Mature Reading: Fables



Fables #1-96
Written by Bill Willingham
Art by Mark Buckingham, Lan Medina, Steve Leialoha, and Craig Hamilton

Once upon a time, there was a land where all the fairy tales you grew up reading were real. All your favorite characters lived side by side and everything was happy. That is until The Adversary appeared, a shadowy figure who gathered the aberrant armies of these realms and effectively took over. Those storybook characters afraid of what he would do now that he was in power migrated to the world of the Mundies, or our world. On a couple blocks in New York City, cloaked with expert magicks, is Fabletown, the home of the exiles. Here they plot a way to take back their homeland while dealing with discovery at the hands of the Mundies and their own evil fable brethren. This is the setting that kicks off Bill Willingham’s magnum opus (still being published today).

While the series is an ensemble piece, the main characters would be Snow White and Bigby Wolf (Big Bad Wolf). Snow is Deputy Mayor of Fabletown, the mayor is Old King Cole. Snow is in charge of settling disputes between the Fables and dealing with security issues in the neighborhood. The first arc of the series finds Snow believing her sister, Rose Red to have been murdered. She enlists the help of Bigby Wolf, who has taken a human form and is the acting sheriff of Fabletown. They go after suspects Jack Horner (Jack of Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack Frost, Jack Be Nimble) and the murderous Bluebeard. Its revealed in the end that Rose Red has been faking the whole thing, which drives a wedge between she and Snow.

Also amongst the cast are Boy Blue; Snow’s personal assistant, Flycatcher; the janitor in the mayor’s office and the former Frog Prince, Pinocchio; permanently stuck as a little boy due to the Blue Fairy’s spell, and Cinderella; a shoe store owner by day and super spy by night. Snow will come into conflict with her, and many of the other fable princesses’ ex-husband Prince Charming. In upstate New York, there is a farm dedicated to the talking animal fables, the ones who couldn’t blend in in the city. The Farm is the site of an animal revolution in the second arc, with Goldilocks leading them in revolt against Snow and her forces.

The first 75 issues of the series are focused around telling the story of how the Fables came to be in the Mundie world and how they fight to return to the homeland. Willingham showcases a deep breadth of knowledge by incorporating fairy tale characters who are probably unfamiliar to most but are actually found in old folktales and amongst the Brothers Grimm collections. I’ve always enjoyed the darker aspects of all those stories and characters, and that’s what we definitely get in this series. Fables has proven so popular its garnered an ongoing spin-off (Jack of Fables) and two mini-series (Cinderella, The Literals). The Jack of Fables series further expanded the Fables universe by bringing in characters like Humpty Dumpty, The Oz and Wonderland characters, as well as introducing a family of beings who can rewrite history. There’s even the Genres, the embodiment of genres of writing. If you are looking for a clever, funny, and many times exciting series written for mature audiences, I think Fables will definitely satisfy you.

Comics 101: Robin I/Nightwing/Batman II

This is the Robin you know if you came of age in the 1960s, watching the Batman television series. He’s Dick Grayson, one third of The Flying Graysons, part of Haley’s Circus. The circus came to Gotham City, where gangster Tony Zucco pressured the ringmaster to hand over protection money. The ringmaster refused and during that night’s performance the trapeze was cut, causing Dick’s parents to fall to their deaths. Bruce Wayne is in the audience that night, and sees himself in the emotionally scarred boy. Over the next few weeks, Dick is adopted by Bruce Wayne and comes to live in Wayne Manor. Dick goes exploring the mansion one day, and discovers the Batcave. Bruce reveals his double life and tells Dick that, if he wishes to use his anger about his parents’ deaths for good, he will train him. Fashioning a costume based on his family’s circus outfits, Dick becomes Robin, a beacon of light to counterpoint the darkness of Batman. A superhero good cop/bad cop sort of.

