The Great Vigilante reread: Vigilante Southland 2016

Here we are at the end of the road.  So after Dorian Chase's viiglante ended.  There was no more Vigilante.

The New 52 had Pat Trayce make a couple of appearances in the Deathstroke title.

But 2016 was a very good year.  DC wound back some of their New 52 changes with Rebirth and brought back some of the iconic versions of characters.

For Season 5 of Arrow it was announced that Adrian Chase and Vigilante would appear.

And DC announces that there is a new Vigilante series Vigilante Southland, which used the Vigilante logo from Adrian Chase's series.

Could it be that Adrian Chase was being ressurrected?  It seemed possible.

Instead we got a new Vigilante Donny Fairchild in a six issue miniseries written by Gary Phillips and art by Elana Casagrande.  However only the first three issues were released in floppies and the other half of the series was a trade exclusive.

It seems that poor reviews and sales killed the series but at least the entire series was released in a trade paperback.

When the series came out I pointed out some of the problems I had with the series as the continuity was a little hard to follow ie the main character shaves his head between panels.  and this reread was a much soomther experience knowing some of these things but I needed to have muddled through it the first time figure out what was going on,

In many ways the story reminded me of the Howard Chaykin Miniseries Midnight Men (for Marvel's Heavy Hitter line).  Donny Fairchild has no connection to any previous Vigilante (including the original Greg Saunders)  but there seems to be a group of vigilantes operating in LA, Donny's girlfriend Dorrie Smallwood wears a similar outfit and is killed at the start of the story.  As far as I can tell she never uses a codename like Vigilante.

Her mentor Mike Relagardo, used the indentity of the Eastsider 20 years ago before he was shot and paralysed.  I like the idea of a legacy group of heros all operating in the same area using differnt names but I'm not sure if Vigilante is be the best alter ego for this idea.

But the floppies kept me interested enough to seek out the trade.

But Gary Phillips wasn't only one reviving Vigilante in 2016.  Arrow brought Adrian Chase and The Vigilante into the series in season 5.

In a surprise move Chase wasn't The Vigilante - he was Prometheus the big bad of that season.  Arrow as a show cops a lot of crticism for not being 100% faithful in the adaptation, but I don't mind it.

In this case it meant the the reveal of Prometheus was a surprise because as comic readers we expected Chase to be Vigilante and I was going "who is Vigilante?"  (BTW there was a sweet George Perez sketch of Vigilante in at least one episode)

In season Six we discover that Dinah (Black Canary III) Drake's old police partner Vincent Sobol.

Vigilante was a fun antagonist for Team Arrow and who knows someone might cast a Donny Fairbanks, Dorian Chase, Justin Powell, Dave Winston or Alan Welles and bring back the Vigilante.

What I bought November 2016

Okay a couple of days late, but the order came in on 1 December.

Vigilante: Sounthland #2 by Gary Phillips & Elana Casagrande

After the first issue I was a bit hesitant to read this but this issue was definitely better and I followed it better.  We're still in the origin arc and it seems that there were other heroes who have operated here in the past including one who operated as The Eastsider.  I'm really starting to get into this story and I'm looking forward to the next issue.

Red One #3 by Xavier Dorison and Terry and Rachel Dodson

Colour me as sucker for female spies - Danger Girl, Black Widow, Modesty Blaise.  I was intrigued by this title produced for two issues a year.  I'd found issue 4 a couple of months ago and said lots of naughty words when no one had issue 3 - so I'm grateful to Secret Identity comics for ordering this in for me.  The idea of a Russian spy acting as an American superhero as a propaganda tool is unusual and I'm keen to see what next year's issues bring. 

Peepland #2 by Christa Faust and Gary Phillips and Andrea Camerini

A solid follow up to the first issue.  New characters and complications get added to the plot and I'm really enjoying this series.


James Bond: Eidolon #11 by Warren Ellis and Jason Masters

We're in the final stretch of this arc and Ellis is ramping up everything for a final confrontation.


