Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Oooooh... there’s a rumble brewin’. Here’s our feisty band of upstart misfits, back with two weeks worth of reviews packed into one. Meanwhile, today also marks the return of GrayHaven’s review column. Let’s see how this plays out...
BATMAN IN THE FIFTIES
by various writers and artists who are either old or dead now.
Published by DC
Review by Buzz Maverik
The other day I was tripping on mushrooms and had a really interesting conversation with Dr. Fredrick Wertham and Senator Estes Kefauver. After offering the senator my condolences regarding his C.I.A. agent son being the first American ground casualty in the Vietnam War, I got down to a subject we call have in common, comic books in the 1950s. I was interested in knowing why Doc Wertham had written the book THE SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT, a diatribe against comics and why Kefauver wasted the U.S. senate's valuable time holding hearing about comic books.
"My main concern was juvenile delinquency. These so called comic books are one of the roots of our youth crime problem," Doc said.
"Look at yourself for example," Kefauver said. "You're obviously under the influence of some sort of narcotic right now. Perhaps opium, or hashish or even reefer."
"You got that right," I said. "But c'mon, guys! I have a copy of BATMAN IN THE FIFTIES right here. There's nothing in it that would make a kid turn to crime."
Doc said, "There are other problems with this Batman character. The relationship with his young sidekick Robin, for example."
"You're not going to tell me that Batman and Robin are lovers, are ya, Doc? I don't buy it. Robin is a character that allowed kids to put themselves in the story. His character also lightens Batman up, and let's face it, Bats can be pretty insufferable if he isn't lightened up a little. I mean, look at Frank Miller's stuff. Besides, you guys didn't want comics promoting heterosexuality either. Look here at the story THE BATWOMAN. Notice how Batwoman's breasts are shadowed? I know how important breasts were in the fifties."
The senator chuckled.' "He's right, Fred."
Wertham flipped through the book. "No, he's not. Look here, page 152, next to the last panel. I don't like the way that Bruce Wayne and futuristic Batman Brane Taylor are looking at each other. And Future-Batman is offering Wayne a 'scientific massage'."
"You have a dirty mind, Doc. I like that in a person. I have one myself. My favorite thing in the book was when Batman's utility belt came into possession of, among others, Henry Worthing: collector of leather."
Kefauver said, "Fred, I think the boy is coming over to our way of thinking."
But I shook my head. "Not so fast, Senator. I'm recommending this book to fans of comic book history and those with a sense of humor. There's great newspaper style art by Dick Sprang, who was obviously a Chester Gould fan. Sprang's Batman might be hokey, but his gangsters are great. And if anyone wants to see where Joel Schumacher and Akiva Goldman stole the Mr. Freeze story from BATMAN & ROBIN, all they have to do is look at THE ICE CRIMES OF MR. ZERO in this book. They could have at least made the effort to reconstruct the thing. There's also a great, informative introduction by Michael Uslan, producer of the Bat-flicks. And the science fiction Bat tales are worth the price of the volume. It even has the first appearance of Bat-Mite, and I agree with Evan Dorkin that DC should publish all the Bat-Mite stories in a volume similar to the BIZARRO tpb that was out last year.
"Finally, what I like best about this book is how much it annoyed the X-MEN-lovin'-ass of the clerk at the comic shop where I bought it."
With that, Wertham and Kefauver melted.
JSA #36
David Goyer & Geoff Johns – Writers
Leonard Kirk – Penciller
Keith Champagne – Inks
Reviewed by Village Idiot
So as I’m reading JSA #36, I’m reminded of Our Worlds at War.
WAIT! – WAIT A MINUTE! – HOLD ON! – DON’T TUNE OUT YET – SEE WHERE I’M GOING WITH THIS!
Still with me? Okay, good. So like I said, I’m reading JSA and I’m reminded of Our Worlds at War. For those of you who don’t know what Our World’s at War (OWAW) was, or for those of you who have simply tried to block it out, OWAW was the big mamma-jamma crossover that DC had last summer, the one where the DCU fought a “War!” Unfortunately, it never really felt like a war, much less a “War!” (Ironically, the only issue in the thing that came close was the JSA tie-in, and that only felt like an assault strike.)
Instead of getting war, we mostly got characters complaining about war. If war really was hell, we’d just have to take their word for it. Sure, we lost Hippolyta (Wonder Woman’s mother), Maxima (violent alien princess, onetime JLA member) and Topeka, Kansas (a city in Kansas), but we only got glimpses of the full carnage and chaos that fine films like Apocalypse Now and Three Kings have led me to believe war is.
And what I was thinking while reading JLA #36 is that this book was managing to convey that sense of war, on a scale no less wide than OWAW, in one issue. There’s fighting going on all over the place: look there’s Black Lightning! Whoa, there’s Firestorm! Uh oh, Martian Manhunter is laid out! Here come Big Barda and Power Girl! It’s a madhouse! A madhouse!
JSA #61 is part 4 in the 5 part “Stealing Thunder” story-line. Ultra-Humanite, the body inhabiting, psychic super-villain has taken the possession of the body of Johnny Thunder, wielder of the genie Thunderbolt. What does a super-villain do with a genie? He takes over the world, of course. And he uses his psychic abilities to control the most powerful super-heroes to keep the populace in line. In fact, Stealing Thunder takes place 6 months into Ultra-Humanite’s reign. (How everything will go back to normal once the story is over, I have no idea.) In JSA #35, all the super-heroes who were under Ultra-Humanite’s mind control fought against the resistance super-heroes. By the time we get to #36, the mind-controlled super-heroes have been freed, and are now all of the super-heroes are set upon by a seemingly endless supply of angry albino gorillas. Really big angry albino gorillas.
The story is written by David (Blade 1 and 2) Goyer and Geoff (kicks ass with just about every comic he writes) Johns. A couple of weeks ago, I talked about John’s uncanny ability to take classic comic schlock and turn it into gold. This is a perfect fit for JSA, since much of JSA is about nostalgia: old super-heroes, kickin’ it old school (apologies for the lame attempt at overused hip lingo). Moreover, the history in and of the JSA, and subsequently, of the DCU, makes for a rich experience, probably the richest reading experience DC has right now. It’s good stuff.
And in the end of the story, I’m again reminded of OWAW. In OWAW, I had expected that Superman would be put to the test with a hard, climactic moral choice. He really wasn’t. In JSA #36, Captain Marvel has his feet held to the fire in a manner that is perhaps not as realized as it might have been, but powerful enough. We’ll have to see how it turns out next month. Can’t wait.
My Rating: It’s soo money. It doesn’t even know how money it is. We’re talking really big angry albino gorilla money.
FURY – Trade Paperback
Writer: GARTH ENNIS
Artist: DARICK ROBERTSON
Publisher: MARVEL COMICS
Review by: JON QUIXOTE
My schizophrenia just cost me twenty-five bucks.
I’ve been talking some shit about the MAX line for a few weeks here, particularly FURY and CAGE. And I won’t lie to you, it’s been fun. But every time I’d accuse these titles of being brain dead excuses for their creators to revel in uncensored violence and profanity like a hungry German Shepard who just found a full litterbox, I’d hear that voice.
“Jon, you can’t write that.”
“Shut up, Quixote--I know what I’m doing.”
“But it’s wrong.”
“Oh, really? Why? Why is it wrong?”
“Because you haven’t read them, Jon. You’re making presumptions.”
“That – that’s not true, Quixote. I saw what I needed of FURY #1 in the comic book store; it was solid crap from the start, and Buzz filled me in on the rest.”
“That’s not reading it, Jon. It could have gotten better.”
“Ok, but what about CAGE? You were there when we went through #2 just a few days ago. Did you see how they’re dressing that guy these days? He looks like he just escaped from a Wayans Bros. movie.”
“Well, yes, Jon. Obviously those guys should be chemically castrated. But it doesn’t change the fact that you’ve been speaking about these books in a manner that implies you’re a lot more familiar with them than you really are.”
“So??”
“So, you know what you need to do.”
Crying now. “I don’t wanna!”
“You must, Jon. Your journalistic integrity depends on it.”
I went out and bought FURY, the trade paperback, which collects issues 1-6 of Ennis’s run. And, to tell you the truth, I started to feel pretty good about it. I mean, we’re talking Garth Ennis here; for all its excesses, PREACHER was one of the coolest reads ever. I came prepared to eat crow. I wanted to like this book. I decided I was going to do my best to get past the rumored liberties they took with Nick’s character – if any – and enjoy the book for what it is.
And I discovered something. I discovered that FURY is a brain dead excuse for Ennis and Company to revel in uncensored violence and profanity like a hungry German Shepard who just found a full litterbox.
This book is awful. Godawful. Worse than I could have ever possibly imagined, even after all my gleeful trash talking. It is violent, hyper-violent, but pointlessly so. Not fun violent like PREACHER or an Arnie movie. Not absurdly funny violent like PULP FICTION. Not war-is-hell violent like PLATOON or THE NAM. Violent for violence’s sake, simply to give artist Robertson the opportunity to draw soldiers with their legs blown off.
This book is derivative. I mean, Christ, there’s a disfigured character named “Fuckface.” And the whole old soldier in a new world bit – the main theme of the book – has been done to death, and done much better in movies, comics and literature since the invention of each. And I’m including shit like RAMBO III in the list of ‘Things better than FURY.’
And where’s the humor? THIS is the same Garth Ennis who gave us a feces throwing inbred descendant of Jesus? Even when one of the handful of attempts at humor pops up – like Fury bitching about the penetration of a 9mm bullet – we’re so numb from the previous onslaught of gore and profanity that we’ve moved on to the next onslaught before we even realize that we just read a joke-type thingy a few pages back.
But the worst sin committed by this book is what they did to Nick. I tried to get past this ‘recharacterization,’ which should have been easy since I’ve never been much of a Fury fan, but this result is obscene. Ennis writes Fury as a dumb, blood-thirsty psychotic whoremonger. How does Marvel’s editorial staff let him get away with this stuff?
I know I’ve been complaining a lot about Marvel recently, so I feel the need to say that I’ve been really happy with their direction the past few years. Jemas and Quesada and Co. have been doing a great job of attracting talent, mending fences, and pushing creative freedom ahead of editorial driven content. But there’s a difference between loosening editorial reins, and letting go of them entirely. This series proves that they need to take some control back. Just because a famous creator has an idea for a character does not mean that it’s a good idea.
MY RATING: PPP. Profane, Psychotic, and Pathetic. I know a disembodied voice that better shut the hell up for a while, if he knows what’s good for him.
Action Comics #791
Benjamin Raab – Writer
Derec Aucoin – Art
Reviewed by Village Idiot
It’s hard to dislike Action #791, on principle. I mean, here’s a Superman story that tries to take a more thoughtful, more human road; something we see only occasionally amidst all the fighting and giant robots.
But you know, we’re not grading on effort here. To its credit, the story in Action #791 goes past 1 dimension to 2 dimensions. Oh heck, 2.5 dimensions. But it never reaches the full three dimensions. It was almost there. But “almost” isn’t close enough for me to be as enthusiastic about this issue as you or I would like me to be.
Action #791 tells the flashback story of Clark’s attempts to take the school pariah to the Smallville High Homecoming dance. The situation turns out to be more of a toughie than Clark first thought, and his very conscious (even verbalized) efforts to be a hero have some unexpected results. Kudos to guest writer Benjamin Raab for writing the pariah, an overweight girl named “Marge,” with more dynamic than one might expect for a comic. In fact, all of the characterizations felt accurate enough; they just felt rushed. At the rate Raab wrote the story, it just didn’t feel like there was enough time to flesh out the characters to their full potential. As a result, for the reader, Clark’s eventual epiphany is more indicated than truly felt, and subsequently, the overall story felt a little shallow.
But again, the story seems so sincere in its ambition (and that you can feel), I’m inclined to give it a little slack. As far as the Smallville angle goes, the comic has more in common with Jeph Loeb’s Superman For All Seasons than the television show (this is a good thing, except if your name is Cormorant). The story is simply a straightforward human drama that just didn’t get pulled off as well as I would have liked.
My Rating: If you like the softer side of Superman (and Sears!) you might want to check it out. [Pause] By the way, did you see JSA #36??
THE HOOD #1
WRITER: BRIAN K. VAUGHAN
ARTIST: KYLE HOTZ
PUBLISHER: MARVEL COMICS
REVIEW BY: JON QUIXOTE
“Listen to them; the children of the night – What sweet music they make.”
-DRACULA
“Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.”
-SPACEBALLS
I held THE HOOD #1 in my sweaty little hands. I rushed back to work to read it, pausing only briefly to note how cool it is to have a job where I can read comics. Well, except on payday, but that shouldn’t matter once Moriarty cuts me my first check for these reviews.
Anyways, I’ve been eagerly awaiting this comic ever since I first heard of it…last week. But I was scared to open it. Not because of the scary hooded guy on the cover - well, not just because of him – but because while I was eagerly awaiting a good bad guy comic, I was also well aware of THE HOOD’s potential for sucking. See, I like to cheer for the bad guy, I wanted Milton’s Lucifer to take that know-it-all God down a peg or two (stupid omniscience), part of me hoped Othello wasn’t going to see through Iago’s motivationless plot, and I’m pretty glad that Joker is adept enough at sidekick abortion to clear the way for the new Batgirl and Robin. So I was hoping to really enjoy THE HOOD, but I was painfully aware of the fact that it came from the company that once thought it would be a good idea to turn Venom into the protector of San Francisco. Sure, with that giant tongue swirling around it was probably a logical idea. But not a good one.
And THE HOOD is a MAX comic, which should be a good thing, but only made me more nervous. Because someone working there believes that Nick Fury should speak like Andrew Dice Clay, and someone else there thinks that the key to Luke Cage’s popularity lies in making him more and more like Tupac. Fucking morons.
But I summoned the courage to read it. And my verdict is…
Whoops, out of space. I guess you’ll have to wait until my next review to find out. Sorry folks. I guess I shouldn’t have filled my review with all that back-story about my job, and paycheck, and bad guys that I had to read about en route to my B.A. But the next review will be great…I promise.
The sad thing is that this review would have passed through Marvel’s editorial department with no problem. Well, I typed the f-word, so it would have a MAX stamp, but they wouldn’t care that I was too busy priming you to actually get to the review. “We’ll just add another issue to the run,” they’d cry.
Bad news. Brian K. Vaughan, like Mark Millar and Brian Michael Bendis before him, seems incapable of developing and introducing characters while telling his story. This issue is pure exposition. We meet Parker Robbins, our protagonist. Then we proceed to meet everybody else: Parker and his mother. Parker and his partner/cousin. Parker and his Russian hooker. Parker and his pregnant girlfriend. And when we are finally about to start Parker’s journey into supervillainy, the issue is over.
The good news is, that’s pretty much all the bad news. I was worried that this comic would either be another example of MAX’s violent, profane excesses (notice that I never complain about gratuitous nudity? That’s because I like porn!), or that it would be another anti-hero comic, where they try to make a bad guy a hero in an effort to get a piece of those Wolverine sales. But THE HOOD will go a long way towards proving that the MAX line is a worthy edition to the Marvel stable. Vaughan knows exactly what tone a book like this needs to succeed: gleefully wicked. He has created an interesting protagonist in Parker Robbins, a vicious, comically flawed thug who likes to steal his victim’s clothing. Parker manages to be very readable without being especially likeable, which is a rare find in any format. The dialogue is respectably sharp – Gillette sharp, not straight razor sharp – but it moves with a believable cadence that is street-worthy without being stereotypical. Yes, a story about young thugs in which nobody calls each other “dog.” Tell all your boyz, er, I mean friends. And, there’s a nod to the post 9-11 Marvel Universe that actually advances the story and characters. Why isn’t THIS guy writing CAPTAIN AMERICA?
A big surprise here is the art. Considering the shadowy ‘grown-up’ stuff that is filling the pages of books like Daredevil and Captain America these days, I really expected this book to have a similar texture; Dark, scribbly, and highly influenced by Goya. But artist Kyle Hotz’s neo-classical cartoonish style is absolutely perfect. He is able to convey grit, violence, and menace without ever losing sight of the fact that he is drawing a COMIC book. There are big things in this guy’s future.
A bigger surprise is the restraint. Sure, the creators refer to twat as ‘gash’, but other than that, the profanity is used as an extension of character. The average issue of Daredevil has more violence. All the sex is off panel. I can’t decide if the last one was a complaint or an accolade, but the important thing is that THE HOOD is not just an excuse for excessive adult content. At least, not yet.
It probably is too early to tell, especially since nothing really happens in this issue, but I get the impression that THE HOOD is going to fill that ‘evil is good’ void in my life for the next six months, which bodes well for the cats in my neighborhood. There’s a lot of potential in this book, I hope it lives up to it. And if it doesn’t, I’m gonna take it apart in my next review. I’m going to use creative swearword amalgams like ‘coffin humper’ and ‘shit gargler.’ I’m going to make jokes about Vaughan’s wasted existence, his sexual preferences, and the size of his mother’s penis. Why? Because I’m evil. EEEEEVIL!! And y’know what? It’s fun.
MY RATING: Good enough for a B, and, hopefully getting better. Or worse. Because, y’know, if it’s bad, then it’s good, because we want to see bad, right? Ah fuck it, you know what I mean.
WOLVERINE/HULK # 2, # 4
written & painted by Sam Keith
Marvel Knights/Marvel
Review by Buzz Maverik
If AICN were the fictional Faber College, the Talkback League of @$$holes would be the Delta House (hey, Moriarty, I guess that'd make you Dean Wormer! Pretty cool!). I'm not sure which of us would be which Delta, but I know I'd be Bluto for sure. It all comes down to the scene where the boys are geared up to attack the homecoming parade. We cut from one Delta to another, looking at their watches, all synchronized. Until we get to Bluto. His watch is waaaay off. As I recall, he smashes something, yells, "Let's do it!" and dives headfirst into the Deathmobile.
My fellow @$$holes (and isn't there a little @$$hole in all of us?) know the upcoming release dates and they have their review schedules all planned. Me, I just sort of walk into a comic shop and look for something that makes me want to yell, "Let's do it!" and dive headfirst into the Deathmobile.
I'd read somewhere that Sam Keith was going to do a Hulk vs. Wolverine story and being a Hulk-fan, I was looking forward to it. I've long admired Keith’s paintings, from his cover work way back on MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS to his work in the first SANDMAN story arc. They convey a lot of power and movement, bringing a nice skewed look to traditional characters (as long as there aren't too many artists trying to do the same thing; I'd fucking hate it if too many comics looked like this. Fat chance.). Keith created either THE MAXX or THE PITT for Image Comics (I could never tell 'em apart, they crossed over when they did appear and don't tell me now, I don't want to know!).
So I'd dutifully check the "Hs" each week, wondering where the hell the HULK/WOLVERINE book was. That's the problem with being a megalomaniac. You figure that because YOU like the Hulk better, that the Hulk's name will come first on the title, despite the fact that 95% of everyone else reading comics is more interested in Wolverine. I only found these books because I accidentally wandered down to the wrong end of the alphabet.
My shop only had issues 2 and 4 in stock, which had a certain nostalgic charm for me. When I was a kid, and the idea of a store that sold nothing but comics (and cards and games and related collectible crap) would have seemed like a stupid idea, and we got our comics from the rack near the front window of the Stop'n'Rob as God intended, you missed a lot of issues of the story arc. You'd pick up an issue of say, WEREWOLF BY NIGHT and find our hero trying to save his sister from the Darkhold curse that affected his family (Darkhold being an occult book in the Marvel Universe, I guess sort of their rip off version of Abdul Alhazared's NECRONOMICON), then the next time the store stocked a WWBN, Jack would be battling a mercenary called The Moon Knight and get captured. A few months would go by and you'd find Jack and his friends investigating a scenario clearly ripping off Richard Matheson's HELL HOUSE.
In conclusion, I think my review speaks for itself and there's no need to reiterate my points with some snappy ranking.
And here’s the batch of late reviews that they foisted off on me to include this week. I am not Dean Wormer, by the way. I think of myself as Eric Stratton, and I’m damn glad to meet you.
Superman/Aliens II #1
Written by Chuck Dixon
Drawn by Jon Bogdanove
Published by DC Comics
Reviewed by Cormorant
If I were reading these reviews, I’d probably skip ahead the instant I saw the title SUPERMAN/ALIENS, but don’t *you* do that just yet. Things get kinda interesting.
The first SUPERMAN/ALIENS miniseries was a dismal effort written and drawn by the King Hack of the Universe, Dan Jurgens, redeemed only slightly by Kevin Nowlan’s tight inks over Jurgens’ pencils. And frankly, about 90% of all Dark Horse licensed books blow. Don’t go bringing up the first ALIENS mini on me – I know it was pretty dang good, but that’s the exception, dammit, the *exception*!
Which is sort of what this project may be, too. It still seems like an odd pairing, though, doesn’t it? What does the godlike Superman have to fear from a bunch of human-sized alien bugs? In Jurgens’ story, the twist was that Superman was on an extended space mission, and like a leaky battery, was slowly losing his charge (in his case, from being away from Earth’s yellow sun for so long). Thus, an alien could bite him and he’d go “ow.” Slightly interesting, I suppose, but the whole point of Superman is that he’s such a powerhouse. If you’re gonna make him impotent just so aliens are a physical threat, why not just go with a low-level hero in the first place? Batman…Green Arrow…Blue Beetle – you know, guys who can’t pull the moon by giant chains.
Writer Chuck Dixon’s come up with a more interesting premise, I think. It begins with a kick-ass intro sequence in which a massive derelict spaceship impacts on Apokolips, homeworld of the arch-villain Darkseid. I loved the scale of the scene, with Darkseid observing dispassionately as millions of inhabitants of the labor-camps of Armagetto (how cool is that name, by the way?) perish in the massively violent crash. Of course, Darkseid’s techies do detect some life-signs emanating from the downed spacecraft, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what particular species survived. The entire crash sequence is vividly drawn by Jon Bogdanove (with Nowlan returning as inker), but what’s really notable about the scene is how it establishes the *scale* of this miniseries. This isn’t gonna be about some namby, pamby de-powered Supes fighting a small pack of aliens – this is BIG SHIT GOIN’ DOWN. The crash alone kills millions, Darkseid’s plan for the aliens is appropriately large scale, Superman is at full power, and then you’ve got what looks to be a major role from Darkseid’s age-old enemies, the New Gods themselves…
Yes, this is definitely a project for fans of Kirby’s Fourth World material, and I’m guessing it may end up being staged entirely on Apokolips and the planet of the New Gods, New Genesis. If you’re not a fan of the setting, you can stop reading this now (and take some time to wonder why you don’t have better taste), but I think it’s damn cool that Dixon’s using Kirby’s creations to elevate the relatively low-threat aliens to potentially cosmic threat levels. The specifics of Darkseid’s scheme haven’t been made clear yet, but my understanding from the later ALIEN movies is that the gestating aliens take on the characteristics of whomever they “hatch” from, be it human, or in the case of the forgettable third movie, a dog. So imagine if they were bred with Darkseid’s own shock troops, the Parademons? And what would happen if they could be bred with a New God?
Along with those grim suggestions, we also have some terrific scenes of Superman simply visiting New Genesis in the calm before the storm. Dixon’s such a prolific writer that I’m sometimes overly dismissive of him, but he really can turn out some nice character insight. For instance, check out the sharp writing as Superman finds that he can actually relax on a world where *everyone* is like a god, and there’s a really funny scene between Superman and some of the children of New Genesis.
Art-wise, this is a pretty sexy book. Jon Bogdanove is what I’d call an old-school comic book artist – his stuff’s big and dynamic and drawn with the confidence of the great mainstream artists like John Byrne and John Romita Jr. I don’t think I’ve ever taken notice of his work before because I’m usually drawn to stylists, but I’m really impressed by the craftsmanship on display here. I think I’ll be watching for his name in the future. Kevin Nowlan inks the book, and what Nowlan brings is the high level of detail you want when someone’s depicting H.R. Giger’s famously insectoid aliens. You *want* to see those all the nasty vertebrae-lookin’ bits and pieces that makes up the alien nests, and all disgusting segmentation on that unlucky face-hugger who decides Darkseid is as good a victim to spring at as anyone. Nowlan delivers all that creepiness, while still allowing Bogdanove’s art on figures like Superman and the other New Gods to look suitably heroic. Really good synergy there.
Oh, and as a personal aside, I think that Bogdanove has drawn the cutest Big Barda I’ve ever seen. Sure, it helps that this 7-foot-tall giantess is striding around wearing the New Genesis equivalent of a g-string, but what really impressed me is that Bogdanove didn’t shy away from making her appropriately zaftig in the true Kirby tradition. Nice to see a little sexiness from the New Gods without resorting to Adam Hughes levels of cheesecake.
Geez, I hope I didn’t spoil the menace of the story by taking a paragraph to ruminate on a cartoon chick, but sometimes you’ve just gotta exorcize your demons. The important thing to take from this review is that Chuck Dixon is doing the all-but-impossible in creating a successful hybrid of epic-level superhero action and alien creepiness with this miniseries, and I sure as hell wouldn’t have reviewed such a thing if it hadn’t stood out head-and-shoulders above previous crossover efforts. Recommended to fans of Superman, those pesky aliens, and certainly, Kirby’s New Gods. It’s eerie how pumped I am for the second issue.
Score: 4 out of 5
Title: Taskmaster #4
Writer: Ken Siu-Chong
Art: Arnold Tsang, Drew Hou, Omar Dogan, Rob Ross, and Shane Law (The artist team known as Udon).
Publisher: Marvel
Reviewer: Ambush Bug
There was a time when Marvel mini-series counted. Remember Wolverine’s first kick ass mini? Or Magik? Real things happened and great stories were told. Those miniseries allowed the reader to take a jaunt into the world of a character who didn’t have a series of his or her own. Readers couldn’t wait to see what that character did when they were away from their core title and miniseries became pretty popular. Within the last two years, Marvel has chucked out one crappy miniseries after another. The Marvel Icons minis; Iceman, Nightcrawler, and Cyclops, came and went with piss poor writing and art, and little relevance on both the reader and the main characters.
Recently, Marvel has released a pair of interesting miniseries focusing on some obscure characters. And they are pretty damn good. The first, Tigra, centers on the Avengers’ foxy femme fatale and I’ll probably review that series in the near future. The second miniseries is Taskmaster. You know, the villain with the photographic reflexes who tussles with the likes of Captain America, Spidey, and Daredevil from time to time. Normally, I cringe when I hear that a story is going to focus on a villain because I think they are going to try to turn another bad guy into a hero. But this doesn’t happen here and I love the comic for it.
Taskmaster isn’t a psychopath with a warped moral code like Venom or a criminal with a heart of gold like Catwoman. He is a killer for hire. Plain, simple, and unforgiving. He has no moral struggles in this series. He is driven by love for money, concern for numero uno, and pure vengeance towards those who do him wrong.
The story so far is pretty simple. Taskmaster was hired by Sunset Bain (one of Tony Stark’s old flings) to wipe out an opposing ganglord. After Taskmaster does the deed, he tries to collect his fee and winds up getting screwed by Bain who would rather rub out all evidence connecting her to the crime instead of paying him off. But Taskmaster is not so easy to kill.
Like I said, this isn’t complex storytelling. This is a straight forward action comic, but the action seems fresh and the story has quite a few little twists that are cool enough to make you smile. Taskmaster doesn’t want to do what’s right. He is not faced with a choice that forces him to become a hero. His morality is challenged only once through the entire series when a woman he is trying to impress is in danger, but who doesn’t bend the rules from time to time when there’s a piece of tail involved?
I like this series because it unapologetically takes us into the mind of the killer who has these amazing powers. We never see the Taskmaster’s face, but this series has given the character more personality than all of his past appearances combined. It expands the Marvel Universe just a bit more to include those who are not afraid to bust some skulls for personal gain.
Issue #4 wraps up the miniseries with Taskmaster’s quest for payback towards those who screwed him. It is chock full of cool action sequences, revelations about Taskmaster’s powers, and snippets from his mysterious past. The resolution is cold and there really isn’t a moral to be learned. We just know in the end, that there is a killer with photographic reflexes still out there and there isn’t a task that he cannot master.
The art team known as Udon has done an amazing job with this series. They have improved upon the movement technique used in Scott McDaniel’s art from Nightwing by showing each move Taskmaster makes as he twists and flips across the room blowing away entire cadres of armed guards. When Taskmaster uses his power to mimic the moves of a Marvel character, he becomes that character for a split second on the page. It is too cool to describe. Fans of Japanese Anime will be pleased with the animation cell like quality of the art. The art shies away from being ultra-Manga-ish, if there is such a word, keeping the people realistic looking and grounded in real world situations most of the time.
Maybe Marvel’s slump of shit minis is over. This series was a fun read and worth a look. It has definitely fleshed out the world of the Taskmaster, making him a character worth taking interest in the next time he appears and that is what a good miniseries should always do.
THE SANDMAN VOL. 6 : FABLES & REFLECTIONS
written by Neil Gaiman
illustrated by Bryan Talbot, Stan Woch, P. Craig Russell, Shawn McManus, John Watkiss, Jill Thompson, Duncan Eagleson, Kent Williams, Mark Buckingham, Vince Locke, Dick Giordano.
Published by Vertigo/DC Comics.
Reviewed by Buzz Maverik
I didn't want to buy any comics last week. Nothing interested me and I slushed my entertainment budget into my liquor budget. I had the fifth of Cuervo and the 12 pack of Corona finished by the time I got home and I realized that if I was going to review anything this week -- because I wanna play too-- I'd have to finish reading something I had laying around.
I'd dropped SANDMAN VOL. 6: FABLES & REFLECTIONS when a load of MARVEL ESSENTIALS came out. I knew I'd get back to it eventually. That's the way with SANDMAN. Once you've tried it, you always come back.
Confession time: I wasn't hep to THE SANDMAN back in the '80s and '90s when it was originally published (hey, you can't read everything). The art always looked intriguing, but it seemed like one of those books that you couldn't just pick up an issue (and like Kevin Smith has said Joe Quesada taught him, every comic is someone's first comic). I knew this Neil Gaiman guy was supposed to be a great writer, but again you can't read everything.
This is why you have to love trade paperbacks. I've been picking SANDMAN trades up in order for about the last year. Comics are not supposed to be this good. You have Morpheus, also known as Dream of the Endless, the lord of dreams. He rules dreamland. The Endless are sibling entities who are not gods, but who rule over areas of mortal life. In addition to Dream, you have his babe sister Death, his sister/brother Desire, sister Delirium, monster sister Despair, brother Destiny and missing brother Destruction. The sibs all help and cause trouble for Dream.
With art by the best and most underrated in the Business, these stories read like brilliant, post modern fantasy novels. When we first meet Morpheus in Vol. 1, he is imprisoned by a cult from a Dennis Wheatley novel, very British fantasy, y' know. Wheatley based his writing on his acquaintance with Aleister Crowley, the 20th century's greatest sorcerer, so you know where this is going. In future volumes, we're treated to a convention of serial killers, a series of stand alone stories and perhaps best of all, Volume 5 A GAME OF YOU, in which a formerly vapid woman named Barbie has created an intricate fantasy world in Morpheus' realm and her various neighbors have to rescue her from the villains within.
But A GAME OF YOU lead me to drop FABLES & REFLECTIONS because I was hoping for another novel and instead I got a series of one shots. But SANDMAN one shots are glorious.
Most of the stories in this volume deal with the more mythic nature of Morpheus and often he is a fringe character in his own book. The stories center around such characters as Hellblazer John Constantine's ancestor Lady Johanna Constantine who must retrieve for Morpheus the head of his son in the French Revolution. Later, in another story, we see how son Morpheus came to lose the head in mythic Greece. There are visits from the Endless sibs as well as Morpheus servants such as Cain and Abel and a raven named Matthew.
It is an easy guess that most modern comic fans are well acquainted with these works. If you're not, I recommend that you buy them and enjoy them in order. If this column continues, I will most likely be giving positive reviews to the remaining volumes in the seat.
Deadman #6
Story by Steve Vance
Pencils by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez
Inks by Josef Rubinstein
Reviewed by Village Idiot
One of the comics that I was really looking forward to reading this week was Deadman #6. Last month, I felt that they finally managed to get some real traction with this book. Sadly, this month’s issue just didn’t deliver the way I had hoped.
Deadman for Beginners: Deadman is a third tier DC character created by Neal Adams in the late sixties. As the ghost of a murdered trapeze artist named Boston Brand, Deadman’s job is to track down the evil escapees from a magical Shangri-La. Deadman is a wry but lonely character: To the outside world, he’s totally invisible; and although he can possess the bodies of regular mortals whenever he wants, he misses the ability to live a real life as himself.
Last month, Deadman found himself trying to solve a serial killing case where he meets the ghost of one of the victims. (If you’ve ever seen a mystery in your life, you can probably figure out who did it. In fact, if you’ve only heard the word “mystery” uttered in a sentence, you can probably figure out who did it.) Beyond the murders case, the real story is about how Deadman finally manages to make a connection with someone else: the ghost of the beautiful murdered girl. It’s a poignant (albeit blatant) romance to see the guarded Deadman unmasked by love. And of course, this romance is mixed with the usual story of duty vs. personal interest: he knows he must solve the case, but he also realizes that in doing so she’ll move on to the afterlife.
Unfortunately, Deadman #6 fails to build on this. Sure, it hits all the bases, but rather than raise the emotional stakes, both the mystery and the romance are resolved with only the obligatory amount of internal conflict. No real surprises anywhere. The denouement almost reaches the level of feeling of the previous issue, but any lasting emotional impact is undercut by a strangely casual (not subtly underplayed) epilogue. Raymond Chandler, this is not. There was nothing egregiously wrong with this issue, but it was still disappointing to see such potential resolved in a way that could only be described as routine.
Spider-Man: Quality of Life #1
Greg Rucka – Writer
Scott Christian Sava – Artist
Reviewed by Village Idiot
All right, what the hell was that?
I’m having trouble putting my finger on exactly what Scott Christian Sava’s “digitally illustrated” art in Spider-Man: Quality of Life #1 looked like. First I was thinking claymation. Then I was thinking English sci-fi “marionation.” Finally, I settled on 3-D Viewmaster mock-ups. But then I had to go back and change to the marionation. I swear to god, at one point, one of the characters looks like she’s ready to say “Thunderbirds are go!” Ironic that the comic is called “Quality of Life” when the quality of the art is so decidedly un-lifelike.
This is the second time in as many weeks that my enjoyment of a comic has been hampered by problems with the art. This time it’s Spider-Man by way of Pixar. I don’t fault the creators for consciously trying something new, but the sad fact is that I just don’t think it worked. Rather than breathe new life into the material, I felt the art was as distracting as the paragraph above indicates. It was a gimmick. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here when I say that this kind of “digital illustration” probably won’t catch on.
Still though, I was able to glean some story out of the deal: an oblique critique of corporate ethics while Curt Connor’s driven to Lizard-ness by the angst and rage over his dying wife (who, after her MRI, looks poised to say the Thunderbirds line I referred to early). There was also a conventionally illustrated back up story where Spidey teams up with Jay Leno (another gimmick). I suppose the back-up was cute enough, but nothing I’d buy a book for. In fact, I’m afraid to say that I won’t be around for Quality of Life #2. If you want solid, enjoyable Spider-Man action, it’s probably a safer bet to go for Amazing or Ultimate Spider-Man.
Daredevil #33
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Alex Maleev
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Review by: Jon Quixote
Been there, done that.
I believe Brian Michael Bendis to be one of the best writers working in comics today. He understands that character, and not action or plot, is the driving force behind the enduring popularity of the superhero genre. He writes mature insightful dialogue. His influences are myriad, and he draws upon sources as diverse as Shakespeare, film noir, and teen comedy to fashion his normally engaging storylines.
So why do I get déjà vu from reading this Daredevil run? Why does it feel like I’m reading the comic book equivalent of a clip show? And why does every “major” DD storyline involve putting his secret identity in jeopardy?
The Death of Elektra – Bullseye discovered Murdock’s secret. Born Again – Kingpin bought it from Karen Page. Guardian Devil – This time, Mysterio figured it out. And it could not have been more than five or six years ago that Fall From Grace had DD’s secret leak to the media, and force him to fake his own death, change his name to Jack Batlin, and, well, let’s just be thankful that storyline was aborted faster than you can say “Clone Saga.”
Bendis’s run here highlights my one real complaint about his writing. He reminds me of the relaxed smart kid who did his homework five minutes before class, but always scored those B+ grades, not because his work was especially good, but because it was still better than the stuff done by the rest of the class. Bendis is a good writer, but a lazy one. He has moments of brilliance, but the rest of his work seems like so much filler. This current story arc was at least one full issue longer than it should have been, and full of inconsistent characters (like Silke – an educated menace who takes down the Kingpin in one issue, a bedwetting Daddy’s boy in the next), re-treaded storylines, and…style. So much narrative style that I totally forgave him for his faults, until I got to the next cliché or go-nowhere issue.
Daredevil #33 is such a go-nowhere issue. And now Bendis has to win me back again. I’m waiting for him to show up at my door with an apology on his lips and a bouquet of flashbacks, red herrings, and snappy dialogue. He probably will, and I’ll take him back. But right now, I’m pouting.
The action in this comic – and it is of the character variety, which is fine – is predictable. From the moment Foggy showed up at Matt’s brownstone, I knew what his final advice would be. I saw the same media frenzy in Fall From Grace five years ago, so no surprises there. And the resolution to the moral dilemma suffered by one of the G-Men investigating Murdock was telegraphed in every single panel the guy appeared in.
Maybe Bendis really isn’t lazy, but overtaxed. Perhaps the demands of producing the new Spider-Man cartoon coupled with writing one-third of the comic books on the market is too much for him. And that’s understandable, he’s probably the hardest working writer in comics today. But if he is overtaxed, then he should cut back. I would rather read one great Bendis comic a month than nine mediocre ones. I have come to expect better than this from a comic book with his name on it. And, frankly, so should he.
Rating: C+
Superman: The Man of Steel #126
Mark Schultz – Writer
Yvel Guitchel & Kevin Sharpe – Pencillers
Dexter Vines & Walden Wong – Inkers
Reviewed by Village Idiot
The pleasant surprise for me this week was Man of Steel #126.
Mark Schultz’s last story in MOS was fairly unspectacular and quite honestly muddled in both awkward continuity and pseudo-science technobabble. This month he changes gears a little bit, switching from sci-fi to magic (actually, religion). And it works pretty well.
Apparently the Gods of the DC Universe have decided that they need to boost their P.R., so they come to Earth looking to recruit Superman for godhood in the hopes that he may share a little popularity. (The cosmology of the DCU is a very confusing thing.) Now of course we all know Superman is going to refuse, but along the way we’re treated to some unexpected surprises, including some smarter dialog than we’ve been used to seeing in the Superman titles lately. Having incredibly powerful beings play against type and dress and speak in the vernacular is nothing new, but Schultz pulls it off ably this time around. I liked it.
On the other hand, I found the art to be simply okay, except for the cover, which looks like something you might see in the pages of a Jr. High notebook (I mean, come on!). The first few pages have Guitchel’s telltale style: he never met a face line he didn’t like; and Sharpe seems to follow suit, only with a bit more realism. But the story was written well enough to let me overlook any reservations I may have had about the way it was drawn. It’s not Proust mind you, but I was entertained. If you’re looking for a fun, light superhero read that doesn’t totally go off the tracks with patronizing absurdity or sloppy incoherence, check out MOS #126.
Wow... hope you’ve got a healthy comics appetite worked up today, ‘cause I’ve got more coming in just a little while...
"Moriarty" out.
