Terra Obscura Vol. 1 Trade Paperback Review

Terra Obscura Vol. 1
DC Comics - America's Best Comics
160 pages
$14.95 (2004) Trade Paperback
$24.99 (2014) S.M.A.S.H. of Two Worlds w/Vol. 2
ISBN 9781401202866

Contributors: Peter Hogan, Alan Moore, Yanick Paquette, Richard Friend, Karl Story, Jimmy Palmiotti, John Dell, Tony Avina, Jeromy Cox, and Todd Klein

Reprints: Terra Obscura #1-6 (of 6)

Synopsis: Tom Strong is the science-hero of Millennium City and has been for the past 100 years.  During his career he discovered a counter-Earth on the exact opposite side of the galaxy containing its own pantheon of science-heroes.  He named the planet Terra Obscura and had several adventures with his own native counterpart Tom Strange.  Decades later Tom Strange appeared on Earth and enlisted Tom Strong's aid in freeing the planet from a powerful alien being which had incapacitated Terra Obscura's heroes.  The two Toms were successful in freeing the heroes and defeating the alien, but not without casualties.  Tom Strong went back to Earth and Terra Obscura's heroes returned to a world which had been left in the hands of the villains for three decades.

Grant Halford identifies the body of his former
partner Lance Lewis

We pick up several years after the heroes have returned.  It's been rough going as many people resent the returned heroes for disappearing and leaving them to fend for themselves against super-villains.  S.M.A.S.H. (Society of Major American Science Heroes) has disbanded and several former members have gone missing.  Tom Strange is among them and his whereabouts are unknown.  The Terror was killed during the battle with the alien invader, but his consciousness was revived in a sophisticated computer program which has begun a campaign to eradicate crime across America.  He/it is aided by The Terror's sidekick Tim Roland who has matured and is involved with another hero named Miss Masque.

Carol Carter fought crime alongside her father, the Fighting Yank, but lost her powers when he was killed during the battle against the alien lifeform.  She has settled somewhat uncomfortably into a mundane, civilian life, but reunites with gal-pal Miss Masque in Invertica City, home of the Terror Program.  Grant Halford was known as The Magnet, but traded in his costume to become a private detective.  He opened a detective agency with former hero Lance Lewis, the Space Detective, who came from the future.  Lance knew all sorts of events that would eventually happen including his own death.

The Terror Program and Tim Roland try to figure
out who is behind the darkness phenomena

When Lance disappears Grant assumes the worst and vows to solve the mystery of his death.  He is caught up in a horrific event that begins engulfing the United States in darkness.  Creatures live in the darkness and no one is safe once they enter it.  Somehow Lance's death is linked to the phenomenon, but who is the powerful villain behind it all?  Can the former members of S.M.A.S.H. put aside their differences to mount a rescue and where is Tom Strange?

Pros: Continuation of the Terra Obscura storyline from Tom Strong's series, Alan Moore is involved, artist Paquette has some talent and loves to draw big-breasted women!, based on old comic book characters from the 1940s (published by Standard Comics aka Nedor Comics)

Cons: Confusing to new readers who are unfamiliar with Tom Strong and the world/characters of Terra Obscura, Alan Moore merely co-plots the book, events happen too quickly at times without any backstory

Mike Tells It Straight: Alan Moore's Tom Strong series reintroduced a group of Golden Age characters from the 1940s whose rights had lapsed into the public domain.  He put them on a fictional Earth called Terra Obscura and then spun them into their own mini-series.  Each character was relatively the same as their original versions, but with a few minor changes here and there.  The novel idea which was repeated by Alex Ross and Jim Krueger (known for Earth X and Justice) in their Project Superpowers line from Dynamite Entertainment.

Carol Carter comes home to witness a superpowered battle

I found the series to be just okay and readers must be familiar with the first story from Tom Strong or they will be completely lost due to the multitude of characters.  Paquette's art was good (he draws women with very large breasts, particularly Miss Masque and Carol Carter) and was a mix of Terry Dodson/Adam Hughes.  Hogan delivers decent writing and dialogue although not quite up to Moore's caliber.

