Comic Book Coffee Break #40

 For 37 weeks I co-hosted Comic Book Coffee Break with Eric Mikols for the Radio Meanwhile Network.

You can find the early video episodes here and the 37th and final episode here.  While that version of the show came to a restful end, I'm still reading comic books.  So welcome to Comic Book Coffee Break: The Text Adventure. 

Still not a fan of Tim Horton's coffee so whenever I find myself at one,  I go for tea. XL, 4 sugars.

Let's talk comic books. 

DC Comics

I've finally reached the first stage of  my New 52 Superman re-read where I can say I enjoyed it. I read the major crossover event, H'El on Earth.  This includes issues from the mainline Superman title, plus Superboy and Supergirl.  (If you are reading this in grade avoid the collections of the individual titles and go for the bulkly H'El on Earth collection.)  The art here is great and that goes a long way.  Plus, I like Scott Lobdell's take on Superman as well. (By coincidence, last week I was discussion Lobdell's Generation X novel.)  This story isn't particularly groundbreaking (rogue Kryptonian shows up and havoc ensues), but it is a lot of fun. A It's a good showcase for the tenuous relationship among Super Man/Boy/Girl.  It's exciting and splashy and does manage to feel like an event.  There are downsides though. For starters it seems to come out of nowhere and resolve almost as quickly. (It does end on a cliffhanger in the epilogue, and if that's resolved it has been completely wiped from my memory.) Also, Supergirl's role in this is to fall for H'El and go along with his scheme. While, that does make some sense considering the fragile place she's at in the Supergirl title, it does feel dated and sexist. Especially considering Superboy's role as a sort of faux Kryptonian would play right into H'El's whole thing as a faux member of the El clan. I would have much preferred that Superboy be the pawn, giving Clark and Kara an opportunity to team up. That's a missed opportunity. Still, this has been the brightest spot of New 52 Superman so far. Onward to vols 4 of both the mainline title and Action Comics.

Next, I read the Green Lantern 80th Anniversary special. I'm a sucker for these, though I have to admit this was not nearly as good as the one they put out for Robin last year.  For starters, Alan Scott, who is actually the character celebrating 80 years, gets very little to do.  He has the lead story, but we only see him in costume for one panel. The rest of the stories are relatively forgettable, though I did love the Denny O'Neill/Mike Grell Green Lantern/Green Arrow story.  It felt and looked just right. I also really enjoyed the various splash pages and covers from artists across Lantern history.  I have the Catwoman 80th to read for next time.

Marvel Comics

Over in the world of Marvel I picked Marvel Masterworks: Captain America & Falcon vol. 9. Reading this story in rapid succession was not beneficial. In these pages we see Cap drop the mantle to start a new superhero career as Nomad.  I actually kinda liked that, but it felt like it went by in a flash.  Then Sam Wilson is giving a pretty awful retcon thanks in part of the Red Skull.  I don't really understand the point of giving him a criminal past and I wasn't a fan. As the Steve Engelhart run ends there's a bit of a vacuum where other creative teams spin some wheels. Overall, there was a lot I enjoyed, but the collection as a whole feels a little disjointed.  I'm soon running out of track with the Masterworks series and will have to switch to single issues.

In the world of prose fiction I read Alex Irvine's adaptation of X-Men: Days of Future Past. Last week, I'd read the comic for the first time and found it a little lacking.  This extended novel format gave a lot of insight and was particularly good at fleshing out both version of Kitty Pride.  That gave the story a little more bite.  I recommend it.

IDW Comics

This week I read a recent Star Trek comic, Picard: Countdown by Mike Johnson and Kirsten Beyer.  Back when they were announcing these book and comics leading up to the series, we debated on The All the Books Show whether or not I should read them in advance. I opted not to, but in hindsight, wish I had.  This is good setup for the series, focusing on Picard's Romulan staff from the series. You could read it as a standalone, but it does lead right into the series and probably works best that way. 

For Next Week

I didn't get to Alex Irvine's Iron Man: Rapture as I'd hoped so I plan for that as well as his graphic novel adaptation of James Patterson's The Murder of King Tut.  I'm interviewing the author for Howe's Things this coming week.  I also intend to get in to that Catwoman 80th as well as some more New 52 Superman and maybe some Black Lightning.  I'm open to suggest, so let me know if I'm not reading something I should be.

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You can find back issues of the video version of Comic Book Coffee Break here.

The audio version of Comic Book Coffee Break is over there. 

You can find me as the co-host of 9021 Here We G0: A 90210 Rewatch Podcast for the Radio Meanwhile Network. 

I also host Howe's Things, the podcast and radio show of the David A. Howe Public Library.