Just Comic Book Reviews

Transmetropolitan Volume 2

2010-08-22T01:34:00.003-05:00

One-sentence summary: Somehow lesser than the previous volume, Ellis still manages to deliver immanently readable sci-fi packed with his brand of futurism.

If you look back in the archives, you can see I gushed over volume 1 of Transmet. Maybe that's all that was off with volume 2 -- it wasn't new to me in the same way volume 1 was.

It begins with 3 one-off stories that are essentially just packages to deliver three different ideas. The book opens with probably the best of the three, the story of a girl crushed by her boyfriend's decision to destroy his physical body and become an immortal cloud of data. It's a pretty tried-and-true idea, essentially just an examination of one extreme end of post-/trans-humanism (how far can we adjust ourselves and still be human). Ellis does it well, though, by weaving the idea through a story of a betrayed girl who he's, seemingly, genuinely trying to cheer up. It allows Ellis to give free range to his dialogue, as well as dropping small hints about the pre-Transmet Spider Jerusalem.

The second story is probably the weakest, essentially because it doesn't do anything the last one did. While it's an interesting twist on another sci-fi trope -- what if we could successfully cyro-freeze people nearly-indefinitely, but when they come to no one cares -- it's done through the style of a column being written by Spider. Not the worst idea, inherently, but it plays against Ellis's strengths. Ellis builds his characters through dialogue, not backstory, so removing that takes the vigor out of his writing.

The third story I'm ambivalent towards. It's the most interesting idea of all of them, a future where we take the idea of preservation to the point of artificially preserving cultures of people, denying them access and knowledge of the modern world simply so that we can watch, again and again, their cultures exist and fall. The big twist of the issue is that the final environmental preservation is actually an artificially created future-society, in which barely-human techno-organic structures float and swim through the air, dying by the fistful via untested technologies (or, rather, dying through the field-testing of them) as a price to pay for constant advancement. Not much of a plot, but you're being blasted on all sides with shifting perspectives and drops of writing that won't coalesce until the end of the issue (and in some not for another three issues, though you can guess at them). Again, I'm ambivalent towards this one -- I think a decent argument made toward either liking or disliking it could pretty easily convince me. For now I'll slate it toward the "like" just for the eeriness of the final image of the future society, as the mostly-human technorganic man says "Look, it's my children" and turns around to welcome the three half-robot-fish people swimming in the air toward him, extending data cables as their embrace.

The most interesting thing about Transmet is its vision of the future. It is a future where all technology has been realized (to the extent you can artificially create the future, as it doesn't really require more technology) but the human mind hasn't advanced. Violence, struggles for identity, and most of all sexuality exist on all sides and seem the main drive for all the technologies you do see. The first thing the newly post-Singularity individual does upon becoming an immortal cloud of data is have sex with the first peer he sees. The driving theme of the final story is Spider's inability to get laid in the future, as there are now an infinite number of reasons not to have sex. In the future society he visits, we see an even more neutered group -- none of them even seem to have extant organic genitals, and we never see anything identifiable as a female. It's a future where the psychological need for sex is unquenchable, but where the physiological need for sex is essentially vestigial.

Anyway, I find the sexual aspect of Transmet to be interesting, as it's rare to see (especially in comics, let's be honest) an interesting, mature take on what is arguably the most universal theme of art.

The final three issues are one unified story, and they deal with the not-nice person Spider is. Not only has he surrounded himself with twisted freaks out to kill him, you get the feeling they're monsters of his own creation, and he may very well deserve that death (as you have four unrelated parties each trying to kill him for their own unrelated, usually justifiable reasons). It's a much more basic comic book plot, and while it makes for brisk reading, it (as of yet) has not struck me in any particular way, so I won't rhapsodize on it much.

It's interesting that the initial motif of the first volume of the messiah is almost entirely abandoned here. I might just be missing something, though.

I don't mean to ignore Darick Robertson's art entirely in favor of talking about Ellis. I just know writing better, and most of my comments last time remain true here (with an addition that, man, that guy must like to draw bulldogs). It's great art, but I don't have the adequate vernacular to say why.

Beanworld Book 3: Remember Here When You Are There

2010-08-20T02:15:00.002-05:00

One-sentence summary: A genuinely unique comic experience, Beanworld is, I imagine, appealing to a very select audience of which happily I am a part.

Larry Marder's Beanworld has an odd history. Having begun years ago, it took a decade long hiatus as Marder went more behind-the-scenes in the comic world, and then joined with Dark Horse in re-releasing the old Beanworlds (which were Books 1 and 2 of this series) and has (yay) started creating new Beanworld tales, this being the first.

An introduction to what Beanworld is like: the genre listed on its back is "graphic novel/ecological fantasy" and that is actually pretty accurate. The long-form story of Beanworld is really about finding out how the world in which it exists works, with the individual episodes revealing some small aspect, or history (though it is, generally, a very linear story with very few flashbacks, and almost no whole episodes ever taking place in the past. We learn the history through the oral tradition of the Beans themselves).

What's most remarkable about all this is that it works. There are odd depths to Beanworld, and ultimately it's a story about stories; in a very Campbellian way, it is about mythology, but instead of being about individual stories or arcs (e.g., the Hero's Journey) it is about the reasoning and formation of an entire mythology.

I'm intrigued to see how Marder adjusts to writing 200-page stories as compared to 22-page ones. In this volume things still seem relatively episodic, but subplots tend to be more apparent than they ever were in the individual stories, and begin to emerge to true plot-dom. To me, it's fascinating that as the world in which this story-about-stories grows, the medium which is used to tell it grows as well.

Absolute Batman: Hush

2010-07-29T01:46:00.003-05:00

One-sentence summary: Having not read Hush before and having heard mostly negative things, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself taken in with the story and thought the art served it very well.

Hush is a relatively simple story, and including Loeb's traditional story formula (lots of villains + surprise/12 months) makes it seem even simpler. That being said, simple doesn't equate bad, and despite it's detractors, I would say that Hush isn't bad. It's simple like meatloaf is simple -- easy, nothing glamorous, but danged good all the same.

That being said, it's not really a story you should think about too much. There're pieces that don't quite fit. One thing that became clear with some of the interviews with Loeb and Lee about it is that they genuinely considered the Riddler to be the main villain. I think the failure in the story is that you walk away from it thinking of Eliot as the central villain. Riddler was just a denouement.

I have some scruples with Lee's style (which I'll briefly address later) but I will say a detail-oriented artist like him is the perfect choice for this style of interactive mystery story.

Brief explanation of what I mean by that: there are your basic mystery stories, where you really just follow along the detective as they solve the crime, with a big explanation at the end where details are synthesized and observations are elucidated, but as a reader you aren't especially expected to have it figured out. Interactive mystery stories, on the other hand, are ones in which the reader is given enough clues during the narrative that they can figure it out (or at least parts of it) before the climax. There may be better definitions/terms for this out there, but this seems adequate to me.

Comics seem a uniquely strong way to deliver the interactive mystery story. They're a good medium between prose and film. In writing, in order to make the mystery solvable, the clues must be at least made to the reader, and if they are at all subtle, then their very inclusion will destroy some subtlety (as in, a detective walks into the room and notices a rug is furled like someone recently ran across it. In prose, you have to point this out, so either the reader immediately recognizes it as a clue, or you have to mislead them by deluging the text with observations, which just makes it a lousy read). In film, while you can have all the details you want, you still have a bit of a presentation problem in that certain details, for the viewer to be able to see them reasonably, must either be zoomed in on, have a particular focus brought to them, or have a shot linger on them, all of which can be a bit clumsy. You can, of course, have them simply present and do nothing to highlight them, but it would seem to me this makes the initial viewing of the film rather distracting for the viewer who actually wants to solve it before being told the solution.

Comics, on the other hand, can present essentially as many details as they want, as panels can be however large they want, all the way up to a double-page spread. They need no emphasis be brought to specific things, as the reader can spend as much time as they want studying every panel and it essentially doesn't harm the reading process (well, truly extreme amounts of study would, but looking over that opera house double-spread for a minute or so is no labor).

And, in fact, Loeb and Lee really do take advantage of this, Lee being such a detail-oriented guy as is that small clues don't especially stand out from the things in the background anyway. I can see why this was such a popular series at the time, and despite the knocks it's received, it's a fun read.

That being said -- the combination of Loeb and Lee is also some sort of magic formula to having the most perfectly awful depictions of women in comics. Loeb doesn't have any interesting writing with his women, and pretty much all of their roles in the story are of them as sexual or subservient (I think it's very telling that they desperately wanted a final panel shot of Poison Ivy and Catwoman kissing, which would be essentially out of character and most certainly unnecessary, but would be "hot" for the fanboys).

Look, I don't expect much when it comes to female characters in superhero comics (a sad truth, but a truth regardless). How much more powerful would the story have been if, at the end, it was Catwoman who left Batman and not the other way around? It would have made just as much sense, if not more (she seems the type to cut and run when things get that emotionally convoluted). Why did Huntress have to be the weak link in the Bat-family chain? Why did Poison Ivy have to rely on Superman to fight for her?

I know individually these questions are relatively silly -- the problem is when there's such a pattern of them, along with things like *ugh* Lee's design on Huntress (let alone his well-known love of the well-endowed). It's just one of those things that irks me a little bit more every time it crops up as I read a comic.

I do hate to end on a negative note. There certainly are problems with Hush, but I don't think they're enough to detract from the fact it is a fun read. It's in the style that Loeb writes well for; perfect for the sideline comic book fan, who might know the characters but doesn't really read the comics. It's a genre that Lee's work really works for (and the Absolute edition improves upon pretty much every aspect of the art). And ultimately it's a story that's fun.

It's popcorn comics, the junk food of sequential art, but sometimes that just hits the spot.

Scott Pilgrim

2010-07-28T01:35:00.004-05:00

One-sentence summary: Comics don't get much better than this.

I am not a newcomer to the Scott Pilgrim series, though I did reread the previous 5 volumes in anticipation of the sixth. Therefore, my gushing is not quite that of a fanboy who has newly discovered some treasure trove of wonderment, but that of a completely satisfied fan(boy).

Scott Pilgrim manages one of the most difficult task in all narrative art: being truly funny (to the point of being light-hearted) while possessing some literary chops. I mean, think about it: there aren't too many movies that can pull this off, and usually the ones that can rely on satire. Instead, Scott Pilgrim turns one of manga's (well, comics in general, but manga seems especially tuned to this) weaknesses – the meshing of the absurd with the serious, the spandex-clad heroes duking it out with superpowers while shouting oddly-long meditations at each other – into a strength, by turning it into comedy and thus allowing it to exist within the predefined dramatic structure, so that the reader is not taken out of the experience in order to see the ideas.

Thus what felt jarringly out of place in the first volume becomes a commonplace aspect of the world by the second. Thus can this be a story of a guy fighting seven evil exes while also being the story of a guy discovering what life entails, what relationships mean, and what change is, all without it ever seeming over-bearing.

Now, for those who don't want to take Scott Pilgrim seriously – that's totally fine. You really, seriously don't have to. This isn't Asterios Polyp or, God help you, Jimmy Corrigan; this is fine comic art that can absolutely be enjoyed without having to think about it. It is funny enough that you can simply read it as a funny comic with a bit of a plot, and it would still be one of the best comics of the year by that alone.

Actually, those are two books I think it could be helpful to compare Scott Pilgrim to. All three use a non-realistic, somewhat minimalist approach (though the styles themselves are radically different; it's just their departure from a more realist art that is similar). All three, seemingly, use humor (though I didn't find Jimmy Corrigan particularly funny, I recognize that there are moments of intended humor there). And all three deserve to be treated as Art.

One argument against Scott Pilgrim as this high a level of comic is that, really, there is only one seemingly strong theme, and that is of change. I would argue, however, that this is dealt with in a thorough enough manner that it is sufficient on its own.

To wit, each volume progresses through a different idea of change, of the past. In the first, there is no change, the past doesn't exist. Though there are oblique references to the past, they are, quite literally, told to come back in later volumes. Forgive me for skipping ahead here, but I don't have the volumes in front of me and I can't quite remember specific lines from each, so I'll just roughly advance. The third, with the (more thorough) introduction of Envy Adams we have a past, but it's a very one-sided past. The respective significant others of our protagonists were clearly jerks who deserve anything that's coming to them, and the only change has been in a positive progression of the self to a better status. In the fourth, non-negative elements of the past begin to shuffle forth. Characters who come from the past and aren't so bad, while we finally have change, and it's a change that's in the current, and it seems negative. It's essentially the apparent fall from innocence. Then the fifth really starts to bring this theme, which was quiet enough in previous volumes to go unnoticed, to a head, as changes start piling up and overwhelming. Bands seem to grow apart, friends lose touch, and relationships seemingly end, as the past comes forward to reclaim and repeat. The sixth, then, closes it out beautifully. Change is finally revealed for what it is – an ever-present constant, something which has always been there, and even affects the past retroactively. Change occurred in the past, and things aren't as simple as they appear. People don't necessarily become more good or more evil; they just become different people. Sometimes the good can develop from the bad, and the past might not truly be the past.

As you can tell, I think highly of this series. I could write a whole other post about the humor.

One last detail: what's exciting to me about this is the potential it represents for all of comic-dom. I have never seen a comic book garner such main-stream attention at release as the sixth volume. I went to a store where there was a line at least twenty people long to buy it. That, to me, is nuts. I have no idea how many copies it's going to end up selling; I know last month volumes 1-5 were spots 3-7 on the NYT best-selling graphic novels list, which is an incredible feat on its own. And, unlike previous fervors, the movie of this will be quite obviously a comic book movie (versus Watchmen, which was a superhero movie based on a comic book. Semantic but important). If the movie is as good as the series, or even almost as good, or even sort of as good, I don't think it's over-stating things to say it could be a game-changer in the comic book market.

And, eh, I could be full of it and reading too much into my own anticipation. Just call it a hunch, though...

P.S. I wrote the above the day Volume 6 came out, but was unable to post it, and finally got around to doing so. I thought I would add that it was reported today that all 100,000 copies of the first printing run of Scott Pilgrim have been purchased. This is prior to the movie coming out. I reiterate: nuts.

Daredevil by Frank Miller Companion Omnibus

2010-07-17T01:06:00.010-05:00

One sentence summary: A collection of all the later Miller Daredevil tales, this is an omnibus with about 350 pages of solid comic gold.

This is a superb collection of Miller's take on Daredevil, following his extended run from the late 70s to the early 80s (a run that, in my opinion, is important as one of the earliest cases of the modern, critically solid comics that would lead to Moore, Sandman, and the entire modern scene really).

Born Again, easily the most enshrined comic in this collection, is chronologically sandwiched between two other significant Miller pieces: The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One. I also think it's fascinating that the other lengthy piece in this Omnibus, The Man With No Fear, is essentially Daredevil: Year One, giving us a chronology where Miller does something original and game-changing with Batman, then mirrors it (successfully, it must be added) with Daredevil. They've always been similar characters, but this really does help cement that.

For ease, I'll just walk through the contents of the omnibus as it presents them. First, the inexplicably contained two issues of Spider-Man. I know that Miller did work on them, but they seem strangely out of place here. While involving Daredevil, it's certainly not the Daredevil that Miller would go on to script. Not only that, but the focus of the book is, outside of these, entirely on late-Marvel era Miller as a writer, while this is him as a tyro artist. Very strange, and while I rarely wish content wouldn't be there, I do wish this, if present at all, would be contained in some appendix, not the front of the book.

Next is Born Again, which is really the reason the omnibus exists. Born Again is the story that Daredevil has been ever since, just set on a loop as various writers remix it slightly. Mazzucchelli is a fascinating artist, as he really adjusts his style radically based on what the story may demand. Here there are shadows everywhere, lines invade the light like dirty water into a white napkin, and every panel presents the action in an incredibly straight-forward manner. Murdock may go insane, but the panels won't tell us this. It's the comic equivalent of using long shots -- a bit of an old style, but brilliantly effective.

It's tough to praise Miller's writing for a number of reasons. For one, though Born Again is sincerely great, the best parts about it have been taken and reused a thousand times since. Also, I realize another reason is something I completely skipped mentioning.

One thing that boils under the surface, but is quite lucid in the script pages in the appendix, is Miller's struggle to find a voice for Captain America, especially given his conflict in the story. I think quite a bit could be written on the differences Miller saw between Superman and Captain America's patriotisms and the reasons why. I won't now, but I'll say that it comes down to intelligence and skepticism, and given Miller's strong and bizarre political views could be an interesting topic. For a later time, though.

Between Born Again and the lousy Spider-Man issues are a couple other DD issues. One is a concluding issue of an arc that came immediately prior to Born Again and, while interesting, isn't especially worth talking about in length. However, the other is a one-off that is simply incredible, and that is "Badlands."

This was a one-off co-scripted by Miller that doesn't even feature Daredevil. While we know who the protagonist is, it barely matters. His name is never said, his occupation and abilities are never questioned, and his speech is kept to an impossible minimum. What happens instead is an entire town and history is created, elaborated, and brought to a close. The story itself is solid, and the writing is pretty tight (given the lack of dialog, Miller lets loose with prose verbiage, which I actually like though I could understand criticisms), but what is marvelous to me is the succinctness of it. When I was halfway through it, I just assumed it was a graphic novel I hadn't heard of, probably in the 64-page length. I was genuinely amazed when I realized it was only a 22 page standard. Anyone looking to see the utmost limits of gently compact storytelling should seek this out and learn it, as it uses all the tricks -- good and bad -- that it can.

