Archives December 2022

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Second Coming #1 Amanda Conner cover

Mark Russell is the popular writer of wonder Twins, The Lone Ranger: The Deaf Smith Cattle War, The Flintstones, exit stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, and more. His most current series, with artist Richard Pace, is second Coming, the story of God sending Jesus back to earth to learn about power in a new way from the superhero Sunstar. Russell talks with Westfield’s Roger Ash about this hot new comic from AHOY.

Westfield: There’s been a lot of buzz and dispute surrounding second Coming and no one’s even read it yet. What’s your take on the situation?

Mark Russell: The fact that there’s so much dispute over a comic book that nobody’s even read yet is pretty much exhibit A that it’s feigned outrage. That it’s simply clickbait for YouTube anger merchants and a low-cost distraction technique for cable news outlets. Meanwhile, they don’t seem very concerned in any way about the very real blasphemies unfolding each day in the world around them. Priests using their positions within Christianity to abuse children, Church leaders covering up for them, and mega-churches embracing nationalism and a prosperity doctrine that is utterly contemptuous of the teachings of Christ. maybe take on these blasphemies first and then see if you have any energy left over to go after a comic book.

Second Coming #1 Richard pace cover

Westfield: What’s the genesis of the story?

Russell: It’s really a meditation on power, its abuses, and its short-comings as a tool for taking care of the problems central to life on Earth. Religion, superheroes, and political theories are, in a limited sense, all the same thing… a thought experiment on how we must apply power to make the world a better place. Superhero comics normally seem to operate under the assumption that the best way to fix the world is to punch out the ideal people. I wanted to introduce Christ into the thought experiment to broaden the palette of possibilities in going over the nature of power on Earth.

Westfield: who is Jesus’ roommate, Sunstar?

Russell: He is the Earth’s a lot of powerful superhero. He is pretty much invulnerable, at least physically. He has the powers that one would usually associate with a near-omnipotent superhero like Superman or Captain Marvel, but they’re still inadequate for the problems he faces in his own life. how does super-strength help save your grandmother from succumbing to dementia? What good is being able to fly when you’re trying to adopt a child?

Second Coming interior art by Richard Pace

Westfield: What sorts of challenges await Jesus and Sunstar?

Russell: Sunstar’s approach to life on earth is so completely different than Christ’s. and it’s one that Sunstar has never really given much thought to. He just sort of does whatever is expected of him as a superhero. So maybe the greatest challenge they face is how to co-exist. but Christ, having been away from earth for the last two thousand years, also faces other new challenges… like auto traffic.

Westfield: What can you tell us about your collaboration with artist Richard Pace?

Russell: My first conversations with Richard were about the tone of the piece and what sort of world this story takes place in and he really just took the ball and ran with it. The scenes in heaven are otherworldly and beautiful in a way I couldn’t have predicted and the way his art contrasts it with life on earth amidst all the urban decay and shabby ruins of everyday life is really quite elegant. He not only brings my vision to life in this comic, he adds a creative element that makes it transcend what we had originally planned.

Second Coming #2 Amanda Conner cover

Westfield: any closing comments?

Russell: regardless of what people may have heard about this comic, I hope people will give issue 1 a chance and decide for themselves.

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Tony Stark: Iron man #1

Featuring an all-new creative team and all-new direction!

New York, NY—March 5, 2018—New creative teams. new series. new directions. new beginnings. it all kicks off this June with TONY STARK: IRON man #1!

Tony Stark: Iron man #1 preview page 1

“As a futurist, Tony Stark thought he had all the answers. but considering that coming back from the dead, he now sees the marvel universe in a whole new light!” teased editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski. “How does Iron man continually progress and stay relevant in a world where technology advances on a daily basis? Well, Dan Slott, Valerio Schiti, and Edgar Delgado are here to answer those questions as they take our Armored Avenger on adventures that push the boundaries comic storytelling and visuals! and Dan writes Tony with such heart…pun intended…we had to put his name in the title.”

Tony Stark: Iron man #1 preview page 2

For a lot more information on TONY STARK: IRON man #1, including exclusive interviews, visit Nerdist.com.

TONY STARK: IRON man #1

Written by DAN SLOTT

Art and Cover by VALERIO SCHITI

Cover by ALEXANDER LOZANO

If you’ve not yet seen The Batman, inspect our non-spoiler review, however be alerted there’s some minor spoilers in this piece relating to exactly how the motion picture treats wealth. In The Batman, Matt Reeves guaranteed they’d talk about the principles of Bruce Wayne being a billionaire vigilante instead of just utilizing his money to save Gotham City. While this aspect was extremely vital to the plot of the film, particularly one of the villains’ plans, the ethnical concern wasn’t truly attended to beyond just stating that Robert Pattinson’s kid billionaire just didn’t care about his wealth. In a way, it’s the most brutal handle Bruce Wayne in the films yet, a type of pinnacle of rich entitlement. Yet, in this new movie, we truly don’t get to understand the Bruce side of Batman that much at all. (Though one scene is the most emotionally bare Bruce we’ve gotten, however I digress.)

Still, in spite of the focus this gets in the movie, there is no “Luke Cage talks to Danny Rand” scene here. as well as provided exactly how Pattinson is playing this Bruce, I don’t believe it’s a stretch to state that he’s never even thought about utilizing the Wayne riches to assist his city. I suspect that this is part of Matt Reeves’ plan, as well as that his series of Batman films will be akin to the MCU Spider-Man movies. It took a whole trilogy for the Peter Parker of the MCU to look like his comics counterpart in the methods that indicate the most to fans. Where Chris Nolan set out to tell the catastrophe of the Batman in three acts, I believe Matt Reeves is going to take three acts (or more?) to tell the story of exactly how this vigilante youngster becomes the Dark Knight Detective. Still, Bruce Wayne billionaire playboy is not a character we’ve truly dealt with in the movies. (Yet.)

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The principles of Bruce Wayne Being a Billionaire, While Batman Beats Up Gotham City bad People

picture by means of DC Comics

None of this is real, as well as part of the fun of comics stories is taking them “too seriously,” at times. provided exactly how lots of billionaires there are now (and that none of them have ended up being Batman), it’s fair to believe about this. Because, in theory, Bruce Wayne might do a lot more to impact modification in Gotham City as a billionaire than he ever might as Batman. Yet, as one Comic Years visitor on Facebook explained – a story about a person navigating the institutional hurdles of setting up a 501(c)3 doesn’t produce riveting action cinema. In the contemporary Batman stories that address this, things normally end up getting in the method of this. Bruce Wayne is a billionaire whose principles are on point, however he’s so distracted by being Batman that he lets Gotham City grifters take advantage of things. Or he runs into some kind of corrupt institutional hurdle.

Either way, this occurs since stories requirement conflict. The line from Zack Snyder’s Justice league where Bruce tells the Flash that his “superpower” is being “rich,” he’s not lying. Bruce Wayne is conceptually a person who’s got a lot more money than God. If you are thinking about stories about evil billionaires, may I suggest instead reading or enjoying Superman provide Lex Luthor the super-business?

Of course, ignoring his riches is not the response either. Every Batman is a reflection of his time, as well as you can still tell these stories in methods that keep the lore however aren’t propaganda for the super-wealthy. From a harshly analytical lens, you can take any type of superhero as well as make them a villain or mad-person. The technique is to treat Bruce Wayne’s riches as a lot more akin to a curse than a gift.

Even With the Wayne Fortune, the story needs to validate having a Batman

picture by means of Fox Broadcasting Company

One unfortunate drawback to the nature of comic book storytelling, particularly in the beginning, is that the heroes precede the villains. Thus, any individual reading these stories with a important eye, need to ultimately ask the question: Does the costumed hero produce their own monsters? We’ve seen as well as checked out many examples of storytellers answering that concern in the affirmative. However, Alan Moore – who understands a thing or two about extreme takes on heroes who may really be villains – cracked this issue in Watchmen. in that story, the criminals are the very first ones to fit up as well as embrace goofy names. This just like the 2010s series Gotham. (Pretty sure this is the very first time any individual has compared Alan Moore’s work to that show.)

The Gotham series is most likely extremely discouraging to fans of Batman lore. Yet, one great side impact of this version of that story is that the villains all pre-date Batman. (In fact, quite much all of them kidnapped Bruce Wayne,normally over principles concerns of him being a billionaire kid.) In this case, Batman makes sense. He’s the costumed action rather than the very first one to fit up. We can likewise apply this believing to why Batman doesn’t utilize money to save Gotham City instead of his fists as well as gadgets.

As a fellow Joshua (Rivers) composed for Polygon.com:

“Gotham City is a fake city cartoonishly damaged to the point where vigilante superheroes are the only rational choice since nothing else works. as well as if there is a mental health problem with symptoms that manifest as “freakishly competent murder clown,” it sure isn’t in the DSM.

“In other words, Batman can’t just buy crime, since that both ignores the truth of world earth — where there is no such thing as a criminal class, simply a shifting body of guideline as well as policy that outlaws as well as disenfranchises an ever-changing group of people — as well as the specific, fictional function of Batman stories.”

Any story wanting to address the riches question, needs to describe why that just doesn’t remedy all the ails of the city. In fact, The Batman does this rather well, particularly when coupled with exactly how bit Bruce cares about that part of his family’s legacy. This really hearkens back to the late, excellent Denny O’Neal’s Batman stories in the 1970s as well as 1980s. Bruce Wayne as well as Batman took a two-pronged technique to saving the city. Batman would fight the baddies, as well as Bruce would pay to repair things for the better. Again, this doesn’t dive that deep into the principles of Bruce Wayne being a billionaire, while Batman saves Gotham City by punching poor people who have method less money than he does. Yet, it doesn’t neglect that truth either. It just produces a new challenge for the hero to overcome.

Still, it’s odd exactly how people react to these movies. I’d state that people are wise sufficient to recognize that Bruce Wayne being a billionaire is not a major principles worry since Gotham needs both Batman as well as money to save it. Yet, then again, people started keeping racoons as family pets after Guardians of the Galaxy came out.

What do you think? Are the principles of Bruce Wayne being a billionaire in dispute with his objective as Batman to save Gotham City? Share your thoughts, reactions, as well as arguments below.

Featured picture by means of Warner Bros.