Star Wars: Lords of The Sith

The Disney Star Wars really likes to see Vader kill people. In the old movies, the threat of Vader was enough. Sure, we saw him murder a few people, a few casual choking deaths here and there,  but we never saw the scenes of outright carnage Disney seems so fond of.  That scene in Rogue One, for example, where we spend a movie rooting for the good guys that Vader just slaughters. And how the audience cheered! Narrative dissonance is fun!  And that love of Vader murderizing continues in Lords of the Sith.

Lords of The Sith takes place after the Clone Wars when the seeds of rebellion against the Empire are starting to grow. In the Disney canon, the Rebellion began on one planet--Ryloth--and it's here where most of the novel takes place.

For reasons that don't bear much scrutiny, Darth Vader and the Emperor go to Ryloth just in time to end up facing an attack that strands both of them in the murder jungles of the aforementioned planet. The Free Ryloth movement then spend a lot of time trying to kill them, while dealing with Imperial traitors and their own internal tensions.

There is also a subplot focusing on the tensions between the Emperor and Vader.  Apparently, the Emperor likes to snipe at Vader for his past failures as Anakin Skywalker and to gauge whether or not Vader wants to level up his Sith-ness by murdering the Emperor himself. 

I had hoped for some deep Sith lore like that found in the Drew Karpyshyn novels. I was disappointed. There is really nothing Sith about this book aside from the mutual distrust between the Emperor and Vader and their red lightsabers. It highlights how the whole Sith apprentice program would never really work, because if selfishness is integral to a Sith, why would you ever take an apprentice, especially when the graduation program involves your own murder?

The most interesting character in the book was Isval, a Twi'lek working for the Free Ryloth movement who apparently moonlights as a serial killer of Imperial officers. That was an interesting take, especially when the author starts looking at the differences between 'terrorists' and 'freedom fighters'. The Free Ryloth people kill a lot of people, many of them unarmed. And in that weird thing that Disney does, they are seen somewhat as monsters, while the low level Imperials are seen as stand up guys just doing their jobs. It's that same dissonance that was in Rogue One--just who are we cheering for? The Rebels or the crushing branch of Imperial tyranny?

When Vader is in conflict with the Free Ryloth fighters, the story is fun, because even though we know how this will play out, it was still fun to read. But too much time is spent on Vader just fighting predators in the murder jungles, just slaughtering animals that were just trying to either survive or protect their young. They aren't evil. But Vader and the Emperor get to do back flips and do Force shit against creatures that don't stand a chance against them--and this goes on for pages.

Lords of the Sith isn't a bad book. But it suffers from the same thing all Disney Star Wars suffers from: there doesn't seem a plan to any of this. It's about moments, about cool shit, but not about creating characters that we can relate to or grow fond of.  In the end, it just feels forgettable, and light, and another missed opportunity.

Batman Universe #1

I wasn't aware of the existence of this title, but really, I shouldn't have been surprised.

When Brian Michael Bendis left Marvel to come work for DC Comics, the world just assumed he would take over a Batman book. He excels at street level stories, be it Daredevil or Jessica Jones or Scarlet or Spider-Man....and you get the idea. He's good at urban hero stories, and there is no hero more street level than the Darknight Detective. So when Bendis instead took over some Superman titles, I wasn't the only one surprised.

So now here he is working on a Batman title. (Yes, he did write Batman in Event Leviathan, but I believe this may be the first Batman solo book.) And it is an absolute joy so far.

I'm deliberately not reading any reviews of this book, but part of the joy is that it reads like a team up title. The story begins with Batman investigating a Riddler robbery, but it soon ends up pulling in other unexpected DC characters, like Jenny Hex (Jonah Hex's great granddaughter), as well as Deathstroke and a certain archer who likes green. The story moves along very nicely, with very clear and original art from Nick Derrington. It was just....fun.

 As a kid from a struggling blue collar family growing up, I always tried to spend my allowance on comics that had a lot of characters so that I would get my money's worth. Had Batman Universe been around back then, it would be the first book I would have grabbed from the spinner rack. Batman and other cool characters? Score!

Vampirella/Red Sonja #1

This should have been terrible.

Teaming up Vampirella and Red Sonja seems like the sort of joke lonely comic book writers come up with after a long night of Dungeons and Dragons. If there is any connection between these two characters, it would only seem to be their interesting choices in attire. Vampirella--who isn't really a vampire, even though she kinda is and is actually an alien from the planet...uh...Drakulon, and Red Sonja, a chain mail bikini wearing warrior  who first appeared in the classic Seventies run of Marvel Comics' Conan The Barbarian--don't really seem to fit together in any story that isn't written by an overexcited teenager.

And yet--in the biggest surprise of 2019-- this turned out to be a very good comic.

