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| Tuesday, April 22, 2008 04:02 PM |
| The Take |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor's weekly comic book review post.
Back issues and old data: from Steve
Hush
A while back poppy and I picked this off my brother's Amazon wish list and got it for him for his birthday (or was it Christmas? I don't know, it was something like that). It's a gigantic, special edition hardcover collection of a lengthy Batman story arc (originally published in Batman #608-619; thank you, Wikipedia). After Steve was done reading it, he offered to lend it to me and I accepted gratefully. I didn't realize until he handed it over, however, that it was written by the hated Jeph Loeb (with art by the slightly-less-hated Jim Lee). I still wanted to check it out, but learning this made me wary. And indeed, it is not a very good story. It's written as sort of a reintroduction to Batman and all his sidekicks, friends, lovers, and villains, so it scrabbles desperately for ridiculous reasons to parade all of those characters through the story. It's also absolutely stuffed to bursting with first-person narration from Batman, explaining his feelings about everything that's going on, as well as giving you background information on everything and everyone. I always hate over-narration (and wordy comics in general), and this book has it in spades. Sure, sometimes it's handy to get a little refresher on who everyone is and what's been going down between them and Batman lately, but there are cleverer ways of passing along that information than big chunks of narration. And certainly your comic should make clear how the main character is feeling, but it should do so through the action and the story and possibly the dialogue, not through clumsy, obvious narration.
The story, such as it is, is a gigantic conspiracy constructed by a mysterious enemy whom, we learn at the very end (oddly, after we've already figured out his true identity), is known as Hush. This villain manages to manipulate pretty much all of Batman's friends and enemies to attack Batman in various odd ways. Batman is constantly convinced he's found who's really behind everything, only to discover that he's wrong again and there's someone else even further back in the shadows. It's a very annoying story structure, and doesn't exactly make Batman look like the great detective he's supposed to be. In fact there's a number of sequences in which Batman does stuff that seems out of character for him, especially the ridiculously melodramatic scene in the alley where he nearly kills the Joker and Gordon has to talk him down. Hush, too, ultimately turns out to be a character whose motives and actions are pretty nonsensical.
I'll admit that it's not an absolutely terrible book, because after all, it did keep me interested enough to read it through all the way to the end. But it's also certainly not good. By the end the whole conspiracy has become so complex that it's almost impossible to understand what really happened, and you really don't care enough anymore to try to unravel it all. I strongly suspect it wouldn't really actually make sense anyway even if you did finally graph the whole thing out.
Thumbs Down
Back issues and old data: from the library
WE3
This is the last of the graphic novels I picked up in my recent trip to the local library. I selected this one because it's a collaboration by author Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely, and I tend to like their work, especially together (they're the creative duo responsible for the amazing All-Star Superman, for example). This particular piece is a collection of a 3-issue miniseries put out by Vertigo. It's the story of a secret government weapons program that involves integrating animals into mechanical war suits and sending them out to eliminate targets remotely. The idea is to remove humans from the battlefield, so no person will have to be hurt anymore. The test program involves a dog, a cat, and a rabbit which we realize, thanks to the "have you seen..." posters inserted in front of each chapter, were actually just family pets that were stolen from their homes to use as test subjects. The doctor in charge of the program has come to love these animals, and even managed to teach them to communicate using a simplified form of English. And of course, as inevitably happens with secret experimental autonomous weapons, they escape, initiating a desperate attempt to find and destroy them.
Probably partly because I love animals and I'm a dog person, this story really affected me. Watching the poor, confused, hurt dog fighting to stay alive and trying desperately to find his way home was like being stabbed in the heart over and over again - but, you know, in a good way. It's a powerful, clever story, well told, with exciting action and some really creative art design and panel placement. And you've got to love that ending!
Thumbs Up
New releases
The Lone Ranger #11
Yes, I did it again: I bought another Lone Ranger book. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson after the execrable Lone Ranger & Tonto #1, but sadly you'd be wrong. The reason I couldn't resist picking this up is because it includes artwork by Paul Pope, who is easily one of the greatest comic book artists alive right now. And actually, as it turns out, it's really not that bad. As it opens, Tonto has arrived at the cell of a condemned man to tell him a parable about a wolf - a wolf whom I believe is meant to stand in for both Tonto and the condemned man. Meanwhile, the Long Ranger is off threatening people, and at the very end an old villain apparently returns.
There are two artists credited for this issue -Sergio Cariello and Paul Pope - and I believe, if my eyes do not deceive me, that Cariello did the bulk of the issue and Pope just did the wolf parable sequences. Pope's work is astonishingly good, as usual, but Cariello isn't too bad, either. As for the plot... well, I clearly came in on the middle of a story here, so I don't know who the condemned man is, or who the Lone Ranger is threatening, or who the guy is who shows up at the end. My ignorance probably made Tonto's parable harder to interpret than it really should have been. Still, this seems like a pretty decent comic. I might even buy the next issue, depending on how I feel when it's released.
Thumbs Up
Ghost Rider #22
I believe I've already made it abundantly clear how much I love Jason Aaron's work, and how much I especially love what he's doing with Ghost Rider, and this issue just confirmed my opinion. The action, plot, and dialogue are all insane and fantastic, and Roland Boschi's art perfectly complements them by being exactly as insane and fantastic. As Blaze tears down a haunted highway on his gigantic flaming motorcycle, chopping cannibalistic ghosts to bits with a scythe, you can't help but freak the fuck out. And when the hulking leader of his enemies cries out, "Cycle nurses, go! Kill to live! Live to die! Ride for your master Zadkiel! Ride to seize the throne of heaven!", your head just explodes. And there's still most of the comic yet to go!
Seriously, this thing is packed with crazy action, and it just builds and builds to what will no doubt be an even crazier confrontation in the next issue. So awesome.
Thumbs Up
The Incredible Hercules #116
Woah, hey! They're actually referring to the events of Neil Gaiman's Eternals miniseries! Crazy. In this issue, Herc, Cho, and Athena take a road trip to see the Celestial who's standing out near San Francisco. There Herc is accosted by a couple of Eternals who are convinced he is one of them - a guy named Gilgamesh, specifically - and are willing to do whatever it takes to convince him of that fact, as well. Then at the end of the book, Athena gets to do what she really came to San Fran for, and things get set up for the Secret Invasion tie-in next issue.
This definitely isn't my favorite issue of Incredible Hercules ever - it feels a bit gimmicky - but it's interesting enough, and I was happy to see the Eternals again. It was also fascinating to find myself being swayed by the Eternals, and starting to wonder whether Hercules really was Gilgamesh after all.
I'm looking forward to seeing how this book will be worked into the Secret Invasion storyline. I'm hoping it will involve beating the crap out of lots of Skrulls.
Thumbs Up
DC/Wildstorm: Dreamwar #1
This is the first issue in a six-issue miniseries, written by Keith Giffen with art by Lee Garbett and Trevor Scott, detailing what happens when a bunch of the major DC heroes suddenly drop into the Wildstorm universe for no immediately obvious reason. I didn't expect to really like it, but I couldn't resist the concept.
The DC heroes don't exactly slip in quietly; as the comic opens the Authority are monitoring a bunch of events across the world where large new objects and land formations are popping up. It's these things that the heroes are popping out of. The Justice League is the first group to appear, but we don't get to see them do much in this issue. Instead, we get to see the Teen Titans kick some butt when some Wildstorm heroes try to infiltrate their tower. Then a trio of Golden Age DC heroes consider moving into some weird retirement home (?), the Legion of Super Heroes hide from StormWatch, and finally, Superman does something creepy.
