Author: Matthew Peterson

Or – “What Exactly IS A Human Robot, Anyway?” It’s a fine time to be a comics fan. Characters as wildly diverse as Detective Chimp, Spider-Woman, Machine Man, Nightmaster, and Animal Man are all back in the spotlight, and it seems like nobody’s favorite obscure character is going to stay obscure for long. Marvel and DC alike are delighting in revamping, reviving, and revitalizing guys that most people figured were long gone. Most impressively, they’re doing it in a way that manages to breathe new life without negating that which has gone before. Most of the cast of this comic…

Or – “You’ll Never Have This Much Fun With A Liefeld Character Again…” One of the great things about the Marvel Universe is that everybody has a story. Even someone who’s appeared as seldom as the Texas Twister or Stingray has backstory, family, friends and continuity. The cast of this book, f’rinstance, has ties to The X-Men, X-Force, The Avengers, The Defenders, Spider-Man, the awesome but completely forgotten “Lost Generation” miniseries, and, if this issue is to be taken literally, The frickin’ Micronauts. Last issue, the nextwave five were faced with no fewer than three different evil superteams bent on…

Or – “20 Years In Any Other Medium Might Actually CHANGE Things.” When I was young, a Limited Series was a 4-issue affair. Jack of Hearts, Vision and The Scarlet Witch, Hercules, even the whole frickin’ World of Krypton fit into that 4-issue format without feeling cramped. Not so in the age of Decompression… Naaah, these days, a limited series is 6, or 8, or 12 issues, if not 52 of ’em. Stories take longer now, though roughly the same amount of action ends up taking place. Mostly that’s a good thing, in that conversations and character bits that would…

Or – “Go-Kart Mozart Was Checkin’ Out The Weather Chart Seein’ If It’s Safe Outside…” I tried recently to explain to one of my customers (Gatekeeper Hobbies, Topeka, Kansas. Come buy stuff!) why I enjoy Judd Winick’s work on The Outsiders. As I did, I found myself in that weird position where I had to explain away my PROBLEMS with the current status of the book before I could tell him what was good about it. I’m sure the Germans have a word for the need to justify your enjoyment of something (maybe it’s Hurneyvurneyfarfarghnughen?), but it’s a weird position…

Or – “All The Justice You Love, Now With 47% More Alex Ross!” I find that I annoy people in the comics world when I state some of my beliefs and preferences. I don’t care for Wolverine. I think Batman is as valid as a smiling-squared-jawed-father-figure driving a bubble-topped land yacht as he is a grim avenger of the night. I don’t have any idea what is so compelling about the gang-wars and separatist agendas of the X-Men titles. And I just have no use for Alex Ross any more. Oh, sure, there was a day when I fell slack-jawed…

Or – “How Much Does A Life-Sized Painting Of A Woman COST?” Generally speaking, real people don’t ever worry about something as nebulous as “diversity.” As I travel through the universe, trying to get to the bank on time, working a 55 hour week, balance parenting with acting like a child, and occasionally let loose my million monkeys to type these here reviews, I seldom worry about whether, statistically speaking, women are sufficiently represented in the boardroom. DC has recently made great strides in populating their titles with more than just squared-jawed, dark-haired men in their early thirties, but I…

Or – “Kurt Busiek Rocks, But That Title Is A Mouthful And A Half…” My friend Bruce has been lamenting on the Major Spoilers forums that the comics industry is targeting him, seeking him out, drawing him to their flames like a slightly-drunken moth.  Like Michael Corleone, just when he t’inks he’s out, dey pull him back in!  First Nexus, then Madman, and today I got a (somewhat delayed) new issue of Astro City.  They know you’re out there, Bruce.  And they’re looking…  for your disposable income!  It has, indeed, been a long time since April of 1995, but the awesome splendor…

Or – “Sasha Bordeaux Looks Just Like My Old Boss…” There are some comic books you read because they amaze you… Astonishing X-Men, Invincible, Agents of Atlas, 52 and others fall in this category for me. Some books you read because you want to be impressed the way you had been before… My 20 year involvement with Hellblazer has been like that, up and down, but I always open a Constantine issue with a sense of “Wow, I hope this is as good as before!” Then, some books you just kind of… read. You’ll notice a cool plot point, or…

Or – “Forty Years Ago… Or Perhaps Some Time Last Week, Whichever…” So, foolishly, I didn’t realize when I covered issue 1 that this series is shipping bi-weekly, meaning two issues per month to cover rather than the usual one (or, if you’re reviewing Wonder Woman, the usual apologies and adjusted shipping date…) My enthusiasm for last issue was pretty much unbridled, both in terms of seeing a cool new series and seeing a classic Avengers lineup interacting in today’s more adult terms. There’s more of the same this issue, and the comparison to today’s Avengers makes for an interesting…

Or – “Some Life Experiences Shouldn’t Be Plot Points…” I suppose when I reviewed the last issue of OMAC, (the review, which may have been overly harsh, can be found over here…) I should have been more specific. When I lamented the story and wished that the plot would GO somewhere, I sort of meant somewhere GOOD. Granted, it’s an interesting issue, and it’s not without it’s subtle charms, but, frankly, it feels a little bit like Banky Edwards or Brodie Bruce wrote this issue, without even getting the fun Kevin Smith cursewords. What do I mean by that?

Or – “Sure, One Has No Socks, But The Other Makes Up For It With A Great Belt…” Batman-Tarzan. Aliens-Stormwatch. Punisher-Archie. The comic industry is known for weird “chocolate in my peanut butter moments.” Some of these are wondrous beasts where the two things combine into a greater whole, others leave the poor reader wondering who switched the chocolate and peanut butter for salsa and cheesecake. “Two great tastes that taste WEIRD together,” so sayeth the great philosopher Doug to his dad. So, when you take The Spirit, a character who is only a superhero because the syndicate required that…

Or – “Joe McCarthy Was A @!*#.” Comics historians lament the loss of different genres in comic books, and rightly so. Westerns, romances, even TV adaptations used to be viable forms of comic art. Likewise, the historical comic has a long and varied pedigree. Classics Illustrated, for instance, put out more product than Marvel, DC, and every Rob Liefeld vanity publisher combined. That said, the historical is a strange beast, neither fish nor fowl, but with aspects of both. The escapist fantasy of a pure superhero story can undermine historical context, and the framework of most adventure stories can sag…

Or – “All The World Is Waiting For You… And Waiting And Waiting And Waiting…” There’s an old chestnut of the comics industry that goes something like this: Wonder Woman is seldom profitable as a comic book, but they keep printing it because of the merchandising potential behind the character. Even among comics fans, the buzz on Wonder Woman tends to be about the creator, not the character. I’m old enough to remember 1987’s buzz over George Perez’s Wonder Woman, or the later fooferaw regarding the John Byrne or Mike Deodato version. Currently, the slowly-dwindling heat on the title centers…

Or – “Big Brother Is Watching (From The Phantom Zone)!” Last time on Supergirl/LSH, we left our heroes on the Kryptonian colony of Rokyn (previously known as The Bottle City of Kandor), flat on their backs from a nearly disastrous battle with separatists, while simultaneously dealing with fallout from the revelation that Supergirl could, just possibly, be nothing but a giant loon with the full range of Kryptonian powers, giving her the ability to annihilate anything that annoys her, including your planet. Meanwhile, Substitute reserve member Jack Bau-Er of Daxam hides in the cargo section of the Legion Cruiser, ready…