Free Comic Book Day 2016: Where You Should Go and What You Should Read

So, I've done this every year, and I'm going to again this year. Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day, the annual day when you can go to your local comic book shop and pick up any number of 40 special free comics. This year, as most other years, I will be working up at my old stomping grounds, Dewey's Comic City, where there will be an artists alley, a cosplay contest, drawings, and reps from Valiant Comics. If you're in the South Jersey or Philadelphia area, I also want to recommend heading over to my current store, Stormwatch Comics, for an artist, a sale, and more surprises. No matter where you go, it's gonna be a great time, but I can tell you for a fact these stores do it up right.

Now, as I do every year, here's my little PSA. While these comics are free to you, they aren't free for retailers. They are sold to retailers at a steep discount compared to normal comics, but at the volume they're buying, it's still a lot of money, and that's not counting anything they're paying for advertising and their events. So, it might be nice for you to buy a little something. And while you're at it and getting the free stuff, try something that you normally wouldn't. If you read Marvel and/or DC mostly, try something from Fantagraphics. If Manga is your thing, maybe it's time to sample a superhero comic. The price is right to give something different a shot. I've discovered a couple of my favorite comics, Atomic Robo and The Sixth Gun, thanks to their Free Comic Book Day offerings.

Now, as I also have done each yeah, here are a handful of comics that I think are worth your attention tomorrow.

Legend of Korra/How to Train Your Dragon/Plants Vs. Zombies

One of Dark Horse Comics two offerings this year, this issue features three popular all ages properties, two of which are new to Dark Horse's stable (pun intended). While Avatar: The Last Airbender has been a fixture of Dark Horse's FCBD offerings, this is the first year featuring its spin-off/sequel. The Legend of Korra. The story is set before the time of the series, and is the story of how Korra, the avatar, met her animal guide, Naga, the polar bear dog. It's a short, sweet story, and good for readers not familiar with the world of Korra. While I'm not familiar with the Plants Vs. Zombies games, its story is also accessible. But the highlight of this issue is the How to Train Your Dragon story. The story starts in media res, with the young dragon trainers trapped inside a makeshift shelter with wild dragons attacking them. The story is actually a series of shorts, as each person tells a story of the late chief of the tribe, Stoic the Vast, many of them effecting. What really makes the story is the art by Doug Wheatley, best known for his work on Star Wars comics, whose hyper-detailed characters and especially dragons are a visual treat. This is an all ages book.

Love and Rockets

Love and Rockets is the legendary, long running series from the Hernandez Brothers. Each issue features two unrelated stories, one by each brother. Gilbert Hernandez's stories follow a woman named Luba and her family, from their time in Central America to their time in California. Jaime Hernandez chronicles the lives of Hopey, a former punk rocker, her sometimes girlfriend Maggie, and their extended circle of friends. Love and Rockets is one of those epic pieces of continuing graphic literature that I have always found daunting to dig into, but this issue gives you a good sampling of what the series is like and a good way to judge if it's something you would appreciate and enjoy. This comic is appropriate fro readers seventeen and up.

March

There are few comics being published that I can say are unquestioningly important, but one of them is definitely March, the graphic memoir of Congressman John Lewis and his time with the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. Two of the three volumes have been released, with the third due out this August. The FCBD issue from Top Shelf/IDW features brief excerpts from each of the three, and they are astounding, with beautiful art and important historical context that feels important in the times we live in. This is appropriate for any age, but I would suggest anyone under a teen read it with parents to answer questions.

Serenity/Hellboy/Aliens

Yes, both of Dark Horse's FCBD issues made this list. Of the three stories, the Aliens one is the one I was least invested in, and was fine for what it is, a bunch of people fighting aliens, which is about what I expect. The Hellboy story is a Mike Mignola written, Richard Corben tale of a younger Hellboy investigating a magic mirror that is said to have demons trapped in it. Mignola knows exactly how to write into Corben's wheelhouse, giving some true, cringe inducing horror. But it's the Serenity story that's an A-plus here. There's still little enough in the ways of stories from the Serenity 'verse that each one is something to be treasured, and this one is a real emotional roller coaster. Left to babysit Zoe and Wash's baby, River tells a story of how the crew gathered and their travails as a fairy tale to the baby; picture a Firefly version of the classic "Kitty's Fairy Tale" issue of Uncanny X-Men and you'll get the idea. Told from River's point of view, the story is as telling of what River thinks about the others on the crew and herself as it is of the story itself. If you've heard how great Firefly/Serenity is and you've wanted to dip your toe in, this isn't a bad place to start. This book is good for teens on up.

Valiant: 4001 A.D. Special

Valiant put together a sampler of many of their recent high profile releases for FCBD this year, along with a prequel to their new event series, 4001 A.D., which launched this week. This issue is strong because of the sum of its parts; no one story really carries the books, but if you've been curious about trying Valiant's output, or expanding what you're reading, this is a good place to start. The 4001 A.D. story does a good job of setting up the stakes of the new event, and the four previews include three books that have been well reviewed on this very blog: Archer & Armstrong, Divinity II, Faith, as well as a fourth preivew for an upcoming arc from Bloodshot Reborn. I am constantly impressed at how well Valiant holds together a coherent universe while not making it feel like you have to read any more than the titles you want, and the samples here stand on their own and are all of slightly different flavors, so you should be able to find something for anyone in here. This is a book I'd recommend for teens and up.

Recommended Reading for 5/5: Term Life

So, last Friday, I'm collapsed on the couch, watching TV, and one of those ads you see for, "Now playing on Direct TV Cinema, the same day as in theatres," comes on, and it's a commercial, so I'm barely paying attention. But somewhere around the end of the commercial I looked up, because this sounded familiar. And when the title came up, I was running to my shelves, because I knew it was. And lo and behold, there is a comic book based movie that came out that no one was talking about! You'd think, in this day, and age, adding, "Based on the Graphic Novel" would have been somewhere in the trailer, but whatever. So, I reread the book, having remembered liking it, and I decided to make it this week's recommended reading.

