ShareThisIt's time to pull some of the better books out of the Teetering Tower of Review Comics. Today's theme: Chicks!DC Comics has been touting its new direction and creative team for the Maid of Steel, beginning with "Supergirl" No. 34 ($2.99), out this month. And I have to say my first reaction was anger.Not because of the creative team (Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle). It's too early to judge newcomer Gates, and Igle's familiar pencils (he's been around since about 2000) is more than welcome.Nor is my anger because of the touted new direction. Lord knows "Supergirl" could use some kind of direction! Ever since DC last re-booted the character a few years back, the Last Daughter of Krypton has meandered all over the map, from rebellious teen to dutiful Super-helper to a stint in the 31st Century. This issue finally gives her a secret identity (I won't spoil it for you, but it's a clever idea), and anchors the character more closely to the other Super-books.No, what cheesed me off was the opening sequence, where the venerable and prestigious "Daily Planet" runs a full-page, front-page opinion piece by the paper's gossip writer, complete with a six-column file photo. Leaving aside the file photo (no newspaper worth its salt settles for anything but fresh art on A-1), respectable newspapers DO NOT run opinion pieces on the front. They run news in the news section, and opinions in the opinion section. But, no, the gossip writer gets the entire front-page for a hatchet job on Supergirl, with veteran newshawks Clark Kent and Perry White meekly going along for the ride.If that sounds like nit-picking, call it the last scratch at a festering scab. I've been in newspapers for a quarter of a century, and most of the time the industry has been branded "biased" and "elitist" and worse. The press gets terrible press, and is one of the least trusted institutions in America (probably found between used-car salesmen and Congress). And mostly it's unfair. Look, folks, our entire foundation is objectivity. We do not write slanted stories, or we get fired. We do not write hit pieces, and put them on A-1. We're just ordinary men and women who struggle hard to do a good job, for which we generally get a rap in the mouth.And it's impressions in other media, like this opening scene in "Supergirl," that cements the negative impressions people have. I wish once, just once, an entertainment writer would write about us ink-stained wretches with a clue about how our industry really works.OK, OK, I'm off the soapbox now. And other than that, as Mrs. Lincoln said, I enjoyed the play.More chicks:"Will Eisner's The Spirit: A Pop-Up Graphic Novel" (Insight Editions) sics "paper engineer" Bruce Foster on "Sand Saref," the first story of one of Central City's greatest femme fatales, originally published on Jan. 8, 1950 (and most recently reprinted in "The Spirit Archives" vol. 20). Since it's only seven pages long, that gives Foster plenty of room to do his thing, which is a wild mish-mash of pop-ups, booklets, interactive scenery, and such-like.Since Eisner is famous for his portrayal of depth in two dimensions, "The Spirit" really lends itself to something like this. Is it worth $34.95? Well, it's a nice novelty, and makes you an expert for when the "Spirit" movie arrives around Christmas.Asylum Press describes "The Bomb" ($14.95) a trade paperback collecting the 2006 mini-series of the same name from tiny Atom Bomb Comics, as "Raiders of the Lost Ark meets MAD magazine." I don't know about that, but it's easy to see in writer/artist Steve Mannion's beautiful brushwork influences such as Mark Schultz ("Cadillacs and Dinosaurs"), Wally Wood ("T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents), Al Capp ("Li'l Abner"), Harvey Kurtzman (early "MAD"), Tom Sutton, Betty Page ('50s pin-up queen), E.C. Segar ("Popeye"), Sheena (Queen of the Jungle), Frank Frazetta, Graham Ingles (1950s EC Comics), Dan DeCarlo (1960s Archie Comics), R. Crumb (Fritz the Cat) and Eric Powell ("The Goon"). Beautiful!On the negative side, Mannion can't spell ("Ethel Mirmin"?), and the story - about a young wannabe superheroine running into everything from Nazi Frankensteins to pirates - is what my wife dismissed as "silly." There's also a lot of "good girl art," so if that offends you, look elsewhere.I'm a guy, though, so I liked the view just fine.(Contact Andrew Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics(at)aol.com or visit www.captaincomics.us.)
Can DC Comics do right by Supergirl?
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