Echo ... Batman...

Echo 22

Everyone should read Echo.  It's so much more interesting than any other comic book out there right now.  Written by Terry Moore, the writer of Strangers In Paradise, Runaways, and Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, it's a huge departure from what I'd come to expect from him.  The most recent installment begins the run-up to the end - it's a limited series, in 30 parts.  This is part 22.

The story begins with a bang - literally.  Julie Martin is recovering from a divorce, out at Moon Lake (a dry lake bed) with her camera when BLAM!  Something explodes in mid-air, pelting her with drops of silvery metal, which will not come off her skin.  Instead, the drops merge into a kind of breastplate, covering most of her upper body and one arm. 

A doctor tries to touch it, and it takes his fingernail off.  Anyone with violent intent toward Julie is either thrown off or killed, all without Julie being able to control what the suit is doing.  And it's growing - the alloy attracts stray droplets of itself, and the more it attracts, the more Julie hears... an echo.

What Julie doesn't know is that the metal is an alloy from a very special suit created by physicist Annie Trotter for the Phi Project.  The big bang Julie witnessed (and is now wearing the fallout from) was Annie testing the suit.  Boom.  But Annie isn't completely gone.  The alloy bonds with the wearer at the quantum level, bonding DNA to itself.  Somehow, the echo of Annie survives, and the more of the alloy Julie wears, the more strongly Annie is able to come through.  And boy, do they need her to come through.

Turns out that the Phi Project, like so many earthly organizations, doesn't know its own strength.  They are committed to running this alloy through their collider (you know, like the Large Hadron Collider at Cern...?).  Annie knows that when they do this, it will be the last act of man - it will create a wormhole, a black hole, that will swallow up the entire earth, the solar system, maybe the universe itself.  So the race is on to stop that collider - Julie is aided by Dillon, Annie's boyfriend, and Ivy Raven, an agent sent to retrieve her, but who switches sides to help Julie. 

Echo is a book that, while I love Terry Moore's clean, elegant line work, would really benefit from color.  The story is complex and it's sometimes hard to tell one character from another at key moments.  It can be figured out without a lot of brain bending or eyestrain, it's just that with color, I think it would just be a bit more organic to follow.

The book is a fascinating read, combining elements of physics, metaphysics and psychology; it's the Dan Brown equivalent of an analysis of religion.  heh heh.  It's also nominated for an Eisner award, so I'm not the only geek who thinks it's worth a look.  Not only that, but Terry Moore's latest creation has caught the attention of Hollywood - Lloyd Levin, producer of the Watchmen, Hellboy, The Rocketeer and others, has optioned the series for a movie.  Check it out.

Batman 700

Batman #700 - that's a LOT of Batman comics, man.  First of all, the cover is amazing.  Beautiful work by David Finch.  The story by Tony Daniel (first half) and Grant Morrison (second half) is uneven, however. 

Still, "Time and the Batman" - cleverly, this is the answer to the riddle/joke that is posed again and again in the story - is an interesting read, using several different artists, among them Frank Quitely and Adam Kubert, to tell a tale of many Batmen.

I liked the way the characterization of Batman-Dick is progressing.  He smiles.  He asks the cop about his child.  He's a kinder, gentler Batman.  I liked the way the characterization of Batman-Damian shows him to be a different man, and a different Batman altogether.  I loved seeing Terry MacGinnis in continuity for the first time (I think it was the first time, anyhow).  Batman past, present and future - it was a great idea, and some of it worked well.

Some of it was a bit obtuse, however (that's Morrison for you).  I got the ending, I guess, but it really felt a bit disjointed and hyper at the end.  I know they were going for a manic feel, especially in the Damian timeline, but it just got very confusing for me, and the artwork was too busy and felt a bit rushed - anniversary issues sell forever, it's not good to rush them.  Overall, I recommend the book, but with the reservation that if you like a good, clean, readable story, this may not fit the bill in all areas.  But where it works, it's very good, and a fun and worthwhile investment.

Echo 11, World Of New Krypton 2, Green Lantern 39

So, I'm a little lax - I've been busy, people.

But here are a few reviews for books out this week, and in a much more timely manner than I've been able to do this past couple of weeks (tax time, kids). For your perusal:

World of New Krypton #2
In only two issues, Greg Rucka and Pete Woods have created what looks to be a new classic.

World of New Krypton is a fascinating look at morality, an all-but-extinct civilization, family values, and the character of Superman. Most people who know me realize that I'm a big fan of Superman. I've always felt like writers who call Superman a character so powerful he's boring are just not big enough themselves to write a character this potentially exciting and fun. Now, with a 70-year old character, Rucka begins to show us how fascinating Superman - now living as Kal-El among the Kryptonians - can really be in a way no one so far, except Grant Morrison in the excellent All Star Superman - has.

There are a great number of intriguing ideas being explored in this series, the best of which are the morality ideas. Pete Woods' art is clean and his storytelling style is clear and well suited to Greg Rucka's pacing in the plot department. We get a lot of information about the Kryptonian Guild system - a caste system at odds with the supposed advanced nature of this civilization. We get some insight into each of our characters, sometimes in unexpected ways. And we get a lot of story packed into each issue - all in all, completely worthy of DC's flagship character and franchise.

The very provocative problem of Kal-El being assigned to the Military Guild under General Zod, despite his personal code against killing of any kind begins to come front and center in this issue. After putting a stop to the "initiation" of Non into his unit (by stopping the teasing and torture of an animal), now placed under Kal's command, Superman establishes his leadership. Soon, Kal is ordered to put a stop to a stampede of Kryptonian Thought Beasts before they can destroy an atmosphere-generating station - "by any means necessary." All of his unit agree that the easiest way to stop the frightened, angry animals is simply to kill them, but Kal insists that his soldiers follow his lead and do some "ranching". This entails a little laser-eye ditch-digging, which one man remarks with distaste "is work for the Labor Guild." Kal takes it in stride, saying there's no shame in that. With the beasts finally contained, the unit grudgingly sees that perhaps killing off a herd of creatures who already close to extinction is not a good idea. A parallel is drawn between the Thought Beasts and the Kryptonians themselves (near extinction) - another provocative idea.

There are two moments in the story that were quite touching - one with Alura, and one with Supergirl. And there's plenty of Action here (get it?) - as the Labor Guild decides that, with a new beginning on this new world, they should stand as equals and peers to the other Guilds, and not be treated like second-class citizens any longer - the start of a revolution, or at least, an uprising. All readers should find something to love in this book, and it's particularly appropriate for 10 and ups - read it with your kids and talk about the situations presented!

I recommend this book for ALL readers except the very youngest!

Echo #11

Terry Moore's ASIP (After Strangers In Paradise) indie book is a mixed bag for me, so far. The first few issues were a little slow building. The concept interested me, and I trust Moore as a writer - and as always, his art is impeccable - so I stuck with it despite the slow start.

Briefly, Echo is the story of Julie, who went out into the desert with her camera one day, and saw something she wasn't supposed to see - an explosion, caused by an experimental weapons test. She took some pictures - again, not really supposed to - and got caught in the "fallout", which was like silvery drops of metallic rain. But what hit her didn't just roll off - it stuck to her and then coalesced around her shoulders and bust as a sort of half-shield. Scared and confused, and also grieving the breakup of her marriage, Julie is at a loss as to what to do. She doesn't realize it, but some government officials are looking for her - they want their silvery stuff back. What the government doesn't realize is that the silvery stuff contains the residual intelligence - an echo - of the woman who helped design it, and who was testing it at the time it went ballistic. That echo is trying to make contact with Julie, and later, with Dillon - the boyfriend of the echo's former self, Annie - who has met and is helping Julie avoid the authorities until they both get some answers about what happened.

The thing is, Julie doesn't know or understand what it is that has attached itself to her, and so she has no control over the things it does. Anyone with violent or ill intentions who touches her gets blown back violently, and ... well, let's just say that when the feds caught up with her last issue, it wasn't pretty. And if that weren't enough, another guy - a crazy looking "prophet" sort of dude - who has part of that silver stuff on him appears - and not in a good way. With last issue's frightening developments, I was curious as to how Moore would begin to pull some of the threads of his story together.

The story is definitely ramping up and getting better as more is revealed, and now I'm actively interested in the next issue. Still, the book is a short 18 pages per issue, and each issue ends so abruptly that I end up turning through every one of the following 4 pages of ads, not believing there's no more there. I'm sure it reads great as a collection, but man, it makes for some confusing reading issue by issue. I find myself going, "Wha hoppen'?" and "Is that it?"

That's a bone of contention that I think is rather minor, considering, though - if the worst thing you can say is that you wanted another couple of pages, well, that's a pretty good book! As I mentioned earlier, Moore's art has only improved over the years. His lovely, sensitive facial expressions, body language, and all the little details that really make the work live are right at home here, and you hardly notice that the book is black and white. His line work is the most elegant in all comics, I believe - young inkers, take note. And his stuff is not overworked or overdrawn at all - young pencillers, pay attention.

I recommend this book for older readers - 15 / 16 + - because of violence; adults will certainly enjoy the book on many levels.

Green Lantern #39

The Agent Orange story kicks off with a huge bang! I have to admit, I've been breathlessly waiting for this story to get underway - Green Lantern has been great since Geoff Johns has been writing it - best it's been since the long-gone days of the Hard Traveling Heroes.

The beginning of the story is just creepy and great - we open with some Darkstars-looking dudes called The Controllers, heading down into a cavern-like underground palace. Meanwhile, the "voiceover" is someone in an orange box saying "Mine Mine Mine" basically. Delicious! When the Controllers find Larfleeze (the Orange Lantern's ring-bearer)... they wish they hadn't. And all because nobody taught Larfleeze to share. It's really fun. In a really gruesome sort of way.

We then discover what has happened to Hal Jordan since he was taken over by the red ring - apparently the red rings don't ask permission, they simply take their chosen host and impose their power on him or her. Jordan, resisting, was aided by Saint Walker, who jammed a blue ring on his finger. It forced the red rage out of him, and he shed the red ring, but now he is stuck in a sort of blue-green limbo - the blue ring does not have any power other than flight and a sort of protective aura so the wearer can fly through space, unless a Green Lantern is nearby. Apparently, hope is useless without will.

Sounds like a soap opera: "Will Hope find the Will to live, the Hope to go on? Or will Will have to settle for hope if Hope can't find the will to live?" Heh. Anyhow, interestingly, the blue and green are not the only rings that form a symbiotic relationship - the blue rings supercharge the green, and the green enable the blues to be used as weapons. The indigo are also a part of this little trinity, as Hope evidently should be working with Compassion. Whew! Lots of emotion here! I can only imagine what the Star Sapphires (Love) will bring. And now with the orange (Greed/Avarice) in the picture, will it feed the Sinestro Corps? Doesn't Greed breed Fear (of loss), and vice versa?

And what has happened to Green Lantern Stell, since his encounter with Larfleeze? He's looked better.

The things I love: All the colors/emotions. The Controllers. Larfleeze. The artwork. The writing (dialogue is crisp and realistic, not stilted, story is compelling).

Things I hate: Jordan and the Guardians are all dumb. Jordan just rails and rants all the time any more - come on, Johns. "I have nothing to hope for." Really? For crying out loud, why not just hope that the blue ring will come off soon, or that you can get Carol Ferris alone someplace for a quickie?

I know this writer can do better than this in terms of character development. The Guardians continue to stubbornly refuse to believe all that's happening, despite the evidence right in front of them. Some Guardians, huh? With Guardians this stupid and stubborn, it's no wonder Earth is in such a mess. Why do they continually say that Jordan's will is strong enough to power the entire Green Lantern Corps, yet expect us to believe he cannot summon the will to take off that blue ring? Huh? Sigh. Things like this, as much as I love the overall story, make me a little crazy.
Still, this book is recommended - I think it's the best superhero book going, except for JSA. It's a bit violent (Larfleeze tears some people in half) so I don't recommend it for younger or more easily disturbed kids, but it is really good for older kids, perhaps 14 +. I like it and I'm way older than that.