Lower Decks

Here’s another subject I haven’t gotten around to yet (if you’ll indulge me, this isn’t the first time I’ve done a column, but it is the first time I’ve apparently found it exceedingly easy to come up with new topics on a regular, weekly basis), and that’s been my interest in the Arthurian legend. From ‘Excalibur’ (which hasn’t really been my cup of tea, but I still hope to revisit it with more enthusiasm) to ‘Merlin’ (the mini-series) to ‘Merlin’ (the TV series) to ‘The Last Legion’ (involving a prehistory of both Merlin and Excalibur) to ‘First Knight‘ to ‘King Arthur,’ I seem to have stumbled into quite a number of filmed projects over the years covering the fabled ruler of Camelot (oh! didn’t mention ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ in that line-up!), which I’ve read about my whole life, whether on my own or experienced Sir Gawain and his experience with the Green Knight in school (either in the classroom or as part of a one-act play competition). It’s hard to be part of the Western and/or English tradition and escape it, really.

I also neglected to mention ‘Merlin and the Book of Secrets’ in that prelude, but that’s the reason I’m talking about this at all this week. ‘The Book of Secrets’ is another modern interpretation, one that joins an increasing interest in Merlin, the wizard, rather than Arthur, the king (much less the famed Round Table). I wish I could also talk about some of the books that’ve populated much of the modern literary canon, from ‘The Once and Future King’ (the most famous example) to the Avalon books, but I don’t seem to have found a lot of time for those (which I think is the very reason why films and TV shows are so popular in our modern age, because their storytelling is told in a far more finite and controlled, unifying manner, which is the same the day it’s created as whenever a new fan stumbles on it). It would be a better column if that weren’t true, but I’m not an authority, merely an interested party. Our continued obsession with King Arthur would seem to contradict a world where monarchs are more ceremonial than they are functioning realities, but there continues to be a romantic fascination with his legends, which don’t just tell of a mythic, ancestral royal founder of a nation, but encompass so much more, certainly starting with Merlin, the most famous wizard in cultural history, whose absence would possibly have prevented a boy named Harry Potter from ever being conjured. The same might be true of our interest in knights, too; if Lancelot weren’t still famous, who would know or care about a bunch of soldiers prancing around in weighty armor?

‘Excalibur’ helped reiterate Arthur’s place in our culture (though, as I suggested, there’s also ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ to thank) by providing a mythic version of the story for modern times. I still don’t know quite why I haven’t connected with it, but it’s possible that Star Wars, which might be called a new version of the entire thing, is the reason. I was far more interested in Luke Skywalker’s celluloid adventures growing up. ‘Excalibur’ was known, vaguely, to me, but even when I saw it for the first, second time, I couldn’t truly accept it as relevant to me. It seemed dated, hopelessly beyond my interests. I found more to like in ‘Masters of the Universe,’ a movie based on an action figure franchise with the articulate name of “He-Man.” The funny thing is, I still care a great deal more for King Arthur than Prince Adam. I don’t know why rediscovering ‘Excalibur’ wasn’t a priority sooner.

Maybe it’s because TV and films have been offering me versions of the story, better ones (or at least, ones I find more palatable) for years. ‘Merlin,’ the mini-series, was an early one (and incidentally, something else I need to revisit), which even had a spin-off some years later (which I’ve never seen). ‘Merlin’ the series, airing throughout last summer, was an update that attempted to make something of Harry Potter out of the old stories, and I hope that NBC continues to air it in 2010, since it really was pretty interesting. ‘First Knight’ was a movie that tried to make Lancelot front and center, featuring Richard Gere as the virile lead to Sean Connery’s aged Arthur, but was mostly overlooked by audiences, possibly because it was dismissed as a chance to cash in on the ‘Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves’ phenomenon.

‘King Arthur,’ however, starring Clive Owen as a revisionist attempt to more accurately depict what a historic version of the real person might have been, was a new and bold attempt to make the legend relevant for modern audiences (though, again, dismissed for cashing in on a craze, this time thanks to ‘Gladiator,’ whose specter also swallowed, among other notable films, ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ and ‘Troy,’ whose connection to Greek myth could provide another column entirely, but is a can of worms so huge I’m not sure I really want to tackle, so instead I’ll say, read Marvel’s ‘Incredible Hercules’). With no one attempting a new straight King Arthur film (ironically, Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe are unleashing their Robin Hood this year), ‘King Arthur’ may be the closest we’re going to get for a while, and is well worth seeing.

‘The Last Legion’ is probably as obscure as they come, but it was released back in 2007 and starred Colin Firth as another connection between the Roman and British Empires (which was what ‘King Arthur’ tried to do as well). Sir Ben Kingsley was also featured as Merlin, a fact that wasn’t clear throughout the movie, and as I’ve said, even Excalibur is featured, this time almost as important as either Merlin or Arthur to the whole deal.

There’s also an animated film, ‘Quest for Camelot,’ to mention, but the name’s basically all I know, one of those movies some smaller studies (read: not Disney) were attempting while Pixar was preparing to change that medium forever. Oh, and the musical ‘Camelot,’ but for some, ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ nicely provides as much of a reaction as you need for such a thing. I’ve never seen it.

Which brings us back to ‘Merlin and the Book of Secrets.’ For some people, all you need to know is that it originated as a SyFy channel movie, and those people will understand that maybe they don’t need to know more. But in this case, it really is worth a look. It features ‘Battlestar Galactica’ alum James Callis as Merlin and Laura Harris (from ‘Defying Gravity’) as a girl with a surprising link to the Arthurian legacy and tells a story that reaches beyond common lore and extends the story to what Merlin might have been up to once his famous pupil was gone from the picture. If for no other reason (and if you happen to share my interest in the actor, ‘Book of Secrets’ is worth watching to see Callis in a completely different performance from his Baltar. As Merlin, his face is obscured by a prodigious beard, and his voice is distorted to a gravel, making him more Ian McKellan’s Gandalf (likely very much intended) than the Callis we know. In an age where Gandalf and Professor Dumbledore are more famous than Merlin, ‘Book of Secrets’ is notable as the first real effort since Peter Jackson and J.K. Rowling redefined magic for a generation to tackle this material in comparable light. It is a modest effort, to be sure, but in its way, ‘Book of Secrets’ is essential to the continuing saga.

For a guy who can be demonstrated to spend much of his life obsessed with Star Wars, Star Trek, and comic books, that’s a lot of Merlin/King Arthur to contend with, and that’s just filmed material. ‘Bulfinch’s Mythology’ is a good place to find some printed material, but you could go for some classic, standalone material like ‘Morte d’Arthur’ if you like. Or, start with ‘Excalibur’ and then expand from there.

***

This may a one-month experiment, but this week I’m also including a recap of my month in comics via a list of the twenty-five best comics I read during January 2010, to keep the spirit of the QBs alive in a somewhat more permanent fashion. I used to write a weekly column detailing every comic I read, so this is still restraint, for those of you wondering if the hundred comics (give or take) covered in the 2009 QBs wasn’t quite expansive enough.

The comics are in no particular order but alphabetical:

Adventure Comics #6 (DC)
Geoff Johns concludes his run on the book by leaving Superboy with little doubt as the extent of Lex Luthor’s mania. ‘Adventure Comics’ has been Superboy’s first regular appearance in DC since his death in ‘Infinite Crisis’ back in 2006, but Johns was the last one to write the character regularly, too, during his launch of the current ‘Teen Titans.’ ‘Adventure Comics’ has continued to explore his angst over discovering the DNA used to clone him wasn’t just sampled from Superman, but Luthor as well, and if there were any remaining doubts in Superboy’s mind as to whether he has more in common with the Kryptonian than the human, Lex does a great job of illustrating it here. A must-read by any standard.

Air #17 (Vertigo)
The book I listed at the top of the 2009 QB50 does an excellent job once again continuing the saga of Blythe, would-be pilot of the strange new hyperprax technology that’s at the heart of this series. Last year ended with her long-awaited reunion with Zayn, the mysterious individual who seemed intertwined in her journey from the start, who stole her heart just as quickly as he lured her into the rest of her life. It seems G. Willow Wilson is capable of finding a new reason every issue for readers to stay hooked, and this one’s no exception. A truly remarkable book I can’t speak highly enough about, the 21st century’s ‘Sandman,’ at the very least, if you prefer to speak only in terms of Vertigo history.

