Elayne's page

JUSTICE LEAGUE TASK FORCE #33
"The Stand"

Writer: Christopher Priest
Penciller: Ramon Bernardo
Inkers: Bernardo, Wallace & Napolitano
(over-the-top, pointless cover by Chris Batista & Chip Wallace - feh)
Colorist: Adrienne Roy
Letterer: Kevin Cunningham
Asst. Ed.: Ali Morales
Head Honcho: Ruben Diaz

Here's what I thought...

Every so often, I'm asked why I review, what I hope to accomplish with these little essays. My last, best response is often that I want to be the Liaison to the Stars. :) Here, then, is what Priest has to say to all of you about page one of this issue:

"I am aware of the latest time discrepancy (on page 1 I say Gammeron is 150 years old, which is impossible, since he last saw J'Onn 300 years ago). This is a screwup. I did correct it in my revised script, but apparently the letterer had the wrong version.

"The solution is a simple handwave. He's either a) affected by relativity. Or b) speaking in terms of his physical age as opposed to his chronological age (i.e., he's bought youth treatments or something like that.)."

For the record, then, please read the first caption as beginning "Eight centuries ago" - thanks ever so. (I am currently working on a theory that Priest's Wrong Script Version Fairy is closely related to Waid's Bad Balloon Placement Fairy, and expect to have the entire Gaffe Fairy Family Tree posted on somebody's Web site any day now.)

Onto the story, wherein Our Heroes jump out of the frying pan and into the fire. Friendly fire at first, battling Glenn Gammeron, an old (at least 800 years old, last I checked <g>) friend of J'Onn's who's now a bounty hunter having brought Desperon to trial on the planet Xanthcar - but you know all that, because Priest lays it all out again, like he does every issue. Why are people having so many problems with this title? It's all there, every time. Sometimes it's so blatantly "look at me" it makes me wince (more on that anon), but it's always all there.

Glenn's pissed because the trial judge Oti danced away in the arms of a few Tornadians who probably got bored picking apart Star Trek (sorry, private joke for Priest's benefit) and decided to kidnap and presumably bask in the media star's 15 minutes of fame. After J'Onn contacts Desperon's VR command center (the part of Desperon that's L-Ron, who looks real haggard and claims to be losing control - nice character development here, but I miss the old Hunky L-Ron), Gammeron and the TF team up to find Oti, but not before J'Onn picks up Triumph by goading him into getting mad and recovering through, you should pardon the expression, sheer strength of will. And off they go, into the Horta's catacombs - "everyone stay close," says J'Onn, and roll credits. No kill I.

As the team winds through the catacombs of Xanthcar, J'Onn suggests they split up so Priest can accomplish two things with page 11 - define Gypsy and Triumph a little more in relation to how each feels about Desperon, and to annoy the bejeezus out of Elayne with another Patented Priest Bad Exposition Page. I haven't seen one of these in a long time! Yeeee! "So Gypsy," starts Triumph, "here we are, being weird." And goes on from there telling her how she's doing this, while he's doing this, and isn't it interesting how they're doing this?... Five panels of hell in red, hell to read. All necessary information for newcomers. All laying it out. All exposition, all the time! Awkward as all get-out. And I have no friggin' idea how to "fix" it, so don't even ask me. :)

The judge is found and rescued. Gammeron and Desperon have a heart to heart and an out-of-bodies experience at the same time, walking in each other's mocassins. Suddenly Xanthcarians (Xanthcarites?) break into the courtroom screaming for blood (where are all the guards?). Desperon, who could have freed himself all along, does so now, bops Glenn relatively gently (okay, Gammeron takes a dive) and escapes. Once again the Task Force pops in a tape of In Search Of, but their transport has been towed and they're surrounded once more by screaming Xanthcar-- er, folks from Xanthcar.

The dialogue is among the funniest in any comic book around. I laughed almost all the way through this. Consistent and enjoyable, except for page 11, and even that page has its moments. Frenetic but really badly inked and colored - it's like each of the three inkers worked over the other two, and the background colors tend to vary a bit much from panel to panel. Love the sound effects, though.

So, what did y'all think?

THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #533
"Scavenger Hunt"

Writer: Karl Kesel
Penciller: Stuart Immonen
Inker: Jose Marzan Jr.
Coloring by computer (Digital Chameleon)
Letterer: Albert DeGuzman
Asst. Ed.: Mike McAvennie
Head Honcho: KC Carlson

Here's what I thought...

Every now and then I pick up a Superman comic just to keep up with what's going on - sort of supplement my readings in Previews - and the guest- appearance in this issue of Impulse gave me a great excuse to check it out. I'm pleased to report that, at least as I see it, Kesel has Bart *down*. He uses the character faithfully and to best effect, and the teamup is a lot of fun.

Faced with an evil mad bomber what bombs at all hours of the day, just about anywhere, Supes stops in at (John?) Broome Street and, amid nasty looks from Lois (who's had another one of Those Talks with Clark's ex-girlfriend and former mermaid Lori), places a call to Flash. Sorry, Wally isn't here, he's - well, he's not around at the moment. Or in the moment. Or something like that. The phone is, we're told, answered by Max Mercury (not Linda Park?), who sends his prize student ("yes, we're giving him away next week!" - Firesign) over to help out the big guy.

Bart actually turns out to have a bit on the ball for a kid with the attention span of a fruitfly. He tries to help Supes puzzle out where in the world the bombs will be set off. First stop is Mexico City's Plaza de Tres Culturales - and we find out Bart knows Spanish! There's an interesting surprise - wonder if it's Waid-approved. Maybe he learned more than one Ancient Earth Language in his VR environment.

The two heroes hop, skip and jump around finding and destroying bombs amidst some clever riddling and funny dialogue (my favorite concerns the Pope - bwahahahaha), ending up at the San Diego Comic Con-only-not, 'cause in this world it's an art exhibit - and Ma and Pa Kent happen to be there! Quelle coincidence! Supes yells at Bart to clear the building, and the young speedster conjures up an extremely amusing Patented Impulse Pictogram (I applaud Immonen for duplicating this Ramos trademark so faithfully) as he whizzes folks out of the Convention Center. As Supes has now figured out, most of the bombs were duds, designed to get him away from homebase...

...where the Villain du Jour, some Riff-Raff clone with a cyber-monocle named Scavenger (no, the monocle isn't named Scavenger, the guy is... well, you know what I mean) is fighting Alpha Centurion (he's still around?). Our teamed-up heroes rush in to save the day and thawrt him, but he makes off with some kind of Coins of Power.

Meanwhile, there's a scene with Jimmy that's so mired in continuity I don't even care about what's going on, and a couple scenes with Lois and Lori, and Clark's changing relationship with both of them, that were very touching if a bit bewildering to the occasional reader. Guess there's trouble in paradise again, huh?

Lots of things to like here, many having to do Kesel's always- delightful writing and with Immonen's art - the way Bart is drawn sort of blurry in most panels, like he's constantly fidgeting (or, more probably, vibrating); the little touches of diversity, like the interracial couple holding hands in San Diego or the woman whose Star of David goes flying when Supes sweeps down in the splash page; the way Lois' face scrunches when Lori lets loose with a surprising bit of information... All well done. But, alas, sabotaged greatly by thick inking that keeps everyone half in shadows most of the time and muddy computer color that obscures even more.

Still, it's a nice book to pick up every once in awhile. I just wish the powers that be would consider single-issue stories once in awhile.

So, what did y'all think?

STARMAN #17
"Encounters" (cover title: "Beyond Sins")

Writer: James Robinson
Penciller: Tony Harris
Inker: Wade von Grawbadger
Colorist: Gregory Wright
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Asst. Ed.: Chuck Kim
Head Honcho: Archie Goodwin

Here's what I thought...

This issue was both frustrating and gratifying for me to read. Some of it is written as though Robinson has paid attention, word for word, to a lot of discusion going on here on the 'net, especially as regards Jack's relationships with women. One word balloon in particular blew me away - when Lucy, his on-again, off-again lover, observes pointedly, "You may be a hero, Jack Knight, but that still doesn't make you a nice person." I think this ought to dispel doubt as to whether Robinson lurks here - this very topic has been at the center of much debate ever since this series started. When Robinson writes like this, it almost feels interactive.

On the other hand, sometimes he winks at certain fans a little too much for my liking - and here I speak of those readers with far vaster amounts of Golden Age knowledge floating around in their heads than the rest of us. At times it's amusing and clever, as when Ted Knight, the GA Starman, muses over Solomon Grundy's mostly-unconscious body, "It's like you're a new person each time the swamp re-forms you," or a different writer gets his hands on you. At times it's just infuriating to those of us not In The Know ("Skyman"? "The Black Pirate?" "Scalphunter"???). Robinson appears to be keeping somewhat of a rein on this tendency, but it could get out of hand if he's not careful, and then he'll be preaching to the converted and not drawing in any new people. Not what you want in a book that's barely in its second year of reincarnation.

Harris' art is growing on me by leaps and bounds. He draws such normal- looking people it's a pleasure. He does wacked-out folks too, demons and villains and the like, but that just makes the folks with believable anatomy look all the more normal by contrast. The splash page is a delight - second book this week (after IMPULSE) that gives us a credit splash wherein the man is wearing less than the woman. Jack is buck- nekkid here (covered discreetly by a blanket from the hips down) and in his repose he looks positively sexy. I mean, I don't normally consider Jack an attractive man, but he's delicious in this shot. And look at Lucy as she gets dressed - she actually has a stomach, like most real women do! This is so great to look at. I wish more artists had this kind of a feel for representative reality.

After a brief encounter with the new Mist's goons and the aforementioned Pirate, we jump ahead an unspecified number of days to the morning after "a long night," the details of which Robinson does not provide. We know some of it had to do with sex, and we find out Lucy's had enough because it's only ever been about sex between her and Jack, and she wants something more. She exits for good - I have a feeling we won't be seeing her again. This happens all the time in real life; well done.

Then Jack's father Ted reminisces over Grundy's body, and finds Mikael awake and coherent and ready to chat. God forbid we should see how this scene ends. That's three teasers to only one resolution - not a good ratio so far. Cut back to Jack, who has gone to Charity (the seer we met some issues back) to have his future told. We find out she knew Zatara. Now, I know who Zatara was, as I suspect many DC fans do, but what of those who have no clue? Maybe they just shouldn't read this comic; this happens all the time in STARMAN. It's connected to DC's past to the point of being mired in it. Continuity's all well and good, but disjointed continuity serves no purpose except to excite trivia fans' "a-HA!" buttons. But back to the plot synopsis...

Charity tells Jack many things about his possible future. He asks the standard fanboy questions: "What about the 'winged man?' When's he coming?" The response: "Not yet. In fact, his path has changed course. As a result, you may never meet him after all." Possible translation: a project that DC green-lighted then cancelled?

This goes on for a bit, Charity dropping us clues here and there - including the catch-all "If you ever have a thought... some strange, wild thought... or a name pops into your head for no reason... it may be important later on." Oh, thanks a heap. I mean, you know as well as I do that This Could Mean Anything. So the reader's left with a choice: overanalyze it all to death, which Robinson seems to encourage (I point out that our teaser-to-resolution ratio is now off the scale), or simply skip it in pseudo-disgust. And I sense more than a few people are starting to lean toward the latter. Robinson, even in all his flowing prose, doesn't make it easy, doesn't really invite you in.

Outside, Jack shuffles about (Harris' positioning of his feet is terrific) asking Charity on a date. She agrees to meet him as a friend, but says she's waiting for someone else in Opal City whom she'll "meet and love." Wonder if it's Mikael? No, never mind, that was just a strange, wild thought, a name that popped into my head for no reason. I doubt it's important. :)

Meanwhile, we rejoin the Shade, who has just finished instructing the O'Dare clan (minus Clarence, who deserves a happier life than the rest of them apparently believe they merit) on how to aid him in fighting Damon Merritt and the Poster Demon. Bye gang, see you on the upside.

Jack gets a haircut and informs his barber that he's found a new storefront at which to set up his busines. Outside of the barber shop he runs into Sadie. Sparks may or may not fly. Meanwhile at Opal City Hall, it's out with the old and in with the new, as Sam Woo is now police commissioner and has just assigned Clarence O'Dare to be liaison to Starman. All three scenes here are done well and true.

The next scene isn't. We enter in media res, and Robinson makes a big show of telling us that. The rest of the O'Dares have apparently just defeated the Demon. "Ahh, but that would require a tale in itself. Worry not, that tale will be told. But not now. Now we see the end of it." So can I, like, get a partial refund on my comic? And it turns out that the O'Dare with the moustache (none of the redheads but Clarence are identified by name in this issue - again, the writer is making the casual reader work way too hard) is the reincarnation of Someone Else in whom I have no interest 'cause I don't know from the Golden Age.

