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Civil War #5
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The Obligatory Year In Review Column

Each December, I feel obligated to write one of these wretched “year in review” columns that gives you, the reader, my perfunctory thoughts on comic books through the last 12 months.  These things hardly satisfy anyone, least of all me, because I simply don’t have the time or energy to read every quality book on the stands.  For that matter, I lack the time to familiarize myself with every bad book out there - at least enough to really justify tearing them to pieces before lining my cat’s litter box with them.  Hence, I end up highlighting my personal favorites, unintentionally disregarding a bunch of great things I should’ve read, and taking cheap shots at books too awful to really merit my attention.  Thus, I apologize in advance for any hidden or obvious gem on my part that I may have overlooked.  I still don’t read Fables, but I know I should.  I haven’t read Pride of Baghdad, either, and I’d probably catch a bullet for Brian K. Vaughan.  However, I feel justified in lambasting delayed books, over-hyped mega-events, and creators that should consider a fast-paced career as a paralegal.   

Let’s begin with Marvel.  I’d like to applaud the House of Ideas for its continued and bolstered use of its adults-only MAX imprint.  From the continued success of Garth Ennis’s dark-as-dark-can-be Punisher to Richard Corben’s delightfully weird Haunt of Horor: Edgar Allan Poe and through the as-yet-unfinished Hellstorm, Marvel has allowed the imprint the needed time to grow and mature.  Similar to its also underused Icon imprint, MAX remains available “as needed” for creators, rather than part of a larger effort on the part of the publisher.  I still wish Marvel would follow the Vertigo model and allow for some ongoing, long-form storytelling.  But, given that Marvel launched the imprint in 2001 and has allowed it to continue suggests hope for the future.  It remains a small step towards shaking off the immaturity that has long hindered popular comics, but a promising one nonetheless. 

While Marvel continues to kick ass with Ed Brubaker’s Daredevil, it also still allows Brian Michael Bendis to write New Avengers.  I played catch-up with the book a few months ago and then quickly sold the entire run on E-Bay.  To make matters worse, Marvel has announced a second Avengers series, also written by Bendis.  I love his work on Ultimate Spider-Man and his crime comics, but he doesn’t do team books well.  Speaking of second titles, Daniel Way’s Wolverine: Origins showed readers a notably darker vision of the character - one so bleak and violent as to infuriate some readers and reviewers.  Personally, I can’t get enough.  Logan’s spent his entire adult life killing people for one government or another.  And yet, people seem surprised that he isn’t a very nice mutant.  Daniel Way’s Ghost Rider has also pleasantly surprised me, even though other reviewers find it a bit slow.  And, in the “Why, God, why?” category, Joss Whedon continues to incrementally pen Astonishing X-Men, having released a grand total of five issues in 2006.  Though, to be fair and balanced, the title went bimonthly when it returned from a four-month hiatus in February of this year, only to print monthly again in September and then experience yet another delay.  To rub salt in the wound, Whedon will pen Runaways as of issue 25 and my screams will echo throughout the comic publishing world. 

Marvel royally screwed every retailer in the country by delaying Civil War and withholding the information until the day prior to the release date.  Issue #4 should’ve shipped in August, but the publisher pushed it back to September.  Issue #5 should’ve shipped that same month, but moved to November.  The delay threw Marvel’s entire publishing schedule askew, forcing retailers to simply do without several reliable titles for the rest of the year.  To compensate, Marvel offered even more Civil War tie-ins to sate the hunger of ravening completists.  Several readers and reviewers have also voiced displeasure over writer Mark Millar’s characterization, disputing his takes on Iron Man, Reed Richards, and the rest of those heroes favoring the Super-Human Registration Act.  Personally, I’ve enjoyed the series and his take on these established characters bothers me very little.  With so many writers adding to the life stories of these characters over several decades, readers should expect variations and evolution.  The Superman of the 1940s that encouraged us to “Slap a Jap!” hardly stands as the definitive understanding of the character.  That example rings a bit extreme, but I don’t see how anyone can define the one, true Iron Man with so many writers and storylines over the years.  We own a general understanding of these characters, and Civil War contributes to it.  Regardless, I think we can all agree that Marvel should’ve allowed Steve McNiven the time to work ahead on Civil War to avoid this pernicious delay.  No one wants to remember Civil War in the same breath as Daredevil: Father.

