Miles’ Book of the Month
Detective Comics #856
Greg Rucka (w), J.H. Williams III (a), Dave Stewart (c). DC Comics.
Detective Comics gets the nod this month for a couple reasons. First, because I’ve really been excited about this series and I’ve yet to bestow it with Book of the Month; and, second, because it has the triumphant return of Maggie Sawyer! I’m sure most of you don’t know who that is, but she’s been a minor character hanging around the DCU for about 20 years and is most famous because she’s one of mainstream comics’ first lesbians. I first came into contact with her in the amazing Gotham Central, co-written by Rucka, and was really happy to see her here. Detective Comics #856 has a seduction scene between Sawyer and Kate Kane (Batwoman) that is is so tasteful, so wonderful, so character-driven, and so perfect for what both characters needed. Scenes where one woman picks up another woman are rare in popular culture — extremely rare — so to see it done well makes me extremely happy.
A big part of why it lands so well is William’s fantastic art. This man is drawing the hell out of this book. The subtle style changes, the page compositions, the expressions — everything is working here and working well.
I’m glad my instincts were right on this one: Rucka and Williams are doing great work on this title and making a publicity stunt a narrative success.
Isaac’s Book of the Month
The Flash: Rebirth #4
Geoff Johns (w), Ethan Van Sciver (a), Brian Miller (c). DC Comics.
On a pure numbers basis, Daredevil #500 was my book of the month — but that thing has received its fair share of publicity, so onto something else. Something that, as much as I love James, maybe didn’t get a fair shake when it was reviewed.
Here’s the litmus test — in re-reading the book, how does it affect me? Uh, with a big old smile when Max Mercury finally reappears to an astonished Kid Flash.
The majority of this issue is exposition, which is fair enough. The previous three issues have all been setting up the mysterious return of Barry Allen and the sinister plot of the mystery villain (revealed last issue to be the Reverse Flash — like that’s ever a surprise.) but why can’t we sit back and appreciate some well done exposition? The explanation for Barry turning into a Black Flash was really inventive, and told in such a way that it remains a constant threat to everyone else, as opposed to some shocking thing for an ending that gets swept away at the start of the next issue.
The focus that gets brought around to Wally is important- Wally has a lot of fans! Johns has really built up the characterizations of the different characters. The sensitivity of little Iris, and defensive brattishness of little Jai, are new to these two kids characters, but is a welcome change from the non existent characterization they had through their appearances in the Flash book earlier.
One thing I’ve historically enjoyed about the Flash is how insular and self reliant the character is- when you travel around at Mach 6 for a morning jog it’s no surprise when you think others just can’t keep up or understand you, and it’s a clever mind set for drawing in a certain type of comic fan, issue 1-3 of this comic has been very much like this. But here the characters really come together, supporting one another and getting set to win out with the power of friendship or something. I like this sort of thing, it warms my insides. — Isaac Mills
Owen’s Book of the Month
The Incredible Hercules #133-134
Fred Van Lente & Greg Pak (w), Reilly Brown, Rodney Buchemi (a). Marvel Comics.
I’m going to keep this short — since everyone is probably sick of me raving about this comic and I’m busy moving as I write this — but this is a must-buy book. Two issues this month, both fantastic. The first issue focuses on Hercules going on an adventure disguised as Thor and the second issue has Amadeus Cho fighting floating brains. Honestly, if that doesn’t make you want to buy it then you and I are two very different people. The art was expressive, the gags were hilarious, and the action was awesome. This was the month that Incredible Hercules went from being one of my favourite Marvel comics to being my favourite Marvel comic. Period.
I couldn’t agree less with your opinion on Flash, Isaac. Well, I haven’t read the current issue yet, but all the stuff you said about previous issues is totally contrary to what I recall reading.
How exactly have issues 1-3 been setting up the return of Barry Allen or the plot of the mystery villain? First, Barry Allen returned months ago, before Rebirth even came out, and all he’s been doing in the pages of Rebirth is run away from everyone when he’s not sitting in a corner and having a good sulk. It makes me wonder if Johns is writing Barry like a little bitch on purpose; because curiously he’s much more likable in every other comic he’s appearing in (e.g. Blackest Night/Green Lantern — which quizzically, Johns also writes). Maybe he’s putting the character through an attitude transformation; I hope so anyway, otherwise it’s just inconsistent writing.
Second, how can issues be setting up a plot by a secret mystery villain when, once the villain is revealed, I have absolutely no idea where the villain came from or what exactly he’s been doing with the hero’s life? The last few issues have just been random events, talking, and hey, there’s Professor Zoom (which, by the way, would not be terribly surprising if I knew there was a nefarious plot afoot in the first place).
Furthermore, the Black Flash stuff was handled poorly. When Barry turned into Black Flash I had two questions: What the fuck is a Black Flash (probably not the hip 70’s African American crime fighter who calls his enemies ‘jive turkeys’ like I was hoping he’d be) and why is Barry turning into one? I had to look it up and I wasn’t thrilled with the answer: Black Flash is the embodiment of death that comes for speedsters. Except he looks nothing like the Black Racer, who is that ridiculous version of death that looks like a living silhouette with a cape and flies on skis (yes…SKIS) who was chasing Barry Allen when he came back in the pages of Really Absolute Last and Final Crisis we Promise This Time.
