scott@hou2g.UUCP (Danger Mouse) (06/19/85)
Hmm...Five issues and five Earths left....
I must say I've not enjoyed a comic this much in years. Sure,
I've seen better art, writing, humor (Hooray Ambush Bug!), etc.,
but I just enjoyed this story immensely. This took me back, as
Jerry said, to those days of the very first Crisis story--my
"formative" years. What makes this better than Secret Bores
(well, at least the most important reason, at any rate) is that
Crisis is making changes and EXPLANATIONS.
Ah, Krona, Guardians, Manhunters, Qward (wasn't the whole Anti-
universe itself referred to as Qward? Having it be the counterpart
to Oa makes PERFECT sense), multiple universes, disembodied hands containing
swirling masses, Controllers, etc. This is SO much better than any
meta-explanations or beings Marvel has ever come up with. (One possible
exception: Galactus) I LIVE FOR THIS STUFF!!!! I remember how intrigued
I was, a few years ago, to find Universo was a renegade GL. This
kind of thing is in the same vein.
It's refreshing to finally see a story where they don't feel obligated
to throw in Bats, or Atom, or GA, or all the other relative lightweights.
Here we have the really BIG guns: Mon-El, the Big Red Cheese, Uncle
Sam (he's SO NICE--reminds me a little of Reagan's public image :-) ),
and three Kryptonians thrown in for good measure.
Well, three were thrown in; only two came out...
I'm kind of sorry to see Kara go. (I wonder if this had anything to do
with the poor showing of her movie :-) ) I recall the early Linda Lee stories
with Jim Mooney art (I STILL can't stand that stuff!), and how bad her
various title and backup features were. It's too bad the only time she
got good writing was for her swan song...if only Wolfman had written a
series with her...Granted it was perhaps overly glorifying and melodramatic,
but then what the hell DO you want in a death issue.
This actually had me choked up.
I'm only glad I read the Kal/Kara team-up in DC Presents beforehand--this
would have spoiled it completely. And poor Brainiac 5...
Speaking of higher-level intelligences, what do you think is up with
Brainiac and his "select few"? I'm a little upset that that Mantis Morlo
clone, Savana (or is it the other way around? :-) ), was actually SELECTED
by Brainiac to join them. That strikes me as kind of, well, er...illogical,
if I know my Brainiacs.
Bits and Pieces:
- I thought the Monitor/Antimonitor duality bit was a little pat, but...
- Pariah's origin and (especially) his punishment were both intriguing
and fitting.
- Enjoyed the "older" Supes counseling restraint after Kara's death.
What is to happen to him, if only one Earth is to be left? Think
he and Lois will go off somewhere together? Or will DC take advantage
of probably their only opportunity to "kill" Superman?
- The coordination of the various "parties" attacking Qward was well done.
- No mention of Flash or Red Tornado. Hmm....
- Think Darkseid is with Brainiac, or elsewhere? (My money's on
the latter.)
Thanks, Marv!
Scott J. Berry
P.S. No time to review the Superman Annual--I expect JMB or Moriarty
to rave as usual about Alan Moore's script (and JUSTIFIABLY so),
but did anyone else notice the Monitor among the worshippers of
Mongul toward the end? And isn't it Monghul?boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN) (06/25/85)
From: hou2g!scott (Scott J. Berry) > What makes this better than Secret Bores > (well, at least the most important reason, at any rate) is that > Crisis is making changes and EXPLANATIONS. You know, it occurs to me that a lot of what we know as background to the Secret Wars never actually came out in the comics themselves, but only through press releases and fanzine articles, etc. I realized this when I looked at SECRET WARS II #3, and the Beyonder mentioned that the teleporter in Central Park that grabbed up the various heroes was constructed by Galactus at the Beyonder's bidding. Huh??!! This was never mentioned before! But for me, what makes CRISIS superior to SECRET WARS is that I *care* what happens in the series, to the characters. And not only is CRISIS making changes, but they'll be *permanent* changes. How many of the changes from SECRET WARS has lasted? Peter and Kitty are still estranged and She-Hulk is still in the FF and Thing isn't. Big fat hairy deal. > I'm kind of sorry to see Kara go. (I wonder if this had anything to do > with the poor showing of her movie :-) ) Seriously, Marv says no. He claims that the decision was made before the movie was even released (of course, DC might have already seen it and knew it was a dog). The idea is to get rid of all the excess Kryptonian baggage, so that Superman is back to what he was originally meant to be --- *the* only survivor from Krypton. > I recall the early Linda Lee stories > with Jim Mooney art (I STILL can't stand that stuff!), and how bad her > various title and backup features were. It's too bad the only time she > got good writing was for her swan song... Bah! Them's fightin' words! I *liked* (and still do) the Jim Mooney art on those old Supergirl stories. As for her other appearances, I thought that Paul Levitz did a good job with her in her recent appearances in LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (beginning with the "Great Darkness" storyline). In fact, there was some indiction that an alternative plan to killing her off was to permanently move her up to the 30th Century and the Legion. I wish they had. > I'm only glad I read the Kal/Kara team-up in DC Presents beforehand--this > would have spoiled it completely. And poor Brainiac 5... Yeah, I *knew* that I had better read the PRESENTS first. It just would've seemed anti-climactic if I hadn't. > - Enjoyed the "older" Supes counseling restraint after Kara's death. I, too, thought this seen was extremely powerful. It felt to me that if Superman-1 had the Anti-Monitor in front of him, he very seriously would have killed him with no remorse, regardless of his code against killing. > What is to happen to him, if only one Earth is to be left? Think > he and Lois will go off somewhere together? Or will DC take advantage > of probably their only opportunity to "kill" Superman? It's been mentioned in various press releases that Superman-2 and Lois-2 will go off into space never to be seen again. I'm surprised, since I, too, saw this as a chance for DC to have its cake and eat it too by killing off one of the Supermen. Maybe they felt such would diminish Supergirl's death by overshadowing it. > P.S. No time to review the Superman Annual--I expect JMB or Moriarty > to rave as usual about Alan Moore's script (and JUSTIFIABLY so), > but did anyone else notice the Monitor among the worshippers of > Mongul toward the end? And isn't it Monghul? You got us pegged. We already raved about it. and I think it *is* Mongul, not Monghul. I didn't notice the Monitor, but there was one thing that really impressed me --- Alan Moore certainly did his homework. I'm not sure whether I mentioned this in my review, but during Superman's fantasy sequences, he's married to an actress named Lyla. Those of you who are old farts may remember a Superman story from circa 1960 called "Superman's Return to Krypton" in which he went back in time and space to his homeworld before he was born. In that story, he fell in love and almost married an actress named Lyla Lerrol (another "L.L."!) --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA soon to be: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.COM
jsdy@hadron.UUCP (Joseph S. D. Yao) (07/03/85)
In article <2878@decwrl.UUCP> boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN) writes: >But for me, what makes CRISIS superior to SECRET WARS is that I *care* >what happens in the series, to the characters. And not only is CRISIS making >changes, but they'll be *permanent* changes. How many of the changes from >SECRET WARS has lasted? Peter and Kitty are still estranged and She-Hulk is >still in the FF and Thing isn't. Big fat hairy deal. Ummm ... look at your 2d last X-Men (Murderworld). Petey and Kitty are getting back together. Look at your last FF. Jen is (temporarily, at least) out of it. (*sigh*) -- Joe Yao hadron!jsdy@seismo.{ARPA,UUCP}