I’m sure this has been touched on a hundred times before, but I just want to say my piece about it. Continuity, flow, history, whatever you want to call it or whatever it means to you, is on the way out the door. It simply doesn’t seem to matter too much to the big 2 nowadays, but hey they control our favorite characters so what are you going to do about it. Retcons change things, not always for the better, but for the most part they try to at least explain it, rationalize it, and somehow squeeze it into the story without usually totally smashing continuity like the Hulk on a bad day. However this isn’t always the case, and some of it falls on these ego-inflated writers who have a sense of entitlement and think that it’s no big deal if they change well established character traits, or defining events, because “they don’t like them.”

A couple of specific events and writers come to mind, the first being the thing that ruined Spider-Man for me, (until Spider-Island brought me crawling back), Brand New Day. Thank you Marvel for erasing every Spider-Man story that has taken place since I was 8 years old. The next would have to be the continuity-monger himself…Brian Michael Bendis. Is he talented? Yes without a doubt he is a fantastic writer, and he’s proven that on countless books including the Ultimate verse and some independent label titles. But that doesn’t mean he should get free reign to toss out major character elements and story arcs because he thinks they’re dumb. To me his continuity meddling seems like straight up arrogance. The last one I’m really going to harp about might be a little lesser known by most, it is IDW’s Transformers run. First off I’m a huge G1 Trans Formers fan, and love the original Marvel Comic and Dreamwave’s adaption of the G1 Characters and mythos. I do not however care for IDW’s interpretation at all. And it’s not from bland stories or inconsistent art, no it’s from taking the G1 characters, who have been around for almost 30 years now, and making them do a total 180 from their persona. We have Autobots doing drive-by shootings on humans and so much more. Each new Transformers series has essentially been a rehash of the original G1 mythos with a new twist, and that’s fine, because it has its own label slapped on it, like Energon or Armada, etc. But when they’re using the G1 characters and G1 mythos and making the good guys into homicidal psychos, then we have a problem.

Alright, now even though I have a DC bias, they are not spared from this. Obviously the New 52, while a nice breath of fresh air, has plenty of WTF continuity moments for long time fans, mainly the Superman and Batman titles. I think they justified it pretty well, that Barry’s fading memories really goofed things up, with major events being only half remembered, so that certain events like The Killing Joke only occurred for some characters, it’s a little twisted of a concept to wrap your head around, and has many long time DC fans up in arms. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and 12-18 issues or so, to give us a clearer view of what’s in and what’s out for each character. Didio’s confusing statements on his facebook and twitter certainly aren’t helping the situation either. Saying “Crisis Never Happened” really pretty much makes anything that’s happened at all since 1985 irrelevant, he went on to clarify that it didn’t happen the same way for everybody, which made more sense and also less sense at the same time. Only time will tell how much continuity is really skewed or erased in the New 52 for each individual character. I have faith they’ll do great but I’m sure at least one character will have some major WTF continuity moments that will get us fans up in arms.

The last thing I’m going to touch on goes back to the Marvel Universe in particular and on continuity and flow during events. So we have Marvel, the Event Freaks, who have 3 major events going on at once. “Okay big deal,” some would say, “comics are event driven” seems to be the current argument. Well that may be the case, but how hard is it to lay out a clear plan or flow that says either these events are happening simultaneously or that give us a chronological order that makes sense. We just got done having Schism, Spider-Island, and Fear Itself shake up the Marvel Universe, all at the same time publication wise. But I guess Fear Itself takes place right before Spider-Island? So that means that in all of the Fear Itself fallout and aftermath that Steve Rogers is dealing with, he has time to get nabbed without anyone noticing, and turned into a man-spider, who is loaded up with eggs full of carriers of the Spider virus. Where does he find the time to do that with all that is happening? Man he must be everywhere at once almost as much as Wolverine and Spider-Man. Don’t even get me started about that.

So there you have it, Marvel throws it out the door, it appears DC may have done a similar thing. Who knows, maybe this time next year we’ll have a fully relaunched Marvel Universe with everything erased as well.

Today I would like to talk about Comic Shops, the main spot (well for me at least) where we get our comic fix. Sure online and digital comics seem to be a growing trend, but I really hope this trend levels off, it would be sad if we actually lost the physical hardcopy versions. To me a digital comics will never replace having the paper issue in your hand, I mean if I really want a comic that can “go anywhere” I’ll put it in a bag and board and carry it around with me in my back pack or a short box, I really don’t need to have a copy of it in my phone. I love comics, and I am a sucker for back issue diving at comic shops whenever I go to a . I mean you don’t hear too many people clamoring over owning a digital copy of Action Comics #1 (the original 1938 volume that is). So today I’d like to discuss the Comic Shops that I love, because they are what keeps this hobby and industry around, if they don’t get the support from us consumers then they have to shut down (like Atomic Comics in Phoenix), and if that happens enough across the nation, we’ll lose our hardcopy paper comics.

