Doom Patrol Collections 3 & 4

The Doom Patrol Wants You!

(to read some collections of their past adventures)

Weird strange bizarre encounters confront the reader of Doom Patrol.   These chronicled enigmas warp into even more outlandish escapades when Grant Morrison’s brain divulges the tales of whimsy.

Doom Patrol trade collections 3: Down Paradise Way and 4:Muscle Bound transport the reader to the fringes of a dream-logic world. Comic books possess a strong ability to capture the outré, and bring forth stories resplendent with strange encounters. Morrison presents a “psychedelic hyperreality”[1] of odd originalities that grab, shake, and awaken an imagination and sense of wonder that may have dozed, or become sedate through consumption of material already seen before. Despite the original 1990-1991 publication dates of these stories, they eschew datedness and still feel unique and timely. In these volumes Morrison spins yarns of clock-faced time mercenaries, emissaries of orthodoxy, a psychic muscleman, a wandering transdimensional cross-dressing street (where the Doom Patrol finally establishes their head quarters), and a villainous group called the Brotherhood of Da Da. Tone varies throughout the book, but it always maintains playful germs of chipper frivolity. 

Doom Patrol first graced comic racks in the same year as Marvel’s X-Men. Morrison wrote:  

“Originally billed as ‘The World’s Strangest Heroes,’ the Doom Patrol had always been played as misunderstood outsiders, so I have them a new purpose as the only superheroes disturbed enough to deal with the kind of menaces to sanity and reality that not even Superman could hope to confront. With artist Richard Case and some design assistance from Brendan McCarthy, the spiritual father of my take on the book, Doom Patrol cornered the market in ‘strange’ and picked up the baton Steve Gerber had passed in the from of The Defenders.”[2] The 15 issues in these two collections launch a vicious, yet entertaining, attack on sanity that would leave Gerber’s Defenders questioning reality.  

Reading these issues produced a feeling of displacement and a captivating sense of having lost one’s way in an infinite labyrinth. Doom Patrol harbors a raw and primal element to the stories. The tales are good although a certain slick polish has been left out; a reader can still see the dents and scratches that have yet to be refined. This glimpse of the tales’ birth structure enhances the impact of the story by showing readers some elements from the artists’ initial thrill and creative energy. Saga stands as a creative book of the weird with the polished edges this version of Doom Patrol has left sharp and jagged; this comparison isn’t to say one book reads superior to another, merely a way of bringing forth a difference in style. Consider that if Saga is Powerslave, then Doom Patrol is Live After Death.

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[1] On page 220 of Grant Morrison’s book Supergods. This is the book that caused me to pick up collections of Doom Patrol.

[2] On page 221 of Supergods

White Devil #1

On writing of another white devil, Nathaniel Hawthorne noted that the mourners attending the internment of Young Good Brown “carved no hopeful verse upon his tomb-stone; for his dying hour was gloom.” The first installment in White Devil casts a foreshadowing shadow as dismal and tragic for its own characters as for the distrustful Goodman Brown from Hawthorne. The creators of this free electronically self-published comic White Devil craft a visual story of creeping terror that entertains and evokes introspection and social questioning akin to Hawthorne’s adept utilization. The creators don’t dip out a thrice-told tale though; this work holds the creative distinction of a fresh and original spawning into the world.

White Devil hatched from the machinations of writers Matt Evans and Andrew Helinski with art by Nate Burns. This first of four issues opens in the town of Wetumpka, Alabama, “tucked deep in the southern foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.” The main character Judy Harper (loving mother of Buddy and Sarah and wife to Vince) feels discontent and stagnant. So, she and her best friend Betty choose a hobby to disrupt the routine and tedium of domestic obligations. They join a demonic cult. The first issue, after giving introductions to Judy, the town and the Judy’s family, follows Judy and Betty through their subterfuges of using a book club as cover to escape to a summoning ritual of the cult.  After the ritual, the group members disperse, and the final pages contain a diabolical surprise that strides forth with all the evil portent of an old scratch from Hawthorne.

This comic itches to be read like an itch. White Devil soothes irritants (if only fleeting) from superheroes, crossed crossovers, relaunches, and the fatiguing slickness of piercing colors and too-glossy pages whose glares inhibit reading.

Plotting, dialogue, narrating and pacing get handled with attentive skill that allows readers to easily slip and stay in the small-town world of Judy Harper. The first spoken words in the book are by Judy’s daughter Sarah yelling “It’s not fair!” while running through the door. This commotion, and Judy’s smile while watching her husband and son talking to one another, takes on greater complexity when compared to Judy’s remembered advice from her mother at the beginning of the comic: “I remember her telling me, when I was younger, that it’s important to keep something for yourself. A woman can try and give her all to her husband and her children—but make sure there’s enough left for you so you’re not left ‘empty.’ I’d like to think she’d be proud I finally listened to her. For once I don’t feel empty.”

These juxtaposed feelings augment Judy’s allure. The creators constructed an authentic character trying to balance individual identity and while surviving the unrelenting, tedious, and thankless routine (no one asks how Judy’s day went when all returned, no one said thank you for the meatloaf dinner) of domestic demands. Here exists an honest and dynamic heroine.

