Oct.13-19 - More Returns and Changes

A new (if small) assortment of comics will be arriving tomorrow from Westfield, so it's time to take a few minutes and take a look. I haven't done this in a while so I'll start with some of the ones I already have on-hand from roughly the past month or so and see if the momentum carries me into those just-arrived later this weekend.

FYI -- either to see if there's anything covered here you're interested in, or if there's something here you haven't read as yet and don't want to spoil -- this entry covers: Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis (trade), All-New Atom #7, Justice Society of America #2. and B.P.R.D.: The Universal Machine trade edition.

On a whim I ordered the trade edition of Kurt Busiek's new take on an Aquaman series: Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis.

Kurt was just coming off a successful run writing Dark Horse's Conan character, and Aquaman was once more on the chopping block due to low sales... so Kurt pitched a new concept hook and DC took the bait.

As the new title suggests (and Kurt wholly intended it to) this take and twist on the series is leaning towards the sword and sorcery camp. However, those who have been fans of Aquaman and his supporting cast, and their shared history, have nothing to worry about. It isn't at all initially clear, but by the time you're finished with the introductory arc you'll see that Kurt's taken the approach of a true fan turned pro and has those histories clearly in mind. Indeed, the more one knows of the originally presented history of Aquaman from back in the Golden Age the more one will see that Kurt's bringing it all back around and is doing it without trashing what the readers know.

There wasn't even the usual, symbolic reflex of scrapping the series numbering and starting over with a #1. Taking advantage of the timing this was part of DC's One Year Later wave, jumping to a year after Infinite Crisis. Elements tie together, and readers of the existing series, if they stuck with it, came to see that this is a continuation of the story they were reading, albeit with an emphasis on a new branch. Alternately, because everyone in the story is ultimately so confused by the turn of events, the arc is open to new readers without being unnaturally expository. Just as such things should be, the new reader gets what he needs and there's plenty beneath the surface to reward the long-time fan. Kurt's never stopped being a fan and it's appreciated.

Still, something like this could easily sink beneath the waves -- Aquaman's appeal has always been somewhat narrow (Marvel's Sub-Mariner has shared a similar fate, probably getting more appearances mainly because he's often come across as a momentary villain) -- without solid artwork. Fortunately, someone remembered Jackson Guice and he was interested in the project.

Will I stick with the series? At the moment I'm loathe to add any more monthlies to my list. If a trade of the second arc is solicited I'll buy it, but I don't know that I care quite enough to go pick up issues 46-48 (the trade covers issues 40-45) and follow on from there. I am intrigued by King shark and how Kurt will choose to handle him in the long run, and in where things go with the Dweller in the Deep, Mera, the shade of Vulko, what Kurt decides to do with the Sea Devils, etc. -- really, the only thing I'm not so interested in is the subplot introduced on the final page. So, for the moment, I'm at least a minor fan of the series, watching for the next trade.

I've stuck with the All-New Atom, so issue #7 was my most recent hit of that. Simone's style has been coming to the fore since Byrne left, so while it's not an anxiously-awaited read and could end up on my chop-list any time, I'm glad I stuck with it.

This is part one of two, and as it involves time travelers I'm going to have to see part 2 before being able to pass much of a judgement on the nuts and bolts of the stories. In my experience it's the rare story that handles time travel in a way I find agreeable. Since so much of this series is based on an Ivytown where the underlying fabric of reality has been, at best, tortured, and where absurdist humor and horror are conjoined, that could help turn the blade of some criticism, but not all. We'll see after #8 comes out.

This issue is penciled by guest-penciler Mike (No, not me) Norton, and while I'm still not wild about the style this is much more agreeable than the last time I ran across my slightly taller namesake's work... which may have been four years ago. (Yeah, it's a safe bet Runaways hasn't found itself on my comics list.)

In the meantime, I remain largely indifferent to the replacement Atom - Ryan Choi. It's not that he's an unlikeable character, I'm just too aware that he's a new, young face being sold to us ; my sales resistance can't help kicking in. But, hey... they've gotten me for 7 issues already and I'm probably already ordered and paid through #9, so Simone and friends are winning so far.

A series I'd been looking forward to that hasn't clicked with me so far is Justice Society of America.

With two issues out the emphasis on recruiting and introducing characters feels less like a natural extension of the legacy theme and much more heavy-handed... almost conceptually incestuous and inbred.

The second issue ended with one of those moments where I had to laugh because it was meant to be so dramatic, and likely rocked some people's worlds, but left me with a shrug as they unveiled who the current, addled Starman is. That this also involved a Kingdom Come reference -- a miniseries which I still consider to massively over-hyped and whose appeal was almost entirely due to the Alex Ross artwork -- only made it more of a laugh for me. Sure, I know who Starman was revealed to be now, but I had nary a clue based on the info presented to me in the issue; I found out by looking at some messageboard threads. I'm sure many Legion longtime fans were given a boost by this, though upon looking it appears many of them were nearly certain who he was in issue #1.

Beyond that, I'm finding the mood of the series, including all of the dysfunctional family & emotionally-damaged character elements to be at least a little unsavory. Maybe I should re-read 1 & 2 before 3 rolls in.

For the moment I'm sticking with it both because I know Johns has been a wonderful asset for DC and cares about the series, and because a 5-part JA/JSA crossover will begin shortly after issue #4.

Another trade I recently got around to is from Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Guy Davis, collecting stories involving Hellboy and associates -- mostly associates. It's B.P.R.D.: The Universal Machine.

For those not familiar with the series, B.P.R.D. refers to the Bureau of Paranormal Research & Defense. It's a scientific/military organization that's often mankind's first, last and only line of defense against the supernatural. Each mission is a potential recruitment effort, too, and while that rarely works out it has been responsible for many of the Bureau's key personnel being paranormal, supernatural, extradimensional or some combination of the three.

The trade collects a 5-part miniseries, essentially telling the story of a mission to find a way to restore one of their own, a 500+ year old homunculus named Roger. An artificial man who'd been literally blasted to pieces in a previous adventure. The road to a hopeful resurrection leads two of the team members to a reclusive, bizarre collector in France. Meanwhile, those left behind at the bureau trade stories, three of them essentially origin stores, one not.

Guy Davis' art style, while not one I'd want to see applied to many existing properties, works very well here. In that respect he's an excellent choice to follow Mike Mignola, who originally illustrated all of his own material, and whose work I appreciated very much... but only on a narrow band of projects. In the case of both men's work it's expressive, if somewhat abstract. Given the non-human nature of so many of the characters in these stories it all begins to feel... normal after a while.

A single-page dramatis personae up front, an afterword explaining the long path the story we've just read traveled, and several pages of development sketches complete the package.

Let's see... I believe I'll cut that off here, since as I look at the rest I see things like 52, which I'll have two more issues of Saturday, various series I'll have new issues of tomorrow, and great deal of Marvel's Civil War crossover material that is such a tangle of mixed emotions that I'll want to tackle that mess on its own.

Tags: comic books