Random Dive #3

Last Wednesday, I had a very nice surprise at my local comic store. They were selling bundles of ten random comics for $1.50, and all you could see were the two books on the outside of the bag. It is pretty obvious that there is no way I could pass this up. So I grabbed my new comics and tossed two of these mystery packs in there too. The reason I bring this up is because as soon as I opened them up to see what books fate had dealt me, I thought I should grab a couple that look the most interesting and write some notes about them here. So here we go with the three books that I thought looked the best just from their covers.

The first book I found that piqued my interest was The Spectre #4 by J. M. DeMatteis and Ryan Sook. While the cover is very nice, it was actually the creative team that drew me in. I am a huge fan of both DeMatteis and Sook and having them working on the same book made this a must read for me. Basically, the story is that the Spectre, Superman, and Batman must stop this demigod woman and Zauriel who has been possessed by the literal "Wrath of God." The story gets pretty interesting and metaphysical which was a welcome change to the books that I normally find in the bargain bins. Now the thing that I really think is worth noting about The Spectre is the art. I became a big fan of Ryan Sook's art with his run on X-Factor. When I read those issues though, not once did Sook's art remind me of Mike Mignola and Hellboy. The Spectre on the other hand is very reminiscent of Mignola and his Hellboy work. Don't get me wrong. This is not a negative at all. It works with The Spectre's story. It is just interesting that Sook's art style seems so different to what I know from more recent books.

The second book that grabbed my attention was The Flash #220 by Geoff Johns and Howard Porter. I like the character of the Flash, but I must admit that I have never really read a lot of The Flash. Most of my knowledge of Wally West comes from team books like Justice League of America and not from his own book. From the cover, I got the feeling that this might be one of those "big bang for your buck" books where you get a whole lot of characters and action. Luckily, the book did not disappoint. This was a great primer on Flash's famous Rogues Gallery as Captain Cold introduces all the Rogues and what they are doing post-Identity Crisis. I couldn't have asked for a better crash course through Flash's villains. I will definitely be on the lookout for the rest of the issues in this storyline.

Saving the best for last, we have a cross company team up as the X-Men visit the Malibu Comics universe in The Phoenix Resurrection: Revelations. It apparently took a small army to bring this book to life with Ian Edginton and Dan Abnett on writing duty and Kevin West, John Royle, Randy Green, and Rick Leonardi on art. Now I knew that Marvel acquired Malibu Comics in the 90's and tried to integrate some of their characters into Malibu's "Ultraverse." (Nerd fact: The Ultraverse is still part of Marvel multiverse and is designated Earth-93060). This book has characters crossing over every which way and the Phoenix force going nuts and being used by an alien supercomputer to destroy the Earth. We can't have that, now can we!? So all of these heroes all team up in order to save the world. The thing that kept creeping into my head while I was reading this is that Marvel could take a page out of DC's play book and bring some of these Malibu characters back. DC owns the Impact and Milestone characters and is folding them into the DC Universe. Why couldn't Marvel do the same with Malibu? Honestly, even in this book, there are a couple characters that could be pretty interesting. Marvel's Exiles series jumps around to other universes and would be a great way to mine some characters from the Malibu books. Well who knows? Maybe we will see Night Man or Topaz again. Like they say, all it takes is a creator with a good story and any character can have a comeback.

This is the kinda book I'm talking about!

It happened again. I had an idea in my mind on what I wanted to read and write about for my next foray into the longboxes, but before I even finished the comics I had grabbed, my plan totally changed. (Actually I am loving the fact that my plans have been changing so organically. It really is an interesting phenomenon that I didn't expect when I started doing this.) Everything changed this time due to the fact that I read a single issue that probably best exemplifies the type of crazy stuff you can find when you dig through your old collections or the piles of books at a convention or the cheap bins at your local comic store. This comic deserves a post all its own. I give you Obnoxio The Clown Vs. The X-Men.

