Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
What more introduction do you need? They’re @$$holes. They’ve got a League. Whattaya need... a road map?!
Cormorant here! Just caught an item over at The Pulse about Disney gearing up to produce comic books after a hiatus of several years. This strikes me as potentially great news given that there are so few comics catering to kids these days, and anyone who knows their comics history will be familiar with the UNCLE SCROOGE comics of Carl Barks, considered by many to be some of the finest all-ages comics ever produced. Now I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of the Disney icons (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, et. al), but I actually recall really getting into a comic featuring the gang when I was a kid – something about them going prospecting for gold, replete with bandit encounters and creepy ghost towns. I’ll take that over the ubiquitous Riverdale Gang any day.
So what does this have to do with our reviews this week?
Not a damn thing. It’s just cool news!
JLA SECRET ORIGINS
Story by Alex Ross and Paul Dini
Text by Paul Dini
Art by Alex Ross
Published by DC Comics
Reviewed by Village Idiot
I have a problem with Alex Ross’ art.
I’m bringing this up early because although I’m going to be going negative on both Ross and Paul Dini in this review, critiquing Ross is going to be a high hurdle. From talking to people over the years, I’ve learned that many consider Ross’ work to be the high-water mark of comic quality. He’s almost universally celebrated by comic fans, and to some degree, deservedly so: his painted interpretations of super-hero aesthetic are striking, vivid and often beautiful, and even a bit evocative Norman Rockwell (albeit with less vitality).
However, there are some problems.
The main problem is spandex. We all know that the standard approach to drawing comic characters is essentially to draw naked people with colored skin (costumes). Real life spandex or nylon tights don’t really work that way: fabric covers over most contours instead of clinging into them. This is not to suggest that super-hero costumes won’t work in a live-action context. On the contrary, we’ve all seen costumes that work terrifically in movies. But costumers in Hollywood cheat. Jeri Ryan’s form fitting Seven of Nine outfit on STAR TREK: VOYAGER had a specially designed girdle underneath in order to give the underside of her breasts definition; regular spandex would have just smooshed them down. Spider-Man’s rubber costume was sculpted, as was the Flash costume from the 90’s TV show (which you can’t deny was one of the best live-action super-hero costumes ever).
Unfortunately, Ross draws his characters wearing regular spandex. Realistically. He doesn’t cheat; in fact, he includes the imperfections of how the fabric fits, and the result is sometimes a little cheesy. Ross’ Superman looks great. Wonder Woman does all right, in what is essentially a girdle anyway. But Flash looks like a guy in a cheap spandex costume. You can almost see the zipper. Green Arrow looks like a refugee from the Ice Capades. Batman just looks big, puffy, and silly. It’s as though Ross is drawing the characters fresh from their public appearances at Toys ‘R’ Us. I’m afraid the sheer inescapability of the cheesiness blew the deal for me.
Another problem is that the characters in this book are posed so self-consciously that the pictures seem unduly pretentious (as pretentious as comic book images can be), and the characters themselves look pompous. (Lemme tell ya: that Aquaman really needs to get off his high-horse). I know this is a “Secret Origins” book and not a story, and that many of the pictures are intended to be posed portraits. However, page after page of puffed-chest, arms-crossed stuff, no matter how nicely drawn, can get a little fatiguing.
Meanwhile, Paul Dini’s text that accompanies the images seems to have its chest puffed and arms crossed as well. The book is arranged with 2-page vignettes of the character’s origin accompanied by “Faster than a speeding bullet”-type prose that reaches toward the profound and awe-inspiring so hard that the text feels like the most labored beat poetry in the world. Combined with the art, by the end of the book I felt as if I’d been austered to death. (Actually, at the end of the book, we’re presented with interviews with Ross and Dini, plus early sketches by Ross. The inclusion of these sections seemed a bit pre-maturely self-congratulatory. I mean, shouldn’t we wait till the movie hits the theaters for a few weeks before we start with the DVD commentary track?)
And yet, despite all this, the book is pretty. If you’re in the room with the book, you have to look at it. (The bad spandex is well-drawn bad spandex.) I think if Ross hired a new costume director, and he and Dini both eased up on the eagerness for profundity, this might have been something really neat. In the end, JLA SECRET ORIGINS is the kind of book I’d think was fine if it belonged to someone else; thus, my recommendation is to find someone who already owns a copy and only then check it out.
FINDER: TALISMAN
Carla Speed McNeil
Lightspeed Press
reviewed by: Lizzybeth
Child of the pure, unclouded brow
And dreaming eyes of wonder!
Though time be fleet, and I and thou
Are half a life asunder,
Thy loving smile will surely hail
The love-gift of a fairy-tale.
“Talisman”, the fourth FINDER collection, opens each chapter with a line from this C.S. Lewis poem, and portrays this nostalgia for childhood and the magic of storytelling with scarcely less beauty and grace. Referencing Lewis’s own Narnia books, along with many other seminal works of fantasy from the last century, Talisman tells a tale about magic, monsters, a girl, and her book. The dedication for this volume reads: “to the kid with the book; everywhere”. I was one of those, once. So on behalf of those of us who are or once were that kid, allow me to say: thanks.
Following in the footsteps of female-helmed fantasies A DISTANT SOIL and ELFQUEST, FINDER is an independent breakthrough for Carla “Speed” McNeil, gathering a crowd of vocal fans and ever-increasing acclaim (4 Eisner Award nominations for 2002, including Best Writer/Artist and Best Ongoing Series). Breaking with the usual conception of fantasy comics (elves, swords, castles) FINDER is more of a world-building fantasy than anything else, an anthropological study of a planet next door to ours. McNeil’s imaginary world is somehow both futuristic and primitive at once, centering around a civilization that combines technological advancement and ancient traditions into a clan-based social structure. The nature of this world is slowly revealed as the characters interact with their surroundings, managing to engage without ever being dry or academic. The series follows many characters, but the focus is the wandering stoic Jaegger: outcast, sin-eater, finder. It takes complete immersion into the series to really get your footing (I’m still working on it) but it’s well worth the trouble.
“Talisman”, released in graphic novel form earlier this year, is the three-issue arc nominated for two Eisner awards (“Best Single Issue” and “Best Serialized Story”). It’s the story of Marcie, first seen in early issues as a little girl looked after by Jaegger. Marcie’s “greatest gift” was a book that Jaegger read to her as a child, a book filled with adventure, magic, and wonder. When this book gets lost, Marcie has lost a lot more than a book: she’s lost her footing in the world. This is a book-lover’s story, all about that tactile pleasure of the pages in your hands, the power of words to create worlds in your head. More than that, the story is about imagination, and the overwhelming drive to create. Where does it come from? A longing for something lost? Sensing something missing in the world, and trying to fill that hole? The need to repair what’s broken in one’s life? In Marcie’s case, we know what’s broken in her life - Brigham, her traumatized father, is a monstrous shell of his former self, anesthetized and hidden in a dark back room where he dreams and screams the days away. (Also, in more unspoken fashion, another father figure has abandoned Marcie. Jaeger, our usual protagonist seems to have disappeared from her life for good at some unnamed point during the years of this story). Marcie’s book contains the strength and courage she needs to cope with this sad turns of events. She needs it back. If she can’t get it back, she faces the long struggle of remaking it herself.
The skillful artwork in FINDER is somewhat reminiscent of fantasy touchstones such as ELFQUEST, but is especially influenced by the background artwork of indie giant Gerhard. Being mostly a sociological fantasy rather than the swords-and-sorcery type (particularly in this story) the visuals are based in faces and people, not objects and action. Still, there are some stunning full pages taken from Marcie’s daydreams, filled with iconic fantasy imagery. McNeil’s fine pencils keep every inch of the page alive with action, giving you plenty of detail to pore over. McNeil’s Marcie is one of the most realistically drawn children I’ve seen in comics - her face, her posture, even her hair all portray a very real, and very individual young girl. Her eyes and expressions are just heartbreaking throughout, and the cover image (with the burning book) is probably my favorite of this year.
In the recent issues, FINDER reads just as strongly in single installments as the graphic novels. However, in each of the collections you get the added bonus of McNeil’s infamous footnotes, supplementing every page of the comic with reference material, commentary, additional sketches, and anything else she cares to add. Sort of the comics equivalent of the DVD commentary track. Because of this I recommend picking up the collections, particularly this one, and picking through the footnotes once you’ve read through the story a few times. It’s not like homework, I promise. Personally, I could just sit and read this story again and again. It’s a treasure.
You can order a copy of FINDER, or preview part one of “Talisman” in its entirety, at Lightspeed Press.
BLACK PANTHER #51
Writer: Priest
Art: Jorge Lucas
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewed by: Sleazy G
BLACK PANTHER is one of those books that manages to barely stay alive due to the support of an extremely loyal audience, and it’s one of those books where I don’t know why that audience isn’t a lot bigger. In an attempt to kick its sales up a couple ticks and keep the book alive, Marvel has been touting BP’s “bold new direction” starting with issue #50, which was a prologue to the storyline that kicks off in issue #51, entitled “Black and White”. We hear all the time about how a particular storyline is a convenient place for new readers. This time around, though, it really is a handy place to jump on, since none of the previous characters or storylines are really present right now. I’ve been reading the book since #1, and I’m just as new to almost everything here as anybody else would be.
There’s no question that the type of storytelling being used here is quite different from what we’ve seen in the first four years of the book’s run. Gone are almost all of the characters we’ve come to know, as well as the narration by Everett K. Ross, Lovable Government Weasel. The constant references to Wakandan society and politics have disappeared, as have the inscrutable actions of King T’Challa. This, of course, is because T’Challa is currently AWOL, having vanished from his throne room at the end of the previous storyline.
Instead, we’re suddenly following around a New York cop named Kevin "Kasper" Cole who, for reasons of his own, is using one of the Panther’s costumes to his own ends. It’s a costume that had been abandoned in a previous storyline by T’Challa, confiscated by a cop name of Tork. He’s not the one using it, though—one of his employees is. Tork is doing everything he can to convince Cole to steer clear of anything Panther-related. He is, of course, failing. Cole is a cop the likes of which we’ve seen many times before—a good guy caught between a difficult family situation and a world of dirty cops. He’s been set up to take the fall, and he’s not happy about it.
It’s a familiar story, but one being handled well by Priest. He’s stacking all the odds against this guy in classic thriller fashion, and the prologue and this issue go a long way towards laying the groundwork to make sure Cole is backed into the tightest corner possible. You can see exactly where things are going to go wrong and how the screws are really being put to the character, but not because it’s clichéd or poorly written so much as because sometimes in life your choices are limited, and you can feel the inexorable pressure squeezing you tighter and tighter.
One of the sources of this pressure is the only regular BP character we’ve seen thus far, and it’s not good news for our new protagonist. It’s the White Wolf, King T’Challa’s adopted brother and longtime enemy. He’s started appearing at the least opportune times for Mr. Cole, making him offers that conveniently supply him with the weaponry and information he needs to clean up his department. He claims his reason for this is because Mr. Cole has stepped into something very big by taking on the mantle of the Panther, but it’s clear that Cole can smell just how full of it the Wolf is. He doesn’t trust Wolfie’s motivations, and has made the choice to keep following his own path by rejecting the assistance offered by the White Wolf. Although it's the right choice, there’s little question this decision has just made things a lot more complicated for Cole.
Priest has been writing intelligent, complex plots for a very long time now, and his run on BLACK PANTHER is no exception. Although the new direction feels different in many ways on a stylistic level from what came before, it has all the classic Priest elements: well-scripted action sequences and smart, dense storylines. The mysteries, betrayals and surprises he has been putting to use for years are all present, just in a tighter, more concise style. I would probably compare the pacing thus far on BLACK PANTHER to the woefully under-read title he wrote a while back for DC, XERO, where he worked with talented artist Chris Cross.
Issue #50 had art by Dan Fraga; for reasons I’m not aware of, he’s already gone by issue #51 by someone I’m not familiar with named Jorge Lucas. Based on what I’ve seen here, the guy is quite good. He handles the action sequences very well—particularly one in black and white—and also invests a lot of effort into facial expressions. Unlike some books where the characters all blend in and have the same expression panel after panel, each person has a distinctly different look, and you can feel their moods before you ever read their dialogue.
I do have a couple of reservations—I’m a little curious as to why somebody who is a regular NY cop with no real rank is taking White Wolf and his men all having personal cloaking devices in stride—but by and large, this really is a very different but very compelling read. I’ve enjoyed a lot of what Priest has done with this title in the past, but this new approach to the storytelling has made for a more immediate and absorbing storyline than we’ve seen for a while. If you’re one of the readers put off by the “Enemy of the State II” storyline, come on back. The four issues that followed that story were well done and very surprising, and paired with the new ideas Priest is kicking around in this new storyline, this book is definitely one to pick up.
I, PAPARAZZI (TPB)
Writer: Pat McGreal
Artists: Stephen Parke and Stephen John Phillips
Publisher: DC Comics/Vertigo
Reviewed by Cormorant
I love conspiracy stories. From sci-fi angles (INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS), to reality-based paranoia (THE INSIDER), to outright nonsense (Oliver Stone’s JFK), I can’t get enough of the creepy-cool vibe that occurs when good people uncover things that they shouldn’t. Except…they don’t have to be good people, right? In I, PAPARAZZI, the lead character happens to be a scumbag named Jake McGowran, a hardboiled paparazzi who tracks his celebrity prey so relentlessly that he’s earned the nickname “Monster.” He digs through celebrity garbage bins for incriminating evidence, takes amphetamines to give him the energy for the brutal stakeouts, and as the story opens, is riding high after photographing a supposedly straight actor kissing his gay lover.
Nice guy, huh? Truth be told, he is kind of likeable in the story’s context. To begin with, his first-person narrative is so over-the-top that it’s borderline hilarious. Take, for example, his defense of his profession to the reader: “How would you feel if you had to spend your life chasing after a bunch of preening fuckheads while your dreams got so moldy you could cure the clap with ‘em?” Raymond Chandler, meet Andrew Dice Clay. McGowran also earns a few sympathy points as we learn about his mysterious past and what led him to such a vile living, and there’s just the vaguest, most ephemeral hint of “white knight” about him. Mostly, though, he’s an entertaining scumbag to watch, compelling in his relentless drive to bring down celebrities with his camera. Credit writer Pat McGreal, the innovative writer behind such undervalued Vertigo projects as CHIAROSCURO, a Leonardo da Vinci biographical sketch, and VEILS, an erotic Victorian melodrama.
The first thing that’ll grab you about this original graphic novel isn’t the story, though, or the characterization or even the high concept – it’s the visuals. I, PAPARAZZI sidesteps the traditional storytelling tools of pen, brush, ink, and paint, opting instead for a series of sequential photographs overlaid with text. It’s a technique often referred to as “fumetti,” and sometimes disparaged for its artlessness, but this is a fairly well-crafted use of the process, with substantial Photoshop tweaking for mood and special effects. It certainly fits the subject of the story, but it’s a little ways off from being perfect. The characters within often look posed, and extremes of emotion on faces that would look fine as drawings seem a little silly when frozen on photographs. Personally I found the visuals very entertaining, and suitably gaudy for a gaudy story, but they’re definitely jarring at first. However, just as one becomes acclimated to the initial strangeness of, say, animation on the big screen, so too does one become drawn into the surreal, yet vivid world of I, PAPARAZZI after a few pages.
And surreal it is. After being introduced to a trio of rival paparazzi, all of them entertaining and oddball characters, we follow a night in McGowran’s life as he sets out to find the most incriminating shots possible of a pretty-boy celebrity who’s garnered his hatred. Events take a turn for the bizarre when he tracks his quarry to a members-only shindig, stakes out a nearby stairwell, and begins snapping photos of party-goers that include Drew Barrymore, Salmon Rushdie, Matt Groening, and…Andy Kaufman?! But wait…isn’t he supposed to be dead? And what about that glimpse of Bob Crane from HOGAN’S HEROES? He’s dead too. Suddenly McGowran’s thoughts drift back to the previously ignored rantings of his fellow paparazzi, Ollie Beck, whose conspiracy theories of secret societies and power elite cabals are tinged with supernatural goings-on in the traditions of H.P. Lovecraft. I’d been enjoying the book’s sleaze-laced melodrama up till this point, but the appearance of an utterly unexpected conspiracy hook marked the point when I was officially won over.
The twists and turns to follow I won’t spoil, but I will say that they were a mixture of high points and disappointments for me. Paranoia stories inevitably peak during their rising action, as the protagonists first begin to piece together clues to whatever mysterious forces are at work around them, and consequently, some of them fall apart in the last act as they try to tie all the disparate threads together. I, PAPARAZZI is one of those stories, but it’s fall is more like a bad landing after an otherwise stunning gymnastic routine. It’s a bit of a letdown, but for me the build-up was still worth the price of admission.
Final judgment: After enjoying Pat McGreal’s work on CHIARSCURO, VEILS, and now, I, PAPARAZZI, I’ve officially found a place for him on my writers-to-watch list. Unfortunately, he remains an unknown quantity for most readers because his work is offbeat even for Vertigo, and DC’s marketing of his work hasn’t been the best. If I hadn’t picked up the book on a total whim, I’d have had no idea that what appears to be a straightforward melodrama on the surface is actually tinged with paranoia and metaphysical apparitions. And that’s why I’m spreading the gospel to you guys ‘n’ gals. PAPARAZZI isn’t the Second Coming, but if you’re a fan of celebrity culture, conspiracy theories, hardboiled assholes, or the works of H.P. Lovecraft, there’s a good chance you’ve missed out on a graphic novel that’s up your alley. Give it a look.
Title: GREEN LANTERN #156
Writer: Judd Winick
Pencils: Dale Eaglesham
Inks: Rodney Ramos
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: Ambush Bug
I’ll bet you all didn’t know that we @$$holes each have our own super powers. Some of us were born with them. Some of us were bastard sons of science gone awry. I learned my trick from a homeless man who looked a lot like Schneider from ONE DAY AT A TIME. He repaid me with mystical abilities after I dropped a few shekels into his collection cup. My power and my curse is the ability to split my brain into two sentient beings. At least that’s what I think happens when I skip my medication. The following is a conversation I overheard in my head the other day as I perused the new releases at my local comic shop:
Right-Brain: Hey, look! John Stewart’s back.
Left-Brain: Wha’chu talkin’ ‘bout, Phyllis? Jon Stewart has been providing witty commentary on Comedy Central’s THE DAILY SHOW for quite a while and always seems to both slice through the bullshit of the nightly news and tickle my funnybon--
Right-Brain: No, no, no. Not that Jon Stewart. Green Lantern John Stewart. (whispering) You know, the black Green Lantern.
Left-Brain: The Black-Green Lantern? What do you mean? I’ve never heard of such a character. What’s next? The Off-White Tiger? The Orangey-Yellow Claw? And why the hell does Aquaman wear yellow instead of greenish-blue? I never understood that.
RB: You really are an idiot. This is a Green Lantern who happens to be an African American. (whispering once again) A black Green Lantern.
LB: Why are you whispering? Why is he the black Green Lantern? Why can’t Kyle Rayner be the white Green Lantern?
RB: (sigh) Listen, GREEN LANTERN #156 features the return of John Stewart as the Green Lantern of Earth. Kyle Rayner has decided to go off into space to think things over and has left Earth in John’s capable hands.
LB: Why do super heroes always have to go off into space to think things over? There are plenty of places to be alone on Earth. You know, when I have to think things over, I always go to a bar or the library or something. When I was a kid, I used to lock myself in the bathroom to think, but Mom would always beat on the door and scream, “You’re going to go blind and go straight to Hell if you don’t quit doing that!”
RB: I’m ignoring you. Writer Judd Winick likes the social issues angle when it comes to his GREEN LANTERN stories, but so far, he’s done a hit and miss job making these stories interesting. A while back, Winick wrote an arc centering on a world divided by a war that has gone on for a millennium. Green Lantern Kyle Rayner and his girlfriend Jade were stuck in the middle of two alien races that had been fighting for so long, they didn’t even know how the war started. This arc had a striking similarity to the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East. This story was a great example of how a writer can take advantage of the comic book medium to tell a tale that deals with events in the real world without causing the fantasy aspect of the book to skid to a screeching halt and turn the issue into a “Very Special Episode.”
LB: Hey, remember that “Special Episode” of FAMILY TIES where Alex gets hopped up on ludes and races around the room to finish his homework? I think that was the first time I realized that I really liked the word “lude.”
RB: Winick’s gay-bashing arc went the opposite route and told a down to Earth tale of hate crime and how Green Lantern felt powerless against such acts of violence against a close friend. Although this arc had some touching moments, the aforementioned skid did occur. Bringing real world issues into a fantasy comic book is a tricky thing to do.
LB: And then Skippy came in and said some Skippy-ism of some sort and tripped over an Ottoman. What the hell ever happened to Skippy? FAMILY TIES was cancelled and Skippy just up and disappeared.
RB: I prefer to read stories that challenge the mind and allow the reader to piece together the similarities between the story on the page and what’s going on outside my window. Whenever I read a “Special Episode” tale like this, I feel force fed; stuffed with the obvious. It feels like the writer has an agenda and has little faith in my ability to notice any similarities between the story and real life had it contained even the thinnest veil of creativity.
LB: You know, Judd kind of looks like Skippy without his glasses. Hmmm.
RB: Issue #156 deals with another real world crime: smuggling Chinese immigrants into America for slave labor.
LB: Judd was on MTV’s REAL WORLD. He’s one of the few characters from that series that made it big. I’m sure he worked pretty hard to shake the stigma of being known only as the guy who kicked Puck out of the apartment to the tune of “Everybody Hurts.”
RB: This crime has been highlighted in movies like LETHAL WEAPON 4 and THE TRANSPORTER. It’s more like Winick is lifting plots from bad action movies instead of the news this time around. The issue didn’t really stand out as a stellar one. There were a few decent scenes involving a chess game with original GL Alan Scott and another prison visit with Fatality, the super villainess whose sole mission is to kill all of the Green Lanterns, but the issue meandered around these three sections of the story without making any of them particularly interesting.
LB: Alan Scott wears a puffy red shirt. Do you know who else wears puffy shirts? Pirates.
RB: Since John Stewart is a major player in the JUSTICE LEAGUE cartoon on the Cartoon Network, I knew it was just a matter of time before we saw John Stewart back in action in the comics. John’s even got his TV counterpart’s glowing green eyes. It’s good to have a character of color as one of DC’s big guns. I doubt Kyle Rayner is gone for good, but it will be nice to see John Stewart give people the ring finger for a while. As long as Winick doesn’t cram his agenda down readers’ throats, he’s a decent writer. Although this issue didn’t stand out as anything special, it accomplished its purpose of making the character in the comics match the character on TV.
LB: You mean, (whispering) the white Jon Stewart.
RB: No, I mean…never mind.
Tom Strong's Terrific Tales No. 5
Writers: Alan Moore, Leah Moore, Steve Moore
Art: Jason Pearson, Sergio Aragones, Alan Weiss
Colors: Dave Stewart, D-Rod & Darleen for WSFX, Dave Stewart
Letters: Todd Klein
Published by: America's Best Comics
Reviewed by superninja
America's Best Comics are all about the history of comic books and letting the writers play around with those conventions in a modern sense. ABC's stories are consistently innovative, intelligent, funny and full of strange ideas and whimsical nostalgia (what you'd expect by a company founded by Alan Moore). My first ABC title was Top Ten (pick up the trade of Volume 1 now if you haven't already!) and subsequently I've tried every title in the ABC lineup.
Let me preface this review by saying that I've never been a Tom Strong fan. When the title first launched, I liked the character designs, I liked the concept, but I wasn't won over. For this review, I went back and read Tom Strong, Volume 1. And I'll admit I was wrong. My personal tastes tend to lean towards character-driven writing, and the characters in Tom Strong are archetypes (Doc Savage, the Marvels, or any DC Silver Age Super-family) deliberately and enthusiastically written as a homage. What makes Tom Strong worth reading are the novel situations the characters are placed in and the inventiveness of the writing.
Unlike the initial Tom Strong run, however, Tom Strong's Terrific Tales consists of several stories in a single issue.
The first story is "Collect The Set"- literally, collector's cards as told by Moore and penciled by Pearson. The format is a little annoying to read (especially when you flip the pages - thankfully, they've numbered them so dummies like me can easily follow), and it's limited to the kind of broad story that would be featured in cards. But it's a cute idea, and the story-within-a-story that unravels is clever. Moore clearly has a love for pulp and serial characters and the descriptive narrative and dialogue evokes the feeling of a kid racing to the comic book store to follow the adventures of their favorite hero. It's also a good introduction to all of the main characters if you've never read Tom Strong.
Up next is "King Solomon Pines" by Leah Moore and Sergio Aragones, the story of "a lonely ape looking for love in the big city" or "a day in the life of King Solomon, the Strong Family's resident surgically-enhanced talking ape". That's pretty much all you need to know. It's to-the-point, funny and Aragones' pencils add a lot to the fun. There's also an in-joke for all you ABC readers.
Finally, we check in again with Young Tom Strong "And The Mysteries Of Chukulteh" (by Steve Moore and Weiss). Young Tom Strong follows Millennium City's hunky hero in his early adventures on Attabar Teru. Tom's inquisitive nature again gets him in over his head as he tries to peek in on a coming-of-age ritual for the young women of the Ozo tribe. It's a sweet sort of story about sexual awakening, and a thinly veiled commentary on the responsibilities that come along with "reproduction".
Tired of superhero deconstruction/reconstruction, messy continuity and convoluted storylines? Here's three letters to point you in the right direction: ABC.
THE INCREDIBLE HULK VOL. 1 HC
Writers: Bruce Jones and Brian Azzarello
Artists: John Romita Jr., Lee Weeks, and Richard Corben
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewed by Cormorant
Bruce Banner: What do you have planned for me?
Agent Pratt: Now that would be telling, wouldn’t it?
-INCREDIBLE HULK # 42
That little exchange occurs nine issues into Bruce Jones’ FUGITIVE and X-FILES-inspired new direction for THE INCREDIBLE HULK, but it might as well be the keynote for his entire run. The first ten issues of the arc - still ongoing as I write this - are included in this sharp-looking hardcover, but I regret to inform you that you’ll leave with far more questions than answers. What began as a wildly exciting new concept for INCREDIBLE HULK – focusing almost exclusively on the fugitive Bruce Banner and a few other key players, while pushing the two-fisted Hulk himself to the side – has become a frustrating chore to read. Jones knows suspense and spins a pretty good psychological thriller, but his pacing has proven flabby, and the book itself seems to be one extended rising action with no climax in sight.
Alright, so why the hell did I buy the thirty dollar hardcover of the run?
Fair question. First off, I love these oversize Marvel hardcovers on an almost primal level because of the BIG-ASS art within. Even the work of fair-to-middlin’ artists like ALIAS’ Michael Gaydos or ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN’s Mark Bagley looks impressive when blown up to 11” x 7”, and when you’re talking great artists like DAREDEVIL:YELLOW’s Tim Sale, or, in this case, INCREDIBLE HULK’s John Romita Jr., you end up with the comic book equivalent of a Coen Brothers movie - the stories might be great or they might fumble a little bit, but the visuals will always, always bowl you over. Romita Jr.’s art is a career highlight, made all the more spectacular by inking from the legendary Tom Palmer and subtle yet lush coloring from Studio F. Even if I could travel back in time to warn myself last Wednesday that the stories in this hardcover would disappoint me upon re-reading them, I’d still have bought the collection; Romita Jr.’s art is that good, and his replacement, Lee Weeks, is no slouch either.
My other reason for nabbing the hardcover stems from my initial, overwhelming enthusiasm for Jones’ new direction. The first issue of the run blew me away over a year ago, and still blows me away. It essentially re-introduces the reader to the Hulk’s alter ego, Bruce Banner, as a canny and sympathetic fugitive poised to become the star of the book, even as the Hulk is relegated to the role of omnipresent threat but rare reality. The approach is understated and effective. We first see Banner as he’s making his way through the cold streets of urban Chicago, fleeing charges that his alter ego killed a young boy. As Banner checks into a rat’s nest of a hotel, we see that he carries a single suitcase, but he’s a cagey fugitive, and he’s packed only the essentials: power bars, disguise materials, and yoga books for anger management. Little moments intrigue - Banner feeding a stray rat, communicating for the first time with the benevolent but mysterious “Mr. Blue” on his laptop, and choosing his dead wife, Betty, as a focus for his meditation techniques. When he shaves his head to throw off pursuers, not only does it somehow add to his harried-but-kindly visual, but it acts more broadly as a visual demarcation between Jones’ approach and all that has come before.
Jones does take some cues from the past, however, notably from the Hulk TV show of the 70’s, with its Banner focus and heartfelt morality plays. The first issue places Banner in a moral dilemma as he fights to remain anonymous and neutral even as a neighborhood kid is continually accosted by the local gang. In the last few pages of the issue, Banner hits his limit, confronts the gang, and as they approach him ready to deliver a beating, he warns them (his eyes just starting to go green), “Better make it quick.” In a beautiful moment of understatement, Jones cuts the scene right there, and coupled with a smart denouement, it becomes one of the finest instances of righteous Hulk payback ever…all without so much as a glimpse of the monster.
Brilliant. Somehow Jones had found a way to replace the book’s nearly 40-year tradition of bombast with a very satisfying subtlety, and he’d even taken Bruce Banner from “merely sympathetic” to “likeable and intriguing” in the process.
So what went wrong? The pacing for one. What was novel for a single issue, and even half a year’s worth of ongoing chapters, ended up becoming repetitious and flat. Jones’ style is reminiscent of the manga approach, catering to mood, atmosphere, and subtlety over the American tradition of ultra-concise storytelling, but he simply takes it too far. His mysteries go on forever, rarely culminating in a dramatic payoff, and one senses that in extending them so long, he’s painted himself into a corner. Early in his run, I loved the mystery of the men in black shadowing Banner with their sinister yet unstated plans, their penchant for rising from the dead, and that strange gun they carried but never used, yet it’s taken over a year to get even the barest of explanations as to what’s going on. Consequently, the promise of those early issues is now tainted. Déjà X-FILES.
Other problems include the Silver Age throwback of having characters sometimes speaking aloud what they should really be thinking, a few instances of cornball dialogue, and several clumsy literary references (like the heavy-handed FRANKENSTEIN dream sequence or the villainous agent who yammers on compulsively about the albatross from RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER). Ironically, I think I would’ve accepted the literary nods in the more bombastic Hulk stories of the past, but in the realistic context that Jones has established they come across as self-indulgent and strain credibility.
Save for the jam-packed ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN hardcover, Marvel’s been a little skimpy with extras in all of their hardcovers, and this is no exception. There’s an introduction from Jones, small pre-production sketches of Kaare Andrews’ inspired covers, and a paltry three pages of sketchbook material in the end. The sketchbook stuff is actually from legendary underground artist Richard Corben, whose collaborative miniseries with writer Brian Azzarello, STARTLING STORIES: BANNER, is included as a sort of “What If?” back-up feature. Marvel wisely marks the grim four-parter as distinct from the continuity of the regular series, but I’d have preferred that they hadn’t included it and just dropped the price slightly. It’s a morose and padded miniseries that posits death tolls in the hundreds in the wake of the Hulk’s rampages, and stretches what would’ve been a decent MARVEL FANFARE one-shot in the 80’s into a meandering four-parter.
Final judgment: In the end, I think I’ll have to classify Jones’ new direction for the Hulk as a noble failure - a great concept played out a maybe half a year too long. For all the negatives I’ve mentioned, I still like Jones’ portrayal of Banner as a character, the road trip/conspiracy angle as a concept, and notably his take on the supporting player, Doc Samson, but the central problem of all the unresolved mysteries and meandering storylines ends up weighing the book down like…well, like an albatross around the neck.
Title: JSA #42
Writers: David Goyer & Geoff Johns
Pencils: Leonard Kirk
Inks: Keith Champagne
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: Ambush Bug
You want to know the secret recipe for making a great super team comic? Take one part of Kurt Busiek’s overlapping and crescendo-ing menaces from his AVENGERS run. Add an equal serving of Grant Morrison’s big budget, earth-threatening extravaganzas from JLA. Throw in two parts dead-on characterization from Joe Kelly’s current JLA run and you’ve got everything one needs to make a kick ass super team book. Luckily, you can find all of this and more in any issue of JSA.
Let me cut to the chase. Everyone knows that we @$$holes dig Geoff Johns. I’ve said it all before. Johns and Co. (meaning the writing trifecta of Geoff Johns, James Robinson, and David Goyer) have cornered the market when it comes to respecting and building upon DC’s rich past. The JSA is one of the strongest super hero titles out there today. Each issue is filled with either a gripping tale centering on a certain member of the JSA or a major threat that requires the entire team to stand tall, fight hard, and always come out triumphant in the end. Some issues feature both. Geoff Johns knows how to tell a story with a large cast and still makes it all personal and exciting. Johns is drafting the blueprint that all other writers of super-team books should follow.
Issue #42 features a sub-section of time-lost JSA members, Mr. Terrific and Hawkgirl. These two adventurers travel into the past to stop the destructive force known as Black Barax. During their journey, they run into Mr. Terrific’s predecessor, Terry Sloan. Sloan is definitely the star of this issue and Johns’ characterization is as terrific as Terry’s code-name. We get to see what makes this guy so good. Just because the guy is powerless doesn’t mean the guy is powerless, if you know what I mean. Sloan is quick on his feet and never without a plan. The team of Terrific and Terrific rocks. The current and often unshakable Mr. Terrific is even in awe at Sloan’s coolness under fire. It’s good to see the spotlight shine on both Terrifics since they are easily some of the most interesting members of the JSA in their past and present incarnations.
To top off the coolness, we get an appearance by one of the best damn super teams ever, The Freedom Fighters. These guys have been ignored for way too long. The Human Bomb! Black Condor! The Ray! Doll Man! Phantom Lady! Uncle fuckin’ Sam!! God friggity damn!!! I hope to see these guys again. Seeing Uncle Sam rip the turret off of a tank. Seeing the Human Bomb blow shit up. Hell, seeing Miss America toss red, white, and blue carnations at her opponents brought me back to what got me into reading comics in the first place. For a second, I was nine years old at the Short Stop mini-mart reading comics from that squeaky, twirling rack all over again. With so many new incarnations of the Freedom Force in DC’s current continuity, I wonder what is taking them so long to make a new book featuring these uber-cool heroes.
This book isn’t without its flaws. There is a large section of the book dedicated to Dr. Fate’s quest to find a cure for his wife in Gemworld. This story would be of interest to me if not for the fact that Fate has an upcoming mini-series dealing with this very same problem. This means that the subplot won’t be resolved in the pages of JSA. It’ll be dealt with in that miniseries. If the subplot took up only a few panels, tempting the reader to pick up Fate’s series, it would be okay. But the panels of discourse given in this issue takes up three full pages. I guess what bothers me the most is that the information revealed here will have to be recapped in the mini. To me, that’s just a waste of space and my time.
Leonard Kirk is drawing super heroes the way they should be drawn. They don’t look like muscle-bound 'roid mongers. The women don’t stick the asses in the air and puff out their chests in every panel. Kirk is drawing iconic characters perfectly. Their renderings exude a respect for the characters and an equal respect for those who like to read comics that don’t pander to the lowest level of decency. Kirk is a class act and you can see it in his art.
Waid’s FF is pretty good. Kelly’s JLA is great. John’s AVENGERS is pretty damn cool at times. But the JSA is the best of the bunch. These heroes have been around since the beginnings of the DC Universe and deserve this type of stellar treatment. As long as Johns is writing this title, I’ll be on board to read it.
MEK #1
written by Warren Ellis (or so it says)
art by Steve Rolston & Al Gordon
published by Homage/Wildstorm/DC
reviewed by Buzz Maverik
Some of you say that we Talkback @$$holes are a wordy bunch. And you're right. So, in an effort to use your constructive criticism to improve (which is something we wish some comic book creators and companies would do with our tripe), I offer you this MEK review: No PLANETARY for almost a year so that we can get a weak spoof on piercing disguised as mystery?
TALES FROM THE CREVICE: BOOKS THAT FELL THROUGH THE CRACK
By Vroom Socko
I’m the first person to admit that I’m partial to writers over artists. It’s not that there aren’t artists whose work I enjoy, I’m just more willing to forgive bad art if the story it tells is a good one. Even so, there are some times when I’ll find a book worth buying for the art alone. Such is the case with this week’s Tale, Blood Song by Eric Drooker.
Told completely without words, Blood Song is about a young woman who is forced to flee her small fishing village to parts unknown. I’ll not say any more than this. The story is too powerful an experience to be spoiled by saying any more. I will say that the story touches on such themes as love, artistic expression, industrialization, and freedom. It draws you in and holds you in a way that I’ve rarely seen in a comic. This book is a success in every way that Marvel’s ‘Nuff Said month was a failure.
I can tell you the exact instant I was sucked into this story: it was the fish. There are three images of a fish early in the book. The first shows the fish alive and swimming, staring at a worm in a hook. The second has the fish surrounded by flame. The final image is nothing but a skeleton. That’s the essence of the first two thirds of the book right there.
The artwork is done primarily with watercolors and etchings; full of some of the sharpest lines I’ve seen in a good long while. About 75% of the book is done in double splash pages. When a multiple panel page does appear, the page becomes almost claustrophobic. The majority of these pages show up close to the end, where the story closes in on you right along with the art. If you read this and have absolutely no emotional reaction to it, then I fear for your soul.
Is there anything about this book that isn’t any good? Well, the binding sucks. At least on my copy it sucks. Nearly every page came loose from the cover about eight hours after I purchased it. For twenty bucks, I expect a book to stay together for at least a day. And I only read it three times before it fell apart.
On the plus side, this means that I can now take the individual pages and have them framed. The first pages going up on my wall will be the extreme close-up of the protagonists eyes, the saddest, most beautiful eyes I’ve seen in any comic. What’ll go up second, I have no idea. Every page of this book is frame-worthy. Every one.
The first book I show people when I want to convince them that comics are literature is Box Office Poison. Blood Song is the book I’ll show people to convince them comics are art.
QUESTION FOR DISCUSSION
What’s your favorite “silent” comic book moment?
