(Super) Men Are Still Good - DC Rebirth & Batman v Superman

(Super)Men Are Still Good

DC Rebirth and Batman v Superman

Warning: This post contains spoilers for both DC Universe Rebirth #1 and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Hope and optimism. These are, according to Geoff Johns, the words at the forefront of DC Rebirth, DC’s new initiative. It all kicked off last Wednesday, the 25^th May 2016, with the 80-page one shot DC Universe Rebirth #1, written by Johns himself.

Above: Geoff Johns

The one-shot saw the return of Wally West, the former Flash and Kid Flash, a character that was thought be have been completely wiped from continuity in DC’s 2011 reboot, the New 52. The character of Wally West – or rather a character called Wally West – had returned before in the New 52, in the pages of Flash, but this was a completely new Wally West, with a different backstory, look and personality.

But the Wally West that returned in DC Universe Rebirth #1 was the original Wally West, the pre New 52 Wally, the character that first appeared in The Flash #110 back in 1959. This is the Wally that was president and only member of the Blue Valley Flash fan club, the original Kid Flash, the man who took up the mantle of the Scarlet Speedster when Barry Allen sacrificed his life to save the multiverse, the man who was a member of the Teen Titans, the Titans, the Justice League Europe, the JLA and Justice League Elite (although we don’t like to talk about that last one), the man who married Linda Park and had two kids. And with Wally’s return comes a shocking revelation that changes the New 52 universe. The Wally West currently appearing in The Flash is not the pre-New 52 Wally’s alternate universe counterpart, but a distant cousin. Because the universe of the New 52 is not, as previously believed, a separate continuity from the pre-New 52 universe, but the same universe – minus ten years.

Somebody has stolen ten years from the universe, and as a result things are now different. Relationships between heroes, both friendship and romantic, are weakened or missing, seasoned veterans are now relative rookies, and heroic legacies have been wiped from existence – including Wally, the Kid Flash turned Flash, himself.

This in itself is some pretty meta stuff. First and foremost, it addresses – in universe – changes, often unpopular ones, which were made in the New 52 reboot. Characters that were married – Barry Allen and Iris West, Clark Kent and Lois Lane, for example, now never were. Green Arrow and the Black Canary, one of the most iconic relationships in the DCU, was removed from continuity, the two characters barely – if ever – interacting in the New 52.

The New 52 also made characters younger, less experienced, and characters that had grown throughout the years from teen heroes or sidekicks into experienced heroes in their own right were now teens again (Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven, for example), or wiped from continuity. While, as I mentioned above, some character wiped from continuity in the New 52 relaunch had begun appearing again – Wally West, Donna Troy, Stephanie Brown, Ted Kord – their past histories were erased and they were often given completely new backstories and personalities, so they might have well have been completely new characters.

But DC Universe Rebirth #1 isn’t just about getting meta about the last five years.

Wally: A darkness from somewhere has infected us. It has for a long time now, I think. Even before the Flashpoint.

It’s no big secret that comics can be dark, and this is often tied to the Dark Age of Comics, a period between the mid-80’s and mid-90’s where “dark”, “gritty” and “realism” (“realism” in this case often just meaning “cynicism”) were the keywords of the day. Comics with darker, more violent antiheroes became popular, both due the idea that true art is angsty (Watchmen, the Dark Knight Returns) or because violent antiheroes are “cooler” (Youngblood, Cable, Blood Pack, heck, anything by Rob Liefeld). Despite the “superhero reconstruction” or “superhero renaissance” in the mid-90s, with stuff like Kingdom Come, Flex Mentallo, JLA, and John’s own JSA, kicking off what’s considered to be the post-Dark Age, “Modern Age of Comics”, it’s easy to see that modern superhero comics are still often rather dark and violent, to the point where some readers consider the Dark Age of Comics to never have actually ended.

In DC Universe Rebirth #1, Johns makes a stand for hope and optimism against the fear and cynicism the Dark Age represents. Pandora’s dying words, aimed at the “somebody” who changed the DCU, and Wally’s warning, embodies this sentiment:

Pandora: Skepticism. Doubt. Corruption. All things your cold heart believes in. But in the end, there was hope. And the heroes of this universe embody it. Their hope, their devotion, their love for one another will vanquish what you’ve done. It may be over for me but they will prove you wrong.

Wally: There’s going to be a war between hope and despair. Love and apathy. Faith and disbelief.

And to represent the Dark Age, we have the “somebody” who stole those ten years, that has weakened the DCU, that represents the scepticism and doubt and, it’s implied, to have infected the DC with darkness.

Doctor Manhattan.

Doctor Manhattan is a character from the 1985 DC comic Watchmen. It is, together with Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns (we’ll talk about that in a bit), one of the comics credited with bringing about the Dark Age of Comics. Now, to say that these works are wholly responsible for bringing darkness, realism (and/or cynicism) into comics is absolute bobbins. “Dark” superhero comics didn’t begin with Watchmen or The Dark Knight Returns – for example, the transition of Batman from the smiling, light-heartened Caped Crusader made famous by Adam West into the brooding Dark Knight of modern day owes as much to the 1970s Batman writer/artist team of Denny O’Neill and Neal Adams as it does Frank Miller. But it is true that these two works are iconic, not just in themselves, but as a representation of everything DC Rebirth opposes. That scepticism, that cynicism, that darkness that has been a major part of DC, and comics in general, since Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns arrived.

That’s not to say that Geoff Johns dislikes these stories, or wants to see them forgotten. But DC Rebirth’s mission statement is made clear. It’s time to move beyond the darkness. It’s time to bring back hope and optimism to the DCU.

Earlier this year, DC released Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It’s easily one of the darkest superhero films DC has ever released, possibly one of the darkest superhero films of all time. It’s a sombre, often melancholy film that deals with subject matters such as fear, anger, alienation (literally, in Superman’s case), despair and the feeling of helplessness. It shows us a Superman feared and sometimes even hatred by the public and a hero whose positive actions can have far-reaching, unforeseen negative consequences. It shows us an older, jaded Batman, broken by twenty years of fighting the never-ending fight against Gotham’s criminals, the loss of Robin, and the arrival of Superman, something more powerful and possibly destructive than he ever could have imagined.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was a deeply polarising film, savaged by film critics and dividing both fans of the comics and general audiences. Now, it’s worth mentioning that I love it. I will happily go on record and say that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is my favourite film of all time. Yeah, I love it that much.

