Green Lantern – Page 6 – Now Read This!

June 27, 2013June 26, 2013

Golden Age Green Lantern Archives volume 2

By Bill Finger, Martin Nodell & Irwin Hasen (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-794-8

Following the invention of the superhero genre and the early innovations in Superman and Batman at DC/National Comics, an avalanche of costumed crusaders erupted onto the nation’s newsstands. At the head of that gaudy tidal wave, thanks to innovative publisher Max Gaines and his comics mastermind Editor Sheldon Mayer, All American Comics (who co-published in association with and were eventually absorbed by DC) produced many of the new industry’s greatest and most memorable characters.

Most prominent was the first comicbook super-speedster who took off in Flash Comics (which also featured Hawkman and Johnny Thunder), followed a few months later by evergreen, immortal Green Lantern, the world’s original superhero coalition in the Justice Society of America, capped by the creation of the greatest female hero of all time – Wonder Woman.

Superman started the ball rolling and was the undisputed star of the medium, but the editors at All American truly understood it and the wide-eyed readershipâ€¦

The Emerald Avenger debuted in the sixteenth issue of the company’s flagship title All-American Comics, just as superheroes started to dominate, supplanting newspaper strip reprints and stock genre characters in the still primarily-anthologised comicbooks.

For the duration of the war and a few years beyond it, GL and his mystery man amigos Red Tornado, The Atom, Sargon the Sorcerer and Doctor Mid-Nite stole the show with only celebrated gag-strip Mutt and Jeff or exceptional military strips Hop Harrigan and Red, White and Blue remaining to represent merely mortal stars.

All too soon, however, they would vanish as tastes changed and costumed champions were superseded by cowboys, cops and private detectivesâ€¦

Devised by up-and-coming cartoonist Martin Nodell (and fleshed out by the incredible Bill Finger in the same way he had contributed to the success of Batman), Green Lantern became AA’s second smash sensation six months after The Flash and preceding by a year and a half the unprecedented success of the Amazing Amazon.

He won his own solo-starring title less than a year after his premiere and feature-starred in many anthologies such as Comics Cavalcade and All Star Comics for just over a decade, before he too faded away in the early1950s, having first suffered the humiliating fate of being edged out of his own comicbook by his pet, Streak the Wonder Dogâ€¦

This second engagingly impressive hardcover Archive edition – collecting the Viridian Vigilante’s appearances from Green Lantern Quarterly #2-3 (Winter and Spring 1942) and All-American Comics #31-38, from October 1941 to May 1942 – opens with rousing reminiscences, intriguing comparisons and tantalising trivia titbits, courtesy of the Foreword by godfather of American fandom Dr. Jerry Bails, before the procession of pictorial peril beginsâ€¦

Ambitious young engineer Alan Scott survived the sabotage and destruction of a passenger-packed train due only to the intervention of a battered old railway lantern. Bathed in its eerie verdant glow, he was regaled by a mysterious green voice with the legend of how a meteor fell in ancient China and spoke to the people: predicting Death, Life and Power.

After bringing doom to the mystic who reshaped it into a lamp and, centuries later, sanity to a madman, it now promised incredible might to bestow justice to the innocent. Instructing the engineer to fashion a ring from its metal and draw a charge of power from the lantern every 24 hours, the ancient artefact urged the engineer to use his formidable willpower to end all evil – a mission Scott eagerly embracedâ€¦

The ring made him immune to all minerals and metals, and enabled him to fly and pass through solid matter amongst many other miracles, but was powerless against certain organic materials such as wood or rubber which could penetrate his jade defences and cause him mortal harmâ€¦

After wandering the country for months, Scott eventually settled in Capitol City and took a job as first engineer and eventually radio announcer at the APEX Broadcasting System whilst he fruitlessly pursued feisty reporter Irene Miller. Before long he even had a trusted sidekick in the flabby form of Doiby Dickles, a rotund, middle-aged Brooklyn-born cab driver originally intended as a light foil for the grim, poker-faced Emerald Avenger.

Soon, however, the bumbling buddy grew to be one of the most popular and beloved comedy stooges of the era; sharing covers and even by-lines with the star who, thanks to scripter Finger (who wrote all the stories in this volume), was a grim, brooding and spookily mysterious figure of vengeance weeding out criminals and gangsters. Moreover, just as with the early Batman sagas, there was always a strong undercurrent of social realism, ballsy sentimentality and human drama.

The action starts with All-American Comics #31’s ‘The Adventure of the Underfed Orphans!’ illustrated by Martin Nodell, wherein Alan and Irene investigate food poisoning at a municipal children’s home, and uncover a shocking web of abuse and graft leading to the upper echelons of City Hall and the grimiest gutters of the underworldâ€¦

Most of the All-American GL tales were untitled such as #32, drawn by Irwin Hasen, which revealed how a veteran beat cop’s son fell in with the wrong crowd. Framed by his boss and arrested by his own dad, vengeful Danny was only stopped from ruining his life forever by the Emerald Avenger and Doiby who helped him get the goods on Gardenia and reconcile with his grateful dad.

The next issue (by Nodell) struck close to home as gangster Pug Deagan tried to take over the Taxicab Drivers’ union and Doiby called on his Grim Green friend to clean up the racket and expose the real brain behind the operation, whilst in All-American #34, the Dynamic Trio of Alan, Irene and Mr. Dickles investigated a collapsing building and were drawn into a colossal construction scandal involving the Mayor, culminating in the horrific failure of Capitol City’s biggest and busiest bridge.

Always one of the most powerful characters in comics, this tale especially demonstrated the sheer scope of Green Lantern’s mightâ€¦

All-American Comics #35 found Doiby wracked by toothache and haplessly stumbling into a grisly murder at the dentist’s office. Once again racketeers were trying to take over a union and only GL and Dickles could stop them. That tale concluded with the cabbie having that tooth punched out and learning the secret of Alan Scott – an even bigger shock!

A huge hit from the start, the Emerald Crusader was fast-tracked into his own solo title, where the creators were encouraged to experiment with format. Green Lantern Quarterly #2 was cover-dated Winter 1942 and offered ‘The Tycoon’s Legacy’ by Finger & Nodell: a 4-chapter â€œnovel-length storyâ€ which saw radio engineer Scott promoted to roving man-with-a-microphone, promptly rushing to the assistance of a poor but honest lawyer and a porter swindled out of a five million dollar bequest. Both cases deliciously intertwined like a movie melodrama, and also saw a framed man freed from the asylum to challenge the swindling estate executors who had trapped him there.

Events took a murderous turn just as Alan’s emerald alter ego got involved, and before long Green Lantern was cracking heads and taking names in the hunt for the mastermind behind it all – a man known only as ‘Baldy’â€¦

Bill Finger was a master of this type of socially redeeming mystery thriller, and the unrepentant fan in me can’t help but wonder what he could have accomplished with such a prodigious page count on his other â€œDark Avengerâ€ assignment Batman and Robinâ€¦

Hasen illustrated the remaining All-American yarns in this collection, beginning with #36 (March 1942) which took GL and Doiby to the motor racing circuit to foil the machinations of mobsters murdering drivers of a new type of car. With no clue as to how the killings were accomplished, Doiby volunteered to drive the ill-fated Benson Comet himself, trusting in his pal â€œDa Lantrinâ€ to save the day as usualâ€¦

Issue #37 found the heroes helping a disgraced pilot whose crashed plane cost America its greatest scientific minds. A closer investigation revealed not only Fog Blake‘s innocence but that the Brain Trust had been cunningly abducted by Nazi agentsâ€¦ but not for long, after which issue #38 pitted the Emerald Guardian against a diminutive criminal strategist who organised America’s gangs like ‘Another Napoleon’ before facing his own Waterloo in a blaze of green lightâ€¦

With America freshly put on an all-encompassing war-footing, superheroes at last tackled the world’s latest monsters full-on, and with great verve and enthusiasm this blistering compilation concludes in another novel-length epic from the third Green Lantern Quarterly deliciously crafted by Finger & Nodell.

It begins with ‘The Living Graveyard of the Sea’ as Alan and Irene (and stowaway Doiby) take ship for Australia only to be torpedoed by a gigantic German super U-Boat. Although Green Lantern fights off the air and sea assault the liner is lost. The survivors take to life boats and the one with Doiby, Irene and Alan is drawn into a vast impenetrable fog-bankâ€¦

The clouds conceal an ancient wonder: a Sargasso Sea enclave of mariners from many eras who have, over the centuries, evolved into a truly egalitarian, pacifist society. However the lifeboat contains a cross-section of modern America, all horribly infected with greed, pride, arrogance and prejudice and, although welcomed, the newcomers soon disrupt the idyllic microcosm.

Things take an even worse turn when another U-Boat surfaces within the sea city and fanatical Kapitan Schmidt attempts to annexe the realm and convert the ancients to ‘The Nazi Dream’. The stakes are raised even further when he finally gets a message through to Berlin and Hitler himself demands that the strategically crucial secret island be taken at all costsâ€¦

The fantastic finale comes as Irene and Doiby redeem their selfish fellow Americans and rouse the calmly neutral Sargasso citizens to fight for freedom and liberty in ‘Utopia vs. Totalitarianism’ whilst all Green Lantern has to do is sink the entire Nazi naval and aerial armada tasked with taking the hidden sea worldâ€¦

I sometimes think – like many others I know – that superhero comics were never more apt or effective than when they were whole-heartedly combating fascism with explosive, improbable excitement and mysterious masked marvel men.

