Miracleman: A Dream Of Flying

There has been some renewed interest in Marvelman (or Miracleman as he was later called when Marvel threatened legal action over the name) recently due to the announcement at SDCC the other week that Marvel had bought the rights to Marvelman from Mick Anglo. So now seems like a good time to review this little 80 page trade paperback which collects together the first few issues of Eclipse's Miracleman series in the US - which were themselves reprints of black and white material originally in the Warrior magazine in the UK.

Marvelman was originally a British version of Fawcett's Captain “Shazam!” Marvel. First printed in 1954, Marvelman lasted until the early 60s before interest in the character faded. Then, Alan Moore took the idea and decided to reinvent and deconstruct the character. In the 1980s, a new, darker Marvelman was born in the pages of Warrior magazine to much critical acclaim. I'm not going to go any further into the history of this character - others have covered that much better than I could. It’s all quite complicated.

The story in this book goes something like this. Mike Moran is a reporter in his 40s who suffers from strange and terrible nightmares. One day, he's covering a story about the opening of a nuclear power station when the place is attacked by terrorists. By pure chance, Mike Moran happens to see the word "Atomic" reversed through the glass in a door and upon uttering the 'magic' word Kimota, is transferred in a boom of thunder into Miracleman. For twenty years he's been unaware of his powers - ever since that fateful, deadly, snowy day in 1963 which still haunts Mike's dreams.

Since the 60s, the Miracleman family were all thought to be have been destroyed - but Mike Moran isn't the only powerful superman who survived!

This was Alan Moore's first deconstruction of the modern day superhero. It came before Watchmen but covers similar territory to that fantastic story. Like Watchmen, it takes a person with all-too-human thoughts and emotions in the real, modern world, gives him unearthly superpowers and then examines the effect on the world and on the superhuman himself. It's an interesting story that rather cleverly manages to merge the bizarre, old-fashioned stories from the 50s by Mick Anglo into this modern day interpretation. And this *is* modern, in the sense that it's dark and brutal. Characters are beaten to a pulp or killed with little effort, whilst we're shown again that absolute power can corrupt absolutely.

The art by Gary Leach and, later, the wonderful Alan Davis matches the gruesome story and is dark and realistic. The complex emotions of characters are well depicted during the quiet periods whilst furious action scenes are stunningly shown in murky colours. And that's my only criticism of the art on this book - it's perhaps a little too dark to make out the details at times. Alan Davis' work is perhaps a little easier to follow than Gary Leach's although this is some early art from Davis so is not as polished as his later stuff.

Overall, this is a bloomin' marvellous (or should that be miraculous?) story. Of course, by now, this sort of dark examination of superhumans has been done many times, but in the early 80s this was all very new and exciting. Plus, Alan Moore is one of the best at this sort of thing. I’d also recommend reading other reviews of this TPB that are out there.

And, if you’ve never seen this before and want to read this story yourself, I'm currently selling the book on Ebay. I’d certainly recommend it. So, you too can own a rare copy of Miracleman "A Dream of Flying".

What can I say? This review is a shameless cash-in. Still, at least it's starting at a decent price!

Grade: Very Fine.

One Giant Leap

Almost a year before I was born a couple of Americans landed on the moon.

I still find that amazing (and yes, that makes me 39). There are some big ideas out there but blasting off into space on a huge rocket and then guiding it to the surface of the moon is just massive. Thinking about doing it now seems difficult enough but forty years ago...?!

My dad was a big sci-fi fan, brought up reading Dan Dare and watching Flash Gordon. When he was a teenager in the mid to late 50s, he believed that in the near future - and certainly within his lifetime - man would travel into space and walk on the moon. Other kids teased and ridiculed him - I guess it would be like saying some one will travel back in time in the next dozen years or so. But, when he was only in his late twenties, he watched as one small step was taken on the surface of another planetary body.

