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Post by rberman on Mar 26, 2019 6:41:07 GMT -5
JLA: The Nail #1 (August 1998) Creative Team: Alan Davis writing and pencils. Mark Farmer inks. The Story: Jonathan and Martha Kent have a flat tire and decide to stay home for the evening, so they miss Kal-El’s rocket crash. Decades later, Lex Luthor celebrates his re-election as mayor of Metropolis. On WGBS-TV, his aide Jimmy Olsen outlines Luthor’s plan to rid the city of all metahumans. The real heroes are policemen and teachers! Oliver Queen, now crippled, appears on tv to spout venom about the dangers posed by superheroes. His one green eye speaks of "Green Arrow" but also jealousy.  In their cave hideout, the JLA discuss the death of Hawkman and their possible response to this wave of anti-hero sentiment. Black Canary and the Outsiders have a similar discussion on board their private jet. Lois Lane has been asked to interview the heroes to get their side of the story. The JLA retreat into their secret identities in hopes that things will cool down.  A massive clean-up of heroes commences. The Doom Patrol are felled by a gas attack.  Green Lantern discovers that Earth is surrounded by a force field; Adam Strange’s corpse is stuck inside.  Even Darkseid and the New Gods can’t break through the force field surrounding Earth.  At Arkham Asylum, Catwoman’s session with her psychotherapist is interrupted when The Joker stages a mass break-out. He has weapons of surprising tech power, and soon Batman is his prisoner, and Batgirl and Robin are his victims. Catwoman frees Batman, who pounds Joker to a pulp, but it doesn’t look good on the watching TV news cameras.  My Two Cents: As they say, that escalated quickly! Writers are always looking for a new hook to re-imagine existing characters. Even the early years of Wonder Woman and Batman saw fanciful versions of these characters set in the far future.   These “Imaginary Stories” allowed writers to operate outside of the usual continuity. This was especially helpful to explore outlandish scenarios under the strictures of the Silver Age Comics Code.  In 1989, DC formalized an “Elseworlds” imprint inaugurated retroactively by the story Gotham by Gaslight, imagining a steampunk Batman. Quite a few stories had been published in this line by the time Alan Davis began our story here. Its title comes from an old poem about what we now call the butterfly effect: “For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe, the horse was lost…” cascading into an avalanche of catastrophe until the whole kingdom has been lost, “all for the want of a nail.” In this case, the nail is a literal nail, preventing the Kent family from adopting Kal-El, and thus sidetracking Superman's emergence in the world.  Luthor’s campaign in Metropolis seems trivial to whatever has generated the force field around the Earth. So far this particular Elseworld is racking up an impressive/distressing body count of beloved characters. Is it grim and gritty enough for you? 
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Post by rberman on Mar 27, 2019 8:44:52 GMT -5
JLA: The Nail #2 (September 1998) The Story: The first half of this issue is a series of vignettes as the various JLAers try to figure out who is behind the force field surrounding Earth. The heroes don’t learn anything useful, but some of them do get drawn into public battles that cause collateral damages, and the WGBS cameras are there at every turn to broadcast biased versions of these events, fanning the flames of anti-hero sentiment.  The Outsiders find a giant yellow door in the Arctic. Behind it is the generator powering the force field around earth…. And an unseen guardian who fells them all. Doesn’t Shade the Changing Man look cool? One of Ditko’s more striking designs for sure.  Lois Lane tours the prison housing all the captured meta-humans. One of its employees, Dr. Lana Lang, sends her to Smallville, where she meets Jonathan and Martha Kent, a kindly couple hiding escaped meta-humans.  Martian Manhunter finally gets a real clue as to what’s going on when he breaks into Luthor’s skyscraper and encounters a familiar-to-us shape:  My Two Cents: This story began publication 18 months after Grant Morrison rejuvenated the JLA by returning the classic roster. Morrison gave special attention to Batman and Martian Manhunter as master tactician and strategist, respectively. Davis disappoints by giving us chump versions of both characters, easily manipulated into compromising situations. I suppose Superman’s power is felt by his absence, as lesser heroes flounder around, having adventures but failing to advance the plot. There’s also brief side story explaining that the Green Lantern Corps are busy containing a war between Apololips and New Genesis which happens entirely off-page. Too bad; that could have been something to see. “Giant super-prison in the Midwest” is a detail lifted from (or at least shared with) Mark Waid’s Kingdom Come story. I like how the inmates are grouped by genre, as in this cell housing Man-Bat, Gorilla Grodd, Animal Man, Bwana Beast, and Dolphin.  Much of this issue was just wheel-spinning as various JLAers fail to accomplish anything in their respective battles. The goofiest moment was when Batman is in a funk over the deaths of Batgirl and Robin, and Alfred and Selina think it would be a good idea to shock him by dressing Selina as Robin crying “Avenge meeee….” Not cool at all! 
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Post by brutalis on Mar 27, 2019 13:31:38 GMT -5
I somehow missed out on The Nail in it's original single issues printing at the time (if i remember correctly I was at a point of changing jobs and watching pennies) and I keep meaning to get it in TPB. These reviews are really helping in getting me salivating because I do so love me some Alan Davis artwork. Some of the very best eye candy ever! I can forgive a weaker story for that aspect alone.
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Post by rberman on Mar 28, 2019 5:25:06 GMT -5
JLA: The Nail #3 (October 1998) The Story: The supernatural heavy hitters of the DCU have a palaver and agree not to be part of this story. OK…  Wonder Woman is framed for an explosion that demolishes the White House, and she’s forced to combat the Metal Men before being felled herself by one of Luthor’s legion of Bizarros. Hawkgirl, J’onn, Green Lantern, and Aquaman are similarly captured.  Jimmy Olsen is the villain mastermind. His body has been hybridized with Kryptonian genetic material from the crashed spaceship, and he’s all bonkers now.  Batman, Batwoman (Selina Kyle), The Flash, and The Atom break into the super-prison to free the rest of the JLA. Jimmy Olsen shows up to fight them, and Batman does pretty well when backed by the power of Green Lantern’s ring.  The battle spills over onto a nearby Amish farm where one of the residents is more than he seems. Jimmy fries his parents with heat vision, and Kal El fights Jimmy until his borrowed power burns him out. Kal is recruited to join the Justice League. Happy ending! Except for the dead parents.  My Two Cents: From the first page, this series set out to explore, “How would things be different if Superman hadn’t been raised by the Kents?” Now that we’ve finally met Kal El, we find that Alan Davis’ answer is, “He turns out pretty much the same if he’s raised by an Amish couple.” The main difference is that the isolation mentality of the Amish keeps him from appearing on the national scene until a few years later. Are we to understand that this is the reason for all the other differences in this world? It could be the reason that Hawkman died and Green Arrow was crippled in a battle that we don’t yet know much about. Is it somehow the reason that Lex Luthor is a hugely popular political figure? Hard to see that one. Is it the reason Catwoman is a nice person who somehow ended up in Arkham Asylum? Probably not. Is it the reason the Outsiders are led by Black Canary instead of Batman? That’s a pretty minor change no matter how you slice it. Other stories have walked this path with more drastic answers. Straczynski’s Supreme Power shows what would happen if Kal El had been confiscated as an infant and raised by the military. Mark Millar’s Superman: Red Son shows what would happen if Kal El had been raised by kindly collectivist farmers in the Soviet Union. In both of those cases, his personality and perspective end up markedly different from the Superman we know.  In the end, the biggest difference in this world is not the detail of Kal El’s fostering. It’s that Lex Luthor somehow had access to the Kryptonian spaceship and uses Kal El’s DNA traces for genetic experimentation that leads to a variety of threats from Super-Jimmy to Bizarros. The “Starro” which attacked J’onn turns out to be a hybridized guard dog named Krypto.  Fun cameos from Swamp Thing, thought the characters don’t impact the story.  The captured JLAers are put into a classic Silver Age stasis tube rack. That was kinda cute. 
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Post by zaku on Mar 28, 2019 6:14:24 GMT -5
I remembered I was surprised when they called Geo-Force "The strongest man on earth". Even if you remove Superman from the equation, how is it possible he can deserve this title..?
