Thor's Day 1: Mighty Thor 337

All right, so here’s the deal. I am going to start back on classic runs of books that I have and haven’t read, and share my thoughts on them issue by issue.

My first choice for this project is none other than Walter Simonson’s Mighty Thor. So every Thursday you will be able to look forward to a new installment of “Thor’s Day”. We start with his first issue, Mighty Thor 337.

Like so many of Simonson’s works, his run on Thor starts with an epic scope with massive panels showing something being forged. What it is is still unclear, though the final anvil strike does come with the sound effect “DOOM!”.

Is that the Dreaded Deadline version or just the regular?

From there we go to Dr. Donald Blake (secret identity of Thor if you didn’t already know) as he walks through Grant Park. Apparently, Don was based in Chicago at the time. His time in peace is quickly interrupted by the arrival of Colonel Nick Fury, head of SHIELD. It seems that a threat from outer space is on the way and it’s up to the Mighty Thor to stop it.

Before we can reach space though we get a brief digression. In Asgard, Sif laments her loss of Thor, but moreso her loss of action.

...as long as Walt is drawing me.

Back to Thor on his way in to space. I love Simonson’s skewed angles when we go in to flight mode, especially in to space. Anyway, Thor goes to confront the offending space-craft. After an attack from the automated defenses, he smashes his way inside, only to be grabbed by a massive hand.

Back in Asgard, we focus on Loki this time. He meets a young woman named Lorelei, clearly a sign of things to come.

Back in space, Thor’s attack reveals himself, and he is a figure clearly recognizable to long time Marvel fans.

This costume is strangely similar to his later Star Masters look.

Beta Ray Bill and Thor do battle. Thor looses his hammer after a particularly mighty blow. After a minute, he reverts to his Donald Blake form and is knocked out by Bill.

Bill goes in search of Thor’s hammer, but it has reverted back in to Blake’s walking stick. Angered, Bill slames it in to a wall. In the process, he is tranformed in to the more common image we know of Beta Ray Thor. He moves to defend his ship, but his battle takes him against Fury and agents of SHIELD.

But the battle is interrupted by a message from Odin. The king of Asgard summons Thor back to his home... only he summons the wrong Thor! And Donald Blake is left powerless among the mortals as the issue comes to an end.

Super-Powered Prose: Iron Man Femmes Fatales

When Iron Man heated up the box office two years ago, I expected a flood of mass market tie-ins over the next year or so. I got... a little. Lots of t-shirts, a few strange collectibles, and all the collections Marvel could figure out to produce.

It wasn’t until a few months ago that we finally got the first original Iron Man novel in over a decade. The author, Robert Greenberger, is probably familiar to long time comic fans as an editor at DC, most notably on their line of Star Trek comics. Since those days he has wrote several Star Trek novels, and that apparently made Del Rey and Marvel pick him as the best bet to write Iron Man: Femmes Fatales.

The first thing I want to say is I don’t really no the plural to femme fatale, but even if it is femmes fatales, that seems rather awkward. I would choose Femme Fatales and let those who know better nitpick while the rest of us don’t have to look at what seems like a very strange title.

That aside, Iron Man: Femmes Fatales, takes an interesting ploy to its production. It is cleary an attempt to tell an “untold tale” of the Marvel Comics Iron Man from very early in his career. He is helping SHIELD through its formation and armament which includes meeting the likes of Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, and Gabe Jones for the first time. This fits in to silver age continuity, albeit a bit awkwardly, as when SHIELD first appeared, Tony Stark was their weapons provider. But if feels very strange to establish Iron Man and the Avengers in a world where SHIELD hasn’t yet formed. Perhaps it’s the movie or Ultimates continuity twisting things around, but it seems like SHIELD should come first, but I digress.

Tony’s involvement with SHIELD brings Stark Industries under attack by two separate threats, both lead by a beautiful young woman in disguise. One is the woman known as Madame Hydra, a.k.a. the future Viper. She has taken control of a faction of Hydra in Strucker’s absence and is bent on bringing it as much power as she can muster. Meanwhile, Madame Masque uses her mastery of disguise to sneak in to Stark Industries and steal technological secrets for her father Count Nefaria and his Maggia.

These two incidents cause repeated problems for both Tony Stark and his alter ego of Iron Man, but one of this novel’s biggest flaws is that the threats never seem big enough. Iron Man has been established as immensely powerful, but he rarely fights anything past skilled soldiers and terrorists in this book, A more powerful or technological threat would have done wonders.

The other flaw is the huge continuity hole Greenberger acknowledges in his afterword. Despite being a clear attempt at insertion in to regular Marvel Comic, Greenberger decided to drop Tony’s secret identity, much like the film did at its completion. In the comics, Tony would not reveal his identity for several more years (or decades in real world time). It comes off as very disconcerting for any long time comic reader.

Iron Man: Femmes Fatales is a mixed bag. The storytelling is good and Greenberger can write spy intrigue quite well. But the meat of the plot and character progression feels hollow at best. The story’s tendency to wander between characters at random occasionally causes problems as well.

