|
|
| Wednesday, July 23, 2008 11:22 PM |
| The Take |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor's weekly comic book review post.
This post covers new releases from the weeks of July 9th and July 16th (I actually totally forgot I'd never finished the 7/9 reviews, overwrote all the ones I'd written so far by mistake, and had to rewrite them all... grrr...), plus some comics I reread, and a book I got out of the library a while back and finally finished. Whew.
Library book
The Cartoon History of the Universe, Volumes 1-7
This book, written and illustrated by Larry Gonick, is pretty much what it sounds like - a history of the universe done in cartoon strip (or really, comic book) format. (Of course, once we get to the point where the Earth is formed, it becomes much more a history of the Earth than a history of the universe, but I'm okay with that.) These seven volumes cover everything from the Big Bang through Alexander the Great. I read them as one collected trade paperback edition, printed in 2001; the content was originally published in 1990.
The book uses a very down-to-Earth and wryly funny tone to tell its fascinating and informative story about the rise of life, humanity, and civilization on Earth. It makes sure never to take itself or its subject too seriously (even when things get violent and nasty), which makes for a very refreshing and entertaining history. There's a long list of sources at the back, but I still wonder how accurate his information is. I suppose it is as accurate as any history of events that took place so long ago - that being, not very. Still, I get the feeling that it's a decent guess at what happened, and also that Gonick is doing his best to get past the myths, legends, and propaganda to what really happened. He's not afraid to take even a story from the Bible and point out which parts of it are probably false, exaggerated, metaphorical, or borrowed from earlier sources, then explain the truth they might be hiding. It's particularly interesting to read his version of the story told in 300 - it's quite a bit different from the movie!
This is a totally fascinating book and I feel like I learned a lot from it. I'm definitely interested in tracking down the rest of the volumes.
Thumbs Up
Rereads
B.P.R.D.: Garden of Souls #1-5
B.P.R.D.: Killing Ground #1-5
These were the two most recent B.P.R.D. series set in the present day. After I read them the first time, I felt vaguely confused and disappointed by them, but determined to read them again, this time in quick sequence, instead of just one each month. In the past week, I finally got around to it, and as I suspected, the stories made a lot more sense to me this time, and I enjoyed the series a great deal more.
Thumbs Up
New releases, 7/9
B.P.R.D.: The Warning #1
This new B.P.R.D. series picks up right where Killing Ground left off, with Abe and a crew of soldiers up in the mountains looking for Daimio (or what's left of him), and Johann, Liz, Kate, and Panya trying to figure out who the guy was in Liz's dreams, and why Lobster Johnson appeared out of nowhere to kick him out. A seance is performed to try to get some more info out of Johnson, and he gives them a name - the name of a man Panya once knew. Panya and Liz try tracking him down and although he strikes back at Panya, she does seem to figure out where he is.
The old creative team, of Mike Mignola and John Arcudi on writing, Guy Davis on art, and Dave Stewart on colors, is at the top of its game again here, with an intriguing story and wonderful visuals. Plus I'm pretty sure the frogs are coming back! I think everything's going to start coming together. Very exciting.
Thumbs Up
Ultimate Origins #2
Like the first issue of this surprisingly good new miniseries from Brian Michael Bendis, this one opens up in the present, this time with Carol Danvers bringing the FF in to answer a distress call at what turns out to be a top secret S.H.I.E.L.D. base sort of like Area 51 - a sort of repository for all the weird crap they've found over the years. The distress call has to do with the fact that one of the weird things has just turned on. Next we get a flashback to the origin story of Ultimate Captain America, which is quite similar to the regular Captain America origin story. I was a little surprised to see Dugan there in the past (I guess he doesn't age either??), and also the weird artifact from the opening story pops up out of nowhere. It's interesting stuff, and Cap's story is as moving and effective as always. I'm definitely liking this series a lot more than I thought I would.
Thumbs Up
Nova #15
The lamest Nova story arc ever continues as Nova manages to escape the dying planet onto Galactus' ship, but loses the Worldmind in the process. Then he runs into Harrow again and they continue their battle. He realizes Harrow has been stowing away on Galactus' ship for a while now, feeding off the fear and panic of each dying world. The Silver Surfer finds them squabbling like children, and Nova rats out Harrow like a kid ratting out his sibling to his parents. Galactus takes care of the vermin and tosses Nova far away, in an almost literal deus ex machina ending.
