THE UNWRITTEN #17 – Well, I was real sorry to have read ahead of time what the format of this issue was, because I think if I’d gone in cold, it would have blown my mind, but, knowing, I definitely bumped it up to first read of the night. A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure comic book! Presented horizontally with two little pages per actual comic page. Veeeeeery ambitious, and just a hell of a trip the first time through, because you’re trying not to see flashes of all these other pages as you’re thumbing through the book, and there keeping being all these paths not taken. I guess I chose well, because the first pass through took me all the way to the happy ending on Page 60. Then, going back a second time, it becomes apparent that Carey structures it in this beautiful way in which the story still folds back into other options, meaning if you chose Option A the first time and then the next time went with Option C instead of Option D, then when you take Option B on the repeat, eventually it works its way back to C and D so that you can take that other one, too. But then there are these scenes that are exactly the same no matter what, but are crazy because you’ve chosen different motivations for the characters, so one time, Wilson Taylor is hypnotizing Lizzie for altruistic reasons, the next time, you’re pretty sure he’s going to wind up molesting her because You, The Reader demanded it! But then I started wondering about, say the folks that went with Option A but then D, then on the next pass were B & C, so like they were rocking half of my first pass and half of my second all during their first, but missing the complementary halves. Yes? This makes perfect sense to me, but I don’t blame you for losing the thread, it’s a bit nutty. I thought that I’d hit all options on the first two passes (totaling 35 minutes, if anyone’s curious, quite the $4 reading value), but thumbing through now, I’m seeing some thread about an orderly or janitor somebody hanging himself, so I’ll have to dive back in. Not right now!
The only criticism I have about it, and maybe it’s just the choices I made, but once Tommy and Saxon show up, the choices taper off, so that the back half of the narrative is pretty similar no matter what messed up stuff you chose or dodged to have happen to poor Lizzie when she was a little girl. The back end could have been more elegant, but the issue’s already just a hell of a balancing act. Ryan Kelly’s inks on Gross’s art look great. Best issue yet.
MORNING GLORIES #1 – All right, this is a second printing and it came out a month ago, but my friendly neighborhood LCS ordered about 4 copies and they were gone five minutes after opening and I had no chance and just had to go track it down when I saw that I was about to miss the boat on #2, as well. So, does it buckle under all the $40-on-eBay hype four weeks after initial release? No sir, it does not. Great great first issue. It really feels more like an excellent television pilot, and I mean that in the best possible way. Hard to articulate this, the art’s gorgeous, but the beats, they’re just more TV, you know? Like with CASANOVA, UMBRELLA ACADEMY, CHEW (just spitting out here the most recent first issues I adored that spring to mind), you never forget that you’re reading a comic. And that’s not a bad thing. But, here, I dunno. There was more acting? Somehow? Moving on from that mangled thought, I was real impressed with every aspect of this book. The way the opening scene grabs you but then flips it and slips right through your fingers. The economical 2-page opening for each main character. The meet-cute. The pretty shocking last page. This is definitely a ride to sign up for, dug it so much that I immediately bumped #2 down to the bottom of the night, leaving only Morrison afterward to bat cleanup.
NEW MUTANTS #16 – This is excellent New Mutants work, you get the feeling Wells and Kirk are just barely hitting their stride. I hope these guys hang out through #50. What long-time fan isn’t going to dig the moment between Sam and Dani? Or Illyana’s cloven-hoofed arrival? Or drunk New Mutants riding for days in Limbo? Or the babies from X-Terminators showing up and whupping everybody? Just realized reading this, I started picking up UNCANNY X-MEN monthly with #236, just a couple of months before INFERNO got going, which makes that my first live-and-in-person Big Event. And I remember walking down to the 7-11 on 19th & Quaker half a mile down the road from my house and laying down, I think a dollar (hell, Marvel probably had it up at a buck and a quarter) for X-TERMINATORS #1, a title I just had to have, because it contained Important Plot Guaranteed To Lead Back In to the book that I already enjoyed. God knows how many hundreds of times that’s happened since, but I appreciate Zeb Wells mining that 22-year-old storyline so that I could figure that out.
It felt pretty good to just be able to walk down 19th Street under my own power at eleven years old and buy a comic book. Though, man, still nothing like that little flutter on 34th between Avenue U and V I’d get every time the car would start to slow down to turn left, just before that old yellow sign came into view.
X-FACTOR #209 – Again, they blow a great splash page by putting it on the cover. That would have been a killer beat. PAD and company deliver another solid installment. Though, the best page of any Marvel comic this week is that freaking Thor promo for Fraction and Perry. I’ve been really working myself up over it the longer they’ve pushed it back, and I’m about ready to just start grabbing people in the store by the shirt and screaming at them that the God of Thunder is coming, he’s coming next month, at long last, hail and well met! Even pulled #337 out right before putting the little girl down tonight, fuck it, I’m jamming as much Simonson as I can between now and then. Context, son!
BRIGHTEST DAY #10 – My interest in this one’s been flagging, but they reeled me right back in with the Firestorm Matrix Big Bang retcon (killer bandname, there)(or, more likely, a song by those Kirby Krackle fellas up north) and then the sheer stupid ridiculous audacity of that last page. And the knowledge that this will probably sell more than Bendis’s AVENGERS again this month. Yeah, sheer stupid ridiculous audacity sums it up for me. Entertaining, though far from transcendent.
DV8 #6 – Mm, I need to go back and read these in one sitting, I guess in two months to get ready for #8. I haven’t held on to my grasp of who these characters are, though I remember it being pretty well laid out in #1. But I was more like, “Now who’s Hector?” than dialed into the scene. Maybe Isaacs’s best work, though, she can certainly make a redhead locked up in a room for 8 issues look amazing.
I hate myself for not buying NORTHLANDERS in singles.
STEVE ROGERS: SUPER-SOLDIER#3 – Brubaker/Eaglesham are killing it. This has been a great idea, showing how much of a hero Steve is, even without the formula coursing through his biceps. Makes me miss the first couple of years of Brubaker/Epting, but plus ca change . . .
SUPERGOD #4 – All right, this is another that came out forever ago, but I just got my sweaty little hands on it, and I’m glad it went this way, much better to have a longer break in between #3 and #4 than #4 and #5. Um, Ellis is still a snarling madman and we should probably just creep on by lest he hear us. Gastonny is really making it happen, as well, easily some of the best interiors I’ve ever seen from Avatar, smokes everybody except Ryp, I’d say. Ah, though Burrows was great on that first issue with Moore. The three panel shot when Perun activates his hammer, followed by, well, really just call it the whole opening six pages, that’s worth the $4, right there. Can’t wait to see how this one ends up. Ellis gives you more concept density in a single-digit run of creator-owned mini than you get in years worth of most serialized entertainment from the Big Two. Hickman’s FF being the notable exception.
MORNING GLORIES #2 – And now we’re back to you, my lovelies. This one was entertaining enough, though not quite such a concentrated blast as the first one, though I’m thinking we can chalk that up to a standard page count (not checking that, though). That RA Pamela chick is pretty damn annoying. And I guess this is the next day? We kind of need a caption at the top, it totally seems like it’s still their birthday, the day they showed up, but then everyone’s in detention and we get all of this NIGHT BEFORE flashback business, even though they would have had to keep Casey overnight in between issues for all of that to make since. Some rookie continuity malarkey, there. The covers are gorgeous, but it seems like colorist Alex Sollazzo should get his name on the cover before the guy who, yeah, drew an amazing picture. End of the day, a slight dip after the focused glory of #1, but still very engaging, and I’m in for the long haul.
****
BEST OF WEEK: JOE THE BARBARIAN #7 – It’s been quite a little while since #6, yes? More than worth the wait. Really quickened my heart to get that double-shot of Superman there on the opening splash, knew that the ALL-STAR chasm wasn’t about to open up or anything, but we can always hope. Totally made me miss the Dynamic Duo on the first pass through. We’re racing through pretty fast here, now. For insane panels this week, I’m pretty sure this book takes the top five. You’ve got the They’ve got zombies! call to arms, the hilarious cut to Smoot’s dad’s blue crab Renewal of Kingship ordeal, and every other one that Robin’s in. Sheer brilliant madness, I’ll be quite sad when it’s over, but so so grateful for all of the imagination fuel. Sean Murphy is a force.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
9/9/10
NEW AVENGERS #4 – Most folks I talk to seem to be digging this one slightly more than what Bendis/JRjr and crew have going on in the sister title. I’m not quite there, maybe it’s that I’m more into time travel or less so into magic (or, let’s be honest here, Brother Voodoo), but it doesn’t really matter which one provides more entertainment, because they’re both just a hell of a ride. This month, Luke Cage manages a “Sweet Christmas.” Has that actually been said since Bendis rehabilitated him from puffy-shirted 70s obscurity via the pretty shaky premise of sodomizing his wife-to-be? I feel like it’s just been teased—the line, not the sodomy, oh no, that business went down—but can’t recall it actually having been uttered. Immonen/Martin knock the dimensional rift business out of the park. Just this one right here, much less on top of the other ones, they feel like more of an event than any of Marvel’s efforts since, oh, the Age of Apocalypse, like even though they’re going to come out month after month until the end of time, something that matters is really happening and that this time Bendis won’t fumble the ball at the goalline. Really digging it.
THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #30 – Quite the cover. Well-written scene in the car. Just that one panel alone, when he asks, “Do I look like a man afraid of becoming obsolete to you?” the look on his face juxtaposed against the bow tie, brilliant. Larocca nails it. And the “wait, what is Steve calling S.H.I.E.L.D. these days?” is perfect. I’m also a fan of that drone swarm via phone apps idea, just the right sort of crackling idea that this book should have dribbling out from between its pages. Looks like we might be in the middle of another year-long arc. Oh, Tony, such plans Fraction has for you!
AMERICAN VAMPIRE #6 – I really dug the first double-arc, but was dubious about hanging out for 22 pages at $4, but I’ve got to give Snyder credit for setting up a pretty solid hook that will bring me back at least next month. All new protagonists, only one page of our lead, and it all looks gorgeous, thanks to Albuquerque. We’ll miss Sai King, but not that much, it seems.
JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #9 – Mm, it looks like Giffen has moved on, and I’m thinking I might as well. This isn’t bad, per se, it’s just not terribly compelling, and, you know, it’s got to be almost twice as good as average to justify the biweekly pace. A fan of the characters, but think I’ll just track down #37 of the old Giffen/Dematteis run and finish that one up, at long last. (IN OTHER NEWS: HOLY SHIT WAS THAT A NEW FACE ON THE EVENT ADS?!? LIKE, A TOTALLY DIFFERENT CHARACTER? THEY’VE BEEN HOLDING HER BACK? ALL THIS TIME? GETTING READY FOR THE LAST-MINUTE BLITZKRIEG? MIND-BLOWING! FOR REALS!)
GREEN LANTERN #57 – Man, everyone’s hitting Vegas, we’ve got Carol and company in this issue, X-Factor next month, and IDW/Brian Lynch looking to bleed their licensing dry by sending Spike there for 8 glorious issues at $3.99/pop. Pretty funny beat there, re: advisability of Larfleeze Takes Las Vegas. Maybe I’m just a sucker for a big kiss splash page, but that one shore was purty. I wonder how far ahead Johns has plotted this thing, he really seems to only be picking up speed six years and two monster crossovers in.
