Category Archives: Comics
No Joke: Justice League Moving to Canada
Please forgive the fact that I’m a nerd on the Internet ranting about comic books, but I have no idea what the heck DC Comics is doing anymore. According to the Toronto Star, DC is changing the Justice League of America into the Justice League of Canada next year. There is no logic in this place. This sounds like an unclever April Fool’s Day joke.
What the heck is going on at DC? Have they lost all sense of purpose? Have they all gone mad?
First of all, I’m not picking on Canada. By all means, Canada should have superheroes too, and I have long been a fan of Marvel’s Alpha Flight team. They’re awesome. It makes perfect sense for Canada to have superheroes. And second of all, I’m not incensed because of patriotic reasons that an American superhero team is fleeing to Canada either. That’s not my gripe.
I’m dumbfounded at how DC thinks this could ever possibly sell, and how it once again completely tarnishes the bigger picture of the DC Universe.
Alpha Flight never sells at Marvel. They try again and again to put out an ongoing Alpha Flight comic, but it doesn’t sell. So Canada is not a big drawing point for comic book readers. Beyond that, DC published a Justice League International series at the start of the New 52, and they cancelled that pretty quickly. So clearly the name ‘Justice League’ is not a big selling point either.
But my real complaint, the biggest reason why I think this is insane, is that it’s yet another piece of evidence that proves the head honchos at DC have no idea what they’re doing with the New 52, and they’re just going to throw anything they can at the wall to see if it sticks. That is no way to run a comic book company or to build a new universe of continuity.
When the New 52 launched, DC set up a new Justice League series starring all the big names, like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and more. And that series is fine. They need that flagship team. I’m fairly certain the comic is selling well.
Then last year, DC launched Justice League of America as a sister title. The idea behind Justice League of America was that forces inside the US government wanted their own team of superheroes in case the Justice League ever decided to turn evil. That’s a good enough reason as any, and provides the JLA a reason to exist alongside the traditional JL. But here is where everything starts to fall apart: Justice League of America hasn’t even reached 10 issues yet! They’re only at issue 6 or 7, and most of those issues have all been part of the build up to the big Trinity War crossover that’s taking place in the Justice League titles now.
So DC took the very popular, very well-known brand name ‘Justice League of America’ and used it as a throwaway stepping stone to get to their Trinity War event.
And now, next year, they’re apparently just going to drop ‘Justice League of America’ and turn it into Justice League of Canada. How!? Why? What purpose could that serve? Why would this team of superheroes move to Canada and put that in their name? I realize they probably won’t trust the American government anymore, but why Canada? Why not just disband? Why not join the regular Justice League, which doesn’t identify itself to one specific country? What could the possible context be for this story?
And why drag that popular brand name through the mud? (I’m not calling Canada ‘mud’). From now on, for however many years or decades the New 52 universe lasts, DC will always have to face the fact that the first version of the Justice League of America was some throwaway team that didn’t matter and was only a means to an end. That is now solidified as part of the history of the New 52 universe.
There doesn’t seem to be anybody at DC Comics putting any long term thought into the growth of their rebooted universe. And that is very depressing to me. They’re just coming up with whatever works for that specific moment in time, and a year later, they’ll come up with something else that they think/hope will work, regardless of what happened before or what might happen in the future.
I fear that in five years, everything is going to be a hideous mess of overstuffed continuity and conflicting stories.
Though now I definitely want to read about the Justice League of Australia…
Review: X-Factor #261
The penultimate issue of X-Factor is upon us, and rather than do anything for the larger story, writer Peter David just says goodbye to Monet and Darwin. He checks two more characters off his list, leaving us, next issue, with presumably his fond farewell to Jamie Madrox. I’m comfortable with that. I’m saving all my tears for that issue. Because I’ve never been a particularly big fan of Monet, and especially not Darwin, so this issue doesn’t hold any special meaning for me. It’s a nice little comic, and maybe if the series weren’t over it would hold a little more weight. But for now, it’s just a quick, done-in-one goodbye to two random characters. And sadly, I think artist Neil Edwards is getting a little rushed. Hopefully he saved his best work for the final issue.
X-Factor #261
X-Factor #261 is a quaint little comic that says goodbye to Monet and Darwin by hooking them up for no apparent reason. See ya later, kiddos!
Comic Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.
Darwin has always been an odd character in X-Factor. PAD deserves a lot of credit for doing anything with the character, but his attempts to turn Darwin into a real boy were never nearly as successful as what he did with Layla Miller. Those two characters actually have a lot in common. Both were created by hot shot writers to serve as plot devices in their big stories – Layla was created by Brian Michael Bendis to be the dues ex machina in House of M, and Darwin was created by Ed Brubaker to be pointless in Deadly Genesis. And both were pretty much abandoned by their hot shot creators almost immediately, left for other writers to play around with. That PAD grabbed them both for X-Factor says a lot about him and the series.
But whereas PAD had some amazing ideas in store for Layla Miller (“I know things”), he kind of just plugged Darwin into X-Factor with no real purpose. The guy randomly joined up alongside Longshot in a Secret Invasion crossover, and stuck around for a split second before taking off to parts unknown for more than a year. That PAD ever bothered to bring Darwin back in the lead up to Hell on Earth War was strange enough, but to say goodbye like this? It just doesn’t really jibe in any meaningful way. PAD could never make Darwin work, and he still doesn’t succeed in this issue. Darwin is as bland and boring as anyone can be.
