| #46 | 3/15/06 | #4 |
(Click title to go directly to the review)
Schleppy and the Mod on V FOR VENDETTA
ESSENTIAL GODZILLA VOL.1
SUPERMAN #650
PUNISHER VS BULLSEYE #5
TRUTH, JUSTIN, & THE AMERICAN WAY #1
THUNDERBOLTS #100
Three Years Later: NIGHTWING #118, BIRDS OF PREY #92, and GREEN ARROW #60
ANNIHILATION PROLOGUE
Big Eyes for the Cape Guy presents KINDAICHI CASE FILES
Big Eyes for the Cape Guy presents THE ABANDONED
Indie Jones presents NORTHWEST PASSAGE Vol.2
CHEAP SHOTS!
Greetings, Faithful Talkbackers. I am the Moderator, the omniscient and lonely voice of reason haunting the halls of @$$hole HQ. I rarely get to do my own reviews because getting content out of these @$$holes week after week has proven to be an arduous task in and of itself. But this week, the @$$holes have allowed me to give my educated and well-versed opinions regarding V FOR VENDETTA, the film adaptation of the classic Alan Moore miniseries. It was released this weekend and even though Mr. Grumpy-pants, Alan Moore, refused to support the film, I thought that the film was—
Buh-naners, everybuddy! Anybuddy want a Cheeto?Schleppy, where’d you come from?
Schleppy was nestled in Alanmoore’s beard lookin’ for Cheetos an’ heard dat you were talkin’ bout moobies!Schleppy, please. Every time I try to give my thoughts on a particular comic to film adaptation, I am always interrupted by the @$$hole’s smelly mascot monkey. Please, just go back to your cage until I finish my review of V FOR VENDETTA.
V 4 VENDEDUH!!! Schleppy saw dat moobie. Schleppy was very disappointed in duh lack of musical numbers.Yes…well….what?
Yeah, Schleppy didn’t unner-stand why dere was no musical numbers in dis one. Considering duh source material an’ all. WALK DUH LINE an’ RAY had musical numbers. But not dis one.
Schleppy, what the hell are you talking about?
Well, Schleppy unner-stand dat dis is a big budget action moobie, but Schleppy didn’t believe one bit dat Prince could kick dat much @$$.Prince?
Yeah, like dat one part of duh moobie when Prince rescued Sinead O’Connor and brought her back to his secret hideout in Paisley Park.V FOR VENDETTA was a politically charged action adventure which held a not-so-warped mirror up to a lot of events that are happening in today’s world.
Schleppy don’t know what moobie you were watching, Mod. V 4 VENDEDUH was bout how Prince captured Sinead O’Connor an’ taught her how to sing duh song “Nothing Compares 2 U.”…Schleppy you’re confused again.
Schleppy don’t know why filmmakers changed duh story so much from duh source material. Schleppy unner-stand dat dere has to be ‘splosions in big time moobies, but when Sinead blew up LookKidsBigBenParliament in duh end, it didn’t have half duh impact as it did when Sinead tore up duh Pope’s picture on Saturday Night Live.
Wow, Schleppy…just…wow.
You got dat right, Mod. No wonder Alanmoore is cheesed. Smaller tings resonate more. Someday Hollywood will unner-stand. Schleppy like Alanmoore. Schleppy crawls into Alanmoore’s beard for warmth and duh occasional tangled Cheeto.I don’t know what to say.
Schleppy and Alanmoore know what to say, “Fight duh real enemy…dey’re duh cheesiest!”
ESSENTIAL GODZILLA VOL. 1
Written by Doug Moench
Art by Herb Trimpe, Tom Sutton, Jim Mooney
Published by Marvel
Reviewed by Maverik-san
He picks up the bus and he throws it back down / As he wades through the buildings toward the center of town...Blue Oyster Cult
In 1977, a GODZILLA comic by Marvel seemed like blasphemy to me. Marvel did very few licensed properties in those days (the toy comics that the slightly younger @$$holes remember so fondly had not yet reared their plastic-molded heads). Sure, PLANET O' THE APES, but that was older, geek stuff, easy to ignore unless it came in one of those obnoxious, three-pack bags they sold in the supermarkets, because real men got their comics at convenience stores the way Gawd intended. And there was 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, but that didn't count because it was even older and you figured that Marvel owed it to Kirby to let him do it.
It wasn't that I'd never liked GODZILLA. Monster movies helped make me a full time comic reader. I'd picked up a book called MONSTERS: WHO'S WHO and it had so many Marvel entries (believe it or not, the Bi-Beast is actually a Hulk villain and not what you think!) that I had to check out the comics. Once I did, the monsters were kid stuff.
But Marvel was doing GODZILLA, and at the time, as far as I was concerned, Marvel could do no wrong. I don't remember whether I shoplifted the first issue or paid for it. The odds are 50/50 either way. It was a cool monster comic, the kind which didn't exist at the time, with lots of mass destruction...
With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound / he pulls the splitting high tension wires down...
Blue Oyster Cult
Godzilla ripped up the Alaskan pipeline without spilling more than a few giant drops of oil. Take that, Exxon Valdez. The book was a secret SHIELD comic, since the mayhem was set in the Marvel Universe, with Dum Dum Dugan and Gabe Jones taking center stage instead of Nick Fury. There was an older Japanese scientist character, his grandson who *groan* wanted to befriend Godzilla (too bad it couldn't have foreshadowed Mark Jacobson's cool 1991 novel GOJIRO) and a young Japanese woman character who was the geezer's assistant. True, the book needed a stiff, fat white guy because, dammit, it ain't GODZILLA without Raymond Burr. I guess Dum Dum sort of stood in for the orange haired, Ralph Malph looking guy played by Nick Adams in GODZILLA VS. MONSTER ZERO.
Except for the kid-friendly bond between the nuclear lizard monster and the scientist's grandson (which sort of echoed manga and the latter GODZILLA movies where the thing was a good guy), at least Godzilla was the city trampling, atomic age metaphor sunuvabitch he was in the '50s. I mean, the Japanese are the only people to have endured the horror of the atom bomb. What do you think Godzilla means?
History proves again and again / nature points out the folly of man...
