What Are You Reading?

[Dr. Insomniac]

Ironic how hard Marvel pushed Inhumans as the new X-Men before giving up ("They're oppressed just like the Mutants!" "They're attacked by killer racist robots just like the Mutants!" "Ignore the giant space kingdom, guys!"), and now the X-Men have their own outer space kingdom just like the Inhumans used to.

[Markness]

I still haven't read the issues of the Hellfire Gala event besides one (X-Corp 2). I have stacks of books of all sorts I need to read but haven't gotten to them because my mental health is really low once again like it was last summer.
The heat in my state is also sickeningly hot and when I get home from work, I am drained.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Yeah, seasonal depression can be awful.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Superman and the Authority just started, but I'm thinking it's one of DC's most interesting comics this year for a ton of reasons. Besides being Morrison's last DC book for a while because they want to focus on TV work, it's also a sequel to "What's So Funny about Truth, Justice, and the American Way?" but this time Superman thinks that maybe he needs Manchester Black's way of doing things this time. And from a meta viewpoint, where the Authority was the new popular superhero comic that DC reacted negatively to in the first story, they're all but relics here in need of reconstructing. What used to be the middle finger to the Justice League and a show of what superheroes would really do if they had to save the world became shrouded in satires and parodies like the Justice Lords, the Elite, and the Ultramarine Corps. And any shot at re-inventing the Authority since then rarely did well, or sometimes did well but ended thanks to various reasons. Really doesn't help that Ellis and Millar are the people who created the Authority and made it popular, and those two have completely different reputations now than 20 years ago. But in Morrison's story, they recognize that the spark of the Authority, superheroes who want to improve the world instead of just protecting it, is still something worth striving for even when handled poorly or if you want to make a "Justice League goes too far" plot. And tying it back to an older Superman with weakened powers but strengthened wisdom allying with Manchester makes a delightful contrast to how even though "What's So Funny?" is meant to be a retort to edgy anti-heroes and how their way of doing things is sometimes just as useless as their straight-laced counterparts, there was still a hint of "Old guard is jealous of new blood" there that didn't exactly work for me.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Given Morrison's well-established thoughts and feelings on Superman and how his public perception has been treated since comics started trying to be more edgy, this story does really seem to have a vibe of the the old guard and new guard coming to terms with one another. Morrison can be unpredictable with how he goes about his stories but he tends to have an optimistic outlook when it comes to the greater themes of his stories, so I feel as though Manchester Black will be impacted by Superman in some way by the conclusion of this miniseries.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Looking back at that CBR interview they did, and how much they disagreed with the idea Superman would become a fascist as soon as one of his loved ones like Lois or Flash died. Which is one of the unfortunate influences from the DCAU, that multiple STAS and JL/JLU episodes show a death of a loved one is all it takes to turn Clark evil. And as good as the Cadmus arc was, it relied so heavily on the scenario he's one bad day away from snapping that it's hard not to rewatch episodes and think "Yeah, this is the seed that sprout Injustice and every other half-hearted evil Superman pitch".

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

To be fair, at least in JLU he ended up making the decision NOT to kill Luthor/Braniac of his own accord. While it's implied that this is because he was exposed to the Justice Lords and saw how bad he could become, it still shows that Superman is more nuanced than that and can make the decision to still not kill even after "seemingly" losing one of his teammates.

I feel what was lost in later stories was any trace of that nuance.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Started reading The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa, which came in an excellent quality two-volume hardcover set. It's a really fun and charming story so far.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I finished John Ostrander's Suicide Squad run, though I'm not sure why it's not referred to as the Ostrander/Yale run since Kim Yale co-wrote a lot of it with him.

Anyways, it's a solid run but I think at least for me it's not a personal favorite. I do think that the character work is it's biggest strength. In particular, Amanda Waller, Deadshot, Bronze Tiger, Nightshade, and Nemesis get the best overall character arcs and have layers of depth and nuance to them. Vertigo also gets a good arc that plays into the core theme of the run, though it's mostly in the last third. And "Boomer-butt" is an effective comic relief character while still showcasing him as a legitimate threat when it counts.

That said, I found many of the actual stories to be all over the place, with messy plotting in several instances and a lot of contrivances and conveniences happening on a regular basis. Also, while infusing the stories with real-world politics was a bit more fresh as a concept around the mid-to-late 80's, I do feel as though other series both contemporary and after this one have arguably done that aspect better.

Like I said, I still think it's good, but it doesn't quite live up to the greatness that I often see it get praised for. Just my personal opinion, though. I'd still be interested enough to check out some of Ostrander's other work, of course.

Also, I'm a few issues into George Perez's Wonder Woman run and while it's too early for me to comment on it's quality, let me just say that the artwork is phenomenal. I can see why Perez has been so highly regarded in the industry for his art. His use of panel structure and the clarity of how he arranges a page or spread really boosts the story-telling that either he or other writers are capable of, and it's a level above most of his contemporaries as well as even modern day professionals in the industry.

[Dr. Insomniac]

They also did a good job re-interpreting Barbara into Oracle. I used to think it was silly that Barbara couldn't call Bruce or Dick to find someone who could repair her spinal injury since they've also suffered from crippling injuries yet found a way to get better, but after years of forgettable Barbara-as-Batgirl stories compared to how much better her characterization was in this and Birds of Prey, and reading why people wish she was Oracle full-time again, I get their point now.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, I do like how Barbara was portrayed as highly intelligent and resourceful as Oracle in this series. I didn't realize that it was this series which was largely responsible for characterizing her that way in the first place, but if it was then it definitely deserves props for that as well.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Since JMS showed up on my feed because he's been campaigning to be the new Doctor Who showrunner for some reason, I read some of his recent comics. Which surprised me, since I thought he left comics after his Superman comic about Clark walking across America and solving societal ills indicated One More Day wasn't an isolated problem. He wrote something called The Resistance, and it's about Covid giving people superpowers who fight a Presidential administration that's totally not an allegory for a certain real-life politician (though the artist traces over pictures of Ed Harris and Michael Keaton for him, there are quite a lot of actors whose likenesses are being used). If you think that sounds unsubtle and kind of tasteless, that's because it is. The bluntness reminds me of that one recent Digimon Tamers stage play where the characters fight a villain literally named "Political Correctness". I think some writers have forgotten what metaphors are, and present their messages with the subtlety of a neon-colored machine gun.

[Dr. Insomniac]

One thing I really like about Morrison's Superman is their disdain for stories using Superman as a nostalgia totem, those "new flavor-of-the-month superheroes are nothing compared to the old school!" stories that even good comics like Kingdom Come trap themselves into.

I also read a little of the recent Amazing Spider-Man, and I don't understand any of it. It's a nightmare of continuity and doppelgangers. If the sanest thing in the story is Harry tricking Norman into having sex with Mysterio, then something's gone horribly wrong.

[Markness]

Going to read some Crossgen and Aspen titles later this week. I will read some new issues from DC and Marvel, namely the Harley Quinn The Animated Series #1 and some of the current X-Books I still care about, but I will need a break after that.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

One thing I really like about Morrison's Superman is their disdain for stories using Superman as a nostalgia totem, those "new flavor-of-the-month superheroes are nothing compared to the old school!" stories that even good comics like Kingdom Come trap themselves into.

I also read a little of the recent Amazing Spider-Man, and I don't understand any of it. It's a nightmare of continuity and doppelgangers. If the sanest thing in the story is Harry tricking Norman into having sex with Mysterio, then something's gone horribly wrong.

This entire miniseries has been a very refreshing commentary on the current state of superhero trends and the fandom in general with the dichotomy between Superman and Manchester Black. It manages to do that without beating you over the head about it's themes. Superman clearly comes from an older, more classical way of thinking, or so it seems at first, whereas MB is more about the current trends, like why fret about killing villains and how overly idealistic the older superhero mentality is.

What I love is that you can clearly see that Superman actually values the change that can be brought by the next generation, but also points out that not all of the old stuff is as senseless as people think, as demonstrated in those panels that you posted.

It's something I notice going on all the time among modern fans whether it be for comics or movies. Reading something like this feels rather cathartic in that regard as somewhat of a response to that pro-edgy mentality.