After Born Again we have an interesting graphic novel with the bizarre, 80s-90s style art of Bill Sienkiewicz. I miss artists like this. That was thing the comic world of the 80s and 90s had over the modern age -- the ability of not just talented artists to do projects, but the acceptance of artists whose style could in no way be described as pop-art doing conventional comics. It was an era of Mack and McKean, and its passing is a bit of a bummer (not that modern artists are bad, but just that the most "avant-garde" of the artists doing things for the big names are still relatively traditional, like Allred or Cooke). As far as the story itself, it seems a bit of an anticlimatic mess, and I can see why it hasn't attained classic-status despite the creative team. Still an interesting read.

Then comes Man Without Fear, the Miller/JRJR project that oozes its movie-pitch roots. I don't really mean that as pejoratively as it sounds; the series is a captivating read that's almost had as much influence on later DD writers as Born Again. JRJR is an interesting companion to Mazzucchelli -- while Mazzucchelli has a fluid form that adjusts for every project, JRJR has one of the most distinctive looks in comic-dom which has remained largely the same for almost 20 years.

Really, the most interesting part of Man Without Fear is to see how Miller characterizes his most famous creation, Elektra. This early Elektra is not the stern, noble stoic assassin of post-Miller writers. This Elektra is friggin' nuts; she seems more akin to Bullseye than her later characterizations (which, in an aside, is interesting since Bullseye is probably the only classic DD character that does not show up in this mini. It's like Murdock requires that unhinged character to serve as a foil and make the reader see what would happen if he weren't in such tight control of himself).

Overall, it's a great collection and contains essentially all the best work Miller did for Marvel. It's interesting to me how much Miller stresses, both in the comics and out, how for Murdock, Daredevil isn't simply a costume done for protecting his identity or so forth. He has to be Daredevil to do what he does, because Daredevil isn't himself -- it's this "other," a literal alternate ego. It's an idea with subtle differences from the normal justifications for superhero identities (which generally exist in a spectrum from the Spider-Man to the Batman). The extras are nothing crazily unique (no shot against Miller, but his scripts don't tend to add a ton to the understanding of the work, but they're still nice to read over), but they're solid. Actually, my biggest gripe with the work? The name. When I first saw this existed, I assumed it was a companion to the Miller-scripted Daredevil run they had collected earlier, maybe featuring significant comics that influenced or were influenced by it, etc, such as would be expected from a "Companion." Probably should've just labeled this the second Daredevil by Miller omnibus.

Seriously, that's how good this collection was -- that's one of my biggest gripes.

Wednesday Comics

2010-07-04T22:07:00.006-05:00

One sentence summary: Come on, who doesn't want giant-sized comics?

Wednesday Comics really is a gorgeous collection. Before I go into further details, it should be noted that that really is the most important aspect of this collection: it looks good. It is a big, cool book filled with art that looks amazing, at least partially due to how friggin' big it is. That really comes before any consideration of the quality of the stories.

Now to consider the quality of the stories.

Actually, let's talk about which ones are improved and which ones are hurt by the change between weekly newspaper strips and a smaller, glossy collection of the whole stories.

Metamorpho, Deadman, and the Catwoman/Demon stories are all helped by the reprint (probably in about that order). I'd say really only Kamandi and Flash are hurt by it, though they're still two of the best stories (especially Flash).

Maybe Wonder Woman is too, but it's a bit of a mess regardless. I feel bad for the Wonder Woman story; it's this story that, if just a bit better executed, could've been really cool and the most reminiscent of the more avant-garde old newspaper strips. As is, though, it's a continual mix of styles, with no clear distinctions ever made with the motifs. In my perfect world, it's this beautiful, lightly colored dream of a story where the panels just flow with the word balloons, letting your eye casually follow along in an almost hypnotic effect. But, instead, it just doesn't seem to have the balls to do anything that crazy, and opts for this in-between existence that just doesn't work.

OK, so quick reviews of the other stories:

Azzarello & Risso's Batman is fine. I don't dislike it, but it didn't do anything for me either. It's a pretty predictable story (what, crazy, the beautiful woman in a noir story is the villain, whaaaat) and the art, while good, never goes for anything more than that. It does offer a stylish frontpiece for the collection, I'll admit.

I liked Kamandi a lot, actually, and reading it more carefully made it all the better. The reason I said it was worsened by the reprint was simply that it makes it depart slightly from its base, which is pure Hal Foster-ian goodness. However, it's still a strong story. Basic, yes, but there's a high quality to that baseness (which actually reminds me of Gibbons work on Green Lantern). The story doesn't go for intellectual heights, but it is a very solid, entertaining romp. And one thing that Sook, the artist, does, which is so basic but still he's the only one in the whole collection to do it, is take advantage of the size of the panels in order to make key objects be relatively small in the background, which, given the size (even in reproduction) of the page still makes them easily seen. It's such a low-level thing, but he gets points in my book for actually doing it.

I'm still meh about the Superman story. It's not terrible, but it really is just a 12-page story. It barely takes advantage of any aspect of this incredibly unique presentation method. You'd barely have to rework it at all to make it a 12-page back-up.

I liked the Deadman story when it was coming out, and I think the print quality really helped make it pop in the trade. Again the story-line itself isn't anything particularly impressive, but I think the art & panel design is notable enough to merit praise.

Anything I have to say about the Green Lantern story, just take the Superman story criticism and bump everything up a level or two. Solid, but definitely not special.

Allred's one of those artists -- along with Darwyn Cooke -- whom I will always love. It really doesn't matter what he does; when I heard he was doing one of the Wednesday Comic stories, I knew I'd love it. And I do. The reprint helps this story so much -- that they would do not one, but two different 2-page spreads in a 1-page a week story is such a ballsy move. I will say that I think it was a misfire for Gaiman to play off the story like it's a pre-Marvel superhero book, since the format is specifically newspaper comics, but, well, it's so pretty, who cares? And at least it tries to be different.

Teen Titans. Ugh. Sorta interesting artwork that is in no way enhanced by being large. A storyline that is fine at best. Subplots that don't matter; narrative techniques that are never fully utilized; just a mess. Just a mess.

Strange Adventures is fantastic! Paul Pope's art is great, and he uses a relatively dynamic panel layout throughout the series. It also does a bit of a Prince Valiant-esque story (I defend the story is more Valiant than it is Flash Gordon, despite the space setting), though not quite so openly as Kamandi, and, importantly, introduces this idea of the other-ness of comics. Not only is Adam Strange transformed by entering the comic-realm of Raan, so are things metamorphosed mundanely by exiting. It's a neat idea that only works when you take Adam Strange outside the DCU proper (which Pope violates in a neat episode with weird panels & Dr. Fate, but I forgive him).

Oh Amanda Conner. I love her art so much -- it just makes everything fun! It's impossible for me not to enjoy myself when I read one of her comics, simply due to the art. It's just so utterly playful. She also does great background shots, adding to the playfulness of the story. I know Palmiotti's writing is what let's the story stay sprightly, but I can't help but over-praise her art.

Metal Men was another mess of a story. If you have bouncy art like that, and jovial characters like the Metal Men, what the hell are you thinking killing them all off tragically over a period of weeks? It's like they let Remender ghost-script this or something.

The Sgt. Rock story isn't special, but it's Joe Kubert art, which is always gorgeous. It's absolutely crazy to me that he's still producing that level of quality at 83. Absolutely insane.

The Flash! Such an amazing story! This is the story of Wednesday Comics. This is the one that best uses the newspaper style, this best uses the short form story, where every page is unique, and it just generally has the most ambitious story. I won't lie and say I totally understand the conclusion; I also don't care, because I enjoyed it so much up til then, I just accept at that point.

I liked the Demon & Catwoman story more than most. It's a solid story with solid art, and nothing seems out of place; it's nothing particularly special, so it may just be that I like it more because it has Etrigan in it, which always wins points in my heart.

I like the Hawkman story, but I have very mixed feelings about the art. I don't really like what Kyle Baker has done lately, with the 3-d overlaid with linework. The use of 3-d images forces a static-effect on the drawings that wouldn't be there otherwise. Maybe I wouldn't notice it if all comics were like it, but that's like the argument for 240 Hz TVs -- I don't care that it's technically better, it looks like crap and you know it. That said, even with the hit-or-miss artwork (sorry) the story is at least interesting, and very much embraces the newspaper tradition of rapidly changing directions in plot while maintaining a steady smoothness in the strip (it's really like a year of a normal Phantom strip compressed to 12 weeks).

There you go, a massive review for a massive book. Even with the medley of quality, totally worth owning to show off.

Criminal: The Deluxe Edition

2010-07-01T02:05:00.004-05:00

One-sentence summary: One of the best series of the last decade is only improved by reading several arcs together.

I love noir, and I love Brubaker, so there was never any doubt I'd love Criminal, and I even specifically waited on buying the trades based on the assumption there would be a fancy collection of them eventually. This is one of those books they really cannot make too expensive for me, as it's always worth every penny.

The one thing that stood out to me so starkly when reading this collection is how well the universe knits together when the arcs are taken as one long story, Sin City-like. You learn families and histories; you see the old become young, the son become the father, the cynic become the hopeful. By setting the first story in the present and a later arc in the past, so that all those metamorphoses are in the reverse, takes the foreboding sense that the inevitability would present and transforms it into an empty resignation, which fits noir so well.

Sean Philips' art is like this impossible optical illusion, where regardless of the medium it always looks like it's made for it. On big pages with shiny glossiness all the darknesses pop, but I can totally see it looking equally amazing cheaply printed on cheap paper: faded, almost grimy, analogous the overly-artificial use of light in noir flicks.

The bonuses included in this edition are pretty solid. Nothing jaw-dropping, but enough to make me appreciate it. My personal favorite was something I'd never seen before: apparently they had put together a "trailer" for the first arc by taking some individual panels and having a couple pages of them. I don't know if they're the first to do it (neither are they) but it's a very cool idea that I'd like to see as an occasional alternative to the two current methods (giant splash page ads that are essentially a cover, or the first 5 or so pages stuck at the back of a book). For the purists, they don't have any of the essays that were contributed to the individual issues, as they had been freely given and so they felt iffy about reproducing them. I was a bit sad about it -- I mean, Patton Oswalt, my favorite comedian, wrote one of them -- but it's completely reasonable, so I don't mind.

There's so much to love about a book like Criminal. I love the artistic audacity they have: they're so willing to do interesting, new things but they never make a deal of it. The four issues that are all about a single night, each one readable as a standalone but all needed to get a complete picture of what happened, in particular stands out. A friend mentioned one technique I had noticed but not realized the novelty of: a character gets black-out drunk once, and to illustrate this there are fully black panels followed by a panel of action, jumping from scene to scene as we only get the perspective of flawed memory. So cool...just so damn cool.

That really sums up this book, and this whole series: just so damn cool.

Ghost World

2010-06-30T01:28:00.006-05:00

One sentence summary: A succinct, episodic story of growing up and the pain of failure, Ghost World lets itself drift from humor to tragedy so subtly you don't notice the journey.

I haven't read a ton of Daniel Clowes, and pretty much everything I have read is very early stuff -- this and Velvet Glove Cast In Iron, along with a few old issues of Eightball -- but it's pretty easy to tell why he's considered one of the Big Names. His stuff is powerful and tightly-composed. Ghost World's often cited as his major work, and it clocks in at 80 pages.

Especially with comics that start as serials, I always wonder how much is planned in advance by the creator. I ask because I can see both pathways with Ghost World: it either began with Clowes knowing exactly where this was going and exactly the route there, or it was just him having a sardonic teen comment half-ironically half-desperately to a friend that he slowly realized he could turn into a deep story.

Ghost World also has that now-trope of having unlikable characters. Here it works, though; it keeps us detached, at least partially, from them so that we view their lives pitilessly. We know they're failures before they openly do.

Ultimately, that's what Ghost World is about: failure. And it's not the failure through hubris, or fate, it's just inevitable failure because these people are losers. It's a relentless examination of losers growing up into losers; a bildungsroman of a failure.

First we begin with the girls making fun of the world around them, the places they go, the people they see, and the TV they obsessively watch, and it is a pretty funny mockery (we begin to want to like them, but their overt flaws soon prevent that). Slowly this isn't enough, and they start creating situations for mockery's sake. Eventually the overly-critical eye glimpses each other and glimpses inward -- they see that not only is the other a loser, they themselves are.

I could go on and on about it. It's an interesting comic to dissect, and, in my opinion, the mere fact I could rant on about the details, about the characters, about even the color scheme, is the sign of a good work of art. It's not the most fun of reads, but, honestly, if that's the only reason you read something, grow up.

As an aside: I have a tangential rant I want to make, but it only was inspired by this comic and not really directly having to deal with it, so feel free to stop reading if all you wanted was the comic review.

While reading about it online (after I finish anything interesting, I like to look up information on it just to see) one thing struck me again and again, and that's the continual assumption that Enid is intelligent (or even pseudo-intellectual, which is also incorrect but a different argument). Being snarky does not make somebody intelligent, and, in fact, a major aspect of the story is that Enid isn't particularly intelligent.

Apparently, our society has gotten to the point where a person is considered intelligent if they are obsessively critical or opinionated. As somebody who strives to be intelligent and improve myself, I'm continually irritated when the mantle of "smart" is given to those who simply snipe at the world around them.

So, no, regardless of what wikipedia and who-knows-who else says, Ghost World is not about two intelligent/intellectual/pseudo-intellectual girls, and it's all the better for it. This would be an entirely different story if it were one of lost potential.

Transmetropolitan Volume 1

2010-05-16T22:49:00.003-05:00

One-sentence summary: Hunter S. Thompson mixed with Jesus in a dystopian future -- yaaay.

This is part of my "reading comics I really should've read years ago" series. I love Warren Ellis, so it's a shame I hadn't read this (which a variety of people consider his best work) before now, because it is friggin' fantastic.

I almost feel bad writing this review without having read the entire series, as this is clearly going to be a fairly contained, long story. It's Ellis dealing with one of his favorite motifs: the messiah. Ellis does these sorts of stories pretty often: crazy dude returns from the wilderness, supercharged with "the truth" and generally dishevels existence in fair City. It's Transmet, it's Doktor Sleepless, and in a lesser degree most of his other works deal with the concept of a broken savior too (Gravel springs to mind). If it weren't for how well he does it, it'd probably get old.

Journalism struck me as a novel occupation for his messiah. I mean, it makes complete sense, but I can't recall too many other savior scenarios using it (excepting Superman, which doesn't quite count I'd argue). It gives the character a reason to wander around all day screaming at people and searching for the Truth.

And that's really what the book is about -- not just Truth, but the search for it. His point (in this volume at least) was stated pretty directly: what we consider the gritty, tough-to-uncover truth is obvious, we're just more comfortable with ignoring it until we forget we're ignoring it.

Anywho, Ellis's writing is top-notch here. His dialogue is crackling with depraved, manic energy, and the series skips most the exposition he likes to delve into. The art by Robertson is good too, hyper-detailed enough to help make Spider's vision our own: the truth of the world is there, we just might have to read outside the speech bubbles.

Absolute Sandman Volume 2

2010-05-15T01:51:00.003-05:00

One-sentence summary: Do I have to do this for Sandman?

Is there anything I could possibly add to the conversation about Sandman? It's gotta be one of the most analyzed comics of...well, ever. This collection contains some of my favorites (Seasons of Mist, for instance), and I absolutely adore the Absolute series from DC. It really is a premium product. Beyond just the enhanced size, this collection has about 100 pages of extras, 10 of which are a never-before-reprinted story from an old Vertigo special I hadn't read (and it was quite nice).

Seriously, though, it's Sandman. I really can't imagine anything original to say about it. Walking through the script of the issue where Lucifer forsakes Hell was more revealing than I thought it'd be, particularly in regards to the details in body language between Dream and Lucifer that were entirely purposeful (also amusing was Gaiman's tangent on how Lucifer could have his own series, but he didn't see it ever happening for legal reasons, which apparently got resolved).

I miss Sandman. There were a wave of comics from the 80s to early 90s -- Swamp Thing, Sandman, Starman, and probably some others I'm not remembering -- that allowed the main character to sort of step away from the series for a few issues, serving in an entirely perfunctory role as new or side characters romped away in a full-fledged story. When I'm reading back through these, when they're done right, it usually works so well and gives the comic a nice difference. I imagine month-to-month it might be a little more grueling for a fan, but maybe not.

One thing I hadn't noticed about Sandman when I first read through it years ago was how much variance the art has. I mean, it's almost always top-notch quality, but every story has its own artist that develops a unique feel for the story. It really helps give Sandman that episodic quality which allows for such different changes of tone between plots. The only thing that bothered me were in-story switches, which I think may have only happened once.

Anyway, it's a fantastic comic published in a fantastic format. Even at $60-100, I think it's worth it (but then again, I spend too much money on comics).

Get a Life

2010-05-08T00:24:00.004-05:00

One-sentence summary: A wonderful comic, gently touching on seriousness without ever wading into it.

Sometimes I buy comics because they're by writers I trust or heard good things about; usually it's because they're collections of series that I've read in single issue form.

Occasionally -- just occasionally -- I will buy a comic for no conceivable reason. Get a Life found its way onto my Amazon wish list at some point, but I couldn't tell you how. When making a large purchase once, filled with expensive hardbounds from the Big Two, I threw in a used copy of this that was being sold for about $4. Of all those comics, I've enjoyed it the most so far.

The premise is simple: Mr. Jean, our protagonist, is a 30-something bachelor who just published, to some limited critical praise, his first major novel, and now he's trying to figure out "what next."

The stories are told in various vignettes, but with the plots and character arcs spanning across the entire book. Some are out-and-out comedic -- a series of gags, for instance, where Jean is suffering from insomnia and an unhelpful friend tells him to think of hippos in love -- while others are mostly serious. The book has a light tone overall, which fits the material. I've been harping on this quite a bit lately, but the combination of droll humor and cartoon-y art lets the pair of artists/writers deal with heartbreak and growing older sincerely without dipping into the maudlin.

It is a uniquely French book. French culture has this majestic ability to sweep you gently into it, so that while you're being entertained you find yourself less aware of it. I find this manifest in M. Hulot's Holiday, in the Maigret books, and here with the life of M. Jean.

Tragedy is too serious of a word, but it was very saddening for me to learn this is the only volume of the M. Jean series translated into English, and, given that it was published 4 years ago, I doubt there are more forthcoming anytime soon. However, since it's available for less than large mocha at Starbucks, I say it's definitely worth picking up.

Batman: Year One

2010-04-28T23:50:00.005-05:00

One-Sentence Summary: Um, it's Batman Year One, I don't need this.

Several of the next few posts will be "Classic comics I somehow have not read yet" so withhold judgment all zero of you. This night's edition is Batman: Year One.

Batman: Year One is by Frank Miller (Sin City, 300, Dark Knight Returns) and David Mazzucchelli (Um, this and Asterios Polyp and a couple other things?) and is Miller's go at writing a 4-issue origin story to Batman. Awesome.

To be honest, it's tough for me to know how influential this comic was. The Batman that Miller writes here more or less is the modern Batman w/some inexperience. This comic came out the year I was born, so I have no idea how people thought about Batman before this, or what his origin story was like, tonally, etc. It's fairly difficult to capture that sort of impression after something else has already been etched into you (it's like how it's impossible not to read old X-Men issues as a statement about minorities, even if they weren't intended that way until Claremont). I think it says something that this comic was so influential it could easily have changed how I think about Batman (which is often) without me even knowing.

It holds up fantastically. The recoloring helps (I have no idea when that happened, but I'm glad it did), but Mazzucchelli's art stands on its own merits incredibly well. Miller paints the scene very well showing not just why Batman is, but why he was needed, and draws a parallel between Batman and Commissioner Gordon that works well and hasn't really been expanded upon much (they're seen more in a symbolic relationship nowadays, I would argue, vs. serving the same purpose).

I really like Mazzucchelli's Batman cowl. I dig the old-school stylings, and he really works them well here. It's a sort of false-retro style that wouldn't really bloom, I think, until Cooke (though someone who knows comics better than I could probably tell me why that's wrong).

Can I make a complaint? I don't really get Catwoman's purpose here (except to fulfill the Law of Miller). I sort of see the idea of Batman inspiring others, thus creating his own need (a theme that's used much more openly in other stories), but the story does parallels with Batman and Gordon so well anything additional seems more cluttered than anything else. It feels like an idea that could've been interesting on its own in a sequel, but in here, it just seems unnecessary, especially given the story's otherwise spartan use of subplots.

Also: what's up with that son? Such an odd facet of Gordon to be completely forgotten, especially given its central placement w/in this story, considered a seminal Batman book.

And, really, that leads to an odd contradiction with this book: it will forever be loved, and rightly so, by Batman fans as one of the key trades to own, along with The Killing Joke and Dark Knight Returns, and tonally it more or less set the tone for the Batman we still have. However, most of the elements actually used here -- the relationship between Gordon & Batman, Gordon's son, Gordon's silent acknowledgement of Batman's identity -- seem to have disappeared.

Oh well. Batman's currently awesome, and this Batman was awesome, so, really, who am I to argue?

Preacher: Ancient History

2010-04-26T00:49:00.004-05:00

One-sentence summary: This collection of the Preacher specials is solid, if probably unnecessary.

I haven't read Preacher in years, so I've been going through it again recently. It holds up pretty well as a series -- definitely Ennis's magnum opus.

A big part of Preacher, though, is the fascinating long-form narrative. Another equally important part is Steve Dillon, whose art is key to the story's tone. What's interesting, though, is how well these three stories work despite that. They're a reprieve from the main Preacher -- a side-road to travel -- but they're still a good read.

Well, the Saint of Killers 4-parter is a good read. Arseface's origin and a story featuring Jody and T.C. are pretty lackluster. They're a bit of cotton candy; sort of enjoyable, but there's nothing to it.

The Saint of Killers story -- there's some amazing Preacher work. Firmly entrenched in the bizarre theology of the Preacher universe, while a complete embrace-and-rejection-of the old Westerns that Ennis loves so much, it just works. It's a story that's simultaneously awesome and terrifying, over-the-top but creepy. It serves its purpose as a legend w/in the Preacher world, giving us an interesting background on the Saint of Killers that we can choose to believe or not, while giving us an interesting amoral tale. It's the key to the collection, and really what makes the book worthwhile.

That being said, I do wonder about the placement of this trade within the series. As I said, it's been awhile since I read Preacher, so I'm not entirely sure if what comes immediately after this has any relevance to the going-ons of this book, of if it just so happened that some of these issues were published during the issues in trades 3 & 5, so they threw them in here. I don't know. If they end up not having any relevance, I sort of question making them a numbered part of the set, and not just their own separate trade -- but, meh, it was worth it for the Saint of Killers story.

Atomic Robo Volume 1

2010-04-21T00:29:00.003-05:00

One-Sentence Summary: Hurray for Atomic Robo!

I'll admit it: I've got a major soft spot for this comic. Not only is it by Brian Clevinger (whose webcomic, 8-Bit Theater, is super-fantastic), but it's everything a superhero comic should be.

This doesn't read like the first few issues of an independent comic. It doesn't look like it, either, or even feel like it. You have a (seemingly) fully-developed world with characters with rich backgrounds, and the action sequences are well-constructed.

If I have any complaints, it's in the nitty-gritty. I think that background characters lack faces is a bit of a distraction, even if it's more of an artistic choice than a shortcut. Because this is a volume that's really about introducing Robo himself, the side characters sort of get passed by. You have some wacky dialog from them (including a great, on-the-side discussion of imaginary physics), but Robo really dominates.

The good part of this is Robo is a great protagonist. The comparisons of this comic to Hellboy are rife and apt, but I will say it: Robo is a better character than Hellboy. Stories aside, Hellboy is a much more reactive character, while Robo is front-and-center of his world. Robo has no dominant characteristic -- sure, he jokes and fights, but he's an intelligent character, and, in my favorite scene of the volume, you feel the weight of being an 80-year old ageless robot.

The art works so well for this series too. Much like Invincible, or the 90s Deadpool when McGuiness drew it, this relatively bright, relatively cartoon-y style is very liberating on the story. Not only does it allow for fairly ridiculous things seeming ordinary (Robo himself would be a bit more dehumanized with a more realistic style), but it also brightens the story a bit and really highlight the humor-element.

As far as the trade goes, it's a pretty standard job: 15-ish dollars, 6 issues, the b-material from the issues is included along with a few pages of concept art. Glossy paper, though, so that's nice.

Atomic Robo is one of the up-and-coming comics, and Clevinger is a rising star himself. I won't pretend to guess the future on it: it could go the route of Hellboy, and become huge; it could go the way of The Goon and begin to explode, then collapse for creator-based reasons (yes, I know it's still limping along); or it could be like so many Dark Horse projects of the 90s, and be popular and critically acclaimed, only to be forgotten borderline-instantly (Concrete or Monkey Man & O'Brien anyone?). It has the potential to do any of these. I know which route I'll be rooting for.

Complete Crumb Volume 2: Some More Early Years of Bitter Struggle

2010-04-20T01:34:00.005-05:00

One-sentence summary: Despite some peaks, this really is an edition only for the hardcore fans or completionists.

In case you don't know, the Complete Crumb Comics is a 17-Volume series of all of Crumb's work that could legally be gathered by Fantagraphics into these 120-or-so page volumes, up till a certain point in his career where copyrights start to bump into each other. As a collection, it'll take awhile to assemble if you don't want to pay outrageous mark-ups on them (they drift in and out of printing, with prices that fluctuate accordingly, though realistically they rarely go for more than 25 in an eBay auction).

Now, when I say they collect all of his work, I do mean all -- the first volume has high school doodles and attempts at comics with his brother, and this volume is still him in a very early phase of development. I'm not saying the comics aren't interesting -- Crumb's unique take on powerful women is here less embroiled in a trope and instead much fresher, as in his longer Mabel story -- just that, as a rule, it's pretty meh stuff.

Fritz the cat, while appearing briefly in the first volume, really starts to come into his own here; the final sequence in the book is an incredibly disturbing story of him going back home after an off-panel fall-out with his current teenage pet/girlfriend, a story which ends suddenly and I'm not sure I want to see the conclusion of, truthfully.

You're mostly getting comics that are somewhere between doodles and fully developed amateur work, and the last 50 pages are mostly sketches (gorgeous sketches and covers, sure, but still just sketches). Among the nicer bonuses of the Complete Crumb sets, though, are the 6-7 (large) page introductions done by people relevant to Crumb's life at the time of the material. I'm not a huge Crumb buff, so I'm not sure how readily available the material they present is, but I always enjoy the intros.

Crumb's an impressive enough cartoonist that even this early material, almost 50 years after it was first written, is interesting on its own right; however, for what you get in this trade, it's not that interesting. I'm definitely looking forward to the next volume, in which we see the bulk of the Fritz stories.

The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Omnibus

2010-04-16T23:52:00.003-05:00

One sentence summary: Some hits and some misses, but for the price well worth it to read these darlings of the old underground.

I am not an expert in the underground comix of the '60s-70s. A large reason for this is how generally unsuitable for modern-style reprinting is the original material, if quality copies are even available. That's part of what makes this (and the Complete Crumb collection, for that matter) such a treasure: these are gen-u-ine cultural artifacts.

That being said, it's not like reading this is similar to, say, reading Piers the Plowman or some other Medieval writing suitable only for historical perusal. These are vibrant characters in hilarious situations, most of which manage to deal with drugs.

What struck me when reading these, particularly the first couple of hundred pages, is that the joke of a page would be straight from a newspaper funny: a mistaken identity, a hilarious inversion, etc. These managed (and still do!) to have an edge by making these situations darker and about material never printable in a newspaper funny. An example is when one of the trio, off-panel, shoves a cop out of a third story window thinking it's Fat Freddy in costume, leaving the brothers in the last panel dots on a mountain, hiding out in the wilderness until the heat dies down. The punchline is so old it's vaudevillian, but it manages to twang a new chord by adding the darker element.

That said, shockingly, not all 40-year old hippie comics have aged well. In particular, the mega-arc that takes up over 1/6th of the book, "Innocents Abroad," manages to be over-serious and silly at the same time, and not really in a good way. Despite having the best art of the entire set, and being the best-preserved (some of the black-and-white scans are fairly blotchy, though certainly readable), it reads the most out-of-date -- clearly a product of the cynical '80s.

I love having read this book. When one reads a great novel, or something almost entirely uncorrelated with the times (such as the typical superhero comic), there's a timelessness about it, a disconnection from its own history. For good and for bad, the Freak Brothers are a product of their times, and more importantly a snapshot of those times. Shelton has no way to turn off his writing from being a reflection of his concerns at that moment; the Freak Brothers are the hippocampus of the comix brain, spitting out whatever's most current, and in many ways this is as fascinating to me as any number of pot-jokes.

All said, if you can still find it at the retail price, it's a steal. It's recently gone out of print, which is a shame, though I have no idea if there's enough of a demand to keep prices high (I'm looking at you, X-Statix trades).

Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade

2010-04-08T22:47:00.009-05:00

Note: In an attempt to balance my desire to write about comics with the time demands of, well, life, instead of my somewhat-crazy attempt to review every comic book that this blog started as, I'm just going to try to write reviews of whatever I happen to have just read. This should be a reasonable 1-2 posts a week. Let's see if I can manage!

One-sentence summary: An ignored comic, but one of the single best superhero stories to come out of 2008 -- no, really!

I think kids' comics get a bad rap on a consumer-level. Critically, they're fairly appreciated (Tobin and Parker's work on the Marvel Adventure line comes to mind), but even this is hit or miss. I think this comic is a great example of that.

Let's be honest: there aren't a ton of well-written superhero comics about girls out there. Unfortunately, part of the reason for this is that they simply don't sell well (Slott's She-Hulk, Palmiotti's Power Girl, etc) even when they are good. I think it's a bit of a self-sustaining cycle: few comic buyers buy girl-centric titles because they generally aren't well-written, thus lowering the demand for girl-centric titles, thus lowering the chances for a company to strongly support a title, and so on. This isn't a new phenomenon, nor is it one that really shows signs of going away any time soon.

I lead off on this tangent because one of the most important aspects to this book is that it somehow manages the miracle of never once falling into a girl-comic cliche, all the while being, through-and-through, a girl-comic.

Maybe it's due to my absence from writing, but I can't really get describe how much I adore this book. The characters are solid, and when the emotional moments are there, you feel them. How many times does this happen in a kids' comic? Even Lex Luthor gets a heart-wrenching line at the end. One of the primary "enemies" of book -- Belinda Zee, her "evil" double -- really is just misunderstood, but you're never hit over the head with that, you're never forced to love the character, but at the end you sympathize with the position into which she's been created\. The emotional moments are sprinkled throughout the book, but at no point do they seem out of place or undeserved or overwhelming.

Now, lest you think it's a maudlin work, let me talk about the comedy. This is what first got my attention with the book; like a lot of kid comics published today, comedy plays a larger role than in mainstream superhero books. The main source of humor throughout the series is Linda Lee (Supergirl)'s image thought bubbles, usually showing her daydreams of an idealized super-heroic self, with the absurdity a misplaced 14-year old might have (one of my favorites was her fantasy of being moon Supergirl stopping moon robbers from robbing the moon bank. On the moon). The series also plays with the inherent absurdity of superhero books, embracing it fully, without any meta-acknowledgment, eventually giving a totally acceptable explanation for all the surreality that had occurred before (just in case there were readers wondering how, for instance, a piece of kryptonite shown through a projector could create an evil double).

But, in case you do like a dash of meta in your comics, the depiction of the 2-d world in the climax as crudely drawn crayon drawings with childish dialog ("Karate chop!!") might appease you. Or if you're a huge DC-canon nerd, you can enjoy the reference in the final issue as a giant hand reaches out through the multiverse. Maybe you simply yearn for the old funny editor note asterisk call-backs -- they're there too.

My point is: this book really does have it all. I'm not easily impressed -- at any given moment, the Big Two are putting out maybe a half-dozen books I really dig -- but this is great stuff. I can't recommend it enough, and it's only $13 retail ($11 on Amazon -- just sayin'). Give it a try. It's a nice, self-contained story, that's friendly to all ages, particularly a good comic for girls, but with more than enough substance to satiate any level of fan.

P.S. Looking up the writer, I see that he?she? has gone on to write some other critically appraised children's comics -- Batman: The Brave & The Bold, and The Incredibles.

Strange Tales

2009-11-12T16:32:00.003-06:00

One-sentence summary: Regardless if you like indies for their off-beat humor or their unflinching address of real themes, these stories will serve you well.

I wasn't sure what to make of Strange Tales when I heard it announced. So many indie creators have an anti-superhero passion that I wondered if it would be a self-loathing collection, but that was never the case. The closest you have to that are the direct parodies, like the Spider-Man redux in issue three, or the Kupperman story in issue one, but even these aren't done mockingly. Instead, you mostly have stories like Bagge's three-part Hulk story where Hulk is torn between two vastly different women who want bizarrely similar things (side note: Bagge did this story years ago, and Marvel just got around to finding a venue to publish it, deciding it was too racy for inclusion in an all-audience Hulk revue). I particularly liked the Hornschemeier Molecule Man story as far as the more serious stories are concerned. Though only two pages, Jeffrey Brown's Fantastic Four story probably had me laughing the most of any thing in the three issues.

All in all, it succeeded quite well at what it was going for: give general comic fans a different, generally humorous take on some beloved characters while introducing several indie creators to a larger crowd (some, like Sakai, most nerds at least peripherally know, but I had actually never heard of Hornschemeier prior to this, along with many of the others).

I unabashedly like revue books, at least when they're not just an excuse to dump some online-exclusive stories. I think it does a mind good to read comics (superhero and not) not written in either 22 or 110/132 page increments. For me, while I consider myself a fairly decent comic nerd, I really don't have a ton of knowledge of the indie scene due to various reasons, so this easy method of getting to know some names and styles was worth it for that alone.

Eisner Thoughts

2009-04-13T15:47:00.002-05:00

Oh life -- you sure make writing a blog no one cares about or reads difficult.

So the Eisner nominations came out, and did you hear? People like to talk about them. Here's a few cents of thought (given inflation, it's probably considerably more than 2).

Madame Xanadu? Really? This book has never seemed greater than average and, unlike Air or Unknown Soldier, it doesn't seem to be trying to be much more. For one thing, it's stuck in the same situation as, bizarrely, Cable. They're both books which, while Xanadu probably has more potential than Cable, are hindered by the plot device of time-jumping-forward. It's simply a messy way to tell the story. In both, the characters have gone forward hundreds of years at a time, but don't stay at any of the times long enough for the reader to care. What happens is a mixture of a too-long arc (in Cable, it's just now closing up after 10+ issues, crossover, and related 2-issue miniseries, in Xanadu we don't have her in the present, but we're now into the 20th century) w/too short of stories. All in all, a completely OK book.

The best continuing series is just a bizarre collection. We have one of the best limited series of last year represented, so that's...good? W/the exception of Monster, I've read these series over the last year (I've got plans to catch up on Monster soon, it just hasn't happened yet). I've thought Thor was a pretty solid read, but there are definitely some better books (Incredible Hercules, anyone? Captain America? And that's off the top of my head, from other Marvel titles). Usagi Yojimbo just seems a bit random, though I do like the book, so I'm not going to complain too much.

I guess what this comes down to is the fickle nature of the Eisners. Selected by a very limited group of people pulled from a not-quite-as limited pool which differs year-to-year, you're not really getting a guarantee, as, well, sometimes really smart people who know their craft can have weird taste (if I were less lazy, I'd link here to Ebert giving Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties a 3-star review).

What I'm saying is that Madame Xanadu is a Garfield movie.

Green Lantern Corps #27

2008-08-14T10:12:00.004-05:00

One-sentence summary: I had my doubts about this book post-Sinestro Corps, seeing as how dominatingly brilliant that was, but Tomasi delivers a good superhero cop book.

I really like what they've done with Green Lantern Corps. There's a lot of pitfalls in a book like this (to name a few: letting it become a series of one-shots about side characters from Green Lantern, letting it become all about a major side character, like Guy Gardner or someone, or, most obvious of all, letting it play second-fiddle to the main Green Lantern book). I think it's a credit to every writer who has been on it that these haven't happened. Instead, what we have is a comic that presents a chance to tell some unique stories.

At its heart (at least right now), Green Lantern Corps is a cop book. Sure, they have superpowers, but so do most the people we see them chasing, which evens things up. Yes, there are great sci-fi elements in the stories (expressed in the art wonderfully), and the villains tend to be on the super-villain side of things, but I defend that it's still a cop book, with all the worries of the characters being like those in most crime drama.

This latest story goes with endangerment of families, which could be interesting. It also spent some time with old and new subplots, one of which provided some necessary light-heartedness. All in all, I'm excited about the issues to come, but this issue was more of a nice segue between two arcs, which isn't bad in it of itself, but...it's tough to have strong feelings about a hallway. That being said, the art was great as usual. Just keep an eye out for later issues of this arc. It's probably safe to assume it will be good. That's just a great thing to be able to say.

Thor #10

2008-08-01T10:15:00.003-05:00

One-sentence summary: The weighty style of Straczynski really shines in slow-moving saga of the gods.

You know, regardless of whether or not you like it, you've got to give Straczynski credit for taking on the challenge of crafting an original epic in comic book form. He is taking Thor on not as a superhero but as a god in a world of superheroes.

However, this style is definitely not for everyone. For one thing, this is a very slow moving story with a fairly low amount of action. For another, as I said, this isn't really a superhero book. If anything, the one encounter with superheroes the book has had stated pretty intensely just that -- Thor is not a superhero and is not going to concern himself with superhero worries.

This issue is dialogue intense, with only a small amount of true progression through the story, though what's there is important.

One thing that will keep some readers from getting into this is the obviousness of various aspects. Of course Loki is planning something; why can't those who have dealt with him for millennia see that? The answer to that is mythology itself. As anyone who read the old Norse myths knows, many times the evil is obvious, many times the plots transparent, but the gods go on through it, seemingly oblivious to the obvious. Why? There's a number of answers you can find, sure, but I'd say the best is just "because that is what they do." Much like a superhero, a god's characteristics are determined through the stories told about them rather than through any intrinsic characteristics. Out of these stories emerge, along with the characteristics, oddities that are accepted because they are. Why do the gods plunge through a plot thick with evil with their mythic intensity? For the exact same reason no one has bothered to compare the face of Superman with that of Clark Kent.

I like Thor. I read enough comics that I'm not dying for the next installment of any of them, no matter how good -- I can have the patience to wait. Thor demands that patience, which may reasonably too much for some, but I can wait for this story to complete. A story of gods is nice amongst the superheroes.

Project Superpowers #5

2008-07-31T13:01:00.002-05:00

One-sentence summary: Dynamite's public-domain superhero project is moving along, this issue bringing the elements together to close this chapter and set the stage for the various spin-offs.

For me, after having them built up my whole life, Golden Age comics were a bit of a disappointment. Sure, there were a handful of ones with some interesting gimmicks or art, but the Golden Age of comics was golden only in terms of sales; the stories were formulaic, the characters massively derivative from each other (with a few gems), and the art generally as quickly done as possible.

However, Ross and Krueger sat down with these raw materials and thought up an intriguing universe. They took each character and flushed out their personalities, their flaws, and what they should be like in a post-WWII environment. Taking these characters, drawing the lines on good and bad, and plotting things out, they've created a truly great universe. Taking forgotten characters and turning them into original masterpieces is a comic tradition, from Moore's Swamp Thing to Morrison's Doom Patrol, and that's exactly what they've done here.

This issue is much less plot-intensive than ones in the past, with many of the story developments taking place in the background, allowing us to see these fighters in what proves to be their element; brawling. Normally I get bored with issues like these, but given the number of characters in any number and style of fight, I really loved every panel of this.

Project Superpowers is one of the better titles of the year, and definitely among the top superhero comics out there. Given no hype at all, this Golden Age-themed comic has yet to disappoint me.

Reign in Hell #1 (of 8)

2008-07-31T08:57:00.003-05:00

One-sentence summary: This ambitious mini-series begins with a declaration of intent, giving the reader a good feel for where it wants to go, and it's delivered well so far.

Hell is unfamiliar territory for DC. Not so much for Vertigo, no, but as a whole DC has left its Hell rather uncharted, with just an occasional demon popping up here and again. Consequently, Reign in Hell could supply something rather unfamiliar to mainstream comic fans -- an obvious world w/in the comic universe that remains uncharted.

First off, I was glad to get my dose of Shadowpact in this issue. It wasn't much, sure, but I was grief-stricken when that series got canceled, so it's just nice to see them again. There are a couple other cameos I won't spoil but were intriguing surprises to me. The art is great, with that sort of gritty detail that's been a mainstay for Hell since Bosch. The story seems solid, with definite direction and purpose, which is nice to see in a premiere issue. The dialog is...ok. I'm pretty neutral toward it; it never grabbed me, but it also never distracted me, so that balances out. What really sells this title to me is the purpose: organizing DC's Hell only to break it apart, and possibly how magic works (though that never seems to amount to much). I'd like this to reflect the events in Final Crisis, but I'm guessing it won't, since anything with even a vague connection to that series is stamped all over.

The back-up story was a bit weaker, I thought. Maybe it was my unfamiliarity with Dr. Occult, but I just found myself one step behind the whole story through; this isn't that rare for first issues, though, so I won't condemn it for that.

All said, at the end of this Hell will no longer be so unfamiliar. Whether that will add a neat element to the DCU or if it will simply eliminate one of the few true unknowns in that universe, we'll see.

Marvel Comics Presents #11

2008-07-28T10:29:00.003-05:00

One-sentence summary: As this 12-issue arc draws near a close, the series continues to output neat one-shots and interesting arcs.

I'd like to think that I like this series for reasons that extend beyond it fitting my stunted attention span, giving me four short stories in a relatively small (30ish pages) frame.

For one thing, I like how it's done a story on the Collective/Guardian/Whatever. He seemed like he should be a gigantically important character, but just got tossed to the side; it's nice to see what's going on with him.

As a general rule, that's what I like about this. It's giving little known characters a chance to get some panels in. I imagine the Hellcat series inspired the current Hellcat mini, which is neat, and I'm enjoying the Machine Man going on right now. The one-shots, while sometimes a bit odd, are usually at least a little enjoyable. This issue had a one-joke Stingray story, but it was still fun. Vanguard (the other 12-issue story) has been good, but this one ended somewhat crazily -- I'm looking forward to the conclusion.

All in all, I'm hoping next issue isn't the last, but I'm not sure. I haven't checked the solicitations. Regardless, it's been a good 12-issue run -- attention span notwithstanding.

Glamorpuss #2

2008-07-25T16:36:00.003-05:00

One-sentence summary: Dave Sim's bizarre half-satire/half-stream of conscious art essay continues, though somehow less satisfying than last issue.

I thought I'd do a review on a more indie comic, though it's certainly getting its share of coverage as it is Dave Sim, of Cerebrus fame, doing it. I actually really get a kick out of the stream-of-conscious art essay portion of it, as I don't know a ton about that era of artist (it's essentially about the pre-comic book artists of the 30s). In general, his parody of Cosmo and ilk aren't too far off, though I thought this issue's rant against anti-depressants was a bit weird (though, honestly, if you're familiar with Dave Sim you know to expect weird).

What Sim's doing here is certainly ambitious. He is, essentially, trying to revive a long-dead art style single-handedly. In doing so, he's also trying to personally work through the whys and the hows of all the bigger name early artists (Hal Foster, Alex Raymond, etc). In order to give some sort of structure to the title, though, he's including a few parodies of fashion magazine-style articles, in particular with the cover of each issue. I think this is hit or miss and much prefer his essay portion, but that's me, I'm sure there are others who just like the Glamorpuss portion.

All in all, I think there is a definite audience for this book. For someone either interested in comic art theory or early comic history would probably like this. However, someone looking for the average comic is going to be feeling disappointed, but, then again, why are they buying an indie title by Dave Sim?

Ambush Bug: Year None #1

2008-07-25T14:08:00.003-05:00

One-sentence summary: How many jokes you get from this book is essentially like a scale of how much of a comics nerd you are -- casual readers beware.

Ambush Bug is one of those characters you either love, hate, or have never heard of because he's almost as obscure as the jokes he makes. If you doubt my emphasis on the obscurity of the jokes, here's a list of some of the references I caught and remember off the top of my head:

Sugar & Spike (comic from early Silver age about a couple of kids)
Several references to earlier Ambush Bug mini-series (such as Cheeks, or Jenni DC)
Girlfriend-in-the-fridge
Captain Carrot
Etc

So, I defend that this book is really for die-hard comics fans only. There'll be plenty for them to laugh at, sure, but this is probably the most self-referential book put out in the last few years; it's definitely not for the casual reader. Is that good or bad? Am I one of the ones who loves Ambush Bug, or do I hate him?

I almost feel like leaving this review on a cliffhanger in honor of him, but I'll not and just say the Bug makes me laugh. And that probably is a sign of how high on the scale of comic nerd I rest.

Uncannny X-Men #500

2008-07-25T13:39:00.003-05:00

One-sentence summary: A daringly different direction (it's issue 500, I get to write like Stan Lee for a sentence) for the X-Men that it'll be interesting to see through.

The X-Men titles have, for quite some time, been stuck in a rut that not even the best writers have really been able to help with. Sometimes the rut has produced good stories, sure, but there have been few X-Men stories in recent years that couldn't have been from ten, twenty, even thirty years ago.

That being said, this issue really makes the reader feel as if we're on the cusp of a big change. The move to San Francisco is a really good choice, in my mind; the location makes sense and it's nice to change scenery once every few decades. Also, I really liked the idea of a shock artist using real Sentinels as a piece of art -- it really is a fairly accurate, Marvel version of shock art. Bringing back major villains is an attention-grabber too, which I'm looking forward to, and the change of the X-Men from exclusive team to open embassy (ironically similar to Genosha) is interesting. The writing style for the team, as a whole, seems much fresher than it has in quite some time, and is a major contributor to that feeling of change this issue just oozes.

That said, there's some bad stuff that's not insignificant. For one, part of what makes the X-Men who they are is that the team should experience change w/in the members. So, why is everyone (Emma Frost excepted, though she's written here as a slightly naughtier Jean Grey) on the team from at least 30 years ago? In addition to that, the green-ness of the book got on my nerve. I'm not this monstrous tree-burner, but it was pretty irritating in this issue. I was fine until they throw a car and the line "Did it have to be a hybrid?" was said...ugh. We got it during the two pages about it earlier, it doesn't have to be stressed that much.

Brubaker and Ellis seem to be dragging the X-Men out of their rut. Whether they'll do a good job with that or not remains to be seen, but as they're two of my favorite writers, I'm optimistic.

Justice League of America #23

2008-07-25T11:10:00.003-05:00

One-sentence summary: The second battle against Amazon continues in a truly ridiculous fashion that goes essentially nowhere.

Alright, first off, I am biased on this issue. I'm, for whatever reason, just not a fan of Vixen, so how prominently they're trying to feature her doesn't jive well with me regardless of story quality. That said, this issue is pretty weak. It opens, essentially, on Amazo taking on the Flash, which was actually somewhat interesting. The main glaring problem is that they try to cover up a potential problem (one that always comes up with characters like Amazo) with another one; w/Flash's super speed he could easily kill everyone, but if Flash can take it away why didn't he do that before getting himself beaten to a pulp? I know I know, it's a comic book, and normally I don't take issue with these sorts of things, but clearly the entire sequence was done entirely because the writer had taken issue with a similar problem. C'est la vie, all the same.

I've admitted in the past to being a story-lover, and it's true, so when an entire issue features nothing but a fight going nowhere, yes, I tend to get irritated. Maybe other people love meaningless fight issues? Personally, I'd at least require really original art to make up for such a thing. Instead, the art here...meh. I didn't care for the overly sketchy, lots-of-muscle-lines, style back when it was popular in the '90s. Now I don't care for it and it feels dated.

I'm sad about not liking this series right now. As a concept, I love good superhero teams, and I'm pretty ok with the current Justice League line-up. so it's actually a bit of a challenge for me not to like this series. However, using Amazo twice in less than two years (not to mention the arc he had in the now-canceled JLA Classified) is overkill for a pretty lame character (sorry everybody, but any mimic-type character is inherently lame due to the fact they never make any sense, even in comics).

I might be biased going into this, but, sadly, I'm more biased towards liking this series, and I still can't say I even vaguely like this.

Avengers: The Initiative #15

2008-07-24T12:08:00.003-05:00

One-sentence summary: This series continues the Secret Invasion tie-in arc with a rather blah issue.

I've been a pretty big fan of the last few Initiatives. I thought they were fairly tightly scripted with a good mix of action and humor. Last issue did the same, while being, what I thought, a pretty good tie-in with Secret Invasion that might actually have some implications. This didn't surprise me, since I was pretty happy with their tie-in with World War Hulk, praise I gave exclusively to them.

That being said, this issue was a let-down for the same reason Secret Invasion as a whole is sort of bleh, and that's that nothing happened. Great, we get some background on a character for an issue. Woo. Awesome. Is it particularly amazing background? Not really, no. It's ok. It'd be ok if it had been a page or so of exposition in order to use it later in the issue/arc as material, but it's clearly just a one-shot with this character. Ugh. I'm so tired of everything having to do with Secret Invasion being mired for the past 2 or 3 months in the exact same 5 minutes.

That being said, who knows -- maybe they'll finally get to do something next issue.

Green Lantern Corps #26

2008-07-24T10:23:00.004-05:00

One-sentence summary: The Mongul storyline concludes in an amazing explosion in this excellent title.

Man, when did every space title become awesome? On the Marvel side, all of Annihilation has just been incredible, and for the last 2 1/2 years Green Lantern has just again and again been one of the best titles in the DCU.

That continues this week. Both GL titles are taking a bit of a time-out from the mega-arcs they've been on, but while GL has been doing the origin story, GLC has been following Mongul and the Black Mercies. This issue concludes it in a thrilling fashion, giving us plenty of good fight panels, as well as an amazing finale to it. The conclusion is interesting, too, and goes to illustrate a bit about the green and yellow rings which, while obvious, was neat nevertheless.

So, yes, Green Lantern Corps maintains the record of space titles being awesome.

Daredevil #109

2008-07-24T09:42:00.006-05:00

One-sentence summary: Brubaker & Rucka continue to deliver tense Daredevil stories with their grim, realistic edge, with pencils by Lark perfectly complementing things.

I should put out there right now, I don't think I've read a Brubaker/Rucka venture I haven't really loved (GCPD was a fantastic DC title, for example). It should come as no surprise, then, that I really enjoy their run on Daredevil. The writing is tense, the consequences real (for Daredevil, at least), and the plots non-obvious. I also like that we spend as much time with Murdoch -- maybe more -- than with Daredevil. He's an attorney, it's a busy life, and it actually shows in the comics. Crazy!

That being said, it's not perfect. For one thing, even for Brubaker, this is a dark comic. It's been a very long time since Murdoch's life has had anything good happen in it. If this was the only comic I read, that might be a bit of a bummer, but as is is just a change of pace.

There, I did it, I levied a (milktoast) criticism against a Brubaker comic. And I didn't even get struck by lightning or anything. Weird.

The Brave and the Bold #15

2008-07-24T09:12:00.004-05:00

One-sentence summary: Waid continues to deliver old-fashioned, quality comic stories along with his take on DC's characters in this team-up title.

In a lot of ways, Brave and the Bold feels like a throwback title. After finishing up their larger-arc recently, they've been doing mostly smaller stories (I think this one was two, maybe three issues). These stories really don't have consequences outside of this title, and rarely does it reflect the state of things in the DCU. The bright, if basic, colors and pencils seem to me to be more reminiscent of a Neal Adams style than anything modern. It doesn't use thought balloons, but they wouldn't seem out of place.

However, in no way am I using this bash the title. Sure, it's not a masterpiece showing where the medium is headed, etc, but it's good fun, which is something that Waid's good at (see: Impulse). I think it's a great title for the comic nerd or a younger reader -- it's clean, innocent fun, which, sadly enough, isn't true for a lot of basic DC titles (not trying to sound like an old fogey, I just think DC's missing out by not having more quality titles that kids can read). Also, I think it has appeal to those two demographics by having the random selection of rotating characters. The new readers can get introduced to neat characters who might not have had an appearance in a couple years, and old fans can see their favorites again.

In addition to that, it's not sloppy writing. Waid does interesting things with the characters together, making sure their interactions aren't forced. They know each other, they operate in the same world, and they fight using all of their abilities. This issue is one of the best highlights of that, with Deadman talking about knowing the Flying Graysons back in the day (which makes sense, since they were both acrobats), and other cases I won't spoil.

Sure, this feels like an anachronism, but it feels like a really, really good one.

Punisher #59

2008-07-22T15:37:00.003-05:00

One-sentence summary: More military intrigue from Ennis, with a guest appearance by Morgan Freeman.

Ennis does military books. It's something I don't think he really minds being known for, as he's good at them. Normally he does historical ones, but in this case he's using his military history to mix it with modern political intrigue, all centered (somewhat) about the Punisher.

I say somewhat for a reason. While this is a Punisher book, he's really as much a plot device in this as a character. This is a bit of a mixed-bag. On one hand, it allows for a story that, really, is getting wrapped up in a nice way, as well as shifting onto a character you don't know well enough to figure out. On the other, though, this is a Punisher book, and fans might want to see more of their protagonist doing more than supplying an address off panel and being tied up.

Of course, as a MAX title, it can follow a more adult story and not adhere to some of the constrains (such as the main character bit) that a normal title, due to audience, is forced into. Personally, I think the story more than justifies this, and I think that, as an arc, this has been great and is going to have a good conclusion.

Ennis writes military stories. Don't be shocked that that when he brings the military into Punisher, the Punisher takes a bit of a backseat.

Checkmate #28

2008-07-22T14:55:00.003-05:00

One-sentence summary: I love watching two walrus-monsters attack each other as much as the next guy, but isn't this my intrigue series?

If a comic book series promised me walrus-on-walrus action, I'd first wonder why they didn't choose a better choice of words and double-check what part of the comic store I'm in, but then I'd probably pick that book up, knowing my $3 would be well-spent. I'd especially love this if I were told that one giant walrus was transformed from an ex-soldier who can no longer think for himself, but does cause the giant walrus to have a giant tattoo. This sounds awesome. It makes it sound even better if I were promised more of the same in later issues.

Why, oh why, would I think this sounds awesome? Because I like stupid comics, gosh darn it, and if it weren't stupid it sounds like it'd at least be hilarious (ala Nextwave).

So, why am I less than excited about this? Because it's in one of DC's more plot-intensive, intelligent comics. I really like the political intrigue, character-based drama, and plot twists that are the standard of Checkmate arcs.

However, I guess I'd rather have this than the series be canceled. If I just have to get used to Checkmate going from blackmail and diplomacy to walrus-on-walrus fighting, well, I can adapt too (though not into a giant walrus. More into a reader of giant walrus drama).

Joker's Asylum - Poison Ivy

2008-07-21T13:56:00.003-05:00

One-sentence summary: This quality series of one-shots continues with another pretty good installment.

I normally don't like these sorts of series -- I'm a very story-addicted man -- but this has been good. I thought it'd be just a sort of intro/origins type series, but, while it does deal somewhat with origins, each story is much more than that. It helps that it's being done by good writers, so the stories are actually pretty good.

The Penguin issue has been my favorite so far, with this last one as my least favorite, but it's still been cool. The art's steady, the writings pretty nice, and they're each pretty good one-shots, for the lover of the character or the new reader, which is DC's intention I imagine.

Moon Knight #20

2008-07-21T09:15:00.003-05:00

One-sentence summary: Neat?

I'm a bit confused on this one. Don't get me wrong -- I've liked this run of Moon Knight quite a bit. I wish they had let this one be a MAX title; I think it really could've flown under those conditions. As is, they've let it interact with the mainstream Marvel universe in pretty interesting ways (its connection with the registration is, I think, fairly well-done). That said, here's why I'm confused about this one:

They've been building up to this issue for quite awhile, with previews of it going into books months ago. The way they made this such a large issue, clearly they think (rightfully) that Moon Knight could support a larger audience and are trying to draw their attention to it with a new reader-friendly issue that also is packed with bonuses for a relatively cheap price. I'm completely in support of that. What I don't get, then, is why you use this opportunity for a one-shot that's sort-of not impressive. This was actually a pretty good idea for a story arc -- villains inducing lycanthropy in bums and kidnapped folks in order to have underground werewolf fights -- so to waste it on a one-shot sort of bummed me out. Also, I always thought the rule of thumb for getting new readers was to get them hooked, not just show them a neat comic. I suppose both techniques can work, but I'd just think the former would just naturally sell more (maybe I'm wrong on this; I don't have the numbers to support either way).

All I'm saying is that while this was a good issue with a neat idea at its core, it (odd for the age of 6-issue arcs) felt rather rushed and didn't really showcase Moon Knight doing what he does best (moral-pushing thug-fighting). Oh well -- I guess if being confused about the way a good story was plotted is the worst I have to complain about, it's probably a pretty good comic.

Batgirl #1 (of 6)

2008-07-21T09:01:00.003-05:00

One-sentence summary: Pick this issue up if, for some reason, you're simultaneously dying for new Batgirl adventures and have absolutely no idea of her origin.

I, to some degree, read comic books for mild escapism. Not all of them, sure, but I go into the ones I'm initially neutral about (like this one) with a relative tabla rasa of opinion and am usually willing to overlook little things like awkward story-telling, which is why I rarely complain about those details. However, this was such a heavy exposition issue it almost physically hurt. It was like reading a wikipedia entry on Batgirl's history for a few pages as Nightwing droned on and on about it.

There's a couple major problems with a solution like that. For one, it's an incredibly inelegant solution to the problem of explaining what a reader needs to know about a character. There should be about a dozen alternative solutions you could just come up with off the fly (gradual introduction? Writing the story so you don't need to know all the background? Making portions of the background into elements in the story so the explanation of them is fluid?) which take care of this issue without brazenly drawing the reader's attention to what you're doing. The other problem is, like many comic characters, her history is ridiculous when you sit there and just spell it out like that. There's a certain suspension of disbelief when you read comics, sure, but there's only so much it can handle.

The story itself seems fine so far. It doesn't seem like it required all that background, but whatever. Unless you're a Batgirl fan, this seems like a pretty throwaway title to me so far, and a bizarrely plotted one at that. Escapism is far less enjoyable if you're made aware of it.

Ghost Rider #25

2008-07-18T13:34:00.004-05:00

One-sentence summary: Jason Aaron improves this run of Ghost Rider, and does leave us with a good ending to the issue, but there was still something off...

The good: Aaron's run of Ghost Rider has been ridiculously better executed than the previous, taking the root of the last several issues and really drawing it out to a decent quality story with some good action scenes.

The bad: It has that feel of "been done."

I think the biggest problem when writing Ghost Rider is that, since the '90s, when the taboos of what you could do (profitably, I might add) in regard to religion were shattered by Preacher, books upon books have built on the same basic idea: Heaven's not really that great, the angels tend to be dicks, and some human with a heavenly/hellish connection has to stop them. Whether it's Preacher, Sandman, Lucifer, or even Scud the Disposable Assassin, this plot has become tried-and-true. And do you notice something else about that list? With a possible exception of the last (Scud had its moments), those are some of the best books of the last 20 years. It's not that you're trying to do a common story; it's that you're trying to do a common story better than the best.

That being said, it's not like it's a hopeless endeavor. Rarely is it a very super-hero-ish character that accomplishes these tasks -- if Aaron plays on that, it could lead down a more unique path, and, based on some reports I won't duplicate here, it definitely will in one major regard. There's also the fact that, in most those other books, you had a theology that was essentially Judeo-Christian; since this is Marvel Universe-proper, that's not really true, and so either you can try to force it to be, or, again, you can tie that in with your story and twist this off the tried-and-true counter-culture Heaven-fighter plot.

Up to this point, it's all been introduction. I thought the use of the Deacon character was a little short-lived. Not that he was much beloved by me, just that, if he's not in the story past this issue, there was a bit too much time devoted to him in order to justify two issues of exposition. I'll hold out hope for this story, which is essentially counting down to issue #28, but it could easily become a modern cliche if Aaron isn't careful.

Final Crisis - Rogues' Revenge #1 (of 3)

2008-07-18T09:14:00.004-05:00

One-sentence summary: This final crisis "tie-in" seems like it could be an interesting series, and the detailed, almost gritty art really works well for a series about villains.

First off, I need to get my biggest criticism of this series off my chest, simply due to the fact it has no bearing on the quality of the book. I hate DC's habit lately of doing tie-ins that are, in no way, tie-ins. At Marvel, even if the tie-in sucks, it usually has something to do with what it's being tied in to. Not so at DC. You'll have Countdown tie-ins with characters from 52, or with Captain Carrot for Pete's sake, and now you have a final crisis tie-in that I can almost safely assume will have nothing to do w/Final Crisis.

That being said, it could be a good story. The first issue was a good set-up, some neat stuff happens, and the artwork really was pretty neat. However, as it's the first issue, it's tough to judge how the series will be; the main plot of the story hasn't really been reached yet.

All in all, I think this series has definite potential, and I'm digging the art, but don't expect any actual connection with Final Crisis. I mean, why should you -- it's just a tie-in with the words "Final Crisis" in the title. Friggin' DC.

Omega the Unknown #10 (of 10)

2008-07-17T10:05:00.003-05:00

One-sentence summary: This was a quiet epilogue to a great series.

I really appreciated Marvel for giving 10 issues to Omega the Unknown. It's such a bizarre title to publish under your main imprint. That being said, I really ended up liking this. The art fit the story, and the characters are fairly realistic in that there are few black-and-white, good-and-evil types. Characters are neurotic, needy, narcissistic, greedy, etc. In addition to that, it was a far more complex story than the average superhero tale, and less obviously told. Due to that, yes, it's a bit more of a challenge to read, particularly in month-separated chapters. That month-separation also makes this epilogue a bit of a let-down; I waited this whole last month just to learn the main bulk of the story ended last month.

However, I can't blame the story for that. The story flows perfectly well as is, and I absolutely can't wait for the trade of this. This has been one of my favorites from the last month, and I can only hope Marvel dares to do things like this more often.

Marvel 1985 #3 (of 5)

2008-07-17T09:20:00.002-05:00

One-sentence summary: Millar, predictably, provides a compelling story, more steeped in humanity than much we've seen.

I'm honestly not sure of the numbers/popularity of this series. I generally try to avoid that stuff to keep myself unbiased (I'm an easily influenced guy, I'll admit it). That being said, maybe because it's Millar, maybe because it's just been good, but I've always assumed this was a big-selling comic. It just has that epic feel to it.

Tommy Lee Edwards art is great for this, giving it a bit less of a cartoonish feel than the average comic, which clearly fits the story well. At the same time, though, its sketchiness removes the story from reality; I'd say the art is sort of magic realist, which I think appropriately defines this story, too (though that will depend on the how of the story, which hasn't been explained yet).

I like this story, and I liked this issue. It's much darker than I thought it would be, but it was a pleasant surprise. Seeing MODOK actually be evil again was sort of refreshing. I think that comic book readers tend to forget that the average villain is supposed to be a villain, not a cartoon (except, of course, in the cartoons).

This has been a great series. If it weren't a name like Millar behind it, I'm sure it'd be one of those great, underrated reads that gains a cult following slowly through the years, but as is, I'm sure it's getting plenty of attention. For once, I'm pretty happy about that -- it deserves it.

Secret Invasion (Thus Far)

2008-07-16T09:02:00.002-05:00

One-Sentence Summary: Marvel's summer epic is being done precisely as an event like this should be.

Alright, so if you really wanted to you could go back through my archives and read about my opinions you'd know that I wasn't a big fan of World War Hulk last summer. I thought there was essentially little to no story behind it, and the tie-ins were even worse in that regard (see World War Hulk: X-Men for the biggest waste of 3 issues ever).

That being said, it's just not the case for Secret Invasion. In a reverse of World War Hulk, I'm actually enjoying the series much more than the lead-up to it. Bendis has made not only a good story, but it's a story that's almost perfectly adapted to actually work with tie-ins. I'm sure that, to some degree, this was a very business-based decision, but the flow of the tie-ins is organic enough that I don't care.

If I were to bring a criticism to it, it's that the last few issues of several of my favorite comics have, as their tie-in, done flashbacks to show how the Skrulls set up team A to fall. This is interesting, and on an individual scale each of these issues has its own merits, but, as someone who wants to see how the heroes are dealing w/Secret Invasion outside of just that title, it is a touch frustrating.

Overall, this is such a stupendously better summer for comics than last year that they don't really compare. Secret Invasion is a good book, it will be a good trade, and, so far, I really haven't been too disappointed with the tie-ins. Marvel learned its lesson from World War Hulk -- let the guy writing everything leading up to it go ahead and write the event, too. For that, I'm thankful.

Jonah Hex #33

2008-07-15T08:41:00.002-05:00

One-sentence summary: Cooke illustrates a beautifully simple tale showing Hex to be the true anti-hero that he is.

I, as a general rule, like the latest volume of Jonah Hex. Occasionally there'll be an issue I'm not a huge fan of, but this was not the case with 33. Now, am I completely biased because I'm a Cooke fanboy? Almost certainly. But that doesn't stop me from appreciating the harsh story, narrated in an appropriately dated style.

I think one-shots are risky things. Sometimes they (probably rightfully so) feel like filler, just the stuff that takes place between story arcs and won't find collection in a trade. Other one-shots are just meaningless fun, or maybe they'll feature some big-name guest artist or writer. Others will be an issue-long illustration of a character, reminding the reader of who they are. This issue's a mix: it's a guest artist (Cooke), but it's definitely a quality character study. Despite being a fan of the series, the climatic panel of this comic was a surprise, one which initially surprised me, but as it settled in I was immensely satisfied with the story.

So, did it help this issue was illustrated by Cooke? Of course -- but it could've been illustrated by just about anyone and I'd still have liked it. As is, I loved it.

Final Crisis (#1-2)

2008-07-14T15:13:00.003-05:00

One-~~Sentence~~-Word Summary: Crazy!

I think that sums it all up. I mean, I like it, but it really is a very intense, jumpy comic. The way the comic's set up is supposed to put you in the mindset of the heroes -- confused, bewildered, a little scared. There's characters gruesomely dropping left and right, and we barely have time to react.

This isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea. That's ok, too. I think it's worth trying out, but some people are simply not going to like this. Does that mean it's bad? No -- if you're doing a comic no one dislikes, it means that it's most comfortable, per-par comic imaginable.

I'm not going to talk about Final Crisis much, mostly because every detail should be experienced in the comic, not ruined by a review. Just dive in -- it's worth it.

Comics that have gotten better, or just stayed awesome

2008-07-14T13:57:00.003-05:00

It's a companion piece to the last post. I'm avoiding comics which did stink and continue to because, well, there's just little reason to ever talk about that. For that matter, I'll save the more detailed discussion of these for later, too.

Nova & Guardians of the Galaxy: Two different titles, I know, but they're their own niche, so I feel they belong together. Plus they both rule. I know, I'm being super-literary today. Also: Cosmo is crazy-awesome.

Criminal, Captain America, most everything Brubaker touches.

Iron Fist (though creative team is changing so the future is in the air).

Doktor Sleepless: It's so dreamy. Seriously, though, Sleepless is probably my favorite comic of the last couple years, or at least tied with Cooke's run on the Spirit. Every issue pushes the boundaries of comics, in my opinion (or at least the boundaries common to comics). You can enjoy Sleepless without thinking about it, but I wouldn't recommend it -- it's much more fun to really get into it.