Blue Oyster Cult
Marvel Godzilla is rampaging through the US in the Marvel Universe. Everyone is surprised when he shows up, like he's going ape-shit in Seattle, but people are still dining in the Space Needle and going, "What the fuck is that?" when his giant red eyeball (black and white ESSENTIALLY) peeks in on them. You gotta love it. He often destroys national landmarks and only occasionally do little tiny Marvel superheroes like the Champions or the Avengers confront him. Edgy comic innovator Mark Millar may have read a GODZILLA comic as an edgy, innovative comic geek kid, because the ULTIMATES gag where the Wasp crawls through the Hulk's Ultimate ear may have originated here. I dunno. A radioactive reptile the size of the Chrysler Building can walk around the Marvel Universe virtually undetected. You gotta love it!
Best stories involve Godzilla shrinking to various sizes (as he did in Jacobson's superlative book); traveling back in time to battle against and beside Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy; and being captured by an alien race that uses giant monsters as bio-weapons. At one point, shades of GIGANTOR, GIANT ROBO & JOHNNY SOCKO, manga and TRANSFORMERS, the grandson gets control of a monster sized battle suit called Red Ronin. But dammit, he thinks Godzilla only wants peace. Godzilla doesn't want peace. Godzilla wants pieces!
100% written by Doug Moench. We need new Doug Moenchs in comics. Comic book writers need to come from places other than writers' lounges at TV production offices. Most of the art was by the great, underrated Herb Trimpe (co-creator of THE SON O' SATAN) a long time INCREDIBLE HULK artist. It's powerful and imaginative, with settings other than city rooftops or villain's lairs. I'd say Mr. Trimpe is one of the best destruction artists to ever work in comics. Last I read in COMIC BOOK ARTIST a few years back, he was teaching high school art. If those little meatheads only knew...
As you'll notice, I've quoted lyrics from '70s heavy rock band Blue Oyster Cult's GODZILLA song by Buck Dharma. As I understand it, you can do that without paying anybody if it's for the purposes of a review, so now I must review the song: damned good song, Blue Oyster Cult!
SUPERMAN #650
Writer(s): Kurt Busiek & Geoff Johns
Penciler: Pete Woods
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewed by Humphrey Lee
Okay, so now that we've got some of the big titles of the DCU out, it's safe to say that this whole ONE YEAR LATER nonsense is in full swing. So far though, a lot of these books have been somewhat lackluster. The main problem with a lot of them has been that for almost a couple months now we've known where these books were gonna stand when they came back, and these first OYL issues have been nothing but set up on these events. We knew Oliver Queen was going to become Mayor of Star City in GREEN ARROW, and that's what the whole first issue of it was. We know Catwoman is now with child, and I'm sure this week's issue of that book will be just emphasizing that point. But it's with DC's "Big Three" that we never really quite knew where everyone stood. We now have a glimpse into the world of the Batman now that its OYL story has started. And we still have to wait a couple months to see what has happened to our Amazonian Goddess WONDER WOMAN. So that leaves us with SUPERMAN.
And it starts off strong, though somewhat typical, as we get the same old "origin montage" we get every time a new creative team or "bold new direction" comes along. Or sometimes we just get it every six issues because why the hell not? But anyway, I'm not going to mock this one this time around because it has a very good point. One, it is a great showcase for Pete Wood's fantastic pencils. And two, it's actually a lead in to a video retrospective on the Man of Steel by the city of Metropolis. See, apparently Superman has been sight unseen the duration of DC's "missing" year and now Superman is seen as a Lost Savior rather than a Current Protector. And we're left to wonder why he has been missing since he's actually in the park attending this retrospective with his wife Lois. Curious...
The book pretty much then becomes a "Day in the Life of Clark Kent" tale as we see him taking time to enjoy the cityscape, or is getting much praise around the office of the Daily Planet about how remarkable his work has been as of late, and yadda yadda yadda. I'll say this now, if this issue has anything going for it it is that it does have some tremendous characterization and some really nice introspective pieces. Busiek and Johns are known for this kind of stuff, and it definitely shows here. But at the same time, we're two weeks into this OYL stuff, and already I'm sick of the references. Everything from Jim Gordon in DETECTIVE COMICS talking about how they "had a hell of a year" or in this book how they slap Clark on the back and say "You've been knocking it out of the park this past year Kent!" We fucking get it alright! You jumped a year ahead! We figured that from the stamp on the front of the book! Stop with the referencing already! Yeesh....
But anyway, the book moves on at a decent clip despite this stuff and really had me going for a while...and then we got to the new Kryptonite Man. Y'know, you could have all the best characterization in the world, but when you half-ass an intro to a brand new version of a character I already thought was generic to begin with, that characterization tends to just kind fade from my mind. But whatever, it was just a speed bump in what I thought would be the main event: the triumphant arrival of Superman, as he swoops in to kick some ass and say "Fuck that whiny pussy version of me that DC has been beating into the ground for three years now, I'm here to kick ass and take some names!!!" But nah, instead we get some more Supergirl. Remember what I just said about "brand new version of a character I already thought was generic to begin with..."? Yea, well it just reared its ugly head again. Except this bitch is in about six of the titles I buy a month for whatever reason. And here she is again, all bright and blue, ready to kick some Kryptonite Man ass. Why? Because apparently Superman's reasoning for being missing during OYL is that he's powerless..... again.
And that's where you lose me. I loved, loved, loved the characterization going on here. And yes, having Clark Kent being only Clark Kent is a great way to pump him up on that front, I'll admit that. But when your return to a "status quo" is using a concept for Superman that I've seen at least three times in my decade's worth of comic reading, then I have to ask just how creatively bankrupt is DC these days? INFINITE CRISIS has mostly just been a mish-mash of crossovers DC has executed over the past twenty years. We've got Ollie Queen making with his Mitchell Hundred (EX MACHINA) impersonation, the big reveal in BATMAN was that basically his supporting cast is back in place to where it was five years ago with Bullock back on the force and Gordon as Commish again, and so on. So we're supposed to get wet your pants excited because the last three years have been driving these characters into characterization hell and now we've reached the point of redemption for them and, well, it looks an awful lot like where it was before this stuff started. Yeehaw...
