Random Back Issues #82 - Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #9

From back before Geoff Johns was a big wheel at DC, with a remarkable lack of gratuitous, graphic violence. Still plenty of trying to explain continuity stuff, though. Is it coincidence that every time I try to type his name I spell it "Geoof"? Probably not.

Courtney Whitmore's been wearing the Star-Spangled Kid's old cosmic belt thing for a few months, while her step-dad Pat uses a powered armor he built. His son from a previous marriage, Mike, showed up unexpectedly, and this somehow turns into the story of how Pat could be an adult sidekick in the 1940s, and still be filling that role in the year 2000. It's not that weird, ask Dick Grayson.

In 1948, the Seven Soldiers of Victory get summoned by The Spider to defeat a new weapon of some old enemy of theirs. The old enemy is The Hand, the new weapon is the Nebula Man, 'a being whose touch has the power of twenty atomic bombs.' I can't remember if there even were 20 atomic bombs worldwide in 1948. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientist says the U.S. had 50 that year, but we're still a year away from the Soviets having one.

Anyway, the Spider got Pat plans for a "nebula rod" that he's sure that will be enough power, right before he collapses. He had a map of The Hand's hideout, so the Soldiers head out to save St. Louis. Guess The Hand was a Cubs' fan, the stupid bastard. They better not let anything happen to Stan Musial.

One problem: The Spider's not actually a hero, which Billy Gunn (a friend of Vigilante's) shows up to tell them. Shows up too late, and gets an arrow in the neck. The only Soldier still there is Crimson Avenger's sidekick Wing, who beats the Spider. But Spider removed a key piece of the nebula rod, so it's not going to work. I guess rest of the team's finding the Nebula Man would be bad news, then. 

Well crap. Crimson Avenger uses the rod right as Wing shows up, but all that happens is everyone gets teleported to Tibet. Wing replaces the piece and uses the weapon himself, at the cost of his life (and possibly Crimson Avenger's sanity.) After two panels in a lava lamp, everyone's separated. Pat lands in ancient Egypt, spending a week as a slave. Starman, Hourman and 'some guy named Batman' Pat never heard of show up to rescue him and get captured. Great rescue. Prince Khufu, who I think is Hawkman eventually, helps them escape, but Pat learns he and the others are now 40 years in their future while only a week older. The exception is Vigilante, who spent 20 years in the Old West before anyone showed up. Because Johnny Thunder's an incompetent dolt, according to Pat. Checks out.

Star-Spangled Kid went on to join the JSA, and Pat tried to move on with his life. Married Mike's mom in Vegas, but neglected her and she left. Moved to L.A. with Mike to be tech guy for Infinity Inc., but Star-Spangled Kid died and Pat lost custody. Mike ended up in military school, but got himself kicked out by taking in a dog, which he named Patton, so he's moving in with his dad again. Brought the dog, too.

The Spider came up in James Robinson's Starman, since the Shade killed the one shown here, as this issue references, and his descendant came looking for revenge later. Johns even references the fact this version of Vigilante went on to open a bunch of chain steakhouses, which I first learned from reading El Diablo. Don't know if that's where it was established. I know, Geoff Johns referencing obscure bits of continuity? Unheard of.

[10th longbox, 190th comics. Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #9, by Geoff Johns (writer), Scott Kolins (penciler), Dan Davis (inker), Tom McCraw (colorist), Bill Oakley (letterer)]

Sunday Splash Page #81

"More Rigged Than a Duke Home Game", in Beyond! #4, by Dwayne McDuffie (writer), Scott Kolins (artist), Paul Mounts (colorist), Dave Lanphear (letterer)

Beyond! came out in late 2006, probably during the stretch where Steve McNiven fell way the fuck behind on Civil War. I don't think that has anything to do with this, just a bit of temporal context. It has to have wrapped up before McDuffie took over for JMS as writer of Fantastic Four, since McDuffie pulls a plot element from this for one of his stories there. 

A disparate group of characters - Medusa, Spider-Man, the Wasp, Hank Pym, Firebird, the Hood, Gravity, the Mac Gargan Venom, and one of Kraven's kids - are lured to a mysterious spacecraft landing in Central Park. Which then carries them to a distant planet where a mysterious voice tells them they'll receive their heart's desires if they triumph over their enemies.

Sounds familiar, right? But things aren't what they seem, as they aren't the first, or even the second bunch to be brought here. Plus, one of them is an imposter, and no I don't mean the Hood impersonating a badass.

McDuffie's able to give every character a chance to show how they can be cool or even just human. He draws some good stuff out of the old history some of the characters have (Kraven and Spider-Man for one, Pym and Firebird for another). The reveal of the true mastermind seemed clever and in keeping with the character, at least based on my understanding of him. 

Kolins' art has a kind of roughness to it that I don't exactly love, but it's effective. He can handle the scenes of people talking, the parts where tensions are running high and people are starting to snap at each other, and he can handle the fight scenes. He knows when to pull back for a sense of scale or scope, and when to zoom in on someone under strain. I don't think I've ever seen the outfit he gave Medusa before or since, but it was pretty cool.

You can probably find Beyond! pretty cheaply in trade or single issues, and I'd say it's worth a look if you enjoy Dwayne McDuffie's work or stories about random collections of characters having to work together somehow.

What I Bought 12/28/2016

I was able to get one of the two books that came out this week. By next Wednesday I should have the other one, plus two books from earlier this month. That'll take care of that day and Friday. The second week of January is currently set aside for the Year in Review posts.

Avengers #2.1, by Mark Waid (writer), Barry Kitson (penciler), Mark Farmer (inker), Jordan Boyd (colorist), Ferran Delgado (letterer) - I don't think I realized the Stranger originally walked around in a trench coat and tie, like an ordinary joe. Albeit one with unfortunate choices in hair and facial hair.

The Kooky Quartet is pressing ahead, despite the scorn of the public, who can't stop talking about Thor. At least Stark got around to giving them a Quinjet. You'd think he would have noticed sooner the team has no one who can fly, which is going to make dealing with worldwide threats difficult. Threats like the Stranger, who is after a teenage girl named Cressida in Thailand he thinks is a mutant. The Avengers take their best shot, but are hopelessly outclassed until Cressida somehow boosts their power enough to put him on his heels. At which point he pouts and says, Fine you're not a mutant so I don't want you anyway, and leaves. And the Avengers have a fifth team member, just so long as no one asks any inconvenient questions about how she boosts their powers.

I think I enjoy watching Pietro and Wanda interact the most. The way he always acts as though he's going to protect, but he's the one who panics. Who wants to pack up and bail at the first sign things are about to get bad. The fact Wanda tells him she saw the same vision he did, and she's not running. So of course he takes it out on Hawkeye, who does make it easy by being, well, Hawkeye. And we've got a Captain America who still hasn't got a grasp on this team, so he's probably being stricter than he needs to. He talks about them acting as a family, but there's not much warmth there, just him barking orders. Telling them to hold their heads high, when he's asking Stark why they can't get any fancy-schmancy weapons on their nifty jet, which kind of undercuts any statements he makes about how capable they are.

I noticed Hawkeye called Cap "Abe Simpson" at one point. That creeping timeline kicking in.

The contrast in colors during the bus sequence between the Avengers and the other passengers is a nice touch. Everyone else is kind of washed out, but the Avengers are in these relatively bright colors (the contrast between the green of Pietro's outfit and the shirt of that guy behind Cap on the right, who looks like someone out of a '70s "goofy kids and their talking {insert object} solve mysteries" cartoon. Even if people scoff, there are still a little larger than life, bolder than people give them credit for. Beyond that, I'm still enjoying Barry Kitson's work more than I normally do. Maybe it's Mark Farmer's inks, but the art seems less stiff, more lively than I'm used to. The shift in Hawkeye's expressions from the panel where he derides Cap for relying on a shield, then grumbles as Cap points out Clint relies on a bow, and then goes right back to fooling in the panel after that was a solid sequence.

Blue Beetle #4, by Keith Giffen (story/script), Scott Kolins (artist/story), Romulo Fajarado Jr. (colorist), Josh Reed (letterer) - It occurs to me, should Jaime have that expression? Admittedly, a glowing blue scarab is a strange thing to see, but Jaime is reaching for it anyway, so he's clearly decided to put aside that shock.

