When they began their run on Action Comics in 2011, Grant Morrison was at a crucial juncture in their comics career. After returning to DC in the early 2000s following the end of their run on New X-Men, they launched into a staggering creative frenzy that took them through the first act of their Batman epic, their cult classic take on The Seven Soldiers of Victory, and the multi-Eisner Award winning All-Star Superman with their defining artistic partner Frank Quitely, along with significant contributions to the acclaimed 52. Their mid-naughts imperial phase culminated when Dan DiDio finally handed them the keys to the kingdom and allowed them to do their take on a classic DC Crisis event, leading to the seven-issue Final Crisis with J.G. Jones and Doug Mahnke. Instead of delivering a classic crossover action comic (heh), Morrison wrote a baroque, austere story about the apocalypse powered by symbolism and metaphor as much, if not moreso, than by narrative logic, an ontologically dense exploration of DC’s icons that contrasted them with grimy images of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World New Gods to advance Morrison’s concept of the Justice League as the gods of the Fifth World. [Read more…] about The Old 52: Action Comics & The Birthplace of Modern Morrison
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A Retrospective on Captain America, Heroes Reborn
The 90s were a tough decade for Marvel. They started off great – In 1990, Todd McFarlane’s Spider-Man #1 sold 2.5 million copies and a year later Rob Liefeld’s X-Force #1 sold 5 million copies and Jim Lee’s X-Men #1 sold 8 million copies. Then in 1992 all three of these artists and a handful of others left Marvel to form Image. Then in 1996, Marvel was forced to file for bankruptcy. Between these two events, we got Heroes Reborn
The Best Carnage Comics of All Time!
Since his brooding debut in writer David Michelinie and artist Erik Larsen’s The Amazing Spider-Man #344 (1991), serial killer Cletus Kasady has become a familiar, fan-favorite fixture in Peter Parker’s rogues’ gallery as the most common host of the bloodred Carnage Symbiote.
Unlike the more amenable Spider-Frenemy Venom, Carnage has been defined by his unwavering tenacity, his murderous intent, and his ruthlessness. He doesn’t just hate Spider-Man, he hates everyone and everything. Sometimes hilarious but always hyper-violent, he’s a force of nature unlike many others in the Marvel universe, and his long and sometimes complicated history reflects it in both its lowest moments and its surprisingly dense and tense highs. Even Woody Harrelson has taken note.
That’s right, Cletus Cortland Kasady: serial killer… and serial storyteller! It’s more likely than you might think in our list of the best Carnage comics below! [Read more…] about The Best Carnage Comics of All Time!
Nightcrawler’s Religious History & Christianity in X-Men Comics | Krakin’ Krakoa #181
From the unforgettable Dave Cockrum design to the swashbuckling heart of the X-Men in the pages of Chris Claremont and company’s comics, Nightcrawler has long been my favorite mutant. I remain elated by the opening sequence of Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, and forever lament the character’s general absence in the 90s animated series. As the character develops in comics, Kurt Wagner’s Christianity becomes a more integral part of his story, not quite as integral as say Daredevil’s Catholicism, or even Kamala Khan’s Islamic faith, but certainly notable among the X-Men.
Today I’ll Answer:
- What has Nightcrawler’s religion looked like through comics history?
- Is there space for Christianity on Krakoa?
- What does this history tell us about what to expect in 2021’s Way of X
and beyond?
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[Read more…] about Nightcrawler’s Religious History & Christianity in X-Men Comics | Krakin’ Krakoa #181The Hickman X-Men (Re)Read: House of X #5, Pt.2 – The Mutant Renaissance
III. Renaissance & Celebration (pgs6-19)
And we’re back—at the start of HOX/POX. With so many mutants having died before the Hickman era and not a few of the same being teased in HOX/POX previews and the mystery of “the pod people” in HOX 1, we knew that mutant resurrection was going to be key to the start of Hickman’s run.
Related:
[Read more…] about The Hickman X-Men (Re)Read: House of X #5, Pt.2 – The Mutant Renaissance