TIME BUBBLES: Conan the Barbarian #91 (1978)

Conan the Barbarian #91 

Marvel Comics, 35¢ ($1.27 in 2014 dollars), 32 pages

Cover Date: Oct. 1978 — Released: July 18, 1978

Story Grade: B+

Issue Score: 79.00

RAT-TASTICALLY RECOMMENDED

"Savage Doings in Shem!" 

(17 pages / 98 panels / 3,172 words / 17:45 read time)

Writer/Editor: Roy Thomas 

Penciller: John Buscema

Inker: Ernie Chan

Colorist: George Roussos

Letterer: Tom Orzachowski

Consulting Editor: Jim Shooter 

Ah,  1978, the most perfect year in comics. Yes, and I hope you will trust in my sincerity when I say this, I maintain the most perfect comics books ever made where published in 1977 and 1978! Of course, it possible that much of my love for the comics of this era is due to the fact that I was 10 years old when they came out (I'd turn 11 at the end of November), making them cherished parts of my childhood. 

Comic books changed a lot due to the infamous DC Implosion that happened this year. Within a few months, DC would invent the limited series in an attempt to use up material left unpublished by the Implosion, while the direct-sales market, still in something of a zygote stage in 1978, would soon become the primary distribution channel for our four-color wonders. Both developments would result in comic book companies — becoming more corporate and, I think, somewhat less creative around this time — playing to an increasingly narrow base of dedicated fans. 

And so, the 1977-78 period, which I think we can safely call the last great gasp of newsstand distribution, coincided with a time when I was beginning to make my own purchasing decisions, using my own money, albeit earned as an allowance. Prior to 1977, comics were purchased for me, with titles chosen sometimes with my input, sometimes despite it, and often in direct countermandance of it. 

However, Conan was not a book I chose to buy at the time. Although today I bemoan the market's focus on aging fanboys, and its near-total disregard for the casual reader, there's no questioning that I was part of the problem. Back in 1978, if it didn't wear a cape, or have super-powers, I wasn't interested. Still, regardless of genre, nothing sets my heart aflutter today quite like a comic book with the black "Marvel Comics Group" banner across the top and a "Still only 35¢" starburst in the upper-left corner . . .  even if it s Conan. 

Of course, part of that may be because we had a house fire in late August 1979, which cost us everything we had, including nearly 1,000 comics I'd collected to that point. Today I have more than 15,000 comics, but I still run across issue I've not seen since that fateful afternoon, and I love them most of all.

Anyway, as noted in my previous Time Bubble review, I recently scored a stack of nearly 100 Conans, ranging from #26 to #275. But, as you may by now guess, it was the issues from the era that this review covers that I dove for first. All had been passed over when new, but being from by Golden Age, I could hardly contain my excitement in reading them now.

This issue, is MUCH better than #26 — the first one reviewed here, if far from the first in the stack to be read. Part of that is likely due to the influence of Jim Shooter as "consulting editor." Here, Roy Thomas' script is less off-the-chart overboard with supercilious captions and more like his work as I loved it, in Invaders, All-Star Squadron, and other places. Of course, Thomas tends to the verbose, and he may not be to the tastes of all comics readers, especially newer ones. At the New 52 relaunch I actually overheard a fan at my local comics shop complain of George Perez' Superman that, "It has too many words." 

Still, this issue's story takes almost 18 minutes to read, while the whole book, with the letters page and Marvel Bullpen feature, will consume a good 25 minutes of your time. That's a fantastic entertainment value considering most new comics read in the 10-12 minute rage, for same money. Yes, a Near Mint copy of this particular issue, although 36 years old, will only cost you about $6. If you are willing to settle for something in the Very Fine-minus range, you can expect to pay less than a new Marvel comic, most of which retail for $3.99. 

Frankly, as the price of new comics continues to escalate, I expect the long-depressed market for mid-grade, non-key back issues to take off. When you can find comics from this era, often better drawn and better written than new comics, and in decent condition on your first eBay search, why buy new at all? One reason is that it can be a disjointed experience to read old comics one at a time, the serial story having become a staple of the industry by the early- to mid-1970s. Buying a reprint collection is often a more satisfying option. However, to my knowledge, Conan issues of this era have only ever been reprinted in Marvel's Conan Saga series form the 1990s. Given lower circulation, those reprints can actually be harder to find than the originals.

So, do yourself a favor, skip one new comic this week and buy an old 1978 Conan instead. Heck, this issue is worth it for the classic ads (X-Ray specs!) and Bullpen announcements of the immanent and recent Marvel debuts of Star-Lord and John Romita Jr. 

