Well, guess I have to have someone go pick me up GREEN ARROW 6 to read while I'm imprisoned here at Geek Headquarters... sigh... I want to read that now! Here ya go...
That’s right kids, it’s time once again for another rousing review of this week’s best of breed. Welcome to Premium Pulp with your trusty dusty pontificators of comic perfection, myself, the Amazing Mutant Fanboy, and everyone’s favorite comic Casanova, the Sexiest Man in Comics.
This post Comic Con week, we’ve got a whole slew of great comics that you all should be spending your hard-earned lawnmower money on. First up for the week of July 24, 2001 is yet another exciting issue of Milligan and Allred’s amazing "X-Force" run. Picking up from last month’s reshuffling of the teams, U-Go Girl starts out the issue trying to make "The Orphan" realize that he’s not all that cut out for the job of X-Force team leader, continuing to emphasize the dysfunctions that exist between the members of this team. After a hair raising heart-to-heart, the book quickly changes gears as the members of the X-Force team say their goodbyes to their friends and family, and embark on a covert mission that leaves one of the members dead, and their leader forced to make difficult "leader-type" decisions.
This book just keeps getting better each issue. Milligan has done an excellent job of giving each issue just the right amount of team/character development and action, allowing readers to be slowly (but not at the snail-like Byrne pace) introduced to these characters and motivations during the action without spelling these needs and wants out in a hackneyed fashion. All of this, and a dark wit that is on par with that of Garth Ennis’ "Preacher" run, without being too over the top (as Ennis can sometimes be). Of course, we can also very easily talk about the amazing work Mike Allred is doing on this book, proving that more open, less detailed art can work on a mainstream book. On to more detailed artwork, we have a chance to take a look at the latest issue of "Wonder Woman." A part of the Our Worlds at War crossover that we’ve been refusing to review of late because the books have been overall quite a let down, this issue shines out in a pack of tired and boring issues in that series. Taking place directly after the events of JLA: OWAW, Wonder Woman is whisked off to the orbiting medical vessel for injuries received during her assault on one of the many Imperiex probes. With the current Wonder Woman out of action, it’s up to her mother to try and stop a new round of Imperiex probes and a huge-ol’ "hollower" heading directly at the Earth’s surface.
I’ve not been a huge fan from the get go of Jimenez’ run on this book, although to be honest, I’ve never been a huge fan of this book in general as I’ve always felt that it borders on preachy with a number of issues tackled. This issue, however, is a powerful look at the chaos being strewn about the DC Universe this summer, with a death sequence that is handled with much more care and deference than any of the others we’ve seen thus far. Also of note is the highly detailed work of Jimenez and Lanning, which shows the other half of the artwork coin when contrasted with Allred’s work. Often times you’ll see artists who put a lot of detail in their panels slack off in certain instances. Not so here, where you can swear that you see characters’ reflections in the background’s shattered glass. Switching art gears yet again, we have the stylized work of Phil Hester and Ande Parks on Kevin Smith’s "Green Arrow" epic. Issue #6 finally reintroduces the Emerald Archer with his long time companions Arsenal and Black Canary, however this introduction takes place during a less than ideal time, as the demon Etrigan is in the middle of trying to flambé GA. The past five issues of "Green Arrow" have been spent with various heroes both embracing GA while trying to figure out just how Oliver Queen returned to the land of the living. This issue is no different, though we do get to understand a little more about how things will shape up between this amnesiac super hero and his former supporting cast.
The action in this issue is a little bit weak, but we all know that we don’t buy a Kevin Smith because of the action. We’re into his stories because of the character interaction and his trademark dialogue. Green Arrow is a natural choice for Smith, given the character’s trademark wit, and Smith does a great job of putting the tools he’s developed on page and screen to good use here again. The ending provides a little bit of a shocker as well, as Queen discovers a potentially dangerous catch to his sudden reappearance.
What has made this book work so well is Smith’s ability to deftly tread the line between pleasing old readers and entertaining new ones. Given Green Arrow’s condition, Smith has set up a great literary device to allow people to catch up on Green Arrow history, without it being jammed down their throats. All in all, this run has proven to be a great example for comic scribes to look at whenever they need to reintroduce characters.
Finally this week, we have a somber and in some points tragic PULP OF THE WEEK by Greg Rucka and Eduardo Risso with "Tangled Web: The Thousand" #4. I can’t begin to describe how much I enjoyed this book, which shows a painful day in the life for one of the Kingpin’s cronies after a weapons heist goes terribly wrong at the hands of Spider-Man. Resigned to his fate, the lowly criminal spends the evening getting his loose ends in order before a final meeting with his boss.
The ending of this book is easy to see from the beginning, but the fun is getting there as Rucka does an amazing job of making the reader really feel for this family man who simply works on the wrong side of the law. It’s a powerful issue, handled well by Risso’s simple yet striking art, which only emphasizes the power of this story. If you only read one comic book this week, this is certainly the one to pick up.
Four issues down, and we’re out of here. We’ll of course be back again next week with more fun from the comic book aisle. I’m the Amazing Mutant Fanboy…
…and I’m the Sexiest Man in Comics, reminding you to grab some comics and go out to the beach.
