A Retrospective on "Action Comics" and "Superman" in the new Millennium - Part 1

The twenty first century has been a dud for the Man of Steel in the four color pages of comics. Especially in terms of his household, Action Comics and Superman monthlies.You had a Millar/Peyer/Morrison/Waid pitch for a valiant new direction for Superman aborted at the last minutes and to be replaced by the efforts of Loeb, Kelly, and others all leading up to what is generally considered to be one of DC's most insipid crossovers, "Our Worlds at War".

The next major teams respectively were Chuck Austen and Ivan Reis and Brian Azzarello and Jim Lee. Austen's run on Action, to be terse about it, has already gone down as one of the worst Superman runs of all time, and Azzarello's stint on Superman, while holding great promise, slowly degraded into Science Fiction, Image schlock. 

Thereupon, the teams of Gail Simone and Byrne on Action Comics and Superman by Kurt Busiek and Geoff Johns. What made Simone's work on Action Comics infamous was the execrable artwork from the once great John Byrne, now reverted to a shell of his former self. Kurt Busiek and Geoff Johns's run on Superman was one of the few periods for the character's central titles this millennium that was not met with scorn or ambivalence but with acclaim.(Even though I am in the minority when I say I regard Johns's Superman. It seems more of a paint by numbers, greatest hits depiction of the character more than anything else).

 Afterward James Robinson and Greg Rucka seized the reins to the franchise. While there were some quite engrossing elements to that period,(Robinson from my perspective attempted to bring back the luster that he lost after Starman by retooling a commendable amount of has-been characters) it felt stale. We have two authors not fit to the task of writing Superman. Robinson was a one hit wonder past his prime, and while Rucka can be a force to reckoned with on a crime-centric title such as Batman or Batwoman, his attempt at run of the mill superheroism can fall flat on it's face. Both runs suffered the same fate as Loeb and Kelly's Superman less than a decade prior, in which they had built up to yet another execrable event, "New Krypton". 

Promptly came probably the worst run out of the lot, J. Michael Straczynski's "Grounded" saga in the pages of Superman. It's Straczynski at his very worst. Pompous and holier than thou, but devoid of substance. Ever the charlatan, Straczynski spins a yarn that has been told dozens, if not a hundred times, and presenting it as novel: Superman being exposed as out of touch with humanity and forces himself to come to terms with solving everyday social ills. I hate this trope, not only because it has been done ad nauseam which it has, but because every almost every single time this narrative is handled dismally and inevitably leads to character assassination. By insinuating that Superman is negligent of real world issues, the notion of him being one of the foremost superheroes is shattered. To add more fuel to the fire, Straczynski abandoned his writing duties for the Superman title six months in advance in order to move on to more lucrative projects. With the reboot forthcoming, the Superman of the Post CoIE canon that has been prevalent for over two decades is left abruptly on a dour note.

Now onward with the reboot, or the New Fifty Two as it proclaimed itself to be. This was not your father's Superman: He was brash, awkward, and moody. The aforementioned rift in character for the Man of Tomorrow would inevitably cause a sizable portion of fans to be infuriated, but if the right writers were given the keys to Superman's kingdom, this could be a sublime move. However, even with such preeminent talent as Grant Morrison and George Perez could not make this status quo succeed due to factors such as editorial interference (in Perez's case) and to put it bluntly, poor writing (in Morrison's case I hate to admit). While some franchises such as Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern were regarded as highlights of the New Fifty Two, with either their continuing to abide by the old continuity in large, or due to their bold, provocative changes, Superman and Action Comics were not these titles. They were bland, haphazard, remiss, and forgettable. Not awful nor good enough to be worth remembering. 

Then came along Rebirth. Which I cover next post, with my review of the first five issues of Action Comics Rebirth. This will be followed by a review of Tomasi's tenure on Superman as a whole. Promptly, reviews of  Bendis's Action Comics and Superman will be soon to follow. 

Sharaz De: Tales from the Arabian Nights - Review

Sharaz De is yet another example of the hordes of comic books which utilizes the narrative only as a means to display the exemplary art. 

And let me tell you, Sergio Toppi's art redefines exemplary. Toppi's figures boast an almost cinematic quality to them, as their fluidity engenders an illusion that they are roaming around Toppi's phantasmagorical environments, even in the static world of comics. With his contorted yet crisp Gustav Klimt-esque textures rampant in his work, it is astounding how Toppi had been churning out comics with this  distorted charm 10, 20, to 30 years before more renowned American and British pencilers such as Bill Sienkiewicz, Dave McKean, Duncan Fegredo, and J.H. Williams III reached acclaim for their derivative aesthetic. What is arguably even more commendable is that Sergio Toppi always delivers his story visually in a perspicuous and coherent manner, in spite of  abandonment of the dime a dozen comic book grid, in favor of one page spread collages of faces, figures, and architecture. Imagine a sexier, more lurid Will Eisner, or a less minimalist variation of Mignola's covers. Brilliant as he is influential, Toppi really should be held in the same regards as a Jack Kirby or a Moebius.

