AICN COMICS: TalkBack League Of @$$Holes Reviews!!

Laurenn McCubbin and Nikki Coffman

Penny Dreadful Press

reviewed by Lizzybeth

I am of two minds about this comic, and the debate goes something like this:

Clearly, this is a well put-together comic. Nicely drawn, smartly packaged, with a unique "look", it's sure to catch the eye of anyone willing to look past the obviously-ironic title. The artwork strongly resembles the rotoscope "animation" of Linklater's "Waking Life", except that the coloring, when used, leans towards a Warhol-esque garish simplicity rather than the watercolor psychedelia of that film. The text is minimal, using only a few lines as captions for each page, and serves as a running commentary for scenes from the chaotic lives of young barhopping women. Each short tale contained within (5 in this issue) allows one of these girls to describe their situation, usually to show dissatisfaction with it. A "scrapbook of bad choices", XXX is a critically acclaimed new series from fresh voices in comics.

And yet, I don't like it. I’d like to. But the stories don’t work on an individual basis; they’re pretty familiar, with little variation so far. The text is mediocre as poetry and worse thematically – together the stories repeat the same complaints about unfulfilling casual sex or relationships. The text is too minimal to give any real insight. The book presents itself as a look at “real” young women, but the characters, if slightly more realistic types than most comic book women, are still stereotyped, and aren’t interesting. There’s not enough character there to like. They’re a string of modern clichés, like “once upon a time she was happily ever after, but it turns out her crown was just rhinestones and paste, and it’s beginning to yellow with age.” I’m sure someone out there is going to find that deep and interesting, but it does nothing for me. But maybe what I think isn’t important; judging from the sexy-girl pinups and the way the characters address the reader (“keep walking, the girls in here don’t need anything from you”), I’m probably not the intended audience for this comic.

That’s judging too harshly. It may not go into extensive detail, but XXX does put across the idea that familiar types of girls (like the “princess”) may not be thinking the way people expect, and that typecasting people by appearance or habit is useless. And maybe the comic often addresses a male audience, but so what? The majority of comics readers are male. While these stories are “familiar” to me, they’re uncommon in comics, particularly to male readers. I sometimes enjoy comics written for men by men, so why should I hold female creators to a different standard?

It's not so much the intended audience that bothers me, but the way that the comic appeals to that audience. I can see how it tries to flip the use of sex appeal to sell comics by demonstrating how miserable the objects of this attention can be - the barfly, the party girl, the trophy wife, the coked-out girlfriend. But I don't think the book succeeds in this. The text is so brief and generalized (there are no names, for example) that it doesn't drive home any sense of actual human feelings behind those stereotypical images.

But the images are so realistic! Aside from the pinups, the artwork in the stories show people that look exactly like some I know or have met, in places I've been to. It’s full of situations and emotions that I can identify with. Sure - but only because they're vaguely defined situations, and vague emotions. Not vague, universal. Easy to understand. Easy because the deck is stacked. It pits the good girls against the bad men. The men in this comic are all oblivious, or jerks. They play video games or watch TV while the women are in crisis. If I don’t buy it, how would a male reader? Doesn't that undermine the whole point? The men aren't bad, just on the periphery; they’re ill-defined, the way female characters are in most comics. See, it appeals to the male reader with the come-ons, the poses, and then showcases the second thoughts. So that last page with the girl facing the viewer, ready to give a blow-job, is applying depth to the sexual images in comics and movies? Yes. It's ironic. An intelligent reader understands that.

This is the problem for me. Using irony in comics is tricky – unless you have very strong verbal imagery to go with it, the visuals on the page will overpower the words every time. And that’s what happens in this book. Not everyone wants to overanalyze everything (You mean, the way this review does? Shut up.) and what you remember is those images of trendy sexy girls immersed in a grungy sort of "real life", and the details of their inner conflict get a little lost in the process. Irony works better the other way, when you contradict the words with images - the way the title plays on the characters who are more emotional strippers than stage ones. There are some good ideas here, but the comic doesn’t go deep enough. It doesn't stay with any characters long enough to impact; it just establishes a certain scene and a theme too muddy to follow.

Well, it's only the second issue, and after the way the comic expanded from the first, in the future McCubbin and Coffman may develop into a team I can enjoy without reservation. My expectations for them are perhaps higher than is really fair. They are clearly talented, and I can see them taking this title to interesting places. Some readers will enjoy this book, for a glimpse at the other side of nightlife. It's like the long hangover that follows an especially eventful night out, and the hazy memories you're trying to reconstruct from it.

Yeah, but who wants a perpetual hangover?

(make up your own mind - xxxlivenudegirls.com)

UNCANNY X-MEN #410-412

Writer: Chuck Austen

Penciler: Ron Garney; Inker: Mark Morales

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Returning to the fold: Jon Quixote

An X-Men comic is like a football game. A good one revolves around a group coming together to overcome an opponent by coordinating their individual strengths and abilities in a team effort. There will be ample doses of self-sacrifice, teeth-grinding tension, and a whole lot of action, all while underlining the team-as-family message. A bad one, however, is an inept jumble of self-serving motives and grandstanding characters trying to stuff their personalities down your throat, and you walk away feeling like you flushed your money down the toilet because the damn Packers couldn’t cover the spread against Atlanta.

I bailed on monthly X-men comics during X-Cutioner’s Song. That landmark event marked the beginning of an era characterized by holo-foil covers, multi-title crossovers, and a roster that changed more often than the Bengals’ quarterback situation. So, like Randy Moss in the playoffs, I decided I didn’t want to play anymore.

Recently, however, I’ve been spending some money on Marvel’s Essential X-Men series. Going through these classic Claremont stories is like watching a Marshall Faulk highlight reel. Brilliant. Amazing. Incredible. Stories that changed the face of the comic world. The emphasis is on character, as opposed to trying to figure out a way to tie the story into X-Force to boost their sales, but the framework is that of a classic adventure comic. It was one of the first meldings of old-school comic book sensibilities with an attempt to tackle mature subject matter in a manner that could appeal to readers of all ages. Those Essential editions left me with the desire to reconnect with the X-Men. So when I saw the kick ass cover to Uncanny X-Men #410, I was compelled to check in on the state of today’s X-Men.

Let’s just say that I’m not the only one who has been studying Claremont’s playbook.

Uncanny X-Men #410-412, subtitled “Hope,” may not be a 98 yard touchdown run, but it still splits the uprights in a convincing manner. This is the most Claremont-esque X-Men comic I’ve read in a long time, and that probably includes Claremont’s current work. An adventure story laced with a strong dose of characterization and heart, “Hope” was, at the very least, a lot of fun and it made me realize how much I’ve missed the X-Men.

This isn’t to say it was perfect. In many ways, “Hope” was like that Bears/Vikings game on Sunday. It seemed to drag on a little bit, because for some reason the Bears couldn’t break through the Vikings’ pathetic run defense. But there may have been higher forces at work; the inability of the offense to get things going resulted in a late 4th quarter drive where the Bears won the game on a dramatic touchdown with under a minute left to play. Of course, they couldn’t go for the two point convert so they could cover the FUCKING spread, could they? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! God forbid somebody actually put money on those bums.

*ahem*

“Hope” seemed to drag in places, especially considering there was little resolution to the plot, but when the story is considered as a whole, the strong resolution to a number of character arcs benefits from the lackadaisical structure.

I’m not predicting “landmark” run from Austen. It may be a little premature for that. But, much like the Philadelphia Eagles, Austen is adopting the right approach – don’t worry about winning it all right away, just worry about being good and getting better. However, there may be a few roster issues to deal with (Mutant hooker X-Stacy? Spoiled brat Monet St. Croix? Not to mention the Xorns & Maggots & Marrows & Dr. Reyeses and all the others who were introduced to the lineup with each new creative team and are now floating around the X-universe…I’m thinking it’s time to break out the Marauders for another ranks-thinning). But with some line-up tinkering, maybe a free agent signing or two (Havok, anyone?), and some time to familiarize himself with the characters (Wolverine exclaiming, “Chuck, I love your bald head!” has all the validity of a Mark Waid scripted rap), Austen might be able to do something special here. And, by special, I mean make Uncanny X-Men a comic that can escape the taint of editorial tinkering, embrace its superhero roots instead of hiding them in the basement like an incontinent grandparent, and deliver a fun character-driven adventure comic. The type of comic that made X-Men so special in the first place! ’72 Dolphins special.

Final Judgment: It may not be the highest scoring comic out there, but Austen scores a field goal for returning the X-Men to their classic roots, a touchdown for delivering some sorely needed characterization and heart, and a two-point convert for helping me find a way to make my NFL Sunday Ticket package tax-deductible! Digital cable rocks!

Title: THE GOON COLOR SPECIAL #1

Writer/Artist: Eric Powell

Publisher: Albatross Exploding Funny Books

Reviewer: Ambush Bug

Any comic that features a sidekick defeating a haunted sandwich simply by eating it with devilish glee is okay in my book. Eric Powell is a busy guy. Not only is he the inker to the @$$hole-approved Marvel MAX miniseries (dare you to say that ten times in a row), THE HOOD, but he’s also the main man behind the independent comic, THE GOON. I’m not big on indie books, but my tastes have become a bit varied since I started writing for AICN Comics. While mainstream comic companies are worried about infighting, exploiting old storylines, and hollow self promotion, the indie books are busy doing what made me fall in love with the medium in the first place: they’re telling interesting stories.

Set in an undisclosed time and an undisclosed place, THE GOON COLOR SPECIAL is a wild ride filled with imagination, intrigue, horror, and laughs. The Goon looks like Bibbo from SUPERMAN and acts like The Thing from the FANTASTIC FOUR, with a hint of POPEYE thrown in for shits and giggles. He’s a big lug who just so happens to live in an insane world where giant squid attacks are commonplace if you drive down the wrong street. His aforementioned sidekick is Franky, a cross between a midget Humphrey Bogart and Little Orphan Annie. There’s a case of valuable coins in the basement of a haunted house. The Goon hears about it from a zombie stool pigeon and wants it. That’s the story for this issue. It’s pretty simple, but Powell incorporates weirdness and humor on every single page to make things interesting.

My only problem with the issue was that there is nothing in this issue that tells me who this Goon is. But you don’t really need to know how many tons he can lift or if he was bitten by a radioactive goon as a child or why he wears that bowler cap so damn low over his eyes to enjoy the story. As I read this issue, I appreciated the story for its bizarre sense of humor and loved the way these absurd happenings are taken with a grain of salt by the characters. One can appreciate this comic as if it were a great old LOONY TOON cartoon. You don’t have to know who Bugs Bunny is other than the fact that he’s a “wascally wabbit” to enjoy the show. You don’t question the physics when Wile E. Coyote falls a billion feet from a cliff and appears intact in the next scene or how Bugs plugs the barrel of Elmer’s shotgun with a carrot - you just enjoy it for the sheer looniness of it all. THE GOON has that same feel to it.

Horror is pretty damn tough to pull off in comics. The build-up of suspense and tension is a hard thing to do when the reader decides how fast one scans and turns the page. Although this is not straight-laced horror, THE GOON is filled with spooky, tension filled moments. This has a lot to do with the art in the book. One sticks with the page for a second to admire the detail and spookiness of the images. Every good horror comic art is compared to Bernie Wrightson. He’s King Shit when it comes to scary stuff in comics. Eric Powell’s art may not be as strong as Wrightson’s, but he’s pretty damn close. If his work is of this quality now, I am extremely interested to see how this artist develops with a few years of experience under his belt. Powell uses ultra-fine detail to bring out the creepiness of the ghosts and gooiness of the monsters. The Goon’s face (the parts that aren’t obscured by that big hat) is a mass of wrinkles and scars. Powell also has fun with incorporating cartoonish elements like Franky’s Little Orphan Annie eyes with surprising ease. These details make every page fun to read.

THE GOON is RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD meets LOONY TOONS. It was a fun read and I plan on picking up the new GOON mini-series when it hits the stands in October.

STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES #1-3

Writer: Micah Wright

Artist:Wilce Portacio

Publisher: Wildstorm Productions/DC Comics

Reviewed by Cormorant

It’s bizarre, the sheer number of permutations we’ve seen on the superhero genre. You’ve got “superheroes meet gritty crime drama” in POWERS, “superheroes by way of the Kennedy family” in NOBLE CAUSES, and “superheroes by way of paramilitary action” in STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES, the comic we’ll be looking at today. Of late, I’ve been wondering if the superhero genre, steeped as it is in juvenile origins, can support so many iterations – or more precisely, if I want to read many of these iterations – but that’s an undecided debate as yet, and whether I stick with STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES or not, I have to admit it’s fun, well-crafted military action.

A quick bit of background: I’m completely unfamiliar with the WildStorm Universe, outside of a general knowledge that it encompasses comics like WILDCATS, GEN13, and THE AUTHORITY (which sprang from the pages of the original STORMWATCH series). From what I’ve gathered, it’s generally a more paranoid and pessimistic take on superheroes than you’d see in Marvel or DC, with a greater emphasis on superhumans involved in the military and covert ops. As a longtime Marvel and DC guy, I never cared much for the WildStorm take on superheroes – even the wildly influential AUTHORITY – but as a fan of military fantasy in the tradition of DC’s SGT. ROCK, Marvel’s old G.I.JOE, or films like ALIENS and PREDATOR, I had some curiosity about the revamped, more militaristic StormWatch team. This time around, there are no superhumans on the team at all; in fact, it’s a multinational U.N.-sponsored paramilitary organization created specifically to take down super-powered threats. Or as two of the characters put in the first issue, in what becomes a running gag:

“We’re not superheroes.”

“We kill superheroes.”

The bad news is that they’re a few weeks from receiving final approval when terrorists take over the U.N., forcing the two nearby top dogs, agents Santini and Coleman, to jump into action unarmed and without official support. In a revelation that struck me as somewhat silly, we learn that this U.N.-sanctioned team actually has its headquarters right under the U.N. itself, meaning that they have to stealth their way into their own HQ (their teleporter’s not up and running yet) to arm themselves before taking out the terrorists. Now admittedly the break-in is one of the cooler scenes in this three-part storyline, but I was a little distracted the whole time wondering what possible advantage there could be to staging a covert response team out of a locale as trafficked as the U.N. in the first place.

Hmm.

The two leads, Santini and Coleman, are basically a likeable pair of assholes, and the macho banter between the two is a definite highlight of the first issue. The other team members appear gradually over the next two issues once the teleporter goes online, and while we don’t get to know them much beyond their specialties and a few personality quirks, they’re an interesting enough hodgepodge of multinational specialists. Think of the sketchy-but-cool squad members in the aforementioned ALIENS and PREDATOR and you’re on the right track. It’s a time-honored literary saw to “write what you know,” and while first-time comic scripter Micah Wright probably hasn’t had a lot of experience with super-powered terrorists, turns out he’s actually a former Army Ranger; I think that lends strong support to his characterization of this motley crew of badasses.

Alright, so this is a military adventure comic, and you’re going to want to know how the action is, right? Mixed-bag. The low-key stealth scenes are all solid, with the characters skulking about in the sublevels of the U.N. and dispatching terrorists with DIE HARD guerilla tactics. On the downside, the overt combat scenes bring out some of the weaknesses of artist Wilce Portacio, including an awkward stiffness to his characters and a lack of clarity to his action. Wright undercuts the action once or twice himself, as in the first battle between unarmed StormWatch agents and an artificially enhanced bad guy. Wright is very restrained with narrative captions for the most part, but he breaks ‘em out for this scene and a few others to clue the readers in as to how normal folks can outthink and outfight superhumans using military tactics and some nasty tricks. On one hand, the tactics are very cool stuff, and necessary to explain at some point in the story, but they grind the flow of the action to a halt.

On the whole, Portacio’s art isn’t a huge draw for me. I like his detailed costumes and backgrounds, all underscored with touches of anime flair, yet characters are sometimes difficult to tell apart, and their expressions tend to droop as if they’ve suffered a stroke. Like so many of the promising stylists who rose to prominence in the early 90’s Image boom, Portacio seems to have allowed the style that fans loved to run roughshod over fundamental skills that had yet to be refined. The result looks slick at a quick glance, but it’s a little too awkward on closer inspection to really make the grade. Portacio also colors the book (or co-colors it with others). His color sense is good, and the effect is that of looking at extra-detailed anime cels. If you’ve ever seen Michael Golden or Barry Windsor-Smith coloring their own work, you’ll know what I mean, though occasionally the detailed coloring over Portacio’s already detailed musculature’s has the creepy effect of making the characters look…urk…skinned!

Final judgment: The good – Interesting premise, cool military tactics, and lotsa fun, testosterone-drenched conversations. The bad – Some action scenes difficult to read and some of the characters difficult to tell apart. The ugly – Those little china-doll hands that Portacio draws on characters that are bristling with muscles and thick as an oak – man, they gotta go! Ultimately, much as I like well-conceived military action, the superhero hook of STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES really isn’t for me. But for those of you who’ve ever wanted to see what the commandos in PREDATOR might do if they got good and pissed at some super-powered assholes, it’s definitely worth a look.

Note: There’re some pretty cool QuickTime interviews with penciler Wilce Portacio covering the specifics of STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES at WildStorm’s website. Check ‘em out here, soldier.

21DOWN #1

Written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray

Art by Jesus Saiz, Jimmy Palmiotti & Paul Mounts

Cover by Joe Jusko

Published by Wildstorm/DC

Reviewed by Buzz Maverik

The other night, I was watching a DVD of PULP FICTION: THE PEYOTE CUT.

I was particularly struck by one of the alternate scenes. John Travolta and Uma Thurman are sitting in the car booth at Jack Rabbit Slim's Restaurant. As the characters flirted, we were treated some of Quentin Tarantino's trademark pop culture dialogue. Uma has a shortcut for getting to know people. She asks them to make pop culture choices.

"CAPTAIN CAVEMEN & THE TEEN ANGELS or GOOBER & THE GHOST CHASERS?" she asks her date.

"CAPTAIN CAVEMAN. He could really swing that club. Plus, one of the Teen Angels was named Taffy."

"Matt Helm or Derek Flynt?"

"Matt Helm. Dean Martin was cool and that one movie had both Elke Sommer and Nancy Kwan."

"Joe Quesada or Jimmy Palmiotti?"

"Palmiotti all the way. He writes, he draws, he inks and he's doing a lot of great stuff right now," Travolta's Vincent Vega says.

And I have to agree. With BEAUTIFUL KILLER, THE PRO, the upcoming RESISTANCE, and currently 21 DOWN, Palmiotti is involved in some very cool comics at the moment. 21 DOWN, co-written with Justin "RESISTANCE" Gray and penciled by Spanish artist Jesus Saiz, is like Vertigo's Y: THE LAST MAN, a book you don't want to miss.

Loosely connected to GEN 13, which I neither know nor care anything about, 21 DOWN is the story of a young tattoo artist named Preston. Preston has the power to relive the pain of others. His power is literally killing him. He uses this power to help his cop brother solve cases. This is interesting enough, but Palmiotti, Gray and Saiz take us further into the character. He attends support groups for brain cancer victims, because their condition is closest to his. The meeting will remind you of Edward Norton's searches in FIGHT CLUB. Preston pines for his ex-girlfriend whom he drove away. He is terribly lonely, like the protagonist of almost any Martin Scorsese film. And when he senses a crime, we're reminded of Bruce Willis in UNBREAKABLE. There are a lot of movie references in 21 DOWN. The cool blonde in white on the Jusko cover will make you pine for Kim Novak in VERTIGO, or Sharon Stone in BASIC INSTINCT (although Stone's character was visually patterned on Novak as well).

21 DOWN is how a modern take on the superhero should be done. It is realistic in setting and character without going for shock value or perversion (which are only substitutes for realism). The creators do the smart thing. Instead of taking an old style hero and putting him in black leather, they give us a realistic guy who would be wearing a leather jacket anyway. In other words, they aren't doing something old and worn out and decorating it in goatees and trenchcoats.

This is the first time in a long time that a comic's supporting cast has interested me. There's Preston's older brother Robert, a cop rising up in the NYPD ranks, whom Preston says "doesn't like me much, anyway.” We have Preston's friend and boss Clyde who talks like a real person, and it's not the comic book version of talking like a real person. It's talking like someone you might actually know. Finally, there's Derek, a character through which the creators convey a real feeling of intimidation. Best of all, though, is the sleek, cool blonde Mystery Lady!

Here it is! A comic with mood, mystery, fine artwork and subtle, deep characters!

EXILES #17

Writer: Judd Winick

Artist: J. Calafiore

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Reviewed by Cormorant

So I’m looking at the cover to EXILES #17, and even though penciler extraordinaire Mike McKone has given Mimic an eerily-jutting man-boob, I am really gonna miss his talents as the book’s regular artist. I’ve heard that he’s headed for an exclusive contract in DC country, and if that’s the case, kudos to DC for landing the best realistic superhero artist this side of Bryan Hitch (hint: put McKone on JLA, ya goofs).

In McKone’s place we have the series’ semi-regular fill-in artist, J. Calafiore, now quite likely to become the book’s main man on the visuals. Sadly, getting Calafiore is a little like gettin’ the Shemp in THE THREE STOOGES – oh, the final product is recognizable, but it lacks that Curly magic that shines like a beacon in the fog. Calafiore is perfectly adequate at best, but with his somewhat harsh style, he’s a long, long way from ever being considered anyone’s favorite artist. It’s not a terrible place to be – Sal Buscema has pretty much lived in that world for his entire career (and Sal’s art eventually grew on me, to be honest) – but it does mean the book is gonna be relying a lot more heavily on Judd Winick’s writing from this point onward.

Luckily Winick is pretty much up to the task.

The book starts, as with every new EXILES storyline, by easing the reader into the alternate timeline the team’s been sent to repair. No lie, this is almost always my favorite part of the series. I like “Elseworlds” and “What If?” concepts when they’re suitably imaginative, and once again Winick has come through with a cool premise. On this world, it seems, one of Spider-Man’s best tragic villains, The Lizard, has been about a thousand times more successful at his lizard-business than he’s ever been in the standard Marvel Universe. His smart move (or instinct, as the story suggests) was to transform his wife into a similar creature to himself rather than go on one of those typical villainous rampages straightaway.

And they bred. And they began taking over neighborhoods. And the female lizard-creatures were capable of laying up to thirty eggs a month.

That was ten years ago, and in the present the entire West Coast of the United States is dominated by the Lizards and all their hybrids, contained from killing millions more only by a massive ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK-style wall. Winick sets it up fast, as always, but also throws out enough detail about the takeover and Lizard ecology to make me think to myself as I read the book, “Cool!” And since EXILES remains perhaps the most old-school of all the X-titles, with its heady blend of smart character interaction, angst, and adventure, “cool” is precisely the reaction I want to get from this book. It reminds me of when I was a kid and all the heroes and villains of Marvel were new to me, and the villains still felt dangerous. Actually, given EXILES’ rotating cast of sometimes-expendable characters, the villains are quite dangerous. And unlike the media-whores of Marvel’s X-FORCE, the heroes of EXILES are quite likeable, reminiscent of Claremont’s X-MEN at the top of their game; you don’t want to see these guys and gals get croaked.

Case in point: Morph – the group’s resident shape-changer and Plastic Man knock-off. I must admit, Morph isn’t the most original of characters in either powers or his life-of-the-party personality, but he’s been growing on me during the course of the series. In this issue, Morph is experiencing that most magical of all human experiences - no, not love, ya saps – horniness! The team’s been bouncing between worlds for a year now, and as Morph puts it, he’s had “about as much action as a legless place kicker.” Of course, the lady he’s trying to hook up with is a female version of the uber-furry Canadian hero, Sasquatch, but you can’t blame the guy for trying, and the ensuing conversation is hilarious. Winick even has Morph hitting on a female version of Sunfire (who also happens to be a lesbian), by reeling off a strong of hot actresses he’s willing to shape-change into! Classy? Not hardly, but once again it takes me back to the internal shenanigans of Claremont’s X-Men in the 80’s, and once again that’s a good thing.

But there are serious moments too. Blink’s boyfriend, Mimic, is acting bizarrely moody – even for him – and the team also finds that their mission has the somewhat curious goal of actually preserving the status quo of the Lizard takeover, not overthrowing it. I was a little concerned that the book was becoming complacent with recent issues, but this current issue reminded that I really do dig these characters, and unluckily for them, I enjoy watching their lives put through the ringer on a monthly basis. Okay, so Calafiore’s not great, but if the writing remains this entertaining, I’m not going anywhere. And I wonder if Calafiore might benefit from being coupled him with a strong inker who has an organic style (I’m thinking Tom Palmer – what’s he been up to?). I love a book with a really strong writer/artist package, and an inker like Palmer would go a long way towards making that the case.

Final judgment: Remember the original Marvel “What If” series, where it seemed like about 75% of the stories ended darkly, and the drama was always intense? EXILES actually manages to capture some of that vibe in an ongoing story, while avoiding the pitfall of becoming too gloomy. It’s really quite a nice balance, and while the characters may not be familiar to old-school X-fans, it’s still the X-title I most recommend to them if they have no interest in the hipper-than-thou works of Grant Morrison and Mark Millar. Since the current EXILES is a self-contained one-shot, it’s as good a point as ever to take the series for a test-drive.

WORLD CLASS COMICS # 1

Written by Gary Carlson, James Chambers, Terrence Griep Jr., Jeff Pedigo

Art by Ron Fontes, Tony Manginelli, Vatche Mavlian, Bob Rivard, Tim Stiles, Glenn Whitmore

Published by Image/ Big Bang Comics

Reviewed by Buzz Maverik

Hi, Gang-initiation! Buzz Maverik here from the skyway at California's premiere amusement park, Rattland!

But Buzz, you say, the skyway is closed. Has been for years!

You see, that's one of the perks of being a Talkback @$$hole. I just flash my I.D. and things open up for me. I haven't paid sales tax all year.

Why a special review from Rattland? Out of town visitors. "Ooo, take us to Rattland, Cousin Buzz. Ooo, we like long lines, high prices and sissy rides."

To which I reply, "Sure, I'll take you to Rattland. As long as I can bring along a bag of shrooms, four flasks of Mescal, a Glock 9 and a copy of WORLD CLASS COMICS # 1!"

WORLD CLASS COMICS is a fine anthology of Golden Age type superhero stories by the gang at Big Bang Comics. But not to worry. While it's not exactly satire or deconstruction, it's not bad-Golden Age. It's good art and fun characters. All of the stories and artwork are good, but I am particularly fond of THE ATOMIC SUB, about an undersea hero written by Gary Carlson with excellent art by Vatche Mavlian. Mavlian is a talent to watch. He did the beautiful artwork on last month's SPIDER-MAN/ DAREDEVIL one shot. He's reminiscent of Sam Kieth and my all time favorite artist Gene Colan.

Note to DC suits Paul Levitz and Denny O' Neil: hire Mavlian and Carlson to do a BATMAN book!

