 |
| Cover #1A. |
What a difference a year and another publishing company make. Snowman 1944 was supposed to end with issue #4. But for some reason be it creative, financial, both, Entity Comics never got around to publishing it. So in 1997, Avatar Press became the new home for Snowman and saw and end to the 1944 miniseries with this special one-shot.
The creative team stayed the same with the move to Avatar. So, you'd think that would have kept the quality of the book up to the same level of the original 3 Snowman 1944 issues. Well, you'd be wrong.
First of all, the book starts out with an 8-page rehash of everything that happened so far in this story. I understand that since so much time had elapsed between issue 3 and this special, that some sort of reminder was needed. I appreciate that. But none of the artwork was new! It was all cut and pasted from issues 1-3! For a $4 comic from the 90s, that's unacceptable!!!
Then comes the story itself. When we last left Tommy Gunn, his Nazi hostage had been killed by the Snowman. Though Tommy seemed to hate to see her go, there didn't seem to be any love lost. Yet most of this issue becomes some sort of twisted fantasy between the American soldier and the Nazi officer as Tommy seeks to escape Occupied territory in a stolen German plane. Yet all this daydreaming really detracted from the story. Not to mention that the language was (now) left unedited and nudity abounds in a book known only for being violently gritty.
Lastly, the story does something completely unexpected and really dumb- it becomes a time travelling romp with a trio of characters that didn't even appear in either the Snowman 1944 or Origin story from the Entity books. Maybe those characters are from the original Snowman book. But if they are, I'd expect some sort of mention of them somewhere (ANYWHERE) in this book's summary or issues 1-3.
Speaking briefly on the Snowman #0 story. It's completely gone from this issue. But I did learn that with Avatar's undertaking of the Snowman franchise, that story finally got to see print as a stand alone series. Yet, with how god awful this special was, I'm not sure if I ever want to venture out into the frigid world of the Snowman.
Not Worth Consuming
Rating: 3 out of 10 stars.
Tommy Gunn is on the run for his life from both the Nazi army and the ancient evil of the Snowman. With the Panzer destroyed, the American pilot's only chance is to make it to the airfield on the other side of a concentration camp. All out action and thrills develops a little bit of a conscience as the horrors of the holocaust are explored in this, the penultimate chapter in the Snowman 1944 saga.
While the main story hasn't dipped in quality, I'm stumped by what happened to the backup feature. In the first issue, we got a very good opening chapter in the Snowman's origin. The next issue also contained some of the origin story, but it wasn't as detailed. By this issue, the origin has completely disappeared! I have no clue as to what has happened to it either...
At least, it doesn't detract from the quality of the main feature.
Parental Advisory
Worth Consuming
Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.
The Shadow Hero is actually the Green Turtle and it's his backstory that's the most interesting part of this book. Back in 1944, an artist was asked to create a new superhero on par to hopefully rival Superman and to rally support for the allied cause in China against the invading Imperialist Japanese. The artist's name was Chu F. Hing and he was amongst the very first Asian American graphic artists in the comics field.
Rumor had it according to Gene Leun Yang and Sonny Liew (the writer and artist of the Shadow Hero) is that Hing wanted the Turtle to being portrayed as an Asian character. But the publisher, Blazing Comics, in which the Green Turtle starred in for a grand total of just 5 issues of a title of the same name of the publishing company, vetoed the idea. To make matters worse, the editors deliberately ordered that the parts of the Green Turtle's body that wasn't covered by his mask and costume, be colored a bright pink hue to distinguish the Turtle's alter-ego as being that of a white man. But Hing had the last word by purposely drawing the Green Turtle either in shadow or from the back, Never being seen in the face, Hing also refused to offer any sort of origin about the hero of China's rebel army.
Without an origin or ever being directly seen was probably why the Green Turtle never lasted very long. In fact, the character might have been forgotten altogether if it wasn't for the tireless efforts of Yang and Liew. In The Shadow Hero, Yang and Liew seek to finally give Green Turtle his long-awaited origin as well as finally portray the superhero as an Asian male.
In the clever retool, Yang and Liew even explain why the Green Turtle was pink, as his mother's constant attempts to give him super powers only results in his skin turning sunburned pink when exposed to water. The Green Turtle also was bulletproof, but that wasn't due his meddling mommy. This time, teenaged Hank is given this special ability after a spirit animal in the form of a turtle offers him a promise in exchange for the boy being the vessel in which the turtle can reside. Now able to resist bullets and disguise himself as a white man, the Green Turtle can suit up and seek justice on the man who killed his father.
Usually, reboots are unneeded at best and ultimately despised by readers and fans. There are a few exceptions like Frank Miller's Batman: Year One and Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. The Shadow Hero needs to be added to that very small list. I applaud First Second Books for giving Yang and Liew the thumbs up to give the Green Turtle his much needed chance to be portrayed as originally intended (based on if the legend of Chu Hing's original concept is true- which I think it is.) Be sure to check out the 'director's cut' material at the back of the book and a reprinting of the Green Turtle's very first adventure and decide for yourself.
I only hope First Second decides to publish another miniseries starring Green Turtle.
I want to also give major props to the writer and artist. In this day and age in which many of our established superheroes are being retooled in order to fit in with this era's en vogue PC term 'diversity,' Yang and Liew changed all of the rules. They took a lesser known character that was intended to be Asian and portrayed him as he was meant to be originally presented to the masses. That is the answer to the call of diversity that I can get on board with.
Also, the creative team made the conscious decision to stick to Chu Hing's original intentions instead of also making the Green Turtle gay, a woman, and suffering from a speech impediment. In a way, this book answers the call of many established comic book fans like myself who want to see diversity in comics but also long as it's portrayed with new characters and ideas. Sure the Green Turtle is technically 71-years old but to 99.9 percent of the comic book community, he's brand new.
I would love to see more forgotten heroes given a new chance at life with new ideas surrounding their background. Marvel did a fantastic job of this with it's 70th anniversary miniseries the Twelve. Even my all-time favorite artist Alex Ross has taken up the call with several old school public domain heroes in the pages of Dynamite Comics.
So, there you have it all you vast comic book publishers. The challenge has been issued. Will you follow the lead of Gene Leun Yang and Sonny Liew and answer the call?
Worth Consuming
Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.
(Note: The Shadow Hero reprints the ebook miniseries 'The Shadow Hero" The Green Turtle Chronicles, available on Kindle.)
