We end an abbreviated week of Subway Shorts by traveling all over the place: The Ghostbusters International team go from Iceland back to New York while Superman and his son are trying to find their way back from Dinosaur Island.
Ghostbusters International 10
Written by Eric Burnham
Art by Dan Schoening
As the team continues to work towards bring Egon back from being vaporized, it feels like everything the new book has been building towards is starting to come to a head. The plans of Erland Vinter, the eccentric billionaire who has pulling the Ghostbusters’ strings to meet his own ends, have been revealed and the creepy bastard that vaporized Dr. Spengler has “culled” him and taken his form.
Loftur Thorsteinssen wants a book of spells rumored to be able to control the devil, and his plans have sent the Ghostbusters team – using the Egon from the Real Ghostbusters dimension – to get the book. And now, the boys have the book and Loftur is in Central Park waiting for his delivery.
The writing here just continues to be top notch. Even though it seems like we’re rapidly approaching the story’s climax, Eric Burnham manages to balance the story advancement and solemn moments – like Winston on the roof with alternate Egon discussing how everything has escalated over the last few years – with the appropriate levity. I also love the little throw away comments, like the reveal about what former President John F. Kennedy is up to.
He couldn’t possibly want to have LaGuardia instead.
Superman 9
Written by Patrick Gleason and Peter Tomasi
Pencils by Doug Mahnke
Inks by Jaime Mendoza and John Trevor Scott
Just another day at the office for Superman, right? Working on a science experiment with his son and they get transported to a secret island out of time populated by dinosaurs and other big baddies. Thankfully, the final living member of The Losers, a special ops team from World War II, is still alive and able to help them navigate things.
The quick two-part tale is a loving tribute to Darwin Cooke, who died earlier this year. Cooke’s The New Frontier featured The Losers’ final battle on Dinosaur Island and here, Gleason and Tomasi show what came after. These smaller stories that come in between “the next epic” splashed over the advertisements in the comic books tend to be the more enjoyable stories in this new Rebirth era, because the creators are focused and not decompressing their stories into a needless 6-issues. And that’s even in the stories I enjoy!
But even in these stories, we get the teases of what’s to come. In the end, we still have the mysterious man who’s monitoring Superman on this new Earth, presumably Mr. Oz, who is presumably Ozymandias from the Watchmen. Eventually, they’ll tell that tale or move on from the teases, I guess.
As it stands right now, Superman, once again a strange visitor to an unfamiliar Earth, still hasn’t fully been integrated into the universe, so Tomasi and Gleason have the chance to tell these smaller stories, where he’s teaching his son how to be a hero. I absolutely love making Superman a father, as the evolution of the character has been completely natural. And the book continues to be one of the best put out by DC Comics.