COMICS: Dave's DC Rant: Shazam,JLAyr1,GothamAdv,Steel

[Dave Van Domelen]

Dave's DC Rant:

Power of Shazam #40 "Worm Front"
JLA Year One #7 "Dirty Laundry"
Gotham Adventures #2 "Second Generation"
Steel #52 "House of Cards"

Spoilers....

Shazam "Fail Safe": We open with a small victory...Sarge Steel is freed
from Mr. Mind's influence by Mary after failing to play a deadly game of
Russian Roulette with bullets in all six chambers. Meanwhile, other worms
work their way into positions where they can launch nuclear weapons (either
Mind doesn't know about fail safe procedures, or he has a way to get around
them without controlling the President...or Ordway forgot that bomber pilots
carrying nukes can't just fire them at will).
Most of the issue is a big chase scene after Mind, followed by a fight
with the exosuit last seen in the Starman crossover (minor inconsistency...at
one point Mind refers to having been in the suit himself, yet later he claims
another wore it). At the end, Mind grows to gargantuan size, swats the
Marvels aside and heads out to wreak havoc on Washington D.C.
But, as Billy notes, something's wrong with that picture. Mind never
could grow before, right? So, either it's a system built into the suit
(unlikely), or we're talking mental illusions here.
Whew, finally the Gap Kid is gone, replaced by Buffy the Vampire Slayer
(I presume, anyway, I don't watch the show).

JLAyr1 "The American Way": It's back to six characters in search of a
plot, as subplots get advanced all over the place, but no one theme unifies
the issue. The JLA decides they can trust their benefactor. Maxwell Lord is
introduced. Locus gathers more dirt, finding out things the reader found out
a few issues ago. Locus gets their humanoid thingy working. Montage of
classic fights. Join the end of the first Weaponmaster fight, with Superman
saving the team, being offered membership, and turning it down.
Once all 12 issues are in, this one might look more substantial in
retrospect. But right now it feels like treading water, tossing in odds and
ends before the next story starts.

Gotham Adventures "Lucky Day!": One thing about the animated Two-Face
is that, while he's got more groundwork laid for a law-upholding D.A. turning
into a criminal, that groundwork itself still comes out of nowhere. Yes,
Harvey Dent had repressed anger which was manifesting itself in a sort of
dissociative disorder, but there wasn't really any more done to explain why
he had so much anger to repress. Also, the origin of his coin was vaguer.
Ty Templeton tries to fill in more of Two-Face's background in one fell swoop
this issue, with the introduction of Lester Dent...Harvey's rather unpleasant
father.
Now, I think the explanation is a bit *too* complete and pat, covering
every unanswered question in the form of one man. Like some fanfic, it tries
to cover too much explanation at once. But that aside, it's a pretty good
overexplanation, adding another dimension to the character. Fittingly, his
insanity doesn't have just one root (the repression resulting from thinking
he'd killed a kid), it has two. Two-Face decides to complete the cycle of
abuse by taking it back to its source, giving his father the same arbitrary
and cruel random choice between punishment and freedom that he was himself
given as a child.
Interestingly, his hatred of his father is so strong that it overcomes
his dualistic mania, something he couldn't overcome in the past to kill
Batman or be with his beloved. He stacks the odds, so that it's a lose-lose
situation for daddy dearest.

Steel "Requiem": I really feared reading this issue. Knowing how
derailed the plot had gotten because of the Millenium Giants, and how little
advance notice Priest had to wrap things up, I was afraid this would be an
incoherent mess which would resolve little.
I was wrong.
Y'know how those demolition experts they are always showing on the
Discovery Channel (and TLC) can blow up a building so that it falls in a neat
little pile, all inside the borders of the original walls? The technique is
called implosion.
Priest imploded this book. All the complex, interweaving threads I was
afraid would become hopelessly snarled were actually a house of cards that
fell like dominoes (and mixed metaphors) when Priest dropped the hammer.
Granted, it *is* somewhat unsatisfying seeing everything tied up so
quickly, but that's not because of the execution, it's just because I was
looking forward to years more of seeing these threads play out.
Nat was the first domino to fall, and Skorpio the one which dropped on
all the rest. Describing it in detail would take about as long as just
reading the thing, but basically Crash ends up revealing his ID to save Nat,
and the truth about Sam comes out which sends a whole lotta people to jail.
then, thanks to Villain's twisted sense of irony in setting up his affairs,
John ends up in control of the hospital while Nat recovers, Amanda goes to
jail for not squealing on Sam, Sam takes a hard fall, and Villain sells the
book rights for 30% of the hospital's outstanding debt. }->
Just in case anyone *doesn't* get it, the whole thing is summarized on
the lettercol page.
It's a damn shame the book got canned. But you have to admire the skill
which with Priest closed the can. Then again, he's getting a lot of practice
with this....

Dave Van Domelen, "All things considered -- I remain the model of
efficacy." - Dr. Villain on how things will fall his way, and the hospital's.