Martian Manhunter, we hardly knew him. Or it, I guess.
James’ Book of the Month
Final Crisis: Requiem
Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Art by Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy
DC Comics, 2008
On the whole, I haven’t been enjoying Final Crisis so far. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been paying enough attention to what’s been happening in the DCU lately. Maybe it’s because I have a love/hate relationship with Grant Morrison. But I think it’s because DC has been lying to me for the past few years.
I recall DC saying, around when Infinite Crisis was staring up, that this was going to be the beginning of a brighter, happier DC universe. Infinite Crisis was to be the last dark night before the beautiful, fun new day. And then they killed Blue Beetle, Rocket Red, and a whole bunch of other characters I loved. But it was okay. It was all going to be better soon.
Well, that didn’t happen. 52 had me kind of hopeful, but then DC did the worst possible thing: they killed my beloved Question. And Elongated Man. And I’m told lately Superboy-Prime has just been killing planets full of people.
Understand that I’m not advocating a return to the comics of the Golden Age, where the good guys always won and nothing really bad ever happened. I’d just like a universe where I’m not worried about my favourite character dying every time I open a comic. Something that’s hard for me to do when every Batman book I pick up is subtitled “R.I.P.”
Anyway, one of my biggest complaints about Final Crisis was the way in which it dealt with the death of the Martian Manhunter. I understand that having it seem like an afterthought was probably part of Morrison’s master plan, but c’mon. It’s the Martian Manhunter. He’s been in every incarnation of the Justice League, and has been a part of the DCU for over 50 years. We should see people mourning him.
And that’s what we get in this issue. We also see the seeds being sown for James Robinson’s upcoming Justice League series, something I’m very excited for. And we see Batman act like a human being, which is always appreciated. It’s a nice, touching eulogy for a character I’m going to miss. And considering the flippant treatment his death received before, that’s enough to make this my Book of the Month.
In this case, justice is blind and holding an automatic and wearing an awesome costume.
Miles’ Book of the Month
Daredevil #109
Written by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka
Art by Michael Lark and Stefano Gaudiano
Marvel Comics, 2008
Next month I’ll probably pick Uncanny X-men as my Book of the Month and I’ll have finally run through all of Brubaker’s excellent monthlies. I can’t help it, he just appeals to all of my sensibilities as a reader.
This arch of Daredevil has Matt Murdock and his law firm/crime-solving buddies attempting to get over Matt’s wife’s recent insanity by trying to get an innocent man off of death row even though he doesn’t want to get off. I think this is the kind of Daredevil that Brubaker has been trying to write since he took over the book. One that focuses more on Murdock taking on crime, rather than fucked up things happening to him and focusing on how he reacts. It’s a refreshing change.
It’s also great to see the Gotham Central (Brubaker, Rucka, Lark) team put back together because the three of them make such wonderful crime together. The best part? You don’t feel like there are two writers working on this book — it’s seamless.
The real reason, though, that this book gets top pick is because the last three pages made me make an audible noise, which the true test of any literature. There’s a potential death at the end of the book: one that is both really well executed and really sad for me. It’s a death sequence that shows the real power of comics — it allows moments that hang forever.
Here’s hoping this Daredevil team stays on the book forever.
Isaac’s Book of the Month
Barry Allen, on the other hand, we knew very well.
Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge #1 (of 3)
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Scott Kolins
DC Comics, 2008
Since Identity Crisis there’s been a shift in the DC Comics universe to try to reincorporate Silver Age ideas with modern sensibilities. Unfortunately this often results in a dismissal of storylines and events from the good old ’90s up to Identity Crisis printed in 2004.
Pre-Identity Crisis the Flash comic by Johns and Kolins was riding high, with a well-rounded protagonist in Wally West who didn’t agonize over his mentor Barry Allen’s legacy, while adventuring in a fully realized environment of Central and Keystone cities. The most explored aspect of the Flash comic during this era was the hidden motivations of the Rogues: Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Heat Wave, Weather Wizard, and a number of others, elevating them to stars in their own right.
But when the Identity Crisis kicked in, editorial necessities (I assume) cut short the “Rogue War” storyline and the comic was never the same. Soon after Infinite Crisis Bart Allen became the Flash in his own series, Flash: Fastest Man Alive, which was overall a disappointment, especially in how it just couldn’t keep up the intricacies of the Geoff Johns’ Flash environment, dropping supporting cast and even moving Flash from his home in both Central and Keystone cities to Los Angeles. Ultimately Bart Allen was killed off in issue #13 by the Rogues (I actually liked this issue a lot; it was a very heroic adventure that didn’t let one of my favourite characters go out like a total punk) — a crime that didn’t quite fit with the Rogues modus operandi and left readers going “whuh?”
Since then Wally West has been back as the Flash, his series hasn’t been going too well, and we haven’t even heard from his Rogue enemies (maybe in Salvation Run? Didn’t read it).
But Rogues’ Revenge is Johns and Kolins’ return to the world they perfected, a little darker and grittier for their absence, but that’s almost like an acknowledgment of everything the readers have had to sit through in the meantime, like these creators were feeling how bad and “away” the Flash stories had gotten and had to step in to set things right.
Captain Cold says it best: “We’ve been on the run for months with no help from any of ‘em. And I hate running.”
I won’t tell you what happens between Inertia and Zoom, beyond the fact that those two are in the comic, and that it was awesomely cool to the max. Plus a little bit weird.
The pictured flashes of lightning all throughout the book herald either Barry Allen’s imminent appearance, or Zoom’s — a picture whose clarity is like a signal that the Flash is headed for another revival, and it’s about time.
I think the bigger problem with the end of Johns’ Flash run wasn’t that it was rushed from editorial — I’m pretty sure there were issues of Flash after Johns — but it was that he was so busy writing 6 other books a month and writing the general course for the DCU for the next three years. That, and it’s hard to pull off a story the big.
Sadly, I thought the ending was so bad it ruined a couple years of good stories. Seriously, that was a way-too happy ending that came out of no where and kind of ruined Wally for me. I welcome the return of Barry Allen because of this.
Which part was a way too happy ending? I collected those Johnhs issues in trade, so I know there’s a bunch of stuff I missed after the fact- I think Rogue War was the last big trade to come out, and it was just a mess.
Rogues: “Mwahahah we shall now commit evil upon each other!”
Zoom: “I defeat you all so the story can deal with me now!”
Rogues: “Oh no, Zoom’s skillz are too righteous, we must retreat to lick our hastily aquired wounds!”
Where out of no where the unborn twins came back to life and all of Wally’s other problems went away.
Seriously, those kids died, it was sad, and then they came back to cheat the meaning of the earlier stories. Planned retcon, maybe, but still a retcon.
Actually, that I have no real problem with, but I’m a sucker for cool time travel story stuff… having that happen is almost like giving a modern spin to all the crazy silver age time adventures of Barry Allen Flash.
James, you haven’t been understanding Final Crisis because it’s incompre-fucking-hensible, that’s why. Morrison, while full of great ideas, is often pretty crap in executing them, and he lets his fertile imagination go nuts sometimes. The whole comic reads like a badly edited movie directed by someone on an acid trip.
And I am SOOOOOOOO pissed at the death of the Martian Manhunter. I always loved that guy, and always griped that they hardly ever use him. And then for him to be dispatched in two bloody panels of Final Crisis…I became very bitter.
Requiem, however, does the character a great service. It’s really well done…I just can’t decide if this was planned out all along or if someone stepped in to clean up Grant Morrison’s mess.
As for all the Flash stuff…I really don’t get what the big deal is with Barry Allen’s return. I can’t get excited about a character’s return when A) he’s around off and on anyway through the ‘magic’ of time travel, and B) he’s got the exact same powers and costume as someone who’s been around for years. It’s a meaningless substitution, in my opinion. They’re both great characters with identical powers. It’s like the WWII Torch and Toro, kinda.
Keep in mind that as a superhero, I’ve never really adored the Flash. He should basically never lose any fight or get hit by anything, ever, if he knows it’s coming. Yet there’s Gorilla Grodd slapping him around. Somebody who can run across town, pick up an iron pipe and beat you on the head with it 15, 000 times in a tenth of a second shouldn’t have any trouble fighting a guy with a gun that shoots icicles.
