Comics and Fun

I got Iron Man: Extremis, and the third Ble Beetle trade. Extremis was dark and serious, with Iron Man deciding to take himself to the next level to fight a domestic terrorist who has been reborn as a biological weapon. Deciding that he needed to evolve his heroism, Iron Man uses the same stuff, Extremis, to fuse the inner part of his suit with his body. He can control the armor with his thoughts, and is now a true superhero, not just a guy in a suit. He wants to bring about the futre, and to do that, he has to be stronger. In effect, he wants to fight the past with the future. Marvel makes him the villian in the Civil War arc, which I believe was a collosal mistake. Right when this new series got good, they throw him into the role of a government inforcer. But Extremis hasn't gotten into that, and so is a great book.

Blue Beetle was serious, but not too serious, and wasn't dark at all. The Reach, evil aliens who made the Scarab, are shocked to learn he is free of their influence, but they play it cool. They can phase-hift tech out of the vision of most humans, only Blue Beetle can see them. They also start recruiting evil DC villians like Ultrahumanite (Dc villians that are not part of the Batman franchise are kinda silly, but this series can handle that). He also gets a mage for a girlfriend, who is usually out hunting vampires or helping an odd pair of detectives who took her in. In fact, much of this trade introduces the more traditional parts of DC. Jamie meets a crazy Green Lantern who helps him fight Ultrahumanite, and advises him to be more like the unpowered Blue Beetle and use strategy and longterm planning, for example. Superman shows up as well. Jamie even helps the Teen Titans (who have decided to forgo the teen designation) fight Lobo (villian for higher, basically a Superbiker with a flying motorcycle).

All in all, my exploration of traditional comics has made me realize that for all the silly things DC and Marvel make, even they can make good, fun stories.