Where the series loses is the lack of backstory given to the reader (especially with such a large cast of characters) and the rushed ending (although I did enjoy the Miss Masque and Carol Carter final scene).  I did like some of the ideas and dialogue which made it a fairly decent read.  A second volume followed this series and I'm hoping the story gets a little better.  2014 will see a new trade paperback printing and collecting both volumes.

TO BUY and Recommendations:

Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset Trade Paperback Review

Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset
DC Comics - America's Best Comics
224 pages
$19.95 (2002) Trade Paperback
ISBN 9781563899096

Contributors: Rick Veitch, Russ Heath, David Lloyd, Al Williamson, John Severin, Dave Gibbons, Hilary Barta, Todd Klein, and Wildstorm FX

Reprints: Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset #1-6 (of 6)

Synopsis: Greyshirt is the premier science hero of Indigo City, a teeming metropolis built on the ruins of a once-rich sapphire mine.  The city is known for an extensive history of crime and locals are hardened to the rough side of life.  Local folklore tells of a monster living underground named The Lure which snares unsuspecting people and devours them.  Even the Native Americans have local legends about the beast and it's said to live in the abandoned mines honeycombing the city.  Is it merely fiction or deadly fact?

Greyshirt dresses in elegant clothes and wears a chain mail suit underneath to give himself an edge against criminals. He's really a former gangster named Franky Lafayette who is thought to have died in an explosion with his partner in crime, Johnny Apollo.  The two were best friends who grew up together on the wrong side of the tracks.  Franky's dad was a big-time mobster and he naturally fell into the family business.  When the two boys were young they experienced a horribly traumatic encounter with the mythical monster The Lure.  Johnny was forever changed.

Mobsters vs. Monster

Franky's father, Carmine Carbone, was always in a killer rivalry with Spatz Katz.  We learn the origins of Greyshirt's supporting cast: Pluto Plutarch the first upstanding mayor Indigo City has seen in decades, Spatz's main squeeze Candi, the newspaper stand biddy Lady L, Ella Bly songstress of the Mood Indigo Lounge, and the rest.

An amazing amount of pop culture work was derived from Franky and Johnny's lives.  The works include the comic book Hoodlum Hit, an entire pop art movement (called Pow! art) actually ripping off the comic book, a soap opera called The Carbones, and an upcoming movie.  The patron of all of these works is a mysterious figure nicknamed Fanman, but never photographed.

Greyshirt's origin is linked to the heart of Indigo City and his life mirrors the dirty yet beautiful backdrop of the city.  What is the true secret of The Lure?  Franky started out poor and became a criminal, but he ended up as a  tarnished angel.  Who is the enigmatic Fanman and how did Hoodlum Hit end?  It's a tangled web of deceit and bloody sapphires as Greyshirt's world explodes from the inside out!

Pros: Complex storytelling which covers several generations in Indigo City, Greyshirt's origin is fully explored, The Lure was a fun element adding a little horror to the story, some great artists help illustrate a few chapters for Veitch, very extensive Indigo Sunset faux-newspaper articles at end of each issue adding backstory and hints to the series, Veitch's writing range and sheer amount of effort put into this series is impressive

Cons: All short story chapters including a bunch of seemingly side stories, The Lure feels like a swipe from Stephen King's It, art is not flashy (although great storytelling), ending was a bit too neat and tidy (although still pretty good), covers were a bit goofy and related to the newspaper articles in the back (vs. the actual main storyline), Frank Cho's short story was kinda lame with the billionaire kid playing pirate

A satire on Roy Lichenstein's 'reinterpreting' of comic book panels
into expensive pop art - here it's classic Hoodlum Hit panels

Mike Tells It Straight: I read Greyshirt in Alan Moore's Tomorrow Stories (Vol. 1 Vol. 2 Specials) and thought the collaboration with Veitch produced a nice homage to Will Eisner's classic work on The Spirit.  Tomorrow Stories was an anthology book featuring 8-page tales of several new characters created by Moore and different artists (Jack B. Quick with Kevin Nowlan, The Cobweb with Melinda Gebbie among others).  The series lasted 12 issues and won an Eisner award in 2000 for Best Anthology Series and Greyshirt was the only character who got a solo title.

Rick Veitch writes this entire mini-series without the help of co-creator Alan Moore.  Veitch is himself a fairly renowned creator who wrote bitingly cynical works in the 1980s concerning the deconstruction of the generic superhero (The One, Bratpack) and worked with Moore on DC's Swamp Thing during the character's successful revival.  He largely shunned mainstream comics until he and Moore got roped into indirectly working for DC when the company acquired Jim Lee's Wildstorm.  Moore left a few years later, but Veitch actually stuck around and worked with the company for awhile (Aquaman, Army@Love).

The covers are actually depicting news stories from the
supplemental prose articles in the back of each issue

This series was different than I expected.  Tomorrow Stories featured short chapters of Greyshirt in each issue and I thought the mini-series would be full story issues, but it was actually a series of short stories.  Two stories per issue, some one-pagers, and an extensive 'newspaper' prose section in the back.  The format was okay and actually worked pretty well to give backstory on the main event of Franky and Johnny's falling out. Veitch had a few artists give him a hand on some of the side stories and a few of them were duds, but overall a nice tapestry.

I like Veitch's work and this series was a good read.  It's mature crime noir with a few science fiction elements.  The Lure was a great addition and I'll ignore the fact the creature was a bite on Stephen King's It (a horror book about a killer clown who preys on children in their dreams, but is really an ancient extraterrestrial creature living under the sewers).  I would definitely recommend reading Tomorrow Stories before this mini-series to get the full backstory on Greyshirt.  This series was pretty much it for Greyshirt aside from a short chapter in ABC: A-Z and I think that's good enough.


TO BUY and Recommendations:

Tomorrow Stories Specials Review

Tomorrow Stories Special
DC Comics - America's Best Comics
64/ea. = 128 pages (2006)
$6.99/ea. = $13.98 total

Published: Tomorrow Stories Special #1-2 (of 2)

Contributors: Alan Moore, Kevin Nowlan, Michelle Madsen, Hilary Barta, Todd Klein, Steve Moore, Melinda Gebbie, Tony Avina, Cameron Stewart, Randy Mayor, Rick Veitch, Wildstorm FX, Gene Ha, Andrew Pepoy, Eric Shanower, Jeremy Cox, Joyce Chin, and Art Adams

Synopsis:

• "I, Robert." - Jack B. Quick is the boy genius of Queerwater, Kansas.  He invents a chilling artificial intelligence out of a wheelbarrow, scarecrow, and some old electronic parts.  He names it Robert and it slowly usurps mankind as the dominant lifeform on the planet.  Jack created it and only he has any chance to stop the robot's nefarious plan!  
• "The Big Seep" - Splash Brannigan is an animated puddle of four-dimensional ink.  He was sealed up in an ink bottle for thirty years until girl comic book artist Daisy Screensaver freed him.  He's been bothering her ever since.  Now Splash wants to be a crime noir detective and sets up shot in a bad part of town.  His first client is a looker and somethings fishy with her story.  Can Splash and Daisy solve the crime before they end up as the next victims?
• "Doom Date of the Dusk Duo!" - Cobweb is the premier female hero of Indigo City and aided by her trusty assistant Clarice.  Cobweb receives a mysterious note telling her to remember the significance of June 14th or she is doomed!  She and Clarice reminisce about the origins of the various Cobwebs and their assistants through the ages trying to solve the mystery.  
• "Jack O'Nines' 19 Incarnations!" - Johnny Future crosses a time bridge to four billion years in the future and become a hero of the Grand Array.  He will eventually be succeeded by his niece Jonni Future and once met her in a chance encounter on the time bridge.  Johnny heads out to capture the thief Jack O'Nines and is amazed at the time paradox within the villain's lair.  Here time stands still and all possibilities exist simultaneously.  What strange phenomena will he find and can he stop the Jack?
• "A Greyshirt Primer" - Greyshirt is the science hero champion of Indigo City. He wears a mask and chain-mail armor as a secret weapon against criminals.  An A-Z Greyshirt adventure through Indigo City with a beloved artist in tow.  Tribute to the late Will Eisner.
• "The Lethal Luck of Magister Ludi" - A far-out Silver Age adventure of the America's Best team!  Tom Strong, Cobweb, Splash Brannigan, Promethea, and Johnny Future welcome new reserve member Fancy O'Keefe in true ABC style by involving her in a lethal adventure against an interstellar gambler!  The team tests their luck against a house that always wins.  Will Fancy survive her first caper?  Told in four parts.  
• "Little Margie in Misty Magic Land" - Little Margie travels through Misty Magic Land with goddess Promethea and her Chinese companion, Chinky.  It appears Misty Magic Land is starting to fall apart and the inhabitants are fleeing.  Is it too late for Margie and Promethea to save Misty Magic Land?
• "Worlds Within Worlds" - Jonni Future inherits her Uncle's house and discovers he was the superhero Johnny Future.  She takes on the mantle of greatest hero of the Grand Array and continues his legacy.  One day Jonni discovers a secret message in a comic book her Uncle wrote.  She finds an apparently abandoned crystal fortress and is amazed at what she uncovers inside - a time-displaced paradox!  Guess who's waiting to greet her!
• "How Come Nobody Likes the First American These Days?" - The First American and his partner U.S. Angel are genetically-modified superheroes and ridiculously dysfunctional.  F.A. muses about Mistress Fruit Pies and ends up taking over the entire country just to satisfy his evil cravings.  Can U.S. Angel talk him out of his plan for world domination of fruit pies?   

Pros: Alan Moore scripts several of the stories, the stories are longer than regular issues of Tomorrow Stories, decent art, fun science fiction/crime noir/superhero satire, America's Best team story was great, a Promethea story

Cons: A lot of different art styles and characters, anthology format, people may not like all of the characters, the last time we see most of these characters

Mike Tells It Straight: The original Tomorrow Stories series (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2) ran from 1999 to 2002 and was an anthology book featuring several stories per issue.  Every story was scripted by Alan Moore with an artist/co-creator for each character.  The series was well-received and earned an Eisner award for Best Anthology Series.  It only lasted for twelve issues and I have to guess Moore got burned out after producing a ton of work (he was writing all of the books for the ABC line).  Could be the artists had other projects to work on too.

Whatever the reason Tomorrow Stories ended in 2002, it resurfaced with two specials in 2006 featuring the regular characters from the original series and a few additional ABC faces (like Promethea).  It was nice seeing the characters again after their hiatus and especially in longer stories.  Most of the stories are really good if you liked the original series and the specials are a great addition.  Definitely worth checking out and they were never reprinted.


TO BUY and Recommendations:

ABC: A-Z Mini-Series Review

ABC: A-Z
DC Comics - America's Best Comics
One-Shot Mini-Series
32/ea. = 128 pages (2006)
$3.99/ea. = $15.96 total

Published: ABC: A-Z, Greyshirt and Cobweb #1; ABC: A-Z, Terra Obscura and Splash Brannigan #1; ABC: A-Z, Tom Strong and Jack B. Quick #1; ABC: A-Z, Top 10 and Teams #1

Contributors: Rick Veitch, Steve Moore, Melinda Gebbie, Peter Hogan, Gene Ha, Zander Cannon, Art Lyon, Chris Sprouse, Karl Story, Wendy Broome, Jose Villarrubia, Todd Klein, Wildstorm FX, and Terry Dodson

Synopsis: Behold the origins and secrets of the greatest heroes from America's Best Comics!

