9/30/15 AICN COMICS Reviews: THE PITIFUL HUMAN LIZARD! AMELIA COLE! THE PHANTOM! WOLF! & Marvel’s SECRET WARS BATTLEWORLD Travel Guide!
(Click title to go directly to the review)
THE PITIFUL HUMAN LIZARD #1
WOLF #3
AMELIA COLE & THE IMPOSSIBLE FATE #24
THE PHANTOM #4
Marvel’s SECRET WARS BATTLEWORLD Travel Guide Part XVIII!
THE PITIFUL HUMAN-LIZARD #1
Writer / Arist: Jason LooPublisher: ChapterHouse Comics
Reviewer: Masked Man
Say hello to THE PITIFUL HUMAN-LIZARD, otherwise known as HONEST, because someone allowed Loo to let the letters in a sign on the cover art be more prominent than the actual title logo. Not too smooth, but you can figure it out. Either way, the comic is just as off kilter as the cover. It's a superhero story, but not in the vein of SUPERMAN--more like in the vein of THE TICK.
So who is the Human (so called pitiful) Lizard? An everyday schmuck, Lucas Barrett, who fancies himself a superhero. His sole superpower is the ability to climb walls. His father was the original Human-Lizard, but he was more of publicity stunt than a crime fighter, so Lucas has decided to do it for real, and it goes down pretty much like you would expect--not very well. Although there are real heroes and monsters in the world, like Mother Wonder, a self admitted mommy out of costume, with Superman-like powers in costume, The Human-Lizard does try to better himself with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes, but he sucks at that as well. He's so pitiful (spoiler time) that he signs up for medical testing and gains himself a healing factor. Now he’s the forever punchable Human-Lizard.
Overall this is a decent enough quirky affair. It's not as silly as THE TICK, nor as sensational as KICK-ASS. It's more low key and dry, a bit little FIGHT CLUB. It's also a decent enough first issue. It lays the groundwork and gives us plenty of before and after action. One scene even made me say “holy $hit” out loud. The next big challenge for Jason Loo is the second issue. Can he takes this beyond a decent set-up issue? Can he make us care about Lucas Barrett, and get excited over his adventures as the Human-Lizard (even if he is pitiful)?
On that note (look out, the Masked Man's on a tangent), I'm reminded of Erik Larsen's NOVA comic book for Marvel. Years before he was the cosmic stud, and then turned into a Latino middle schooler, Larsen had a great seven issue run portraying Nova as a sad sack hero. Despite his powers, somewhat fame and experience, Nova could never catch a break. This is what I hope Loo can do with THE PITIFUL HUMAN-LIZARD, since he doesn't seem interested in doing a direct riff on THE TICK.
Artwork-wise, Loo has a bit of an indie feel to him. This is mainly because I don't think his inking skills are that good. It just doesn't appear he has that much control over the brush he uses, as his linework does little more than get the job done. His drawing skills, on the other hand, are much better. Sure there's room for improvement, but he does a good job illustrating this low key, 'real life' superhero story, and his one page jokes of common comic book pages are fun.
I'd like to see Jason Loo improve his craft over the next few issues as he makes THE PITIFUL HUMAN-LIZARD a really stand out book.
WOLF #3
Writer: Ales KotArtist: Matt Taylor
Publisher: Image Comics
Reviewer: The Kid Marvel
Recently I’ve been trying to test the waters in the indie market of comics, exploring titles outside of my general Marvel and DC readings. I’ve finally picked up SAGA, which I’ll be getting to sometime later in the week, and due to a recommendation from my local comic store owner as well as the title and general look, I decided to check out WOLF. So far it’s been showing potential but doesn’t seem to be quite there yet, just missing a general cohesive script and story pacing.
Generally, this is the part where I do a summary of the book. The problem? The script is kind of all over the place, and it’s really hard to follow at a variety of points. WOLF #3 follows Antonie Wolf, basically an American Constantine, as he’s trying to fix the rent rate for his friend Freddy, who I believe is the son of Cthulhu. Wolf is trying to fix the rate for Freddy with his vampire landlord, which takes up the first fourth of the title, focusing mostly on a world-building expose within the conversation. It’s after this point where things get confusing and a bit hard to follow. What I did gather is Wolfe is trying to help this girl Anita, who is also the antichrist, settle something with her dead grandmother. What that something is I’m not sure exactly. However, Wolfe has some other intentions in how to handle her dead grandmother, as well as goals behind the scenes, and this is where WOLF falls very much into a Constatine-esque moment before closing out.
