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| Wednesday, March 5, 2008 01:03 PM |
| The Take |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor's weekly comic book review post.
The only thing I'd planned to get this week that I couldn't find was Ultimate Fantastic Four #51, and it turned out that was just because it hadn't shipped as expected. So all is well!
New releases
All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #9
The latest issue of The Goddamn Batman is just as completely screwed up as all the previous issues, with just as skewed a vision of the DC Universe. In Frank Miller's world, Batman is a brutal psychopath; Hal Jordan is the biggest, dumbest, most naive idiot that ever lived; and Robin is a natural born killer. In fact, Robin is able to steal Hal Jordan's ring and nearly murder him, using nothing but his bare hands - and some yellow paint and a pitcher of lemonade.
Miller is parodying, sullying, and/or tearing down so many beloved elements of the DC universe that it's astounding (in this issue he points out how obvious Robin's secret identity is, and how stupid the Silver Age Green Lantern's weakness is). It's a ridiculous, horrific comic. But also completely hilarious and, at the end, even genuinely moving. So I remain extremely conflicted about this book, but committed to seeing what Miller will do with it next.
Criminal 2 #1
Criminal's new, bigger, longer format premieres with this issue, and it's a complete triumph. Writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips have been honing their ability to tell realistic, emotionally affecting noir crime stories with this title, and it really feels like they've perfected their craft in this issue. It's a one-shot that tells the tale of Jake Brown, heavyweight boxer and son of crime lord Clevon Brown. It focuses on his friendship with Sebastian Hyde, the son of his father's partner, and both Jake's and Sebastian's relationships with a woman named Danica Briggs. It has all the elements of a great noir story: fantastic narration (provided by Jake), a femme fatale (in the form of Danica), plenty of crime and criminals, an examination of the darkness within everyone, and a heavy feeling of doom throughout. Which is not to say there aren't plenty of surprises, but when it's all over you realize that it couldn't have ended any other way. No one in the story can escape who they are, or who their parents are. And it is because of who they are that each of them is destroyed. The result is an absolutely brilliant work of art - the greatest film noir I've ever read. Brubaker says in the back that it was written carefully, and no word or image was wasted, and that you might want to read it twice. I took his advice, and I have to agree with his assessment; the second reading definitely helped bring the whole thing together for me.
After the main story, there's the usual essay on crime/noir-themed art in another medium; in this case it's a short piece about old Philly crime fiction author David Goodis written by contemporary Philly crime fiction author Duane Swierczynski. Swierczynski specifically focuses on Goodis' film adaptation of his own novel, The Burglar. It's a nice essay, but I'm afraid I saw the film at the Philadelphia Film Festival last year and was a lot less impressed with it than Swierczynski clearly is.
Gravel #1
Warren Ellis starts off his latest mini-series about combat magician Bill Gravel with a bang - the bang of a hole being ripped between dimensions as a hideous God from the Outer Rim is sent back where it belongs. Gravel is trying to track down all the pieces of the horrific Sigsand Manuscript, while also discovering why he's been pushed out of the Minor Seven, and why everyone thought he was dead. He manages to get one piece of the manuscript in this issue, but he doesn't learn much about the overlying mystery. In fact, if anything, this issue just raises further questions, like who's calling him on the phone at the end?
I should mention that Mike Wolfer is helping Ellis with scripting duties on this comic, and Raulo Caceres is doing the artwork, with Greg Waller on colors. I'm not a huge fan of Caceres' work - there's something odd and sometimes even ugly about it - but it's not too bad, and it does the job. Besides, this is Warren Ellis writing a Lovecraftian magical horror action comic; the art would have to be pretty freaking bad for me not to completely love it. Which I do. Can't wait for next issue.
Jack of Fables #20
This issue finishes up the latest story arc for this title, which has seen Jack, some of his Fable buddies, and an old enemy joining forces to track down an ancient treasure in the land of Americana. It's been a fun ride, and there's plenty more fun to be had here, with lots of sex, violence, mystery, comedy, and Babe the Blue Ox! Things go pretty well for Jack in this issue (he even pulls off a trifecta of a hilarious sort), but at the very end, it looks like it's shaping up for a big war, and Jack's usual "next issue" narration suggests that we can expect a special one-shot that won't even feature him at all, so I'm intrigued.
Kick-Ass #1
I'm not sure how to feel about this one yet. It's a new series, under Marvel's Icon imprint, from writer Mark Millar and artist John Romita Jr. It's set in the present-day real world, or at least a close approximation thereof, wherein the X-Men are just characters in a comic by Joss Whedon. It focuses on a young man named Dave Lizewski, who's a rather stereotypical sort of character: a pathetic adolescent comic book geek who's the son of a decent, hard-working single father, and who has no skill with the ladies. Thanks to "the perfect combination of loneliness and despair," he comes to the decision that he will don tights and fight crime as a superhero. His first act as a superhero is to go after three black kids putting some graffiti on a wall. It doesn't go well.
And that's pretty much all that happens in this first issue. How he survives his first adventure is not yet clear, but it is clear from a short scene in the beginning and the narration throughout that he does survive, and that he does actually become a successful superhero eventually.
It's not a particularly fun or pleasant story, and I'm rarely a fan of realistic, pathetic, nerdy heroes. I also find it a little troubling that he's a relatively well-off white kid who, as his first adventure, chooses to go after three black kids doing graffiti, one of whom just happens to have a knife on him and no compunction about using it. It's not that the scene is entirely unbelievable. It's just... did you have to?
Anyway, since I don't feel like I got a good idea what this comic is going to be like yet with just this one issue, I'm going to give it one more try. We'll see what happens.
Batman Archives Volume 5
Nearly everything I said about Batman Archives Volume 4 can be applied to Volume 5. I also borrowed it from my brother, and it's also full of episodic adventures that mostly feature Batman and Robin facing off against no-name or petty criminals, with the occasional appearance from the Joker. The plots are also strange and wildly imaginative - this time featuring our heroes fighting criminals using the medium of advertising billboards; nearly having to give up crime-fighting because they're strapped for cash; fighting a villain who went insane from reading too much; facing off against an evil hypnotist/alchemist; defeating a series of deadly traps and themed plots laid out by the Joker; helping Scotland Yard track down a modern Moriarty; resolving a dispute between a mining tycoon and his miners, via a plot reminiscent of that of an early issue of Action Comics; helping the employees of a small shop figure out where their missing money got to; helping the young female captain of an oyster ship defeat oyster pirates and impress her father (!); saving the inventor of a glass house from an evil plot by the inventor of a steel house (!); travelling back in time through hypnosis to help Robin Hood; and, of course, defeating a gang of crazy guys who think they're the Founding Fathers. The tone is again light and goofy, and Alfred is still a lovable, bumbling would-be detective. Most importantly, just like Volume 4, it's brilliant comics and pure entertainment from beginning to end. In fact, I think I may have enjoyed this volume the most of all the Batman Archives so far. They've really got the formula down at this point, and they're just telling one tight, effective, funny, action-packed story after another. Some - like the unique "Case Without a Crime," in which there really is no crime, no criminal, and no serious fighting - are even genuinely touching. It's just a fantastic book, and a perfect example of what was so great about the Golden Age of comics.
Dan Dare #4
This is another great, great issue in what is rapidly becoming one of my favorite series. The Mekon's plan finally stands revealed, thanks in part to Peabody's quick thinking. Meanwhile, Dan and Digby, caught in their own impossible situation, show toughness, nobility, and that trademark British stiff upper lip. It's an exciting, tense, dramatic, moving bit of comics.
Narcopolis #2
In this issue, the crazy dystopia of Narcopolis starts to make more sense as we learn more about why they're shooting missiles all the time, and a bit more about Gray Neighbor's past. In the present, Neighbor escapes purging after the outbreak of BadEvil thanks to his bird, then tracks down the hot cop who was investigating him, gets in with her, and joins the police force himself. There's also lots of nudity, sex, and drugs, and the promise of even more next issue. And there's the suggestion that Neighbor and some of the other agents might have some kind of ability to sense when bad things are about to happen. It's an interesting story and I definitely plan to keep following it.
World War Hulk Aftersmash: Damage Control #2
The big superhero fight that they set up at the end of last issue is stopped before it even starts in an unexpected and rather unlikely way in the beginning of this issue. Then there's some goofy humor, they bring a character back from the dead, and finally the Chrysler Building comes alive somehow.
I continue to be pretty unimpressed by this series. It's occasionally kind of funny and kind of clever, but most of the time it just seems to be trying too hard. Plus, I find the two major plot events in this issue to be unbelievable. Maybe Penance would allow himself to be blackmailed, but why would the rest of the Thunderbolts agree to leave a fight just because he said so? Since when have the other team members respected him at all? And as for the thing with Arch-E... I'm sorry, but he was dead. They investigated his murder, and solved it, and that was that.
I'm not sure if I'll get another issue of this. I was toying with the idea of sticking with it just so I could have the complete World War Hulk collection, but really I already do; the Aftersmash stuff doesn't count. Or at least, I'm saying it doesn't.
X-Men: First Class #9
This issue of the fun prequel series about the original group of X-Men focuses on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attempts to recruit the Scarlet Witch, which include an unexpected fight against everybody's favorite terrorist group, Hydra! It's a clever, entertaining, funny issue - so much so that I almost didn't notice that most of the X-Men barely appear in it at all. There are a number of back-up features after the main story, but only two new ones: an amusing one-pager about how the Black Widow got her "mod" look, and a pretty hilarious episode of Mini Marvels where the Avengers learn why they should fear their TV.
But I certainly cannot leave off talking about this comic without mentioning that it includes possibly the greatest "next issue" solicit that I've ever seen:
Young Avengers Presents #2
Writer Brian Reed and artist Harvey Tolibao are the team handling this book for this issue, which focuses on Young Avengers member Hulkling. Hulkling was recently told that Captain Marvel is his father, and even more recently discovered that Captain Marvel is alive again and hanging out in New York City. So he tracks the guy down, and this issue is book-ended by a couple of pretty deep conversations that Hulkling has with Mar-Vell about their relationship, each other, and their lives. In between the conversations, there's a fight with robots. Mostly because it wouldn't be a comic without a robot fight.
Overall, it's just an okay issue. The two talks that are the real meat of the book get pretty corny at times, but I guess that was hard to avoid, given the subject matter (a son confronting his long dead Dad). The most interesting part is probably the last line, which strongly suggests what's in store for Captain Marvel in the near future. I'm not sure if I'll get another issue of this; I'll probably keep an eye on it, and if there's an interesting creative team, and/or an interesting character as the focus, maybe I'll pick it up again.
Action Comics #862
The penultimate issue in Geoff Johns' brilliant story arc, which is following Superman's adventures in the future with the Legion of Super-Heroes, is just as fantastic, if not more so, as all the other issues in the arc. In this entry, it becomes clear that what's really driving the plot is how people react to being rejected. The members of the new, evil Justice League were not accepted by the Legion, and they reacted by becoming twisted and seeking vengeance. But the other rejects formed their own back-up Legion and trained to be good enough to someday make it onto the roster of the full-fledged Legion. In this issue, Superman decides it's time to call on those rejects to help them out as the Legion makes a last desperate attempt to stop an intergalactic war and defeat the League. The result is a beautiful (thanks to the artistic team of Gary Frank, Jon Sibal, and Dave McCaig), moving, hilarious, action-packed issue that sees the different groups of rejects getting into a huge, all-out fight, and ends with Superman making a crazy, dangerous move that could kill him. Good stuff! My favorite part is the entrance scene for the rejects (spoiler alert): they crash through the wall of a space station in a school bus and Stone Boy flies out the windshield in his rigid stone form, giving a double two-finger salute to his enemies. That is effing metal.
Batman #674
Wow. I'd kind of taken it for granted that the whole three evil Batmen story was simply never going to make more sense than it already did, but here Morrison pulls together just about everything that's happened in the past 10 issues or so and reveals that it's all part of an over-arching plot that we have probably still not seen the end of. It's a brilliant piece of story-telling. Plus, Batman gets to show off how great a detective he is, and just how much of a bad-ass he truly is. And how much is that? A lot. I love Batman. Bravo, Grant Morrison!
Captain America #35
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s on the ropes, and everything seems to be proceeding pretty much as planned for the Red Skull and his huge, complex plot to destroy America. The new Captain America jumps into the fray during a riot, but even he seems to be just playing right into the Red Skull's hands. It'll be interesting to see if anything turns out for the best at the end of this story. Knowing Brubaker, probably very little will. |
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Jim Genzano's books on Goodreads
