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| Wednesday, January 30, 2008 04:33 PM |
| The Take |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor's weekly comic book review post.
Sadly, my local comic shop had sold out of Dan Dare #3 and Usagi Yojimbo #109 before I got there, and I also was unable to find Highlander: Way of the Sword #2, but that appeared to be because it
hadn't actually been released.
Luckily, I was able to sneak off to the other Fat Jack's in Philly on Friday and pick up not only DD#3 and UY#109, but also a couple of other random back issues that I was looking for. In the meantime, I supplemented my purchases with some of Star's old comics. So, plenty of reviewing for you this week, folks! Settle in.
Star's comics
Lobo: Unamerican Gladiators #1
Ah, Lobo. DC's super-violent comedy character. This is part one of a four part series by Alan Grant that sees the Main Man heading to a televised intergalactic gladiatorial competition to fight, just for the fun of it. We meet the announcer, some of the other competitors, and Lobo beats the crap out of some people, but the actual competition doesn't quite get under way in this issue. It's fun, and rather funny, but nothing happens here that's exciting enough to make me want to track down the rest of this miniseries.
Lobo: A Contract on Gawd #1
Another first issue of a Lobo miniseries by Alan Grant, this book features Lobo accepting a contract to kill Gawd, the brutal, all-powerful, unforgiving deity of a small nearby planet. A group of monks who live there risk their lives to request Lobo's help in eliminating Gawd because they can't stand living under His rules any longer. They seem particularly dismayed about the fact that He doesn't let them industrialize. Lobo isn't actually allowed to kill people for money at the moment for some reason, but decides it's okay if he does it for free, and heads over to the planet, where he immediately starts kicking asses and taking names. It's another enjoyable Lobo story with lots of brutal violence, satire, and hilarity. Again, fun enough, but not anything really amazing.
Lobo #61
Yes, it's another Alan Grant Lobo book! But this one is the second part of a story arc, and it's also really not very good. It breaks the fourth wall and actually shows us Grant at his desk writing the issue, except he's wired to an electric shock machine and he gets zapped every time he tries to make Lobo use bad language, or be brutal and violent. His editors want a kinder, gentler Lobo, known as Superbo, because they are bowing under the will of the fan magazine Wizard, whose staff apparently disliked the regular version of Lobo. It's satire, obviously, but clumsy, bitter satire that's more pathetic and angry than it is funny. The whole issue is essentially Grant complaining. It's pretty irritating.
The Sandman Presents Lucifer: The Morningstar Option #1-3
This is a miniseries I've actually read before. It's the original Lucifer miniseries that spun out of Neil Gaiman's Sandman. It's written by Mike Carey, with art by Scott Hampton, and it's beautiful and brilliant. It picks up the character about where Sandman left him; Lucifer has quit his job as ruler of hell and is now running a nightclub called Lux in LA. He's approached by an agent of heaven and asked if he'll end a troublesome problem that's arisen recently - someone or something is going around fulfilling people's wishes. Lucifer agrees to take care of the problem, as long he's given a letter of passage in return (this item later served to kickstart the story arc of the ongoing Lucifer series that followed this miniseries). Soon his task brings him into conflict with the Lilim, and into contact with a young girl with hidden and ancient power. Together, they go on a dangerous magical quest to kill some gods from the beginning of the world. The story is complex, but completely fascinating and engaging, and the dialogue is amazing. People just come out with stuff like, "When the world and desire become one, there will be no need of a separate place called hell." And then there's Lucifer. Lucifer is quite simply one of the greatest characters I've ever read. He's just fantastic. Wise, quietly scheming, smooth, dryly sarcastic, witty, unflappable, unstoppable. He's the perfect devil, lying with the truth and looking good while doing it.
The story is ultimately one about humanity and desire, and it's moving and insightful. A worthy successor to Gaiman's Sandman and a great little miniseries. I just might have to collect the Lucifer trades one of these days - assuming the series exists in that format.
The Tick Golden Age Comic #1
A golden age comic book parody starring the Tick and set during WWII sounds like a brilliant idea, but sadly it doesn't turn out all that well. The book takes the form of a series of short stories that fit together into a whole. We start off with a two-page prologue telling the Tick's origin story, and that's followed by the main story which is separated into three chapters. In between those chapters are two other two-page stories, one a short gag comic with an actual tick as the star, and the other a text story starring somebody named Rex Rocket.
The Tick's origin story is sort of a mix of a bunch of famous superhero origin stories; a scientist is injecting a tick with a secret formula when the tick is simultaneously struck by lightning and a radioactive meteorite, while chemicals from the lab get sprayed all over it. The scientist then accidentally casts a spell on the tick when he randomly says an ancient Egyptian incantation, and then the tick bites him. Thus, nigh invulnerability.