I suppose issue 4 explains the second question (i.e. barry is turning into one because of something professor zoom did) but I’m not sure I’m going to be able to accept any reason that Johns might provide how a long-dead future speedster might have harnessed the force of speedster-death and forced it to possess the body of his greatest enemy who was dead anyway until a few weeks ago. But I’ll read it and see; Johns has surprised me before and he’s a great writer (usually), so if anyone can do it, he can.
Concluding my extremely long and pointless rant, I will suggest to you that Flash: Rebirth is written too much for the fans. If you take it as a jumping-on point for the Flash mythos (and as Barry Allen’s triumphant comeback into the DC universe, you think it WOULD be made as an accessible title for fans…Allen hasn’t been around for over 20 years!), you’re probably going to be woefully confused and disappointed, as all-important plot reveals slap you in the face with the soggy noodle of personal irrelevancy. Johns makes little to no effort to introduce characters before he triumphantly brings them back, so if you don’t know (or in my case, DO know but don’t really care too much) who Johnny Quick, Black Flash, Max Mercury, or Professor Zoom are, all these big moments are just pointless and confusing to you.
Please discuss.
Just an addendum to my last point: unless you’re in your thirties, you probably don’t have a great idea who or what Barry Allen is. He’s been gone for so long. For you, Wally West is the Flash, because he’s been Flash for decades now. So if you write title to reintroduce a long, LOOOOONG gone character that only a minority of fans have a really strong knowledge base of, you should make a little more effort to bring the majority of your readers up to speed than Johns has been doing. I think Johns, being a self-professed uber Barry Allen fan, has perhaps forgotten this and written the comic with the expectation that everyone loves Allen as much as he does.
Dude, first, read the issue.
Second, there isn’t that much to explain with Barry, he’s just a boring good guy hero. I personally like the guy, but that’s just me. Everything that is complicated- Johnny Quick, Max Mercury, Speed force stuff in general, it’s all stuff from Wally West’s run. Seriously, all you need to know about Barry’s past has been given to you in these comics. You’re making the whole thing harder than it has to be.
First, none of my complaints have anything to do with the current issue — they’re all about the presentation of the issues to date.
I actually read the majority of Johns’ run on Flash during the Wally West years. I thought he did a good job. I don’t really recall much, if any, Max Mercury or Johnny Quick…and I read the whole series from about the time Wally starts seeing beefed up versions of his rogues gallery, to the point where Identity Crisis happens and he finds out all that stuff that Barry did regarding the Top, to the Hunter Zolomon stuff, to when Wally erases everyone’s memory so no one knows he’s the Flash any more, and so on…and no, no Max Mercury comes to mind. Wasn’t Max primarily in Kid Flash? He was like, his mentor and he eventually was taken by the speed force or something like that.
And why should I feel any sort of shock or surprise that Mercury is in the speed force? Pretty much any time a speedster dies, it turns out he was just taking a little vacation in the speed force. I am surprised by Johnny Quick being there, since I didn’t think he tapped into the speed force, but I guess that will be explained once I read the issue.
And I guess my complaint about new readers not knowing Barry Allen isn’t so much about his past being explained. It’s more about his relevance — like, unless you’re a LONG-time Flash fan, why should anyone care that Barry Allen is back? What’s the significance of his return to newer (and by ‘newer’ I mean anyone in the last 10 to 15 years, which is a long time) fans? To a reader like that, he doesn’t bring a whole lot to the table. There’s already a Flash with the exact same powers, a Flash that the majority of fans probably feel more of a connection to than Barry Allen. He even has the same costume.
And as for all I need to know about Barry Allen being provided to me in the comic, I don’t know if I agree with that. His past is RIDICULOUSLY complicated and convoluted, to the point where I’m not even sure it’s possible to explain.
Anyway, let’s boil it down to this question: Why should anyone who wasn’t a Barry Allen fan in the 80’s care that he’s returned? So far, Johns hasn’t given me a reason to care, but I’m not writing him off yet…we’ll see after I read what comes next.
So have you read the 4th issue yet?
Not yet. I actually haven’t bought it yet, it’s sitting in my ‘hold’ pile at the shop. I will probably make it there early next week, and I’ll drop a little comment here when I do, which may or may not be along the lines of “Ohhhh, NOW I get it.”
