Comic Book Journal

He’s been both a hero and a villain, befriending the ancestors to the Hawkman and Dr. Fate legacies, while battling the Marvel famiy for years. He’s taken his homeland back by force, literally squashing the previous dictator, building the country back up to to it’s former glory - and then completely eradicating a neighboring country - taking 2 million lives in the process - after tragedy took his family.

He’s one of the most complex characters in DCU - and if there’s anyone more deserving of having his own book, it’s Black Adam.

The anti-hero will get his own mini-series later this year, written by Peter Tomasi, a long-time editor at DC who oversaw such projects as Starman, Hitman, Seven Soldiers and Paul Dini’s run on Detective Comics.

This comes as tremendously exciting news, but I have to ask . . . given everything that has happened to him in 52 and everything that has happened to him in World War III, what can you do? But then I realize:

Black Adam has the luck of Peter Parker and the anger of the Hulk.

That’s plenty.

Here’s the real stuff - today we have several weekly webcomics in addition to all the dailies we cover on Fridays anyway. So without further delay, let’s get this mash-up started.

I’m really excited about Dominic Deegan. My biggest problem with Dominic is, in my estimation, he’s very rarely wrong about people. There are good people in the world, and Dominic knows it, and there are bad people in the world, and yes, Dominic knows it. I can understand if he was really wrong a lot he wouldn’t make a good seer, but all the same, your hero has to be wrong sometimes.

Though its a minor case, one character just might surprise Dominc Deegan - if he lives long enough. Reinholt is a disgraced Knight who crossed paths with Dominic on one of his bad days, his racist tones earning Dominic’s wrath, who cast a pretty depressing forecast for Reinholt. This week, Reinholt disobeys a direct order to return home in order to escort headstrong mage Cassaflinn on a mercy of mission to the orc homelands. Too bad Cassaflinn herself has disobeyed a warning from Dominic Deegan NOT to participate in the food drive, as a nasty clan of orc mages is on the march too. I’m really interested to see what happens in the next two days.

Things are just today getting interesting in Least I Could Do. Rayne’s laziness leads him to be abandoned by his sexy co-worker in organizing a charity event. This unfortunately, gives Rayne full control of the charity funds - and he gives it directly to those in needs. Today the event seems to be giving guests a first hand look at poverty - right in their own streets. Does Rayne know what he’s doing, or is he heading headlong into the unemployment line? The fact that I can asks this question makes this webcomic interesting.

Everything’s pretty much the same on Arthur King of Time and Space. Arthur talks to a troll of the Internet variety. Lancelot gets stuck in a tree, and debates the inherent existentialism of his quest. Just wait to things get really interesting in this strip.

Now for the monthlies.

First one up is from my good friend and Pierced colorist Bryan J. Ibeas. This Is Gravity explores the supernatural through the perspective of a depressed young woman Maggie, her dead best friend’s younger brother Dexter, and his precocious pal Amanda. I think the devil runs a pet store. Figures.

This storyline focuses on Amanda, a relatively new addition to the cast, and the story is skillyfully weaved between Amanda’s conversation with a quirky fortune teller as well as her and Dexter’s investigation of suspicious arson plaguing several condemned buildings. What’s behind it all?

Dexter thinks its a Balrog.

Things are going pretty slowly in my own webcomic “Hector!”, thanks in turn to Pierced (you knew I’d find a way to plug it again). Only one update this month for the prologue to the next story, “The Man-Eating Horse of Cross Pitch”, as several outlaws ride off in for a dangerous bounty mission. Hmmm, I wonder what they’ll find.

Well, I was going to tell you all about another one of my favorite webcomics, the three-a-week Between Two Worlds, but when I clicked on the link, guess what two unfamiliar words graced the image I saw.

THE END

The End? Webcomics end? WHAT?!

But seriously, if you’re looking for a webcomic substitute to “Lost”, with an astonishing array of enjoyable, but not uncountable, characters and a storyline that makes a great deal more sense start to finish than “Lost” does in three freakin’ years . . . be sure to check out “Between Two Worlds”. You can probably read the whole story from start to finish.

Although there is an epilogue still to come. Expect frequent updates on that.

Another webcomic coming to all-too-sudden close is the Talismen series. As with “Between Two Worlds”, there is plenty of enjoyable stuff to read with “Talismen”, whose fantasy I find bold and refreshing. Writer Steven P. Jones is authoring a series of books based on the past days of “Talismen”, but I’m going to miss the excellent illustrations by Barb Jacobs.

Wow. Two of the three webcomics I set out to mash up monthly really did mash up . . . one by closing their doors and the other by way of “The End” (though there’s still more to the story) I hope I have better luck next month. We aren’t off to an auspicious start!

Things are heating up around here. If you don’t know about Pierced, don’t worry about it - it’s a comic I’m just starting to write. If you do know about it - well - that’s just kind of weird.

Pierced is my entry into the Small Press Idol competition on DimestoreProductions.com. It’s a story about urban legends, and how gossip and lies produce a very real and very startling one in the life of local gas store clerk Garth Percy - a burnout who becomes boogeyman to the kids of a small town. And little does Garth know, the power of imagination the kids foster will have a supernatural impact on his life therein!

Round 2 of Small Press Idol is all about the character designs, and me and my team - Luke Perks, Emiliano Urich and Bryan J. Ibeas - have just posted our five unique profiles for the personalities of Pierced. This includes the titular character Pierced, who I’ve posted on the blog today. Pierced is the legendary creepster Garth Percy is destined to become - unless he can solve the mystery at the heart of this small town!