Sadly, since then, things seemed to have slowed down. After landing on the moon, I suspect many people thought we'd have visited Mars and perhaps a few other planets by now. Perhaps by 1999 we'd have a base on the moon and by 2001 we'd be embarking on missions to Jupiter from huge space stations. If we could reach the Moon by 1969 after ten years of hard work then think of what could be achieved in another 40 years!

I'm sure many consider space travel a waste of time and vast resources. People probably thought the same about sailing off to the Americas or travelling beyond the limits of their own town. Each to their own, I guess. It still doesn't take away mankind's amazingly giant leap that was achieved in July 1969.

JSA: The Next Age

Y’know, I like the Justice Society of America. At least, I like reading about this latest incarnation of the JSA. Every since the JSA were "reborn" in Justice Be Done in 1999 I've enjoyed their exploits in the various TPBs I’ve picked up. This, I think, is primarily to do with Geoff Johns. For me, he's one of the best writers currently in comics. His writing is very "superheroic" - not subtle, not thought-provoking, not full of crazy, wacky ideas - but full of power, heroism, emotion and a fair number of "F#*k yeah!" moments.

And here Johns does it again with this soft reboot of the JSA. Following the events of DC's Infinite Crisis and the World War III event, this TPB tells the story of the JSA coming back together to help lead new generations of legacy heroes onto the right path. JSA veterans Flash, Green Lantern and Wildcat decide to restart the JSA and recruit new members - such as Cyclone, Damage, and Starman - into the Society. Meanwhile a new group of Nazi villains called the Fourth Reich - led by one of the JSA's arch-villains - is going around killing patriotic legacy heroes and their families, trying to ensure that there will be no future heroes for the JSA to train.

This is a four issue TPB covering #1 to #4 of JSA vol 3, which means that, although there is an extended first issue, it is unfortunately shorter than normal. Still, in this space Johns manages to restart the JSA, introduce a handful of new characters (as well as briefly establish many old faces), and tell an interesting story. It's not quite the "done-in-one" of the Silver Age but it's certainly not as decompressed as many modern day comic books out there.

However, I have two main concerns though with the story. Firstly, Johns' blood-thirsty predilection for gory fights and minor character deaths rears its head again, which is unfortunate for a light, colourful book like this. Secondly, because there are now so many active members in the JSA (there's around 16 of them!) some of the characters are sidelined to make way for the newcomers. In the final battles, you're left wondering what Green Lantern, Power Girl, Mr Terrific and others are doing and why they're not helping out the new recruits in fighting the bad guys.

Dale Eaglesham's art fits the tone of the book well. The action is generally clear and straightforward - though occasionally it is difficult to work out what's going on - and the style is smooth, clear and uncomplicated. Together with the solid, bright colouring it looks suitably superheroic in a sort of four-color way. It's not my favourite art ever but it does look crisp and fits in with previous JSA artists.

As an extra there are also some nice sketches at the back of the book by Eaglesham and Alex Ross, the cover artist and (apparently) creative advisor for this series. I have to say that I often find the raw pencils by many artists look better than the finished, inked pages.

In summary, Johns, Eaglesham and Ross have produced an enjoyable, exciting TPB and a great start to a new(ish) version of the JSA. But then again, I like this Justice Society of America, so maybe I'm biased.

Grade: Fine.

Friday Night Fights: Kung Fu Fighting

I missed last week's Friday Night Fight due to being on holiday but today... I'm baaack. So, without further ado, it's time for Friday Night Fights: G7. And today I'm going for a 70s classic...

Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas

So, of course, it has to be Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu:

(the above image is taken from Master of Kung Fu #22 written by Doug Moench with art by Paul Gulacy)

Ashes to Ashes: Season 2 Episode 8

It seems that a few TV shows I watch are coming to the end of their current season this week, Ashes to Ashes being one of them (Smallville and Primeval are the other ones that come to mind). And this final episode of Season 2 goes out with a bang - followed by a fade to white and lots of shouts of "Bolly!".

