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Pen-Elayne
For Your Thoughts - Week of December 3-9, 1995
This week's digest: LEAGUE OF JUSTICE #1 LEAGUE OF JUSTICE Writer/Penciller: Ed Hannigan Here's what I thought: Maybe I was just in the right mood for this sort of thing. You know how some comics just hit you at a certain time when you really seem to need to read them? This was like that. I felt kinda fantasy-starved, I guess. I mean, yeah, regular superhero comics are fantasies too, but I'm talkin' about magical worlds where everyone speaks in flowery prose and all. I get some of that in John Ney Rieber's magnificent BOOKS OF MAGIC, and of course Gaiman sometimes indulges in it for SANDMAN, but I lap this up, I get into moods when I'm really high on it. This series looks to fit the bill perfectly. The premise involves four kids - two younger children (Fred and Alcy) in a "City 2 Country" summer camp program, their counselor Neil, and a local Brattleboro, VT hophead named Kenny (my favorite character so far) - being summoned into a magical realm by a mysterious Bird Lady to help save their world from the wicked Sovereign. There they meet up with the Lady's husband, Longbow Greenarrow, as well as other gifted denizens like the speedster Phaeton, the very Dr. Lo-like size-changing sorcerer Atomus the Palmer, the stoic and dying Martian with a brain the size of a planet (well, almost that big, but I couldn't resist the Adams line), the Green Knight dubbed Sir John Stewart and his army, and, on the last page, the Batmancer (who is introduced to us, along with his zombie - 'scuse me, "vitally challenged" [tee hee] - butler Alfred, in the first scene). Still to come are encounters with the Hawklord and Hawklady, the Amazon Princess and the Atlantean. Goody. There's even an obnoxious bounty hunter named Loblo, about which the less said the better, I suppose. Basic plot of this first issue is to bring many characters on and set up the heroic quest (like it says in the title). Pretty stereotypical (hell, monomythic) fantasy stuff, with one hitch being that the Bird Lady tells the questers "One of your number shall not leave this world alive!" Therefore, it almost behooved me to concentrate on whether or not these four characters were developed enough for me to care. Alcy, Fred and Neil could use a little strengthening, but they're getting there. (One nice thing that Hannigan does is switch first-person narration around among each of the four outworlders.) The outcast Kenny really surprised me, though. I was expecting the usual "he's a drug-addled no-good cretin" screed, and the quest indeed starts out that way - even Ken's own narrative mentions how he might play both sides against the middle, hitch his wagon to Sovereign, even kill one of his companions (which he attempts to do) in an attempt to not be the One Who Dies. But he changes, and it's as a result of experiences gained from his forays into drug use. Now that's a brave stance to take, and I applaud Hannigan, Augustyn and crew for not backing down from it. Ken's epiphany begins during a mind-trip engineered by the wizard Atomus, from which he's able to escape and rescue the rest when things go awry because he's more used to being in an altered state of consciousness than they are. This elegant idea, that a fantasy world can be very similar to many drug states, is certainly nothing new (heck, I'm sure it goes back eons before Lewis Carroll as well ;) ), but it's used as a good character transformer here, as we see Ken physically change throughout the course of the second half of the book. (This also leads me to believe that the Bird Lady's "One of your number shall not leave this world alive!" doesn't refer to dying but to leaving - it appears so far as if Kenny's physiology is adapting to this magical world, so that leaving it would be suicidal. Which will be fine, as by then Ken will have made up his mind to stay and perhaps even become the new Martian among the League of Justice...) It's always a treat to see a writer pencil his own vision, and Giordano's magnificent inks and McCraw's consisting coloring expertise enhance the professionalism of the whole effort. The language is clunky at times (by which I mean, it's supposed to be purple but sometimes it runs askew of the mark) but mostly delightful. Definitely worth the six bucks, and another six at least (not sure how many issue's it's slated to run). For the DC "purists" who "must have" characters like Luthor and the Joker, they're there, but somewhat downplayed. The real surprise is that the Superman equivalent is, at least so far, the villain of the piece. And it works. It pretty much all works. And that kind of internal consistency is what one should expect from an Elseworlds title. I don't know what else Hannigan's done, but he's impressed the heck out of me with this one. A solid A. So, what did y'all think? THE RAY #20 Writer: Christopher Priest Here's what I thought... Okay, I'm biased. I'm way, major biased. This is a biased review. I got the script beforehand. So there. Nyah nyah. :) To clarify: As many of you may know, I aspire to do this sort of thing (i.e., write comics) myself Sooner Or Later. To that end, I've started "collecting" scripts from some friends in the business, some at conventions (note to comic book writers: you really ought to think about selling your scripts at conventions, if you're not already; I'm not the only one wanting to buy them) and some via E-mail, and they've really helped me understand a lot more about the collaborative process of putting a comic together. Priest, who is kind of mentoring me along in my fledgling career, E-mailed me his script for RAY #20 a couple weeks back, but I was a good girl and didn't read it until yesterday. Then, when I got home, I flipped through the book and did a compare-thingie to further educate myself. And I gotta tell you - Jason Armstrong is really starting to blow me away. He realized Jim's vision very, very well. At least 90% of what appears on the page was similar enough to what appeared in my head when I was reading the full script that it almost spooked me. It's nice to see a