Aztek: The Ultimate Man #8

I haven't done one of these in a long while. Issues 6 & 7 were the ones I was really excited about, so I guess the will to finish kind of left once I knocked those out. Frankly, there isn't a whole lot to issues 8-9 that hasn't been covered by other issues.

This issue, and the next, are a bit odd to read now: they seem to be setting up a new status quo for Aztek as well as finally move his story forward a bit, but they must have known the book was getting cancelled at this point. Morrison certainly had plans to move Aztek into his JLA book, as there are several references to this in issues 8 & 9,

This issue opens with, finally, some history on the Q foundation & Aztek. Their legends have it that a vessel of Quetzalcoatl and a vessel of Texcatlipoca, the Shadow God Aztek will one day fight, fought long ago with Tezcatlipoca's vessel dying, vowing to return and bring about the Apocalypse. Queztalcoatl's vessel, feeling corrupted by pleasures of humanity, set himself on fire (now that's how you stage a goddamned demonstration), "vowing to return when needed". The future Q-Foundation saved his helmet, using it as the helmet for the champion, Aztek, over many generations. The current Aztek is actually named Uno, and he is back at the Q mountain to get his injuries of the last several issues treated. They are fairly disgusted by his poor performance thus far, and disturbed by the fact that Aztek knows what happened to his father.

The history of Aztek is very Morrison, as a lot of this old Incan & Mayan god stuff was fairly prominent in his Invisibles right around this time - Lord Fanny's origin story was published not much earlier than this and dealt with a lot of the same themes. We also get to see Aztek's "second" - the person who will take over should he fail - trying out the arnor and using quite a few defensive & offensive abilities we've never seen Aztek make use of. It's interesting that Morrison & Millar choose to underscore Aztek's ineffectiveness this way. But they also show that his number two's methods are much crueler than his - using a passing Eagle (I think a bald eagle, but I'm not sure) as a decoy to attract some heat-seeking missiles. Her methods, and thus the approved methods of the Q foundation, are contrary to Aztek's values - how many scenes have we had in this series of Aztek taking the time out to save an animal?

They hammer home the point that the Q foundation is inherently untrustworthy a bit too well, by revealing them to be in league with Lex Luthor, and Aztek returns home to find that he's been given a new, luxury apartment, by the Q Foundation and a mysterious benefactor (who we know to be Luthor). Aztek, for the first time in this series, gets to prove himself effective in a fight with some very Millar mock-supervillains by the names of Bloodhound, Tattoo, Deathgrip, and Awol. They go by Dial "V" for Villain and have apparently been hired to hold some schoolkids hostage by Lexcorp, to serve as confidence building cannon fodder for Aztek. Their existential malaise regarding their Z-List status is pretty funny, and, like a lot of this comic, very ahead of its time. This entire scene screams Millar to me, and Millar at his best. This is the Millar I like reading - clever, witty, insightful. Aztek makes short work of them - the first time he's allowed to actually be effective in a fight and it's basically a joke.

Next issue: Aztek gets to fight a real supervillain on his own, and then he's cancelled.

Wednesday 12/24/08

I flat out forgot to buy Gigantic #2, because I'm an idiot.

Batman #683: I'm not quite as exhausted with this as last month, and at least now the story makes sense. I'm still irritated by RIP - yes, I know he wasn't really going to die there, but what was the point of the title? Just to mess with fans? It just seems like a goofy title, given that there really wasn't even a thematic connection other than villains trying to kill Batman, which is pretty much every story, isn't it? At any rate, this two-parter ends up being a vague sort of bridge between RIP and Batman's role in FC - which still just ignores the ending of RIP by having Batman strolling around saying "Oh yeah, nothing really happened to me. Why?" - and another story about how Morrison's Batman is an unstoppable uberman. I have no problem with that, technically, but it's two stories in a row with that same basic idea. I think we got it the first time, you know? Not really essential stuff, here, I'm sorry to say.

Unknown Soldier #3: Still teetering on the edges of "interesting". I like what Dysart's doing with the main character, basically using the character as a vehicle to literalise the tension between pacifism and a basic human instinct for bloody retribution. It's a really good idea with a lot of potential, but the story is taking a little too long with setting up the conflict and not moving ahead - this probably would be a good book to be buying in trade. I'll stick through at least the first story, though.

Top Ten Season 2 #3: Is that Seaguy and Death I see? Nice. Also, Jim Shooter. Ha. I'm enjoying this series, it's taking the high concepts of the original and putting them in a more "everyday" sort of context, if you know what I mean. Instead of huge, sweeping high concepts, we get little, personal high concepts like the premise keepers and an old wizard selling magical words to kids to transform into superheroes. The art is just ridiculously good as well. Gene Ha is not human, he is an art-robot built to produce comic books beyond mortal ken. I'm a big dork.

New Avengers #48: I'll fess up that I didn't actually buy it, I just read it. It was actually pretty decent, and for some reason I have a soft spot for Billy Tan's art, when he's having a good day. It just appeals to me for whatever reason. I've read some reviews that have a problem with Luke Cage's betrayal, but I buy it. The guy's a desperate father. Makes sense. Also, Bendis' creepy fascination with Clint Barton's sexual prowess and love life finally makes sense, as he was etting up tension for the return of Mockingbird, who can find out now about all the ass her husband's been getting. Other than that conflcit, her return is totally pointless and unnecessary. But hey, his man-love for Cage & crush on Spiderwoman seemed goofy at first and now they're practically A-listers, so I assume he's got a plan. I'm actually shocked by how kind I'm being to a Bendis comic. His Cap doesn't talk right, though. He talks like a Bendis character.

