
them combined to make one issue of the physical comic. That’s very obvious here,
with “Love Stories” being three completely separate but thematically linked
stories.
The first story concerns Mera, who, left powerless and
captured by the minions of King Nereus after the Battle of Britain, escapes and
makes it to a remote island off the coast of Ireland, where she’s nursed back
to health, and falls for, lighthouse keeper Arthur Curry.
It’s a rather sweet love story. The Atlantean princess
falling for the kindly lighthouse keeper is a clear reference to the Silver
Age/current origin of Aquaman, with Mera in the role of Arthur’s mother
Atlanna, and Arthur himself in the role of his father, Tom Curry.
Beyond the romance, the story is about Mera’s desire to
return to her friends, and to the war, while Arthur tries to convince her she
needs time to rest and heal. This first comes up in Arthur’s response when Mera
coldly brings up Ireland’s neutrality in WWII.
Arthur: We joined a
different war. We gave all we had when last we were called. We have little else
to give, until we are better healed. As you have little else to give, until you
are rested and strong again.
It’s a nice speech, and shows Arthur’s main reason for
trying to convince Mera not to rush off back to battle, beyond his obvious
attraction to her.
The second story in the comic is the darkest. We see that in
1936, Zatanna was running a speakeasy in Berlin, provide a safe haven for those
persecuted by the Nazis. Her speakeasy is raided by Nazi goons, who are equipped
with a ring that disables Zatanna’s magic, and threaten her with execution.
Zatanna is “saved” by Joker’s Daughter, who’s the very person
that led the Nazis to her speakeasy in the first place. It’s here the comic
takes an even darker turn, as we skip forward a few months to see that Joker’s
Daughter has been keeping Zatanna “safe” from the Nazis, but it’s clear she’s
little more than a slave. There’s clear sexual overtones to this, and not in a titillating,
ooh, lesbians kind of way. It’s made
perfectly clear that Joker’s Daughter is a twisted, depraved individual, and that
if Zatanna was ever with her by choice, that’s long gone now.
Zatanna: I’m one more
toy. One more token. One more stolen piece of art. A homo magi for your collection of fetishized erotica.
Joker’s Daughter:
Have I ever made you do anything you didn’t want to do?
Zatanna: … Not in the
beginning.
OK, so that line isn’t actually overtly about anything
sexual, but the parallels to an abusive relationship are easy to see.
We end this story in 1941 with Joker’s Daughter having Zatanna
and John Constantine thrown in a Jewish Ghetto, with a chilling villain speech
(see Best Line below). While we see that, despite everything, Constantine still
has hope (ironic, seeing that his main DCU counterpart is the ultimate cynic), and
that this is clearly not the last we’ll see of the Mistress of Magic, this story
is still surprisingly bleak for DC Comics
Bombshells, a book that, despite being set in one of the darkest and
bloodiest parts of the 20th century, is usually fairly lighthearted
and optimistic.
In the final story, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy break into
the Cabaret of the Joker’s Daughter, while Harley fills Ivy in on backstory.
The flashbacks to Harley’s past are great, and I love the idea that Harley and
the Joker were basically this universe’s Bonnie and Clyde.
This creepy little horror story is my favourite in the comic.
The Joker can be a pretty scary guy at the best of times, and having him as an
evil spirit using the black arts makes him even creepier. He’s as manipulative
as the main universe’s Joker (or, given the recent relations about the Clown
Prince of Crime, should that be Jokers?),
attempting to seduce Harley Quinn back to his side, so he can possess Poison
Ivy’s body and live again. Plus, as a fan of the 1989 Batman movie, I loved his line:
Joker: How about a
dance in the moonlight?
Which I assume is a nice little nod to the catchphrase of
that movie’s Joker:
Joker: Have you ever
danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?
We also learn that he is the “master” of the Joker’s
Daughter – no big surprise there – and we get foreshadowing of some interesting
plotlines to comes, including an appearance in the flashback of a vampire
Batgirl, who Harley says did “something” to the Joker.
DC Comics Bombshells
is a fantastic series, and issue #14 is no exception. While it’s largely an
issue dedicating to setting up future plotlines, it has some great character
moments, and a beautiful final panel that serves as a fitting end to these “Love
Stories”
Best Line: Joker’s
Daughter: There is no nobility
in poverty, my little dove. There is
no mercy in hell. Good people become
the very demons that torment them.
You think yourself one of the righteous.
But I will see you become like me. I
will see you in my reflection. And
you will see me in your darkest dreams.
Superman Rebirth #1
“Superman Rebirth”
Writers: Peter J.
Tomasi & Patrick Gleason
Artist: Doug
Mahnke
Publisher: DC
Synopsis: Clark
breaks into the tomb of the Earth Prime Superman, looking to resurrect the
fallen hero somehow, when he runs into this universe’s Lana Lang for the first
time…
Overview: RIP
Clark Kent, 2011 – 2016. Or rather, Superman is dead, long live Superman. In
case you didn’t know, the last issue of Superman
saw Clark, who was already dying from events in his own books, Justice League and JLA, sacrifice his life to save the day. However, he wasn’t the
only Clark Kent in the world.
During DC’s 2015 event comic Convergence, we caught up with the Clark Kent from before the New
52, the one readers had been following (give or take a few retcons) since 1985’s
Crisis on Infinite Earths. This
Superman was still married to Lois Lane, who was now pregnant with his child.