And, whether anyone agrees with me or not, Civil War has superceded DC’s Infinite Crisis debacle, at least in terms of writing.  By the time that universe-and-time-spanning multi-series epic finally concluded, it left readers with an incomprehensible mess and DC with a blanket excuse to tweak continuity as it sees fit until the end of time.  Each time Superboy’s punch connected with the wall of the crystal prison he shared with Alexander Luthor and the Earth-2 Superman and Lois, something in DC continuity changed.  Jason Todd never died.  Wonder Woman helped found the Justice League.  Many more will follow.  The series kicked the door in at the end of the first issue with the crowd-pleasing return of Earth 2 Superman, but it collapsed under the weight of its own tie-ins, preludes, aftermaths, and over-reaching editorial vision.  I really wish things could’ve worked out, because it began well. 

Despite the convoluted continuity issues wrought by Infinite Crisis, DC’s editorial staff made two very wise moves afterward - One Year Later and 52.  Initially, I thought One Year Later would create a continuity flub that would preclude any new readers from coming within 10 yards of a DC title.  But, the titles offered perfect entry points for new readers and allowed anyone that hadn’t read Infinite Crisis to jump on easily enough.  And, for longtime readers, the weekly 52 continued from the end of Infinite Crisis.  Amazingly enough, the series has remained on-schedule and narratively coherent through its 34 weeks of publication.  When it launched, I thought it would crash and burn and it hasn’t.  Bully for DC. 

One other mega-event didn’t publish on schedule - Seven Soldiers.  Grant Morrison’s very experimental and - depending on your take - groundbreaking or head-aching crossover occurred across seven four-issue miniseries.  One could read each series separately, or in the event’s non-sequential order of publication.  Two one-shots began and concluded the event, with the final issue not seeing publication until October of this year - a six-month delay.  In it, seven heroes from different eras unknowingly work together to fight an invading force of malevolent faeries called the Sheeda, who have repeatedly consumed civilizations throughout history.  I responded to Seven Soldiers in the same manner I did David Lynch’s Eraserhead - I didn’t get it, but I think I liked it.  Others wholeheartedly disagree, and for once, I can see their perspective.  Seven Soldiers never feels less than daunting.  In its worst moments, it can feel like pretentious dreck so in love with its own visual and referential complexity that no one except Grant Morrison can ever hope to penetrate it.  Still, I think every fan should read it once and judge for himself. 

Given the woefully short number of DC titles on my pull list, I can only comment perfunctorily on some of the publisher’s other offerings.  Richard Donner and Geoff Johns started a fun, very cinematic run of Action Comics that seems best suited for those familiar with Superman from the movies.  Paul Dini penned a series of very entertaining one-shots in the pages of Detective Comics that felt like his old Batman: The Animated Series without the constraints imposed by advertisers and the concerned mothers of America.  Grant Morrison brought Batman’s son, Damian, back into continuity in a story that never lived up the hype that preceded it.   

DC’s other imprints offered a mixture of the brilliant and the mundane.  The Worldstorm relaunch of its WildStorm titles has burst through the gate limping.  Grant Morrison’s promising WildCats relaunch not only underwhelmed and confused everyone, but the second issue won’t see print until March 28, 2007.  I haven’t picked up any of the other series, but the word floating around the web hasn’t seemed very positive.  Brian K. Vaughan’s Ex Machina continued to impress the hell out of me, though I admit its narrative pattern has become a bit repetitive.  Take a seemingly non sequitur crime, connect it to Mayor Mitchell Hundred’s past as a superhero, add a hot-button political issue, and hit “blend.”  Still, I enjoy the series and look forward to the film adaptation.  Warren Ellis’s Desolation Jones finished its first arc June of this year, and has only had a couple of issues published since then.  I realize that Ellis and WildStorm have scheduled the series bimonthly, but it seems to come out less frequently than that.  Ellis’s Planetary also sort-of finished this year, with one prologue issue left.  I’ll devote an entire column to the series once it concludes properly. 

Vertigo continued to impress the hell out of everyone with the continued success of Y: The Last Man and the addition of a new Fables title - Jack of Fables - that readers seem to like.  As mentioned earlier, I haven’t picked up Fables yet, so I can properly gush about it.  But, anything that promotes long-form, mature-readers storytelling makes me happy.  Y: The Last Man finally - we think - explained the plague that killed all the men in the first issue, and it will conclude in eight months with issue #60.  Though the last few arcs haven’t screamed with the same energy driving the first half of the series, it remains one of the most enjoyable reads in print.  DC/Vertigo also released the amazing Absolute Sandman volume 1, which includes the first 20 issues of the series.   

Image concluded Rick Remender’s impressive Sea of Red series a few months ago.  While the story had a few flaws - mostly sloppy presentation - it more than made up for them with a literate, character-driven epic of vampires and pirates.  Genre material doesn’t have to suck - pun intended.  Robert Kirkman held his place as king of the living dead with his still-amazing The Walking Dead.  While the series has slowed down recently, Kirkman woke everyone up again with an issue-long torture sequence last month that sold out at Diamond.  McFarlane Productions also started a series of thick Spawn trade paperbacks collecting the series’s early issues in sequence.  In its Top Cow imprint, Hunter-Killer finally started coming out on time.  After a strong beginning coupled with its reputation as “the new Rising Stars,” the book experienced prolonged delays.  And, the current artist, Kenneth Rocafort, offers a cleaner, less stylized experience than Marc Silvestri, who, with writer Mark Waid, began the series. 

Dark Horse continued releasing quality Goon and Hellboy/B.P.R.D. material.  We actually got little in the way of Hellboy proper outside of the two-issue Makoma and the animated Sword of Storms, which I have yet to see.  However, B.P.R.D.: The Universal Machine really impressed the hell out of me, and it’s out in trade this week.  Kurt Busiek left Conan in the very capable hands of Tim Truman, who will write the title for the foreseeable future.  Along with a continuing program of impressive miniseries and trade collections of the old Marvel stuff, Conan remains one of the publisher’s best assets.  In an effort to grab a few new fans, Dark Horse also launched Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Legacy, which occur long before and long after the film series, respectively.  I think the publisher felt that by putting several years of continuity between the pantheon of more current material and these new series, they might attract readers intimidated by the sprawling continuity of the Star Wars universe.  I honestly wonder if we’ll ever see the end of Star Wars licensed material, or if the story will just keep expanding until the sun consumes the Earth. 

In the independent front, Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie’s epic work of literary pornography, Lost Girls, finally saw publication at Top Shelf with surprisingly little controversy.  After years of delays and expectations of heated legal battles, the book came out to warm critical reception and very little trouble.  A minor tiff occurred between the Great Ormond Street Hospital in Great Britain over the use of the character of Wendy Darling, and Top Shelf agreed to withhold publication of the book until their copyright on Peter Pan expires in 2007.  British readers can expect a new edition of the book shortly.  Boom! Studios really impressed the hell out of me with Michael Alan Nelson’s War of the Worlds spin-off, Second Wave.  Keith Giffen and Kody Chamberlain’s zombie miniseries Tag will finish this January with a second miniseries and a film adaptation to follow. 

Most of the major publishers have elevated their trade program to outstanding heights.  DC really cranked out its oversized Absolute editions and Marvel offered several omnibus collections.  Each collects individual miniseries or runs by particular writers.  Recently, Marvel offered Grant Morrison’s entire run of New X-Men and solicited Frank Miller’s first run on Daredevil in just such a collection.  Marvel has also pushed its black and white Essential volumes more than in the past.  The publisher seems to clean out its backlog of Bronze Age horror comics every October with phonebook-sized Essential volumes, much to the chagrin of my bank account and my wife.  Image seems to have joined the fray, having released a limited number of The Walking Dead hardcovers containing the first 24 issues.  The publisher also has similar plans for Invincible, but had to scrap the first run because of a printing problem.  On the Top Cow side, Image has released compendium collections of Tomb Raider, The Darkness, and Witchblade.  I really appreciate this move by the publishers, because it allows readers to experience noteworthy and outstanding runs without having to hunt down back issues or piece the story together with trade paperbacks.   

At the movies, DC and Warner Brothers gave us the okay-not-great V for Vendetta, which sated everyone’s burning curiosity about the Wachowski Brothers’ take on the Bush administration.  Hugo Weaving did a fine job as V, but the film largely misunderstood the intentions of the comic.  Still, you should see it at least once.  There are solid arguments in support of the film, but I think it could’ve easily been better than what we saw.  DC and Warner also finally got around to canceling the sour memories of Superman III and IV with the amazing Superman Returns.  Picking up after the second film, Bryan Singer presented a troubled Superman in Brandon Routh - one trying to find his place in the life of Lois Lane, who has borne his child and married another man.  Where the film lacked in action, it made up for it with a compelling and unmistakable Christian allegory that moved even this bitter skeptic.  However, Singer’s decision to direct Superman Returns meant his departure from the X-Men franchise.  Fox handed the film to Brett Ratner, who delivered the incredibly short and relatively bland X-Men: The Last Stand.  While it hardly disappointed at Phantom Menace levels, it paled in comparison to the first two outings.  This one begs for a fan edit. 