All in all, Femmes Fatales isn’t a bad novel, but it never really strives to achieve any level of greatness. If you’re a true blue, dyed red and gold, Iron Man fan I would say go get this one. Otherwise go pick up one of the new Wild Cards novels instead. Not Recommended (unless you’re an Iron Man fan).

Super-Powered Comics: J. Michael Straczynski's Red Circle

I hyped up DC’s The Red Circle a few months back. Well, August brought us the J. Michael Straczynski-pinned series of one-shots in case you were already unaware. Apparently a lot of people were, as the sales on the books were so-so at best. It’s a shame more people aren’t interested in trying out these new characters, but the format for their release honestly only encourages people familiar with the characters’s previous incarnations any chance of interest. DC did nothing to market these at all, and that is a damn shame. Even a small spot in the current Blackest Night crossover might have helped, but as I surmised when DC licensed these characters along with the Milestone line, they have no plans of using their licensed characters in anything that will potentially be reprinted again and again and again.

But I am here to review the four new takes on the old Archie heroes, and that is what I will do. Make your own judgments about DC’s handling of the license, but try not to let that keep you from buying any book you want, including these titles.

The line opened with The Hangman. With pencils by the criminally underrated Tom Derenick and inks by the legendary Bill Sienkiewicz, the art shines through. The character of the Hangman definitely has similar themes to other mystical immortals. I can best describe him as a cross of the Spectre and El Diablo, but with a genuine secret identity. Of all the characters, he has the most potential as the initial four stories end.

Inferno came next with art by Sword of Dracula’s Greg Scott. A lot has been made by Inferno’s fiery alter ego resembling Dan Didio. Inferno fills the standard John Doe/cypher character slot. His past is a mystery to everyone, including himself; he doesn’t know the origin of his powers; or even understand his transformations. JMS tweaks the formula a bit, but the initial chapter is quite predictable. He does have a brief and somewhat entertaining battle with the previous week’s star, but it does more to show how intriguing a character Hangman could be.

The Web opens week 3, with art by Roger Robinson (of Prototype and Azrael fame) and Hilary Barta. Here we get a rather large digression from the original concept. Now The Web is a rich heir with too much time on his hands. To prove to himself he can do good, he dons a costume and sets out to answer calls from help off the internet. The concept works better than I expected, even though I think JMS shoehorns a bit of tragedy in to the story to give it more of a Spider-Man meets Batman origin. The Web has the potential to either be great or an absolute mess. It will be interesting to see where the ongoing ends up.

The Red Circle rounds out with The Shield. The utterly out of place art team of Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens provide the story’s art. A survivor of a bomb blast in Afghanistan gets an experimental exo-skeleton and becomes the military’s first on-call hero. The book runs to the serious and the cartoonish stylings of McDaniel distract from what could otherwise be a solid political action thriller. JMS does more to hint at the backstory of the Shield than any other character, which is unfortunate...

as with last week’s The Shield #1, most of those subplots are nowhere to be seen. Instead we get a rather dull trip in to post-52 Bialya which seems less of a story than a set-up for a guest shot by DC’s other new military hero: Magog. Hopefully, Eric Trautmann can bring a little more to the story with subsequent chapters. I will say the art team of Marco Rudy and Mick Gray are far and away more suited for this character than McDaniel and Owens.

The backup featuring Inferno gives us a little bit more about the character, but it only serves as a set-up to a repeat from his one-shot, only this time he fights Green Arrow instead of Hangman. Greg Scott remains solid on the art, and Brandon Jerwa seems to have the seeds of a decent opening story arc. I just wonder if a co-feature is the best way to deal with a character that clearly has the longest story drive of these four heroes.

The Web #1 debuts later this month, and I am sure I will be back with a review of that when it is out. FOr now, I recommend The Red Circle but suggest you can take a pass on The Shield #1. Let’s hope later issues show some improvement, as I do not want to see the Red Circle heroes go the way of the late, lamented Impact Comics.

Super-Powered Web: The Red Circle redux

I wrote about these characters just a few days ago, but the fine folks at the DCU Blog, The Source, have more up on the Red Circle books here, including art teams. Above you can see another image of the Web from the series. We can look forward to some great art with Tom Derenick teaming with Bill Sienkiewicz on Hangman, Greg Scott on Inferno, former Ultraverse and Azrael artist Roger Robinson on The Web, and the always amazing Scott McDaniel on The Shield. Sounds like some winning art for some winning titles.

And courtesy of Comic Book Resources here are the solicits for the four titles!

THE RED CIRCLE

J. Michael Straczynski dives into the DC Universe at last – and he’s bringing four of the finest heroes of the Golden and Silver Ages with him! Completely reimagined for the modern world from their original appearances in Archie/MLJ publications, these four heroes will show you a side of the DC Universe you’ve never seen before! Arriving weekly throughout the month of August, these specials thrust four amazing new characters into the heart of the DC story!

