SBTU Immortal: Forager -- The Second Life of a Bug

This round of Super Blog Team Up is about characters who never seem to die... or rather, die and come back to life. Now, the obvious choice (if you're a DC comics blog) is to discuss the Death of Superman event, or maybe Jason Todd coming back as the Red Hood, or possibly even the Spectre, Deadman or Resurrection Man. Actually, I'm sure if I looked hard enough, I could find a whole slew of DC characters who have 'died' only to come back several issues later.

However, since I've had a copy of Young Animal's Bug! The Adventures of Forager v1 TPB sitting on my desk next to me for the last 2 months and, since I was planning on reviewing it anyways, I've decided to make Forager the character I'm spotlighting. It's about working smart, people.

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So, who is Forager? And why should you care?

Forager is part of Jack Kirby's Fourth World universe (along with Darkseid, Orion and Mister Miracle and all that other cool stuff) and first appeared in 1972's New Gods #9. He's a member of a society of humanoid bugs who live beneath the surface of New Genesis. It's quickly discovered that he's different from the other insectoids in his colony -- he has independent thoughts & feelings that differ from the colony's hive-mind and it's hinted that he may actually have New God lineage.

Panels from New Gods #9 (1972). Pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Mike Royer.

On New Genesis, the 'bug people' are considered to be the lowest of the low, and are often being sprayed with pesticides by the New Gods. In reality, they kind of live like cockroaches, scavenging whatever they can for food while defending their colony from invading tribes. It's explained that during the first Great Clash between New Genesis and Apokolips, Apokolips' armies used germ warfare weapons to attack New Genesis and somehow created this race of bug people. I'm sure Jack Kirby was trying to make a statement here about the then-current early seventies, but for the life of me I just don't have the time to decipher it. It doesn't really matter, either way.

Forager's first mission outside the colony finds him teaming up with Orion and Lightray to prevent Mantis (and the army of bug people he recruited) from invading earth.

Something that kinda catches me off guard is that Forager has a human face. I was expecting him to have an insectoid face of some sort:

Panels from New Gods #10 (1972). Pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Mike Royer.

After his initial team-up with Orion and Lightray in issues #9 - 10 of Jack Kirby's New Gods, Forager had been relegated to Bit Character status during Gerry Conway's run of New Gods (aka: Return of the New Gods). Since Kirby left DC after issue #11 of the New Gods, it's difficult to guess what he had planned for Forager. Was he meant to become a regular cast member of the Fourth World saga? Or simply a one-and-done? Your guess is as good as mine.

Forager seems to have gone into 'comic book limbo' during the eighties, but eventually made a quick appearance in 1987's Warlord Annual #6.

Forager's last, and arguably most notable, adventure during that decade occurred in 1988's Cosmic Odyssey. Written by Jim Starlin (Thanos Quest, Infinity Gauntlet) and pencilled by Mike Mignola (Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, Hellboy),  Cosmic Odyssey was a four-issue prestige mini-series teaming a few of the DCU's big name heroes (Superman, Batman, Martian Manhunter, Starfire, Green Lantern) with a few of the New Gods (Orion, Lightray, Forager) to stop the Anti-Life Entity from destroying existence (or something equally catastrophic). In my opinion, Cosmic Odyssey was one of the BEST things to come out of 1988 -- but we'll get into that some other time.

Starlin's decision to include a lesser-known New Gods character didn't really seem out of place -- the Fourth World was making a comeback, so it only made sense to start re-introducing tertiary characters. Forager is paired with Batman, and the two are tasked with tracking down an aspect of the Anti-Life Entity on earth. Starlin takes great care to reintroduce the reader to Forager, going so far as to recap his relationship with Orion -- which, admittedly, was handy for us who weren't reading New Gods comics in the early seventies.

panels from Cosmic Odyssey #2 (1988). Art by Mike Mignola, inks by Carlos Garzon 

Like most epic DC events, something earth-shattering needs to happen that will forever change the status quo. In Cosmic Odyssey, Green Lantern John Stewart accidentally lets a star system get destroyed, and Forager sacrifices himself to save the earth:

page from Cosmic Odyssey #4 (1988). Art by Mike Mignola inks by Carlos Garzon 

Did Forager's death have an impact? Well, heroes altruistically throwing themselves into the line of fire to save the planet/universe seems to happen quite frequently in the DCU (see: Barry Allen Flash, Kara Zor-El, etc...), so that's kind of a moot point. Forager's death did reinforce the idea that Orion, the biological son of Darkseid, is a ruthless warmonger with no real regard to anyone who isn't a New God (which was kind of a sub-plot running throughout the mini-series).

I suppose his death wasn't in vain -- anything that makes Batman angry enough to take a swing at Orion to defend your honour is probably how you want to go out:

panels from Cosmic Odyssey #4 (1988). Art by Mike Mignola inks by Carlos Garzon 

Cosmic Odyssey concludes with Highfather instructing Orion to take Forager's body back to the bug colony of New Genesis. The story continues in 1989's New Gods v3 #1 with Orion delivering Forager's body and learning 'tolerance'. Most importantly, Forager stayed dead and wasn't re-introduced in a 'whoops, haha, here's what REALLY happened' type-of-deal several issues later. His death stuck.

How important was Forager to the New Gods mythos? Well... not very. The first major story arc in New Gods v3 introduced a *new* female Forager who picks up the mantle and becomes the bug people's new champion:

panel from New Gods v3 #2. pencilled by Paris Cullins, inked by Bob Lewis

Of all of Kirby's Fourth World characters, how much do I care about Forager? Well, on a scale of 1 to Darkseid (who I think is the best villain ever), I care about Forager a smidgen more than the Forever People (who rate about a zero), so figure that one out.

