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This week's digest: IMPULSE #13 IMPULSE #13 Writer: Mark Waid Here's what I thought... I haven't spoken much about the intense sense of place I get from this book (when Bart works out of homebase, of course), and I just wanted to say the shot on the first panel of page 5 is absolutely gorgeous. Kudos all around to Ramos, Faucher and McCraw for a lovely nighttime shot of the hills through which Route 45 runs. I've never been to Alabama, but panels like this make me want to visit. And we see a few more area hangouts throughout this tale, and an urban kid like me (okay, I grew up in a Jersey suburb, but I'm still pretty citified) gets a vicarious kick out of visiting the spacious front yard of a Southern mansion or the rapids of Devil's Thrasher. These outdoor settings also enhance the idea of Bart's freedom of movement as a super-speedster. But all this is incidential to the story, which this issue deals with peer pressure, how not to succumb to it, and what happens sometimes even when you don't succumb. Roland the "Water Rat" is sick of being teased about his weight and perceived lack of ability. In short, he wants to be popular. And Bart, fresh from last issue's concert, wants anything but this type of attention. So he decides to help Roland in his quest for fame, by surreptitiously using his super-speed to aid the Rat in performing death-defying stunts to prove himself to the dudes who egg him on (guys who are experts at diverting attention from themselves so that they never do the stunts in question). It's a wonderful, true-to-life tale of finding inner strength, and of Bart once again getting a taste of his own medicine as he finds it frustrating trying to keep up with Roland's impetuousness and love of risk. I always seem to have a favorite page - this issue it was page 14. Not only the usual fun dialogue between Bart and Max, but I loved the gag with the newspaper Max reads: headline "Faucher, The Man!", with the banner featuring editor Mark Waid and VP Chris Eliopoulos. Heh. Wonder why the VP didn't catch the paper's date, which I think should have read "April 12, 1996," not 1995. :) Right up there with the best of IMPULSE, and highly recommended. So, what did y'all think? JUSTICE LEAGUE TASK FORCE #34 Writer: Christopher Priest Here's what I thought... At first when I read the initial caption "The dead of night" and saw a bright blue sky with wispy clouds in the background, I thought, "Oh dear, did Adrienne Roy not read this correctly?" Her color choices on this book sometimes... baffle me. But no, the JLTF have found themselves on the world Skartaris, where it's apparently perpetual daytime. This is my first real exposure to this world (I'll get to that in a minute), so I thought Priest was doing a Conan the Barbarian-type riff in the beginning - you've written Conan, haven't you, Jim? Can't remember, wasn't reading comics then. <g> Anyway, I had no *idea* what was going on, but I found this opening scene incredibly, deliriously goofy - the mock on the language ("A Destroyer, come to destroy" - tee hee), the cat-flinging (no 2-dimensional cats were harmed during the making of this comic, I'm sure), and of course the piece de resistance - the Destroyer in question having a spaceship dropped on him. BWAAAAHAHAHA! A spaceship with a happy-panda-face painted on its front end, no less. Oh, this is too funny. We're told in flashback that the JLTF got ahold of this "space bus" when their original ship was confiscated on Xanthcar. Having failed in their quest to locate Desperon, their main aim at this point is just to get the hell off planet, and bounty hunter Glenn Gammeron joins them (he's not terribly popular with the locals either). Some kind of technobabble goes wrong with the space bus, and they manage to land on Earth only it's not Earth, it's a planet that occupies the same spacetime only in a pocket universe. Ooh, pocket universes! I thought nobody was allowed to do this since Crisis! I like! :) Anyway, folks familiar with Skartaris already know that it's the home of some sword-and-sorcery hero named Warlord. I know about Warlord, because it was a backup story in some of the issues of Arion which I collected. But I never really paid it a lot of attention, so I'm looking forward to finding out more about this character now that DC's renewed their copyright. <g> Warlord shows up on the last page accompanied by a woman who looks more or less normal anatomically, except she doesn't dress terribly well (she hardly dresses at all), speaks