If you want to read a book with a lot of Deathstroke in it, one of those books is Deathstoke Vol. 2: Lobo Hunt.

That's faint praise, but I don't think anyone is going into a book that starts off with four issues about Deathstroke and Lobo written and drawn by 1990s superstar Rob Liefeld and expecting to find Art Spiegelman. This not by far the worst New 52 collection I've read, nor do writers Liefeld, Joshua Williamson, and Justin Jordan do particularly badly by Deathstroke Slade Wilson, but this is certainly a collection of stories with a heavier emphasis on action than character or even plot intrigue.

And yet, while I enjoyed some parts of this trade a little more and some a little less, I was ultimately surprised at how underwhelmed I was by the whole thing. I had really been hoping for some "out there" mania, but all in all this book is relatively tame.

[Review contains spoilers]

Indeed Rob Liefeld writes and draws the first four issues of this book, the "Lobo Hunt" storyline. To comment on the excesses of Liefeld's style -- the clenched teeth, the lack of backgrounds, the tortured anatomy (including one unbelievable Zealot in issue #12, the fourth chapter) -- would be reductive; this is a writer/artist doing the thing that he does. As a matter of fact, there's a certain joy in seeing Liefeld draw a '90s character like Zealot again; five years ago, would you have wagered you'd ever see Rob Liefeld draw Zealot in a DC comic again?

If anything, one of my qualms is that Liefeld too egregiously tones down his art style here. The costumes for the Omegas (a weird approximation of DC's Omega Men), their alien foes, Lobo, even Deathstroke in the beginning are all very slimmed down, tight-fitting suits. There's barely a giant gun nor large pouch, not even for Lobo, and this lack of excess made Liefeld's pages seem not refined, but unsatisfyingly sparse.

In that same vein, another disappointment is that -- after two issues where Deathstroke fights insignificant bad guys who are not Lobo -- Liefeld's actual presentation of Lobo is remarkably mild. There's a "frag" here and there, but never a "feetle's gizz," and by and large Deathstroke versus Lobo is just a bunch of punching and kicking. Perhaps this Lobo is meant to reflect his earlier LEGION appearances and not the later Alan Grant series, but I left this section not really feeling like I'd gotten my "Lobo fix."

Kyle Higgins's Deathstroke volume that preceded this one essentially demonstrated how Wilson was "the best" against increasingly outrageous opponents. One thing I noticed and disliked in Liefeld, Williamson, and Jordan's stories is that Deathstroke gets knocked around quite a lot here. Liefeld starts the book re-orienting Wilson as a man with a death wish mourning his wife Adeline, and the whole book never quite escapes that "woe is me" trajectory. Obviously a book where Deathstroke can defeat everyone wouldn't offer much suspense, but Lobo knocks Wilson around, followed by (a villain actually named) Deadborn, the unkillable dictator Korschi, cybernetic gangster Tomo, and Wildstorm's Majestic. As opposed to in Higgins's book, I never truly felt Deathstroke posited as "the best" here.

After the Zero Month issue (which interestingly hews close to Deathstroke's pre-Flashpoint origins), Liefeld and Williamson collaborate on the aforementioned issue where Deathstroke fights Deadborn, and then the "Hawkman: Wanted" crossover with Savage Hawkman. The Deadborn issue generally connects to a thread in the book where Wilson's not-dead wife Adeline and son Jericho plot to kill him, but later Jordan takes the story in a different direction such that Deadborn becomes an afterthought, and said issue "just" a long fight scene. Deadborn, who actually calls himself "the dreaded Deadborn," is the most 1990s-esque part of the book; it's the book's lowest point on one hand, and on the other it's kind of sad Liefeld didn't draw that issue, too.

I give a thumbs up to the "Hawkman: Wanted" issue because it does actually explain in a reasonable manner how Deathstroke can be walking around with Thangarian Nth metal armor. In fact, despite stretching between three books of low quality (Green Arrow: Harrow being the third), the "Hawkman: Wanted" crossover turned out pretty well in terms of how you think a Hawkman/Green Arrow/Deathstroke crossover spearheaded by Rob Liefeld might.

