Title: Sensational Spider-Man
Publisher: Marvel
Creative Team: Dan Jurgens (story, pencils), Klaus Janson (inks)
Core Issues: Sensational Spider-Man #0-#6
Essential Crossovers: “Media Blizzard”, “The Return of Kane”, ”Web of Carnage” and “Blood Brothers” (multi-part stories, each also taking place in the other monthly Spidey books)
Years: 1996

In converstion with James about George Perez recently, I remarked that the legendary Teen Titans/Crisis/Avengers penciller had achieved one of those rare feats in comics – that is, becoming a widely-revered artist with both the Big Two publishers. There are a handful of artists that have done it, but very few in the great scheme of things that have achieved the same level of respect on both sides of the divide – but Perez has undoubtedly managed it, to the extent that you couldn’t really call him a “DC” or a “Marvel” artist over the other.

Dan Jurgens, meanwhile, is very firmly a “DC” artist – but he had a shot at becoming another one of those exalted few in the mid-1990s. Unfortunately, a pairing that seemed for all the world like a perfect matchup – Jurgens drawing Spider-Man – ended up only lasting around half a year, and culminating in disappointment all around.

Having spent the first half of the ’90s establishing himself as the definitive Superman artist of that era, the prospect of seeing Jurgens apply his bold, clean-cut style of superheroics to Spider-Man was a mouthwatering one; and while he’s always been a better artist than writer, there was nothing fundamentally wrong with his scripting of the Man of Steel, and again his style seemed a good fit. But from the outset, circumstances were difficult: the high-profile launch of Sensational Spider-Man, the new “third” monthly Spider-book given to the writer/artist, also happened to be the first issue featuring Ben Reilly as Spider-Man – new hairstyle, costume and all.

For those of us who actually liked Reilly, this was no bad thing (even less so if you happened to like the Bagley-designed costume, too – which I certainly do/did). But unfortunately, while he had a game stab at setting up Ben’s new supporting cast and setup (the launch issue #0, while a little bogged down in the sort of expository talking-to-self narrative of which Jurgens has always been fond, was actually pretty good fun), Jurgens’ heart wasn’t really in it. He wanted to be writing and drawing the real Spider-Man – but as far as Marvel were concerned (publicly at least), Ben was in it for the long-haul.

Still, we got some good material out of the run – even though the publication style of the time means it’s difficult to follow Jurgens’ issues alone as one whole, as only the first and last issues actually stood alone. The rest were all individual chapters of storylines spread across all three monthly Spider-books – so in Sensational we get part one of the Mysterio-starring “Media Blizzard” (the only story that had little to do with the ongoing saga, also featuring an utterly cracking redesign for my favourite Spidey foe), part two of “The Return of Kaine”, part one of “Web of Carnage”, and parts one and five of “Blood Brothers”. It’s all a bit bewildering, really.

Nevertheless, through all of that, Jurgens was working hard to try and carve out a niche for Ben himself. Of the three monthly books at the time, Sensational was the one that really seemed to care about the character – it’s the one that gave him his job and supporting cast – while Amazing and Adjectiveless were more concerned with the longer-term, Clone-Saga-fallout ramifications. As such, there’s some good character material – and of course, Jurgens got to play with his one major contribution to the Spider-mythos, courtesy of Ben’s brief relationship with the photographer Jessica, who turns out to be the daughter of Uncle Ben’s killer. A potentially intriguing plot, it’s wrapped up in far-too-hasty fashion due to Jurgens’ last issue on the title being as early as #6 (one suspects he would have drawn the story out far longer had he stuck around – as it is, that last issue is simply a rush-job of loose-end-tying). Tired of being stuck writing the adventures of a fake Spider-Man (even though at the time the editorial line was that Ben was the “real” one), he left the Spidey books, never to return.

The cruel irony is that if only he’d stuck around for a bit longer, he would have had the chance to do what he wanted after all – the new creative team of Todd Dezago and Mike Wieringo only had to do five issues themselves before Reilly was promptly dispatched, in the “Revelations” storyline; and by the first issue of 1997, Peter Parker and the classic duds were back. It’s a shame, as Jurgens’ run had been an interesting new direction – and looked terrific, especially under the inks of Klaus Janson – and it would have been nice to have seen him have a crack at the character proper. Although I can’t help but wonder, if he had stuck around, how long it would have taken for him to put Spidey in a time-travel story…

Well, now, this is a pleasant surprise. I’ve been following Booster Gold since it kicked off, but aside from the odd mildly entertaining issue, it hasn’t really lived up to the promise shown by its premise. Simply put, if you’ve got Booster Gold hopping around through time setting history straight, then surely the thing to do is to have him show up in as many classic and/or memorable stories as possible? It’s been done from time to time – such as a Killing Joke issue that came off as somewhat misjudged – but never really exploited to its full potential as an idea. Until now.

Because not only does this issue see Booster thrown slap-bang into the middle of the events of an old DCU comic, but it’s one that’s a bona fide classic. Regular readers will know of my affection for Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s New Teen Titans, and in particular issue #2 is actually one of the first comics that I remember ever reading. So having the events of its pages – and there’s as much story in that one issue as you’d see in a six-part arc nowadays – as the backdrop to this issue holds immediate appeal from the start – but it’s even more pleasing that it’s done in a clever and involving way.

The line that Jurgens has chosen to take with this particular excursion of Booster’s is to have the Ravager story play out almost exactly as it did in that issue – except to account for the presence of Booster and the villainous Black Beetle. So to begin with, the difference is mild, and Grant Wilson’s vendetta follows a familiar course – but as the story rolls on, it deviates further from established “history”, culminating in a surprise ending. Dialogue is either faithfully reproduced or altered to suit the changed circumstances while remaining familiar – and various scenes will strike a chord for anyone who fondly remembers the original. And yes, Jurgens even finds time to alight on a certain memorable poolside scene – although, as with Perez, there’s a slightly more innocent feel to the artwork than if someone like Ed Benes had drawn it.

Indeed, this facet actually gets to the nub of why having this comic intersect with New Teen Titans works so well. Wolfman and Perez’s work was magnificent, but it also looks quite old-fashioned nowadays – but the thing is, so is Booster Gold. In the ’90s, Jurgens may have been “cutting edge”, but neither his writing nor his art style have really moved on at all from then. Which is actually fine, so long as you like it (and I do) – but the point is, this isn’t a very “modern” comic, and its charming old-fashionedness therefore  goes hand in hand with the similar attributes of the comic that it’s essentially throwing Booster wholesale into the pages of.

Meanwhile, of course, Booster now shares his pages with a 10-page Blue Beetle strip. And it’s decent enough, really, like much of Sturges’ run on the cancelled title was – a fairly straightforward action story with solid artwork and a handful of amusing character moments. I’m not sure it’ll do much to get people buying Booster Gold purely for it (aside from those who were already fans of Jaime) – you’d probably need John Rogers back for that – but it’s just nice to see stories featuring the book’s set of characters again, and I hope DC continue to see it as a good idea.

Every Wednesday we take turns to delve into our trusty longboxes, pluck out a dusty back issue, and give you our thoughts. We’ll also try and place it in the context of the time it was originally published.

Alright, I’ve put it off for long enough. Let’s do it. Let’s look at Armageddon 2001. DC’s ill-fated 1991 crossover spectacular is infamous nowadays for all kinds of reasons, primarily for the fact that it hinged around – and planted clues for – a mystery whose solution was abruptly changed at the last minute. The identity of future supervillain Monarch was planned all along to be Captain Atom – but when the information leaked out to some fans (astonishing in that pre-Internet age) DC chickened out, and changed it to Hank “Hawk” Hall, despite the myriad continuity flaws that it subsequently sparked.

I was originally going to look at the concluding part of the saga in the second of the bookending special issues; but there’s just too much to talk about adequately in the confines of a limited review. While not unentertaining, it’s a mess of an issue, largely because you can see where the story’s going in setting up a realistic path for Atom to become Monarch – and then faking out halfway through before rattling through an unnecessary and shoehorned-in Hawk and Dove plot (one of the most glaring problems is that Monarch’s eyes had already been shown to be blue, intended as a clue, in issue #1, before being switched to Hall’s brown for #2) and underwhelming conclusion. That’s not to mention the fact that the entire premise of the crossover – Waverider looking at the futures of various heroes to try and discover Monarch’s identity – is rendered pointless by the realisation that he’s only checking out potential futures (we get to see three distinct ones in Superman’s case, by virtue of his having three titles on the stands at the time), and so each of the individual stories we’ve seen before are all pretty meaningless.

That said, as I’ve stated before, in Nineties DC Crossoverville it doesn’t matter if the main event is a bit guff – it’s still possible to get some great standalone stories in the tie-in issues and annuals. Armageddon allowed for the writers to have fun with some potential futures, and some genuinely decent stories came out of it – this Superman issue, actually the first in the crossover’s chronological sequence, a case in point. Rather than being suger-coated and positive about Superman’s influence on the world (something which the corresponding Action Comics issue would later be, by contrast), it’s quite relentlessly negative, and is an examination of what happens when a man in whom the world has placed their trust and safety is driven mad and abuses that power.

The catalyst is a nuclear accident that wipes out Metropolis and all of Superman’s nearest-and-dearest – after this, he becomes a somewhat deranged figure, pledging to strip the world of nuclear weapons by any means necessary, and living a bizarre existence with Lana Lang and his senile mother. Increasingly out-of-control, his neglect leads to the death of a serviceman in a submarine, and in battle with the Justice League, that of J’onn J’onnz (somewhat strangely of a heart attack, of all things). It’s left to Batman to end the madness and bring down his one-time friend once and for all.

It’s a neat, dark little tale, featuring inversions and almost parodies of the likes of Superman IV and The Dark Knight Returns (having been sicced on Superman by the government, Bats wears an outfit similar to Miller’s creation for their final battle at Crime Alley – and as with Miller’s story, the government lackey wins). What’s particularly daring (if hardly unprecedented) is the way in which it posits that Superman’s existence is not necessarily beneficial to humanity, and that should unfathomable tragedy warp his mind in some way, he can be just as dangerous as any villain, even as he persists in the belief that he’s doing the world a service. A neat touch, also, is the increased bombast of Superman’s costume as he takes on more of a self-righteous role.

Still, it’s not perfect. Jurgens concocts a decent story, befitting his status as one of DC’s foremost purveyors of time-travel and speculation-related stories, but there are flawed moments – dialogue in particular – that also betray how early in his career it is. The Justice League sequence in particular is pretty embarrassing (would Booster Gold, Fire and the Martian Manhunter really be a realistic future lineup by themselves? Or is it just that they were the only heroes without Armageddon stories of their own?), especially in the cringeworthy dialogue and characterisation of Fire, and the exposition-filled sequences with the tedious Waverider grate in the extreme (as they would throughout the crossover, in fact). The issue is found wanting on the art front as well – you half wonder why Jurgens didn’t draw it himself, although he was presumably busy doing the main Armageddon issues. Either way, Dusty Abell’s storytelling is functional enough, but his elongated faces have a cartoony, almost comical look to them that feels at odds with the attempted gravitas of the story.

Nevertheless, this was definitely a strong start to the crossover, and demonstrated the potential of the central conceit. By now, “alternate future” or “hero gone wrong” stories are fairly de rigeur (there are definite parallels with Red Son here), but they were rather rarer at the time, and Jurgens demonstrates effectively what he was trying to do with the story as a whole. It’s just a shame that the appalling fudging of the outcome has rendered the entire event such a laughing stock to modern eyes. Dig through the stories themselves, though, and there’s plenty to enjoy.

And so Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz’s year on Booster Gold comes to an end… and damned if, surprisingly, it hasn’t turned out to be really rather good. There have been stutters – the Barbara Gordon issue wasn’t as clever as it thought it was, and the “alternate universe” storyline went on a bit too long – and it’s certainly not the sort of comic you’d recommend to just anyone; but if you’ve got enough of a nostalgic fondness for late ‘80s and early ‘90s DC continuity (and style of storytelling) then there’s been a lot to enjoy. With this infuriatingly-numbered issue (actually the twelfth, if you also include the Zero Hour issue #0 of six months or so ago), they provide an epilogue to the recent Blue and Gold storyline and a neat capstone to their own run while leaving things open for future stories.

Throughout the series so far, the most fun elements have been in touching upon well-known moments from post-Crisis DCU history, and this issue – as you’d guess from the numbering and superbly-recreated cover dress – is no different, spending the opening pages tying in (once again, somewhat belatedly) to the DC One Million event. As with the Zero Hour issue, however, the use of said event is more fleeting and incidental than you’d expect – really, the sequence with Peter Platinum, amusing as it is, serves little purpose other than to set off Booster’s train of thought about the sort of hero he’s perceived as – and the sort of people he’s inspired. Throughout the series he’s been content to play the role of “secret hero”, nobly sacrificing reputation in the interest of the greater good – but here, learning that his perceived misdeeds have inspired others to try and “play the con” better, he realises that enough is enough – and it takes a surprising encounter with Batman to encourage him otherwise.

As Johns and Katz tidy things up in the wake of their departure, though, the issue is primarily about tweaking the status quo, and providing something of an uplifting conclusion to their arc – consequently, a major figure in Booster’s life makes a sudden and surprise return, and according to all available evidence it’s a long-term thing (no, it’s not Ted… sorry). Furthermore, the closing couple of pages throw an entirely sudden an unexpected twist straight out of left-field, one of those moments that leaves you wondering how long it’s been planned – and where it’s supposed to go from there. It’s all very deliberately fan-pleasing, though, and you could call that a criticism were it not for the fact that Booster Gold has been designed from day one to appeal to a particular type of reader (specifically, those for whom the last few years’ worth of DC stories have inspired the creation of Dan Didio voodoo dolls), so you can’t argue with the idea of giving them what they want one more time.

The series is now left, though, in a curious position, with a two-part Chuck Dixon story (written before his sudden departure) on the way and still no confirmed  – or, at least, announced – writer for beyond that. You half sense that the thing to do would be to draw a line under it for now – it’s not as if the status quo isn’t set up for someone to take up the baton in the future, merely that this feels like a good point for a breather. On the other hand, certain elements of this issue (some further tantalising blackboard mentions, including Azrael and Armageddon 2001, and another of those “Coming soon in Booster Gold” teaser pages) suggest that future stories are mapped out by someone. Whatever happens, the series will at least benefit from the presence of Dan Jurgens, who’s lent it a consistently solid feel from the start and who genuinely comes off like he could sit drawing this character interacting with the DCU at large for the rest of his career.

The last year or so has been something of a golden time for fans of the early ‘90s Justice League stories, with not one but two books (this and Blue Beetle) that contain affectionate references while also espousing exactly the same type of storytelling that characterised those classics. But both series have now lost the writing teams that made them such a joy, and it remains to be seen if any of their momentum can carry through into a new era. It’s certainly to be hoped so.

Every Wednesday we take turns to delve into our trusty longboxes, pluck out a dusty back issue at random, and give you our thoughts. We’ll also try and place it in the context of the time it was originally published.

If you thought that Brand New Day was the first time that Marvel had tried to restore Spider-Man to his “classic” elements and get rid of such niggling details as oh, you know, an entire marriage… well, then you’d be wrong. And you’d never have encountered The Clone Saga. Please, sit down. You’ve got some catching up to do.

It’s not worth going into all the ins-and-outs of that seemingly interminable period in Spider-lore right now – might we suggest you have a read of the excellent Life of Reilly some time, though – but for the sake of examining this particular title, let’s look at the basics. Deciding that Peter Parker had, essentially, become ruined beyond repair by not only his marriage, but a succession of early ‘90s storylines that turned him somewhat grim and angry, Marvel editorial decided to push the “reset” button by revealing that the Parker we’d seen in the previous fifteen years or so of comics (described as “five years” in-universe) was, in fact, the clone version originally created by Professor Miles “The Jackal” Warren – and a man now living under the name Ben Reilly, whom we’d previously believed to be the clone (and, er, dead) was the real Peter all along, and alive and well to boot.

This wasn’t a hoax. It wasn’t like The Death of Superman or Knightfall, where the intention was always to reset the status quo after first making readers appreciate what they’d been taking for granted by yanking it away from them. At various times in the development of the story – although the whole thing went backwards, forwards, up and down on multiple occasions – it was genuinely intended that Ben Reilly, seen as the “true” Peter Parker without all the baggage that the stories of the ‘80s and ‘90s had dumped upon him, would be the man under the mask for evermore.

Amid the general shakeup that the Spider-titles were given once a now-powerless Peter and pregnant Mary Jane were packed off into the sunset, a new book was created (replacing Web of Spider-Man) that would be the centrepiece for the development of Ben’s new setup and supporting cast. And brought in to write and pencil the book was former DC mainstay Dan Jurgens. On the art front, at least, this was something of a coup – Jurgens was in excellent form at the time, and his version of Spidey was nailed-on from day one (it helped, of course, that the new costume – designed by Mark Bagley – was superb); while there was some continuity with the general look of the Spidey books by having Klaus Janson on as inker.

