Battle for the John Buys Comics

Azrael: Death’s Dark Knight No 2 of 3

You know, this isn’t half bad. I didn’t pay too much attention to Azrael the first time out but he had some interesting history, with the secret religious order and the mental conditioning and so forth (and wouldn’t it have been a great idea for DC to have brought him back a few years ago, during the height of Da Vinci Code fever?) but was way too tied into the spiky Early Nineties sensibilities for my taste. Not that I won’t read all his stuff eventually - my quest to read All Batman Ever is a heavy burden to bear.

So this series is concerned with Michael Lane, one of the prospective replacement Batmen from the Morrison run, being offered the role of Azrael by a splinter faction of the Order of St. Dumas. Hey, there’s some cursed armour, some flaming swords, some personal tragedy - lots of fun. Oracle puts in a much better appearance here than she does in her own book, which must be set in the future or the past or something, I guess. Best of all? The League of Assassins! Those guys don’t get used enough, I assure you, and they have the Hook with them to boot, in one of the few comics that I’ve read where the Hook neither kills Boston Brand nor is killed himself. I think that the Hook might just be one of the most frequently-dead characters in comics. Also, Leland McCauley, who is a Legion antagonist, appears, I think.

Anyway, given my expectations going in, this was an enjoyable time.

Battle for the Cowl: Arkham Asylum No 1 (of 1!)

I was going to lead into this one by saying that just like it was interesting to read a story featuring the Hook wherein he doesn’t die it would be so to read a comic about Jeremiah Arkham not going mad, but I’ve changed my mind. All of the best Arkham Asylum stories have ol’ Jeremiah and the very best ones imply that he’s completely off his rocker without stating it outright.

So the Asylum was blown up during Batman R.I.P. and now Jeremiah Arkham is wandering around in the wreckage remembering the good old days when costumed maniacs used to taunt him. It’s a decent enough comic but it’s definitely the final nail in the coffin for Battle for the Cowl as any sort of accurate title for this whole mess. As far as I can make out, the actual Battle for the Cowl comics and maybe Azrael are actually concerned with actual battling for an actual cowl. The rest of these comics (Commissioner Gordon, Man-Bat, etc) are like unto a separate series about what Gotham is like sans Batman - why not call the World Without a Batman and get on with things? Oracle I think is just kind of tacked on because she’s part of the Bat-family.

This issue is notable because it features a new version of No-Face (no doctor, this one), thus showcasing my astonishing prophetic abilities. And he’s interesting! Also, Humpty Dumpty!

Supergirl No 40

WHAAAA? Superwoman is… whaaa?

Neat! Good reveal! What a twist! I have one important question that is totally a spoiler!

You know what I like about the Superman titles right now? That the bad guys are just so thoroughly rotten - even Cat Grant, though I’ll bet a dollar that she’ll have a life-changing experience and mend her ways some day. I’m still a little sad that Agent Liberty is dead, but I just like having as many different superfolk running around the DCU as possible (and it’s not like someone else won’t end up in the suit PDQ). I think I’m going to have to go back and read me some more Supergirl - I’m late to this particular ballgame.

Invincible No. 61

So: last issue insane villain Angstrom Levy brought in a bunch of alternate versions of Invincible (and have I ever mentioned how fond I am of alternate versions of characters? If I were a super-hero I’d eat lunch with a different alternate-universe Johnathan every day. Even the evil ones surely couldn’t resist a good sammich) and they all fought basically everyone in the shared Image Universe and wrecked the whole damn place. I’m sure that you’ve gathered that I’m not fond of the crossover event as a whole but this one was pretty well done, all-in-all, possibly because it was so blessedly short. And this issue was great. Invincible is another of those great series that actually change over time - heck, the status quo has been stood on its head about seventeen times so far, and for good reason. Half a dozen nigh-invulnerable, super-strong dudes slugging it out with dozens of super-heroes? Of course a few cities are going to be leveled, and now we get to read about all sorts of delicious aftermath. Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley are a heckuva team - I’m very sure that this comic would swiftly go off the rails into unreadability if someone else tried to write it.

Mister X: Condemned No. 4 of 4

Man, I almost wish I hadn’t picked up the first issue of this when it came out a few months ago. It’s great - visually interesting and full of terrific weird characters and set in a city that drives people mad and there are retro-future robots and such everywhere - but as I soon learned it has a lot of prior history and now I’m going to have to go back and read it all to satisfy the information demands of my own fevered brain. Not that it was hard to follow: Mister X has been out of circulation for a while so this story acts as a very effective introduction to the setting and to some of the cast, setting the mood along the way. People use the word “noir” a lot when they talk about this series and it’s very appropriate - lucky for me there appears to be a trade or three on the horizon so’s I can catch up.

Oh! There was an Art Frahm joke in the first issue! Tell me how I could resist that.

Viking No. 1

Good times! This is a gorgeous damn comic, with all kinds of painted art and super nice (non-glossy!) paper. Hell, it even smells good for some reason.

The writing is good and - and I hope that this comes out right - will be better after a few more issues come out. Hmm, wait. By which I mean that once I come back and read this again after getting to know the characters involved and so forth I’ll appreciate it even more. There’s no short story to set the stage and no text box pops in to tell me who every character is as they appear so things must be figured out contextually. It’s a good technique if done well, and Ivan Brandon has managed to do it quite well here. Also, he hasn’t fallen into the trap of over-romanticising the past: the characters aren’t noble, honour-bound warriors speaking solely in archaic terms and neither are they grunting, blood-soaked savages. Like most people in history they speak colloquially and are concerned with making money and dealing with their crazy family and having a good time. And fighting with spears. Big thumbs up, JOHN APPROVED.

Warlord of Io and Other Stories

Oh, good show James Turner. You can always be counted on to write and illustrate something very strange and very wonderful, like the very odd Nil: a Land Beyond Belief or Rex Libris, a book that makes the part of me that loves working in libraries very happy indeed.

The title story, "Warlord of Io" features a lad named Zing who becomes ruler of that whole damn moon when his father retires to the pleasure domes. There are lotsa good weird aliens and space facts and such... I sure hope that this continues as is promised at the end of this chapter, as Turner's imagination is very appealing to me. The rest of the comic follow suit, demons and Tiki Pirates and all.

I mean, just check out the map on the inside cover - there's something called The Great Steel Anenome Brain... can you afford to miss this?

Ho ho ho, what's this?

Showcase Presents: legion of Super-Heroes, Volume 3!

Hooray! And how, you ask, do I feel about this?

 

Also this week: Batman: The Brave and the Bold No. 4, which remains a very good comic adaptation of a cartoon based on a comic book character, which is a surprisingly failure-ridden subset of the comics field. I am extraordinarily fond of the cartoon and this comic does a great job of capturing some of its energy. And being able to hear Aquaman shout “Outrageous!” in my head enhances the experience to no end.

Johnathan... out!

Wednesday Interview: Sterling Gates

If you have been reading Living Between Wednesdays for a long time, then you might be familiar with my long struggle with Supergirl. It went from apathy to hate to offense to curiosity to optimism to love in only a few short years. Supergirl's role in the current New Krypton event has solidified my love of the latest version of the character. Much of this can be attributed to the current Supergirl writer, Sterling Gates. Today Supergirl #40 hits stores, and the mysterious Superwoman will be revealed! Sterling was kind enough to answer a few questions for me.

1. How did you get the gig of writing Supergirl? Was she a character that you specifically wanted to write?

Well, I liked Supergirl a lot when I was a kid. Like, a LOT. The "Supergirl" movie came out when I was very small, and I was really, really drawn towards Helen Slater and her interpretation of Kara. DC published a comic adaptation of the "Supergirl" movie around that time, and I read it enough times the cover fell off. So she’s always been a character I was interested in and enjoyed.

As for writing Supergirl, it was a combination of wanting to write it, some really hard work, and some fortuitous circumstance. I work as Geoff Johns’ assistant when I’m not writing, and over lunch one day I was telling him all these ideas I had for Supergirl, and what I would do with the title. He gave me some great advice over that lunch, and told me I should just go away and write my first issue. That is, write what I would write if I were to suddenly be handed the title.

I spent a weekend writing an issue on spec and a series proposal and emailed them off to Geoff. Geoff really enjoyed the script, and he sent it off to James Robinson (who writes Superman) to check out. He liked it, too, so the pair of them approached Superman Group Editor Matt Idelson with it.

Matt and the other super-editors at that time, Nachie Castro and Tom Palmer, Jr., had been actively looking for someone to take over that book. They responded to what I’d written, and a few days later, Matt called me and asked if I’d be interested in being the new Supergirl writer.

