Dan Curtis Johnson

Access a version of the below that includes illustrations on my blog.

Chase is about Cameron Chase, a former P.I., now an agent of the DEO, a federal agency with jurisdiction over matters relating to superheroes. It's easy to see that this comes out of the same cultural moment that also brought us rel="nofollow" target="_top">Alias and, later, Manhunter. All three series focused on women who work in law enforcement (broadly defined), largely without superpowers (sort of), with an emphasis on what it is to be ordinary and powerless in a world of power. (Gotham Central is not too far off this, either.) Chase has a live-in boyfriend, a sister who loves superheros, and a sort-of ex-partner; we eventually learn that her father had a brief superhero career that ended in his death. She herself doesn't trust those with powers.

It's a good storytelling engine, and gives us a set of engaging tales: Chase goes to Ohio to investigate a teenage boy with pyrokinesis; Chase goes to South America to escort the Suicide Squad; Chase is assigned to watch over a Teen Titans publicity event that goes horribly wrong when the Clock King attacks; Chase goes to Gotham to see if the DEO can figure out who Batman really is. J. H. Williams III is always a solid artist with great layouts but also good storytelling and character, and that definitely comes through here; he co-plots with scripter Dan Curtis Johnson as well. Other than the Suicide Squad story (I didn't buy that such a new agent would be assigned such a difficult task solo), these are good stories, with an interesting angle of superheroes and an interesting main character. My favorite was surely the one where she tries to figure out who Batman is, which had some good twists, and a neat use of Alan Scott; I also really liked the pyrokinetic one, which really captured the "ground-level" Alias vibe. (The series is never quite that downbeat again, though, which is probably for the best.)

Its main downfall is that it just didn't last long. There were nine regular issues of Chase; three of these were flashbacks, so there were only six in the ongoing narrative, plus the prequel story in Batman #550. So you can very obviously tell that Williams and Johnson are gearing up a long run with lots of threads... and it just doesn't happen. If this had lasted twenty-eight issues like Alias did, it would be a classic, I suspect; as it is, it has to be one of those things people call "a cult favorite."

This collection also chucks in Chase #1,000,000 (about the DEO in the 853rd century) and a number of small Chase appearances from various DC "Secret Files" issues. These are okay, but of course mostly focused on doing things like foreshadowing about Gorilla Grodd. Weirdly Chase is barely in DCU Villains Secret Files #1, which is included... and has a footnote telling us to see DCU Heroes Secret Files #1 for more Chase... which is not included!

Anyway, though I've long been curious about Chase, I picked it up now for one reason: Mister/Director Bones. In Manhunter, Bones was a director in the DEO, a mid-level bureaucrat addicted to cigarettes... and with transparent skin and muscles and a cyanide touch. Then, I read Infinity, Inc., where he was a young supervillain who eventually made good. How did he go from the one to the other? The answer was, ostensibly, in Chase. Chase is indeed the series where Bones first appears as DEO director, his first appearance in a decade since Infinity, Inc. #53. But it's actually not really addressed in Chase because he's mostly a background figure here, just appearing in four issues, none of which delve into who he is. (If you know, you know—there's some Infinc nods in his office—but nothing in the text would tell you he's a reformed supervillain.) It doesn't really get spelled out until JSA Secret Files #2, three years after the series was cancelled! So is there a comic out there that actually delves into this transition? I will have to keep searching...

The Justice Society and Earth-Two: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence »… (més)

The Reaching Hand had a Detective Wayne where people are being scared to death. Rockumentary was, I guess, Clark, Ollie, Barry, and Arthur as the Beatles, heh, but also turns the DC Universe into a music universe, pretty cool (heh, even here Harley and Ivy were ‘Alternative’). The Babysitter one was-- heh- The Incredibles eat your heart out. Vigilantes in 3B was… weird. Barbara and Dinah in the same apartment going after Catwoman. Superman Jr. Is No More has Junior quitting, but, coming back when his Dad dies. ScandalGate has a President Superman, and was very very drippy and weird. World’s Apart was… dude, yikes. Silver Age Elseworlds were all short cool stories. Dark Night of the Golden Kingdom is in the future where Superman has lost his nerve? It was different. Metropolis, like the movie not the city, was interesting. Batman Nosferatu was what I was expecting as well as sorta being a sequel to Metropolis. Blue Amazon is also a companion to the previous two, and just as weird. And then there’s JLA Act of God. That was okay, I liked some of it, but didn’t like the Wonder Woman/Superman stuff.

It was a fun bunch of stories and I’m psyched that they’re collecting all of these sorts of stories, because sometimes they’re hard to find.… (més)