Number 405


Vampire Valtz


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

A year ago today I showed you this MLJ Witch's Tale story. Pappy's friend, 1506NixNix, who provided the scans for that, has provided the scans for yet another MLJ treat. This time it's starring Mr. Justice from Blue Ribbon Comics #11. We see a dance called the vampire waltz, and we also find out that vampires can turn into werewolves. Has anyone else ever suggested such a thing?

The name Carlos Hubbello is an inside joke. Carl Hubbell was an artist who worked in comics for many years. According to the book, The Ten-Cent Plague by David Hajdu, Hubbell's wife, Virginia, actually ghost-wrote many of the stories signed by Charles Biro.

OK, so that's off the subject. Sam Cooper and Joe Blair did the creative honors on this story, which runs the gamut from super heroes to horror, and is a good example of why for a couple of years at least, MLJ, in its pre-Archie incarnation, was one of the most garish and lively of the comic book companies springing up in the late '30s period.










[Review contains spoilers, including for Superman: Brainiac.]

Kurt Busiek's Superman: The Third Kryptonian finally hit the mark for me. I enjoyed the first part of Busiek's Superman: Camelot Falls, but found the second volume too esoteric and "talky" for its own good. With Third Kryptonian, however, Busiek offers the super-intelligent Superman that I hope will become his legacy on the Superman titles, in a self-contained story that showcases well the Superman family post-Infinite Crisis.

I felt skeptical when Kurt Busiek (with Action Comics writer Geoff Johns) reintroduced Superman's super-intelligence, fearing it would become a way that Super-writers would make Superman super-snotty or super-unrelatable. Instead, Busiek has consistently used Superman's new powers in a way that make the hero a twenty-first century science-fiction intellectual, as when the book Clark Kent is reading is really a hundred books printed super-small.

In Third Kryptonian, we see Superman use his intelligence alongside Batman's detective skills. Busiek thankfully avoids the temptation to make one character "outsmart" the other; instead, Superman and Batman work side-by-side, with Batman providing the design for a power-reducing red-sun watch for Chris Kent and Superman providing the miniaturization. Later, we see Batman utilize a number of Superman's technological advances when defending himself from space pirates. Rather than make Superman inaccessible, Busiek writes the super-intelligence so as to make Superman cool--cooler than cool, or super-cool, perhaps. I didn't think I'd like this change in Superman as much as I do, and it shapes Busiek's entire take on Superman in a very positive way.

Busiek's story here takes place in the weird space left by the long delays in Geoff John's Superman: Last Son; that is, even though Last Son is mostly a self-contained story, Third Kryptonian takes place somewhere in the middle, while Chris Kent lives with Lois and Clark. Busiek gets the opportunity, perhaps even moreso than Johns, to flesh Chris out. Though at times I felt Busiek went too "cutesy" with Chris's dialogue (and similarly, Supergirl too stereotypically "teen"), he uses the theme of family well in Third Kryptonian to put Superman in a number of fatherly roles. The end of Last Son has much more poignancy now that I've seen Superman and Chris interact to a greater extent here.

I will admit that the various minutia of Kryptonian history (often, as it is, shifting and changing) has never held much interest for me; to that end, I found the third Kryptonian herself, Karsta Wor-Ul, potentially the least gripping part of the story, though overall Busiek created an interesting character, and I liked his nods to the Silver Age Superwoman. What I struggled more with here was negotiating what we already know about Superman's history with the new New Earth retcons--Busiek (and Johns) presumably, take great pains to preserve what we know about the established interdimensional Kandor while also giving hints of a new Kryptonian Kandor; at the same time, I was confused by references to a new Kryptonian Doomsday and Eradicator Squad, which Superman understood but that I'm not sure the reader knows anything about.

Indeed, even as I had the sense that Busiek found his Superman stride in Third Kryptonian, I was surprised at just how much of this story seemed to be in service of Geoff Johns' upcoming Superman storylines (while Busiek moves over to Trinity). The numerous mentions of Kandor in the story feed right into Johns' "Brainiac" epic; we also see "New Krypton" foreshadowed heavily--even referenced by name--in the two single stories that round out these collections. On one hand I appreciate the cohesiveness of the new Superman universe, making all the stories relevant to a larger picture; on the other hand, I'm left with the feeling that Third Kryptonian short-changes Busiek just a bit, making this story less important than the Johns tale that comes next (though there are worse things).

