I’m showing that reprint, plus another reprint from the issue of the Rex Dexter story from Mystery Men Comics #4 (1940). The second story has Rex and his galpal Cynde encountering a villain, grandly named Lord Marvel, on a planet, Ursis, The first story has Rex encountering a villain with the excellent moniker of Boris Thorax, who is somehow able to get planet Tarsis to hit our planet.
Stories written and drawn by Dick Briefer.
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Here is the story I posted last October. Just click on the thumbnail:
That book was Geoff Johns's JSA. And some might think it blasphemy, but when I was reading Jeff Lemire and Ray Fawkes's Justice League Dark Vol. 3: The Death of Magic, there were times I couldn't help but be reminded of JSA.
[Review contains spoilers]
The titular "Death of Magic" story collected here takes place on a big canvas. Lemire and Fawkes shunt the Justice League Dark to an alternate dimension (not unlike JSA: Stealing Thunder) where science rules and magic has gone underground; part of the team leads the magic-wielding rebels in battle while the other members must fight their way out of the government's captivity. Still a third set of events take place on Earth as Steve Trevor and Johnny Peril have to deal with the backlash of magic energy coming from the portal to the other dimension, Epoch, and as a fourth we get the perspective from a noble-hearted soldier on the government side. The writers flip between the various storylines rapidly, sometimes back and forth on the same page; even as the team only has six members, the audience gets the sense of a whole lot going on.
Lemire and Fawkes make a curious choice in positing the four-part "Death of Magic" as more of a sci-fi than supernatural story, at least at the outset. I have often felt that the supernatural works best in the DC Universe in small, easy to digest doses, and the writers accomplish this by following the more ardently magic-based Justice League Dark Vol. 2: Books of Magic with "Death"'s futuristic landscape and then a superhero story, the three-part "Horror City." The next volume gets into Trinity War and such, but I feel the writers have cleaned our palates, as it were, for supernatural stories to come. It's only a shame Lemire and Fawkes aren't sticking around on the book for longer, leaving after this volume, because it's with Death that they duly hit their stride.
Staying on the title, fortunately, is artist Mikel Janin, whose long run on this title evokes similar by JSA's Leonard Kirk and Don Kramer. Janin has offered a style so far with elements of comic book animation and fluidity, but some more photo-realistic aspects and backgrounds that help ground this supernatural book in a more "true horror" base. With "Death," however, it seems as though Janin has begun to ink himself, and his lines get an attractive boost of roundness and warmth (not unlike Kirk and Kramer). Janin especially shines in the "widescreen" pages of war or when computer-generated elements help convey the impending apocalypse on Epoch. The first one-off chapter is drawn by Victor Drujiniu with layouts by Graham Nolan and "Horror City" is drawn by Vicente Cifuentes from layouts by Janin, and both guests' styles match Janin's well (Cifuentes especially evokes Scott Kolins when he draws the guest-star Flash).
Despite that Dark Vol. 2 ended on a cliffhanger that leads right into Vol. 3, Lemire (sans Fawkes) slips in a "quieter" initial chapter (a la JSA) that follows Black Orchid, Amethyst, and Frankenstein exploring the House of Mystery. Amethyst leaves off-panel before "Death," so it's nice that Lemire gives her one more issue in this book, especially with Sword of Sorcery cancelled; of course, Lemire writing Frankenstein is always a treat. But the winning moment this issue is when Orchid discovers the Batman-esque secret files that Constantine is keeping not just on some of his own teammates, but also the Justice League, Stormwatch, Shazam, and others. From these early pages (and especially once the Phantom Stranger makes his cameo), the coming of the "Trinity War" crossover can be felt pretty heavily in this volume.
