TradeTales! - Superman: Up, Up, and Away

Well, I’ve finally gotten to the end of this themed month… at the beginning of October. That happens when one needs a root canal. This time, I think it’s time for a free-for-all. Instead of one villain taking Superman on, have an A-lister and bunches of B/C-listers take him on. There have been a few stories that have done that. Heck, they just did that recently in Action Comics. The one most think of is “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” Since I’ve already did that one, I found another that’ll do the trick. You might even recognize aspects of it from another Superman property: Superman Returns.

Superman: Up, Up, and Away was a crossover between Superman (#650-653) and Action Comics (#837-840). It was a part of One Year Later, an imitative that moved the DCU ahead a year. The missing year was covered in the maxi-series, 52. During that year, Clark was powerless ever since his fight with Superboy-Prime in Infinite Crisis.  The story was written by both Kurt Busiek and Geoff Johns. Pete Woods handles a majority of the art duties with Renato Guedes doing a couple of issues. So, if you want to see Superman Returns done better, keep reading.

Superman: Up, Up , and Away!

Writers: Kurt Busiek and Geoff Johns

Artists: Pete Woods and Renato Guedes

Colorists: Brad Anderson and Renato Guedes

Letters: Jare K. Fletcher, Nick J. Napolitano, and Rob Leigh

Crisis Time! - Favorite Crisis to Least Favorite Crisis

Now that I’ve looked at Final Crisis, I think it’s time to see which of the four Crisis events is my favorite one. I’m including Zero Hour in this as well. After all, it was a “Crisis in Time,” and it should be here. As you can tell, Identity Crisis isn’t on here. I haven’t completely read it and it’s not really a cosmic story like these are. Before I made this list, I decided to re-read the other three events. I also went and looked at what I wrote about them. One thing can definitely say is that my writing is much better than it was back then. I’m looking for which one was not only good (they all are by the way) but also which one just hit the spot for me. What had the best story, the best use of characters, best villains, and best art? I might as well start off with the one about that mad Green Lantern.

Graphic Novels - Crisis on Infinite Earths

It’s my first trade in about a month, so I might as well do a story that ended a universe. As you can tell by the title and side photo, it’s another Crisis event. It’s not just another Crisis event, it’s “The” Crisis event. Crisis on Infinite Earths was one of DC’s first major crossovers. It was a 12-issues maxi-series that started in 1985 and ended in 1986.  It was actually the event that helped DC get some things straight continuity-wise. It also led to most heroes getting their entire histories rewritten. Characters like Batman and Green Lantern essentially remained the same while characters like Superman and Wonder Woman underwent major changes… I’m sensing some déjà vu here.

The creative team for was essentially a team of all-stars. The writer was Marv Wolfman who’s known for his work on this book, The New Teen Titans, The Adventures of Superman, and many other books. The penciller for the interior art and covers was George Perez. Perez is also known for doing art in books that include The New Teen Titans, Avengers, Action Comics, and JLA/Avengers. I can easily say that he’s one of my favorites. The inkers on this series were Dick Giordano, Mike DeCarlo, and Jerry Ordway. Their names are also well known. The colorist was Tom McCraw and the letterer was John Constanza.

For a while, I actually thought about going into detail with all 12 issues. I did it with Infinite Crisis and Zero Hour (hey, it’s a Crisis event in my eyes). I’ve decided not to do it with this one for a couple of reasons. First, this thing is DENSE. It’s 12 extended issues. It may even be too dense for me to really give it a good, thorough look. The other reason is that I really don’t want to spend too much time on this one. Besides, I got to save October for something (hint, hint).

I’ll just be doing a simple synopsis… well, as simple as something that involves time travel, multiverses, and over 100 characters.  I’ll give my opinion on the story. Finally, I’ll list some highlights and favorite moments. With that said, let’s jump on the Cosmic Treadmill and see what’s out there… I just used “cosmic treadmill” in a sentence… ‘Bout time, I say!

Graphic Novels - Infinite Crisis: Part Seven - Finale

Greetings. This is arw1985, and I’m back with the last part of this long crossover event called Infinite Crisis. I have to admit, it’s been a task doing this, but it’s also been fun. I got this issue on May 2nd (?), 2006. It was test week and then after the tests, I headed home for the summer. I remember hearing that this issue would be delayed another week, which peeved my off to no end. First, there was no comic book store (well, at the time anyway) in my area, I had no car, and I really wanted to see the end. Luckily, the book came out on schedule, and I was able to get it.

Anyways, back on topic. The creative team is the same, with George Perez, Jerry Ordway, Ivan Reis, and Jeff Bennett doing pencils alongside Phil Jimenez (man, there were a lot of cooks in this kitchen.). The covers are both cool, with the Lee cover showing the Green Lantern Corp, the Supermen, and Power Girl taking on PRIME, and the Perez cover shows all of the heroes fighting the Society in Metropolis. I guess I like the Perez cover more because it shows Robin taking on Bizarro (Ha, just noticed that). Well, here we go with the conclusion to Infinite Crisis:

Graphic Novels - Infinite Crisis: Part Six - Touchdown (sobs...)

Graphic Novels is brought to you by the makers of the Phantom Zone Arrow….Yes, I’m still on that. WTC?

