This week's digest:

THE FLASH #109
WONDER WOMAN #105
KURT BUSIEK'S ASTRO CITY #4
ELEMENTALS #1
UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDERMAN #5

THE FLASH #109
"Dead Heat" Storyline
Second Lap: "A Swiftly Tilting Planet" (cover title: "Left in the Dust!")

Writer: Mark Waid
Penciller: Oscar Jimenez
Inker: Jose Marzan, Jr.
Letterer: Gaspar
Colorist: Tom McCraw
Asst. Editor: Ali Morales
Assoc. Ed.: Roo
Head Honcho: Brian Augustyn

Here's what I thought...

Great cover effect. I've been talking about how some of the Marvel titles I've seen lately do this kind of background-blurring thing in select panels, and I have no idea how it's done but it's extremely effective, especially in a title like this. Lovely job.

Wow, that's two Madeline L'Engle references in a row (first in last month's IMPULSE, now in the title of this issue). If my favorite writer likes her stuff that much, I think I'm going to start checking it out. :)

First things first: Quoth the author, to me and others: "Give me an honest answer after you read the next issues of both FLASH and IMPULSE. Will those who didn't read FLASH #108 be missing any information about Max's abduction?" Obviously I can only half-answer that now, since IMPULSE #10 is yet to come, but so far my response is, "No. Definitely not." Which brings me to...

Okay, let's talk about seamless exposition. This topic has been bandied about quite a bit of late on this newsgroup in response to Mark's post. How does he handle the information necessary to impart to readers who not only may choose not to follow IMPULSE, but may not even have picked up the last FLASH or aren't certain they want to get the whole "Dead Heat" storyline? I'll try to be as objective as I can in my analysis here, but Pen-Elayne readers should be aware that I have been buying both of these titles for awhile (IMPULSE since #1, FLASH since probably the Baron days) and may not have the same perspective that more casual readers do.

The first lap of "Dead Heat" brought all the characters on stage and introduced the villain. This second lap is dedicated in large measure to explaining background and motivation, to filling in the gaps. We know, therefore, that it's going to be "talky." Mark has to accomplish his goal of imparting this information to his readers, seamlessly - i.e., within the framework of the story, with as few cross-references as he can manage, and without boring us.

Flip through the issue for a sec, as I did, and you will see exactly one Augustyn-supplied cross-ref. It reads, simply, "Legion #74 --Brian." It's there to signal us that Jenni's presence has a backstory, but none of that backstory is essential to know to follow this tale. It's an FYI thing, nothing more. This almost-complete lack of need-to-know (by buying everything connected) is borderline elegant. It gives the reader the option to check out other stuff, but not the requirement to do so. It dovetails continuity without making us feel like we've missed anything.

One of the best friends a writer can have is first-person narrative. Mark has established this so well in FLASH I think he can do it in his sleep. First-person narrative (1PN) serves a similar purpose as thought balloons - a character can reveal his/her musings to us without sounding awkward. It's not someone floating there saying, "Well, Superdude, here we are in outer space, fighting each other so that we can each defend our homeworlds, then teaming up against a common menace." It's someone thinking to himself, "This is absurd. I shouldn't even be in outer space fighting Mighty Guy - he's not evil, we both just care about our planets, but I can't shake this feeling there's an even greater enemy out th--- ooof!" You get the idea. It may be only slightly better written in my example :), but it's still a lot less awkward and serves the purpose much better.

So we get Wally's 1PN tagline, and it's a good thing regular FLASH readers know it by heart because I think the caption placement on page one is atrocious. The reader's eye will see the three captions in the wrong order, as the first and third appear at the bottom of panel 1 (an oblong ECU of Wally's face, placed adjacent to the wide shot panel 2 of him opening the door to Max Mercury's and Bart Allen's house and to the top half of panel 3) and the second at the top of the splash panel 3, above the level of the other two. A few other captions in this issue also strain against the eye's tendencies to move differently, but none are as confusing as this page, so since we all know the routine this can almost be dismissed.

States Wally on page 2, "You'll want to take notes, because this will be on the test." A cute way to begin three panels of opening exposition, while we see Wally taking care of speed ninjas without saying a word (his first word balloons aren't until page 4). The other speedsters (introduced within this exposition - Mark even adds that Linda is Wally's girlfriend, for the new readers) have a bit of dialogue, but we're listening to Wally's exposition because we're mainly watching him move. Show, Don't Tell. Or in this case, Tell something and Show something else - thereby giving the reader two things on which to concentrate. I loved the bit about Wally's ability to maneuver in small spaces, and the implication (and foreshadowing?) that experience gives him an edge here.

As the beaten ninjas disintegrate (explained again in the 1PN) much to the disgust of Bart (whose balloon ought to have appeared to the left of or above Wally's reaction, tsk), our heroes (Jay Garrick, Jesse Quick, Linda Park, Bart Allen and Jenni Ognats) search through Max's personal belongings for clues as to his whereabouts and the identity of Savitar. Mark uses up his One Coincidence Per Story Card by having Wally find a personal journal in Max just happened to write -- in Korean. Good thing Linda's... etc. Of course, since Mark also subscribes to the Hitchcock Corollary to this (that any coincidence should be used to ultimately complicate things, not simplify them), I'm looking forward to the explanation of why Max wrote his journal in this particular language.

While Linda brushes up on her native tongue in preparation for translation, Wally catches up with Jenni, and we learn more background on how they're related, for folks who don't follow the Legion books. Here the exposition switches back and forth from 1PN to conversation, then almost immediately to flashback as Linda begins translating aloud.

I can't say enough about McCraw's coloring here, the way he takes us from the vibrant brightness of present-tense into the murky, swirling yellows and browns of the past as we learn of Savitar's origin. We're given a momentary breather back into the present as Wally expresses skepticism about Savitar's origin, and Linda (with a priceless expression on her face courtesy of Jimenez and Marzan) responds with one of my favorite lines this issue, "Says the boy who was struck by electrified chemicals and ripped off Barry's origin." The sepia-hued origin of Savitar concludes with another present-tense panel in which Jay asks a reasonable question: "How come we've never heard of Savitar before? When was this?" Turns out it was post-Garrick but pre-Allen, which means...

Which means Johnny Quick was around then (only semi-retired). And I hereby take back my speculation about the hero-speedster-to-die which I expressed in my review of FLASH #108. Now that it's revealed, via further flashback (but a really nice change in coloring - mostly all Golden/Silver Age primaries now, heavy on the blues - and even a commensurate change in art style!), that Johnny (with the time-jumped Max's help) did tussle with Savitar in the past, this becomes as much his story as anyone else's. And the story of Johnny in "Dead Heat" is that he's almost as dedicated to his non-belief in the Speed Force as Savitar is fanatic in his belief. This parallel firmly established, it stands to reason that it may be brought to its logical conclusion.

And speaking of parallels, my second favorite line this issue is the part in Max's narrative that reads, "Johnny and I hit like twin tornados." Nice.

We learn that Max drew the enranged, insane Savitar away from Johnny by promising him answers to his quest to find out how the speed force worked. Naturally, Savitar follows, and they accelerate to "the edge of light" - whereupon Max puts on the brakes, finds himself jumped ahead to the '70s (where the flashback colors become muted browns, greens and pinks) but knows that Savitar is trapped within. We see Max writing in this journal (establishing by Showing, Not Telling - the fourth expositional style used in this issue, after 1PN, contextual conversation and flashback) that "It will be years... decades, perhaps... before he re-emerges, and when he does... I will be waiting for him."

This tells us a number of things: (1) that Max has known, for at least 20 years, that it's possible for others to re-emerge from sojourns into the Speed Force. This is not a surprise; he's done it himself, and it's highly unlikely that (as would later happen with Barry Allen) Savitar would "become one" with it enough to never be bounced out again. (And of course Wally's case is entirely different, since for all intents and purposes Wally has "become one" with it and still returned, which was previously unprecedented.) (2) that Max had no way of knowing, writing in Korean 20 years ago, that Linda Park would be around to read and translate his journal (I'm more intrigued than ever now); and (3) as we return to present time, that Max has had every intention of gathering speedsters around him to someday battle Savitar when he returns. As you can imagine, this last possibility intrigues me the most.

And just as the speedsters are speculating on how coincidental their presence and proximity really is, Max returns, beaten and bloodied, with a map to Savitar's lair etched (no doubt painfully) onto his chest by the fanatic himself as a taunt to Wally to come 'n' get him. (So Savitar expected Max to escape? Interesting.) Wally's the one he wants, and after a wonderful goodbye kiss with Linda (I yearn for the day when Mark Waid decides to write a romance comic, he does this so well - of course, as Brian makes clear in the letters column, this is a romance comic, in every sense of the word, which is probably why I love it so much) he chooses another speedster to be his backup. Someone with flying experience. Someone he knows. "Someone I have total faith in."

Jesse!!!! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! :)

And, as Jesse dons Jenni's borrowed Legion flight ring and frees a ninja sword from Max's fridge as her backup, and Wally races Max to the hospital prior to confronting the villain, we rush headlong into the third lap, to be continued in IMPULSE #10. My guess is that IMP #10 will deal pretty much with the speedsters left behind, with perhaps occasional glimpses into Savitar's lair and the fight proceeding there. Which, of course, brings us back to Mark's question about missing information. Looking forward to it. But that, of course, goes without saying.

So, what did y'all think?

WONDER WOMAN #105
"Lifelines," Part One

Writer/Artist: John Byrne
Colorist: Patricia Mulvihill
Asst. Ed.: Jason Hernandez-Rosenblatt
Head Honcho: Paul Kupperberg
Wonder Woman created by William Moulton Marston
The Demon created by Jack Kirby

Here's what I thought...

I have Joanna Sandsmark on the brain. I keep thinking back to her Golden Age Wonder Woman reviews, one of the coolest things on the 'net as far as I'm concerned. I keep thinking ahead to finally meeting her at Mid-Ohio. And how I'm going to (gently) slap this comic down in front of John Byrne and Joanna and have them both sign it. :)

This is the issue that ties WW firmly into her GA heritage, as well as that expounded upon by Perez. Here we're introduced to Diana's new place of employment, the Gateway City Museum of Antiquities (no offense, Bill Loebs wherever you are, but this makes a helluva lot more sense to me than her working in a fast-food joint), as well as to her new female companions - Professor Helena Sandsmark and her 14-year-old daughter Cassie, soon to be... er, well, I'm not supposed to say, I guess. :) This decision echoes one of the best aspects of Perez's WW, even tying into it as the Professor mentions Julia Kapatelis' name.

And, as it should be, we concentrate on two main interrelated themes in this issue - the mother-daughter relationship so barely explored in any other superhero comic around now, and Cassie's rebellious streak which may serve her well as she becomes... oops. :) While Mom's off showing Diana around the museum, Cassie decides to be helpful, to show them all she's not deserving of the "irresponsible" tag... so of course she presses a button that oughtn't be pressed. The button in question activates an ancient unstoppable robot warrior. Come on, folks, go with it. This is so Golden Age way cool.

The battle joined, Diana takes it outside, as the giant robot lumbers after Cassie (see, it's "built to attack whoever activates it"). Her lasso temporarily trips it up; not good enough. She punches it out, but "the energy of my blow has somehow caused it to double in size!" Don't you hate when that happens?

Meanwhile, Jason Blood. There's a transition for you. :) Jason enters Warly's bookstore (John draws the best bookstores; I want to live in this bookstore) and finds, to his surprise, the wizened old guy's still alive. I'm lost through most of Warly's flashback about Morgaine Le Fay, which kinda bothers me as I shouldn't feel as if I'd had to read THE DEMON in order to understand what's going on. A little more detailed exposition (like who these people are) might have been nice - never assume your readers know all the players unless you introduce them to us. Anyway, we get a little background, as Warly shows us his chest and I 'bout lose my lunch (he's rather, er, infested), and then he brands Jason in the forehead, saying, "Your immortality shall be a key to the eternal life of my mistress!" Whatever. Back to Diana, Cassie and the Robot Monster.

In grand GA WW tradition, Cassie's had an idea which may just save the day. Diana doesn't listen at first - geez, they never listen to the kids, y'know? - but all her efforts to topple buildings on top of the robot are for naught. Cassie takes matters into her own hands and, having finally reached Gateway City's waterfront district, runs onto rotting timbers and sidesteps the pursuing robot, which falls through the pier and gets trapped in the mud at the bottom of the bay. A much more dramatic conclusion than simply deactivating the robot via flipping the switch to "off" would have been. :)

In any case, all's well that ends well, as we cut back to Warly's bookstore, where the Phantom Stranger picks up the trail. Whatever.