The most satisfyingly evocative and visceral moments of the genre all seem to come when gaudy gladiators soundly thrashed – and please forgive the contemporary offensive colloquialism – â€œNips and Nazisâ€, and the staggering denouement depicted here is one of the most expansive and breathtaking ever seenâ€¦

Complete with the stellar covers by Nodell & Hasen, this riotous vintage assembly of classic Fights ‘n’ Tights fare is enthralling, engrossing and overwhelmingly addictive – even if not to every modern fan’s taste – and no lover of Costumed Dramas can afford to miss out on the fun â€¦
Â© 1941, 1942, 2002 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

June 13, 2013June 12, 2013

Superman: The Return of Superman

By Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson, Roger Stern & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-2-56289-149-6

Although largely out of favour these days as all the myriad decades of Superman mythology are inexorably re-assimilated into one overarching all-inclusive multi-media Film-favoured DC continuity, the stripped-down, gritty post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Man of Steel as re-imagined by John Byrne, and marvellously built upon by a succession of immensely talented comics craftsmen, resulted in some genuine comics classics.

Most significant of them was a three-pronged story-arc which saw the martyrdom, loss, replacement and inevitable resurrection of the World’s Greatest Superhero in a stellar saga which broke all records and proved that a jaded general public still cared about the venerable, veteran icon of Truth, Justice and the American Way.

The dramatic events also provided a spectacular springboard for a resurgent burst of new characters who revitalised and reinvigorated more than one ailing franchise over the next decadeâ€¦

This final landmark collection features material which originally appeared in Action Comics #687-691, Superman: the Man of Steel #22-26, Superman #78-82 and Adventures of Superman #500-505, plus Green Lantern volume 3 #46, spanning cover-dates June-October 1993 and originally published as the braided mega-saga â€œReign of the Supermenâ€.

Written by Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, Louise Simonson & Roger Stern with art by Jon Bogdanove, Tom Grummett, Jackson Guice, Jurgens, Brett Breeding, Doug Hazlewood, Dennis Janke & Denis Rodier, it details the stunning events which led up to the resurrection and return of the one and only Man of Tomorrow – although just who that might be was the subject of much debate at the timeâ€¦

After a brutal rampage across Middle America a mysterious monster dubbed Doomsday had only been stopped in the heart of Metropolis by an overwhelming and fatal effort on Superman’s part.

Dying at the scene, the fallen hero’s body was the subject of many legal battles before it was ostensibly laid to rest in a tomb in Metropolis’ Centennial Park. However as Earth adjusted to a World Without a Superman rumours began to circulate that, like Elvis, the Man of Tomorrow was not deadâ€¦

It all began with a series of teaser ‘First Sightings’ (from Adventures of Superman #500) as, across America, four very different individuals appeared, saving lives and performing good deeds as only the departed defender could.

Then events start to properly unfold in ‘Born Again’ (Action #687 by Stern, Guice & Rodier) as scientists in Antarctica experienced unnatural power manifestations whilst, deep below the polar crust in the Fortress of Solitude, a confused creature more energy than matter manifested.

The bizarre being remembered dying in battle against Doomsday and, after flicking across the world in an eye-blink to explore an empty tomb in Metropolis, it reasonably concluded he was Superman reborn through Kryptonian technologyâ€¦

He was however much reduced and changed. Unable to covert solar radiation into strength, he was so painfully sensitive to light he had to wear a protective visor. This Man of Tomorrow only manipulated energy and, after returning to Metropolis to resume his â€œnever-ending battleâ€ against chaos and injustice, soon displayed a callous disregard for the humans he protected when he executed a rapist and crippled a car-jackerâ€¦

The â€œDirty Harry with a capeâ€ soon attracted the attention of apparently benevolent billionaire Lex Luthor II (actually the wicked original in a cloned body) and Supergirl, but received his most telling confirmation when he met Lois Lane and disclosed things only Clark Kent could knowâ€¦

In Man of Steel #22, ordinary construction worker John Henry Irons – who had been saved by Superman in the past – felt compelled to carry on the hero’s mission and built a high-tech suit of armour to facilitate his crusade. ‘Steel’, by Simonson, Bogdanove & Janke, found the urban inventor cleaning up the streets of Metropolis and searching for a gang who used a deadly new form of super-gun dubbed â€œtoastmastersâ€ – a weapon Irons had designed in another lifeâ€¦

Tracking the munitions enabled him to save the life of a fortune-teller and brought him into savage conflict with White Rabbit – a new criminal major player in the city – but life only got more complicated the morning after, when Psychic Rosie went on TV claiming Steel was possessed by the unquiet soul of Supermanâ€¦

Superman # 78 (by Jurgens & Breeding) offered another apparent pretender. ‘Alive’ saw a Superman grotesquely bonded with mechanical appendages raid the top-secret genetics lab Cadmus Project to take the comatose Doomsday from rogue Director Paul Westfield, before dispatching the deadly mystery monster into deep space where no Earthly agency could exploit it.

When the partially amnesiac Cyborg-Superman subsequently met Lois, her suspicions were shockingly quelled by the few facts he could recall: the name Kent, a farm in Kansas, his feelings for herâ€¦

And when she took him to see maverick inventor Emil Hamilton, the Action Ace’s personal scientific advisor pronounced the bionic additions to be Kryptonian machines whilst the fleshly parts of the modern Prometheus comprised Superman’s unique DNAâ€¦

The final contender for the S-shield cropped up in Adventures of Superman #501 as ‘â€¦When He Was a Boy!’ by Kesel, Grummett & Hazlewood revealed the secret history of a brash and cocky kid who wore an adaptation of the Man of Tomorrow’s outfit and claimed to be a clone of the deceased hero, escaped from Cadmus.

After alienating everybody at the Daily Planet the horny, inexperienced juvenile latched onto ambitious journalist – and hottie – Tana Moon and fell under the spell of corrupt media mogul Vinnie Edge. Soon the kid was fighting crime live on TV to boost ratingsâ€¦

As the world reeled from news that their defender was back, the fallen champion’s intimates and enemies were forced to wonder which – if any – of the newcomers was the real dealâ€¦

After hard-line hero Guy Gardner clashed with the visored energy Superman in Action #688, the former Green Lantern determined that the Kryptonian vigilante’s brutal treatment of offenders in ‘An Eye for an Eye’ (Stern, Guice & Rodier) proved that, even if he wasn’t exactly like the old guy, he was the kind of champion criminals deserved to meet.

In Man of Steel #22 (Simonson, Bogdanove & Janke), the spiritual successor of Superman barely survived an insidious ‘Ambush!’ Even with Toastmasters, street-gang the Sharks proved no match for Steel’s armoured might, but after a contentious clash of wills with the juvenile Krypton clone, Irons met White Rabbit and discovered she was an old flame from his Army weapons building days.

Caught off-guard he almost perished until â€œDon’t-call-me-Super BOYâ€ flashed in to rescue himâ€¦

Jurgens & Breeding took an experimental tack in Superman #79 as Daily Planet reporter Ronald Troupe reviewed all the facts on the quartet of newcomers in ‘Prove It.’ After the Cyborg crusader spectacularly saved President Clinton from assassination he – and the Federal Government – could reach only one conclusionâ€¦

Meanwhile in Adventures of Superman #502, ‘Boy Meets Girl’ (Kesel, Grummett & Hazlewood) followed the impetuous clone as he clashed with – and perved over – Supergirl before tangling with hired gun Stinger, commissioned by Vinnie Edge to perk up the viewing figures whatever the collateral costsâ€¦

Action and mystery expanded exponentially in #689’s ‘Who is the True Hero?’ by Stern, Guice & Rodier. Metropolis reeled from the devastation caused by the clone’s clash with Stinger, with Supergirl and the horrified kid frantically saving survivors, whilst in the Antarctic Fortress a fifth Superman emerged from a Kryptonian regeneration matrixâ€¦

Although barely stronger than an ordinary human, the reborn Kal-El quickly began catching up on what had happened since his demise, courtesy of the battery of alien machines in the icy citadelâ€¦

Back in Metropolis the merciless avenging Superman cataclysmically clashed with his ethical opposite Steel with Lois and Jimmy Olsen utterly unable to calm them down.

The combat carried over into Man of Steel #23, but the furious heroes were blithely unaware that an horrific alien conqueror was approaching Earth in ‘Impact!’ by Simonson, Bogdanove & Janke. Also oblivious to the impending disaster, the forces of Luthor and White Rabbit bloodily battled for control of the cityâ€¦

‘Deadly Alliance’ (Jurgens & Breeding) in Superman #80 found Earth’s authorities made too-suddenly aware of the alien intruder. They responded by sending the Caped Cyborg to intercept it.

En route the officially recognised hero joined forces with his energy-based alternate – only to kill him and allow 77,000 space mines to explosively erase Coast City and its seven million inhabitants from the face of the planet.

