BEST WAY TO RECOVER FROM “SINS PAST”: SPIDER-MAN, by Mark Millar, Terry & Rachel Dodson and Frank Cho

Here’s another book that snuck its way into my favor when I wasn’t looking. I initially bought the first issue simply because I like Terry Dodson’s art. As for the script, well, at first Millar didn’t thrill me.

I thought he tended to go for the salacious joke or reference just because he could (such as implying that classic Spidey villain Electro has developed a taste in prison for, shall we say, an “alternative lifestyle”), and some of the characterizations felt off to me. In fact, I so disliked the scene with Spidey coming to the Avengers for help in issue #2 that I planned on dropping the book. (Little did I know that in a matter of months, the Avengers would be so badly written in their own book that the SPIDER-MAN scene would seem perfectly in character by comparison.) I stuck around anyway, partly because I knew LIBERTY MEADOWS artist Frank Cho would be doing a couple of fill-in issues. And over the long haul, Millar has completely sucked me in, with an extended whodunit involving a mysterious antagonist for Spider-Man who knows his secret identity and has been tormenting him from afar, kidnapping Aunt May and manipulating Spidey’s other enemies in various schemes to wear him down. There have been some great cliffhangers here, including an unmasked, beaten Spidey being photographed and the photo running in the Bugle, and a $5 million bounty being placed on Spidey, leading to a mob attack by the NYPD, but so far Millar has played fair with each, satisfyingly resolving each one. There have been some criticisms that Millar is simply doing a version of Jeph Loeb’s “HUSH” series on BATMAN, telling a yearlong mystery involving all of the hero’s enemies being puppeteered from afar by an unknown mastermind, and while I’ll admit the similarities are pronounced, Millar has done an excellent job of setting the proper tone for the book, as more and more dilemmas are heaped upon Peter Parker in proper Stan Lee style. As I write this, the identity of the Big Bad has yet to be revealed, but here’s hoping Millar can keep his momentum going. And by the way, Millar has also recently embarked upon a 12-issue arc on WOLVERINE (with fantastic art by John Romita, Jr.) that’s shaping up to be just as good.

BEST BOOK FOR THE OLD-SCHOOL FAN: JLA: ANOTHER NAIL, by Alan Davis and Mark Farmer

A couple years back, Alan Davis wrote and drew a fantastic “What If?” type series called THE NAIL, which supposed that, on the night baby Kal-El’s rocket fell to Earth, Jonathan and Martha’s truck hit a nail and got a flat tire, preventing them from finding the rocket and adopting the baby as their own, therefore preventing Superman from coming into being. Accordingly, the DC Universe went on without him, and the series spun an exciting tale of an underpowered JLA fighting a wide-ranging conspiracy and a surprising enemy. The series’ success has prompted a sequel series: JLA: ANOTHER NAIL, in which a now-discovered Superman takes his proper role within the JLA, just in time to face a massive cosmic threat that endangers the very fabric of reality itself.

The plot here is pretty dense stuff, a Silver-Age-style dimensional crisis that at times is a little hard to follow. What makes it work is Davis’s obvious fondness for the characters, which shows itself in some of the subplots, some of which run through both series, such as the death of Hawkman during a battle that crippled his fellow member Green Arrow beyond all hope of recovery, engendering bitter grudges that linger on for years. There’s also a particularly dark and unpleasant subplot with Batman and the Joker, in both books, that’s downright disturbing. And of course, Alan Davis’ gorgeous art is the main attraction here.

I’ve always said that Alan Davis draws the best-looking women in comics, and ANOTHER NAIL is no exception. The hardcore DC continuity buff will enjoy this series the most, catching the countless references to past stories that Davis incorporates into the story and the art, but the series is strong enough to hold up on its own merits as well.