After a couple years working exclusively with Batman in Gotham, Dick ended up fighting a villain with other teenaged sidekicks. The result of this meeting was the formation of the Teen Titans, a sort of junior Justice League. Dick began devoting more and more time to the Titans while also attending college outside of Gotham. He frequently returned to help Batman on various cases and team-up with love interest Batgirl. Things change when, during a battle with The Joker, Dick is shot and rushed to the E.R. Once out of critical condition, Batman tells him he can’t put his adopted son in danger anymore. Dick is furious and parts ways with Batman on bad terms. He devotes himself fully to running the Teen Titans and the team receives some new members around this time, in particular Starfire, an alien princess whom Dick develops a relationship with. He eventually takes a leave of absence from the crime fighting game, discarding the Robin identity and looking to discover himself.

Dick spends some time in Metropolis with his other childhood mentor, Superman. Superman tells him the story of an ancient Kryptonian cast out of his family and wanted to help the helpless. He adopted a masked identity called Nightwing. Dick is inspired by this story and returns to his friends in the Teen Titans. He finds his teammates have been captured by their enemy Deathstroke the Terminator, and Dick dons the Nightwing costume for the first time. Dick eventually meets his replacement, Jason Todd the second Robin. He is angry at Batman for picking a new Robin and, when Jason is murdered by The Joker, unloads on Batman claiming he is responsible for the boy’s death. Dick and Starfire’s relationship becomes very serious, they get engaged and are on the eve of their wedding when the demon Trigon attacks and ruins the occasion. Doubts about their feelings for each other arise, and Starfire leaves the Earth. Around this time, Batman has his back broken by the juiced up Bane and is replaced by the anti-hero Azreal. Dick and Azreal clash, and after the latter drops the Batman identity, Dick takes it up for a short while as Batman heals.

Free of the Teen Titans and his Gotham City ties, Dick moves to Bludhaven, a neighboring city to Gotham with an even worse crime rate. Dick works as a bartender and eventually a police officer in Bludhaven, while battling the local kingpin Blockbuster. He’s eventually reunited with his now grown adult Teen Titans teammates who form simply The Titans. Barbara Gordon, formerly Batgirl, also comes back into Dick’s life and their romance is rekindled. At one point, when the Justice League are lost in ancient Atlantis, Dick takes the reigns of leadership for the team in the present. This leads into his leadership role of The Outsiders, a team originally organized by Batman. Alongside former Titan teammate Arsenal, Dick becomes more and more like Batman, keeping an emotional distance between he and his teammates. Dick’s ongoing battle with Blockbuster comes to end when he lets vigilante Tarantula shoot the villain. During this time, the death of Donna Troy (formerly Wonder Girl) has shaken Dick up and he is making very poor judgment calls.

This chapter in Dick’s life comes to a close during a major global crisis. The Secret Society of Super-Villains drops the living chemical bomb Chemo on Bludhaven, effectively destroying the city and killing its entire population. Dick front and center when the villainous Alexander Luthor and Superboy-Prime (twisted alternate reality versions of their namesakes) seek to destroy and recreate the multiverse. In the wake of this battle, Dick travels the globe with Batman and then current Robin, Tim Drake, as they bond as father and sons. Once back in the States, Dick remains with the Outsiders for a short time, then devotes himself fully to the Titans. Everything changes with the death of Batman. Dick returns to Gotham and takes up his adoptive father’s mantle, taking his “brother” Damien Wayne under his wing as the new Robin. Now, Dick Grayson honors the name of his fallen father, defending Gotham City from evil as the all-new Batman!

Comics 101: The Mighty Thor

The story of Thor really begins in Norse mythology. Thor was the son of Odin, king of the Norse gods. He wielded a powerful hammer named Mjolnir and was married to his fellow goddess, Sif. His greatest adversary was his half-brother Loki, the trickster god. Thor had grown too proud in the eye of Odin, and his father decided to banish Thor to Midgard aka Earth so he could learn what it was like to be mortal. Thor’s soul was placed in the body of crippled med student Donald Blake, and all his memories of godhood were taken. And for a few years, Thor lay dormant inside of Blake, until Blake takes a vacation to Norway and witnesses a fleet of aliens landing nearby. Blake scrambles into a nearby cave where he discovers a plain wooden cane. When he accidentally strikes the cane against a rock it transforms into Mjolnir and turns Blake into Thor.