This issue is typical of the era. In addition to Roy Thomas' script (pretty super even when it goes sappy during Belit's love dance scene) there's John Buscema's art, which is leagues above just about everything on the stands today, even if it's not quite on par with his work in the last issue reviewed, #26. Marvel went from twice-up to the now-standard 11x17 dimension for original art in the late-1960. Still, looking at Buscema's work in #26 compared to this issue, I half wonder if he was still working twice-up in 1973. By this 1978 issue, his work looks slightly less dynamic, with more medium-length shots and close-ups that fill the panel while leaving the page feeling somewhat less expansive. Of course, it's worth noting that neither the coloring nor the production values of this issue are as good as they were five years earlier. 

Still, one issue with the art could be that Buscema was simply overworked at this point. The letters page  notes that he is back on board after missing a handful of issues to create a Conan newspaper comic strip for solicitation to syndicates as well as to crafting with Stan Lee the seminal How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. It's noted that the strip found a home and would launch in newspapers on September 4, so Buscema was undoubtedly pulling double-duty at this point. 

As an aside, the comic strip, which reportedly appeared in about 100 newspapers nationwide, only lasted until April 12, 1981. It was reprinted in various issues of Conan Saga, while Dark Horse Comics issued a collection in 2010 which, although titled "Volume One" apparently contains the entire run.

The story in this issue — you were probably wondering when I'd get to that — has Conan, Belit and Zula hooking up with the Black Corsairs. Then, after Conan beds Belit — because he's Conan dammit and that's what Conan does — they plot to invade Belit's kingdom Asgalun when M'Gora returns to the Corsairs with news of his recent spying mission. Recounting of that mission is a bit to wade through, as are efforts to re-enter the city by stealth, the invading force for some reason limited to Conan, Belit, Zula and M'Gora, the latter of whom quickly and quite mysteriously turns on his compatriots. 

That traitorous turn comes thanks to "master mage" Thoth-Amon. Although Thomas takes pains to mention Zula's powers of hypnotism, it's Thoth-Amon who takes over M'Gora's mind, forcing him to attack the others against his will. Zula's ability, for what its worth, is limited to making a Corsair flap his arms and squawk like a seagull. 

Finally, in the issue's cliffhanger, Thoth-Amon decides to make all four of our heroes fight each other.

On the letter's page, Thomas apologizes if this issues seems disjointed with all the new character names and whatnot. That's not a new thing. One of the letters complains about the constant comings and goings of people and places in the mag, each with nom-de-geurres hard to pronounce, much less remember.  The letter writer pleads with Thomas to have Zula, at least, stick around for a while. In a sidebar on the letter's page, Thomas says Marvel has been hobbled by rights issues over which of Robert E. Howard's characters they can and can't use, particularly as related to Belit. However, all that has since been resolved, Thomas says, terming this particular comic something of a transition issue as he tries to work out discrepancies between the Conan books and Marvel Comics chronology of the Cimmerian's adventures. 

Interestingly, and apparently partly due to the trouble of working out these conflicts, Thomas announces next issue (#92) will be a fill-in flashback to Conan's younger days, leaving the cliffhanger to wait until #93 for a resolution.

As a final, passing thought, I will say this issue's cover made me laugh out loud. After all, it's hard to see an image like this and not be immediately reminded of The Princess Bride, especially given that Conan's expression practically screams, "By Crom! Now that is a rodent of unusual size." Fortunately, Conan makes far shorter work of the offending beasts that the Dread Pirate Wesley, possibly due to feeling energized from having just given Belit something slightly more than the perfect kiss.

[COVER: 7.50 — PLOT: 7.75 — SCRIPT: 8.25 — LAYOUT: 9.75 — ARTWORK: 9.50 — EDITING: 7.0 — COLORS/PRODUCTION: 6.25 — DOLLAR VALUE: 8.0 — COLLECTIBILITY: 8.25 —GOSH-WOW FACTOR: 6.75] 

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Conan, John Buscema, Marvel Comics, Roy Thomas, Time Bubbles,

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TIME BUBBLES: Conan the Barbarian #26 (1973)

Conan the Barbarian #26 

Marvel Comics, 20¢ ($1.07 in 2014 dollars), 32 pages

Cover Date: May 1973 — Released: Feb. 20, 1973

Story Grade: B

Issue Score: 75.0

ARTFULLY RECOMMENDED

"The Hour of the Griffin!" 

(20 pages / 125 panels / 3,172 words / 21:00 read time)

Writer/Editor: Roy Thomas 

Artist: John Buscema

Inker: Ernie Chan (as Ernie Chua)

Colorist: Glynnis Wein

Letterer: John Costanza 

I was never much into Conan as a kid. Yup, it was all about super-heroes for me in my halcyon youth. In fact, you might say I'm the reason there's so little diversity in the comic book market today.