BEST SNEAKY EXPLANATION: SUPERMAN: BIRTHRIGHT, by Mark Waid and Leinil Francis Yu

Longtime readers of the column might remember that I’m a big fan of the old pre-CRISIS version of Lex Luthor, back when he was a high-school classmate of young Clark Kent in Smallville, who was Superboy’s best friend until a lab accident caused him to lose his greatest scientific achievement and his hair, both of which he blamed on Superboy. Well, when Mark Waid got his chance to retell the official Superman origin in his new 12-issue series SUPERMAN: BIRTHRIGHT, he found a way to take that beloved and once-presumed-gone-forever bit of backstory and make it fit with the modern DC conception of Luthor as the billionaire industrialist.

The story casts Luthor as a misunderstood savant with horrible social skills, who’s ostracized by his fellow classmates in Smallville, and soon finds Clark Kent as his only friend. After his attempts to use his intelligence to help the town are all rebuffed, Luthor focuses on the real reason he moved to Smallville: on a previous visit, young Lex had discovered what would later be known as Kryptonite, and deduced that it was from another world. Lex further posited that Smallville must then be the place to build a radiotelescope receiver, creating a wormhole that would allow him to see into the past of another galaxy: namely Krypton’s galaxy. Unfortunately, the machine overheats, exploding and burning down the house, killing Lex’s father and burning off his hair.

An enraged Luthor, convinced that the townsfolk lingered in coming to help because they disliked him, leaves town and erases all evidence he ever lived there, and upon meeting Clark Kent in Metropolis years later, pretends the two have never met. It’s an elegant way to bring back what was one of the most intriguing dynamics in the Superman/Luthor relationship (one the SMALLVILLE producers really picked up and ran with) without cavalierly overturning the last twenty years’ worth of Superman comics.

As for the book as a whole, it’s most excellent, a thoughtful blend of Golden and Silver Age tradition with the post-CRISIS retelling and a splash of innovation throughout. For example, Jor-El and Lara return to their original conception as passionate, loving parents, as opposed to the antiseptic, cold “biological units” that John Byrne gave us in MAN OF STEEL, while Byrne’s wise decision to keep Ma and Pa Kent among the living remains intact. I have a few qualms about the book: Artist Leinil Francis Yu’s manga-influenced style, while certainly modern, lacks the all-American style I would’ve liked to see in a book like this, although the art is quite good and the storytelling is clear and compelling. Also, in an effort to make the book seem more timely, historical references are made that simply don’t jibe up if this is supposed to be the same character we’re reading about in the monthly books, i.e., if Superman has been around the DC Universe for more than five years, which he certainly should, then his arrival in Metropolis should not be post-9/11, as is implied here. It’s these little details that momentarily take you out of the book, but perhaps DC is just thinking ahead: in another 5 or 10 years, it will all synch up just fine. Certainly not a big enough deal to discourage anyone from reading SUPERMAN: BIRTHRIGHT, a loving revisiting of Superman’s arrival and a great story in its own right.

THE “BACK IN THE SADDLE” AWARD: PLANETARY, by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday

The biggest drawback to John Cassady getting work on books like ASTONISHING X-MEN has been that PLANETARY, his outstanding series with writer Warren Ellis, has been forced on the back burner for the last year and a half or so. In recent months, the book has been hitting a quarterly schedule, with a new book hitting the stands every three months, which is better than nothing.

The new issues certainly kept up with the quality of the old, particularly PLANETARY #18, featuring the team investigating a mysterious returning satellite that’s apparently been in orbit since the 1850s. What Elijah Snow and his fellow “Archaeologists of the Impossible” discover is both chilling and tragic, and like many of the characters and settings in PLANETARY, a little familiar.

The remaining three issues released in 2004 had more to do with the series’ larger storyline, Snow’s ongoing vendetta against the Four, the mysterious quartet of superpowered astronauts who are secretly responsible for much of the world’s misery (as well as Snow’s amnesia). The “big picture” seems to be kicking into high gear now, and I’m eagerly awaiting each new issue.

