Lobo (vol.2) #1 (December, 2014)
"Targets"
Writer - Cullen Bunn
Penciller - Reilly Brown
Inker - Nelson DeCastro
Colorist - Pete Pantazis
Letterer - Travis Lanham
Assistant Editors - Anthony Marques & Jeremy Bent
Editor - Mike Cotton
Group Editor - Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $2.99
One of the best parts... okay, the best part about this whole blogging endeavor, is the friendships I've made (it's one of my "Two F's" for doing this at all... friends and fun). I never would have imagined, the first time I put digital ink to screen that I'd meet such nice folks. People who I can see myself being friends with "in real life". One such pal is Mike Carlyle from The Crapbox of Son of Cthulhu. Not only does he run one of the most interesting and entertaining comics blogs around, he's one of the nicest fellas you'd ever wanna meet. He's helped my fledgling site out tremendously, and introduced me to several new friends as well.
Well, about a week or so back I received a care package from the deepest, darkest recesses of the crapbox. Among the bevy of issues was this copy of Lobo #1 (2014). We're gonna take a look at some "true" 'box finds... directly from the real-deal-crapbox! In addition to Lobo, there were a few more DC titles... one of which is going to have to wait until November... because... reason(s).
Before we pop into the synopsis... I really want to extend a sincere Thank You to Mike. You've helped this humble blog out so much, and I wish there was a way I could return the favor. Until then... I'm picking, digging, and arranging a "care package" myself that will be Crapbox-bound in due time!
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We open in the middle of a conversation with our titular hero... and the Main Man...'s head. The more polished and slender Lobo implies that the other has been impersonating him. After a few unsuccessful attempts at offing my Lobo, new-Lobo is finally successful. He fries the poor head... and momentarily blacks out. As he passes out, he mutters "Sorry. Not..." and I swear, when I first read this I was hoping-against-hope that new-Lobo wouldn't have the catchphrase of "Sorry, Not Sorry"... because, that would be lame, and the worst. Instead I convinced myself that he said "Sorry... NOT!" a la, Wayne's World... perhaps a commentary on old-Lobo's innate 90's-ness.
We shift to a flashback in which Lobo is finishing up a painting of a Czarnian Princess, who is acting as his model. Passion gets the better of both of them, and they embrace. Lobo turns his back for a moment... and when he looks back at his lady-love, she appears to be a bleeding zombified corpse. Outside the window, the streets are flooded with similarly decomposed pedestrians.
Lobo awakens from his nightmare. We learn that on a monthly basis he gets part of his brain stem cauterized in order to prevent ever entering into a REM state... yet, his Czarnian blood causes it to heal. He is joined in his room by a crew of aliens of varying humanoid appearance. He is given a contract for eight of the deadliest assassins in the universe... and the intel that these killers are all converging on the same world... Earth.
Lobo arrives on a barren desert on Earth, and hops into his (admittedly) pretty damn cool motorcycle. This is one thing I'll give new-Lobo over the old... this cycle is pretty sweet!
We get a look at the desert base where one of the assassins is holed up. Lobo cases the joint, and plans his approach. We get a look at his... pretty bad-ass gear. Okay, there's another point for new-Lobo... his weaponry is fairly awesome.
He starts his unsubtle infiltration by blowing away a crew of fools. As he renders these geeks into bite-sized pieces, Lobo carries on an internal monologue wherein he reveals that his weapons were meant to be ceremonial, rather than utilitarian. We also learn about his moral code when he is confronted by alien dogs. Lobo will not kill dogs... he'll kill most anything else... but dogs are innocent and off-limits.
He enters the base, and confronts his contract. They have a brief battle, resulting in Lobo chopping off one of the creeps four hands. He demands to know who he's working for... to which he is pointed at a computer terminal that should have all the info. Lobo decides that the fella's outlived his usefulness and decapitates him with the swiftness... it is here where he finally utters the words that brought forth cringiest cringe I've cringed in awhile... "Sorry. Not Sorry." Bleccchhhh
Lobo gets the info, finds that this guy wasn't an assassin at all... just a demolitions guy. Now knowing who his true target is, Lobo burns down the compound and heads out on his bad-ass bike.
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Well... okay, how to begin?
This is Lobo for a new generation? I kind of feel bad saying anything negative about it... I'm not even sure he's still in continuity in our new post-Rebirth landscape. I remember the (relative) uproar when it was announced that this would be the real Lobo... and any version we'd met previously was an imposter. I wasn't happy with the direction, though, I stayed far outside the newz sites comments sections... knowing that the arguments wouldn't have anything to do with character and story.
What I don't understand is why did we need a new "handsome" Lobo? This whole story could have been told (minus the first few page "middle finger" to longtime readers) with the original-recipe Main Man! You can give the old Lobo a sensitive side! You can introduce an internal conflict to him! Perhaps the most valid complaint we'd often hear about the old Lobo... was that he was a fairly shallow character. That could have been rectified in this volume!
If DC was so high on this new character design... why not just make him a new character? We haven't had one of those in... jeez, when did Harley Quinn first show up? This was an opportunity to create something completely new... and it feels like it was squandered on getting a few hot minutes of internet controversy by flipping off the longtime reader base. That's probably my main problem with the entire thing... this character appears to me (and I concede that I may just be projecting) as an antagonistic thumbing of the nose toward the folks who have supported this industry (and DC Comics) for decades... and I feel ridiculous saying so. Because, I mean... is Lobo really the hill any of us want to die on???
With all this said... how was the story? Not bad. If I can separate my initial reservations... this is a perfectly serviceable story. I enjoyed the inner conflict Lobo had during his assault... and appreciated that he had a code. We get the feeling that he may be a tortured assassin, perhaps in the vain of Crying Freeman. That's an interesting approach, and one I would have dug a ton more had they given it to the original-recipe Lobo... but, that's neither here nor there. The art and coloring were also fantastic. I loved the... er, highlights (?) on Lobo's face.
The character design? I actually quite like it. Not for Lobo, mind you... but it's a striking and dynamic design, that I cannot deny. There's a certain DeviantArt-ness about it... but, I still dig it. As mentioned above, I really like his gear. The cycle looks awesome, and I really dig his weapons. Broken record time... if he was a NEW character (or perhaps Lobo's other-brother Lobo), this could have been a lot more fun. This book could have been a blast had it been called Lobos... and had the two characters constantly bump-heads, but comedy was clearly not the direction DC was going with this one.
If I'm being fair... I honestly think the Lobo name did this fella a grand disservice... there's a lot of baggage that comes along with a name like that, and preconceptions to boot. He entered the market with two-strikes already against him. Quite frankly, I'm surprised this book lasted as long as it did (and that is not an indictment on the creative team!) It's sad, because... this one did have potential.
I must admit... I almost tossed the book across the room when he said "Sorry, not sorry"... I mean, really? I suppose I can take solace in the fact that he didn't say the word "hashtag" first... but still... soooooo damn lame. Don't want a sassy Lobo.
Anyhoo... I feel like I've hit that point where I'm talking in circles... the more I write, the less of a point I make, so I'll try and sum it all up. This book deserved better than being called Lobo. It's not a bad book, honestly, and giving it the Lobo name just triggered a knee-jerk reaction for me to dislike it. The character design is good... the story is good... I just think this should have been his own thing. Overall, I'm glad I read this.
Before I go, I just want to thank my good pal Mike Carlyle once more for sending this one my way! Be sure to check him out at The Crapbox of Son of Cthulhu.
There's new content every week, and a wonderful back catalog to keep you occupied and entertained between posts!
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Doom Patrol #122 (February, 1973)
"The Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Menace"
"We Battled the Micro-Monster"
Story - Arnold Drake
Art - Bruno Premiani
Cover Price: $0.20
Over the past several weeks, Reggie and I have discussed the remarkable career or Mr. Arnold Drake for our Weird Comics History segment on the Weird Science DC Comics Podcast. It was a blast to learn about and discuss such an important (and relatively unsung) figure in the industry... and I realized I hadn't covered an actual Arnold Drake-penned issue here on the blog. Figure a classic Doom Patrol issue is as good as any!
We have looked at and discussed a few Arnold Drake creations here already... including some later Doom Patrol and ol' favorite Stanley and his Monster... but never an honest-to-goodness Drake-written deal.
If you wanna check in on Reggie and my comprehensive discussion on Drake, I encourage you to check out these episodes of the Weird Science DC Comics Podcast... the combined running-time of our segments is about an hour and a half. That's a whole lotta Drake!
Today we're going to discuss Doom Patrol #122. Wait... 122? Didn't the entire team die in issue 121??? It's funny to think about all the comparisons the Doom Patrol and Marvel's X-Men share... ya see, this was the first issue of a very brief period of reprints that followed (some half-decade later) after the "main" Doom Patrol series ended... just like the X-Men had post issue #66. For those interested, today's story originally appeared in Doom Patrol #89 (August, 1964).
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Dr. Sven Larsen is headed on a transatlantic flight headed toward the United States to give a lecture, when suddenly Negative Man swoops in and snatches him from his seat. He delivers the fellow to Rita Farr who uses her body-extending powers to lift him up the to the highest floors of a nearby building... where she hands him off to the waiting Robotman who is walking sideways on said building thanks to his electro-magnetic shoes. Robotman finally delivers Larsen into the building's rooftop restaurant where they run into the Chief.
We learn that Larsen is a former student of Caulder's... who once accused him of stealing one of his ideas. The Chief says it's all water under the bridge, and announces that the Doom Patrol will be present for his lecture the following day.
During the lecture, Larsen is discussing his designs on creating life artificially... through use of a lightning synthesizer and amino acids (sounds legit). He pontificates as he strolls around the chemical vat... and, as is most likely to occur when a comic book character is anywhere in the vicinity of a vat full of chemicals... he falls in.
The Doom Patrol immediately hops into action to save him... only to find that Larsen has transformed into a giant grotesque paramecium. The panicky crowd flees as a group of trigger-happy officers burst on the scene. Despite the Chief's protests, the officers wind up chasing Larsen-as-paramecium out of the facility through a nearby wall.
The Chief instructs his team to fetch some liquid oxygen, as he believes that is the best and most humane way to stop Larsen. Robotman blasts the creature with the LOX (liquid O2, not fish), and encases it in a coating of ice.
Larsen begins to shape-shift again... this time to a creature made of sulfur... which rapidly melts the ice. Elasti-Girl grabs the sulfur shape... which shape-shifts into the form of creeping ivy... and immediately goes for Rita's throat! Rita returns to normal size to shake him off... at which point, he shifts into the form of a bird and flies away.
The Chief instructs Larry to send Negative Man to Larsen's lab in Stockholm and retrieve his lab notes. Moments later, he returns with a note claiming that Larsen had already discovered his animal-vegetable-mineral transformation powers! His falling into the vat was no accident at all.
Later, on the streets... A-V-M Man is battling some firefighters in the shape of a dinosaur. As the firemen blast him with their hoses, he shifts into the form of a sponge. The Doom Patrol launches another offensive... this time, using the Negative Man entity to "wring out" the beast... at which point, he shifts into a leaden form.
In perhaps the oddest scene of this battle... A-V-M Man transforms into the shape of a dandelion, and his seeds blow away, only to change into a swarm of gnats... which surround Cliff Steele. Cliff's pretty confident that gnats cannot hurt him, until the Chief asserts that Larsen may try to enter his head... and attack his human brain! Negative Man lends a hand, and Larsen shifts into the form of a bat and flees once more.
At this point, the Chief remembers that he had conveniently invented a gun that would halt any change in cells... an "anti-decay ray", he calls it. He believes this could be of use in their battle. He instructs Rita to engage with Larsen... and leave the rest to him. The rest of the team briefly protests putting Rita in such danger, but ultimately relent.
At this point, Larsen has taken the form of diamond. Rita expands to her giant form and grabs A-V-M Man... at which point he transforms into a tiger... and while in mid-pounce eats a full blast of Caulder's anti-decay ray! The tiger stiffens and hits the ground with a thud.
The story ends with the Doom Patrol reversing the effects of Larsen's experiment... and ready him for arrest.
This issue has a second story following it called We Battled the Micro-Monster, which has some scientists fighting off a giant germ. For some reason, my copy (outside the first page) is extremely blurry... not sure if that's just my copy, or if this was just a printing issue. From what I can follow... the scientists win!
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So much fun!
This was a great issue. While I don't think I'd call myself a Doom Patrol purist... in the sense that foursome of Larry, Cliff, Rita and the Chief were never my Doom Patrol, I really enjoyed the dynamics between them. In much of the Doom Patrol I'd followed, Rita was dead, Larry was something else altogether, and the Chief was kinduva bastard.
