Blogathon 48: Three Joe Casey Books Part Two

I've always been the type of person who follows a writer, not an artist. But, I wonder, were the Mr. Majestic and Adventures of Superman runs better because of the art? Ed McGuinness followed by Eric Cante and Toby Cypress on the former, Derec Aucoin and Charlie Adlard on the latter. Uncanny X-Men, on the other hand, had Ian Churchill, Sean Phillips, Ashley Wood, and a bunch of other people. Would it have been a better comic with a single artistic vision?

Or what of the use of narration? In both Mr. Majestic and Adventures of Superman narrative captions are used, while not in Uncanny X-Men. Did that have an impact? Or storylines? At the time of Uncanny's release, Marvel was shifting to storyarc-based books, "writing for the trade" as it were, while the other two books tended towards shorter, more self-contained stories. Even the five-issue art in Superman was three mostly self-contained issues and then a two-parter. Every other story either a single issue or two-parter.

I really do wonder if editorial was at fault for Uncanny X-Men just because the general quality level is SO much lower than what Casey usually produces. I mean, what are the odds that his one really shitty book is an X-book and the X-offices were known for editorial bullshit that fucked up stories, but not this time?

Some day, I may do a more extensive and cohesive piece on Uncanny X-Men, because I think it's interesting. A look at Superman as a pacifist could work, too.

Just so you know, I read nearly every comic I discussed ahead of time, from Wednesday onward. The last three Adventures of Superman issues were read tonight before I wrote about them. I never wrote anything in advance, maybe pondered a little, but even that's stretching it. Mostly, I came in without much thought and just wrote what came to me.

See you in 30 for the end.

Blogathon 45: Three Joe Casey Books

Okay, so I looked at Mr. Majestic #1-9, Uncanny X-Men #394-409 (including the 2001 annual) and Adventures of Superman #612-623: what do these three works have in common besides the fact that Joe wrote (or co-wrote) them?

The main idea that seems to run through them all is evolution. Mr. Majestic evolves, the X-Men are products of evolution and Superman evolves beyond his traditonal self. But, that excludes a lot of stuff, I think. The Majestic evolution only happens at the end, the X-Men don't actually evolve during their run and Superman's evolution is subtle and mostly ignored.

Are they all failures in the sense that each had little or no lasting impact? Despite the fact that I find Mr. Majestic and Adventures of Superman to be fantastic reads, are they both just as flawed as Uncanny X-Men? Obviously, they're more entertaining, but artistically--or is Uncanny X-Men the artistic masterpiece, while the other two are fluff entertainment?

Whatever, I still consider making Superman a pacifist to be one of the most forward-thinking, revolutionary things done in comics in the past decade. At least in the mainstream. The fact that it didn't last beyond those twelve issues is a shame and shows just how fucking spineless the company, editors and creators are. A real chance to move the character forward and seek new challenges thrown away because SUPERMAN MUST HIT THINGS! DERRR!

And Mr. Majestic put back as that fucking Superman rip-off when stories of him on that cosmic guardian level would have been fifty times more interesting.

Nothing from Uncanny X-Men was ignored that should have been used. Maybe pushing Chamber's telepathy a bit, but otherwise, nothing of note.

Maybe the only thing they have in common is Casey.

Blogathon 11: Mr. Majestic #9

And so it ends, not with a bang but a whimper.

The final three-part story of Mr. Majestic is interesting because it doesn't do anything you expect. When last we read the comic, the universe was about to be unmade and an evil Mr. Majestic was fucking shit up on Earth. Fight time, right?

Wrong.

The cosmic group deals with Xonstructacles in a manner outside of Majestic's ability to understand. Majestic is powered up and absorbs the evil Majestic back inside and becomes the cosmic guardian he was always meant to be, leaving Earth behind forever (or, until this was all retconned and forgotten).

And you know what? I love that more than any fight Casey could have delivered (as Holguin didn't co-write this issue). The way the cosmic group deals with Xonstructacles is fantastic in its scope and the fact that when it's done, they tell Majestic that he may think what they did was cruel, but he doesn't understand since they're so far advanced. In a typical comic, the story would have become a fucking morality lecture or something, but Majestic know they're right. They are way beyond his limited views of morality and he's not fit to judge them. I've always hated comics that have our heroes confront these infinitely advanced beings and pressume to talk down to them. It's fucking stupid is what it is and it just plays upon the most loathesome of human characteristics.

As for the Majestic/Evil Majestic "fight," our hero just does the logical thing. The funny thing is that the entire issue is narrated by Gabereality to a child that is very similar to αΩ Major. Here an exchange between the two when we get to the "fight":

Child: OOOO...THIS IS IT! THE BIG CONFRONTATION! A TITANIC SLUGFEST TO END ALL SLUGFESTS! I LOVE THIS PART OF A FICTION DANCE!

Gabereality: Calm yourself, child. You presume TOO MUCH. There will be no fists hammering down in THIS instance...

Child: HOW ABOUT THIS... THE EVIL DOPPELGANGER BURNS A GIGANTIC CHESS BOARD ACROSS THE FACE OF THE EARTHLY CONTINENT, AND HE AND MAJESTROS PLAY A MATCH FOR THE SURVIVAL OF ALL THING HUMAN--

Gabereality: Ridiculous. How many pages do you think we have LEFT here...?

Child: WELL THEN...PERHAPS THEY SIMPLY HURL ENTIRE MOUNTAINS AT EACH OTHER...?

Gabereality: Remember, the hero is NOT what he WAS... There is an EXPECTATION that comes with one who would don a cape... wrap himself in the RESPONSIBLITIES of heroism as MOST would understand it. Let's call them... GENRE CONVENTIONS... The point being... Majestros's metamorphosis has taken him FAR ABOVE such concerns... perhaps beyond the archetypes that spawned him...

Child: NO SLAM-FEST, THEN...? NO VISCERAL RELEASE...? NO SATISFACTION...?

Gabereality: Fear not... for a while this outcome may not follow the so-called TRADITIONAL path of the "final showdown" that these legends trace time after laborious time... there s JUSTICE to be administered. JUDGMENT and DECISION...

I love that and it makes me even more mad that the book ends here. Casey pushes Majestic into an area beyond typical superhero comics (an area he will push characters time and time again--most notably Superman, which we'll also get to MUCH later--like after midnight later). Majestic is not longer the Superman rip-off, he's above that shit now. He throws away the cape and heads to the stars to take on a role much larger than his previous one.

And that's where it ends. There is no statisfaction here, because the new point of interest concludes. In a way, you can see this as commentary on how comics don't really want new and interesting, but the first six issues of the series delivered the same old, same old (albeit in a very well-done fashion) and people didn't buy it. So, what gives?

The sad truth is, Mr. Majestic failed because it wasn't a Superman book. If you took everything that happened in those first six issues and altered it so it happened to Superman, you would have had every person who reads superhero comics talking about how Superman was back, it was the best superhero comic around, etc. But, it was Mr. Majestic, so who cares?

The art in this isse was handled by Eric Cante and Toby Cypress. Cypress' work is a bit sketchier than Cante's, but works well with it. What happened to him and why is this the only comic I remember him drawing?

In 30 minutes, I'll discuss some of the news that's come out of San Diego the past few days and then, in one hour's time, we'll begin the long trek through Joe Casey's run on Uncanny X-Men. That's 17 issues of, mostly, utter crap--but interesting utter crap.

And remember, to sponsor me in this 24-hour blogathon, click on the sheep and all money goes to the Alzheimer Society of Canada.

Blogathon 10: Mr. Majestic #8

Mr. Majestic has finally been called to join a group of insanely powerful cosmic guardians. His father previousy held the post and now it is time for Majestic to step up. Desmond freaks out after Majestic leaves and various "after images" of him remain, all running around, doing crazy shit.

Te first member of this cosmic group we meet is αΩ Major, a bluish-black looking guy whose head has weird lines coming out of it. Then there's Canis, the trickster. Polymorpha is an Amazon-esque woman who looks different in every panel. Xonstructacles is a robot, a builder and he is pissed off at Majestic. Remember back in issue one when Majestic rearranged the solar system so it wouldn't get eaten? Well, Xonstructacles sees that as Majestic interferring with the cosmic order and, therefore, he shouldn't be allowed into the special group. Everyone else disagrees.

The final member of the group arrives, Gabereality, the archangel. He also sides with Majestic, praising him for championing life and tells Xonstructacles to get back to work on the device that will raise Majestic to their level. It's revealed that Xonstructacles has some sort of cancer and he's pretty much just pissed off at everyone because it.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Desmond deals with the various Majestics, all of which are crazy and different colours and try to save a plane from crashing until a green one turns evil and absorbs the others.

Back in cosmic land, Xonstructacles reveals that he's not going to help Majestic attain that special cosmic level of power, but, instead, he's going to unmake all creation because he views the actions of his fellow cosmic group members as corrupted for supporting Majestic. The universe is about to end and Majestic can't do anything to stop it.

This issue has some interesting bits, but is mostly talking and set-up for next issue. The idea of this cosmic group of guardians is fun. Not totally original, but still interesting as Casey and Holguin put their own spin on it. Especially the idea of a diseased robot builder guy deciding to unmake everything while our hero can't do shit.

"How will it end?" you ask. Come back in 30 and see!

Blogathon 09: Mr. Majestic #7

One of the things that I've noticed is how the end of runs by Joe Casey often have story elements that he'll pick up later. We'll see later today how the end of his Uncanny X-Men run reads more like a prologue for Wildcats Version 3.0. Here, the final story arc, "Universal Law" reads like prep work for Gødland. We're going cosmic here, people, so strap your consciousnesses down, because your mind is about to get blown.

Or not.

This issue has Majestic inhale a bunch of temporal quasi-dust set loose by an eco-terrorist. The plan is to inhale and then exhale and freeze in space, except by the time Majestic makes it that far, the stuff starts to work its magic on him and, dude, he totally trips. I'm talking a blue dude he gets older really quickly, self-examination, an Alice in Wonderland tea party, a card game with a Buddha-looking sun god and confrontation with death--all in the span of, like, a second. Heavy stuff, ya dig?

So, basically, not much happens this issue. At the end, Majestic returns to the Rushmore Sanctuary and finds a giant dark blue dude that Desmond is going to blast with a giant gun.

Now, if you think the rest of the story is going to provide much more satisfaction, well, you're going to be disappointed, because subversion of expectations is what we're all about here at Casa-de-Casey.

This issue is entertaining and does lay some mental groundwork for the next two issues as Majestic will step into his father's shoes and become like unto a god. Let's see Superman do that. Fucking pansy.

This issue marks Eric Cante joining the team on art and I really like his work. It couldn't be more different from Ed McGuinness' art, though. Where McGuinness is cartoony in a soft, friendly way, Cante is cartoony is a very jagged, harsh way. A lot of sharp corners and, well, it makes me think of math for some reason. Eric Cante draws like math. Does that make sense to anyone?

Blogathon 07: Mr. Majestic #6

Mr. Majestic can be divided into two parts: the first six issues and the final three. The first six are all self-contained stories with art by Ed McGuinness. The final three issues is one story with art by Eric Cante (with help from Toby Cypress in the final issue). Now, I don't know when they knew the book would be cancelled, but I'm pretty sure the final three issue are a result of that.

This issue is another light, done-in-one fun story. Two stories: Desmond is loaded up with all sorts of information for Y2K and Mr. Majestic is put under the spell of the Ultravixens, cosmic sirens.

The Majestic story is the funner of the two as they play up the comedy of a group of six women capturing him and then fighting over who gets to have fun with him first. Not exactly masterpiece theatre or anything, but fun. If only for how it begins with narration about the vastness and greatness of space, how it's impossible to truly describe, but the poet inside attempts to nonetheless, learning right into Majestic's first line: "OOKBLAH."

He eventually escapes when their hold on him weakens and he uses his powers to get them to turn on one another.

Meanwhile, Desmond is put under house arrest since his cyborg brain has all of the necessary info for society to continue after Y2K. But, one of the agents guarding him is an anti-technolgy whackjob and tries to kill him. Majestic saves him, prevents anything too bad from happening when all of our technology fails at midnight and then they reboot everything. Day saved. Everyone happy.

I haven't discussed art much, but Ed McGuinness' work on these six issues is nothing short of amazing. These issues is what landed him the gig on Superman (same with Casey, basically) and it's well deserved. He does big action and the small character pieces with equal skill. Casey and Holguin throw a lot at him and he never fails to pull it off.

While I didn't have a lot to say about the past two issues, they are both great reads. It's a shame these sort of stories only lasted six issues.

***

Wrote the above before I left to go to the store. The Mac's near me also has a Subway in it, so I got a roast beef sub (footlong--half now, half later--on white with mustard), a coke slushy, two bags of Lays chips for five bucks and today's Globe & Mail. Gotta love Saturdays.

The Mr. Majestic trade also includes an Alan Moore-penned story about the character at the end of the universe from the first issue of Wildstorm Spotlight (or something like that). I didn't reread it like I did the other issues, but I remember it as a decent story. Am a little put off by the fact that it's included in the trade, while the final three issues of the series aren't. Kind of stupid if you ask me.

Well, off to eat half of the sub now. See you in 30.

Blogathon 06: Mr. Majestic #5

This issue is pretty light. A prison ship is trapped in a comet, brought close to earth, and the inmates escape, causing Majestic to fight and capture them. Pretty simple.

The more interesting plot is of one of the inmates, Di'kked, a short orange alien in a robe that was once a tyrant who ruled a hundred star systems. He escapes earlier than the others and goes about learning the nuances of human culture as he knows the key to domination is language and the ability to use it.

Except, he's confused by Western culture and winds up going on TV and delivering the most cliched speech full of stupid modern idioms like "homies," and "Can't we please think about the children?" Not to mention the fact that "Di'kked" is pronounced "Dickhead."

The issue ends with him slinking away, prepared to bide his time and come up with a better plan. The issue ends with him narrating this and his final words: "YOU GO, GIRL. PEACE OUT."

A fun issue that works after issue four's tragic story. Not a lot of depth here, but a solid comic.

Blogathon 05: Mr. Majestic #4

If I had read this issue of Mr. Majestic as a little kid, it would have fucked me up. It would have been one of those Major Life Moments. Taking a complete 180 from last issue, we get a story about Majestic's son, Majestrate.

When the Kherans came to Earth, they travelled in suspended animation while their minds were stored on crystals in case something went wrong. When Majestic's ship crashed, he was fine, but his son--the ONLY child brought along--was killed. However, he still had the crystal with Majestrate's mind on it and he's finally found a way to bring him back.

Majestic travels to Otherspace, collects pre-dimensional star-stuff from a sleeping star and uses that to animate a robotic version of his son and combine that with the boy's mind. And it works. After thousands of years on Earth all alone, Majestic has his son back.

And everything is great. Majestrate adopts the name Junior Majestic and joins his father in protector the world. He becomes a media darling. Everyone loves him, although Desmond is a little jealous.

That is, until an Australian man turns into a black hole and they realise that the universe is collapsing in on itself because of the star-stuff Majestic took. Bringing back his son has doomed everyone.

When Majestrate learns this, he decides immediately to sacrifice himself by sealing the hole. And he does. And all that's left is a robotic skeleton. The issue ends with narration:

"A PLANET... A UNIVERSE WAS SAVED TODAY. BUT THERE IS NO CELEBRATION. INSTEAD, THIS IS A DAY OF MOURNING.

"FOR ON THIS DAY...

"...MR. MAJESTIC WEEPS"

and a shot of Majestic in a chair, right hand gripping the arm, left hand over his face, we can see his eye through his fingers.

