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CHIAROSCURO: The Private Lives of Leonardo da Vinci
"Dog Eat Dog" - Book Seven of Ten

Writers: Pat McGreal and David Rawson
Penciller: Chas Troug
Inker: Rafael Kayanan
Colorist: Carla Feeny
Letterer: Clem Robins
Asst. Ed.: Axel Alonso
Head Honcho: Alisa Kwitney

Here's what I thought...

Well, we finally learn the identity of the "unseen sculptor" - as if it hadn't already been guessed that it's Michelangelo Antonioni. The thing that threw me is, I could have sworn I saw the Statue of David in a town square in issue #1 - which was set up as a parallel to show us that Salai is the model for the statue - so I was surprised to realize that the sculpture on which Michelangelo is currently working is the "real" David. Guess the other one must have been a practice sculpture? Either that or this thing is flicking around in time a bit fast for me to follow.

In any case, forward into the past, as Firesign would say, as Salai relates to Michelangelo (after a bit of a nasty episode in which he touches a bump on the sculptor's nose, eliciting a surprisingly violent response) his and the Maestro's adventures in Romagna.

There Salai meets Prince Cesare Borgia, a rather unhealthy role model, to say the least. The Prince is ruthless, efficient, and no doubt would have made trains run on time had there been any in 1503. Salai near to worships him. He's also admired, to an extent, by Florence councilman Niccolo Machiavelli, no doubt looking for subjects for an upcoming book he doesn't yet know he's writing. :) Machiavelli wants da Vinci to come back to Florence with him, but realizes he'll have to separate the maestro from Salai (just as Salai has done in past issues with da Vinci's other acquaintances - nice parallel) in order to accomplish his aims.

Salai isn't any too happy about this, but sublimates his anger by driving a knife into the meat on the table. He has a chance to drive a knife into the Florentine ambassador later, as Machiavelli literally hands him the knife. Why doesn't he take it? Can there be some good within him? Or was he just thrown off track by the lateness of the hour and the menace in Machiavelli's daring tone?

In any case, the ambassador lives, and Salai remains in Romagna long enough to witness the Prince dealing harshly with traitors. Although this is clearly Salai's kinda guy, even the peacock is shocked by the ruthless, bloody incident. And this seals things in Leonardo's mind - "I don't want him [the Prince] near Salai. The boy's got no sense of judgement. I'm afraid for him." Of course, the narrative recounted by Salai is a direct contrast: "That son of a bitch! He couldn't stand the thought of me as Borgia's confidant. Jealous, petty, spiteful, he chose to sever our bond and exile me from the only world that had ever touched my soul." With a soul like that, I'd want to be far from Salai as well.

So Salai goes back to Florence, where he promptly spends his money on debauchery and makes a little sum gambling - a sum which he promptly loses when he's mugged on the streets. Naturally, he tells it quite differently. Wonderful juxtaposition of the art telling the true tale while the words lie - the hallmark of this title.

And there Michelangelo finds him, and we're brought up to the present, with another beautiful full-page panel at the end, showing Salai in the front and the half-finished David in the background, echoing his pose, their private parts (unlike Salai's private life) obscured by a table and a scaffold respectively (no complaints here about typical Vertigo prudery vis a vis male bodies, though - Salai does prance about nekkid during the first few pages - this page was done this way for effect).

Now that we're caught up, I'm still fascinated by what is to come - will Leonardo find the key to his recurring dream? Rawson doesn't say, but he does tell us the next issue will explore Salai's relationship with Michelangelo, Leonardo's discovery of and reaction to same, and what becomes of the Mona Lisa (I think). I highly recommend page 25, which takes a break from letters so Dave can talk about how certain things came together in the making of this comic. My favorite line: "All art converges at the ineffable." Nice stuff, Dave.

So, what did y'all think?

NEW GODS #4
"The Flowers of Hell" (cover title: "Hell on Earth!")

Writers: Tom Peyer and Rachel Pollack
Penciller: Luke Ross
Inker: Brian Garvey
Colorist: Patricia Mulvihill
Asst. Ed.: Chris Eades
Head Honcho: Rob Simpson
The New Gods created by Jack Kirby

Here's what I thought...

Um, I'm not sure there's a less tacky way to say this: who are these people? I mean, I realize Darkseid isn't Darkseid, it's just DeSaad in disguise (although it might have been a good idea for The Great Wootinie to have a pointer in this first scene towards Kupps' one-shot in which we see this happen). And I don't think I'm supposed to know Pythia, the oracular keeper of the Secret Garden of Paradise in the bowels of Apokalips (nice touch, not only paralleling the last scene in #3 where we see the Oracle of New Genesis in a hellish cavern but positing that every absolute may very well have its opposite contained within for purposes of stark contrast).

I'm talking about Highfather. I'm talking about Orion. I'm talking about Metron. I'm especially talking about Lightray, who has now become, as I once sneered at a plot development with which I disagreed in TEEN TITANS years ago when I decided to drop that title, "bulked up, evil, and talking."

I understand the tainted Source has spread its evil. I think this corruption is shown well in certain scenes on New Genesis, such as children taunting a defenseless animal. But I don't buy that Highfather is completely in control one moment and out of it the next - it doesn't ring true (i.e., internally consistent) to me that he'd save the animal and it would inadvertently disintegrate in his grasp. That he would admit to "feeling" Darkseid die but believe he might still be alive solely on the basis of something as surface and deceptive as his eyes and Metron's datalinks. (And apparently the Apokoliptian garden isn't terribly much of a "guilty secret" if even New Genesis knows about it...)

I don't buy that Metron has gone buggers, scribbling the name "Orion" over and over and weeping that the knowledge of the Source is now lost to him. Moreover, that he harbors this much hatred towards Orion - towards anyone. It's kinda skeevy, like those episodes of Star Trek where Spock showed emotion. It's a little too over the top.

At least Orion is halfway subtle. But that still doesn't explain why he's suddenly on Earth, other than the writers expressing that he feels some kind of "connection" to it. Why flee New Genesis? Orion has never been one to turn tail. He bursts in through the window of a high-rise office building, startling the inhabitants so much that their faces distort (I mean, really - look at page 14. Have you ever seen a lip curl up that way when a mouth is wide open? On two different people?), to foil a would-be shooting and presumably show us not only that Orion's mood swings are affecting Earth folk, but that females still sob and swoon at his presence. Feh. Guess we can't have one of the guys say to him, all teary-eyed, "Look at you. You're so... perfect. How can you be in such pain?"

So then Highfather Boom Tubes in, the men fall back in surprise then start snickering, and the gal says "Shush! Listen!" I'm so sher.

Orion confesses to killing his father Darkseid. Highfather says he's wrong, choosing to believe visual trickery rather than his inner gut. The gal whimpers, and forgive me but I have to give you her whole cutesy speech here, "Excuse me - I know I shouldn't, but - Look, you saved my life, and... maybe you're suffering for nothing. Maybe you should listen to 'Highfather.' I mean, you don't seem so corrupt to me." Orion pulls up his shirt - ewwww. Highfather sends him off to Apokolips, reasoning "As always, the taint lies there!"

Okay, so like, it's been established that the Source itself is tainted. That it's affected Apokolips as well as New Genesis. I mean, the characters have stated this. So Highfather not only insists on believing his eyes, but sends Orion to Apokolips, when we know that this isn't the problem? How reactive can you get? I'm sorry, I can't buy that this character is that stupid. But Orion does (and I can't buy he's stupid enough to, but at least he's been konked on the head a few times, so he has an excuse), and goes off.

And the gal whispers, after he's Boom Tubed away, "And may you find it [deliverance]." Ick.

And Highfather returns to New Genesis to find Lightray has usurped the throne. Bulked-up, evil, and talking. And we close to the sight of bombs falling on the Image charac-- uh, the Primitives.

Nuh-uh.

Don't buy any of the plot, not for a minute.

The crafting is fine. The art vascillates between adequate and strange (especially those curled upper lips), but is mostly in service to the story, with which (if you haven't already guessed) I have many disagreements and reservations. The inking and lettering are fine. Trish's coloring is gorgeous, as always.

While I can't recommend this issue, I'm still getting the title because I still love the New Gods, and I can't turn my back on the Fourth World, no matter how much I don't like the way it's plotted. I just hope this storyline's over soon.

So, what did y'all think?

THE POWER OF SHAZAM! #11
"The Seven Deadly Enemies of Man"
(Cover title: "The Seven Deadly Enemies - Free At Last!")

Writer: Jerry Ordway
Penciller: Peter Krause
Inker: Mike Manley
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
Letterer: John Costanza
Asst. Ed.: Chris Duffy
Head Honcho: Mike Carlin
"Ibis" origin pencilled by Curt Swan (=sigh= it sure was...)

Here's what I thought...

Definitely the most fun comic of the week, and an excellent object lesson in how to wrap up subplots.

