(This was to be a Blogathon topic, but I never got to it …)
Writing a comic book novel is a tricky thing. For the most part, comics remain a graphic medium — good writing and story are essential to comic books, but much of the information is presented visually. Further, comic books are often about action, and action is damned hard to write well. And, finally, comic books have … their own environment and set of expectation. Especially with older, established characters, you simply don’t notice or question the oddities. Whereas in writing, something catches the eye about
describing someone dressed in Spandex long johns in primary colors …
Which isn’t to say it can’t be done, only that it needs to be done very carefully. When you write a comic book novel, you need to not only write a good novel, you have to write a comic book story without your audience noticing.
The comic companies keep trying, though. Everyone sees the book market as potentially lucrative — if you can make comic book movies, why not comic book novels.
Three (mixed) results:
DC Universe: Last Sons by Alan Grant (2006)
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This is the weakest of the tree. It’s part of a current line of books set in the DC Universe, each of which has a “theme.” In this case, the theme is examining three last-of-their-race characters: Superman (whose home world blew up); J'[onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter (whose race died of a plague); and Lobo (who killed his people).
The book is flawed in various ways. First off, while Grant can write (and can write comics, usually a plus in these things), he gets a fair number of basic science facts wrong. That sounds funny as a criticism for a “comic book,” but it’s one of those balancing acts — you can defy the Laws of Nature as long as you explain it or invoke the mythos, but if you simply get your facts wrong, you lose credibility and suspension of disbelief.
Grant labors here under a greater problem, i.e., his characters. He loves Lobo, and spends a disproportionate amount of time on the “Main Man.” That’s in part because Lobo’s less known to some readers, and in part because he’s a more interesting and amusing fellow than the rigidly upright heroes (when written as such). The problem is that Lobo is — to me, at least — a horror, barely tolerable when presented in a humorous context, utterly despicable when played “straight.” He’s a psychopath with super powers,
he casually kills and maims at a whim (albeit with the window dressing of being a “bounty hunter”) — and, worse, for those of us who were reading comics a decade ago, he was terribly overexposed.
That Lobo — and various characters that related more to him than to the others — is the center of attention is one problem. The other is the two heroes. Grant does a bit of backstory and story-telling about J’onzz, but it’s mostly filler. Of Supes he has virtually nothing to contribute, except that he’s a big blue Boy Scout.
The story this is all wrapped up in — massively powerful evil artificial intelligence is taking over the Universe, in order to destroy all life except (of course) for the one-off collection of “Last Sons” (or, if one comes to hand, “Daughter”). The menace is cosmically pedestrian and uninvolving, esp. after it’s unveiled, and serves primarily as a reason for (a) the three protagonists to (somewhat) band together, and (b) for something to Hit Really Hard and Be Hit Back Just As Hard.
And that’s the extent of the action here — the <s>good guys</s> protagonists hit a lot of things, especially the antagonists. But even here, Lobo does most of the grunt work, as Supes and J’onzz spend a lot of time rescuing people. Ho-hum.
Comic book stories are hard. Space-based comic stories are hard to pull off even in comics, as they remove much of the familiar context against which the characters play. The best parts of the novel are those in familiar or normal settings — the vast panoramas of stars and planets and alien worlds just don’t really do much here, which, unfortunately, is where most of the tale takes place.
It’s not an awful book, mind you. It’s just very undistinguished. I suppose Lobo fans would enjoy it, and, if so, I have a copy they can keep.
DC Universe: Inheritance by Devin Grayson (2006)
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Another “themed” novel, this about the dynamic between fathers and … well, adopted sons. Though that includes some of the peripheral characters, the focus here is on three heroes: Batman and Nightwing (the first Robin), Green Arrow and Arsenal (née Speedy), and Aquaman and Tempest (formerly Aqualad).
The setting is an investigation into an assassination attempt against a young Arab prince, whose kingdom was mostly destroyed with a stolen nuke a few years back. But while that story drives most of the action, a good deal of the tale is told in flashback, the tales of the three erstwhile sidekicks, each of them adoptees/wards of their mentors for different reasons, and with different results.