ACTION FIGURE OF THE YEAR: Hawkeye, from Toy Biz’s MARVEL LEGENDS line

The MARVEL LEGENDS collection from Toy Biz has been going like gangbusters for a couple of years now, and each series manages to top the last in terms of articulation, sculpt and overall quality. While I may quibble with some of the character choices (why have there been four Iron Man figures but no Cyclops?) and grind my teeth at the short-packed variant figures (if anybody would like to help out the Professor with a Dark Phoenix figure, please feel free to e-mail), overall the MARVEL LEGENDS series has been a smashing success creatively. The most recently released set, series 8, features a good mix of characters, including Apocalypse, Ghost Rider, Weapon X, Silver Centurion Iron Man, the Vision, and my pick for the best figure of the year, Hawkeye. The boys at Toy Biz did just about everything right here, with a sculpt that’s right on target, the most recognizable costume, and an absolutely insane level of articulation.

The scale is just right, too, with Hawkeye looking a bit shorter and leaner than Captain America. Toy Biz doesn’t skimp on the accessories, either, giving Hawkeye a removable quiver, an assortment of trick arrows that were taken right out of the pages of the MARVEL UNIVERSE HANDBOOK (including one with Ant-Man hanging from the tip, taken from the cover of AVENGERS #223) and even his atomic steed, the one-man jet-cycle that Hawkeye borrowed from the Black Knight and used throughout his stint in THUNDERBOLTS. My only complaint is that I would have rather seen ToyBiz include the yellow traditional longbow he’s used throughout his career, instead of the fancy silver compound bow shown here, but hey, I can’t complain that much. All we need now is a Mockingbird figure and I’m a happy camper…

BEST MINI-SERIES:DC: THE NEW FRONTIER, by Darwyn Cooke

I’ve always been a sucker for the Bruce Timm/ Dan DeCarlo art style in comics. I think it brings a simplicity and elegance to the characters and action, an exaggeration in physicality and grace that to me is much more appealing than the most “realistic”-looking rendering. Darwyn Cooke, who worked for Timm on BATMAN BEYOND and has evolved his own version of that style, really stepped up his game this year with the release of DC: THE NEW FRONTIER, a six-issue series written and drawn by Cooke, which places DC’s Silver Age heroes in the era of their historical inception, the mid-to-late 1950s, and tells an all-new story involving their rise to acceptance in the years following the Justice Society’s forced retirement at the hands of the U.S. Congress.

The best surprise here was that Cooke, already known for his artistic abilities, can really write, delivering a tense thriller involving practically all of DC’s Silver Age characters, as well as weaving into the story several smaller vignettes that will break your heart. There’s too much good stuff here to cover in so small a space, but a couple of quick hits: The story opens with Cooke’s revelation of the final mission of “the Losers,” a DC war-comics team sent to the South Pacific to recover a missing scientist. As the Losers are picked off one by one, soon the only remaining member is Johnny Cloud, who leaves a record of their mission before facing the enemy that killed his friends, and a final salute to his teammates:

Cooke also answers the question of why there were no black heroes in the 1950s, and does so in brutal and unyielding fashion with his introduction of the vigilante hero “John Henry,” a black man lynched by the KKK in Tennessee, who somehow survives and creates a disguise for himself, to allow him to go after the murderers of his family. Cooke masterfully interposes the art with verses from the American folk song about the legend of John Henry, the steel-driving man, and the result never fails to send chills down my spine.

John Henry fights the KKK throughout Tennessee, until he’s wounded by Klan gunfire, and his last hope for escape lies with a little girl.

It’s harsh stuff, and Cooke should be commended for dealing with the realities of 1950s America, not to mention handling it so powerfully. There’s so much more here to discuss – Cooke’s conception of Hal Jordan as a pacifist, his clever use of the Challengers of the Unknown and the Suicide Squad, a poignant little sequence in which Barry Allen retires on the evening news – the book is positively filled with brilliant new takes on much of the DC library, all set against a historically accurate backdrop of the era, and brilliantly illustrated by a master of his craft. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

