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Post by rberman on Mar 30, 2018 16:33:27 GMT -5
Special: Silver Agent #1 “To Serve and to Protect” (August 2010)
Theme: The salmon swims upstream
Frame Story: Alan Craig, the Silver Agent was pulled from his prison cell by the Centurions, a group of 117 heroes living in the 43rd century. He’s so cool that even heroes of the far future need his help, despite him having no powers of his own. (Wouldn’t Samaritan or The Gentleman be both powerful and inspirational, as long as you have your pick of heroes?) But after defeating the iGod, he looks up at the weathered statue of himself still surviving in the far future, and he decides that he needs to travel back in time to do the things that he’s seen himself doing in newsreel footage. His centurion lover Merilandra doesn’t want him to go, but Centurion leader Ømnix agrees to help make it happen, so back in time he goes… Focus Hero: Agent thinks back on his 1932 birth in Derbyfield back when Astro City was still called Romeyn Falls. He had a bad start in life due to congenital paralytic polio (which would mean that his mother had polio during the pregnancy, though she seems fine in the flashbacks). He works hard to recover his muscle strength and finds adult employment as a mail carrier. Stumbling onto a voter fraud scheme by Johnny Maxwell and “Fixer” Sullivan, he flees them into Romeyn Park and hides in a cave by the waterfall, where he discovers an old-timey souvenir coin. An alien in the cave transforms him into Silver Agent, the idealized man. He loved Jane Shaughnessy, but she wanted kids, and he was infertile, so he broke up with her, and she married his brother Pete.
Other Heroes: Coyotl is a beast-man hero of the Stone Age. Jonaz, Skibs, and Cheldon are Centurions fighting the computer iGod and his Hanshakks. People and Places: The cover replicates an issue of Astro City Current with a mailing label for Dale and Caroleen Enright, 10488 Saladino Drive, Phoenix, AZ. Chinese restaurants include Wing Sing and Won Kow. The Centurion base of Asteroid K orbits Earth just as Magneto’s “Asteroid M” did in X-Men. We'll find out next issue where the "K" comes from. Miscellanea: In the Roman Empire, “centurion” was a military rank for an officer in charge of one hundred soldiers. But the Centurions of the 43rd century took their name because there were originally one hundred of them. There’s a bit of internet-related humor in the iGod sequence, including using a “tweet” as a weapon and people being disguised as “plug-ins.” My Two Cents: Agent found a commemorative token in the cave in Romeyn Park. Then he finds it again on Asteroid K; hopefully the next issue will explain things. Alan seems pretty paternalistic to decide for Jane that her desire to have three kids needs to outweigh her love for him. Lots of childless couples would love to have kids, yet they desire to be together even more, and they made the decision as a team. We see that Alan comes from an extended family of manly men with heroic jobs like policemen, firemen, river patrol, and forest ranger. Once again Busiek shows us the importance of community and family in shaping the people we become. Who would Steeljack or Mock Turtle have become if they grew up in an environment which emphasized helping people, in a family of reasonable means, with intact parents? 
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Post by rberman on Mar 31, 2018 7:06:39 GMT -5
Special: Silver Agent #2 “Home to the Hill” (September 2010)
Theme: By his bootstraps Focus Hero: Silver Agent is on one of his time jumps; a giant rock monster tosses Mount Kirby into space, becoming Asteroid K. Mystery solved! Jeroab uses a data branch to cure the Silicoids of harmonic madness, and the adventure is over. On other missions, Silver Agent helps the Steelhearts keep Ohmerika great, or rides giant sea-horses with Aqua-Knight. He recalls when he was first pulled into the future by a chrono-harpoon to join the Centurions. On one jump, he encounters his nephew Thomas, now a grown man and a U.S. Senator, and learns of the good lives of other family members including Bill and his ex-girlfriend, now-sister-in-law Jenny. He receives from Thomas the silver token from the cave by the waterfall; on a subsequent jaunt, he gives this token to ten year old Thomas. Finally he proceeds through all his adventures in The Dark Ages, reaching the prison cell from which he is taken to be executed. As he dies, he releases his power into the world, somehow bringing hope and success to people super and not. And generating the alien capsule that will travel further back into the past, ultimately giving him his powers. People and Places: Handaars and Relfuff are Centurions. My Two Cents: Robert Heinlein’s classic 1941 short story “By His Bootstraps” deals with a time paradox in which a man is put in the position of bringing about a set of circumstances through a causal loop. Heinlein’s 1959 short story “All You Zombies” takes the concept a step further, with all of the characters being the same person at different stages of his life, even both of his parents. Many subsequent movies and books have played with similar concepts. Here, Busiek combines the bootstrap notion with Merlyn the wizard from T.H. White’s “The Once and Future King,” who is traveling backwards through time, becoming less and less knowledgeable as the story progresses. These kinds of causality-twisting stories can be great fun. Here, the emphasis is on the hope of eventuality. Without becoming presumptuously sloppy, Silver Agent is able to progress through each danger knowing that he did indeed succeed, since he has already lived in a world whose very existence was predicated on the success of the next mission in his queue. At the end, he unleashes the force of his accumulated hope upon the world, though we know that it had no immediate effect, since it’s just episode 4 out of 16 in The Dark Age; Samaritan has not yet arrived to symbolize the turn to hope. The “hill” in this issue's title is Mount Kirby, in whose cave the power of Silver Agent comes to rest, awaiting its discovery by his younger self. Busiek has confirmed that the issue’s title also plays on Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem “Requiem” about good rest after a valiant life: Under the wide and starry sky Dig the grave and let me lie: Glad did I live and gladly die, And I laid me down with a will. This be the verse you 'grave for me: Here he lies where he long'd to be; Home is the sailor, home from the sea, And the hunter home from the hill. 
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 31, 2018 11:00:48 GMT -5
Terry Pratchett has a good one, The Night Watch, where Sam Vimes, leader of the Watch, chases down a psychotic killer, only to be thrust back in time to a short time before a major clash in the city, which the citizens were about to memorialize, in his own time. He meets his young self, as a rookie cop and takes the role of his original mentor, helping to built the lowly Night Watch into a real police force. The framing of the story revolves around the impending birth of his son, back in the present. Vimes gets to be his own mentor and also "practice" being a father, before meeting his newborn son. Really good read, as are all of the Discworld novels.
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Post by rberman on Apr 1, 2018 7:43:21 GMT -5
Volume 3 #1 “Through Open Doors: Part One” (August 2013)
Theme: Welcome Back! Focus Hero: Who can save us when the Iron Legion attack the Ellsworth Museum? It’s American Chibi to the rescue! The moppet with an oversized Powerpuff Girl head spies a giant set of doors overlooking the Gaines River but can’t bust ‘em open. Samaritan shows up to calm the little spaz down. They gather a team including Winged Victory, Astra Furst, N-Forcer, and Cleopatra II to bust the doors open, and to prevent Commander Flint’s E.A.G.L.E. missiles from exploding near civilian rubberneckers. The doors open on their own, and out comes the giant ambassador Telseth of the Kvurri. Telseth selects Ben Pullam to be represent Earth and explain its ways to him, and off they go, back through the giant doors. Focus Civilian: Ben Pullam (last seen in 1996 in the first issue of Volume 2) is still around; so are his now-grown daughters, Meg and Faith. Ben wrote a smartphone app to help people avoid superhero fights while trying to commute, but people use it more to find superhero fights to gawk at. Heh; technology often runs up against human behavior that way. Other Stuff: The Broken Man floats in the ether, purple-skinned and fright wigged, speaking directly to the long-time reader, namechecking a lot: Johnny Ragtime, Dame Progress, and Jazzbaby; Blasphemy Agency; The Hollow Blocks (aka the Harlow Blocks); The Ourbour. We get cameos from Confessor II and Crackerjack. The lesser Atlantean Druin is a legendary beastie. Some crazy guy is in the padded room of Meskin Hills Psychiatric Hospital. Is this the Broken Man’s body? My Two Cents: After a three year absence, we’re back! With a now-monthly series, for the first time ever. And certainly on the whimsical side of Astro City, with The Broken Man acting as the Phantom Stranger, commenting directly to us about the weird goings-on in Astro City. It’s the start of a new story, setting lots of wheels in motion, but just as previous volumes of Astro City assumed reader familiarity with comic books of the past, this new series openly assumes familiarity with Astro City comics of the past, which in this age of trade editions is actually a pretty safe bet. American Chibi is silly fun, while Ben Pullam appears set to be the Phil Sheldon everyman of upcoming events. 