Justin Jordan writes six issues, encompassing three two-issue stories. I have mixed feelings about the first two, one in which Deathstroke helps lead a revolution against immortal dictator Korschi and the other where Deathstroke is involved in a Japanese gang feud. These are self-contained stories, "just" Deathstroke stories with no real tie to anything, and as such it's hard to see their relevance. At the same time, I generally recall the Marv Wolfman series being the same -- spy story after spy story -- so maybe there's some precedence here. Jordan and artist Edgar Salazar do choreograph an impressive fight scene in issue #18, the eleventh chapter, with Deathstroke and Toro hanging off the side of a building.

Aside from "Lobo Hunt," Jordan's last two issues in the book are probably the real meat of the story, following from storylines in both Team 7 and Ravagers (both also cancelled) in which Deathstroke encounters Adeline, daughter Rose (nee Ravager), sons Grant and Jericho, Terra, his old Team 7 teammate Lynch, and the New 52 Majestic. A story with this much family Wilson might be notable, but while I appreciate Jordan using Team 7 and Majestic, the story has a lot of trite dialogue and a "bad Jericho" who, as in pre-Flashpoint, is more annoying than an effective villain. Jordan also flubs a bit of Liefeld's continuity when Deathstroke seems not at all surprised to see Adeline alive, which makes the beginning a tad confusing. Also, as much as I like that Jordan uses Majestic instead of leaving the character in limbo, I'd continue to prefer to see the Wildstorm alien prince version to this berserker solider-turned-metahuman.

All in all when you follow the connections from this book -- Deathstroke, Savage Hawkman, Team 7, Ravagers -- you see a bunch of books with interesting concepts, none of which necessarily lived up to their potential, and all cancelled. Of these, given Deathstroke's popularity on the Arrow TV series, my bet would be Deathstroke is the most likely title to be revived. Give Deathstroke to Matt Kindt or Brian Azzarello, I'd be curious to see what happens. Deathstroke Vol. 2: Lobo Hunt ultimately offered less crazy goodness than I expected; there's hints here of what a Deathstroke series could be, but nothing that really distinguishes itself.

[Includes original covers, including two-page "WTF" cover. Printed on especially thin paper that warps easily.]
This Rocketman story is from Chesler’s Scoop Comics #2 (1942), credited by the Grand Comics Database to Arthur Pinajian. Pinajian, an old-time comic book artist working with the Funnies, Inc, studio, also drew features such as Madam Fatal and Invisible Justice for Quality Comics.

I’ve been waiting to show work by Pinajian, because he figured in a big art story a couple of years ago. A decorated war veteran, he lived with his sister after the war. He painted landscapes and stored them in their house. He asked that they be disposed of in the county landfill after his death. A relative refused to let the paintings be hauled away, and had them examined by an art historian, Peter Hastings Falk. Falk pronounced Pinajian a brilliant abstract landscape artist, heretofore “undiscovered.” The story made some national news programs on television and in newspapers. At the time the story broke Pinajian, who died in 1999, had been dead for over a decade. As soon as I saw his name I knew that as a comics fan I felt I knew more of Art Pinajian’s early work than all of the art community who pronounced him an unknown, eccentric genius.

Although I knew some of his backstory from his days in comics, the story of his landscapes is one of those tales of some poor artist slaving away in obscurity, starving in a garret. Never recognized in life, suddenly revered in death.* You can read a story about it here.







*There is a similar story of another artist, photographer Vivian Maier. Hundreds of thousands of her photographic negatives were discovered in a storage locker after her death, and rescued by a man who recognized her genius. Her work was completely unknown in life, based on her own preference. She never sought fame, but toiled at her photography as a hobby while working as a nanny. A documentary has been made, and a website set up in her name has her story.