But I happened to score a batch of Conan's recently. I placed an ad in Uncle Henry's soliciting for someone to cut trees on my property to make room for a garden. The deal was you-cut, you-keep, but my ad did say that anyone who brought me comic books might get to harvest a couple of extra poplars, maybe a birch, even. Two people replied to the ad, one of whom offered half a long box of comics, including about 90 Conans. Needles to say, he got the gig. Now, they were mostly reading copies, Very Good to Very Fine, but what the heck, I've always been a reader, not an investor.

The earliest issue in the bunch was #26, notable in that it was only John Buscema's second issue of what would eventually be a 135-issue run, lasting until #190, cover dated January 1987. For that alone, this issue has HIGH collectibilty, in my eyes. In fact, this issue is worth having just for Buscema's beautiful, beautiful art. Hey kids, there's a reason it's Jolly John, and not Kirby, or Ditko, or any of the other founders who's the star of How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. The layout here is practically perfect, with Buscema at the top of his form, and the delineation is a delight to behold as well.

This book currently goes for about $22 in Near Mint condition. A slabbed 9.0 actually sold for exactly that price on eBay less than a month ago. But if you are, like me, less fussy and willing to take a lesser-condition copy, you can actually have one for about the price of a new Marvel comic. Per some of the online price guides, a Very Fine condition copy will set you back $18.50, a Fine issue $6.50, and a Very Good copy just $3.30. But a quick search of recent eBay sales shows copies in Very Fine condition going for about $5, and Fine+ for around $4, which just goes to show you how the bottom has dropped out of the back issue market for anything other than high grade key issues. Why Buscema's early efforts on Conan are not considered key is beyond me.

To my knowledge, this particular issue has only been reprinted twice, in Marvel's Conan Saga #63 in 1992 and, in 2004, in Dark Horse Comics' The Chronicles of Conan Vol. 4. In my estimation, you'll probably have less trouble tracking down a copy of the original comic than either reprint.

And why not start the hunt? The art here is so far above anything on the stands today, and the coloring moody and evocative despite the limitations of the era, it's worth having just to look at.

Actually reading it, however, could be a bit of a struggle. On his short-lived blog, Jim Shooter railed against the early-1970s practice of having writer/editors at Marvel. No writer, no matter how good, should be his own editor, Shooter said, and I wholeheartedly agree. After all, any decent editor would have kicked Thomas until his balls were as purple as the prose in this story. 

Don't get me wrong, Roy Thomas is one of my comics heroes. His Invaders and pre-Crisis All-Star Squadrons, just to pick a couple of his titles off the top of my head, will always be among my very favorite comics of all time. But he sure proved Shooter right with this issue. There's a saying that writers should hunt down adjectives in their work, and kill them. But Thomas apparently was not in a particularly murderous mood when he wrote this story. Today, the typical 20-page comic book story will average 1,300 words. Here, Thomas pounds out 3,172. Thomas was always wordy, of course, and some of us love him for it. But this story is just an absolute chore to wade through, with adjectives aplenty choking up the panels like kudzu, describing in syrup-soaked detail every last thing Buscema draws.

For example, as enemy soldiers burst into an alter room and bear down on the barbarian, Thomas tells us:

"Instinctively, Conan crouches behind the massive, flame-lit alter . . ." he writes, in a panel showing Conan crouching behind a massive, flame-lit alter. "He braces mighty barbarian thews against finely-carved marble . . . begins to push . . . and slowly, ever so slowly -- or so it seems -- the alter begins to sway --"

This two-panel sequence is kind of funny in a way, as it stresses how long it takes Conan to topple the alter on top of his enemies. But, I suppose when you have a host of scimitar-swinging soldiers trying to hack you apart, easy-does-it is the way to go.

There's also a funny scene in which the invading horde descends into the city, Trojan War style, from the hollow underside of a giant statue depicting a winged horse. Presumably, this is the griffin of the title, although I always understood griffins to be a cross between an eagle and a lion — horses need not apply. Anyway, the invading army, from whatever kingdom Thomas says they're from in his tortuous "tableau" captions that introduce each setting, are told by a deserter about a secret cave entrance into — again, whatever kingdom Thomas says is being invaded — on the city's "nether side." This being 1973 and the Comics Code Authority in full effect, the cave has to be on the city's nether side, and not on its ass-end. You understand.

As the invading army begins to search for the cave, an incredibly convenient earthquake — which apparently does no damage and causes no panic inside the city — reveals its entrance. From there, the army eventually walks to "Troy."

"By Ishtar's girdle," one soldier says, "That cave-tunnel had more offshoots that the fabled labyrinth of Khora-Ja! Lucky for us one tunnel led into that horse's hollow belly."

