Quick Rating: All Right
Title: Moonday

Moonday? Is that a riot or what?

Writer: Peter Hogan
Pencils: Chris Sprouse
Inks: Karl Story & John Dell
Colors: Dave Stewart
Letters: Todd Klein
Editor: Scott Dunbier
Assistant Editor: Kristy Quinn

I’ve heard it said that you could judge a great song because it still sounds great no matter who sings it. Somewhere I have a recording of Debbie Harry and Iggy Pop doing Cole Porter’s Well Did You Evah? which demonstrates this point. It’s a great song that shines even through their rough edges. I don’t know if this evaluation is analogous for fictional characters. For the most part, Sherlock Holmes has survived a lot of authors. Tarzan has suffered a bit more. Comic book superheroes seem to fall into the Tarzan category. More often than not, they provide shorthand for what the current author is trying to signify. Tarzan represents the triumph of the modern man over his environment. Spiderman is the struggle with responsibility. The X-men are victims of prejudice. Without these brief sketches, it can be difficult to tell what an author is getting at in a story. I think Tom Strong may signify other superheroes or the power of superheroes or superhero comics or…. I wish I knew because this one-off tale just does not have much meat on it.

Tom Strong has volunteered to help rescue the friend of a friend who has gotten lost on the moon. The story opens on the moon in the middle of the search. I’ll avoid telling you what they find, but the tale ends with the search complete and the whole party going home. In the great arc of Tom Strong tales, we are left with one titillating possibility and nothing much else.

Despite its profusion in the past century, narrative art does not get much respect in the art world. So, is it fair to compare comic book artists to old masters? If you live near Boston, you should run to the Museum of Fine Arts and see their Rembrandt show. It’s filled with comic book panels. If he lived now, he’d be the king of European comics. Styles evolve and change. The criteria remain the same. Does the piece of narrative art communicate the information that it is meant to convey? Does it do so in an interesting, entertaining, artful way?

In comics, the art can struggle with the information. Sometimes there is too much to convey. In Moonday, there is too little. The tale moves at a glacial pace. This is the sort of story that Scooby Doo tells in four pages. I’m all for stories that set a mood and build from there. But that is not what is going on here. I like the art in Tom Strong usually, but I can’t point you to something that really thrills me in this issue.

I don’t know about you, but I’m so looking forward to Saturnday. But what story name will they come up with based on that big ball of gas at the center of our solar system? In the America’s Best pantheon, I really miss Tomorrow Stories and Top 10, but I don’t know if I would miss Tom Strong to quite the same degree. I hope they come up with an issue soon that makes me feel like a new reader can jump on and run with it.

October 2003

Quick Rating: Legalese, Mumbo Jumbo
Title: 13 Court Street

Writer/Artist: Batton Lash

I like Supernatural Law. I loved the concept when I first heard of it (in the distant recesses of a long-gone century). Who can resist the image of a werewolf in night court? Isn’t it where all the worst critters belong? It just reeks of high-concept Mel Brooks. (Now there’s a description to contemplate. Noel Coward doing monster jokes? Oh, yeahhh… he did Blithe Spirit… . Am I saying that Batton Lash is the Noel Coward of comics?)

This issue portrays a night in the offices of attorneys Wolff and Byrd. Naturally, since they represent the creatures of the night, they’re open at odd hours, particularly when it’s a full moon, as in this case. The added conceit is that the tale is told from the building’s point of view.

Let’s have an interlude…
Is Supernatural Law the great American comic book? How do you define such a monstrosity? Is it discarded ideas re-energized and fed back into the cultural mainstream? Is it a successful deconstruction of the cultural history? Is it Pop Art? Is is Post-Modern? Does it have a beat and can you dance to it? Perhaps the great American comic book simply holds a mirror up to the country and reflects what is there. By that standard, the current superhero comics fail to offer meaningful observations. Like most popular culture, they are reflecting the country as it was or only considering themselves and their history. Supernatural Law shows us lawyers, an all too omnipresent portion of our population. It tells stories about the way we live. It is not as personal as American Splendor or other graphic blogs. Supernatural Law is about us in a way that no other comic book suggests.

But enough about Finland, let’s return to our regularly scheduled review…
I really like the artwork in Supernatural Law—it feels Eisner-esque in the best possible way. I want Lash to draw a detective comic- I want him to draw a superhero comic- I want him to draw- actually he draws all of them and calls it Supernatural Law. What a great concept!

June, 2004

Quick Rating: Afternoon doubleheader
Title: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spyguy

Writer: Peter David
Pencils: Pop Mahn
Inks: Norman Lee
Colors: Dan Jackson
Letters: Michael David Thomas
Editor: Dave Land

Spyboy faces off with Spyguy and then must deal with the trauma of high school. Bombshell and Spygirl engage in their usual rollicking exchanges and dating is discussed. Pop Mahn does some of his best work here. And that’s saying quite a lot.

The local news here had a spot about changing the minimum age for some indulgence or another from 18 to 19. While listening to the story on the radio, I was reminded of when I was in college and co-produced a news special about raising the drinking age. It mattered to me then. Now, far removed from the matter, I simply don’t care.

So, here I am faced with a comic book that focuses a great deal on high school life. I remember high school, instances mostly of adventure, worry, and change. But I seem to be weel past caring about it. At least, I think so.

Even so, I care about Spyboy. It’s fun. It’s a good read. It’s nothing like I remember high school and I can’t ever recall hearing about spies as teachers in the real world. Nowadays, the whole youthful spy thing has been done to death (Spykids, Agent Cody Banks, many cartoons, etc.). I don’t know if Spyboy came before all of them. Somehow it’s different. And I think that spies work great in comic books. I don’t know why, but you can really tell a great Matt Helm-esque story and get away with it. For homework, compare and contrast the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic with its subsequent movie.

June, 2004