Okay, okay, that’s just a shameless play on his name rather than anything specific that Mister Didio has done, but I recently saw a Newsarama interview with him that included the following quote:

 But our plans for Superman/Batman are interesting. Over the next few months, you’re going to see Superman/Batman actually reflecting major events of the past of the DC Universe. We’re going to be building on other stories, other events, using these characters. So you’re going to see an expansion on Superman/Batman’s role in the post-“Emperor Joker’s” world. So you’re going to see effects of “Emperor Joker” in Superman/Batman. As well as “Our Worlds at War”. There are going to be events that we’re going to be filling out there.

So for folks who had fun and enjoyed these big events of the past, we’re going to revisit them in the Superman/Batman book. And expand on the stories of those. And those stories will fit within continuity even more tightly now because they’re written with the current DC Universe in mind.

No!  I beg you!  Didion’t!  One of the reasons I love Superman/Batman is it is a break from continuity and, much of the time, sanity.  It’s fun and ridiculous and you don’t have to figure out the timeline or understand anything of the larger universe.  That book is its own little island of nuttiness.  Leave it pristine!  Let nature take its course.

Think of the children!

About a year and a half ago, I got into a comic called Awakening, written by Nick Tapalansky and drawn by Alex Eckman-Lawn. Released by Archaia, the dark zombie mystery of a title had me interested for the first three issues, but then… nothing. The series went on hiatus for the longest time, only for it to finally resurface.

Did it resurface as #4? No, even better. Recently, a hardcover collection has been released, featuring the first half of the planned ten-issue series. It’s good stuff and is a good read for the upcoming October mood.

I invited writer Nick Tapalansky to an interview. He was gracious enough to both answer my questions and not hit me.

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I’ve yakked about Ann Nocenti’s run on Daredevil before, but honestly, it was really great and underrated comics. The message that violence is not the answer, that heroes cannot use violence as the end-all/be-all problem solving tool, all of that stuff? It’s what Daredevil could use a little more of these days, instead of increasingly tortured melodrama and depression. I like my Daredevil to be a little more like Nocenti’s and a little less like Blankets, you know?

Anyway, context: Matt Murdock has forsaken the love of his life for Mary, the good half of Typhoid Mary. At the same time, Daredevil has fallen under the spell of Typhoid Mary, who betrays him, has him beaten, and then finishes him off by dropping him off a bridge. When DD wakes up, New York City has gone to Hell, literally. It’s infested with demons, the skies have gone red, and monsters roam the streets.

Daredevil, ashamed of himself and his actions, has gone quiet. He’s moving on auto-pilot, never speaking, just brutalizing demons. It isn’t even properly protecting people. The demons provide a convenient excuse for Daredevil to work out his frustrations. Not much of a hero, is he?

Best part’s the smile at the end.

Words by Ann Nocenti, art by John Romita, Jr.

What does that even mean?

I guess it just sounds cool.  And although Red Hood has a dippy catch phrase and is lobbying hard for the title of World’s Silliest Mask (Getting strong competition from the Purple Conehead in that issue.  Does anyone know who that is?) he’s shaping up to be a pretty good character.

I like that he’s obviously out to make a name for himself, for whatever reason, and approaches it with pragmatism and care.  It’s nice to see a hero/villain/anti-hero/whoever who is media-savvy.  I also like seeing the relationship between him and that girl who is his sidekick.  Funny that it seems about five times more tender and respectful than the relationships that most of the heroes have with their sidekicks.  The two seem to like each other and respect each other’s quirks.

Now, to the meat and potatoes.  Guesses on who Red Hood is?  I think the Jason thing is a red herring.

Aaaaaaaaaaand cut it.

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The status quo for Venom had been changed, perhaps forever. The Venom symbiote had moved away from Eddie Brock, leaving a cancer-filled husk of a human being. While Mac Gargan found success as the new Venom, Eddie would be nearly forgotten about, suffering in a hospital bed. Eddie Brock himself was never a match for Spider-Man from the start. What hope would he have as an antagonist when he’s weakened by a disease?

Around that time, directly after Civil War, Marvel was making a big deal out of Spider-Man’s new look. Or old look. Whatever. The third Spider-Man movie – which featured the black costume – was on its way to theaters and Marvel chose to capitalize it in a way that really didn’t work. Spider-Man would start wearing a black costume again. The whole thing was a list of letdowns.

Was it the Venom symbiote? No. It was just a spandex costume he wore because he wanted to kill the Kingpin. Wearing black means he’s totally hardcore now.

So he’s going to kill the Kingpin? Ha! Come on, this is Spider-Man. The only people he’s killed are Gwen Stacy and Wolverine’s spy girlfriend, both unintentional. Spider-Man’s too much of a pussy to even kill Darkseid with a god-killing gun if he had the chance.

Okay, but the black costume will have some kind of storyline blow-off, right? No, not really. He wears it for an arc or so of his different comics, confusing people who will pick up and read World War Hulk for years to come. Then he simply stops wearing it. Like, at the beginning of One More Day, where it would make sense for him to still have it on, he’s back to his regular tights. Everyone was too distracted by the, “Jesus Christ! Really?!” aspect of that story to give a damn.

But what does that have to do with Eddie Brock outside of cosmetics? The reason Spider-Man was so cheesed off at the Kingpin in the first place was because a hitman accidentally shot Aunt May when going for Peter. Now she’s in the hospital in critical condition.

Aunt May in a hospital bed? Huh. I guess that’s one thing cancer-ridden Eddie Brock could take in a fight.

It’s a nice reference to the famous Kraven’s Last Hunt cover of black costume Spider-Man rising from beneath the earth in front of his own tombstone.

The Last Temptation of Eddie Brock takes place in Sensational Spider-Man #38-39. It’s written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and drawn by Lee Weeks.

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Firs:  This is a fantastic cover.  I dare you to look at this cover and not want to buy the comic.

Second:  Most superhero comics involving teenage heroes revolve around the question of identity.  This can get stale, but Adventure Comics has an advantage over the competition.  It isn’t the old question of presenting one identity to family and friends while living the hero’s life in secret.  Every important person in Kon’s life already knows his identity, and is happy with it.  There isn’t any tired sneaking around, no depressing damned-if-you-do-or-damned-if-you-don’t choices.  Instead the identity question is there because Kon has two biological parents, one of which he was literally programmed to emulate, and needs to reassure himself that he’s most like the one he admires.

Third:  I’m seeing young love, and I’m not seeing stupid love or needlessly-dramatic love, and I like that.  All the false crises that a lesser comic would pump up, (Wonder-Girl kissed Robin!  Oh no!) this one dismisses (Kon was dead at the time. ((He was on the moon.  With Steve.))  She can kiss whoever.).  Okay, their encounter was a little too gluey and sacharine.  I could have done without the ‘you are too good for me,’ ‘no, you are too good for me‘ aspect, and I’m still looking for a couple who genuinely has fun together instead of just being romantic, but I have high hopes for these two.

Fourth:  It seems that all young-super books are improved by the addition of super-pets.  Krypto is a running joke and a freaking joy.

Fifth:  I’m expressing another hope, now.  The last page of the book had Lex Luthor seeing that Kon was alive again.  In the last few issues of Teen Titans before Kon’s death, Luthor is shown as thinking of Kon as his son and acting charitably on his behalf.  I hope that they’ll continue that aspect of the character instead of tipping him into general villainy.  We have had, and will have, a thousand chances to see Lex Luthor be a bad guy what likes to do bad.  This is one of the few chances we’ll have to see him as a bad person who still cares about someone.  I hope this book will take advantage of that.

Not I, that’s who.

But then Hawkman not only bonks a tyrannosaurus rex on the head with his mace, he taunts the poor thing because it can’t touch its own nose.

And then is soundly beaten.  Still, that was a glorious page of newsprint, my friends.  That was comics at its finest.  Hawkman was a better strip than Supergirl this week, and that’s saying something.

All is forgiven Hawks, all is forgiven.

Back before DC and Marvel were the two big forces in the world of comics, Dell Comics appeared to be the #1 team. It’s no wonder, considering they got to sell comics with such properties as the Disney and Warner Brothers cartoons characters. Preexisting properties seemed to be their forte, as in the 60’s, they released comic one-shots that retold the films of famous movie monsters, such as Dracula, The Wolfman and Frankenstein.

What’s notable is that those came out during the early days of the Comics Code Authority, which proceeded to lay down ground rules on the comic companies to pussify every one of their titles. This meant the lack of horror aspects, including how vampires and their like were not allowed to see print. Dell decided that they wanted no part of the CCA, even though lots of sellers refused to carry comics that weren’t approved.

Dell didn’t want the CCA regulating them and insisted to the public that they could damn well regulate themselves, so don’t worry about it. I think the pressure on the CCA mentality is one of the things that pushed them towards today’s topic. That, along with their need for original content and how the superhero comics were really taking over the market.

The company decided to take their monster properties and turn them into superheroes. It doesn’t sound too crazy. Morbius the Living Vampire has been a Marvel staple for years and enjoyed some time as the hero in his own series. Similarly, Marvel released comics for heroes Werewolf by Night and Monster of Frankenstein. More recently, DC introduced the Hellboy-esque Frankenstein, who shows that even in the present there’s still much you can do with the old Mary Shelly creation.

That’s… not exactly what Dell was going for here.

There was a castle on fire and a man jumping out of a test tube and I killed a man with a trident.

I’ll admit that this entire article is thanks to Brian Cronin, whose article on the CCA and their opinion on vampires led me to first seeing that cover. From there I knew that I had to own this, read this and tell you all about it. Blame him!

I mean, look at that cover! The ridiculous outfit! The off-center belt! The fact that Dracula is jumping out of a test tube held by Dracula! Sorry to say, despite the cover’s claim, there’s no point where they tell us the secret to his power of appearing in two places at the same time.

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