Season 2 was a better series of 8 episodes than the first season, although still not quite as good as Life on Mars. Maybe this is because AtA is retreading a lot of familiar ground that LoM first explored? Or maybe it's because LoM was set in and around Manchester (my "home city" I guess) rather than AtA's London? Still, it is improving - perhaps due to additional little twists and weird events (such as the inclusion of Martin Summers, who appears to be another coma victim from the future) - which is unusual but very welcome.

In this episode we get Gene hosting Jackanory (hilarious!), Alex trying to stop Summers, Gene losing his trust in Alex, Alex discovering Summers is in the room next to hers in the future, Ray chomping on a phallic-like sausage (tee hee!), and the partial redemption of Chris after it was revealed he was a traitor to the team in last week’s episode.

Highlights were Gene's "You've been Quattroed" and a wedding-dress attired Shaz blasting away saving Chris. Of course, the biggest shock was Alex getting shot by Gene, the gradual fade and then waking up in 2009. But as Gene starts shouting to her from the monitors, we're left wondering is this the real 2009 or just another coma-induced dream? Has Alex gone mad?

Of course, we now know they'll be a third season of AtA, so somehow they'll have to pick this up and (probably) send Alex back to the 1980s. The currently favoured way-ahead is that Alex will "wake up" from the dream-2009 and find herself in a hospital back in the '80s. But who knows? There are dozens of theories out there about where Alex is, what it's all about and what’s going to happen.

And it's all this speculation and theorizing that, for me, is so fascinating. Sure, seeing a pastiche of an 80s cop show and looking at it through Alex's modern-day eyes can be quite entertaining but it can only take us so far (and we've currently had 4 seasons of this between LoM and AtA). It's the uncertainty of what's actually happening to Alex - whether Gene's World is a shared reality for cops in comas, just something made up by Alex's mind or something more - that keeps this interesting. It also helps a lot that the main characters, Gene, Alex, Ray and Chris, are so well realised and engaging.

A great ending to a good season. I can't wait for the third, and final, season next year!

 

Friday Night Fights: French Kicking In The USA

It's the start of a new contest in Spacebooger's Friday Night Fight theme called G7-Fight Music. This time, instead of one panel of pain, each fight has a musical theme linking to a song or some lyrics. So, tonight, to "kick" (ha ha) things off, I thought I'd stick to an old favourite - Batroc Ze Leapair!

And tonight's wonderful nine-panel page of pugilistic pounding involves the foot-fighting Frenchmen attacking the living symbol of US of A, Captain America. Which links us to this week's song:

French Kickin' Kissin' In The USA, by Debbie Harry (of course!)

Paris is calling, indeed. Kiss the floor, Batroc!

(these lovely panels are taken from Tales Of Suspense #85 (1967) by Stan "the Man" Lee and Jack "the King" Kirby)

Millennium

Most TPBs are pretty enjoyable, with eye-popping art and engaging storylines. But, of course, there's always some that are somewhat below average. This Millennium TPB, the collection of the eight-issue crossover miniseries that ran across DC's books in 1988, falls in the latter camp. It's not atrocious or offensive but it's still not very good.

The story by Steve Engelhart basically covers just two areas. The first involves a member of the Guardians of the Universe (an Oan) and a Zamaron (the female version of the Oans) coming to Earth and changing 10 (actually 7 in the end) selected humans - The Chosen - to become superpowered immortals. Meanwhile, the Manhunters, the original group of galactic policemen created by the Guardians before the Green Lantern Corps, decide to stop the Guardian and Zamaron from creating these Chosen. And that’s about it.

It is the latter idea that's the most intriguing because, unknown to the reader, the Manhunters have placed a number of sleeper agents - some androids, some willing humans, some mind-controlled beings - close to the various heroes of the DC Universe. These were sometimes already established characters in the heroes’ books and, when activated, were retconned into Manhunters to try to stop the heroes helping out. It's sort of like Marvel's recent Secret War series but with Manhunter agents rather than Skrulls. Unfortunately most of this action goes on in the other crossover books and is only hinted at in this central Millennium limited series. In fact, a lot of action is mentioned in this TPB but never really gets shown, occurring instead in other comics.

