Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
Well, our favorite @$$holes got embroiled in a bit of controversy the other day that caused their column to go technically hooey for a little while, but I have to say... Village Idiot’s stepped up as a hell of a guest editor while Cormorant takes a well-deserved break for a little while. The column’s looking great these days, and it’s reading as good as ever. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself!
@$$hole Comic Reviews FAQ
1. So what happened to all the pictures?
We had to take them down because we had a Terms of Use misunderstanding with a certain photostock database company. So remember those black and white pictures you saw with the intros? Burn those images from your mind!2. Yes, but what about the cover images? Surely you can still use those.
We're currently at work establishing where we stand with all this stuff. In the meantime, we're all going to be like little Fonzies here. And what's Fonzie like? Come on Yolanda, what's Fonzie like?3. He's cool?
Exactomundo!4. Well, you still have the Table of Contents, don't you?
Why yes, as a matter of fact, we do. Speaking of which...(Click title to go directly to the review)
JSA #58
RUNAWAYS #11
TOM STRONG'S TERRIFIC TALES #9
HARD TIME #1
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #53
THE MONOLITH #1
Cheap Shots!
JSA #58
Geoff Johns, Writer; Leonard Kirk, Breakdowns;
Don Kramer, Penciler; Keith Champagne, Inker
Published by DC Comics
Release Date: 2/4/04
A Jon Quixote Review
I broke up with JSA about a year ago.
In many ways, comic book fans and their titles can forge a relationship that is not unlike a romantic one, and I’m not just talking about when you’re fourteen years old and your mom notices the pile of BETTY & VERONICA’S DOUBLE DIGESTS in the bathroom. You can have abusive relationships – all those good people who know they should stop reading UNCANNY X-MEN, but they just can’t find the strength. And really, isn’t it their fault? – and you can have short love affairs, where they end quick, but remain perfect in your mind (Zeb Wells on PETER PARKER, I’ll remember you always).
And then there are the relationships that are neither great nor bad, but they just end. It’s not that they weren’t fun, it’s not like you didn’t have some good times; she’s a nice looking girl with a good personality, but you just didn’t quite click, and it was a little too much work for what you were getting. She will make somebody really, really happy some day…it’s just probably not going to be you. So you say goodbye with a handshake and a fair-thee-well, and you move onto new relationships, only occasionally wondering how she’s doing.
And then, one day, you turn on the television, and you see her winning AMERICA’S TOP MODEL and talking about how much she loves to give blow jobs.
And you think…I should probably call her.
It’s called “Black Reign”. Black Adam and his rogue crew have taken over the Middle Eastern Country of Kahndaq. The JSA are there to stop them. The country is in chaos. Teammate squares off against teammate. And it gets…bloody.
Two major character deaths. One nasty dismemberment. One disembowelment. The return of a legendary hero. Major moral choices. Harsh ethical ramifications. And a surprise ending that has the double-whammy of knocking me flat on my ass with surprise, but making perfect sense.
It wasn’t this good before. Was it?
One of the strongest elements of JSA is the thematic undercurrent that props up the whole exercise: legacy. This gets an interesting tweak here as the original Hourman, Rex Tyler, returns to the Society to take the place of his mortally wounded son (who is now stuck in the limbo Rex had occupied…long story). Half Fred McMurray, Half John Wayne, Hourman is poised to become an excellent addition to the team, with his old school sensibilities and irrepressible joie de vivre. His arrival is an excellent example of how JSA is constantly able to keep evolving, its character dynamics always in motion, never failing to surprise its audience – either with a new twist, a jaw-dropping action sequence (check out Hawkman taking down Northwind in such a brutal manner that it’s good they only show it in shadow), or an interesting take on old characters – is there any character in all of comics cooler than Black Adam in the pages of JSA?
I’m so sorry I dropped this book. You have to believe me. It was a mistake. I was an idiot. But I’m willing to admit that. And I’m willing to change.
Thankfully, comic books can’t call you an idiot and make jokes about your winkie size before slamming the phone down on you. It’s a happy day, for JSA has taken me back. Which is a good thing too, ‘cause DAMN she’s hot!!
RUNAWAYS #11
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Takeshi Miyazawa
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Release Date: 2/4/04
Reviewed by Cormorant
Cloak and Dagger are back – can I get a “hell yeah”?!
*crickets chirping*
No?
C’mon, stop being such a hipper-than-thou hardass – Cloak and Dagger are cool. It’s not so much that they’ve been in a lot of good stories – they haven’t – but the potential is there, and they got a lot of mileage precisely because they are so esoteric. Freaks are cool, y’see, and Cloak and Dagger are about as freaky a pair of heroes as you’ll find in the Marvel Universe. Freaky origin? Check! They were teenage runaways who somehow acquired their powers when mobsters pumped ‘em full of experimental drugs. Freaky powers? Check! Cloak’s cloak is an access point to a quasi-sentient, other-dimensional world of shadows and Dagger throws “light knives,” beams of energy that stun opponents and - get this - clear “impurities” like drugs from their system. Freaky mission? Check! Cloak and Dagger are uniquely street-level heroes, and when they’re not using their symbiotic powers to keep each other healthy, they target drug dealers specifically and help other runaways like themselves.
Which, of course, makes these freaky heroes obvious choices for a book called RUNAWAYS.
And writer Brian K. Vaughan gives ‘em respect. Cloak and Dagger are called to L.A. as specialists to help the cops track down the group of kids who’re the stars of the book. These kids are believed by the book’s public to have participated in a murder that we the readers know was actually committed by their parents (who are secretly part of a worldwide villainous cult called The Pride). Vaughan acknowledges Cloak and Dagger’s third-tier nature in a sly opening exchange between the pair and the officer who called them in (click on the dialogue to see the related images):
Cop: So wait, you’re telling me that drugs turned you into super heroes? That can’t make you popular with the parent groups.
Cloak: Popularity has never been a concern of Cloak and Dagger.
I like that – a believable response to the cop, yet almost a case of breaking the fourth wall! Third-tier these characters may be, but Vaughan does write them as specialists within their niche, easily spotting the dubious elements of the planted story regarding The Runaways - but agreeing to help nevertheless. Meanwhile the kids themselves are getting restless at their “Three Investigators”-style hideout. Being dumb kids, their big ideas for using their powers for good include “freeing all the turtles at Sea World,” but eventually they opt to try their hand at the time-honored superhero tradition of going on patrol. As my favorite character, the not-particularly-swift Chase explains, “We can start small, purse-snatchings and crap.”
I’ve mentioned it before, but when Vaughan is on, RUNAWAYS comes as close as any comic ever has to matching the smarts, wit, and adventure that BUFFY exemplified, and this is one of the “on” issues. The kids’ banter is funny and stupid at the same time (if not particularly realistic), and the kids act as their own foils (which is realistic). Best of all, this issue, as with the vampire story that preceded it, throws the kids into some full-on action. We see their first attempt to fight crime AND we get to see them come into conflict with Cloak and Dagger. Sure, hero-on-hero fighting is a vintage cliché of the genre - actually acknowledged by one of the exasperated kids - but I think Vaughan pulls it off with style. I particularly liked seeing Cloak speaking Spanish to ward off a Hispanic graffiti tagger caught in the dust-up – “Vandalos. Desaparacer o sufrir.” That’s one creepy dude.
The artist is a guest-star for this two-issue story, but a welcome one. He’s Takeshi Miyazawa, whose detailed manga art I’ve glimpsed in Oni Press’s SIDEKICKS series, and the guy’s art is a class act all around – it’s detailed, features terrifically-drawn kids, and is faithful to all the designs established by series’ regular artist Adrian Alphona. Doesn’t hurt that Miyazawa gets to draw Cloak and Dagger, whose appeal is based at least a good 60 to 70% on their striking visuals. ‘Far as I’m concerned, Miyazawa’s welcome to draw this book just about anytime he wants.
Now I don’t know what it says about a series when Cloak and Dagger are the first guest stars, but y’know what? I think they’re a damn sight more interesting than the ubiquitous Spider-Man or Wolverine. In fact, I think Cloak and Dagger are born guest-stars, like Doctor Strange or DC’s Phantom Stranger. Too eccentric for prime time, these oddballs, but when they pop up as a reminder that we’re operating within the anything-goes boundaries of a “shared superhero universe,” they’re the spice that makes the main course great. With so many heroes that are analogs of iconic characters or obvious superhero archetypes (the “armored hero,” the “size-changing hero,” etc.), brother, there ain’t nobody like Cloak and Dagger.
Very cool that Vaughan recognized this, and I suspect readers will too. Hey, and this is even a good jumping-on issue! With a trade of the first six issues due in April, there’s really no reason for latecomers to hold off on this series.
TOM STRONG'S TERRIFIC TALES #9
Published by: America's Best Comics
Release date: 2/4/04
Reviewed by: superninja
I'm writing this review for one reason, and one reason only. Alan Moore can be a really funny guy.
The ABC Alan Moore, the guy that has lots to say about superheroes by way of their pulp origins, is funny. I'm not talking about that other Alan Moore - the guy that wrote From Hell, Watchmen, or V For Vendetta. That guy's funny too, but in a black humor sort of way. Admittedly, the Alan Moore I like best is the one that's channeling his own inner Oscar Wilde, doing commentary on the multiverse of ideas that can be extracted from the superhero equation. It's poking fun at superheroes and their pulp origins, but it also demonstrates a great love for them. That's what America's Best Comics is all about.
The first story, and the only reason worth reading this issue, is:
Millennium Memories Writer: Alan Moore Artist: Michael Kaluta Colors: Lee MoyerAlan Moore writes in a periodical style about some of the most memorable events in Millenium City's history (a Metropolis "city of the future" amalgam). If you're familiar with any of the collections of his ABC works (Tom Strong and Top Ten, or example), he does similar periodicals as an introduction to those collections. This short story differs only in that it's accompanied by detailed color illustrations by artist Michael Kaluta, whose art just perfectly punctuates Moore's snarky writing.
These snapshots into Millenium's history humorously explore how Tom Strong or his enemies' inventions trickle down into the population and how ridiculously and/or mundanely they use them. It's an often cheeky commentary on both American history and super-technology, and it's pure fun.
My favorite bit (only from the mind of Alan Moore): "Many of these innovations, it must be said, have proven to be both disastrous and short-lived, such as the fad for surgically-enhanced intelligent talking pets, which almost led to a gang of fiendishly intelligent (albeit emotionally scarred and rejected) sewer-alligators successfully running for political office in the city during 1936.
If you like Alan Moore, this story is worth reading. Unfortunately, the rest of the stories in this issue…
Jonni Future: Twice in TimeWriters/Creators/Layouts: Steve Moore and Arthur Adams
Finishes: Kevin Nowlan
I've been reading Tom Strong's Terrific Tales for awhile. The character of "Jonni Future" co-created by Art Adams is a running feature in this title. The character designs are great, but the stories aren't very imaginative. Jonni's "manimal" friend Jermaal is still trying to get her naked, and Jonni's still a clueless action-hero bimbo. The only reason I've enjoyed this in the past is because of the art, but it's obvious here where Nowlan has finished Art.
Young Tom Strong: The Diary of Susan StrongWriter: Steve Moore
Pencils: Alan Weiss
Inks: Steve Leialoha
This is a pretty decent story, if you've been following Tom Strong. If you haven't, you're screwed. Sorry. Young Tom is discovering that his parents didn’t have a very picturesque marriage. This parallels the recent events in ABC's Tom Strong title, and it's a nice bit of fluff to punctuate those events.
HARD TIME #1
Writer: Steve Gerber
Artist: Brian Hurtt
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: 2/4/04
Reviewed by Cormorant
I don’t know what the execs at DC were thinking when they cooked up the new sub-imprint, “DC Focus.” The high concept – and please, keep your laughter to a minimum – is “realistic superheroes.”
*pause to let that sink in*
Friends, that is such a mind-numbingly played-out concept that I’m not even going to waste your precious time making fun of it. Suffice to say, this is not the kind of bold initiative that gave us the breakthroughs of the Vertigo line.
Still, superheroes are the one bankable, non-manga commodity in the American comic book market as the pre-existing comic audiences ages, clinging stubbornly to the safety of nostalgia, and I’m hardly one to write the genre off casually. I guess I can see why DC did it – superheroes remain commercial and the Focus line allows for them to try some edgier stuff without tainting their classic icons – so let’s give the opening entry its fair shot. Hey, it is written by Steve Gerber, who was once the very picture of cutting edge when he created Howard the Duck.
Of course, that was a quarter of a century ago, and I’m afraid the modern Steve Gerber is woefully out of date. The premise is at least ripped-from-the-headlines: an oppressed pair of teens terrorize their school with guns, only to have what was intended as a prank result in a bloodbath. The more grounded of the pair is Ethan – he really did just want to scare the jocks and bullies, but alas, his pal’s a real nutball. His pal freaks out, kills some students and teachers, and then, out of nowhere, Ethan somehow manifests a superpower – a red bolt of energy – that punches a killing hole through his psycho friend and leaves him confused and carted off by a SWAT team.
Okay, this sounds like edgy stuff, but Gerber’s dated, corny dialog undercuts each and every scene. Whether it’s a nervous student asking a reporter, “Can I go puke now?”, the two would-be Columbine kids saying things like, “Game over, man!”, or predictable satirical discussions of the issues through Oprah and Dr. Phil analogs, there’s just nothing to take seriously here. Nearly EVERY other WORD seems to be BOLDFACED for dramatic EMPHASIS, but UNFORTUNATELY, this is a HOARY old VESTIGE of the SILVER AGE, and only makes THE PROCEEDINGS more CARTOONISH.
In short order, our disturbed lead gets railroaded by Gerber’s over-the-top take on the justice system, tried as an adult, and sentenced to a minimum of fifty years in prison. We know Ethan’s not all bad because he has an angsty outburst of regret while talking to a psychiatrist – “I killed my best friend, dammit...” – but I was more inclined to laugh at the clichés than spend one minute investing emotion in the story. Ethan’s power manifests one more time during his courtroom sentencing, causing electrical and seemingly telekinetic chaos, but it’s written off as a freak electric accident – no one yet knows that he has some kind of powers. Thus the series’ concept: misguided teenager with strange powers trying to survive a fifty year sentence in prison. Under another writer, I might actually buy into it. Under Gerber, it appears to be dead on arrival.
The one bright spot in the book is Brian Hurtt’s clean-line art and the subjective, interesting color palette. Most scenes are monochromatic, or nearly so, with unusual, muted blues, browns, reds, and violets dominating all. I can’t see that the colors actually contribute much other than to make the series look different from everything else on the stand – it’s certainly nothing like the gaudy world of most superheroes – but it’s pleasing enough to the eye.
There is a chance...a slight chance...that this series might find its legs once we enter the world of prison in the issues to come. It’s certainly a terrifying concept, and the addition of weird psychic powers offers the potential for an experience on the order of Steven King’s THE DEAD ZONE or FIRESTARTER, or M. Night Shyamalan’s dark superhero movie, UNBREAKABLE. I want for Gerber to succeed, but I just don’t think he has it in him to pull this off. He created and refined an over-the-top satirical style in the ‘70s, and while it’s not fully active in this series, the influence is still very much there and it’s weighing everything down. He put down his roots in the Late Silver/Early Bronze Age, and they’re not comin’ up.
Not seeing much potential in this book’s future, or the DC Focus line for that matter.
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #53
Brian Michael Bendis - Story
Mark Bagley - Pencils
Art Thibert - Inks
Published by Marvel Comics
Release Date - 2/4/04
Reviewed by Village Idiot
"STOP IT! STOP INTERFERING IN MY LIFE!!"
No, that wasn't my sister talking to my parents circa 1981, that was the enormous supervillain/crime boss Wilson Fisk, aka The Kingpin, lunging after Spider-Man during my favorite moment in ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #53.
At that moment, it was as if Spider-Man went one smart-assed comment too far, and in an instant we were witness to an eruption of about 25 comic book issues worth of rage. There was something so personal about Kingpin's outburst at this point, so "at-the-end-of-his-rope," it almost sounded like a plea. Fisk is no longer regally condescending to Spidey, he's now dealing with Spider-Man on new terms. Of course, we find out at the end of the issue that there's more working on Kingpin than just the accumulation of Spider-Man's one-liners, or even the constant presence of Spidey as a thorn in Kingpin's side. But still, that one moment seemed so brilliantly organic in the whole scheme of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN up to this point, it felt real.
And that's what I like so much about ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN. More than any other superhero comic I'm reading right now, USM has moments that feel real.
In the case of Kingpin and Spidey, much of it has to do with the fact that the emotional life of these characters seem to have clearly developed over time. Again, it's organic. There's a consistency to the development that I can only assume comes from the fact that Bendis had the advantage of starting from scratch with this series. Bendis' ULTIMATE Peter Parker has grown, and so has his relationships with the people around him - his Aunt, J. Jonah Jameson, and Mary Jane; grown in a seemingly deliberate way; one that you'd be more inclined to find in a novel.
And of course there's the dialog.
Yeah, I'm one more schlepp who's going to talk about Bendis' dialog.
In ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, Bendis writes some of the best dialog I've ever read in a comic. It's not over indulgent. It's not over-stylized. It's not in a David Mamet patois that hyper-ephasizes the quirks of human speech. Stylistically, his dialog simply reflects the natural rhythms of conversation (while, of course, advancing the plot and giving insight into the characters). Sometimes it reads so sharp, it can carry a scene. Case-in-point: The first half of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #53 deals with Mary Jane after she's run away from home. This is not a comic plotline that I would have asked for, and the margin for error here is humongous. But Bendis made it work, creating a nice little scene between Peter and MJ; one that's certainly better than anything you'd find in the SPIDER-MAN movie. Moreover, this little drawing of this teenage girl felt scared, and her boyfriend felt concerned. I bought it.
And I "buy it" more consistently with ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN than with any other title. I'm sure some credit should go to Bagley and Thibert's dewy-eyed renderings - they carry over a fair amount of emotion in their own right.
Of course, USM #53 was not without a fair amount of action as well. The aforementioned scene with Kingpin takes place in the apartment of Felicia Hardy, aka the Black Cat, along with Fisk's mercenary Elektra and eventually Spider-Man. @$$es were kicked, quips were thrown out, and at the end of the day, that felt as real as it needed to too. USM #53 was another solid issue.
THE MONOLITH
Writer: Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray
Artist: Phil Winslade
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: 2/4/04
Reviewed by Cormorant
I don’t know much about Kabalah, a branch of Jewish mysticism, other than the fact that Madonna’s into it and pop stars getting into religion is almost never a good thing (perpetual exception: The Beatles). So why am I okay with Kabalistic practices being portrayed in the DC Universe in the new book, THE MONOLITH, courtesy of the underrated writing team of Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray?
Because I trust Batman and Superman’s world more than I trust Madonna’s.
Granted, Palmiotti and Gray are walking well-trod ground here, the titular “Monolith” referring to an incarnation of the popular Jewish legend of the golem - a magical, humanoid protector built of clay. For obvious reasons (the startling visual, the heroic themes), golems are probably the most-represented Jewish legend in adventure comics, but it’s hard to be too critical of our writers when none of the previous incarnations have really fired up reader interest. Will theirs be the exception?
First thing you’ll notice is that this comic’s a big mutha, golem-sized if you will. It clocks in at 44 pages, twice the length of a normal comic, and works in a lot of story in that space. We open with a murder – an elderly Jewish couple brutally dispatched by a pack of robbers. A startling action scene follows, with a shadowed, hulking figure pitching the murderers out of windows and into eighteen-wheelers like the second coming of Ultimate Hulk. The detailed, utterly spectacular visuals by artist Phil Winslade sell the hell out of the action, but it was the quiet scene that followed that marked the point when the book first really caught my attention. The unseen figure –it’s a golem, duh - carries the murdered old couple to their bed and places their bodies beside each other with what can only be described as reverence. It’s a truly tender moment, very pleasantly unconventional.
After the prologue, we’re introduced to our lead, Alice. She’s a street kid living in New York - using drugs, hanging out with drug dealers, and crashing in prostitutes’ apartments. She’s about a step away from falling completely into that world when she’s informed that she’s inherited her recently-deceased grandmother’s estate. She doesn’t give a crap – she’s got no money to pay the taxes on the crumbling old Brooklyn tenement – but on the run from a loan shark out for blood, she takes refuge there. This is where the story gets interesting, because this is where the walls begin talking to her and she discovers her grandmother’s diary chronicling her life in the ‘30s. In fact, a good half of the story is told through flashbacks to Alice’s grandmother when she was a girl, struggling to make a living under conditions not dissimilar to Alice’s own. It’s a world of grueling child labor, mob threats, and the omnipresent danger of starvation, and after one blood-soaked night, it sees the birth of the mystical golem that we’re sure to see more of in the second issue. Presumably, Alice will find herself as the modern keeper of the golem, but I’m just as interested to see more stories of her grandmother’s life (and it looks as though we will).
On one hand, some of the characterizations felt a little stock to me, a little traditionally “comic booky.” I may grouse about Brian Bendis’s plotting at times, but his street level characters and dialog are so dead-on convincing that I can’t help but use them as a new high water mark, and Palmiotti and Gray’s somewhat cartoonish depiction of street life can’t help but come up lacking for the comparison. On the other hand, total realism isn’t the end-all be-all of drama, and I still found their story compelling.
What really grounds the story is Phil Winslade’s artwork. It is amazing in its detail, 100% New York with every nook and cranny covered with posters, rust, and a decades-lived-in look. It’s little wonder that Winslade was called in to draw Marvel’s new HOWARD THE DUCK miniseries a year or two back, as he’s certainly one of the modern successors to HOWARD’s best-known artist, Gene Colan. Like Colan, Winslade gives the reader shadowy, detailed reality – almost photographic at times – but also like Colan, he allows his camera to rove around daringly. Gutsy “bird’s eye” and “worm’s eye” views that would scare the pants off of lesser draftsmen are the norm in his world, a mature extension of the lessons taught in the corny but genuine classic, HOW TO DRAW COMICS THE MARVEL WAY. These wild camera angles are a smart visual compliment to the story’s melodrama, and a welcome change from the staid camera work of other urban-themed comic artists like Alex Maleev and Michael Gaydos.
The test of this book will be in how well it interacts with the DC Universe when the connection is made explicit. I suspect THE MONOLITH will be mostly self-contained – no recurring Green Lantern appearances for a book this street level – but I can easily see characters like Batman, Catwoman, even the urban-oriented Flash, interacting with Alice. DC fans looking for a break from the gaudier side of superheroes should check it out. We’ve got a solid launch here.
Cheap Shots!