Above: Pure awesomeness.

One of the things that was often talked about, and what largely formed the bulk of the film’s criticism, was the film’s tone. Critics of the films derided the film as too dark, too cynical, too depressing. Critics argued that the movie should have been happier, brighter, and have more characters smiling and joking. Now, that wasn’t the only criticism of the film, and I’m not trying to say that anyone who dislikes the movie is wrong. Film, like all media, is subjective and I don’t believe anyone who hates Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is objectively wrong, any more than I believe I am objectively right for loving it.

With DC Universe Rebirth #1, and by extension the whole DC Rebirth initiative, being all about bringing hope and optimism back to the DCU, it’s been noted a fair bit online the apparent different in tone of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, released just a few months before DC Universe Rebirth #1, a film that’s full of it’s heroes feeling despair and cynicism. Some articles online have gone so far as to suggest that DC’s new mission statement of hope and optimism has been influenced by the negative reactions to the apparent darkness and cynicism of their movie universe, or even as Geoff Johns’ own reaction to it.

Of course, the problem with the idea that this is Geoff Johns reacting to the “darkness” of DC’s films is, well, he helped make them. Johns was the Chief Creative Officer for DC Comics, an executive producer on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and as instrumental in shaping the feel and tone of the DC Extended Universe as Zack Snyder. And with the arrival of DC Rebirth, with Geoff Johns dedicated to bringing hope and optimism back to DC, his influence becomes even more obvious.

Because here’s the thing – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, like DC Universe Rebirth #1, is a film about hope. A film about why we need to move beyond anger, beyond fear, beyond cynicism and embrace hope, optimism and our belief in both our heroes, and ourselves. This is, as far as I can see, the core theme of the movie and it’s summed up in two lines.

Alfred: That's how it starts, sir. The fever, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness that turns good men... cruel.

Bruce: Men are still good. We fight, we kill, we betray one another, but we can rebuild. We can do better. We will. We have to.

Because that’s the message of the film. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice shows us a Superman paralyzed by indecision, a Batman blinded by rage and paranoia, and a Wonder Woman who’s turned her back on mankind. But these are presented as obstacles that our heroes have to overcome to save the day. Clark must come to peace with the idea that he can’t save everyone, but that doesn’t make what he does meaningless. Batman must learn to see Clark as human, not just as a potential threat, and learn to trust again. Diana must decide to stand with humanity, and believe in their potential again. And… well, they do.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is, as much as DC Universe Rebirth #1, a rallying cry of why it’s time superhero stories came out of the darkness and cynicism, and embraced hope and optimism again.

Now, to some people this idea might seem bizarre. After all, Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, one of the prime examples of dark, gritty comics, is one of director Zack Snyder’s favourite comic books, and it was one of the biggest inspirations for this film, with BvS even going so far as to use the exact dialogue from the comic. But while there’s a clear influence of The Dark Knight Returns in BvS, it’s worth noting that often that influence, particularly that exact dialogue I mentioned, is sometimes used so it has a completely different context in the film. The part of the film most influence by The Dark Knight Returns is in the fight scene of, well, Batman v Superman.

Batman: It’s way past time you learned… what it means to be a man…

This is a line directly from the Batman v Superman fight in The Dark Knight Returns, and it’s also used, more or less, by Batman during the fight in BvS. But the context is very different. Because here’s the thing. Superman comes to Gotham in TDKR as an all-powerful, alien being, an “other”, and as a representative of a corrupt US government, dedicated to bringing Batman down. In BvS, Clark comes to Gotham to ask Batman to help him save his mother, Martha Kent, who’s been kidnapped by Lex Luthor. Superman here isn’t some government stooge, or all-powerful alien who has no idea what it’s like to be human, he’s a man, scared for his mother’s life. His only hope is that he can reason with Batman, that the pair can find common ground and work together. But Batman by this point is so caught up by his feelings of rage, despair and his desperate need not to feel powerlessness that he isn’t listening. In many ways, Batman has become the Frank Miller Batman, the Dark Age Batman, taken to the extreme. His unyielding, righteous anger has become a blinding rage than makes him unable to listen to the voice of reason. His ability to be prepared for any threat has become twisted into paranoia, making him so obsessed about the potential threat of Superman going rogue that he’s blind to the actual threat of Lex Luthor using this very rage and paranoia to manipulate him. Batman has embraced the darkness and cynicism and become, as Alfred as warned him, cruel. He gives Superman a savage beating even as Superman still tries to reason with him, leading to Bruce's darkest, lowest point, about to kill a helpless Clark even as he begs, not for himself, but for his mother’s life.

Enter Lois Lane.

Lois is, throughout the film, the one person who hasn’t given up hope. She still believes in Clark as a person, and the hope Superman inspires. Her belief in Clark and the truth leads her to be the one to uncover Lex’s plot and, just at the last moment, arrives in time to explain that “Martha” is Clark’s mother. It’s at this moment that Batman realises that Clark is not just an alien threat, he’s a person. He’s reminded of the innocent he was, realises just how far he’s fallen. And then he and Superman does what seemed impossible, the thing that Lex Luthor never expected the pair to do – they work together. Martha Kent is saved, because of Lois never giving up hope, and because Bruce can learn to overcome his darkness and his cynicism.

At the end of the film, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman put aside their differences and work together to stop Doomsday, Clark heroically sacrificing himself to stop the monster. The film ends with Superman dead and Lex, while imprisoned, ranting that something very big and very bad is coming. Dark days are coming and yet… there is still hope. Remember Bruce’s line?

Diana Prince: A hundred years ago I walked away from mankind; from a century of horrors... Men made a world where standing together is impossible.

Bruce Wayne: Men are still good. We fight, we kill, we betray one another, but we can rebuild. We can do better. We will. We have to.

This is the same man, who, earlier in the film, said this:

Bruce: Twenty years in Gotham, Alfred; we've seen what promises are worth. How many good guys are left? How many stayed that way?