Term Life is an original graphic novel published by Image back in 2011. Written by A.J. Lieberman (who I've written about before, as he wrote the quirky Cowboy/Ninja/Viking) and drawn by Nick Thornborrow, it's the story of Nick Barrow (a character name the writer had long before he met the similarly named artist), a guy who plans heists and sells the plans to crews to pull off. When a heist he sells to the son of a Russian mob kingpin leads to the death of said son at the hands of dirty cops who set up the heist and slipped the info to Nick, Nick is on the run from the Russians and the cops, and knows he has no way out, so he makes a Hail Mary: he takes a million dollar life insurance policy out on himself, making Cate, the daughter he hasn't seen in a decade, the beneficiary. But when the Russians catch wind that Nick has a daughter, Nick grabs Cate and it's a whirwind road trip so Nick can survive the twenty-one days until the policy kicks in, while still trying to find out how everything went so far south.

The plot of Term Life seems simple enough, and it's a pretty classic set-up for a crime story with the protagonist caught between two rival crooked gangs and trying to find his way out of it. But the difference is in the nuance here. Nick isn't trying to find his way out. He knows he's dead. The life insurance policy is the clock counting down to zero here, and Nick just wants to make it to that. The whole book has an interesting relationship with time. While there is a linear spine of "the present" scenes shift not just around in space, but in time, and not in the traditional flashback way. A scene may pop up that informs the scene before  it on the page that takes place well before that prior scene. It keeps you guessing and thinking, keeps you analyzing exactly what is going on. And in most cases, the time and place shifts are announced by a big banner with a character name or a location, so you do know when these changes happen so it's not confusing to the reader. One exception to this is one of the big twists at the end of the book, which is cleverly done as a reverse angle of an earlier scene that was structured to mislead the readers into thinking one thing while something else is going on; it's like the structure allows the creators to play a game of three card monte on the reader.

Nick is a charming lead. He's a crook, no doubt, and he doesn't make excuses for it. When Cate asks him why he does what he does, his response is simple, "Only thing I'm good at." It would be easy to play on the trope of him being the hands off criminal and have him be squeamish and awkward when it comes to dealing violence, but he's not. When the Russians come after Cate, he shoots them dead without compunction. But he doesn't revel in the violence, and he tries to talk and think his way out of pretty much all the situations he's in before resorting to violence.

Cate starts out the book as a sort of typical, rebellious, snotty teenager, but the more you see her, the more you realize how tough she's had it: no dad and an alcoholic mom who leaves her home alone for weeks at a time at the age of thirteen so she can go detox. And now her dad shows up, uninvited, and men are shooting at them. The slow building of the relationship between her and Nick is the emotional center of the book, and the more time we spend with Cate, the more rounded she becomes, and the more you root for her and Nick to make it; the scene where she finds out about the life insurance policy and Nick's plan is heartbreaking as you see the two have developed a real love for each other.. But this is pretty much a noir, and so you know a happy ending isn't in the cards for everyone.

And while Nick and Cate are the central, most fleshed out characters, the supporting characters and villains of the book are also interesting. Viktor, the Russian mobster after Nick, isn't given a lot of character, but that's ok; he is what he needs to be, a big scary mobster. The Tolstoy brothers, hitmen brothers who work for Viktor, provide some comic relief, as they seem to spend more time punching each other than doing their jobs. Sheriff Braydon, the small town sheriff of a town where Nick and Cate go to lay low, feels like a character who had more going on, and I would have liked to spend more time getting to know him; the same can be said for Chin, Nick's old friend who he used to own a Chinese food restaurant with,

But the highlight of the other characters are the Choirboys, the society of crooked cops who set everything in motion be manipulating Nick and by extension the Russians into stealing evidence against them so they can destroy it and anyone who knows anything about it. Among them, there are two who are key. Matty Miller is the cop who got pinched with the evidence that could send the Choir Boys to jail, and even once it's gone, he's the one having a crisis of conscience, one that will prove deadly for him; in a noir, a conscience gets you killed nine times out of ten. And then there's the big boss; Keenan. Probably the only character who is as good at the game as Nick, he's a cold, calculating bastard, the kind of guy you don't want to get on the wrong side of, and every page he's on is full of tension.

The art for the book suits its gritty crime drama style perfectly. Nick Thornborrow is able to convey the action of the chase and the fights with gusto, and is also able to capture the quieter moments between Nick and Cate. His characters have strong, distinct, faces with a lot of emotion. The backgrounds to most panels are sketchy, which draws the eye more to the action of the characters at the front of a panel, and here feels like a stylistic choice rather than an artist who doesn't feel like drawing backgrounds.

I haven't seen the movie version that drew my attention back to this book yet, and it seems like it was a pretty limited release on the big screen; it is available on Direct TV on demand and for digital download through Amazon and iTunes. The trailer has some dialogue that is lifted right out of the book, and it seems fairly faithful, although it looks like the Russian mob has been replaced by a drug cartel. The cast is pretty a-list, with Vince Vaughan as Nick and Hailee Steinfeld as Cate, Bill Paxton as Keenan, and Terence Howard as Sheriff Braydon. There seem to bee a few new characters in the film, Jimmy Lincoln, a buddy of Nick's, played by Jon Favreau, and Harper, who works with Nick, played by the inimitable Jonathan Banks, whose appearance in anything elevates it to a must see to me.

Term Life is an exciting, enjoyable crime story with a solid story and emotional center. If you enjoy crime comics, this is a book worth tracking down.

Term Life is in print, so should be available or orderable from any comic shop.

The Great Batman: The Brave and the Bold Rewatch: "Fall of the Blue Beetle!"

Season One, Episode Eight: Fall of the Blue Beetle!
Written by James Krieg
Directed by Brandon Vietti

Plot Synopsis

Teaser:Two years ago, Batman and Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle before Jaime Reyes, the Beetle we've met in earlier episodes of this series, make their way through a villainous lair, comparing gadgets and bantering.

Episode: Jaime Reyes, Blue Beetle, and his best friend, Paco, sit around a campfire, talking about superheroes. Paco says that heroes just luck into their powers and it's the gear, like a Green Lantern ring, that makes them special. Jaime is visibly upset by this.

