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| Tuesday, March 25, 2008 08:55 PM |
| The Take |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor's weekly comic book review post.
Back issues and old data
Batman/Hellboy/Starman #1
Batman/Hellboy/Starman #2
When I saw on scans_daily that there existed a two-issue miniseries from 1999 starring both Batman and Hellboy, I immediately ordered it from Amazon. Sadly, it's not as awesome as it could have been. Mignola did the art, so that part is awesome, but some fellow named James Robinson did the writing, and his part is not nearly as awesome. His Batman is a little melodramatic and ridiculous, and a little too open with his feelings for my taste. In fact, the dialogue in general is unrealistic, unsubtle, and just generally a bit clumsy. The story is pretty boring, by the numbers stuff, too; it feels like what it is, which is a series of events contrived to force these three characters to work together fighting Nazis and elder gods. I won't deny that getting to see Batman and Hellboy fight Nazis side by side is entertaining. But Batman hardly appears in the second book at all; instead, he is conveniently taken out of the story by a subplot involving the Joker - a subplot that doesn't even get resolved on-page - so that Starman can become Hellboy's new sidekick. I don't really care about Starman, or know anything about him, and nothing in this comic made me want to educate myself further (beyond the requisite peek at his Wikipedia page, of course). In this book, he's nothing more than a bland, occasionally wise-cracking guy with a staff that can shoot energy bolts.
So yeah, this was pretty disappointing. I'm not sad I bought it, because I don't see how I could go about living my life knowing that there was a Batman/Hellboy crossover out there that I didn't own. But still.
Thumbs Sideways
Detective Comics #663
The Amazon seller I bought the Batman/Hellboy/Starman books from was nice enough to drop this in with my order as a free extra. It's from 1993 and is a part of the Knightfall storyline, which introduced the character of Bane, who ended up breaking Batman's back. This issue opens after a bomb has gone off, flooding an underground area where Batman is trapped with Gotham's mayor, and the Dark Knight must try to save himself and his honor from drowning under the city streets. Batman talks about the bomb being part of a plot by the Joker in his narrative boxes, then mentions being dosed with Scarecrow's fear gas, and then there's a one-page cut-away featuring Scarface, so apparently pretty much all his enemies are after him at the same time here. Finally Batman has to face-off against Bane's three ridiculous henchmen before stumbling home bruised and bloody only to find Bane himself waiting for him.
Despite the fact that it gets a little corny and cheesy, and there's way too much narration, this is actually generally a pretty decent comic. Bane's henchmen are a blonde guy with a falcon, a big strong guy named Trogg, and a guy who throws knives and is called Zombie. They're bland and they spout villain cliches like there's no tomorrow. But the concept of Batman having to beat each of them one after the other is kind of interesting, and the fights are handled pretty well. I should probably read the entire Knightfall arc one of these days, and it must have been collected into a trade by now, so maybe I'll track it down and add it to my list.
Thumbs Sideways
New releases
Captain America #36
Nothing really comes to a decisive end in this issue, although it was nice to see Cap shoot some guys who really deserved to get shot, and nice to see him get a little sugar. The last page, of course, has the requisite shocking surprise, and it's quite a doozie. Are they going to bring Steve back? I don't know. On the one hand, I'd like that, because Steve Rogers is an awesome character. But on the other hand, it would be good to see somebody actually stay dead for a change. Anyway, we'll see.
Thumbs Up
Captain Marvel #4
This series continues to be totally fascinating. Beautiful art from penciller Lee Weeks, inkers Jesse Delperdang and Klaus Janson, and colorist Matt Milla, and an intriguing mystery from writer Brian Reed. Is Captain Marvel just a Skrull secret weapon gone rogue? Just where has he arrived at the end of the issue, and how did he get there? The subplot with the Church of Hala and the war in Sudan is maybe a little corny, but it's actually handled pretty well, overall. All the characters are believable and interesting.
Btw, a number of the Marvel titles this week have a two-page Secret Invasion preview in them, including this one. I'm already planning to pick up at least the first issue of this miniseries, but the preview was still an interesting little incentive. Nice art, and it shows Iron Man, Reed Richards and Henry Pym all talking over the new Skrull menace in an entertaining fashion.