Seeing Clark’s humanity, Lois’ belief, Diana’s willingness to step in and fight even for a world she doesn’t believe in, and Clark making the ultimate sacrifice to save the day has changed him. The ultimate cynic has found hope again. The final shot of the film is Clark’s grave, as the dirt begins to rise, hinting at Clark’s resurrection that, let’s face it, DC isn’t even trying to hide.

Above: Official Justice League concept art. 

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice isn’t a happy film. It’s not all jokes and laughs. But it’s not a cynical film, either. If anything, like DC Universe Rebirth #1, it’s a criticism of cynicism. It’s a film that argues that anger and fear just makes us cruel, that hope and belief can save us and, even when the world seems darkest, there is still hope. At the end of the day, men, and supermen, are still good. This is the message of DC Rebirth, the message of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and possibly the whole message of DC Entertainment, whether in comics, on TV or on film, for a long while yet. I have hope.

Wally West

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S.H.I.E.L.D. #2 – “The Animator” Recap & Review

Writer: Mark Waid

Penciller: Humberto Ramos

Year: 2015

Last time we looked at S.H.I.E.L.D, we saw a multitude of superheroes desperately holding back a tide of armies from across the nine realms, while Coulson faced down a mad god. This week we see a single superhero hold back a tide of evil pizza, while Coulson faces down a teenager. Well, no-one could accuse S.H.I.E.L.D. of being formulaic!

We begin at the London Headquarters of Roxxon Oil. From the window, we can see the London Eye, fulfilling the trope in fiction that every window in London must show a recognisable London landmark. And it’s a good job it’s there too, or we’d never have guessed which city the London Headquarters of Roxxon were in.

In the Roxxon building we see a heavyset, bearded man on the phone to his daughter. We only “hear” his side of the conversation, but it becomes immediately clear that this isn’t the most cordial father/daughter talk. Beardy is angry that his daughter blew off an interview with the President of another company, Biochemco. Beardy believes his daughter is throwing away her brilliant education, as she’s moved to the USA to become a party planner. However, fans of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. show have probably guessed who’s he’s talking to. English, interview at was is presumably a biology lab… yep, it’s Simmons, who is forced to hang up on her father due to a little issue at work. Said little issue is being in the middle of a firefight between S.H.I.E.L.D. and terrorist organisation A.I.M.

Like the flashback’s to Coulson’s past in S.H.I.E.L.D. #1, this little vignette has nothing to do with the rest of the plot, but does give us a little more character insight. Although unfortunately it is a little. Whereas Coulson’s flashbacks established him as smart, dedicated, good at a reading people and really obsessed with superheroes, Simmons is established – as having daddy issues. It’s not really in-depth character stuff, is all I’m saying.

We begin the story proper at Coles Academy High School, in Jersey City. Wait, we’re in a city and it’s not New York? Marvel, you’ve changed and it’s scaring me. The janitor finds a bag marked “Pizza Dough” and picks it up, saying it must belong in the cafeteria. Yep, because I know when I find something just laying around on the ground, my first thought is to bring it to a place where food is prepared. I know it’s marked as pizza dough, but what exactly was going through the janitor’s mind? Are deliveries to the school usually left clandestinely next to the backdoor overnight? And consist of a single bag of pizza dough, with not even a delivery report to say where it came from? I would make a joke about understanding why this guy’s just a janitor, but janitors do fine work, are really underappreciated and this moron is so stupid I’m actually surprised he got hired as one.

We then go to an Biology class in the school later that day. Simmons is filling in as a substitute teacher, using the alias Ms Steranko. The name is a nice shout-out to Jim Steranko, writer and artist on the 1960s comics Strange Tales (featuring Nick Fury) and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.. His surrealist, pop art style and hip spy drama storylines on both books gave them a cool, James Bond-ish feel, making them cult hits in their day, and both are still remembered fondly. To many fans, while S.H.I.E.L.D. was created by Stan Lee, Steranko’s work really fleshed out both the organisation and the character of Nick Fury, meaning the Steranko is often considered the real “father” of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Simmons isn’t exactly holding the attention of the class, as we see that most of students are pre-occupied with doing something else, such as sleeping, listening to music and levitating books. Wait, what? Yeah, one of the students is trying to impress a girl by levitating his book. Of course, even in the Marvel Universe, students levitating their stuff is fairly notable, and he’s quickly spotted by both Simmons, who texts Coulson saying she’s spotted the “smuggler”, and another of his classmates, Kamala Khan.

Kamala’s our guest superhero of the month, like Black Knight and Valkyrie in issue 1. She’s the latest Ms. Marvel and is a fairly new character, only debuting in 2013. Kamala’s become incredibly popular incredibly quickly, with both her Ms. Marvel series and the comic’s sister title, Captain Marvel, becoming two of the company’s best sellers. It’s an interesting turnaround, since for years the Captain Marvel/Ms. Marvel franchise hasn’t exactly been a hit for the House of Ideas.

Captain Marvel mk 1

The original Captain Marvel wasn’t a Marvel character, and indeed predates “Marvel” itself, first appearing in Whiz Comics #2 in 1940, back when what we now know as Marvel was known as Timely Comics. This Captain Marvel was ten-year old Billy Batson, who spoke the magic word SHAZAM to become his perfect superhuman adult self, complete with flight and superstrength. Captain Marvel became a big hit for his publisher, Fawcett comics, but in the early 1950s DC Comics sued Fawcett, saying that Captain Marvel was too similar to Superman. On the surface, it seemed they had a point – both were square-jawed, black haired, All-American heroes with superstrength, superspeed, flight and a cape. However, superficial similarities aside, Captain Marvel was very different, but DC won the court case and Captain Marvel was gone, seemingly forever.

In 1967, Marvel cottoned onto the fact that the name Captain Marvel was no longer trademarked, with the character at that time seemingly defunct. So Marvel released their own Captain Marvel and quickly trademarked the name. In a cruel twist of irony, this meant that when DC comics acquired the licence to Fawcett’s Captain Marvel in 1972 and began publishing the character, they couldn’t call the comic Captain Marvel, or licence any merchandising under that name. Eventually, DC would just call it quits and rename the character Shazam in 2011.