This was the introduction of one of the sillier (and most enduring) Doom Patrol villains, the Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man... so silly, but a picture perfect fit for the gang. I enjoyed that it took the entire team working together (plus a blast from the deus ex machina gun) to put the menace down. Even if this were your first look at the classic Doom Patrol, you would see the strengths and potential weaknesses of each member. The story is crafted in such a way where we learn about the team members without being lectured... a true testament to Drake's strengths as a storyteller.
Bruno Premiani's art is absolutely awesome. I can't believe I'd forgotten how great it is. He and Drake are an amazing team! Ya know, I was rereading the trade collection of Crawling From the Wreckage not too long ago... in it, Grant Morrison provides either a foreword or afterword in which he discusses that the Doom Patrol actually scared him as a child. I initially wrote this off as hyperbole for affect... but, there truly is some dark stuff lurking here...
The Paramecium is incredibly disturbing... and masterfully drawn, you can almost hear it stickily sloshing around. How would one engage in battle with something you'd be too grossed out to touch? When A-V-M Man turns into the creeping ivy... the first thing he does is try to strangle Rita! The look of absolute terror on her face is amazing. Perhaps the most disturbing bit, at least to me... is when A-V-M Man turns into a swarm of gnats... with the express purpose of destroying Robotman's human brain! The panel with Cliff freaking out, holding where his ears would be (above)... That's one that's going to stick with me. For whatever reason, that panel really bothered me. So, yeah... I think Morrison may have been sincere when he said this book kinda freaked him out...
This issue is available in the first volume of SHOWCASE Presents: Doom Patrol, which anyone with even a passing interest of the Doom Patrol should really check out. I am a big booster of these black and white phone book-sized volumes... however, I gotta say... in comparing this issue to the reproduction, I think the story loses something without the color. The colors used (especially for the backgrounds) give such a feeling of desolation... Cliff standing before a pink or red background (for example) just gives an odd off-putting feeling, that I feel really adds to the tone of the story.
This (reprint) version is probably your best bet for an affordable look at this seminal Doom Patrol tale. The SHOWCASE volume is apparently out-of-print, and therefore (at least online) priced rather high... I'm sure many local comic shops still have it on their shelves though...
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Legion of Super-Heroes #259 (January, 1980)
"Psycho War"
Writer - Gerry Conway
Artists - Joe Staton & Dave Hunt
Letterer - Milt Snapinn
Colorist - Gene D'Angelo
Editor - Jack C. Harris
Cover Price: $0.40
I mentioned back when I started looking into the post-Crisis origin of Captain Marvel that I really didn't have a whole lot of experience with the character... well, take that times a hundred... and you're describing my connection with the Legion of Super-Heroes. Somehow, try as I might... I just cannot get into this franchise. The entire endeavor just feels like work. Pick up any given issue of Legion, and you're inundated with a ton of colorful characters... it's just overwhelming!
The thing of it is... I'd really like to understand the Legion. A running joke I have with Justin over at DC in the 80s whenever we discuss conducting an interview with a Legion creator is, "Sir/Madam, can you please explain the Legion to me?"
For whatever reason I happen to have hundreds of issues of Legion and Legion related books in my collection... and damned if I've gotten through a handful of them. I often hear it compared to newcomers to the X-Men family of titles circa 1992. Which, I believe is a fair assessment. A ton of characters, a ton of backstory, and not as much in the way of hand-holding for the potential new reader.
I really want to try in earnest to "get" the Legion, and I suppose a decent jumping-on point may be their first comic book issue. Formerly, Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, this issue is actually the first in which the Legion get the whole billing. It's amazing to think that this didn't happen until 1980, considering just how many Legion stories had occurred throughout the prior several decades.
Anyhoo... here's to my first step toward learnin' bout the Legion.
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We join the heroes in the fallout of an assault. The Legion Headquarters has been destroyed, and members Sun Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl have been felled by an unseen attacker. As luck would have it, the St. Croix Medical Center has already sent out the 30th Century approximation of an ambulance.
It turns out that the Legionnaires had been placed into a comatose state, however, the medics are quickly able to remedy that with an Electron Disruptor. Superboy comments that it sure seems convenient that the St. Croix folks were in the area... perhaps a bit too convenient. The medics promise to explain everything.
We shift to the penthouse apartment of Captain Kangaroo stand-in Rene Brande, where the medicos offer their theory on who was behind the attack. They believe it was a former psychiatric patient, Rejis Thomak (the odd names were another thing that kept me away from the Legion... I just wrote that dude's name five seconds ago, and I wouldn't remember it at gunpoint).
