Barack the Barbarian#2: where satire meets slapstick

Looking over the second issue of Barack the Barbarian, I still marvel that this is a limited series, rather than a one shot. As I said of the first issue, there is definitely some humour to be mined from casting Conan fan Obama into the role of a barbarian and reenacting his road to the White House as a Conan-style farce, but after you've laughed at the concept once, how does the humour sustain itself?

I suppose I should have remembered that writer Larry Hama is a veteran writer/editor of Crazy Magazine, so he does have a sense of humour beyond the "metafive" of Obama as Conan; for instance, the post-ice age interpretation of basketball:

As to the political satire? It's still about as subtle as Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems.

This month, Barack journeys into the Labyrinth of Pundits. To cross the threshold, one must answer a riddle from a Sphinx. Barack's Sphinx bears an uncanny resemblance to a certain toothy late night host:

By simply offering his opinion on sports, Barack gets in. Meanwhile, the Old Warrior faces a Sphinx who offers him a low-ball question ("Who's buried in Grant's tomb?") and Red Sarah refuses to answer her Sphinx's question, bluffing and bragging her way into the labyrinth.

Venturing into the Labyrinth of Pundits, we see an amusing series of send-ups of TV pundits, starting with Mo Doubt and continuing on to Choler (Choler: "It means rage!" Barack: "It can also mean diarrhea.")

We continue on to the Tweedledee/Tweedledum duo of Libbow and Billow and the stinky Nose-Pin Sean. If it sounds as though the right-wing take all the lumps in this book, I hasten to add that the lefties get a few jabs; witness, Ubermensch and Rake-Hell:

I still have reservations about the length of this series - in fact, I have no idea how long Devil's Due intends to run it. But Hama breaks out some funny lines and Christopher Schons' loose art is well-suited to the caricatures he unleashes. We'll see how it develops in the end.

Fall of Hulks begins in December

FALL OF THE HULKS ALPHA

Written by JEFF PARKER Pencils by PAUL PELLETIER Cover by ED MCGUINNESS

M.O.D.O.K. The Leader. Mad Thinker. Egghead. Red Ghost and the Super-Apes. Doctor Doom. They make up the secret group who have analyzed every victory and every defeat in the Marvel Universe to create the perfect battle plan that results in FALL OF THE HULKS! The origins and shocking truths of some of Marvel's most dangerous villains are revealed as the biggest HULK EVENT yet begins! From fan-favorite creators JEFF PARKER (AGENTS OF ATLAS) and PAUL PELLETIER (WAR OF KINGS) comes this tale of the “Smartest There Is” and their quest to prove it, once and for all. 32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99

Under normal circumstances I only promote comics in advance which I had a hand in producing. However, I have a few reasons for promoting this comic:

1. It's the beginning of the next big Hulk crossover and ever since Greg Pak took the reigns of the Hulk franchise it's been extremely well done.
2. Two words: Jeff Parker.
3. Well, maybe a few more words; Parker is one of my favorite writers in the business right now, from Agents of Atlas to Interman to Marvel Adventures Avengers to Exiles to X-Men: First Class, he's one of the best talents in editor Mark Paniccia's stable of creators (and I have high regard for Paniccia's acquisitions). From the hilarity of "Doom, Where's My Car?" to the espionage of the Interman, he brings a great game to the business.
4. Then there's Paul Pelletier, whose style is pleasantly similar to Alan Davis (in my opinion, one of the all-time top talents) and has brought excellent artwork to books like Exiles and War of Kings. Always a pleasure to see him.
5. Oh yeah...although I didn't produce this book, I helped proofread it. If you consider yourself a potential customer, let me assure you: it has more faces than Dr. Lao, more soul than Soul Train and more Wizard-ry than the Wizard of Oz. Plan to buy it.

That is all.

Kidnapped: softcover coming!

This December, celebrate Christmas with the softcover edition of Kidnapped!

KIDNAPPED! GN-TPB

Written by ROY THOMAS (based on the novel by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON) Penciled by MARIO GULLY Cover by GERALD PAREL

A STOLEN INHERITANCE! ABDUCTION AT SEA! AN UNSOLVED MURDER: These are the elements that Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, wove together in Kidnapped, his novel set upon the ocean and in the wilds of the Scottish Highlands in the middle of the 18th century. Young David Balfour tries to claim his rightful inheritance from a treacherous uncle determined not to share it—and is kidnapped aboard a ship bound for the American colonies, where he’ll be delivered into slavery. He escapes in the company of a dynamic Scottish rebel named Alan Breck Stewart, and the two of them forge a powerful and memorable friendship—fighting all foes side by side, and triumphing in the end. Collecting KIDNAPPED! #1-5. 128 PGS./Rated T+ ...$14.99 ISBN: 978-0-7851-3532-6

Index in December

OFFICIAL INDEX TO THE MARVEL UNIVERSE #12

Continuing the chronicle of the Marvel Universe, starting with Spider-Man (from AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #501 on), Iron Man (from IRON MAN #1 (2005) on) and the X-Men (from UNCANNY X-MEN #465 on). Follow the history of the Marvel universe as it unfolds month by month with the All-New Official Index to the Marvel Universe. Each issue provides synopses for dozens of individual comics, including back-up strips, introducing you to the characters, teams, places and equipment that appeared within, providing vital information about first appearances, where they last showed up and where they appeared next! 64 PGS./Rated A …$3.99

I Love Atlas Comics #7: "From Out of the Past!"

From my tattered copy of Astonishing#49 (1956), a tale of dinosaur bones, museums and comeuppance: three great tastes that go great together.

We look in on a trio of university paleontologists who are waxing about their superiority over men of the past. They regard some of man's past accomplishments such as his "stirring adventures" (and envision a caveman fighting a sabertooth tiger), "pomp and pagentry" (two knights jousting) "and even great romances" (Cyrano de Bergerac). "But they lacked knowledge! Our specialty, paleontology...the collection and classification of fossils, lay far beyond their wildest dreams!" Indeed, "...if any fool needs convincing...let him walk through the museum halls where our superb handiwork is spread out for him to behold!"

Why, the egotistical braggarts! I always knew palaeontologists had less character than a Wall Street banker! But the story continues: a fellow from a dig produces a new fossil fragment, which one of the palaeos dismisses as "a piece of our old brontosaurus friend!" with such cool detachment you'd think he was the one who murdered the old beast. And so the dig continues to see if more fossils can be found in that spot. I do hope the piece they found was the intercostal clavicle.

At any rate, the men dig while the palaeontologists relax.

Why those smug little...! Now they're looking down on the working class! When the revolution comes, these three will be the first against the wall! I'm sorry, the only way they could possibly receive any comeuppance is if this dig somehow unearths something so mind-blowing that it puts their own world to shame!

Sure enough, the working men do find something and call the palaeos down. They found more bones, yes, but more than that, they found...

Well I'll be O. Henry! What a humbling, albeit lucrative, discovery. So what have we learned today children, if nothing else? That's right, neanderthals make the best palaeontologists.

In all seriousness, I do agree with the core philosophy of this quick little tale, similar to that of History Bites' Rick Green - that times may change but people do not and that one day future generations will have cause to ridicule us. ...For inventing the Brontosaurus, for one thing.

Parting thoughts on Wednesday Comics

Wednesday Comics#12 came out today, bringing to an end the 12-part weekly series DC Comics has experimented with; as described earlier, each issue featured a single-page DC adventure hero story serialized in the fashion of an old newspaper comic strip and published at newsprint sizes. Here's my thoughts on the 12 strips of Wednesday Comics:

* * *

Batman This was just a crime story with a little Batman in it, but it was fine, lovely art by Eduardo Risso.

* * *

Kamandi the Last Boy on Earth The story was typical but the actual storytelling was gorgeous; Ryan Sook's art was beautiful and the Prince Valiant-style captions were classy.

* * *

Superman In which Superman mopes about for a few weeks feeling sorry for himself then gets over it. Maybe John Arcudi originally wrote this story for Spider-Man?

