The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2355: Doctor Tomorrow #2, October 1997

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Publisher: Acclaim Comics

Writer: Bob Layton

Penciller: Dean Zachary

Cover Artist: Unknown, though suggested to be Butch Guice

I made a bit of a blunder this Remembrance Day and posted something on Facebook that hurt the feelings of a good friend of mine who serves in the military. Still trying to figure out how to apologize. But today's comic actually brings me back to something I raised in that post, and that's the rhetoric used to describe historical wars. Or, rather, recent historical wars, rather than all historical wars. The three-issue opening arc on Dr. Tomorrow is titled "The Glory War," and chronicle's the character's origins in the opening days of the Second World War. It's this notion of glory that set my blood boiling a bit this November. All we seem to hear about Remembrance Day is about the glory, about the honour, about the sacrifice, about how heroic it was that these brave young men and women gave their lives in defense of their country. And not just in the sense that some did not return from the battlefields - some did and still gave their lives. My Grandad was such a person, battered and scarred, from all that I can tell, from his experiences in WW2. Yet still, despite the cost in lives and lifetimes, we still revere these young people, we still only remember the glory, the honour, and not the fact that they were sent to die often for reasons that had nothing to do with what they were told. I'll stop there. That's not the point of this post. But that rhetoric of reverence for people who were sent, in some cases unwillingly, to war just rubs me the wrong way.

The character of Dr. Tomorrow appears first in the Acclaim Universe in 1941-42, as far as I can tell. Only a few years after Action Comics #1 goes on sale and kicks off the Golden Age of Superheroes. It's not a new device for installing a history into a newly-created shared narrative, but it's a good one. As we recognize various ages of comics, we also recognize how those ages work together to create the foundations of a shared narrative universe. When writing a story of the Golden Age of a setting, there are certain signs and signals that let us know what kind of a history is being installed. It's a superheroic history, of course, but that isn't just communicated by the captions and artwork - it's communicated in the way that the comic is in dialogue with the actual, "real world" history of the superhero genre. Like giving your hero an origin point near to the first big three DC heroes. In Gerard Way's take on Doom Patrol, he hints at a figure called the God of Superheroes, the Platonic form of all of the superheroes that have come since. By stationing Dr. Tomorrow so close to the early originals, the comic signals that he is to become a template figure for the shared universe moving forward, similarly to how Captain America has been positioned in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sadly, I'm not sure Acclaim's version of the Valiant Universe lasted long enough for any of this admitted speculation to come to fruition.

But we got a pretty cool comic series out of it. Oh, and today's issue is a tribute to Will Eisner and his early Spirit adventures.

"I made it a rule to never look into the future more than a year at a time."

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2354: Doctor Tomorrow #1, September 1997

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(Yeah, yeah, 2 in a row. Contain yer excitement 😏 Going to try a bit of a format change for a while, see how it feels.)

Publisher: Acclaim Comics

Writer: Bob Layton

Penciller: Don Perlin

Cover Artist: Mike Mignola

I've had this one kicking about the collection for about 20 years now. I started finding Acclaim comics in the comic bin at a used bookstore in Kitchener, ON, that I'm sure has gone the way of most used bookstores nowadays. It's where I first found Quantum & Woody, and where I started poking my nose into the Valiant/Acclaim universe. I've always found the idea of a historically presented superhero universe, like Astro City, for example, and this series is a cool way for the Acclaim superhero universe, relatively new, to establish a history for itself.

I don't really know much about the series, having only read this issue, but I'm intrigued by the premise, though I have inklings already, of an ontological paradoxical nature, about what's going to happen.

Or, perhaps I think I do, except that I don't. Bear with me. The series is the brainchild of writer/inker Bob Layton. Each issue has a different art team, and is presented in tribute to a particular luminary of Comics' history. Today's is a paean to Jack Kirby. I'm missing a couple of the later issues, which I may try to track down in the next few days, but I noticed at some point that Mr. Layton's name does not appear on the final issue. And, being, as far as I can tell, a fairly open company about the ways things work behind the scenes, there's an explanation in the back matter of the final issue. According to this, Layton asked to have his name removed from the issue because he had differences with the editorial department over how the series should end. The editorial side had plans for a character from later in the series that must have somehow conflicted with Mr. Layton's, as the writer, original ending.

