Axiom’s Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

By Sam Chrisopher

Straight to comics this week…

First, I almost didn’t buy North 40 #1 after the dire Greek Street debut from last week, especially with the $2.99 price tag. I don’t know why DC didn’t make this a dollar comic but I guess they figured horror fans would buy this anyway. Worked in my case. A very Lovecraftian story by Aaron Williams (PS238, Zombie King) with absolutely perfect art by Fiona Staples (Proof, War Machine). A goofy hick and a gothic chick find a strange book in the public library. The book is handwritten and filled with weird symbols. Oh, and it causes their brains to hemorrhage as they look at it. Then the night comes and everyone in the county blacks out… and the next day is decidedly less mundane than the one before. (I did say this was Lovecraftian, right?) Just an excellent first ish in what could be a marvelous series.

After months of Prelude to Blackest Night we finally reach the Prologue to Blackest Night in Green Lantern #43. In a story set before the Blackest Night #0 Free Comic we see the raise and fall—and rise—of William “Black” Hand, so named because he is the “black sheep” of the Hand family. Hand is apparently slated to go from that nut who always spouts clichés (with such catchy action as saying “A penny saved is a penny earned” while placing a penny in a fuse box to restore power) to being what will have to be the most powerful villain in the DCU. William Hand is shown here to be a kid raised in a funeral home, the family business. He is a kid obsessed with death, and the preservation of dead things. His family worries over him and eventually sends him to several psychiatrists, but he’s just a young man with serious mental problems who has learned to fake normalcy until the Red Lantern Atrocitus shows up and tells Hand his “insides hold the doorway to absolute darkness”. Then GL and co. show up to haul Atrocitus off and cause the alien to drop the “cosmic divining rod”, which is designed to absorb power—like the power within GL’s ring (I don’t remember where Black Hand got this rod in the earlier mythos—he may have built it himself). Hand uses it to battle Lantern, losing time after time, until Death to show him things rather than just speak to him. All of which culminates in a shocking end worthy of any horror film. If this prologue is indicative of things to come we are in for a fantastic story.

Judd Winick (Green Arrow, Outsiders) and Mark Bagley (Trinity, Strikeforce: Morituri) continue the revamped Caped Crusader with a glance into the near future before beginning a new storyline in Batman #688. In the sneak peak, we see someone in a Batman costume (been at this far too long to accept that at face value) getting the snot beat out of him in the Batcave. Then we transition to “Now” and find that all the media is abuzz over the new leaf turned over by the recently resurfaced Dark Knight. Whereas in the past Batman would have gone to great lengths—hiding in the shadows, disabling surveillance equipment, etc.—to ensure he couldn’t be seen, now he has apparently decided to have a much more public presence. While this makes for better copy, it has the added benefit of allowing the use of this surveillance in court, so the cops love it, too. Meanwhile, Oswald Cobblepot is busying himself with trying to take over as crime lord of Gotham, Commissioner Gordon is evidently grooming his replacement as liaison with Batman, and Two-Face is gearing up to reenter the fray (and he’s using the surveillance, too). One thing about these Batman books is that, unlike the Superman titles, they don’t appear to follow a single storyline: For instance, in last week’s Batman and Robin #2, Damian is completely out of control and cruises on Dick in anger, while here we see our newly-minted Robin chafe at Dick’s instruction but accept it nonetheless. I like this discontinuity; it allows me different aspects of the same characters without having to shoehorn them into one continuous “novel”. Also, the scene with Dick whining to Alfred about the cape is classic.

And since someone mentioned Robin (it was probably me), maybe we should check in on Tim Wayne in his new title Red Robin #2. Tim’s quest to find Bruce Wayne hits a snag as three assassins blow up his hotel room… before he beats them down and figures out where—and who—they’re from. All through, we see him isolating himself from everyone who cares about him while moving closer and closer to embracing one of Bruce’s greatest enemies. Easy to see, no matter what else he does, that Tim Wayne is still a teenager.

Other comics:

Angel: Not Fade Away #3- The three-ish adaptation of the final Angel tv storyline concludes.

Booster Gold #22- Soooo, lemme see if I got this straight—the past cannot be altered unless there’s a turning point which could have caused another future to “develop”. WHAT?!? Story’s all right but I find that premise weak. And the Blue Beetle backup is… well… no more lame than his regular title was.

Star Trek: Crew #5- Final ish of this series has a very good story but an odd ending that seemed to be rushed and kinda out of nowhere.

Superman: World of New Krypton #5- Kal-El’s trial for treason goes pretty much as expected. However, he is given aid from an unexpected quarter. Not sure yet about the ending of the ish; I’d like to believe it, actually, but I really find it hard to.

Super Zombies #5- Final ish, Neuron uses Prometheus to help Nano cure the plague—maybe—in a very satisfying conclusion. The moral of this story? Never trust the UN.

Thor: Tales of Asgard #3- Another installment of this great reprint series.

The Unwritten #3- Tommy and Lizzie search for answers in “The House of Frankenstein”.

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