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| Tuesday, August 12, 2008 08:41 PM |
| (Last updated on Saturday, August 16, 2008 09:14 AM) | | The Take |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor's weekly comic book review post.
(Skip all the way to the bottom for a short update.)
This covers new releases from the week of August 6th. That's right, I'm putting the post out on time this week! Woo hoo!
The Authority #1
The new Authority ongoing has arrived from Wildstorm, with writing by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning and art by Simon Coleby. I love the Authority, and I've rather enjoyed what I've read by the Abnett and Lanning duo (although I'm souring on them a bit lately), so I was really looking forward to this book. Unfortunately, it's not particularly exciting or well written, and it's so dark and hopeless and depressing - describing as it does the world after the end of the world - that it's hard to even get through.
This first issue of the series is a tie-in with a big mulit-book Wildstorm event called World's End, which itself is the follow-up to another multi-book Wildstorm event, and so on and so forth. I haven't been following any of these huge crossover events because I'm not really much of a Wildstorm person, and because a lot of them are written by Christos Gage, who is the enemy of all good things. But it's clear enough at the beginning of this book what has happened: an apocalyptic event occurred which the Authority was unable to stop, and now they're trying to do what they can to help the survivors. The story is told from the perspective of the least interesting member of the team, flying lady Shen Li-Min. She's their courier and their watchman now. Midnighter's pretty much the same as always, but in one of the issue's few interesting and moving moments, it's revealed that he and Apollo are now forced to spend all their time apart, as the sun-powered Apollo can only survive high, high up in the sky, above the endless clouds of smog that now encircle the Earth. The Engineer, meanwhile, has lost all her powers, and Jack is in even worse shape. It's not clear what happened to Jenny Quantum (or Quarx), but I suspect she may have died. The Carrier is crashed and dead, and fused in some weird way with the dead city of London (now referred to us Unlondon).
Pretty brutal, huh? This issue spends pretty much all of its time catching us up with where the Authority is now, and doesn't give us much of an idea where the story is going to go next. Hopefully it will consist of more than them moping about and leading small groups of survivors back to the Carrier. Because if it doesn't, I can't think of much reason to continue reading.
To add insult to injury, there's a short story written by Christos Gage in the back of the issue, apparently the second episode in a back-up series spread across multiple books. It's about some guy named Lynch who's wandering the wasteland of the post-apocalypse Earth, trying to find an evil mastermind named TAO so he can kill him. This "story" is all narration, and nothing happens. Thanks for reminding me why I never buy any comics written by you, Mr. Gage!
I will be picking up #2 of this series - I like Abnett, Lanning, and the Authority too much to give up on it after only one issue. But here's hoping that following issues will be more interesting - and devoid of back-up stories written by Christos Gage.
Thumbs Sideways
Criminal 2 #4
If I had a rating above "Thumbs Up," I would give this book the rating above that. So, so, so good. The wonderful epigram on the inside cover sets the mood ("The last refuge of the insomniac is a sense of superiority to the sleeping world." -Leonard Cohen), and then we slide quickly into the dark, dirty world of noir, full of filth, crime, violence, beautiful women in trouble, and guys who can't make anything but the wrong decision. Our main character is the counterfeiter and cartoonist named Jacob who has already appeared as a supporting character in previous Criminal stories. Through his opening narration, we get to know him and his history a little better. Then, of course, he meets a beautiful woman and her nasty boyfriend, and his fragile world starts to break into pieces. I've enjoyed Criminal since I started reading it, but Brubaker and Phillips seem to be getting better all the time. This issue in particular is just pure noir brilliance. Can't wait to see where this story goes next.
Thumbs Up
Wolverine: Killing Made Simple
Like any good Marvel fanboy, I'm a sucker for a Wolverine comic. This is a one-shot containing two original stories about the character, plus a rather lengthy preview of Wolverine: First Class #5. First up is "Killing Wolverine Made Simple" by writer Chrisopher Yost, penciler Koi Turnbull, inker Sal Regla, and colorist Beth Sotelo. Wolverine is keeping an eye on a young mutant girl named Trance when a group of evil weirdos show up to kill her parents and kidnap her. Wolverine tries to stop it, but just ends up getting captured as well. Trance doesn't want to use her power to escape, and assumes it's not necessary: certainly the invulnerable, invincible Wolverine will save them both! Wolverine tries to disabuse her of this notion by describing to her the various ways he can be killed. In the end, they work together to escape, with Trance triumphant, and Wolverine annoyed at her like the grumpy old man he is. It's a pretty decent story, but I feel like it was an even better concept that just wasn't executed as well as it could have been. The storytelling here is a bit clumsy and confusing, and there are some weird tonal shifts. Plus I feel like a lot more could have been done with the idea of listing all the ways Wolverine could be killed.
Next is a story called "Disturbing Consequences" by Todd Dezago (writer), Steve Kurth (pencils), Serge LaPointe (inks), and Joel Seguin (colors). Here Wolverine has been ordered by an unnamed secretive and powerful organization (possibly the Canadian government?) to head out to a research facility in Antarctica to find out why the folks there stopped all communication 10 days ago. As you might expect, it's not because something really good happened. In fact, they were digging deep in the ice and came across something really nasty. And now Wolverine has to face it. But maybe that was the plan all along?
Despite the familiarity of the plot, this is a pretty neat little story with decent art and some effective and creepy moments. I'm a sucker for stories about people digging up horrible old nasty things in isolated places. Add some intrigue and Wolverine on top of that and you've got a recipe for great comics.
The last thing in the book is seven pages from the next issue of Wolverine: First Class. I've never tried the book, and now I'm glad I haven't. The art's dull and cartoony, the dialogue is dumb, and the characters are lame. No thanks!
Thumbs Sideways
Eternals #3
This series is one of two that I considered dropping this week. I stood in the store looking at both issues for a while, trying to decide whether I should really buy them or not. In the end I broke down and did so. And I'm glad I did. This was probably the best issue of Eternals I've read yet. Still not great, but definitely entertaining and intriguing. Makkari continues to learn more about the history of the Celestials - specifically the history of the dreaming Celestial - and about how the universe really works. Included is a truly awesome flashback sequence featuring an epic battle between Celestials. I'm not sure if it wasn't this good before, or I just didn't notice before, but Daniel Acuna's art is truly fantastic in this issue. The Celestial battle is particularly beautiful and impressive. His character work is also very effective, and he puts a lot of atmosphere into various scenes thanks to his expert use of shadows, light, and color. Storywise, things get more complicated and interesting in this issue, as Ajak seems to be starting up a new, third faction of Eternals; Sersi is on the trail of the mole, and she won't like what she finds; and the mole is getting close to some really sensitive information that could leave the Eternals helpless if it gets back to the Horde. It's surprisingly good stuff, so I guess I'll be back for yet another issue.
Thumbs Up
Ultimate Origins #3
Brian Michael Bendis' let's-tie-everything-together Ultimate Universe miniseries continues as the FF examine the weird column with the glowing eye in Nick Fury's treasure chest, learning little except that it's creepy and could be really dangerous. Meanwhile, copies of the thing seem to be popping up all over the world, wherever meta-humans are present. What can it mean? Back in the past, we get to see the origin of Magneto, what he has to do with Wolverine, and his first meeting with Charles Xavier. Together, he and Xavier start setting up a mutant paradise in the Savage Land. But it's almost immediately clear that they have different ideas about the future of mutants and humanity. And hey, there's that damn column again!
It's hard not to love a comic that features the first meeting between Erik Lehnsherr and Charles Xavier, and gives you a look at the growing discontent between them that you know will eventually blossom into all-out war. They're interesting characters and they interact in interesting ways. The thing with the column is also very mysterious and fascinating. It's slightly disappointing that more doesn't happen in this issue, but hey, the next issue features the Hulk! Woo hoo!
Thumbs Up
Jack of Fables #24
This is the last issue in the Olde Time Western story arc this title has been following for the past little while, and although it definitely comes to a satisfying conclusion here, I'm still sad to see it end. Something about the setting and characters really seems to have got the creative juices flowing for the erstwhile writing duo of Matthew Sturges and Bill Willingham, not to mention the artists (Tony Akins and Russ Braun on pencils, Jose Marzan on inks, and Daniel Vozzo on colors). The dialogue is brilliant and hilarious, with some wonderful pomp and swagger and twang to it; the art is dramatic and colorful; and the story is imaginative, fun, and even moving, with two rather complex and fascinating characters at its heart. And then there's Babe the Blue Ox in the back! Great, great stuff.
Thumbs Up
House of Mystery #4
This was the other book, along with Eternals, that I seriously considered not buying this week, but that I bought anyway and ended up really enjoying. It helped that this time I found the philosophical musings in the narration boxes to be effective and interesting (the theme for this month was longing). Fig is still fighting hard against the idea that she's trapped in this house, and she's also still hiding secrets about her past. She meets one or two more strange characters, and comes across one or two more strange rooms in the house this issue, before she begins to cause some serious chaos that is apparently familiar to her. In between there's an interlude with that poor lady Rina, who appears to be having a bad time of it, and this month's back-up story, which is a very entertaining little romp called "Familiar." It's written by Matthew Sturges with art by Steve Rolston and tells the story of a witch princess exiled from her realm of magic to the plain old real world, with nothing but a vicious leopard named Floyd for company. (And I have to admit at least part of my enjoyment of the story comes from the fact that the leopard shares a name with my dog.) She'll be able to get home when she finds her name, hidden inside true love's kiss. But the search is a long and surprisingly bloody one - and as it turns out, maybe not even worth it after all. The story is very clever and wryly funny, and even has an empowering message - sort of.
To be honest, I liked the back-up story better than the main one in this issue, but the main one is growing on me. I'm definitely interested enough in what's going to happen to Fig and company to pick up at least one more issue.
Thumbs Up
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight #17
Last but certainly not least this week is Joss Whedon's latest contribution to pop culture. This issue starts in the future, but takes a short step back in time to catch us up with what Fray's been up to, who the major players are in her world, and how she ended up being there to run into Buffy when the time came. In the present, Willow's trying to figure out what happened, and Xander is trying to pick up the pieces at the castle. Back in the future, Buffy and Fray quickly and predictably figure out that they're both on the same side, then try to piece together what's going on and how to fix it. Interestingly enough, it looks like Buffy's experiment of awakening all the slayers at once ends up being a complete failure somehow. The last page of the issue is reserved for the usual surprise reveal, but in this case it was a surprise I saw coming from pretty far away. Still, it hints at more mysteries and fascinating possibilities about this future and how it came to be.
Anyway, it's Buffy. Of course I loved it.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention, this book has in the back of it a sneak peek into an upcoming novel by Brad Meltzer called The Book of Lies. It consists of the prologue and the first chapter. It's in here apparently because Meltzer also writes comics (although I don't think I've read any of them myself). I'm glad it's in here, because now I know I never have to read anything by Brad Meltzer. Seriously, how do people who are this bad at writing become best-selling novelists? This is terrible! Simply terrible.
Thumbs Up |
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