Category: Number Ones
Last article published: 31 August 2018
This is the 60th post under this label
It's been a few months since the Dark Metal event ended and Infinite Frontier as a label was launched. What did it mean? Not sure. It wasn't a reboot à la New52 or Rebirth. A new direction/tone? Doubtful. Since all series' next issues had the banner regardless of whether it was a continuing series or a new number one, it was kind of meaningless. Jumping on point? A few months ago, I live-blogged the Future State event, which I then thought would have made a nice epilogue to current continuity before jumping into a NEW continuity. Looking at DC's output since, it rather seems like Future State was a PROLOGUE for upcoming storylines, albeit in the form of a preview. A beginning packaged and sold as an ending.
So this is a sequel to my Future State coverage. To keep things under control, I've elected to read six books. One is Infinite Frontier #1 - the event you'd have thought would have come out directly after the initiative was launched. The rest are selected #1s, my only criteria being that they had to be new titles with the Infinite Frontier banner on them, no relaunches (sorry Suicide Squad, Green Lantern, et al.), and even there, I skipped a couple of new Batman books (The Joker, Urban Legends) because I just don't care.
Strike what I said about this needing to come out right after Future State, it should have come out after Multiversity! Williamson makes good on a promise made after THAT series by re-introducing the Justice League of the Multiverse (i.e. Justice Incarnate) and giving us a story that takes place across several Earths. Still, there are some important Dark Metal links - the Flash goes out looking for Earth-Omega at the other "end" of the Multiverse, and after the events of this last Crisis (with another one on the way, sigh), the Multiverse is mainstream news. There's a certain discussion of the concept by normal people as it permeates the culture. Interesting, though it's perhaps just flavor. Among the threads set up, we have Flashpoint Batman being found by the J.I.; Green Lantern Alan Scott and his team beating on Extant (haha), coming out as gay (for real, not the guy from another Earth this time), and faced with the mystery of his daughter disappearing; Mr. Bones recruiting Cameron Chase back into the D.E.O. (90s squee); the Flash's question and links to the next Crisis; and a mysterious role for Roy Harper (I'm up for it). Mystery, humor, high stakes, and the art by Xermanico is quite nice too.
Recommended? If you like the Multiverse, you'll be interested in this 6-issue mini-series, from which will undoubtedly come more new series. Here's hoping it tells a complete story and doesn't JUST act as a springboard for others.
I guess the question is whether or not we're interested in a Swamp Thing who isn't Alec Holland. Levi Kamei is an Indian-American with some kind of connection to the Green, who dreams of becoming a swamp monster until he actually does become one, in his sleep. The dream pops him out of vegetation when he's need, and back when he's not. A different way to access a Swamp Thing's origin, though truth be told, I'm almost more interested in the crude oil elemental that's also introduced. That there have been other Swamp Things over the years has long been established, so this isn't out of left field. And yet, I feel attached to the rich history of the Thing who thought he was Alec Holland. The issue spends too much time on a murder case out in the desert, and leaves me wondering who this Kamei guy is that's taking up the other half of the issue. By the time he becomes the monster, I don't feel particularly involved with his story. At this point, just about everything that needed to be said about Alec, Abby and Arcane has probably been said so I'm okay with replacing the lead. I just needed a fire to be lit under me so I could care about the new guy.
Recommended? As an introduction, it's on the limp side. Don't know what it means exactly, but has since been rebranded as a 10-issue mini-series.
Future State took the animated Teen Titans' Red X and brought him into the comics. I haven't read enough modern Titans comics to know if Nightwing ever did the Red X thing in the comics before, but I didn't think so. It's just that everyone acts like that part of the cartoon happened in mainstream continuity. Regardless, he's a mystery figure coming back to haunt Dick. Putting "Academy" at the end of the title not only taps into a "hot" suffix (at least since Harry Potter), it also brings the New Teen Titans full circle back to its roots as DC's answer to the X-Men. There are three cohorts to juggle - the original New Titans (faculty), the current Teen Titans (upperclassmen I don't much care about) and the new class (which I hope will be the actual focus). I'm surprised to see Billy Batson in there (despite seeing him in Future State), and happy Miguel "Dial H" Montez is in there too. The others are quickly but efficiently introduced, though I'd be hard-pressed to tell you much about them. Stitch, a kind of teen Ragman is the most interesting, though I'm keen to find out more about Gorilla Gregg. There's a Gotham trio Nightwing apparently sponsored who look like trouble. The important thing, I felt, was that it had enough DC Comics DNA not to feel like the New Mutants. Some of the kids are just faces with powers, and don't escape the comparison, so it's important to have supernatural and vigilante types in there (aliens and techies too, if they can develop them). Sheridan is good at writing jokes, but trying to turn the Titans into a school is where it's most clunky. The faculty being called Mr./Ms. Code-Name is dumb, and Nightwing's lessons are trite and hokey. The attempt at making the kids sound and act like they're Generation Z sometimes sounds forced as well - I wonder how actual teens would read it. Mostly liked, and that's a win for a franchise I've rarely really enjoyed.
