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| Wednesday, April 9, 2008 04:03 PM |
| The Take |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor's weekly comic book review post.
This past Wednesday, I happened to be down in Old City picking up press passes for the Philadelphia Film Festival, so I decided to go to a comic store in that area instead of my usual shop. It's called Brave New Worlds, and it's actually a pretty nice place, although they don't keep any really old comics; just new releases and some recent back issues. Also in the store with me was a young boy, who talked to himself aloud about the comics he was looking at, complaining quite a bit about the premium cost of Secret Invasion #1. When he saw me and the stack I was carrying, he exclaimed, "Wow, you get a lot, huh?" I was forced to agree that yes, yes I do.
Star's old comics
Dracula Versus Zorro: The Complete Saga
It's easy to see why Star bought this comic—I mean, just look at the title! But it was published by Topps, a company better known for its trading cards than its comic books, so it is predictably terrible, though perhaps not for the reasons you might think. The thing is surprisingly and painfully wordy, with incredible amounts of unnecessary narration and exposition, and lots of ridiculously pretentious and melodramatic dialogue. I gave up actually trying to read it after the first couple of pages and just skimmed through the rest, which appeared to be just as awful.
Oh, and if you're curious, it was published in 1994, and is apparently a collected reprint of a short miniseries.
Thumbs Down
Back issues and old data
Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 #1
Yay! I finally got my hands on the first issue in this series! Despite the face that Brave New Worlds doesn't have a lot of back issues, they did have #1-3 of this series, and now I do, too! So far I've only read #1, but I should have reviews of the next two in next week's Take. The first issue was a little disappointing, as it's mostly setup, reminding us of what happened in the last series, and filling us in on what's happened since then. Essentially the mice are having a hard winter and our heroes are travelling to far outposts trying to gather supplies for Lockhaven. If they don't return with medicine in time, one of the main characters may die, and in this issue they're attacked by an owl and then fall in a pit, so things aren't looking good. Overall, it's okay, but I'm hoping things will pick up a bit in the next two issues.
Thumbs Sideways
New releases
Abe Sapien: The Drowning #3
This series continues to be totally awesome. Jason Shawn Alexander's art is haunting and beautiful, and the story, which features Abe trapped in a dead island town, fighting monsters, magic, and his own lack of confidence in himself, is very entrancing.
Thumbs Up
Action Comics #863
Incredibly awesome Superman comics seem to be coming hard and fast these days! The week before was All-Star Superman #10, and now comes this masterpiece, the deeply moving and fist-pumpingly thrilling conclusion to Geoff Johns' brilliant Legion of Super Heroes storyline. There's tons of incredibly exciting, ass-kicking, super-powered action, coupled with lots of really powerful character development and analysis. Everything that is great about comics, in other words.
Thumbs Up
Anna Mercury #1
I'm not sure how to feel yet about Warren Ellis' new miniseries for Avatar. This issue drops you into the middle of the action in a mysterious, futuristic world, and you have to struggle to pick up what's going on as it hurtles forwards. Anna Mercury shows up, apparently from some... other place, talking over a radio to some kind of HQ, which seems to be supplying her with power to do various amazing things, like swing around the city with ease at incredible speeds, and screw with people's heads. There's some kind of underground resistance fighting against a repressive government. Mercury works with the rebels, but they don't trust her anymore. She heads out to ruin the evil government's latest plan, but things go horribly wrong, and then we get one of those shocking last page reveals that gives the whole thing a new, post-modern spin, and reminds me of one of the stories in Ellis' Planetary.
This issue didn't really excite me all that much, but I'm definitely curious to see where this story is going, and after all, it's Ellis, so I'm bound to stick with it for at least a couple more issues.
Thumbs Sideways
Buffy Season 8 #13
Hey, that guy from the end of last issue was Dracula! Most of this issue - pretty much anything featuring Xander or Dracula or Andrew - is pure hilarity, and then at the end it gets serious and horrifying as this new gang of vampires threatens everything that Buffy has achieved. It's classic Buffy, and it's fantastic.
Thumbs Up
Cable #2
Meh. This is getting lame now. The great majority of this issue is boring, poorly handled exposition. We finally get to see how Bishop ended up here, but the tale is dull and hard to believe. And both Bishop and Cable's lengthy narration segments are not really all that well written. I may not even keep collecting this series now.
Thumbs Down
Dark Kingdom #1
Considering that this is a one-shot comic from Image that's based on an illustration by Frank Frazetta, it's actually quite good. The art, with pencils and ink by Tim Vigil and colors by Jay Fotos, is very strong, and the story, though simplistic and a bit cliche at times, is pretty entertaining, as it features exciting, bloody action, giant monsters, and the magic of the Gods. Not bad!
Thumbs Up
Kick-Ass #2
I really wasn't sure how to feel about the first issue of this, and I thought this second one would clear things up for me, but I remain a bit unsure. I think I'm leaning toward a negative opinion, though. Our main character spends the first part of this issue recovering from the severe beating he got last issue, and cursing himself for ever considering doing what he did. Then he immediately goes out and does it again. This time things go marginally better. But the way the comic treats race and violence continues to be unsettling and off-putting. I think I'm just going to drop it.
Thumbs Down
Omega: The Unknown #7
This issue of one of my favorite series on the stands has an awesome, retro cover, and opens up with a reproduction of the amazing wordless comic that Omega has drawn to try to communicate his story to Mink and his people. It's fascinating and eye-opening, but sadly, it only convinces the Mink to dispose of Omega once and for all. Meanwhile, in a funny and disturbing sequence, the Fonzie-bot goes wandering. Then our boy hero discovers the creepy truth about the robotics lab, and he and his friends go on a raid, uncovering another stunning secret. The wonderful art and design combine with the whip-smart writing to make another fantastic piece of work.
Thumbs Up
Scalped #16
Do I even need to say that this is incredibly excellent again? The complex characters are further developed, powerfully and subtly, and the story remains tense, violent, and thrilling.
Thumbs Up
Secret Invasion #1
Finally, Marvel's much anticipated new miniseries has arrived, and it's... well, it's pretty good, actually. Anyway, there's lots of shocking events and exciting action, and the art is quite excellent. I'm still kind of opposed to the whole idea of Skrull infiltrations as they inevitably feel like a cop-out. And I don't like that a whole spaceship of what appear to be earlier versions of Marvel heroes has suddenly arrived; that just seems rife with the possibility of lameness. But I'll definitely pick up at least one more issue.
Thumbs Sideways |
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