Like I say, by turns frustrating and gratifying. When it's good, it can be spot-on. When it ties its little Gordian knots, I wink out because I don't have the patience. The title is appropriate - I encounter this book. I connect with it briefly, then it moves on, then I reconnect briefly, then it's gone again. An encounter isn't a relationship, and it's the relationship between the writer and the reader that make for continued loyalty in the end.

So, what did y'all think?

BONE #22

Written and Drawn by Jeff Smith

Here's what I thought...

With Mark Oakley's THIEVES & KINGS #9 and Charles Vess' second BOOK OF BALLADS AND SONGS also just out, this is a wonderful week for fantasy comics. And even though Jeff Smith has gotten way serious of late, BONE is still a delight to read and treasure.

As if to acknowledge the dour turn of events, Smith smartly opens this issue with a discussion between the stupid, stupid rat creatures over what to do about Kingdok's almost-dead body. They briefly try stanching the blood, to no avail. They finally realize, after four pages of hilarity, that nobody besides their dying monarch knows about their screwup, and the order of the day becomes "Run away! Run away!" It would be just their luck for Kingdok to pull through, but we'll have to wait for future issues to find out.

Because it's back to Fone Bone, Thorn and Gran'ma Ben, as Fone examines Kingdok's slashed-off arm - still holding its briary weapon - poking it to make sure it won't jump up at him (this is so cute) and Thorn tends to Gran'ma's wounds as they bitch at each other. Thorn's still rightfully pissed that her grandmother never bothered revealing her origin - and she gets even angrier when Gran'ma starts talking about the Dreaming. No, not Neil Gaiman's Dreaming; this one's "a forgotten hum that all the animal and all the trees are still listening to. It's just us who can't hear it anymore. Most of us, anyway." Okay, maybe it is similar to Gaiman's Dreaming after all. :)

Anyway, wouldn't you know it, Thorn's one of the few, the proud, the fairy princesses. And apparently Fone's a sensitive as well - they've both been contacted through their dreams, for which Gran'ma has yet to forgive the dragon (who she believes has put her kin in danger).

Gran'ma also tells of the Hooded One who now leads the stupid rat creatures, and of the mystical sect of Venue, and the Lord of the Locusts, and Thorn pretty much says, "That's it, I'm outta here." She's fed up with Gran'ma having lied to her (even for her protection) her entire life, then suddenly springing all this information on her. Gran'ma insists, desperately, "I'm telling you the truth as fast as I can!", but it's too fast, too late, and Thorn bolts.

Gran'ma realizes it will be awhile before this rift heals, and gives her sword and locket to Fone - the sword for Thorn, the locket for Lucius - before taking off in a separate direction. Fone (now brandishing Kingdok's briar-club) catches up with Thorn, headed back to town - only the town's been barricaded. Orders of the "new boss" - Phoney Bone. And, er, his deputy Smiley, no doubt. Rounding up the militia in Lucius' absence. Ornery bunch.

This continues to be one of the most captivating titles around. It can go from laugh-out-loud to deadly serious and back in the space of 22 pages, and the characters have such texture, such depth, that you just want to hug Jeff (well, I do) for bringing them into our lives. This is also, interestingly, one of those titles people either really, really like or just can't get into. I'm glad I'm one of the former.

So, what did y'all think?

SEEKERS INTO THE MYSTERY #3
The Pilgrimage of Lucas Hart
Chapter Three: "Choking on the Past"

Writer/Creator: J.M. DeMatteis
Artist: Glenn Barr
Letterer: Gaspar
Colorist: Nathan Eyring
Head Honcho: Shelly Roeberg

Here's what I thought...

With this issue, DeMatteis delves further into mind/body duality and, while I'm usually in almost total agreement with the (very) personal philosophy that he tends to espouse in books like this, I don't know that this is always the case here. However, he always provides great concepts with which to play around, and my unease with a few of them may just be a matter of semantics.

We open the same way we always open, Pinky - by trying to take over the world. No, sorry - we open with the same six-panel teaser that showed up in #1 and #2, the woman dancing in the damp darkness outside a moonlit mansion, exclaiming, "It's raining grace!" Of course, you know that by noontime, it's alllllll gonna change... no, wait, that's someone else...

I'm not sure I have a handle yet on what DeMatteis means by "grace," but I'm getting there. He also employs this term in DR. STRANGE #87, just out this week, and it's interesting to compare meanings.