ADVENTURE COMICS #518 – Ha, Superboy bailing on PG was hilarious. Kevin Sharpe’s pencils seem to be tightening up a bit now that he’s got a couple issues under his belt. Though I have to say, Scott Clark’s making a hell of a campaign for the job with that cover. Can’t believe the market can sustain two monthly Legion books, actually come to think of it, don’t even know how well these are selling, but Levitz is sure writing the hell out of them. Am also getting into Lemire’s ATOM back-up as it picks up speed. Need to pick up that ESSEX COUNTY trilogy of his.
BATMAN & ROBIN #14 – Is this really the next-to-last Morrison issue? The time, it has roared on by. Wonderful bits in here, Pyg is as gloriously completely fucking insane as ever (or, as the first three issues), and Joker is note-perfect. That page after Damian’s scratched and the poison kicks in, Morrison drops a bit of his signature meta- in, the bit about an old pro not seeing the potential in Damian is actually Morrison himself, the original plan was to kill the little guy at the end of his first arc. Can you imagine? We never would have gotten this wonderful series. But yeah, that page, the bit about the crowbar and “You might be the funniest one yet,” yup, that’s Joker. Is it meant to be unclear how Dick got from preventing the Batmobile self-destructing to the Batcave? That was a bit more jarring than even usual. Irving’s stark tones might be a hard sell to someone who wants their spandex drawn with a little bit more cross-hatching, but I think it’s a perfect fit for this final arc.
BEST OF WEEK: DAYTRIPPER #10 – What a haunting, affecting, beautiful piece of work. I’ve loved everything I’ve seen and read from Ba and Moon, but you can tell how important this project was to them, can feel them pouring their hearts and souls into the words and panels. And Dave Stewart, my God. It’s too bad that he and Laura Martin probably won’t ever make a baby. I sat down Tuesday night and reread the first nine issues in a single sitting and I can’t recommend that highly enough. These issues felt so done-in-one, I completely missed the little Easter eggs that paid off down the line, things like Bras’s wife from #4 showing up at the end of #3, the novel on his father’s desk in #4 . . . several cool little things like that. Before #1 first came out, I strongly considered waiting for the trade, but in the end, couldn’t resist picking up the singles. Very glad I did, as there was quite a bit here to digest in the month-by-month, but there’s no question that it’s going to read better in trade, if only because there won’t be ads opposite the FINAL FOUR PAGES OF THE SERIES, just an unforgivable break in narrative flow, for my money, to be expected in, say, AVENGERS, but I expect better from a Vertigo mini of this artistic caliber.
But I’m really just talking about the series. How’s the issue? Well, it’s a little bit different. After last month’s perfectly satisfactory romp (and by satisfactory, I think I already said last month that if it had been the final issue, I would’ve been delighted), I really had no idea what to expect, but I guess this was the only place left that they could take it. There’s a tendency, more so amongst the critical fanboy set, probably, to overanalyze everything and try to nail down exactly what happened, and this series is surely a teethgrinder for those fellas, because there are no clearly defined answers. I mean, really. What just happened? Did we just check out a series of parallel worlds? Or certain days in the life of an obituary writer that wandered off into the hypothetical in the last couple of pages every month? What happened after this final last page? How much of what we read was real? (and you in the back, laughing that none of it was real, I know where you live and I won’t stand for it). In the end, I believe that that last letter gives us the only answer that matters: Let Go. It doesn’t really matter how the events that we read fit into a cohesive linear narrative framework as much as it matters what lessons Bras de Oliva Domingos takes from them, how they shape his world-view and influence the man that he becomes. And what he, in turn, passes down the line.
This series was about death, but it was also about everything else that matters, the things that give the end such weight and importance: love and family and the pursuit of happiness and the maximization of potential and hopes and dreams and the fleeting mirage of these lives we lead that can cut off at any instant for any reason, and the abiding importance of at last letting all of these things go, like the tide rolling back out to sea.
THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #30 – Quite the cover. Well-written scene in the car. Just that one panel alone, when he asks, “Do I look like a man afraid of becoming obsolete to you?” the look on his face juxtaposed against the bow tie, brilliant. Larocca nails it. And the “wait, what is Steve calling S.H.I.E.L.D. these days?” is perfect. I’m also a fan of that drone swarm via phone apps idea, just the right sort of crackling idea that this book should have dribbling out from between its pages. Looks like we might be in the middle of another year-long arc. Oh, Tony, such plans Fraction has for you!
AMERICAN VAMPIRE #6 – I really dug the first double-arc, but was dubious about hanging out for 22 pages at $4, but I’ve got to give Snyder credit for setting up a pretty solid hook that will bring me back at least next month. All new protagonists, only one page of our lead, and it all looks gorgeous, thanks to Albuquerque. We’ll miss Sai King, but not that much, it seems.
JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #9 – Mm, it looks like Giffen has moved on, and I’m thinking I might as well. This isn’t bad, per se, it’s just not terribly compelling, and, you know, it’s got to be almost twice as good as average to justify the biweekly pace. A fan of the characters, but think I’ll just track down #37 of the old Giffen/Dematteis run and finish that one up, at long last. (IN OTHER NEWS: HOLY SHIT WAS THAT A NEW FACE ON THE EVENT ADS?!? LIKE, A TOTALLY DIFFERENT CHARACTER? THEY’VE BEEN HOLDING HER BACK? ALL THIS TIME? GETTING READY FOR THE LAST-MINUTE BLITZKRIEG? MIND-BLOWING! FOR REALS!)
GREEN LANTERN #57 – Man, everyone’s hitting Vegas, we’ve got Carol and company in this issue, X-Factor next month, and IDW/Brian Lynch looking to bleed their licensing dry by sending Spike there for 8 glorious issues at $3.99/pop. Pretty funny beat there, re: advisability of Larfleeze Takes Las Vegas. Maybe I’m just a sucker for a big kiss splash page, but that one shore was purty. I wonder how far ahead Johns has plotted this thing, he really seems to only be picking up speed six years and two monster crossovers in.
ADVENTURE COMICS #518 – Ha, Superboy bailing on PG was hilarious. Kevin Sharpe’s pencils seem to be tightening up a bit now that he’s got a couple issues under his belt. Though I have to say, Scott Clark’s making a hell of a campaign for the job with that cover. Can’t believe the market can sustain two monthly Legion books, actually come to think of it, don’t even know how well these are selling, but Levitz is sure writing the hell out of them. Am also getting into Lemire’s ATOM back-up as it picks up speed. Need to pick up that ESSEX COUNTY trilogy of his.
BATMAN & ROBIN #14 – Is this really the next-to-last Morrison issue? The time, it has roared on by. Wonderful bits in here, Pyg is as gloriously completely fucking insane as ever (or, as the first three issues), and Joker is note-perfect. That page after Damian’s scratched and the poison kicks in, Morrison drops a bit of his signature meta- in, the bit about an old pro not seeing the potential in Damian is actually Morrison himself, the original plan was to kill the little guy at the end of his first arc. Can you imagine? We never would have gotten this wonderful series. But yeah, that page, the bit about the crowbar and “You might be the funniest one yet,” yup, that’s Joker. Is it meant to be unclear how Dick got from preventing the Batmobile self-destructing to the Batcave? That was a bit more jarring than even usual. Irving’s stark tones might be a hard sell to someone who wants their spandex drawn with a little bit more cross-hatching, but I think it’s a perfect fit for this final arc.
BEST OF WEEK: DAYTRIPPER #10 – What a haunting, affecting, beautiful piece of work. I’ve loved everything I’ve seen and read from Ba and Moon, but you can tell how important this project was to them, can feel them pouring their hearts and souls into the words and panels. And Dave Stewart, my God. It’s too bad that he and Laura Martin probably won’t ever make a baby. I sat down Tuesday night and reread the first nine issues in a single sitting and I can’t recommend that highly enough. These issues felt so done-in-one, I completely missed the little Easter eggs that paid off down the line, things like Bras’s wife from #4 showing up at the end of #3, the novel on his father’s desk in #4 . . . several cool little things like that. Before #1 first came out, I strongly considered waiting for the trade, but in the end, couldn’t resist picking up the singles. Very glad I did, as there was quite a bit here to digest in the month-by-month, but there’s no question that it’s going to read better in trade, if only because there won’t be ads opposite the FINAL FOUR PAGES OF THE SERIES, just an unforgivable break in narrative flow, for my money, to be expected in, say, AVENGERS, but I expect better from a Vertigo mini of this artistic caliber.
But I’m really just talking about the series. How’s the issue? Well, it’s a little bit different. After last month’s perfectly satisfactory romp (and by satisfactory, I think I already said last month that if it had been the final issue, I would’ve been delighted), I really had no idea what to expect, but I guess this was the only place left that they could take it. There’s a tendency, more so amongst the critical fanboy set, probably, to overanalyze everything and try to nail down exactly what happened, and this series is surely a teethgrinder for those fellas, because there are no clearly defined answers. I mean, really. What just happened? Did we just check out a series of parallel worlds? Or certain days in the life of an obituary writer that wandered off into the hypothetical in the last couple of pages every month? What happened after this final last page? How much of what we read was real? (and you in the back, laughing that none of it was real, I know where you live and I won’t stand for it). In the end, I believe that that last letter gives us the only answer that matters: Let Go. It doesn’t really matter how the events that we read fit into a cohesive linear narrative framework as much as it matters what lessons Bras de Oliva Domingos takes from them, how they shape his world-view and influence the man that he becomes. And what he, in turn, passes down the line.
This series was about death, but it was also about everything else that matters, the things that give the end such weight and importance: love and family and the pursuit of happiness and the maximization of potential and hopes and dreams and the fleeting mirage of these lives we lead that can cut off at any instant for any reason, and the abiding importance of at last letting all of these things go, like the tide rolling back out to sea.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
9/1/10
First, catchup! It was a relatively light week, mainly because I’m starting to bail out on more $4 Marvel options, so I was able to clean out my folder and hit these first three. Quick blasts through!_:
THE UNWRITTEN #16 – Some pretty major business goes down here at the end of this third arc. You certainly can’t say that the book is spinning its wheels. Nice stunt with the book release. I’m interested to see where Carey/Gross are taking us next and suddenly curious if there’s a projected number of issues for this story about all the stories. I’m going to guess 50. Oooh, standalone next month, the problem is now I’m expecting that one to be Best of Week. Vertigo continues to dominate the market, in terms of quality.
NEW MUTANTS #16 – This was about as good as a story could be in which, you know, none of the actual cast appears (with a single expection in the last panel, which we’re not going to count). And I mean that as a compliment. I enjoyed it. Even though I’m sure Zeb Wells was gnashing his teeth during INCEPTION for the half hour that car was falling, because he’d already written this and figured everyone was going to think he was ripping the dilated time thing off. Oh, well. I’m glad this title is as solid as it is, the kids deserve it.
X-FACTOR #208 – Too bad the cover spoils the splash page. Why do they DO that? PAD continues to move his cast around with the deftest of ease, I actually didn’t even see that bit coming with Longshot and Darwin walking the ladies home talking about fighting. Was kind of groaning at the last page, thinking we should just maybe let this case go and move on to the next one, but the cover for next month certainly sells it.
**
All right! This week. So, I was going to give the new Aaron/Guedes WOLVERINE a shot, if only because I love SCALPED so much, but then when I saw it next to the other $4 Wolverine one-shot titled in a way that made me think I might need it to enjoy the Aaron $4 book, I just kept on cruising. Will probably pick it up in trade eventually for much cheaper. Though, hey, I still haven’t found any WEAPON Xs at Half Price. But life is long! Also, the first issue of Heinberg/Cheung’s CHILDREN’S CRUSADE-isn’t-it-really-just-YOUNG-AVENGERS-Vol.2? got completely by me, which is a shame because I loved YA and would’ve gobbled this up with a spoon, but the store was sold out of #1 and, you know 9-issue $4 a pop miniseries + between those two talented but not necessarily rapid creators, we’ll be lucky if #9 is out by the end of 2011, so I just figured I’d wait. All of which to say, maybe maybe that’s Best of Week, and I’m letting it get by me. But no! How could it be? It’s Wednesday, let’s go!
**
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #36 – Papa Whedon comes home at last. Interesting way to fold Spike and Angel in. Loved loved the Oceanic reference, if only because two pages earlier, when he looked up and saw the plane breaking apart, well, you know, I’m powerless not to think of that, so nice to see the island madness mixed up in the pop culture stew they’ve been cooking up all this time, with Andrew nowhere to be seen, even. How many Buffy/Angel/Spike threesome joke/innuendoes must the world endure before space-time collapses? I feel like it happens all the time. And check Angel’s facial expression, he looks up for it, man! Wanker!
It certainly is entertaining to get those two in the mix, cranking up an ensemble that wasn’t hurting for chemistry or character depth before they wormholed in out of, I guess, IDW continuity. Absolutely did not care about the reveal on the last page, though, because, I have to be honest, just about the entire first season did nothing for me. You could see the whole thing coming together for a minute during that talent show when the three of them did Macbeth, but other than that, I thought the entire twelve-episode run was pretty thin, even with the finale written and directed by Our Dread Joss & Master, when the theme song kicks in at the climax, mm, just awkward, all of which to say, Mark Metcalf is by far my least favorite Big Bad (ah, actually, that chick in Season 5 was terrible, to the point that I’ve wiped her name from my frontal lobe. Joy? Gloria? Metcalf was maybe better than her, but come on. I’m saying I liked Warren better. And I haaaated Warren)(of course, I rationalize Season 6 away by saying the entire thing was actually a set-up for Willow to be the Big Bad, and that I can live with, love, even). But I’m probably coming across too negative, I enjoyed this and am very interested to see how we bring Season 8 in for a landing, after all this time. And what a Jo Chen cover, my God! What Jeanty must be thinking when and if he sees hers next to his on the rack.
THE BOYS #46 – Yas, this book is cooking with gasoline now and just keeps pouring on more and more. Without going back through the entire run, this might be my favorite conversation involving Butcher, and you know that’s really saying something. The “Heh heh heh. Yeah, all right,” after he susses out the deal with the menstrual blood that went down about three years ago our time, just priceless. Oh man, and then that stunt at the end. Ennis is killing it killing it, and old Russ Braun is completely holding it down, which, never would’ve thought that I’d be loving BOYS issues this much drawn by anyone but Robertson. Carry on!
BRIGHTEST DAY #9 – Mm, I didn’t care about this one so much. Even though a whole chunk of it was J’onn/Ollie. The entire Aqualad thing is turning me off. Maybe instead of Legacy Character Iteration #45, we could just create something new? From whole cloth? If only because I feel like the natural progression from this will be eventually people start caring about this new kid and then in ten or fifteen years, we get the new Johns masterpiece AQUALAD: REBIRTH and everybody falls all over themselves to make the return of Garth a bestseller. Eh, maybe not.
HOUSE OF MYSTERY #29 – Man, the paper quality on this is pretty offensive, given how much more I dig the storytelling than, let’s just say BRIGHTEST DAY since I read that right before. The goblin story with the twist ending was a laugh. The fill-in guy was fine, but if you put Luca Rossi’s name on the cover, you know, I kind of expect to see his work inside. Sturges has always really done a great job with that Alan Moore trick of juxtaposing narrative captions against images that create tension with each other, usually with another layer of dialogue going on in the images. This is a really tricky thing to pull off and so easy to come off as amateurish or precious, but he’s always nailed it on this series. And when I got to the last page, I wondered if this wasn’t his best run at that yet. Good show, boss.
****
BEST OF WEEK: ASTRO CITY SPECIAL: SILVER AGENT #2 – Wow and wonder, I guess that was worth fifteen years of waiting. The only thing about this, it’s been such a while since I’ve reread the first two volumes that I’m not sure how many old old questions this is answering and how much insanity’s just bubbling up for the first time. Not that I really care at the moment, it’s a fantastic read. And an excellent retort to all the sass going back and forth here this week about comics being for kids and artistic hypocrisy and super-dismemberments. Just hand anybody of any age this book, and that pretty much settles all of that. This is for everybody and it wins. So many ideas and flights of the imagination compressed into a single issue. I mean, Ohmerika? I read maybe Greg Burgas’s take that that meant our fair country took up the name of its 44th president and I didn’t get that AT ALL, but it’s a valid read, and an insane notion, and I love that this series just throws that out for a page for us to interpret as we will before barreling on to the next slab of crazy. And the idea that the silver artifact might really be the entire catalyst for the series? Just dropping that in out of nowhere? Incredible.
I imagine JLA/AVENGERS was pretty much an impossible thing to write and draw—so many characters to service, never even mind the fans—and Busiek/Perez hit that one out of the park, and MARVELS was certainly pretty swell, but there’s no question in my mind that this series will certainly stand the test of time as Busiek’s masterpiece, a fulfillment of potential and one of the greatest things that this medium has to offer, an exultation and celebration of the little flutter thrill we feel when seeing or hearing or reading about a man that can fly and thinking, hey, maybe one day, I can do that, too.
THE UNWRITTEN #16 – Some pretty major business goes down here at the end of this third arc. You certainly can’t say that the book is spinning its wheels. Nice stunt with the book release. I’m interested to see where Carey/Gross are taking us next and suddenly curious if there’s a projected number of issues for this story about all the stories. I’m going to guess 50. Oooh, standalone next month, the problem is now I’m expecting that one to be Best of Week. Vertigo continues to dominate the market, in terms of quality.
NEW MUTANTS #16 – This was about as good as a story could be in which, you know, none of the actual cast appears (with a single expection in the last panel, which we’re not going to count). And I mean that as a compliment. I enjoyed it. Even though I’m sure Zeb Wells was gnashing his teeth during INCEPTION for the half hour that car was falling, because he’d already written this and figured everyone was going to think he was ripping the dilated time thing off. Oh, well. I’m glad this title is as solid as it is, the kids deserve it.
X-FACTOR #208 – Too bad the cover spoils the splash page. Why do they DO that? PAD continues to move his cast around with the deftest of ease, I actually didn’t even see that bit coming with Longshot and Darwin walking the ladies home talking about fighting. Was kind of groaning at the last page, thinking we should just maybe let this case go and move on to the next one, but the cover for next month certainly sells it.
**
All right! This week. So, I was going to give the new Aaron/Guedes WOLVERINE a shot, if only because I love SCALPED so much, but then when I saw it next to the other $4 Wolverine one-shot titled in a way that made me think I might need it to enjoy the Aaron $4 book, I just kept on cruising. Will probably pick it up in trade eventually for much cheaper. Though, hey, I still haven’t found any WEAPON Xs at Half Price. But life is long! Also, the first issue of Heinberg/Cheung’s CHILDREN’S CRUSADE-isn’t-it-really-just-YOUNG-AVENGERS-Vol.2? got completely by me, which is a shame because I loved YA and would’ve gobbled this up with a spoon, but the store was sold out of #1 and, you know 9-issue $4 a pop miniseries + between those two talented but not necessarily rapid creators, we’ll be lucky if #9 is out by the end of 2011, so I just figured I’d wait. All of which to say, maybe maybe that’s Best of Week, and I’m letting it get by me. But no! How could it be? It’s Wednesday, let’s go!
**
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #36 – Papa Whedon comes home at last. Interesting way to fold Spike and Angel in. Loved loved the Oceanic reference, if only because two pages earlier, when he looked up and saw the plane breaking apart, well, you know, I’m powerless not to think of that, so nice to see the island madness mixed up in the pop culture stew they’ve been cooking up all this time, with Andrew nowhere to be seen, even. How many Buffy/Angel/Spike threesome joke/innuendoes must the world endure before space-time collapses? I feel like it happens all the time. And check Angel’s facial expression, he looks up for it, man! Wanker!
It certainly is entertaining to get those two in the mix, cranking up an ensemble that wasn’t hurting for chemistry or character depth before they wormholed in out of, I guess, IDW continuity. Absolutely did not care about the reveal on the last page, though, because, I have to be honest, just about the entire first season did nothing for me. You could see the whole thing coming together for a minute during that talent show when the three of them did Macbeth, but other than that, I thought the entire twelve-episode run was pretty thin, even with the finale written and directed by Our Dread Joss & Master, when the theme song kicks in at the climax, mm, just awkward, all of which to say, Mark Metcalf is by far my least favorite Big Bad (ah, actually, that chick in Season 5 was terrible, to the point that I’ve wiped her name from my frontal lobe. Joy? Gloria? Metcalf was maybe better than her, but come on. I’m saying I liked Warren better. And I haaaated Warren)(of course, I rationalize Season 6 away by saying the entire thing was actually a set-up for Willow to be the Big Bad, and that I can live with, love, even). But I’m probably coming across too negative, I enjoyed this and am very interested to see how we bring Season 8 in for a landing, after all this time. And what a Jo Chen cover, my God! What Jeanty must be thinking when and if he sees hers next to his on the rack.
THE BOYS #46 – Yas, this book is cooking with gasoline now and just keeps pouring on more and more. Without going back through the entire run, this might be my favorite conversation involving Butcher, and you know that’s really saying something. The “Heh heh heh. Yeah, all right,” after he susses out the deal with the menstrual blood that went down about three years ago our time, just priceless. Oh man, and then that stunt at the end. Ennis is killing it killing it, and old Russ Braun is completely holding it down, which, never would’ve thought that I’d be loving BOYS issues this much drawn by anyone but Robertson. Carry on!
BRIGHTEST DAY #9 – Mm, I didn’t care about this one so much. Even though a whole chunk of it was J’onn/Ollie. The entire Aqualad thing is turning me off. Maybe instead of Legacy Character Iteration #45, we could just create something new? From whole cloth? If only because I feel like the natural progression from this will be eventually people start caring about this new kid and then in ten or fifteen years, we get the new Johns masterpiece AQUALAD: REBIRTH and everybody falls all over themselves to make the return of Garth a bestseller. Eh, maybe not.
HOUSE OF MYSTERY #29 – Man, the paper quality on this is pretty offensive, given how much more I dig the storytelling than, let’s just say BRIGHTEST DAY since I read that right before. The goblin story with the twist ending was a laugh. The fill-in guy was fine, but if you put Luca Rossi’s name on the cover, you know, I kind of expect to see his work inside. Sturges has always really done a great job with that Alan Moore trick of juxtaposing narrative captions against images that create tension with each other, usually with another layer of dialogue going on in the images. This is a really tricky thing to pull off and so easy to come off as amateurish or precious, but he’s always nailed it on this series. And when I got to the last page, I wondered if this wasn’t his best run at that yet. Good show, boss.
