Darwyn Cooke: A Remembrance of His Work

I had a completely different, much lighter piece planned for yesterday, and I'll probably post that recommended reading next Friday, but when I heard the new that Darwyn Cooke, easily one of my favorite cartoonists in comics, had entered palliative care for aggressive cancer,  I decided to pull back and write an appreciation of Cooke's work and post it today. Sadly, it was just confirmed that Darwyn Cooke has passed away, and while part of me wanted to wait a little longer, I decided instead to just pour out my feelings right here and right now.

I picked up Batman: Ego, a prestige format one-shot that Cooke both wrote and drew the week it came out, and that was a comic that completely blew me off my feet. It was an examination of Batman's psyche, diving into the dark recesses of why Batman does what he does, and when I put it down, I looked at the name of the creator and I though, "This guy is going to be huge." I found out he had next to no comic credits before that. but had worked with Warner Animation on Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond, and you could see the influence of those shows' designs on his work, or vice verse, but everything Cooke touched had its own special Cooke feel as well.

Cooke didn't stick to one genre. While he drew amazing superheroes, he didn't even stick to one universe. His work on DC was usually reminiscent of the Silver Age, with bright, bold panels, but he drew the first arc of Ed Brubaker's Catwoman, one of the most noir influenced of any Batman title, and Cooke wrote and drew the original graphic novel Selina's Big Score, a prequel to that run that was an absolute noir. While he wrote two charming, Silver Age-inspired Spider-Man stories in the anthology title Tangled Web he also pencilled an issue of the late X-Force series, a character spotlight on U-Go-Girl, a comic that was very modern in theme and tone, as well as a the spinoff mini-series Wolverine/Doop.

It was clear from his work how much Cooke loved crime stories. Not only did he do Selina's Big Score, but he resurrected Will Eisner's The Spirit for DC, following Eisner's mystery man/crime formula, folding Denny Colt into a more modern milieu without losing what made the series what it was. And his adaptations of Donald Westlake/Richard Stark's Parker series were a delight, these gritty noir stories adapted perfectly into comics, with style that matched the content; I write a recommendation of them very early on in this blog's life, and those books are some of the best adaptations of prose into comics that I have ever read.

There's so many other things Cooke did, that it wold take a series of posts to discuss them all. His Before Watchmen: Minutemen spotlighted his attention to historical detail. His work on Jonah Hex and All-Star Western showed he was just as capable with Westerns as he was with crime stories. He drew countless covers for all manner of comics. His last work (to date anyway. We can hope for some remaining work to make it out as a tribute), Twilight Children, was a sci-fi or fantasy piece with Gilbert Hernandez that was a strange little tale of a town in Latin America that is nothing like anything Cooke had done before.

And I've left one piece off this post until the end, because it was something that is so special to me that I wanted to thing a bit before I wrote. DC: The New Frontier was a retelling of the origins of the Silver Age of DC Comics set in a more or less historically accurate late 1950s. The Red Scare is in full swing, and racism is a day to day fact. But, despite all of that, it is a story of hope, of the dawning of a new age, of heroes, and of possibility. It is a comic that is filled with every DC hero you can imagine, and many an obscure Silver Age appearance. Martian Manhunter is a huge part of it, and Cooke captures the lost soul/stranger in a strange land thing better than most. Hal Jordan, the test pilot, is the standard bearer for the age, as he was a hero in both identities, but ti doesn't skimp on the big three either; as a matter of fact, his Wonder Woman in the series is one of the most physically intimidating and fascinating portrayals of the character I've ever seen. I not only bought all six issues, but I have the gorgeous, slipcased Absolute Edition with tons of research and background, and it's one of my favorite graphic novels in my collection.

I sadly never got the chance to meet Darwyn Cooke. I read all sorts of stories about him; some said that he could be prickly, others said he was a warm, pleasant soul. I think that just makes him human. He was the number one artist I would have wanted to get a commission from, and would have paid top dollar, and although I probably would have asked for the Batman Beyond suit to stay with my Batman theme, it would have been hard to resist asking for Martian Manhunter. Sadly, that will never come to pass. I wish he could have done a couple more Parker adaptations. I wish he could have released the Image mini-series, Revengeance, that was announced last year. I wish his family could have spent more time with him. My condolences to the Cooke family, and I hope you know how much his work touched me and his other fans. Thank you, Darwyn Cooke.

In his memory, the Cooke family has asked for donations to be made to the HERO Initiative and the Canadian Cancer Society.

DC Comics New Series Announcements Make for Some Good News on a Friday.

So, I go onto the internet this morning, and what do I see? A whole slew of new DC titles announced! I'm going to put on hold what I normally would do on Friday so I can gather the list here and comment on the books I'm excited for, which look like quite a few of them. The list has been confirmed over a couple sites, so I feel safe running with it.

Bat-Mite by writer Dan Jurgens and artist Corin Howell

I love Bat-Mite. That might be an unpopular opinion, but when you look at Alan Grant's amusing Dark Mite stories from the 90s, Grant Morrison's darker take from his run on Batman, and Paul Reubens's bonkers portrayal of the character on Batman: The Brave and the Bold, you can see there's potential for something fun in Batman's universe.