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Post by rberman on Apr 2, 2018 7:25:47 GMT -5
Volume 3 #2 “Welcome to HumanoGlobal” (September 2013)
Theme: Support Staff Heroes: Honor Guard (Samaritan, Winged Victory, The Gentleman, N-Forcer, Cleopatra II, and Beautie) prevent Lord Volcanus from unleashing his Seismi-Cannon on the surface world. Next they foil Kroseth the Intruder and an attack on a cruise ship by Stephen “Slaughter” Shaw and the Skullcrushers simultaneously. Later, it’s time to stop the Unholy Alliance in their invisible base from stealing a deadly virus. Focus Civilian: Marella Cowper applied to work in the regular call center at HumanoGlobal, but her aptitude testing got her bumped up to work in Honor Guard's Data Core, sorting out prank calls from emergencies. Seeing how her colleagues put together cases that translate into superhero rescues, she’s intoxicated by the opportunity to break a big case, something that matters. She calls in too many false alarms and gets reassigned to less urgent work, but she also gets a chance to attend an Honor Guard charity event to induct new Austalian recruit Wolfspider, who rides in a giant bug. Plus: shopping trips with her work friends around the world as a perk! One of Marella’s routine calls (an apparent child abuse case in Quevachi, Ecuador) turns out to be actually about a Skullcrusher secret base. Marcella is crushed. Did she miss clues that would have averted tragedy? Other Civilians: Mrs. Bannerjee, Jeremy Baines, Michiko Ohara, and Toni Umtata work with Marcella. Gordon is another co-worker and potential love interest. Places: The Humanoglobal teleporter currently connects to a base in Frobisher Bay, a real place on Baffin Island in Canada. Halston-Godney and Hanawa Giken are front companies for the call center. Does Chess Shop really just sell chessboards? M. Slovin has a sandwich truck. My Two Cents: It’s a classic sort of “How would superheroes really work in the real world, and what role would civilians play?” story for Astro City. Busiek is great at this sort of thing. The overall feel of the story resembles two other “women in careers” stories we’ve seen so far. The first was Marta, giving up on her legal career due to the supervillain hazards of Astro City. The second was Sally Twinnings, giving up on her comic book career due to the supervillain hazards of Astro City. Marella too started her new career with grand hopes of being a lifer there. Will her hopes be dashed by villainy as well? Tune in next time for an issue called “Mistakes.” Doesn’t sound promising, true believers! 
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Post by rberman on Apr 3, 2018 10:39:38 GMT -5
Volume 3 #3 “Mistakes” (October 2013)
Theme: Making it right Civilians: Esme Novarro was the little girl who had called the help line; her mother Maria was involved with Skullcrusher Padraig Daniel Rourke. Focus Civilian: Marella Cowper blames herself for not realizing that an apparent child abuse call was actually a clue to a supervillain hidehout; now a bunch of Ecuadoreans are dead. She hides in bed for a while, then decides to atone more productively. She takes supplies to the attacked village and stays to volunteer with the relief effort. She discovers that wounded civilian Gunnar Aardson is actually Skullcrusher Horst Nilsson. Instead of alerting Honor Guard, she takes matters into her own hands and follows him back to the Skullcrusher base, where Esme and Maria are captives. Now Marella is too! Heroes: Honor Guard (Samaritan, The Gentleman, Assemblyman (Ken something ), Cleopatra II, Quarrel II, Wolfspider, M.P.H., and Black Rapier) are on the scene in Quevachi, Ecuador to intervene in a battle between the army and the Skullcrusher supervillain squad. They settle down the exterior battle, but the Skullcrushers are dug deeply into their base, and it takes Assemblyman a while to build a warp gate directly into the base interior. In the ensuing battle, Marella saves Esme from a fatal fall. Also, it turns out that Maria was unknowingly carrying a data card that allowed Assemblyman to open his warp gate, so she’s doubly a hero, albeit once inadvertently. Cleopatra convinces Marella to stay on the job at the call center. Other Villains: The Plunder Squad, The Black Marketeer, and The Contrabandit would love to get their hands on the Skullcrushers’ leftover gear. Miscellanea: The previous Assemblyman that we saw seemed to be a villain; at least, he provided El Hombre with the gear to become a villain. Is this the same guy, or a successor? My Two Cents: Marella’s guilt over the tragedy is not really justified, but that rings true; people often latch onto their own role in a tragedy, no matter how tiny. It’s an odd combination of compassion and hubris that can ruin people with guilt. She goes through stages of grieving, acting out the “bargaining” stage in a constructive fashion. But even then her obsession with finding Esme leads to apparent disaster, so it’s a good thing she’s in charge of reporting supervillain problems, not strategizing the solutions. Still, a fun story, and I’m glad this third “career woman who tangled with supervillains” got to keep her job this time. 
