this week’s comics

So in the wake of the mid-1980s Crisis on Infinite Earths, the epic mini-series that changed the DC Universe permanently and forever, never to be altered again, the masterminds behind that series, Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, put out a two-part History of the DC Universe. The last two installments of the 12-issue Crisis were intended as an overview of the new, combined, parallel-Earthless DCU, but ended up as its own thing.

The premise of the series was that Harbinger, former associate to the Monitor in Crisis, is documenting the events of this new version of the DC Universe, presenting how everything now fits together when it had all been on multiple Earths before. It was text with beautiful illustrations by Pérez, and was out of date almost as soon as it was published, as DC began its multiple decades of trying to bend everything back into something resembling pre-Crisis shape. However, it still stands as a wonderfully drawn art showcase which still gets rereleased from time to time, including a new reissue of the Crisis on Infinite Earths Omnibus that includes History.

However, after nearly forty years, it’s been decided that it’s probably time to try again and see where the DC Universe stands. This is probably the right time for it, as we seem to have gotten away from DC’s near-yearly attempts at undoing Crisis from the last decade or so and the DCU has settled down into some relative stability.

And that new try? Behold, The History of the New DC Universe written by Mark Waid, issue #1 illustrated by Jerry Ordway and Todd Nauck, main wraparound cover here drawn by Chris Samnee:

I did love Samnee’s cover, and if I gave in to temptation, I would have kept one of every cover for myself. I did manage to restrict myself to just one cover, though, and it’s the wraparound group shot cover by Scott Koblish:

Here’s a detail I pulled off the back cover, specifically because this image includes Sheldon Mayer’s Scribbly:

There’s a specific reason why I like the Koblish covers specifically, in that it includes characters like some of those funny animal characters that don’t get mentions in the comic itself but have their existence acknowledged in this huge group shot. We also get characters that, In Real Life, first appeared during the Golden Age, but in the new DCU are presented as more contemporary characters, like the Marvel/Shazam! Family.

The actual content itself is split into two parts: the main “story,” as such, is Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash, presenting a chronological step-by-step New History of the DC Universe, as it says on the tin, light on the text and transitions, almost by necessity, but heavy on the swell art:

Yes, I picked a Swamp Thing-related image as an example, You know whose blog you’re on.

Another nice touch is that Barry acknowledges at the very beginning the presence of “Crisis-level events” that have mucked about with continuity, which does have me curious as to how the series is going to handle things like Crisis on Infinite Earths, or Dark Crisis, or the various Metal series, or, God help us, Doomsday Clock.

Of course, it’s easy to draw comparisons between this series and the History of the Marvel Universe by Waid and Javier Rodriguez, released about six years ago. Similar in layout, with art heavy pages and small blocks of text in the front of the book, with pages of notes in the back (more on the notes section shortly), it differed in that it the Marvel history seemed to go out of its way to point out and correct continuity issues.

I imagine it’s at least in part because Marvel’s mostly avoided line-wide reboots or endless rejiggerings of its fictional world. But some characters, like the Punisher, had their origins in the Vietnam War, which is maybe a little too far back in real world history for the Punisher to still be an active and effective vigilante in stories set in modern times. As such, the fictional Siancong War was created to replace the Vietnam War, always some vague time in the recent-ish past, being pushed along forward in time much like the Marvel characters themselves, staying current in relation to the real world year.

If I recall correctly, characters like Reed Richards and Ben Grimm from the Fantastic Four, who originally had fought during World War II (and was still a thing, so to speak, as of 1981, kinda sorta), had their wartime experiences shifted to the Siancong War. But some WWII-era characters who had an “out,” like Captain America’s initial 20-years-long suspended animation being extended eventually to now, what, 60 or 70 years, are still WWII-bound. And there’s Namor, who’s long-lived, and there’s the Red Skull, whatever his deal was…all still connected to the 1940s.

It’s mentioned here only because New History of the DC Universe hasn’t yet dropped any huge change along those lines, at least that I’ve noticed. To be honest, I was expecting something drastic being done with the Justice Society of America, a World War II-era superteam, some of whom are still around and kickin’ today. I think the Golden Age Green Lantern is kept vital by his ring, and the Golden Age Flash is…his connection to the Speed Force, maybe? At any rate, they’re all literally 100 years old or more now, or thereabouts.

I think the solution provided, seemingly inspired by Last Days of the Justice Society by Roy and Dann Thomas and David Ross, that they were on an “interdimensional adventure” that extended their lives “by decades.” It’s sort of the DC version of Marvel’s “Captain America was frozen in ice for [x] years,” where they can just keep increasing that value of [x] as needed. Anyway, I think this preferable to changing the DC WWII superheroes to, like, some newer war or an invented war.

As I said, like the Marvel History, there are pages of extra notes in the back, titled “New History of the DC Universe Timeline, written by Dave Wielgosz, based on the research he and Waid underwent for this project.

In case you’re wondering, yes, Scribbly gets a mention in the Timeline.

Almost by necessity, the “comic book” section of the publication had to skip a lot of the finer details while hitting the big moments of the history. There’s really only so much space to work with, and while I’m sure everyone involved would have liked to spend page after page detailing the origins of every Golden Age character, but that just wasn’t going to happen. But here in the notes, or Timeline, section, you can get those details and even specific issue numbers. It’s a nice, informative supplement to the main thrust of the book.