But I DO care about the Bug! The Adventures of Forager six issue mini-series because 1) it's a Young Animal imprint and 2) it's illustrated by Mike Allred -- who is easily one of my top 3 favourite artists. As you may have picked up on some of my previous posts, I am a shameless Young Animal fan and feel that it carries the 'DC with an edge' spirit that the publisher has been lacking for the last -- oh I don't know -- half decade or so. I've been a Mike Allred fan since his Madman comics from the early nineties, think his 2001 X-Force collab with Peter Milligan was one of the best X-titles I've ever read, and really felt that he and Dan Slott renewed my interest in Silver Surfer after reading volumes 7 & 8 (2016 - 2018).

I'd compare Allred's art to 50s/60s pop art: clean strong lines, no hard edges, not overly detailed, vibrant colors, with lots of activity and fluidity in his pages. His comic book characters resemble comic book characters, none of this 'photo-realism' stuff. In a way, Allred's art reminds me of Jack Kirby's -- which makes him a perfect fit to tackle a Kirby-created character.

cover of Bug! The Adventures of Forager #1 illustrated by Mike Allred.

While I don't think any DC comics fans were banging down the doors demanding a Forager revival, astute readers may remember that Mike Allred wrote and illustrated a 2-page New Gods story back in 2004's Solo #7. Forager was visible, alive and well in this story. Was it foreshadowing? Nah, I think it was just Mike having fun -- nothing that happened in Solo appears to be cannon, but it may have brought attention to the fact that Mike likes these characters and would do a great job with them.

panel from Solo #7 (2004). Illustrated by Mike Allred.

There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to love the art in this book, the real question was if (writer) Lee Allred could make me care about this character by the end of this mini? …or at least write something entertaining enough for me to want to come back for five more consecutive issues?

This is a review article, so I'm going to jump right in. Lee Allred starts the first issue of the mini-series with a strong first-page opening recapping Forager's history. He's pretty much re-iterating what happened in 1972's New Gods #9 and the final chapter of Cosmic Odyssey, which pretty much affirms that he's sticking to current DC continuity.

page from Bug! The Adventures of Forager #1 (2017). Art by Mike Allred.

Forager wakes up from a cocoon and it's up to him to piece together where he is and how he got there. The scene is quickly set and the main and secondary characters are quickly introduced. To my delight and surprise, Lee Allred manages to include Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's Sandman (Garrett Sanford), along with Brute and Glob, into this story. Sandman was a short-lived comic book character introduced in 1974 that lasted about half a dozen issues. He was pretty much shuffled off into comic book limbo after his series ended, and it was revealed in 1988's Infinity Inc. #50 that he committed suicide in a flashback. Suffice to say, I was not expecting to see him in this book.

panels from Bug! The Adventures of Forager #1 (2017). Art by Mike Allred.

Lee did his homework; he incorporates Sandman's magic whistle into the story, and even manages to include two of Sandman's original villains: General Electric and Doctor Spider.

If seeing Sandman in this story caught you off guard, you're in for a ton of surprises -- there are obscure guest stars galore in this mini: The Losers, Sandman (Wesley Dodds) and Sandy the Golden Boy, Blue Beetle (Dan Garret), Jack Kirby's Atlas, Deadman, Manhunter (Paul Kirk), OMAC and the Black Racer. Lee doesn't just add these characters for novelty value, he manages to effectively incorporate some of their mythos into the story (ex: OMAC's Brother Eye, Deadman's hook-hand killer, Atlas' Crystal Mountain, etc...). This demonstrates Lee's respect for the characters and their legacies, and is just gold for a fan like me who loves spotting references to obscure and long-forgotten DC characters.

panels from Bug! The Adventures of Forager #4 (2017). Art by Mike Allred.

The thousand dollar question is... how does Lee Allred handle the return of Forager? In short, he did a fantastic job. Lee takes advantage of the fact that we're never actually shown the complete story in 1989's New Gods v3 #1 -- we don't see what happens after Orion drops off Forager's body to his bug people. Lee makes clever use of this and other gaps in Forager's history and delivers a solution that makes sense and doesn't diminish anything that previous writers did with the character.

While Lee wove a pretty ambitious and intricate tale, a few things in this mini leave me wondering if they're going to 'stick' in the DCU or not (continuity-wise). For example, throughout the mini it is revealed that:

-Chagra, a Jack Kirby Atlas villain from the seventies, was actually just an imperfect copy of Metron (of the New Gods).
-There is an implied kinship between the New Gods' Mother Box and OMAC's Brother Eye (aka: 'Brother Box')
-Deadman actually did find his killer (aka: The Hook), he just mistook him for someone else due to an axis-flipping device called the Omphalos. (I'm sure Neal Adams would have an issue with this one.)

This six-issue mini, while entertaining to look at, reads like a Silver Age DC comic (ex: tons of guest stars, plenty of action, lots of jumps from different locales, never a dull moment) and had me hooked until the final chapter when it became so quasi-philosophical that I got confused and completely missed the bigger message of this book (if there was one). The big take-away from this mini is that I really want to see Mike Allred illustrate an All-Star Squadron or New Gods ongoing series, and I want Laura Allred to color it and Lee Allred to write it.

Between Lee Allred's scripting and Mike Allred's art, Forager is depicted as a limber, hip-talking, good-spirited protagonist who is just trying to do the right thing and discover his true purpose/identity along the way -- which pretty much describes Madman's character from the early nineties Dark Horse comics of the same name (see images below). I actually don't mind this, since Forager was more or less a blank canvas lacking any real personality going into this mini-series. Will I be wearing a Forager t-shirt anytime soon? Probably not, but keep this up and he could develop a cult-like following (similar to Madman).

panels from Bug! The Adventures of Forager #1 (2017). Art by Mike Allred.

page from Dark Horse's Madman Comics #9 (1995). Illustrated by Mike Allred.

