Review: Batman/Superman World's Finest #24

Batman/Superman World's Finest #24 came out last week and was just an absolutely wonderful issue. 

Throughout this arc I have worried that somehow the events of this issue would, in my mind, impact the Kingdom Come world. And indeed, it is hard to know how the JLA that is in this story and witnessed what Magog does here would somehow allow him to go on his bloody purge in that Elseworlds.

But here is the deal. 

I don't care.

Because this issue shows why Mark Waid is such a great writer. It shows why he understands what heroes in comics are supposed to do, supposed to say, supposed to act. I grew up reading heroes who had ethics and morality, who didn't cross lines, who inspired. In this book I get to read that Batman and that Superman again. And even though we see the murkiness of Magog's character, the story ends with hope. 

The story is only raised by the stupendous work of Dan Mora. I have sung Mora's praise this whole book. This issue includes a tremendous brawl, double page spreads, homages to the legendary work of Alex Ross. It all just sparkles with life and energy and emotion. 

I'll still read Kingdom Come as a stand alone story. But I'll appreciate this story too.

On to the issue.

Review: Batman/Superman World's Finest #23

Batman/Superman World's Finest #23 came out last week, the penultimate chapter of the Kingdom Come storyline Mark Waid has been crafting. And therein lies the conundrum, one I have trumpeted throughout the arc.

Mark Waid and Alex Ross created Kingdom Come back in 1996. It is a masterpiece, an Elseworld's possible future, a sacred comic text. I love Kingdom Come, one of those stories that I go to and reread frequently. 

Now in World's Finest, the Earth-0 World's Finest head to that world and have a rollicking adventure, exposing the world to the multiverse, fighting their doppelgangers, and battling Gog. 

How can this story have taken place and the events of Kingdom Come unfold the way it did? Can such a major incursion from the multiverse, a discussion about Magog's origins, and a cliffhanger with a major DC baddie not impact that story-telling?

Now, in and of itself, this story is fun. The plot twist that Waid brings to Gog is great and completely unexpected. Seeing our World's Finest pairs team up to fight the big bad is fun and cool. And that cliffhanger! Add to the the standard excellent Dan Mora art and you have a winner.

Mora brings in some Earth-22 sensibility to an action packed fight issue. What I like the best is his warping his lines and stylizing his art as the madness increases. Brilliant stuff.

Still ... how can Kingdom Come remain Kingdom Come? Is some time travel erasure in our future?

On to the book.

Review: Batman/Superman World's Finest #22

Batman/Superman World's Finest #22 came out last week, continuing the 'Return to Kingdom Come' storyline. 

From the beginning, I have had some trepidation about this story because of how much I love Kingdom Come. The more that happens on the Kingdom Come Earth, the more difficult it will be to reconcile the events of Kingdom Come unfolding as they did. 

Here we are on this world. The heroes are worshipping Gog. Our Earth-0 Superman and Batman are interacting with, even befriending the Superman and Batman of Earth-22. Shouldn't all these events be remembered? Shouldn't this impending battle against Gog lead to a more jaundiced eye at Magog? Isn't Gog's failed 'Catacomb' prison similar to the 'Gulag' in Kingdom Come and wouldn't that give the KC Superman pause to make it? And won't our heroes tell these heroes about the witnessed graveyard?

The only thing I can think is that somehow this is Earth-22A, close to the Kingdom Come world but not the actual one. It is the only way to put the genie back in the bottle.

Outside of my concerns, there is a lot to like in this issue. Our Superman's anger over how David turned into Thunderman is powerful. Gog's origin is linked to DC history and the Fourth World. The World's Finest team unites with the other world's World's Finest team. It's all pretty cool.

And, as usual, Dan Mora smashes it on art. We get to see his Supergirl again briefly. He gives us three new character designs. We see his take on some Kirby stuff, some Morrison stuff, the and some Alex Ross stuff. It is all beautiful. 

I am going to try to keep my worries at bay and judge the issue on it's own merits. But it'll be tough.

Review: Batman/Superman World's Finest #21

Batman/Superman World's Finest #21 came out last week and was another interesting chapter in this arc which returns us to the Kingdom Come world. Or at least I think it does. 

Our heroes have found Thunderman (former Boy Thunder) on a multiverse world which is quite dark. It looks like the Kingdom Come world. Last issue, the heroes saw that world's future, the graveyard from the gulag being bombed in Kingdom Come #4 was evident. 

From the jump, I have been worried about how this story would impact that story. How could Kingdom Come unfold if those heroes have interacted with our heroes, have heard about Thunderman's rage, that they know about a multiverse? 

