| #44 | 1/24/07 | #5 |
SILENT WAR #1
Writer: David Hine Artist: Frazer Irving Publisher: Marvel Comics Reviewer: Ambush Bug
I got into SON OF M late in the game, but was able to track down the issues I missed and enjoy that miniseries as one of Marvel’s best of the year. The story followed a distraught Quicksilver as he searched for meaning in his life after he lost his powers in the HOUSE OF M mega-crossover event. Although I loathed that event with a passion, I found this miniseries to be engaging and entertaining. It took the concept and ran with it using a character who’s powers used to be running. Powerless and desperate, Quicksilver ended up on the Blue Area of the Moon, home of the Inhumans, and stole the Terrigen Mists (the source of the Inhumans’ great power) in the hope of regaining his powers. Of cours,e the Inhumans were unhappy and followed Quicksilver to Earth where they were confronted by American agents of the Office of National Emergency (O*N*E*), an organization that refused to give the Inhumans back the Terrigen Mists that they had just confiscated from Quicksilver. To Black Bolt, leader of the Inhumans, this was an act of war and SON OF M ended with a foreboding promise by the Inhumans that they would be back. You can read all about it in the set-up page, but it’s such a cool set-up for this series that I couldn’t resist recapping it here.Well, the Inhumans are back in SILENT WAR, and boy o boy, is it a goody! Writer of both miniseries David Hine once again shows that he needs to work more at Marvel. He understands characters and action. He paces his issues well advancing the plot in each while never forgetting to entertain in the singular installments. And the plots that I have read here and in SON OF M have been some of the coolest plots in the last year of comics.
I like the way Hine characterizes the Inhumans as a foreign nation rather than a superteam. You seriously don’t know who to root for in this one and not in a bad way as in CIVIL WAR. The Inhumans have foreign policies and beliefs very different than ours. They do stage an attack on American soil resulting in the loss of lives and a confrontation with American heroes. But we’re privy to the fact that this attack could have been avoided had O*N*E* played ball and returned to the Inhumans what was theirs. In this issue, both sides are mapped out with the sympathetic ear bent only slightly towards the Inhumans as Black Bolt debates what to do after an attempt led by Gorgon to get the American public’s attention goes wrong, resulting in his capture. This is a complex tale of how war is not a pretty thing. No side is innocent and tough choices have to be made in order to go to war in the first place. Hine handles it with depth and a mature hand, something Millar could take a few lessons from since there’s another war going on at Marvel these days that is being handled as if it were a schoolyard kickball game.
And that’s my one complaint about this entire issue. It really has nothing to do with the writing or the art or the story. It has to do with the fact that seeds of this SILENT WAR were planted before CIVIL WAR started, but a recent issue of NEW AVENGERS (set in CIVIL WAR continuity) had the Sentry take retreat on the Moon interrupting plans the Inhumans were making to attack the Earth after the events of SON OF M. That means that, if you’re following any logical line of continuity, SILENT WAR happens either during or after the events of CIVIL WAR, not before. So why do the original members of the Fantastic Four show up to confront the Inhumans’ attack? It’s as if, in this story, CIVIL WAR isn’t going on and the members of the Fantastic Four are back together and functioning as if the team hasn’t even broken up. I can understand Hine’s reservations about wanting to incorporate the events of CIVIL WAR into his story. We all know that shit stinks like…well…shit. But since the plot of this story has a lot to do with the events of CIVIL WAR and tie ins have already been made, why no mention?
And this is what I’m talking about when I constantly declare Marvel an editor-free zone. These guys’ jobs are to make sure things work well together. They don’t have to be perfect, but if you’re going to drop a new miniseries smack dab in the middle of one that is supposed to “change everything you know about the Marvel Universe,” some editor (this one being Dan Buckley) should make sure it all makes sense. Some apologists will say “just enjoy the story, don’t worry about these little details”, but when these details are so blaringly different from what is going on in Marvel U proper, it’s hard to not be taken out of said engaging story. And anyone who knows anything about writing knows that the worst thing you can do in a story is lose the reader’s engagement. The editor’s job is to prevent this. I hate to use Dan Buckley as an example because this is a problem most of Marvel’s editorial team has, but Dan Buckley didn’t do his job in this issue. Something as simple as having the pro-registration team there (it could’ve included Reed Richards, Yellowjacket, She-Hulk, and whoever) and the confusion would have been avoided easy as pie (mmm, pie). There isn’t even an editorial note attempting to address this continuity flub. I was able to keep track of current Marvel continuity and I read about 200 comics a month…and I don’t get paid for it. Dan Buckley gets paid to be an editor. DO YOUR FUCKING JOB, DAN!
