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Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Solo #7
A few months ago I wrote about the history of my comics reading with Mike Allred’s Madman book being one major discovery. For some older readers it must have been a joy to see Allred celebrate the style and charm of Silver Age books while still delivering an original creation. I was in my pre-teen years when I started reading Madman and hadn’t had much exposure to Jack Kirby or Alex Toth’s art or the stories of Stan Lee and Gardner Fox. Instead I was seduced by all the power that cool looking monsters, pretty women and nutty superheroes realized with only a few well-placed lines could have. For as many years as I had been an American comic book reader here was the promise of a superhero comic finally kept.
As I’ve gotten older I’ve found reprints those original books that inspired Allred and absorb them much the same way I did when I first read Madman. In his issue of Solo Allred takes full advantage of the DC characters he has the chance to use and pays tribute to those books that gave him such a joy when he was younger. It’s a thread throughout the entire book making this anthology feel much more cohesive than other Solo issues. As positive as the book is there’s also a sense of heartbreak over leaving that world behind and now dealing with the less romantic world of adults and their corporate structures instilled in these stories, co-written with wife Laura and brother Lee.
The Hourman story is full of that snappy cool that Allred excels at. Here’s a character that’s basically a drug addict but Allred instead sees it as a chance to have a superhero become this helpful, confident and kind of ditzy do-gooder. He fills the hours by delivering pizzas way ahead of schedule, giving us my favorite line in the book “don’t you want any of this terrific tip?” A superhero who is happy to make a mass of paper boats for some kids is a superhero I can stand by. It’s a slight story that prepares you for what’s coming next but it’s also the closest to the Madman books.
“Doom Patrol vs. Teen Titans” is the books first great story. The ‘60s feel is amped up even more with Laura Allred bringing out the Ben-Day dots. Like the Hourman section it’s about showcasing the (stylized, off-the-wall) human side of these characters rather than saving the universe. The superheroics are there but it’s all in the service of a comedy of DC manners. The Bob Haney/Nick Cardy-era Teen Titans emphasize the first part of their name by throwing a loud party complete with Bobby Sherman records. This leads to the Arnold Drake/Bruno Premiani-era Doom Patrol to complain and Robotman in particular to cry “It’s Clanking Time!” Reading this story I asked myself “why can’t more superhero stories be written like this?” It’s not just pointless nostalgia for comics read as a youth, it’s a genuinely funny story that makes for great comfort reading.
The centerpiece is Mike and Lee Allred’s “Batman A-Go-Go!” It takes place in the William Dozier world of Batman (although certain likenesses are still obscured, notice the whites on Batman and Robin’s eyes). It’s a fascinating story that falls just short of being a great satirical piece. The Pop Art Batman is confronted by Commissioner Gordon, Dick Grayson and Grayson’s new gal pal about the changing world of the 1960’s. I’ve seen other reviews like Jog see this as “industry comment” about the darkening of superhero comics. While there is a bit of that in Batman’s pondering I see the majority of the story’s ideas being about the generation gap between the Baby Boomers and their parents’ disappearing society. Gordon tells Batman “The world’s changed. It’s Haight-Ashbury, not Main Street,” and the gruesome murders in the books are described by the police as “A real Manson Family job.” The story takes the pinnacle of the affluence and irony Boomers reveled in and sticks it next to the real issues of the day like civil rights that more people were into paying lip service for than actually participating in. If this story appeared in Playboy in 1969 it would have received great praise but Lee Allred commits one fatal mistake in the story. When Batman and Alfred are going over the situation they find themselves in the discussion becomes a plodding philosophical debate with long quotes being thrown around. By the time the Riddler arrives declaring “The only thing needed for evil to triumph…” it was clear the brothers Allred were taking something deep and trying to bring as much to the surface as they could. Which is a shame because the story did have a cool idea behind it and features some of Allred’s best artwork, with a splash page of Batman tearing up Gotham’s bad guys in front of a blue spiral, a great late ‘60s touch.
The Fourth World story is a nice joke and also speaks to the Kirby influence in Allred’s work, both as an artist and someone who understood the power of imagination. Yet again it stars fantastic characters but the story’s just a simple wager a bunch of friends would share albeit blown to larger-than-life proportions.
The greatest story of the book is also the last. “Comic Book Clubhouse” stars the Allred brothers and third brother Curtis. It’s the greatest declaration that this book and most of Allred’s work isn’t just one old fanboy speaking to a bunch of other old fanboys but that Allred really loves the world of children’s superhero stories on a personal level. The story isn’t just about the books the young Allreds read. It’s about how the memories of those years can mix with the world of make believe to create such a life-affirming experience. That’s what Allred tries to do in his issue of Solo and he succeeds for the most part. More than any polemics spout out by the characters in “Batman A-Go-Go” this entire books proves that great art can be uplifting and joyful by simply being what it is.
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