On those long summer days in the early ’70s, reading comics was so much fun because, in part, I didn’t know much about comics. I was right at the starting line, ready to sprint into it all. The world that comics cracked the door open to was endless and endlessly fascinating. There was so much to learn about the characters, about publishing history, about creators. I wanted to know it all: the past, the present, and the future – those coming attractions of what was just around the corner.
Paradoxically, it’s kind of a shame that now I know a lot of comics history. Maybe you do too. I can’t help but pick up a copy of an old Fantastic Four, for instance, and think about the conflicts and struggles of the creators. In those glorious summer days of yore, oblivious to the backstories of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Martin Goodman, etc., I would just frantically devour the comic and worry, “How the heck will the FF would defeat Dr. Doom this time?”
I just bought a brand-new comic. Marvel Double Action #1 is part of a Marvel event called Heroes Reborn. Although the nomenclature is recycled from a reboot I’m happy to forget about, this event focuses on an alternate reality where the Avengers never existed.
The Most Fun Batman Adventure this Month
In this slightly “off” reality, Nighthawk is essentially Batman. He has the all the Batman tropes – his own cave, his custom car, his own “batarang”. Creators Tim Seeley, Dan Jurgens, Scott Hanna, Chris Sotomayor, and Cory Petit have created clever new riffs. In this version, the hero’s career in national politics has replaced the millionaire philanthropist angle. There’s a whiff of Bridgerton in it too. The interracial cast interacts without all the angst and tensions that so often accompany race relations in the real world and the fictional world. How refreshing, right? Continue reading “With Further Ado #151: The Nostalgic Joy of Summer”
