Panelology - Casualty of the 90s: Warriors Of Plasm

by Brandon
We all probably fondly remember a comic book or company that went away in during the 90s due to one creative failure or business miscalculation. Though the company or title remains forever in our hearts, they have sadly passed on to the nether region known as the dollar bin, or even worse, the trash can. Some of these titles were exciting, refreshing, and new. Many of these titles were terrible beyond the imagination of anything these hokey events from the Big Two could slop at us. But yes, Virginia, there were some quality titles that went the way of the dodo, dinosaur, and southern liberal. Defiant’s Warriors of Plasm stands as one of those imaginative titles that were woefully destroyed by the ridiculous and spiteful underpinnings of the 1990s. Feel like getting mad at Marvel today? Of course you do! Read on.

Shooting the Shooter
Even before Rob Liefeld was a twinkle in a fanboy’s evil eye, Jim Shooter could get the fans all abuzz with hate, blood pressure rising in raging, foaming about the mouth with cheap plastic Halloween swords in hand ready to storm the Marvel Offices in New York. Shooter has never shied from controversy. Shooter has also never shied away from trying new things and shaking up the nuts and bolts of comic books, especially certain well established properties. I think Captain America fans still have bounties out for his scalp.

Whether you love or hate Jim Shooter, he entered the 90s with a great drive to bring new comics to the forefront, first with Valiant Comics and later with Defiant. The story of Valiant Comics is one for another Causalities of the 90s column, but it is impossible to talk about Defiant without looking at Valiant briefly. Valiant successfully published original and licensed properties and helped lead the charge for those cheesy chromium covers. I know, ugh. Valiant was wildly successful for an independent publisher, but despite the success, there was a question of selling the company, which Shooter disagreed with. Also, there was the question of Shooter being quite the dictator when it came to his editing practices. Shooter would eventually be forced to leave Valiant for a time, though he would later return, causing even more trouble once he returned. But that’s another story for another time.

Defiant to the Last
Not to be outdone by his Valiant partners, Shooter would Defiant, headhunting several of the creative talents populating some of Valiant’s best books. One of those creators was David Lapham. Shooter and Lapham created Warriors of Plasm together. Warriors of Plasm was a pretty funky title. How freaky was it? Freaky. Imagine David Bowie creating a strange space opera in the 1970s that involved aliens, the end of days, and decadence. Well, on second thought, scratch that.

Warriors of Plasm followed the story of a sentient planet, the Org of Plasm. Being a living world, it was constantly hungry. The Org had to be fed constantly, so those people who followed the Org had to conquer plants and offer up tasty, meaty morsels to the great Org. Mmm mmm, good. Lorca, the lead guy on the acquisition of munchies for the Org, had a change of heart when it came time to devour our humble planet, Earth. He genetically modified five humans to stand up and defend Earth against the impressive hunger of the Org.

Hilarity and problems ensue. Unfortunately for Defiant, they ensued both on and off panel.


Marvel at Marvel’s Legal Might
Do you remember the Marvel character Plasmer? Of course you don’t. And if you do? You’re a loser. Your guild in World of Warcraft needs you now to raid some mine or castle or whatever it is you do. On a scale of comic book coolness from 1 (Quasar) to 10 (Wolverine), Plasmer scores a whopping -15.2. Well, if anybody remembered Plasmer it was Marvel. And Marvel’s Legal Department.

Apparently, on the surface, Marvel believed that we fans were too incompetent to recognize the difference between Plasmer and Warriors of Plasm. Let me write those two names again for those of us Marvel considers to be too stupid; Plasmer and Warriors of Plasm. Right. And this was in the era before flawed Joe Quesada-like thinking at Marvel. Originally, the title of the comics was supposed to be just Plasm, but Marvel still sued after the name change. Excelsior!

It doesn’t take an insider to see that this was probably more a vendetta against Defiant and Shooter than it was about protecting their intellectual property. Full disclosure; I feel dirty using the term “intellectual property” for Plasmer. Marvel’s pursuit of the lawsuit would prove fail in court, but it was enough to topple Defiant as a company. The large legal fees used defending itself from such a frivolous lawsuit alone helped topple Shooter’s Defiant Comics. The lesson learned here for independent publishers; don’t mess with Marvel. Even in legal defeat, Marvel has a deeper wallet than you do.

