Independence Day?

A moment of silence for the ancestors who were anything but free on July 4th, 1776.

[Review] SECRET SIX #11 (SPOILERS!)

(SECRET SIX #11; all photos courtesy of DC COMICS)

The best comic not enough of you are reading.

SECRET SIX #11
“Depths, part two: Amazons Unleashed”
Gail Simone, writer
Nicola Scott, artist
Doug Hazlewood & Mark McKenna, inkers
Jason Wright, colorist
Travis Lanham, letterer
Sean Ryan, editor

SPOILERS AHEAD!


It always astounds me that SECRET SIX is one of the top 3 best written and drawn books currently being published at DC Comics (the others are DETECTIVE COMICS and BATMAN & ROBIN) and yet, according to Diamond Distributors, orders for the book languish somewhere near the deep end of the top 100.

This is utter madness; especially since my local comic shop (one of the largest and most renown in the country) consistently sells out of the book (I’ve had to back order the title at least 3 times!) and my repeated complaints to management seem to fall upon deaf ears. I understand caution during these rough economic times, yes. But if a comic is flying off of your shelves, does it not occur to you that there are more people out there who would buy it if they saw it on your shelves? Instead, like every comic shop across the country, they hedge their bets and overstock their shelves with WOLVERINE and GREEN LANTERN. There’s not accounting for taste, I suppose (Heh!).

(The Six!)

In any event, SECRET SIX is a filthy fantasy of a book written with the same demented genius as the Marquis de Sade and illustrated with the same classical seediness as Goya. For those of you who may not know, the Secret Six is a group of 6 super-villains who—for reasons relating equally to psychosis, selfishness, and honor—have banded together to form their own Doom Patrol of sorts. The difference is that the doom they patrol isn’t always necessarily on the exterior. The team consists of an unusually protective Bane; the gorgeously re-imagined Catman; the amoral Deadshot; the complex banshee, Jeannette; the figuratively and literally twisted Ragdoll; and savage daughter of Vandal, Scandal.

In this issue, the second installment of the story arc, the Secret Six involve themselves (for a substantial financial reward, of course) with a man (and I use that term loosely) named Mr. Smyth who tells them that he is intent on ushering in a new golden age of existence. Using the plain old Enlightenment justification (greed and sadism disguised as “natural” and “logical”), Mr. Smyth proposes that chattel slavery will be the salvation of the world. This revelation immediately begins to impact the Six, and whatever moral codes they possess, as they make their feelings known.

Part of what makes this issue such a remarkable piece of literature is that its most shocking and revelatory moments are also the ones that reach outside of the serial fiction and creep right into the real world. When Bane tells Mr. Smyth that he senses that the country they are in isn’t really a country, Mr. Smyth, with a smile every bit as cruel as his intentions, says:

“Yes, it’s a prison. But it thinks it’s a nation.”

(Revelation)

Further in, Artemis, the Amazon who has been captured, drugged, and tortured (but not yet broken) by Mr. Smyth, waxes philosophical about the ways of humankind to a man who believes himself above that for which he is complicit and which he has, wittingly or unwittingly, condoned:

“That’s the way of it, captain. Always first, the good intentions, the belief in change. The sneering dismissal of the previous jailer’s failures.”

I don’t know about you, but that sounds suspiciously like a (slightly) veiled Obama critique.

And really, the most intelligent and frightening segments of this issue are those in which Artemis is present. When her jailers attempt to tamper with her womanhood, she, without batting an eyelash, warns them:

“I will wear on my belt any hand that touches me, and thus deny you of the only living thing likely to give you any satisfaction voluntarily.”

Delicious.

(Lifting the veil)

Jeanette, who apparently has some unknown previous love/hate relationship with the Amazons, frees Artemis, and Artemis reveals that there are more Amazons in captivity. But before she and Jeanette can free them, the rest of the Six intervene, the members choose sides and quickly begin to gut one another.

But the slaughter is quickly interrupted, for descending from the heavens is a goddess with a chip on her shoulder. They fucked with her family and now someone has to be brought to justice.