The story hops back and forth. First with someone trying to call Ted Kord while driving, only to drive off a bridge because of Dr. Fate. Who then lets the guy drown. In the present, Jaime goes for his physical, and isn't told the scarab is mutating his skeleton. He relates how he met the scarab, floating in a river, and it was nearly Brenda that wound up with it. Then it flashes back to Ted getting ready to start costumed adventuring, and his neighbor is the guy from the beginning of the issue, who at this point had just found the scarab. And Brenda is trying to set Jaime up with Naomi, who may or may not be that teleporting member of the Posse. I'm guessing she is, but also suspicious that Giffen wants us to think that and is going to pull some, "haha, fooled you" thing down the line.

Which I guess would be more relevant if I thought I was going to be here down the line, but I think we're done. I would suggest that the scarab had exerted some influence on Brenda, and that's why she's constantly being an ass to Paco, but she was doing that in the flashback before they saw the scarab, so never mind. I gotta say, I'm disappointed in Jaime that he doesn't tell her to stop always calling Paco stupid. It's nonstop with her, and I don't think I'm supposed to want bad things to happen to Jaime's supporting cast, but here we are.

So the story and characterization ain't gettin' it done, how about the art. Minor nitpick first, Fajardo, miscolored Paco's hair in one panel. Not a big thing, but something I noticed so there, now you know about it too. I really like the shade of blue he uses during the whole sequence in the river. And the giant, glowing beetle Kolins draws looked very cool. The sequence on the next page, where the armor starts appearing on Jaime reminded me of Sailor Moon, what with all the twinkly lights all around. Although it's a bit of a miscommunication that at the end of the physical, the doc tells Jaime to get dressed, when he's been fully dressed the entire time. He didn't take off his shoes or sweater or anything. What's left to put on?

What I Bought 12/6/2016 - Part 1

Just some catch-up with some books that came out last month I hadn't found copies of yet. We'll cover two more on Friday, and I'll get to something from this week on Monday. Hopefully by then I'll have more than one of the comics I wanted that came out this week.

Atomic Robo: The Temple of Od #4, by Brian Clevinger (words), Scott Wegener (artist), Anthony Clark (colors), Jeff Powell (letterer) - I actually went with the variant cover for this one, not because there was anything wrong with Wegener's - could have made an illegal fishing joke pretty easily - but I thought Hollie Mengert's cover was kind of sweet.

Matsuda, with Dr. Lu back in his grasp, plans to have the doctor fix the damaged reactor, and proceed with his plans to help Japan conquer the world. But forces are aligning against him. Helen and Zheng were captured with Lu, and don't stay captured long. They're roaming his compound. The Russians have finally decided to get off their ass and do something about this secret fortress they've supposedly known about for months. And the Ghost Bandits have brought Robo to Matsuda, ostensibly as their prisoner, but really as a ruse to get themselves, Robo, and a burlap sackload of dynamite into the compound. Matusda doesn't seem too concerned, though.

Positives include the Ghost Bandits, who continue to be mostly delightful in their complete selfish amorality and secretiveness. Whether trying to gouge Matsuda over Robo, or gouge each other over how much of a bonus they get for doing dangerous stuff, they're pretty much full of greed and bravado at all times. Wegener draws some good expressions in there, and the scene where the Soviets notice their shells aren't exploding, and it turns out Matsuda's soldiers are catching them and throwing them back was cool. And the color work in the final panel, where the green of Matusda's Odic field is contrasted with the explosion of the dynamite hurled at him. It's a lovely swirl of red against green, and it just looks violent and angry. It's a nice cliffhanger.

But the whole thing feels padded. I enjoy the bandits, but it still feels like Clevinger and Wegener devote as much time to them as they do because there isn't enough else there to fill out the story. Which is odd. It seems like Helen and Robo crossing paths after a few years ought to be a little more relevant. Not in terms of some love triangle, but at least old friends meeting up in a place they wouldn't have expected. I don't know, it's just empty.

Blue Beetle #3, Keith Giffen (story and script), Scott Kolins (story and art), Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colors), Josh Reed (letters) - We've all been there, waking up in a spooky cave facing a bunch of angry green bug guys.

