comics

Three Joker’s Thoughts

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The Criminal. The Comedian. The Clown.

Bruce. Barbara. Jason.

Three Joker’s meet three heroes.

Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok present us with The Three Jokers nearly 5 years after the concept was first introduced during the Darkseid War storyline in the Justice League book. Teases of it showed up here and there in the Batman books for DC Comics. By moving it to the Black Label line it is not shackled by that continuity of the regular comic books.

If you ask anyone I am not the biggest fan of the Joker. This is a character that is often overexposed to levels usually limited to Batman and Wolverine in today’s comics. Because of that sometimes alternate takes on him do not seem to fit together and want nice neat puzzle. By creating the concept of the Three Jokers, Johns nicely wrote a way out of this particular conundrum.

The art is wonderful. Jason Fabok’s work has been missing for far too long. He had really come into his own during the Darkseid War storyline. Which unfortunately seems like the last time we saw Fabok’s work. Besides depicting the current day story He also depicts scenes from the past most notably some of the more chilling scenes from The Killing Joke and Death in the Family.

This is one of Johns strengths-pulling from DC Comics history as a foundation for new stories. This is not simply a story of Batman versus the Joker. I would say in this first installment it is much more about Jason Todd and Barbara Gordon. Red Hood and Batgirl.

Of all the members of the Bat family they have suffered far worse than anyone else. And the Joker’s desire to make them suffer has little to do with either Jason or Barbara, it is all about hurting the Bat.

The best and probably most disturbing moment of this issue came when the Joker was reliving his beating to death of Jason Todd. Not only did Jason, just a kid then, beg for his life He also said he would do anything if the Joker would spare him.

He said he would be HIS Robin…

And in a way he has. Taking the moniker Red Hood(one of the Joker’s earliest aliases), at times becoming a criminal and then a merciless vigilante breaking Batman’s one rule. You could say that Jason’s change it since coming back from the dead may hurt Bruce even worse than his death.

This is just a first issue. There will be much more to unpack and I’m sure many more twists and turns before we come close to the finish. But it was a very good start.

And one that may even soften my personal stance on the Joker.

That in itself is a huge accomplishment.

Not Your Father’s Legion

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6 years. It’s been over six years since we had a Legion series.

It’s been five years since they guest starred in Justice League United.

A long time for a book that has been more or less a constant since the 70s. There had been a couple of pieces of it coming back with appearances Justice League United and Saturn Girl showing up in Doomsday Clock. Truthfully I thought we were going to have to wait until the often delayed Doomsday Clock finished. Things change.

Brian Michael Bendis and Ryan Sook changed all that. On November sixth we saw the first of a new series of the Legion of Superheroes written by Bendis with art by Sook and colors by the fantastic Jordie Bellaire. As far as a creative team you could not ask for much more.

It is early but promising. The Legion is a tough nut to crack. So many characters, so much history. It is hard to know where to start. A chase through the remains of old Gotham is nice. Leading off with Ultra Boy is even better. Some things change, some stay the same.

We got to see some nice throwbacks to Legion history: A reimagined Mordru, a changed Earth(calling back to the destruction of Earth in the five years later era), a new Superboy and a new connection to modern day DC Comics with Aquaman’s trident.

There are several new threads to pull here. Possibilities abound.

Are there concerns as a long time Legion fan?

Of course. We have been burned so many times that we have grown cynical. But there is light in the darkness. Hope.

And at least for me that is what the Legion has always been about.

Avengers: Endgame- Old Business

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After a long wait this weekend Avengers: Endgame opens. It is the culmination of so so many movies that we have all enjoyed.

But before we get onto the new there is still some old business to be taken care of.

There there is a need for some to assess blame even when it comes to a movie like Avengers Infinity War. Let us be honest there is a lot of blame to go around but many want to lay all that blame squarely at the feet of Peter Quill(Star-Lord).

Let us put aside for a second the fact that most everyone who watched Avengers infinity war knew the movie was going to end with the snap. That was a narrative necessity, there was simply no way around it it’s just how we got to that point.

I could go in-depth how different actions by Tony Stark, Doctor Strange, Quill or even Thor could have changed the outcome. But to blame any one character for the ending that we were going to get to anyways is a little ludicrous.

Some argue that Star Lord’s behavior attacking Thanos was not what very heroic. That does not matter because what it was-was very human.

I do not understand why some want their big screen heroes to not act human. The ancient Greeks and Roman made a point of showing their gods to be very flawed and very human. That is part of the whole thing.

Yes Peter Quill did not did not do what we think we would want our heroes to do but that’s okay. It is understandable this is a man who as a child was kidnapped from his home, was raised by space pirates, who fought and scraped for what little he did have. This is a man who finally found some semblance of a family and and had it torn away.

This is how you act when these things happen. Star-Lord is still on a journey, on his heroes journey. He simply is not there yet.

There is still time for redemption for him and for all the other heroes.

But that is all for the old business. This weekend we get to see the new and I think it will be extraordinary.

Broken Bat

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The Bat and the Cat.

Batman number 50 has come and gone. By now most everyone has probably seen the issue but regardless…

Spoilers, spoilers and more spoilers

Yes the wedding did not go off as planned but then again that was spoiled ahead of time(thanks to the New York Times) and some fans lost their bloody minds.

The issue itself was wonderful. From King’s writing to Mikel Janin’s wonderful art to the pin ups from nearly every artist to ever draw the bat that fit so nicely into this issue. This was everything that you want from a 50th issue, ok except that no one said I do but we all knew that. The fact that it  was spoiled ahead of time did not  take away one moment of enjoyment. The story played out just as it should have been. The huge storybook wedding with a thousand guests was never going to happen. The Bat and the Cat would have had a spur of the moment private intimate  affair, just the two of them with the witnesses. And can I say Alfred was absolutely the right choice. Alfred has been there every step of the way in Bruce’s life to witness all the ups and all the horrific downs. He should absolutely have been there for the happiest day of his life.

Showing the dance that Bruce and Selina have always done was wonderful way to frame the story. This is not just the dance they’ve been doing for the last 50 issues but the dance they have done since Catwoman was first introduced(in Batman #1 in 1940) and I don’t believe for a second the dance is over. King has said this is a hundred issue story and I for one believe at some point we will get that wedding.

But by and large I am a journalist for all the spoiling that they did, they buried the lede.

Yes they spoiled that Selena leave Bruce at the altar so to speak but they did not spoil the best part of the issue

The best part of the issue the last two pages. The best part was seeing that not only has Bruce had his chance at happiness taken away but that it was done to him. The best part was that it did not just happen but that someone did this.

I love love love that they had Bane be the one to bring him down. They had Bane once again break Batman.

Too often they focus on Bane’s physicality. Far too often we forget that Bane is brilliant. He has a great strategic mind that is how he broke Batman in the first place it wasn’t just Venom coursing through his veins, it was setting loose Arkham Asylum to wear Bruce down.

This time it’s not breaking him with his fists but breaking the man emotionally and the imagery in the last panel of all the different pieces of the last 50 issues culminating and being seeming victory that was perfect.

The last panel that’s the turn, the penny dropping. It was that moment that changes everything that came before.

And after.

I know everyone is diving back into their comics and just looking for the little hints spread throughout this run.

Here’s too another fifty.

 

Interview: Ethan Kennett

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This week I sat down at Hourglass Brewery in Longwood, Florida to talk to comic creator Ethan Kenneth. Returning to the scene of his comic release party Saturday June 8th.

“The book is called Torlena. I thought I actually created that word.”

As Ethan tells me it is hard to come up with a name because everything you can think of is already taken.

“I come up with this word… Torlena. It’s a woman’s first name.” After doing a little research…”In Hindu it means fractured…it kind of fit what I’m trying to tell.”

Sometimes things fall into place.

This is the story of the man behind Torlena. It starts in a lot of places Megacon 2017, Wheaton College, as a kid having his mom telling him the story of The Incredible Hulk. Like I said in a lot of places. It is a journey as they say.

Drawing since he was a little kid, Ethan just wanted to make comics he didn’t even want to go to Art School. But eventually he did go. He went to Wheaton College in Massachusetts he was so excited but all I want to do is make comics.

“My first drawing class-my teacher was like ‘we have to start you over from the get go, we need life drawing’. That was the last thing I wanted to hear-Dude I want to draw comics.”

By the time he was finished up at Wheaton he was burned out on drawing so he went with his other passion music. He moved down to Florida in 2001 to try to make it as a rock star and he had some success. According to Ethan more people know him as a musician than as an artist right now. I believe that is about to change.

It took a friend practically dragging him to Megacon in 2017 to put that change in motion. (Megacon is Orlando’s premier comic convention. I have spent many a weekend there myself.) Six hours in artist alley changed his path. He met artist Sorah Suhng(who had done covers for Ninjak among other projects) talking to her got the blood flowing. She suggested he speak to Nick Bradshaw then it was Clay Mann and others. Something in the universe touched him. It was time to make some comics.

Fast forward to August 2017. He quit his job, this is going to happen. The next day he was already working on getting his chops back. Looking at anything to do with the art of making comics because that is what he was going to do. By February of 2018 he was starting to work on Torlena, by March he was treating it like a job. Getting trademarks and copyrights and doing all other things we never think about when we pick up the books at our local comic shop.

I met Ethan a new Comic Book Day first Saturday of May. He was drawing in the back of my local comic book store working on Torlena. I talked to him for a few minutes. I already knew I wanted to see the final product. And I was happy for him that he had gotten that ‘zero’ issue published.

Asking about Torlena. The first and second issues are written and he is working on the 3rd. He figures it will go eight issues but then again the zero issue was originally going to be 25 pages and ended up at 28.

Initially he wanted it to be like Spawn and just go on forever. Todd McFarlane is one of his comic heroes after all.

This is the start of something. Hope it is a long, long ride.

Torlena # 0

A team of scientists must save

a little girl before she brings

her bad dreams to life.

You can order Torlena from EthanKennett.com or Torlena.com.

Enjoy.

Coming Home

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Life is a journey

Journeys end. Time comes for a man to find his way back home.

Before I sweep the cobwebs away and dust off my trusty typewriter (laptop) I have a story to tell.

I started The Pulp Chronicles in the summer of 2013. I had been doing some freelance sportswriting and I wanted a venue for some of my other writing endevours.

And write I did. I am still proud of the work I produced under this banner. But it was not easy writing here, doing my sportswriting, not to mention my day job that paid the bills. Something had to give, something needed to change.

So in 2015 I had a bright idea. I would create one site to put all my creative pursuits under. No longer would I have to run multiple sites, just distill it down to one with separate sections. OneTrueGeek.com was born. I could see it: Sports Geek, Comic Geek, Writing Geek, etc…

It simply never became what I envisioned. Life got in the way, writing did not come. One True Geek slowly withered away.

Last year some friends and I started a comic news and opinion site ComicBook-Underground.com (come take a look). I was writing again. I was not on my own anymore. A team of writers and editors talking about the things we love.

Still I found myself longing for more. Sometimes you need a place all your own. A place that feels like home.

So I returned to a place I loved. After I unpack a bit I hope to get right back to work. Talking about movies, writing and yes comics. And not just other people’s stories. I have my own to tell. It may take a while. I feel like I am chipping away at a grand canvas but I am sure that it shall be worthwhile.

And the journey begins…again.

Creators Create

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(Originally published on ComicBook-Underground.com)

Creators create. At least that is how it used to be.
August 28, 2017…Jack Kirby would be 100 on that day. An entire Century old. Yes, I do realize that Kirby did in fact pass away twenty-three years ago. I do not care. He was our King.
In an industry known for creativity and creators. Known for worlds, no universes created out of nothing. He was the King. He was the Alpha and the Omega. He was Jack.
Before this starts sounding like and overdue eulogy for Kirby (I am clearly not qualified for that), let us get to the meat of the matter.
In comics we celebrate creators like no other creative enterprise celebrates them. Jack and Stan, Bob Kane, Bill Finger. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. We celebrate these visionaries who gave us our new world pantheons of gods. They gave us our mythology.
So why are we so more willing to change characters that someone else sculpted out of the ether, than actually create something new for us all?
The new Wally West, Lady Thor, Two Nova’s, Two Blue Beetle’s, Two Hulk’s. Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson have all carried the mantle of Captain America, please don’t get me started with John Walker (US Agent). We even have AzBats coming back. A beloved character will be replaced by an unfamiliar face. Oh there are usually storyline reasons: Thor is unworthy, Captain America got old, Batman had his back broken or let’s kill the hero just for a little while. Other times it is for the sake of diversity, yes I am looking at you Wally West. The fact is the character has changed. Sometimes for a few months, other times for years.
There have been some cases when I have enjoyed these changes. The current Mighty Thor title is excellent. Whether that is because of the novelty of a female Thor or the excellent creative team of Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman is up for debate. Other times I find myself biding my time until they ultimately bring the original back. A good friend does not mind these changes. He looks at it as a way to simply refresh the brand. Maybe I am just yelling at the kids to get off my lawn.
Is it that hard to create something new instead. New heroes, new villains. We are in the business of creating are we not. There are roadblocks to be sure. Building an audience is not easy. Lack of ownership of our creations is a reality that needs to change. But the joy of discovering Gambit. Harley Quinn. Or seeing Deadpool for the very first time. That is not something that can be replaced by putting someone else in another characters suit in their mythology.
Let the creators create. Let the next generation dream of building their own worlds.

The Journey Continues…

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earthriseThe Ball has dropped…

Another year has passed. So many new memories good and bad. Adventures had and passed by. Time moves so quickly and at the same time not at all. Often it is a time for reflection, while we examine our journey. For the journey is so much more important than the destination. The destination is the goal, a finish line. The journey informs the whole of our souls.

Is it time to change our goals? Shall we wander off this path and explore new vistas? What new adventures await?

I am ready for them. I await new stories, new movies, new comics. Such wonderous new adventures.

This world is always full of possibilities. That is the promise of a new year, of each new day. While we look back fondly of what we have done it is nothing in comparison for what awaits.

So I close my eyes knowing it is a new world into which I shall awake. I so look forward to exploring all the lands that lay before me.

Won’t your come join me?

The Hero

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We seek out heroes. Search for them.

In movies, books, comics. In life.

Someone to come in and save the day.

The Duke, Indiana Jones, John McClane, Captain Kirk, Iron Man, Batman, Superman.

In all shapes and sizes. From the pure, noble hero to the avenging anti-hero.

But what makes them heroic? What separates them from us?

Is it trying to make a difference? Is it doing what is right? And if so, who decides what is right and what is wrong?

Superman is not simply a hero because of his powers, Iron Man because of his suit. There has to be something more.
Risk and sacrifice matter. If a hero has nothing to lose does that make him less of a hero?

Heroes risk because someone has to and they cannot accept sitting on the sidelines.

Perhaps we need more heroes.

Don’t Call it a Review: Forever Evil

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The bad guys have won. The outlook is bleak. The heroes are not just defeated. They are gone…?

That’s how Forever Evil, DC Comics first company wide crossover in the New 52, begins. It begins with despair, hopelessness. It starts with that sinking feeling where you cannot imagine how the heroes will over come. It starts with questions.

Lots of questions.

Is the Justice League really dead?

What happened at the end of Trinity War?

What will happen to Nightwing?

Questions are good at the beginning of an epic storyline. You slowly start filling in the answers as you get to the end. These questions are good ones. But I have an even better one.

 Why should we believe anything the Crime Syndicate tells us?

They are the epitome of a ‘unreliable narrator’, they are the bad guys. They should be lying to us. It is kind of their thing.

They tell us they have killed the Justice League, they tell us they ruled their world, they tell us they destroyed the world there. That is what they say.

The truth may be very different. The populace of their world may have finally stood up and said “no more”. They may have rebelled, fought back and finally vanquished the villains. At this point we just do not know.

That is what makes it interesting. What is the truth, what is the lie? In between perhaps we discover what the heroes will need to triumph.

For the first time in a long time I am excited about one of these epic, company wide stories. Time to show me what you have got.

Before I forget. Favorite part of the issue. Kord Industries. What does that mean? I may be dreaming but it may mean…Ted ‘frickin’ Kord. And that cold mean the return of Blue and Gold…I’m pumped.
Bwahahahahahahaha…