That got me thinking about The Eternals. Not the movie, but the mid-80s maxi-series from Marvel that dropped around the same time as Squadron Supreme. The last four issues of that series, originally helmed by Peter B. Gillis, were written by Walt Simonson. It's been a while since I've looked, but I imagine the excuse given for Gillis' departure is similar to that given for Layton's. I wondered, briefly, why this might be the case until I realized that by the end of the series, there would have been significant sales figures for previous issues, indicating whether or not it was worthwhile to continue the character/series somehow. And that continuity, the imposition of the shared narrative universe, on what looks to be a story with a definite end, has to cause some ruptures. Perhaps I'll look into it a bit more over the next few days as I continue Dr. Tomorrow's cool-ass history.

"Who is this mysterious man from the future who has joined forces with the allied march into Europe?"

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2353: Valiant FCBD 2016 - 4001 A.D. Prologue

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I honestly hadn't intended for there to be months between posts anymore, but, y'know, holy shit life gets in the way sometimes. I've been channeling a lot of my creative energies into music over the last few months, managing to compile three full albums of music that I hope to somehow release to the world once I figure out a good way to do so. And comics have fallen by the wayside.

Sort of.

I've kept up with the reading, and since we last met I've made my way through most of the Harris Comics content in the collection. I've come to appreciate Vampirella a bit more now - I made the classic mistake of seeing what she looked like and assuming that was the be-all and end-all of the character. It's shocking to realize, only every now and again thankfully, how much that kind of thinking, especially with regard to women, has been intrinsically programmed into my psyche. I've been thinking a lot lately about the ways that I have to deprogram myself from the toxically masculine behaviours that were performed as the norm for me when I was still learning how to human. Going back to school helped in a big way, but moments like this remind me that I have to remain vigilant.

So, yeah, Vampirella's a kick-ass lady who uses her scantily-clad appearance to stop enemies in their tracks, giving her the opening to kill the hell out of them. And she's battling in an America that's been, in some ways, taken over by all the creatures of the night that we fear. And her boyfriend's a creature-hunting congressman. It's all pretty great and ridiculous, and just good comics.

After that, I decided to dive into the Valiant/Acclaim publishing universe. There's a couple of longer runs in there that I skipped over, and will perhaps start on tomorrow, but I'm glad I did my overview first, as the Valiant/Acclaim universe is one with which I'm only tangentially familiar. I was a fan of the Acclaim Comics iteration in the early Naughts, but only, sadly, as that line was imploding. Quantum & Woody still ranks as one of the best superhero stories I've read, and I only wish Mr. Priest and Mr. Bright had been able to finish telling their story. I'll talk more about that soon, I hope. All that said, I'm going to be a little more on the lookout for Valiant/Acclaim stuff when I'm doing my dollar bin or TPB buying. I've managed to read bits and pieces across about 4 different iterations of this universe, as far as I can tell, and each of them have been really quite good. I think I used to link Valiant to Image too much, as the most prominent Valiant exposure I've had was their crossover with early Image in Deathmate. But where Image was over the top and grandiose, Valiant took a different route. I wonder if anyone's ever compared them with DC and Marvel at the beginning of the Marvel Era? Valiant takes the Marvel route of grounding its heroes in the "real" world, and it works almost too well. There's a series called Armorines, about, you guessed it, an armoured Marine squad. The characters are really well done, and there's some excellent commentary on U.S.-Cuban relations, from a diasporic point of view even (!), but it's still very pro-military in a way that just doesn't sit right with me. I've noticed this in only a few comics as I've been going through the collection, but there's definitely ones written so much farther right on the political spectrum of where I sit that it becomes noticeable. The key, I suppose, is to appreciate that the belief in that particular ideological perspective has created what amounts to a wonderful popular work of art. The artists behind the work all obviously feel strongly about the material they're presenting, and that's fabulous. Indeed, I get that feeling from all of the Valiant/Acclaim books - but again, they promote a "Bullpen" atmosphere in their back matter, so perhaps I'm simply buying into the rhetoric that Stan Lee perfected back in the 60s.

