This is the third and final of our Spacey Stories theme week, today featuring the Marvel Family crew: Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr, and Mary Marvel.

Have you ever seen the television program, Ancient Aliens? It’s the contention of the show that in order to get where we are as humans today we had to depend on help from aliens from space. Personally, I think the show stretches a lot to fit events into their theories. But, like the hosts of the program, I wasn’t there.

Which leads us to the Marvel Family, who become the Earth version of Ancient Aliens, flying to Jupiter, bringing some civilization to a race that is about where we were 40-50,000 years ago. No timetable is given, but it seems pretty quick to teach anybody anything, even how to use fire or spell “cat.”

From The Marvel Family #5 (1946).

Writer and writer/artist team of Brian Buccellato and Francis Manapul have big shoes to fill in Flash Vol. 3: Gorilla Warfare. Indeed it was Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins's Grodd story that made many sit up and take notice of what became their classic Flash run, and Buccellato and Manapul have the unenviable task of essentially re-telling the same story, of Grodd running rampant through the Gem Cities.

It turns out, Gorilla Warfare is the best of Buccellato and Manapul's three Flash volumes so far, a worthy successor to what came before. Much of what dragged on the team's first two volumes (which were still good in their own right) has been fixed here, suggesting the creators really hitting their stride. Pity the next book is their last, but Gorilla Warfare is a high note to (start to) go out on.

[Review contains spoilers]

While again I liked Flash Vols. 1 and 2, Move Forward and Rogues Revolution, the former focused too much on a contrived and too-convenient long-lost friend of Barry Allen's who just happened to be the villain of the piece, and the latter told its story in a backward fashion that only made sense at the very, very end. Volume 3 is more straightforward in that it boils down to a heroes versus (gorilla) villains story, and also the book makes great use of the Flash's established supporting cast instead of turning to distraction. Manapul's art on this title has always been superlative, and now the book has a story that functions just as well.

Indeed, aside from excellent Flash Barry Allen work (good in the "Gorilla Warfare" story, but even better in the two-parter than ends this story), the creative team highlights Flash's supporting cast really well here. Patty Spivot, Darryl Frye, Iris West, and even the new Turbine (a kind of New 52 Top) have roles to play, along with the Rogues, and villain Dr. Elias even affects things behind the scenes. I appreciated that the writers went against type when Patty finds out Barry's secret, and had her pretty well OK with it rather than throwing a melodramatic fit; Patty also shines when she plays cavalry in "Gorilla Warfare"'s last chapter, a moment that serves to really make the audience feel like the characters are at war.

In fact, it's really hard not to like Patty, and the writers have something akin to Arrow's Felicity/Laurel triangle here in that we know Barry is meant for Iris, but it's tough not to favor Patty instead. There's an equally wonderful "CW moment" in "Gorilla Warfare"'s conclusion that demonstrates Barry's mixed feelings. Of course, Barry can't be with Iris any more than Clark can be with Lois, else we trip the wire that blows up the New 52, but I tend to wonder exactly how long DC writers can wait before they go there. Clark proposed to Lois 50 issues into the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths universe, and then there were another 240 issues (of the Superman title alone) before DC rebooted the universe. Can New 52 writers wait another 300 issues and 25 years before they get Barry and Iris together? If he's looking longingly at her now, I'd have to say I'm skeptical.

There's plenty to like about Buccellato and Manapul's Flash Barry Allen when he sacrifices himself to Grodd, and then again when he gains the upper hand in the Speed Force. But in the book's final two chapters (issues #18 and #19), the writers tell the story of a powerless Barry Allen (see Dial H) using the Rogues' weapons to fight off a mob, and for a bowtie-wearing stiff, he's really, as one character says, a "badass." That Buccellato and Manapul can make Barry, once thought to be DC's dullest hero, a "badass" is a feat indeed. The two chapters also benefit from a Cyborg cameo (great to see Cyborg with some Flash again) and from guest art by Marcio Takara, whose style best matches Manapul's of all the guest artists in the book.

Manapul is one of DC's best and most distinctive artists, one they really can't afford to lose. His nine-page spread in the book's third chapter is a superlative achievement, gorgeous in its panelling (though a little tough to interpret). I rather wish DC had reprinted it Mind MGMT-style as an actual fold-out, though there's a thumbnail image at the end that shows it all together. If Manapul can top this in Flash, Vol. 4, that'll be something to behold. This book's bonus material has some of Manapul's "finishes," pencilled and mildly colored pages, and I'd love to see one of DC's "Unwrapped" volumes with more of Manapul's work like this.

With the next and last volume, Buccellato and Manapul equally venture into a realm where lightning has already struck twice, a Reverse Flash story, done well once by Mark Waid and then again by Geoff Johns. Given how well Flash Vol. 3: Gorilla Warfare turned out, my bet is that the team can capture lightning in a bottle a third time (to really beat the metaphor to death). At the start of the New 52 run, I really thought Dr. Elias would turn out to be Zoom, but with this book's conclusion the writers have given me two or three more candidates to consider as well; I can't wait to find out what the answer is.

[Includes original covers, two-page "WTF" cover, Francis Manapul sketchbook]

We won't have to wait long ... Flash Vol. 4: Reverse coming up next.

I'm a little late on this, but as an epilogue to our previous discussions of DC Comics's mis-printing of the Batman: Murderer trade and their subsequent re-issuing of it, I wanted to post these photos from Kirk Kiefer, who helped get the ball rolling on the ultimate reprint.

This is the table of contents, the indicia page, and the back cover of the original edition. Note there that Detective Comics #768 is listed as "Purity Part One" when it's actually "Purity Part Two." The indicia page says the book includes Detective Comics #766-767, when in fact it includes #766-767 and #769-770, skipping issue #768, the actual "Purity Part One." The back cover correctly reflects the book's actual contents, even as the book's contents weren't actually correct, if that makes sense.

The new book includes (and correctly lists) Detective Comics #768 in the contents as "Purity Part One," followed by the other two chapters. The indicia is now correct, though I'm surprised to see the new printing still called the "first" printing; if that kind of stuff matters to you, you'd want to check the contents to make sure you're really getting the printing you want. The new back cover correctly lists the corrected contents of the book.

The original Batman: Murderer/Fugitive collections were seminal volumes in DC Comics's collections history, some of the first to collect the ancillary tie-ins of a series' event, and I'm glad things worked out for the best with these new releases.

“Tales of the Bizarro World” — featuring stories of the defective Superman clones and characters of the Superman universe — was a big favorite of mine when it appeared in Adventure Comics in 1961-62. The idea of an inverted world has passed from Superman comic books into pop culture, even showing up on an episode of Seinfeld.

This story, which originally appeared in Adventure #291, was reprinted with several others in Superman #202 (1968), an 80-Page Giant issue, which used as its theme the topsy-turvy Bizarro World stories. (It is also the only silver age comic book I bought in 2013, when I searched my collection and could not find it. Me hate it when that happens!) The Bizarro stories were also collected in a trade paperback a few years ago.

“The Bizarro Perfect Crimes” was written by Jerry Siegel and drawn by John Forte. At the time the series ended its 15 issue run I was extremely disappointed and stopped buying Adventure Comics, which means I missed out on the popular “Legion of Super Heroes” feature that took Bizarro’s spot. It went on to be a very collectible series. In that way it was a Bizarro thing for me to do.

This is the second of our three-part Spacey Stories theme week.

The Superman titles have course-corrected a lot in the beginning of the New 52, after George Perez left, Dan Jurgens and others filled in for a while, and Scott Lobdell came on and almost immediately turned to the "H'el on Earth" crossover. In this way, Superman Vol. 4: Psi-War marks really the first dedicated Superman-centric volume of the definitive New 52 Superman, by Lobdell and Supergirl's Mike Johnson (while Lobdell filled in on Action Comics).

The result is a mixed bag; not perfect, but nothing I'd dismiss out of hand. The up side is that Lobdell's chapters focuses a lot on Clark Kent -- somewhat under-used so far in the New 52 -- though at points even I felt maybe there was too much Clark here. Johnson's actual "Psi-War," once the book gets to it, is a fairly rousing story (conceptually if not in practice), but the good Clark focus also makes for slow-going to get there, and the eventual absence of artist Kenneth Rocafort definitely detracts. Ultimately, however, I really like Lobdell's iteration of Superman, and that's enough to keep me enthusiastic about the half-dozen or so issues left in his run after this book.

[Review contains spoilers]

Lobdell uses Lois, Jimmy, and Perry better than they have been in the first two New 52 Superman volumes. Lobdell's Lois really shines here, and I thought Lobdell also illustrated Clark and Lois's current relationship, and what it means that they're "best friends," better than it's been addressed so far in the New 52. It's Lobdell's unenviable task to normalize the improbable Superman/Wonder Woman relationship begun in Justice League, but Lobdell does well both in an awkward dinner party where "Diana Prince" meets Clark's Daily Planet colleagues, and also when Wonder Woman comes to Superman's aid to fight a "menace" that turns out to be the New God Orion.

