The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 278: Chase #1000000, November 1998

And so we come to the end of this iteration of Chase. I'm excited to track down the short stories, but sad that this comic ended the way it did. There was obviously so much more to the story, and I really do think this could have been one of the greats, alongside Starman or Doom Patrol.

I've mentioned before my predilection for the DC One Million crossover, and it's nice to have one last little taste of it along with my last little taste of Chase. I even purposely did not read this issue as I was making my way through DC One Million this week, just to save until the end of my Chase reading. A cool future. The DEO as secretive security cult. Like the Men in Black, but all Women in Black, and operating in a future we can barely conceive.

Sentences like that are why I love comics.

Do yourself a favour and grab the Chase collected edition, and get into this comics. It's really excellent. Tomorrow....no idea. But it'll be something. See you then.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 276: Chase #8, September 1998

Chase's adventure in Gotham ends in a fashion that I don't think either of the main characters was suspecting. Placed in the position of unmasking Batman, Chase chooses not to, unaware that Alan "Sentinel/Green Lantern" Scott has taken Bruce Wayne's place beneath the cowl.

There's some interesting character development here for Chase, paralleling what we saw for Batman in the previous issue. Chase's attitude toward masked vigilantes has bordered on hatred for much of the series, but here we see her taking on a more tolerant attitude. It could be that her exposure to the kinds of threats that are presented by the villainous side of the superhuman community has swayed, if only slightly, into realizing that such extreme circumstances require extreme reactions. I think what I'd like to see is her interacting with one of the more public, and altruistic, characters, someone like Superman, perhaps.

One of the ramifications I could have seen growing from this issue, one that would have made for a very interesting shift in the DCU, would be the interest of the superhero community in the workings of the DEO. Batman even evinces some respect for Chase's abilities as an agent, and is genuinely surprised when she fails to unmask him. Though we're meant to be seeing Chase as a human operative in a superhuman world, she's on her way to becoming a liaison of sorts, and one that takes no shit.

Johnson and Williams III produced a number of further Chase stories in the Secret Files and Origins specials published through 2001 - 2002, so I'll be doing my best to track those down over the next few days. I still have the one million issue to read, so that'll be tomorrow, and hopefully I'll find a copy of issue 9 fairly soon. This series has been a pure joy to read.

See you tomorrow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 275: Chase #7, August 1998

While we get some nice interactions here between Chase and Batman, the perspective that this comic offers on Batman, both from within and without, are fascinating. First, we have the DEO investigating this entity that no one really knows much about. The reports that Chase files back to the home office about her conclusions about who, or what, Batman is show just how well he conceals from those not a part of his trusted circle the details of his mission and identity, even the ostensibly public one. It's easy sometimes to forget that we are offered a privileged view of these characters, and that most people living in the fictional universe are perhaps aware of their existence, but not necessarily of the particulars to which we're privy. That they're not even sure if he's one or more individuals speaks volumes of the secrecy within which he operates.

But we also get some reactions from Batman to Chase's use of firearms, and specifically this use around Batman, that verges on hysteria. This, to me, is a fantastic tribute to Mr. Johnson's grasp on the character - while we often see the Bat as grim and taciturn, he's reacting, in being Batman, to a foundational traumatic event, one intimately connected to firearms. It only tracks that he would react slightly over the top to the use of these weapons around him, especially from someone he is working with. Chase's reactions to this admonishment by Batman seem, to us who are aware of his trauma, to be quite callous. But then one recalls that Chase has no idea of his origin.

An easy way to play this series would have been to have the DEO, and Chase, investigate B- and C-listers, characters whose stories have little or no impact on the DCU, and thus the implications of Chase's adventures would not impact the accepted, fundamental structures (that is, the A-list characters) of the narrative universe. But having her investigate Batman sets the series up to offer its readers ramifications they might not have expected. As I noted yesterday, I'm sad that the series didn't get a chance to explore this more fully, but at least we have a taste.

I'm hoping to track down issue #9 before Saturday, but if I can't, I'll skip it and get to it when I find it. But more "Shadowing the Bat" tomorrow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 274: Chase #6, July 1998

Agh. Every time I read this comic, I weep for what might have been. A whole new generation of superheroes to explore, between WW2 and Superman's appearance? Yes please.

*sigh*

Another neat piece of Chase's story filled in, and I begin to see why the series may have only lasted as long as it did. The main character's slightly unlikable, and she's not really very heroic. She doesn't look up to her ex-superhero Dad, she's angry at him. And with good reason, I suppose.

And though it's a brilliant, heartbreaking take on this narrative, one so prominent in superhero comics (think of the coeval Starman), it's not one that necessarily going to resonate with a large percentage of the superhero comics reading public. This complicates superheroes, and such complication isn't always welcome. Admittedly, it's unwelcome in a couple of ways. Some people like their superhero narratives to be black and white, straightforward. But it's also veering away sharply from something fundamental to the superhero narrative. This is a subset sort of superhero narrative. Some of Kurt Busiek's stuff on Astro City could fit into this subset - the narrative of the "ordinary" people in a superhero universe - what being in that kind of a fictional narrative does to people who aren't superpowered.

They're not quite superhero stories. They happen alongside them.

Chase is brilliant. Is that coming through? I cannot recommend this comic highly enough. My understanding is that the character may be appearing on the Supergirl television series, and I hope she's as amazing as she is in the comic.

More Chase tomorrow, and a return to the place it all began. Gotham.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 273: Chase #5, June 1998

Klarion the Witch Boy is in this comic! I LOVE Klarion.

Though he's a bit of a dick in this issue. Getting trapped in a spirit bottle by a bunch of lunatic humans will do that to an interdimensional boy sorcerer.

