Best Comic I've Read This Week (Mar.30 - Apr.5, 2008)

I was going to wait until Frank Quitely's 12 issues of this title were done before I wrote about it. I also wanted to get my thoughts on "Flex Mentallo" down first, since this title is so much the spiritual successor to that series, but I just had to talk about this one.

All-Star Superman #10

I defy anyone to explain to me why they're not reading a Superman comic written by Grant Morrison that is completely outside the bounds of any continuity whatsoever. This is a stunning piece of work. They are stories that I think will be looked upon as a defining work, much like Byrne's "Man of Steel" in the mid-Eighties, or "The Death of Superman" in the Nineties. With Morrison's "Final Crisis" fast approaching in May, I'm really hoping that he brings the same sense of grandeur to the epic crossover that he has to Superman.

Issue 10 has a cover date of May 2008, meaning it's on store shelves as I type. The first six issues of "All-Star Superman" have been released in hardcover, from DC Comics.

Best Comic I've Read This Week (Mar.16 - 22)

Sorry. Couple of days late.

I've recently started trying to fill in Joe Casey's run on "Adventures of Superman" from about 6 years ago. He writes an excellent Superman. In doing so, however, I grabbed a couple of issues of the various other titles being published about that time, specifically the "Return to Krypton 2" storyline that ran in four parts through the titles. The first part is this week's best comic.

Superman v.2 #184

The story is well done, though you really need the other four parts to enjoy it fully. This particular issue stood out to me, though, because of two panels. I'm not giving anything away to say that Jor-El, Superman's Dad, winds up on Earth. He's exposed to our yellow Sun, and begins to experience what it's like to be Superman. In amazement, he asks "Is this what it's like, son? To live without fear? Without pain?" Superman responds with a small smile that speaks volumes, a testament to artists Pascual Ferry and Cam Smith. That page (page 6) was one of the most pure Superman moments I've read. All that remains is to say that the issue was written by Geoff Johns, and published by DC Comics in September of 2002. Worth hunting for.

File Under: Things I Didn't Know About Alan Moore Comics

So, in making myself a list of the comics that comprise the America's Best Comics line, in order to have a more complete collection of them, of course, I found out something interesting about the Tom Strong series. In the 11th issue, we are introduced to "Terra Obscura", and it's science hero Tom Strange, an alternate version, we suppose, of the title character.

But the truth is a little stranger.

Tom "Doc" Strange, is actually a super-hero from a now-defunct Golden Age publisher called Nedor Comics. They operated from 1936 to 1956, and were apparently a rather prolific publisher. It's a reflection on my comparatively poor knowledge of comic book history that I had no idea who they were. So it turns out that all the characters on Terra Obscura were actually characters from Nedor Comics who had become public domain characters after their copyright ran out and no one renewed it.

Interestingly, the characters were revived by the publisher Americomics in the 1980s, a publisher that also published the Charlton characters before they were sold to DC. The Charlton characters were, of course, the inspiration for the heroes in Moore's Watchmen. The two revivals, written by the same man, though decades apart, couldn't be more (if you've forgive the pun) different. Where Watchmen is grim, and, let's face it, utterly brilliant, the Tom Strong and Terra Obscura stories are light-hearted, celebratory of the kind of heroes that were popular in the Golden Age. I suppose that the mark of a really great writer, that he can present two diametrically opposed views of the history of super-heroes, and still make them both completely compelling.

But enough. I could praise Alan Moore all day, and it would get us nowhere. Both Tom Strong and Terra Obscura are available in collected editions from DC Comics. And a far more insightful and complete look at these old heroes is presented at Nolan's Niche, at the CGC website.

Best Comic I've Read This Week (Mar.9 - 15, 2008)

I'll try to keep it weekly. Not necessarily something released this week, but something I read this week.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 #11

The Publishers

It's funny, but I always assume that I've got most of the publishers websites in my bookmarks, but I often go to look something up and find I don't. Here's a small list of publishers' addresses. More to come as I realize I don't have them!

Dark Horse

D.C. Comics

Marvel Comics

Image Comics

Yeah, okay, they're the easy ones. Here's some more obscure ones:

Twomorrows Publishing

Slave Labor Graphics

Boom! Studios

Fantagraphics Books

There, now click on each of those and bookmark them, and that way when you want to look for them you won't have to google them. Yeah, I know, it'll save you maybe a microsecond, but the web's a fast place.

Gary Gygax passes away

I know it's not specifically comic-related, but I don't care. I can't really express the influence on my life of the games that Mr. Gygax championed. When I discovered role playing games in grade 7, I joined the small, generally poorly regarded gaming club we had at school (where we were completely unallowed to play D&D, 'cause it was SATANIC!), and met a group of people who became my family. I still see them every week, and they are some of the best, brightest, and most creative and stimulating people I know. We don't necessarily play that many games any more, but the relationships we created through the medium of role-playing have lasted, and will last, the rest of our lives. Thank you, Mr. Gygax, for everything you did directly for the gaming industry, and indirectly, for my life.