As such, votes are really appreciated. If you want to help out, sign up for the forum on DimestoreProductions.com and then take a look at the character designs here. Click OFFICIAL VOTE and then post “YES” under the resulting message board thread.

And here’s the great one - you can vote for as many projects as you want, so you can peruse the many fascinating characters all around the forum - just don’t forget about me!

Lastly, if you have any trouble with the forums, talk to Ian at Ian@dimestoreproductions.com

The rollar coaster known as Pierced has been a major time-drain in the last couple of days, so unfortunately I won’t be able to complete a Top 10 this weekend. However, expect a massive Monthly Webcomic Mash-Up along with all your Weekly Webcomic Wrap-Up goodness tomorrow!

That concludes the vagrant self-promotion. We know return to your regularly scheduled program.

Time for the Oscars of comics, better known as the Eisners, which makes more sense to me. I mean, I know who Will Eisner is, but I’m still not sure who the hell this Oscar guy is.

The nominees for the 2007 Eisner Awards have been announced. This is actually something I kind of participated, blissfully hoping for a nod myself, from my webcomic “Hector!” and its first year of operation.

It was a long shot . . . a HUGE long shot . . . but I actually did send something out, so it was kind of cool regardless of the lackluster results. But more on that later.

There’s quite a few things of interest in each category, but here are just a few of the highlights:

Stan Lee is up for an Eisner in “Best Short Story” for an entry entitled “Spider-Man Meets Stan Lee”. If I was in Spider-Man’s position, I’d punch Stan Lee in the mouth. Hard.

Will Eisner’s own creation “The Spirit” is back in the Eisners now for “Best Single Issue or One-Shot”. The nomination goes to issue #1 of Darwyn Cooke and Jeph Leob’s “Batman/The Spirit #1″. Though it was among one of the first Spirit comics not written by Will Eisner, the cover was downright hilarious and well-worth the price of admission!

Two of my favorite titles are up for Eisners in the “Best Continuing Series” category - Grant Morrison’s “All-Star Superman” and Allan Heinberg’s “Young Avengers”. If you’re a comic book fan, you owe it to yourself to pick at least one issue of these books up - I think “All-Star Superman” is already out on hardcover as well.

The “Limited Series” category seems a tight race between Paul Pope’s “Batman: Year 100″ and “Through the Looking Glass: Hatter M” by Frank Beddor, Liz Cavalier and Ben Templesmith - both extremely popular series which have sold out almost instantly every time they touched a store front.

“The Long Ranger” is actually up for an Eisner in “Best New Series” - I had heard about this book, but I didn’t know it was actually out. The Long Ranger will need all his six-shooters to make it past the considerable competition though - among them Ed Brubaker’s much-talked-about series “Criminal”.

I got beat by the best in the Digital Comics category. I was so worried I’d be out-done by a bevy of video game comics yet again. “Girl Genius” is great, and one I should probably start including on the Wrap-Up.

The Best Writer competion looks to be mostly a competition between Brubaker and Morrison - those two have contributed so much to the comic book industry lately, its hard to see one of them not going home with something. Besides, Bill Willingham hasn’t stepped out from under the shadow of Fables nearly enough, even with Shadowpact.

I’d really like to see Ben Templesmith (”Fell”, “Hatter M”) win Best Painter, but he’s in for one helluva a fight - Jill Thomspon of “Scary Godmother” fame is among the competition.

John Cassaday of “Astonishing X-Men” seems a shoe-in for Best Cover Artist, but I don’t know, I’ve seen amazing things from Conan’s Tony Harris.

You can see all the rest of the entries here. I’ve done my part

If you don’t already know, though Wonder Woman is part of “the big three” - along with Batman and Superman - her character’s titular book lags way behind in terms of sales. In some cases, many of the most endearing aspects of the character stem from her actions and characterizations in books like Justice League of America and not in her self-title.

And its not like DC doesn’t know this. They’ve tried and tried to make Wonder Woman at least in on the same sales plateau of Green Lantern, Flash or heck, even Aquaman.

Their latest strategy has been to flood to the title with high profile creative teams, but even this offering has been met with set-backs. First, post-Crisis writer Allan Heinberg (The O.C., Young Avengers) stalled in his relaunch due to script delays resulting from a busy workload. Most recently, bestseller author Jodi Picoult took over the title, though her debut has been less than well-received by critics.

The irony here is that while DC has been scrambling to find writers worthy of Wonder Woman, one such writer has been clamoring right beneath their nose - Gail Simone.

On Birds of Prey, Simone proved herself to be the most effective writer on the title since Chuck Dixon. Simone especially highlighted the diverse personalities within the female crimefighters, and successfully transitioned Huntress from bitchy lone wolf to tough-as-nails team player. Simone also wrote Villains United and Secret Six, breathing fresh air into an assortment of B-villains like Catman, Deadshot and Ragdoll.

And all of her experience, and more, will be crucially necessary in Wonder Woman. Picoult has thus far focused her efforts on proving why Wonder Woman is the equal of, if not better than, Superman and Batman. But the real question people will be asking in a WW book is simple: why do we care?

Gail Simone has proven she can turn previously cheesecake figures into substantial and downright loveable characters. Unfortunately, we have to wait about seven months to see her strut her stuff on Wonder Woman.

The good news is, until then, another underappreciated DC writer will be contributed the Wonder Woman mythos - Will Pfeifer on the pages of Amazons Attack .