Batman Beyond by writer Dan Jurgens and artist Bernard Chang

New 52: Futures End has turned out to be a far better series than I had anticipated, and part of that has been its use of Terry McGinnis. I'm not entirely sold on him interacting with the DCU, but that series has made me curious to see what could happen. I don't know exactly how this series will spin out of Futures End, whether Terry will arrive in the present, still be five years in the future, or back to his own time, and what that will look like, but I'm curious enough to check it out.

Bizzaro by writer Heath Corson and artist Gustavo Duarte

Black Canary by writer Brenden Fletcher and artist Annie Wu

The new run on Batgirl has been very well received, and I've enjoyed it for the most part. Barbara as a modern 20-something wasn't on my list of things to expect, and I was already acting like I was in my 30s in my 20s, so her experience doesn't speak to me as much, but it's smart and well written. The main surprise for me was the surly, grouchy Black Canary as supporting cast member, and how much I like Fletcher and Cloonan's take on her. The idea of Black Canary as the singer in a band is so natural an idea, I'm shocked no one has done it before, and making Black Canary an on the road, rock n roll action superhero comic is brilliant. Annie Wu's art on the Kate Bishop Hawkeye issues were gorgeous and gritty, so I think she's a perfect fit for the title.

Constantine: The Hellblazer by Ming Doyle and Riley Rossmo

I never felt like Constantine worked in DC's house art style, so Riley Rossmo, one of the kings of modern horror/monster/action comics (Proof, Green Wake, Bedlam, Rasputin) drawing Constantine? Sign me up.

Cyborg by writer David L. Walker and artists Ivan Reis and Joe Prado

This one is a long time coming. A Cyborg monthly has felt like a gimme since his addition to the Justice League in the post-Flashpoint world. It feels like DC is really giving this a push, by putting one of it's A-List artists on the book. And getting an African American writer for the title will help with DC's creator diversity issues. I'm not familiar with Walker's work, but I'm willing to see what he'll do with Vic.

Dark Universe by writer James Tynion IV and artist Ming Doyle

Doomed by writer Scott Lobdell and artist Javier Fernandez

Dr. Fate by writer Paul Levitz and artist Sonny Liew

Earth 2: Society by writer Daniel H. Wilson and artist Jorge Jimenez

Green Lantern: Lost Army by Cullen Bunn, Jesus Saiz & Javi Pina

Harley Quinn/Power Girl by writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, with artist Stephane Roux

After the recent team-up arc in Harley's ongoing, this combo is going to be one to watch for sheer madcap joy. They fought supervillains, alien warlords, and each other, as well as performing a burlesque act. What more can they do? Plenty, if Palmiotti and Conner's past stories are any indication.

Justice League 3001 with the same creative team of Keith Giffen and Howard Porter

Justice League of America by writer/artist Brian Hitch

Martian Manhunter by writer Rob Williams and artists Ben Oliver and Paulo Siqueira

I love the Martian Manhunter, I've never hidden that. But I've not warmed to the dark, manipulative Manhunter of the post-Flashpoint world. It seems that, since Superman has been doing the Stranger in a Strange Land thing that was always part of J'onn's character, J'onn has gone darker. There have been some light spots, particularly his relationship with Stargirl (once more proving J'onn is DC's Wolverine, mentoring young heroines), but mostly he's been a mind-wiping mastermind type of character. I don't know if this title will change that, or will simply flesh it out more, but either option is the least a great character like J'onn deserves.

Midnighter by writer Steve Orlando and artist ACO

 Mystic U by writer Alisa Kwitney and artist Mauricet

Omega Men by writer Tom King and artist Barnaby Bagenda

Prez by writer Mark Russell and artist Ben Caldwell 

Thanks to Neil Gaiman's use of the original Prez, a character from a 70s comic about the first teenage president of the USA, in The Sandman, the character is not completely forgotten, and well, it's just so weird an idea I can't resist seeing what the concept will look like so many years after it's initial conception.

Red Hood/Arsenal by writer Scott Lobdell and artist Denis Medri

Robin, Son of Batman by writer/artist Pat Gleason

Taking the place of Batman and Robin, it looks like Damian is getting his own title, along with a giant Bat demon looking thing, and they're in snowy mountains. That sounds good on its own, but when you think about the fact that Talia is out there somewhere near Nanda Parbat, which is in snowy mountains, I expect we'll be seeing some of the threads from the current title followed up and a continued evolution of Damian as a character.

Section Eight by writer Garth Ennis and artist John McCrea

Oh, good lord, I never thought I'd see this! Ennis and McCrea created Section 8 for their run on Hiitman, a team of homeless and insane super heroes, including, but not limited to, Six Pack, who was the world's greatest hero in his own dreams, Dogwelder, who welds dog to his enemies, Defenestrator, who throws people out of windows, and Bueno Excellente, who fights evil with the power of perversion. are some of Ennis's most bizarre creations. Only one things I can say about it... Bueno.

Starfire by writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, with artist Emanuela Lupacchino

Starfire has been a problem character since the dawn of the pre-Flashpoint world, but I think breaking her off from her current Outlaws teammates and letting her have her own adventures in Miami (or somewhere in Florida. Palm trees and old folks make me think Florida) seems like a good chance to let her grow back into a more balanced character. Factor in the funny Harley Quinn writing team of Conner and Palmiotti and Emanuela Lupacchino, whose work on X-Factor I remember fondly, and you have a winning creative team. Also, the new costume is a vast improvement, closer to her animated Teen Titans look. I would have included the little skirt too, but it's more practical than her gravity defying current costume, so I'll take it.

We Are Robin by writer Lee Bermejo and artists Rob Haynes and Khary Randolph

Another brand new title with very little information, I can assume from the image that we're dealing with a group of kids inspired by Robin working together. I'm wondering if this might become the home for Duke Thomas, the future Robin who has appeared as a teenager in the current Batman story. It's interesting to see Rob Haynes return to mainstream comics. 

Of the creative changes to current books, three artist changes and one writer change jumped out at me. Juan Ferreyra, whose art of Colder has been astounding, will be taking over Gotham by Midnight, a perfect fit. Dale Eaglesham, who introduced Gail Simone's Secret Six in the Villains United mini-series, will be taking over as artist on that title, which is great to see, as I feel like he should be a superstar and never quite reaches that point. And Carlos D'Anda, another vastly underrated artist, will be the new artist on New Suicide Squad, a book that has suffered under multiple artists per issue, so hopefully D'Anda can add a nice unified feel to future issues.

The most exciting change is Gene Luen Yang on Superman. Sure, I would have liked more Geoff Johns Superman, but he did his part of setting up a new status quo for Superman in the current DCU. I recently read Yang's Shadow Hero, the origin of the first Chinese super hero, the Green Turtle, and it was such a brilliant mix of action, humor, and myth that I was blown away. I'd been waiting for the right week to do a recommended reading for it, and now it looks like June will be the time, to line up with the release of this new project. I hope he brings out the humanity in the Man of Steel, and does it with as deft a touch as he did in his other work.

So that's what's coming up from DC. I love my DC Comics, always will, and I hope that this breathes a new life into the line. If the creators and titles are any indication, it's going to be an interesting summer.

Recommended Reading for 3/7: JL8

And now for something slightly different...

I've written about Tiny Titans before, the Art Baltazar/Franco Aureliani book about the sidekicks of superheroes as little kids in Sidekick Elementary. Well, this week I'm writing about a webcomic, the first one I've ever specifically recommended. It's called JL8, written and drawn by Yale Stewart, and when I heard about it, I thought it was going to be similar to Tiny Titans, only featuring the Justice League. But it's something else entirely, and something really great at that.

JL8 centers around the students at Schwartz Elementary (named for DC Editor Julie Schwartz, the editor known to be principally responsible for the Silver Age at DC Comics), and their adventures in and around school. It's a blend of schoolyard hijinks, character pieces, comedy, and a little bit of action here and there. Stewart does a great job in balancing the humor with the character, like many a good comic strip does. The characters are all eight years old, and the plots maintain a threat level that works with small kids; the main nemesis we've seen the young heroes deal with is a schoolyard Legion of Doom, but we'll get to them later.

The principal cast of the strip are most of the traditional Justice League, and read perfectly like younger versions of those characters. Clark (Superman) is kind and thoughtful. His best friend, Bruce (Batman), is brooding and a bit standoffish, but is a great friend to Clark. Barry (Flash) is always in a hurry, and talks faster than he thinks. Hal (Green Lantern) is swaggering and confident. Diana (Wonder Woman) is sweet, but maybe the toughest of the kids. J'onn (Martian Manhunter) is the transfer student from Mars, still learning what it's like to be an Earth kid. The one main cast member who isn't one of the original JLA is Karen (Power Girl); it's nice to have another girl in the cast to give Diana a girl friend to talk to. She's spunky, and loves ponies.

Stewart's webcomic works like a classic comic strip, where each installment stands on its own, but if you read for a little while, you get caught up in the larger plotlines that he's been building for some time now. The strange little kid "romance" between Bruce and Karen has been going for a while, with Bruce revealing he likes Karen, and her being interested since he has horses. Or the various scenes of J'onn learning about what it means to be an Earth kid.

There have been a couple of major arcs over the course of the series. In one, Bruce, Clark, and Hal save a grandma from a mugger, and when the paper calls them "kids," they get tough new costumes to show what big guys they are (costumes that funnily resemble the New 52 versions of their costumes), but there's a lesson about heroism and what it means to be a grown up that is smartly done. There's also the story of Diana's birthday party, where we see a lot of typical kids party tropes, mixed with a bunch of party chaperones who are Amazons and a clown that Bruce really doesn't like.

There are some strips that really stick out for me. A personal favorite of mine is strip 27. In the previous strip, Bruce left Clark at Clark's house, and after seeing the warm welcome Clark got from his parents, Bruce walks away looking sad. So the next strip picks up right after.

