Recent Treasures

Has it really been one month since I added a word to my "weekly" comics blog? It has. But rather than waste words lamenting my lack of words in July, I will simply forge on. And what better to change the subject than a couple brief reviews of two recent favorites.

Brave and Bold 15 - Nightwing and Hawkman

I know I have written about Brave and Bold before, but I haven't written about it enough. Rather than relying on the show value of destroying a legend or the nostalgia of retelling an updated version of an old legend, this series just tells great comic stories. And once again when two or three heroes met to fight a common goal, one has the impression that in coming together one is witnessing something unusual. Yet the series is not a throw back to simplicity or comics naivite. This series is my favorite read of every month. It keeps me coming in to the comics shop.

Justice Society of America Annual #1

Earth-2 returns in this tale of Power Girl's homecoming, but from the start of her return the continuity incongruities nag at thoughtful readers.

Power Girl became a part of DC's primary Earth at the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths, when all the parallel Earths collapsed into one, along with all the other surviving Earth-2 characters. How could it be possible that she came from the Earth-2 recently reinstated in the DC Universe when it didn't exist three years ago? And if Power Girl was absent from this new Earth-2 while she lived on DC's primary Earth, why weren't the other Earth-2 heroes who lived there with her also absent from this new Earth-2?

At first it seems to be a continuity conundrum we are supposed to accept, but suddenly the story takes a surprising turn, and it turns out our vague sense of disbelief is valid. Power Girl's unease at her sudden departure from DC's primary Earth is multiplied when she discovers this Earth-2 is NOT her original home.

Brave and Bold

Can I tell you all how much I LOVE DC's new Brave and Bold series?

I have a secret. When I settle down on the couch to read the week's comics, I sort them by how excited I am to read them. The one's I'm most excited about are As; the ones I'm less excited about are Bs; the ones I think are a bit dull and maybe buy out of habit are Cs. Then I read them in that order: The As that same night, Bs over the next few days, and Cs I may not even get to before the next week.

The Brave and the Bold is one of those comic magazines that I snarf up enthusiastically and it always makes the A pile because it is executed brilliantly.

Until recently the art was by George Perez, now Jerry Ordway, but both of them are solid artists who are excellent at telling a story, draw the human form well and create wonderful compositions on the page. They are at the top of their craft in the super suit world.

But Mark Waid's stories for this book have been even better! Mark respects each and every hero who dances across the pages of the book, understands what makes them unique and intriguing and lets them show us these traits. Plus he has strung together a dozen or so pairings - some odd, some not so odd - into a great, unified, nonstop story from the very first issue until the twelfth.

I know that Marvel Team-up used this same concept a few years back, but the stories there didn't move nearly so fast.

If excellence alone drove sales, this would be the best selling book by any company. I hope this never ends!