Picks & Pans – March 19, 2008
Posted by: on March 14, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Whoops! We’re running a little behind schedule today, mostly because I got the great idea to try a new P&P design. It lists more info, but it’s also a little longer. Give us some feedback on it! Does it look good? Awful? Too much, too little, too late? Let us know.
However, our Picks & Pans gang is in full effect, with Samantha of Neither Doormat Nor Prostitute, Jason Michelitch, David Uzumeri of Funnybook Babylon, Ernie Estrella, and Gavin Jasper of 4thletter! talking about this past week’s comics. There were a number of big winners– Captain America #36 and Incredible Hercules #115 being particularly well-reviewed. Ernie even managed to say everything I wanted to say about 100 Bullets, too. Jason’s got a full review of War Is Hell #1 up here, if’n you’re interested.
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Ernie:Location, location, and location. One of the endless “bullet” points as to why this book is so good, is the locations. Every place this epic takes place whether it’s Vegas, Chicago, New York, Rome, Paris, Miami, Atlantic City, border towns, hell even Cleveland and takes the best of each to romanticize this world but each location has its own mystique, dark corners and hidden past. These spots are where the characters in 100 Bullets are born, bred, and play. The beginning of the end starts here, in the beginning of what will likely be the last two stories in the series. Pick this up with the trades that build to this point and see where the lines in the sand are drawn and who steps behind them. |
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Samantha:This title’s been languishing for a while, certainly since McKeever took over, and arguably, since OYL began. But, while a long way from perfect, it regained some of its lost momentum in this title. First and foremost, Helena’s personality came back! As she was fighting with Zinda in attempt to get Zinda to overcome the brainwashing, she sounded like the old feisty Helena. No spouting off about anyone being “pure of spirit,” as she was doing last issue. Her battle cry this time was one of a woman who doesn’t want to hurt her friend, but will commence butt-kicking if necessary – and frankly, with Helena, that should always be on the menu. That Zinda overcame the drugging of her own free will also rang very true to the type of women who brought me to this title in the first place, back when it was Dinah and Babs. That point is further driven home when Barbara tells Misfit that Zinda and Helena can take care of themselves. |
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David U.: Ed Brubaker’s Cap is like a roller coaster – no, seriously, hear me out. You can see about five yards in front of you most of the time, and you can always tell what the next twist is going to be. But the overall picture – and the meticulousness of its construction – will completely elude you until the end, when you walk off and look at it in perspective. That’s this run, and that’s why every ’shocker’ in this book has seemed so fascinating and yet inevitable. This is the last part of “The Burden of Dreams”, the second act of the Cap’s Death Saga, and it ends on a moment of crushing weight for the storyline. God, I love this comic. |
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Samantha:In this issue, we really see Bucky struggling to live up to the ideals Steve established during his time in the costume. We see it physically, after Bucky gets thoroughly trounced by Crossbones. We also see it mentally, as he tries – and fails – to deliver the speech that Steve would have given to calm the protesters. And most gratifyingly of all, we see him struggling as he admits that, as much as he’s trying to live up to what Steve would have been, he’s also doing this for himself, to make up for all the years he spent under mind control. Mixed in between all this lovely character development are some excellent fight scenes with Sin and Crossbones, and the best Tony Stark Marvel has produced in years. |
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Samantha: When this issue starts, Selina is still trapped inside her “mental submission” box on the alien prison planet. As such, she believes she is in a world in which she can do anything she wants. This, for the reader, has the delightful side effect of letting her go through and kick everyone in the JLA’s butt. It is sheer gratuitous hero on hero violence at its best. As the story ends, however, both the reader and Selina realize that this is all just a figment of her mind trying to give her a perfect world to make up for the shambles of a life she has back home, and Selina vows that if she could pick up the pieces and determine her own fate in the fake version of her life, she can do so in real life, too. I hope so, because I would like to have a Selina I can root for again, like I used to pre-OYL and like I did in this issue. |
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David U:This comic is so specifically targeted that I’m kind of stymied DC has made it the backbone of this whole event cycle; that said, maybe the original idea for Countdown was a more general, ‘reader-friendly’ version of this title. (They failed.) My main comment regarding this issue is the cheap trick Starlin plays regarding last issue’s cliffhanger – I don’t want to elaborate, but it’s a really dirty narrative trick that left me with a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the issue. Luckily, it improves after that, with solid character moments as everything goes towards a fairly predictable final destination. This book really isn’t for the average reader, and Starlin’s distaste for some characters (like Scott Free) makes it somewhat unpalatable for a lot of hardcore Kirby fans, too. It’s a fun guessing game and Starlin’s Metron is still great, but it’s not a great comic. |
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Ernie:“Cinderella Cut it Up One Time… Let’s talk about war, bay-bee, let’s talk about war, bay-bee. Let’s talk about all the goblins and the dead guys there will be…” Like every issue of Fables, you never know what type of story you’ll get. You just get it all with this series. This time around, Cinder-fucking-rella plays a game of espionage and does so efficiently–and succinctly–I might add. She’s to obtain an important part for the war against the adversary. Bill Willingham and the boys blue, Mark Buckingham and Steve Leialoha cut up the spy game playing by all the rules when you need to and then knowing just when to break them. It seems like every story that comes up, I say, “Ooh, this is going to be the big one.” and that’s what this crew continually accomplishes nearly every single storyline, topping themselves and building on the massive world they’ve recreated. |
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Samantha:I don’t really like Wally West. I generally think that Barry was a better Flash, and Bart was a better person, so I’m kind of annoyed that we’re stuck with Wally as Flash again. I mostly read his comic because he’s a former Titan, and I have Titan obligation issues. That bias being in place, I still really loved this issue. It really brought Wally down off the pedestal he’s been on – he’s not portrayed as the greatest Flash ever, as Waid had a tendency to do too often. He worries about being a good dad, gets a (deserved) lecture from Jay Garrick, and is cranky and irritable, but understandably so considering he’s an unemployed father of two kids who may wake up older than he is tomorrow. But on the flip side, he’s a very good dad and has the only (currently) healthy marriage at DC in which he and Linda are genuine partners. This issue made me like Wally, and fall in love with his family – which is important since the title is about all four of them, and not just Wally himself. Also on the positive side, the art is gorgeous, and I look forward to seeing Spin cause some more havoc in Wally’s life. |
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David U:Iloved Tom Peyer on Hourman, and here he does a pretty good job of keeping up the lighthearted tone Mark Waid set. It really harkens back to the Flash stores of the early ’90s, with silly villains that really only act as catalysts for stories about Wally’s life and his place in the DC Universe as the perennial working-class hero. Nothing incredibly special, and West-family haters won’t be swayed, but I enjoyed it. |
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Jason:I know everybody is pretty much done with John Byrne these days, but I still love his art. There’s a great energy to his comics, and I always wished he’d done more things like Danger Unlimited, self-contained bursts of adventure, as opposed to diddling around with the Fourth World or The Demon, trying to prove to the world that he understood how to do Kirby’s characters better than anyone else, as if being the best Johnny-come-lately was somehow something to aspire to. (Oh, hey, I just caught the pun with “Johnny-come-lately”. Completely unintended, but now I love it). Anyway – though I wish he wouldn’t ink himself, I still like Byrne’s art, and so for about the first third of FX I was tricked into thinking it was a good comic book. Then I started actually paying attention to the script by Wayne Osborne, and realized just how much of a half-assed early-Spider-Man rip off the whole thing was, only with less believable teenaged dialogue than even Stan Lee was able to muster. There’s something sort of admirable about how the superpower the main character acquires is basically the ultimate in eight-year-old wish-fulfillment: being able to do any of the things he pretends to do when he’s goofing around with his buddy (like pointing his finger pretending it’s a ray gun, only to have it shoot actual rays). And, yes, the kid really does name himself “FX” as a superhero, as in, “wouldn’t this look great as movie FX?” I’m not sure if this book is a blatant try for a movie option, or just nostalgia-heavy for old superhero books, or both. At least there’s a giant talking gorilla for the hero to fight, so it wasn’t a total loss. And, y’know, the art was good. |
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Ernie:Ghost Rider is one title that I was never drawn to despite all of the inspired creative teams over the years. But Jason Aaron is a big fan of the Rider, and he knows these characters back to front. Thanks to the Daniel Way’s run, Ghost Rider’s an angel instead of demon and is hunting down the rogue angel, Zadkiel. I didn’t know what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t this. This new direction is something fresh in the Marvel landscape with everything else seemingly involved in a post-Civil War or the Skree Invasion. I was never drawn into the nineties connection with Blade and the Nightstalkers, and the movie did nothing to get me interested but setting churches ablaze, nurses toting uzis, and fire and brimstone battle between heaven and hell–this sounds like fun! And Roland Boschi’s art reminds me of when an unknown Jae Lee broke onto the scene with Namor, I hope he remains for Aaron’s entire run and we can see him grow as an artist. Aaron is the reason I picked up Ghost Rider this month but I have a good feeling I’ll be picking it up for the next couple of years for many more. |
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Ernie:In “Hell-Bent and Heaven Bound” Jason Aaron is taking a character who in my opinion is in Marvel’s third or fourth class and taking him close to the top of the second. He’s taking everything that’s slick about Johnny Blaze and really emphasizing that by placing him in 70’s exploitation-type story. I understand the apprehension, people, I am talking about Ghost Rider but here’s the hook. After taking on the devil, Blaze finds out all this time he’s been a tool of the baddest-ass rogue angel behind the pearly gates, Zadkiel. So the hunt is on and heaven’s throwing everything at this guy including a hospital where nurses are packing semi-automatic heat. It’s a hip premise complete with flesh devouring creatures and corn field fisticuffs. Aaron’s also answering the question: why is Montana such a large state and so sparsely populated? You can hear the soundtrack skipping, smell the leather burning off the pages, and witness the making of the turnaround of the year. Pick this up! |
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David U:Jason Aaron mentioned he was going for a sort of grindhouse theme with this comic, and he’s succeeding without making the story seem fluffy or weightless. In terms of subject matter and tone, this really reminds me of Preacher in all the ways Way (ha) was reaching for but never got, and I hope Aaron fits some time for character development in eventually (but since this is only his second issue, I’m willing to give him a balls-out-the-gate opening few issues). |
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David U:I thought this book was going to be good, but like everyone else, I don’t think anybody was expecting it to be THIS good. From interviews, as far as I can tell even Pak and Van Lente are surprised by the reaction. They shouldn’t be – this is a completely amazing comic that deserves all the praise, a well-constructed surprise hit in the vein of Immortal Iron Fist. This issue wraps up the first arc beautifully, continuing the great mixture of introspection, mythology and humor that marked the first three issues. I’m really excited for the future of this comic. |
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Gavin:Greg Pak finds characters with potential and makes sure they fulfill that potential. That’s what he did for Hulk and that’s what he’s doing for Hercules. Hell, the guy was able to do it for freaking Johnny Ohm and Brigade, but that’s neither here nor there. It’s great that Marvel was able to take the momentum Hercules gathered from Civil War and make it into one of their best ongoing series. The issue is filled with great humor, great character interactions, absolutely fantastic action (the list of badass things Ares has done grows longer) and a really nice moment where Hercules explains the true story of one of the old myths about him. I can’t say enough good things about this series. Loeb stealing the Hulk for himself and crapping it up is almost worth it. |
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Gavin:Part of me never wants this storyline to end. There seem to be like fifty different subplots going on here, but not a single one fails to keep my attention. I’ve found that Fraction’s main skill is to make you think the story is going in a certain direction, only to go in a different, more exciting direction. That’s definitely what I feel with this whole storyline. From the first issue it looked like we’d be seeing some variation of Iron Fist vs. Davos in the end, yet we’re getting something infinitely better. The coolest thing about this issue is the flashbacks to Wendell Rand’s past. The entire thing is a sweet parallel to Danny’s initial storyline, back in the 70’s. |
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Gavin: It’s the setup for the major shakeup that’s been hyped for the next issue, as well as closure to the Doc Seismic crossover story. The main story here is the long-teased confrontation between Invincible and Cecil, which is the natural thing to do. After all, the series got off the ground by having Mark learn his father’s dark secrets and challenge him. Now it’s the same, but different. The real highlight of issue is Invincible’s explosion at another hero and the hypocrisy that comes from it. I don’t mean hypocrisy from what Mark’s done in an earlier issue, as Cecil brings up, but from what he was going to do in this one. |
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Samantha:As I sit here trying to express my discontent with this issue, I realize there are a number of problems I could pick. I could complain about bad characterization, for one, and the fact that Cheshire has tried to kill almost everyone Roy has loved at one point or the other and making him be obsessed with her makes me wonder if he’s having a smack relapse. Failing that, I could complain about the plot holes from the last issue to this one. |
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Jason:WAR IS HELL: THE FIRST FLIGHT OF THE PHANTOM EAGLE is a new WWI aviation comic written by Garth Ennis, and thus is a guaranteed purchase for me. I always thought that WAR STORIES from DC/Vertigo was one of Garth Ennis’s finest hours as a writer, and apparently someone at Marvel did too. Something about war clearly brings out the best in Ennis, and Howard Chaykin is as worthy a collaborator (if not moreso) than any of the WAR STORIES artists. |
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Gavin: This whole story arc has really just been Daniel Way’s audition for doing a new Deadpool series. I hold a lot against Way, namely because I read every single issue of his horrendous Venom run, but in terms of writing Wade, he isn’t all that bad. Therein lies the problem. The last few issues have been the Wade Wilson Show, having very little to do with Wolverine and his Origins. Is it funny? Sure. He even does a good job with depicting Deadpool as being insane instead of simply wacky. But someone is going to buy this trade and get really annoyed when they finish reading it in ten minutes. This entire arc is just one, big decompressed fight scene. That’s fine when it’s just one issue, but stretching it this far just doesn’t fly. |
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