That little bit of character there, developing the relationship of Bruce and Alfred, is not just heartwarming, but it does a good job of fleshing out Bruce, who is often portrayed a grumpy and a know it all.

Aside from the well thought out plotlines and cute young versions of the Justice League, the series is littered with DCU cameos and easter eggs for those who know their DC Comics. Julie Schwartz, who I mentioned earlier, is the kids teacher, Darkseid is the gym teacher (a better job than his lunchlady gig in Tiny Titans), and Neil Gaiman owns the local bookshop. Other DC Comics characters pop up in the background or in cameos, and there have been a couple of great ones from Mikey and Ted (Booster Gold and Blue Beetle). In the same vein, if you know your "Bwa-ha-ha!" era of Justice League, then this strip is worth a good laugh.

The other recurring group of characters are what I think of as the Lil' Legion of Doom. They're all recognizable, but I have to admit, I love the version of the Joker the most (not exactly shocking, huh?). Not a clown yet, he's still the Red Hood, made clear by his red hoodie, which is a great touch. Aside from Joker, we get Lex Luthor, Cheetah, Captain Cold, Toyman, Poison Ivy, and Solomon Grundy.

JL8 is a webcomic that does so many things right. It takes advantage of the serialized format, and does fun things with characters that you wouldn't see in DC Comics. It's an all ages strip that you can share with your kids to help foster a love of these great characters, and isn't that something that we all should do?

JL8 is updated usually twice a week, and can be found HERE. You can also follow the strip on Facebook and Twitter.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 5/29

Angel & Faith #22
Story: Christos Gage
Art: Rebekah Isaacs

I usually do my best to keep the things I do here as spoiler free as possible, but the major event at the beginning of this issue is so important what happens and what I'm going to talk about that I'm warning flat out: SPOILERS AHEAD. Angel reaches his goal this issue, with the resurrection of Rupert Giles. Only Giles isn't as he was. He has all his memories, all his knowledge... in the body of his twelve year old self. Much of the issue is Giles interacting with each of the books characters and dealing with his new condition The rage, the confusion, the hormones, are all tearing him up. I like that Gage really addresses what it would be like for an adult, and a fairly reserved one, to be trapped in a body that is being ravaged by puberty. It's hilarious, and at times touching. Giles was always one of my favorite Whedon creations, and I'm glad he's back, although I don't expect it to stick, and seeing him in this new light is a treat. All of this human drama is cast against the coming storm that is Whister, Pearl, and Nash's attempt to rekindle magic by wiping out a solid billion or so people. The scenes of planning are reminiscent of classic Buffy, with Giles organizing a battle plan. This character issue is the calm before the storm, as Team Angel & Faith head out to stop the half-demon crew as they begin their ritual. This is a Whedonverse book, so I'm not expecting everyone to come back, so one last time together in this issue was a nice story way for everyone to say goodbye, the readers included.

Kill Shakespeare: Tide of Blood #4
Story: Conor McCreery & Anthony Del Col
Art: Andy Belanger

The tide comes rolling in during this penultimate issue of the new Kill Shakespeare mini-series. Shakespeare arrives on the island for his tete-a-tete with Prospero, Romeo, driven by the influence of the island and Lady Macbeth, heads for his final confrontation with Hamlet, and Juliet meets some new players as she goes to find Hamlet herself. I love how writers McReery and Del Col have moved all the pieces on their game board carefully into this endgame, where Lady Macbeth, always a force to be reckoned with, has proven that she is grandmaster, having defeated her most powerful enemy with trickery and manipulated her pawn Romeo into removing a more powerful piece from the game, Hamlet. I appreciated the scene where Juliet stumbles across the witch Sycorax and the price Ferdinand imprisoned in trees; this begins to explain more about why Prospero has gone down the dark path he has and why poor Miranda is bereft of her wits. The art by Belanger is outstanding as usual, and especially creepy, with the people imprisoned in trees and the bestial Caliban. Next issue, I'm curious to see how Juliet's bargain with the witch comes to fruition, and how Shakespeare gets out of his own predicament, but most curious about the fate of Romeo. At issue's end, Romeo and Juliet stand against each other, with hamlet's life in the balance. This series has pushed Romeo to a place where he could actually kill Hamlet, who viewed him as a friend, over Juliet, who now loves the Danish Prince. This has taken its time to evolve, and while he has been pushed by Lady Macbeth, there is a darkness within Romeo that I think he will have to come to terms with before the series is out.