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Post by rberman on Apr 4, 2018 7:33:28 GMT -5
Volume 3 #4 “On the Sidelines” (November 2013)
Theme: Go ahead with your own life, and leave me alone. Focus Sideliner: We first met Martha “Sully” Sullivan back in Vol 2 #22 (2000), using her telekinesis as a special effects tech on the set of a television show. This issue fills out her backstory and gives her a little adventure. She speculates that her powers may stem from her pregnant mother’s exposure to a battle between Professor Borzoi and The Gentleman. As a teen she dubbed herself Mind-over-Mattie, but her one attempt to intervene in a carjacking ended with the culprit severely injured, and she gave up her heroic aspirations. Pursue villainy instead? She once made a Las Vegas slot machine give a big payoff but felt so guilty that she just left the money on the floor and never cheated again. After working as a barista, she and a co-worker Jeremy put together a special effects company for cinema work. In present day, she’s propositioned by an evil flunkie who wants to hire her for something nasty. No thanks! Next thing you know, she’s been gassed and kidnapped by supervillain The Majordomo, who intends to dub her The Telecaster (a kind of electric guitar) and put her to work. She’s fitted with an inhibitor collar and placed in a cell to rethink her unwillingness to submit to her would-be boss. But a team of her fellow "sideliners" combine their various gifts to break out Martha and similar detainees, then immobilize Majordomo, his goons, and his airship until E.A.G.L.E. arrives on the scene to incarcerate the baddies. Later, Samaritan asks why she didn’t call for help when the flunkie first approached her. She said that she felt the need to show that she and her friends can take care of themselves and thus shouldn’t be trifled with. Other Sideliners: Gloria Williams uses heat powers in her glassblowing studio. Sherm Howarth uses telepathy to help film directors convey the scenes in their head to the craftsmen who have to build the sets. Colin O’Carr can read emotions, useful in his work as a DJ putting together playlists. Brian Morganstern uses his super-strength in construction work. Exotic dancer Surandra Sethi has psychic rapport with the tigers in her act. Carlos Andriani’s telepathy comes in handy as a consultant on job interviews. Magda, who “talks to machines” and works on old cars for a living, comes to a sideliners party wearing a trucker cap and a gas station work shirt mostly unbuttoned. Other Villains: Silver Brain is mentioned. Other Heroes: Assemblyman offers help with home security systems for the sideliners. People and Places: Las Vegas has a Holdaway Inn (using the Holiday Inn font), a Bonanza casino with Rally brand slot machines, and a theatre O'Haras which features the talents of Dan Rowan, Dick Martin, Jerry Van Damme, Les Knowles, and The Grindos.My Two Cents: Marella’s story was about normals who have jobs in the super-world; Martha’s story is about supers who have jobs in the normal world. This issue ought to be a major part of the Astro City economy: supers using their abilities vocationally, not just as either criminals or crime-busters. As such, it raises questions. Every single super-worker we see here seems to be working far below the earning potential indicated by their powers. Telepathy, machine empathy, emotion reading, telekinesis, and pyrokinesis are all powers with incredible industrial, military, and research applications. Why haven’t corporations and government waved big money in the face of these people and put them to “real work”? There are two possibilities. One is that there are indeed supers doing the kind of things we see in other series like “Rising Stars” and “Superman: Secret Identity” and “Top Ten,” working officially (not just vigilante-style) in law enforcement and high-end research, and Busiek intends to tell those stories later. But the second possibility is that this is a story about satisfaction, about people forging their own paths, paying no mind to those who tell them that they are not living up to their potential, that they disappointments to their families and their societies for not having more ambitions than sitting on a terrace eating crackers and jam. One might imagine that topic to be near and dear to the hearts of comic book creators, who have probably endured all sorts of ribbing from their families about what they could have done with their lives besides “funny books.” This issue offers a gentle rebuke to anyone who feels the need to tell someone else what aspirations they ought to have. 
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Post by rberman on Apr 5, 2018 6:19:00 GMT -5
Volume 3 #6 “Through Open Doors: Part Two” (January 2014)
Theme: Fortune favors the bold Focus Civilian: Mob-connected union executive Thatcher Jerome used to work for now-deceased crimelord Stoke Jackson back in the 70s. Jerome knocks on the giant mystic door from back in issue #1. Surprisingly, Ambassador Telseth of the Kvurri invites him in and gives Jerome a shopping list of mundane earth knickknacks, which Jerome procures and then bills the US Government for a hefty markup. On one visit, Jerome gets curious and greedy, and he steals a suitcase with six canisters from Telseth. What are they made of? He takes it to metallurgist Andrew Wilson, who cracks it open and gets sprayed, transforming into a volcanic being and flying away in a contrail of Kirby Krackle. Telseth hears of Wilson’s transformation and tells Jerome of the Oblati race which uses Sorna chemicals to transform themselves. Jerome repeatedly considers cracking open one of the canisters on himself to see if he can become something, maybe a sex god. Not yet. He puts the stolen goods in a drawer. Focus Villain: Wilson, now calling himself The Oremaster, seeks out Gottfredson Mining executive Denis Shaughnessy on his estate in Kanewood. Any relation to Silver Agent’s former girlfriend Jane Shaughnessy from years ago? Cleopatra II intervenes and, in a second encounter, defeats him; Wilson reverts to human form. His wife leaves him and burns their house. Other Civilians: Jerome’s daughter Janie lives in Chicago and is dating Walter. Jerome’s son Thomas could do better in college. Jerome’s sister Cass is married to Andrew Wilson. Jerome’s wife Rachel used to be a stripper named Harmony. Cordero ranks between Jerome and The Deacon in the mob. Places: Gibson Hills is a fancy neighborhood. My Two Cents: This story is our first opportunity to see what Telseth is up to. He’s acting like a giant innocent a la The Beyonder, but we don’t really know his game. More clear is Thatcher Jerome. He’s unscrupulous and calculating, as well as a bold opportunist. He’d like to be a younger, sexier man but is smart enough not to play with a fire that may go out of control. One suspects we’ll see more from him. Overall, this issue reminded me the most of the story of “Eyes” Eisenstein, who also had a super-secret that he couldn’t safely leverage for personal gain. 
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 5, 2018 11:47:23 GMT -5
Denis Shaugnessy? I suppose he has a cousin: Sergius O'Neil...
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Post by rberman on Apr 6, 2018 6:54:10 GMT -5
Astro City: A Visitor’s Guide (December 2004)
Theme: Tourist trap Focus Civilian: Danielle taks a commercial sightseeing tour of Silver Brain’s headquarters (the place from Volume 2 #2 where the First Family fought his Anti-Bodies) deep underground. She touches an interesting-looking glowing gem and is possessed by the psychic essence supervillain Omnius Rex, who declares his vengeance plan against Starfighter and then rockets into space. He’s defeated off-panel by Honor Guard, and Danielle gets her body back, with a broken arm to remember the occasion. Honor Guard members sign her cast, though: Astra, Augustust Furst, Quarrel (II), Crackerjack, Black Rapier, Samaritan, N-Forcer, MPH, Cleopatra (II). Other Heroes: El Robo and the rest of the Irregulars fought the Techsperts. Jack-in-the-Box (III?) defeated Microplex and his army of action figures. Historical bits: The mayor’s letter on page one mentions “the sacrifice that gave Astro City” her name. Still don’t know what that’s about. There are a bunch of prose articles loaded with details that would be way too tedious to list here. One detail worth reporting: Romeyn Falls was first settled by a cartoonist. Cute. We still don’t know exactly where in America Astro City is located, but we’re told it’s “Western” and “between the mountains and the plains,” which sounds like eastern Colorado. The Astro City Rocket claims to have been published since 1866, presumably not under that name. Civilians: Pete and Jeanine are mentioned. Places: Feldstein Avenue. Nordling’s store. Miscellanea: This special issue was released in December 2004 (around the time of the Supersonic Special) but was not collected in trade form until the end of the Winged Victory four-parter. The mayor’s letter on the first page is dated October 13, 2004. The issues starts with the eight page story of Danielle and then has lots of supplementary information. The inking/coloring on the story is done by Ben Oliver, and it has a very different feel than the rest of the Astro City, which has been amazingly consistent in art style over the 20+ years of its run to date. The main course of this issue is a series of pin-ups by other artists: Pacheco, Pearson, Gibbons, Ordway, Simonson, Noto, Weeks, Timm, Lago, Buckingham, Bisley, Guice, Starlin/Milgrom, Ha, Kelley Jones, Leon, Templeton, Texeira, Chaykin, Golden, Ferry, Grummett, and Cooke. My Two Cents: Danielle’s little vignette is quintessential Astro City, just the “good bits” of a story nugget about an unexplored element of the world of superheroes, namely the concept of a commercial tourist trade involving supervillain lairs, and the possibility that such environs could remain deadly. You would expect other villains (and perhaps heroes) to see such lairs as ideal pre-made hideouts, and indeed Busiek would later show Charles and Royal Williams taking over an old super-villain hideout as part of their vendetta against Aubrey Jason. During Dave Cockrum’s second run drawing X-Men in the early 1980s, Chris Claremont showed the team taking over an abandoned Magneto Base on a R’lyeh-ish island in the Bermuda Triangle, and discovering that it contained mystic booby traps. 
