|
|
| Wednesday, March 19, 2008 01:16 PM |
| The Take |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor's weekly comic book review post.
I'm trying out a new rating system this time, so you can tell at a glance whether I like each book or not. Let me know what you think.
Star's old comics
Green Lantern #174
This book (with writing by Benjamin Raab, pencils by Jamal Igle, inks by John Dell, and colors by Moose Baumann) comes from 2004, during the Kyle Rayner period of Green Lantern, when the series was trying to be a Star Wars-flavored space thriller, with Rayner undercover in an intergalactic criminal group known as The Black Circle. The Circle is run by Amon Sur (evil son of Abin Sur), who's allied himself with the people of Qward as part of a plan to destroy Oa and the Green Lanterns with it. Mixed into the middle of all this space-operatic intrigue and violence are a couple of seriously out of place soap-operatic relationship stories set back on Earth. There's a gay guy trying to include his parents in his life, but they rebuff him, and some alien woman whose boyfriend is cheating on her. Maybe these stories would have seemed meaningful if I'd had any idea what they were about or what they had to do with the main storyline, but I didn't, and so they didn't.
The main plot, meanwhile, is vaguely interesting, but mostly pretty cliche. It probably doesn't help that I don't really like Kyle Rayner all that much as a character. This is a mediocre issue of Green Lantern, and it does not encourage me to seek out any trade paperbacks collecting this era of the series.
Thumbs Down
Back issues and old data
Strange Kiss
Stranger Kisses
Strange Killings
When I started reading Ellis' new series Gravel, I was under the impression that it was introducing the character of Bill Gravel, British combat magician and all around bad-ass. I soon learned that this was not true, and that in fact Gravel had already starred in a whole series of books, starting with Strange Kiss, which was followed up by Stranger Kisses. Then Ellis seemed to settle on a title and called the rest of the series (up until Gravel, of course) Strange Killings, just adding different subtitles for each new arc. I was waiting for an Amazon gift certificate to pick these up, but then I got so excited about buying a Batman/Hellboy crossover book that I discovered on scans_daily (and which I haven't read yet - look for it in a future Take), that I ended up picking it up on an impulse buy, and adding the first three Gravel books on top of the purchase just for the heck of it. All three books are written by Warren Ellis with black and white art by Mike Wolfer.
Strange Kiss has an introduction by Warren Ellis in which he prepares you for the book by pointing out that there's a scene in the first chapter that disturbs even him. Which is a damn scary thought, let me tell you. And I'm actually not even sure which scene he's talking about, because there's at least two seriously disturbing scenes in that first chapter, and plenty more to come after that.
The story opens up with a brutal car chase that ends in a murder suicide. Next we meet Bill Gravel, an SAS Agent who's been assigned to deniable operations in America as punishment for some unmentioned crime (deniable operations being really terrible stuff that the British government doesn't want anyone to know they're doing, so if he's caught, he'll be cut loose and declared a rogue agent; total deniability). Bill is visiting his oldest and best friend in the hospital. His friend, to put it mildly, isn't doing too well. And if you're Bill Gravel, and a bunch of baby lizards burst out of your friend after his dick rots off, obviously the only thing you can do is track down the giant ancient space monster that's behind it all and fuck up its shit.
Awww, yeah.
This book solidified my now deep and abiding love for the character of Bill Gravel, who is just about the coolest, most brutal, cold-blooded bastard you could ever hope to meet. Not only is he deadly with a couple of guns or with hand-to-hand combat, he also knows magic! The boundaries and workings of his magic are never explained, but I'm actually totally okay with that. You can always understand what he's doing, and it always makes sense in a primal kind of way. His magic is primitive, physical, and deadly.
This first book is brilliant, terrifying, disturbing, and fantastic. It's actually a pretty perfect little story. My only complaint is with Mike Wolfer's art. It's a bit clumsy and ugly. And sadly, it remains that way throughout all the books. Wolfer is a really good visual storyteller, though, so I try to overlook the mostly hideous way he draws people.
Next up is Stranger Kisses, which picks up with Bill Gravel still stuck in America on deniable operations. A character clearly meant to be an analog for Clint Eastwood (he's getting into politics, and he's best known for starring in a series of movies known as the "Bad Jack" films) hires Gravel to protect him while he takes down a group of guys that he thinks are making snuff films. His plan is to reveal them to the police and come out looking like a hero, thus assuring his election. But he and Gravel soon discover that the films these guys are making are something quite different from snuff films, and that their operation is connected right up to the top - which means it's time for Gravel to face off against an entire city.
This is another incredibly messed up, violent, brutal book that is also hilarious and fantastic. The scene with the bus full of special needs kids is a pretty low blow, but I'll admit, I laughed. Also, Gravel works some seriously bad-ass magic in this volume. I particularly like when he just closes his eyes and causes the bullets of his enemies to turn around and strike them in the crotch. That's hardcore.
Finally, there's Strange Killings. This one opens up with a prison riot in England that gets so out of hand they have to send in the SAS. But when the SAS can't even handle things, and the people in charge realize that magic is involved, there's only one man they can call, and that's Bill Gravel. Gravel is still in the midst of deniable operations in America when he gets the call, but he's happy to drop what he's doing to take care of this little problem. His solution mostly involves shooting a whole lot of people.
This one takes some odd turns I wasn't sure I liked. The villain Gravel goes up against turns out to be not really all that impressive, and what Gravel does at the very end of the book is pretty questionable even for him. Still, I enjoyed it.
I'm actually not sure why these books haven't already been adapted into a series of films directed by the Wachowski brothers. I'm sure that oversight will be taken care of soon. It's a truly excellent series, and it continues through three more volumes of Strange Killings, so I'll be sure to pick those up from Amazon as soon as I can.
Thumbs Up
New releases
Abe Sapien: The Drowning #2
For the first two pages, this issue actually goes back in time to shortly before the end of the last issue, just to catch you up on some more background information on the mission before dropping you back into the present action, which consists of everybody freaking dying while a horrible plague of monsters slides into the city. It also comes out that the creepy old lady from the end of last issue is not at all what she seemed. This is a seriously, seriously scary and disturbing comic. It's also utterly fantastic. The art (by Jason Shawn Alexander, with colors by the incomparable Dave Stewart) is amazingly effective and atmospheric. And Hellboy even gets a cameo! Sort of. The point is, it's brilliant, brilliant, brilliant stuff. Just what we've come to expect from Mignola and friends.
Thumbs Up
Annihilation: Conquest #5
It's the second to last issue of this incredible miniseries, so now we're really coming down to it. Everybody's secret plots and histories are coming out, and everything is blowing up and everybody is dying and everything is turning towards one big final apocalyptic showdown. It's fantastic!
We finally get to figure out just how Ultron is alive and how he came to take over the Phalanx. We get to see the end purpose of his far-reaching plan. We get to see the Accuser make a fateful and deadly decision, and we get to see Rocket Raccoon and friends kick some serious ass - although at this point it looks like it might already be too late.
Amazing and exciting. Looking forward to the big conclusion next issue.
Thumbs Up
B.P.R.D.: 1946 #3
The second Mignola masterpiece out this past week, this issue reveals that it isn't the vampires that our heroes had to worry about in the asylum after all. In fact, the building is haunted by other Nazi atrocities. More of what happened there becomes clear, and Bruttenholm and the Russian girl find another piece of the puzzle that points them in a new direction. They also have a run-in with an interesting fellow named Baron Konig. I'm not really sure if I'm supposed to know who he is or not. A quick Google search suggests not, which is good.
Anyway, this was another moving, frightening, atmospheric issue of B.P.R.D. The way this is connected in with the horrors of the Holocaust gives it even more depth and power than it might otherwise have.
Thumbs Up
Comic Book Comics #1
I thought I'd missed out on this one last week, but I found it on the new releases shelf this week as if it had just come out, so I don't know. Anyway, it's a great little comic. It is the first part of a history of comic books told in comic book form. It starts things out in 1896, with the birth of the modern comic strip, and takes us through the further development of the form in Winsor McCay's work on Little Nemo in Slumberland; the concurrent and connected developments in animation (the stories of Walt Disney and Max Fleischer); the birth of pulp magazines and science fiction; the transformation of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster from a couple of pathetic nerds into the creators of one of the most important contributions to pop culture in the history of the world: Superman (who was himself really a synthesis of many other characters and stories that had come before); the rise of the other superheroes and the beginning of the Golden Age of comics. And weaving through it all is the origin story of one Jack Kurtzberg, later to be known as the mighty Jack Kirby.