The question remains - after years of setbacks and failures, can DC put their beloved Amazon where she belongs - in the top 10?

No, not that king (B.B. King) or even that king (Elvis). Or even that king (Jack Kirby).

Stephen King.

Marvel has ushered in a new collaboration with the one-of-a-kind author with the launch of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Reborn.

The Dark Tower prequel brings a super-team-up worthy of as much hype you can pack into the pages of a comic book - writer of stuff Peter David, Jae Lee of Inhumans and Origins colorist Richard Isanove.

The collaboration is further heightened by the arrival of Robin Furth, King’s personal research assistant and author of The Dark Tower: A Complete Concordance, who weaves together the mythology of the early days of Mid-World in a series of short stories at the end of each issue.

So with a team this good, there is, paradoxically, just one element missing - Stephen King. Yes, he is part of the team - he approves each issue and works with the writers, but problematically, I really don’t see him in any of the issues. I see everyone else.

And I know Stephen King is probably one busy guy, but I still think King contributing more to the writing of the issue would boost the project’s potency.

Peter David writes perfect dialogue for this anyway - he completely emerges himself in the customs and languages of Mid-World while maintaining his wry, witty tone. This works great for the characters, but I’d rather see King himself writing the expostion. Just a page or two of Stephen King’s lyrical prose would make this world leap of the page.

But once again, I find myself answering my own criticism. I was reading an interview with Brad Meltzer the other day, where Meltzer said comic book writers, as opposed to prose writers, “have to learn to shut up.” In other words, you can build an image over the course of one page, or oven twenty, but happens on a comic panel usually stays in a panel - you have to make the words fit the sequence of art.

So maybe it’s better that Peter David, a seasoned comic writer, handle the exposition after all. But eventually, I won’t mind seeing Stephen King taking a crack at it.

But its good to have King writing shotgun regardless, but I wouldn’t mind seeing him at the wheel one of these days.

Before we begin, I have to give credit due where credit is undoubtedly due. This entire story began based on Paul’s revelation that G.I. Joe #21 , which I used to link the Top 10 Comics Which Made Me Read More Comics with the Top 10 Accidental Discoveries in Comics - was indeed intentionally without dialogue, and the error in question was actually an urban legend. I scoured the Internet for confirmation of such an event, and found a vast resource - the blog Comics Should Be Good, which greatly reduced tireless research and made an on-the-whim story idea a fun and educational process - one that might have resulted in me burning comics in frustration if attempted without the establishment of said blog!

10. Has anyone ever seen the Boston Legal episode where James Spader verbally obsesses over the word lesbian - “Lesbian . . . lesbi-an . . . LE-HES-BIANN.” That seemed to be the tones set by DC Comics, when less than a year ago a press release announced the new Batwoman - Kate Kane - was a lesbian. The story was then picked up by several major news outlets, among them USA Today and CNN. But what’s most irritating is, for all this comic commentary - Batwoman has, to date, played only a foot note role in 52.

The move seemed instead designed to prove how progressive comics - especially DC’s - were, but the hype was actually rather late. From Marvel’s Northstar to the bisexual bouncer Grace (not to mention the scores of alternative and underground trades exploring this issue) gay and lesbian figures were nothing new in comics - but the PR was more focused on what the public figured comics to be, not what they were.

It’s too bad none of the PR mentioned established DC detective Renee Montoya, one of the central figures in 52, was a Latino lesbian with tons more characterization and dialogue then her Batty lover.

9. This is a little-known legend to begin with, but since it’s Starman, I feel obligated to mention it anyway. In one issue, the supervillain the Mist battles a Justice League reserve squad consisting of Ice Maiden, Firestorm, Crimson Fox, Amazing Man and Blue Devil. Disguising herself as Ice Maiden, the Mist wipes out the entire team, save Firestorm.

I always figured Robinson amped up the body count to show just how deadly Jack Knight’s adversary - herself a legacy villain - really was. But as it turns out, Robinson only intended to kill Crimson Fox, but JLA editor Dan Raspler insisted the Mist wipe out the lot of them.

To date, however, Blue Devil has returned as well as a new Crimson Fox, leaving Amazing Man the only hero not to return - though the MIA status of his predecessor leaves the door wide open.

8. As Paul from Toy Bender said, the unintentional printing of G.I. Joe #21 was one of comicdom’s urban legend - one that prompted me to start this list in the first place. As it turns out, though the issue’s production was indeed rushed, Larry Hama was toying with a silent issue for long time before the issue went to print. As Comic Should Be Good’s Brian Cronin notes, “The concept of an entire comic without any dialogue was fairly novel at the time (not the first time it was done, but one of the most notable), and on such a popular title!”

I have to admit, it does some a bit conspicious that the so-called flawed printing would coincide directly with a character who doesn’t speak at all. Thank goodness this never happened with Deadpool!

7. Jack Kirby sued Marvel Comics. I mean, he had to, right? Jack Kirby’s conflict with Marvel Comics, and at times, the very echelons of industry policy in the 60’s and 70’s, is well-documented to say the least. According to Mark Evanier’s Jack FAQ, the lawsuit “is a great urban myth of the business”. The rumors of lawsuits apparently resulted from an overreaction to Jack Kirby’s refusal to sign or settle in his quest to secure rights to his artwork. But whenever Marvel’s legal department pushed, Jack Kirby pushed back - verbally. Although I can only speculate the content of these calls, the effects seemed to cause the “Jack Kirby’s suing us” reaction - even when that option wasn’t on the table.