COOLEST TV MOMENT: JUSTICE LEAGUE: STARCROSSED

Just before Cartoon Network’s JUSTICE LEAGUE series became JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED, the first series was closed off with a bang with the direct-to-DVD movie STARCROSSED, which revealed that League member Hawkgirl was actually an advance agent sent to do reconnaissance for an eventual invasion of Earth by the Hawkmen of Thanagar, her home planet. Taken by surprise, the League is overcome and swiftly the Hawkmen have taken over the planet. Although they manage to escape, the League must come up with a way to destroy the massive control center the Hawkmen have built on Earth. Batman says “leave that to me,” and soon he, Flash and the Martian Manhunter are heading back to space to reclaim the Watchtower from its new residents. After knocking out the Hawkmen on board, Batman tricks Flash and Martian Manhunter into an escape pod and jettisons them back to Earth, with his voice coming over the intercom: “Gentlemen. It has been an honor.” Batman then heads to a control panel and activates a previously unknown system that releases a pilot’s seat and steering wheel for the Watchtower, and proceeds to power the satellite into a suicide dive, headed directly for the Hawkmen’s control center. The lesson here? Don’t fuck with Batman. Period.

BEST NEW SERIES:SHE-HULK, by Dan Slott and Juan Bobillo

Confession time: I’m a big fan of Marvel’s She-Hulk character, ever since Roger Stern took her out of the white-tattered shirt from her solo series and instead began writing her in AVENGERS as a cutoffs-wearing, pink-Cadillac-driving smartass. Stern took what was essentially a one-note ripoff of the Hulk created for copyright purposes and made her into something the Marvel Universe had up to that point been missing: a strong, intelligent female character powerful enough to play with the big guns of the Marvel U, yet so funny and approachable as to quickly become a fan favorite. John Byrne took that ball and really ran with it when he drafted Jennifer Walters into the Fantastic Four, and later worked on her solo series, creating probably the most realized character of his writing career. In recent years, She-Hulk appearances have been pretty scarce, save for a well-executed run in the latter part of Busiek and Perez’s AVENGERS. This year’s sleeper hit is probably the new SHE-HULK series by Dan Slott and Juan Bobillo, which premiered in the spring to very little fanfare, and has seen its sales and critical acclaim increase almost entirely due to positive word of mouth.

Slott and Bobillo provide a monthly antidote to the brooding, murky, dull sensibility that seems to be pervading so much of Marvel’s line, telling fun, entertaining stories that stress the wonder and fantastic aspects of living in the Marvel universe. Here Jen has been hired at the law firm of Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holloway, a firm which specializes in the burgeoning field of superhuman law, and which allows Jen to bring in all manner of expert witnesses, such as her old teammate Ben Grimm, who testifies in a murder case on the likelihood of returning from the dead.

In another case, Jen represents Spider-Man in a libel case against J. Jonah Jameson, an idea so good I can’t believe no one had thought of it earlier. Slott’s writing is sharp and laugh-out-loud funny, and Bobillo’s art, while not always the most accurate in terms of Marvel history and continuity, is distinctive and appealing, looking like nothing else Marvel currently puts out.

Bobillo’s portrayal of Jen manages to make her look powerful and muscular without being musclebound or masculine, with a light, cartoony touch on the face that’s awfully cute. Hopefully big things are in this book’s future now that Marvel realizes what it has and promised to put more marketing muscle behind the book, so you should get in on the ground floor now.

THE COMICS 101 BOOK OF THE YEAR: IDENTITY CRISIS, by Brad Meltzer and Rags Morales

What else could it be, right? No comic book this year has spurred more arguments, discussions and debates among comics fans, both online and in shops and conventions nationwide. Meltzer and Morales’ gritty whodunit not only has kept us all on our toes with shock after shock, but it has also permanently altered the landscape of the DC Universe, and it’s too early to say if it’s for the better or worse. The recent revelation that the “League-Within-a-League” erased Batman’s memory as well in the aftermath of Dr. Light’s assault on Sue Dibny has serious repercussions for any use of the Justice League characters, as to my mind it pretty much breaks the team, since most any interpretation of Batman’s character would lead him to take serious and most unpleasant action when he finds out about this. At the time of this writing, issue #7 had yet to be released, so I have no idea how it all turns out; it will be very interesting to see if Meltzer can live up to what he’s started here and deliver a climax as compelling as his story.