even worse (she meows, in fact), and apparently shaves certain regions 'cause there's no way any woman alive could be that hairless in... well, I digress. At least Gypsy is dressed. And she really shines this issue, as Priest takes great pains to remind us how physically vulnerable she is compared to her teammates, and Bernado does a great job on the second panel of page 12 in showing her take down Ray and Triumph simultaneously, pissed that they didn't warn her the space bus in which she was still sitting was about to be destroyed by Skartarian energy-arrows. The extreme far shots of the characters were also very hilarious - Ray taunting Will on page 9, where you see little tiny lines (of anger or surprise) coming from the little tiny Will figure... and Gypsy running from the bus on page 11... really nice, nice stuff from Bernado & co. Sets a great comic tone. Lots of crisp, oftimes hilarious writing, and a real joy. Damn shame this is being cancelled in a few issues. So, what did y'all think? THE RAY #23 Writer/Co-Plotter: Christopher Priest Here's what I thought... Many will breathe a sigh of relief that Death Masque is at last revealed and defeated in this issue. I'm not quite sure I ever took a shine to Deathduck-as-supporting- character, and there's enough other stuff going on in this book that I'd rather see - namely, more of Ray's family - that I'm glad it's wrapped up. And what a way to go - I don't think I've ever seen better work from Jason Armstrong. Especially compared to past issues, he grows by leaps and bounds this time, and the results are spectacular - dynamic, clear, consistent, good facial expressions for the most part, and most importantly the art is in total service to the story. Great job. Well, we find out here that DM is actually Ray's original computer program combined with the Light Entity he fought waaaaaay back towards the beginning of this title (wouldn't have minded a footnote somewhere on page 14, perhaps attached to the second caption of Panel 2). When Ray hurled the LE into the sun, a piece of it stuck to his shoe, of all things (tee hee), and he then passed it on to Dad (where it apparently picked up some of Happy's personality), then to Ray's friend Jenny then to his computer (ah, there's the footnote, that happened in Ray #0), where it finally found "a compatible host" in the DM program. And I will say right away, just so Priest can make fun of me again, that I have no idea what "win the game" means (unless it means the LE sees communicating with Ray as "winning the game") or how Ray gets rid of the LE in reprogramming DM's code strings. Does he reprogram them specifically to repel the LE, to treat it as a virus? And how does he reprogram them in the first place? By shooting light at the binaries? =sigh= Computer geeks. Just this morning Priest E-laughed at my home computer's pitiable 20mb hard drive. I'm supposed to grasp this stuff? In any case, nicely executed, especially at the end when Ray's just guessing but he's got enough instinct in him to guess right. And Joshua was great (getting more articulate all the time, and I love the doting-little-brother thing he has for Ray), and Nadine was great, and even Nadine's friend Sarah got in a few good lines, and next issue we find out whassup with Dad (is it going to be called "Little Ray, Happy At Last?")! Good wrap-up here, and I look forward to future issues with renewed enthusiasm! So, what did y'all think? MISTER MIRACLE #2 Writer: Kevin Dooley Here's what I thought... Well, first off, Wootinie and Rob Simpson have gone to DC Licensing, so Jason Hernandez-Rosenblatt is de facto assistant ed. now, and Kupps edits, which makes sense as he's editing or writing pretty much all the other Fourth World tie-in books. The issue begins with Scott fending off JLA'ers Wonder Woman, Fire and Obsidian, and I can't figure out how they could be possessed by the tainted Source (which surely must have other things to worry about <g>) in the first place because they're, like, not into that kind of thing, but that's the situation. And within those constraints, the principal players all seem within character. Scott manages to escape harm, Bea's balloon breasts aren't buoyant enough to keep her afloat after Scott leads her out of the atmosphere (guess she was so possessed she wasn't thinking), and something in the MM bag of tricks throws light on Obsidian to incapacitate him. Scott proves himself wily enough to realize that WW's lasso will snap her out of things, and manages to fly fast enough to wind it around her. That takes