Quieter superhero gems on offer in August

The huge, loud, blockbuster crossovers of summer are at fever pitch at the major comics companies in August. But the month offers some quieter gems, too.

I don't want to give too much away about DC's ongoing "Final Crisis," but the subtitle of the story is "The Day Evil Won." And truth be told, it's really not going very well for The World's Greatest Superheroes. The Martian Manhunter, who's been around since 1955 and was a founding member of the Justice League, is dead. The Dark Knight's books are in the middle of a story called "Batman: R.I.P.," which doesn't sound very upbeat. The Flash's villains and Selina Kyle are on the run from both heroes and villains, and since "Catwoman" is being canceled, that doesn't promise a happy ending, either. And we've still got several months to go!

The good news is that "Trinity," a weekly, 52-issue series starring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, continues without "Crisis" intervention. Writer Kurt Busiek explained how via e-mail:

"'Trinity' is in continuity, it's just not in the kind of lockstep, week-to-week continuity that people often expect from big events," he said. "It won't tie in to 'Final Crisis' or 'Batman: R.I.P.' or whatever, just as whatever was going on in 'Avengers' at the time didn't tie in to the Galactus Trilogy over in 'Fantastic Four' (1966), or the way the Fantastic Four appeared in the Kree/Skrull War without it ever being mentioned in their home book (1971-72).

"'Trinity' simply happens before, or after, or in and around those other events, but won't be overtly tying in to them. So each story gets to be its own big blockbuster movie event without readers being expected to have to stitch all of them together to understand what's going on."

Plus, there's "Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds," a miniseries that may finally straighten out the history of the Legion of Super-Heroes, which has been a mess since "Crisis on Infinite Earths" in 1986. That sounds impossible, but it's written by Geoff Johns, who has pulled off similar miracles with the formerly fouled histories of Hawkman and Green Lantern.

Meanwhile, Marvel's "Secret Invasion" continues in 15 titles this month. Yes, 15! From Thor's Asgard to the X-Men's San Francisco to Ka-Zar's Savage Land to the Avengers' New York, those green-skinned, shape-shifting little men from outer space are kicking superhero butt -- well, those butts they haven't secretly replaced with spies. And that's got three more months to go, too, so don't expect any sweetness and light soon.

But do expect gorillas! In September, "Marvel Apes" debuts, a miniseries featuring a world where simians are the dominant species and humans don't exist. In celebration, several titles in August and September will feature "monkey variant" covers -- such as "Captain America" (Captain AmericApe?) and "Ghost Rider" (Gibbon Rider?). So you really are seeing monkeys in spandex, even though the covers have nothing to do with the interiors.

I'd be remiss in not mentioning "Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane: Season 2," which debuts in August, and is aimed at teen-age girls. Written by the female-friendly Terry Moore ("Strangers In Paradise"), "SMLMJS2" is the wall-crawler in his sophomore year of high school, from Mary Jane's point of view -- and before things got too serious.

"It's my favorite time in Spider-Man's life, which is those early years when everything is kind of charming," Moore told Worlds of Westfield magazine. "He'd go to school, fight some mean adult that afternoon and have a milkshake at night." Plus young romance. Aw, cute!

And with the animated "Star Wars: Clone Wars" arriving in theaters Aug. 15, you can expect Dark Horse to pony up some collections (in addition to its monthly SW titles). Coming up in August are "Star Wars Omnibus Vol. 1" (collecting early DH "Star Wars" one-shots and miniseries) and "Star Wars: The Clone Wars Vol. 1: Shipyards of Doom," the first in a quarterly graphic novella series.

Speaking of collections, don't miss the second coffee-table collection starring DH's movie star, "Hellboy Library Edition Vol. 2: The Chained Coffin, The Right Hand of Doom & Others." Not to mention "Hellboy: The All-Seeing Eye," a new novel by Mark Morris.

And that's not all! There are EC, Katy Keene and Ghost collections; the return of Tek Jansen and Berni Wrightson; and other small-scale surprises.

But that'll have to wait until the Crises and Invasions quiet down. It's too loud in here!

(Contact Andrew Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics(at)aol.com or visit www.captaincomics.us.)