Battle Chasers #1 (April, 1998)
"The Most Dangerous Game"
Story - Joe Madureira & Munier Sharrieff
Pencils - Joe Madureira
Inks - Tom McWeeney
Colors - Liquid!'s Christian Lichtner & Aron Lusen
Letters - Richard Starkings & Comicraft
Letterer - Dave Lanphear
Editor in Chief - Scott Dunbier
Publisher - Jim Lee
Cover Price: $2.50
Welcome to our 750th Daily Discussion!
Was in the mood for something a little different today... and so, I turned to our pals at Wildstorm. It's been awhile since we chatted up pre-DC-owned Wildstorm... so we're long overdue.
Today we're going to discuss the first issue of Battle Chasers... or as I knew it, the "dead cat bounce" of the comics speculator market.
It was 1998... and the worm had turned. We no longer had to pay comic shops for the service of holding books for us... in fact, many of the remaining "boom" shops had turned to giving decent discounts for the privilege! It was during this time that I figured I'd never have to actually "track down" a comic book ever again.
Then Battle Chasers happened. This book vanished from the shelves just as quickly (and mysteriously) as it arrived! The first time I actually read Battle Chasers was in trade paperback format... and, a trade I found in the 25-cent bin at that! Didn't manage to find a copy of my own until... well, not too long ago.
Lucky for us (or, me) that I did... so, we can talk about it here today!
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We open with an old man waking from a dream. It seems to be of the recurring variety involving a condemned man in mystic armor... feeling searing heat. This time, however, he couldn't see the faces of the (maybe) baddies. He calls out for Calibretto... whoever that might be. Elsewhere, at the same time... a young blonde girl is fleeing from something... while protectively clutching a small wooden box.
She looks behind her... and we can see just what she's been running from, lumbering red-eyed werewolves... or wolfmen, not sure if they transform or anything... let's just say lupine humanoids that walk on two legs. Anyhoo, they want the box!
The girl refuses to hand over the loot, and so the wolves-men let decide to play a little cat-and-mouse with her... allowing her to run into the deserted city of Granok. She rushes off into the flood-ruined town, and takes refuge in an abandoned house. Doesn't take long for one of the beasties to discover her.
In attempt to defend herself, she grabs a nearby mattock. The tool proves to be too heavy for her to lift... well, perhaps too heavy for anybody to lift, because the handle snaps in two! Before the beastie can nab her, she jabs the broken off handle into its shoulder! This gives her just enough time to git.
She runs right into a giant man wrapped in a mask and cloak... dropping the box right into his giant left mitt. Fearing him a threat, she lashes out...
... and so, he takes aim... and fires! At a wolf-man, that is. He's one of the good guys.
The rest of wolves-men surround our new friend... and he is then struck by lightning. Wow, this just isn't his day, is it? Anyhoo... the bolt fries his coverings, revealing him to be... well, a steampunk robot... a steambot (well, a Wargolem actually)! Turns out he absorbed the lightning... and at this point, really needs to release it!
We shift scenes to the appropriately-named Vandalheim, a town swarming with ne'er-do-wells. It's here that we meet a man named Garrison... as well as a woman named Monika... and her boobs. Not a complaint, I don't claim to have any kind of moral high-ground when it comes to art, but it's definitely worth mentioning. Anyhoo, she has an offer for Garrison, involving breaking a man called Ryon Del Soya out of the Skyhold Prison.
Gary refuses, preferring to sit and drink s'more. She slaps the flagon out of his hand... and suggests he kill himself. Wow, she don't mess around!
Back to the little blonde and her robot buddy. They're hiding out in an abandoned wood shed... I guess we can assume they got away from the wolves-men. We learn here that the girl's name is Gully... and she is the daughter of Aramus... a warrior believed to be dead. The robot is Calibretto... the selfsame fella the old man called out for at the open! They talk about planting flowers... and try to open the wooden box, without avail.
