I read Banned Books (Comic Book Edition)

Tomorrow is the beginning of the annual American Library Association event Banned Books Week. This year, the ALA is focusing on comic books and graphic novels. Their reason is ' "despite their serious literary merit and popularity as a genre, they are often subject to censorship,” said Judith Platt, chair of the Banned Books Week National Committee.'

  All week, I'll be reading and reviewing selections from my favorite banned comics of all-time; the EC Comics. Considered gory, brutal, and undeserving of any merit, these comics have stood more than the test of time- the withstood perhaps one o the greatest witch hunts of the 20th Century- the comic book scare of the 1950s.

   EC Comics were the primary target of the Juvenile Delinquency Senate hearings of 1954. A quack psychologist named Fredric Wertham in his book "Seduction of the Innocent" blamed comic books on just about anything wrong with kids and teens in the 1950s. His accusations were based on doctored data and led to a majority of publishers, writers, and artists of the comic book genre to lose their jobs and their passion- as many of these workers never worked in comics again.

 
   I'll be controversial to suggest that the fact that Wertham was German and the majority of the comic book working class was Jewish at the time, is not lost on me. the pandemonium that surrounded the comics scare is eerily similar to 1940s Nazi Germany. Community groups inspired by Wertham 'encouraged' children to collect their comics (and those of their buddies) and held mass burnings. My wife's uncles recall having to participate in these community improvement projects.

   The comic book industry might have failed completely if it wasn't for the few surviving publishers to team-up and create a self-governing committee that would insure standards and practices in the comic book industry. That group was the Comics Code Authority. Though the CCA is no longer used to determined if a comic is 'child friendly', it's place in pop culture history makes it still a vital and important tool in the comics industry. Like the music industry, comic book publishers now self-regulate their own ratings systems for their comics.

   Another important resource is the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. This fund, which I actively donate my spare coins to at comic book shops nationwide, was established to provide legal representation to publishers, authors, and writers who find themselves targets of the next community action to ban comic books.

 
  I hope this week, you'll participate in Banned Books (and Comics) week. But don't just read them for fun. Try to also reflect on the freedoms of speech and assembly we as Americans have the privilege to experience. This week is also time to reflect on the potential dangers of censorship. As the Jewish German writer Heinrich Hesse once wrote "Where books are burned in the end, people will be burned."
  

All-New X-Men, Volume 2: Here to Stay (Marvel NOW!)

The modern day adventures of the Classic X-Men continue with the team facing many changes in which they’ll have to adjust if they’re going to stay in the new millennium. Cyclops can’t figure out how nor why he’ll one day kill Professor X. Marvel Girl’s newfound powers of telepathy have her teetering on the edge of sanity. Meanwhile, Angel comes face-to-face with his older self and doesn’t like what he sees. To make matters worse, the Uncanny X-Men lead by the adult Scott Summers has arrived at the Jean Grey School to offer its students membership into his new Xavier’s School For Mutants.

The book ends with a cliffhanger of someone unexpected saying yes to the offer. If you read Uncanny X-Men, you’ll already know who accepts. I won’t spoil it but I will say that I am impressed how Marvel was able to incorporate this pivotal scene into both series and yet keep it from seeming rehashed. That’s remarkable work on the part of the X-Men editorial staff.

The art is fantastically clean and vibrant. The story itself just keeps getting better and better. Some may say that the X-Men can’t be good without Chris Claremont writing it. But when you got Brain Michael Bendis behind both books, it’s instant classic time baby!

I’m hooked!

Worth Consuming

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars

Marvel Age Spider-man #18 (Family Comic Friday)

Cover to Marvel Age Spider-man #18. Library edition has a red spine and is titled "Spidey Strikes Back."

  Little treasures like this issue can be found at your local library true believers…

 From 2005, when Spider-man suddenly disappears, newspaper editor J Jonah Jameson declares victory that the Spidey menace is over. A slew of criminals also believe that the city is ripe for their plucking and having been attacking the city in droves. Eager to find out why Spider-man disappeared, the Human Torch has been making rounds hoping to catch up with the wall-crawler during one of these crime sprees. But the Sandman and the Enforcers have also been following the arachnid-clad hero’s routes and now have a member of the Fantastic Four in their sights. Now it’s Johnny Storm who needs saving by his friendly neighborhood Spider-man.

Marvel Age was the first attempt by Marvel to create all-age friendly comics that could appeal to young readers, new-comers, and the comic book connoisseur, Marvel, unlike DC, was more open to this in the early 2000s and I think with the slew of movies and cartoons based on Marvel properties, they won the battle for that generation of new readers.

