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Fantastic Four: J. Michael Straczynski, Vol. 1 - Before we had endured the horrific "Civil War" storyline, one of my very favorite comic runs of all time came to an end: Mark Waid's tenure on Fantastic Four. I still go back and re-read it sometimes. Now, obviously, after one of your favorite runs by any writer on any comic EVER ends, it's really hard to read the follow-up. So I avoided JMS' run on the FF for a few years, fearing that my love for Waid would color my opinion. After enduring all the bullshit that the FF got put through during and after the Civil War storyline, though... well, the worst that JMS could throw at me was no longer scary. I saw his first volume on sale for cheap, and I took the plunge.
The main story deals with Reed being brought in by the government to oversee a project to fly 40 men and women into a cosmic storm matching the one that granted the FF their powers. In other words, the government wants to create a "Fantastic Forty" army for themselves. This SHOULD be a great launching point for ethical dilemmas on the part of Reed, questions about what form the powers will take... but once the latter idea is raised once, the story veers off wildly. And I mean fuckin' WILDLY. Pretty soon a shadowy telepathic creature from space is taking Reed back in time and using him to create the universe after the Big Bang, logic is forgotten and WTF-ness reigns supreme. The story feels like a retread in many ways, including the part where Reed winds up on the government's bad side by taking a questionable stand (Waid did this just a year prior to this storyline), and the sub-story where child services threatens to take Franklin and Val away from Reed and Sue - holy crap, I swear this is an idea that's been discussed to death, even if it hasn't been written out on paper. Should I give JMS any kudos for actually writing it down, though? Because the ol' "child services in superhero universes" issue is discussed jokingly, and then everybody agrees it's something we're glad comics don't bog themselves down with, like the question of whether Reed has ever had sex with Sue from across the hall. WE DON'T WANNA GO THERE! It's every bit as annoying and unpleasant as it sounds.
I'm left with the feeling that JMS at least writes a Johnny that's smarter than the dumbass we're often given, and his Sue is fairly on-point, but we barely touch Ben and his Reed isn't nearly as pleasant as Waid's (though certainly not as bad as the Civil War Anti-Reed version either). All in the service of a story that is part old news, part bizarre and disjointed. In short: Pass.
Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller, Vol. 3 - So everybody knows that Frank Miller made Daredevil popular again in the early '80s by introducing Elektra and then soon killing her in such a dramatic fashion, right? That was collected in Vol. 2 of this series. Vol. 1 was just some stories that he did artwork on - nothing that had his writing, so it wasn't worth much. Miller is mostly remembered for the Elektra saga, and then subsequently for writing "Born Again" in the book years later, as well as his take on the origin of Daredevil in "The Man Without Fear." A lot of people forget, however, that after he did the Elektra saga on the comic, he still hung around to write many more issues before departing the series. All of those remaining issues, the ones that come AFTER Elektra's death but BEFORE he came back and did "Born Again" are collected here in Volume 3.
And they're balls-out awesome. These days it's easy to forget how good a writer Miller used to be - I mean, All-Star Batman & Robin is a fuckin' TRAIN WRECK, and when he writes shit like that and the abominable "The Dark Knight Strikes Again" he loses a lot of the goodwill he gained for doing "The Dark Knight Returns," "Born Again" and the story of Wolverine in Japan, you know? The sad fact is that he got too old, cynical and, um, kind of crazy to write superheroes anymore. But back in the early '80s, he completely knew what he was doing.
The stories here include the first meeting between the Punisher and Daredevil, who were destined even then to be long-term opposites. They also feature Matt's relationship with the Irish lady Heather, and how it's influenced by his grief over Elektra, which drives him to do some not-so-nice things in the pursuit of some normalcy in his life. Then the Hand shows up, and their attempts to resurrect Elektra drive a multi-issue arc. Although they ultimately fail, you learn a lot about Matt, Foggy, the Black Widow, Stick and others in the process. Finally there are a couple of one-shots, including a surprisingly funny outing in which Foggy tries to fake his way into the criminal underworld by pretending to be a hitman - who knew Miller could do comedy? - and a very dramatic piece where Matt sits over the hospitalized Bullseye and plays Russian roulette with him while telling the story of his guilt over a recent tragedy. The last one might be my favorite of the whole book. It then closes out with two oddities - a pair of "What If?" issues that Miller did, one which has Matt being recruited by SHIELD after he is blinded in his youth, and the other that explores what would've happened if Bullseye had never killed Elektra. Curiosities at most, the latter being the more intriguing of the two and the former being rather bland.
Most people don't seem to even know these stories exist, and it's a damn shame. They are fantastic, well worthy of being held up against his best work on Daredevil or Batman for that matter. And another book I got on the dirt-cheap... though at least this was well worth my time.
The main story deals with Reed being brought in by the government to oversee a project to fly 40 men and women into a cosmic storm matching the one that granted the FF their powers. In other words, the government wants to create a "Fantastic Forty" army for themselves. This SHOULD be a great launching point for ethical dilemmas on the part of Reed, questions about what form the powers will take... but once the latter idea is raised once, the story veers off wildly. And I mean fuckin' WILDLY. Pretty soon a shadowy telepathic creature from space is taking Reed back in time and using him to create the universe after the Big Bang, logic is forgotten and WTF-ness reigns supreme. The story feels like a retread in many ways, including the part where Reed winds up on the government's bad side by taking a questionable stand (Waid did this just a year prior to this storyline), and the sub-story where child services threatens to take Franklin and Val away from Reed and Sue - holy crap, I swear this is an idea that's been discussed to death, even if it hasn't been written out on paper. Should I give JMS any kudos for actually writing it down, though? Because the ol' "child services in superhero universes" issue is discussed jokingly, and then everybody agrees it's something we're glad comics don't bog themselves down with, like the question of whether Reed has ever had sex with Sue from across the hall. WE DON'T WANNA GO THERE! It's every bit as annoying and unpleasant as it sounds.
I'm left with the feeling that JMS at least writes a Johnny that's smarter than the dumbass we're often given, and his Sue is fairly on-point, but we barely touch Ben and his Reed isn't nearly as pleasant as Waid's (though certainly not as bad as the Civil War Anti-Reed version either). All in the service of a story that is part old news, part bizarre and disjointed. In short: Pass.
Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller, Vol. 3 - So everybody knows that Frank Miller made Daredevil popular again in the early '80s by introducing Elektra and then soon killing her in such a dramatic fashion, right? That was collected in Vol. 2 of this series. Vol. 1 was just some stories that he did artwork on - nothing that had his writing, so it wasn't worth much. Miller is mostly remembered for the Elektra saga, and then subsequently for writing "Born Again" in the book years later, as well as his take on the origin of Daredevil in "The Man Without Fear." A lot of people forget, however, that after he did the Elektra saga on the comic, he still hung around to write many more issues before departing the series. All of those remaining issues, the ones that come AFTER Elektra's death but BEFORE he came back and did "Born Again" are collected here in Volume 3.
And they're balls-out awesome. These days it's easy to forget how good a writer Miller used to be - I mean, All-Star Batman & Robin is a fuckin' TRAIN WRECK, and when he writes shit like that and the abominable "The Dark Knight Strikes Again" he loses a lot of the goodwill he gained for doing "The Dark Knight Returns," "Born Again" and the story of Wolverine in Japan, you know? The sad fact is that he got too old, cynical and, um, kind of crazy to write superheroes anymore. But back in the early '80s, he completely knew what he was doing.
The stories here include the first meeting between the Punisher and Daredevil, who were destined even then to be long-term opposites. They also feature Matt's relationship with the Irish lady Heather, and how it's influenced by his grief over Elektra, which drives him to do some not-so-nice things in the pursuit of some normalcy in his life. Then the Hand shows up, and their attempts to resurrect Elektra drive a multi-issue arc. Although they ultimately fail, you learn a lot about Matt, Foggy, the Black Widow, Stick and others in the process. Finally there are a couple of one-shots, including a surprisingly funny outing in which Foggy tries to fake his way into the criminal underworld by pretending to be a hitman - who knew Miller could do comedy? - and a very dramatic piece where Matt sits over the hospitalized Bullseye and plays Russian roulette with him while telling the story of his guilt over a recent tragedy. The last one might be my favorite of the whole book. It then closes out with two oddities - a pair of "What If?" issues that Miller did, one which has Matt being recruited by SHIELD after he is blinded in his youth, and the other that explores what would've happened if Bullseye had never killed Elektra. Curiosities at most, the latter being the more intriguing of the two and the former being rather bland.
Most people don't seem to even know these stories exist, and it's a damn shame. They are fantastic, well worthy of being held up against his best work on Daredevil or Batman for that matter. And another book I got on the dirt-cheap... though at least this was well worth my time.
destroy all monsters