writer and artist in synch this much. Oh, there were a few times when things didn't look quite right - a couple full-figure poses when characters turn or get spooked or do some bit of business involving sudden movement - but this may be attributable in part to the artist and inker perhaps not being in synch during those panels. I find Parks' inking somewhat heavy for my tastes (likewise Cunningham's colors at times, although I'm unsure that isn't just the separations). Still, overall really super work, as far as I can see. Priest has done a couple "Errata" postings on this newsgroup regarding time continuity, and I realize sometimes these things don't dovetail exactly as they should when Other Events get in the way, so I pretty much blew off the references to the JLTF In Space storyline. I must say, though, it really helped me to read Priest's direction that flashback sequences be done in panels with rounded corners, especially since (unlike this month's JLTF) the colorist chooses not to vary hues during those sequences. We see Ray reflecting on all sorts of things as he stands, alone in his new apartment, then later alone in his old one, listening to messages on his answering machines (boy, two places, two phones with machines, a beeper number given to Mom - that Vandal Sandwich has money to burn). One of the messages is from Herr Sandwich himself, giving a Christmas party at the Crystal Palace and musing on the spirit of the season, naturally ("...and FYI, today was not His birthday. I know. I was there." tee hee). Another is from this Senator fellow that Ray met all the way back in issue #10, which I wouldn't have remembered either (Kid Sieve-Brain strikes again!) had Jim not reminded me. :) And at least half the other messages (accumulated during the JLTF In Space saga) are from A Gal. No, not Kathy Noren - someone else. Someone with whom I've been rooting for Ray to get together. Looks promising. Meanwhile, Ray goes to keep the appointment with Senator Tom Wright that he promised he'd make way back in #10. Turns out Wright is like the Golden Age Black Condor, very young and hubba hubba-looking due mainly to the fact that he isn't really in our plane of existence any more. Good thing; otherwise I imagine he'd get mighty cold flying about in winter with just the cape and trunks. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. The scenario is this - the current Black Condor doesn't want to play nice, so Wright's band of heavenly do-gooders or whatever want to confer the title on Ray. Good golly, just what he needs. Meanwhile, Joshua. The poor kid, having offed Death Duck Daddy last issue, is lonely and cold and miserable. A too-Kalifornia young hippie couple (please tell me there are still some out there!) finds him and attempts to ascertain his parents' whereabouts. Joshua has calmed down enough not to zap them into oblivion, although he wonders about Pa Hippie's long hair ("That's the ugliest lady Joshua's ever seen" - guess the beard wasn't a dead giveaway, huh kid?). But he's fed and warmed and gives the hippie couple his full name. They find a Nadine Terrill living nearby - good golly, just what she needs. Mom sends them on their way with Ray's beeper number. I can hardly wait for the inevitable Family Reunion. Okay, so Ray doesn't need this shit, and he looks for the new Black Condor. You'll know him by his logo. Grim sumbitch - so grim, in fact, that as Ray's trying to talk him out of his tree and back into superheroing, we're given three stats of the same panel on page 17 in which he just stares at Ray, and no words are exchanged. (The script has Ray talking nervously during these three panels, some very funny lines - this whole issue has tons of very funny dialogue, as usual - and I don't know why they were excised but their omission doesn't really work for me personally. A whole different effect is created by Black Condor confronting a wordless Ray than a babbling Ray. Ray's supposed to babble, it's Endearing Personality Trait #52, I believe.) Condor flies off in a huff, and a flurry, and goes to bug Ned the Forest Ranger (not having gotten past issue #1 of BLACK CONDOR, I'm assuming Ned's his friend and/or sidekick?); so much for Ned's quiet Christmas celebration with family. Ray tries to tell Condor that Ned didn't send him (Ray) after him (Condor) - then the GA Condor appears... but only to Ray and Ned. The new Condor's pissed, or bored, or something, and blows the joint. "Great," notes Ray, "just skippy." Tee hee. Someone then says something that suddenly triggers a memory in Ray - he knows who the Mystery Gal is who's been calling him. And he's late for his date. Damn it, it's Christmas - Ray has to come first sooner or later. The Mystery Gal is Jazz - remember her from Ray #13? Dumped by Ray's nogoodnik cousin Hank into the fast food chicken place where Ray was working, and the two of them commiserated about lost loves? Damn fine issue, that. Almost as good as #19. Anyway, Ray arrives at Jazz's house too late for the party she was giving, but maybe not too late for a private party. God, what a great, romantic last page. Le sigh. Le melt. I loved this issue but, like I said at the beginning, I'm biased. So I ran it by my beloved. Steve loved it too, and he can be rather harder to please than me. In a week of "A" books, this one's up there with the best of them. Go. Buy. Enjoy. So, what did y'all think? JUSTICE LEAGUE TASK FORCE #31 Writer: Christopher Priest Here's what I thought... By his own admission, Priest hates scenes where people are sitting around and talking. However, the Justice League Task Force is travelling through space for two days, on their way to attend Desperon's trial, with nothing much else to do. He Must, And Yet He Cannot. Oh, yes he can, and just fine too. There are times this issue almost takes on the comic overtones of the old Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League (only slightly more intelligent). There's a lot of personal angst floating about. Good character development time for all the kids, and the first scene - some nice insights into J'Onn, courtesy of Gypsy - is real killer. "I mean," Gypsy sums it up, as we see Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo on one of the nearby TV monitors, "here we are, accepting all this with a straight face - pushing buttons and plotting courses - and expecting you, the guy who's put us up to this, to act like Dad... I think we could all get through this a little easier if we at least admit how ridiculous it all is..." Okay, it's ridiculous, Priest. But it's damn fun too. And Billy Mac sulks, and thinks. Always a problem when Triumph thinks. He's still got Neron's box, which puzzles me a bit as Neron go bye-bye and I thought all his toys vanished with him. Will the box still "work" for him now that Neron's not around to collect his soul (such as it is)? Meanwhile, Despero (always wanted to say that <g>). L-Ron hasn't exactly successfully convinced his captors that he's no longer Despero - possibly because he hasn't really convinced me of that yet either. He's being led in shackles toward the Trial of the Centuries. I'm tellin' ya, we're talkin' Bigger Than OJ here. Glenn Gammeron, pleased with himself for bringing in the bounty, starts talking like a bad blaxploitation flick on the phonelike-device with his woman. The conversation is interrupted (thank goodness) when some Tornadians arrive. Y'see, these folks "worship anyone they see on Court TV" - don't even think about beaming out Ricki Lake their way, goodness knows what they'll become. They attempt to swipe Desperon, Gammeron wants to prevent that and... L-Ron swats one, saving Glenn's life. Hmm... Gypsy angsts some more, and I really didn't want to read these couple very, very serious pages. The less I know about Von Mauler, the less creeped out I am. More on Mysterious J'Onn. More on the moron-- I mean, on Billy Mac and his troubled past (both recent and distant). The box looks better and better. Nice use of red hues by Roy for the flashback sequences. But what of my favorite character, Mystek? Barclay doesn't do small spaces very well, so she locks herself in the bathroom. Good thinking, a small space in an even smaller space. Hello? Gypsy gets a few word balloons in the wrong place, and we head off to another flashback which explains why Ray's not with them (yet). And why Triumph is. Billy Mac's fed up with not being able to get into the john. After 9+ hours, I'd be too. Barclay's disposed of the body armor in an effort to feel a tad less claustrophobic. She's trying to compose herself so much, she doesn't hear Triumph coming. I needn't tell you what happens next. But it's the single funniest scene in the comic. They could hear my beloved howling with laughter at this one in the next county. It sorta degenerates from there. Subtle masturbation joke. Not so subtle fart joke. Strange resurrection of the Giffen/DeMatteis years. Which, as I said, I didn't care for that much, but here I find it strangely endearing. Like we're sitting through these 50-odd hours suffering right along with them. :) Fun "transition" issue, Priest - thanks. Well-done pencils and inks by the guest team; I really like the renderings, camera angles, etc. Looking forward to seeing how everything plays out in the time this title has remaining. So, what did y'all think? IMPULSE #10 Writer: Mark Waid Here's what I thought... Wow. Oh, you wanted a longer review than "wow?" When I'm trying to hone my brevity and everything? Boy, you people are demanding. :) :) :) Imagine you've had something your whole life, something almost nobody else has, and suddenly... it's... gone. And you can't live with that, because even though it makes you like everyone else (and who wants to be like them anyway?) it makes you unlike you, and you're the only you that's ever been, y'know? Imagine all this, and you've scratched the surface of the first scene of this issue. Picture Bart, Rider of Lightning. Now - "Normal. And numb. And slow." Brr. His teacher's amazingly clueless; thank goodness Mr. Sheridan, the principal, is less so. And the fact that Max Mercury (Bart's "uncle" to them) is in the hospital is really the perfect excuse for them to give him some slack without digging too much deeper. Of course, the "joke" here is that Bart is Bart - he's probably not even thinking of Max (yet). Just of his loss. And in all fairness, as his cousin Jenni Ognats notes to Grandma Iris West, "I grew up without superspeed, but he didn't. He's facing a whole new world." That's tough enough, without being concerned about Max... Still, the rest of us are concerned about all the speedsters in Waid's World, so we cut to Max's hospital bed. Standing vigil along with Iris and Jenni are Wally West's significant other, Linda Park, as well as Jay Garrick, the GA Flash. Max is still comatose. Then Johnny Quick shows up for the recap of the "Dead Heat" storyline so far, which is the perfect segue for me to again insert Mark Waid's comment to this newsgroup awhile back: "Give me an honest answer after you read the next issues of both FLASH and IMPULSE. Will those who didn't read FLASH #108 be missing any information about Max's abduction?" Well, did you? I didn't think so. :) And Johnny admits, about as reluctantly as is possible for him, that Max was... okay, well, he could be... right about the Speed Force. This wonderful scene is enough to wake Max up. :) Bart is not having a good day. Boy, sometimes he can be a little twerp, but my heart really bled for him here. "You do know how to run, don't you?" his coach taunts him. Sure, coach - just put your lips together and blow, why don'tcha? Interesting that Carol (who suddenly trips over her tremendously large Ramos feet <g>) expected Bart to catch her falling lunch tray - d'ya think she suspects? God, these six pages nearly had me in tears for the dear lad. The final agony was seeing him almost literally limp down Route 1, holding his side. Because yeah, you run with exertion and your side does hurt. Meanwhile, Savitar's goons aren't about to let Max live, especially as Max has been "storing speed energy to metabolize injuries" and is well on his way to healing himself. 'Course, that won't be easy with Savitar's Avatars (beats the hell out of Nader's Raiders, I guess), swords in hand, standing in the way. And Max is the only one with the Speed Force. But the Speed Force, as we all know, can be shared. Or passed along. And Max grab's Johnny's hand and whispers an invitation for him to "ride the lightning..." Wow. Just - just wow, okay? John almost gets through reciting his formula, but Max shuts him up. Heh. The avatars begin to be summarily dispatched - go Johnny go! Johnny be good. :) The other speedsters huddle while Linda bars the door. Suddenly, the speedsters - even Bart, still holding his side somewhere in an autumnal meadow - start to manifest power within them again. Something has happened, and we won't know what until next week's FLASH. But it's back. And Bart's face... transforms... in three short panels as he picks up speed. Wow. The fight at the hospital is now 3 against 3, and the avatars can't fight well in close quarters. Y'think Savitar would have prepared them or something. Short-term planning has proven the undoing of so many villains and their hench-creatures. But one guy gets by the others, and is about to slice Max's neck open -- with all of them just a little too far away to react -- when.... THAM!! In comes Bart! To actually save the day! Avatar to dust. Max, now just 'bout healed, thanks him. This page is precious. Can I buy it, Mr. Ramos, please please? :) Now that all the speedsters are powered up, they're off to join Wally and Jesse in the fight against Savitar - except for Jenni, who must stay behind and watch over the rest of the ladies as penance for bad balloon placement. (Hmm... how does Max know Jenni's name? And, furthermore, that her "role in this war isn't over yet?" You hinting maybe he's ridden the lightning into the future a bit, Mr. Waid? Hmm....) The ladies in question wonder how they're going to explain Max's absence to the hospital staff. "You're writers," grins Max. "You'll think of something." They always do, don't they. I mean, I know a writer who has a hell of a fun series going. Thanks for letting us come along on the ride so far, Mark. It always bears repeating - Buy this book or Troy will beat you with a stick. And by the way, buy it 'cause it's one of the best reads out there. So, what did y'all think? (Can I just say "wow" next time and leave it at that?) BATMAN & ROBIN ADVENTURES #3 Writer: Paul Dini Here's what I thought... When we open on the famed Perigrinator men's club, I almost expected to see Harley and Ivy chewing out sexists again. Too bad nobody made any quips about this club's continuing exclusivity here, but that's just my own personal agenda, so let's look at the rest of the story. Well, there are a couple of gals, dressed in Santa-ette suits flanking - the Riddler? Uh oh. Seems our quipmeister has decided to expose Batman and Robin. His reasoning is sound - Batman has to be rich, so chances are likely he and Robin, in their real-life identities, are somewhere within the club's premises, waiting to be, as it were, unmasked. I wouldn't have expected Summer Gleason to have figured it out (my favorite panel - the Riddler bonks her on the head with a candy-cane colored staff and says, "Think, TV monkey, think!"), but was amused at the cutaway panel to the Arkham inmates watching on TV going, "makes sense..." and "why didn't you think of that?" and other such remarks. As the Riddler names likely candidates (yet another reason to add to the mythos of Why Nobody's Figured It Out Yet - there are a number of other likely candidates!), we cut to Batman & Robin in the 'mobile, deducing the heck out of things (yay!). "If he were really convinced we were in that room," posits Batman, "he'd have already shot two people." So what's his game? They go to check out the club. Batman has additionally figured out that Nygma has already riddled them; they just have yet to find out what he said. They do, of course, and the rest would be telling. The boys and men have one more chance to redeem their exclusionary ways in the epilogue, but I wasn't writing this book, so it doesn't happen. Don't you hate people with agendas anyway? :) A solid B effort, a good readable single-issue story. Not one of their stellar ones, but fun for under two bucks. So, what did y'all think? STARMAN #15 Writer: James Robinson Here's what I thought... I'm glad this storyline's almost over, because this chapter lost me almost entirely. Not in the sense of plot - I can figure out what's going on. Not that a lot happens this time, it's pretty much Mikaael (and Grundy) getting beaten up. Repeatedly. Bloodily. By Mist's goons. But this is not a fun issue for me. I suppose we needed to be shown what happened to Mikaael and Grundy, but this was 22 pages of... ...okay, I'll say it. It was 22 pages of Quentin Tarantino. (Okay, 19 pages - the first three were rather calm.) Ultraviolent and smirking. Blood dripping from roses. Hypodermic needles up everyone's wazoo. Murders. Flogging. Drifting in and out of consciousness, and more flogging. And more drifting in and out. Finally, consciousness. "You don't know me," says the head goon to Mikaael. "No matter. I'll do the repartee. I love to talk." And he does. He does repartee for the next five pages as he beats up on Mikaal. It's oh-so-clever and oh-so-referential and it made me sick to my stomach and I'm sure that was the intended effect but that's not the effect I want when I read comics. Just a personal choice, mind you. Then the head goon leaves, and the goon underlings beat up on Grundy some more, trying to figure out whether to torch or ax him. And Mikaal struggles, and his power slowly returns. And there's an explosion. I'm not even going to pretend I liked this issue. There were parts that were mildly interesting, but only as an afterthought. However, this is the first issue of STARMAN that hasn't won me over, and I think a 1-for-15 track record deserves a little slack. I wouldn't recommend anyone who doesn't "appreciate" ultraviolence pick up this issue, but I'll certainly be around to see how the storyline comes out in #16. So, what did y'all think? BLACK CANARY/ORACLE: BIRDS OF PREY #1 Writer: Chuck Dixon Here's what I thought... If you're unsure as to whether you want to pick this up, I'd advise you read the back pages first. Since this is the first issue, there's no letter column as of yet, and Gorf spends these two pages giving us the Official DC History of the two main characters. It is a history with which I have a bit of personal disagreement, but it is the basis for this title, so be forewarned. It's not that I don't think this is a good team-up book. I think Dinah Lance and Babs Gordon would work very well together. It's just that the characters seem a little - off to me. I mean, let alone the fact that neither of them should be that busty (but the chests are more or less proportional, so thank heaven for certain favors), it's almost like they're a couple degrees askew of where I would picture my ideal Oracle or Black Canary to be. For instance, I seem to remember a story somewhere - was it in Secret Origins, long ago? - that reconciled the two Dinahs, mother and daughter. But her character synopsis here is riddled with allusions to this awful rivalry-hatred thing. "Because her mother - that hypocritical witch - had resumed her career as a mystery-woman and placed Dinah's father's life in mortal jeopardy." "In spite of - or to spite - her estranged mother, Dinah Lance became Black Canary II. [Wouldn't it just slay the old bag to see her costumed identity being usurped by her daughter?]" This slanted, angry bio is almost the complete opposite of the factual information we're given on Oracle, and made me extremely uncomfortable to read. Just like I guess any woman might be made rather uncomfortable seeing Dinah pose, which she does again and again throughout this book. I kept repeating the Jessica Rabbit Mantra: "I'm not bad; I'm just drawn this way." She's not a bad superhero/crimefighter/person at all; in fact, she's rather intriguing. But if she'd just dress more sensibly... okay, the new outfit is an improvement, especially the boots sans heels, but... I dunno, I still wouldn't leave the legs exposed like that in the heat of battle. They're her best weapons, after all; she should want to protect them a little more. Oops, I'm making sense. Sorry. Anyway, the plot is pretty decent, especially when it concentrates on the interplay between Dinah and Babs. But Dinah finds out, in the course of the story, that Oracle used to be Batgirl - because Babs tells her. This didn't ring true either - I'd have thought Barbara about as beyond bitterness as Dinah was beyond bad relationships - but I'll have to allow it, because Dixon's interpretation is true to the bio, and the bio seems to imply she's bitter and resentful, even as she's "moved on." (If she's moved on, methinks she wouldn't go on so about having been crippled, throwing shurikens at the Joker's picture and revealing her life history - minus her true identity - to a near total stranger.) The rest of the plot centers around so-called eco-terrorists, and I'm glad Dixon chose to make this a maguffin, because in real life (yeah, I know, it's comics, but it's intended to mirror some real-life stuff) most eco-conscious people are more terrorized than terrorist. You can ask any number of Greenpeace rainbow warriors, if they're still alive. But I digress. Anyway, it's a fun, breezy plot, the villain is just a little too sexist - but come on, you dress like BC dresses and then act shocked when a guy repeatedly objectifies you? I mean, think about it - the artist objectifies her by never showing her in any kind of civvies in the first place (right, I know folks who walk through airports like that, sure), then the writer gives the characters dialogue complaining about objectification? Like I said, a little askew. But I feel like I have to support it. Because so much can be done with these characters. Oracle's done pretty well, except for the Bitter Flashback Scene. The plot moves along at a good clip, except the key word "shadowplay" was effective once, maybe twice - but not as often as Dixon uses it. It's like a solid C - competent, but nothing to make me stand up and cheer. Still, it has potential, and I wish them luck. So, what did y'all think? Writers: Adam Blaustein and Yves Fezzani Here's what I thought... Tremendous issue. At 99 cents, you can afford to buy at least a dozen and pass them out to your friends. Do It. This is Static's Definitive Origin Story. I can't say enough about it. Addie & Yves Do Kerouac. I'm taking this book down to my Kerouac-maven friend in Reading this weekend. She'll love it. But it doesn't just play with the Beat beat, oh no... it has elements of Spidey Origin, and Bats Origin, and just plain hero-worship, and Hero Becoming, and love of learning, and love of flying, and love of Doing the Right Thing, and respect for what's come before... More than one Jack would be proud. The whole "Ah me - Ah me, in the dark Dakota night" sequence - you have to read this out loud. I mean it. Pretend there are bongos in the background, and chicks in berets with ultra-long cigarette holders snapping their fingers. Sit in the basement of the City Lights bookstore in San Francisco and watch the crowd gather 'round as you read this aloud. At first I went, "Who's the artist? I don't think I like him." Then I smacked myself, hard. Perfect, perfect, perfect. Gil Kane ain't nothin' but. You have to get into it, let it get into you. And the Shakespeare scene... that was great. The Origin of Static's Cape. The Cape of No Fear. And the ring... I shall cease to babble incoherently now. Buy this. Buy it in abundance. Read it. Read the "Ah me" out loud. Addie & Yves Have Arrived. The best comic of the week. A week, I remind you, that had a slew of A+ comics (IMPULSE, JLTF, RAY, etc.). Makes me happy to be a comics reader. Addie, I'm taking you out to dinner and dessert for this one. And I'd still owe you. So, what did y'all think? Writer/Penciller: M.D. Bright Here's what I thought... Before you go, "oh geez, another fill-in issue"... Folks, this is MD Bright. This is MD Bright on ICON. Any questions? :) Female friendships are so seldom portrayed well in comics - certainly friendships between women of power. I mean, every now and then you get a nod to it in a Justice League title, or some sort of special... and