This dinner party, however, is emblematic of Psi-War's extended slow start. I'm a Lois and Clark fan from way back (digital comic series, please!) and I don't mind Clark and the Daily Planet played as a workplace drama, but an entire issue where the greatest threat is Clark's supporting cast acting out of character doesn't get my pulse racing. This is preceded by an issue where Superman mainly catches people jumping off rooftops, and followed by an issue where Superman fights Orion (when we know it's a misunderstanding) and an issue where Superman confronts his friends acting strangely for a second time.

I appreciate that Lobdell demonstrates the mental attacks of villain Hector Hammond and others through the characters' emotions and not something more overwrought, but it struck me as too much of Clark thinking about stuff and not enough Clark or Superman involved in real intrigue.

With Psi-War, Johnson contributes to a long-standing tradition of Superman "wars," no less than the "Blaze/Satanus War," "Fall of Metropolis," Our Worlds at War, War of the Supermen, and so on. And the "Psi-War" acquits itself well, most specifically when it becomes not a two-front but rather a three-front war; the story would seem to be about Superman versus Hector Hammond and the HIVE Queen, but Johnson complicates it in a surprising manner when he introduces the new Psycho Pirate.

I appreciated that Johnson and Lobdell tied the whole thing back to the Twenty, Metropolis citizens mutated by Brainiac, such that these threats feel intrinsically Superman's rather than just villains that he's fighting. At the same time, while the Queen and Psycho Pirate, as part of the Twenty, have believable motivations, I felt Hammond came off as a typical scheming bad guy, without the truly creepy, stalker-esque persona he had in Geoff Johns's early Green Lantern stories. We also lose Rocafort here for a series of fill-in artists; while the Psycho Pirate's presence is compelling, his actual visual design by a fill-in artist is overdone in a way that makes the entire "Psi-War" threat feel less serious and engaging.

What sells Psi-War for me, in the end, is Lobdell's Clark Kent and Superman. If we set aside Clark's melodramatic march out of the Daily Planet in Superman Vol. 3: Fury at World's End (chalk it up to Lobdell's first Superman at bat), what we find is a likable young guy, a journalist at heart despite having left his job, and with friends he cares about and who care about him. Lobdell's Superman/Wonder Woman relationship doesn't dwell as much on grand superheroics as just on two outsiders who like each other and get along well. Clark here is not perfect, using his powers we might say inappropriately to help his partner Cat Grant get a story, but indeed I don't mind a Superman a bit more realistically fallible (and I'm not sure Dean Cain's Superman wouldn't have done the same).

And Lobdell's Superman, in contrast to a number of other Supermans, flies in planes and ride subways and makes coffee in a coffee pot specifically because he could do otherwise, but wants to keep his connection to humanity. That Superman cures diseases in the Fortress of Solitude has become something of the de rigueur depiction of Superman these days, but Lobdell's is a wise and kind take that I think distinguishes his run even though it ends after the next volume.

Between Superman Vol. 4: Psi-War and Action Comics Vol. 4: Hybrid, the latter is the better book, with satisfying stories that test both Clark and Superman, well-illustrated to boot. But Scott Lobdell and Mike Johnson's Psi-War succeeds in many ways that the New 52 Superman books have not so far, and both books lead me to feel that Superman is more on track than he has been in a while.

We begin another theme week. Our three postings this week will be what I call Spacey Stories. That is, stories which take place in space, and also have a degree of spaciness (as in off-the-wall) in the storytelling, deliberately or not.

Gardner Fox wrote and Fred Guardineer drew this spacey tale of Space Ace, from the ME one-shot, Space Ace #5 (1952). The stories are all reprints from Manhunt. This particular story is originally from Manhunt #6 (1948). Space Ace (Jet Black) and his young crew member, Jak Tal are in orbit doing their Space Patrol duties when they encounter an alien spaceship. The story’s title calls the aliens men, but they look more like something out of H. P. Lovecraft. That isn’t enough to make it oddball...it’s the use of a common novelty item, a joy buzzer, called a handshake buzzer here, to help defeat the invasion-minded aliens.

Here is another posting with Space Ace. Just click on the thumbnail.