Writer Lee Allred is a really cool cat and took the time to chat with us on twitter about his work. "My best guess regarding what Kirby meant with Forager is that he was telling an updated Mowgli* story (human raised by animals) (cf Tarzan) as a basic framework. (My own reading is that Kirby was pretty direct that Forager was an Eternal, not a Bug.) Kirby used the Mowgli framework as a hook to tell a deeper take on the seedy underbelly of New Genesis' up-till-then flawless utopia, much the same way Star Trek: The Original Series did with their floating cities vs. underground menials in 'The Cloud Minders' episode." When I asked why, of all the DC characters floating around in comic limbo, they decided to revisit Forager for a Young Animal mini-series, Mike Allred replied with: "Bug's New Gods debut was in the waiting room of our guitar teacher, James Ray, when we were kids. We could only visit it week after week until Lee talked him into giving it to us. It was a Holy Grail for us." That's the truncated version. Jeffrey Renaud, of CBR.com, conducted a really thorough interview with the Allred gang about the conception of this mini. Lee and Mike explain that they've been Forager fanatics since they were kids, and that they've always viewed Forager and his struggle as 'the heart and core of the Fourth World books'. Additionally, Mike felt that it was a shame that Forager was given the short straw and introduced in the seventies' New Gods series only to have it cancelled two issues later. It's a great interview, and you can read it here.


*Editor's note: Mowgli is the protagonist of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. You probably saw the Disney cartoon when you were younger.


This wraps up my Super Blog Team Up contribution and review of Young Animal's Bug! Adventures of Forager mini-series from 2017. It was a pleasure and an honor to be included in this edition of SBTU.

If you're interested in reading more articles about comic book characters who returned from the grave (or just don't die), written by comic fans who are just as passionate about the medium as I am, I'm including the links to the other SBTU members' articles below.

Justin F

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Super Blog Team Up links:

Comic Reviews By Walt: TMNT and Highlander

The Superhero Satellite: Super-Blog Team-Up Presents IMMORTAL: Peter Loves Mary Jane

Comics Comics Comics Blog: Dr. Fate

Between The Pages Blog: Big Finish: Doctor Who’s Finest Regeneration

The Unspoken Decade: Archer and Armstrong

Black, White and Bronze: What Price Immortality? A Review of Red Nails

The Daily Rios: Arion The Immortal

Chris Is On Infinite Earths: Podcast Episode 26 - Resurrection Man 1997 & 2011

In My Not So Humble Opinion: It Came from the 1990s: Ivar the Timewalker

Vic Sage "...of the upcoming Pop Culture Retrorama site.": I am Legend

The Source Material Comics Podcast: Vampirella “Roses For The Dead”

Dave's Comic Heroes Blog: Multi-Man

Magazines and Monsters: Podcast episode - Kang/Immortus: Avengers-Kang: Time and Time Again TPB (Avengers 69-71, Avengers 267-269)

Radulich Broadcasting Network: TV PARTY TONIGHT - Jupiter Ascending commentary

Young Animal's Doom Patrol -- one year later

Welcome to our third installment on our series of reviews about the *new* Young Animal imprint from DC comics. The first review about Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye can be read here, and a Shade the Changing Girl review can be read here. By the time you read this, Young Animal's Doom Patrol #1 will have been released a bit more than a year ago (hence the 'one year later' bit added to the title of this article) and is already involved in a new Justice League America/Doom Patrol cross-over. 

Doom Patrol v6 #1 - Babs Tarr variant cover

There's a few reasons you might be checking out this article:

1) You've been hearing things about the new Young Animal Doom Patrol series, have no prior knowledge of Doom Patrol, are mildly interested and want to see what other readers/reviewers have to say about it. To you, this article may make or break your decision to pursue this further.

2) You've already a fan of this series, and are curious what other people are thinking.

3) You have very vivid memories of Grant Morrison/Richard Case's run on Doom Patrol from the late 80s/early 90s. You actually consider the Morrison/Case run as the apex of the Doom Patrol's comic book career, and don't believe anything could ever come close to touching that.

If you're in category #1, well, that's a lot of pressure on us. If you're in category #2, there ain't no shame in that and keep on reading. If you're in category #3,... I can totally emphasize. This is exactly the frame-of-mind we came from when writing this review. A better title would've been "Young Animal's Doom Patrol -- how does it compare to Grant Morrison's Vertigo Doom Patrol?"

Admittedly, it's a little pretentious of me to state that the Morrison/Case run was the *best* version of Doom Patrol ever. Don't get me wrong -- I enjoy the occasional re-read of the Drake/Haney/Premiani Silver Age stories, and am a big fan of the 1980's Kupperberg/Lightle revival -- but the Morrison/Case run brought a whole new level of weird and interesting to the title, so much so that it's difficult to stop reading once you start.

Doom Patrol v2 #63 (1993) - art by Richard Case

Stating that the Richard/Case Doom Patrol run is the BEST RUN EVER isn't necessarily unfounded, neither. For a series with two Harvey Award nominations (1990 - best writer, 1992 - best continuing or limited series), the Doom Patrol has never achieved the critical acclaim and success as it had during it's Vertigo years. To be exact, since the Vertigo run ended, no Doom Patrol re-launch series has lasted more than 2 years. Why? Our friend Paul Hix, over at the Waiting For Doom (WFD) podcast, summed it up best:

"Volume 3 was a new cast and new villains. It probably suffered for not being Vertigo-ish. The book had a great artist (Tan Eng Huat) who’s art looked amazing but probably was ahead of his time in the mix of other art of the day. Mike [podcast co-host] and I love it and think it is way underrated." (note: published in 2001, lasted 22 issues)

"Volume 4 was almost entirely universally rejected by DP fans because it was continuity-agnostic and [John] Byrne was in decline as a source of imagination. I was a Doom Patrol fan and I never bought an issue at the time because from reviews I could immediately see it had no regard for the rich history of the characters, and was replacing this with something far less imaginative and far less interesting. Byrne said it was [Dan] Didio’s suggestion to do so, but I take that with a huge bag of salt." (note: published in 2004, lasted 18 issues)

"Volume 5 was well regarded, but all sales were slipping. I bought the early issues then switched to trades. When the 3rd trade never came I gathered up the issues I’d missed after the run ended. Getting 22 issues was an achievement at that time, I’d say." (note: published in 2009, lasted 22 issues)

To date, it would seem that Byrne's 2004 Doom Patrol relaunch has been the most 'misunderstood' by fans.

Which brings us to Young Animal's new Doom Patrol relaunch (or, as I like to call it: 'Doom Patrol volume 6'). In the effort of keeping this review totally unbiased, I'm proud to announce that I've managed to go spoiler-free since this relaunch had been announced back in 2016 -- which really wasn't easy considering this series seems to already have a HUGE twitter fan following and updates get retweeted A LOT.

Right out of the gate, I'm going to declare that I had high hopes for this project (and the Young Animal imprint in general) due to Gerard Way's involvement. If you didn't already know, Way is best known for being a singer/songwriter/musician in the alternative rock band My Chemical Romance, has already authored an Eisner Award-winning comic book series (Dark Horse's The Umbrella Academy), and grew up reading and loving the same 'edgier' comics that I did (ex: Dark Horse's Grendel Tales, Vertigo's Doom Patrol) -- so really, how could this go wrong? Also, did we mention he's pals with Grant Morrison*?

*yes, that's Grant Morrison in My Chemical Romance's 'Na Na Na' music video.

Gerard Way press release photo 2014 -- warnerbrosrecords.com

[How old is Gerard Way, anyways? *checks* Holy crap, he's 5 years older than me! I totally thought he was a decade younger.]

All to say, the prospect of 'fresh, young talent' looking at this team with a new perspective may just be the shot in the arm the Doom Patrol need -- not to mention that a younger, newer audience might start looking at these books (because Gerard Way brings instant street cred).

And yes, we have Gerard Way to thank for the new Young Animal imprint. Gerard Way recounts the birth of the Young Animal imprint in his brainstorming session with Jim Lee and Dan DiDio at the Burbank DC comics offices (from Afterword in Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye TPB vol 1: Going Underground):

"It's a really amazing meeting, and the energy in the room is fully charged. We talk about DOOM PATROL first -- I explain that the version of DOOM PATROL I was working on was something entirely different from what was going on in more mainstream books, and that I wasn't sure where DOOM PATROL sat in that universe. I felt that if DOOM PATROL came out on its own, it would feel pretty lonely. It felt like it needed a movement behind it -- the next wave of weird.  At this point, Jim says "imprint", and we start rolling, we start talking about other characters." 

If you're reading between the lines here, you're probably recognizing that the Doom Patrol paved the way for Mother Panic, Shade the Changing Girl and Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye -- and you'd be correct.

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This is a review of the Doom Patrol v1: Brick By Brick TPB -- which collects the first six issues of volume 6, along with promotional art and variant covers for the series.

I'm going to do my absolute best to keep this completely objective and unbiased review spoiler-free, but I should probably mention that I had to read this TPB twice; once because it was so damned good and flew by so fast, and the second time to analyse why I liked it so much. Sometimes it's not enough to just say something is 'good', and you need to explain/understand why it's so good.

The majority of the first issue deals with the introduction of a new character (who will most likely be joining the team). This isn't anything new; every creative team working on a new Doom Patrol series seems to either want to add their own newly-created characters into the mix [see: Fever, Freak, Kid Slick, Faith, Grunt, and Nudge] or add an obscure DC character that nobody has really thought about in a while [see: Metamorpho, Doctor Light, Bumblebee, Vox, Elongated Man, and Ambush Bug].

Since you can't seem to have a Doom Patrol without a Cliff Steele/Robotman (he's in every incarnation of the team), Robotman makes an appearance -- and once he does, everything starts to come together and it starts to feel like a Doom Patrol adventure.

The big 'Robotman reveal' from issue #1 in a scene that kinda reminds me of the opening sequence from 1983's Return of the Jedi. Props to Nick Derington and his versatile penciling skillz for giving this sequence some variety.

The first issue also needs to set the momentum for the series -- typically by presenting some sort of ominous mystery that will keep the reader interested in checking out the next issue. Thankfully, Doom Patrol v6 #1 does exactly that. The pacing in issue #1 is a little choppy (it's obvious that the creative team is trying to set up subplots for a bigger storyline) but everything will make sense by issue #6. I promise.

As a bonus, for any 'continuity sticklers' out there, I'm happy to announce that volume 6 follows the events of volume 5 [aka: Keith Giffen's Doom Patrol -- on Oolong Island]:

so these panels pretty much confirm that previous Doom Patrol continuity wasn't washed away

Issue #2 re-introduces even more former members of the original Doom Patrol, including one who hasn't been seen since he starred in his own 1996 mini-series. [I don't know why I'm trying to keep this a secret, they're all right there on the front cover of the TPB.]  From here on, the story picks up and moves at a very quick pace: villains are revealed, Doom Patrol members have origins explained, there's a healthy dose of weirdness, mysteries are resolved, and the team is reunited with another long-lost member.