THE RED CIRCLE: THE HANGMAN #1
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Art by Tom Derenick & Bill Sienkiewicz
Cover by Jesus Saiz
The Civil War claimed many lives…but one of those lives still hasn’t ended! Union doctor Robert Dickering found himself on the wrong side of the battle lines, and despite his heroic treatment of a fallen enemy soldier, he also found himself on the wrong end of a noose! But a shadowy power stepped forth in the twilit moments between life and death and offered him a deal he couldn’t refuse: to forever roam the Earth, saving the lives of innocents condemned like himself – or hastening the deaths of the guilty! But in taking the seemingly righteous mission of the Hangman, has he accepted God’s work? Or has he become the vengeful fist of the Devil himself? Featuring art by Tom Derenick and Bill Sienkiewicz, the acclaimed team behind REIGN IN HELL!
On sale August 5 • 32 pg, one shot, FC, $2.99 US

THE RED CIRCLE: INFERNO #1
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Art by Greg Scott
Cover by Jesus Saiz
The mysterious stranger was brought into the hospital with one name on his lips: “Frank Verrano.” He has no memory of who he was, where he came from, or how he could possibly be the only survivor of a bombing attack on a cruise liner that killed hundreds of people. But as deep as that mystery runs, a violent attack on the hospital opens a deeper one. How can this man burst into flames…and survive? And why does the man who stands in those flames, the man know as the Inferno, look nothing like the one who stood in his place just seconds before? Blaze into this thrilling issue featuring art by Greg Scott (GOTHAM CENTRAL)!
On sale August 12 • 32 pg, one shot, FC, $2.99 US

THE RED CIRCLE: THE WEB #1
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Art by Roger Robinson & Hilary Barta
Cover by Jesus Saiz
Billionaire John Raymond has it all – fame, fortune, and a brilliant mind! He also has a brother with the one trait John lacks: compassion. No matter how relentlessly awe-inspiring John’s achievements get, it’s his brother who’s always seen as the hero. So John sets out to upstage his brother one more time. He’ll show the world just how much heroism money can buy as the amazing (and suspiciously well-equipped) Web. But when a dark fate arrives for his brother, John learns first-hand what a hero leaves on the line, and that there are worse losses than the ones that hit your checkbook! Featuring art by Roger Robinson (THE BRAVE & THE BOLD, BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS)!
On sale August 19 • 32 pg, one shot, FC, $2.99 US

THE RED CIRCLE: THE SHIELD #1
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Art by Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens
Cover by Jesus Saiz
Lieutenant Joe Higgins was dying in the dirt of a battlefield in Afghanistan when they whisked him away to a top-secret facility and saved his life with nanotechnology so experimental they couldn’t dare to use it on a living man. Now Higgins has been enlisted to a whole new mission – to be the public face of the American fighting man as the patriotic Shield! But today’s grueling military battles test the limits of patriotism and the limits of the technology that keeps him alive. And the shocking secret behind that technology may be too much for his bullet-riddled heart to bear. Featuring art from Marco Rudy (FINAL CRISIS)!
On sale August 26 • 32 pg, one shot, FC, $2.99 US

Super-Powered Web: The Red Circle

I mentioned DC’s new blog, The Source yesterday and it has been a font of interesting preview images over the last few weeks, but none have interested me more than the images from the upcoming Red Circle project. For those who don’t know, this project will revive a whole bunch of defunct Archie (back when it was still called MLJ) superheroes. And I for one am a huge fan of the characters from Archie’s superhero line. One of the first line of books I really tried to collect was the Impact line that DC produced in the early nineties. They felt like characters aimed straight at tween readers like myself, modern despite a sixty year history behind some of them. I was more than devastated when the line discontinued less than two years later. Outside a couple appearances in Archie’s Weird Mysteries, the characters have remained dormant for nearly twenty years until now. The blog gave us images to look at of the revamped characters all designed by J.G. Jones (of Final Crisis and the far superior Shi: Black, White, and Red fame) and drawn for the J. Michael Straczynski-penned series by Jesus Saiz. My thoughts on the initial four characters:


Not much can be said about the redesigned Shield. The costume was pretty iconic from the get-go, and neither artist did much to tweak it. Gone is the armored look of the Impact version. Hopefully the anti-military storytelling of that version will be gone as well. It just didn’t hold true to every previous version of the character.


I am not overly familiar with the Silver Age version of the Web other than a few reprints of Fly stories that gave little detail about the character. His costume was pretty dated however, and this redesign integrates the color scheme and style while updating it to a more modern look. I still agree with the Impact Comics concept for the series better though, as The Web works better as a organization name than an individual hero.


I think the Hangman is probably the weakest redesign. While the late 40’s Hangman had far too generic a superhero costume for the name, I think this look goes too far in the other direction. He looks like an actual hangman with a cape added on. Not a lot of innovation there, but maybe I am just partial to the Impact version.


I cannot really comment much on the redesign of Inferno. A golden age character with no silver age or Impact era variation that I can find, he does definitely look like he might fit in to the reformed villain concept of the original. I would have preferred Fireball, the member of the Crusaders with a just plain awesome costume.

So while I am wary of where The Red Circle is going to take some of my favorite heroes, I am definitely looking forward to its premiere later this year. Hopefully this time the Archie/MLJ heroes can stick around a whole lot longer!