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AICN COMICS REVIEWS THE LIGHT BRIGADE! SNAKE EYES! GOTHAM CENTRAL! INDIE JONES! AND MORE!!!
#37 | 2/1/06 | align=right> #4 |
(Click title to go directly to the review)
THE LIGHT BRIGADE TPB
ESSENTIAL MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE VOL 1
INFINITE CRISIS SPECIAL: RANN-THANAGAR WAR #1
SNAKE-EYES: DECLASSIFIED #1-6
Y THE LAST MAN #42
THE PULSE #13
GOTHAM CENTRAL #40
Big Eyes for the Cape Guy presents REIKO THE ZOMBIE SHOP
Big Eyes for the Cape Guy presents GORGEOUS CARAT V. 1
Indie Jones presents…
CHEAP SHOTS!
THE LIGHT BRIGADE TPB
Writer: Pete Tomasi
Artist: Peter Snejbjerg
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: Ambush Bug
The other day, I went to my neighborhood movie-plex and was dumbfounded by what passes at entertainment these days. Hmmm…what to do…what to do….the choices. BIG MAMMA’S HOUSE 2 or WHEN A STRANGER CALLS? Flabbergasted at the lack of inventiveness and ballsy-ness that movie producers seem to have these days, I said screw it and went home and read comics. Fortunately, I had the trade paperback of THE LIGHT BRIGADE that I had been meaning to dive into. And I’m glad I did.
THE LIGHT BRIGADE is the type of comic that you wish would be adapted into a major motion picture. Having just read the trade paperback of the prestige format limited series, I can see the people in the Hollywood boardrooms right now pitching this story to be translated onto celluloid. "It's BAND OF BROTHERS meets EXCALIBUR meets THE EVIL DEAD." And they'd be right. This story seamlessly combines bone-chilling horror, big budget war-time action, and intimate character moments highlighting the nobility and honor of the men who served our country during WWII.
Right from the start, Tomasi introduces each character who will soon become THE LIGHT BRIGADE much like a filmmaker, highlighting quirks and intricacies that make them easily recognizable in the field of battle amongst soldiers wearing the same uniform. This often comes off as trite or hokey, but Tomasi writes each character with heart and dimension. One of the soldiers is an avid baseball fan. Another reads comics on the frontline. Another just found out that his wife was killed in an automobile accident, leaving his son an orphan if he should not come back from the war. This ominous pressure to "get out of this one alive" is one of the most powerful messages throughout the story, immediately investing the reader in the character and making one hope he makes it through all of this in one piece. Tomasi permeates his story with this type of attunement to human nature.
What starts out as a routine battle soon swirls into the world of the uncanny. The troops are attacked by a marching group of Nazis that won't die. As the handful of surviving troops escape, they see a meteor fall not too far away. When they go and investigate, they find the bodies of two creatures that look to be angels. It is at this point when you realize you are not reading your run-of-the-mill war story. What follows are lakes of frozen corpses, magical swords, angels, demons, zombies, monks, castles, the absolute best zombie vs. warplane dogfight you'll ever read, and quite a few other surprises. This band of misfit soldiers has been chosen to partake in a quest that makes their actions a deciding factor in an age-old war between heaven and hell. Now I know what you are thinking, and you're right. This "War Between Heaven and Hell" concept has been done to death in PREACHER, HELLBLAZER, and THE PROPHECY movies, but the thing that makes THE LIGHT BRIGADE stand out is the wonderful characterization and the setting of the events in a modern field of battle.
Most high concepts sound good, but the problems often arise in the execution. Combining a war story with horror is something that could be a recipe for disaster. The problem is that the writer often knows too much about one genre and very little about the other. This is not the case with Tomasi. He shows great skill at mastering both genres. The little details (like pissing on their guns to unfreeze them before a battle) about military life are included and scattered throughout; not amateurishly but confidently, as if the writer had an extensive knowledge of the subject and added these little details only when it would help enrich the story. Tomasi is also not afraid to gore it up either (a quality I admire). The scenes of half decayed Nazi soldiers are truly frightening. There was a moment, when the Light Brigade has to cross a frozen river. Below them are the bodies of soldiers who have fallen before them. As the river gets deeper, we see soldiers, not just from WWII, but from WWI, the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, and even before that. It gives a creepy history to the relevance to this quest the Light Brigade has embarked upon and an ominous setup for the battle that lies ahead.
I believe artist Peter Snejbjerg has received a bad rap. I remember he caught a lot of flack when he took over the art chores after Tony Harris left James Robinson's STARMAN. Harris was such a superstar on that book that Jesus Cross-Eyed Christ (a master cross-hatcher) could've taken over the book after Harris left and fans would've still been in an uproar. I've always found Snejbjerg's art to be amazing. He goes for a more simplistic approach, reminiscent of Mike Mignola or Eric Powell of THE GOON. There is a minimalist feel to the strong lines in the faces of his characters. He captures the feeling or emotion in as few lines as possible. In this age, when scribbles and scratchings are supposed to be the "in" thing, Snejnjerg's art stands out as something to be admired. His renditions of zombie Nazi soldiers and the aforementioned lake of the dead are shiver inducing. Truly phenomenal work on this series.
So WARNER BROTHERS execs, before you rush out and sign the papers for CATWOMAN II, you might want to read THE LIGHT BRIGADE if you want to make a comic book movie that'll actually be good. It's got one of the strongest premises I've read in a long time. The characterization grips your heart and squeezes. The thrills are fresh and scary. And the ending doesn't peter out into convention like most high concept stories. From page one to the very last; THE LIGHT BRIGADE was like watching the very best war film and the very best horror film on side-by-side wide screens. Treat yourself and seek out THE LIGHT BRIGADE. You won't be disappointed.
ESSENTIAL MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE VOL 1
Written by Steve Gerber, Bill Mantlo, Chris Claremont, Roy Thomas, Jim Shooter, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Scott Edelman, Mike Friedrich, Roger Silfer
Art by Jim Starlin, Sal Buscema, Ron Wilson, Marie Severin, Herb Trimpe, Gil Kane, Bob Brown, John Buscema
Published by Marvel
Reviewed by Buzz Maverik
Know, O Talkbacker, between the time when the dudes drank kegs of beer and the rise of the sons of Shooter lay an Age of Bronze. Unto this: Buzz, bong in hand, destined to wear the ridiculous name "@$$hole" with a sarcastic smirk. It is I, his Kronic-dealer, who alone has enough brain cells left to tell thee of his saga. Come, let me tell you of the days of getting high and reading comic books....
Back in the Bronze, Marvel published two team up books. I hate research so I'm not going to check the facts, but I think both were respectable but modest sellers. But I think MARVEL TEAM UP, usually starring Spider-Man but occasionally the Human Torch, outsold MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE PRESENTS THE THING &....
This could be a fact. I don't know. I'm too lazy to find out. But a definite opinion, based on being as regular a reader of these books as convenience store shoplifting would allow: TWO IN ONE was the superior comic. It was better written, better drawn. Maybe it was because the Thing didn't have any other solo comic, but it always seemed like the writers and artists made more of an effort to put out a real comic. While TEAM UP had its' moments, and writer Bill Mantlo certainly gave it his all, except for a Claremont/Byrne run that preceded and only slightly overlapped their tenure on UNCANNY X-MEN, the book was treated as a throwaway. Spidey meets and fights another hero, then they team up against a throwaway villain. Occasionally, you'd get a single gem of a moment, such as when Nighthawk becomes fed-up with Spidey's out of character right wing stance and sucker punches him at the end. Beat that, spider-sense.
TWO-IN-ONE was one of the infrequent Marvel portrayals of Ben Grimm as an intelligent character, a test pilot and an astronaut. In fact, in one of the best Mantlo/Wilson stories, Tony Stark hires Ben to test pilot a dangerous vehicle to launch into the ground. Bizarre, Crusade themed villain Prester John shows up and surprise...the Thing and Iron Man team up.
Art wise, the early issues feature Jim Starlin's wonderfully detailed take on the Thing. When Starlin draws Ben, he's made up of lots of defined pieces. To me, the Thing always resembled the surface of this dry lake bed in the Mojave desert where my Dad used to take me to ride motorcycles as a kid. I think I told my Dad that once. He looked at me sort of like Red Forman of THAT '70s SHOW looked at Eric when Eric had beat up a guy and said that he learned his fighting moves from Spider-Man comics.
Other stand out issues include a FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL in which the FF goes back to World War II to meet the Invaders, a Roy Thomas/Frank Robbins created team consisting of Captain America, the original Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner. At the time, Ben has lost his cosmic ray spawned powers and has been reduced to wearing a Thing exo-skeleton, which I've always found to be both stupid and cool at the same time. On his own, Ben checks to make sure everything is alright and ends up teamed with a second, Roy Thomas-created WW II superhero team, the Liberty Legion. The best part is when Ben has to destroy a giant, swastika-shaped ship.
I know you all cherish your ESSENTIAL MARVEL TEAM UP VOL. 1, which is a little hard to find without effort, and as with research, I hate effort. But gives Marvel's consistently better Bronze age team up rag a try.
INFINITE CRISIS SPECIAL: RANN-THANAGAR WAR #1
Writer: Dave Gibbons
Pencillers: Ivan Reis and Joe Prado
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: Sleazy G
In 2005, Andy Diggle gave a lot of DC’s cosmic characters a higher profile in his outstanding ADAM STRANGE miniseries. That mini ended with Rann and Thanagar slamming into each other, leading straight into the RANN-THANAGAR WAR miniseries written by Dave Gibbons. When that mini ended there were still a few loose ends in need of tying up, and some of them get wrapped up here, to varying degrees of success.
For those of you who weren’t reading the other two miniseries, it’s pretty easy to sum up: thanks to the machinations of some evildoers, Rann was teleported out of its own galaxy and smack into Thanagar, or so everybody thought. Needless to say, the always-militant Thanagarians flipped the hell out and tried to kill off the Rannians. A coalition of do-gooders is trying to establish a highly uneasy peace and convince the two groups to live together on the wreckage of a single planet, but the Thanagarian military is pretty sure it’d rather just keep wiping out anybody who comes along. Pretty much everybody’s at the party: Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Adam Strange, Captain Comet, the Omega Men, and so on. Meanwhile, along comes Donna Troy, back from the dead again, with that big-ass posse she rounded up a few months ago: Sentinel, Starfire, Firestorm, Cyborg, Jade, Animal Man, and…umm…Bee Girl? Whatever, you know the guys I mean. They’re trying to figure out why the whole universe is out of whack, and conveniently find themselves not far from the Rann-Thanagar party staring at a giant pair of hands, floating in a vortex of yellowish energy. Apparently my first thought—that the hands were raised in prayer or exaltation, and all the badness was soon to end—was a bit off the mark, and they’re actually Bad Hands ™. Said vortex begins spitting out waves of uncontrolled power that destroys anything in its path.
The heroes split up, with one group trying to deal with the Rann-Thanagar sitch and the other trying to figure out how to get rid of the Bad Hands ™. Tigorr of the Omega Men finds a Thanagarian satellite that proves something else actually pushed Rann into Thanagar, and while it’s destroyed immediately thereafter they know enough to track down the evidence that reveals the real culprit: Bad Superboy, now with Head Punching-Off Action ™. His handprints are right there in a huge crater, and that’s enough to get the Thanagarians to back down, at least for a little while. Meanwhile, Kyle and Jade make the decision to head off alone and try to stop the shock waves. They get knocked around by a couple of waves of the energy coming from the Bad Hands ™, and try to devise a way to at least slow it down until somebody else is able to pitch in. It’s then that Jade learns the lesson I’ve long known: when a giant crackling golden hand tries to give you a high five, or displays its kung fu grip, or rocks the shocker, it’s not cuz he’s yer brah. Kyle and Jade don’t cut and run, though. They tough it out, which leads to what really bugged me about the issue, and means I have to be a big Spoily McSpoilerson, so if you worry about this kinda thing, *BIG-ASSED SPOILER*--*NO, SERIOUSLY*: Jade bites it for no good reason.
We all knew the storylines tied to INFINITE CRISIS would have a high body count. I was prepared for that. I was just hoping the deaths would mean something. That’s just not the case here. Jade doesn’t die to stop the Bad Hands ™. She doesn’t buy the hero’s time to shut the thing down, and she doesn’t get out a crucial piece of information before it’s too late. She just dies because she’s not as strong as Kyle and can’t take the hit, which is weak as hell. Actually, the real reason she dies is as a plot device: Kyle once lent her some power way back when, and this way he gets it back, which means Kyle gets a power upgrade. There were other ways to do this, but they weren’t used (for example, a direct hit from some of the vortex’s lightning to Kyle’s ring suddenly torques the ring up just like Jade’s energy would). We cut briefly to the Guardians, who say that Jade returned Kyle’s power to him “subtly changed”, which makes him super-special, or as I like to call it, “whatever”.
It doesn’t just bother me because it was pointless or unnecessary, though. It also bothers me because this is the third girlfriend of Kyle’s to get whacked since he was introduced, and it’s just getting to be a bit much. There are also, at this point, dozens of Green Lanterns we see regularly who are either male or of indeterminate sex. Female reoccurring GL-related characters? Nope, not really. Jade’s dead, and things didn’t go so well for Katma Tui, ex-GL and wife to John Stewart, who was also killed off. If a GL had to die, I suppose Jade was the least developed—but that’s no fault of the character. Killing yet another Kyle girlfriend, and one of the only two female Green Lanterns we’ve ever spent time with, just bugs me—especially at a time where there are four different white guy GL’s running around. I mean, would somebody just kill off Guy Gardner and make it stick already?
There’s also this whole “Kyle is special now” thing. Y’know, I’m one of those people who never wanted Hal Jordan back. Ever. I’ve always liked Kyle better (other than his ridiculous mid-90’s costume, which took almost a decade to ditch). As far as I was concerned, Kyle was already plenty special. Now, though, he’s The One: some mystic intergalactic messiah, but one nobody knew they were waiting for. The development doesn’t feel organic; it just feels shoehorned in. That it’s shoehorned into an issue that doesn’t resolve the threat before leading back into INFINITE CRISIS doesn’t help matters. Neither does the idiotic redesign of his character: as I mentioned earlier, it took years to finally get Kyle into a decent costume. Apparently, though, the guy can’t be allowed to look reasonable for long, so his normal mask is gone—replaced by a goofy-looking star field. Yep, it now looks like Kyle is wearing a patch of material off Donna Troy’s outfit—on his face. I guess it could be considered camouflage, since he’s in space a lot—but the only thing that’s gonna camouflage is his face from his cheekbones to his chin, which ain’t gonna cut it when the Tamaranians or the Weaponers of Qward come gunnin’ for yer ass. I’ve never been a fan of his old-new Winick-created moniker, either—Ion? As in Ziering? Thanks, but…nah.
In the end, it’s not a terrible issue. It does its job, wraps up a few danglers, ties the mini back in to the events of IC, and sets up the status quo for a coupla new series. I just expected a better thought-out wrap-up to the series. I have a hard time laying the blame at the feet of Dave Gibbons, though. It feels like he was asked to get the story from A to B and did it. I get the sense he didn’t make the call on what happened to either Jade or Kyle, and was just asked to set up future events. He does a solid enough job of doing that, and I can’t really fault him for the direction editorial wanted him to go. I’ve been enjoying Gibbons’ work on GL CORPS: RECHARGE a lot, and was intrigued by the first issue of THUNDERBOLT JAXON. If you’d like to see Gibbons’ best work this month, turn to those issues instead of this.
SNAKE-EYES: DECLASSIFIED #1-6
Writer: Brandon Jerwa
Artist: Emiliano Santalucia and Robert Atkins
Publisher: Devil’s Due Publishing
Reviewed by Dave Farabee
I noticed in PREVIEWS that G.I. Joe guru Larry Hama would be contributing an introduction and a new 5-page story to the collected version of SNAKE-EYES: DECLASSIFIED. This was of genuine interest to me. I’d read the first two issues of the “secret origin” mini, determined ‘em to be solid but not noteworthy, and moved on. But if the Big Kahuna himself was offering up approval, well…surely that was worth something, right?
So I re-opened the investigation. Read the issues leading up to the big finale. Read the big finale. And y’know what? A few rough patches aside…I was impressed. I haven’t found much worthy of Hama’s original series since Devil’s Due relaunched the license, but here at last is a new G.I. JOE story deserving of that hushed honor of being considered canonical. For a nostalgia-driven title, this is nothing short of miraculous.
Issues one and two showed us Snake-Eyes’ time in Vietnam, the death of his family, and may or may not have added into continuity the sequence where he spends some time working through his angst as an urban vigilante. I’m pretty hazy on some of Larry Hama’s later additions to the G.I. Joe “mythos”, but certainly the vigilante sequence sets up a key domino for the future of both Snake-Eyes and those pesky terrorists, Cobra.
Where the series gets noteworthy, I think, is right where I’d originally trailed off – issue three. Here writer Brandon Jerwa dives into the longstanding mystery of Snake-Eyes’ ninja training. It all springboards off plot points slowly doled out over the course of Hama’s 12-year+ run on G.I. JOE, but Jerwa’s impressive accomplishment here is in bringing all the puzzle pieces together into a cohesive whole. Hama gave the highlight reel, often revealed through flashbacks dotted with narrative captions, but Jerwa gives the immediacy of seeing it through the eyes of the characters as it happens. Core questions I’d always glossed over as a sort of leap of faith (“How exactly does an honorable guy like Snake-Eyes end up training among assassins?”) are answered. The doomed friendship between Snake-Eyes and the increasingly jealous Tommy – later to become Storm Shadow – takes front and center. Even the side stories with Cobra baddies Zartan and Firefly make their appearances. And as per Hama’s original stories, there’s a heavy dose of Eastern philosophy underpinning it all. I particularly liked what I think was an addition to the back-story – dissent from within the clan over inducting a Western pupil, dissent that fosters the eventual split between Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow.
In the final two issues, we follow Snake-Eyes’ induction into the newly formed G.I. Joe team in the wake of the downfall of the ninja clan. Jerwa builds up Snake-Eyes’ self-loathing, driving home his guilt over the death of his family, the death of friends in Vietnam, and the fall of the ninja clan that had become his surrogate family. It’s hardly the subtlest of tragedies, but for those who care about these toy-based characters that Hama miraculously invested with life, it remains potent. It goes without saying that the G.I. Joe team becomes the third and final family for Snake-Eyes.
Issue six has some of the series’ best moments as we see the assembled Joes standing at attention for the first time even as Cobra’s upper echelon meets for the first time in a darkened basement (yes, that’s Dr. Venom and several other forgotten supporters from G.I. JOE’s first year). The issue also features the early Joe mission where Snake-Eyes was permanently scarred, and here the series did its final work to win me over. There’s a line, a two-word bit of military jargon, that recurs twice in the issue to bring Snake-Eyes’ character arc to perfect fruition. Repeating it wouldn’t do any good – it needs the series’ context – but wrapping on such an ideal note meant that I was able to forgive the series some of its clunkier moments. The tough part with a mini like SNAKE-EYES: DECLASSIFED is that we all know how the story ends, so finding a way to make it resonate is an accomplishment truly worthy of a salute.
No, I’m not gonna say “Yo, Joe!”, fool.
(But I might be thinking it.)
My only lingering disappointment with the series is that the art wasn’t a little stronger. Both Emiliano Santalucia and Robert Atkins contribute workmanlike art, but their poses run a bit awkward and their action sequences aren’t particularly energetic. Perfectly serviceable stuff (I’d liken the effect to Chas Truog’s art on Morrison’s ANIMAL MAN), but accompanied by the overly literalist, air brushy coloring on the series, the net effect is a series carried more by story than art.
I still really dig it. I’d pretty much given up on new G.I. Joe material, but here at last is a new Joe story I can recommend wholeheartedly to old-school fans of the series, unsurprisingly rooted in the earliest history of the team. I buzzed the Devil’s Due message boards to see what the reaction to the series was (very strong) and saw fan ruminations of more “Declassified” series to come. Dunno if such plans are actually on the docket for Devil’s Due, but if a writer as respectful of Hama’s era as Jerwa was to be the mastermind, I’d be interested. C’mon, tell me there’s not a fun story to be had in Zartan’s formation of those Aussie biker terrorists, the Drednoks…
Y THE LAST MAN #42
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artists: Goran Sudzuka and José Marzan Jr
Publisher: DC Vertigo
Reviewer: superhero
Last week this column asked the question “What comic story has actually brought you closest to tears?” Well, dammit, this one didn’t actually make me cry but it came damn close.
In this issue of Y we are treated to the saga of Yorick’s pet monkey Ampersand. It’s a really great bit of storytelling that actually sucked me in and made me realize how much I’ve actually come to care about that damned monkey more than I’d care to admit. Seems like there’s a bit more to Ampersand’s history than we’d been led to believe and he may actually be a key piece of the puzzle as to why the plague in Y: THE LAST MAN may have occurred. We already knew that some of his monkey poop may have been part of the reason Yorick actually survived the plague but now it seems like there may be even more to it than that. Ampersand’s former masters may have actually had something to do with engineering the plague. Or maybe not. I guess we’ll see.
But that’s not even what makes this issue great. What makes it absolutely fantastic is how the storytellers humanize Amp’s journey. He doesn’t even actually DO anything but we’re made to sympathize with him because of what he’s going through. You can’t not identify with him and he’s a monkey for Pete’s sake! Not only that but beyond his shrouded history we’re made to see how integral he’s actually become to Yorick’s journey. I mean, if that scene where Yorick first brings Ampersand to his apartment wasn’t pure storytelling gold then I don’t know what is. The panel where Ampersand tries to eat Yorick’s remote control tugged at my heart and made me laugh at the same time.
If anything proved to me that this book is priceless this issue did. I loved it from cover to cover. I’ve always said that this book was second only to PREACHER for me but with this issue I’d have to say it’s now neck and neck between the two.
Y: THE LAST MAN is a rare book indeed and I’m incredibly thankful for it.
But if that ninja bitch hurts Ampersand’s tail again I’m gonna have to reach into that comic and beat the shit out of her myself…!
I can’t believe a story about a monkey got me this riled up. There’s something seriously wrong with me.
THE PULSE #13
Brian Michael Bendis: Writer
Michael Gaydos: Artist
Marvel Comics: Publisher
Vroom Socko: Thumb
Well, there’s only one more issue after this, and then it’s goodbye Bendis. I have to admit, I’m glad there’s one more installment to look forward to. No, not because I’m going to be sad to see The Bald One leave the book, but because it would be a real shame if his final issue on the title he started were to be such a stinker.
Oh to be sure, there’s a small measure of good stuff in here. Readers have been waiting a little over two years to see the birth of Jessica and Luke’s baby, (and if you add up all of Bendis’ “six months later” blurbs, Miss Jones has probably been pregnant for the same amount of time,) and the moments with these two heroes are the best parts of the book. There’s also a bit with Ms. Marvel (she is calling herself Ms. Marvel again, right?) that’s quite stirring. The rest of the book though…
There’s a scene early on with J. Jonah Jameson that hit me right out of the blue. I don’t read NEW AVENGERS, so I had absolutely no clue what Jessica was so pissed off about. It would have helped to have set this plot point up a bit more in this title, methinks. Also, Jameson’s double-dealing (what I heard about it second hand, at any rate) doesn’t strike me as being his style. Sure, he’s a duplicitous swine who’s about as impartial and honorable as a Super Bowl referee, but his slamming of the Avengers in print seems a little off to me.
But what really got to me was the way Bendis mistreated D-Man.
Yes, I said D-Man.
Look, I’m not going to pretend that he’s a favorite of mine, but I do have a certain fondness for the concept. I like the idea of a homeless hero, of an underground community and their defender. So what does Bendis do with the concept of Zerotown and D-Man? He takes it and turns it into one crazy guy living alone in the sewer. Yeah, that’s another Avenger he’s made cuckoo for Cocoa-Puffs. Whoopee. Like I said, D-Man’s not even close to being an important character in the Marvel universe, but that doesn’t change the fact that Bends has taken a unique and interesting character and turned him into something mundane and boring. Who in the name of hell would call that a good thing?
If you’re one of those people who’ve followed Jessica Jones ever since the first issue of ALIAS, then you’ve probably already bought this book anyway. To everyone else, you can go ahead and skip this one.
GOTHAM CENTRAL #40
Writer: Greg Rucka
Penciler(s): KANO & Stefano Gaudiano
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewed by Humphrey Lee
Well, there we go. It's done. Finished. Finito. Dead and buried and cooling in the ground. A little over three years since its inception and one of DC's most heavily praised and criminally under bought series has come to an end. I'll take the time right here to go ahead and thank all the guys who made this such a great read: Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka, who scripted this series and brought together such great stories and a very lively cast. This book was also my first exposure to Michael Lark's fantastic pencils and I can't thank it enough for that. And also I have to say both of the gentlemen who did the art chores on this book, KANO and Stefano Gaudiano, did a great job of filling in Lark's rather large shoes after he left. I can dare say that this was consistently one of the best reads I've had over the past three years and the book will be greatly missed.
But enough with the love fest, how was this particular issue?
Well, it was good. Really good. Not especially great given the kind of quality that this title has put out before, but definitely better than the majority of the books I've read in the past month. But, at the same time, I was also a little let down by the ending. That I'll get to later though.
The thing that made this issue really good is Rucka's characterization of Renee Montoya. If any character has been run through the wringer during this titles run, it's be Ms. Montoya. She's been kidnapped by Two-Face, outed to the public as a lesbian, disowned by her own family, and as of two issues ago she lost her partner and one of her best friends, Crispus Allen (who apparently is our new host for the entity known as The Spectre) to a murder at the hands of a corrupt cop named Jim Corrigan (and if you're up on your Spectre history, the irony of this is not lost on you). This issue is all about Renee's slow decent into total meltdown as we watch the detectives of this particular Gotham City precinct try and pull together the evidence needed to put Corrigan away for good. But alas, it seems Jimmy boy has covered himself well and life behind bars isn't in his future. And the meltdown ensues...
Again, Montoya has been such a great character for this book, it's actually very harrowing to watch her actions in this issue. Tension really builds as you wonder just what she's going to do to Corrigan for his crimes. I actually found it rather poetic too, as this is the same kind of situation we saw another fantastic Batman universe supporting character, one Harvey Bullock, go through back in the Brubaker and Rucka driven storyline, “Officer Down”, at the beginning of the century. "Will Montoya cross the same line he did?" was weighing very heavily in the back of my mind as the issue progressed to its conclusion, a conclusion that I found rather lackluster.
I mean, okay, it was technically a very powerful ending, but at the same time, it just kinda left things up in the air. Montoya does what she does, and then leaves the force. The End. Now, apparently we get to follow what happens to Montoya in the INFINITE CRISIS follow-up series, 52, but isn't that kind of a rip off? GOTHAM CENTRAL for years has been this "little book that could" and the whole purpose and intrigue of it was how it was a book with normal people in a world with superheroes and more importantly super villains. It was a book about contrast between the lives of normal people in the world of the superhero trying to do whatever good they could in that world as well. And now, if we want to see what's going to happen to one of GOTHAM CENTRAL's lead characters, here, go and buy this giant "event" spawned book? Eh, that's kind of a kick in the jimmy to those who have been loyal to GC these three-plus years if you ask me. The ending here is satisfactory enough to not make me lose any sleep over it or whatever, but still, it doesn't seem right in the back of my mind.
Anyway, don't let that little tangent undermine any of the praise I've heaped on this book earlier. It truly is a classic read and will be missed. While I might be a little upset over the outcome and where it's leading, really, the only true crime here was how under read this book was and how little support DC threw behind this in the way of trade paperback collections. If there's anything that should be proudly up on display on bookcases across the country, this would be it. Thanks again for the ride.
REIKO THE ZOMBIE SHOP
Creator: Rei Mikamoto
Publisher: Dark Horse
Reviewer: Dan Grendell
Worshipping Satan for fun and profit
It's not common to find a comic where the protagonist is actually empowered by Satan and doesn't have a problem with that. Nope, no angst here - the cute young schoolgirl Reiko calls out "Oh, Satan Lord of Demons! Hear our Prayer!" with gusto, raising her pentagram-marked palm high. And you know what? It's refreshing. Maybe it's because this is a Japanese comic and to most Japanese Satan and Jesus are both just legends without any of the real connection Americans and Europeans feel to the names (I'm reminded of the Japanese schoolboy who exclaimed "So, Jesus was a zombie?" after being told the resurrection story). Whatever the reason, Mikamoto ignores the normal comic device of not using Satan and instead including some obvious stand-in. And I like it.
She also has no issue with making her main character a mercenary bitch. It's pretty hard to actually like Reiko as a character, really. She's cool - she uses her satanic power to raise zombies for money and often ends up kicking their ass - but she isn't exactly fun to be around. She's pretty much entirely driven by money, for example, and she isn't exactly Miss Personality either. But those qualities mean that when the inevitable zombie attacks come, she doesn't just freak out like most people in zombie books - she gets pissed off, and she fights back. Reiko's actually pretty unflappable. There's some serious psychological trauma in her past somewhere, I'm pretty sure.
Unfortunately, the book consists of a series of somewhat repetitious events. Reiko raises a zombie (or more), it isn't tied down properly, goes berserk, and mayhem ensues. There's more to it than that in each case - each story has its own interesting plot - but I got a little tired of seeing the same basic formula.
Mikamoto's art is somewhat reminiscent of Junji Ito, with long triangular faces and protruding, bulbous eyes. Sound effects play a large part, especially in action scenes, and they are used quite well. Though much of the book is gory and most people look a bit elongated and just a bit unreal, Mikamoto draws her children squat and cute, similar to the way Ted Naifeh draws COURTNEY CRUMRIN or Chynna Clugston draws herself in the back of BLUE MONDAY (odd comparisons, I know, but whaddayagonnado). This contrast is actually pretty disturbing, and a good choice on her part.
I enjoyed the hell out of this manga, and I'm looking forward to the next volume, but I really wonder two things - Will the second volume follow the same tired formula? And after the ending of this one, how on earth is there a second volume?
GORGEOUS CARAT V. 1
Creator: You Higuri
Publisher: BLU
Reviewer: Dan Grendell
A Master Thief and a poor noble in Gay Paris
Okay, before I actually get into any real reviewing, let's set something straight. (Oh, an unintentional pun). GORGEOUS CARAT is a shonen ai or boy's love manga. That means it deals with a romance between two young men. If that bothers you for some reason, or just isn't your interest, you are probably not gonna like this book. Or much else BLU publishes, for that matter, since that's a big chunk of what they do. If you do like that kinda thing, you may want to check their various books out. Me, I don't much care, so long as the story's good. And in this case, it is.
The tale unfolds in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Paris, where gorgeous young Florian Rochefort's aristocratic family is going broke. Florian is a classic bishonen, or pretty boy, with feminine features and long hair. To maintain their status, Florian's mother sells nearly everything - except the 120-carat diamond known as the Flame of Mughal. Plenty of people come sniffing around looking for the gem, including Ray Balzac Courland, better known as the master thief, Noir. Noir offers plenty of money for the gem, but when rebuffed, offers the money instead for Florian - and to help his mother, Florian accepts! This begins a tempestuous relationship between the two that hasn't gotten much better by the end of this volume. Through a search for the gem, an escape from a murderer, and attempts to help a young boy find his father, they continue to argue and fight - and Noir falls hard for Florian.
The action flows well from scene to scene, and the developing romance doesn't seem to drag or feel tacked on really. Higuri does seem to have a thing for drawing people being whipped, which was a little odd, and I got tired of that pretty quick, but other than that the story was quite solid. The art is quite pretty, but doesn't really stand out in any way. I didn't see the obsession with costuming that you often find in period manga like this. There were occasional flashes of great art, with good use of shadowing and detail, but for the most part it was just okay, in service to the story.
GORGEOUS CARAT isn't for everyone, but if you don't mind or actively seek out boy-boy romance, it's definitely worth hunting down.
BUCKAROO BANZAI: RETURN OF THE SCREW PREVIEW
Moonstone
I am so ready for some more Banzai! BUCKAROO BANZAI limped onto theater screens back during the summer I graduated from high school. But while it may have flopped financially, it was one of those movies that I and my circle of buddies went to see over and over. I'll never understand why a movie about a genius/adventurer/scientist/inventor/neurosurgeon/rock star with an eccentric team of agents battling the crazed Dr. Lizardo and evil aliens all named "John" was not immediately successful! Moonstone is coming out with a brand new BUCKAROO miniseries based on an original story by BUCKAROO's creator and this 50¢ Preview is an excellent way to advertise it. The artwork is black and white and very professional - helped I'm sure by the quality inks of veteran comic book inker Keith Williams. Highlights for me were the text pieces in the back of the preview that give background on how the comic came to be and why various attempts to bring back BUCKAROO on the small-screen have failed. What a coup for Moonstone. Can't wait for the new mini. Right now? I think I'm going to crack out my BUCKAROO BANZAI: ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION DVD. It's been about 6 months since I last entered the world of the BANZAI INSTITUTE FOR BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING AND STRATEGIC INFORMATION. - Prof. Challenger
WORLDWATCH # 1-3
Written by: Chuck Austen
Illustrated by: Tom Derenick
Published by: Wild and Wooly Press
Reviewed by: superhero
You ever wonder what the JLA would be like if they starred in their own version of a Skinemax soft-core porn comic? Well, true believers, now you don’t have to because courtesy of Wild and Wooly Press we have WORLDWATCH.
WORLDWATCH deals with the adventures of the world’s foremost super team. They save the world, fight the bad guys, commit feats of derring-do and pretty much everything else all of your favorite superheroes do, except for one thing. They have sex. Lots and lots of sex. Oh, and they tend to use nasty four letter words a bit. I’m not talking about stuff like @!#$. I mean bad, bad words like the f word and the other word which I won’t spell out here because, well, this is a column about comics and as we all know comics are for kiddies. Well, at least most comics are. WORLDWATCH is most decidedly not.
Which is fine, actually. I mean in a world where DC comics is actually publishing books where villains like Dr. Light are homicidally raping supporting characters and old-school heroes like Superboy are bloodily beheading super villains what’s wrong with a comic where the superheroes actually get to have a little on screen hokey-pokey? Nothing, I say. I mean, if heroes can tear off other heroes arms with wild abandon in mainstream books why not have a comic where the Wonder Woman archetype takes it from behind from the Superman archetype? Nothing at all. Just so long as no one under eighteen gets to look at it, right? I mean kids of all ages can watch the Last Son of Krypton homicidally murder a bunch of costumed clowns but they better not get a good look at him doing the nasty with Wondergirl. That’d be way too traumatic.
And it’s actually funny because WORLDWATCH is actually one of the most juvenile books I’ve ever read. The characterization is pretty flat, the action is straightforward, and it’s about as deep as a rain puddle. I mean if you’re looking for something insightful go read WATCHMEN, bucko, because you’re not going to get it here. WORLDWATCH is as basic as a comic book can get. I mean, let’s face it, the only thing that really separates it from other books is that it’s got its fair share of nudie sex scenes starring heroes that are basically morally bankrupt. But, here’s the thing, I actually enjoyed the heck out of it.
The thing about WORLDWATCH is that it’s actually pretty amusing in its own way. Not in the way that you’re thinking either. Get your minds out of the gutter people. OK, we are talking about a superhero sex book here so you can have them in the gutter if you want but there’s a bit more to WORLDWATCH than meets the er, um, eye.
WORLWATCH actually has some funny little character bits sprinkled here and there. Like what if Wonder Woman wasn’t into Superman or Batman but actually had the red hots for Lex Luthor? Or what if you had the power to change into a Captain Marvel type hero but Marvel was actually gay and you were straight?
It’s clever stuff like that which keeps WORLDWATCH from being just some pathetic porn comic. I’m not saying it’s actually an intelligent book but there are enough neat ideas in it that keep it from being completely dismissed as your typical T & A book which, let’s face it, a lot comics are anyway. They just tend to cover up all of the sensitive parts that the conservative among us would have problems with people actually seeing.
The other thing that really lifts WORLDWATCH above the norm is the artwork. Derenick’s art here is truly fantastic. He brings a truly great style to this book that makes the superhero stuff look absolutely powerful. Sure the figures are a bit overly muscled but the artist is able to avoid the stiff look that a lot of other artists employ when drawing super heroic proportions. The inking is smooth and precise and the storytelling is clear from panel to panel. It’s really rare these days that an artist of a superhero book impresses me this much but Derenick did. If it wasn’t for him I probably wouldn’t have picked up the book in the first place. I honestly don’t know what else he’s working on but someone needs to put this guy to work on a high profile book because he could be the next big find much like Rags Morales was a couple of years ago.
But the artist isn’t the only thing that actually made me take notice of the book. All around, the production on these books is highly professional. Everything from the paper stock to the coloring of issues two and three (issue one was in black and white) make the book look like something that might’ve been published from one of the big two. It’s an indie book but it doesn’t come across like it. WORLDWATCH is a book that was put together with a professional look in mind you can tell. It wasn’t just thrown together and that’s a major selling point as far as I’m concerned.
If WORLDWATCH reminded me of anything it’d be the Rick Veitch book BRATPACK. It’s almost the same sort of thing dealing with superheroes that have some pretty bizarre foibles. WORLDWATCH doesn’t portray as harsh a reality as BRATPACK did, though. In this book the superheroes are still glamorous and great looking if a bit kinky and loathsome. Still, it is an entertaining and fun read and I’ll be keeping my eye out for the fourth issue, if it ever gets released. I’d read on the internet somewhere that the decision had been made to not go ahead with issue four which really is a shame. Because if comic book publishers can let some of their characters start acting like machete wielding Rwandan militia men then there’s no reason that they can’t act like San Fernando Valley porn stars as well.
ATHENA VOLTAIRE
Speakeasy Comics
ATHENA VOLTAIRE is the kind of pulp adventure comic that would’ve fit in perfectly among 11th hour CrossGen offerings like KISS KISS BANG BANG and EL CAZADOR. By that I mean the writing is rock-solid, the art detailed and inspired by classic illustrators, and the concept…well, “classic” is the nice way to say it, “derivative” if you’re feeling a bit more critical.
The quickie premise: Indiana Jones as a cute chick in the genre known as 1930s action/exploration/Nazi-stomping. Our lead is Athena Voltaire, an expatriate French air ace who grew up in America to become a crack shot, a romantic interest for Howard Hughes, and the founder of an air courier service that runs risky missions. And lots of stuff happens in the first issue. There’s Nazis, headhunters, rope bridges, an air battle, the Maltese Falcon, and even a hottie rival in the form of a blond, Nazi ice queen. It’s all very nicely done, very comfortable, but in the end I need a few more curve balls in my pulp adventure (eg. THE ROCKETEER, XENOZOIC TALES, GRIMJACK, etc.). Newsarama ran a nice preview so you can get a feel yourself. The one advantage ATHENA VOLTAIRE has over those CrossGen books is that it’s a miniseries, so less chance of coitus interruptus if Speakeasy follows in CrossGen’s footsteps. - Dave Farabee
THE FLYING FRIAR #1
WriterRich Johnston
Artist: Thomas Nachlik
Publisher: Speakeasy Comics
Reviewer: Prof. Challenger
I enjoyed THE FLYING FRIAR. It brought a smile to my face…and an occasional groan. But more smiles. What was fun for me was going into the comic without really reading up on any of the news reports or Johnston's own shilling for his project - which I don't fault him for. In fact, if some old-timers in the biz spent as much time and effort promoting themselves and their products I think we might see some unexpected career resuscitations. Johnston knows the importance of advertising and marketing just like Stan Lee did. Good for him.
He obviously got struck one day, while drinking some fine Irish beer and watching his SMALLVILLE SEASON ONE DVDs, by a concept - What if the legendary St. Joseph was the "real" Clark Kent. Johnston blends the historical legends about St. Joseph's miraculous levitations with a fictitious SMALLVILLE-inspired storyline. In Johnston's storyline, a mysterious meteor shower in Spring of 1603 deposits a dark-haired boy who would grow up to exhibit supernatural powers such as flight, invulnerability, x-ray vision, and heat vision. Joseph is also frequently beset by ecstatic visions of God's miraculous hand in creation. Driven by a calling on his heart to devote his life to God by joining the Franciscan Order, the uneducated Joseph unfortunately has a reputation for clumsiness and weirdness which prevents the Order from wanting to accept his application.
Joseph also has a lifelong friend in Lux Luther, the heretic scientist and descendant of Martin Luther. Lux is obsessed with inventing a flying machine for himself. He also lost his hair during the meteor storm. This was the first big tip-off to me that Johnston wasn't going to be subtle in the Superman/Joseph parallels in his story. The groaner moment came when we found out that Lux's thick-maned and bearded father was named Lionel. That may have been slightly too much in the way of parallels.
However…I still found the comic fun and I even thought a lot of Johnston's manner of presenting Joseph's legendary visions. It was well-thought out both visually and textually. Joseph's discussion with Lionel Luther about God's majesty and the clockwork nature of the universe was exceptionally thought-provoking and appropriate for the time-period of the setting. Johnston also takes this story as an opportunity to address some of the horrors of the Inquisition, including a failed secret attempt to try and execute Joseph. The personal confrontation between Joseph and the corrupt Pope was intense and unpredictable.
Where Johnston took it into an original direction - less derivative of the Superman source material - culminated in the final conflict between Joseph and Lux that results in a paralyzed Lux that Joseph takes care of for 20 years. The evil heretic has his revenge, though, in Johnston's clever take on "kryptonite."
The black and white art for the comic is by Polish artist Thomas Nachlik and is a real treat. It's got a very European feel to it with a stylized high-contrast look. I loved the artwork. The cover by Thorsten Ebert was my favorite cover of the last month. Beautiful, beautiful stuff.
Yes, THE FLYING FRIAR comes off as if it may be a failed DC Elseworlds proposal, but in the vein of mixing a real-world legend with a modern pop-cultural legend, it's a more than decent romp. Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so since the issue's sold-out just about everywhere inspiring Johnston and Speakeasy to make the comic available for a purchased download at www.richjohnston.com. I know Rich Johnston may be the most popularly loathed individual in the comics news biz in his role as purveyor of rumors, but you know what? He wrote a decent little comic that even sent me onto the web to get up to speed on the background of the real St. Joseph of Copernito and my hat’s off to him for that.
Remember, if you have an Indie book you’d like one of the @$$holes to take a look at, click on your favorite reviewer’s link and drop us an email.
Remember, if you have an Indie book you’d like one of the @$$holes to take a look at, click on your favorite reviewer’s link and drop us an email.
GREEN LANTERN #8
DC Comics
You remember that scary little plant that Mongul used to nearly defeat Superman by making his mind disappear into a false reality of how perfect his life might have been if Krypton had never exploded? Well, now we got Mongul Jr. pulling the same stunt on Green Lantern and Green Arrow - sharing one of those monstrous plants. Where Geoff Johns has been reading like he's pulled a little too thin on comics like the TEEN TITANS, there was no such indicator here. Intelligent, literate, and emotional, this was a fine example of the modern super-hero with no shock-value moments, just solid storytelling. The trickiest thing to any story involving these little wish-fulfillment plants is figuring out a logical and believable way for the heroes to break that hold on their minds and hearts. In my view, Johns pulled off the near-impossible: he topped Alan Moore in his solution. This series is the only DC series I'm disappointed in about the "One Year Later" jump that's coming... because I don't want to miss out on a whole year of the newly reenergized Hal's life. - Prof.
I (HEART) MARVEL #1: MY MUTANT HEART
Marvel Comics
Marvel really shoulda gotten Bendis to write a story for each of the I (HEART) MARVEL Valentine specials. It’s not that there aren’t some fun stories here, it’s just that A) This mini is very low profile and could’ve used some star power, and B) There’s no denying: Bendis writes some great relationship drama, whether we’re talking Ultimate Peter Parker and Mary Jane, Matt Murdock and Milla, or Luke Cage and Jessica Jones (insert butt-sex joke here – ha, I practically did it for ya! “Insert”! Awesome!). Hell, I’d much rather have Bendis on something funky and intimate like this than shaping the destiny of the Marvel Universe on all the big projects – but hey, it’s not to be, so let’s give the book a look-see on its own merits. What we’ve got here are three short mutant-themed stories by relatively small names. First one’s from Marvel stalwart Daniel Way, a dark tale of love lost for Wolverine, and a payback that’s decades in coming. Solid. Second is a Doop story from Peter Milligan, and it’s absolutely the winner of the bunch. There’s much amusement to be had as a hardboiled detective stalks Doop’s affair with a married woman (not for the faint of heart), and the ending is absolutely grin-inducing. Great art, too, from Marcos Martin – reminds me of Cameron Stewart and Javier Pulido, Milligan’s collaborators on THE HUMAN TARGET. Lastly, there’s a Cannonball/Lila Cheney yarn about mistrust in a relationship. Always liked that pairing, the backwoods hick and the rocker chick, but somehow I was hoping for more than the goofy outing we get. Props to writer/artist Tom Fish for an alien seeking a stolen guitar, though (“Surrender the Fender!”). Fish cooks up several winning lines, including the last one. Made me laugh out loud, or LOL to you internet kiddies. - Dave
ANGEL: OLD FRIENDS #3
IDW Publishing
I’m a huge fan of Jeff Mariotte’s creator-owned series DESPERADOES. While his work on the ANGEL series isn’t quite as impressive, he still turns in solid work. Spike, Gunn, Lorne and Illyria all speak in voices that feel like their characters from the series, which isn’t always an easy task and hasn’t always been the case in the comics based on Whedon’s TV series. It’s an interesting enough story—evil doppelgangers of the characters are turning up and causing trouble around LA—but it’s not without problems. For one thing, there are a lot of questions left unanswered between the end of the TV series and this mini, with no clear indication of when they’ll be addressed. More seriously, though, is a general sense that there just isn’t enough going on. The issue clocks in at a full 22 pages, but it still feels a little slight. There are places where the art could have been tightened up a little, some panels condensed or combined, and it would’ve allowed for more story in the same number of pages. Definitely one of the better ANGEL/BUFFY related series in a while, but not perfect. Probably better for existing fans than new readers. - Sleazy G
BATMAN & THE MONSTER MEN #4 (of 6)
DC Comics
Matt Wagner’s putting out a damn good miniseries here. More than anything it reminds me of the first few years of LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT when the quality was at its highest, everyone was doing “year one” stories, and everyone was aping Frank Miller’s BATMAN: YEAR ONE narrative captions. The “year one” stuff does feel a touch derivative in that sense, but with strong old-school writing and terrific art, there’s no reason to get testy about it. I also like the concept: a retelling of a Golden Age Batman story, mildly retconned to act as his first battle with metahuman foes. More specifically, these are giant Frankenstein monster-types created by Batman’s mad-scientist baddie, Hugo Strange. The highlight of the issue is a spectacular extended battle between Batman and three of the brutes in an enclosed cell. Batman’s pushed to his absolute limits of stamina and innovation just to survive, all with excellent fight choreography and a real sense of the stakes. I also like Batman’s love interest, debutant Julie Madison, given a surprisingly rounded characterization that reminded me of Matt Wagner’s excellent treatment of Dian Belmont in SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE (buy the trades, buy ‘em now!). An excellent standalone series. - Dave
A DOUBLE SHOT OF
FURY: PEACEMAKER #1
Marvel Knights
Once again, Garth Ennis proves just how capable a writer he can be. The same more mature approach Ennis has brought to the last few years of his PUNISHER series is put to use here with great affect. This series is set in WWII, at a time when a young (and two-eyed) Sergeant Nick Fury is stuck leading a doomed squad of green kids into battle in one of the many African campaigns that were dominated by German forces. There’s a great framing technique used a few different times where we see the squad in training, being told how impressive the American air and ground support are, and then cut to the battle and see just how miserably the tanks and planes are failing. Darick Robertson’s battle sequences are easy to follow and fall solidly in the tradition of great war comics. I wasn’t a fan of the “cranky old nihilistic whoremonger” take on Fury Ennis did a few years ago, but this book is light years from that (and from his lame GHOST RIDER mini). Between this and the new SGT. ROCK miniseries, it’s a good time for fans of war comics. - Sleazy G
But Humphrey says…
Garth Ennis! Darick Robertson! Nick Fury in a World War II setting! This book has to be awesome, right! Well, no, not exactly. While I've tremendously enjoyed all the previous engagements that Ennis and Robertson have done for Marvel the past few years (the FURY limited series for MAX, and BORN) this book just failed to pull me in like those books did. I don't know if maybe Ennis' war tales are starting to wear on me by now, or maybe it's just that I'm a sick sonuvabitch and really miss the extra brutality this book is no doubt missing by inexplicably not being a MAX title, but this first issue was very "meh". If anything, it really just feels forced. We've got a little too many of the old standby's that drive these kinds of titles: Your little pack of outgunned and inexperienced soldiers fighting for survival, and an incompetent leader who would only get them killed if not for Fury (not that things turn out good anyway with him in the lead). It just seems like too much rehash, and toned down rehash at that. I still believe in the creative team enough that I think this limited series could turn out to be an overall entertaining read, but this was definitely not the start I was hoping for. - Humphrey Lee
ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #648
DC Comics
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I care not for this topic
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And I don't even read comics. What a tosser.
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Now that I've read a bit of the topic, some of those comics look pretty good. Thanks for the reviews guys!
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Choking on my own rage here.
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Close enuff
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Huh? Infinite Crisis isn't even over yet!
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really SHOULD stick to writing porn.
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from last week: THE STARK HYPERSPACE WAR. You are correct that the artist is excellent. However, I have come to the conclusion that perhaps the prequel universe is just not for me. For some reason I can't muster up any feeling for the prequel jedis and the sad truth is that as with the films I keep hoping the villains will win and win big! So I'll give the OG stuff a try instead.
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...were a big element wrong with the prequels. You couldn't relate to them, whereas Luke, Han and Leia pretty much represented young Americans for their time. When everyone is a Jedi or Senator or whatever, we can't see ourselves in them. The Jedi were essentially a bunch of tightasses and except for the Younglings, they sorta had a comeuppance due. I have a slight interest in magick, and it seems like Lucas made the mistake of confusing black and white magick. As I understand it, the Jedi were really closer to black magick and the Sith to white. The Sith were in touch with their feelings, had the freedom to love and experience emotion. Of course, this wasn't George's intent. The thing was sort of a mess really. But I really felt that Anakin and Palpatine were right about everything up until they murdered the kids.
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And I didn't buy any books this week. The landscape is bleak, my friends.
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For the first time in a long time he had Supes get involved in some knock down crazy fights. Of course the "quippy" Supes didn't exactly fit the character but as it went on Austen toned it down a bit and made him less of a Super-wiseass. Plus I liked the fact that he just came out and confronted the fact that Lois had just become a bitch in recent years. What can I say? Of the little bit of it that I've read I've actually enjoyed Austen's writing. Why does everyone hate this guy so much? I guess it has something to do with his run on an X-Book? The X-books suck anyway (except Astonishing)! How could one guy (besides Chris Claremont) have dragged them down any further than they already were? It's almost impossible...
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DC should pass an issue of Y out for Free Comic Book Day. You read one issue and you will be hunting down all the rest in trade form by the end of the week.
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Who here is as excited as me?
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His super sappy soap opera subplots. The hot single mom with the cute kid seeing it all for the very first time. Then he'll throw in random things like She-Hulk having sex with the Juggernaut (no), or Jan getting drunk on Margaritas and sleeping with Clint (no - as Slott so hilariously mocked in the She-Hulk anniversary issue). He's also just generally awful in resolving plots in any significant manner and interveaving them with subplots. Oh, and don't forget blatant disregard for previous characterization. Did I mention I'm not a fan?
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but I get what you're saying. My problem was that the Jedi weren't really all that heroic. Lucas cribbing all of these ideas from different sources made it an incoherent mess because he couldn't fuse them. Some of them really don't even go together. Matrix sequels had the same problem. People will buy all kinds of things in a movie, but if the film doesn't even follow its own logic, you're in trouble.
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Good one, Sleazy.
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...wasn't sure if anybody'd catch that one.
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...is the first Elementals Sex Special. It's got two short stories in it, and the first one is actually a pretty thoughtful "what if" about supers getting funky. The second story is basically just softcore porn, but hey, I'm never one to scoff at cartoon boobs.
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Where's the love for the Bru Crew? I've got to admit that I didn't care for the idea of Bucky coming back. It violates rule #1 (Bucky stays dead) and it seemed to borrow heavily from the Batman/Jason Todd thing over at Dismemberment Comics. Despite those misgivings I kept picking up the book. I'm glad I did. While I'm not totally down with what Brubaker did (for the above reasons). I do respect the fact that he didn't fuck up the whole thing. Of course now that Bucky is back, we're going to be treated to a bunch of fucking hacks totally butchering any potential value the character might have, re: Hush/Gotham Knights. Maybe Bucky was better off dead. Speaking of which, Marvel, I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS!!! You know, the two dollars (and change) that I forked over for Uncanny X-Men. Can anybody give me a reason *not* to stop pulling that book? Because the fact Claremont is writing it isn't really cutting it any more. Have a good one, I'm out.
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Meant to cover it this week, but it was not to be. Better late than never, hopefully...
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The boy love crap that is going on in anime and manga is more commonly known as Yaoi(pronounced Yow-ee)
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How about reviewing some comics that are remotely interesting like you usually do.
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Maybe you should get on the horn with the publishers and ask them to *produce* some interesting books, willworkfor...
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...as a catch-all for the gay love stories in manga, but "shonen-ai" is *distinctly* the term used for less explicit depictions. And I wouldn't be so quick to call it 'crap'. I'm pretty much for anything that brings chicks into comics, whether it's to my own tastes or not. That includes stories that appear to be THE ADVENTURES OF YOUNG DAVID BOWIE.
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Maybe it was Lucas' intent to make us say, "You know what? The Jedi ARE a bunch of jerks, the Senate IS corrupt, maybe the Sith SHOULD clean house" and then pull a swerve and make us say "Holy crap! That's no reason to kill everyone!" But then again, maybe I'm giving him too much credit.
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Do any of the insiders around here know why DC doesn't have a liason with Warner Bros. film? Why isn't a property like Light Brigade - which the company owns through DC- being developed? Why aren't other properties being developed as HBO series (Preacher, Starman, etc.)
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Any chance that he stole the idea of Snake Eyes as an urban vigilante going to government service from Tom Clancy? (see Without Remorse)
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But they don't let me anymore. My question is this: why does the "Snake Eyes" cover look exactly like the "Wanted" cover?
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...so it's only fair. Or something. As for the WITHOUT REMORSE comparison - never read the book, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if that was the inspiration. I guess my question is more, "Was it Larry Hama who appears to've riffed on Clancy's idea or was it the new guy?" Of course, I'm pretty sure Clancy didn't invent the urban, militarized vigilante idea, either. I think it might've been Buzz's pop.
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...while the industry itself is reasonably stablized right now and there's even some minor growth...*artistically* we're in a slump. Personally I've been enjoying some meat-and-potato type escapist comics lately - Marvel ESSENTIALS, this G.I. JOE mini I reviewed, Slott's stuff, Wagner's BATMAN & THE MONSTER MEN, even some old Chuck Dixon NIGHTWING material. It's probably some kind of regressive thing in reaction to the blood 'n' gutz escapism dominating right now, but the hell with it - I'm enjoying myself. And FABLES is always great, this week's new one being no exception. LOCAL's pretty awesome for something a little more adventurous. But, yeah, there's not exactly anything setting the world on fire at the moment. I guess FABLES comes closest, but this decade is thus far sorely lacking in a WATCHMEN/DARK KNIGHT/SIN CITY/SANDMAN/PREACHER - that is, a popular favorite that *also* happens to be great. If you're looking for something a bit more adventurous, though, you might check out the recommendations of some of these guys: http://tinyurl.com/duv8l
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I read an issue or two when it came out, but for whatever reason didn't see how the series wrapped. I do remember that it was DARK AS HELL - you ain't kiddin' about that pervasive air of doom. And Snejbjerg has *definitely* gotten an unfair rap. His work on LIGHT BRIGADE looked like a career peak to me, and certainly some of the best stuff DC had goin' on last year. Somethin' else: I actually like him *over* Tony Harris these days. Harris is really good, but he's veered too far into the photoreference stuff even as Snejbjerg's just gotten better and better.
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Buzz, you nailed it: "At the time, Ben has lost his cosmic ray spawned powers and has been reduced to wearing a Thing exo-skeleton, which I've always found to be both stupid and cool at the same time." Right on. I read some of my older bro's FF issues with the Thing-suit, and obviously the suit can't hold a candle to the Thing his own rocky self, but somehow...it's so weird that it becomes cool. I guess the idea was that Reed built it so the FF baddies wouldn't know the Thing was powerless? Obviously he could've just whipped up some robotic exoskeleton otherwise, but no, he had to make a robo-suit that looked exactly like the Thing's hide! It returned during the underrated Walt Simonson run on FF in the late 80s (might've been early 90s), and had the same doofy/cool quality then, too. ***** Sidebar: Speaking of Simonson's FF run, I recently came across some trivia I probably should've known: those who've read his FF or recent issues of SHE-HULK know that he created a time-travel-management bureaucracy called the Time Variance Authority. Now all the pencil-pushers behind the TVA happen to look alike (the effect being not unlike the Agents in THE MATRIX), sporting receding hair lines, bushy mustaches, and a kind of skinny doofiness. Well it turns out they're based on the likeness of the late, great Mark Gruenwald. He was the big continuity cop at Marvel in his day, the main man for all things trivial, and so the TVA guys are basically Simonson's tribute to him. Maybe this is common knowledge, but I always thought the TVA'ers were just supposed to look like nerdy accountants - turns out nerdy accountants just happen to look like Mark Gruenwald. Anyway, kind of a cool thing. Since Gruenwald's the guy whose mind was wonky enough to conceive of having his cremated ashes mixed with the ink on the SQUADRON SUPREME trade paperback, I have a feeling he'd have approved.
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Nice stereotypical bullshit start to your first review there. "I went to the movies and WAH WAH NOTHING GOOD WAS SHOWING." Yeah, we've got nothing good or creative to choose from at the cinema today. Brokeback Mountain? Yeesh. Same ol' stupid gay cowboy movie that they've been makin' since the 60s. Capote? It's pretty much the same thing as Brokeback Mountain! The Matador? Munich? King Kong? Syriana? Crap crap crap crap. Fortunately, there's the always good world of comics to look forward to. Like the latest issue of Robin, or the death throes of Justice League. The movies offer nothing but bland, boring crap, while comics are all fresh and inventive. ... You fucking douchebag.
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Captain America, Runaways, 7 Soldiers, Local, Goon, Dan Slott, Peter David's Marvel stuff (though I'm keeping it on a short rope), Ultimate Fantastic Four. Plus some stuff in trade form like 100 Bullets, Fables, Ultimates and Daredevil. And All-Star Superman--you can count Morisson/Quitely's output as stuff that's both great and popular. Plus I'm reading some stuff I missed like Concrete, Locas, and Palestine. *** The biggest crime right now is Vertigo as far as I'm concerned, which has become everything that it used to be the antithesis of. I could write a 1000 word post on it but won't bother. *** Actually, the biggest crime is probably Milligan on X-Men. It kills me that he's writing Apocaylpse stories with that terrible artist when he's one of the best writers out there when left to his own devices.
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will there be a hardcover of the light brigade?
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Not that I am a Jade fan, but her death was super-"meh." And I couldn't agree more about all the white-guy GLs out there. I'm not the diversity police, but geez! Of course, I am amazed that ANYONE wanted Hal Jordan back. Go figure. I remember a series about sexed-up superheroes featuring a character called Monster Girl. It was a'ight but I can't remember the name. finally, Shulkie banging Juggernaut was totally in character, one of the rare Austen things I've enjoyed. His King Hyperion storyline in Exiles was also good. But he blows and can't maintain characterization, fo sure. I bought 6 books this week. Only read one so far--the big tease "return of Moonstone" in Thunderbolts, where of course she returns for exactly one panel.
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Good issue, but a pretty damn big coincidence. They send the Monkey to Dr Mann. It gets switched at the airport. Y ultimately hooks up with Dr. Mann anyway. What I really want to say is, they better release the TPB of Batman and the Monster Men FAST.
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Discuss.
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awesome
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It was written by Dan Raspler, and it ran 18 issues through '97 and '98. In fact, its final issue was a tie-in to the DC 1,000,000 event. I liked that book--it was really entertaining. I was bummed when it was cancelled.
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Discuss? Well, here's a shot: French Bush=extremely hairy Bendis, not so much. Vale, are you sampling some of the local agricultural products of the white, powdery variety? What the hell are you talking about?
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I liked this month's issue, but I must admit I found it a bit confusing. I figure I'll understand it later, but this was a one-shot issue, so it may be much later. I always like that book, though the art was slighly-just a teeny bit-off with the guest artist. I think it's maybe had too many sidetracks, but I'd pick it over Fables as the best Vertigo book. Not that Fables isn't excellent. There are many excellent books these days, despite awful directions such as, y'know, that whole thing that began with Avengers 500 and is continuing with 192.
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"This is your brain on drugs". Has anyone here ever done coke? I'd be scared to choke to death. I mean it IS powder!
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Never thought i'd see an @$$hole promoting Read yourself Raw. Awesome. You know, i look at that recommended reading list and see nothing even remotely resembling Ian Churchill's or Michael Turner's Supergirl covers and i'm reminded: This is what comics are all about. Closest thing to Superhero comics in it is New X-Men. Oh and Plastic Man. And that makes me happy. And i would say "IMO" but i can't cause the thought police police hate that shit. But i guess i did, didn't i?
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think you missed the point of Bug's review there buddy. Et tu douche?
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without choking - fuck coc, who knows what would happen to my frail diabetic body!
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What happened was that the FF had been called in to capture the Hulk. The only way they could beat ol' Greenskin was to fight dirty, which didn't sit well with Ben, relating man-monster to man-monster. Further, he was upset by Reed's and the Army's treatment of Dr. Banner, as well as being upset about his own monsterdom in general, so he busted the Hulk free in a fit of rage. The two heroes decked the FF and took off in one of those futuristic planes they have sitting around in the Marvel Universe (why do they have those planes and also regular planes? wouldn't regular planes be obsolete?). Ben started regretting his actions as soon as he realized that the Hulk had all the self-control of a 3 year old maniac on crack. They squared off on the St. Louis arch. Prolonged exposure to gamma rays overrode the effects of the cosmic rays on the Thing (did they ever try it again on purpose? I may not have read that issue, but they probably didn't) and Ben lost his powers. The FF's legal charter stated that they had to have four super-beings on staff so Reed hired Luke Cage. Ben was pissed off and felt out of place even though he could now have sex with Alicia. Probably have some sort of incestuous reaction to all the sex his daughter was having with her now de-monsterfied boyfriend, Alicia's super-villain father, the Puppet Master, took control of Luke Cage and had him beat up the FF and Fantasti-Carjack them, while kidnapping Alicia. Reed unveiled a Thing exo-skeleton to Ben. They went dusted off the original Fantasti-Car, tracked down the Puppet Master and crew aboard the current model and Exo-Thing beat up on possessed Power Man, although not as well as Cosmic Thing could have. Alicia and Cage were rescued and Ben was on the team again. Later, Ben actually managed to punch Galactus. In retribution, Galactus zapped him. Ben was puzzed because the beams didn't hurt. After Galactus was defeated, the Thing suit started to feel kinda tight. Ben turned back into his rocky self. As for Walt Simonson's run on the FF, that was the last time I really liked the book.
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You like Slott's, The Thing and She-Hulk series, right?
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http://tinyurl.com/8k7jh *** as for the blood on Cap's shield? Hmm? And the image itself is just so bland. Blah.
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I HATED that lame-assed Chemo cleanup crap! They just took a really powerful moment from Infinite Crisis # 4 (the nuking of Bludhaven) and just freaking reduced it to a silly comic-book footnote in the span of a month! I mean, Bludhaven gets nuked and it's pretty crazy stuff but don't worry because in crappy superhero comic style it's stripped of ALL relevance and power because Superman can just swoop in there and clean it up in one issue??? LAME! LAAAAAMMMEEE! Talk about a waste of a powerful incident in the DCU! Bludhaven should have been a nuclear wasteland but now it's just...it's OK...everything's alllllright...because all the contamination has been cleaned up by Chemo???? So the idiot supervillains who used him as a bomb didn't see this coming? That's why so many superhero books suck. There's no lasting reprecussions to anything! I mean just a month later and Bludhaven's OK, hunky dorey? Ummm...no. There should have been some lasting after effects. Now it just comes across as a tired super villain plot gone awry. Oh, yeah, and I like it when all the other superheroes look up to Superman. It's the tired "Lois writes an awestruk article on Superman" device that I'm sick of...
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...but I've sworn off new comics for a long time. I can't bear to get rid of comics. I don't want to E-Bay 'em or anything, and I just can't justify filling up more boxes in the garage when I'm going to move some day. I don't get anything I don't want to move. So, ridiculously, I've switched to reprints only. I almost bought DC SHOWCASE HOUSE O' MYSTERY today, and I may break down, go back and get it, but I'm resisting all I can. Slott is one of the best guys working currently, although I hope he will branch out and do something a little more serious soon to extend the longevity. He does pretty good at blending lighter and heavier material, but I'd hate to see someone with his talent become a niche guy. Slott's stuff, I would like. In addition to storing and moving the beasts, I also want to take no risks about liking the material any more. Like, I looked at a PLANETARY today, and while I've loved PLANETARY, there have also been a slew of issues, since the extended hiatus, that I've disliked....Yeah, I'm buying that HOUSE O' MYSTERY SHOWCASE.
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...or that the prequels are 90% assy. But through the comics, cartoons, and (crass though it may seem) the videogames, I did come to like the Jedi of the era. Most everyone else makes 'em cooler than Lucas, especially the cartoons. But if they seem a little hard to relate too...well, they are knights after all. I'm okay with them feeling distant, though for dramatic purposes in the prequels, Lucas should've cooked up some more lively allies for 'em (remember the Queen's royal guard dude? Total cypher as portrayed, but he could've been some cool, salt-of-the-earth badass who could talk to the Queen without formality). I also wish we'd seen more rebellious Jedi like Qui-Gon and less in the way of toe-the-line council members. But the prequelverse still interests me, at least partially because the good guys are destined to lose. Getting to know the Jedi Knights in the comics and 'toons carries a bit of heightened drama for me because they're pretty much all fated to die. I also like some of the Clone stories just for providing some straight-up military adventure staged with all the STAR WARS gadgetry and explodo. Aaaaaanyway...cool that you gave it a look, Superninja. Hope the EMPIRE-era stuff is more to your tastes.
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Other medium besides the movies, such as comics, may help make them more tolerable. Ironically, relatability to the characters was what set the original trilogy apart from much of the science fiction the preceded them (okay, they aren't really what I'd call science fiction either). But Luke was a naive country kid, Han was the wise ass hot rodder and Leia was the chick on the honor roll. They were more like ordinary people doing extraordinary things...in a galaxy far, far away. You know, the original one-sheet line "The saga of a boy, a girl and a universe..." As much as I liked Qui Gonn, he and Obi Wan are these two Brits (sorry, Brits), the Queen was nearly robotic (only as the hand maid Padme did she give us the film's one relatable character)and Ani was a super-kid...fatal flaw, Vader as a kid. Vader as a teen would have worked because weren't we all sure we were going to hell but in a big, flashy way? I'm sure Dave is right. Everybody does STAR WARS better than George these days. George should have gone with one of these people. He can still tell a good story, but he shouldn't have tried to get complex with the characters because he doesn't have that gift. An odd choice, but with the right screenwriter (such as myself) Rob Reiner could have been the perfect director to show the downfall of Anakin and his transformation into Darth Vader. Yes, Mr. HARRY MET SALLY. Remember STAND BY ME and that great scene where River Phoenix broke down and cried about the teacher taking money and blaming the theft on him. I read recently that Phoenix couldn't do the scene and Reiner took him aside and said, "Think of the first time an adult really let you down." Five minutes later, Phoenix gave one of the best under age 20 performances in cinematic history, IMO. That should have been Anakin Skywalker. The Jedi let Anakin down. The Sith offer hope, let him down too, but it's too late to get out. He can't get out until he saves his son in RETURN OF THE JEDI. Rob Reiner working with Lucas story (turned into a screenplay by a good writer) directing a really talented young actor would have given us the movie we wanted to see.
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I'd think the murder of 100,000 plus people a pretty fucking big lasting consequence. But what do I know?
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I know that's a popular opinion - certainly repurcussions are a huge part of what makes all other fiction work - but I've come to believe that Marvel and DC's heroes don't carry that burden particularly well. Because lasting repurcussions usually means death and rape and misery, and that shit all starts to pile up after awhile. I mean, Daredevil's had so much misery in his life now that if the writers treated it with any reality he'd pop a shotgun in his piehole and pull the trigger. So I like what the usually call "the illusion of change" - that is, shaking things up sometimes, but not such that the pieces can't be replaced. Cyclops quitting the X-Men is a good example of the illusion of change. When he first did it way back when in the wake of Jean Grey's death, it promised to change the team forever. And it DID shake things up, but a few years later and he was teamed up with the original X-Men on X-FACTOR. A few years after that he was back with the X-Men themselves. That's the kind of change I'm down with, and the big events (death of Elektra, "No Man's Land" in Gotham, marriage of Reed and Sue) should only come along once in a blue moon. ***** Getting back to Bludhaven specifically, it's hard to see the (to my mind ill-advised) Chemo holocaust as being minimized just because Supes eliminated the immediate danger. Rucka set the death toll at a hundred thou f'Chrissake! If DC was smart, they'd play this as a metaphor for post-Katrina New Orleans, which might've been the plan all along. Like New Orleans, the Bludhaven disaster is widespread and horrific (much higher death toll, but not written to have the actually emotional impact that'd have), but with the immediate danger as short-lived. I guess there's supposed to be a mini about people trying to reclaim Bludhaven sometime soon. And, again, while I'm not down with the destruction of Bludhaven in the first place, that seems like a story with decent potential. We've already seen DC deal with the loss of cities in their entirety (Coast City, San Diego) - why not show how the DC heroes deal with a partially salvagable scenario? ***** Lastly: I like Superman as a figure to be admired by the other heroes, too, but I want to be *shown* this, not told it through faux newspaper articles or fawning narrative captions. It's just so damn needy - "Love him, LOVE HIM!"
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As Dave mentioned. Maybe this was just an intelligent decision not to milk it for all its worth which might detract from the mini which tells it from the perspective of those that survived?
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jerkwads. Not written merely as making poor decisions at unfortunate points in history, but actually being quite inconsistent in their own views. I can see why Vader was confused about who to side with. The other thing that was also funny was Lucas trying to make people flawed by virtue of being stupid, but NOBLE! I'm still unclear why Amidala immediately married Anakin after he confessed to mass-murder. She didn't seem completely irrational prior to that, just boring. Oh well. ****Agreed with Buzz all the way on making Vader a kid. He wasn't a kid in one of the earlier drafts - he was a teenager.
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I think this series continues to impress, but the artist can't draw people very well. Good on robots, though. Several moments in this issue made me anticipate a film.
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looks like the Rags Morales Zatanna from ID Crisis.
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white powder...family time....er...
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There's a DC House O' Mystery Showcase book??? And I have to find out about it in the talkbacks? @$$holes, you are not doing your job. *** Learn something new in the TBs every time. Or this time, two new things, as apparently Buzz only likes 70s books, and not great NEW books that channel the 70s vibe like Dan Slott's THING. For shame, Buzz.
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...he actually tried to sideswipe him with his Hummer. True.
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If Buzz REALLY didn't like Slott he'd be deader than Eddie Murphy's singing career and we all know it.
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True.
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My girl wants to party all the time/
Party all the time/
party all the time./
My girl wants to party all the time/
party all the time./
She parties all the time - party all the time/
She likes to party all the time - party all the time/
party all the time - she likes to party all the time/
party all the time.
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My lady K, please re-post the url for the fic. Now that I'm back from the land of the semi-dead I'd like to get a gander. (*_^)
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That's cool I guess. But in comics death tolls are so ambiguous. It's like they talk about it but it doesn't really have any real impact. I remember when Coast City got blowed up it was something that was just so crazy but it also really affected the DCU. Maybe I'm just ticked that everything just seems so rushed. I dunno. I just remember the New Universe's THE PITT when The Starbrand blew up Pittsburg and it was like "Holy Shit! He just blew up Pittsburg!" And it had some serious effects on that whole universe. I guess I know that there'll never be permanent change in superhero books but I guess I do like feeling for a while that "Illusion of Change". I mean would ANY comic readers really miss Bludhaven? It's not like Gotham or Metropolis got nuked. I guess I just figured Bludhaven was dispensable and that its distruction WOULD be mostly permanent and that, to me, would be pretty cool. I mean I think it's pretty neat that only now is Coast City being brought back to life...its destruction had some serious reprecussions and was a long lasting change.
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what does your girl do?
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parties all the time - party all the time/ She likes to party all the time - party all the time/ party all the time - she likes to party all the time/ party all the time. *** For my fellow Floridian, here's Lady C.'s fan fic link * http://geocities.com/one_thalya/Fanfic/crossing_over1.htm *
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I agree 100%. Harris is a fantastic artist, no denying that, but he just loses me on sequential and i think i know why: He's very specific about his facial expresions and body language, and his style is so realistic and photo inspired that these expressions and movements end up looking acted and posed, like someone asked you to do a very specific pose with your hands and your face and your eyes and took a picture of that and used it as a panel. I don't know if this makes sense. It looks overdone and melodramatic, when it's trying to be natural and organic. Scott McCloud raised a very interesting point in Understanding comics when he said readers tend to relate to very conceptualized depictions of faces quite easily and the more realistic the figure, the less simpathetic you are to it. As an example, McCloud said a person can see a smiley face, which is nothing more than a circle, a curved line and a couple dots, and understand it as an expression. I think it's fascinating, and i think you'll notice some of the most human stories told in comic book form are done in a fairly cartoony and "unrealistic" style...sometimes not even using human figures to carry the emotional weight of the story (Maus). And i'm not saying realistic doesn't work in comics, in fact it can be used to great effect if you play by the rules. The more real the characters and environments, the more larger than life and extraordinary and otherwordly they look. Weird but true. I think it works for Bryan Hitch and The Ultimates. Those look like extraordinary people, superhuman people. Extraordinary conditions. And Hitch doesn't have the problem Harris has with his expresions and body language because even when he's trying to be scpecific about a character's mannerisms and such, he still keeps it broad enough to work. He can be a good actor with his pencil. So yeah i think that's my point, the broader the expression or the spectrum of expressions a character uses, the more relatable it becomes. Steve Dillon (one of the best in the biz at giving great performances with his characters) sometimes uses very specific facial expressions in his comics but his characters are cartoony enough that he makes it work wonders (Cassidy pretending to be Jesse in front of Starr). Tony Harris' work tends to look like overacted photo comics to me, for some reason. He should study his Steve Rude.
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I can't believe someone named a city that. It's the stupidest fucking name ever.
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...and I never cared for the idea that it was rougher even than Gotham - NO PLACE in DC should be rougher than Gotham! However. I've been reading Chuck Dixon's early NIGHTWING stuff over the last week or two and the guy actually worked really hard to give the town its own flavor. He gave it a unique historical backdrop (founded on a whaling colony that tried and failed to become a manufacturing center), its own noteworthy geography and ethnic areas, a pretty cool crime boss in the form of Blockbuster...in short, he actually worked to distinguish it. Not as much so as Robinson's Opal City, but moreso, I'd say, than the easily forgotten St. Roch of HAWKMAN. And Dixon worked on that book and that city for *years* building 'em up - to have that all torn down just to make the bad guys look bad don't seem right. In fact, I'd actually have been happier with a real-world city (ala San Diego in AQUAMAN) because at least that wouldn't be crapping on an original, fictional creation. I think DC should play up the personality of their fictional cities more often. Opal City was the first time I got a "feel" for one of 'em, and when Johns took over on FLASH he did phenomenal work to make Keystone City a living, breathing place. Ironically, I think Gotham's best treatment was when it was nearly destroyed during NO MAN'S LAND because every few issues we'd see a map of the city divided into different controlling factions. Gang control rose and fell as Batman and the cops took back the city block by block, and for the first time I got a feel for the size of the place, its landmarks, the park that Poison Ivy controlled, where the bridges were - all that stuff. So yeah. Less blowing up of cities, more giving them personalities. And Bludhaven? Not as dumb as it seems.
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even though it was blown up, at least it's still in the fold. As mentioned, there's a mini called 'Battle for Bludhaven' so it must be worth something to somebody. And of all the cities, this was the one that wouldn't be that drastically affected in tone - it's a bad place - it just got a whole lot worse. No way you could do that to Metropolis. It's like that line from Loebs Hush (yeah, that's right
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...because they were a bit simpler, had text on the map itself, and had color-coding dividing up key areas, but I'm pretty sure this one comes from the same source: http://tinyurl.com/asjcz It ain't bad at all. And I guess Frank Miller should be credited with being the first to name certain streets after notable Batman creators, but I like that the tradition's continued.
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isn't Bludhaven spelled with an umlat? You know,
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http://tinyurl.com/abfxj *** And I thought the way Fox screwed us over with Cameron and Scott not doing Alien 5 was bad (which it was, it was the worst actually) but now there just pooring salt in the wound and it motherfucking burns (said in Ari Gold voice).
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...the theme should have been thwarted talent. Lucas almost did that. In EPISODE 1, where the Jedi council is sort of talking about Anakin being the Chosen One, having the midwichcuckooian count higher than Yoda, etc but "nah, we won't train him. He didn't get his paperwork in on time. Ya gotta get the paperwork in on time. Yeah, we have evidence that our greatest enemies have resurfaced and they will certainly seek out this gifted kid and use him to destroy us, but he DIDN'T GET THE PAPERWORK IN ON TIME!" Also, in EPISODE 3, Anakin was right about a great deal of things. I think Lucas might have actually been smarter to make him right about everything (ie, refusing to assainate Darth Tyrannus -- I refuse to use the stupid name Count Dooku -- not demanding a counsel seat, etc) and still had the Jedi fail him. Vader should have been completely justified in his actions until the point when he turned violent and vindictive. It should have been like Mr. White in RESERVOIR DOGS where his one act of self interest brings his downfall. Anakin should have been that young dude who is better and smarter and stronger and braver and is failed by a system.
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I've said it before, everything is black and white with most comic book types. No shades of gray. Every fanboy should have "love" tattooed on one hand and "hate" tattooed on the other. I guess I don't like Slott because I said I fucking LIKED him, LIKED his writing, etc.
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Knew I should have gone with "hate." it is pretty slow, huh?
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**http://tinyurl.com/8dzc4** JEEZUS CREEZUS but Beast looks BAAAAAAAAAAAD. And this is the friggin' poster!!
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But the chosen one *wasn't* Anakin, right? It was Luke. The one who truly brought balance. Looking back I don't really get the point of the prequels. Is it Vader/Anakin's story?? Is it about the fall of the Jedi and the old government and rise of the new Empire and all that shit? Buzz is right, Georgie should have concentrated on Anakin's story primarily, not effing senate meetings and votes of no confidence. That stuff should have been background, seemingly out of control of the leads. Intimacy was missing. yes, once again, I'M BORED.
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ummmmmm why is Beast wearing pink silk pajamas? I like the Angel one and the Rogue one is sexy, if out of context. The rest can suck it.
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whats up with beast in the pinkish leather? and wolverine looks like a whiney emo bitch...um...today feels like a very dreadful monday.
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*mmm plop*
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Good triumphed and evil fell thanks to Luke. Anakin took out the over-dominant Jedi and established a near 1-1 ratio of Sith to Jedi. What I don't get is Yoda and Mace Windu oohing and ahhing over this one who will "bring balance to the Force" as if it could be a good thing, when logically that means either he raises a Sith army or destroys the Jedi.
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I thought i was gonna cry. And why are Wolverine and Storm doing the same exact pose? Shouldn't Wolverine look...i dunno...badass? I'm not even gonna bother with this Beast costume because it's pink and, well...i think i'm gonna cry again. On the bright side Rogue looks hot.
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I'm perfectly aware of the inconsistencies in the "bring balance" statement. The jedi mention the balance thing in addition to saying he's the one who will destroy the Sith, two things that aren't compatible. So does that mean bring balance to the Jedi side of the force only? Or that the Dark Side of the force is not really the 'real' force? What I meant by Luke being the chosen one is that in the end of ROTJ, he's the ONLY force user left. And he's learned from both the light side and the dark side. He's not the stuffy emotionless politician Jedi or the murderous hateful Sith Lord. Dig?
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It IS slow!
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Short version is, Lucas botched it. The fact that adults can't figure out what the hell "bringing balance to the Force" really meant in a kiddie movie should make that obvious. Nevertheless, from a recent Newsarama article on the upcoming Star Wars series LEGACY...I present one more take on it. Sez the editor: "I've been thinking about this whole 'restore balance to the Force' thing and, aside from my joke from last year about Anakin restoring the balance by killing all of the Jedi so that there were only two Sith and two Jedi, I think that I have a workable theory. Tell me what you think: The 'balance' that Anakin restored was in breaking down the impermeable borders between the light and the dark sides of the Force. Anakin was the first to ever cross completely (and seemingly iredeemably) into the dark side and return to the light side. It was Anakin's redemption that restored the balance. It wasn't that he destroyed the Sith, but that he 'broke' the inescapable power of the lure of the dark side." ***** Yeah, it's all just mumbo-jumbo, but I thought that was a nice, reasonably simple interpretation of it.
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You're giving more thought to this than Lucas did.
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IMHO, yo. (and your little dog bitches!)
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I wrote you that large post on Tony Harris and you didn't say a word :( Where's the love?
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That's what I'm gonna assume from your review of the RANN/THANAGAR special, Sleazy. For me, Dave Gibbons as writer has a special ability to suck all life from a project, so the notion that he at least came up with something kinky is the best I can hope for. As a writer, he's a great WATCHMEN penciller. And, hell, even GREEN LANTERN CORPS ended up losing me, and I was diggin' that for...well, like, an issue. Visually, it's very modern and finally space is being drawn without comets flying everywhere, ringed planets every way you turn, and that doofy cross-hatching in lieu of actually drawing geography on planet surfaces...but writing-wise? I still feel like I'm reading Marvel or DC from the '70s. I honestly think the Green Lantern Corps could stand a total overhaul that's more in the sci-fi tradition than the space fantasy tradition. That is, I think it should be closer to STAR TREK/BABYLON 5 (soft sci-fi though they are) than STAR WARS. I want a better sense of alien cultures and the weirdness of space, but somehow the Lanterns keep coming across as...prosaic.
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Well? :P~~~~
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...you big softie. Yeah, I'm definitely in agreement on the photoreferency stuff - gives the material the posed-people look of fumetti. And with facial expressions, it's almost the same issue I have with Kevin Maguire - *too* specific. Maguire's draws these instantly recognizable facial expressions on stuff like FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE JUSTICE LEAGUE (even nails obscure facial expressions), but it's almost like he's overselling it in putting down all those little facial lines we normally don't think about. So too, Tony Harris. It's almost like how animators think in terms of key frames, where the chief animator draws the most dramatic expressions and the in-betweeners fill in the gaps. Maguire and Harris are drawing key frames, but because comics aren't animated, they come across as stills. I think we maybe need them to be drawing the frame or two that'd appear right *after* the key frame, they key expression just beginning to give way to whatevever comes next, thys providing a sense of motion and transition. ***** In short, we're in agreement, Vale. I'm not Hitch's biggest fan, but I do agree he does realism far, far better than Harris. I'd also cite Paul Chadwick as a guy who I know uses photoreference, but not to the point that it's readily apparent in the final product. Chadwick uses photoreference to pick up on the small quirks of life's imagery that sometimes escape the artist's imagination, but in the end, his stylisytic stamp is on everything. I think Harris had that quality, oddly enough, when he was more clearly influenced by Mike Mignola and Brian Stelfreeze in his STARMAN days. Yes, weirdly I think he was a better comic artist when he was under the influence of others. ***** An aside about McCloud's UNDERSTAND COMICS: would you believe this is out of print through Diamond Distributors these days? You can get it at a book store, but not a frickin' comic shop!! And sadly, it's long past the point of being a regular seller even when it's available. Very sad. It's easily the most exciting book ever written about the mechanics of the medium and deserves a place on the must-have bookshelf right there beside WATCHMEN.
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I'd like to read them somewhere else than this shithole I call a job. Wouldn't want any frustration bleed over to color my perception. :)
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...aside from it not being real, is that it comes from a completely Western religous sensibility. Good and evil are polar opposites? Eastern traditions recognize these qualities in all people, in the same deities. Western religons have completely demonized magick for example, whereas white magick recognizes the need for balance in the individual. A huge part of Crowley's botched Abra-Maelin ritual at Boleskine House on the banks of Loch Ness involved alternating acts of good and evil (botching that ritual insured that nights on the Loch, the famous monster is maybe the most benign thing swimming around out there). Crowley was cold, hard and imperial but he practiced mercy and forgiveness to the Black Lodges which opposed him. He very much preferred turning an enemy into a friend. But he always challenged people, tried to get them to look at their own beliefs and to believe in themselves above all. To me, his greatest work, a work that a lot of my life is based on, is THE BOOK OF LIES. "Everything you read here is a lie..." which much include that statement, right? Lucas had to tell his story, but as I gain a growing appreciation and understanding for the motivations of fan fic, I can see why someone want to depict the new Darth Vader, charged with a comprehensive Jedi purge, as going through an ordeal by terror. Ordeal by Terror was a way Crowley tested initiates. A lot of the charges of Satanism, human sacrafice, etc came from those who failed the Ordeal, because if you passed the Ordeal you proved that you were moral, humane and that you thought for yourself but that you were also courageous and strong willed. Too strong to participate in evil, too strong to flee evil. Lucas should have either studied some of this stuff or he shouldn't have got pretentious and realized that he was doing a fast and fun space opera. Honestly, Darth Vader is the bad guy so why do I need to see his life story? It's really FLASH GORDON, right, so I don't really need to know that Emperor Ming was once a little blond moptop from Marina Del Rey (yeah, I met Jake Lloyd for about five seconds at Island's in the Marina just before Episode 1 came out. Nice kid, very polite, nice parents). Emperor Ming was always that evil bald dude with the Fu Manchu. For that matter, Fu Manchu was never a precocious little Asian kid! He was always an evil, opium dealing super-villain! Professor Moriarity never had a nanny who took him to market for a sweet, etc.
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what about panties?
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As well as Don Johnson's vanity album and Bruce Willis' RETURN OF BRUNO. All pre-CD stuff. Vanity albums crack me up. When Michael Chicklis got his first big break playing John Belushi in WIRED, he was ready to cut an album based on his performance as a Blues Brother. Somebody told him he had to be famous first before he got to make a vanity album. I don't like it when movie stars are too self-aware to do this stuff. Johnny Depp has been one of my favorite actors long before he made any money for Hollywood, but I've always been pissed that he won't record. I'd like to have Keanu's Dogstar all over the television too.
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Check your Yahoo babe-a-luscious, I've just sent you and e-mail wiv me thoughts on the beginning. (*_^)
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Like, for the panel where Calc details his knowledge of the teams whereabouts I'd suggest a single sentence addressing his surety of where they are while the panel art showed 3 monitors with pictures of the team in those situations. Start thinking like that as you work up each page.
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So what I really wanna know is, is "Hands off my Weather Wizard Bits, you jerk!" the best line, or is it something else? And how could I make Grant any more Morrisonian? 'Cause I think the characterization is holding me up. Is it even possible to get inside his head?
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You've got characterization NAILED. Grant is brilliant and quirky and you hit that one home on the first try. Now I'm off to respec my level 30 MasterMind on City of Villains. I think I'll be better suited to Soul Extraction over Dark Blast. :)
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A really good idea. I'm thinking too mundanely and not visually enough. My thought process on that set of panels was, since we've got wide panels, there's bound to be plenty of extra space around the characters that can be filled with dialogue, but here I wasn't even thinking about one of the best visual expository devices of late.
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..at the Olympic opening ceremony?
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Seriously, for real. Way up near the top of this TalkBack. He does this thing where he talks about the Snake Eyes series. And how it's worth checking out. He does it all in one sentence. And his name is Yoda's Ball Sac. It's the funniest goddamn thing I've ever seen in my entire life.
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Possibly of interest: I went by Chuck Dixon's message board and asked him about the etymology of "Bludhaven." As it turns out, while Dixon might've built the city up conceptually, he didn't name it. That was DC editorial, and Dixon says he suggested some other names but DC wanted Bludhaven. I have to admit, it's growing on me a bit as I'm reading about it. I also asked Dixon what he thought about the Chemo-bombing of the city. He's got a realistic appraisal: "It's their city to bomb. In a way, it kind of puts my run into a time capsule. I think I like that idea."
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They don't have any other thematic material left for the character. For fifty plus years Superman was, basically, a fairy tale about wish fulfillment and "the secret hero within all of us." Sometimes it was handled well, sometimes it wasn't, but that was the basic essence of the character, just as "the boy who never grew up" is the basic essence of the "Peter Pan" fairy tail or "the girl who was really a princess" is the essence of the Cinderella fairy tale. Then, about fifteen to twenty years ago, DC decided to gut all of that, have Clark become a jock, then reveal his ID to Lois and marry her. By eliminating the distinctions between Clark and Supes, revealing his secret and getting married, DC effectively wrote the classic fairy tale ending ("happily ever after...") for the character. Which is fine...if that's the last issue of the character's book. Unfortunately, however, it wasn't. Now DC is stuck trying to still tell stories about a character whose story they brought to its logical conclusion.
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Nice to know he's not whining and realizes his stuff can stand on it's own. *** Just started reading my copy of Absolute Planetery. *** Did anyone catch the last 2 hours of Arrested Development last night? Briillaint as usaul. Hope Showtime pulls through.
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JLU returns tonight!!! 10:30pm ET, Cartoon Network! Flash's Rogues! *starts hyperventilating*
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loved the george michael and maebe stuff...the sadaam look-alikes...tobias and lindsey both going after "michael"...gob's new woman...just glorious stuff...and finally jlu does return for its last what 6 episodes? sadness :(...but we get a pseudo barry allen cameo tonight...so that should be dope.
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Hello, i'm Vale...i used to be a Cog.
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Utter mayhem! I picked up this book on a whim, and dang if it isn't the best marvel comic to come out in a long time. Wolverine tries to slash Silver Surfer's arm, but it won't penetrate, and his whole adamantium arm rips out through his flesh! Hulk bites Surfer's head off and the rest of them fucking rip him apart to feed! hahahah it's fucked up but it's great!
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" In an unexpected announcement at the DC panel (though not coming as a complete surprise), it was just announced Grant Morrison will be the next regular writer of Batman, following James Robinson
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An approach to the character that I am fond of.
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Dini and Morrison on Bats.. They're really trying to bring in new readers to the Bat-books, aren't they?
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Isn't that just ripping off of Eastman and Laird? Or Miller? And do we need more Miller on Batman given All Star? (and I know the answer to that, given it's Morrison instead of Miller, so..)
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"Rucka then outlined the characters from the cover of issue #1. The Black Queen is Sasha Bordeaux, the White Queen is Amanda Waller, Fire is the Black Queen
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Thank the maker, Moobiemack can finally quit being a self loathing Batman fan! Dini and Rags on Detective and Morrison and one of the Kuberts!? It's damn near perfect of a situation as long as Batman doesn't scream, "What're you retarded or something - I'm the god damn BATMAN!!!!" in the either of their first issues. *** Can't wait for JLU. It's okay Vale, come on back - you might need to spend some time in the cage though, and don't mind Remmigans, he alway's smells that way.
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http://tinyurl.com/85r69 *** Is that the old school heat vision that can't be seen unless Kal-El's really mad? Nice touches as usual.
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solid creators behind my favorite character...i'm eager to see what dini, rags, morrison and kubert #238950 do with batman. if i was writing bats i'd obviously have him brooding over alfred harrassing him to make banana bread...just think about it...12 issues "decompressed" all about batman's goal to get alfred to make banana bread. and lets see...vale...you are dead to me...how can you say that about one of the best animated shows EVER!, the JLU? i dunno whether you are just fishing for a reaction to get this TB going and you just are retarded as Miller's batman would say. i kid though...i think. and um, checkmate and alan scott...wtf indeed? so what happens if the chess pieces are made of wood?
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Replying to Dave here,if he's still haunting the board:The 1st time I saw creators' names used for streets & the like was Englehart's & Roger's 1st run on Detective, about 10 years before Miller. Don't have the issues to hand, but seem to recall names like Spang Arena & comments like,
"Who have we got on it?" "Finger, Mr.Wayne." "He's a good man." Steve E. was given to citing anniversaries ("34 years ago this month, Joe Simon & Jack Kirby created Captain America..."),too, which definitely meshed with his sense of history & desire to give props where due, though it also explained his unfortunate partiality to real-time passage of time in things like the JLA story which had them ally to protect the Martian Manhunter, along with friends Congorilla & Rex the Wonder Dog; sweet & nostalgic, but a little problematic 30 years later. Still, no surprise given he was a protege of Roy Thomas.
(And,(since Wagner's BATS & THE MONSTER MEN was mentioned)he was the 1st to bring back Dr. Hugo Strange, from Batman #1, in 35 years. A long memory, indeed...)
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Compare these two links: *** http://tinyurl.com/9gscm *** and *** http://tinyurl.com/82en8 *** It will be a rip-off if they first release a HC edition and 4 months later an "Absolute" alternate version of it. Why they don't do a single, PROPER release of it in the first place, rather than two? SHAME on you, DC/Wildstorm/ABC. (LiTG had posted on this a few weeks back, kudos to Mr. Johnston)
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Tell me how much you man-love those Planetary issues. Go on, tell me.
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Lots. It's definitely a book that stands on it's own. Very unique. I might have gone mad if I had to wait for the single issues. Hell, I'm going mad thinking of how long I'll have to wait before the next HC, let alone the next issue! Issue #12 knocked me on my ass and it's was neat to see how Cassaday has progressed. The issue structure is very odd. Everything goes together, but it always doesn't feel like it. The issue with the Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern was the strangest to me and I'm not sure if I quite "got" what Ellis was trying to do, then again I read it really late at night this past weekend. All in all it was totally worth the price of admission and I just know a bunch of stuff has happened since #12 and I don't want it spoiled so I'm going to try and avoid anything Planetary related until I've caught up.
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(the sound of William Leather killing the super baby). It's definitely a lot to take in, man. I would think it might be better if I had all the issues in a couple HC's so I could flip through easily and reread stuff, because that definitely helps. Especially when you get further on in the series. Ish 9 is pretty important. My favorites are 18-21...which are just magnificent.
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Nothing can disappoint you like a comic you love. I mean, I don't like Bendis on DAREDEVIL for example so when I read one of those issues, I'm probably kinder to it that I am to some of the latter PLANETARY. It's sort of funny, in a way, to have a problem with something the sole author of a book has done with his or her own work. My esteemed colleague Sleazy G. recently told us about friends of his who have said shit like, "I no longer trust JK Rowling. She doesn't know what she's doing with Harry Potter." Can a comic fan (and occasional critic) say something similar about Ellis and not sound as stupid? The answer is no. What the disappointed POTTER/PLANETARY fan should be saying is, "I don't care for what Ellis/Rowling is doing and here is why." But Gawd, you want man-love for PLANETARY? When I read the preview, it completely knocked me on my @$$ and below. What a phenomenal way of looking at the pop culture and fictional universes that we love. Not exactly deconstruction, not quite real world...and not always consistent but what is? A purer yet more unique Wold Newton riff than say...LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN. It had to change, but it was always better and stronger when the group was more simply archaeologists/sociologists. For me, the greatest flaw in conception may have been giving the protagonists super powers. At times, it's veered dangerously close to being another super hero book, which is disheartening given Ellis' semi-disavowal of the genre. But when they give ya a new way of looking at big bug movies, at the Fantastic Four, at the Justice League, at Vertigo (probably the single weakest story to me, etc) it's a rare gift in comics.
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Unless , of course, you happen to not like it and think it sucks. Personally I think that when viewed as whole it is one of THE BEST stories I've ever read, comic book or otherwise. After all, what other story has it's plot lynchpin in the entirety of pop culture fiction? So yeah, PLANETARY OWNS YOUR ASSES and will until Elijah Snow HAS A BEER AND CHEETS ON HIS WIFE.
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I just remember reading #9 and then before I knew it I was finished. Can anyone tell me more of Ellis' approach? I get that he's doing analogues of DC's main three (sorta), the Justice League, the Fantastic Four, S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury, 50's Sci-Fi, etc., but is there anything more to it than just a strange POV? It was crazy when William Leather killed the baby, because I guess I've been so conditioned to believe that's a "Super" being and you can't just wipe out something super like that and then he torches him and was like, "woops"!!! I was like, "He can't just kill that super baby!" Then I thought about how powerful Leather ACTUALLY was and then I laughed at my disbelief that the baby was killed and the way I was baited and just how well that scene was written. Yeah, I'm kinda hooked.
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Well besides the giant conspiracy plot having to do with the 4? I would say Ellis and Morrison are kind of kindred souls. I refer specifically to issue #9 and the fictionauts' mission to travel to a fictional alternate reality (see THE FILTH) in order to exploit it somehow. We never found out what happened to the thing that the fictionauts brought back....
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you know, how Grant Morrison is all like super meta? He believes that like the comic universes have been around long enough that they actually breathe and exist on some weird hyper vibrational alternate reality level or something? He probably hopes that he's gonna break through one of these days and be kidnapped with Thalya on a plane or something. *** SPEAKING OF GRANT MORRISON: In All Star Supes #2, there is a shot of Lois dressing for her dinner with Superman. She is wearing a normal bra and panties. But when we see her in her dress, it is backless, with clearly no bra. ....oh good God, I'm the lowliest form of nerd now, aren't I?
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...Ellis is a guy with limitations. There are going to be issues and moments that don't live up to what has come before and when what has come before has been so awesomely great, the disappointment is greater. Remember when we finally saw Jacob Greene? For me, that was Cassaday's issue and we had his beautiful work but for the first time, I felt Ellis was guilty of what non-PLANETARY fans have always said, "It's just the Thing, only fucked up." I never felt that before. To me, it wasn't just the Hulk or the FF or Doc Savage fucked up. It was both a knowing commentary on those characters, the relationship between history and fiction/reality and fiction, etc. I feel that the series was weakened by something bigger going on, or more specifically, the choice Ellis made for the bigger thing going on. It took me a long while to realize that I was disappointed as a reader that we had one super team against another. I would have preferred to see Planetary as a truth telling organization. Unable to confront the Fantastic Four and Fu Manchu's daughter on their own terms, the Planetary group using the truth as their only weapon seems more original and heroic. The torture of William Leather was the most disappointing of all because while it may have been anti-torture in nature, somewhat in keeping with Snow's hardass character, etc., it was also a pandering Valentine to my least favorite brand of fanboy, the guy who thinks he's tough because he reads comic books about tough guys and who wraps it in a flag of intellectualism. I mean, read the Punisher because the Punisher's bitchin', y' know, but don't tell me it's because yer smart. Which is none of you guys, I realize, so put it back in yer pants and don't sweat the three-day waiting period. Yer smart anyway, and I'm not talkin' about you, I'm talkin' about those guys that e-mailed me after my last Planetary review. I've often speculated that most comic book series go on too long. It's inevitable, of course, and I don't expect it to change, but I think once the essence of a series is defined, it becomes obsolete. I think the success of things like Marvel's Ultimate line and other things kind of proves that. We @$$holes have joked about ULTIMATE ULTIMATES. You know, the Ultimate line has been around several years now, so it's time to go back to basics so new Ultimate fans don't have to wade through all that Ultimate continuity. I believe a guy like Ellis probably has a clear end in mind for PLANETARY.
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The message of the prequels seems to be that the Force is amoral, neither good or bad. So Anakin can balance it technically by creating an even number of light and dark users and the yen and yang is restored. Of course, the problem is that everything goes into the toilet for the universe from that point on. It also conflicts with the Original Trilogy in practially every way that matters. You took away a lot of good things from the adventures of Han, Luke and Leia. I can't think of even one thing that was good about the prequels. You wonder what kids are taking away from it. Wait, I just thought of one: remember to stage an intervention AFTER your best friend and colleague has murdered an entire village of Sand People AND killed all the Jedi younglings. Right.
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It is essentially Western, but Lucas gave it some cool Eastern surfacing to make it seem from another place. I think he tried to expound on that a bit too heavily in the prequels, though.
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Because that's hilarious. Didn't he used to date Donna Troy?
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Beats me - I was just trying to lower the level of discourse here with some panty humor. I think it worked, too, 'cause I saw Psynapse make a "has a beer, cheets on wife" reference. Which may be my all time favorite stupid AICN insider reference. "Sexiest tomboy beanpole"? Ain't got nothin' on "cheets"!
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I'm pretty sure Kyle did date her. Wow, your joke is layers of panty humor, even! But seriously, that's a good-un.
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Wonder Woman boondoggle. Anyone catch the IC#5 cover with new reveal over at Newsarama? I guess it was inevitable. Maybe I will get my kung-fu Diana Prince after all.
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problem is that i didn't come up with it...how come i don't have such talents? though i wish i had buzz obscure knowledge talent...do the other mavericks have it too?
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Or NOT! Eh, no biggie. Superninja, Dave was referencing my criticism of Ion's new look in my (apparently unread-*choke*) review of the RANN-THANAGAR WAR SPECIAL. I also mention there that yeah, Donna and Kyle dated for a long time. She was technically the second of three dead girlfriends for Kyle, after the one shoved in a refrigerator (hi Gail1) and now Jade. And seriously, it really does look like Donna's clothes on Kyle's face, which was probably unintended but is so obvious I don't see why anybody didn't say "uhh, guys? This SUCKS. Hard."
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at least it doesn't look like "Iron Spidey." I'd take panties to the face waaaay before I wore a costume designed by Chris Bachalo!
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i'm not a big fan of bachalo and iron spidey is beyond lame...soon we'll have iron wolverine and iron venom and steel carnage and aluminum nick fury and...hmmmm...i'm sleepy.
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and Fury's eye patch would definitely be aluminum. Word.
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being made of metal might be harder for marvel to rape their characters like black cat and stuff but then again...who knows. but yes...imagine the costume for iron wolverine, can't wait...heathen...wondercon stuff...i am just salivating on 52...sounds ambitious...who is supernova? china has its own superheros...grant morrison is already to go...and well i'm just exited...plus the joker is up to something.
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Two words: Adamantium Penis.
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Is good da?
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I'm glad it's only a "maxi-series" instead of an ongoing. Hopefully, Kyle will find a home with the GL Corps ongoing and you never know, perhaps Jade will be a part of that. After all, she didn't really die. Her energy was released into Kyle (nice) and energy never dies. And I'd also like to state theat I'm very pleased with how DC doesn't want to do any "big event" type series like the Crisis' after 52 and Infinite Crisis. They want the universe to be streamlined and the ongoing books to be captivating enough. Hell, we all know that Morrison on Batman with a Kubert and Dini and Rags on Detective is in a lot of ways just as big as an "event." DC Editorial is kicking ass.
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there's even the talk of the wonder twins being involved with the teen titans in 52. random tidbits
The next Flash series "comes out [in] June" according to Johns, but you will "see Flash in Crisis again." In fact, you'll see the Flash in the next issue. Note, Johns didn't say you would see Wally West, but "Flash." The Joker has been on the periphery for a while. "Don't worry about that," Rucka told fans. "That's so covered." and tons more...i'm amped. -
I'm busted. I only read the reviews of stuff I'm interested in, and Rann-Thanagar is not among them. However, I thank you for your sense of humor! Also, I kind of like Ion's costume. It's visually intriguing (there is apparently rumored a sinister reason for it) and it also ties into the nature of his mission. I'm sure that will secure me additional brownie points with you.
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Would be a great band name.
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"I understand that "Infinite Crisis #6" is to be delayed anything up to a month. There is industry speculation that this is to accommodate a reworking to suit that same audience. An initial ending would have seen a single Earth established, reflecting the original Crisis, but it looks like a new multiple Earth system is being devised instead." WTF? I thought Johns had all this crap covered and planned out already?
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This isn't going to be another Captain Atom/Hawk switcheroo, is it?
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cogs check your email!
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Weekends: How were they?
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Two words: industry speculation 'Nuff said.
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When would IC #6 have had to have been rewritten in order for ultra-detailed Jimenez to get the art done for the current release date? IC #3 was already pushed back a week or two because of slow art, so.. And what would the rewrite have been in reaction to from the readers' reactions? *** Shigeru: if I remember right, there was a crossover awhile back called Armageddon 2001 where Captain Atom was going to go bad, but there was a leak and they changed it to Hawk at the last minute. It's widely regarded as a big screwup because it was surprise for surprise's sake.
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Forward whatever is it to me and give my addy to the other Cogs. FAIR WARNING: I can SUCK at replying to e-mails folks, just the way I am. :) (Well, that and this crack addiction I have to City of Villains LOL)
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Talent in the fam? Well, my brother, Frag Maverik, has the talent to survive all of the COs and non-coms barking orders at him. Dubya Maverik has the ability to use his confusion as an asset. Slug Maverik has gone hunting with Dick Cheney and lived. As for obscure knowledge, I feel that an old CALVIN & HOBBES cartoon pretty much defines my life. The teacher, Miss Wormwood, says something like, "Calvin, do you know the definition of a fraction?" Calvin says, "No, but I know the secret origins of all the superheroes in the Justice Enclave of America."
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I'm gonna lay my money down that this rumor of a last minute plot switch with IC as total bullshit. Hypertime established that alternate realities still did exist despite the events of COIE so there's no actual need to 're-establish' a multiverse. Furthermore I can't see them utterly crapping on COIE like that. Then there's the simple common sense of Thalya's statement. For those who may not know, it actually takes about 6 months for a book to get out on the stands (sometimes shorter, sometimes longer) from the time it is decided what the issue will be. Jimenez (besides being one of my genuine crushes in the comic pro biz) is good but slow. Hell, did he even draw a full half of IC#4? Bullshit, I say, Bullshit.
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George had his chance. For the measley price of a million dollars per script (three million in all), three new H2s with interiors filled with Cuban cigars, and three Purdy shotguns custom made to fit my arm length, shoulder placement, etc as well as being custom engraved, I'd have fixed his story for him. The problem is that he only had a movie and half worth of good material. Which means that his modern, Bendisian structure would have to go and the '80s style Maverikian structure would come in. Which means that a teen Anakin and Amidala would have to hook up by the end of Episode 1. Amidala would be pregnant at the opening of Episode 2. As some one who unlike George has seen the original trilogy, I would explain that in order for Yoda not to be a complete hypocrit, he couldn't have activated the clone army. Who better than Anakin, in the best way to break from the Jedi, than introducing another army of dubious origin? The clones would have attacked by the end of Episode 2's first act, Anakin would have joined Palpatine by the end of the second act and Vader would have risen at the end of Episode 2. Amidala would have died in child birth toward the end of Act 1 of Episode 3 and the rest of the movie would have been a race between the surviving Jedi to hide the secret of Anakin's children and escape a dogged Darth Vader. That way, the audience would walk out feeling good about the successful escape and the thwarting of evil. In movies like this, you can't have significant death past the midpoint. Each one has to have a definite beginning, middle and end that the audience can feel good about. And these are movies that have to make the audience feel good. We're not talking Stanley Kubrick or even Oliver Stone here. Flash Gordon can't be depressing.
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Like for example, the end of 2001 is pure cinematic joy to me. I guess quality makes you feel good.
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make you feel good that is vale.
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Y'know, if you had written 'em I wouldn't have thought them the utter shit and waste of my time to watch them that I do. Ya hear that Lucas?!? You owe me 6+ hours of my goddamn life back you fucking hack!! No wait, fuck that he owes me for all of them! That's what, like 12+ now? Ohh I'm coming for you ya fat fuck (apologies to the fat fucks out there, I realize what an insult it is for me to loop Lucas in with ya)**DISCLAIMER: My mother has hovered near 300lbs my whole life and one of my best friends is a big ole' girl. I have NO issues with fluffy people other than the the risk to their own health (as I've SEEN it firsthand with my mom) and use the terms pejoratively here ONLY in reference to Lucas because in my opinion I can't say enough to deride that charlatan's rip-off parade. Yeah, that's right, FUCK YOU GEORGE LUCAS I want my 12 hours back you...you...you...you SUCK!.
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so bad. Really, it's astounding that he indulged all of his own worst excesses and that is even with the edits. It turns out whatever point he was trying to make was incoherent anyway (I mean, surely you don't waste 6+ hours of a person's life without making some kind of point, right?). Anyway, Buzz, the structure you outlined would've worked perfectly! In fact, I think I remember us agreeing about this in old talkbacks. After all, what did everyone really want to see in the prequels: 1) the vaunted Clone Wars, 2) to watch Vader turn and hunt down and murder all of the Jedi, 3) the fall of the Republic. Anakin could
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Brunette, latino looking women DO look like hookers when they dye their hair blonde, sorry if i'm offending anyone here, it's my opinion so fuck you in the ass and all that. It's distasteful, says i. Alba does have one hell of a body, tho', doesn't she?
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then they look like witches.
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IE: She's DUMB. But good news, Frank "what are you retarded?" Miller is writing ALL-NEW Nancy stories for the next Sin City movie! CRAP! So we get more of her atrocious non-pole dancing acting. Her Pole Dancing was convincing (though she should have been topless dammit). Her acting, not so much. I want to see a Sin City 2 movie starring Jessica Alba about as much as I want to see fire ants eat my family.
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But it's okay: because Frank Miller's
going to draw pictures of Batman
beating up Osama Bin Laden. 9/11
really drove that poor guy out of
his mind. Amused to note that it
made mainstream news everywhere.
Doesn't matter if the book's half as
brain-damaged as it sounds, it'll
sell a million copies.
According to links I was sent
yesterday, though, this isn't what's
set the message boards alight. Oh
no. Brian Bendis has written an issue
of a comic called THE NEW AVENGERS
wherein a group of Canadian
superheroes called Alpha Flight all
get killed. Once again, that little
bald guy with the funny eye has
raped the childhoods of forty-year-
olds who should know better
everywhere. And he wore a helmet
with a fin on top when he did it.
Over at DC, grim fin-headed Dan
Didio is feeding those same
childhoods into a woodchipper,
massively overheating the superhero
market -- but he gets away with it
because all those readers know
there's a big smack of the Reset
Button to come. It's interesting to
watch Marvel and DC's different
strategies for growing the market
for their superhero comics. Marvel
wants new readers. DC wants the
old readers back. Neither is going
to work effectively without more
comics stores. -
lame.
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... in her blog. Btw, can anyone tell me why "HOM" was crossed out in red 2 or 3 times (and not another time) in the issue where the Avengers were announced to the public? That confused the hell out of me, I dunno??? And Vale, I'm sure you known how I feel about DC's goals from my earlier posts. Although it may not be perfect and the trip was bumpy at times to get here, it still is being handled sooo much better than Marvel's universe right now. And I love Marvel, but the editorial is jsut so sloppy and the attitude Joey Q. has had at times is just disheartening. Having said that I'll post something in a few minutes about a book of Marvels that is just awesome...
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That's right, Son of M. David Hine is writing this with something a little exra than he's put into the 198, well a lot more really. And the art? Holy shit, it's so good. Roy Allan Martinez is amazing. I haven't seen any of his other stuff, but this is just awesome, awesome work. Big props to the colorist (whose name escapes me)who makes the art just feel so strangely beautiful. Go pick up issue 3 and read it now. even if you hadn't read the other 2, even if you hate Pietro, even if you think that Jay Garrick could wipe the floor with him - it doesn't matter, read this issue, it's good. It's the best thing to have been crapped out of HoM. It almost makes it worth it, hell it would surley have been worth it if Hine and Martinez were the team. That's my praise for Marvel.
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Runaways, Ultimates, Ult. Spidey, Marvel Zombies, Daredevil. Hmmm can anybody tell me what's missing? Ooh, ooh, I know! It's continuity with the main marvel U! Hmmm!
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continuity would be nice. You now Joey Q. has apologized twice in the past two months for not even keeping up with the continuity of simple stuff like: Mary Jane Breaking her arm one issue and it's fine in the very next issue. The other was with the Klaw guy who was the sound-using Klaw in New Avengers but that weird machine handed guy in Black Panther (as someone posted on Newsarama). Quesada's re: "the answer is a very simple one. We screwed up, our bad
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So that's like 7 Marvel books you like Heathen...that's not so bad!
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but i love alot of marvel books too...it's ok to like both right? oh vale you marvel zombie you...or more bendis zombie that is...i thought house of m was laaaaaaaaaaameeeeeeee. but runaways is delcious as well as astonishing, she-hulk and what not. i do wonder though if the power pack have officially introduced wolverine as their newest member yet. i'm pretty sure i read by 2007 wolverine will be headlining every team book cuz he's popular or something...i haven't figured it out yet. and that it is for the business day.
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sometimes even three or four ways!!! Yeah bay-beee!
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We're not talking about the Marvel U, we're talking about Marvel as a publisher and JoeQ as its EIC, so to state "DC rulzzz, Marvel sucks!" would be hypocritical if Marvel publishes a number of monthly comics that you enjoy thoroughly.
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You're on the permanent "cool" list, so don't sweat it! And you're right--Kyle's Dead Girlfriends would be a cool band name. No filking allowed, though.
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I do not preffer Marvel over DC. I could claim i like Marvel's superheros more than i do DC's but i'd have to prove it, and i can't because i'm not reading X-Men or New Avengers or any of that stuff. Here's a list of what i'm reading right now: Gotham Central, some Kyle Baker comics published by Vertigo and League of extraordinary gentlemen. What do those books have in common? (Hint: Not published by Marvel). Here's a list of the comics i'm downloading right now: Planetary and a Hellboy & BPRD pack. DC/Wildstorm and Dark Horse. Marvel comics that i've read recently: Ultimates. So yeah, Marvel Zombie? You tell me.
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why did you have to bring up gotham central...i'm still greiving? and on things hell-boyish...i loved sook's work on B.P.R.D. and whats up?
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...I envision a teenage Anakin being apprenticed to Obi Wan at about the midpoint of Episode 1. Anakin should have been the apprentice of Qui Gon, who would have been the nameless Jedi bodyguard of Queen Amidala and reported dead in the first opening crawl(ironic since Qui Gon was one of the few characters in the prequels I actually liked, which probably had more to do with Neeson's performance than anything Lucas did). The guy who taught me screenwriting sort of terrorized all his pupils and he was big on forcing you to take the opening of your third act and putting it right up front. Lucas should have done that. Retooled the Jedi rescuing Palpatine in Episode 3 into Anakin and R2 in a stolen fighter rescuing Amidala and C3PO from a mystery cruiser in Episode 1, only to all be captured in turn by Darth Maul. It's funny, Ewen McGregor is a great actor. He was my choice for Matt Murdock/Daredevil, but I don't think Obi Wan should have ever been more than a supporting character until Episode 3. His role shouldn't have been any more extensive than Alec Guiness' role. His major action should have gone to Anakin: the destruction of Darth Maul and the battle with Jango Fett. It should have been Amidala discovering the cloners existence instead of Obi Wan. Anakin and Amidala should have been like a pair of wild kids, stars burning too bright, kinda like Tarantino described his vision for Clarence and Alabama in his TRUE ROMANCE screenplay. Clarence had to die because he was living too fast. Tony Scott and Roger Avery can be forgiven for letting Clarence live and end up with Alabama, though, because Scott gave the best reason, "I just love those characters too damn much." Too bad you can't say that about the prequel characters. I mean, my sons love the original trilogy and I went to see Episode 3 alone first to make sure it was okay for them and in the opening with two Jedi fighters attacking a cruiser and it appearing that R2 was going to go HOME ALONE on a crew of battle droids, I thought that this was for them and Lucas had discovered STAR WARS again. Boy, was I wrong. Now, everybody without kids tell me how little kids should be able to see every movie...
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So i'm watching the local news and this is one of the entertainment news headlines: "Gotham city prepares to face Osama Bin Laden" (Translated from spanish, obviously). DAMN YOU FRANK MILLER! Credibility? What's that?
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...the comic book guys of every era are at pretty much the same level, which can be good but....
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The prequels should
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I promise no filking. My band will beat up filkers.
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where was i?
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In the hospital?
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i guess the prequels were to momentous and grand that i forgot even being there...that might be it.
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Maybe JoeyQ should throw some of his weight behind Marvel's best books, every single one having NOTHING to do with IronspideydisassembledhouseofM civilwarilumminati crap.
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...Lucas is a guy whom, after 13 years of marriage, only gave his wife one compliment:"Yer a pretty good editor." He had no clue why she left him. Before all the prequels started, there were rumors that he was going to hire Carrie Fisher, a gifted writer and humorist who specializes in sharp dialogue and female characters, to write most of the character that was then known only as "Leia's mother". She could have given Lucas a good love triangle. The original trilogy really can't be a love triangle because two of the corners of that triangle turned out to be brother and sister. Lucas, a man with no edge whatsoever, definitely wasn't planning that. Given his penchant for computerized, decades old revisions, I'm surprised that he hasn't CGIed out any hint of romance between Luke and Leia. The way he did the prequels, Amidala was almost exactly between Obi Wan's and Anakin's ages. Somebody with a better sense of humor and more experience in non-CGI relationships that George, could have gotten a lot of mileage out of a triangle. It's so high school. Amidala naturally preferring the bad boy, the cool guy in black leather, etc.
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