20 Years of Tomb Raider by Meagan Marie

Wow it's been 20 years since the first Tomb Raider Game.  This is a beautiful overview everything Tomb Raider.  The Game not surprisingly take up half the book but Marie examine Books, Comics, novels, movies, cosplay, and the various fan activities such as Fan fic, fan art, fan films.  The various models, voices and musicians for the game are also looked at.

Even cooler is the fact that there is a flip book effect as various incarnation of Lara run,  jump and shoot as you flick though the book.

It's a big book and the type of companion that I love to have in my collection.

What I bought October 2016

Okay this is a new thing I'm going to do here.  My local comic shop Secret Identity Comics gets their delivery monthly rather than weekly,  so after I make my monthly pick up I'll blog about what I bought and other purchases during the month.  Some items will have a quick capsule review others especially longer items will just be mentioned with a possible review down the track.

ARROW: THE DARK ARCHER DC

I'm a huge fan of the Arrow which has been aired here in Australia on Fox 8 express from the States.  This has been an issue in the past when the show was on Free to Air and season 2 took sooooooo long to air.  (let's not get me started on Agent Carter) .

I'll admit that the seasons have had a few missteps - the focus on a magical enemy in Season 4 being one but overall I love the show.  It's gritty and street level, it deviates from the source material but I can live with that.    I have been collecting the various tie-ins, four volumes of Comics and a novelisation. (I'm yet to read Arrow Vengeance but I was a little disappointed to see it was a novelisation of season two as I was hoping for an original story.

The comics are interesting, they started as digital comics and they expand the world of the TV series, letting us know more about other characters behind the scenes of the episodes.

The Dark Archer is a really interesting idea John Barrowman, who plays Malcolm Merlyn The Dark Archer, and his novelist sister writing a story that expands on the background of that character.  The story jumps between the present (just after season 3) and events in 1985.

We discover that Malcolm's real name isn't actually Malcolm Merlyn but rather Arthur King (and we are left to wonder if this another pseudonym).  We learn more about Malcolm and his history and we get a rather good action adventure story with young Arthur hunting down a mystical artefact and the consequences of that coming back to haunt him.  These flash backs mimic the show but are tied into the present day story more effectively that the TV show does in some cases.

This is a solid story firmly set in the world of Arrow.

JAMES BOND #10 Eidolon part 4 Dynamite

So we are over halfway through Bond investigating Eidolon and this issue finally brings things to a head.  We discover that SPECTRE had planted sleeper agents in various agencies around the world.  Bond gets some very good action pieces as M and Moneypenny.  I'm enjoying this series and look forward to the next issue.


Peepland #1 Hard Case Comics imprint of  Titan Comics

Christ Faust and Gary Phillips co-wrote this 80s noir story set in the peepshows of New York's Times Square.  Oh man this is what I wanted to read - a gritty sexy story that would sit beside Control Freak, Money Shot and "The Foot Job".  This first issue sets everything up for a great ride in the rest of this miniseries.


VIGLANTE SOUTHLAND 1 of 6

Gary Phillips' second entry in this list.  When I heard that Vigilante was getting a new series and that Adrian Chase was appearing in Arrow season 5, I wondered if as part of Rebirth they were bringing back Adrian Chase.

The solicitations soon dispelled that notion and that we would be reading about a new Vigilante (which makes him the eighth person to use the name in DC)

I love Vigilante,  I have nearly all 50 issues of the 80s series, and the other attempts at reviving the character after that.  I found this issue a bit of a challenge to read and I suspect that rereading will reward me with things that I missed the first time.  There's a jump in time that took me off guard in the start of the issue which took me out of the story and perhaps coloured the rest of my reading of this issue.  I'm on board for the rest of the miniseries but I was left feeling that things hadn't been set up enough in this issue.  I like the characters and the LA setting is a refreshing change for comics  especially an LA away from the glamour strips we normally see.

Last but not least

THE STORY OF THE PHANTOM novel by Lee Falk published by Hermes Press
Back in the 70s Avon books published 15 Phantom novels.  Over the years I've looked unsuccessfully for these books so I was super excited that Hermes Press is reprinting these books.
I'm really looking forward to reading this.