***********

Some of Pinajian’s early comic book work, featuring Madam Fatal. I showed these stories in 2010. Click on the thumbnail:



A few things went through my head as I was reading the first issue of Dell’s Kona Monarch of Monster Isle from 1962.

First, for a scientific expedition the Dodd family has taken a lot of guns and ammo. Dr. Dodd, who is “Grandpa,” his daughter Mary and her children Mason and Lily are flying in a surplus blimp and go down in the ocean off Monster Isle. Dr. Dodd makes sure to save all his guns. Was Grandpa using the scientific stuff as a cover? Perhaps he was really a gun runner.

Besides dinosaurs, the Isle is inhabited by Neanderthal men who are colored like the modern Caucasian members of the cast, and Pithecanthropus men who are dark-colored. The Neanderthals are good, Pithecanthropus men are bad. Is there a message there? Well, yeah, even if the people who made this comic book 52 years ago might not have thought about it. Or maybe they did.

Kona does not appear on the cover. A Pithecanthropus man is on the cover. Did I mention the Pithecanthropus men have trained the T. Rexes like pets?

Against that Dr. Dodd arms the Neanderthal men and teaches them to shoot. The Neanderthals don’t have enough technology to make fire, and yet Dr. Dodd gives them guns. I think that would be a bad idea unless they can be trained in gun safety, and even then it is still a bad idea. Better Dr. Dodd should do the shooting and train his grandkids for backup. Coincidentally, the only ad in the whole comic is a Daisy Air Rifle ad on the back cover.

If I stretch just a little more, the story seems an allegory of early U.S. involvement in Vietnam, where the U.S. sent in military advisers to train the South Vietnamese, and armed them against their enemies in the North.


I don’t remember why I passed up Kona when it was being published. It was one of the more successful titles (21 issues) from Dell after they split from Western Publishing, which became Gold Key. Maybe I thought it was a ripoff of Turok. I recognized Sam J. Glanzman’s artwork, which I had seen in Charlton comics. He was a longtime comic book journeyman whose work stretched way back to the World War II era. According to some sources Don Segall was the original writer.





































I'm still catching my breath over here from the mass of DC Comics Fall 2014 trade solicitations that came out not too long ago, and in addition, I didn't see all that much to comment on in the DC Comics June 2014 trade paperback and collections solicitations -- a lot of stuff I'm interested in, but not so much to talk about. So we'll take this one a little quicker than normal, though I'm still curious to hear what made your buying list for June.

Absolute Batman: Haunted Knight HC

This is a quick turnaround, hitting the solicitations just weeks after it was announced as part of DC's Fall 2014 lineup. To me what still puts this one over the top, aside from the great Legends of the Dark Knight specials, is the inclusion of Catwoman: When in Rome.

Animal Man Vol. 6: Flesh and Blood TP

Continues Jamie Delano's run on the "classic" Animal Man series with issues #51-63. Delano writes the title to issue #79, so they could maybe-kinda finish Delano's run with the next trade if they increased the issue count a little. Writer Jerry Prosser comes after, completing the series at issue #89.

Batman - Bruce Wayne: Fugitive (New Edition) TP

As you've no doubt heard by now, DC Comics announced plans to recall and reprint the Batman: Bruce Wayne: Murderer collection, which we all very much appreciate. It remains that the contents solicited for this Batman: Fugitive trade aren't correct, at the least because some of the issues solicited for this volume actually appear in the Murderer trade. I can understand that DC has to solicit their books far in advance of publication and so the solicitations may not always be accurate; I am surprised that once a book has been finalized, there's not at least a mechanism where they post the final contents on their website -- right now the website shows the same incorrect contents as the solicitation. Even so, DC has shown a dedication this week to getting their collections right, so I'm optimistic about the Fugitive trade.

Batman Unwrapped: The Court of Owls HC

Sure it's interesting that this book collects Court of Owls with uninked, uncolored pencils by Greg Capullo, but what I think is even more notable here is that it's the entirety of the "Court of Owls" saga, the Batman Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 collections, in one volume. Those of you hoping for omnibus or Absolute editions of Scott Snyder's Batman work might take this first composite edition as a sign of what's to come.

Batman: A Celebration of 75 Years HC
Joker: A Celebration of 75 Years HC

As a mostly Modern Age fan, my interest in these Batman and Joker anniversary books is in what modern issues we might find collected that haven't been collected before. In the Batman book, I notice Mike Barr's Detective #574, "My Beginning and Probable End"; also the book has one-off modern era issues by Chuck Dixon and Greg Rucka. The Joker book includes Detective #726, which was labeled as an "Aftershock" issue following Cataclysm.

Batwing Vol. 4: Welcome To The Family TP

I actually thought this title had already been canceled, but new issues are solicited at least as far as June. I haven't heard great things about the book, but its longevity makes me wonder if I'm missing something.

Birds of Prey Vol. 4: The Cruelest Cut TP
Talon Vol. 2: Fall of The Owls TP

The Birds of Prey collection includes issues #18-24, 26, and Talon #9; that Birds of Prey #25 can be found in the upcoming DC Comics:Year Zero collection, and we can probably guess other trades will similarly skip collecting that tie-in issue. The Talon collection finishes off the Talon series with issues #8-17 and Birds of Prey #21, so the Birds of Prey and Talon collections each duplicate an issue from the other.

Brightest Day Omnibus HC

I'm curious about the audience for this one, since the events of Brightest Day was one of the first victims of the New 52 relaunch. Did anyone miss Brightest Day the first time around and are picking up the omnibus now? I guess this'll probably work well, and fill in some gaps, next to the Green Lantern by Geoff Johns omnibuses when they get around to this point.

Flash Vol. 4: Reverse HC

Along with issues #20-25, this includes the Villains Month Reverse Flash issue.

Green Lantern Corps Vol. 4: Rebuild TP

Appears that with this collection and the new creative team, Green Lantern Corps has switched to paperback, as has Green Lantern: New Guardians.

Justice League of America’s Vibe Vol. 1: Breach TP

Resolicited; this collection now includes issues #1-10, the complete series. I guess with the loss of the Green Team, Teen Trillionaires trade, we really can't be sure any trade is going to "make it," though my guess is that "Justice League" in the title will keep this collection safe enough.

Nightwing Vol. 4: Second City TP
Teen Titans Vol. 4: Light and Dark TP

The Nightwing and Teen Titans books mark the second-to-last volumes for each of these series; presumably the next volume of Titans will collect seven issues, #24-30, and the Nightwing volume will collect six issues, #25-30.

Supergirl Vol. 4: Out of The Past TP

Includes Supergirl #21-26, the Action Comics/Cyborg Superman Villains Month issue, and also Superman #25, part of the "Return to Krypton" storyline (remains to be seen if this will be the whole issue or just the Supergirl parts).

Superman Vol. 4: Psi-War HC

Solicitations say this collects Superman #18-24 and Superman Annual #2. I could've sworn Action Comics #24 was also part of this -- anyone know, and anyone know how it'll read without it?

Swamp Thing By Brian K. Vaughan Vol. 2 TP

This volume, collecting issues #11-20, completes the collections of Brian Vaughan's Swamp Thing.

OK, that's what I'm thinking about. What will you be ordering for the month?
“Power Nelson, Futureman,” from Prize Comics #16 (1941) uses the Jack Kirby template of early comic book art. Action, action, action. The art is attributed to Paul Norris, a journeyman who drew for decades, comic books, pulps and comic strips.

 Copyright King Features, original art for a story illustration by Norris from 1947.

The breathless pace of the art covers up a lot of deficiencies in the story. Our eyes are so busy goggling the punches thrown (even by a girl) that we don’t have time to think that it is just WWII comic book silliness.

Norris, born in 1914, died in 2007.