As the planet shuddered the invader was revealed as cosmic conqueror Mongul – but nobody on Earth knew he was simply a pawn and the devoted servant of the Cyborgâ€¦

The drama kicked into overdrive in Adventures of Superman #503, with ‘Line of Fire!’ (Kesel, Grummett & Hazlewood) showing the bionic betrayer eradicating survivors before luring the clone to ground zero and disposing of him as he had the Avenger, whilst in Antarctica the merely mortal Kal-El climbed into a Kryptonian war-suit and headed for the disaster zoneâ€¦

‘Lies & Revelations’ (Action #690, by Stern, Guice & Rodier) saw the visored vigilante framed for the mass destruction by Cyborg Superman and Mogul as they sought to divert the attention of the Justice League and Earth’s other heroes.

The allies-in-atrocity had a plan and a timetable. Planning to raze Metropolis too, they would construct colossal world-moving engines in the craters and turn the planet into a War-World capable of dominating the galaxy and populated by the army of extraterrestrial soldiers they had amassedâ€¦

As Kal-El approached his hometown and the site of the next horrific Engine City, in Antarctica the swiftly-fading visored vigilante learned his true origins at last and, re-energised, headed back to the remains of Coast Cityâ€¦

Man of Steel #24 featured ‘The Return!’ (Simonson, Bogdanove & Janke) as Super-clone broke free and attempted to warn the world, even as Steel and Supergirl intercepted the war-suited warrior and discovered that the one true Metropolis Marvel was back â€¦

Superman #81 ‘Resurrections’ (Jurgens & Breeding) revealed the secret origin of the Cyborg and his pact with Mongul, as Kal-El, Steel, Supergirl and the Superboy rocketed to California and a desperate ‘Assault on Engine City!’ (Adventures of Superman #504 Kesel, Grummett & Hazlewood)

It all culminated in a cross-continental chase and the clone kid seemingly sacrificing himself to destroy the city-smashing space-ordinance in the skies above Metropolisâ€¦

Action #691 revealed the heroes’ late-arriving and extremely angry ‘Secret Weapon’ (Stern, Guice & Rodier) just as the war in Engine City roared to a blockbusting climax, after which ‘Blast Off!’ (Man of Steel #25, Simonson, Bogdanove & Janke) saw Kal fall to the merciless fists of Mongul as John Henry used his own armoured body to wreck the heart of Engine Cityâ€¦

Such an epic storyline naturally had repercussions outside Superman continuity and Green Lantern #46 intersected with the ongoing epic. GL Hal Jordan was a Coast City native and his inability to save his home, family and friends shattered him. (In fact these events would lead to his becoming manic mad mass-murderer Parallax and destroying the entire Green Lantern Corps â€“ but that’s a tale for another tomeâ€¦)

Arriving in ‘Death City’ (by Gerard Jones, M.D. Bright & Romeo Tanghal) just as Mongul prepared to deliver a killing blow, the Emerald Avenger saved Kal before venting all his wrath on the genocidal monster.

This savage assault allowed the restored Caped Kryptonian to reclaim his name and save the world once again in Superman #82’s ‘Back for Good’ (Jurgens & Breeding)â€¦ but only after one of his well-meaning pretenders surrendered everything he wasâ€¦

This Earth-shattering epic winds down with a brace of excepts designed to re-establish the natural order, beginning with the first two pages of ‘Reign of the Superman’ (from Adventures of Superman #505 by Kesel, Grummett & Hazlewood) as the one and only Superman at last returns to his grieving widow, before ‘Epilog: â€¦And Who, Disguised as Clark Kent’ (from Action #692 courtesy of Stern, Guice & Rodier) clears up the last little details by â€œfindingâ€ the mild-mannered reporter in the subterranean basement he had been trapped in since Doomsday’s rampage through Metropolis months previously.

This powerful if ponderous epic perfectly embodies all the human drama and cosmic spectacle of the Superman mythology: evocative, tense, drenched in action and spilling over with great ideas and characters

This enthralling classic served as a valuable and necessary expansion of the legend, introducing a plethora of Supermen in a bold and long-term push to revitalise the venerable franchise, whilst the positively manic public interest beyond the world of comics took everyone by surprise and made the Man of Tomorrow as vital and vibrant a sensation as he was in the earliest days of his creation.

Best of all, it looks beautiful and reads great.

Together with the previous two volumes in this truly magnificent triptych, this saga is possibly the greatest Superman story ever told. What more do you need to know?
Â© 1993 DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

May 20, 2013May 19, 2013

Golden Age Green Lantern Archives Volume I

By Bill Finger, Martin Nodell, E.E. Hibbard, Irwin Hasen & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-507-4

Thanks to comics genius and editorial wunderkind Sheldon Mayer, the innovative fledgling company All-American Comics (who co-published in association with and would eventually be absorbed by DC) published the first comicbook super-speedster in Flash Comics and followed up a few months later with another evergreen and immortal all-star.

The Green Lantern debuted in issue #16 of the company’s flagship title just as superheroes began to dominate the market, supplanting newspaper strip reprints and stock genre characters in the still primarily-anthologised comicbooks. He would be swiftly joined in All-American Comics by The Atom, Red Tornado, Sargon the Sorcerer and Doctor Mid-Nite until eventually only gag strips such Mutt and Jeff and exceptional tough-guy military strips Hop Harrigan and Red, White and Blue remained to represent mere mortal heroes.

At least until tastes changed again after the war and costumed crusaders faded away, to be replaced by cowboys, cops and private eyesâ€¦

Devised by up-and-coming cartoonist Martin Nodell (and fleshed out by Bill Finger in the same generally unsung way he had contributed to the success of Batman), Green Lantern soon became AA’s second smash sensation.

The arcane avenger gained his own solo-starring title little more than a year after his premiere and appeared in other anthologies such as Comics Cavalcade, All Star Comics and others for just over a decade before, like most first-generation superheroes, he faded away in the early1950s, having first suffered the humiliating fate of being edged out of his own strip and comicbook by his pet Streak the Wonder Dogâ€¦

However that’s the stuff of future reviews. This spectacular quirkily beguiling deluxe Archive edition opens with a rousing reminiscence from Nodell in a Foreword which discusses the origins of the character before the parade of raw, graphic enchantment (collecting the Sentinel of Justice’s appearances from All-American Comics #16-30 – covering July 1940 to September 1941 and Green Lantern #1 from Fall 1941) starts with the incredible history of The Green Flame of Lifeâ€¦

Ambitious young engineer Alan Scott only survived the sabotage and destruction of a passenger-packed train due to the intervention of a battered old railway lantern. Bathed in its eerie emerald light he was regaled by a mysterious green voice with the legend of how a meteor fell in ancient China and spoke to the people: predicting Death, Life and Power.

The star-stone’s viridian glow brought doom to the savant who reshaped it into a lamp, sanity to a madman centuries later and now promised incredible might to bring justice to the innocentâ€¦

Instructing Scott to fashion a ring from its metal and draw a charge of power from the lantern every 24 hours, the ancient artefact urged the engineer to use his formidable willpower to end all evil: a mission Scott eagerly took up by promptly crushing the corrupt industrialist Dekker who had callously caused wholesale death just to secure a lucrative rail contract.

The ring made Scott immune to all minerals and metals, enabled him to fly and pass through walls but as he battled Dekker’s thugs the grim avenger painfully discovered that living – perhaps organic – materials such as wood or rubber could penetrate his jade defences and cause him mortal harmâ€¦

The saboteurs punished, Scott determined to carry on the fight and devised a â€œbizarre costumeâ€ to disguise his identity and strike fear and awe into wrongdoersâ€¦

Most of the stories at this time were untitled, and All-American Comics #17 (August 1940) found Scott in Metropolis (long before it became the fictional home of Superman) where his new employer was squeezed out of a building contract by a crooked City Commissioner in bed with racketeers. With lives at risk from shoddy construction the Green Lantern moved to stop the gangsters but nearly lost his life to overconfidence before finally triumphing, after which #18 found Scott visiting the 1940 New York World’s Fair.

This yarn (which I suspect was devised for DC’s legendary comicbook premium 1940 New York World’s Fair Comics, but shelved at the last moment) introduced feisty romantic interest Irene Miller as she attempted to shoot a gangster who had framed her brother. Naturally gallant he-man Scott had to get involved, promptly discovering untouchable gang-boss Murdock even owned his own Judge, by the simple expedient of holding the magistrate’s daughter captiveâ€¦

However once Alan applied his keen wits and ruthless mystic might to the problem Murdock’s power – and life – were soon forfeit, after which in All-American Comics #19 Scott saved a man from an attempted hit-and-run and found himself ferreting out a deadly ring of insurance scammers collecting big payouts by inflicting â€œaccidentsâ€ upon unsuspecting citizens.

Issue #20 began with a quick recap of Green Lantern’s origin before instituting a major change in the young engineer’s life. Following the gunning down of a roving radio announcer and assassination of the reporter’s wife, the hero investigated APEX Broadcasting System in Capitol City and again met Irene Miller.

She worked at the company and with her help Alan uncovered a scheme whereby broadcasts were used to transmit coded instructions to merciless smugglers. Once GL mopped up the cunning gang and their inside man, engineer Alan Scott took a job at the company and began a hapless romantic pursuit of the capable, valiant Irene.

Thanks to scripter Finger, Green Lantern was initially a grim vengeful and spookily mysterious figure of vengeance weeding out criminals and gangsters but, just as with early Batman sagas, there was always a strong undercurrent of social issues, ballsy sentimentality and human drama.