After an issue #0 (hey, it was the nineties), which saw Ben taking over the Spider-mantle and established the basic setup of the series, the series proper began with a three-part storyline “Media Blizzard” (parts two and three of which would appear in Amazing and Adjectiveless (later to become Peter Parker :) Spider-Man). And it’s… well, it’s not particularly special, to be honest. Jurgens has always been a very by-the-numbers kind of writer, and this is fairly decent, unspectacular fare, involving Mysterio hypnotising the city with a new TV channel. Yeah. Jurgens’ unfamiliarity with writing the character shows, in that he never really gets the hang of the trademark internal Spidey monologuing – veering too often into out-and-out to-nobody-in-particular exposition of the sort that really should have died with the Silver Age.

Still, there’s some passable material involving the supporting cast that Jurgens was building – including Jessica, the photographer with whom Ben became involved before discovering that she was the daughter of the burglar that killed Uncle Ben, and blamed Spider-Man for her father’s death – and it’s quite interesting to note, from the perspective of a present-day in which Brand New Day is currently running, that whenever writers get round the table and decide to make Spidey “classic” again, it always comes down to him being skint and running out of web fluid.

For all the countless mistakes made during (and for a while after) the Clone Saga, there were hints of potential here and there – Ben Reilly as a character himself was certainly one, as was the prospect of a long and fruitful run with Jurgens on pencils. Sadly, things never really worked out (less than ten issues had passed before Jurgens, frustrated at not getting the chance to draw the “original” Spidey and unhappy with the general direction, walked; while the “new era” of Ben as Spidey lasted only until December of the same year), and as a consequence it’s quite difficult to really throw yourself into reading the Reilly era, with the knowledge of how quickly it was curtailed and how meaningless all the character setup would become. As far as mid-90s Spider-Man comics go, this certainly isn’t a bad one – but it’s also, sadly, pretty irrelevant.

And so Booster Gold continues to confound expectations by being… well… quite good, actually. Even those of us who followed him into his latest solo title through sheer character loyalty (from either Justice League International, 52 or both) surely didn’t see that one coming. But Johns and Katz have found a perfect niche for him – some twenty years after he was first introduced – as he travels through the history of the DC universe secretly righting continuity wrongs. A concept like that simply can’t help but be fun, and so it’s proving.

It helps, of course, when the storyline is as fanboy-pleasing as the current Blue and Gold, in which Booster has managed to rescue best friend Ted Kord from the head-shooty fate that awaited him at the end of Countdown to Infinite Crisis (god, how long ago does that feel now?). We know, of course, that due to all those laws about mucking-about-with-history, this can’t possibly last – but there’s a sneaking feeling that a workaround (the fact that no-one can know Ted is alive, and so his existence must remain as secret as Booster’s) might just be in place to keep him around. Still, though, the title of the book is Booster Gold – so unless they’re planning on renaming it, we may as well just enjoy it while it lasts.

This latest issue actually manages to tie in with the unloved Zero Hour crossover event from 1994 (hence the numbering – every major DC title had an issue #0 at the time to tie in WASN’T THAT CLEVER), which was the first attempt to tidy up the mess of Crisis on Infinite Earths by basically doing it all over again (sound familiar, much?) As Booster and the League Of Blue Beetles (don’t ask) encounter Zero Hour’s villains Parallax (Hal Jordan… don’t ask) and Extant (Hank “Hawk out of Hawk and Dove” Hall… no, really, don’t ask), though, what’s surprising is how much it’s played for laughs. The ridiculously pompous manner in which the overpowered Jordan spoke is quite deliberately replicated, and the villains’ plot shown to be the rather silly mess that it was. This is all the more remarkable when you consider that the writer of the original story, Dan Jurgens, just happens to be Booster Gold’s artist. And you’ve got to credit him – and DC – for at least recognising the somewhat-crapness of the story and being able to poke fun at themselves (even if DC are making exactly the same mistakes all over again with Countdown at the moment).

Speaking of Jurgens, his work here is about as good as it’s been at any point since his mid-90s heyday. Perhaps it’s working with material so close to him (in addition to Zero Hour, he was Booster’s creator, and big loud time travel stories have always been his forte), perhaps it’s having an inker as solid as Rapmund. But there’s a solid consistency to the linework that complements his always-strong character design and storytelling.

The second half of the issue, with its trip into the future – or, rather, Booster’s past – feels a bit unnecessary, as a lot of the background is stuff we’ve already garnered through exposition in previous issues (and the one main new point that’s made, about Michael’s sister, is ruined somewhat by giving her the wrong colour hair); nevertheless, when it focuses on the Booster and Beetle team being reunited, and retains that crucial sense of fun, this is really quite enjoyable fluff.