Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Random Review Corner

Yay! Deadshot and Boomer really do stay Deadshot and Boomer, but there is an interesting twist on their relationship down the road.

I’ve read a little over a dozen issues. I really need to get back to that.

Thanks for bringing it to my attention BFoB! I noticed that you mentioned Jack Staff in your review for it, and I'm working my way through those. What were your thoughts on it?

A short review:

My CBS had a sale on paper backs this weekend. I got two volumes of MOTHER PANIC.

I really like it, its cool. I'm not usually into Bat books either, the last time I bought some was during the beginning of Batwoman ... which MOTHER PANIC really reminds me of. It also reminds me a bit of Grendel and I think a tiny bit of Preacher with her lone wolf sarcasm and bad attitude.

Its got a great back story, she was (technically) orphaned and grew up in an orphanage/boarding school that of course trains her to be an assassin and gave her some bionics.

Her slant in the Gotham Bat Universe is high society crime, starting with the organizers of her evil boarding school. She operates out of an abandoned hotel, has a small supporting cast, and has an obnoxious celebrity cover ala Bruce Wayne.

There are two regular artists, one John Paul Leon who's work I really dig, his backgrounds are full of detail such as household junk. It has a seventies vibe. The other regular artist is not my cup of tea and I'm not excited when they do the story arcs.

One really cool thing, is one of the villains actually creeped me out!



She doesn't have much interaction with the other Bats so far, they do make some appearances.

While failing to get the fourth issue of the Poe Snifter of Terror book, I peeked at a few others in the shop... and they all had Marvel links...

Champions -1/2 & West Coast Avengers - 1-7.

Lots of next generation Marvel characters. Quite a few of them have been around for a while. I pretty much saw them as straight forward derivatives of their older counterparts. But that doesn't mena that they can't be in decent stories.

I looked at Champions due to some blurb that it was going to be Legion-like. The issue I just read was a straightforward slugfest against a Marvel villain. But both issues of it have had some decent characterisation. It's Legion-like in the large cast more than anything else. In this issue, there's a deus ex villain appearance. But then there's a twist to that right at the end to make it worthwhile. Seeing two versions of the plot unfold, and the effect each has on the team, show the fine margins in super-exploits.

I've been peeking at West Coast Avengers for a while (Not in that way. You guys) Everyone's a bit too snarky. Everyone has a good line at all times and it gets in the way of there being much of a real threat to them. I'm not taken with much of the cast either. But we're 7 issues in and that snarky team dynamic is consistent, giving it a certain energy. The cast members I'm not keen on haven't torpedoed it. And there's enough changes to make it interesting. It's also fun, which is a big plus and it has that certain franchise feel that the WCA should have.

Red Sonja - 1. If I could remember the Conan comic I enjoyed as a kid, I'd read more of this genre. There's almost the spine of a Groo story in this issue. There's a dark humour behind the predicament Sonja finds herself in. There's a decent amount of action, but it's the intrigue and the wider world that are just as interesting. Covers aside, Sonja actually wears clothes throughout and the art is pretty good.

Walking Dead - 187/188 - While the newest cast member is irritating, there's plenty of tension in the main plot to keep this a strong title.

BPRD - 159/160. I'll be a little relieved when this is over. It's taken a very long time to get to this finale. Not everyone is going to make it through. Yet, despite all those issues, I don't feel that I'm particularly close to any of the cast. It's a good enough read for the action. It always hovered at the edges of my Pull list. It moved up probably as other regulars fell away, rather than because it improved.

I also didn't get a new issue of Stray Bullets. But Mr Lapham did write Gunhawks 1 for Marvel. It took until the final third for me to get into the art. Not that it's bad, it just got more atmospheric as it went. We don't get a lot of details on the main character's past. But there's enough hints and the ending offers some redemption (except for the townsfolk who got killed before hand). He's a good enough writer than I'd be surprised if any of this series turned out to not be worth picking up.

Other stuff...

Female Furies 1 - Granny Goodness has to make it in the man's world of Apokalips. It's too on the nose throughout, but at least there's a finale. Clearly trying to get on the coattails of the Mister Miracle series. Perhaps, like that series, the essence of this was mined from Kirby's book too, but I don't remember it.

I've posted a Green Lantern quickie (Not like that. You guys) in it's own thread.

Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt 1-3
Previous post '85 Thunderbolts, that I've seen, struggle get out of the shadow of Ozymandias and find hooks to make the central character as interesting. This series goes in a different direction. It embraces the Watchmen and that brings some pros and cons. It plays with the events that unfold in Watchmen, while also acting as a sequel of sorts. It has more than a few on the nose nods at Moore's work while knocking the movie version.

