Advance Review: 'Catalyst Comix' #1 Revives Comics' Greatest World

In the early 1990's every publisher had to have their own superhero line, because that's where all the money was. Dark Horse, till that point the acclaimed home of creator-owned fare and strong licensed books like Alien, launched "Comics' Greatest World" (CGW from here on), a series of $1 books paired into four groups of four, each spotlighting a quartet of superhero concepts in four different fictional cities. The most high profile of these titles was Barb Wire (due to the Pamela Anderson film), but a few more went on to some measure of cult success (mostly X and Ghost, both of which have been resurrected by Dark Horse within the past year).

I followed this stuff back when it came out, and even I have a hard time remembering who is who or what the hook was for certain books. Catalyst Comix #1 is like running into someone who totally recognizes you, but you can't place their face at all and it bugs you that you can't remember more. I know I read Catalyst: Agents of Change back in 1994, but I've retained almost no knowledge of these comics that I know I liked at the time. I think it was supposed to be the CGW version of the Justice League, with heavy-hitter Titan in Superman's leadership role.

This is a fresh start on the material, so there's no worry about catching up with the old stuff - I just wish I could compare and contrast a little better. Catalyst Comix is structured like an anthology, featuring three different stories about the same cataclysmic event - the arrival of an apocalyptic entity called Nibiru ("Nibiru is release! Nibiru is decay! Nibiru is extinction! Nibiru is!" reads Joe Casey's charming, intentionally overblown prose). Titan's lead-off touches upon the consequences of superhero mass destruction in a way that feels timely in the wake of Man of Steel's controversial finale. The second story is a slightly more metaphysical and hard sci-fi introduction to the space-faring character Amazing Grace. The third tale brings the Nibiru event to a street level as two more brutish, wildcard anti-heroes are called into action by a government agent. 

Cover art for Catalyst Comix #1. Dark Horse Comics.

If I was going to make comparisons (and I am!), maybe those 1994 comics are the wrong place to look anyway. Catalyst Comix #1 really reminded me more of the recent stuff coming from Rob Liefeld's reboots at Image Comics, namely Prophet and Glory.  These aren't quite underground alt-comix, but they are alt-superhero comics and they offer a viable, curious alternative to the squarely down-the-middle superhero stuff from the Big Two.

Part of this is due to the artists chosen for the stories. Dan McDaid, Paul Maybury, and Ulises Farinas work from Joe Casey's sturm-und-drang scripts with the assured craft of veteran cartoonists. All three have distinct styles that compliment each other when viewed page-to-page in the anthology format. The tie that binds is that they're all left-of-center artists - certainly not experimental or off-putting, but not working in the blandly mainstream American comics idiom. It feels to me like publishers are starting to expand their idea of what superhero books can look like (Marvel's recent Alpha: Big Time is a great recent example of this, and I can't help but think web comics may have advanced the palate of the American comic book fan. This is a subject worth further exploration away from the confines of this specific review.) Catalyst Comix #1 looks different from other books, and it deserves your attention for that.

Neither of Joe Casey's most recent projects (Image's Sex and Bounce) have tickled my fancy, which is more of a matter of personal taste than harsh criticism, but Catalyst Comix looks to be a little more in the vein of his Kirbyesque opera Godland. The bombast in Catalyst is more charming than tedious and really does flavor this book with something a little different than anything else on the rack. It's not a book as easy to get into as either of Dark Horse's other CGW reboots, the recent hyper-violent X relaunch nor the supernatural mystery Ghost. The drawback of this three-story format is that none of the individual shorts quite get the time they need to really hook you. It's missing a bit of editorial clarity in that way - tell me why this book should exist and why I should care, outside of it being just another brand revitalization. They could be doing something much more memorable with these characters this time around than they did in 1994, and my hope for Casey and company is that the potential in Catalyst Comix #1 to forge a new off-kilter superhero universe is fully realized as the series progresses.

Review: 'Godzilla: Rulers of the Earth' #1 Kicks-Off New Ongoing Series

I've been quietly curious about IDW's Godzilla monthlies for a while now. I would say I'm a casual G-fan - I can name about 90% of the Toho monsters on sight, but I can't identify Godzilla by the periods identifiable in his many costume changes. I know more about Godzilla than some, but considerably less than the hardcore fans.  It's just something to consider as I give my two-cents on IDW's latest, Godzilla: Rulers of the Earth. I'm no expert here, but I like fun comics and I like Godzilla. This first issue seems to land right in the middle of that Venn diagram.

Variant cover for Godzilla: Rulers of the Earth #1, art by Art Adams. IDW Publishing.

Artist Matt Frank's cartoony figure work shares a similarity with Todd Nauck, but you don't buy a Godzilla book for Hogarth-level renderings of the human form - you buy it for the big monsters, and that's where Frank really shines. His kaiju are big and mean and have a life to them that draws the reader's attention. We need the humans to propel the story, but every page without a monster is practically begging to be turned as quickly as possible.

Most of the action here centers around a conference in Hawaii, with scientists trying to make sense of the recent influx of "megazoological" findings. Some of the big guns are off the map (Mothra, Rodan), while others, notably Gigan and giant spider Kumonga, are still tearing things up without interference from modern military forces. Of course Godzilla is in here as well, and he squares off against a monster I really didn't expect to see in one of these comics.

More faithful than Marvel's late 1970s attempt at Godzilla comics and more sci-fi fun than Dark Horse's Godzilla from the 90s, writer Chris Mowry and Frank are making the best of the license. Rulers of the Earth is supposed to be ongoing, and there's a level of untapped potential in long-form serialized Godzilla stories. The creative team has enough time on their hands to make the human characters worthwhile, yet it's the biggest challenge ahead of them because few are buying these books for interpersonal character drama. They already have the monster-smashing down - is it asking too much for more? Maybe so. This is Godzilla: Rulers of the Earth after all, not Random Scientists: Watchers of the Rulers of the Earth. Who needs people, anyway?

Podcasts: "Unraveling Craziness" on 5by5's Giant Size

We're several months into the Marvel NOW initiative and host Moises Chiullan, along with myself and Need founder Matt Alexander, have a prolonged discussion on the success stories from Marvel's big push - which titles have kept us hooked and which titles might be overlooked. We talked so much in fact, Moises had to cut the episode in half, so look for part two very soon as well.

In the second part of the show, Moises sits down with prolific artist Phil Noto (X-Men, Danger Girl) to talk about his work, past and present.

You can listen to the podcast here or subscribe via iTunes. 

NSFW Art Routinely Gets Frank Cho Banned from Facebook, God Bless 'Im

Savage Wolverine and Liberty Meadows artist Frank Cho has had his account temporarily (?) suspended from Facebook yet again for what the social network perceives as an affront to human decency. Or something. (Psst, Frank - it's the boobs.)

The drawing is intended for a "Jungle Queen" themed sketchbook titled Jungle Beauty which Cho promises to have for sale at his table at the San Diego International Comic-Con. Cho blames "religious zealots and ass-hats" for his latest kerfluffle with Facebook. His previous ban was on or around May 16, 2013, which was either for this drawing of a topless Jungle Queen being bounced by a triceratops or this cheeky Coppertone-esque cartoon.

(Brought to our attention by Bleeding Cool.) 

Podcasts: "Magical and Transcendent" on 5by5's Giant Size

This week we're talking about the most interesting Superman origin stories, with host Moises Chiullan, BlueTights.net founder Justin Korthof, and myself. Moises also had the chance to sit down with veteran writer J. M. DeMatteis to discuss origin stories and his most personal work, Brooklyn Dreams.

You can listen to the all-new, reformatted Giant Size right here! 

And if you don't mind a few off-topic spoilers in your life, Moises and DeMatteis keep the conversation rolling into talk of Dr. Strange and DeMatteis's original 1986 graphic novel Doctor Strange: Into Shamballa.

You can listen to that extended bit on the latest Giant Size After Dark.

Quick Thoughts: Taking a Look at Marvel's 'Big Hero 6' Comics

Sometimes writing about comic book movies is a lot of fun, and sometimes it is WORK.  Nobody has really been paying much attention to Marvel's upcoming animated flick Big Hero 6, and since I cover the Marvel Studios beat at Movies.com, I took it upon myself to read the most recent 2008 mini and the original first issue that kicked the property off in 1998 (titled Sunfire and the Big Hero 6, itself a spin-off from Steven T. Seagal's short late-90's Alpha Flight run).

I wasn't a fan. Scott Lobdell's original mini-series just barely skirts an uncomfortably stereotypical "ah-so, most honorable reader"  line, and he's further weighed down by Gus Vasquez's noticeably rookie pencils. Veteran writer Chris Claremont and manga artist David Nakayama teamed up for the second mini in 2008, and while it's arguably improved, it's still a bit of a mess. The series is about young Japanese operatives who never really gel as a team, sent on a mission to protect mysterious artifacts by a Japanese Nick Fury surrogate named Furi Wamu (she's even missing an eye). I never got the impression that any of the creators involved on any of the Big Hero 6 minis had any kind of handle on the team's personality or larger purpose. Claremont makes a noble attempt at more light-hearted fare than what he's known for, but the five issues just aren't particularly inspired. There's a lot of visual manga cliches as well, such as having all of the characters spend an issue in their beachwear.

Now, despite not liking the characters or the books themselves, I actually still have high hopes for the movie. One of the bad things about the property on the page is that it's still a bit of a blank slate. That makes for tedious reading after a fistful of issues, but it also means that a movie has free reign to approach the team in a way that matters. Maybe the Disney movie will kick off new interest, and we'll see a worthwhile ongoing Big Hero 6 book in 2014?

You can read about the film and the characters of Big Hero 6 in my Countdown column at Movies.com.