This story arc just didn't work for me. I found it dull and lame. I'm seriously thinking of dropping this book, which makes me sad, because it's one of the first comics I fell in love with and started collecting. But if the next story arc is as dumb as this one, it's definitely time to give up on it.
Thumbs Down
Wolfskin Annual #1
I'd never heard of Wolfskin before until it popped up on the new releases list for this week, but it had Warren Ellis' name on it, so I knew I had to get it. Turns out it's another of his collaborations with Mike Wolfer, where Ellis writes the story and Wolfer provides the script; this time around, Gianluca Pagliarani (pencils), Chris Dreier (inks), and Juanmar (color) provide the rather lackluster art. The story follows a muscular barbarian, rather like Conan, who wanders a mostly uncivilized world, rather like the one Conan wandered. He saves a (hot, half-naked) primitive woman at the beginning of the story, then wanders off to a city that turns out to have a dark secret; it's controlled and protected by a couple of over-muscled brutes who are also taking the villagers' children. Wolfskin straightens things out with a generous application of violence, only to find that this town didn't want to be saved. So off he runs to the next adventure.
Besides being an obvious and unimaginative rip-off of Conan, this is a rather unpleasant story about rather unpleasant people. Even with Ellis' name on it, I don't think I'd pick up another issue.
Thumbs Down
Secret Invasion #4
The other Brian Michael Bendis series I'm enjoying a lot more than I thought I would, besides Ultimate Origins, is Secret Invasion. Some pretty crazy stuff must be happening in some of the tie-ins, too, because this one's opening crawl reveals that the Skrulls are executing heroes one by one on live TV! The issue goes on to show Miss Marvel having a pretty bad day at the hands of Skrulls and humans alike (which is okay by me, because I don't like her very much), while Nick Fury and his Commandos lay the beat-down on some of the invaders. All through the first half of the issue we're treated to some really depressing narration about how the humans are bound to be defeated, which turns out to be a speech the Skrull queen is making to Tony over in the Savage Land. As the queen exits, Natasha pulls off some bad-ass Skrull-killing and tells Tony not to buy what the queen was selling. Then the issue ends with a bang, revealing that the Hood is going to pull the villains together to join the fight against the Skrulls, and that a couple of the big heavy-hitting heroes are showing up to kick some Skrull butt, too. Awesome.
Thumbs Up
Joker's Asylum: Penguin #1
This is the latest in a series of one-shots, each by a different creative team, and each apparently with a frame story that features the Joker sitting around in Arkham Asylum, acting as the Crypt Keeper and telling a story about one of his fellow villains. I hadn't really planned on picking up any of these because I rarely enjoy DC series of this sort, but this book had Jason Aaron's name on it, so I had no choice. (I'm not quite sure how Aaron was allowed to write it, given his exclusive contract with Marvel, but whatever.) Providing the rather impressive art is Jason Pearson. The narrative is essentially the origin story of the Penguin, paralleled with a story from his more recent history wherein he meets, saves, and falls for a very nice young lady, only to see the relationship fall apart when she discovers his true nature. As usual with Aaron, the whole book is really just a brutal character portrait of a seriously twisted individual. The whole "picked on nerd who seeks violent revenge" thing is a little cliche, but Aaron handles it well here. It's an effective, well told story. It hasn't convinced me to pick up any other entries in the series, but still...
Thumbs Up
Guardians of the Galaxy #3
The new Marvel space adventure series continues with a nice big fight between the titular team and the Cardinals of the Church of Universal Truth. Meanwhile, Mantis gets a surprise visit, which is surprising, and the weird guy from the future with Cap's shield gets to have a fight with what is apparently another mysterious super-dude from the future. Gamora does a surprisingly selfless and totally bad-ass thing to secure the team's escape from another nasty rift event, and a mysterious connection between the Church and Adam Warlock is revealed. Interesting stuff! I'm liking all these intriguing mysteries, cool art, and fun action. This isn't my favorite series, but it's heading in a good direction at the moment.
Thumbs Up
The Goon #26
This is another pretty serious, dark issue of The Goon, but it also has some very funny moments, and a brutal, impressive ending. I like it! Plotwise, more major characters get killed, and the Goon and his team do some spying and discover a traitor in their midst.
Thumbs Up
Captain Britain and MI13 #3
Okay, I still hate Faiza and all her dialogue, but this issue is way better than the last. It sees the British army, Faiza, and the Black Knight making a last desperate stand against the Skrulls in the real world while Pete and his team make their stand in the realm of magic. Pete finally tracks down the source of the voice in his head and opens up a door he was told not to open, letting out some pretty questionable allies. Then... well, I'm trying to avoid spoilers, but this guy shows up and it's really cool and bad-ass, and exceedingly British. It's also a little corny, but it worked on me; practically brought a tear to my eye. Very well done. I'm not sure why books that attempt to evoke feelings of patriotism and pride in relation to England work so well on me. I guess it's just my anglophilia. Regardless, this one sure did the job! Looking forward to the next issue!
Thumbs Up
Action Comics #867
The Brainiac saga continues in this new and rather puzzling issue of Action Comics. Superman talks to Supergirl about Brainiac, only to discover that she knows a lot more about him than he does - such as the interesting fact that no one, not even Superman, has ever met the real Brainiac before, only his probes. Also, they talk about Kandor as if neither of them know about the whole bottling thing. Did the bottle city storyline get taken out of continuity at some point, and they're only putting it back in now? I don't know. Anyway, Superman is upset that he knows so little about his home, and about Brainiac, and decides to take the fight to his enemy. There are some rather moving scenes with him and his adopted parents, then Superman gets himself in trouble. Looks like he might meet the real Brainiac after all!
Like I said, I'm a little puzzled by some of the continuity stuff, but that's nothing new with the DCU, where the entire continuity changes every couple months. The point is, I'm still enjoying Geoff Johns' great story and the amazing art (by penciller Gary Frank, inker John Sibal, and colorist Brand Anderson) that accompanies it. Here's hoping they can continue to keep up this high level of quality.
Thumbs Up
Eternals #2
Ajak, theoretically one of the "good" Eternals, is totally bitter that Makkari is the one who gets to talk to the dreaming Celestial, so he flips out a bit on the rather pathetic human groupies that have gathered around said Celestial. The Order get a cameo (yay!), but only end up getting Jedi mind tricked by Ajak. Meanwhile, Makkari is learning the rather unpleasant truth behind life and death in the universe - it's apparently all just a game between the Celestials and the Horde. Hope that turns out to not be true. And maybe it will, because as it turns out, the dreaming Celestial is not your everyday, average Celestial; there's something a little off about him. As the competing teams of Eternals continue to look for new recruits, Ajak plans to infiltrate the other team, and Druig's plans begin to become clearer.
It's a pretty packed issue, but still ultimately rather boring. This series really isn't grabbing me so far. Maybe I'll give it one more chance to shape up before dropping it.
Thumbs Sideways
New releases, 7/16
Omega the Unknown #10
The final issue of Jonathan Lethem's Marvel miniseries is finally here, and while I expected it to be weird, I guess I didn't expect it to be quite this weird. I rather like that the issue is almost entirely without dialogue - it makes sense for a series about a mute guy to end that way - and I feel like I do understand what's going on to a certain extent, insofar as the battle between the brain-washing robot franchise plague and the salt of free will is still going on, but our young hero seems to feel that free will is winning, as he throws away his Omega heritage in preference for a life of his own intellectual pursuits. But as for what happens to the original Omega, with the weird hobo Hollywood Squares thing at the end... I have no idea what that's about. Essentially, like a lot of Lethem's novels, the series is loaded with great ideas, and starts out extremely strong, but by the end it just gets muddled and confusing, and peters out in a very disappointing fashion.
Ah, well. It was still an interesting experiment.
Thumbs Sideways
Voltron: A Legend Forged #1
I know, I know. What the heck am I doing reading a Voltron comic? Well, what can I say? I've always loved Voltron, and this new series promised to finally tell the origin of the robot - how it was built with a combination of magic and technology - and I couldn't resist that.
