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This issue goes out very late on August 1st (my thirtieth birthday) or early
morning on August 2nd. Either way, by the time you read this, I will be
officially be an old man. I know- scary huh? In honor of this unhistoric
occasion are three of my infamous top thirty lists starting with my 30 favorite
super hero comic series of all time.
- Impulse (Waid): The 90s were known as the age of angst. Every super hero
had it from the Uncanny X-Men to Superman. Everyone except Impulse- the hero
with the three second attention span. It was always really fun to watch as Bart
tried to fit into the world without really understanding any of it. Most
teenagers think they are immortal but Bart was even more so. In those early days he
didn't really think before he did anything. The book was a breath of fresh
air in the genre. A super hero book that was action packed and actually fun to
read. What a unique and novel concept, dontcha think? Max Mercury was also in
the title if only to make the point that while the unexamined life is not worth
living than the examined life is unlivable.
- Alias (Bendis): I've always enjoyed a good noir and stories of redemption.
Which is why I really enjoyed this title even if most people I know didn't.
Jessica Jones is a truly damaged- but highly relatable- character. Her job as
a private detective pulls her on a journey into the dark underbelly of the
Marvel Universe. Something she does, unknowingly, in the first issue starts her
on a path to finding a way out of it. Okay, so Jessica is not a super hero but
she used to be. The whole book is about her deciding whether or not her days in
tights were a horrendous mistake or something she wants to get back to. Then
again it could it be both? If that is the case- what does that say about her?
This book is as much about character development as it is about the mysteries
Jessica solves.
- The Spectre (DeMatteis): How do you make an audience care about a mass
murderer and child molester? After all that the writers at DC Comics put him
through during the early to mid-90s how could anyone really give a rat's ass
about Hal Jordan? That is the very problem J.M. DeMatteis faced when he was
handed the chore of writing The Spectre. Don't believe me on the child molester
thing? Previous writers had put Hal in a sexual relationship with Arisia who
was a 13 year old girl who used her power ring to make herself biologically 18
so she could seduce him. So Hal was either banging a 13 year old girl or taking
advantage of a mentally ill woman, neither of which are signs of virtue.
Dematteis's idea was not to say that these things never happened or they weren't
really Hal. That's Geoff Johns's job. His take was to have Hal face his
faults head on and actually deal with the consequences of what he did while he
was alive. He may have been given power over the Spectre, the personification
of divine wrath, but someone of his background was not in a place to pass
judgment particularly on souls less damaged than his own. Hal made the
realization that compassion is a more useful tool to benefit mankind than
violence. It was only then that the long time Green Lantern mastered the most
dangerous weapon in the universe: hope.
- Hourman (Peyer): Hourman was one of those quirky books that DC was known for
during the late 90s that you knew going in at issue one probably wouldn't be
around three years later but somehow you got onboard with anyway. Why not? It
had a godlike robot giving up massive amounts of their power to explore humanity
and date his best friend's ex-wife. It had some really interesting uses of time
travel. It explored DC's still much underdeveloped concept of Hypertime. At
its heart, it was a throwback to the old buddy cop movies. You had Snapper Carr
as your experienced washed out super hero wannabe and Tyler as your rookie trying
to learn the job. Together they stopped threats like Amazo, Time Thief and
Snapper's ex-mother in law. After beating the bad guys they headed to the
coffeehouse to make observations about the human condition and redemption.
One of the books flaws, if it can be called that, was Hourman's supporting
Cast: Bethany the hippy, her mother the Sheriff, Starro the Cat and most often
Snapper Carr stealing the show. (Snapper narrates all the issues like Watson to
Tyler's Holmes save for one issue that serves as a look back at Justice League
of America (Vol..1) #77. There Snapper's story is narrated- with an odd amount
of compassion from a robot uncertain of its emotional status- by Hourman. For
sheer fun this series is worth checking out.
- The Flash (Waid): I've always liked runs on books where the character is not
the same person when the writer started the book as they were when they are
finished. Mark Waid's handling of Wally West epitomizes this. At the start of
the run Wally is just where William Messner-Loebs left him- an overworked
somewhat arrogant man child who can't hold a job or girlfriend for more than
twenty minutes at a time. He was a man trapped in the shadow of Barry Allen.
Over the course of the first year of Mark Waid's run, you saw Wally accept being
The Flash without having to be Barry Allen. His encounter with Reverse-Flash
masquerading as Barry and Wally's first experience with the Speed Force marked
what Joseph Campbell would call 'the dark woods'. From there he began
settling down with Linda Park. Then he finally became The Flash in his own
right and took on sidekicks of sorts in the form of Impulse, Jessie Quick and to
a certain extent Green Lantern Kyle Rayner. You had a character who had a
fleshed out personality. In that respect he exceeded Barry's legacy.
- Captain Carrot and the Amazing Zoo Crew (Thomas/Shaw!): This was the first
super hero comic I ever read. I discovered it at the orthodontist's office when
I was about seven years old. I remember reading these and really enjoying
them. I started with the two parter about the Wuz-Wolf. What can I say, I
thought pigs fighting wolves was really funny. As my sister got her procedures
done, I passed my summer days reading Captain Carrot comics. A few years later
I managed to acquire the issues for myself. Eventually that included the much
harder to find Just a Lot of Animals team-up- which were worth it since they are
quite possibly the best of the series. Anyway- if you like spoofs of the
Justice League, Godzilla, Conan the Barbarian, Blackhawk, Swamp Thing and even
winks and nudge to Pogo check it out.
- Fantastic Four (Lee/Kirby): Oh- this one is a tough sell. It was sometimes
great, sometimes cheesy and near the end you could really tell that Stan and
Jack weren't entirely on the same page. When these two were on fire the book
practically burned in your hands. When they were campy as hell, you can still
laugh your ass off. How long does it take to beat Galactus? Six issues? No.