The scarab carries Jaime somewhere underground, where he is nearly killed by the mob on the cover. This understandably spooks Jaime enough he willing goes to Ted to talk about it. Ted isn't terribly helpful, other than revealing a little of what Dr. Fate told him. This doesn't serve to calm Jaime much. He tries talking to Paco, then to his dad, then to Brenda, none of which seems to help much. Paco doesn't seem too concerned, his dad does, but can't offer much advice, and Brenda alternates between impatient and somewhat supportive. Which is still a huge leap forward for the supporting cast in this book. And Giffen is going to add the aged-up versions of Sugar and Spike he was writing elsewhere recently to the cast, if that was something you were wanting more of. For me, all the bits of those stories I saw made Sugar seem like a massively unlikable person, so not real eager for her to join the cast.

It was nice to see Ted trying to stand up to Dr. Fate and argue on Jaime's behalf. Part of me wanted to see Ted slug Fate, but that wouldn't have been productive or bright. The problem here for me is the struggle between the plot and the characters. I'm curious about the mystery of what the scarab is in this reality, why Fate's worried about it, and what the Horde is (although something in the Horde's design screams "Parademon" to me, and please, no more Fourth World for awhile). On the other hand, I don't like most of the characters in the story, at least not based on what we're seeing here. They're coasting on residual affection from the pre-Flashpoint series. Giffen and Kolins are shooting for everyone to bicker, but have it come from a place of affection, and they aren't sticking the landing often. This issue was a bit better, but adding Sugar's acerbic attitude to the mix isn't going to help, unless it gives the rest of the cast someone to band together against. Which is what villains were for, I thought.

They're still using those black dots on white as the background on almost every page. Not sure why. In the panel where the Horde's master is getting in Jaime's head, it works, because one of the panel borders is gone, and the dots are like a presence encroaching on Jaime's reality. And so them being there all the time could be a deliberate symbol of this "master's" reach, or presence. But there are other panels where one of the borders are missing, and I can't tell what it would mean there. Ted repeating that he doesn't know enough to remove the scarab safely on page 11, or the panel where Jaime admits to his dad he's afraid he's losing control of the scarab. Although it could be significant that in the Kord panel, the area immediately around him is a white background, like he's banishing the presence by refusing to panic and endanger Jaime's life.

Next issue promises the origin of the Blue Beetles? Do they mean multiple scarabs, or multiple heroes calling themselves Blue Beetle? Am I a big enough sucker to buy the issue and find out? Yeah, probably.

What I Bought 11/1/2016 - Part 1

I've got six other comics besides this one, but I felt like discussing it solo. Or maybe I was just lazy and only wanted to discuss one book.

Blue Beetle #2, by Keith Giffen (story/script), Scott Kolins (story/artist), Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colorist), Josh Reed (letterer) - You'd think the scarab could keep Jaime's blood inside the armor.

Jaime and the Posse try to investigate what's going on, though Jaime mostly only succeeds in learning his mom has been helping the Posse, and making them think he's crazy.  Then he can't get rid of Blur, who keeps following and flirting and getting pissed for no reason, and finally attacks him for awhile before kissing him and departing. Then Jaime tries to yell at his mom, which doesn't work at all.

This was a little better than the previous issue, if only because everyone seems slightly less on edge. Honestly, Jaime and the Posse seem to get along better than anyone else in this book. I'd like to think that's a deliberate choice on Giffen and Kolins' part. That extended exposure to the scarab exerts a dark influence on people's psyches. It would go along with Dr. Fate's dire warnings. But I'm not convinced that is the case.

I'd like to see some sign Ted Kord is actually helping Jaime. Besides giving him money to investigate weird stuff Jaime would probably look into anyway. There hasn't been any indication he's doing anything to figure out what the scarab is, how it works, how to get it off Jaime. At least give us some hint that when he asks Jaime to try and do new stuff with the suit (like run "scans), he's analyzing what's happening as part of his work.

Also, I think Ted's assistant and Milagro's friend, Tina, might be artificial constructs Ted made. Something the assistant said about possibly getting Tina out of the house if Jaime was going to cause a scene makes me think that. I could be misreading it entirely; maybe she just meant it in terms of Jaime not blowing his secret identity in front of a stranger, but I don't know.

