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This week's digest:
Superman in ACTION COMICS #723 Writers: Tom Peyer and Mark Waid Here's what I thought... As I read through this storyline, I keep thinking of Mark Waid's response to a question I once asked in a writers' panel on how he collaborates differently with various partners. He was probably working on this storyline at the time, and said (and I paraphrase), "I like working with Tom Peyer because he thinks like a supervillain, and I think like a superhero, so that works out well." And since we get about equal parts of Superman (in adolescent mental patient Chas Cassidy's body) and Brainiac (in Superman's body) during this storyline, it's interesting to speculate who did what given each writer's predilections. Meantime, I'm a happy camper. Unless I miss my guess, Curt Swan drew pages 11-16 this time around, wherein there are actually three panels (okay, a panel and two insets) of Superman himself (or not being himself... well, you know what I mean) - underwater, no less. Always nice to see Swan on Supes again. At the end of ADVENTURES #536 I'd been wondering where Chas' brain had gotten off to, since presumably the brain of Milton Fine was freed once Brainiac psychically left it. Either Tom and Mark didn't quite make this clear or I missed something (probably the latter), but it turns out it wound up in Fine's old body when Brainiac took over Superman's and forced Clark into Chas'. (Following so far? <g>) In any case, I do care enough about Chas' dilemma to be concerned for the whereabouts of his mind (and I'm even slightly curious as to the fate of Fine)... However, his body's in good, er, hands as we see Clark come to terms with his/Chas' surroundings, including cultivating Chas' friendship with Aminah (I still can't figure why she's institutionalized) and putting his experience to work in an untested body. Meanwhile, we see Brainiac amassing experiences using a body whose powers he's just beginning to discover (impressive panel on page 17, very psychedelic). I like the mind/body dualities set up, especially with the foreshadowing of Chas' body having a seizure (which at first I thought was faked until I realized it was portrayed as very involuntary) and, a few pages earlier, the parallel glimpse of Superman's limited "hard drive" capacity giving Brainiac a headache. And not only that, but - in the issue's most startling scene - the fact that on page 8 Brainiac saves Lois and the speeding train that would have hit her. How voluntary was this reaction? The extent to which each character makes the most of the body he's dealt (or dealt out), and how much each is ruled by the learned responses of that body, is at the heart of this storyline, which also posits that television (at least as Brainiac sees it when he decides to use it) functions as a kind of societal uber-mind. I wouldn't know, I don't watch a lot of TV any more since going on the 'net... :) Nice to see the storyline's bullies get their comeuppance - they were portrayed broadly enough that one almost feels a sense of relief when one falls off a roof to his death, advancing the plotline that an escaping Chas is blamed and will be hunted. Although I don't know that Dr. Guinness is going to buy Chas' culpability, given some of the nasty behavior he'd witnessed shortly before he fired that same orderly and his goonish buddy. Still, there's enough going on here that this plot is almost a minor consideration compared to the other stuff that's in here - the realization Brainiac makes about television, the reaction of Clark in Chas' body when Aminah leads him to the roof at the bottom of page 4/top of page 5, the "singing" prank Aminah pulls to allow Clark/Chas access to the institution's phones, Clark/Chas sliding down the banister during the orderly-chase scene... lots of nice moments. The art was jarring, as art by four different pencillers often is, but the story flowed enough for me to overlook much of that. So, what did y'all think? JUSTICE LEAGUE TASK FORCE #36 Writer: Christopher Priest Here's what I thought... "Technical support," Jim? You wanna explain this one? :) My guess would have been, knowing the way Priest has researched stuff in the past, the whole ICBM scene with Triumph was pretty much his... but what other "tech" is there in here? In any case, this intricate little scene is really tough going for me, as I don't have a head for things technical, but you believe that Triumph is thinking this through every step of the way, and this is how I like to see a superhero operate. Well done first scene, even though I felt a little thick reading it. (My problem, not the writing.) Meanwhile, the ground battle on Skartaris rages on, as Gypsy, thankfully, clicks her costume back on but still manages to look anatomically disproportionate - and, frankly, downright ugly. I don't think any of the JLTF members have looked attractive of late. I know it's rather beside the point, and it's probably a welcome change of pace from all the pretty-boy-and-girl depictions elsewhere in superherodom, but it's still kinda jarring. In any case, Morgan the Warlord, Glenn Gammeron (really not thrilled to be there), J'Onn J'Onzz and Gypsy duke it out against the evil sorcerer Quantum and his minions, Quantum having switched bodies with poor Ray back at his compound. J'Onn has no compunction about beating the crap out of Quantum in Ray's body. Ray has a whole mess of compunctions about taking on a couple nearby dinosaur creatures (very funny bit on pp. 16-17, this is