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This week's digest:
KINGDOM COME #1 Co-Plot/Script: Mark Waid Here's what I thought... Dan Raspler first showed me and Johanna Draper the art to this issue back in September, so I had the rare privilege of seeing it full-size. Even shrunk down, it still blows me away. As with Alex Ross' work on MARVELS, people will be picking this baby apart panel by panel delighting in all the background stuff and subtle homages ("look, it's Turtle Boy Olsen!" "Did you spot Beppo?" "Which Legionnaires were in flight with Superboy and Supergirl?"), which is of course about one-third to half the fun, depending on how much one enjoys overlooking the forest for the trees. My personal allegiance (yes, yes, get all the jokes out of the way now) is with the Story - I tend to notice the Other Stuff only on a second and third reading, and primarily as it interacts with and enhances the storyline itself. Having only seen the uncaptioned, un-ballooned art up until today, I could tell this was going to be something special, because Alex Ross has a knack of being able to tell the Story with a character's glance, a bit of scenery - even in the way his panels are laid out (viz the frenetic "ripped "look of the panels during a chaotic fight scene). Any writer would have his/her work cut out for him/her to keep up with Ross' magnificence. Fortunately, this book doesn't have just any writer. It has (IMHO) the best damn superhero writer in the business. And yet, at first I was as guilty as, I assume, anyone else in just sitting and staring, feeling almost as if the captions and balloons were an intrusion. Fortunately, as I was drawn further into this compelling story, that impression faded quickly. Our tale concerns the gradual enlightenment of pastor Norman McCay, friend to Wesley Dodds (the GA Sandman) toward the end of Dodds' life - whereupon Wesley passes on some sort of precognitive ability. After Dodds' passing, McCay finds himself wandering the streets thinking about the talks they used to have: "For hours, he'd bemoan the passing of things like Olympic Games and Nobel Prizes. Sometimes he'd ambush complete strangers and ask them how much they missed the concept of human achievement." These two captions are really striking, especially paired with Ross' depiction a couple panels down of a toppled statue of Justice and an advertisement for the game ball from the last-ever World Series. McCay stops into his local Planet Hol-- uh, Krypton, owned by the ever-entrepreneurial Booster Gold as it turns out (we never see him, but a green-haired woman identifying herself as Bea asks for him), but is too disgusted by the commercialization of Everything Good to stay very long (aw, please, just one more Sugar & Spike cartoon?). He wanders some more, past Siegel's department store and the Jimmy "Turtle" Olsen shot playing on the moving billboard, heedless of the red and yellow blurry speed-streak behind-then-around him, trying not to think about all the people around him who've lost hope. Who no longer believe superheroes can make the world a better place. And who can blame them? The new breed is very kewl-looking, but acts with utter disregard for their surroundings, and especially for innocent bystanders (a woman's eye is actually punctured by some sort of weapons debris). McCay winds up protecting a little girl himself. Then, suddenly-- the action stops. A bulletin has just flashed on the giant billboard. Something terrible has happened. Something that stops even these current "heroes" dead in their tracks. McCay is losing faith quickly. Especially since he realizes (as he's tearing out pages in his Bible - very good image) that he's "inherited" the visions of which Dodds spoke. Then another vision, the Spectre, appears and speaks to him, as we see Christ speaking to a disciple on a stained glass picture in the background. The Spectre needs McCay to mete out justice, and the two of them are off to bear witness. Their first stop appears to be a midwestern farmland ("but that's not... possible" McCay whispers, and we still don't know what he means at this point - this suspense is VERY well done). There we see a man who appears to be in his 50's or so, who can only be (the former?) Clark Kent (with all his superpets, apparently), visited by old friend Diana Prince. She's come from Paradise Island to talk Kal into rejoining the cause. "Our generation takes its lead from you. We always have." He's happy in his (literal) Solitude, filled with memories and holograms of happier times, and no longer wishes to get involved. Something happened ten years ago, something that made him, as the Spectre notes, "abandon his never-ending battle." His tragic flaw, expressed beautifully and exactly by Waid, took an immeasurable toll. And it's come to this: The tragedy facing the world now bears the name Magog - a "superhero" whose actions precipitated a nuclear disaster of near-unimaginable proportions. Some places and heroes have survived, remote from this latest disaster - Keystone City (where the current Flash has been operating "between the ticks of a second" to help keep things at bay), the Pacific Northwest (protected by the environmentally hyper-conscious Hawkman), and places not of this Earth but above it (where a Green Lantern sits and broods in an empty ring-made city) or beneath (domed Atlantis, where Aquaman has retired). We also see brief glimpses of Paradise Island and the 30th century (where Superboy and Supergirl lead the Legionnaires in flight), and catch a darker vision of a police state-like Gotham populated by armored Batman clones. But none will stand against what Magog and his ilk have become. And the fighting rages, as the supers shoot willy-nilly at each other, endangering lives they don't even notice. Mark Chiarello, Vince Letario and other DC employees find their cable car disabled and about to fall into the ocean - when suddenly, miraculously, they're saved. And the people look up, and see hope once more. Hope in red and blue. But McCay, cursed with his visions, sees only red - the burning red of what's still to come. I don't know about you, but I'm more than satisfied that this series is not only living up to its hype but (if possible) surpassing it. I'm glad the religious aspects are done with such a light touch, given the subject matter. I had fun finding some of my friends ("hey, there's Ruth as the devil woman on the back cover!"), although I haven't spotted either Mark or Alex in the crowd shots yet. And I found it a superlative story, to go with superlative art. Eagerly awaiting more. So, what did y'all think? Writer: Mark Waid Here's what I thought... Well, anyone looking for a resolution on the "faith" issue will just have to be patient. Bart doesn't choose a God this time around. What he does do is even more interesting - and I'm not entirely sure it's in character, at least as I've read the character up till now. At one point in this story the Eye of God, this artifact in the shape of a cross that's supposed to guarantee its bearer protection from harm, comes into the possession of Bart's friend Carol, who clutches it for dear life. And Bart imparts to her the lesson Max taught him - not only has Max not confused the kid, but the words Bart chooses would seem a little wiser than his mental age would usually conjure up. Max, Bart notes, "said that where you place your faith is something you have to decide for yourself. If you really think Bobby [Carol's brother] would let you down like this... if you've got more faith in a piece of metal than you do in him... than keep the Eye." Of course, Carol sees the Rightness of his words and gives him back the artifact, and the last panel on the page shows them in silhouette, his hand on her head. It's a very Waid-like speech, it presses all the right buttons at the right time and all, it imparts This Issue's Lesson (faith in each other as human beings is important - that ought to please the rac* atheistic contengent <g>). It's just that-- it seems somehow false coming from the Short Attention Span Kid. Like he's reading someone else's lines or something. I'm not sure how I would have done this better - I don't know that anyone could have. I mean, Waid needs to show that Bart is learning things despite himself, so it serves a dramatic purpose to have him make The Pivotal Point. It just didn't feel completely whole to me, for some reason. The Trickster seems off his game as well. He enters Carol's house intending to switch briefcases - actually, it looks like he's switching them back - with Carol's brother Bobby. Now we can infer that what happened to the Eye of God was that James Jesse put the Eye in Bobby's briefcase for "safekeeping" while the police were after White Lightning, and is now pulling a reverse switcheroo. But when a suspicious Bart confronts him (even our young Mr. Allen doesn't buy the "toaster repairman" line, although it's a great gag), he tries to think fast (and appears to fail), fesses up and opens the briefcase, perhaps figuring that if he can't dazzle Bart with brilliance he'll baffle him with bu-- uh, fast talk. But-- surprise. No Eye of God. And James is astounded. Which leads me to believe he's not off his game after all, but that this game may very well be played out on something of a Higher level in order for Carol to learn her Life Lesson. A tad too mysterious and heavy-handed, methinks. There are cute bits here and there - the idea of Trickster and Impulse working together is a bit of a hoot, and it was fun seeing Lord Manny get his comeuppance. I like Bart's ravenous craving for Carol's toast. And there are a couple twists too - the revelation that Trickster and White Lightning were in on this together, and it was all for a good cause... well, sappy but I liked it. Overall, though, this didn't pack the punch for me that the previous issue did. Below par for Waid, I'm afraid. Of course, the Page 20 >Wham!< shows up on page 22 this time, as we prepare for #16's revelations about Who Max's Friend Helen really is. Good one, Mark - I had my suspicions, but I don't know that I saw this coming in quite this way. Williams uses far too many thot-pictograms, I think, but Tom's colors are nice (and he did confirm to me that Bart's eyes are supposed to be yellow, something that - for some reason - I'd never previously noticed) as always. Overall, though, not one of my favorite issues, to put it mildly. So, what did y'all think? HAWKMAN #33 Writer: Priest Here's what I thought... A very dynamic looking issue - I'm really starting to like Collins' work a lot - filled with resolve and resolution. Katar Hol is determined to save J'Onn J'Onzz from the myriad hawk avatars now possessing the Martian Manhunter. He plows easily through junior Justice League members Obsidian and Nuklon on his way out of the JLA spaceship headquarters, observing to himself how amateur they really are compared to a seasoned vet like himself, but Wonder Woman trips him up. Or down, as she lassos his feet as he's about to make good his escape. Her lasso forces the exposition out of him - I don't know if it wouldn't have worked better and saved more time (which seems to be his priority) for Katar to just tell everyone the truth in the first place, but he's not a man given easily to trust. Still and all, this section felt a bit padded to me. I'd much rather have seen more pages in the deli of Chaon, but we only get four panels of the immortal demonic grouch, who points the Hawkhunter in the direction of Arion, busy schmoozing it up with his friends and trying to figure out how to banish the avatars. No luck, apparently - and J'Onnhawk flies away with him muttering something about a date with destiny. Meanwhile, the bit of the avatars still left in the seer Mother Mary briefly possess her, and she almost offs Katar's mother Naomi before Shayera stops her with a well-placed bullet. I'm afraid I'm not clear what happens to her at the end of this scene; she appears to be killed by Hawkhunter's searing vision, but killing characters isn't Priest's style. In any case, it's down to J'Onnhawk and Shayera, wherein the avatars confess their culpability in the grisly murders that started this storyline - turns out they did it to diss Katar. You know, sometimes giving a guy a wedgie just doesn't send a strong enough message, I suppose. Anyway, Shayera's really in for it when, out of the sky, comes Katar to the rescue, in a full-page splash so grimacing and serious-looking that Collins and Kaalberg just had to sign the page for future sale. Hawkhunter plays dirty pool with civilians, whom Katar saves, but at great cost - he's seriously wounded. Cue the gooey romantic scene with Shayera (and is that Mary in the background on page 17, panel 4? phew, I knew she wasn't dead), which I thought should have all been in Thanagarian, but was lovely anyway. And the final battle rages, and Katar reflects on the life that now passes before his eyes. And somewhere below a fire starts, and Katar uses it to his advantage, knowing the Martian's aversion to the element. And he buys enough time to allow Arion his final entrance, armed with a spell to transport Katar and the hawk avatars (which Katar reclaims) to the realm of the Hawk God. To be continued someday, I suppose. Vintage Put-em-on-a-Bus Priest. We're all but told the character isn't dead, but he's gone enough for his loved ones to mourn him on this plane. And we hold out hope he can overpower the avatars on their home turf sooner or later and return, more skilled and knowledgeable as ever. When he does, I'd like to see Priest have a go at him again. A bit of a pat wrap-up, but a well-executed assignment. A nice three-issue series to get. So, what did y'all think? THE BOOKS OF MAGIC #26 Writer: John Ney Rieber Here's what I thought... Back from Brighton, Tim wanders the streets of London trying to figure out where he's going. Poor lad can't even remember to eat, though, and drops of hunger and fatigue. Into the alley wherein he rests wander two characters, a skeletal birdlike thing and a long-haired leaping gnome name of Kenny. Kenny gets Tim to a safe place and nurses him on hot and sour soup (we get some exposition about him as he's waiting for his daily bowl and talking to the very pregnant woman at the cash register). Tim's holed up at Mile End - a place, or a marker? While one mile ends, many more stretch out in front. And Kenny watches as Tim's tattoos, which apparently leave his body when he slumbers, war with one another. The butterfly vanquishes the scorpion, which burns up and hurts its former wearer like a mo'fo, but at least Tim's finally rid of it (and he starts suspecting the motives of the woman who branded him...). Not so the butterfly, at which Kenny takes aim. But Tim's not ready to release that particular "lost man's map" - and slaps it back on himself before Kenny can fire his gun. "At least you stopped the thing," Kenny consoles him, "before it returned to your heart." He also reassures the lad that "The only maps that take you places are the ones you draw yourself." But Tim is about as eager to accept homilies as he is to take the gnome's bullet (which he tosses away). And right here I must confess this entire scene was incredibly cryptic to me. We learn a few things about the tattoos, sure, but most of it is riddles within riddles. Appropriate for the book, but darned confusing. I guess more will be made clear to the reader and to Tim in time. Kenny gives him one last gift - a ticket to anywhere he wants. Tim decides to visit Zatanna in San Francisco. He has a little trouble filling out the forms on the plane ride; I bet that nice Mr. Gaiman across the aisle from him could have helped. (Is that yon author Rieber in the seat next to Neil?) While Zatanna's passport seems to work okay for Tim in Customs, the magician herself is nowhere to be found. Tim names his bag (I like this, it's very Tim the Magician) and converses a bit with "Toto," when whom should he coincidentally bump into than... Leah, and her Lost Girls. All her friends from the agency. Who are tickled to meet the boy about whom Leah's gone on about. And Leah's not about to let him out of her sight; looks like Zatanna will have to wait as Tim boards the girls' van, bound for adventure in the World's Neatest City (well, it is to me, at any rate). Somewhat lost, somewhat carefree, full of magic and wandering San Fran. Yeah, I could get used to that. Gross' art seems a little-- flat on Leah (and a little less so on her friends) at the end there. The story itself is a bit of a transition, coming in fits and starts and unfolding slowly and quietly. Rather ordinary, even with the bird-head and gnome and tattoos. I keep thinking I'm missing one or two obvious things, but this particular chapter of Tim's passage held little interest for me and required more patience than I confess I was able to muster. So, what did y'all think? Steve Rogers: CAPTAIN AMERICA #453 Writer: Mark Waid Here's what I thought... Much as I've become a fan of Garney's work, I like Rinaldi's depiction of Sharon Carter a little better. She still appears ultra-competent, but her face is softened a little. I prefer her hard edges to be in her personality rather than her appearance. Of course, there are those couple panels where Bad Balloon (pun unintended) Placement Fairy has her breasts literally doing the talking, but hey, they're crowded panels, there's a lot going on. Anyone else notice that the coin mentioned extensively last issue by Machinesmith, who encoded all of Cap's memories of military and other secrets on it, serves as a total maguffin, and isn't even referred to after page 3? Wonder what becomes of it. Well, in any case Machinesmith himself is the far bigger threat. He's got the controls of the SHIELD helicarrier all atwitter, and Sharon works to save the vehicle as Steve locates the escape hatch and goes for help. Sharon comes through - and it ain't easy to make tapping on a keyboard suspenseful, nice job here - while Steve (who's promised he'll be back for her; pardon her skepticism) goes for help and diplomatic immunity to... Doctor Doom? Delicious. And a nice circular sort of thing, considering Doom brings up Cap's ill-advised teamup with the Skull from Waid's first storyline. Steve actually convinces Doom to see reason - their stare-down is terrific (interesting penciller, this Rinaldi) - and Doom, in obvious admiration of Rogers' cojones, gets him an airship back to the states. Where Machinesmith, possessing the consciousness of one of his clonebots, eyes the Football. You know, that briefcase with all the secret nuclear codes that an attache carries around at all times near the President, Just In Case? One of the more mind-numbing vagaries of modern society - and, not coincidentally, Machinesmith's real goal. All he needs to do is get the codes from the President's brain, conveniently confessing his similar attack on Captain America in the process. Fortunately, said Captain has just returned. I'm dyin' to get Garney to autograph that marvelous page 15. Ain't it grand? Hope Waid gets to keep the original page. Very nice subtle jab on page 16 at the new Liefeld-designed Cap costume. Some of us were nodding in great appreciation at that one. The bots vanquished, Machinesmith makes his move and throws his consciousness into the only non-mobile electronic equipment around. The Football. Stupid, stupid Machinesmith creature! I'd have gone for the plane and auto-piloted the hell out of there. Cap throws the Football into a nearby propane tank, causing it to leak, causing the fuel to blend with the fire, and KABOOM! (okay, WHA-KOOM, I think it says), bye-bye for now, Msmith! But why is the President saluting this? Ah... he's saluting Cap, who returns the salute from silhouette at the top of the next page. All's well, Cap's reinstated in good standing, Bubba learns his lesson and even gets to try on the shield (cool!), and we'll have to wait until next issue to see what becomes of Sharon. The roller coaster slowed down a bit for me this time - I found more things that I wanted to admit stretching credulity - but it was still a pleasant and fun read, and even half a book by Ron Garney goes a long, long way. Shame the sucker's ending next month. So, what did y'all think? DAREDEVIL #354 Writer: Karl Kesel * which begs two questions: who pencilled pages 8 and 9, and why do they bother telling us who did what pages if they don't even number their pages in the first place? Here's what I thought... A number of people noted, upon reading Kesel's debut issue last month, that Daredevil felt more like Spider-Man to them. Apparently not one to resist a challenge, Kesel opens himself up to more scrutiny this month by having the webcrawler himself (both Peter and the clone, or is it the other way around... no no, don't tell me, I don't want to know and I don't much care) guest star with Matt Murdock, facing off against a common foe (the Shooter). And the dialogue is nice and breezy as they trade quips, and Kesel attempts to take pains to differentiate their styles. The result is, however, more like "Murdock is the thinking man's Spidey" rather than "hey, these guys operate from two totally different backgrounds and sensibilities." We're given, as Spidey notes, "the two-man beach volleyball team of the superhero set." And it's a lot of fun to read, but again - how in character is it for Daredevil to be spouting this kind of dialogue? I'm afraid folks who've followed the character longer than I have will have to answer this one. I will say that I enjoyed the proceedings, and I really liked the art (esp. the inking; the shadows are great). I felt that the whole "enhanced senses" thing might have been played up a bit too much, almost hammered into our heads, but complaining about this seems to me akin to bitching about overuse of the Spider-Sense or Superboy's "tactile telekinesis." :) Overall I'd rather see more Show, less Tell, but as long as the dialogue is this much fun I'm happy. The female characters, Rosalind and Karen, are still far too enigmatic for my taste, and I'm looking forward to Kesel expanding on them more in future issues. Very nice scene at the end with Rosalind, during which Murdock plays the blind card to the hilt. Also intrigued by the appearance of Liz Osborn - are she and Foggy an item now? Matt's and Karen's relationship is very nice, but I'm also puzzled as to how she thinks she can get away with lying to him about her employment prospects. Subterfuge is never a good idea in these sorts of romantic entanglements. My absolute favorite panels (the best giggler in the issue) come on the page before DD catches up with Spidey - he's just spotted the webslinger but knows he's talking with Peter Parker, and since he's been out of it lately he decides to investigate. Off he runs, leaving Karen, Parker, and reporter Ben Urich behind. And each of them knows his secret identity, and they simultaneously try to think up excuses to make for him to cover to the others! Really precious. Can anybody fill me in on the status of this title as "Unfinished Business" rears its ugly head? Can I look forward to many future issues, or just a few? It's a fun book, I'd hate to see it cut down too soon. So, what did y'all think? STATIC #37 Writer: Erica Helene Here's what I thought... There are good and bad things in this issue. First of all, Virgil's back in his element - high school - for most of the book, which I think is very smart. Secondly, the whole time-travel plotline, complete with the traveller whom he later meets for the first time as her younger self, is fun and I'm looking forward to seeing more of that. Also, good use is made of the fact that, as one former STATIC writer once explained to me, Frieda is the Secret Keeper, and the result of her keeping everyone's secrets is finally shown very blatantly here. Which is good and bad. We've known or suspected Frieda's bulimic for around 5-6 issues now, but her friends still haven't glommed on. That makes the ending of this issue a little movie-of-the-week'y, especially when coupled with the discussion preceding it. On the other hand, bulimia is considered by its sufferers to be a way they can exert control over their bodies when their lives often lack control elsewhere, and Frieda's dilemma as everyone's confidante is certainly indicative of a loss of control - she listens to all their problems but is unable to solve them. And of course, she can't bring Larry back, which only adds to the pressure - one is never more powerless than when one faces the fact that a dead friend or lover isn't going to return. I wasn't thrilled with the way Frieda was drawn. On the one hand, I like her skinniness, but Virgil's also shown as somewhat wiry. Frieda just looks - too OLD to be in high school in most of the panels wherein she appears. She's like one of those 90210 kids, that you sit there going "yeah right, I'm supposed to believe she's 16..." This is also a problem with Monica, later (or earlier, depending on how much time travel gives you a headache) called Valerie. When we first meet her she's in her mid- to late 20's, and drawn that way. Later on we see her as a teenager - and frankly I don't see any major age difference. Granted, lots of people don't change in ten years, but it's my opinion that Rosado has trouble drawing believable girls as opposed to women, and this somewhat detracts from the story. The writing is mostly there for me, especially Valerie's stuff and most of the later high school banter - but the 10-years-older Snakefinger sounds like a bad Yoda knockoff. It's not just, as Virgil notes, "the speech lessons haven't paid off" - it's that every other sentence reads like he's got trouble placing his verbs, and then he goes back to sort- of pidgin English with no verb placement problem. "...other snake helps me find Valerie" followed by "Escaping me, you cannot..." then "conquering the world I will!" followed by "The spear shall assure it!" is inconsistent dialogue. Either you show mild syntax trouble here and there, indicative of someone who knows how the language works but isn't quite there yet, or you don't go for this at all. Nice scene shifts, from the opening confusion and intros through the small battle scene into the quiet moment with Frieda and finally in the school - you see time passing, you get the feel things are going by almost too fast for some of our young characters to handle. It feels like a hectic high schooler's life and then some. Monica/Valerie intrigues me, but it's unclear (based in large measure on this title's system of Musical-Chairs Writers, I'm sure) how or when this storyline will be picked up, because next issue... Next time we deal with the fact that Virgil's sister has a crush on Static. I hope to God this means he's going to confide in her before we all have to suffer through one of those Luke/Leia EMPIRE STRIKES BACK awkward moments... ewww... So, what did y'all think? Featuring "Knight Watchman and the Sinister Quiz-Master" and a Doctor Weird text story, "Master of Ghosts" (I have no idea who does letters, coloring, etc.) Here's what I thought... Steve and I picked up the first incarnation of the Big Bang comics in Chicago last year and were more or less enthralled. The style quite captures the kid-oriented superhero comics of the Golden Age, and we wished them a lot of luck. Well, they've moved to Image (actually Erik Larsen's Highbrow Entertainment) rather than presumably lose their shirts self-publishing, and I don't know whether I just didn't see it before or was giving them the benefit of the doubt or what - but I'm less than impressed by this current package. Someone named Terrance Griep, Jr. (the editor, maybe?) talks about "rearranging of old elements into something new" and "a hopeful light of possibilities cutting through smothering, otherwise inescapable atrophy" (already the editorial is written with more sophstication than the comic but maybe that's just me). Most importantly, Terrance claims the characters in Big Bang Comics "are more than heroes; they're comic book archetypes!" All hype and putting-down-of-the-mainstream-competition aside (and I don't want to get into that again, I refer folks to my DR. WONDER review from last week for my comments on building up your own work by putting down the efforts of others), I looked to see something new. I especially looked to see archetypes. Unfortunately, there's sometimes a thin line between homage and ripoff, and I think BBC has crossed that line. Mighty Man isn't just a tribute to Captain Marvel, he is Captain Marvel, down to the lightning bolt costume and the trademark squint. He works at WHAM radio, he says "Holy Baloney!", he deals with the mind-manipulating Wicked Worm... it's like one of those FBI show disclaimers about only the names being changed to protect the copyright. It's a pleasant enough GA Captain Marvel story, and I like the ending a lot (Mr. Mi-- um, the Worm winds up getting killed as a result of a gorilla chomping him), but let's not pretend this is a new twist on something. Even older is the Batman and Ro-- um, Knight Watchman and Kid Galahad tale, which deals with a thinly-disguised Riddler character called the Quizmaster. The subject at hand - the fiend captures Kid Galahad, who's due to appear on the "What Do You Know?" quiz show televised on the old Motorola... At least DR. WONDER tries to update Silver Age precepts to the '90s. This comic opts to have everything take place Way Back When. I think you can forget about seeing too many independent women, folks of color, etc. in these books; sometimes the action of choice for people who don't want to move forward is to retreat into the past, I guess. Anyway, the KW and KG story deals with that old chestnut, the Revealing of the Secret Identity, and it's light and fluffy and good for kids and all that. The thing of it is, as Steve pointed out to me re: DR. WONDER - "Who's the audience for this?" It's a good comic for kids, but if I want kids to know about the Golden Age I'll get some GA collections for them. It's certainly not going to appeal to Image's core audience, promises of "earlier versions of SHADOWHAWK" etc. notwithstanding, because they're either into a different style entirely or don't care that much about the history of the medium. And adults are going to see "ripoff, not homage." I can't see getting really worked up about this, but maybe I'm missing something fundamental. I'd be curious to ascertain from other BBC readers what appeals to them about this line (I'm afraid for me it doesn't go much beyond Thunder Girl), and how they perceive its continued success or failure given current market conditions. So, what did y'all think? by Jeff Smith Here's what I thought... Jeff Smith's once-light tale has taken a decidedly grimmer turn lately, but I guess it's always darkest before it gets even darker. I suppose you realize that this means war. But that's not for another few issues. Lucius returns less-than-triumphantly from his hunt for Gran'ma Ben. The conniving Phoney Bone is confident enough in his position as current town leader to let Lucius in the newly-erected gate. Lucius bemoans the loss of common sense on the part of the townspeople, but they're determined to keep those immigr-- um, dragons out, and reasoning with them is impossible at the moment. Meanwhile, Fone Bone and Smiley Bone try to figure out what to do with the not-so-stupid rat creature cub, before Fone and Lucius compare notes on the story so far. We learn that the rat creatures and denizens of the village are under a treaty which has existed since the Nights of Lightning. We learn more about the Lord of the Locusts and the Disciples of Venu. We learn a whole chunk of talky text, kept on the palatable side by Smiley's persistent and hilarious inability to accept that Thorn's actually a princess. The idea suddenly dawns on the townspeople that if Phoney's such a great dragon slayer than, hmm, maybe he ought to go ahead and slay a dragon... I'm glad that what's gone around is coming around for Phoney. And, as Lucius comforts Thorn... We cut to darkest night, and the gathering of the true enemies - Kingdok (thought he was dead?), the Lord of the Locusts, the rat creatures, and the "men of Pawa" (the Disciples?). Things do not look good. If I were reading these last few pages to a kid, I might try to prepare him/her for the bleakness therein beforehand. I'm still very curious to know where Gran'ma Rose Ben is in all this. Jeff Smith's chosen ad is one of the best swaps I've seen in awhile - Don Simpson's Bizarre Heroes meet Fone Bone and Thorn (as drawn by Simpson), where Fone says "Thank you for visiting my comic book... and not hitting anybody!" Hee. So, what did y'all think? Story and Painted Art: Peter Kuper Here's what I thought... Like Detective Maguffin, Kuper manages to piece together all the plotlines and resolve the main story, even insofar as revealing to us what the title means (it's from an Erasmus Darwin poem about death and night and chaos... yeah, a happy poem). Some systems crush others, while some folks emerge triumphant, and some... simply continue on. The hacker slacker has transferred his half-smiley, half-grimace icon from his skateboard to his motorcycle (presumably newly-bought with the yuppie's money), creating even more of a menace to the general populace in terms of noise pollution and reckless driving (this issue's metatheme, more or less). The yuppie finds out the hard way he's been ripped off; he drops his cell phone in shock. Heh. Maguffin crouches in an alley, having found a clue to the stripper murders - a bloodied page fragment ripped from a Bible. Chances are it doesn't belong to Norman McCay. :) The polite young man visits his lover in the hospital - the emaciated man isn't moving, and the worst is suspected. We, and the shocked young man, witness a bit of magical realism as the lover is levitated away from the tubes and hospital bed and flies out the window to his eternal rest, free at las-- what? It was just the young man's imagination? His lover's alive after all? Thank goodness. This was one of the most emotionally moving scenes in the whole issue for me, and very well done. I was really rooting for this couple to make it okay. Well, President Rex (boo!) has won the election, and wouldn't you know it, dirty deeds are suspected. Turns out the videotape that forced his opponent, Kirkpatrick Muir, to resign from the race was digitally faked! Can you imagine? (Then why in heavens name did Muir give up instead of insisting something fishy was going on? Or was he killed before he could set things aright?) Politics as usual goes on. The drunk subway motorman returns to his job, and we know there's going to be trouble as we follow him and the bomb-laden man with the eyepatch (separately) into the "G" train (which, by the way, is the only non-shuttle train that bypasses Manhattan entirely, so Kuper's taking more than a few liberties here by showing Mr. Eyepatch in Grand Central). The drunk motorman is running the train directly behind Mr. Eyepatch, who's seated (along with a scared-looking yuppie and some protestors demanding justice in the Yusuf Stewart murder) in the last car. He runs it... and he runs it closer... and he and Eyepatch look at each other as the train behind gets too close and there's no way to brake and-- Let's just say that the 2-page subway crash image will stay with me a lot longer than is comfortable, considering I ride the darn things every day. And the box with the bomb (timer pre-set, remember) falls into the hands of the homeless man who lives along the tracks... Meanwhile, the cop-on-the-take gets his comeuppance in a well-engineered stint. Hoorah! This was a fun scene to read. The young man and his lover go home - yay! Syco and Maxxon, the two corporations that seem to own just about everything, merge - uh, boo! Another stripper may be heading for trouble, but Detective Maguffin has fingered a suspect - a hate-mongering religious nut whose Bible is missing a strategic piece of a page... But did he get the wrong guy? It would seem so, as we return to the stripper leaving work, and see her confronted by another wacko bearing a cross and a screwdriver. Maguffin pulls his gun-- but he can't. Not after he killed that kid all those years ago. And he freezes-- but has bought the fast-thinking stripper enough time to retrieve her mace. Temporarily blinded, the murderous wacko runs out into the street - right into an oncoming taxi. The results aren't pretty, but at least the story's finally over. And the second-to-last images we see, where even the subway graffiti is overprinted with the new "Symaxx" logo, are: A black kid paying tribute in spray paint to his younger fallen comrade; the hacker/slacker talking on a cell phone while his motorcycle is parked; the young man and his lover at home; and the woman who's been missing since the first issue, Betty Russell, peacefully drawing the shade of her apartment window. The last image is the homeless man, dog by his side, opening up the case with the bomb... Wow. What a terrific series this has been. Kudos to the folks at Vertigo Verite for taking a chance on it. Really nicely done, uniquely New York, and absolutely readable, despite the total lack of captions and word balloons. I look forward to more from Kuper. So, what did y'all think? by Rob Walton Here's what I thought... Okay, who else has pretty much given up on the Story So Far synopses? I mean, there's so much going on here it's a real challenge to keep everyone straight. Fortunately, two plotlines merge right away as Lucifer meets Kakabel at a (tee hee) drum corps world championship wherein the winners have performed (bwahaha) Holst's "The Planets"... and damn it, where are their genitals? Rob pokes a bit of fun at himself (he appears a la Spiney Norman over a panel featuring the White House) and the comics industry (the panel raking Todd's Toys over the coals was wonderful) during the next scene, much of which takes place in the "office of the Vice President" (i.e., a basement men's room) in the form of a conversation between presidential liaison (and master schemer) Walter and Bubba hisself. I'm afraid that, as much in sympathy as I am with Rob's politics (and he pretty much echoes my sentiments right on down the line), and as good as a couple panels were here and there, it really did read like, as Bubba notes, "a history lesson" and "a lecture in American diplomacy [a la] Noam Chomsky." Rather awkward and didactic, and it stops the story in its tracks. I think Rob realizes this, because we then cut to Alice and the dinosaurs in the presumably doomed spaceship, and I didn't stop laughing for the next five pages. When we return to Walter and Bubba, they're plotting to assassinate the more-megalomaniacal-than-they Mr. Black, but their plan has been completely overheard by Cardina Assassini (hiss!). Fortunately, hitman Gordo (um, yay?) was in the next stall over, and pulls up his pants in time to go after the cardinal. Back to the real plot, then - Alice and the dinosaurs! They're panicking as fast as they can, as rats desert the sink-- uh, burning ship. They head out the back door (yes, even little Fievel) and the dinos, being of very little brain, almost follow them... until they realize the rats are self-destructing upon jumping. Which leads to my favorite line, as the short one (I still can't keep their names straight, I'm afraid) notes, "Stupid, stupid rats!" And there was much tee-hee'ing from Elayne. Alice, of course, saves the day, and I won't tell you how. But of course it's brilliant, and of course she changes into nifty and practical clothing (one of the dinos mourns, "Shameful! How are we ever going to boost our sales with her dressed like that?"), and we'll just have to wait and see what becomes of Our Heroes, because it's on from there to tippy-top secret Nellis AFB, where everyone's word balloons are heavily censored and the place is really run by Mr. Grey, an alien who crash-landed in Roswell all those years ago (oddly enough, a similar character, albeit a little lighter in tone, has just debuted in the backup feature to the latest SIMPSONS)... The 4-page backup features Alice in her younger crimewave days as Thrill Kitten, and is adorable - and look, Rob puts himself into the scene again! Kewl. The riff on the Endless was very funny, and I look forward to more Thrill Kitten episodes. Well, except for the shoehorned-in feel of the political stuff, this was another winner of an issue story-wise. I can't say enough about the art and lettering either. Really fine, funny stuff. So, what did y'all think? by Jenni Gregory Here's what I thought... I adore Karen Brinson and the ideas behind this book, but I think Jenni might be padding things a bit at this point. In my review of #2 I mentioned how many people consider just-sitting-there conversation to be death in graphic form, how you really need to show people DOING things while talking in order to hold the reader's interest. There's also the dictum of Show Don't Tell, in which the character goes through self-discovery and personal evolution through actions rather than words. In this issue, we don't get nearly enough action (just three linear scenes, and Scene 2 flows directly out of Scene 1), and we get a very thorough recap of what's come before - so much so that the exposition at times overtakes the story. Karen and her friend Cori attend the funeral for Matthew Evans, the child whom we saw die last issue when Karen "trespassed" in his dream. Karen freaks when she approaches the child's open coffin and sees his hands clutching a book about the Alamo. As she later explains to Cori in the scene that gave me the most trouble, there was no way she could have known about Matthew's love for that story beforehand - which means her dreamwalking experiences have been real. I believe the entire scene between Karen and Cori (which goes on for 12 pages of just the two of them, before the cop comes over to say hello and offer condolences) should have been done in no more than 2-3 pages. Yes, it's important to show the women's close friendship. Yes, it's important to give exposition. But I would have liked to have seen Gregory use other methods than chatty dialogue to convey this information to us - perhaps jump-cuts using one or two captions ("And so I told her. Everything. About the two dreams, and how I thought they weren't real, but then seeing that book... And I sounded like an idiot.") and noting more of Cori's reaction and less of Karen's dilemma and self-doubt, the latter of which which we've already seen for two issues. This would have left more room to explore the foreshadowing with the cop (I'm laying odds she goes into his dream next) and especially the revelatory scene with Matthew's parents that takes up the last 6 pages, which is very well done. Gregory's art could use a little more differentiation in the faces, but this is one of the hardest things for an artist to do, so I won't quibble. As soon as she gets more of a handle on the techniques of time compression and pacing, she's going to have a hell of a story. So, what did y'all think? Writer/Publisher: James Hudnall Here's what I thought... I haven't seen this book in its previous incarnation at Eclipse, but I think I'm going to look for it now. It's a lot of fun. I've always liked the idea of extra-sensory stuff, of there existing people who can do various things with the power of their minds, and the notion of two rival "secret societies" made up of such people (one hell-bent on world domination from behind the scenes, the other determined to stop the first - nothin' like clearly-delineated goodguys and badguys <g>) is also very appealing. In this first issue we're introduced to most of the major players through the experiences of teenager Skye no-last-name :), who can "read" people by touching objects that have come into physical contact with those people. Great expository technique. She's had the power long enough to have obtained some measure of control over it (I like this a lot), but not long enough to convince her mother of its reality (sorry to see a mother-daughter pair in conflict rather than working together, but it does set Skye up to be separated from her home later on with no adverse consequences). By the end of the book, Skye is saved from the badguys (the Triad) by the goodguys, whom we'll come to know as the ESPers, and the adventure has begun. Terrific art, except that Horn seems particularly fond of cleavage, even on teenagers. None of the women (except possibly Skye's friend Gina, whom we only see with a jacket on over her shirt) seems to have heard of a bra, and everyone's breasts are pretty much the same shape, even to the nipples. It's a minor quibble, given how beautiful the rest of the art is (and the figures are drawn very well, nothing's really that exaggerated), but with endowments like that, and considering their dynamic activities, most of these women should be wearing protection. And I'd rather not see protruding nipples unless Horn is also prepared to show us an equal number of crotch bulges on the guys, and most of them so far appear to be dickless wonders. Shame, that. Highly recommended, with the above reservation that of course is just one of my little hot buttons (ooh baby baby). ESPers is something different, it looks like a fun little series, and I wish Hudnall much luck with it. So, what did y'all think? AKIKO #2 by Mark Crilley Here's what I thought... This continues to be one of the best books around for kids of all ages, but especially for young girls, who will find themselves identifying with our hero Akiko even as they're captivated by her adventures. I'm struck by Mark's wonderful use of grey backgrounds in this book - a very good asset if you're working in B&W. He had to go and confide in me that it's all done in Photoshop - but it's lovely anyway, and there are plenty of people who can't use computer-supplied zipatone techniques like he does, so I'm not complaining at all. It gives AKIKO such a unique and special feel, and makes it totally stand out from anything else currently on the market. Really terrific stuff. And the plot zips right along - we left Akiko and friends plunging into the Moonguzzit Sea (another great thing about this is that it's all told by Akiko in flashback, so the younger set can take comfort in the fact that she's since gotten out of all these adventures safely), but they're scooped up in the Sky Pirates' net and brought on board the vessel, where they bicker (the exchange between Mr. Beeba and Spuckler is precious; great lettering job here) and wind up tied up, their belongings taken from them and scrutinized. The pirates take them to Sky Cove, a very menacing looking place (reminded me a lot of a Waterworld set), where they sell Our Heroes to some local merchants. Akiko & co. are then taken to this big arena where they're expected to fight other creatures for the audience's amusement. Forty quatloos on the newcomers! Unfortunately, first up is Gax vs. the '57 Shnum-Crusher; you don't want to look. Good thing Spuckler forgot to recharge Gax's pain circuits... poor li'l bot's about to take quite the beating... How will they ever get out of this one? Akiko will find a way, I'm sure. And I can hardly wait for the next issue to see how she does it! Great fun; one of the comics I most look forward to each month. So, what did y'all think? by Scott Roberts Here's what I thought... The major story this time is "No Contest," in which Patty's friend Jose has landed himself in trouble by bragging to macho bully Kevin Longo that he could beat him in a roller blading contest. Naturally, Jose has never even worn the things. Patty's incredulous that this is even taking place, but decides to surreptitiously attend Jose's almost certain defeat surreptitiously. Longo goes first, but in the middle of his routine over and around a nearby fence he's momentarily blinded - by the glint of sun off Patty's shades. (Ed Douglas must love this story.) Jose wins by default, thanks to Patty - although no one will ever know the part she played. Cute story, lots of character development and tons of that wonderful exaggeration that Roberts is so good at (Patty waiting, amidst a tangle of cobwebs, for Jose to explain something with her; Jose "blowing" Patty away with the volume of his voice). "Hats Off" is another "Patty explains stuff to Irving but gets it wrong" stories involving those orange cones the DOT puts in the roads. Adorable bit showcasing Patty's active imagination. "Lights Out" gives us Dad in his glory, as he gets a little carried away telling Patty a particular bedtime tale. Yay, more Dad stories! Roberts got lots of familiar names to draw him pictures of Patty, which he puts on the inside covers. Among the participants are Sergio Aragones, Mark Oakley, Steve Lieber, Matt Feazell and Mark Crilley. I loved most of this issue but found some of the mottling (is that what it's called?) a bit overdone, more smudgy than effective, as if the book was badly printed. Still, a very minor quibble in an otherwise enjoyable book. Also a good title to recommend to young'uns, especially girls. So, what did y'all think? by M'Oak (Mark Oakley) Here's what I thought... I think this is M'Oak's most "mainstream" issue so far - it's straight comic book dialogue and panels throughout, no text pages within the story, lots of plot and character development. And he'll be VERY happy, no doubt, to hear that his hard work has paid off - the lettering this issue is just about the best I've ever seen it. Clear, crisp, precise and legible. And, because Oakley does this all himself, all the balloons are well placed within the panels (which are very imaginatively laid out and still easy to follow) so that we can still see all of his wonderful background art. In this issue Rubel and the mysterious Lady who's bespelled him both find themselves in a dream labyrinth, which they can only reach through physical pain (Rubel's body is in fact dying in the spot wherein we saw him last issue). The dream apparently belongs to a dragon named Cespinarve Rogue (Rubel's tutor Quinton filled him in a bit on this character, who doesn't seem terribly on the safe side). The Lady is familiar with most of the dream tricks, and attempts to guide Rubel to a safe spot (why don't I quite trust her?), but he keeps making mistakes and getting captured by water monsters or wayward grassy vines or apples that turn into really disgusting spiked wormy things I don't want to talk about. The Lady informs him they must beware a monster called the Gorgon's Head, but doesn't reveal too much else - and in not telling Rubel certain things, she tells us a good deal about herself. Among other things, she's intensely jealous of Quinton's natural abilities. And we have reason to believe she's captured Quinton, who has left Rubel a note for his eyes only (which she intercepts - whoops) informing Rubel of his captivity under the Dreaming Tree. Will Rubel ever see this note? Is the Lady good or evil or a little of both? Will they make it to safety before the Gorgon's Head catches up with them? There's just so much going on in this issue it about takes your breath away. It's worth about 2-3 reads to catch it all. This is some of M'Oak's best, most intricate work yet. Charming fantasy story, and highly recommended. 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 keeps staring out the window from her computer desk wondering why she's typing reviews and suffering through writer's block when it's such a beautiful day out there and the sun is so bright and... well, yes, there *is* that pollen... ] |
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