8/15/12

RORSCHACH #1—Of course, there’s all kinds of concern with giving this guy his own series. Not whether or not he can anchor it, but whether the poor bastards they’ve talked into producing it can come anywhere within hot-grease-throwing distance of a narrative worthy of the character who stood at the heart of, and indeed, served as the initial forward momentum for what many folks believe is the greatest comic book series of all time. I went in with optimism, Azzarello and Bermejo have a solid track record in previous collaboration. The cover is immaculate, one of those few things you can hold up to the no-look naysayers and say, “See, this is why BEFORE WATCHMEN.” But how are the interiors? Well, the art certainly holds up. Lee Bermejo is one of the master craftsman in the industry, I can’t believe that he’s produced as many pages of sequentials as he has in such a gorgeous, fully-rendered painted style. The zoom-out for the first two pages is perfect and then that opening shot of Rorschach-cloud New York is perfect. As is the dialogue on that third page. Of course, we’ve got to start with an entry in the good old diary, but Azzarello provides plenty of nuance here. It’s 1977, so the first word is “I,” our protagonist has not yet become the man whose narrative voice we know so well eight years hence. The second sentence, he drops the subject just like we’re used to, opens with the verb, but then still uses the first-person pronoun in the predicate. Smart smart writing. Walter Joseph proceeds to relate yet another old story about how his whore mother was basically just the worst in the world. And it’s tonally perfect. Especially the punchline after the page turn. This feels like Kovacs. The rest of the issue is basically all set-up. Our boy beats the hell out of some goons for information. Azzarello gets to have fun bouncing a sound effect off of dialogue with a gleeful abandon that would never work in any other context. We meet Bourquin and Fine, just barely less jaded and grizzled than they are in that last month of their lives, as they stumble across the body from the opening scene, natch. Rorschach gets ambushed and all beat to hell. Then he rolls into Gunga Diner and gives some tough talk to hold us over until next issue. The verdict on this one is that it has potential. If the rest of the issue had been as symphonic as that third page, then I’d be frothing at the mouth like I was for SILK SPECTRE. But Azzarello, ever the master of pace, makes the decision to dial it way down this opening issue. Not necessarily a bad thing, just a choice that makes it hard to judge this one too strongly one way or another. As a single, it did not destroy me. But this is a slow burn, I’ve got faith.

BEST OF WEEK: WONDER WOMAN #12—What a year-end payoff! Great Zeus, these gentlemen dropped the justice. This issue has all of the high-level trademarks we’ve come to expect: Azzarello’s whip-smart dialogue that almost seems too clever for its own good until you begin to suspect that its also operating on a third level that whose meaning is only clear to the author, dynamic shots from Chiang, and a vivid palette from Wilson (whose name really deserves to be on the cover). Only, this particular installment happens to serve as the climax for the entire story we’ve been rocking up until now with a couple of serious last-minute plot twists. That last page had me gasping and choking at the same time, just terribly messed up about the poetry of the whole thing, such a great idea that seems obvious in hindsight but that I seriously doubt anyone sitting around trying to guess the ending of this long arc could have possibly seen coming. There’s even a strong hint in-issue, when Diana throws off her bracelets, the Kirby Krackle is suddenly unleashed! We’ve still got one more week left, but with the first-year final pages of BATMAN, ACTION, ANIMAL MAN, and SWAMP THING on the stands, I think I’ve got to give it to this one above all others for providing a very satisfying resolution for what has come before while dropping the heartstopping out of nowhere madness last page that earns another year’s worth of patronage all by itself. A terrific idea and perfectly executed way to organically introduce one of my favorite corners of the DC Universe into this post-reboot landscape. I’ve got a million questions and can’t wait to find out what happens next. Which means you’re doing serial fiction right. Full marks.

BATWOMAN #12—Cool transitioning on the pile this week, the double-shot of Azzarello giving way to his girl guest-starring here. And, you know, I really don’t pay that much attention to the covers until I’ve already read the issue + I had dropped this until JH came back on art, both of which combined for me to have no idea that Wonder Woman was even in this book until I got to the bottom of the first page, and let me tell you, it is good news to have already begun a story and realize that JH Williams III is about to drop a Batwoman/Wonder Woman team-up in your lap. And how he delivers! I wish that this could be the one New 52 book where they’re just like, Okay it isn’t monthly it comes out when it comes out and isn’t that what you people want? Because that’s the way it should be. It’s not fair to ANYone to have to draw fill-in arcs for this book. It’s impossible. I guess I’d like to see Jock or Francavilla try, but I’d rather just wait. Seven or eight issues a year would be fine. Williams, once again, like he has every single time since at least that “The Black Glove” arc with Morrison a few years back, plus I guess why not go ahead and count PROMETHEA, delivers a master class in sequential storytelling/page layout/panel composition/mixed-art style to reflect subject matter, I mean, the guy is a raging maniac. The opening ad-free 11-page scene is nothing less than a tour de force. I could probably do a thousand words about how each double-page spread is just the sickest thing ever, but then you turn the page and he bitchslaps you with an entirely different bag of tricks, this whole new level of innovation. I’d love it if the big bad monster at the very end of this long story turns out to be JH himself, frothing at the mouth, hunkered over his drawing board, warping Kate’s very reality into inconceivable panoramic vistas of ornate perfection that leaves even this hardened ex-Marine Batwoman a drooling vegetable because it’s all just so so pretty to look at.

FATALE #7—Here we are with Chapter 100 or however many of Brubaker/Phillips completely kicking ass, with series regular Dave Stewart along for the ride on pretty colors. This one is perfectly engaging and works well as a single installment, though I’ll be damned if I know how it’s going to lock in with the first chapter or the present-tense prologues we’ve been getting. There are comics professionals and then there are these guys, just a cut above almost everybody. The second installment of the Nevins essay is, like last month, perfectly informative but not quite as rhapsodic as we’ve grown accustomed to from the pen of the great annotator.

SAGA #6—Everyone’s falling all over themselves about how great this book is and I’m just not seeing it. It’s certainly not a bad read, but it’s nowhere near as flattening as it should be. If you pitched me “BKV’s new longform creator-owned space opera, in which science fiction and magic collide every bit as star-crossed as Romeo & Juliet + baby/attached ghost girl, and all of the galaxy is trying to catch them. Plus, he got Fiona Staples to do interiors,” then I’m all over that. That sounds wonderful, but the contemporary dialogue is just murdering it for me. Modern-day slang like “Because of course,” takes me right out of it. And that’s on the bottom of the second page. And Alanna says “literally” when she doesn’t have to, just like everybody else in the world at the moment. No sign of “epic fail,” as of yet. The art’s wonderful and expressive, as is Miz Staples’ hand-drawn lettering. I want to love this, am so in BKV’s corner, but not nearly as crushed as I feel like I should be by now. You can’t beat the value on that trade, though.

AVENGERS VS X-MEN #10—Ya-ha-hah, well the old girl is really ramping up now. There are enough slambang moments in this one to getcha all pumped up about WHO WINS/LOSES/LIVES/DIES?!?!? I’m not sure why Charley’s little speech on Page Five made Cap shed a patriotic tear, though. I mean, yeah, this whole thing sucks, but Big Daddy X is just now manning up, getting ready to go to work and tear down his old QB1, the Sentinel of Liberty/First Avenger getting all verklempt is like the last thing he needs to see right now. Was anybody hoping Magneto was going to somehow straight-up end dear Emma? I’ve certainly enjoyed her role this decade and can’t believe that editorial has let it last this long in this brave all-new all-different post-Morrison era, but that would have been the big damn fun. Which I’m given to understand is the point of this whole thing. Also, reclaiming market share from the New 52 and setting up increased revenue going forward, but come on, play with me here. The Chaos Fist knows what I’m talking about. She punched him to the Blue Area of the Moon! That’s where Jean died! Or at least the Phoenix simulacrum, but you know what I mean! UNCANNY #137 tore my heart out, son.

THE AVENGERS #29—Huh. This was just weird. Of course, it’s great fun to see Simonson draw yet another big throwdown of everyone’s favorite box-office icons, but Bendis usually regulates his tie-ins really well so that everything bounces off each other just so. It’s totally fine to have this take place before AvX #8 and come out now, but in weeklies, I always read the core title before tie-ins to make sure that the main cliffhangers don’t get spoiled and it’s incredibly anticlimactic to have Xavier swearing off the conflict and wiping everyone’s memories three issues in the past, when we’ve in the core series, we’ve just read him announce his intention to resolve the conflict once and for all. Narratively a misfire, but still, you know, Simonson.

DAREDEVIL #17—Like Snyder last week, Waid seizes the opportunity of a fill-in and crafts a pretty flattening done-in-one that does its dead-level best to surpass all that’s come before. The Allreds show up here and lay the business down. That super-clean retro hearkening-back-to-the-Silver-Age kind of style they’ve got going is a perfect fit for this book. Mrs. Laura, in particular, tears it up with her palette. The whole thing made me miss that batshit version of X-FORCE they did a few years back with Milligan. And what a beautiful yarn Waid crafted to anchor the flashback. Comics done right, people!