Feels Like the Second Time!

Another Friday...and another trip to The Great Escape. If this keeps up, I'll be back to my normal routine. 

In fact, today not only did I buy some more new comics off the rack...I even put in a list of books for my Hold Box. (I haven't had a Hold Box for a year and a half.)

It was mostly a Milestone thing.

So I now have holds for Static, Icon and Rocket, Hardware, and Blood Syndicate (which should be coming soon).

The Milestone Return began with Milestone Returns (go figure) #0. Unfortunately, it was only released digitally at first (February 26, 2021), and since ComiXology and I parted ways (not for any lack on the part of ComiXology, as I dearly love the platform and have a shitload of comics from them; but since they're part of Amazon, and I have vowed not to buy from Amazon again if I can help it--since they fucked me hard--I had no way to get into ComiXology), I had no access to it. It was released in hard copy on May 25th, but I didn't know that...so I missed it. Fortunately The Great Escape almost always has the back issue I'm searching for, and they had this one.

And?

Well. It's necessary reading if you want to get in on the ground floor of the Milestone Revival, for sure. But it is a bit scattershot. It begins with the story of The Big Bang--which I never saw portrayed in any of the original Milestone books. It was always alluded to. Of course, I didn't get all of those original books, so maybe I missed it, but I was there for the first issues of many of the titles. Anyway, you see the "riot"--though it's now re-cast as a Black Lives Matter demonstration. And I think that was a good move. The only problem I have with this set-up is...that it's totally ridiculous. I can (obviously) buy the idea that cops would shoot into a defenseless, peacefully protesting crowd, for sure. But I can't buy that they would shoot an untested chemical agent into that crowd. And it's that chemical agent which either kills people or turns them into superheroes, natch. But hey, this is a comic book. If you're going to get all logical and realistic, you're never going to make it. So I let that big one slide...even though it caused me some serious gastritis... and read on. And that's where it got a bit scattershot. We go from Static (at the riot, gettin' changed) to Hardware (who created the chemical agent, but didn't mean for it to be used yet--but still...mother fucker) to some other guys I didn't recognize, one a Hellboy looking fellow and the other a white guy with a serious mask over his mouth and nose...back to Static, who seems to be shitting lightning (I kid thee not) to Icon and Rocket (am I the only one who always thinks, "Rocket and Icon...no, Icon and Rocket!" every time?) to Holocaust (I think I missed most of him on the first time around; hopefully I can find his mini-series at some point). And that was it for the Set Up story. Then we went back to Rocket and Icon...ooops...mostly...with a little Static and a little hint of Blood Syndicate thrown in for good measure.

It was actually a pretty good issue. It went over some familiar ground, especially with Rocket and Icon (damnit!)...and there were a shit-ton of artists involved, which is always kind of irritating...but all in all it hung together pretty well, and I feel that I got my $5.50's worth. (Marked up 50¢ for the back issue bin.) 41 pages of new story and art...and there was even a cameo by Jesus. (Tastefully done,    too. 1 )

So yes, you should seek this out.

I'm a Save The Center of the Pastry For Last guy, so I pulled out Checkmate #2 next. There were more than a few problems here--all of which preceded my opening the book.

(1) It was written by Brian Michael Bendis. I don't like Brian Michael Bendis. I waited for years for a new Legion of Super-Heroes book, and when it came out I bought it, even though Brian Michael Bendis was writing it. I had to give up after two issues. I just couldn't take any more of Brian Michael Bendis' bullshit.

(2) It was issue #2, and I hadn't bought issue #1. (Note: Yes, The Great Escape did have a copy of issue #1 in the Back Issue Bin. But that would have more than doubled my investment in a Brian Michael Bendis-written book.)

(3) I have no idea who Daemon Rose is.

(4) It was a sequel to the vast Leviathan story...of which I knew absolutely nothing. I don't even know what kind of whale Leviathan was.

I hesitated. I looked at the first couple of pages. The art looked good. I put it back. I went to the Back Issue Bin. Issue #1 was there (as above) for $4.50 or so. I went back to the New Issue Racks. I thought back to how much I loved Checkmate (actually it was Checkmate!) back in the day. Greg Rucka. The eleven part "The Janus Directive" which went through Checkmate!, Suicide Squad, Manhunter, Firestorm, the Nuclear Man, and Captain Atom. (One of the few story arcs I've pulled out of my Back Issue Bins more than once to re-read.) Oh, Checkmate.

I decided I'd buy the new issue. There was only one left, which helped me to make the decision. If it sucked, I'd be done. If it didn't suck, I'd come back to buy the back issue of #1, re-read #2 (of course), then get the rest of the series as it came out. 

Looks like I'll be going back to buy that back issue of #1. Even though I didn't REALly know what was going on, the story was interesting, even a bit exciting, and it had some nice bits starring characters near and dear to my heart: Green Arrow, The Question, Talia Al Ghul, even a little Superman. And Lois Lane, too. (I've never really liked her, though.) And this lead character...Mark Shaw. Mister Shaw, no less. A Manhunter (in the Jack Kirby sense, not in the Martian sense)...but not one I've seen before, so far as I know. But he's an interesting character, for sure. Appears to be a bit of a cyborg. 

Oh, I forgot to mention the art. It's by long-time Brian Michael Bendis collaborator Alex Maleev. And you KNOW how much ass he kicks. In fact, I think it was his art on the first, full page panel of the first page of this book that made me get past the Brian Michael Bendis credit. It was so delicate. So European. Well, let's put it this way: I've never seen a book with Alex Maleev artwork that didn't look great, and that includes this one. So yeah, I'm actually looking forward to reading issue #1 in the near future. Probably next week. And I'm pretty sure that I will be adding Checkmate to my Holds list then, too.

As for the center of the pastry...well, was that Hardware, my second favorite book of the first Milestone run (Xombi was my favorite), or was that Static, whose first issue I'd enjoyed so much? I looked at the Bill Sienkiewicz variant cover on Hardware and stopped thinking about it.

First the bad news: Hardware is (again) presented as a six-issue mini-series. More bad news: the (Denys Cowan) art is superb most of the time, but there are a few times when it totally lets the story down. The most significant of those is in the final panel. I don't like spoilers, so I won't get too specific, but let's just say this: if Hardware's last comment (in the penultimate panel) was meant to be ironic, then the art which would make that clear in the final panel is seriously deficient. A shame. But still...Bill Sienkiewicz inks (Hey, Bill--you could have saved that last panel thing I was talking about, couldn't you? Or was it actually colorist Chris Sotomayor's fault? Hmm, that's possible.) actually transform a few panels into something very much resembling Bill Sienkiewicz art, and no disrespect to Mr. Cowan intended, but that is always a good thing in my book.

One more bad news bit: as with Icon and Rocket, this is mostly a re-do of the 1993 Hardware #1. It's not quite as slavish in following the original as I&R, but still, it doesn't stray far, for sure. But hey, it's been a long time since Milestone danced in the moonlight, so I guess they had to do something like that. 

Okay. The good news: this was an exciting, action-packed issue. And Curtis Metcalf / Hardware is one cold motherfucker. I don't know what the death count is here, but clearly Curtis isn't that worried about killing cops. (Explosives, etc.) Not that I approve of that...just that it's much more realistic than the usual "No, I won't kill you. That would just FILL IN THE BLANK." If lots of people are trying to kill you and you have some big guns, you're going to use them. Full stop. Besides, if this version of Hardware mimics the first run, that coldness will change a bit as we go.

Which leaves me with Static #2, doesn't it?

And all I can say is...wow. Vita Ayala is masterful at striking a balance between the story of a teenaged Black guy who is having a very rough time and the story of a young super-hero. In some ways--none of them derivative in the normal sense of the word--it reminds me of the early Stan Lee / Steve Ditko Spider-Man. Virgil Hawkins is a young genius, obviously, but that doesn't stop us from relating to him. He's so conscious of his own fears and perceived flaws that anybody who isn't pumped full to the bursting point with Self would identify with him. And another excellent--and to me surprising--move in this story is that Curtis Metcalf (Hardware) is functioning as a sort of mentor to Virgil. (A bitchy, mean mentor, but a mentor nonetheless. Hey, we can't all be Tony Stark, right? Besides, Stark was kind of bitchy now and then, too, come to think of it...and he wasn't being actively pursued by a heavily armed police force and a maniac multi-millionaire.) 

And the art? Once again it is just lovely. ChrissCross does a wonderful job with the layouts, and Nikolas Draper-Ivey is just superb with the finishes (and color!). Even if you aren't as excited about the return of Milestone as I am, if you love comics, you will really love Static: Season One. And don't wait for the first collection: get hold of this thing now. 

Funny, I would have thought that Static would have been my least favorite of the new Milestone books, and here it is clearly head and shoulders above Icon and Rocket and Hardware at this point. In fact, I love this book so much that I just checked a couple of collections of old books (Static Shock: Trial by Fire -2000- and Static Shock! Rebirth of the Cool -2001-) out from Hoopla.

And speaking of Vita Ayala, I just checked out the aforementioned Hoopla, and there are quite a few books that Vita wrote available via that platform. I just favorited everything they had (since they only let you check out 6 books per month, and I've already hit that limit for August), so I'll be getting to that as soon as possible. 

1  Not shitting you here, by the way.