More Jokes About Absolute Batman Would Help
By Dan Brown Mad About DC is a new one-shot comic that parodies DC Comics and characters in the style of a Mad Magazine issue. It’s the brainchild of ubiquitous comic writer and artist Chip Zdarsky (DC owns Mad, which makes the collaboration possible). When Zdarsky and his contributors aim quips at themselves, this comic is at its funniest. When they aim them at DC characters and long-standing comic traditions, they are funny, but not quite as much. When they make comic fans their target, they aren’t funny at all. But I guess it must feel edgy to bite the hand that feeds you. In his opening letter from the editor, the Canadian creator calls himself a “comic-book auteur,” a winking way to indicate he knows he’s not too cool for school. How disrespected are those in the comic industry? People are excited to meet Zdarsky since they assume he writes superhero movies for a living. They’re stunned to find out comic books employ actual writers, he tells the reader.. Only one publication is lower on the prestige ladder, and that’s Mad Magazine. Hence this special edition, which features parody stories about well-known DC characters like Superman, as well as such lesser lights as Matter-Eater Lad. Most of the chapters run a page long, the longest stretches to three. The one that made me laugh out loud was a parody of Wonder Woman penned by Joanne Starer with art by Joe Quinones. This creative team poses such eternal questions as, if Wonder Woman has bracelets that deflect flying bullets, why doesn’t she have an entire costume made of the same material? Is there really any reason for her bathing suit-style outfit? “We’re trying to sell comics here,” the Amazing Amazon explains. There’s also a nod to the fact the heroine doesn’t really attract compelling villains: “Great Hera, grant me the strength to find a more popular rogues gallery!” The same piece has the Dark Knight himself suggesting she stock up on sidekicks because “They expire quickly,” a reference to DC killing off one of Batman’s many Robins, Jason Todd, back in 1988. In one panel in an earlier story, Mad mascot Alfred E. Neuman wears a “New New 52” button, demonstrating the publisher isn’t afraid to laugh at its own habit of perpetually rebooting the DC universe. A Kelly Sue DeConnick contribution contains descriptions of the different kinds of comic enthusiasts, like the “Near-Mint Collector.” He’s the fan who is healing his “inner child with first printings and original art.” Or, the “Mint-Condition Fan” who lives to hear someone say, “Sure, Dad, I’ll read those with you.” My feeling is Zdarsky should have shed sections like this, and expanded the Skottie Young-drawn gag about Absolute Batman: “ABSOLUTE is ABSOLUTELY crushing the entire industry in the sales department and you know what they say, WHEN IN DOUBT, ABSOLUTE IT OUT!” The accompanying illustration shows Absolute Batman, only the Caped Crusader’s pinhead is replaced by Neuman’s face wedged into the cowl. But here’s an idea. Instead of DC poking fun at itself, why not do a crossover that involves their biggest competitor? That way, Marvel creators could make jokes about DC’s stable of characters, and the DC roster of talent could take a run at the likes of Wolverine, Spidey, and Deadpool. Readers would be the winners, since this switch would surely inspire some savage comedy. Who knows – someone might even be brave enough to make a joke about how Stan Lee didn’t contribute much to all those characters he worked on with artists like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. Note: Mad About DC (comic-sized) is not to be confused with Mad Spoofs Superheroes (magazine-sized), a treasury edition of Mad parodies on store shelves now. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.
