Retro Review

That was the only thought I had while reading the final, anti-climactic issue of Marvel’s Secret Invasion limited series, the backbone to the sprawling cross-over event that’s taken up most of 2008. This issue should have been a fast-paced, dramatic climax to the story. Instead, it was flat and rather dry, and the blame must land squarely on the shoulders of the writer, Brian Michael Bendis, and the editor, Tom Brevoort. Both have delivered great work at other times and even on other issues of this title, but they faltered on this the crucial issue of the company’s event of the year.

Did neither of them think that having the action narrated as past events would weaken the impact of what we were reading? Every page of the climactic scenes of the story has caption boxes with dialog between two characters who are discussing the events as having happened some time ago. The first dialog caption, which is on a double-page spread of heroes, villains and Skrulls trapped in a vortex, reads “The battle in New York was fierce”, and right there, it distances us from what’s going on. It also breaks a cardinal rule of comic story-telling: don’t tell the readers in words what you are already showing them in images. 

Beyond distancing the reader from what is happening and being somewhat unnecessary, the captions with this dialog get in the way of the art in places, making it difficult to enjoy the action. 

The climax of the story itself is sadly predictable: who wins, who loses, who dies, and how some of those characters will probably be resurrected later is no surprise to any long-time comic reader. There are a couple of surprises in store, but since these are mainly to set up the next big cross-over event, they are not necessarily welcome. Too much time is spent setting Dark Reign up, and not enough time on giving Secret Invasion the action-packed and emotional ending it should have had. Overall, a very disappointing finish to a series that started out promisingly, and another lesson to me that I should just not bother with the big crossovers any more.

* blows the dust off the keyboard *

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, Retro Review has been rather quiet lately, as I’ve had to take some time off to put my house in order. I haven’t even been reading comics lately, if you can believe that. Well, not many, at any rate. I did finally manage to get around to reading the first volume of Alan Moore and Chris Sprouse’s Tom Strong, which was an interesting but ultimately unsatisfactory read, partially because it relies too heavily on nostalgia, not all of which holds up well, and partially because of expectation. It’s not at the level of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or Top 10. I also read the first chapter of Bill Sienkiewicz’s brilliant Stray Toasters, which, while still as creepy as I remember, is a lot funnier than I expected.

However, that’s not to say I’ve not been reading: I’ve gotten sucked into a collection of Miranda July’s short stories (No one belongs here more than you), which are absolutely brilliant, more poetry than prose.

It’s been a slow period for comics, and a slow period for writing, and the next week looks to be much the same. So, Retro Review will remain on hiatus until Monday week, that’s the 15th of December, to give me a chance to get back into the swing of things, not to mention getting back home from a week-long trip. See you back here next week.

All the best,
Derek.

…or what to give a really young comic reader for the Holidays.

 Andy Runton’s Owly is the only truly all-ages comic book I have ever found. Wonderfully simple and charming, Owly is a series of tales about a lonely young owl who has a lot of love and kindness to give, and how his interactions with other animals teach him and them life lessons. The stories are heart-warming, the art is appealing, and the comic is unique.

 Owly has no dialog. The stories are entirely told in images, and when the characters speak, it is in further images, making this a universal comic: anyone can get something out of the stories regardless of their age or native language. However, this is not to say the stories are straightforward or dumbed down: the emotion and detail that Mr. Runton manages to convery in each story may surprise you.

 If there’s a young child in your life and you’d like to introduce them to comics, this would be a great place to start. I can imagine reading this with my nephew, and having him supply the words, interpret the art, and give the details. And if you’re young at heart yourself, and enjoy a well-told children’s tale of friendship, pick up the first volume (The Way Home) and enjoy.

Owly by Andy Runton, published by Top Shelf.  A great book for younger kids and the young at heart. A

I had a bit of a false restart on Retro Review last week. It was kind of like an attempt by DC to restart Aquaman on Hawkman… okay, that was a little unfair. Geoff Johns’ Hawkman relaunch was good and did well, and Peter David did a great run on Aquaman. And I don’t think either book had problems with missed deadlines. I need to work on my geeky analogies.

