Dojo Classics - The History Report!

According to Marv Wolfman the two-part History of the DC Universe was originally slated to be the final two issues of the twelve-part Crisis on Infinite Earths, but was shuttled out when the story of the Crisis grew to absorb all twelve installments. 

What these two beautiful books do is lay out in sumptuous detail the DC Universe (emphasis on the "Uni") that had evolved from the machinations of the Monitors in the epic which whittled down the sprawling reality.

We get a somewhat sober reflection from the point of view of Harbinger of this new reality from the very beginnings of the universe right up through the creation of the Earth and beyond. We follow the development of human history from the Neanderthal beginnings of Vandal Savage and the Cro-Magnon Anthro. We see the early gods of the Greco-Roman canon effect the planet and we see the rise of Camelot with its heroes such as the Shining Knight and the Demon.

The Old West comes into focus as does the American revolution right up to the advent of World War II when heroes assembled in large numbers to battle the Axis. With the assembly of the Justice Society of America and the All-Star Squadron the curtain drops on this first part of the history.

The story continues in the then modern day of 1986 as the rocket containing Kal-el of Krypton arrives on Earth, Bruce Wayne loses his parents in Crime Alley, and Diana of the Amazons comes to be. The new DCU is ripe with glorious heroes who assemble as a Justice League with members such as Aquaman, Flash (Wally West), Green Lantern, Atom, and more. Other teams such as the Suicide Squad, the Doom Patrol, and the Teen Titans arise to defend the planet from a host of threats. Heroes such as Manhunter, Black Lightning, and even a new if not necessarily improved Captain Marvel show up to save the sundry days. We even get glimpses of the future with Tommy Tomorrow and the Legion of Super-Heroes.

All in all these two tomes showcase the then nascent landscape the Crisis had yielded, a landscape ripe with possibilities and rich with potential. Most agree that potential was somewhat squandered as the focus and energy to complete the Crisis itself seem to deplete that required to follow it up, but it did make DC relevant again to a readership which more and more in those days was comprised of dedicated fans and less and less casual readers. Only fanboys would buy a two-part history lesson like this, but then that was exactly the market which the Crisis had to no small extent succeeded in bringing to fruition.

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Dojo Classics - Crisis On Infinite Earths!

Doubtless one of the most significant publications in comic book history the epic Crisis on Infinite Earths was a true game changer for the industry. Twelve glorious issues produced with ardor and gusto by Marv Wolfman and the spectacular George Perez transformed not only the landscape of the DC Universe but also the landscape of how comic books were conceived and manufactured.

World War II Heroes Before The Crisis

I recently read the  "Crisis" again. I hadn't done so in decades, perhaps not since the beginning though I have lingered over individual pages and images since, but never have I read it over from beginning to end since first buying and enjoying it so many moons ago. It served as a capstone to my DC buying interests at the time and soon after the series I traded away my originals, since having replaced them with a handsome trade some years ago.

World War II Heroes After The Crisis

I won't bore you with a summary of this story, but suffice it to say that the assembled heroes of all the worlds of the former DC multiverse battle a godlike being who seeks to destroy everything and create an anti-matter counterpart so he can have absolute control over everything. Nearly all the worlds are obliterated and the heroes on them either disappear into the ether of memory or become part of a brand new world which contains fragments of all that had preceded it.

I will not bother with spoilers, but if you haven't yet read Crisis you really need to, and don't read further because I will assume everyone has a thorough knowledge of the events now thirty or more years gone. I am just going to comment on events which stood out for me in individual issues. 

I loved Earth-3 and the villainous Crime Syndicate was given a pretty heady send off. Loved seeing Blue Beetle in a new comic book and drawn exceedingly well by George Perez.

Loved seeing the original Superman on the team sent by the Monitor into the past. His presence gave the whole affair a real gravity.

The battles are furious and it's hard to keep track, but the western heroes were fun to see assembled and the deaths of The Losers was a harbinger (pun intended) of things to come.

It all ends, and we for the first really get a sense of the scale of this epic. The new Doctor Light never really gelled for me, but I admit her acerbic tone does add some nice spice to this story, her heroism not certain by any means.

