Tom Veitch, R.I.P.

Sad to note the passing of writer Tom Veitch at age 80 from covid.

(fundraiser organized by his daughter)

Some of his earliest comics were undergrounds from the early 1970s, including some work with Greg Irons, including the bizarre one-shot THE LEGION OF CHARLIES [1971] and the amusing "Last Gasp" short from SLOW DEATH #5 [1973] featuring the creators and their publisher.

With brother Rick Veitch he did a back-up story, "Guts", for SGT. ROCK #356 [1981], and with Stephen Bissette he did the story "Roadkills" in DEATH RATTLE #6 [1986].

With Cam Kennedy he did THE LIGHT AND DARKNESS WAR from Epic in 1988, and the two of them re-united for the first Dark Horse published STAR WARS series, DARK EMPIRE (plus the sequel, DARK EMPIRE II, finally ending with EMPIRE'S END with art by Jim Baikie).

 

He also did a trio of prestige format mini-series at DC in the early 1990s, pre-Vertigo but very much in the vein of the future imprint. MY NAME IS CHAOS with John Ridgway, CLASH with Adam Kubert and THE NAZZ with Bryan Talbot.

JLA/AVENGERS by Pérez & Busiek

So, the JLA/AVENGERS crossover by George Pérez and Kurt Busiek from 2004/2005 has been in the news for the last few days, thanks to the fact that DC and Marvel have come to an agreement to allow a reprint of the book for the first time in 14 years, to benefit the Hero Initiative.

I didn't buy the series when it came out, but planned to get the eventual collection. I generally prefer that to the 48-page squarebound "prestige format", especially for comics with full-bleed artwork and lots of double-page spreads. Unfortunately, the only reprint they offered in the immediate aftermath of the original publication was a $75 oversized hardcover in 2005, packaged with a second book full of extras. By 2008, after a few years of nothing else coming out, I figured no affordable collection was on the way, and at a convention happened upon a dealer who had a half-longbox filled with  copies of #2 and #4 of the series for $1 each. Picked up those (well, one of each), found a copy of #1 at another dealer $3. Had to mail order #3 for a relatively extortionary $5, and between the time I ordered it and receiving it they announced a $20 softcover reprint, which came out in late 2008. I considered picking it up at the time, but was in no hurry (and it was a pretty sparse package, without most of the extras included in the hardcover), and it appears to have quickly fallen out of print and remained that way. Because why would you want to have a popular book called JLA/AVENGERS available to purchase in an era when Avengers became a household name with three of the top ten grossing movies of all time and the JLA... also had a movie come out?

Anyway, there is another softcover edition, coming, with the extras from the hardcover, and benefitting charity, as a tribute to Pérez (who recently announced he was terminally ill and in hospice care). Unfortunately it's a limited edition, so I'm unlikely to get it. Maybe if there's a more widely available version in the near future. There are also a few other DC/Marvel co-publications long out of print that I wouldn't mind seeing new editions of.

Anyway, pulled out the series to re-read for the first time in quite a few years. It's pretty fun stuff, unabashedly fan-service, I'm not quite sure if it makes sense to anyone who's not as deeply immersed in the minutia of the DC and Marvel super-hero publishing history as much as I unfortunately am, but I guess there are quite a few people in that boat. Even I only understand the broad strokes of it, there are a lot of little details that refer to stories I never read. I'm not sure how he managed it, but Busiek somehow avoids bogging down the story by explaining most of the references but explaining enough that anyone can follow the story and be rewarded by the references they happen to get. It also works, in large part thanks to the Pérez artwork, always detailed, somehow bringing consistency to a story involving hundreds of characters originally designed by wildly disparate creators.

Anyway, I've had fun every time I've read it, so if you're able to pick up a copy of the upcoming reprint I'd suggest you do so.

CROSSROADS (First Comics 1988 "crossover")

 

First Comics was a major "independent" comics publisher from the 1980s, launching in 1983 and operating quite successfully for a while before running out of steam in 1991.  Towards the middle of their run they ran this 5-issue series CROSSROADS, which featured crossover stories involving seven of their then on-going books (WHISPER, SABLE, BADGER, AMERICAN FLAGG, NEXUS, GRIMJACK and DREADSTAR), almost their entire line at the time other than adaptations of Michael Moorcock stories and translations of  LONE WOLF & CUB.

I came to the various First books late, mostly after they went under, and have varying levels of interest and knowledge in the various books. I'd see this series around a lot in looking for back issues over the years, with the snazzy painted Steve Rude covers, but rarely all five at once or at a cheap enough price to pull the trigger on a purchase. Finally happened a while ago, but then I never got around to reading them. So now that I was re-reading all of NEXUS in order, I decided to finally pull them out around the time the series came out in that publishing chronology (decided to slot it in around NEXUS #47, dated the same as CROSSROADS #2).

It's a mixed bag. I was expecting more of an ongoing plot across the series, but only the slightest nod is made towards that. Pretty much each issue could have been two regular issues of the two or three relevant books.

#1 features Whisper and Jon Sable, written by Whisper creator Steven Grant and drawn by Cynthia Martin. These are the two features I'm least familiar with, read maybe a half-dozen issues of each over the years, and this doesn't convince me to change that. Whisper is a ninja, Sable is a bounty hunter, they cross paths and neither seems to be too effective at their chosen field.

#2 follows Sable on his next case, this one crossing him over with Badger. Written by Badger creator Mike Baron and drawn by Angel Medina with Rod Whigham. I'm a bit more familiar with Badger, having about half of the issues of the run. This is pretty much a typical Badger story, one of the less humourous ones. Sable is pretty superfluous to the plot. A two page epilogue is the only thing that ties it to the next issues.

#3 continues with Badger, this time meeting Luthor Ironheart, a robot character from American Flagg. Written by Roger Salick and drawn by Joe Staton with Jeff Albrecht and Paul Abrams. This is more like one of the better Badger stories, a lot funnier and more imaginative. I'm pretty sparse on American Flagg knowledge, having read the early issues a long time ago and a few middle issues due to an Alan Moore back-up story. Not really required for this book. Ironheart is a robot brought back in time by magic for some plot contrivance.  Decent enough issue.

#4 jumps way to the future, with Judah Macabee, a major supporting character from Nexus, teaming up with Grimjack (with a vague connection to Ironheart from the previous issue I'm not sure I understood), with a plot that seems to have some major things to advance an on-going plot from Nexus. I'll have to see if that's referred to in upcoming issues. Anyway, this is by Roger Salick and Shawn McManus, and McManus definitely does the best looking artwork of the series. I'm at about the same level of knowledge of Grimjack as I am with Badger, big fan of the early run of the book, although my collection is a bit spotty around the time this was published. Nexus is the First comic I'm most familiar with, having read all of the main series and most of the spinoffs. Overall a pretty good issue, if a little confusing at times (I'm still trying to figure out of Judah and Grimjack knowing each other is from a story I missed, or something between the panels. I know they do meet again in GRIMJACK #52, published just after this, which I'm looking forward to re-reading).

#5 continues with Grimjack, this time meeting the star of Nexus in a story involving the star of a third book, Vanth Dreadstar. Written by Mike Baron, drawn by Luke McDonnell with Val Mayerik. I'm familiar with the earlier adventures of Jim Starlin's Dreadstar, from when the character was published by Epic, but never read the later stuff leading up to the status quo by the time of this book. I'll admit, it made me curious, to the point that I'll probably re-read the stuff I have and if it holds up maybe actively look for the issues I'm missing, pick them up if a reprint project for the book ever gets that far (doesn't look like any has so far). Definitely my favourite issue of this odd series, has me looking forward to continuing on with Nexus and moved both Grimjack and Dreadstar up the re-reading list for the future.

So the book definitely gets better as it goes on. Since there's no real plotline through the series, you can read each separately, I'd probably recommend #4 and #5 highly if you're familiar or curious about any of the characters, #3 with some reservations. #1 and #2 I'd probably say skip, except some of the artwork is pretty good in them if it's not too expensive.

NEXUS by Baron, Rude & Co. Part 1 of 3

NEXUS is a long-running science fiction superhero comic created by Steve Rude and Mike Baron (with contributions from numerous other artists and occasional other writers), starting back in 1981 and with new material still coming out (most recently a novel and a collection of newspaper Sunday format strips).  With the exception of Dave Sim still (sort of) doing Cerebus and Wendy Pini still doing ElfQuest is there any other comic book from 1981 or earlier still being done by the same creators?

Anyway, I was late to the game on NEXUS, not buying from direct market stores when it began. I didn't start reading it until about 1992, when it was published as a series of mini-series over at its third publisher, Dark Horse. Over the next few years I got and read back issues in random order, first concentrating on the issues drawn by Steve Rude, then on some of the noteworthy fill-in artists, and eventually almost everything up to 2009, including some of the spin-offs (I'm missing the NEXUS THE LIBERATOR mini-series, not by Baron and Rude, a few HAMMER OF GOD mini-series, a few Clonezone stories from the back of issues of BADGER and a one-shot).

So I've got about 120 comics, which I've read out of order, a few of which I haven't read at all. Decided to finally read them all in order. It's going pretty good so far. In the past week I've read the original three issue black and white magazine (#1 through THE ORIGINAL NEXUS [1985] collection, since I never found a cheap enough original) and the first 40 issues of the main colour series. So far pretty good. Starts off a bit raw, but with an undeniable energy, very quickly improves.  Pretty steadily improves, probably hits a peak from about #10 to #20, with all the pieces in place and some clever exploration of the themes of the series. There are a few minor missteps, but nothing major, and I know there's some great stuff coming up.

Looking forward to the next group of issues, and I think I might decide to re-read it again soon after I finish in a more deliberate manner, maybe one issue a week.