Kolins' art seems to be playing into this. I don't recall the armor having all those spike on the arms and legs previously, and that panel of the Beetle crawling into the hole was interesting. There's enough room to walk in the tunnel, or float down if the angle is too steep, so why did Kolins draw him in a classic Spider-Man pose? But it does make him look a little more creepy, a little less human. Ditto some of those antennae or whatever that come off his shoulders. There's just a certain vibe that's less Iron Man, more something out of one of those '60s sci-fi/horror things Ditko would have drawn.

You could throw in the fact Jaime doesn't seem to talk to the scarab, or even have that much control over it. It's a thing, alien and silent, that may have motivations Jaime doesn't know and couldn't grasp if he did. And the people who are supposed to be helping all seem to have their own hidden motives. It's different, but there's potential. It's not always a bad thing to go against audience expectations, but I wonder if it's the right move here.

What I Bought 10/12/2016 - Part 2

Nothing like having a question about some movie we're watching and not wanting to ask because I know my dad will launch into some overly long, ten-minute dissertation on the thing.

Blue Beetle #1, Keith Giffen (story and script), Scott Kolins (story and artist), Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colorist), Josh Reed (letterer) - Seems like more of a Spider-Man pose there than one for a character that can fly.

Curious issue. Jaime relates a dream he had to Brenda of Dr. Fate fighting a giant beetle. Brenda is extremely acerbic and not helpful. Then Ted ropes Jaime into investigating a tip from a super-powered street gang, concerning a bunch of missing kids. One of whom Jaime runs into, and the kid now has shadow-melting powers. Jaime fights him off, but then the aforementioned super-powered street gang shows up.

For some reason, Giffen and Kolins are writing this so no one gives Jaime any sort of straight answer. Brenda is unhelpful, Ted's assistant and Ted both ignore any questions he ask, not to mention any objections he has. Overall, it makes Jaime look like a dope that's letting everyone herd him around. Like, refuse to keep going along with Ted until he produces some concrete answers.

The high point was probably Ted making a brief allusion to knowing Nightshade (as an example of someone with shadow powers) from his own time as a superhero. I had thought this Ted was a superhero wannabe, but it sounds like he was the Blue Beetle at some point. Which improves the chances of Booster showing up sometime soon, which ought to be good.

I like the designs for the Posse, especially the vibrating reddish guy, and the purple, Candlejack looking guy with the glowing weapon thing. We'll see if it translates once they get into action, but they make for interesting visuals, at least. I don't entirely like how he draws Blue Beetle, his lines make the suit look odd somehow, like the elements don't fit. I do like how the suit morphs, expands, gets more sharp as the situation grows more desperate. Plays into that dream, with a giant beetle monster fighting Dr. Fate.

The potential is there for me to enjoy this book, but toning down the antagonism between the characters that are supposed to be friends would be a help.

Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love #1, by Sarah Vaughn (writer), Lan Medina (illustrator), Jose Villarubia (color artist), Janice Chiang (letterer) - That's not really good attire to be roaming through a massive yard at night with a candelabra.

Glencourt Manor is the "dark mansion" in question. It has the ghost of a young woman named Adelia Ruskin in it, as well as something else, an oozing dark shadow. Berenice is living there with Nathan, who is trying to get some novel written. But Nathan's health isn't great, and Berenice sees ghosts, so this isn't the best place for either of them. And into all this flied Boston Brand, only to find himself on unfamliar ground. Berenice can see him, not that she wants to. The house has trapped him, where he can't escape, and sometimes can't pass through objects. There's also Berenice's friend, Sam, who Boston can't possess for some reason. And by the end of the issue, Boston and Adelia vanish together, leaving a confused Berenice alone.

So there are a lot of mysteries in here, which is fine with me. Gives me something to mull over, whether they're interconnected or not, coming up with strange theories. I don't know if the book is meant as a Gothic horror story, or Gothic romance, or both. Nathan seems like the soulful, deeply troubled pretty boy, and Berenice the kind, but shy and uncertain heroine. Except Berenice is shy at least in part because she tries to shut out the spirits she can see around her. Not sure how Sam or Boston fit in, but we're up against the limits of what I understand of the genre.

Most of the colors Villarubia uses are fairly muted, kind of mundane. Which makes the parts where he steps outside that all the more effective. The bright yellow when Boston meets resistance to his passing through something. The pitch black shadow. I think Adelia is drawn in by Lan Medina, then not colored in, similar to what Declan Shalvey did in Moon Knight. Makes her seem disconnected from the whole thing in a way none of the other characters are. Which is interesting, since you'd think she'd be distinctly connected to the place she's haunting.

Medina does a solid job with the figure work. There are a few places characters seem a little stiff, but overall, the expressions are good, and when Medina gets a chance to draw more of the house, and use it to create a sense of looming threat, he does it well. The panel of her helping Nathan down the hall of doors, with the hall curving out of sight at the end, that one worked really well. Not sure why, some sense of the hall extending on forever, and endless string of identical doors that Berenice could see if she only went around the bend a little further.

And I like how for the first half of the book, written from Berenice's perspective, we see Boston flying around the manor, testing the place, and she has no idea what's going on. We understand why Boston Brand would show up, but she doesn't know him, and the issue shows him a lot with Berenice watching him from a distance. Even though he might be close to us, it helps put the reader in the mindset of seeing it how she is. Bizarre, something she can't understand, and doesn't want to get close enough to that she could.

What I Bought 8/28/2016 - Part 1

While I was visiting my dad, I took the opportunity to grab some of the comics that had come out over the previous two weeks. But I already had all of last week's posts ready to go, so we're just getting to them now. Not as though I've been on the cutting edge of reviews for a long time now.

Black Widow #6, by Mark Waid (storyteller), Chris Samnee (storyteller/artist), Matthew Wilson (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Samnee drew an older version of the armor, but not the really early, clunky grey or gold versions. Curious.

Dr. Yinsen is the man who saved Tony Stark's life when they were held prisoner by a warlord. Natasha is the one who abducted Yinsen for that warlord. Stark is somewhat peeved, but gets duped by Natasha, who uses his equipment to find where the Weeping Lion is. Then she finds out the big guy is just the brother of the true Weeping Lion, a telepathic teen, right before she repulsor rays the kid through a window and tells him he works for her now.

I've not been a big fan of Tony Stark since oh, the last Civil War Marvel did. I think that's well established in the archives. Still, I feel conflicted about how this played out. Natasha's smile as she busted out the Iron Man gauntlet on her would-be tormentor was a nice moment, the smile Samnee gave her a nice touch, but could she have tried just asking for the stuff? Maybe Stark was too heated for that, but he isn't wrong that she is at least partially responsible for Yinsen's death (though also Stark's still being alive, since Yinsen is responsible for that). It wasn't something done of her own volition, but "I was only following orders," hasn't been an acceptable excuse for awhile now. And her explanation to Stark consists of "I was a different person then."

I'm probably just looking for a "sorry", but I think the character, and certainly the people who trained her would contend sorry doesn't matter. Doesn't fix anything (though what would she do?). But it's at least a public acknowledgment that you fucked up, you know? It was what drove me nuts about Batman for years, all his heavy-handed bull that kept blowing up in other people's faces, and never the actual admission he messed up.

Maybe if Tony hadn't come in so obviously cocky, talking about "amateur hour" they would have been able to chat.

It's another lovely issue. The flashback being colored in that pale red is a nice, vivid distinguisher, and I think Wilson darkened it just a bit on the final page, as Yinsen's being handed over. That moment of no return, when Natasha stands with her hands in her pockets and sends a man to his death without a word. And I like the last word balloon on that page being partially cut off by the panel border, I guess as Yinsen is dragged out of range of his voice, or physically silenced. Also, the two panels of Natasha stepping out of, and then back into her shoes in the cemetery, with the noticeable difference in the condition of her stockings. Very effective.

Blue Beetle Rebirth #1, by Keith Giffen (story and script), Scott Kolins (story and art), Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colors), Josh Reed (letters) - That's not the cover I wound up with, but I like it better.

Jaime is living at home, with his parents and his sister. His friends are once again, Brenda and Paco, though I don't recall them being quite this argumentative, but I came into Jaime's first series late and sporadically, anyway. Jaime's working with Ted Kord, who alerts him to a couple of somethings tearing up a coffee shop. Jaime struggles to deal with them, while Ted is being not terribly helpful in his ear, but survives the encounter with no civilian casualties. Ted's supposed to be helping Jaime get the scarab off of him, but doesn't seem to be making much progress, and along comes Dr. Fate to claim the scarab is magic, not alien science. Well, you know, sufficiently advanced technology would be indistinguishable from science, if practically every Arthur C. Clarke story I read is correct.