All-American #21 found the hero exposing a cruel con wherein a crooked lawyer pressed young criminal Cub Brenner into posing as the long-lost son of a wealthy couple to steal their fortune. Of course, the kid had a change of heart and everything ended happily, but not before stupendous skulduggery and atrocious violence ensued.

In #22 when prize-fighter Kid McKay refused to throw a bout, mobsters kidnapped his wife and even temporarily overcame the fighting-mad Emerald Guardian. However, when one of the brutal thugs put on the magic ring he swiftly suffered a ghastly doom which allowed GL to emerge victoriousâ€¦

Slick veteran Everett E. Hibbard provided the art for #23, and his famed light touch framed GL’s development into a less fearsome and more public hero. As Irene continued to rebuff Alan’s advances – in vain hopes of landing his magnificent mystery man alter ego – the engineer accompanied her to interview movie star Delia Day and stumbled into a cruel blackmail racket.

Despite their best efforts the net result was heartbreak, tragedy and many deaths. Issue #24 then saw the Man of Light go undercover to expose philanthropist tycoon R.J. Karns, who maintained his vast fortune by selling unemployed Americans into slavery on a tropical Devil’s Island, whilst #25 found Irene uncovering sabotage at a steel mill. With the unsuspected help of GL she then exposed purported enemy mastermind The Leader as no more than an unscrupulous American insider trader trying to force the price down for a simple Capitalist coupâ€¦

Celebrated strip cartoonist Irwin Hasen began his long association with Green Lantern in #26 when the hero came to the rescue of swindled citizens whose lending agreements with a loan shark were being imperceptibly altered by a forger to keep them paying in perpetuity, after which the artist illustrated the debut appearance of overnight sensation Doiby Dickles in All-American #27 (June 1941).

The rotund, middle-aged Brooklyn-born cab driver was simply intended as light foil and occasional sidekick for the grim, poker-faced Emerald Avenger but grew to be one of the most popular and beloved comedy stooges of the era; soon sharing covers and even by-lines with the star.

In this initial dramatic outing he bravely defended fare Irene (sorry: irresistible – bad, but irresistible) from assailants as she carried plans for a new radio receiver device. For his noble efforts Doiby was sought out and thanked by Green Lantern and, after the verdant crusader investigated, he discovered enemy agents at the root of the problem. When Irene was again targeted the Emerald Avenger was seemingly killedâ€¦

This time, to save Miss Miller, Doiby disguised himself as â€œde Lantrinâ€ and confronted the killers alone before the real deal turned up to end things. As a reward the Brooklyn bravo was offered an unofficial partnershipâ€¦

In #28 the convenient death of millionaire Cyrus Brand and a suspicious bequest to a wastrel nephew led Irene, Doiby and Alan to a sinister gangster dubbed The Spider who manufactured deaths by natural causes, after which #29 found GL and the corpulent cabbie hunting mobster Mitch Hogan, who forced pharmacies to buy his counterfeit drugs and products; utilising strong-arm tactics to ensure even the courts carried out his wishes – at least until the Lantern and his wrench-wielding buddy gave him a dose of his own medicineâ€¦

The last All-American yarn here is from issue #30 (cover-dated September 1941) and again featured Irene sticking her nose into other peoples’ business. This time she exposed a brace of crooked bail bondsmen exploiting former criminals trying to go straight, and was again kidnapped.

This raw and vital high-energy compilation ends with the stirring contents of Green Lantern #1 from Fall 1941, scripted by Finger and exclusively illustrated by Nodell, who had by this time dropped his potentially face-saving pseudonym Mart â€œDellonâ€.

The magic began with a 2-page origin recap in ‘Green Lantern – His Personal History’ after which ‘The Masquerading Mare!’ saw GL and Doiby smash the schemes of racketeer Scar Jorgis who went to quite extraordinary lengths to obtain a racehorse inherited by Irene, after which an article by Dr. William Moulton Marston (an eminent psychologist familiar to us today as the creator of Wonder Woman) discussed the topic of ‘Will Power’.

The comic thrills resumed when a city official was accused of mishandling funds allocated to buy pneumonia serum in ‘Disease!!’ Although Green Lantern and Doiby spearheaded a campaign to raise more money to prevent an epidemic, events took a dark turn when the untouchable, unimpeachable Boss Filch experienced personal tragedy and exposed his grafting silent partners high in the city’s governing hierarchyâ€¦

Blistering spectacle was the result of ‘Arson in the Slums’, when Alan and Irene became entangled in a crusading publisher’s strident campaign to renovate a ghetto. Of course, the philanthropic Barton and his real estate pal Murker had only altruistic reasons for their drive to re-house the city’s poorest citizensâ€¦

Doiby was absent from that high octane thriller but did guest-star with the Emerald Ace in the prose tale ‘Hop Harrigan in â€œTrailers of Treacheryâ€’ – by an unknown scripter and probably illustrated by Sheldon Mayer – a ripping yarn starring AA’s aviation hero (and star of his own radio show) after which ‘Green Lantern’ and Doiby travelled South of the Border to scenic Landavo to investigate tampering with APEX’s short-wave station and end up in a civil war.

They soon discovered that the entire affair had been fomented by foreign agents intent on destroying democracy on the continentâ€¦

With the threat of involvement in the â€œEuropean Warâ€ a constant subject of American headlines, this sort of spy story was gradually superseding general gangster yarns, and as Green Lantern displayed his full bombastic might against tanks, fighter planes and invading armies,nobody realised that within mere months America and the entire comicbook industry were to metamorphose beyond all recognition.

Soon mystery men would become patriotic morale boosters parading and sermonising ad infinitum in every corner of the industry’s output as the real world brutally intruded on the hearts and minds of the nationâ€¦

Including a breathtaking selection of stunning and powerfully evocative covers by Sheldon Moldoff, Hasen and Howard Purcell, this magnificent book is a sheer delight for lovers of the early Fights ‘n’ Tights genre: gripping, imaginative and exuberantly exciting – even if certainly not to every modern fan’s taste.

Of course, with such straightforward thrills on show any reader with an open mind might quickly see the light…
Â© 1940, 1941, 1999 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

May 15, 2013May 14, 2013

Green Lantern Corps: Emerald Eclipse (Prelude to Darkest Night)

By Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, Rebecca Buchman, Christian Alamy, Prentis Rollins & Tom Nguyen (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2529-2

The Green Lantern Corps has protected the cosmos from evil and disaster for uncounted millennia, policing vast numbers of sentient beings under the severe but benevolent auspices of immortal super-beings who dubbed themselves Guardians of the Universe.

These undying patrons of Order were one of the first races to evolve and dwelt in sublime, emotionless security and tranquillity on the world of Oa at the very centre of creation.

Green Lanterns are chosen for their capacity to overcome fear and are equipped and armed with a ring that creates constructs out of emerald light. This miracle weapon is fuelled by the strength of their willpower, making it one of the mightiest tools in the universe.

For millennia, a single individual from each of the 3600 sectors of known space was selected to patrol his, her or its own beat, but in recent years the Guardians have frequently changed their own rules and laws. Now two GLs are assigned to work in each stellar division.

The Guardians’ motives have also increasingly come into question by many of their once-devoted operatives and peacekeepers, who have frequently seen the formerly infallible little blue gods exposed as venal, ruthless, doctrinaire and even capriciousâ€¦

In the aftermath of the Sinestro Corps War, the universe was in turmoil at the revelation that Green was not the only colour and that an entire emotional spectrum of puissant energies underpinned and operated upon reality â€“ and could thus be appropriated and exploited.

Soon each colour was being wielded by a power faction such as Atrocitus‘ anger-charged Red Lanterns, Zamaron‘s love-manipulating Violet-powered Star Sapphires or the enigmatic Agent Orange. The Guardians themselves were clearly off-balance, constantly changing the adamantine Laws in their precious Book of Oa and obviously terrified that some ancient prophecy was coming to fruition despite all their coldly calculated effortsâ€¦

This volume (collecting Green Lantern Corps #33-39 from 2009) is billed as a â€œPrelude to Blackest Nightâ€ and if you’re particularly wedded to strict running order and overarching continuity there are other books you should read such as the aforementioned Sinestro War volumes (all three of them), Rage of the Red Lanterns, Green Lantern: Secret Origin and Green Lantern: Agent Orange at the very least. Heck, read them all – if you’ve come this far you’re clearly already intrigued by the sheer immensity and scope of it allâ€¦

The space opera/cop procedural opens here as two of the wearily battered but triumphant interstellar peacekeepers enjoy some downtime by painting a mural in their still-not-open â€œcop-barâ€ on Oa.

â€œHonor Guardâ€ Earth Lanterns Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner are debating the Guardian’s latest emotion-crunching edict banning relationships between serving officers and how many of their fellows it will affect. Soon their paint party is augmented by dozens of others officers keen to contribute and chat; all blithely unaware that one of their venerated masters has been suborned to The Black and actively works to destroy them and all they cherishâ€¦

Meanwhile, on the violently xenophobic planet Daxam, the remnants of Sinestro’s Corps, now led by the sadistic superman Mongul II, is committing genocide for entertainment as the despot consolidates his leadership and plans to take his growing army of yellow fear-worshippers on a new crusade of terror and destruction.