Character-wise, I continue to think that Lemire and Fawkes write a good DC-light John Constantine, especially as compared to Peter Milligan's Justice League Dark Vol. 1. At the same time I didn't much like that in the alternate dimension, Constantine's "opposite" attribute was that he couldn't lie, and expressed his care and admiration for his teammates. My "ideal" Constantine is one who does what he thinks is right, damn the consequences, and whose teammates are for the most part a means to an end (like Vril Dox, for example, but with better taste in trench coats). Revealing that Constantine does truly care, so to speak, cheapens the character for me; I'd rather see Constantine remain unique by virtue of his lack of conscience than see him portrayed as a more traditional hero.
I found "Horror City" not as strong indeed because it was a more generic superhero story as opposed to "Death"'s far-flung adventure. At the same time, I appreciated the point Lemire and Fawkes make by pitting the Justice League Dark against classic League baddie Dr. Destiny, that the Justice League Dark is truly a Justice League in their own right, a sentiment even made overt by Flash later in the story. And even despite a slower, more predictable story, Cifuentes offers a particularly chilling Dr. Destiny.
The writers' conceit that Flash Barry Allen might feel more at home with the "freaks" of Dark than with the Justice League felt forced to me and not in line with Barry's portrayals in other titles (also there were some "Impulse" moments that I didn't think rang true for Barry). Cyborg might not be as much a Justice League headliner as Flash, but possibly Cyborg would have worked better here, since Cyborg, like Frankenstein, can't hide his "difference" in the same way the Flash can simply take off his costume. I did apprciate the appearances by Flash, Swamp Thing, Phantom Stranger, and others as being somewhat JSA-esque as well, when you never knew which Golden Age hero might walk through the door next; the writers do the same with DC's magical characters.
After Justice League Dark Vol. 3: The Death of Magic, were Lemire and Fawkes staying on this book it would move to the top of my reading list; I consider volumes two and three together just about perfect. I haven't read much by upcoming J. M. DeMatteis so I'm a bit wary of how he might affect this title just as it's hitting its stride, though I remain quite glad Mikel Janin is staying on the title.
[Includes original covers, as well as "WTF" cover two-page spread; cover sketches; information on Face Off/Infernal Core contest winner]
Valiant was robbed.
When you look at the six-issue Deathmate crossover between the 1990s Valiant and Image Comics universes and the industry crash it precipitated, it was Valiant that unfairly took the most damage. They put out their issues on time and did the best with what they were given. Their losses forced them to be bought out by Acclaim and their titles were revised to make them more viable for video game tie-ins. Yet Image, whose books were months late and heavily oversold, went on to launch numerous animated series, films, and toy lines. The fact that I can get an action figure of Rob Liefeld’s Shaft for six bucks on eBay while Archer and Armstrong remain confined to the printed page is an insult.
Considering that Deathmate’s cheerleader at Valiant was one of their financial backers, there was probably no way it would ever work out as a creative masterpiece. But a major issue popped up immediately due to Image’s multi-studio structure. Only Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Marc Silvestri, and Whilce Portacio participated (and even then, Wetworks hadn’t debuted, so his characters wouldn’t be in it). That removed Image’s two best writer-artists, Erik Larsen and Jim Valentino, from the equation, along with Todd McFarlane, the biggest name at the company. More importantly, it meant that Image’s three major solo superhero titles -- Savage Dragon, Shadowhawk, and Spawn -- weren’t involved.
This left the team books to be divvied up and matched with the Valiant characters, and if you’ve ever read an Image team book, you can see the fatal flaw. Most of the characters blend into one another, with the gruff leaders, strong guys, silent loner guys, and poorly-designed women all blurring into basic shapes after a while. I can maybe name three Youngblood members off the top of my head and I’m at a total loss with Brigade. The only reason I know who’s in WildC.A.T.s and Cyber Force is because I’ve reviewed their books. Bafflingly, Gen13 made their debut in the crossover, which must have been completely alienating for both Image and Valiant readers.