George Perez at his mightiest with a spaceship full of heroes. I cannot think of a single other artist who could've done this series so well. (Many have tried, none have succeeded.)

One of the weaknesses of the series is that the Anti-Monitor is a rather bland uber-villain. He wants the end of everything, but that seems such a callow desire it is difficult for me as a reader to find resonance with it. Of course compared to later examples of his ilk (Onslaught comes to mind) he was a giant among pygmies.

The passing of Supergirl is seen as a watershed moment for the series and comics as a major character dies, really for the first time with a sense of finality. It stung.

But not as much as the death of the Flash which was so much more tragic since one of my favorite heroes died mostly alone and unnoticed. He gets his just recognition later of course, but the decision to have him pass so far away from his peers was staggering. Flash was a my favorite DC hero, so his demise was an apt time for me to leave the fold.

The villains are plentiful and this issue shows they are true to form. Often in these big events the prosaic motivations of the baddies is difficult to reconcile with the larger threats to reality. The Joker works well throughout, that I'll grant you.

The climatic battle does seem a bit underwhelming since so much has been spent in its set up, but that's almost inevitable. Given the power of the Spectre in these kinds of things, it's hard sometimes to get too worked up about the threats. He's so totally over the top in terms of what he can do.

Death comes so quickly and often in the final issues that much of the effect is lost. I've always assumed that was intentional, the fog of war and all that.

The Crisis left a world behind which to my mind was less rich than the one that preceded it, save of course of the addition of the Charlton heroes of Earth-4, as briefly as it existed. But otherwise the DCU for all its energy was a lesser place, though as we all know now from this vantage point that didn't last.

Crisis on Infinite Earths is a dandy story, there's no disputing that. Folks dislike the results, I dislike some of the results. But like any great yarn it moved you to care about what happened and in the DCU once upon a time that was a rare thing indeed. 

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Classic Crisis #21 - Magical Mystery Tour Of Doom!

1970 brought new things and continued the traditions of the last decade. The annual crossover event between the League and the Society saw another two-part installment. But missing was longtime DC inker Sid Greene, his replacement was reliable Joe Giella who gave Dick Dillin's pencils a smooth gloss. Denny O'Neil offers up his second and final crossover tale.

"Peril of the Paired Planets" by O'Neil, Dillin and Giella, under a cover by Neal Adams, begins dramatically on Earth-1 when Superman plummets from the sky unconscious. The JLofA investigates and they suspect magic when Batman too is struck down. The remaining League members Hawkman, Atom, and Flash call in Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and Black Canary from leave. The story shifts to Earth-2 where in space Red Tornado encounters an alien spacecraft. On board are some blue aliens led by a mysterious blue figure called "Creator Squared" (actually the text uses the superscript number). Wishing to mine the energy of the twin Earths when they are pushed into one another across the dimensions and explode, Creator Squared puts a device in Tornado's noggin and situates him in the Borderland between Earths as a beacon of sorts to increase the inevitable pull. He then sends five of his henchman to capture the JSofA members with high-tech nets. Superman is the first captured and we learn that it is this capture which brought down the Superman of Earth-1 in the beginning of the story because of the affinity between the two heroes and the closing situation of the Earths. Next Dr. Mid-Nite is captured and his counterpart on Earth-1 is Batman. Flash is next and he escapes the aliens for a while, but eventually he is captured and so is Barry Allen. As the Earths get closer and closer many people across both globes detect ghostly images of what seem to be themselves. The JSofA assemble to face the threat, and on Earth-1 Green Lantern attempts to get to Earth-2 but finds the way blocked. The Atom's diagnosis suggests some link between the Earths is drawing them together, and the team not knowing about Red Tornado suspect it just might be Black Canary who migrated from Earth-2. She declares to save both Earths she must die.