The interesting thing about this urban legend is not its legend status, but instead, the multiple endings. In some accounts, Kirby is victorious, defeated in others and yet in still more legends he settles with Marvel!

6. Human Torch was replaced by H.E.R.B.I.E. to stop kids from jumping off roofs and lighting themselves on fire. Johnny Storm was particularly absent from the line-up of the old Fantastic Four cartoons. There was a fear that childrens, idolizing the Human Torch, would try to follow in his footsteps - and leap blazing from the building tops! The core of this fear has been grounds for an urban legend explaining why a Stan Lee/Jack Kirby-created robot named H.E.R.B.I.E. replaced the Human Torch, but once again, it’s Mark Evanier who shoots down this burn bug. During the time when Marvel was actively pursuing movie and TV deals - including the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno Hulk series, as well as a Dr. Strange and Captain American movie pilots - Human Torch was also up for grabs, preventing NBC from including the character in the line-up of the animated series.

I’m just trying to picture exactly how Universal intended to make a series about the Human Torch ala The Incredible Hulk way back in 1977. How would they pull it off? Dousing an actor in kerosene and send him flying around everywhere?

5. William Marston created Wonder Woman and the polygraph test. I always thought this one was true until just last night. Marston was a psychologist as well as a feminist, with both of these roles heavily influencing Wonder Woman’s theme and creation. However, though William Marston heavily contributed to the ultimate invention of the polygraph test, he was not the actual inventor of the device. Still, though, Cronin notes that Marston may have been the inventor of the first lie detector, among them the idea of measuring blood pressure to determine if the subject is telling or truth or not. In conjunction with this development and three other innovations, the polygraph test was eventually invented on top of Marston’s foundation.

Still, it is ironic that the man who contribute so much to the field of lie detection would also establish a popular pop culture heroine whose hallmark is to identify truth through a magic lasso.

4. Video may have killed the radio star, but radio did Superman a huge favor. This one I had know for quite a while - ever since my parents bought me a book of all the scripts for a couple seasons of the 1940’s Superman radio show. Ironically, these radio scripts contributed more to the mythology of Superman as as we know him today than Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s first issue of the Man in Steel. The radio show introduced Clark Kent’s place of employement - the Daily Planet - as well as his boss. It was the radio show that also introduced his sidekick, Jimmy Olson. But it was also the radio show that introduce those tiny green glowing rocks that Superman fears so much - Kryptonite, his biggest weakness. In many ways, not only did the radio show secure a place for Superman in the American public - but it also laid the foundation for many of the laws and character which make up the Man of Steel to this day.

3. Can anyone tell me who Stanley Martin Lieber and Jacob Kurtzberg are? They are two of the most important figures in comic book history - and one of them has already been the subject of his own entry on the list already. Stanley Martin Lieber condensed his first name to the ever-recognizable Stan Lee, while Jacob Kurtzberg, after signing under a variety of pen names during his days as a cartoonist. Finally he settled under Jack Kirby after frequent collaborator Joe Simon advised he just pick one name. As Mark Evanier once again informs us, “It wasn’t so much a matter of concealing one’s religion as of having a name that sounded like a professional cartoonist.” Both Evanier, and in fact J.K. himself, were very clear in emphasizing the move was not designed to hide Jacob Kurtzberg’s ethnic heritage.

2. The Sentry - here we have both a hoax and a hype. The Sentry was originally passed off as the a Pre-Fantastic Four creation of none other than Stan Lee, who was apparently using a more Golden Age look and feel before Stan Lee seemingly established his trademark Silver Age. Eventually, the truth came out - with a twist - as not only did Marvel fabricate the Stan Lee-related origins of the Sentry, but Wizard Magazine was apparently in on it. The story has originally proposed by Paul Jenkins and Rick Veitch as the beginnings of a new Hourman story - you can see some of the resemblance in the two character’s costume, both blending blue capes with yellow tights. When DC turned it down, Jenkins followed the Squadron Surpreme path - and pitched it to Marvel. Despite the revelation of the hoax, the Sentry remains an extremely popular figure to this day, as a member of Brian Michael Bendis’ New Avengers - and then Mighty Avengers post-Civil War.

On a final note, the decision to make Sentry’s hair long to avoid confusion with short-haired heroes Captain America and Hawkeye only added to confusion among the Avengers, particularly as fans speculated Sentry might be an amnesiac Thor!

1. Uncle Ben didn’t say “With great power comes great responsibility.” I know, I didn’t believe it until I read it. My grandmother in Ohio receives reprints of classic Spider-Man comics with her newspaper, which she perodically mails me. I read the first reprint - of the first issue -and discovered to my suprise Uncle Ben doesn’t say the famous, hero-making line “With great power comes great responsibility.” I expected to find the discombobulated and transparent head of Uncle Ben saying the quote over Peter Parker’s shoulder, but to my suprise, the famous line appears in the exposition box - not in the word bubbles of any of the characters! Not surprisingly, Comics Should Be Good spotted this long, long, long before I did!

But if enough people believe it, well, it must be true, and the line is certainly quoted by Ben Parker in the 2002 motion picture.

Dominic Deegan - Well, it looks like the seer is up to his ears in double trouble, as the storyline continues to get better and better. His older brother Jacob, a dark necromancer, is back in the mix, and Dominic recieves visions of Jacob killing a hooker as he goes after the pesky elemental Neilen just as he also forsees a horde of militant orcs preparing to swarm the border of the storm-ravaged orc nation. Dominic Deegan must save both his students and Nelien - though I think Mookie just placed the prostitute in Jacob’s path to give Dominic a (relatively) innocent life to safe, as it’s frankly hard to care much about the mischevious Neilen. Dominic appeals to Jacob’s scientific curosity to stop him from going after Nelien - but he soon discovers his students are planning on going ahead to distribute food in the disaster zone.