A number of the stories told in this comic I've read before in various books on the history of the medium, but many are new to me, and all are totally fascinating, especially delivered as they are, with irreverence and intelligence, and using the format in question itself. I'd never heard before of "The Yellow Kid" (which was essentially the first comic strip, a huge sensation in its time, and the origin of the phrase "yellow journalism"), and the book focuses in a great deal on many fascinating stories, unfamiliar to me, from the history of animation, which perhaps unsurprisingly has many connections to the history of the comic book.
Really the history of comics is a series of insane, unlikely, and hilarious stories, like the one about how Victor Fox was using a fake name so Will Eisner wouldn't know it was him who was trying to find and hire artists away from Eisner's studio. But Fox didn't know that the artists he was trying to hire didn't exist because they were all just pen names Eisner had made up for himself.
In the back of the book is a sort of index of all the major works referenced, with their estimated current market values, as reported by the Comics Buyer's Guide. There's also more about the cartoons, novels, and strips mentioned, as well as a handy recipe for Welsh Rarebit (which, as it turns out, contains no actual rabbit; the Welsh equivalent of rabbit is apparently cheese).
I'll definitely be back for the next issue of this comic, and in fact I'm also rather curious now about the creators' previous book, Action Philosophers, which essentially applied this same treatment to the history of philosophy.
Thumbs Up
Fantastic Four #555
The previous issue of this book - which was the first issue of Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's run on the series - is great, and it really got my hopes up about where the book was going. I won't say this issue dashed those hopes, but it did certainly drop them on the floor and get them a bit dirty. It's not that this is really bad, it's just not nearly as good. The more they get into the specifics of how they're building a whole new Earth, the more unlikely and even impossible it seems. The Human Torch subplot is also unlikely, as well as confusing and nonsensical. It's hard to even tell what's going on. What diamond shipment? Did that happen off-panel? Who's the "we" she keeps talking about? Maybe there's a history here I don't know about? It doesn't seem like it; it sounds like Johnny is just meeting this woman. Which makes the sudden physical relationship a little ridiculous. And as for the ending, um... when will people learn not to build giant, self-aware, robotic super-soldiers that can turn off their own countermeasures?? I mean, how dumb can you be?! I thought this whole thing was set up by a bunch of super-geniuses! How does a whole boatload of super-geniuses make that mistake??
I think I've actually talked myself into disliking this issue even more than I did when I started writing. But the truth is I did actually enjoy it well enough; I do find the concept of "Cap" and Nu-World fascinating (especially the not-so-subtle totalitarian, fascistic, dystopian turn the whole thing is taking); and the very end of the issue is pretty exciting. So it's not like I'm dropping the book or anything. But still. A little disappointing.
Thumbs Sideways
The Goon #22
Hmm. You know when a comedy suddenly gets really serious and dramatic, and rather than being effective and moving, it mostly just leaves you uncomfortable and confused? That's kind of what's happening for me with The Goon. I liked the comic a lot better when it was just one goofy monster-fighting escapade after another. Now Powell seems to be trying to tell a lengthy, multi-issue story with some very serious and dramatic elements, but still peppered with the same random goofiness as before, and it's a rather clumsy mixture of things.
Which is not to say that this is really a bad issue, or that the story is boring or irritating. In fact, I was mighty surprised and intrigued by the return of Labrazio to the story, and I'm very curious to see where things go next with the Zombie Priest and his mysterious superior. The funny bits are still very funny, and I love the subtle reference to The Godfather ("I was across the street buying oranges when it happened."). I'm just not a huge fan of the solemn, nearly melodramatic parts of the story, or how they're jammed in cheek-by-jowl with the silly bits. But we'll see.
Thumbs Sideways
Green Lantern Corps #22
The new Green Lantern title this week is a little corny, but entertaining enough, and takes Boodikka's story in an interesting direction. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with the Red Lanterns!
Thumbs Sideways
Hedge Knight II: Sworn Sword #5
Our hero, as expected, doesn't just ride off into the distance, but remains to help his one-time master with the problem of the Red Widow. He even manages to practice enough diplomacy to avoid most of the conflict - but the stage is now set for a battle that will decide the war, and end the story. Should be interesting.
Thumbs Up
Last Defenders #1
Now this - this is a really bad comic. It's the start of a six-issue miniseries relaunching the old superhero team known as the Defenders. This time they're part of the Initiative (in fact, they're defending my own home state of New Jersey - yay), they're led by some loser with a bird on his chest named Nighthawk, and the other members include a new character named the Blazing Skull; Colossus, formerly of the X-Men; and She-Hulk. Nighthawk I've never heard of before, and he's so completely boring and irritating in this comic that I don't ever want to hear of him again. The Blazing Skull looks a lot like Ghost Rider, except instead of a bad-ass spirit of vengeance he's just a dumb young hot-head with some fire powers. I've always liked Colossus, but the way he's written here he's just as irritating and boring as Nighthawk. And I still don't like She-Hulk.
The story sees the Defenders underestimate their enemies and clumsily blunder into their first mission unprepared. Meanwhile, there are a handful of one-page cutaways that advance a couple of subplots. One is about an Atlantean warlord named Krang who's getting some kind of procedure done on him that has something to do with the High Evolutionary's technology. The other is about the Son of Satan, who wanted to be the Sorcerer Supreme but has since become a Quantum Mage and a Techno King, whatever that means, and who now has his sights set on somehow using the Defenders to achieve some mysterious evil end.
The problem with this comic is quite simply Joe Casey's poor writing. I already knew he was a bad writer from reading an issue or two of his Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin series, but I picked this up anyway because I wanted to see what they'd do with the Defenders. Clearly, it was a mistake. The dialogue and narration is corny, over-the-top, and unrealistic. There are lots of unnecessary thought bubbles. The plot is clumsily constructed and poorly paced. The story is not interesting, and neither are the characters. In other words, I won't be wasting any more money on this, and Joe Casey is going on my don't buy list.
Thumbs Down
The Lone Ranger and Tonto #1
This book intrigued me when I saw it on the release list, but I hadn't meant to pick it up. Then I saw it on the shelf and couldn't resist. A number of things attracted me to it: it looked kind of artsy; I remembered enjoying a Lone Ranger short I'd picked up on Free Comic Book Day; it was described as a one-shot that's a great jumping-on point for anybody interested in reading the main Lone Ranger series; John Cassaday, an artist whose work I admire, did the cover and the art direction; and finally, the ad on the back says that Paul Pope is joining the art team on The Lone Ranger. Paul Fucking Pope! I figure any book that Pope is willing to be involved with must be decent. Right?
Turns out, no. I still might try the regular Lone Ranger series anyway, just to see what Pope's up to these days, but I didn't really care for this one-shot. The story is over-the-top, melodramatic, and a little hard to believe. It starts with our titular heroes purchasing supplies from a sympathetic old couple. Afterwards, Lone Ranger and Tonto leave, but just outside of town, they come across a murder scene - a camp with three sleeping bags, one empty, the other two with dead bodies in them. They're suddenly attacked by a child with a shovel. They disarm him, but he can't seem to speak. They assume he's the son of the victims and that he saw the attack, and they go drop him off with the old folks before heading back to the scene of the crime to see if they can track down who did it. And indeed they almost immediately realize that they missed some important clues. Their mistake will lead to a terrible tragedy, and an unhappy ending for everyone.
The big surprise, which really isn't much of a surprise, is that (spoiler alert) the kid did it. I say this isn't much of a surprise because he was the only other person at the scene of the murder, and when the Lone Ranger and Tonto arrived, he immediately attacked them! So what do they do? They take him back to the nice old folks and ride off! That's the part that surprised me, not the fact that the kid did it. I mean, at that point the kid is the only suspect!
Anyway, after our heroes' colossal blunder, the story devolves into scenes of terrible violence and perhaps even more terrible speech-making, before mercifully ending. Oh, and also the art's not really very good. Definitely not my favorite comic ever. I'm serious about maybe picking up an issue of the regular series, though. That's how much I like Paul Pope.
Thumbs Down
Nova #11
Richard, sick near to death with the transmode virus, but finally on the Technarchy homeworld, begins his exploration and runs into a character out of the Marvel Universe's past who seems like he could be the savior Richard's seeking - at first. In fact, he has problems of his own. And the arrival of Richard's pursuers makes things much, much worse.
The guy Richard meets on the planet is actually (spoiler alert) Warlock of the New Mutants. And he looks quite familiar, so I think I must have read one or two of those comics way back when. Anyway, this is another fascinating issue of Nova, and although it doesn't have much action, the next one promises to have plenty.
