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Batman Beyond (2015)

The Batman Beyond property has always possessed great potential, even if it borrows heavily in look and feel from Matt Wagner’s Grendel.  Essentially, it has removed the character of Batman from the realm of Bruce Wayne and permitted other individuals to don the suit with their own insecurities and weaknesses.  The showrunner on which the comic is based told of how an elderly Bruce Wayne knighted Terry McGinnis as the new Batman, allowing him to use the technologically advanced Batman suit that Wayne had developed but could never use himself.  As the new Batman, McGinnis created a new mythos of his own, although with hints of Batman’s old allies and enemies.  Barbara Gordon, too aged to be Batgirl, became the new Commissioner Gordon.  There were the Jokerz, a gang of thugs who adopted the anarchic premise of the original Joker, striving in a futile way to incorporate the embodiment of chaos of its namesake.  And then there were new villains, just as interesting and complex as Wayne’s o
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Fantastic Four (1961-1998) #36, #38 - #43

I am reading a collection published by Marvel regarding the Origins of the Inhumans.  It starts with issues of the Fantastic Four in which they encounter the Frightful Four, a team composed of the Wizard, who sometimes calls himself the Wingless Wizard, the Sandman, Paste-Pot Pete, who also changed in his name to the Trickster, and, the Inhuman, Medusa.  The series of Fantastic Four issues starting with issue # 36 and running in issues # 38 through # 43 are a confusing jumble of ideas and plot written and drawn by the infamous team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The Fantastic Four have been one of the core comics around which Marvel has built their Marvel Universe, its villains and guest superheroes have spun off into a number of series themselves.  Like all comics from the beginning era of Marvel, Lee and Kirby incorporated certain themes into their work which form the basis of how we were to read the comics.  These themes are exposed especially in those issues with the Frightful Four, w
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The Avengers #130 (1963)

When the Guardians of the Galaxy were revived in the 2000’s as a modern team led by Starlord and, whose members not only included Rocket Racoon, Drax, and Gamora, but also the Celestial Madonna herself, Mantis, who, although green, still possessed the sprouting antenna and the coal black hair of the original Mantis.  Unfortunately, James Gunn did not make Mantis a part of the Guardians team would he filmed the first of the films starring the team, but she appeared in the second, albeit to some criticism for the her portrayal as ineffectual and the recipient of many of Drax’s jokes.  (As of the date of the publishing of this post, I have not seen the film yet and cannot confirm such criticism though released images of the film suggests that they are not far off base.) With the release of the film, Comixology and Marvel sold a collection called the Celestial Madonna Saga telling the story of Mantis’s time spent on the Avengers while she attempts to discover the truths to her true identit
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Everyone Loves Tank Girl #1

I read Martin and Hewitt’s Tank Girl as a teen in high school.  I was attracted to the rawness of the artwork as well as the bawdiness of the stories.  It was a four issue mini-series as recalled.  Hewitt went on to help develop with that guy from Blur the concept band Gorillaz, which has been successful in its own right.  Unlike most comic book series, the original issues were split into smaller stories, usually with some kind of punchline at the end.  Also infused into the comic was a lot of social satire, poking fun at a society obsessed with celebrity.  Tank Girl has continued on with various different artists filling in with the same general bawdiness and social satire. Everybody Loves Tank Girl carries on in that tradition, a series of bawdy tales ending with a kind of punchline at the end.  While Martin has remained on writing duties, Jim Mahford has taken over artist duty. But comics have changed over the last twenty years.  The art has changed as well as the nature of story te
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Black Bolt #1 (2017)

The Inhumans have always been an interesting set of Marvel Comics characters.  Their creation obviously was a construct of several themes going beyond just muscular-bound men and buxom women “pow-ing” and “zapping” their way through the panels.  Through their adventures, many writers have explored the themes of monarchies, family, social status, genealogy, inheritance, individuality, genetics, and history, just name a few.  I have always had a fondness for the character of Black Bolt, who, by inheritance was king, but, through the Terrigen mist, was essentially mute because the single whispered word  passed through his mouth causes destruction, a symbol of the unforeseen consequences a ruler has when he speaks.  In addition to having to govern over his people, he has to contend with his insane brother, Maximus, who seeks to dethrone Black Bolt and take his place. In recent Marvel history, Black Bolt has suffered under the weight of his throne, such that he was required to destroy his k
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Strange Tales #180

I have been a fan of Adam Warlock for a long time.  I encountered him first in the Infinity Gauntlet crossover event, which with the Crisis on Infinite Earths and Secret Wars events from the ‘80’s seems to be the lodestone for good crossover events.  The Infinity Gauntlet crossover appears to be the basis for Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, at least up to present, each of the movies prominently featuring one of the stones composing of the Infinity Gauntlet in their movies.  Oddly, Adam Warlock has been almost absent from the Marvel cinematic movies.  (Speculation had been made that in one scene of the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, wherein the Guardians visit the Collector, one could see Adam Warlock’s chrysalis in the background.) Adam Warlock particularly flourished under the watch of comic artist and writer Jim Starlin, who stretched Warlock’s story beyond the panels into a metaphysical contemplation of several larger, more adult themes such as religion, justice, and self-determi
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Green Arrow #51 and #52

I have to admit that I like the idea of Green Arrow, a robin hood type figure who fights for the poor and meek against the rich and strong.  I think as much as any other character, Green Arrow seems to have gone through many manifestations.  Perhaps a better word might be reincarnations.  I think Green Arrow, although not one of the trinity of DC Comics lead super heroes, is subject to manipulation by comic book writers and artists, simply because he is a paragon of pity and mercy for the poor, similar in the manner that Batman is the paragon of true justice. When DC Comics rebooted their comic books under the New 52 brand, there was a lot of hope for the books.  One of the books they re-launched was Green Arrow.  It started very roughly.  The writers and artists had taken away from him his wisdom and experience and replaced it with youthful vanity and inexperience.  I started the book (and continued collected I am ashamed to say) even though I felt that the character had known prior t
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