The Tick and his sidekick Arthur end up joining the war effort and fighting a Red Skull-type villain alongside Justice League- and Captain America-type heroes. The stories and dialogue are all deliberately simplistic, to capture the flavor of the golden age, but in a way they do their job both too well and not well enough. They copy the simplicity without capturing any of the insane imagination and breathless wonder. The comedy ends up being simplistic, too, and only manages to raise a chuckle every once in a while. The book relies too heavily on irritating gags, like having the characters repeat things pointlessly that have already been explained in narrative boxes or other dialogue. After a while I just got bored and skimmed my way through the rest of the issue, skipping the text story entirely. The book is not very inspired and not very funny. It takes a great premise and drives it into the ground.
New releases
Astonishing X-Men #24
Yep, pretty much just another great issue of this title. John Cassaday works his usual wizardry on the art, with the help of colorist Laura Martin. In Whedon's hands, Cyclops is the ultimate cold, hard, badass leader. Emma remains a dangerous wildcard. There's lots of great, epic action, and a shocking reveal on the true nature of the world-killing missile. Oh, and it looks like one of our favorite X-Men is going to get whacked and one or two planets are going to be destroyed. Whedon knows how to set up a climax! Looking forward to the exciting conclusion, forthcoming in Giant Sized Astonishing X-Men #1, a book which will apparently star most, if not all, of the major Marvel heroes - according to the preview image, at least. Woo hoo!
World War Hulk: Aftersmash! Damage Control #1
Dwayne McDuffie, whose work I'm familiar with and which I enjoyed on Fantastic Four (he's actually leaving that title soon), is writing this three-issue miniseries dealing with the rebuilding of New York City in the wake of the devastation wrought upon it by World War Hulk. This first issue isn't awesome or anything, but it's interesting enough that I'll be back for #2. It shows us a company called Damage Control winning the bid for the rebuilding contract, and then introduces us to the major movers and shakers in the company, as well as the super heroes who are going to be helping them in their efforts. But it wouldn't be a comic book without at least the promise of some fighting on the horizon, and we get that in spades in the surprise reveal on the final page. Looking forward to seeing how that turns out. The art, by Salva Espin, is cartoony, but okay, except for the fact that the characters are almost constantly reacting with ridiculously overdone facial expressions.
Still, like I said, it's amusing enough, and the next issue looks likely to have a nice big superhero war in it, so I'll be picking that up.
I should also mention that in the back of this book is another amusing episode of Chris Giarrusso's Mini Marvels, which this time takes the form of a comic strip parody of those old ads for Charles Atlas' weight-lifting program which would promise to transform you from a 98-pound weakling into a giant, muscle-bound girl-magnet who could easily defeat the irritating beach bully. Except in this case the transformative program is Tony Stark's Iron Man suit. The visuals are perfect, the comedy, golden. Excellent.
The Order #7
Turns out this series has been cancelled, apparently due to poor sales numbers, and will end at issue #10. Which is really too bad because I think it's been quite good, and it's the only Matt Fraction book I'm still collecting. Still, this issue was probably the worst one so far. As with previous issues, it focuses in on one particular character and uses flashbacks and conversation to give us a detailed portrait of that character. This time, however, the person in question is not a member of the team, but their new enemy, Namor the Sub-Mariner. Namor sent a giant tsunami wave to surround San Francisco, froze it just before it crashed into the city, and then walked out of the wave and gave himself over into the custody of The Order. This issue consists almost entirely of Namor talking to the leader of The Order, Henry Hellrung, with the occasional cut to other members of the team trying to help evacuate the city, calm the people, and stop the looting.
Although I rather like Namor, I knew little about him, so I was pleased to get some background info on him in this issue. I also enjoyed the action sequences, and it was good to see The Order gaining some prestige, even if it was in a rather unorthodox manner. But I didn't really like the way Henry outsmarted Namor. It was dumb, it was cliche, and it was a bit hard to believe. If Namor can be beaten that way, then he really is the arrogant, self-deluded fool he's portrayed as here. And that's a bit disappointing. I did like, however, that his main purposes seemed to be to get some face-time with the Invisible Woman, and to embarrass Tony Stark. That's funny. Anyway, I'll be with this series until its premature end, three issues hence. *sniff*
X-Men: First Class #8
I still can't quite decide if I want to drop this book or not. This issue was pretty good, with some funny parts and some cool, clever parts, but it wasn't amazing or anything. Still, I'll probably stick with it for now, I suppose.
The story picks up pretty much right where the last issue left off. Turns out the team's adventure with the alien entity isn't over yet, as on its way off of Earth it seems to have activated some weird activity in a swamp nearby. Professor X and his students go in to check it out, and after a short meeting with Dr. Curt Conners (AKA The Lizard) they head into the swamp and soon find themselves tangling with the Man-Thing (who is obviously the Marvel version of DC's Swamp Thing), as well as the inhabitants of a series of parallel universes and future times.
One of the highlights of the issue is, as usual, the comical intro page right after the title page. In this case, it's designed as if it's a frame from a '50s educational film strip, comparing a good boy to a Man-Thing in an attempt to teach you how not to end up like the Man-Thing. The other great moments in the issue take place near the end, as three of the X-Men fall into parallel worlds and get a glimpse of the horrible, dystopic futures that could be in store for them. (Spoilers ahead.) Beast sees what could happen if his mutation goes too far: it's himself as a deadly, feral animal. Jean Grey sees a dead world presided over by herself as the Dark Phoenix. And Ice Man sees himself as a frost giant, who's taken vengeance on humanity for its crimes against mutants and is fighting Thor at the end of the world. Of course, regular X-Men readers already know that Beast has continued to become more and more like an animal as his mutation has gone on, and that Jean Grey did indeed struggle with the Phoenix entity and nearly destroy the world multiple times. I don't remember a story about Ice Man becoming a vengeful giant, but I like it, and I like the way they work it into the story of Ragnarok.
A new artist - Eric Nguyen - worked on this issue, and his work is quite beautiful; he does a particularly good job on the Man-Thing. However, it's oddly realistic, arty, and painterly for a title that's usually rather light and comical. The previous artist's cartoon-like style seemed to fit the book better. Still, if Nguyen's taking over from here on out, I won't complain too much.
In the back of this comic is the one-page Mini Marvels follow-up to the hilarious Iron Man ad. Here we see Iron Man trying to sell all the X-Men on Iron Man-like suits. But Professor X (dressed in a uniform very much like Captain Picard's, as a clever reference to the fact that Patrick Stewart has played the roles of both Picard and Professor X) sees through his money-making scheme and tells him off. As usual, very funny.
Young Avengers Presents #1
This is the first entry in a six-issue miniseries introducing the team members of the Young Avengers, focusing on one character per issue, and with a different creative team on each issue. This time writer Ed Brubaker and penciler Paco Medina take a close look at Patriot, the grandson of the black Captain America. I for one didn't even know there had ever been a black Captain America, and had never heard of Patriot, so this was all new to me. The only characters I was familiar with in this book were Steve Rogers (who appears in flashbacks only, of course) and Bucky.
Patriot's an angry young black man in a tough inner city school who's having a hard time reconciling his name, his purpose as a superhero, and his patriotism with the way he, his people, and his grandfather are treated by America. But a talk with Bucky gets him back in touch with himself and with his dream of what America could be.
If it sounds corny... well, it is! But it's corny in the same way that Captain America is, so I found myself giving it a lot of leeway. Besides, it is actually pretty well done, and there's a fun action sequence in the middle.
This isn't a great comic, but it's okay. And since the next issue is about Hulkling, and I'm pretty much up for anything Hulk-related at the moment, I'll probably be collecting it for at least a little longer.
Ultimate Iron Man II #2
Eh. This is okay. We learn a bit more about the complex plot to destroy Stark Enterprises and steal the Iron Man "robot." Obadiah continues to be slimy and scummy, and Tony continues to underestimate him. But Iron Man and War Machine do not fight each other, as the cover seems to promise.
This miniseries is already half way over. I hope it gets better soon.
Dan Dare #3
The first issue of this series from Virgin Comics relaunching the old British space hero is very strong, and I really enjoyed it. The second issue is okay, but not great. This issue is fantastic. It's exciting, it's clever, it's funny, there's a neat little flashback to the original series (with some really cool flashback art to accompany it) that sort of summarizes Dare's previous adventures very nicely, and there's tons of that great, uniquely British kind of heroism, wherein tough men face off against incredible odds and almost certain death with a calm efficiency, a dry wit, and a stiff upper lip. Just excellent, excellent stuff. I'm in for the duration now.
Superman/Batman #44
Superman/Batman #45
The comic companies should seriously give the people on scans_daily a commission or feed them material or fund them or something. I buy more comics because of scans I see on there than I'd care to guess. I certainly wouldn't have purchased any issues of the most recent story arc of Superman/Batman if I hadn't happened to see some amusing scans of issue #45 on there the other day. But I did, and I did. #44 and #45 are the first two issues of a story arc about Supes and Bats trying to collect and seal away every piece of Kryptonite on Earth. It's an interesting concept that's well handled. There's a lot of narration from both of the main characters, but writer Green nails the characters so well that it's not even annoying. Plus there's a lot of amusing cameos from a lot of other DC stars, both big and small, and plenty of in-jokes and humor (especially in the scene about the Superman/Batman movie - "On the mooooon!"). Great stuff! I'm sold on the rest of this arc.
Usagi Yojimbo #109
This is the final issue of the story arc which started in the first issue of Usagi Yojimbo I ever bought, and I think that, appropriately enough, this will be the last issue of Usagi Yojimbo that I ever buy. It's not that the comic is bad, it's just that it's never really that great. It's just entertaining enough that I finish reading each issue, but never entertaining enough to make me say "wow." So yeah, time to drop it. This issue, btw, wraps up the plot about the possessed woman with the big bounty on her head, but leaves the demon annoyingly still alive so he can, I assume, be the focus of yet another storyline further down the road. |
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