Something BIG about this series is that it just oozes 'pop culture cool'. I couldn't even get past the cover of the first issue before spotting something that I sort of recognized:

cover of Doom Patrol v6 #1 (left), 1967's Velvet Underground & Nico vinyl LP album cover (right)

The entire series is filled with imagery like this; homages to things from the 1970/1980s -- nostalgia that breeds familiarity. This is like crack to an 80s pop culture nerd like me. Some of these are really obvious and in-your-face (ex: parody of Crisis on Infinite Earths #5 cover in Doom Patrol v6 #3), while some of them are way more subtle and are going to drive you nuts trying to figure what they're referencing.

The cover of Doom Patrol v6 #4 appears to be referencing a classic Burger King ad I can't seem to find on google image search. In the meanwhile, I'll just stick a screenshot from a 1980s Burger King TV ad so you get the idea.



This... looks familiar. I can't 'place' this, but it seems to remind me of a cover of a book I remember reading. Do any of our readers know?

Admittedly, some are a bit easier to recognize that others:

 

page from Doom Patrol v6 #3 (left), cover of 1937's Detective Comics #1 (right)

This resembles the Teddy Ruxpin toy I owned as a kid, just way slimier:

panels from Doom Patrol v6 #4

Hey, any Morrison/Case Doom Patrol fans remember this map?

If not, dig out your copy of Doom Patrol v2 #30 "Going Underground" ;)

So, all this to say, there's a lot of visual treats in here to keep you paying attention. (I'm sure there were plenty that went completely over my head, too.) As far as pacing goes, Gerard Way's writing brings a lot to the table: it's not always linear, and sometimes there are non sequitur (albeit humorous) interludes, but it's entertaining and full of twists and turns that seem to tie up into a neat little bow by the end.

was there a point to this page? not sure, but I enjoyed it nonetheless

As a whole package, the Doom Patrol is weird and quirky -- but that's the best possible scenario. Doom Patrol, done correctly, needs to be really frickin' weird. Or, more accurately, if Doom Patrol isn't weird, you're doing it wrong.

Anytime a *new* Doom Patrol series is launched, I tend to approach with hesitation and the first thing I take a look at is the team roster. Often, a team book's roster can make or break the series. Putting the band back together (so to speak), was a clever move on behalf of the creative team. In my mind's eye, the Morrison/Case Doom Patrol team was the *best* team. The Doom Patrol NEED to be a crew of reluctant heroes shanghaied into a situation where they're forced to save the world. [They can't be battling petty street crime, either. It needs to be a threat of Eldritch horror proportions.] The Chief NEEDS to be engineering some sort of scheme from the background. Negative Man NEEDS to somehow be involved. Robotman NEEDS to be wanting to punch stuff. All the while, it needs to have a bit of humor and not take itself too seriously.


Grant Morrison (via the Chief) described the spirit of the Doom Patrol best in Doom Patrol v2 #22:

A lot of interesting and entertaining stuff happens in the span of six issues -- and it's enough to make you feel a little sorry that the TPB only collects the first six issues (and not all ten issues) of the sixth volume. Nick Derington's art is gorgeous, Tamra Bonvillain's colors pop, and Gerard Way weaves an enthralling tale filled with a healthy dose of weirdness, nods to previous Doom Patrol continuity and fistfights.

So, to conclude, yeah I think that this new Young Animal Doom Patrol sticks to the spirit of the Vertigo Doom Patrol, and if you're a fan of the Grant Morrison/Richard Case run you will definitely get a kick out of this.

I'm having trouble deciding whether I should recommend buying the TPB, or tracking down the individual issues. While the TPB has all six issues (and variant covers and promo art) in a collected edition, the singles issues have previews of the other Young Animal titles (including Michael Allred's Bug! The Adventures of Forager!), the extra Who's Who entries, and Brandon Bird's brilliant 'Bane's Coloring Corner'. Tough call, really.

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Big thanks to Paul Hix of the Waiting For Doom podcast -- a great bunch of guys who love nothing more than talking about the Doom Patrol. You can find them on facebook and twitter.


If you liked this article, you might enjoy our interview with Steve Lightle about why he left the 1987 Doom Patrol series.

Shade the Changing Girl -- one year later

This is the second in a series of reviews about the *new* Young Animal imprint from DC comics. The first review about Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye can be read here. By the time you read this, Shade the Changing Girl v1 #1 will have been released a bit more than a year ago (hence the 'one year later' bit added to the title of this article).   

cover art by Becky Cloonan

My interest in Shade the Changing Girl is two-fold. First, I have high hopes for the Young Animal imprint. I honestly believe that it has that 'punk/indie' feel that will bring new readers to DC comics -- especially with Gerard Way (of My Chemical Romance) at the helm. Secondly, I'm extremely curious to see how this series compares to Peter Milligan's Shade the Changing Man from the early 90s (which I loved so dearly).


Since Shade the Changing Girl is a NEW character and will inevitably reference Shade the Changing Man mythos... I suppose I should provide some sort of brief history as to who Shade the Changing Man (aka Rac Shade) is, just in case you're a new reader and not familiar with this character whatsoever.

Introduced in 1977's Shade The Changing Man #1 by Steve Ditko and Michael Fleisher, Rac Shade is an alien from the planet Meta who escapes to earth so he can clear his name for a crime he didn't commit. Thankfully, he didn't come to earth empty handed -- he sports his M-Vest (which grants him flight, a force field, and illusion-casting powers) in order to battle his way to the truth. 

Shade the Changing Man #2 (1977). Art by Steve Ditko.

The original 8 issue series from 1977/1978 was mainly a sci-fi action series. Rac was clean-cut and looked like a dead-ringer for Magnus Robot Fighter. Unfortunately, this title was a victim of the DC implosion and was canceled before it could be concluded. [well, it was actually resolved in 1978's Cancelled Comics Cavalcade #2].