Ah, voluminous. I really ought to try to get back to daily writing.

More to come.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2270: The First Kingdom #6, 1977

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 I have definitely, definitely, complained on this blog about misleading covers on comics. Sadly, today's is one. Tundran and Fara, seen so joyously holding hands and hunting on the cover, never meet in the interior of the issue. Fara's life, post-slavery (oh, yeah, she's enslaved and leads a revolt and then escapes last issue), is taken up with the old hunter Nator, who is banished after Darkemoor is slain. He hitches his star to her wagon and trains and befriends her. Though the passage of time is not always well-delineated in the series, I think by the end of this issue, she's about 11 or 12. You'll notice that even from the cover, Mr. Katz has started changing her design, especially in light of how she was depicted on the previous cover. While Tundran retains his muscled build, Fara's is fading into the lithe form of the vast majority of women in the series. This is not to say that they're not still strong warriors, only that the "ideal" that Katz shoots for in his depictions is more influenced by the thin female forms of the 70s than by what an actual hunter/warrior maiden might actually look like.

However, far more intriguing is the delving back into the past of Terog and Himemet's lives. Definitely more of a science fiction bent, and some really intriguing clues dropped as to the origins of the Transgods of Helleas Voran. There's an introductory piece by Mark Evanier in this issue, and he notes that, in creating such rich and complex worlds, few writers manage to do so "without pillaging other creators' universes." He goes on to say that Katz actually has, and I think I'd have to agree. I don't see any reflections of other epics, fictional or not, aside from the very broad strokes of there being gods, and a godly realm, and a hell realm, though with the aforementioned clues in this issue, I'm starting to question if those realms, and those gods, are actually what I think they are. And then there's the mysterious references to "the experiment" throughout the issue. There's something deep and interesting going on here. I'm happy to be experiencing it.

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2269: The First Kingdom #5, 1976

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 "The Children of the Tamra." The Tamra, if I'm understanding context, is what the people of this era call Earth, so in naming Tundran and Fara (whose birth is chronicled this issue, and who is the reincarnation of the goddess Selowan) so, we're being given yet another clue as to the importance of these two characters. You'll also see a seated figure up there between the two children - this is the Oracle, who has shown up since the first issue and given some dire predictions about Tundran's life. Poor kid.

I have to say, these kids are ripped. Not just on the cover, but as we witness their development through the issue, they're in super-great shape. As is, literally, everyone in the series. Perhaps it's as a result of the harsh environment in which they live, but there doesn't look like there's the opportunity, or genetic predisposition I suppose, to grow...softer. This is a hard world full of hard people. That said, both children were born of great love, so beneath the chiseled exteriors must dwell some gentler emotion.

I'm going to step lightly into a dodgy subject now. I want to offer some thoughts on Mr. Katz's depictions of nude and semi-nude children in this issue. I noted in a previous post that the majority of the people in this series are bare with the exception of tiny, tiny codpieces. In introducing characters who are minors, I wondered how Mr. Katz would handle the nudity. Turns out, he handles it just the same way he handles the nudity of everyone involved. It's there because of the environment and that's it. Not for titillation but for narrative consistency. What's quite wonderful about these depictions is that there's really not that much difference between the pre-pubescent forms of Tundran and Fara - perhaps some slight deviations due to biological sex, but in their abilities and their early development, they're just kids. I'm curious to see if, as the two mature, if they err more toward the typical representations of male and female in the rest of the series. Males seem to be muscular and developed, while women are slender and lithe, with little muscle definition. I think to take away Fara's more muscular design simply because she goes through puberty would be a shame. If she's to be a companion for Tundran (and I think that's where things are heading), then let her keep her warrior physique as he tries to regain his kingdom.

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2268: The First Kingdom #4, 1976

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Book four completes the introductory parts of The First Kingdom, introducing what Mr. Katz himself calls the hero of the series, Tundran. Though I came to enjoy Darkenmoor's story, it seems he is a precursor, and that his son, born in tragic circumstances, will be the focal character for the remaining 20 books of the epic.