Naturally, I freaked.

After I’d picked myself up off the floor, I told him that I’d absolutely love to write the book. And the spec script that I’d written turned into Supergirl #34 and the very lovely and talented artist Jamal Igle signed on to draw the book a few weeks later.

But I really owe Geoff and James and Matt and Nachie and Tom for giving me the chance to write Supergirl. I can’t possibly thank them enough.

2. It seems that Supergirl's return, starting in the Superman/Batman title, has been awkward and only very recently have we seen her find her place in the DCU. I feel that in the past year or two, DC has really thrown a lot of support behind Supergirl as a character and as a title, and including her in this crossover New Krypton event is a good example. Do you find it to be an exciting time to be writing Supergirl as a character, and have there been a lot of discussions about the future of the character?

Well, personally, it’s one of the most exciting times I’ve ever had in my life. Every day I get to go to work and write the adventures of the strongest girl on the planet. No, scratch that -- strongest girl on TWO planets, Earth and New Krypton. And yes, I’m thrilled that DC has put so much support behind Supergirl. Jamal and I have been working hard to make sure Supergirl’s as good a book as we can possibly make it, and I’m grateful that DC has been so supportive of us.

I know that I have discussions with my editors Matt and Wil Moss and the other super-writers almost every day about Supergirl’s future, and her as a character, and what the best possible stories are that we can tell to service her character.

At the end of the day, I want Supergirl to not only be an iconic superhero in the DCU, but also a good role model for kids and adults alike. Jamal and I’s take on the character is a little different from how other writers and artists have interpreted her, I know. But in my head, she’s a member of the Superman Family, so I’m going to write her as such, y’know?

That isn’t to say we’re going to tell “boring” or “safe” stories with her, which are accusations I’ve seen leveled against Superman before. What I mean is: Supergirl’s a hero, and I’m going to write her as a hero. A hero that makes mistakes, sure, and lives and learns from them. Her flaws can be very noticeable, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Supergirl should be someone we can all identify with and support and root for and learn from.

3. New Krypton seems like a very tight crossover. Are there regular meetings or discussions between yourself and the rest of the New Krypton team (Geoff Johns, James Robinson, Greg Rucka)? Have you found it challenging to write a series that ties into a larger story?

It can be a challenge, yes, but it’s also part of the job, taking into account what’s going on in the bigger picture as you write.

James and Greg and Geoff are really a blast to work with, and I feel that I'm very, very blessed to be working alongside such talented writers.

Greg and James and I have a weekly conference call with editorial where we sit down and plot and plan and break stories and figure out the beats in August’s crossover and just how long has Jimmy Olsen known how to ride a motorcycle and where could we find a good Kryptonian animal for Non to fight? “Oh, what about a torquat?” “What’s a torquat?” “Who’s got reference for a torquat?” “Well, they’ve only appeared once before, in Krypton Chronicles #2, I can send you a scan…” It can be a madhouse on the phone sometimes, but I think all of us really want to make the Superman Family of titles as strong as possible, and we're working hard towards that goal.

Plus, there’s a HUGE endgame in mind, which you’ll start to see the first few strains of in August’s big Superman crossover. It's not going to be an easy couple of years for Kal or for Kara.

4. Is Superman going to stick a braided wig on Kara and force her to live in an orphanage again?

Ha. No.

…although, that does give me an idea for something...

5. What other projects are you working on now, and what have you got planned for the future?

Well, today I’m working on Supergirl Annual #1, which I think is scheduled to come out in September. As I said before, we’re doing a month-long Superman crossover in August across the four main Superman titles, and we’re producing a pretty extensive Superman Secret Files to go along with that story. It won’t quite be on the scale of the Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Secret Files that Geoff and I wrote, but it’ll be a really great resource, with extremely detailed maps and profiles and stuff.

As for future plans, there are things in the works, but nothing I can announce yet. Sorry!

I can tell you that I’m planning on staying on Supergirl as long as DC will let me write it. Maybe, just maybe, I can figure out a way I can put Supergirl in the braided wig at some point. 

If I do, you’ll know it’s just for you, Rachelle.

JLA: Cry for Supergirl

 I had a really busy Wednesday and Thursday, so I was late reading my comics this week. But I did want to mention this:

From left to right: Hero! Hero! Hero! Hero! Boobs!