It looks like next issue the Six are going to learn why it’s not nice to fool with an Amazon.

(She's gonna fuck you up!)

Simone is in peak form here, superbly interweaving politics, morality, depravity and action. And her skill is amplified duly by Scott, who makes the grotesque beautiful, and the beautiful sublime. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more compelling read.

5 out of 5 Baldwins

Michael Jackson: Rest In Peace

The Michael Jackson cacophony is fascinating in that it is not about Jackson at all. I hope he has the good sense to know it and the good fortune to snatch his life out of the jaws of a carnivorous success. He will not swiftly be forgiven for having turned so many tables, for he damn sure grabbed the brass ring, and the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo has nothing on Michael.

All that noise is about America, as the dishonest custodian of black life and wealth; the blacks, especially males, in America; and the burning, buried American guilt; and sex and sexual roles and sexual panic; money, success and despair--to all of which may now be added the bitter need to find a head on which to place the crown of Miss America.

Freaks are called freaks and are treated as they are treated--in the main, abominably--because they are human beings who cause to echo, deep within us, our most profound terrors and desires.

- James Baldwin, "Here Be Dragons" (1985)

Michael Joseph Jackson August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009

A Gay Exorcism

[Review] DETECTIVE COMICS #854 (SPOILERS!)

(DETECTIVE COMICS #854 by the talented Mr. Williams; courtesy of DC Comics)

DETECTIVE COMICS #854
"Elegy, Part One: Agitato"
Greg Rucka, writer
J.H. Williams III, artist
Dave Stewart, colors
Todd Klein, letters
Harvey Richards, assistant editor
Michael Siglain, editor


Let me just put this on out there:

J.H. Williams III is an artistic genius.

I just had the extreme pleasure of purchasing DETECTIVE COMICS #854 starring The Batwoman. I have never seen anything like this before—not in the super-imaginative work of Frank Quitely; not in the epic scope of Olivier Coipel; not in the blinding detail of Phil Jimenez. Never before have I seen in a comic book artwork worthy of hanging, seriously, next to a Picasso or a Renoir. Williams uses the oddest panel layouts (which, themselves, are hidden messages) and the most intimidating perspectives to make the work seem, literally, alive. There is a texture here that should be impossible to attain. He’s assaulting every one of the senses; I swear: you can hear the squeak of the leather; feel the fluttering of capes; taste the lipstick on Kate’s (Batwoman's) lips.

It’s a remarkable achievement; maddeningly so because you can’t explain how he achieved it. Though, I do believe it’s partly due to one of the other members of the band. Dave Stewart colored the shit out of this book. I mean really—the reds are blood red; the blacks are silky black; the blues are like Billie Holliday; and the whites are tinged with a hint of menace. It’s shocking and yet it’s precisely what the book needed. And Todd Klein, with his lettering, provides lightning.

Then there’s the matter of Kate herself who is, essentially, a blank slate that Greg Rucka gets to animate with all sorts of signs and symbols; drama and chaos; ancient markings and future predictions. Here we have a woman of tremendous privilege (and of impeccable fashion sense) who, because of the mark she wears on her chest (and I mean that in more than one sense), feels it is her duty to go out into the night and terrorize the evil that lays in wait. She’s graceful and gritty, intelligent, but not pretentious. She’s pale as a ghost, most likely because, in some sense, she is a ghost—or is, at least, haunted by them.

This is clear in the breakfast scene where Kate arrives late to a date with her girlfriend (who very quickly becomes her ex-girlfriend). The conversation is stern but delicate. There is humor here about, of all things, flannel. The tension is relentless. It works. It’s easy. And it’s unabashed.

There is something genuine in Kate’s relationship with her father, whom she calls “sir.” Why does she call him this? Why not “Daddy” like all Daddy’s girls do? Because I’m not certain they think of each other as kin as much as they regard each other as soldiers and therefore have a deeper, inextricable bond. There is love, yes. But also, there is duty and war: “We soldier on.” And, too, a little comedy: "Misunderstandistan."

This is Rucka’s element: the down-deep, the underbelly, the seedy darkness of pissy alleyways and rat-infested lots--those that exist within us as well as those that exist without. And even in this dank place, there is whimsy—sadistic, but charming nonetheless. Her name is Alice and she wants you to be ashamed of yourself. Her bizarre intentions are in her puritan/not-so-puritan garb and in her face paint. "Stuff and nonsense," she says. Yeah. I can fuck with that.

And it’s here that he cast his crime-fighter. It’s The Wire meets The Matrix, forming something entirely new. It’s measured and thoughtful. Brilliant, really.

(And you get the extra bonus of a Question story to boot!)

5 out of 5 Baldwins

[Review] WONDER WOMAN #33 (SPOILERS!)

(Spectacular WONDER WOMAN #33 variant cover by Bernard Chang; courtesy of DC Comics)

WONDER WOMAN #33
"The Rise of the Olympian, finale: Monarch of the Dead"
Gail Simone, writer
Aaron Lopresti, artist
Matt Ryan, inker
Brad Anderson, colorist
Travis Lanham, letterer
Sean Ryan, associate editor
Elisabeth V. Gehrlein, editor

Wonder Woman created by William Moulton Marston

SPOILERS AHEAD!

“The Rise of the Olympian” feels like, in many ways, a jigsaw whose pieces come from a thousand different puzzles and are being forced to fit together nonetheless. The resulting image is a haphazard quilt rather than a coherent picture, inspiring frustration rather than satisfaction.

The story seems to be striving for a level of complexity—the interweaving of various plot elements that the reader is asked to believe form one whole story—that it never actually attains. It never really feels whole. Instead, it feels contrived, piecemeal, clumsy, unwieldy. Even after reading all 8 parts in one sitting, I’m still perplexed by the events set in motion and their left-field (non) resolution.

What I’m most confounded by in this story are the motivations of the characters involved. I’m never quite clear on why any of these characters behave as they do. Whether Ares, Athena, or Zeus, I can’t quite discern the reasons for these characters’ actions. This story didn't ever make that clear to me. About the only thing that was clear was that these things had to happen so that a certain outcome could be achieved.

According to the story, Ares, Cheetah, the Secret Society, The Circle, Zeus, Athena, the return of the Olympian gods, the creation of the male Amazons, the return of the female Amazons, The Ichor, Achilles (and all the other loose plot elements contained in therein) needed to happen so that Diana (Wonder Woman) could be placed in the position to renounce her gods and her Amazon identity for reasons that seem specious at best and orchestrated at worst. Furthermore, the revelation is neither novel nor surprising. Diana has been here before; most recently, two years ago, at the end of the dreadful AMAZONS ATTACK mini-series.

Diana, of course, is operating from a place of ignorance. As far as we know, she doesn’t know that her gods were kidnapped by Darkseid and his ilk; she doesn’t know that Granny Goodness was imitating Athena; she doesn’t really know that Athena set Zeus on his erratic course to give the Amazons "a well-deserved rest." She seems oddly ignorant of the larger picture that has set this hullabaloo in motion when it should seem rather obvious. And even when she has the opportunity, she doesn’t investigate. Pertinent information is always revealed to her, Deus-ex-machina-style, by Athena. How strange is it that Diana expresses no surprise at the return of her sister Amazons? The last matter is particularly disconcerting considering last issue’s revelation regarding her “love interest” Tom Tresser aka Nemesis.

It is that and other things revealed in this storyline that make Wonder Woman seem rather untrustworthy. She admits to never revealing to her teammates in the Justice League just how dangerous the lasso is. In interviews, Simone has billed the lasso as the “most dangerous weapon in the universe.” In hindsight, I’m not certain the lasso, as presented in the context of this story, seems that dangerous at all. Certainly, it’s not as dangerous as it was presented in Joe Kelly’s “Golden Perfect” arc in JLA. There, it was shown that reality itself it rewritten if Diana’s bond to the lasso is made untrue. Here, the lasso has access to one’s soul, an access that could inflict coma or death. How exactly does that make it any more dangerous than a handgun, or a power ring for that matter?