Monet fairs a little better. PAD has always had fun with the character, and her personal journey over the course of the series has been rocky and dramatic. I kind of wish he’d come up with something better for her to do in the end, and it’s kind of a shame that she got saddled with Darwin for her finale. The two characters have zero chemistry together…though that’s probably entirely Darwin’s fault.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
The Potentially Sad Fate of Miles Morales
I love Miles Morales. I was as skeptical as the next guy when Marvel announced they were going to kill Ultimate Peter Parker and replace him with someone completely new, but Brian MIchael Bendis has done a fantastic job in building Miles from the ground up and creating a new, modern take on the classic Spider-Man mythos. The man beneath the mask may have changed, but Bendis seized upon the very essence of being Spider-Man and infused it into young Miles Morales. This is the timeless story of a young man forced to contend with power, responsibility and web fluid, and all of the drama that brings into his life.
So what the heck is going to happen to Miles when the Ultimate Universe gets eaten by Galactus!?
He’d make a good appetizer, for one thing
Marvel revealed in their November solicitations that the Ultimate Universe will be undergoing a Cataclysm, in which Galactus from the normal Marvel Universe crosses the interdimensional boundary and just starts wrecking stuff up. All of the heroes of the Ultimate Universe will band together to stop the World-Devourer, but it’s not looking good. Many on the web are speculating that this will be the end of the Ultimate Universe. It has long outlived its usefulness, and its best days are definitely behind it.
If this is indeed the case, that means the fates of Miles Morales and the very excellent Ultimate Comics: All-New Spider-Man are in doubt. Except for this little blurb in Cataclysm: The Ultimates Last Stand #2:
“Miles Morales is headed to the Marvel Universe”
A lot of people online are already speculating that this single line is definitive proof that Miles is going to permanently transition from the Ultimate Universe to the regular Marvel Universe. They seem convinced. But I am not.
I don’t think Miles will be going on a one-way trip. And I definitely don’t want him to permanently move to the regular Marvel Universe. It would destroy everything Bendis has built so far around the character. It would take away what I love most about Miles Morales and his heroic journey.
Join me after the jump for the full discussion.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 8/17/13
This was a big week for comics. Positively huge! And I’m not just talking about my pull list, which was equally as massive. I mean we’ve got the first issue of Infinity, Marvel’s next Big Event comic. We all know that Age of Ultron stank like rotting socks. So might Jonathan Hickman save the day with a big space and Thanos-themed event? Maybe! But what about the Superior Spider-Man side of things? There’s a two-part Superior Team-Up/Scarlet Spider crossover that’s a real treat. That’s big news.
Not only that, but we’ve got the end of the first big storyline in Thor: God of Thunder, as well as the start of a new storyline in Fearless Defenders. Yep, I decided to pick up Fearless Defenders again! And all of these are just the comics I decided to review this week. There were a ton of good issues I had to leave off due to time and space.
There were a lot of good comics this week, though mostly average to good, I’m afraid. I still think I’m suffering from some kind of comic book burnout. Nothing has really captured my attention in a long while. Everything just seems generally good. Oh well. Maybe it’s just something I ate.
Comic Book of the Week goes to Infinity #1. It wasn’t the best comic I read this week, but it pulls off a successful first issue for a Big Event. Of course, that’s what I said about the first part of Trinity War, and we all know how that’s turning out…
I love the cat Skrull
Comic Reviews: Astro City #3, Fearless Defenders #8, Infinity #1, Justice League of American #7, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #2, Scarlet Spider #20, Thor: God of Thunder #11 and Wolverine and the X-Men #34.
Review: Saga #13
Saga‘s back! Everybody rejoice! After however many long months, one of the best comics out there is finally back to brighten our doorsteps. Saying that might make me sound less objective as a reviewer, but to hell with that. I’m not so much a reviewer right now as a sharer of great comics, and Saga – by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples – is great comics. Just check out the cover; says right there at the top: Eisner Aware winner for ‘Best Series’. Clearly I’m not the only one loving themselves some Saga. Nor should I be. If you’ve ever wanted to branch out from superhero comics, go find Saga. It’s good, quality, exciting entertainment.
Saga #13
Saga stands a chance of being as good as – if not better than – Vaughn’s previous masterpiece Y: The Last Man. Saga is that good, and it still feels like we’ve barely scratched the surface of where this series will go and what it has to offer. But enough rambling, let’s get to Saga #13.
Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.
This issue actually takes place prior to Saga #12, when Prince Robot IV confronted author D. Oswald Heist on the planet Quietus – with our lovely little family unit hiding in the attic. Saga #13 tells the story of the family arriving on Quietus, as well as giving updates to what everyone else is up to, including a few new characters with their own subplot. Let’s hope it’s a good one. So the issue is pretty much just moving the pieces on the board around to get ready for the next chapter. And it’s easy to see why Vaughn didn’t want to end on this story, but instead chose the story of Saga #12 for his cliffhanger. Smart man, that Brian K. Vaughn.
The reasons I love Saga are at the forefront of Saga #13. It’s not the series’ strongest issue, not by a long shot, but it’s definitely a solid example of Saga‘s quality. This is a story about people first, militaristic space aliens second. Saga is the story of a young couple and their new baby on the run from the government, and in a larger sense, on the run from prejudice. I’m no academic. I’m not the guy to write an epic, analytical essay about Saga and all its many themes. But I can recognize the inherent humanity in this story about a goat man making sweet love to an insect girl, and the adorable half-breed baby that popped out.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
Henchman-4-Hire 