On Oa resignations are up as many veterans choose love over duty and quit the Corps. Rayner has a personal stake in the new Law too: enjoying a clandestine – and now forbidden – relationship with fellow lantern Soranik Natu of Korugar. Even as the lovers discuss their insurmountable problem, in the distant depths of space GL Saarek meets a passion-powered Star Sapphire as he uses his unique ability on a fragment of the carcass of the once terrible multiversal menace The Anti-Monitorâ€¦

The dead speak to Saarek and his conversation with the Zamaron Miri is painful and portentous for both of them and the entire cosmosâ€¦

On Daxam the wanton bloodshed is temporarily halted when the monstrous Arkillo challenges Mongul for leadership of the Yellow Lanterns. This distraction allows a desperate survivor to flee offworld and alert the Sector’s GL team: Arisia of Graxos IV and self-exiled Daxamite Sodam Yat.

The fugitive is his own mother, but Yat is fiercely disinclined to help. As a star-gazing youth he yearned to visit other worlds but his family, like all Daxamites, brutally discouraged his dreams. When the boy actually encountered a shipwrecked alien his parents had the poor creature stuffed and mounted as a warningâ€¦

Once Yat finally escaped his fundamentalist, bigoted, supremacist world he swore never to return. It takes all Arisia’s efforts to convince him otherwise.

As Natu leaves Oa for Korugar, deep in the Guardians’ Citadel, the hundreds of horrors isolated in impenetrable Sciencells become agitated when Gardner, Salaak and Kilowog try to slam the door on newest inmate Vice.

The raging Red Lantern is barely locked in when Warden GL Voz is attacked. Deep in the bowels of Oa, the renegade Black Guardian had deactivated the Sciencells and soon a complete riot ensues, exacerbated when the captured yellow rings of Sinestro’s adherents are reactivated and returned to the rampaging prisonersâ€¦

With carnage erupting and deaths mounting, all GLs on Oa are dispatched to the penitentiary, whilst on Daxam Yat and Arisia have linked up with a band of surviving Daxamites and begun training them to fight back against the blood-crazed invaders.

A darker confrontation occurs on Korugar as Natu is ambushed by escaped megalomaniac Sinestro who reveals a shattering secret about her comfortable happy childhoodâ€¦

The riot on Oa finally subsides – after spectacular damage and catastrophic losses – with the Greens victorious even as, on Daxam, Yat loses a ferocious battle against Mongul but ultimately wins the war by making the most impossible of sacrificesâ€¦

And on Oa the once unshakable Guardians irretrievably shatter their already tarnished reputations by ordering the elite Alpha-Lanterns to summarily and secretly execute all the recaptured prisoners, prompting even their most devoted servants to lose hope and faithâ€¦

Now The Blackest Night begins and the universe itself will pay for the Guardians’ arrogance and duplicityâ€¦â€¦

Also featuring a beautiful and stirring gallery of covers and variants from Gleason, Buchman, Rodolfo Migliari and Glenn Fabry, this spectacular collection of plot threads and opening gambits combines all the spectacle, cosmic derring-do, tense suspense and blazing action fans adore, but even this â€œjumping onâ€ epic is not really a beginning and far, far from a neat and tidy end.

Although this bombastic yarn is highly continuity-dependent, determined newcomers should still be able to extract a vast amount of histrionic enjoyment out of the explosive, compulsive, compelling, pell-mell onslaught of actionâ€¦ and you could always find those other volumes and get fully in the pictureâ€¦
Â© 2009 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

May 11, 2013May 10, 2013

Green Lantern: Rage of the Red Lanterns (Prelude to Blackest Night)

By Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Mike McKone, Shane Davis & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-4012-2302-1

Since the dawn of the Silver Age of Comics where and when The Flash kick-started it all to become the fast-beating heart of the revived genre of superheroes, his fellow jet-age retread Green Lantern has always provided the conceptual core framework for the comprehensive, pervasive magic of the monolithic DC Universe’s shared continuity.

Hal Jordan was a young test pilot in California when an alien policeman crashed on Earth. Mortally wounded, Abin Sur commanded his Green Power-ring – a device fuelled by willpower which could materialise thoughts – to seek out a replacement ring-bearer, honest and without fear. Scanning the planet it selected Jordan and brought him to the crash-site. The dying alien bequeathed his ring, the lantern-shaped Battery of Power and his profession to the astonished Earthman.

Over the years Jordan became one of the greatest members of that serried band of law-enforcers, the Green Lantern Corps, which had protected the cosmos from evil for uncounted millennia under the auspices of immortal super-beings who dubbed themselves the Guardians of the Universe.

These undying patrons of Order were one of the first races in creation and currently dwell in sublime emotionless security on the world of Oa at the very centre of creation.

Even if you are a true Fights ‘n’ Tights epic aficionado, if all this is new to you then Rage of the Red Lanterns should absolutely not be your introduction to the series.

Go read (at least) Green Lantern: Secret Origin and preferably all the other collections of this monumental fixture in the comicbook firmament before attempting to decipher the compulsive, compelling, pell-mell onslaught of characters and concepts scripter Geoff Johns threw at the reader as his extended epic thoroughly reshaped that aforementioned DCU.

Still here? Okay thenâ€¦

Following the bombastic, blockbusting Sinestro Corps War, all of creation was in turmoil at the revelation that Green was not the only colour and an entire emotional spectrum of unsuspected yet puissant energies underpinned and operated upon reality. In increasingly ambitious storylines, Johns began exploring the adherents and disciples of each hue and the forces transformed by or seeking to control themâ€¦a situation which would lead inexorably and inescapably into DC’s major crossover events Blackest Night and its sequel Brightest Day.

In themselves these twinned mega-sagas were the result of an increasingly all-encompassing series of comicbook crises which would dominate the company’s output for nearly three yearsâ€¦

This volume (collecting Green Lantern #26-28, 36-38 and the one-shot Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns #1) is billed as a â€œPrelude to Blackest Nightâ€ and its chronologically telescoped tales actually straddle the separately released Green Lantern: Secret Origins), so if you’re particularly wedded to strict running order that’s one more hurdle to your full enjoyment.

If you’ll permit an earnest aside: all this prevarication might seem like I’m trying to put readers off and don’t like the material I’m covering, but nothing could be further than the truth. When done right, these kinds of epic super-sagas are utterly mesmerising narrative intoxicants that no other medium of human expression can match, but very few of them can be enjoyed on purely ambient knowledge.

Almost anybody can come cold to Lord of the Rings, Gone With the Wind, Michener’s Centennial, Clavell’s Shogun or EE Smith’s Lensman books but still enjoy them with only the barest smattering of background and targeted exposition, whereas periodical comicbooks are more akin to long-running TV soaps like Coronation Street or Days of Our Lives, with neither time nor space to constantly reintroduce key characters, concepts and history, but still keenly dependent on specific knowledge to fully engage with the material.

I find it personally daunting and, after 30-plus years in the creative, educational and retail arenas of comics, know it is crucially off-putting for many potential newcomers and even old fans tempted to start reading their childhood favourites again. That’s just the way it is and why I’ll always go on about getting through this stuff in the most favourable order.

Here endeth the Sermonâ€¦

Written in entirety by Johns, the multi-hued madness here begins with a 3-part tale that originally appeared immediately after the conclusion of the Sinestro Corps War. ‘The Alpha Lanterns’, pencilled by Mike McKone with inks from Andy Lanning, Marlo Aquiza, Cam Smith, Mark Farmer & Norm Rapmund, detailed how cracks began to form in the solidarity of the Green Lantern Corps after the immortal, emotionally constricted Guardians began arbitrarily rewriting the ancient Laws in their biblical Book of Oa, such as no fraternisation between serving Lanterns and – crucially – revoking the Corps’ eons-old no deadly force mandate.

Moreover the little blue gods were clearly concealing important facts from their devoted peace-keeping force when they summarily created a harsh and draconian Internal Affairs division to police their police.

Worst of all, these new Alpha Lanterns had been surgically altered, becoming more slavish automaton than sentient sentinelâ€¦

Imprisoned in an Oan sciencell, rogue GL Sinestro of Korugar crowed over his ultimate victory. His army of monsters, armed with yellow rings fuelled by fear, had ravaged the universe and compelled the complacent, emotion-disdaining Guardians to panic and change their billion-year-old policies and edicts. He seemed utterly unmoved by the fact that his captors had retaliated by sentencing him to deathâ€¦

The bubbling undercurrents of tense friction exploded when GL Laira took the new General Orders too far and executed a Yellow Lantern who had surrendered. She immediately fell under the remorseless jurisdiction of the Alphas, and her subsequent show trial and conviction further split the Corps. Galaxies away, the maimed Guardian dubbed â€œScarâ€ covertly seconded maverick GL Ash and dispatched him on a secret mission to recover the remains of universal nemesis the Anti-Monitorâ€¦

And on the devastated hell-world Ysmault – scene of the Guardians’ greatest shame – Atrocitus, one of only five survivors of his entire space sector, moved to create his own Corps of ring-bearers. These aggrieved agents would all be powered by the scarlet bile of red hot rageâ€¦

Battle lines were being drawn as the universe moved inexorably towards the fulfilment of an ancient dark prophecy.

Due to the Guardians’ ancient treaty with a deadly uncontrollable force wielding Orange light, the star-system of Vega had always been outside GL Corps’ jurisdiction, subsequently becoming an interstellar sinkhole and safe-haven for the very worst scum of universe.

