Gen¹³ (vol.4) #1 (December, 2006)
"Best of a Bad Lot, Part One: And on the First Day"
Writer - Gail Simone
Pencils - Talent Caldwell
Inks - Matt Banning
Colors - Carrie Strachan
Letters - Pat Brosseau
Assistant Editor - Kristy Quinn
Editor - Ben Abernathy
Cover Price: $2.99
Another random pick today... this time heeding the call of the Wild(Storm)... and that means, nobody's going to read this one! Oh well, I'll still do my best with it.
Like all of WildStorm's offerings, Gen¹³ was a title that I kinda went in-and-out on... didn't really follow it... though, I did buy it. I'm a sick man, what can I tell ya. The one volume of the book that I'm fairly certain I never even dipped my toe into (insofar as actually reading) was the one we're going to take a look at today.
I'm pretty sure it was a case of "once bitten, twice shy" after that wildly dull Claremont run. Add that to the fact that this is a "reboot"... and man, that's kind of the opposite of "Chris bait". Still bought it though... because I'm an idiot!
Let's finally... after a dozen-plus years... crack this bugger open and see what's what!
--
We open on a scene featuring a couple sitting in a car at one'a them "lookout points" where teen-agers on TV used to go off and neck. One of these kids is 17 year-old, Stephen Oswald... an attempted rapist. There is an IM chat going on alongside the scene, however it is painfully difficult to read... tiny black text on a dark background. The couple is being observed by an organization called Tabula Rasa... which looks as though it's being led by... Stephen Oswald! I mean, I know it's not him (this guy's name is Dr. Cross), but they look damn near identical. There's a young woman there watching as well, who I immediately assumed was Fairchild... but it ain't.
Anyhoo, back to the car, where the attempted rapist... attempts to rape! The girl fights to free herself, and in so doing, appears to have traded in her hands for very sharp blades! She cuts the creep up but good. Dr. Cross and Megan Whatsherface look on, and appear to be quite pleased.
The blade-armed would-be victim then finds herself surrounded by some armed goons, and she asks if they can help her. Instead, they fire a bullet into her dome... or at least, that's what it looks like.
The scene then shifts to Caitlin Fairchild getting knocked in the head by a dodgeball during gym class. Ya see, the other girls don't appear to like her all that much. A gym teacher/coach helps her to her feet and sends her off to the showers... where all the other girls are pleased as punch that "Katie" will be going home with a bruise on her face.
We jump to Fort Lauderdale, Florida... where a white kid with dreadlocks gets bullied for being... a white kid with dreadlocks. Well, let the punishment fit the crime, I guess.
Next stop, Seattle, Washington... where Grunge "yanks it, ganks it... and very nearly spanks it." Alrighty then.
What I think all of that means is, he did some super-neat stuff on his skateboard, though Google Translate isn't much of a help in this instance. Anyhoo, he face-plants in front of a pretty young thing, who calls him a... get this, "skaterboi"... actually spelled that way! I suppose I should just be happy she didn't squeeze a numeral 8 in there!
Now, we're off to San Antone, where Roxy has been arrested for stealing a pack of smokes... again. Looks like, from the names her mother calls her, that she's having a pretty great teen-agery time! Anyhoo, mom picks her up and brings her home, and they argue the entire way... ending with Roxy say she "hates" her. You see where this is going, right?
Last stop on our tour is Peridot, Arizona... which is way the hell east of Phoenix. We meet Sarah, who has stopped into the coffee shop to pick up a cup... and apparently, the lady barista. Wow, that didn't take long. Anyhoo, the barista informs her that she's into dudes... slump-shouldered Sarah slinks away, while a pair of old white dudes act the way we're told old white dudes act.
We jump back to whereverthehell Tabula Rasa members Dr. Cross and Megan Whatsherface are operating out of. They hear the Gen¹¹'s eat... which leads me to believe they are some ungodly beasts. After checking out the boobal region of some blonde, Cross talks about their next steps... they need to turn their perspective Gen-Actives into... orphans! If only we could get them all into a late-night showing of The Mark of Zorro!
The next morning, the five kids we checked in on (sans Grunge) earlier all wake up... and they're wearing strange costumes... though, none of them seem to realize it right away. Caitlin's parents see how she's dressed, and have a knowing look about them, Grunge's folks plan to run away (he's still asleep, natch), Roxy's mom gives an "uh-oh", Burnout's mother freaks out, and Sarah's parents... well, knowing what's to come, they eat a bunch of rat poison.