* * *

Deadman David Bullock is not a name I was familiar with before so, crown me fool; he's excellent, combining some of my favorite aspects of Jack Kirby's art with Bruce Timm's. He turned in a great high adventure story about Deadman battling demons and did it with panache.

* * *

Green Lantern I can't get too worked up about a character like Green Lantern but this was fine for what it was. I'm not certain whether the story was best told in this format, it feels like a 12-page story done in installments.

* * *

Metamorpho I started out loving this strip but writer Neil Gaiman played it too cutesy throughout; a couple of gags about 60s comics can be fun, but he ran it into the ground. Still, there's a lot to love about Mike Allred's art and Gaiman did deliver him a lot of great visual moments, notably the two-week trip across the table of elements in which Metamorpho transformed himself into each element.

* * *

Teen Titans I have friends who defend this strip because they have a lot of regard for Sean Galloway. Fair enough. That doesn't excuse Eddie Berganza's story, which doesn't simply suggest an inability to write in the format but an inability to write in the medium. The Titans seem to have around 10 members but most of them go weeks at a time without appearing, then suddenly jump into the story between panels. The main villain Trident is apparently supposed to be someone Titans fans would know but then turns out to be someone else altogether and...why did I bother reading this tripe?

* * *

Strange Adventures I've had limited exposure to Paul Pope's work, but this strip convinced me to change my ways. This strip starred Adam Strange in a fast-paced action story that somehow found time for a Dr. Fate guest appearance. I loved everything about it.

* * *

Supergirl I can't believe this became one of my favorite strips! Jimmy Palmiotti's simple story has the super-pets Krypto and Streaky embarking on a series of rampages as they act like disobedient pets (only with super powers). Poor Supergirl has to help her friends and enlists Aquaman and Dr. Mid-Nite along the way. The real star is Amanda Conner whose art was just gosh-darn adorable.

* * *

Metal Men This seemed like a very familiar Metal Men story, what with their number one foe Chemo showing up and most of them being destroyed (don't panic, they always come back). It started out as the Metal Man foiling a bank robbery and seemed like it would be a little more fun than it ultimately was; though we readers put no stock in the Metal Men's lives, writer Dan Didio weighed the story down with their sacrifices. Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez turned in some fine art.

* * *

Wonder Woman I gave up on this strip on week two because the work of trying to read it wasn't reciprocated by the entertainment I derived from it. While many creators used the unusual format of Wednesday Comics to blow the art up to mammoth sizes, Ben Caldwell tried to squeeze about four pages on each and it was just too much of a slog trying to make out his tiny panels and discern what reading order was the correct one. I did like the apparent Little Nemo in Slumberland references though. Now that it's over, I guess I'll do the work of trying to read them together.

* * *

Sgt. Rock A fairly typical story of Sgt. Rock fighting Nazis. I'm not sure why Joe Kubert needed his son Adam to write it; surely after 50 years he can write this stuff in his sleep?

* * *

The Flash With Supergirl, this was a fine surprise. Karl Kerschl and Brendan Fletcher played around with the format every week in Flash, turning in homages to soap opera strips, Tarzan, Modesty Blaise, Blondie and even Peanuts, if you can believe it. This was simply a fun super-hero strip each week and it should be interesting to read it together as a whole.

* * *

The Demon and Catwoman This was a slight story but it was all in good fun. Catwoman and the Demon fight his old enemy Morgaine Le Fay and...that's about it.

* * *

Hawkman I don't know what to make of this strip. There's something very off-kilter about the dialogue which suggests that Baker was either trying to mock the super-hero genre (as he did before in Plastic Man) or write it for a kids audience (as a former Tiny Toons creator, he knows something of that). What I do know is that he needs to cut back on the photoshop.

Out tomorrow: Pet Avengers TPB

Tomorrow sees the release of the Pet Avengers Classic TPB. It's a fine collection of stories featuring Marvel Pets like Lockjaw, Zabu, Niels and Lockheed! It's not actually one of my books but I helped gather material for its publication so I give it my recommendation. If Marvel Pets are your thing, grab a copy!