Johnny Saturn

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

UNDER THE NET #1 – JOHNNY SATURN

Now, I’d like to draw your attention to a new Johnny Saturn review, this one from the “People – Entertainment – Art” website at http://people.bukiki.com/2009/01/24/johnny-saturn/on January 24th, 2009.  I’m not sure how we missed this one, but now is a good time to read this:

Johnny Saturn

Designed by Benita and Scott Story, Johnny Saturn gave a new definition to the concept of web comic. The battle between good and evil is central to the plot, but the main character is simply facing the challenges of life. Hence, the dominant feature of the characters to be found in Johnny Saturn is close to any Romantic plot with legends, superior beings serving the good or the dark forces and lots of conflicts between them. Crazy scientists and half-gods also people this world together with other conceptual being that add a touch of uniqueness to the comic of Johnny Saturn.

In terms of basic characterization, Johnny Saturn represents both a web comic and a superhero and fantasy book; yet, many readers see it as a sheer allegory of the strenuous efforts a common man makes in his way to find justice. Moreover, good seems to spring from questionable deeds too, not only out of purity.

Johnny Saturn is who comes to oppose the evil Dr. Synn and his plots. Johnny Saturn is not the prototype of the hero with lots of powers and plenty of heroic tales to tell: he is the regular guy caught up in unusual circumstances who must get in charge of his existence. As the story in the comic evolves, Johnny Saturn gets to other inspirational life levels: he shows the sacrifice of a savior and the determination of a leader.

The fathers of the Johnny Saturn comic achieved something more than fame and success with their extensive saga of the character. The Story’s send a deep message that touches moods and influence readers while staying away from visual manipulation. Mondays and Wednesdays are normally the days when the story of Johnny Saturn is told further on; it’s been four years since the release of the strip, and it still has an ongoing success as several thousands of visitors read the adventures of Johnny Saturn daily.
Johnny Saturn swarms with the concerns, issues and controversies of our world: we get to face depressive characters, suicidal and angry behaviors and lots of people in emotional pain, not to mention that drug addiction is also approached in terms of topic. Even the political struggles get to underlie the story of Johnny Saturn, but the advantage here is that a comic leaves freedom enough for allegories without pointing the finger directly at people and events from real life.

Spotlight – Johnny Saturn

Johnny Saturn By JGray

My love for superhero comics goes back a ways. In fact, “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, the twelve part masterpiece by Marv Wolfman and George Perez was my introduction to the concept of multiple universes; something heavily explored here on Mysteries of the Arcana.

In the last several years, though, the big publishers have done a lot to tick me off. I won’t go into my laundry list because I could rant for hours. Instead, I’m just going to be thankful that Scott and Benita Story came along and took up the challenge of creating new heroes as the centerpiece of their webcomic, Johnny Saturn.

The series starts off with the death of the title character. Johnny Saturn has been fighting the good fight for over a decade, using only his fists, his wits, and the sort of body armor you can order from the back of Soldier of Fortune. From there, things get really exciting. The archive is worth spending time with. Better yet, order the print version so you can lovingly thumb through it.

I won’t give away the plot. Instead,I’ll explain some of the things I love about Johnny Saturn.

Thing #1

My favorite scene involves Johnny Saturn battling a group of powered villains. We get to see what he’s thinking as he fights. The mental narration is terse, almost like a checklist. Speedster? Telegraph your moves so you know where they’ll hit, then hit them. Problem neutralized. I love it, because in my opinion characters like Johnny Saturn (and Batman and other mystery men) aren’t amazing because of their fighting skills or detective abilities but because of their sheer tactical genius.

Thing #2

There’s a phenomenon in comics known as“Women in Refridgerators”. Female characters are often raped,beaten, murdered, depowered, and stereotyped as bitches or sluts. In some cases it seems like the writer has some sort of axe to grind with women, in others ancillary female characters are used as plot devices to promote the “growth” of male characters. The phenomenon was named after a heroes girlfriend was murdered and stuffed in his fridge. The hero then tracked down her killer and, at the last minute, decided to deliver the villain to justice rather than go the old eye for an eye route. Thus, the hero grew, proving he was just and noble and all it took was the brutal murder of a woman.

Johnny Saturn isn’t like that. The female characters are interesting. The costumes can be a bit revealing, yes, but the women have character. They aren’t two dimensional. They aren’t there to make the men look good, and they aren’t there to satisfy the writer’s craving for revenge on all the girls who rejected him in high school. In fact, the most powerful and(in my opinion) most intelligent superhero in the Johnny Saturn universe is a woman named Staff of Life. I can’t wait to see more of her in action.

Thing #3

There’s a whole lot to explore. The comic’s well written and focuses primarily on Johnny Saturn but the other heroes are just as interesting. The world, too, holds a lot of promise and begs to be explored. Truth be told, the setting deserves more than just one comic. If I could get an artist and permission from Scott and Benita I think I’d jump at a chance to crack open a secondary story there.

Let me be clear. This isn’t a goldenage or silver age comic. There’s plenty of blood and violence and Johnny Saturn’s body bears the realistic consequences of a decade offighting crime. However, it also isn’t a Frank Miller-esque, over the top splatter comic either. Instead, Scott and Benita have found a way to balance the need for realism that marked comics in the 80s/90s and combined it with the need for escapism that marked comics in the50s/60s.

Go read Johnny Saturn. You won’t be sorry.