Note to Marvel suits Joe Quesada and Axel Alonso: hire Mavlian and Carlson to do a DAREDEVIL book and a revival of TOMB OF DRACULA! Actually, on the T.O.D. book, hire Mavlian and MAVERIK to do that. Mav and Mav -- we'd be a great team!

Also noteworthy here is Jeff Pedigo and Ron Fontes MR. MARTIAN. I'd buy a MR. MARTIAN series. And writer Terrance Griep Jr. did something really cool with the speech pattern of the villain in the VITA-MAN story he did with Tony Manginelli. Nothing big or shocking, but not what you'd expect.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to dump my rum Slurpee on some tourists.

GREEN ARROW #16

Brad Meltzer – Writer

Phil Hester – Penciler

Ande Parks – Inker

Published by DC Comics

Reviewed by Village Idiot

Who will come to your funeral? Your family? Your friends? Your coworkers? Will they all come? Just some? Which ones? And wouldn’t you want to know if anyone you weren’t expecting showed up? An old teacher? Your sixth grade girlfriend perhaps? (Hi Sandee, wherever you are.)

Of course, we’ll never know who comes to our funeral, at least not while on this mortal plane. But in the world of comic books, the rules are a little different, and coming back from the dead happens all the time. Thus, the resurrected Oliver Queen knows who came to his funeral: he’s seen the pictures. Family, friends, coworkers and...someone he doesn’t recognize. Queen’s search for the identity of his funeral’s mystery guest is the plot of GREEN ARROW #16, the issue in which best selling author Brad Meltzer officially takes over the writing chores from outgoing Kevin Smith. GREEN ARROW #16 was a pretty good low-key comic book. Although I found the quality of the writing to be mixed/positive and the story continuity in relation to the overall DCU seemed a little dicey, the story pitch was interesting (i.e. “Who was that man at my funeral?”), and this hook did provide enough mystery to keep me intrigued throughout most of the issue.

Oliver Queen visits his grave with Clark Kent, ostensibly so Queen can get the pictures of his funeral. No real surprises arise from the pictures, except for the appearance in them of an uneasy looking man, a man that Queen doesn’t recognize. Oracle, the DCU information maven, tries to identify the man, while Ollie considers the dangerous implications of a stranger at a superhero funeral, amidst all the unmasked heroes. In the last act of the comic, Ollie and his former sidekick Arsenal (nee Speedy) are able to track the mystery man to his house and confront him, only to be surprised by what they ultimately find – and by who finds them.

Again, the story pitch is a winner, and in fact, I’m surprised Meltzer didn’t try to stretch the mystery out further. In fact, there were a lot of areas Meltzer could have explored with this issue that he decided to stay away from. For example, Ollie’s review of the pictures of the funeral was essentially perfunctory. Everyone who Ollie expected to be there was there, including, Clark assured him, ones who weren’t actually in the picture. Aside from the mystery man, Ollie is perfectly satisfied with the funeral. Some obstacles here and there on this emotional terrain would have been interesting.

This is not to say that some of the terrain that Meltzer did decide to cover isn’t satisfying. It was a mixed bag. Meltzer seems to be playing Ollie at the same irascible level Smith did, perhaps a bit more irascible and less playful. Ollie’s exchange between he and Oracle gave us nice reminder that he’s still a little out of touch after being gone for so long. After Ollie finds out the identity of the stranger at the funeral, Meltzer is able to bring to light the gravity of the situation just fine with the dialog. Unfortunately he presses this point too hard with some improbable perspiration. (Never let ‘em see you sweat Ollie.) It was nice to see Ollie and Speedy back together again, even if the relationship is a bit reminiscent of Batman and Nightwing. Finally, I didn’t feel the intensity of the climax played as strongly for me as it should have. Again, this was a low-key comic book. But overall, the nicer aspects were nice enough to smooth out the rougher spots, and make for an interesting read.

I do have some questions about continuity. Back during the Mark Waid JLA days, I believe the issue of secret identities was finally brought to the forefront, and everybody in the JLA finally revealed to one another who was who. Unfortunately, Ollie was dead at the time. And yet somehow, Ollie seems to know the identity of everybody while looking at the pictures. Further, everyone at the funeral seemed generally nonplused by who was there, as if everybody knew everybody else. I believe Jon Quixote made the comment that the identity of the mystery man should have been known right away by at least one of the attendees at the funeral (one in particular). I’m willing to concede that continuity is a tricky thing with these matters, and just when you think you’ve got everything all figured out, someone call pull out an issue with an incident you missed. I could be wrong, but I’m reasonably sure that these are bona fide glitches.