Despite the fact that editorial chose to sleep this one out, Hine and Irving turn out a really good issue. Hine’s pacing is great leading up to a really engrossing cliffhanger. Frazer Irving, who I did not mention much in this interview, is one of the best finds in the last few years for mainstream comics and perfect for doing drawings of the weird. And since the Inhumans have always been that interesting looking and weird superteam, he’s a perfect fit. So even without an editor, SILENT WAR is definitely a worthy follow-up up to SON OF M, a much better miniseries about war than CIVIL WAR, and most definitely worth picking up.
JACK STAFF VOL. 3: ECHOES OF TOMORROW
Written and Illustrated by: Paul Grist Published by: Image Comics Reviewed by: superhero
I have to say I love JACK STAFF. I loved it more when it was a simple black and white comic but if I have to get the book in full color then I'll take it any way I can get it. Either way, JACK STAFF is just pure unadulterated Marvel 60's and 70's style comic book goodness. I don't know how else to describe it. If you love the bygone days of Marvel adventure then you will love this book, no two ways about it.What makes JACK STAFF so great? Well, for one thing, it's the art. Now I know some people out there are thinking I'm high as a kite for writing that sentence but Paul Grist has some of the best comic book artwork in the business. While it's true that his style can come across as incredibly simplistic and has an almost childlike quality to it, Grist's storytelling and panel layout is some of the best and most imaginative in the biz. JACK STAFF moves along at a brisk pace but it seems as if each and every panel is painstakingly thought out in order to maximize its impact on the larger story. What Grist's artwork lacks in detail he makes up for with powerful and to the point paneling that illustrates that story is the most important aspect of a comic book. As a matter of fact I find Grist's work here as possibly inspiring to anyone planning to make their own comic in that it shows that you don't have to be a Bryan Hitch or an Alex Ross to make a great comic book. If you're as imaginative as Grist is with his minimalist style your story will have as much if not greater impact than all of the cross hatching that Jim Lee could ever hope to render.
What JACK STAFF comes down to is straightforward super hero fun. Grist excels in capturing the best aspects of comics the way they used to be written. With panache, passion, unapologetically corny panel captions, and exclamation marks! Lots of exclamation marks! Remember how Stan Lee used to write comics? Remember how when you picked up an old Marvel book it used to read like it was the most dramatic thing ever written? Grist is able to capture that feel in the pages of JACK STAFF without retaining that long windedness that Lee used to indulge in. What JACK STAFF ends up being is a comic that revels in all of the silly trappings of the super hero genre and pays homage to days long gone by when superhero comics were just plain adventure yarns and nothing else.
As far as I'm concerned JACK STAFF, much like the indie book SENTINELS, is some of the best that the super hero genre has to offer. I think I may have read somewhere that this book consists of the final issues of JACK STAFF to be published. If it's true that's too bad because JACK STAFF is a book that was extremely entertaining and didn't need to pretend to be anything else. It was a super hero book that was just that–super--and as far as I'm concerned there aren't enough of those around these days.
HELMET OF FATE: IBIS THE INVINCIBLE #1
Writer: Tad Williams Artist: Phil Winslade Publisher: DC Comics A Two in One Review by Prof. Challenger & Ambush Bug
AMBUSH BUG (BUG): Fresh off of my negative review of the first issue of this mini-event (DETECTIVE CHIMP), I found myself at the comic store this week debating whether or not to buy IBIS THE INVINCIBLE. What made me keep it in my stack and walk up to the register was the fact that I mistakenly thought that all of the HELMET OF FATE issues were to be written by Bill Willingham, who I have decided to stay away from when he writes superheroes (much like my decision to stay away from Robert Kirkman when he writes for Marvel). But it wasn't Willingham writing this issue, it was some guy named Tad Williams. And it had art by one of my faves, Phil Winslade (still love his Vertigo GODDESS miniseries with Ennis from long ago). So I decided to give HELMET OF FATE a second chance.PROFESSOR CHALLENGER (PROF): Well, my trip to the comic shop exercised different brain muscles than yours. See, I was planning to avoid the various HELMET OF FATE series altogether since the announcement of Kent Nelson, Jr. becoming the new Dr. Fate in the upcoming series by Gerber and Gulacy seemed to me to make the HELMET OF FATE sort of...well...moot and completely pointless. Plus the malaise of post-CRISIS and mid-CIVIL WAR has dulled most of my enthusiasm for DC/Marvel. However, that dynamic cover caught my attention and then I saw the name of Phil Winslade (an underutilized talent for sure) so I decided to thumb through it -- liked what I saw and bought it.
Don't have a clue who Tad Williams, the writer, is, but I know this -- I really enjoyed it. As far as I'm concerned, the HELMET OF FATE connection was pretty minor and the book reads like a stand-alone introduction of a cool new version of an old nearly-forgotten Fawcett character.
BUG: Which is basically what it is despite the fact that this new version bears way too much resemblance to an already established character. This Ibis is more like SHAZAM than the old Ibis. I thought the story was ok. It definitely did a good job of introducing a new sympathetic character in Danny Khalifa, the kid who would be Ibis. But I found this "origin story" to be way too similar to that of SHAZAM's. It's basically a kid who says the word "Ibis" and becomes an avatar of that Egyptian God. I know Winnick is making Captain Marvel unrecognizable in his current TRIALS OF SHAZAM miniseries, but that's no reason for DC to crib their own property. Instead of the Wizard Shazam, we have a giant monkey headed god. Both are kids trapped in adult superhero bodies. Despite a nice opening that made the character distinct as an Egyptian kid who suffers from racial hatred as his classmates ignorantly label him as a terrorist, this book lacked originality in the story department. And it had nothing to do with THE HELMET OF FATE, which is a good or a bad thing depending on whether or not you are enjoying the series.
PROF: Well, since I had no interest in the series, it was a huge plus for me. The Helmet worked as a good little catalyst for the story. Better than some perv in a trenchcoat luring orphan boys alone with him down in deserted subway tunnels -- which for those new readers out there, is how the origin of Billy Batson/Capt. Marvel began.
The derivative aspect of this origin charmed me because it came off like a nod, or tip of the hat, to the shared Fawcett origins of Ibis and Capt. Marvel. And I'm realistic enough to clearly see that DC is pandering a bit in its attempt to racially diversify its newest generation of heroes, but I'm totally down with the idea of the new Ibis being a kid with an Egyptian heritage. It was a real throwback to a different era in concept, but more modern in how the writer incorporated current events and social issues. As a first appearance, it was intriguing enough for me to want to see more.
Plus, I really dug the new look for Ibis.
BUG: Yeah, the look was pretty cool. In fact, the entire book looked pretty good to me. Like I said before, I first remember Winslade's work on Ennis' GODDESS series and I've followed it ever since. Winslade has a clean style. His attention to facial features is top notch as well as his body posturing. He has a weird tendency to make his characters cock-eyed at times for some reason, but the book looked good, especially the serpopards (a mystical cross between a snake and a leopard). A pretty cool looking issue.
Well, except for maybe Ibis' Stork Stick which looked kind of goofy.
A quick sidebar back to GODDESS for a second. In that series, Winslade used a painterly style which I thought truly highlighted his talent. Since then, Winslade has taken a more traditional pen and ink approach. I'd love to see Winslade go back to the beautiful painterly stuff sometime soon. IBIS is a good looking book, but nothing compared to Winslade's GODDESS miniseries.
PROF: I'm not sure if it's pen and ink. If I remember correctly (and it's been quite awhile), I think Steve Gerber once told me that Winslade's art is scanned straight from tight pencils. At least when he was on HOWARD THE DUCK.
Your criticism of the old Ibis-stick is right on. But it's only because it's based on a very basic, and silly, Golden Age design. The updated look for the new Ibis-stick is much better.
BTE, the giant baboon god was one of my favorite new DC characters.
BUG: Baboon guy was cool, but his jokes were a bit hokey. He looked good though, for a monkey.
And does anyone know how to write stories with magic anymore? Where's Alan Moore when you need him?
So to sum up, I thought the story was uninspired and unnecessarily loosely tied into the HELMET OF FATE miniseries. So far, this mini-event is 0 for 2 with me. The art was good and the Ibis character design was a nice touch, but it didn't save this issue for me. This was a better one shot/first issue/intro book than it was a second part to a mini-event. I have no idea where Ibis will show up next, but I may be interested in checking it out if the time is taken to make the character a little less like Captain Marvel.
PROF: I'd sum it up as thankfully only loosely tied into the HELMET OF FATE miniseries and slightly inspired. The art was very good and the writing was better than I expected. It seemed much more like an issue of the old FIRST ISSUE SPECIAL showcase comic in the 70s. I'll definitely check out Ibis again if DC wants to do something with the character.
And can I just throw out one query to the world at large?
The full-face helmet of Dr. Fate is one of the all-time coolest-looking things in comics. Why in the world would DC decide to move forward with Dr. Fate but utilize the godawful half-face helmet he had back around the mid-40s? Horrible idea.