The Atom and Hawkman #46 (DC)
The first of the Blackest Night experiments during January (to hit on this listing anyway) to revive cancelled series, Geoff Johns (architect of ‘Blackest Night’ and possibly of DC in general) writes this one, which reminds readers that while Marvel may be calling ‘Siege’ a culmination of the work Brian Michael Bendis has been doing since ‘Avengers Disassembled,’ the DC of today still owes much of its impact to ‘Identity Crisis,’ the spirit of which Johns continues to carry on from Brad Meltzer. This comic deals more with Ray Palmer’s Atom than Hawkman, but it’s the death of Hawkman from ‘Blackest Night,’ as much as anything else, that helped make this issue possible.

Batman and Robin #7 (DC)
By now (theoretically), you might have heard that Grant Morrison is working on ‘The Return of Bruce Wayne,’ a long-anticipated and inevitable book, so this is certainly an interesting issue of the book he launched to promote Dick Grayson’s ascension to the cowl (along with Damian Wayne as perhaps the best Robin since, well, Dick Grayson, which is to take nothing from Tim Drake, who currently masquerades as Red Robin). In typical Morrison fashion, a lot of the action is explained in terms only Morrison, perhaps, fully understands, but it’s not impenetrable. Curiously, the hardest part to understand is just how we reach the point where Dick ends up in the London Lazarus Pit with the body he believes belongs to Bruce. Anyway, an issue that’s a must-read, one of the most important of the series to date.

Blackest Night #6 (DC)
This was technically released the final week of 2009, but as it was basically the only book released that week, Midtown Comics waited until 2010 to ship it to me, so I’m happy to include it here (also because no issue of the mini-series was actually released this month). The big development was the duplication of the various corps’ rings that led to Barry Allen becoming a Blue Lantern (explored in ‘Black Night: The Flash #2,’ also written by Geoff Johns), the Atom joining the Indigo Tribe (also featured in ‘The Atom & Hawkman #46’), Wonder Woman becoming a Star Sapphire (to be referenced again later), Mera becoming a Red Lantern (ditto, in the same comic), Scarecrow becoming a Yellow Lantern of the Sinestro Corps, and Lex Luthor becoming an Orange Lantern.

Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2 (DC)
Ah! So here’s where Diana really gets to shine (via Greg Rucka), whether trying to be claimed by the Black Lanterns (because she’s one of many DC characters to have died and come back), only to eventually become a Star Sapphire, while Mera (wife of the late Aquaman) becomes a Red Lantern.

Blackest Night: JSA #2 (DC)
The whole Blackest Night event has caused a lot of characters in DC to confront famous dead people from their past, and truth be told, the results haven’t always been pretty. With the ‘Blackest Night: Superman’ and ‘Blackest Night: Batman’ mini-series last year, it quickly became apparent that the writers didn’t really know how to make them truly relevant, but subsequent series have been able to more innovatively explore the possibilities. This is an issue where such possibility is really exploited, as the recently departed (thanks to the Black Lanterns) Damage cons the JSA into believing him and thus allowing him to give his new pals a better opportunity than they would’ve if the living had truly been on the ball. The mixed emotions these Black Lanterns can’t help but elicit is almost too predictable, but what’s more interesting, what the better tales have been doing, is exploring just how deep the corruption of the black ring goes in those it resurrects, if they really can’t fight its influence. This issues takes that idea to the next step.

Booster Gold #28 (DC)
Dan Jurgens is apparently not going to get to keep his baby for much longer, so now might be a good time to appreciate the work he’s been doing with his second big run with the character he created some twenty years ago. Some critics have called this perhaps the best book a casual DC fan could hope to read, and that’s been a sentiment of mine as well, but ‘Booster Gold’ has more often been the kind of frustration ‘Fringe’ can be, a story with beats you’d really like to explore further, but constantly, apparently, reluctant to actually explore them. Anyway this issue revisits Coast City, as the series often does, at the verge of a historic event. Like the ‘Killing Joke’ issues that helped Booster understand his ability to alter time, this one brings readers back to the events of “Doomsday,” when the city was destroyed. But I’m more interested in the issue because the second feature with Blue Beetle promises to be the first significant Jaime Reyes story since his series was cancelled, as the scarab he’s inherited in finally about to do exactly what its Reach creators intended it to do, act as a horrible, horrible herald on Earth. This scarab mythology was among the best things the new Blue Beetle has brought to his legacy, which helps explain why I’m so excited about this current story.

