Dynamite Comic's Masks Volume 1

Let me start with a quick disclaimer. The target audience for this book is me. For years I have been a fan of Golden Age radio shows like The Shadow and The Green Hornet, pulp novels like The Shadow and The Spider, and Zorro, as well as movie serials featuring masked heroes, many whom are found in this graphic novel.

Dynamite has done a wonderful job of tying these various characters into a single story line without overburdening the reader with origins, hero vs. hero fights or contrived ways to tie all the heroes together. Instead, we are treated to different heroes teaming up in smaller groups to fight a common enemy.

The action begins in 1030's New York where the Green Hornet has perused a Chicago mobster to New York. Soon the Green Hornet and Kato are teaming up with The Shadow and The Spider to combat the plans of the newly elected mayor. It seems he has begun recruiting low to mid level gangsters onto the police department and begins making tyrannical laws that leave the citizens of the Big Apple defenseless against the machinations of the mystery man behind the mayor.

Elsewhere, Rafael Vega a descendant of Don Diego de la Vega aka Zorro is arrested while trying to find work as an illustrator, he is defended by Tony Quinn. In the only origin stories in the book we see how Quinn is blinded by battery acid while helping Vega escape an execution only to discover he can still see in the dark, Donning a costume he becomes the Black Bat. Vega similarly takes advantage of a masquerade shop to resurrect his his ancestors persona of Zorro.

Finally, we have another pairing of Jethro Dumont, publicly known as the criminologist and Tibetan Buddhist The Green Lama with Marla Drake, one of the earliest female super-heroes know as Miss Fury. Later the team is completed with the super strong and invulnerable Black Terror.

While many of these characters may be unfamiliar to today's audience they became the inspiration for almost every super-hero making his or her way to the big screen these days. The artwork in this book is amazing, the writing is first rate and the story has more than a few overtones of modern America with news stories of private military companies operating in the U.S. outside the law (e.g. Blackwater in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina or the overreaching surveillance being conducted by private firms).

If you are not familiar with these characters, or you want to read more of their solo adventures, Dynamite has (or had) solo adventures of all the characters excluding the Green Lama. Readers may also want to read the Project Superpowers by Dynamite to get a better grounding in the many public domain super-heroes the company has resurrected under the creative guidance of artist Alex Ross.

While this may not be familiar territory for every reader, the limited and self-contained nature of the story keeps it accessible for those who are new to these heroes and makes a great love note to fans of the Golden Age like myself.

I give Masks, Volume 1, 4 out of 5 stars.

Green Hornet; Blood Ties 1&2

Are you a fan of the William Dozier Green Hornet series? Do you wish someone would do a good crime story based on this version? Then you need to be picking up Green Hornet: Blood Ties.

A four-part mini-series from Dynamite Entertainment, Blood Ties serves as a prequel to Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet and Kevin Smith’s Kato. Taking place 20 year’s before the events of the main series, the Hornet and Kato have been operating in Century City for over four years and the mobs are on their last leg. Tony & Joe are two of the last five family bosses. Tony is dying and his hotheaded son is due to take over. Joe is looking to retire but knows that Tony Jr. will be bad for the business he’s spent his life building.

Meanwhile, Yakuza boss, Oni Juuma is looking to avoid the law in Japan so he moves his operations to Century City. As a buy in he offers the other Japanese boss his services in removing the Green Hornet.

As in any good crime drama, it is the criminals that move the story along, as the protagonist is in the business of tracking down the villains. The Hornet and Kato are brutal enough to sell their roles as the people the mob pays for protection. They are sneaky, smart and dangerous. This is a very believable portrayal of the characters, which are essentially deep undercover operators with absolutely no back up.

The story is by Ande Praks, who also writes the Kato title for the Kevin Smith version. He does a great job of tying together stories of father/son relationships with a street level crime story. One complaint: the time jumps, The story starts with “Some Twenty Years Ago” followed by the narration “Over Four Years Now,” later we are introduced to Tony & Joe with the tile “Thirty Five Years Earlier” I kept wondering which starting point we’re starting from and just what year this is all taking place. It’s a minor gripe, but acts as a speed bump for me each time I read it. I just wish they’d give me dates.

The art is by Johnny Desjardins and fits the nourish feel of the story. Again I have a small gripe, while his art if good, there is not enough detail on his characters making them look like variations of the same person. I doubt, however, that Desjardins’ work has reached its pinnacle yet and he is definitely a talent to keep an eye on.

One final complaint, there are a few instances where the word balloons are going to the worn characters. While this doesn’t ruin a story, it always stands out as something that should have been caught before it went to print.

That said, this is probably the best Green Hornet story out there right now. This is high praise considering the enormous talent that is Matt Wagner is doing the definitive golden age Green Hornet story with Green Hornet Year One. But that is another review.

Rating 4 out of 5 Stars

I'm ending my hermitage and restarting my blog, not that anyone cares. But I needed a bridging post after such a long absence.

The No Event Comic Review #1

The No Event Comic Review, wherein I will provide my opinion of quality comics that don’t require a checklist for monthly reading.

I’m going to star off slow with a review of The Phantom #26. Written by Mike Bullock and Illustrated by Zeu. Published by Moonstone.

In a stand-alone story that takes place prior to what appears to be a relaunch of the series we are given a look back at the thirteenth Phantom.

The Phantom and his new bride, Jeanette, are headed back to America to gather her belongings before returning to their new home in the jungles of Bangalla. But wouldn’t you know it, just off the coast of Florida, their ship is attacked by pirates.

While the crew is busy getting killed, Kit Walker is changing into his Phantom tights. As the Ghost Who Walks slinks around taking out the pirates they are busy transferring the cargo to their ship. That cargo happens to be slaves, some taken from the Phantom’s homeland of Bangalla.

Being a stand alone the Phantom makes quick work of the slavers (not a spoiler) and he and his swashbuckling bride are ready to start their lives together.

While an enjoyable story with attractive artwork, there is some lazy story telling taking place. First, how would someone opposed to slavery like the Phantom manage to book passage on a slaver ship without being aware that the hold was full of his countrymen? Second, the ship is coming from England although the British stopped shipping slaves in 1807 (the 13th Phantom took on the mantle during the war of 1812). Finally, the pirate captain uses a Gatlin Gun; an invention he claims was his great grandfather’s. This type of firearm technology would not be developed until the America Civil war.

The Phantom has had some great stories in it’s run with Moonstone and one can hope that with the relaunch scheduled for February the quality will grow and this classic character will gain more American readers.

Sometimes, dead is better. (apologies to Stephen King)

Today I want to address one of the most annoying and most prevalent comic book trends, the resurrection.

In no other genre, with the exception of the Soap Opera, will you find death and resurrection of a character used so continuously as in the superhero genre. For some reason, after decades of dramatic deaths and ridiculous returns, the killing of a character is still a moneymaker in comics. I am appealing to you, the comic book buyer, to help stop this.

I, for one (and perhaps the only one), have grown bored with a creative team killing off a character that has either outlived their popularity or usefulness to the plot only to have some later writer reverse the death because they didn't like the decision.

Characters such as Oliver Queen (Green Arrow), Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Jason Todd (Robin) and Donna Troy (Wonder Girl) have been killed off and had their mantles picked up by perfectly viable characters. These characters weren't axed because the sales of their titles (when they had solo titles) were so strong the editors decided to get rid of them. Even the messiah of superheroes, Superman himself, was killed off to boost sales only to return a short time later.

I know that there are skilled, creative writers in the industry. Why must they constantly move back to the old instead of investing in the new?

Case in point, I think Geoff Johns is probably one of the most talented scribes every to write a comic. He writes compelling plots, believable & likable characters and can hold a story line together across multiple titles. So why did he have to bring back Hal Jordan?

Hear me out. Hal Jordan was at best a two dimensional character. Fearless and bucking authority, he was never wrong and never very compelling. Then his city was destroyed. This breaks Jordan; he loses it and lashes out against his comrades when they try to rein him in. Jordan doesn't just fight back; he consumes the source of the most powerful weapon in the universe, the Green Lantern Central Battery. In the process, he kills friends and allies, the Guardians appeal to his greatest enemy, Sinestro, to stop him. Mercilessly, Jordan kills him too.