As a sequel, it broadens the scope and kicks the stuffing out of what I've heard of Doomsday Clock. In it's way, this is almost a pitch for that series. But Moore's story has flaws of its own and this series is too beholden to it a lot of the time. Thunderbolt's best moments are actually the non-Watchmen ones. Hopefully, there will be more of those once it gets that storyline out of its system. There are some clunky plot moments. But they pale compared to the poor teasing that this Thunderbolt will go the same way as Moore's. The dialogue for these set-up and payoffs don't really work and there's more than one of them.

On the plus side, there's some interesting concepts at play. The art, from a fairly quick read, really has fun with classic page layouts and formats. It's a big plus for the book, and worth a second read through to enjoy.

After thinking about it for two years, I finally got a copy of Sarah Laing's Mansfield & Me.

If you're a Kiwi like Laing, you've likely known of Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) your whole life, as she's one of the most famous people to come from New Zealand. Not sure how true that is if you're a Yank like me, but I read her famous short story "Bliss" in either Jr. or Sr. High, and never forgot it. Later I pounced on every story of hers I could find. She was a master of the craft, but died young of TB, feeling a certain sadness that she "bred short stories like little birds in cages," without ever completing a novel.

Anyway, Laing's memoir naturally has her longing to be as brilliant as Mansfield was, so they have imaginary conversations a lot. Mansfield is always critical of Laing, and in one of the best scenes she appears at a punkish art gathering in full punk regalia herself. Laing grows up, goes to school, longs to get the hell out New Zealand (as did K.M.), and eventually succeeds, for a while. She marries and has kids, and the novel leaves off with her introducing them to the great writer. Almost but not quite literally.

Laing's art style is loose and flowing, often decorative. Even the bawdy and disturbing parts have an odd whimsicality to them that I really like. You don't have to know K.M.'s work intimately to enjoy it, but if you do know it there's plenty of "Easter Eggs" for you. Each of the chapters in Laing's journey is named after a different K.M. story, for instance.

Immortal Hulk 1-10. I kept hearing good things, and this was every bit as good as people said. It's a horror-dominated take. Apparently Bruce Banner can die, but at night the Hulk always come back to life. And there's a "green door" in the subconscious of gamma-powered people that opens into Something else else Dark.

The FB group Old Fans, New Comics has been introducing me to a world of great current books. They introduced me to Immortal Hulk, above, and also got me to try Hawkman and Superior Spider-Man, both of which I'm really enjoying. They also convinced me to give Grant Morrison's The Green Lantern another shot, and this time suddenly I grokked it. It's neither my favorite GL series nor GM, but suddenly I can see what he's going for and enjoy the ride.

Superior Spider-Man recaptures the magic of the original surprisingly well. Eventually they're either going to prune the line or revert him to Doc Oc, but until then I'm buying what they're selling here. With Anna Marie and Horizon University (formerly Horizon Labs), there's a lot of castoffs of the Slott era woven together quite skillfully. Is this a nostalgia book for the Slott era? Huh.

On their recommendations, I'm going to be trying the first issues of Invaders, Ironheart, Silver Surfer: Black, and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. I'm not 100% sold on all of these, but the group's sold me on enough current gems to at least give some other recommendations a shot.

A couple more random trials of contemporary books.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man: a standalone Peter Parker book by Tom Taylor. I'm not as in love with it as the people who recommended it, but it is a fun Spider-Man comic than can be read without the main series or anything else. It gives May Parker a prominent role, which is fun.

Symbiote Spider-Man: I saw the title of this and immediately wrote it off, thinking it was some sort of Venom/Carnage related extra spider person. But it's actually a flashback mini to the period directly after Secret Wars, when Peter was still wearing the alien costume. Written by Peter David. Told in large part from the pov of Mysterio, who is the main antagonist. This series really takes me back, including the terrible relationship with the Black Cat (terrible in the sense that they were deliberately being written as two people who did not work as a couple).

Usagi Yojimbo #1 (IDW) - An all action opening leads to a very creepy take on a tradition. The growing unease is really helped by Sakai having full control over the story and art of his creation. - 4.5

Hellboy & the BPRD: Beast of Vargu (Dark Horse) - Investigation starts- Big creature fights - falling through ruined floors - traditions explained. The usual Hellboy story really, but with a nice switch towards the end. - 4

Superman #9 (DC)- Superman has a day dream about the Legion apparently attacking on World Peace Day, as Jon explains where he's been for the last few years of his life, and the last few weeks in his parents timeline. The Crime Syndicate HQ looks quite Rocketship-like too.

Apart from the Legion image on the other thread there's a "Your father, when he was a boy, was sent to another place to achieve *his* true potential" line. Sounds like the old version of the Legion to me. It was okay, if over a little quickly. - 3.5

Invisible Kingdom #3&4 (Dark Horse) - Your actual cliffhanger at the end of three as main character, Vess, makes a fateful, life changing choice. Things get even bleaker for our bedraggled crew in #4 as they try to use the knowledge they have obtained for some chance at survival. The next issue is the last... but only for the first arc. Whew! as I was going to keep this one on the Pull List...of Space! - 4.25/4.5

Strangers in Paradise #10 (Abstract Studio) - I've skipped ahead of my pile of this series. There's some of the lovely light, funny moments in this issue. That's why I buy it. While I've been away, there's some apocalyptic crossover threat from Terry Moore's other books, like Echo and Rachel Rising. Crisis on Mooreworld! I can't say I'm hooked by all of that, but it is going lead to some action packed issues. - 4.25

The Goon #3 (Albatross Funnybooks) - An eight page Ancient Egypt/ Gangster set up for our main bout. Some laugh out loud moments, a good twist and the promise of dark things to come. Recommended reading - 5

The short graphic novel "Man and Superman" -- which was originally produced a long time ago as a "Superman Confidential" arc, then got shelved until 2018 after SC was cancelled -- is definitely worth borrowing from the library or from a friend.

Marv Wolfman does what I regard as some of his best writing in decades here, similar to that purple patch I thought his late friend Len Wein had about a decade ago.

Claudio Castellini's art, which combines old-school John Buscema/John Romita Sr/Neal Adams influences with state-of-the-art dynamics, is pure pleasure for the eyes. This was actually the last story Castellini drew before switching careers to become an art dealer. I'd been a fan of his since he emerged in the mid-90s as a superior cover artist, but always wished he'd do more interior art. He certainly goes out on a high note here.

Also, as someone who no longer reads current DC comics in the wake of Doomsday Clock's so-called continuity fix, this was a nice way to say farewell to the canon DCU.

I agree Ann. Terrific story and really gets to the heart of the ideal Superman.

Thanks, Stile. Yeah, Superman's message to all of humanity -- "I'll help you as much as I can, but you have to help yourselves, too" -- was totally on point.

This was on my radar a few months ago, but it kinda slipped my mind. I wish I had remembered it before I did a trade order the other day. I think it would have been a perfect cap to the order. I will definitely be getting it soon!

Yay! Glad to hear that, Lardy. You were one of the first Legion Worlders I thought of after I read "Man and Superman." Looking forward to you reading it and sharing your thoughts.

"DARK CRISIS: BIG BANG"

by Mark Waid & Dan Jurgens



I'm not quite sure what I was expecting of this. I certainly don't think that the latest iteration of DC Comics' interminable continuity "fixes" is going to endure in any sense of the word.

But as a late-blooming Gen-Xer who got into superheroes almost exactly 30 years ago, the creators involved in this event tie-in carry special meaning in my heart. Mark Waid, love him or hate him, has defined the DCU as much as any creator of the generations which preceded and followed him. And he wrote some darn good Flash stories, too. Dan Jurgens, for all his shortcomings as a writer, has defined the LOOK of the DCU like no artist except maybe the late greats Neal Adams and George Pérez.

And I think they both do the best job they can given the circumstances. Which, sadly, makes them both...victims of circumstance. Nyuk, nyuk.

It might just be the wariness that comes with middle age, but I think there's more to it than that. With the mass audience going ape over the live-action superhero franchises, and with comics more diverse than they've ever been in their nearly century-long existence, SUPERHERO COMICS have become an afterthought for all but about 15,000 loyal readers, most of them over 35 years of age.

In other words, they're stuck in a rut.

How will they ever get out of this one?

Tune in next event, same time, same channel. Or don't. DC doesn't seem to care much either way.

A couple quick ones. One old, one new, both written by Weezie Simonson.

"Power Pack: Into the Storm", 2024 -- Marvel's latest retro release is beautifully drawn, unsurprisingly so, thanks to June Brigman and her default inker (also husband) Roy Richardson, but the story is just meh. Also, readers are expected to be familiar with a 2019 Power Pack one-shot by the same creators. There's four issues still to come, but I'll be passing on them.

"Galactus the Devourer," 1999 -- a curio from my least favorite era of Marvel (1997 to 2003,) this shows every sign of a bumpy production; Jon J Muth, whom I find overrated, drew the first issue then jumped ship. The remaining five issues were all drawn by John Buscema, whom I love, with embellishments by Bill Sinkiewicz. Admittedly, it's nice to see JB returning to Galactus and Silver Surfer, and with Mantis, the Starjammers and the Shi'ar all thrown in for good measure. But the Fantastic Four didn't deserve more than a cameo, and the Busiek-Perez Avengers lineup shouldn't be here at all. Recommended only for Buscema completists (like me.) BTW, this miniseries is basically the prologue to the infamous F4 story with Marvel's version of Abraxas -- you have been warned.