{"id":15314,"date":"2009-07-25T07:58:17","date_gmt":"2009-07-25T13:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=15314"},"modified":"2009-07-25T08:00:05","modified_gmt":"2009-07-25T14:00:05","slug":"bt09-a-is-for-apocalyptic-blogathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/25\/bt09-a-is-for-apocalyptic-blogathon.html","title":{"rendered":"BT09 – A is for Apocalyptic (#Blogathon)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I got two pair!<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

All-Star Superman, Vol. 1<\/em><\/strong><\/a> <\/i>(DC) [collects #1-6]
All-Star Superman, Vol. 2<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (DC) [collects #7-12]
w. Grant Morrison; a. Frank Quitely, Jamie Grant<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Writing<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n New reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Art<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n Non-comics reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Morrison takes Superman for a spin, cranking the Silver Age wonderment up to 12, and seriously and provocatively taking on subject matter that’s rested peacefully since then and giving it a twist that will either have you marveling or mocking. Sometimes that results in some dead-ends — the extended Bizarro sequence goes for about two issues too long — and sometimes that results in highly memorable and (go figure) imaginative triumphs. The Silver Age stereotypes of the Superman Family are dealt with, too — Lois, Jimmy, Clark, even (especially) Luthor. <\/p>\n

Dying of a solar radiation overdose thanks to Lex’s cunning plans, Superman must put his affairs in order, performing twelve herculean feats before he dies. As I said, very Silver Age, but with a lightly contemporary spin that keeps it balanced neatly between camp and revisionism.<\/p>\n

Overall, very strong stuff, with some outstanding artwork. Morrison can be more than a bit trippy (wait, did I miss a panel in there somewhere? or a whole page?), but All-Star Superman is a great set of stand-alone books, and something that even a non-comics reader (who, culturally, knows enough of the source material here to be able to follow along) might enjoy.<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Annihilation Conquest, Book 1<\/em><\/strong><\/a> <\/i>(Marvel) [collects AC-Prolog, AC-Quasar #1-4, AC-Starlord #1-4, Annihilation Saga]
Annihilation Conquest, Book 2<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (Marvel) [collects AC-Wraith #1-4, Nova #4-7, AC #1-6]
w. various; a. various<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Writing<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n New reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Art<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n Non-comics reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Marvel has long had problems with its cosmic — or at least space-born — characters. Usually one-off second bananas to lend a frisson of the fantastic to an Earth-bound series, they fly off back to the stars when all is over, only to be brought back in another 5 years as guest stars (or guest dead bodies, showing the stakes of whatever new threat is threatening).<\/p>\n

The Annihilation Conquest series was intended to change that, bringing together some otherwise-unused characters into a star-spanning saga that would combine epic grandeur with The Dirty Dozen. Moondragon, Nova, Quasar, Starlord, Bug, Mantis, Broot — even Rocket Raccoon (a fave of mine) are here.<\/p>\n

It works — barely — as the story bops between titles, character focus, writers, and artists. Not to mention some extended “what’s come before \/ during \/ after this” filler. The new Guardians of the Galaxy series that came from this holds together much better. These are not high on the re-reading scale, but worth having gone through, if only to see Rocket Raccoon again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Listening to: Kamen, Michael, “Town (In the Theatre): The Statue in the Square\/The Land of Cheese\/WH” (Adventures of Baron Munchausen))<\/i><\/small> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I got two pair!   All-Star Superman, Vol. 1 (DC) [collects #1-6] All-Star Superman, Vol. 2 (DC) [collects #7-12] w. Grant Morrison; a. Frank Quitely, Jamie Grant  Writing New reader? Art Non-comics reader? Morrison takes Superman for a spin, cranking the Silver Age wonderment up to 12, and seriously and provocatively taking on subject matter that’s rested peacefully … Continue reading “BT09 – A is for Apocalyptic (#Blogathon)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogathon","category-media-comics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15339,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/25\/bt09-f-is-for-fleeting-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":15314,"position":0},"title":"BT09 – F is for Fleeting (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 25-Jul-09 12:52pm","format":false,"excerpt":"As of this post, I'll be a quarter of the way (!) through the Blogathon -- 6 hours from my 7 a.m. start. And, coincidentally, just over a quarter of the way through that stack of TPBs. Hmmmm ... \u00a0\u00a0 52, Vol. 1\u00a0(DC) [collects #1-13] 52, Vol. 2\u00a0(DC) [collects #14-26]\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15350,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/25\/bt09-i-is-for-indefatigable-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":15314,"position":1},"title":"BT09 – I is for Indefatigable (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 25-Jul-09 3:26pm","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Invincible, vol. 8, \"My Favorite Martian\"\u00a0(Image) [collects #36-41] Invincible, vol. 9, \"Out of This World\"\u00a0(Image) [collects #42-47] Invincible, vol. 10, \"Who's the Boss?\"\u00a0(Image) [collects #48-53] w. Robert Kirkman; a.\u00a0Ryan Ottley\u00a0 Writing New reader? Art Non-comics reader? Invincible remains a steady and powerful performer. While on one level Kirkman is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15346,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/25\/bt09-g-is-for-guardians-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":15314,"position":2},"title":"BT09 – G is for Guardians (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 25-Jul-09 2:24pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Btw, a copy of the Girl Genius below is one of the prizes for sponsors -- c'mon, $25 and you help the animals and yourself! \u00a0 Girl Genius, Vol. 7, \"Agatha Heterodyne and the Voice of the Castle\"\u00a0(Airship) w\/a. Phil and Kaja Foglio\u00a0 Writing New reader? Art Non-comics reader? The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15393,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/26\/bt09-t-is-for-tots-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":15314,"position":3},"title":"BT09 – T is for Tots (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 26-Jul-09 1:24am","format":false,"excerpt":"The Blogathon is down to 151 blogs from drop-outs and no-shows -- but our total pledged is just $9 short of $40K. Woot! If it stays there too long, I may have to donate the difference myself! \u00a0 New Teen Titans Archives, Vol. 4\u00a0(DC) [collects #21-27, Annual #1] w. Marv\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15371,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/25\/bt09-n-is-for-naivete-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":15314,"position":4},"title":"BT09 – N is for Naivete (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 25-Jul-09 8:27pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It's funny -- I can't say that either of the below are so profoundly wonderful that they deserve 5 stars ... but both are among my favorite comics in the stack. Take that as you will. Nextwave: Agents of HATE, Vol. 1, \"This Is What They Want\"\u00a0(Marvel) [collects #1-6] Nextwave:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11636,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/07\/28\/bt07_comics_by_the_number.html","url_meta":{"origin":15314,"position":5},"title":"BT07 – Comics by the Numbers","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 28-Jul-07 7:57am","format":false,"excerpt":"And here we go (as I think I already said).\u00a0 Numbered titles are getting to be big these days ... 52, vol. 1 \u00a0(DC Vertigo) [collects #1-13] w. Geoff Johns,...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15314\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}