Month: November 2023

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Golden Age Superman Volume Two

This is a review of Golden Age Superman Volume Two. You can read my review of the first book, here. Spoiler alert: I didn’t like this volume quite as much. Reading twenty-plus one issue stories that are identical can be mind-numbing.

A few characters return from the last volume. We have Ultra, a mad scientist who transfers his brain into the body of a beautiful young starlet. Ultra might be gorgeous, but he’s still a megolamaniac asshole who wants to conquer the earth. Strangely, Ultra is replaced by Lex Luthor, who in this volume has hair. Luthor is a mad scientist just like Ultra, so I’m unsure what happened. Why did they ditch Ultra? Maybe the public didn’t like a body swapper?

We also get Lois Lane. Lots of Lois Lane. Like Clark Kent, Lois is a reporter with no fear. Unlike Clark, she doesn’t have super powers. This means she acts in ways that can be interpreted as stupid, such as telling the gangster that she’s going to publish an exclusive exposing his evil plans. I lost track of the number of times Lois is captured and used as a hostage object in this volume. In one issue, she’s kidnapped twice!

The stories range from gangster potboilers to science fiction. Superman still can’t fly. He can be mind-controlled and knocked out by radium bombs or men with strength-sapping ray guns. There’s no suspense, which is why we have the Lois Being Kidnapped Again trope.

As I said, most of the issues blend. The exception is a story about a children’s orphanage. The owners run an operation worthy of a torture-porn movie. Watching them throw the works – buzzsaws, safes, boiling water, acid, etc. – at Superman is an eye opener. They’re nasty customers, but different from the normal gangster or megalomaniac scientist. You don’t get many pure sadists in superhero comics.

Two other things struck me about this volume. Unlike today’s Man of Tomorrow, the Superman of Yesterday didn’t have many qualms about killing. In fact, he does kill people – usually when he feels threatened (he kills the guy who hypnotizes him). He also doesn’t care about rules. There are several stories where Superman tries to gain evidence on the mobster/crooked politician/saboteur/etc., and then resorts to the tried-and-true method of threatening to crush the evildoer’s skull to a pulp if he doesn’t confess. Since this gambit always works, I’m surprised why he doesn’t just cut to the chase. It would save him time.

If you like Superman, you’ll enjoy this volume!

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Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Volume Two

This is a review of Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Volume Two. I was nervous reading this graphic novel, because the first volume was so wretched. You can read my review, here. Disappointing, but I hoped it would get better, because Jack Kirby’s Thor run is regarded as a minor classic and I’d already bought the first ten volumes.

Lucky for me, this volume did get better! Jack Kirby does most of the penciling, and – if you believe him – the plotting and dialoguing as well. There’s a back-up feature called Tales of Asgard, that fleshes out the world of Asgard and adds new characters. Besides Thor, Loki and Odin, we now have Balder the Brave, Heimdall, Hela, etc.

The secret to Thor’s success, in a nutshell: moahr Asgard. The stories involving Thor’s homeland and his extended family are so much more interesting than the stories set on earth. In one issue, Loki unleashes a pair of demons on New York City. Odin the All-Father uses his powers to transport all the humans into Limbo as he and Balder the Brave join Thor in a battle royale!

We still have the Don Blake/Thor/Jane Foster/Odin love mélange. Don Blake loves Jane Foster, who loves the mighty Thor, who can’t love her back because the all-seeing Odin has cock-blocked him. Odin is supposed to be all-seeing, but his dislike of Jane Foster hinges on a misunderstanding.

There are still Thor stories set on earth. Cobra and Mr. Hyde appear in a few issues, leading to the tried-and-true formula of Thor dropping his hammer and transforming back into Don Blake. Some sequences strain believability, as when Don Blake tells Cobra and Mr. Hyde to look out a window, and transforms into Thor when their backs are turned. Neither villain is none the wiser. With great power comes great stupidity, apparently.