Least I Could Do - There’s not much story here actually. Rayne is out of the hospital and back to his old tricks. His rants range from dragon-sheep to Tazmanian devils and today he freaks out one kid by telling him the boy who cried wolf died - right after Rayne set fire to his parents! The lengths Rayne will go to in order to keep his niece happy never fail to touch my heart - or spark my terror.

Arthur, King and Time of Space - A funny and dedicated daily webcomic which profiles the exploits of King Arthur in at least three different time periods - past, present and future. There’s . . . ummm . . . not much going on actually. The characters clarify the difference between Morgan Le Fay and Morgause, Queen of Lothain - which was always confusing to Arthurian buffs like me, and the future Belvidere seems to be using her prostetic hand to Cyborg-like advantages. Expect deeper musings on this awesome webcomic next week.

And you can also expect to see the Monthly Webcomic Mash-Up next week as well, in which I provide recaps for non-daily webcomics over the span of next month. You can also expect one more a fourth addition to Weekly Webcomic Wrap-Up as well.

That’s all for today - expect a list post sometime later today/early tomorrow!

My fellow blogger Tim at Wii Rally brought me some interesting news.

Apparently Marvel Studios is planning a Broadway rendition of Spider-Man, to be directed by Tony Award winner Julie Taymor (The Lion King, Across the Universe) with music and lyrics by Bono and the Edge.

I’m honestly surprised this has never been done. I’m not saying this is the best idea ever, or its a show I’ll instantly pay big bucks to see, but Spider-Man and rock music do kinda mix . . . i just don’t know about a Spider-Man musical. Every time I take a minute to picture it, I’m daunted by images of the brief but horrid clips I saw of a Superman musical in the late 60’s, which I saw during a documentary on the History Channel.

This is, however, the first Marvel character to make it to Broadway. Any other guesses for musical Marvel heroes?

Its not such a break to make Marvel’s Merry Mutants the Musical Mutants.

And I think Blade has a musical in him.

Okay, I’ll stop before people start throwing fruit.

Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund

April 16, 2007, will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the Virginia Tech community and the world beyond.

To remember and honor the victims of those tragic events, the university has established the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to aid in the healing process and generate financial support.

The fund will be used to cover expenses including but not limited to:

• Grief counseling
• Memorials
• Communication expenses
• Comfort expenses
• Incidental needs

If you plan to give, please click the link below:

Or how not to introduce a new/old superhero to the DCU.

This week I’m getting a preview sample of Boomerang on my satelite dish. And among the shows I’ve been watching during a stroll down memory lane is the Superfriends.

The later seasons featured better animation, better story, and a more solid relationship with DC Comics, who used this opportunity to introduce young viewers to the subject of today’s column: Firestorm.

In the comics, Firestorm bounced from title to title. As the merged personalities of college student Ronnie Raymond and college professor Martin Stein, the superhero played a large role in the worlds-shattering Crisis of Infinite Earths, established Martin Stein as a powerful fire elemental on the level with Swamp Thing. As a solo Firestorm, Ronne Raymond played small but fan-favorite “reserve” roles in many Justice League-oriented titles for the next decade.

After two failed attempts, DC vowed to return Firestorm to the limelight in 2004, catching on to Firestorm’s fanbase. They did so but when the first issue debuted, there was A. Completely. Different. Person. Under. The. Mask.

Rusch wasn’t a bad choice for Firestorm - like Kyle Raynar he would develop into an interesting facet of the DCU soon enough. But in addition to the entire lack of explanation surronding the original Firestorm’s fate, Rusch was also saddled with something far worse - bad dialogue.

Comic writers always talk about how unrealistic someone like Luke Cage talked back in the 80’s - calling baddies “jive turkies” or belting out “Sweet Christmas!”, but Rusch’s dialogue was just lazy. Writer Dan Jolley seemed to cut and paste African American-associated slang into the dialogue - even when it disrupted the entire flow. Imagine someone repeated saying “Yea, that’s what I’m talking about!” even when it has no bearing on the current situation whatsoever.

Luckily, now, Firestorm seems to be doing a lot better. Jason has returned from his own Crisis bonded with Martin Stein, and he’s found himself a better writer - Dwayne McDuffie, whose credits include Damage Control, Justice League as well as the founding and editing-in-chiefing of Milestone Comics, the company behind Static Shock.

As you might expect, Dwayne McDuffie does a lot better on Firestorm.

I can’t come down too hard on Dan Jolley though. What you have to understand about major comic books is it’s rarely the writer’s choice, and the upper ranks of DC Comics have a grand as vision as their Marvel competitors to work towards in every single title.

Still, I’m happy to report one of my favorite heroes is seeing better days. And for proof, I include an oft-forgotten quote of the day from Firestorm, The Nuclear Man:

Martin Stein: Good work, Jason. Now we have to ascertain how to escape this wormhole.

Firestorm: I sort of figured we’d try walking out the way we came in, professor.

Martain: Oh, okay.

Until next time!

My fellow blogger BB posted an article on Sega’s plan to develop a trio of heavy hitter video games for Marvel.

And one of them will be the now-deceased Captain America.

All of this calls to mind one question - just how permanent is Captain America’s death? Yes, we know Marvel has answered time and time again that Cap is dead , but the real question is: for how long?

