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This week's digest: SPIDER-BOY #1 Steve came home on Wednesday with a sheepish grin on his face - "Look, I'm the World's Biggest Fanboy--" "Second Biggest," I interrupted him to correct (although he's at best the Tenth Biggest, I feed his ego like the loyal wife I am). "And," he glared at me and continued, "I couldn't help myself, I bought all 12." I'd been anticipating these books for awhile. The concept seemed tailor-made for long-time fans, as well as folks like me who harbor a good deal of respect (bordering on awe) for the rich history of the superhero genre which is the main focus of the "Big Two" companies involved, as well as (for good or ill) the most successful genre in the industry today. And I still can't understand why some people got so (in the words of one creator) ANGRY about it. Twelve one-shot books, instead of rather in addition to the companies' usual output, at the baseline price of two bucks each. That's 24 American dollars for the entire line - less than many Marvel and DC readers pay each week anyway. This is not "Marvel and DC in it for the money" - this is "a bunch of creators and editors in it for the love of the medium and because they felt like doing something cool." And a couple are very cool. And most are at least mildly entertaining; I would deem only one borderline-godawful, and it's not the one that Marz wrote, BTW. And you can see where the art sabotages the writing in a few, and lifts the writing in others. You have different creator teams and editors on each one, so an uneven tone is expected. You can, however, immediately tell which ones are produced by Marvel and which by DC, without even looking at the indicias, back page ads or creator boxes (although I note that Marvel still spells it "penciler" and DC "penciller," Marvel's the only one to use Starkings/Comicraft computer lettering, and DC only needed one inker per book). Marvel still refuses to put writer and artist credits on their covers and numbers on their pages. Come on, Marvel folks, get with the program - these omissions are very annoying. At least you could have made concessions for this one week. I mean, look - if, as is speculated, Amalgam may continue as an ongoing concept every so often, maybe you could do like what they do with the designated hitter rule in the World Series. One year neither company can do cover credits and page numbers, the next year both... Although I'd rather opt for a policy change here. We read the first four by swapping - I went right for SPIDER-BOY while he grabbed SUPER-SOLDIER, then he waited for me to catch up (S-B took a little longer to read than S-S) and we swapped. Next I believe it was JLX and MAGNETO AND THE MAGNETIC MEN. In between pair-readings, we'd pause so I could grill him on the Marvel references that I didn't know, and come up with a few DC answers that he'd forgotten, which surprised the heck out of me. :) We decided to go from most-anticipated to those about which we were least likely to care, so by the second round we decided to split up (well, okay, I went on the regular Wednesday night CompuServe Conference for the next hour or so <g>). We found that this not only put us in a good mood to read them overall, since we found the first few so much fun, but that books we didn't think we'd like as much wound up surprising us. If the '80s were the age of Deconstruction (Watchmen, Miller's Dark Knight stuff, etc.), wherein superhero comics were taken apart and their dark underside examined ad nauseam, maybe the '90s are heralding the era of Reconstruction, brought on by nostalgia and a sense of lost innocence needing to be reclaimed. Perhaps people are growing tired of bare-bones grim-and-gritty stories, and there are even signs (although certainly not enough, IMHO) that folks are beginning to weary of inadequate art that exaggerates and objectifies human anatomy rather than idealizing and celebrating it. Miniseries like Moore's 1963 and Busiek's and Ross' MARVELS whet readers' appetites for this kind of "everything old is new and wondrous and fun again" perspective (although other series like Robinson's GOLDEN AGE and David's LAST AVENGERS STORY still mined the vein of deconstruction), and Kurt is continuing his universe-building in ASTRO CITY, voted by rac* participants and no doubt many others as best new series of '95 (while Kurt, who had more than his share of doubters after MARVELS, garnered kudos as best writer of '95 in the same Squiddies). Reconstruction relies heavily on past iconic knowledge as its main reference pool. Most reconstructive comics, like Amalgam, sometimes require a great deal of this knowledge (would a newcomer to the hobby know from "Stan Schwartz" or the other names in some of the letter columns? would they notice logo styles?). Others call for nothing more than enough familiarity with the superhero genre to recognize heroic (and villainous) types, in order to see