Rac Shade would re-appear in the pages of John Ostrander and Kim Yale's Suicide Squad in 1988, joining the team for about two years' worth of missions, and then getting the 'Vertigo' treatment by Peter Milligan in his very own Shade the Changing Man v2 series. 

Milligan's changes to Rac Shade were a drastic departure from the clean-cut secret agent that Ditko and Fleischer had originally introduced; the new Rac Shade was a poet from the planet Meta on a mission to save the earth from madness. His M-Vest was now re-designated as his 'Madness-Vest' (which looks more like Joseph's Technicolor Dreamcoat) and has the ability to warp reality. This title dealt with a lot of mature themes and concepts and was light-years ahead of its time. [Somewhere I've got a mostly written review of the Shade the Changing Man Vertigo series I need to finish up and post.]

Shade the Changing Man #8 (1991). Art by Chris Bachalo and Mark Pennington

Rac Shade would later appear in DC's New 52 relaunch in 2011, and seemed to be following the same continuity that was established in the Vertigo series. By this point, however, he'd been absorbed into the mainstream DCU as a member of Justice League Dark -- alongside John Constantine, Deadman, Zatanna and Madame Xanadu -- which made him an active player in whatever major story arc was occurring in the New 52 Universe at the time. He left the series around issue #8 to wander into the sunset. I actually haven't read Justice League Dark, but it's written by Peter Milligan. so I'm willing to bet that this is why Rac stayed true to his Vertigo version.

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Ok, now that you're up-to-speed on Rac Shade -- let's move on to Shade the Changing Girl.

From the very get-go I was interested in this title; I had read and enjoyed Milligan's Shade the Changing Man v2 when I was *much* younger, I still had fond memories of it, and I was walking into this new Young Animal title with an open mind. In short, it would take a lot to disappoint me. As I write this review, I'm wondering how much I can reveal without spoiling anything. I'll give it my best shot.

Similar to Milligan's Shade the Changing Man, this series begins with an extraterrestrial force taking control of a human host's body. It's only a few pages later that we're introduced to Loma Shade -- the protagonist of this series -- and her cunning plan to escape the planet of Meta by stealing Rac's Madness Vest.

Loma with Rac Shade's Madness Vest. Shade the Changing Girl #1 - art by Marley Zarcone, colors by Kelly Fitzpatrick

Right away, the first issue introduces a few mysteries that quickly drive the story forward: Who was the comatose human host? Why was she brain-dead when Loma Shade hijacked her body? Why are people acting so nervous now that she's out of her coma? (She's just a teen-aged girl, after all.) There's also an established sense of urgency as it is quickly revealed that the authorities on Meta want the Madness-Vest returned. A great start for a first issue -- lots of things to keep a reader coming back for more.

The art team of Marley Zarcone and Kelly Fitzpatrick strongly compliment the writing and mood of this series. Zarcone's pencils and inks are clean with very thin lines, there's not much shading, and kinda emits an 'indie comix' feel [which I totally mean as a compliment, because it works]. Fitzpatrick's coloring is filled with bright blues, greens, purples and pinks and keeps the illustrations vibrant. The panel layouts are easy for the eye to follow and, as a whole package, reminds me of Mike Allred's early Madman art -- and I'm a big of Allred's art, so that's saying something. 

page from Shade the Changing Girl v1 #5. art by Marley Zarcone, colors by Kelly Fitzpatrick

So, how does this series tie into the legacy of Shade the Changing Man? Very efficiently. As Loma's idol, Rac Shade is elevated to mythical rock god status (think: Jim Morrison) and his poetic prose is often cited throughout the series. It's Rac's Madness-Vest that Loma ultimately steals to escape to earth, and it's Rac's former sweetheart, from 1977's Shade the Changing Man v1, who is revealed as the driving force behind the retrieval of the vest. While it references Rac Shade, I appreciate the fact that it's written in such a way that you don't need an in-depth knowledge of any volume of Shade the Changing Man to understand what's going on.

A major theme of this series (or at least the first six issues that I read) were Loma Shade's attempts to adjust to her new 'earth body' (i.e. introspection and self-discovery) and understand her new environment (i.e. navigating the social minefield that is high school). In that sense, Shade the Changing Girl reads like a coming-of-age story with elements of science-fiction mixed in. This is familiar territory for writer Cecil Castellucci (aka Cecil Seaskull) -- who is already an accomplished author and has penned several young adult novels such as The Queen of Cool, Beige, Rose Sees Red, First Day on Earth and Boy Proof .

panel from Shade the Changing Girl v1 #2. art by Marley Zarcone, colors by Kelly Fitzpatrick

While this series had me hooked since issue #1, it didn't have that "holy crap this is the oddest thing I've ever read, yet I can sense there's a bigger message here" feeling I got from the first time I read Milligan's Shade the Changing Man [and, let's face it, that *is* a hard act to follow]. Shade the Changing Girl reads like young adult fiction with some mature ideas and some expletives thrown in, but don't confuse this as mindless teen drama targeted to a young adult audience -- thanks to Castellucci's writing, the characters have a lot of depth and you can't help but get wrapped up in it all. Shade the Changing Girl is a great read because it's NOT a shallow imitation of Shade the Changing Man.

As explained by Gerard Way in the Afterword of the Shade The Changing Girl vol 1 TPB: "Loma Shade was born of a simple idea: she was to be an alien connected to Rac Shade in name only -- inspired by him and in possession of his madness coat. [...] In our first meeting, Cecil [Castellucci] responded to my drawing of Loma's alien body by immediately calling out, "She's a bird!" [...] As Cecil constructed a Loma that was every bit a free spirit as she was a fan of Rac Shade's poetry, we began to notice that Loma was a very different character than we had seen before." 

panel from Shade the Changing Girl v1 #3. art by Marley Zarcone, colors by Kelly Fitzpatrick

In summary, I feel that this creative team 'gets it'. This series captures the spirit of the Young Animal imprint -- it uses a previously existing DC character in a new and interesting way and it's an engrossing story with characters that a young adult reader can relate to. I eagerly await more Young Animal titles if this is the type of content they are producing.