New History of the DC Universe is a wonderful artistic showcase, supported by the very thorough informative writing and research by Waid and his team. Like I said above, I’m looking forward to seeing how the later more volatile eras get hammered into coherent shape.

SPOILERS for some new-this-week comics.

The mini continues to be a delight, with Al Ewing scripting it in a psuedo-1960s trying-too-hard-to-be-hip-and-with-it but in a knowing and funny way that is entertaining and not “cheugy,” to use a new slang term I just learned the other day. Steve Lieber’s art tells everything in a thankfully clear and concise manner, something that’s not easy with a book that’s throwing as much wackiness at you on every page.

One note: for someone who’s had his share of eyeball troubles over the last few years, there are repeated examples of eye injury to which I perhaps had a more visceral reaction than most. Not that the fella receiving said injuries didn’t have them coming, natch.

Another note: I knew this Metamorpho series was released in part as synergy with his appearance in the coming Superman movie. However, there is even more synergy than I expected with that film which pops up in this new issue. An unusual mix of characters, and a retconned origin, maybe, for our favorite Fab Freak? It’s a wild ride and well worth reading, with or without its need to cross-promote with a film.

Speaking of an unusual mix of characters, some folks just turn up out of nowhere in the back half of this new issue of Green Lantern, which piques my interest after a handful of perfectly competent but not necessarily outstanding issues. Which isn’t a ding, by the way…I read and enjoyed them just fine, each issue providing exactly One Standard Unit of Green Lantern Comics and that’s what I want when I pick up a Green Lantern comic.

The thing about the Green Lantern franchise is that it’s come a long way from “dude with a magical science ring that fights crime,” usually based on Earth but with the occasional special story in space, with maybe some other Green Lanterns showing up once in a while. Now it’s a premise that’s sort of…about itself, I suppose, stories about the Green Lantern organization and related Corps and dealing with the aftermath of previous internal Corps conflicts from issues, and series, past. Sometimes I just want our GL Hal Jordan beatin’ up the bad guys without having to worry about…the Sad Lantern or whatever’s going on in the book now.

Yes, I know, You Can’t Go Home Again, and my nostalgia for the Green Lantern I read in the early ’80s is coloring my opinion here. And in fairness, a lot of this new series is Hal-centric, and the new Green Lantern Corps title will hopefully pull away a lot of that other stuff and simplify this book.

This makes it sound like I don’t like the other GL stuff, with the entire army of Lanterns and all the space shenanigans and whatnot, but honestly, I do. But I don’t want that to be all GL is. It all gets to be a little navel-gazing-y and too much, sometimes.

Okay, back to what I was saying at the start. Green Lantern, Hal, is apparently going to Hell…I mean, like, literally, entering through a portal and everything. And with him is Zauriel, who is, as you recall, a straight-up angel from Heaven who was in the Justice League for a bit, because Grant Morrison. And also there is the Phantom Stranger, whom I don’t think Hal has met outside any Justice League appearances, I think. Wait, did the Stranger show up during any of those Hal-as-Spectre comics? Anyway, it was weird for these two to suddenly be there, but I’ve gone from “yeah, this comic’s okay” to “you now have my interest,” especially with the person Hal immediately runs into. I’m really anticipating a new issue of Green Lantern for the first time in a while.

The comic is full of edgy, and sometimes gross humor, and it’s trying really hard to be irreverent and in the style of the TV show. It only sort of half-succeeds, even with whatever nominal involvement James Gunn his own self has with this comic. It’s entertaining enough and has its moments, such as the dialogue exchange of “You killed him!”/”He started it!” which did get a good chuckle out of me. However, it suffers in comparison to the previous Peacemaker series scripted by Kyle Starks, if only because we all suffer in comparison to Kyle Starks, whose witty and quirky dialogue and unique ideas left huge shoes to fill.

All that said, I do like this new series, and it’s probably not fair to be all “but it’s not like what it was in the past!” which is also the problem I was having with Green Lantern above…and yet, with a slight shift in perspective, is a virtue for the Metamorpho comic. At least I’m not the World’s Biggest Peacemaker Fan, dating back from the Charlton Comics days, penning angry letters to DC every week to protest how they’ve made his favorite hero a complete goofball.

Now, several times over the years I’ve held the original 80-page Boris Karloff Thriller #1 from 1962, and I don’t know why I never kept a copy for myself. Wotta cover that thing had.

This new reprint, on the shelves of your better stores or even mine this week is not a complete “facsimile edition” as is popular with all the kids these days. It’s a 36-page sampler of stories from the original two issue run of this title, cleanly printed on nice white paper. The stories are…well, typical of horror/mystery stories of the period, with nice art and not-too-scary plots. No credits for the stories, unfortunately…they weren’t in the original, but there was enough editorial space in this new reprint to have added them in. Art by Mike Sekowsky and George Evans in here!

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Comics writer Mike W. Barr has had some serious health issues and equally serious medical bills, and can use some help. Please contribute to his GoFundMe if you can.