Broken Frontier

Hello! Welcome back to Guiding Lines! I’m William Gatevackes, marking my second column alerting you to titles being released each week. Here are some of the books coming out January 18th, 2006.

Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman #4 and Marvel Knights Spider-Man #22 are both scheduled to hit stores tomorrow. These issues begin the fourth month of “The Other” storyline which has run throughout all the Spider-Man books published by Marvel proper.

While Spider-Man is no stranger to crossovers, the format for this one is unique. Most of the time, either one creative team writes the whole crossover (like 1987’s “Kraven’s Last Hunt” arc which ran through the Spidey books) or the creative teams of each book take a slice of the action (like 1989’s “Cosmic Spidey” arc which tied into the “Acts of Vengeance” storyline). This time, the writers of the three books (Friendly’s Peter David, Marvel Knight’s Reginald Hudlin and Amazing’s J. Michael Straczynski) each wrote one month of the crossover, handling all three Spider-Man books for their specific month. This added cohesion in style while still allowing each regular writer to contribute to the story.

This month acts as sort of a coda for the crossover, and each writer handles his own book. “The Other” was promoted as making major, lasting changes to the character. Promises of change are always a dicey promotional tool. Some comic fans resist change in any form; for others, no change is ever big enough.  In this crossover, we have seen Spider-Man diagnosed with an unnamed fatal disease, lose an eye, turn into a human spider-like creature, die, and then apparently come back from the dead to shed his skin and wrap himself in a webbing cocoon. In Amazing Spider-Man #527, Peter Parker returned to life, looking relatively unscathed from the whole ordeal.

Yes, it appears that the Spider-Man we knew and loved is back and these supposed changes are nowhere to be found. Everything seems to have returned to normal. He even grew his eye back. To be fair, he hasn’t had an opportunity to uses his powers yet, so the major change might still be forthcoming. Regardless, the promises made in promoting the crossover might end up being a bust.

Of course, the major change we are to expect might be a mental and not a physical one. Everything Spider-Man went through might have colored his outlook on life. This could affect the way he interacts with the world around him. If this is the change Marvel is intending to make then the arc will be slightly anticlimactic. This kind of change is hard to pull off and seldom lasts long.

Is Marvel playing a shell game with the fans excited by the potential changes? They promised something major and as of yet have not delivered. It’s natural that Marvel would be reluctant to change the character in any way. Spider-Man is arguably their most well-known character, appearing in movies, on lunchboxes, in video games and in toy stores. Any changes to the character’s status quo would affect far more than just his monthly comic books. But if you promise the fans big changes, you had better deliver. Maybe the books this month will shake things up a bit, but it will take a lot for the fans expecting change not to be disappointed. Personally, I think that any change that comes in the last three books won't be enough to justify the hype.

Moving on to something more positive, one of the interesting things in comic books is how creators become identified with certain characters. If you think of a writer for the X-Men, you think of Chris Claremont. Others have written the X-Men and Claremont has worked on other books, but you still identify one with the other. Neil Gaiman has done plenty of writing both in and outside of comic books, but his name will forever be linked to Sandman.

When you think of Sgt. Rock, only one artist comes to mind — Joe Kubert. While he didn’t draw the character’s first appearance (that would be Ross Andru), it’s hard to imagine the character drawn any other way than in Kubert’s unique style.  He has had a hand in the character - editing, writing or illustrating - since its inception.

The creator and character are reunited in tomorrow’s Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy, the first issue in a six issue mini-series. With this series, Kubert takes on the writing chores as well as the art. That he’s getting the chance to work on the character again at all is something I think DC Comics should be commended for.

These days, comic companies seem most interested in pursuing the next big name, with veteran creators often left by the wayside in favor of the flavor of the week. The powers-that-be at these companies tend to have short memories, and creators whose names were all over their books 20 or more years ago have a hard time gaining a foothold in comics today. This makes it all the more refreshing that DC is employing a creator with over 60 years experience in the industry and giving him the chance to once again work on the character he made famous. But then again, a Sgt. Rock comic book without the name Kubert attached to it just wouldn’t be the same.

Instead of a name from the past, Hellblazer #216 marks the arrival of a new writer on the title. Award–winning novelist Denise Mina takes over the title after a long and rather well-received run by Mike Carey. I can’t say that I ever heard of Mina, but Publisher’s Weekly says she is “a writer of stunning talent and accomplishment” and that’s good enough for me to consider giving her debut a try.

Hellblazer is the Vertigo imprint’s longest running title, appearing since 1988. Books featuring dream kings and preachers possessing the word of God have come and gone, while Hellblazer keeps plugging along. The book has survived no less than 11 writers and countless more artists and has still kept its loyal following. Why has it run so long? Most likely it’s due to the strength of its main character, John Constantine.

Created by Alan Moore in the pages of The Saga of the Swamp Thing over twenty years ago, John Constantine is one of the greatest characters created for the medium. He is a complex, well defined rogue who has struck a cord with his audience, a character so strong that not even Keanu Reeves’ acting in the movie Constantine could spoil it.

Denise Mina might have received critical acclaim and won numerous awards. But even if she didn’t that might not matter. The character of John Constantine might just be writer proof. He's a character so interesting and well-defined that it brings out the best of the worst writers and makes the good writers truly shine. We’ll have to wait and see where Mina takes the character from here.

That is all for this week. Join me next Tuesday as I cover more new releases that you may be interested in. Until then, I’m William Gatevackes and I thank you for your support.