A total of fifteen issues (#’s 0-13 and a holiday special) and one trade of Warriors of Plasm were published before the plasmatic axe came down on the title.

The Dust Settles
Defiant was brutally victimized by the Marvel juggernaut for daring to infringe on the much beloved Plasmer. But this story does have a bit of a silver lining. At my core, I’m an optimist, so I can’t leave these creators or my fine readers in the negative-Nancy lurch, right?

In 1995, David Lapham would move on to start his publishing company El Capitan. His title crime title Stray Bullets would wow critics right from the beginning. Lapham would gain so much attention that he would do books for both Marvel and DC, working on characters such as Batman, Punisher, and Daredevil. He’s currently rocking the socks off of his Vertigo title Young Liars. Lapham made it! That’s too bad in a way because as his mainstream workload has increased, his output on Stray Bullets has decreased. That’s too bad. Stray Bullets has consistently been one of the best independently published titles ever produced. It would entertain, get your juices going, and constantly provoke you to think about human nature.


And then there’s Jim Shooter. He would make a comeback to Valiant in 1999 with Unity 2000, but that wouldn’t last too long. He was brought back on to rejuvenate the now flaccid Valiant line. But Shooter had chips on his shoulder and axes to grind. Mental note for all readers; don’t try to piss off the people you pissed off before by bringing unfavorable facsimiles of them into your title. It is not likely to garner you any favors and someone may be tempted to use the word “asshole” when describing you. Shooter did this. It was funny for all of us readers, like Democrats watching Hillary Clinton forcing that malevolent smile this week at the DNC. It was an odd choice of venue for revenge, but nevertheless, it wouldn’t last. Like many companies at the time, there were payment disputes out of the yin-yang. Acclaim/Valiant filed for bankruptcy after three issues. Even though he was lost in the comic book void for a while, Shooter has recently found his way back to the title that put him on the map, DC’s Legion of Superheroes.

Warriors of Plasm may be gone now, but the creators are still out there enjoying their own brand of success. You can’t ask for much better than that, can you?

Next Week…
We must say goodbye to the Causalities of the 90s for the time being. But don’t fret! Casualties of the 90s will be a regular feature of Panelology during the last week of every month henceforth. Next week, I’ll be looking at the arduous subject of the even more arduous task of cataloging your comic collection. Ouch.

See you then!
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Patrick's Hat Trick: Signs of Things to Come

by Patrick

Man, this reviewing comics sure can be a lot of work. At times it seems like there are new comics coming out every week! This week, I'll take a look at the first issue of DC's newest weekly book Trinity, the first chapter of "One World, Under Gog" in Justice Society of America #16 and the Hardcover collection of the "hot" Valiant's early ninety's book in, Harbinger: The Beginning.


Whoever I am? It says "by Patrick" right at the top of the post. And if you want the rest of this post to appear so you can get started, all you have to do is click here:

Since Wonder Woman is in such a hurry, why don't we start with her book?

TRINITY #1: After the success of 52 and the...let's call it...the interesting experiment of Countdown, DC is launching their newest year long weekly book. And after one issue, it's looking like this one will be closer to 52 in quality. The issue is pretty much all set-up. And I don't think that is a bad thing. The first part of the book, by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley (in what I believe to be his DC debut), deals with our "Trinity" of heroes (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) getting together to discuss a dream they all had. Except it was one of those dreams that people have in comic books that they know wasn't just a dream. We get lots of good character moments, a little snippet of action from the Flash and his kids, and end on a cliffhanger that looks like it may start moving the story along pretty quickly. One thing I was wondering ....


Since when does Wonder Woman lose her powers when she is out of costume "ceremonial battle armor"? How in the heck does that even work? Is her costume "ceremonial battle armor" magic? Where were the Newsarama stories about this new statis quo in Diana Prince's life? Why haven't I heard Dan Didio talking about how much better the stories will be now that she doesn't have her powers all the time, and all the great new relationships she can have?

The second half of the book, with nice art from Scott McDaniel and Mark Bagley, focuses on a trio of villains coming together to oppose our heroes, as well as offering some possible views of where the story may be going.

I wonder if some reviewers will be complaining that not enough happens in the first issue. I won't be one of them. It was a good set up. If I was reading a 52-chapter novel, I would expect the first chapter to be set up. And that is what we got here. An interesting first chapter that makes me want to come back and check out chapter two. Grade: B An interesting beginning, but can it hold our interest for a year?

