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| Monday, February 4, 2008 03:54 PM |
| The Take |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor's weekly comic book review post.
I managed to get my hands on Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 #2, but sadly not #1, so I can't read it yet. However, I found ZombieWorld Volume Two: Winter's Dregs and Other Stories at the library, finished a couple of TPBs that I bought from Amazon a while back, and got all the new releases listed in The Setup plus one or two other things, so it's another long post for me this week.
B.P.R.D. Volume 6: The Universal Machine
With this TPB volume, my collection of B.P.R.D. backissues is now complete, and moving forward I will have only new issues to pick up. I really will have to reread the recent story arcs that I already picked up in issues, though, because this volume was another masterpiece in a series of masterpieces, and I find it hard to believe that the story arcs that came after it, which were made by exactly the same creative team, were not nearly as good. Maybe they just didn't resonate with me very much when I first read them because I hadn't read all of the background yet. Now I think they will have a lot more meaning for me, and I will be a lot more impressed with them.
The point is, this volume is amazing, brilliant, beautiful, and terrifying. It picks up where The Black Flame left off, with the B.P.R.D. wrapping up the frog monster menace by bombing the hell out of the crater left behind by their terrible god. The other team members are still trying to deal with the loss of Roger, some by telling their own stories about close brushes with death, and others by trying to find ways to bring him back. Dr. Corrigan and a new character named Andrew Devon travel to a small town in France when they hear of the possbility of acquiring a copy of an ancient rare book that might hold the secret to regrowing Roger's tissue. There Kate finds herself trapped and bargaining not just for the book, but for her own life, and the lives of her fellow team members.
I sat down and read this book pretty much all in one go because it's such an interesting story, so well told, so intense, and so engrossing that I just couldn't put it down. Interestingly enough, one issue of this miniseries I'd actually read before, because I bought it by mistake when I was looking for a backissue of one of the more recent B.P.R.D. miniseries, but reading it again, fit into its correct place in the middle of this story, made it far more powerful and meaningful to me.
The short stories that the various team members tell about their pasts, which are not directly related to the main story, don't feel like pointless padding at all; they are just as intense and engrossing as the main plot, they help develop the characters further, and they fit right in with the theme of the central plot, augmenting and enhancing it. Meanwhile, the main story is clever, surprising, and imaginative, full of fantastic creatures, incredible visuals, and exciting plot twists. And the conclusion is extremely well written and moving. This may very well be my favorite B.P.R.D. miniseries yet. Really, really amazing. Anyone who's a fan of Hellboy, or horror/sci-fi/adventure comics, or even good stories and good art in general, owes it to him/herself to read these B.P.R.D. books. You won't be disappointed.
The Goon Volume 2: My Murderous Childhood (And Other Grievous Yarns)
From one masterpiece to another! Holy crap, I love The Goon. This volume is just a collection of mostly unconnected short stories, but it's still fantastic and hilarious throughout. It starts off by revealing how the Zombie Priest has been getting all the dead bodies he needs to make his zombies, and how it's connected to the Goon's own origin. This story includes a running gag about orangutans randomly showing up and bursting into flames; a sidetrip into the Hobo Jungle, which is full of ravenous cannibalistic hobos; and, of course, the Goon and Franky beating the stuffing out of a whole lot of people. It's pure gold. Next up is an amusing short story about a moron, and then the story of the misguided mad scientist Dr. Alloy, which features some awesome old school robot fighting, some more interesting references to what happened to the Goon in Chinatown (I'm definitely going to have to get that Chinatown book one of these days), and an amusing fight with a slimy lizard monster. Then there's a lost tale of the Goon's childhood, explaining how he successfully set himself up as Labrazio's enforcer, and how he met Franky and made him the man he is today. This tale is framed by an odd but amusing short story about a young runaway, wherein all the panels consist of photographs of an actual young boy, who I believe is played by the author's own son. Last up are three hilarious Goon short stories wherein our hero faces off against the Sea Hag, the Skunk Ape, and the Mud Brothers. In between everything there are a couple of funny fake ads, and at the very end is a Goon sketchbook showing us how Eric Powell developed the character designs for some of the creatures in this volume. It's all great stuff. Oh, and I should perhaps mention that the Skunk Ape story is actually drawn by someone else - Kyle Hotz. He does a reasonably good job, but nobody can draw the Goon like Mr. Powell.