Caitlin's parents kinda treat this as a "business arrangement", and her mother, Kendall decides to head outside to talk to the army of Tabula Rasans about being "reassigned". She gets shot in the head before she even makes it a step out the door.
Sarah, no longer having parents, just gets abducted. Roxy gets to have a heart-to-heart with her "mother" (none of these folks look to actually be the parents of their respective Gen-Actives). It's a fairly touching scene, which we kinda saw coming all the way back when Roxy told her "mom" that she hated her.
As the Tabula Rasans rush his home, Burnout... well, burns 'em out. Back with Caitlin, she overpowers one of the guards and hurls him through a wall. Gotta assume Grunge is still sleeping.
These scenes are, of course, being observed by Dr. Cross. After seeing watching for a bit, he instructs... whoever... to "render unto seizure", which kayos the kids for a bit.
They all wake up some time later, in a darkened cell. They're instructed that should they "act out", the organization will trigger "micro-explosions" in their brains. Huh, Amanda Waller's got nothing on Tabula Rasa.
Initially, the kids distrust one another... and, I suppose considering the circumstances, that kinda stands to reason. Finally, Roxy breaks down crying about the loss of her mother. Caitlin heads over to comfort her, which starts sort of a chain-reaction of trust...
... and a group hug.
--
Ya know, I thought this was really good. This truly feels like a proper reimagining of the Gen¹³ concept for the post-speculator boom generation. We're given a more straightforward backstory (or at least the start of one), and we're only one issue in... and the kids are already occupying the same space.
Felt like, during the 90's, there were a lot of retroactive "surprises" (retsurps? I apologize, that's dumb) where, without even the tiniest of a breadcrumb, things (relationships, characters, powers) would be turned on their ear, all for the sake of the "swerve (bro)". With this outing, I'm sure there are going to be surprises in the offing, however, the way this is being set up makes me feel like they will be organic... and at the end of the day, "fit".
If we flip to the other side, so often during the 00's, the writing was so painfully decompressed that, I honestly didn't expect our Gen-Actives to even meet before the fifth or sixth issue... so, there's another point in its favor!
Really, my only nits to pick here are relatively minor. The art, while really good (I mean, dude's name is Talent) isn't quite as varied as I feel it needed to be. In our opening pages, I wasn't sure who was who... the rapist and Dr. Cross looked too similar... and Megan looked a whole lot like the red-haired girl on the cover... so, if I were coming in blind, I'd have been sure they were the same person. Even coming in not-quite-blind, I was unsure. The fact that so much of the dialogue was delivered in nearly-unreadable panels didn't help matters either.
Another "ehh" thing for me was, some of the social stuff was about as unsubtle as I kind of expected it would be. I mean, did we even make it two panels between the time Sarah first appeared and when she tried to pick up the lady barista? That to me seems like we're trying to immediately "label" the character, which... to me... feels like a bit of a disservice to both the character and the representation. Though, I guess I can give it a bit of a pass considering there were only so many pages to work with here... and everyone needed to be introduced. I just feel like it perhaps deserved a bit more subtlety. There were also those old white men whose only purpose was to make racist comments... seemed more like a bone being picked than anything.
Overall, besides that one scene (which wasn't necessarily "bad" itself or anything), thought this was a pretty top-notch outing. Plenty of mystery... different from the original Gen¹³ while remaining familiar enough to feel somewhat comfortable... and perhaps most importantly, makes me want to read the next issue. This one is available digitally (for 99-cents!). I think it's worth a look whether or not you'd read any Gen¹³ versions before.
--
Interesting Ads:
1083
Birds of Prey (vol.2) #1 (July, 2010)
"Endrun, Part One of Four: Without Breaking a Few Eggs"
Writer - Gail Simone
Artist - Ed Benes
Colorist - Nei Ruffino
Letterer - Steve Wands
Editor - Janelle Siegel
Cover Price: $2.99
Finally... Birds of Prey. I think with this issue we've covered at least one Brightest Day issue from each "family" of titles.
Now, I wasn't necessarily "saving" the Birds for last... it's just that my comics library is kind of a disaster area. If you've been following me on Twitter, you'll see just how crazy my latest attempt at organization has been!
Anyhoo... let's talk Boyds!
--
We open with Black Canary arriving somewhere... very cold (Iceland, I think), for a hostage exchange with a group of nogoodniks. There are strings attached, however. The lead baddie informs her that he'll let the little girl go if her parents will hold a press conference to apologize for messing around in Quarac... oh, and also to publicly kill themselves. Dinah has a different idea.