As expected, I didn't particularly care for this comic, but I have to admit it probably had a lot to do with the fact that I apparently know a lot less about the Wildstorm universe than I thought I did. In fact, I pretty much just know the Authority and StormWatch, so the scenes with Majestic, with the kids watching TV, in the retirement home, and the final one in the trailer park were all a complete mystery to me. Still, even the scenes that I did understand didn't really excite or interest me very much. The art is pretty good, but not amazing. I doubt I'll pick up another issue of this.
Thumbs Down
Annihilation Conquest #6
I was hoping the final issue of this fantastic miniseries/crossover thingie would really kick ass - and indeed it does. Specifically, it kicks Ultron's shiny metal butt. Things pick up right after the events of Conquest #5, and the last issue of Nova, with all of our characters converging on Hala for an epic final showdown. After all the craziness is over, there's an epilogue that points the way toward the new title starting in May: Guardians of the Galaxy. It looks like Guardians is going to be a Marvel space book following the adventures of a super team composed of pretty much all the major heroes from Conquest (except Nova, who has to stay in his own book). It should go without saying that I am extremely freaking excited about that book.
But I was talking about this comic! Quite simply, it's fantastic. An exciting plot that brings everyone and everything together in a huge explosion of action, with some crazy last minute twists and turns, and a triumphant finale that knocked my socks off. I was a little disappointed that Phyla-Vell got so much space, that her actions were so pivotal, and that she'll apparently be central to Guardians, as well. But she annoyed me less in this issue than she has in the past, and hopefully she'll get better in the future.
Thumbs Up
Captain Marvel #5
This is the final issue of another miniseries, and it's less exciting, but still pretty good. We finally get the big reveal about what the deal is with Captain Marvel, and it turns out to be pretty much what it seemed to be - which was kind of a let down. The interesting thing is what the character becomes and who he decides to be at the end. (The spoilers, if you're interested: "Marvel" is actually a Skrull sleeper agent who's been transformed into a perfect copy of Marvel - a copy so perfect that he now has decided to simply be Marvel, and fight to protect humanity against the Skrull invasion the way Marvel would have.) That's a fascinating and even vaguely disturbing concept that hopefully future comics will be able to explore in an entertaining way.
Thumbs Up
Captain America #37
The next steps in the devious plan of Red Skull and his crew become horrifyingly clear in this issue. As the other heroes try to get used to the idea of Bucky being the new Captain America, yet another Captain America - a presumably twisted and evil Captain America - is about to be born. Probably the best part of this issue is the crazy, hilarious, disturbing dream that Bucky has wherein he warns Cap to "look out for the Internet!" But the story is also moving forward in some really interesting directions that, as usual with Brubaker, are full of doom and horror. On the one hand, I'm irritated by how his stories are so dark all the frigging time, but on the other hand, he's sucked me in quite successfully with this one, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in the next issue.
Thumbs Up
World War Hulk: Aftersmash! Warbound #5
And yet another Marvel miniseries comes to an end! That makes three miniseries conclusions this week for Marvel, I believe. I'm not sure why it ended up that way - is it coincidence, or is Marvel trying to clear the slate for Secret Invasion? Regardless, this miniseres conclusion was a little disappointing to me - my man Greg Pak let me down. I was surprised by how much I'd enjoyed the rest of this series, but this issue just feels rushed and clumsily plotted. Killer robots start shooting everybody, then they get deactivated, then they get turned back on, then they get destroyed, then a character seems to die, then she comes back, then a character seems to die, then he comes back, and then that happens one or two more times. The story just feels like it's stuttering and constantly pulling the rug out from under you. It's underhanded and gimmicky. Besides that, the story and dialogue are also pretty melodramatic, ridiculous, and hard to believe.
I don't hate the book, though. I like the characters, and I remained interested in what was happening to them all the way to the end. It just doesn't work as well as it could have.
I'll be interested to see what Marvel does with these characters now. Will they get their own ongoing series? Will they just pop up occasionally in other books? Or will they simply disappear? Guess I'll have to wait and see...
Thumbs Sideways |
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