Recommended? Academy has a lot of potential, and the first issue definitely manages to introduce a lot of people and concepts inside of a single issue. Can it keep all those balls in the air? That remains to be seen.
Yara Flor, the Future State Wonder Woman, was the best thing to come out of that event. She was good everywhere, but especially in her solo issues by Joëlle Jones - fun, clever, funny, and gorgeously produced comics you only get on a rare occasion. Her chronological introduction does make me realize I'm weak on Wonder Woman lore, but I'm still eager to catch up. Perhaps because we know the end result, it feels fine that the book is on the slow path and that Yara is not Wonder Girl yet at the end of the issue. Though she's the Brazilian Wonder Woman, there are still strong connections to the Greek Amazons, and thus perhaps to contemporary Wonder Woman comics. I don't really know and I'm not sure I care. Jones crafts beautiful comic book artifacts that make me smile so I don't need to "get" everything.
Recommended? I was always going to be reading this one. One of the best DC characters introduced in the last 20 years. (Warning: Didn't check on my hyperbole, but still feels right.)
Mister Miracle: The Source of Freedom #1 by Brandon Easton and Fico Ossio
Shilo Norman is a good and Kirby-approved replacement for Scott Free, but it generally precludes Big Barda from appearing in his Mister Miracle stories, so I'm never as interested. Further, Ossio's art is fine, but it's less interesting than the Yannick Paquette covers and the art in his Future State back-ups. Let's call those initial disappointments and move forward with what we DO get. And that's something I'm quite happy with, actually. Shilo is an African-American celebrity (with cool, deep exploration of what celebrity means in the modern world) hiding behind a mask. He's white-washed himself and in the wake of what's been happening in the last few years, aims to continue. He sees his blackness as a prison and anonymity as freedom. I always considered Scott Free as a symbol not just of personal freedom, but of the unshackling of others. Shilo seems to need to learn that lesson. I'm quite intrigued. I also love the women in this world - Denise Lorian, a no-nonsense and very witty firefighter who thinks he's too boring to be her boyfriend, and the antagonist who is bringing some interesting Fourth World lore to the table (and a bit of a WTF?! cliffhanger too).
Recommended? They've built a world that can stand a lot of actual and ethical exploration. I'm there for it.
DC screws up every chance it has to revamp, retool or tweak Supergirl, and this mini-series is no different. Tom King has the Maiden of Steel fly to a planet with a red sun so she can get fall-down drunk on her 21st birthday, and drunk or not, she drops the F-bomb (in comic book garble, but still) as often as she can. It's also strongly hinted that she'll kill someone by the end of the story. This thing just doesn't feel like a Supergirl story. The narration is by a local girl, and the world she's on would be at home in Dungeons & Dragons. Supergirl and Krypto are de-powered, but even drunk, she can defeat a buff warrior and survive arrows to the chest. If it were a fantasy book, I might admire the language and world-building. And certainly, Evely's art is very pretty. It just doesn't feel appropriate for the lead character.
Recommended? No matter its qualities, Supergirl's been plugged into someone else's story and that's frustrating. Tom King is a most dangerous writer because he's got enough cred that they'll let him do anything, but all he wants to do is break the toys (seemingly killing Krypto is his greatest sin here.)
These books are all on their second to fourth issues, so you have time to catch up if you so choose. A quick gander at the rest of the line shows a LOT of follow-ups to Future State besides. Gotham is taken over by private law enforcement. Superman trains Jon to be a new Superman, even as Warworld becomes a concern. Teen Lantern takes over the GL book. Superboy is in Suicide Squad, Wally West in The Flash, and Jason Todd even gets his own Future State comic. But is DC really heading for Yet Another Crisis, and will they shuffle their cards again? Or is Infinite Frontier how the heroes prevent one?
And I mean Infinite Frontier, the series, not the banner/imprint. If it had ANY meaning, the books so marked would showcase all sorts of continuities, be MULTIVERSAL. They're not. It's all Earth-0. Or Earth-Heading for Future State. But hey, when Dan DiDio left, it blew up certain plans and these are the pieces DC has to make fit into some kind of whole.
Comments
That's the most accurate, most succinct description of King's body of work I've ever read. I tip my hat to you, sir.