After calling in Lady Blackhawk... and beating the holy hell out of the baddies, the ladies reconnoiter at a nearby hospital. A live television airs the news of the rescue of Katy... but leaves Dinah's name out of it. Lady Blackhawk is a bit annoyed... but Dinah informs her that she asked not to be mentioned. Their chat is cut short by... a call.
A call from Oracle. She informs the girls that something major has come up... so major that they need to pull the team back together.
On another monitor, Barbara watches another former "Bird"... Huntress! She's in the midst of crackin' skulls in some alley somewhere. As the dust settles, Babs makes contact.
Elsewhere... on the "nice side" of Gotham, we Dove and the resurrected Hawk as they... beat up a bunch of cheerleaders?! No kidding, Hank Hall and Dawn Granger are beating up the "Pep Squad". Ay yai yai. Hawk makes a few cryptic comments about his return... and claims that "God wants a soldier". Because, in case you'd forgotten (like I had!), this is a Brightest Day tie-in!
We jump ahead a few hours to a bar... and it's here that the storytelling kinda gets jumbled. Maybe it's just a case of me being too dense, but it almost feels like some of these panels are out of sequence. Hank is chatting up an old man... and sorta flirting with the (sorta Barbara Gordon-looking) waitress. Meanwhile, Lady Blackhawk enters and starts talking to Dawn... about Hank? Feels like a scene written for television... but stuck in a comic book anyway.
The scene ends with... I think Lady Blackhawk asking if Hawk is gay... then Hawk and Dove deciding to throw their lot in with the Birds? I dunno.
We shift scenes to a Gotham City rooftop, where we finally get our Oracle/Black Canary/Huntress reunion. Unfortunately, their meeting isn't under the best of circumstances. Barbara shares with them that she'd recently received a strange package from a homeless courier. The package included files upon files of information about the hero and villain community... secret identities, people of interest, all that stuff!
What's more, the unknown sender has threatened to kill one of the names on the list every hour from midnight on. And wouldn'tcha know it... the clock is just about to strike.
They speculate on what's about to happen... when they notice a strange canary-esque symbol being shone into the sky. They (Dinah and Helena) follow it and discover a woman threatening... the Penguin!
The Birds get involved... and kinda get their butts kicked. The mystery assassin then jabs a blade into the Penguin's jugular... and dares them to try and save him. This woman is... White Canary (not that we'd know that quite yet).
--
Not a bad little "gathering of forces" issue to open up this too-short volume. It's kind of paint by numbers... but, that's not necessarily a bad thing. The oldest tricks are sometimes the best.
Joining each other characters "en media whatever" is a fine way to introduce them... and helps potential "new" readers (ha!) to get a better look at them outside of the "Birds" dynamic.
The premise is a really intriguing one... and a great way to keep these characters "busy" while the rest of Brightest Day can... ya know, happen. Again, the concept of a dossier isn't exactly revolutionary, but it's a lot of fun... and opens up several interesting storytelling possibilities.
I'm not sure how popular an opinion this is, but I've always dug Ed Benes' art. It's clean, and pretty... and, outside of that odd bar-scene the storytelling was clear and easy to follow.
Overall, I had a lot of fun with this. Birds of Prey is one of those books which exemplifies just what was being thrown away when The New-52! was foisted upon us. Well worth checking out... and, for your convenience is available digitally.
--
Interesting Ads:
847
Action Comics #827 (July, 2005)
"Strange Attractions, Part One"
Writer - Gail Simone
Penciller - John Byrne
Inker - Nelson DeCastro
Colorist - Guy Major
Letterer - Pat Brosseau
Associate Editor - Tom Palmer, Jr.
Editor - Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $2.50
For today's piece we're going to cover a book from that really weird time back in the mid-2000's where John Byrne started getting along with DC Comics again! I know it's crazy, but it's true.
I was kinda on the "outs" with DC around this time... really wasn't picking up much. Actually really wasn't picking up much in the way of comics, period. Felt like we were learning that Byrne was taking over another book like every day... though, in reality it was "only" like 3-4 of 'em. I guess we can politely say that his work was a "mixed bag" at this time... though, I could bet that his take on the Doom Patrol is probably at least a couple of folks' definitive take.
Anyhoo... let's take a look and see how his Superman Homecoming went.