Anyway, with a few things still going on, I needed to take a step back from blogging again, and rethink Retro Review a little. I’ve decided to devote the next couple of weeks to making some gift suggestions for trade paperbacks and runs of older books that would make good gifts for various people, starting with good comic books for children and younger teenagers, but also including good comics for non-comic readers, and people who like their comics a little more indie and a little less mainstream.

I have a large comics library but of course there’s plenty of comic books I’ve never read and know little about: if you feel I’ve missed an important series or a good contender for a particular category, please feel free to make some recommendations of your own in the comments.

See you tomorrow for a review of the wonderful Owly, the only guaranteed all-ages comic book I’ve ever read.

All the best, Derek.

It’s amazing to me that a character could become so confusing to readers and creators alike that his name was considered unusable, even on a new character, but this was the case with DC Comics’ Hawkman. Introduced in 1940 in Flash Comics #1, the Golden Age version of the character (American archaeologist Carter Hall) had been a mainstay of the Justice Society of America, and the Silver Age version (alien police officer Katar Hol) had been a member of the Justic League of America. However, while DC managed to cope with having both Golden and Silver Age versions of the Flash and Green Lantern, after 1986’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, there seemed to be a problem with having two versions of Hawkman, and revisions and retcons kept being made to his origins, trying to streamline the character, but actually just making him horribly complicated.

You don’t believe me? Then try this: there was a human Hawkman, but then there was an alien one, and then the human one never existed but the alien one hadn’t arrived yet, so the one who showed up in the meantime claiming to be the original one’s son was another alien, and then they all merged to become a god. Saying that all his appearances between Crisis and the Hawkworld mini-series were actually those of an impostor was a particular gem; but the “hawk-god” thing in the absolutely dreadful Zero Hour was the nadir of character reworkings from DC.

It wasn’t until Geoff Johns’ run on JSA that Hawkman got straightened out, and in the best possible way: rather than trying to explain every appearance of the character in detail, with dates and times, Geoff Johns just brings him back and has him go into action. There is a small amount of dialog about him being a perpetual reincarnate, and having all the memories of every Hawkman ever, implying that all the previous Hawkmen were previous incarnations of the current one, and then they just get on with the story. This is the most essential thing for any retcon or revamp: if the story gets bogged down in explaining what actually happened on this or that page of this or that issue, instead of telling a new story that delivers a viable character, then the retcon has failed because it doesn’t engage. This is why none of the previous Hawkman retcons worked - they were too concerned with the details, not the story.

A retcon is a change to the continuity of a story that goes into effect retroactively - not only does the change in the status quo affect the story from then on, but it also establishes that things have always been this way, and any older stories that contradict this reality should be ignored or adapted to fit. It is a practice that DC and Marvel engage in regularly, much to the irritation of plot- and continuity-obsessed readers. However, it is not only the Big Two who change established continuity: it can happen in long-running independent entirely creator-owned series like Terry Moore’s Strangers in Paradise.

If you are unfamiliar with the series, which ended in 2007, at its heart, it is the story of a group of people and how true love, truth and lies, and lust and obsession affect their lives. Initially, the focus is on the love between three characters: Francine, Katchoo, and David. However, as the series progressed and more characters gained voices and importance, the story developed to accommodate them. It is a good comic with many powerful and emotional moments, and with some excellent fully realized characters, and there are parts where the story, art and dialog shine. It has its weaknesses: the mafia-style Big Six organization’s story requires a lot of suspension of disbelief and distracts from the starker and more interesting reality of the main story; and the series arguably goes on for too long, leaving it sagging in the middle. That said, I still highly recommend it, especially the first few volumes, and especially to first-time comic readers.

However, despite being the vision of one writer, there is one glaring inconsistency that makes it difficult to read through the whole series and completely get lost in the world he created.

(The rest of this post contains plot spoilers for Strangers in Paradise.) Continue Reading »