You Should Be Reading This: Black Panther

So after a long hiatus (apologies, all) I am reviving the blog, and bringing along a couple of new-old items to this blog. Previously I had run a couple of other blogs on the side, mostly just a comics review blog and one where I generally got on a soap box. Now, luck for you, dear reader, you can access them all on the same blog! For the latter, look out for an upcoming post under the heading of “dissentformation.” The subject may surprise you. In the meantime, let’s get back into it with an entry “You should be reading this.”

Now, I’ll admit, the Black Panther is one of my favorite characters. So that does make me a bit bias. At the same time, I allowed a great deal of time to go by before reading more Black Panther again. I won’t really get into that. What I want to talk about is the present, in the stories in Black Panther: The Man Without Fear, or as it is now known, Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive.

I’ve been extremely excited since this one began. Now I wasn’t that familiar with David Liss’ writing, but the man has proven himself. Along with the art of Francesco Francavilla (along with Jefte Palo and now Shawn Martinsborough), Liss has given us a street level look at Hell’s Kitchen again, a scene once lost. I feel like it is almost a companion piece to the brightness of the new Daredevil from Mark Waid, Paulo Rivera, and Marcos Martin. Whereas Waid & Co. are bringing the light, the day of Hell’s Kitchen through the motions of the blind Matt Murdock, Liss, Franky & crew are stuck in perpetual night, constantly in shadow, colors matted against the stark faces of its residents. As we follow the man who has fallen from grace, the man in the dark trying to find himself again.

Liss excels at character work. He’s given T’Challa a great supporting cast in his local diner and apartment, creating new and interesting characters that have possibility for life outside of the book. Additionally, he’s managed to work through Fear Itself and has the upcoming Spider-Island which the Panther will be dealing with, but all the while managing to allow those arcs to stand on their own, away from the event.

It’s a fun book. At the same time, it’s T’Challa’s lowest moment. Here is he is, the Black Panther, former King of Wakanda, fighting without enhanced powers, just the Panther on the streets. The recent point one issue that follows the title change to “The Most Dangerous Man Alive” gives a great one issue look at how the Panther operates. Does he work with police? Sure, as long as they let him do what he wants. And if they say no, he’s gonna do it anyway. Police wanna handle it their way? Okay, but the Panther is only allowing it so that he can prove how he’s right. It’s hardboiled comics at its best. Go check it out.

DC Relaunch: Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE

The thing that's kind of cool about characters in the public domain (aside from the fact that you can really do anything you want with them) is that somewhere, there's a story for you featuring that character. Whether it be the original, or the comic book version, there's an option for you. What's even better is when it's not just a cool reimagining, but a REALLY cool remimagining that takes the character to whole new levels. And then there's when Grant Morrison does that and totally blows us all out of the water.

Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE comes fully loaded with a supporting cast that may not have been plugged in at first, but in the end just makes sense. First with Frankenstein's monster, who has taken his creator's name, you have this amazing, badass agent that rivals Hellboy, with a swagger that'd make the hardest of men cry. While a leader, he's reluctant in what he does, but he knows it must be done. It's notable when you can somehow make Frankenstein stand out from how he's appeared before, and on top of that look just plain awesome without trying.

Frankenstein is joined by the Creature Commandos, who are looking a bit different these days than they used to. As always, his partner in SHADE is The Bride, who looks very much like the classic Bride of Frankenstein, except for being loaded down with both guns and extra arms. Rounding it out are a number of monsters similar to the classic Universal monster line, and a little girl who I think may be Black Alice? Unconfirmed of course, that's just me trying to figure stuff out from the images that have been released.

DC Relaunch: Demon Knights

Jack Kirby, often referred to as "The King of Comics," who assisted or single-handledly created most of Marvel's staple characters, came in and left the DC universe with a wonderful smattering of characters during a time that many consider to be him at his peak. One of these odd little characters was the Demon, Etrigan. An odd little turn around on a Jekyl and Hyde scenario, the Demon was actually a cruel meddling of the wizard Merlin in a last ditch effort at Camelot. And the he leaped into the present day. The DC Universe has had many other characters running around the Medieval times, and so its appropriate that someone would want to put a band together...

Enter the Demon Knights. Cause who best to save the world in dark times such as those? Along with Madame Xanadu (who has managed to sneak her way into two books, kudos m'lady), the Shining Knight, and whoever else might be around (no doubt we'll be surprised), the curiosity may lay less with its members and more with its missions. Because what exactly would you be doing if you're being led by a demon (and one that rhymes at that).

An aspect of the character that I've always liked is the other side to the coin. I mentioned Jekyl and Hyde earlier, and while Etrigan may represent the Hyde side, the Jekyl, Jason Blood, is no slouch. A childhood friend of Merlin's, he is an immortal mage, forever tied to his destiny of chains with the demon. He is often ruthless, which may be the influence on his back. But the modern Blood is less active, he is reclusive, resigned to his position (most often, anyway). So I am interested to see how this plays with the demon being a more recent inhabitant.

DC Relaunch: Justice League Dark

The DC Universe has had its share of supernatural heroes, and but a few supernatural or magic based teams. The previous magic go-to-guys was Shadowpact, and more often than not they were kind of considered a joke (at least until things got way out of hand and you needed to fix it quick). But with more emphasis on the magic/mystic/peculiar side of the DC universe, it's time to take these guys seriously again. And this time, they've brought out the big guns.

Will they actually be called Justice League Dark? I don't know, but the fact that they're finally regarded as Justice League worthy is important, I think. These folks have certainly saved the world enough times over. Deadman? Oh yeah, and you never knew because you couldn't see him! John Constantine? Buy him a beer and a pack of silk cuts and he'll tell you a tale or two, and how he got snubbed every time (though that last time was with good reason). Zatanna has been on the Justice League (or she was in the last continuity), and Madame Xanadu has been knocking around so long that I'm gonna be talking about her and the Demon hanging out tomorrow back in just post-Camelot days. What has Shade done? Good question. He's the least magical of all of them, being an alien being projecting into unused identity (read:dead) and wearing an M-vest that does a number of things, and depending on the day, the M can stand for damn near anything.

So here they all are, purveyors of weird, ready to take on whatever is thrown at them, which alot of that is going to be the biggest hurdle: they have to get along the whole time. Constantine more tolerates Deadman than anything, and him and Shade get along okay, though everything goes weird. Xanadu has seen every Constantine, Zatara, and avatar of Nanda Parat (Deadman), and she's likely not that impressed. And Constantine and Zatanna dated once (awkwaaaard). And thrown into all of this is the Enchantress, who just can't seem to figure out if she wants to be bad or good. It's a toss up.

DC Relaunch: Animal Man

Every once in a while, you get a character that no one really cares about or acknowledges. They stay to the back of our mind, if that, awaiting a time to be mocked in lew of a positive building on the character and his/her abilities. And then that one story comes along and changes everything. Despite an appearance during Crisis on Infinite Earths, Animal Man was a nothing character, and Grant Morrison was given the character to do with as he willed. The run itself is legendary, overshadowing other works starring the character. All the same, Animal Man is just a simple guy.

Buddy Baker, or Animal Man, had powers bestowed upon him by aliens to be able to tap into any animal and gain its abilities. While at first, this was limited to nearby animals, soon Buddy Baker learned how to tap into the larger network of animals, into something called The Red. Much like the Green for Swamp Thing, the Red is like an index and interconnected network of all animals in the world and the universe as well. Through this, Buddy is able to use the abilities of not only animals that are nowhere in his vicinity, but also animals he may have never had contact with. However there have been numerous times where his connectedness to the Red has either rendered bad situations or problems in his ability to connect to this.

Buddy is a family man. One of the things that have been unique about his stories has been his connection to family. Buddy has a wife and two young kids. Throughout the years, and even in his first stories, he has been relentlessly devoted to them, which is impressive considering the Amazonian like superwomen he often shares ranks with. His children have run up against the superhuman community as well, and writer Jeff Lemire promises no changes from past habits with that regard. Animal Man is about the superhero struggle and how that affects and envelops the family.

DC Relaunch: Batwing

One of the major concerns as news and solicits rolled out for the Relaunch was whether it was a full on reboot or what. Relief hit upon this title (as with a few others), because of its close ties to the current continuity and Batman Incoporated. On the other side of that, many people thought it odd that of all the titles to come out of Batman Incoporated, why this one? At the time, the character had made very few appearances. However, the more that Judd Winick talks about it, the more excited I am for the character and the book.

Batwing is generally considered the Batman of Africa. At the the same time, he has his own city and is established there. Just like Batman may go where adventure/crime takes, so it does for Batwing. It's interesting, the design is based off an old Batman story (that I have somewhere in an oversized collection), and somehow this has been pulled up out the dregs by Morrison & company. Since the character is new, I'm a bit behind on posts, and the writer taking this new direction is Judd Winick, I thought I'd direct you to where he's talked about it some with the comic sites:

with CBR
with Newsarama

Ben Oliver will be joining Winick on art. He's previously made his mark on Robert Kirkman's run of Ultimate X-Men, Christos Gage's issues of Thunderbolts, and The Ten-Seconders with Rob Williams (serialized in 2000 AD).

Later today, we get more of the Dark. Tomorrow, more of stuff in general!

DC Relaunch: Looking Around 7/18

I wanted to throw a couple of things at you this afternoon.
First of all, Red Hood & the Outlaws has been discussed with Scott Lobdell
At Newsarma

and CBR

 

 

 

And Scott Snyder about Swamp Thing at the Washington Post & Newsarama.

Both with the covers to #2.

Additionally, today was when DC released the FULL solicits for October 2011