Alternate Histories: An Interview with Greg Pak

Greg Pak (pronounced Pock) is an accomplished film director and comic writer with acclaimed runs on The Incredible Hulk, Hercules, and Action Comics, among others. In his ten years as a published comic writer, Pak has written tragedy, comedy, and high drama, he’s shaped the births of some of Marvel’s most dangerous villains, written DC’s flagship title, and even shown the world a gay, gubernatorial Wolverine!

In short, he’s a pretty impressive guy and it’s no surprise that he’s in high demand at the moment. Pak currently writes Superman in DC’s Action Comics and Batman/Superman, a revived Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for Dynamite, and is set to launch the first ever Storm series from Marvel next month.

I managed to talk to Mr. Pak at Special Edition: NYC. As you might guess, he was very busy but he absolutely insisted on giving thoughtful and intelligent answers to every one of my questions. I really appreciate him taking the time to talk to us and, if you do too, maybe you should pre-order Storm #1 at your local comic shop as the window to do is rapidly closing.

Justice Society of America #48 – Review

By: Marc Guggenheim (writer), Scott Kolins (artist), Mike Atiyeh (colorist)

The Story: Dr. Chaos shows exactly how he got his credentials in all-out crazy-making.

The Review: Every now and then you’ll hear DC getting some flak for not providing a handy recap page the way Marvel does for all its titles.  You can’t really deny the usefulness of such a feature, as it allows new readers to jump onboard even in the middle of a story arc.  DC’s usual response is something along the lines of a recap page taking a page away from the story, and if a writer’s strong enough, a recap’s not necessary.  True enough.

In this case, Guggenheim devotes the issue’s opening to recapping an event two issues before.  There are several major problems with this move, the most obvious being he ripped the scene and dialogue straight from Justice Society of America #46.  Second problem: it was weak when it first appeared, so reading it again just seems painful.  Third: instead of using one page to sum up the event, he has now used three—and with the dropped page count, that’s three too many.

And if you notice these flaws right off, that puts you in a discouraged frame of mind from the very start—truly unfortunate, as the rest of the issue requires a lot of forgiveness.  The pace of this story has become unearthly, stretching the limits of decompression technique.  Thanks to the time captions Guggenheim inserts to mark scene-jumps, you can easily deduce that over three issues, only forty-five minutes have passed.

Of course, as 24 demonstrates, decompression isn’t so bad as long as you fill the time with enough interest to keep the tension high.  But considering most of the story has been Dr. Chaos further reducing an already ruined city to rubble and a rematch between the team and Scythe—a villain they literally just defeated in the last story arc—you can’t really call such stuff interesting.

Guggenheim does offer a few good lines (Wildcat: “Sonofa—”  Dr. Chaos: “Yes.  How’d you know?”) and moments, but for every one of those, there’s a cringe-worthy scene like Mr. Terrific’s dumbing down.  Now, I’m sure it’s not intended this way, but the idea of making Michael illiterate—it’s just slightly racist, or at least an unfortunate coincidental reflection of a pervasive, negative, racial stereotype.  Is that politically correct enough?

Kato Origins #6 – Review

By: Jai Nitz (writer), Colton Worley (pencils and inks), Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colorist), Joseph Rybandt (editor)

The Story: We start with a softer side to Kato in this stand-alone issue. He’s going to see friends play jazz. But, being a gritty, noir book, your can bet that it doesn’t take long for the sordidness of 1940s underworld Chicago to bring trouble Kato’s way.

What’s Good: A few issues back, I had effused over Nitz’ layering of the imagery he used, specifically how Kato, in his running monologue, compared his lack of knowledge of trains to his lack of knowledge of women and his knowledge of fighting. Nitz pulls out that beautiful narrative style again, and I was immediately caught up in Kato’s musings on music and jazz. It was so fascinating, that I didn’t realize that Nitz was reeling me into a comparison of music and martial arts until page five, but by then, I was locked into my seat. Nitz’ metaphors are brilliant and this issue is all about the dark side of martial arts, much like the dark side of music. It makes total sense now, but it had never occurred to me before that the thrill of violence and power would be a drug, comparable to music, and how easy it must be to be tempted off the path. And although it is more subdued in this issue, the pervasiveness of the racism of 1940s America is an omnipresent feature of the story, much like it is in the best X-men stories. A subtle wrinkle Nitz added to the racist setting was the racism between Asians and African-Americans, which is additional layering on a powerful theme. I loved Nitz’ smart writing (as always).

Kato Origins #3 – Review

By: Jai Nitz (writer), Colton Worley (artist), Romulo Fajardo (colors), Joseph Rybandt (editor)

The Story: Way of the Ninja, Part Three: Kato is on the trail of the ninja assassins who killed the Korean grocer (the father of his beloved) and left with a mysterious package. They’ve left on a train, so he becomes the hunter.

What’s Good: Kato Origins #1 blew me away, but #2 had down-shifted a gear and hadn’t left me so satisfied. In this issue, Nitz has hit all those elements that made the first issue so good for me. The writing is richly layered. Kato’s monologue never shows a man thinking in linear tracks. Kato thinks in themes and parallels. Take the statement he makes on page one: “I know nothing about trains.” Where do you think Nitz takes this enigmatic opening? Well, the monologue reaches into the interests of the heart, the essence of the ninja, Kato’s knowledge of cars, and his insight into the essence of the racist experience of the Asian coolie in the building of America. Nitz does the same thing with a love letter. The current of racism continues to run through the book (like it did in the first issue) to great effect. The racism, poverty, and persecution, the hero on the underside, the guy who has less options than the white man to solve any given problem because of the color of his skin, all adds great depth to this story. While many heroes have to disguise themselves from time to time, Kato has to hide his features here, because an Asian couldn’t well get on a train in World War Two America, hero or villain. This not only brings Kato the stoic hero closer to the reader, but it depicts the persecuted hero in a more visceral way than that X-Men ever did in all their splash and color. I also love Nitz’s more realistic treatment of Kato’s “super-powers.” Kato is an awesome ninja, but against someone with a gun or four guys, you’re not going to see him solve the situation without breaking a sweat or taking a hit. As a last point on the writing, I was wondering how Nitz was going to keep this series fresh. The scope seemed pretty local so far, but boy did he crack this story wide open in this issue. All in all, hats off to Jai Nitz.