Recent Comics

I have recently come into possession of approximately one metric ton of new comics, and reading them, along with re-watching all 4 seasons of LOST & reading some previously unread Vonnegut stuff, has dominated my life recently. I'll write about some of them eventually, but here's a general & random overview:

Incredible Hercules: Sacred Invasion - Awesome. Just awesome. It actually has fairly important stuff in it for the crossover, as far as I can tell. Great fun, great story, highly recommended. Also, I was reading this while listening to Enslaved's Below the Lights album, which synced up to the action & mood in an eerie, Dark Side of the Moon/Wizard of Oz sort of way, whcih enhanced my reading experience.

Pax Romana - This Hickman fellow certainly is interesting. This is very different from the Nightly News, but every bit as interesting and good. I'm not sure which I likemore, it's like comparing apples & oranges. This guy is defineltly on my "buy on sight" list now, though, if for no other reason than that he's interesting as hell.

Warren Ellis' Blackgas 1 & 2 - This was pretty cool, actually. It's Ellis doing his take on a Zombie story, which is a bit more in the 28 Days ater vein, but goes even farther with the human misery and horror. Fun! Not something to go way out of your way for, but a good read.

Warren Ellis' Atmospherics - Very effective little B & W horror oneshot. Ellis seems to sort of pump out these high-concept one-shots at Avatar to little or no fanfare, which is a shame because they all seem to be really good. He's a great high-concept guy. At any rate, this doesn;t have quite as good a twist as Aetheric Mechanics, but it's a well constructed story told with a lot of flair.

Gravel 0-6: Yeah, I suddenly discovered Ellis' Avatar stuff, if you couldn't tell. I wasn't totally crazy for this series like some of his other stuff, but that was partially because I've never read previous Gravel stuff so I didn't totally follow the plot. It's explained pretty well, actually, so what the hell do I know. The book improves greatly with Oscar Jimenez' arrival on art in issues 3-6 - his Gravel just looks like a guy who will fuck you up for looking at him funny and not even think twice about it. This was cool though, the closest reference point I can think of, and bear in mind that this is a severey uninformed opinion, is a sort of Hellblazer through Warren Ellis' eyes. It was good, but not totally my thing, I guess. I'm not huge on magic. I also got Strange Killings but havent read it yet.

Doktor Sleepless 1-9: Well, now I get the Transmet references. One of my favorite things about this, actually, was that the Doktor starts out as a sort of anti-hero, counter culture figure like Spider Jerusalem. Throughout seven issues you get more and more hints that he's a bit darker than that, before Ellis just completely hammers home that this guy is the villain. We've been reading a supervillain comic and we didn't even know it. Otherwise, this is probably the most blatantly "Warren Ellis" of all this Avatar stuff that I've read, if you know what I mean. That's a (tiny, tiny) bit frustrating after reading other Avatar stuff by him where he actually branches out his voice, but oh well. I know I get on Millar mercilessly when he does that, by the way, but I guess I just like Ellis' voice and get annoyed by Millar.

Mighty & New Avengers Secret Invasion Crossover issues: Wow, alot of these really were pointless, huh? I pretty much agree with everything most people say - the two Nick Fury issues were good, the rest was a lot of fairly repetitive "here's how this character became a Skrull" and "Here's how this character found out!" stuff. The Hank Pym/unstable Skrull stuff was interesting, but as far as I know it didn't end up going anywhere and makes Pym seem a lot more crazy than he's ever really been in the comics.

Black Panther SI Crossovers & Joker's Asylum: Penguin: Wow, Jason Aaron writes manly characters pretty damn well. I have to give Scalped another read. This was pretty badass, enhanced by some artwork that really fits the mood. This was kind of a Conan take on BP, in terms of "Don't fuck with me" machismo. Aaron seemed to be having fun with BP's whole prepared for every eventuality angle, taking the whole thing to almost ludicrous degrees. Pretty cool.

The Penguin special was especially good & effective, and really really makes me want to re-read Scalped. Aaron adds more depth, tragedy and darkness to the character than I think I've ever read, at once making him sympathetic and totally disgusting. I'm definetly giving Scalped another shot after reading this. YOU HEAR THAT, CALLAHAN? You win.

Marvel: 1985 by Mark Millar & Tommy Lee Edwards

The moral of this story? You take a nerd's comics from him, you better watch the fuck out. I know that if someone took all my precious, precious 4-color pretties, you can be damn sure I'll be ready to throw down.

OK, I guess that's not really the moral of this story. The moral is something about comic book characters representing something bigger than us all, about memories and dreams of childhood, and I guess Mark Millar's dad. Unfortunately, it's done with every bit of subtlety we've come to expect from Mark Millar. Which is to say, none whatsoever.

That's not entirely fair. The first issue does a very effective job at subtly, creepily inserting elements of the Marvel universe into the "real" world. You can feel how unsettling this is to the character, a 10 year old boy who acts like he's about 21 (because Millar doesn't know how to write outside of his one voice that he always uses, another criticism of this comic). You can sense the unease, the unnaturalness of the setup seeping in around the edges, thanks in large part to Edwards atmospheric and subtle artwork.

From that point on, the whole thing falls apart in a jumble of typical Millar overexuberance and a total lack of subtlety and subtext. This should be a story about juxtaposition of childhood fantasy with a harsh world, a story about the triumph of stories over mundane reality. At least that's what Millar's interviews seemed to indicate.

Fin Fang Frickin' Foom trashing a small American town, while every single character stares at the reading explaining in fine detail how wacky that is, isn't subtely. Maybe, maybe, it's very subtle absurdist comedy, but I don't think that's what Millar is aiming for. No, he really thinks that this is powerful sotrytelling, which just makes me sort of ... sad, I guess. This guy used to be really good, and the first Ultimates series had some degree of subtelty to it, didn't it?

I suppose it's my own fault for expecting any kind of subtlety from a Millar book, but this story should have been more special than that. It seemed like something he really cared about. Apparnetly, the "villain" of this book is going to be making appearances in his FF & Wolverine stories, as well. That says it all, doesn't it? Millar has something that could be a beautiful, unique, self-contained timeless story, but he just can't resist tearing the heart out of it in the name of commercialism.

And I know I'm nit-picking, but why is this a happy ending? There's hundreds of people pointlessly dead and slaughtered. This is a sad, horrible, tragedy. This is not a victory. It's damn sure not an uplifting story.

But, on the upshot, it does hold this very, very important warning for the world: do not touch a fanboy's collection, or he will sic the Wendigo on your ass.

The Playboy by Chester Brown

A friend at work gave me a copy of this book to read along with a stack of Eightballs (the comic, not the drug). I’m not, as I’ve written before, a big fan of indy, non-mainstream comics. Not necessarily a criticism of the scene at all, more just a taste of preference – I like big, shiny superheroes. I do get frustrated, at times, with B & W, indy books and their “slice of life” stories. I enjoy a story about shared, common, experiences and day-to-day banality, but only if there’s a point to it – I occasionally walk away from these things with a general feeling of, “Great. That guy fights with his family to. Yay.” You know what I mean? Just because an experience is normal & common, doesn’t make it interesting. That said, I did approach this with an open mind, expecting to like it fine but not have much to say about it.

This, as it turns out, is what I am looking for in my “slice of life” comics. This is a slightly sad, very funny, but raw and brutally honest story of adolescent sexuality developing in a socially awkward teen. I didn’t necessarily identify with every experience he has in this book – I won’t lie, identified with some of it – but the general feeling of unease with one’s own body, of embarrassment at your hobbies… this is something that, I think, most comics fans can identify with. Hell, this should be required reading for anyone who’s ever felt awkward and ashamed at simply being themselves.

The art, while simple, is very effective at focusing the eye on only what’s important. Unfortunately my scanner isn’t working, but every page follows a theme of solid black borders around one or two main images. It seemed like wasted space to me at first, but I like the idea that in this book, every little moment is important, deserving its own page, its own place in history. That seems to be the effect that Brown is going for, and it’s a very effective one.

Like I said, I don’t really follow the indy scene at all so it’s very possible this is generally regarded as a classic, and anyone reading this will think I’m some sort of philistine for only now discovering it. But if you’re like me, and generally haven’t found much to get excited about in the underground, give this a shot. If you’re like me, you probably spent a good portion of your life feeling awkward and out of place for no good reason, and this will speak to you.

DC's March 2009 Solicitations

Frankly, DC is holding less and less interest for me lately, as they continue to squander opportunity after opportunity and make poor decisions for their characters. Let's take a look at all the stuff I won't be buying from them come March...

- For all that Marvel gets a lot of flak for cashing in on everything with 8 billiob pointless tie-ins, does anyone think these "is Batman dead?" miniseries and one-shot are actually going to be relevant? They're all going to consist of some Gotham character having to fight a bad guy, all while musing that Batman's not around to help. Next...

- I actually would like to get some of these JLI trades at some point; I've never read them but obviously I've heard about this run.

- I have a feeling I won't be sticking with Secret Six till issue 7, but that's not DC or Simone's fault, exactly - the book's just not really working for me. It just sort of lacks the soark of the old series, somehow.

- I actually am vaguely curious whether this Solomon Grundy series will tie into 7 Soldiers at all, but probably not.

- Is Jim Starlin on an ongoing 8 issue mini series plan? I have a sort of weak spot for the guy, actually, from my man-c rush on the Infinity Gauntlet that started in middle school and never went away. So I would actually like to read some of his recent minis.

- Ah, a collection of that Brainiac story by Johnsw. The one where they made Brainiac "scarier than ever" by making him big and strong. Wow, scary.

- I am not terribly interested in the whole New Krypton story, for reasons which once again are largely personal. I get that they're examining Superman's character by comparing him to other Kryptonians, but to me, he's supposed to be the LAST Kryptonian. Now, this is a bit more hardline than I usually am, I admit. I'm not normally a stickler for continuity. But to me, it's a central part of his character that can't be dismissed without damaging his character. And it can't be undone, short of mass slaughter of all these Kryptonians, which adds a unnecessary level of tragedy to the guy. I dislike this concept, although to be fair, I haven't read it. Someday I'm sure I will, but after that abysmal Brainiac story, I think it's safe to say that Johns and I have very different views of what a Superman story should be, and I've never read anything by James Robinson that was even readable, let alone good. I genuinely do not see what the fuss is about him.

- Greg Rucka's another writer I'm not crazy about, although at least he has written decent stuff. Still, not interested in the New Krypton thing.

- I wonder if Battle for the Cowl was actually something Morrison wanted, or if they're completely hijacking his plot?

- I actually am very curious what's up with the Green Lantern books right now, what with the buildup to Blackest Night. At least Johns' fanfiction writing there is cool. Also, I have no emotional connection the GL's, so I don't mind him messing with the concept.

- Wow, there's really not even much worth commenting on.

Over to Vertigo...

- I'm curious aout Milligan's Hellblazer run; I always like him.

- I still say Northlanders is boring and formulaic.

- Unknown Soldier has been skating right on the edge of interesting for two issues; hopefully it will tip one way or the other. Preferably to "interesting".

- Young Liars is awesome.

Wildstorm...

- A Top 10 special...I may buy that. No Gene Ha means i'm slightly less interested, but we'll see.

Wednesday 12/17/08

I predicted my ratings for this weeks' comics a few days ago, with a previously unused and entirely arbitrary letter ratings system. Lets see how my initial reactions gold up to my predictions...

Fear Agent #25: Meh. Still only 16 pages of relevant story for $2.99? That knocks a letter off right away, I'm afraid. This really should be getting the Casanova/Fell $1.99/16 pages treatment - it's perfect for the format and the spirit of that line, if you know what I mean. Not a bad issue at all, and I like that everything is starting to come together, and I love Remender's long-term planning, but it needs a little bit of the "oomph" that last few storylines - and first issue of this one - had.
Predicted rating: A-; Actual rating: C

Invincle Iron Man #8: I liked it, as predicted. And hey, Sawyer's on page 2! It's a good start to Tony's new status quo, and Fraction writes a really great Osborn, with just the right balance of crazy & smart ("I'm seeing how I like 'Commander' at this moment"). There seems to be a slight inconsistency in what's up with Ton'y Extremis interface, and how it works . First it's malfunctioning to the point that he can't control his armor (which, by the way, seems to be leading to a slightly de-powered Iron Man, which is probably necessary), next he can download the entire superhuman database into his brain through it. Is it just that his physical/mental capablilites are still enhanced, but he can't talk to machines? If that's the case, how did he download it to his brain? That knocks the "plus" off, but it's still an A issue. And you know, it's only part 1, that can still be explained, so I won't get too harsh.
Predicted rating: A+; Actual rating: A

Thor: God-Sized: Yup, good fun. Not much else to say about it, except that Marvel's price gouging is really funny and selective. You get 64 pages here for $3.99, which is quite a good value even if it 22 of it's a reprint (it's a reprint of Walt Simonson Thor, which everyone should read anyway), and Dark & New Avengers are both going up to $3.99 for 32 pages. Consistency? Oh well. It's a good value and a good story, so go buy it.
Predicted rating: B; Actual rating: B

Thunderbolts #127: God, that's brutal. Diggle manages to make Ellis' run look light-hearted and happy. I was going to drop it to save money, and because I don't have a whole lot of interest in the reported new team, but I may stick around to get my quota of mean, horrible things every month.
Predicted rating: B; Actual rating: A-

Uncanny X-Men #505: There's almost too much going on, but you've got to admire Fraction's effort to actually pull together the 8 billion plot threads going on in the X-Universe into a coherent story. The fact that he does in fact make a story out of it, rather than an inventory list of scenes, is even more impressive. He actually manages to make a character link between X-Force and White Queen's appearance in the Dark Reign special, in terms of her motivation. Really impressive, and I like Fraction's portrayal of Madison Jeffries. Someone's been taking "crazy futurist character writing" lessons from Warren Ellis. This is what Hanibal at CBR would call a "jump from the read pile".
Predicted rating: B-; Actual rating: A

X-Factor #38: The artwork's a little goofy, but it's competent, so fine. I actually really like what PAD did here; Madrox is getting so jaded and twisted (and possibly influenced by some of his more questionable dupes), that he's not really even concerned about the villain's plans. He just wants to do his job and go home. It leaves the reader hanging a bit, too, but in terms of character it's brilliant. It unfortunately leaves the story feeling a little unfinished. And I'm still not sure what Longshot is adding to the team (by he way, he could really benefit from an updated look).
Predicted rating: C+; Actual rating: B-

X-Men: Legacy #219: Meh. This was a totally pointless issue. The Juggernaut's rehabilitation is undoine for no good reason, he has a conversation with Xavier that accomplishes nothing other than letting Xavier know his rehab is cancelled, and then it turns out even the conversation was a mental scam from Xavier. Unless this ends up setting up something really important, bad issue.
Predicted rating: D+; Actual rating: D

Marvel's March 2009 Solicitations

A totally arbitrary look at some of the stuff being released this March...

- I skipped Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk when it started, but since then, I've become completely obsessed & consumed with LOST. So I will be getting that.

- Why do all the characters on the cover of Ultimatum #4 look like their regular MU counterparts? Is there any point in that imprint whatsoever anymore?

- I'll hand it to Marvel & Bendis, I'm interested in what's up with the Avengers books... not enough to spend $3.99 an issue, of course, but hey...

- Speaking of which, I guess the cover to Dark Avengers #3 makes it pretty clear that Hawkeye is in fact Bullseye in disguise. Thanks for the spoilers, Marvel.

- I recently read The Nightly News, and based on that, I'm getting Secret Warriors.

- A crossover with Deadpool insures I'm dropping Thunderbolts Not a knock on Deadpool, I'm just not buying an extra book for several months. I'm cheap.

- I'll probably get the new Punisher series. Remender & Opena are a great team. Opena's art is awesome in Fear Agent.

- Does Eric Nguyen on Eternals mean he's off Gigantic? That would suck.

- Every Immortal Iron Fist solicitation makes me want to get all the issues since Fraction left... it looks cool and sounds cool.

- The X-Books are becoming a microcosm of the Marvel U in general: they're in constant Next Event Mode, but it's an event contained entirely to the X-books.

- Incognito is going to be one of my favorite books of 2009. You watch.

- $74.99 is kind of pricey for Bru & Fraction's Immortal Iron Fist Omnibus. It's just right for Bru's Daredevil Omnibus, though. That goes on my birthday list.

- Jesus, Marvel really is reprinting everything in HC, aren't they? Those random issuies of Avengers and FF whenre Jean Grey came back? A bunch of random Hawkeye stories? Good lord.

- I may check out Punisher War Journal: Jigsaw. I like Fraction & Remender. I'm not sure why I don't buy that series already, actually.

DC's solocits next time.

Aztek: The Ultimate Man #7

Let’s get this out of the way now: there’s no Millar in this issue. It’s all Morrison, and it’s hands down the best issue of the series.

Morrison is all about duality & doubling; I mention this because, as I said last time, this is part two of a two-part Joker/Batman story that act as a sort of mirror of one another. To further hammer home the point, he opens the issue with Heatsnap, a fusion of two villains, Heatstroke and Coldsnap, who have been fused together into a chimera following a medical mishap. The pair are actually members of a team called the Masters of Disaster, an enemy of Batman & The Outsiders, who were in love but couldn’t touch each other due to the natures of their powers. In attempting to become closer together, they found themselves permanently fused and worse off then before. Later in the issue, Batman (while away from Aztek) makes sure to provide them with medical treatment - he feels bad for them, looks out for them. Much has been made over the years of Batman & the Joker having a sort of quasi-sexual relationship; Frank Miller in particular played with this idea quite a bit in The Dark Knight Returns. For it to appear here, literally in the middle of a story in which the Joker & Batman are similarly infused into one another’s guest-starring issues, is very interesting on Morrison’s part.