WOLVERINE/CAPTAIN AMERICA #1 (2/4/04) - I bought it. It had Captain America. Don't waste your money. It reeks of everything that was wrong with Marvel in the early 90s. - superninjaSUPREME POWER #7 (2/4/04) - The seventh installment is just as interesting, thought-provoking, entertaining, visually stunning, and filled with action and adventure as the previous six. JM Straczynski and Gary Frank are concocting a modern masterpiece that can only be compared to THE WATCHMEN. If you are not reading this book you have no business reading comics. - Ambush Bug
JUSTICE LEAGUE ADVENTURES #28 (2/4/04) - I don't get the chance to watch the cartoon very often, but I do read the comics. It's hit or miss, and this issue is a miss. It's has the Legion (as it says on the cover) but it reminds me of one of those Betty and Veronica issues of Archie Comics where the girls try on new outfits. In this case, Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl. I give their new outfits an 8. I give the issue a 3. - superninja
LOBO UNBOUND #5 (2/4/04) - This issue was not so good. Not only is this issue so late that anyone who had been following the "loose at best" storyline is lost from page one, but the use of language in this issue is maddening. Keith Giffen chooses to splice one part alien-speak dialog with two parts ebonics, making the book almost impossible to read without slowing one's reading down to a crawl to sound out the sentences. One dialect at a time, Giffen. My brain is doing loopty loops trying to figure it all out. Reading Lobo should not be this hard. Giffen tries to explain what has happened in the last few issues to catch us all up, but you'd have an easier time translating the Dead Sea Scrolls. The book's best moments (surprise, surprise) revolve around Ambush Bug, who POP!'s in on Lobo to warn him about an army of inch-high Moyle Men who live to circumcise anything in their path. Yeah, you read that last line right. It's funny, Ambush Bug shows up halfway through the book and gives a criticism of how the book is going so far (kind of like I'm doing) and then he gets the shit beat out of him by the people he criticized (kind of like the verbal beatings I often take in the Talkbacks). I guess you could say this is a case of life imitating art. - Ambush Bug
SUPERMAN: BIRTHRIGHT #7 (2/4/04) - Forget the vaguely creepy Michael Rosenbaum on TV's SMALLVILLE, Mark Waid has shown us a young Lex Luthor that actually seems like he could grow up to cause real problems. Yet this misanthropic Lex and Clark still manage to hit it off, via flashback, in what turned out to be some of this issue's best moments. Overall, the series is still chugging along at a pace that's almost glacial; to the point where we're past the midpoint and I still feel like we're just getting started. And I also have to mention the beginning of the issue, where Clark's co-workers gloating over ditching him in a way that seems almost sadistic. (What - are they all Steve Lombards?) Still though, nice work with Lex. - Village Idiot
DRAGONLANCE: THE LEGEND OF HUMA #1 (2/4/04) – If you were a kid in the ‘80s, especially any kind of a dork or geek, there’s a good chance you read the DRAGONLANCE novels. I was a dork. I read ‘em. Well, at least the original trilogy (the first of the forty thousand or so trilogies to come). It was based on a particular Dungeons & Dragons setting, and pretty decent pulp fantasy for those who’d yet to discover the more imaginative works of Tolkien, Moorcock, or LeGuin. As a onetime fan of the setting, I was ready to give this comic spin-off its due, but the muddled art (bad computer coloring’s the big problem) hamstrings a decent story that’s at least faithful to the novels’ moderately interesting fantasy world. Plus, the legendary era it covers isn’t as interesting to me as the era of the novels’ first trilogy. Pass. – Cormorant
Y: THE LAST MAN (2/4/04) - Wow, I never thought I'd be rooting for the last man on Earth not to have sex. But Yorrick's abductor is so sadistic, both physically and psychologically (she's already mind-f@#ked him), to give in to her would seem to run contrary to heroism. And heroism is more important than sex, right? (Answer: Yes, it's supposed to be.) Nevertheless, Y has begun to head into some challenging and even disturbing territory, exploring the more nightmarish aspects of its premise and themes, not to mention taking a few presentational changes-of-pace along the way as well. Interesting stuff and well worth the read. - Village Idiot
This week's column is dedicated to the work and memory of
Julius Schwartz (1915-2004)
Julius Schwartz (1915-2004)
