First Post -- Jonathon Hickman

So, some of my friends who share an interest in comics, and even some of those who don't -- probably people interested in giving me an outlet, other than themselves, to yap about comics -- have been encouraging me to do this for some time now. I've decided to give in and start sharing some of my opinions on comics here to consolidate the info I often share with others in disparate settings.

I think for most big comic book fans "in the know", the move to mega-writers has defined the last decade of comics. Guys like Bendis, Millar, Morrison, Johns, Staczynski, Smith, and Brubaker have driven the comics market of late, demanding huge contracts, uniting various books, and rewriting comics history. Marvel for sure has had better luck landing these scripting darlings, featuring significant work from everyone on this list except Geoff Johns (and, to be clear, Johns will, one day, write for the House of Ideas, but it won't be for awhile). Marvel has another soon-to-be star on its hands with Jonathon Hickman.

I'll be honest: I got lucky on reading Hickman. I'd read his pretty good work on Secret Warriors, a title I got not because of his name, but because my mom found some Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos comics at a garage sale in 1985 and I've been a fan of that character ever since. The work on this book has been good. A largely entirely new roster of heroes and villains, well-characterized, diverse and mostly new powers, and Nick and Dum-Dum. What's not to like? Of course, the enormity of Civil War and Dark Reign also drove my interest in this book. It fortunately introduced me to Hickman's work as well.

I had just started reading Hickman's Fantastic Four, which is very good so far, when I picked up Pax Romana. After several aborted attempts at reading this book, I finally had a plane flight I couldn't sleep on and really got going on it...and was blown away. Pax Romana is easily one of the top 5 original graphic novels of the decade. Without too much spoiling, the books concerns what happens to us all when the Catholic church succeeds in controlling time travel. The book is conceptual genius, uniquely executed, beautifully illustrated, and skillfully completed. I honestly could have read two or three hundred additional pages of this book. It receives my highest possible recommendation. I wouldn't trade in my copies of Sleeper Seasons 1 or 2, but maybe basically anything else from this decade. It's that good.

I went back and grabbed up Nightly News, Hickman's homage to the Weathermen and a vitriolic rampage on American society. I get it. I liked the book because of his style, but honestly political books basically always let me down because it's hard to make politics more over-the-top than I already know it is. I'd still recommend it because of the feel for the book. I always get the sense that Hickman is really about to do something immensely different with the comic book format than anyone I've ever seen. The smooth mixing of digital-esque form with the basic comic layout we've all come to expect is his signature move, but when he blends multiple text forms it feels like he's really on to something. I am gushing, I know, but I like what he's up to a lot.

Hickman is now writing S.H.I.E.L.D. I don't care if you're a Marvel fan, I don't care if you know anything about S.H.I.E.L.D., I don't even care if you couldn't care less about comics, after reading the first issue of this book, I assure you, you won't want to miss this. It appears that Marvel has given Hickman the reigns over rewriting their secret prehistory. Unlike DC, who has done plenty of playing with its past over the years, Marvel has never been really big on alluding to an unwritten back story behind their universe. No longer. S.H.I.E.L.D. apparently goes all of the way back -- to the beginnings of human history. The book feels like it will attempt to bottle some of the lightning that was Pax Romana, playing with powerful historical symbolism and a conspiratorial past that drives current events. I am excited. I'm excited for Marvel, for Hickman, and for Fury, Dum-Dum, Hill, and all of our other S.H.I.E.L.D. (I'm going to have to macro that because typing all of those periods is worthless) favorites.

As an aside, wtf is the deal with the big two comics publishers emulating one another's big storylines? I haven't heard anything official on this, and to be fair I don't read a lot of other blogs like this or follow internet gossip much, but the parallels are uncanny. Necrosha and Blackest Night is probably the worst example of obvious pandering to undercut the competition's storyline based market share, and it seems clear that this was Marvel's doing, not DC's. But the dissolution of the Avengers and the JLA took place right around the same time. Captain America and Batman died around the same time. Both their "wards" took the mantle at roughly the same time. General Lane and General Ross are both back and wrecking shop in Superman and Hulk respectively. I wonder if this doesn't date back to the Identity Crisis/Identity Disc fiasco, where DC's huge crossover was evidently humped by Marvel. I'd be interested in hearing some real insider news on this business if anyone has it.

The reason I ask is that both Marvel and DC appear to be digging into their back stories, with the recently released First Wave book from DC focusing on classic characters like Doc Savage and The Spirit, and Marvel playing off of its classical history in the Brubaker opus the Marvels Project while Hickman builds a new prehistory in S.H.I.E.L.D. I've liked all three books so far, although First Wave is slightly better than the Marvels Project and S.H.I.E.L.D. has me far more interested than either. Honestly, I know very little about any of the Golden Age characters in spite of my 25 years of collecting comics and 10 years of really seriously paying attention to them. I relish the chance to catch up to some of these characters.

But seriously, who's zooming who here? Is there a leak at the two big publishers? Do they have some kind of gentleman's agreement to disclose their big moves and compete one similar concepts? Are there just no new ideas? I just refuse to believe that there isn't something fishy about so many huge stories having so many similarities. It's weird.

This is it for now. I'm going to do some decade's best posting soon. Feel free to comment and converse. I'm glad to be putting this out there. I'll try and be regular about it.