Instead, the focus in this book is the creation of the Chosen - via a load of mumbo-jumbo by Engelhart - which, in the end, produces a group of supposedly high-powered immortals to protect Earth. These New Guardians never made much of an impact and have since disappeared from the DC Universe (well, almost - a couple are members of the Global Guardians).

The artwork's also somewhat average. Joe Staton provided layouts over which Ian Gibson inked and it does certainly look like Gibson's other work, only looser and sketchier. I must admit, I never cared much for Gibson's 200AD work on stories like the Ballad of Halo Jones - it's just not my cup of tea. And I don't really have much knowledge of Staton's work. Overall, I guess the art manages to tell the (lacklustre) story but it's just not that good. Similarly with the colouring.

So, overall a bland collection that suffers from the lot of the problems that come with a company-wide crossover – i.e. a somewhat incomplete story. The art is weak as well and, with no additional material (annotations, introduction or sketches) in the book, this amounts to something of a turkey. And it seems the spin-off of this series – the New Guardians – was just as bad as well.

Grade: Fair

Star Trek

After reading many good reviews about Star Trek, such as those by the Acrobatic Flea and Frank, and seeing that Rotten Tomatoes is giving it such a good score, I thought I'd best go and see this latest Star Trek movie. And, last night, I finally saw it.

It was... good. But not brilliant.

Certainly it was an enjoyable and fun film and superior to many others out there. Though, I must admit, I thought Watchmen was better. But it was flawed. And not just in the science, though for a Star Trek film that was quite good. Other blogs - such as those by Snell and Siskoid - have indicated the various problems and their concerns with this film. I won't echo too much what they've said but will just list my top three what-where-why 'problems':

1. What was Nero doing for 25 years? He went through the black hole ahead of Spock Prime so he probably wasn't even sure Spock was coming through afterwards. And, after waiting a few hours, a few days or a few weeks, you'd think he'd assume Spock wasn't coming and therefore head off (perhaps to warn the Romulans or attack Vulcan). Wouldn't his crew be getting hungry? The only reason I can see for heading back 25 years before Spock arrived was so that he could affect Kirk's birth.

2. Where the hell was Starfleet? When Earth was being attacked by Nero, why didn't lots of ships come and take out Nero's weirdly-shaped mining ship? The Enterprise was supposed to go and meet up with the rest of the fleet but what the heck were they doing that was so important that they'd leave Earth to be destroyed?

3. Why did Kirk and the other cadets get high-ranking positions on the Enterprise? I can understand them running the ship during most of the movie (mainly due to a lack of higher-ranking officers) but why once the dust had settled? One or two might get positions on the ship but all of them? And Kirk gets to be captain?

Okay, I guess the last one isn’t that great a problem and was done because they wanted to get everyone settled into their roles on the Enterprise ready for the next movie. It still seemed a bit forced. Surely there was a better way of doing it, like fast forwarding a couple of years maybe?

Anyway, faults aside, I did enjoy it. It was certainly exhilarating. Two hours never went by so quickly! So, a directing great job by Abrams. The acting and casting were also very good. Pine played a great Kirk whilst keeping the Shatnerisms to a minimum. Quinto was okay as Spock (although I associate him too much with Sylar on Heroes). Urban as McCoy was definitely very good. And I rather liked Chekov. Character that worked the least for me was Simon Pegg's Scotty. I like Pegg but his Scotty was just too different. And his accent was all over the place. Still, even he wasn't bad - just my least favourite.

Overall, a good and exciting film and well worth going to see. It was certainly a successful reboot of the franchise whilst still remaining faithful to the old series. I'll be more than happy to see any sequels. Hopefully, in the second outing, there won't be quite so many holes in the story though.

Grade: Very Fine.