The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1806: Invasion Book Two, 1988

To be honest, this was a pretty decent superhero war comic. It really read like the old war comics from DC's past, and actually kind of combined the B-Movie alien invasion aesthetic that was popular in film at the same time that war comics flourished. Not sure if that's a calculated move on Mr. Giffen's part, but it works quite nicely.

On the other hand, it's fairly propagandistic, really. Somehow North America is the only continent to avoid catastrophic damage, forcing the rest of the world to rely on America. Again, this echoes the war comics of old, but it rings pretty hollow in the Reagan-era Cold War. I think by this point in time, people were becoming a lot more suspect about the glories of war. This one doesn't really address the horrors that, in the background, appear to have been perpetuated.

In terms of comparison with the Arrowverse crossover, this is the big superhero throw-down that the CW just couldn't afford to do. First, they don't have nearly enough heroes, and second I don't imagine they have the budget for large-scale space warfare effects. Though the Dominators' reason for attacking Earth remains the same, the emergence of high-power metahumans, their methods are decidedly different on screen. A pity, but an understandable one.

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1804: Invasion Book One, 1988

80 pages is a lot to get through in one sitting. But when the 80 pages are a Keith Giffen/Bill Mantlo/Todd McFarlane production, it's not such a bad thing.

I originally picked up Invasion because it crossed over with Animal Man. The eventual outcome of the alien plan really messes with Animal Man's powers, and spurs a very cool story line in which everything we thought we knew about Animal Man turns out to be wrong. That sort of thing happens to him frequently.

In a lot of ways, and much more so than when I first read the series, I can see the aliens' point of view. Here's Earth, this insignificant little world that keeps churning out individuals of incalculable power, sometimes presenting a cosmos-wide danger. And, by and large, they're a pretty violent bunch. Imagine a creature like that became capable of intergalactic travel. They're right to be scared.

But there's also something deeply disturbing about the fact that all of the aliens (an important word) look exactly the same, and have no genetic variance. Further, they are identified by a single trait that characterized their race. And it's only humanity (and, let's be honest, North American humanity) that presents this strange diversity of genetics and potential.

Which is all to say that, as a part of my Doom Patrol read-through, the Doom Patrol don't appear in this issue. Only Adam Strange makes an appearance, and an ill-fated one at that. Instead, as the title of this volume attests, we witness the formation of the Alien Alliance. It's actually a remarkable bit of storytelling, in that it's basically a prologue to the crossover. It seems to me that this is a crossover that might have used its tie-in issues very well, in that the actual first strike on American soil takes place in the pages of the individual titles, as discrete events. When we come back next issue, those events have happened, and we're on to the next phase. I'm not explaining this right. The crossover series is designed to provide context to the events of the individual tie-ins. As such it is useful regardless of which series you are following it through, nor do you need to read all of the tie-ins.

At least, that's what it looks like at the moment.

In terms of comparison to the Arrowverse crossover, this similarly functions nicely as a prologue, but, honestly, the only similarity is the Dominator head design. I understand, of course, that it would have been too expensive to have all of the alien races present, but we've seen enough humanoid ones that there could have been at least a small alliance. What the comic crossover does that the television one doesn't is give us the reason for the Dominators' invasion. In the Arrowverse, they're just aliens there to experiment on human beings - it's more of a secret invasion than an invasion. Watching the television crossover from the perspective of the Dominators fear of metahumans is going to be interesting, though if I'm to be completely honest, I don't remember how the TV one all turns out, so things might change by next issue.

I am feeling a bit spacey today. Can you tell?

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1042: Spawn #2, July 1992 (What I Missed in the 90s Week, Day 2)

I was trying to decide this morning whether or not Spawn is a title I'd have picked up if I were as deep into comics in 1992 as I am now. I will admit to loving Todd McFarlane's art - there's a reason he's so highly regarded. Well, highly regarded for his art, at least. He's also a well-known jerk, as evidenced by his long feud with Neil Gaiman over creators's rights. This was perhaps the problem with the early Image founders: by and large, they ended up becoming what they beheld at Marvel. Considering the impetus for their exodus, that's textbook irony right there.

I've a passing knowledge of the Spawn series. I used to have the first few trades, though they appear to have vanished from my collection in the last 15 years or so. McFarlane was very smart about his series - he realized that he's a really good artist, but that his narratives needed a bit of work. While working on this aspect, he brought in other writers on the series, resulting in some stellar comics from Alan Moore, Dave Sim, Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, and Grant Morrison. In fact, the McFarlane/Sim collaboration in issue #10 ranks as one of my favourite comics.

But what about today's issue? Well, there's a lot of monologuing. When I teach communications, the "monologuer" is one of the negative forms of conversationalist that we look at. Of course, when Violator is monologuing to a small kitten at the beginning of the issue, it's hilarious. But the other monologues, notably the ones from detective Sam Burke and the extended ruminations of the main character himself, are tiresome. There's a reason thought bubbles have all but died out in comics. Over use of the monologue makes every issue of a comic seem like it's a Shakespearean tragedy, though Shakespeare knew that a monologue or soliloquy needed to be balanced by some dialogue. The balance is a bit off in this comic.

That said, not a bad comic, given the era and company it represents. I guess there's a reason this one has lasted so long.

To be continued.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 648: Amazing Spider-Man #302, July 1988

Read this today.