Action Comics #861
Geoff Johns' wonderful Legion of Super-Heroes story continues in this issue, wherein we learn Brainiac 5's true plan, discover some creepy and disturbing secrets about the evil Justice League, and watch as everything goes awry and the universe spirals towards war. As has been standard for this arc so far, Gary Frank, Jon Sibal, and Dave McCaig deliver amazing art, and Geoff Johns delivers a fantastic, exciting, creative story. I'm loving it.
Badger Saves the World #2
After enjoying the hell out of the hilarious and insane first entry of this series, I was really looking forward to #2, but sadly things take a disturbing turn in this issue. There's some really questionable humor in here about terrorism and Islam that isn't particularly funny and mostly just made me really uncomfortable. Maybe I'm being too sensitive, but I'm seeing ugly stereotypes and even things that border on racism. Of course, there's also some amusing Badger craziness, and other sections that are legitimately - and not uncomfortably - funny. But they didn't make up for the rest of the book. I'm not even sure anymore how interested I am in buying another issue of this series. I'll have to think about it. It didn't help that in the back of the book there's a dumb black-and-white short story about the Badger fighting a skunk, and then a three-page sneak peek of a completely unrelated horror comic that definitely didn't inspire me to pick up the full book.
I'm not sure my opinion of a series has ever dropped so much from one issue to the next before. Ah, well.
Batman #673
As promised, this issue is a surreal jaunt through Batman's fevered mind as he lies near death after having a heart attack. It's a fascinating tour through Batman's past - both recent and distant - taking a hard look at his origin, his quest, and his strange and twisted relationship with death, darkness, and madness. It's really an amazing piece of work. Panel follows panel, and we slowly have to piece together what it is we're seeing, what the various stories are that are being told, how they relate to each other, and how real each of them is. The main tales being woven together here include the story of Joe Chill, the man who made the Batman, and how he met his end; the story of the Thogal meditation ritual that Batman went through recently, which involved complete isolation; an old story out of Batman's distant past wherein he spent a number of days in an isolation chamber to get a glimpse into the nature of insanity; and the actual frame story of Batman being revived from his heart attack only to find himself in an even worse predicament. It's all amazing stuff, carefully interwoven and accompanied by various other fascinating and meaningful hallucinations. Morrison has done it again!
Black Summer #5
Here's another entry in a series I really love that, like Badger, takes things in a direction I'm not entirely pleased with. It's true that Black Summer has been a rather preachy and political book from the very beginning - after all, it starts with a superhero killing the President of the United States (and it's no made up President, but our actual current President, George W. Bush) for his crimes against humanity - but when Ellis stops the action for two full pages in this issue so a couple of army guys can argue about the legality and strategies of the two recent Iraq Wars, and whether Bush really deserved to die, it feels like it's going a bit too far, and getting a bit too preachy. It's like Ellis is brushing aside the story so he can just tell us what he thinks, and that kind of thing rarely makes for good writing.
That being said, the conversation in question is at least realistic and believable, and it is actually an argument and not just a speech. Plus, it's framed by plenty of exciting action and violence, and some interesting character and story moments. Also, it's becoming more and more obvious that Tom Noir either killed himself or faked his death, as I suspected, which is intriguing.
So it's not like I'm going to drop the book. I'm just a little disappointed that Ellis practically broke the fourth wall so he could lay his argument against the Iraq War down on the table - even if I do agree with him.
Captain America #34
This is the historic issue wherein a new character (yes, it's the one everybody expected) takes over the mantle of Captain America, puts on a new uniform inspired by Cap's (and designed by legendary comic creator Alex Ross), and goes out on his first official (sort of) mission to fight the Red Skull and his lackeys. Which is cool and all. But meanwhile, most of the story is actually about the Red Skull and his lackeys attacking... the American economy. Via high oil prices and mortgage foreclosures. Um, wow. That's... lame. I guess I see what Brubaker's trying to do, connecting his story into current events and all. But it's hard to take a supervillain seriously who's attacking us through our mortgages and the price of our goods. I mean, that's not what comics are about. Comics are about supervillains threatening us with giant lasers, not giant debts. If I wanted to read about economics I'd... well, frankly, I just don't want to read about economics. I hate economics. That's why I read comics instead of the Wall Street Journal.
To be fair to Brubaker, it's an interesting and rather unique idea, and he handles it reasonably well. But it still comes off as kind of silly. What works best in this issue are the action scenes, and the really powerful sequence at the very end wherein the Skull's hypnotic suggestion plot comes to its horrifying conclusion. So I'll be back for the next issue. I just hope there's a lot less about mortgages in that one.
Fantastic Four #553
Lots of talk, mostly about the science of time travel, a bit of a fight between the present and future versions of the FF, and an interesting compromise finally bring to a close this most recent story arc of Fantastic Four - not to mention McDuffie and Pelletier's run on the book. The new creative team of Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch will be taking over on the next issue. This issue is a fitting end to this incarnation of the comic, as it re-examines what Reed and the Fantastic Four are all about in the light of recent tragedies and conflicts, and comes to the conclusion that they have ahead of them a difficult future, but also a bright one, and that they will move toward it together, as a team. That may sound a little corny, but they handle it pretty well, and there's plenty of super-fighting, a little humor, a neat moment focusing on the relationship between Reed and Dr. Doom, and a lot of crazy time travel science, so it's a cool issue and I enjoyed it.
Green Lantern #27
I'm still really enjoying this comic. This kind of surprises me for some reason, but I'm not sure why, as it's written by the same guy who's doing such great work on Action Comics: Geoff Johns. On this title, he's crafting an intriguing, long-term story that's been building and developing all through the Sinestro Corps War storyline. There's an interesting moment in the beginning of this issue in which one of Batman's enemies - the Scarecrow - nearly gets a Sinestro ring, but luckily Hal and John show up in time to stop it. Next the Lanterns argue for a while about what to do with Laira after her questionable act of violence against a Sinestro Corps member who had given himself up. Then the Guardians show up and the secret of the Alpha Lanterns is revealed. Turns out, they're super creepy. It's looking more and more like the Guardians and the Lanterns are headed down the wrong path. There's this sense of doom pervading this series that's very powerful. Can't wait to see where it goes.
Jack of Fables #19
Poor Paul Bunyan goes down again, and then our heroes are on the run from Natty Bumpo, Slue Foot Sue, and their gang of hilarious zombie cops. We get a bit more of a hint into the true nature of Gary, the Pathetic Fallacy, and then we get a tour of the land of American Fables, with our heroes skipping from one adventure to another, rum running in the roaring '20s, being bored to death in Canada, enjoying love and music in the Big City, nearly being killed by witch hunters and Indians, and then finally making it to the lost city of gold - maybe. It's plenty of fun and funny stuff, although it seems to me they could have stretched it out a bit more, and spent more time in each of the different areas. The bootlegging section feels particularly rushed; the idea is rich enough that it could have been mined for a few issues, rather than just a few pages. But I'm still enjoying the book, and Babe the Blue Ox gets another great imaginary monologue, so it's all good.
Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #32
This is essentially a goofy, all-ages version of the advantures of the Fantastic Four. I thought I'd try it out after seeing some fun scans. This particular issue is all about the Thing, and barely features the other members of the team at all. The Thing wires up a piece of equipment incorrectly at exactly the wrong moment, thus causing himself to be sucked back in time to the Old West. A series of other unlikely coincidences lead to him, a steam-powered metal sherriff, and a giant four-armed monster getting captured all at about the same time by a Wild West circus. I suspect a number of these characters are actually from other Marvel books, but I'd never heard of or seen any of them before, so any references were lost on me. It's a fun enough little adventure, with some amusing humor, but nothing particularly exciting or interesting happens. I doubt I'll pick up another issue of this.