yeah, there's the Legion books. But just a coupla gals sittin' around talkin' about an inertia belt... sooo few and far between. And I will admit my bias by saying Raquel is probably my favorite female superhero, in any universe. This issue is about what happens after Raquel takes her belt back from Darnice (upon becoming Rocket again). Icon tries to warn her that things between her and Darnice are coming to a head, but she can't - or won't - see it. After all, Darnice didn't want to be Rocket, not really. She was glad to give up the belt, give up the power. Right? We see Raquel at home, playing with little Amistad, as news reports flicker in about Icon's heroic deeds... and Darnice sulks in her room. And then decides to visit Raquel - to whom she'd lied, saying she had to work at Good's Ice Cream parlor that evening. The lie is found out when Raquel's mom and grandmother return from their evening out, ice cream in hand, mentioning her absence. Raquel is pissed. And takes it out - no okay, talks it out with Icon. And listens to him this time. I'm not sure I personally agree that "wanting what you've lost is more painful than wanting what you never had," but Raquel takes it as food for thought, and decides to visit Darnice (Doc, if you sell your art, I'd love this wonderful page of Darnice's face as she turns around and sees Raquel/Rocket). At the local Burger Barn, the gals hash it out. Darnice admits she got used to the belt, she likes it. Naturally, a Timely Fight ensues. Here's Darnice's chance to stop the bad guy, to be a hero again. Only... she won't take the belt. She... can't. She likes it, but she doesn't want the spotlight. She knows Raquel has better superhero instincts than she does (even though she has better ideas on how to use the thing). Raquel tries to stop the criminal, Flambe, but her powers aren't successful against him. Water just makes him flame up more. But quick- thinking (non-belted) Darnice saves the day! Won't say how - it'd spoil it. Suffice to report that this brings the girls together again - the looks on their faces as they reconcile are precious. Raquel recons with Icon (I dare ya, say that fives times fast), who spouts a few more homilies... but this is Raquel's book, and she's pretty much resolved the situation in her mind. We will see Darnice wear the belt again - at least if Doc Bright has anything to say about it. And I really, truly hope he does. He writes this sucker well. So, what did y'all think? LEGIONNAIRES #33 (L2 for 1996) Co-Plotter/Scripter: Tom Peyer Here's what I thought... There's a line on page 12 that sums up my feelings on the Legion books a lot these days. Cos sort of sighs, looks vaguely in Chuck Taine's directon and says, "Why do I always feel like I've skipped a page?" Don't get me wrong - I love what these folks are doing. But there's often way too much plot and subplot for me to keep up with, and feel like I'm doing the books justice as a reader. No, make that as a new reader. So much of Legion, reboot or no, is about history, that oftentimes, despite everyone's best intentions otherwise, Stuff The Older Readers Will Get threatens to overwhelm us relative newbies. I find it ironic that a book about the future bogs me down when it deals with its past. But let's move on. Still no mention of XS, my favorite Legionnaire, for something like the fourth book in a row. But okay, they all have a lot of other things on their minds. Imra's trying to escape this robot-type creature, whom everybody but Us Newbies has now identified as The New Starfinger. And it comes equipped with a thought scrambler - bummer. Meanwhile, Rond Vidar is upstairs downloading his Time Institute files into his personal database; that ought to come in handy later. Imra calls home for more abuse from Mom, since she's feeling so depressed already. Meanwhile, the secret admirer (or at least the admirer's messenger) is revealed. When there's no one there, it's Norg.(TM Chary) Starboy trains in the Legion gym, under the Legion's Gim, while Lu conjures up a Bart Allen thought balloon. Hee. Unfortunately, he drops a transformed Cham into the floor. Gim's pissed. "I thought you wanted me to use my power!" Starboy yells. "That's it - I make things heavy!" You know, he's got a point there. He also has things shooting out from his eyes... quite suddenly. Did I miss a page? Cham starts melting. Gim goes big and ballistic, Lu triplicates - and Gates appears to cool Cham off with a good soak. Me like Gates a lot. Cos and Chuck go over plans for rebuilding Legion HQ. Imra storms in bitching about the still-missing Lori. Cos yells at her. She yells back. Vi peeps her head in to whine, pretty much, Can't we all just get along? Legion leaders duly chastised. This rang kinda false to me. I don't know why. Maybe 'cause Chuck kinda did the same thing last LSH. Madame Pres calls to complain about the robot monster, whom Imra recognizes. They head for the cruiser bay, where Spark gets to gloat to Vi about her secret admirer. Awww... Meanwhile in Metropolis, Lori gets an eyeful, commits a real bad faux-pax, and it looks like she'll be arrested for it. Four panels of Brainy resisting interrogation. The Warden's not gonna go easy on him any more. Ick. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, Zoe! Two full pages! Mysa wants her to go after the Emerald Eye so she can destroy it. Sheeah, right. Back on the cruiser, Cos tells the Legionnaires to be ready for anything. Naturally, they're not. Ship disintegrates as L*'s fall. When there's no ring there, Norg's in trouble. Gim grows and catches him. All the L*'s face their foe, who disintegrates the air around them. This time Vi quickly shrinks subatomically and prepares to get inside the robot- person's head. You go, girl! Actually, for all my complaining about missing pages, the plots and subplots have calmed down a little from the last LSH. I'm starting to remember everyone's names, at least. And, even when I'm lost on something, I'm still having fun, so what's not to like? So, what did y'all think? Steve Rogers: CAPTAIN AMERICA
#448 Writer: Mark Waid Here's what I thought... We last left Cap trapped inside the Cosmic Cube, held by the Red Skull. As this issue opens, Rogers is reliving his origin story, and the Skull is gloating to Sharon Carter. His plan is outlined on page, er, 4 (GAH! Why doesn't Marvel number its pages?): since Captain America was created for the express purpose of defeating Hitler, the Skull's going to let his consciousness defeat Hitler's one last time, eliminating both of them in the process. Trouble is, while Cap's in the Cube it's stalemated (two strong personalities, don'tcha know) so he can't use it against the soldiers still pursuing him and Sharon. Meanwhile, inside the cube things get eerier. Cap's almost got his answer as to Hitler's whereabouts when Bucky distracts him, and they're back in Kirby's NYC. (Love love love the blurred backgrounds; everything has such a nice 3D effect.) But what's a circa 1930s reporter doing talking on a cellular phone? Meanwhile, the Skull finds some convenient explosives and buys him and Sharon some time, while we all look in on the Cube again and find... FDR addressing the nation via color television sets. Cap and Bucky chasing brownshirts past a kid with a Walkman. They reach the top of the Empire State Building, only it's the World Trade Center. Cap's memories are jumping about in time - his mind is trying to tell him something. Suddenly there's Zemo, and Bucky's tied up - uh oh. More distractions from reaching their goal (Hitler's secret bunker). But Cap won't let himself be deterred. He rescues Bucky, rewiring the guidance system of the plane to which he's strapped, and they're off to Germany, despite Bucky's uncharacteristic hesitation. The Skull gloats some more. Sharon finally decides he disgusts her; I'm amazed it took her this long. He hauls off at her. Boo hiss! Meanwhile in Jumbled Memoryville, Seargent Fury and his Commandos hold the line, and Cap and Bucky appear on the scene in a revved up cycle! And look - there's Namor and the Torch to help them! Everyone's getting into the act! Except... Except Bucky, who finally reveals himself as a manifestation of Cap's subconscious. This was a wonderful, wonderful scene. And a lovely tribute to Bucky, who certainly deserves as many tributes as he can get. Cap is now trapped. He's thisclose to Hitler's bunker, but instead, he... somehow... probably by force of will alone (the same force that drove something in his mind to create the Bucky failsafe)... escapes the Cube and pounces on the Skull. Somehow the Skull squirms out from under him and goes for the fallen Cube. This time, however, the shield beats him to it (lopping his arm off in the process - ewwww), shattering it. As the troops regroup, Cap and Sharon take off for S.H.I.E.L.D. to determine why they were lied to about What Happened To Sharon All This Time. I'm sure many readers are likewise looking forward to this. Sharon is reluctant - not hard to understand, considering what she's been through - but, as ever, there's a glimmer of hope and... romance?... at the end. Of course, they have to ride off into the sunset. A very solid adventure comic which places Steve Rogers' personal will and determination squarely at the center of his personality, as it should be. A good and recommended read. So, what did y'all think? SEEKERS INTO THE MYSTERY Creator/Writer: J.M. DeMatteis Here's what I thought... Well, as The Firesign Theatre says, "There's a seeker born every minute." Let's take a look at Lucas, shall we? Y'know, he looks an awful lot like the protagonist of BROOKLYN DREAMS... oh, I see. Same writer, same artist. :) :) After one page of an unidentified woman dancing around in the rain and cooing about grace, we meet Lucas at three of four different stages of his life. Narrator Lucas (seems to be late 30's, early '40s), in the present day; Lucas about eight years ago in El-Lay; and Lucas as a boy. We only see the narrator in two panels, so let's leave him aside for now - he's the guy we wind up with at the end, and this story's about his journey getting where he is now. So there's this 20-something Lucas feeling sorry for himself, talking about this inner demon with big machetes who "spent his every waking moment trying to hack his way out." To exorcise the demon the unemployed Lucas smoke and drank and jacked off and did everything but follow his muse, it seemed. Kinda hard to, in the Real Hollywood. And we're treated to a synopsis of how Lucas came to be in La-Land, lured - away from college, even from his wife and daughter, it seems - by the glamour of The Movies. He tells us a bit about his fledgling writing career, about the teacher who finally kicked him in the ass with "Write what you love" rather than what he thought the Professors wanted to read. (I loved this scene - I still get this advice all the time from friends, and it's true... you can only ever write what you love if you're going to be a success at it.) Well, we don't find out what happens to Lucas' wife and daughter yet. And this is usually where Marc's writing falls short for me - he writes great spiritual stuff, and his concept of God is about the closest I've ever read to my concept of God... but he does seem to give women short shrift. They're usually (not always, though - I fondly remember Marc's run on DR. FATE, and THE LAST ONE had a couple decent women) appendages and plot devices - not fellow travelers, but rather mothers and wives and sex partners (and mysterious unidentified icons like this issue's Page One girl and the protagonist of MERCY). They're defined almost solely by their relationship to the protagonist, not by their own lives or power. They're so Other it drives me nuts. For instance, I thought it might have been nice if the Mysterious Homeless Person introduced on page 12, "Charlie Limbo," had been female. Or if the Girlfriend Rhonda (still no mention of what happened to the wife & kids) had been seen first as Lucas' friend, trying to help him on the right path, instead of as a series of naked body parts. But this is Marc's trip, not mine. And much of the trip seems to revolve around out-of-body experience. I'm looking forward to seeing this aspect explored a little more. I'm also looking forward to seeing Lucas turn into something other than an asshole grumbling about having to lie in the bed he's made for himself - but I'm not holding my breath that Lucas the Narrator will have any better insights on Women as People, as fellow seekers. Not a bad start, but nothing we haven't seen before from DeMatteis. Probably a solid B. Buy it if you're curious. So, what did y'all think? WASTE L.A. #1 (Ashcan edition) Words: Bill O'Neil This Issue's Firesign Line: "Los Angeles - he walks again by night..." Here's what I thought... Thanks to John for sending me an ashcan of this book, due out Real Soon Now. John is one of the Starkings/Comicraft folks, and is primarily responsible for the logo, computer lettering, letters page and much of the overall look of KURT BUSIEK'S ASTRO CITY. He and O'Neil try an interesting experiment here - computer lettered balloons and captions on actual photographs. I know, it's been done before. I think they call it Fumetti, but I could be mistaken. (I'm sure Bebe Williams will correct me. <g> ) I tend not to care for this - it's sort of a recursive loop trap to me. Comics imitate camera angles, so why not just take still pictures using camera angles that imitate comic books that imitate... well, you get the idea. But I gotta say, it's pretty well done here. The direction behind the pictures is very spot on, and the fact that the pages aren't crowded in panels (there are never more than four panels to a page, and most seem to have two or three) works to its benefit also. And this is all done in black and white, with heavy black borders surrounding the panels, which helps set the grim mood. Yeah, this is the second book this week (the other being J.M. DeMatteis' SEEKERS INTO THE MYSTERY) exploring the seamier side of El-Lay, the City of Contradictions and Angels. Not my city - hell, not my coast - but I have friends who live there and grumble about this sort of thing a lot. :) They're not as bad off, though, as slacker Matt Keller - a long-haired leaping gnome with too much taste for alcohol, a scar over the left side of his face and a hole in his memory bigger than the Hollywood Bowl. Damn, I am starting to sound like a Nick Danger record... but then, so does much of this comic. I felt right at home. :) This issue Matt meets a Mysterious Stranger, apparently invisible to everyone but Matt. Matt probably wishes he were invisible - there are about three pages of where the stranger literally has Matt by the short 'n' curlies that make me wince (and I'm not even a guy!) so much more because they're real photographs. Anyway, the Strangr knows what happened to Matt - something about a car crash, his mother, his sister... and we're about as baffled as Matt is as he slips into a booze-induced dream/memory... Not a pleasant book by any means, WASTE L.A. works quite well for what it is. Check it out when it hits the stands. STEELE DESTINIES Writers: Andrew Vaughan and Michael Weed Here's what I thought... This is an interesting experiment, but I'm not quite sure it succeeds. It's not just that the characters seem to be more defined by what happens to them than by any particular set of traits or feelings - I mean, I never felt like I got into anyone's head, like I could identify with what anyone was going through, and this distance prevented me from really caring that much about what was happening to them - it's that nothing seems that well defined. I really, truly believe the writers and artist have some good ideas worth exploring here, but I never got the sense of those ideas being communicated to me as a reader. And a reader shouldn't have to work as hard as I did trying to follow this. The long and the short of it is, there are three Steele siblings: Dan (the oldest), Cynthia and Alex (the youngest). We're told what they do for a living. We open on Cynthia riding her horse on vacation somewhere in west Texas, meeting up with unsavory goons who swipe her horse and punch her out for no reason, she punches back and runs away, and we get some Cryptic Captions. She later goes back to look for her horse, and finds his severed head in a cave atop some bones. She also finds a Mysterious Disk, which she takes to be analyzed... but the fellow to whom she gives it has disappeared, and she's set upon by Men in Black. She escapes from their interrogation, and we cut to Dan the Forest Ranger, chasing someone doing something to wolves, I can't tell what. Then we cut to Alex, whose place has been ransacked. Just like Cyn's and Dan's. More Cryptic Captions. Eventually the siblings get together to compare notes, check out the cave and find some sort of interdimensional doorway. Needless to say, their lives will never be the same. Especially as they're immediately attacked by aliens. End of issue #1. Issue #2 finds Cyn fiddling with the alien devices's controls and sending her brothers off into the past and future. There's palace intrigue. There's tribal warfare. There's a lot of stuff going on, and I only got about half of it. The art may be partly to blame - Hoffman makes the protagonists look almost like Gerry Anderson "supermarionettes," and I couldn't get that image out of my head. The body and face proportions are a bit too stylized for my tastes. The panels are very busy, which is not a good idea for fight scenes, for instance. The Cryptic Captions are more confusing than helpful. Like I said, good ideas, but I think the execution needs work. I probably wouldn't have bought this series if I saw it in the shop, but I think it could be quite a bit more interesting with more polish and a concerted effort to be slightly more accessible, and I thank Andrew for sending me the first three issues. So, what did y'all think? [These reviews are copyright 1995 Elayne Wechsler-Chaput, currently in a state of frenetic paralysis, hovering indecisively over the precipice of things undone, considering "yes, and well yes, it'd be so *easy* to fall into this blissful repose for awhile..." you know how it is... don't you? These are reprinted by permission from the rec.arts.comics newsgroups on Usenet; please direct all complaints to the management.] |
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