Smallville Season 11 Special #1
Story: Bryan Q. Miller
Art: Axel Gimenez

Batman and Martian Manhunter are two character I always felt should work really well together, and have rarely been given the chance to work as a duo. Yes Martian Manhunter is as, if not more, powerful than Superman, but he's still a detective, so there's a natural connection between him and Batman. So, this special set in the world of Smallville is a pleasant affirmation of my belief. A brutal murder in Gotham gets the attention of Batman and the Martian symbols left behind draws Martian Manhunter to the scene. The two work together, grudgingly at first, to locate the Martian that Manhunter is sure is behind the killings. By issue's end, more details of the Manhunter's Smallville origins are known (interesting, in the same week his New 52 origins are explored in the back-up in Justice League of America, the highlight of that issue), as well as how he was connected to Jor-El. Bryan Q. Miller does a nice job of tying some of the history of Earth-Smallville into the issue, and he writes Manhunter as ably as he does Batman, who I'm glad to see back after the "season's" earlier "Detective" arc. The revelation of the identity of the Martian who is behind the killings isn't hard to intuit, but it's nice to see this character somewhere, as she has been lost in both her comic and animated forms in the past year and change. Smallville already had its version of the Justice League appear in the show, but with the unlimited budget of comics, I'm hoping we see a new one, with Batman and Manhunter at center stage along with Superman and his other allies.

The Wake #1
Story: Scott Snyder
Art: Sean Murphy

Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy, who worked together before on the American Vampire mini-series Survival of the Fittest, are together for this new mini-series from Vertigo. Opening 200 years in the future, with a young woman and her cyborg dolphin travelling through a flooded cityscape, before flashing to the present. Marine biologist Lee Archer, who is trying to make plans with her son who she hasn't seen in some time, is contacted by the Department of Homeland Security to come to Alaska to look into a mysterious sound similar to whale song heard beneath the waters. While she is resistant, she is made assurances by DHS that draws her in; clearly Lee has had run ins wit the government before that have cost her a job and good positions. Upon arriving, she finds herself part of a team of scientists based out of an illegal deep sea drilling facility, who are investigating more than odd whale song. The horror kicks in as an accident (or is it?) occurs and the reader is giving a tantalizing gaze at a creature that looks like something from our deepest nightmares. A final flashback to the dawn of humanity gives one final clue as to the threat that man has unleashed. Snyder does a great job of introducing Lee and making her a character that I already want to know more about, and Murphy's art is as excellent as ever, especially the mystery creature. While Vertigo has been on something of a downswing lately, in quantity of books if not quality, I hope this book will be the beginning of a surge in good new titles from one of the great imprints in comic history.


Oh, and as a plug for something else I think is really cool, the Kickstarter for the print edition of Greg Rucka and Rick Burchett's excellent webcomic, Lady Sabre & the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether wraps up tomorrow. It's an awesome strip, the book itself sounds like it's going to be gorgeous, and these are a couple of great creators. You have a little under two days to kick in, so check out the Lady Sabre Kickstarter here, and kick something in. I have, and will be reviewing the book when I get my hands on it.

Lost Legends: The Uncollected John Ostrander

This week's issue of Aquaman sees the return of John Ostrander to DC Comics. I've talked about Ostrander before, mostly in reference to his brilliant runs on many Star Wars titles, but he's a writer with a tremendous body of work. He's one of the great comic book writers, and one of my all time favorites. But sadly, the majority of his seminal works are not readily available in printed form (they may be digitally, but digital ain't my bag). I am planning some serious dissection of a lot of these works, in a John Ostrander week here on the Matt Signal, but since I didn't get through the reread on this week's recommended reading, I thought I'd do a dry run on the Ostrander pieces, giving a sneak preview of some of the titles I'll be talking about in much more depth there. This is by no means a full rundown of all of Ostrander's catalog, as I'll be mostly discussing his 80s and 90s DC works, with his creator owned opus thrown into the mix as well. So, without further ado...

Suicide Squad

Pretty much everyone who reads comics knows the concept behind Suicide Squad, but in case you don't, it's this: Supervillains go on covert missions for the government to earn time off their sentences, but there's a good chance they won't make it back. It's a great concept, and it's been rebooted twice since (three times if you count Warren Ellis's run on Marvel's Thunderbolts), but it's never worked as well as it did under John Ostrander. Why do you ask? Well, for one the plots were smart, intricate, and had a feeling of authenticity; some took place in real world locales that were politically troubled, something Ostrander has jokingly said he stopped doing when real political trouble flared up in those places when the issues were released. The series not only dealt with supervillains fighting terrorists or worse supervillains, but is one of the first comics to really delve into the darker side of the governement, the political backbiting and blackmail; this is a post-Watergate America, where government uses its power not necessarily to help the people. But what really made this series was the characters. Ostrander took a bunch of B-,C-, and D-list characters, and made them into major players. Before this series, Deadshot was just a marksman who shot at Batman; after this he was a layered, complex, haunted character. Captain Boomerang became a nasty, vindictive, petty little man with all sorts of issues, instead of just another Flash Rogue. Ostrander, with his wife and writing partner Kim Yale, also introduced Barbara Gordon as Oracle, dealing with the fallout from The Killing Joke and building Barbara up in a way that lasted over twenty years (on a side not, if you like this, you should check out Ostrander & Yale's story from Batman Chronicles #5, "Oracle- Year One: Born of Hope" a wonderful story that directly bridges the gap between Killing Joke and Suicide Squad). And of course, Ostrander also introduced the inimitable Amanda Waller, a character still used regularly to this day, and who is unique in comics: no super powers, no secret spy training, just a tough woman who knows her duty, does what she must, and who can stand toe-to-toe with Batman and tell him off. The Wall is one of Ostrander's great creations, and one of my favorite characters in comics. Without this series, I feel like a lot of villain-centric comics we've seen since, including Secret Six, Thunderbolts, and Geoff Johns's run on Flash, would have been very different, or not existed at all, and we owe a debt of gratitude to the Squad for that alone.

Deadshot

When Comic Book Resources did their list of the greatest John Ostrander stories ever, this mini-series was number one, and it was my vote for number one as well, so I think it's richly deserved. While it ties into Suicide Squad, it's so good I wanted to give it a little room of its own so I could really discuss it some. This mini-series gives the details of Deadshot's past. Not his origin story, necessarily, not the story of how he became a supervillain, but the why of it. After you've read the series, you can't help feeling a bit sorry for Deadshot. This is a guy whose family are nightmarish, parents who use their children as chess pieces in a war against each other, and who have no qualms about it. The series begins with the kidnapping of Deadshot's son, and leads down into a well of darkness so deep that it's hard to believe there's any light again. I am shocked that this series wasn't published with a suggested for mature readers on it. It is a very mature story, never flinching at the darkest sides of human nature and going places that most writers would never take their characters. It is never graphic though, which makes it all the more chilling. As a warning, if you are not someone who likes a story that is bleak, and that ends without a happy note, or who is uncomfortable with children in real peril, this is not the series for you. If you can get past those things though, it's worth reading to see Ostrander craft Deadshot into a character who has real dimension and depth, who might be a villain, but has humanity underneath all his snark, cigarette smoke, and violence.

Firestorm

When Ostrander took over Firestorm, the title was a fun book about two unlikely people, a college professor and a student, who merged together to form a superhero. It was as if Spider-Man and Professor X had to become one guy to use their powers. Ostrander took the book and went somewhere very different with it. His first two issues alone, tying into the Legends crossover event he was co-writing, feature Ronnie Raymond forcing the Firestorm merge on Professor Stein, and Stein reacting in a way that is a thinly veiled (and eventually not even veiled) analogy to rape, a subject rarely dealt with in mainstream comics at the time, and never dealt with anywhere near this tastefully. When Stein found out he was dying of cancer, his final wish became to force the USA and USSR to disarm their nuclear weapons, a story that is very much of its time, but works well in a world where tin pot dictators and religious zealots now control nuclear weapons. With Stein removed from the equation, Raymond found a new partner, a Soviet, and Ostrander spent time letting readers get to know him, playing a card about how we are all really people, no matter our government. And the last couple years of the series dealt with Firestorm discovering he was Earth's fire elemental, and a lot of stories involving environmentalism. While it sounds like a lot of topical tales, they were all told using superhero tropes, with lots of cool villains and combat, and the series never got preachy. Ronnie grows up, trying to really find his way in an adult world he has a hard time understanding. Ostrander did a great job of gradually altering the Firestorm formula, making something different than the traditional superhero title it was, without losing readers by respecting the past and having his own strong vision for what the book could be.

Detective Comics #622-624

This isn't a long form, sprawling epic like most of the other things on this list, but I had to toss in on here. First, a shout out to Brandon, a friend of mine and regular reader here, who mentioned this story as one of his favorite Batman stories when I did my list of favorites, and it reminded me just how great it is. In the duel narrative, Batman hunts a serial killer murdering people in his name in the "real" Gotham, while an unauthorized comic is being released in Gotham telling the origins of Batman, only this Batman is a demonically powered killer. Half of each issue is the comic within a comic, with different art. It's a great detective story, with some gorgeous art from Mike McKone on the real world pages, and Flint Henry on the macabre comic within a comic pages.If you're a Batman fan and have never read out this story, it's a self-contained, three issue arc with a lot going for it.

The Spectre

I don't know if it was Ostrander who decided the Spectre was more than just a vengeful ghost, but instead was the embodiment of the wrath of God bonded to a mortal, but if it wasn't him, he sure took the idea and ran with it. The Spectre becomes a series about justice, vengeance, and redemption. While there is plenty of magic and monsters, heroes and villains, the main struggle of the series is one internal to the Spectre, of Jim Corrigan, the hard boiled 40s cop who serves as the Spectre's host, in conflict with both himself and the Spectre itself. Reverend Richard Craemer, a supporting character who served as a chaplain and confidant to some of the Squad, came with Ostrander to this title, serving as a sounding board, and at times a conscience, for Corrigan. The Spectre quests to save a woman he has scene prophesied to die, to find the heart of America, to determine exactly what kind of man Corrigan himself was, and eventually to find God himself. The series watches Corrigan eventually find his grace, his own forgiveness for a life lead in anger, and when Ostrander left the book, Corrigan left the plain of the living, a major change to a classic character that DC stuck to until the New 52; it's a testament to Ostrander's strength as a writer and the strength of this run that DC left this change in. Two particular issues of note: Issue #54 featured the first appearance of the current Mister Terrific, Michael Holt, who still exists in the current DC regime. Issue #51 is a great issue featuring Batman and the Joker, where the Joker briefly has possession of the Spectre's power. The series is drawn nearly entirely by Tom Mandrake, one of Ostrander's constant collaborators (along with Jan Dursema, Flint Henry, and Tim Truman), who by the end of this list will have worked on more than half of the titles.

Martian Manhunter

While he had a couple of mini-series, J'onn J'onzz never had an ongoing series until the late 90s when Ostrander and Mandrake, fresh off The Spectre, took the Manhunter from Mars and ran with him. By far the most traditionally superheroic of the series I'm talking about today, it's still a fascinating character study. Martian Manhunter had spent much of his existence as the rock the Justice League rested on, but very little time had been spent revealing what he did when he wasn't with the League. So, Ostrander took the fact that J'onn was a shapeshifter, and decided that Martian Manhunter had different identities all over the world. He would switch race, gender, and species to live among humans and learn more about humanity. A good amount of time was spent investigating J'onn's past. Not only was his life on Mars more fleshed out, along with the introduction of his evil brother, Malefick, and conflicts with Darkseid and his minions while a Manhunter on Mars, but his time on Earth was expanded. Since J'onn was brought to Earth in the 50s, why couldn't he have met Clark Kent in Smallville, had an adventure with the Spectre earlier in his career, or was a part of the 70s superhero team, the Justice Experience, under another identity? That last one brought the DEO, and their most famous agent, Cameron Chase, into the mix, as Chase's father was another member of the Justice Experience, and had some resolution for Chase, whose series had been tragically cut short, when J'onn had to face down Doctor Trap, the villain who killed her father. All-in-all, it was an excellent superhero series, with great character beats, and had an issue where Martian Manhunter went nuts from Oreo (or Chocko, I assume due to rights issues) withdrawal and smacked around Booster Gold and Blue Beetle. It was pretty awesome.

Grimjack

If there is one magnum opus in Ostrander's work, something that you could hand to anyone to give them a great sample of what he can do as a writer, Grimjack would be it. Grimjack was created by John Ostrander and Tim Truman in the late 80s as a back-up in Starslayer before spinning off into his own title. The title character is John Gaunt, called Grimjack or the Grinner, an aging mercenary living in the city of Cynosure. Cynosure is the nexus of all realities, where different blocks phase in and out of reality; you can be on a block that is high tech, wander into a neighborhood that is all magic, and never find your way back to the science block. Gaunt owns Munden's Bar, a pub where people come to him to hire him to solve their problems, problems that usually wind up with him killing someone. Ostrander built a vibrant supporting cast around Gaunt, including his old running buddy Blackjackmac and Mac's paramour Goddess (who is actually a goddess), his old partner in the Transdemensional Police, Roscoe Schumacher, Gordon Munden the bartender, Bob the watchlizard, and various villains, including The Dancer, a former arena combatant turned revolutionary, and Major Lash, and immortal with a series hatred for Gaunt. The world and the characters are Ostrander's to play with, and he uses that freedom to tell stories you couldn't do with most superheroes. Gaunt is a pure anti-hero, often doing the right thing for the wrong reason, or the wrong thing for all the right reasons, and you can see shades of Grimjack in many of Ostrander's other leads, characters like Jim Corrigan, Quinlan Vos, and Cade Skywalker. What is especially cool, is about two-thirds of the way through the series, it is revealed that Gaunt has been cursed, that he will never know peace until Cynosure is destroyed, and that he will be reincarnated over and over until then. The last third of the series takes place long after John Gaunt is dead, and focuses on Jim Twilley, the new incarnation of Grimjack. Ostrander builds a whole new cast and ends the series, with the promise of an original graphic novel called Grimjack in Hell and then further incarnations. These projects didn't occur, but Ostrander and Truman returned to tell a couple tales of Gaunt before the series began. The art throughout the series is also outstanding, starting with Truman, followed by Tom Mandrake, and then Flint Henry, with some fill ins along the way. IDW, who published the two new Grimjack stories, Killer Instinct and The Manx Cat, also reprinted much of the early Grimjack, but stopped before the Twilley arc, and never finished it.

Since this is a Lost Legends piece, all of this work is uncollected or out of print in its whole form. While there was one volume each of Suicide Squad and The Spectre, and the first 54 issues of Grimjack were collected, none of it is currently in print. I have over time, been able to collect all these runs in the totality in single issue at conventions and comic shops, and they were all well worth it. This is also by no means the entirety of Ostrander's work. From DC there's also Hawkworld, JLA: Incarnations, the late 80s-early 90s Manhunter, and The Kents (a great Western focusing on the ancestors of Superman's adopted family). From Marvel there's Heroes for Hire, three mini-series starring the time displaced X-Man Bishop one in the present, and two set in the future he came from, two Westerns featuring Marvel's stable of Western heroes, Blaze of Glory and Apache Skies, and a run on Punisher (of which I am still trying to find issue 10). And that's just what I'm coming up with off the top of my head. Ostrander is one of the great writers currently working in comics, and going out and checking out some of his classic work as you wait for the next arc of Dawn of the Jedi or Agent of the Empire is really worth your time.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 8/22