At a federal reserve or bank, Dr. Polaris is making off with the gold stored there when Batman arrives to stop him. Blue Beetle pops in, asking if heroes are chosen or just lucky, interfering with Batman's take down of Polaris. Beetle asks if Batman thinks he and the previous Beetle shared heroic traits, and Batman tells Beetle he's nothing like the Beetle he knew, and Beetle gets irritated that Batman never told him about the previous Beetle.

Beetle's Scarab does a search and finds that the previous Beetle was hero of Hub City, so Jaime heads there, hoping to get answers about his coonection to that Beetle, and arrives at the Kord Industries building, where the Scarab seems to go nuts and drop him into the sewer, where he finds Ted Kord's old base of operations. In the base Beetle finds Ted's Bug, his flying ship, and uses the trip log to find the last place Ted was, and decides to take the Bug to go there to try to find him. The bug flies over the ocean, and passes into a cloaking field, where an island is hidden. Batman contacts him and tried to explain why he wasn't forthcoming about the previous Beetle, but Beetle blows him off and lands on the island, where he finds Beetle robots with lasers protecting it. Beetle blows up the robots to find an angry scientist ranting that the robots are a miracle of science and how dare he blow them up. The scientist says he's Ted Kord and welcomes Jaime to Science Island

Flying over the ocean, Batman thinks to himself that he's done with kid partners, then remembers that adults aren't much better. He flashes back to an adventure with Ted Kord; the two are watching a scientist use a blowtorch on the Scarab, which Ted gave to the man to try to get it to work. When Ted confronts him, he presses a button and all the lab equipment and furniture turn into robots and attack; Batman tries to nab the scientist, but he escapes, but not before dropping the Scarab. Batman and Beetle fight robots as the flashback ends.

On Science Island, Jaime and "Ted" walk along, with "Ted" telling Jaime about his plans to make the world a better place using the power of the Scarab. Jaime asks why he was chosen to get the Scarab, and "Ted" tells him he was selected because the Scarab was sent to find someone of great virtue to be his ally. Jaime walks over to an apparatus and lets it attach to the Scarab, where its power is sent to a roomful of robots that "Ted" says will be used to farm and perform labor to make the world a better place. With that done, Jaime sets off to sleep, but not before mentioning Batman. With Jaime out of the room, "Ted" tells his robots to prepare defenses against Batman.

As Batman flies over the island, Beetle drones attack, blowing up his plane and leaving him to glide to safety as "Ted" watches, smiling. Jaime walks through the facility, and accidentally kicks over a small Beetle drone that turns out to have a machine gun in it. Now worried about he's involved with, Jaime investigates to find the Beetle drones are all heavily armed and being placed in missiles to be sent to drop them on world population centers. Jaime thinks to call Batman, but is interrupted by "Ted" in a suit of power armor.

As"Ted" is about to dispose of Jaime, Batman arrives and stops him, but is then attacked by drones, which distract him enough for "Ted" to capture Jaime and threaten him to make Batman stop. "Ted" ties the  heroes up, and tells Jaime he does intend to make the world a better place, just a better place under his rule. Batman tells Jaime that this man isn't Ted Kord, but Jarvis Kord, Ted's uncle. Batman tells Jaime Ted's origin, and how Jarvis took the Scarab and tried to use it to make an army of super androids, and finishing the flashback started earlier: Ted sabotages Jarvis's missile full of robots sent to take over Hub City, but at the cost of his own life.

The Scarab armor finishes its repairs form Jarvis's earlier attacks, and Jaime breaks free, frees Batman, and they go to stop Jarvis, but it's too late; the countdown to the missile launch has begun and can't be stopped. Jaime comes up with a plan, to use the Scarab to hack the computers and blow up the reactors that power the island, blowing up the island and the missiles before they can launch. With the island set to explode, the heroes run for the Bug, dragging Jarvis along and fighting an army of drones as they go.Batman sends Jaime on ahead, telling Jaime not to wait for him, and is nearly killed by the drones and a larger robot before Jaime uses the Bug's weaponry to destroy the robots and save Batman. They fly off, escaping the island as it explodes.

Jaime apologizes to Batman, saying his obsession with whether he was chosen or not caused the trouble. Batman tells him he was chosen, that the Scarab let him use it and not Ted but also reminds him that it's not being chosen that makes a hero, but the choices he makes. Jaime says he wants to make the right choices like Ted would have, and Batman smiles, thinking, "Spoken like a true hero."

Who's Who

Blue Beetle  (Voiced by Will Friedle)
First Comic Book Appearance: Infinite Crisis #3 (February, 2006)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

Blue Beetle [Ted Kord] (Voiced by Wil Wheaton)

First Comic Book Appearance:  Captain Atom #83 (November, 1966)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Eight- Fall of the Blue Beetle!

Ted Kord was a brilliant young inventor who was convinced by his uncle, Jarvis, to help him with his experiments. When Ted learned Jarvis was using him to build an army of unbeatable robots, Ted asked for help from his old college professor, Dan Garrett, who turned out to be the superhero known as the Blue Beetle. When Garrett died defeating Jarvis, Ted took up the mantle of Blue Beetle. Ted used his ingenuity to build a whole slew of gadgets, including a non-lethal light gun and his flying bug. While he operated alone at times, Ted is best known as a member of the Justice League International and in partnership with his best friend, the time traveler Booster Gold. Ted was killed by Maxwell Lord, his former friend from the JLI, who was in fact the Black King of spy network Checkmate, and was preparing to wipe out all metahumans and aliens on Earth in the lead up to the DC Comics event Infinite Crisis, although he has appeared since in various Booster Gold time travel stories, most recently during Convergence. Ted had no super powers, although his nimble mind and genius level intellect allowed him to build all manner of technology and think his way out of many problems.

Blue Beetle [Dan Garrett] 

First Comic Book Appearance:  Mystery Men Comics #1 (August, 1939)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Eight- Fall of the Blue Beetle!