Six issues and tie ins to all the Avengers Annuals? No. Ol' Stan and Jack
showed us it could be done in three issues including time to rescue The
Inhumans, a few brief moments in Alicia's art studio and a few other
subplots. Sure some of it was whiz bang but it was, more often than not,
fun. Aside from Reed Richards being a sexist jerk. Really, you think Sue
would rather marry a pile of rocks than that jerk.
- X-Men (Morrison): When Grant Morrison took over the X-Men the franchise
seemed creatively dead. For good or ill the X-Books of yore had really only
shown three points of view. Xavier's dream of tolerance, Magneto's vision of
supremacy and the anti-mutant bigots. Certainly the typical mutant on the
street didn't really fall into those categories. Surely there were humans,
other than Moira McTaggert or the occasional parent of one of the X-People who
weren't Anti-Mutant. What Grant Morrison's stories occasionally lack in
coherence, they make up for in exploration of mutants outside of the traditional
framework. Mutants got their own street culture, their own night clubs. and
Mutant street gangs. They even got their own neighborhood in New York City.
They were even people jealous of mutants who tried to act like them and become
them. It was these ideas that Morrison brought to the table that led to some
really great work not only by Morrison himself but everyone else working on the
franchise.
- Doom Patrol (Morrison): The Doom Patrol is not a name that inspires
optimism. Which was the first stroke of genius on the part of Grant Morrison.
He removed most traces of hope from his series save for the final arc. It's a
book that portrays the world as a strange, twisted, surreal place where even
super heroes don't know what the hell they are doing. So when things get that
weird, who ya gonna call? You don't call your big guns- you call in the
expendable people- in short the Doom Patrol. They'll solve the problem whether
it be a post-modernist ideas running for President, a painting eating Paris, an
illusion casting little girl who is actually on their own team mate or even a
tumor in the brain of God. Not only that, Morrison adds unseen new aspects to
the Doom Patrol's origins that allow many previously unexplained stories which
seemed like really bad story telling suddenly making a lot more sense.
- Doctor Fate (Dematteis): This series has all the makings of a Vertigo comics
classic. It has a Golden Age DC character that it appeared nobody wanted to
read about going on a spiritual journey on the nature of humanity guided by
Linda Strauss and Eric Strauss, his own current proteges in the mystic arts.
The Strausses, aside from being the two halves of the new Doctor Fate, are a
stepmother and an artificially aged son and possibly love interests. See what I
mean, almost pure Vertigo? It's a series about life, death, love, family, sex,
demons, the hereafter, rebirth, the irrelevance of revenge and one's personal
place in the cosmos. That's pretty deep stuff considering it spun off of 'That
Justice League'. The reason it did not become a Vertigo classic was that
while the book often did not carry a comics code seal on the cover it was
finished by 1991- a year or more before DC officially moved all their mature
audience books to a separate line. It was a very short, enjoyable and very
heartfelt experiment on DC's part. One that sadly failed to find an audience.
At least judging by the letter pages which 75% of the time were from readers
wanting Kent and Inza Nelson back from the dead.
- The Tick (Edlund): Architecture in the middle ages was somewhat draconian.
Not surprising since that was when the term was coined. By 1865 the war was
over and all America could go back to hating the one enemy they could all agree
were the most dangerous people on Earth- the occupants of Alberta, Canada. In
July of 1947 weird lights were spotted over Roswell New Mexico. Today the
debate rages on. Was it a flying saucer? Swamp gas? A weather ballon? Was it
some sort of failed test device being developed by the Nazi scientists in
Operation: Paperclip being manned out of nearby Roswell, Air Force Base? Those
who are in the know are not talking. In 1969, Armstrong meant to say this is
one small step for a man and one giant leap for mankind. Unfortunately he
famously pulled a Biden before Joe Biden made it cool. Then came the
seventies which only seemed cool in the pages of comic books. Wait... how does
all relate to The Tick? It doesn't. If you read The Tick all of that might
make sense to you.
- Aquaman (David): Aquaman may go down in history as the most pathetic super
hero ever. Not only are his two main powers being able to breath underwater and
talking to fish but he is a rip off of Namor. So how did he end up on this top
thirty list? I really don't know. A writing professor once told me that any
story, even a rip off, can be good if you find the right writer for the job.
The logical answer is that Peter David is just capable of taking concepts that
shouldn't work, be it Aquaman, Hulk, Supergirl, or a team of mostly unknown
characters for X-Factor and not only make them work but make them really cool.
Well, making Aquaman a bitter, one handed, belligerent, pragmatic king of the
sea might have helped a bit too. After almost forty years Arthur Curry/Orin was
finally given a consistent personality. This can go a long way to making
the reader, gasp, care about Aquaman. Or maybe it was giving him a supporting
cast on both land and water, bring to light the differences in his two worlds.
Or maybe the fact that cool things actually started to happen to him- like
Aquaman's love interest two-timing him for his own sidekick.
- Animal Man (Morrison): Animal Man is a strange book indeed. Who has ever
heard of a guy who had to be a super hero part time because he had a wife and
kids and needed to be home by ten? Grant Morrison's take on this nearly
forgotten character was such a joy- until after a year or so spent building
Buddy Baker's paradise he literally ripped it all away from him. Well a mystery
villain did. But the mystery villain then turned out to be- that's right- Grant
Morrison. His motive for doing it was just to prove that nothing every really
changed in super hero comics. Some people called the ending cheap. I found it
be a telling commentary on the idea of a shared world and writing by committee.
Oh- and it gives fans of really oddball characters a chance to see, or get
introduced, to Bwana Beast, The Inferior Five, Congo Bill and villains like The
Red Menace.
- She-Hulk (Slott): You have to admit that a lot of things in super hero
comics don't make a lot of sense from a legal standpoint. Ever wonder if J.