THE GOOD:

I live in central Iowa, around the Des Moines Metro area (which to people from outside of Iowa doesn’t seem much like a metro area at all), and there are a number of shops in Des Moines and the surrounding communities I’d like to touch on. However, I am originally from and the Cedar Falls-Waterloo area. I’d like to touch on my favorite shop, which in my opinion, is the best damn shop you will find nationwide, hands down. The owner, who has become my good friend Rob, is top notch. I’ve never had such great customer service from anyone in any retail store or restaurant, he really goes above and beyond to help not only his loyal customers, but also people he’s never met that are walking into the store for the first time. The name of the comic shop is Limited Edition Comics & Collectibles, you can check out their page on facebook, which is Le Comics. Now Rob also runs a barber shop, hair salon, which is actually located inside the shop. This may sound odd to some, but it is a perfect partnership, people come in and get their hair done, and while they’re waiting they and their kids can get a nice read in, and really sample a number of books that usually turn into purchases. Also because of this, Rob is able to hook customers up with some damn nice discounts. He is a true fanboy at heart, and runs the hair salon as a business, that’s how he makes his money, the comic part is just for fun, so he’s more than willing to show his customers how much he appreciates their business, by giving some (depends on your pull list size) up to 25% off their purchases. Now if you’re like me and picking up 40+ titles a month, that 25% is pretty damn nice and makes the hobby a little easier on the wallet.

Rob also does a damn nice job bringing in some really top notch artists and writers for signings and sketch days. In just the past 2-3 months he’s average 2 artists or writers a month. Comic creators such as Phil Hester (Firebreather, Darkness, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman), Tom Nguyen (Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Ghostbusters The Other Side, and a ton others), Keith Champagne (Ghostbusters The Other Side, Armor X, JSA, Green Lantern, Flash, and a ton others), Cory Hamscher (The pencils & inks on the upcoming Supreme book from Image, X-MEN Forever, X-MEN Forever 2, Incredible Hulks, a ton others) and soon to come Erik Burnham writer and artist who is currently writing IDW’s Ghostbusters Ongoing (coming to the shop November 16) are all friends in the shop and have been there at least once. He really brings in a lot of great comic creators who are all really nice guys who have nothing but good things to say about their experience at Limited Edition.

So if you live or ever visit , be sure to stop by Limited Edition Comics, on (also known as “The Hill” or “College Hill” by locals and UNI students).

The next shop I want to discuss is my favorite in the area, and that is Cup of Kryptonite, located near the airport, next to Hy-Vee on . Clever name right? It is a comic book shop and coffee house. The staff there are awesome, all very knowledgeable and great guys. Matt, the owner, loves to sit and talk comics with you, and will order anything you’re interested in, even if it isn’t on the wall. Their most important mission is to get you the comics you’re interested in, without charging you an arm and a leg. His prices on variants are really great, and much better than the cross town shop Mayhem Comics who is interested in nothing but taking your money and overcharging you (but I’ll get to that later). I fell in love with this shop because of their excellent service, friendly help, and the huge amount of cheap back issues they have on hand. I love all of the 90’s Image stuff, which unfortunately was scarce in my area when I was a kid (closest comic shop was 30 miles away, after comics disappeared from grocery stores I was deprived). You can get your Image, DC, or Marvel fix from the 80’s, 90’s, and 00’s for just 25-50 cents each an issue, which is awesome, much better than Mayhem who has the same issues for $5-15 each.

If you live in and are going to Mayhem instead of Cup O Kryptonite, you really need to check out what Matt has in his shop, I think you’ll really be overwhelmed by how much better the customer service is and instantly change your comic shop.

Another shop I’d like to give a shout out to is Rodman Comics in , also located in the metro area, but on the northern side buried in a strip mall on Ankeny Blvd. The owner is a top notch nice guy and he really has a great store with a lot of selection and ton of rarer 80’s back issues that are pretty reasonably priced. He also has a ton of Comic Action Figures very reasonably priced. He runs a pretty nice shop and will talk your ear off about comics, be sure to check out Rodman Comics if you live the area and haven’t.

THE BAD….MORE LIKE EVIL

Okay, I strongly dislike, no wait, HATE Mayhem Comics located in and They are about as big of jerks as you’ll run across in any business owner. I went to college at Iowa State University, located in Ames, so I frequented their shop a couple of times a week, every week (including summer) for 4 years, and not once did I ever get an employee, including the owner to talk comics with me. I love talking comics, when I’d check out I’d try to start a conversation with the employee at the counter about some of the books I was reading that were on their “Highly Recommend List” but it was like pulling teeth, they would either just look at me and say nothing, or give me one word answers like “yea” or “no.” To top that off, I think they have ZERO business ethics. NONE WHATSOEVER. A friend of mine worked at the local Gamestop, who had a partnership with Mayhem in Ames (the employees each got 15% off at each other’s respective stores), and his manager was looking to start a video game business as his own, one that wasn’t confined to Gamestop’s corporate view and rules. So he approaches Mayhem’s owner/manager and says “Hey we have a good partnership going, I’d like to open my own video game shop in (which at the time had no comic shop) and was wondering if you’d like to go in with me and do a Video Game/Comics store.” Now a little background info here, Mayhem made it publicly known that they were looking to open a store in , I heard them talk about it at least 2-3 times while I was in there and they were too busy ignoring their customers. So the Mayhem guy says, no not interested, that’s a stupid idea, it’d never work. Seriously that’s what he said, guess what the dude does the next month, builds and addition onto the store, and puts Video Games in it, then announces that they will be opening a Video Game/Comic store in in 2 years. Cool right?

What tops it off for me, is that on top of all that (and the previously mentioned way overpriced back issues, they have Image Comics #0 which I bough for 99 cents on ebay, for sale at $25) is what they did following the DC New 52 Relaunch. When it came out that Animal Man #1 was so awesome and selling well, they pulled all of their remaining 20 copies or so, bagged and boarding them, held them for a week, then put them on the shelf the following Wednesday (7 days after being released) and sold them for $8-10 each. Classy right? The book had been out for a week and they were already selling it marked up. I’m not saying they couldn’t have done that, go ahead, pull it, and a month later, after #2 has come out, go for it, but to do it less than a week after it had come out, before a 2 printing was announced, is bullshit, pure greedy bullshit. That was the straw that broke the camels back, they will never see a dime of my money again.

So metro area comic buyers, I highly recommend you leave the shitty service of Mayhem and check out Cup of Kryptonite and Rodman Comics, you’ll feel much for satisfied with your comic buying experience. And those of you in the Northeast Iowa area, be sure to check out Limited Edition in , and stop in for the Erik Burnham signing on November 16!

1990’s Summer Retro-Active Superman

Okay the 1990s issue of Superman is up, and gotta say I absolutely loved this issue, there's a lot going on in this issue that ties a whole lot of story elements from a bunch of arcs in the 90s. It was awesome. This era of Superman is my favorite, the period of stories after Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis, with the awesome origin story reimagined by John Byrne.

Simonson really nailed the 90s era storywise. Right away on the first page of the story we see a derranged crazy looking Lex Luthor reading the Daily Planet in disgust with the picture of Superman punching Lobo, and its the cover of Superman Man of Steel #30, which is a simple but a very cool touch imo. Little things like that are what make these books really awesome. Anyway Lex is falling apart, literally, as he's a clone (the original Lex died from cancer due to the radiation of his Kryptonite ring, so he makes a clone and transfers his mind into that body.) Anyway all of the clones had a defect, this was a huge story that ran through a couple of titles, specifically the Superboy series since Conner is a clone. Also effected by the Clone Sickness are the "Underworlders," which are a group of monster reject clones from Cadmus that live in the abandoned subway tunnels of Metropolis. Anyways, Lex is all sorts of crazy, he has genetically engineered this tunnel digging worm thing that secretes a lead-lined corrosive slime that eats away at the rock and allows it move very quickly, resulting in small earth quake tremors that are destroying abandoned and crappy buildings, allow Lex to buy the properties cheap for real estate development and pin the destruction on the Underworlders. Lois goes an interviews Dr. Hamilton, who works with the Underworlders and gives Lois the scoop. (The Underworlders was a pretty big story arc involving Hamilton & Lois).

Superman encounters the creature and is affected by its slime, so with no other choice he drives the beast into the earths mantle to stop it. But in doing so, he is badly burned resulting in the total loss of his hair, including the Super-mullet! And then afterwards Lois fills him in on what she discovered about Lex. The end.

It was a very cool little story that really referenced a lot of major stories in the 90's before the energy Superman conversion. A lot of very neat references and a cool sub plot about the citizens recovering and rebuilding from when Doomsday destroyed Metropolis. Its another one I highly recommend. These stories have been really cool and great books, I hope DC decides to do them again next summer! I wouldn't mind seeing a 40s set of books featuring Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel, and the JSA.

1990’s Sumer Retro-Active Justice League of

I'm disappointed to say that this one isn't worth picking up. They had 2 routes they could have gone with, they could have gone with a League inspired by Grant Morrison's run around 1996-97 or go with the earlier 90's lineup that was more of a Justice League International lineup which unfortunately they went with. I really don't even feel like summarizing it. It focuses more on the villain team The Injustice League, which are a bunch of bumbling morons, than it does on the Justice League. So feel free to pass on this one!

1990’s Summer Retro-Active Green Lantern

1980’ Retro-Active Green Lantern

This was a very cool story, written by Len Wien featuring John Stewart as Green Lantern. The art was fantastic, it really captured the 80’s feel of Green Lantern very well, and the story was very well written. I highly recommend this book to any Green Lantern fans out there, and the reprinted issue that features Hal is a pretty fun read as well.

Okay now a summary of the new story, it starts out with John diving into the ocean and using the ring to breathe and locate the enemy he has to take down, Shark. Shark uses his telekinesis to launch 6 nuclear missiles from a stolen Russian Nuclear Sub-Marine, John flies after the missiles and successfully disarms them, throwing the nuclear devices into the sun, and then uses the missile casings to successfully and easily apprehend Shark.

He then flies to a restaurant to meet his girlfriend, Tawny Young, who he is dating as Green Lantern, and not as John Stewart (seems kind of backwards compared to nowadays doesn’t it? But prior to Crisis on Infinite Earths that’s the way the heroes did it ). He uses the ring to disguise himself as a doctor, so that only Tawny actually sees him as Green Lantern. After dinner they go for a stroll, and he reveals to her his secret identity, John Stewart!

The next day he wakes up and turns on the television to see Tawny on the news has revealed his secret identity to the entire world. He looks out his window and there are camera crews swarming his apartment building. John goes out and confronts them obviously very angry and flies off. He heads to the station where he gives Tawny an earful and she just shrugs it off and says no biggie, he gave her the story of a lifetime, and that he should have known that she would do this. He tells her how now villains will target her but she just shrugs it off. Low and behold, a small time villain, known as Sonar, who’s uses his cutting edge technology with sound waves to disturb the public in an attempt to put his small Independent-Monarchy country in the on the map. So he kidnaps Tawny, John comes in and saves the day, easily defeating Sonar by reflecting his sound waves back at him, using the power of the ring to amplify their intensity, and incapacitate him. John tells him he should just use his patents and Sonic Research to put his country on the map, light bulb!

John then turns to Tawny, pretty much tells her she’s an idiot, and tells her that they’re done and hope “The Story of a Lifetime” was worth it. The End

A very enjoyable issue, Len Wein wrote it very well. If you’re a Green Lantern fan or a fan of Len’s writing, I recommend picking this one up! It captures the 80’s feel, both story wise and artistically wise.

1980's Retro-Active Justice League of book.

This is another very cool tale. I’ll admit I’m not too familiar with the 1980’s Justice League stories, my background in the 80’s for DC is mostly Superman, Batman, Flash, and Green Lantern, who are not on the 80’s JLA team. However this story was really cool, it was a great read, and actually really made me interested in trying to track down some back issues of the 80’s JLA to read. The team is kind of a JV JLA and made up of mostly B-Listers, lead by Aquaman and Martian Manhunter, the rest of the team consists of Vixen, Commander Steel, Elongated Man, Zatanna, Vibe, Gypsy, and Dale Gunn. So still some bigger names but not the powerhouse line-up of the 70’s or 90’s, or what you’d consider the “Classic” Justice League roster. However, that doesn’t stop the story from being very fun and entertaining, like I said I absolutely loved the story by Gerry Conway and the art by Ron Randall.

The team has made their headquarters, and decided to give the local kids a tour of their HQ. One loud mouthed kid calls the JLA a bunch of JV Losers, and then a young boy in a Superman t-shirt makes a very passionate speech about its not about the line-up its about the team standing for something and fighting for Justice in a troubled time when there isn’t a whole lot of it going around in the world. Which is actually a pretty cool moment, and touches on another theme throughout the story, that this isn’t the Dream Team of the JLA but they role up their sleeves and go to work, give it their all and in the end find a way to work together and get the job done despite being outgunned.
While they’re giving the tour to the kids they are attacked by the evil sorcerer Felix Faust, who has the table of TEL EL-AMARNA, which brings to life the darkest of mankind, the physical embodiments of Fear, Rage, and Envy, that then grow and get stronger as they combat those who emit those emotions. Faust attacks the JLA who he calls B-Listers and plans on easily crushing them, so that the “Real Justice League” will come seeking revenge, and only fuel his creatures and seal their own destruction. So the JLA is getting their butt whooped, and just manage to survive long enough to get themselves and the children sealed into a vault to regroup. Relatively soon Faust’s monster break into the vault and the JLA prepares to make their last stand to allow Gypsy to lead the children to safety. Instead she disobeys Aquaman’s orders and slips out unnoticed, grabs the tablet, and smokes Faust over the head with it, shattering the tablet, thus destroying the creatures, and knocking Faust unconscious. In the last panels, the kid who made the passionate speech comes up to the Justice League and thanks them for not giving up and saving them, they ask the little boy what his name is, and he says Geoff! I think this has definitely got to be a nod to thee Geoff Johns, and I think that makes this story so cool. It’s a very nice touch at the end of a very cool little story. So I highly recommend this book as well as all my previous recommendations.

The reprinted story titled “In the Shadow of the Ox” written by Gerry Conway with art by Chuck Patton, and was originally featured in JLA #239. It’s a pretty cool read, it features the original classic JLA line-up in the beginning talking with the new class, which is pretty cool, and then rest of the issue focuses mainly on Vixen. So like I said, pick this one up if you want a fun read and are interested in the JLA!

1980's Retro Action Superman issue!

This book is awesome, I just have to start my post off with that. From the Dan Jurgens cover all the way down to the reprinted 80’s issue, this thing all around is worth the $5!
First the cover, your first instinct when you look at it is probably “What the hell! None of those things happened in the 80’s! That’s all 90’s and later stuff!” True that stuff did happen in the 90’s but it fits in perfectly with the story from the 80’s!