Aw man! Surely DC is not doing this. Not after they have worked so hard and earned my praise for the last year or two for their complete turn-around of the Supergirl charcacter. She is no longer DC's teenage blow-up doll, but instead a complex, strong hero who is far more than a pair of boobs in a halter top.

So any excitement that I had that this promo image implies that Supergirl is going to be a member of the Justice League is overshadowed by the fact that the only women on the page is an isolated pair of boobs. I hate when a woman's head is cut off in an ad or promo image, and it happens all the time. Nevermind the fact that it looks like the four male heroes in the picture are just staring at Supergirl's rack.

Boooooo, DC. Boooooooo.

This Week's Haul: Superman looks good in a uniform.

A bit of a light week for me, but an awesome one nonetheless.

World of New Krypton #2

I would say that the awesome Gary Frank covers are a tease, but I actually really love Pete Woods' art. So it's win-win. And you know what else? Greg Rucka and James Robinson are doing a great job of writing this series! It would be a lot of fun to dive right into Krypton as a writer (or two) and really develop it as a place. What we have learned so far is that Kryptonians are dicks, which only further proves that Superman owes a lot of his awesomeness to Ma and Pa Kent.

Also, I really like Superman in that soldier's uniform. Rrrrow!

 

Wolverine: Weapon X #1

Jason Aaron returns to Wolverine writing! Yay!

I would not normally buy a comic with 'Weapon X' in the title, or even 'Wolverine,' but if Jason Aaron is writing it, I will buy a comic called "Azrael and Cable: Dark Reign Battle for the Cowl Countdown Arena Fathom." I really would.

Fortunately, I instead got to read this comic about Wolverine killing dudes. Lesson learned: do not try to mug Wolverine on a subway.

Batman Confidential #28

The only bad thing about this comic is that it's the last one in an amazing three-part story. Seriously, if anyone asks why I love Batman, or even comics, so much, I am just going to hand them these three issues (or, if DC is clever enough, the eventual trade of this story).

Batman is awesome in this story, the Riddler is awesome, and there is a brand new Bat-villain. Impressive all around! Plus amazing art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Kevin Nowlan. We need more Batman comics like this one!

Green Lantern #39

Mmmm...delicious citrus-flavoured Lanterns!

We are formally introduced to yet another Lantern Corps in this issue, the avarice-ridden Orange Corps! These guys are total assholes.

Green Lantern is consistently one of my favourite comics each week. I have really enjoyed every part of the long build-up to BLACKEST NIGHT, which I expect will be very rad.

Secret Six #8

Even without Nicola Scott on art this month, SECRET SIX was totally rad. First of all: Deadshot in a suit. Secondly, he and Scandal were gettin' romantic (not with each other). Thirdly, there is a TINY TITANS parody at the end of this comic!

 I also really like that this kind of counts as a Wolverine cover? Like all those Wolverine covers that Marvel is doing all month?

Showcase Presents: The Doom Patrol

Finally!

Ever since Showcase Presents started I have been waiting for this one for two reasons:

1. I haven't read much Doom Patrol because it only is available in expensive DC Archive books;

2. This is exactly the kind of comic that should be collected in a black and white Showcase book. This is fun reading.

My favourite thing about that cover: none of them seem to be looking at that gorilla with a gun. There is something more interesting on that screen off panel!

 Things I bought but haven't read yet: EXILES #1 and SUPERGIRL: COSMIC ADVENTURES IN THE 8TH GRADE #5. Looking forward to them!

Wednesday Interview: Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir

Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir are a husband-and-wife writing team who hang their hats in sunny Los Angeles. Together, they’ve written a whole slew of miniseries and graphic novels for Oni Press, including SKINWALKER, THREE STRIKES, MARIA’S WEDDING, PAST LIES, THE TOMB, and ONCE IN A BLUE MOON, as well as a number of projects for Marvel and DC—they’ve written NEW X-MEN, NEW MUTANTS, HELLIONS, CHECKMATE, and ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN (with Nunzio squeezing in a solo stint on DETECTIVE COMICS). They also created the manga titles AMAZING AGENT LUNA and DESTINY’S HAND, and have written for film, television, and video games, with credits on projects as diverse as the HBO sports comedy ARLI$$ and the animated adventure series KIM POSSIBLE for Disney. Somewhere in all of this, Weir and DeFilippis found the time to write a story arc for BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL, one that introduces a well-established Batman villain from another medium to the comic book page for the first time. Beautifully illustrated by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Kevin Nowlan, this three-issue arc is the kind of thrilling Batman yarn that hasn’t been seen for many a year—a nail-biting murder mystery that requires not only the Caped Crusader’s fighting prowess, but his considerable detective skills as well.