the kind of slapstick art at which Bernado excels). Gammeron wants to get the hell out of there. And Triumph just wants to disarm the missile's warheads. Again, a lot of his specific machinations were lost on me, but I'm even more confused about the point of it all. I mean, I realize in the end that the warheads were dummies, but then this wizard fellow appears - and he's not Quantum, since Quantum by this point is back in his own body and being attacked by dinos (tee hee) - anyway, this wizard guy, whom I'm sure we saw last issue only he's in like two panels in #36 and I can't remember his name, says something about having loaded the warheads with "tainted fertilizer" which would kill the enemy's crops, animals and soldiers. Only I can't remember on whose side he is, and then the Bad Balloon Placement Fairy shows up and Ray's balloon on the bottom of page 20 is at lower right while he's there at the panels' upper left and... Oh, forget it. My head hurts too much. I'm going to go back and reread RAY #25, and I'll feel better. Suffice it to say I think our heroes make Skartaris a safe place to live again, the stupid stupid sorcerer creature is punished and pummeled, Gammeron disappears somewhere between page 20 and 22 with no explanation and I don't know that I care that much, and Priest doesn't put the Task Force on a bus but we have the next best thing, a shuttle train through the Andes. "You'll be trapped inside a mountain," the Warlord warns, as the footnote explains he blew up the other end back in his own series, but he foresees that inconvenience as "not much of a problem for this group." Nice save, Priest - we don't have to see the "trapped in a mountain" issue and can just assume they got out okay, in time to wrap this series up nicely in #37. Well, it's been an uneven run, and I can't say that the end of TASK FORCE bothers me as much as the cancellation of THE RAY, but I do hope we see these characters and their dynamics again soon. I'd like to think Ray and Triumph stay on each other's cases well into the future, as implied in RAY #25, and now that Gypsy has something of a personality it'd be a shame to put her in mothballs (get it? Gypsy? moth? oh, never mind). But directives is directives, so we'll just have to wait and see. I hate limbo. But at least Priest was able to end the storyline. So, what did y'all think? MISTER MIRACLE #4 Writer: Kevin Dooley Here's what I thought... Well, by now I'm sure many of you have heard of this title's impending cancellation. Kevin seemed rather philosophical about it when I asked ("Well, you know, even Kirby's run didn't last past #18"), but was clearly disappointed as I'm sure he felt he was just getting his rhythm going on it - and I agree. I may not concur right on down the line with his take on these characters, but it seems to me he's proceeding very logically and keeping rather true to Kirby's concepts. Unfortunately, low sales (and since we're only on #4 I take this to mean low advance sales as well) will preclude us from seeing the development of any further storylines. I'm pleased that at least this first one was put to bed, though. The questions of Scott Free's godhood and background have been bandied about ever since the first incarnation of this series, and Dooley's spin on things answers some questions and raises a few more, so all and all I can't complain. This issue's revelation concerns the nature of Scott's newly-assumed godpower. Darkseid (not Highfather, interestingly) explains that the power is "the Alpha Energy - the antithesis of my own Omega Energy." Very nice. Presumably this is also the power that Highfather wields, although all Izaya seems to do lately is whine and threaten a lot. In any case, it is, above all, the power to heal, just as the Omega power Darkseid wields has often been used on his followers, particularly DeSaad, to kill (and resurrect, and kill again). And I like that. I can't say enough about how incredible I think the power to heal is. It's so much more interesting to me than warlike displays. Effecting reparation is always trickier (both to accomplish and to write) than causing destruction. And Scott acquits himself nicely this time around. I find Scott's dialogue and captions throughout a little stiff and awkward, but I can't really put my finger on why. Looks like all the exposition is needed. Maybe Dooley should have tried for more brevity or something, but it's hard to say how anything could be shortened and not confuse new readers in the process. I will say that I thought it was a mistake to put all of Scott's thoughts on page 18, when he finally wields the totality of his power, into word balloons instead of thoughts - I would probably have split them about 40/60 (definitely making the second and third balloons into thoughts rather than dialogue). I thought the art worked well with what Dooley was trying to convey. Barda's healing on page 10 is lovely - great to see her back in her old costume, eyeballs no longer blank white. I could have wished for a little less "prettiness" for Granny Goodness, who really ought to be shown as a septuagenarian (but a strong one) whenever possible. Her wrinkles give her character and power and added nastiness. Likewise, Kalibak should be portrayed a tad more monstrously. But overall, the artists and colorist have a good feel for how to show us the power being bandied about here; I was very impressed by their work. Highfather, though - I don't know. I think this is where Dooley and I might part company. Granted, Izaya's been through a lot - we're footnoted here to see NEW GODS #10, not yet out, so we may conjecture we'll see a few things there to which we're not yet privy. But still, his disowning Scott... it just doesn't seem to fit with the more or less benevolent Izaya from the old MISTER MIRACLE series. Moreover, we find out that Izaya's lied to Scott about his mother, who it turns out was not Avia after all. My first guess would be Herrae, but that's probably incorrect. I wasn't thrilled with the way they verbally lashed out at each other, and the finality of it all, as Scott expresses it to Barda on the last page when she insists "You'll both forgive. It is the way of fathers and sons" (gosh, I hope so), doesn't sit well with me. Scott and Izaya are both supposed to be about healing now - not causing more rifts. Yet, at the same time, I can't say it's a completely inaccurate portrayal. As with some things Rachel Pollack is doing over in NEW GODS, I may not agree with the choices the characters make, but I can see how the writers are setting things up so those choices flow logically from events. And the Scott/Barda relationship is wonderful. I love the dynamics at work here - how she catches him when he's fallen, having spent all his godpower (which we see hinted at in the final panel is not necessarily the case) healing the rest of the folks from Hadis, and especially the way they kiss at the end (thank you, everyone involved, for remembering that Barda is taller than Scott and the more aggressive of the two in their relationship). I was a little disheartened to read "NEXT: The End of Scott and Barda!", but I'm hoping this is just the usual teaser. Scott and Barda are probably my favorite couple in superhero comicdom, and I'm sorry we won't get to see their adventures play out much longer. So, what did y'all think?
IMPULSE Annual #1 Writer: Steve Vance Here's what I thought... This is the first writing I've read from Vance since he and his wife Cindy left Bongo. IMHO, the Simpsons family of books has never been the same since the Vances' departure. Bill Morrison's okay, but I miss the biting wit and satire that used to be those books' hallmark. And I can't begin to talk about how much I've missed seeing Mike Parobeck's art. I'm glad his repetitive stress injury has healed enough to enable him to return to work in such top form. I can't for the life of me remember where else I've seen his work lately, but in the other book he did I noticed a slight change in style (the characters seemed a little less cartoony and more rounded out), and here it's pretty much the Parobeck with whose art I fell in love during the !mpact era. In fact, the feel of this book reminded me a great deal of some of those much-beloved and much-missed !mpact comics. It manages to blend a light tone and a rather serious situation quite well, as it takes one of the regular IMPULSE series' premises - the mentor-student relationship of Max Mercury and Bart Allen - and expands upon it. This world's Impulse is named Trace Wyndham, and his origin story combines elements of Bart Allen's and Clark Kent's - boy, sure are a lot of computerized rocket pods floating around, eh? :) Except I find the line about "You flitted from galaxy to galaxy [in virtual reality], developing your mind, your body -- everything except your attention span..." a bit shoehorned and illogical. The body's in stasis, but it develops while the attention span doesn't? In any case, let it go, let it go. Origin and mentor-student setup out of the way, we come to the crux of the issue. Max-- um, I mean Kinnock heads a school of freedom fighters working behind the scenes to take back their planet, Mtoncanf, from the Dargonian Empire (boo! hiss!). The occupation forces have been there six years; the invisible resistance has been operable for four. These things take time, Kinnock tries to explain. The resistance's goal is to inconvenience the Dargonian occupiers so much that they will eventually leave voluntarily. Naturally, this makes no sense to a boy who can't even sit still - until, that is, Kinnock gets him to be quiet long enough to tune into what's around him. Why, it's the Speed Force, of course! Turns out Trace has "a one-in-a-billion genetic structure that is naturally in tune with the Speed Force." Trace responds that his pod's landing on Mtoncanf and him meeting up with Kinnock is certainly serendipitous. "What makes you think it's a coincidence?" Kinnock smiles. Nice. As Kinnock and the other students (Zephyr, Glide, Spark, Fusion and Wisp, not that it matters because they're pretty cookie-cutter, I'm sorry to say, and we never really see them in action; in fact, I have no idea whether they can even access the Speed Force, although Zephyr at one point articulates that he wishes he had Trace's powers) plan their next raid on the Dargonians' water purification plant, Trace takes point with a disruptor, and screws up because he can't wait two minutes very well. Through a series of mishaps, the power core blows and the plant is destroyed. This buoys nearby citizens, who proclaim Trace and the others heroes and decide to rally to the cause. The underground movement is dragged above-ground. Not good. Because now things escalate, and the Dargonians send in shock troops - troops which apparently have little difficulty tracing Trace. He's cornered, he runs, he gets shot at - and Zephyr warns him and winds up taking the brunt of the fire square in the chest. Lesson learned, but unfortunately too late. The nex morning Kinnock's compound is surrounded by shock troops and the battle is joined. Most of Kinnock's students fall within minutes - tell me again what their abilities are supposed to be? - leaving only Kinnock and Trace standing. Trace draws the troops' fire away from the compound, and winds up square in the middle of a whole mess o' heat-seekers. And the compound is destroyed, with no survivors reported. Of course, everyone's still alive - they've just gone underground. Literally, this time. As they emerge from Kinnock's escape tunnel and head for the mountains to rebuild the school, there's a sense of hope but also realism that, with shock troops permanently stationed on Mtoncanf, the renewed "invisible resistance" will take even longer this time. Fun, zippy tale - clear-cut goodguys and badguys, but as I say I was a bit disappointed with the supporting cast. For 38 pages Vance might have concentrated on fleshing them out a bit more. Still and all, not bad for my three bucks, and I'm glad the colorist recommended I pick this one up. So, what did y'all think? MARTIAN MANHUNTER Special #1 Writer: Paul Kupperberg Here's what I thought... Maybe I'm a bit spoiled by Priest's current take on the J'Onn J'Onzz character, and the expectations it's engendered even in folks who'd been reluctant to accept the changes from the MM previously portrayed in Justice League titles... but this J'Onn doesn't seem quite right to me. First of all, a lot of J'Onn's uniqueness comes from his alien nature. He's a stranger in a strange land. Where Clark Kent acknowledges his extraterrestrial origin, he still thinks of himself as human and eagerly seeks to blend in (at least in his daily life guise) with his adopted home. J'Onn, on the other hand, is displaced in time as well, and uses his various "parlor tricks" (shapeshifting, invisibility, etc.) more as self-preservation or as a means to an end rather than because he feels any sort of affinity with Terrans. He's a clear-cut outsider. But here, Kupps elects to put the Martian in outer space, effectively removing his uniqueness. And teams him up with a Darkstar and a few bodyguards/acolytes possessed of "kewl" powers as well, effectively removing his aura of solitude. And leads the characters on a sort of wild goose chase which all seems rather pointless by the end, effectively removing any interest I would have vested in the story and removing $3.50 from my pocket with little discernable return on my investment. One of the themes with which this book purportedly deals is the notion of "one true way-ism" - that just about every religion in existence claims for itself the only real path to enlightenment. The story revolves around the planet Naftali (Hebrew for... oh heck, I forgot), a sort of planetary version of Mecca, where a respected holy man named K'rkzar is about to reveal Universal Truth and thus set every religious faction on Naftali at each other's throats. There's a lot of fighting in order to prevent fighting - in fact, this takes up most of the book, and makes about as much sense as you think it does. Then K'rkzar reveals his "wisdom" at the end, which consists of so many mealy-mouthed homilies it could have come right from TV movie land. I'm sorry, we wait for 43 pages to hear things like "...we each of us must choose our own way, our own path to eternal glory... for none are ever alone with the truth in their heart-- because in all things, there must be, at the very last, truth..." Good grief. I don't know what I expected, but I was hoping for better than this. "We each of us must?" "The great truth comes from those who know how to love, honor and cherish one another..." - scenes from a marriage vow? Disappointing. The art was very nice - I'm becoming quite the fan of Collins, and I think his rendering of the aliens (particularly J'Onn and the Darkstar, Chaser Bron) is particulary effective due to the absence of pupils and irises. He does nice detail work, he differentiates his characters well (except the two female bodyguards, who have practically the same face and body and are distinguished by dress and makeup), and he has a good grasp of anatomy although I think he uses a few too many "pose" panels. Some of his inkers are cleaner than others, but overall the art seems pretty smooth throughout. I'm sorry, though, this just didn't make an impact on me one way or another. It was just kind of there - and at this point in my reading, I want more from my stories. So, what did y'all think? Writer: Mark Waid Here's what I thought... Mark Waid's elegant turns of phrase continue to command my utmost respect. He has this amazing ability to not only nail a character but tell readers a little something about how he approaches that character in as few as two words. Take Cannonball, aka Sam Guthrie (please). A character I don't even know! But I know everything about him that I think I need to based on the simple description "pointlessly insecure." Bam. Right there. Spot on. And since we've already arrived at the character, all we need to have filled in is the situation (Sam's sulking outside Xavier's study after having been chewed out) and a little humor, provided nicely by three crisp captions: "Now Sam sits watching... waiting to build enough courage to tell Xavier off. He should be ready by Thanksgiving. 