What's funny, of course, is that in order to come down out of the giant horse's belly, the soldiers must have needed to climb up one of its legs, which I'd think would have created a fair bottleneck in the procession.

Meanwhile, Conan buddies-up with a captain of the guard who, apparently, was his enemy in the previous issue. This being the early '70s, we are getting into an era when it's helpful when attempting to read any comic book to have read the previous issue, at least, in that series. Even so, Thomas does a decent job of making this issue stand on its own. Unlike modern comics which frustrate the hell out of me, this issue leaves me less with the guessing-at-what's-going-on and more flush with the anticipation of wanting to track down and buy earlier issues. 

Anyway, Conan and the captain happen across the city's queen and try to squirrel her away to safety. But first, Conan tries to distract their pursuers, leading them a merry chase until he happens upon a room housing the Living Tarim, or, as Conan notes, "The one this war is all about!" But our barbarian soon learns that Mr. Holy of Holys is not just some robed recluse, he is the product of way, way, WAY too much royal inbreeding. Why the rulers of this city would keep their prized quasi-fugly in a room lined with mirrors is a mystery, but it does end up making for a nice visual when his face is revealed.

Unfortunately, despite waging war over who gets to host the Living Tarim, none of the soldiers, on either side, have ever seen him. So, when they bust in and start slinging arrows at Conan, its the outrageous fortune of the. Living Tarim to get slightly less living, though no less ugly. Also, burnt to the bone, which is what falling in a fire pit gets you.

Conan then lights out and quickly reconnects with Queen and captain, leading their way to freedom through giant saber-toothed possum and rear guard soldiers. Conan then considers making the queen his wench, since he's gone to the trouble of rescuing her, after all, but as it turns out, she's preggers, and the thought of instant fatherdom is enough for Conan to point her on her way stage right while he hightails it stage left.

Finally — no spoilers on a 41-year-old comic — the invading general, Yezdigerd (gesundheit!), finds the dead Living Tarim and, in an epilogue worthy of any EC Comics or Twilight Zone twist, drives its robed skeleton through the conquered city, his none-the-wiser soldiers cheering their victory.  After all, young Mr. Inbred was mute as well as being a hemophiliac, so who was going to talk to or touch him anyway? 

[COVER: 8.50 — PLOT: 7.50 — SCRIPT: 4.75 — LAYOUT: 10.0 — ARTWORK: 9.75 — EDITING: 5.50 — COLORS/PRODUCTION: 7.25 — DOLLAR VALUE: 7.50 — COLLECTIBILITY: 9.25 —GOSH-WOW FACTOR: 5.0] 

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Conan, John Buscema, Marvel Comics, Roy Thomas, Time Bubbles,

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CAPSULE COMMENTS: Original Sin #3

Original Sin #3 (of 8)

Marvel Comics, $3.99, 36 pages

Released: June 4, 2014

Story Grade: B+

Issue Score: 78.25

TRUTHFULLY RECOMMENDED

"Trust No One, Not Even Yourself" 

(22 pages / 89 panels / 1,979 words / 14:50 read time)

Writer: Jason Aaron 

Artist: Mike Deodato

Colorist: Frank Martin

Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos 

Editor: Tom Brevoort, Wil Moss

Here's the best thing I can say about Original Sin: After failing to add the series to my pull list — a new weekly, or bi-weekly series being too hard to budget, since it means extra books I have to cut to make room — I have now pre-orderd the final two issues. I picked up the zero issue off the stands at my local comics shop as an impulse buy and, although not particularly blown away, did the same with Issue 1. That issue was good enough that I've now done the same with Issues 2 and 3, and plan to be around for the rest of the run. Mike Deodato's art is pretty phenomenal, but the real star, for me, is Jason Aaron. I'm only familiar with his work from Thor: God of Thunder and now Original Sin, but I have to say, based on that alone, I'm liable to try just about anything with his name on it.

As an aside, the indicia for this issue notes that this eight-issue, bi-weekly limited series, is "published monthly except May, June, July and August." Given that issues have already been sold and solicited for those months, I'd be interested to know that that's all about.

On most fronts, the plot does not advance a ton this issue. Dr. Strange and The Punisher are still buddy-copping out in space, as are the other random-picked heroes. I have to say, I'm still getting over Bucky no longer being the one comic book character I could count on to stay dead. To now have him gallivanting around the cosmos is, frankly, a bit disconcerting. He also makes a pretty quick return to earth, without the apparent aid of a space ship, for the issues climax, but always with your comics a little suspension of disbelief. 