The other interesting aspect added in today's comic is a dash of science fiction, as we are given the origins of Darkenmoor's mutant companion Terog and his love Himemet. Their story cements the idea that this is a post-apocalyptic Earth, as the two mutants start out life as human-looking creatures from another galaxy who head to Earth to try to stop the imminent nuclear holocaust. They don't quite make it, and then are exposed to radiation that turns them to their current, diminutive (and long-lived?) forms. I'm curious to see if the science fiction aspect becomes more prominent as the series unfolds, though I only have up to issue 8, so I'm going to have to do some hunting soon.

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2267: The First Kingdom #3, 1975

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And finally we see the founding of Darkenmoor's "Gan," the major city of the First Kingdom. I find it amusing that the technological level is probably about Iron Age but no one wears any clothes. I'm considering that it could be that the temperature is constantly so warm that they don't need clothes, and that there's no nudity taboo in the culture. Or that Katz just like drawing (and who doesn't?) naked people. It reminds me very much of Mike Grell's work on The Warlord, and that series explicitly notes the temperature of Skataris. Perhaps with this being technically a post-apocalyptic setting, the ambient radiation adds to the temperature. It certainly is meant to have mutated many, if not all, of the animals in the world, and some of the people.

One character I'm finding both confusing and annoying is an old prophet who just keeps showing up and dropping cryptic hints about Darkenmoor's son and then disappearing. I'm just not sure where he came from - he's one of the few characters that we haven't really been given even a little bit of background. I'm banking on time traveller.

We also get our first major death, maybe, in today's issue. Nedlaya, Darkenmoor's mortal love, despairingly throws herself from a cliff after finding out about the hunter's immortal love, Selowan. I say maybe because there's never a body recovered, and somehow Darkenmoor needs to sire an heir and Nedlaya was the primary candidate for Queen and Mother that we've seen thus far.

Katz produced this series, to begin with, 2 issues per year. And he leaves us on cliffhangers, which is a strange choice for such a spaced-out publication schedule. I think I'd have made each issue self-contained. Trying to keep the momentum of a cliffhanger over 6 months would be difficult, and, aside from Darkenmoor and Selowan, the characters are fairly thinly-scripted, so there's not a lot of investment there yet either. This is another of those series that, I think, works better as a whole rather than as a serial.

More to follow.

Further Reading and Related Links

An interview with Mr. Katz from a few years back. Some insight into the series and its finale.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2266: The First Kingdom #2, 1975

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 I read the first issue of this sprawling epic years ago as part of my magazine read-through. I don't think that's likely to pick up any time in the near future, and I'm curious as to where the story's heading, so let's get stuck in.

Continuing the tale of Darkenmoor the hunter as he travels across the wasted realms to found the First Kingdom, Katz's epic continues to lay out the history of the post-apocalyptic world (well, we're assuming it's post-apocalyptic - the editorials make reference to this, but there's been little evidence in the actual narrative). Today's issue gives us some history of the "Transgods" that seem to rule over this world. I was concerned that it was going to turn into one of those things where I'd have to try and remember a billion names, but it really doesn't appear so. There's a large-ish main cast, but not so large that I have to turn back pages and remember who each character is. The only problem is that with some of the gods the designs are very, very similar. There's differences in height, but not a lot of difference in design, even of clothing. But there's few enough of the characters that it only takes moments to sort out who we're talking about.

As much as I'm getting to know the characters, there's definitely a sense that it's not really Darkenmoor and his people we're that interested in, so much as his son, of whose future fate we get occasional glimpses and prophecies.

And then there's that format. As I noted in my previous entry I'm not a huge fan of the reliance on expositive captioning, but the editorials have pointed to the experimental nature of Katz's work. I'm trying to embrace that.

More to follow.

Further Reading or Related Links

The First Kingdom puts me in mind of Marvel's awesome Weirdworld.

And, this venerable series still has a web presence! 

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2265: Skull #6, 1972

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Yet more EC-inspired creepiness in today's issue. The story actually reminds me a lot of Lovecraft's "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward," albeit with a bit more sex and violence. It's a full-issue story, written by Tom Veitch and illustrated by Greg Irons and Richard Corben. Mr. Veitch originally came to my attention as the writer of Animal Man after Peter Milligan's follow-up to Morrison's glorious run. His work on the title, incredibly ably assisted by Steve Dillon, is sadly amongst the more forgettable parts of the series. That said, it's been ages since I've read it, so perhaps it would read better now that I have some idea of where Mr. Veitch cut his teeth. I'd be ecstatic to see some underground influence in his tale of Buddy Baker returning to the life of a stunt man.

