Just yesterday, I finished reading The Five Fists of Science, in which Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla saves the world (or at least New York) from the evils of Thomas Edison and J.P. Morgan. Today, I plowed through Barnum!, which has the titular circus barker teaming up with a secret service agent to stop Tesla from assassinating President Grover Cleveland and forming his own country on the west coast of the U.S.
Much like Five Fists, I thought the villainy didn’t make much sense. Here, Tesla is a mustache-twirling, heartless foreigner with souped-up joy buzzers. The protagonists are much more believable: why wouldn’t P.T. Barnum and his circus freaks, with their constant traveling schedule and “special” powers, become secret agents? Alas, the Barnum written by Howard Chaykin and David Tischman isn’t as entertaining as Matt Fraction’s Mark Twain.
I picked up this book not for the Tesla, but for Nico Henrichon’s artwork. I was blown away by his work on Pride of Baghdad. His art on Barnum! has a lot more ink, and at times is muddled, but on the whole is quite descriptive. He draws cluttered fight scenes well, though his wide angle shots, like of Tesla’s dirrigible, are not jaw-dropping. Turn-of-the-century circus folk should have a different art style than modern-day, war-torn lions, and Henrichon can do both well. I hope he continues to team up with Brian K. Vaughan.

As a good, inquisitive American boy, I had a great love of Thomas Edison, inventor of the lightbulb, the wizard of Menlo Park. The older I get, the more unsavory details I learn about him—his patent disputes, his dealings with early moviemakers. Last year, I visited the Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia, and learned about their dispute over AC and DC (the current, not the band). Tesla’s AC was much safer than Edison’s DC, yet Edison, due in part to smear tactic, won out.
The introduction to Five Fists of Science retells this story as it introduces the main characters in this historical fiction superhero comic. It stars Tesla and Mark Twain as good guys, looking for world peace (and millions of dollars) and Edison, J.P. Morgan, Marconi, and Andrew Carnegie as villainous frauds who also dabble in the dark arts. The idea of Tesla as a science hero (akin to Alan Moore’s Tom Strong) is really clever, but the main star is Twain. Matt Fraction writes Twain as a fast-talking barker promoting Tesla’s latest invention, a giant exoskeleton that could bring about world peace through Mutually Assured Destruction. Turning other scientists into cloak-wearing Dark Arts practitioners makes less sense.
This book is a lot of fun. Fraction loosely blends Moore’s Tom Strong and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, using real (American) celebrities from the turn of the century. Steven Sanders does a good job distinguishing between all the white guys, though I wish some of the night-time fights could’ve been a bit clearer to read—Tesla’s first appearance is especially hard to figure out.

The JSA exists mainly to bring up weird old bits of DC continuity, and make them sensible, fun, threatening, or interesting. In a time when most trade paperbacks hold six issues, it only makes sense that this JSA book holds 9. This book references comics from the golden age of the 40s to the Zero Hour days of the 90s, and with aplomb.
The best story in the book is probably a single-issue story about Wildcat fighting an Injustice Society that breaks into the JSA headquarters. It’s great to see the non-powered JSA member punch out people who can fly and move the earth. The story at the end that ties all the issues together finds the JSA fighting Extant, the villain from Zero Hour. It’s a bit confusing (Stephen Sadowski has to draw a lot of swirling lines to represent the time stream), but a nice way to refute the crossover that sought to kill the JSA.
Other good moments:
I like how Sadowski draws Atom Smasher when he yells-his mask can barely contain his mouth.
-Mr. Terrific really is a terrific character. Same with Doctor Mid-Nite.
-This version of Kobra is way better than the version in Greg Rucka’s Checkmate
Problems:
-I really don’t get Hourman at all
-Black Canary’s costume is at the time is bad. I mean, a lot of it isn’t even black.
-Who the heck is Mr. Bones?
-Why did Starman leave?
-I was impressed with Sadowski’s art, except that he can’t draw Metron (of the New Gods) at all.

Just like “Batman and the Mad Monk,” which I finished yesterday, “Batman: Snow” follows Batman in his second year, learning crime-fighting lessons on the job. (Both books even end with an illusion to The Flying Graysons.)
This book show’s Batman’s first battle with Mister Freeze, the cold scientist. Writers Dan Curtis Johnson and J.H. Williams III warmly portray Victor Fries as a doting husband and successful scientist, with an abrupt switch to Crazy that struck me as rash.
At the same time, Batman has a spat with Detective Gordon and starts up his own crime-solving crew. Given that he later chooses to work only with Robin, his relationship with his crew ends badly.
The most distinctive thing about this book is Seth Fisher’s art. I was hoping that Williams III, the artist on Promethea and Desolation Jones, would be drawing Batman, and was sad to see Fisher’s flat style on the cover. But, the more I read, the more fun Fisher’s rough, colorful art became. There are weird moments where steam comes out of Detective Gordon’s ears, and sometimes Batman looks like an overweight guy in a sweatsuit, but his iced-up Mister Freeze is neat, and he does a good job with all the new characters in the book.
What I don’t get is why this book and “Batman and the Mad Monk,” which both were set in Batman’s second year, show Batman in different costumes. This one has Batman wearing the yellow oval, which I’ve always preferred for some reason.

Batman is such a well-defined archetype that so many of his memorable stories exist out of the preset day continuity. Examples include Year One, Batman Begins, Dark Victory, Dark Knight Returns, and Batman Year 100. Even Paul Dini’s recent “Detective” book has a timeless feel to it, although it does use Batman’s current trappings (meaning, Batman calls Robin “Tim” rather than Dick or Jason).
Matt Wagner’s “Dark Moon Rising” series (“Batman and the Monster Men” came before this book) goes on that list. Wagner’s art is gorgeous—he and colorist Dave Stewart combined to make a painted look that reminds me of Tim Sale or Darwyn Cooke, but is less histrionic. In both books, Wagner revives old Batman villains that are now unheard of, and makes them compelling, and threatening to an inexperienced Batman.
The Mad Monk is a vampire with a cult following who gets his teeth on Bruce Wayne’s girlfriend (another disposable Gotham socialite). He, and his castle, lay the hurt on Batman pretty good, but I was disappointed with how The Mad Monk was finished off. The moral of the story, at least for Batman, is to be careful who you let close to you.
This book was billed as a sequel to ”...and the Monster Men” and while the story with Wayne’s girlfriend and the mafia does continue, the villain is completely different. I was disappointed not to see Dr. Hugo Strange, creator of the Monster Men, at all connected to the Mad Monk. At first, I thought Strange himself might be the Mad Monk.

That’s how everyone describes Brian Azzarello and Marcelo Frusin’s Loveless, because both are foul-mouthed, grisly, and well-written.
The second volume starts off with flashbacks for Wes Cutter, his wife Ruth, and former slave Atticus Mann (all drawn by Daniel Zezelj). Then, things get back into gear with the story of a couple killed in their house, and a bounty hunter coming to Blackwater to kill Wes, now the sherrif in town.
The series has only been around for 12 issues, but I already am confused by some of the characters. Azzarello writes sly, witty, dialogue, but is never content with enough subplots and secondary characters. While I enjoy reading this and 100 Bullets, I don’t have the attention span and memory to properly appreciate them. Maybe once he’s finished with each book, I’ll go back and read it all the way through.

Volume 3 of “New X-Men: Academy X” does a good job juggling all the continued plot threads, like Josh’s old relationship with Wolfsbane and new one with Laurie, David’s fearsome dream, and the general New Mutants/Hellions angst. I especially liked Laurie (codenamed Wallflower) finally acting out and using her powers somewhat destructively. It’s a melodramatic book, and it continues to hit the spot.
One weak spot was the Wolverine tie-in which had Northstar’s funeral. As an Alpha Flight fan for years, I felt little sadness at his memorial.
Randy Green’s art on the first few stories is great, but the other artists, Paco Medina especially, can’t measure up.

There’s something satisfying about these light stories of young, not-all-that-well-developed mutants in the X-Men universe. “New X-Men: Academy X” seems like an attempt for Marvel to lure in manga readers. The main story, about the X-Mansion being haunted, is fun, because in a world where super-powered teenagers all hang out, why not throw in some ghosts?
The second story, about one of the New Mutants gaining an almost perfect intellect, is a fun, throw-away “what if?” story. I wish the writers did more with updating and enhancing the characters’ powers as they aged.

Martian Manhunter sorta goes evil, and it’s sorta Green Lantern’s fault! I’m getting a little sick of all the revisionist history with Martians and Oans—they both seem to have a lot of retcons.
On the whole, there were just too many characters in this book (Scorch? Major Disaster? Faith? Manitou Dawn?) for anyone to easily slip into it. Some of the major emotional moments, like Batman talking to Plastic Man’s son, also didn’t hit home.
In the end, and mildly fun blockbuster.

I liked what Bill Willingham was doing with Robin before Infinite Crisis and One Year Later took over. Robin was standing up to Batman, and stepping out of his shadow.
Willingham must’ve gotten annoyed with DC crossovers—Robin’s dad died in Identity Crisis, which led to Tim Drake leaving Gotham for Bludhaven, then Bludhaven got killed in Infinite Crisis.
Adam Beechen did a great job on the Justice League Unlimited books, but his storyline, revolving around Robin being accused of killing Batgirl, isn’t that well thought out. Robin storming a Gotham precinct didn’t make much sense, and the revamp of Batgirl seems to undue any development that character made.
DC’s One Year Later jump seems like a gamble for books, with new creative teams and storyline coming out of nowhere, and I don’t like where Robin’s going.
Freddie Williams II’s art reminds me a little of Ed McGuinness, and was fun to look at.