Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "comic-books"

Over the years, I've begun less and less disposed to hoard books I've read. I rarely ever reread books.

In the case of the graphic novel collections, I've realized that there's a real great chance to pass them on to the local libraries, so that others could get a chance to read them.

I tried this once before with the Boise Library but nothing I donated went into circulation. There were books like the Essential Marvel Team Up Volume 1 with Spider-man as well as the hard-bount Seven Soldiers of Victory Archives, a Justice League Adventures book, and a few others I don't even remember now. Apparently, they went to the book sale or four months later, they're still not in circulation.

That's okay, because I understand that they need to sell books in the book store, but I'd like to see a donated book go into circulation.

So, this time I made my donation to the Ada Community Library which has one of the best graphic novel collections of anyone in the valley.

The donation included:

Essential Spider-man vol. 1
Essential Iron Man vol. 1
Essential Avengers vol. 1
Essential Fantastic Four Vol. 2
Showcase Presents Superman Vol. 1
Showcase Presents Batgirl Vol. 1

In addition, we had material from the All Winners Club, Spider-girl, Daredevil, Fantastic Five, and others.

I should be honest that there were some books I didn't give away because they were just too cool:

The Brave and the Bold Team-Up Archives, Vol. 1 really featured some cool silver age team ups at DC that were really rare.
The Superman Chronicles, Vol. 1: The very first Superman stories from 1938-39, not going to part with that.
The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told: These are really wonderful and include just some fantastic stories.
book:Showcase Presents: World's Finest, Vol. 1|2103280]: Superman and Batamn together in fun 1950s adventures.
And then there were Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 1,Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 3: The first 30 issues of Amazing Spider-man in color. As the great Stan Lee would say, 'Nuff said.

On that same token, I also retained the limited edition Condorman Comic book series (all 3 issues) I picked up cheap, as well as the 3 issue Amazing Fantasy series from 1995 which imagined three stories between the events of Amazing Fantasy #15 (where Spider-man is introduced) and Amazing Spider-man #1.

These are books I'll treasure, and if God gives me kids, it'd be cool to share with them. The rest are fun and while I don't think every one of them will end up in circulation, I hope that other people will have as much fun with those as I did.


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Comics have lost credibility with fans around the whole issue of death. With each passing superhero death, it's garnered less public notice and been taken less seriously by fans. When you know a character will live on no matter what.

And how can DC and Marvel keep characters and concepts fresh and regain fan credibility. Two big suggestions come to mind:

1) This Time it Counts: The 2002 MLB All-Star game was an unmitigated fiasco. Running low on players, it was decreed that the all-star game would end after 11 innings. It ended in 7-7 tie to the boos of the fans.

Fans felt players weren't taking it seriously, nor was the MLB. That's when baseball decided to make a change with the, "This Time It Counts" advertising campaign and the decision to have the league that wins the All-Star game get home field advantage in the world series.

Comic book companies need to have their own, "This Time It Counts" when it comes to superhero deaths. Next time a superhero dies, it should be actually be their swan song. Yep, they're really really dead.

Now, of course, their needs to be wiggle room. Far be it from me to suggest that every time a book ends looking like the hero died that he has to be dead.

What I am saying is that if a hero: 1) is considered to die in the superhero universe and 2) is dead as far as we know, and 3) you put out special funeral issues: the character better not be alive under some lame deus ex machena.

That doesn't respect the readers or the characters. Next superhero or supervillain death should count for keeps.

2) Give Heroes an Ending

Superheroes are different than other characters developing in that the companies think their stories can or should go on forever.

This leads to a lot of implausible reboots, as well as a rapid unrealistic changes in the character.

Most characters should be brought to an ending: perhaps it's death, perhaps it's a debilitating injury, maybe it's retirement, maybe it's discovering a greater purpose for their life. The idea that their career continues forever and that we change the characters in hackish ways is pure folly in any other type of writing.

Comic book companies should commit to ending most of their major characters within the next 10-20 years while ushering in a new generation of heroes.

There are probably a few exceptions: Captain America and Superman remain strong symbolic characters who really represent a type of archetype that's going to be needed. As long as they don't mess it up, than that's fine. Batman is probably one they can't shake as a comic book series. But the rest? Replace.

Tell their stories, bring them to an end: happy, sad, or indifferent, but respectful of all the character is and stands for and open up creativity: Heroes and villains alike.

If companies do that and they hire talent that can create really great characters, they'd actually put some dynamism into a genre of graphic arts that needs it.

Such an idea would not affect their efforts in other media. For example, If the Spider-man character were brought to a fitting end, it would not stop anyone from making a Spider-man TV show as these shows are their own universe.