Gully also shares her secret origin... Trackers (hired to find Aramus) showed up at her home, and after transforming into beasts, murdered her Nanny. She's been on the run ever since.
Elsewhere, we rejoin one of the surviving wolf-men... who checks in with a mysterious benefactor. The wolf-man cites the Wargolem for their failure. The shadowy man doesn't have time for excuses, and suggests he get back on the hunt... and not screw up again.
After she falls asleep, Calibretto brings Gully to the home of the old man, Knolan. She wakes up, and shares her story. We learn here that Knolan is a wizard... who is easily able to open that little wooden box.
We wrap up with the reveal of its contents... the Gauntlets of Aramus!
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Well, this was a lot of fun! Just the trick for a fella who might be facing a little bit of burn-out (don't tell nobody though!).
These days I often find myself too wrapped up in only reading things that "matter" as it pertains to an overall narrative of a shared universe, giving myself little opportunity to broaden my horizons... even if, by broadening, I mean revisiting something I'd already read. I'm glad I took the day "off" from our regular superhero fare.
The story... well, it's an opening chapter, and as an opening chapter, it's a pretty good one! We meet several members of our cast... and get just enough backstory and mystery to keep us (or me) engaged. Our cast of characters is likable enough... and, perhaps more importantly, instantly recognizable. I don't think I'll forget these folks anytime soon.
This brings us to the designs. I love 'em! I'm sure there'll be some folks (probably the ones who use the phrase "present year" without irony) who'll have a problem with Monika's... assets... but whattayagonnado? It's a striking character design... and, in the Battle Chasers universe doesn't stand out as being too outrageous (that's not to say it isn't outrageous... it's just not too outrageous, ya dig?). Most of the designs here are just archetypes ratcheted up "to eleven". I think they're pretty great regardless!
I guess design brings us to art. And, I mean... what can I say besides "Wow!"? This is a gorgeous book. Pencils, inks, colors... the entire package, it's just amazing! An absolute treat... the production quality here makes my head hurt... it's just so top-notch.
I feel like when people think back to Battle Chasers, one of the things that stands out is... the delays! This book was very delayed... which only added to the excitement for every release. At least, at first. I remember Wizard Magazine making a lot of jokes that Joe Mad was too busy playing whichever Final Fantasy game was currently out for him to work on his next issue. Whether that's true or not... well, twenty years later (jeeeeeez), I suppose it doesn't really matter. Worth mentioning (and sort of on that note)... the most recent Battle Chasers bit is... there's a video game?! That's unexpected, right? Well, maybe not entirely if what Wizard kept saying was true, right?
Overall... this was a real treat... and oddly enough, just what I needed today. Well worth tracking down any way you can... for your convenience, it is available digitally. Before we go... you might have noticed, the cover doesn't have the Battle Chasers logo on it... that's because it was a wrap-around... and the BC logo wound up on the back. Here it is in all its glory:
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Action Comics (vol.2) #38 (March, 2015)
"Home is Where the Hell Is"
Writer - Greg Pak
Artists - Aaron Kuder & Jae Lee
Partial Inks - June Chung
Colorist - Wil Quintana
Letterer - Dezi Sienty
Assistant Editor - Jeremy Bent
Group Editor - Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $3.99
S'funny, well... maybe not "ha-ha" funny (or even "interesting" funny), but before we discussed Action Comics (vol.2) #36 a couple weeks back, I had originally grabbed this one from the longbox. This is always the cover image I associate with this story arc... and I guess I imagined that it was what kicked it off! Even set up the very post you are reading now!
I mean, what a cover it is, right? A wonderfully striking image... even if I wasn't reading Action Comics, this cover would entice me to give it a shot!
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We open with a flashback of Lana Lang as a young girl facing off against a stringy-looking Lovecraftian horror bathed in flame. Worth mentioning that the flashbacks are being drawn by Jae Lee... who Pak had worked with on the first arc of Batman/Superman. It is vastly different from Kuder's "present day" bits, but not as jarring a transition as you might think. Speaking of the present, our bearded Clark Kent wakes up to find his childhood home burning... with Lana inside it!
