Garage Inc. wasn’t an easy album. It didn’t work in the way that metal should, it didn’t hit the right notes with the fans. Ask any commentator and the verdict was clear; Metallica was on a backslide since the Black Album. What could have possessed them to put out a metal album that didn’t scan with metal fans?

And therein lies the strange resilience of Metallica. There’s a reason your Uncle Farnham’s next-door neighbor, Buck has heard of Metallica without knowing about Trivium. Knows he will be buying a Ferrari, without ever having driven one before. Buys an iPhone and not a smartphone.

In a culture defined by nothing more than the polarities of sellout-versus-authentic, Metallica simply demolished expectations. Black demonstrated that they could put out a metal album that appealed to a mainstream audience hopped up on pop melodrama. Black worked, and in working, disavowed the expectations that were drilled into us by the Music Biz in the 80s. That we could have authentic heavy metal, that appealed to a mainstream audience and still didn’t sellout.

DC’s New 52 definitely embraces the notion that in a 21st century fraught with unparalleled opportunity and danger, comics can yet again be a vibrant medium that focuses the energies of collective life.

If Beethoven was ever red in the face, it was most likely the result of a backhand from his father. Beethoven Senior would beat his young son for a reason unimaginable in our time—the lack of greatness. Senior believed, deeply believed, that his young son was every bit the equal of Mozart who enthralled and delighted the courts of Europe less than a generation earlier. All that was required for the young Beethoven to equal and eventually surpass Mozart was the proper encouragement. Physical encouragement as far as Senior was concerned.

But Mozart had demonstrated his musical talent as early as age seven. So here was Beethoven Senior, claiming his 12 year old son was in fact nine, pleading the aristocracy of Europe to listen. And in his private time beating his son into genius.

The pettiness and mediocrity and myopia of Senior illustrates at least one point clearly—that genius has always been a problem. In our time, the problem of genius is slightly reversed. We’ve awoken in an age when genius is über-fashionable; it’s not the scarcity of genius that drives society, but its overabundance. It’s strange then, that in “Shot through the heart and who’s to blame?”, issue two of Red Hood & the Outlaws, creators Scott Lobdell and Kenneth Rocafort choose to tackle the problem of genius not only from our own historical perspective of overabundance, but from the point of view of scarcity as well.

“The DC relaunch means that the history of the character becomes kind of moot. I don’t mind at all if the new audience don’t recognize him, as long as they think he’s interesting. We’ve added a couple of new things to him. New readers start here!”

Paul Cornell, writer on the runaway hit Stormwatch shares his thoughts on today’s forthcoming Demon Knights. The “he” that Cornell speaks about is longstanding DC character, The Demon Etrigan, protagonist for Demon Knights. Originally created by Jack Kirby, the Demon is traditionally the story of Jason Blood who because of unspecified wrongdoings, becomes a human cage for Etrigan. A simple spoken incantation allows Etrigan to arise from and return to Blood. DC has long struggled with finding the right voice and the right audience for a character as psychologically-layered as Etrigan/Blood. But Cornell has some crucial shifts in the story’s high concept and characterization that will keep audiences enthralled.

“I cannot represent the American Government: the President does that. I must represent the American people. I represent the American Dream, the freedom to strive, to become all that you dream of being. Being Captain America has been my dream.”
—Steve Rogers

 
As America’s new president Gerald R. Ford takes office and the last U.S. troops leave Vietnam, it doesn’t take Steve Rogers long to return to his calling as Captain America. During his time as Nomad, he realizes that the Captain America identity could be a symbol of American ideals, not its government. It wouldn’t be until 1987 that Steve Rogers would again be forced to make the choice between his government and his principles.

“The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking… the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind.  If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.”
- Albert Einstein

In the early and mid-1950s, comic book sales dropped more than 50 percent. Superheroes became passé, and under pressure from the U.S. government, comicbook publishers essentially abandoned violence and made their superheroes pacifists, all thanks to a German-American psychiatrist named Dr. Fredric Wertham. His now infamous book, Seduction of the Innocent, blamed the rise of juvenile delinquency in America on comic books, in part, because of the mentor/ward relationship between popular costumed heroes such as Batman and Robin, Captain America and Bucky, and Green Arrow and Speedy. His assertion was that these pairings were really homosexual in nature, as well as pedophiliac. Of course, there were other accusations but this was a big one in the superhero genre. He felt, and convinced millions of parents that, comicbooks were poisoning America’s children, almost single-handedly destroying the comic book industry.

By 1956 Superhero comics were on the rise once again, thanks, in part, to Showcase #4 from DC Comics, which reintroduced the Flash, a character popular in the 1940s. Significant changes were made to modernize the character, including his persona, his name, costume and origin. After The Flash’s success, DC began bringing back other members of the Golden Age, including Hawkman and the Green Lantern, making similar changes to compliment the optimism of the Atomic Age.