The beginning is always the best part of any new story, and comics are no exception. We’re back again to take a look at the ultimate beginnings, the #1 issues of the new stories in comics hitting the shelves this week. It’s a rough week for women this time around, with a lot of stories taking place in the far away past, or just far, far away.
The Rocketeer: Cargo of Doom #1 is the first new Rocketeer story in over 20 years. It revisits the jet packed 1930’s era hero, Cliff Secord, as he gets mixed up in an adventure involving some sort of large man-eating beast (at least, it likes to eat hands and forearms, anyway) being secretly smuggled in the cargo hold of an ocean liner. How will the flying man in the metal mask deal with a hungry menace at sea? We’re not sure yet, as The Rocketeer’s high flying heroics are directed at rescuing his mentor’s niece Sally, after she’s inappropriately propositioned by a lecherous flight instructor, nearly crashing her plane as she elbows him in the groin. Thank goodness there’s a big strong man around. Unfortunately, the introduction of this new female character doesn’t do much for women in comics story telling. While it’s nice that Sally stood up for herself, it nearly got her killed. She immediately threw herself at Cliff, the moment she hit the ground, all the while not realizing he was her savior in the first place. Neither she, nor Cliff’s traditional love interest Betty, have much to say to anyone but Cliff. When they do get a chance to speak to each other, it’s about a man, often fueling the rivalry between them. The simplistic story is set in the 1930’s, but given that it’s published in the 21st century, it could try a little harder to hold onto this era’s readers.
The 1930’s swashbuckling adventure continues this week with a #1 that’s not just a first issue but a one-shot. It’s Lobster Johnson in The Prayer of Neferu, straight from the mind of Mike Mignola and the pages of Hellboy. Lobster is up to his old tricks here, blasting away with his twin .45’s, sporting his flight helmet, leather jacket and goggles, and making sure the bad-guys “Feel the Claw!” This is pretty light-hearted fare, a supernatural period piece adventure involving a group of gangsters helping finance an Egyptology obsessed sorceress, so she may forge some sort of magical sword from the spirits trapped in mummies! How convoluted can you get? It actually plays out pretty smoothly, and is fun to read, but there are again woefully few positive role models to be found here for women. The only woman here is, in fact, the villain, and while she does little to try to land a man, she’s also not one to admire. She gets gobbled up by the evil souls of her mummified captives, after cowering behind yet another big strong man she’s manipulated into protecting her.
We have yet another gaming related comic this week, as Dark Horse brings us Dragon Age: Those Who Speak #1, by the lead writer of the Dragon Age series of RPG’s David Gaider. Gaider tells the story of the newly crowned young king of his fantastical world and his pirate captain protector, a powerful woman named Isabela. Isabela and her crew are escorting the King on a search for his father, and while Isabela is widely respected by the men who form her crew and the King himself, and never treated as an object to be won, wooed or protected, she can’t seem to captain her pirate vessel without being semi-naked. She also commits a rather brutal murder for what seems to be not the most serious of reasons, and never bothers to speak to the only other female character in the book, a powerful sorceress and political maven from a far away land who seems to have gained power and prestige via, you guessed it, her sex appeal. This reads less like a gaming companion than last week’s RPG spin-off comic, Pathfinder, and more of just a fun story that might have come out of a good game session, but it’s again not a tale with much to admire, beyond a little bit of imagination and a fast talking dwarf swordsman.
Lastly, we have the final #1 edition of DC’s Before Watchmen series, Dr. Manhattan #1. This has more promise in it, for certain, as we already know that a good deal of Dr. Manhattan’s large metaphysical, supernatural, “Am I a God Or Not” issues revolve around the women in his life. Here, we are treated to even more of the man who forgot to wear pants and his inner turmoil as he perceives all of time and space at the same time. His near omnipotence has never extended to his inner workings, but has always gone a long way to wards getting the girl. Here, Silk Spectre is only barely mentioned, and it’s frankly welcome. This tale might concern the women in Dr. Manhattan’s life, but it is not really ABOUT them. Their lack of depth is inoffensive in that they are viewed exactly the same way as a watch gear, or a snapshot, or a puff of Martian dust: as merely another molecule and another atom and another moment of space-time that Dr. Manhattan is not perceiving (and babbling on and on and on about) indefinitely. Dr. Manhattan doesn’t bother to reduce women to objects because he both completely understands them and is utterly mystified by them. The series takes an interesting turn near the end, but it feels like it’s going to be a largely metaphysical journey of supernatural self-discovery, rather than an origin myth or even a good adventure, and I’m not sure it’s worth sticking with this one. The boys at DC may have saved the least for last.
So that’s it this week, everyone. Join us here next week for more, and happy reading.