If you can’t tell from the first paragraph or that probably semi-confusing summary, WOLF has some scripting issues in how the story is unfolding. It has so much potential, from the tone to the supernatural elements and even the characters, but the pacing and general lack of consistency is killing it so far. I want this book to do well, I want to follow and support it, but it’s just not finding its footing yet. If WOLF can find some better cohesion in how the plot is unfolding as well as the narrative, I think what Kot has laid out could be an amazing series. The same can be said for the characters, who have yet to be fleshed out in any degree where I really care about them. Again, these characters have potential and seem to be pretty interesting, but they are missing the right exposure to make them shine properly.
As far as the artwork, I have no issues with Matt Taylor’s work. It’s actually the only positive of WOLF I can find with the series so far. Taylor has a nice cartoon-like style that fits the tone as well as the supernatural elements of WOLF. He also does an excellent job of using shadows or using partial expressions through the lighting in order to emphasize certain settings.
I really want to love this story and think I could, if the right information was given in a more palatable way. If the scripting could just work out how the story is presented, with a little more attention given to the characters, WOLF could be superb story from Image. My recommendation for this is mixed, because if these issues are worked out, I would have to give the series a pass grade and recommendation; it’s just not there at the moment. Hopefully, WOLF’s problems get worked out soon and it can become the story I believe it can.
AMELIA COLE AND THE IMPOSSIBLE FATE #24
Writers: Adam P. Knave & D.J. KirkbrideArtist/Colorist: Nick Brokenshire
Publisher: Monkeybrain Comics
Reviewer: Lionel Putz
I don’t read many indie comics. I don’t mean for that to be a judgment on them; I’ve read some great indies, and there’s a freedom inherent to the model that allows for some truly original storytelling that just wouldn’t survive the corporate grinder of someplace like the House of Ideas (Marvel) or DC Comics: West Coast Edition. That said, there’s a comfort in the structure of those known companies that I guess bases in nostalgia for me, or familiarity. That’s a personal choice and not reflective of the merit of a book from outside the corporate structure. However, I also think there’s a bit to be said for the quality control* of those bigger publishers that’s inherent with being able to afford the bigger and more established names of the industry.
(*Don’t get me wrong, I’m more than happy to shit on a bad editorial decision or major event series from those places when I dislike it; it’s just that I grade them on a more difficult curve based on expectations of the associated talent and resources.)
All of this is to say that I was asked to review this book, and I’m afraid I didn’t think it was very good. Now, part of my disappointment may come from the fact that I hadn’t been previously reading this series, and while I will try not to ding the book for my lack of context, I also understand that you may well ding my review for the same. If my job is to critique someone else’s work, I can’t well blame you for doing it to mine.
This issue, which opens with a helpful one-page recap, seems to serve largely as an expository link in the greater story this series is telling. It’s a narrative setup for a greater coming conflict, and one that wants to recap for you the characters and conflict in motion and remind you of the stakes before moving on to what seems to be the final act of this storyline. If you’re a reader coming into a story in progress, this is traditionally one of the easier ways to do it. The problem with this entry in particular is that it’s just not that entertaining, and it’s hard for me to imagine that it’s going to grab many new readers; in short, it feels like a missed opportunity.
Quickly: in this book’s story, magic is a thing, and one that our titular hero—Amelia Cole—can do. There is also: 1) a magic world, where said hero is from, as is a long-time adversary; 2) there’s a blended world, where some scary looking demons seem to be doing some heinous, universe/multiverse-ending shit; and then there’s 3) the non-magic world where our hero is currently recruiting the previously-mentioned long-time adversary, Hector. Hector apparently once tried to kill Amelia, but as she explains to her best friend Laura—who’s now dating Hector—it was complicated and he was deceived, etc. If the demon guys can succeed in sucking the energy out of the blended world and the magic one, they can merge them, and the non-magic world becomes collateral damage. Or something.