The Demon storyline doesn't really intrigue me as much as the Sandsmark one, for obvious reasons, so this book felt a little uneven in places. What is growing on me, by leaps and bounds, is Byrne's art (complemented beautifully by Trisha's colors - the coloring on the robot and the underwater scene are especially nice). The amount of detail he puts into his panels is staggering. Exceptionally gorgeous stuff. Really great eye-candy. Turn your brain off and enjoy.

So, what did y'all think?

KURT BUSIEK'S ASTRO CITY #4
"Safeguards"

Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artist: Brent Anderson
Cover: Alex Ross
Lettering/Design: Starkings/Comicraft
Coloring/Production: Steve Buccellato/Electric Crayon
Managing Ed.: Ann Huntington Busiek

Here's what I thought...

I think we're all living in the shadow of Mount Kirby. :)

A word, first, to get this subject out of the way so it can be handled by those more knowledgeable than I. One of the points of ASTRO CITY is that it's a tribute book. It's set up to honor, in ways big and small, the rich legacy of superhero comics that has come before it. AC's superheroes aren't meant to be direct riffs on this or that character from comics' past, as much as loving tips of the hat to certain archetypes, certain attributes AC's heroes have in common with characters we fondly remember. Kurt spends a copious amount of time explaining this in his letters column and online - and I think it's a shame this continued explanation is so necessary, but it seems to be for a lot of folks who still don't get it.

But AC is also a way for Kurt to pay tribute to creators past and present by inserting their names in street signs, edifices, landmarks and even law office doors. (This must be Bob Ingersoll's lucky week - his name's in here and he's sort of a character in Peter David's latest SOULSEARCHERS. I'm extremely jealous, Bob. :) ) This is the kind of thing that's subtle enough not to interfere with the story, but just obvious enough to lend the book a richness, a texture that older, long-time readers don't really find anywhere else nowadays. And Kurt has no compunction about putting himself in the midst of the merriment - Alex Ross's cover shows Winged Victory hauling Kurt and Alex to justice (presumably, we're told in Anderson's echoing panel on page 4, they're thieves who've tried to hijack an armored car), and on page 5 we see an advertisement for radio station KBAC on the side of a bus.

"Safeguards" is the story of Marta, a junior accounting clerk in a law firm headquartered in the gorgeous Binderbeck Plaza building (I love this), who commutes to her job from her home in Shadow Hill (I love this), a neighborhood that only gets two TV channels, and which is spoken of by most people only in whispers, as therein dwell many frightening creatures drawn to the darkness. Marta's used to this - since girlhood she's known the ways to protect herself from these eldritch horrors, and diligently goes about her duties every morning, checking to make sure all the warding talismans are in place before nodding to the local vigilante superhero the Hanged Man (I love this), grabbing breakfast and awaiting the bus into The City.

And yet another observation about how... how real this all is to me. I live in south Brooklyn - specifically Bensonhurst - a neighborhood to which I'm often hard-pressed to drag friends as it's so far "out of the way" of the mainstream Manhattan life. I subway every weekday to my job in the East Village. The train usually isn't too crowded when I get on, I'm near the start of the line and I sometimes think there are more people who stay behind and never leave this neighborhood for The City than there ever are sharing a subway car with me. There's a strong connectedness about this neighborhood, filled with fourth and fifth generations of families whose first language is still Italian. And even though I'm much more of an outsider here (not being remotely Italian) than Marta is in Shadow Hill, I know the routine, and I can grasp the feeling, the conflicting emotions. "As much as I love my home - much as I love my family - I also love the City." Anderson's page 3 splash of the bus rounding a curve as the morning sun strikes the city ahead is... it was like, "I've seen this picture. I've seen it in reality." One of the most perfect, resonant panels I've ever viewed.

We discover a little more about AC's superhero population by overhearing the bus commuters' conversation. The "throwaway" is that Winged Victory has started some sort of training camps for kids, perhaps a la Professor Xavier. The foreshadowing is that the villain Demolitia, foe of the First Family, has broken out of jail and seeks to round up the fellow members of her Unholy Alliance. And we also learn, as Marta comes into the office, that the law firm's most visible partner is one Darcy Conroy, who has a direct tie to the First Family, being the fiancee of Nick Furst. And who, on one occasion, barely acknowledged Marta.

