Out There #1 (July, 2001)
Writer - Brian Augustyn
Pencils - Humberto Ramos
Inks - Sandra Hope
Colors - Studio F
Letters - Ryan Cline
Edits - Scott Dunbier
Cover Price: $2.50
Got an interesting one today... a bit strange too. Dare I say, it's a little bit "out there".
I apologize, that was horribly lazy (it's Sunday, please forgive me)... let's just pop into the spoilery synopsis!
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We open with a young woman walking down an empty street. Crying and confused, she calls out to her parents... or anyone who might hear her... but the streets appear to be completely abandoned. Suddenly, she is overcome with little beasties... and before she knows it, she's whisked away to a demonic landscape where she is met by something calling itself Draedalus. Upon getting a closer look, the girl sees her parents (and a lot of other ordinary folks) just floating in the ether, and being dumped to the ground by the Big D.
Turns out... this was all a dream! The young woman, who we learn is named Jess, gets up and gets ready for school.
Speaking of school, that's our next stop. It's here we meet a young genius named Mark Wexler, as he goes about his usual morning torment at the hands of some jock bullies. After having his glasses swiped and being shoved to the ground, the Zach the Quarterback rolls in to tell his teammates to leave the kid alone.
Though he doesn't seem to really care all that much for young Master Wexler, Zach tells the team that they're not going to act as bullies. Ya see, if they wind up getting suspended, they'll be off the team! Just then a... bearded girl runs up and starts hugging on Zach! Okay, I think this is just a coloring/shading snafu, but tell me it doesn't look like she has a beard! Zach looks up to the top of the building, and could swear he saw one'a dem li'l beasties.
We jump across town to the Mayor's Mansion, where a big ol' real estate deal is in the works some of the VIPs of El Dorado City including Zach's father. After signing on the dotted-line, the Mayor retreats to a side room to tell some beasties that the can inform their Master that she's got things well at hand.
Back at school, Jess has a contentious run-in with Zach's no-longer bearded girlfriend, Casey. Tonight's the night of the Harvest Dance, and the mean girls are making fun of Jess because ain't nobody wants her there, or some such. Jess promises to be a dark cloud at that dance... and declares that she'll rain all over the "bimbo parade". Let's... choose not to take that remark literally, okay?
Later, we rejoin li'l Markie at his father's CPA offices. Papa Wexler insists his son looks "dashing" and that he will have a great time at the Harvest Fling-Ding-Thing. Naturally, Mark is wearing one of those stereotypical baby blue "bad tuxes"... which is also like three sizes too large.
We shift scenes to a small church. A woman is sweeping the porch, and notes that it's gotten a little windy today. She wonders aloud if this might be due to "them".
Later into the evening, a pair of drug-dealers enter El Dorado City. Their dialogue here is... woof. They talk about franchising their enterprise... with a website. Double-You, Double-You, Double-You... dot... Smack... dot... com (which is something I just now typed into my browser... but it didn't take me anywhere. These guys might still have a shot at the domain!). Anyhoo, they're pulled over by the po-lice, where they're met with a vulgar abuse of authority by an Officer. Vulgar, in that... he calls forth a bunch'a beasties to feastie on the fellas.
Finally, it's time for the Harvest Dance, and Jess has in fact decided to show up... lookin' only as she can look. Total style shift from her usual school attire... which catches some of her classmates off-guard. Li'l Markie watches as she shoves some goofball to the ground, and realizes... he's quite smitten. He also, uh, sees one'a the beasties... he refers to this as his "Friendly Neighborhood Hallucination", which tells us seein' these things is a usual occurrence for the kid.
Inside, Jess bumps into Casey... and they... compliment each other's dresses! How 'bout that? The Harvest Dance bringin' people together! Zach the Quarterback also feasts his eyes on Jess... and gets all homina-homina-homina... which sets Casey off somethin' fierce. She storms out, and Zach follows.
Once in the hallway, Casey and Zach start making out against the lockers... hard. Maybe they've got some sort of reverse-cuckold fetish or something. I ain't gonna judge... whatever works for 'em! Anyhoo, while they're bumping and grinding, they spy... say it with me... one'a dem beasties out the window!
Li'l Markie, proving himself to be rather a perv, might be watching these two making out? It isn't terribly clear if this is happening in exactly the same place. He wonders aloud where Jess is at... and it just so happens, she was standing behind him... watching him perv out? As Jess goes to confront the kid, they both see... dem beasties!
Outside in the parking lot, one of the football players is waiting... presumably for those drug dealers we just saw get eaten. He's confronted instead by Principal Hodges, who informs him that his "package" ain't never gonna arrive. Hodges then... shoots the kid dead! Two of "dem beasties" pop outta the Principal's chest... leaving him one bewildered child murderer!