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Post by rberman on Apr 8, 2018 21:11:21 GMT -5
Volume 3 #7 “The View from Above” (February 2014)
Theme: Boys have cooties Focus Heroine: We learn Winged Victory’s backstory. After her boyfriend cheated on her, she went to the Louvre in Paris and was inspired by the ancient Aegean statue “The Winged Victory of Samothrace.” Traveling to that island, she has a vision of The Council of Nike, composed of wise women from around the world. Her power comes from the combined confidence of all of the women in the world who look up to her. In present day, WV and Samaritan make love in the clouds at night. She stays in super-form all the time, which means giant wings filling most of the bed when they come inside. Seems like an unlikely way to sleep! The next day, a brutalized boy asks to take shelter in her women’s training camp. Some captured supervillains claim to work for Winged Victory, which sparks a media frenzy since her camps were already the object of suspicion as breeding grounds for anti-male sentiment. Samaritan offers to help, but WV says leave it to the women. An appearance at Messick University is marred by protestors. WV worries that the scandal associated with her name will cause the Council to strip her of her WV identity and give it to someone else. And for some reason, The Confessor II is lurking outside her window… Other Heroes: N-Forcer catches Jagged Jill and Maneater during a jewelry heist, but Warmaiden (a female Thor) escapes. Delphi is an oracle, one assumes. Healer Meg works for Winged Victory. Other Villains: The Silver Brain, Mentakk, and Ladykiller are mentioned. Civilians: Aunt Peggy is a relative of the beat-up kid. My Two Cents: DC has spent the last 10-15 years trying to retcon Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman as their “Trinity” (really a trio, but whatever), the core heroes that everyone is supposed to care about. WW never really had as much popularity as the other two, except when played by Lynda Carter on TV. The many alternate world versions of Wonder Woman (in Astro City, in Supreme Power, in Jupiter’s Circle, etc.) all have one thing in common: They are usually more interesting than the actual Wonder Woman. So it’s great to see Busiek mining this territory more deeply. We saw way back in the sixth issue of Astro City that Winged Victory is really resentful toward her old life. So much so that she treats “Winged Victory” as her proper name now instead of Lauren Freed (an ironic name!); even Samaritan has to call her “Vic.” (Presumably Samaritan had an actual name in the far future, but we don’t know it yet.) Similarly, Healer Meg accuses the abused boy of being full of anger, but Meg clearly has issues of her own. It appears that the Samothrace training camps have become something of a collection ground for he-woman man-haters, bound in solidarity at the cost of xenophobia, which in this case means androphobia. 
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 8, 2018 21:46:57 GMT -5
Volume 3 #7 “The View from Above” (February 2014)
Theme: Boys have cooties Focus Heroine: We learn Winged Victory’s backstory. After her boyfriend cheated on her, she went to the Louvre in Paris and was inspired by the ancient Aegean statue “The Winged Victory of Samothrace.” Traveling to that island, she has a vision of The Council of Nike, composed of wise women from around the world. Her power comes from the combined confidence of all of the women in the world who look up to her. In present day, WV and Samaritan make love in the clouds at night. She stays in super-form all the time, which means giant wings filling most of the bed when they come inside. Seems like an unlikely way to sleep! The next day, a brutalized boy asks to take shelter in her women’s training camp. Some captured supervillains claim to work for Winged Victory, which sparks a media frenzy since her camps were already the object of suspicion as breeding grounds for anti-male sentiment. Samaritan offers to help, but WV says leave it to the women. An appearance at Messick University is marred by protestors. WV worries that the scandal associated with her name will cause the Council to strip her of her WV identity and give it to someone else. And for some reason, The Confessor II is lurking outside her window… Other Heroes: N-Forcer catches Jagged Jill and Maneater during a jewelry heist, but Warmaiden (a female Thor) escapes. Delphi is an oracle, one assumes. Healer Meg works for Winged Victory. Other Villains: The Silver Brain, Mentakk, and Ladykiller are mentioned. Civilians: Aunt Peggy is a relative of the beat-up kid. My Two Cents: DC has spent the last 10-15 years trying to retcon Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman as their “Trinity” (really a trio, but whatever), the core heroes that everyone is supposed to care about. WW never really had as much popularity as the other two, except when played by Lynda Carter on TV. The many alternate world versions of Wonder Woman (in Astro City, in Supreme Power, in Jupiter’s Circle, etc.) all have one thing in common: They are usually more interesting than the actual Wonder Woman. So it’s great to see Busiek mining this territory more deeply. We saw way back in the sixth issue of Astro City that Winged Victory is really resentful toward her old life. So much so that she treats “Winged Victory” as her proper name now instead of Lauren Freed (an ironic name!); even Samaritan has to call her “Vic.” (Presumably Samaritan had an actual name in the far future, but we don’t know it yet.) Similarly, Healer Meg accuses the abused boy of being full of anger, but Meg clearly has issues of her own. It appears that the Samothrace training camps have become something of a collection ground for he-woman man-haters, bound in solidarity at the cost of xenophobia, which in this case means androphobia. In the Golden Age, Wonder Woman was as popular as Superman and Batman. She was also at her most interesting and quirky (or kinky, if you prefer). What really hobbled her, as a character, was the neutering of the character, in the wake of Wertham. She was turned into just another superhero. Lynda Carter made her popular in the public consciousness; but, that didn't significantly translate into higher sales of the comic. Perez brought her back to major status, though things kind of dropped back down after a couple of years. Part of the problem is that DC has been skittish to do anything major to make the character more relevant and won't touch the probable sexual manifestations of Amazonian society. Someone who grows up entirely in a society of women would more than likely had romantic and/or sexual relationships with other women in the society and DC won't go there. She would likely be open to relationships with both genders, depending on how the Amazonian society is depicted. The closest we got to something like this is Robert Rodi's What They Did to Princess Paragon, a novel about a comic book writer/artist who revamps the elder statesman company's leading female character, by depicting her as a lesbian from a lesbian society. The publisher is desperate enough to go with it, on the strength of the superstar creator's name (picture Byrne or Miller level) and even recruits a lesbian editor from an indie comic to edit the book and keep it authentic. The novel is less about exploring that alternative than about the creator, a closeted homosexual, dealing with his own issues, as well as a repressed fan going out into the real world, out of anger over the change, and how the meeting of the two alters their lives and careers. The Golden Age Wonder Woman had far more going for it, with gender equality, the empowerment of women, power relationships in thinly veiled sexual realms, the war against fascism and oppression, and just plain classic myth and fantasy. Those stories are so much more engaging than those of the Silver and Bronze Age, as Wonder Woman has far more of an edge to it. I liked the Diana Prince, Wonder Woman era, though it ran out of steam quickly and it stripped away too much of Diana's power. A few stories there touched upon the realms of the Golden Age stories, though with far more censorship. The recent movie was good; but, I kind of felt it was still holding back. Not necessarily in the sexual or romantic elements, so much as trying not to be too challenging. ps. For those who didn't catch it, messick University refers to Dale Messick, creator of the comic strip heroine Brenda Starr. Mike Grell started out as an assistant to her, before moving into comic books. |
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Post by rberman on Apr 9, 2018 8:23:40 GMT -5
Volume 3 #8 “The View from the Shadows” (March 2014)
Theme: In the hands of men Focus Hero: Confessor II sneaks into Winged Victory’s Samothrace training camp. He’s trying to look in WV’s computer for evidence of some sort, but Samaritan interrupts him, and the two play a game of tag in the treetops. Confessor uses a combination of tech gadgets and Infidel magic gadgets to debilitate Samaritan. OK, time to stop fighting! Based on the word of a trio of supervillains, the Federal government is moving to shut down all of WV’s training camps. Seems awfully non-due-processy. Are the Enelsians at work again? Confessor and Samaritan run through the list of likely suspects, and WV feels shut out of her own story. Worse, her power (derived from the confidence of women worldwide) is fading. She has an uncomfortable conversation with E.A.G.L.E. Commander Flint about taking care of Samothrace and flies around wondering what to do. Suddenly, she’s beset by The Iron Legion at the behest of Karnazon. She pulls her sword. Game on! Something to punch!
Villains: Possible culprits for the frame job on WV include Ladykiller (formerly Goldenboy), Mentakk (currently jailed on Asteroid 61), The Courtesan, Whip Hand, Lord Winter, Mama Spank, Karnazon, Cro-Mag, Catfight, and Andro.Civilians: Peggy was a former druggie and prostitute, one of the first battered women who took shelter in Samothrace. After learning confidence, she returned to the outside world. Her nephew Joey received her WV-summoning distress disc and has now come wounded to Samothrace, where he’s hospitalized. Pam Harris and Connor are TV reporters. Deanna is a Samothrace dweller. My Two Cents: As fast as Samaritan can fly, he clearly has absurdly superhuman reflexes, so Confessor really shouldn’t have a prayer of evading him. But “Batman can dodge Superman” is a DC trope, so we’ll have to allow it here too, just as we allow that we’ll get a few pages of intra-hero battles before they settle down and start cooperating. The confidence-based nature of WV’s powers make it harder for her to contribute to the solution to a scandal involving her public image, so her enemies are smart to attack her that way. She has to swallow the bitter pill of seeing some men take over her compound while other men work to help her. But even with her powers fading, her longtime role as a leader and organizer ought to be more use than it's shown being here. Maybe she's more of a figurehead, and some more executively-minded people actually keep Samothrace running, just as Honor Guard have a huge support staff. (Neither organization has visible means of income. Superheroes are all just wealthy I guess?) 
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Post by kirby101 on Apr 9, 2018 16:12:26 GMT -5
Only one more issue before the monthlies stop. Then sporadic graphic novels.
But these last few issues have been everything that is good about this series.
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Post by rberman on Apr 10, 2018 5:23:23 GMT -5
Volume 3 #9 “The View from the Heart” (April 2014)
Theme: Killing time Focus Heroine: Winged Victory battles the Iron Legion above the E.A.G.L.E.-occupied Samothrace base. Commander Flint bizarrely decides that securing civilians at the compound is more pressing than joining/ending the super-battle overhead. Seems fishy! “New evidence” leads to an arrest warrant against her, so she and Samaritan head to Confessor II’s batcave in Grandenetti Cathedral’s catacombs. Former students are making allegations of abuse against WV; when Confessor’s Choirboy sidekicks try to question them, the accusing women turn into stone. Again, fishy! The best way for WV to hide is to change back into non-super form. She tries it for a few minutes. Nope, feels too weak. Can’t hide. So she takes to the skies, and gets chased by E.A.G.L.E. helicopters. She follows a voice in her head to a penthouse garden with an old Oriental woman who encourages her not to give up. Focus Civilian: Maisie Shimura grew up in California in the Depression and spent her teen years interned in a Japanese prisoner camp in her teens during World War II. She was raped once by another internee and once by a guard and was left sterile. Her family moved to Fujitani Bay in greater Astro City and started an importing business. Her brothers died in the Korean War. She did well in business and eventually was invited into the Council of Nike.Other Civilians: Joey the abused boy is feeling better. He sneaks away from E.A.G.L.E. soldiers, including Ericson. Joey sneaks aboard a fleeing Iron Legion ship and ends up inside their hidden base… My Two Cents: I’m still not clear on how WV does her Shazam transformation. Her armor has a big sword on the front of it, and she also has a (usually) sheathed longsword sheathed at her left hip. (Greeks would have used a much shorter sword, but let’s not quibble.) So how exactly does she transform? Looks like by sheathing the sword at her hip, but it’s already sheathed in the previous panel. By sheathing the sword on her bodice? In what sheath? I am so confused. The first time I heard of the Japanese internment camps, I was about 30. I read about them in George Takei’s autobiography since he grew up in one. I was shocked that such a thing had happened, and surprised they had been omitted from my high school history classes. I’m glad to see it commemorated here, but I’ll be happier if it turns out to somehow play into the overall plot instead of just being a historical sidelight for Maisie Shimura. This is a little bit of a wheel-spinning issue as far as the main plot goes. The threat against WV amps up another notch, and we already knew that she hates her unpowered form and her semi-unpowered WV state. Does WV really have nothing to contribute to the investigation of why her students turned against her? I would have thought she’d be rolling up her sleeves (well, her tunic is sleeveless, but whatever) and diving deep into her personnel files, using her status as a community organizer to add something substantial to the plot. But no, she beats up a few villains then flies impotently around while the Choirboys do the actual legwork on her case. 
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