   

This week, as their storyline concludes in BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #28, DeFilippis and Weir were kind enough to answer some questions about how this story arc came to be, how they write scripts together, and what they’ve got lined up for the future. So, without further ado…

You guys have divided your time between work-for-hire projects for the Big Two, creator-owned, non-superhero graphic novels and miniseries for Oni Press, and even a bit of manga just to keep it international. Do you have a preference, or do you like bouncing back and forth? Is one easier or harder than the other?

CW: I don't particularly have a preference.  They all have their pros and cons.  The work we do with Oni allows us to pretty much tell any type of story we want.  We've been able to do horror, crime drama, family comedy, fantasy, etc.  But working for DC and Marvel allows us to play with history.  There's nothing like actually getting to write Batman, Superman or the X-Men.  In general, as a writer, any work is good work.  I'll take it all!

Can you tell us a bit about how your co-writing process works? Do you hash out the plot together, then take turns on subsequent drafts, or is it a constant collaboration at every stage?

ND: In a perfect world, we do everything together.  We discuss plot, map it out, do breakdowns for the issues, and even write together.  Christina usually works the keyboard and I pace a lot.  I do most of the talking, which might make it seem like I'm shaping the script, but remember... she does all of the typing.  So she just changes what she wants, and then I come over and look, and we argue about it until we find a happy medium that we both like.  However, this method can take a while, so when we have a lot of jobs to juggle, we'll tag team.  I'm plotting one while she's writing another, then she reworks my plots while I rewrite her scripts, and vice versa.  Basically, no matter what method we use, nothing gets done until we've both had at least one crack at it, and we're both happy with it.

Your latest project, a three-issue arc on BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL, features the first DCU appearance of King Tut, a villain whose only previous appearance was the 1960s Adam West/Burt Ward BATMAN TV series. Why did you choose Tut to make over instead of, say, Egghead, The Great Chandell, or Marsha, Queen of Diamonds?

CW: We originally were pitching a Riddler story - a story where Batman and Riddler had to team up to fight a villain and the Riddler was particularly interested because the villain was stealing his M.O.  But we pitched it as a new villain called The Sphinx.  Mike Carlin really liked the idea, but being an old school fan and a fan of the TV show, he said "Why not use King Tut?"  We certainly can't argue with the results.

ND:  As Christina mentioned, this started as a Riddler idea.  I've been trying to tell Riddler stories for years.  He's a personal favorite of mine, and I think in writing him, Christina developed a deep love for the character too.

Your BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL arc features stunning art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. Did you have much contact with the artist while developing the story? Were you familiar with his previous work, and, if so, did you find it intimidating to work with him?

CW: We have not had contact with Jose.  But we LOVE his art.  When Mike mentioned wanting to get him on this project, we were ecstatic.  And every time Mike would send us new pages was like Christmas.  We hope to some day thank him in person for the spectacular job he's done.  We also hope to buy the Riddler splash page from issue #27.

The King Tut arc wraps up this week in BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #28. Can you tell us anything about what projects you have lined up next?

ND:  For DC, we have one definite project that we can't quite talk about yet - a brief stint on an ongoing title where we get to slot in another idea we've been trying to tell, working for an editor we've been dying to work for on a character I've wanted to write for decades.  Then we are pitching some more Riddler stories, but they need a home and we need to find a way to fit them into the stories running in existing books, so we don't know if that'll happen.  We also have numerous pitches floating around DC, and because we just keep knocking on doors at DC, and because this Confidential arc is so well received within DC (from what we hear), maybe one or two of them might find homes someday.

CW:  Also in comics, we have a new graphic novel coming out from Oni Press at the end of the year.  It's called ALL SAINTS DAY and is a sequel to our previous book PAST LIES.  It's been a long time in the making since our artist is the father of triplets.  But we're very exciting with how the book is coming along.  We're developing an ongoing horror series for Oni called BAD MEDICINE, though the artist for the book has to finish a graphic novel before it gets on the schedule.  We also have the final volume of DESTINY'S HAND due out later this year.  That will wrap up our pirate adventure.  Otherwise, we're working on a feature film that we hope moves forward this year.  So as usual, lots of balls in the air and waiting to see what pans out. 
 