care of the first seven pages. Silly premise (JLA members attacking), fairly well executed. Back on Apokolips (thank goodness), we see some of Darkseid' minions being their old fun selves, as Granny Goodness outlines her plans to use her old pupil Scott against Orion. Interesting setup for a future plot, and I'm sure this will coordinate with NEW GODS in some way. Scott, now at... JLA headquarters? I didn't recognize this spaceship - revives his damaged Mother Box in a very touching scene with WW. I wish the whole issue were as good as pages 9-11. Boom-tubing back to New Genesis, Scott looks for the entrance to Hadis, where the Black Racer presumably sends gods who've died (couldn't someone think of a less derivative name for the place?). He comes upon old BR, far more talkative than in the old Kirby days - I was given to understand that part of the Racer's thing was that he didn't speak. Is it my imagination, or is this glaringly out of character? Anyway, Scott finds Hadis and battles the demon Enkar by using his wits instead of violence, since he has no desire to engage in battle in the first place. Nice touch, and well in keeping with the character. Then he sees an illusion of his mother (or is it?), before happening on the captured-and-changed Barda, white-pupiled and trashing every demon in sight. Now, I love Barda. I really do. But no way would she choose battle over Scott. That's how she helped Scott escape Apokalipse in the first place - her love for him won out over Granny's teachings, and she even gave up her position as leader of the Female Furies for a life with Scott. We know she's possessed, but MM's entrance should rightly have snapped her out of things immediately, and I was disappointed it didn't, because this means the book will be unnecessarily padded. Scott's throw out of Hadis and back to the Celestial City, where the Source Wall reaches out to drag him in. Guess he's gonna be a real god whether he wants to or not. Suddenly the Source is letting all kinds of characters in... there goes the neighborhood. I like the characterizations most of the time, but feel the situations here are still a little forced. Medley's coloring is intensely gorgeous, though. And we all know love will save the day 'cause, hey, that's the way it is with Scott and Barda. I'm sticking around awhile, but I hope the pacing on this title gets better. So, what did y'all think? BATMAN & ROBIN ADVENTURES #6 Writer: Ty Templeton Here's what I thought... This is a particularly fun issue of The Only Batman Title Worth Buying, as it plays around with the concept of who gets to be Robin if Dick Grayson's not around. Candidates for the position include a girl named Carrie who may remind folks of the female Robin in Miller's Dark Knight stories, a dredlocked kid who could represent a Wayans brother (rumor was a younger member of that clan was up for the movie role at one time), and a kinda punk who conjures up images of Jason Todd... In any case, the whole thing starts when a sleazy tabloid publishes a rumor that Batman and Robin have split, and a gullible public refuses to believe the whole thing's hooey. The creative team keeps up the farcical pace while attending to the serious subject of the duo needing to rescue one of the fake Robins, whose foolhardy bravado has gotten him into danger. Quite a bit of fun, and the Real Robin gets to showcase his own talents (as both a detective and a fighter) as well. Definitely up there with the best Templeton issues. So, what did y'all think? LEGIONNAIRES #36 Scripter/Co-Plotter: Roger Stern Here's what I thought... I'm not going to go over the plot details too much - others in the RAC.dc.lsh newsgroup have probably already done it more justice than I could. I'm going to talk about crowding and pacing and structure and Stuff Like That There. Roger Stern appears to be a master of pacing. This issue crackles with it. He and McCraw take great pains to recap plot points and refamiliarize readers with all the major players, as Legionnaires and potential (or ex-) Legionnaires all come together in the denoument of the battle against the Fatal Five. For the most part, they succeed. But the flashback pages 10-11 get a little confusing art-wise, because they're so text- and exposition-heavy that it's almost impossible to read the balloons in the correct order - they positively meander all over the place - and the lack of delineating panel borders on page 11 does not help. It's very pretty looking, but severely intimidating, and works against the story it's trying to tell. This should probably have been spread out over about 4-5 pages instead of two, and they could have cut the battle scenes. Because, aside from reintroducing lost Legionnaires like Kinetix (yay, she's back!), the battle scenes serve no purpose. The newly-overpowering Legionnaires easily defeat the Fatal Five (I'm not sure how Kinetix downs the Empress, but there's some nice foreshadowing there about the Emerald Eye), who not only regroup but manage to teleport out faster than XS can catch them (!), rendering the whole thing kind of... pointless. It's very hard to suspend disbelief to the point where people like Valor and Andromeda and XS (who's learned a few new Speed Force tricks, she reminds us in the fun first scene) don't defeat the FF decisively (i.e., to the point where they can't get up and regroup) with their combined might, and the book suffers because of this. The really fun part is bringing all the kids back together, and this is what should have been emphasized. Of course, the creative team realizes the absurdity of pretending this sort of free-for-all would be successful a second time, and concocts a serious and potentially fascinating political situation that gives Cos (who redeems himself quite well as a leader) a reason to split up the Legionnaires and L-helpers into three squads. Page 19 also drops some clues - we've already seen Cos thinking ahead, and Lyle mentions a plan for dealing with Ambassador Wazzo's renegade behavior as well. Also, Cham whispers something into Brainy's ear, but we don't hear what. And then the tone changes dramatically. After a page of foreshadowing regarding Doctor Aven (Imra's tutor, I believe) and the escalation of conflict between Braal and Titan, we're shown a few Legionnaires come to Ambassador Wazzo's quarters to question her. They're soundly defeated, and two of them are supposedly dead. Ah, but we already know there's misdirection afoot - Cham can shapeshift, Lyle can turn invisible, and they knew Wazzo was trouble so it's unlikely they waltzed in unprepared. As my husband and I like to say when we see this sort of plot twist, "Sumpin's up." We then shift to President Chu's office, where Brainy has just been given temporary amnesty, and in walks Crazy Wazzo with a blaster set on... stun? kill? She takes out Chu, Chu's guards (not very good guards, are they?) and Brainy. Personally, I doubt any Legionnaires have been killed in this issue, but I've been wrong before. Still, it's nice to see the creative team can still play these kinds of guessing games. This misdirection is just what a book with this large a cast needs to get people's minds off the unevenly-matched fight scenes. So, what did y'all think? UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN #9 Writer: Kurt Busiek Here's what I thought... We open on Spidey in mid-battle with the Lizard, aka Doc Connors, and are treated to a flashback of the webslinger and doctor (in his human form) remeeting to discuss the fat of Peter's new friend Batwing. Spidey finally convinces the scared mutated kid to accompany him to the doc's lab (I like how we're told this is a gradual process), where Connors succeeds in creating a test serum similar enough to his old one to possible help Batwing. Unfortunately, this good news excites the kid, who swings his winged arms too wildly and knocks the serum onto Connors' hand (he must be the only docto in the world who doesn't wear gloves) and remutates him into the Lizard... uh-oh. Well, they battle most dynamically (nice work, guest art team - I love the detailing on Batwing's arms and hands) but, alas, the bad guy gets away. To say that Peter's miffed would be an understatement - he punches out a lamppost the next morning, and very nearly makes Flash Thompson his next victim, but is distracted by Tiny's arm injury (doubtless caused by Tiny's abusive father, boo hiss). Then Sally and Jason happen by and get his thoughts back on track as Sally asks him about Spidey (and we still don't know whassup with her... looking forward to further explorations). Betty's missing from the Bugle - oh dear. Peter promises Jameson he'll get some photos of the Lizard, goes off to whip up more mutagen antidote for when he catches up with Connors, and the guilt-ridden Batwing joins him. They wind up in the sewers, and just look a moment at pages 14-15. Hold them about a foot away from you. Mattsson's muted blues and greens and pinks set a decidedly eerie tone, and check out look the contrast of Spidey's X-files-like flashlight against the dank darkness, that beautiful snake that grabs Spidey, the