Anyhoo, this Thomak hailed from the horrendously brutal planet of Bunyon. On Bunyon, life was a constant battle... as everything living (animal or vegetable) wanted to eat the humanoid inhabitants. On his home planet, Thomak met his would-be life mate... a woman named Matil.
It is Bunyonian tradition for young adults to spend some time on Earth as part of their professional education... as such Thomak and Matil would be shipping out, together. While traveling, their ship was pulled into the gravitational pull of a super-nova star (resembling the Sun). Thomak was able to escape, however, he was a second too slow to rescue Matil. Ol' boy never heard of "women and children first" I suppose.
The ship barreled into the Sun, and exploded as Thomak looked on. He fell limp, and floated through space for several months before being rescued. He is taken to St. Croix for rehabilitation, where he meets Legionnaire, Brainiac 5 (also a patient at the time).
Thomak began hating the Legion after seeing Sun Boy. His costume and namesake are the very embodiment of what cost him his one-time love. He broke out of the facility, however, before he left he checked out all the Legionnaire's psychological profiles... he now knows their deepest, darkest fears. It is explained that the Legion has a charter with whatever acts as a governmental body during the 30th Century, and as such all had to undergo a psyche profile. Very good way of explaining a plot contrivance away... I really like that!
As the medic wraps up his story... who should appear but the Psycho-Warrior himself, Rejis Thomak. He throws a concussion bomb, which Chameleon Boy engulfs prior to its explosion.
Thomak sets off an optic detonator, which throws all of the Legionnaire's (plus Captain Kangaroo's) senses out of whack. The only one not affected is Superboy... who gives chase.
All appears to be going according to Psycho Warrior's plan... he zaps Superboy with a burst of Kryptonite radiation, causing him to plummet. He lands in a graveyard, directly before the grave site of his Earth parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent.
Before he can get his bearings, the ethereal forms of the Kents appear before him, telling him not to blame himself for their deaths. This is pre-Crisis, and the story at the time is the Kents died due to a rare tropical disease during a vacation (which I briefly discussed here). Just before the Boy of Steel cracks, he remembers that Psycho Warrior knows his weakness... and breaks free of the visions.
He soars up and grabs Thomak... and brings him face-to-face(?) with his enemy... the Sun. It's all too much for Thomak to take... he desperately blasts his gun at the Sun, before falling limp... and taking full responsibility for Matil's death.
We wrap up with Superboy and the Legion. Clark is lamenting what he had just witnessed... and fears that whenever he's in the Legion's future, he'll always remember the deaths of his parents. It is revealed that in the "present", Clark doesn't remember his Legion experiences... so, with that... Saturn Girl plants a telepathic hypnotic suggestion into Superboy's head that forces him to forget all about the Legion completely... and to never return to them.
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Okay, though I'm still quite overwhelmed by the number of characters... I really dug this story. While there wasn't much hand-holding, I didn't really feel too lost. I'm starting to think that perhaps my Legion bias was something I'd built up in my head... I'd always heard that it's easier to "get into" Fort Knox than it is to "get into" the Legion... and maybe that's just always stuck with me. I mean, this is superhero comics... not Kafka or Infinite Jest.
I really enjoyed how this story organically brought about Superboy's "banishment" from the Legion's future. I didn't feel forced, and actually moved the team forward. Superboy's membership is part of their history... not (yet) wiped out of continuity. It also speaks for Superboy's altruistic ways... he would put himself through the emotional pain of remembering the deaths of his parents, just to be of service to his friends in the Legion.
I also dig just how much story was crammed into this issue. One thing I always love about comics of this vintage is the ridiculous value they give for the money (as opposed to the "ridiculous" value we get for many of today's offerings). This issue actually took some time to read... and never felt like a chore. It's a testament to the talents of Conway and Staton to keep even a Legion neophyte like me entertained.
I do wish the Legionnaires would have been better fleshed out, however, this story was described as a "climax"... likely to Superboy's story, so I can definitely forgive back-burnering the titular characters. I feel this was a really good choice to start my Legion "reading project"... and actually find myself looking forward to more. Whether my vim and vigor will stick around remains to be seen... but for now, I'm optimistic that I'll one day be able to contribute more than a phony "knowing nod" to conversations about the Legion.
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