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| Tuesday, February 26, 2008 11:43 AM |
| The Take |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor's weekly comic book review post.
Hulk #2
Well, I gave it two issues, and now I'm done. I have to admit, this one is better than #1, but still not very good. We still don't know who the new red Hulk is, but on the last page we get the reveal as to what the deal is with Rick Jones, and it's pretty frigging ridiculous. There isn't a lot of truly terrible dialogue in this issue, but there is some pretty questionable stuff (the reference to the Hindenberg disaster is particularly uncalled for, I think). I liked the whole Iron Men protocol thing, with all the Iron Man suits flying around at once. And the two-page splash in the center of the book where red Hulk smashes Iron Man on the head with a jet freaking rocks. But those isolated cool things weren't enough to make up for the fact that this is a really silly, mediocre comic, so I'm dropping it.
The Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death #1
I didn't mean to buy this one - I decided a while ago that I was done with Iron Fist - but when I got to the store, I picked it up and put it in my stack almost against my own volition. I made a pretense of trying to decide whether I'd get it or not, flipping through the first few pages to see if it looked good. Needless to say, it looked good enough.
It's a one-shot explaining the past history between former Iron Fist Orson Randall and John Aman, the Prince of Orphans. It's a series of short stories, in fact, chronicling each time they met, as Aman chased Randall across vast reaches of space and time. Aman was sent to bring Randall back for betraying the laws of the cities of heaven, but eventually Randall convinces Aman to look deeper into the purpose of his mission, and Aman is horrified to learn that his masters are not the pure and honorable men he thought they were.
And while that's all going on, Randall, his protege Wendell Rand, and the rest of the Confederates of the Curious have a series of goofy adventures involving cowgirls from hell and Dr. Frankenstein and his monster. Some of it's pretty fun, and the art for the first section, which is done by Nick Dragotta, Mike Allred, and Laura Allred is really quite fantastic - bright, colorful, classic, and in all other ways the perfect art for a Golden Age flashback. Unfortunately, the art for the second story - the one featuring the cow girls - is quite messy and ugly. It's by Russ Heath, whose work I've come across and disliked before on an Iron Fist flashback story. Apparently he's a classic comic book artist from the old days, but I just can't get used to his style.
But the main problem with this comic isn't the art. It's the mediocre story. Most of what goes on in here I just don't care that much about. I think I understand now why John Aman is so crushed when he learns that his masters are paying to keep secret doorways open between Earth and the celestial cities. But I really don't care. I mean, let them have secret doorways. So what? I just don't see how it's worth having a giant, bloody revolution over.
There are some cool characters in here, some neat scenes, and some interesting art, but the actual story just leaves me cold.
Incredible Hercules #114
This book, though. I love this book. It opens up with an amusing, clever, single-page description of the premise, written in Herc-speak, with ancient Greek-style font and decoration. Then the actual story begins with Herc, high on the blood of the Hydra, still rampaging and having hallucinatory flashbacks to his ancient past, as well as, in a few cases, to his more recent past. Meanwhile, Cho is sneaking into the Hulk's stone ship, and Wonder Man and Ares are trying to regroup and get back to the site of the main battle. Ares' compatriots finally recognize him to be the complete ass he always was, and a fateful event pushes Cho, perhaps irrevocably, onto the path to the dark side. As always, the dialogue is funny and smart, the characters are spot on, and the emotional arcs they travel through are believable and moving. I'm not sure I like the idea of Cho going evil, because he's one of my favorite charcters in comics, but at the same time the way it happens makes sense to me, and the thought of it is pretty thrilling in its own way.
The writing this time is by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente, and they seem to be a great team. The art team is Khoi Pham on pencils, Paul Neary on inks, and Stephane Peru on colors, and they all do a fantastic job, as well. It's just a first class comic, and I'm enjoying every panel.
Btw, there's an amusing sort of contest announced on the back page, wherein we are asked to send in possible names for Amadeus Cho's coyote puppy. It gives you an email address to contact and points you to Cho's blog, which you can find here. I may have to come up with a name idea and send it in...
The Order #8
The character who has the focus this issue is Mulholland Black, and we learn some very interesting things about her past and her abilities. Also, the whole M.A.N. from S.H.A.D.O.W. plot comes into focus and the person really behind it all is finally revealed - agh! It's him! Also, some crazy stuff happens with Supernaut and Aralune. It's an exciting, funny, clever issue, and it just made me more sad that this series is going away in only two more issues. Ah, well.
Runaways #29
While reading this issue of Runaways, I had a revelation about Joss Whedon's raison d'être as a writer: it's to constantly find new ways to horribly torture his characters. The scene that brought this into focus for me is one in which Nico is being literally tortured, and the torturer says to her, "Let's see if there's another way to hurt you," just as Whedon cuts to a scene of Nico's boyfriend making out with another girl. Jesus, Whedon! That's just cold.