DR. STRANGE spoiler space for the truly anal retentive among us

In the course of the DR. STRANGE issue, Stephen Strange undergoes a transcendance of sorts that has him achieving, (apparently) at long last, a "state of grace" - which translates as absolute peace with self, beyond his past's ability to hurt him, and a greater understanding of and connectedness to the cosmos than ever before. It also encompasses his ability to finally forgive his worst tormenter, which I think is also going to play a part in Lucas' journey here. I believe it ties into the religious concept of grace, too (as in "hail Mary full of..." or "grace before meals"), rather than its rather more common secular use (i.e., "grace under pressure") - although it could contain elements of that meaning as well, insofar as it presupposes serenity, almost nirvana.

And indeed we open with present-day Lucas in more or less a state of grace and serenity, philosophizing to us about the collective unconscious ("we're not our minds") and thoughts that come to us unbidden, "as if they thought themselves -- and you had precious little to do with it." I know this feeling - this is pretty much how my writing feels when I'm "zoned." Like thoughts, situations, characters are dictating themselves, and I'm merely taking transcription. Rarely can I fault a book that begins with Jung and takes it from there. :)

Although, the next step is a little iffy for me. Lucas (or DeMatteis through Lucas) posits that since we're mind and body, the two are sometimes at odds - that the body can retain memories on a subconscious level when the mind wants to wipe them for our ego's protection. In other words, if I'm reading this right, it's sort of a twist on Freud: mind as superego, self-needing-protection as ego, body as id? Dunno if this seems correct to me - I always thought of the mind as the id and the body as the ego, the vessel holding it all together. What Lucas describes sounds more like the mind fighting itself than fighting the body. But it's the premise DeMatteis sets up, so we're pretty much forced to accept it if we're to move on.

And so it is we discover that Lucas' biggest fear, the Knife Demon, is actually the Can (of Worms) Opener for a doozy of a repressed memory. Now, I'm not kidding when I say "spoiler alert" - please consider not reading the rest of this if you haven't yet read the book and plan to.

another spoiler? okay, a little one

The repressed memory is that Lucas was sexually abused by his father when he was a child (pretty much the age to which he has regressed in this part of his mind's journey). And the recovery of this memory awakens him (in his hospital bed, remember?) with a start. The Knife Demon, having cut open the hole, has healed it.

Lucas is pronounced 100% healthy and is released into Rhonda's waiting arms. And here's where the next chapter begins, as Rhonda is much more fully realized as a person (exactly what I was hoping would happen as I read the last issue, which I thought glossed over her - I have to keep reminding myself to trust DeMatteis' writing more, it usually answers all the questions inside my head eventually). She's a hell of a woman. You wonder why she stayed with Lucas so long - maybe she saw, or sensed, the person he was to become long before he did.

And he's still in the process. First comes the rage. Then the questioning, as his eye alights on the picture in Rhonda's book ("The Magic Dance" by Viola Clark - I'm still wondering if this book is real). Yep, it's the impossibly smiling, beatific face of God's Janitor, as I call him. A recurring character in many of DeMatteis' books (as I mentioned in my review of SEEKERS #2), who plays a major role as well in Marc's epic MOONSHADOW. Rhonda even has a shrine to him. She calls him the Magician. Lucas knows him; has always known him. He's so overwhelmed by finally "seeing" the Magician that he instantly remembers all his past lives! (Aw, c'mon, go with me on this... <g>)

Exhausted (and who wouldn't be), he then drifts off into an 18-hour dreamless healing sleep, and awakens a new person. At least to his mind, and that's all that matters. Even if he's not sure what's going on yet with his mind. But he makes it up, and his decision is to confront his parents with his new insights. He asks Rhonda to go with him, and suddenly realizes how much he loves her. And finally, she gets to experience that too. Lovely, almost tantric scene here, well done by Barr (as is this whole book), as they fly to heaven...

And then they're on a plane, back to his parents' place, and I could swear I saw old Dream-Spirit Charlie peering in through the window. Or is it Real-life Charlie the homeless pisser? He's got his shopping cart with him, after all. I'm baffled - on purpose.

And they arrive at Lucas' childhood home, and Rhonda practically drags him to the doorbell, and Mom answers with the news that --

--his father has just passed away.

Oh, my.

Heavy, powerful, delightful, distracting, rewarding, fascinating - everything that's good about DeMatteis at his best. If you share his sensibilities as much as I do, I can't recommend this enough.

So, what did y'all think?