them echoed and understand their resonance. All display an immense respect for and tribute to what has come before - on the premise, one would hope, that the more you examine where you've been, the better you'll know where you're going. Best of all, they're creationist, not destructionist. Reconstructed worlds don't end in bangs or whimpers - most don't end at all. They're perpetually alive, vibrant, hopeful. The way many readers want to feel when they pick up escapist literature. Like the first time you ever held a comic in your hand. This sense of unbounded joy is tremendously appealing in an increasingly uncertain world, and I hail the trend and hope it continues. Reviews on specific books follow. There are enough annotations already posted about which characters are supposed to be based on which others (and Mike Leib just informed me he did a complete Amalgam Who's Who on DC Online) that I'm going to try to mention this aspect rather minimally and concentrate mostly on how (or whether) I liked the story. Writer/Co-Inker: Karl Kesel Here's what I thought... I don't know too many who'd disagree with me that this was the absolute best story in the entire Amalgam line. It stayed true to the reconstructionist spirit of the idea, it zipped along with ease and flair and never an awkward moment, and - best of all - it was really, really fun. Much of the frenetic pace is thanks to Wieringo's pencils and Martin's and Kesel's inks - the last panel on page 4 of Johnny and his miniature Stormtrooper (and by the way, Tom and Karl - the character name puns throughout were absolutely delicious, and I groaned several times in admiration) was just perfect. Ringo's faces tend to disappear in long shots but this is a common art shorthand and I can't get real worked up about it. One of the best touches was in giving three of the FF analogs first names reminiscent of the Challengers of the Unknown - Red, Ace and Rocky - and, of course, Reed might as well stand in for Prof. The purple uniforms and pseudo-Machine Man outfits were nice ideas too. In fact, the best part of this whole thing, and this is something Kesel does better than any other writer around as far as I'm concerned, is that it's almost TOTAL Kirby tribute, straight through - even so far as Spider-Boy shooting his web from a gun! I mean, it's all there - Young Commandos, the Guardian (although I don't think Kirby did the GA Angel, did he?), the MOTHER CUBE for goodness sake... I could go on and on, and I'm sure others have. But this, more than anything else, endeared me to SPIDER-BOY in a way that I could never get into the other 11 offerings. I think the King would be very, very proud. And the dialogue... Think about a line like "See, someday people'll think of these as the Adventures of Spider-Man when he was a boy!" Not only does this knock on the fourth wall without actually knocking it down, but it's a wonderful double allusion to the pre-CRISIS Superboy comics tagline and to the fact that it's in character for both Spider-Man and Superboy to crack wise like this. Running gags like "again?" were also delightful. Putting just about all the Marvel and DC scientists at Cadmus together - heck, just putting Hank Pym and Ray Palmer together was really nice. The wink where Spider-Boy wonders what it'd be like if Otto Octavius were a villain, the origin line concerning, "...woke me up like somethin' bit me!", giving S-B the secret identity of Pete Ross... All wonderful. And we got a plot (S-B defeats two villains by using his skill and his brains) and the feeling this universe has been around before and will be again and a perfect page 22 featuring one of the most memorable lines in comics history... Just superb. Guys, take a bow. This is how it should be done. So, what did y'all think? SUPER-SOLDIER #1 Scripter/Co-Plotter: Mark Waid Here's what I thought... This had, for me, a very different feel than the other 11 Amalgam titles. It focused on only a few characters (two protagonists, one man in a minor but pivotal role, one machine and a "walk-on" cameo by Sharon Carter), and it had a very quiet... nobility about it. It was inward-focused, not outer-directed. It actually comes out closest to Byrne's AMAZON in terms of format (the one-on-one battle), but with a highly compressed back- story. The character's origin is neatly covered in the first three pages, using James Olsen's journal as the method of exposition. (Interesting how a narrative choice that works so well here worked so badly, at least for me, in MARVEL VS. DC #3.) Olsen, the hero's best friend, and Luthor, the hero's arch-foe, are the constants that help bridge the 50-year gap between Super-Soldier's heyday and the present time. A plausible reason is given for why those darn superheroes didn't just whoop the pants off the Nazis in WWII by tying in the "Cap-on-ice" theory to Luthor's evil machinations to, as S-S theorizes, "profit from the war on [his] own timetable." An interesting