In a really well-done few pages, we see Clark attempt to save Lana... running down a hallway that continues to stretch... it's like something from a dream, and again, really well-done! She is engulfed in the inferno before he can reach her... and he lets out an amazing bellow! Another great use of the comics "language" to express urgency!
Suddenly, the fire is out... and Clark is left standing alone at his folks' house. He is summoned to the kitchen by a pair of familiar voices... why it's Eben and Sar... er, Ma and Pa Kent! They're back... in zombified form!
They have a pretty uncomfortable chat... as you might imagine. The folks say plenty of hurtful things about their son... including that they'd always feared him. Upon getting a closer look, it's clear that the Horrors are behind this. Lana has been taken over by one... but is still "her" enough to apologize to Clark.
Clark responds by eye-beaming the baddie. This doesn't appear to hurt the beast... but, amuses it in a way. It releases its hold over the Kent-elders, and Clark gets to watch them thud to the ground. He, Clark that is, lets out another shout before carrying the bodies of his adoptive-parents out of the now-really-burning house.
Outside, Steel and Amadeus... er, Hiro are doing some small-town crowd control... which is to say, they're watching over some kids. They ask where Lana is... and after Superman fills them in, they get to planning. Unfortunately, this is cut short by the discovery of disgusting parasitic horrors attaching themselves to the upper-back of everybody remaining (this is a sentence I typed out like a dozen times, and still don't like how it reads!). Steel yanks his off... and squishes it... which causes him great pain.
The townies approach and give Superman the quick and dirty on their newfound "abilities". Ya see, during the "Doomed" storyline, Brainiac placed the entire town in a coma. When they "came to", they had powers. They reveal that they're not responsible for the horrors... instead, they were responsible for containing them! Further, they do cop to being responsible for the mist... because that will keep the horror quarantined to Smallville, at least for now.
One of the townies suggests Superman figure something out quick... because once the little attached critters bring their host-bodies into the "second stage" of their horror-morphosis, they start liking the feeling of fear. Wouldn'tcha know it, no sooner do we learn this, than folks start really diggin' the feel of fear!
We close out... nearby, where Lana has almost been completely incorporated into a horror... to the point where it almost looks as though she's the parasite of a much larger host body!
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A(nother) surprisingly good issue of New-52! era Superman and that ain't a compliment I go doling out all that often...
Horror elements-notwithstanding, this issue made me a bit squirmy. The idea of parasites is one that... I dunno, really skeeves me out. I doubt that's a particularly unique viewpoint or anything... but... how do I put this?
You ever see a picture of something that particularly grossed you out or scared you? Perhaps it's a giant hairy spider... or maybe a snake or something? Like you're looking at it in a book... and it bugs you so much that you don't even want to touch the picture of it? Like, you wanna ask someone else to turn the page for you because the thought of touching... just the picture of the thing... makes your skin crawl? That's kinda how I felt here with the squishy-back-horrors. So gross.
I think that's a pretty good sign that your horror story is effective. I actually didn't want to go through this a second time to synopsize it because it skeeved me out so! That's certainly a testament to Aaron Kuder's art... where he can craft something that can skeeve me out, especially when that was (I believe) the intent!
The story... while good, relied on some pretty predictable pathos. I mean, it didn't take a rocket-surgeon to figure out that we were eventually going to see the Kent corpses.
Where the story shined though, was in the twist. We were led to believe that the townies were responsible for the horrors... when in fact, they were the only things effectively holding them back! That was unexpected, and I thought it was really cool! Great use of past storylines too... which is something I'd all but given up hope on ever happening again post the September, 2011.
Overall... I'd say this arc is definitely worth checking out.
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Channel-52!
