Book Review: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? by A. Moore et al.

Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? written by Alan Moore with art by Curt Swan

After the Crisis on Infinite Earths saga in the mid-1980s, DC Comics was going to reboot all their characters. Just before the reboot, Alan Moore wrote this story of the last days of Superman, when all his enemies and allies came together in a story for one last time. A Daily Planet reporter comes to the house of Lois Elliot (nee Lane), who tells how Superman disappeared ten years earlier. She was an eyewitness. After Superman's secret identity was revealed, his rogues gallery start killing people and trying to destroy Metropolis. Superman flees to the Fortress of Solitude, taking all the people he knows best to protect them from his enemies. Lex Luthor finds a nearly-defunct Brainiac who takes over Luthor's body (against Luthor's will, of course) and schemes for the ultimate downfall of the Man of Steel.

The story cleverly weaves in a lot of characters and resolves a lot of the questions often left hanging, like does Superman prefer Lana or Lois? What happens with Krypto and Supergirl? Will Jimmy Olsen always be the "damsel in distress?" The story is melancholic and satisfying, a fine farewell to a character who will never really leave us.

The book reprints "The Jungle Line," a crossover story with Superman and Swamp Thing (a character for whom Alan Moore wrote a definitive saga). Superman has been infected by a Kryptonian disease that survived travel through space on a meteorite. It drains his powers before it drains his life. He drives south away from civilization, hoping to die in peace and quiet. His feverish perceptions make him crash the car in a swamp where Swamp Thing discovers him even though he doesn't recognize Superman. He helps the Man of Steel to recover. The story is an interesting depiction of Superman facing his mortality though, like every serialized narrative, his experience does not fundamentally change who he is.

Also reprinted is "For the Man Who Has Everything," where Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman come to the Fortress of Solitude to celebrate Superman's birthday. Another gift giver has beaten them to the punch, for Supes has an alien plant attached to his chest. Superman is in a sort of coma where he imagines he is in his best possible life--married to an actress, with two kids, living on an undestroyed Krypton. Again, Moore explores an interesting idea as the trio try to free Superman from what might be his perfect life.

Recommended--these are some classic stories.

Book Review: Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age Vol. 1 by L. Wein et al.

Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age Volume 1 written by Len Wein, art by Bernie Wrightson and Nestor Redondo

This book has the origin story of Swamp Thing from The House of Secrets #92. It's a short story that chronicles the accidental creation of Swamp Thing. Alex Olson is a brilliant scientist developing a "bio-restorative formula" in a secret lab in the Louisiana bayou. His wife Linda is also a scientist and works alongside him. Alex's best friend hangs around a lot, though he is jealous of Alex's scientific success and of getting the girl. So the "friend" enacts a plan that winds up blowing up the lab and killing Alex. He buries Alex in the swamp and marries Linda. But the chemicals interact with the bog and the body, creating Swamp Thing. The monster returns to the house where the friend, in a bout of paranoia, is about to kill Linda because he thinks she'll figure out what really happened. Swamp Thing kills the husband and the wife flees, never knowing that the monster who saved her was her first husband.

The story was popular enough that Swamp Thing got his own comic. Issue #1 has to be the fastest reboot of a character. This time, Alec Holland and his wife are working for the government on the formula but some mobsters who call themselves "The Conclave" want to buy the formula. Alec refuses. The mobsters' boss decides if they can't have the formula, no one can. So they plant a bomb which causes Alec to get the burning chemicals all over him. He flees into the swamp water where he is eventually transformed. Linda dies in the explosion. Alec then goes on to have various adventures as Swamp Thing. Their friend, FBI Agent Matt Cable, investigates the murder of the couple and blames Swamp Thing.

Swamp Thing's first adventure sees him kidnapped by Doctor Arcane, an eastern European techno-wizard who thinks he can achieve immortality from Swamp Thing's condition. Arcane's minions, the Unmen, overwhelm Swamp Thing and he is flown all the way across the Atlantic. After dealing with Arcane, Swamp Thing works his way back to America in an assortment of bizarre adventures that leads him to Gotham City (and thus Batman) and eventually back to the bayou. The arc leads through some weird and imaginative situations.

The stories are enjoyable. Wein and Wrightson are a good creative team. They lean into the horror elements of the stories effectively, giving them a creepy vibe that matches the tragic fate of Holland. He's a scientist who can no longer communicate, becomes a monster, and is pursued as his own killer. Horror is a less prevalent theme in superhero comics, making this feel fresh. The writing is quite florid, with Swamp Thing often described as a "moss-covered monstrosity" or "muck-encrusted man-monster" with "rheumy, red-rimmed eyes." Sometimes it reads over the top but only occasionally. Again, it fits well with the horror tone.

Recommended--it's an interesting origin story and the horror theme sets it apart from the standard comic book heroes.

Book Review: The DC Universe by Mike Mignola by Mike Mignola et al.

The DC Universe by Mike Mignola by Mike Mignola and a myriad of other creators

Before Hellboy, Mike Mignola earned his comicbook living by working at Marvel and then at DC Comics. He was illustrator on various projects that are collected here.

"The Phantom Stranger" 4-issue miniseries features the Stranger, a hero who was an immortal servant of the Lords of Order. He was stripped of most of his magical power and his immortality, making him basically human though with little experience of human limitations. He discovers a plot by the Lords of Chaos: Their agent Eclipso is planning on destroying all of reality. Eclipso actually has three plans, so after the initial set up in issue one, the next three chronicle how the Phantom Stranger defeats those schemes with the help of human friends. The story was mildly interesting and the art by Mignola shows some hints of his future style. Sometimes faces are in black shadow; occasional frames provide atmosphere more than narrative. Overall, I thought it was a fairly average superhero story.