side-story is explored involving S-S's recent loss of power and what's behind his growing weakness. (Hey, don't kid yourselves, folks, the crap floating about in the air is weakening all our immune systems...) In fact, everything fits together, seamlessly. (Well, almost seamlessly - I'm still trying to figure out how Olsen managed to stagger all the way back to the Daily Planet from Washington D.C. without being spotted or helped or anything - but this book never establishes where the Planet is, so I'll let it go. Especially in light of the wonderful line, "What signal were you trying to give me with your watch, old friend?" <g>) For instance, the fight between S-S and Ultra-Metallo, where we learn what protects S-S from "Green K," seems rather coincidental until we realize there was a sign a few pages back that said "Demolition Site" (and I've been to Washington; trust me, like every big city it seems Washington is constantly under construction). I also liked how Luthor was NEVER ONCE referred to as "the Green Skull" except obliquely in the fake-letters page - unlike BRUCE WAYNE: AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D., which is supposedly a "continuation" of this story (which is patently ridiculous, as Luthor is captured and brought in at the end of SUPER-SOLDIER - too bad more things weren't coordinated between teams for these books). He doesn't have to be - it's visually obvious. Waid and Gibbons are confident enough in their storytelling abilities to give readers credit for their perception. I enjoy being credited with a certain amount of intelligence, not being repeatedly bonked on the noggin. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the wonderful coloring of McKie, especially the shadings on the skin and the way Ultra-Metallo looks metal. Everything's very burnished and suffused throughout. Lovely. So, what did y'all think? JLX #1 Writers: Gerard Jones and Mark Waid Here's what I thought... Two great groups that taste great together! Yum. :) There's interaction and angst aplenty, amalgams that don't feel forced for the most part (at least to me), and really great touches here and there - Waid and Jones appear to have had a fun time writing this and, presumably, trying to top one another. I got a kick out of some of the monickers - "Firebird" as a combination of Phoenix and Fire, "Mercury" for Impulse/ Quicksilver, "Runaway" for Gypsy/Rogue, "Angelhawk" for - well, you know. I like the Magnus brothers concept, also carried over into MAGNETO AND THE MAGNETIC MEN. I like the relationship of Will and his Sentinel Jocasta, which contrasts nicely with Erik and his Antimony in the other book. I like that Runaway absorbs darkness from Wraith (Nightcrawler/Obsidian? and Nightcreeper is Nightcrawler/Creeper? I'd better looks this up again) but doesn't harm him, so can have a romantic attachment to him. I love the Scott/Jean romantic carryover with Bea and Ray, whom I can't see getting together at all in their DC counterparts. Psychokinetic fire - tee hee. Of course, my favorite is the leader of the JLX, "Mr. X" - who turns out to be J'Onn J'Onnz, "the last survivor of the Martian race known as the Skrull." With a Bishop-like "M" on his face! Not only that, but I asked Mark about the origin of "Marko" (obviously I got the "Xavier" part), and here was his response: "'Marco Xavier' turned out to be the single most delightful piece of serendipity I encountered with Amalgam. Long AFTER we decided to disguise J'Onn as a normal human named Xavier, Bob Greenberger reminded me--reminded ME, I can't BELIEVE I forgot--that near the end of his short-lived series in HOUSE OF MYSTERY in the late 1960s, J'Onn adopted the secret identity 'Marco Xavier.' Too cool, huh?" Definitely. If anything, this book may have a few too many cute ideas, but better too many than too few, I suppose. No guarantee we'll ever see these characters again, so one might as well pull out all the stops. But the way Porter angles his characters in flight is just... strange. Look at the splash. Gah - better yet, look at page 10. Now, on the one hand, as a perpetuator of the female gaze I always appreciate a hint that these spandex-clad gentlemen do, in fact, have genital areas. On the other hand - look at that panel. Mercury's (the Impulse/Quicksilver amalgam) head takes up the full top half of the almost full-page panel. His fists, left knee and foot take up the bottom half. And the crotch area is smack in the middle (sorry if the guys wince a bit at my choice of words there). The case of the disappearing torso! You can see this peculiar placement to a lesser extent with Captain Marvel and Super-Soldier on page 1. It didn't detract as much as distract, but that was enough to jump me out of the story more than I wanted it to. Overall one of the better Amalgam jobs, loaded with concepts, sound and fury and even a story - hey, go wrong with the search for Atlantis as a premise. Recommended. So, what did y'all think? MAGNETO AND THE MAGNETIC