When archaeologist Dan Garrett found the tomb of mythic pharaoh Kha-Ef-Re, he grabbed the mystical scarab that the pharaoh wielded when the tomb began to collapse to save his partner, and found the scarab granted him magical powers. A mystery man for many years, working with various other heroes, although little is known of bis superhero career. He eventually retired to become a professor of archaeology, only coming out of retirement for one final adventure with his student Ted Kord, where he sacrificed himself. Garrett was a man in good shape normally, but when he said the magical word "Khaji Da' (in fact the name of the alien Scarab, which Garrett believed to be magic) he was able to access some of the Scarab's abilities to summon a costume that granted him super strength, flight, enhanced durability, and the power to fire energy blasts.

Dr. Polaris (Voiced by Lex Lang)
First Comic Book Appearance: Green Lantern #21 (June, 1963)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Eight- Fall of the Blue Beetle!

While there have been a couple of villains who have used the name Dr. Polaris, the most famous is Neal Emerson, a doctor who was obsessed with magnets. He suffered a split personality, and would often switch between the personas of Emerson and Dr. Polaris. He was a regular foe of Green Lantern and often a member of groups like the Secret Society and the Injustice Gang. Dr. Polaris's powers were based on magnetism, and he was able to manipulate magnetic fields as well as any ferrous material.

Jarvis Kord (Voiced by Tim Matheson)
First Comic Book Appearance: Blue Beetle #2 (August, 1967)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Eight- Fall of the Blue Beetle!

He's another character who is here what he is in the comics. He's Ted's uncle. He's a mad scientist. He's a jerk.

Continuity, Comics Connections, and Notes

This episode marks the second of a loose trilogy that features the development of Jaime Reyes as a hero. The first was naturally, "Rise of the Blue Beetle!" the series premiere. The third Jaime Reyes episode is "Revenge of the Reach!" where we learn more about the origins of the Scarab.

Ted Kord rocks!I'm sorry, but that's all I have to say. Ted is one of my favorite characters in the DC Universe, another whimsical, fun hero who got the shaft in recent years, although I sometimes feel like he's been treated better after his death than he was when he was alive. I first encountered him when he was a supporting character in Birds of Prey, and back tracked to read his appearances in the classic Justice League International. He willbe a supporting cast member in the upcoming Blue Beetle series that's a part of DC's "Rebirth initiative, where he will serve as a mentor to Jaime Reyes, which I think is a great combination.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 4/27 Part 2

Disney's Darkwing Duck #1
Story: Aaron Sparrow
Art: James Silvani & Andrew Dalhouse

He is the terror who flaps in the night, and he's back! I was sad to see Boom Studios Disney line end, especially since some books, like The Incredibles, never were actually resolved, and because the Darwing Duck series there was so perfect. It captured everything about one of my favorite Disney cartoons, a supehero send-up with an egotistical duck hero, his hapless sidekick, his spunky daughter, and a rogues gallery of cool and wacky villains. So now that Disney has Joe Books doing some comics for them, it was the perfect time to bring Darkwing back for his 25th anniversary. This first issue is a treat both for fans of the original animated series, the previous volume of the comic, and DW neophytes as well. The story is structured to introduce or re-introduce all the classic Darkwing elements: we get a supervillain battle with one of his recurring foes, Megavolt, aided by his pal and sidekick, Ducktales' own Launchpad McQuack. There's a barbecue with his neighbors (and often the banes of his existence), the Muddlefoots and his daughter, Gosalyn. He gets a new headquarters as a gift from S.H.U.S.H., the spy organization he works with, still including Agent Gryzlikoff, a Russian bear whose Cold War attitude started getting dated as the Cold War ended and now eerily works again. And as Gosalyn and her best friend, Honker, go on a field trip to the newly opening St. Canard Maximum Security Penitentiary, we get to see more villains, and as anyone who has ever read a comic or watched a cartoon knows, innocents in a prison means one thing... BREAKOUT! And what's great is the comic is completely aware of this; it acknowledges the trope and plays off it, and also acknowledges Darkwing's massive ego, as he's initially more upset that he wasn't invited to cut the ribbon on the Pen than he is that his daughter is walking into it. Darkwing Duck was a great superhero comedy, and this comic gets all the beats just right to recapture the magic.Now if we can only get someone to convince Greg Weisman to come over and do some new Gargoyles stories...

Faith #4
Story: Jody Houser
Art: Francis Portela, Marguerite Sauvage, & Andrew Dalhouse w/ Pete Pantazis

The Faith mini-series wraps up with an issue packed to the gills with action. Now that Hadley, one of the alien Vine, has come to Faith with information that the aliens have been the ones kidnapping potential psiots, Faith prepares to go in and save the taken, but she needs some help. So first she calls in Obadiah Archer, of Archer and Armstrong, and, well, I try not to be a person who 'ships characters, since I have scene that often that way lies heartbreak and ire, but holy crap they are absolutely adorable together! Faith's flirty and Archer is so awkward. And after giving a rousing hero speech to Hadley, she agrees to join in the fight as well. Faith jokes internally about leveling up in inspirational speechifying, but I think this is one of the charms of the character she is so genuinely good that she inspires those around her to be better, and it makes her all the more wonderful for it. The fight scene is beautifully done by Francis Portela, who has a great sense of motion and action. I also like that Hadley isn't a damsel in distress, as she has to point out to the chivalrous Archer more than once; she does her own stunts after all. Faith has one more ally in the fight, but that ally is also an enemy as her ex-boyfriend/ex-teammate, Torque, has been mind controlled by the Vine, and it's cool to see Faith have to fight a physically superior foe and still win. And win she does. The end of issue has one of my favorite of Marguerite Sauvage's fantasy pages, as Faith imagines her friends as a superhero team. It doesn't work out that way, but Faith is still fighting the good fight, ans she has a new beginning. I love that Faith realizes that it's the little things, all together, that mean you're making a life for yourself, and she winds up not in a dark place but in a bright one, one that she deserves. And that's it for Faith! Oh, wait? An ongoing series launching in July? Sweet! Looks like there's more to come, and I can't wait.

Saga #36
Art: Fiona Staples
Story: Brian K. Vaughan

The last issue of an arc of Saga is usually an issue that steps back from the big plot of the series and focuses on a secondary character for an issue. That... is not the case at all in this issue. As a matter of fact, as the big plot things go, this is probably going to be one of the biggest issues of the series. And while there is the usual assortment of character beats and snappy dialogue, this is an issue full of exciting action that moves the series forward to interesting new directions. The two main quests of the past arc, Marko and Alana attempting to retrieve their daughter, Hazel, and bounty hunter The Will seeking his revenge against Prince Robot IV both reach a climax here, and end in very different ways. I'm going to SPOIL one bit here, while leaving the big end of issue cliffhanger unmentioned. The reunion between Marko and Hazel is absolutely heart-rending, in the best way. The splash page, of the two embracing with a bit of narration and Hazel just repeating, "daddy" over and over again would make the most stone-like heart grow three sizes when they saw it. And Marko's parting from his mother is equally heart wrenching; Saga is at its best when it's driving home emotional truths abut its wide cast. By the end of the issue, Petrichor, the hermaphroditic member of Marko's species, has made it onto Marko and Alana's ship, and her reaction to Alana and her marriage to Marko is surprising; for someone who has had people act towards her in disgust for her biology, her complete revulsion at the thought of Marko and Alana is interesting and I hope is something we see dealt with more in the next arc, Meanwhile, The Will's insane visions finally come to a head, now not only seeing his ex, The Stalk, but his sister, The Brand. His inner discourse, and the choices he makes, change where he's going as a character. But the highlight of that sequence? Adorable little seal-man Ghüs is a badass! He sure as hell knows how to use a battleaxe. I understand that there's all this other emotion going on, but seeing Ghüs come at The Will with his axe was just... awesome. Now, the wait between arcs begins. I'm going to spend it reading Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin's Private Eye, which I have been saving for the Saga hiatus, but for those of you not caught up, this is a great time to start.

Image + #1

This isn't a regular review, since what I'm talking about here isn't really a comic. Image + is the new supplemental magazine from Image that comes with your Previews catalog if you buy that, or is $1.99 separately. When I heard it announced, I figured this was going to be like Marvel's Previews supplement, just the solicitations in a different magazine so it captures the eye and can be sold on its own. But it's way more. It's actually a series of preview pages and interviews from upcoming Image projects, some of which haven't even been solicited yet. It's a really nice package for $1.99, and might be worth checking out if you, like me, are always curious to see what Image has coming down the pike. Oh, and if that's not enough, this issue features the first four pages of a  twelve issue serial by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard that features the origins of The Walking Dead's favorite potty-mouthed, bat-wielding sociopath, Negan. That's worth the price of admission alone.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 4/27 Part 1

Batman #51
Story: Scott Snyder
Art: Greg Capullo, Danny Miki, & FCO Plascencia

After putting Batman through his paces for the past four years, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo end their monumental run on Batman with a quiet night. When a tremor causes Gotham to black out, Batman swings into action to find... nothing. The streets are quiet. The security at Arkham works for once, keeping the villains in. We see a city at peace, and the issue is narrated from the "Gotham is..." colum. Snyder has been exploring the idea of Gotham as a living breathing place since his earliest work with Batman, the "Black Mirror" arc in Detective Comics, and this issue is the time when the city seems happier, seems to be moving in the right direction. We see the man who is writing the column now, whose history throws back to the beginning of the run, and we see the changes Batman has ade to the city in the time since "The Court of Owls." More than that, we see how changed Batman is. This is a Batman who smiles, who enjoys taking the new Batmobile out on its first run, and a Batman who trades wit with Alfred and doesn't simply brood over it. It's a Batman you'd be more likely to see in Batman: The Animated Series than in any Batman comic, and if the comics can borrow more heavily from that version of Batman, you won't see any complaints from this fan. We see the status quo in Gotham back, with Jim Gordon as commissioner, and a great scene between the two friends, and I love Jim's new understanding of what it means to be Batman. But it's not all reflecting on the past. Whether he's planning on doing it himself or setting something up for a future writer, we do get hints that the Court of Owls has something big in the works, and it's good to see Snyder revisit what is probably his biggest contribution to the Batman mythos as he wraps things up here. And there are two simple panels of the once and future Joker, sitting by the pond that he and Bruce sat by in issue #48, now with the mosquitoes returning, a statement I feel about the cyclical nature of comic book storytelling. But in the end, the story wraps with Batman against the dawning sky, and the simple phrase, directed to Batman that, "Gotham is... you. Always." I's a great place to end a run that has explored Batman and what he means to Gotham. I'm looking forward to see what new creators bring to Batman, and what Snyder does in his All-Star Batman, but for now, I'm happy with a quiet night for the Dark Knight.

Ms. Marvel #6
Story: G. Willow Wilson
Art: Nico Leon & Ian Herring

It's been a while since I checked in with Kamala Khan, the wonderful Ms. Marvel, in my reviews here, and that's not a dig against the book; as with many comics that are great each month, you can only say how great a comic is month in and month out before you run out of new things to say. But this month's issue, the wrap up of the second arc in the new volume, does so much right that I have all sorts of things to say. I want to talk about this issue in two different sections, one about the superhero plot, and one about Kamala's personal development. G. Willow Wilson has always written wonderful characters, and her plots and superhero action have been solid, but this arc takes the superhero antics to a level of extreme wildness. Long story short, Kamala asked her friend Bruno, who was experimenting with the golems Loki left behind at their school, to make clones of her so she could deal with school, her family, and being an Avenger all at once. Only the clones are out of control, and now there's a giant one attacking her brother's engagement party. So we have Kamala versus a giant clone of herself. You know comedy is going to ensue, But Bruno has a solution! He's going to create a T-Rex golem to eat all the little clones. Yes. That is his plan. So now we have a giant Kamala, a T-Rex, and still a bunch of little clones. Oh, and Loki shows up too, to drop some snark bombs. It's the kind of wild plot you can only get in a superhero comic, and Nico Leon draws it wonderfully. And it's resolved with a supehero-ex-machina, as Captain Marvel calls down lasers from space to blast them out of existence, because the joy in this isn't how it's resolved, but how it happened. And more important, what Kamala chose to do. Kamala reached out for help, she did the smart thing. And she also realized just how important balancing her life as Kamala is with balancing her life as Ms. Marvel. That is an important lesson all teenagers have to learn, whether it's balancing their time as a football star with that as a student and friend, or their time studying with their time being a Level 12 Paladin. And the great thing is that Kamala does is and doesn't have to bemoan, "the ol' Parker luck," when everything falls apart. Spider-Man never really won; Kamala's life is balanced nicely where she learns her lesson, even when it involves getting caught in the middle of an argument between Captain Marvel and Iron Man (a foreshadowing of the upcoming Civil War 2), and in the end she's able to make her brother's wedding in a beautiful scene. The importance of family, friends, and superheroics, all in one book is part of the wonderful charm of Ms. Marvel, and this issue shows it off at its best.

Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat #5
Story: Kate Leth
Art: Brittney L. Williams & Megan Wilson

If you're expecting a taut, psychological thriller from Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat after the character's appearances in the amazing Jessica Jones TV series, you're in for a surprise, because this comic continues to be a whimsical, hilarious superhero comic. Wrapping up its first arc, this issue has Patsy dealing with two major rivals: the Asgardian sorceress, Casiolena, and her ex-BFF, Hedy Wolfe; specifically, captured by Casiolena, Patsy can't escape to help her lawyer, Jen Walters a.k.a. She-Hulk, face down Hedy, who is reprinting the comics that featured the two of them as teens and not giving Patsy any royalties It's two very different conflicts as Patsy basically trash talks her way to Casiolena while Jen does her best to keep Hedy in check until Patsy arrives, only to leave when she finds out Patsy needs help. The issue also features Valkyrie, Patsy's friends, Ian and Tom, Bailey, one of Casiolena's former henchpeople who has realized that she's being sold a bill of goods and whose journey is a nice example fo how a hero can effect someone's life for the good, and an appearance by Jessica Jones, setting up the furst comic book meeting between the two characters, What's really clever is that the story sets up the ideological conflict between Casiolena and Patsy perfectly; Patsy wants to start a temp agency to help powered people get jobs outside the traditional hero/villain dynamic, while Casiolena is taking in young powered people and turning them into her army of villains by lying to them, saying she can fix their problems. Casiolena's downfall isn't just brought about by Patsy and her heroic allies, but by She-Hulk talking to one of her hench-people, and telling him that you can't use magic to fix a credit score. That sentence just delights me. It's also a great contrast that Patsy has friends and treats them with love and caring, while Casiolena is betrayed by her manservant, Poppo, because she treats him like he's nothing; it's the lesson that the golden rule really works. If you enjoy all ages comics like the new Archie and Lumberjanes and want to dip your toe into superhero comics, Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat is the perfect book for you to try,

We Are Robin #11
Story: Lee Bermejo
Art: Jorge Corona, Rob Haynes, & Trish Mulvihill

It's sad that we're in the homestretch on the DC You titles like We Are Robin, as it's a book that has a lot to say, and does it in a way that remains entertaining and exciting, without becoming preachy, And this issue could have very easily descended into preachy, as the Jokers gang, a gang of teens who idolize the Joker, take hostages at Gotham's Middletown High School. School shootings and hostage situations are a sensitive topic, understandably so, but the issue handles it with decorum, as the core group of Robins we've been following, many of them students at Middletown, work to stop anyone from dying at the hands of the Jokers and their leader, Smiley. Much of the issue is narrated by Duke Thomas, the breakout star of the title and regular guest star in Batman, as he thinks abut guns, what they mean, the power they grant, and the bravery it takes to not use one. It's not an uncommon theme in Batman stories, as Batman is the most traditionally anti-gun superhero there is. But Duke provides an interesting incite, as he's not the deeply traumatized Batman; he even adits to wondering when he was younger why Batman didn't use a gun. But like I said, while there's a lot to think about here, the comic doesn't wallow in philosophy. Instead we see Duke and Riko making their way through the school, taking out some Jokers and preparing to save the faculty who Smiley has all corralled and ready to kill, Dax and Izzy both outside the school determining a way to get in and help (while Izzy makes her decision about being part of the Robins and we get a shock revelation of Dax's ties to an important criminal in the Batman mythos), and Dre, having disguised himself as one of the Jokers, doing his best to liberate the student body. The stories flow back and forth seamlessly, and come together perfectly at the end. After the crisis is over, the Robins meet "The Nest," the man who has been providing them gear, and tell him that they're ready to strike out on their own and learn their own way, and it's a satisfying wrap up of the events and lives of the characters, so I'm curious to see what the final issue of the series does next issue, and where it leaves them moving forward. I've come to really enjoy these characters, and while we've seen Duke in promo art for the Rebirth era, I hope the rest of the Robins find a home as well.

The Games Geek People Play: Power Play: Schemes and Skulduggery

So, this week's entry is the first in a new irregular series. I've mentioned my love of games, both role-playing and board, before, and there are plenty of games based on comic books and genre tropes out there. And, to be completely frank, I was up late last night at my bi-weekly Nerdstorm, that's my gamer group, playing Talisman, the fantasy board game equivalent of Monopoly (not because it's about buying and selling property, but because it goes on forever and no one ever wins. It's about the playing and not the result, for us anyway), and had completely spaced on a topic for today's piece, so I figured, hey, might as well write about a game! So, today is my first game recommendation, and that game is Power Play: Schemes and Skulduggery! I'm not a game reviewer by trade, so this isn't a review of the mechanics, although I'll talk a bit about that by default, but more about the experience of playing, about what makes the game fun and makes someone else try it out.

I stumbled across Power Play at a game store, and reading the description, well, it seemed right up my alley. It's a story telling game, an RPG of sorts, but designed to one session, and doesn't require a gamemaster. You are a super powered villain who is serving a mysterious organization called The Agency to gain power for yourself. Each game one of several object cards is selected, which serves as the MacGuffin you and the others are competing over. You have a specific goal, and a there are a number of locations pulled from a location deck. To play, all you need is the game itself, some scratch paper, and to raid your boardgames or RPG dice stash for some D6's (that's six sided dice for you non-gamers). You progress through the game trying to meet your objective while beating the other characters to the punch through manipulation, cunning, and occasionally main force.

