Halloween Reading: Mr. Monster Origins

Who better on Halloween than Mr. Monster?

I actually got this book a few weeks back, read about half of it, then decided to save the final part for tonight. Man, I LOVE this book.

Looking into Mr. Monster earlier, without having read any issues in nearly 20 years, I was somewhat mistaken in a prior blog post about his Canadian identity having been stripped away. Jim Stearn was identified as Canadian in his most widely-known appearance, from Super Duper Comics #3 in 1947, which is reprinted within Chapter 2 (of eight) of Origins. The retelling is done in an interesting way; we read the "real" story of what happened while one of the supporting  characters reads the comic book version.

Origins adds that, in order to avoid taking over the role of Mr. Monster, a young Jim Stearn left Stearn Manor and moved to Canada to earn his medical degree. I believe Stearn Manor is in New York state, so Stearn would be a Canadian citizen but likely not Canadian born.

The present-day version of the character is his son Strongfort "Doc" Stearn. So Strongfort is sort of half-Canadian and half...huh...well, you really should read this book.

I believed that the book would focus on Strongfort's upringing and training, but that's not the case. He's actually not born until the end of chapter four. The early issues detail Jim Stearn's career and the senior Stearn remains involved in the later issues as the story begins to look into creepy little Strongfort's early childhood.

Extra treat: As pointed out by Jim B in a comment to my previous post, there is another Mr. Monster appearance which tends to be overlooked. The Jim Stearn(e) version's origin was told in Triumph Comics #31. The story is displayed in this book, however its seven pages are copied onto two, making them quite small. Still, it's nice, not to mention logical, to have it in an Origins package.

By my limited recollection of the other Mr. Monster books, they were quite different in tone; more of a quirky humour, cartoonish style. It may be that the darker tone of Origins was more appealing to my personal tastes, but the character is interesting regardless and I think I'll be collecting more of his adventures down the road. Hell, maybe I'll make it a Halloween tradition for as long as there is material with which to do so.

Danny Raven's Illustrious Crime-Fighting Career!

Shortly after starting this blog, as a result of discovering a number of Canadian characters on the indy scene, I set out to find lesser-known Canucks in the "Big Two" pantheons.
I was more interested in reviewing DC Comics' large cast because there is a perception that DC has no Canadian characters.  I already knew about Plastique and Flying Fox and deliberately ignored Centrix (but will get around to him soon).  I found out about an additional few, including Daniel Crow-Brings-Darkness.

Crow's appearance list is limited to a few Justice League of America issues from just prior to the New 52 launch.  I noticed that all websites describing this character would invariable display the same two or three images.  This tends to mean one or two things.

• Even if he appears in the issues, his contribution is likely little more than a cameo in a group shot.
• Within said group shot, he's probably so inconsequential that he's barely seen.

Nonetheless, I had a brief roadie coming up and wanted some reading material for it.  I picked up the "Rise of Eclipso" trade paperback which contains most (all?) of Crow's distinguished crime-fighting career as it published.

Aside from his recruitment page, here's how Crow fares against Donna Troy:

He doesn't look real good against Batman (Dick Grayson edition) either...

Ah well.  It's not as though we could expect him to be the star of the show, really...

Cool character though, based on what little we're show, with an uncommon power (to create a "familiar" shadow which takes the form of a large bird).

It's interesting that Donna Troy knows him on sight (and that she refers to him as "Raven".  Error on her part?).  He is said to be "RCMP Special Agent, Meta Division" and his recruitment takes place during an encounter with a psychopathic villains named Southside.  The narration indicates that he and Southside have history so clearly he's not new to the game.

I am not aware of any plans to use Crow in the near future and he has yet to appear in any of the New 52 books.  Probably our best chance to see him used again is in Earth-2, a book penned by Ride of Eclipso writer James Robinson.

Another option, which is only my idea and that I know of not at all under consideration, is that he serve as the Canadian representative of Batman Inc.  His darkness-based powers and his police training would seem to make him a good candidate to be Canada's version of Batman, with Southside serving as his Joker.  Make it happen, Grant Morrison.

Oh, Those Sassy Ottawa Farmers!

A number of the more obscure characters that have been featured here were found by accident.

Such was the case with Daydreamer, though her obscurity was a little surprising being that she's a Marvel Comics character.  During a search, I came across a list of international characters which included her name.  Narrowing the search to Daydreamer herself, I was able to nail down her (rather limited) number of appearances.

I was due for another batch of back issues from Mile High Comics recently.  I'm a big fan of those guys, I've been ordering from them since they used to have single page ads in comics in the 80's.

I included Marvel Comics Presents numbers 101 and 102 in my order.  Those issues include the first two parts of a story about Daydreamer's team, the Young Gods.  It is entitled "Against a Rogue God" and it involves the team going...huh...against a rogue God.

Daydreamer gets a fair amount of face time as she assists one of her teammates analyze a dream she had in which a...er...rogue God was causing trouble, and confirms that there is substance to it.  She also helps pinpoint the locations in which said God is being a dick.

The part I found comical though involved Daydreamer getting up into some Celestial grills.

You go, Ottawa farmer girl!

It may not have been particularly helpful though.  Yes, the Celestials granted the team's wish to return to Earth to track down and stop this God dude, but with two conditions; they have all of three days to do it, and  if someone suspects that they are demi-Gods, the entire planet will be destroyed.

That's pretty harsh.

The other story which might be of interest is a Wolverine/Nightcrawler team up (hence the cover above).  However, it seems to revolve around Nightcrawler's back story and is written by Scott Lobdell, someone I consider to be "hit-or-miss".

This far into the story, it looks like a miss.  The "threat" from the first part is revealed to be anything but in the second.  It doesn't really work, because the bulk of Wolverine's dialogue is sarcastic humour, which took the edge off any kind of tension that Lobdell tried to build anyway.  If Wolverine can't take the threat seriously, how can I?

As cheesy as some of the dialogue is in the Young Gods story, I'll likely acquire the rest of the issues to see that story to its conclusion.  Daydreamer is likable enough and very few of the Canadian characters discussed here are the cosmic types, so it makes for a nice change.

The Official Tigerstryke Appreciation Post!

If you've been reading comics for a while, you probably have a character that you enjoy that no one else seems to, and you can't understand why others don't see the potential that you do.

I didn't get the Northstar mini series as it came out in 1994.  In terms of my Alpha Flight appreciation, he's about middle of the pack.  I figured I would get around to picking it up some day, and it was true; I bought it earlier this year, a mere 18 years after its release.

Throughout the four-part series, Northstar is chased by Alpha Flight's would-be replacement team, Weapon P.R.I.M.E., led by our titular character.

P.R.I.M.E. apparently stands for "PRototype Induced Mutation Echelon".  Sure.  Purple monkey dishwasher.

So why do I dig this guy?  Well...I don't know. He was co-created by Rob Liefeld, which in and of itself is usually reason enough for me to detest him (his other creator is Mark Pacella). He has not been particularly successful, either.  His five-person team is unable to collar an exhausted Northstar throughout that book, often looking inept in the process, such as the little gem below when 'Strike and another member named Yeti attempt to physically restrain him.

Prior to showing up in Northstar's book, he has also been in a few issues of the original X-Force book; issues 11-14 and 22-23 (I believe he only appears in one panel of issue #10).

His suit is an inferior knock-off of Guardian's armour.  I don't know the cause of the discrepancy, but in 'stryke's X-Force 22 appearance, his suit's colours are completely different.  They appear more, well, tiger-like, appropriately enough.

The feline look reminds me of another loser character that became a bigger deal once used differently by a quality writer; DC's Catman.  Both were seldom-used and usually written as increasingly large failures.