The one thing the Marvel Age books were missing was a link to the past while being relevant and creative. For example, the first 5 or so issues of Marvel Age Fantastic Four are a near verbatim recreation of the first 5 issues of the original series published in the 1960s. Why, even the lingo was archaic. Thankfully, Marvel got the message and was a little looser with the reins on later series, such as Spider-man. However, there was very little continuity in the Marvel Age books until the imprint was almost complete.

I prefer the Marvel Adventures series that came afterwards. Those books were lots of fun. There was a smidgen of continuity without making readers wait till next month for the conclusion. 4 weeks is a life-time for kids to wait to see what happens next to their favorite super-heroes and I give Marvel major props for understanding this. Generally, Marvel would instead have a theme for their titles that would spend about 4 issues. For example, the Marvel Adventures Avengers would spend 4 issues getting to know each other better, then the next 4 issues fighting mythical creatures, and then another 4 issues adding new members to their ranks. This made for easy reading by having each issue self-contained and yet easy to combine in digest form for binge-reading.

The digest reprints are generally the way to go if you want to collect these issues easily. Single issues do pop up in bargain bins but most comic book stores shy away from all-age titles and thus it’s difficult to find unless you are willing to spend hours searching for these series. A digest is normally retailed at $6-9 bucks and can still be ordered through Amazon and other book dealers. The glue in these is horrid and can easily shed pages like a cat in summer, so treat with care.

As I said earlier, these books can also be found at the library. For Marvel Age titles, they are usually found in a single bound hard-back library edition whereas the Marvel Adventures stuff is almost always on a shelf in digest form with additional binding to stand up to multiple readings. I’ve found these books in several libraries in North Carolina and I am sure you can find these nationwide at libraries that devote attention to graphic novels.

Next week, I’ll explore the Guardians of the Galaxy and talk more about teaming with your local library to get it to be more graphic novel friendly.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

The Next #6 (of 6)

The final chapter has the Next, Sion, Superman, and Metron teaming up to take down the Oblivion Shadow once and for all. But as allies disappear from the time stream, it will be up to Monikka Wong to step up and become everybody’s savior.

The final chapter was just alright. There were thrills but no frills. Most DC books that involve time travel get a little metaphysical and this finale is no exception. The reason for the Shadow’s existence was a little too much like the ending to Wizard of Oz. However, the art once again stepped up and was amazing. So, it wasn’t a terrible waste of time.

To my knowledge, this is the only appearance of the Next. It’s the only comic to star them and I am pretty sure that’s it. There’s a very good reason why you never see the Next ever again- their one and only mini-series was terribly inconsistent. I found some of the jokes corny, the plot thin, and much of the science jargon was college-level. I wasn’t a fan and if it wasn’t for being a time travel book and a Superman featured title, I would’ve given up after issue #2.

Take my advice, skip this. If you want to enjoy the Man of Steel travelling through time, check out Time and Time Again. It’s a much more coherent and exciting story.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Overall Rating: 6.5 out of 10 stars

The Next #5 (of 6)

As the Next keep one step ahead of Sion, the Oblivion Shadow continues to grow, further threatening all of time and space. If there is any chance of beating this anomaly in the space-time continuum, the Next and Superman all going to need all the help they can get. Look for the New God Metron to make a very Yoda-like appearance and for an unlikely partnership to form in this penultimate issue.

Thankfully, DC has pushed out 2 very good issues of the Next in a row. It’s got me a little nervous that the final issue is going to blow as this series can’t seem to decide on whether it wants to be an instant classic or a colossal fail.

Worth Consuming

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

The Next #4 (of 6)

The inter-dimensional bounty hunter Sion has finally found his prey. Coming to the Next’s rescue is Superman. But how can the Man of Steel defeat someone who’s basically a magical being? It’s going to take some creativity, resolve, and time travel. Lots of time travel.

This series is the comic book equivalent of a roller coaster. It goes up and then way down, then it peaks again. This is by far the best issue of the series, a series that’s sadly very inconsistent. The art continues to be very creative and colorful but the story is all over the place.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Next #3 (of 6)

The anomaly of space-time, now called the Oblivion Shadow, has the Next and Superman in it’s sights. How can this be unless this thing is sentient…

One of the Next is known for being a brain and uses a lot of technical jargon to get his point across. He’s basically Reed Richards, only I can understand him- most times. This was perhaps one of the most confusing issues I’ve ever read. Usually, I might get lost because I don’t know the full history of a character or series. This was the first time that I felt that I’d get most out of reading a Graduate level text book on Quantum Physics.

If my wife saw me when I read this she probably would’ve said that it looked like my eyes had glazed over. I know that they crossed from the ‘science’ in this issue.

The plot was good as well as the art. It just had some very advanced theories that kept me from enjoying this issue so much. I think that’s a real shame as the previous issue seemed to be finally getting everything on track. I’m not ready to give up yet. But if this keeps up, I will.

Not Worth Consuming

Rating: 4 out of 10 stars