outlined letters used for the sound effect; the way everything flows (like the water therein) is just lovely. Pretty work here. Page 15 is especially keen, with the oblong panels growing smaller as Spidey lifts Batwing up to the sewer's ceiling, then swings onto a nearby ledge, looks up, and - bam, the last panel, with Spidey shown small in the lower left background and the Lizard having the upper hand... er, claw - in upper right foreground-- really nice. The captions are done well too, with the teaser in Panel one, the completion of the thought in Panel 5, and the dialogue in between. Terrific page. We're back in the present moment as Spidey and the Lizard fight, and then Batwing has a sort of strange epiphany - he begs the Lizard to spare Spidey, and calls the transformed Connors "Daddy." Spidey thinks, "Did Batwing know what he was saying? Had he heard me talking about the Lizard's son, and heard the way it rattled him? Was he just scared and alone, and wishing for his own father - another scientist, who'd died in a cave like this? I guess it doesn't matter," because the cry works - on Connors and on us. A beautiful, literally transformative moment. Himself again, Connors takes Batwing back to Florida with him, hoping to find a cure (I'll miss the li'l tyke), and Peter exposes the negatives: "I just can't bring myself to mess up Doc Connors' chance for a normal life..." Excuse me, how would pre-transformation shots of the Lizard do this? Dumb, Peter. The last page is some foreshadowing, and at last we'll see an interesting female villain - I can hardly wait. So, what did y'all think? STATIC #35 Writers: Adam Blaustein and Yves Fezzani Here's what I thought... I can't help wondering if Addie and Yves were aware that their days on this title were numbered when they wrote this issue. It just doesn't seem to me to have it's usual "pop." Plenty of crackle, though, courtesy of the villain-du-jour, Prometheus (formerly Ambrose Caliburn, Bang Baby), who can absorb and channel energy. And already I can sorta see the end coming. So I ignore the main story and concentrate on character development. Virgil's parents dress him down for failing to live up to his responsibilities at home and school, and ground him. Good for them. Daisy pretty much breaks up with him, so that subplot's gone for now. That doctor from the last couple issues who was tending to Virgil's recovery from the bee stings (we're not given his name here - bad form, as I believe all characters with at least a page of airtime ought to be identified in some form, if only so Sieve-Brain Elayne can talk about them in my reviews <g> - here a legible nametag would have sufficed) looks to be turning bwahahaha-evil, but I don't know how much this plotline will be followed up now either. Virgil finds himself too stir-crazy to sit still, and decides to sneak out and do the Static thing. He fights and overloads Prometheus, at one point even making me wince with how he leaps over the fourth wall and back again - "A wall? Who's writing this issue? Calm down, hero - this isn't a comic book. This is really happening!" Reminds me of the Firesign routine from DON'T CRUSH THAT DWARF which goes, "This is no movie, this is real!" "Which reel?" "The last reel of this vintage motion picture 'Highschool Madness,' lot #..." and the character goes on to auction off the movie in which the other characters are still appearing. Anyway, so the bad guy, who never gives a reason for being a badguy except he's, in Virgil's words, a "drama queen," overloads and disappears and there's no body. Pretty standard, and a little disappointing. But then, Virgil slinks home, still in the Static outfit, only to find Mom having flung the bedroom door wide open, confronting him icily with "I want to know what's going on." Personally, I never thought he should have kept Static a secret from his parents anyway, but that's just me. Nice artwork, funny lines here and there, but... a little pedestrian considering what I've come to expect from this writing team. So, what did y'all think? THE BOOKS OF MAGIC #24 Writer: John Ney Rieber Here's what I thought... Finally, an all-Molly issue! Hoorah! And not only that, but we see there's a reason Molly and Tim are, presumably, meant to be together - Molly has connections to the fey as well. We open in County Armagh in Northern Ireland, where Molly's grandmother has a farm, where she's been pulled out of school and sent to live. I'm looking forward to Rieber exploring more of Molly's relationship with Granny, which is complicated to say