Meanwhile, back on earth, or at the center of it anyway, we don't learn much from Black Panther's team that we didn't already know, while up above we get nothing more than a cameo from The Thing, so who's knows what his deal is at this point. But, what is interesting is how the series gets a new McGuffin, in the form of intangible ideas rather than a physical object, when The Orb blows up a truth bomb on our heroes. I must admit, I'm not familiar with Pal Orbbie, who I presume is not a new character, and can't help but be reminded of Bill Schelly's The Eye at every panel he appears in.

The truth bomb did induce one unintentional laugh-out-loud moment this issue as Thor does his best imitation of The Baker, from Into the Woods — "I have a SISTER?!" I assume Aaron will follow up on that revelation in winghead's regular title. 

In fact, it seems that's to be the case with most of the heroes as most of whom scamper into the shadows after learning whatever is is they're not supposed to know. I would have preferred a bit more follow through here, in this issue, but the revelation that even Cap has secrets, and that Fury saw nothing, helps to bring a sense of completeness to this chapter even with so many question marks left dangling in the air. Besides, the big reveals of this issue (SPOILERS), including the murder of a planet and the apparent beheading of Fury, along with the continued creep-out factor of the Watcher's roly-poly eyeball, makes for plenty of "gosh-wow" moments to stir my inner 12 year old.

On the art front, I really like what Deodato is doing, breaking up single images into smaller panels. It's a technique that's usually employed to slow down time in a scene, but not so much here, as things continue to move along at a pretty break-neck pace. Instead of slowing down the story, however, the effect is to slow down the reader, really inviting him or her to contemplate each image. As a strorytelling style that could grow old, but for now it's really enhancing the mood of this space noir thriller.

Along those lines, I think Martin's coloring also deserves a shout-out. For some reason it seems to have a real Atom Age vibe, which enhances the noirness of Deodato's art. I'm not sure if Martin is purposefully trying to be evocative of those old EC Weird Science comics, or if the comparison is all in my mind, but this is one the few times when the coloring — which, being a child of the '70s, I still tend to think of as a production value, rather than a true part of the artform — actually enhances the reading experience for me.

My only trepidation is the sheer number of cross-overs this event series is generating. I'm no stranger to having comics stories go south on me because I'm not financially able to keep up with all of the crossovers, tangents and ancillary adventures. Most recently, Age of Ultron and DC's Forever Evil. Still, to date, Aaron is holding it all together between the pages of the main event, and I'm not yet feeling lost.

[COVER: 7.75 — PLOT: 7.50 — SCRIPT: 8.75 — LAYOUT: 8.50 — ARTWORK: 9.25 — EDITING: 7.0 — COLORS/PRODUCTION: 9.0 — DOLLAR VALUE: 4.25 — COLLECTIBILITY: 7.75 —GOSH-WOW FACTOR: 7.25] 

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Capsule Comments, Jason Aaron, Marvel Comics, Mike Deodato,

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CAPSULE COMMENTS: Aquaman and the Others #3

Aquaman and The Others #3

DC Comics, $2.99, 32 pages

Released: June 4, 2014

Story Grade: C-

Issue Score: 59.75

NOT RECOMMENDED

"Legacy of Gold, Part III of V" 

(20 pages / 98 panels / 1,535 words / 11:50 read time)

Writer: Dan Jurgens 

Penciller: Lan Medina

Inker: Allen Martinez 

Colorist: Matt Milla 

Letterer: Rob Leigh 

Editor: Brian Cunningham

I want to like this book a lot more than I do. 

Aquaman didn't appear too often with the JLA when I was a kid and so, even though we're now in a different universe, I like to image he was off leading his own team during those Justice League adventures from which he was absent. Somehow, the idea of Aquaman as the big fish in a small pond appeals to me. It also helps that Geoff Johns crafted some very compelling characters with  an interesting bond when creating The Others (although not the best name for a super-hero team, ever) over in Aquaman's main title. However, it's hard for a team to remain compelling when two of its six members are quickly killed off. Of the replacements, I have little use for the Operative's grandson and even less for Sky Alchesay. I still don't know what her Atlantean artifact, the Seal of Clarity, actually does, as accessing the Ghost Lands appears to be her own native power.

I suppose it doesn't help that all recnt adventures of The Others have been penned by John Ostrander and Dan Jurgens. I'm probably the only fan in my age bracket who doesn't sport a nostalgic perma-chub for Ostrander's Suicide Squad, while Jurgens has always struck me as being very Kirbyesque — great artist, terrific story plotter, but maybe not the best scripter on the planet. The work of both men on The Others has been '80s old school (not necessarily a bad thing) but also very by-the-numbers. And speaking of old school, I'm not familiar with the name of inker Allen Martinez, but, from the looks of things, it's Latino for "Jerry Ordway." A lot of the panels look dead on like Ordway's line, to me. That'd ordinarily be a good thing in my book, but coupled with staid scripts, the art contributes to the feeling that The Others is less about making time for new characters in the DCU than making work for old talent.