Dude, Captain Cold fires off a cold field that slows Flash down enough that it becomes a fair fight!
And Gorilla Grodd is a gorilla.
Dude! I’m not sure if you’re being serious or not — I’m going to assume you are.
First of all, it’s a cold gun, not a time-slowing gun. If you create a small ‘cold field’ around a person traveling at 2000 km per second, they’re still going to travel through that field at around 2000 km/s, and then punch you in the face. You know how you can pass your finger through a candle flame and avoid being burned? Also, by the time Captain Cold has time to pull the trigger, Flash could have run around the earth.
And yes…Gorilla Grodd is a gorilla. I guess I can’t argue with that.
Okay, now I have to sound more serious so that all is clear. Captain Cold’s gun isn’t like Mr. Freezes weapon, shooting off ice and all that, but rather Cold’s weapon works by slowing down molecules. The ice and stuff is actually just a side effect. By projecting a cold field, aka a surrounding barrier that acts to rob its contents of kinetic energy, even the Flash can be made slower. He’s still really fast, on account of him being the Flash, but it evens the field a lot. The catch is that Captain Cold does have to fire this protective field off before Flash shows up, otherwise its all over, so Cold has to anticipate trouble.
The best Rogues operate as clever ways to slow Flash up- I don’t usually like the match ups with other speedtsers because those fights tend to be too unimaginative, with the edge always going to whoever is faster, like having a level 5 Squirtle face off against a level 10- the level 10 always wins. If some clever tactics were used to offset greater speed on the part of one or the other, say by borrowing some Rogue weaponry, they would be a lot better.
Fighting the latest Zoom is the worst, because there just really is no way to beat that guy as far as I’ve seen. Hate when there’s no weakness on a character to be exploited.
Did you — did you just bust out a Pokemon comparison? For some reason, that makes me happy.
Anyway, I disagree with your logic on this point: cold, no matter how cold, does not rob an object of its kinetic energy. Yes, it slows molecules down and what not and keeps your food from going bad. But if you drop the temperature of a room down to -1000 degrees C and then throw a rock into that room, that rock will not slow down and hover in space once it hits the cold air. Similarly, Flash, when running at speeds approaching the speed of light or whatever, will not magically start running in slow motion. If anything, his muscles would lock up and he’d go flying through the air in a straight line and collide with something and die. But even that wouldn’t happen because he travels so fast the cold shouldn’t have time to affect him.
And I don’t quite buy the argument that Cold’s weapon robs things of kinetic energy and the ice is a side effect, because I don’t see how stealing kinetic energy from something can create giant icicles that you can stab people with or freeze rays or what not. I don’t ever remember reading anything like “My cold gun is a kinetic energy damper” in any Flash comic, ever…but I’ve missed a few, so I guess it’s possible.
And yes, Captain Cold has to shoot that field off before Flash shows up, but curiously, he never does yet it’s always in place before Flash makes his move. It’s always, “Hey, it’s the Flash, better fire off my cold field” but it should really go “H — ” and then Captain Cold is defeated. Actually, by the time his brain processes the visual information his eyes provide him, he should probably be in jail already.
Every one of Flash’s enemies is like that, actually (except the super speed ones). There is no way a guy that fast should ever have any trouble with anyone who didn’t have super speed as well. That’s why I don’t like the Flash as a superhero…writers have to invent stupid excuses for why his every fight isn’t finished in the blink of an eye.
It’s just crap science. I’m not even a science nerd, but I do like a certain grounding in reality when it comes to my superhero stories. I can make leaps of faith, sure — a gun that fires cold? No problem. But a cold-field that steals kinetic energy? Um, no.
I agree with your sentiments on Zoom; not enough weaknesses on that guy.
For the record, this is one of the nerdiest arguments I’ve ever had AND I LOVE IT.
Also, if I recall correctly, Heat Wave generates a similar ‘hot field’ with his flame gun or whatever, and it works on the principle of making the Flash really hot when he runs through it or something like that.
That’s even MORE ridiculous.
