Green Lantern: Ganthet’s Tale

My old comic of the month is this mind-snapping more often referred-to than read Green Lantern story. First published in 1992, Ganthet’s Tale has probably one of the most ill-designed DC covers in both conceptual and aesthetic terms, but that’s just me being shallow. Its narrative ranks among the tightest and most idea-filled p.c.b. (per cubic brain) in my own experience, which is still saying the least. One just doesn’t leave this book without whole assumptions about life and reality being ripped apart – yes, it’s that kind of book! Should one expect any less from the pen of none other than the creator of the Ringworld series, Larry Niven?

Marvel 1985

By the ache in my molar, I was not planning to like this book. Just how many comics do you already know that has some boy with divorced parents turning to comics before things go weird around him – monsters, supervillians, and superheroes leaping out everywhere, from the bushes, the school desk, the bathroom, etc. – you know this one. It’s The Never-Ending Story, Part 1 to Part 1,000,000. (The book suggests the link to 1985 as Marvel’s Secret Wars event, but you can’t fool me.) And didn’t Wildstorm just do something similar with DC superheroes turning up to fight Wildstorm hardballs, all because of some whiny geek-boy in denial of reality? That’s the other thing that got to me: look, comic lovers are not traumatised individuals who had a bad childhood, can’t deal with the real world, alienate people, and are probably bipolar. Leave the self-hating cliches already!

Metal Men

It shouldn’t be this difficult to love the crazy Dr William Magnus and his Metal Men. Whenever they appeared in comic pages previously, they would bring a high-octane level of quirkiness in their adventures and dysfunctionality in the way they related to one another at work and at play. The metal-bots may buddy up in colourfully mind-dazzling ways like Mutant Turtles – cheap jokes included – but they also fight neurotically among themselves for the affection of their somewhat guiltily egomaniac creator, Dr Magnus. The young mad scientist openly craves this attention and, in fact, encourages the rivalry, making it ever so fun to watch the not-exactly-the-X-Men-or-the-Doom-Patrol team go on operations. Fun which, be warned, you won’t find here.