I hope writer Mark Waid will be able to put the genie back into the bottle and leave this world sort of untouched. In the meantime, he is doing great work showing us how the events of that world impact the main Batman and Superman. I liked the interactions between the Batmen and Supermen. There is a killer cliffhanger. But between those ups is the down of Gog. That groan you heard was me when I see Superman bending the knee in worship. 

The art by Dan Mora remains an unbelievable high point to this book. He really crushes this whole issue from the knockdown fights to the emotional beats, to the more insane moments of Gog being summoned. Mora is just a force.

Could this whole thing be on a world that is close to the Kingdom Come world but not *THE* Kingdom Come world? Who knows.

On to the book.

Review: Batman/Superman World's Finest #20

Batman/Superman World's Finest #20 came out this week, the second part of the 'Return to Kingdom Come' arc. In fact, it's a sequel to the second arc of this book which ended with 'Boy Thunder' heading to the Kingdom Come world, where it was hinted he became Magog.

Writer Mark Waid is revisiting his (perhaps) magnum Opus of Kingdom Come. I often wonder if creators can go home again. Is heading back to that story worth it? Kingdom Come is almost universally revered. If you go back to the well with a sequel and it doesn't shine, does it dull the original work. Maybe I worry too much.

Waid does have the new wrinkle of inserting the Earth-0 Superman and Batman into the KC storylines. We get to see their reaction to that world. This isn't a KC story. This is our heroes responding to what they see in Earth-22. Waid also sets the bulk of the story in the years before Kingdom Come #1. That world hasn't been explored. This feels, at least, a little fresh.

Meanwhile, Dan Mora continues to crush it on art. The first couple of pages show just how well Mora can adapt as he apes a number of famous stories. But this issue is mostly scenes of Batman and Superman talking to each other. Mora shines there too bring the emotions of all that our heroes see.

Listen ... I love Kingdom Come. I love it so much I want it to remain the pure story it is. 

On to this issue.

Review: Danger Club #8

Last week, Danger Club #8 came out ... twice ... ending this great mini-series, written by Landry Walker with art by Eric Jones. Now I have sung the praises of this book on the blog before so, no big surprise, I really love this finale. 

As I have said before, this is a complex book which can be read on so many levels. You can enjoy the surface story, seeing these sidekicks suddenly thrust alone into a Crisis-style disaster and scrambling to save the universe. And, on that level, with a brilliant Kid Vigilante, a miniaturized Tokyo, a mad Captain America analog rewriting time, it completely works.

But for me, the more fascinating layer has been looking at this book as a discussion on comic book continuity in general. How universal rewrites can warp the intent of characters, leading to disastrous interpretations, and eventually overall instability. From the golden/silver age opening pages to the Image-esque splash page to the near unrecognizable brutality of the current line, this book has walked us through comic history. Brilliant.

This issue is a mostly a big-scale brawl against the villain Chronos but it ends with another universal rewrite. That reminded me of Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 in which the bulk of that issue was a fight with the Anti-Monitor but ended with the DCU being finally streamlined.

One of my favorite parts of this whole series has been these opening retro-pages. These have been reflections of prior times in comics but also echoes of the prior timelines in this Danger Club universe. This is the way things used to be before the American Spirit/Chronos wrote and rewrote and rewrote the timelines.

This issue looks like a Lee/Kirby era book. The heroes poses, the title 'Lo, the end is Nigh!', the Romita-style Jack Fearless in the lower half feels like an old school Marvel book.

But it still shows us the big event of the story ... the older heroes being betrayed and disappearing leaving the sidekicks to try to survive.

 Last issue was the third issue in a row in which the universe winked out of existence and seemed to be reformed. Kid Vigilante is in Olympus begging for the elder gods to lend their power.  The Magician, existing outside of time, finally cast the Apocatastasis spell, looking at all the timelines and choosing one.

Most interesting, the Magician picked the main timeline of this book, the brutal era we have seen these sidekicks exist in. But it is his timeline, his home.

And Chronos is suddenly back on the timeline he destroyed two issues back.

With little time, a dying Jack Fearless, Ladybug, and the rest of the team on Earth engage.

Meanwhile, back in Olympus, Kid Vigilante continues to plead his case. The Gods know what Chronos means, what will happen if Chronos succeeds. He needs their power ... even rival Apollo's.

There is something very classic about this, the Greek pantheon fighting Chronos. And I love Jones' interpretation of Artemis, Hermes, Hephaestus, Ares, Aphrodite, and Athena.

On Earth, all the pieces of Kid Vigilante's plan start to come together.

Jack Fearless, his power at critical levels, activates a flying fortress powered by the Omphalos stone, a weapon mentioned in a prior flashback page and known to be effective against the gods. He teleports Ladybug to safety flies towards Chronos.

Meanwhile, the Magician begins downloading Kid Vigilante's memories into the body of his twin brother. Vigilante is only able to talk to the gods because he is dead, his brains shot out a few issues ago. He needs a place to come back to.

And finally, he does, animating his brother's body, fueled by the essence of the gods.

Talk about a crazy plan!

The risks are incredible ....

Fearless does his job, going on a suicide run with the Omphalos-ship, skewering Chronos with its power.

And then, right behind, is Vigilante, flying with the avatars of the gods, and flying through Chronos and killing the mad titan.

Dying, all the divine creative energy that Chronos had stolen is released into the universe. The stars realign. There is rebirth to this world.

Now throughout this title, we have had homages and callbacks to key events and eras in comics.

There is no doubt that this page of the older generation of heroes returning is a take on Kingdom Come. Brilliant!

Many of us know that Kingdom Come was a warning to comics about the direction comics were going in that time, of things getting more brutal and insane. Instead of recognizing it as a warning, DC looked at it as a recipe to make things even grimmer.

So what will happen here.

Now think of what Kid Vigilante has just done.

Recognized the universal threat. Concocted a plan to defeat him. A plan that hinged on his getting killed and convincing divine beings to resurrect him and empower him. A plan that involved killing a mad god. And then had to have the dying mad god's energy lead to a cosmic rebirth.

So what does his suddenly alive father, the 'Batman' of this universe say to him?

'Acceptable.' And then he walks away!

Kid Vigilante, dripping blood, looking like a revenant, looks floored.

I was floored.

This is comics these days. 'Batman' so aloof and infallible that this miracle is only 'acceptable'. This was a gut punch, the ending that I deserve as a reader who has been a willing participant in the slow devolution of many comics and characters.

The new universe is the old universe, the blood soaked reality seen in the first issue.

These sidekicks can never be children again.

This should be a glorious victory, one that makes the characters (and me) exhilarated and happy.

But I am far from it.

But wait ... there's more!

Walker and Jones knew this book was too big to be saddled with just one ending.

And so they came out with a second ending, a second Danger Club #8, with a similar but more tattered appearing cover. This is what my comics used to look like before I slavishly bagged and boarded them, creased, rolled, and readable anywhere.

The bulk of the story mirrors the other issue. Except now, the death of Chronos leads to his temporal energy being released and recreating all the universes, all the timelines that the American Spirit had destroyed.

Now we get a much more Silver Age ending, Vigilante gets thanked as he should. This time he is told that he did a good job. And he is called 'son'. They shake hands. Suddenly, there is a world where these characters can be heroes again.

Look at the smiling Kid Vigilante here. His mask isn't one from his own blood streaming from his eyes.

Now there is once again a multiverse where everyone can live.

I needed this second ending. But I deserve the first.

I really love this book. It pains me to think that it was lost on the shelves, harmed by a delay in the middle. Because it is such a meaty read. It is brilliant.

I can only hope that a trade comes out with the entire series. And I would love some foreword or back matter by the team explaining their hopes and ideas of the series. We need books like this out there, commentary on comics.

So which ending did you prefer??

Overall grade: A

Post-Convergence Supergirl News

Big props to blog friend Mart Gray   and who ever asked the original question for getting some news about Supergirl out of Dan Didio. Over on Facebook, Didio was asked about Supergirl being canceled.

The answer is intriguing. There are 'plans' for the character in June. And then later this year.

I am beginning to see how all of our thoughts could come to fruition and keep that statement valid.

My thoughts all along were that Supergirl would 'disappear' from DC books only to resurface as a soft reboot to coincide with the television show. I hope this isn't a brand new Supergirl but a new direction for the current Kara, a reboot a la the current Burnside Batgirl.

There being a plan in June and then later in the year sounds like just such a break.

Kudos to the anonymous poster here who had the brilliant thought that Kara heading to the future with the Legion and aging a bit there would be the wrinkle to put Supergirl into the young 20-something of the show. Now my guess can be maybe made a bit more specific.

In the first post-Convergence issue of JLU, under the direction of whomever the new creative team is, Supergirl heads to the future with the Legion there. When the new book happens, she comes back, older and ready to be a working woman.

We saw Kara head to the future in other works, like Kingdom Come for example.

Heck, you could have Conner join her in the future of the current DCU too. And you know that DC loves to have things coincide with Kingdom Come!

