Zatanna Lost 100 Pager

It's been a while since I've presented a new entry in my Lost 100 Page Super Spectaculars, but at the request of some of the guys in the Back Issue Facebook group, I decided to commission my favorite Lost 100 Pager artist, Reno Maniquis to come up with art for a Zatanna 100 Pager! (Click to see the full sized version.)

This time, Reno went the extra mile and came up with dialogue for the cover, so the clever play on the word Fate is his idea. Here is his original artwork. 

We actually ended up with two versions of this cover because Zatanna wore several different outfits during the Bronze Age. Here is a second version in a different outfit.

We both said we disliked the black jump suit/pony tail combo. While it's probably more true to the Bronze Age, it was just a horrible design.  Here's how it looked on the cover of Justice League in the issue it was introduced.

 As you can see, it was better off the way it was.

- Jim

The Second True Origin of Identity Crisis

A few months ago, I wrote about how Darkseid was the true mastermind of Brad Meltzer's Identity Crisis. While the post was mostly some fun speculation, this week I happened to stumble across what I'm pretty sure is the actual inspiration for Meltzer's storyline: Justice League of America 122.

Quick Summation: Doctor Light uses his powers to mix up the leaguers secret identities. Why he does this, I'll touch on in a second, but crux of his scheme gives us the issues title:

The title, while pretty much a smoking gun, isn't the only connection to the 2004 story. There are a few others.


For one, amnesia (or mind wiping) is a main plot device:
 

See, Dr. Light's plan is to have every Justice Leaguer (with the exception of Aquaman) switch secret identities. For instance, Hal Jordan will think he's Barry Allen. Then when he unwittingly shows up in Central City Police station to work at Barry's job, he'll fall for a trap that only the Flash could get out of. 

 Why Dr. Light couldn't just set up said trap in Star City where Hal Jordan works is beyond me. That's probably why I'm not a master super-villain.

Anyway, also just like in Identity Crisis, there is a "death" in this issue. In this case it's Aquaman, who meets his end when he accidentally touches booby trapped luminescent fish.

One of the most dramatic scenes in Identity Crisis is when Batman loses his shit and attacks his fellow leaguers:
 

 Here is the scene in JLA 122 that I think inspired IC's angry Batman attack:

Another, more tenuous connection is this scene where Atom takes out Dr. Light by jabbing a needle in his skull.

I suspect this scene was the inspiration for how Jean Loring killed Sue Dibney in Identity Crisis by jumping on her brain.

What all of the connections have in common I believe is the older JLA 122 versions probably deeply affected young Brad Meltzer in a way that stuck with him. I'm sure we all have scenes from old comics that we remember reading when from our youth that rocked our world as kids. In Brad's case, he was able to take some of that youthful anxiety and increase it in a way that was effective on adults. (In some cases too effective.)

There are many people who do not like Identity Crisis for a number of reasons, (like Grant Morrison, who takes great offense with the Sue Dibney rape scene.) And while I think it definitely has its flaws, the mini-series does indeed find a way to take some of the elements from Bronze age stories and make them more provocative and interesting for an older audience.

The real question is: Is that a good thing?

- Jim

Wonder Woman, Kamandi and Doom Patrol news

Over at ComicsAlliance, there is an article that suggests that the 2017 Wonder Woman solo movie is going to be "Pretty Dark." 

While this might seem like an odd direction given that Batman v Superman seems to have suffered from reviews that called it too dark and joyless, it really doesn't surprise me for a number of reasons.

1) This movie was well into production prior to the bleak reviews BvS received.
2) The movie is set during World War I, and it's probably next to impossible to have a FUN movie in which trench warfare has any part.
3) I suspect that reversing gears from their Green Lantern inspired No Jokes edict isn't going to be as simple as flipping a switch.

Honestly, if it were me, I think I would have found some way to put the movie in World War II and add some Justice Society characters.  Yeah, I know this would cost a lot of money in reshoots (I guess) but with the rumors that Time Warner is already getting reshoots for the Suicide Squad to put in more joviality, I don't know if rejiggering the Wonder Woman movie that would be a real show stopper at this point. It definitely sounds like a better strategy than doubling down on Grim and Dark.

On the flipside, one bit of DC Rebirth news I've seen that has me interested is the story that DC is going to have a 12 issue Kamandi series written by different teams to present a story that is interconnected.

Check out these teams:  

Dan Abnett & Dale Eaglesham,  
Peter J. Tomasi & Neal Adams,  
Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti, 
James Tynion IV & Carlos D'Anda, 
Bill Willingham & Ivan Reis, 
Steve Orlando & Philip Tan,
 Marguerite Bennett & Dan Jurgens,  
Keith Giffen & Steve Rude, 
Tom King & Kevin Eastman,  
Greg Pak & Joe Prado,  
Rob Williams & Walter Simonson,  
Gail Simone & Ryan Sook
Len Wein & José Luis García-López.

This sounds exactly like the type of challenge that might inspire writers to create some pretty entertaining comics. And those creative teams are top notch. I hope this project works well and spawns similar projects using other DC characters!

Finally, DC also announced that Gerard Way, whose Umbrella Academy has been quite the success for Dark Horse, will be working on a new Doom Patrol series. 

This series will actually be part of a larger initiative by DC wherein Way guides a new DC imprint called Young Animal which will also use some other long forgotten DC characters like Cave Carson and Shade the Changing Man.

At first I was a bit dubious about this news, simply because I'm not a fan of celebrities turned writers in ANY media, but after some discussion and reflection, I realized, this is probably exactly what DC needs to reignite it's lackluster Vertigo demographic.

Thinking about Vertigo in the past, maybe someone like Way is exactly what they need? A well known personality with a defined aesthetic to help give the brand a new identity for new writers to converge around. I mean, I don't know, but you have to sort of think that having Gaiman work there was one of the things that provided a smooth entry for Ellis, Ennis and Vaughn (though he may have come after Gaiman had left.) Since then, Vertigo has sort of been this empty shell without a real figurehead to speak for it.

With that said, of the three projects, I'm probably the most interested in the Kamandi Challenge.

- Jim

Brave and the Bold Omnibus

So I just found out that DC is putting out something they call The Bronze Age Batman Omnibus. Checking it out on Amazon, it's really more of a Brave and the Bold Omnibus as it's going to to feature issues 87 to 122 of the Brave and the Bold.

Sound just like the sort of thing I'd be all about, right? I mean, the great Jim Aparo art and, ahem, topical, Jim Haney stories make that my favorite era of Brave and the Bold. However, the cover is a bit lackluster. Check this out:

No two ways about it - that cover really doesn't "sell" the great Bronze Age content. What's even worse is that because of the title, this looks like this is going to be the ongoing trade package for this entire line. :(

Anyway, I took it upon myself to redesign the cover more to my liking. Here's what I came up with.

You'll notice I took the liberty of spelling out the exact nature of the content by adding the Brave and the Bold masthead AND giving Bob Haney and Jim Aparo credits on the cover.  I also took advantage of all the guest-stars that appeared in the issues to make the cover more eye catching.

The one issue some people might have with my cover is that Batman isn't shown. That's a fair complaint, so a created another version which had shows the Batman on it.

Hope you like them!

- Jim