 

Under a very strong Dick Dillin and Murphy Anderson cover, the O'Neil, Dillin, and Giella team offer up part two of the saga titled "Where Valor Fails...Will Magic Triumph?". The story opens with the assembled Justice Society facing the threat when more of the super nets from the aliens appear and attack the members. Starman is captured, as is Wonder Woman, and Hourman is defeated also. On Earth-1 Green Arrow consoles Black Canary who imagines she must die to save the planets while Green Lantern tries again to get access to Earth-2 and finds a hole. He discovers Red Tornado but is then cut-off from a return. Hawkman is on Earth-1 helping people who are threatened by ghostly dopplegangers of themselves when he too is struck down at the same time as his counterpart on Earth-2 is captured by a net. The Society continue to fight and Green Lantern of Earth-2 is caught when the net becomes wood, his weakness. This also freezes the Lantern in the Borderland. As time ticks away, Canary has just twenty minutes she thinks before she must commit suicide. Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt and Dr.Fate gather up the Spectre from his graveyard lair and head to the Borderland where Spectre uses his body to form a barrier between the Earths. Thunderbolt and Fate attack Creator Squared's spaceship directly ultimately destroying it and ending the threat and freeing Red Tornado from his influence. But Spectre is caught in the wake of the twin Earths speeding away from each other and is seemingly "killed". The scene shifts to Earth-1 where Green Lantern returns and tells the League what has been happening since he was filled in magically by Dr.Fate. They all feel remorse for the sacrifice of Spectre but suspect he will return somehow. 

 This crossover feels somehow more muddled than have others in the series. O'Neil seems more adept at communicating emotion than cold plot details and consequently, I think the story has some decent pathos, but lacks the forward impetus that other entries have had. I will say that his attempt to move back and forth from the Earths is a brave device but doesn't always succeed as it might. Also the sacrifice of the Spectre (the second Earth-2 "death" in as many crossovers) is underwhelming simply because of his very nature. The threat of Creator Squared never really seems potent enough to cause the problems he does. That said, this is a brisk and reasonably entertaining story with a lot of members from both teams getting some exposure. One oddity is the correlation between Dr.Mid-Nite and Batman. This correspondence has been suggested before in other crossovers, but since we know for a fact that Batman of Earth-2 is around, it seems very peculiar that this relationship between these disparate heroes would exist. This points up a real oddity though in these crossovers, and that is since DC has been all too ready to reveal both a Superman and Wonder Woman on Earth-2 why exactly does it seem that Batman will not get that nod. In Wonder Woman's case, it's a clever way to get the classic Wonder Woman some action while the Emma Peel phase works itself out over in her own title. But the two Supermen seem straightforwardly confusing, if its visual clarity between the heroes that DC desires. 

Anyway, this crossover I'd have to label as the weakest installment yet in the annual event, but that doesn't mean it's not still great fun to read. 

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Manhunter Deluxe!

Manhunter by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson is among the most treasured comic yarns in my long experience in the from. As Goodwin describes in his introduction to the 1979 reprint the freedom to create something fresh and unusually lively was a result of two factors. One was that the series appeared in Detective Comics, which at the time was suffering a sales slump and so change was seen as good. And the other was that Manhunter was the back-up piece and so seen instantly as less important overall. So things could change, and in the Bronze Age changes in the status quo of comics was much ballyhooed but rarely done with total commitment. Here was a hero who could do things other Comics Code approved heroes might not be able to get away with, hidden as he was in the shadows of a dangerous world but also in the back of a familiar comic.

I have bought the Manhunter in nearly all its forms. I picked up several of the chapters in real time as they first appeared and have filled in the gaps since. I've picked up the 1984 DC reprint, the 1999 reprint titled Manhunter: The Special Edition which hard on the sad news of Archie Goodwin's untimely death offered a new chapter, wordless but no less important to the core saga. I more recently picked up the story in a collection of Archie Goodwin's best DC stories and I even popped for the magnificent "Artist's Edition" which showcases Simonson's tasty pages in their full black and white glory. I don't have the first reprint from an outfit called "Excalibur Enterprises" called Manhunter: The Complete Saga, but beyond that I think I have them all and just included the new "Deluxe Edition" from DC. I love this little saga, I loved it then and I love it still.