While Chase lies comatose after her disastrous babysitting job from the previous issue, we're treated to a look at her life before the DEO, courtesy of a strange, and possibly homeless, colleague of hers named "Knob." As Knob tells the story, while seated next to Chase's bed, Chase fills in the holes in her still-snide-even-though-comatose manner. It's a tale of magic and weirdness, pretty much just your everyday kind of thing in the DC Universe.

What this issue does that's quite depressing, however, is to show us that Mssrs. Johnson and Williams III obviously had plans for this character, a back story plotted out, history, relationships, future, which, most likely, we're never going to know or see. You don't start filling in history like this unless you've got a pretty clear idea of the future that's in store for your character. And while we do get some future (in the one million issue), I'm fairly certain the the appearances and uses of Chase since the demise of her own title have not even come close to what we would have had if her creators had been allowed to tell their story. So maybe not simply depressing, but infuriating, that the fate of such vibrant imaginary beings can be dependent on finance.

I'd best stop before I go on an anti-Capitalist rant and the oil companies that fund my university get wind of it and shut down the English department. You think I'm joking, but the U of C has some weird shit going on with the oil and gas companies.

We'll keep on with Chase tomorrow. I'm sad that I'm more than halfway through the series, but it's so good that I just can't stop. Join me, won't you?

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 272: Batman #550, January 1998

Let's step back in time a few months.

I wish that I'd waited and read this comic before starting the Chase series proper. Something about the character, about her place within the DCU, felt wrong in those first few issues. It felt like, as I made the comparison a few days ago, Chase was a Vertigo title masquerading as a regular DCU title. However, looked at in light of her introduction, in what is pretty much a straightforward Batman story, her place as a voice of criticism of the superhero universe within which she exists makes a lot more sense. She's someone who truly believes that metahumans need to be regulated, an idea not uncommon in large-scale superhero universes. She also refuses to be starstruck by them, treating them either simply as human beings (or people, if we want to be alien-inclusive), or, as worst, threats to the fabric of a stable society.

Interestingly, as a conservative force in the DCU, Chase is actually a very experimental comic. Most comics in a superhero universe celebrate, even if only implicitly, the very existence of the superhero. Chase does not. Neither the title nor the character see these individuals and teams as saviour figures, but rather as a segment of society treading a fine line - we've seen, in such works as Kingdom Come, what happens when this segment spirals out of control. That it is (ostensibly) baseline humans providing this policing service makes for an interesting read, especially as this comic comes years before the attack on the World Trade Center and the glut of "everyday hero" comics that followed.

This was a good story. The villain was creepy and weird, and I LOVE Kelley Jones' art. Seeing this almost makes me want to track down his Bat-run, though I know it comes at a time when the Bat-stories were spread amongst numerous titles, like the Superman ones around the same time. Perhaps I'll save that for another time.

We'll pop back into the Chase series tomorrow. See you then.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 271: Chase #4, May 1998

There is some lovely verisimilitude in this issue, which is odd, considering that it's about the Titans facing off against the Clock King and his Clockwatchers. The realistic part is that Chase screwed up her last mission, and is now on one of those punishment assignments one is given after messing things up. Of course, when it involves superheroes, there's a good chance that even the boring, punishment assignments are going to turn into something horrendous, which it does.

This issue was a bit drab for me, compared to the last few. I don't know if it's the placement of Chase a little further into the usual DCU superhero realm than she (and perhaps we) seems comfortable with, or if it's just that there doesn't really seem to be much that happens in the story. Superteam versus superteam seems a bit...usual, and maybe that's the point, that the usual antics of the superheroes are the boring, everyday for people in Chase's line of work. But her boredom didn't necessarily come across quite as nicely as I think I'd have liked it to.

Also, this was that weird era of the Titans when Ray Palmer had been de-aged to a teenager (I think), and none of the other members had even remotely anything to do with the Teen Titans proper. I'm such a snob sometimes.

Yeah, not much to say about this one. Though, sadly, the issue leaves Chase in yet another life or death situation, and I think we're going to leave her there a bit longer. I managed to track down her first appearance this weekend, so I'll be reading that tomorrow, and then we'll get back to the series proper to see where things go. The nice thing about Chase is that she's maintained, across numerous series and one-shots, a presence in the DCU, even post-Flashpoint in the New 52. Hopefully the writers and artists who've taken her reins have treated her with the affection and respect that her creators do in this series. I'm excited, trepidatiously, to find out.

See you tomorrow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 270: Chase #3, April 1998

Well, as a surprise to no one, Cameron Chase survives the startling ending of the previous issue, and is subsequently taken prisoner by The Shining Path rebel army, and then placed into a virtual reality in which she sort-of defeats a program that is the sentient result of all of the e-traffic with which our world is inundated. If that's the sort of thing that happened in the 90s, I can't imagine what this virtual embodiment of our interactions would look like now. Probably a lot dumber.

I'd noted last time that I'd thought it a little early to have a multi-issue story in this series, though I'm beginning to wonder if it's reflective of something narratological. That the DEO have sent a rookie agent into a foreign country, perhaps not entirely legally, gives we, the readers, an opportunity to consider that the DEO may not completely be on the up and up, and what I perceive as a bit of an oddity with the multi-part story reflects, in a way, the oddity of the mission upon which Chase has been sent.

If that makes any sense.

There is a nice moment of foreshadowing, or at least menace, at the end of the issue, when Copperhead realizes that Chase has survived their debacle at the Construct's temple, and that, just perhaps, he and the rest of the Suicide Squad escapees have just made a potentially troublesome enemy. Though the fact that the series only lasted 10 issues does not fill me with much hope that we'll see the outcome of this foreshadowing, it's nice to see these kind of relationships/animosities set up.

More Chase tomorrow.