As for the story, the more I think about it, the more it really is Charles Dexter Ward's story. A warlock in the past figures out a way to inhabit his ancestor in the future in order to continue his arcane researches. Inbetween we have the unfortunate story of the woman who is impregnated by the warlock and who, at least on the surface, serves simply as a device to carry the story forward. There is a nice little twist at the end, however,  that redeems her somewhat.

----------------------------------------

In the couple of months I've been away, I've continued reading for the project, making my way through my "A" publishers. I'll continue on with that tomorrow, having exhausted my new pile of undergrounds.

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2264: Mr. Natural #3, 1977

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Though he's considered the founder of the underground comix movement, I don't really enjoy R. Crumb's comics all that much. He's been rightly called out for his violent and misogynistic portrayals of women in his work, as well as his use of ethnic caricature, well into a time when he should have know that such things were not particularly acceptable.

Mr. Natural is a pretty OK character, an old Hippie trying to find the peace and cosmic tranquility promised by that generation. In today's issue, his quest for enlightenment causes him to be placed in an asylum, and that's actually the last we see of the titular hero. The next few pages are made up of slimy magazine editors trying to get the story on Mr. Natural and how this icon of the 60s ended up locked up in the 70s.

Some of the reading I did on Shamanism way back when points to the idea that, in tribal societies, the shaman often lives apart from the rest of the tribe, and evinces behaviours that we, in our spiritually-vacant scientific way, would label as schizophrenic. To this end, whenever I pass someone on the street who is obviously living in both our world and another one that only they can see, I tend to listen, just in case I glean a pearl of wisdom from them. We treat our extreme neuroatypical people like they're diseased, rather than touched by something that we cannot understand completely. These are the sorts of things I was thinking about while reading this comic. Mr. Natural is committed by his old friend Flaky Foont who, by the 70s, has moved on from enlightenment seeking and into the secular reactionary period of the late 70s and 1980s. The Hippie stuff didn't make its way back around until the 90s, when I was in high school.

This is, of course, not to say that when someone is suffering from a mental state that is dangerous to themselves and others that we shouldn't take some steps to keep everyone from harm. But perhaps we ought to be listening to what they're saying and not simply taking it as the ramblings of a diseased mind.

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2263: Slow Death #2, 1970

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 I really love Dave Sheridan's work. He illustrates the first tale in this issue and, if I'm to be completely honest, it's the way he illustrates naked women that really gets me. They're just really well...rendered.

As with yesterday's Skull, this issue, and perhaps series, takes a good deal of inspiration from the old EC horror comics. I continue to be amazed at the influence that this relatively short-lived run of horror comics has had on the industry even to this day. Amazed, but not surprised. I've read enough of them to know that, literally, they're some of the best comics to have been produced in the West, despite their subject matter which might not sit well for all readers. Apparently it did sit well for the creators of these underground comix.

Further to that, the undergrounds themselves are hugely influential, highlighted in R. Crumb's dubious recognition as an American artistic icon. For my own education, then, I wonder if it behooves me to find out what it was that was influencing the writers of the old ECs. I've tried going back and reading some of the venerable newspaper strips of the time, but they don't really do much for me. It could be that the comics of 100 years ago don't speak to me the way they did to the artists they influenced, I guess.

Of course, I ought to mention Richard Corben, or Gore, whose story in this issue contains his trademark large boobs and disgusting revenants. A neat little horror tale that looks a little too close to home if I think about it hard enough.

More to follow.

Further Reading and Related Links

 As I was searching for links, I found out that Mr. Corben died in December of last year (2020). As if it wasn't a bad enough time. Check out his official website, the digital ghost that lingers from his passing.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2262: Skull #5, 1972

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  When I picked this comic up, I had no idea that it was a collection of adaptations of Lovecraft's tales. Though I'm having a bit of a tough time with old HPL these days, given that his work is just brimming over with disgusting racism, but it's undeniable the influence he's had on writers and artists in the 100 or so years that his work has been in publication. And, in the fifty or so years since this comic was published, the ways we think about, and recognize, racism have become much more sophisticated.

