Supergods, the new book by comicphile, Grant Morrison, gives us several interesting takes on history of superheroes, from Superman to Batman and from Ma Hunkel to Flex Mentallo. Some of these characters are better known than others.
Who's ready to slap a Jap?
Morrison divides the book into four "ages", Golden Age, Silver Age, he renames the Bronze Age as the Dark Age and then finishes with the Renaissance. Any of you whom have read any of Morrison's work know that he can be a pretentious little Glaswegian, but hey, it structures the book very well and it takes us through as simply as he can, chronologically.
He covers the creation of superhero comics, DC and Marvel/Timely, and the struggles they had to go through to get published. A light hearted romp through the extreme silliness of the Golden and Silver Ages, where anything could happen. Literally. Look at any Golden Age cover and you can see the ludicrousness of the stories. Apart from Wonder Woman, which is merely a bondage fest, but never mind.
It shows his love for the books, also shown in his work. It sometimes veers off track, such as the time where he claims he has healing powers or went lo Las Vegas with Greg Rucka. It carries the traditional Morrison tone, a mix of aloofness, arrogance and modesty, which gives the book a different feel to your standard history book. There are even some laughs in there.
Personally, it got interesting when it reached the era of time in which I was actually alive. The creation of Image Comics, Identity Crisis and event Comics, not discountign the effect September 11th had on many comics. He follows the changing styles and themes through out the books, themes that aren't neccessarily obvious if only reading comics as comics.
A worthwhile read, not the first choice for comics' history, but a worthwhile chapter and a good read. I certainly stuck with it and I hate reading. Thank God that comics have those cool pictures.
Tuesday 13 September 2011
Never Been Relaunched.
We've now had the first wave of new #1s in the DCU. So what? Comics get new #1s every other month, just look at Marvel's Ultimate Line with everything being relaunched, even Ultimate Spider-Man which is now blacker than before.
However, this time we get a new Action Comics, by Grant Morrison & Rags Morales, and a new Detective Comics, by Tony Daniel. Two series that have never been relaunched due to their massive history. One uses the past to inform its take and one stays strictly in the present, but which is more successful? Let's take a looksie.
Action Comics #1 has a young Kal-El/Clark Kent in Metropolis dishing out justice in jeans and a baby blanket as a cape. He beats up wife beaters and throws people through walls to interrogate them. He is, frankly, reckless. He's arrogant. He thinks he can do anything, except fly. Probably hasn't encountered kryptonite yet. This takes a huge nod to Golden Age Superman, an era that Morrison seems to have a kind fetish towards. Just read any page of his book, Supergods, to find that out. And that he has healing powers, which is for another time.
Lex Luthor and General Lane, both alive, try to stop him, as Clark lives in an apartment ala Peter Parker and hangs out with Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen. Pa and Ma Kent are deceased. It's a whole new universe, once again in the case of Superman. Geoff Johns' Secret Origin was only a few years ago after all.
Anyway, he beats up criminals, gets chased by the police and then is captured after saving a trainlod of people, all due to the machinations of Lex, unliked by the General as it put Lois in danger. Whatever. This issue was very fun to read. It set up this new Superman and his motivation, his world, very neatly with a few questions remaining, but there are still more issues to this arc. Despite not being very original, it does reference a lot of Golden Age stuff, it has Morrison's distinct voice on everything. He has a good take on this young Clark Kent, a very different take to the one in All-Star Superman which seemed to be Superman in a mid-life crisis. Add the astounding art of Rags Morales and this is the complete package. Complete, yet not groundbreaking. However, this is issue 1, it has plenty of time to become the one of "those" runs that everyone puts in their "Top 2345 Comics Evah" lists. Potential is there.