Incredible Hercules: Probably my favorite Marvel title right now. This one just keeps getting better and better. It wraps itself in the Marvel universe, drawing on characters from its rich past, all while being distinctly original and mythic. Truly one of the best things out there, proving again the talents of Pak and Van Lente.

Batman: I'll say it right now: I'm a Morrison fan-boy. That being said, I prefer his writing when he's really unhinged (more Doom Patrol, less JLA - style). So, Batman RIP is right up my alley, and I'm excited to see what will happen, I'll admit.

JSA: I liked this series already, but the Gog arc has been really something. I thought it might be a bit forced, coming off as a "remember when you all liked Kingdom Come?" but its been its own breed. Plus, seeing poor Commander Steel get the shaft in the last issue -- it was actually sort of tragic.

There's others, don't get me wrong, but those are among my favorites...the ones I'll rush to on the shelves on Wednesdays.

Comics that have gotten worse since last year

2008-07-14T13:14:00.003-05:00

Alright, so I'm just being lazy here. Here's a probably-short list of comics that have tanked since the last time I wrote.

All-New Atom: *sigh* Oh, I loved Simone on this, but then Remender took over and the title went from one of my favorites (sure, a troubled favorite, but a favorite nevertheless) into something I dreaded reading. It wasn't just a trainwreck; it was a trainwreck that involved characters I'd grown fond of dying or being hideously mutilated, along with their backstories. This was the first time in a long while I was actually happy a book had been cancelled.

The Spirit: This was a tragic tale. Darwyn Cooke's take on the Spirit was one of the best things to happen to comics in a long time. His quitting over Dave Stewart, while understandable, was a tragic blow to a license (a license that's going to get destroyed by Frank Miller's take on it anyhow, though). Aragones and Evanier's take on the Spirit is sort of a bummer, too, as Groo is so great I had expectations. However, their take on things lacks wit or feeling, substituting it all with bad slapstick and moderately chauvinist writing. Sadness.

The Amazing Spider-Girl: I had a soft spot for this title in my heart, but as of the last few months DeFalco has had the protagonist continually act out of character, which just gets old after awhile. Not so bad that it's a dead title to me, just a bit worse.

The Blue Beetle: This title was growing on me, giving off a very nice Invincible feel, but with its own flavor. However, the past few issues have been very stagnant on Jamie's growth as a hero, and on the changes occuring in his life. Again, hopefully just in a slump.

Are these all the titles that have gotten worse? No, just the ones that spring to mind. Also, these aren't necessarily bad titles -- they're just ones that have gotten worse in the last year that I can recall right now. Maybe I'll edit this later to add more here, but this gets around writing tons of backed up reviews.

Amazing Spider-Man (Post-One More Day)

2008-07-14T11:14:00.003-05:00

I'm just going to give a quick review of the way they've been handling Spider-Man since the controversial reset. I'm not sure what the current issue number is, so...whatever's current.

One-sentence summary: This is probably the best Spider-Man has been in long while.

I've been a Spider-Man fan since before I could read -- due to this, I can't really tell you what drew me initially to him. The colorful cast of villains? The substantial non-superheroics which are such an essential part of the character? The light-hearted delivery of the book? Probably a mixture of these.

As someone who has been buying Spidey books for the past 20 years, I can tell you my heart has been broken by it a number of times. The clone saga was the first blow, but, worse than that was the recent turn of it into a super-dramatic, super-serious comic. That's not to say Spider-Man should never be serious -- Kraven's Last Hunt is an excellent example of good, serious Spider-Man. But, having each month be this melodrama, to have some character circling the drain (i.e., dying slowly) at almost any moment, Spider-Man swearing terrible vengeance, etc...it just got old, and it got depressing.

I went into this new fashion of Spider-Man with some hesitancy; after all, they were beginning it with arguably the worst retcon that has ever been done. But it was with good intentions; they saw the same problems with Spider-Man as I mentioned above, and the lack of much that made the title unique and gave it its character. Though in an initially awkward manner, they've essentially dealt with this.

By having a near-weekly, on-going series, it's a bit of a new thing we're dealing with here. The old standards of comic book pacing are, well, essentially moot. I've enjoyed how they divide up some of these smaller arcs into three, maybe four issue stories; while not super-intense, these do allow for some development, and a conclusion to the main plot, within a month or so. The only issue I really have with things as they are are their current use of sub-plots. Even with three issues a month, some of the developments are moving very slowly, to the point where I'm wondering if they'll come up again. However, this isn't a big complaint -- more like growing pains (on whose side, I wonder).

So, let's do a quick checklist: Colorful cast of villains? Check. Substantial plots regarding the non-superheroes? Check. Light-hearted delivery? Check. Hopefully it's clear why I feel the way I do about the new take on the book.

Trinity (#1-6)

2008-07-14T09:25:00.006-05:00

Let's try a multi-issue review to help catch up some.

One-sentence summary: Trinity seems to have good intentions, but thus far has been a bit slow-paced, and the two 13-page stories a week are light fare.

I should put this out there right now: I am a comic book optimist. When I pick up a new book, or an old one, I hope for and look for the best. That's why I never tore apart Countdown, it's why I still read Punisher: War Journal, etc. That being said, I'm worried about Trinity, though not disliking it yet.

It's been 6 issues. I know for a weekly title that's barely 10% of the series, but for the average comic that's an entire arc. That sort of comparison makes the fact that, thus far, the "main" story of Trinity has progressed most of the way through one fight. It feels like these first few issues of Trinity have Dragonball Z syndrome -- a bunch of guys fighting, the dialogue mostly consisting of the characters talking about the fight, the subplot consisting of people watching the fight and talking about it. This is a story-telling style that wore on me in 8th grade, so my impatience is (in my opinion) understandable.

That being said, I'm intrigued by the concept being laid down here by Busiek. Having the three main DCU characters form some sort of mystical trinity fits well with the themes going on in the other mega-title right now, Final Crisis. Whether these are going to intersect at all? I wouldn't bet on it. Final Crisis is Morrison's baby, and come hell, high water, or contradictory mini-series, nothing's stopping Morrison from writing what he wants.

So what does all this mean for Trinity? It means that, at best, we can hope for a long, well-written story revolving around some neat ideas that won't have much of an impact outside of it, which wouldn't be so bad. This will require a swift progression of things from the current stagnant-style of plotting that's occurred thus far, but it could happen. Of course, there's the worst-case scenario too, but, hey -- I'm an optimist.

New post?!

2008-07-14T09:13:00.003-05:00

Alright, just to let you guys know...I'm sorta back. Will I have time to update all the comics, like that brief, terrible, awesome summer? Probably not. But I'm going to try, sorta! We'll see how things go. But, for now, let's get restarted...

Wonder Girl #2 (of 6)

2007-10-14T22:17:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: This Amazonian mini-series leaves too little to the imagination when it comes to story with acceptable art.

I seem to be coming down on all the comics I read lately. I promise, that's not the case, even if it seems so. Maybe it's just because I've been reviewing some mediocre comics.

Wonder Girl is a mini-series that hopefully will accomplish something. I've disliked the character ever since they decided to make her perky and blonde, so maybe this will change that. There are several good directions this series could take; personally, I'd really like to see this series, dealing with the huge personal crisis for Wonder Girl that was Amazons Attack, show our protagonist develop in some major ways, and possibly not in the friendliest, sun-shiniest ways.

However, from the major plot hints, what will happen is that Hercules will end up being against her the whole time after getting her to break against her other friends, she finally seeing the truth or some such stuff like that and fighting back, rejoining the side of good and having her faith in her friends and community restored, all on some large scale so that the public trusts her again. Woo.

This issue was ok. Obviously no big twists yet, and the set-up's not horrible, but just ok. I'd say wait on this to see if it's worth the trade paperback or not. Oh, and the art's just alright. I really don't have strong feelings about the pseudo-animated style that's so popular right now.

Superman #668

2007-10-13T16:02:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Following up on a development from over a year ago, a new story arc is introduced in this decent issue.

This issue wasn't too bad. It's always fun to see the various takes writers have on the relationship between Batman and Superman, and this issue was no exception, with those scenes being the highlight for me.

While this served as a good introduction to the story, it wasn't much more than that. It was sort of fun, which is always good. The art was decent, but that's about it. All in all, not too bad, but nothing to feel too strongly about.

Green Lantern #24

2007-10-13T15:49:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Part 8 of the Sinestro Corps War is here, with plenty of action and plot progression.

I've been a big fan of the Sinestro Corps War since it started, so it's no surprise I've continued to enjoy it. I really think the overall plot has been really well paced, with a good presentation of the major battles as well as a series of important plot twists, each one impacting the story in a large way. For that alone I'd like this story-arc in comparison to some of the other major stories going on out there, but in addition to this we have good writing for the characters and just enough small touches to keep the book grounded (I'm, in particular, thinking of the Michigan emblem on Guy's power lantern).

The art continues to be good for the book. It's nothing I'll write fan letters over, but it does a good job of helping tell the story. The lanterns soaring through the air during the battles is always nice.

This story is being keyed up to what should be a pretty incredible conclusion. This is definitely a quality title, and I look forward to each new progression every two weeks.

Green Arrow/Black Canary #1

2007-10-13T14:45:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Picking up from where the Wedding Special left off, this series begins with a partial reveal over the cliffhanger delivered with a good conservative art.

I wasn't sure what to expect out of this series, but so far it's delivered fairly well. The dialogue goes along well with Black Canary and Green Arrow's coarse humor, and the story is actually delivering me something interesting using characters I normally don't care so much about.

The story progressed nicely for a first issue, not being over-burdened with introductions or flashbacks but moving along well while explaining what's happened already to the new readers. It leaves us with another bit of a cliffhanger, but not such a major one as last time. There are a few particularly nice scenes, the best (to me) being Dr. Mid-Nite explaining the autopsy he and Batman are about to perform as Batman powers up an electric saw in the background.

I really have a thing for the clean, crisp style here, somewhat similar to the pop-art style of Mike Allred's stuff, but less colorful, more conservative. I particularly like this style when applied to the older characters -- Batman, Dr. Mid-Nite, classic Green Arrow.

Good issue of what looks to be a pretty decent series. I'm definitely looking forward to future issues of this.

Countdown #29

2007-10-13T14:24:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: While, technically, things happened in this issue, nothing of any importance did, which is a bit irritating.

I've probably given Countdown more patience than the average comic book reader. However, between the three Countdown tie-in titles a week (Captain Carrot? Really now?) that serve no purpose (looking at you, Search for Ray Palmer), and issues like this, which I'll rant about more next paragraph, well, they wear a reader out.

This seemed like some sort of bizarro issue, where the main title did nothing but support the tie-in titles' existences, and even then fairly thinly. It reminds me of watching the Turtles (of the Teenage Mutant Ninja kind) as a kid and them having their annual hour-long special which, I would realize later, served no purpose except to introduce characters which had already been made as a action figures, or had molds in process. That seemed to be the logic behind this issue. We had the exhilirating conclusion to the Jokester's plotline in that, well, he died. We introduced Lord Havokk or whatever his name is in order to to sell that 8 issue mini-series starting next month.

However, it's not all bad. I do like how ridiculously evil Mary Marvel has become so instantly. The Amazon storyline still doesn't interest me, which is pretty impressive considering how easily interested I am. The Karate Kid storyline, however, is pretty great, even if they only gave it a page this week. I'm definitely looking forward to see how badly Batman has managed to eff the world up again through Brother Eye. I'm not particularly interested in this DC-wide subplot of metahumans being captured and stored (I guess Marvel has ripped off of DC enough that turnabout's fair play), although I could have my opinions quickly turned if they actually did something with it (as is, the Suicide Squad series is still pretty unfocused).

The art's improved in this issue, I'd say. I'm sure there are some who'd say otherwise, but from my quick read nothing stood out too badly, and that's a good thing for a weekly title.

All in all, not too bad, really, but DC is doing some marketing things that are done tactlessly enough that they're distracting, and that gets to me.

Black Adam: The Dark Age #3 (of 8)

2007-10-13T14:13:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Black Adam's series detailing his quest for his power and for Isis' resurrection continues here with a battle with Hawkman and a gathering of power against Adam.

I was pretty excited for the Black Adam mini-series, and while it hasn't quite lived up to my expectations, it certainly hasn't been too bad. This issue delivered with a mild amount of story, but mostly served to set up for what I imagine will be the rest of the series. We see the first open confrontation between Black Adam and another metahuman, thus revealing his return to the metahuman community, as well as his attempted use of the Lazarus Pit last issue not going unnoticed.

What I like about this story is that Black Adam is really being considered a major-level threat by many sides -- it really will end up being him against the world. It's an ambitious set-up for a mini-series, but I have faith that it can be lead to a good conclusion.

The art for this series is always just fine. I'm never blown away by it, but it does a better than average job of detailing the characters in a realistic fashion.

Overall, this was a pretty good issue, definitely leading me to look forward to the future issues of this series.

Batman Confidential #10

2007-10-13T13:55:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: The newest edition of the Joker's origin nears its conclusion in this darkly drawn tale from early in Batman's life.

Now, I'm not entirely certain that I support a new origin to the Joker, but at least I can lay back safe in the knowledge they'll never give him an absolute origin, just a variety of possible origins. However, this one's not been bad, though with some elements that are a bit off (Batman ordering a death?).

The story is fittingly dark and does a good job of establishing the Joker's physical abilities, as well as setting up the irony of Batman creating his own worst enemy, and, for that matter, the presence of superheroes creating the supervillain in general. For that, this is a pretty interesting comic.

The story is generally good, but the dialogue simply serves to get the job done. Nothing strikingly bad, but I can't imagine these lines being quoted. I actually like the art; heavily penciled, it manages to give a dark feel to the story without diminishing the brightness or contrast used with the colors.

Not too bad. I see that this story has several more issues left, which seems like a bit much, but this issue wraps up the first half of it very well and, including the last two issues, could serve as a good self-contained 3-part story.

The All-New Booster Gold #3

2007-10-13T13:33:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: The new Booster Gold series continues to be entertaining with plenty of time-travel fun.

After a couple of start-up issues, the new Booster Gold title is really starting to get rolling. In this issue, Johns gives us a rather fun, if somewhat unnecessary, scene with Jonah Hex. The writing in this series has done a good job of bouncing between the more serious story of Rip Hunter and Booster trying to stop the time criminals and the relaxed, almost silly, dialogue between Booster, his ancestor, and anyone they encounter.

The art in this series works very well. Bright, colorful, and generally solid, it doesn't try to push the series to be anything it's not.

This is a pretty nice series. I've been enjoying its mix of some humor with a strong superhero story. Hopefully it doesn't delve too far one way or another, but so far it's been good.

I'm back -- sorta

2007-10-13T13:28:00.000-05:00

Alright, so, here's a quick return post:

Between school and the rest of life, things have been hectic enough lately that I've barely had enough time to read comics, let alone write about them. However, I'm going to try to start a little bit. At least intermittently.

A Quick Explanation

2007-08-15T12:01:00.000-05:00

I hate to do this before I've written a full month of reviews, but the next two weeks are going to be pretty shaky as far as updates go. Work ended last week, I just moved, I don't have any internet from my apartment, my laptop's on the fritz, and I'll be about 500 miles from my hard drives, comics, laptop, and internet connection for all of next week. Things will be back on track in...two weeks.

Countdown #38

2007-08-09T10:07:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Quite a bit more action in this issue, a little bit of plot development, and (hurray) absolutely nothing about Amazons Attack.

Honestly, this was one of the best issues of Countdown yet. If I were to make a single complaint with it, I'd say that there wasn't a ton of plot to it, just scenes and action, but it still had more plot than the usual issue of Countdown. I really liked this issue; maybe it was just me, but the artwork even seemed to be a bit better.

First off, all the action with Zatanna and Mary Marvel was interesting and definitely was a cool way to show Zatanna how Mary's changed, as well as developing the Apokolips plot some (I had just been reading the Forever People, so seeing an Omega or Alpha bullet, whatever it was called, was cool). While it would be a disappointing end if that's all they did with the Question and Batwoman, the scene with them and Piper/Trickster was absolutely fantastic. The puppets, man, the puppets! The Karate Kid development was, at least for me, a bit surprising. Maybe I should've seen this coming, but I didn't.

Nothing really happened with Jimmy Olsen, despite the fact that he was on the cover of the issue. He got rejected from Titans, that was all. Woo. While I do like the cover, I think a better one probably would've been Trickster doing a puppet show for an irritated Question and Batwoman, but, hey, that's just my two cents.

No Amazons Attack plot! Woo! I hate that plot so much.

Also, however, no Ray Palmer plot. I guess this might be because The All-New Atom #14 had a fair amount of development on this storyline, so they figured people got their Atom fix last week, they can take a break on that. I accept this, particularly since they write Ryan Choi so poorly.

Good issue, all in all. They moved things along at a decent pace, that damnable "History of the Multiverse" section is finally over, and they had a good mix of action and comedy in it. For this, I'm pretty satisfied.

Crécy

2007-08-08T13:33:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: This unusual one-shot from Warren Ellis presents the battle of Crécy in a realistic, period-based narrative with stunning art.

