Deathblow and Wolverine #1 (September, 1998)
Story & Breakdowns - Aron Wiesenfeld
Finishes - Richard Bennett
Colors - Monica Bennett
Letters - Mike Heisler
Computer Colors - BAD @$$
Design - Greg Brotherton
Assistant Editor - ERT
Editor - Tom Harrington
Cover Price: $2.50
Here's a book I never knew existed! Let's take a look at that time back in the 80's when Logan and Michael Cray hung out in Chinatown!
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We open in San Francisco, 1982... and man, I love this art already! Wolverine is heading in to visit a lady friend named Sung, who is in rather poor spirits at the moment. Ya see, she went to visit her mother... and her mother didn't even recognize her. Logan attempts to comfort her... and says that this can happen as people get older. She asks him to accompany her back, and he agrees.
Logan and Sung head back over... and he is surprised to see just how lucid Sung's mother is... chatty, friendly... just a real sweetheart. This is when Sung informs him that her mother has never spoken English before!
Suddenly, the worm turns... Sung's mother backhands her... and, like they usually do, a ninja bursts through the window... and slashes Sung's mother right across her belly! She slumps to the ground.
Wolverine shouts to Sung to get outta dodge... and she begrudgingly does. Then he gets thrown out the window... and hits the Chinatown street amid a sea of arrows.
He runs through what looks like it might be a Chinese New Year festival... right past, er into... our man, Michael Cray... Deathblow!
Wolverine gets attacked by even more ninjas... and winds up collapsing. Cray stands before Logan's body and begins firing on the ninjas.
He loads Wolverine into his convertible and drives away, shaking ninjas off with each turn. He tells Logan he's going to take him to the hospital. Wolvie... pops his claws in response. Might be best not to take him there. Before he can tell Cray where he'd like to be dropped off, Wolverine... falls asleep.
And so, Cray decides to take his passenger back to his place. While Wolverine is kayoed, Cray looks through his belongings... and finds something most curious: A letter addressed to him, from Logan and Sung's address!
Wolverine begins to stir, and Cray begins with the questions. Unfortunately, before he can get any answer... more ninjas! Cray is forcefully ejected from his home... which is then destroyed when a car drives through it.
Wolverine and Cray fight off the ninjas, like they do... and decide to head back to Logan's home address. Upon arrival... he doesn't find Sung, instead there's a creepy fella in a top hat!
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What a fun little romp this was!
I gotta admit, I know next to nothing about Michael Cray... other than, I think he was cloned a whole helluva lot back in the day... but, what we see of him here is a pretty cool character. I'm pretty sure my main takeaway for him is his lamenting the loss of his house... just seemed like such a sad-sack reaction to having a bunch of ninjas descend upon one's home.
Wolverine was... Wolverine. This was before their were X-Men movies, so Marvel hadn't yet spilled the beans on every little bit of his history (in attempt to beat the studios to the punch), so it could stand to reason that... sure, Logan and Cray met up in 1982 San Francisco. It seemed like Logan knew everybody anyway... so really, what's the harm?
As for the story... there's not a whole heckuva lot to sink our teeth into. We know that there's something going on with Sung... and somehow she's in the middle of the mystery. That, and there were a whole lot of disposable ninjas roaming the streets of San Francisco.
Where this issue shines, for me... is the art. It's pretty glorious stuff! Worth the price of the issue alone!
Overall... a weird little miniseries, that I didn't even know existed until I found this issue in a cheap-o bin. It's one I will be keeping an eye out for... and I'd recommend others do the same!
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Adventures of the Outsiders #43 (March, 1987)
"A Christmas Carol -- 1986"
Writer/Editor/Co-Creator - Mike W. Barr
Artist/Co-Creator - Jim Aparo
Backup Artist - Trevor Von Eeden
Colorist - Helen Vesik
Letterer - John E. Workman
Cover Price: $0.75
Welcome back to Hardcover/Softcover weekend... today we're going to take a look at Jim Aparo's work on Outsiders. Since they changed the title of the issue (and hired a different Colorist - Vesik steps in for Roy)... it's almost like we're looking at a whole 'nother book! Or not.
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We open on a flashback. We learn a bit about a pair of accountants named Mudge and Morley. These two shared a firm, and from the looks of it, a very strong friendship... however, one kept a very important secret. Ya see, Mr. Morley was quite ill. Rather than risk bankrupting their office to keep him alive, he just kept it to himself. While they two were together they were visited by the corrupt Mr. Sinclair who time and again, wanted to procure their services... they declined each time. However, following the untimely passing of his partner, Mr. Mudge would finally come around to the idea. In the present, we join the Outsiders at their base... the topic of the day is, well, Mr. Tommy Sinclair... the corrupt ganglord! In doing their research, the team figures one angle they might be able to use is Sinclair's personal accountant, Mr. Eben Mudge.
Speak of the devil, we shift scenes to a young couple heading up the drive of a giant mansion. This is Dan and Janice, the former is the nephew of Eben Mudge. Their visit goes less than swimmingly... they try and give him a Christmas present, but he's all "bah humbug". If the title didn't already tip us off, I think we've got a pretty good idea where this is headed.
We rejoin Halo and Katana at home where they are in the midst of decking the halls. The perspective in this panel looks a bit weird... either Katana is super-tiny, or their living room is the size of a school lunch room. Gaby ain't quite feeling the spirit, and at Tatsu's suggestion, leaves to practice her flute.
Our next stop is Looker's. There's a knock at her door... it's the postman with a package for her... well, for her alter ego, anyway. She opens it, revealing a note from mousy-Emily's boyfriend, Greg... and a pretty modest looking dress. She sobs.
From here, we shift to the evening where the Outsiders are gathered outside Eben Mudge's mansion so they can enact their plan. Black Lightning grips the electrified fence, overloading it and causing a blackout so the team can gain access to the grounds. When they reach the window to Mudge's study... okay, this is where it gets weird... first, Looker sends a note (written in Morley's handwriting) into a book on his desk.
Then... then... as Mudge heads to his bookshelf, Katana spits a sleeping pill into his drink!
Eben returns to his desk with the copy of A Christmas Carol given to him by his old partner... takes a swig of his drugged drink... and starts to doze.
The Outsiders enter the study, and get to work concocting "act one" of their grand plan. Looker works her mojo on the man, and when his eyes open he sees... his old partner, Harold Morley! It's actually Geo-Force in a mask and chains (a la Jacob Marley... oh, nowI get it! And, Mudge's first name is Eben...eezer, d'oh!), surrounded by swirls of Metamorpho gas.
He does the whole "you'll be visited by three ghosts" thing. The first of which is portrayed by Halo. She takes Mudge "back to the past", where he witnesses his younger self being dumped by the love of his life due to his greed and selfishness following the death of Mr. Morley. This is all a Looker-illusion, by the way, which kinda begs the question... if she's got such great power, why are the rest of the Outsiders even needed? Halo sees what pain this is causing the older Eben, and questions their methods... it does seem a bit cruel to put the poor guy through this, don't it? I mean, he may be a crotchety old jerk, but... I dunno.
Next up is the Ghost of Christmas Present, portrayed by Metamorpho in a robe. After greeting poor ol' Eben, he transforms into a sleigh and delivers him to the home of his nephew Dan and his pregnant wife Janice. They discuss how there are things more important than money, yadda yadda yadda.
From here, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives... it's Black Lightning in a cloak. He silently brings him forward in time to his own retirement party. A party where his employer Mr. Sinclair gives him the gift of... well, perforation. Being of no further use, he's shot full'a holes.
Well, since Eben isn't, ya know... evil, this is all it takes for him to change his ways. After he's returned to his home, he runs to his study to call the police and spill the beans on Mr. Sinclair. As luck would have it, Sinclair chooses right this moment to pay his accountant a visit.
Upon learning that his confidant is calling the cops, he barges in with his goon squad. Luckily the Outsiders are still lingering about, and make short work of the baddies. Mr. Sinclair is indicted.
We close out with Mr. Mudge deciding maybe Christmas ain't all that bad as he celebrates with his nephew and niece-in-law (is that even a thing?). In case you were wondering, the gift they gave him earlier was a gown. Back with the Outsiders, Halo has rediscovered her Christmas spirit as well, and has flown off with her bell and "ski cap" which looks more like a Santa hat.
Our back-up strip features Black Lightning and Katana attempting to do a bit of Christmas shopping for Jefferson's ex-wife, Lynn. At that moment, we see a shaky man entering the employee's entrance of the department store holding a Santa Claus outfit. It appears as though he's being forced into the situation by a creep holding his son hostage.
Jeff's having some trouble deciding whether to buy a cheap piece of lingerie or a cheap piece of jewelry. The salesman acts like a bit of a jerk when he asks to see something from the "budget collection". Elsewhere the shaky man suits up and heads into the security office... where he kayos a guard with a bottle before turning off the power.