But I'm not going to put the slack on the creative team behind this book. Both these writers are excellent, and I'm sure they'll use this 8-part story to tell a great, if somewhat reduxed, "coming out" story for Superman. And if and when the characters of Superman and Clark Kent come out of this hopefully a bit more identifiable it should be rewarding, if not a bit redundant. And honestly, the world is a much better place by having more Pete Woods art in it. But come on DC, give your fans some credit. Comics are already reaching a new low in the concept of "Much Sound and Fury, signifying nothing." Three years. Three years we've been patient, and two weeks into your followup you've shown absolutely no ambition in actually advancing these characters in ways that matter. I'm hoping next month's batch of brand new titles show a little backbone in them.
PUNISHER VS BULLSEYE #5
Writer: Daniel Way
Artist: Steve Dillon
Publisher: Marvel Knights
Reviewer: Ambush Bug
You know, there’s a real problem with pitting a one man killing machine against an assassin who never misses. Both are pretty popular characters. The Punisher basically has no reoccurring enemies (besides Jigsaw) since he kills them all and Bullseye basically only kills Daredevil’s girlfriends. When either face a foe, they aren’t long for this earth. Now, pitting them against each other would be interesting if Marvel had the balls to have one kill the other, but we know that won’t happen. So why exactly have a miniseries like this one?
It’s Marvel’s new golden boy Daniel Way’s job to make this pointless story interesting. Basically, he treats the two like a violent real life cartoon version of Bugs Bunny versus Elmer Fudd, as Bullseye narrowly escapes capture and death by the hands of the Punisher over and over again. Way also borrows a bit from the super genius of Wyle E. Coyote as both the Punisher and Bullseye set up elaborate plans to capture the other, only to find that each scheme counteracts the other’s plans. Way and artist Steve Dillon do a great job of setting up silent panels that map out Punisher’s machinations and how Bullseye one-ups him, only to be trumped by Punisher, only to be bamboozled by Bullseye. Basically, this series was a never-ending game of the card game War as Punisher and Bullseye find themselves equally matched. Dillon continues to shine in this issue. He has now surpassed Kevin Maguire as comic bookdom’s master of facial expressions. Way does a great job keeping the Punisher in character and his trap shut, so it’s up to Dillon to convey his emotions in the panel. He does so with ease.
The thing is, I found myself entertained by all of this kookiness. As I said earlier, Way does a great job with the silent panels. Through Tarantino-esque time shifting and flashbacking, we see the Punisher set up a sting to get Bullseye. You see the Punisher’s grim determination as he methodically plans Bullseye’s death. At the same time, Way illustrates the madcap glee that Bullseye feels as he predicts the Punisher’s actions and throws them in his face. It’s fun to see this type of fight and shows that Way can be pretty inventive. He can’t kills Punisher or Bullseye, but he sure can tell a gripping and often hilarious story about how they are trying to do so. An added guffaw inducer in issue #5 is the fact that both the Punisher and Bullseye broke each other’s noses last issue, so both are sporting glowing red sniffers until the end of the story.
I am perplexed with this Daniel Way. At times he seems to want to be the next Garth Ennis. Constantly pairing him off with Steve Dillon doesn’t help. He has surprised me though with this series and his uber-violent SUPREME POWER: NIGHTHAWK series. He’s a writer I am watching closely. If he is able to get out from under Ennis’ shadow, he could be a writer to watch.
TRUTH, JUSTIN, & THE AMERICAN WAY #1
Writers: SCOTT KURTZ & AARON WILLIAMS
Art: GUISEPPE FERRARIO
Publisher: Image Comics
Reviewer: superhero
“Lookit what’s happened to meeee…I can’t believe it myself…”
Anyone, and I mean anyone, who grew up during the 80’s knows exactly what those words remind them of and if they don’t then they obviously didn’t have a television set like the rest of us.
In 1981 TV producer Stephen J. Cannell brought us the adventures of Ralph Hinkley (later to be changed to Ralph Hanley because of the Reagan assassination) and FBI agent William “Bill” Maxwell who were given a costume that endowed the wearer with superpowers in the now classic TV series THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO. The only problem with this was the fact that as soon as they got the outfit from a race of benevolent aliens Ralph lost the instruction booklet. So what you had here was basically a Green Lantern-Superman hybrid who had no idea how in the hell to use the most powerful weapon in the universe to be able to jump tall buildings in a single bound. To my then nine year old mind this was pure TV gold. I loved every minute of this show even if I thought that the effects were cheesy and that Ralph was a jackass for losing the book. As a matter of fact, I loved this show so much that when a Ralph Hinkley maquette was released by ElectricTiki.com I bought it immediately.
Surprisingly enough I actually still found the show entertaining enough when it came out on DVD this past year. As soon as I saw it I scooped it off of the DVD racks and found that it actually held up a bit and wasn’t as big a disappointment to me or as much as a laugh fest as other shows I revisited which I loved at the time such as BUCK ROGERS. Sure, a lot of it has to do with nostalgia but even on its own THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO is entertaining in a way that isn’t completely ridiculous but only just sort of ridiculous.
With TRUTH, JUSTIN, AND THE AMERICAN WAY you can see that the creators of the book share the same love that I had of Ralph Hinkley’s misadventures. In TRUTH, JUSTIN, AND THE AMERICAN WAY we get almost the same exact formula as THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO and I was thrilled to find that the story works just as well in this comic. While TRUTH isn’t exactly a rip-off of AMERICAN HERO it certainly does come close in a lot of ways. There’s the hard-nosed FBI agent who calls Russians “Commies”, there’s the large spectacled brainy girlfriend, and of course there’s the super-suit that the lead character finds and has no idea how to use. Sure there are some differences that differentiate the book from what’s it’s obviously trying to pay homage to but if the creators of this book think they’re fooling anybody then they’re kidding themselves. TRUTH, JUSTIN, AND THE AMERICAN WAY is a comic book version of THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO with a slacker twenty-something (whose last name is actually Cannell, by the way) as a stand in for straight-laced teacher Ralph Hinkley.