MEN #1 Writer: Gerard Jones, with thanks for the "brainstorming assist"
from the Master of the 90-Second Plot Conference* *(TM Forrest Gump Priest) Here's what I thought... A pleasant little tale, which would probably resonate a lot more for me if I'd been into METAL MEN (a series I really must collect someday). This makes a nice companion to JLX, which also deals with the Magnus brothers concept (a terrific device for establishing Magneto as unequivocally a good guy), but deals primarily with Will Magnus' single- mindedness and conflicted feelings for his creations. At the crux of this conflict is Magnus' relationship with the Magnetic (Wo)Man Antimony, and boy can you play word games with this name. Transpose two letters and it becomes antinomy, "a contradiction between two equally valid principles or between inferences correctly drawn from such principles," or the meaning I think Jones might have liked better, "a fundamental and apparently unresolvable conflict or contradiction." Pronounce it slightly differently and you might get antipathy, "opposition in feeling; or, an object of aversion." Lots of neat stuff going on here - the one drawback is that Matsuda pencils her horribly. Methinks Magneto would have built her for more practicality, or at least to human anatomical expectations. ;) But hey, all the Magnetic Men look somewhat goofy, so I can't get that worked up about it. (Of course, it's far different to have sexual attributes exaggerated than to have jagged antennae growing out of your head or to look like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle knockoff... but let it go...) I tuned out most of the fight scenes, which is to say much of the book, but I liked the bit about the Magnetic Men struggling to find free will. Of course, since it's demonstrated during this book that they feel other sorts of emotions (elation, anger, a sense of humor, etc.), there's no reason why Antimony shouldn't feel love... but I suppose we'll never know unless we ever see a #2. Mostly fun, competent, some nice ideas. Recommended with reservations, especially if you don't know from METAL MEN. So, what did y'all think? Writer/Penciller: John Byrne Here's what I thought... I get the feeling Byrne could have done this with one hand tied behind his back. :) Lots of lyrical, high-falutin' language. Lots of swirly art (nice touch making Ororo afraid of drowning rather than enclosed spaces, but it must have been hell being brought up on the island of Themiscrya - you think she'd get over it... of course, some of us on Long Island and Manhattan Island and Staten Island tend not to go near the ocean too much either, come to think of it) and other lovely details (Poseidon's throne room was nice eye candy). An interesting back story - heck, most of this issue is really back story. Even the introduction a 2-page subplot (featuring Diana Prince!) that goes nowhere (in large measure due to this being a one-shot)! Hey, what more can you ask from a Byrne comic? :) I like the fact that Ororo and Diana grew up as sisters and rarely see eye to eye. I like less the somewhat abrupt ending - I mean, yeah, Ororo's words are eloquent and all, but for Poseidon to just release her like that? "Yep, okay, you're right, g'bye..." It felt kinda empty. But as an origin story it was very well done, and the art was a treat. I dunno that Austin's inks make that much of a difference to me than Byrne inking himself, to tell you the truth, but inking really isn't my area of expertise so I'll defer to those more in the know. The colors are great, though - well, of course, it's Trish! :) So, what did y'all think? BULLETS AND BRACELETS #1 Writer: John Ostrander Here's what I thought... There are things I really liked about this, and things about which I just couldn't get worked up. I don't know that much about Frank Castle, I was always kinda lukewarm on Steve Trevor, I don't care about the Punisher, so I must say this aspect pretty much bored me. I don't know that I bought the explanation on page 6 of how Diana and Trevor Castle fell in love, and so the premise tends to weaken a bit for me. However, as soon as I heard the words "Boom Tube!" on the bottom of page 9, I woke up. Thanoseid was a given, but... Big Titania? I dunno. Maybe if I knew more about Titania, I'd buy this. Although the costume is revolting - Kirby never needed to draw women falling out of their tops. And, um, is she a hermaphrodite or something? 