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| Saturday, May 24, 2008 08:39 PM |
| The Take |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor's weekly comic book review post.
This is covering comics from the week of 5/14/08, as well as some books I picked up in the library that weekend, and a couple of Free Comic Book Day comics from 5/3/08, which I finally picked up from my friend Eric, who was good enough to grab them and save them for me while I was away in Delaware. Eric also gave me some other cool comic book-related swag: an Iron Man water bottle, and a Harvey Dent T-shirt. The T-shirt is too small for me, but I might make poppy wear it. :)
Back issues and old data - Free Comic Book Day
All-Star Superman #1
I actually already own this comic, collected in my hardcover copy of All-Star Superman Volume One, which I mentioned back in this post. It's a great series, and this was a great issue of it, so I'm glad they gave it away for free, and I hope lots of people read it and were inspired to start collecting the book. Still, I was kind of hoping the free stuff I got would be stuff I didn't already have...
Thumbs Up
Free Comic Book Day X-Men #1
My other free book is a reasonably entertaining one-shot (written by Mike Carey, with Greg Land doing his usual over-sexed job on the pencils) which follows a young mutant named Megan Gwynn (Pixie) who just returned to her home in Wales after an exciting, life-changing year studying at the Xavier Institute in America. She discovers that all is not well in her home town - people are mysteriously disappearing, and nobody seems to notice or care - so she calls for help from the X-Men. But she ends up taking care of most of the trouble herself, and is then overjoyed to be invited to accompany her fellow mutants back to America to continue her studies at the Xavier Institute.
This is a cute enough little book, but it's not particularly imaginative, the dialogue is pretty weak, and some of the characters are poorly written - Wolverine especially. Plus, they go to the trouble of making it very clear that no one but Pixie can see the demons, and then never explain how it is that the other X-Men can see them just fine. WTF?
Thumbs Sideways
Back issues and old data - library books
Vimanarama
This is a self-contained graphic novel from Vertigo that I picked up based purely on the fact that it was written by Grant Morrison. And it is now very possibly my favorite book that I've ever read by the man. It's a crazy, screwball, fast-paced, epic, mythic, apocalyptic, Bollywood-style disaster/romantic comedy/action tale. It's set in modern day London and follows the adventures of an Indian family, focusing particularly on one young male member named Ali. Ali is having a bit of an existential crisis because he's about to meet the woman that his father picked out for him to marry, and he's convinced that if she's ugly, it means God hates him and he should kill himself. Meanwhile, his brother Omar has fallen through a strange hole in the floor of the family shop and hurt his head. When Omar's young baby Imran goes missing, there's only one place to explore: the weird hole in the ground. Ali and his intended, Sofia, run into each other looking for the baby, and it turns out Sofia's not ugly after all. But before the two of them can catch up with Imran, the baby has mistakenly released ancient entities of darkness and evil. And when Sofia awakens the corresponding forces of light and good, one of them recognizes her as a reincarnated version of his own lost love. As the world ends around him, Ali can barely muster any interest, because his own world is over. Surely his intended can't be interested in him now when he has an ancient immortal superbeing competing with him for her affections. But then again, maybe Ali can get the girl and save the day after all...
This book is pure fun and joy from beginning to end. It's loaded with creativity, romance, hilarious dialogue, beautiful art (with lots of impressive, surreal visuals and clever, funny little details hiding in the corners), fascinating references to Indian mythology, magic, crazy technology, and wonderful characters. It's simply brilliant, and I love it deeply. I definitely have to buy a copy to add to my library, and I recommend you do the same!