Donald Blake defeats the alien invaders as Thor, and returns to the States to run his medical practice with help from nurse and love interest Jane Foster. Loki, Thor’s ancient nemesis, learns that his brother has returned and begins to dispatch mystical villains to challenge him. Among these were The Absorbing Man (whatever material he touches he becomes), The Wrecker (a construction worker turned behemoth), and The Destroyer (a mindless suit of armor powered by infinite cosmic elements). It was Loki who was responsible for driving the Hulk mad and bringing together Thor, Iron Man, Giant-Man, and The Wasp to stop him. This group would serve as the foundation of The Avengers. Odin decides he wants Thor back amongst the pantheon and orders him to return to Asgard, home of the Norse Gods. Thor refuses which infuriates Odin and drives a wedge between the two. Thor would also occasionally team with his father’s favorite son, Balder to battle enemies like Surtur the fire demon. Thor also has allies in the Warriors Three (Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun), a trio of great adventurers with very differing personalities.

A turning point came for Thor when Nick Fury, the director of SHIELD, had the god investigate a mysterious spacecraft. The ship is the home to the Korbinites, an equine like race of people who are on the verge of extinction. The defender of the Korbinites is a man named Beta Ray Bill, who battles Thor, proving himself quite powerful. Thor loses the grip of Mjolnir and reverts to Donald Blake again. Bill manages to life the hammer, a feat only accomplished by those of great power and becomes an alien variant of Thor. Thor and Bill become allies and battle together against Surtur and his army of demons who storm Asgard. Odin is killed in battle and Thor remains in Asgard to take his father’s throne. During this period, the magical forces of Norse mythology began leaking into Earth. Bill and Thor would do battle constantly to keep them back. Thor would eventually learn Odin was being held captive by the Egyptian gods and do battle with them, rescuing his father. Thor learns Loki behind this trickery and kills him, so Heimdall, the ruler of Asgard at the time banishes Thor to earth again.

This time Thor is bound to the body of Eric Masterson, a construction worker in New York City. This would not last very long, but Masterson would keep some of the god’s power to become Thunderstrike. Thor would next bond himself to Jake Olsen, an EMT, and would find himself running into his old love interest Jane Foster again. Odin would die for good this time in battle with Surtur again, and Thor would take the throne. Only this time, he grew mad with power and began to impose the gods’ will on Earth. Thor would marry his long time enemy, The Enchantress, and she would bear him a child named Magni. Eventually, Thor realized he had been driven mad and attempted to use his power to reverse time. By changing the timeline he brought Loki back from the dead who amassed an army of giants wielding hammers made from the same mystic Uru metal that Mjolnir had been forged from. In the final battle called Ragnarok in Norse mythology, Loki and Thor did battle, ending with the complete destruction of Asgard and the gods.

It appeared Thor was gone and years passed. Then Mjolnir fell from the sky, creating a massive crater in Oklahoma. Many try to lift it but fail, until a stranger to the small town arrives. This is Donald Blake, long separated from him alternate persona. He wields the hammer and with its power seeks out the mortals in whom his brothers and sisters’ souls have gone to. Asgard is rebuilt on Earth, as a floating city in the Oklahoma wilderness. Loki also returned, this time in a female form, and became part of the Cabal, a shadowy collective of villains seeking to fool humanity into turning their backs on the heroes. Loki convinced his allies to go to war with Asgard, believing with Thor taken down she could become the ruler of the gods. In the last minutes of the Siege of Asgard, Loki realized what she had done and tried to stop her allies, only to be killed. Thor realizes he is not the one to lead his people, giving that title to Balder, and joining up with a newly formed version of the Avengers.

Comics I’m Getting This Week




BOOM! Studios
Darkwing Duck #2 (of 4)
Muppet Snow White #3

DC Comics
Batman Beyond #2 (of 6)
Batman: Streets of Gotham #14
Brightest Day #6
DC Universe Legacies #3 (of 10)
Justice Society of America #41
Legion of Super-Heroes #3
Power Girl #14
The Spirit #4
Supergirl #54
Superman/Batman #74
Time Masters: Vanishing Point #1 (of 6)
Zatanna #3

IDW
G.I. Joe Cobra II #6

Image
Invincible #74
Shadowhawk #3
The Walking Dead #75

Marvel
Age of Heroes #3 (of 4)
Amazing Spider-Man #638
Amazing Spider-Man Presents: American Son #3 (of 4)
Atlas #3
Avengers #3
Dark Wolverine #88
Deadpool #25
Heroic Age: Prince of Power #3 (of 4)
Lady Deadpool #1
Marvel Zombies 5 #5 (of 5)
Marvelman Classic Primer #1 (One-Shot)
The Marvelous Land of Oz #8 (of 8)
New Avengers #2
New Mutants #15
Thunderbolts #146
Web of Spider-Man #10
X-Factor #207
X-Men: Phoenix Force Handbook

Vertigo
Air #23

Wildstorm
Welcome To Tranquility: One Foot in the Grave #1 (of 6)

Event Fatigue: Second Coming



Second Coming
Written by Zeb Wells, Mike Carey, Craig Kyle, Chris Yost, Matt Fraction
Art by Ibriam Roberson, Esad Ribic, Greg Land, Terry Dodson

If you are wanting to jump into some of the most dense, hard to navigate continuity in comics today then look no further than Marvel’s X-Men titles (New Mutants, Uncanny X-Men, X-Men Legacy, X-Force, X-Factor). The X-Men characters have always seem to occupied their own little corner of the Marvel Universe, only occasionally linking up with characters like the Avengers and Spider-Man. So, when an event goes down amongst the mutant community its always very self-contained but rarely simple. The most recent event, Second Coming was all about the rebirth of the mutant race. Five years ago, Magneto’s daughter, Scarlet Witch used her reality bending powers to erase the majority of mutant powers from the face of the earth, leaving only 200 mutants left. Over the next few years, some of these mutants died and the creeping fear that their species would be wiped spread over the community. That is until one new mutant was born.

The X-Men rushed to Alaska, where the new mutant registered on their computers. Other competing groups of mutants, and anti-mutant hate groups were their competition. In the end they learned the mutant was an infant whose powers manifested at birth, defying all the medical knowledge that had gathered about mutant genes. Present day was deemed too dangerous for the baby girl, named Hope, so Cable, Cyclops’ warrior son from the future, took the baby with him on a roulette journey through time, staying one step ahead of their enemies. Once Hope was fifteen, she decided that she wanted to return to her time period to rejoin her people and learn what it was to be a mutant. Her arrival alerted Bastion, another time traveler and cyborg who was programmed specifically to wipe the mutant race from the Earth.

Since Cable had left, Cyclops had established a haven for mutant on the island Utopia, off the coast of San Francisco. Here they fended off attacks from forces that wished them dead, and Cyclops formed X-Force, a black ops team led by Wolverine that drew first blood on their enemies. This would be seen as a complete 180 from the dream Professor Xavier hoped for, so Cyclops kept it secret from the majority of mutants, even his long time lover Emma Frost. When Cable and Hope dropped on the East Coast, expecting the X-Men to still be there X-Force was dispatched, along with staples Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler. A battle on the freeway ended with Nightcrawler being killed and Cyclops’ bloody secret being revealed. Storm was disgusted, and Beast could no longer consider Cyclops a friend or ally. Hope and Cable eventually got to Utopia, where Bastion erected an impenetrable globe around the island and San Francisco. Portals opened inside, releasing Sentinels, mutant-killing robots on the population.

X-Force went on one final mission to the future, where these Sentinels were being dispatched and destroyed the Mastermold which made them. In the present, Hope unlocked her power and completely disintegrated Bastion and his forces. Cable, who went with X-Force, realizes that they are unable to return to the present unless he allows a technovirus that has plagued him his entire life to be unleashed. By allowing his body to become non-organic he hold the portal open and X-Force jumps through. Once on the other side Cable’s body crumbles and Hope is left to mourn the death of her adoptive father. A bonfire memorial is held that night on Utopia to the mutants that fell, and it is here Emma Frost witnesses the source of Hope’s power: The Phoenix Force. Suddenly around the globe hundreds of mutant genes are activated in humans and the mutant race is saved. Emma realizes in this moment that Hope is the reincarnation of Jean Grey, Cyclops’ late wife and that its only a matter of time until Emma loses him to her.