I'd recommend giving this title a shot if you haven't already. Start with issue #1 and work your way from there. I'd strongly recommend checking out the Shade the Changing Girl v1 TPB: Earth Girl Made Easy.

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If you liked this article, we also wrote a non-spoiler review of Young Animal's Doom Patrol, too. ;)

Reviewing Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye -- one year later

Alright, so we'll admit, we're about a year late on this one. Things happened -- we self-published another fanzine, we interviewed a few more comic pros, we covered a few comic conventions -- that got in the way of covering the new Young Animal imprint we're so stoked for. Besides, I enjoy waiting to read the first few issues in one sitting versus only reading the first issue and deciding if the series is going to be a hit or not... sometimes these things take a few issues to develop momentum.  

First of all, who is Cave Carson? The 1960s were an interesting time for DC comics; as the cultural shift would have it, the early 60s saw super-powered characters gaining in popularity again (thanks mainly to the Comics Code Authority putting a halt to horror and crime comics). Before super-powered characters became the 'big thing' in the Silver Age, DC tried out stories about normal humans (usually adventurers or researchers) dealing with extraordinary situations. Hence, we were introduced to The Challengers of the Unknown (a team of human adventurers), the Sea Devils (a team of human underwater adventurers), Rip Hunter (a normal human who invents a time-traveling device), the Suicide Squad (a group of human military operatives) and Cave Carson (a human subterranean adventurer/researcher).

Created by France Herron and Bruno Premiani, Cave Carson debuted in The Brave and the Bold #31 (1960), and lead his expedition team to explore lost underground civilizations and fight subterranean monsters; the stories were a fusion of adventure and science-fiction. I'm sure these tales had their time and place, but I never really had any interest in them -- because really, how many kinds of stories can you tell about a spelunker before they all start to seem similar?

Panels from Showcase #48 (1964). Art by Lee Elias.

He was featured in a few issues of DC's 'try-out' titles, Showcase and The Brave and the Bold, in the early 60s -- but as super-heroes became more popular, he and the rest of the 'non-powered human adventurers' were shuffled off into comic book limbo.

Roughly twenty years later, Cave Carson was included as a member of the aptly named Forgotten Heroes (the other members were also 1960s characters who had gotten lost in comic book limbo). The Forgotten Heroes only appeared a few times pre-Crisis, and afterwards Cave Carson would remain on the fringes of the DCU and occasionally pop up when a writer decided to use him. With nothing else to offer other than his own natural athletic ability and his Mighty Mole digging machine, Carson doesn't bring too much to the table unless the story required someone with expertise in geology. 

Panels from War of the Gods #4 (1991). Art by George Perez, inker unknown.

It was a bit of a surprise that Cave Carson would be headlining one of Young Animal's launch titles (especially under a mature readers label). I was genuinely curious to see what they could do with this character in an interesting way.

Going into Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye, I'm just familiar enough with the character to feel a bit of nostalgia (probably due to him being around since the 1960s) but not so familiar with him that I'll get outrageously upset if they retcon his entire origin.

Upon diving into the first issue, my first discovery was that this book's art was a little more cartoony than I was expecting -- it's very reminiscent of Bruce Timm's art style (as seen in Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series) -- but nevertheless fit with the atmosphere and mood of the story. Illustrator Michael Avon Oeming's layouts are astounding to look at and really contribute to the fluidity of the narrative. Among other things, Oeming is known for his work on Powers (Image/Icon Comics) with writer Brian Michael Bendis -- so if you're wondering why his art looks familiar, now you know.

While I'm mentioning the visuals, I'm going to remark that colorist Nick Filardi's choices of bright vibrant colors (plenty of purples, pinks, greens and blues) compliment Oeming's psychedelic backgrounds and make the pages 'pop' in all the right places.

Double-page spread from Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye #1 (2016). Art by Michael Avon Oeming

Written by Gerard Way and Jon Rivera, the story itself is fast-paced and absorbing. It's not very wordy, has plenty of action and makes for a quick read. There's a little bit of strong language, but nothing overly offensive. There's a few times that I had to pause in order to take in everything (visually) on the page -- as mentioned before, Oeming and Filardi make a great team. I'm tempted to tear a lot of these pages out of the book and turn them into black light posters [...but I won't, for obvious reasons].

A little bit of Cave's history was expounded on; since the last time readers had heard from him, he'd been married and now has a daughter named Chloe (who is a University student when this story takes place). For the long-time Cave Carson fans, there's a few references to Cave's earlier adventures with Superman and a few recognizable DC characters appear in the story [...including a hero who was introduced in the late '80s, but quickly vanished into comic book limbo. No spoilers, but if you want to know who, click this link].

There's nothing too cerebral about it and it won't make you challenge your belief system or open your eyes to new doorways beyond reality. In short, it's an entertaining sci-fi action-adventure story with a few f-bombs and pop culture references thrown in for good measure. While I thought the entire twelve issue story arc was entertaining as hell and the visuals were quite mesmerizing, I *really* kept reading to see if other legacy DC characters would make cameos (or if any earth-shaking retcons might occur). After reading this series a few times, I positively CANNOT discern whether this is happening in a new DCU, an imaginary world, or a mish-mash of both. Does it really matter? No, it doesn't. It's still an entertaining read.