Narcopolis #1
I read a bit about this, and it looked and sounded interesting, so I decided to put it on my list. I felt pretty good about my decision when I saw Warren Ellis pimping the book on his blog. It's written by Jamie Delano, a British comic author with whom I'm not particularly familiar, but who apparently made Hellblazer and John Constantine what they are today after being handed the character by Alan Moore (thanks, Wikipedia - I hadn't even realized that Moore was the one who created that character!). Here, with the help of artist Jeremy Rock and colorist Greg Waller, he introduces us to a strange future city that's one of those places that's a dystopia masquerading as a utopia. It's a highly controlled, walled-in city where everyone is under surveillance at all times, and people work to get money so they can spend the money on various types of mindless pleasures - drugs, porn, gambling, tattoos. If anyone steps out of line, they're immediately investigated for their contrary behavior. It also looks like the city occasionally blows up other groups of people on the outside for no particular reason, and that there's some kind of horrific plague that occasionally strikes people in the city and leads to bloody frenzy and death. It's an intriguing puzzle of a story, and I'm looking forward to figuring out where it's headed. What makes it even more of a puzzle and even more intriguing is the way it's written. Everyone speaks in an odd kind of slang that you have to interpret to the best of your abilities from context. It's almost like NewSpeak from 1984. It's clever and fascinating. Oh, and the book is also quite sexy, with lots of nudity, and that's always fun. Definitely going to keep collecting this one. It's only four issues long, anyway.
Project Superpowers #0
The introductory issue of a new series from Dynamite, co-plotted and with cover art and art direction by Alex Ross. Jim Krueger is the guy who did the rest of the plotting, and actually wrote the script, while Doug Klauba and Stephen Sadowski did the interior art. But Ross' influence is felt throughout. In fact, the basic story is vaguely similar to Ross' Kingdom Come: an elderly man is visited by a mysterious spirit, who reminds him of grand heroes long past, tells him that the world is plagued by evil, and enlists him in helping to save it. Of course, there are many differences, as well; for one thing, in this story, the elderly man was once a superhero himself: the Fighting Yank. The book is in fact an attempt to relaunch a whole host of old superheroes who have now fallen into the public domain. To explain their disappearance so many years ago and their reemergence now, the book tells us an interesting story. During WWII, all the heroes are fighting on the side of America, but the Fighting Yank is given a secret mission for him and him alone: infiltrate behind enemy lines and secure one of the occult artifacts that Hitler has collected, an urn that is supposedly Pandora's Box. The "box," when opened by Pandora many thousands of years ago, unleashed all kinds of evils upon the world, as well as one good thing: hope. Over the years, all of those things were slowly returning to the urn, until Hitler found it and opened it again, releasing all the evils once again on the world, but also again releasing hope, which this time took the physical form of superheroes like the Fighting Yank. The Fighting Yank is convinced by the spirit of his ancestor (whom he regularly talks with) that before the evils of the world can be forced back into the urn, hope will have to go back in, as well. Which means all of the superheroes will need to be imprisoned within it.
His friends don't agree to make this sacrifice willingly, so he feels it necessary to force them. Many years later, those actions still haunt him, and when a strange spirit visits him and convinces him that he was tricked, and that what he's done must be undone, he sets out immediately to bring his allies back.
It's an interesting concept, but a lot of the characters are kind of lame (Fighting Yank? Green Lama? There's a reason these guys have been forgotten for sixty years), and the dialogue is pretty corny. I'm curious enough about the story that I just might pick up issue #1 of the miniseries. But then again, maybe not.