The Convergence: Superman two-issue
tie-in (written by legendary Superman
writer Dan Jurgens – a.k.a. one of the writers behind the famous Death and Return of Superman arc) saw
Lois give birth to a son, Jonathan Kent, and Convergence ended with Clark, Lois and Jon heading back into Crisis on Infinite Earths, attempting to
use their knowledge of future to prevent it from ever happening.
The runaway success and very positive fan reaction of Convergence: Superman led to a follow-up
miniseries, Superman: Lois and Clark,
also written by Jurgens. While it didn’t really explain how they got there, it
revealed that Clark, Lois and Jon were now on Earth Prime – the current, New 52
reality – and had been for at least 5 years. Pre-New 52 Clark (who I’m going to
refer to as just “Clark” from now on, or this going to get confusing fast) was
still a superhero, just working in secret, unknown to the world at large, or
even other superheroes.
Superman: Lois and
Clark was even better received than Convergence:
Superman, and sometimes even did better than the other Superman titles, so
it decided that in DC Rebirth, the Pre-New 52 Clark would be the main Superman
again, hence the death of his Earth Prime counterpart.
It’s interesting to read Superman
Rebirth #1 pretty much back-to-back with Batman Rebirth #1. In Batman
Rebirth #1, as I discussed above, the plot kind of takes a back seat, as
Snyder and King are much more interesting in dealing with the themes of DC
Rebirth itself. Whereas Superman Rebirth
#1 is much more plot-driven. It pretty much acts as a #0 to both the upcoming Superman
and Action Comics books, laying the New
52 Clark to rest – literally – and getting anyone who hasn’t been following Superman: Lois and Clark up to speed on
this new/classic Clark.
I have to admit, I’m going to miss New 52 Clark. As much as
I’m happy to see the classic Clark back, as he was the version of Superman I started reading about, and I’m always
a big fan of Lois and Clark as a couple, I did really like the New 52 Clark and
it’s sad to see him killed off.
Although speaking of things I’m going to miss, I really wish
Clark was keeping the beard. I know this probably seems odd, but I actually
really like Superman with a beard. I liked it when New 52 Clark had a beard, I
liked in it Man of Steel when Henry
Cavill’s Clark had a beard, and I like it on this Clark. Especially on this Clark,
since he’s meant to be an older, more experienced Superman, one who’s going to
be older and wiser than most other heroes in this universe (at least for now),
and I think the look the beard gives him adds weight to that.
The plot of this issue revolves around Clark’s first meeting
with New 52 Lana Lang, at New 52 Clark’s grave. (Which looks very similar to
Superman’s grave in Metropolis at the end of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but that could just be me.) It’s
an emotional moment. We see Lana’s grief as she comes face to face with a
doppelganger of her dead friend, a man even wearing his symbol. Indeed, she initially
mistakes Clark for New 52 Clark in the dark, and it’s a real tear jerker as
Clark has to explain that he’s not exactly who she thought he was. But it’s
worth noting how heartbreaking this must be for Clark, as well. Here, for all
intents and purposes, is Lana Lang, one of his oldest and best friends, but to
her he’s a complete stranger.
Lana: What makes you
think seeing someone else suddenly wearing THIS and pretending to be Superman
wouldn’t upset me, hmmm?
Superman: I’m NOT
pretending to be anything. I know it’s confusing, but I am Superman, just not
the one you know and care about.
I like the interactions between Clark and Lana in this book
and would like to see more of the pair interacting as we go on. The two initially
butt heads, as Lana wants to bring New 52 Clark’s remains back to Smallville,
as she promised him in Superman #51,
whereas Clark believes it’s only a matter of time until New 52 Clark is resurrected,
telling Lana about his own death and rebirth to prove he sort of knows what he’s
talking about.
Yep, it’s flashback time. We get an abridged version of the
classic Superman vs. Doomsday fight from Superman
#75 and it looks gorgeous. You know, in a brutal, hero and monster beating
each other to death kind of way. Plus the flashback to Clark’s resurrection
means we get a brief return of the classic 90’s Super-Mullet! Sort of.
If you’ve never heard of Superman’s mullet, it was an
attempt to make Clark look up-to-date and hip for the 1990s and, like most attempts
in comics to give characters new hairstyles to make them look up-to-date and
hip, almost instantly looked dated (see Dick Grayson’s ponytail for another
example). Which is probably why the artwork in this issue hides the fact that
it’s a mullet, making it look just like Clark has long hair. But the
Super-Mullet shall never be forgot!
 |
| Also he had guns. Big guns. Because it was the '90s, that's why. |
On the subject of remembering things, we get an interesting
bit of foreshadowing for possible future storylines, as Lana reveals that she
somehow knows the location of the Fortress of Solitude.
Clark: How do you - -
Lana: I don’t know
how I know – but ever since he died I just know, okay?
It’s an intriguing little thing, and despite being quickly
brushed aside in this issue, I’ll wouldn’t be surprised if Lana’s new knowledge
becomes very important down the road.
Ultimately, Clark discovers that he can’t resurrect New 52
Clark the same way he was resurrected, and leaves Lana to mourn and bury her
friend. But the issue does end on an optimistic note – seeing that New 52 Clark
has built statues to Martha and Jonathan Kent as well as to Jor-El and Lara,
Clark builds a statue to New 52 Clark to go with them and decides that this
Earth will have a Superman again.
Clark: All that tomorrow
is missing… is Superman.
And I, for one, am very much looking forward to that
tomorrow.
Best Line: Clark:
I just wanted you to know that two young Clark Kents on two different worlds
were very lucky to have Lana Langs in our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment