Harry here with the second half of this weeks Comic Reviews... Let's hop right into it!!!
Fury # 1
Written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Darick Robertson and Jimmy Palmiotti
Published by Marvel/MAX Comics
Reviewed by HDSchellnack
Sometimes I wonder what it feels like for any writer to have reached a point in your career when your most important work just may be done. I mean...many writers and artists are still working despite that fact that their most seminal work is almost a decade old, that they're basically only still moving along by a momentum they had years ago.
That's the point I feel Garth Ennis has reached these days. Don't get me wrong - I love Garth's work. Nevertheless, I feel that he has said what he wanted to say with Preacher and maybe Hitman. Preacher, while superficially disgusting and crass, was a book that on many levels said things about trust, friendship, belief, while Hitman was a funny thrill ride with a set of characters you simply had to like despite or because of their flaws. Ever since both series ended, I feel that Ennis has lost something vital, despite the fact that he still delivers entertaining reading material. His Punisher is beyond a shadow of doubt the best Punisher we've ever seen, brutal, psychopathic, and over-the-top-funny as hell, but in many ways it feels like Hitman II, only with less depth, less subtlety, less drama (as Hitman got very un-funny at the end of Garth's run and became a pretty serious book for a time). The same goes for the Rifle brigade, which is "Ennis being funny" and not much more. With the mature-only "Fury" it's pretty much the same, and Garth even acknowledges it by including a character called Fuckface, who is a blatant nod to the fan-favorite Arseface of Preacher fame. Fury, overall, feels like a mix of things Ennis has already shown us in the Enemy Ace mini series from Vertigo, a bit of the Rifle brigade, with some Hitman/Punisher and superficial ideas from Preacher thrown in. The honorable but gruff straight-talking take-no-shit old soldier Fury, who messes with the system to do the right thing, his dangerous and crazy/funny antagonist, Fuckface, who's looking like Arseface and behaves like the Russian from the Punisher, and so on, but creatively it's nothing new from Garth. Maybe it doesn't have to be. We get the best Nick Fury we had in a looooong time, some very solid supporting characters, twisted villains, cute ultra-brutality and of course a nice little war tale Garth loves so much. Still, the thing that interests me the most if Wesley, Nick's handicapped nephew, will end up as a single-note-joke or if Garth has anything more planned for him.
The art… well it's Darick Robertson, which means, it is wonderful, realistic art with a great feeling for characters and nicely paced storytelling. If you know Darick's work from Transmet, you know to expect sheer brilliancy here - and he delivers. Fury himself looks awesome, like Clint Eastwood from hell. There's really not much to say except it's wonderful.
Therefore, if you like ANYTHING ever written by Garth and if you ain't the kind of soft-hearted reader offended by Preacher and similar stuff, you probably already read Fury ;-). If you want to get to know Garth Ennis, this series is as good a start as anything, although, at least in my opinion, it doesn't reach the depth of either Hitman or Preacher, but still is LOTS better than his recent Hulk or Spider-Man minis. However, maybe it doesn't have to. Ennis is the only writer who really has got that violence-can-be-funny stuff down. I don't know anyone in comics doing this kind of thing even remotely like he does. And that alone is a darn good reason for him to keep on doing it, right?
Overall: 9 out of 10
Glory #1 - "The Gate Of Tears part 1 - The Seventh Dagger"
Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Marat Michaels
Published by Avatar Press
Reviewed by Elliot Kane
Some years ago now, Awesome Entertainment asked Alan Moore to write a number of series for them, one of which was Glory, the adventures of an immortal Goddess in the world of men.
Clearly the character was conceived as little more than a Wonder Woman clone, but in the hands of Alan Moore she became so much more...
Glory sought to understand what it means to be human, and so she had herself incarnated in human form. Well, sort of... She currently shares the body of waitress Gloria West, who rather understandably believes herself to be insane. Glory can take over control of Gloria's body at any time, and afterwards leaves her with only confused and fading memories that seem little more than strange daydreams.
Glory's thoughts sometimes influence Gloria, even when she isn't in direct control, and Gloria sometimes has memories that aren't hers. Wrongly thinking that this is only further proof of her own insanity, Gloria deals with this as best she can.
Glory herself clearly has no idea of how badly she is damaging Gloria, and would undoubtedly be horrified if she knew.
Unfortunately, Awesome only ever published the prologue to this very intriguing series, and the scripts for the rest have been languishing ever since.
Until now. Avatar Press has gained the rights to publish the series, and look like making a very good job of it. The artwork is very good, and matches well with the script. At one point in this issue, Gloria reads an old comic concerning the adventures of Glory in WW2, and this comic within a comic is drawn in the style of the time, contrasting beautifully with the more modern style used in the rest of the issue.
Thoroughly recommended.
Overall: 9 out of 10
Glory #1 - "The Gate of Tears – Part 1
Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Marat Michaels, Melinda Gebbie, Robert Jones, Melinda Gebbie
Published by Avatar Press
Reviewed by Christopher Allen, Chris Chris
From the publishing vacuum that is/was Awesome Entertainment, Alan Moore’s Glory finally finds a home at Avatar. For those of you who might not have known, this is not new work from Moore. While writing for Rob Liefeld’s Awesome, he refashioned the cynical Superman knockoff Supreme into the playful and charming Silver Age Superman homage, while also beginning to lay the groundwork for a similar treatment of Glory as a Wonder Woman manqué’.
But it became clear that after a time that the scripts Moore was happily scribbling were never going to be produced by the cash-strapped Liefeld enterprise, so the publishing rights (though not ownership) has come to Avatar, previously known for T’N’A books and the depraved but fun Warren Ellis miniseries like Strange Kisses and Dark Blue.
After that entire preamble, you’re wondering if it’s any good, right? Well, yeah, it is pretty good. There was a bit of misdirection in the solicitations as I remember, making it seem that Marat Michaels was chosen recently to draw this old script, when it appears this was drawn back at Awesome, since at one point Glory’s human counterpart is reading a comic book with ads for Avengelyne and Coven on the back. So, okay, at least some of it is a few years old. Fans of Moore’s more current work on Promethea and Tomorrow Stories will absolutely want to take a look. The reason being, this incarnation of Glory is an early draft of Promethea, a Pre-methea, as it were. Moore’s ideas for taking Wonder Woman’s role as mythological avatar of peace and love first germinated here. What’s interesting is that once he had no outlet for these ideas, he developed them even further into the superior Promethea, who owes much less to Wonder Woman and is really perhaps the most original character to appear in comics in some time; certainly it’s one of the most original series.
As far as Tomorrow Stories, it turns out that Melinda (Cobweb) Gebbie is on hand this issue for "The Origin of Glory," a comic-within-a-comic, done in Golden Age style. It’s an amusing riff on the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone, which gives us the reason for the change in seasons each year. Demeter, goddess of the harvest, had (in Moore’s version), another daughter, Glorianna, a being of pure love and hope. From there, Moore gives us a lot of Wonder Woman riffs, with the island full of beautiful women (complete with some lesbian subtext), the angry, controlling mother Demeter, and Glory assuming the role of a human woman. Moore takes the material and makes it his own with a very un-Steve Trevor-like leading man, who wants to have sex with the human girl, Gloria, but whatever morals he has make him hesitate, because she’s clearly unbalanced. In fact, while she may be a bit soft, it’s not helped by Glory popping in and out of her brain when she feels like it. The villainess of the piece is Lilith, who hates Glory for being the daughter of her philandering demon husband, who had the fling with Demeter eons ago. The randy Greek gods are a good match with Moore, who can’t let an innuendo or double-entendre pass, and the playful smut is an appealing part of the book. Michaels does capable work here, helped greatly by the vibrant coloring of Nimbus Studios. It’s said that Moore’s scripts are the most detailed in the industry, so it’s significant to note here that some pages are framed in a dramatic fashion similar to what J. K. Williams III has done in Promethea, though Williams has taken it much farther. All in all, although the price is a tad steep, especially since it’s fairly likely Avatar will release a thriftier trade paperback, but it’s a fun series and an instructive adjunct for Promethea fans.
Overall: 7 out of 10
Alan Moore's Glory #1 - Glory & the Gate of Tears: Part I: The Seventh Dagger
Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Marat Mychaels
Published by Avatar
Reviewed by Kevin Mathews, Mail him
The credits list Rob Liefeld as the 'creator' of Glory, the cover title designates it as 'Alan Moore's Glory' - a confusion that obfuscates the most obvious 'fact,' that Glory is essentially based on Wonder Woman, a character created by Charles Moulton and owned by DC Comics. This is a common practice in genre fiction, of course, and perfectly legal. After all, George Lucas failed when he tried to raise copyright infringement charges against Battlestar Galactica in the 70s.
That the work of Alan Moore should find its way into the pages of an Avatar publication seems galaxies away from the time Moore swore off super-heroes in favor of the compelling real world dynamics of the proposed Big Numbers. Avatar, of course, is chiefly known for producing soft porn-inflected horror comics but has in the recent past published Warren Ellis' Strange Kiss/Stranger Kisses series & Liefeld's Avengeline in a bid to diversify its range of material.
Somewhat incongruously, Moore had returned to super-heroes with Image Comics (a publisher with a anti-writers reputation at the time), at the invitation of Todd McFarlane, and would proceed to work on a variety of Image books (Violator, WildCATS) before settling down to revamping Liefeld's Awesome line with Supreme, Youngblood and Glory. However, Awesome's subsequent financial woes and the setting up of America's Best Comics at Wildstorm, severed Moore's ties with Liefeld.
Thus, taken into context, the Glory scripts - finally rendered and published in 2002 - were written even before Moore began conceptualization work on Promethea. But as Moore himself as revealed, the concepts for Glory formed the initial foundation for the more intellectual discourses in Promethea.
Alan Moore's Glory, in essence, never strays too far from the template Moore set up with Supreme. Whilst the acclaimed British writer spends a little time in narrating the modern day adventures of the protagonist, he places such events within the context of 'history' as expounded within the pages of the character's 'fictitious' comic book stories. This 'comic-within-a-comic' was also a plot device exploited to great effect on Moore's legendary Watchmen series.
Although, superficially, the action revolves around the diabolical plans of Lilith, queen of the underworld, to strike against the goddess Demeter through Glory - the meat of the tale (Glory's origin) - is told in the nostalgic Golden age 'flashback' illustrated by Melinda (Cobweb) Gebbie. It is in this episode where Moore breaks the modern super-hero mould, especially with Gebbie highly idiosyncratic art. Told in the format of a Greek myth, the 'flashback' accounts for Glory's current difficulties with Lilith.
The innocence of this 'flashback' is contrasted with the very adult experiences of Glory as she rather frivolously beds the drifter from the diner her human alter ego works at. No doubt, Moulton would be aghast to witness a heroine behaving in such a wanton manner! Lilith chooses that precise moment to strike with the Seventh Dagger, the significance of which is not explained in this first chapter, as she makes good her threat to attack Glory with 'love'. Although one could cogently argue that what is on display is more lust than love.
Despite the Avatar imprint, the alternate covers and the clichéd Mychaels depictions of pornstars posing as ordinary folks (or deities, as the case may be), it is Moore's understanding of the correlation of modern super-heroic fiction with its roots (the Golden Age) that raises Glory above genre trappings. Moore is never content to merely tell a straightforward good v. evil tale and that makes Alan Moore's Glory worth reading.
Overall: 7 out of 10
The Haunted # 1
Written by Peter David and illustrated by Nat Jones
Published by Chaos! Comics
Reviewed by HdSchellnack
Let me start by telling you that Peter David is the guy whose books are the first I read each month when I get my batch of comics. Young Justice, Captain Marvel and Supergirl are three wonderful books, each warm and funny and personal and clever in its own way. Peter is famous for mixing drama and humor - and I always wondered if he's a bit tired of being in that niche. Seems that way - because with the Haunted he's trying too sound like a completely different Peter David, and if you ask me, while I LOVE him just the way he is, I also like the notion of a writer trying to flex different creative muscles.
The concept of The Haunted isn't the most earth-shattering new idea - it's a mix of X-Men meets Buffy meets Dawson Creek - but the writing is solid enough to make the book interesting anyway. Basically, what we have is four teenagers Celia, Kat, Cliff and Desiree plus and the somewhat cliché mysterious know-it-all-kind-of-guy Stitch, all of whom are blessed or cursed with different supernatural powers. David sets up the powers in a neat dream-sequence of female protagonist Des, which later on neatly crosses over into reality. The good-vs.-evil setup is a bit trite (look out for the grey men in the grey cars…), and Stitch being the only one in the know isn't much better, it all feels a bit been-there-done-that to me, but on the other hand Peter manages to make the four kids realistic and likeable enough to make up for that - at least for a first issue ;-). I sure hope there's more to the plot than this X-files-rip-offs.
The art is… well… Todd McFarlane. This comic looks so much like Spawn, it makes my teeth hurt. If not for Peter David, I would have skipped this stuff. I thought the days when aping Todd was vogue were over, guess I was wrong. The coloring, which also apes the Spawn-Mood, does not help much either, sorry. Apart from too many lpp (lines per panel), Nat Jones delivers the goods with as much of understandable storytelling as you can expect with funky McFarlane-Layouts. The characters are a bit too caricatured for my taste, and I think Nat overdoes it with the "hip and modern", he's burdening the four with too much MTV, the rebellious kid has (of course, yawn) loads of piercings for a single face, and like the cheerleader gal is wearing a shirt showing lots of skin and low-hanging wrinkled trousers (is that jeans or leather, couldn't tell). Completely strange, however, is the decision to have the word balloons black with white text, which simply looks weird when EVERYBODY is talking that way, since we're used to it indicating (as in Sandman) a different mode/sound of speech. Oh well. The art is okay, once you get past the "Todd? Is that you?" effect and it conveys the story and the interaction well enough to be enjoyable.
Man, Peter David really should write for Buffy the Vampire Slayer - this book is clearly proof of the fact that he could pull it off effortlessly, although Buffy features a bit more tongue in cheek humor than The Haunted - but I guess that wouldn't be much of a problem for Peter. This book feels a lot like an ideal idea for a TV series or a movie- and here's hoping that it does well enough for Chaos to warrant an ongoing series or some more minis. I think Peter is at his best when he has time and space to build some stuff up, he never struck me so much as Mr. Single Issue (although he can do that as well, no doubt) then as the kind of writer who builds up a longer commitment to a book and his readers, the characters he writes. If you look at the kind of character development he gave us with the Hulk, Supergirl or even a hard-to-write-with-characterization-book like Young Justice, I think you can imagine how great Peter would work with these four offbeat teenagers. So get out, buy this book and let's see Peter bring more magic to the Chaos! Crew…
Overall: 8.5 out of 10
Mystic #20
Written by Tony Bedard and illustrated by Brandon Peterson
Published by Crossgen Comics
Reviewed by Elliot Kane
This title is really the tale of two sisters, Genevieve and Giselle Villard, who live on the magic heavy world of Ciress.
Ciress is ruled by the Masters of the Seven Guilds of Magic, who are rivals more than friends, and allies more for the good of their world than out of any genuine liking for each other.
Each Guild is guided by a tutelary spirit that inhabits the current Master of the Guild, and guides him or her (Ciress being more interested in magical power than the sex of its wielder) in the daily workings of Guild and world both.
This uneasy alliance has kept peace on Ciress for centuries, but on the day Genevieve Villard is to be appointed Master of the Nouveau Guild (The inhabitants of Ciress not being noted for grammatical accuracy) something threatened to destroy the old order entirely.
Giselle Villard, hedonistic bimbo and all-round party girl was given a mysterious sigil, which sucked the seven tutelary spirits out of their rightful hosts and into her.
Gifted with a power she never wanted, Giselle is now the most powerful spell caster her planet has ever seen. To her credit, she is trying to be responsible and use the powers of sigil and spirits only for good, but at heart she is still a bimbo...
Ostensibly Giselle is the main character, but Genevieve - the sensible, intelligent and talented sister - is at least as interesting, and has quite a large part in the proceedings. The bond between the Villard sisters is very strong, and they are clearly friends as much as relatives. In this issue, Giselle must use all her power to defeat the threat of Animora - a member of the Godlike First who seeks to bend the world of Ciress to her rule, and to gain revenge on Giselle for an earlier defeat at her hands.
The problem is that Animora is far older, wiser, and more steeped in the ways of power than the very inexperienced Giselle. Is it possible that Giselle might lose even - or especially - if she wins...?
Brandon Peterson's artwork is excellent throughout. His battle scenes are truly impressive, with horrific monsters and imaginative spell effects. He conveys motion very well too. The Villard sisters are beautifully rendered: it is possible to tell they are related at a glance, yet each is still distinct enough that it is easy to tell them apart.
Overall: 8.5 out of 10
New X-Men #121
Written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Frank Quietly
Published by Marvel Comics
Reviewed by Chaos McKenzie (Chaos Rules)
YEAH! This is by far the best comic from Marvel that I read this year (sorry, bad joke). But on a serious note, New X-Men 121 is above and beyond the other silent issues that Marvel released as part of their ‘Nuff Said event.
Where many writers were taking the usual comic fanfare and attempting to fuse it with enough emotion to warrant existing without words, Morrison has crafted a story where the lack of words not only makes sense, it’s essential to the tale.
A surreal adventure to a human sub conscious, executed with symbolic panels and layers of meaning. I have to say it1s not only my favorite of the ‘Nuff Said books, it’s also my favorite journey to the center of the mind tales that I’ve seen in X-Men. One thing that really strengthens this story is the way that Morrison doesn’t avoid words, but merely downplays them, which makes the silence seem so much more silent.
But as this issue does focus mostly on the art, perhaps I should focus there as well. I’ve never been a fan of Frank Quietly’s artwork. I recognize its artistic merit, but have never been fond of its style. Then when the lateness of the X-books began I started to despise Quietly altogether. That was until the fill in artists began and I discovered that the book was missing a sensation that had tickled me when I had read the first three. This issue the tingle returned, as Quietly shows his command over the X-Men redesign and the new life he has given to these characters.
I was particularly fond of the emotion-saturated landscapes that he has constructed to over shadow the issue. The artwork has a sense of Shakespearean level setting that is rarely seen in comic books these days.
I think I may even go reread my Authority collection.
Overall: 9 out of 10
Rising Stars #17, "Time Passes"
Written by J. Michael Straczynski and illustrated by Brent Anderson
Published by Image Comics
Reviewed by Aaron "Vroom Socko" Button (Press the Button)
The fastest growing sub genre in comics is that of superheroes that do more than fight crime, they try to change the world. The Authority is one of the hottest comics around, and The Defenders are about to go down the same route. The best of these has always been the fifteen- year old Marvel mini-series Squadron Supreme. However, the new champ just might be Rising Stars.
Time, indeed has passed since the last issue, both literally and story-wise. This is essentially a catch up issue, with Jason (still guilt ridden) telling a still comatose Matt what the other Specials are doing to improve life on planet Earth. To say any more would be to go into spoiler territory, and I don't want to do that. If you haven't read Rising Stars before, this is an ideal issue to start with. (Actually, the collected TPBs are an ideal place to start, but this cost's less.)
JMS is probably the best thing to happen to comics in the past ten years. What makes him stand out is that no matter who he's writing about, they're people first. The characters in Rising Stars are some of the most believable in all of mainstream comics. Most superhero comics struggle to show a life outside of crime fighting for their protagonists. JMS makes it look easy.
I wrote earlier that Rising Stars might be better than Squadron Supreme. The operative word there is MAY. What makes Squadron Supreme such a masterpiece is how it works as a whole. Until Rising Stars reaches its end, who's to say where it will finally stand. However, if the final third keeps up with the first two thirds, then it's locked a close second.
Overall: 10/10
The Sandman Presents: The Thessaliad Part One: The Daughters of Garm or Far too Much about A Pie (whew!)
Written by Bill Willingham and illustrated by Shawn McManus
Published by DC/Vertigo
Reviewed By: Chaos McKenzie, Click here for Chaos
I think this book had a great pay off. I recently had a very long discussion about pay off with my friend Greg, who was telling me about all these little payoffs in comics that you just get goose bumps over. I don’t know if anyone will agree with me, but this book did that to me.
It kicked off with a great little Matrix nod, with it’s own twist on the girl in the red dress with a demon and a geek boy. But then it kept going, at first I thought I was reading from one character’s perspective but with each additional detail I was pulled a little more focused on the picture. Then it had a great movie style pay off by stepping right outside of the story to become the storyteller without even a blink at the end.
I really thought it was sweet.
The Sandman Presents series have a wonderful way of capturing little things and playing with them in big ways. I like how the settings always seem to feel extended and theatrical.
That and I loved how cute they made Thessaly look.
Overall: 10 out of 10
Strangers in Paradise # 46
Written and illustrated by Terry Moore
Published by Abstract Studios
Reviewed by Drew Haverstock, Click here to email Drew
Yikes.
Due to the fact that I jumped on the SIP bandwagon after the first 3 TPBs came out, I missed out on the Molly & Poo phenomenon. Everyone kept telling me how good it was, but the book proved to be quite elusive. My pockets weren’t that deep, and it’s never been reprinted (Rassumfrassumfrigginfrassum). Today I was exposed to Molly Lane, the woman who created the novella inside the SIP series that garnished so much attention, for the first time today.
Yikes.
Molly’s story is told in a series of scenes placed out of sequence, each giving you bits and pieces of how Molly lane developed into the woman she is today – beautiful, introspective, poetic, and incarcerated for the murder of her husband.
Yikes.
My favorite moments involved Francine and Benjamin as children in high school, with Molly’s "Death" impersonation drawing great attention from both. ("She’s not a freak…she’s CREATIVE!" Her overt sexuality combined with the give and take between Benjamin and Francine brought back instant memories of my own high school experiences. Lord knows tons of writers are trying to do it on a monthly basis, but Terry Moore succeeds on so many levels it’s astounding. He even did a nice job of working Katchoo into the mix without it seeming awkward.
I also found the later segments, revolving around Molly’s career as a writer and the introduction of her husband both wonderfully done. And upon a second reading, a lot of the things touched upon during the introduction of the book were crystallized as the closing scenes took place.
Yikes.
This story within the SIP universe shows all of Terry Moore’s strengths as a storyteller and artist. While I’m unsure what he’s going to do next with the main crew, I do know that the original Molly & Poo will be re-printed in April of 2002.
I’ll see you in line…
Overall: 10 out of 10
