All-American Comics #1

TITLE: All-American Comics #1

PUBLISHER: DC Comics

COVER DATE: May 1999

COVER PRICE: $1.99

22 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

It's been a while since I've read The Justice Society Returns! mini-series, but I've always assumed in the intervening years that this mini-series was instrumental in bringing the JSA series back. After re-reading this issue, I don't think that's the case. This would appear from all intents and purposes to be a standard throwback tale in the original Justice Society style, albeit this one stretched out over nine issues.

For those unfamiliar with the format, it goes a little something like this. The whole team is confronted by, or introduced to, a threat. They then split up into smaller groups to accomplish their individual tasks...finally, regrouping to take down the bad guy.

The format of this miniseries is the same, but instead of smaller chapters featuring the individual group members, they get a whole issue to themselves. The opening and closing issues are both written by James Robinson and David Goyer, which I'm sure is why I originally picked this up on the strength of Robinson's Golden Age which was a surprise hit for me.

So yeah, it doesn't really tie in directly to the JSA title that would start up later in the year, but I still remember enjoying it. Let's see how good my memory is.

Cold Heart

• Writer: Ron Marz
• Artist: Eduardo Barreto
• Letterer: Kurt Hathaway
• Colorist: Carla Feeny
• Editors: Peter Tomasi and Dan Raspler

So here's the thing...I've been giving some thought about changing up how I do reviews. Do they always need to be blow-by-blow, page-by-page reviews? Not really, so I'll be messing with my style format on occasion when the mood hits me. They'll probably be shorter reveiws, which should allow me more time to get a few more up...but we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, let's get started.

THE ELEVATOR PITCH

During the waning days of WWII, the Justice Society is trying to defeat Stalker and his seven Disciples, who aim to end all wars on Earth by destroying all life on Earth. Green Lantern and Johnny Thunder are sent to stop one of the Disciples who seeks to disrupt the Yalta Conference. If you're unfamiliar with the finer points of WWII history, I'm sure this picture will ring a bell or two, ably reproduced by Eduardo Barreto.

ANYTHING ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW?

Not really. The story is narrated by a GI soldier cum Iowa farmboy writing a letter to his family, who is suitably impressed by the arrival of our heroes.

Followed shortly thereafter by the nameless disciple, doing the bidding of the mad god Stalker, which was to kill all life on Earth in case you forgot.

OBLIGATORY FIGHT SCENE

Here's Green Lantern doing his thing...

...and Johnny Thunderbolt doing his...kind of...

Hmmm...I'm getting the feeling someone's going to learn a little bit about what it really means to be a hero.

Yikes, I guess he learned that the hard way.

AND HOW ARE THE REAL LIFE HISTORICAL FIGURES HOLDING UP?

Is that Churchill pushing the wheelchair bound FDR into the line of fire?

Luckily for Roosevelt, Johnny Thunder mans up--

--giving Green Lantern and the Thunderbolt time to finish the Disciple off.

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL?

Pretty much. The heroes succeed and are teleported away by Doctor Occult to continue the battle against Stalker, and the Yalta Conference happens just like it's said to have happened in the history books.

And never you mind about any of that nonsense with superheroes, demons, and mad gods that you just read about...that part never happened. Or at least it never happened if you believe everything your government tells you.

It's just another war story that our Iowa farmboy will take with him to the grave.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

There's always more to history than what's written in the textbooks, just don't use a comic book to press your point. And you're just going to have to trust me on that one.

Ron Marz and Eduardo Barreto give us a pretty standard twenty-two pager. Nothing flashy or groundbreaking, but it tells a story and it tells it well. Both of these guys are pros, so you know at the very least you're getting a competant comic book. Unfortunately, that's about as much as we get.

As I mentioned in the previous post, the last decade has treated the Justice Society very, very well. On purely sentimental terms, I'd say that that time period has been the golden age of DCs' Golden Age heroes. It's through that prism of Robinson, Goyer, and Johns' vision that, unfortunately, this story is viewed. After all that they were able to do with the characters, this story just seems a little lightweight in comparison. I'd probably classify this mini-series as essential only for the Justice Society completists.

All characters and artwok reproduced are (c) DC Comics

Sojourn #8

TITLE: Sojourn #8

PUBLISHER: CrossGen Comics

COVER DATE: March 2002

COVER PRICE: $2.95

22 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

When the initial offering of CrossGen titles came out, I took a pass. The overarching mythology of the sigil ended up turning me off, rather than drawing me in. I just didn't feel like either a) having the sigil shoe-horned in to a title that otherwise didn't need it, or b) reading a bunch of stories with too much editorial control to make sure they all line up to the company fiat.

That didn't stop me from hearing good things that first year, however. So when they announced a second round of titles that were less central to the sigil mythology, I jumped all over it. It didn't hurt that one of the new titles would feature work by Greg Land, who I had enjoyed on Birds of Prey previously. Combine that with a Tolkien-esque world and a quest for mystic artifacts and I was in.

Say what you will about CrossGen as a company (and you can say a lot), but this series was an obvious highlight. Yeah, it was probably a little too Lord of the Rings for it's own good, but it definitely mined a niche that was going unfilled at the time.

You can also say what you will about Greg Land (and you can also say a lot), but this series was before he went balls-out with the lightbox and lingerie catalogs. After CrossGen went bankrupt and this title got cancelled mid storyline, Land ended up at Marvel. It's there that the style of his work really took a turn for the worse, so Sojourn remains the last title were I actively sought out Land's work.

So back to the issue at hand with our heroine Arwyn, and we're still early on in her quest for the fragments of the legendary arrow with which she will bring peace to Middelyn. From the cover, it looks like we're in for a bit of a barfight, so let's get to it...

No title given

• Writer: Ron Marz
• Penciler: Greg Land
• Inkers: Drew Geraci, John Dell, Rick Magyar
• Colorist: Caesar Rodriguez
• Letterer: Troy Peteri

Well, the cover is no lie as the issue opens up in the middle of a barfight. Arwyn was apparently tossed through a window in the previous issue, so everything's up to her companion Gareth to sort things out. Needless to say, he's been in a brawl or two before.

They've come to this particular tavern to ask the locals about a rumored dragon who's supposed to be in possession of one of the arrow fragments. They're less than forthcoming, obviously, and just when things are looking their worse for Gareth, Arwyn makes a timely re-entrance.

Firing an arrow from her enchanted bow, she manages to distract the brawlers enough for her and Gareth to make good their escape. Leaving the bar with them is a female patron who was beginning to tell them what she knew of the dragon when the fight broke out last issue.

It's not until after they've put some distance between themselves and the bar that they stop for the night. While dining on whatever local critter Gareth caught, now turning on the barbecue spit, they trade stories about how each of them got to where we are now.

Here's the Reader's Digest version, for everyone keeping score at home.

Arwyn's on a mission to slay Mordath, the big bad in Middelyn, who is responsible for the death of her husband and child. He has now been resurrected and is the sigil-bearer of this title. While attempting to kill him in his castle, she met Gareth. Together, they manage to escape with their lives, but have now become marked for death by Mordath and are continually hunted by his trolls as they search for the legendary arrow that was used to slay him once already, and is rumored to be the only thing that will slay him again.

Their newfound friend, on the other hand, tells them of the legends of the local dragon and where the lair is rumored to be at. The fact that she doesn't really reveal anything personal, combined with obvious distrust that Arwyn's dog has for her, leads one to believe that she is not entirely human trustworthy.

Still, the quest will not be denied, so it's under her guidance in the morning to find the dragon's lair. She leads them to a place called Fayern Gorge and bids them good luck in rappelling down the cliff face, as she has no intention of heading into a dragon's lair.

Once they got to the bottom, it doesn't take long for Gareth to find a gem or two, which makes him think that there may actually be something to this dragon legend. Arwyn is suitably unimpressed, for she has found something a little bit bigger.

They begin to scour the treasure for the arrow fragment, as Gareth hypothesizes that there really is no dragon. It's all probably just a story cooked up by local highwaymen to scare people away from their treasure horde and stolen loot.

Unfortunately for him, that's just wishful thinking.

The dragon didn't get a treasure horde this sizable by being a dummy, and it strikes out at Arwyn to take her, and her enchanted bow, out of the action first.

So we close out this issue that same way it started, with Gareth in way over his head in a battle that he is unlikely to win by himself.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

Two things struck me reading this issue that differed from my memories of it.

The first one is the obvious 500 lb. gorilla in the room, Greg Land. Maybe it's just because I'm so jaded to everything that's come to light about his working process, but this issue looked alot stiffer than I remember. I couldn't help but see underwear models throughout the whole issue everytime Arwyn had more than one dialogue balloon to deliver.

Still, there were flashes of greatness, and that's what frustrates me about his work. Take the last half of this book for example. Unless he traced the dragon, which I suppose is entirely possible, this is some of the best stuff I've seen from him. The weakest parts was the figurework, where to put it politely, there was obvious inspiration. Oh well, all art is subjective, so if it works for him and his fans, more power to him.

The other thing about this issue that differs from my memory is how light the drama and tension felt. This was still good, but seemed a little more bland than I remember. It definitely felt Tolkein-like, which I didn't remember feeling this strongly the first time around. Although after Peter Jackson's insanely detailed LOTR films, the bar is admittedly set pretty damn high.

All characters and artwork reproduced are (c) CrossGen Comics

Related links for your surfing pleasure...

• Ron Marz's blog, or follow him on twitter
• A Comic Bloc forum thread about Sojourn. Yeah, it's a couple of years old, but features participation from Ron Marz himself.
• Kirk, over at The Weekly Crisis, has a nice post up about the history of the CrossGen line of titles

DC/Marvel: All Access #1

TITLE: DC/Marvel: All Access #1

PUBLISHER: DC/Marvel

COVER DATE: December 1996

COVER PRICE: $2.95

38 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

There's not too much I remember about this series, other than the fact that at the center of it all was Access. And for the 99% of everyone out there who has never heard of him, he was the character that kept the Marvel and DC universes from merging again...or was that Joe Quesada.

Anyway, I think by this point the Marvel/DC crossovers were just becoming a money grab, not really motivated by a need to tell any great story. The first series was more novelty than story, but it was fun and interesting and new for the time. It had been a while since we had seen any crossovers between the two companies, so a new generation got to answer the age-old question of who could beat who.

Of course, by the time it was all over we had three mini-series and two dozen one-shots all over two years or so. That's "zombie cover" level saturation, and quarter boxes haven't been the same since.

That's not to say that some of the one shots weren't good, as I remember enjoying a couple of them. Bruce Wayne Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. with art by Cary Nord...Karl Kesel and Mike Wieringo on Spider-Boy...Mark Waid and Dave Gibbons on Super Soldier...

Fortunately for us, Kurt Busiek and George Perez would eventually go on to show how great an intercompany crossover could be with JLA/Avengers. If you're only going to read one crossover, make it this one. Better yet, try to track down one of the great oversized hardcover collections, as Perez's artwork really shines in an enlarged format.

But we're not here to look at that book, so let's just get started and get this over with.

The Crossing!

• Story: Ron Marz
• Layouts: Jackson Guice
• Finishes: Josef Rubinstein
• Letters: Bill Oakley
• Color: Lee Loughridge
• Separators: Digital Chameleon
• Associate Editor: Chris Duffy
• Editor: Mike Carlin

This issue is basically one big slug-fest, so let's cut right to the score card.

ROUND ONE
Access lives in the Marvel Universe...

WIN: DC

ROUND TWO
An over-exposed, 90's era Venom escapes to the DC Universe...

WIN: Marvel

ROUND THREE
Ooohh...mullet Superman...

WIN: Marvel

So three rounds in, and Marvel is beating DC with the score 2 to 1. It's still early, so let's see what DC does to regain the momentum.

ROUND FOUR
Blatant crotch shot...

WIN: The reader...I guess?

And what are you looking at, Superman statue head? Let's keep your head in the game, shall we?

ROUND FIVE
Superman tells Access to talk to the hand...

WIN: DC

ROUND SIX
Venom uses the old "boy scout" slur against Superman...

WIN: Marvel

At the end of the sixth round, Marvel maintains a slight lead with the score 3-2-1.

ROUND SEVEN
Superman needs a save from Spider-Man...

WIN: Marvel

ROUND EIGHT
Both Superman and Spider-Man manage to ignore Access...

WIN: The reader

ROUND NINE
Venom gets the upper hand on both Spider-Man and Superman at the same time..?

WIN: DC

DC gets that last point by default, as you would expect Spider-Man to be able to take Venom down at this point on his own. The fact that he can't seem to do it with Superman's help, for god's sake, costs Marvel a point.

So that makes the score 4-3-2, with Marvel barely holding the lead over DC with the reader coming in third.

Let's head to the final stretch to see how it all shakes out.

ROUND TEN
Access bursts in to save the day...

WIN: Marvel and DC

Technically, Access is jointly owned by both Marvel and DC so they can both claim a point here. Then again, Marvel and DC's most popular heroes had to be rescued by a character created to sell a 90's event, so I should really be subtracting a point.

That makes the score 5-4-2, with Marvel still leading.

ROUND ELEVEN
Access leaves with Spider-Man...

WIN: DC

ROUND TWELVE
Yea! It's over!

WIN: The reader, without a doubt.

Not so fast...

ROUND THIRTEEN
Aaargh...spoke too soon!

WIN: Definitely not the reader.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

Let's tally up the final score and see how everything panned out.

• Marvel: 5 points
• DC: 5 points
• The Reader: 2 points

I think that's pretty much a snap shot of the comic industry in the 90's.

Marvel and DC hog the market for just about all that it's worth, leaving the reader with little to nothing to grasp on to for entertainment.

Ron Marz and Jackson Guice try their best with this series, but in all honesty, I just didn't sense any passion here. It was a by-the-numbers story that doesn't do much to grab the reader.

It's got all the big splash pages you'd expect from a Superman/Spider-Man/Venom fight, but not much else.

All characters and artwork reproduced are (c) Marvel and DC Comics

Related links for your surfing pleasure...

• Supermanfan.net takes a look at the first meeting of Superman and Spiderman
• ...and the second