Last summer, Marvel Studios & Netflix misfired with The Defenders, as the miniseries came off as being about as badly written as some of this season's episodes of The Flash over on CW.
Marvel also revived the oft-used Defenders comic, and entrusted it to one of the business' best writers, Brian Michael Bendis, who also happens to be Jessica Jones' creator. As with the TV show, Jessica, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, & Daredevil make up the team. Unlike the show, Luke & Jessica are husband & wife here. Luke's 1/2-brother, Willis "Diamondback" Stryker, is at least one of the big bads, but not the big bad. Suffice to say, Bendis had plans for a longer, sprawling epic that would've made the TV series look even more like amateur night, but one must assume low sales, coupled with Bendis' shocking decision to bolt for DC (more on that below), prompted Marvel to end the book after 10 issues. Deadpool, a "hot" character being "spammed" all over the shelves these days, turns up about halfway, and really doesn't contribute much to the proceedings.
Luckily, Bendis chose not to adapt the TV show, which probably hastened this series' demise, whether that was intended or not. Apparently, the plan now is to keep the central story going in the four leads' individual books.
Good start, rushed finish. Bendis lost his way toward the end.
Rating: B--.
Time to revisit Dynamite's Nancy Drew & the Hardy Boys miniseries, "The Big Lie".
After reviewing the first issue, I was hasty in giving this an A grade. Yes, Frank & Joe Hardy and Nancy are all young adults in this series, perhaps a homage to the 1970's TV series that featured them. Dynamite would've been better served if cover artist Fay Dalton did the interiors as well, because the attempt at noir-style artwork falls by the wayside rather quickly. What the writer is setting up, though, is a whole universe of Strathmore Syndicate characters (Hardys, Drew, Tom Swift, Bobbsey Twins). However, I think there's a reason that Dynamite is the 2nd publisher to try the Hardys in the last decade (Papercutz being the other)....
Final rating: B+.
The roots of DC's current revitalization and rebooting of Hanna-Barbera's classic characters begins with Joe Kelly & Ariel Olivetti's brilliant 2005 Space Ghost miniseries, which gives the Phantom of the Spaceways a definitive origin, and treats him with way more respect than the satirical Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast (1994-2004) ever did. We also learn how Jan & Jace came to be with Space Ghost. Olivetti makes Zorak into more of a malevolent menace than Alex Toth could ever dream of 52 years ago. Collected in a trade paperback with a swank new Alex Ross cover, this is a must have for any fan of Space Ghost.
Rating: A++.
DC's first Silver Age trade collection of World's Finest traces the roots of Batman & Superman's partnership during those halcyon days of the late 50's and early 60's. Of course, there are healthy doses of Robin. Expect to see Supergirl & Batgirl in a later volume, probably volume 3 or 4 if they get that far.
Rating: A-.
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Brian Bendis will be entrusted with Superman once he gets settled in at DC. While Action Comics will continue its numbering after issue #1000 hits stores in May, Superman will be rebooted back to #1 for the 4th time overall, and the third time in the last seven years. Why can't they just do the math and see how close Superman is to another milestone number, like say for example, #900 or something.
Oh, DC's not alone in this pandering to the #1 mentality. Marvel is rebooting many of their books to #1 starting in May under something called "Fresh Start". Some people just don't get it.
Anyway, despite the delays that have plagued their Young Animal line, particularly the latest reboot of Doom Patrol, DC is forging ahead with new lines this summer, including one built around Neil Gaiman's critically acclaimed The Sandman. Lucifer, upon which the current Fox series is based, is being rebooted back to #1 as well as part of the new line, which also sees the return of The Books of Magic as an ongoing series.
Another new line is being billed as "Black Label". To me, that's a dormant brand of beer from back in the day. It also screams "prestige format" to me, and I scream back, "caveat emptor". There's reportedly a young adult line being put together.
Archie's latest revival of the Mighty Crusaders isn't available in the hometown, as the neighborhood shop didn't get any orders. The fact that some of the creators previously worked on Sonic The Hedgehog (now at IDW) isn't helping. However, Archie and his pals will assume their Superteens personas in June, as if that'll help. Those characters (Pureheart, Superteen, et al) previously appeared in the pages of Jughead a couple of years ago in a fever dream sequence. More on this as the release date draws closer.
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