'Cause she sure looks like she's packing. Oh, silly me, it's Gary Frank, a guy who likes to pose female characters in improbable positions and dress them in silly costumes. I will, however, concede him the Female Furies. These are the real Female Furies. Only a few panels of 'em, but bless 'em, there they are. Not Amalgam'ed or anything, just... just Furie-like. Sigh. And Granny Harkness. Tee hee. I like that one. And Castle putting on Orion's helmet - cute. Highfather Odin? Uh, sure, okay. But... I dunno, the last three pages seemed like a total turn-around character- wise. All of a sudden, oh golly, Thanoseid's Omega-beams bend time! So one of the villains is really Diana's and Trevor's son, all grown up! "I am his mother," Diana explains. "I looked in his eyes and knew him." Pardon my skepticism. I mean, it's a touching thought, but I can't buy it. And then Thanoseid - "I deny nothing. I confirm nothing. I am Thanoseid. And these games are over." And since I didn't quite buy the premise, I definitely can't buy the conclusion. Overall, it felt like a total cop-out. Like they were running out of room and needed to wrap things up, so suddenly someone said, "Stop right there! Take off your--" And that was it. Somewhat fun in places, but overall disappointing. Recommended only if you like the characters on which it's based. So, what did y'all think? LEGENDS OF THE DARK CLAW
#1 Writer: Larry Hama Here's what I thought... I kinda got a kick out of amalgamating Robin and Jubilee into Sparrow. Almost has shades of Frank Miller's female Robin, y'know? Her relationship to Logan might have been interesting to explore, but this was mostly about fighting, and about Jim Balent's overfondness for bulbous art. It's not just the women, although they're pretty bad (and the last panel on page 10, of a totally passive Carol Danvers/Huntress pinned by the Logan's claws and lying supine, really made me feel skeevy), and someone should tell Balent that Sparrow is supposed to be a teenager for cripe's sake - but even on the splash page, the Hyena's tush is like bulbously curved. Very... odd. Didn't much care for the story - nothing in it really grabbed me. I think Batman fans might like it, but I could take or leave it. So, what did y'all think? BRUCE WAYNE: AGENT
OF S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 Writer: Chuck Dixon Here's what I thought... Fans of S.H.I.E.L.D. tell me this was pretty well done, but I never got into that so I'm probably a bad judge. I thought it was kind of over the top, myself. First of all, it's not continued from SUPER-SOLDIER #1 at all, so that's kind of misleading. In S-S the Green Skull is never called that (he doesn't need to be - the fact that his skull is green is obvious). There are also allusions to a Jackal, but in LEGENDS OF THE DARK CLAW the nemesis is Hyena. There's a character called Huntress but in LotDC the Huntress is Carol Danvers. It's as if Dixon went ahead and wrote what he wanted to without even consulting anyone on the other books, especially LotDC, where you think tighter continuity might be desireable. The whole Selina Luthor thing - I mean, like, total Dragon Lady and stuff. How many times have we seen this before? I like the fact that Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon were used, but I'm not sure of their Marvel "counterparts," so I can't say as to how well they fit. I could see the Jason Todd thing coming from a few pages off. The Venom/Bane thing seemed... tired. There's a line between homage and recycling, and I'm not so sure this book didn't cross that line. But, as I say, I'm kind of unfamiliar with S.H.I.E.L.D., so maybe I'm missing something here. Cary Nord does nice art, though - good grasp of anatomy, facial expressions, etc. So, what did y'all think? SPEED DEMON #1 Writers: Howard Mackie and James Felder Here's what I thought... This title seemed very uneven to me. I wanted to like it - it combines the mythos of the Flash, Etrigan and Ghost Rider, among others - but much of it felt shoehorned to me. There was no need to have the opening guest appearance by Hal Jordan. The cameos by "Miss Miracle", Oberon-cum- Puck and Chunk-cum-Blob, except that someone sat down and said, "Okay, we need characters for a carnival, so who in the DCU (I mean, not even Marvel - this is supposed to be an Amalgam, folks) would do well in a carnival? Oh, I know - a super-fat guy, a dwarf and an escape artist! Only, let's have one of them be female for no apparent reason!" Unless I'm missing something and these characters do have Marvel analogs. The origin story's way too talky, even for those of us who don't know from Ghost Rider - although I quite like the art overall, and Tinsley does some nice color work here. But this felt like a book in which the creators just threw lots of things together then tried to make them work, and it just didn't for me. For this they needed two writers? So, what did y'all think? Writers: Karl and Barbara Kesel Here's what I thought... Gad... where to begin? Well, how about I refer you to Dave Van Domelen's brilliant "Bad Girl Art Index" in his latest Diamond Previews natterings, specifically the sections on positioning, physical attributes and clothing coverage. This should be mandatory reading for any artist, I think. Somebody didn't quite do his homework here. Not that it matters much, because I didn't think the story was any great shakes either. Very awkward exposition, used to