****
BEST OF WEEK: ASTRO CITY SPECIAL: SILVER AGENT #2 – Wow and wonder, I guess that was worth fifteen years of waiting. The only thing about this, it’s been such a while since I’ve reread the first two volumes that I’m not sure how many old old questions this is answering and how much insanity’s just bubbling up for the first time. Not that I really care at the moment, it’s a fantastic read. And an excellent retort to all the sass going back and forth here this week about comics being for kids and artistic hypocrisy and super-dismemberments. Just hand anybody of any age this book, and that pretty much settles all of that. This is for everybody and it wins. So many ideas and flights of the imagination compressed into a single issue. I mean, Ohmerika? I read maybe Greg Burgas’s take that that meant our fair country took up the name of its 44th president and I didn’t get that AT ALL, but it’s a valid read, and an insane notion, and I love that this series just throws that out for a page for us to interpret as we will before barreling on to the next slab of crazy. And the idea that the silver artifact might really be the entire catalyst for the series? Just dropping that in out of nowhere? Incredible.
I imagine JLA/AVENGERS was pretty much an impossible thing to write and draw—so many characters to service, never even mind the fans—and Busiek/Perez hit that one out of the park, and MARVELS was certainly pretty swell, but there’s no question in my mind that this series will certainly stand the test of time as Busiek’s masterpiece, a fulfillment of potential and one of the greatest things that this medium has to offer, an exultation and celebration of the little flutter thrill we feel when seeing or hearing or reading about a man that can fly and thinking, hey, maybe one day, I can do that, too.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
8/25/10
AVENGERS #4 – Another week, another $4 issue of AVENGERS, and it’s still time for me to bang my drum about how much ass this is kicking. Of the three main titles (does AVENGERS ACADEMY count as a main title? I’m not reading that. No disrespect to Gage, just didn’t fit it in, there), this one’s my favorite, which I guess is maybe a no-brainer, this being the premier team and all, but there’s a perfection in the way Romita/Janson/White give us Marvel’s heavy-hitters with Bendis just nailing and knocking out of the park every single beat, and, you know, time travel, so yeah, I’m pretty comfortable listing this and FF as what I’m absolutely adoring most from Marvel at the moment. And by moment, I mean until these creative teams change or die*, I’m looking forward to this marvelous output the most. What else have I not already said? Bendis writes Spidey dialogue maybe better than anybody? Nope. The cover shouldn’t have given away the last scene of the issue? Eh, surely that’s happened before now. Bendis is still killing the oral history and it’s really obvious that he’s got some serious Mamet affection going on? You’ve heard it all before. Buy this book. As solid as the first volume of NEW AVENGERS was, this is the first time that I really feel like this is the Marvel equivalent of the Justice League, and it’s a beautiful thing.
Horrifying cliffhanger, by the way. I mean, just list the principals and what they’re doing. Can’t imagine what’s in the hopper for the next arc after (I presume) we shut this one down next time.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #609 – Ah yes, in which everyone tells Bucky not to charge headlong into the trap and then it takes him literally two pages to fight through all of that common sense wisdom (dispensed, incidentally, by Miz Romanov. Dude! Did you skip IRON MAN 2? Meditate upon last night and do what she says! She’s meeting you at the safe house. Where there’s nothing to do. Think about it for another couple pages and stand down, Boss, and then get your ass right on down there). You’ve got to love the panel after Steve crushes Hauptmann’s hand, Guice does a fantastic job of evoking Kirby (most of all on Natasha’s face). If Sam Wilson is flashing the Not Cool sign, then you had better stand down yourself, there, Mr. Rogers.
I don’t even read the NOMAD strip anymore. That extra dollar is just a little monthly donation I like to make to Marvel. Thanks for signing up Whedon! It’s going to be great!
JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #8 – Is this the first time Giffen hasn’t been in the credit box? It’s the first time I’ve noticed, and my spider-sense is tingling. Though Winick holds it together well enough. Glad to get Lopresti back. I’m now exactly halfway through hitting the original JLI run, so it’s a bit wacky to see these folks running around in the Brightest Day and all that. It’s good that Captain Atom’s mullet has not made the transition. Crucial, even. THE EVENT adds are still driving me crazy (plus, I need a mirror-effect on my keyboard so that the appropriate E can be flipped when I type it)(and, am I just blind, or is it insane that it took me until this week and, candidly, mid-rant for Blessed Wife to point out that the dude on the fourth page is the ubiquitous Zeljko “jel-ko” Ivanek? You know what, though, I guess these ads are working, because as much to say about a TV show I haven’t seen a minute of than this issue, so huzzah). Fire’s insight about the “right as rain” coming from farming seems really right on. Solid effort, Bea. It’s maybe time for Maxwell Lord to change clothes, he’s already beaten the Jack Bauer record, I think he killed Beetle in that outfit, did that whole 4-parter runaround with Superman and Wonder Woman, got his neck broke, got resurrected at the end of BLACKEST NIGHT, and has been running around for at least nine issues, all while rocking the same duds and, I guess, finding the time to pump some pretty serious iron throughout. Dude’s got some guns. Hey, where the hell is Oberon? And Scott and Barda, for that matter? I’m almost afraid to hear the answer, but I just realized that I haven’t heard a peep out of them all this time. Did Barda even sit out FINAL CRISIS? Mm, this is not good. Let’s move on.
BRIGHTEST DAY #8 – Yah, this came out last week, but I just picked it up now (left X-FACTOR behind, for the record, along with NEW MUTANTS and UNWRITTEN, and, truth be told, probably also going to be picking up Jane’s Riley one-shot that I dodged as well, if only so I can have a hard copy of Scott Allie’s Big Angel Announcement**). Was Reis only on that two-page spread of Hawkgirl? There were some pretty hurting scenes in most of this issue, artwise. The first one with the Martians was the worst. I want to hang on for this one, because I really trust Johns/Tomasi, but the round robin art needs to get better. I hope this was just a slump. I’d never heard of Eddy Barrows or Chris Batista or I wanna say one other guy before, but they kept 52 at a level of quality that we’re dipping dangerously far beneath now, especially with those purty Finch covers.
ACTION COMICS #892 – There’s possibly too much hype going on about this run (I don’t know if this is an “epic-in-the-making” or not, but there’s really no way to read that on the editorial page of the third issue of the run and not have it kind of sour you). But, hey, it is in fact really, really good. Cornell’s decision to bring in a Lois AI as Luthor’s foil is definitely getting more and more brilliant as things progress. Is this arc going to be 12 issues long? Do we know how long it’s going to be LEX LUTHOR’S ACTION COMICS? Because this definitely has the vibe of, say, HUSH, and I’m not trying to be insulting, but there’s this joy that’s been apparent since the get-go, I mean, hell, it’s exactly what I’d do, but every time, it’s like, “And now, we play with THIS toy, and now THIS one,” you know, Slade Wilson and Gorilla Grodd both show up this time. I rest my case. And they’ve already announced/spoiled a huge character who’s going to show up eventually. This is not a bad thing, though, the sandbox diving, as long as it’s hanging upon a good story. And Tommy Elliott never shows up.
Too, man, I thought I could give two shits about Lemire on SUPERBOY, and found the ATOM back-ups not insulting but not spectacular either, but I’m sold and sold on their new book. Fantastic energy. Glad to see that Simon kid Johns and Manipul introduced get put back into play. And the last page is completely insane. Both panels. Really, the back-up is worth the cover price alone. Not even counting the whole meta-textual element to Smallville attacking, because all it makes me think of is the show, and I want there to be a beat where Raven yells, “Smallville’s throwing everything it’s got at us! Everything!” and Connor’s just like, “It won’t amount to a hill of beans. Smallville sucks.” But I’m maybe the only one hoping for that. Killer back-up strip.
LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #4 – A lot of quality books came out this week! Levitz does a really deft job of splitting up the scenes here, cutting back and forth at points of maximum tension so that no matter where you are, you want to be back in the other place. I appreciate the 30 pages. Sodom Yat speaking in the third person cracks me up, for some reason. Poor guy. I read two comics with Darkseid in them tonight. Though if this is the only return that the Great Darkness has, kind of a limp call-back, I’m sorry to say.
ASTONISHING X-MEN #35 – Man, don’t you just wish this team would go on and on. That’s not a question, I know the answer. Top drawer work, all around. Ellis gives us such a tight and lean script. I love Logan apostrophing out the first letter of Storm’s name. And even paraphrasing Dark Willow, which, you know, the ping-pong levels of that***. And the following “Wheelchair of death here!” really just shocking coming out of Ellis, such a Whedon tone. “Years and years of murder science,” however, is the best line of the night, even beats everything Morrison gives us by way of Wayne. What an odd and perfect last page, too. This whole thing’s almost a black sitcom with Ellis. That works here, but I’m not sure that anybody else could come close to hitting it as well. Jiminez is a god, have really enjoyed his work on this, as ever.
FANTASTIC FOUR #582 – The Anachronauts! Kirby enough for me. “And now for knowledge” is a keeper. Oh man, and those last two pages. I adore the line about Franklin’s favorite hero, pitch-perfect balance between the familial love and cosmic wow that holds this book together. Love it love it.
____
BEST OF WEEK: BATMAN #702 – You know, I can’t be objective about this at all. Apparently, Grant Morrison can literally take us back through scenes that we already saw less than two years ago, and even trade out Jones/Pacheco/Mahnke for Daniel on art, and all he has to do to make me gobble it up with a spoon is add narrative captions in Bruce Wayne’s handwriting (first popularized by Miller way back in YEAR ONE, natch). I need to track me down a trade of FINAL CRISIS and just slam through it on one sitting, this convinces me it will be a much more crushing experience. But fastforwarding through it like this, with the benefit of Bruce’s surprising but totally understandable doubt and caution, does a fantastic job of not only humanizing the character and showing that for all his iconic status, he, like Ivan Drago, is only a man. It’s also kind of a cool foil for what happened with Turpin back in FC. When it started out, I was thinking he was our street-level POV guy, only he turned out to be possessed by Darkseid, elevated to god status, so, nice turnabout here, way way after the fact, to bring one of the main icons back down to base-level humanity, so much so that he doesn’t even remember his name or who he’s talking to by the end of the issue (that was the one hiccup I had, how did they get that recording? That I guess he was making at the dawn of time? Tim’s presence in the room suggested to me that that’s maybe been the point of RED ROBIN this whole time, like Bruce made the tape and buried it in the Batcave or something). Just so many great lines, the opening passage to Kal, the inner monologue while killing Darkseid (“There were bells” is a fantastic end-of-the-page line), and a final page that evokes the end of SUPERMAN BEYOND 3D and Greatest Single Issue Of All Time ALL-STAR SUPERMAN #10 with the whole never-ending bit. I'm also really a fan of the new scene we get with Wally quoting Neo and Bruce dropping the whole bit about the platonic bullet and the New Gods representing ideals, it makes that shooting in FINAL CRISIS #6 even more resonant. Fine work, throughout. Old Daniel even does his best to make you forget what he’s been doing the last year, I haven’t gone back and checked, but this might be his best effort yet. As musclebound and kind of ugly as it is. The best trick about this issue, though, is that after last month, we’re totally thinking this is just filler, but it pulls off the trick of — while, yes, filling in the blanks to some business that went down while my little girl was still just barely hanging out in the womb — accelerating the overarching Bat-narrative that Morrison’s been killing over in BATMAN & ROBIN and THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE and catapulting us toward the climax of the second act, just as soon as we can get another three issues in our hands, which will then leave us waiting for #16 and #6, respectively, of the aforementioned titles. All of which to say, I can’t wait I can’t wait I can’t wait, and that’s the only yardstick that really matters when it comes to measuring this serial sequential fiction that we all love so much, at least these last couple hundred thousand of us still hanging on.