The story taps so many of the pop-culture vibes of the era, with a Golden Age hero named Paul Kirk who has grown disillusioned and then dies in a tragic accident. He is revived by a cabal of evil men who seek to use him and his genetic make-up to help them conquer the world. He turns against these men and turns his back on power and immortality to recapture that which they seem to have stolen from him, his fundamental sense of self and his basic human need to shape his own destiny as much as he can. 

The notion to connect Manhunter directly to the vintage Golden Age hero of that named made most famous by the Simon and Kirby team was brilliant. Ironically though the Goodwin-Simonson Manhunter has been reprinted numerous times, the Simon and Kirby Manhunter tales have never been collected though they'd fit neatly into a single slim tome. It's an oversight for certain. 

I first noticed something different about the writing of Archie Goodwin in his early Iron Man issues back in the late 60's when fresh from Warren he dabbled a bit for Stan "The Man". There was a deceptive simplicity to his writing that though it felt like it had not personal style was in fact rich with it  for that very reason. When he took the editor's seat at Detective Comics I took notice and could feel that a more adult approach was evident in both the lead feature and the back up. 

And then there's Walt Simonson who made his bones on Manhunter, a quick little series that lasted only a brief time but brought many awards and critical recognition to its makers. Simonson did not waste the heft the series gave him and went on to become a significant force in comics of the era. Reading Manhunter in various formats is like listening to a great piece of music in different performances, the greatness is always evident regardless. 

If they sell Manhunter again, I likely will buy it all over -- the music is so very very good. 

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DC In The Dojo!

My personal relationship with DC Universe has always been a little complicated. Like many fans of my generation DC was the behemoth on the block that was fronted by the likes of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. And like most fans of my era DC comics were always around somewhere it seemed. I got plenty of a good DC by way of friends and relatives. As young fanboy though I took a cotton to Marvel, buying into Stan the Man's delightful gab and warm welcome to a burgeoning universe that took pains to be coherent. Then all of a sudden Jack "King" Kirby went to DC and I went along with him, and found much at the "Distinguished Competition" that I rather liked (since DC was making attempts to be more "Marvel-ish" at that time no doubt). I hung around and found fantastic values such as the quarter books with proper reprints and the 100-pagers that swept me up and away. For a period of time in the late 70's I though DC was doing the finest job in the business, but I guess I not in a mob with that attitude as the "DC Explosion" was soon followed by the infamous "DC Implosion" and forever after DC was a second-rater as Marvel zoomed into the stratosphere before beaching hard in the 90's. 

But in the 80's DC decided to clean up the shop and to that end they employed Marv Wolfman and George Perez, two up and comers with scores on "The New Teen Titans", to check all the DC closets and attics and garages and clear up the mess that accumulated over four decades. That became the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and it became a template for DC from that point on. The DCU became more of an artifact, something to be tinkered with and adjusted on a somewhat regular basis. Whereas the Marvel Universe kept growing organically (with more than a few weeds) the DCU was a machine that could be taken hold of and reprogrammed. There's no preference for me to either model, but I find I rather love a "Multiverse" (Spock with a beard is so cool.) and when DC decided they had a rich one and wanted to farm it I preferred things that way, both before and after the "Crisis". 

So this month I will be representing most of the rest of my "Crisis" posts from a decade ago (with some adjustments here and there maybe) and taking the rest of the time to dive into some DC books that I've been wanting to check into for many years in some cases. After the first opus by Wolfman and Perez we got some regular annual events and later still alternative versions of classic heroes by supreme talents like Alex Ross and Dwayne Cooke. I'm hankering to read some for the first time and some all over again.

"The Sunday Funnies" feature will give way this month so that I can showcase some of those sumptuous Taschen DC specials written by Paul Levitz. 

This month's "Showcase Corner" is occupied by the delightful romp by Roy Thomas, E. Nelson Bridwell and Scott Shaw (among others) - Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew. 

And there might be other dollops of DC here and there. So this month amigos it's all DC all the time. It could be worse -- I might've focused my attentions on...yuck...Image. 

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Movie Knights - Monty Python And The Holy Grail!