As for Marvel’s Captain Marvel, he couldn’t be more different. Whereas the original Cap had been a ten-year old boy with a magic word, this new Captain Marvel was Captain Mar-Vell, a member of the alien race the Kree. Mar-Vell was sent to Earth was check whether it was a threat against the Kree Empire, but ended up falling in love with the place.

Captain Mar-Vell of the Kree - aka the "really weird Captain Marvel"

The character was never a big hit, but a psychedelic, surrealist revamp by writer Jim Starlin in the late seventies made Captain Marvel a brief cult hit, which prompted Marvel to release a spin-off, Ms. Marvel, in 1977. This Ms. Marvel was Carol Danvers, an Air Force pilot who’d been a supporting character for Mar-Vell back in the '60s. Badly injured in a fight between Mar-Vell and his nemesis, Yon-Rogg, an exploding Kree device had merged Carol’s genes with Mar-Vell’s making her a human-Kree hybrid and granting her superpowers.

Ms. Marvel lasted for 23 issues, and Carol soon became a “meh” character for Marvel, never being obscure enough to completely disappear, but never becoming an A-list superhero. That is until the mid-2000s, when Avengers writer (the comic, not the movie) Brian Michael Bendis gave Carol the push into the spotlight she needed and, frankly, deserved. Carol quickly became an A-lister and eventually took the title Captain Marvel – Mar-Vell himself being long dead by this point. The new Captain Marvel book was a smash hit both with critics and fans and remains to be so, with Marvel even announcing that Carol will get her own Marvel Cinematic Universe movie in 2018, the first MCU movie headlined by a female superhero.

Captain Marvel aka Carol Danvers. Formally known as Ms. Marvel.

But, just like the name Captain Marvel itself, Marvel doesn’t like to let a trademark name go to waste, so soon a new Ms. Marvel appeared. Kamala Khan is an Inhuman, a genetic offshoot of humanity created by genetic experiments by the Kree to ancient humans back in the Stone Age. Inhumans appear perfectly human until exposed to Terrigen Mist, i.e. super-science powers granting magic space fog. In Kamala’s case, the powers she got were shapeshifting and Plastic Man-esque stretchiness. Like the new Captain Marvel, the new Ms. Marvel has quickly become a smash hit and a critical darling, both for being a genuinely great book (or so the reviews say, I must admit I’ve haven’t read any Ms. Marvel myself) and for Kamala being seen as an extremely positive icon and role model. Kamala is an independent and smart female character whose appearance, attitude and costume isn’t done for pointless male fanservice, making her a strong feminist character. On top of that, Kamala is a very positive portrayal of a Muslim character, as well as being Marvel’s first Muslim character headlining her own book.

She's here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and she's all out of - oh, wait, nevermind.

Given the character’s popularity, it isn’t surprising to see her guest star her in S.H.I.E.L.D. #2. It’s an old comic staple, using a guest appearance of a popular character in a new series to boost readership sales, and one we’ll see repeated in S.H.I.E.L.D. #3 with an appearance by Spider-man. This comic also acts as a good introduction to Kamala for those who haven’t picked up Ms. Marvel, like myself.

Back to the story. The kid levitating his books, Grayson Blair, quickly realises he’s been rumbled when Simmons asks him to speak outside the classroom with her. Not quite sure what else he expected after showing off in class. Grayson quickly texts his accomplice (see what you’ve started, Simmons? Now they all think that it’s ok to text in class) and tells him to meet him at his locker after the “distraction”. Grayson then activates said distraction from his phone, causing a “Power Glove” to burst out of his locker and start smashing the school up. Kamala, it turns out, is like Coulson, and by that I don’t mean looks damn fine in a suit and tie. She’s an uber-nerd too, quickly recognising the Power Glove as one belonging to the Wizard (insert your own The Wizard/Power Glove internet meme joke here). The Wizard is an old Fantastic Four villain, or more accurately an old Human Torch villain – the Johnny Storm Human Torch, the human Human Torch, rather than Jim Hammond, the non-human Human Torch. The Wizard, as his name suggests, is a super-intelligent scientific genius with absolutely no magical abilities whatsoever. Between that and having a non-human Human Torch, I’m beginning to see why non-comic fans say comic books are confusing.

I love Kamala’s thought process here. She quickly recognises that both the levitating disc Grayson was using, plus the Power Glove, equals Wizard. Not only does she think this in an equation, with pictures, but she almost thinks < Ms. Marvel, complete with a picture of her costume. I love it when comics have their characters think in pictures, since it's a quirky way of using the visual medium to show us a character's thoughts.

As the kids flee the attacking Power Glove, Kamala sneak away, grabbing her superhero costume from her locker. Inside the classroom, Simmons saves two of the students from the Power Glove, but it causes a large piece of wall to come crashing down, straight towards Simmons and the students. As rescues go, that’s a real frying pan/fire kinda deal.

However, Ms. Marvel arrives to save the day, grabbing the wall before it can squish Simmons, then reaching out and grabbing the flying fist in one giant, stretchy hand. Simmons’ reaction… is to order Ms. Marvel to leave the area immediately and leave this to S.H.I.E.L.D. Yeah, because you’re doing a real bang-up job so far, Simmons. So far all your involvement has led to is a bunch of terrified students and a couple of hundred dollars in property damage. I’m actually kind of surprised it’s not Ms. Marvel telling you to back off while she sorts this mess out.

Meanwhile, Grayson is in process of cleaning out his locker (of black market supervillain weapons, he hasn’t just decided now would be a good time for a good tidy) when Coulson arrives on the scene and arrests him. Noticeably, we have a different artist this issue, so Coulson looks a lot less like Clark Gregg. There’s still similarities and Coulson is still recognisable, but after the almost-perfect Clark Gregg likeness that Carlos Pacheco gave us in #1, it’s a little distracting.

Simmons meets up with Coulson, and Ms. Marvel is still with her, rightly having ignored Simmons’ order to stay out of this. Even more sensibly, she’s not going to hand over powerful supervillain tech to someone claiming to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent without more evidence that they are who they say they are. However, Kamala is quickly distracted by the contents of Grayson’s bag, which she describes as a “villain museum”. Back in my review of issue 1, I theorised that writer Mark Waid would use the series to reference as many obscure Marvel characters as possible. We see more evidence of that here, with Ms. Marvel spotting the “Animator”, a gun used by a villain known as Plantman. Remember him? Yeah, I thought not. Heck, I’m a fairly knowledgeable nerd and even I had to Google who the hell that was. It’s this guy.