The joy of Power Play is that it allows for infinite creativity, limited only by your imagination and the laws if physics and logic. The goals that you have to undertake are created by the players at the start of the game, shuffled, and distributed at random, so it benefits the player to come up with something tricky but not impossible, as you might wind up with the goal you created, or something else completely different. On your turn, you declare Traits on places, people, and things that will aid you in this or future turns (or interfere with the plans someone else has carefully been setting up), and then take one of various kinds of actions.And those actions are anything you can physically and realistically pull off; this isn't a game where you have specific skills and roll to see if you achieve an action. The challenge mechanic is a "Reality Check" where someone can call you on doing something impossible. For example, if you're at the construction site, you can say, "I jump across the pit that foundation is being laid in," and that just happens. On the other hand, when visiting City Hall, you say, "I pull out my sword and stab the deputy mayor." someone can call you out by saying that there is no way you made it into City Hall with a sword, and there are mechanics to resolve the conflict. It's a clever way to play, and it challenges the players to think creatively.

The game is designed for 4-8 players, which makes it a decent size for a small gaming party or a large gaming group (mine is seven at full attendance, but we usually break out the non-RPGs when we're down a man or woman, so this was played with six). The characters you can choose from are a selection of archetypes,from the pyrokinetic Firestarter, to the physical bruiser The Tank, to the demonic powers of The Devil's Advocate. Last game, I got the unfortunate character, The Garbage Man, who sickens those around him and can break his monster into small monsters to do his bidding. Gross, huh? This basically means you're a supervillain, and while this game doesn't necessarily give you the time or impetus to create elaborate backstories like full-on RPGs do, you're given a couple of character traits to start with to inform how you play, like "A Flair for the Dramatic," or "Unsettling."

Along with the core deck of twelve characters, there are two smaller six character decks for different kinds of games. One set, if you're in the mood for a more horror themed game, are six classic monster archetypes, including the Vampire, the Werewolf, and others. I'm looking forward to playing again because I want to play the Werewolf bad. The other six and Superhero archetypes. Now whether you want to play a game that is more heroic themed, or instead make them heroes who are secretly villains, well, that's totally up to you and how you play!

Power Play is a game for those who enjoy free form storytelling with a side of duplicity. Everyone is working against each other, even if they're allies. It works perfectly for certain types of gaming groups, mine most assuredly among them. If you're a fan of less dice heavy, more story-centric role playing systems like FATE and want a great one night game experience (once you get the hang of the game, you can play it on about two hours), being the bad guy, and a game that makes you think your way through it, I highly recommend Power Play.

The Great Batman: The Brave and the Bold Rewatch: "Dawn of the Dead Man!"

Season One, Episode Seven: Dawn of the Dead Man!
Written by Todd Casey
Directed by Ben Jones

Plot Synopsis

Teaser: Hopping across the rooftops of a post-apocalyptic world, Batman follows Kamandi, the last human boy, and his mentor, Dr Canus, towards a time fissure. They are attacked by rat-men, with Batman holding them off while Kamandi and Canus carry a capsule to the fissure. They travel by inflatable raft to the wreck of the Statue of Liberty, where Batman takes the capsule and heads into the rift with the vaccine he needs to save human life, but not until telling Kamandi to check the statue's nostril, where he finds a time capsule with a ray weapon Kamandi uses to save himself and Canus from the pursuing rat-men

Episode: In a London cemetery stands a grave that reads, "Here Lies Batman," and from the grave rises what appears to be Batman's ghost. In flashback we see Batman chasing Gentleman Ghost, who is trying to obtain artifacts that will allow him to raise a ghost army, across London. Gentleman Ghost is able to knock Batman unconscious and bury him alive, but Batman is able to astrally project out of his body.

Out of the grave, he meets a ghost and tells him he has two hours of air before his body will die. The ghost tells Batman he can possess bodies, and offers to use a body to dig up Batman's body, but Batman knows the coffin is booby trapped, so he has to find another way. While Gentleman Ghost acquires the second artifact, Batman and the ghost travel across London. Batman sees a light that is a way to the other side, something the ghost is excited for as he himself is trapped on the mortal plain, and Batman sees his parents beckoning him, and begins to drift towards the light.

At the last moment, Batman decides to stay behind and because his work is not done. The ghost is annoyed by Batman rejecting what he has sought, but they head off to find a nearby hero. As luck would have it, Green Arrow and his sidekick, Speedy, are chasing a thief in London, and the ghost pushes Batman into Speedy, since a ghost needs to possess a living person to speak with the living. After a little experimentation, Batman gets Arrow to believe it's him, and Arrow and Speedy head to the cemetery.

When the ghost hears Gentleman Ghost is involved, he wants out, as Gentleman Ghost is, "bad news," but after Batman tells him to stop wallowing in self pity, he follows Batman back towards his body, and tells Batman his origin: he was a trapeze artist who was shot while performing, and his killer, who has a hook for a hand, was never caught. Batman knows him to be Boston Brand, who performed under the name Deadman, and Batman tells Deadman he's been working his case, and challenges Deadman to help him stop Gentleman Ghost.

At the, "Museum of Torture," Gentleman Ghost gets the final artifact, the noose he was hung with, and the astral Batman confronts him. They battle, and while Batman is the more skilled fighter, Gentleman Ghost's familiarity with fighting as a ghost gives him the upper hand. Deadman arrives to aid Batman, but Gentleman Ghost calls his ghost horse to escape. The ghostly heroes pursue him, and they all wind up heading back to the cemetery, and Gentleman Ghost uses the pen that signed his death warrant, the key that locked the dungeon, and the noose to summon an army of criminal ghosts, who restrain Batman's spirit form and possess skeletons to able to destroy London.

Green Arrow and Speedy are able to beat the booby trap and dig up Batman's body, and Deadman possesses the body, leading Arrow and Speedy into the catacombs beneath the cemetery where Batman's spirit is imprisoned. He goes down to save Batman, while Arrow and Speedy fight Gentleman Ghost up above. The Nth Metal in Batman's tools defeats the ghosts holding Batman's spirit, and Batman retakes his body.

