Alitha Martinez – In My Not So Humble Opinion

Comic book reviews: Nubia Queen of the Amazons

In my blog post yesterday I mentioned the recent Nubia: Queen of the Amazons four issue miniseries from DC Comics. I really wanted to take a closer look at it.

Nubia: Queen of the Amazons is written by Stephanie Williams, penciled by Alitha Martinez, inked by Mark Morales, John Livesay & Martinez, colored by Alex Guimarães and lettered by Becca Carey, with cover artwork penciled & inked by Khary Randolph and colored by Emilio Lopez.

It’s been a while since I’ve followed the Wonder Woman series regularly. I decided to get Nubia: Queen of the Amazons because it was penciled by Alitha Martinez, an artist whose work I really enjoy. Martinez has been working in comic books for over 20 years, and I really think she’s tremendously talented.

This is actually the second Nubia series Martinez has worked on with writer Stephanie Williams. The six issue Nubia & the Amazons came out last year… and I managed to completely miss it. Hopefully I’ll be able to find the collected edition soon.

Nubia is a character who has been around for nearly half a century, having been created by writer & editor Robert Kanigher and artist Don Heck in Wonder Woman #204, which was released in late 1972. In pre-Crisis continuity Nubia was Princess Diana’s long-lost fraternal twin sister. Kanigher’s writing is not what anyone would ever consider to be subtle & nuanced, to say the least. I mean, issue #204 infamously opened with Kanigher killing off a very thinly-disguised stand-in for his editorial predecessor Dorothy Woolfolk. But his introduction of Nubia did set up the idea of there being Amazons of other ethnicities. I guess that helped lay the groundwork for George Perez to introduce characters such as Philippus during his groundbreaking post-Crisis revamp of the Wonder Woman series.

Nubia only appeared a handful of times during the Bronze Age. The character was reintroduced to the DC Universe only a short time ago. In the current continuity she is the reincarnation of a warrior princess from the African island of Madagascar. While no longer Diana’s twin, the two women are close friends, and following the death of Diana’s mother Hippolyta, Nubia assumed the throne of Themyscira.

Williams does a good job with her writing, balancing the fact that her script features a large cast of characters & alludes to numerous past events while still making it accessible to readers such as myself who have not picked up the past installments.

The newly-crowned head of Themyscira travels to Brazil with her entourage to show support for environmental activists who are fighting against the destruction of the rainforests. Unfortunately this places Nubia squarely into the sights of a mysterious figure who wants her dead. At first I thought this woman, clad in armor & wearing a full metal mask, was going to turn out to be a new incarnation of old Wonder Woman adversary Doctor Cyber. But, no, this woman is actually Neser, a new character who is revealed to have ties to Nubia.

One of the distinctive aspects of Nubia: Queen of the Amazons is not only are nearly all the characters women, but the majority of them are non-white. Even longtime Justice Society member Hawkgirl is now shown to be Latina. I really appreciated that the cast was so diverse, as well as incredibly well-written. Williams does a fine job developing their different personalities.

Definitely the stand-out aspect of this miniseries was the incredible penciling by Martinez. Her layouts & storytelling on the various action sequences are genuinely animated & dynamic. She also does a very good job rendering the quieter, character-driven moments and dialogue scenes. Martinez’s depiction of Nubia is stunningly beautiful & regal.

Martinez’s line art works very well with Alex Guimarães’ rich, vivid coloring. The final page of issue #3 seen below is especially striking.

I also enjoyed Khary Randolph’s work on the covers for this miniseries. Randolph is another artist whose work I’ve enjoyed in the past. Several years ago I purchased a copy of his hardcover The Black Book which featured some very beautiful, sexy, hyper-detailed pin-up illustrations by him. I really appreciated how he was able to render women with different shapes & sizes. It definitely spoke to his versatility that, unlike some other artists, he enjoyed rendering women outside of the standard “tall, thin & big-boobed” body type you typically see in mainstream superhero comic books.

As with quite a few other DC Comics miniseries, the events of Nubia: Queen of the Amazons lead into another storyline. Unlike some other recent instances where the “endings” of various miniseries were literal cliffhangers — I’m looking at you, Justice League Incarnate #5 — here Williams manages to make Nubia: Queen of the Amazons relatively self-contained. Yes, the final issue sets the stage for upcoming events, but it still feels like a complete enough whole, as well. That was another quality of her writing I really appreciated, and it actually makes me more likely to get upcoming issues of Wonder Woman to find out what happens next.

Hawkman is now black… and that’s okay

Last month I bought the Black Adam – The Justice Society Files: Cyclone special published by DC Comics. And, yeah, that IS an unwieldy title! This is one of several comic book tie-ins to the upcoming live action Black Adam movie. I actually got it because I’m a fan of artist Maria Laura Sanapo, who does incredible work.

So I’m reading the Cyclone special, I get about halfway through, and then I come to this…

Black Adam – The Justice Society Files: Cyclone written by Cavan Scott, drawn by Maria Laura Sanapo, colored by Arif Prianto and lettered by Becca Carey

Yes, it’s Hawkman… and he’s black.

I’ll be honest: initially I did a double take. But after a moment’s surprise, I just shrugged. Hey, why not make Hawkman black?

Yes, okay, the reason he’s dark-skinned in this story is because in the Black Adam movie the character is going to be portrayed by African American actor Aldis Hodge. But, honestly, think about it for half a minute. Hawkman is the reincarnation of the ancient Egyptian monarch Prince Khufu; it makes a lot more sense for him to be depicted of African descent than as a blonde-haired white guy like was in the past. (And let’s not even go into the Silver Age version of Hawkman, who was from an entirely different planet, meaning he wasn’t even human… but he still looked like a WASP.)

Besides, anyone arguing that this isn’t “faithful” to the character is flat-out ignoring how many times Hawkman’s history has been rebooted & retconned over the past eight decades.

Black Adam – The Justice Society Files: Cyclone cover drawn & colored by Kaare Andrews

As can be seen from the above cover drawn by Kaare Andrews, Cyclone, the protagonist of this story, is also dark-skinned. Again that’s undoubtedly down to casting, as in the Black Adam movie Cyclone will be played by the bi-racial Quintessa Swindell.

I hadn’t heard of Cyclone before this, but a quick look at Wikipedia reveals that originally the character was a white girl with red hair. I think Maxine Hunkel has a sufficiently low profile, and is all-but-unknown to the general public, that changing her ethnicity is not a big deal.

Nubia #1 written by Stephanie Williams, penciled by Alitha Martinez, inked by Mark Morales, John Livesay & Alitha Martinez, colored by Alex Guimaraes and lettered by Becca Carey

I also picked up the recent four issue Nubia: Queen of the Amazons miniseries. This is another one I got for the artwork, since it’s penciled by the amazing Alitha Martinez. Hawkman’s longtime ally (and on-again, off-again romantic interest) Hawkgirl guest-stars in that story, and I see she’s now being depicted as dark-skinned. I believe her alter ego Kendra Saunders has been revealed / retconned to be of Hispanic heritage.

Oh, yes, as you no doubt gleamed from the title, the queen of the Amazons is now the very dark-skinned Nubia who is originally from Africa… Madagascar, to be precise.

Why am I bringing up all of this? Well, it’s primarily because of the God-awful kerfuffle caused by racist white people who are full anger that Ariel in the live action version of The Little Mermaid is black.

As I commented on Facebook, you must be a ridiculously insecure loser if a dark-skinned mermaid causes you to fly into a blind rage. Alternately, as my friend Mitchell Brown astutely observed:

“Remember, this isn’t about their lack of imagination, or their fragility at the thought of living in a world that doesn’t look like them. They are doing this to deny everyone who doesn’t look like them what they have taken for granted their entire lives. The last thing they want is for POC folks to feel comfortable in their own skin, to not be reminded 24/7 that they’re the “Others” in a world designed around the wants and demands of one group.”

Several years ago I did a blog post that looked at how Ben Grimm, aka the Thing from the Fantastic Four, was revealed to be Jewish, and how much it meant to me as a Jewish comic book fan. I’m going to repeat what I wrote there:

It is crucial to have diversity in pop culture. Just as I really wanted, and needed, for there to be Jewish heroes in the stories I read and watched, so too do women, blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, the LGBT community and other groups want and need the same thing.

In other words, representation is vitally important. It really does matter.

Black Adam – The Justice Society Files: Hawkman written by Cavan Scott, penciled by Scot Eaton, inked by Norm Rapmund, colored by Andrew Dalhouse and lettered by Rob Leigh

And that’s why I am perfectly fine with Hawkman, Hawkgirl and Cyclone now being depicted as dark-skinned, and with the Amazons’ monarch now being African, because I recognize that there are readers, especially younger ones, who will really appreciate it, to whom it will be genuinely important.

Besides, the overwhelming majority of characters in mainstream superhero comic books are still white heterosexual Christians. No one is being “erased” or anything ridiculous like that. Fictional worlds are merely taking steps to reflect the fact that reality is actually a much more diverse place than it has previously been depicted to be in Western pop culture.

I’m not sure if I’ll have a chance to do full write-ups on either Black Adam – The Justice Society Files or Nubia: Queen of the Amazons, so I’ll just say I’ve enjoyed both and recommend them.

Comic book reviews: New Crusaders #5-6

Writer Ian Flynn wraps up the initial New Crusaders story arc in the final two issues of the Rise of the Heroes miniseries. “Trial by Fire” sees the nefarious Brain Emperor breaking into Z.I.P. Prison to liberate his inner circle of costumed criminals. To facilitate the escape, he lets loose the entire population of the penitentiary. When the New Crusaders arrive, the inexperienced teenage heroes, who would already have faced the daunting task of opposing the villain who defeated their parents, the original Mighty Crusaders, find themselves having to put down a full scale prison riot.

As the Brain Emperor goes about reviving his elite followers, the New Crusaders are quickly being overwhelmed by the dozens upon dozens of convicts who have been set free. Unexpected help does come from a trio of prisoners, though. Hangman, Black Hood and Deadly Force are all former superheroes who were sent to jail for excessive force and manslaughter. Now they’ve decided to side with the children of their former teammates in putting down the riot. But even with the aid of this threesome, and the veteran leadership of the Shield, the Crusaders face an almost impossible task.

Flynn does an excellent job showing how these neophyte crime fighters deal with their first mission. The Jaguar, who previously faced the challenge of being accepted by the ancient spirit inhabiting her helmet, has to now struggle to contain the cat god’s wish to drive her to savagery. Likewise, we also see Steel Sterling is attempting to take down the prisoners without resorting to lethal force, an approach that is challenged by Hangman as naïve. The other Crusaders also face similar obstacles.

In the end, unsurprisingly, things do not go well, to say the least, and the Crusaders’ first mission, despite succeeding, has a most bitter cost. And these dispirited young heroes still have to face a future encounter with the Brain Emperor himself. Their story continues in May with the next miniseries, Dark Tomorrow. I hope that that title doesn’t mean things will become all “grim and gritty.” But Flynn has certainly built up enough goodwill during Rise of the Heroes that I’ll be approaching this with an open mind.

The art team of Alitha Martinez & Gary Martin continued to turn in excellent work in these concluding issues of the first New Crusaders miniseries. They have an art style that at first glance may appear deceptively simple, in the vein of Mike Parobeck or Bruce Timm. But I imagine that there is a great deal of craftsmanship & storytelling to their work. They don’t have the luxury of hiding behind hyper-detailed renderings or excessive cross-hatching. I’m looking forward to their return a few months from now on Dark Tomorrow.

New Crusaders #6 page 27 by Sergio Cariello

There is also a back-up story in Rise of the Heroes #6 that is illustrated by Sergio Cariello, a retrospective look back at the career of the original Fireball. I’ve enjoyed Cariello’s work at DC Comics in the past, so it’s nice to see him pop up here at Archie. Hopefully he’ll be asked to contribute more work on the Red Circle imprint in the future, either on New Crusaders or one of the tie-in books that Archie has planned.

All in all, New Crusaders: Rise of the Heroes was a solid, entertaining introductory arc by Ian Flynn and the various other writers & artists involved. I’m looking forward to where these characters head next.