This series would be near impossible for someone without a dense familiarity to enjoy. I’ve read over four hundred issues of Uncanny X-Men in my life and it was still tricky for me to follow. It’s also built on seeds planted by Brian Michael Bendis five years ago in The House of M event, wherein Scarlet Witch erases a ton of mutants. It would also be a tricky event to follow if you hadn’t read the most recent two year long Cable ongoing series which followed the development of Hope. AND if you hadn’t read a few arcs of the recent two year X-Force ongoing you’d not understand why everyone freaks out when they find out what Wolverine has been up to with Cyclops. In many ways, this is the definition of a completely new reader inaccessible story. I think there’s definitely a place for rewarding loyal readers by pulling in a dump truck load of plot points, but the X-Men rarely open their doors for new readers to easily jump on. The next event has already started, the SAME WEEK Second Coming ended! While the latest event, Fall of the Mutants, is a little more accessible, it still makes me wonder what happens when the current fans die. They aren’t doing a good job of nurturing new fans.

Wild Card Tuesdays – The Dinner Game



The Dinner Game (1998, dir. Francis Veber)

You’ve no doubt seen the trailer or commercials for the upcoming Paul Rudd/Steve Carrell film Dinner for Schmucks. This is its source material, a very small and wry French comedy that, unlike the American version never makes it to the titular dinner. Instead, we get a very clever farce from the same director that brought us La Cage Aux Follies and many other French comedies brutally remade by American studios. I’m beginning to think studios simply wait around for him to release a film so they can rush to produce a butchered remake. While not the kind of funny the American remake is shooting for, The Dinner Game will make you laugh through clever wordplay and increasingly convoluted misunderstandings

Pierre Brochant is excited about the weekly “idiots dinner” held by he and his businessmen friends. He comes upon Francois Pignon, Finance Ministry employee (think IRS agent) whose obsession is building landmarks out of matchsticks. Brochant sees this man as the perfect idiot to bring along with him. However, his wife has left him and he has injured his back on the golf course on the same day he is to take Pignon to the dinner. The squat little man arrives, thinking Brochant is offering him a book deal about his matchstick constructions. Over the course of the evening, Pignon helps Brochant makes fake phone calls to track down his wife, mistakes the wife for the mistress, and brings on of his auditing buddies over to help out, unwittingly revealing some shocking infidelities. The film appears to be heading down a maudlin path when it returns to its comedic elements in a very clever way.

Pignon is a very endearing character. He has had his wife leave him and wants to legitimately help Brochant, but he possess a short term memory and care barely retain the simple plans they hatch when calling people they believe Brochant’s wife is with. Jacques Villeret plays the role of Pignon and manages to keep him from becoming a dolt. He’s a clever, sensitive, eager to help simpleton and the audience sighs with relief when we realize he won’t be subjected to the cruel evening Brochant has planned. From what I have seen of Schmucks, I get the feeling Carrell is playing a much broader, less sympathetic version of this character and that’s a shame.

The Dinner Game plays like stage play. It’s one set with characters coming in and out, a perfect comedy of errors. Schmucks looks like it is uninterested in the simplicity of the original and is opting for complex set pieces involving outsiders that we don’t sympathize with but mock. The overly sentimental finale that the original avoids feels all but inevitable for the American remake. The irony here is that The Dinner Game emotionally earns that ending if it wants, while I suspect Schmucks will be so mean spirited that when it comes to that “our hero learns a lesson” moment it will come off as ludicrous.

Breaking Down The New DC Promo

So DC Comics has released a promo image tied to their current Brightest Day theme running throughout their books. The images here gives clues and metaphorical images about where the various titles are heading in the next six months. Let’s break it down, shall we? (Click on the image to enlarge)

Starting on the top left corner we have Hawkman and Hawkwoman becoming part of a skeleton-made portal. From the portal are coming humanoid hawk creatures. If you’re reading the year long Brightest Day bi-weekly series then you recognize these creatures. The Hawks recently went through this portal and found a strange universe that’s terrorized by the ravenous things. From the looks of this image, it looks like these creatures will be filtering out into the greater DC Universe.