"The World of Krypton" 4-issue miniseries gives a version of the fall of Krypton. After a massive war over whether clones should have human rights or not, Krypton turns into a wasteland. The new, restored Krypton is very antiseptic--people hardly ever meet each other in person. They are given hi-tech suits that keep them from dying except by accident. Anytime someone does die, a new child is crafted in a birth chamber with the parents having minimal if any contact. Superman's parents are, of course, rebellious and do meet. Superman's father discovers that a plague killing Kryptons is not their biggest problem since the planet is about to explode. He sends his son to Earth where he can survive, maybe have superpowers, and definitely have emotions. The story drags a bit. Mignola's art is mostly perfunctory, with one wordless action sequence that shows his style to come.

In a follow-up to "The World of Krypton," John Byrne wrote a two-issue story illustrated by Mike Mignola for the fiftieth anniversary of Superman in 1988. The Earth is bathed in a wave of Kryptonian radiation that nearly kills the Man of Steel. Hawkman and Hawkgirl help Superman travel to the spot where Krypton blew up, which is the source of the radiation. Superman falls into a fever dream where he sees what would have been if many Kryptonians had escaped to Earth. I found the story a little obvious and underwhelming. The art is nice and mimics the World of Krypton miniseries.

"Curse of the Banshee" is another Superman story (with a cameo by Batman) where Superman fights the Silver Banshee, a Celtic villain from an island castle in the sea between Ireland and Scotland. The story is spooky--Batman delivers a magic tome he took from a Gotham City criminal. The book is written in Gaelic except for the English part at the end which shows Batman giving the book to Superman. As the story continues, the book gets more pages describing events that just happened. In typical Superman-story fashion, Jimmy Olson and Lois Lane go to the castle to get a story on Clan McDougal and wind up in the clutches of the Silver Banshee's family. Superman needs to save them and end the threat. The story has some classic Mignola elements--the magical book, the Celtic island, elder beings granting (and taking back) powers to humans. His style is on show as well--the black shadows and odd details. 

"Memories of Kryptons Past" is an Action Comics Annual issue (so longer than usual) that has Superman taken in chains to an alien prison planet where he is forced to be a gladiator under the tyranny of Mongul. As he fights, he remembers his Kryptonian past. But the planet has another prisoner, an old wise man, who had gone to Krypton as a missionary and opposed the cloning culture there. The two stories of Krypton come together at the end, but the plot it self does not finish. The story continued in the regular Action Comics issues but the finale is not included here, presumably because Mignola didn't draw them! Frustrating.

"Shaggy God Stories" is from a Swamp Thing Annual issue and is notable because it was written by Neil Gaiman. The story has a swamp creature, seemingly not Swamp Thing, wandering in a swamp talking to a venus fly trap it is carrying. The creature tells the fly trap (which he calls "Milton") about various theories and stories about divine beings. The story is only a few pages long, so it must have been part of a longer series and perhaps makes more sense in context. The art is appropriately odd.

"Sanctum" is a Batman story where the Dark Knight has caught up with a killer in a graveyard. The killer is using the blood he has gathered in a strange ritual. Batman fights him and is injured while the killer dies. Batman falls through the roof of a mausoleum and into the sanctum of a long-dead man who uses Batman's blood to come back to life. The story follows a familiar dark arc and is clearly a prototype of Hellboy stories to come. Mignola did the writing and the art; he's clearly warming up for Hellboy.

"The Gasworks" is another Batman story from the Batman Black and White series. Batman finds a couple of hoods experimenting with a hallucinogen that causes abject terror. They get some on Batman, who is incapacitated. They start beating him to death, causing enough pain to overcome the hallucinogen. Batman turns the tables by getting some of the goo on them. Their nightmares lead them to death. The story is black and white with some red to represent the effects of the drug. The art isn't as clean as typical Mignola work but it works with the story.

"If a Man Be Clay" gives an origin story for the Batman villain Clayface. This particular Batman seems inspired by the old Adam West TV version, with some silly wisecracks from Robin and various Bat-gadgets that exactly fit the needs of the situation. Both the story and the art work well.

Interspersed among the stories are covers that Mignola drew for other comics like Blue Beetle and various DC heroes. That was a nice bonus.

Overall, the volume is a fun read for Mignola fans.

Recommended.

Book Review: Swamp Thing: Twin Branches by M. Stiefvater et al.

Swamp Thing: Twin Branches written by Maggie Stiefvater and illustrated by Morgan Beem

In this re-imagined origin story for Swamp Thing, Alec Holland is a teenager and a twin. Their dad has an affair, forcing them to spend the summer with cousins in rural Virginia. Alec is an introvert who is researching plant memory and brings a lot of his experiments with him. His twin Walker is outgoing and sociable. Walker has a much easier time fitting in with the redneck culture of their summer home. Alec's experiments get spilled on the way from the airport. The cousins' dogs get into what's left of the boxes in their aunt's garage. The dogs start changing in odd and disturbing ways. The twins start drifting away from each other. Can they resolve their problems before tragedy strikes?

The story is mildly interesting. The setting is very moody and stylish, with a fairly unique art style. I liked the characters. They had authentic problems and struggles. The book retains the tragic arc of Swamp Thing's story, though it seems like it will not have a sequel or become an ongoing series.

This graphic novel is branded as "DC Graphic novels for young adults" but the language alone is R-rated. I was surprised by this, especially since it is completely unnecessary. The horror elements are on the border between PG and PG-13.

Mildly recommended.