That said, not many of the gross parts of Lovecraft's stories, ideologically speaking, show up in this comic. In fact, they're all pretty excellent adaptations, the Larry Todd "Shadow Out of the Abyss," an adaptation of "The Shadow Out of Time," is definitely the stand out. I've always liked that story. It also turns out that, potentially, the previous issue of this series is the first appearance of Cthulhu in a comic book. That basically immediately shoots it to the top of the hunt list. Always a good feeling.

For those, like myself, who may be wrestling with Lovecraft's racism, here's one way of doing it. I find such attitudes thoroughly repugnant, so when I read one of his stories, because it is undeniable that there is something brilliant and incredible about them, the layer of racism actually ads a level of horror for me. Rather than simply being scared or titillated by the actual events of the story, the added inflection of racism, when it becomes apparent, makes the stories even more horrifying. The excellent Internet critic hbomberguy does some cool stuff with Lovecraft, including talking about being queer and liking HPL's work. In the final analysis, he suggests also that it would thoroughly piss off the old racist to know that we're reading and talking about his work the way we are. And that's what racists deserve.

More to follow.

Further Reading and Related Links

Check out the rest of hbomberguy's stuff on YouTube.

Unsurprisingly, Lovecraft shows up quite a bit in my writing. Shocking, I know. 

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2261: Rip Off Comix #1, 1977

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I've had some thoughts on anthology comics over the years. They often simply don't work, owing to an uneven quality of story, or a poor choice of mixture. Dark Horse Presents is the only one I can think of that had a successful run. Most others, like the excellent Oni Double Feature lasted less than a year, despite having luminaries like Neil Gaiman, Paul Dini, and Kevin Smith writing for them.

The thing is, many underground comix are anthologies, and they don't seem to suffer from the same problems, as far as I can see. Yes, they tend to have short runs (because they're self-published, dontcha know?), though today's title managed to survive about 15 years. Now, it only published 31 issues in that time, but still.

So what it is that makes an underground anthology work as opposed to a ground level or mainstream anthology? I don't actually think it has too much to do with the actual art and story, not from a quality perspective, as we might think with more recent attempts at anthologies. Instead, I'd argue that it stems from a focus of perspective and context from the artists. Underground creators tend to spring from the Hippie movement, and their stories, despite their disparity, have a constancy of philosophy that makes the anthology work. Here we have creators who are not afraid to put their social ideologies right there on the page, and who are also not afraid to laugh at and critique those very philosophies. They tell us what they believe in but also that it's okay to not take these philosophies, and by dint of that any philosophies, very seriously. I think that it we all took our personal philosophies a little less seriously, the world, pandemic aside, would be in much better shape.

So much good stuff in here, but the Wonder Warthog cover with all my fave superheroes, and the story within in which he has to apply for welfare, are the standouts. The unemployment stuff covered in that story is chillingly similar to what we face these days. No wonder these comics are talking to me now.

More to follow.

Further Reading and Related Links

If you've never read the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, or The Griffith Observatory, or Wonder Warthog, head over to Rip Off Press and give them a try. You won't be disappointed. 

 

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2260: Compost Comics #1, 1973

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As Abed says at the beginning of Community season 2, "And we're back." I've decided that it's time I get back to my routines - they're very helpful for someone with ADHD, and I've let them, and my mental health, slide, for far too long. So I'm really going to try this time.

I posted a picture of this comic and some others that I bought last week on my Instagram, which I'll also be getting back to. I think I may open up a Twitter and Facebook page for the GBoC as well. And, I'd forgotten, but there's a GBoC Pinterest page too. Just gotta make sure I don't get sucked into them again.

Soooo....this was a pretty great comic. Honestly, in much the same way that the EC horror comics are, it's difficult to find an underground comic that isn't great. Sometimes they're off-putting and awful, but that's the whole point and they say what they want to say, and what they mean to say, without too much obfuscation.