His attempt to recreate reality fails and Jordan loses everything, his city, his corps, and his friends. Now a god, the Greatest Green Lantern is a villain. Then comes his chance at redemption. When the sun is extinguished, only Jordan has the power to reignite it and save all of humanity. The cost, however, is his life. His sacrifice does not go unnoticed and he is offered the mantle of The Spectre, a spirit of vengeance he is given a chance to redeem his soul but is unwilling to enact the retribution the duty calls for.

This is the stuff of Greek Tragedy.

But, nah, let's undo it.

With Green Lantern Rebirth, Jordan's body is still intact in the heart of the sun and his spirit is reunited with his flesh. Turns out Jordan never went bad, but was possessed by the alien entity Parallax. The Lanterns Jordan killed, turns out they didn't die after all but were imprisoned by Manhunter androids, only to be rescued by none other than Jordan himself. Sinestro, not really dead, turns out it was just an illusion created by Parallax. In addition, it turns out that thanks to Parallax inhabiting Jordan the yellow impurity that once plagued the Green Lantern's power rings is purged and the corps is now stronger than ever.

So, to summarize, Jordan's alive, he never killed anyone and his actions strengthened the corps. Years worth of drama and character development reset in six issues.

If only this were the exception and not just a well written example of the rule. Marvel Comics is not only guilty of this, they are repeat offenders. Jean Grey and Magneto have died and come back so many times their friends don't even bother to bury them anymore. Recently Captain America was killed and no one in the comic industry understood the media attention. Heck, he'll be back in about a year. Sabretooth was beheaded, no one doubts he'll get over it, after all, The Guardian was burned to a pile of smothering bones, but he got better.

Hell, even Aunt May came back from the dead. When a frail, sickly 90-year-old woman doesn't stay dead, why do they even bother with a character like Mr. Immortal? EVERYONE in the Marvel Universe will come back from the dead. Right now, someone is thinking of a story line to bring back Captain Stacy, Jean Dewolff, and Gwen Stacy back from the dead. Hell, why not bring back Uncle Ben and the radioactive spider while we're at it?

The need to undo what is considered a classic story seems to be at the core of every comic book writer's driving desire. For years, Jim Starlin's The Death Of Captain Marvel was considered to be one of the greatest comics written. A hero of cosmic proportions is felled not in the heat of battle but by a consuming cancer. An emotional tale when the majority of comics were still bombastic, The Death Of Captain Marvel lifted the medium to a higher level.

Of course, Marvel brought him back.

In a tie-in to their Civil War event, Marvel pulls Captain Marvel out of the past, before he dies, and sets him into the middle of a mediocre one-shot issue. I guess they just didn't have enough characters who weren't dead to fill up their pages.

This leads me to my final point. As anyone who has been reading comics for any amount of time can tell you, the big publishers have hundreds of characters that were introduced and left behind over the years. Perhaps the challenge should be not how to bring back a character with a dramatic and dignified end, but how can we take this obscure character and make him/her someone worth reading?

Or as Roger Ebert put it, "Why does Hollywood always remake good movies and never make them as good as the original. Why don't they try remaking bad movies and making them better?"

Until that happens in Hollywood and the comics, however, I'll just wait for them to kill Batman and bring back Captain America. Bastards.

Help Save the Dick Tracy Museum

I don't know how far behind the curve I am on this but it has me very upset. The government will fund a Burro museum, a teapot museum, but something that is purely Americana like Dick Tracy can't get funding?

I think everyone who is upset should contact your representative or Warren Beatty or Max Allan Collins and ask them to consider supporting the Chester Gould/Dick Tracy Museum.

From the museum web site:

Chester Gould-Dick Tracy Museum
to Close

The Board of Directors of the Chester Gould-Dick Tracy Museum has announced that the Museum facility will close on June 1, 2008. A fixture on the Woodstock, Illinois Town Square since 1991, the Museum has welcomed thousands of visitors. Its charter was to preserve the record of Chester Gould's contributions to America and the heritage of the Dick Tracy comic strip and its values for this and future generations. It did so through a comprehensive display of Chester Gould's lifetime of art and the stories of his famed detective combined with community programs and outreach. The Museum brought cartoon classes, sidewalk art contests, fedora decorating exhibits, breakfast with Santa, art scholarships and other activities to the community.

