|
Pen-Elayne
For Your Thoughts - Week of December 17-23, 1995
This week's digest: THE FLASH #110 THE FLASH #110 Writer: Mark Waid Here's what I thought... It just gets better. Well, some of it, at any rate. From the cover to the last page, the "Dead Heat" storyline kicks up to the next inevitable level, and throws some interesting zingers at us along the way. The first and best delight, for me, is the focus on two talented women actually fighting dynamically, not posing. See fellas, this is how it's done. These aren't babes strutting about, adopting anatomically impossible stances for benefit of the male gaze. They're people (who just happen to be women) who mean business. And it's about damned time. I can't emphasize enough how rewarding it is for me, as a female reader, to see female characters as subjects rather than objects. But y'all knew that, so let's get onto the story. Wally and Jesse travel to the Balkans (interesting that, as this chapter of "Dead Heat" begins, Jesse is literally carrying Wally, the way she figuratively carries much of this story) to take the fight to enemy Savitar's (boo hiss!) citadel. We get a quick and tidy page 1 recap of previous events before the nice oblong pp. 2-3 splash, which Jimenez, Marzan and McCraw manage to make look almost three-dimensional without any real gimmicky techniques at all - just object placement (Wally and Jesse flying in the foreground, their backs to us, the mountains and citadel mid-ground, and the speed force lightning effects as a backdrop) and color choices. Nicely done, and it has the effect of moving the reader into a different mindset too. We, like Wally, are no longer on familiar ground here. Wally's decided that, rather than casing the joint at super-speed, he'll lay low while he and Jesse buy some time and find out all they can about their enemy (Jesse's attention, like mine, strays over to the tapestries on Savitar's walls, depicting different uses of speed and flight - a god who could be either Hermes or Mercury, Pegasus, an Egyptian tableau with a lightning motif). We learn that Jesse's much more open-minded to the idea of a speed force (which makes sense, her being an academic and all), and that Wally doesn't remember too much of his Time Within. We also learn that Wally's in no hurry to return there to find out anything more (after all, he doesn't know if he can come back twice) - which fear may prove to be quite the detriment to defeating Savitar. Quickly enough they stumble onto one reason Savitar has been able to harness such speed power - he's hooked up his avatars to a living "battery" (powerful almost-full-page panel on p. 5), maintained by... Christina Alexandrova, the former Lady Flash. And basket case. Wally takes a moment to wallow in "if only..." self-pity before Jesse snaps him out of it. "You know," she observes, "you have got to stop taking responsibility for the choices women make after they meet you." Yeah, Wally, don't you know nothin'? That's the writer's job! Anyway, our gal Jesse's right on the money - Wally can't go around feeling bad for every nutzoid who crosses your path, no matter how two-dimensional - as we see Christina the Conduit finish channelling the speed force into Savitar's battery and bow before Savitar. Yuck. This woman does have major problems. Savitar, of course, has sensed Wally's presence. Despite Wally telling Jesse to "keep to the shadows," they are, after all, standing on a pretty open balcony overhanging the living battery. And Savitar's keyed into the Speed Force, which Wally still has. He shoves Jesse (real nice, guy - but I suppose it's no time to be gentle) into a safe nook, temporarily dispatches Christina by vibrating through a nearby wall, exploding it, and figures to sneak up on Savitar... Uh, no. Nobody sneaks up on Savitar. Wally's like a kid taking baby steps against a marathon runner. Ain't gonna work. As Savitar remarks, "I have forgotten more than you will ever learn" about the Speed Force. Things do not look good. Wally's only hope at the moment is to learn as much as he can from Savitar's fanatic rantings about the actual control of momentum itself (I like this concept). Meanwhile, Christina's recovered and returned to her station at the battery, only to find Jesse trying to figure out a way to dismantle it. Yanking on an individual acolyte doesn't do it - the speed energy only shifts to the others. She goes for the transformer itself. And this is where things get a little - off for me. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with the choreography itself. Like I said, it's really, really nice to see women as subjects in action. But the thing of it is, Jesse doesn't have her speed back yet. Only the flight (courtesy of XS's Legion flight ring), the sword she took from an avatar that Wally defeated back at Max Mercury's house, and her skill. Whereas Christina has the speed force in abundance, plus her fanaticism. On the other hand, Jesse keeps Christina talking, and maybe in her rush to justify her current position with Savitar she's slowed her fighting a bit. Or, maybe Jesse's absorbed back enough of the force without realizing it (after all, we don't see the lightning crackling around her yet) to even the odds a bit against Christina. In any case, Jesse can't keep pressing her opponent's buttons without expecting a few of hers triggered in return. Christina threatens her father. (Either this is one of the more blatant hints Mark has given us about Which Speedster Hero Will Die in IMPULSE #11, or he's teasing again. I will go out on a limb and guess the former.) Jesse doesn't take kindly to threats, and flies right toward the transformer. Which shatters, releasing the speed force back into the heroes from whom Savitar stole it (as seen in IMPULSE #10 and shown again in a few brief panels here) and, presumably reducing the hooked-up acolytes to ashes. (We don't see their deaths, but later on Savitar talks about how he will "assemble an army from the ashes" so it's pretty clear what's happened, and I'm glad it happened off camera... okay, the "Dead Heat" death toll does rise off the scale, so sue me...) Jesse comes hard at Christina on page 18 in one of the most terrific panels I've ever seen of her (can I buy this page, huh, huh?) and thrashes her but good (to her credit, using her lightning fists instead of the sword) -- -- before Savitar steps in and pushes her into unconsciousness. He doesn't cotton to setbacks and failures, he tells Christina. "Yes... punish me..." she responds. I hate this. Women like this make me very uncomfortable. (And that's exactly the intended effect, I'm sure.) Wally wakens Jesse from unconsciousness to face Savitar's army of fifty undead acolytes (how did he bring them back to life anyway?). We see Christina crouching by Savitar's side, bound and leashed. I hate this I hate this I hate this. It makes me feel so skeevy that I almost didn't applaud the entrance of Our Other Heroes on page 22, in time for the Big Fight that will cost one of them (presumably Johnny) his life. Mixed emotions on this one. The stakes are definitely upped. Savitar's knowledge of the Speed Force is daunting, and it's obvious Wally has to learn more, fast - which will probably happen in the storyline's conclusion. I love Jesse in this; I think she's becoming a more fully realized character every time Mark gets a chance to focus on her. But I hate what's happened to Christina. See, I'm not Jesse - I do feel sympathy, for each and every woman who finds herself beholden to a man who abuses her. And I suppose it's the evocation of that sympathy that elevates Christina to a little more than her usual two dimensions. Not as joyous an ending for me as IMPULSE #10 was, but still a solid "wow." So, what did y'all think? WONDER WOMAN #106 Writer/Artist: John Byrne Here's what I thought... Ah, nothing like flowery prose to get one into a Silver Age feeling. I mean, I still think Diana's back is arched a bit too much in that opening panel-page, but it's such a gorgeous picture, so full of exuberance and joy, with prose to match, that I just had to smile. I think every comic should have at least one panel of joy in it. Gateway City, as Diana descends into it, doesn't look nearly as grimy and urban-sprawly as John implies it does on the first page. In fact, it looks almost as lovely (if a bit more crowded) than Astro City. John, if you're going to paint a picture of yuckiness for us, don't make your cityscapes so pretty. :) Diana starts her day at the museum, where we're reintroduced to Joa-- um, Cassie Sandsmark and her mom Helena (nicely fulfilling the writer's responsibility to put all the names on the table for us in the first scene). Helena, admonishing a coworker for smoking around such volatile museum materials (hint hint), hands Diana a card from a "strange little man" who'd stopped by earlier. (Earlier? I thought it was the beginning of the day! Guess Diana keeps banker's hours.) The man, "Theophilus Warly, Demonologist" (who, near as I can tell, owns a mansion but not a yacht), left a present for Diana. Some kind of tenth-century battle tapestry. Diana calls "Dr." Warly to find out what's up (the tenth century is not exactly her specialty), as we see his mistress (whose name, new readers don't find out until the last page, is Morgaine Le Fay) lounging very Kirby-like in the mid-ground. As Warly ascertains that Diana has indeed touched the tapestry in question, we naturally see it come to life. "Oh no," Helena cries. "Not again!" Yes, well, this is what happens when you Touch Stuff. Maybe it would help more if they issued gloves at the museum or something. :) Diana takes to battle as Morgaine and Warly look on in her Magic Pool or whatever. And we see that Morgaine wants Diana captured alive and unharmed (presumably to inhabit/possess her body). Diana finds that the tapestry warriors keep restitching themselves faster than she can knock them down, as museum-goers start to panic. But only momentarily, as a stranger suddenly appears bestowing calm on them, and they file out of the museum in much too orderly a fashion. Meanwhile, Helena gets an idea. (I love this - last issue it was Cassie who helped rectify her own mistake, this time it's her mom. Nice to see woman on their feet thinking quickly.) She borrows the cigarette lighter from her coworker and torches the tapestry warriors, who, naturally, incinerate instantly. The stranger is indeed The Stranger - Phantom, that is. The manipulation of mystic energies has drawn him to the museum. Diana shows him Warly's card. "Now, there is a direction in which it would never have occurred to me to look," muses the Phantom Stranger, "since it was my understanding he and his foul mistress were long since dead!" Pardon me - isn't this a guy who's, like, supposed to Know Everything and Tell Nothing? Or am I misunderstanding something about the Stranger? Meanwhile, we cut to four pages of a scene in a lab with a Doctor Lazarus trying to raise the dead. Oooh, subtle. :) The good doctor's son (or daughter???) Kris wants the family pet, Snowball, back. We're treated to some fun comic book science about inert matter and quantum image matrices and voila, reanimated kitty! Unfortunately, not for long - the system overloads, the lab equipment blows up (don't these people ever plan failsafes?) and Kris is knocked unconscious by the debris. Back to Maison Le Fey as Morgaine slaps Warly around some more, pissed that the Stranger's entered the scene, and determined to fight eldritch with eldritch. She just happens to have captured Jason Blood, and is able, using that old spell we love so well, to call up the Demon Etrigan, shown breaking out of his glass enclosure in a truly Kirby-esque manner. Looks like trouble. :) More fun, tongue-in-cheek, park-your-brain-at-the-door stuff from Byrne, Trish, Kupps & Co. - I also smell yon editor's influence as regards one of next issue's guest appearances, and am looking foward to seeing how that character is interpreted. I think John's love of drawing structure (as Kirby with machines, so Byrne with buildings and other backdrops) sometimes works to the detriment of his drawing of facial features (except in close-ups), but I tend to prefer faces to structure, so perhaps that's just my bias. So, what did y'all think? LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #77 Co-Plotter/Scripter: Tom Peyer Here's what I thought... Boy, the Freudians out there ought to be having a field day with this one. Spotlight on Braniac 5, sulking in his cell on Takron-Galtos, which the Encyclopedia Glactica informs us is not mostly harmless. In fact, it's a rather nasty place, and I'm still wondering why B5 is there. I know Madame Pres is pissed at him, but isn't this rather - extreme? An unauthorized telepath arrives, and is told "Keep your hands in plain sight and step into the portal." Oh, and lady, zip up the front of your dress, for gosh sakes!! As if cleavage that would shock even Academy Awards attendees weren't enough to get her keelhauled (and you think it would be, in a Code- approved book), Nara Minsork has a criminal record longer than Mike Chary's memory. She's almost gassed into unconsciousness, but manages to override the arrest using a code given her by Warden Kreyton (boo hiss!). As the nasty little man shows Minsork to her destination (very nice work on the cells' force fields), we get a little more exposition (as opposed to exposure, thank goodness) and find that Minsork's one tough cookie - and one of the best illegal 'paths around. If anyone can crack the Coluan (especially under pain of death - nothing like pressure on the job), she can. She tries, and is summarily thrown out of B5's mind. Clearly this is a Coluan and a half, at least. But Nara doesn't take ejection easily, and plunges back in, latching on to one of B5's childhood memories (apparently the discovery of Einstein's Theory of Relativity using his building blocks). She then encounters B5's own hand-dandy narrator, the "Subliminal Essence" ("Grife! Even his unconscious is as dry and methodical as a documentary vid!"), who gives us a lesson in the History of the Dox Family. Not a real partying kinda clan. We come across an interesting revelation - there was some sort of scandal involving Braniac 4. And the Coluan government has deleted all records of it. And another clue - bored with the Coluan Sleepnet, young B5's mind wandered to thoughts of... Andromeda??? And Nara's kicked out again. This time she's playing for keeps. She knocks out the Warden (yay!) and takes out her Mind-Grabber cube, which she attaches to B5's head. This time she's just about seeing through Brainy's eyes - and notes that he views other Coluans as mere apes. Nice. What he must think of non-Coluans is anyone's guess. Anyway, we see the young Brainy has some rather... destructive tendencies. Which, of course, he blames on all the apes around him. Gotta love that boy's personality - not. We're then taken to a panel wherein B5's fate will be decided. Um, 'scuse me - Toms? How are we taken to this panel? These are supposed to be Brainy's memories - he wasn't there for the Coluan meeting. I mean, it's good background, but it doesn't make sense contextually. Anyway, they decide to give Brainy to Brande Industries - which he proceeds to blow up a lot, then RJ hands him off to the Time Institute... and we know the rest. We see Brainy's grief over Andy's apparent death, which triggers "one pleasant memory... the last time he felt good..." In his mother's arms. And we find out his mother was Braniac 4. The plot thickens. And Nara has her answer. Brainy wanted to travel through time to find out about his mommy, who abandoned him at birth - and to see her face. Which, given the blonde hair and all, Andy's face may in fact resemble. Like I said, a Freudian field day. Of course, Brainy now reasserts control, and Nara has to cede the manifestation of this memory to him. Nicely done scene. Which ends rather abruptly, with Nara being hauled off (at least she wasn't killed) and threatening Kreyton (who I really sincerely hope gets his comeuppance), as Brainy shifts slightly to spook the ape (the funny thing is, Kreyton does look like an ape, even to us) and reassume his former Rodinesque position. Will we ever find out what happened to B4? Well, I have my suspicions - you see, when the station was completed, it suddenly vanished, then it appears sliding through time in this real nifty episode... oh sorry, that's a different B4. Never mind. I hope the fate of Braniac 4 is followed up on, but fear that the Tom Team & co. have set up so many subplots for themselves with the Legion series that it'll take a good long while before we get answers. It's okay. I'm patient. I'll wait. So, what did y'all think? EXCALIBUR #94 Writer: Warren Ellis Here's what I thought... This story is "Inspired by DAYS OF FUTURE PAST by Chris Claremont and John Byrne and DAYS OF FUTURES YET TO COME by Alan Davis." So I'm already behind the game, not having read either of those tales. It begins, "The year is 2013. The future is a cold place." Icy. So frigid there's no hope, nothing joyful, no place to hang on in comfort. And I don't care for stories that produce nothing but discomfort. The characterizations are great. Four strong women, one of them the leader of the rebel resistance. Form fitting cat-burglar leather outfits all on the same body type (a type which occasionally has strange curviture at the spine), but at least they cover areas too often exposed for no reason in other comics. Pete Wisdom, having imitated Xavier in the last issue, has become his equivalent here in the future. Nice symmetry. But it's a bleak, dark story. It saddens me, which it's supposed to, and there's no way out. Even after we find out this was Brian Braddock's premonitory dream. I don't like comics with no hope. As well written as this issue was, I didn't care for it, for this reason. Sorry, Warren - hope I don't have to trade in my stalking card in exchange for honesty. So, what did y'all think? AMAZING FANTASY #17 Writer: Kurt Busiek Here's what I thought... It might have been nice for Marvel to tell us who painted what pages, but I suppose this is one of those "share the blame" things. Because the different style jar up against each other, and the story's flow is occasionally halted as a result. Some painters do a bang-up job - I liked pp. 1-3 (3 especially), pp. 7-9 too, and... well, you can't expect a company that doesn't even number its books' pages (a reviewer's bane) to tell us who did what, so suffice it to say that some painted pages are lovely and some are really no more than sketches, impressions in watercolor, which tends not to appeal to me (especially where facial features are concerned). The result is very, very uneven for me. So let's talk about the plot, which I adore. This is all about Peter Fitting In. Which, we discover, he used to. This makes so much sense to me - has this element just been added, or are long-time readers more up on this aspect of Peter's past than I was? I love the added dimension of Peter having been moderately popular until a combination of his bookish nature and Flash Thompson's entrance onto the scene changed things. This enriches the character so much for me! And it's a theme that's echoed