Written by Jordie Bellaire with art by Drew Moss, the issue is set in 1969 Russia. Vampirella--who goes by 'Ella'--is investigating a grisly series of murders on the Dyatlov Pass. Nine people dead, tongues ripped out, that sort of thing.  Ella is doing this partly because she is drawn to 'dark synchronicities'  and also because she hopes to find other 'monsters' living on Earth, far from home like herself. Posing as a journalist, she follows the lead to the Russian Space Agency, which in turn leads to a surprising discovery high in the Russian mountains.

This issue felt like an episode of Night Stalker or X-Files, with a focus on tracking down leads and investigating a mystery. Men, of course, fall over Ella, but she brushes them away, far more interested in solving the mystery. Bellaire and Moss also make this feel like 1960s Russia, from the kitschy Space Agency to Ella's far more conservative fashion choices.  (For most of the book, her only nod to being a vampire alien is to wear a bat pendant over a red sweater.)

And yes, Red Sonja does appear--and it works. That's all I'll say. I was actually surprised by her appearance, because I'd forgotten she was supposed to be in the book, so wrapped up was I in Ella trying to solve the mystery and her observations on humanity.

Vampirella/Red Sonja surprised me with its quality both as a story and a comic. Wonders will never cease, etc.

The Secret History of Twin Peaks

For me, the story of Twin Peaks is the story of Laura Palmer.

Her murder and the horrors the subsequent investigation revealed are what drew me to Twin Peaks way back in 1990.  That first episode remains one of the most powerful and disturbing bits of television I have ever seen. After the network insisted on an answer to who killed Laura--or, perhaps, an answer people would understand--I felt the show derailed.  I'm not alone in that.

Fire Walk With Me--the prequel leading up to Laura's murder--also disappointed at the time. In the passing years, I've grown to like the movie more because of how it builds the foundation of this cold universe of dark woods, arcane symbols and unrelenting horror that Mark Frost and David Lynch were creating. I didn't like the portrayal of Laura in this film (but still loved Sheryl Lee's chilling performance) because I felt it showed Laura's murder was inevitable. In a sense, that she played a role in her own demise because of her behavior. If it wasn't BOB possessing her father that killed her, someone else would have done it. It was just a matter of time.

I felt this decision undercut the horror of the first season of the show, which was very much about the  shock and grief  unleashed upon a small town over the loss of one of its most beloved children. I can see the narrative appeal of showing the seedier side of small towns, of showing how even the prom queen is corrupt and broken--but it was unnecessary.

Which brings us to The Secret History of Twin Peaks.

This novel by Mark Frost has quite a bit in common with Twin Peaks: The Return:

1. It doesn't spend a lot of time in Twin Peaks.

2. It touches upon Laura Palmer's death, but it is not the focus.

3. Twin Peaks is simply an entryway for the cosmic mythology Frost and Lynch are creating.

These aren't criticisms. I was fascinated by The Return, and I really enjoyed Secret History.  The care that went into both endeavors--and the fact that they even got made--are amazing.

The framework of Secret History is built around the discovery of a lockbox by the FBI. Inside are several documents that relate to Twin Peaks and events around the town over the years. Gordon Cole tasks Agent Tammy Preston to review these documents and prepare a report. Her notes as she goes through the lockbox make up the novel. It's clear that this a test by Cole, which Tammy must have passed, since she is working alongside Cole in Twin Peaks: The Return.

The notes date back to the Lewis and Clark Expedition and extend through the 20th century up to the disappearance of Agent Cooper after Laura Palmer's death. Preston dutifully--and often sarcastically--makes her way through everything in the box. There are photographs, old newspaper clippings, even a menu from the Double R Diner. A picture is painted wide across the conspiracy theory landscape of America. Part of the fun of the book is simply wondering where it's going next. Towards the end, the focus does return to a certain northwestern small town, and to the death of its prom queen.  And then we learn that there are yet more files to go through in the next book.

I enjoyed the book quite a bit. The care that went into creating old manuscripts, Fifties era science fiction typesetting, and even garish pop psychology paperbacks deserves a round of applause. The design of the book makes it a joy to read.

Still, as a Laura Palmer fan, it's clear that her murder was just collateral damage from the real threat facing humanity. That threat is where Frost and Lynch's focus now lies. But Palmer's death was a concrete event (or was, depending on how you see The Return) that you can pin a story to. There is a reality to it. The Lynch/Frost universe of Lodges and BOBS and Dragonball Z Laura Palmer globes is nebulous and open to interpretation even to the point of it being all someone's dream. There can be no finality or resolution because even the idea of anything being real is questionable. The Lynch/Frost Universe and Palmer's death are different stories, and it's clear which one they want to tell now.

And that's fine. There is really nothing quite like Twin Peaks, and I treasure it for that, despite my grumblings.

Uncanny X-Men #6: Comics By Commitee

The only thing worse than a comic book written by committee is one written by a committee with their eyes on the clock.

This continues the rather uninspired Disassembled storyline in which X-Man has attempted to rewrite the world and our beloved X-Men are trying to stop him. It began courageously enough, with X-Man wiping out several religious sites and setting himself up as a sort of messiah. But that quickly devolved into a lot of fighting, speechifying, and the feeling that normal service will soon be resumed.

This issue is no different. The art looks rushed, with wasted two page spreads that do nothing that a single panel could have done. There are a lot of X-Men in this book, but far too many of them just stand around and look vaguely concerned. There is an attempt to focus on lesser known X-Men, but it's just so forced and painful, hinging on a young X-Men asking the deranged X-Man if he's like totally sure what he's doing is right.  This apparently gives him pause.

Yep.

If that's not enough, Jubilee is thrown through two walls of a house and is fine. Two walls. I've looked up her power set and there's nothing about invulnerability there.

The issue also ends with something that left me--an X-Men fan for over forty years--puzzled, and had to be explained by a sloppy editorial by the book's editor. The book also has three writers, and we all know how well that always goes, and it shows.

It's a mess, and to my horror, I have over a year's worth of this run in my collection. I'm slowly starting to realize that I buy a lot of Marvel and DC Comics because I love these characters and not because they are actually any good. Here is proof positive of that insight.

Event Leviathan: A Summer Event For The Nihilists

This book had me at 6 Issue Mystery Thriller.

Brian Michael Bendis is one of my favourite writers because he does street level superheroes so damned well. I loved his work on Daredevil and Jessica Jones, and his run on Avengers is my favourite after Jonathon Hickman's. (Yeah, yeah, I know Avengers isn't street level, but there were a lot of low level power people in his team, so street enough for me.)

So when Bendis came to DC, I thought for sure he'd go straight for a Batman book. But no, he went with the Superman books, and I thought: Huh. So now that he's writing a street level detective story starring you-know-who, I feel everything is right in the world. Mostly.

I've read the first two books in this, but not any of the many tie-ins. Fortunately, there is enough information given so that I wasn't a-swoon with confusion. Essentially, someone is wiping out all the intelligence organizations in the DC Universe: taking out entire buildings and the staff inside--although so far no one can find any bodies. The person behind all this is called Leviathan, and Batman has assembled a team of detectives to try and figure out just who this Leviathan is, and what their next move is. 

The team is interesting because it's clear these are the characters/toys Bendis wanted to play with: we have Batman, Green Arrow, and The Question--who you expect in a detective mystery--, but we also have interesting choices like Lois Lane, Plastic Man, and Manhunter.  Lois isn't really a surprise, since she is one of the most intelligent characters in the DC Universe these days, but seeing Manhunter again was nice.

Alex Maleev is the king of gritty urban art, and he doesn't disappoint here, with scenes of dirty buildings set against sky swallowing full moons and dark rooms swimming in shadows and imminent death. It's a joy.

About A Hit Girl

If you're looking for a comic with someone in a compromising situation with a Nintendo DS, then look no farther.

I enjoyed the second incarnation of Kick-Ass a few months ago, and thought I'd try another book from that bloodsoaked universe. Hit-Girl: Hong Kong is part of an ongoing tale where the murderous teenager dishes out justice to criminals all over the planet. Now, she's just landed in Hong Kong to deal with a triad. There will be blood, and probably lots of it.

Hit-Girl is basically the Punisher with pigtails. (In fact, there's a scene where she enters her new seedy apartment in Hong Kong and you can see an homage to the Punisher on the mailboxes). Just as the Punisher doesn't really fit into the Marvel Universe (because no heroes willingly kill but he offs at least three scumbags before breakfast), Hit-Girl is an odd fit in the Kick-Ass universe. The concept behind Kick-Ass is how a normal person could actually be a super-hero without getting killed, but Hit-Girl murders people with a grace not normally seen outside of a Hong Kong martial arts film. The narrative rules that keep things 'real' with Kick-Ass don't seem to apply to Hit-Girl. She always seems to be from a different comic.

So on her own, devoid of that relative sense of realism from the Kick-Ass books, there's never any feeling that Hit Girl ain't got this. Of course, since this is Book One of Four, complications arise because there are three other issues to go and something's gotta happen in those. But there's never a feeling that she won't succeed because, well, she's Hit-Girl.

So to offset that certainty and attendant surprise, we have scenes that will probably offend someone, somewhere. There's the Nintendo DS scene, and there's a page with someone walking down a hall that may cause some people to gasp. And a few of Hit-Girl's kills are fairly graphic, because, well, she's Hit-Girl.

Goran Parlov's art is very good, with a nice full page of Hong Kong seen at night as one of the highlights.  The action scenes are well choreographed, and his ability to convey emotion (mainly rage and disgust, which are the go-to emotions in this issue) are spot on.

Hit-Girl: Hong Kong Issue One sets up what it needs to in order to continue the carnage for the next three issues. It would be nice to have a bit more character development, but, well, this is Hit-Girl.