Now, however, ancient racial offshoot The Controllers (a splinter group who split from the Guardians eons ago) entered the bewilderingly vast conflict, determined to appropriate the colour for their own arsenal, but tragically unaware of the horror they would unleash…

Convicted, stripped of rank and power but still unrepentant, furious Laira was being transported back to her home planet when a Red Lantern ring found her and completed her fall from graceâ€¦

‘Rage of the Red Lanterns Part 1’, illustrated by Shane Davis & Sandra Hope, then revealed the secrets of Atrocitus’ rise to power, expanded upon Ash’s quest for the husk of the Anti-Monitor and followed a doomed convoy of Green Lanterns tasked with transporting Sinestro to his place of execution on Korugar.

When they were ambushed by Red Lanterns determined to take the leader of the Yellow Lanterns to a far worse fate than death, all seemed lost until Hal Jordan was rescued by a benign saviour called Saint Walker who wore a ring of shining, cleansing Blueâ€¦

This wild spectacle continued in Green Lantern #36-38 with art from Ivan Reis, Oclair Albert & Julio Ferreira, as Jordan became focus and crucible of the conflict, with both Red Rage and Blue Hope attempting to possess him, making him their agent in a rapidly unfolding War of Light and horrific Darkest Night which would soon endanger all life and creationâ€¦

First, however, the conflicted earthman had to face Atrocitus and rescue Sinestro so that the renegade could be properly executed by the rightful authorities of the universe, even as on Earth his ex-girlfriend Carol Ferris was again targeted by the Violet light of Love and one of the coldly pious Guardians slipped further into black madness…

To Be So Very Continuedâ€¦

Also featuring a beautiful and stirring gallery of covers by McKone, Lanning, Davis & Hope, this spectacular collection of plot threads and opening gambits combines all the signature big-picture theatrics, cosmic derring-do, tense suspense, solid characterization and blistering action fans adore, but even this â€œjumping onâ€ epic is not really a beginning and far, far from a neat and tidy end.

So brush up on DC/Green Lantern history before even contemplating this astounding and ambitious first course in a banquet of comics indulgence…
Â© 2008, 2009 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

October 7, 2012October 6, 2012

The Brave and the Bold volume 2: The Book of Destiny

By Mark Waid, George PÃ©rez, Jerry Ordway, Bob Wiacek & Scott Koblish (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1838-6 (hc)Â Â 978-1-4012-1861-4 (tpb)

The Book of Destiny is a mystical ledger which charts the history, progress and fate of all Reality and everything in it – except for the four mortals entrusted with its care at the end of The Brave and the Bold: The Lords of Luckâ€¦

The death-defying Challengers of the Unknown – cool pilot Ace Morgan, indomitable strongman Rocky Davis, intellectual aquanaut Prof. Haley and daredevil acrobat Red Ryan – live on borrowed time and were bequeathed the terrifying tome by Destiny of the Endless since their lives are not included within its horrifying pagesâ€¦

After the staggering spectacle of the previous Brave and the Bold story-arc, here Mark Waid, George PÃ©rez and inkers Bob Wiacek & Scott Koblish are joined by co-penciller Jerry Ordway for a stunning sequel featuring most of the DC universeâ€¦

This compilation collects issues #7-12 of the high-energy, all-star revival of the venerable DC title and plays novel games with the traditional team-up format when a mysterious mage begins manipulating heroes and villains in a diabolical alchemical scheme to transform the cosmos foreverâ€¦

Beginning with ‘Scalpels and Chainsaws’ wherein Wonder Woman and the ever-abrasive Power Girl rub each other the wrong way (oh please, what are you, ten!?) whilst tackling an undead invasion, the case takes a strange turn and the Princess of Power accidentally discovers the Caped Kryptonian has been brainwashed into trying to murder her cousin Supermanâ€¦

Their ill-tempered investigations lead to the fabled Lost Library of Alexandria and a disastrous confrontation with the deranged Dr. Alchemy, but he too is only a pre-programmed pawn – of a sinister presence called Megistus – who needs Power Girl to use the mystical artefact known as the Philosopher’s Stone to turn the Fortress of Solitude into pure Red Kryptoniteâ€¦

Thanks to Wonder Woman’s battle savvy, the plot is frustrated and the stone thrown into the sunâ€¦ just as Megistus intendedâ€¦

All this has been read in the mystic chronicle by the Challengers and their fifth member Dr. June Robbins – whose merely mortal existence and eventual doom are tragically recorded in the Book. They rush off to investigate the universe-rending menace even as ‘Wally’s Choice’ brings the Flash and his rapidly aging children Jai and Iris West into unwelcome contact with manipulative genius Niles Caulder and his valiant Doom Patrol. â€œThe Chiefâ€ claims he can cure the twins’ hyper-velocity malady, but Caulder never does anything for selfless reasonsâ€¦

With no other hope, Wally and wife Linda acquiescence to the mad doctor’s scheme which relies on using elemental hero Rex Mason to stabilise their kids’ critical conditions. It might even have worked, had not Metamorpho been mystically abducted mid-process â€“ consequently transforming the children into bizarre amalgams of Negative Man and Robot Manâ€¦

Worst of all, Flash was almost forced to choose which child to save and which should dieâ€¦

Thinking faster than ever, the Scarlet Speedster beat the odds and pulled off a miracle, but in a distant place the pages of the Book were suddenly possessed and attacked the Challengersâ€¦

‘Changing Times’ featured a triptych of short team-up tales which played out as the Men that History Forgot battled a monster made of Destiny’s pages, beginning as the robotic Metal Men joined forces with young Robby Reed who could become a legion of champions whenever he needed to Dial H for Hero.

Sadly not even genius Will Magnus could have predicted the unfortunate result when crushingly shy robot Tin stuck his shiny digit in the arcane Dialâ€¦

Next, during WWII the combative Boy Commandos were joined by the Blackhawks in battling animated mummies intent on purloining the immensely powerful Orb of Ra from a lost pyramid, after which perpetually reincarnating warrior Hawkman joined substitute Atom Ryan Choi in defending Palaeolithic star-charts from the marauding Warlock of Ys, none of them aware that they were all doing the work of the malignly omnipresent Megistusâ€¦

The fourth chapter paralleled the Challengers’ incredible victory over the parchment peril with a brace of tales which saw the Man of Steel travel to ancient Britain to join heroic squire Brian of Kent (secretly the oppression-crushing Silent Knight) in bombastic battle against a deadly dragon, whilst the Teen Titans‘ second ever case found Robin, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash in Atlantis for the marriage of Aquaman and Mera.

Unfortunately Megistus’ drone Oceanus crashed the party, intent on turning Aqualad into an enslaved route map to the future…

And inCalifornia, the Challengers attempted to save Green Lantern’s Power Battery from being stolen only to find it in the possession of an ensorcelled Metamorphoâ€¦

As the Element Man easily overwhelmed Destiny’s Deputies, Jerry Ordway assumed the penciller’s role for issues #5-6.

‘Superman and Ultraman’ saw the natural enemies initially clash and then collaborate at the behest of an alternate universe’s Mr. Mixyezpitelik, who revealed the appalling scope and nature of Megistus’ supernal transformational ambitions, leading to a gathering of the heroic clans and a blistering Battle Royale in the roaring heart of the Sunâ€¦

With the fate of reality at stake and featuring a veritable army of guest stars ‘The Brave and the Bold’ wrapped up the saga with a terrible, tragic sacrifice from the noblest hero of all, whilst subtly setting the scene for the upcoming Final Crisisâ€¦

With fascinating designs and pencil art from Ordway to tantalise the art lovers, this second captivating collection superbly embodies all the bravura flash and dazzle thrills superhero comics so perfectly excel at. This is a gripping fanciful epic with many engaging strands that perfectly coalesce into a frantic and fabulous free-for-all overflowing with all the style, enthusiasm and sheer exuberant joy you’d expect from the industry’s top costumed drama talents.

The Brave and the Bold: The Book of Destiny is another great story with great art, ideal for kids of all ages to read and re-read over and over again.
Â© 2007, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

March 27, 2012March 26, 2012

Secret Origins

By various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 0-930289-50-1

The best and worst thing about comicbooks is the perpetual revamping of classic characters whenever changing tastes and the unceasing passage of years demand the reworking of origin tales for increasingly more sophisticated audiences.

Once upon a time, DC’s vast pantheon of characters was scattered and wholly distinct: separated and situated on a variety of alternate Earths which comprised Golden Age hold-overs, current Silver Age and later-created heroes. Further Earths were subsequently introduced for every superhero stable the company scooped up in a voracious campaign of acquisition over the decades.

Charlton, Fawcett, Quality Comics and others characters resided upon their own globes, occasionally meeting in trans-dimensional alliances and apparently deterring new readers from getting on with DC.

Thus, when DC retconned their entire ponderous continuity following Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985-1986, ejecting the entire concept of a multiverse and re-knitting time so that there had only been one world literally festooned with heroes and villains, many of their greatest characters got a unique restart, with the conceit being that the characters had been around for years and the readership were simply tuning in on just another working day.