We start off with four wordy "story so far" captions. This is probably one of the least seamless and most obvious expositional techniques a writer can use, but there's so much going on in this issue (and in previous ones) I don't see how Ordway could have handled it otherwise.

So Mary breaks through the wall and frees Ibis using some scrambled words (I couldn't figure out "RULMSEB" though - damn, and I'm always so good at Jumble!), but not before Black Adam, sent by Blaze to keep an eye on her brother's do-gooding, horns in on the action and tears Tawky Tawny in half. He also tries, and fails, to grab the Ibis stick.

Once Mary properly activates the stick, it sends out some kind of waves throughout Fawcett City, and we see a few subplots touched on throughout the city in the breaking dawn (the undercover cop looking to solidify his faux mobster rep by pretending to gun down Sinclair Batson, currently the sex-lies-and-videotape-dealing consort of Madame Mayor), none of which (except, hmm, for Sinclair) seem immediately affected. However, Freddy Freeman in his hospital bed suddenly feels his toes, and (Billy) CM, back in the doctor's office after Underworld Unleashed, notices his left arm seemingly mending by the minute. He flies off only to confront the Seven Deadly Enemies - and absorb them - as the pulsating waves subside.

And that's only four pages. :)

My favorite part of pp. 5-7 was the artistic placement of captions and balloons to help the eye along. The three parallel, head-to-foot panels on page 5 show three captions up top of panel one (as people exit the subway below), then three more captions straddle the bottom of all three panels (as birds exit the rooftops above on panel 2), the last one placed slightly above the others and drawing our gaze up the side of the building in panel 3 where Sinclair stands gloating out on the apartment balcony. Pages 6 and 7 show us the panorama of the city at sunrise, with the WHIZ bowler-like antenna in the foreground at left, a recipient of the waves rather than a sender, and the waves themselves at the bottom (centered right on the fold, in fact) contrasting the sun's rays on the top of the spread, as the action takes place within four insets and the word and thought balloons meander past showing us in which direction we are to go. Great stuff.

Ibis awakens, hears Mary's explanation of why he was summoned back, gets rid of Black Adam too easily :), and launches into his origin, pencilled by Curt Swan. Le sigh. What I found interesting here was Mike Manley's consistent inking from Krause to Swan and back again. It made things flow very well for me. And Whitmore made some nice choices, here and elsewhere, on things like contrasting coloring of captions (holy alliteration, did I just say that?).

Krause, too, ought to be given lots of credit - I didn't see any inconsistencies at all in Mary's face this issue. She reminds Ibis that there's trouble up top, and the lot of them (Ibis, Mary, Dudley carrying the still-torn Tawky Tawny - in whom Ibis finds no evil... hmm) race upstairs to find (Billy) CM calling out for Shazam, in the hopes that the lightning will banish the darkness of the Seven. Hey, it worked against Neron (he reasons)... of course, Blaze was there at the time, which may have been why. In any case, Ibis decides to commission more helpers - Seven Deadlies need Seven Heroes, natch. The Ibis-stick empowers Dudley into a Marvel, about which he's none too happy (but he seems to be sobering up quickly), restores Tawky Tawny to wholeness and bigness and life and Stuff Like That There, calls in Freddy Freeman who's then implored by Mary to "Say our name" ("our" name - I love it!) to become CM Jr., and lastly - ta dum! - Bulletman!

Gosh, this is great, watching 'em all streak through the sky towards the Enemies (now given physical form by the stick). A whole messa Marvels. They pounce, they score! Great panel once again on page 18, as they all elongate with the pain of being jumped interdimensionally to the Rock of Eternity. Predictably, Dudley hurls chunks when it's over (off-camera, thank goodness). Heh. The Enemies are summarily stuffed back into their shells (mm, stuffed shells - oh no, more alliteration?) and all's sort of well. Mondo subplots wrapped up equally nicely. Enough subplots remaining to take us through #12. Dudley opts out of the Marvel suit; Tawny opts for continued existence (unsure whether Satanus' aura is still going to empower him, though). We catch up with Blaze for a few panels, and I'm sure we'll see her next issue. We check in on Black Adam and his poor condemned sister - powerful stuff. We'll see him next issue.

We'll see lotsa folks next issue, as more plots wrap up in time for the first-year review. Chris Duffy wants an Ibis-stick for his birthday. So do I. Only two shopping days left for that, gals and pals! Least I got my comics reading done beforehand. And I ended my reviews on a high note.

So, what did y'all think?