This month-long look at movie and comics featuring sword-wielding types such as King Arthur and his cronies would not be complete without a shoutout to the greatest Camelot movie ever made, and that's the funniest flick in the history of flicks -- Monty Python and the Holy Grail. This is the absolute ideal marriage of material and talent, a cretinous bunch of over-educated British louts having a smack at the mightiest of British legends. The Pythons were excellent at pulling the pompous wool out of over-stuffed aspects of society and the hyper-serious considerations concerning the King Arthur legends were ripe for the predations of the Python clan. 

One thing that always bugs me a little when I squander my time watching a movie or reading a book or comic about kings and queens and knights and such is the easy acceptance on the part of all concerned of the absolute correctness of the situation at hand. A king is manifestly right because he is the son of the king before him and the nobility that maintain this hierarchy are showcased without qualm. 

Of course as modern people we know that such a social structure is inherently unfair to the vast majority of mankind and that in our more enlightened times we appear, on the surface at least, to desire structures which are fundamentally fairer and recognize the sameness of people. "Strong Men" come and eventually they go, but most see that dictatorship is not a long term solution to even the most heinous of social breakdowns. It's a patch at best and then of dubious value. For someone to ascend to the throne and ascribe that ascension to the handiwork of a god is outrageous to a truly modern mind. (Not that it doesn't stop some nutter from trying it on, as we've recently learned to our chagrin in my own United States.)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is infused throughout with a good and proper disdain for royalty and that wisdom informs the smartest gags and bits directly. The whimsical debate between Arthur and the "peasant" Dennis at the beginning always gets a laugh from me and sets up the absurdity of much of the rest of the movie. Later we "nobles" doing all manner of things which people are not supposed to do and assuming it right simply because they have a particular bloodline. But likewise rank stupidity of the common man is set afire time and again as the people are show to possess little true critical thinking power in a universe riddled with superstition. 

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is an excellent movie for our times because it's about our times and not the mythic kingdom of Camelot, but rather the hectic world of modern London and beyond. 

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The Sunday Funnies - Prince Valiant 1959-1960!

The eleventh volume of Prince Valiant Sunday strips from Fantagraphics gets the vintage series into the 1960's, a heady journey from the depths of the 30's. The strip having completed its first story has been telling of the aftermath really of the joining of Prince Valiant of Camelot and Queen Aleta of the Misty Isles, and this tome is no different. 

The focus is definitely on Valiant though as we pick up the tale of him posing as a minstrel to help free his longtime friend and former mentor Sir Gawain from a somewhat hapless minor King holding him for ransom. This is done and the pair intentionally take a more hazardous route back to Camelot and during this they help bring together a young couple of lovers who have more stars in their eyes than sense in their heads, and they help defeat a dangerous bully knight or two along the way. Once back in Camelot Valiant is quickly dispatched again to discover why some outlaws have taken Camelot's tax money and he finds no outlaws but merely put upon men and corrupt nobles. When he returns he and Aleta have a falling out which results in Valiant giving her a spanking. 

He leaves again on a second mission to discover information on the Holy Grail. This takes him into some far regions where he encounters an ogre who is not an ogre, and holy men attempting to build a cathedral at the site of the first Christian chapel in all Briton. He is forced to battle an evil noble named Timmera the Terrible who proves without his warriors to be not so terrible after all. He ultimately learns from Saint Patrick that the Holy Grail is a symbol and that the knights who go in search of inspire those who seek the faith. Upon returning to report his findings, Val and Aleta still are cold to one another and this makes Valiant a most ferocious warrior until he is seriously wounded and the couple make up at last. 

It is just in time for Aleta and her family to return to her kingdom of Misty Isles to attend to matters there. Arn returns from his foster home and the whole family head South assisted by Boltar the Viking chief. When they arrive in Aleta's kingdom they find it under threat but using cunning to forestall that threat and strengthen the land overall. 

There is a soft change in the storytelling it seems in these strips with the relationshp between Val and Aleta becoming somewhat more realistic (if that's possible) and less ideal. The family feels more real in many ways. It will be interesting to see what the 1960's bring. 

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