Four-Color Coverage

13 July 2012
Comic Book Resources has a column called “I Love Ya, But You’re Strange…”  As it describes itself:

Every week, I will spotlight strange but ultimately endearing comic stories (basically, we’re talking lots and lots of Silver Age comic books).

This week’s entry examines a Golden Age Wonder Woman story in which “…her secret identity comes back to haunt her in a really, really odd fashion.”

And, I have to admit: It is bizarre and just plain weird. Seriously weird. “How so,” you ask? The title of the article is: “THAT TIME THE HUSBAND OF WONDER WOMAN’S EXACT DOUBLE CHAINED HER TO A TABLE”  Yeah, it’s that weird… and, yet, so in keeping with a lot of the Wonder Woman stories of the day. (Look up William Marston, Wonder Woman’s creator, some time. His story makes for a rather interesting read.)

31 May 2012
Yes, it’s been almost eight months since I dusted off Four-Color Coverage, but here we are. And, it seems fitting that the subject of my last entry is also the subject of my newest one:

In my last post, I hypothesized a few possibilities for what Marvel’s cryptic might mean. With the release of Marvel’s Winter Soldier title, we now know (or at least have a good idea of) what’s been going on with Project: Zephyr.

However, the real reason for this post was the dialogue from this issue. Bucky (The Winter Soldier), Natasha Romanova (The Black Widow) and Nick Fury (the classic one, not the Samuel L. Jackson look-alike) find themselves in an unlikely – and uneasy – alliance with Fantastic Four nemesis: Doctor Doom. It turns out that a former Prime Minister of Doom’s has gained access not only to one of Doom’s weapon caches, but also to the launch codes to the Latverian nuclear missile silos.

::: cue ominous music :::

As the quartet prepare to face their foe, the following exchange takes place:

Nick Fury: This is unbelievable! He programmed nuke launch codes inta his damned Doombots?!

Bucky:  Nick, I know… believe me. But.. just…

Fury: Y’know, Doom, for the second-smartest man in the world, you can be pretty friggin’…

Bucky: Nick. C’mon. He’s helping us now.

Doom: The boy has a point, Colonel Fury… or is it ex-Colonel now? Von Doom stopped trying to keep track of all your promotions and demotions long ago.

Fury: Sure, because “Von Doom” was too busy programming robot doppelgangers of himself… like any sane ruler of a country does, right?

Doom: Only a fool would criticize perfectionism.

And just like that, Doom proves, once again, that he is… Doom.

And it makes me smile.

And maybe – just maybe – it won’t be another eight months before I get to write another entry here.

Cheers!

07 October 2011
Newsarama posted the following earlier:

The second Marvel teaser of the pre-New York Comic Con Friday has arrived, this one promising answers in January.

The message is simple: “What if there wasn’t only one?” Given that the image consists of a star — similar to the one on Captain America’s shield — on a black background, the likely most obvious implication is that it has something to do with Cap. Return of Bucky? Something else entirely?

My guess: “What if there wasn’t only one Winter Soldier?”

Why do I think that? For a few reasons:

1. Bucky/Winter Soldier was an interesting and complex character. A man in his 80s, with the body of a man in his late 20s/early 30s… who was not only Captain America’s sidekick – and replacement – but the brainwashed weapon of a foreign government.
2. Bucky, after taking on the mantle of Captain America, became a popular character. Even though readers knew that Steve Rogers had to return to the red-white-and-blue, they bought issues of Captain America with Bucky carrying the shield, month after month.
3. The most glaringly obvious thing, at least to me, is that Bucky/The Winter Soldier had a red star imprinted on his cybernetic arm.

   

   The ad doesn’t feature a white star – like on Cap’s uniform or shield… or even Red Guardian‘s uniform or shield. It’s red.

And, let’s face it: We’re talking comics. The realm of the hyperbole is the stuff of stories in comics. It would stand to reason that the people behind the Winter Soldier program would want more than just one “perfect assassin” in their army. It… makes sense… in a comic book kind of way.

What are your thoughts?

The powers that be at DC Comics have hit the “reboot” button and are crafting a new universe for readers.  This isn’t the first time that they’ve done this. In 1985, they rebooted the DCU with Crisis on Infinite Earths. This was an attempt to streamline their continuity and make their characters accessible to readers. It happened again – though to a lesser degree – with Zero Hour and, yet again, with Infinite Crisis.

And so, the era of “The New 52” is upon us. The DC Universe – which has been referred to as “the DCnU” – has been reborn/reimagined. Readers have been teased with images and bits of backstory, but this week the doors have been opened and we get our first full views of the new DC Universe with Flashpoint #5 and Justice League #1:

Flashpoint #5 – This issue served as the introduction and catalyst for the new universe. In it, readers learn not only how the DCnU was… created/ignited/born… but we also learn who the true “villain” of the story was. Yet, it’s more nuanced than that. There’s an adage that says: “The villain is the hero in his own story.” [SPOILER DELETED] wasn’t really a villain; they were just trying to do what they saw as correcting an injustice. Yes, it was a selfish motivation, but it was also very personal… which makes for good storytelling. And the story’s coda was not only fitting, but also showed an interesting side of the relationship between [SPOILER DELETED] and [SPOILER DELETED].

Justice League #1 – This issue “happens” five years in the past. Before there was a ‘Justice League.’ When the characters we know as heroes are still very much unknown quantities. The pacing on this story was a little slower than one might expect from the first issue of the first book of a “new” universe; but for me, that was okay. Most of the issue follows Batman and Green Lantern’s first meeting — the Dark Knight, a veritable urban legend, and the Emerald Warrior, a new hero from the west coast with a certain attitude about his “second job.” In the former DCU, Geoff Johns explored what lied at the heart of the divide between Batman and Green Lantern in Green Lantern: Rebirth —

In this incarnation of the DCU, Johns explores it again.. but with a twist: Green Lantern is cocky and headstrong and very much of the “I can handle anything” mindset. Batman is… Batman. And when Green Lantern finds out that Batman is:

Green Lantern: Hold on a second… You’re not just some guy in a bat costume are you? ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!

Batman (smirking… with GL’s ring in his hand): What’s this do?

GL: How the Hell’d you get it off?

Batman (examining the ring): I don’t see any buttons, so I’m guessing that it works off concentration. (turning to look at GL with a sly smirk) You… weren’t concentrating.

GL (willing his ring back to his hand): You won’t do that again.

Batman: Not unless I want to.

GL: You really want to pick a fight with someone who can create anything he can think of?

Batman: I’d be worried if I thought you could think.

And there we have it. We are also briefly introduced to a pre-Cyborg Victor Stone and some guy in red and blue with a yellow-and-red “S” on his chest.

It wasn’t a perfect book, but it sets up an interesting story and one that I may actually be interested in following.

And with maybe not so much a “Big Bang” as a “jump to the left,” the DCnU is underway. Let’s hope that it’s a good ride.