DC Comics And Beyond: Comics Reviews
Written by Wayne Hall on November 26, 2009 – 12:00 pm -Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it, Happy Thursday to those who don’t. Holiday or not, the comics still come out, so let’s get to them.
1. Jericho #1. I was a big fan of the CBS television series (even though I never sent them any crates of nuts). You might remember this show because the network canceled the program after its first season until fans sent loads of nuts to them. It was a very creative way of showing support for Jericho, and it did influence CBS to bring the show back for another eight episodes. But in my opinion, Jericho is the perfect example as to why a show shouldn’t have a “fall finale” and then come back months later. The number of people in the audience fell like a stone. (I think V may face the same fate.)
If you want to catch up on what has happened previously, pick up the DVDs. Both seasons are available. Suffice it to say that several nuclear bombs have hit the United States and fractured the country into several pieces. Jericho was one of the towns not hit in the attack, but the loss of power and other supplies limited their ability to find out what happened. The population near and in the town are reduced to trying to survive day-to-day, and it isn’t pretty.
Thanks to Devils Due Publishing (DDP) for bringing to the comics stores what is being called “Season 3: Civil War,” continuing on from the final episode aired “from the minds that brought you the ground-breaking television series!”
Of course, in a comic-book format, one simply doesn’t have the space to deal with all the characters in the show, so the story focuses in mostly on Jake and Hawkins, who were the most interesting people on Jericho anyway.
The comic starts out ominously as a group of warplanes is flying over desert land. Fans of the show will recognize the flag of the Allied States of America (ASA) on the sides of the planes. That’s not a good thing for our two main characters.
After a brief recap, the story continues in full. We see several of the leaders of what is now the United States of America (mostly the eastern seaboard and Texas) discussing how to confront the ASA (which covers most of the rest of the country). Hawkins is sent on a mission, but before he can leave, the planes from the ASA slam into Texas and hit it hard, leaving what was the largest of the U.S. struggling to recover from the air strike.
Hawkins and Jake decide that the best way to respond is to get the mysterious John Smith (from the show) to Columbus. Smith supposedly knows enough about the ASA that he can help them exploit any weaknesses available. Hawkins knows where he is — that’s the easy part. Getting him from there to Columbus, well, that’s not going to be quite as simple.
There is a full-page “thank you” to the fans of Jericho in the book from the writers, the producers and from DDP for the support they’ve shown the program. I know many fans don’t feel comfortable making the transition to comics, but it worked with Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and Angel. With an action-packed and interesting first issue to whet your appetites, I’d recommend you give it a try.
2. Superman: Secret Origin #3 of 6. Okay, I know — here I go talking about a Geoff Johns comic again! It’s just that he writes such terrific books that I just can’t help but review them.
The basic purpose of this comic is to make sense out of the many origins of the Man of Steel. And if there is anyone who can do it, Johns is the guy. For pity’s sake, he made Hawkman understandable! If he can do that, Superman will be a breeze!
In previous issues, I’ve enjoyed the little new additions he’s made to the Superman mythos, including his heat vision going off when he gets too close to Lana Lang. Superman is being shown as much less an alien and much more of a person we can understand and relate to.
Really, this issue is a masterpiece! It focuses on Clark Kent’s arrival at the Daily Planet, which is now reeling from the pressure put to bear on it from Lex Luthor, who the paper took on with expose articles. Everyone thinks the Planet will close its doors soon, even Lois Lane.
Johns does a wonderful job of intermingling nods to the various origin epics of the past, including the first Superman movie, the first episode of Superman: The Animated Series, and several other programs, including Lois & Clark and Smallville. He cherry-picks the good stuff and leaves all the chaff that caused problems for the continuity of the character out of the mix.
One of my favorite parts of the book is when Clark arrives in Metropolis, and is greeted by some of its more hostile residents. We clearly see the contrast of the good in Clark and the not-so-good of the city dwellers who take advantage of his unselfishness.
Gary Frank‘s art is also engaging and superb, especially his full-page and double-page spreads. My favorite is the first time Clark opens his shirt to reveal his Superman costume. I heard the theme from the Superman movie start to run in my head at that time. “DAH-dahdahdahdah-DAH-dah-dah.” It was a great moment.
If you are a long-time fan of the Man of Steel or new to the character, if you are a fan of Geoff Johns or don’t like his writing at all, you need to be reading this book that will set up the character for years to come. Really!
Also out this week from DC Comics are Superman #694, Wonder Woman #38 and World’s Finest #2; Chew #6 (along with the trade paperback of the first five issues) from Image; I Am Legion #6 of 6 from DDP; and Star Trek: Nero #4 of 4 from IDW.
The Blackest Night event continues on unabated at DC Comics. This week, I added another power ring to my collection — the Red Lantern ring. Four books tied into the Blackest Night hit the stands: Green Lantern #48 (read this one first), Blackest Night #5, Teen Titans #77 and Justice League Of America #39. Give yourself an early holiday present and get into this event!
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Tags: Geoff Johns. DC Comics, Jericho, Nero, Star Trek, Superman
Posted in Comic Book Corner, DC Comics And Beyond, SF-TV & Movie News | 2 Comments »
By Barb on Nov 29, 2009 | Reply
I was always content with the multiverse handling of the assorted Supes origins stories. I was wondering what you meant by ‘The first Superman Movie.’… as far as I know, that was a serial released starting in 1948 and continuing into 1950 starring Kirk Alyn in the title role. There wasn’t another Superman movie released until 1978, with Christopher Reeve, but it certainly wasn’t the ‘First Superman Movie.’ From 1951-1957, of course, The Adventures of Superman with George Reeves was on TV. And since the 1930s, there are, have always been, and perhaps will always be… the comics.
By Wayne on Nov 29, 2009 | Reply
Barb:
Thanks for your comment. Correctly or not, I have always considered the Kirk Alyn serial something other than a feature film/movie due to its format. What I was referring to was indeed the Christopher Reeve movie, “Superman” because of its feature-length format. If you read the comic, you’ll see that the Reeve movie is heavily borrowed from there. In fact, the artist goes out of his way to make Clark Kent resemble Reeve. It’s been a long time since I saw the Alyn serial–do they actually deal with Superman’s origin in it?