It’s made clear that none of the Image writers know anything about the Valiant characters and vice-versa. They’re all thrown together in a multitude of underwhelming “invade the base" and “randomly attack each other" plots. Everything is set off by an incomprehensible sequence in the Deathmate Prologue wherein Solar’s girlfriend kills herself (or he kills her, it’s hard to tell), and then he combines with his future counterpart (I think) and meets Void, a member of WildC.A.T.s. They fall in love instantly, have sex, and their respective universes explode and combine. None of this is explained, nor are any issue references given so that we can know who these people are. And that was the part done by Valiant! The Image half just consists of disparate configurations of Image and Valiant characters with random philosophical ramblings on top.
This sequence, by the way, is infamous for Valiant’s Bob Layton having to fly out to Rob Liefeld’s house in California, where he sat on Liefeld’s porch until he finished drawing it. Then he inked it in his hotel bathroom.
Design-wise, the Image and Valiant characters are incompatible, a second fatal flaw. Turok gets turned into Nightwolf from the Mortal Kombat games in the Black issue, and as for Valiant’s take on Image . . . remember in the Tin Men of War review when I promised I would show you the silliest panel in all of comics? Well, here it is:
That, ladies and gentlemen, is Morgan Stryker simultaneously reaching out for a female teammate, cocking a gun, and holding his head, which I keep thinking looks like a facepalm. It’s the perfect metaphor to explain why these art styles just don’t mix. A rubric I use for many kinds of media is whether it makes me want to buy its merchandise. After reading Grendel, I searched for a figure of Hunter Rose because I was impressed by the character’s complexity. After reading Deathmate, I searched for the Stryker action figure for the sole purpose of recreating that exact pose. (Livewire, incidentally, is now a main character in Unity and one of Valiant’s most intriguing heroes, so at least she got an upgrade.)
Now we get into the last fatal flaw, and the reason why I refer to Deathmate as an “Uncollectable Edition." Instead of regular issues, each issue was given a color; naturally, these are chromium-printed around the edges. You could theoretically read these in any order -- a good thing, since Image’s contributions were many months late. In practice, it meant that there was no hope of having a cohesive narrative. I honestly can’t tell if these are supposed to be four alternate universes or one universe from four different perspectives. Because I’m a Power Rangers nut, I first read the issues in morphing order -- Black, Blue, Yellow, and Red. It didn’t make sense. Then I did them in publishing order; it still didn’t make sense. Then I just closed my eyes and randomly picked, and once more, no sense was made.
There’s no good way to collect Deathmate . . . and really, there’s no reason to do so. Image has progressed far past this point as a company, and Valiant is a completely different organization. Dozens if not hundreds of contracts would have to be signed to get a trade produced, from people like Liefeld, Layton, and some guy named “Anthony Bedard" who never really did anything after this. I actually met Tony Bedard at Miami Supercon last year and considered having him and Layton sign my Deathmate issues, but I was worried they’d kill me. The prologue and epilogue each cost $2.95 and each issue cost $4.95 . . . that’s an amazing amount with inflation considered, especially since each book feels like it’s halfway full of ads. I bought all six books for $5 in a bundle at a sale and I still feel ripped off.
Next week, Robert Kirkman saves Image with a book I’ve been meaning to review since I started writing for Collected Editions.
Drawn by a teenaged Joe Kubert, this story uses the locale of Death Valley, California, which became a National Park in 1933. Death Valley, according to a little research on the Internet, was named by prospectors who crossed while traveling to the California gold fields in 1849, and yes, there was also gold in Death Valley, just as this story claims.
With a little more checking, I found the part of the story about using spiderwebs for crosshairs in bomb sights is true. You can read about it here. The story is entertaining as well as educational. And of course Joe’s artwork is always worth a look
From Harvey Comics’ All-New Comics #9 (1944):
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A story, with original artwork by Kubert, from another issue of All-New Comics:
And now a word from Doug Glassman about Deathmate ... [My best Don Pardo impression -- ed.]
People.
People.
People.