____
*those last three words I can never hear or type without thinking of Gaiman’s foreword to, probably, ENDLESS NIGHTS, when some Italian reporter told him to sum up the 75 issues of SANDMAN in 25 words or less and, legend has it, he thought about if for a minute and comes back with, “The Lord of Dreams learns that he must change or die and makes his decision.” I mean, the compression of that is crushing and startling and really only brings ALL-STAR SUPERMAN to mind as anything approaching a worthy peer (except, maybe, for FLEX MENTALLO, but we all know that shit is inSANE and it’s probably best not to tangent over there, we’re just about to make it through another week with our hearts and souls intact, let’s not push it).
*and I guess Dude’s just got a serious boner for the Angelus, this is the second time he’s dropped some premature business on us about this guy. But hey, at least this time it didn’t spoil a three years and counting storyline. Cheers, guy! (Read my pitch, though! Please!)
***specifically, calling the alternate version of Willow from, I want to say, episode 2.09 of BUFFY (“The Wish,” my first favorite episode of that one, there), calling her “Dark Willow” is of course a callback to “Dark Phoenix,” and Dark Willow’s famous line/catchphrase is “Bored, now,” and, you know, Whedon is the reason this title exists in the first place, also the reason that Ellis jumped on after he and Cassaday were done, so when Ellis has Logan say, “Bored with this crap now,” well, all the geek cannons are aimed at the sky and summarily firing in conjunction and all is right and all is well and Joss is doctoring the Cap script and writing the Avengers and we are In Good Hands, for a little while longer, thank you so much and good night, at long last.
Horrifying cliffhanger, by the way. I mean, just list the principals and what they’re doing. Can’t imagine what’s in the hopper for the next arc after (I presume) we shut this one down next time.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #609 – Ah yes, in which everyone tells Bucky not to charge headlong into the trap and then it takes him literally two pages to fight through all of that common sense wisdom (dispensed, incidentally, by Miz Romanov. Dude! Did you skip IRON MAN 2? Meditate upon last night and do what she says! She’s meeting you at the safe house. Where there’s nothing to do. Think about it for another couple pages and stand down, Boss, and then get your ass right on down there). You’ve got to love the panel after Steve crushes Hauptmann’s hand, Guice does a fantastic job of evoking Kirby (most of all on Natasha’s face). If Sam Wilson is flashing the Not Cool sign, then you had better stand down yourself, there, Mr. Rogers.
I don’t even read the NOMAD strip anymore. That extra dollar is just a little monthly donation I like to make to Marvel. Thanks for signing up Whedon! It’s going to be great!
JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #8 – Is this the first time Giffen hasn’t been in the credit box? It’s the first time I’ve noticed, and my spider-sense is tingling. Though Winick holds it together well enough. Glad to get Lopresti back. I’m now exactly halfway through hitting the original JLI run, so it’s a bit wacky to see these folks running around in the Brightest Day and all that. It’s good that Captain Atom’s mullet has not made the transition. Crucial, even. THE EVENT adds are still driving me crazy (plus, I need a mirror-effect on my keyboard so that the appropriate E can be flipped when I type it)(and, am I just blind, or is it insane that it took me until this week and, candidly, mid-rant for Blessed Wife to point out that the dude on the fourth page is the ubiquitous Zeljko “jel-ko” Ivanek? You know what, though, I guess these ads are working, because as much to say about a TV show I haven’t seen a minute of than this issue, so huzzah). Fire’s insight about the “right as rain” coming from farming seems really right on. Solid effort, Bea. It’s maybe time for Maxwell Lord to change clothes, he’s already beaten the Jack Bauer record, I think he killed Beetle in that outfit, did that whole 4-parter runaround with Superman and Wonder Woman, got his neck broke, got resurrected at the end of BLACKEST NIGHT, and has been running around for at least nine issues, all while rocking the same duds and, I guess, finding the time to pump some pretty serious iron throughout. Dude’s got some guns. Hey, where the hell is Oberon? And Scott and Barda, for that matter? I’m almost afraid to hear the answer, but I just realized that I haven’t heard a peep out of them all this time. Did Barda even sit out FINAL CRISIS? Mm, this is not good. Let’s move on.
BRIGHTEST DAY #8 – Yah, this came out last week, but I just picked it up now (left X-FACTOR behind, for the record, along with NEW MUTANTS and UNWRITTEN, and, truth be told, probably also going to be picking up Jane’s Riley one-shot that I dodged as well, if only so I can have a hard copy of Scott Allie’s Big Angel Announcement**). Was Reis only on that two-page spread of Hawkgirl? There were some pretty hurting scenes in most of this issue, artwise. The first one with the Martians was the worst. I want to hang on for this one, because I really trust Johns/Tomasi, but the round robin art needs to get better. I hope this was just a slump. I’d never heard of Eddy Barrows or Chris Batista or I wanna say one other guy before, but they kept 52 at a level of quality that we’re dipping dangerously far beneath now, especially with those purty Finch covers.
ACTION COMICS #892 – There’s possibly too much hype going on about this run (I don’t know if this is an “epic-in-the-making” or not, but there’s really no way to read that on the editorial page of the third issue of the run and not have it kind of sour you). But, hey, it is in fact really, really good. Cornell’s decision to bring in a Lois AI as Luthor’s foil is definitely getting more and more brilliant as things progress. Is this arc going to be 12 issues long? Do we know how long it’s going to be LEX LUTHOR’S ACTION COMICS? Because this definitely has the vibe of, say, HUSH, and I’m not trying to be insulting, but there’s this joy that’s been apparent since the get-go, I mean, hell, it’s exactly what I’d do, but every time, it’s like, “And now, we play with THIS toy, and now THIS one,” you know, Slade Wilson and Gorilla Grodd both show up this time. I rest my case. And they’ve already announced/spoiled a huge character who’s going to show up eventually. This is not a bad thing, though, the sandbox diving, as long as it’s hanging upon a good story. And Tommy Elliott never shows up.
Too, man, I thought I could give two shits about Lemire on SUPERBOY, and found the ATOM back-ups not insulting but not spectacular either, but I’m sold and sold on their new book. Fantastic energy. Glad to see that Simon kid Johns and Manipul introduced get put back into play. And the last page is completely insane. Both panels. Really, the back-up is worth the cover price alone. Not even counting the whole meta-textual element to Smallville attacking, because all it makes me think of is the show, and I want there to be a beat where Raven yells, “Smallville’s throwing everything it’s got at us! Everything!” and Connor’s just like, “It won’t amount to a hill of beans. Smallville sucks.” But I’m maybe the only one hoping for that. Killer back-up strip.
LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #4 – A lot of quality books came out this week! Levitz does a really deft job of splitting up the scenes here, cutting back and forth at points of maximum tension so that no matter where you are, you want to be back in the other place. I appreciate the 30 pages. Sodom Yat speaking in the third person cracks me up, for some reason. Poor guy. I read two comics with Darkseid in them tonight. Though if this is the only return that the Great Darkness has, kind of a limp call-back, I’m sorry to say.
ASTONISHING X-MEN #35 – Man, don’t you just wish this team would go on and on. That’s not a question, I know the answer. Top drawer work, all around. Ellis gives us such a tight and lean script. I love Logan apostrophing out the first letter of Storm’s name. And even paraphrasing Dark Willow, which, you know, the ping-pong levels of that***. And the following “Wheelchair of death here!” really just shocking coming out of Ellis, such a Whedon tone. “Years and years of murder science,” however, is the best line of the night, even beats everything Morrison gives us by way of Wayne. What an odd and perfect last page, too. This whole thing’s almost a black sitcom with Ellis. That works here, but I’m not sure that anybody else could come close to hitting it as well. Jiminez is a god, have really enjoyed his work on this, as ever.
FANTASTIC FOUR #582 – The Anachronauts! Kirby enough for me. “And now for knowledge” is a keeper. Oh man, and those last two pages. I adore the line about Franklin’s favorite hero, pitch-perfect balance between the familial love and cosmic wow that holds this book together. Love it love it.
____
BEST OF WEEK: BATMAN #702 – You know, I can’t be objective about this at all. Apparently, Grant Morrison can literally take us back through scenes that we already saw less than two years ago, and even trade out Jones/Pacheco/Mahnke for Daniel on art, and all he has to do to make me gobble it up with a spoon is add narrative captions in Bruce Wayne’s handwriting (first popularized by Miller way back in YEAR ONE, natch). I need to track me down a trade of FINAL CRISIS and just slam through it on one sitting, this convinces me it will be a much more crushing experience. But fastforwarding through it like this, with the benefit of Bruce’s surprising but totally understandable doubt and caution, does a fantastic job of not only humanizing the character and showing that for all his iconic status, he, like Ivan Drago, is only a man. It’s also kind of a cool foil for what happened with Turpin back in FC. When it started out, I was thinking he was our street-level POV guy, only he turned out to be possessed by Darkseid, elevated to god status, so, nice turnabout here, way way after the fact, to bring one of the main icons back down to base-level humanity, so much so that he doesn’t even remember his name or who he’s talking to by the end of the issue (that was the one hiccup I had, how did they get that recording? That I guess he was making at the dawn of time? Tim’s presence in the room suggested to me that that’s maybe been the point of RED ROBIN this whole time, like Bruce made the tape and buried it in the Batcave or something). Just so many great lines, the opening passage to Kal, the inner monologue while killing Darkseid (“There were bells” is a fantastic end-of-the-page line), and a final page that evokes the end of SUPERMAN BEYOND 3D and Greatest Single Issue Of All Time ALL-STAR SUPERMAN #10 with the whole never-ending bit. I'm also really a fan of the new scene we get with Wally quoting Neo and Bruce dropping the whole bit about the platonic bullet and the New Gods representing ideals, it makes that shooting in FINAL CRISIS #6 even more resonant. Fine work, throughout. Old Daniel even does his best to make you forget what he’s been doing the last year, I haven’t gone back and checked, but this might be his best effort yet. As musclebound and kind of ugly as it is. The best trick about this issue, though, is that after last month, we’re totally thinking this is just filler, but it pulls off the trick of — while, yes, filling in the blanks to some business that went down while my little girl was still just barely hanging out in the womb — accelerating the overarching Bat-narrative that Morrison’s been killing over in BATMAN & ROBIN and THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE and catapulting us toward the climax of the second act, just as soon as we can get another three issues in our hands, which will then leave us waiting for #16 and #6, respectively, of the aforementioned titles. All of which to say, I can’t wait I can’t wait I can’t wait, and that’s the only yardstick that really matters when it comes to measuring this serial sequential fiction that we all love so much, at least these last couple hundred thousand of us still hanging on.
____
*those last three words I can never hear or type without thinking of Gaiman’s foreword to, probably, ENDLESS NIGHTS, when some Italian reporter told him to sum up the 75 issues of SANDMAN in 25 words or less and, legend has it, he thought about if for a minute and comes back with, “The Lord of Dreams learns that he must change or die and makes his decision.” I mean, the compression of that is crushing and startling and really only brings ALL-STAR SUPERMAN to mind as anything approaching a worthy peer (except, maybe, for FLEX MENTALLO, but we all know that shit is inSANE and it’s probably best not to tangent over there, we’re just about to make it through another week with our hearts and souls intact, let’s not push it).
*and I guess Dude’s just got a serious boner for the Angelus, this is the second time he’s dropped some premature business on us about this guy. But hey, at least this time it didn’t spoil a three years and counting storyline. Cheers, guy! (Read my pitch, though! Please!)
***specifically, calling the alternate version of Willow from, I want to say, episode 2.09 of BUFFY (“The Wish,” my first favorite episode of that one, there), calling her “Dark Willow” is of course a callback to “Dark Phoenix,” and Dark Willow’s famous line/catchphrase is “Bored, now,” and, you know, Whedon is the reason this title exists in the first place, also the reason that Ellis jumped on after he and Cassaday were done, so when Ellis has Logan say, “Bored with this crap now,” well, all the geek cannons are aimed at the sky and summarily firing in conjunction and all is right and all is well and Joss is doctoring the Cap script and writing the Avengers and we are In Good Hands, for a little while longer, thank you so much and good night, at long last.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
8/18/10
Man, it’s a huge old week and on top of that, I found the last eight volumes of LONE WOLF & CUB that I needed to fill out my set over at glorious Half Price Books. Wonderful news, but it meant I had to leave a few titles in the old pull folder. I’m talking about NEW MUTANTS, BRIGHTEST DAY, and last week’s THE UNWRITTEN. So, I’ll get to them eventually, but in the meantime, there’s more than enough to talk about right here.
THE NEW AVENGERS #3 – Bendis cannot be stopped! Abetted to thunderous effect by the A-list art team of Immonen, Von Grawbadger, and Martin, we have nothing less than another slam-bang issue of Avengers action, with Spidey dropping a mid-combat lecture to Benjamin J. Grimm on the importance of maintaining catchphrases and Iron Fist’s spirit getting bushwacked by, I guess, the Ancient One? The thing about this is, it’s not like it’s setting the world on fire, but it’s just a gorgeous book. The art team could not have done a better job. And Bendis continues to kill it on the oral history, folding Kang into the mix. Still loving this relaunch. Which brings us to . . .
SECRET AVENGERS #4 – Said it before, but it bears repeating. This black-ops crazy sci-fi Avengers team is everything that I was hoping for but didn’t get out of Brubaker’s UNCANNY run. I don’t know if it’s just because he knows Rogers cold or these characters are a better fit or what, but it’s terrific fun. Steve takes on the Nova Force and of course it doesn’t drive him insane, he just opens up a can of whupass on a Serpent Crown-possessed Rich Ryder. Next issue should be interesting.
UNCANNY X-MEN #527 – The cover is brilliant. Makes perfect sense that Namor would roll in and stir things up like this, it’s exactly what he’s been doing since the 60s. Unfortunately, the Dodsons on the front make Portacio’s interiors seem that much scratchier. I was delighted to see him return to his last pre-Image title a few months back, but the work here looks rushed and sub-par. I want to like it but, frankly, if I didn’t already have so much affection for this guy, I think I’d be quite a bit more hacked off that the interiors for a $4 22-page comic with no extras look like this. Is this the deal now? I hates it, because it’s not like I’m dropping Fraction’s UNCANNY, but it would be nice if they’d at least throw us a back-up or something, not like there aren’t enough stories to tell or corners of the island to explore. Miz Frost sure gets around, dines and flirts with two of the Marvel Universe’s most eligible bachelors while making a Pryde/Rasputin love connection in between. The scene between Scott and Logan felt right.
ATLAS #4 – I am going to miss this one! We finally get to see what Bob really looks like and get a whole lot of backstory on the 3D-Man's insignia, but it's all fairly captivating. But, best of all, Mr. Lao opens up a hot can of molten dragon-breath on the invaders. Much more than a premiere strategist, our Mr. Lao. The best part, though, is that the backup isn't a backup at all, really just the next part of the main story, which, of course you can complain that we lose Hardman & Breitweiser on art, but given that we're in an alternate/parallel universe, you can kind of let it slide, especially since it's one in which Jimmy Woo founded the Avengers. Just a hell of a cliffhanger, it's really going to be a bittersweet purchase next month. It was about Jimmy Woo!
DV8 #5 – Man, those THE EVENT ads are driving me insane. Just because they really do their job and draw you in, but that means they wreck a solid 16% of the story. That’s going to have to be one charming motherfucking pilot to keep me on board, tell you what. But Wood & Isaacs! Another good-looking issue. Though, like last month, I didn’t care as much, just because I guess I don’t find the characters as relatable. Wait, that’s not it, I’m trying to say that at first Wood was really doing a solid job getting me dialed into these folks, and I just haven’t been feeling it last month with Matthew and now here. I expect this to change as we pick up toward the home stretch, though. Still better than most superhero comics on the stands, yes. I’m maybe holding Boss Wood up to a ridiculously high standard, but I think his work merits it. What a madman. (I mean, NORTHLANDERS and DMZ every month, this, and he and Cloonan just wrapped the already-badly-missed second volume of DEMO, that is some serious prolificacy)
FABLES #97 – These guys are getting it done. A serious ramp-up to #100, which I imagine is going to really be one for the ages. Rose was so bad! Very cool to see her finally get up out of bed, Willingham let that go just long enough, it felt very natural and unforced. This series is really going to go on forever, I think, it’s already been, what, eight years, and we’re only just now picking up steam after what would have been an excellent series finale in #75. The tales, they demand to be told, I guess.
****
BEST OF WEEK: EX MACHINA #50 – Again, no matter when this one finally landed, nothing else on any week could have even a hope of coming close. But it really all just makes me sad. Which I’m positive is what the crew was going for.
Tuesday night, with maybe an hour a half left in the day, I realized that this was maybe probably at long last coming out this week and scrambled, got going on what I’d meant to for weeks, page 1, THE PILOT, doing just like I did for The End of Yorick Brown and hit every single page starring Mitchell Hundred and all of his friends and enemies, or opponents, I guess he’d say after getting sworn in. So, the upshot was, 25 hours and 49 issues and four specials later, my eyes were bleeding God and it was at long last time to transfuse the last pages on in, find out what went so horribly wrong after the somewhat anticlimactic way that Mitch beat Anti-Suzanne & All the Forces of Hell and the Nether Dimensions last issue (and, I have to say, with all the publishing gaps, this thing read so much better in one insane gasp, but that resolution in #49 still seemed like a total gyp, even if you hadn’t been waiting for extra weeks and weeks).
So now it’s time to start actually talking about the comic book? Great bit on the second page about nomenclature, guess my subconsciousness has been trying to codify that one for a while. They certainly don’t call them tragic books, no. But, yeah, at long last, after all this time, back to Page One Mitch, doomed doomed doomed. The end of this first scene is yet another example of something bothering me over the course of the entire back end of this series that I’d never realized until now: Mitch using The Voice but not really talking to a machine, not giving a command. Kind of like bold text, just used as punctuation, but every single time, it makes me think of Weeping Gorilla from PROMETHEA, and, brother, that is not something you want to conjure unless you are trying to be funny, I promise.
Very cool bit with Mitchell redesigning the fallen tower. Phallic enough for you? Makes perfect sense, though you could just hear the mosque joke anger seething up from the gallery. Or, I could.
So, he turned 40 last year, placing our narrator in the year 2009. Kind of weird, all this mournful narration he’s giving us, all but looking at the camera. Because there’s never anything in his actions or really past tense at all besides immediate momentary shock to suggest regret. Meaning, the entire thing about this series, the initial sale, was, O how fucked up and awful it got once they elected ME, and this entire time, we’ve been waiting for things to really and truly fall apart, and they do kind of and mostly, but it’s a solid bait and switch Vaughan pulls, we’re all definitely looking for the invaders to pour on through and decimate life as we know it, but it’s only the quiet deaths, the relationships shattering, that provide the tragic.
It’s funny and unfortunate and of course synchronistic, I’ve been nurturing this parallel universe invaders concept for a couple of years, and then of course that’s what this and FRINGE turned into. Hey, better men than I. Especially since I guess BKV is really a Beatles fan. I mean, sincerely.
Oh, and that last Bradbury scene read so totally awkward and impossible the first time, but really true and inevitable the next time through. And I guess his parting line kills the ambiguity for me. Mitch is gay. That’s certainly the way things have been leaning for the better part of the series, but surely Bradbury wouldn’t have put himself out there if he wasn’t just about totally certain of reciprocity.
Aw man, and Kremlin. Really nothing to say, except how much Harris apocalypses this scene. You know how it’s going to go, especially when he points the gun at his own head, but the page turn is still such a shock. Really, those two pages together, so affecting. And sad.
God, and then the phone call. Putting the splash page revelation on an odd-numbered page is bad strategy, but it didn’t ruin it for me one little bit, had my eyes trained right where they were supposed to be the entire time. So that’s what happened. Is happening? Somewhere? They’re in charge? Presumably getting ready for the multi-brane invaders? And the charismatic young senator from Illinois getting ready to give them just a hell of a run for it in 2012?
Aw, God, man, it really just makes me so sad. I mean, these things always do, the clearing at the end of the path, Roland or Luke or Dale or Frodo or Tony or Harry or Jack*, or Ben Hawkins or Al Swearingen if they’d only ever had the chance, closing their eyes and finally figuring out what a big circle it’s all really been all along, but this one really cut my heart out a little, that look on his face while looking down at his friends who helped him do what he always wanted to do, be a hero, and then he left them, and still abides, just keeps on going and going, so so heartbreaking.
Fine work, all around. Fade to black, indeed.
*and you want to throw Jon in here, or really Adrian or Dan or Laurie or even Rorschach, but saying Jon would miss the point entirely, because there’s no clearing or end for him, and mentioning any of those other folks without him would just be wrong.
THE NEW AVENGERS #3 – Bendis cannot be stopped! Abetted to thunderous effect by the A-list art team of Immonen, Von Grawbadger, and Martin, we have nothing less than another slam-bang issue of Avengers action, with Spidey dropping a mid-combat lecture to Benjamin J. Grimm on the importance of maintaining catchphrases and Iron Fist’s spirit getting bushwacked by, I guess, the Ancient One? The thing about this is, it’s not like it’s setting the world on fire, but it’s just a gorgeous book. The art team could not have done a better job. And Bendis continues to kill it on the oral history, folding Kang into the mix. Still loving this relaunch. Which brings us to . . .
SECRET AVENGERS #4 – Said it before, but it bears repeating. This black-ops crazy sci-fi Avengers team is everything that I was hoping for but didn’t get out of Brubaker’s UNCANNY run. I don’t know if it’s just because he knows Rogers cold or these characters are a better fit or what, but it’s terrific fun. Steve takes on the Nova Force and of course it doesn’t drive him insane, he just opens up a can of whupass on a Serpent Crown-possessed Rich Ryder. Next issue should be interesting.
UNCANNY X-MEN #527 – The cover is brilliant. Makes perfect sense that Namor would roll in and stir things up like this, it’s exactly what he’s been doing since the 60s. Unfortunately, the Dodsons on the front make Portacio’s interiors seem that much scratchier. I was delighted to see him return to his last pre-Image title a few months back, but the work here looks rushed and sub-par. I want to like it but, frankly, if I didn’t already have so much affection for this guy, I think I’d be quite a bit more hacked off that the interiors for a $4 22-page comic with no extras look like this. Is this the deal now? I hates it, because it’s not like I’m dropping Fraction’s UNCANNY, but it would be nice if they’d at least throw us a back-up or something, not like there aren’t enough stories to tell or corners of the island to explore. Miz Frost sure gets around, dines and flirts with two of the Marvel Universe’s most eligible bachelors while making a Pryde/Rasputin love connection in between. The scene between Scott and Logan felt right.