Looking at this as an introduction (or re-introduction of the character), I think it's very effective. Giffen and Kolins got a lot of the supporting cast in there, from Jaime's parents, to his friends, to Ted and Fate, and Brenda's aunt, who is probably still a crime boss, and maybe she's a sorcerer. Her eyes were red in one panel. Oh, I hope she doesn't turn out to be Darkseid. That would be the dirt worst. Anyway, I think they managed to give at least some idea of the various relationships between the characters, even if just a sketch outline, but that's not too bad for the ground covered.

Kolins' art is pretty much how I remember it from the last time I saw it, whenever that was. Maybe a little less busy with faces than before, which is fine. I actually thought Amparo (Brenda's aunt) looked drawn in a different style from everyone else, even smoother and more simplified, which could be something significant. Could just be my imagination. A lot of panels per page early in the issue, a some decent variety in layouts, which is a good call for extended sequences of talking. Plus, it makes the point when you turn the page and get the full page splash of Jaime in the armor more effective. I also noticed that in the panel where the armor starts to form some sort of gun, before Jaime alters its aim, the gun partially goes outside the panel borders, to that area that's full of black dots on a white background on practically every page. Again, could be something, given what Dr. Fate's selling, could be nothing.

Solid start, regardless. I'm on board for awhile.

31 Days of Scans - Day 24

Today is for Least Favorite Costume. Now, I want to emphasize that it's "least favorite", not "worst". There are countless costumes worse than the one I'm going to pick on here. The various female characters on the X-Men alone could fill a month of Sundays, depending on your sartorial preferences. Wonder Man had that god awful Christmas colored outfit for a stretch in West Coast Avengers (which would have bothered me more if Simon hadn't wound up in the role of "egotistical asshole" on the team, an impressive feat for a roster that had Tony Stark and Clint Barton). Then there were all the terrible "armored" outfits of the '90s: Captain America's, Daredevil's, that suit Ted Kord built for Booster, Azrael's Bat-suit I suppose (though there are certain artist who made that not look too bad to me).

But like I said, it's least favorite, and so I'm picking this, plainclothes, basic, whatever you want to call it look for Hawkeye. There's nothing distinctly awful about it. It's too simple for that. It's a t-shirt with a purple chevron on it and some sunglasses.

Which is the problem: It's dull. It would be a good outfit for someone trying to maintain a lower profile, but this is Clint Barton we're talking about. Low profile is not in his vocabulary. He's loud, he's boisterous, he's bragging and butting heads with people, demanding you notice him*. He was trained and spent a fair amount of his developmental years in a carnival, where the whole point is to draw attention, get eyeballs on you, butts in the seats.

Also, the old costumes are more practical, and sure, practicality is rarely my major concern with costumes, but I figure it's worth addressing. Clint is essentially a normal human. He doesn't have any enhanced resilience to injury, no healing factor or bulletproof skin. The older outfits offer protection from head injuries, though I suppose the sunglasses could be equipped to project a small repulsor field around his cranium. Clint's brash, but he isn't an idiot. A costume that has some sort of protection makes sense.

I will say I prefer the current outfit to the one from roughly Avengers #100, with the headband and the mini-skirt. That one's both ugly and impractical.

Clint demonstrates what I assume is proper bowman technique on a variant cover for Hawkeye #2 of the 2012 series, drawn and colored David Aja. The other two covers are from Clint's 2003 series. The first was penciled by Carlos Pacheco, inked by Jesus Merino, and colored by Frank D'Armata. The other was, well I'd swear that's Scott Kolins work, but the Grand Comics Database says Joe Bennett (who did do the interiors). If the GCD is right, Sandu Florea inked it, and Kickstart colored it. If it was Kolins, he inked it himself most likely.

* It might almost have made sense for that stint leading the Secret Avengers, except for the part where Venom and the Beast were both on the team, not to mention Captain Britain. Guy in a bright black-and-white living costume, big, blue furry guy, and a flying guy wearing a modified Union Jack does not exactly scream subtle. Oh yeah, and Valkyrie and her big, white flying horse.