Die Hard: Year One #4 (Boom!)
Howard Chaykin’s exploration of John McClane’s formative years has been a tone study of New York City in that period. This issue, the first of two released during the month, is the conclusion of the first arc, which might be explained as John’s first big rescue. It’s incredible enough that someone thought to do a continuation of the McClane character, but all the better that a master like Chaykin is doing it.

Galactica 1980 #4 (Dynamite)
The comic that revisited the maligned final chapter of the original ‘Battlestar Galactica’ saga was written by Marc Guggenheim, who’s been a favorite of mine since ‘The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive,’ so I had to be at least curious about it. But I kept coming back, either because of Guggenheim or because the story was unexpectedly compelling. Either way, this was the final issue (the story will continue in ‘Galactica 1981’), and it has led me to the original TV show, which I’ll be writing about in an upcoming column about the whole BSG phenomenon.

G.I. Joe: Cobra II #1 (IDW)
I could not be more ecstatic that IDW is doing more of this book, which was easily the best of its three books launched last year after acquiring the rights to the franchise from DDP (which had a great run with ‘G.I. Joe: America’s Elite’). The original mini-series followed Chuckles as he became the first Joe to learn about Cobra while on an undercover mission that eventually led him to Tomax and Xamot. This issue introduces an as-yet unnamed new Joe, who may or may not be the Jinx we’ve always known (in the first series, Jinx was killed off, much to Chuckles’ dismay), and who will break the man who suddenly became the franchise’s James Bond out from the clutches of Cobra. Christos Gage and Mike Costa, for those keeping score, are the writers at the helm.

The Great Ten #3 (DC)
Spinning out from the pages of ‘52,’ this is the Chinese answer to the Justice League, and while they have a great time confronting foes who appear to be Chinese gods, each issue spotlights an individual member of the Ten. This issue the honor falls to Thundermind, who might be called the team’s Superman. Tony Bedard (aided by the always exceptional Scott McDaniel on art) is the writer making his career on this one.

Green Lantern #50 (DC)
The always-busy Geoff Johns has been the regular writer of Hal Jordan since ‘Green Lantern: Rebirth,’ which was the last time Parallax was a real problem. For those of you who might not know, “Parallax” was originally what Jordan became after the loss of Coast City (I swear I don’t plan to be all holistic, it just happens) drove him insane, but Johns further defined Parallax during ‘Rebirth’ as the manifestation of fear that had infected Jordan after he absorbed the Central Power Battery on Oa during “Emerald Twilight.” Anyway, thanks to Blackest Night, which might be considered the culmination of Johns’ Green Lantern work, Hal thinks becoming “Parallax” again might actually be a good thing. That’s what this anniversary issue is all about.

Green Lantern Corps #44 (DC)
Ever since Alan Moore first wrote “Mojo Doesn’t Socialize,” the story that introduced the planet member of the GL Corps, it’s been a challenge to truly represent Mojo in any meaningful fashion. Well, thanks once again to Blackest Night, he gets that chance in perhaps his first-ever show of force, swallowing a whole swarm of Black Lanterns to stop the threat to Oa.

Irredeemable #10 (Boom!)
Mark Waid has been doing his best superhero work in years with this book, perhaps because he finally gets to play in his own sandbox. Here, we learn a truly tragic element of the Plutonian’s backstory, which further explains how he turned out so differently from the archetypal Superman.

Joe the Barbarian #1 (Vertigo)
Grant Morrison launches a brand-new assault on readers for the first time in years. It’s still a little early, especially for a Grant Morrison, to truly characterize just what is going on, but Joe seems to be a perfect manifestation of alienation, and what happens is, well, purely Grant Morrisonian.

Justice League: Cry for Justice #6 (DC)
James Robinson has been doing his best work since ‘Starman’ on this book, which was originally supposed to be a second JLA series, as the writer details in his final text commentary of the mini-series, but instead became a powerful study of superheroes who’ve been left unexplored for too long, as well as a villain (Grant Morrison’s Prometheus), who hasn’t been potent since his first appearance more than a decade ago. Seven issues didn’t turn out to be enough space to cover quite everything in this ambitious story (which makes it that much better that Robinson has since taken over the regular ‘Justice League of America’ book), but big things are still going to come of the events from it, notably involving Green Arrow. This is the issue that kicks all that off.