Also, the comic says "Vegetarians Only" on the cover, so I was wooed immediately. Published in 1973 (a year before my own advent), the comic deals with the Hippie movement pretty much full on. Though often associated with the previous decade, the Hippies really came into their own in the wake of the Summer of Love (1969, for those of you who are very young), and spent the first few years of the 70s trying to bring about the perfect world they envisioned. Then cocaine happened, and the Hippies started on their downward journey to becoming Boomers. *sigh*

For me, the highlight (pun intended) is a Larry Todd "Dr. Atomic" story. I like the doctor. He reminds me of me, had I been a scientifically-inclined pot-head in the early years of the 70s. The rest of the pieces are entertaining, especially the weird little alternate history tale at the end, giving us the "true origin of civilization" while still sticking, at least geographically, to the very fertile valley towhich we often assign the earliest of civilizations. Some history along with our drug-fuelled insanity.

I have to admit, I'd gotten out of comics for a bit. When Doom Patrol: Weight of Worlds and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl ended, I really couldn't find anything to interest me anymore. It happens occasionally. But I'm back in, with continuation of the absolutely brilliant The Wrong Earth and the very strange Ice Cream Man. Check them out. They're really good.

More to follow.

Further Reading and Related Links

There's not much out there about Larry Todd, one of today's artists. Here's his Wikipedia page. 

But if you're interested in what I've had to say about Underground comics, here it all is.

 

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2169: Eternal Thirst #4, 1990

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 Nazis and Vampires and Spies, oh my!

In an effort to return to semi-daily writing, I decided to return to alphabetically reading my collection, albeit alphabetical by publisher name, as that's how the collection is organized at the moment. Making my way through the A miscellaneous section has been interesting - some good stuff, some truly not good stuff. But that's how comics go, and I'd never want them to change.

Honestly, the thing that struck me most about this comic, one that tells the origin of the vampire spy on the cover at the hands of a Nazi scientist during the Second World War, is that swastika up on the cover. While I was working at the Glenbow Museum, I'd often take students on tours through our "Warriors" gallery. Amongst the swords and armour where definitely a few bits of Nazi memorabilia, and it fascinated the kids for some reason. I always tried to contextualize it for them, but sometimes kids just like things because they're not supposed to. I get it though. When I was growing up, the Nazis were a really great bad guy to have, because you could get away with doing anything to them and no one was going to complain. To a certain extent it's still the same, but now we have actual neo-Nazis on the world stage, much more in view than they used to be, and it's harder to use them as entertainment. For the kids at the museum, they haven't really connected the evil villains they might have some notion of with the violent lunatics who hijacked the American government for the last few years. Though, perhaps, that's a good thing. Leave them unburdened while we can, as the burden never leaves once you take it on.

Another interesting thing about today's comic is it features early work by Paul Pelletier, whose work on Mark Waid's Flash is amongst my favourite stories. It's cool to see where some artists and writers get their beginnings, and to see where they eventually end up.

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2143: Midnighter #7, February 2016

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Fucking Prometheus. I mean, it's only fitting that he show up, given that his defeat of Batman in Grant Morrison's JLA is one of the great defeats of the dark knight. Also given that Midnighter has very similar abilities to both Prometheus and Batman, this confrontation was perhaps inevitable. But how Prometheus sets our hero up is brutal. Truly, truly brutal. I loved it, and it firmly cemented Midnighter as one of the great characters in the DCU.

I know that the character of Prometheus has undergone a number of changes and shifts of identity in the years since Morrison introduced him (back in the late 90s), but this iteration of the character seemed to be the exact model that was first introduced, an anti-Batman so to speak, and I was glad to see that origin maintained. The New 52 was an interesting experiment, and it gave us some really excellent comics, but I also think it messed around too much with the origins of characters, and those origins, very often, are what define the character more than anything they go through subsequently. For instance, let's imagine that we actually knew the Midnighter's real name and origin. All of a sudden, rather than a forward-facing force for justice, Midnighter would be a backward looking character reacting to their origin. Batman, for example. To me, this would severely detract from the character. I hope we never find out. I was very much against the Wolverine: Origin series back in the day too - why do we need to know where the character came from? Isn't it what they do now, in "present time," that is important? A curious conversation. Do we need to know the origins of our heroes? If we transfer the question to our lived existence, the sad truth is that the more we know about our heroes, the less we tend to like them. People are, simply, people. But superheroes aren't always meant to be people - more often, they're meant to be legends. And the truth behind a legend is always going to be more disappointing that the legend itself. Just ask King Arthur. Or Jesus.