That said, Lan Medina — another name with which I am unfamiliar — is presumably new to comics. There is a lot of promise here. Although I'm ragging on the old-timers, I am a traditionalist when if comes to my comics and I do like a nice, clean, art style. Too many comics artists these days fill their figures with unnecessary rendering, made all the worse for lack of a discernible light source, or proper spotting of solid blacks to lead the eye. Medina's work is, on the whole, solid, if, at this point in his career (I assume Lan is a boy's name), unspectacular. There are a few problems. Some of the poses are kind of static. Aquaman running across the castle courtyard, for example, looks like it was drawn directly from the stick-up-butt desktop mannequin most artists have hanging around the studio, while the shot of Aquman brandishing his trident during the Sayeh rescue screams, "Sorry, didn't have a photo reference for this one."

That scene, by the way, is beyond inexplicable. Aquaman and Aaron enter a dungeon cell to find Sayeh being threatened by a knife of some sort that appears to have shaken loose from the chandelier, which, I admit, I barely noticed it. In fact, it was only after turning back in at attempt to figure out what hey-hoo was going on that I noticed it at all. Then, the following page has a giant spider-robot centaur scissor-hands dude lording over Aquaman's body, but the way he's colored, he appears to be part of Sayeh's vision of Aquaman's death. Aquaman then does a proportionless lunge at the ceiling fan blades, which appear attached to bone, unlike the blades on Mr. Centaur-Spider, although it's unclear what the bone is attached to, if not the ceiling. Then, with a "TANG" the blades disappear and our heroes stand pretty as you please for a panel or two until Legend shows up in a shroud of smoke. Later, when Aquaman is impaled as Sayeh foresaw, it's by Legend, not the refuge from Superior Spider-Man.

So, was robot spider guy actually in the cell, or was he part of the vision? We never see him except in that one panel and never see what the boney blades were attached to. They really could have been swinging form the ceiling for all we know. I suspect there's an answer in Jurgen's script. Really, and especially when working with new artists, an editor should demand to see breakdowns before accepting the penciled art boards and forwarding them on to the inker, which is apparently what happened here.

There are a few other art problems the editor, be it group editor Cunningham or his assistant, Ameded Turturro, should have caught. Darya, who looks more Southern California than Eastern Europe, is clearly the one speaking on Page 4, although it's Sky Alchesay we're looking at. The Others see Anton Solokov in Darya's dimensional portal window thing where holding a knife to Sayeh's throat — in fact they even comment on him — but he then wanders into the castle a couple of pages later to a bit of introductory dialogue along the lines of, "Hi, my name is Anton and I'll be your villain this evening."

There are some scripting issues an editor should have worked out, as well. Darya and Anton, with their apparently unlimited powers, are straight out of central casting for comic book villains. "My 5,000-year-old grandfather hates you, so I hate you, too! Nyah! Nyah!!" They really could have used a rethink. Meanwhile, there was no apparent thinking behind Man-of-War's mention that one of his ghost soldiers used to be a detective. His whole thing is that he's haunted by his platoon, all presumably grunts like him. A person who joined the army after being a police detective intimates a level of education that would have made him an officer upon enlistment. I find it very unlikely that one of Man-of-War's soldiers was ever a detective. Worse, while any of the soldiers could have pointed out a stand of hair sans detective training, the offending follicle plays absolutely no significance in this story. It's just a wasted page, really, other than that fact that it leads to a beat-down by Darya's bug-eyed ninjas. Like centaur-spider, the "ninjas" appear nowhere else in the book but for these two panels, although they have turned up in previous issues. Still, to avoid reader confusion, they should have being depicted elsewhere, or otherwise explained, perhaps in a better establishing shot when The Others are transported to the Solotov's home base. 

Still, there are good bits here. The idea, slowly dawning on The Others, that Aquaman views their artifacts as his property sets up a dynamic that's far more interesting that any conflict with the villains in this issue. Also, Ya'wara's talk with Kahina about how she's uncomfortable with anything not grounded to earth is an interesting character bit. 

One last odd thing about the issue, however, is the way in which it just stops once Aquaman is gutted by his own trident. With no Next Issue blurb or anything else to indicate the issue was fini, I actually turned the page expecting more. Anyway, speaking of endings, it's time I stopped, this "capsule comment" having already rambled on far longer than intended.

Oh, except for one last thought: Ya'wara's jungle cats should be depicted wearing Star Trek red shirts — they survive away missions about as long. 

Still, running out of panthers is the least of this title's worries. If a dramatic turn of quality does not come about with the second story arc, scheduled, it seems, to start with Issue 6, I honestly can't see The Others lasting past #12.