the least. Granny visits Molly, doing chores in the barn, with a letter - "Something to do with your young man." She makes Molly promise to open and read it at "the top of Leanen Hill," apparently a gathering place for fairy-types. And we see Molly grumble and grouse about Granny (whom I'm convinced she really does love, she's just in a bitchy mood) and the fey (whose reality, of course, she knows as well as anyone - I think she's just not certain Granny's fairies are real) and the fact that Turnip the horse won't stay still to be saddled. She's so livid she calls Turnip "Tim" - very nice touch. Off she goes to Leanen with her letter in her satchel, trying to suss out her situation, inadvertently saying hello to a couple townies hiding in the forest, who give us some needed exposition that Molly does indeed take after Granny. (Did this scene remind anyone else of Thorn and Gran'ma Ben in BONE?) Upon arrival, she turns to Turnip, whom she finds eating the letter! What else can go wrong? Well, there's enough left for Molly, and us, to piece out what's happened - Gwendolyn's written Molly to let her know about happenings back home, as we saw in the last few issues. Apparently Tim revealed his powers to his dad, who took it badly, hated the tattoo (whose existence shocks Molly, who remembers Circe only too well) and stormed out of the house, whereupon Tim decided to strike out on his own. Molly's matter-of-fact resolve here is terrific: "Tim's dad may be perfectly willing to let him disappear, but I'm not putting up with it." She sends Turnip home, lays out the picnic for the fairies, and sure enough one comes along - someone she's sure she's met before. Interesting. The fairie refers to himself as "a fool," which sets Molly to laughter. Not a good thing to do among the fey. She apologizes, and explains that she's the bigger fool. Oops - on Leanen Hill, that constitutes a challenge. She's in for it now. The fairy flies off "to assemble the court for the passing of judgement," leaving Molly in the company of others who weren't so lucky in meeting previous challenges, and have been turned into rocks as a result. And she sips the fairy tea and hears one of the rocks speak. Their conversation is wonderful, giving us a good glimpse into the workings of the fey as well as Molly's mind. Have I mentioned yet what an absolutely wonderful character she is? The rock, who used to be Mister Hanrahan, calls her "little Queen," and I'm quite inclined to agree. Would it be blasphemous to suggest I'm much more intrigued by Molly's story at present than by whatever Tim's up to? I didn't think so. Lovely pastoral art that fits the anything-can-happen mood completely. One of the best issues Rieber's done so far, and I say that knowing I'm utterly, utterly biased. Long live Molly. So, what did y'all think? by Peter Kuper Here's what I thought... I'm not that familiar with Kuper's underground (pun unintended, given the subject matter here) work, and I was very leery about whether or not I'd be able to get into this, because I usually need words with my pictures. That said, I had no problem at all reading this fascinating work, and would recommend it to others harboring the same reservation I did. Kuper's story is told in a stream-of-consciousness style, flowing from one character in this slightly-askew New York City to another, or morphing from a character into the panel setting the next scene, almost effortlessly. We notice that many of these characters recur - the cop on the take, the bum with the dog, Detective MacGuffin (wonder how much of a clue that is?) - and even pass each other more than once without knowing the others involved in our story. This is very much in keeping with NYC life, let me assure you. We're given further background information on the characters through newspaper clippings (as with MacGuffin drowning himself in drink over his inadvertent shooting of a young boy who'd pulled a toy gun on him), which also include details of a current presidential race between frontrunner Muir and his competition, the incumbent President Rex (who looks a bit too much like Newt Gingrich), as well as corporate maneuverings between rivals Maxxon and Syco (the latter of which has apparently acquired the Chrysler Building). We also get a glimpse of a mysterious, presumably evil, guy with an eyepatch and a jar of radioactive material... hmm. There are millions of stories in the naked city, as the saying goes, and this is about ten of them. I find it deliciously ironic that Kuper chooses to tell a silent story about one of