It opens up in "the ancient past," with the team from the lion Voltron running from some guys who are shooting at them. They hook up with an alien dude who's normally their enemy, but whom they agree to team up with given their current circumstances. Meanwhile, a mysterious council is somehow aware of them and watching them, and believes they're the ones who could help complete "the project." Back in the future, the vehicle Voltron is protecting a convoy carrying some kind of important cargo when a bunch of pirates show up for a hit-and-run raid. But then they themselves in turn are attacked by that same alien guy from the past. The lion Voltron team shows up and both Voltrons are kicking ass when a missile strikes the mysterious cargo, somehow sending the lion Voltron, the alien dude, and the leader of the pirates back in time (which I guess explains how they were in the ancient past in the opening scene).
I actually don't know the characters or stories of the Voltron universe all that well, so I was a little confused here. The jumping back and forth through time thing puzzled me, as well. I'm still curious about where this is going and what the origin of Voltron is, but this is not a very good comic. The art's decent, the writing's okay, but neither are really all that impressive. I probably won't even bother picking up another issue of this.
Thumbs Sideways
The Mighty Avengers #16
Yep, it's another Secret Invasion tie-in. A lot of these Avengers books aren't even dealing with the teams in their titles anymore; Bendis is just using them to tell various flashback stories about the invasion. This particular issue goes back in time to tell us the story of how Elektra got replaced, and some of the things the Skrull-Elektra did after taking her identity. One thing she did was hire Electro to create some kind of distraction involving a Savage Land dude - probably the thing that brought all the various Avengers to the Savage Land and set off all this madness. But the bulk of the issue is Elektra (a rather wrinkled, old, and tired-looking Elektra - what's up with that?) taking out a bunch of Skrulls before finally being bested. Then it turns out the Skrull-Elektra's later death was all a part of the plan - as was taking over the Hand.
It's a reasonably interesting issue, with some good action, and it does shed a little light (although only a very little) on the Skrulls' plans. But it didn't exactly blow me away. And yeah, Elektra did get to take out some Skrulls before going down, but it still seems like she lost a little easily for being a super hero and all.
Thumbs Sideways
Captain America #40
It's the big fight! Captain America versus Captain America, with our nation on the line! Sort of. Anyway, our Cap is losing to the brainwashed Cap when Bucky shows him his face, which starts cracking the guy open (a live Bucky kind of contradicts the story he's been told, which is that this Cap killed Bucky). Falcon guy swoops in and saves our Cap, and maybe now they can follow the crazy brainwashed Cap back to the Red Skull's headquarters. But meanwhile, Sharon Carter's escape plans have gone disastrously awry - in a way, oddly enough, that's also rather disastrous for the Red Skull's plans.
It's a strong, exciting, dramatic issue, with some nail-biting tension and serious action. Good stuff!
Thumbs Up
The Incredible Hercules #119
Oh no! The pup really is a Skrull! And after the hilarious sum-up intro page, we go back in time to explain when and how the switch happened. Then the Skrull makes its move, and Snowbird is forced to make a terrible sacrifice to get them into the home of the Skrull Gods. But now that they're there, how will the handful of them who are left defeat these Gods? And then how will they get back? It doesn't look good!
Pretty good issue! Some excitement, some surprises, some tragedy, some humor. I'm also excited to see what happens next, which is always good. After the main story, in the back of the book, is a fun Mini Marvels story featuring a red Hulk, a green Hulk, and a blue Hulk (!) hanging out around a pool having a small disagreement about who can make the biggest splash. It's cute and amusing.
Thumbs Up
Marvel 1985 #3
An opening flashback reveals a bit more about the relationship between our main character's dad and Clyde Wyncham, taking us closer to the Wyncham secret that's at the heart of this mystery. Then we find out that in the present, all hell is breaking loose in town, and it's becoming quite impossible for anyone to just laugh off Toby's claims about what's going on. There's a really creepy scene with M.O.D.O.K. that makes the character way more eerie and menacing than I've ever seen him be before. We end with Toby and his Dad in serious peril, and their world in chaos. Pretty brutal stuff! Still loving the art, and the sense of real strangeness, horror, and awe they're creating.