Thumbs Up
Ghost Rider #21
My friends, even though there have only been two issues so far, Jason Aaron's run on Ghost Rider is shaping up to be one of the greatest things ever to happen to comics. This issue alone may be one of the greatest comics ever written. It's packed with insane dialogue and story elements about a new war on God in heaven, and the strange soldiers fighting it on Earth. Those soldiers take the fight to the Ghost Rider, until he gets up to some serious bad-assery and shows them what's what. Then he makes the mistake of crashing right into the other crazy subplot, which is about a highway haunted by cannibal ghosts. The writing is just over-the-top enough without being stupid, and Roland Boschi's art is fantastic. In short, this issue is made of awesome. And the next issue is called "Death Race on Ghost Cannibal Highway" or "Cycle Nurses Kill! Kill! Kill!" Brilliant!! Long live the Ghost Rider!
Thumbs Up
Incredible Hercules #115
Know what else is awesome? This! Cho's war on S.H.I.E.L.D. continues as his virus wreaks all kinds of dangerous and hilarious damage on the organization's prisons and equipment. Herc does his best to talk Cho out of it, but is distracted by the old Looney Tunes "Wabbit season! Duck season!" trick that Cho hilariously pulls on him, and then further distracted by having to fight his brother Ares - a fight that consists of them throwing missiles at each other, and throwing each other at missiles, while clambering around on top of a giant airship. A lot of family issues come out while they're fighting, too; Ares' bitter jealousy toward Herc rears its ugly head, and Herc defines just what it is about himself that makes him so powerful and lovable. Between this conversation and the one Herc has afterward with Cho, Pak manages to define and develop Herc's character very strongly. Cho also completes a character arc, and Pak does some pretty powerful musing on the nature of humanity. It's funny, it's action-packed, it's moving, and it's thought-provoking. That's good comics.
Thumbs Up
The Order #9
After lots of big huge super fighting, and some very amusing Die Hard quoting, big baddie Ezekiel Stane finally reveals and sets in motion his hideous evil plan, which is to piss off Tony Stark by killing LA. Things don't look good for our heroes at the end of this issue, but they never do at the end of the penultimate issue of a story arc, now do they? Should be interesting to see how things turn out in the next and final issue of The Order.
Thumbs Up
Superman/Batman Annual #2
Yeah, this isn't too good. It's sort of a reimagining of an old Golden Age story, pre-Justice League, wherein Superman and Batman must team up when Supes loses his powers. The opening is pretty neat, where we're cutting back and forth between Batman and Superman as they sort of introduce themselves and their characters. Then they meet up and have a little argument, then have to head out together when an emergency arises, which it turns out has been caused by a mysterious man named Socrates, who speaks only in questions. Socrates turns his ability on Superman, eliminating his powers. Socrates is essentially able to affect probability such that a person must face himself and what he thinks his life is really about. In other words, Socrates makes you question yourself - question your whole life and its purpose. Or something like that. Most of his victims end up facing something like their worst nightmare - and most of them end up dying.
Talking to Robin, Batman realizes that the world needs a Superman, and Clark realizes that as well, so he trains under Batman to become a new, depowered hero known as Supernova. That lasts for about a page. Lame! Then Batman and Superman face off against Socrates again, and this time, with new-found confidence in themselves and in each other, they negate his power and make him go away.
Which is nice and all; there are some moving sequences, and clearly the story is meant to be a metaphor for Superman and Batman getting to know themselves and each other better, and becoming close friends. They end up rededicating themselves to their missions. The problem is, Socrates. His power is huge and devastating, but very poorly defined, and hard to believe, and the way that Superman and Batman ultimately defeat him, while emotionally effective in some ways, is perhaps even harder to believe. And what the heck happens to the guy? He just kind of... disappears. Don't they kind of want to maybe, I don't know, track down and arrest the guy who's been murdering people, who took away Superman's powers, and who nearly killed both of them?!
Thumbs Down
World War Hulk Aftersmash: Warbound #4
Great art and great writing make for a powerful and moving story as Hiroim demands his best friend Korg beat him to death to save everyone trapped inside Gammaworld. But then it turns out that there's more to the Leader's plan than we thought (which we all should have expected, really), and maybe it's actually good that Hiroim's Old Power is maintaining the green dome. D'oh! Yeah, that part is a little silly. But anyway, in the back-up story, Miek has another disturbing and effective tale to tell about one of his former colleagues - this time No Name of the Brood. At the very end, Miek holds Kate back to tell her a mysterious final story, which will obviously appear in the final issue of this series. Looking forward to it.
Thumbs Up |
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Jim Genzano's books on Goodreads