I can’t concisely sum up 2006, because - as usual - we experienced both the brilliant and the astoundingly stupid.  Lost Girls finally came out and the new Superman movie finally hit theaters but someone also decided that we needed Onslaught Reborn.  I’ve enjoyed Civil War, but I thought Marvel handled the delays poorly.  Grant Morrison started writing Batman to much fanfare, but then produced a so-so arc followed by a brief hiatus.  Seven Soldiers concluded, but I’ll be damned if I’ll ever make sense of it all.  This much can be said: the comics business will never be boring.  Happy new year. 

THE SPINNER RACK

By Kurt Amacker 

I have no idea where Al is this week.  Seriously, I’m about to call the cops.  It’s not so much that I’m concerned as I like having the cops bang on his door at 3:00 a.m. when he’s bouncing around in his underoos watching Teen Titans on TiVo.  Next week: I ring-and-run at Al’s house and call for pizzas he didn’t order.  I handle my business like an adult, see? 

DARK HORSE COMICS 

BPRD UNIVERSAL MACHINE TP  $17.95

This was surprisingly good.  In fact, it’s probably the best of the BPRD stories thus far. 

FRANK MILLER 3 ART OF MAKING 3 TP  $24.95 

HELLGATE LONDON #2 (OF 4) $2.99 

LANKH BOOK 1 SWORDS & DEVILTRY NOVEL  $12.95

I don’t know about you, but I demand swords with my deviltry.  I simply can’t have one without the other. 

OH MY GODDESS VOL 24 RTL TP  $1.95 

PATH OF THE ASSASSIN VOL 4 TP (MR)  $9.95 

STAR WARS EMPIRE WRONG SIDE O/T WAR VOL 7 TP  $17.95 

STAR WARS KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC #11  $2.99 

USAGI YOJIMBO #99 $2.99

Wasn’t this that rabbit guy from the Ninja Turtles cartoon?  All right, I’m running now. 

DC COMICS 

100 BULLETS VOL 10 DECAYED TP (MR) $14.99 

52 WEEK #34 $2.50 

BATMAN #661 $2.99

Part four of John Ostrander’s “Grotesk.”  Ostrander’s the meat in a Grant Morrison sandwich, which must be like drowning in haggis.   

BATMAN AND THE MAD MONK #5 (OF 6) $3.50

This is the second miniseries of a trilogy by Matt Wagner, if anyone cares. 

BLUE BEETLE #1 $2.99 

BLUE BEETLE SHELLSHOCKED TP $12.99 

BOYS #6 (MR) $2.99

Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson bring us the most morally indefensible comic since that Jeffrey Dahmer comic book from Boneyard Press a few years ago.  And, I love it. 

CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #28 $2.25 

CONNOR HAWKE DRAGONS BLOOD #2 (OF 6) $2.99 

CREEPER #5 (OF 6) $2.99 

CROSSING MIDNIGHT #2 (MR) $2.99 

DETECTIVE COMICS #827 $2.99

This is, um, early - I think. 

FLASH THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #7 $2.99 

GUY GARDNER COLLATERAL DAMAGE #2 (OF 2) $5.99 

HAWKGIRL #59 $2.99 

HUNTRESS DARK KNIGHT DAUGHTER TP $19.99 

JACK OF FABLES #6 (MR) $2.99 

JSA CLASSIFIED #2 $2.99 

JUSTICE #9 (OF 12) $3.50 

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #5 $2.99

I like to think that I’m a fair man, but this book has really been lacking.  I dropped it a couple of issues ago because it was both boring and confusing.  I really like Brad Meltzer’s work, so I had high hopes for this one. 

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA VAR ED #5 $2.99 

LOVELESS #14 (MR) $2.99 

NINJA SCROLL #4 $2.99 

OYAYUBIHIME INFINITY VOL 3  $9.99 

ROKKIN #6 $2.99 

SEIMADEN VOL 7  $9.99 

SUPERGIRL #13 $2.99 

SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #25 $2.99

This, however, has been way better than I expected. 