Supergirl is New To Me
GRAPHIC-NOVEL COLUMN: Supergirl is new to me By Dan Brown I don’t know much about Supergirl. If you’re a regular reader of her adventures, then you likely know more about the venerable character than I do. How unschooled am I on Supergirl? I haven’t yet seen the new movie starring the Maiden of Might, which opened last weekend. And although I’ve had decades, I haven’t ever watched the 1984 feature film that stars Helen Slater in the title role, either. I do remember Supergirl being killed off in 1985 in the legendary Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries that rebooted the DC Universe. And I did greatly enjoy Canadian writer Mariko Tamaki’s attempt to relaunch Superman’s cousin in 2018 in Supergirl: Being Super. More on that in a moment. So in an attempt to learn more about the Woman of Tomorrow, I picked up the DC glossy magazine that features four “acclaimed” Supergirl issues, each one representing a new stab at bringing the hero back to prominence. One story has the flavour of a vintage sci-fi novel a la the John Carter of Mars books. Another reads like a Twilight Zone episode. In the third tale, she was reintroduced as a secret-agent type operative. And in the concluding instalment, she’s basically a plot device in the relationship between Superman and his frenemy Batman. The multiple efforts to freshen up Supergirl point to an unavoidable conclusion: Comic fans may not find her all that compelling. It’s not like she was the first “Super” spinoff. That distinction goes to Superboy, who appeared in 1945, seven years after Action Comics No. 1 landed. Kara Zor-El wouldn’t depart Krypton’s Argo City until 1959, in the same era when DC introduced a dog, cat, horse and other super-powered survivors of Krypton. Each time, the publisher diminished what made Superman’s origin so poignant. His claim to fame – being the last son of a doomed planet, sent to Earth where its yellow sun would make him invincible – wasn’t so unique anymore. He wasn’t so special. So if you want a collection that tries to square the 1950s/1960s DC weirdness with the current continuity, as well as appeals to modern readers who would rather their comics be grim than silly, check out this magazine. I do love reading regular comics on a larger page. Now, if you want what I consider a superior Supergirl anthology, pick up the afore-mentioned Supergirl: Being Super. In my (admittedly limited) experience, it is the best Supergirl story out there. It effectively evokes the mood of what it would be like living as an alien teenager attending high school in a small American town. In one scene, Kara pops a zit on her chin. A minor problem we’ve all experienced, right? Just temporary grossness. Yet since she’s from Krypton, the zit explodes all over the bathroom, coating walls, floor and ceiling in thick green extraterrestrial slime. As if coming of age wasn’t bad enough. Even better, Being Super is pencilled precisely by Joelle Jones. If anyone reading this column has seen the new motion picture, I’d be grateful to hear your take. Is it good enough that I should see it while the movie is still in theatres? I understand the flick takes many of its cues from the John Carter-tinged Supergirl tale I mentioned above, and its structure mirrors not any comic property, but the classic movie western, True Grit. Is that the right combination of elements to turn Supergirl into a vibrant movie property? And maybe entice readers to seek out her comics? Let me know your answer in the comments! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.
Some Light War Reading
GRAPHIC-NOVEL COLUMN: Some light war reading By Dan Brown One of the books I’ve been reading during the U.S.-Iran war is Generation Zero, a 1991 out-of-print collaboration between Pepe Moreno and Archie Goodwin. A good chunk of this graphic novel takes place in the same region where U.S. and Iranian forces are vying for strategic advantage after U.S. President Donald Trump chose to attack the longtime thorn in the side of the United States. It’s not clear as of this writing if the war is on or off, but that doesn’t stop the stylish graphic novel from seeming like the right book for the moment. Generation Zero first appeared in serialized form in Epic Illustrated, Marvel’s answer to Heavy Metal, starting in 1983. The monthly featured creator-owned properties aimed at mature readers. In Goodwin’s words, Generation Zero is a “post-doomsday fantasy adventure.” I found it worth my while to track down online. One of the eight chapters, titled Desert Hunt, takes place in roughly the same area as the Red Sea – which, after a limited nuclear war, has become a desert hell in this alternate future. There’s an eye-popping panel that spreads across two pages of a beached oil tanker on its side – it was travelling on the Red Sea’s waters before the apocalypse. And it turns out, even in the decades to come, oil is still crucial for transportation. The book stars a trio of army deserters who venture from a refuge in Iceland in an advanced aircraft searching for a new home for their burgeoning civilization, the ultimate goal being to re-start human life on a large scale. Along the way, they encounter mutated giant snakes, topless belly dancers, ancient ruins, redheads, and an evil army with war supplies to spare. All of it is drawn (and coloured) gorgeously by the Spaniard Moreno. His art reminds me of a combination of France’s Moebius and Italy’s Franco Francavilla. It’s that strong. The action sequences pop off the page. Although it’s a post-nuclear war story, I think Moreno had another fantasy series on his mind when he created Generation Zero. The concluding chapter relates a battle on a catwalk above a barely-suppressed volcano in which it turns out – in a stunning surprise revelation – the two combatants are members of the same family. Sounds like Star Wars to me. If you’re wondering what Goodwin did, the Marvel stalwart supplied the dialogue and captions. It’s an intoxicating, pulpy mix that I liked when I read it for the first time in Epic in the 1980s, and I love as an adult in standalone form. The difference between Generation Zero and other post-nuclear comics, like Threads from Raymond Briggs, is that it depicts the aftermath of a limited nuclear conflict. The far-fetched notion that the superpowers wouldn’t try to completely annihilate each other was a novel one in the Cold War, as now. Even given that faint glimmer of hope, this graphic novel remains a nightmare vision of a possible tomorrow for humankind that isn’t entirely off the table. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.