Not exactly the most threatening villain look ever, is it? Unless he yells “smell my flower!” while shoving your face into his crotch. That would be disturbing.

Coulson, desperate not to be out-geeked, gets into a short argument about whether the gun is the “Animator” Plantman used on the Sub-mariner, or the earlier “Vege-Ray” he used on the Human Torch. That would be the human Human Torch, by the way. Whichever it is, it doesn’t factor into the story any further. Really worth naming the story after, wasn’t it?

Coulson’s impressed with Kamala’s knowledge, but still orders her to stay out of their investigation. She still doesn’t, and I’m actually surprised Coulson doesn’t realise that there’s no better way to get a plucky teen hero involved in something than to tell them not to get involved. While being escorted away by Simmons – or rather while Simmons is attempting to escort her away, without much success, Kamala overhears Coulson ask Grayson where the “dough” is, and he’s not talking about money. Kamala quickly realises that today is “pizza day” for lunch and rushes off towards the cafeteria.

In the cafeteria, it’s lunchtime and the students are indeed being served pizza. Got to hand it to these kids, if my school had just been attacked by a superweapon, almost killing students and causing property damage, I wouldn’t just got back into my daily routine. Maybe that’s just life for people in the Marvel Universe – supervillain attacks don’t even count as an annoyance anymore.

It’s easy to guess that the pizzas are made with the dough the janitor found outside at the start, and I hope it's implying that he just left it in the kitchens and it was found later on. I really hope he didn’t just walk in and say to the cook “Hey! I just found this on the floor outside! Want it?” and the cook replied “Do I? Unexpected pizza dough left outside on the floor? Of course, the kids will love it, I see no health and safety concerns there!”

Surprise, surprise, all the students eating the pizzas are violently sick. However, all the sick is alive, apparently sentient and have little faces. That is not a sentence I ever thought I’d write. They’re actually little Doughboys, blob monsters created by Nazi scientist Arnim Zola. The Doughboys seal the lunchroom shut, locking Coulson, Simmons and Ms. Marvel out. In a clever little moment, Ms. Marvel asks Coulson if he can shoot the lock, to which he replies:

Coulson: A.K.A. “Fire into a lunchroom of high school students”? No.

It’s a nice reminder that Coulson’s isn’t just your normal action hero, and prefers tactics and thought to brute strength. Case in point, Coulson realises that they need Ms. Marvel for this one, pointing out that she can change her shape, so should easily be able to get under the door. Kamala’s excited by this, never having considered that she could go paper-thin.

Kamala gets into the lunchroom under the door, but the Doughboys spot her and attack, smashing down the door as they do so. Well, that’s one problem solved, but they’re left with a few bigger ones. The obvious being the small army of evil blob monsters, but the other, more pressing matter is that eating evil Nazi genetic experiments isn’t healthy, so all the students are now badly poisoned. Simmons realises this first and heads to the chemistry lab to do her brilliant scientist thing. Ms. Marvel fights the Doughboys until Coulson gets a call from Simmons saying she needs help. Coulson tells Ms. Marvel to help her out, saying that he’s always trusted her and known she could help, it’s just that he’s being protective of her.

Coulson: I’ve got you at arm’s length because I don’t want your world to get too big too fast. That’s all. But since you’re here – go show me what you can do.

It’s a nice little speech that shows another of Coulson’s strengths – he’s a nice guy, who’s good at motivating and inspiring people. It’s something we see a lot of in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., where he has a mentor, even partly parental, relationship with Skye, much like Giles had with Buffy on Joss Whedon’s earlier show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s one of my favourite parts of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and, since Skye isn’t in these comics, it’s nice to see that side of Coulson shown here.

In the chemistry lab, Simmons has almost put together the cure for Doughboy poisoning, but is about to be attacked by a large mass of Doughboys. Ms. Marvel arrives and does her Big Damn Heroes thing, using her new trick of going flat to surround the Doughboys in a big ball, mushing them together.

Ten minutes later, Ms. Marvel has mushed all the Doughboys and got them wrapped, turning herself into a big ball. Simmons kills them – or, she insists, renders them “inert” by "neutralising their microaerophilic lactobacilli".

Ms. Marvel: That sounds like a politer way of saying “dead”.

Yeah, it’s hard to argue with that. Ms. Marvel’s also brought time for Simmons to find a save the students from poisoning, so the day is saved.

While a S.H.I.E.L.D. hazmat team comes in to put the Doughboys into secure containment units, Simmons has a heart-to-heart with Kamala. Simmons guesses that Kamala’s family doesn’t know that she’s a superhero, explaining that she can relate, as due to the classified nature of her work, Simmons’ family thinks she’s a corporate party planner. Simmons admits that she’s kept the secret for years, and she misses the days when her parents really knew her – and yesterday’s phone call with her father must be on her mind.

It’s a nice scene, although it does raise a few questions. S.H.I.E.L.D., while being a secretive organisation, is not a secret organisation, or at least if they’re supposed to be, turning up at a public school with huge vans marked with their name and logo means they’re pretty terrible at being one. I get that Simmons’ work would be classified, but the fact that she’s a scientist for S.H.I.E.L.D.? Why would that need to be kept secret? Simmons has only be in the field a matter of weeks at most, before that she was a lab rat, so it’s not like she was a top secret agent or something. Government scientists in the real world sign official secret acts to keep their work classified, they don’t pretend to just give us a promising career in science and go into a completely random, unconnected area of work just as cover. In fact, a gifted, well-educated biologist just dropping everything to become a corporate party planner is more suspicious than just having her cover be, for example, working for a corporation that has labs all over the world.

Coulson thanks Kamala for a job well done, saying that he liked what he saw from her today and that her day will come to be a fully-fledged S.H.I.E.L.D. asset. We also see that Simmons has slipped her a note, advising Kamala to call Simmons if keeping her secret gets a bit too much – and that Kamala was right, it was absolutely the Animator.