Marvelous Land of Oz #3 (Marvel)
Eric Shanower is the kind of writer I can really get behind, because he seems to have passions and picks projects that resonate fairly strongly with me. In ‘Age of Bronze,’ he’s been exploring the Trojan War, but for Marvel, he’s tapped into his obsession with the L. Frank Baum books of Oz, the original material that the famous Judy Garland movie doesn’t really represent. I had read the ‘Wizard of Oz’ book long ago, and so I knew how different the two experiences really were, but I had forgotten that I cared. This is the second adaptation Shanower has done for Marvel. I skipped ‘Wonderful Wizard of Oz,’ but seemed to know I shouldn’t this one. (Can you believe there are about a dozen books still out there in publishing limbo? You won’t if you sample this stuff.) This issue explores a band of Oz women who have had enough of the Emerald City under the control of the Scarecrow (and men in general), so they lead a revolt that they correctly reason cannot be opposed because of their feminine wiles. It’s all so whimsical, either because of Shanower’s depiction or because of the original Baum material, you seriously can’t imagine how modern readers only really care about Oz because of Greg Maguire. You only need a single issue to fall in love with Jack Pumpkinhead, but now you’ve got three.

Mice Templar: Destiny #6 (Image)
This is another book I’ve been reading for a long time that hasn’t got its popular reward yet, and this is a fine issue to help explain how wrong that is. This is, like ‘G.I. Joe: Cobra II,’ the second series of a must-read, which follows young Karic as he attempts to fulfill a prophecy that has set him about an entirely unique heroic quest.

The Mighty #12 (DC)
Peter Tomasi concludes the saga of Alpha, another would-be Superman figure whose secrets were too dark to reveal, but human lieutenant Gabriel Cole finally broke through the mythology, only to discover that, like Batman and Jim Gordon in ‘The Dark Knight’ with Harvey Dent, it’s probably better if the world remembers the myth rather than the man.

The Power of Shazam! #48 (DC)
The best of the Blackest Night series “revivals,” this is the long-awaited follow-up to ‘52’ and ‘Black Adam’ that sees the late Osiris return, only to realize, even with the influence of the Black Lantern ring, that it’s better to conclude his life on his own terms than allow what was a horrible corruption and series of mistakes to continue. Writer Eric Wallace is instantly catapulted into rarified air with this issue, as a major DC writer. It’s just a matter of seeing how that plays out. I hope very soon…

RASL #6 (Cartoon)
Jeff Smith’s follow-up to his seminal ‘Bone,’ ‘RASL’ really heats up this issue with an extended look at the none-too-celebrated genius Nikola Tesla, and how his influence continues to be felt by those lucky enough to remember him.

Starman #81 (DC)
James Robinson (but not Tony Harris) returns to ‘Starman’ at last, cleverly subverting expectations by bringing back David but not Jack Knight, and letting quasi-hero Mist deal with him. Makes you wonder, if Robinson doesn’t want to do Jack, why not Mist?

Wasteland #27 (Oni)
Another of my long-term favorites, I spent a good amount of time being denied ‘Wasteland’ for the simple reason hardly anyone has discovered it, to the point where the comic book store I did find it in here in Colorado Springs thought it was cancelled. Well, it wasn’t, and this is the third issue I’ve read since reconnecting thanks to Midtown Comics.com. Since #25, Antony Johnston has preferred a less linear approach than the one he’d been using up to the point, which has helped heighten and emphasize some of the elements not featuring drifter hero Michael and Abi in this essential post-apocalyptic spectacle.

Weird Western Tales #71 (DC)
The best thing about Blackest Night has been just how unpredictable its pleasures can be, and because its central writer has been Geoff Johns, those have been plentiful but not assured. Well, Dan DiDio, who makes his name as DC’s Senior VP and Executive Editor, provides a pretty good dose here as well, revisiting some of the Western heroes in one of the unlikeliest of the “revival” issues.

Also: ‘Captain America #602’ (Marvel), the first regular issue of the series in months; ‘JSA All-Stars #2’ (DC), the start of an awesome second feature with Hourman & Liberty Belle; ‘Magog #5’ (DC), featuring a wicked piece of Magog mythology; ‘Outsiders #26’ (DC), the start of Dan DiDio’s run as writer; ‘Political Power: George W. Bush’ (Bluewater), if you happen to fancy revisiting him; ‘Power Girl #8’ (DC), the amusing conclusion of a story in a typically amusing series; two issues of ‘Resurrection’ from Oni, and various other comics I’d love to mention, but I no longer chronicle, strictly speaking, every comic I read…