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Justice Society of America #1

Script: Geoff Johns
Art: Dale Eaglesham & Art Thibert

What, no zero issue?

It’s nearly impossible to read this restart without making comparisons to the revamped JLA title Brad Meltzer is penning. These sister titles may have roots separating them by a generation and a slightly different sensibility about them, but there is still great commonality between the them.

So let’s get the comparison out of the way early: this is a much better start than JLA.  Geoff Johns accomplishes more in one issue than Meltzer has in four -- although if Meltzer would drop all those annoying verbal ticks he’s introduced to the script we’d only be on issue two -- he has a better sense of character development and, unsurprisingly, a better feel for how to tell a story in this medium. Johns’ writes like the seasoned pro you’d expect, Meltzer more like the novelist he is, who gets to play with some new toys he’s always wanted but not quite sure how to use.

This isn’t to say the book is flawless. After 70 some-odd issue of the previous JSA run it seems almost imponderable he would get Wildcat this wrong, although I do like the plot development dropped at the end. And is there something in Johns’ contract requiring a certain number of gruesome acts of violence per book? Maybe I’m just old school, but that business with Mr. America’s family should have happened off-panel.

The JSA was lost a bit in the INFINITE CRISIS shuffle and what little has been addressed in the pages of 52 has shed no real light on their planned direction. So it's nice to see Johns do a reset here in regards to the group itself and its direction. He also takes the opportunity to introduce a few new characters and revamp some old ones. I like the new Red (Green?) Tornado character although her backstory is a bit contrived and I’m not sure how long it will be before the goofy, awkward teenager shtick wears thin. I really like the new Starman, he strikes me as quirkier, more interesting Sentry. I guess every super team needs a character with a personality disorder these days.

The art in this issue is solid I only wish Eaglesham had taken as much care in distinguishing the younger male heroes as he does with the big three (Flash, Green Lantern, and Wildcat, that is.) All the male characters are overly muscled stereotypes while the women are typically brick shit-houses. I could have done without the scene where Liberty Belle and Hourman appear to be in a pose-off for the semi-finals of the superhero body-building championships. Beyond these things, the storytelling is solid and Starman’s costume rocks. Here's hoping for another solid 70-80 issue run for Johns.

Open Source Heroes – Part III

Part I briefly lays out the premise that the world of comic books could use another superhero comic book universe. In Part II I explain to Bob and Jerry Comicreator why the two most likely paths to creating a universe from whole clothe wouldn’t likely work for them, setting the stage for Part III…

Bob, Jerry, I know you’re asking what this mysterious Third Way is. Or maybe after reading the title of this little series you’ve sort of figured it out. The idea is simply to create a new superhero universe using well-established Open Source methodology.

The Open Source culture finds its roots in the software industry, not unlike myself. A lot of people get credit for helping the movement reach its current lofty status, but for my money the guy you have to give the lifetime achievement award to is Linus Torvalds, the driving force behind the Linux operating system, arguably the most prominent and successful Open Source project to date. 

Don’t nod off here boys, I promise not to lapse into a droning discourse on the relative merits of various operating systems. Just know that in the mid ‘90’s as Linux was picking up steam very few people on the corporate side of the OS aisle gave it much heed and certainly no chance for ever finding foothold with paying customers. The damn thing was written by a bunch of hobbyists, who in their right mind was going to trust mission critical applications to that? Lo and behold, by 1999 Linux had scooted past Novell to become number two in server OS share behind this little mom and pop operation out of Redmond, Washington. While it hasn’t necessarily gone on to world domination (don't tell them that), it’s still in wide use across companies of all shapes and sizes. And it’s still largely free. Unless you need competent help maintaining it, but that’s another story.

How might this translate to the world of comic books? First, let’s define the goal: You want to create a whole new universe of superheroes; superheroes that interact, form teams, share a common world history and most importantly, tell fun and interesting stories. You want this universe to take on a life of its own where other creators can easily step in and add to the lore. You want to be able to take advantage of all the familiar archetypes but check the baggage on a one-way flight to Latveria. And you’d preferably like to do all this without putting your lawyer’s kids through college. You don’t even want to know if your lawyer has kids. Truly, you don’t really want to know a lawyer period.

Now the two of you could probably create this universe all by yourselves between shifts at Costco, but then it would be the Bob and Jerry Show, with your limited influences and biases smelling up the joint. And that’s probably okay to start but if you want this thing to take off you’ll need more people involved and quickly. Now here comes the tricky part, this new universe needs to be foundationally strong, yet flexible, it needs to be tightly coupled, but loosely bound. It needs to be attractive to creators of all influence yet structured in a way that stories emanating from it are recognizable as such. A tall order, to be sure, too tall to adequately elaborate on here.

Okay, that’s the 10,000 foot view. That’s the pie-in-the-sky discussion you have after plowing another $40 into Marvel and DC’s respective continuity bandwagons. Sure that stuff is okay, but wouldn’t it be cool if… For a moment, let’s come back down to Earth, let’s sort out some particulars. I’m not much of a details guy, but let’s see what we can do with this. First, you need to decide how you’re going to “publish”. Remember, we’re talking about a universe of titles here not a four issue Gadgetguy miniseries so let’s be honest, floppies are pretty much out of the question at this stage. I shouldn’t have to explain the slippery slope of direct market distribution and marketing but if you need a primer head over to this archive of Brian Hibbs’ Tilting at Windmills columns. The short story is that if you were actually able to produce say six or seven monthly comics there is little chance you’d be able to get them in front of the your best initial demographic. You might have better luck with the graphic novel format but those take time to produce. It could take years to cobble together the few books which will big bang your universe. May I suggest the web?

There are certainly sites which could host your webcomics for free or at least on the very cheap, but it might be to your advantage to carve out your own domain and host everything related to your universe in one, focused location. You can simultaneously build universe specific secondary services (advertising, forums, licensed underwear sales) and content (backstories, forums, a universe bible) around the comics themselves while creating a little separation from the plethora of existing webcomics. If you were going to create a single ongoing title I wouldn’t recommend this, but we’re talking a universe here, right? Of course you also divorce yourself from built-in traffic an existing webcomics hosts might provide, but that’s okay because you are going to overcome that with aggressive, tireless self-promotion. (Hey, did I mention I own a software and application hosting company? Under the right circumstances I might even be persuaded to provide some free bandwidth and tools to facilitate this effort.) This will also give you the opportunity to get your print act together as you build your audience.   

Next up you are going to need some talent beyond the two of you. Your best shot at pulling this off is to engender support from a group of like-minded creators. Likely you’re all going to be starting out -- don’t count on Kurt Busiek or Bryan Hitch showing up at the first meeting -- and that’s okay. If you set your web platform up correctly you can draw from widely dispersed talent, maybe even use the site to connect artists and writers. It might take a bit of time, but since nearly everyone who reads comics thinks they’re a writer or an artist, maybe not. If the initial infrastructure is solid, from both a technical and creative standpoint, you’ll probably be surprised at the response. But dig your well first and line up four or five creative teams to get things going. And let’s hope there’s an editor somewhere in the bunch.

One final note on trademarks, copyrights and the like. Open Source doesn’t necessarily mean free. Sure you’d love for other creators to expand on the Gadgetguy mythology, maybe add a clever sidekick, Wrench, or his secret lair, the GadgetGarage, but the fact that you open up Gadgetguy to other creators doesn’t necessarily mean some schmuck can run off and publish Gadgetguy, The Dark Tool, without your permission. To this end I encourage you to become familiar with Creative Commons, particularly the licenses page. Done right, you can have your cake and share it too.   

Now, let me be clear, this is only one possible alternative mechanism for producing an alternative universe, and I haven’t the time or inclination to think about explain all the nitty, gritty details. The basic concept is fairly simple, the execution, not so much. As with any creative effort much depends on your own passion and determination - remember, I’m just the ideas man.   

Open Source Heroes – Part II

All publishers are Columbuses. The successful author is their America. The reflection that they – like Columbus – didn’t discover what they expected to discover, didn’t discover what they started out to discover, doesn’t trouble them. ~~ Mark Twain

~~~

I provided in Part I flawless, exhaustive proof that the comic book world can support another publisher of superhero books, I would go so far as to say it even needs another. (Admittedly, my idea of “flawless, exhaustive proof” may be skewed by my years in the software industry. I have fond memories of eight figure deals brokered solely on three word pitches like “on-line breakfast cereal.”) This business about Marvel and DC owning the superhero market? Pish. Posh. Too many superhero titles on the racks already? Not when you remove all the crep. I think the comic buying marketplace -- the whole of it, not just the direct market -- is screaming for another line of superhero product. They’re looking for an excuse not to buy Marvel and DC, they want a complete and wonderful tapestry of Gadgetman and Infinityguy stories and they want them told their way.

And I have no idea what that way is. Look, I’m the big ideas guy here, someone else can fill in the details.    

There are basically three ways to go about creating this rich, universal canvas on which to base this new comic book company (we haven’t picked a name yet, we’re waiting for input from the VC’s, you know, to get buy-in). The first is purely organic. Start from scratch, maybe telling pulp stories and then moving to what we now consider traditional superhero comics, introduce characters slowly all the while allowing various creators to lend their voice and spirit to the universe and individual character lore. The characters will eventually grow into icons, some becoming brands unto themselves. Wonderful stories will be told, television shows and movies made, words and ideas lifted right from the stories and into our everyday lexicon. Eventually, 30, 40, 50 years down the road we’ll have a wholly formed comic book universe from which hundreds, nee, thousands of characters will have sprung and a 38% market share achieved.

The only thing one would need to pull this strategy off was best verbalized by my brother every time we got ourselves ass deep in some stupid scheme typically involving lighter fluid, duct tape and beer. Picture the shit roughly six inches from the fan, at which point Tom would calmly say, “All we need now is a time machine.” That’s what you’d need to pull off the “organic method”.

You see, Bob, Jerry, we’re in the 21st century now, we need results yesterday or sooner. We’ve got investors to satisfy and a hungry fan base that’s none to happy they can’t buy action figures and HeroClix for each and every one of Gadgetguy’s 38 villains for Christmas this year. If you want to grow your superhero universe organically you’re going to have to go back in time to maybe 1960 or so to do it. Maybe you have already. Bob does look like a young Stan Lee. Regardless, we don’t have time to sit around waiting for things to mature, life moves too fast. Hell, I cut two movie deals and an Underoos licensing contract while I typed that last sentence.

So “organic” is out. The next option is holistic.

With the holistic approach we sit down and map out the entire universe before hand, the characters, relationships, alliances, mysterious-forces-at-work, maybe even the unique physics, chemistry and psychology. (Careful with that last one.) This has to be done in a way that provides not only a clarifying framework but flexibility for the creators. Maybe you get together a group of experienced creators and an editor or two and start bouncing ideas around. Maybe you generate a bible of sorts that can serve as the guidebook for all scripting to come. Maybe you play a drinking game where everyone has to take a shot of Stoli whenever someone “creates” a character that’s a direct rip-off from the big two. Again you see why I’m not a details guy.

This approach may be more structured but it certainly has its risks. Much of Superman and Batman’s mythology was developed over time – an overly thought out approach would undoubtedly have robbed some of the charm from these characters. (Not that there was much charm left after the 90’s got through with them.) Interestingly, despite decades of storytelling, the mythology around many of Marvel’s prominent characters remains largely unchanged, perhaps because they were products of a more modern approach to comic book superheroes. The other risk is the outward appearance that these are “corporate” creations, perhaps limiting their appeal to certain readers and quite naturally inviting comparisons to the big two. This results in ongoing creators having a larger credibility hurdle to clear than they might with a more organic approach and possibly limiting the breadth and style of storytelling. That should be your matra guys, don't limit breadth and style. 