But hey, I guess I'm just as twisted, because I loved the issue. I was impressed by the scene in which the morals and ethics of the time slam up against modern morals and ethics, splitting apart a friendship that was just beginning. Meanwhile, a whole bunch of crazy fascinating new characters show up, Whedon tortures them horribly, there's some hilarious dialogue, some bad-ass dialogue, and then there's a totally awesome gigantic fight that even a huge two-page splash can barely contain. It's freaking brilliant. Woo hoo!
Star Wars: Dark Times #9
Another thrilling issue of this series, as author Mick Harrison continues to parallel the stories of the captured smugglers and the crashed younglings. The art, by Dave Ross and Lui Antonio, with colors by Alex Wald, doesn't always please me, but it's not bad. And next issue it's all-out war in both stories! Good stuff.
Superman/Batman #46
The story arc (written by Michael Green and Mike Johnson) about Batman and Superman trying to collect and lock away all of the Kryptonite on Earth continues. Supes is getting more and more ruthless and single-minded as the quest goes on (that scene where he punches that dude's heart out of his chest is pretty hot), but things get worse and then better when Supes and Bats go after a mysterious new form of Kryptonite - a silver, enchanted Kryptonite that (spoiler alert) makes Superman high. I'm totally not kidding. This leads to a lot of seriously hilarious scenes, and some amusingly deformed but cute representations of the Justice League (pencils by Shane Davis, inks by Matt Banning, and colors by Alex Sinclair). Anyway, Batman has to track down an equal but opposite piece of Kryptonite to bring Superman down again, and in the process he comes up not only against his hatred of and disbelief in magic, but also his own hidden dreams and desires. Unfortunately, one of my least favorite DC characters, Zatanna, has a pretty large guest appearance, but she doesn't end up being too annoying, and in fact there's a really funny scene between her and Batman at the very end. It's good comics! It looks like the next Superman/Batman comic will be an annual that has nothing to do with Kryptonite, but hopefully they will return to this great storyline immediately afterwards.
Ultimate Human #2
Have I mentioned lately how much I freaking love Warren Ellis? In this issue of his fantastic miniseries set in Marvel's Ultimate universe, we get to see an action-packed, hilarious, thrilling fight between Iron Man and Hulk, which is then followed up by some interesting character development of both characters, as well as a look into what Banner really had in mind when he was making his Super-Soldier serum in the first place. Oh, and Tony also solves the Hulk problem - maybe. So that seems like the end of the story, until the Leader - spouting brilliant nuggets of pure insanity - finally makes his move, and things are set up to go in an entirely new and exciting direction next issue. Which, it should go without saying, I will be picking up with great alacrity as soon as it comes out.
Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite #6
The first Umbrella Academy miniseries comes to an end with this issue, and I think author Gerard Way brings things to a reasonably satisfying conclusion. Like all great comic book series, it ends with somebody trying to destroy the world, and with the heroes stopping it. Except that one of the heroes is also the one trying to destroy the world. And she's doing it with an orchestra. Luckily, the other heroes have a plan to stop her, which involves a magic monocle, Igor Stravinsky, the Manchester Children's Orchestra, a few members of the Ube tribe, a special performance of Rite of Spring, and a gun to the head. Some telekinesis helps, too. Then it's time for this weird family to heal and rebuild.
I can't say I loved this issue, or this entire series, without any reservations. But it's definitely a great book loaded with great ideas and great moments. The panel with the robot saying "OKAY..." is particularly fantastic.
At the end of the letters section there's an editor's note that reveals a collection of this series is on the way that will include the Free Comic Book Day story that I missed, as well as some extra bits, so I might have to pick that up. Plus, he promises a second series before the end of the year, so I will definitely have to keep an eye peeled for that, as well.
World War Hulk Aftersmash: Warbound #3
Pak's other book this week gets a little corny at times, but mostly it's quite good - exciting, action-packed, smart, funny. The relationship between Hiroim and Waynesboro comes out of nowhere, but it kind of works anyway. Pak's setting it up to look like Hiroim, Korg, or both are going to die next issue, but I hope that doesn't happen because I really like both of those characters. The usual "Tales of the Warbound" back-up story in this issue tells us a neat, moving little tale from Korg's past life. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the smart, funny page near the beginning which gives us the synopsis of the story so far. This goofy one-page "last time on..." feature seems to be becoming a regular thing in Marvel comics these days. This one is set up like a tourist ad for Gammaworld, "Where Humans Die of Radiation Poisoning." It's quite hilarious; I'm just disappointed that the website we're directed to visit for more about vacation packages (www.greendomedeathwish.org) doesn't actually exist. C'mon, Marvel, you could have snagged the domain and thrown up a splash page or something! |
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