SUPERMAN BATMAN #31 $2.99 

TEEN TITANS GO #38 $2.25 

UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS #6 (OF 8) $2.99 

WETWORKS #4 $2.99 

WETWORKS VAR ED #4 $2.99 

IMAGE COMICS 

AGE OF BRONZE #24 $3.50 

CITY OF HEROES #17 $2.99 

CYBERFORCE X-MEN LEE CVR #1 $3.99 

CYBERFORCE X-MEN SILVESTRI CVR #1 $3.99

Featuring lots of skin cancer-like detail lines, women with huge breasts, and the largest cast of bodybuilders ever assembled in one book. 

NEGATIVE BURN #7 (MR) $5.99 

SAVAGE DRAGON ARCHIVES VOL 1 TP  $19.99 

SPAWN #163 $2.95 

TOMB RAIDER COMPENDIUM TP $59.99

All right, I really don’t care one way or another about this series, but it’s awesome of Top Cow to release these phonebook-size volumes.  I might actually snag that Darkness one they’re selling. 

WALKING DEAD NEW PTG #33 (MR) (PP #746) $2.99

For the man who loves torture. 

MARVEL COMICS 

ALL NEW OFF HANDBOOK MARVEL UNIVERSE A TO Z #12 $3.99 

ANITA BLAKE VH GUILTY PLEASURES #3 (OF 12) $2.99 

ANNIHILATION #5 (OF 6) $2.99

Jesus, this isn’t over yet? 

ASTONISHING X-MEN #19 $2.99 

AVENGERS NEXT #4 (OF 5) $2.99 

BLACK PANTHER #23 CW $2.99 

CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON NOMAD TP $24.99 

CIVIL WAR CHOOSING SIDES 2ND PTG VAR (PP #743) $3.99 

DAREDEVIL #92 $2.99

Ed Brubaker continues to rule the world. 

EXILES #89 $2.99 

HEDGE KNIGHT PREMIERE HC $19.99 

HEDGE KNIGHT PREMIERE HC VAR ED $19.99 

HELLSTORM SON OF SATAN #3 (OF 5) (MR) $3.99

Daimon Hellstorm visits post-Katrina New Orleans.  The first issue was pretty damned good. 

HEROES FOR HIRE #5 $2.99 

IMMORTAL IRON FIST #2 $2.99 

KABUKI REFLECTIONS #7 $5.99 

MARVEL 1602 FANTASTICK FOUR #4 (OF 5) $3.5

The first 1602 was pretty rocking, but everything since then has been sorely lacking. 

MARVEL ADVENTURES FLIP MAGAZINE #2 $4.99 

MARVEL HEROES FLIP MAGAZINE #2 $4.99 

MARVEL MASTERWORKS GOLDEN AGE ALL WINNERS VOL 2 HC VAR ED 67 $54.99 

MARVEL MASTERWORKS GOLDEN AGE ALL WINNERS VOL 2 NEW ED HC $54.99 

MOON KNIGHT VOL 1 BOTTOM PREMIERE HC $19.99

This just begs for a series of butt jokes. 

MOON KNIGHT VOL 1 BOTTOM PREMIERE HC VAR ED $19.99 

NEXTWAVE AGENTS OF HATE #11 $2.99

Sadly, we’re one issue away from the conclusion of Warren Ellis’s run. 

ONSLAUGHT REBORN #2 (OF 5) $2.99

If you were missing those early ‘90s big guns and kneepads flashbacks, here’s your chance.  If you were, I hate you. 

PTOLUS CITY BY THE SPIRE #3 (OF 6) $2.99 

SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE #13 $2.99

And soon, when Mary Jane isn’t enough, Spider-Man will love smack. 

SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE VOL 2 NEW GIRL DIGEST TP $7.99 

ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #37 $2.99 

ULTIMATE POWER #3 (OF 9) $2.99 

WHAT IF X-MEN AGE OF APOCALYPSE $2.99 

WHAT IF X-MEN DEADLY GENESIS $3.99 

WINTER SOLDIER WINTER KILLS ONE SHOT CW $3.99 

WOLVERINE ORIGINS #9 $2.99

This book rules.  If you can’t understand that, there’s an Onslaught book on sale this week with your name on it. 

X-MEN #194 $2.99 

X-MEN DEADLY GENESIS TP $19.99

This makes me think about some kid’s Sega Genesis sprouting fangs, unplugging itself from the television, and chasing him around the room while he screams “Mom!  Mom!  Help!”