It’s tempting to call this “The Secret Origin of Aquaman”… except for the fact that the waterbreathing member of the JLA appears only briefly in the whole series. It’s also tempting to dismiss it as an attempt to reconcile the many mutually-inconsistent versions of “Atlantis” that have appeared in DC comics… except that it’s [...]
If you’re a serious student of comics, you’ve read the insightful analysis of Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics. If you’re lucky, you’ve enjoyed the artful blend of whimsy and character development that was his beloved series Zot!. Readers of current DC books may have seen the highs and lows of his handling of the [...]
published in Justice League of America #207-209 and All-Star Squadron #15,16
More than a decade afterward, the debate still rages: “Was Crisis on Infinite Earths necessary to make the DC Universe understandable?” The feeling among the folks at DC at the time was that it was: The multiple Earths caused confusion about which character [...]
In the age of the anti-hero, it only makes sense to have the occasional anti-villain as well. But unlike sociopathic vigilante anti-heroes like the Punisher, an anti-villain like Anarky provides some interesting food for thought. Sure, he breaks the law, but what he really wants is to save the world… and maybe he’s [...]
It seems to be an article of faith among comics fans on the internet: Nothing good came out of Bloodlines. The summer-long, DC-Universe-wide crossover was intended to introduce a slew of new characters, and this “New Blood” would help to revitalise the DCU. But ask anyone: these characters all sucked. Well, [...]
It was obvious at first glace that Phil Jimenez could draw. His attention to anatomy, proportion, and detail is reminiscent of the legendary George Pérez (of Crisis on Infinite Earths and Wonder Woman fame). With a good, equally meticulous inker (such as John Stokes), his art is quite beautiful.
But can he write?
I’d have [...]
Whenever someone poses a challenge to fans of the superhero genre or DC Comics in particular, asking whether there are comics that do this or that, in recent years there was one answer that kept coming up:
Do any comics show devout Christians as sympathetic, intelligent people? Catholic priest Richard Craemer served as a valued [...]
Hard-Traveling Heroes, Then and Now
A look at the original and recent “Green Teams”
Green Lantern #76-89 (collected in two “Hard-Traveling Heroes” TPBs)
written by Dennis O’Neil, pencils by Neal Adams
Comics historians like to point to certain “key” creators or creations, examples that changed the way the medium was looked at or the stories it told. Outcault’s [...]
I didn’t really give Gemini Blood the chance it deserved.
The title sounded like an adolescent carnage-orientated Image Comics series, which turned me off a bit before I even saw it. The promotional material explained that it was about “paratwa”, pairs of genetically engineered assassins who shared a single consciousness… which sounded interesting, but a [...]
Nearly all science fiction involving time travel insists that either: A) time cannot be changed, or B) if time is changed, Bad Things will happen. Option A goes all the way back to the Greek story of Cassandra, who was blessed with sight of the future, but cursed that no one would heed her [...]
The solicitation in Previews showed a simple cover: a cartoony kid in a action-pose crouch, with a mask covering his mouth and nose, and feet big enough to share sneakers with DC’s kid speedster Impulse. The crisp, confident style said, “quality“. The blurb, with its talk of a bubblegum recipe, said “fun“. [...]
This title is one of four new DC-Universe series with a horror angle of one kind or another. They’ve been referred (with varying degrees of officiality) as “the Dark Side of the DCU”, “Weirdoverse”, and (because they don’t bear the “mature readers” rating) “Vertigo lite”.
The 10-page debut of the Scare Tactics crew in [...]