To that end, while I enjoyed the two one-shot stories in the end (one involving the Super-family, one with just Superman and Pa Kent), the foreshadowing of Pa Kent's potential doom here borders on over the top. Not once but twice, Superman and Pa Kent talk about how proud they are of one another and how much they love one another--touching, yes, but Busiek and Johns' point is to show us what a great character Pa Kent is, then why not keep keep the character alive rather than kill him off? I'm not, as you can tell, a big fan of this decision, though I reserve final judgment until I actually read the story in question.

[Contains full covers.]

All in all I liked Third Kryptonian a lot, mainly for Kurt Busiek's portrayal of Superman, and my guess is that it'll turn out to be my favorite of Busiek's run. Overall I'm pleased with the Super-universe that Busiek, Johns, and new writer James Robinson are building, and I think it portends good things for the Superman titles.

Next up: Batman: The Black Glove. Join us!


Number 404


Mr. Green and Tubby's ghost


Here are a couple more entries in our Halloween theme week.

I've shown a couple of stories from the John Stanley scripted Tales From The Tomb #1 (and only) giant comic from 1962. I don't know why this comic didn't continue. It could be that even though the stories are great, the artwork can be at times indifferent. "Mr. Green Must Be Fed" is the lead story, drawn by Frank Springer. The green monster ("Mr. Green") looms up much the same way the mud man did in this story from the issue.

If Dell had been under the Comics Code they probably couldn't have shown Mrs. Wittly getting away with feeding Mr. Grimes to Mr. Green. She doesn't seem too concerned that young Harry gets away, even gets away in a police car, because she knows no one will believe him.

The second story is "The Ghost", one of my favorite Tubby stories, from Little Lulu #86, August 1955, drawn by Irving Tripp. Stanley doesn't make it easy for the reader by showing us whether the ghost is real or in Tubby's head. The important thing to the plot is that the ghost is real to Tubby. We're seeing it from his point of view. His parents are puzzled observers while Tubby is on his own, in a desperate struggle to get rid of an apparition. It's funny, but there is an element of paranoia in the situation.

Mr. Green is murderous and violent, but the ghost is benign. Mr. Green wants to eat young Harry, but the ghost seems content to just sit and look at Tubby. Either seems creepy to me.


















The Fall 2009 DC Comics trade paperback (and hardcover) solicitations just keep coming! There's a bunch of different ones this time, so I've split them up into Final Crisis, Series Collections, Special Reprints. and Paperback Reprints.

Final Crisis
- Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge HC - As expected.

- Final Crisis Companion - Perhaps the biggest headline here; this could collect some of the Final Crisis one-shot material, like the Infinite Crisis Companion, or earlier adventures of Final Crisis characters like the 52 Companion.

Series Editions
- Legion of Super-Heroes: Enemy Manifest HC - The next current Jim Shooter collection

- Superman/Batman: Superbat HC - The next Michael Green collection

- Justice League of America: The Second Coming HC - This is most likely Justice League #22-26, if not more.

Special Reprints
- Sandman by Kirby and Simon - I've heard rumor there's a bunch of Kirby/Simon reprint material coming from DC and Titan Books.

- Flash: The Human Race - This follows Flash: Emergency Stop as the next Grant Morrison/Mark Millar collection

- Hitman Vol. 1 SC - Looks like a new round of Hitman collections coming back into print

- JLA Deluxe Vol. 2

- Superman: Tales from the Phantom Zone - Phantom Zone tales across the eras

- Robin: The Teen Wonder - Maybe a collection of Earth-2 Dick Grayson stories?

- Batman: Mad Love and Other Stories HC - Collects stories by Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and others

- Static: Rebirth of the Cool - Another Static reprint heralding the character's return.

- Justice League International Vol. 2 SC - I like that DC is releasing these in softcover, too, instead of just in hardcover.

Paperback Reprints
- Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes SC

- Wonder Woman: Amazons Attack SC

- Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps War Vol. 2 SC

- Green Lantern: Tales of the Sinestro Corps SC

- The Question: The Five Books of Blood SC

- Superman: Last Son SC

- Wonder Woman: Love and Murder SC

- Justice League of America: The Injustice League SC

- Superman: Escape from Bizarro World SC

- Booster Gold: 52-Pick-Up SC

- Batman: Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul SC

See Final Crisis and other Collected Editions solicitations, and as always, chime in and let us know what's on your to-buy list. And don't miss a bunch of great comics recommendations at the Collected Editions Trade Paperback Store!
[Contains spoilers for Superman/Batman: Torment]

It's hard to say whether Superman/Batman: Torment presents the right direction for the Superman/Batman title. That is, Torment tells a good (not great) Superman/Batman story, but flies in the face of continuity to do it. This is something we also saw in the previous volume, Superman/Batman: Enemies Among Us, though Torment is even more loosely connected, and I'm not sure this trend will necessarily work for the title.