But I think what is most shocking about this comic are the moments of groan-inducing dialogue. Simone is typically gifted in this arena, but in this issue the dialogue just seems so overwrought, so overdramatic, so belabored that it’s unintentionally comedic:

“Drag my corpse into the sea when I am killed. I was not meant for firm soil.”

“Even in death, she clutches the sword hilt. Rest in honor, Antinus.”

“And war calls to blood like a child to its mother.”

I wish I could say that what I felt the story lacked was made up in the visual aspects, but I can’t. Aaron Lopresti is certainly a competent artist. In fact, in WONDER WOMAN #28, he created what I’m sure can be looked upon as a masterpiece. But here, like in other issues of this story, he fails to arouse the requisite terror and scale that story seems to call for.

When the Amazons declare war on the attacking sea-monsters—which, by the way, don’t like terrifying at all; one of them actually looks like a giant Swamp Thing, the rest like monsters Godzilla fought and defeated in the 60’s—you would expect to see legions of Amazons descend upon the shores of Themyscira and attack with all their might. Instead, Lopresti draws no more than a dozen Amazons with swords and something called a “Hephaestus canon.” The dialogue indicates that there are an infinite number of monsters to be called upon, but we see no more than 5 or 6 on the page. The Amazons are billed as the greatest warriors on the planet, but there’s never any real indication of this in the art. The art renders them as just a bunch of women who wildly swing swords without significant strategy or effect. They seem to have more in common with Huns than with any advanced, finely-tuned military operation. This artistic limitation also has the unfortunate ability to limit the impact of the scenes—most of which are both static and crowded (with nothing), and oddly, flawed in anatomy and perspective.

It seems a rather dubious investment this 8-part arc; particularly so because it failed to answer, with any authority or clarity, very many of the questions I thought it would:

• Who are the Ichor?

• Why are the gods dressed like astronauts?

• Why is Athena no longer in charge of the Olympian pantheon?

• Why was it necessary for Athena to fake her death?

• Why was it necessary for Ares to create Genocide? Why is this Ares’ plan when he’s aware that his actions are actually a detriment to his existence (Diana, with the lasso’s help, explained this to him way back in WONDER WOMAN #6 (1987)?

• Why was it necessary for Ares to involve the Secret Society of Super-Villains in Genocide’s creation? With all the power he has displayed, could he have not done the same thing with greater effect by himself?

• Since when, in the context of WONDER WOMAN, did Ares have it out for Zeus in particular?

• Ares is the god of war, yet he couldn’t discern Diana’s intent, couldn’t see the axe coming?

• How did Genocide pollute Wonder Woman’s lasso with “jealousy” and how can it be cleansed?

• What is the significance of the symbols present at Diana’s birth?

• Why isn’t Diana the least bit concerned or curious about the Circle of Amazons who want to kill her?

Often, I feel as though many of the answers to these questions are a pat and simple “Because!” which, of course, isn’t an answer at all.

In the midst of my confusion about this issue and the story arc in general, there is a nice moment where Wonder Woman attacks her would-be rapist, Zeus, and explains, in great detail, how the gods have been nothing but utter disappointments to the Amazons. That is the single bright moment in a comic I had nothing but the greatest expectations for. The best thing about this issue was the absolutely gorgeous variant cover by Bernard Chang—for which I shelled out $10!

“The Rise of the Olympian” was a brilliant idea. I’m sorry that, for the most part, it didn’t rise to the occasion.


1 out of 5 Baldwins

[Law] Clarence Thomas

Clarence Thomas was the sole dissenter in the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision regarding Section 5 of the Civil Rights Voting Act. Section 5 stipulates, simply, that states need federal clearance before making any changes to their voting procedures so that the fed can ensure that said changes aren't being made to discriminate--boldly or surreptitiously--against a minority group.

Thomas, in his infinite wisdom, believes that the violence, discrimination, and disenfranchisement that this particular provision of the law was meant to curb is no longer an issue in America. Apparently, he's unaware that whether or not this provision is necessary in America is dependent, decidely, upon your precise geographic location and, of course, on how creative local institutions and communities can be in coming up with obstacles to place in front of you.