Jonah Jameson could sue Peter Parker for fraudulent photos? Or if Wolverine
needs a concealed weapons permit for his claws? If you're a super hero or
villain and you have a problem you call- She-Hulk. It's Ally McBeal with
spandex. The fact that it is a comedy has drawn a lot of comparison with John
Byrne's run. It's like comparing apples and oranges. One relied on fourth wall
humor, slapstick and a sight gags. Slott's run was smart. Maybe too smart for
its own good. Marvel had to cancel it three times but it still kept coming.
Dan Slott really shows off his knowledge of Marvel Continuity. He spends just as
much time fixing continuity errors as he does causing them. She-Hulk and the
Juggernaut? What the hell? Though it makes sense by the end. Honest.
- Hero Squared (Giffen/Dematteis): Ever wanted to know what JLI could have
been like if Giffen and Dematteis didn't have to worry about such things as
editorial oversight and what other writers were doing with the characters? A
book where they are really only trying to make each other laugh and the reader
just gets dragged along for the ride? Then you should have read Hero
Squared. This set of two failed regular series plus three interlocking
miniseries is a comedy about life, love, alternate realities, sexual ethics,
war, famine, pestilence, death, redemption and henchmen with a word of the day
calender. The comedy is on par with that of Justice League. The only reason
for a placement this far down was that the series ending felt just a tad
rushed. It was still very funny but prior to that point the story was going
at a much slower pace. The comedy was still very character driven but the
rapid fire pace of those last three issues was a little distracting.
- Power Pack (Simonson, L.): Power Pack is a gateway drug. A family friend
sold me most of his comic collection when I was twelve. He got me interested first
by wetting my appetite with Power Pack when I was eleven. It's full of
crossovers set in the actual Marvel universe so that young readers might
eventually expand their horizon and seek out other Marvel books. I know I did.
Under Louise Simonson's pen these crossovers include: Spider-Man, Cloak and
Dagger, The X-Men, Thor, The Avengers and The Fantastic Four. From alien
invasions, to rampaging robot dragons, the attacks by the Morlocks to run away
Macy's balloons, Power Pack can handle it all. Okay, the whole Macy's balloon
thing was Katie's fault to begin with but that is beside the point. Writer
Louise Simonson writes young children very well- not surprising since of all
them save for their fifth member Franklin Richards- were all based on her real
children. Why their parents have an almost uncanny resemblance to Louise and
Walter Simonson I have never been able to figure out . . .
- Excalibur (Claremont): I have heard people say Chris Claremont does not have
a sense of humor. Anytime I hear this I direct the person who said it to almost
any issue of Excalibur. Particularly the swan song of his run, the infamous
'Girls School from Heck' story. This series somehow combines the angst and
action of Claremont's tenure on The X-Men with the humor and four color super
heroics of Claremont's Captain Britain. At first glance, they don't seem like
ideas that should be able to go together yet somehow they do. Through the
merging of the two world views the characters begin to grow in unexpected ways.
The true core of this run is the epic 19 issue storyline 'The Crosstime
Caper'. Then again- this is Chris Claremont we're talking about. You know what
they called a 19 part story by Claremont in the 80s? A short story.
(Ba-dum-bum!)
- X-Factor (David): A lot of things come to mind when one thinks of the
X-books. Angst, storylines that play out over decades and guys with pointed
claws. The one thing most people don't usually say about any of the X-Books is
that they are satirical looks at modern life. That was the approach Peter David
took during his first run on X-Factor at least when they weren't caught up in
the crossover of the season.. Not to say that the book was a barrel of
laughs. There were issues that dealt with gene testing, genocide, pyscho
therapy, murder, divorce, slavery and disease. Still, how can you take a team
completely seriously when their first foe is a jar of mayonnaise?
- X-Factor (David- Current): Sadly, this is the only currently ongoing book to
make this list. Many times when a writer comes back to a title after a long
absence, it doesn't live up to the magic of the old days. Peter David doesn't
even try. Which in this case is a good thing. While his original X-Factor run
was a very special thing, the current series is an entirely different animal.
It's gritty. It's full of shades of gray. You don't always know who the bad
guys are and sometimes the bad guy is X-Factor's leader Jamie Madrox. Not just
in the rogue duplicate on a rampage. Though there is that too. I love good
noir and am usually keen when a writer is trying to pull a trick on me. Though
there have been several times throughout the course of the series where I have
said: 'How did I not see that coming?' During rereads I have, of course,
realized it couldn't have worked out any other way but that's a sign of good
writing.
- Starman (Robinson): What makes James Robinson's Starman so intriguing is the
fact that it took plot threads from ranging from the 1930s to the 1990s and wove
a coherent story around it. Any series that goes eighty issues, four annuals,
several specials that weaves Jor'el, The Legion of Super Heroes, Batlash, Wes
Dodds and everyone this side of Rex the Wonder Dog into a single tale without
coming off as plotless deserves respect. It took a lot of the cookie cutter
feeling of DC Comics during the Golden Age and made it cool. While many writers
used the 1940s characters and time period, they wrote it like it should have
been. Starman was just a little closer to the way it was. This meant the good
guys weren't completely squeaky clean. Ted Knight (the original Starman) wound
up with some skeletons in his closet. The other amazing thing is that even
though it breaks up into separate stories, it feels like one long arc when you
get to the end, which a rare feat for a non-mature readers DC book.
- Young Heroes In Love (Raspler): I am sometimes surprised how few comics fans
have even heard of this title. It was probably one of DC comics best written
series of the mid-90s filled with sex, comedy, humor, romance, betrayals, sex,
mind control, mystery, sex and of course the occasional giant mummy or super
villain. The poster alone- which hung up at my comic store long after the book
was canceled- should give the readers a very good idea what they're in for. It
was a comic that spoofed the soap opera aspect of comics without talking down to
the audience. It was truly one of the few bright spots at the big two at the
time and is a book I really wish Dan Raspler and DC would revive for a 'Where
are they Now?' one shot or miniseries. Given as the series was a spoof on
Melrose Place and 90210 they could wait a few years and play it as an Elseworld
where the decade or years so passed in real time. Young Heroes: The Next
Generation, anyone?