Next, we have Guy Gardner, the Guardian turned Green Lantern Ganthet, and the Red Lantern Atrocitus. While Guy and Ganthet are constructing some sort of structure with their rings, Atrocitus is raising a green coffin up. I can’t really think of a dead Green Lantern other than Abin Sur, who was transporting Atrocitus when his ship crashed on Earth and Hal Jordan was given his ring. Could Atrocitus be resurrecting Abin Sur?

We have Hal Jordan as the White Lantern, lying unconscious in a broken White Power Battery. His right arm is bloodied, and I believe the right hand is where he wears his ring. Thinking he becomes White Lantern but the ring is taken by force from him. Beside Hal, in the smoke is the face of The Anti-Monitor, the main villain behind 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, the comic book event to begin all events. The Anti-Monitor was recently resurrected as a Black Lantern, despite wanting to stay dead. Deadman encountered the villain in recent issues of Brightest Day and found him alive and well in the Anti-Matter Universe.

Follow the smoke the Anti-Monitor is coming from, and you’ll see it is generated from the fire Martian Manhunter is starting. MM’s greatest weakeness is fire, so it is interesting that he is starting this fire. The first is also at the base of a tree marked with the symbol of the White Lantern (The Tree of Life?). Recently, a forest grew in an instant in the middle of Star City (analog for Seattle) when Deadman visited. Green Arrow has taken up residence in the forest (note the green arrows in the tree). So this forest will become tied to Martian Manhunter at some point who is possibly responsible for the Anti-Monitor’s return?

Below this we have a pile of boomerangs (Flash villain Captain Boomerang was one of those brought back from the dead at the end of Blackest Night) and what appears to be the broken staff of Blue Devil, an incredibly obscure character created in the early 1980s whose popped up from time to time, most recently as a member of Shadowpact, a collective of occult heroes and heroines. Standing above this is the newly announced Aqualad, and right behind him is a pair of ominous red eyes, which I believe belong to Aquaman villain Black Manta. Speaking of, Aquaman’s skeleton, clad in his Black Lantern uniform lies below Hal Jordan. Aquaman’s wife, Mera is rushing to his side. Below them is Deadman, carving out “RISE” on a tombstone. Since the end of Brightest Day, Deadman has been alive and when he touches the dead they come back to life.

Continuing clockwise, there’s a golden shield on the ground (Wonder Woman’s possibly) and two men trying to lift rocks off a buried figure. The two men are Jason Rusch and Ron Raymond, both have been the superhero Firestorm at some point and have found themselves bonded since Raymond’s return from the dead in Blackest Night. The buried figure is the Blackest Night version of Firestorm. Finally, we have Hawk and Dove, avatars of Chaos and Order respectively, holding Jade, daughter of the first Green Lantern. Both Hawk and Jade were brought back from the dead in Blackest Night, but they have not encountered each other since. Looks like they will be in the next year.

Back Issue Bin: Marvels

Superhero comics are traditionally told from the point of view of the beings of great power. From time to time we glimpse the man on the street reacting to the “gods” battling above his head. In 1994, writer Kurt Busiek and painter Alex Ross united to create a ground breaking mini-series that would influence comics books still today. If you know anything about comic books in the 1990s, you know that it was the boom and bust period. X-Men #1 sold a million copies, a group of upstart creators left Marvel to form Image, DC gimmicked the hell out of the Death of Superman. There was a cynicism that underlined the majority of material being released. Alan Moore’s Watchmen and Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns had really colored everything that came after them, but were interpreted for all the wrong elements. It appeared the average comic creator saw those texts and thought “higher levels of violence and sexuality”, instead of “tightly crafted storytelling and manipulation of the genre tropes”. Busiek and Ross decided to take readers back to a time when heroes were objects of wonder, not agents of destruction.

Marvels was originally released as four prestige format books. Each book focused on an era of Marvel Comics history, not paying attention to any sort of real time continuity. Issue one is the story of the World War II era heroes (Captain America, Human Torch, The Submariner). Issue two was a look at the beginnings of the Silver Age in the early 1960s as well as the anti-mutant sentiments beginning. Issue three was the invasion of Earth by Galactus. And issue four was the story of the Death of Gwen Stacy, a moment that marked the end of innocence for the Marvel Universe. All four issues are told from the perspective of photographer Phil Sheldon. Sheldon works for The Daily Bugle, and is even a casual acquaintance with young upstart Peter Parker. Sheldon lives in New York City with his family and is front stage for the rise and fall of the “gods” of his lifetime. This human perspective adds so much and the events being revisited even if you are a long time Marvel Zombie or someone totally unfamiliar with the key moments in the universe.