• "Playing the Mind Gorilla!" - Greyshirt is Indigo City's greatest mystery man and Doctor Heinrich C. Claw plans to destroy him with a gang of psycho-enhanced gorillas!  First he makes the gorillas review the details of Greyshirt's career and secret weapons.  Can Greyshirt withstand the simian onslaught or will he become the mind-controlled puppet of Claw?
• "Where It All Began" - The Cobweb's past is chronicled in a cheerful pin-up calendar.  See her as a pirate, a robber, French royalty, and through the Golden/Silver/Modern ages of superheroes.  Meet her arch-villains, lovely companion Clarice, and then celebrate the holidays.  
• "The Lonely Galaxy Guide to Terra Obscura" - Learn the fascinating history of Terra Obscura - a bizarre counterpart to the ABC Earth as discovered by Tom Strong.  It's inhabited by Tom Strange and a bevy of superheroes including The Black Terror, The Ghost, Fighting Yank, Princess Pantha, the team S.M.A.S.H., and many others.  
• "Splash Brannigan Conquers the Universe!" - Splash gets ready to take the comics world by storm by signing with Kaput Komics.  His career is short-lived after Daisy tries to elevate the art form.  What's an unemployed Splash to do?
• Tom Strong is the science-hero of Millennium City and has lived for more than 100 years.  Marvel as he tells his astonishing origin and describes the incredible adventures over his long career.  Meet the Strong Family including his wife Dhalua, daughter Telsa, talking gorilla King Solomon, and mechanical man-servant Pneuman.  Learn about his home, tools, friends, and foes.  What does the future hold for this daring hero?
• "Jack B. Quick - Boy Inventor" - Jack gives us a tour of Queerwater, Kansas and some of his zany experiments like a giant spider, strange attractor, and his neighbor Schrodinger.  
• "Badge of Honor: Policing the City of Dreams" - Leni Muller writes her autobiography which gives a history of the amazing city of Neopolis. She describes it's origins and how the Omniversal Precinct #10 came to be, including a brief introduction to all of the officers.
• "America's Best vs. America's Worst" - The America's Best team made up of Tom Strong, Splash Brannigan, Promethea, Johnny Future, and Cobweb take on the America's Worst team of Paul Saveen, Jack Faust, Yadrazza Pel, and Edward "Flip-Face" Platty.  

Pros: Nice covers by Terry Dodson, good to see some of these heroes after their own series ended, the Top 10 story is awesome, these stories haven't been reprinted

Cons: One-shot stories without any relation to each other (no over-arching plot), no actual Alan Moore contribution, many different art styles, Cobweb calendar seemed a little bit like a cop-out by artist Gebbie, no Promethea or League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Mike Tells It Straight: This series of one-shots features origins and introductions to a host of heroes from America's Best Comics.  The format is simple with two stories per issue featuring two different heroes or teams.  Alan Moore was nowhere to be found in the series, but the storytelling was well-maintained by his collaborators.  Greyshirt, Cobweb, Jack B. Quick, and Splash Brannigan were all featured in the anthology book Tomorrow Stories (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2) which ran from 1999-2002.  Only Greyshirt had a mini-series in 2001 while the others remained anthology fodder for their entire publication history.  It's interesting to note two Tomorrow Stories specials were released the same year as ABC A-Z.  I would guess ABC had a small revival in 2006.

Tom Strong ran from 1999-2006 (Vol. 1-6)and had two spinoff titles: Tom Strong's Terrific Tales (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2)  from 2002-2005 along with Terra Obscura (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2) from 2003-2004.  Top 10 ran from 1999-2001 with prequel Top 10: The Forty-Niners (by original creators Moore and Ha) in 2005 and mini-series Top 10: Beyond the Farthest Precinct in 2005-2006.  The origin story here by Gene Ha and Peter Hogan was excellent and never reprinted as far as I can tell (we'll see if it's included, but not advertised in the Absolute Top 10 coming out in 2013).

Missing are stories/origins for Promethea or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which is quite a shame since they're excellent works and fairly popular.  I found this mini-series (or series of one-shots) to be a pleasant surprise and nice refresher for the ABC heroes.  It didn't feel overly canned as a standard origin special and read more like continuing adventures of the heroes.  I'm disappointed Moore didn't contribute directly to the stories, but I imagine his dealings with DC became strained yet again in the mid-2000s.  I highly recommend picking these issues up if you like the ABC universe and especially since they don't appear to be collected anywhere else.

TO BUY and Recommendations: