Monday, July 19, 2010

‘Essential Dazzler’ goes for it

Reluctant super-heroine Alison Blaire just wanted to be a star, years before she became a full-time member of the X-Men. But the mutant singer faced threats like Doctor Doom, the Enchantress, and Doctor Octopus, and even became a temporary herald of Galactus back in the day! “Essential Dazzler Vol. 1” reprints 21 issues of the ‘80s title, as well as three other books where she appeared.

Wordy and excessively descriptive like many comic book stories of the era, Danny Fingeroth and Frank Springer’s “Dazzler” adventures nonetheless entertain with soap-ish drama, romance, humor, and competent superhero action. The series also reflected the timelessness of celebrity culture, and periodically, the struggles of women and mutants. Dazzler is a uniquely stubborn and determined character--she used to yell “Go for it!” a lot--and this well-developed, hesitant heroine’s stories deserve to be discovered and enjoyed by new readers.

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