Star Wars: Dark Times #8
This series continues to be thrilling, imaginative, and moving. In this issue, one of our smuggler heroes dies, and the others are captured and tortured for information about the mysterious cargo. Meanwhile, the folks who got away with the box get more than they bargained for and end up crash landing - right on the planet where the younglings happen to be, thus connecting our two storylines. It's really a good story, and I plan to continue following it.
ZombieWorld Volume 2: Winter's Dregs and Other Stories
As I mentioned above, I didn't end up buying this, as I found it at the library instead, and I'm rather glad, as I don't think I really want to own it. It's not that it's a bad book, it's just that it's really gruesome and disturbing. It is the second and final volume in the ZombieWorld series, which died in the late '90s, along with a lot of other series, during the big comic book slump. At least, according to the introduction.
The first volume (which I reviewed a while back) is one long story by Mike Mignola with very clean, cute, old school comic strip art, about the rebirth of an evil ancient wizard and his transformation of the world into a place of horror full of zombies. This sequel to that book consists of four separate stories, each by different creative teams, none of which include Mignola or the original artist. And, in fact, only the one story - the last one - has anything to do with the plot and characters that Mignola introduced in his volume of ZombieWorld. The other three stories are each unrelated tales involving zombies which might just as well not be connected to the ZombieWorld mythos at all. The first is the longest and is called Winter's Dregs. It follows a series of characters scattered around New York over a period of about 24 hours as the zombie plague hits the city. There's an old Jewish business man, a young black guy who just broke up with his girlfriend, a young Hispanic woman with whom he shares a mutual infatuation, a tough old homeless man, and the Mayor. It all starts with the Mayor trying to eliminate a sudden and serious rat infestation. The poison gas kills the rats, but also a bunch of homeless people living underground, who then all become zombies. The plague spreads swiftly across the city, lots of people die in gruesome and often ironic ways, and there's plenty of social commentary and satire. It's a very well told story, very exciting, that definitely engages you and keeps you reading, and it's also quite clever sometimes, and funny in its own way. But most of the humor is just kind of not so good. It elicited not so much chuckles as, "Ew. Oh. Heh. I guess..." In general it's much more dark and depressing than it is funny, because it has such a dark and depressing view of humanity. And the ending is a bit of a let down. But what else is new, when it comes to zombie stories?
Next up is a disgusting horror comedy tale called "Eat Your Heart Out" about a guy whose love for the girl of his dreams goes on, even after she turns into a zombie. It's vaguely clever and funny, but mostly just twisted and gross. I'm not a big fan.
The third story is "Home for the Holidays," which is about what you'd expect: a family gathering together on Christmas. As with most stories about Christmas family gatherings, all the skeletons end up getting pulled out of the closets and the secret selves of all the family members get revealed. But in this case the skeletons are more literal. In fact, all the generations of the family rise up out of their graves and attack the house. It's a clever concept and a strong metaphor, and it's handled pretty well. The story and action are exciting, too. Again, pretty dark, depressing, and disturbing. But pretty good, too.
The last story is "Tree of Death," and it's here where a good number of the main characters from the first volume of ZombieWorld reappear, a few new ones are introduced, and the overarching story reaches its violent conclusion. It opens up with a goth chick summoning the Hyperborean Necromancer who started all this (although why he needed to be summoned again, I'm not entirely clear on). He immediately sends out henchmen to acquire the woman he's chosen as his bride. But she's now under the protection of the reincarnation of the guy who stopped all this the first time around: a bloodthirsty bad-ass known as the Killcrop. He goes around slicing the zombies up with various electric saws. He's pretty much Bruce Campbell from the Evil Dead movies, except occasionally he talks like Thor. Anyway, goth chick and Azzul Gotha are summoning evil ancient Gods from beyond and preparing for the final apocalypse, so the Killcrop and the team of supernatural investigators from the first book have to figure out how to stop them, while also keeping the girl from becoming the bride of Azzul Gotha. It's a pretty neat story, with some interesting monsters and unique visuals (the art is extremely detailed and painterly). But whereas its creative in some ways, it's pretty cliche in others. It's okay, but not great. Which pretty much defines the book as a whole for me. |
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