Fans old and new therefore had no idea what pre-Crisis stories were still â€œtrueâ€ or valid and to counter confusion the publishers launched the double-sized Secret Origins comicbook series to peek behind the curtain and provide all-new stories which related the current official histories of their vast and now exceedingly crowded pantheonâ€¦

Of course now the multiverse concept is back and not confusing at all (who’d have thunk it?) but whatever the original reasons the dramatic 1980s refit did provide for some utterly astounding and cleverly cohesive storytellingâ€¦

This sterling softcover collection from 1989 gathered some of the most impressive headline-grabbing reworkings and even offered an all-new reinterpretation of the Batman’s beginnings to fit the new world’s reconstructed history and opened the action after ‘Legends’, a fascinating Introduction by series editor Mark Waid.

‘The Man Who Falls’ by Dennis O’Neil & Dick Giordano incorporated the revisions of Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s Batman: Year One and Batman: Shaman into a compelling examination of vengeance, obsession and duty describing how the only survivor of the Wayne Homicides dedicated his life to becoming a living weapon in the war on crimeâ€¦

When DC Comics decided to rationalise and reconstruct their continuity the biggest shake-up was Superman and it’s hard to argue that change was unnecessary. All the Action Ace’s titles were suspended for three months – and boy, did that make the media sit-up and take notice – for the first time since the Christopher Reeve movie. But there was method in the madnessâ€¦

In 1986 Man of Steel, a six-issue miniseries written and drawn by John Byrne with inks by Dick Giordano, stripped away vast amounts of accumulated baggage and returned the Strange Visitor from Another World to the far from omnipotent, edgy but good-hearted reformer Siegel and Shuster had first envisioned. It was a huge and instant success, becoming the decade’s premiere ‘break-out’ hit and from that overwhelming start Superman returned to his suspended comic-book homes with the addition of a third monthly title premiering in the same month.

The miniseries presented six complete stories highlighting key points in Superman’s career, reconstructed in the wake of the aforementioned Crisis and ‘The Haunting’ comes from the last issue; relating how the hero returned to his Kansas home and at last discovered his alien roots and heritage when a hologram of his father Jor-El attempted to possess and reprogram Clark Kent with the accumulated wisdom and ways of dead Kryptonâ€¦

‘The Secret Origin of Green Lantern’ by James Owsley, M.D. Bright & JosÃ© Marzan Jr. hails from Secret Origins #36 (January 1989) and told how Hal Jordan was selected to become an intergalactic peacekeeper by a dying alien, all viewed from the fresh perspective of a young aerospace engineer whose brief encounter with the Emerald Gladiator a decade earlier had changed his life forever. The expansive yarn re-visits all the classic highlights and even finds room to take the plucky guy on an adventure against resource raider on Oa, home of the Guardians of the Universeâ€¦

Mark Verheiden & Ken Steacy then drastically upgrade the legend of J’onn J’onzz in ‘Martian Manhunter’ (Secret Origins #35, Holiday edition 1988) in a moody innovative piece of 1950’s B-Movie paranoia, nicely balanced by an enthralling, tragic and triumphant reinterpretation and genuinely new take on the story of Silver Age icon Barry Allen . The freshly-deceased Flash Â reveals the astonishing truth behind the ‘Mystery of the Human Thunderbolt’ in a lost classic by Robert Loren Fleming, Carmine Infantino & Murphy Anderson, first published in Secret Origins Annual #2 1988.

The creation of the Justice League of America was the event which truly signalled the return of superheroes to comicbooks in 1960, inspiring the launch of the Fantastic Four, the birth of Marvel Comics and a frantic decade of costumed craziness.

Their rallying adventure wasn’t published until #9 of their own title and was in fact the twelfth tale in their canon, because, quite frankly, origins, crucible moments and inner motivation were just not considered that important back then.

When Keith Giffen, Peter David & Eric Shanower crafted ‘All Together Now’ for Secret Origins #32 (November 1989) such things had come to be regarded as pivotal moments in mystery-man mythology but it didn’t stop the creative team having lots of snide and engaging fun as they retooled the classic tale of rugged individuals separately battling an alien invasion only to unite in the final moments and form the World’s Greatest Heroic team. The refit wasn’t made any easier by the new continuity’s demands that Batman be excised from the legendary grouping of Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Flash and Superman whilst the under-reconstruction Wonder Woman had to be replaced by a teenaged Black Canaryâ€¦

Nevertheless the substitution worked magnificently and the daring adventure is the perfect place to end this fabulous compendium of a DC’s second Lost Age as yet another continuity-upgrade revitalises some of the most recognisable names in popular fiction.

December 29, 2011December 28, 2011

Green Lantern and Green Arrow #2

By Denny O’Neil, Neal Adams, Frank Giacoia & Dan Adkins (Paperback Library)
ISBN: 0-446-64755-1

Once upon a time, comics – like Rock ‘n’ Roll or spray-can street art – was considered outcast, bastard non-Art continually required to explain and justify itself – even when some of the people vainly defending the intrusive fledgling forms were critics and proponents of the other higher creative forms.

And during those less open-minded times, just like the other examples cited, every so often the funnybook industry brought forth something which forced the wider world to sit up and take notice.

This slim paperback – in itself proof positive of the material’s merit because the stories were contained in a proper book and not a flimsy, gaudy, disposable pamphlet (sic) – is a sequel to an earlier collection of some of the most groundbreaking comic adventures in American history; repackaged for an audience finally becoming cognizant that the unfairly dismissed children’s escapism might have something to contribute to the whole of culture and societyâ€¦

After a decade of earthly crime-busting, interstellar intrigue and spectacular science fiction shenanigans the Silver Age Green Lantern was about to become one of the earliest big-name casualties of a downturn in superhero sales in 1969 prompting Editor Julius Schwartz to try something extraordinary to rescue the series.

The result was a bold experiment which created an industry-wide fad for socially relevant, ecologically aware, mature stories which spread throughout DC’s costumed hero comics and beyond; totally revolutionising the comics scene and nigh-radicalising readers.

Tapping superstars-in-waiting Denny O’Neil & Neal Adams to produce the revolutionary fare, Schwartz watched in fascinated disbelief as the resultant thirteen groundbreaking, landmark tales captured the tone of the times, garnered critical praise, awards and desperately valuable publicity from the outside world, whilst simultaneously registering such poor sales that the series was finally cancelled anyway, with the heroes unceremoniously packed off to the back of marginally less endangered comicbook The Flash.

When these stories (reprinted from Green Lantern/Green Arrow #78-79, July and September 1970) first appeared DC was a company in transition – just like America itself – with new ideas (which in comic-book terms meant â€œyoung writersâ€) being given much leeway: a veritable wave of fresh, raw talent akin to the very start of the industry, when excitable young creators ran wild with fevered imaginations and anything might happen.

Their cause wasn’t hurt by the industry’s swingeing commercial decline: costs were up and the kids just weren’t buying funnybooks in the quantities they used toâ€¦

O’Neil, in tight collaboration with hyper-realistic illustrator Adams, attacked all the traditional monoliths of contemporary costumed dramas with tightly targeted, protest- driven stories. Green Arrow had been shoe-horned into the series with Emerald Archer Oliver Queen constantly mouthing off as a hot-headed, liberal sounding-board and platform for a generation-in-crisis whilst staid, quasi-reactionary GL Hal Jordan played the part of the oblivious but well-meaning old guard. At least the Ring-Slinger was able to perceive his faults and more or less willing to listen to new ideasâ€¦

This striking book opens with an introduction from Dennis O’Neil before hurling helter-skelter into a chillingly topical headline grabbing yarnâ€¦

The confused and merely-mortal Green Lantern discovered another unpalatable aspect of human nature in ‘A Kind of Loving, a Way of Death!’ (with inks from Frank Giacoia) when the Arrow’s new girlfriend Black Canary joined the peripatetic cast. Seeking to renew her stalled relationship with the Emerald Archer, she was waylaid by bikers, grievously injured and taken in by a charismatic hippy guru. Sadly Joshua’s wilderness cult owed more to Charles Manson than the Messiah and his brand of Peace and Love only extended to white people: everybody else was simply target practiseâ€¦

The ongoing shoddy treatment and plight of Native Americans was stunningly highlighted next in ‘Ulysses Star is Still Alive!’ (inked by Dan Adkins) as big-business logging interests attempted to deprive a mountain tribe of their very last scraps of heritage, once more causing the Green Knights to take extraordinarily differing courses of action to help and find a measure of justiceâ€¦

It’s impossible to assess the effect this early bookstore edition had on the evolution of comics’ status – it certainly didn’t help keep the comicbook series afloat – butÂ this edition certainly gave credibility to the stories themselves: a fact proved by the number of times and variety of formats these iconic adventures have been reprinted.
Â© 1970, 1972 National Periodical Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

November 5, 2011November 5, 2011

The Flash: the Return of Barry Allen

New revised review

By Mark Waid, Greg LaRocque, Sal Velluto & Roy Richardson (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-268-4

When the Silver Age Flash died during the Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985, he was promptly succeeded by his grieving shell-shocked sidekick and nephew Wally West, who initially struggled to fill the boots of his groundbreaking predecessor, both in sheer physical ability and, more tellingly, in confidence. Wally felt like a fraud, but like a true hero he soldiered on and eventually rose to esteemed heights.

Just as he was becoming comfortable in the role though, the unthinkable happenedâ€¦ Actually in comics not so unthinkable and that idea is used to telling effect within the text.