the noisiest places on earth, and I found myself actually filling in the background sounds (the subway clattering, police sirens, the cabbie cursing out the whistling skateboarder) as I read. Unsure whether "the system" of the title refers to the subway itself, the way things are done (i.e., the status quo) or both, but I'll be around to check out future issues. Maybe I'll even read them on my daily subway commute. Vertigo Verité is off to a good start. So, what did y'all think? Written and Drawn by Jeff Smith Here's what I thought... Interesting that this issue opens with a 5-page teaser about the Lord of Locusts talking to his unnamed and unseen master. I'm not sure I like the tone it sets, because - even though it gives us some necessary information about Thorn and dreams and the battle to come - the rest of the issue takes place in Barrelhaven, where the Bone cousins are reunited, and is (deceptively) much lighter in temperament. On second thought, there's little Smith could have done instead, because we have Thorn going to sleep within four pages and having her dreams encroached upon almost immediately, and we'd know a lot less about the shadowy figure hovering over her bed were it not for the setup. Meanwhile, Phoney and Smiley brag about having hoodwinked the Barrelhaven villagers, and Fone Bone announces to his cousins that he will not be returning to Boneville, because he's seen a glimpse of the bigger picture and there's no longer any turning back. The other two mock him, and he storms outside, where he encounters a baby rat creature, left behind when the others turned tail. Awww... We cut to Thorn's dream, and we see her as she will soon be, in her regal garb. She's calling to her grandmother not to enter a cave - only, since it's a dream, it's not Gramna, Granma's behind her urging her to go in. And she's just about to give in, when Fone Bone wakes her (great dream-perspective page, with Fone appearing huge over the distant mountains. Thorn awakens, only to be freaked out by the baby rat creature and move to attack it. Next Issue: War. Hope they find Granma before it breaks out. I'm still riveted, even though that gitchy feeling won't quite go away. So, what did y'all think? A DISTANT SOIL #12 Written and Drawn by Colleen Doran Here's what I thought... Thank goodness we're given an extensive "What has gone before" page because, even though Colleen is like my favorite artist in the world she also has a tendency to draw many of her characters alike, as well as to introduce so many characters into this story that it's been nigh impossible for me to tell the players without a scorecard. In her letter-column-without-letters, "Ovanon and On" (y'all can blame me for that name), Colleen talks about a card set as part of the "Creator's Alternate Universe" - and never did I wish for one so much, to refer to while reading this. Another thing is that Colleen's art tends to get so caught up in its own beauty that very often important story points are lost on the reader - well, this reader, at any rate. Who else "got" the major revelation last issue that Rieken, the Ovanan resistance leader, is also Seren, the Ovanan Avatar against whom the resistance is struggling? You could have knocked me for a loop. Now, can someone please explain this to me? How can you be in two places at once when-- I mean, how can you be the leader of the Hierarchy of Ovanan and the leader of the resistance against that Hierarchy at the same time? Sounds schizophrenic at the very least. Well, what seems to happen this time is that gang leader Brent Donewitz (I think - Colleen gives little indication of names within the story itself; we're mostly supposed to remember who's who, and I can't) is suffering with a slug in his leg, and the Ovanan woman Bast helps Rieken/Seren's bodyguard D'Mer run things on the ship while his master is out cold (as is Liana, the supposed protagonist of this story who also possesses the Avatar's powers). D'Mer makes the decision to start training the humans without Rieken's help. I'll be interesting to see how much Bast chafes under his direction. Meanwhile (as shown on the cover), the evil Hierarchy member Lady Sere confronts Major Kovar, the Avatar's protector aboard the ship Siovansin, who may or may not be in on the secret that the Avatar is really Rieken. He almost kills her, but for some unknown reason spares her life. She and her escort Niniri discuss the situation afterwards. Ooh, I can't wait to see Sere get her comeuppance... Rumor has it this title will be moving to one of the studios owned by an Image founder, which should certainly help alleviate Colleen's money problems, the reason she hasn't published more frequently. No indication of this in "Ovanon and On," which does mention she'll be online soon (and I know she's not yet), but it's been reported on the 'nets, and I look forward to seeing what'll happen. This title comes out way too infrequently as it is. If you can get into the large cast and epic story, this title is highly recommended - and the art is gorgeous. So, what did y'all think? SKELETON KEY #8 by Andi Watson Here's what I thought... When we left Tamsin and Kitsune, they'd been shrunk into "Super-Deformed" Li'ls (as I call 'em) by the Super-Deformed Chinese Acrobatic Squad or something like it. Unfortunately, they've fallen into the Redcaps' trap, so the acrobats decide to stage their own rescue attempts, which fail hilariously. Great slapstick stuff. Meanwhile, the misandrist witch intern Oni, from whom the Redcaps take their orders, has captured Tammy's Mr. Raccoon bag, brought it to life, and turned it against Tammy - uh-oh. She's also taken Tammy's sometime friend Yale, who's still out cold. Fortunately, the girls and the rest of the acrobats are saved by Diabla and her Ironic Accelerator (the funniest technobabble device since Douglas Adams' Probability Drive), and they all go off together to find Oni and Yale. Watson's art takes a little getting used to, but it's become much easier to follow the story in recent issues. Tamsin's a great heroine, Kitsune's dippily adorable, the acrobats are very amusing, and even Oni comes across as more bumbling than threatening. A good series to introduce to an adolescent girl, I think. Quite recommended. So, what did y'all think? (Published by All-Jonh Comics) [NOTE: Despite the mock numbering, this is the first anthology produced by these very strange and wonderful folks from Vancouver.] Here's what I thought... CAPTAIN SOFT Plot: Conrad Bain (yeah, uh-huh) Well, you should have already figured out from the credits that these guys aren't about to take stuff seriously. This "in media res" adventure of Captain Soft and his crew opens with Lieutenant Lofty Balzak and Adam in the officers' lounge playing Operation, actually uses the word "Jinkies!" in BIG letters on page 3, and features art slightly reminiscent of early anime. A few too many '60s sitcom jokes for my tastes, but overall extremely cute, and worth it for the gripping "Rock Paper Scissors" scene alone. After a fake ad for All-Jonh's other comics (hell, I wanna buy "Forbidden Hearts," it looks neat!) we come to SANDWICH HIGH Plot/Pencils/Letters: Jarrod Poon Well, we've got a one-page intro to the cast of characters and the main situation - the duty of the superpowered Student Body is to, at all costs, protect the Sandwich of Sandwich High from being stolen! See, if you sit on the Sandwich you inherit infinite power and can rule the galaxy, and if you eat the Sandwich you learn its secret ingredients and face "dire consequences"... In this chapter, Jasmin Buttercup has transformed herself from dweeb into beauty to win the heart of Grit McRae, who's dating Karen Muldoon, who... oh heck, just read it. Lots of high school madness and fun and I can't quite keep track of everyone's powers but that's what the intro page is for and DON'T, whatever you do, refer to Pomelo's head as an orange! Much chuckling awaits the reader of this fine installment. Then we get a kewl faux "Newspage," and sandwiched between a page of mock "Fan Art" and the fake letters column we find TRICKY AND NUBY Plot/Pencils: Dennis C. Miller I 'bout laughed my little tush off at this story of a girl who's just plain tired of eating dirt. See, that's all there is to eat on the moon called Llamby-3. And Nuby's about sick of it. So she decides to become a space cadet, where the grub's gotta be better... In short, I'm not sure I want to know who Monkeybot and The Man are, or what's up with the Stairmaster, or have any of the other in-jokes explained; I'd much rather just go along for the ride. And it's a charming little roller-coaster. Looking forward to more. So, what did y'all think? [These reviews are reprinted, with permission, from the rec.arts.comics Usenet newsgroups, and are copyright 1996 Elayne Wechsler-Chaput, who will be on review hiatus (again) next week, because she's been convinced to attend the Motor City con after all! Look for me at the Friends of Lulu booth, and many thanks to RT for putting me up (and putting up with me)!] |
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