Broken Frontier

I remember I was one of the last people on earth to see the first Superman movie, but I remember the day I saw it fondly. It was the summer of 1979.  I remember my parents loading me and an orange-and-white cooler filled with ice and bottles of RC Cola into the back of our powder-blue Ford Mercury station wagon. Off to the drive-in we went. The drive-in showed second-run movies—it was the place where I finally got my chance to see if a man really could fly.

My 7 year-old mind was blown. Right there, on the big screen, 20 times larger than life was one of my favorite four-color heroes. Back then, we weren’t treated to 2 or 3 comic book movies a year and Hollywood didn’t have hi-tech computers that could create comic book characters out of thin air. All we had was Christopher Reeve on a wire starring in this first Superman movie which sprung from the creative vision of director Richard Donner. And we loved it.

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Donner as a director because of this. He has gone on to have quite a successful career in the movies, directing The Goonies, the Lethal Weapon series and, most recently, this year’s 16 Blocks. It is through his role as a Hollywood player that he first worked with Geoff Johns.

In an “only in Hollywood” type of story, a fresh from college Geoff Johns called around to Hollywood production companies looking for a job. Luckily, an intern for Donner left just the day before Johns called. Donner offered the writer an unpaid internship which soon led to a paying job as Donner’s assistant.

While still Donner’s assistant, Johns got his first comic writing assignment on a book called Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. This assignment paved the way for a long stint writing JSA. Soon, Johns became one of the most successful and talented writers in the comics industry.

Now, we get to experience a case of, as Donner put it in an interview, “the learner becomes the master, the master becomes the learner.” The director’s former assistant leads him into the world of comics writing.

As if the reuniting of Donner and Johns on the title wasn’t enough to cause a stir, the pair is joined on art by Adam Kubert. This series will mark the first major work by Kubert since he and his brother Andy left Marvel and signed an exclusive contract with DC Comics in 2005.

The brothers came to fame at The House of Ideas and DC is leveraging their investment by putting both artists on their “Big Two” characters (Andy is currently drawing Batman). It is good to see how prominent DC is keeping the Kubert name, which also forms a fitting tribute to the boys’ father, Joe Kubert, who did so many great years of work for the company.

The best thing Donner brought to the Superman franchise was a sense of grandeur. Superman is the originator, the one character all others sprung from. He deserves a sense of awe and wonder about him. Hopefully, what Donner did on the silver screen will translate over to the page.

Donner and Johns are considered to be the regular writers on the title for the foreseeable future, as their stay on the title is said to be open-ended. Hence, if fans respond positively to the collaboration, they will hopefully remain writers on the book for a long time. And seeing that they are joined by a superstar artist the rank of Adam Kubert, they could be the team that returns Superman to the top of the sales charts and in fans’ minds.

Also out this week:

• Seven Soldiers #1: The conclusion to Grant Morrison’s grand epic finally arrives. After  seven limited series, the Bulleteer, Zatanna, Manhattan Guardian, Shining Knight, Klarion the Witch Boy, Frankenstein and Mister Miracle face off against the machinations of Sheeda. The issue promises to be chock full of romance, betrayal, changes and even death. 

Morrison has a unique viewpoint in his writing. Love him or hate him, his style pushes boundaries and defies expectations. Given a group of B-list characters and free reign to do with them what he wishes, he has created an ambitious epic the likes we seldom see. I’m sure his fans will be sad to see this story end, but are anxious to see what he will do next. 

• Sensational Spider-Man #31: The “Deadly Foes of Peter Parker” storyline comes to a conclusion with this issue. When we last left the story, the Chameleon gathered some of Spider-Man’s enemies to attack not only Spidey, but the people he loves. Now, disguised as Peter himself, Chameleon has escorted Aunt May into the secure sanctum that is Stark Tower. Will Spidey be able to save his Aunt in time?

This title, along with Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, has shown what the true repercussions of Peter revealing his identity to the world are. Sure, this arc has used slightly less than A-list villains such as Will O’The Wisp and Swarm, but it still showed the dangers Peter’s family faces every day in a dramatic fashion. I hope this danger becomes an undercurrent in all of Spidey’s stories. Not that I wish ill to Aunt May or Mary Jane, but the more problems Spidey has to face, the better character he is.

• Perhapanauts: Second Chances #1: A Bigfoot, a chupacabra, a ghost and a psychic join together once again to protect us from… well… creatures like them in this sequel to 2005’s Perhapanauts series. Creators Todd DeZago and Craig Rousseau return to lead their team of Bureau of Extra-Dimensional Liabilities and Management (B.E.D.L.A.M.) agents in another battle against the things that go bump in the night. 

Joining together a team of Urban Legends to face off against other creatures that would feel right at home in “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” is a brilliant idea. And it’s a concept perfectly suited for the Halloween holiday. This is the second limited series to feature the characters. Perhaps if this one is popular enough, we’ll see more down the line.

• Impaler #1: Speaking of Halloween, when you think of the holiday, you often think of Dracula. Bram Stoker’s character has shown the same longevity in real life as he does in the Stoker’s 1897 novel. Over a century later, the Count lives on in movies, TV shows, Halloween costumes, books, and with Impaler, comic books.

What has kept Dracula fresh all these years, besides the enduring popularity of the vampire concept, is his ability to be re-imagined to reflect the times he’s in. This current series mixes the typical horror that you expect from a Dracula story with gritty crime drama. You might think the combination won’t work, but I believe the potential is there to create a great story using the two genres. We’ll have to keep an eye on this series to see if I’m right.

• Jack the Lantern: Ghosts #1: Keeping the Halloween theme going, we come to the story of Jack Corby, a man possessed by a demon with the name of Argotakar. This possession manifests itself as a spindly man with what appears to be a pumpkin on his head—hence the title of the book. The book will be a detailing of the war for Jack Corby’s soul as he fights demons both internally and externally.

The book follows on the Jack: 1942 Free Comic Book Day edition. The property supposedly has been optioned for a motion picture and there will be an action figure coming soon as well. This issue is at the super-low introductory price of $1.25. If you have the money, you might be able to get in on the ground floor of a character that might explode in the next few years. You could say to all your friends that you were reading it from near the very beginning. 

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William Gatevackes is a professional writer living in Mamaroneck, NY with his wife Jennifer. Bill also writes periodic comic reviews for PopMatters and writes title descriptions for Human Computing’s Comicbase collection management software.