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 28, 2019 10:36:59 GMT -5
I haven't read this probably since it came out. But the selling point was Davis' art. The story had some major issues as rberman points out in the reviews and the ending completely undercuts the premise of the book. I recall this being pretty popular, at least among the CBR set, when it came out. I didn't get it because while it's pretty it is riddled with problems from a story perspective. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 28, 2019 12:21:43 GMT -5
I don't think I would classify Gotham By Gaslight as Steampunk. It had more in common with the Victorian Penny Dreadful, rather than the works of Verne and Wells, which were the inspiration for people like Moorcock and KW Jeter, who wrote the early Steampunk works. there really isn't a technological angle to GBG, as Batman is using existing technology and transposing things to a Victorian setting. A Victorian setting does not presuppose steampunk, even with a fantastic character. The Penny Dreadfuls dealt in murder and horror, some with fantastic characters, like Springheel Jack and the vampire Lord Ruthven. GBG is basically a detective hunting Jack the Ripper, using the methods of Sherlock Holmes and C Auguste Dupin. Batman rides a horse, uses daggers, wears a padded fencing vest and a leather mask. Fantastical, yes; but, not filled with advanced science, beyond that which existed in the period.
The sequel, Batman: Master of the Future is steampunk, in that it does have a retro-technological basis, and features a villain who is an homage to the science pirates of the age (especially Verne's Robur). here we have an airship is immense wonderment, plus an advanced optical weapon, clockwork robots, rapid-firing weapons. All the trappings of the retro nature of steampunk.
Steampunk has become more fashionably broad to cover any kind of fantastic tale of the Victorian age, even to the ridiculous point of being applied to Verne and Wells. They were thinking forward, while steampunk was looking back, with a sense of irony and commentary (in its original, purer form). It's one of the reasons I don't care for the label, or most genre labels. Some, like mystery, have a point and still have wide ground for styles. Others are just a renaming of an old conceit to sound like fresh ideas. Even more ridiculous is dieselpunk, which is nothing more than a rehash of pulp fiction, which grew out of the Penny Dreadfuls, Dime Novels and Edisonades (the Yankee engineer stories).
As for the Nail, it was an entertaining read; but, Davis' art is far stronger than his writing, engaging though it is. The Amish part continues the general misunderstanding of Amish society. We have Amish communities here, in central Illinois (around Arcola). They mix with outsiders regularly, have their own businesses, shop in regular stores. Many have mechanical appliances that are gas-powered, rather than electrical. They aren't necessarily averse to technology as much as prefer to keep their community apart. They object more to electrical lines being brought into their houses, rather than using a washing machine. They do prefer simplicity of clothing; but are not just dressed in black. Their children attend schools with other children from outside the community, in local schools. When their children reach the age of maturity, they go through a ritual, known as rumspringa. It has gained a rather "spring break," reputation; but, really, it means adolescence, when certain latitudes are permitted in their behavior and even exploration of outside culture, before they are baptized into the Amish church and society. Some do go wild and party and some do decide to leave the community. Regardless, the Amish and Mennonite communities are not the backward, isolated communes that both popular fiction and the media would have you believe.
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Post by rberman on Mar 29, 2019 5:45:25 GMT -5
JLA: Another Nail #1 (May 2004) The Story: Darkseid’s forces are losing a cataclysmic battle against New Genesis. Rather than admit defeat, he activates a doomsday device which will destroy both Apokolips and New Genesis. The New Gods and Green Lantern Corps team up to try to stop its activation. Desaad tortures the captured Mister Miracle to death. But no, the master escape artist has escaped again, with his consciousness departing his body to reside within the Motherbox circuitry of Big Barda’s armor.  The ring from a fallen Green Lantern chooses Barda as its new wielder, and together she and the ghost of Mister Miracle protect New Genesis from the explosion of Darkseid which consumes Apokolips.  A year later, Superman receives an award from humanity for all his services. He takes the trophy, said to be made from a meteorite, to the JLA’s new satellite HQ. You don’t suppose it could be a Trojan Horse, could it?  A flashback shows the death of Hawkman and the crippling of Green Arrow at the hands of Amazo. Now Oliver Queen scorns the presence of his wife Black Canary, but she won’t leave his side.  Doctor Fate’s attempt to resurrect Metamorpho instead opens a portal to Hell from which the Demons Three emerge.  The Guardians of Oa try to figure out why their central battery is losing power, and the ghost of Mister Miracle demands they stop ogling his wife.  For a cliffhanger, Superman abruptly loses power and is wounded during a battle with Despero and Evil Star.  My Two Cents: Remember when I said it was “too bad” that the Apokolips/New Genesis/Green Lantern conflict occurred entirely off-page in the original JLA: The Nail mini-series? Be careful what you wish for! It’s good for a while; the Kirbyworld battle has clear stakes, clear participants, and a clear narrative flow. But once the story switches back to Earth, Alan Davis has the same problem we saw in the original Nail mini-series. In trying to tell three and four page snippets of story about each character, he ends up not telling any story at all. Better to limit each issue to a smaller roster of characters rather than try to show a tiny bit of what every JLAer is up to. This version of Selina Kyla shows no sign of having deserved to be an Arkham Asylum inmate. She’s not evil; she’s not crazy. She’s just Batman’s supportive girlfriend.  “All 3,600 Green Lanterns” apparently does not include Mogo, the planet-sized Lantern, in this alternate reality. If he had been included, he would be difficult to miss.
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Post by Icctrombone on Mar 29, 2019 7:53:23 GMT -5
The Guardians of Oa try to figure out why their central battery is losing power, and the ghost of Mister Miracle demands they stop ogling his wife. I was busy studying Barda's " contours" myself.  Alan Davis draws some beautiful bodies... |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2019 6:16:48 GMT -5
These reviews are really helping in getting me salivating because I do so love me some Alan Davis artwork. Some of the very best eye candy ever! I can forgive a weaker story for that aspect alone. To be honest about this ... the stories here is graded C and the artwork done by Davis is an A ... knowing that and I do agree with brutalis that I just had a hard time enjoying his story and I do admire Alan Davis doing both writing and drawing and that alone back in those days is commendable. I do enjoy the The Nail and have fond memories reading them and most importantly the eye candy appeal like Icctrombone making a point about Big Barda in the previous post. |
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Post by rberman on Mar 30, 2019 6:49:23 GMT -5
JLA: Another Nail #2 (August 2004) The Story: Superman is recovering from his power loss last issue. J’onn convinces him to take a vacation in Smallville, where Lois Lane meets him and shows him how to wear a disguise. But Eclipso is lurking in the shadows.  Some bad guy is controlling Star Sapphire, Black Orchid, and Power Girl. The three ladies raid Metal Men HQ and steal the broken body of Amazo, then kidnap Dr. Niles Caulder from Doom Patrol HQ. Later, Wonder Woman and Aquaman find a half-assembled robot in an underwater base, guarded by a Deviant. An explosion at the base dumps the two heroes back in dinosaur times.  Big Barda and Mister Miracle trace the Oan power loss to a spaceship containing Kalibak and Darkseid’s daughter Grace. They capture the two villains and take them to New Genesis, which is also experiencing a power drain. The Flash and The Atom climb Mount Everest to determine that some massive gravitational force is affecting the flow of time, which is a real life science thing. After they descend, they’re captured by the Crime Syndicate, who report that their own world is experiencing a power drain.  Batman keeps seeing Joker-like evidence like a banana peel and water spraying flower. He killed The Joker, didn't he? Following clues to the ruins of Arkham Asylum, he instead finds Deadman, who has discovered that The Spectre is involved in some cosmic battle on a whole other scale.  My Two Cents: Still hard to know where all this is going. The same basic element of mysterious power drain is repeated in each setting, but without forwarding the plot. Lois Lane name drops Detective Dan “Terrible” Turpin. He was a main character in Grant Morrison’s Final Crisis. A little research shows me that he was a Kirby Fourth World character. I should have known that Morrison was homaging an existing character. 