Comic book deaths play by their own rules. While some deaths, such as Sue Dibney in Identity Crisis or Ralph Dibney in 52, are more questionably solid than others, certain deaths - usually of popular, headliner heroes - are simply formalities. Still, this doesn’t mean we should sound the trumpets just yet - after all, DC kept Green Arrow dead for at least 3-4 years.

But timing is everything for Marvel. First, they’ve conspicously kept Captain America’s book running post-mortem - and while this might not be a sign that Cap’s coming back next week, as talk show host Craig Ferguson joked on the occassion - it does put a speed clock on Captain America’s down-time, or rather, grave-time. Though Ed Brubaker is one of the most capable writers in comics, just how long can he keep writing a book without the title character?

And finally, there is the matter of the rumored 2009 Captain America movie.

Marvel has never believed movie tickets alone will sell comics, but it doesn’t seem wise salesmanship to have the rumored Brad Pitt running around as Steve Rogers while Frank Castle, Bucky Barnes or Elijah Bradley runs around beneath the mask in the four-color format.

Captain America’s fate may have been a ticking time bomb during the final days of Civil War, but here’s the million dollar question - is his long-awaited return running on a similar clock, or do Marvel and Ed Brubaker have a couple more trick up their sleeves?

Only time will tell.

DC’s big thing this summer is Countdown, and I must confess, I totally dropped the ball on this one. Countdown in Pre-most-recent-Crisis terms were usually tie-in’s to the upcoming crisis. Instead, I see, its 52’s replacement now that the latter is ending.

I still think weekly comics are too much of an experimental creation at this point to bank on. 52 was great, but it was less than the sum of its parts - namely Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Apart, these are the most powerful names in superhero comic-dom, but together, they’re . . . ehhh.

There seems to be a far bigger writing team this time around, consisting of Paul Dini, Jimmy Palmoitti, Sean McKeever, Tom Bedard, Adam Beechen and Justin Gray. While, with the exception of Dini, not all of the writers are as big-name as the 52 team, I think a bigger team has great potential.

In some ways, these aren’t comics anymore - they’re a lot like TV Shows. Its not, or at least, it shouldn’t be one writer taking the lead on any particular issue, but instead, all writers contributing equally to the execution and dialogue of issue after issue.

A bigger team of somewhat lesser known writers is probably not going to have near as much ego problems - something which usually happens anytime Mark Waid is attached to a project.

Like 52, the line-up includes a Who’s Who of my favorite characters - Kyle Raynar, Mary Marvel, Ray Palmer, Pied Piper, and heck, even Jimmy Olsen.

They better not all die this time.

Last week I speculated on the possibility of Namor siding with the Hulk in World War Hulk, since the Sub-Mariner is the sole Illuminati to vote against banishing Hulk to the stars. And while the development below is no closer to answering this possibility, it does shed considerable light into Namor’s place in the post-Civil War M.U.

CN reports Namor will be the star of his own limited series in June, written by Peter Johnson, Matt Chernis and Phil Briones. While Johnson cites the many (mostly negative) developments of Civil War - including the deaths of Captain America and Namorita and a surprising turn in his relationship with Sue Richards - the story seems soley focused on Namor as opposed to his external influences. Not that the United States government will be making things easy for the Prince of Atlantis - whose siding with Cap in the final moments of Civil War might be construed as an act of war on U.S. soil.

Chernis says Namor suffers from the same internal struggles which plague all of the great Marvel characters, though his specific problematic pathos is the conflict between Ruler and Warrior, as well as acting in the every-murkey cause of “greater good”.

And if you’re looking for Internet search tags, check this out - “Namor, Sleeper Cell, Tony Stark, Illuminati, Nitro, Xavier, Wolverine, and of couse . . . Howard the Duck!”

What is with that Duck? Isn’t appearing as a flesh-eating foul in Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness enough?!

Sub-Mariner #1 goes to the stands on June 13th.

In conclusion, it doesn’t seem, at least from the point-of-view of this mini-series, that Namor will side with the Hulk, since the water-breathing hero has “a real ticking clock” of his own to deal with under the sea, but that’s not to say that Namor won’t show up elsewhere during World War Hulk.

This is a more personal, subjective list than last week’s. As such, it’s open to debate, interpretation, and of course, argument. These are the most important comic books seen through the filter of me.

In other words, I wouldn’t be here writing this if it weren’t for these.

10. G.I. Joe by Larry Hama - It’s fitting that I begin with this one, because it links right back to “Top 10 Accidental Comic Book Discoveries”. The comic below is billed “The Most Unusual G.I. Joe Story Ever!” with good reason - because a mistake somewhere down the production line caused the comic to be printed without dialogue. Fortunately, it just so happens the titular ninja on the cover - Snake Eyes - doesn’t speak at all, and Marvel went ahead with it as is. G.I. Joe might not look like much in a stack of comics, but often times the action series penned by Larry Hama performed heads and tails over its animated counterparts.

Favorite Moment: After a spirited chase with his rival/former blood brother Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes finally learns the truth - Storm Shadow didn’t betray him, didn’t kill one of his Masters, and has infiltrated Cobra for revenge. By the time fellow Joes catch up with Snake Eyes, he’s slumped against a wall processing everything that just happened. When Scarlett asks Snake Eyes where’s Storm Shadow, the shadowy ninja gives no indication he’s heard her. A jilted Scarlett replies, “Nevermind. You never answer.” as she walks away.

9. Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley - Most simply forget that its just an awesome story. During a time when Mary Jane was dead and Spider-Man was spiraling back into the “Why me?” category of whiners, Ultimate Spider-Man fixed so many problems which had plagued the Spidey continunity in the regular line. It wasn’t just Peter Parker in trendy clothes - it was how a young and scrawney Peter Parker would respond verbatum if he was some regular kid in New York. Mary Jane was no longer simply a sexy party girl outclassing Peter, but a fellow science geek with heart. And the best parts of the book - from the highest moments of Spider-Man’s rise to the most tender and soulful aspects of Peter and MJ’s relationship - were entrusted to powerful art with absolutely no words in between.

Favorite Moment: When Peter Parker reveals he’s Spider-Man to MJ - she falls off the bed laughing, and then freaks out when she realizes the truth. Moments later, MJ is more at ease with the prospect, but Aunt May isn’t - she bangs on the door and demands the two stop with the “hanky panky” and even asks if Peter about “protection”!

8. The Shade by James Robinson - As much as I love Starman, I have to admit the highlight of the book is the enigmatic Shade, a (semi)-reformed supervillain with immense longevity in every sense of the word. Given his own series by Robinson, The Shade is one of the great buried treasures of the comic world, and a pain in the bins to track down since often confused with Shade: The Changing Man. The Shade sheds very little light on the exact nature of the English gentleman’s origins, instead focusing on a treacherous family called the Ludlows, whom Shade butchers after their manipulations backfires. The mini-series centers around the complex relationships the Shade has with the future generations of Ludlows, who are often inevitably drawn into the centuries-old bloodfeud with the immortal. After two hundred years crossing country and genre completely, the Shade has one final confrontation with one last Ludlow in the heartland of America - although another shows up later in Starman.

Favorite Moments: After saving his arch-nemesis Jay Garrick (the Golden Age Flash) from a particularly nasty variation of Ludlow in the 1950’s, the Shade writes in his journal of a subsequent encounter with the Flash while bank-robbing. The two smile at one another in mutual respect before “Jay punched me in the jaw. He was good at that.”

7. Green Lantern/Green Arrow by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams: Wikipedia defines Green Lantern/Green Arrow as “a socially-conscious, left-wing creation that effectively took over Green Lantern’s book to use him as a foil and straw man . . .” Part of this is true - the social conscious part as well as the forcing of Green Lantern to share the spotlight with the boisterous Oliver Queen. But what made such a concept work is the even-balance of the characters - one a lot more fair and balanced than the talking head newscasts of today. O’Neil did make Green Lantern quite a bit more of a wallflower than today’s version, but he complimented the works by making Green Arrow an over-the-top loudmouth who makes Howard Dean look tame. Even more stunning was how the book forced both intergalatic policeman Hal Jordan and streetwise man’s man Oliver Queen to challenge and change their beliefs by confronting real life issues instead of soap-boxing about them.

Favorite Moment: After Green Arrow kicks out his ward Speedy for . . . ummm . . . doing speed, his sidekick goes into a tailspin trying to sort his life out. Eventually enlisting the aid of Hal and G.A.’s on-off lover Black Canary, he is successful is kicking the habit - but to Oliver’s unwelcome surprise, Speedy ends up kicking his not-so-canny mentor along with the habit, citing how his friends were ones who helped him through this - not trash talking or tough love rhetoric.

6. Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon - Flipping through a trade of Preacher is one of the most macabre sensations you’ll ever come across. I dare you to try it. Inside, you’ll see grosteque, disturbing and downright blasphemous illustrations which will make you wonder “Why on earth am I even standing here doing this?” But if you read all the way through that same trade, you’ll find heart and hilarity attached to each one of those literally gutsy installments. Preacher is all about Jesse Custer, a disillusioned preacher on a not-so-metaphysical journey to find God, and must literally fight Heaven, Hell and everything in between to do so. While I don’t necessarily agree with Preacher’s sacreligious tone, I totally dig the content - immensely insightful social commentary on the darker side of faith and freedom. Ennis intelligently imports John Wayne and the Wild West to find a light at the end of a vastly nihilistic journey through the American Dream. This is Garth Ennis’ best work - also his saddest and also his funniest, and definitely his liveliest.

Favorite Moment: You think The Da Vinci Code is bad? In one storyline we’re introduced to the bloated yet bulimic Allfather - a grossly obese parody of the Pope, who charges an ill-suffering guard to watch over “the kid” - the inbred descendant of you-know-who. The poor guard watches as the kid prances around drinking gasoline while claiming to turn it into wine, but things get even worse in the end, as the guard watches as the Allfather is flung from a helicopter during a coup - and splats right on top of them!

5. Aquaman by Will Pfeifer - Will Pfeifer has the makings of a comic book legend, but you’d never know it save for a few choice reviews. A couple years ago, he was charged with writing Aquaman - probably a death sentence for most writers. But Will was actually a local favorite of mine - I knew of his columns in the Rockford Register Star and his work on the series H.E.R.O. Then, halfway through the story arc, it hit me - this guy is really good. I soon found I was liking Aquaman in a way I never had before. He was back in the orange and green scales costume, but the artistic execution didn’t bring back laughable memories of Superfriends. Instead, it proved one natural constant - Aquaman is the best at what he does, even if, or especially if, that’s talking to fish. The storyline itself was brillant - with San Diego falling into the ocean to form Sub Diego, and giving Aquaman a new reign as commander of the disaster-ridden city, filled with Americans turned water-breather virtually overnight. DC really threw pearls to swine with this one - favoring Kurt Busiek’s new Arthurian take over Pfeifer’s street-bound business, and Sub Diego, to my knowledge, hasn’t appeared all that much since, although the new Aquagirl, established by Pfeifer, appeared as a member of the makeshift Titans in 52.