With the power to the security system out, a goon squad runs in to rob the place. Tatsu and Jeff head into the dressing rooms to suit up.
What follows is a couple pages of Black Lightning and Katana wrecking the fools. The Shaky-Santa approaches Katana to let her know about his son being held outside.
They take care of the creep in the car... we get a father-son reunion, and everything ends happily ever after... well, except for the fact that Jeff still has to pick out a gift for his ex.
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If you're interested in my thoughts on the issue itself, take a peek at the time I discussed the Baxter version. Click the cover and you will be delivered!
Onto the experiment...
We open with perhaps one of the better reasons for using the Baxter stock from a creative standpoint. This flashback is bathed in a sepia tone... which is unable to be properly replicated by the newsstand version. Rather than looking stylistically "old timey", it's just black and white.
Some inverted colors here... and while the Baxter shot is more immediately appealing to me... upon deeper inspection, I definitely appreciate some of the details I missed when looking at the newsstand version.
Change in background from flat orange to yellow. I'm sure there's a reason why this change was implemented... however, I've never been in the printing biz, so I couldn't say what that reason is!
It's interesting to see another change from orange... this time to blue for our background here. Also, note that the color no longer extends into the bleed for the newsprint version!
I think I said this the last time we looked at a Baxter Aparo comic... his work in this format lacks some of the detail of his newsprint work... and almost makes you feel like you're looking at (ironically enough) a newspaper strip.
Here's some bonus Von Eeden from the backup!
I'll go into this in a little more depth as we wrap up, but... the newsprint actually lends something to the art here. The flat-brightness of the color almost robs the pencils of detail... and really overtakes the image.
So, the verdict? If you read yesterday's piece where we looked at New Teen Titans (vol.2) #1 vs. Tales of the Teen Titans #60... I kinda rode the fence there. While I couldn't shake the feeling that I was more "comfortable" looking at the story on pulpy ol' newsprint... I can't deny that Perez' pencils also looked amazing on the Baxter stock! My only real quibble there was that the coloring felt too flat... but that was a kink that would take time to work itself out.
Here... I think I can commit. I find Aparo's (and Von Eeden's) work much more appealing on newsprint. I think the imperfections in the "old ways" lent to giving the art a bit of unexpected detail... as well as depth (since the colors were no longer so flat). We also much keep in mind that this issue had an altogether different Colorist... so, that might have something to do with it as well!
The stories are fun either way you look at it... as was this little experiment (at least for me... I hope folks reading dug this as well!).
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Tales of the Teen Titans #60 (December, 1985)
"Shadows in the Dark!"
Co-Creators/Co-Editors - Marv Wolfman & George Perez
Letterer - Todd Klein
Colors - Adrienne Roy
Cover Price: $0.75
Awhile back I'd said that I believed George Perez's work looked much better on non-Baxter paper. I'd have to track it down to confirm, but I believe I said something like "it doesn't do him any favors".
Well, this blog is all about challenging my preconceptions... so, we're going to do us some comparin'... and probably some fence-sittin' to boot!
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We open in the Danger Roo... er, outside Titans Tower, where the team is running through some training exercises. Nightwing leads the team as they try and hunt down their newest member, Jericho! This proves to be a bit more tricky than anyone expected... considering Jericho could, with nothing more than eye-contact, body-hop and take control of any of them. And he does just that, starting with Gar!
From here, the Titans shift their focus, and try to figure out a way to expel Joey from Gar. Cyborg blasts him with a "zillion" decibels... but that doesn't quite work... all it does is annoy poor Master Logan. Donna manages to snag Changeling with her lasso... and as Starfire goes in for the catch -- CONTACT -- Joey jumps from Gar to Kory!
It comes down to Cyborg... who, wisely closes his one actual eye, making "contact" impossible. He blasts Starfire with enough voltage to "stun" her... causing Joey to be ejected. Vic then biffs Joey in the chin.
Nightwing hops onto Joey's back, piggyback-style... and Donna wraps them both up with her lasso. It looks like it's all over but the cryin' at this point... but then... Raven shows up! As is usual with her, she's got some dire news... and is in need of aid. Joey uses this opportunity to -- CONTACT -- hop into Raven's body! This doesn't go all that well.
Raven vanishes, leaving Jericho a quivering mess. He begins signing at an unfollowable pace. When he finally gets his wits back about him, he reveals to the team that he felt a great evil inside of her. He wants to help her... which leads the Titans to ask themselves why they hadn't tried reaching out to her of late.