However, no matter how technically brilliant, creative and masterful the art of a comic can be, it must be understood that comics is a collaboration between the plot and the visuals; These elements must be exploited hand in hand in order to properly utilize the medium's potential. A comic with the greatest art can suffer due to sub-par storytelling. This occurs ofttimes in adaptations of older literature such as this, with the penciler or painter takes advantage of the flatness of the source material as a excuse for their book to mainly if not solely rely on it's illustrations. Even with art as alluring as in Sharaz De, the art alone isn't incentive enough to keep the reader engaged.

 The superfluous framing sequence and the rudimentary morality plays that spin out of it do a gross injustice to the artwork, but this is the rare time in which I cannot help but feel that the aesthetic element of this work is so otherworldly in it's greatness that any other criticism of it's other aspects is moot.

7/10 

Deathstroke Volume 1 Review

(Review of issues 1-5 of Deathstroke)

The comic industry is facing such a dire stage of declines of current that mediocrity is eulogized as genius. Tom King wrote two muddled albeit mildly promising comic books (that being Vision and Omega Men) at the very beginning of his career and almost immediately he was hailed as the next Alan Moore. I see this sentiment time and time again in the comic book community. Admirable, albeit milquetoast runs such as Tomasi's Siperman and Ewing's Hulk, takes on the characters that would be considered merely "good" 10 to 20 years ago are elevated to modern classics in today's struggling environment.

Christopher Priest's Deathstroke exemplifies this in spades. The scant few who are readers of the monthly ongoing oft refer to it as if it were the crown jewel of DC's Rebirth initiative, but alas every facet of the opening arc of Priest's run on Slade Wilson is smothered in half assed shodiness.

Priest makes pitiful attempts at making his Deathstroke have a flair of style with the chapter headings and the frequent flashbacks. However the book winds up  having the same aesthetic that has been DC's house style for their titles of lesser importance. 

While those unattuned to Slade Wilson may be intrigued by the dysfunctional social dynamic between himself and his family, in reality this is not uncharted territory for Wilson if you have even the slightest knowledge of his previous ongoings. Priest is evidently retreading old ground. It's as if the only character development Batman ever had was that his parents were shot by a mugger in a dark alley. The author is only utilizing the bare bones of Deathstroke and nothing more. 

The sole, slightly redeeming element of this ongoing is that once or twice there are some amusing tidbits of dialogue such as the scene I am soon to present to you of Slade lecturing his daughter...

As well as a scene of the current Robin of the DC Universe Damian Wayne taunting Deathstroke while at his mercy. 

Nevertheless, Christopher Priest's opening arc of Deathstroke is akin to a zombie: 

No heart

No soul

No brains

3/10

Comics and Manga - Venus and Mars

Throughout my life I have read a thousand, if not thousands of western variations of the comic book medium. Alas, I am ashamed to say that I have only truly exposed myself to comics' Asian derivative, manga a meager two  ago. The rational portions of myself have always reckoned it to be common sense to consider manga and comics kissing cousins. In sharp contrast, the irrational child in me approached manga as some sort of incomprehensible, alien object.

While both are generally considered the same artform, and taken into account as facets of sequential art, manga and comics both are rather divorced into their little niches, and subcultures. It is more probable to stumble upon discussion of manga in relation to the animation of Anime, than to be paired up with American and European comics. Likewise, when these  Anglo-centric comics are the subject of attention, they are more closely rooted to other exemplars of American mainstream popular culture such as video games, TV shows etcetera, than being talked about hand in hand with manga. 

In spite of the axiomatic similarities between western and asian comics, (for instance, proverbially both work under the confines of the panel to panel structure) this is perfectly rational.  

Manga is a cultural powerhouse of Japan. There are subways in Japan  in which virtually every single passenger is indulging in some sort of derivative of a manga. Regardless of it's shrinking numbers, the sales figures of one of the preeminent manga magazines Shonen Jump still sells in the millions after more than fifty years after it's conception. Meanwhile, the American direct market's typically most popular monthly comic publication, "Batman" starring one of the most recognizable characters this side of Jesus Christ and Mickey Mouse, sells less than a tenth of a million. One thing is clearly more popular than the other.

Famously there are aesthetic and storytelling disparities between Western and Asian comics that in all likelihood lead fans of both to have preferences and regard these two continental takes on sequential art as two seperate entities. Look at your typical American monthly comic book: it is vertically rectangular, clad in simplistic, primary and secondary color, and was, at least before the dawn of the 21st century, relatively self contained. A striking many are within the confines of the superhero genre. European comics differ in format, as they oft have twice the page count of their American counterparts,  but they are similar in approach to storytelling. 

Manga, on the other hand, is two thirds the size of a standard American comic issue, printed in black white, and employs heavy use of screentones rather than illustrated lines. 

Testing

Salutations. This is the introductory post for my new comic review blog "Comic Book Heartbreak". It's a name I'm displeased with, but I've been attempting to  concoct a name for the aforementioned blog I have been planning for so long that I forced myself to pick a name by yesterday so this project could commence. If you are wondering, the title is a bastardized paraphrase of the probably apocryphal Jack Kirby quote, "Kid, comics will break your heart"