In many ways Marvels is the story of why people have faith and how they lose it. In the Marvel Universe, World War II is much different due to the participation of superheroes. Captain America in particular is a Messianic figure, saving the world from the Nazis, and “dying” while in battle with his arch-nemesis. His subsequent “resurrection” by the Avengers in the 1960s is the Second Coming for people like Phil. Mr. Fantastic and The Invisible Girl are like a royal couple when they get hitched atop the Baxter Building, an event Phil gets to cover for the Bugle. There’s definite parallels between this couple and the Kennedys, as well  as the optimistic Camelot atmosphere around them both. There’s also a story about anti-mutant hatred that is an obvious metaphor for the civil rights issues that were ongoing during the 1960s, and Phil even brings up the strange contradiction between a people that so easily accept The Avengers yet revile The X-Men.

Marvels is one of the first comics I read that elicited a strong emotional response from me. Its a story told by men who were children when they first read the original stories, and are now retelling them with a mixture of childhood nostalgia and tempered adult reality. The mix is what makes Marvels such a poignant story. Phil’s daughters grow up in a world of wonder, where men and women really can fly, and the good guys defeat the bad guys. Phil came of age during The Great Depression so this is the dream he always wanted for his family, the opposite of the cards he was dealt. When the moment comes that the Silver Age ends, and the Marvel Universe begins to head down a darker path, Phil is worried. Where the mini-series ends is a beautiful moment, Phil choosing to hope that the goodness he has come to believe in will always be there. If you are looking for a superhero comic that works as a perfect counterpoint to stories like Watchmen, this is definitely it.

Comics 101: Martian Manhunter

In 1955, in the back pages of the Batman focused Detective Comics, a new superhero was introduced in a story titled “The Strange Experiment of Dr. Erdel.” Dr. Erdel was a Chicago based astronomer who has constructed a device to communicate with the planet Mars, which Erdel believes is inhabited. The device malfunctions and accidentally teleports a Martian to Earth. Erdel is so shocked by this he has a heart attack and dies leaving the confused Martian alone on this strange new world. His Martian name is J’onn J’onnz and, due to his ability to shape shift, he takes the alias John Jones and fakes credentials to become a police detective in the Windy City. J’onn would keep his Martian identity secret for many years, using his telepathy, flight, and ability to phase through solid matter to foil criminals without them realizing it. But, he could only hide for so long.

J’onn’s big public debut came with the formation of the first Justice League of America. The mind controlling alien Starro attacked the Earth and the greatest of Earth’s heroes came together to stop it (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman). J’onn joined their side taking a more humanoid form, but keeping his alien nature through his green skin and the symbol of his home planet on his belt. J’onn was to become the most stable member of the League, being a member of every incarnation that followed, except for the current version. During this time J’onn yearned to return to his home world and be reunited with his wife and daughter. Eventually, this wish came true but what he found broke his heart.

It seems that Erdel’s device had not simply transported J’onn to Earth. It had pulled him through a thousand years of time to the present on our planet. J’onn learns that the civilization of Mars had been destroyed in his absence, a few red dust covered ruins remain. He returns to the Earth for good and helps form a new Justice League alongside Aquaman, becoming very attached to his team members which are his makeshift family. The villainous god Darkseid decides to test the mettle of Earth’s heroes around this time and in the aftermath many of the members of the League are killed. J’onn is lost in the world until businessman Maxwell Lord brings him in to help lead a Justice League International. The alien hero takes the position and becomes a sort of makeshift den mother to this group of goofy characters, particularly keeping Blue Beetle and Booster Gold out of trouble. Now relaxed in his new position, J’onn allows himself to shift into his natural Martian form during meditation and also reveals his proclivity for Oreo cookies.

