Batman / Superman / Wonder Woman: Trinity #2, September 2003
Batman / Superman / Wonder Woman: Trinity #2, 2003
Here’s a great Matt Wagner splash featuring Wonder Woman doing her best to rein in Bizarro. Spoiler alert: It doesn’t go all that well.
Wagner delivers page after page of visual dynamics and terrific storytelling in this underrated series featuring DC’s “Big Three.”
The only thing I don’t like: The “official” book title, which is a bit long and definitely not obvious. (Publishers occasionally forget that readers have to be able easily find the title at retail. Trust me on this.)
I had a nice selection of Matt Wagner Green Hornet covers to choose from when Matt offered them for sale. I picked this one because it featured the Hornet, Kato AND Black Beauty. (The automobile’s name for those not familiar with The Hornet’s world.)
This comic series deals with the original iteration of the Green Hornet, so the car is a 1937 Lincoln Zephyr, not a 1966 Chrysler Imperial as featured in the TV series that I adored as a kid.
But it still works for me.
The Golden Age Green Hornet and the Silver Age Hornet — a comic book version of the short-lived TV series that only lasted three issues.Possibly my favorite Hornet illustration of all time: Jim Steranko’s painted cover for the 1989 comics version for Now Comics.
Batman / Superman / Wonder Woman: Trinity #2, September 1993
September 18 was DC’s annual “Batman Day.” Although not exactly a national holiday, DC and Warner have used the occasion to commemorate the caped crusader and launch and market new products around the event.
Batman shows off his typically charming personality — to Wonder Woman and Superman — in this iconic bat-panel from Matt Wagner’s Trinity 2004 series.
(And the Amazon princess is not amused.)
The overarching plot of this deluxe three-parter involves Ra’s al Ghul enlisting Bizarro to create… well, chaos.
But the critical (and very entertaining) theme of the title is how DC”s three iconic heroes reconcile their personality and philosophy differences and figure out a way to work together without defeating each other, instead of the bad guys.
We continue with our month long celebration of the “Independents” — independent creators and projects that continue to impact the comic book medium.
Matt Wagner seamlessly fits his independent creation Grendel into the pulpy world of The Shadow in this wonderfully realized mini-series. Grendel — Hunter Rose — is a natural adversary for the famed vigilante in a story set during the Shadow’s classic era, the 1930s.
Not much more to add here, except — I hope they do a sequel one of these days.
As discussed previously in this blog and elsewhere, Matt Wagner is a terrific talent.
Although it’s always great fun to see him play with other kid’s toys (The Demon, Batman, The Shadow, etc.) its obvious he has a special appreciation for his two long-time creations, Grendel and Mage. And Mage has been one those series has always demanded my attention, and my admiration.
MAGE is the contemporary tale of reluctant hero Kevin Matchstick who, after encountering a modern-day wizard, learns he is the reincarnation of the legendary King Arthur Pendragon, able to wield the power of the mystical weapon, Excalibur. (Now a magical baseball bat instead of a sword.)
Here’s Matt discussing it in a 2017 interview, just ahead of launching the final story arc
“For anyone who doesn’t realize it, MAGE is what I like to describe as an allegorical autobiography, with the character of Kevin Matchstick very obviously standing in as my literary alter-ego. All the other characters he encounters and situations he endures are metaphors from my own life…told through the lens of a fantasy adventure.”
It’s a wonderful trilogy — told over the span of 35 years — and Matt is probably bored with me telling him how much I enjoy and admire the work. (I first met him in the 80s and have sung the same tune since then.)
The autobiographical part of the fantasy is key to me, because Matt and I —and his hero Kevin Matchstick — are all about the same age.
Kevin’s character ages and incorporates Matt’s life experiences, which is still a fairly uncommon feature in graphic storytelling.
This cool page is from the middle of the trilogy, and features the cover scene of the issue in the wonderfully-executed final panel. POW indeed.
Matt says the Mage story is complete and the story of Kevin Matchstick is finished, but maybe he will incorporate a senior citizen story 20 years from now — we can discuss it over a game of checkers in the park.
Continuing our ongoing series celebrating multiple anniversaries for the classic pulp character, The Shadow.
Here is another great Matt Wagner cover, from the same terrific Shadow “origin” series as the last one.
So great, it ended up as the cover of the collection of the entire series as well.
So, I think we should, and will in fact, let this superb cover stand on its own without additional dissection.
For more on Matt and his interest in the character and other legends of the pulp era, click here.
Also definitely worth checking out are the exhaustive Shadow Chronology, available at a very reasonable price from Amazon, and Walter Gibson’s (out of print, unfortunately) Shadow Scrapbook, a nice first person history.
Matt Wagner delivers a dynamic two-gun version of The Shadow for his much lauded Shadow origin series in 2015.
The Shadow routinely carried two .45 guns. That said, he wasn’t opposed to a rifle or machine gun, now and then.
Matt wrote this excellent series, and illustrated most of the covers, each one a frame-worthy rendition of the classic pulp character.
When DC brought back The Shadow after a long absence from comics in 1973, Mike Kaluta drew the now genre-defining early issues, and ultimately illustrated a beautiful graphic novel for Marvel years later.
Mike is also a big fan of the double-barreled look as well.
Color version and the more dramatic black and white version as a variant cover.
Who knows what evil…? Mike Kaluta knows.
The Shadow is acknowledged as the inspiration for Batman, and when DC acquired the rights to the character in 1973, they “crossed-over” twice.
Continuing our celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Justice Society of America, with each new post featuring a different classic JSA character.
Neil Gaiman’s extraordinary success with his Sandman series, had an additional and welcome consequence. DC added a retro Sandman title to its line-up featuring a retconned version of the original Sandman, with great noir-ish stories written primarily by Matt Wagner and Steven Seagle.
This terrific action splash page comes from the often overlooked annual, drawn by George Pratt. It’s a rare pen and ink example by the award-winning Pratt, who is known for his terrific painted graphic novels on Enemy Ace, Batman, and Wolverine.
The “original” Sandman never looked so good.
Fun fact: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created often over-looked version of Sandman in the 1970s. Simon dropped out after one issue, Jack took a few issue break, and the final issue, #7, featuring Santa Claus (yes, you heard right) was cancelled prior to publication and didn’t appear in print until a few years later.
That Simon and Kirby Issue, originally intended as a one-shot, was their final collaboration.
This version of Sandman makes an unexpected comeback appearance in Wonder Woman #300, with versions by both Gene Colan and Kirby fanatic Keith Giffen.More on all of this in a future post.
The Sandman’s first appearance back in 1939, and his re-appearance in the Silver Age in 1966.
Concluding our celebration of the 80th anniversary of The Spirit, with additional creators’ takes on the beloved and influential character.
Looks like the Spirit forgot to beware the Ides of March.
Matt Wagner brought the Spirit back to life for Dynamite in 2015 with an ongoing series. Although Matt drew the cover for the first issue, the amazing Eric Powell created many of the rest of the main covers, including this terrific one.
I first discovered The Spirit via the over-sized, black &
white reprints from Warren Publications in the mid 70s. I was bowled over by
Eisner’s artistry and sophisticated use of sequential narrative but also by the
enormous emotional punch these stories seemed to pack into a brief seven pages.
Whether it was humor, romance, pathos or irony, I found a depth of character
and resonance that seemed to be missing from the mainstream comics of the day.
I can honestly say The Spirit changed
my perceptions of a comics creator and made me consciously aware of the
artistry involved in rendering these tales. I’m a comics artist and writer
today because of Will Eisner and The Spirit.
— Matt Wagner, quoted in the Westfield Comics Blog
Kitchen Sink started the tradition of all-star creators working on the Spirit, a tradition that continues today…
Tonight is the final episode of the extremely well-done Arrow, lasting eight seasons on the CW and successfully launching the “Arrowverse” which now includes Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl and more. I doubt anyone could have predicted that these shows would create a well-crafted and (mostly) unified TV DCU, much like Marvel has created a unified film universe.
I’ve seen some (unjust) criticism that ultimately, these shows feel like any other show on the CW, just with more spandex. I think some of that criticism comes from grading these Greg Berlanti produced shows against the more mature (and expensive) shows that are running (less frequently) on premium cable and streaming services.
Its difficult to imagine something like this unified DCU coming together even just 10-years ago, and kudos off to Berlanti and company for creating quality shows with just enough (hopefully not too much) fan service. And the shows will continue on even without the launch series, and star Stephen Amell.
Matt Wagner created a terrific series of painted covers for this Brad Meltzer run of Green Arrow in 2002 and 2003, including this very dramatic portrait of Oliver Queen. (In this story arc, Ollie is dealing with a Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) sub-plot, hence the green illumination.) And speaking of Green Lantern, will he (they) crossover from the upcoming HBO Max series? Very much looking forward to seeing how this all plays out .