I’ve been going about this all wrong! See, I just re-read Deathmate and it reminded me that I’ve forgotten a huge part of how I got into comics! Back in the day, my friend Jimmy and I would go to the comic book store across the street from our elementary school and check out the new stuff on display. And one day, there they were: Deathmate, all six issues, ready to be bought up by my grubby little hands. Just take a look at the six most important comics in my entire collection, my most prized possessions:
Behold all that beautiful multi-colored chrome! Here, take a closer look:
Aren’t they ... wait ... what’s that in the background?
Oh my God, it’s the Ultrazord, my actual most prized possession from my childhood! And he’s defeating the worst comic of all time! Thanks, old friend, and Happy 20th Anniversary!
April Fool's! Yeah ... Deathmate began when I was eight, and its six-issue reign of terror ended after I turned ten. It’s a good thing I never got into comics as a kid because stuff like Deathmate would have scared me away forever. This is the nadir of the comic book industry—not of the medium itself, but of comics as it had existed until 1993. Along with Avengers: The Crossing, Onslaught, The Death of Superman and Emerald Twilight, Deathmate is the point where the comics speculator market burst. At least most of those stories have some redeeming elements (well… maybe not The Crossing).
Conversely, Deathmate is a toxic mix of bad storytelling and chronic lateness, a story that nobody wanted—not the readers, not the retailers, and not even the creators! It’s the shot to the heart of Valiant that would eventually kill the company, as well as derail the legitimacy of Image and other small comic book companies for years to come. It’s a hit that the industry has yet to recover from and probably never will. But, as they say, you have to hit rock-bottom before you can rise again ...
Wait, what’s that you’re doing, Ultrazord?
You’re replacing Deathmate with the six most important books in my collection! And to think I was going to replace you with the new Legacy version. Meanwhile, I’ll see you tomorrow for the actual Deathmate review, God help us all.
[Shenanigans by Doug Glassman, who Tumblrs at '80s Marvel Rocks!]
People.
People.
People.
I’ve been going about this all wrong! See, I just re-read Deathmate and it reminded me that I’ve forgotten a huge part of how I got into comics! Back in the day, my friend Jimmy and I would go to the comic book store across the street from our elementary school and check out the new stuff on display. And one day, there they were: Deathmate, all six issues, ready to be bought up by my grubby little hands. Just take a look at the six most important comics in my entire collection, my most prized possessions:
Behold all that beautiful multi-colored chrome! Here, take a closer look:
Aren’t they ... wait ... what’s that in the background?
Oh my God, it’s the Ultrazord, my actual most prized possession from my childhood! And he’s defeating the worst comic of all time! Thanks, old friend, and Happy 20th Anniversary!
April Fool's! Yeah ... Deathmate began when I was eight, and its six-issue reign of terror ended after I turned ten. It’s a good thing I never got into comics as a kid because stuff like Deathmate would have scared me away forever. This is the nadir of the comic book industry—not of the medium itself, but of comics as it had existed until 1993. Along with Avengers: The Crossing, Onslaught, The Death of Superman and Emerald Twilight, Deathmate is the point where the comics speculator market burst. At least most of those stories have some redeeming elements (well… maybe not The Crossing).
Conversely, Deathmate is a toxic mix of bad storytelling and chronic lateness, a story that nobody wanted—not the readers, not the retailers, and not even the creators! It’s the shot to the heart of Valiant that would eventually kill the company, as well as derail the legitimacy of Image and other small comic book companies for years to come. It’s a hit that the industry has yet to recover from and probably never will. But, as they say, you have to hit rock-bottom before you can rise again ...
Wait, what’s that you’re doing, Ultrazord?
You’re replacing Deathmate with the six most important books in my collection! And to think I was going to replace you with the new Legacy version. Meanwhile, I’ll see you tomorrow for the actual Deathmate review, God help us all.
[Shenanigans by Doug Glassman, who Tumblrs at '80s Marvel Rocks!]