Who would want to do things this way? Who could possibly have the time, energy and wherewithal to generate this sort of hitchhiker’s guide? I’m so glad you asked, because as it turns out my buddies over at Platinum Studios have done exactly that. Along this exact formula, Platinum Studios has created the Macroverse, a full-blown comic universe complete with superheroes, non-super heroes, parallel universes and its very own 1,000 page (plus) bible. The Macroverse bible was originally created with input from the likes of Greg Weisman (creator of Gargoyles ), Marv Wolfman, Cary Bates, and Danny Fingeroth among others. Platinum’s recently released COWBOYS & ALIENS graphic novel falls under the Macroverse umbrella and there are apparently more titles to come. I’m not sure how quickly the Macroverse will impose itself on the varying Platinum titles but a conversation I had with Platinum CEO Scott Mitchell Rosenberg some time back leads me to think it won’t be long. Despite his current focus on the film side of the industry, Rosenberg is an old comic book guy who seems to have a pretty good feel for this sort of thing. One of the charms of his Malibu Comics titles were that they were released as parts of the greater Malibu “Ultraverse” rather than one-offs cobbled together as an afterthought.

Here’s the real kicker to the holistic approach done right: intellectual property control. You wanna do movie deals? Sell Gadgetguy underpants, computer games and fruit rollups? In today’s comic book world, where even 12-year-old fan-fic writers can be heard uttering the phrase “creator owned property”, you better own the IP free and clear. (This is one of the reasons Platinum, while they’ll accept comic book pitches on any other genre, will not listen to anything relating capes and tights. In this way they minimize potential legal entanglements.) The real truth about this approach is that it’s not necessarily about doing comics really, really well, it’s at least as much about creating jet fuel for far more lucrative licensing and movie deals. Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with that -- I’m a businessman, not an artiste -- but everyone won’t agree with that approach, many will hate it. So the important thing when implementing this strategy is to remember that while doing comics really, really well may not be part of your mission statement, that doesn’t automatically mean they have to be done poorly.

Anyway, Bob, Jerry, I know for a fact your day jobs at Costco don’t pay enough to take the Platinum Studios route and the VC guys said they were tied up funding a Chinese version of You Tube - besides neither of you know enough other industry types to pull together a whole universe from scratch anyway. Maybe what you need is a third way, a way I like to call Open Source Heroes. In Part III I'll primer that for you.   

Open Source Heroes – Part I

I didn’t comment on it at the time -- I rarely comment on anything in a timely fashion these days -- but a little exchange that took place over at The Engine struck a chord with me and after some ruminating here’s where I got to.

The post in question is this one wherein an **ahem** enterprising young soul attempted to pimp his superheroes forum for all those of mind to discuss this genre of writing. Capes and tights are a verboten topic on The Engine but before the lead bouncer could pull the plug Larry Young had this response:

“Don't take this the wrong way, but if you're starting out in comics, why would you do a superhero story? The superhero audience is already being well-served by Marvel and DC, so that audience really isn't going to care about your characters or situations, so that's a non-starter, and Marvel and DC aren't going to hire you because even if your comic is The Best Superhero Comic Ever, well, they've already got their comics scheduled out for a while and best of luck, etc.”   

The idea that Marvel and DC “own” the superhero market, lock, stockings and cowl seems unassailable from a 10,000 foot view, but obviously there is some room around the margins. The success, however relative, of titles like SPAWN, ASTRO CITY, THE AUTHORITY, PLANETARY and INVINCIBLE show that superheroes can find an ongoing audience while existing outside the mainstream universe of the big two. And yes, I realize several of these are published under the Wildstorm imprint, and are technically DC publications, but if the logic is that people won’t buy a non-DC/Marvel book because they don’t care about characters or situations outside of same, how are these different? How do they have any kind of audience? The answer is that these books have succeeded due to their creative teams and that people will buy non-big two superhero comics so long as they are done really, really well.   

What does this mean for Bob and Jerry Comicreator and their fresh new take on the genre? Will GadgetMan and InfinityGuy find an audience on the order of SPAWN, ASTRO CITY or INVINCIBLE? Not likely unless Bob and Jerry happen to be industry pros who’ve already spent years cutting their teeth on other projects, and establishing their superhero cred at Marvel or DC, or more likely both. Or I suppose they could be like Robert Kirkman who seems to have simultaneously put the lie to Young’s premises that readers aren’t interested in superhero books outside the mainstream universes and that writing these books won’t lead to work at the big two. But I’m willing to set Kirkman’s success aside in an exception-that-proves-the-rule sort of way. On the whole, I agree with Larry that for young comic book creators there are less bullet-ridden and probably more gratifying paths to sequential success than capes and tights. But the fact is, there is a path, it might be a difficult one, but it’s there nonetheless.