Okay, so I read the latest issue. I’m not sure how I feel about it. It seems like a lot of hooey; the whole idea that Zoom created an “evil” speed force and that Barry created a “good” speed force — the latter through the scientific process of rolling around in forensic chemicals while getting hit by lightning. It’s a clever twist, I GUESS, but I like the idea of the speed force being a force of nature that the Flashes manage to tap into a lot more than the rather confusing idea that the speed force(s) is created when the Flashes run. Because this just brings up a lot of questions. Kind of like a girl who looks fantastic from about thirty feet away, but once you look a little closer you realize she’s had a million dollars worth of plastic surgery and looks like a bag of smashed asses. For example:
Ignoring how anyone can create a ’speed force,’ why are Zoom’s and Barry’s speed forces in opposition with each other? What’s this crap about Zoom’s force “infecting” Barry’s because he, if I understand this correctly, RUNS more? So all Barry has to do is keep running around super fast, which he does anyway, and he should be fine? And what’s the consequence of Zoom’s speed force taking over Barry’s? Why does it turn him into the racially-suspect Black Flash; hasn’t Black Flash been around multiple times in the past? Did Zoom create those too? And I guess Barry the only one who “creates” speed force…but what about Wally and Bart and Jay Garrick? Especially Wally, who is at least as fast as Barry, and has been running a LOT in the past few years, which makes me think that if he’s generating speed force too, then Zoom should have a hard time “corrupting” the “good” speed force because there should be a lot of it to take over. And if Wally doesn’t generate the speed force, how did the speed force exist all those years when Barry was “dead” after Crisis in 1986 — and by “dead”, I might mean “in the future” or “pissing about” or whatever it was that he was doing, which still hasn’t been explained to my satisfaction.
And how is it that Jay Garrick is running super fast, tapping into the speed force, when he started his super speed career decades before Barry was even born? If the explanation is that the speed force stretches through time, Geoff Johns can fuck off because that’s stupid and still doesn’t explain how Garrick taps into it. Or anyone else for that matter.
One thing I DID like, is how Johns sort of addresses the ridiculous and lame way Barry ‘returned’ in the pages of Final Crisis, which has got to be in the top five stupidest and pointless returns of anyone, ever, thank you Grant-I’m-On-Drugs-Morrison. Seriously. ‘We need you back Barry, so you can get chased by a magic bullet and the downhill skiing Spirit of Death and run into the big bad guy so the bullet hits him and saves the day, even though he was fatally wounded anyway, but to make your part in this even more useless and redundant, you’re going to run beside a guy just as fast as you and wearing the same costume who could have done the whole thing without you anyway.’
It’s nice to have a bit of an explanation to all the weird stuff that’s been going on in the past few issues, but I’m not really satisfied with the explanation I suppose, and it still doesn’t excuse the less-than-gripping and confusing way it was presented in those issues in the first place.
Also, Sciver and Johns know how to deliver the big moments…the art is awesome, and the “!” moments that pop up are really cool — but only if you ignore all the stuff that leads you there.
eh, I’ll take it.
The only thing to add though is that the idea is that once the speed force was created it became something that existed through all time, hardly inconceivable in a universe that often has the BEGINNING OF TIME erased from existence without effecting the present until 19 pages into the story.
Also Johns is capitalizing on the fact that it’s always written “Wally/Jay/Bart tap into the Speed Force”, i.e. tapping into that power Barry is generating, as opposed to them also being “speed force generators”
Hmm, I see. I don’t like it though…seeing as how Wally got his powers the EXACT same way Barry did (ridiculous as that is), you’d think he’d have a similar relationship with the speed force…and Barry wasn’t even around for years to be generating diddly squat.
This whole thing just smacks of Geoff Johns desperately trying to make Barry stand out in the Flash mythos (as if he doesn’t already). He’s been quoted as saying he was going to make everyone love Barry Allen as much as he does and has called him the greatest hero ever. But like I said previously, he’s been gone for so long and anything he can do, Wally, a much more established Flash, can do just as well. So this whole “Barry Allen is the fuel and genesis of the speed force” stuff has been concocted.
And I don’t like it because it is absolutely unnecessary. Johns isn’t fixing something that’s broken, like he has successfully done time and time again…this isn’t like explaining the yellow impurity of the Green Lanterns. This is just pandering to a character because he’s his favourite and manufacturing needless significance.
You know what? Flash: Rebirth is like a Michael Bay movie. Big cinematic moments, flashy, pretty, entertaining, but once you start to think about it, very little of it makes any sense and the plot reveals itself as a sad contrivance created to service the personal whims of the director.
Isaac, just so you know, I’m not trying to take the piss out of you — there’s a lot to like in Rebirth, especially if you’re a Barry Allen fan (i’m indifferent to him), and I’m not mocking you or your opinion. I’m just giving my opinion of the story as I’m seeing it, which I’m honestly just figuring out now, as I type.
Actually, the more I think about it, Rebirth is making me dislike Allen. I don’t give two craps about this “oooooh he’s the speed force’s daddy” business and I find Wally much more interesting. Having someone put Allen in a dress and pretty wig and force me to dance with him is NOT endearing me to the character.
bwuh? How come YOU get to dance with Barry? That’s not fair…
who ever said John’s stuff WASN’T a Michael bay movie?
(well, okay, that’s harsh, it’s a little better, but still…
EXPLOSIONS!!)
I think I know how to settle this, guys.
Why don’t we all just buy Hercules?
Ha, Owen, be glad I don’t read Hercules, or you might get similar comments from me that Isaac has to endure. Herc looks like something I might enjoy; I do like the character. I’ve never been a huge fan of the Flashes though, mostly because they’re just too over-powered, especially to be fighting dudes with guns that shoot icicles and glasses that shoot rainbows.