The thing of it is, though, it’s actually a really, really enjoyable book. Because this is an actual comic book the writer and artist are able to explore lighthearted ideas with a bit more freedom than the TV show was. The other thing that made me smile about this book is that it’s obviously paying tribute not only to AMERICAN HERO but a whole slew of TV shows that aired during the period that the aforementioned show aired. What TRUTH becomes, in effect, is a sort of ‘80’s action TV show tribute book with little inside jokes here and there for those of us who enjoyed the adventures of badly written and produced television adventure back in the day. One of the best gags being how much the super-suit actually resembles Gil Gerard’s staple space suit from BUCK ROGERS. This isn’t to say that younger readers of the book won’t enjoy it. As a matter of fact best part of this book is how much readers of all ages will love it. It’s obviously playing to the nostalgia of older readers but the look of the book is clean and cartoony enough to appeal to younger readers. As a matter of fact, it might just be the perfect type of book to help introduce a younger reader to comic books in general.
The look of the book is perfect in every way. Guiseppe Ferrario’s style is lively and energetic. Truth to tell he’s a huge selling point for the book as he endows every panel with a truly professional cartoon wackiness that’s hard for a lot of artists to reproduce. Ferrario’s a great talent and he’s probably the main reason that I’ll be picking this book up again. The coloring and design on the book are fantastic as the palette and design elements are reminiscent of a style that was so popular in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s. This book is one of those incredibly rare occurrences I’ve seen where a colorist is actually able to bring a sense of warmth to a book and it helps make everything on its pages pleasing to the eye. Top everything off with the fact that they have an old-fashioned TV Guide entry for TRUTH, JUSTIN, AND THE AMERICAN WAY on the inside cover introducing the issue and I was officially impressed with the look of this comic book.
While I do have some reservations about recommending a book that’s so obviously aping an idea from an old TV show I can’t help but love TRUTH, JUSTIN, AND THE AMERICAN WAY. It hits all the right notes and is funny and entertaining in a way that not many comics are these days. It’s a breath of fresh air among all the Infinite Civil Wars that the big two are putting out and I can’t help but think it’s a great book. The dilemma I’m faced with, though, is at what point is a work “homage” and at what point is it copyright/trademark infringement? Hopefully future chapters will start to differentiate themselves from HERO or else the creators of TRUTH, JUSTIN, AND THE AMERICAN WAY could find themselves on the losing end of a lawsuit.
THUNDERBOLTS #100
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Artists: Tom Grummett (pencils)/Gary Erskine (inker)
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: Prof. Challenger
I find myself unable to stop reading this book. I'll confess that when the original T-BOLTS series came out, I thought it was a great concept but for whatever reason (writing? art? dunno?) I couldn't get into it. But something has just clicked for me with this newest incarnation. There's just something inherently fascinating when reading about a bunch of rogues trying to go straight. Maybe that was the problem I had with the earlier series; the fact that they weren't really trying to go straight. It was just an act. As much as I enjoy heroes who are admirable because they are just good-hearted people, I'm reminded of one of the great points of C.S. Lewis' MERE CHRISTIANITY, that abstaining from a vice for which you are not tempted is no virtue but denying yourself a vice that burns within you is the highest of virtue. In other words, if say Superman is just not ever tempted to steal because it's just not in his character, then it is no great heroic feat of his to announce to the world that he does not steal. In the case of the T-BOLTS, these guys all have serious problems and character flaws, but what draws me into their stories is watching their struggles to do what's right…even though it goes against their natural desires.
Zemo is the most fascinating of the bunch right now because he was the impetus behind the original T-BOLTS. Driven by greed and vengeance as well as a twisted sense of true "justice" he brought together the old Masters of Evil and took on the false identities of the new heroes calling themselves THUNDERBOLTS. But something has happened. Even though Zemo is still a megalomaniac with a twisted sociopathic need to be in control of everything, yet the force that is driving him now is the knowledge that he must save the world. Not to mention the love that has grown between him and Songbird. All the fascinating developments over the past year involving the Purple Man manipulating the T-BOLTS and the split within the membership have all been planned and engineered by Zemo. And to save the world, he will have to kill Photon (Genis-Vell). This is one of those long-term storylines that was set up way back at the beginning of the series when Atlas essentially pummeled Capt. Marvel to death, but then he cocooned and came out as Photon who was so powerful he was uncontrollably tearing through the fabric of time and space. Unfortunately, what we did not know before was that Zemo caused this change by attempting to change the future where he had seen Genis-Vell destroy the universe. Zemo amateurishly wielded the moonstone in an attempt to prevent Genis from becoming Photon and inadvertently caused it to happen. Now Zemo has to make right his own mistake.
I'll say up front that I have vehemently loathed the Genis-Vell character since his inception but for the first time I had come to appreciate him in this comic. So, throughout this extra-long story I fully expected the T-BOLTS to come up with a way to save the world without killing him. But Nicieza did not take the easy way out. The death of the second Capt. Marvel was effectively emotional and distressing. Nice writing there.
There were too many great character bits and throw-away lines to highlight them all, but Nicieza made good use of each of the characters and even found a way to bring Moonstone (who's still in a coma) and Blackout (who's still dead) into the mix. Plus Atlas was reunited with his brother, which should help the walking mountain of mental instability that is…Atlas. Before this series, I had very little exposure to Nicieza as a writer although I remember when I first started seeing his name all over stuff. It just happened to be during a period of a few years where I was reading relatively few comics on any kind of a regular basis. He impressed me in this issue by his ability to give this an old-school feel but with a complexity (some might say too complex) to his plot that rises above just good old-fashioned superheroics. Tom Grummett and Gary Erskine as well put out monthly efforts that are just about as good as it gets for superhero comics. Grummett clearly is trained in the old-school style of skin-tight costumed superheroes but his years of experience shine by the fact that every issue of T-BOLTS I go back through just to soak in and admire some of the dramatic poses and perspectives he gives his characters. Some would say there are just so many ways that an artist can draw a lady flying through the air, but Grummett proves them wrong every month. Not only does he give us unique perspectives, he also generates unique body postures and poses that are indicative of the personality of the individual characters. Really good stuff.
And a final note on this extra-sized issue. I have fond memories of these special extra-sized comics dating as far back as FANTASTIC FOUR #200 back in the 70s. There was a time when a Marvel comic celebrated a landmark with an extra-sized issue that it was something really special and something to look forward to. For me, this issue fell into that same category. It was a story big enough to take full advantage of the extra length. It included series-changing events that will have long-lasting ramifications both within the title and the Marvel Universe proper. It also included reprints of a couple of key T-BOLTS stories from the original series, which for someone like me they were all-new. For just $3.99, I feel like I got more than my money's worth on this one and that's a high compliment. Big thumbs up for T-BOLTS #100.
THREE YEARS LATER
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: Ambush Bug
Well, DC’s second wave of crossover madness has begun with ONE YEAR LATER. The premise is that for a solid year, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman have been MIA. It was a busy year for the DCU. The writers have been telling us that it has been a year of surprises and changes. A memorable one. The premise of all of these One Year Later restarts is that each issue has starts out with a mystery. What happened in this year for these heroes and how have they found themselves to be in the predicaments that they are now in? This is one of those premises which are bound only by the creative teams’ imaginations. These writers could go anywhere and do anything and worry about how their heroes got there…well…right about in time for the next big DCU crossover event, 52, which seems to be looming upon us sooner than we all realize.
My big problem with the entire One Year Later premise is that DC isn’t finished with their last big event. INFINITE CRISIS has a few more issues to go. Having been on board for this event from the get go, I am enjoying this intricate and universe spanning puzzle the powers that be at DC are putting together, but I’d hate to be a newb reader picking up their first DC Comic right now. At this moment, DC is very much in the mire as far as accessibility goes. It seems to be in the middle of finding its own direction. I have no doubt that DC will someday soon be a place where newbies can congregate and flourish, but without knowledge of what has transpired in the last two years at DC, a reader is likely to end up like a SCANNER victim.
But, like I said, I have done the homework and I can safely say that these OYL books aren’t all half bad. The key elements of each are still there. The thing is, though, that the mystery of what happened in this busy missing year is often hit and miss in the entertainment department.
NIGHTWING #118
Writer: Bruce Jones
Art: Joe Dodd & Bit
Take NIGHTWING, for example. Writer Bruce Jones places Nightwing back in New York in a new apartment, living a new life. The mystery? What brought Dick to New York? What happened between Devin Grayson’s rushed ending where Dick proposes to Barbara Gordon and now where he is apparently shacked up with a leggy super powered hottie? And most importantly (and probably one of the worst kept OYL secrets), who is the other Nightwing going around moiderizing baddies? These mysteries didn’t really pique my interest. First of all, it wasn’t long ago that Dick was living in New York and the last time he was there was during Devin Grayson’s petered out run placing Dick as a mob enforcer. This wasn’t a really interesting take on the character and the decision to place Dick back into that place not so long after this adventure that left a bad taste in so many readers’ mouths is not the best. The second mystery is equally infuriating. After moping for 25 issues, Dick finally pops the question to Barbara and now we’re back to the moping, “I’m all alone” schtick again. It just seems like a cop-out. Would it kill DC to have Dick happy for an issue or three? Finally, the “big mystery” regarding the identity of the other Nightwing. You know who it is. I know who it is. Even Dick has a good idea who it is. The thing that boggles my mind is that they maintain the mystery all the way to the end of this issue, only to reveal who the killer Nightwing is—not on the last page, mind you—but in the next issue blurb of this issue. This type of editorial sloppiness pisses me off to no end. Bruce Jones’ writing doesn’t annoy me here as it did when he was writing HULK. At least he doesn’t have Nightwing grow wings and screech like an owl or some other out-of-character actions he was best known for in HULK (although two people make a crack about Nightwing not having wings of his own). It’s just that the mysteries set up for this issue either weren’t mysteries at all or detrimental to any development the character has gone through in previous issues. Not a terrible read, but nothing special.
GREEN ARROW #60
Writer: Judd Winick
Art: Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens
I’ve got to give Judd Winick credit. He kind of suckered me in with this issue. With the destruction of Star City marking the end of last issue, Winick takes his time to establish the city’s new status quo. It’s one of those issues where the star of the issue doesn’t show up until the very last panel. This Nu Marvel technique usually makes me turn tail fast, but Winick sets up the environment Ollie is going to have to deal with over the next few issues very well. Not so much of a mystery as much as a “How the hell did Ollie get there?!? shockeroo occurs in GREEN ARROW #60. Brick is still grumbling around, although he has lost his mob ties and now enforces vigilantism in the rubbled streets of Star City. AIDSy and Connor are out of the picture. And it turns out Ollie is acting as Mayor of the city. I doubt this book is going to be as excellent as Brian K. Vaughan’s EX MACHINA series in which a super hero becomes Mayor of New York city after saving one of the Twin Towers from destruction during 9/11. Comparisons are inevitable. But I have to credit Winick on a well structured establishing issue which has me wondering how Ollie got to where he is right now and what he’s going to do now that he’s “The Man” he always was up in arms against. Not so much of a mystery as it is an interesting new direction. This issue is worth picking up.
BIRDS OF PREY #92
Writer: Gail Simone
Art: Paulo Siqueira & Robin Riggs
Finally, the best of this week’s OYL bunch isn’t really about mysteries as much as it is about rock-solid storytelling. Gail Simone has proven herself to be the BIRDS OF PREY writer. She knows these characters through and through and has made them some of the most fleshed out characters in comics. Each issue is filled with action and intrigue. There isn’t a Bird that couldn’t carry this book alone and in this issue, Gail introduces us to one more and glimpses us another. These new additions to the team are bound to make the group dynamic interesting. Canary is off on her own training to become as good as Lady Shiva. In the meantime, the rest of the Birds are hot on the heels of the Society. How Canary got to where she is isn’t important. How the teammates joined the team? I could give a shit. All I care about is that this is a really great story. Basically, it’s another stellar issue of this series. As far as the OYL stuff is concerned, it may as well not even apply to this issue. If you like great stories, issue after issue, this is the title for you.
Halfway through this ONE YEAR LATER stuff and I have to say that it ain’t all bad. BIRDS OF PREY was good, but it always is. GREEN ARROW has been consistently decent as long as it focuses on the action. Now that Winick has Ollie literally standing on a soap box, though, makes me leery that the preachy-preach is on its way. Bruce Jones’ NIGHTWING is better than his HULK stuff, but considering that those HULK issues were probably some of the worst ever, that’s not saying much. The mysteries are there in these three titles. Although the quality is in varying degrees, I still have to commend DC’s ballsy decision to go through such an expansive project. If you’ve been along for the ride as long as I have, nothing happens in these issues that’ll make you derail, but if you’re just joining us, wait a while. This DCU seems to be under construction. Hopefully, the barriers will come down soon and those of us wearing the hard hats will let the newbs come in soon.
ANNIHILATION PROLOGUE
Writer: Keith Giffen
Artists: Scott Kolins with Ariel Olivetti
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: Sleazy G
When I was a kid, among the first Marvel characters I got hooked on was the Silver Surfer. The guy just looks cool as hell, and his detached otherworldliness offered a perspective unlike any an 8 year old had seen before. I followed his adventures any chance I could when I was younger, and by the time I was in high school I was able to jump on board his continuing series in the late 80’s. His continual mopiness and angsty self-examination happened to click for me at the time (did I mention high school?), and he got to chill with some hot chicks (I’m lookin’ at you, Mantis…and Shalla Bal…and Moondragon…), so I hung in for a good long while. I‘ve always thought the Super-Skrull was fun, too—a big ugly badass who could face the Fantastic Four on their own terms, turning one’s abilities against the next. I’ve never cared one way or the other about Ronan and Nova barely registers for me, but I figured the Surfer alone was reason enough to check this thing out, and the Super-Skrull would just sweeten the deal. Since this issue leads into four miniseries which build to the six-issue ANNIHILATION storyline, I was looking forward to getting some kind of idea where things were heading, thinking it might give me a reason to drop some more Marvel books into my rotation.
The end result?
Meh.
Honestly, it’s just really dull. Not nearly enough went on to hold my attention for the length of this single issue, much less another twenty-some odd issues. We get a single page of Thanos (who’s always struck me as a half-assed Darkseid knockoff, and I frikkin’ hate the New Gods) chatting to Death. Apparently she’s no longer a lameassed universal entity that appears as a face-shaped starfield—instead, for reasons I don’t understand, Death now looks like the uglified twin sister of Neil Gaiman’s version. From there we jump to some intergalactic prison I’ve never heard of full of characters I’ve never seen who get blowed up two pages later. Then we get a hugeassed meeting with hundreds of Nova Corps members. The Corps just come off here like Green Lantern knockoffs, only without interesting abilities, and they’re who we spend more time with than anybody else. We get some brief attention to a few female corps members hanging out with the Nova of Earth, a little time spent in their meeting hall (which they apparently rent from the New Republic when Episodes 1-3 aren’t filming there), and then—you got it—more shit gets blowed up, leaving thousands of Novas dead and only the one from Earth barely surviving for no apparent reason.
Somewhere along the way we get four pages about Drax, two about Ronan and one each for the Surfer and the Super-Skrull. The balance is way off here: based on what little we see, there’s no indication of where the minis are going or why I would want to read them. Maybe Nova’s gonna be the big player in ANNIHILATION, and if the idea is to make him into a stronger, more important character I can’t argue with that. The problem is that by focusing so heavily on him we have no idea why we should bother picking up any of the other series, which is a serious strategic error when you’re planning an event like this. I mean, out of 42 pages, only 8 are spent on three of the four characters expected to carry minis. It doesn’t take much to see that ratio’s awfully skewed, and it really detracted from things for me.
Much to my surprise, the art detracts like crazy too. Scott Kolins and Ariel Olivetti are two artists that one would expect top-quality work from, but something doesn’t quite click here. The spaceships, stations, and battles end up looking cluttered, and often it just looks like a bunch of chunks of metal on or near each other, with no idea where a good guy station wall ends and bad guy attack drones or chunks of debris start. The same holds true of scenes with multiple characters on panel: you see a jumble of a few dozen torsos, but no idea where one stops and another starts. This is bad enough when they’re just people caught in an explosion, but when I saw groups of Nova Corps members together, I was hoping to be able to tell one from another instead of seeing what looked like some lumpy blue and yellow mannequins. I don’t know how much of the problem is a result of the original art and how much is due to June Chung’s coloring: much of the time, different items or people are shaded in colors so similar to each other, and with such thin linework between, that it’s hard to differentiate people and objects from one another and from the backgrounds. It’s just sort of a blurry mess a lot of the time, and with such iconic characters and designs I had really hoped for better. These are incredibly colorful character designs, and they should really pop off the page instead of getting stifled by a drab palette.
All in all, this wasn’t a particularly strong kick-off for what’s supposed to be a big event this summer. I mean, sure, the threat of Annihilus’ attacking forces feels fairly massive (the design work on his soldiers’ ships the only real high point for the art here). The problem is that so little time is spent giving us a reason to care about the characters before they get smeared off the page that there’s no real emotional punch to the destruction. With no time for the reader to connect to the characters or events in the issue, there isn’t enough going on here to guarantee I’ll be back for the whole trip. I may check out a coupla the minis to see how they’re coming along and use that as a deciding factor when ANNIHILATION shows up, but for now this one’s definitely on a probationary basis only.
KINDAICHI CASE FILES
Writer: Yozaburo Kanari
Artist: Fumiya Sato
Publisher: Tokyopop
Reviewer: Dan Grendell
"In the name of my grandfather Kousuke Kindaichi, I swear it!"An overview of Volumes 1-12
I've always been a fan of Sherlock Holmes. I fondly remember reading the stories as a child and again as an adult, finally understanding some of the more complicated clues and mysteries, then watching BBC episodes of the mysteries that seemed to make it all more real somehow. It wasn't the challenge to figure out the mystery myself that made it all so cool; I gave up on that early on. It was reading about it all, so seemingly unconnected, then having all the clues tied together clearly and cleverly by an interesting character. Holmes' tales weren't just good mysteries, they were good stories.
So when I discovered KINDAICHI CASE FILES, I had high hopes. The main character is the grandson of fictional Japanese detective Kousuke Kindaichi, himself the main character of a popular series of mystery novels. But Hajime Kindaichi, high school kid and slacker genius, is a Holmes analogue, and each manga is structured like a Holmes story, where the mystery unfolds, clues are revealed (most are left for the reader to discover on their own through careful reading), until the big reveal - when Hajime gathers those involved and explains how the crime was done, in detail, using the clues. It's entertaining as hell, and these reveals can take up to a fifth of the manga, as there are of course reactions, responses, and fallout.
Hajime is always backed up by his maybe-girlfriend Miyuki Nanase, his Watson, who tries to keep him in line and often provides a few insights of her own, as she's no dummy either. Their relationship adds some comedy and heart to each story. Tokyo detective Kenmochi also usually backs Hajime up, giving him support when the cops give him crap and allowing him access to crime scenes and lab tests that would otherwise be far out of his reach. He somewhat corresponds to Lestrade, though Kenmochi is much more supportive.
Each volume is its own complete mystery, with the exception of 10 and 11, which are one mystery split in two due to length. Here's a quick look at each:
Volume One: The Opera House Murders: Miyuki and Hajime go to a drama club training camp on an island, where someone begins re-enacting the PHANTOM OF THE OPERA murders. Kenmochi, also a guest there, does his best to solve the case, but in the end it's Hajime to the rescue, and a terrible revenge plot is revealed.
Volume Two: The Mummy's Curse: When a scandal at school brings on an early wedding for a friend, Hajime and Miyuki go to her village to comfort her. Little do they know that a series of murders involving mummies and a horrible act from 30 years ago will spoil everything!
Volume Three: Death TV: When Hajime spends his vacation working for Shock TV, scaring a celebrity in a mountain cabin, he has no way of knowing that the legendary "Snow Demon" will strike and that people will die for real! Of course, Kenmochi's boss Superintendent Akechi isn't making the case any easier, as he's made it a challenge: his skills vs. Hajime's...
Volume Four: Smoke and Mirrors: Hajime and Miyuki look into the school Mystery Club, just as members start dying. How is this related to the Seven Mysteries of the school? Who is the After-School Magician, and what does he want?
Volume Five: Treasure Isle: A trick by his Mom gets Hajime to accept an invitation to a treasure hunt on a remote island. But when he and Miyuki arrive, they discover their host dead - and the murders are just beginning! Is it the work of the legendary Yamawara or a just a greedy killer? This time, Hajime's a target!
Volume Six: The Legend of Lake Hiren: Together at a secluded lakefront resort before it opens, Miyuki and Hajime should be having the time of their lives. But when an escaped convict enters the area and people start dying, it's up to our heroes to figure out what's going on before everyone becomes a faceless corpse!
Volume Seven: The Santa Slayings: Detective Tawarada, the investigator of the mummy murders in Volume Two, calls Hajime in to help him stop a real murder during a murder mystery play. When he arrives, though, Superintendent Fuwa, Tawarada's boss, isn't exactly happy to see him. When members of the theatre group start getting killed, can Hajime stop the murders despite her interference? And what do the murders have to do with the mysterious 'Red-Bearded Santa Claus'?
Volume Eight: No Noose Is Good Noose: Tricked again by his Mom, Hajime enrolls in a private prep school with Miyuki to boost his grades. But to get in, he has to agree to help his teacher by investigating a mysterious chicken killing that quickly blossoms into full-blown murder. Is "Hanging High" ready for Hajime Kindaichi, who is prepared to reveal all of its secrets?
Volume Nine: The Headless Samurai: An old flame of Kenmochi's asks him for help, and he calls in Hajime and Miyuki! Her son is supposed to inherit a family fortune, but she has received a death threat from a legendary 'Headless Samurai' and when people start dying, it's Hajime on the case. Is it an ancient case of clan rivalry or something more?
Volumes Ten and Eleven: Kindaichi the Killer Parts One and Two: Asked by the writer Itsuki, a friend from Volume Six, Hajime agrees to try to decipher a popular author's code to win the right to publish his next manuscript. But when the author goes after Miyuki and Hajime loses his temper, all chance of that is lost. Even worse, the author is killed - and Hajime is framed for the murder! Thus begins an on-the-run attempt to solve the killing while Kenmochi and Superintendent Akechi try to track him down...
Volume Twelve: Playing The Fool: When the beautiful and famous Reika Hayami (from Volume One) asks Hajime to come to her mountain cabin, Miyuki insists on going along. Little does she know that a series of killings over blackmail and buried pasts will make it a horrible vacation. And, of course, she's got a fight on her hands for Hajime...
The art in these books is strong, particularly when it comes to differentiating between the many characters. I never have any problems telling who is who. I am also amazed at how well Sato is able to put clues into the art without making them feel added or drawing any attention to them. They are always there, and they always feel natural in the art. The manga uses the art well to tell a mystery story, not just giving clues but subtly drawing attention to or away from them with angles and people's expressions or facings, or by repetition, and even playing psychological tricks by repeating certain art in-between chapters to focus you on things that may or may not be red herrings. Instead of just drawing a mystery, the creators have used manga to do things you can't do with just a print story, and I like it.
These books are definitely for anyone who likes Sherlock Holmes, or any other well-written mystery. I'll be reading them for a long time to come.
THE ABANDONED
Creator: Ross Campbell
Publisher: Tokyopop
Reviewer: Dan Grendell
"Thought you wanted a zombie invasion...now you don't want it?"
Once upon a time, there were like no zombie comics. None. One came out every once in a blue moon, to keep LIVING DEAD fans happy, but that was it. Then THE WALKING DEAD hit the scene, it kicked ass and took names because it focused on the people instead of the zombies (and because it came out around the time SHAUN OF THE DEAD and some other zombie movies sparked a zombie revival), and now you can't swing an undead cat without hitting a new zombie book. Most are just retreads of the same old ideas, but while THE ABANDONED has a lot in common with THE WALKING DEAD, to call it a retread would be a mistake.
First of all, there's the art. If you missed Ross Campbell's real-looking people and expressive faces in his graphic novel WET MOON, from Oni Press, then you’re in for a treat. These are people like the ones you see every day, like the ones you hang out with - slightly overweight, overly made-up, with imperfect faces and clothes they wear because they LIKE them, not because they saw them in a magazine. Some have large breasts, some small, some are pierced, some aren't, and all have different hairstyles. You know, like in real life? It's a hell of a lot easier to identify with the characters and their problems when they look and act like people you might actually know.
The creepiness factor is amped up by the fact that the entire manga is washed in red, save a few white panels for effect. Red is the only color used throughout the book, and it adds to the mood considerably, making it feel gloomy even during the day and giving the nights a bloody overcast nature that's more ominous than a simple black would be. It doesn't detract from the shock of solid blocks of red when they appear, though, such as pools of blood or people being torn apart - those are still jarring, despite the presence of a mist of pinkish-red in the background at all times. Campbell really displays his artistic skill in his color choice here.
The basic story is one of survival horror. Rylie, a volunteer at an old-folks home, welcomes her new girlfriend Naomi to the small town of Buffalora just as Hurricane Riley hits them. As it hits, all the old folks in the home die, then rise again as zombies - and Rylie struggles to escape with Naomi and her friends Ben, his ex-boyfriend John, sisters Nicki and Cammie, and Mae, bitch queen. They take shelter in a house, ready to leave in Ben's truck whenever they feel too threatened, and then John drops dead. On his birthday. And becomes a zombie. Holy LOGAN'S RUN, Batman!It all goes downhill from there, as fighting among the friends and pressure from the constant zombie presence just works its horrible magic. I have to say, though, that the characters react just like I would expect them to, and act like real people - and it's awesome to read.
If you like zombies or survival horror, or accurate portrayals of people, you should definitely check this out. Ross Campbell is a new talent that deserves closer scrutiny.
NORTHWEST PASSAGE Vol.2 (of 3)
Writer/Artist: Scott Chantler
Publisher: Oni Press
Reviewed by Dave Farabee
“Reverend…?”
“Yes?”
“Will we go to Hell, you and I? For hanging those men?”For a graphic novel whose visual aesthetic hails from the same school as Jeff Smith’s BONE, NORTHWEST PASSAGE sure goes to some dark places in its second volume. But that’s the Canadian frontier for you in 1755. There’s wilderness adventure, sure, but NORTHWEST PASSAGE is historical adventure too – that means the grim and gritty doesn’t get cut. In fact that opening passage, spoken by prisoners forced to hang some of their fellows, is cited by NORTHWEST PASSAGE creator Scott Chantler as an actual act committed by the villain of the piece – French privateer Guerin Montglave.
As the story opens, several weeks have passed since the first volume (full review here) and the English Fort Newcastle has been captured by the treachery of Montglave’s band of mercenaries. As a result, our leads have been split up. Central hero Charles Lord, a retiring regional governor who’d hoped to go back to exploring for the fabled Northwest Passage, is forced instead to try to mend fences with an estranged friend to get help. His friend, Jack Prince, has a company of roughneck fur traders, but remembers a time when he served under Lord and was whipped for insubordination. Can the two possibly bury the hatchet?
Meanwhile, we see Fort Newcastle under Montglave’s harsh reign. He’s keeping Lord’s embittered, half-Indian son as a forced guest, clearly hoping to turn him, and unbeknownst to Montglave, Lord’s dandy of a nephew is also among the prisoners. The fort’s chaplain, whose characterization seemed a little clichéd in the first volume, now takes on a much more interesting role. Montglave lets him live because he’s also a surgeon, and he begins running messages between Lord’s son and nephew in hopes of setting up an escape. There’s great drama here, not just in seeing the chaplain’s cleverness, but also in watching Lord’s nephew try to live up to his uncle’s boldness and watching his half-Indian son struggle with his loyalties. All that, and Montglave is a great villain, almost admirable in his cunning.
Lastly, there are the wild cards – the few survivors who escaped the capture of the fort. They’re a hardy lot, but the elements are against them, supplies are low, and trying to coordinate any kind of plan is a nightmare from the wilderness. And how can they even formulate a plan when they don’t know why Montglave took the fort in the first place? Their best hope is hooking up with a supremely skilled Indian scout named John Blackmoon who still has loyalty to Lord. Blackmoon’s a fighter on the level of Hawkeye in LAST OF THE MOHICANS and Chantler serves up some terrific action sequences featuring him. If the final volume manages to put him back-to-back with Lord and Jack Prince, then I feel certain we’ll see the fulfillment of creator Scott Chantler’s intent to spin a yarn that’s Canada’s answer to America’s western mythology. He’s already there, really, but the next volume will be the last stand, the final charge…the “O.K.” Corral of the piece! I can’t wait.
Visually, NORTHWEST PASSAGE is among the finest-looking books on the market. The characters are cartooned with true individuality and larger-than-life features, from the heroic jut of Lord’s barrel chest to Montglave’s snakey leanness. The Jeff Smith influence is unmistakable in the beautifully varied linework, character designs, and textured backgrounds, but more broadly, the visuals simply speak to the best in animation-style. Even amidst the legendary feel, subtle expressions play across faces, from Prince’s look of regret when he realizes he can’t forgive Lord to Chaplain’s uneasy expressions of courage.
And the landscapes are practically their own character. If you’ve read BONE…remember the intense atmosphere generated in the thunderstorm sequence when the Rat Creatures were prowling around in the storm for the heroes? NORTHWEST PASSAGE generates that depth of setting constantly. Silhouetted frontiersmen skulk through nighttime forests, rains deluge on encampments, frosty breath is exhaled by guards stationed along fort walls. It’s clear that the series is meticulously researched visually, but you won’t find a single panel looking like a photograph – it’s all filtered through Chantler’s cohesive cartooning.
Take a peek at a five page preview for Book 2.
And/or…
Check out a fifteen-page preview of Book 1.
Fans of movies like LONESOME DOVE, TOMBSTONE, or Michael Mann’s LAST OF THE MOHICANS…here, at last, is a frontier comic to really sink your teeth into. It’s a break from the traditional Western shoot-out stories – something a little more epic, even as it’s more down to earth. It’s also a bit more exotic, with its spotlight on Canada’s hinterlands and its three-point tension between English, French, and the Indians of the region.
Recommended with rugged, manly enthusiasm.
Remember, if you have an Indie book you’d like one of the @$$holes to take a look at, click on your favorite reviewer’s link and drop us an email.
Remember, if you have an Indie book you’d like one of the @$$holes to take a look at, click on your favorite reviewer’s link and drop us an email.