Let’s assume for a moment, just for fun, that the comic book industry is a growing one. That it’s not just all these wonderful independent graphic novelists and manga creators who are attracting a crowd but all aspects of sequential storytelling are on the uptick; that it’s not just a bubble, it’s a trend. And then you go to the movies and you see it’s not just 18-to-34-year-old male geeks exiting Fantastic Four and Superman Returns and Batman Begins and you go home read the reactions to this and then read that something with as much charm and potential as this got no traction at DC and then you reread your own comments about Marvel, and you finally start to think that maybe there is a market for superheroes outside the big two, providing they were done really, really well (and different), of course. 

Of course, now I’m talking more about me than you. You probably don’t think like this because you’re smart enough not to hit your head against that wall, even hypothetically. But I’m not as smart as you and I’m sure you’ll be shocked to find out that I have a hair-brained scheme or two just waiting to hatch. In Part II I’ll lay these out, or maybe Part II and Part III. We’ll see how long-winded I get.   

Go to Part II

Thursday is Random Comic Book Blogging Day

I didn't make it to the comic shop until today, so don’t spoil anything for me. Now, allow me to scatter a few thoughts around here. 

Remember when I wrote that the Justice League HAD to have a Flash? No? Okay, well, you’re forgiven, you’ve been busy and that was all the way back in February. A lot of water under the comic bridge since then. But I did write it and low and behold, nothing.

I'm sure this has much to do with DC’s uncertainty as to who exactly the Flash is going to be long-term, but in the interim we got no Scarlet Speedster. That’s just no going to fly. The League has to have somebody -- besides Superman -- who can move at the speed of light. I can’t tell you how critical this is. What to do, what to do…

What if instead of someone moving at the speed of light it was the speed of…well, I’ll let Meltzer tell it:

Lightning. Or Black Lightning in this case. Hmmm…wouldn’t he look great in red? If this really came to pass it would make for some sweet irony considering the bashing I took on several message boards for suggesting in this post that the new Flash might be black. (I don’t really think this will happen, I’m just having some fun. So leaveme alone message boarderers.)

~

Speaking of the Justice League, anyone else read GREEN LANTERN #15 yet? I don’t want to spoil anything, but the last page of that book completely displaces it within the current DC continuity as I comprehend it. My assumption was that what’s taking place in the first issues JLA was the one year later kickoff point. The big three are back and their getting the old band together. But GL, and one little passage from the new JUSTICE SOCIETY book, lead me to think that the current JLA story arc, issues 0 through at least 4, predates the rest of the DCU, meaning current stories are actually one year+. I’m getting a headache just thinking about it. I don’t need my books to maintain perfect geosynchronous orbit around their respective universe, but this just seemed silly and a little impatient. I’m sure it will all wash out in a few months, but what if the JLA is perpetually six months to a year behind the rest of the world? Kind of like Ford Motors?

~

For what it’s worth, I think DAREDEVIL is the best, most tightly written title Marvel’s publishing right now. I dread the moment Brubaker is forced to drag the book into the Civil War fray because it’s taken a toll on CAPTAIN AMERICA.

And did you notice there were no Civil War covers this week from Marvel? We interrupt this event from the Marvel Broadcasting Network to bring you your regularly scheduled comic books.

~

For the comic collector who wants everything I bring you two must have auctions:

148, 963 Comic Books

And

198,660 Comic Books

Auctions close today at roughly 5pm Pacific. No bidders as yet. I was going to snag ‘em but Christmas is coming and this is just the kind of thing the wife would surprise me with.   

Ex Machina: March to War

Wildstorm
Script: Brian K. Vaughan
Art: Tony Harris/Tom Fiester; Chris Sprouse/Karl Story; JD Mettler

(MARCH TO WAR covers EX MACHINA #17-20 and EX MACHINA SPECIAL #1-2)

I buy most of Brian K. Vaughan’s work in trade paperback. His tendency to spend months stringing along multiple plot threads, with frequent sidetracks, make the trades a more satisfying read for me. Unfortunately, this will probably be the last EX MACHINA trade I buy as lately Vaughan seems to have gone completely astray of the direction he set in the first year or so of the series. At this point he’d need an ATV with a hoist and ninety feet of manila climbing rope to get back on path.