Kato Origins #1: Way Of The Ninja – Review

By: Jai Nitz (writer), Colton Worley (pencils and inks), Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colors), Joe Rybandt (editor)

The Story: Way of the Ninja, Part One: The police come to the home of the Green Hornet to ask Kato for help. A Korean grocer has been killed, and they need a steady hand doing translation. Britt (the Green Hornet) tells Kato to go, despite knowing that Kato is Japanese and can’t speak Korean. Kato finds a whole lot of racism (this is just after Pearl Harbor), a beautiful woman, a dead Korean with broken fingers, and a message that makes this whole case look a whole lot more personal that he thought.

What’s Good: This is a very sophisticated story. The action is gritty and noir. The panel layouts are brisk and dynamic, and despite the fascinating and insightful monologue by Kato, the narrative almost feels terse. The art says a lot through body language (check out the detective pulling Kato towards the corpse, or the tense altercation with McLaughlin) and facial expressions (look at Kato’s expressions as he looks at the body – there is menace in his curiosity, a bubbling anger that complements the ironic narrative). The fight sequences are awesome, with silent panels showing panicked, strobed movement before loud blows land and decide the outcomes. Worley and Fajardo do brilliant work of making us feel the setting, the emotions and the action in equal measure.

Bayou – Review

By Jeremy Love (story & art), Patrick Morgan (colors)

I really despise online comics. Not for the content, but just for the sake of having to read a comic on the computer screen. I like to hold the comic or trade paperback in my hand and read it at my leisure.

That said…

First of all, Zuda Comics is an online comic publisher through DC Comics. The goal is to find talent in the ‘online’ comic world and give those creators the opportunity to produce work that people will have the chance to read for free. Every month Zuda Comics holds a competion to name a winner. I was reading Newsarama and they did a story on Bayou and how it was the first ‘instant’ winner. Bayou didn’t have to go through the competition because DC/Zuda decided the quality was so high that it was immediately heralded as the flagship strip for their new online comic company. I thought the premise sounded interesting, and the image attached was gorgeous, so I decided to give it a read. Once I clicked the link and fell in love… hard… like, fanboy hard…
Bayou had me at hello…

Bayou is the story about a girl named Lee, a black girl working hard to help her father survive in the days of the depression as sharecroppers. The story takes place in the south and is racially charged, but handled very well by the creative team. The racial overtones are important to the story and how the characters get into the situations they are in. There’s a strong magical/fantasy element to it all, leaving the reader craving for more on just what is going on in the town of Charon and with Lee. Without giving too much of the story away, Lee must set out a journey to save her father and her town.

The art on Bayou is simply gorgeous. It reminds me of Josh Middleton’s line work and coloring, but has a distinctive look all it’s own. Both Jeremy Love and Patrick Morgan set the bar high for future work and, I for one, will be there when their next project is released… online or not.

The entire story of Bayou is far from over, with 84 pages online currently and more being added often, the story is just begging to be produced as a future trade or a hardcover. Make it happen, DC! Until then, I urge you to log onto Zuda at http://www.zudacomics.com/bayou and give Bayou a read.

Today. For Free.

While you are there, check out other Zuda comics. The appeal is broad with every type of story style present. As of this morning, 68,141 readers have delved into the Bayou, and thankfully I was one of them. Will you be next? (Grade: A)

-Jonathan Jespersen

Spawn #175 – Review

By David Hine (writer), Bing Cansino & Geirrod Van Dyke (art)

So I picked up this book because it’s been ages since I’ve read Spawn. #175 sounds like a nice number for a new reader to come aboard, right? Besides, it sports this Simon Bisley-esque cover by Greg Capullo which looks kinda cool. But Spawn isn’t Spawn. He’s oddly dressed up in cowboy garb! Another thing I noticed is that the old Spawn logo is gone, replaced by the awful new logo used on the Spawn toys (I think). Bring back the old logo please.

The last time I read Spawn was around issue #75 – that’s 100 issues ago! Well, a lot has happened since then. Thankfully, page one gives you a brief run down to get you caught up. The book is way more graphic than it used to be, and the painted art by Bing Cansino and Geirrod Van Dyke is jaw-droppingly stunning. But that’s where my accolades end. The story is a yawn fest. You know what’s going to happen, you just read along as author David Hine goes through the motions.

It appears that Spawn has been a running theme in Al Simmons family. The story that’s currently going on is about his grandfather and how he and a friend are nearly put to death in the old west. But at the last minute, they’re offered a deal with the devil. Simmons’ ancestor, Francis Parker, declines, but his friend doesn’t. Next thing you know, he’s the old west version of Spawn, killing all the people he deems as guilty.

While we come to learn how the Simmons name came about in Spawn #175, this story feels out of place. I thought a story like this was reserved for the Spawn satellite books. Not anymore, I guess. From what I remember, Spawn was originally an urban book about mystery, the supernatural, and redemption. Now it’s just a predictable, gratuitous tale of revenge filled with violent money shots. I really want to enjoy Spawn again, I really do. But this issue does nothing for me, and that makes me sad. (Grade: D-)

– J. Montes