I think what’s supposed to be interesting here is the conflict drawn from Amelia asking a guy that she thinks is a total jerk and not at all good enough for her friend Laura for help, and Laura’s discomfort in learning of the previously unknown-to-her history between two people who are so close to her individually. But any opportunity for character development just keeps drowning in wave after wave of exposition about magic and mages and different worlds…it’s just overwhelming. My eyes glazed over and I found myself reading things over three or four times just to process them, which sucks, because I didn’t want to and because the drama inherent in the character dynamics was easy to pick up on in the first read through. There’s a good story here being strangled by meticulously detailed storytelling, and it’s a trap that a more experienced writer and/or a better editor would’ve been able to avoid.
For his part, artist/colorist Nick Brokenshire does a fine job, though there’s a bit of a flashback narrative at play here that is hard to follow visually and would’ve benefited from location tags or some other narrative clue. That said, he has a slightly bubbly, cartoonish style that matches the tone of the story and the personalities of the characters in general and Amelia in particular.
I can appreciate some of the things this book is trying to accomplish, and I fully admit that trying to pick up an ongoing story this far along undoubtedly impacts my enjoyment of the book. My problem is not that I was lost with this book, though; it’s just that I can clearly see where it went wrong as a single entry in a larger ongoing story, and the corporate system might not have allowed these particular mistakes to happen. Then again, that system might not have let a lot of great things happen, either, and I’m always happy to admire a noble failure. This particular one, however, I’m going to have to admire from afar. Best of luck, Amelia.
Lionel Putz is a lawyer by day and badly wishes his legal briefs could include illustrations and dialogue bubbles. He watched Matlock in a bar last night; the sound wasn't on, but he's pretty sure he got the gist of it. Email him at lionel.putz@gmail.com.
THE PHANTOM #4
Writer: Peter DavidArtist: Sal Velluto
Publisher: Hermes Press
Reviewer: Masked Man
Fan fav writer Peter David continues his high adventure with one of the original superheroes, The Phantom. One interesting thing David is doing with this book is reinventing some original throwaway cast members of THE PHANTOM comic strip from 1936. First is Jimmy Wells, who was originally going to be The Phantom's secret identity before creator Lee Falk came up with all the mythology of The Phantom. The lazy trust fund baby and onetime boyfriend of Diana Palmer (the Phantom's main squeeze) has now become an immortal jungle legend like The Phantom himself—oh, the irony. The other character is Jimmy's new girlfriend The Baroness, the onetime leader of the female sky pirates. Seems she reformed her ways and now lives with Jimmy in his chic jungle mansion. To a longtime Phantom fan like myself, this is all pretty crazy and fun.
Getting more into the dirt of this issue, The Phantom and company are on their way to thwart another scheme of the Singh Brotherhood (part of me is getting rather tired of these guys always being the villain in a Phantom story). The Phantom just barely survives a dog fight with the Brotherhood, which leads the others to believe he didn't survive. This allows David to get a little emotion with Diana as she tries to cope with the notion that Kit (The Phantom) might actually be dead this time. Meanwhile The Phantom hooks up with one of the Singh Brotherhood pirates, and we get to hear his perspective on the whole Phantom vs Singh Brotherhood rivalry. Next up, The Phantom faces another superhumanly powerful opponent and has his @$$ handed to him for a second time in this story. Rather odd--you'd figured he'd fair better.
As I've reviewed this series before, it's still a great little adventure story, something I often claim that is missing from most mainstream comics since they seem to be more focused on updating 60 year old concepts so they will appeal to the hipster comic book buyers of today, not to mention making them very easy to adapt into a feature film, so please Hollywood, make us rich. With THE PHANTOM, David just gives us a well-written meat and potatoes adventure yarn.
Velluto, in an interview, claimed his artwork is kinda old fashioned, and a good fit for a Phantom tale. On some level I don't know what he's talking about; he's just a damn good comic book artist. A current comic book should be so lucky to look this good. His figures are great, his action is great, his storytelling is great--the only thing I can guess that makes his artwork look old fashioned is that none of the panels look boring enough to have been a frame from a movie, which seems to be popular with a lot of comic book artists these days. They assume it makes their work look mature while forgetting that a movie has motion, and a still frame is just that: still, lacking in emotion, context, and information to describe what is happening (stuff like “how did our characters get into these poses?”).