After heading inside, the Titans recount what just occurred. Jericho volunteers to go to Raven's room for a chat... and after a little hemming and hawing, Dick agrees. As Joey leaves the room, Vic suggests that Raven's appearance might be changing. More on that in a bit.
First, we'll follow Jericho. Inside Raven's darkened room, she speaks... kinda in riddles about her "destiny". I mean, we all know this is Trigon stuff, right? It's always Trigon stuff with Raven. She refuses to leave the room without her hood, which kinda backs up Vic's deduction that she's beginning to look different.
After the chat, Raven appears in the Titans meeting room... and quits the team! She doesn't want the team to feel responsible for her anymore. She feels as though she's been more of a hindrance and a liability of late. I tell ya what, she's often a hindrance to my enjoyment of an issue! Anyhoo, her plan is... staying the night at the Tower, and leaving in the morning. The team protests... but, it's no use.
For something completely different... and potentially even more boring than Raven... we shift scenes to Vegan Space, and Tamaran. We learn that thanks to the Omega Men, the war is over. Peace will reign, and it's now safe for Princess Koriand'r to return home. Now, I love subplots... but not that kinda subplot.
Back at the Tower, Gar walks in on Vic while he's screening some old video. Gar giddily asks if it's porn... but, no dice... Vic is actually looking at old Titans footage, footage featuring Raven in particular. Here we see the progression of Raven's appearance. Starting with her softer look early on... to a more severe look... to her current almost sinister appearance!
Elsewhere in the Tower, Jericho sits awake... trying to practice his guitar, however cannot shake his worry over his soon-to-be-departing teammate. He decides to take the situation into his own hands, and visits Raven while she sleeps. What's kinda neat is that he actually "suits up" in his complicated Jericho attire before leaving his room.
Then -- CONTACT -- sorta, I think. Maybe Raven sleeps with her eyes open... maybe Joey just pried one open before hopping. I dunno.
Next stop for Jericho... yawn... the craggy cliffs of Azar. He looks on as Raven is tortured by visions of her mother, and the shouting of... well, duh... Trigon.
Trigon even notices Joey's presence... and figures, "what the hay", and begins torturing him a bit for good measure.
The Titans are awakened by one whopper of a scream... Dick suggests that it wasn't even human in origin. The team rushes into Raven's room, only to find Joey. Raven, has vanished. Joey frantically signs the word "father".
Joey finally regains his composure and explains the whole thing. Dick meekly lectures him about entering Raven's body... but Vic reels him in. The Titans now know what they're up against... however, before they can take the fight to Trigon... they're going to have to find Raven!
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If you're interested in my thoughts about the issue itself, check out this piece where I went covered my feelings. Go 'head and click the cover... then we'll get into our little experiment.
Now, onto our comparison. I'm using some new-to-me technology to take a look at both images, and interact with them via a slider. Hopefully, this actually works! I'm going to be out of town... so, fingers are crossed!
We'll start at... the start!
The first thing that jumps out at us is... Baxter=Brighter. Heavier paper certainly has its advantages. At least right out of the gate, I can't see much of a difference in the pencils. Maybe those differences might just be in my head!
More noticeable color differences. In the far-left panel, the entire background color is different/inverted. Instead of our body-hopping Jericho being depicted as a white outline... it's the rest of the area that's gone white. Not Earth-shattering, but interesting enough.
Here's an interesting shot. If you look at the bottom of the page... in the Baxter version, Donna's leg and foot escape the panel... in the newsstand, it's been cut off! Another benefit to the upscale format!
More Jericho-inversion. I might be seeing the error of my ways.
Our first look at Raven... the blacks are much richer on Baxter stock
Speaking of "richer blacks"... I wanted to include this image to show that off. While the newsstand "look" is definitely more, I dunno... comfortable to me... I can't deny that the Baxter is really sharp!
Included the above image simply because Gar's heart-jammies are altered in the Newsstand edition.
Here the Jericho outlines have been altered. Again, inversion is a necessity for the lighter weight paper.
And a couple more just to show off the vibrant "hi-definition" look.
So, the verdict? I'm just as lost as I was before! There are certainly some benefits to both the Baxter and Newsstand formats. Immediately we can see that both clarity and color are so much better in the more upscale Baxter book. While at the same time though, the newsstand definitely has its charms. I still think that Perez's work looks more like I expect it to in the "lesser" format! But, at the end of the day... that doesn't make it "better".
Tomorrow we'll take a look at another artist I swear looks better on newsprint... Jim Aparo. Can't wait to see how wrong I am about that one!
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