The part you’re getting hung up on is that its called a cold gun, but don’t. That’s just what it’s called, again, the focus is on firing an energy whatzits that robs things of it speed, molecular motion, whatever.
And whoah, Heat Wave can make a blast hot enough to create heat cramps. It’s like Heat Wave vs. Flash is an extrapolation of a runner vs. the elemental nature of heat during a race. And that’s part of why I love the Flash so much, because when you go out for a run you’re in your own little world and it’s all about figuring out the pacing, the timing, the whatever to keep going another step- and no matter the difference in actual speed, that’s what the Flash is actually doing. Even though the applications for the power of super speed or nearly incomprehensible (wait, we would burn up due to friction? vibrating molecules to pass through stuff?)the mentality is universal. Check out “The Ballad of Barry Allen” for a good point of view on what I’m talking about. Or just a fun song- with Barry Allen in the title!
But yes, there’s a lot of suspension of disbelief with the Flash. Unless it’s a fight between Cold and Mirror Master at the same time: I’m not even joking they would kill the Flash every time with that combo.
Heat cramps. Come on. The Speed Field around the flash protects him against air friction heat that comes with traveling at super speeds.
Anyway, I’m not buying it. Geoff Johns did a good job of making the Flash’s Rogues Gallery — aka the lamest super villains EVER — into cool characters with cool powers. But there’s still very few of them that should really give Flash any problems. He’s just too fast.
The Top, Zoom, Mirror Master, Grodd (only because of his mind powers), even the Turtle can pose credible threats. A dude with a cold gun/kinetic energy robbing device? Not so much. They’re cool characters now, and very dangerous to people like Batman or Aquaman or whatever, but not against a character that can circle the Earth faster than you can blink.
It’s just too much suspension of disbelief for me to handle.
For what it’s worth though, I’ve enjoyed our geeky discourse here.
I can see you won’t budge on the awesomeness, and hero to villain match up appropriateness, that is Captain Cold.
An extra bit of defence for Heat Wave though: I am aware of course of Flash’s protective aura, but that’s no reason to dismiss the “heat cramp” effect, it’s really only a testament to just how hot Heat Wave’s attack is that it can get through Flash’s aura. Caesar, you are the one concerned (rightly so) with Flash being too powerful, so let’s not go out of our way to make him stronger than he his by disregarding the limits of that aura.
Even I think this is too nerdy. Any takers on a “limits on tactile telekinesis and its misrepresentation in Young Justice” conversation? I’m kidding.
Ha ha ha, tactile telekinesis. I think that actually is a cool power, but poorly applied.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Captain Cold is an awesome villain. Just not for the Flash.
As for the Heat Wave thing, it’s not that I’m making the Flash more powerful; it’s that I’m staying in the bounds of logic that are presented to me with a description of his powers. Case in point: the space shuttle re-enters the atmosphere at a speed of 28 000 kph or 7.7 km per sec, which I think we’ll both agree is a turtle’s crawl compared to the speed the Flash travels on a regular basis. The shuttle has to deal with air friction temperatures of 1650 deg C. I think by extrapolation Flash is dealing with temperatures in excess of 10 000 deg C, easily. I really don’t think Heat Wave’s gun is THAT hot.
I think Flash is written way too powerful and that instead of being clever about inventing obstacles for him to overcome, writers are just manufacturing ridiculous scenarios that make no sense. “Oh it’s too cold for him to move super-fast.” I mean really, no one should ever even SEE the Flash. Anyone who moves as fast as him and still can get hit with a flying icicle or punched in the head by a gorilla is fighting like an idiot. But that’s the problem Flash is faced with; too powerful to really have any physical challenges, but no challenges in a story = boring.
A large portion of Flash’s Rogue Gallery is really more suited to someone like Batman. Think about it…Captain Cold (Mr Freeze), Heat Wave (Firebug), The Trickster (Joker). THE TRICKSTER FOR GOD’S SAKE. He attacks people with joybuzzers.
Put it this way…can you imagine Batman taking out Captain Cold? I think he could. And if Batman could do it, Flash should be able to do it in his sleep. Could Batman take out Zoom? Definitely not (unless of course he planned it way ahead of time).
Anyhoo. Good game. I admire your loyalty to the character.