The story is pretty well told — Grayson does good characterization — but not without room for criticism. It’s unbalanced, in the first place. The backstory (and even contemporary action) with Arsenal/Speedy is gone into in loving detail, taking up a disproportionate amount of the book. It’s good stuff, and adheres well to the canon (as much as I know of it), but it almost makes me wish that Grayson had just written that story and left the other two out of it.
The Nightwing/Robin tale is also well told, if not quite as much at length. Part of this may be just that it’s old hat. The story has been recapped eleventy-dozen times over the years, almost as much as Batman’s origin, and the emotional dynamic between the two heroes is also well-trodden. Plus, honestly, Nightwing’s much more of a straight-shooter (so to speak) than Arsenal, with far fewer traumas and flaws than the other, which makes for shorter, less-interesting stories to tell.
These two tales have a degree of interest because, for a good chunk of the novel, each erstwhile sidekick is teamed up with the other’s mentor — Arsenal with Batman, Nightwing with Green Arrow. This provides a bit of interest and contrast, and helps (slightly) illumine the older heroes as well. Grayson, who ought to know better, portrays GA as more than a bit of a ditz, more noteworthy for tall tales than actual effectiveness in crime fighting. Grayson does better with Batman, though not moving much deeper than
the Grim Darknight Detective schtick. Maybe there’s some value there, as the tales ought to be focused on the “interitors,” the “kids,” rather than their elders.
The Aquaman/Tempest team-up is shortest and least satisfying of the three by far (such that I wonder if it was a matter of interest on Grayson’s part, or if it was tacked on by editorial dictate — “Hmmm, but I think we want to tell about three heroes, not just two”). I’m least familiar with the backstory here, so I can’t judge how close to canon it is, but Aquaman’s past is a nasty tangle of mediocre-selling comics anyway, so there’s been a lot of authorial and editorial churn, leading to more than a bit of
a muddle.
How Aqualad, later Tempest (in yet another reboot) fits in there is even more difficult to work out in a coherent fashion, and Grayson doesn’t really try that hard, instead simply glossing over a lot of the details, focusing (briefly) on one key moment in the relationship between the two (and without much motivation presented at that) and leaving it at that.
Even their involvement in the plot is peripheral. Most of the real action takes place with the other four, with Aquaman (and Tempest) just sort of along for the ride.
The other disconnect here is the nature of the heroes. Aquaman and Tempest are super-human, possessed of strange powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Batman, Green Arrow, Nightwing, and Arsenal are mortal men, behind the costumes and the gadgets, and a tale told about them is going to differ in tone, style, and action level from one told about the others.
Despite these flaws, Inheritance is a good read. The character bits are good, the action reasonable, the villainous plots interesting. I could see this being a comic book mini-series (3-4 issues) and working well, too, but beyond that, Grayson manages to get into the heads of some of the characters in a way that textual media like books can do (more easily) and visual media like comics cannot (without difficulty). I’ll likely read it again.
Exterminators (Justice League of America) by Christopher Golden (2004)
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Golden has earned his chops as both a writer (first) and a comics writer (second), and it shows here. Writing for an ensemble like the JLA is a challenge — a lot of characters that have to be dealt with, plus a lot of high-powered types like Green Lantern and Superman and Wonder Woman. It’s tough to write those guys with a straight face (or keeping a straight face on the readers), it’s tough to balance the powers and roles of folks like both Superman and Batman, and it’s tough to write a decent conflict for
them to handle, while interweaving both backstory and most of the other super-groups of the DC Universe.
Golden manages this, pretty handily. A dangerous threat of both global levels yet with emotional impact, too. Conflict within the group, and different personalities managing to be clear and obvious. And powers like those of GL and the Martian Manhunter and Superman are presented with (comic book) authenticity, believability, and balance.
There are a couple of missteps. Golden keeps referring to Wonder Woman as a “goddess” — possibly a public perception within the DCU, but hardly canonically true. And it’s vaguely odd that the cover is a fine Alex Ross painting of the “classic” JLA, while this contemporaneous (to 2002) tale includes the “new” Flash (Wally West) and (differently-attired) Green Lantern (Kyle Raynor). (It’s also a bit strange to run across references to the previous-incarnation Teen Titans and Young Justice, too, but that’s just
a matter of the ever-changing world of comics.)
Of the three novels here, this one would clearly have made the best comic book (as a limited series). And it’s the one I’m most likely to read again some day.