Clubbing GN

Adan: It seems the Minx line has finally hit a snag. Clubbing is the story of a pampered rich girl who gets caught using a fake ID to get into London’s hottest goth clubs and is forced to spend her summer in her grandparents’ golf club as punishment (get it, Clubbing?) Whereas previous Minx titles were very much grounded in the real world, in which the protagonists deal with real problems that could conceivably occur to any young girl out in the world, Clubbing veers wildly from that formula. Lottie, the main character, starts out with regular problems (while not advised, getting caught with a fake ID could conceivably happen to any young guy or gal), but slowly become less and less grounded in reality (I guess a woman could be murdered while you’re hanging out), until finally all pretense at reality is thrown away (I’d tell you, but it would just ruin the ending). I understand that the Minx line should not be pigeon-holed into just one genre (that of the teen girl dramedy), but when your first two outings are so strong, you shouldn’t follow it up with a mediocre genre twist.

It’s especially frustrating that this book isn’t better than it is because both creators are favorites of mine. Andi Watson is a fantastic writer, and Josh Howard draws those goth/suicide girls that I like to look at from a safe distance. On their own, they’re fantastic creators, renowned far and wide for their comic work. So why when they’re put together I get mediocre? Watson’s story is simply mediocre, and Howard’s art just doesn’t have the same pizzazz in black and white. I hope Good as Lily reclaims the crown that Clubbing dropped.

Brendan: To me, this story is way more believable than The Plain Janes. I genuinely liked the main character here. Girl-centric and universally appealing, the line is succeeding in its quest in creating content for an underserved and untapped market. This installment is provided by Andi Watson and Josh Howard. Howard’s simple, conservative style suits the work perfectly. Not only is it an appealing and relatable rendition of a young, female protagonist, but it works especially well in the condensed and digest-sized page. Andi Watson crafts a great story free of cliché, but loses points for the androgynous spelling of his name. This is like the J.K. Rowling thing in reverse, how dare he misrepresent himself to young girls and also myself? Doesn’t he know that one can’t write for girls unless you have been one? I feel dirty.

Charlotte has been booted from her London home to a summer of isolation in the bland countryside. While this is a common enough jumping off point, the fact that she doesn’t lash out at everyone around her like a prissy bitch separates Lottie from other fictitious fifteen year olds. Charlotte remains genuine and likable with the help of her charming British diction that calls to mind old episodes of Dawson’s Creek. Not that I ever watched Dawson’s Creek, I’ve just heard that they all talked like university professors. That’s all.

This was a solid YA read. It was mostly told through Charlotte’s inner monologue, but it was playful enough that it didn’t bog the story down. At first I was a bit upset that there was yet another shoehorned love story in this line, but it turned out to be an original enough relationship that it felt natural and real. I was genuinely surprised by this book, both for the quality and the story turns. This makes a great summer day’s read.

Adan: You totally watched Dawson’s Creek. You cried your eyes out when Pacey and Dawson stopped talking.

…Oh shit, did I just out myself?

Deadpool/Great Lakes Initiative Summer Fun Spectacular

Brendan: So it turns out that Deadpool/ GLI is the best Initiative book I’ve read. I have enjoyed the way the Initiative storyline has been utilized in the Avengers books, Punisher War Journal, and The Thunderbolts. I think it is a redundant concept in certain cases, because it’s boiled down meaning is no more than heroes are now authorized to be heroes, but I think that Marvel has made the prudent story choices in the post- Civil War landscape.

This issue did it better than that. The thing about this book is that since both the Great Lakes Initiative and Deadpool are registered, they are heroes as bona fide as Iron Man himself. Michigan or not, they are all signed up and official. That in and of itself is pretty funny. The chapters themselves each have genuinely funny premises; a drunken Marvel universe, Deadpool’s date with Big Bertha, and ‘Pool versus Flatman in a no-holds-barred bathtub death-match. The self-aware recap page of Fabian Niceza’s Cable/ Deadpool is consistently the best part of the book, and that tradition is continued in the frame story, which involves Squirrel Girl and her lost love, Speedball. This issue makes fun of Marvel in ways that are always done best in-house.

But the best aspect of this Summer Fun Spectacular is that it’s surprisingly well drawn. The issue itself is packed with what amounts to four full stories, written by the Nicieza/Slott Marvel team up. Kieron Dwyer, who has done every kind of comic book imaginable, does a great job with the Squirrel girl interludes. His Penance pages really stand out as great, funny illustrations. The artist Nelson, whose work as an inker is spectacular, delivers a gem in the first, drunken tale. The attention to detail in his inks give the gravity and depth that you only see in the best of embellishers. The dimension realized by the cross-hatching gives the work an Eric Powell- like feel. I get the feeling that Dan Slott wrote the script to this story, if only because the pages are tightly packed and the splash images are so conservatively used. The effect pays off, and I can’t help but wish that Nelson was working for Marvel on a monthly basis. Paul Pelletier, who provides the date story along with the well layered cover, is an artist who seems to be progressively improving each month. Marvel editorial must agree, because his work is becoming more and more visible. It will be interesting to see if Marvel makes the effort to promote him further through the ranks in the upcoming year. Clio Chiang does the Flatman showdown in a cartoonish fashion that suits the story perfectly. This issue is a great value for fun in the comic book sun. Humor comics don’t usually perform particularly well, but I think this book has enough super-heroey fun to suit any reader’s needs.

Adan: Jeez, do I even need to say anything here? It’s like the Coach just vomited out a word processor. I guess I’ll say something…

Every Great Lakes Avengers story that I have ever read has been hilarious, and this one is no exception. In fact, this book has two added bonuses in that Deadpool is involved (he is also always hilarious) and Slott doesn’t mix in soul-crushing pathos with the funny in this issue like he did in GLA Missassembled and GLX-Mas Special. Add in the lines “It’s too deep for you! See?! I’m deep now!” and “Yeah, that’s right. Squirrel Girl totally pwns Doc Doom. Know why? ‘Cause of somethin’ that happened in a story by Steve-freakin’-Ditko! That’s so in continuity. So just deal with it, fanboy,” and this book is golden.

…Okay, I guess that’s all I got. Anything else I could say Brendan already said.

Brendan: I can’t help it. I’m an eager beaver when it comes to Deadpool, provided Cable isn’t involved.

Fantastic Five #1

Brendan: Look, despite the crappiness, a lot of people bought Who Wants to Be A Superhero last week. A lot of people watched the show. People give it a free pass because Stan Lee is associated with it, and they will always give Stan the chance, no matter what. I think I am sort of like that with Tom DeFalco. He may not be my favorite creator, but he made a lot of my favorite comics as a kid and the nostalgia factor knows no limits. I’m not the only person who thinks like this; look at how many people buy Rob Liefeld comics. Look at Byrne fans. This may go a long way in cementing the subjectivity of taste, and maybe even offers insight into the randomness of success. Or maybe it just means that 90% of life is showing up. And 100% of life can be reduced to cliché.

The great irony of Marvel’s MC2 books, those titles taking place in the continuity that Spider-Girl, A-Next, Last Hero/Planet Standing, and this Fantastic Five series occur in, is that they are retro style Marvel stories told in the future. The line seems to suggest that the only way we can recapture our youth is through our children. This, too, is consistent to the Merry Marvel style, as a large portion of Stan Lee’s work dealt with parental and guidance issues. At times the attempt may be clumsy, but when it works the books are simple delights. It helps that this issue is drawn beautifully by another longtime favorite, Ron Lim. Lim’s latest work on Cable/Deadpool, Mystery in Space, and A-Next has been as consistent as ever, but the inks from Scott Koblish pull the work above the rest. At a time when John Romita Jr. and Mark Bagley are being rewarded for their longevity with high profile projects like X-Men: Endangered Species, Mighty Avengers, Eternals and World War Hulk, the fact that Lim is working mostly on out of continuity stories is glaring and odd.

On the other hand, what better project is there to work on than the one where Dr. Doom comes back for a final revenge on the Fantastic…Five. Actually, make that seven. Formerly Four, christened Five, really Eight when all the heads are counted. What is great about the MC2 line is the pure farce of a world that presupposes that the ongoing storyline of the Marvel universe ceased somewhere around 1995. Actually, maybe it is a world where Onslaught never happened. Even though the clone- Spidey dies, the baby that time forgot somehow survives to become Spider-girl, Human Torch continued his relationship with the alien Lyja (she’s been replaced by a Skrull!! Oh, wait…), the Thing gets back together with the totally forgotten Ms Marvel II, Sharon Ventura, the ill conceived She- Thing. Oh, and Valeria was never born. It’s the future, man!!

It is pointless and inane and a total blast. I would argue it is worth the three bucks just to see Ron Lim draw the Silver Surfer for one panel.

Adan: Two!? You ate two word processors!? Since the Coach has once again said everything I wanted to say, I instead will make some snide comments:

There are seven guys sporting a “5″ on their chest. Somebody needs to learn how to count. Also, is that Mirror Spock on the first couple of pages? That man can swim way better than Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home would have you believe.

Okay, that’s all I got. Look, this is a fun story, set in a world with very little continuity to bog you down. It’s what superhero comics are supposed to be.

Brendan: There was a two-for-one word and food processor sale! I was practically making money! Pity me, somehow!

Green Arrow: Year One

Brendan: There is nothing about a Year One project that doesn’t feel forced and cliché. It is an overused and unoriginal premise for a story conceit.

But.

There is an allure to a retold origin done well. There is something fun about using the long and convoluted character histories to re-center their beginnings. We know who these people will become, so we are attracted to watching their journey to get there. Of course, this only matters if the story is well thought out and well told. From the early showing, this series will be among the Year One successes.

Andy Diggle manages the paradoxical task of making Oliver Queen a likable asshole. He is spoiled and a womanizer and a drunk, but still his affable nature and the plight he finds himself in does wonders to redeem the character. The Robin Hood mythos is worked into Queen’s personality deftly. Jock’s jagged style fits this book well. I do appreciate seeing his action here as opposed to the comparatively slow Faker book from last week. I don’t know if this book fits perfectly with established continuity, but the existence of both the Multiverse and New Earth makes all that moot anyway. This is a good start, and here’s hoping the quality continues.

Adan: See, Jock is much better when we you give him some action to draw. His style is better suited to fast-paced, kinetic stuff than the talking heads from books like Faker (though Ollie here looks a lot like Cougar from their run on The Losers).

Year One stories have been all the rage since Frank Miller did it with the Batman back in ‘87. Both Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson (twice! once as Robin and once as Nightwing) got the full Year One treatment while the entire DC Universe got a mini Year One in all the zero issues after Zero Hour. Now, DC’s doing five new ones and Green Arrow gets to be the first out of the gate.

Brendan is right in that Ollie is a likable asshole. Diggle does a good job balancing out his roguish charm with his inability to keep his mouth shut. However, I don’t agree that the Robin Hood stuff is handled deftly. Quite the opposite, in fact. It’s like I’m getting beat over the head with it. And the “green” joke near the end? Come on, Andy, you can do better than that.

Brendan: But the first image is a green arrow! That is totally clever!

Martha Washington Dies One-Shot

Adan: In an effort to sound authoritative while reviewing this book, I went and looked for all the previous Martha Washington publications. I was able to find and read all of them except for issues #2 and #3 of Martha Washington Saves the World. I thought to myself, I’m gonna sound so smart when I review this book.

It turns out I shouldn’t have bothered (except that Give Me Liberty is a fantastic Miller work up there with Sin City and 300). Dies is all of of seventeen pages long, comprised of only 34 panels, most of which appear in four pages, and nothing actually happens. Martha says some philosophical gobbledygook to the soldiers surrounding her and then keels over after what looks like a heart attack. And Dark Horse is charging $3.50 for this!?

You could read the fucking cover for free and call it a day.

Brendan: It was difficult to really see this issue as a complete story. It reads like a post script to Miller and Gibbons’ thirteen year long project. It also seemed to imply that the only way we could reclaim our liberty involved space travel, so who knows. I actually liked seeing the many splash pages, chiefly because Gibbons’ work is often so compressed and tight. It is an interesting counter to his work on Watchmen which hardly used the splash at all. Also included is the original Miller outline for the Give Me Liberty series.

The most important page of this book is the back cover. In it we are told that there will be a complete Martha Washington collection coming in 2008. A pessimist would say this was a cash-in. An optimist might suggest that Dark Horse is merely increasing visibility of the property, and considering the creators that is a good thing. Sufficed to say Martha Washington Dies isn’t a good jumping on point for readers, but a definitive close to a project by two comic legends.

Nexus #99

Adan: Now that’s a comic!

Apparently, when I was reading all that Martha Washington stuff, I should have been reading all the Nexus stuff instead. It sucks that I know absolutely nothing about this character, but it is mighty impressive that I want to learn everything after reading only one issue. Mike Baron and Steve Rude really know what they’re doing here.

While some of Baron’s scripting could use a little tightening, this is still a fun space romp on a planet full of all kinds of alien races. The story moves at a quick clip, oscillating between the birth of Nexus and Sundra’s child and the escalating violence between the Alvinites and the Elvonics. None of this means very much to me yet, but it will soon, especially if Rude’s art is as beautiful throughout the series as it is here. Next issue is supposed to be fully painted!

Brendan: Yeah, I wasn’t sold on this. I, too, am ignorant to the Nexus saga, but I’d heard good things. While I loved Steve Rude’s adventure comic strip style and the various ways he used and broke panels, I found the story to be flat. I don’t know how I can sing the praises of Fantastic Five and not this, given the retro sensibilities. But I never said I was a rational man.

Nicolas Cage’s Voodoo Child #1

Brendan: After this week there will be at least a three-week embargo on Mike Carey-written work. This isn’t in retaliation to bad comics, but merely his over-saturation on BAAPPAS. Stop putting out so many new number ones and original graphic novels, sir, you are killing us.

Virgin continues gearing their publishing line towards magic realism. Taking place in New Orleans, this is the story of revenge and resurrection. It is a black magic tale. Carey’s story evokes the traditional imagery associated with the Big Easy, combining the backdrop of the post-Katrina landscape, the complicated racial history, and, of course, voodoo.

Dean Hyrapiet’s detailed pencils are remind me of Chris Weston. While the figures look good, the angular panelling and storytelling can be a distraction. This book has a unique angle and intrigue, but needs to expand and improve to stand out and be a successful book. If it doesn’t it will be little more than Darkman with magic.

Adan: You tricked me, McGuirk! You somehow snuck in another Mike Carey book while I wasn’t looking! What, is he your gay brother whom you also have sex with or something?

Regardless, this book begins in the deep south just as the Civil War is beginning (the real one, not Marvel’s). A white man tries to help escaped slaves get north but is killed by another white man who thinks that’s a big no-no. Also killed is the first man’s mulatto son. However, a big French-speaking guy uses some voodoo (presumably) to resurrect the kid, so that he can get his revenge on, but that doesn’t happen until the present day for some reason.

What? This book is pretty dang confusing. I might try one more issue to see if anything clears up, but even the sexy, sexy Nic Cage can’t keep my interest in a book this confusing.

Also, and possibly more important, why does Hyrapiet’s cover look like the immediate aftermath of a money shot?

Brendan: Gay brother I have sex with? That’s crazy. He’s my cousin. That makes it okay.

Adan: Incestuous!

Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen #1

Brendan: Denizens of the Colbert Nation rejoice! Finally you too can peer into the 32,000 page fabled opus of Stephen Colbert’s Alpha Squad Seven: A Tek Jansen Adventure, in comic format! The world, nay, the universe, is now safe!

Colbert’s absurdist political commentary is reflected in this absurd sci-fi installment. Reminiscent of all the worst science fiction, these stories are exactly as bad as they are meant to be. John Layman and Tom Peyer team up to write the lead story, and art is provided by Scott Chandler. It has all the tropes that those who have seen the animated shorts are accustomed to, including self congratulation, unbelievable aliens, and intergalactic ugly-bumping. The lead story is enjoyable mostly for the farce, but the backup by Maintenance creators Jim Massey and Robbi Rodriguez has the satirical slant that defines the television program. This issue is essential for Colbert fans, but if his show rubs you the wrong way it will do little to change your mind.

Adan: Two fantastic Tek Jansen adventures in one easy to digest installment! What better way to support our troops and our President than to purchase this book and proudly display it? I know, buy multiple copies!

Tek Jansen, a Stephen Colbert stand-in with slightly better hair and a harder to control libido, jumps from easily-avoidable catastrophe to easily-avoidable catastrophe (much like our government), attempting to fix everything that’s not actually broken, sort of like a demented, precognitive plumber. Tek Jansen is the people’s hero, and he says it best himself: “I’m already married… to every man, woman and child in this universe!” That’s why this is quite possibly the most awesome comic book in the galaxy.

And that’s the word.

Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters TPB

Adan: Graymiotti’s tale of political intrigue is collected here. Well, not so much intrigue as heavy-handed political allegory. Where they usually shine in westerns and books about pay-per-save, they really just suck here. Every real-world metaphor is delivered with the grace and subtlety of this administration’s fear-mongering ways. This could hardly have been less subtle if the President’s name had been Shrub.

Although I will says this: Spin Doctor, Propaganda, Embargo, and Chief Justice are awesome names for government super heroes (although that government has no recourse but to be evil).

I’ve said before that Daniel Acuna’s art just doesn’t so it for me, although it’s slightly better here. One question, though: why does the Ray look like a black man when he’s powered up, but looks like a white man when he’s powered down? Is that on purpose, or merely a coloring error?

Brendan: Shrub…?… Oh, I get it. I agree that for whatever reason Acuna is much better on this book than his work on Green Lantern. He has an interesting and distinctive style that has an iconic feel. There are successfully executed pages, but one misfire and the reading experience is irreparably thrown. The potential for greatness is there, but not yet achieved.

But maybe I just liked the art because I wanted to find something enjoyable about this book. It was better than Battle For Bludhaven, but only barely. Neither of these books feels like they take place in the same DCU as the rest of the books. This wouldn’t be such an issue if the entire premise weren’t based so wholly on continuity. For one thing, I never knew that there were DC brand Celestials, excuse me, Cosmigods.

Ultimately, I just couldn’t bring myself to feel like anything in this series mattered. I didn’t even feel like it was happening in the tapestry of the greater DC multiverse. There was workable structure and viable ideas there, but there was little charm and the series fell flat.