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| Friday, August 24, 2007 03:32 PM |
| The Take |
 by Fëanor |
Pretty strong week this week! I'm very pleased by what I picked up. But I'm a bit worried because poking around The ISB and scans_daily, I'm seeing a lot of other good stuff that I'm not collecting. Which means these lists could get even longer soon. Damn it!
Amazing Screw-On Head
Very close readers of The Setup (if they exist, which I doubt) may have noticed that this disappeared from my wish list one or two columns back. That's because I got my request card back from Fat Jack's in the mail last week, and it had this book checked off! I wanted to run off and pick it up immediately, but a free opportunity didn't come up when the store was actually open (closed on Mondays? What?! Who does that?!?!) until new comic book day, and so here it appears with my other new comics.
Anyways, I only knew of the existence of this book (which is a rather odd, surreal one-shot from Mike Mignola) due to the fact that it was going to be turned into an animated TV show, and I watched the pilot for that show a couple of times online, and then rented it so poppy and I could watch it together. The pilot episode, which I thought at first was just okay, got funnier and cleverer every time I watched it until I fell deeply in love with it. (Although tragically it looks like now they aren't going to make the TV series after all.) So of course I wanted to find and own the comic upon which it was based, especially since it's by my comic book hero-of-the-moment, Mignola.
As it turns out, the animated adaptation of the book may actually be better than the original, as it has a longer story with even more funny dialogue (delivered by top voice talents) and amusing incidents. They also did a fantastic job of capturing Mignola's drawing style in the cartoon. But this original book, with a shorter and slightly different story, is also excellent and hilarious. It's about a secret agent for President Lincoln named Screw-On Head who is a sentient metal head with a screw on the end which can be fitted into any one of many interchangeable metal bodies. His arch-enemy is the evil Emperor Zombie, who in this story is attempting to find a jewel with which he hopes to be able to conquer the world. The art is, of course, Mignola's usual beautiful, fantastic work. And if that doesn't make you want to read this thing, I'm not sure what's wrong with you.
Immortal Iron Fist #8
This issue was entitled "The Seven Cities of Heaven: Round 1," which right off had me excited, before I even opened the book. And inside it gets better. This time the guest artist doing the flashbacks (Roy Allan Martinez) is actually very good - he does lovely work with a great eye for detail. And the regular artist, Aja, is of course excellent as always. The story, meanwhile, continues to reveal more fascinating details about the Iron Fist and his secret abilities; about the way in which the cities of heaven work; and about the way the tournament is going to play out. It's all great stuff, interesting and clever. Then there's the great scene in which the other entrants in the tournament are introduced. Admittedly, the fighting doesn't start in this issue (well, except for a quick exhibition wherein a big fat guy beats up a bunch of Shaolin Terror Priests), but it's so interesting and fun that I barely noticed, and next time there's bound to be some serious battling. Good stuff!
Batman #668
Wow, this is just fantastic. It's a great mystery, great characters, funny dialogue, interesting and gruesome death traps, and fascinatingly unorthodox art and panel design (by J.H. Williams III). I also love the classic pulp style on the opening flashback sequence; I've seen such a device used before, but I'm not tired of it yet.
Astonishing X-Men #22
This isn't fantastic, but it is quite good, with a laugh-out-loud funny one-liner from Emma, as well as plenty of other amusing dialogue; an interesting story; and a death scene at the end that for some reason is quite effective, despite the fact that Joss Whedon - and X-Men titles in general - are infamous for not letting their characters stay dead. I like it! And I'm looking forward to seeing how they bring that character back to life.
The Order #2
To repeat what I said about Batman - wow, this book is just fantastic. Last issue, we met the team as a whole, got an idea how it was going to work, and got some particular insight into our team leader and his background. This issue takes a close look at a different team member - Becky Ryan - as well as getting in an exciting battle with mistakenly reactivated Cold War Soviet superweapons (a battle which helped reveal the character of the team as a whole, as well as some of their strengths and weaknesses). It's a fantastic mix of character development, thought-provoking story and issues, and ridiculously awesome action. And I like the format of the series so far, with each issue focusing in on a particular team member - looking at that person's past, what makes them tick - via excerpts from the introductory interview they were given when they were being considered for inclusion in the team. Marvel gave Fraction a big, important book to do here and the result is not disappointing. Great work.
World War Hulk: Gamma Corps #2
I rather enjoyed the first issue of this series, but this one is just clumsily and poorly written (by a guy named Frank Tieri who I have to remember to try to avoid in the future). It gives us a bit of backstory on each of the members of the Gamma Corps, and on the team as a whole. The problem is, almost every one of those backstories is terribly cliche; the story as a whole is poorly paced; and the dialogue is ridiculous and unbelievable. One of the only good parts is at the end of Eliot Franklin's backstory, when the comic makes fun of itself by having Franklin guess where the predictable story is headed, thus ending his flashback quicker than expected. Oh, and the inevitable final reveal, wherein the General is shooting a missile at Hulk's spaceship, isn't really all that exciting. I mean, does he think a missile is going to do anything? I certainly don't.
World War Hulk: Gamma Files
This is a one-shot entry in WWH that I didn't think was coming out this week, but there it was on the shelf - bonus! However, upon finally opening it for the first time today, I was shocked and horrified to discover that it is not actually a comic book - at least not as I understand comic books. Instead, it's sort of an encyclopedia - with vital stats and backstories - of what is apparently every character who ever had anything to do with the Hulk over the years. It's certainly an interesting resource, but not exactly something that you can sit down and read cover to cover. So... no, I haven't read it yet. I'll probably keep poking through it over the days to come, though, and eventually maybe get through all of it. Regardless, I'm glad I bought it; my WWH collection wouldn't be complete without it!
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic #19
This one, if you'll remember, I went looking for last week, but could find it not. And yet this week, there it was! So I swiped it. And I read it. And it was a pretty fun read, if not all that exciting or mind-blowing. I mean, any comic based around the idea of weaponizing giant space worms is going to keep my attention, but the characters and dialogue are pretty pat, and the Jedi that appear in the book never do anything but uselessly ignite their lightsabers once or twice. Plus, one of them is tricked into drinking poison, which seems unlikely, due to a Jedi's ability to sense danger. Besides the fact that I remember something in the Timothy Zahn novels about them being able to feel poisons entering their bloodstreams and then overcome their effects somehow. But I could be making that up. Regardless, this is a reasonably fun comic, and I'm debating whether or not I want to collect it. Maybe I'll grab the next one and let that one decide me. |
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