It also wouldn't stop a spin-off comic based on the show or another volume of Untold Tales of Spider-man. DC has shown with Tales of the Dark Knight and now Adventures of Superman that you can make a good comic selling non-continuity stories.

Such an approach would revitalize the superhero universes and show respect for readers and fans. While I doubt Marvel or DC would take it, an upstart company would be far smarter to follow this model than the traditional one that has created impossibly tangled storylines.

As I write Superhero Stories, it's important, I regularly read Comics, both newer and older. I've begun posting reviews on Amazon. Most of these are available in digital form through Comixology excluding Mr. T & the T Force.

With that said, here are the recent reviews of books I've read in the last couple weeks (mostly digital versions):

Flash (2011- Present) #21:

I have mixed feelings on this one. On one hand, the chase scenes with Kid Flash was fun and it was great graphic art. Barry's concern for the Kid Flash was actually kind of touching and there's a nice sense of mystery. Unfortunately, Kid Flash's reaction shows the tendency of modern comics to make their characters total jerks.

Plus knowing that someone is out there killing people related to the Speed Force, Barry continues to chase Kid Flash even after concluding that the Kid had nothing to do with it. Still, there was a building of tension and I'm concerned about Iris West and we'll find out what happens next in Issue 22.

Rating: 3.25 out of 5.0

World's Finest (2012-) #0

This book illustrates the difficulty of doing an Issue 0 for a two character book because Levitz tried to: 1) introdouce Huntress' origin, 2) introduce Powergirl's origin, and 3) explain how they met, and include the gut-wrenching death of Catwoman, Huntress' mom on Earth 2. The result is a rush work where the death doesn't even feel real or have the full impact. That's not to say there weren't a few good moments, but this should have been double length to allow time to develop the actual story.

Rating: 2.0 out of 5.0

Superman Adventures (1996-2002) #43:

One of the Mother Boxes belonging to a goon of Apokolips falls into the hand of a common thug and despite the fact that Apokilops thugs are defeated by the score by not only Superman but other Earth-based heroes. However, a common thug with one becomes undefeatable as it talks to him like a stereotypical mother.

The thug is a boring character and the story is hard to follow. Plus Superman's actions when he finallys meets the villain aren't really worthy of the man of Steel. Just the worst issue I've read of this book.

Rating: 1.25 out of 5.0

Batman Beyond (2012-2013) #21:

Following on the heels of Batman's epic battle against the Jokerz, this book sets up Batman's next story, "The Sound and the Fury." We catch up with Max who has been out of the book for a few issues as the Jokerz storyline comes to an end. Now a supervillain wants to use her to destroy the city. The end of the battler with the Jokerz gives Terry a brief moment to reflect on whether this is what he wants from his life but that moment ends very quickly as he has to deal with the next threat.

Overall, this book works for what it is. It transitions us into Sound and the Fury and leaves Terry facing an old enemy. I look forward to issue 22.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

Superman Beyond (2012-2013) #18:

This story stars out with a lot of Speechifying and Internal Monologuing by Supes, but quickly gets back to the true emotional case. The story in this series has been solid as Superman several years before had liberated a group of enslaved people from their tormentors and now the formerly dominant race blames them for the rebellion while the people Superman freed are still being oppressed.

This is a War Superman doesn't want to take part in, but he's not left much of choice once the action truly gets under way and the ending hints at a very strong finale for the series.

Rating: 4.25 out of 50

Superior Spider-man #31 (2013-2014):

In this double length issue Dan Slott wraps up the loose threats of the Goblin War and the Superior Spider-man Saga. The first part of the comic Goblin War: Conclusion is the better part of the book and it even features a classic Spider-man ending with Spidey walking away in a bit of a downcast way. It really fits as a classic Spider-man story and a fitting return for Peter Park.

"Actions Have Consequences" wrapped up the entire Superior Spider-man saga and I have mixed thoughts on that. It truly acknowledged the consequences of having a supervillain run around in Spider-man's body for a year, but the way it wrapped up with Mary Jane felt like Slott and Marvel had once again been jerking around the audience, bringing Mary Jane and Peter back together towards the end of the original Amazing was merely Slot messing with the readers once again and for those of us who hate One More Day this was only another twist of the knife. (I'll have more thoughts on this in a future article.)

What actually intrigued me was the preview for Silver Surfer #1 which looks to be a good comic and there's probably more chance of me reading that than the new Superior Spider-man.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

Mr. T and the T-Force #1:

his book does a great establishing shot at Mr. T in this universe where he is fighting a one man war on drugs. While it has its goofy moments, its heartfelt and sincere with a nice mix of Mr. T action and a solid cliffhanger.