The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1333: Supergirl (2016) #23, December 2018

Read this today. Have some thoughts, but it's too late to express them now.

But that cover is something else.

I know what it is that's been bugging me about the Rogol Zaar story in Superman. It's too soon. We've literally just spent 6 weeks with Superman, Supergirl, Bendis, and co. ramming themselves into Rogol Zaar. I don't need another 6 months of basically the same thing. I feel like this should have been, at least, a kind of mid-season mega-battle. But instead it's simply round two of Man of Steel.

I am, however, enjoying Kara's part in the Rogol Zaar story - she's investigating, getting answers. This is definitely the superior route to be following with regard to this particular villain. I think Supergirl actually supplants Superman in my rankings of these titles right now.

And that cover really is something else.

More to come... 

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1330: Supergirl (2016) #22, November 2018

I wish the comic within were even remotely so carefree, though there are some very good moments of Krypto "dogging" hard, and that's always nice to see.

I think Krypto may be swaying me over to the idea of dogs. I haven't been a fan for a long time, but they just seem so friendly, you know?

There's been a lot of playing with Kara's Kryptonian side of late, some acknowledgment that she would have to present qualities that came from the culture within which she was raised. It's inevitable, and happens to all of us. I teach in my Communications class the idea that we are prone to fall into the idea that the culture within which we're raised is the "correct" one, and all others are somehow less than. It's not the case, of course, but it's also sometimes hard to overcome. Kara has this problem, I think. She's still sweet, but she assumes that her status as Supergirl will grant her special privilege with the Green Lanterns. Instead they treat her like any other alien with a giant axe invading their central archive. Which is what she is. I wonder if this is some of the vaunted Kryptonian arrogance that Rogol Zaar yelled about in Man of Steel? And just how problematic is it?

The other cool thing this issue did is it seemed like we're going to get answers about Rogol Zaar, and the Circle, much sooner than I anticipated. That's kind of great. If the threat is of a truly great magnitude, it can really increase the drama of the subsequent issues. If the threat is of magnitude. Let's wait and see...

More to come...

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1327: Supergirl (2016) #21, October 2018

We'll take a slight departure from Mr. Bendis's Metropolis to follow the other Kryptonian into outer space. Kara does a nice job of articulating survivor's guilt here to Clark, in a way that he simply can't understand. I wonder if the Martian Manhunter has had a similar conversation with Kara as the one he has with Clark a few days ago. In fact, Kara and J'onn would have much more in common than Clark and J'onn, given that they both retain memories of the civilizations that were lost, unlike the infant Kal-El. Not to diminish Superman's trauma, but it seems that these two characters would have more in common. Perhaps that's why they're being paired to such excellent effect on the Supergirl television show.

More of the mystery of the Circle is being revealed. Information redacted from the Green Lantern files? Just who is Rogol Zaar?

More to come...

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1321: Man of Steel (2018) #4, August 2018

Though the removal of, and search for, his missing family appears to be part of Mr. Bendis's ongoing storyline, Jon and Lois still play a major role in the series, if only by their absence. The two have maybe 2-3 pages in each issue, and these are showing a single moment that we're slowly coming to understand is the moment that establishes the new paradigm.

But I want to spend the brief time I'm going to spend today on the cover. As I noted a few days ago, each cover is giving us a significant moment from Supeman's life. I think here it's that moment of revelation, the moment that the love between these two characters is finally able to achieve what it had been moving toward for about 50 years when this revelation happened. However, it's actually Lois's outfit I want to think about. To me, this is 100% reminiscent of the outfit she most often is seen in in the Superman Adventures television series. Not only are we getting narrative history, but publication/dissemination history as well.

I can only hope that this new start lasts for a while. I was actually a big fan of the much-maligned "Grounded" storyline from Straczynski and Cassaday, so I'm never hopeful when a Superman story resonates with me. Though perhaps today I'll err on the side of optimism.

More to come...

The 40 Years of Comics Project Friday Magazine 13: Men's Adventure Comix #1, April/May 1995

Where to even start with this one.

There's an in-house ad partway through this magazine that shows a comic store employee forcing Vertigo titles on a young man in the shop, claiming that it'll "put you in touch with your feminine side." The ad is set up like an old Charles Atlas ad, and the cure to these "feminine" comics is Men's Adventure Comix. I'm sure there's a touch of irony in there. The editor calls himself "The World's Most Politically Incorrect Comic Book Editor," but the trouble with such an assertion is that, these days, we see people who actually wear that kind of label proudly. It's a fine line that this magazine treads, and not always on the best side.

The artwork is, undeniably, excellent. Mark Texeira's painted stories are always amazing, and Kevin Maguire's secret origin of Hericane is lovely to behold. The stories are definitely of the pulp variety, as the front cover advertises. The Western feature "Slim & Nun" evokes old school European comics, both in presentation and subject matter - it's the story I could most see showing up in Heavy Metal. There are a few superheroic tales in this issue. "Hericane" is amusing and takes in the ridiculousness of the superhero with no apologies. "Action Figures" skews slightly more toward the Image-style comics that were popular at the time of the magazine's publication. The characters wear costumes that are completely unnecessarily skimpy, and engage in over the top violence. It was the 90s. The final story of the issue, "The Origin of Miss Adventure" is well-rendered, but the take on radical, and not so radical, Feminism in the tale is thoroughly problematic, painting Feminists as butch lesbians who want to dissuade all women from ever having anything to do with men ever again. The writers probably could have stood to do a bit more research.

So, pretty much a thoroughly sexist comic. No surprise, really, though occasionally in publications like this you wait to see a hint of self-awareness peeking through the cracks (pun intended). If they're here, they're tough to catch.

Onward.