Lobster Johnson: The Prayer of Neferu
Story: Mike Mignola & John Arcudi
Art: Wilfredo Torres

The world of Hellboy has always been tinged with the spirit of classic pulps, and never moreso than in the adventures of Lobster Johnson, the 30s & 40s era man of mystery and crimebuster. Johnson's adventures are usually high action, with bullets flying and mobster and monsters dying, and this new one shot does not disappoint in the action department. The Lobster is tracking down a stolen mummy when he stumbles onto a ceremony featuring recurring Hellboy series cult, the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra. But the Brotherhood's priestess, calling herself Neferu, after the priestess of Anubis, has been stealing the mummy's for a more sinister purpose than entertaining the rich members of the Brotherhood. Johnson must battle his way through a hulking henchman and resurrected Egyptian mummies. This isn't heavy comics with lots to make you think, it's just a fun, pulpy action piece, something that the team of Mignola and Arcudi have been doing really well with their Lobster Johnson stories. Artist Wilfredo Torres is new to the Hellboy universe, but his work fits very well here, giving the book a pulpy look. This is one of those great one-shots that will serve as an excellent introduction to a character and a world, so if you've never tried out any of the adventures of The Lobster's Claw, this would be a great place to start.

Rocketeer: Cargo of Doom #1
Story: Mark Waid
Art: Chris Samnee

From one heavily pulp influenced series to another. I'm a fan of the original Dave Stevens Rocketeer comics, and I was a little worried when IDW began publishing it's Rocketeer Adventures mini-series, featuring other creators telling short Rocketeer stories, but was pleased to see all of them fit very well in Stevens' world, and even if they didn't look like Stevens, they felt like him. But an actual, full on mini-series with one story featuring the character? That was another proposition. Fortunately, I was wrong to worry. Current Daredevil creative team Mark Waid and Chris Samnee pull off a great Rocketeer story here. Every character rings true, with Cliff "The Rocketeer" Secord still a hot head, his long suffering partner/mentor Peevy still gives Cliff good advice and an earful when he needs it, and Cliff's gal, Betty, won't cut him any slack. We also get to meet a new character, Sally, Peevys's niece and a mechanic in her own right, with her eyes on Cliff, who still only has eyes for Betty. The issue has some great action scenes of the Rocketeer in flight, but it's mostly a character piece, setting up the action without feeling like a set-up issue heavy with exposition. We also see a ship with the series villains arrive, meeting The Master, their mysterious boss, who clearly has some backstory with the Rocketeer, although I think that is stuff created for this series, and not anything that exists in the previous canon. There's also a reference to something from Skull Island, and if you're at all familiar with classic cinema, you know that name, and I hope it means a certain eighth wonder of the world might be the titular cargo of doom. If you known the Rocketeer from the classic comics, from the under-rated 90s film, or just think that his costume looks awesome (which is does), this is a great comic, and well worth picking up.

Super Dinosaur #13
Story: Robert Kirkman
Art: Jason Howard

While Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard's all ages action comics, Super Dinosaur, might not be as pulpy as The Rocketeer or Lobster Johnson, you can still see some of the same influences here: lost civilizations, world's at the center of the Earth, and a scrappy band of kids were all staples of the classic pulps. Only one of these scrappy kids happens to be a young T-Rex in battle armor. Never saw anything like that in Doc Savage. Super Dinosaur is the story of a boy and his T-Rex, who fight crime and monsters. As the "Escape from Inner Earth" storyline continues, young super genius Derek Dynamo gets to see more of the Reptiloid Empire, and we see that the villainous Exile might not be quite as villainous as originally thought. Meanwhile, Super Dinosaur, Derek's best friend who happens to be an intelligent Tyrannosaurus Rex, travels with a group of Derek's friends into the hidden world of Inner Earth, full of dinosaurs and other perils, trying to rescue Derek. Super Dinosaur is a book full of action and wonder, a comic that really works for all ages. This issue deepens some of the series mysteries, but also begins to give us answers about the Reptiloids that have been part of the book since the first appearance of the Exile. And hey, there are lots of Triceratops. And any comic with a herd of Triceratops gets my recommendation.



And here are a couple notes:

- The announcement of the new, Geoff Johns/David Finch Justice League of America has me pretty excited. Glad to see Stargirl back in a New 52 title, and thrilled to see Martian Manhunter on a Justice League again!

- Tomorrow is Read Comics in Public Day, so everyone should go out and read a comic in public. Since tomorrow would have been the 95th birthday of Jack "The King" Kirby, I think it's time to start reading Fourth World Omnibus Volume 1, so I will sit out at one of the local parks and dig into some Kirby goodness. And if you happen to be of the womanly persuasion, head over to DC Women Kicking Ass to read about Women Read Comics in Public, Again!