Steve Rogers, Starving Himself To Be Pretty

Several of this week’s Marvel offerings had a teaser image in them that showed a white star on a black page with the word JULY underneath. This is probably just an ad for THE MARVELS PROJECT, Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting’s upcoming mini about the early days of the Super-Soldier Project and the creation of the original Human Torch, but it’s obviously supposed to make everyone think that Steve Rogers is coming back. And who knows? Maybe he is. Probably sooner rather than later. However, I’m pretty sure that this is the same gag Marvel pulled when they released an Alex Ross Cap image awhile back with the word RETURN underneath…which turned out to be nothing more than a teaser for the AVENGERS/INVADERS mini. My point is, it’s not enough to simply kill a character off anymore—as a publisher, it is also apparently your job to begin teasing the character’s return almost immediately. It’s like that story in THE ONION compilation, OUR DUMB CENTURY, reporting on the death of Elvis; the headline reads “ELVIS DEAD”, with the words “Is Elvis Alive?” underneath. None of this may seem very relevant, but I am going to review both a new CAPTAIN AMERICA comic and the comic that reintroduces Barry Allen to the land of the living, so as introductions go, it seems fairly solid. Anyway…

CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS  #1 70th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: This is basically the opening sequence from INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE, but with horrifyingly skinny, pre-Super-Soldier-Serum Steve Rogers instead of River Phoenix. In this flashback-within-a-flashback, Steve Rogers—who is always depicted as little more than a walking skeleton before Dr. Erskine juiced him up...

...has to keep a military secret safe from a trio of Fifth Columnists. Like in LAST CRUSADE, Steve is chased across a bunch of train cars, even using a garbage can lid as a makeshift shield at one point. It’s a cute enough story by James Robinson, one of those “he was a hero before he got the costume” dealies (albeit one that stretches credibility a fair ways—Steve’s pretty able-bodied for a 98-pound weakling who only minutes before was labeled 4-F at the recruiting station!), but the reason to check it out is the always-outstanding Marcos Martin (BATGIRL YEAR ONE, DR. STRANGE: THE OATH) on the art. This guy needs a regular gig, stat. There’s also a great Simon and Kirby Cap reprint where he and Bucky foil a villain named the Black Toad, who’s out to kill a bunch of baseball players.

Check it out! Those dudes are totally sliding into their own tombstones, and Death's like, "You're outta here!" This forces Cap and Bucky to join the game, which is undeniably awesome, although they never question why a guy who calls himself the Black Toad is dressed in a bat costume.

Yep, fangs and everything.

FLASH: REBIRTH #1: After Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver’s super-successful relaunch of the GREEN LANTERN franchise a few years back, it’s no surprise that DC wanted them to do the same with Silver Age FLASH protagonist Barry Allen. It makes sense on a number of levels, really—like Hal Jordan before him, Barry’s the Flash with the least amount of continuity baggage and the most easily explainable origin. Also, comic books regularly sold in the millions back in the heyday of Hal and Barry, so why wouldn’t you try to recapture that? This, however, is a very different animal than GL: REBIRTH, since Barry already came back to life in FINAL CRISIS, with some sort of hasty explanation that involved him being “reverse-engineered back to life in a blizzard of faster-than-light particles” or some such. The mission of this 5-part mini seems to be the re-establishment of Barry as the DC Universe’s most prominent speedster, which, it seems, may require some pruning of the family tree. Let’s face it, the DCU is lousy with speedsters young and old, and the creative team seems intent on scaling back the cast, hopefully giving Flash back some of his uniqueness. This is a potentially controversial move, but I think it’s necessary—the last two FLASH incarnations failed because they started out with too-cluttered mythologies (that’s my theory, anyway). So this book sees Barry Allen, still clinging steadfastly to his old-fashioned notions of guilt and innocence, eager to get back to fighting the good fight, while the re-appearance of super-villain Savitar seems to indicate that something is up with the Speed Force (the otherdimensional source of all the speedsters’ power). For a FLASH title, this is a pretty slow-moving first issue, cycling through tons of supporting cast before introducing its title character, and Van Sciver’s hyper-detailed art doesn’t really convey the sense of movement that a FLASH title desperately needs. I’m as happy to see Barry back as most fanboys, but this franchise may not, er, find its feet until the inevitable ongoing title (much like Johns’ GREEN LANTERN did, say).