give origin stories for characters with no real reason to be amalgamated (okay, maybe Beastling, but even so), and not even Tom Vincent's coloring and echoes of Dial "H" for Hero helped this puppy out. Disparate heroes gather, grumble a lot, fight common menace, decide their outcast and misfit tendencies make them a family. No character development to speak of, just a few cute lines here and there and really awful art with no concept of actual female anatomy. Oh, and the last panel of page 18 was nice. But it didn't make up for the rest of it. Not recommended. So, what did y'all think? DOCTOR STRANGEFATE #1 Writer: Ron Marz Here's what I thought... Someone ought to give special thanks to Garcia-Lopez also - his magnificent work lifted this title considerably, as did Nowlan's inks (although I did find them a bit heavy in places) and Hollingsworth's subdued coloring. (And I never mention lettering enough - Eliopoulos' lettering was nice. Nice bit on the Skulk, on Dr. SF, etc.) The amalgams were half-forced and half good ideas (I have no problem making the Rayner part of what became "Jade Nova" into a female, as Crabface Guy's such a nonentity to me anyway). The interplay of Strangefate's three agents is nice, and I really got a kick out of the flirtatious Wanda Zatara - you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. And her exit line - "What about you, Myx? Busy tonight?" Terribly delightful. (The Myx thing - combining Nyx with Supes' fifth- dimensional foe - was also somewhat inspired.) This is also the book that examines a little of what came before in MARVEL VS. DC/DC VS. MARVEL, including getting into the head of scared rabbit Access a bit more (although not too much - looks like we'll have to wait for Peter David to fully realize this character). I have no idea why Marz couldn't have written MvDC #3 this well. Even the exposition wasn't grating. And the revelation at the end was very nice as well. Good job. Recommended. And the art's a knockout. So, what did y'all think? ASSASSINS #1 Writer: D.G. Chichester Here's what I thought... I remember this porn movie I once saw where I fell on the floor in hysterics when the voice-over declared, of two female characters, "But they're not really <whatever roles they were supposed to be playing>, they're actually Lesbo Lovers to the Nth Degree!" Man, that porn movie was real good compared to this comic. I'm not even going to try to review it. This book doesn't appear to parody the bad girl trend, but to celebrate it. I'd rather reread CYBERFROG. But I should say something to entertain you anyway, since you've read this far. Therefore, speaking of parody, I present the following for your enjoyment, to be sung to a tune we all know too well about now... They're Catsai and the Dare Before this book is done It's pointless as can be I sincerely hope DGC is still speaking to me after this. :) So, what did y'all think? SEEKERS INTO THE MYSTERY Writer/Creator: J.M. DeMatteis Here's what I thought... The page 1 repetition is no closer to being explained, annoyingly. The second biggest revelation this issue, which one could almost see coming after the first bombshell, is that the Little Man with the Knives and the being represented by Charlie Limbo are actually one and the same. The bigger questions have to do with Lucas' recovered memories of his sexual abuse at the hands of his father, his reactions to the knowledge that the memories are real, and the confrontation between abused and abuser. And I'm pretty sure I disagree with some of DeMatteis' conclusions. In his old room, the night before his father Irwin's funeral, Lucas is "forced" by the Man with Knives (his bodily recall) to remember what happened when his father abused him. His need to escape was so great that his mind somehow found a way to remove itself, to create out-of-body experiences that enabled Lucas, in his "moment of personal hell," to find Heaven in order to preserve his sanity. The next day Lucas and Rhonda meet his flighty cousin Diane ("who," he tells us, "would prove, just a few months later, to be far more than she seemed"), who claims to have seen Irwin in the corner of the room. As she faints and Rhonda cares for her, Lucas approaches the casket and hears his father's voice coming from that same corner. Without even thinking, he launches his mind out of his body to confront Irwin. After he gets used to the fact that he's now doing OBE in the middle of the day, Lucas gets down to brass tacks - he tells off his father something good, concluding with "you have the balls to tell me I'm not being fair?!" Good for Lucas! His father's response - that he has no excuse for what he's done, that maybe he was abused himself or maybe he's just a demon (later disproven when he's shown in the company of angels), but that maybe his evil actually did some good - is the height of arrogance, as far as I'm concerned. And here's where I have major problems. "Maybe," his father posits, "maybe you needed it. Spiritually, I mean. Maybe without all the pain I caused you, you wouldn't be where you are today. Maybe it's your suffering that put you on the path..." Excuse me, but how fucking dare he? I don't buy this for one minute. That in a way being sexually abused as a child was all right in the end because it led him on the path to spiritual fulfillment? Because you can't find this path unless you've gone through torment? That therefore Lucas ought to forgive Irwin, because Lucas "needed" to be abused???? Nothing like screwing your son twice, eh old man? There is no way to make things better. The only thing the abuse survivor can do is realize the abuse is not his or her fault, and that the abuse itself must be reconciled and dealt with for what it was (the fault of the abuser alone) before the abuse survivor can move on. FORGIVING YOUR ABUSER IS NOT A PREREQUISITE FOR THIS. Forgiveness as a concept may be all well and good, and it's never karmically positive to carry hate in your heart, but if - if - the survivor forgives the abuser, it should be so that the survivor can relieve himself/herself of the karmic burden, not so that the abuser can rest in peace. Now, maybe this is where DeMatteis is heading, but I'm not sure. If, through the eyes of the enlightened Lucas, he's saying we should forgive those who've done us great wrong simply because forgiving is the right thing to do, and therefore it doesn't matter what was done to us, I'm afraid I can't agree. There is nothing more important than how we treat each other as human beings. And abusing the parent-chid relationship, one of the greatest trusts of all, is not something to be sloughed off this easily as the onramp for the road to enlightenment. Uh-uh. I'm curious to see how, or whether, Marc writes himself out of this view. I sincerely hope I'm just reading it wrong. So, what did y'all think? Writer: Mike Leonard Here's what I thought... This issue concludes the "Family Secrets" storyline having to do with twins Stacy and Tracy, and DoorMan's attempts to prevent the guilt- feeding Arcanum from manifesting and causing at least one of them to commit suicide. DoorMan has taken the twins back in time to their high school masquerade dance, and secrets each of the twins kept from their friend Annie, Annie's blind date for the evening, and each other. Throughout their reliving of the event, DoorMan tries to prod the twins into revealing, thereby admitting, their secrets to themselves (thereby rendering the Arcanum powerless) while at the same time attempting to keep a professional distance. One of the nice things Leonard accomplishes is to show us how fallible DoorMan actually is, how unsure of his own success even after three millenia of existence, and how susceptible he still is to emotional involvement with his "patients." In fact, Stacy gets him to reveal part of himself to her - but the revelation is for readers only, as his words are drowned out by ambient noise. (Later we see a few moments from DoorMan's personal life, as he visits the grave of his ex-wife and infant. The implication is that mother and baby died in the childbirth process, but I wouldn't mind seeing this explored further in future issues.) DoorMan thinks he's banished the Arcanum when Stacy confesses to her part in the embarrassment of Annie, but Tracy is still in its grip. Stacy and DoorMan follow Tracy's subconscious to find out the part she played in Annie's disfigurement, thus cleansing her. Afterwards, DoorMan bends his rules a little (I hope he does this more) to show the twins that Annie went on to have a fulfilling life anyway. It's nice for us to see, but Tracy's livid. "Why didn't you bring me here [to Annie's happy ending] in the first place?" DoorMan responds, "It's not my place to console you, or make you feel better about what you did. I only wanted you to come to terms with it," which she probably would not have had he not made her and Stacy relive the moments in question. Some really nice concepts continue to float around here - "Can a time traveler be late?" one of the twins asks at one point. I wonder about that myself, but not too much 'cause it gives me a headache. <g> The art is striking, especially in silhouette, and matches the mood of the writing very well. This is one of the better titles out there, and Mike is donating a portion of the profits on this issue to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, so you really can't go wrong either way. Highly recommended - one of the best independent titles around. So, what did y'all think? [These reviews are reprinted, with permission, from the rec.arts.comics Usenet newsgroups and are copyright 1996 Elayne Wechsler-Chaput, who's still somewhat punchy after the magnificent Friends of Lulu party on March 1 and Last-Minute Substitute NY "Church-Con" on March 2, and sincerely hopes she's come out sounding coherent enough...] |
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