[COVER: 7.75 — PLOT: 6.0 — SCRIPT: 5.25 — LAYOUT: 6.75 — ARTWORK: 7.50 — EDITING: 5.25 — COLORS/PRODUCTION: 7.25 — DOLLAR VALUE: 6.0 — COLLECTIBILITY: 3.75 —GOSH-WOW FACTOR: 4.25] 

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Aquaman, Capsule Comments, Dan Jurgens, DC Comics, Lan Medina,

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CAPSULE COMMENTS: Green Arrow #32

Green Arrow #32

DC Comics, $2.99, 32 pages

Released: June 4, 2014

Story Grade: B+

Issue Score: 72.00

POINTEDLY RECOMMENDED

"Broken, Part One" 

(20 pages / 87 panels / 1,366 words / 10:05 read time)

Writer: Jeff Lemire 

Artist: Andrea Sorrentino 

Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo 

Letterers: Dezi Sienty 

Editor: Brian Cunningham

The two-in-one image on this month's cover is a compelling one, effective in that it's almost certain to entice potential buyers to pick it up off the stands for a closer look. And that, of course, is 90 percent of making the sale. 

The plot however, is not much to speak of. Green Arrow returns to Seattle — and it's a measure of how successful the CW Arrow series is that mention of Ollie protecting Seattle, instead of Starling City, or even old-school Star City, seems at first jarring — whereupon he promptly gets smacked around by admitted D-List villains. Meanwhile, Diggle gets slapped by Not-Richard Dragon. And that's about all that happens, really.

Among the D-Listers, The Red Dart seems an interesting new addition to Green Arrow's personal Rogues Gallery and I do like Killer Moth making the transfer from Gotham. Brick, however, is new to me, although it's clear from the dialogue that this is not his first appearance. Unfortunately, Sorrentino's art is terribly, and uncharacteristically, unclear on the page where he crashes in — he looks to be about twice Green Arrow's size — making it hard to tell exactly what his powers are. It seems that he has some kind of thunder-stomp, on maybe he wields a boom-stick, I'm really not sure. Meanwhile, I also had to search his scene extra hard because, while Red Dart mentions splitting the bounty on Green Arrow's head three ways, Killer Moth doesn't actually show up for another page. So, I was taken out of the story for an entire page, confused by Brick and also wondering where the heck D-Lister #3 was supposed to be.

Speaking of showing up, theres Emiko at the end in the prototypical last page, splash-panel surprise, claiming to be the New Green Arrow while wearing black and red. It seems she's destined to become the New Speedy, which I'm not at all looking forward to. For decades, writers have struggled to make Green Arrow more than Batman-with-a-bow and yet here's Lemire saddling him with a Damien-like adolescent asshat.

Of course, Green Arrow's thing, as made clear on his TV show, is that he's part of a team, as opposed to the Bat-family being, largely, a collection of individual operatives. I can't wait for Felicty to show up in Seattle, but I am glad we have Diggle at this point. Interestingly, and again proving how important the CW mythology has become, the revelation this issue that Diggle took down Not-Richard Dragon's father plays a lot more powerfully if you're familiar with similar scenes from the TV show. 

The Not-Richard Dragon flashbacks are down well, stylistically, with archaic coloring rendered in a way that gives a sense of times past (even if you don't happen to have begin reading comics in the 1970s) while not being overly garish, as the technique can sometimes be. So, hats off to Sorrentino and Maiolo. My only complaint is that the flashback scenes take up entirely too much space. Not-Richard Dragon's origin, for example, could have been done just as well on one page as two. Trimming some of  those sequences might have left room for a little more in the way of character bits. After all, with all the chatter about Billy Tockman this issue, it's sort of a shame he gets no actual panel time. 

But the biggest benefit of cutting needlessly large flashback panels would have been to make room for more plot development. As noted, while there's a lot of neat character bits and some great dialogue this issue, not a ton actually happens. That's largely been true of Lemire's entire run on this title. While his work is vastly superior to what came before in the New 52 era (better, even, than most of the post-Grell comics, for that matter) each individual issue tends to cover precious little ground. The Outsiders epic, for example, ran about four months longer than it needed to, and this new storyline promises more of the same.

My only other critique this issue is that, for some reason, almost all of the sound-effects lettering looks too much like what it is — Photoshopped fonts layered on top of the art — instead of something that is organically part of the page itself.

