| #30 | 12/08/04 | #3 |
Awww, wook at this widdle column. Wook at its cute wittle button nose and waggidy tail. Its so tiny I could eat it up in one bite. Hey, folks. Ambush Bug here with another AICN COMICS column from your favorite @$$holes. Last week’s column was massive, so we decided to even things out with this week’s itty bitty endeavor into jack@$$ery. Check out what’s in this week’s pull.
(Click title to go directly to the review)
X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR #1
JSA #68
ESSENTIAL IRON MAN VOL 2
BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM 15th ANNIVERSARY EDITION HC
SHE-HULK #10
CHEAP SHOTS!
X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR #1
Writer: Akira Yoshida
Artist: Pat Lee
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewed by Dave Farabee
X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR is a quasi-event because it’s the first notable team crossover Marvel’s run in several years. Yep, for a few years there during the reign of Bill Jemas, every Marvel book was an island, all part of an initiative to make individual titles as approachable, as baggage-free, and as easy to collect in a trade as possible. At times, I thought, it was an admirable goal.
But let’s be brutally honest: the comics-buying audience is very, very insular and attempts to make it expand have met with minimal success. So if you’re reading X-MEN, guess what? You probably know who the Fantastic Four are. Safe to use ‘em. Hell, you probably even know who Power Man and Iron Fist are. Maybe even Moon Knight. Possibly Devil Dinosaur.
And what’s more, a lot of us “regulars” have been remembering that, Holy shit, it was the “shared universe” quality of the Marvel setting that lured a lot of us to the company in the first place! A guest-appearance by Ant-Man in an issue of FANTASTIC FOUR didn’t blow our fragile little minds and make us swear off comics forever – it made us want to track down some AVENGERS issues and see “what’s the deal with that guy?” And when the X-Men and New Mutants went to Thor’s hometown of Asgard…no rioting! No mass protests that it didn’t “feel right” for the characters! We lauded the change of pace, maybe checked out some THOR issues (nowadays it’d be trades), and looked up The Warriors Three in our OFFICIAL HANDBOOKS OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE.
It was good reading, it was good marketing. ‘Course, the crossover stuff got a little out of control in the Roarin’ ‘90s, but hell, what didn’t? The question is, can a book like X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR (“X4” as written on the cover) restore the faith?
Mebbe.
I read the first issue and it started out dumb as a sack of hammers, but shocked me by becoming something I was quite happy with by the end. How’d that happen? Well…
The dumb part is the obligatory fight scene between the two teams before they get it through their thick heads that they’re in a goddamn team-up comic. Oy, talk about your chestnuts! Almost enough to turn a guy off the book right then and there, so as a note to future writers: Fer the luvva Pete, don’t make superheroes fight unless you’ve got a damn good reason, and having the Fantastic Four knock on the door to the X-Mansion and wake Wolverine up is not a good enough reason.
That’s really what happens, though. Takes up maybe a third of the book, even, but then things get interesting enough to make me forgiving. Writer Akira Yoshida (THOR SON OF ASGARD) actually has an endearingly simple reason for getting the teams together:
Disaster on an orbiting NASA space station. Return of Mars Lander followed by an explosion that might have left everyone dead. Scans ineffective for reasons as yet a mystery. FF seeking to modify the X-Men’s Cerebra mutant scanner to scan for human life and see what the situation is.
Not bad, and as an old-school bonus, footage of the explosion on the space station has Storm whispering, “By the goddess,” and Beast making with the classic, “Oh, my stars and garters!” For various reasons, though, Cerebra (née “Cerebro” if you’ve been out of touch with the series for a few years) can’t handle the task. With time at a premium, it’s decided that getting a telepath up close and personal would do the trick, and the next thing you know they’re warming up the X-Plane. I had to wonder why one of the FF’s various spaceships wouldn’t be eminently more suitable, but Yoshida kindly reminds we readers that the X-Plane’s all tricked out with Shi’ar technology and fully space-worthy. Fair enough. Time pressing…contrivance acceptable.
Only problem is that the X-Plane seats only six, but that leads to my favorite scene – the breakdown of the mission squad! You gotta love it when specialists mobilize for action, and Yoshida’s got some smart moves to make here. The first and most obvious pick is Emma Frost, the only resident telepath (Xavier’s on Genosha, Jean’s currently dirt napping). Energy-emitting heroes like Cyclops, Storm and the Human Torch are axed because the station is pressurized – cool thinkin’ there. Wolverine and Ben are added in case things get hairy (and let’s face it, for sheer personality value). And then…Nightcrawler for teleporting, Gambit for thiefly resourcefulness, and the Invisible Woman for force field projection in case of explosive decompression.
I don’t know about you guys, but for me that’s some wicked-cool shit! So often we just see superhero teams racing into adventures en masse with little rhyme or reason that Yoshida’s strategic approach is like a breath of fresh air by comparison. And what’s more, it’s a strong mix of characters just in terms of generating sparks. I also like the setting of the massive (and realistically rendered) space station as the staging ground for the mystery and there’s even a good cliffhanger!
Where some folks might have a slight disconnect (well, beyond the dopey fight between Wolverine and the Thing) is with the anime-inspired art of Pat Lee. Or that might be an attraction. Lee’s a minor comic book celeb for being one of the definitive TRANSFORMERS artists, and while not a favorite of mine, I enjoyed his work here. His space station designs are incredibly effective in their realism and his slick anime character designs make up for a slightly bland repertoire of facial expressions. Cool vibe overall.
I’m saying check this one out. It’s not a team-up staged to tell some massively important story, and maybe that’s what I like about it. It’s actually fun, old-school Marvel fun, but not so lightweight that the mission doesn’t have a sense of high stakes. I’m digging it. Digging it and feeling more than a little like I’m reading the kind of story that would turn any kid into a Marvel fan.
JSA #68
Geoff Johns: Writer
Don Kramer: Artist
DC Comics: Publisher
Vroom Socko: Looking Forward to the Past
I swear, if every comic was this good, my job would be a helluva lot easier. With this title, Geoff Johns is writing the single greatest superhero team book currently being published. Just look at the stakes; is the team hunting down a kidnapper or fending off a prison break? No. They’re fighting to preserve reality itself from a time traveling madman out to see them all dead. It doesn’t get any better than that, and yet it’s the plot itself is not what makes this book so good.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s one beauty of a plot. The recent rescue of Hourman from the time stream has left reality weakened. This gives one beauty of an opportunity to Degaton, a time-traveling Nazi who loathes the JSA with a passion. Going back to the early 50’s, he’s manipulating the House Committee on Un-American Activities to force the team to disband. But that’s just stage one. Stage two will happen on the 30th of October 1951, and it will result in the end of all costumed heroes in the universe. But there is someone who is aware of Degaton’s plan: the Time Master called Rip Hunter, ally of the JSA. And he’s gathered the members of today’s team to help preserve their future by traveling to the past.
But what makes this story so riveting, so wonderful, is the use of the other two keystones of comics, history and character. There’s a lot of continuity to be had in this book, but it’s through the strength of Johns’ writing that it hardly seems to matter. If you’ve been reading this title from the beginning, and even following the characters from long before then, this story will mean a great deal more to you. If you’re a novice in all matters JSA, everything you need to know is on the page. Johns has this uncanny ability to make decades of stories not only pertinent, but also easy to follow. Only Kurt Busiek is better, and Johns is catching up on him fast.
There’s also the case of the middle section of this comic, involving a rather traumatic event in the life of Stargirl. If there’s one character in this book that’s personal to Johns, it’s her. What happens in this issue is Bendis-like in its impact, but it’s in the aftermath that the book really shines. There are moments that have been brewing for the past two-dozen issues that begin to come to a head in the closing pages. That’s not to mention the amazing weight and impact Kramer’s art gives the issue. Stargirl’s pain jumps right off the page and into your soul, thanks in no small part to the look Kramer puts in her eyes.
Sure, this is only the first issue of the arc, but I can already feel that this is going to be my favorite storyline of the new year. It may even be the best story of its kind since AVENGERS FOREVER. It’s everything I want in a superhero story, and more.
ESSENTIAL IRON MAN VOL. 2
Written by Stan Lee, Archie Goodwin, Roy Thomas
Art by Gene Colan, George Tuska, Johnny Craig, Jack Kirby
Published by Marvel
Reviewed by Buzz Maverik
BIRDS OF PREY writer Gail Simone hosts a message board called “You'll All Be Sorry” (YABS for short) named after her old column at Comic Book Resources. I'm a frequent poster there, although I think I'm currently banned for being a shit. Hey, even us shits like to post at message boards, too. Thank Cthulhu for the Talkbacks, y' know? Where being a shit is practically mandatory.
Anyway, one of the things Ms. Simone has mentioned on her board is that one superhero she doesn't see any point to is Iron Man. Fair enough. I personally don't get Thor.
But I get Iron Man. At least the way Iron Man was originally conceived by Stan Lee, Don Heck and Larry "Stan's Kid Brother" Lieber. Iron Man is a character that is really from a bygone era or two, which may account for some of the indifference many have toward him. See the new Martin Scorsese movie THE AVIATOR starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes or read the sections of Hughes biographies about his life as a young man. That's Tony Stark. Billionaire, genius engineer and chick magnet. Throw in a fatal flaw that causes his life to be dependent on a one of a kind suit of super-armor and you have Iron Man.
As a young Marvel Zombie, I always saw Daredevil and Iron Man (and their alter egos) as the grown men of the Marvel Universe. Think about it. Spider-Man is written young, works a part time job, and comes across as a geek with a big mouth. The Fantastic Four sorta hang around the house all day until they go out to play in the Negative Zone somewhere. The X-men are weird preppies. Thor is a kid who likes to play dress up. Captain America is the likable jock and the Punisher is the neighborhood bully. But Daredevil and Iron Man worked for a living like grown ups. They lived the way you wanted to live when you grew up and it was pretty clear that they lived what Hugh Hefner liked to call "the PLAYBOY lifestyle".
And Iron Man was even cooler, because as a true capitalist, he owned a factory and employed thousands of people whose families were dependent on him.
Several attempts have been made to update IRON MAN throughout the years, and that's okay. It keeps the book fresh. Iron Man's corporation, Stark International, stopped dealing in munitions. Stark became an alcoholic (which I only like because it was something happening. Unfortunately, it will always be part of continuity and it doesn't fit the uber-mensch with the fatal flaw conception. Like any space age bachelor, Tony will drink, but he'll be a drunk, not an alcoholic). Efforts were made to make him more of scientist or a Silicon Valley kind of guy.
The number one reason to buy this volume is all the fantastic Gene Colan art (some of it credited to Adam Austin, probably because Gene was moonlighting from some other comic publisher). Kirby was the creator (although not of Iron Man) but Colan was such an awesome, outstanding artist. His black and white is so good you won't miss the color a bit. His panels were alive, not just moving but traveling at blinding speed.
But the outstanding story here features a battle between Iron Man and the Sub-Mariner, with art began by Colan and completed by Kirby. Can you think of two more even matched combatants in the Marvel Universe than Iron Man and Namor? It is just one of those classic superhero battles with lots of destruction to make you lightheaded
BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM 15th ANNIVERSARY EDITION HC
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Dave McKean
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewed by Dave Farabee
“Who’s laughing now, @$$hole?”
-Archly amusing line from Grant Morrison’s reflective afterward to this special edition of ARKHAM ASYLUM, unintentionally asking – nay, demanding - that we @$$holes review it!
Back when ARKHAM ASYLUM debuted in 1989, I read it like every other comic book dork riding the false Batman high of Tim Burton’s ultra-goth interpretation. And on finishing it, I joined every other dork that’d read it in uttering a collective:
“What the fuck was that?!”
Maybe that’s a little extreme. I actually plugged pretty well into its artsy/psychological/disturbing take on everyone’s favorite fictional asylum, but I knew well that the specific references Grant Morrison was making were gliding right over my head. I was a punk teenager! I hadn’t studied philosophy or psychology, and even now my experience with the subjects remains minimal.
But I would still return to the book on occasion. It might’ve been a radically stupid idea to subject the Batman mythos to such wild idea-mongering, but damned if some of ‘em weren’t potent and gut-punch visceral. And I always had a certain fondness for the quasi-WHO’S WHO pages at the end, those single panel visuals (sometimes overlaid with text) meant to capture one of Batman’s foes with a lone, evocative image. Very creative. If nothing else, this book was interesting as an obscure, oblique and quite lovely artifact.
It was that same quality that drew me to this 15th anniversary edition. Sure, I’d come to think of the story as self-indulgent bunk, but how could I resist reading Grant Morrison’s entire, footnoted script explaining said bunk? I’d loved reading his proposal for NEW X-MEN in its collected format, even before I came to enjoy the material itself. And how could I resist reprints of Morrison’s own surprisingly realistic thumbnail breakdowns for the entire story? Or an afterward from Vertigo’s spiritual den mother, Karen Berger?
I couldn’t. I didn’t!
First thing’s first: gorgeous production values. The original, 120-page painted story is of course reprinted in its lush entirety, and if you take off the dust jacket you’ll see that the neatly embossed cover is designed to appear as the journal of the asylum’s nutball founder, Amadeus Arkham. Can anyone deny that as a nifty little gimmick?
As for the story itself, well…surely everyone’s read it by now, right? Inmate breakout at Gotham City’s feared Arkham Asylum? Hostages to be released if Batman enters the madhouse? His own journey through its nightmarish landscape paralleled by flashbacks to the madness and murder on which one Amadeus Arkham founded the asylum in the early 20th century? Jungian and Freudian references, ALICE IN WONDERLAND allusions, sex, violence, and the wildest, smartest explanation for the Joker’s insanity ever?
Ring any bells?
Whether yea or nay, Morrison’s notes and script have a host of interesting revelations to enlighten and enhance the experience – Morrisonian CLIFF NOTES if you will. I was fascinated, for instance, to learn that the concept Morrison’s hallucinatory epic began with something as modest as Len Wein’s entry on Arkham Asylum in DC’s WHO’S WHO miniseries. It was Wein who invented Amadeus Arkham and a paragraph of bare-bones history for the asylum, the germ of the idea that Morrison would develop with a little help from a similarly-minded friend, Jim Clements.
“The intention was to create something more like a piece of music or an experimental film than an adventure comic book. I wanted to approach Batman from the point of view of the dreamlike, emotional and irrational hemisphere, as a response to the very literal, ‘realistic’ ‘left brain’ treatment of superheroes that was in vogue at the time…”
Morrison goes on to explain that ARKHAM ASYLUM was originally to be merely a 48-page story. That ballooned to 64 pages when the script was completed, then 120 pages(!) as a result of the demands of Dave McKean’s art. Continues Morrison:
“It took a year to research and plan and was written in one fevered month in 1987, generally late at night and after long periods of no sleep. In those days I was straight-edge to the core and the only way I could approximate a genuinely deranged consciousness was via the use of matchsticks between the eyelids.”
My god, did comicdom’s answer to Timothy Leary just describe himself as “straight-edge?” Eerie but true. But maybe you want a meatier reveal. How’s about the revelation that Morrison’s pal, Clements, had worked up the idea of a grotesque, bearded Joker as a visual allusion to the Freudian notion of vagina dentate. How effin’ scary is that?
“It was left on the drawing board for the sake of all right-thinking folk,” explains Morrison.
What remains is still pretty damn wild, though, and while I remain hesitant about whether the final product delivers on the promise of Morrison’s concepts, reading about the making of it is an absolute delight. His script is dense and intelligent, comparable in depth to Alan Moore’s scripts, though written in the style of a detailed movie script - no panel-to-panel breakdowns. Readers will find it hard to resist, for instance, Morrison’s seductive description of the story’s structure as based on the architecture of the Asylum itself: past segments correspond to the basement levels; secret passages connect different segments of the book; and the building’s upper stories are the home to the story’s unfolding symbolism. It’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the synchronicity Morrison was shooting for, a synchronicity that borders on madness at times and surely was lost on all but the Joycian scholars among the readership. What’s nice is that Morrison can still take the piss out of his own pretentiousness on occasion and usually with a pretty good wit about him:
“According to Len Wein’s origina WHO’S WHO entry, Arkham died singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” but for some reason I got confused and had him belting out “The Star-Spangled Banner” instead. Let’s face it, the guy was a nut, he might as well have been singing “Hello Dolly!.”
Morrison’s artistic skills also get a showcase in the form of thumbnail layouts for the original 64-page concept of the series. Readers will note the presence of Robin, ultimately axed at the behest of Dave McKean. Apparently he couldn’t reconcile the character’s cornball visuals with his fine art sensibilities. Unmentioned in this hardcover is a relevant tidbit I remember from one Morrison interview, that he originally intended the series to be drawn realistically, ala Brian Bolland. It’s hard not to wonder what that would’ve been like when reading this special edition, with its tightly rendered thumbnails and the occasional descriptive passage that McKean’s expressionist paintings simply fail to capture.
By that same token, though, it’s hard to imagine what ARKHAM ASYLUM would’ve lost without McKean’s mixed media approach. He gave Morrison’s literary forays instant cred by grounding them in the fine arts rather than the popular arts. He also created an overall tone of such foreboding that I can still recall the unease I felt as a teen when those visuals first hit me: the glass shard through Batman’s hand; the partially-chewed, photorealistic beetles trickling from the mouth of Amadeus Arkham’s mother; that first, infinitely horrific image of the Joker’s face; and Killer Croc as a dragon; the dollhouse that “looks back”…
Shit, it might be artsy-fartsy, but it’ll still knock you on your ass.
As an aside, I found it worth noting that Morrison wholly distinguishes the Batman of ARKHAM ASYLUM from his depiction elsewhere:
“I’d also like to stress that the portrayal of Batman presented here is not definitive and is not necessarily how I would write the character otherwise. The repressed, uncertain and sexually frozen man in ARKHAM ASYLUM was intended as a critique of the ‘80s interpretation of Batman as violent, driven and borderline psychopathic. My own later interpretation of Batman in the JLA comic was one which emphasized the character’s sanity and dignity…”
Wow. I like this Morrison guy. Like him a lot.
I dropped thirty bucks on this ARKHAM ASYLUM hardcover and I don’t regret a damn thing. My overview’s only scratched the surface of all the neat details contained within and I recommend it as a much more potent version of the way I first enjoyed it: as a flawed but infinitely fascinating artifact to be turned over again and again, revealing new, dark facets with each turn. That the sculptor himself is on hand to comment is a rare treat, one that makes second and third viewings potentially more exciting than the first.
P.S. Yes, the Joker was originally going to be dressed as Madonna (circa “Open Your Heart”) throughout the story.
SHE-HULK #10
Writer: Dan Slott
Pencils: Paul Pelletier
Inks: Rick Magyar
Publisher: Marvel
Reviewer: Ambush Bug
SHE-HULK #10 is one of those issues where the hero of the book barely appears. It’s heavy on exposition and tells an extended back-story which is basically a lead in to a much larger story that will be told in future issues. It’s filled with many word captions and takes an extremely long time to get to the point of the story. Sounds like my criticism of just about every Bendis book I’ve ever done, eh?
The difference?
I simply, absolutely, honest to good-golly Miss Molly, loved this issue.
Now before certain readers race to the Talkbacks to cry hypocrisy, let me explain.
SHE-HULK is the best comic Marvel publishes today. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, but shies away from self-parody. Every issue is usually self-contained and can be enjoyed for itself. But on top of that, each chapter builds upon the larger, more involved story writer Dan Slott has been developing since issue one. Finally, it embraces the Marvel Universe with all of its kooky characters and fantastical themes. There is no other book out there that exemplifies the magic and creative potential that the Marvel Universe contains more than SHE-HULK.
So why am I giving it a pass when it ventures into territory that makes my critical liver quiver?
Well, first and foremost, a lot of it has to do with the fact that this is not your typical Dan Slott SHE-HULK story. This is the first issue where She-Hulk hasn’t been spotlighted. It’s been all about her so far and if an issue is dedicated to a supporting character or in this case, an arch-nemesis named Titania, every now and then, that’s okay because I have faith that Slott will eventually bring the story back around to how this character’s story affects She-Hulk. And he does exactly that by the end of this issue.
In this issue, exposition is required. I usually hate caption box clutter, but didn’t mind it in this story. When you’re focusing on a character like Titania (a character of much action and little words), you need a wordy sumbitch telling the story in order for us to understand her hatred for She-Hulk. But Slott just doesn’t have his characters sitting and talking about stories with characters that are sitting and talking. Titania’s story is a doozy, filled with heroes and villains and adventure. You are plunged into the warped psyche of a fragile woman. Titania’s actions may not make sense to you or me at first glance, but Slott meticulously explains the reasons why she has developed this hatred for our emerald-hued heroine. A last minute appearance by a Master of the Mystic Arts writing off her actions as loony wouldn’t do the story or the character justice, only a comic book writing amateur would do something like that. In this issue, Slott goes to great pains to illustrate the rationality behind Titania’s motivations, guiding the reader down a path that explains her actions no matter how loony they may be on the surface.
But what really makes this issue stand out to me is that Slott adopts Brain Michael Bendis’ writing style, but does so in a way that addresses all of the problems I have with that style.
Bear with me, folks.
In this issue, we’re introduced to a mysterious stranger with machinations against our hero. Where have I seen this before? NEW AVENGERS #1 anyone? Maybe an issue or two of DAREDEVIL?
You have two characters talking for an entire issue. Sound familiar?
You have the focus shifted from the hero to someone else in the book. *ahem*current DD arc*ahem* Sorry, had something in my throat.
The difference?
Stuff happens. A lot of stuff happens. It’s not just two characters talking. It’s filled with an exciting back story which will directly affect the main character. And I’m not talkin’ three issues down the line. I’m talkin’ soon. Very soon. Like, next issue, soon. We don’t flash back and waste panels on two conversators sitting in a dark room or a coffee shop. Slott doesn’t lazily throw in splash page after splash page and fill it with captions explaining the action we can clearly see. He fills every page with panels of detail and explanation of that which cannot be captured in the art. Emotion, thought, feeling. This issue is jam packed with character development. And it moves. The mother fucker actually moves and at the end of the book…wait for it…you actually find out who the mysterious stranger is and it’s a pretty freaking cool reveal too. Mystery introduced and revealed in one issue. Whodathunkit?
So the reason I like this issue when it contains so many of the qualities I dislike from books like NEW AVENGERS and DAREDEVIL is the simply fact that I left this issue full. Stuff happened. The plot moved. Characters were developed. Spandex was worn. I didn’t feel as if I wasted my hard earned dollars. I didn’t feel like the issue was drawn out so that it could fill a trade. I didn’t feel like I need to wait and see if I like the story or not. In issue after issue of SHE-HULK, Dan Slott does comics right. One issue of SHE-HULK is the equivalent of the collected trade of any current Marvel book. It doesn’t wait four issues to tell a story. It does it in one. And Slott has the chops to keep it from seeming rushed or choppy. Dan Slott has shown me in this issue that in the right creative hands, the qualities I loathe in one book can be made fabulous in another. Check out SHE-HULK if you already haven’t. There’s nothing like it being published at Marvel right now and that’s a damn shame.
SPIDER-MAN #9 - Mark Millar retcons a whopper of a conspiracy into the Marvel Universe as we learn who kidnapped Aunt May, and it’s not that it’s a terrible idea – kind of neat, actually – but it really just doesn’t fit with all the established villain origins. Ultimately kind of minor, though, the type of retcon I suspect most writers will ignore if they want. And I’m shocked to have anything positive to say about Venom, but Millar’s choice of his new “host” is inspired. Should be a good visual if nothing else. - Dave
B.P.R.D.: THE DEAD #2 (of 5) - Fucking awesome miniseries, same as its predecessor, A PLAGUE OF FROGS. This issue’s highlighted by the weird, hilarious banter between the B.P.R.D. team and their new, post-Hellboy leader, and unnerving discoveries in their new base. The real star, though, remains the art team of Guy Davis and colorist Dave Stewart. I want to leg-hump them, they’re so good. - Dave
NIGHTWING #100 - The whole of Devin Grayson's writing on this title comes to a conclusion here, and what a conclusion it is. What happens is a surprise, yet shouldn't be. If Nightwing is a true superhero, then this ending shouldn't be in doubt, yet since the whole of this storyline has been questioning whether or not Dick still IS a hero, it works. Out of all the Bat-books out right now, this is one of the best. -- Vroom
SAMURAI (HEAVEN AND EARTH) #1 (of 5) - I swear, if this book had a sigil somewhere in it I’d pronounce CrossGen reborn! Not that neo-CrossGen is necessarily bad. In fact SAMURAI’s a pretty perfect embodiment of both CrossGen’s virtues and vices. On the plus side: offbeat but approachable genre material (Samurai on globetrotting mission to save his kidnapped woman) and ultra-lush art that’ll remind readers of Greg Land’s work on SOJOURN. On the downside: good intentions don’t make Ron Marz’s writing any less hacky than it’s ever been. There’s no fire in this dragon’s belly, even if Marz’s proposal for having the Samurai cross swords with some musketeer types does sound neat in theory. And the one area where SAMURAI clearly surpasses CrossGen? It’s intentionally planned as a finite miniseries! Preview of the purty, purty art here. - Dave
GOTHAM CENTRAL #26 - The good: Josie Mac’s psychic powers are finally addressed as more than intuition, with the interesting angle that she’s afraid revealing them will have fellow officers classifying her as a freak ala Batman’s villains. And Brubaker’s take on Catwoman gets one more life when everyone’s favorite cat burglar is the chief suspect in a murder. The bad: artist Jason Alexander looks like a suitable replacement for Lark on the surface, but on closer inspection I ended up as frustrated with his scratchy, indistinct characters as I did during his QUEEN & COUNTRY arc. This book seriously needs more visually distinguishable characters, even during arcs focusing on just a few players. I’ve been following it since issue one and I still mix up who’s who. That and a slightly sluggish start make this a somewhat “eh” issue, though I like where it’s headed. - Dave
DOCTOR SPECTRUM #4 - I was behind this series from the start, but this issue marks the point where it has officially gone on too long. Writer Sara “Samm” Barnes is doing a decent job with the backstory of Doc Spectrum, but since the Doc is alive and floating in SUPREME POWER and kicking all kinds of @$$ there, the danger posed against the good doctor doesn’t seem as threatening. He’s basically been in a coma for four issues now and what was once a nice little concept has over-stayed its welcome. This is another Marvel miniseries that could have been an issue or two less in order for it to be more entertaining. - Bug
FABLES #32 - Wow, really into this current storyline. With Prince Charming the new mayor of Fabletown and the old administration out on their butts, we’ve got a whole new cast to deal with and I’m lovin’ it. Oh, Bigby and Snow are still a presence, but the spotlight on Beauty and the Beast, Charming himself, and the mystery of the missing Boy Blue and vast sums of money from Bluebeard’s coffers is a welcome shifting of gears. Love the special guest star too, worthy of the charismatic cliffhanger entrance presaged on the wintery cover. This issue’s special shout-out goes to penciller Mark Buckingham. He’s got a realist style that slides under the radar because it’s so effortless, but his expressive faces are a wonder and I love all the illustrated borders and spot illustrations in the gutters between panels. Very charming. Plus: Snow and Rose Red remain two of the cutest babes in comics, even when they’re bundled up for winter. There, I said it! - Dave
PUNISHER #15 - Ennis’s latest arc continues to impress with the Punisher and a black ops partner on a suicide mission to break a little girl out of a Russian nuclear missile silo. She’s unknowingly the host of an ultra-deadly virus, and though I’ve learned not to expect a lot of depth from Ennis’s Punisher, Frank’s empathy for the girl adds a nice layer to the story: “The last kid I spoke to was my daughter. Pushing her guts back into her belly. Telling her she was going to make it.” Yeah, I sense a bad ending coming for virus-girl, too, but in the meantime Ennis is giving us some white-knuckle military thrills as Punisher and company try to escape the silo now that the Russkies are onto ‘em. Think of the final battle in CONAN THE BARBARIAN and you’re in the ballpark (“What’s important is that two stood against many…”). Doug Braithwaite’s art is its own draw, too, straddling the fence somewhere between Steve Epting and Lee Weeks. Not a bad place to be. Now if only Ennis wasn’t portraying Nick Fury as the whore-mongering asshole of his FURY series I could give this an unqualified recommendation… - Dave
AQUAMAN #25 - Writer John Arcudi dives into this book to elaborate on the exploits of one of the toughest characters to write in comics. Drugs have found their way into the undersea city of Sub Diego and Aquaman isn’t happy about it. This is an extremely dark tale depicting the all too real effects drugs have on every day lives. Aquaman faces challenges that he can’t punch, kick, or swim away from. In this issue, Aquaman realizes that he still has a lot to learn about the surface world and the people who live there. Arcudi takes the potential filled concept of Sub Diego and its people and swims away with it. I can’t wait to see what kind of offbeat and bizarre adventures this writer will take Aquaman on. If past series such as MAJOR BUMMER and DOOM PATROL are any indication, Arcudi’s AQUAMAN is a book to watch. - Bug
FALLEN ANGEL #18 - When last we saw our pregnant heroine, Lee, she’d just been punched full-tilt in the stomach by Bete Noir’s chief enforcer, Shadow Boxer. In a series as unforgiving as FALLEN ANGEL, you better believe there’s gonna be hell to pay, maybe literally. And there is, but vengeance takes some unexpected twists and turns and the story’s got any number of surprises to spring. In fact, when FALLEN ANGEL was really struggling in sales, it was possible this issue was going to be its last, so Peter David makes a big-time reveal about the nature of the city of Bete Noir. The end result is a striking finale that would’ve made for a good ending, but would’ve still left character arcs incomplete. With strong trade sales, though, the good guys at DC have given the series a second lease on life and I remain as enthused to continue with its mysteries as I’ve been since issue one. - Dave