We wrap up with the revelation that Jess, Mark, Casey, and Zach all watched this scene play out... but, what are they gonna do about it?!
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This was a lot of fun. It's been in my collection... jeez, nearly twenty-years... and I've never taken a look a look at it til now.
Now, I can't say that I've seen all that many 80's horror movies, but I'm familiar enough with the conceits and themes... which, this book seems to have in spades. That's not a knock, or a bad thing in any way. This really takes care in pulling together many of those tropes/cliches, and delivers a really fun (and intriguing) story.
We've got the high school setting, which is pretty perfect, and gives Augustyn plenty of opportunity to play into some of the stereotypical/archetypal personalities. We've got the "Mean Girl" clique, who are at odds with the sorta-gothy loner. We have a football team full of meatheads and bullies, who defer to their only member who appears to have a "heart of gold"... or, at the very least, a conscience. We have the little nerdy kid with attitude. It's really nothing we haven't seen before (or since), but it's done with such charm and earnestness, that I can't help but to love it.
El Dorado City definitely has a big secret, as evidenced by the hoi-polois gathering at the Mayor's Mansion. The beasties have gotten in... and we're left wondering how many of the VIPs 'round town are willingly in cahoots with them. Their presence, at the very least, is acknowledged a few times here... the kids seem haunted by these "in the corner of their eye" demons on a regular basis... the woman at the church seems to know... and, perhaps the Officer who pulled over the drug dealers as well. It's clear that the Mayor is aware... and is cooperating.
We get a lot of questions here... and, I'm actually wanting to know more. That doesn't happen too often for me these days!
Let's talk art. I know Humberto Ramos can be a bit divisive... but, I've always enjoyed his work. This semi-early work is probably some of my favorite Ramos stuff. The characters (outside of the weird-beard coloring goof on Casey), are all really great looking, and stand out from the rest of the crowd. That's something that usually trips me up when reading a book full of "normal" people. It's hard to make them look distinct... with maybe a little bit in the way of "cartoonish" identifiers, without making them look like costume shop models. Ya know what I mean? Does that make sense?
Being the horrible pack-rat you know me to be, it may not come as a surprise that I actually still have the Out There Promotional Preview. It's not much of a Preview, only the first two pages. When I thought about covering book on the site, it was actually the Preview that came to mind first! I figured it would be a quickie article, wherein I'd have to synopsize less than ten pages. When I saw it was only two, I felt like that would'a been a massive cop-out (and, honestly, a disservice to the property).
Here's a look at the Preview Edition... same cover, with some promo-blurbs:
Inside, it's the first two pages, featuring Jess's nightmare (which is why I didn't include these pages in the main synopsis).
This promo was actually a WildStorm/Cliffhanger! "flip book"... turn this sucker over, and we see Ninja Boy!
We get a two-page preview of this one as well...
Overall... I had much more fun with this than I ever imagined... and, although my WildStorm offerings at the site are some of my least-viewed, I'm tempted to come back and cover the next issue or two. I'd say, if you're a fan of 80's horror movies, or light high school drama, this book might be right up your alley. Looks like if you have Comixology Unlimited, this entire series is just waiting to be read!
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Impulse #1 (April, 1995)
"The Single Synapse Theory"
Writer - Mark Waid
Pencils - Humberto Ramos
Inks - Wayne Faucher
Colors - Tom McCraw
Letters - Chris Eliopoulos
Assistant Editor - Alisande Morales
Associate Editor - Ruben Diaz
Editor - Brian Augustyn
Cover Price: $1.50
Today we're going to wrap up the Young Justice "Trinity" (I think they're kinda timely right now, no?). After chatting up both Superboy #1 and Robin #1, we're finally going to be taking a look at the first issue of Impulse.
If you'd like to check out the other discussions, just click'em the covers.
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We open just outside Manchester, Alabama... where a missile is being tested. What those testing it do not realize is that Alabama's latest (only) speedster is having himself a little run just before heading in for his first day of school. The missile locks onto Impulse... and he takes it on a bit of a chase, before it finally strikes its intended target... a strange hovercraft. They erratic path the missile has taken does not go unnoticed by the crew.
Next we see Bart, he's stomping the halls of... I dunno, Manchester High School, I guess. It's here we see a fair amount of cringy teen-speak, which kinda takes the wind out of my sails that "cringy teen-speak" is a relatively new phenomenon in comics.
Bart heads into his classroom, where he does that whole "stand in front of the class and introduce yourself" thing, that I'm pretty sure I've never actually seen in real life. He doesn't say much, and just takes his seat. It isn't long before he's zoning out during a history lesson. This doesn't go unnoticed either.
The teacher grills Bart on everything she'd just discussed... and, he's able to recount everything down to the tiniest detail. She takes this as "sass", and decides to use it in order to punish the entire class. Now they all have to write their own "personal histories".