Favorite Moment: The immense details Pfeifer employs in the rebuilding of Sub Diego, as huge humpback whales support falling buildings while electric eels are used to restart a man’s heart, and, far more sinister, an army of sharks provide a toothy border for any water-breathing citizen who tries to flee to the now-poisonous surface.

4. Spectacular Spider-Man #200 by J.M. DeMatteis and Sal Buscema- I bought this one at Odd Lots in a “value pack” of comics supposedly totalling more than $20 in worth for just 7 bucks. The pack included a few lame 90’s Avengers, a lot of Power Ranger comics, and this one, with a silver cover and artist signature at the bottom. The issue itself focuses on the final fate of Harry Osborn, as he escalates his conflict with Peter Parker by stalking his former friend through the streets of New York. Along the way, Pete and MJ deal with marriage problems while the picture-esque home life of Harry and Liz Osborn, with their son Normie, threatens to trigger the Osborn madness a generation further. The real crux of this issue is the ending. I don’t profess to know what will happen to Harry Osborn in the upcoming Spider-Man 3 less than a month from now, but if this is his final chapter in the Spidey franchise, this should be the basis. This issue tells you everything you need to know about Harry - who he is and what he does - in the face of his father’s bloodcurdling madness.

Favorite Moment: Again, the ending. I don’t want to spoil it in case the filmmakers do indeed chose to purse a direction similiar to this, but the final scene with Harry and Peter is touching and tragic combination all rolled up into one. Definitely one of the best-written Spider-Man moments to come out of the soon-to-be-Clone-dominated 90’s.

3. Daredevil by Frank Miller - In my stack of 80’s comics, it was easy to see Darevil stood out the most. The coloring, the shading and the point of view were all so radically different from the time. I’ll bet it was a bit like reading “The Spirit” in the 40’s or anything by Jack Kirby in the 60’s - it was an entirely different perspective. Though there were still plenty of other comics in my uncles’ collections I would give a read, Frank Miller’s writing on Daredevil was as diversive as the artwork. Daredevil wasn’t just the gimmick hero - the blind guy - he was a living and breathing figure, one who made mistakes and learned to make payments for them. The covers often touted the complex themes and tones within, with tag lines like “How does a man search for his soul?” While I didn’t have any of the groundbreaking comics dealing with Kingpin or Elecktra, what I saw in the issues I have showed just how powerful this medium could be.

Favorite Moment: I’m terrible with issue numbers, but my favorite comic has Daredevil playing Russian Roulette with a bed-ridden Bullseye, discussing how their last much-publicized battle caused a media-frenzy which pushed a young boy often the edge - eventually wounding a classmate at school with his father’s gun. In the end, Daredevil reveals the gun is empty, and says “I guess we’re stuck with each other.”

2. Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons - What you have to understand is I found out about Watchmen through Wizard Magazine. So I knew all about the high body count, the break-neck ending, and the uncoventional adversary. I didn’t actually read it until two years ago. And that’s when I saw the true core of Watchmen - the characters. Though deconstructionist and nihilistic, every character - from the abusive Comedian, the impotent Nite Owl, the removed Dr. Manhattan - show their humanity at one point, and when they do, the result is absolutely amazing. Moore even succeeds in bringing sympathy and humanity to Ozymandias, the ultimate villain of the piece, after all he has done - so much so that I liked him a whole lot better than the remaining so-called heroes.

Favorite Moment: Wizard was wrong to frame Rorscharch as the bad-ass of the piece. Rorscharch is sociopathic, absolutist, and I suspect, possibly homosexual (given his frosty reaction to Silk Spectre), all of these contributing to the all-consuming hatred and rage seething beneath the mask. Yet despite all of these flaws, and a great deal of others, Rorscharch doesn’t crack, doesn’t accept anything less than the truth, and stands alone as the only hero who refuses to give into the world peace/mass murder trade-off the other heroes accept. This is the sole brillance of Watchmen - though cosumed by his flaws, Rorscharch’s willingess to sacrifice himself for his ideals define him as the piece’s true hero.

1. Astro City by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson - Hidden behind the view of superheroes fighting out-of-this world threats and monsters, Busiek and Anderson’s Astro City explores the masks people wear day-to-day just as much if not more than the masks heroes wear fighting supervillains and bank robbers. While I love and recommend each one of these books, my favorite by far is Confessions, which follows a young man named Brian as he serves as superhero sidekick Alter Boy to the methodical and mysterious Confessor. Aliens are laying siege to the space around Earth, while the citizens of Astro City are becoming paranoid following a series of grisly murders. And it doesn’t help matters any that the Confessor has a secret of his own that will change everything for Brian and the heroes of Astro City.

Favorite Moments: Like Spectacular Spider-Man #200, I don’t want to give too much away. Suffice to say, after Brian learns his mentor’s secrets, he asks the Biblical-themed Crossbreed what they thought of the revelation of the Confessor’s true nature, to which Noah, leader of the Crossbreed replies, “What matters more, the burdens we bear or the way we bear them?” Like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s X-Men before them, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson’s characters work on so many different levels, with layers only limited by the reader’s perpsectives.

Well, that’s all for me today. I’ve told you mine, now I would like to hear yours. What comics out there propelled you further into the medium and kept you coming back to the shop for more?