A major turning point occurs for the character when the old Justice League villain Despero comes to Earth wanting to mindlessly kill his old adversaries. Despero attacks the former League-r Gypsy and kills her family. He goes on to kill a few other members, until J’onn steps up unleashing a psychic assault on the villain that fools him into thinking he has won and sends him into a hibernation state. J’onn felt himself growing distant from his team around this time, and goes on leave. As he heads for Chicago, he runs across an African-American man being attacked by a strange entity. Through bizarre arcane rituals, J’onn and the man merge into a being known as Bloodwynd. J’onn’s memories are scrambled and Bloodwynd ironically ends up joining the League. He participates in the battle against Doomsday, the monster who would eventually kill Superman, and is injured. These injuries lead to J’onn’s memories returning and he and the man split back into their individual forms.

The Martian Manhunter retained a steady place with the League in the following years, learning more about the mythology of his home world and even battling the Martian version of the Bogeyman, Fernus. On the eve a great crisis, J’onn was busy with monitor duty at the League’s moon-based Watchtower headquarters when a shadowy figure attack and caused the building to explode. J’onn was believed dead but is actually being used by the crisis’ key villain, Alexander Luthor (son of another universe’s Lex) as a living battery to collapse all parallel realities into one. With the help of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, J’onn escapes and the  young Luthor is defeated. Months later, J’onn is injured brutally by the villainous Black Adam and suffer severe psychic trauma. He gives himself a new form, more reminiscent of his natural alien form. Tragically, J’onn is killed by Libra, a cultist obsessed with bringing about an age of evil on Earth.

When the Blackest Night occurred on Earth, black rings falling from the sky and resurrecting the dead, J’onn was one of those who attacked his former friends. The rings had a corrupting influence on their hosts so it was not truly J’onn speaking through his body. Thankfully, Green Lantern and his allies managed to stop the influence of the black rings through the presence of a white energy. The white energy cause J’onn among others to come back from the dead. The alien has now returned to Mars, rebuilding its surface, but has recently experience phantom memories from his past that seem to tell him he is not the only Martian still alive.

Back Issue Bin: Y The Last Man #1-60

Here’s an entry from DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint. Y the Last Man ran from 2002 to 2008 and was written by Brian K. Vaughn, with art Pia Guerra. The covers were provided by the insanely talented J.G. Jones. If you’re a fan of Lost then you’re familiar wit Vaughn’s writing, he was a writer on staff for seasons 3, 4, and 5. He even received a Writer’s Guild nomination for his Season 4 work on the show. Y the Last Man is one of the comic book series that feels like a perfect framework for a television series as well. We have a regular cast of characters involved in one large arching story, with small six issues arcs along the way. The series looks at some issues of gender in global culture and is one of those great philosophical science fiction stories.

It’s present day, and Yorick Brown is an amateur escape artist practicing a classic Houdini trick while on the phone with his long distance girlfriend, Beth. In the middle of the conversation the world falls apart. It seems a virus has swept the globe in a freakishly quick amount of time killing every male animal on the planet, except for Yorick and his pet capuchin monkey Ampersand. The duo quickly find that the world is both different and depressingly familiar now that it is female dominated. The same sort of tribal mentality that ran patriarchal society is at work in the matriarchy. Some women believe this was an act of god to curse man for his millenia of foolishness. Some women are willing to kill any man they might see alive. Some women see this as biological catastrophe and are working to developing cloning technology to keep the human race alive. Into the mix is thrown Agent 355, a female member of a secret society dating back to the presidency of George Washington. Agent 355 is sent to protect Yorick as he journies from the States to Australia to find Beth.

The series has some wonderfully exciting moments. I’m reminded of a subplot that involves the belief that a group of male astronauts in the international space station might still be alive. Teaming up with scientists hiding out in a secret laboratory in the Midwest, Yorick and crew attempt to aid in the crew’s return to Earth. At the same time, a militant force of Israeli soldiers are closing in on Yorick whom they plan on using to reproduce. The Israeli angle is one of many interesting elements in the series. In real life, Israeli is the only military on Earth that have women as an integral part of defense. This means in Yorick’s world, the dominant military force are the Israelis. They are the only ones with battleships and air force pilots. There’s also some interest threads involving the Muslim world and what happens to it in a culture without men. If gender studies is something of interest to you, then Y will definitely leave you with some clever ideas to ponder.