I’m back with the 6th issue to the event known as Infinite Crisis. Right now, it’s Wednesday, I just got off work and I’m not ready to sleep yet. I sort of remember when I got this issue. It was a Friday in March or April 2006, and I decided I was going to walk and get this issue. One problem: there was rain in the forecast. So, I decided to head out in the morning before all of the rain came. Before I left, I prayed to God the He would hold back all the rain till when I got back (Yeah, I prayed for that. So what? I always prayed before I did a walk like that.). Well, it worked, I got the issue and got back before all sorts of rain AND hail fell down. It was nuts. Everyone in Nicks Hall was watching that stuff fall. The creative team for the issue is pretty much the same, with Jerry Ordway, George Perez, and Ivan Reis doing pencils along with the main artist, Phil Jimenez. The covers are well done, with one being awesome and one being okay. Guess which one. Well, here we go…

Graphic Novels - Infinite Crisis: Part Five - Faith

Well, it’s another day and another post of the mega crossover event: Infinite Crisis. As I write this, it’s Friday, the 18. It looks like that I’ll be heading home this weekend with no plans whatsoever (will be having lunch with someone Monday though). Anyway, this issue marks the return of the Multiverse, so it’s going to be interesting. The creative team remains the same, with legendary writer/artist Jerry Ordway and artist Ivan Reis providing some nice pencils. The covers are also well done. Lee’s cover has two Wonder Women in the background, while Booster Gold, Batman, and some dude (lol) run toward the reader (So, get out of the way, Dang it!!). Perez’s cover shows Supes-2 punching out Superman. Perez’s cover is definitely cooler for me. So, let’s get to this good issue.

Graphic Novels - Infinite Crisis: Part Four - Homecoming (aka The Real @*#* Happens Here!!!)

Greetings and salutations! It’s me again, going through this mega crossover event called Infinite Crisis. We’re at the midpoint of the series finally. It’s been tough for these heroes, but now it’s about to get tougher. We have the same creative team, with George Perez and Ivan Reis doing some penciling. The issue’s covers are okay. I mean, they’re drawn well, but nothing really calls out ‘COOL’ to me, ya know? Lee’s cover has the two Superboys fighting, and Perez’s cover has all of the heroes from space involved in …getting sucked into a big white hole? I like the Lee cover, since Krypto is looking awesome. Anyway, let’s get on to the issue!

Graphic Novels - Teen Titans Vol. 5: Life and Death - Part One

Hello and hello. It’s arw1985, and I’m back with another installment of our favorite teenage heroes: The Teen Titans. Today, I will be going over a part of Volume five of the Teen Titans series, Life and Death. Why? ‘Cause I felt like it. Plus, this volume kind of flowed along with Infinite Crisis, so I decided to split it up. Now the creative team for volume five is…kinda big, so I’ll just list the creative team for each part I come out with. The creative team for part Uno of vol. 5 is:

• Geoff Johns – I think I’m catching on to a trend here.
• Tony Daniel –He’s ends up becoming the new head penciler for the book after this volume.
• Todd Nanuck- I don’t know anything about this guy. He does a couple of pages here and there.

Now that I’ve have gotten that out of the way, let’s get on with it!

Graphic Novels - Infinite Crisis: Part Three - Divine Intervention

Hey, hey, hey! It’s me again, going through the mega event Infinite Crisis. It’s Sunday the 6th, and I had nothing better to do. It’s cold and wet outside, so I won’t be doing a lot. The creative team is still the same from issue 1. George Perez does one page for this issue though. The covers are well done, with Wonder Woman and the Amazons fighting OMACs and Supes-2 holding out a hand to Batman in the Batcave while there are images of Earth-2 in the background. I like the Lee version better because well…it really fits with what happens in the issue, I guess. So let’s get it started!

Graphic Novels - Infinite Crisis Part Two: The Survivors

Hello and hello! As I start this, it’s the 18th of February. At this time, I’m waiting for my shift to begin, and I’m wondering how this old CD of mine got messed up. I’m back, going through the mega crossover Infinite Crisis. Here is Issue #2. The same creative team is here, with a little help from George Perez and Jerry Ordway for a small history lesson. The covers are also cool, with both covers showing Power Girl, who has a big part in the event (And no, I’m not talking about her…..eyes.). Lee’s issue shows her standing with the four forgotten heroes, and Perez’s cover show her looking at images containing big stuff that happened in the DCU. Both covers are well done, but they're okay to me. I kinda like the Lee cover more, I don't know. Now on to the Story!

Graphic Novels - Infinite Crisis: Part One - Infinite Crisis

As I write this, it’s actually Sunday the 5th. Today, I saw the Packers win the Super Bowl (yay), I found out that Outer Limits closed due to a fire (boo, but they did move to a different location), and I found out a good friend is going through a tough time in her life. Oh well, on to comics!

…

Graphic Novels - Countdown to Infinite Crisis

Happy New Year! I'm at home, waiting for this big snow. Ugh. What's worse is that I have to go to work with these weather conditions. Oh well.

Well, here it is. This is the thing that got me introduced in to DC Universe as a whole because beforehand, all I knew was Batman, Superman, and the JLA.

Countdown to Infinite Crisis
Writers: Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, and Judd Winnick
Pencilers/Artists: Rags Morales, Ed Benes, Jesus Saiz, Ivan Reis, and Phil Jimenez

Through this 80 page comic book that cost one dollar, I got hyped up for this event call Infinite Crisis. It was April 2005, I think. I’m at Outer Limits in the ‘Boro where I see this 80 page thing for a dollar. I, being a guy who loves cheap things, got this and then eventually read it. I liked it. The artwork was gorgeous. Also, the story was engaging as well as sad. I’ll get to all of that soon.

The whole book revolves around a B-list (or C-List) superhero called Blue Beetle aka Ted Kord. He’s kind of a second rate Batman, but more technical and less brooding. Anyway, he, in one way or another, somehow gets involved with about every corner of the DCU in this book. So let’s get to the story, shall we?