The world of American superhero comics (currently a horribly barren place in terms of entertainment, almost without exception) has been enlivened for the last six months by the long-awaited return of Metamorpho!
One of my all-time favourites, of course. And this series, unlike the other modern-day resurrections of the Element Man that I briefly moaned about in my excessively lengthy recounting of Metamorpho's glory days some years ago, is done exactly right! A loving homage to the works of Bob Haney and Ramona Fradon, written by one of the rare and special people who knows what makes them so great!
And that writer is Al Ewing, who is ALSO one of the even more vanishingly rare people who gets my very favourite obscure superhero, Manikin! The man is so in tune with my preferences, it's (pardon the pun) Stagg-ering!
This series is maybe more outright comedy than the classics of the sixties, but, well... I honestly can't remember the last time I laughed out loud four or five times while reading a single issue of a comic! And Metamorpho #6 accomplished that - I urge you to go and check it out; you won't regret it!
Not least because Prince Ra-Man shows Rex a potential future in his mind's eye - in the form of a PERFECT pastiche of Fletcher Hanks's Stardust!
Another all-time favourite superhero of mine. Seriously, Al Ewing seems to be writing comics personally tailored just to me right now. Rex doesn't quite get it, though...
And of course the comic ends with the traditional plea to the readers to keep Metamorpho alive, and maybe, just maybe, he'll one day get his own ongoing series again!
Please all write into DC Comics en masse, demanding it! Or, even better, buy the trade paperback - out in September! Available to pre-order now!