I may be guilty of imposing my own interpretation of what EX MACHINA’s direction was to be and this is what Vaughan had planned all along. You see, I thought the title was about a guy who gets a strange power, uses it to fight evil, gets a crazy idea to run for Mayor of New York and wins. Then the really weird stuff happens. I didn’t realize the whole talks-to-machines ploy was really Deus ex machina (sorry, couldn’t resist) for wedging a character into a position where Vaughan could roll out all his pet civics theories. I suppose it could be he’s slowly working his way back around to the elements that made this book so enjoyable in the early going, but since it’s now being promoted as a “political thriller”, I doubt it. And while I like a political thriller as much as the next guy -- I’ve seen Enemy of the State five times! -- for Vaughan that seems to mean character’s spouting off like freshman poli-sci students and creating a chain of straw man plot hammers so he can throw out buckets of what I’m sure seemed like clever rejoinders to all the base CNN/FOX/CNCBC reactions and responses to the Iraq War. It’s his book and he’s certainly free to use it as a bully pulpit for any topic he fancies but by the end of this arc I couldn’t tell where most of his characters, or Vaughan himself, stood on any issue. I think he bent over a bit too far trying to cover the angles or at least to appear that he had. On the whole it could have used a lot more intrigue and less monologuing.

The art as usual, is wonderful. I don’t know if Tony Harris is underrated -- because I don’t really know how he’s rated -- but he handles facial expressions and distinct characters better than anyone I can think of. And his storytelling is excellent. I credit him with making a number of Vaughan’s slower scenes at least visually interesting. One thing I found odd was the way some of the scenes were shaded. If I recall, in previous issues a sort of sepia tone was used to help indicate a flashback sequence but it was used here in a couple of places that were part of the normal plot sequence and my conditioned little brain got confused. A small quibble at best.

At the back of this trade is the two issue special, LIFE AND DEATH which is a far more interesting read and much closer in spirit to the EX MACHINA I enjoyed early in the run. In one of those odd twists, I had planned to stop buying this title after the last trade but picked up the special in floppy, because it was only a two-issue commitment (I’m easy and have a short attention span) and I really had to see what kind of story Vaughan could tell in two issues. I liked it so much I decided to give the book one more go. Sadly, because Vaughan is an extremely talented writer and capable of better, the rest of the book is a waste.

Ultimate Vision #0

Marvel Comics
Script: Mark Millar
Art: John Romita Jr. & Jimmy Palmiotti

This is one of those rare cases where numbering a book issue “0” is appropriate since this kickoff is really just a prologue to whatever will take place in the rest of the series. Here we’re given a little Vision/Gah Lak Tus backstory to frame up the soon to come five issue mini series, through a narrative “vision” presented to Sam Wilson by the freshly re-animated robot hottie. Vision was built by some long-extinct race to warn others of the coming danger, with the ability to “assume the shape and language of whatever world” she visited. I guess our world’s shape is brick shithouse.

This book takes place somewhere before the final issue of ULTIMATE EXTINCTION, making for a bit of awkwardness early on as we wonder why Sam Wilson and Reed Richards are sweating a Gah Lak Tus threat already resolved in our up-to-speed Ultimate universe minds. That passes as the book quickly moves to what I guess you would call Vision’s origin story. What doesn’t pass is the awkward transition from the work of Warren Ellis and Brandon Peterson in ULTIMATE EXTINCTION to Millar and Romita’s effort here. I like a lot of Romita’s work – I’m particularly enjoying ETERNALS – but he doesn’t have the attention to detail Peterson (or Steve McNiven) have shown for the technical backdrops this Ultimate run calls for. Peterson will draw the main series, making the point moot.

“His name could best be described as the shape of a DNA strand multiplied by something that smelled like meat burning.” Ellis has shown a flair for pulling off lines like this, but from Millar it seems somehow silly and flat. Maybe it’s just me, but this type of script calls for a bit of eloquence combined with a knack for turning quasi-scientific factoids into oddly believable dialog – it’s just not in Millar’s wheel house. In the end we get a serviceable, if somewhat forced, story that does its job of setting the table for the mini series without giving much away.

Okay, I know I’ve sort of buried the lede on this one. Yes, the Vision is female, and, well, hubba, hubba. Like most of you I did scratch my head for a brief second wondering why it had to take the form of an intergalactic hooker. Truth is, I’ve given up worrying on this kind of nonsense (although they did take the robot mammary thing to heretofore unreached levels of goofiness in this book), it is what it is. I’m not sure how this one will play out in the Ultimate universe but I’m laying even money on a Tony Stark/Vision hookup before it’s all over. Either way, I look forward to a wealth of metal and robotic related sexual puns from blogosphere.