Michael Tierney’s had a lot of projects going on lately. Not only does he have Young Tarzan and the Mysterious She coming out this Friday in the new Cirsova, he’s got a new weekly webcomic series hosted at edgarriceburroughs.com.
Additional details here.
The podcast version of the ShanePlays broadcast from saturday is available online now.
So, if you missed it live, you can check it out here:
https://shaneplays.com/young-tarzan-and-the-mysterious-she-edgar-rice-burroughs-podcast/
You can pre-order the new issue here from Amazon.
If you’re interested in getting a hardcover, sign up for our mailing list–we’ll send out an announcement with the link when they’re available, plus we’ll send you a promo-code for a discount.
So, the Countdown to Detective Comics 1000 story was awful and I’m kind of surprised by Tomasi, who’s done some really good stuff that I’ve enjoyed.
I think he went in too hard and at a bad time.
Killing off Leslie Thompkins threw out a flag that let you know they were either headed for a reboot (highly unlikely) or it was all going to be a dream or simulation. He could’ve gotten away with killing off Ducard, but Thompkins? No way in hell.
One of the biggest problems in a lot of the Bat-books I’ve been seeing lately is that Batman’s a loser: he can’t save anyone, he’s never in control, he’s a loser. It’s like he’s been turned into the complete opposite of the Always-Prepared-For-Every-Contingency Bat-god of Morrison’s day. The Capable-Crime-Fighter-Who-Saves-The-Day is too much to ask for.
So, yes, it’s all a dream–a sim, to be precise–that Batman puts himself through to toughen himself up. I figured it would be something like that, but the lead-up to it was a hell of morass and Bat-failure. I get what Tomasi was going for with the whole “Batman needs to remind himself that Gotham needs him and that the cost is worth it” deal, but Peterson JUST did that with Batman: Kings of Fear, and he did it a zillion times better.
What a waste.
At this point, I’m actually getting sick of Batman mythology stories. All of the “Hi, I’m Batman. Have I mentioned that my parents are dead?” OG Batman was over it. I kind of wish Batman would get back to solving murder mysteries at haunted castles again.
In the meantime, however, I’m thrilled that Catwoman seems to be morphing into an Occult Horror title, even if Joelle Jones isn’t doing art for her own comic anymore, and Terrifics have not let up since that early lull of issues 2 through 4.
The Comic Book Store in Little Rock will be hosting a special early-release & signing event on March 2nd from ~1:00 P.M. to ~3:00 P.M.
9307 Treasure Hill Road
Little Rock, AR 72227
Michael Tierney will be available to sign copies, shake hands, and talk about the new Tarzan story that’s featured in our Spring issue.
Shane Stacks will be live on location broadcasting the Shane Plays show for 101.1 FM The Answer.
I’ll also be there to talk to anyone about the magazine and any other projects Cirsova Publishing has, but Michael’s the star of the show.
Quantities are limited: Michael’s stores have ~60 softcovers and ~16 hardcover of our new issue in stock (though many have already been spoken for and have been placed in the pull boxes, and this stock is spread across two stores), so be sure to get to the Little Rock store early if you want one signed!
Critical Blast talked with Michael over the weekend about the upcoming Tarzan story and the state of the comics retail industry.
I’d said that I’d do a round-up review of the series I followed (or briefly followed) last year, and, well, here it is!
Scott Snyder’s Justice League Stuff – I enjoyed Metal a lot, and despite the promises of the short-lived New Age of Heroes that were “Taken from the pages of Metal”, the real follow-up to the event was Snyder’s new sprawling Justice League story. It started out promising, with Justice League: No Justice, but I felt like the wheels were falling off by the time his new Justice League title started; I dropped it after #2, because frankly it was too bloated and dull. Which surprised me because I thought he’d handled a large ensemble fairly well in No Justice. But the start of Justice League was just so sloppy I skipped out on everything else.
The Immortal Men – Slow, pretentious, and utterly beautiful–the art wasn’t enough to make up for the plodding attempt to cram all of the Immortal Men mythos into what ended up being a six-issue mini-series due to its cancellation. I picked this book up because “Oh, hey, Batman Who Laughs is here!” and I was curious what he was up to after Metal. Well, it turned out he was mostly just standing around behind some other villain whose name I forget so they could put him on the cover and trick people like me into following the title.
The Brave and the Bold – If not for Kings of Fear, this would be my book of the year. A Celtic / Dunsanian fantasy fairy tale murder mystery that Wonder Woman and Batman have to solve. The art was gorgeous and story compelling, and it was wonderful to see this kind of fantasy story being told today.
The Terrifics – I love the Terrifics, and due to the hiccups at DC, it’s as close as I’ll be getting to the Outsiders for some time. It was a bit slow early on, but it really hit its stride with issue 5 and hasn’t really let up since. This has been my favorite ongoing since I got back into comics, and the price is right at 2.99.
Raven: Daughter of Darkness – This one started out slow, and it’s not a take on Raven that I’m a huge fan of, but it got better after a few issues; while it’s not great, I don’t regret my decision to not drop the title.
Catwoman – I love Joelle Jones’ art style; I just wish she was better at pacing her story. I think the first story could’ve been told in 3 issues instead of 6, but that’s really a problem with contemporary comics in general. I almost dropped this after the first arc, because even though I enjoyed it, I’m not invested in Catwoman beyond her place in the Bat-o-sphere. Then Penguin showed up in issue 7, so I’m sticking around, even if he really should’ve shown up several pages earlier to offer her the gig instead of at the end of the book; again, pacing.
Batman – I’ve done a complete 180 on Tom King and his Batman. Yes, I raved about his cozy Batman stories, but when he’s not doing cozy Batman, his stuff was terrible. I got tired of watching Batman lose and not save anybody, and the lead-up to the wedding was egregious. I could’ve stuck out the Batrayal or the price hike, but not both.
Britannia: Lost Eagles of Rome – This is a gem I picked up on a whim and ended up not only following the 4-issue series, I’ve got a few issues from an earlier run, as well. Great art, fun and intriguing story. I hear there’s an omnibus collecting all of Britannia up through this, so I’ll be nabbing that.
Batman: Kings of Fear – Book of the year, right here. (Sorry Brave & Bold; you were fantastic and beautiful and sublime and all, but this is ImportantTM)
Kings of Fear blew up the post-modern approach to the Batman mythology with two tons of TNT and is easily one of the best Batman stories ever written.
Batman gets hit with an abnormally large dose of Scarecrow gas, and Doctor Crane tries to analyze Batman to see what makes him tick.
It turns out that Batman’s greatest fear is that the contemporary post-modern approach to writing and critiquing Batman as a rich crazy guy who is probably just making things worse by his crime-fighting is true.
And if this were a contemporary post-modern Batman story where Batman is a loser, doesn’t save anyone, and creates more supervillains than he stops, his fears would be reality.
Only it’s not, and they aren’t. Spoilers: This Batman saves lives. Not only does Batman save the lives of people targeted by criminals, Batman saves the lives of criminals, too. It turns out that the recidivism rate of criminals who are stopped by Batman is only 2% (pretty much his rogues and their most devoted henchmen); criminals stopped by Batman turn their lives around: they go to jail, learn trades, get out, start families, and keep their shit together.
Both the tone and aesthetic of this book hearken back to a time when Batman was still a winner–a good guy who saves the day. So, while Batman is letting randos get murdered in Batman, and Leslie Thompkins just got killed by the Joker in the current Detective Comics countdown to #1000, at least one Bat-book from the last year has a real goddamn Batman who saves the day and makes Gotham a better and safer place.