SEAGUY: SLAVES OF MICKEY EYE #1: The original 2004 SEAGUY miniseries was one of those Grant Morrison comics like THE FILTH (or FINAL CRISIS, even) where, as a Morrison fan, I just shrug and go along for the ride, not really understanding what the hell’s going on half the time but enjoying it nonetheless. The three-issue mini, illustrated with whimsy and creepiness by Toronto artist Cameron Stewart, seemed to be Morrison’s satire on the absurdity of superhero comics--the protagonist lived in a science-fiction amusement park, repeatedly playing chess with a goofy, easily-cheated Death, all the while bemoaning the lack of excitement in a world where the ultimate evil, Anti-Dad, had been destroyed by the sacrifice of somebody called Teknostrich. SEAGUY was also some strange parody of corporate domination, featuring an omnipresent logo/mascot/TV show called Mickey Eye and a sentient foodstuff called Xoo that is offered to the book’s bored, complacent superhero characters at every turn. The book’s namesake hero went on a doomed quest to save Xoo from corporate/industrial slavery, trying to win the heart of heroine She-beard along the way. Oh yeah, and there was a mummy on the moon as well. Still with me? This long-rumoured but unlikely sequel kicks off with Seaguy realizing once again that his amusement park world might be a lot more sinister than it appears, while Seaguy’s lost sidekick Chubby Da Choona appears from beyond the grave to offer cryptic warnings that soon send Seaguy off another crazy quest, pursued by the forces of Mickey Eye. If this description has you rolling your eyes, than SEAGUY is probably not for you. However, if you like the idea of a funny, disturbing adventure book that reads like a collaboration between Gardner Fox and David Lynch, and are prepared to shrug and go along for the ride no matter how crazy it gets, than check it out.

MARVEL SPECTACULAR ASSISTANT-SIZED SPECIAL #1:  Back in ’84, Marvel’s editors relinquished control of their books to their assistants for the duration of “Assistant Editors Month”. This wasn’t really an event, more like a month of somewhat goofy stories (or in some cases, a goofy letterhead illustration and not much else), but it gave us some classics like the MARVEL TEAM-UP where Aunt May became herald to Galactus, the Avengers appearing on “Late Night with David Letterman”, and a great IRON MAN story featuring a bunch of neighbourhood kids with an Avengers club whose Iron Man is booted out of the team in disgrace, just like his drunk-at-the-time namesake. However, in today’s hectic, crossover-driven marketplace, there’s no way Marvel would give up a month of their books to the whims of their assistant editors, so instead we have this two-issue miniseries that sees the lowly assistants convening in the Marvel bathroom to have their own pitch session. The resulting anthology features a Middle-Eastern-set D-Man tale by Brian Patchett and Xurxo G. Penalta, an American Eagle vs. Cottonmouth story by Jason Aaron and Richard Isanove, and an always-welcome MINI MARVELS entry by Chris Giarrusso…apparently, the only place a Clint Barton Hawkeye fan can get a fix these days. The resulting mix of tone and style in these stories is pretty weird—the D-Man story has a very indie comics feel, the American Eagle number is fairly gritty (and Isanove’s art makes the whole affair look like a DARK TOWER outtake—but the cute framing sequence by Chris Eliopoulous and Jacob Chabot and the Giarrusso story make it all better. The whole affair is topped off by a dope David Williams (HULK/POWER PACK) cover, who needs to do some more interiors, pronto.

KILLER OF DEMONS #2: This three-parter from Christopher Yost (X-FORCE) and Scott Wegener is a bit like the 2001 film FRAILTY, only less homespun and more crazy. An office drone named Dave starts seeing that most of the people around him are demons, and embarks on a mission from God to wipe them out. But is Dave actually being shown visions of Hell from his angel guide, Uriel, or is he just a plain old homicidal loony?

KILLER OF DEMONS is heavy on zany humour—Dave works for a tobacco company that is always looking for new ways to market their product to an increasingly younger audience, his FBI agent brother gleefully uses online gaming to trap pedophiles, Satan enlists a stripper-assassin to kill Dave—but this week’s issue two brings with it some surprising twists as well, like the lengths Dave’s cop girlfriend goes to in order to protect her guy when she learns about his hobby. Wegener’s angular, cartoony art is a lot tighter and more assured with the second issue as well, and Yost’s script has a nice balance of humour and action that has me looking forward to the wrap-up.