The Doomino Effect for Jan 7, 2009

With all the holidays and weird shipping schedules, the Doomino Effect has taken some time to adjust, but now it is back with two weeks worth of comics.

Starting off is Batman #684, which is the second part of “Last Days of Gotham” by Denny O’Neil. I have to say, I sure could’ve done without this story. It wasn’t particularly bad, but it wasn’t particularly interesting either. Let’s start off with the opening page, in which Nightwing has to be rescued by a pizza delivery boy. Actually, let’s just stop right there. I take back what I said about this not being particularly bad. The premise seems to be all about Nightwing doubting his abilities and questioning that he’s anywhere near as good as Batman. I have to give O’Neil credit — I originally thought Nightwing would be a great Batman, but he’s convinced me otherwise! What a dork. Gotham’s screwed.

But hey, if the people of the city are stupid enough to think that a pony-tailed guy in a t-shirt with half a mask on is actually Two-Face, they’ll be fine with Nightwing. He could probably just wear a t-shirt that says “Batman” on it and everyone would think Batman is back.

Let’s just stick with Batman, and say speaking of bad guys pretending to be people they’re not, that reminds me of Detective Comics #852, a Faces of Evil!! book. This was a mighty fine issue and a great start to a storyline that I wish was much longer than two issues. Through the power of plastic surgery, cunning and coincidence, Hush finds himself slipping into the role of Bruce Wayne to try to earn back some of the family fortune that Catwoman stole from him in the “Heart of Hush” storyline.

There are several things I really like about this. One, Paul Dini has demonstrated that, regardless of whatever happened in Countdown, he can still make really cool stories. Two, regardless of how awful Jeph Loeb is now, he created a great new (relatively speaking) Bat villain that is at home with the A-listers, and I am really looking forward to the next issue.

My one complaint, which I already mentioned above, is that this is happening so quickly. I would’ve liked a longer run of Hush posing as Bruce. I also would’ve liked a longer gap between the end of “Heart of Hush” and the reunion, so to speak, of Catwoman and Hush. Dini did a great job of building anticipation for what would happen when these two faced off, but it is coming so closely on the heels of the setup that it almost seems rushed. That said, it’s a tiny complaint, and I’m digging it overall.

Speaking of judging books by their writers, that leads me to Final Crisis: Secret Files #1. I normally would have skipped this issue, but the DC solicitations said “Written by Grant Morrison and Peter J. Tomasi.” It also said “Finally, the secrets of this year’s most talked about event can be revealed! Witness how Darkseid’s death shattered the Multiverse, creating continuity ripples throughout the DC Universe! Submit to Darkseid and read the full Anti-Life Equation! This is a book you cannot resist to buy!”

Recalling an interview in which Morrison said something along the lines of Superman Beyond containing some important pieces to Final Crisis, I thought, thanks to the solicitation, that this was going to be some kind of crucial piece of the puzzle. DC should be ashamed of this dishonestly solicited pile of crap. This is a 24-page comic about the origin of Libra by Len Wein. Want to know the secret behind Libra’s identity? He’s a nerd kid who developed a super telescope or something and ended up on Apokolips. I have no idea how much of this was revealed in his ’70s appearances and how much is retconned in 2009 for the sake of Final Crisis, but man, what a letdown. I was really hoping Libra was going to be someone cool.

But anyway, back to Morrison. Want to know what Grant Morrison wrote in this issue? A one-page explanation of the Anti-Life equation and then a few notes on character sketches by J.G. Jones. Want to know what Peter Tomasi wrote? Nothing. Want to know “…how Darkseid’s death shattered the Multiverse, creating continuity ripples throughout the DC Universe,” as the solicitation promised we’d witness? I would like to know too, because it sure didn’t happen in this comic book. What a goodwill-trashing waste.

Speaking of trashing goodwill, that leads me to Superman #683, chapter 9 in the New Krypton saga. The people of Earth gave the Kryptonians the benefit of the doubt, but after the jerks from outer space killed some cops, the superheroes show up to make some arrests. There’s some fighting, Supergirl’s mom is revealed to be an even huger witch than before (telling Supergirl she’s “…a disgrace to the memory of [her] father”) and she ends up punching Superman through some buildings. The Green Lanterns acknowledged they’re outnumbered and “outgunned,” but then, as if waiting for Alan Scott to say the word “magic,” the DC magicians show up ready to speak backwards at some angry Kryptonians.

With only one issue left, I’m really curious about what’s going to happen here. There’s supposed to be some big status-quo-changing stuff for Superman going on. The finale’s in Geoff Johns’ hands, though, so I’m expecting the awesomeness of this series to carry on through its finale.

Speaking of finales, that leads me to Captain America #45, the final chapter of “Time’s Arrow.” I ended up with the variant cover, which shows The Red Skull holding Captain America in his hand. I thought “Oh great, more Red Skull. Make him go away, please.” I was happy to discover that this issue had absolutely nothing to do with the Red Skull. I wonder if Marvel just has a bunch of extra paintings lying around, motivating them to say “Hey, let’s make a variant cover for no reason.”

So there’s this guy called The Man With No Face who can kind of go invisible and intangible at will. He can grab you, but bullets pass through him. He totally seems like a mid-century villain, though I’m sure the coat and hat help, and he realizes that Captain America is the Winter Soldier. I have a small problem with this, because how freaking obvious does Captain America’s identity have to be for someone to just easily put “Cold War assassin from the 1960s” and “America’s Greatest Hero in 2009” together without so much as a hint? Jinkies.

But apparently all of this has been about stealing the corpse of the original Human Torch. I like that somebody is acknowledging the New Invaders series from several years ago. I bet that sold maybe 5 copies per month but I was one of them. I loved that series. I don’t have a lot to say about this issue so I’ll just go off on tangents and say that I bet Ed Brubaker would write the coolest Invaders comics ever. His World War II stuff in Captain America is part of what got me so hooked on this title years ago. Hey Tom Brevoort, I know you’re still reading this blog, so howsabout you make that happen?

Speaking of known characters in historical fiction, that leads me to Sandman: The Dream Hunters #3. The monk is traveling in the dream world to try to save the life of the fox, who gave her life to save him. He enters the palace of the King of Dreams, who is there in all his Robert Smith / Trent Reznor glory. He challenges the monk, asking him why he would undo the wish of the one who gave her life for him. The monk explains that the killing dream was meant for him, and not for her. The King gives them a chance to say their farewells, and that’s where chapter 3 ends.

I think maybe a lot of the fun of this issue was lost on me. I still enjoyed it, but I have enough of a faint recollection of the Sandman comics to think that there were some cameos from established characters in this issue that probably had more resonance for die-hard Sandman fans. As it has been from the start, the art is beautiful and flawless.

Speaking of the art, that leads me to Guardians of the Galaxy #8, in which super-awesome artist Paul Pelletier is gone! He has been replaced by Brad Walker, who would probably seem really good if Pelletier wasn’t so amazing. I can’t believe this series is only on issue #8. But anyway, it tells the story of how Star Lord ended up in the Negative Zone and gives some explanation as to how Blastarr ended up king of the joint. Krees are stupid, I guess.

But Blastarr has discovered the prison that Reed Richards, Hank Pym and Tony Stark built during Civil War, and he wants to use it to break through to Earth. I freaking loved that. Abnett and Lanning have latched onto a loose end from a previous Marvel big event and they’ve figured out how to make it relevant to characters and basically a whole segment of the Marvel Universe that would otherwise never cross over. How fitting that a series spinning out of the crossover that was overshadowed by Civil War would end up using an element of Civil War for what looks like a possible spill in to the regular Marvel Universe? The answer is “very fitting.”

Speaking of “very fitting,” the polybag that my copy of Goon #31 came in looks so nice wrapped around that comic that I can’t bring myself to open it and read what happened. Maybe if I do I’ll come back and update this.