Axiom’s Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

By Sam Christopher

While taking a break from the Michael Jackson “news”—mostly because he’s dead and he’s not coming back to life, and I already knew I wasn’t in his will—I read something very interesting today while looking over Axiom’s Edge. I usually read everything on it but sometimes I get busy and… In the Orbiting the Blogosphere section posted on July 1st there are several articles of interest but the only one that made me laugh was Paul Waldman’s treatise on zombie films as shining examples of why the Far Left is correct. He says that only through collective action and cooperation can anyone survive the zombie apocalypse and that is “Liberalism” to a tee. Which is a fine premise so long as we ignore the fact that modern “liberals”—and that’s both Dems and Repubs—never ask us to join whatever collective action they deem necessary; the message from “both” sides is always the same: Do what we say or we’ll take away the semblance of freedom we’ve left you so far (they’re already confiscating your property). I know, I know… but in my defense HE STARTED IT!

On to comics…

Bring on the Bad Guys:

WOW! Irredeemable #4 hit the stands this Wednesday and continues its run of getting better and better every month. In this issue we see the UN doing what the UN does best: appeasing. And when Singapore’s ambassador wins the groveling contest, a “placated” Plutonian pays the country the tribute he feels they’ve earned by showering Singapore with diamonds. Literally. But don’t worry, the people there don’t suffer for long. And then he takes them swimming. Another vicious, vicious installment by Mark Waid (The Flash, The Unknown) and Peter Krause (Star Trek, Sable).

And if you’re reading Irredeemable (and you need to) there’s no way you should have missed out on The Mighty #6. Whereas The Plutonian in Waid’s study of the Superman who has lost his mind is only one superbeing, albeit by far the most powerful, in a world full of them, Peter J. Tomasi (Green Lantern Corps, Nightwing) and Keith Champagne (JSA, Superboy) have dropped their Alpha One into a world all his own. Alpha is totally isolated, the only one of his kind, and appears to have spent so much time alone and above that he is detached completely from the “regular folk”, although not in a Dr. Manhattan “who cares?” sort of way. Alpha’s main problem seems to be that he cares too much, that he has put so much pressure on himself to save everyone that it has warped him over time. And now Gabriel Cole and his wife Janet are figuring it out, with the help of the crazy man murdered in the last ish. Chris Samnee’s (Checkmate, Pulp Tales) art adds a touch of the Golden Age to this very modern story—so much so that I sometimes wonder if we’ll get an emergence of other heroes. Whether that happens or not, this is a comic I can’t wait for every month.

And Now for the Good Guys:

In Justice League: Cry for Justice #1, James Robinson (Starman, Superman) begins our intro to his version of the JLA (he is taking over as writer of the regular title shortly), which will be filled out over the course of this seven issue mini. Hal Jordan has had enough. He has watched as J’Onn J’Onzz (The Martian Manhunter) and Bruce Wayne (Batman) have died and Hal has seen no justice dispensed to their murderers. He questions what the “Justice” League stands for and wonders aloud why they’re not more vigorously rooting out evil-doers in what is becoming an ever-darker world (continuing the theme which has been a staple for the Original Universe since Superman-2 crashed out of “paradise” in Infinite Crisis). He and Green Arrow leave JLA hq and the rest of this ish is vignettes showing how some of the rest of what will become this new team have arrived at these same conclusions. Ray Palmer (Atom), Mikaal Tomas (Starman), and Congo Bill (Congorilla) are all shown as being angry with the audacity of villains and deciding that true justice may require a harsher stance than ever before. Other characters to come in this series are Freddie Freeman (nee Captain Marvel Jr., currently Captain Marvel, I think), Supergirl, and Batwoman. Just a damn good first ish, my only problem being that Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl didn’t join with Hal. But maybe they’re staying with the “goody two-shoes” group as a mediating voice between the two groups. I cannot wait to read more of this story. And Mauro Cascioli’s (Grimm Fairy Tales, The Trials of Shazam) artwork is spectacular here, capturing perfectly the realistic, gritty tone of the story and characterizations.

And on the Marvel Side:

The Destroyer strikes twice this month as Destroyer #5 brings Robert Kirkman’s (The Walking Dead, Invincible) tale of the aging fighter to its penultimate chapter. Turret and Destroyer take on the hordes of H.O.R.D.E. in a battle that starts off looking like S.H.I.E.L.D. taking on A.I.M. but turns into a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode when Krakoom rears his ugly head. He’s kind of a giant snail with legs—and the gooey insides we’ve come to expect from giant snails with legs that lead secret organizations of evil. And for a tale of The Destroyer in his original venue there’s the USA Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1. The new story has a German journalist taken to see the prison The Destroyer broke out of and was all right.  The reprint was from All Winners Comics #3 in 1942, and was written by Stan The Man, so it has that going for it, which is nice.

And Amazing Spiderman Family #8 was… well, the first story, “Dark Reflection”, sucked. I’m sure someone somewhere thought it was a neat idea but I liked it better when it was Lex Luthor trying to break the confidence of the waitress at the small town café—and I even thought that sucked. And the issue only got worse as The Spectacular Spidergirl evidently really is dead and April kills Tombstone, while Kaine and Darkdevil.. that’s it, I’m out. This story—and this is, what, only the fourth installment since they cancelled Mayday’s regular title and placed it here among this other tripe—has gone steadily downhill, finally falling all the way past “suck”. The other two stories… well, let’s just stop at “suck”. If this is the level of effort they can come up with they need to just cancel the title entirely. It looks as though Spidergirl is leaving already anyway.

Other comics:

Angel #23- Gunn and Illyria battle for their own individual humanity in this prequel to the upcoming Angel: Still Human miniseries.

Batman and Robin #2- Dick and Alfred have a heart-to-heart as Dick comes to grips with the fact that he’s not Bruce Wayne. Gordon and crew meet the new Batman and Robin for the first time and notice immediately something about the Dynamic Duo has changed, and Damian unravels, first trying to beat info out of a suspect with a baseball bat and then rebelling completely against Dick’s authority, leaving the latter to brood. The ending does not look good for our new Robin.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #26- In “Retreat Part One” the Slayers are being hidden by Willow and the other magic-users but the bad guys figure it out. Giles and faith show up just in time for the battle after being outted from their underground bunker in Berlin. And Buff and Giles worry over Willow becoming one with the dark again—especially after Buffy’s recent visit to Fray.

Fantastic Four #568- Well, the penultimate chapter in the “Master of Doom” storyline was both better and worse than I expected. I guess we’ll see after next ish, but the explanation of the Marquis of Death from this one was really… dumb. And how is he Doom’s… never mind. Maybe it’ll be better next ish.

Final Crisis Aftermath: Run #3- Human Flame vs. Clayface! Clayface vs. a shard of the JLA! Human Flame vs. Immortus’ Gang! The last one doesn’t end well for our “hero”, but it is funny.

Greek Street #1- the flip side to The Unwritten in that it sucked but I don’t feel as bad for buying it as it was only a buck.

Green Lantern Corps #38- Prelude to Blackest Night ends as the Oan Power battery is shattered and the Guardians sanction public execution of Sciencell escapees. Oh, and Mongul figures out that having a base on Daxam might not have been the smartest move he ever made.

Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan #3- Final issue of this film adaptation. Same old thing: Okay adaptation of a very good story with awful art.

Previous Column:

June 27th – Checking in on Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman