Flashback Friday Review: The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the Twenty-First Century
We all know someone who’s never seen Star Wars or doesn’t gets it when you say “We’re gonna need a bigger boat!,” it’s from Jaws by the way. Whenever I meet someone like that I let them know how they have a void in their life that needs filling. When it came to Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons Martha Washington I was the one who had a void to fill, but thanks to Dark Horse Comics for publishing The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the Twenty-First Century, this trade paperback collects every page of Our shero Martha Washington. My life is complete as I take a flashback to this visionary work from two of comics greatest storytellers.
The late 80’s- early 90’s saw a huge number of creators becoming so disenfranchised with the big comic companies that they struck of on their own or headed to smaller companies to form boutique labels. This new freedom allowed Miller the ability to further his critique on current events and society from the viewpoint of heroine Martha Washington.
Woman, soldier, leader, weapon, protector, explorer, Earth Mother all attributes and details that give you a very broad description of Washington. This black woman born in the slums of Chicago’s infamous Cabrini–Green Homes housing project, a maximum security “home” in this story, becomes the most influential person in history, saving the US and Earth from enemies foreign and domestic. Again the most basic, lay explanation of this book I could think of because Miller and Gibbons create a world that hits a little too close to home with a parody of US international and domestic politics, thankfully Washington is there to help them survive.
This edition collects every appearance of Martha, including the short black and white stories, now fully colored and remastering and has a great crossover with Miller’s other creation, Big Guy from Big Guy and Rusty. The trade is graced by a brief introduction from Miller but the true value is Gibbons insight for each stage of the various story arcs, backstory of the series publishing herstory in addition to pages of concept notes and design ideas.
Sadly the importance of this book is I feel more relevant in today’s world of 45*, ecological disasters on the horizon, Hydra-Cap, the seduction of artificial intelligence and America at a critical juncture for its collective soul. You won’t be able to not compare timelines and you’ll wonder if her version of the 21st century is better than ours, if only Millers crystal ball of social comictary could comfort us in knowing that we’ll make it through the next four years with only minor bumps and bruises.
If you’ve never read it go fill that void in your life like I did.
George Carmona 3rd is an Artist/Writer, former Milestone Media Intern, former DC Comics paper pusher, current book lover, and lifelong comic geek. You can find his work at FistFullofArt.com or follow him on twitter at GCarmona3.
With most of the world powers at odds today with their citizens, the ugly head of “nationalism”, has creeped its way into most of the world’s conscience. As it has become increasingly more difficult, to tell whether a person’s good intentions can be separated from their political ideology, the world now mostly has ignored those less fortunate. Where once the world’s most powerful countries, were asked more often, whether they should intervene, most earliest in anyone’s mind who is living now, is America was going to intervene in World War II, it was never a question, “if”, but a question “when”. The harsh truth is that world lacks the most basic of human characteristics, empathy.
For my first installment to the GP Time Portal that is “Flashback Friday,” I’m going to go back to the 90’s for a re-read of Static Shock: Trial by Fire, originally Static issues #1-4, the name change came with wanting to capitalize on the cartoon from the WB.
And let’s not forget the art, the early work of then newcomer John Paul Leon is full of energy and I’m not just talking about Static’s power effect. From fighting to walking down the street, JPL infused a crazy amount of kinetic flow into the movement of the characters, but he doesn’t stop there. His character designs, based off of Denys Cowans work in the Milestone bible, Static is like a snapshot of today’s kids walking around being teenagers, minus the video chatting.
Nova, Namorita, Marvel Boy, Speedball, Firestar and the mysterious Night Thrasher are the New Warriors! New Warriors Vol. 1 #1 features the origin of the New Warriors and an incredible battle against the Fantastic Four’s enemy, Terrax and is a self-contained issue that’s pretty fun and holds up after 27 years!
Published in 2008 in Wolverine #66-72 and Old Man Logan Giant-Size, the story known as “Old Man Logan” would be one that would go on to impact the character known as Wolverine, and Marvel Comics, 9 years later. Written by Mark Millar with art by Steve McNiven, “Old Man Logan” fuses classic dystopian future X-Men tales like “Days of Future Past” with Mad Max, and western heroes made famous by the likes of Clint Eastwood.
First published in August of 1991 (according to the legal bit in the back cover), the last time I read Wolverine: Rahne Of Terror must have been nearly twenty years ago in an old British reprint comic called Wolverine Unleashed (Issues #24-26), so when I found it for $3 at my LCS a couple weeks ago I jumped at the chance to read it again. You can’t really go wrong getting a 64-page story for three bucks, I thought, and I remembered enjoying it when I last read the story. Of course yesterday I saw the comic in the dollar bin, but what can you do?
If you’re a Wolverine fan then you’ve probably read this comic in some form or another over the years, more than likely in one reprinted form or another – which is what I read for this review because I can’t afford an original copy. Specifically a 25th anniversary reprint edition of the story that also included Incredible Hulk #180 – Wolverine’s first appearance was on the final page in this comic, his full comic debut would come the following month in issue 181 – as well as a story featuring Hercules from Marvel Treasury Edition #26 that was largely forgettable, I can honestly say that The Incredible Hulk #181 was much better than I remember it being.
first time I read it, although to be I was probably more interested in the action at the time.
In November of 1997, Wolverine: Doombringer was released. A one shot graphic novel written by Doug Moench with Michel Dutkiewicz providing the pencils, and Jimmy Palmiotti on inks. The team are joined by colourists Mark McNabb, Dennis Calero and Atomic Paintbrush. 
Another dollar bin find a couple of weeks ago, I picked up this comic purely because of the cover. I’ve always been partial to the Juggernaut, so the thought of seeing him with the Hulk smashing some stuff around seemed too good to pass up for the lowly price of $1 (for those curious, the cover price was $1.25 when it was released in April 1993).