several times during the book - Aunt May inquiring as to why Peter's friends no longer come visit, the really touching football scene at the school (probably my favorite scene in the book), and Spidey's barely-contained joy at meeting another superpowered teenager, the main plot point that drives this issue. The other teenager, Joey Pulaski, can fly, apparently fire off balls of force (and trap people inside them), and just wants to have fun with her powers. Peter comes alive when he hangs with her, but we later discover that she doesn't quite see him in the same light. Seems Joey's idea of "having fun" doesn't include thinking of others' welfare - she's been hired (by a portly corporate gentleman who I think is supposed to be the Kingpin - Marvel old-timers, help me out here) to wreak havoc on a building whose construction and management companies are not yet under his substantial thumb. She seems, for whatever reason (probably having to do with Peter's observation that she acts more like a 12-year-old than her chronological age of 15), not to have a conscience. Which is so against everything in which Peter is coming to believe that he can't quite fathom what's happening, even to the point of trying to calm Joey down when she's given the order to kill him. His sympathy - no, his empathy towards other people of power (shown in a nice scene depicting the "discovery" of Cyclops) blinds him, as surely as his tears when he's taking Joey down, to the fact that not everyone shares his nobility. A nice, thoughtful tale, with a few subplots addressed to keep readers on their toes (like the goings-on with Spidey's erstwhile manager, Maxie Shiffman, and a mysterious new superpowered person coming onto the scene) and some terrific character development. More, Kurt, more! Well, one issue more, in any case. And there's always UTOS. So, what did y'all think? THE INCREDIBLE HULK #438 Writer: Peter David Here's what I thought... We last left Puny Hulk (Banner's failsafe personality - the original Hulk intellect in Bruce's original body) about to catch a grenade. Hey, worked in the old days. But not this time. The grenade explodes, fragments hit Puny Hulk badly, and he's hanging to life by a thread. The Head Shop task force sent to break him out of Talbot's prison rushes him onto the jet piloted by Betty (nice touch - I hadn't remembered Betty could fly a plane, and the way Peter writes her she's still one of the strongest supporting characters in the Marvel Universe). Talbot's pissed, and this Alliance priority has prevented him from amassing troops to recapture the Hulk. Betty's beyond pissed. She gets the plane to auto-pilot and asks for some time alone with Bruce, who's clearly dying. And she knows it. But, as has been the case time and again with Bruce and Betty, the power of her love pulls him through... Well, sort of. His skin's a different color, and there are still multiple shell fragments lodged in his body and brain. Don't you hate when that happens? But no, it doesn't affect his personality - not much. Suffice it to say that, despite retaining enough intellect to figure out how he might be able to get himself out of his now-constant pain, Bruce isn't really thinking clearly. He verbally hauls off at Betty, and when he later decides to take matters into his own hands (reasoning he's been used by the Head Shop just like he's been used by tons of others) he bursts out of "Head"quarters heedless of the danger posed to her by the falling debris from his departure. And Betty's caught in her own lie, as Hulk reveals that the Leader, the object of the Head Shop's wrath and the reason they rescued him from prison in the first place (i.e., to defeat him) is dead. Or is he? Well, Omnibus, now running the Leader's underground community in Freehold, challenges the ghost of the Leader, who's apparently been haunting him for awhile now, to show himself. (Kudos to Peter for a couple very funny Pinky & the Brain refs during this scene.) Be careful what you wish for. As Omnibus watches the Alliance (presumably) blow up a section of the Great Wall of China, and the Hulk slam pointlessly into Mount Rushmore, his visage begins to change, and... ...he becomes the Leader. Not much of a stretch anatomically, but I like the hair growth. I can't wait for the explanation. Despite knowing very little about Omnibus or the Leader, I liked this issue a bit better than the last. We're seeing definite changes in Bruce again (are the "Ghosts of the Future" referred to in the storyline title the Leader and/or the Future Hulk?), Betty shines once more, and the plot progresses nicely. Enjoyable. So, what did y'all think? THE SAVAGE HULK Credits are kind of tough on this one, since it's a jam, so I'll take 'em separately and just mention the bracketing sequence up top: "Courtroom Sequence" Here's what