THE COMICS 101 MVP: Geoff Johns

Memo to DC Comics: Go to the corporate checkbook. Make out a big fat check. Hand it over to Geoff Johns and let him do whatever he wants with the DC Universe. Currently writing FLASH, TEEN TITANS, JSA and GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH, much of what DC is doing right these days is coming from the mind of Johns, who demonstrates a strong respect and fondness for DC’s history and past, but doesn’t feel hidebound by it, taking those characterizations and aspects that work best and refining them for a modern sensibility. Johns hit another high point on his already stellar JSA run early this year with “Black Reign,” which pitted the Justice Society against a team of their children and proteges under the sway of Captain Marvel’s old adversary (and former JSA member) Black Adam, who had used them to take over his native Middle Eastern country. It’s an ugly battle, ending with Hawkman being asked to leave the team and another surprising outcome: founding member Rex “Hourman” Tyler returning from limbo to replace his son Rick, mortally wounded in the battle.

Johns resolved the Hourman story marvelously eight months later with the touching and tense “Out of Time” in JSA #65-66 (I considered awarding those issues “Story of the Year,” but I recognize that my unexplainable fondness for the Hourman character could be skewing my judgment. Trust me and read 'em anyway.)

At the same time Johns was ably handling yesterday’s heroes in JSA, he was shepherding tomorrow’s heroes in TEEN TITANS. I’m happy to say that I was 100% wrong about this book, remarking in the column last year that the new series felt like a shameless attempt at synchronicity with the animated series, at the cost of what I thought was a superior book in YOUNG JUSTICE. As much as I loved YJ, Johns’ TITANS is a most satisfying series in its own right, often referring to past TITANS series both in plotline and in tone, while not taking the spotlight off the stars of the book, the young heroes of today: Superboy, Robin, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash.

Towards the end of the year, Johns pushed the TITANS book into a much darker place than we’d seen previously. Following a time-travel encounter in the future with the Legion of Superheroes (whose new book by Mark Waid and Barry Kitson I expect to be talking about here next year), the Titans’ attempt to return to the past delivers them about 10 years too late, in their own future, where they encounter their very grim and unpleasant future selves.

These issues are full of what I assume to be hints of future stories (a new female Speedy, the return of Donna Troy, the debut of a new Joker’s Daughter, and plenty more), and I’m hoping to see them continue to spin for years to come.

Finally, Geoff Johns pulled off what I thought to be an impossible task this fall, salvaging the Hal Jordan character from the hopeless morass of bad decisions foisted on him by DC over the past decade, and doing so in a compelling thriller that doesn’t just gloss over or ignore those decisions, but actually crafts them into a first-rate story, in GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH.

Best of all, it looks as though it’s not just Hal Jordan getting the star treatment, but all the remaining Green Lanterns, including Kilowog and Guy Gardner, who has finally been relieved of the well-intentioned but visually awful “Warrior” identity and returned to the way most people best remember and most like the character, as the ass-kicking take-no-prisoners Green Lantern from the JLI days.

Johns has a knack for finding a new conceptual spin on old ideas and characters, such as the concept that Batman’s dislike of Hal Jordan comes from insecurity, since, as Jordan was “without fear,” he was the one man Batman couldn’t intimidate or frighten, which is where much of Batman’s advantage come from. Similarly, while the other GLs fall victim to some force that’s turning them evil, Kyle Rayner is able to resist using his ring and falling victim to it. Why? Because unlike every other Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner knows fear. Good stuff. And let’s not forget artist Ethan Van Sciver’s work – delicate and detailed with strong acting and storytelling. I’m still noticing details in the art where Van Sciver has subtly drawn Parallax, Jordan’s evil alter ego, exhibiting his influence.

So take a bow, Geoff. If 2005 is anything like 2004, there should be a lot of great stories coming our way. Personally, I can’t wait.

Your favorite book of the year not mentioned here? Wanna argue about it? Send Scott Tipton an e-mail at stipton99x@moviepoopshoot.com, and speak your mind.

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