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Chase #1 (February, 1998)
"Baptized in Fire"
Story - D. Curtis Johnson
Penciller - J.H. Williams III
Inker - Mick Gray
Colors/Separations - Lee Loughridge
Lettering - Comicraft
Associate Editor - Dana Kurtin
Editor - Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $2.50
I don't want to alarm anyone... but, you might want to be careful with how you handle this humble blog today... because, we got some Collectible Cards included, bay-bee! Make sure not to bend the blog! Better yet, just get this one slabbed.
To be serious for a moment... today we're reading a very special book. One that I only recently got my hands on. Ya see, I kinda read Chase backwards (heck, we've even covered an issue here!)... not because I couldn't find the first issue, or for any "real" reason... I just never picked it up, because every time I saw it I thought I already had it!
I'd even passed up on it in a Half-Price Books dime bin a few years back! Also in that bin... complete runs of Hex and Scare Tactics. I should've just taken the entire box! Sad but true, that keeps me awake some nights.
Oh well, enough of my psychosis... let's "officially" meet Cameron Chase.
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We open in Daily, Ohio (which I'm not sure is a real place... apologies to any and all "actual" Dailians out there). It's 8 am, and school is in session. It's here that we meet a little nerdy kid named Jerry who, if not for the protruding proboscis could very well have been me. Anyhoo, he's crushing hard on a classmate named Amy... whose boyfriend Chad (they're always named "Chad", aren't they?) catches him sneakin' a peek... and so, heads over to "feed him some table". Unfortunately for ol' Chadwick, this is the moment where young Jerry's Meta-Gene comes active!
We shift scenes to New York City, where new DEO Agent Cameron Chase is running late for her first day on the job. I guess things like "traffic" and "rush hour" are alien concepts to her. Overhead, she sees Kyle Rayner flying around... and is nonplussed. Just another day in the big city.
She finally arrives at the Department of Extra-Normal Operations building and heads inside, ready to make the most of her day. Once inside, she is guided to her office, where she plans to meet with the Director of the DEO. Instead, she runs into Field Personnel Manager, Sandy Barrett. She's informed about the odd goings' on in Ohio... and before we know it, she's swept onto a Dayton-bound plane.
While in the air, Cameron looks over some information Sandy brought. It's some pretty interesting stuff... it shows that the DEO is working with schools, altering tests in order to suss out who might have a Meta-Gene. This is starting to feel a little X-Menny. Get used to that...
The ladies arrive at Daily Junior High, where they are given the quick and dirty on the day's event. They produce the list... and ask a Sheriff if anyone on it has gone missing. Well, asamattafact, a certain Jerry Harris has flown the coop. Cam looks over the scene, and is able to deduce that Jerry is very likely a pyrokinetic... which, I mean... everything's burnt and in ashes, so that's not really much of a leap.
From here, Chase and Barrett conduct some... pretty natural and entertaining interviews with Jerry's classmates. This is a really well done (pun!) bit. We learn here that Chad survived the blast... but is in a really bad way. He's blinded and suffering third degree burns.
That night, Jerry Harris is found. Chase and Barrett accompany the police... causing Jerry to "light up" again. Cameron lines up her shot... hoping that she won't have to pull the trigger. Jerry explodes one of the cars and attempts to flee... however, falls into a nearby pond. Whoops... that ain't gonna keep ya lit, kid!
From here, Jerry is taken into custody. Cam chats him up a bit, and makes him an offer he can't refuse. They plan to send him somewhere where he can hone his newfound abilities. Those X-Men pangs shifting into X-Factor ones? Yup, me too. Hell, Jerry even has a similar power to Rusty Collins from X-Factor #1! Anyhoo, Jerry's totally on board... after all, if he becomes a superhero, whatsherface would have to notice him!
The kid is taken back to his cell, leaving Chase to talk to Barrett about how messed up she thinks everything is. She doesn't feel it's a good idea to "reward" a kid who nearly killed his entire school with the promise of becoming a superhero. Barrett has a more grounded perspective... the kid's got powers, would we rather he grow up to be one of the good guys... or one of the bad guys?