On the other end of the spectrum is the new Detective Comics with Batman stalwart, Tony Daniel, who's been around for a lot of Batman's recent developments, ever since Morrison took over the book in fact. He's been switched from Batman to D.C., which doesn't suggest much change. And really, it's business as usual as Bats chases the Joker around Gotham City. Gritty and dark, despite a few corny lines, "I own the night", it's very easy to follow and introduces a new villain, the Dollmaker, in a very gruesome final page. It may even put readers off reading the rest of the run.
Daniel's storytelling has greatly improved since the flop that was Battle for the Cowl and his art has improved to boot. I reckon he can get to the Jim Lee level that many aspire to. And that is some level. It's a decent done-in-one story that introduces the aspects of Batman that will follow through in this run. Another great jumping on point, as many issues in the relaunch have been. I recommend picking this up for yourselves,not for a thoroughly changed Batman, but a good tale. The only thing I don't feel is right is that Alfred seems to be a hologram, similar to J.A.R.V.I.S. in the Iron Man films.
Overall, these series have the potential to continue the grand history of these iconic series. Just as long as they move on from the past and don't get too stuck in the present.
However, this time we get a new Action Comics, by Grant Morrison & Rags Morales, and a new Detective Comics, by Tony Daniel. Two series that have never been relaunched due to their massive history. One uses the past to inform its take and one stays strictly in the present, but which is more successful? Let's take a looksie.
Action Comics #1 has a young Kal-El/Clark Kent in Metropolis dishing out justice in jeans and a baby blanket as a cape. He beats up wife beaters and throws people through walls to interrogate them. He is, frankly, reckless. He's arrogant. He thinks he can do anything, except fly. Probably hasn't encountered kryptonite yet. This takes a huge nod to Golden Age Superman, an era that Morrison seems to have a kind fetish towards. Just read any page of his book, Supergods, to find that out. And that he has healing powers, which is for another time.
Lex Luthor and General Lane, both alive, try to stop him, as Clark lives in an apartment ala Peter Parker and hangs out with Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen. Pa and Ma Kent are deceased. It's a whole new universe, once again in the case of Superman. Geoff Johns' Secret Origin was only a few years ago after all.
Anyway, he beats up criminals, gets chased by the police and then is captured after saving a trainlod of people, all due to the machinations of Lex, unliked by the General as it put Lois in danger. Whatever. This issue was very fun to read. It set up this new Superman and his motivation, his world, very neatly with a few questions remaining, but there are still more issues to this arc. Despite not being very original, it does reference a lot of Golden Age stuff, it has Morrison's distinct voice on everything. He has a good take on this young Clark Kent, a very different take to the one in All-Star Superman which seemed to be Superman in a mid-life crisis. Add the astounding art of Rags Morales and this is the complete package. Complete, yet not groundbreaking. However, this is issue 1, it has plenty of time to become the one of "those" runs that everyone puts in their "Top 2345 Comics Evah" lists. Potential is there.
On the other end of the spectrum is the new Detective Comics with Batman stalwart, Tony Daniel, who's been around for a lot of Batman's recent developments, ever since Morrison took over the book in fact. He's been switched from Batman to D.C., which doesn't suggest much change. And really, it's business as usual as Bats chases the Joker around Gotham City. Gritty and dark, despite a few corny lines, "I own the night", it's very easy to follow and introduces a new villain, the Dollmaker, in a very gruesome final page. It may even put readers off reading the rest of the run.
Daniel's storytelling has greatly improved since the flop that was Battle for the Cowl and his art has improved to boot. I reckon he can get to the Jim Lee level that many aspire to. And that is some level. It's a decent done-in-one story that introduces the aspects of Batman that will follow through in this run. Another great jumping on point, as many issues in the relaunch have been. I recommend picking this up for yourselves,not for a thoroughly changed Batman, but a good tale. The only thing I don't feel is right is that Alfred seems to be a hologram, similar to J.A.R.V.I.S. in the Iron Man films.
Overall, these series have the potential to continue the grand history of these iconic series. Just as long as they move on from the past and don't get too stuck in the present.
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