For some folks, such as myself, routines can be comforting. Every Tuesday night I sit down to write Heroes & Villains and every other Thursday I write Figure Friday. On Wednesdays I have my Big Day Out which consists of me driving to my regular comic shop since I now live outside of their delivery area (and the shops near me suck fat ass) before going to check in on my parents and then returning home. Where some would describe me as boring and repetitive I would instead offer consistent, reliable, and constant.
Now buckle up for some reheated jokes in this week’s column!
Last Week In DC Today
Superman: Son Of Kal-El #1
Tom Taylor (W)
John Timms (A)
DC Comics
After last week’s bit on Masters of the Universe: Revelation you can consider this part two of “This is why we can’t have nice things.”
Blurb me!
Jonathan Kent has experienced a lot in his young life. He’s traveled the galaxies with his Kryptonian grandfather and lived in the future with the Legion of Super-Heroes, who were intent on training him for the day his father, Clark Kent, could no longer be Superman. There is a hole in the Legion’s history that prevents Jon from knowing exactly when that will happen, but all signs point to it being very soon. It’s time for the son to wear the cape of his father and bear the symbol of hope that has told the world who Superman really is. Join writer Tom Taylor (Nightwing, DCeased) and artist John Timms (Infinite Frontier) as they usher in a whole new era for the House of El!
Hold the Bat-phone, something new and different is being done with the Superman mythos?!? The internet is going to love this! Well, not so fast Wally West… certain internet crybabies and keyboard warriors have taken issue with Jonathan Kent’s mission statement being, “Truth. Justice. And a better world.”
The implication being made here is that Superman is now an SJW woke-monger communist/socialist who doesn’t give two shits about America! How dare he care about the whole world! America IS the world and none of that other hippie crap exists! USA! USA! USA!
To be fair, I didn’t delve much further into these criticisms than opening my “Comics” twitter list to get the lay of the land and then swiftly closing it. Who knows? These could all be very well thought out and nuanced criticisms regarding a change to titan of pop culture and not some reactionary manufactured outrage to a change DC actually made to the character several years ago. It’s a good thing I’m hiding behind my keyboard because I couldn’t say that out loud with a straight face.
So, how was Superman: Son Of Kal-El REALLY? I ended up liking the book a lot and it has a great deal of promise. I haven’t kept up with the Super-titles since DC handed the keys to the proverbial kingdom over to Bendis some years back but this title seems very much like the new direction Superman needed that never quite took off for me with the last relaunch. DC really seems to have turned a corner in recent months and whoever is steering the ship at the moment clearly isn’t afraid of the legacy of their heroes in a way we haven’t seen since before the original Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Now if we all can play this cool for long enough maybe DC won’t go running for the Crisis reset button like they have so many times over the last several years.
Advance Alert!
Grimm Tales From The Cave
Various (W/A)
Mad Cave Studios
It’s August 4th and if you haven’t already started prepping for Halloween…well, it’s not too late. You’re just going to have to make peace with the fact you won’t be having as much fun as the rest of us. Nearly everyone loves Halloween and it’s never too soon to start celebrating.
With that in mind I wanted to hip you to a forthcoming anthology from Mad Cave Studios which is due out on October 27th (just in time for the big day) – Grimm Tales From The Cave. Longtime readers of this column are well aware that I adore a good anthology series and that I’m always happy to see a new one come along.
From the blurb:
With two all-original 20-page stories; one from writer Cullen Bunn with art by Andrea Mutti and the other from Mark London with art by Luisa Russo, Mad Cave’s first ever horror anthology uses the Grimm Fairy Tales as inspiration. In addition to industry stars like Christopher Sebela, Nadia Shammas, and Stephanie Phillips, this haunting anthology will feature over ten terrifying tales including three from the winners of Mad Cave’s 2020 talent search.
I had a chance to get an advance look at Grimm Tales From The Cave and it’s definitely a book I’ll want to revisit once the weather turns a little cooler and most DEFINITELY in time for BBP!’s 31 Days of Horror celebration this October.