Many people in the Woodstock community have worked hard over the years in the development of the Museum. Door admissions, merchandise sales and fundraisers, however, do not offset the cost of continuing operations. The Board regrets this decision to close, but its efforts to find corporate, foundation or tax-supported financing have not been successful.

The entire collection of art and memorabilia has been photographed, and the Museum hopes to continue "on line." A fan-friendly virtual museum with research capabilities and views of currently displayed materials is under development. In addition, Cliff and Beverly Ganschow, owners of the Old Court House & Sheriff's House Complex, have expressed an interest in dedicating an area for a permanent display of many of the Chester Gould and Dick Tracy exhibits previously seen in the Museum. For further information, call the Museum at
(815) 338-8281.

Why the Golden Age Should Matter

Greetings, and welcome to Off Base, News and Views from a man who takes comic books way too seriously.

My goal in this blog is to try and elevate the discussion within and without the comic book community regarding the history, philosophy and cultural impact of comic books and the Superhero genre.

I’d like to start off with a topic that I have been spending a lot of time on - the Golden Age of comics and why it is important to today’s fans and creators.

Recently, a friend and co-worker of mine, Matt Knicl, reviewed two very well publicized Golden Age revivals in his column “Capes & Cowls.” While reviewing “The Twelve” and “Superpowers Project” (http://the217.com/articles/view/gilded_age_comics). Matt argues that even though the books may be good, no one in today’s readership has any context for the characters. To a point, I agree. I have been researching the Golden Age for over a year now for a book I will be writing and many of these characters are still new to me.

But that doesn’t matter. Anyone who is serious about the Superhero genre needs to know the history of the genre. The 1930’s & 40’s were a boom time for Superheroes, much like the collectors bubble of the 80’s. During this time, creation and plagiarism were rampant. The superhero was fresh and marketable and everyone was trying to create the next Superman. While many of these characters were quickly and legitimately forgotten, they tell us something important about why Superheroes matter.

These characters reflect what we hold important in our heroes. Many people today brush aside these creations as being simplistic and juvenile. This is more a result of the infancy of the genre in my opinion. The heroes of the Golden Age seem more naïve and “pure” than we are willing to buy into these days. But this is a compass of how jaded our society has become, not of how “unrealistic” the heroes of the time were.

(This is a subject I will be addressing at greater length in an upcoming article.)

Perhaps the problem is that the significance of these characters is lost on most readers much the same way The Scarlet Letter is lost on most high schoolers. Let me explain:

I, like every American, had to read The Scarlet Letter in high school. At the time I didn’t understand why this book was required reading. It didn’t reflect the society I knew nor did it seem to matter in our society. As I’ve grown older and more reflective, I realized that the importance of this book in American society is that it explores the morals and hypocrisies that shape our culture, even today.

Among Western Culture, there are few societies that are as puritan as America. We are also among the most violent societies in the world. Read the Scarlet Letter again with this in mind and you will see that it reflects on the puritanical and violent societies that shaped the America we are today. This holds true for Superheroes as well.

Looking at the heroes of the Golden Age we can see how a character created today reflects the standards set 70 years ago. I think, as well, that many people will be surprised to find that the short simple characters of the early days had more depth than people give them credit for. Even characters that are still the top of their game were the models for what were considered “radical” changes in more recent times. (Think Frank Miller created the “Grim and Gritty” Batman? Go read some of the Bill Finger tales of the early Bat-Man.)

The importance of comics such as Project Superpowers and The Twelve isn’t to point out how “silly” these old characters were or to bring them up to date. The deeper importance is that we are forced to look at how our society has changed in the time since these characters were first introduced. We have made great strides in civil rights and quality of life, but we are also just as violent as we were during the gangster era. No longer do we have to prove we are as legitimate a power as the older European countries, but how many of the values that lead us to greatness have been abandoned in arrogance along the way?

Now, by no means do I think that the young readers of today would or should turn away from the industry and its modern offerings. What I suggest is that anyone who is serious about the media as an art and literary form invest the time to seek out these stories. Visit the web stores of AC Comics, Moonstone, Dynamite and The Vintage Library and acquaint yourself with The Green Lama, The Phantom, Zorro, the Lone Ranger and The Shadow. If you do, you too may understand the appeal of these enduring characters.