Thumbs Up
Superman: Godfall
Holy crap is this a piece of garbage. It's a collection of a story arc that was spread across six issues of three different Superman comics in 2004. It's written by Michael Turner and Joe Kelly and drawn by Talent Caldwell. The story is set in a rather odd period in Superman's history (an introduction helpfully caught me up on the details) where he'd just come back from some crazy future fight with a version of his old enemy Brainiac when he tumbled into a weird world that appeared to be a parallel universe version of Krypton where the planet never blew up. Instead, Jor-El found a way to fix the problem and Kal-El grew up there on the planet, ultimately becoming a lower level bureaucrat with a beautiful (alien) wife named Lyla and a child named Kon-Lar. Superman takes up his life here as Kal-El with no memory of his former life as Superman, except for a vague disquiet and a sneaking suspicion that there should be more for him than this.
It's actually a cool premise, and the story is even interesting for a while. On this version of Krypton, aliens are discriminated against, and alien gangs fed up with said discrimination have begun attacking lower level Kryptonian bureaucrats. Naturally, Kal-El is soon a victim of such an attack, but when it happens to him, some of his old super powers mysteriously manifest. He doesn't know how to control them, leading to a terrible tragedy. But following the tragedy, Lyla reveals what's really been going on, and the story takes an odd turn that leads us back out to the Earth we know for a gigantic final showdown.
The problem is, the second half of the book involves a lot of really terrible, melodramatic dialogue and narration, and a lot of really weak or simply nonexistent explanations for things that don't make any sense. What is it exactly that Lyla does? And how does she do it? And why aren't they all two inches tall? And how did time get longer? It's just pure nonsense. And did I mention the terrible dialogue? Oh my God. I almost stopped reading after a few particularly horrible exchanges, but for some misguided reason ultimately decided to stick it out to the end. Avoid my mistake! Don't read this. It's just really, really bad.
Thumbs Down
Ultimate Fantastic Four Volume 1: The Fantastic
I've read some of the more recent issues of Ultimate Fantastic Four, and I didn't really enjoy them very much, but I still couldn't pass up an opportunity to go back and see how it all started. And as it turns out, this first volume of the book - with writing by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar, pencils by Adam Kubert, inks by Danny Miki and John Dell, and colors by my man Dave Stewart - is actually quite entertaining. It opens by introducing us to Reed Richards as a young boy. He's already a genius, tearing household appliances apart to create incredible gadgets for accessing other dimensions. His mother is sympathetic but weak, while his father doesn't give a crap about what he does except when it inconveniences him, which is almost all the time. Oh, and he has a big strong friend named Ben Grimm. At the school Science Fair, a man from the government recognizes Richards for the genius he is and recruits him to be a new student at the Baxter Building, which is essentially a school and huge laboratory for genius kids like himself. There he meets the rest of the important characters: the head of the Baxter Building researchers, Professor Storm; his two children, Sue and Johnny; a filthy and odd professor named Dr. Molekevic; and an anti-social but extremely intelligent fellow student named Victor. Victor and Reed end up working together on Reed's researches into a parallel dimension called the N-Zone. But when they try to transport an object into the N-Zone, something goes wrong and Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Reed's friend Ben all end up scattered across the Earth and transformed in different and fantastic ways. And almost before they know what's happened, they're forced to use their new powers in a daring fight and rescue.
So yeah, it's the familiar story and characters, but turned around and revved up a bit, just like we expect from the Ultimate universe. But unlike a lot of other Ultimate titles I've read, this one isn't offensive and off-putting. The characters remain likable and funny. The art is good - sometimes even breathtakingly so. The story is fast-paced and fun. The action sequences are fantastic. My only complaint with the book is that the dialogue, though generally clever and amusing, occasionally gets a bit irritating. This is because, in an apparent attempt by the authors to make the dialogue as realistic as possible, the characters are constantly interrupting and repeating themselves. Sometimes this really does come off as realistic, but other times it's just annoying. Still, that's only a small flaw in what is otherwise a fantastic book.
Thumbs Up
New releases
Batman #676
The first issue of the much anticipated Batman R.I.P. storyline opens with a one-page glimpse of the future (which involves Batman and Robin being defiant), and then jumps back in time six months to give us our first look at the members of the organization known as the Black Glove, who seem to be planning to kill Batman. Next, Batman and Robin take the new Batmobile out for a test drive, Bruce makes out with Jet, Robin worries about Bruce, and then we get a look at (and inside the mind of) the decidedly disturbing new Joker.
Overall it's a pretty dull issue. Besides the fact that it's mostly setup and doesn't tell us much new, there are also a number of annoying things about it. The Black Glove are pretty silly looking. A lot of the dialogue is very odd. I still don't really get the Bruce/Jet relationship. And I can't say I really like this reimagining of the Joker. Still, I remain intrigued as to where Morrison is going next with this.
Thumbs Sideways
B.P.R.D. 1946 #5
This is the final issue of this miniseries, and it ends things with a huge bang, with Bruttenholm and his soldier friends fighting giant robotic slave monkeys, a Nazi head in a jar, and a bunch of vampires, all while everything blows up and flies apart around them. And after all the fantastic action and excitement, it concludes with a quiet, moving, eerie moment foreshadowing what is to come. It's a brilliant bit of comics, and another fantastic B.P.R.D. series, and it's got me looking forward all the more to all the other Hellboy-verse series that are coming soon.
Thumbs Up
Captain Britain and MI13 #1
This is another Secret Invasion tie-in that I picked up figuring it would be crap, but, oh my God! It's utterly fricking fantastic! It focuses on how the Skrull invasion is affecting the UK. I don't know a whole lot about the British superheroes, but I'm feeling like it's time to stop waiting to find Wisdom #1 and just read what I have of that miniseries, because Peter Wisdom is at the center of this book, along with the Skrull John Lennon. It also features Captain Britain, the Black Knight, and Spitfire (a super-fast woman with a bird mask who is the daughter of the original Union Jack; thank you, Wikipedia!). The group of them get to knock the piss out of a whole load of Super Skrulls while trying to save Britain, Avalon, and the source of magic. It's thrilling, moving, imaginative, brutal, action-packed, and just great. Part of what makes it so effective is the way it hooks into old myths and legends. I'll be sticking with this title, for sure. (The writing, btw, is by Paul Cornell, and the lovely art is by penciler Leonard Kirk, inker Jesse Delperdang, and colorist Brian Reber. None of whom I remember hearing about before.)
Thumbs Up
The Goon #24
This is an odd issue of The Goon. It consists mostly of the story of how the Goon's town was cursed, a story which is delivered via copious expository narration, accompanied by a handful of simple black and white illustrations. We discover at the end that the Buzzard has been listening to this story, and then he heads to town to talk to the Goon. And that's it for that. Next is a rather lengthy back-up story called "Hellbender," written and illustrated by the Fillbach brothers. This is actually much better, and much more like the old Goon, than the main feature. It's a funny story about how some kids accidentally open a portal to hell and the Goon, Frankie, and his friends have to do a bunch of nasty, dangerous things to get it closed again. It's a barrel of fun. The main story, however... It's great to finally learn more of the Goon's town's mysterious history, but why deliver this potentially interesting information in such a dull, unimaginative way? It's very disappointing.
Thumbs Sideways
Green Lantern Corps #24
The Lanterns arrive at the last known location of their pals and discover the place is covered in Black Mercy, meaning Mongol is nearby. We get a quick refresher on Mongol's backstory, then the rescue is interrupted by a giant monster. There's also a short interlude where we get some more foreshadowing of bad things to come on Oa, and Sinestro and his fellow prisoners do some really creepy stuff.
It's not a great issue. The dialogue is pretty weak, I found the short history of Mongol to be less than enlightening, and the whole monster-as-mother-protecting-her-children bit has been done many, many times before. Still, I continue to be fascinated by the overarching story, and there were good bits in here, like the creepy scene in the prison on Oa, and the two-page splash where we get a look into the darkest fears of the two captured Lanterns. Hopefully next issue will be better.
Thumbs Sideways
Guardians of the Galaxy #1
I've been looking forward to this book since it was announced. It's a new ongoing series by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (pencils by Paul Pelletier, inks by Rick Magyar, colors by Nathan Fairbairn), spinning out of the events of their Annihilation: Conquest miniseries, and it follows the adventures of a team of heroes put together by Star-Lord to act as a pro-active defense force for the galaxy. Their first mission is to figure out what to do about a series of cracks in the fabric of space-time that have formed due to the Annihilation Wave. These cracks could allow ancient and evil entities from outside our universe to get inside and wreak havoc, a la Lovecraft. They find some fanatics from the Universal Church of Truth trying to actually go through one of the cracks and find it necessary to intervene rather violently in order to save the universe from destruction.
It's a great premise, and I love the art and the action. There's also a goodly amount of clever and amusing dialogue as the various team members hurl insults and jibes at each other in the middle of fighting for their lives. My favorite character in the group by far is Rocket Raccoon. He's just awesome.
Still, whether it's just that my expectations were really high or what, it feels to me like the comic is missing something. The dialogue, though often funny, isn't perfect, and some of the humor feels forced. Plus, the surprise reveal at the end... is this seriously going to become yet another comic to bring back Captain America in some weird and unlikely way? How many times are we going to do that, Marvel? How many fricking times?!?
Despite my misgivings, and a vague feeling of disappointment, I really did enjoy this comic. Looking back over it I'm finding more things to love than I'm finding things to dislike, and I will definitely be picking up the next issue. I just hope that one's a little bit better than this one.
Thumbs Sideways
Giant-Size Incredible Hulk #1
This special one-shot contains one new story called "A Mighty Raging Fury!" (writer Roger Stern, artists Zach Howard and Cory Hamscher, and colorist Lovern Kindzierski), and one reprint of an old story from Hulk Annual #7 called "The Evil That Is Cast..." (writer Roger Stern, penciller John Byrne [both also listed as co-plotters], inker Bob Layton, and colorist Janice Cohen). "Fury" follows a man named Fred Sloan as he tracks down and interviews various people who once met the Hulk in an attempt to get a full and complete portrait of the creature for a book he's writing. Of course, Sloan himself has also met the Hulk before, and will again before the story is over. Which means all this is is a series of short tales about run-ins with the Hulk. The art is okay, but not fantastic, the dialogue gets corny at times, and the story doesn't really ultimately go much of anywhere.
The second story comes from the Stan Lee era of Marvel, so it's goofy in that special Marvel way. It opens up with Bobby (Ice Man) making plans to bring his girlfriend up to hang out with Warren (Angel) and his girlfriend at Warren's gigantic beautiful summer home in the Rockies. Then we learn that not very far away, at an army base, Doc Samson is trying to cure the Hulk, with mixed results. Inevitably a villain shows up forcing Angel, Ice Man, and the Hulk to join forces to save the day.
The interactions among Warren, Bobby, and the two girls are pretty funny, especially when Bobby's girlfriend turns out to be totally obsessed with Warren. The Hulk is pretty hilarious, too. But some of the attempts at humor are pretty feeble. And the villain's story is utterly ridiculous (how does he suddenly grow so much bigger? His consciousness got downloaded into a giant robot how? WTF?). So yeah, like most Marvel comics from this era, it's quite goofy and hard to believe, but kind of fun. I liked it okay.
Thumbs Sideways
newuniversal: shockfront #1
Warren Ellis' second miniseries set in Marvel's newuniverse picks up right about where the last one left off, with Izanami the Nightmask still working at her job like nothing has happened, while secretly hiding Ken the Starbrand in her apartment, and Detective John "Justice" Tensen still out there killing people. But the effects of the white event are not over; in this issue, a few more humans spectacularly upgrade to superhumans. Meanwhile, Ken is learning how to use his powers, and the cops have found out who the Justice Killer is and are getting ready to hunt him down.
Not really all that much happens here, but it's all interesting. Plus I found out there's apparently a whole Chinese comic book tradition known as manhua (Izanami works at a shop that sells them). One thing that bugs me about this series: the way that almost every scene in which someone discovers they have superpowers has to involve gruesome, gruesome death. On the one hand, that actually kind of makes sense realistically. If you suddenly gained amazing powers without realizing it, there's a very good chance someone would get seriously injured before you could learn to control them. But still. Ugh.