I thought... The premise is, Hulk's on trial for his savagery, and he's forced to defend himself. Park your brain at the door - this is out of continuity, has little bearing on anything else that I can tell, and is an excuse for lots of writers and artists to strut their stuff and do their visions of the Hulk in bygone days. Hmm, that judge looks familiar. Leiber, Leiber... where have I heard that name before? ;) (Those even more terminally clueless than me, and that's going some, find out at the end.) And the prosecutor - Peter, I want to know right now how much Ingersoll's paying you to put him in your books. I'll double the amount out of my Lieutenant's salary. :) Stumped on the defense attorney's name, though - who's Maria Alvarez? Anyway, Alvarez holds her own, pointing out to the judge and jury that Banner's been persecuted ever since he became the Hulk (against Ingersoll's contention that he's been nothing but wanton destruction). The first (unidentified) witness leads into flashback #1, "Old Friends" by Dave Gibbons - who wrote, drew, colored, lettered and even color separated the whole segment himself! When was the last time this sort of thing was done? It's phenomenal. And it's Gibbons' "tip of the hat to Stan Lee, Jim Steranko, Joe Sinnot, Sam Rosen and their story 'No Longer Alone!' in CAPTAIN AMERICA #110." Which means more to old-time readers than to me, but still, this is one gorgeous story, of Hulk fighting against Captain America and Rick Jones, there to try to help him. The second witness, Terry Sznolick, recounts his tale, "The Power of Bullies" Uneven art, not surprising considering how many people worked on it, but a quiet little tale of how the Hulk may have changed a young boy's life. Terry's being set upon by the neighborhood bullies, who run when the Rhino falls nearby - pummeled by the Hulk, whom Terry has been looking forward to meeting. They talk, and Hulk tells Terry about the evil Banner, the only man of whom he is afraid. The Rhino wakes up, the fight out of him (this is very funny), and Hulk reverts into Banner. Which Terry had already guessed he'd do. Loebs' punch line: "It was the best single day he [Terry] had, until... thirty years later, he won the Nobel Prize for physics and sparked humanity to its next great leap forward." As the courtroom bracket takes place maybe ten years into the future, it's up to us to speculate what Terry will become. Nice tale. Doc Samson takes the stand next, and admits that Bruce has a problem with, how shall he put it, unresolved hostility. This presages the funniest segment of the book, "The Strongest One There Is" Humberto Ramos on Hulk. A personal dream come true, as far as I'm concerned. Hulk smash. All five pages. Well, okay, four pages, with a really cute surprise ending. Nothing earth-shaking (well, figuratively speaking), but it tickled the heck out of me. Much fun. Next up is Tony Stark, and you just know that means an Iron Man crossover, entitled "Brief" Didn't think much of this 4-page segment, which is pretty much an army briefing on one of the Hulk's rampages, where he punches out a bunch of folks including Iron Man. Eh. An interesting witness for the defense, then, in Gilbert Stormflower, and the most unusual story in the bunch, "Vision-Quest" Gilbert's desert vision-quest is interrupted by the Hulk fighting Thor over some perceived slight. They have at each other, destroying many sacred Native landmarks in the process. Iron Man arrives to break things up, and the three of them fly off. And "Gilbert grieves for the modern world. Fractured, fragmented and mean. It is a world where savagery has been so sublimated that its only release is in the gaudy thrashings of myths gone astray." He gives up on his quest. Well done, Mr. Wagner. As a courtroom guest asks Howard the Duck to put out his cigar, the next (unnamed) witness tells his story, "Dinner" I was underwhelmed. Hulk hungry. Hulk take refuge in couple's basement. Man shoots at Hulk. Hulk destroy building. Elayne yawn. Back to the courtroom, where Bruce has taken the stand and Marlo jiggles for the judge and jury. Yeah yeah, get on with it. Bruce reasons that his hostility is due to everyone attacking him all the time. On cue, about a gazillion villains suddenly burst in the courtroom, and things degenerate into silliness. I don't think this book is worth the $7 my husband paid for it, but you might enjoy leafing through several segments at your local shop. So, what did y'all think? [These reviews are reprinted with permission from the rec.arts.comics newsgroups on Usenet, and are copyright 1995 Elayne Wechsler-Chaput, getting ready to spend a very cinematic Christmas in Connecticut (=gasp= sans computer!), wishing everyone Happy Holidaze, and reminding y'all to be careful what you ask Santa for - you just may get it...] |
|||