GRAPHIC-NOVEL COLUMN: Absolute Batman is a Pinhead
By Dan Brown Absolute Batman is a new version of the Dark Knight who’s setting DC fandom and the sales charts on fire. Instead of coming from a rich family, this Bruce Wayne is a young man of modest means while his nemesis, the Joker, is Gotham’s resident billionaire in this continuity. You can also recognize this new superhero because, as drawn by Nick Dragotta, he has a massive body but a pinhead for a noggin. Scott Snyder handles writing duties. I’ve been reading a number of Batman collections lately, ranging from the awful (The Long Halloween) to the superior (The Court of Owls Saga). For this column I read The Zoo, which collects the first six issues of Absolute Batman. The title has been lauded for its visual storytelling, and is selling gangbusters – we’re talking manga numbers. “Absolute Batman is now consistently selling 300,000 issues a month, a monster number in the comic-book publishing field,” the Hollywood Reporter noted in an article on April 3 (I’m sure a part of that total is single copies with variant covers). What you’ll see in Absolute Batman: The Zoo is fresh takes on familiar names and institutions. Jim Gordon is Gotham City’s Mayor. His daughter is Barbara, a cop like the main-universe version, except she’s black. Instead of a Batmobile, Wayne steals a motorcycle. His father, a grade-school teacher, is killed in a school shooting, inspiring the young man to become a crime fighter. Alfred Pennyworth is an ex-special forces soldier-turned-mercenary, and possible partner for the Dark Knight. Selina Kyle is a childhood friend of Wayne’s. Not having the financial resources of the original Bruce Wayne, our hero must use whatever materials come to hand, like when he commandeers a gigantic dump truck in a chase scene. He also leans on a group of friends that includes the Absolute equivalents of Two-Face and the Riddler. No doubt some of the people buying this series are speculators, but there’s no denying this is a novel and energetic twist on the Batman we’ve all come to know in the past. I especially appreciated Absolute Batman No. 4 because it was drawn by frequent Jeff Lemire collaborator Gabriel Hernandez Walta, and delves into this particular Batman’s origin story. The strong demand for the series has led to multiple printings of the first few issues. Fans are genuinely excited to see where the creative team will take the title. I’ve always argued, when anyone says Batman is just a regular guy (unlike Superman), that his superpower is the Wayne family fortune, which allows him to be prepared for any threat to his hometown. So it’s interesting to see how this Batman’s anger is directed at the city’s One Per Centers, who he feels have an obligation to their community, but are instead pretending to literally be above it all, hiding from their responsibility in penthouse apartments. Are you reading Absolute Batman? What do you think? How do you suppose he got his shrunken head? As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
The Modern Comic Industry Began in 1986
By Dan Brown I wouldn’t be doing my job as a graphic-novel columnist if I let 2026 pass without noting it was 40 years ago that the modern comics industry was born. I can guess what you’re thinking: “Wait a minute, Dan, don’t comic books have a history that stretches back until at least the 1930s, with some proto-comics appearing even in the late 1800s?” You’re right. You got me. But I’m not talking about the Golden Age or anything like that. I’m talking about what I call the modern era, the four decades following the publication of three landmark comics – a sequential troika that shapes our expectations of what comics will be in 2026. Readers with long memories remember a time before Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns, Art Spiegelman’s Maus, and Alan Moore’s Watchmen. And I can say with confidence that the industry hasn’t been the same since. The industry had been struggling in the 1970s. Some historians even credit a single title, Star Wars, for saving Marvel Comics on its own. Then, in the 1980s, events like Marvel’s Secret Wars and DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths were helping shore up the Big Two Comics Houses. Alternative publishers such as Dark Horse Comics were still embryonic. Drawn and written by Miller, Dark Knight Returns ushered in a dark and gritty form of storytelling that can still be seen on the stands of comic stores today. Its bleak depiction of Gotham was so scary that readers were willing to look past Batman’s fascist tendencies in his bid to bring order to his hometown. Printed on slick paper, its vivid art still excites me 40 years later. Miller famously said in an interview with Rolling Stone at the time he wanted to produce a comic book that a businessman wouldn’t be ashamed to be seen reading on an airplane. Comics weren’t kids’ stuff anymore. Miller followed the miniseries with Batman: Year One, which re-told the character’s origin in a Gotham that existed in a strange, timeless setting. Maus, which Spiegelman wrapped in 1986, told the story of his father’s concentration-camp experiences in the form of a cartoon-animal tale. It demonstrated that comics were a serious medium and could be put to other uses apart from glorifying the exploits of superheroes. Watchmen, meanwhile, is ostensibly a murder mystery answering the question of “Who killed the Comedian?” but is so much more. Set in an alternate 1980s in which Richard Nixon is serving his fourth term, the backdrop is a Cold War about to turn hot. Among other issues, it grapples with the consequences of having a real-life Superman (in the form of Doctor Manhattan) striding the Earth like a giant. How would that make the average person feel? Out of the three, my favourite is likely Dark Knight Returns – it took an existing comic character and tried to square how he would operate in the real world. It is at once a satire of, and a tribute to, the Caped Crusader. Sequels to Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen have failed to live up to the books that spawned them, likely because they set such a high standard for sequential storytelling. Without those three comics, we wouldn’t have comics as they exist today. But who knows – there may be creators out there who are poised to re-shape comics again. It would be entirely cool for some smart artist or writer to revolutionize our thinking about the form once again. If you have any guesses on who that might be, or which comics are changing the industry right now, let me know in the comments! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Superman Takes on Spider-Man
By Dan Brown Who would win in a fight between Superman and Spider-Man? That question for the ages, surely argued over by many a comic fan, was settled in 1976. That’s when DC and Marvel joined forces to publish the first of what would grow into a long line of industry crossovers that continues to this day. Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man was a landmark comic. And now the fans of 50 years later – many of whom weren’t around in the 1970s – can re-live that moment in comics history by purchasing a reprint of the special issue, which came in giant treasury size and has the two heroes squaring off above the Manhattan skyline on the cover. Even though I’ve got a worn copy of the 1976 original, I picked up the reprint last weekend at L.A. Mood. The version I got features a painted variant of the famed Ross Andru cover. Andru also did the interior art, which looks crisp in the newly published version. The two companies did a really good job of making the story look fresh again. Stalwart Gerry Conway was assigned writing duties. The opening splash – which stretches over two huge pages and depicts a giant robot plowing through buildings in downtown Metropolis – pulses with energy. Printing has come a long way in the last five decades, the paper here is white, not the dingy brown of yesteryear’s newsprint. The continuity it takes place within echoed the timeline of each company at that moment in world history. So in this story Clark Kent is not a Daily Planet reporter anymore, but a TV anchor about to cover the national political conventions of 1976. Peter Parker, meanwhile, is about to graduate from college while freelancing for J. Jonah Jameson. After they meet in prison, Lex Luthor and Doctor Octopus embark on a partnership to ransom the Earth’s environment for $10 billion, which is of course peanuts these days. Cue your best impression of Mike Myers as Dr. Evil not grasping the implications of decades of inflation. By means of a frickin’ laser mounted on an ultra-secret satellite, Luthor is able to kick the planet’s ecology out of balance, finally creating a 200-mile-wide tsunami that threatens to destroy the East Coast. What I love about this retro comic is how it includes devices you don’t see in modern mainstream comics, such as thought bubbles and sound effects: RIPP! KRONG! THOOM! And now, a word about the superhero battle of the century. Any comic fan worth their salt knows the answer to who would win in a tussle between the title characters. There is an obvious power imbalance, and even with the proportionate powers or a spider, Spidey wouldn’t last a minute against Superman. It’s not even close. There is, of course, a ham-fisted way the creative team gets around this fact. Unknown to either party, Luthor infuses the wall-crawler with red-sun radiation, which in DC lore can rob the Man of Steel of his invulnerability, thus making it a fair fight. But if Superman’s nemesis can do such a thing, why doesn’t he ever do it over in the regular DC Universe? Such are the exigent plot devices of DC-Marvel crossovers! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