The story reads with rhythmic suspense. The plot dangles inferred possibilities before the reader, then shifts to a mundane scene with sinister suggestions then drops the suspense for a normal conversation, before tightening the tension even more. The tension sine waves to the end of the book which leaves readers at a summit of dread and foreboding. It’s a fine bit of manipulation.

Amidst this character investigation and plot pacing the images add to the book’s captivating aura. A variation between soft and hard lines gives a dynamic range to the panels. It reminds one of the soft light from a projector in a darkened theatre. The characters move. On page 10 when Judy enters the car of her friend Betty and they talk while driving, the panels capture scenes of frozen movement rather than posed statues. These panels contain energy that brings another aspect of life to an already lively dialogue that further energizes this comic.

Burns’s rendered facial expressions add to this energy. The look of a pleased son getting praise and his hair mussed from his father; on page 8, the distant vacant look of Vince as he looks up, interrupted from reading his newspaper; on page 9, the ironical expression on Judy’s face when she mentions that “A  Good Man is Hard to Find” is the focus for their book discussion; on page 14, the interested yet bored expression of the cult leader as he watches Judy and Betty undress; as well as the annoyed expressions of Judy and Betty being watched as they undress: Burns captures some life with all these (and more) scenes.

Combined with the great story, the gripping art, and the independent source of this comic and it’s difficult to resist and not join in the enthusiasm of the creators that flows through each page of White Devil.

In the vein of Hawthorne, a small town gothic community and its family tensions churn with a wonderful dark edge in White Devil. Treat yourself to this fine book before you die from regret, at which time your dying hour will be gloom, and they will carve no hopeful verse upon your tombstone.

Snag your copy of White Devil at:

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?zqcc9ju88mdznnj

Conan the Barbarian #7: Border Fury Part 1

Conan the Barbarian #7: Border Fury Part 1

Stepmothers

A boy bent to drape flowers on his stepmother’s grave,

Thinking that death had changed her,

But the stone toppled and killed him.

Stepsons! Be wary even when they’re dead!

Substituting Bêlit for the son and Conan’s mother for the stepmother, Callimachus’s short poem deftly captures the relationship between the two.  In issue 7 of Conan the Barbarian, Conan and Bêlit travel to Conan’s homeland to confirm rumors of someone[1] performing atrocities in Conan’s name. The harshness of Cimmeria’s landscape carries mirrors the inhabitants’ familial relations as shown by Bêlit’s initial greeting from Conan’s mother: “Ah. A slave girl. Nice to see you didn’t arrive empty handed. She will be useful…”

Why does Bêlit put up with this treatment?

Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan and Dave Stewart answer by delicately maintaining Bêlit’s marshalled grandeur, regal fierceness, independence, and godlike aura of tamed savageness against her desire to fully and equally become a part of Conan’s life. This desire she holds is changing her, shifting her into something else. The proof (at least in this story) of the transformative power of love is that Conan’s mother, and the rest of the Cimmerian village still live, spared the fury of goddess queen of Shem. The creative team balances this transitional screen of Bêlit with deft and honest images and words.

Such fundamental change rarely arrives with ease. The depiction of Bêlit’s anger, adds to the believability and interest in her character. Bêlit’s words to Conan’s mother on page 6 contain pride, self respect, and a warning: “I am Bêlit of Shem, Captain of the Tigress and descended from the kings of Askalon! Men bow at my feet!” The same attitudes that lace the words inhabit the images of the panel as well. Bêlit’s pale facial skin framed by her black hair draws the eye to the central left side of the panel. Bêlit visually balances both Conan and his mother. Structurally Bêlit is strong enough for them both. While the partial view of the back of Conan’s mother’s head is shown to readers (and the largest element looming in the panel) it’s turned-away face diminishes its power, even though it menacingly haunts the scene. Conan too seems inferior to Bêlit. His upper body is angled away from his lover, whereas Bêlit’s posture is drawn straight. Conan’s right hand is open and is either halted in a comforting gesture of touching Bêlit’s shoulder after proclaiming to his mother that “—she is my lover,” or in the midst of drawing away as a response to force with which Bêlit declared her identity. The expression on Conan’s face, the tilt of his head and eyes, the slightly open mouth paints the Cimmerian with a look of surprise and (I imagine) awe at the power of Bêlit.

These signs of strength allow Bêlit her dignity and power. Also note too, Bêlit never hangs her head to anyone in the Cimmerian village, except when alone (at least visually in the panel) with Conan who provides encouraging and probably wise words on restraining her fury. Even after falling in the mud and getting insulted by the village girls, and drawn with a sad frustrated expression on her face, Bêlit holds her head erect.

So Bêlit maintains her strength and power and dignity, yet she endures abuse for Conan. The last issues have shown how this love existing between Bêlit and Conan has changed the barbarian, and in issue 7 we’re witness to the changes wrought upon Bêlit.

Such changes rarely happen with ease, and this resistance, frustration, and anger in reaction to her shift in character, Wood, Cloonan, and Stewart depict as well, which only adds to the portrayal of Bêlit as a rounded and developed character.