2005." Hee. Even when I guess what Mark's going to say (and I've followed his style long enough by this point that every now and then I accomplish this), he still goes me one better. For instance, as we're filled in on the situation with the faux Beast, we're told he's "an infiltrator who has secretly taken the true Beast's place as an X-Man... while leaving the real McCoy to rot inside his hidden lair." Reading this, I immediately responded aloud, "Or so he thinks." I turn the page. Caption: "Or so he believes." Now, this may be a negligible difference to you, but not to me. "Believes" simply scans better. It's less clunky, more literate. As I've opined before, I suspect much of this is not a conscious decision on Mark's part - it's just well-honed instinct. What works, what doesn't. One of the things that makes Waid, by my estimation, just about the best in the business. On to the plot, then, which finds most of the X-Men searching Xavier's grounds for Juggernaut, aka Marko Cain, who's come to Jean Grey to help him lift an annoying mental block - placed in his head by Onslaught. Who creeped Jean out last issue. Desperation makes strange allies. She takes him to a secluded section underneath the mansion, psi-proofs the room and begins her probe. Alas, this alerts her husband Scott, whose psionic bond with her is suddenly broken, and Cyclops begs off the Juggy-hunt to ask Xavier for help. To say the prof is out of sorts is putting it mildly. He's strangely absent-minded... or of two minds... or... Well, you know. I don't know that Onslaught's identity has been that hard for Xfans to guess (although I'll confess I haven't been following most of the discussions), so this issue gets the "who" out of the way rather quickly to concentrate on the far more interesting "how" and "why." Seems everyone has their breaking point, and the still waters of Charles' exterior only run so deep. Consciously, he has never let himself give in to despair - but subconsciously, Onslaught has been having a field day. This looks like a job for Leonard Samson. :) Unfortunately, the doctor is out, and so is Onslaught. As soon as Jean breaks Juggernaut's block and realizes what's what (this appears to take place at the exact moment that Xavier realizes it himself), she panics, forgets to tell Marko to watch out for his half-brother, and sends him scurrying for cover - right into Xavier's study, begging for protection. Bad move. Onslaught strips him of his protective crimson gem with no more effort than as if he were plucking a weed. We then "see" Xavier's telepathic call to his X-Men (all of whom are shown except Jean) to come to him... and we'll see the rest in the Onslaught/X-Men flagship title (also to be written, unless I've misunderstood, by Waid). Nice job on the Comicraft folks' part in differentiating some X-Men by lettering style as Waid gives them different "voices." Terrific job by Kubert, especially the scene wherein Marko looks for a hiding place on page 18 and the pp. 2-3 spread-with-two-insets. Although there are a few too many extreme eye close-ups for my tastes (this seemed to be a big week for Closing In On That Eye panels, I've seen them in a number of other books), a good balance is struck between thought and action, between captions and balloons, between background and foreshadowing. Well done issue by all concerned. So, what did y'all think? EXCALIBUR #99 Writer: Warren Ellis Here's what I thought... I find myself almost on the verge of dropping this book. Not because it isn't well written. Oh, it's that. And certainly fabulously written for an X book, given most of the company it keeps. It's just that the subject matter is starting to lose me a bit. I find I simply don't have that much interest in the doings of the Hellfire Club and Black Air and Scratch. And I suspect that's going to be the focus for the next few issues, so if y'all don't mind I may just drop out of reviewing (having now admitted my biases against the plotline) and just read 'em for awhile to decide if I want to keep getting this title. Didn't notice any particular character development this time, but there's lots of Pete Wisdom talking, which makes sense because there's lots of information he needs to convey. Interesting that Brian Braddock brought his old suit with him to London - he's going to want to cover up some of Jones' peculiar anatomy on that right arm of his... Boy, I'm flipping through this, and nothing is really grabbing me. I'm sure long-time followers of this title are happy with the proceedings, but Red Queen, Black Queen, Scribe... none of this really strikes a chord with me. I thought the burning scenes were quite horrific and effective, and the demon's well-drawn, but for whatever reason I'm just not able to get worked up about it. Ah well, every writer - and every reader - has an off issue now and again. I suspect this is more me than Warren, but I found this issue only so-so. I'm sure #100 will more than make up for it. So, what did y'all think? THE INCREDIBLE HULK #443 Writer: Peter David Here's what I thought... Interesting choice Peter makes to begin this story as though it were a fairy tale. Puts us off our guard just a bit - are we witnessing here the actual return of the Hulk? Has Rick Jones' granddaughter Janis actually travelled back in time from the late 21st century, pursued by a hunt/track named Quarry? Is any of it real? Did any of it happen? Will any of it (i.e., the "Future Imperfect" scenario where we first met Janis) happen? Ya thillies, of course it's not real, it's a comic book! :) Seriously, Janis has tripped back a century to enlist pre-Maestro Banner's help, for reasons and purposes never made clear to us. She finds herself in Alaska, home of this issue's most intriguing character, Robbie Duggan Clayburn, whose "life... had become an endless succession of reasons not to kill herself. She was running out of excuses." Robbie's taken to the woods in search of the control she never has around her father and abusive fiancé - control which expresses itself in the form of arson. Ironic, of course, because forest fires aren't usually phenomena over which one has a great deal of control. Well, the big green guy coming up behind Robbie decides to play Smokey the Bear. Only he can prevent this one from spreading - and he does so by throwing the whole mess of trees afire into the sky. They land in a nearby lake, out of which has just emerged Quarry. He and the Hulk seem to come to an understanding, although Banner pretty much stands around silently for much of their exchange. Meanwhile, Robbie's run into town, frightened out of her wits, trailed closely by Janis - whom she can now conveniently blame for the fire. Her dad, fiance Clay and other townspeople (all male, which I'm sure is far from a coincidence) are quick to jump on the mohawk-braided weirdo stranger, and we learn during Janis' "interrogation" what a lowlife scum Clay really is. Their little encounter is broken up by the arrival of Quarry, who proceeds to tear the place apart and kill indiscriminately. One of his shots misses an escaping Janis and hits Hulk square in the chest. Quarry goes to inspect the damage, and we see Hulk's eye way too close, with a small word balloon "Ouch" coming from the top of the panel. Guess this means he's now pissed. So a fight ensues (and we get to see another large eye close-up, this time Quarry's pupilless one - as I mentioned in another review, this would appear to be Big Eye Week at Marvel), and ends with Quarry quite defeated and most probably dead. Like Banner cares. Janis asks him for his help; he refuses. She asks to come with him; he still doesn't care, so she jumps on his back. They will make an interesting pair. And Robbie stands alone in Tom's Tavern, all of Tom's regular customers having fallen prey to Quarry, weeping over her father's body. Then, the story finishes, she burned the place to the ground, "turned and went into the woods, and was never again seen by the eyes of man." A really disturbing and effective ending; this'll stay with me awhile. It was worth getting through all the fight scenes about which I cared very little in order to reach these last two pages. Well, we've learned Bruce is still alive. We haven't learned how Janis has managed to reach him, but we figure there must be a reason. We see he's restless to get away, possibly back to Betty but we're not certain. A very transitional issue that doesn't answer too many questions, but manages to tell someone else's grim little tale along the way. An interesting, if a bit uncharacteristic, read. Recommended. So, what did y'all think? FLEX MENTALLO #2 Writer: Grant Morrison Here's what I thought... How to describe this issue... hmm, how about "The Neverending Story" on acid? Well, that's glib but it's not exactly all-encompassing, as Morrison is doing a number of things here besides tackling the question of the boundaries between the dreamer and the dreamed. There's about as many paeons to Golden and Silver Age superhero concepts as in your typical issue of ASTRO CITY, a really dynamite cover that pays homage to the EC house style and features fake newsstand stamps and seals of approval (my favorite was the teeny-tiny type under the wee "Mature Readers" sign that says "Ph.D. preferred" - my eyes will be crossed for a week now), and a healthy dose of realism as well as surrealism. From my count, this issue strives to operate on about four different levels of reality - the straight narrative one featuring the title character and his search for his (formerly?) fictional colleague The Fact; the saga of Wally Sage, the artist who created Flex and countless other characters during his youth and is now going through a suicidal crisis stage; the idea that something, perhaps Sage's drug-induced state of mind, is causing many heroes to appear in the "real" world; and of course the notion that the characters' "real" world isn't Ours, made clear by the appearance of a drug called Krystal which enables the person who shoots it up to become, at first, a superhero themselves and then "cosmically aware" (i.e., they "see" us, their readers, and our world). And these levels interact with each other in weird ways (well, what do you expect? it is Morrison). Flex Mentallo pauses in his chase after The Fact to sign an autograph for a young Wally Sage. The unfortunate soul who shoots up the Krystal sees a vision of just about every powered-up creature not currently appearing in KINGDOM COME <g>, and we catch other glimpses of the heroes looking at us, looking over us, looking out for us - as we look back. Who else felt a slight shiver checking out that panel on page 7, all those heroes with their backs to the camera but their faces to a huge monitor of a section of the Earth as seen from space? And we're never sure whose rantings we're hearing. We know Wally's pretty well hopped up, and some of his memories - if indeed they are memories - are pretty twisted (I don't even want to think about that kids-shitting bit), but then we're back to Flex and his face-down against the Mentallium Man (great parody on the different kinds of Kryptonite) and the subsequent identity crisis, changing him back to Wally... or is he?... The story pings back and forth between these levels like a stream-of-consciousness pinball machine, raising far more questions than it answers (hell, there's even green-skinned, big-eyed aliens thrown in there, not to mention a very disturbingly erotic, or erotically disturbing, scene featuring a sort of Catwoman type), and it seems just coherent and flowing enough to have a point to it besides "weird for weird's sake." I just hope Morrison gets to that point soon. Acid trips are interesting and all, but ultimately useless unless one actually achieves a sort of higher consciousness out of it. Oh, and I must say, stellar coloring job by McCraw. The credit splash is stupendous, the pastels in the dreamlike sequences are perfect, the eerie parts are all the right shades of dark... And Quitely flips from style to style right alongside Morrison's changing levels of reality (the Krystal scene is a terrific case in point). A very thick book, lots going on here. Might need to slow down a bit and not babble as much, but you try telling that to someone on a trip... So, what did y'all think? THE DREAMING #2 Writer: Terry LaBan Here's what I thought... Well, this issue starts out a bit too linear. I enjoyed being able to follow it, but at the same time I wanted something a little more... dreamlike. Instead we get confirmation that Tempto, as the Snake who now has Goldie the golden gargoyle in his clutches is known, is indeed that Snake, that Eve is more-or-less that Eve (we even see her in Crone mode)... we see everything except Cain and Abel calling her "Mother." In search of Goldie, C&A leave Eve's retreat and question the staff and regulars at the Labyrinth Grill, including the surly Medusan waitress (I love her!) who brings them the high chair in which Goldie sat so Gregory (who's accompanied them) can pick up her scent. And they're off-- To the Dream Exchange. This is where the issue really started to pick up for me. If you think about it, the stock exchange itself has such a surrealistic, dreamlike quality anyway that it was a natural to satirize. What's really frightening to me is that Cain, who's never set foot in the place before, seems to know instinctively how it works. He buys three dreams of "a better tomorrow through technology"... And he and Abel go through three panels of a typical '50s sf milieu before finding themselves in various versions of "perfect" places - the Workers' Paradise, Ecotopia, Norman Rockwell's America... great couple of pages. Alas, Goldie isn't anywhere to be found. So Cain tries a different tack and buys "three shares of Nihilism" back at the Exchange. And he, Abel and Gregory find themselves in Terra Incognita, at the foothills (of the headlands?) - literally. A place with big ol' hairy legs sticking out. Cain's starting to feel the heat and settles under a foot to rest - when a big hand that matches the foot comes out of the hot sand and grabs him. Good thing Unipod Ed is around (with his trusty steed Prince Charles) to bag a few and tie 'em up. Seems they make good eating. "Not the whole thing, mate-- just the feet. That's th' tender part." I really, really don't want to know. Anyway, our travelers follow Ed down to the beach, where they take up with a ship's captain who claims to have seen Goldie. Just their luck, he's a lying scoundrel who just wants some good company to whomp at chess, and the ship happens to be the Flying Dutchman. Whoops. Cain gets pissed at Abel and kills him again - I wondered why it took so long this time - and Abel winds up partying with a bunch of swingers at Davy Jones' locker while waiting to revive. He's even lost his stutter in death, and for a few panels his and Cain's roles seem almost reversed, as Cain is utterly, er, at sea... Meanwhile, Eve still sulks, as she and Matthew discuss her recurring dreams of Tempto... Cain and Abel wash up on the shore we know Goldie and Tempto have passed towards the beginning of the book. Gregory has even found the basket she threw away (Abel having found the picture of him she'd carried during the Davy Jones Locker scene). So they're on the right track. Only... this place looks awfully familiar to Cain. Sure enough, he's been there before. They even erected a statue to him. Hmm... I love the concept of the Dream Exchange. It's a nice device, if it's not overused, to get our characters from one place to another relatively quickly, and there's a lot of neat stuff the creative teams can satirize, if they choose, using this as a base. I like the brief bit with Abel in command during death, very gratifying to read. I'm generally getting a kick out of Cain's orneriness and Abel's common sense, but Eve is just a tad grating. And I do hope we see more of the characters in the Labyrinth Grill -- I can see the sitcom now... So, what did y'all think? THE SEARCHERS #1 Writers: Colin Clayton and Chris Dows Here's what I thought... This issue is mostly setup, but I loved the premise when I read it in Previews, and I'm looking quite forward to future issues. We begin with a bearded man named George arguing with a Schwarzenegger type behind a desk about something he doesn't want the beefy guy to do. The pumped-up Aryan type with the "MP" badge blows him off, assures him he won't be killed if he leaves whatever project they're working on, and George drives off in the rain. So far, so good, I'm totally lost. :) Upon arrival back at his mansion at Chesil House, George gets on the cell phone to a colleague named Ryan, warning him that the game's afoot and they need to find certain others. We see George looking at manuscripts addressed to "Ms. J. Verne" ("Ms.?" Was that a proper abbreviation for "Monsieur" in the 19th century?) and "Herbert George Welles"... Leading into our extended flashback sequence, which takes place precisely one hundred years ago and features a gathering of some of the era's more interesting fiction writers - H. Rider Haggard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as the aforementioned Verne and Welles. They've been gathered together by... Charles Fort, who has made a momentous discovery - "the fabled Book of the Khazars," which it is said was created from the dreams of the Khazar people. Well, technically, just about every work of fiction is created from the dreams of its author(s), but this one's quite special. Verne is furious, and starts storming off when Fort opens the tome. A mysterious light floods the room, and each author hallucinates his creations come to life. Or was it an illusion? Welles looks out the window and sees the spaceship from "War of the Worlds" attacking the city as residents flee in terror. And MPs rush in to arrest Fort and seize the book. In fact, one of these MPs has the exact same walking staff wielded by our Mr. Schwarzenegger at the beginning of this issue... hmm... not to mention he looks like the Shade from Starman, but I'll let that one go for now... Cut back to the present, where Kane Talgarth, Geneva Walcot-Fogg, John Hammett, and Edwin von Hardwig have all received received certain mysterious invitations. And George's colleague Ryan has also found some woman who-- well, the scene switches before he finishes his sentence so there's another mystery we won't learn. The invitees gather somewhere in London to learn things about their own past, and things to come. There they and George are surprised by another arrival - by the name of Moriarty. She has deduced her own family tree goes back no farther than 1896. The other folks there will find out the same. The invitations they'd received contained translations of relevant portions from Vernes' and Welles' diaries attesting to the events we've been shown in the flashback. And they're all descended from famous fictional characters - Kane's ancestor is Captain Nemo, Geneva's is Phileas Fogg, Edwin's is Professor von Hardwigge and John's is Griffin (the Invisible Man). Come on, admit it - cool premise, huh? In fact, we have a whole lot of premise here (albeit well written and drawn) and not very many answers to questions. But hey, that's how you hook people. And I'm more than intrigued by the setup. I want to know how these folks will come to be called the Searchers, and what exactly they'll be searching for. If you'd like something a little different, certainly literate, with promising characters, I'd recommend you check this baby out. So, what did y'all think? CONCRETE: Think Like A Mountain Story and Art: Paul Chadwick Here's what I thought... After a very nice and helpful synopsis on the inside front cover of the story so far, Chadwick puts his knowledge of sea life to work in this issue. Dahlin', it's better down where it's wetter, take it from me. :) Concrete finds himself separated from his Earth First! companions, and, reasoning that he is after all off an island, determines to catch up with them by hiking back underwater (pausing every hour or so to come up for air) until he reaches the ferry landing - at which point he figures he'll hide under a truck to get back to the States. Along the way, he muses on the life all around him and how it's becoming endangered. One of my favorite digressions this issue involves Concrete's speculations on what our world would be like if mermaids were real, and "a vast, benign conspiracy" of fishermen kept their existence a secret, "like hiding Jews from the Nazis." At one point he notes, "I swear, the mind is an enemy. You can't turn off the pictures!" And thank goodness, I say, because the stuff in here is so wonderfully evocative I don't mind nothing "happening" per se. Even the life cycle of an octopus was a way cool thing to read about. The only real "action" scene ensues when Concrete emerges and makes for a house he believes is deserted, to call Penny and the others and let them know he's okay and is making his way toward them. The house is in fact occupied, and the resident shoots at our hero, who flees, not wanting to be seen (he is technically in the country illegally, after all, and during this whole trip has been careful about not wanting to draw attention to himself). But for me the most striking scene has to be when Concrete comes across a "ghost net" - a free-floating drift net that's caught all sorts of fish and birds in its wake. And Concrete, in his anger and despair over our ecological conditions, imagines it as "a rotting zodiac." He finally reaches Orcas, sees the note Penny left for him, and is able to rendezvous with the Caloveglias by issue's end. But between the covers we've been treated to some wondrous art, a terrific coloring job by Chalenor, and a nice quiet look at things we don't usually think about, things that are all around us - or underneath us. Congrats to Matt Holmes' review for making the letters column. And don't forget to read the latest in a series of 100 Horrors, "Earth's Birthday," which didn't seem terribly horrific to me but kinda sweet, actually. However, I'm sick that way. 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 <firehead@panix.com>, still in mourning for our beloved cat Phredd, taken from us way too soon and way too suddenly. Cherish your loved ones while you can, folks. Condolences may be sent to Phredd's best buddy Steve Chaput at <shot@panix.com>...] |
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