Barrett heads into the next room to talk to Jerry's folks... leaving Cam behind to give a call to her boyfriend. He's still in California and hasn't made the cross-country move just yet. She fills him in on her day... and suggests that she feels a measure of responsibility for what's happened.
Later that night, some torch and pitchfork wielding Ohioans surround the station. Looks like Chad didn't make it... and they're wanting to take it out of Jerry in trade. The prison guard... really isn't much help. He intends to allow the mob inside to do whatever they'd like to the kid! This causes Jerry to "light up"... which causes ol' Barney Fife to fire a shot into the kid's shoulder!
This doesn't stop Jerry though... and he runs off into the night. Nearby, Cameron sees the kid attempting to flee, and she gives chase (pun!). When she catches up to him, he lashes out... leaping toward her.
Then... something... happens. Before he can attack, his flame is extinguished. It's as though Cameron Chase was able to cancel out his powers... hmm...
We wrap up with Barrett giving Chase her due. It's been one heckuva first day on the job.
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Now, this is one of those books that seems to be universally praised... and that almost always raises a red flag for me. The internet "hivemind" is one of those things I've grown to... I dunno, accept. Apropos of nothing... this week I reacquainted myself with the Comicbook Roundup website... kind of a meta-critic collection and aggregate of review scores. I was quite taken aback by the amount of Perfect 10 scores there are in the world. Damn near every book on that site has at least one 10/10 score.
Makes me wonder... if everything gets a "10", what's the point of reviewing anything? I mean, that "Perfect 10" bookshelf used to be pretty sparse... it only had the best of the best on it. Now, it's... I dunno Watchmen... maybe Crisis... and Squirrel Girl (vol.3) #4. Yeesh. Really makes you stop believing in anything. I get that giving high scores ingratiates us to the publishers... but have some integrity. Keep in mind, this is coming from a guy who has been taken to task several times over for being "too positive" on this very blog.
Ahem... apologies for the detour/rant there... but, I said all of that, so I could say this... sometimes the hivemind is right. Chase is a wonderful book... and I've enjoyed every issue that I've read of it. Is it a book that was cancelled too soon? Perhaps... or maybe not. "Leaving them wanting more" isn't a bad way to go out, right?
Now for the issue itself... this was a great way to introduce us to our main character. She's very much our point of view character here... which is to say, it's as though we're seeing everything through her eyes. Much as this is her first day with the DEO... it's ours' too!
Information is given out in drips and drabs... and we're learning everything along with Cameron. Schools altering tests to find potential Metas? We get to react to that with Cam. Learning about the "deals" the DEO cuts with young Metas? We get to experience that reaction as well. We see that not everything is so cut-and-dry... and have to make our own moral concessions. It's really quite well done.
I really enjoyed the classmate interview scene. Very natural reaction from the kids. Amy is kind of grossed out by Jerry's crush... that other kid is more interested in how long school's gonna be out than the well-being of Chad. This page really stood out to me as something special.
I made a few references/comparisons to the X-Men during the synopsis in regard to metagenes activating. I want to be clear, I don't see that as a negative... I'm just surprised it's something I never actually "connected the dots" on before now. It seems so obvious... though in fairness, I can also be particularly dense at times.
I don't think DC went as far with the "feared and hated" angle as Marvel did... which is, to my mind, a good thing. It really shows how different the cultures are between the universes. Marvel has always been more cynical... where DC's heroes are often propped up as examples. Neither are right or wrong, or better or worse... there's room for both, it just depends on what kind of story you're looking for.
Gotta mention the art. Really great stuff... and thankfully this issue hit after the industry's (relatively) brief flirtation with super-shiny, super-blistery glossy 1990's paper. The "science" just wasn't there yet. Man, that era produced some ugly books!
Overall... a wonderful book, well worth your time tracking down. The entire series has been collected, and is available digitally (this issue is listed for just 99 pennies!). Is it a 10/10? Well... no, but they can't all be... or, can they?
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Collectible Cards! (print 'em out... trade 'em with your friends!)
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