S.H.I.E.L.D. #2, like #1, is a fun read, although overall it’s a weaker issue. While it’s an enjoyable little team-up, and I can easily see why Kamala has such a fan following, the lack of any main characters aside from Coulson and Simmons hurts this issue. We’re given a bit of character stuff and backstory for Simmons, but aside from her little talk with Kamala at the end, it doesn’t really factor into the story. Ultimately, this too much Kamala’s story, with even Coulson and Simmons relegated to supporting characters. Which would be fine, if this were an issue of Ms. Marvel, but this is S.H.I.E.L.D., and Coulson, May and Fitz-Simmons are supposed to be our main characters, the characters we focus on.

Despite that, S.H.I.E.L.D. #2 is great and I recommend it – especially if you’re a fan of the new Ms. Marvel. But please Mr. Waid – can we have a little more S.H.I.E.L.D. in our S.H.I.E.L.D. comic? As next issue stars Spider-man, I’m not holding out much hope, but we’ll have to see.

We’ll return to S.H.I.E.L.D. in the near future, but next week it’s back to DC, where all H’el has broken loose… and no, that’s not a typo.

S.H.I.E.L.D. #2 is the property of Marvel Comics.

The Flash #1 – “The Flash” Review

Writers: Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato

Penciller: Francis Manapul

Publisher: DC Comics

Flash! Ah-ahhh! He’ll save every one of us! OK, I know it’s a different Flash, but I’m never missing a chance to reference that Queen song. But no, this isn’t Flash Gordon, this is the Flash of DC Comics – Barry Allen. Barry’s story is a simple tale of a mild-mannered CSI doused in chemicals and struck by lightning, becoming the Fastest Man Alive, protecting Central City from everyday threats like time-travellers and super-intelligent psychic gorillas. Which are everyday threats in Central City. It’s a weird place.

Barry Allen was created by writers Robert Kanigher and John Broome, and artist Carmine Infantino, way back in 1955’s Showcase #4. Barry himself was actually a reboot of the original Flash, Jay Garrick, who first appeared during the Golden Age of Comic Books in 1940.

By the late 1940s, the Golden Age was definitely over, at least for superhero comics. Superheroes were a dead genre, with out of the hundreds of superheroes created during the war only Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Arrow and a handful of others surviving. DC editor Julius Schwartz looked to change that, but rather than bring back the old heroes, Schwartz decided to keep only the codenames and powers, creating new secret identities and origins. Schwartz was a huge science fiction fan, and his new heroes would be forward-thinking men of science, rather than the non-powered vigilantes and mystical heroes that were more popular during the Golden Age. For example the Atom, originally short but tough unpowered scrapper Al Pratt, was reimagined as Ray Palmer, quirky university physics professor who created a device that allowed him to shrink. Then there was Green Lantern, originally Alan Scott, a railroad worker with a magic ring that created green energy constructs of anything he imagined, reimagined as Hal Jordan, a test fighter pilot who became an intergalactic cop with a ring that did the same thing, only now the reason was super-advanced alien science rather than magic.

Fittingly for the Fastest Man Alive, the Flash was the first of these reboots, possibly because the original Flash, Jay Garrick, was one of the Golden Age heroes to have an origin based in science fiction already. Jay’s origin was that a lab accident had caused him to inhale heavy water fumes, granting him superspeed. See, airtight science. Even by the fifties that must have seemed implausible, so Barry’s origin was being struck by lightning. While being covered in a mixture of different chemicals. Now I’m no scientist, but I’m guessing that if I was doused in various chemicals while simultaneously being struck by lightning, the result wouldn’t be superpowers. Or very pretty. At least the results wouldn’t be very pretty, I imagine the actual moment would be pretty cool to see.

See what I mean?

The new Flash was – pardon the pun – a runaway success, leading to both the Silver Age of Comics and DC’s ongoing tradition of rebooting their characters. Because that’s what Flash #1 is – a reboot.

In 2011 DC cancelled all their series taking place in their main continuity, the DC Universe (DCU). They then launched the “New 52”, 52 new series, either brand new series or old series starting a new “volume” with a new issue 1. The idea, like the reboot in the fifties, was to re-introduce the characters for a new generation, modernising them and attempting a fresh start, ideal for new readers DC thought were put off by decades of continuity. Some characters, like Batman, were kept pretty much the same, with only minor updates to his costume the only real change. Other characters had more radical changes as stuff was added or removed from their backstory, like Superman no longer being married to Lois Lane, as was the case Pre-New 52.  Some rebooted characters were virtually new characters, with their personalities, costumes, sometimes even their ethnicity completed changed.

The reaction to this was… mixed. That’s an understatement. Seriously. To say that the New 52 was controversial is like saying that space is big – it’s factually true, but doesn’t really convey the scope. Personally, I’m kinda on the fence. I liked some changes they made, but I don’t like others. I’m disappointed, certainly, that certain series were cancelled for the New 52 (Bryan Q Miller’s Batgirl run in particular. Check it out. Seriously. The comic was amazing) but a lot of the New 52 series that I’ve read I’ve liked. Including, yes, the Flash. In fact, out of the New 52, the Flash is by far my favourite series. But before I get into the comic proper, I need to address the elephant in the room, or rather the elephant that is noticeable for its absence in the room. Wally West.

See, not only was Barry Allen not the first Flash, but for a long time, he wasn’t the Flash at all. Barry, like Coulson, died and was later brought back to life. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, as even people with only a causal knowledge of comics are fully aware that superheroes have a tendency to die and come back like a lemming in a time warp. But Barry didn’t just die as a cheap publicity stunt, his death was meant to stick. In the 1985 maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths (which was another example of DC rebooting their universe – see what I mean about it being a tradition?) Barry gave his life in a heroic sacrifice. At the end of the Crisis, Barry’s sidekick, Wally West, the Kid Flash, became the Flash. While Barry did obviously return, since he’s the star of this book, he wasn’t brought back until 2008. So Wally was the Flash for over twenty years, at least in real-time. He starred in his own best-selling Flash series, was a regular member of the Justice League, and was even the Flash featured in the hit animated series Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. In short, Wally wasn’t just a popular successor, for many fans he was the Flash, the Flash they spent two decades reading about, and for some the only Flash they’d known. And then the New 52 came and not only was Wally no longer the Flash – he didn’t exist. Wally, along with other fan favourites Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Conner Hawke and Donna Troy were all exiled from continuity, DC editorial proclaiming that these characters could not, for the time being, be used in any way by the writers. So for all those fans for whom Wally was the Flash, they were – understandably – extremely unhappy. All the above characters have since reappeared in comics, but since the new Wally West looks and acts completely different, it’s hard to argue that this is the same character, so this has done little to placate them.