That night Marta argues with her parents, who want her to take a job in the neighborhood, and remembers Grandmama before her dreams turn nightmarish and she's trapped by unknown forces, being pulled from all directions by friends and relatives who only have her best interests at heart, and ... not even acknowledged by Darcy Conroy, dressed as Winged Victory and flying high above her, out of reach...

She awakens knowing something's up. When the Hanged Man actually glances her way that morning, she's sure of it. Then at work - Demolitia and the Unholy Alliance attack Binderbeck Plaza.

Darcy Conroy, calling in the First Family with her signal brooch, takes charge of leading her fellow employees to safety through the stairwells. Marta has faith that Conroy's talismans will protect them all, just as her wolfsbane and runes protect her Shadow Hill home. She and the others make it outside, and she stumbles into an alley, relieved. Bad move; loose bricks trap her, and the villain Slamburger suddenly has her in his clutches. All seems mometarily lost, then Nick Furst himself comes to the rescue and dispatches the bad guy. As we see the fighting, we hear Marta's reminiscence of its aftermath - including Darcy reaching out a friendly hand and offering to put Marta up if she doesn't want to go home (one of the villains is still at large).

But Marta very much wants to go home. As much as she loves the city, it's not her element. The heroes and villains of Astro City play by different rules than the ones she's known and gotten used to all her life. And she decides that her parents' suggestion is what's best for her after all - she quits her job and takes employment at a local butcher shop in Shadow Hill. Like "Eyes" in issue #3, she has found safety in leaving Astro City (like that little sign at the end of the book always says).

I'm fortunate enough to be in a borough full of neighborhoods, and I can tell you the pull is strong. Nobody ever shoots movies in Bensonhurst like they do in the East Village. No famous people ever show up outside of election time. This place often has its own rules. But it's home, and it's comforting (even to a relative outsider like me). Manhattan, like Astro City, may be a nice place to visit, but I think I wouldn't complain were a decent-paying secretarial job to open up around the corner.

"Astro City," says Kurt in the letters column, "is definitely a dream project for me. Being able to build an entire superhero mythology from scratch is a real thrill..." But Astro City is more than a superhero mythology. Its sense of presence and place is unparalleled for me. I'm so excited to be in at the beginnings of this place, to watch it unfold. This is the kind of book I'll hand down to my kids, if I ever have any, and remember fondly in years to come. This is a watershed. This is our Watchmen, kids - don't forget it.

So, what did y'all think?

ELEMENTALS #1
"Birth of a Supernation," Part 1 of 3

Writer: Jack Harman
Penciller: Tony Daniel
Inker: Phil Moy
Colorist: Wallace Lowe
Cover Artists: Andrew Dimitt and Terry Austin
No specific editor mentioned, but they have Brian Azzarello as "Line Editor," whatever that means

Here's what I thought...

The only time I smiled during this travesty was during a cross-reference that read "Could it have been those Monolith-burgers with cheese? -- Health-Conscious Editor" A good rule of thumb is, you know you're in trouble when the best moment in a book comes from a total nonsequitorial throwaway line.

The main problem with this revival of sorts, besides the fact that Bill Willingham apparently has nothing to do with it, is that most of it rests on knowing What Happened during the Oblivion War. Now, it's no secret that Comico has had rough times of late. As far as I can determine, they weren't even around for a few years there. Now that they're supposedly solvent with a vengeance again, the least they owe their readers, new and old, is some sort of recap.

And we get it - in the most awkward way possible. We get an entire inside front cover dedicated to explaining who the Elementals (TM) are: "They're born of the SUPERNATURE (TM)!" Well, there you go. There are a full 13 TMs in this tiny-type nine-paragraph recap - you get the feeling you're being primed to buy the toys rather than gain any useful knowledge of this particular comics universe. But there it is, presumably a very thorough recap of the characters and that darn Oblivion War.

So what does the story deal with? The aftermath of That Darn War. Almost every page refers to something that happened during the Oblivion War. Now, I confess, I gave up on ELEMENTALS long before this Oblivion War thing, which we couldn't find in our local shop anyway. Even so, everything concerning the Oblivion War ought to have been covered in the synopsis. I don't need to constantly feel like I've missed stuff, especially stuff over which I can't work up enough interest.

There are a couple interesting aspects - there's a new earth Elemental, the old one having been transformed during... yep... the Oblivion War. The new guy seems somewhat more than a cipher, but at this point I didn't care. There are Kewl Villains - yawn. We're (re)introduced to far too many characters - well, at least that's consistent, this character crowding has always been a drawback of Elementals-related stuff.

But the art has a sameness, almost an ugliness to it, that doesn't hold my interest. Everyone's mouth always seems to be in the same position; I kept rooting for flies to take up residence therein. Poses are repeated over and over - there's one page towards the end where a close-up of one of the characters (panel 2, upper right) is almost exactly duplicated on the facing page (panel 1, upper left). This is nothing less than sloppy.

This whole comic is sloppy. I don't care about these characters (except maybe for the new guy, but I don't care about him enough), I'm not even sure I know these characters, and so it really doesn't matter what happens to them. I will say that Wallace Lowe's colors are gorgeous. But it's not enough - it's far from enough.

NOT recommended.

*plonk*

So, what did y'all think?

UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDERMAN #5
"Vulture on the Wing!" (cover title: "Throw Spidey from the Train!" hee hee)

Writer: Kurt Busiek
Penciller: Pat Olliffe
Inker: Al Milgrom
Colorist: Steve Mattsson
Lettering by computer: Starkings/Comicraft
Head Honcho: Tom Breevort
Editor in Chief: Bob Budiansky

Here's what I thought...

This is the absolute best 99-cent comic you can buy. It's very economical, in more ways than one. Rifle through this thing and look at the captions. Not the ones that are continuations of thought balloons, but the place settings. See how concise they are? Sometimes only one or two words: "That night..." "But..." "And soon..." I'm sure someone will tell me if this hearkens back to Stan Lee's heyday with the character; I suspect it does. Never use ten words where one will do (advice I shall someday endeavor to follow myself).

This precision allows lots of maneuvering room for things like exposition. Kurt knows many readers of this book will, like me, be pretty new to the Marvel Universe. They need to be introduced to Spidey's patter, to the villain du jour, to the supporting cast. The big names should be stated on the first page - and they are. Never assume - and Kurt doesn't. As Spidey and the Vulture fight, we're given backstory, personality, motivation, the works. We get a fight scene, but we also get Peter's frustration at his camera breaking sometime during that scene, so he can't sell the pictures to get the money to buy Aunt May's medicine... even I know this routine :), but it's nice to Have It Stated.

Peter's no longer wearing his glasses in this issue - and that's explained as well. That jerk Flash broke 'em. This sets up an interesting scene with Peter at his Forest Hills high school - and I found myself intrigued at the byplay among his fellow students. Their personalities are becoming distinguishable, and there's some good foreshadowing here. The gym bag stealing scene is one of my favorites (although I'm still trying to figure out how Peter keeps that towel on while hanging upside down).

And Peter gets yelled at by two blowhards this issue, as Jameson's usual bluster is compounded by the paranoid rantings of General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross. Oboy. The Vulture brags to Spidey (figuring in his bravado that there's no way he can be stopped) that he's out to steal a highly sensitive Atomic Accelerator - don't you hate it when that happens? Said accelerator is being transported via rail (guess it's less bumpy than the roadways) to an unknown destination, and Spidey and the Vulture hitch a ride and play Hot Potato with it awhile. Of course, Spidey has this propensity for being in the wrong place at the wrong time when he fights villains, so of course Ross and all the others think he and the Vulture are in cohoots (they're not, they're in New Jersey).

I won't tell you how it ends - that sort of thing spoils the fun, and this issue, like all the UTOS issues I've read so far, is just plain fun. Good characterization, clean art that actually makes every face look different, good textured inking, the usual clever dialogue, a little tweaking at comic book devices every so often, and just the right amount of "hook" for future issues. Another job well done.

So, what did y'all think?

[These reviews are copyright 1995 Elayne Wechsler-Chaput, currently counting the days until this year's Mid-Ohio Con and dreading returning from said con, at which time she'll probably have two weeks' worth of reviews and a ton of E-mail (if you'd like, you can tell her what you think by writing her) on which to catch up...]