The art on the book is again done by series regulars Phil Hester and Ande Parks. Their artwork has realistic proportions, but with a cartoony flair; bold lines without the detail of Doug Mahnke and Tom Nguyen. For me, the overall effect is a vagueness that keeps the material from landing a strong emotional hit. I feel the work lacks nuance. Page two, Clark looks grim. Page three, Clark looks grim. Page five, Clark looks grim. Now clearly, grim is probably what they were going for, but the same down-turned-corner-of-the-mouth grimness all along the way? And yet, for all this griping, the art conveys the general mood (like the grimness) quite well, and overall has a unique, subdued flavor that I can’t find in any other book.

In a week when the reading was fairly light (for example, I read SUPERMAN #186 in the store), GREEN ARROW #16 gave me something to read and something to think about, and this was a welcome change. Again, the book was an interesting read. Yet the lack of real intensity throughout the book, especially at the climax, doesn’t really have me clamoring for the next issue. I have a fair interest, but I’ve found that for the titles I’m not heavily invested in, interest tends to drop in a month’s time. Next month, perhaps I’ll just wait to read the @$$Hole review of GREEN ARROW #17 to help me make up my mind.

TALES FROM THE CREVICE: SPECIAL REPORT

By Vroom Socko

This week, I’m not going to be giving you a look at a comic. Rather, I’ll be writing about an exhibit created by the New York Comic Book Museum. Currently on tour around the country, it’s a collection of artwork from the various 9/11 tribute books. Entitled Heroes Among Us, it’s one of the most inspiring and moving comic projects I’ve ever encountered.

The exhibit’s current home is, of all places, a mall. Still, the mall in question, Portland’s Lloyd Center, is one of the high-traffic areas of the city. Also, there are a multitude of posters promoting the event in front of most of the major stores. Many people who’d otherwise not seek out an art display will be more likely to take a look.

The first thing that struck me when I walked in was the walls. Every inch of the walls, and the ceiling as well, had been painted a harsh gray-black. The motivation behind this is obvious, so I won’t discuss it further, except to say that the artwork stands out all the more against this color. Past the entryway is a small theater, where a variety of September 11th documentaries are played around the clock. Exiting the theater leads to the art display itself.

Images from nearly every September 11th book are on display, with Marvel’s Heroes shown in its entirety. Other items include works by Harvey Pekar, Alex Robinson, William Stout, Chynna Clugston-Major, the Kevin Smith story from Moment of Silence, and a painting of Superman by John Bogdanove. There were also unused pages created for Heroes by Scott Morse, Bob Layton and Udon Studios, any of which would have been better off replacing that cheesy as hell J. Scott Campbell drawing. Posted alongside the artwork is a timeline of events, detailing everything that happened one year ago.

Much of what is presented is work I’ve seen before. However, its impact is greater when put up on the wall, mainly because it becomes a shared experience. Looking at the illustration by John Romita Sr. while standing next to a mother and her child, or to see a man dressed like a truck driver getting misty-eyed while reading Gail Simone’s essay on the aftermath is twice as moving as reading Heroes by oneself. That guy probably wouldn’t know the difference between Agent X and Agent Orange, but that really doesn’t matter. What matters is that the pain of September 11th is still raw for many people, but an event like this helps make that pain more bearable.

That pain struck me the hardest at the end of the exhibit, where there’s a wall set up with the names of all the servicemen who lost their lives one year ago this Wednesday; 343 New York firemen, 97 New York and Port Authority policemen, 6 EMS personnel, and 124 men and women from the Army and Navy. That this many people who work to save lives lost theirs is almost as shocking and disturbing to me as the total loss of over 3,000 lives that day.

The one comment that sticks in my head when I think of September 11th is something I read on September 7th, four days before. I’d just lost my job, and as a means of consolation, fellow @$$Hole The Comedian brought up his own unemployment. His exact words were “welcome to the walking wounded.” The Comedian is a New Yorker. He saw more walking wounded, both physically and emotionally, than I can begin to comprehend, and I’m not entirely certain he’s fully recovered from that. I mention this because he’s a friend, but also because I admire him. You see, as soon as he was physically able, the Comedian and his father headed to a nearby hospital and asked, “How can I help?” Yes, he’s an @$$Hole, but he’s also a reminder that the instinct to help people is stronger than the desire to hurt people. That’s why this exhibit is so powerful. It’s a reminder of people like the passengers of Flight 93, of Ladder No. 6, of all the unsung heroes of New York who gave of themselves that day.

Heroes Among Us will be in Portland through September 22nd. I’ve been four times already, and I plan to be there on the 11th. If and when it comes by your town, you should definitely stop by and take a look.

The Question for Discussion will return in two weeks.