23 Jun, 2008
Picks & Pans for June 18, 2008
By: PCSbot
Ernie Estrella, Albo, David Uzumeri, and Carissa Koo came out of the gate swinging. Wolverine ended up being a triple pick, Amazing Spider-Man #546 was very well received, My Inner Bimbo #5 caught some of what we call “critical acclaim,” and SI: Fantastic Four #2 managed to score some newbie love. Well done, comics!
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David U.: I was initially very skeptical of another Bob Gale arc, since I wasn’t a huge fan of his original Freak story or the one-shot follow-up in #558. To my considerable surprise, I found myself enjoying the hell out of this two-parter, which concludes this week in #563. The art is clean and clear, as you’d expect from McKone, and Gale turns in a genuinely funny and smart script that really feels like a good Spider-Man story. A surprising gem. |
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Carissa: Don’t let the cheesy spy-girl covers fool you. It’s only issue #2, and I already know that this is one of those series I’m going to be attacking the racks for. For one thing, I dig the plot concept. It’s brilliantly future-tech sci-fi, with enough explained about the imaginary worlds to understand the setting of the book and what’s happening, but not too much so that I constantly want to know more. In fact, Anna Mercury reminds me of a good RPG video game, with its carefully balanced breakups of action and exposition, iconic characters, heavy plot lines, and the potential for huge “say-what?!” plot twists. There’s also a strange interactive quality to this series, perhaps due to the static setting of LaunchPad and its anonymous characters, which almost makes me feel like I am LaunchPad, monitoring Anna Mercury’s health levels and telling her what to do. I highly recommend re-reading #1 after reading this issue. There’s a great, satisfying “I see now!” feeling after doing so. |
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Ernie: Remember picking up a grasshopper as a kid and holding one leg and then pulling the other until both ripped out? What’s left of that carcass is how Matty Roth feels. He’s in the middle of a tug-of-war battle between his parents and like many children would do he does his best to appease both of them. And the winner in all of it could be Parco Delgado, the man Matty and the people of the DMZ are hoping to give them real representation in this civil war. But that’s hard to do when you’re in a coma. So as the situation escalates, what does Matty do? What would you do? Yeah, I’d keep reading, too. |
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Ernie: Of all the Virgin Comics Director’s Cut comics, Dock Walloper really does work well as a movie storyboard. When read, you can imagine a big set, feel the romance of prohibition New York, the dialogue spoken, and the action on screen. But this works also really well as a comic. There are larger-than-life characters, attention to detail, the thrill of the chase and the reality of consequence. Walloper’s a title that will most likely go unnoticed but I like that titles like this exist. It’s an attempt to do something different in a comforting and familiar format. After coming out of the blocks ahead, DW settled into a confident groove. The closing issue mimics the entire story as a whole, by having a great first act, a slow second act and a real nice finish that’s sure to leave your buds with the taste of tasty hops and barley. I hope that Burns, Palmiotti and Thomas collaborate again. Two of the three are relative newcomers to comics. Each brings their own brand of storytelling to the table and it shows in the end result. Many cheers to an enjoyable mini-series. |
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Ernie: After kicking the shit out of nurses and zombie ghosts, Blaze is looking at another angle to get to Zadkiel, the angel who created him. Where do some people find religion? In solitary confinement, or bigger yet, behind the cold hard steel of prison bars. Aaron’s Ghost Rider is like remembering fondly of escaping hot saturday afternoons in the summer by going to the local grindhouse double features minus the popcorn on the floor and silhouettes of roaches in the theater; you’d tolerate the filthy environment because the feature was so entertaining. Aaron is playing to Ghost Rider readers who have been around for the long ride with his vast knowledge of the character’s legacy, but he’s brought the newcomer in ripping and gearing to go as long as the story keep kicking down doors and punching guts. Huat’s art is a change over Roland Boschi and is more detailed and intricate, so let’s give Villarrubia a warm round of applause in work in this arc, too! |
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Ernie: Constantine is one of the best characters in comics, wanna know why? The mere mention of him, or the presence of him lurking around the panels is enough to carry a story. In the first of two issues written by Scalped creator, Jason Aaron, American filmmakers want to tell the story of Constantine’s brief but memorable stint as a rock star. They travel to where it all happened and realize that sex, drugs and rock & roll can be a dangerous combination. Aaron is the just the second American writer to take the Constantine reigns and takes a bit of America–obnoxious and all–across the pond and makes for a fun read. It’s a two-issue distraction and then we get back to the regularly scheduled Andy Diggle madness. I also dug Murphy’s fill-in art who I have never seen before. His art had a fresh mix of punk & graffiti, 90’s Wildstorm art, and Tomm Coker/Ashley Wood giving off an underground, modern aesthetic that fit what the music was at that time. |
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David U.: It’s wonderful to see McDuffie getting back to this title’s grand arc and finally wrapping up plot threads that have been hanging since Brad Meltzer left; unfortunately, due to no fault of his own, it’s come so late that most people kind of forgot about Vixen and Red Tornado. This would be overcome with a smart script, which McDuffie provides, but it’s disastrously dragged down by some truly incongruous art that transforms a coherent story into a series of disconnected pin-up shots. A step forward narratively, but seriously, can’t you put anyone else on this book’s art? |
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Albo: This book is Sam Keith at his absolute rawest. The pages feature some of his best looking art in years and are densely packed with an incredibly personal story the likes of which I’ve never read before. Make no mistake, the book is slow going, but it is supremely rewarding. The story follows a sixty-something man who has spent his whole life looking for female approval and whose “femmy” side manifests herself as a “Bimbo,” who starts as a sex slave but is always transforming into more mature forms, many of which are decidedly antagonistic. This is the last issue of the series, and I’m not sure if it was popular enough to collect in a trade, so I can’t recommend strongly enough that you get out there and try to find some back issues. If you like Sam Keith at all, or are just looking for something completely different from every other book on the shelf, you really shouldn’t miss this. |
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Carissa: Even with all the dark, gritty details of RASL’s world, there’s something really magical and charming about this comic that shows in this issue. The characters, in particular Rasl, are well defined and have believable personalities. Rasl’s internal battle with hope, faith, and what he should do versus what he thinks he needs to do give life to the story, even in those pages where he simply stands there and says nothing. I should actually say especially in those pages, since part of the charm of RASL comes from the excellent scripting. Instead of packing action, dialogue, and motion into every single panel like many comics do, RASL’s exciting moments are interspersed with stillness and silence. There are entire pages where nothing is said, and nothing much happens, and these pages are beautiful. They’re almost haunting, and they force readers to be interactive, imagining the scene in their own minds, putting thought bubbles into that empty space beside the characters. When there is dialogue, it’s also well scripted and doesn’t sound unbelievable or cheesy, even with all the talk of alternate dimensions and lizard men taking place. I particularly enjoyed that conversation Annie had with Rasl about the maze. Oh heck, I enjoyed every conversation they had and everything that happened in this issue. I am very eagerly awaiting the next one! |
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Ernie: After Dead Mothers, readers needed a much-deserved break from the power and intensity. With a very cool Tim Bradstreet cover, the shift was apparent. For one issue, we get the story of Falls Down, the good cop in Red Crow’s law enforcement. He’s an old-fashioned sonofabitch and captures that scary moment when you notice that the whole world has passed you by; when your actions are second-guessed and you can no longer relate to how the world works. When it happens, it can be frightening. The way it’s played out in Scalped can be downright haunting. |
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Carissa: I’ll admit it. I don’t read too much Fantastic Four and I’ve been generally disappointed in the Secret Invasion titles, but I kind of liked this comic. Oh sure, there were parts where I grimaced at the utter cheesiness, (see Johnny Storm and Lyja overcome a life-long Skrull/Human war and fight Cthulhu of the Negative Zone through the shining power of LOVE) but it was, in all, an entertaining, cute little issue. Reed Richard’s kids were adorable in their giant robot suit, trying to fill in the shoes of the two missing Fantastic Four members. The characters were all portrayed accurately, and there was great, believable family dynamic between all of them. Johnny Storm’s narrative at the beginning was pretty funny. The part where Lyja reveals her master plan to Johnny was cliché and annoying, but I can overlook that. There’s nothing ground-breaking about this issue in relation to the Secret Invasion storyline, and nothing that will leave you on the edge of your seats, but sometimes, cute is all you need when taking a bathroom break. |
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David U.: When Green came onto this title, I was initially highly skeptical - TV-to-comics migrants tend to have some stumbling blocks, especially ones recommended by Jeph Loeb. His previous assignment, a six-issue Batman Confidential arc that retold the Joker’s origin, was pretty much a can’t-win assignment because giving the Joker a definitive origin is largely considered a mistake in the first place. Still, he did his best. Then he got this title. And, uh, as of this sixth issue, it’s one of my favorite DC books. It’s funny without being irreverent, it’s self-aware without being contemptuous - it’s just a fun, well-written, on-the-nose superhero comic. I’m looking forward to more from this run and more from Green, and I’d really recommend this book (the concept is almost unimportant - Superman and Batman are cleaning up Kryptonite, but the pleasures are all in the detail and art) to any general DCU superhero fan. |
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Carissa: Once more, our heroes appear in only four pages of their own series. Batman should really get himself a new lawyer if he plans to have money to lavish on his lady friends and boy wonders. I was impressed with the appearance they made though. Seeing Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman suddenly floating there in the middle of the battlefield, owning over 3/4 of the page, brought back some of that old charm the Big Three had been missing in the first two issues. “Fall back, Canary. You’ve done a fine job. But you need a breather.” Classic lines, Superman. After their initial appearance though, the trinity engaged in the same uninteresting fight scene from issue #2. It also looks like the fight is going to continue past issue #3 into #4, in which case I’m going to start vaccinating against Secret Invasion Slow-Mo Sydrome. I love gratuitous violence as much as the next person, but I don’t see the point in dragging out the same kind of gratuitous violence for that long. Even with all my whining, it was nice to see the power dynamics between Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman in this battle. Not many battles I see with these three shows them falling into the roles of leader/subordinate that they would only have when teaming together. As usual, there was a little side story unrelated to the trinity in this issue. This side story is what turns issue #3 from “eh” into “not bad!” It’s the return of tarot girl from issue #1, and hey, her story is actually interesting. Being a new character, her personality is actually visible and fleshed out, which is something every other character in this series lacks. We also find out through Rita’s story a lot of what future issues of Trinity may be about, but we do so by using our own heads rather than having a jabber mouth villain tell us his master plan. (cough issue #1 cough) I like to feel some semblance of smart while reading a comic. |
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Albo: Awesome! The first issue in the “Old Man Logan” story, this book takes place fifty years after the villains finally won. Almost all of the heroes are dead, and the United States have been split into regions controlled by supervillain factions. Logan lives the quiet life of a farmer with a wife and kids (one of whom is named Scotty… Awwww), getting by and paying rent to a gang of the Hulk’s descendants who ride around in the old Fantasticar. It’s a cool post-apocalyptic world, and while it certainly shares the Mad Max aesthetic touchstones that no post-apocalypse can get away from, there are a few cool little touches that separate it from what you’ve seen before. Anyway, the problems arise when pacifist Logan can’t make rent and gets his ass kicked by the gang. His healing factor isn’t what it used to be, which introduces some tension that most Wolverine stories don’t have–finally the man isn’t unbeatable. He has to accept a proposition from Hawkeye to go on a delivery mission for some cash, leaving his family behind. As long as they don’t all get slaughtered, thus slinging this story down a cliched path we’ve all seen before, it should be a fun ride. Oh, did I mention Steve McNiven is a goddamn stunning artist? |
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Ernie: Welcome to the Mark Millar Circus of Hype. For the next year we get the Civil War creative team and a futuristic apocalyptic story that is WOLVERINE’S ALL-TIME GREATEST ADVENTURE! Bold statement, given that there’s like 8 new Wolverine stories. Wolverine went through some traumatic battle, so much that he goes into hiding for 50 years. He’s made a new life for himself, he’s a father, a husband, and the claws have remained beneath the skin since that day. How far in the future are we? Does this fall in line with the X-Traitor storyline? We don’t know. It’s been long enough for Bruce Banner to have grandchildren. Even long enough for the United States to have been overrun by villains and conquered by Marvel’s worst. So “Old Man Logan” comes out of retirement and after reading the Ultimates, we know Millar is heavily influenced by movies and this story smells of Unforgiven and Mad Max. Will this be what the cover claims to be? Who knows, but it’s a good start. |
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David U.: Millar returns to Wolverine for a sort of hyperkinetic Mad Max-inspired postapocalyptic take on the Marvel Universe, and like many Millar comics, it’s an idea (and result) that’s simultaneously utterly ridiculous and completely awesome. Millar’s made a solid career out of writing dumb comics for smart people, and this continues the trend, with a bunch of cool ideas thrown at you every second (The Hulks Have Eyes! Pacifist Logan! Return of the Spider-Buggy!) tempered by the fact that sometimes it feels like those ideas are just there to be cool rather than serve any narrative purpose. Of course, I’m on issue one of eight, so I’m open to eating my hat. If you’re reading comics reviews, you know Millar’s style; if you like Millar’s style, you will probably enjoy this comic. Smart dumb fun. |