But I don't think an older 20-something Supergirl feels right in regards to the history of the character. She should be a young hero at the beginning of her journey. Do fans really want a 5 year gap where we don't know what happened? Don't we want to read those stories?

Anyways ... This is what I expect.

Kara effectively leaves the DCU in June.

The 6 issue mini-series like Harley/Power Girl end in December. And then a new Supergirl book is announced for January.

We'll see if my super-intuition is on the money.

Alex Ross Supergirl In Kingdom Come:Revelations

I  love stumbling across Supergirl that I haven't seen before. So here is a great shot of Alex Ross' Kingdom Come Supergirl. I have talked about Kingdom Come and Ross in the past but not for some time.

So imagine my surprise when I saw this picture out on the web. Here is a Ross sketch of Supergirl and Superboy from the Kingdom Come Revelations slipcase book. This is Conner and Linda/Matrix. Both are sent into the future in Kingdom Come as a way to eliminate their power set from the conflict (the explanation in the text on the above page). I love the Legionnaires' look to these costumes with the big Legion symbol belt buckle. There is also something 'Laurel Gand'-ish about Supergirl's look as well. Just beautiful!

Here are Ross' own words about the design from Revelations as well.

The current inheritors of these classic Superman family roles may not have the same blood relationship to Superman that the former had, but they could still join the Legion just as the originals did. The 30th Century's interplanetary Legion of Super-Heroes could well invite both super-youths to join their ranks and offer them a second home in the future. The implication in Kingdom Come is that at some point they will leave our modern era behind for a more settled society of superhumans in the future. Designing these costumes was a real joy, combining the modern Legion aesthetic with the classic Silver Age outfits of Superboy and Supergirl. Superboy's current "mod" hairstyle is grown out like Superman's recent 'do, but pulled back to give a sense of the original Boy of Steel's clean-cut look.

Here is the one quick peek at Supergirl in Kingdom Come (issue 2)  itself in extreme close-up. She is a tiny little thing in the full panel of the Legion.
 

As for Kingdom Come Revelations, it is a slipcase book, hardcover of the Kingdom Come comic as well as another book of sketches, notes, etc. It is signed by Waid and Ross and exceedingly rare. Good luck finding one! And be prepared to shell out some bucks!

Does anyone actually own it??

Mythology: The Art Of Alex Ross

Serendipity is defined as 'an aptitude to make desirable discoveries by accident' or 'good luck; fortune'. I am a firm believer in serendipity.

You see, I have several 'coffee table' books about comics that I keep on ... well ... on a coffee table in my house. It is my little way of opening up the idea of comics to non-comics people who visit the house. I also thumb through them during long commercial breaks or when just relaxing.

For the last several months, the DC Comics Encyclopedia was on the table. I felt it was time to change things up, so the encyclopedia went on the shelf and I put Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross down. I hadn't flipped through the book in a while and thought it would feel new to me. Before I did flip through it, I read a comment here by blog friend John Feer about the Cliff Chiang 'hot pants' commission. He reminded me about how Ross used that outfit in the mini-series Justice.

Suddenly Alex Ross had suddenly crept into my consciousness twice. And I didn't really have a post planned for today. The universe was trying to tell me something. It was time to look at the book again.

Now while I enjoy Ross' work very much, I am not his biggest fan. His work alone isn't enough to make me pick up a book. But when working on the right project, his work is perfect. Perfect.

The book does a great job of looking at Ross' career from his earliest childhood drawings to his influences in art to a very close look at all the major DC projects he had done at the time of the book's creation. If you are a fan of Ross, you need to have this book. Each chapter is chock full of goodies. For me, I especially love seeing the pencil sketches that eventually became to finished art as well as 'test sketches' of the characters. There are chapters based on the big three, then Captain Marvel, then JLA (these all looking at the oversized graphic novel he produced for the characters such as Superman:Peace on Earth), and then individual DC characters, and finally Kingdom Come.

I picked a few relevant pics for here to look at.

The title page in the book is of the Legion and prominently features Supergirl, looking as though she is reaching for the words 'The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross'. Again, it is the 'hot pants' costume.

It is a close-up of this Ross print of the Legion of Superheroes. Most people know that I am a huge Legion fan as well. I had not known about this print before seeing it in this book. If I did, I would probably have bought it. For me, this is the Legion of my youth sporting the 1970's outfits designed by Dave Cockrum and Mike Grell.


In particular, I am a huge fan of this version of Shrinking Violet's costume.


In the middle of the book, we see Ross' approach to many of the more famous DC characters. Ross had produced many 'character' posters for DC including this one of Supergirl. The posters are only of the upper half of the character; I had forgotten that it was a whole body shot. Again, I am a fan of the boots with this version of the costume rather than the ballerina slippers look.

Here is the text:
She's Superman's Kryptonian cousin and she has had many different outfit designs since her comics debut in Superman #123 (August 1958). All were variations of her famous kinsmen's. "This is the version of her costume I first saw in the mid-1970s. There's a sexiness to it that also considers her individuality, as a young woman who wants to fit in on Earth."

Ross' women always look somewhat older that I imagine the characters to be. This Supergirl looks like someone in her late-20s, so it is slightly off for me. Still, it is a very nice iconic pose for the Girl of Steel.

I am also a giant fan of Kingdom Come, so I appreciated the very in-depth look that series gets in here. From the design of the futuristic characters, to sketches and break-down of pages, to his designs of the 'next generation' characters, it really rounded out my appreciation of the book.

Here are true thumb-nail sketches of many of those 'next gen' characters as well as some of the main background characters.



Here is Ross' thumb nail of XTC, what I am presuming is the daughter of Supergirl and Brainiac 5 seen in the book and discussed on this blog way back when here.

Moreover, the chapter looks at a potential sequel that would involve Ross. His Kingdom varied a bit from the ultimate prequel that DC released with the same name.

It seems the few sketches he produced for that project were put to good use. Here is his Gog, the character who would eventually create Magog. It is the exact design for Gog used in Justice Society of America recently.

So if you are a big Alex Ross fan, I highly recommend the book. There isn't much in here for a Supergirl fan. But if you are a fan of DC Comics and in particular the 'big 7' and Kingdom Come, it is a real treasure.

Kingdom Come - Supergirl and Brainiac 5's Daughter?

My many thanks to frequent poster Talos who brought up the presence of a Brainac 5/Supergirl daughter in the great Elseworld series Kingdom Come, written by Mark Waid and beautifully painted by Alex Ross.

Now I have read Kingdom Come probably a billion times and did not recall anyone fitting that description. So I had to go back and thumb through the issues to see if I could spot her.

Here she is on the back cover of the letterbox Ross cover. There she is ... the green-skinned woman behind the Flash and Cyborg.

Now, at the end of the weekly series 52, it was revealed that the multiverse exists again but is limited to 52 universes. The 'Kingdom Come' universe was designated Earth-22. The Earth-22 Starman and Superman are currently playing significant parts in the Geoff Johns' Justice Society of America comic.

What do we know about the Supergirl of Earth-22?

Well, in Kingdom Come #1,the Spectre is discussing super-heroes to Reverand Norman McKay and he lists several who have simply stopped being active or left, leaving humanity to its own fate. On that page we see the above shot of the Legion. And who is flying right at the front of that phalanx?

Yeah, it's Kara. And that is probably Conner flying next to her. So Kara left the troubled present to spend her days in the brighter future. We can only conjecture why she would do that. Love of Brainiac 5? Frustration with present day Earth? Need to be in an environment more advanced like the one she knew best on Krypton?

What does seem apparent is that there is a Supergirl/Brainiac 5 amalgam, presumably their offspring, who is active in the present day. Here is her biggest showing in issue #2, albeit 2 panels and no lines of dialogue.

There she is in the lower right hand corner, flying in during this skirmish.

And here is the best shot of her. How the heck did I miss this despite my many readings of this comic over the last decade?

First off, she is basically a green-skinned Kara. But look at that costume design. The 'S' shield is the entire front of the tunic. The 'yellow' areas of the 'S' shield are actually cut out of the tunic, with her green skin showing in those areas. She has the choker and cape. Clearly this is someone linked to the super-family. Given everything we know, it makes perfect sense for this to be Kara and Brainiac 5's daughter.

Despite looking closely at all the issues, that is about it for her in the series. Maybe she is seen in the background of a couple of panels. Maybe.

Now Talos (another tip of the hat) wrote that the character's name was Kara Dox ... a mix of her alleged parents' names. Also a nice play on the word paradox. Of course her fighting in the past while her parents are in the future is sort of a paradox.

So mystery solved, right?

Not so fast. Look at how she is listed in the apocrypha section of the Kingdom Come trade paperback. Brainiac's daughter? Ancestor of Brainiac 5? Makes little sense, especially given her resemblence to Kara and her costume choice. Maybe this entry was an error?

Does anyone have any more information? Maybe from the Absolute Kingdom Come edition?

Regardless, whatever her origin or bloodline, we know her fate. She was not one of the survivors of the nuclear attack on the super-human war in Kingdom Come #4.

Anyways, my thanks again for having this brought to my attention. I still am flummoxed how I never saw her before.