Recommended for Thor and Jack Kirby fans.

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The Flash, by Mark Waid: Book One

This is a review of The Flash by Mark Waid, Volume One. I have a soft spot for The Flash. I am not sure why this character speaks to me. Maybe it’s because The Flash is the first superhero comic I ever read. Or it could be because of The Flash’s rogue’s gallery, which is one of the best in superhero comics. Or maybe it’s the costume? It certainly isn’t Barry Allen’s personality, because he didn’t have one when I started reading his adventures back in the late 1970’s. No, my Flash is Wally West.

Let me explain. There are three Flashes who have starred in their own books – Barry Allen, Jay Garrick, and Wally West. I wasn’t around in the 1940’s when Jay Garrick was active. Wally became the Flash after Barry died (1980’s), which turned out to be a temporary setback.  Originally, Wally was Kid Flash. I read Wally’s origins in the Silver Age Flash. You can see the review, here. Back then, Wally was a comic book writer’s idea of what a teenager in the 1950’s should be. The results were horrifying.

Mike Baron’s short run on Flash – read my review here – gave Wally a personality. He’s callow and self-centered, like most people who are twenty years old. Writer Mark Waid’s run takes place several years – or whatever passes for time in the DC universe – later. Wally is older and wiser. He’s still paying off debts accrued from when he won the lottery and blew it all.

Mr. Waid gives Wally a personality – blue collar, not a rocket scientist, always tries to do the right thing – and a love interest. Mr. Waid is good at evoking emotion. His style is upbeat, which in the early 1990’s was decidedly old school. Stories in this volume include an updated version of Wally’s origin; a team-up with Aquaman, The King of the Seven Seas; and a looong annual starring Eclipso, back when DC made Eclipso a super-powered serial killer. Also, a rejuvenated Abra-Kadabra, minus his skin.

Run to Comixology to get this volume!

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Man-Thing Complete Collection: Volume One

This is a review of…look, if you ever told me I’d like a comic called Man-Thing, I wouldn’t have believed you. I thought Man-Thing was just a Swamp Thing rip-off, but apparently it’s the other way around. Man-Thing came first.

Man-Thing is Dr. Theodore Sallis, a chemist, who is in the Everglades working on a bio-weapon to produce the ultimate super soldier. Unfortunately, his love interest turns out to be an AIM operative. Sallis injects the formula into himself to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands, does a header into the waters of the Everglades, and is transformed into a mindless pile of swamp trash.

Unlike Swamp Thing, Man-Thing is truly mindless. He has an interesting power set. He’s strong. He can ooze through things like nets. If you cut Man-Thing, he does not bleed. He oozes swamp muck. Man-Thing is empathetic, sensing emotions, and fear is the emotion he hates most of all. Thus, Whoever Knows Fear Burns at the Touch of the Man-Thing! Literally.

Man-Thing spends all his free time shambling around the Everglades, fighting alligators and enormous snakes. I’m surprised that the Marvel team somehow knew that one day the Everglades would be overrun with discarded pet pythons, so kudos to them.

Now, you might think having a mindless protagonist with no desires at all would be tough to write about. Enter writer Steve Gerber. In this volume, Man-Thing confronts the issues plaguing 1970’s America, racism, biker gangs, Vietnam vets, peace protestors, unscrupulous land developers, and 500-year old Spanish conquistadors. Confront might be the wrong word. He kind of shambles into the picture. BTW, the swamp is also the Nexus of All Realities. I don’t know what that is, but it sounds important.

Then there’s nearby Citrusville, a dingleberry little town that is ground zero for Florida Weird. There are demons and cults and even wizards with honest to gosh wizard hats. Howard the Duck guest stars. There’s also an appearance by Wundarr, a baby blasted from an exploding planet to Earth. Wundarr comes out of his spaceship fully grown and thinks Man-Thing is his mother.

One of the funnest books I’ve read all year.