But despite the controversies, it’s hard not to love Flash #1. We begin with Barry and his girlfriend, Patty Spivot, on their first date at the Central City Tech Symposium. Yeah, the fact that Barry was dating Patty was another point of contention for long-time Flash fans, since before the New 52 Barry was happily married to Iris West. In the New 52 they’ve never been married, as DC editorial felt that being married made Barry “too old” and “un-relatable”. I can’t agree with that, but for me the relationship between Barry and Patty softens the blow. Patty’s a great character, likable, smart, interesting and while a lot of her scenes in the current Flash series do revolve around her being Barry’s girlfriend, we are given some characterisation outside that.

We learn that it took Barry two years to ask Patty out, which Barry explains as being “methodical”, reminding us that unlike the hyperactive, short-attention spanned speedster stereotype, Barry is thoughtful, attentive and methodical. What sets the Flash, and Barry in particular, apart from the many, many other speedsters in comics is that he's a scientist who fights with his brains as much as his speed. It’s something we’ll see both in this comic, and later issues.

Speaking of brains, Barry and Patty run into Dr Darwin Elias, and we know he’s a brilliant scientist because his name is Darwin. It’s an unwritten rule in fiction that if your name is anything like Darwin or Einstein, you’re a brilliant scientist. Or a monkey. Or both. Barry fanboys over Dr Elias, but his squee-ing is brought to an abrupt end when a bunch of masked men crash through a skylight. Or rather krash through the skylight, since that’s how it’s written in the sound effect. In the highly unlikely event I ever become a superhero (who knows, maybe that lighting/chemical combo will work on me as well) I’m just going to avoid going to public events. Any public event a superhero attends will always be crashed by thieves, gangsters, supervillains, robots, etc. without fail. I think it’s part of the same universal law that states that if a detective goes for a quiet holiday away from the big city, they will stumble onto a murder before they’ve finished unpacking.

The mysterious masked men flood they place with knockout gas, or what I presume is knockout gas since one of the men says “time to go to sleep”. However the knockout gas doesn’t seem to affect anyone, and pretty much everyone seems fine in what can only be a few minutes or so later, so if it is knockout gas these guys buy their stuff from the same dodgy ACME supplier who’s being selling stuff to Wile E. Coyote all these years. The gas does provide Barry cover to change into the Flash, in what is an absolutely stunning page. Seriously the art in this comic is gorgeous. I would have literally any single panel or page from this comic blown up and put on my wall as a piece of art. Francis Manapul’s soft pencils match perfectly with Brian Buccellato’s muted, soft colour scheme, creating a look for this book that’s unique and distinctive. Sadly, Manapul and Buccellato are no longer working on The Flash, now having moved to Detective Comics. It’s a real shame, as I miss them working on the book and why The Flash is still overall a good book, it’s current artist, Brett Booth’s work is… well, I’m not a fan. To put it mildly. But I plan to look at later Flash comics at some point in the near future, so we’ll criticise that bridge when we come to it.

Seriously, I want this on my wall.

The masked men have grabbed a strange handheld device and make a run for it. Two of them, given the numbers 45 and 57 rather than names, are told to slow the Flash down, but since these guys appear to just be normal men and the Flash is, well, really, really, fast, he’s already disarmed half the group and deals with 45 and 57 in nanoseconds. You could say their numbers were up.

The remaining masked men, one still holding the stolen device, run towards a plane-helicopter thing that’s waiting for them on the edge of the roof. Surely someone noticed this thing flying so damn low in a populated area? You would’ve thought any aircraft flying that low in a city would have been spotted by the military and had a couple of fighter jets blasting the crap out of it by now.

Flash grabs the last man, who’s holding the stolen the device, just as he grabs the net hanging out the back of the plane. The masked man throws it to another, numbered 33 (so we’ve got 45, 57 and 33. Another couple more and it’s bingo!). Flash grabs the device before 33 can get it, meaning he’s holding onto a masked man with one hand, the device with the other and no hands on the net. But it’s fine, the guy he’s holding onto is grabbing the net and he’s hardly gonna let go and let them both plummet to their deaths. Right? Right?

Flash: Come on, guys, you’re making this too…

Masked man promptly lets go of the net, sending Flash and himself plummeting towards their deaths.

Flash: …easy.

Now, Barry, what have we learnt about tempting fate?

This puts the Flash in a bit of a pickle since he can’t fly and he isn’t invulnerable, meaning that falling from a plane is going to do to him exactly what it would to anyone else, World’s Fastest Man be damned. But Barry has a plan. OK, so it’s a bad plan, but it works despite logic and physics saying otherwise. First, Barry spins his arm at superspeed, creating a mini-tornado. He then uses this mini-tornado to send the masked man to safety. OK, so to safety means sending him head-first through a plate glass window, but it’s relatively safer than falling from a great height towards solid concrete. Now, you might think the Flash would use one of those tornados to try and slow his descent, but no. Instead, Barry waits until he’s almost hit the ground, then vibrates his molecules so fast he vibrates through the street, landing in the sewer water below, cushioning his fall. It’s all kinds of cool, if completely impossible. Oh, I don’t mean vibrating so fast you can phase through solid objects, I’m no physicist so I no idea whether that could hypothetically work. But I do know that hitting water (well, sewerage, so mostly water) from at least 10 stories up at terminal velocity, well, it wouldn’t exactly soften the fall. In fact hitting the concrete might be the safer option. But aside from making a few physicists cry, all went well – apart from the portion of street Flash vibrated through exploding. See, stuff like this is why taxes in Central City are so damn high.

Central City reporter Iris West is on the street when part of it explodes, and she does what every good reporter in a superhero universe should do – walk straight up to the hole the explosion made and start conducting an interview with the resident superhero. Flash plays it cool, saying everything went just as he planned (including blowing up part of the street?). Gotta hand it to Barry, it’s very hard to act cool and nonchalant when floating in raw sewage. Trust me.

