I have said before how much I love the DC Nation free magazine. Every month we get company propaganda but also a lot of interviews, process pieces, creative thinking, and Direct Currents.
For someone like me, who likes the behind the scenes stuff as well as the actual finished products, this book is a godsend. And DC Nation #4 continued the trend. I mean, I am stoked about the upcoming Grant Morrison Green Lantern book. So getting to read an interview with him and Liam Sharp is fan-tastic.
Not that all the news is good news. This issue has 'real' psychoanalysis of the DC Trinity and the reports read pretty rough. The Superman one in particular makes him sound depressed. That isn't my Superman.
But we are here to light a candle, not curse the darkness. So what stuff relevant to this site grabbed me?
There is an article about the foil covers coming out in October. It reminds me of the 'Chromium Age' of enhanced covers in the madcap speculator 90s. Jim Lee has seen all the covers and picks out his favorites. No surprise but the Artgerm variant on Supergirl #23 is on that short list.
Unlike some of Artgerm's covers, this really looks like a young girl Kara. Even her pose strikes me like a kid being told to vogue a bit. I love it.
Lee is able to put into words what I feel from Artgerm's covers. There is a vitality in the heroes that just seeps from the page.
And now more news.
I don't get Sideways but the character's look intrigues me. I have heard some good things about it.
In the magazine, we learn that Sideways is heading into a dark universe where he will encounter some of the odder corners of the Superman universe including Porcupine Jimmy, Big Brain Lois, and even Lori Lemaris.
Two others stood out. One is the Wolfman Jimmy Olsen from Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #44. I reviewed that comic way back when! Here is the link:
http://comicboxcommentary.blogspot.com/2009/08/back-issue-box-supermans-pal-jimmy.html
Supergirl plays a brief but important role in that issue. So maybe I'll need to see what happens with this darker version.
And then there is a dark Comet! Heck, nothing says Silver Age Supergirl like the super-horse. Of course the real identity was Centaur Biron. And then Comet was updated in the Peter David run.
I might have to grab this issue too. I mean how can I run this place if I don't cover a new Comet sighting.
So DC Nation did it's job here. I would never have known about this upcoming arc if it wasn't for this article.
I have said that I am liking Bendis' Action Comics more than I am his Superman book. A lot of Metropolis plots are bubbling in that book. This article sort of gives clues to what is happening. But most importantly, it says when the true answers will be revealed! A lot happening in the next couple of months!
But Lois discovering something so profound and shaking that she has been hiding from her husband? This better be one huge secret!
Anyways, another great issue. There is plenty more in here for the rabid fan to devour. I am so thrilled DC is doing this.
Yeah, Sideways is great, give it a read or someone will send you a trade!
ReplyDelete"Not that all the news is good news. This issue has 'real' psychoanalysis of the DC Trinity and the reports read pretty rough. The Superman one in particular makes him sound depressed. That isn't my Superman."
ReplyDeleteSigh. Apparently, all heroes must be clinically ill nowadays to be interesting.
People, that kind of treatment was innovative and surprising when Alan Moore did it. But it has been three decades since. Super-hero deconstruction is now trite and boring. It doesn't make your comic/show/web serial/whatever more interesting, deeper, more complex, more mature or more realistic, and TRYING to ape Watchmen will not mean your story become just so successful. And it doesn't make YOU a genius.
Do you (generic you) want to know what IS innovative? In DCSHG: Out of the Bottle, Harley admits she goes to a therapist. She gets defensive, thinking she will be judged by her friends, but it turns out Diana, Kara and Barbara also go to therapy to make sure their heads remain screwed on right. I found that reconstruction infinitely more interesting than the umpteenth Garth Ennis lecture on why he hates super-heroes.
"There is an article about the foil covers coming out in October. It reminds me of the 'Chromium Age' of enhanced covers in the madcap speculator 90s."
*shudders*
"Lee is able to put into words what I feel from Artgerm's covers. There is a vitality in the heroes that just seeps from the page."
I find interesting as well as nice Jim Lee chose to highlight that cover. And he's right, Artgerm's covers ooze liveliness.
"And then there is a dark Comet! Heck, nothing says Silver Age Supergirl like the super-horse."
Dark Comet? Seriously? What's next, Shadow Space Canine Patrol?
No mention he used to be Supergirl's horse. Curious.
"I have said that I am liking Bendis' Action Comics more than I am his Superman book. A lot of Metropolis plots are bubbling in that book."
It's been told Bendis is better at street-level heroes than at cosmic stuff. Maybe it's showing.
"But Lois discovering something so profound and shaking that she has been hiding from her husband? This better be one huge secret!"
I guess that's the reason she's been avoiding him.
Not to mention the jockey who merged with his horse and became a horsey-faced superhero named Comet, whose secret identity was a bisexual comedienne.
ReplyDeleteSeparately, Dick Malverne rode a horse through town.
All that in Peter David’s run.
Art gem Covers sell books thats all I know. The sales will remain good which is important given that Supergirl's core book is off-narrative & zooming thru outer space.
ReplyDelete"Dark Comet" eh...? I'm waiting patiently for Beppo the SuperMonkey to take bloody vengeance for anthropoid habitat loss...he'll face a showdown with "Super-Sally-Selwyn"
:)
JF
Thanks for comments.
ReplyDeleteI think I can wait on Sideways a bit. But will keep in mind if it hits the cheap bins.
Yes, PAD had all sorts of Comet love in his run, including having the horse Dick rode be named Biron.
And yes, Artgerm covers sell. This is a one off so we'll see if sales blip up. That said, Amanda Conner variants are nice too.