Thumbs Up
Lost Boys: Reign of Frogs #1
Yes, it's about those Lost Boys. The vampire movie Lost Boys. It's a book from Wildstorm that I believe is meant to bridge the gap between the original film and the upcoming straight-to-DVD sequel. It opens up with a kid showing up at a surf board shop that turns out to belong to Edgar Frog, one of the brothers from the original movie. The kid wants to be an apprentice vampire slayer under Edgar. Edgar fills him in on some of his recent past, which involves him and his brother saving Washington D.C., and America itself, from vampire infestation. He also reveals some interesting and unlikely facts about the history of American and England. It's clear that something has come between Edgar and his brother in the present, but the flashback story in this issue hasn't revealed yet what that was.
This is actually a reasonably entertaining book, with some amusing and vaguely clever ideas. But it's not great, and the humor is pretty corny. I don't know what I was expecting from a Lost Boys comic book, but I guess I wanted a little more than this. I don't expect I'll buy another issue.
Thumbs Sideways
Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1
The first issue of a three-issue miniseries tying in with the Secret Invasion storyline, following how the invasion affects the members of our favorite foursome. It opens up by filling us in on just how the Skrull replaced Sue, then retells the FF-related events of Secret Invasion #1, and then continues by showing us what happens to Ben, Johnny, the kids, and Skrull Sue now that they and a big chunk of the Baxter Building have been warped into the Negative Zone.
It was definitely interesting to see some of the gaps of the Secret Invasion story filled in. I also like the way Skrull Sue tries to play Johnny - that's smart. She almost had me convinced for a few seconds there. However, in general this is not a very good comic. Besides her one rather clever attempt at trickery, the Skrull who has impersonated Sue actually does a pretty bad job at it. On the one hand, I don't think it makes much sense that Johnny would be so suspicious of her right away, but on the other hand, I also think it's pretty pathetic that she fails at his very first test of her identity - and it's not even a very hard test! If you're going to impersonate somebody, you should at least know that person's favorite movie. I mean, c'mon! Besides that, the book doesn't do too many other things that are particularly annoying - but it doesn't do anything that's particularly exciting, either. I don't plan to pick up any more issues of this series.
Thumbs Down
Serenity: Better Days #3
In this, the final issue of a wonderful little Serenity miniseries from authors Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews and artist Will Conrad, the Captain has been captured by a dude looking for "Dust Devils," who are essentially rebels who refused to stop fighting after the war had ended, thus becoming terrorists. Turns out it's not the Captain he really wants, however. The rest of the crew puts together a crazy plan to save him, but the plan is interrupted by an attack by yet another guy who hates the Captain. Oh, and as you might expect, they don't end up hanging on to all those fabulous riches they got their hands on in the first issue.
Like Whedon's Buffy series, this miniseries is a fantastic transference of a fantastic TV series into the comic book medium. All the characters we know and love are here, and this story could stand up beside any of the original episodes of the show. It's fun, funny, and clever, with plenty of action and surprises. I was a little shocked to learn about the tryst between Inara and another member of the crew, but on reflection I think it makes sense. I'm less sure that the (spoiler!) Captain giving up the hiding place of the money makes sense character-wise, but... I'm willing to let it go, especially with Inara's explanation. Overall it's a great miniseries.
Thumbs Up
Thunderbolts #120
The other Warren Ellis book I read this week was his penultimate issue of Thunderbolts, wherein the utter madness that has been raging in the Mountain continues. As I had hoped and anticipated, Osborn snaps completely and babbles hilariously to himself while putting on his old costume and heading out for an insane rampage. The psychics nearly get found out, but then manage to divert the suspicion, before getting ready to take the insanity and violence inside the Mountain to an even more dangerous level. It's another great Ellis comic, with lots of odd but very amusing and clever dialogue, and plenty of twisted and exciting action. I also continue to really enjoy Deodato's art, and his creative panel design and placement. It'll be sad to see Ellis off this book, but I'm also excited to see how he finishes up this storyline. I'm sure if it were up to him, he'd just kill everybody, but unfortunately Marvel probably wants to keep all these characters alive. Ah, well.