Thumbs Up
Ghost Rider #25
Meanwhile, Ghost Rider still totally rules! There's a great opening that further establishes the character of the Deacon, then the mass-murdering priest guy tells his story, and that all starts making a lot more sense. His story is actually really cool: how he became an enemy of Zadkiel and then hooked up with Satanists to get away from the angel. He also reveals that Johnny's chances against Zadkiel are even worse than he thought, and that Zadkiel is bringing together all the spirits of vengeance under his banner. Ooh, multiple spirits of vengeance! Cool! Then it's time for a brutal fight between Johnny and the Deacon, and some fiery punishment of sinners. Good times! Thank you as always, Mr. Aaron!
Thumbs Up
The Helm #1
I didn't expect much of this new Dark Horse miniseries, but it sounded kind of fun, so I picked it up. And what do you know? It is fun! The concept is pretty much summed up in the tagline on the front of the book: "What if you had a superpower.. and it hated your guts?" As the issue opens, we are introduced to a fat, out-of-shape loser named Matthew, who gets dumped by his girlfriend and fired from his crappy job in the first two pages. As he's headed back home (to his parents' house, where he still lives, natch) he is distracted from mourning for the loss of his lady love by a garage sale. There he finds a mysterious ancient helmet that calls to him, telling him he's The One. Once it gets a good look at him, it decides it's mistaken, but Matthew's not passing up this opportunity. The helmet allows him to see the mystical world of monsters that exists all around him. But it's also horribly disappointed in him, heaps insults on him, and tries to kill him. Still, by the end, after Matt survives his first fight against evil, it seems to maybe have a grudging respect for him and be willing to try training him.
It's a great concept, and the writing (by Jim Hardison) is clever and funny (seriously, there is some pretty hilarious stuff in here). The art's decent, too. I'm excited! This could be good!
Thumbs Up
Conan the Cimmerian #1
I wasn't really a big fan of Dark Horse's previous Conan series, but I do like the character, so now that they're relaunching it under this new title, I thought I'd give it another try. I'm still mostly unimpressed, however. The issue opens with Conan heading back to his homeland after many years away. He's immediately ambushed by thieves, but escapes with his life, thanks in part to the arrival of a stranger, who takes him in and reveals he knows some of his family history. The rest of the issue is the beginning of a story the stranger tells Conan about his grandfather, Connacht. Connacht was a big, tough wanderer, too, just like his grandson, and in the story he saves two children from being sacrificed by bog people. But the kids are a bit odd, and there's something else out on the bog with them.
It's a vaguely interesting story, accompanied by reasonably strong art, but the issue as a whole just didn't grab me. I might pick up another issue, but I doubt it.
Thumbs Sideways
Scalped #19
The latest issue in Jason Aaron's brilliant noir thriller opens with a messed up flashback to Bad Horse's messed up childhood, then jumps forward to his possibly even more messed up present, wherein he's moving in with his new girlfriend, Carol, who I'm pretty sure is also his half-sister. They have filthy hot sex, find themselves unable to talk to each other about their various problems, each have a terrible day at work where they're yelled at by their bosses, then meet back at home and have some more filthy hot sex, once again desperate to spill the beans to each other about what's on their minds, but once again unable to do so. Meanwhile, Carol is haunted by an old relationship with a man named Graham - a relationship that obviously ended disastrously, and that will probably be the subject of this arc.
It's typical, quality Scalped stuff - ruined people powerfully characterized. A particularly moving scene is the one in which Bad Horse and Carol are each thinking the things they'd desperately like to say to each other, but instead of saying them, they wander off, Bad Horse probably to go beat somebody up, and Carol to do drugs and wallow in her misery. Brutal!
Thumbs Up
John Constantine: Hellblazer #246
Hey, what do you know? It's Jason Aaron again! This is the second and final part of his extremely short run on this Vertigo title. Constantine arrives in Newcastle to find the place a shambles, with people doing horrific things to themselves and each other left and right. Turns out it has to do with a monster summoned there many years ago, and a terrible deal that Constantine made with it to lessen the horror and carnage it would cause. The documentary filmmakers poking around riled it up again. It's a creepy, disturbing story, with some seriously creepy, disturbing things going on in the background, lots of cool dark magic, and a great little ending. Aaron strikes again!
Thumbs Up |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jim Genzano's books on Goodreads