Years later just as Wally was coming to terms with his historic heritage and still painful sense of bereavement Barry Allen reappeared, stunned, amnesiac, but unquestionably aliveâ€¦

This slender chronicle collects issues #74-78 of the Wally West Flash (which originally ran from March to August 1993) and, after ‘Flashback’ – an informative introduction from Mark Waid & Brian Augustyn – opens with a couple of teasing, foreshadowing pages from earlier issues which lead to the late Scarlet Speedster turning up on Wally’s doorstep on Christmas Eve after which the high-speed action opens with ‘Trust’ by Waid, Greg LaRocque – assisted by Sal Velluto – & Roy Richardson.

Heroes have come back before and villains have always pulled imposturing fast ones too, so as Barry’s memories slowly return Wally is suspicious, although his mentor’s oldest friends Jay Garrick and Hal (Green Lantern) Jordan are quickly convinced. But still, something doesn’t seem quite right with the returned, but no longer so easygoing, heroic idealâ€¦

In ‘Running Behind’ Barry and Wally are happily patrolling together and the younger Flash is becoming convinced that nothing more than insecurity and jealousy are colouring his misgivings. Even Garrick, the WWII Flash, is apparently content and cooperating in their unstoppable crime-blitz. Wally is even considering surrendering the name and creating a new heroic persona for himself when, during a skirmish with high-tech bandits Barry inexplicably flies into a psychotic rageâ€¦

Helpless, fearing Barry’s derangement is caused by his death and resurrection, Wally watches his mentor progressively lose it in ‘Identity Crisis’, whilst the utterly pragmatic Garrick recruits fellow veteran speedsters Johnny Quick and Max Mercury just in case the worst comes to pass. When the tech-bandits are revealed to be a deadly alien gang Wally and uncle Barry track them down and the younger Flash is apparently killedâ€¦

Wally has survived but is hiding: only he knows that his beloved uncle Barry has gone mad, attempting to murder his own nephew, after which in ‘Suicide Run’ the returned Scarlet Speedster tries to kill everybody else who might rival his standing as the Fastest Man Aliveâ€¦

An incredible accident finally reveals the truth to the despondent Wally as â€œBarry Allenâ€ goes on a murderous global rampage in ‘Blitzkrieg’ before the youngest Flash returns to lead a dramatic and desperate final charge against the most dangerous man of all time in the staggering, blockbuster, revelatory conclusion ‘The Once and Future Flash’.

That is one of the very best Fights ‘n’ Tights tales of the 1990s, a rollercoaster ride of bluff, misdirection and all-out action that was instrumental in shutting up old coots like me who kept whining about how the new stuff just wasn’t as good as the oldâ€¦

Despite some less than stellar artwork this is a great tale, captivatingly told and which powerfully pushes the buttons of any superhero fan, whether a Flash follower or not. Catch and enjoy, time after time after timeâ€¦.

October 29, 2011October 28, 2011

Green Lantern and Green Arrow #1

By Denny O’Neil, Neal Adams, John Broome, Gil Kane & various (Paperback Library)
ISBN: 0-446-64729-2 075

Until relatively recent times, comic strips – like rock ‘n’ roll or spray-can street art – were considered an outcast, bastard non-Art form continually required to explain and justify themselves.

And during those less open-minded times, just like the other examples cited, every so often the funnybook industry produced something which forced the wider world to sit up and take notice. In this slim paperback – in itself proof positive of the material’s merit because the stories were contained in a proper book and not a flimsy, gaudy, disposable pamphlet – some of the most groundbreaking tales in American comicbook history were re-presented to an audience finally becoming cognizant that a mere Children’s mediumâ€ might have something to contribute to the whole culture and societyâ€¦

This striking paperback book collection opens with an introduction from Samuel R. Delaney and is rather sensibly followed by the very first Green Lantern tale from Showcase # 22 (September-October 1959), providing much needed background – as well as few solid old-fashioned thrills for readers new to the character and concept.

After the successful revival and reworking of The Flash in 1956, DC (or National Comics as they then were) was keen to build on a seemingly resurgent superhero trend. Showcase #22 hit the stands at the same time as the fourth issue of the new Flash comicbook (#108) with architects of the Silver Age editor Julie Schwartz, writer John Broome and artists Gil Kane & Joe Giella providing a Space Age reworking of a Golden-Age superhero with the magic ring.

Super-science replaced mysticism as Hal Jordan, a young test pilot in California, was transported to the side of a dying alien policeman who had crashed on Earth. Mortally wounded, Abin Sur commanded his power-ring, a device which could materialise thoughts, to seek out a replacement ring-bearer; honest and without fear.

Scanning the planet, it had selected Jordan and brought him to an appointment with destiny. The dying alien bequeathed the ring, a lantern-shaped Battery of Power and his noble profession to the astonished Earthman.

In six pages ‘S.O.S Green Lantern’ established the characters, scenario and narrative thrust of a series that would become the spine of DC continuity, opening a universe of wonder to wide eyed readers of all ages.

However, after a decade of earthly crime-busting, interstellar intrigue and spectacular science fiction shenanigans the Silver Age Green Lantern was about to become one of the earliest big-name casualties of the downturn in superhero sales in 1969 prompting Editor Schwartz to try something extraordinary to rescue the series.

The result was a bold experiment which created a fad for socially relevant, ecologically aware, mature stories which spread throughout DC’s costumed hero comics and beyond; totally revolutionising the industry and nigh-radicalising readers.

Tapping superstars-in-waiting Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams to produce the revolutionary fare, Schwartz watched in fascinated disbelief as the resultant thirteen groundbreaking, landmark tales captured the tone of the times, garnered critical praise, awards and desperately valuable publicity from the outside world, whilst simultaneously registering such poor sales that the series was finally cancelled anyway, with the heroes unceremoniously packed off to the back of marginally less endangered comicbook The Flash.

The main event of this pocket-sized collection re-presents the first two landmark stories, perfectly encapsulating everything Americans were already experiencing in the bubbling cauldron of social turmoil and experimentation on their own doorsteps. Everything was challenged on principle and with issue #76 of Green Lantern (April 1970 and the first issue of the new decade) O’Neil and Adams redefined the nature of superhero adventure with their â€œIssuesâ€-driven stories; transforming complacent and all-powerful establishment masked boy-scouts into uncertain, questioning champions and strident explorers of the enigma of America.

When these stories first appeared National/DC was a company in transition – just like America itself – with new ideas sought for and acted upon: a wave of fresh, raw talent was hired, akin to the very start of the industry, when excitable scarce-young creators ran wild with imagination. Their cause wasn’t hurt by the industry’s swingeing commercial decline: costs were up and the kids just weren’t buying funnybooks in the quantities they used to so perhaps it was time to see what the next generation had to offerâ€¦

O’ Neil, working in tight collaboration with hyper-realistic artist Adams, assaulted all the traditional monoliths of contemporary costumed dramas with tightly targeted, protest- driven stories. The comicbook had been re-designated Green Lantern/Green Arrow with Emerald Archer Oliver Queen constantly mouthing off as a hot-headed, liberal sounding-board and platform for a generation-in-crisis whilst staid, quasi-reactionary GL Hal Jordan played the part of the oblivious but well-meaning old guard. At least the Ring-Slinger was able to perceive his faults and more or less willing to listen to new ideasâ€¦

‘No Evil Shall Escape My Sight!’ (inked by Frank Giacoia) is a true landmark of the medium, utterly reinventing the concept of the costumed crusader as newly-minted, freshly bankrupted millionaire Oliver (Green Arrow) Queen challenged his Justice League comrade’s cosy worldview when the lofty space-cop painfully discovered real villains wore business suits, had expense accounts, hurt people just because of skin colour and would happily poison their own nests for short-term gainâ€¦

The specific villain du jour was a wealthy landlord whose treatment of his poverty-stricken tenants wasn’t actually illegal but certainly was wickedly immoralâ€¦ Of course, the fact that this yarn is also a brilliantly devious crime-thriller with science-fiction overtones didn’t exactly hurt eitherâ€¦

The continuation ‘Journey to Desolation’ from #77 was every bit as groundbreaking.

At the conclusion of the #76 an immortal Guardian of the Universe – known as â€œthe Old Timerâ€ – was assigned to accompany the Emerald Duo on a voyage to â€œdiscover Americaâ€: a soul-searching social exploration into the dichotomies which divided the nation – and a tremendously trendy and popular pastime for the nation’s disaffected citizens back then.

Their first stop brought the trio to a poverty-stricken Appalachian mining town run as a private kingdom by a ruthless entrepreneur happy to use agent-provocateurs and Nazi war criminals to keep his wage slaves in line. When a young protest singer looked likely to become the next Bob Dylan and draw unwelcome publicity, he had to be eliminated â€“ as did the three strangers who drove into town at just the wrong momentâ€¦

Although the heroes provided temporary solutions and put away viciously human criminals, these tales were always carefully heavy-handed in exposing bigger ills and issues which couldn’t be fixed with a wave of a Green Ring; invoking an aura of helplessness that was metaphorically emphasised during this story when Hal was summarily stripped of much of his might for no longer being the willing, unquestioning stooge of his officious, high-and-mighty alien mastersâ€¦

It’s impossible to assess the effect this early bookstore edition had on the evolution of comics’ status – it certainly didn’t help keep the comicbook series afloat – butÂ this edition certainly gave credibility to the stories themselves: a fact proved by the number of times and variety of formats these iconic adventures have been reprinted.
Â© 1959, 1970, 1972 National Periodical Publications, Inc.

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