Consider Torment versus the first, and possibly best, Superman/Batman story, Public Enemies. Public Enemies took place distinctly shortly after Batman: Hush, and dealt with Superman and Batman's overthrow of President Luthor -- a monumental event in DC Comics history that began the universe's move toward Infinite Crisis. Now consider Torment, which takes place in a tricky period after Luthor's fall but before Infinite Crisis*, and whose relevance is quite essentially nil. There's a very minor Final Crisis tie at the end, but overall this book affects nothing, and is even set in the past where it can't affect anything. Both stories are like summer blockbusters, and in that way perhaps worthy of the Superman/Batman title; but whereas Superman/Batman (mainly under Jeph Loeb) used to be built on summer blockbuster events, Torment is all the fanfare without the relevance.

Which is not to say that Torment is a bad story. Most of the appeal of the tale came for me in Burnett's mixing of DC's two main fear-based bad guys, the Scarecrow and Desaad; in that way, Torment covers some new ground. Torment also offers some techno-punk-eseque scenes of Batman amongst the New Gods, and it's always exciting to see the "normal" Batman in these "paranormal" situations (though unfortunately, Torment, for a Superman/Batman tale, becomes largely Batman's story when Superman is lost to mind-control early on). This was also my first introduction to the New God Bekka, married apparently to Orion, and I found her difficult relationship with Batman quite interesting; there's a great moment when the two must stand in an awkward embrace, hidden from the Parademons that surround them on all sides.

I did struggle to understand what Burnett was trying to say about Superman and Batman here -- not that every comic has to have a "message," but oftentimes Jeph Loeb's Superman/Batman stories explored in some underlying way either the heroes themselves, or questions of justice or heroism. The "torment" in the title seems to apply most directly to the way in which Superman is plagued by Scarecrow-induced fears at the beginning of the story (though Scarecrow, strangely, also falls away about halfway through the tale). "Torment" can also apply, a bit more metaphorically, to the way Batman suffers for his desire for Bekka, and indeed his consideration of the way he's denied himself love throughout his life.

Though nicely moving, I didn't think these insights into Batman were especially new, and indeed many of them are no longer true of the more emotional post-Infinite Crisis Batman. There's a good moment in the end where Superman, newly rescued, celebrates being alive while in contrast Batman, cut off from Bekka, rues the day -- but this served in a way only to reinforce the separate directions in which Burnett seemed to be pulling the story.

Superman/Batman: Torment isn't a bad story, and artist Dustin Nguyen creates a visual feast the whole way through. But Superman/Batman used to be a super-relevant must-read -- and if the trend shown here continues, I'll soon be questioning whether to even pick it up right away. I hope that's not the case.

[Contains full covers, Dustin Nguyen sketchbook section]

Up next: More Superman with Superman: The Third Kryptonian!

* For you continuity wonks out there, the problem is the appearance of Lex Luthor in this trade. Pete Ross is president here, placing the story after Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, where Lex Luthor went missing before Infinite Crisis -- except Lex appears here, seemingly still in charge of Lexcorp (called Lex-Com in the story). One might suggest that Lex was simply operating under the heroes' radar during this time, except that Batman actually questions Lex in the story! We might perhaps resolve that maybe Batman knew where Lex was during this time, but Superman didn't, but there's any number of stories to contradict this. In all likelihood, Burnett and his editor just didn't concern themselves with where this story fit into continuity. I think the continuity lapse takes away from the story, but others might disagree.


Number 403



Vampire Jungle Gal!


It's day two of Pappy's Halloween week.

You'll see some creepy stuff here this week. Just keep hanging around.

In "Moon God's Death-dealing Idol" you get a white jungle princess, but she's a vampire white jungle princess! That's mixing genres for you. This is the final story from Beyond #11, from 1952. The first page reminded me of old Tarzan movies: "Bad juju, bwana! We not go there!"

I've also added the one-page filler strips from this issue, "True Stories of the Supernatural." A word of advice: don't put too much credence in the word "true" when it comes to stuff like this.










Number 402


The Ghost Rider has spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle...


BOO!

It's Sunday and the start of Halloween week at Pappy's! We have some different types of horror stories for you, from these two gothic Westerns from Ghost Rider #10, December 1952, drawn by Dick Ayers, to a couple of John Stanley stories, an Ace Comics horror story (Karswell has been running Ace stories lately; an underappreciated horror comics publisher), and an old MLJ superhero/vampire story from the real early days of the comics.

Should be a fun week, full of tricks and treats, so check back.