And so, Bart quickly learns how to write (no foolin') and gets right down to it. Gotta say, this is a pretty creative way to dump exposition. His story starts with his grandparents, Barry and Iris... who "retired" to the far-flung 30th Century following the Trial of the Flash. There, they had children... who grew up and had children of their own, including... our boy Bart!
Bart grew up in a virtual reality dealie, and aged at an accelerated pace. To save him from dying of old age in only a handful of years, Bart was sent back to the present... where he met the current Flash, Wally West... even fought alongside him! He'd be given "identity papers" and sent to Alabama to live with the Golden Age speedster, Max Mercury.
After school, Bart shows Max his biography... which gets summarily torn up. Ya see, the whole point of this was to keep the Flash family secrets quiet. If Bart goes blabbin' in his biography... that'd kinda put the kibosh on that.
Bart unpacks the house while Max reads the paper. He learns about that experimental hovertank... which is set to be demo'ed that Saturday. Bart finds that curious, as he recalls overhearing that the missile had to be "dead on"... for Saturday. He runs off while Max... continues to read the paper.
Back at the Mesa, the "missile guys" slow down the tape of their earlier attempt... and get a good look at what caused the morning missile to go all cattywampus... Impulse!
Speaking of Impulse, he's heading back over. He is snagged by a pair of geeks, but manages to get away... running right into a darkened room where he finds himself staring down a whole lotta gun-barrels.
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Not a bad way to launch a series. Not exactly the highest of stakes... but they don't always need to be, right? The threat here is really just a backdrop for Bart's acclimating to his new environment, and that's fair enough.
I definitely appreciated the creative way the Bart Allen history was presented here. Not a straightforward "info-dump", but a story told in Bart's own words... just moments after learning how to write, so there again too, we get to see Bart "grow". My only complaint about this is... the cursive handwriting was a bit difficult to read. I suppose, being that these are the first words Bart's written, it makes sense... but, I gotta say... I'd have much preferred being able to read these captions without squinting, or pressing my face into the page.
The interaction between Bart and Max felt... I suppose "right". These two were just kinda shoved together, and it makes sense that they wouldn't automatically feel like family. It also gives the two some room to grow together... which they will.
The art here comes from a young Humberto Ramos... and his style, even in 1995, really compliments the frenetic Impulse character. Outside of Wieringo, Ramos is who I most associate with Impulse... and I really dig what he brings.
Overall... this might not rock your socks, but I think there's a lot of fun to be had here. Couldn't tell ya whether or not the upcoming Wonder Comics Imprint Young Justice will feature this Impulse... but, it wouldn't hurtcha to become acquainted with this fella. This issue is available digitally... for a buck!
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991
Superman (vol.2) #165 (February, 2001)
"Help!"
Writer - Jeph Loeb
Pencillers - Ed McGuinness, Humberto Ramos, Rob Liefeld, Mike Wieringo, Art Adams, Ian Churchill, & Joe Madureira
Inkers - Cam Smith, Wayne Faucher, Norm Rapmund, & Tim Townsend
Letterer - Richard Starkings
Colorists - Tanya & Richard Horie
Editors - Tom Palmer, Jr. & Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $2.25
This is one of those issues that I would have bought even if I didn't care a whit about Superman... I mean, that cover is just too much! My tree needs those ornaments on it this Christmas!
I hope folks are enjoying this Christmas on Infinite Earths... in July week. I've humbled by and grateful for the positive feedback I've received thus far! I'm having a great time sharing these books... I even broke into the wife's candle stash and lit one of the three-wick Fresh Balsam ones to really get into the holiday spirit! Take that, 110 degree Arizona Sun!
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We open with the Linear Men as they find that Pluto (the planet... yeah, I still call it that!) has been transformed into Warworld. I'd almost forgotten that DC did away with Pluto around the turn of the century. I remember that getting a bit of play in Wizard Magazine. One of the rare times they said anything positive about DC...
We shift scenes to the JLA Watchtower. Superman, Martian Manhunter, and Plastic Man are engaging in some relaxation exercises. We learn that Superman is still fretting over the new President-Elect, Lex Luthor.
He and J'onn discuss how they have the unique distinction of being aliens... and the levels at which they choose to assimilate into Earth/American culture. J'onn continues, by stating that as soon as Luthor breaks his first law, Superman can count on him to help take him down.
Plastic Man tries to interject a touch of levity by telling a very "Plas" joke... which garners a smirk. Superman gives his pals their Christmas gifts, and takes his leave. Plastic Man gets rubber bands, while J'onn gets himself a box of Chocos. Boy, Supes... hope ya didn't break the bank here!
Next stop, the North Atlantic... where Superman meets up with an incredibly angry looking Aquaman. This is the Rob Liefeld section, so I'm not sure if Arthur's meant to be angry or not. Superman solicits Aquaman's opinion on the Luthor situation, to which, Arthur offers that Lex Luthor is the first Head of State to publicly declare their support for Atlantis.
Superman suggests it was just an empty promise from a politician looking for favors. Arthur grimaces (again, Liefeld...) and replies that it better not have been. Superman heads out, but not before giving Aquaman his Christmas gift... a Metropolis snowglobe. Yeesh... Arthur looks about as impressed as you'd imagine.
Later, in space... Superman meets up with Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner. They are cleaning up space-waste, and engaging in political discussion. Clark asks if Kyle votes, to which he replies that he does. When asked why, the only reason Kyle can muster is the word "hope". He doesn't say who he voted for, but I'd figure it wasn't Luthor. Superman gives Kyle his Christmas gift... a small tub of jewelry polish. Laaaaame....
Next up, Wally. Superman and the Flash are going on a casual run, from Keystone City to San Francisco... for chocolate (Ghirardelli, perhaps?) . They too discuss the results of the recent election, and whether or not Wally votes. "Early and Often" is Wally's reply. As they continue along, Wally tells Clark that if he wants to drag Luthor out of the Oval Office, just say the word. Clark thanks him, but says they're going to wait it out. Wally's gift is... tube socks. Wonk wonnnnk...
Later in Antarctica, Superman and Wonder Woman are wrestling. The first thing I notice here is Wonder Woman's hair... yeesh, imagine trying to drag a comb through that! Painful. Anyhoo, Superman's mind is elsewhere, resulting in Diana pinning him twice in a row. Yeah, they're really wrestling here.
Clark and Diana wrap up their match, and discuss the events of the year prior. Diana suggests that Clark should take some time away... time to just be with Lois. Before leaving, Clark hands over her Christmas gift... a mjolnir. A trinket to remember the 1,000 years they'd spent together earlier that year.
Last stop, Gotham City. Batman and Superman are together on a rooftop... in complete silence. Finally, Batman speaks... repeats something Clark had told him about putting trust in the American people to ultimately do the right thing. Superman gives Batman his Christmas gift... a magnifying glass... and claims that it's from Lois.
Batman thanks "Lois" for the gift... and before he leaves, turns to Clark are reassures him that they'll take Luthor down... when the time is right.
We close out the issue with Superman and Lois on a getaway... to the Bottle City of Kandor.
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Boy, Superman is a cheapskate. Talk about some crummy gifts! All kidding aside, this issue holds a very special place for me as it's among the books that got me reacquainted with the DC Universe after some time away. I'm not sure I mentioned it here, but there was a time during the late-90's that I kind of fell out of full-time comic collecting. I never quit cold-turkey or anything, but dropped plenty of books that I could either no longer afford, or those that weren't holding my interest. Many of my DC books fell into the former. Superman was going strong, however, with the never-ending battle "triangle numbering" format, it was quite difficult for me to keep up financially. It just got so overwhelming to try and stay on top of things... and I have kind of an "all or nothing" mentality... where it's easier for me just to drop everything rather than picking and choosing what I'll still pick up.
The turn of the century got me dipping my toe back into the DC Universe... and I quite liked what I was reading. The Bat-books were going great guns with No Man's Land, JLA was the book... and I found myself wrapped up in Superman once again. This particular issue afforded me/us the opportunity to just "hang out" with these larger than life characters. There's no urgent threats, no fighting or squabbling... it's just people, acting like people. I love it!
I usually don't cotton to "jam" books... that is to say, I generally like it better when there's only one artist in a given book. Here, however, I appreciate the various takes. It gives the book a feeling of grandeur (rather than "dreaded deadline doom")... it almost feels as though the disparate segments were plucked from different books. I think this works really well given the narrative and occasion... and what a mix of artists they've got. Joe Mad, Mike Wieringo, Art-frickin-Adams... great stuff! Even Liefeld and Churchill (who seems like he's cribbing a lot of Liefeld here) help set the tone for their particular segments.
The story is also great. This is only a minor detour from the overarching narrative woven throughout the Superman titles of the vintage... but it's Christmas... life kinda stops for a lot of folks around that time of year... I know it does for me. The Luthor as President storyline is still addressed and discussed by all members of the Justice League. We get some great insight here from each member, and find out their opinions on the situation. You get the impression that Superman's not entirely sure what he wants them to say... as he gets a wide array of replies. Wally's gung-ho about dragging Lex out, while J'onn is waiting for Luthor to slip up. Aquaman is playing his cards close to the vest, as he has a special interest in some of Luthor's campaign promises. This is all very compelling, Superman serves as a sounding board here... and, I'm guessing now he's even more confused and conflicted than he was prior!
All told, I really enjoyed this issue. From the excellent cover, to everything between... this was a lot of fun. Definitely keep an eye out for it, if you are so inclined.
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