Comic book reviews: New Crusaders #2-4

The first issue of New Crusaders: Rise of the Heroes, published by Archie / Red Circle Comics, saw the original, retired Mighty Crusaders attacked and seemingly killed by their arch enemy, the sinister Brain Emperor. The sole survivor of the carnage was Joe Higgins, the Shield, who rushed the teenage children of the Crusaders to his underground safe haven.

As the second issue of New Crusaders opens, the six children of the fallen heroes are coming to grips with the apparent deaths of their parents & guardians. The Shield, who isn’t certain how to console them, instead takes on the role of mentor & drill sergeant and begins to prepare them to take over as the successors to the fallen Mighty Crusaders. This was something their parents had intended them to eventually do when the time was right. But now the Shield has to give his trainees a crash course. Emphasis on “crash.”

Writer Ian Flynn does excellent work scripting New Crusaders #s 2-4. All the shocked teenagers want to do is take the time to mourn their parents. Instead of being given the opportunity to adjust to the massive upheaval in their lives, through, the Shield chucks them in the deep end. And, not unexpectedly, they flounder, and their grief is now compounded with resentment at the Shield for attempting to turn them into soldiers at this most vulnerable moment. In the process, Flynn really gives us the opportunity to get to know these kids. After all, there was so much going on in the first issue that at the end they were still ciphers. So it was a wise decision on Flynn’s part to take the time to gradually develop them over the course of these next three issues of the series. I really felt I got to know who these six people were.

At the end of New Crusaders #4, the teens have embraced their legacies and adopted their parents’ costumed identities. They have begun training to use their new powers & abilities. And then the news comes: the Brain Emperor has struck again. Which presumably means that these new costumed heroes are about to endure a baptism of fire. This could be really messy!

New Crusaders #4 page 17, by Alitha Martinez & Gary Martin

As I mentioned in my review of issue #1, I really enjoyed the artwork on New Crusaders. The quality of the artwork continued with issue #s 2-4. Ben Bates returns to pencil the second issue, and he does an excellent job with this crucial story, really helping to get across the grief and anger of the teenagers. Bates also provides layouts for issue #3, with incoming artist Alitha Martinez doing the finished pencils. Martinez takes over full penciling chores with #4, and she turns in some exemplary work. Inking all three issues is Gary Martin.

I also wanted to point out the contributions of John Workman. He is one of the all time greatest letterers in the comic book biz. As I’ve mentioned in the past, he is probably best known for lettering Walter Simonson on numerous books over the years. It’s really great to see Workman on New Crusaders. He really has a dynamic style to his work that makes the dialogue, captions, and sound effects come alive.

Another veteran comic book pro who also contributes to New Crusaders is Rich Buckler. I’ve always enjoyed his work, especially his groundbreaking Deathlok series. Buckler was one of the artists who worked on Archie’s Mighty Crusaders title in the early 1980s. It was great that he was asked to contribute a cover to New Crusaders #4. I really hope that Archie will have him do more work for them. Issue #3 included a reprint of a 1980s back-up story he worked on featuring Fly-Girl. I’d like to see him be able to draw some brand new material for the back-up slot in New Crusaders.

Speaking of the back-up stories, issue #s 2 and 4 had original material. It was cool to see Chuck Dixon write a Comet back-up story. And my absolute favorite inker/finisher, the legendary Terry Austin, was also on hand. He inked the prelude to The Lost Crusade, an upcoming series written by Flynn and Dixon that is going to explore the original team’s missing years. I knew that Austin had been working for Archie the last few years, but it was great to see him on New Crusaders. As with Buckler, I hope Austin is asked back again.

As I understand it, New Crusaders: Rise of the Heroes has two more issues to go. After wrapping up, the next miniseries is going to be titled Dark Tomorrow. So far, I’ve really been enjoying this book. It’s an exciting series with really thoughtful writing, interesting characters, and superb artwork. I am definitely looking forward to seeing what happens next. For me, it’s much more engaging that the majority of the material currently being release by DC or Marvel. So I highly recommend giving New Crusaders a try.

Comic book reviews: New Crusaders #1

Archie Comics is, of course, very well known for publishing the fun, comedic adventures of Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, and the rest of the gang from Riverdale. What is probably not as well known is that throughout their 73 year history is that they have, from time to time, dabbled in superhero comic books.

I first became aware of characters such as the Shield, the Fly, and the Comet back in the early 1990s. DC Comics had licensed the Archie superheroes and created new interpretations of them under an imprint titled Impact Comics (or !mpact Comics with an exclamation point). Impact only lasted about two years before being canceled due to low sales, but I tremendously enjoyed those books they put out during that brief time. And I discovered a few of the earlier Archie-published comics in the back issue bins, including an issue of Mighty Crusaders from the early 1980s featuring artwork by comic book legends Rich Buckler, Dick Ayers, Tony DeZuniga, and Rudy Nebres.

A few years ago there was apparently a second, more recent attempt by DC to license the Archie superheroes, this time to integrate them directly into DC continuity, but for one reason or another this didn’t work out, and the properties are now back with their owners. Archie has revived their old Red Circle Comics imprint and are publishing New Crusaders: Rise of the Heroes. The series actually made its debut in an online digital format a few months ago, but this past week it came out in print format with the release of New Crusaders #1 in comic book shops.

Yesterday, Midtown Comics did a signing featuring several of the creators involved with New Crusaders: writer Ian Flynn, cover artist Ryan Jampole, and artist Alitha Martinez, who takes over drawing the series with issue #3. Since I was such a fan of the Impact incarnations of these characters, I went to the signing to purchase New Crusaders #1. I had the chance to talk to Ian Flynn for a few minutes, and he seems to have a lot of enthusiasm and ideas for the series. He mentioned doing a quite a bit of research into the various past incarnations of the Archie heroes in preparation for chronicling their new adventures.

New Crusaders #1, autographed by Ian Flynn and Ryan Jampole

New Crusaders #1 opens with a reunion of the members of the superhero team the Mighty Crusaders, who are now all retired to the town of Red Circle, living incognito and raising families, their arch-foes defeated years before under unrevealed circumstances. Unfortunately, the aging heroes are attacked by a menace from the past that crashes the reunion. While the majority of the adults try to hold back their old enemy, the Shield takes their teenage children to safety.

Flynn appears to be establishing a scenario wherein the children of the Mighty Crusaders have to step into the void left by their defeated parents, with the Shield serving as mentor to the new team. The first issue of New Crusaders serves as a set-up for this by introducing the young cast and showing the fall of the original heroes. It is always the hallmark of a good comic book that when you get to the end of the issue you cannot wait for the next to come out to see what happens next. That was certainly the case here, and I am eagerly anticipating next month’s issue.

Writing for an all-ages audience is not an easy task. A lot of the time, there is an awful temptation to talk down to children, to make things overly simple or safe. It’s all too easy to underestimate younger readers. But I guess I am young enough that I can still remember what it was like to be a kid and encounter material that felt like it was being condescending to me or underestimating me as a reader. Flynn does not make that mistake here. He writes a story that is truly appropriate for all ages, one that both children and adults can appreciate. I have to give him major recognition for that and, as I said before, I am looking forward to what he does with this series next.

As to the artwork, Ben Bates & Gary Martin do a very lovely job, with an animated style. I was very much reminded of the work of the late Mike Parobeck (who, incidentally, drew The Fly for Impact Comics). I’m a big fan of that style, and it works perfectly here. I think that it has a deceptively simple look to it, but that drawing in such a style can actually be much more difficult. The artist cannot hide behind over-rendering, crosshatching, or any other embellishments, instead having to rely on good, solid storytelling. Certainly the penciling by Bates is very good in this respect, very clear & concise. The inking by Martin has a very neat, solid line to it, as well.

As I understand it, Alitha Martinez will be coming onboard with New Crusaders #3, working over Bates’ pencil layouts, before then taking over full art chores with the subsequent issue. In the past, she’s done nice work on Iron Man and Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four. Recently, she penciled a couple of fill-in issues of Batgirl that were stunning. The previews of her work for New Crusaders #3 that I’ve seen online look very promising.

For those who have lamented that both DC and Marvel’s recent “renovations” or “reboots” of their superhero comic book lines were not reader friendly, I would recommend checking out New Crusaders, either in the comic shops, or on the Red Circle website. If the first issue is any indication, it’s a very promising title, one that hopefully will bring in a lot of younger readers. As for myself, I’m 36 years old, but I fully intend to see where it goes.