Page 8 shows Bêlit yelling and pointing at Conan, whapping the soup bowl from his hands. Narration is present, but anyone who has ever been in a relationship doesn’t need the words to obtain the basic feelings of the scene. Bêlit’s fear of the wolf and embarrassment at her fall in the mud and jeers of the natives shows readers her feelings other than just anger…although there’s no mistaking the demonic face as she charges towards her mockers with the drawn knife.

Conan and Bêlit are changing from the characters they both were at the beginning of this series, but the change, this alteration of their individual lives to accommodate an equal with respect and love, is one they both approach consciously and sincerely. Just as Bêlit states at the beginning of the issue “Conan…Be my eyes. Look sharply. Tell me everything you see.” and Conan’s own admission of Bêlit at the end of the issue, “I can’t do it without you.”

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[1] And what of the Conan doppelganger? I can’t help but think of him as the Mcguffin to this issue, like the birds in Hitchcock’s The Birds. The birds were the main aspect of the movie, but they were the magician’s slight of hand that drew attention away from what was really going on, the mother’s angst at losing her son to another woman, the anger and frustration of which manifested itself in deadly avian attacks. At least at this point in Border Fury, the Conan impersonator seems to stand as the anger and destruction of his mother’s anger…or at least an alternative of how very brutal Conan could be if he had no honor, perhaps if he didn’t have Bêlit’s influence…

Rotworld: Prologue Parts One and Two

Rot the night away!

Animal Man #12 and Swamp Thing #12

 

Rotworld is going to be epic!

 

Well, maybe not, at least probably won’t be epic, at least not in the traditional literary denotation of the word.

According to the 9th edition of the Norton anthology , an epic is:

“An extended narrative poem celebrating martial heroes, invoking divine inspiration, beginning in the medias res, written in a high style and divided into long narrative sequences.”

A synonym given for epic is heroic poetry.

Rotworld foils the definition of epic at the very beginning; it’s not written in verse (even though Denny O’Neil (on page 145 of Grant Morrison’s Supergods) described comic-dialogue and captions as “headlines written by a poet.”

Still, the literary definition serves as a useful lens for noticing and appreciating elements in the two-part of Rotworld prologue.

In regards to an epic containing martial heroes, Animal Man and Swamp Thing easily fit this aspect. And like the best epic heroes their characters have a depth extending beyond fisticuffs. Each hero has loved ones (Buddy Baker has his wife, son, daughter, and mother-in-law while Swamp Thing has Abigail Arcane) immediate to them and greatly relying upon their success.

In the most touching scene in Animal Man, Buddy Baker’s mother-in-law states:

"Buddy, ever since you met my Ellen, you’ve been trouble. Chaos follows you around and overturns everything in your wake. I’ve never liked you being with my daughter.

“Shush! I have something to say you, young man!

“Despite what I might feel about you, there is one thing that even I can’t deny…

“You love them. You love them more than anything else in your life. I see it in your eyes every time you look at them.

“So you go out there and you do what you need to do. You stop this craziness. You save Cliff. Make them safe again Buddy…

“Make them safe.”

A touching scene one could perhaps imagine Hecuba saying to Hector upon the walls of Troy.  A scene that reminds readers in an epic (however one may understand the word) more than mere martial prowess and fame depends on the protagonists.

The heroes in the literary epics weren’t brutes, and neither are Animal Man and Swamp Thing. Often in superhero team-ups, a too-large portion of the storyline involves the main characters fighting each other before they realize they’re on the same side; Lemire and Snyder gracefully avoid this confrontation between Animal Man and Swamp Thing. In Animal Man 12 (Rotworld Prologue Part 1), the first words spoken to Swamp Thing are: “No Alec…We need to enter it. Animal Man and Swamp Thing together. Now.” Thus their friendship and trust is established.

The Red and The Green?

Foregoing a formal invocation of the Muse, Snyder and Lemire provide plenty of divine presence. The Green and the Red exist as fundamental entities to all of life and creation. Both the Red and the Green resurrected their avatars (both Swampy and Animal Man died, and were rebuilt stronger, better, and faster and returned to the world…Arcane, the epic villain, went through the same recreation process).

These elements of and interactions with the divine tend to cause great consequences for mundane humans. Given the future visions as witnessed by Animal Man’s daughter, of the destruction of cities and a zombie Flash, the potential affect of Animal Man and Swamp Thing’s success  seems far reaching. It seems all existence as they know it depends upon them. I hope they possess plenty of duct tape.

Along with the presence of divinity, the triangular composition of the contention includes fundamental elements of life: The Green, the Red, The Rot: Plants, Animals, Death: this triumvirate ideally remains balanced, and each element holds the other in check, except that now, The Rot holds the greatest power and the other two elements work in tandem to return the balance. This triad structure holds numerous possibilities for Lemire and Snyder to utilize.

Thus begins an epic, comic book style. Lemire and Snyder employ these elements as best fits their genre of comics and has the reader poised to begin beg of the writers, go ahead and rot my world!