Broken Frontier

You don’t get much more metal than Lobo. You also don’t get much more metal than the band, Anthrax. Therefore, Scott Ian writing Lobo is the most metal of all.

You have to ask yourself, would Scott Ian, vocalist and guitarist for the heavy metal band Anthrax, want to write for a character wearing orange and purple spandex?

Because that was what Lobo was wearing when he made his debut in Omega Men #3 back in 1983. Created by Roger Sifler and Keith Giffen, he was your run-of-the-mill intergalactic bounty hunter and mercenary, a character seemingly more destined for the dustbin of history that prominence twenty years later.

But co-creator Giffen didn’t forget the Last Czarnian, and brought him back in Justice League International and a series of one-shots and miniseries several years later. But this was a new and different Lobo, less glam rock and more heavy metal. He looked less like an aerobics instructor and more like a biker.

Giffen intended Lobo to be a parody of the kill-first-ask-questions-later anti-heroes that were so popular with fans at that time. But, instead, the character was embraced by those same fans and became a hot property of the 1990s boom.

Lobo was still a bounty hunter, but more threatening. He was nigh invulnerable, loved killing the people he was hired to retrieve, and often left a wide swath of destruction in his wake. His tales were filled with over-the–top violence and written with a tongue firmly in cheek.

Anthrax made its debut two years before Lobo, and Scott Ian has been with the band since its inception. The band is one of the leaders of the sub-genre of Thrash Metal, a style known for its music being played at a high rate of speed and in an aggressive fashion. For non-metal heads, the band’s most famous song might be the remake of “Bring the Noise” which they did with the originators of the track, the rap group Public Enemy.

Ian has been no stranger to comic books, as references to the art form have peppered a number of tracks in the Anthrax catalog. One of the band’s biggest tracks was one called “I Am the Law”, which savvy comic fans will know is the tagline of Judge Dredd.

The guitarist is the second musician to work on a DC book in the last year. Jesse Blaze Snyder, son of Twisted Sister lead singer, Dee Snyder, recently completed his Dead Romeo miniseries.

Who would DC pair Ian with on art for this series? It is none other than comic book legend Sam Keith. The artist who created The Maxx and Zero Girl had worked with the character just two years prior, on Batman/Lobo:Deadly Serious, a series that he both wrote and provided the art for.

The plot details Lobo facing off against someone who has a grudge against him. Normally, this is not a problem for Lobo. But this time, the guy with the grudge is Satan himself. Lobo has been told to “go to Hell” hundreds of times. Now, he’s going to take all those people up on their offer.

So, heavy metal fans and Lobo fans rejoice. You finally have something both of you can enjoy. Pick up an issue and let the head banging commence.

Also out this week:

Deathlok #1:

Given Marvel’s penchant for trying to rehabilitate their old, D-list characters on a rotating basis, it was only a matter of time before they came back around to Deathlok. The character is a quarter century old, and has a certain cult popularity. It even spent a few years in the early 1990s as a “hot” property. But it has been a while since anyone has done anything with him.

The concept has gone under a number of revisions over the years, but this new series seems to be an updating of the original. It takes place in the near future and deals with a soldier called Luther Manning who was blown to bits on a battlefield and turned into the cyborg, Deathlok. Only there was another soldier with him named Mike Travers. So this Deathlok might be made from the pieces of more than one man.

Charlie Huston (W), Lan Medina (A), Marvel Knights/Marvel Comics, $3.99. Seven-Issue Miniseries.

Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love #1:

Of all the revamps of fairy tale characters to happen in Fables, my favorite has to be the one around Cinderella. She has gone from a woman put upon by her mean step-family to a kick butt secret agent. When you need espionage done in Fabletown, Cindy is the one you call.

And call on her they do. Supernatural artifacts from the Fable Homelands begin to appear in our world. This sort of thing really shouldn’t happen. Cinderella is charged with finding out who is behind the illegal trafficking. But when she goes digging for the truth, she finds something that can expose the Fables forever. Luckily, there is only one person who could stop such a nefarious plot and she’s that person.

Chris Roberson (W), Shawn McManus (A), DC/Vertigo Comics, $2.99. Six-Issue Miniseries.

Black Widow: Deadly Origin #1:

Since she is soon to be brought to voluptuous celluloid life by Scarlett Johansson in May’s Iron Man 2, you can expect to see a lot of the Black Widow before now and then. This series starts it off at, well, the start.

This miniseries is a way to retell the character’s origin as a dark event from her past has come back to haunt her. Everything she has built up is in jeopardy and she is on a globe-trotting adventure in order to stop it. But she is not alone, she has two reader-friendly allies to help her—Wolverine and Winter Soldier.

Fans of the character and those gearing up for next summer’s blockbuster should consider picking this one up—or any of the other books featuring the character that is sure to follow!

Paul Cornell (W), Tom Raney & John Paul Leon (A), Marvel Comics, $3.99. Four-Issue Miniseries.

Stumptown #1:
Before novelist Greg Rucka came to fame writing 52, Gotham Central and Detective Comics, he got his start in the indies, most notably at Oni Press, and most notably on Whiteout and Queen & Country. Now, Rucka is returning to his roots with a brand new series published at his original home.

Dex is a detective with a problem, a gambling problem. Her problem is that she doesn’t win all that much. She’s into the Confederate Tribes of the Wind Coast for a great deal of money. But it is her lucky day. The head of the casino’s operation will forgive her debt if only Dex can find the woman’s missing granddaughter. Dex thinks this is an easy way to get out from under a heavy debt. She doesn’t think that when the shots start firing.

Greg Rucka (W), Matthew Southworth (A), Oni Press, $3.99. Ongoing Series.

Great Ten #1:

Great Ten is the Chinese superhero team created by Grant Morrison in 52. They were later used by Greg Rucka in his Checkmate series. Neither man is around now (and neither is Geoff Johns or Mark Waid for that matter) as the team gets its own miniseries.

I’m not saying that Tony Bedard is a bad writer or Scott McDaniel is a bad artist, but as the Final Crisis: Aftermath miniseries has shown, concepts created by Morrison don’t do all that well when Morrison isn’t the one following up on them. And those miniseries followed the original series by a manner of weeks. This series has almost two years separating it from 52. I expect sales to start low and keep going down over the span of the ten issues.

Tony Bedard (W), Scott McDaniel (A), DC Comics, $2.99. Ten-Issue Miniseries.

The Marvelous Land of Oz #1:

The Wonderful World of Oz was a surprise hit for Marvel. It shouldn't have been a surprise, Eric Shanower knows his Oz and Skottie Young’s fluid, animation-style artwork was a perfect match for the story and the subject matter. It was the prototypical kid-friendly book that anyone can enjoy—even adults.

Lucky for Marvel, there are a whole line of Oz books to adapt. This week, Shanower and Young are back tackling the next book in the series. We start to go beyond the movie version as new characters such as Tip and Jack Pumpkinhead are introduced. If you loved the first miniseries, then you are bound to love this one, too.

Eric Shanower (W), Skottie Young (A), Marvel Comics, $3.99. Eight-Issue Miniseries.

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William Gatevackes is a professional writer living in Mamaroneck, NY with his wife Jennifer and daughter Vanessa. He also is a comic reviewer for PopMatters, has written for Comic Foundry magazine and is the comic book movie editor for Film Buff Online. Links to his writing can be found at his website, www.williamgatevackes.com.