Thumbs Up
Serenity: Better Days #1
Woo hoo! Firefly is back! At least, that's what it felt like reading this comic (written by Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews) and getting reacquainted with all of my old friends from the crew of Serenity. The art (by Will Conrad, with colors by Michelle Madsen) is sometimes a bit weird and murky, to the extent that every once in a while it's hard to tell which character it is you're supposed to be looking at, but it's otherwise pretty okay, and the story is exciting and intriguing. Plus, I loved the little reference to the Hero of Canton episode, which was one of the most excellent episodes in the show's short history. I will definitely continue following this series.
Thumbs Up
Superman #674
My love for the character of Superman has been growing steadily since I picked up comic collecting as a hobby, so I figured it was time to try out the series that bears his name, especially since it's just launched a new story arc in this issue. Kurt Busiek is the writer, with Renato Guedes on art, Jose Wilson Magalhaes on inks, and David Curiel on colors. The story starts by introducing a couple of mysterious subplots involving a jailbreak from a metahuman prison and the arrival of an alien spacecraft headed toward Earth. Then we pick up with Superman and his family. At this point in the continuity, Lois is Supes' wife, and they have a super son named Chris. Apparently their place got destroyed at the end of the last arc, but Supes has rebuilt it. Meanwhile, he's still trying to find a cure for an alien named Mon-El, who has to stay in the Phantom Zone or die immediately of lead poisoning. Then before you know it both Mon-El's past and that guy from the jailbreak at the beginning of the issue are causing trouble for Superman.
It's a vaguely interesting story, but something about it just failed to grab me. The art is okay, but it's also a little weird; the people have creepy eyes. As for the writing, there's something about the whole Mon-El story that bores and annoys me. And the villain here is such a typical comic book villain, spouting such typical comic book villain dialogue, that I practically fell asleep on top of the pages. It's just not good enough to make me want to start collecting another book.
Thumbs Down
Thunderbolts #119
Ah, Warren Ellis, how I love thee. This issue of Ellis' fantastic book about a team of bad guys trying not so hard to be good guys sees Thunderbolt Mountain roiling under the secret control of a group of telepathic prisoners. I love how the whole cloning thing comes out here: "We can do that now?" "Sure. Anyway..." Heh heh. I also love how completely everybody is losing it, particularly Osborn. I'm almost certain he's going to walk out of his room in his Green Goblin costume next issue. It's going to be awesome.
Know what else is awesome? Artist Mike Deodato, Jr. and colorist Rain Beredo, who fill this book with great art. I'm thinking in particular of the crazy two-page spread in which the Swordsman hacks three guys in half at once, and the insane fight between Swordsman and Venom, which is brilliantly laid out by spreading the panels across the pages in really interesting ways. Also, in Ellis' hands, even Doc Samson is an interesting character, who gets a great scene of his own. And there's only more great scenes to come in future issues. I can't wait!
Thumbs Up
Wolverine #63
I was a little dismissive of the previous issue of this book, which was the first issue of it for me, and the first issue of a new arc with writing by the amazingly talented Jason Aaron of Scalped. It just didn't excite me, and if this issue didn't pick things up I was even thinking about dropping the series. Happily, this issue picked things way the hell up. It continues interweaving a flashback story about Wolverine and Mystique with a story in the present that's following Wolverine's quest to find and kill Mystique for betraying him and the other X-Men. The flashback story picks up at the start of this issue in 1921 Kansas City, where Mystique and a team of other mutants and freaks have set up various little cons and criminal activities throughout the city that are netting them a nice amount of cash. Mystique asks for Wolverine's help with protection for her gang, and also with some mysterious Big Score the details of which she hasn't revealed yet. In the present, we see the brutal results of the nasty doublecross Mystique pulled at the end of the last issue. Then Mystique continues to evade Wolverine in clever ways, mostly by tricking unwitting innocents into protecting her.
Both stories are well constructed and intriguing, with Mystique getting to display the slyness, cunning, and changeability that she's known for, and Wolverine getting to display the dogged toughness and bad-assery that he's known for. He does and says some seriously hardcore - and seriously funny - stuff in this issue. It's pretty hilarious and awesome. And actually, I'm just realizing that the plot is in many ways similar to that of a film noir. There's a femme fatale, a criminal enterprise, a dangerous and doomed relationship, a tour of the darkest side of humanity. I like it even more now that I've realized that!
Thumbs Up |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jim Genzano's books on Goodreads
