Category: trade collections

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Batman and the Outsiders, Volume One

This is a review of Batman and the Outsiders Volume One. This book scores huge nostalgia points for me. I recall reading the first issue at my local drugstore whilst drinking a Cherry Coke at the counter, and that’s your slice of life for today. Interestingly, many of the pleasant memories of my youth involve comic books.

Hot off art duties for the Brave & the Bold, artist Jim Aparo and writer Mike W. Barr create a new superhero team. The plot: when his friend/employee Lucius Fox is trapped in the imaginary Eastern European country of Markovia, Batman quits the JLA (who won’t help) and goes it alone. The team comes together when he and Black Lightning, who loses his lightning powers for a grand total of one issue, travel to Markovia to rescue Lucius.

There they find Metamorpho, the goofy elemental, along with three new characters – Katana, Halo, and Geo Force. Katana is a samurai who wields a cursed sword possessed by the spirit of her dead husband. Halo can fly, possesses powers derived from light, and is a tabula rasa. Geo Force possesses earth-based elemental powers and is the brother of Tara, aka Terra, a character known to anyone who read New Teen Titans in the early 1980’s.

Anyway: after a few speed bumps, the Outsiders are formed. They’re led by Batman. I mean, who wouldn’t want their own super team, especially if you get to make the rules? The Outsiders are powerful, but not very experienced. This is done to make the villains seem like real threats. Most of the storylines are two issues and move along at a nice clip. The interplay between the characters is enjoyable.

My favorite part of this graphic novel is the Halo solo story. Halo joins the high school marching band, and is about to participate in a high stakes Battle of the Bands competition – no, seriously – when their leader/drum major is kidnapped by a gang of dudebros from the opposing school. Halo flies to the rescue, and even manages to hook her best friend up with the drum major, which is nice. I do enjoy comics that don’t take themselves so seriously.

The first volume of this is a fun, entertaining read. None of the other iterations of the Outsiders have ever really stuck, but DC keeps on trying! Unfortunately, these volumes are expensive, so keep that in mind. Recommended.

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The Flash Silver Age Volume Two

This is a review of The Flash Silver Age Vol. 2. I’m not going to mention that I have a special place in my heart for the Flash, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned that in every Flash review I’ve ever written. Instead, I’ll talk about how DC’s Silver Age comics aren’t to my tastes – most of the ones I’ve read are written in a style I have trouble connecting with. True, comics of that day were written for kids, but many of them are just glorified science fiction tales with eye-rolling pseudoscience.

Luckily, this volume isn’t like that. True, the stories are formulaic and the ‘science’ is dopey, but that’s fine. The author usually manages to give them an interesting twist: witness Charm School Gorilla Grodd. Grodd is an evil super-intelligent, super-powered gorilla who wants to conquer the world. In this volume, the Great Ape uses his mental powers to make himself irresistible to everyone, including the Flash. We have the Elongated Man, whose stretching powers derive from drinking soda pop. And then there’s Kid Flash, the bowtie wearing teen who emulates his idol, the head square himself, Barry Allen (who is the Flash).

In this volume we meet Digger Harkness, aka Captain Boomerang. Digger covers for his crimes by getting a couple of geriatric criminals to pose as his dear old mother and father. Later, he creates a boomerang that can time travel – not bad for a guy who probably dropped out of school in the fifth grade – and unwittingly causes an alien invasion, as one does. Instead of shooting The Flash in the head, Captain Boomerang enjoys tying the Scarlet Speedster to enormous boomerangs which he blasts into outer space.

This volume also has Bill “Beefy” Lawson. Beefy is all his nickname implies. We meet him at a class reunion; unfortunately it’s only a single issue. DC really missed out by not giving good ole’ Beefy his own series – he could use the moves he learned on the football gridiron to take down evildoers. I’m firmly convinced the creators of Married With Children read this particular issue, because Beefy is a perfect stand-in for Al Bundy.

There are a number of team-ups in this volume. Flash teams with Kid Flash, the Elongated Man, Green Lantern, and Jay Garrick, the Flash of Earth 2. I am unsure if the writer came up with the alternate earth gimmick, but it’s sure turned out to be a cash cow for the comics industry.

Recommended!

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Golden Age Superman Volume One

This is a review of Superman The Golden Age Volume One. I have a confession to make – I thought these comics would be awful. They aren’t. I enjoyed this graphic novel, warts and all, and liked seeing how Superman has changed over the years.

Superman is Clark Kent, milksop reporter. In reality, he’s a space alien rocketed to earth after his home planet explodes. Superman’s power set has evolved from his origins, where he jumps – just like The Incredible Hulk, minus the torn purple pants – instead of flying. He’s also super strong and invulnerable, although not quite as invulnerable as today.

What about Superman’s cast? At the moment, it’s just Lois Lane. Lois wears red a lot, which I’m guessing is a conscious choice on the part of the creators. She’s not very nice to Clark Kent (Superman’s alter ego). In Lois’ defense, Clark hits on her – well, all the time. My theory is that Lois stopped being cordial after rebuffing the first hundred attempts. No human resources departments back then, looks like.

The creators tend to use Lois as a hostage/rescue object, although nobody alive can beat Wonder Woman in that department. In one episode, Lois is thrown out a window and rescued by Superman. Apparently she’s in love with the big fella, because who wouldn’t love a space alien that can leap like an enormous grasshopper?

The basic template of a Superman story goes like this. Superman sees a bully kicking sand in someone’s face; Superman kicks the crap out of the bully. Sometimes the stories can get overly complex or weird, as when Superman kidnaps a college football player by jabbing him with a hypodermic needle and then poses as said youth, in order to teach the coach of the opposing team a lesson.

These stories are glorified power fantasies, which is fine, but they blend. They also overlook basic realities of human nature. In one issue, Superman kidnaps the generals of two opposing forces and tells them to fight. When they realize they’re not mad at each other, the generals end the war. Yeeeeeah.

There’s not a whole lot of suspense in these comics. The writers hadn’t invented kryptonite yet, so in the first year of stories Superman is invincible. It takes the introduction of the Ultra Humanite, whose claim to fame is managing to briefly knock Superman out a few times, to add an element of danger to the series.

I will leave you with this. There’s a fine line between fighting a bully and being a bully yourself. Superman might be the strongest man in the planet, but that doesn’t make him tough. He didn’t have to work for it.