Just look at that cover. Bask in it. That is comic gold you see before you that I unearthed a few years ago at a convention for a quarter. Written and drawn by Alan Kupperburg, the titular Obnoxio the Clown is hired by Professor X to perform at Kitty Pryde's birthday party. Basically, the plot is that the X-Men think Obnoxio is an intruder and try to apprehend him, and hilarity ensues. How could you not enjoy reading about a filthy, pock-ridden, foulmouthed clown going toe to toe with Marvel's band of merry mutants? In the end, the X-Men discover that Obnoxio is not the intruder they are after. It was actually a mutant that can change his body into ice cream. Oh it gets better. This super villain's name is Eye-Scream. Wow...just wow. After some internet digging, I found that the character of Obnoxio the Clown was created by Larry Hama as the mascot of the humor magazine Crazy that Marvel put out in the 70's and early 80's. Yes, it was the same Larry Hama that wrote so many of the now famous issues of G.I. Joe. It is these kinds of book that make diving into a quarter bin worthwhile. This is Marvel history right here folks, much like The Star Wars Holiday Special is part of George Lucas's history. They may not want to remember it, but there it is, and I am proud to have it in my collection. I almost wish that they would remake this comic now that the Comics Code no longer prevents any real off-color comedy. This could really be something. I challenge you Marvel Comics. Bring back Obnoxio!

The last little thing I wanted to quickly mention was on Bullpen Bulletins page. (For those who don't know, the Bullpen Bulletins page was full of info about other Marvel books and letters from the fans. What caught my eye was an ad for Blip #1. I had never heard of this so I looked at the blurb. To my surprise, apparently Marvel Comics published a video gaming magazine in the 80's that in their words was "the most fun-packed and fact-packed Video Games magazine around." Guess what the cover article is: "Blip Tips: How to beat Centipede & Missile Command." Wow, now that is old. Look at how much of a history lesson you can get from one comic book!

Morlocks #1-4

The X-Men have always had a soft spot in my heart. If it weren't for the X-books, I probably wouldn't be the comic reader that I am today. In fact, Uncanny X-Men #273 was the first comic book I remember reading when I was 8 years old. From that point on, I was obsessed with the X-Men and the rest of the Marvel characters as well. Even when I stopped reading comics for some time, it was Astonishing X-Men #1 that pulled me back in. (Talk to any comic reader, and more often than not, they will have a similar diaspora story for you.)

Today, the X-books are a little different, but I am still reading and enjoying them. Much to my surprise though, there was a mutant-filled limited series that I had never heard of until I found one of the issues in a quarter box years ago. That series was Morlocks. I bought issue number two a long time ago and it had been sitting gathering dust for some time since I had the hardest time trying to find the rest of the series until recently. As soon as I had the series in its entirety, I pounced on the issues and read them all in about an hour. They were so good that I couldn't put them down until I found out how it ended.

Morlocks came out during the period I mentioned before when I left comics. Actually, I am pretty lucky that I even found out about it at all. Small miniseries like Morlocks usually get lost in the shuffle and are rarely heard from again. The best evidence of this is the fact that Morlocks was written by a big name in the comics world, yet, no one has heard of the series or remembers it. You might be surprised to know that the series was written by none other than Geoff Johns. Yes, that Geoff Johns, DC Comics golden boy and current writer of Green Lantern and Justice Society of America. In Morlocks, Johns creates a powerful story steeped in X-Men lore. For those who don't know, the Morlocks were introduced in X-Men books years ago as a group of mutants who couldn't pass for human so they fled and live together in the New York City sewers. In the series, we follow a new group of underground-dwelling mutants hiding from the mutant hunting Sentinels all while trying to complete a pact they have made to each other to fulfill one wish each member has. The characters have real heart. In the course of four issues, you get to know them and wish that you could continue with them on their journey. It is too bad that only one of the characters, Litterbug, has ever made another appearance.

I wouldn't be doing the book any justice if I didn't mention the art. Shawn Martinbrough's art is new to me and I love his art style. He reminds me of Michael Avon Oeming's art on Powers but with a little more detail. I have always been a fan of that type of minimalist style and I think that Martinbrough uses it perfectly in Morlocks.

I did have two small problems while I was reading Morlocks though. The series did border on two of my pet peeves. You would not believe how excited I was to see the first page of the first issue and read the word "Chicago" right there. Having your hometown as the setting is always a special treat. It sucks when there is nothing in the book that makes it specific to the city it is set in though. Aside from the first word of the book setting it in Chicago, there was nothing that made this city setting different than anywhere. Come on people! How many New York landmarks do I have to read about all the time? Can't Chicago get some real love for a change? Geez, even Milwaukee has the Great Lakes Avengers. The Windy City needs some real representation in comics. The other thing that irked me a bit was that the lettering was not proofread at all. there were multiple times where the word bubbles were coming from the wrong people. I know it is not a big deal, but one readthrough after the letterer is done could remedy that completely.