Why, of all possible C-list DC characters, was Cave Carson chosen to headline his own Young Animal series? Thankfully, Gerard Way explains this in the AFTERWORD of the Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye TPB vol 1: Going Underground (2017). Out of respect to the Copyright Act, I'm going to resist re-typing everything verbatim and give the summarized version. Here goes:

As Way discussed the idea of a new DC comics imprint with Dan DiDio and Jim Lee at the California DC comics offices -- something that re-created the weirdness of the early 90s Vertigo comics -- DiDio suggested that they move in a direction "outside of what Vertigo had done in the past". DiDio explained that a new imprint required a new energy, a different trajectory -- even if it used old characters. DiDio handed Way a copy of The Encyclopedia of the DC Universe and suggested he go digging (presumably for obscure DC characters he could revitalize).

As Way explains it, he's always had an "affinity for obscure characters" because it felt like they were untapped gold mines of potential as far as character development was concerned. Either they were hardly used (so there were huge gaps in their history the writer could fill in), or fans just didn't care about them. Way felt like he hit the proverbial jackpot when he stumbled onto Cave Carson's entry in the DC Encyclopedia. From Gerard Way:

"I check out his stats at the top, and something grabbed my attention:

Special Powers/Abilities: Highly intelligent, with a natural gift for his area of expertise; one eye is cybernetic.

And that's it. There is some history involving his old crew, and a mention of their dip in popularity once the modern age of superheroes began (and a bit about him stealing a vehicle called the Mighty Mole from his employers), but statistically he was just a smart expert in geology with a cybernetic eye. I was in love." 

Preliminary research on the origins of the cybernetic eye yielded nothing, so DiDio got involved and discovered that Cave Carson and his cybernetic eye first appeared in the last few issues of Resurrection Man v1 (1997). Upon further inquiry, it was revealed that the Resurrection Man creative team (Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Jackson Guice) never explained how or why Cave Carson had a new cybernetic eye, and the reader was left to assume that it had happened in some sort of off-panel adventure -- essentially leaving an opening for a new creative team to tell that tale. So now you know the rest of the story.

Cave Carson from Resurrection Man v1 #24. Art by Jackson Guice

As an added bonus, the first six issues of Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye include 3-page excerpts from Thomas Scioli's Super Powers volume 1. Scioli has a knack for making our childhood toylines entertaining again (see: 2014's Transformers vs GI Joe maxi-series by IDW comics), and this time he works his magic on the Super Powers Collection toyline we grew up with.

In contrast to Cave Carson's vibrant digital coloring and crisp inks, Scioli's back-ups look like they were drawn on yellowing parchment paper and colored with coloring pencils -- the entire effect gives it an organic D-I-Y feel that brings up nostalgic memories of that really talented kid back in elementary school who was writing, illustrating and coloring his own in-house comics. [Don't let that last line mislead you, I really dig Sciloi's work.] Erik Tramontana, a major Super Friends enthusiast, wrote a really nice run-down of the Scioli Super Powers back-ups for us back in April 2017.

Super Powers proof-of-concept page. Everything by Thomas Scioli.

The elusive Scioli [we *tried* to interview him] actually explained his whole creative process in one of his blog posts. As before, we'll give you the short version:

Originally, for his Super Powers back-ups, Scioli wanted to use all the characters you saw in his proof-of-concept page (as shown in the image above), but DC editorial told him most of the characters on the page were not available for use. So, Scioli re-started from scratch and dug up obscure DC characters he could build a story on [are you seeing a pattern here?]. He managed to dust-off quite a few early Jack Kirby creations, but ultimately settled on Arin the Armored Man, the evil Sphinx, a BMX-riding Batgirl, a bunch of Green Lantern Corps members we hadn't seen since the '80s, and the Wonder Twins (with Gleek). As Scioli's 3-page scripts were being approved by DC editorial, he was gradually able to slowly sneak more A-list DC characters into the story.

Among other things, Scioli revealed that he had about 3-years worth of Super Powers-inspired storylines he hopes to someday see in print. He also dropped this little factoid:

"Gerard [Way] told me that early on in the curation of the Young Animal line, he wanted me to do a Demon series, but that the character was unavailable. I remembered Alan Moore and Joe Orlando’s Phantom Stranger origin story that featured Etrigan the Angel. It’s one of those things that seems simple and makes total sense, but it takes a genius like Moore to point it out: like all demons, Kirby’s Demon began life as an angel. I wrote a superhero action adventure for the character. But what does a superhero fight at a time when even Satan is an angel? I figured it would have to be something Lovecraftian. I was weaving an elaborate Bayeaux tapestry of the DC Universe."

As a side note, Gerard Way and fellow My Chemical Romance band-mate Ray Toro recorded an original song called 'Into the Cave We Wander' (an obvious nod to Cave Carson). This song was distributed on Young Animal Record Store Day vinyl records and cassette tapes (with the B-side being a dramatic reading of a fictitious geology documentary called 'Poggy's Cavern'.

Young Animal vinyl LP. Photo source: discogs.com

I really have to give credit where credit is due: between the release of the ashcan, vinyl record and cassette, Gerard Way and company did an exemplary job of keeping Cave Carson (and the Young Animal imprint) true to the spirit of being bizarre, entertaining and unpredictable in a 'make comic books worth talking about' kind of way.

I have high hopes for the Young Animal imprint -- much like the Berger-edited Vertigo of the early 90s I grew up with, they are taking older, obscure DC characters and breathing new life into them. Since current Vertigo is mainly created-owned characters, I'd argue that Young Animal is more 'Vertigo' than Vertigo is. I can't wait to see what the future holds for Cave Carson, and if we're going to get any full-length Scioli Super Powers comic books or anthologies in the near future.

Justin



If you liked this article, we also wrote a non-spoiler review of Young Animal's Doom Patrol, too

Oh, and there's a review of Shade the Changing Girl you can check out as well.