A short while later, Flash hands the device the masked men tried to steal back to Elias, and I really hoped Barry washed both it and himself. He runs off, only to reappear in seconds, dressed in normal clothes. Barry is then promptly told by Patty that they’re back on the clock – there’s a body.

Said body is the guy Flash put through the window during the fall. Throwing a guy through a window is usually bad enough for their health, and doing so at superspeed has got to be worse, so cause of death seems obvious. To make matters worse, not only does Barry have to worry whether he’s accidently killed someone, it’s an old friend of his, Manuel.

We have a flashback (no pun intended, I swear) to Barry and Manuel years ago, presumably at high school or college. They’re running away from a whole rugby team, Manuel saying “she was totally worth it”. Even in a comic with art this good, these flashback deserves a special mention. The colours are further muted, making this look almost sepia-toned. And short though it is, just half a page, we’re given a pretty good idea who Manuel is. He’s the complete opposite of Barry – reckless and impulsive.

Now it looks like that recklessness and impulsiveness has really backfired. As the cops wheel Manuel’s corpse out of the building, a crowd of journalists are waiting, including Iris.

Iris: Is it true that the Flash had something to do with that suspect’s death?

Barry: Who told you that, Iris?

Iris: So it is true? That’s huge.

Huh. You’d think for a guy with a secret identity, Barry wouldn’t be so easily duped into revealing confidential police information.

The next day we see the Central City crime lab are working on the case, introducing us to some more of the Flash’s supporting characters, including David Singh, the director of the crime lab. Singh is the stereotypic police boss man, ranting and raving about getting results as soon as possible, even saying the stereotypical “I needed that report in my hand yesterday!” All that’s missing is for him to say “the mayor is riding my ass on this one!” Later issues will show that Singh’s a good man who genuinely wants the best results, but who tends to prize speed over thoroughness. This often puts him at odds with Barry who is, despite his superspeed, is through and methodical in his work, believing that getting the truth and making an airtight case is more important that speedy results.

We also meet Captain Darryl Frye. Fans of the Flash TV show who aren’t familiar with the comics may be wondering where Joe West is. Well, Joe was created for the show but he fills the same role as mentor and father figure that Frye does in the comic. Like Joe in the show, Frye is an old friend of Barry’s parents since before Barry was born – and looks an awful lot like Barry, leading to some fan suspicions about Barry’s true parentage.

Speaking of the Scarlet Speedster, he’s doing the standard depressed superhero thing of standing on the edge of a high ledge, looking pensively into the distance. Eh, Batman did that before it was cool and everyone started doing it. Barry’s feeling pretty crappy, possibly accidently murdering one of your friends can do that to you. Elias arrives (we’re never shown how the hell he knows where the Flash will be) and tells Flash the good news – he’s not a murderer! No, Manuel just dropped dead mysteriously. Whew, that’s a relief. Except Barry’s spirits aren’t lifted because, well, Manuel’s still dead. But now that Barry knows he didn’t kill his friend, he’s going to find out what did.

Barry borrows Elias’ Genome Re-Coder (that device that Manuel’s Mysterious Masked Men attempted to steal) and experiments in his apartment with the Re-Coder and a sample of Manuel’s DNA. He discovers that Manuel’s DNA has been altered, which doesn’t make any sense. Sure, the Re-Coder is designed to rewrite a person’s DNA, but Manuel only had it for two seconds, and it wasn’t turned on, so couldn’t change him then.

Barry’s investigation is interrupted by someone breaking into his apartment. Barry grabs the hooded intruder at superspeed, slamming him up against a book case. The intruder is revealed to be none other than – Manuel.

Jayne Cobb: Spry for a dead fella!

Flash is obviously a bit shocked that his previously dead friend is now alive and well. Although possibly a little too shocked, seeing that Barry himself has died and come back. Admittedly, the jury’s still out on whether Barry’s death and return still happened in the New 52 but people coming back from the dead seems to happen so often in superhero universes that it’s a wonder anyone bothers to go to funerals anymore. I just assume most headstones, especially superhero ones, just have BRB engraved on them.

Barry wants an explanation, but Manuel says he doesn’t have time to explain. Or at least, gets partway through explaining he doesn’t have time to explain when someone kicks in Barry’s door. Manuel climbs out of Barry’s window, telling Barry to “try and keep up”. See, it’s ironic because Barry actually has superspeed but Manuel doesn’t know that.

Barry and Manuel run through Central City, starting to be chased by more and more guys. Barry wants to know what’s going on, but Manuel remains evasive. Finally, Barry’s had enough of running away – being a superspeeding superhero, he’s more of a running towards kinda guy. He pretends to trip and fall into the river they’re running beside, even making the water shape “Splash!” as he falls in. Seriously, though, I love when comics do stuff like that with sound effects. This comic has a few, but this is the best of the bunch.

Manuel sees Barry go into the river, but doesn’t even slow down. Jerk. Barry’s of course fine, changing into his Flash costume underwater and racing after Manuel and the guys chasing him. The Flash, of course, catches up to them in seconds, but there’s two complications. One, the pursuers, now a large mob, have caught Manuel. Secondly, they’re all identical copies of Manuel…

To be continued!

The Flash #1 is a great first issue. While the controversy surrounding the New 52 did and will put people off this comic, it’s a great story with action, emotions and a killer cliffhanger. Part of the idea of the New 52 was to reintroduce these characters and have the #1 issues as a perfect place to start for new readers. To that end, The Flash #1 is a resounding success. It requires no pervious knowledge of the Flash to enjoy, but by the end of this first issue, you know a lot about Barry, both powers-wise and, more importantly, as a character. We’re introduced to his supporting cast and given the start of a really interesting first story. If you’ve never read the Flash, you could do a lot worse – and little better – than starting here.

I’ll get back to The Flash in the near future, but next week I’m heading back to the Marvel Universe with S.H.I.E.L.D. #2, where Simmons is a supply teacher for a superhero and Coulson faces his most difficult challenge yet – school dinners.

The Flash #1 is the property of DC Comics.