Thumbs Up
Wolverine: The Amazing Immortal Man and Other Bloody Tales #1
This is an odd little one-shot collecting three original Wolverine stories by writer David Lapham, all with a sideshow kind of theme to them. The first is called "The Amazing Immortal Man!" and tells a pretty neat little story from the 1930s when Wolverine was performing in a freakshow in a travelling circus - a circus run by crooks who robbed the towns while the show was going on. Wolverine falls for a girl there, but gets into a disagreement with the folks running the circus about how she should be treated. And when Wolverine gets into a disagreement with somebody it rarely turns out well.
The second story is a weird tale called "The Animal Man" about a busdriver who is stabbed by some punks on his bus one day, but then he and his passengers are saved by Wolverine. While recovering from his injuries, the driver somehow becomes convinced that he has acquired Wolverine's powers and abilities, as well as an ability to sense the amount of evil in every person he meets. He heads out to fight crime with predictably catastrophic results.
The final story, "Coney Island Baby," sees Wolverine tracking a mysterious murderer that turns out to be a type of creature he's seen before. I would say that the stories steadily decrease in quality as the book goes on. "Immortal Man" is an effective and moving story, with great, atmospheric art by penciler Johnny Timmons and colorist Jose Villarrubia. The very end is a little corny, but other than that, it's quite good. "Animal Man," mostly because it has a deranged narrator, is really quite an odd little story, and there's even something strangely... offensive about it. But it's entertaining enough. The story that just fails utterly is the final one, "Coney Island Baby." This is the first one actually narrated by Wolverine himself, and it suffers from the melodrama that Lapham injects into Logan's voice. Also, the story is pretty cliche and has a seriously anticlimactic ending. Just not so good.
So overall, it's an interesting little collection of stories, but not anything really fantastic.
Thumbs Sideways
Wolverine #65
Jason Aaron's run on this title ends with this issue, wherein both the flashback and present day storylines are concluded. The present day story has a pretty brutal, if not particularly surprising, ending, but the flashback story really shocked me. I did not expect it to turn out that (spoiler!) Wolverine was the one who double-crossed the gang. I'm actually not even sure that fits with Wolverine's character, but it does make a certain kind of sense in the context of this book. I was a little disappointed that after this whole long story all about trying to kill Mystique (spoiler!), Wolverine doesn't actually kill Mystique, but just walks away, assuming that she will eventually die from her injuries. Which is an assumption he of all people should know that you can never, ever make in any X-Men-related comic. I know Marvel needs to leave the door open to bringing the character back, but did the door have to be this wide open? Of course, on the other hand, it is a pretty brutal and impressive thing for him to do, just leaving her to die slowly in the middle of the desert.
Overall, it was a pretty great story from one of my new favorite writers.
Thumbs Up
X-Men Origins: Colossus #1
This is a one-shot which, as you might expect, tells the origin story of the X-Man known as Colossus. I've always liked this character, and when I flipped through this book in the store it looked pretty good, so I decided to pick it up, even though I didn't have very high hopes for it. To my surprise, it actually turned out to be quite excellent. It opens up in Russia with Piotr as a young child. When he finds that his beloved older brother has died, in his fury and grief his mutant power manifests. The news eventually gets out to both the Russian government and Professor X, and it becomes a race to see who will get him first, and whether Piotr's family will be hurt in the process.
It's a story with strong characters and dialogue that's moving and effective. There's also really cool uses of really cool mutant powers, and some really fantastic action sequences. It's thrilling, fun, exciting, and just overall a great comic. Definitely a very pleasant surprise.
Thumbs Up |
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