I went into this book not really knowing what to expect, which turned out to be good as I never would have expected what I got. Crécy is a graphic novel written following one soldier as he tells us (directly speaking to us, a modern-day audience) the background, motivation, and effects of the battle of Crécy. Not only was it historically accurate, but I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that this was educational. Now, don't get me wrong, it, being about a battle, has action in it as well, and as it tries to be true to the voice of a soldier, it's definitely explicit, so this isn't a kid's book; at the same time, though, I'd probably give this to a high schooler who's in world history.

I would have enjoyed just reading this book -- I'm a bit of a nerd, so simply reading about history's fun for me -- but what really set this apart for me as a quality read was the beautiful pencil/ink work of Raulo Caceres. Simply fantastic.

I went into this not knowing what to expect; what I got was a fantastic historical graphic novel that I'd recommend to both comic and history buffs, or those just wanting a good read.

Doktor Sleepless #1

2007-08-07T14:43:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Warren Ellis' new Sci-Fi series delivers a promising start, replete with interesting characters and a plain-spoken version of Ellis' futurism.

While a series can't really be judged well by a first issue, Doktor Sleepless certainly seems like it will be an interesting read. Its gritty art matches the story well. The designs on the various futuristic elements of the story grounds them in such a way that this future seems not just realistic, but near.

This is a well-done start to what hopefully will be an interesting new Ellis story. Hopefully a more complete review can be given for future issues, but, for now, things are looking very interesting.

Justice League Unlimited #36

2007-08-06T10:56:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: I post a review for this all-ages kid's comic because, well, it's good.

I have a soft spot in my heart for the fun comics. I think we all should, really, because as much as some things might make a person think otherwise, that is the source of the entire industry and generally remains a large portion of its income. To deny the place in the modern age of fun comics would be pretty ridiculous, as I think it's bad enough most of them are sold as more or less kids' only books. I may start posting reviews here of at least the really excellent titles that are coming out under this, and one of those is definitely JLU.

Based off the cartoon show, the art in this book maintains the cartoon's feel, which was something I grew up on and thus can appreciate, even if it doesn't fully work in a comic. The writers rotate on this, a new one writing about a new character every month who has the spotlight, while other characters are also involved in the story. In this month's issue, we get a Question who's much more Rorschach than he is any form of the Question, filled with paranoia and going days and days without sleep while solving the case, every sentence chopped off. His dialogue is absolutely perfect for a character; I would buy a comic starring him, certainly.

So, in this kids book, we get fun references to more or less every major conspiracy theory and monster in urban legend in a handful of pages, all the while being convinced of the Question's growing insanity until the last couple of pages where the reveal occurs.

This is a comic I would buy to make a kid fall in love with comics. You get them introduced to all sorts of characters every month, you have fun and accessible stories, and they've got good writing. If Dan Didio kills this title off due to his hatred of the DCAU, I'll lose one of my favorite titles and the industry will lose one of the most underappreciated titles out there.

Jonah Hex #22

2007-08-06T10:45:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: While usually a good title, I felt this issue of Jonah Hex was a bit off of the latest run, steering away from the gritty realism of the last several issues and going with a steampunk adventure starring Edison and Tesla from the sidelines.

I've been liking Jonah Hex, but part of the reason I've been liking it is because, as a friend put it, it's a Clint Eastwood movie put into comic form. Clint Eastwood movies do not revolve around automatons/robots (two very different things usually considered the same in any steampunk story).

I guess that's my real grief with this. It was just such a departure from the Jonah Hex that I've gotten used to, now I don't know if I should expect renegade cowboys or time travelers in the next issue. Hopefully the former. As its own story, it's not horrible. It exaggerates, obviously, the feud between Edison and Tesla, but I can deal with that. I didn't think it was as high of quality of story as you normally find with Jonah Hex, though. The art was still great, though, and the cover is pretty fantastic, even if I didn't like the subject matter of the story.

Daredevil: Battlin' Jack Murdock #3 (of 4)

2007-08-06T10:40:00.001-05:00

One-sentence summary: A fairly unnecessary mini-series, this issue doesn't deliver anything unexpected.

I don't really get the point of this series. They're giving us background on Daredevil's dad, which is nice, but I have no idea why it's four issues long. This very well could've been a one-shot, as far as I'm concerned, and just been paced more tightly. As it is, we have a pretty basic story -- old fighter gets back into ring only to learn that mob is fixing the fights so that he can take a big-time fall, thus disappointing his family and friends -- that's been stretched to ridiculous lengths. The art's gritty and bloody and begins to wear on you after an issue or two.

This isn't a bad idea for an issue, but it's a bad idea for a mini-series. Also, I have to question its timing -- is there any reason to push out a poorly conceived Daredevil mini-series right now? I think this book is just missing it in every way.

Spider-Man/Fantastic Four #4 (of 4)

2007-08-06T10:34:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: This short, light mini-series comes to an end, with happy endings all around.

This was a pretty light series to review. I mean, it was fun, but it wasn't ground-breaking or anything, though that wasn't its intention, I'm sure. It did what it was trying to do, which was just give a bit of a nice story for all ages without it being a bad book. In regards to that, it did it well, with a line here or there that was good and an acceptable resolution to the plot. Not too bad, really.

Irredeemable Ant-Man #11

2007-08-06T09:59:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: In this almost wrap-up issue, Kirkman wonderfully delivers Eric O'Grady as he should be: a truly unlikable jerk of a character.

I've loved this comic. I've loved the fact that, yeah, Eric's a jerk. A huge jerk, for that matter, willing to do just about anything to save his own skin and come out ahead. That's why last issue, Obligatory Hulk Tie-In #10, didn't make any sense to me, but, eh, whatever.

I'll miss this comic. The art's bright and is soley responsible for this comic being fun; if the art were at all dark, we'd realize more fully what a plain out ass Eric is. The writing keeps things going, the dialogue crisp and the plot well-done, each revelation of Eric's shallowness more shocking than the last, whether it be breaking up with a woman loudly and painfully because she has a kid, playing with his dead friend's girlfriend's emotions so that she'll make out with him on the friend's still-fresh grave, or selling out a friend who just invaded a SHIELD Helicarrier for him in order to get his crappy old job back.

Ant-Man did what it did well, and that was a comic about a truly awful protagonist, accidentally thrust into the world of superheroes and doing anything he can to make some money and get some tail from it. For that, this was good. I think Kirkman wanted this comic to go on longer, as twelve issues is a pretty measly run for a monthly, but he's done a great job with it.

Outsiders: Five of a Kind #1 Nightwing/Boomerang

2007-08-06T09:48:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: This just seemed like a poorly plotted story with decent writing.

Honestly, the writing behind this seemed decently thought out and certain points were made very well. If the rest of the story hadn't stunk, I think it would've been a pretty eloquent way to illustrate the relationship between Nightwing and Boomerang. However, it lost me from the get-go. The entire idea of sending two more or less normal people, in comparison to most the supehero world, off to fight a gigantic sentient batch of radioactive, deadly acid is so ridiculous that, even in comic book form, it comes off as unlikely. That's a challenge.

The art was varied in this, although was never really bad. I'm generally not as much an art guy as some folks (I've got the select few I really like, but mostly I don't notice) so I won't comment on art that neither impresses me nor horrifies me.

I want the new Outsiders to be good, I do. This was a sort of blah start to things, but hopefully things will pick up in the next few weeks with this title, but we'll see.

Nightwing #135

2007-08-05T20:42:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: A pretty superfluous issue, this spends an entire issue covering things from the last couple of issues while more or less not moving the plot at all.

This seemed pretty unnecessary to me. The entire issue focuses on Vigilante's interrogation of Dick Grayson after last issue's capture, but we don't really learn anything new. In fact, the entire issue has about as much plot as, say, 2 or 3 pages could have. In trade paperback form, I'm moderately certain that you could not even include this issue and the story would seem uninterrupted.

Top that off with the fact that the story that this issue is a part of is only barely more interesting than the last several Nightwing arcs (and that's far from a compliment), you really have a book that's not worth looking at. F--.

The All-New Atom #14

2007-08-03T23:33:00.001-05:00

One-sentence: Finally, a countdown tie-in that keeps the flavor of the original book while advancing a plot.

This was good. The last issue of the Atom was, well, not so good, really, but this one makes up for it. Not only do we have the best Countdown tie-in I've seen, but we have a very good story on its own. Honestly, any book featuring jet pack Hitler, let alone a panel featuring in-battle musings over punching out an evil horse, is automatically a gold-star book in my opinion.

Seriously, jet pack Hitler. Awesome.

The art really worked well for this out-there issue. And I liked that Ryan Choi had some chance to be his own character instead of just standing there occasionally muttering "Ray Palmer is sooo dreamy," ala Countdown. Nope, instead we get his character, the very defensive, logical Choi. I do hope this title sticks around; now with the Dr. 13 mini over, it's my favorite place for crazy antics in the DCU, and it happens to have a pretty good story on top of all that!

Oh, not just jet pack Hitler, but circus peanuts as a motif. Again, awesome.

Uncanny X-Men #489

2007-08-03T11:21:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: This mediocre storyline about the Morlocks plods on.

I like Brubaker normally, but I'm just not feeling this story at all. I really don't have a lot of critique or anything; it's just plain not very good. Sometimes you're reading something and it's laughably bad, but here it's just not enjoyable. The storyline didn't really go anywhere here, the only action occurred off-panel, and I care about none of the characters more or less than I did.

As an aside, I found the use of actual photographs in a comic book sort of unsettling (the big one was the TV screen near the beginning). It looks too out of place.

There really aren't too many X-Men titles I'm enjoying right now, and this isn't one of them. Hopefully once this ugly storyline's over things might pick up.

Thor #2

2007-08-03T11:13:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Thor's new book continues to be interesting, though these last two issues have really just served as a prologue (though a cool one).

I'm liking this new Thor. Straczynski is using his ability to make any character broody and detached for good here, as it works pretty well for Thor to seem detached from the world of man. I also like the new look for Thor; classic, but it has been changed a little. The chain mail's a nice touch.

I think Straczynski's the right guy to go about restoring Thor to the Marvel universe as something different than the average superhero. I mean, he is a god after all; his stories need to be different than "beats the Absorbing Man again."

Though nothing action-packed happened in this issue, cool things did happen; for one thing, we saw him summon Asgard in a patch of Oklahoma he bought for a deal of "all the gold you can carry." I'm looking forward to the next issue, as it looks like more action will be happening than in this one, and I'm hoping that this search for the gods arc goes well. I think it will.

New Warriors #3

2007-08-03T11:06:00.001-05:00

One-sentence summary: Man, nothing really gets me excited like a comic featuring Night Thrasher AND Jubilee.

You know why this series is just a bad idea? The whole reason the New Warriors were used to start the Civil War is that they were a bad joke. They were very boring characters, with boring powers, with boring writers. So, as good an idea as it is to just add Jubilee into the mix to liven things up -- well, that's not a good idea at all. In fact, I think you can make a nice little chart showing how, in on-going titles, sales dip with Jubilee's presence, and books that always have her in them more or less always do poorly (e.g., Generation X).

So, as a bad idea, how is it? Unsurprisingly, it's a dull book. I'm not particularly drawn to any of the characters or what they're dealing with; also, I'm not sure we've actually seen a real fight yet. Also, why did Wolverine just appear? Isn't he busy? How is he there? Does every character in the Marvel 616-universe have the additional superpower of "Wolverine summoning" where he'll just pop-up to plug his crappy book?

This is a waste of a book. There was no demand for this, and they're not doing a good job with the material they do have; why does this title exist? I can think of series that got cancelled I'd rather read than this. I certainly hope it picks up soon.

Metal Men #1 (of 8)

2007-08-03T10:45:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Hopefully this will make more sense next month?

I wanted to like this title, but as is I'm just a bit confused. Is this an elseworlds title, or is it regular continuity? My reason for the confusion is that it's being pulled, it seems, from both Superman/Batman and 52. I know Superman/Batman started off as a Earth-1 series or whatever, but it's definitely Elseworlds at this point, in that nothing that happens there matches up to regular continuity in any way, even given massive allowances for errors. So, I'm not sure which in the Metal Men line it is. Also, we haven't really gotten to the story yet; we've a flashback sequence with Dr. Morrow and Magnus (who I thought were colleagues, but apparently were mentor/mentee first?) and an appearance of not-flashback Magnus at the end. Also, an action sequence at the beginning which hasn't really tied into anything yet.

I like the dialogue between the Metal Men (poor Lead), but the confusion is the biggest aspect of this title for me, and the art doesn't really help it (I don't like the artist's style, personally). Hopefully next month will see a better review for this, as I like the Metal Men and want their comics to be good, but right now there's just not enough in this issue for a story; they're just events waiting to be connected.

Also, "based off ideas by Grant Morrison"? He now gets credit for the Metal Men? That seems odd.

Black Canary #3 (of 4)

2007-08-03T10:39:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Come one, come all to watch Green Arrow screw up his potential marriage through subterfuge in regards to her kid in this decent series.

Not a bad issue at all. While I'm not totally into this series, I definitely enjoy it for five minutes once every two weeks. The big highlight in this was just seeing Black Canary whoop on pretty much everyone. Good job, comic.

I do want to see how this series finishes, as the cliffhanger end on this would be really sad without a reveal. So far, the art's been fine and the dialogue's been fine. This isn't a particularly great comic, but it's not bad, and it's all part of DC's nefarious plan to have a Green Arrow comic out every week (?). Why is DC pushing Green Arrow so hard, so suddenly? They must want to kill him.

That, folks, was a very bad, overly dry crack at the DC editorial staff.

Anyway, Black Canary: not bad, but not great. A couple of good moments with the lead character, I will say, so that was nice to see.

She-Hulk #20

2007-08-03T09:44:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: The big wrap-up for the last twenty issues of She-Hulk, it doesn't disappoint with plenty of self-referential jokes and general goofiness, as well as an excellent job of wrapping up loose ends.

Really, this issue does such a remarkable job wrapping up every loose end that you can tell that Slott isn't just a huge comic book fan (which the subject matter of She-Hulk really should've clued you onto), but also knows their weaknesses well too and avoids those mistakes. It makes me wonder how he would do on a more serious title; I hope I see more of his stuff soon.

But, back to She-Hulk. It's been a good run, but it's almost over. We hear in this how She-Hulk defended the Marvel universe from annhilation over the Ultimate due to the fact that the Marvel is "fun." Also, honestly, I think I would probably buy a book that was just Stu's adventures across the Marvel universe, desperately trying to avoid comic book characters.

This was a good issue. It'll be sad to see She-Hulk move on, but I accept it and I'm sure that a more serious take on the character could be nice too. We still have one more issue left, though I don't know what else they have to do. Also, I love the last panel reveal on this, and truly hope that that's all that's ever said about it.

Punisher #50

2007-08-03T09:32:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Barracuda's back in this bloody start of what could be a great Punisher run.

I think Ennis's Punisher is hit-or-miss, sometimes even issue to issue, let alone story to story. The last story arc I wasn't a huge fan of, as it really seemed stretched, but the one before that was good. I guess it just varies.

This, though, looks like it could be great. You have Barracuda, who's quickly becoming a surprisingly cool and resourceful villain, and a last page reveal that's actually important to Punisher. Overall, this looks like it could be a really good story, and the art all fits Punisher very well. Ennis does a good job writing the Baracuda as this crafty, ruthless man, willing to kill dozens of people to lure the Punisher out.

Great action in this, some emotions from the protagonist for once, a good villain, and an interesting twist; all of this could lead to a pretty good comic. I'd keep my eye on this story arc.

New Avengers Illuminati #4 (of 5)

2007-08-03T09:25:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Opening with some good "Oh women" dialogue, this issue of Illuminati's not too bad, with some great Namor scenes.

This wasn't too bad. The art was good, and the dialogue was, when actual dialogue and not monologues, pretty good. I like Bendis for that. However, the monologues seemed to be a large portion of the issue and, well, that doesn't make for much excitement. Still, though, seeing Namor beat the crud out of the kid was pretty good.

Pretty neutral towards this one. The debates on power use are really the best reoccurring part of this book, I will say. I didn't think it was as good as any of the other issues from the series, but it still had its moments.

Fantastic Four #548

2007-08-03T09:20:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Pretty basic Fantastic Four story, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Honestly, change the art around, turn down the emotions some, this story easily could have fit in the original Lee/Kirby FF. Sure, it has Storm and Black Panther in a minor role, but it wasn't that unusual to have guest superheroes in the original run either. The plot's certainly a classic: Sue gets kidnapped by evil rival of Reed (why are they always rivals of Reed? Why can't we have a supervillain who wants to kill Johnny to win a race/get more girls? Kill Ben Grimm so that he can be pestered by the Yancy Street Gang?), FF goes to the rescue.

Nothing's wrong with this sort of story. I'll admit, I like a bit more plot to my comics usually, but I still enjoyed this. Now if only they were constantly spewing exposition in alliteration...

Ms. Marvel #18

2007-08-02T13:32:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Machine Man's back -- awesome.

I've generally been positive about the new Ms. Marvel series; it's not always great, but it's usually decent, with some intriguing subplots and usually at least one really good hero or villain in each story arc. However, this issue was, far and away, the best to me. Based off the summary above, you've probably figured out why.

See, I was a huge Nextwave fan. When I saw it end, I was very much down. The fact that Machine Man's back, with all his flesh-hating goodness, is absolutely fantastic to me. His character remains just as snarky as before, and you may think he's over-the-top, but of course he is, he isn't bound by fleshy limits of tact. Awesome. I'm not going to lie; every issue he's in, he's probably going to steal the show. He's the comic book equivalent of a ham -- there's just so much ridiculous character to him you're forced to pay attention. Again, I'm pretty happy about his inclusion, and that the other hero introduced is laughably bad is pretty good too.

I don't think Puppet Master has ever been as danged creepy as he is here. Eww.

This, for me, was great fun. If you weren't a fan of the Machine Man from Nextwave, well, I imagine this story arc (at least) will be pretty irritating. Ms. Marvel continues to be a better-than-average read, picking up considerably with the introduction of the renovated Machine Man.

Justice Society of America #8

2007-08-02T10:12:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: While I like JSA, this is a rather plain one-shot that has a major plot point which makes no sense to me.

This wasn't that bad of an issue, it just wasn't that interesting. I did like the flashbacks to Liberty Belle's upbringing and growth as a hero, and I liked the idea of Johnny Quick as a nut. My main beef, besides it being a one-shot, was that I can't imagine the JSA being so curmudgeonly to a police force that's just doing their job. I realize that, as a one-shot, it's unlikely to have many lasting effects outside this issue, but the actions of Damage were seriously wrong. If there's no follow-up on that, then this issue really should have been looked over more. That is what editors are for; perhaps DC needs more editors who do their jobs beyond just making sure certain characters die?

The art was fine in this issue, and I really did like knowing a bit more about Liberty Belle, as I really didn't know her prior to this issue. So it wasn't like this issue was all negative -- it's just that the negative was about the main plot of the issue, so it gets highlighted. Still, I like JSA, and I'm excited over this next story arc, which promises to be pretty great. This is just a rather forgettable issue of a good series.

Detective Comics #835

2007-08-02T09:53:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: A decent Scarecrow story, adding a bit more fear back into the villain who's entirely based around it.

This was, in it of itself, a pretty good issue as it really did leave me wondering how Scarecrow's doing what he's doing. However, this is a risky story; by having Scarecrow raised to this magnitude of a villain, the writer better have a good explanation for it. If the explanation for all of it is that "He can be very scary if he wants to be," then the story falls into the realm of ridiculous. I'm also not a big fan of the fact that Batman's suddenly losing his cool. What makes him Batman is that he doesn't lose his cool; but, that's ok.

It's really a fairly thrilling story for a comic. I do want to know what happens next; however, I can also see this being a let-down. I'll stay optimistic, though, and hope that this two-issue filler will have a nice ending; it had a pretty decent opening.

Action Comics #853

2007-08-02T09:43:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: What I thought was just a Countdown tie-in has proven to be a pretty decent story starring Jimmy Olsen.

I thought this was pretty good. The fight between Jimmy, who's desperately trying to figure out his powers, and the Kryptonite Man was pretty hilarious, with Jimmy's absolutely terrible bantering and muttering. The end reveal is definitely awesome, so I won't ruin that. I haven't read much with Kryptonite Man, but I'm really liking his attitude.

This was a pretty good Superman story. Really, this was (outside of All-Star) one of the best Superman stories I've read in awhile. Busiek has a real talent for writing Kryptonite Man as an enjoyable villain, and I like the furthering of the mystery of Jimmy's powers. The issue has done a good job in not only giving me a story I enjoyed reading, but also has made me more curious about the Jimmy Olsen storyline which I'll assume will mostly take place in Countdown. In any case, it was a good comic.

Countdown #39

2007-08-02T08:10:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Despite a lack of Mary Marvel, not too bad an issue, with Trickster/Piper stealing the show again.

I had the same deal with this issue of countdown I've had with the last; I reach the end and say "Is that all?" One gripe: I think the "History of the Multiverse" segment has gotten out of hand. 4 pages to introduce one tiny plot element and just rehash what's been said two or three times elsewhere in the series? But, a more minor gripe.

Simplified review: Holly and the Amazons? Meh. The Question and Batgirl's reveal? Also meh -- mostly because I never cared about Batgirl, no matter how much they wanted me to. Palmerverse stuff? Nothing really happened, so I guess meh.

Now, Trickster and Piper? That was great. They really are a great pair of characters together, and watching them run from the Suicide Squad while constantly bickering was great. Karate Kid and Oracle? I'm watching that storyline, as it seems to be pretty interesting; it's been good so far. Jimmy Olsen? Entertaining, at least

Overall, pretty fun. Not a ground-breaking comic by any stretch, but it was a fun issue, even if it lacked any follow-up with Zatanna, one of my favorite characters. I'm patient enough I can wait another week for that, hah. Beyond that, there wasn't much in pages given to the storylines I don't care about, which was nice, whereas there was quite a bit for Karate Kid and Trickster/Piper, which was much appreciated. Fun stuff.

World War Hulk #3 (of 5)

2007-08-02T08:02:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Wow, amazing, Hulk takes a little break from smashing in order to watch others smash.

I guess more happened in this issue than last, but it's still not an acceptable level of plot for a monthly mega-event. Dr. Strange has a larger role in this one than in any previous one, but I really didn't like how he was written. Dr. Strange should not ever feel threatened by some alien priest; he's effin' Dr. Strange, sorcerer supreme. He marches with Eternity and whatnot; he's one of the big guys, the guy that writers have to give really lame excuses when writing in non-solo titles as to why he doesn't just win automatically. And that's what Pak has done here. Also, the end? Come on!

I like Romita's art, but it's really just not enough to save this comic. World War Hulk is getting dumber with every issue. I'm just tired of this series dominating Marvel's main comics this summer. Also, did General Ross just die? I couldn't tell, honestly. Great job on that, too, creative team.

X-Men: First Class #2

2007-07-30T15:27:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: More fun, but this time with some continuity, from X-Men: First Class.

I love this series. This isn't the best book from it, but it's still a far cry better than most the X-books out there. I have a real soft spot in my heart for the fun books, but this one is particularly well-done. I'm almost glad they didn't put this in the Marvel Adventures category, though it really is where it fits, because it opens it up to a wider audience (and maybe that was their intention).

I like seeing this sort of story. Still very fun, but it's pushing the boundaries on what the First Class heroes have accomplished so far, and that's ok. It's still an excellent comic, fun, monster-filled, and action-y. Yeah, I said action-y. Also, evil butterflies! And hearing about Robbie's nightmares was pretty hilarious. A good book where all the elements mesh together very well.

X-Men #201

2007-07-30T15:20:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: At least it has Endangered Species in the back.

I have nothing good to say about the current X-Men storyline, or the book in general. It's just bad. Everything about it is bad. The story's dumb, the dialogue is just poorly written, the characters don't act anything like they should, and the art is very far from what I like. I don't understand how wide the range of Mike Carey's quality; Crossing Midnight is this beautiful, well-plotted book, but everything else he's doing currently is abhorrent.

The Endangered Species back-up was pretty good. I liked the twist end to that, and the art's very good for that. It was a very nice bit of comic, but probably didn't justify the crap-storm that was the rest of the issue.

Sensational Spider-Man #39

2007-07-30T15:09:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Eddie Brock steals the spotlight in this conclusion to the last couple of issues, which is also one of the better mainstream Spidey issues in awhile.

This was a very good issue. You feel bad for poor, crazy Eddie, but you also feel for, well, his victims. I could care less about the seance, but Brock definitely steals the show in this book as a pathetic ex-supervillain. Good job, book!

Wolverine #55

2007-07-30T15:04:00.001-05:00

One-sentence summary: What, did that just happen?

This is an issue with a truly surprising two-page spread. I'm somewhat intrigued by the Romulus story, though I'm sure it will ultimately disappoint. I more or less hate Wild Child, but then again I never really liked Sabretooth. The plot's a bit half-baked, but it's not so bad right now. Maybe it's because the other Wolverine title is Origins, which is awful on a brand new scale, but I sort of like Wolverine since Loeb and Bianchi took over.

Have I mentioned that Bianchi's stuff is amazing? Honestly, the hyper-realism of his art is what sells this story. As this story is just so ridiculous, anything but Bianchi's gorgeous art would really just make the story campy, or at least far-fetched at best, but somehow it's grounded by the painted panels. Very rarely do I credit artwork with so much, but in this case it definitely deserves it.

All in all, not too bad at all. A bit out-there, but the artwork really does make it worthwhile.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #44

2007-07-30T14:56:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: More Silver Surfer goodness as the Ultimate version is revealed to serve an entirely different master with some morally mixed-up motives (heh, alliteration).

Not too bad an issue. I'm off and on on Ultimate Fantastic Four, and I like that the Ultimate Silver Surfer seems to have a very different backstory from the 616-universe. However, the actual story was just meh, and, honestly, despite how much plot happened, no one did anything that interesting. It was sort of interesting to see the FF get the crap beaten out of them by the Surfer, but that was about it. I do want to see where this story goes, but the ending was, well, a bit sudden, really. I wish they had let a bit more suspense build before this issue ended.

All in all, not too bad. Not the best the series has produced, but at least the villain is more interesting than Ultimate Alchemist (though I'll admit that actually turned out to be a bit of an interesting storyline).

Silver Surfer Requiem #3 (of 4)

2007-07-30T14:36:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Straczynski's obsession with death continues here, the latest installment of the Silver Surfer's alternate-universe swan song, here embodying themselves in a comic book diatribe against relgious wars (and almost against religion).

I've been alright with this series so far. It's been a bit, well, sentimental (?) so far, but it hasn't been too bad. I liked the last issue the best. This one? I could have done without.

This issue was either too blatant in its rants (does anyone who read comic books really support religion-fueled wars?), or too confusing in its conclusions. It ends with Surfer being worshipped as some sort of humanist God (which seems to be one step away from a oxymoron) after destroying established religious headquarters. Not sure really what to think of that.

The art was very nice in this, and the story wasn't really bad, I'm just not sure I was a big fan of how it got its point across. No, I'm sure of it: I disliked how they got the point across.

Onslaught Reborn #4 (of 5)

2007-07-30T14:29:00.001-05:00

One-sentence summary: I wonder how many people even realize/care this title exists?

I don't even understand the purpose for this title. Did Liefeld come by, hobo-hat in hand, fingerless gloves extended in bowl shape hoping for some change, worn pencil tucked behind his ear, ratty trenchcoat almost hiding incredibly tiny ballerina feet? That is how I see this comic coming to be; between the overly-Lefield art, the horrible material, and the plodding story being told by Loeb (which I would describe as surreal in that there's no explanation given for how it started, but it's not so much surreal here as it's just bad writing), this has to be a contender for one of Marvel's worst titles. Thankfully it's almost over.

Seriously, what inspired this? Were there picket lines of angry fans demanding to see more Onslaught, to know what became of the Heroes Reborn planet (wasn't it in Exiles the other month?), to see Franklin Richards in a comic-form that's not entertaining? I only hope this isn't Marvel's awkward introduction to a whole new line of Heroes Reborn/Onslaught comics, because that would be stupid beyond words.

Iron Man #20

2007-07-30T14:24:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: An alright World War Hulk tie-in.

This issue was better than the last, but still not great. We get very little of Iron Man or Tony Stark, but we do learn Tony's back-up plan in this issue, which I'm sure will come back in later issues of World War Hulk. In fact, I'm so certain of this that I'm sure that that important plot point will be rehashed in a main WWH title, or prove to be completely unimportant. At best, it will come back later in Iron Man as an important point against/for Tony Stark as the head of SHIELD, though I do think it'll be back later in WWH.

This wasn't too bad of an issue. I don't like how every other storyline in Iron Man has come to a grinding halt for WWH. That's not even good business; new readers to Iron Man, reading for WWH, now have no incentive to keep buying the book after WWH peters out/ends. Just my thought. Anywho, it's ok for a tie-in, but it's nothing else.

Immortal Iron Fist #7

2007-07-30T14:17:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: The non-stop action of the last six issues has taken an issue break to do a filler issue about a past Iron Fist, which is bad and good.

I've really found myself liking this run of Iron Fist. The dialogue's good, the character's been made interesting, the story's decent, the art's good, and the action's great. So, it can be understandable how I wouldn't really want a break from this.

I didn't dislike this issue. I just hope this character is important later on, otherwise this issue's a waste of an introduction. While this issue had some big flaws (didn't really like the protagonist), lots of little touches made up for that (the narration was good). Overall, not too bad, but not as good as the rest of this series has been, but that's ok.

Heroes for Hire #12

2007-07-30T14:11:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Heroes for Hire continue their World War Hulk escapades, this time facing off against Hulk's Warbound, in what's surprisingly one of the more interesting tie-ins.

I don't really care about Heroes for Hire. I don't really care about World War Hulk. Why is it, then, that I enjoy this issue?

Maybe it's the interesting plot; Humbug going nuts certainly is interesting, and the entire dealing-with of the Brood intrigues me (though I'd never really thought of them as insects before, though I suppose it makes sense). It'll be interesting to see how the non-heavy-hitters of the Heroes for Hire gang deal with the Warbound, as, excepting Shang-Chi, I can't see how any of them can stand up for even a few seconds against them.

The back-up story with Paladin is pretty uninteresting, but that's forgiveable with the rest of the issue being, well, interesting.

I actually want to see this story through. I'm impressed that Heroes for Hire managed to put out a rather interesting issue, all while under the World War Hulk tie-in editorial rules (no major plot developments that would affect WWH, etc). Even the characters stay somewhat true to themselves (I don't quite know why Black Cat stuck around, but at least that's a relatively minor issue). Good job, issue.

Crossing Midnight #9

2007-07-30T14:02:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: The latest story comes to a heartening end, though with plenty of implications for future stories.

I like Crossing Midnight. I think the light colors give the artwork a perfect feel for the book, a cross among fairy tale, comic book, and oriental art. I like the dialogue, which could have been pulled out of a Ghibli film (although it's darker than any Ghibli film too). I like the stark images of violence among the rest of this, standing out all the more because of it. I like the almost relaxed story-telling, that, though it's plotted incredibly well and moves along at a fine pace, feels like you're drifting down a river watching these events happen.

Crossing Midnight is probably the best Vertigo book out there (maybe Exterminators, but both are great). I love it. As the reader gets more and more a feel for this detailed, complicated universe, the more interesting it becomes. Crossing Midnight is truly an excellent book.

Wonder Woman #11

2007-07-30T13:59:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Though I like the end, the rest of this issue is the same mediocre crap that all of Amazons Attack is.

Why is Superman forcefully pulling Wonder Woman away from possibly ending the war, or at least dealing with one of the major conflicts in it? Why is Wonder Woman, the off-and-on symbol of girl power, completely fine with this? Why is this maintained as such an important storyline to the DCU, despite the fact that it's horrible?

I will say, I like the end, though I'm interested to see where it's going. The art's ok for the book; I just really, really dislike Amazons Attack.

Teen Titans #49

2007-07-30T13:56:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Oh good, more Amazons Attack tie-ins.

There's nothing I have to say about this that I haven't said about other Amazons Attack tie-ins. It's an overly forced thing that forces the characters involved to act rather out of character. Here there's so much frantic side-switching that nothing makes sense by the end of the issue.

Blugh. I'm just so tired of these stupide tie-ins, particularly ones for series I dislike. I'll say that this has more plot to it than, say, Incredible Hulk #108, but it still is a dumb tie-in. I have more or less nothing good to say about the Amazons Attack story.

Superman #665

2007-07-30T13:16:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: Just in case you didn't know, Jimmy Olsen sure is Superman's pal!

Is it really necessary to have an origin story for Jimmy Olsen? I mean, I guess it flushes out his character some, but I think Countdown's doing a good enough job on that itself, and if you really needed more, you could've picked up the last Action Comics. This was nice, and it showed us the niche Jimmy fit early in Superman's career, but it really felt rather superfluous. I guess they decided that everyone reading Superman should also know that Jimmy Olsen sure is important in Countdown.

Tie-ins just burn me out. As this is the second Jimmy Olsen tie-in this month, I just stopped caring. I like his story in Countdown, but I really didn't need to hear about him so much. It just makes me reflect on how little sense it makes to me that Jimmy doesn't buzz Superman about his powers in the present day and ask him.

The lesson learned? If you're going to do a tie-in, make it one that's relevant and don't make one that makes your readers question the basic premise of what's going on in the main book.

Supergirl and the Legion of Super Heroes #32

2007-07-30T13:06:00.000-05:00

One-sentence summary: As this new storyline gets started, we see more into the background of Lightning Lad and his community, complete with suspenseful ending that genuinely leaves me looking forward to the next issue.

I'm pretty neutral, currently, on the Legion. They're a neat concept, and sometimes they're pretty cool, but I haven't read anything yet that currently just blows me away. I liked the interactions between everyone here. I'm looking forward to hearing the tie-ins between the cult and the current story, and the issue just generally felt solid.

The art fits the characters well, and the storyline seems to be progressing well. I hope we hear more from the other teams of Legionnaires sent out, but if we don't so be it. Overall, this was a good issue. The Legion characters acted like themselves, it seemed, and their interactions were definitely a big plus for me.