- She-Hulk (Byrne): John Byrne's She-Hulk can be summed up in two words:
completely ridiculous. By issue three you have Jennifer Walters winning debates
with John Byrne. Not to mention ripping through pages as a means of
transport. Byrne mixes comedy, action, romance and Marvel characters who
actually existed in decades past that almost everyone else has forgotten in just
the right amounts to create something magical. It's one of those comics where
even the letter column is magic. (And referenced by characters, natch!) If you
like books that poke fun at comic books both as a genre and things like the
comics code, editorial politics and even those old Mile High Comics
advertisements you should really check this one out. It's a scream.
- Silver Surfer (Lee): Of all the books Stan Lee worked on in his entire
career, Silver Surfer was probably his best. Once you get past the not giving
Kirby credit controversy and look at the actual stories this is plain as day.
Surfer has a clearly defined personality. The books outlook, being somewhat of
a downer, was very different from any other super hero book on the market. The
origin story- essentially Marlowe's Faust in outer space- serves as the starting
point. It was a lot smarter than most mainstream books on the market at the
time. Combine that with few guest stars and a double sized, double priced book
with an issue that didn't run in all parts of the south due to its stance on
the civil rights movement and you have a financial disaster. Even the second
half of the book where the size was shrunk, the cost went down and guest stars
were abound were still really good. The story with the obligatory Spider-Man
team up was left somewhat unclear who was the bad guy- Surfer or Ol' Webhead.
- Supergirl (David): After Crisis, Matrix/Supergirl was a rather broken concept
that nobody really cared about. Many writers really made an effort to make the
very concept work. Even before Crisis she seemed sort of redundant with Wonder
Woman around. In walks Peter David- who took a broken concept and just went
exploring. Like most births, Supergirl took nine months to turn from bottom of
the barrel Superbook to the best continuing run on any Super book ever. The
series ranged from mystical stories (the original nine issue origin story) to
high tech (The Return of the Extremists) to personal stories like the
Supergirl vs. the KKK story from Supergirl #23. It was a book that never tired
of reinventing itself. Not only that, but this series proves that Mr. David
has a knack for taking even the worst crossover and writing a great tie in. A
lot of them ran their course through Supergirl's 80 some odd issues. From big
ones like Final Night and One Million to smaller ones like a three parter with
some group called Young Justice.
- Legion of Super Heroes (Levitz-original): The Legion has always been about
hope. No version of the Legion of Super Heroes has shown that better than the
classic Levitz era. There you had the Legion, while not exactly their most
optimistic at the point where they had they most reason to be optimistic.
Darkseid, The Lord of Apokalips came and they beat him. The Legion of Super
Villains stole a planet and they freed it. They dealt with personal tragedies
as well. The Death of Karate Kid. The abduction of Garridan Ranzz. They had
their share of happy moments too. A whole slew of weddings. The birth of the
Ranzz twins. To pull off such a wide variety of stories and keeping track of
such a large number of characters at one time in just one title is a feat very
few writers could pull off. There were just not enough issues dedicated to
Matter Eater Lad for my tastes.
- Teen Titans (Wolfman and Perez): If there was one book in early to mid 80s
that rivaled the X-Men in popularity, it's the Teen Titans. Wolfman and Perez
are one of those teams that somehow bring out the best in each other. Forget
plot, theme or characters. That wasn't what made this run on the book work. Those
other elements helped, but it was all about the creative team. Marv Wolfman
tends to bring out his A-Game story telling when he knows George Perez will be
drawing it. In the years since this has been true of everyone who works with
Mr. Perez, but Mir. Wolfman invented it. George Perez's work seems just
slightly more elegant and yet somehow playful when working on a Wolfman Titans
script. You'd almost think these guys were trying just a bit harder because they
were best friends or something. Oh wait- yeah. I did hear something like
that. This was another early super hero comics discovery for me. One I've
read through about five or six times and still thoroughly enjoy.
- The Legion of Super-Heroes (Giffen/Bierbaum): If you mention these issues of
Legion of Super Heroes to most fans and you'll hear the sound of an Indian
Elephant loudly vomiting up a bowling ball. They were not, at that time or even now,
that well received. Maybe it was Officer Erin being turned into a man because
of letters sent into the Interlac fanzine saying the Element Lad was gay. Maybe
it was Proty Garth. Maybe it was the SW6 clones thrown in to appease fans of
'the way things used to be'. Up to that point, the Legion had always been
about hope. In the eyes of this reader, it still was. It was about the lengths
people will go to create hope in a world without any. I've always said the
strength of any series is if you can put a group of character in a really dark
situation or a ridiculous situation and have them still behave like those
characters.The only problem some fans had that I
agree with is the pacing. The first (and only?) arc basically runs for 38
issues and at least two annuals. It is still my favorite Legion arc. My
favorite scene: the meeting of the Tenzils.
- The Incredible Hulk (David): Hulk big. Hulk green. Hulk not able to say I
refer to himself. Hulk wear purple pants. Hulk have no concept of good and
evil. Wait- Hulk is big. Hulk two colors? Hulk speaks like he at least high
school grad at dumbest? Hulk wear tank top, jeans and bunny slippers? Hulk
must decide if killing next Hitler when he still little kid a good idea or
not? Jess confused. Jess laugh. Jess think. Jess thinks again. Jess
thinks too much. Hulk fights Rhino at Christmas. That funny. Jess laugh
again. Is this action comic? Is this comedy comic? Jess not know. Jess like
but Jess not able to classify. Jess like this run more than any other Hulk
comic run.
- Justice League of America (Giffen/DeMatteis): I can some up in one words
exactly what makes Giffen/DeMatteis run on Justice League such a treat:
Bwa-ha-ha-ha!. You wanted something a little bit meatier than that? Okay, I'll
do it in two words: 'One punch!' Okay- more than that? Fine. They took a
team forced on them by editor's screwing them over and instead of using it as a
weakness they used it to their advantage. They took old and tired ideas in the
DC universe and made them fun. They created new and exciting ideas and then
ripped them to shreds. They made Guy Gardener into Mr. Sensitive. They
revived, nay even popularized, two characters created for Superfriends: The
Comic Book. Ever wanted to know what type of tea a god drinks? Ask these
lunatics, they'll tell you. In an age where 90% of mainstream comics were
overly dark and gritty this run was fun for the sake of fun. In a way a
total counterpoint to our next entry.
- Uncanny X-Men (Claremont): What Chris Claremont did for the X-Men in terms of
story quality and length of the run really can not be measured. His tales run
the gamut from the cosmic (The Phoenix/Dark Phoenix Saga), the smaller scale
super heroics, to the personal (Life/Death and Professor Xavier is a Jerk!) and
even occasionally into the down right silly (Kitty's Fairy Tale). He took
ideas about racial equality- which had been on the back burner- and really
brought them to the forefront. There is just a hint of the McCarthy era in
many of his tales as well which helps ground an otherwise unworldly set of
adventures. One can't really talk about Claremont's run on X-Men without
discussing elements of plot. Sometimes it seemed like the book was juggling
literally a dozen subplots at once and then every once in awhile things would
happen and you'd realize how they all interconnected in ways that (usually) made
a lot of sense. While Claremont has returned to books several times since his
initial departure- it has never quite been the same. Maybe because he always
gets the feeling he's going to be bumped out as writer any minute and we'll never
get to see what he could do with 17 more years.
And now for my 30 favorite trade paperbacks and graphic novels in my
collection. If some of these reviews seem familiar, it is because they are. We
had awful power outages last weekend that lasted two and a half days when I was
trying to work on the last two lists. I didn't have the luxury of time to get
things done. Luckily, due to 'Did I Get What I Paid For?' and other review
columns I've done in the past I had excerpts on many of these trades I could
use. I'm sorry for the reprints but I had to meet deadline. Then again if
recycling entire chapters from several history book to meet his 500 book life
span worked for Issac Asimov, what's one column of half reprints?
- Essential X-Men Vol. 5 (Claremont): This contains the clean up from the
mutant massacre, the entirety of Fall of the Mutants and the beginnings of the
X-Men's really strange adventures in Australia. There is lots of great story
telling and plenty of great character moments in there. It also includes a
personal favorite of mine, The X-Men Vs. The Fantastic Four. A story of one man
fighting his own doubts (Reed Richards), a young woman on the brink of death
(Kitty Pryde), one man who may be the solution to or the cause of the problems
in the first place (Victor Von Doom) and the one mutant who may hold all the
answers if he only understood them (Franklin Richards). It's also a story about
how far one should go to save their loved ones. How far is too far? It's a
story about trust, friendship and many other things. If this story- a noted
personal favorite of mine is only number 30, what could the rest of this list
have? Read on--
- Classic Illustrated- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Clemens): I had
high hopes for this book. Why? I have read many books, comics or otherwise,
and there isn't a book in the English language that I have enjoyed more than
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. My addiction is books and I have been
chasing that dose for eighteen years nowm never quite finding anything that
matches it. Letters from the Earth comes close but doesn't beat it. Simply put,
Huckleberry Finn is the masterwork by the greatest writer the United States has
ever produced and probably ever will. It's a book I've read three times not
counting this graphic novel. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the story
of this trade paperback. On that front it is a fantastic adaptation. The one
thing that keeps it this low on the totem pole is that, if anything, it tries
to keep too much of the original text. There are points where the text
literally drowns the gorgeous pictures. It is almost like they forgot that
comics, like film, are a visual medium. The art does a good job of capturing
the nuance of the world of Mr. Clemens work. Sometimes you have to let the art
speak for itself.
- Legion of Super Heroes: The Great Darkness (Levitz and Giffen): This Legion
story has it all. It is a big cosmic scope story but has a lot of little
personal moments. It contains the paradox that is having the Silver Age
Superboy and Supergirl meet. It arguably began the Legion's climb from run of
the mill camp super heroes into a series that you could take seriously. Most
importantly, it revitalizes a villain that- surprising by today's standards- was
almost a forgotten character in early 80s. I'm talking about Darkseid. Not
only that, it wasn't afraid to show a once powerful villain to be completely
broken but also as quite possibly The Last God. That didn't make him any less
of a threat. After all, the most dangerous man is the one with nothing left to
lose.
- Essential X-Men Vol. 4. (Claremont): This Vol.ume is another big step for the
X-Men. It starts with the second half of the amazingly long Broodwar story. It
also includes the introduction of Rogue, the first of many X-Men and The Silver
Samurai arcs and most importantly what is arguable the most definitive X-Men
story of all: 'God Loves, Man Kills'. While it lacks the consistency of Vol.ume
2, it is still the X-Men at their best which is pretty damn awesome. This
Vol.ume also begins Claremont's long re-envisioning of Magneto from the
mustache-less mustache twirler of yore into the morally ambiguous conflicted
individual he is today.
- Essential Man-Thing Vol.1 (Thomas, Conway and Gerber): This trade takes a
little while to get started but when it does, it is golden. It is a good mix of
science fiction, horror, fantasy, super heroics and even at times, comedy. What
was conceived as a simple monster book in the hands of Roy Thomas and Gerry
Conway quickly grows into something much deeper under the pen of Steve Gerber.
Of all the horror series that Marvel put out in the 70s this one is my favorite
because it goes for something more than sheer terror. It goes for sympathy and
joy, only to pull the rug out from under you. Gerber was a master of wicked
satire often turning it on the very concepts of horror stories. He also
seemed to delight in the idea that perhaps what human beings will knowingly and
willingly do to each other, is much more terrifying than any muck encrusted swamp beast
imaginable.
- Supergirl: Shattered Reflections (David): Weren't you reading the earlier
section? Supergirl was a horrendous mess of a concept in the 80s and early
90s. Peter David swooped in and fixed her up in three issues. Then spent
another six issues getting down to building the city of Leesburg and its
occupants around her. Not only was Supergirl herself a well rounded character
so was the villain of the piece, a pragmatic demon named Buzz. He may have been
an even more interesting character since for all intents and purposes you
shouldn't like the guy. With nothing but words, you somehow end up agreeing
with him to a certain extent. The book is filled with David's patented zig zag
from incredibly dark to incredibly funny that he built a reputation on during
his stints on Incredible Hulk, Aquaman and X-Factor.
- Incredible Hulk Visionaries- Peter David Vol.. 6 (David): Anyone who knows me
says my reviewing this book is a complete waste of time. All you have to say is
'A Hulk story by Peter David' and it is pretty much a given that I will like
it. Why? Because almost everyone else whoever let ink lay to paper with that
character made him such a one trick pony. There were a few oddball stories
here and there- but Mr. David added depth, thought and humor to a character who
was basically dry, brainless and about as funny as a measles outbreak.
- Kingdom Come (Waid and Ross): This book has a lot going for it. The most
obvious is that it is painted by Alex Ross. The man can try but he has never
produced a book that looked ugly. The second thing is the story. Mark Waid
crafts a tale of a DC Universe where everything has gone horribly, horribly
wrong. It is an examination of the old adage, 'All it takes for evil to triumph
is for good men to do nothing'. There have been many dark future stories
before and since. This one is a rarity because it offers something many of them
did not- hope. Then of course there are the interesting little cameos which
include everyone from Guy Gardener to Ambush Bug and even Sugar and Spike.
While somewhat antithetical to Kirby, I enjoyed the scene where it shows Orion
in charge of Apokalips.
- Fallen Angel Vol. 1 (David): Fallen Angel is a dark, brooding series where
there are no heroes and villains. Of course, that is tired and tread territory
for comics these days. What sets Fallen Angel apart from most of these other
books is that the characterizations are solid. The characters seem real in spite
of the fantastic elements. They are unapologetic and uncompromising but also
compassionate. Compassion does not serve to save them but only drags them
further into darkness. No good deed ever goes unpunished in bete noire. It is
cold, harsh, brutally honest noir fantasy. All fantasy is a love story. All noir
is a story of heartbreak. Fallen Angel is the story of a love that went sour
for all the right reasons.
- Preacher- Gone to Texas (Ennis): Where comics like Gaiman's Sandman and Alan
Moore's Swamp Thing are a love songs to mythos, Preacher is a complicated
beast. With the story of Jesse Custer and his half angel half demon symbiote,
it embraces the idea with one hand. When the two begin a quest to kill Yahweh,
it quickly shows that embrace comes with a knife to the back. It exposes the
dark underbelly of those who put their faith in anything other than themselves
and the dangers of following an idea blindly whether that idea be a God, The
Devil or Kurt Cobain. Alamo begins a dark road that gets continually darker.
It is one of the most disturbing graphic novels I've ever found in the fiction
section. Not for the prudish, weak of stomach or overly religious.
- Essential X-Men Vol. 2 (Claremont): What if I told you there was an X-Men
trade you could buy that contained 'The Proteus Saga', 'Dark Phoenix' and 'Days
of Future Past' all in one book? You'd think I'd gone from writing about the
thirty best trades in my collection to the comics version of a late night
infomercial, right? Wrong. This book- which could easily have been titled the
'The Best of the X-Men'- actually does exist and can be yours for less than
$19.95. Like many Essentials it also contains many lesser stories but for
these three alone it is one of those rare Essentials that is actually
essential. Plus, when some of those 'lesser' stories are the X-Men's first trip
to Murderworld and the Kitty Pryde vs. the N'Grai story you should feel quite
pleased indeed.
- The Groo Houndbook (Aragones and Evanier): There have been many characters
who started out solo who found extra fame when they got a partner. Batman and
Robin. Green Arrow and Green Lantern. Then there was Groo and Ruferto. Groo
became even more stupid and even more prone to mayhem after the introduction of
his only true faithful friend. Truth be told. you'd have to have the mind of a
dog to be friends with Groo. Ruferto not only has the mind of a dog but a body
to match. I thought dogs were supposed to have a heightened sense of smell. If
that were true, how could he stand to be around Groo? Wait- this a is Groo comic
and I'm putting it in a best of column? Did I err?
- Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt (Dematteis and Zeck): Dematteis did
something many writers try to do and fail at, particularly in comic books. He
made me feel for the villains. I understood Kraven and why he thought what he
was doing was absolutely the right thing to do. I understood his struggle to
maintain a grasp on his sanity. I even felt sorry for him in the end. It would
also be very easy for a writer to take a character like Vermin and say 'he's a
mindless monster'. Dematteis and Zeck turned what on the surface was yet another
rehash of the Hulk into a unique creature worthy of the reader's care. We also
learned just a little bit more about the type of person Peter Parker was by his
treatment of Vermin.
- The Death of Groo (Aragones and Evanier): I just put Groo on a list of my
all time favorite graphic novels- twice? Did I err? I don't think so. Then
again I never claimed to be perfectly sane or have a well developed sense of
humor. I think I ate too much mulch as a child. Or may I shouldn't have
embarked on a process of inbred fertilization which employs certain decomposed
organic materials-- including, but not limited to animal sediment-- to blanket
an area in which vegetation is desired using only cheese dip. Oh and don't get
me on a boat. It is easy to see why I would like Groo. Anyway, in this story
Groo goes to fight a dragon. When Groo's sword and BETA Max video tape that he
uses to hold them attached to his shirt are found at the mountain side, everyone
thinks Groo is dead. Sage, Arcadio and all the other regulars come to town for
Groo's funeral. They all engage in a Friar's Club style eulogy. Then well- I
won't spoil the ending. Other than to say that after this graphic novel Groo
went on to several more years at Marvel's Epic line before jumping ship to Image
and then to Dark Horse. Which should tell you how reliable the title is. By
the way- what pirates?
- Sandman: The Kindly Ones (Gaiman): Sandman was really one story. The Kindly
Ones was when the whole thing reached its crescendo. Every thread Gaiman
started begans to weave together in ways that even it's author reportedly didn't
know was coming until he got to his keyboard and started writing. If you look
at all the other volumes it seems strange. On rereading, it seems that the story
could have gone no other way. Sandman has always been about myth and dreams.
Having a volume that follows the path put forth by Joseph Campbell in 'The Hero
of a Thousand Faces' whether intentional or not works
beautifully.
- Roots of Swamp Thing (Moore): What makes a good revisionist origin? First
take one character that no one cares about. Then add depth, mystery, intrigue,
a little big of science fiction and a little bit of dark fantasy and add in a
drop of horror. Then make sure it has an excellent writer. Somebody like Alan
Moore. By turning Swamp Thing from transformed scientist into a plant
elemental he opened the door not for new directions for the character but a
whole new direction for mainstream comics as a whole.
- The Essential Howard The Duck (Gerber): This might just be my favorite
Marvel title ever produced. Steve Gerber had a real knack for grabbing the
modern world and turning it inside out. In Howard the Duck he shows the world
we never made and makes us think why we go along with it. It almost overloads
the senses but he's making the audience laugh while doing it. Howard the Duck
is a rare thing in mainstream comics- a thinking man's anti-hero. I have some
of these issues in single issues by copy of the trade was a college graduation
present from our own editor in chief. My favorite Howard the Duck story is
probably the team up with Son of Satan.
- Girl Genius Vol. 3. (Foglio and Foglio): It's a steampunk. It's a romantic
comedy. It's an adventure story. It's a wild ride into the maw of madness that
is the collective mind of Phil and Kajo Foglio. Much like Watchmen it is an
alternate world that is easier to just sit back and enjoy than it is to
explain. However in the world of Girl Genius behind every shadow is a really
great joke. Behind every joke is a shadowy figure with chloroform who wants to
perform experiment on your corpse even if you aren't quite dead yet. By volume
3 the world has been carved out and Agatha and her supporting cast have all
really hit their stride. There are lots of laughs and mysteries. Then there
is the art. The Foglio's pages are so gorgeous you can stare at them for a
really long time and almost get lost in them.
- Watchmen (Moore- Gibbons): Those who don't know that Watchmen may just be
the greatest super hero comic ever written are probably under fifteen and living
under a rock. It literally redefined the limits of what a super hero was.
It's stark dystopian world is one a summary can not do justice. There is a
very strange element to the book that I didn't even realize until one of the
guys at the comic store pointed out to me several months ago. The main
character of the story is Rorschach. The way the scenes are laid from one end
to the other- the only full page splash comes at almost the dead center of the
book. The first two scenes in the book has Rorschach's journal and the police
detectives. The last two scenes in the book has Rorschach's journal and the
police detectives. The entire twelve issue miniseries is one long Rorschach
blot. The skill it takes to disguise that even after multiple readings is
incredible.
- Bone: The Complete Collection (Smith): With its cartoony art, it is easy to
mistake bone for a children's story. That's not to say children can't enjoy
Bone but it never talks down to the reader that way most children's comics do.
Bone is a story for everyone who loves fairy tales. It is a story for anyone
who still believes in love. It's a story for people who haven't forgotten how
to dream. That doesn't necessarily mean children. It's also a book about
getting lost in the desert, fighting dragons and cow racing. It is a love song
to Walt Kelly, Carl Barks and the state of Ohio. Much of the great valley is
mythologized version of various sights in Ohio as seen only by Jeff Smith. I
was born in Columbus. I don't remember much of it save that I wish I could see
it the way Mr. Smith does. I often think the best thing my Dad did while we
were living in Ohio was get us the hell out of Ohio.
- The Last Knight (Eisner): This book is not an all that faithful adaptation
of Don Quixote. It is more a look at the impact Cervantes's tale has had on
literature and world culture. It does tell his tale but it leaves so much out.
Then again the original Don Quixote, without the needless stories within the
story, is about 1000 pages long. Eisner could have worked on an adaptation for
his whole life and never finished it. It is still a very informative retelling
of both Don Quixote and the life Cervantes. Revisiting one of the cornerstones
of world literature is an idea that is very easy to get wrong, especially on
whose ending was so popularly mangled on Broadway. Eisner's graphic novel tells
of many endings Don Quixote- one of the first serialized books to take so long
between chapters that it was one of the first known victims of fanfiction.
- Viva Mad! (Aragones): This collection book of Mad strips from the 70s is
amazing because it shows off the story telling skills of Sergio Aragones. Not
only can the man draw but he can invoke laughs out loud without even having to
write a single word. Sometimes they are only humorous because they are
happening to someone else (for a change). The stories are simple and very
cartoony but have a sense of realism to them. His work also has a surreal
side. Those weird ninjas and skiing men somehow make sense. One can't describe what makes
Aragones's work stand out as spectacular. Just experience it and you'll
understand.
- Last Day in Vietnam (Eisner): There are few events of the twentieth century
that were more divisive than the Vietnam War. This book captures the two sides
that the mainstream media likes to draw attention to as well as a few that they
tend to ignore. Each story gives greater insight to what the men on the ground
must have been going through. Where many artists would only tell stories that
fit whatever side they were on, Will Eisner- like a journalist or historian--
simply drew what he heard and what he saw. While it is a work of fiction- all
of the stories seem like they could have happened. Many of them, Eisner
insisted, actually did. The book has the added bonus of including some of the
instruction manuals Eisner did for PS magazine.
- Our Cancer Year (Pekar): Our Cancer Year is a painful read. It's the story
of one man struggling for his very life against his own body. It's also the
story of a woman who tried to help him keep his sanity during the rigorous road
to recovery. It is by far the most anguish filled volume of Pekar's American
Splendor. It's Pekar at his most enraged. It is also one of the
most hopeful pieces of writing about himself that he ever wrote. After all,
Harvey Pekar lived a good number of years between the writing of this graphic
novel and his death. He went on to raise an adopted daughter. I know for a fact
that this book has gotten people through hard times with their own medical
problems. It also has helped friends and family members understand when their
loved ones decided not to seek treatment. It's not often you get something like that
out of a graphic novel.
- The Name of The Game (Eisner): This is probably the second of Will Eisner's
true epics chronicling several generations of a Jewish family that came to
America in the late 1800s. It covers everything from a generation of poor
farmers to a story that is eerily similar to how a friend of mine's family came
to this country in 1936. Eisner claimed all of the stories were based on things
that happened to members of his family or to people he knew. Possibly
he knew the same mob accountant that helped my friend's family. Stranger things
have happened. This book exemplifies the American dream. Coming to this
country with nothing and making a better life. It presents the flaws of America
too. Those flaws seem to be forgiven for no matter bad things are here, they
are still much better than they were where they came from.
- The Dreamer (Eisner): This book is the closest thing to an autobiography that
the da Vinci of comics ever wrote. It tells the story of a young man in the
1930s who wants to make it big in comics. The names were changed to protect the
innocent and the guilty. Some of the people involved, like a brilliant fellow
artist and occasional street fighter named Jack King, are easy to unmask.
(Anyone care to make any guesses?) It is a story that shows the good and bad of
the comics industry back in the so called 'Golden Age'. It contains all the
elements of cynicism and optimism that one expects from Will Eisner. A
great read for those interested not only in great graphic literature but the
history of comics as a medium.
- Persepolis Book Two (Satrapi): Much of the innocence is drained from this
book, as Satrapi reaches her late teens. The first half of the book is the
tale of a young Iranian woman trying to fit into western culture. It's a story
of heart break, disillusionment and a complete emotional breakdown. At first
glance, her return to Iran is a return in more ways than one. Though there is
more heartbreak around the corner. It is a much deeper and harder read than the
first half of the series. It gets its point across that no matter where you go,
no matter what your religion, race or nationality people are people.
- Persepolis Book One (Satrapi): I saw the movie when it first came out and
was absolutely blown away. The book is part history lesson and part first hand
account of the Iranian revolution told through the eyes of a child up through
the teen years. Its printing couldn't be more timely. The book takes great
care to try to build an understanding from two worlds that really aren't as
different as they might seem.
- Contract With God Trilogy- (Eisner): This hardback collection is the
quintessential Will Eisner. It contains not only the groundbreaking 'Contract
with God' which put graphic novels on the map, but also the over looked
but equally compelling 'A Life Force' and 'Dropsie Avenue'. All of these
stories either take place on Dropsie Avenue or tell the stories of people who
live there. The stories, like all of Eisner's work, capture the human condition
for good or ill. He also finds a small scrap of hope in almost
everyone.
- Maus (Spiegelman): I originally attempted to not read any other comics while
reading it. I couldn't do it. Some parts of the book made me want to vomit.
The book started giving me nightmares. Considering the book is about the
Holocaust it shouldn't be an easy read. It should be painful to think about.
The visual device of making each nationality a different animal both dehumanizes
the characters at first but after a few pages the mind just begins to blur it.
You don't notice it. All the animal figures just become people in your head
even if you eyes see mice, pigs, frogs and dogs. This is one of the most
amazing graphic novels I've ever read and by far the most painful. Even my most
agnostic Jewish ex-girlfriends should be ashamed of themselves for not lending
me their copies for a week while we dating and making me read it sooner.
Due to the power outages you don't even get reviews of the movies merely the
titles. If you haven't seen them, I suggest you go to the video store, search
your cable provider or Netflix immediately. A few of these aren't suitable for
those under their late teens and not all of them are sci-fi films. Some aren't
even full length. More than half of these movies are older than I am and some
are even older than our editor in chief. (Unless those rumors about alchemical
experiments and the Bavarian Illuminati are completely true. I wouldn't
know.) Needless to say there are plenty of movies here that aren't in color or
even have sound. Then again, I'm hearing impaired. Why do I need sound? All
of these films are worth seeing.
- Animal Crackers (Heerman- 1930)
- Serenity (Whedon - 2005)
- The Twelve Chairs (Brooks- 1970)
- Back to the Future Part III (Zemeckis- 1990)
- Back to the Future Part II (Zemeckis- 1989)
- Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (Hereck - 1989)
- The Life of Brian (Jones- 1979)
- The Great Muppet Caper (Henson- 1981)
- My Dinner with Andre (Malle- 1981)
- The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner- 1980)
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Nimoy- 1986)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg 1981)
- The Immigrant (Chaplin- 1917)
- Big Business (Horne and McCarey - 1929)
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Gilliam and Jones - 1975)
- Young Frankenstein (Brooks- 1974)
- Back to the Future (Zemeckis - 1985)
- What's Up Tigerlily? (Allen- 1966)
- A Night at the Opera (Sam Wood - 1935)
- The Producers (Brooks- 1968)
- The Jungle Book (Disney- 1967)
- The Usual Suspects (Singer- 1995)
- E.T. The Extraterrestrial (Spielberg - 1982)
- Supeman (Donner- 1978)
- Rashoman (Kurosawa- 1950)
- The Muppet Movie (Frawley - 1979)
- Duck Amuck (Jones- 1953)
- The Big Lebowski (The Coen Brothers- 1998)
- Duck Soup (McCarey- 1933)
- Annie Hall (Allen- 1977)
- Citizen Kane (Welles- 1941)
- The Sprinkler Sprinkled (Lumiere- 1895 )
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