Now in the Northstar book, Tigerstryke is portrayed as a good little soldier who follows orders but also wants to do the right thing and prove himself capable.  However, he is not a "natural"; he gets confused and indecisive when not responding to a direct order from his superior(s).

In hindsight, I would have preferred to see Tigerstryke "promoted" to the Guardian role when Omega Flight was formed than have that drip Michael Pointer wear the leaf uniform.  His clashes with USAgent could have been a lot of fun as would Mitchell's growth into the position.

Heroes of The North: Coda (solicitation)

First Comics News announced the Ardeen Entertainment solicitations for December earlier today.  I updated my own Solicitations page accordingly, but there's so much content and talent on display that I wanted to make it more prominent.  My house, my rules. ;-)

HEROES OF THE NORTH: CODA

Writers: Yann & Michel Brouillette
Artists: Geof Isherwood, Olivier Raymond, Gibson Quarter.
Cover by Olivier Raymond
Price: $6.99
Full Color, 80 Pages
8 Ball is confronted to the madness of municipal politics, prompting much soul searching. Madame Doom wants an heir and hires Medusa Commander to engineer her a son worthy of her greatness. Discover how a lowly civil servant becomes the sewer lurking menace known as King Komodo! 8 Ball and Black Terror head out to North Korea to free The Canadian and Nordik from the evil clutches of Medusa Commander. What happens will change the Heroes of the North universe forever! All that and much more in the 80 pages conclusion to the first Season of Heroes of the North!

If it hasn't already, it shouldn't be long until "Missions" hits stores as well.  I want to be sure I get my hands on that because these books seem to move pretty fast.

Code Name: Danger's Captain Energy!

Code Name: Danger was a bi-monthly book published by Lodestone Publishing in the mid-80's.  It only lasted four issues.  Of those, I only own the first two, and of those, I only happened across the second issue while clearing out some basement clutter.

But the comic Gods smiled upon me!  I stopped to flip through the book and was a reminded of a Canadian character that I had totally forgotten.

The series' basic premise is essentially that of a super-powered G.I. Joe team.  When the organization's leader, Paul Makor, finds himself needing a team to complete a mission, he chooses its members from a long-list of agents that are either powered or, like Liam Neeson in "Taken", have a very particular set of skills.

The mission in this issue involves rescuing hostages from a cruise ship.  Makor chooses his people, among them Toronto-based Captain Energy, who has "the power of electromagnetism".  His assistant (named Nicole) is incredulous at the selection, which isn't particularly encouraging.

This Captain is a glory hound and media whore, apparently in competition for publicity with another character named The Stingray (who does not appear in the book, he's just a passing mention).  In fact, it is the promise of a worldwide press conference following a successful completion of the mission which convinces Energy to play along.

Despite his goofy appearance and behaviour (and name), Captain Energy does contribute significantly to the mission.  I don't know if he appeared in the following issues, but as the book relied on a rotating cast, it's quite doubtful.

Additional touch of Can-Con: the letters page in this issue includes one from the notorious T.M. Maple.  But then, so did most comics at the time, so perhaps that's not that big a deal. ;-)

Early Sneak Peek; Lady Black

The image below was being distributed by Frozen Light Comics earlier this week.  No word as of yet as to a tentative release date, unfortunately.

This is the second series from Frozen Light, on the heels of Northern Adventures Quarterly.

The second issue of that NAQ was originally intended to be ready for November, but name changes for a couple of the character were required, which caused a delay.  The Canadian Shield is now simply known as The Guard, while Nelvana is goes by Miss M.

Red Leaf announces Trading Card Series A!

Red Leaf Comics is pleased to announce a set of trading cards featuring three heroes and four villains!

Trading Card Series A: Heroes & Villains

Heroes: The Golden Age Leaf, Jill Canada, and The Modern Leaf.

Villains: Zomboid --the Zombie Android, Scorched Earth, Tundrus, Lord of the Tundra, and the Mass. 

The cards will be on sale individually or in a discounted set of seven!

When Red Leaf publisher John Helmer first mentioned (on Twitter) a forthcoming card set which would include three heroes from the company's cast, I automatically assumed that the cards would display the three versions of his flagship character, The Leaf.

Well, two out of three ain't bad. In fact, in this case, I think I prefer it.

The third character is actually Jill Canada, sidekick of sorts to the Golden Age Leaf.  Her appearances have been limited so far, hence my difficulty in scoring a good shot of her.  Here are a few panels from Surprising Theater #2, however.

She also shows up at bottom right on this Golden Age Leaf pinup by Stuart Berryhill.

I don't know what the plans are for Jill.  I suspect that she will also become a so-called "legacy" character whose proverbial torch gets passed down from generation to generation.  And if I'm wrong, well...I suggest it. :-)

Little Question That Sandman's Canadian

It had slipped my mind that Issue #5 of Earth-2, in stores as of yesterday, was to introduce Wesley Dodds as a Canadian member of a team called the World Army. 

I really like this book.  I was a big fan of the original JSA, right up to the team split a couple of years ago.  I've been buying the series digitally since the beginning and it is one of very few books that I buy pre "month-old" discount (well, at least among books without regular Canadian content).

Dodds' appearance is very, very brief.  But the fact that he is Canadian is quite clear.  I wondered if he would be treated like Booster Gold in Justice League International; said to be Canadian but never confirmed in-story.

Nope.  Dodds is only in a handful of panels, but his nationality is confirmed.

Here is a portion of page one.

Spot the maple leaf?  Well, in case you missed it, here is a portion of page two:

There's nothing to indicate that Dodds will be a permanent member of the team at this point though it's a safe assumption.  Mind you, they're not quite a team yet anyway.  He may be a reserve type that is called upon in certain situations.  Writer James Robinson does have plans to use him further, based on this comment on Twitter.

To everyone who liked E2 #5 and who asked -- the recruitment of Sanderson Hawkins will be a big plot point to come.

For those unfamiliar with the the original character(s), Sanderson was Sandman's sidekick so presumably Dodds will be involved heavily in that storyline.  However, the solicitations for #6 and #7 don't mention Sandman (or the Sandmen) so it may be a while still.

The "True Patriot" Campaign is Underway!

You can click the banner above to be taken to the campaign itself, but here are the basics:

True Patriot is a comic book anthology featuring Canadian superheroes written and drawn by some of your favourite Canadian comic book creators. Most of us working on this project grew up reading Alpha Flight, Captain Canuck, or Wolverine comics and we’ve always thought that there should be more Canadian superheroes out there. So, we're putting together a 100-page, full-colour anthology for your reading pleasure (and ours)!

"We" being: Adrian Alpona (Runaways), Andy B. (Kill Shakespeare), J. Bone (Super Friends), Jack Briglio (Scooby Doo), Scott Chantler (Two Generals), Tom Fowler (Hulk: Season One), Agnes Garbowska (Girl Comics), Faith Erin Hicks (Adventure Time), Tim Levins (Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes), Ramon Perez (A Tale of Sand), Ron Salas (28 Days Later), Jay Stephens (Secret Saturdays), J. Torres (Teen Titans Go), Howard Wong (After the Cape).

The return or The Family Dynamic is a pleasant surprise. Originally published, but bungled, by DC Comics in 2008, apparently J. Torres has obtained the rights to use the characters.

Torres hinted at their return a little while prior to going public with the True Patriot project.  As True Patriot was being built, the spotlight was turned over to some of the other characters and creators that will be featured so I began to wonder if one even had anything to do with the other after all.  I don't believe that Family Dynamic is even mentioned on the project's Facebook page, for example, so their inclusion in the Indoegogo page's gallery was great news.

I would love to see this become a regular event used to showcase Canadian talent.  Let's get the first one done and work from there.