Plan 9 From Outer Space Strikes Again!

I really thought I had reviewed the book before. Yet, I've been re-cataloging my collection lately and I just don't have any evidence of any such entry in this blog. I guess I must have dreamed it or wrote it out in my head; both of which are things I've done before without realizing it.

Plan 9 From Outer Space Strikes Again is Blue Water Comics' sequel to the 1959 B-movie classic by schlock master Ed Wood. Until Tommy Riseau's The Room, Plan 9 From Outer Space was considered the worst film ever made. I, however, love it! 

Ed Wood, despite his flaws, was a passionate film maker. Yes, some of his short cuts were due to his inability to see flaws. But a lot of the stuff Wood is maligned for is really due to the inability to obtain adequate funding for the grandiose plans he had built up in his head for his projects. The 50s weren't exactly a period in Hollywood history when producers opened the floodgates of cash towards horror and sci-fi pictures. But man, did Ed Wood try his best. It just wasn't good enough for the general public.

This 2009 sequel was created in tribute to the original films' 50th anniversary and it was a mixed bag for me. I thought that the plot was worse than the original Plan 9. However, I loved how the art and production staff added continuity errors, smudges and off center pages to this book to make it appear technically flawed like so many of Ed Wood's classics. Artist Giovanni Timpano even leaves the strings of the attacking flying saucers visible! It was also very cool seeing some of the original actors of the 1959 film making cameos in this book. Tor Johnson, Vampira and Criswell all return to help the aliens try once more to conquer the earth. Other actors from the first movie might be in this book; but their likenesses might be too generic for me to recognize.

The one thing about this one-shot that really bugged me was the ending. It felt unfinished. Even though Criswell closes the story much like he did the live-action film, I closed this book feeling like something was missing. Well, it turns out in an odd sort of way that I am right.

Just today, Dren Productions released the first of a 3-part miniseries titled Plan 59 From Outer Space which continues the story after another 50 disastrous attempts by those very same aliens to conquer our planet. Will that series even mention this comic? I doubt it. But I'll find out soon enough. It looks like another zany tribute to what every fan of 1950s B-movies confers to be Ed Wood's opus!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

The Shadow/Batman #1

The Shadow and Batman join forces again in the new crossover miniseries from Dynamite and DC Comics.
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Giovanni Timpano
Published by: Dynamite Entertainment/ DC Comics  

It’s midnight: New Year’s Eve in New York City.

Professor Pyg and his army of Dollotrons have gone on a recruitment drive for more members of his gang. Thankfully, Batman has arrived from Gotham City to stop the psychotic menace. But the Dark Knight is quickly overwhelmed. If it wasn’t for the unexpected appearance of the Damian Wayne Robin, Batman would have become one of Pyg’s minions.

Upon Pyg’s capture, Batman and Robin are alerted to a forgotten evil known as the Silent Seven: a group of super villains long believed to have stopped operating sometime in the 1940s. The knowledge Professor Pyg obtains is a source of division between the Dynamic Duo. But for the champion of the Big Apple, the Shadow, it’s information that chills him to his very core.

The opening salvo in the Shadow/Batman crossover is very unusual.

The storyline doesn’t follow the established rules for a crossover. Generally, the first issue is balanced 50/50 between the two stars as they slowly merge to work the same case or adventure coming together by the final panel of the opening chapter. Here, the Shadow only appears in 5 pages. This premier issue is all Batman and Robin.

I’m not really sure where Steve Orlando (Justice League of America) is going with this miniseries. A crossover typically provides equal amounts of coverage for the two parties being brought together. If Orlando is going to follow this formula, then the next issue is going to be all about the Shadow. We’ll just all have to way and see what the writer has up his sleeve for issue #2.

Now let’s talk about the art.

I loved it! Italian artist Giovanni Timpano’s style is very similar to another Batman favorite of mine- Frank Quitely. The Lone Ranger/Green Hornet crossover artist, like Quitely, pays exhaustive detail to the tiniest of things, like the refuse on a snowy New York sidewalk or the banner logo for a 1930s newspaper in the background of the Batcave. Timpano’s art is really top shelf stuff!

At the heart of this Shadow/Batman miniseries is a mystery. The Silent Seven are foes of the Shadow. For someone like myself who is not really familiar with that character, I’m at a loss as to why these guys scare the bejeezus out of the Shadow among other things.

Will we see further Batman villains pop up in this series? Is the Shadow going to finally interact with the Dark Knight? Why is Damian Wayne playing such a large part in this story at odds with his father? I really can’t tell you because Steve Orlando isn’t playing by the rules of crossover story writing. But I think that’s okay. Compared to other team-ups, I feel more interested in knowing what happens next in this miniseries though I am clueless as to what’s going on for a large portion of this story thus far.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.