So this is a great little book. I say little because it's only a miniseries. That's the one flaw with these current smaller publisher adventure comics: they don't last long enough to really excel at what comic books are good for--long term storytelling. Not every story arc needs to be six issues for the trade, but should take the chance to grow with characters, as they grow with each other, through well constructed sub-plots. That's one thing comic books can do better than any other media (TV has been working on this in recent years, though), so it's a shame that no one in comics is really getting the chance to do this anymore.
SECRET WAR BATTLE-WORLD TRAVEL GUIDE Part XVIII!
orCowboys Plus Robot Suits = Amazing Stuff!
By Henry Higgins is My Homeboy
Previously, on Secret Wars… DOGS GOT SUPER POWERS AND USED IT TO FIGHT BAD GUYS!
X-TINCTION AGENDA #4 (Marc Guggenheim & Carmine Di Giandomenico)Havok, Wolfsbane, and Boom Boom vs. only the best that that late 80s robotics can offer. This is a world that only really matters if you give a shit about Rictor, but I mean, there’s got to be a few of those people out there, right? I know Peter David is one of them. But it does have just the right amount of Wolverine stabbing stuff to get me interested.
RUNAWAYS #4 (Noelle Stevenson, & Sanford Green and Noelle Stevenson)Revolution is on the lips of everyone at the Valerie Richards School for Burgeoning Super Villains, with Cloak somehow in charge (he’s just as confused). Means it’s time for some old school teenagers with powers punching robots, and yay, I love it when teenagers with powers punch robots. There’s love, there’s heartbreak, there’s a Medusa cutting stuff in half. It’s sort of the definition of RUNAWAYS, but on a grand scale with Doombots who identify as women.
WEIRDWORLD #4 (Jason Aaron & Mike Del Mundo)Weirdworld is straight beautiful, you guys. There’s a forest of Man-Things, and they are strangely entrancing, even beyond the whole drive you mad with fear thing, commanded by Jennifer Kale (hey, she showed up finally!) and serving as the nature revolt against the madness of Morgan Le Fey. And then Akron runs around and fights some things, and has straight up the worst drug trip ever.
1872 #03 (Gerry Duggan & Nik Virella)So now this may be the coolest world in all of Battleworld. See, Black Widow is officially involved, Hulk is about to be a thing, and oh my goddddddddddddd Iron Man has shown up. Plus, Simon Williams shows up (again, somehow) and the suffragette movement has become a thing, which is nice. Seriously, this world is a lot of fun.
YEARS OF FUTURE PAST #5 (Marguerite Bennett & Mike Norton)This world has been populated by some very odd things (looking at you, secret sibling reveal), but it also sometimes has tigers roaming the streets of ravaged New York City, and that is a very cool little detail. This world has some shit go down and it may no longer strictly be visitable, but it’s still an interesting world to look at and examine, if only for an admittedly impressive ending.
CAPTAIN MARVEL AND THE CAROL CORPS #4 (Kelly Sue DeConnick & Kelly Thompson, Laura Braga & Paolo Pantalena)The airfield crew and Captain Marvel have so far dealt with some low key threats compared to a straight up army of Thors, but now they have to fight a, well, a straight up army of Thors, but the high flying fighter squad does a pretty great job of shooting down Thors with missiles and machine guns. It’s a pretty surprising turnaround, but the exact kind of well-done adventure you’d expect from the final Kelly Sue DeConnick CAPTAIN MARVEL title. It’s a wondrous end to the trip to this section of Battleworld, and it’s nice to see them on their way to help fight GodKingDoom.
INHUMANS: ATTILAN RISING #5 (Charles Soule & John Timms)Huh. So, Attilan ended up being really goddamn cool.
I don’t want to spoil it, because the design of this world has all fallen accord to the ideas and thoughts of GodKingDoom, and it’s actually really interesting.
But, yeah, you should definitely visit this world, if only for the heartfelt/breaking ending.
Battle-World Travel Guide Travel Trip!
Tigers may be awesome, but be careful not to fuck around with them too much. They’ve grown accustomed to human meat, and also mutant meat, and also OH GOD THEY GOT INTO THE SAFARI FANTASTI-CAR OH SHI-BZZZZZZZZZT!
Proofs, co-edits & common sense provided by Sleazy G
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