PGHHEAD'S 2023 COMICS ODYSSEY, Part Thirty-Six

 This marks the third consecutive year that I will attempt to document my comics reading by writing at least a mini-review. The goal is 1200 books read and reviewed in 2023, although I missed the mark in 2022 by 88 books.  Still, I like that number as it’s easy enough to track - - - 100 books per month on average. Wish me luck!

# GOAL FOR October 31, 2023. . . 1,000 comics documented

CURRENT COUNT . . . . .  800 comics documented

#782 - #785  GHOST RIDER #8, 9, 10 by Benjamin Percy and Cory Smith (Marvel Worldwide Inc, January-March 2023) This latest version of GHOST RIDER with Johnny Blaze continues to showcase the supernatural and horrific themes and downplays the super heroics, which makes it palatable for me. I’ll stick around as long as this doesn’t change course. Cory’s Smith’s art is another reason. 

  Just prior to this story arc, Wolverine helped Johnny Blaze expel the entity, Exhaust, that was lurking inside Johnny and messing with his conection to the Spirit of Vengeance. But Exhaust isn’t finished messing with Johnny and now partners with the revived Blackheart to raise Hell across the country. 

F.B.I. special agent Talia Warroad has stopped pursing Johnny and has now partnered with him to investigate the emergence of demonic events in key hubs across the country. This brings them to Chicago where supernatural activity is on the rise. Another new addition to this title is the Council of Night Magicians led by Zeb, nearly defeated but regrouping to help stop Blackheart’s plans. 

  A giant battle ensues in the tunnels beneath Chicago where the demons have created a bizarre version of the old slaughterhouses with humans.Johnny and Talia have a way of bringing out the best of each other and helping to suppress the worst and their partnership grows in several ways, just as Talia is ousted from the F.B.I. (the local office now being manipulated by other forces who will play a role in the next story arc). THREE AND THREE-QUARTER STARS.

#786 - #787  GHOST RIDER #11, #12 by Benjamin Percy with Dave Wachter (#11) and Cory Smith (#12) - - (Marvel Worldwide Inc, April-May 2023)  After the put-down of Blackheart and Exhaust, Johnny Blaze (Ghost Rider) and Talia Warroad are traveling across the country, stamping out what’s left of Blackheart’s dark conspiracy. 

  ISSUE #11: There’s a neat opening sequence where Johnny is dreaming that defines his current purpose/mission in the captions: “I live nowhere . . . My home is built of blacktop . . . I can’t stop moving . . . because the trouble never ends . . . I’ve given upon things ever being any different. . . . This is my life . . . until my death.”

    Johnny and Talia are becoming more than partners, and a romance is brewing. Talia’s summoning astral visions and foresees something big out there. The remaining essence of Exhaust is now the skeletal carriage on Johnny’s bike, trying to possess him again, until he is persuaded to destroy it and bury it. 

ISSUE #12: The pair travel to Savannah, Georgia where a surge of demonic energy has the city in flames and chaos. Johnny as Ghost Rider investigates and finds that he is being blamed for the apocalyptic state of the city by both demons and human residents. This sets up the next story arc, where he will confront brother Danny Ketch who has been morphed into something dangerous by the agency foreshadowed in Issue #10.

THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.

#788 - #792  UNCANNY X-MEN, VOLUME 1: REVOLUTION hardcover collection by Brian Michael Bendis and Chris Bachalo (Marvel Worldwide Inc, June 2013)

     I need to preface my comments with a couple disclaimers/confessions. I'm no longer a superhero fanboy, infatuated with capes and costume drama. I still read some superhero books but not like I used to. I burned out on the genre in the mid-t0-late 1990's after decades of reading them. There was a time when I absolutely had to read AVENGERS and X-MEN every single month. But, that was before all the spin-off series and multiple teams carrying the Avengers or X-Men name, which disillusioned me because I simply couldn't keep up with it. So, when I say that this iteration of the X-Men, specifically UNCANNY X-MEN, VOLUME ONE: REVOLUTION is the best X-Men story arc I have read in years you'll know that I'm no expert on the subject.

     What makes this work is the drama, the inter-personal family conflicts and doubts/lack of total trust. There's also plenty of action and new characters that show a lot of potential. Before it's all done, there's a showdown with the Avengers and Magik (one of my favorites from THE NEW MUTANT years) has a dangerous adventure in Limbo.

     The Goodreads synopsis:  

     In the wake of the Phoenix event, the world has changed and is torn on exactly what Cyclops and his team of outlaw X-Men are - visionary revolutionaries or dangerous terrorists? Whatever the truth, Cyclops, Emma Frost, Magneto, and Magik are out in the world gathering new mutants and redefining the name Uncanny X-Men. But the challenges that they must overcome are fierce: once again, robotic Sentinels hunt the team and the mutants they protect...but when you find out who's doing the hunting, your jaw will drop! And if that's not enough, there's a mole on Cyclops' team - but who is it?  FOUR STARS.

#793 - #800  BODIES Trade Paperback by Si Spencer and four separate artists: 1890 - Dean Ormston, 1940 - Phil Winslade, 2014 - Meghan Hetrick, 2050 - Tula Lotay (DC/Vertigo, 2015) Collects the full mini-series, BODIES #1 - #8 (Note: I’m including some of the single-issue covers because of the great art.)

     The back cover blurb provides the details that prompted me to impulsively pick this up. “Four Murders. Four Detectives. Four Eras. One Impossible Connection.”

     

The Goodreads synopsis . . . . .

     VERTIGO brings you a graphic novel with four detectives, four time periods, and four dead bodies - all set in London. Edmond Hillinghead is an 1890s overachiever who's trying to solve a murder no one cares about while hiding his own secret. Karl Whiteman is our dashing 1940s adventurer with a shocking past. Shahara Hasan is 2014's kickass female Detective Sergeant, who walks the line between religion and power. And Maplewood, an amnesiac from post-apocalyptic 2050, brings a haunting perspective to it all. 

      Si Spencer (HELLBLAZER: CITY OF DEMONS, THE VINYL UNDERGROUND) executes a centuries-spanning murder mystery like nothing you've ever seen before, with four sensational artists illustrating a six-page chapter in each issue.

     This may remind you of some beloved and equally complex streaming television mini-series - - the weird, vague ones that hold your attention in spite of it all.  I loved the premise of BODIES. There’s a weird mystery here, which connects each era - - the mutilated dead body of a one-eyed man. Such a novel idea, to tell four separate tales with this linking device. Also, four artists who are completely different from each other, altering their styles to suit the tenor of the scene and time their segment takes place in. Spencer writes the segments differently, further distinguishing each by having the main characters provide some of the narration in the text boxes and revealing their idiosyncrasies (all fascinating). 

    I also appreciated that Spencer grounded three of the scenes in the history of the times in which they occur: In 1890 London it’s Jack The Ripper; the rise of Nazism in 1940 London, and racist (anti-Muslim) riots in 2014 London. In 2050 London, Spencer adds a mind-scrambling “pulse wave” techno-apocalyptic plague. Add some secret societies, ritual killings , a symbolic double-H (double helix?) and you have the makings of an intriguing storyline.

 

  Each of the main characters has a secret side, which as the course of the investigation progresses, is revealed. Inspector Edmond Hillinghead in 1890 London is a closet homosexual and hides his preferences in order to keep his job as well as keep out of jail (against the law in those times, even into the 1960’s). Charles Whiteman in 1940 London is a corrupt and brutal City Inspector who is Jewish (Karl Weissman) and fled Nazi Germany. Detective Sergeant Sahara Hasan is a female Muslim who at her core is more English than the majority of her police comrades, and has to make some hard decisions regarding which side she is on when riots break out in London 2014 in the name of prejudiced patriotism. In future 2050 London amnesiac young Maplewood utilizes the discovery of the body to combat the plague and re-orient herself in the real world and also trying to recall the horrid event that caused her amnesia. This was the haziest story arc in BODIES and I struggled to comprehend exactly what was occurring.

  

  That vagueness is a setback to this series, which I would have rated five stars if the endings were more conclusive and clear. As the series nears the end, each episode becomes more hallucinogenic and spiritual. The one-eyed man appears in visions and speaks to each character. He doesn’t ever really identify himself but acts Godlike, and his message seems to be that God loves each character in spite of their differences, actions and secrets. In light of everything that has occurred up to this point, I’m not certain if that is the point that Spencer is trying to make. If this is a plea for tolerance I’m not sure that readers will actually come away receiving that message. FOUR STARS.