BUG: Well, I can agree with you there. Half-helmet Fate sucks.
CIVIL WAR: THE RETURN
Writer: Paul Jenkins Artist: Tom Raney Publisher: Marvel Comics Reviewer: Squashua
Paul Jenkins must be officially burnt out to produce this tripe. Captain Mar-Vell is “resurrected” using the “Barry Allen escapes the Crisis on Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman” gambit. And he spends the entire issue moping around. I joined an improv group in college for about 10 minutes (until I realized that I couldn't stand the clique) and the only good thing I learned was to never negate a partner. If someone says, “What should I do with this shovel?” you never tell them, “No, that's an umbrella”, you go with the shovel. There's a section devoted to explaining how Mar-Vell is not to be told his cancerous fate, and right on the next page we find out that he's eventually told. This backtracking “left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing” writing is par for the course with CIVIL WAR.Mar-Vell does get a little bit of a plot here. He's presented with a challenge: evacuate the Negative Zone prison. And by the end of the story, he hasn't actually done it. It's like Jenkins started writing something vaguely plot-centric and then totally dropped it. That's partially his fault--there are a lot of ideas bumping around his skull--but an editor should have caught this.
Now, you'd think that the return of Mar-Vell would be so huge that they'd devote a whole issue to it, but you'd be wrong. The filler in this book is a Sentry-centric tale about how he eventually decides to choose sides, a choice that has absolutely nothing to do with his NEW AVENGERS spotlight appearance (see the last sentence of the first paragraph of this review). This story has Sentry using his two cliché powers of (1) a zillion exploding suns and (2) his dual nature of being a crazy fuck to defeat the Absorbing Man. Not very imaginative and completely useless in its execution. In summary, if you haven't already, do not buy this book. Due to THE RETURN being a complete waste of money and as a sign of protest, I hereby abstain from purchasing anything even remotely tied to Marvel's CIVIL WAR for the duration, and I urge any reader who also feels ripped off to bite the bullet and follow my lead. Good luck to you, Marvel.
EXISTENCE#1
Writer/penciler/inker/colors/graphics: Harold R. Richie Jr. Publisher: Unhinged Studios Reviewer: Ambush Bug
The one thing that I find difficult yet enjoyable about doing this Indie Jones thing is that I get to see all kinds of different types of comics and try to share them with those who may be growing weary of the Big Two or oblivious to the existence of comics of the more independent nature. Some of the books I get are true gems. I get to read new voices in comics that are in all stages of development. I get to see growth in people as artists and writers. When I look at an indie book, I try to focus on the positive first, then go into what some would call “negative” and I would call “more critical.” I do this mainly because a review can be as of an instructional tool for the creators behind it to become better at their craft as is can be a form of gaining the public awareness. Oftentimes, I find myself hesitant to be too critical because a bad review may not hurt untouchable companies like Marvel and DC very much, but it could be disastrous to a book published out of a Kinko’s or from someone’s basement. But since reading comics since I was twelve has developed an inflated sense of morality and ethics, I can’t lie and just say the book I read is all hunky-dory, when it definitely could use some critical suggestions. Every now and then something like EXISTENCE #1 comes along and I have to write that above spiel just to make sure that the people behind it know that I’m not picking on them, but that the comic that I read needs some work.To start off, EXISTENCE has a decent story behind it; set in the near future, the government is overthrown by an unseen dark power and a resistance is being formed to confront it. The first problem I saw with this book occurred before the story even started: the reader is inundated with three giant paragraphs explaining what is going on before the story even starts. Why not incorporate this into the story itself? Simply telling it to the reader at the beginning skips any and all dramatic effect the story may have. The writer should have trusted the reader to follow along with the story, peppering this information throughout the story, instead of just telling it to the reader in text on the first page.
Second, I would advise the writer to really get some editorial help. There are run-on sentences and sentence fragments all over the aforementioned intro page and misspellings abound throughout the rest of the book. A good editor would have caught these flubs and it would have been less distracting to the flow of the story.
Finally, although the art does show some promise, I think some life drawing study would be beneficial to not only give the characters realistic and interesting poses, but to give the characters more form on the page. The characters have a stilted flatness about them that a few instructional courses in page layout, artistic design, and suggested form and movement could fix.
In the end, this is an ambitious book that showed me that despite having the ideas, the creator needs to work out a few kinks in the writing, art, and organizational department to make it all work as a cohesive and entertaining form of graphic storytelling. Comics are a tricky business and I wish creator Harold D. Richie Jr. much luck. Hopefully, I’ll get to see this creator grow in future attempts.
ROCK BOTTOM OGN AiT/Planet Lar
This is another stellar release from a company that seems to only release superior material, AiT/Planet Lar. ROCK BOTTOM may not be the feel-good book of the year, but it is one of the most engrossing ones. Writer Joe Casey and artist Charlie Adlard give one of the best efforts of their careers as we follow down and out piano player, Thomas Dare as he finds out that he is slowly turning to stone. Part Kafka’s Metamorphosis, part slice-of-life, part UNBREAKABLE, this story handles fantastic elements in a real and thoughtful manner. Anyone who enjoys the “real powers set in the real world” genre along the lines of WATCHMEN, HEROES, and SUPREME POWER will surely enjoy this quiet tale of a man coming to grips with his past, his present, and his own mortality. This is a truly wonderful book that will make you smile through tears in the end. Bravo to the creators for putting out such a marvelous story. - Ambush Bug
THE BLACK COAT: A CALL TO ARMS TPB Ape Entertainment
Pirates! Yarr! This is a worthwhile read from the folks at Ape Entertainment. It follows a Batman/pirate hybrid type hero as he bounds through Pre-Revolutionary War time battling “perculiarities.” This trade’s peculiarity happens to be an indestructible serial killer. With shades of Jack the Ripper and Frankenstein utilized with great skill, writers Adam Cogan and Ben Lichius flesh out a truly memorable villain for our hero the Black Coat. It’s well paced and reads like a Saturday afternoon serial. And the ending is pure fun, leaving a gigantic question mark as to whether or not the Black Coat survived and making my anticipation to read the follow-up miniseries very high. - Ambush BugRemember, 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.
ETERNALS #6 Marvel Comics
Now less human than, well, eternal, the rest of the world takes a backseat as the Eternals deal with their own Celestial troubles. Even guest stars Iron Man, Pym and Janet get ruthlessly and somewhat humorously sidelined. And Zuras, lord of the Earth-bound Eternals, describes the whole of CIVIL WAR in a single sentence that makes this book the only not-advertised-as-a-CIVIL WAR-tie-in CIVIL WAR tie-in worth picking up. Great if you're following the series, even if the meat of the issue involves a single being simply sitting up, but if you're not reading it, at least take a glance at the last page in the store. - Squashua
CHECKMATE #10 DC Comics
The cover with Shadowpact fighting hand-to-hand with Kobra has nothing to do with the content as the “Pawn 502” thread concludes (for now) with continued focus on his infiltration. This book continues to be the best use of Shadowpact since, well, CHECKMATE #9's use of Shadowpact. Though Knight Tommy Jagger's undercover tactics seemed completely inconsistent, they can be dismissed because this is a damn fine tale. Check out the prior two issues or at least the future trade; this storyline is not to be missed. - Squashua
MYSTERY IN SPACE #5 DC Comics
I continue my love affair with this book, but the cover is hella ugly, though the beautiful interior art makes up for it. The Weird is a tad confusing, secrets long suspected by readers are properly revealed to Captain Comet, and is it just me or does Comet having two cute sidekicks reminiscent of 7-Zark-7 hanging out with Snarf just seem appropriate? Starlin delivers. - Squashua
52 #38 DC Comics
Too much Renee Montoya, not enough Four Horsemen; their designs are unbelievable (in a good way). Question(s) aside, it's an extremely touching loss for one of the main players this week. And Will Magnus makes a great loopy nutjob. All five of you Metal Men fans, keep your eyes on this series. - SquashuaHey folks, Devil’s Due Publishing is having a contest and asked us to let y’all know about it here in the column. Check it out.
DDP wants to hear the talkback! Especially trash talk! Log into your MySpace.com account and take part in DDP's MYSPACE TRASH TALK COMMENT CONTEST! Post an insult comment as either Chucky or Cassie on the Cassie Hack Myspace Profile.The best insult will win the original pencil artwork for HACK/SLASH VS. CHUCKY, Cover A! Insults should be clever, avoiding swearing and obscene language. Additionally, only text comments will be judged. HTML images will not be counted in the contest.
Here are a few Trash Talk Examples:
Cassie: "Pack your bags, twerp! I just got $50 bucks for you on eBay!"
Or
Chucky: "You swing like a girl!"
Or
Cassie: "Stay still so I can step on you!"
Chucky: "What, you can't get me from over there with those toboggans you call feet!?"
I know you folks can come up with something better than that. So have fun, go to the Cassie Hack Myspace Profile, and do what you guys do best!