Morrison himself did play with this idea in Arkham Asylum - Joker grabbing Batman’s ass, calling him darling - but hasn’t really gone into it much since then. His recent story, Batman RIP, did play a bit at the end with the idea of Batman & The Joker being two sides of the same coin, or opposing natural forces, but not in a sexual way (although, Morrison did point out that his Joker in RIP is based on David Bowie - who is known for androgyny and bisexuality, so certainly he didn‘t abandon that element). I said in my column on issue 6 of this series that this story serves as an interesting precursor to Morrison later work on Batman, and this issue plays further into that. In fact, it may even serve as a bridge of sorts between Morrison’s earlier portrayal of their relationship and his more recent one, given the fact that Morrison doesn’t even have the two interact on panel, but does throw in an interesting sidebar like Heatsnap. He’s moving away from the older, more stereotypical portrayal of their relationship and into more original territory.

Some more notes on Morrison’s look at the Batman/Joker relationship: look at the panel below, set while some of the Arkham guards are beating the joker: he uses (Morrison’s) Batman’s trademark sound effect, ”HH”. The two are far more similar than Bats would care to admit. Batman, of course, is instrumental in actually solving & thwarting the Joker’s plans, since he’s far more familiar with the Joker’s methods.

Aztek actually manages to make himself relatively useful in a fight here, by the way, for the first time in the series (he does manage to rescue a rat, continuing his run of small victories). Aztek & Batman are confronting the Fixer over his supplying the Joker with his crickets and they find a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “A Child’s Garden of Verses”, along with a bag of word clippings (recall Morrison’s use of the Burroughs “cut-up” technique in Doom Patrol, years prior to this. He frequently re-uses ideas, as he is doing here. Not criticizing, just pointing it out). Aztek further gets a moment to shine here, as he actually manages to solve the final clue to the Joker’s plot, hidden in a throwaway line he uttered while being arrested. By the end, Aztek’s won Batman’s respect, a fairly major coup for him that will have further consequences later on, when he joins the JLA.

A final note on this story: the title, “Hey Diddle Diddle, The Japed and The Japer”, repeated during the book by the Chief of Police while mesmerized by the Joker’s dancing crickets, is apparently taken from a nursery rhyme:

Hey diddle diddle,

The cat and the fiddle,

The cow jumped over the moon.

The little dog laughed to see such fun,

And the dish ran away with the spoon.

As near as I can tell, Morrison is using it here because it's known for being a fairly nonsensical poem, popular because of the varied interpretations possible & available for it. Its' imagery, while interesting and vivid, leaves much to the imagination as to what it’s really about while at the same time sparking the imagination - much like most of the Joker’s plots.

Predicting the Future! Comics out the third week of December, 2008

It's a big week for comics, with 7 items on my purchase list. Let's take a look into the future, and try and predict what I'm going to feel about these comics ahead of time. For the purposes of this column, I'm adopting a totally arbitrary Letter-based rating system which I'll probably drop after Wednesday, in keeping with my scattershot, random approach to blogging and reviewing.

Fear Agent #25: This should be a good issue; the storyline has been a little slow, but it seems to be at the point where things should start speeding up and revelations should be coming. This will likely be at the top of my reading pile, so you can tell I'm looking forward to it. I'm thinking it's about time to get more than 16 pages in one issue, too. Predicted rating: A-

Invincle Iron Man #8: No excuxe not to be good, with Fraction & Larocca on board with a major status quo upheaval. When Fraction's on, he's on like (almost) nobody else, and Larocca is a perfectly capable artist. I expect to love this. Predicted rating: A+

Thor: God-Sized: Likewise, Fraction recently did a beautiful job exploring the idea of Myths in his Thor specials, and I expect this to be good as well. I'm only slightly worried about the broad mix of artists on board, but otherwise, much like his Reign of Blood special, I expect to be able to fire up some old-school metal and bang my head to this comic (well, not literally, that would make it difficult to read) Predicted rating: B

Thunderbolts #127: Mean-spirited fun! What else do I need to say? I'm going to try and drop this after this issue for cost reasons, anyway. Predicted rating: B

Uncanny X-Men #505: I like the last issue quite a bit, but I'm more interested in the Beasts' building of an X-Thinktank than the Colossus story. I have a feeling that the Colossus story will be the focus here, but that won't ruin my enjoyment of this comic, just maybe knock it down a peg. Predicted rating: B-

X-Factor #38: These last two are the hardest to predict. X-Factor has been digging itself out of the rut it slipped into following Messiah Complex, so I'm hopeful for that to continue here. The current story is dragging a bit, so let's hope it wraps up and moves on to something more interesting...like I said, Hard to predict, so I'll call it in the middle. Predicted rating: C+

X-Men: Legacy #219: This is even harder to predict, since the book just came off a weak two-parter followed by an absolute piece of crap crossover, making this potentially the first good issue in 5 months. It doesn't help that Scot Eaton is out for this issue, and the preview pages don't look like the guest is nearly as good. The coming storyline looks interesting, but frankly, this transitional issue looks to be another dissapointment... Predicted rating: D+

Thoughts? Predictions? Want to tell me I'm an idiot? Leave a comment.

Wednesday 12/10/08

Final Crisis #5: A good issue, like usual...but also like usual, not completely blowing me away yet. I'm reserving judgement on this series until I can read it as whole (including the Superman: Beyond tie-ins, since they were written by Morison as well). At least the plot appears to be diverging from Rock Of Ages, which is a plus for it. Like a lot of people, I'm a little checked out now due to rumored editorial tampering, but who knows? One thing I loved about this issue is that it really does feel, thanks to Morrison's current writing technique of quick cuts between scenes without connective narrative tissue, like time is being sped up and disjointed while reading it. It drew me in to the mood, at least.

Captain Britain & MI:13 #8: Captain Midlands, not you! Noooooooooooo! Dammit, that really did upset me. I was rooting for the guy to be the one incorruptible character. This was a really great issue, full of wit, charm, characterization, and weird ideas. I love how blase everyone is about magic, like it's just another thing that sorta happens around superheroes (which it would be). Great stuff.

Young Liars #10: Ugh. I mean that in a good way. More twisted fun from Lapham, who definetly has a plan here. I have no idea what it is, but it's there. This was a really grim, sad issue, making you just want to cry for CeeCee, and as always, want to bitchslap Danny. I was cheering for Sadie when she finally did that, by the way. The little asshole deserved it. My only complaint about this series is that the timeline is getting kind of touch to follow, but then again, I might just not be paying close enough attention to the captions. Can't wait till winter break to re-read the whole thing.

Secret Six #3-4: Good issues, but I don't have much to say about them. The card is a cool idea and pretty original, but I have a feeling I'm dropping this after this arc. Good characterization, good ideas, clever and well done..I wish I knew why I'mnot feeling this comic, I really want to. It just all falls a little flat for me. Maybe it's because it seems very pleased with itself, in a Millar sort of way, that grates on me?

Unknown Soldier #2: With all the subtlety of a brick to the face, and I hope they come up with a better angle for the Soldier than "his mind was tampered with by shady government forces", but I do really want to like it. It's full of strong ideas and characterizations, and in theory I love the juxtaposition of violence and pacifism in the main character. It's a really good, modern angle on the Unknown Soldier, so I'm rooting for it to work here. Nice expressive art that manages to, ike all the best Vertigo art, put mundane horror, weird crap, and normal people all ont eh page without being jarring. Has anyone else noticed that African politics is the new Vietnam?

Aztek: The Ultimate Man #6

This is the start of a Joker/Batman two-parter, with a very different, and very Morrison structure. Actually, I see almost no Millar influence in these two issues at all, so I'm approaching these entirely as a Morrison comic. Also, I'm again going to try and stay away from a scene by scene recap (although I did kind of slip back into that in the last post).

I say two-parter, but this has a very atypical structure for a two-part story. Batman doesn't appear in this issue till the last page, although his presence is felt throughout (of course you can't read a Joker appearance without thinking of Batman). The Joker, conversely, only appears in a few panels here and there in the following issue, but again, his presence is felt throughout as Batman and Aztek race around Vanity sabotaging his plans. Batman & the Joker never appear together in a single panel of this story, relegating Aztek to simultaenously being the main character, as well as a supporting character in someone else's conflict - as Batman says next issue, the Joker plays these games to mess with Batman, and Aztek just got sucked in. Even when he's the star, he's still c-list.

A quick word on the Joker in these issues: as the attached scan shows, this is the Joker from Arkham Asylum. The art is very clearly based on the Dave McKean design, as I've never seen such a distinctive look for the Joker anywhere else. Note also what the Joker is saying in this page - he's directly addressing Morrison's idea of the Joker having shifting personalities, shifting methods. He's also - in the top panel - looking over his shoulder, directly at the reader, telling us to be quiet. This entire issue just screams Morrison, and he's fleshing out his ideas for the Joker here, making this story an interesting midpoint between the Joker in Arkham Asylum - vague, creepy, wild-haired and impenetrable; and his Joker in RIP - sleek, refined, (theoretically) terrifying, speaks & moves with laser precision.

This issue is also an interesting look into Morrison's evolving creative process. People say that he writes like he lives in the future. This issue, Morrison is writing like HIMSELF ten years in the future - the use of quick jumps between scenes, with minimum connective narrative forcing the reader to make connections on their own - is used throughout this issue. Aztek's in the hospital hearing about the Joker's attacks, then he's talking to the police chief (noting that the attack patterns form a large letter "A"), then he's flying around the city, all jumping from one panel to the next.

The Joker's plot - using hypnotic dancing crickets to drive the people of Vanity insane & commit horrible acts of violence- is also very Morrison, although perhaps there's a little bit of Millar's playfulness in the idea. Once he's finally arrested (after putting up virtually no struggle - escaping, after all, is something he can do any time), there's hints of a larger scheme that he's working, and Batman shows up to help Aztek clean up the mess, essentially.

It's also worth noting that once again, while Aztek flies around "saving the day" on an individual level - saving various people from their cricket-induced nightmares - the police arrest Joker off-panel, and a doctor at the hospital comes up with a cure for the hallucinations. It plays really nicely with Morrisonon's themes that the hero meant to defend all of creation from The Shadow God is more effective - and interested - in small, important victories for individuals. He's already combatting te influence of The Shadow God on Vanity, or at least I believe that's where thi series would have gone if it hadn't been cancelled.

Aztek: The Ultimate Man #5

I'm going to try and get through this one quick, largely because I've had little motivation to do it, because I really want to get to issues 6 & 7, the best of the run.

Also, I'm going to try and do less of a play-by-play, since that's boring for both me and the reader. I'm getting the hang of these issue-by-issue analyses.

Nurse Joy's kidnapper, The Lizard King, taunts Aztek via the phone, but Aztek very quickly traces him to his hideout, wherein the Lizard King engages in some very self-aware "villainous" dialogue (including repeated use of the word "deathtrap", as well as commentary on what an odd word it is to be saying). It's a very cleverly written (and long, about half the issue) scene; I suspect that this issue, like the next two, was largely Morrison's work. For one, like I've said in previous posts, his dialogue has a certain cadence to it in all his work that's pretty unmistakeable here. It's fairly clear from TLK's dialogue that he's fairly unstable; but, he does have plenty of interesting info for Aztek and the reader. Liek I said, before, pretty much nothing in this series goes to waste.

He reveals that he wants Aztek's mask - Aztek's mask, of course, contains the combined experiences & knowledge of all previous Azteks. His armor and it's 4-D power source may be the main source of his abilities, but it's his mask that ties him to his heritage & his mission. TLK wants it because he believes it's HIS holy mission to defeat the Shadow God, not an incompetent 19 year old. Given Aztek's performance in most battles thus far, it's hard to blame him. Aztek reveals his deathtrap to be a sham, with Nurse Joy not being around, and they battle.

TLK's exposition here, reveals important info about the Q foundation - their history, and their mission to defeat the Shadow God (Tetzcatlipoca - it's interesting to note, by the way, that Morrison made a lot of references to these two gods warring around this same time in the Invisibles. More hints that this is a very Morrison issue) using Quetzalcoatl's mask, we already knew. TLK was Aztek's father's "second"; the guy that was going to take over should he screw up, basically. They had identified Vanity as the town the Shadow God would return to; but Aztek's dad fell in love with a woman and was apparently deemed unfit to continue the mission. TLK, for refusing to kill him, was "psychically maimed". This is the first indication that the Q Foundation is inherently corrupt and untrustworthy, which Morrison & Millar will come back to in a few issues but only really gets followed through on in JLA a few months after this title is cancelled.

By the way, all of the above info is shown to Aztek by having him look through TLK's little eyeball/tuning fork thingy, which he refers to as a "spying glass". This seems like a very "fairy tale" kind of name for it, which is another theme Morrison liked to play with - using fairy tales & children's toys/stories as items of power. Another standard Morrison theme being used here is the idea of doubling - all of the Azteks have a second, someone else going through there training and waiting in the wings for them. On top of that doubling, we have, as the villain of this issue, Aztek's double, another Q product with the same mission. Very, very Morrison.

TLK again assaults & taunts Aztek, who warns him of the dangers of wearing the helmet without training... as TLK continues to beat Aztek & scream about how untrustworthy the Q Foundation is, his head essentially explodes & his body burns out. Aztek explains that the helmet, containing combined memories & experiences of 100's of warriors, requires that the user have a post-hypnotic puzzle in his mind (the reward for completing the last ordeal of training) to keep the mind in the mask occupied, lest this happen.

We cut back to the hospital where a wounded Aztek shows up with what remains of Nurse Joy. She's been through the same process TLK put his victims through last issue, sucking out the "goodness" from them, leaving a shriveled husk. Nurse Joy now appears to be a tiny, pink little gremlin. This is really the only thing in the series that doesn't quite work, as it just looks kind of goofy on paper.

We finally end the issue with a quick flash to Lawrence Rodman, a seemingly ordinary, middle america guy leaving for work, who slaps a fly dead on his way out and all of a sudden starts grinning maniacally and weeping. It's actually a very, very effective, creepy, and unsettling scene, which screams Morrison, since it reads like it could have come straight out of his Doom Patrol run. This seems to be setting up for the Joker/Batman two-parter, but in fact doesn;t end up having anything to do with that. This is actually a plot that gets dropped once the book gets cancelled, but this guy is Aztek's long-lost brother (we discover this in issue 10, but it doesn't really matter - maybe more doubling, though?).

The next two issues are the really fun ones, and especially relevant since Morrison's just finished a big Batman/Joker story.

NYCC '09

I'm a native New Yorker, but I moved to Cali only a few short months before the first ever New York Comiccon, so I've never attended. A couple of my friends will be going, and since I managed to actually get a decent price for plane tickets for once, I'm going this year. Are any of my legions of readers (stretching the definition of the word "legions" to mean "two") going? Any advice on which day (or days) I'm best off going to? I was thinking Friday and/or Saturday. Thoughts/tips?

Stuff I've been reading

The Aztek posts have been pretty few and far between; I've been super busy at work with a variety of new responsibilities this year, plus I've recently gotten just a shit-tonof comics & "real" books to read. So, Comics I'll get around to talking about eventually:

The Nightly News by Jonathan Hickman - every bit as good as you've heard.

100 Bullets Vol. 12 - Actually, I don't know if I'll ever review this. This is the only series I buy in trades exclusively, only because that's how I got into it. It also does read better, I think, in chunks. I always seem to enjoy it, but frankly in between volumes I forgot half the plot.

The Last Defenders - I actually liked this quite a lot, which suprised me since usually Casey's work falls flst for me. This was really good though, and I'll review it eventually.

The Boys 11-24 - I think 24, anyway. Whatever's the newest issue. I've read issues 1-10 and liked them fine but felt the joke was already wearignt hin; my brothers been reading it and loving it so I got all the issues from him. Haven't read them yet.

Eightball - I don't even know what issues, just a whole lot of them. A riend at work loaned them to me and I'm pretty interested to read them, since I've heard tons about it but never seen a single issue. I probably won't read it till winter break, though.

The Playboy - some indy graphic Novel by Chester Brown; I know nothing about this, same friend at work gave it to me. I'll probably also check it out over break.

Next on my reading list is the new Chuck Palahniuk book, though, so I'll get around to these eventually...

Thursday 12/4/08

Gas prices are dropping, so I wasted some money on shit I otherwise wouldn't have...

Secret Invasion #8: It's such an afterthought, it's even written in past tense! Wow! Seriously, I haven't been reading the series at all, but I was curious about the setup for Dark Reign, so the Marvel Promotion Machine got me. The Skrulls seemed pretty easily defeated, and their "plan b" - an exploding Wasp? - was pretty easily dealt with. So they actually ended up not really seeming like much of a threat, actually. Whatever. The rest of the setup is at least interesting, but doesn't Norman Osborn have a criminal record? And was the world really crying out for Mockingbird to come back? Oh well. I'm intrigued by some of the new setup, but there's no way I'm spending $3.99 an issue on Dark Avengers - sorry, Marvel.

Thunderbolts #126: Hey, all right. This is more like it. This manages to strike the right balance between the crazy unreality of Ellis run with the regular Marvel universe - and it makes a nice segway out of the final issue of SI. Norman's clearly going to be setting up the Dark Avengers as his "personal" Avengers team - Norman as Iron Patriot, Daken as Wolverine (not sure how he's going to fit into this, given his recent rehabilitation in Original Sin), either Bullseye or Swordsman as Hawkeye, and Venom or Bullseye as Spidey-Black. It's actually not a bad setup, and a cute inversion of the Thunderbolts/Avengers status quo. Wish Dark Avengers wasn't 1 dollar overpriced. Thunderbolts looks to be cool, though. This reminds me of what Marvel is good at: yeah, they may overhype, but their post-event continuity and coordination is awesome. Their editorial is a well-oiled machine. Quite unlike...

Batman #682: ... DC Comics, who not only frequently ignore major status quo changes and developments within their own line of comics, but now do it with their own series, and with the same writer! So, after RIP's non-ending, which resolved nothing and revealed nothing, we segue into a Final Crisis tie-in wherein apparently Batman is alive, fine and completely ignoring the events of RIP. Look, I realize he wasn;t really dead - but could we at least pay lip service to the story so that we feel like Morrison gives a shit? I don't think I've ever been so dissapointed with a Morrison comic. This just seems like he doesn't give a crap, and that makes me not give a crap about bothering to give this a real review. I'm just exhausted with this comic already, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I can't wait for his run to be over so I can stop reading it.

Criminal #7: Ah, at least this will wash the taste from my mouth. A clever twist that I didn't see coming but really should have, and a great inversion of the "corrupt cop/innocent guy he's hounding" motif - corrupt cop's instincts were correct, and innocent guy is freakin' nuts. As usual, Bru's script is dead-on, and Phillips' art makes me glad I can't draw, because I wouldn't be this good. Sheer perfection.

Aztek: The Ultimate Man #4

The issue opens with an old man strapped to some machinery, begging to be released. He's says he's such a nice guy, he's never even cursed. A very Millar statement. His captor explains that he is sucking all the "goodness" from his body, such as nurtrients, proteins, as well as the implication of more metaphysical goodness. Hi captor (who also has the man's daughter, to be his co-pilot), wants his job, which is currently occupied. We assume by Aztek, and we assume correctly.

We cut to Aztek hunting for, and finding, a little old lady's lost pet Lizard. Again, this underscores how far Aztek is from being a traditional hero - his narration even acknowldges how odd this would seem to others, and that Vanity certainly uch have larger problems - such as a diamond stolen from some rich guy. Aztek intentionally prioritzes the little people. For the first time, we're getting a sense that he's becoming aware of how unordinary he is, compared to everything around him. He;s becoming self-aware as well as aware of how things work. He returns the lizard to find that the old lady has attempted suicide, with a very Millar-esque line of dialogue: "You must think I'm such an idiot... I've opened up my wrists, Aztek...". This scene has never sat right with me; it's a bit excessive, but I see the point of it, to highlight what an ugly, despair-riden town Vanity is. Possibly, since the Aztek "Shadow God" was meant to have risen here, it would have eventually been revealed that things like this were due to his influence. We'll never know.

Next up, Nurse Joy complains about how awful her date with Dr. Falconer was, Dr. Frostick corners him about his identity (which she discovered last issue was a lie), while he tends to the old lady. He stamers for an excuse, coming up empty, and she gives him till morning to hand in his resignation or an explanation. Again, a bit of a contrivance, like the last scene. Luckily for Falconer, the next few issues will be one insanely long night. Nurse Joy's friend lies to him and says she loved her date and wants to see him again. As he contemplates this information, he gets cornered by some bizarre, homemade-lookign robots in the hosptial corridor. I get a very Morrison vibe from these guys, as they look distinctly like some of his villains from the Doom Patrol - seemingly random assortments of parts combined. We cut to their controller 9 the villain from earlier, so we know this is what his victims are "piloting"), who is watching this through a pair of eyes stck to some sort of tunign fork (eyes being another Morrison trope, as is the ludicrous site of, well, eyes stuck to a tuning fork).

Frostick's chatting with her fiance, musing that Falconer is a pretty decent guy, so what could he possibly have to hide. As she says this, she sees him leaping through a window, fairly high up, and putting on his Aztek helmet. Issue 4, and he's already fouled up his secret ID. He manifests his costume and flies back to battle, while his attackers call him a "filthy wretch", which is so bizarre even their master comments on how goofy this sounds ("nobody cares if you swear. Put some feeling into it"). Aztek gets tossed into some construction, where he's referred to as Hawkman by the workers, again reminding us that he's pretty much Z-List at this point (although one of them recognizes him, so he's moving up). His narration comments on how bizarre supervillain fights are - that people "huddle in curious and watch no matter hopw dangerous things get". For some reason, this strikes me as a very Millar sentiment, that civilians in a superhero universe have a spectator mentality. This normalizes heroes in a way I associate with Millar, whereas Morrison makes them larger than life. It's a good idea, at any rate.

We go on to see a rare (if not first) instance of Aztek actually being effective in a fight, electrocuting his attackers and knocking them around; before cutting the robots open to yank the pilots out. The art doesn't make it clear here, but they've been shrunken to a fraction of human size. His adversary is named here, The Lizard King. We mov e on to Aztek meditating and recording his notes on the battle; mentioning that his attackers had been modificed using ancient techniques of his order; we cut to his masters back home oistening to his notes. They're unhappy that his secret ID is a distraction, but it does keep him busy and active, which is good. They also confirm for us that his new adversary is someone from their organization, or its past. This entire scene is very Morrison in the cadence of the characters' speech.

Aztek receives a call from The Lizard King, politely letting him know he's going to kill him and defeat the Shadow God himself. He has Nurse Page strapped into his machines next, and that she's barely recognizable already. Aztek has an hour to meet him at his lair.

This is probably the weakest issue of the series, with some fairly contrived situations, but it sets up some of the following issues' revelations about Aztek's background, and it establishes that he's starting to get more accustomed to the idea of being a superhero. Just a superhero on his own terms.