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #16: Has this book been running late and is catching up? Or where there suppose to be two books this month? Because I was very surprised to see this issue this week. It hasn't even been a week since I reviewed issue fifteen. I'm glad to say the pace has seemed to pick up a bit. I felt like more happened. The reveal of Gog and his past was handled well. And it looks like this could be an interesting arc. And it's been fun to have the page or two painted by Alex Ross every issue. Grade: B-The story is good, the pace is picking up a little bit. Let's hope it doesn't tread water until the end of the arc.


HARBINGER: THE RETURN HC: Remember when Valiant comics were the hottest books being published? I remember seeing early issues of Harbinger going for over a hundred bucks. Well, those days are long gone. Valiant was sold, closed its door, and is now back to publishing some of its old stuff again. Dan looked at the X-O Man-O-War collection this past weekend. The Harbinger collection was suppose to hit stores a few months ago, but I believe it was held up by some lawsuits. But I would like to say, I think it was worth the wait.

I read some of the Valiant books back in the day. But Harbinger was not one of them. And I have to say, it was a pretty good book. Strong characters, lots of action, and some densely plotted stories. The art on the original issues is all by David Lapham, but don't expect it too look like his current stuff. Valiant had a pretty strong house style when it started, and the art here reflects that. The extras include the original story from the back of the coupons of Harbinger 1-6, which gave details on the main villain's past, as well as a new story written by Jim Shooter that expands the story from the coupons. I was also surprised by Solar: Man of the Atom's appearance in the books. Everything I had heard about this new Valiant was they didn't have the rights to him or Magnus: Robot Fighter. Grade: BStrong characters, good story (if sometimes a little wooden in the storytelling)and good art make for a very nice hardcover collection.

Well, that's three reviews, so it's time to close up the Hat Trick for this week. Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts. As always, I'm interesting in hearing yours in the comments section below. See you next week.

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Patrick's Hat Trick: Trickshot!

by Patrick

Greeting fanboys and fangirls. Welcome back to Patrick's Hat Trick, where I supply you with a "hat trick" of reviews (also known as three reviews). Now normally, three reviews equals three books. But today, I am going to attempt to accomplish bit of a "trick shot," and review FOUR books within my THREE reviews. Oh Hal Jordan, you're always blowing things out of proportion. Let's get started.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #42 I had been holding off reviewing this book, wanting take a look at the first few months of comic legend Jim Shooter's return after 40 years. But after six issues, I don’t think I have enough to say about this book to devote a whole article to it. The book just is not that good. The characters are unlikable for the most part, and while I’ve enjoyed Francis Manapul's art on other books, he just seems like a bad fit here. The costumes are mostly pretty ugly, and it has been a struggle to pick up this book every month. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just boring and uninteresting. GRADE: D I’m only buying this book because I have OCD for all things LEGION. Unless you share my disorder, I advise staying away from this book.


ACTION COMICS #865: One of the highlights of Geoff Johns' run on Flash was when he would turn the spotlight on the villains. Johns brought a lot of new life into some old villains using this tool. This week he sets his gaze on a member of Superman’s rouge gallery, the Toyman. Johns explains away all the versions of Toyman that have appeared over the past couple of decades, and sets things up for an old supporting character to return. And while I don’t think anyone was clamoring for this character to come back, I find myself looking forward to her return. I also quite enjoyed the art by Jesus Merino. If I’ve read anything from him before, it never left much of an impression. He uses two different styles of art, an everyday style for parts happening “today”, and a Tim Sale-like style on the flashbacks. GRADE: B A solid done-in-one story by Johns and Merino


JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA#15 & GREEN LANTERN #31: While Geoff Johns seems to be firing on all cylinders in Action Comics, with these two books, Johns seems to be treading water. The stories are interesting, but… seem… to… be… moving… so… slowly. These books have good ideas. I want to like them. I bet they’ll read pretty well when they are collected. JSA starts a new arc next month, so hopefully that will pick up the pace. Lantern has three more months to go with Secret Origin. I may save them up and read them all at once.GRADE: C Good story. Good art. But the slow pace stops the book form earning higher marks

That ends my Hat Trick for today. I look forward to reading your comments, either by clicking the comments link at the bottom of the article, or on our brand new Facebook page. Hasta La Pasta!

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