We Are Stuck In Comic Book Time Travel With This Week's FOC! :O

Time travel might be one of the most controversial tropes in superhero comics.

Sometimes it’s just plain fun—like Iron Man and Doctor Doom getting stuck in Camelot. Other times, it adds real depth to a character’s story or the mythology (just look at X-Men: Days of Future Past). But most of the time? It just makes a huge #$@#!$# mess! The worst offense: using it to wipe the slate clean and start with a new #1.

So, in this newsletter, you’ll join me on a journey through time, as we look at three quite awfully big books Marvel and DC are bringing out very soon. We’ll try not to step on Cable’s toes, watch out for a time-traveling Wolverine killing Hank Pym to stop Ultron, and definitely steer clear of that awful teenage Tony Stark replacing his adult counterpart (not you, Ultimate Tony Stark—you’re the best!).

Then again, let’s make sure we don’t spend too much time in the ’90s. Because, let’s be honest, most of those comics have aged like…

X-Men: Blue & Gold – Bloodties Omnibus

…like fine wine! The X-Men run collected in this second Blue & Gold omnibus is filled with true classics that are just as impressive now as when they first hit the shelves. Some stories really do stand the test of time, and this run truly proves it.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time with this era of the merry Marvel mutants, and I can assure you: if you pick up this omnibus, you’re definitely in for an action-packed ride. If the ’90s were known for anything, it was over-the-top, epic action, and this collection delivers on all fronts. It’s especially fun to see the X-Men teaming up with the Avengers years before the MCU and its massive impact on the Marvel Universe. This isn’t forced MCU synergy; it is creators having a blast and throwing everything into making the most exciting team-ups possible between Marvel’s biggest teams.

Sure, this era often leaned into the flashier side of superheroics, but don’t worry, this is still the X-Men, and the soap opera drama is alive and well. Especially with Cyclops and Jean Grey finally tying the knot! It sure would be a shame if someone decided to erase that history by making a deal with the devil. That counts as time travel, right? (Asking for a certain web-headed friend who’s been stuck in limbo since 2008.)

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight

We’ve barely left the ’90s and suddenly we’re in 1989. The X-Men are tangled up in the chaos of Inferno as New York City goes wild. Meanwhile, Doctor Doom teams up with Doctor Strange to descend into the darkest depths of hell, all to free his mother from Mephisto’s clutches. Over at DC, The Sandman makes his debut, and Batman is reeling from the loss of Jason Todd—his second Robin—who was blown up by the Joker in Ethiopia. Batman can’t even go after the Joker, since he’s now the ambassador of Iran and has diplomatic immunity. Comics, am I right?

But the one big release I really want to focus on here is Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, brought to life by the incredible team of Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola—yes, the same Mike Mignola who later created Hellboy and became one of the most influential voices in American comics.

Set in 1889, Gotham by Gaslight was one of the first big stories from DC’s Elseworlds imprint, letting creators tell tales outside the main continuity. Here, Batman hunts Jack the Ripper through a moody, atmospheric Gotham, while Mike Mignola’s stunning art perfectly captures the fear and tension of this dark era. It’s a fascinating look at Mignola’s style before he launched Hellboy, and you can already see the storytelling sensibilities he’d become famous for at Dark Horse.

DC always goes all out with their Absolute editions, so it’s going to be an excruciating (but thankfully not too long!) wait to see how they present this classic in the oversized format it truly deserves. I can’t think of a better way to experience Mignola’s artwork.

Batman/Green Arrow/The Question: Arcadia

After looking back at two of the most influential comics of their respective decades, we finally wrap up our small time-traveling journey in the present.

Without getting too deep into the details, it’s clear that when you compare DC and Marvel right now, one publisher is outshining the other. DC has been *absolutely* thriving with a unified vision for its line, while Marvel seems to be struggling without a clear direction. 

What makes DC so interesting at the moment is their willingness to embrace so many different voices and styles. Whatever you’re into, you’ll find something. Instead of enforcing a house style, DC is letting creators cut loose. And best of all, there’s no cinematic universe looming in the background, forcing everything to somehow fit together.  

Which brings me to DC Black Label’s newest limited series, Batman/Green Arrow/The Question: Arcadia. Don’t let the clunky title fool you, the story inside is anything but. This isn’t one of those soulless team-ups created just to push a new company direction (looking at you, newly announced Spider-Man: Long Way Home). Instead, it truly feels like a passion project from writer and artist Gabriel Hardman, who you might know from Green Lantern: Earth One. 

As the title suggests, this series brings together Batman, Green Arrow, and the Question for a hard-boiled modern twist on the DC social thrillers from that groundbreaking era of ’80s superhero comics. It’s a team-up that makes so much sense when you look at the characters’ histories and backgrounds, and it’s a great example of how those stories and their legacies are still very much alive today.

As Hardman states on an interview with DC :

“(…) I’m not doing something that’s nostalgia bait. I’m doing something that’s influenced by a tone from that time but has every intention of moving forward. It’s contemporary, it’s not set in the ’80s. I’m looking for some kind of evolution of the characters. Steve Ditko created the Question. Steve Ditko’s ideas about the world and the way he defined the character were dramatically different from what Denny and Denys Cowan did. Mike Grell kind of reinvented Green Arrow, and Batman’s been reinvented at different times by Denny and Neal Adams, and certainly Frank Miller. I think it’s not the job to show up and show people what they’ve seen before. I think the job is to show up and have some kind of evolutionary take on the characters, or else it’s not worth doing. That applies to both how I draw them and how I write them.”

You can check everything out on FOC…

HERE

Wednesday is the official deadline for low pre-order prices (but we never change prices before Friday... shhhh it's a secret!)

See you,
Tomás