--
We open in Metropolis... duh. A traffic copter flies overhead, sharing the information of the evening's commute with the populace... and a strange cloaked woman approaches the retired superhero, Aura to inform her that she's a fan... and also, that she has similar powers. She introduces herself as "Repulse" and to prove that she's just as magnetic... she drops that traffic copter right on top of her.
We shift scenes to an African village where some bad dudes are threatening the Wise Mother who oversees it. They attempt to railroad her... unfortunately for them, she's got some back-up in the form of Superman. He smashes their vehicles and crumples their weapons... and promises the tiny tribe that they won't be back to bother them anytime soon.
Wise Mother refers to Superman as Moja Ini Chapa Nyumba, which translates to "One Heart, Many Homes"... though, if you run it through Google Translate... it means "One Liver Print House". Either way, he's touched. He even leaves his cape with them, so anybody who might do them harm knows just what they're messing with.
Superman zooms back to Metropolis to deliver Lois some goodies he'd picked up while he was "out". I know a lot of us bag on Byrne's post-1980's work... but he still has a really good Lois here.
Anyhoo, she has to get ready to head into work... a new shutterbug named Willis is picking her up to take her in. Clark remains at home... where he can work on his next novel... which from the looks of it, looks kind of like an article for the Planet. "His" writing here is also pretty lame... it's got that thing we all learned in Junior High where you start with something poignant... write a paragraph or two... then repeat the poignant phrase verbatim for emphasis. Not to be confused with rewriting your thesis... this is far too cute for that.
We jump over to the Planet, where Perry is riding Jimmy for not being out taking snaps. Turns out that it's currently "raining cars"... and the Chief would really appreciate some photos. Just then... a car lands right on the newsroom floor!
Jimmy peeks outside and sees... Doctor Polaris! S'funny... my first "Polaris" in comics was Lorna Dane from the X-Books... and so I just can't see the name as fitting a man. No matter how many times I see "the Doc", I still take a pause when it hits me that his name is "Polaris". Anyhoo... he's in Centennial Park... and he's really freaked out.
We can see that he's facing off with Repulse from earlier... she's the cause of the torrential car-storm.
After beating him up for a bit, Repulse attempts to choke him out with some cables. Luckily, Superman happens by and nyoinks Polaris away. Dude is frantic, explaining everything that Repulse has done... including nearly killing Aura. So, if you were worried about a former "Raver", you can breathe a sigh of relief... or disinterest.
As they chat, Superman is a bit incredulous. His attention is drawn behind him... where he is blinded by a flash of light, courtesy of Repulse.
He regains his druthers (but not his vision)... scoops Doc Polaris in his arms, and flees the scene. He takes him to the top of a nearby bridge where he informs him that... Repulse does not exist! It's all in the Doc's head, maaaaaaaan. With that, the Repulse "alter" appears to rear its head inside Polaris... and he wallops Superman with a blast.
--
Ehh.
This was okay... really didn't do much for me though. As far as "jumping on points" go, this was decent enough. It's a solid story opener for the decompressed era... but not all that exciting.
The idea of Polaris having an "alter", if that's even what this is, is pretty neat. Total disclosure, I don't think I've ever read this run before... so, I can't speak to where this is headed. For all I know, "Repulse" might just be introduced as a real living and breathing humanoid. Who knows?
Superman protecting the African village was a good enough scene... but nothing we haven't seen before. Not that everything has to be new and novel... but, if we're trying to set a tone for this "all-new" run on Superman... there were probably more creative ways of doing that. Then again, what do I know... maybe this wasn't supposed to be a "brand new day" for the character. Again, it didn't have to be. At least it led to Clark writing that really neat report for his 8th Grade English class though... right?
The Return of Byrne is... well, it's okay. Feels kind of half-hearted... which might just be the perfect descriptor for this issue as a whole. Non-committal... non-socks rocking... just kinda "there".
Overall... I hate to be all "ehh" but, it's really all I can muster. Perhaps if I were to continue along, I might retroactively appreciate this more... but, I mean... aren't we, as comic fans, like really tired of that kind of mindset? I really don't wanna go off on a tangent... but, these are still periodicals, right? Shouldn't we get some measure of satisfaction every time we plop a few bucks down on our local shop's counter?
Oh well... I'll just curb it here, lest I go on for days and lose the plot (even more than I already have!). I'm feel like this issue will have a certain appeal for folks... so, I guess this is one'a dem "your mileage may vary" books. For your convenience, this bugger's available digitally.
--
Interesting Ads:
802