ATLAS #4 – I am going to miss this one! We finally get to see what Bob really looks like and get a whole lot of backstory on the 3D-Man's insignia, but it's all fairly captivating. But, best of all, Mr. Lao opens up a hot can of molten dragon-breath on the invaders. Much more than a premiere strategist, our Mr. Lao. The best part, though, is that the backup isn't a backup at all, really just the next part of the main story, which, of course you can complain that we lose Hardman & Breitweiser on art, but given that we're in an alternate/parallel universe, you can kind of let it slide, especially since it's one in which Jimmy Woo founded the Avengers. Just a hell of a cliffhanger, it's really going to be a bittersweet purchase next month. It was about Jimmy Woo!
DV8 #5 – Man, those THE EVENT ads are driving me insane. Just because they really do their job and draw you in, but that means they wreck a solid 16% of the story. That’s going to have to be one charming motherfucking pilot to keep me on board, tell you what. But Wood & Isaacs! Another good-looking issue. Though, like last month, I didn’t care as much, just because I guess I don’t find the characters as relatable. Wait, that’s not it, I’m trying to say that at first Wood was really doing a solid job getting me dialed into these folks, and I just haven’t been feeling it last month with Matthew and now here. I expect this to change as we pick up toward the home stretch, though. Still better than most superhero comics on the stands, yes. I’m maybe holding Boss Wood up to a ridiculously high standard, but I think his work merits it. What a madman. (I mean, NORTHLANDERS and DMZ every month, this, and he and Cloonan just wrapped the already-badly-missed second volume of DEMO, that is some serious prolificacy)
FABLES #97 – These guys are getting it done. A serious ramp-up to #100, which I imagine is going to really be one for the ages. Rose was so bad! Very cool to see her finally get up out of bed, Willingham let that go just long enough, it felt very natural and unforced. This series is really going to go on forever, I think, it’s already been, what, eight years, and we’re only just now picking up steam after what would have been an excellent series finale in #75. The tales, they demand to be told, I guess.
****
BEST OF WEEK: EX MACHINA #50 – Again, no matter when this one finally landed, nothing else on any week could have even a hope of coming close. But it really all just makes me sad. Which I’m positive is what the crew was going for.
Tuesday night, with maybe an hour a half left in the day, I realized that this was maybe probably at long last coming out this week and scrambled, got going on what I’d meant to for weeks, page 1, THE PILOT, doing just like I did for The End of Yorick Brown and hit every single page starring Mitchell Hundred and all of his friends and enemies, or opponents, I guess he’d say after getting sworn in. So, the upshot was, 25 hours and 49 issues and four specials later, my eyes were bleeding God and it was at long last time to transfuse the last pages on in, find out what went so horribly wrong after the somewhat anticlimactic way that Mitch beat Anti-Suzanne & All the Forces of Hell and the Nether Dimensions last issue (and, I have to say, with all the publishing gaps, this thing read so much better in one insane gasp, but that resolution in #49 still seemed like a total gyp, even if you hadn’t been waiting for extra weeks and weeks).
So now it’s time to start actually talking about the comic book? Great bit on the second page about nomenclature, guess my subconsciousness has been trying to codify that one for a while. They certainly don’t call them tragic books, no. But, yeah, at long last, after all this time, back to Page One Mitch, doomed doomed doomed. The end of this first scene is yet another example of something bothering me over the course of the entire back end of this series that I’d never realized until now: Mitch using The Voice but not really talking to a machine, not giving a command. Kind of like bold text, just used as punctuation, but every single time, it makes me think of Weeping Gorilla from PROMETHEA, and, brother, that is not something you want to conjure unless you are trying to be funny, I promise.
Very cool bit with Mitchell redesigning the fallen tower. Phallic enough for you? Makes perfect sense, though you could just hear the mosque joke anger seething up from the gallery. Or, I could.
So, he turned 40 last year, placing our narrator in the year 2009. Kind of weird, all this mournful narration he’s giving us, all but looking at the camera. Because there’s never anything in his actions or really past tense at all besides immediate momentary shock to suggest regret. Meaning, the entire thing about this series, the initial sale, was, O how fucked up and awful it got once they elected ME, and this entire time, we’ve been waiting for things to really and truly fall apart, and they do kind of and mostly, but it’s a solid bait and switch Vaughan pulls, we’re all definitely looking for the invaders to pour on through and decimate life as we know it, but it’s only the quiet deaths, the relationships shattering, that provide the tragic.
It’s funny and unfortunate and of course synchronistic, I’ve been nurturing this parallel universe invaders concept for a couple of years, and then of course that’s what this and FRINGE turned into. Hey, better men than I. Especially since I guess BKV is really a Beatles fan. I mean, sincerely.
Oh, and that last Bradbury scene read so totally awkward and impossible the first time, but really true and inevitable the next time through. And I guess his parting line kills the ambiguity for me. Mitch is gay. That’s certainly the way things have been leaning for the better part of the series, but surely Bradbury wouldn’t have put himself out there if he wasn’t just about totally certain of reciprocity.
Aw man, and Kremlin. Really nothing to say, except how much Harris apocalypses this scene. You know how it’s going to go, especially when he points the gun at his own head, but the page turn is still such a shock. Really, those two pages together, so affecting. And sad.
God, and then the phone call. Putting the splash page revelation on an odd-numbered page is bad strategy, but it didn’t ruin it for me one little bit, had my eyes trained right where they were supposed to be the entire time. So that’s what happened. Is happening? Somewhere? They’re in charge? Presumably getting ready for the multi-brane invaders? And the charismatic young senator from Illinois getting ready to give them just a hell of a run for it in 2012?
Aw, God, man, it really just makes me so sad. I mean, these things always do, the clearing at the end of the path, Roland or Luke or Dale or Frodo or Tony or Harry or Jack*, or Ben Hawkins or Al Swearingen if they’d only ever had the chance, closing their eyes and finally figuring out what a big circle it’s all really been all along, but this one really cut my heart out a little, that look on his face while looking down at his friends who helped him do what he always wanted to do, be a hero, and then he left them, and still abides, just keeps on going and going, so so heartbreaking.
Fine work, all around. Fade to black, indeed.
*and you want to throw Jon in here, or really Adrian or Dan or Laurie or even Rorschach, but saying Jon would miss the point entirely, because there’s no clearing or end for him, and mentioning any of those other folks without him would just be wrong.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
8/11/10
STEVE ROGERS: SUPER-SOLDIER #2 – This is nothing less than Brubaker and (it’s so hard not to type Epting there, E and p really almost made it out), Brubaker & Eaglesham, I mean to say, dropping a definitive Steve Rogers arc on us. I really haven’t enjoyed the character this much since Brubaker’s first insane year+. I really can’t imagine what he’s got planned for the back half of this, given the caliber of the two cliffhangers we’ve been given. Fantastic work, all around. If this is how we’re going to roll with the character in this mini, AVENGERS: PRIME, SECRET AVENGERS and in, you know, the ongoing periodical entitled CAPTAIN AMERICA, then I really don’t care if he’s inherited that nigh-infinite ubiquity mantle from Logan and Stark.
THE INVINICLE IRON MAN #29 – Larocca’s art kind of bothered me on this one. The cover is great, but his characters’ body language and facial expressions came across as stiff throughout, and the layouts seemed lazy. If the look on Tony Stark’s face conjures up Boss Ford delivering the clunkiest of Lucas’s dialogue, we’re not in a good place, you know? Not that it’s so dire. Fraction’s narrative, as ever, seems to be picking up steam. And I love where he leaves it. This is still probably my favorite Iron Man run and counting. Just need a bit more dynamic from the art.
JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #7 – Isn’t it Lopresti’s week? Bennett was serviceable, as ever, but I was looking forward to the former’s more delicate and balanced touch. Can’t decide if I’m more annoyed by the new Rocket Red or those THE EVENT ads (though I’m actually leaning pretty hard toward the latter). This series really seems like it’s going somewhere, I just hope it actually does in the next couple of issues.
ADVENTURE COMICS #517 – I don’t think Sharpe is a good fit for this book. I don’t want early Image comics anywhere near the back of my mind while reading a title set during the early days of the Legion. And that doesn’t even count the insane development that happens at the book’s end, that, if it came from anyone but Levitz, I would simply dismiss as total hack work, but given that there probably isn’t anyone living who can better lay claim to the title of Writer of Legion of Superheroes, I can only protest but grudgingly allow into my own personal legionnaire canon this story that climaxes with (SPOILERS? Is anybody even reading this?) a cop dying in front of Saturn Girl, who responds to said tragedy by getting drunk, sleeping with Cosmic Boy, then waking up first and wiping the entire encounter from his mind. If JT Krul had written it, I would just say, Of course, but the fact that the authority drops this pretty much straight-up IDENTITY CRISIS-style retcon in here, literally right before the kids go make their first appearance in DCU continuity, really just disturbs me. The first misstep of what’s been an enjoyable franchise reboot.
(Digging the writing on THE ATOM second feature, cool comic book science. The art, less so. Why not have Lemire draw it?)
BEST OF WEEK: DAYTRIPPER #9 – This would be the first issue to hit after INCEPTION. Um. I loved it. Dave Stewart is a god. The THE EVENT ads really drove me insane, here. What’s with the paper stock? Why is it less glossy? I maybe like it better, for this one, right here. I love that the first time you realize it’s a dream within a dream, it’s from the kitchen sink overflowing, repeating that INCEPTION water motif. I maybe still love that movie too much to talk sensibly about this comic book at the moment. There’s already a huge lump in my throat about #10 coming out next month, and I’m lusting after the trade paperback of this that doesn’t even exist yet.
Important work done right here, people, quickens my heart. Yours, too, if you let it.
THE INVINICLE IRON MAN #29 – Larocca’s art kind of bothered me on this one. The cover is great, but his characters’ body language and facial expressions came across as stiff throughout, and the layouts seemed lazy. If the look on Tony Stark’s face conjures up Boss Ford delivering the clunkiest of Lucas’s dialogue, we’re not in a good place, you know? Not that it’s so dire. Fraction’s narrative, as ever, seems to be picking up steam. And I love where he leaves it. This is still probably my favorite Iron Man run and counting. Just need a bit more dynamic from the art.
JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #7 – Isn’t it Lopresti’s week? Bennett was serviceable, as ever, but I was looking forward to the former’s more delicate and balanced touch. Can’t decide if I’m more annoyed by the new Rocket Red or those THE EVENT ads (though I’m actually leaning pretty hard toward the latter). This series really seems like it’s going somewhere, I just hope it actually does in the next couple of issues.