Okay the issue starts out with an exhausted Superman saving the day in one after another strange occurrences, including a hovering whirlpool. Superman is exhausted and just hopes to get a decent night’s sleep when he is visited by Destiny. An immortal being he met earlier in the 80’s (I think it was Superman #320 or #324 (they give the # in the issue but I don’t have it in front of me right now)). So a tired Superman follows destiny who reveals to him that a terrible force has coming to claim the earth, The Dread!!!! So Superman tries to fight The Dread, which reveals to him that it is death incarnate, and a legion of dead soles that continues to grow with each world it conquers. And it gives Superman 2 choices, either serve The Dread as its herald, and allow the people of earth to live, but in a zombie-like state where they have no free will, or prepare to meet his doom and watch as The Dread claims every soul on earth with the blood being on Superman’s hands. Destiny tries to convince Superman that there are only 2 choices, and that no matter how hard he fights, he will never win, the future is doomed unless he agrees to become The Dread’s Herald. Superman refuses, he says he will continue to fight for the earth and never allow it to meet its end. So Destiny shows him the bleak future that awaits, that he will meet his doom at the hands of Doomsday, heroes will fall like the Flash and Supergirl, Batman will be broke by Bane, and old friends will become villains like Parallax! The Superman S will be worn by one who seeks to destroy the Universe and more horrors! (see I told you all the stuff on the cover ties in well!) He sees it all, everything in the 90’s and 00’s, including Blackest Night and Flashpoint! But yet Superman still refuses to doom earth to a life of zombie like slaves. He continues to believe and say to Destiny that he will not let this happen and that he will save the future. At this point Superman realizes that Destiny is trying to get him to pick that choice, and that while this being looks and sounds like the Destiny he met before, it is an imposter, at that time Destiny says “he was right, you are the right choice” and then leaves. Superman wakes up in his bed to see that it was only a nightmare, and all the details quickly fade from his memory. Meanwhile we see Destiny again, and she removes her hood to reveal that she is Harbinger, as she converses with the Monitor and tells him he was correct in his choice, Superman is the chosen one they seek to stop the Anti-Monitor. Meanwhile Superman calls Supergirl to make sure she’s okay, but he can’t remember why he was worried about her safety. They small talk, Kara says she’s fine, and then comments about the red storm she sees brewing…and that leads into Crisis on Infinite Earth’s #1!

Like I said a very cool story, and a very nice prequel tie-in to the incredibly awesome Crisis on Infinite Earths! So if you have an extra $5 go pick this one up! And I can’t say enough about the awesome cover!

1970's Retro-Active Superman 

A very cool tale, features a totally new story written by Martin Pasko with art by Eduardo Barreto and Christian Duce. The art has a very classic feel to it, it blows the reprinted story art by Curt Swan out of the water when you look at them in comparison, but it definitely reminds me of the Justice League New Frontier art by Darwin Cooke. The story is a perfect match for the silver age, even has an editor's note referencing 2 Silver Age stories, which is a nice little touch that I think is pretty cool. I mean this is a genuine article for a silver age book, I guess I don't know how else to describe lol other than they nailed the retro feel. With exclamations like "Great Krypton!" and a book that features Mxyzptlk, Bizarro (though just a projection of Superman's mind-see what I mean!) and the love triangle between and Lana Lang with jealous galore! They nailed the book!

A brief run down: Superman is over worked and super stressed, meanwhile Mxyzptlk is on vacation in the 9th dimension which is the equivalent of Las Vegas, wagering that he can get Superman to crack and destroy Metropolis without figuring out he's doing it himself, so he gives Superman the ability of telekinesis and has it totally subconsciously, so that Superman's tired mind is projecting villains and destruction onto the city and himself without realizing he is behind it, the more tired and frustrated he gets, the more destruction his telekinetic projections cause, his fights with Lois about his past and feelings for Lana only fuel these projections until he is fighting the Bizarro projection and realizes he himself is behind it, he makes up with Lois and the day is saved.

The reprinted issue in the book is "Superman Takes A Wife!" first published in Action Comics #484, cover date June 1978, written by Cary Bates, with pencils by Curt Swan. In this issue Superman falls vulnerable to magic, forgets he is Superman, marries Lois Lane as Clark Kent, she finds out on the Honeymoon, the wizard restores Superman's memory, proving to everyone the great magic power he wields, and then Lois and Superman get re-married and we learn that it is Superman and Lois on Earth Two and they live happily ever after....at least until Infinite Crisis


 
1970's Retro-Active Green Lantern also featuring Green Arrow 
 
Okay gotta say that I didn't enjoy the Green Lantern story as much as the Superman book. The story was written by Dennis O'Neil with art by Mike Grell. The art didn't really capture the retro 70s feel. It was a Green Lantern and Green Arrow story since their original team up run was during the 70s however we don't see them together until the final page of the story recapping their sad adventures to each other. They each have their short little situations with pretty anti climatic ends. The whole story took about 5 minutes to read, where as the Superman issue took a decent amount of time and was true to the silver age, being full of dialogue and though bubbles and a ton of panels that makes for a long read, this was the complete opposite which I feel means it also missed the mark in the writing capturing the 70s retro feel. When you look at the reprint story in the 2nd half of the issue it is loaded with dialogue and thought balloons, it has more on 2 pages than the 1st half new story had in the entire tale.