Arrow and Speedy are outnumbered by Gentleman Ghost's army, but Batman arrives, and Deadman possesses Speedy. Arrow uses Nth Metal arrowheads to destroy Gentleman Ghost's horse, and Batman fights him hand to hand with Nth Metal knuckles. Batman knocks off Gentleman Ghost's hat, where the artifacts were hidden, and the spirits Gentleman Ghost summoned drag him back to the afterlife. Batman swears he'll find Deadman's killer, and with the Deadman sees the light.

Flash forward three months, and Batman has been captured by a gang and is about to be killed, when Deadman possesses the leader, having decided to stay behind and find his own killer. Freeing Batman, the episode ends with the two of them joining together to fight the gang.




Who's Who

Deadman (Voiced by Michael Rosenbaum)
First Comic Book Appearance: Strange Adventures #205 (October, 1967)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Seven- Dawn of the Deadman!

Created by Arnold Drake and Neal Adams, Deadman's origin is pretty much exactly what this episode puts forth: Boston Brand was a trapeze artist who was kind of a jerk, who was shot mid-performance by a hook-handed assassin. As he died, the goddess Rama Kushna appears to him, granting him the ability to possess bodies so he can hunt down his killer. Deadman does eventually hunt down Hook, who was a member of the League of Assassins, but does not pass on, instead staying on Earth to continue to do good. He has rarely held his own series, although has had a number of mini-series, and has often appeared in comic alongside Batman, two characters whose visuals were both defined by Neal Adams. In recent years, Deadman has gotten more of a spotlight as he was a featured player in DC's last pre-Flashpoint epic, Brightest Day, and was a member of the Justice League Dark in the New 52. Aside from the ability to possess the living, which allows Deadman a physical form and the ability to communicate with the living, when in a body Deadman retains the physical memory of being a trapeze artist and acrobat, able to perform stunts most people can not.

Green Arrow (Voiced by James Arnold Taylor)
First Comic Book Appearance: More Fun Comics #73 (November, 1941)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

Kamandi (Voiced by Mikey Kelley)

First Comic Book Appearance:  Kamandi: The Last Boy On Earth (October, 1972)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Seven- Dawn of the Deadman!

Kamandi is the last human left alive in a post-apocalyptic world. Years ago, "the Great Disaster," occurred, wiping out most of humanity, and what humanity is left is feral. Emerging from the Command D bunker, from where he gets his name, Kamandi finds a world populated by bipedal animal people, most of them very hostile to humans. The only ones who approve of Kamandi are Dr. Canus, a dog scientist who acts as Kamandi's mentor, Prince Tuftan of the Tigers, and Tuftan's father, Great Caesar. Kamandi travels the Earth, trying to find a way to restore the last of humanity's sentience. Created by Jack Kirby, Kamandi has had limited interactions with the DC Universe proper, although he was used by Grant Morrison in both Final Crisis and Multiversity. Kamandi is a normal human, although one on very good physical shape, and who is clever and a talented fighter.

Speedy (Voiced by Jason Marsden)
First Comic Book Appearance: More Fun Comics #73 (November, 1941)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Seven- Dawn of the Deadman!

Roy Harper was the ward of Green Arrow, Oliver Queen, who took him in after losing both his father, a park ranger, to fire, and his adopted father, Brave Bow, a Native American who taught him archery. An excellent archer in his own right already, Roy took the name Speedy and became Green Arrow's partner, as well as a founding member of the Teen Titans. Roy's life after this was a hard one, as he became addicted to heroin, became a government agent, had a daughter with a supervillain, and various other travails. He took on the adult secret identities of first Arsenal and then Red Arrow, and would spend time leading the Titans and as a member of the Justice League. In the current continuity, he has been a partner of Jason Todd, the Red Hood, and they currently run a heroes for hire business. While having no superhuman powers, Roy Harper is an excellent marksman, one of the best in the world, as well as an inventor of unusual weapons, and a skilled hand to hand combatant.

Gentleman Ghost (Voiced by Jonny Rees)
First Comic Book Appearance: Flash Comics #88 (October, 1947)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Two- Terror on Dinosaur Island!


Continuity, Comics Connections, and Notes

The teaser for this episode is loaded with references to the DC work of Jack "The King" Kirby, on e of the greatest creators in comic book history. A billboard Kamandi stands in front of is a reference to the cover of the first issue of OMAC another Kirby title, and a character who will appear in a future episode of Brave and the Bold. The Statue of Liberty is in the same position that it appears in on the cover of the first issue of Kamandi's own series. Thee ray weapon that Batman leaves behind for Kamandi is straight out of a Kirby design, down the the visual effect is utilizes, called Kirby Krackles, which were a trademark of Kirby's art.

Michael Rosenbaum, who voices Deadman in this episode, has a long resume filled with DC Comics projects. Probably most famous for playing the part of Lex Luthor on TV's Smallville, Rosenbaum also was a regular member of the classic DC Animated Universe voice troupe, starting out with a small cameo in Batman Beyond, before graduating to a larger role in the animated movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, and then a starring role a the Flash in Justice League/Justice League Unlimited, where he also voiced Deadshot. He has reprised the role of Flash in a few video games and DC Animated movies, and voiced Kid Flash on Teen Titans as well.

The dialogue Green Arrow uses when doing a Batman impression, "I am Vengeance, I am the Night, I am Batman!" is dialogue lifted directly from the classic Batman: The Animated Series.

Batman says that Deadman was working for Haly's Circus at the time of his death. While Deadman has not been connected with Haly's Circus in the comics,it is connected to the origin of another DC Comics acrobat: Dick Grayson, the original Robin. Dick and his parents, the Flying Graysons, were working at Haly's when Boss Tony Zucco killed the Graysons in Gotham City. Dick would eventually go on to own Haly's Circus in both the pre- and post-Flashpoint continuities.

After Deadman leaves Speedy's body, the sidekick pounds one fist into his open palm and says, "Holy involuntary acrobatics!" an obvious reference both the physical performance of, and the dialogue given to, Burt Ward, who played Robin in the classic Batman series of the '60s.