ADVENTURE COMICS #517 – I don’t think Sharpe is a good fit for this book. I don’t want early Image comics anywhere near the back of my mind while reading a title set during the early days of the Legion. And that doesn’t even count the insane development that happens at the book’s end, that, if it came from anyone but Levitz, I would simply dismiss as total hack work, but given that there probably isn’t anyone living who can better lay claim to the title of Writer of Legion of Superheroes, I can only protest but grudgingly allow into my own personal legionnaire canon this story that climaxes with (SPOILERS? Is anybody even reading this?) a cop dying in front of Saturn Girl, who responds to said tragedy by getting drunk, sleeping with Cosmic Boy, then waking up first and wiping the entire encounter from his mind. If JT Krul had written it, I would just say, Of course, but the fact that the authority drops this pretty much straight-up IDENTITY CRISIS-style retcon in here, literally right before the kids go make their first appearance in DCU continuity, really just disturbs me. The first misstep of what’s been an enjoyable franchise reboot.
(Digging the writing on THE ATOM second feature, cool comic book science. The art, less so. Why not have Lemire draw it?)
BEST OF WEEK: DAYTRIPPER #9 – This would be the first issue to hit after INCEPTION. Um. I loved it. Dave Stewart is a god. The THE EVENT ads really drove me insane, here. What’s with the paper stock? Why is it less glossy? I maybe like it better, for this one, right here. I love that the first time you realize it’s a dream within a dream, it’s from the kitchen sink overflowing, repeating that INCEPTION water motif. I maybe still love that movie too much to talk sensibly about this comic book at the moment. There’s already a huge lump in my throat about #10 coming out next month, and I’m lusting after the trade paperback of this that doesn’t even exist yet.
Important work done right here, people, quickens my heart. Yours, too, if you let it.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
8/04/10
BEST OF WEEK: CASANOVA #2 – I think last time we pretty much established that I love this thing far too much to even share the same solar system with words like “objective” or “critical” when discussing it, so let’s just accept that and barrel on, as ever.
As expected, this first double-dose was almost too much for my body to accept, the way maybe when you’ve been drinking too much all night and them some joker or, really, temptress, almost trips over you and decides to pour a bottle of whatever’s handy down into you and that maybe works out swell for about five minutes but then your body just can’t stand any more of all that good, that poison, and so just sends it right back up the hatch? Well, I was dry-heaving Ba after about 20 pages of this, see, so so close to just splashing inbred hyperdimensional espionage goodness up all over the carpet.
And THEN with the old #3 cut into three equally riveting scenes unfolding one page at a time, straight up cribbed from Minear’s fantastic “Out of Gas” episode of FIREFLY (I think you ladies know the one I’m talking about. The ladies reading these words. Ladies?)(no, wait, shit, I think I’m getting that one mixed up with Mal waking up naked in the desert because Joan gave him what for. Never mind about the ladies and Mal’s ass. But that Joan has always been a star, we knew it way back when).
So, had me and had me, and then with the Fraction/Chabon e-mails. Christ Jesus. Kind of makes you want to burn everything else without even giving it a chance. Easily the best $4 anyone can spend this month.
And, actually, writing this made me cough up this e-mail to a friend, which sums it all up much better than the preceding:
For $3.99, released this week, you get colorized versions of the original #s 2 & 3, both of which are just so tight they make my teeth hurt, 32 pages all told, then, when you can't be any more grateful, the fucking backmatter is 8 pages of Chabon/Fraction e-mails basically geeking out over Bond and really lusting after Faye Dunaway. It has to be read to be believed, but you will wish that they were your best friends, too.
____
THE BOYS #45 – The Female appropriating UP’s colored balloons turns out not to just be a great idea for the cover. Man, this series has never been better and Nicky B and company absolutely could not have picked a more opportune time to jack up the price, because I was just so indignant maybe eight weeks ago and am now wondering why they didn’t just jump up to $5. On the edge of my seat.
BRIGHTEST DAY #7 – And wow, Johns & Tomasi totally read my last review and cranked it right the hell up (yes, I realize that this was written a long time ago, but this flippant tone thing I’ve got going is really working for me right now, so please to let’s roll with it). I probably would have picked a cover concept that didn’t give away such a prominent plot point. And, while I’m grousing, those tight-shot ads for NBC’s THE EVENT have just about put me completely off the fucking thing, just because they derailed me about eight times in one night from enjoying stories that I had already paid money for. I mean, I’m all about the Blair Underwood, Jonathan Rollins forevah, but recycling THE MATRIX’s ad campaign 11 years later isn’t really blowing anybody away, you know? Maybe it’ll be great, but I don’t appreciate them just elbowing their way into my Wednesday night.
But the issue. Fine work. Acceleration appreciated. Looking forward to the next issue. Still not quite 52, but you know. Red sky lightning in a bottle, that.
HOUSE OF MYSTERY #28 – The page stock is not as swell as BRIGHTEST DAY. They maybe want to look into that, this one’s going to stand the test of time much better, I’m thinking. Sturges does, has always done in this title, this really amazing trick in the captions where you can totally feel him writing, trying as hard as he can, but where that will usually put me off from about everybody else, I’m always rooting for him, and he always delivers by page’s end. I can’t put it any better than that. Normally, any other time when the author’s voice just crashes into the narrative, it seems like amateur hour, but here it works for me. Maybe because of the premise of the title? I don’t know. Two years+ and going strong. Rossi is a hoss.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #608 – Love Guice’s choreography for that initial fight. Things look worse for poor ol Buck. And, in the last panel, Sam says, “We gotta go now.” That’s totally the “Louie, Louie” quote that Ennis grabbed for that interminable sidekicks arc in the 30s! Oh my head, the connections! This issue is another fine slab of serial goodness, but I can’t for the life of me, all love to McKeever, understand how the second feature got greenlit, let alone not pulled by now. I want my talking heads to be David & Tina, not Liefeld’s reboot of Bucky. I mean, that doesn’t even take math to illustrate.
AVENGERS PRIME #2 – Yeah, I’m just so glad to see Davis/Farmer knocking these pages out, think I’d be a lot more forgiving even if Bendis wasn’t again delivering top-shelf work. This is the issue when our three leads don’t even interact and it’s all still wildly compelling, at least if phrases like “the rainbow bridge across nine worlds” do anything for you. Bendis is a master of the beats. I think anyone who talks shit about him really fails to grasp that, and how important it is in this medium.
S.H.I.E.L.D. #3 – And the telescoping Newton issue! The five-fold understading! The Greater Science, The Hidden Arts, The Secret Alchemy, The Quiet Math, and The Silent Truth.
Say no more, right? Well, we could talk about Being Mentored by Galileo, or How Nostradamus Sees, or What Newton Knows, or How One Smites Galactus, or The Mechanics of Laying with Deviants, but all I really have left is that I probably won’t ever be able to decide if I love this one or DAYTRIPPER more, but will forever revere this calendar year for the chance it gave me to read both of them almost at the same time.
As expected, this first double-dose was almost too much for my body to accept, the way maybe when you’ve been drinking too much all night and them some joker or, really, temptress, almost trips over you and decides to pour a bottle of whatever’s handy down into you and that maybe works out swell for about five minutes but then your body just can’t stand any more of all that good, that poison, and so just sends it right back up the hatch? Well, I was dry-heaving Ba after about 20 pages of this, see, so so close to just splashing inbred hyperdimensional espionage goodness up all over the carpet.
And THEN with the old #3 cut into three equally riveting scenes unfolding one page at a time, straight up cribbed from Minear’s fantastic “Out of Gas” episode of FIREFLY (I think you ladies know the one I’m talking about. The ladies reading these words. Ladies?)(no, wait, shit, I think I’m getting that one mixed up with Mal waking up naked in the desert because Joan gave him what for. Never mind about the ladies and Mal’s ass. But that Joan has always been a star, we knew it way back when).
So, had me and had me, and then with the Fraction/Chabon e-mails. Christ Jesus. Kind of makes you want to burn everything else without even giving it a chance. Easily the best $4 anyone can spend this month.
And, actually, writing this made me cough up this e-mail to a friend, which sums it all up much better than the preceding:
For $3.99, released this week, you get colorized versions of the original #s 2 & 3, both of which are just so tight they make my teeth hurt, 32 pages all told, then, when you can't be any more grateful, the fucking backmatter is 8 pages of Chabon/Fraction e-mails basically geeking out over Bond and really lusting after Faye Dunaway. It has to be read to be believed, but you will wish that they were your best friends, too.
____
THE BOYS #45 – The Female appropriating UP’s colored balloons turns out not to just be a great idea for the cover. Man, this series has never been better and Nicky B and company absolutely could not have picked a more opportune time to jack up the price, because I was just so indignant maybe eight weeks ago and am now wondering why they didn’t just jump up to $5. On the edge of my seat.
BRIGHTEST DAY #7 – And wow, Johns & Tomasi totally read my last review and cranked it right the hell up (yes, I realize that this was written a long time ago, but this flippant tone thing I’ve got going is really working for me right now, so please to let’s roll with it). I probably would have picked a cover concept that didn’t give away such a prominent plot point. And, while I’m grousing, those tight-shot ads for NBC’s THE EVENT have just about put me completely off the fucking thing, just because they derailed me about eight times in one night from enjoying stories that I had already paid money for. I mean, I’m all about the Blair Underwood, Jonathan Rollins forevah, but recycling THE MATRIX’s ad campaign 11 years later isn’t really blowing anybody away, you know? Maybe it’ll be great, but I don’t appreciate them just elbowing their way into my Wednesday night.
But the issue. Fine work. Acceleration appreciated. Looking forward to the next issue. Still not quite 52, but you know. Red sky lightning in a bottle, that.
HOUSE OF MYSTERY #28 – The page stock is not as swell as BRIGHTEST DAY. They maybe want to look into that, this one’s going to stand the test of time much better, I’m thinking. Sturges does, has always done in this title, this really amazing trick in the captions where you can totally feel him writing, trying as hard as he can, but where that will usually put me off from about everybody else, I’m always rooting for him, and he always delivers by page’s end. I can’t put it any better than that. Normally, any other time when the author’s voice just crashes into the narrative, it seems like amateur hour, but here it works for me. Maybe because of the premise of the title? I don’t know. Two years+ and going strong. Rossi is a hoss.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #608 – Love Guice’s choreography for that initial fight. Things look worse for poor ol Buck. And, in the last panel, Sam says, “We gotta go now.” That’s totally the “Louie, Louie” quote that Ennis grabbed for that interminable sidekicks arc in the 30s! Oh my head, the connections! This issue is another fine slab of serial goodness, but I can’t for the life of me, all love to McKeever, understand how the second feature got greenlit, let alone not pulled by now. I want my talking heads to be David & Tina, not Liefeld’s reboot of Bucky. I mean, that doesn’t even take math to illustrate.
AVENGERS PRIME #2 – Yeah, I’m just so glad to see Davis/Farmer knocking these pages out, think I’d be a lot more forgiving even if Bendis wasn’t again delivering top-shelf work. This is the issue when our three leads don’t even interact and it’s all still wildly compelling, at least if phrases like “the rainbow bridge across nine worlds” do anything for you. Bendis is a master of the beats. I think anyone who talks shit about him really fails to grasp that, and how important it is in this medium.
S.H.I.E.L.D. #3 – And the telescoping Newton issue! The five-fold understading! The Greater Science, The Hidden Arts, The Secret Alchemy, The Quiet Math, and The Silent Truth.
Say no more, right? Well, we could talk about Being Mentored by Galileo, or How Nostradamus Sees, or What Newton Knows, or How One Smites Galactus, or The Mechanics of Laying with Deviants, but all I really have left is that I probably won’t ever be able to decide if I love this one or DAYTRIPPER more, but will forever revere this calendar year for the chance it gave me to read both of them almost at the same time.
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