The issue still kind of hits me, because Casey, Holguin and McGuinness do such an amazing job of building to Majestrate's death. They build to the moment of his rebirth, sell just how goddamn amazing the world is for Majestic now that his son is back and then handle his death with great skill. Part of what makes it work so well is McGuinness' art, as he draws this cute little kid who doesn't look more than seven, proud and determined to save the world because it's what his dad would do. The kid doesn't even hesitate, it's Majestic that tries to stop him, until Majestrate convinces him that it's got to be done.

One of the most heartbreaking comics I've ever read.

Blogathon 04: Mr. Majestic #3

More Mr. Majestic and don't forget, you can sponsor me by clicking the sheep. All money goes to the Alzheimer's Society of Canada.

Well, since we've passed ten am, I figure it's late enough in the morning to put some music on, so we're going to be listening to Led Zeppelin all day. Nothing says marathon blogging for charity like Zep. I was torn between this and Neil Young. Who knows, since I'm here all day, there's a good chance I'll blow through the entire Zeppelin catalogue.

Anyway . . .

Issue three of Mr. Majestic is a fun issue. Our fearless hero goes to the movies with Maxine "Ladytron" Manchester, his former WildC.A.T.S. teammate. Now, Maxine is a cyborg and, um, a little high-spirited? Okay, she swears like a trucker and has that pissed off "you fucking with me?" attitude, which plays perfectly with Majestic's reserved, stoic persona. Oh, and Maxine is also a nun in a robot religion, which leads to her mantra: "I'M A #@#@ING NUN!" Also, Majestic has the perfect outfit with a stripped sweater, coat and his usual headgear. The dude is a dork.

Maxine insists they see a "Man with No Name" type marathon at a local theatre, which Majestic disapproves of, because the films are violent with no social value. The whole evening gets disrupted when robot zealots show up to kill Maxine, because she still has human parts, an abomination to their faith or something.

This issue has my favourite Majestic moment where, during the movie, he finds an unpopped kernel of popcorn and looks at it. His eyes glow red for a couple of panels with a SSSS sound-effect and then in the last panel of the sequence, we get POP as the kernel pops in his fingers while Maxine says "JUST HOW ANAL ARE YOU, MAN?!" Everything you need to know about Majestic's personality is there: using heat vision to pop a kernel of popcorn while at the movies.

I really can't do the humour in this book justice, because it's packed full of it. Maxine is a fantastic character that Casey went on to use in Wildcats and he just gets this character (who was created by Alan Moore, by the way).

The sad thing about this issue is that it's the sort we'd get now as a buffer between storyarcs--and it wouldn't have nearly as much of the funny. Goddamn, I miss this book. Seriously, how was it not selling a million copies?

(And, seriously, Led Zeppelin? Fucking awesome. Probably the best debut album from a band I can think of. Maybe The Velvet Underground and Nico would come close. Some would probably say Please Please Me by the Beatles, but, while good, isn't an AMAZING debut the way Zep and the VU's debuts were.)

Blogathon 03: Mr. Majestic #2

Continuing my issue-by-issue commentary on the short-lived Mr. Majestic series from 1999 . . .

The second and fourth issues both add some tragic elements to otherwise light-hearted superhero stories. This issue begins with Dr. Martin Kingsley killing himself because he can't go through something. We know his wife died sometime in the past and he has a daughter, Kata. It must be pretty damn bad if he's killing himself.

Cut to: 8th century Vikings raiding modern day England. Something is happening to the space-time continuum and things from the past are popping up: the Black Plague in France, Mongol hords in China, Liberace in Vegas! And if it doesn't end soon, the whole thing is going to collapse in on itself (or something like that) and everyone is doomed.

Desmond figures it all out and it turns out that the cause of the anomoly is Kata, the late Dr. Kinglsey's daughter. Mr. Majestic has to somehow neutralise her, which he finds problematic as she's just a little girl.

Ultimately, he uses a device of some sort to take her outside our universe where she is able to relive a perfect day over and over again. The ending is bittersweet that way as the issue ends on her with her father, happy, but you still get the idea that this solution kind of sucks, because she'll never grow up or live a life beyond a singular moment.

But, is that a bad thing necessarily? Usually, art will tell us, yes, it is, because that is a stagnant life, one that is superficially appealing, but offers no room for growth or transcendence. It's a hollow life. However, I'm not sure that this is what we're told by Casey and Holguin. While a hard life full of growth is nice and all, wouldn't we all rather live out a perfect day? Isn't that what we're all working for? Don't we all want to earn lots of money and have a job we love and have a family in the hopes that it will, ultimately, make us happy and fulfill us? If so, how is what Kata has at the end of the issue any different except she didn't have to spend a lifetime working at it? Is that why it is a bad thing, because it was just given to her? Are we simply jealous?

(Actually, my main question is why it's only Kata and her father at the end. Wouldn't you think if it were her perfect day her mom would be there, too? That's always bothered me.)

The issue, on the whole, is really good. The concept of things from the past invading our time is interesting as Majestic tries to stay one step ahead of the anomolies. Plenty of room for a joke or two (like Vikings calling Majestic a girl because he is clean-shaven) and even a cool page where Kata traps Majestic in a time-loop without meaning to.

This issue also introduces Delroy, the government liason for Majestic and Desmond. He is a fun character in that he doesn't seem to like either of our heroes and has that typical smarmy attitude.

Oh, forgot to mention last issue another cool thing about this Mr. Majestic: his fortress is in Mount Rushmore. How sweet is that?

Blogathon 02: Mr. Majestic #1

I remember when I read the first issue of Mr. Majestic in 1999. The series began around that time that Wildstorm was becoming a really amazing publisher. Along with this, you also had Warren Ellis' Authority and Planetary, and the relaunch of Wildcats, which turned to suck until Joe Casey and Sean Phillips took control of it. And then later, a bunch of other great comics popped up.

The title centres around Mr. Majestic, a superstrong alien superhero who was introduced in WildC.A.T.S.. On his home planet, he was a warrior, but now that the war between his planet and another was over, he became earth's protector.

Actually, this series changed Majestic into a Superman proxy, basically. Oh, his personality is different, but this is pure Casey and co-writer Brian Holguin going "I miss the days when Superman could move planets!" So, they wrote a book where Mr. Majestic moves planets.

Literally.

The first issue begins with Majestic encountering an alien probe at the edge of the solar system, which, after disabling it, he discovers has sent telemetry and other information to a creature that feeds on solar systems. He has to stop it somehow.

Together with his sidekick Desmond (a boy cyborg in a nifty wheelchair), he gathers the top mnds of the world to figure out the physics of disguising the solar system. That means moving Mercury into orbit around Jupiter, solidifying Jupiter, giving Mars rings, moving Earth and turning the sun into a binary star amongst other things not gone into in detail.

But, that's only half the story, as the proces of disguising the solar system takes years, even decades. The issue begins in the early 1970s and doesn't end until semi-recent (it's unclear, but at least by the late 1980s). During this time, things go bad in the world and Majestic feels the pressure of not being able to help, because saving the solar system is a bigger job than stopping Vietnam. Casey and Holguin add some interesting bits with the US government creating distractions to help keep Majestic's mission secret. Things like Nixon resigning, the bicentenniel and the bombing of Lybia are all distractions of some sort.

The style is a fun, lofty kind with third-person narration that attempts to instill that sense of wonder and, er, majesty that comics used to have. Casey and Holguin manage to take Silver Age sensibilities, but filter them through a modern lens.

Ed McGuiness provided the art for the first six issues and his work is gorgeous. It has a very cartoony feel, but is able to depict anything. The facial expressions used for Majestic and Desmond are perfect and let you know what they're thinking.

In the end, the solar system is saved as the massive creature is fooled and the issue ends on a strangely optimistic note:

"OF COURSE, HIS WORK IS ONLY HALF-DONE. NOW... HE'S GOT TO PUT IT ALL BACK.

"HE DOESN'T MIND."

And, like the next five issues of the series, the team tells a complete and satisfying story in one issue.

I'm left wondering why this series didn't sell better. You would think a high-adventure, lots of fun, told-in-one comic where the hero literally moves planets to save the day would have every fanboy chomping at the bit to get a copy.