Okay here's a summary of the new story. We start off with Green Arrow who has a nightmare about killing a thug in an alley way, and were told that he is still haunted by killing that man now a year later. Dinah is there and tries to comfort him and tell him to move on and they briefly discuss how he went to a monastary for a year to heal his mind and come to peace with it. They go for a stroll and black canary gets shot with an arrow. Ollie rushes her to the hospital and she's fine. Meanwhile Green Lantern is saying the Oath when he gets a telepathic distress signal that he says he's only felt once before, when Abin Sur crashed on earth and summoned him. So he dashes off to find this spacecraft crash landing on earth. Hal uses a can opener construct to open the ship up (now that was a nice retro nod) to discover an alien that looks like Abin Back with Oliver, he and Dinah are leaving the hospital when a lawyer approaches them and is talking to them when he's shot with an arrow. Oliver takes off to the rooftop to find the archer and finds a note left at the seen by a guy named Argy, who was a troubled youth Archer at the monastary Oliver was at. oliver had told Argy about his kill and how far away it was, so Argy wanted to prove that he was just as good of an archer. We see Argy at home talking out loud to his dead father about how he's trying to make him proud in heaven. Obviously the kid has issues so Oliver goes and confronts him. Meanwhile back with Hal, the alien reveals to Hal that he is a relative of Abins and came with an urgent message of importance but can't remember due to the crash. A squad of armed soldiers starts firing at them and Hal deflects the bullets, the alien says something about how his message was meant for a race evolved above hostility and savage behavior. Hal apprehends the soldiers and they ask why the soldeirs fired on them and they give a Revenge of the Sith Darth Anakin speech, if you're not with me then you're against me, then the alien reveals he's been shot and dies. So Hal sends the soldiers away. We finally see Hal and Oliver together recapping their stories, Hal says he used his ring to send the Alien and his ship into space instead of burying him on earth, while Oliver says the last thing Argy said as he took him to get mental help was "I just wanted to be loved" so both stories had a hit us over the head theme one about senseless violence towards people different than us, the other about giving your child attention and love/criminals might not be totally evil, just sick in a sad way. I guess in that respect they were true to the retro nature, but the story doesn't even come close to comparison in story telling to the reprinted issue of Green Lantern/ Green Arrow.

The reprinted story was titled "No evil shall escape my sight" and it is probably the most famous of the Green Lantern/Green Arrow team up run. It is the one everyone thinks of when they look back and remember the series. It is the story from Green Lantern #76 from 1970 by Neal Adams and Denny O'Neill.

Bottom line I don't think the new story is worth the $5 unless you don't already have a copy of the reprinted story of Green Lantern #76 (volume 2) in the back. That story is a great one, and I higly recommend that story if you haven't read it or own it in some way or another. 

 
 
1970's Retro-Active Justice League of  
 
Okay I just finished the 70's Justice League issue and I got to say it was awesome. The art didn't capture the "retro" 70's look as well as the Superman book imo but damn the story was dead on and great! It had all the twists, turns, and plot devices that a silver age book would, and had a couple of references to previous issues, which yeah its a simple and small thing, but I think it definitely add to the story and is pretty nice little nod to the era. The story was written by Cary Bates (same writer as the 70's Superman book) and the pencils were done by Gordon Purcell and Andy Smith. The art was good through the whole issue, but it didn't always capture the 70's feel, I think Andy Smith's page did capture it a little more than Purcell's but the art was great regardless.

Okay a brief story recap, the new story was titled "Enter Justice League Prime" the story opens with Adam Strange in a mental hospital telling his tale to the doctors and insisting that he needs to speak with the Justice League immediately, at that time they pull out a comic book and say the JLA is fiction from a comic book, revealing to us that he is stranded on Earth Prime, where there are no Superheroes (that is until Superboy Prime emerges a decade later). Back on earth one in the JLA satellite they recall seeing Adam Strange and the villain Kanjar Ro crash through the roof, and then booth disappearing, through a lot of explaining and silver age plot devices it is revealed that Kanjar Ro high jacked the zeta beam technology, and overloaded it, sending Adam to the Earth Prime dimension while Kanjar was sent to earth below. The Flash having been to earth prime before leads a small team including Green Arrow, Zantanna, and Wonder Woman to retrieve Adam. Meanwhile Hawkman and Green Lantern head to earth below to try to capture Kanjar Ro who has found a way to act as a conduit for zeta beams and super power himself up. The team on earth prime rescues Adam relatively easy, but its too late and he has amnesia from electro shock therapy. But the Flash knows exactly who can help restore his memories, and they head to NYC to the DC office where they meet with Julie Schwartz, who instantly recognizes them and helped the Flash on his previous trip to Earth Prime, using comic books he is able to restore Adam's memories, they head back to earth one, and combined stop Kanjar Ro by exhausting his supply of Zeta beam energy and defeating him before he can absorb a huge beam headed for earth and become invincible. It was really a fun story, that nailed the retro 70's silver age era.

The reprinted story is "Where on Earth am I?" from Justice League of volume 1 #123. This is another earth hoping multiverse spanning adventure and actually part 1 of a multi part story featured in the Crisis on Multiple Earths trade paper backs. Its a very cool story, and an interesting pick, I'm not gonna get into it too much, because I'd have to call on some other stuff going on in those trades, which are great by the way, if you like the multiverse stuff they are a fun read, I think Countdown was kind of a throw back to them, which I appreciated, not everyone did. So if you hated Countdown then you might not like those trades haha, but I really enjoyed Countdown, especially when Superman Prime was crushing fools in the multiverse haha.

Overall for capturing the retro feel I have to say that this finishes a very close 2nd to the Superman 70's issue, with the win going to the Superman just because it had a perfect silver age story matched with art that I feel really captured the silver age era. I think the Justice League story was more enjoyable and perfect, but it didn't quite capture the silver age feel with the art so advantage to Superman for having both. As far as story goes, the Justice League story wins. So for the 70's books I'd recommend the Superman and Justice League books, you can pass on the Green Lantern issue unless you don't have the classic Green Lantern/Green Arrow story from Green Lantern vol. 2 #76 and are interested in it. I may pick up the 70's Flash book tomorrow so I may review that as well. 

 
1970's Retro-Active Flash 
 
I picked up the Flash 70's book, originally I wasn't going to but Cary Bates wowed me the other 2 books he did, and gotta say it was great, Cary Bates was the writer and he went 3 for 3 in the Silver Age books, nailing that era perfectly in all 3 titles he wrote, JLA, Superman, and Flash.

The story starts out with Iris Allen (the Flash Barry Allen's wife) standing with Gorilla Grodd, the Flash's arch-nemesis and his human son, who Iris also calls son named Darok. After Iris leaves, Gorilla reveals to a reporter that Grodd has Iris under his mind control and used her DNA as well as Barry and some of his own to create this inter-species super smart Simian-Human breed. And their "son" Darok is all part of his plan to destroy the Flash's life, making him firs feel betrayed by his wife to his ultimate villain, and then having the reporter reveal in her article the true identity of the Flash. Meanwhile Flash is over in Africa in Gorilla City being tested by their leader Solovar who informs Flash that his super speed powers have left him infertile.

When Grodd reveals his plans to the reporter she refuses to help, Darok then stops her, revealing the nature of his telepathic powers. Grodd also reveals that Barry's DNA is what is amplifying the clones powers and allowed him to mature to adolescence so fast but his rapid aging should stabilize.

The next day, Darok in his Ape Armor kidnaps Iris at work, and as she's being taken off she tells her boss to tell Barry to read her diary. Barry goes home and reads her diary and discovers the nature of Grodd's plan and his mind control over Iris. He confronts Grodd who informs him that Darok has continued to age at super speed and has rebelled against Grodd and kidnapped his "mother" Iris on his own agenda not Grodd's. So they form a tenative alliance to team up and rescue Iris and return Darok to Grodd's control unharmed. Together they find Darok and engage him, and he easily defeats both of them, but holds back on the Flash per Iris's orders. Iris is safe and Darok and her leave after the battle, at which point Darok removes his armor revealing that he has aged to be a very old man. Him and Iris talk as he takes his last breathe as Grodd and Flash approach. They end their truce and Grodd agrees to not reveal Flash's identity to the world.

The last scene is a neat one and a nice touch. Iris and Barry are eating in a Chinese restaurant. Iris reveals that she's not ready for kids, so Barry's infertility is not an issue for the time being. Solovar is working on a solution. She opens up her fortune cookie as they leave and it says "those who do not lose faith are twice blessed" which is a nice nod to them having twins in the future. Barry sets his fortune down as they walk and we see a panel that tells us his fortune " late hero who saves the universe is never forgotten" which is a damn nice nod to his death in crisis on infinite earths and return in Final crisis.

The reprinted issue titled "Race to the end of time" which was also written by Cary Bates way back in the 70's. That's another fun issue, Flash ans Superman team-up to battle Professor Zoom and have to travel to the edges of the milky way galaxy and travel through time, pretty much the perfect issue to represent the silver age era. If you like the Flash and the silver age, I highly recommend this book, I wouldn't call myself a huge Flash guy but I really enjoyed the book!

So as far as the 70s books go, pick up Flash, Justice League, and Superman. Pass on Green Lantern, unless you're missing a copy of Green Lantern volume 2 #67 (the most classic of the classic Green Lantern/Green Arrow stories). 
 
  
I haven't picked up the 70's Batman & Wonderwoman books yet, but will pick them and post reviews once I read them. 

You can check out more of my reviews and plot summaries at http://www.theseaconswamp.net/

I’m kind of a DC-man when it comes to comics. Don’t get me wrong, I love Captain America, Uncanny X-Force, and have really been digging Spider-Island so far, but when push comes to shove and if my wallet is feeling thin, I’m going to be keeping all my DC books and dropping some Marvel. That is generally how I felt before the DC New 52 Relaunch, and now I feel that way even more. Each new press release, preview, and teaser image brings more anticipation to read the books on my pull list and give me an urge to check out more and more of the titles. They truly do have a book for everyone, the classic superhero books, science fiction, horror, westerns, and strange tales, it really does remind me of the silver age, with a wide variety of tales to choose from, that so far have done very well in reviews as well as in sales. Justice League #1 sold 186,000 copies on the first day. That is nuts people. To put things in perspective, within 10 days Justice League #1 broke the mark for the highest selling book of 2011. In just the first printing, the previous holder was spread out over 2 months and 4 printings. Justice League #1 and Action Comics have both eclipsed the 200,000 copy sales mark, and are going back to press to match the demand. Justice League is on pace and will most likely be the highest selling comic of the decade within a month, eclipsing the Obama Spider-Man issue that had 4 printings and sales spread out over 3 months. And that’s not all, Action Comics may well eclipse that mark as well. That’s 2 titles, in one month, being the top selling comics of not only the year, but perhaps the decade. That is staggering to say the least. But it isn’t just those 2 books that are doing well. Every single book so far, that’s everything from Justice League #1 on August 31st, all the books released last week on the 7th, all the books released today, and all the books that are going to be released next week have already sold out at Diamond Distributing. That’s right, Diamond is completely sold out of the comics that aren’t even going to ship for a week. But don’t worry, all the books from the past 3 weeks and next week are already going back for a 2nd printing, and Action Comics and Justice League will most likely see a 3rd for sure if they haven’t already started it, not sure on that one, they may have already. With just 52 titles, DC will most likely have passed Marvel, who by my best guess is putting out 150-200 titles (not for sure on the exact number), for the month in sales. That is amazing. However that isn’t all they’re doing right, they’re killing in sales, the writing and art has been fantastic, they are also showing restraint, which to me is so impressive in an industry that they say is on it’s last leg and bleeding money. Most people agree that the decline of the comics industry started in the early to mid 90’s when every company started putting out 10 different variant covers for every issue, and tried making each issue the next big “Collector’s Item,” that someone could get rich off. I’m not kidding, there are multiple issues like Spider-Man #1 and Cable #1, that actually say in big letters on the cover “Collector’s Issue.” Everyone was hoping to cash in on these books in hopes that they someday would be worth thousands like the rare books from the 1960’s and earlier. All those books now that we’re supposed to be worth so much money in the future are now in dollar bins in comic shops all across America. Unfortunately this is also around the time comics disappeared from newsstands and grocery stores, thanks to the monopoly by Diamond, and found only in comic shops and approved locations for Diamond Distributors. Now kids, like myself at the time, who were used to getting their comics by simply riding their bikes to the nearest pharmacy or grocery store, no longer had a comic shop within 30 miles. Anyways back to restraint, DC has decided to take the high road, instead of putting out 2 “highly collectible” variant covers for every new #1 they have simply limited themselves to 1 variant cover a week. That’s right, only 1 title a week is a variant cover, they could have easily made a variant cover for half of the new #1 titles, or hell even every title, and they probably all would have sold very well, in fact I think a lot of people really wish they would have done that, but instead, wary to not repeat past mistakes, they really did the smart and right thing in my opinion by not flooding the shops with expensive “collector’s items” and instead limited themselves to one title a week, and each week featuring a different big name character. Its little things like this as a fan and a collector that make all the difference. The average person can afford to pick up the variants of their favorite characters without busting their wallet. Also you don’t feel forced to having to collect everything. You could buy all 52 titles #1 and the variants, and only have to pick up 57 issues total (Justice League, Action Comics, Green Lantern, Flash, and Batman variants). To me that means DC is more focused on putting out a good quality product that keeps readers and isn’t just a fad to have one or two big sales months and then fade back into a distant #2 to Marvel. So far I’ve really enjoyed every book that I’ve read, and like I said I’m at 12 or 13 books on my pull list, and that number might continue to grow because I’m really getting excited and looking forward to books I’ve never considered reading in the past. I hope everyone gives it a chance and checks it out, I think you’ll be able to find something that appeals to you, and I don’t think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with some of the stuff once you sit down and read it. I highly recommend Action Comics, Justice League, Detective Comics, and Green Lantern. Hopefully this cements the comic industry’s future, when not too long ago, it was looking rather bleak.

Think about it, almost every character in the Marvel Universe seems like a mutant. I mean when you look at it from a scientific standpoint, a mutant or mutant gene is a change in genetic coding due to a freak phenomenon during cellular reproduction, whether that happens in the womb during Mitosis and meosis or whether that is post birth and due to exposure to chemicals or radiation, cancer itself is a mutantion. So lets look at this, we have Namor who is considered "Marvel's First Mutant," the Fantastic Four whose cellular make-up was changed by their interaction with cosmic radiation, that is essentially the definition of mutation, the same goes for Spider-Man whose abilities arose from a change in his DNA by being bit by a radioactive spider. The same reasoning can be applied to Captain America as well, with his body changing/mutating due to the injection of the super-soldier serum, and then you have radiation changing the Hulk. So add those all in to the giant cast of the X-Books and you have a whole lot of heroes really being mutants. How come the X-MEN are the only ones pursued while the public adores the Fantastic Four? So really besides mutants you have the random "gods" like Thor, Ares, and Hercules, or technology clad heroes like Iron Man and War Machine. Its kind of strange to think about, that half of Marvel's heroes are persecuted by the humans they protect for being mutants while the other half are champions of the people and they are essentially the same. Its also weird with as many parallels as there are between the big two companies DC and Marvel, DC has never come up with a counter to the X-MEN, they don't really have a "mutant class" I mean you have random exceptions, like the Flash or the Elongated Man who would be considered a mutant, but other than that you have more aliens (Superman, Supergirl, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman), gods(Wonder Woman), magic (Captain Marvel, Zatanna) and wielders of technology or advances in science (Batman, Green Lantern, Firestorm, Cyborg). But no huge cast of mutants or mutant teams. I guess good to see that some things remain unique in comics between the two. Anyways, yeah I just randomly started thinking about that lol, 95% of Marvel's characters are mutants!