[COVER: 8.00 — PLOT: 6.25 — SCRIPT: 8.75 — LAYOUT: 7.0 — ARTWORK: 8.50 — EDITING: 6.0 — COLORS/PRODUCTION: 7.50 — DOLLAR VALUE: 6.25 — COLLECTIBILITY: 7.0 —GOSH-WOW FACTOR: 6.75] 

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Andrea Sorrentino, Capsule Comments, DC Comics, Green Arrow, Jeff Lemire,

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CAPSULE COMMENTS: Earth-2 #24

Earth-2 #24

DC Comics, $2.99, 32 pages

Released: June 4, 2014

Story Grade: B+

Issue Score: 71.75

HARDLY RECOMMENDED

"The Kryptonian, Part Four" 

(20 pages / 94 panels / 1,084 words / 7:10 read time)

Writer: Tom Taylor 

Penciller: Eddy Barrows 

Inker: Eber Ferreira

Colorist: Pete Pantazis 

Letterers: Dezi Sienty, Taylor Esposito 

Editor: Mike Cotton

My biggest complaints to date with Tom Taylor's run on this title are the glacial pace of his plots — we've probably moved about 45 minutes in story time since he came on board eight months ago — and the speed at which his issues read. This particular issue was a beauty to behold, and had several genuine "gosh-wow" moments, but I was in and out in a little more than seven minutes. 

Take the $2.99 cover price and divide by the 7:10 reading time, and we can quickly calculate that this comic book cost 41.7¢ per minute. Adding in the time it took to read the Al Feldstein tribute and the ever-useless Channel 52 promo page, and this book still cost 33¢ per minute. Just to break even on this book, in terms of time invested, a person has to earn $19.80 an hour! That friends, is a poor entertainment value, compared to almost any other form of escapist fantasy, be it books, movies, tv, video games, or what have you.  

Still, I have enjoyed Taylor's run on this title far more than Robinson's. While this is still not MY Earth-2 (for that we'd have to go back to the All-Star/Adventure Comics stories published before Taylor was even born), this at least now feels like a fully-realized world. Previously, we got an Earth-2 that seemed to belong to no one but Robinson. It read so much like fan fiction that I was on the verge of dropping the title when Taylor took over and I decided to give it one last try.

While Taylor's story is more accessible, challenges remain for anyone not fully invested in the story thus far. Who are Beguiler and Bedlam and why do they have The Flash? What is all the fighting and blowing up cities about? Who is the woman kneeling by Red Arrow's corpse? Who is Red Arrow and how did he die? Who is this Lois who apparently told Jimmy about Batman's identity, and where is she? These are things I know, but I'm certain they're questions that would be raised by any picking up this book for the first time, possibly to complete the "bombshell" cover set. And, poor value aside, inattention to the casual reader is a big reason for declining comic books sales, in my humble opinion.

The Flash rescue is sort of perfunctory and takes up more panels than it needs to. It's interesting, however, that Hawkgirl references how she, Flash, and Green Lantern were "brought together." It underscores that, 24 issues and two years in, the Earth-2 heroes have yet to coalesce into a real team, operating in large part as Robinson's prologue heroes and Taylor's second-wave contingent. 

For me, the best parts of this book are the pages involving Jimmy Olsen, who is rapidly become the real star of the series in my eyes. Of course, he does tend to go on about how he's "really good at discovering things" about as often as a certain version of Superboy used to say "tactile teleteknesis," but no character is perfect. It was interesting to hear him drop a Robin-bomb and I can actually see that happening. Perhaps, to forge new identities, and to retain trademarks for DC Entertainment, Thomas Wayne and Jimmy Olsen could become Nightwing and Flamebird?

I also like Val-Zod, who, as Jimmy notes, seems more heroic for his inaction as for anything he might have done it what promised to be a losing battle with Superman anyway. SOME mention of Supes might be helped this issue, as well. It does seem that Val is fated to become the new Earth-2 Superman, and I'm WAY cool with that. DC could use a regularly recurring black Superman. Maybe Taylor could also debut a New 52 version of the Kaldur'ahm Aqualad as well? 

My big question regarding Val, however, is how a Zod came to be wearing the El family crest, assuming the S-icon has a similar origin on Earth-2.

Oh, one last note, while I enjoy the work of Nicola Scott, I would have absolutely no problem with the Barrows/Ferreira team — perhaps a last minute substitution, given the cover credits, unless listing Scott was an editorial error — staying with this title full-time. Of course, there are rumors of an upcoming Earth-2 weekly series, so we may get more of Mssrs. Barrows & Ferreira yet. 

[COVER: 6.60 — PLOT: 6.0 — SCRIPT: 8.50 — LAYOUT: 8.50 — ARTWORK: 9.0 — EDITING: 5.50 — COLORS/PRODUCTION: 8.75 — DOLLAR VALUE: 4.25 — COLLECTIBILITY: 7.25 —GOSH-WOW FACTOR: 7.50] 

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Capsule Comments, DC Comics, Earth-2,

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