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Post by Duragizer on Mar 30, 2019 21:26:44 GMT -5
Art looks very nice, but yeah, the writing seems very meh. Elseworlds/imaginary stories which show Kal-El raised by different parents in different places only to turn out the exact same character as in mainstream continuity miss the whole point of writing such stories.
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Post by Icctrombone on Mar 31, 2019 7:09:28 GMT -5
Art looks very nice, but yeah, the writing seems very meh. Elseworlds/imaginary stories which show Kal-El raised by different parents in different places only to turn out the exact same character as in mainstream continuity miss the whole point of writing such stories. I guess you're stuck with only 3 options, he becomes the same guy , he becomes evil, or he stays out of any events and lives a normal life. I imagine that if he doesn't become one of the first 2, it will make for a boring story. |
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Post by rberman on Mar 31, 2019 8:19:38 GMT -5
Art looks very nice, but yeah, the writing seems very meh. Elseworlds/imaginary stories which show Kal-El raised by different parents in different places only to turn out the exact same character as in mainstream continuity miss the whole point of writing such stories. I guess you're stuck with only 3 options, he becomes the same guy , he becomes evil, or he stays out of any events and lives a normal life. I imagine that if he doesn't become one of the first 2, it will make for a boring story. offers a fourth Superman, and Supreme Power a fifth, and Secret Identity has a meaningful variation on "good Superman." Creative writers can find more. For Alan Davis, the alternate Superman is not the focus; he's on relatively few pages of the story. Davis is trying to mix up the whole DCU but doesn't really have strong and thorough plots for any of his alternative details. What if Green Arrow were crippled and embittered? What if Black Canary led the Outsiders? What if Jimmy Olsen were injected with Kryptonian DNA? What if Lex Luthor were mayor of Metropolis? What if Superman were Amish? Any one of these could lead to a story, but Davis seems content with the set-up rather than the conclusion. Perhaps he was thinking in terms of his work on Excalibur, which offered alternate reality versions that were pretty sketchy, just to bounce the "real" characters off of for a few pages.  |
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Post by rberman on Mar 31, 2019 8:29:25 GMT -5
JLA: Another Nail #3 (September 2004) The Story: Two members of the adult Legion in a convenient time bubble rescue Wonder Woman and Aquaman from prehistoric times.  Eclipso tries to hold Lois Lane and the Kents hostage, but they fight back and capture him instead, leaving Superman free to go fight other menaces. "What if Eclipso was a chump?" is the alternate reality explored here.  The Demons Three have resurrected The Joker and granted him mystic power. He beats up on Batman until Doctor Fate arrives to turn the tide. Batman follows The Joker back through the portal to Hell to ensure that he stays there. Dr. Fate retrieves Batman.  The Flash and The Atom escape the Crime Syndicate on Earth-3 and take a tour of various other worlds of the Multiverse, including Earth-S, Earth-Charlton, Earth-Inferior Five, and Earth-Magnus, Robot Hunter. Or whatever they are called. I guess in the era of the New 52, all the Earths have numbers that you just have to try to remember or look up.  A time-disrupting wormhole near the JLA Satellite causes pretty much every DC character ever to appear simultaneously. It’s all the fault of a giant unicellular organism, spanning all space and time, and sucking the energy from everywhere. Superman volunteers to fly a bomb to the center of the creature to kill it and save the multiverse. But after he tries and fails, Amazo shows up, with Oliver Queen’s brain transplanted into his robot body by Dr. Niles Caulder. Amazo/Ollie uses all the powers of all the heroes to accomplish the mission and save the multiverse. Harmony is restored to the Multiverse.  My Two Cents: Finally the punchline: Alan Davis wanted to do a Crisis on Infinite Earths story that would allow him to draw all the heroes in a big double-splash. The whole story leads up to that point. The giant space amoeba reminds me of the climax of DC: The New Frontier by Darwin Cooke, and also of the DC Comics Presents #26 free insert that introduced the New Teen Titans.  Wait, didn't Adam Strange die back in The Nail #1? I guess this is Strange from another alternate reality.
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Alan Davis draws some beautiful bodies...