The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2003: Freak Force #1, April 1997

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 I got nothing for this one. It's a story about a bunch of characters, only a couple of whom I recognize. I'd been trying to read comics by the founding Image partners, and Erik Larsen's stuff has always eluded me. He's dear to me for having done a cool little run on Doom Patrol in the 80s, but none of his other stuff has ever really grabbed me.

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1076: Bloodstrike #10, April 1994

I usually leave my comic for the next day sitting on the coffee table the night before. That way it'll be there for my less-than-coherent morning brain with little to no effort. But my wife is usually down in the living room a bit before me. I had to leave today's comic face down, because who wants to see that first thing in the morning? These comics were, apparently, also sold on news stands, so imagine that on the comics rack at the convenience store.

Can I be honest? I read this this morning and can't actually remember what happened in it. That could be a sign of a deteriorating mind, or it could be a sign that this was a completely underwhelming ending to an underwhelming crossover. What's hilarious is that in the copy at the back of each issue advertising the other parts of the crossover, it's called "the most consequential crossover" ever! *sigh*

(I feel like I will be *sigh*-ing a lot while reading these Supreme comics.)

What the "Extreme Prejudice" crossover has done for me is made me question if I really want to read the other crossovers that take place over the next 30 or so issues of Supreme. I guess we'll find out when we get there.

On to some random comics from throughout the collection (which I rearranged completely last month, and which I will write about soon).

To be continued.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1075: Brigade #9, April 1994

Here's what I expect from a crossover: a few good action set pieces, an intriguing story that has shifts and turns, and well-written dialogue between characters who don't often appear together.

Here's what I get in "Extreme Prejudice": a 7-issue battle. It's like no one ever explained to the writers that fights aren't stories - they're parts of stories. *sigh*

One more issue tomorrow, and then we're on to something else. None too soon, I think.

To be continued.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1074: Team Youngblood #7, March 1994

I'll write this up tomorrow. There's some interesting things being done in this crossover to do with back story, which I've been thinking about with this read of Supreme.

A few days back I leveled the criticism at Supreme and his Extreme cohorts that the type of drama they were gunning for is simply not possible without the weight of history behind them. The crossover we're (sort of) following is doing some interesting work in filling that history in.

I should mention we're taking a slight detour back in time - I realized I had another part of this crossover, so I went back to read it.

In today's issue, and in the rest of those in the crossover, the reactions of some characters to Quantum help us to understand the history of the Extreme universe. I call it this because, although the Image superhero comics share a universe, very little of what happens in one imprint's corner affects anything in the other imprints' corners.Apparently the Extreme U includes people possessed of the "Nu-Gene," and those who develop powers as a result are something of a cross between the X-Men and the Inhumans. Making Quantum, basically, Magneto. From this vantage, I think we can understand the fear evinced upon his escape. Remember that everything in this universe seems to be totally psychotic, and such is the case with Quantum. He literally just decides to tear it all down.

We also see, in the background, a man named Proctor trying to reassemble a team of "Newmen" who opposed Quantum previously. Here, too, we get a glimpse into a past that is slowly being both built and revealed. Much like Moore's Supreme, the past is being filled in in fits and starts...only to be hit, inevitably, with a revision wave in about 30 issues.

To be continued.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1073: Supreme #11, March 1994

So what is it that makes comics from Extreme Studios so popular? They are pretty much regarded as some of the more poorly-executed superhero comics ever. And on top of that, their popularity had a significant effect on superhero fare from the Bit Two. Witness titles like Justice League Extreme, or early 90s Avengers. The narrative and visual aesthetics are taken up by the major publishers, even though, as with the Image stuff, it produces some egregiously terrible comics.

I suppose the other question this begs is why on Earth I'm finding them so engrossing. Honestly, they seem to be comics written for very stoned people, something I cannot publically condone, at least not until this July when it becomes legal here. The visuals, though, are just the sort of mad, stylized pictures that entertain the stoned brain. Add to this that there's really very little story and the comics come to resemble the crappy chocolates that satisfy a very definite, though slightly embarrassing, craving.

What I should point out is that this aesthetic is not Image-wide. Each of the studios has a particular look and feel unique to itself. That's one of the reasons today's comic stands out a bit. As part of the "Extreme Prejudice" crossover (which I feel is really riffing on some of the Marvel X-Men crossovers of the same period), there actually substantially more attention paid to building the story, such as it is. The formation of a new team of Newmen provides world-building that is also innately tied to the events of the crossover. From a very basic level, there actually seems to be some plot attached to the action. The other thing that sets the comic apart is the interior art by Pedram Shohadai, or Pedi, as he is credited. An unfortunate choice of pen name, I think. His art is very much more in the style of the McFarlane Studios side of Image, so seeming Supreme and his allies in this style is a bit odd. Interestingly, one of the only other full comics drawn by Pedi is an upcoming issue of Supreme that features the hellspawn himself.

It occurs to me that I still haven't answered my original question. I'll keep pondering on it.

To be continued.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1072: Brigade #8, March 1994

Part 2 of the massive Extreme crossover!

No, you didn't miss part 1. I don't actually have it. But the story is recapped nicely, so it's easy to catch up. What seems like the Extreme U version of the Inhumans, the Newmen, have been slaughtered, and a powerful member of the race sets out to avenge them. I think. At the end of yesterday's issue, Supreme flies off to take this guy down.

There's actually some nicely done dialogue in this issue, which, I have to say, has been a rarity in these last few comics. It turns out that Battlestone, leader of Brigade, is the son of this big bad (named Quantum, though I don't know why), and Dad comes to see if his boy will enlist in the cause.

I'm reminded of the place where I am in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., where Daisy has just met her father and told him in no uncertain terms she'll kill him if he makes a wrong move. Similarly, Battlestone refuses his father's invitation, and actively opposes the plan. Familial bonds aren't often played out this way in superhero comics, having to choose between "the mission" and the family. Not to such an extreme level, anyway. I guess the choice is easy when the parental figure in question is a homicidal maniac.

To be continued.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 760: Extreme Hero, 1994

What is it about Extreme/Maximum/Awesome that keeps pulling me back in? I mean, I guess there's the occasional good creator that is somehow convinced by Liefeld to work with him until the inevitable financial disaster. And perhaps, just perhaps, there's something about the ridiculously hyper-masculine aesthetic that I find fascinating, and slightly titillating. Though when we come to the 8 or 12-pack stomachs, I think perhaps these comics artists need a bit of an anatomy lesson.

This is a sampler that was distributed with the now-defunct Hero Illustrated, one of the numerous comic industry magazines that offered "news" to fans in the 90s. And anything new from Liefeld and co. in the 90s was news. As far as I know, none of the series in this sampler made it beyond maybe issue #3. Liefeld, as is well known in the industry, is insanely bad at business. I mean, really, who fucks over Alan Moore when he's writing one of your comics? Who does that? He, for some reason, booted Joe Casey from an excellent run on Youngblood, managed I think one issue that he decided to write and draw, and then the comic folded.

Anyway, the short stories in here are exactly what you'd expect. The art is okay, though very 90s Image. The stories are blunt. It's meant to entice us into reading the regular series, but the problem is that the regular series never appear. *sigh*

I'm hoping one day that I'll stop being so annoyed with Liefeld and 90s Image. But I don't know if it'll happen.

Onward!