COMICS: Dave's DC Rant: Creeper,JLAGiant,SGirlAdv,etc

[Dave Van Domelen]

Dave's DC Rant:

Jack Kirby's Fourth World #17 "Mother's Day"
The Creeper #8 "There Is Method In't"
Hardcore Station #1 "Dreadstarlin"
JLA Giant #1 "Everything Old Is New Again"
Superman Adventures #21 "Chills Up Her Spine"

Hardcore Station is DCU, although the connection is REALLY tenuous. And
Superman Adventures #21 is Supergirl Adventures #1 repackaged. Spoilers....

Fourth World "Blood War": I almost mistook the title page for a video
game ad, Byrne's computer art just does NOT fit in with the rest of the
book.
We find out that Tigra lied about the Orion retcon in order to goad
*someone* into killing Darkseid, either Orion himself (who would no longer
have to worry about it being the final battle) or Kalibak (who would relish
it being the final battle). Much ado is made about the imminent death of a
god, but Valkyra might as well be wearing a toe-tag considering how strongly
Byrne avoids saying anything whether it will actually be one of the brothers
to die.
The backup story is a mere 3 pages, more of a teaser or ad for the real
backup story, which answers the question, "Considering Byrne spent to much
time developing Drax's character in Darkseid's origin, how long can it be
before Drax comes back from the dead?" The new question is now, "Will Drax
be developed into a completely new character, or retconned into being someone
else, like Himon?"

Creeper "He Who Laughs Last": Okay, this issue goes a long way towards
redeeming the less-than-promising start of last issue. Not only do we get
more quality time with our two laughingboys, but we find that the Creeper's
plot actually was motivated by rational concerns (horror!). The part of
Ryder's mind that is the Creeper could read the "I'm planning a breakout"
vibes the Joker was giving off, and Creeper decided to foil the quiet
sneaking out by creating a big, loud, boistrous breakout which would be
easier to lock down. Especially since he managed to get the inmates fighting
each other.
Of course, when the Creeper realizes that he's making perfect sense, he
decides it's all Ryder's fault, and that appropriate payback is to visit the
ultimate case of writer's block on Jack, which is the subject of next issue.
Artistically, Buscema's style really takes over here. Either
Martinbrough is loosening up and going with Sal's flow, or Sal's taking more
time to "tighten" his pencils...wait. Pause. Rewind. Hasn't the book been
Martinbrough's pencils and Buscema's inks until now? Gar, this is what
happens when I keep my back issues in a different building from my computer.
Anyway, regardless of what the previous arrangement has been, Sal's style is
much more dominant this issue than in previous ones.

Hardcore Station "Genesis": Geez, you could publish this without any
credits, and it would be obvious that Starlin wrote and drew it. That's
practically all you need to know...it's a space opera with a warped cosmic
being, his evil-beyond-words servant, a somewhat decadent future setting...
about the only twist is that the hero of the piece not only starts on the
side of the law (being the top cop on the titular station), but he's seen as
an integral part of the cosmic being's plan, rather than being an
impediment. Essentially, the cosmic being wants to use the cop as a front
man for his religion, either as a hero/savior or as a martyr. Otherwise, it
tracks very much like your basic Starlin Space Opera...the evil servant even
ends up wearing the cross of the Instrumentality, although for trademark
reasons this has to be another religion (mind you, IIRC, the original Magus
also used this cross, Starlin seems to like it). The tenuous connection to
the DCU is during the revelation of the evil servant's past lives, one of
them is from Rann.
If you like Starlin Space Opera, this'll at least be a new take on the
storyline. If you find elements of Starlin's writing or art annoying, you
may want to avoid this one, since most of the really annoying parts are
present in full measure, especially in the art.

JLA Giant: Many stories, I'm just going to skim through them.
"Green Bullet" - Intergang tries to frame Superman for murder, but makes
the mistake of doing it in Gotham, attracting the notice of Batman. So-so
mystery by Ostrander and Lashley.
"For Sale - The Justice League" - Peyer's story of a billionaire
financier for the JLA rings a little too close to the current JLA Year One
subplot for my tastes, but it does allow for some really good Green Arrow
bits. Set after Ollie lost his fortune.
"Mousebusters" - A Giffen-Maguire story set in the background of JLA
#5-6, concerning the mouse that made Guy Gardner rear back and bump his head,
thus becoming nice-nice for a while. Beetle proves that there is no problem
which cannot be made larger by the suitable application of technology. Humor
is a bit broad, but otherwise good.
"Tin Man's Lament" - DeZago teams with another artist from the same
style as Nauck to tell a story of the Vision...er, the Red Tornado, who is
walking through a plot the Vision dealt with almost a decade ago. Mostly
effective, but DeZago pushes his fairytale conceit WAY too far, and it gets
annoying.
"The Secret Society of Super-Villains" - When I read the preview of
this, I decided it was definitely out of continuity, since there were a
number of Golden and Silver Age villains in it, not to mention more deaders
than the "J'onn in disguise as Brainwave Sr." character. The art has been
altered to bring it more into continuity, but I'm still of the opinion that
the whole thing is a bill of goods Rainbow Raider is trying to feed Sonar,
and not something that actually happened.
"Warrior's Heritage" - Eliott S! Maggin does a pretty awful job of
writing J'onn, and otherwise turns in a pretty mediocre Crab Face Guy tale.
Did Maggin phone this in or something? I know he's capable of better.
"Revelations" - Priest's contribution to this issue, Diana (the line
about her being a goddess was removed, so this is safely in continuity prior
to her death) helps Aquaman rescue some treasure hunters who really don't
merit saving. In the process, he gets set up...after handing him the Lasso
of Truth to help tow the submarine, Diana starts asking him loaded questions
and getting candid answers. It would certainly be interesting if this were
to be followed up on in JLA, since one of the revelations is that Arthur has
it bad for Diana.

Supergirl Adventures "Last Daughter of Argo": Written by the same team
that wrote the TV episode "Little Girl Lost," this does a great job of
filling in the gaps of that episode while still standing on its own. It
reinforces the idea that the animated Supergirl is not a blood relation of
Superman's, and adds that she's not even exactly the same biologically:
Kryptonite has no effect on Argonites. This is very useful when Granny
Goodness sends General Zod to break Mala and Jax-Ur out of stir on Earth (the
comic has slightly different continuity from the cartoon, since those
Kryptonian criminals were returned to the Phantom Zone on TV, but shrunk down
and imprisoned on Earth in the comic), since she can use green-K against them
with impunity. Unfortunately, in this continuity, General Zod is also from
Argo, and he's a lot stronger than Kara.
Of course, this physical fight is merely the setting for Kara to fight
her own mental fight, her terrible fear of cold, brought on by the manner of
Argo's death. Dorkin and Dyer do a very good job of setting up the fear,
showing it in action, and having Supergirl finally overcome it. Quite nice,
having a snowglobe souvenir trigger Kara's fear of a deadly chill.
Bret Blevins's art is very well-suited to the Adventures style, all he
really has to do is file down the razor-sharp breasts he puts on women and
he's halfway there. Although I would have LOVED to have seen Dorkin do the
art on this one. }->

Dave Van Domelen, "You've finally gone too far, Creeper. You've become
a danger to yourself and others." "Mostly others!" - Batman and Creeper