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2138: Midnighter #2, September 2015

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The opening of the previous issue shows someone breaking into a satellite called The God Garden (I'm convinced it's the remains of the creature the Authority dispatches in #12 of the original series) where lots of scary technology is being kept. Said tech is stolen. Today's issue features someone who has somehow acquired some of that tech, and is set to take revenge on a corporation whose negligence resulted in the death of someone she loved. The Midnighter steps in to stop her, but, as it turns out, only because he disagrees with how she's doing it, not what she's doing. And once he stops her from killing the corporate leaders, he goes on to severely injure them, and offers the tech-enhanced woman help, rather than simply incarceration.

This is a nice twist. Basically, Midnighter is a violent, gay Batman. He's awesome and charming and very, very scary. But he also has a unwavering moral compass, not often present in pseudo-sociopaths (except maybe Dexter), and, somehow, a desire to help not just those who are recipients of crime but also the perpetrators. The Authority was always a very socially-conscious comic, and it's nice to see later writers keeping that aspect of the characterization.

Also, this issue features what I think is 100% the best use of Midnighter's computer brain that lets him famously see the outcome of any fight before it's happened. Sadly, it's during an argument with his partner.

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2137: Midnighter #1, August 2015

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 Warren Ellis' Stormwatch, in which The Midnighter makes his debut, and The Authority, are amongst my favourite superhero comics. Setting aside, for just the moment, the problems we now face in taking in Ellis' work, he and artists Tom Raney and Bryan Hitch created perhaps one of the best politically-inflected superhero books of the current era. Stormwatch uncovers, in a much different way than Ellis and Cassaday's Planetary, a superheroic history for the Wildstorm Universe (which is likely all moot these days, sadly), while The Authority depicts superheroes doing all of those things that I've never understood them not doing in less...um...brutal superhero stories.

Anyway, this series is great. I laughed out loud, I was surprised, I was entertained. Equal parts brutal superhero story and gay dating narrative, I'm saddened that it only runs 12 issues, but very happy that I have them all. This run was part of the large collection I bought last October, though I only opened up the chunk I'd set aside in the last few days. I'm intrigued at jumping back into this particular corner of the DCU, especially since my last exposure to this character was when he existed in a separate continuum from the mainstream DC heroes. I know he's had some run-ins with Dick Grayson prior to this series, but I'm curious to see him versus Batman (which I'm sure will never happen), or standing up to Superman. Or hitting on the Martian Manhunter. I think that'd be right up The Midnighter's alley.

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2136: La parthenogeneige, January 2001

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 A weird little Winter tale about the difficulty of being alone. It seems quite appropriate these days. A man makes a child out of snow and spends the rest of the comic trying to make it so that the child will stop melting. There are no words, only pictures, and a wonderfully simple art style. I've had this comic in the collection for many years now, and I read it every now and again. I'm amazed that such a short piece with, relatively, such sparse content can invite so many re-readings. I suppose that's the mark of a really well done comic.

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2126: Dennis the Menace Bonus Magazine #170, October 1977

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 I have always had a bit of a prejudice toward Dennis the Menace as I'm of English origin, and associate the name with a very, very different character. Of late, I've had to re-evaluate my warm, nostalgic feelings for the old Beano and Dandy comics that were some of my first forays into sequential storytelling. I tried to read some recently, some fairly recent issues actually, and they're so, so racist. I'm a bit shocked, to tell you the truth, but it really does actually highlight a fairly noticeable difference between comic produced by English-speaking countries. The comics of the UK definitely have a different take on race, and its depiction, than do those in North America. Though, in the case of today's comic, the take on race is that there is no race. This is a very white comic.

Anyway, it was a couple of cute Christmas stories about Dennis being a little shit and then learning the value of being kind and generous. Which, I feel, is the basic plotline of every Dennis the Menace comic I've ever read.

More to follow.