I didn't mean to let so much time to past between posts, but that's the way things sometimes go, unfortunately. In an attempt to try to post something more often, here's what I ordered from DCBS this month, peppered with an occasional comment.
52 Aftermath The Four Horsemen 6
Action Comics 861
Adam Strange Archives, vol. 3
Al Capp’s Complete Shmoo The Comic Books
Most comic book readers don't appreciate how popular Shmoo was in the late 40s and early 50s. (You can go here or here, if you are interested in learning more.) If anyone knows the character at all, it is from the cartoons that teamed it with Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble (who beyond logic were cops in Bedrock) or where the Shmoo played the Scooby-Doo role in another variation on the Scooby theme. These are comics I would never seek out, but in a collection like this, I'll bite. What I'm really waiting for is the archival collection of the Peanuts comic books from the 50s and early 60s.
All-New Atom 19
Alter Ego 75
Amazing Spider-Girl 16
Amelia Rules 20
Angel After The Fall 3
Annihilation Conquest 3
Atomic Robo 4
I'll just pause here for a moment, using Atomic Robo as the example of how good all the Red 5 comics.
Avengers Initiative 9
Back Issue 26
Bat Lash 2
Batman 673
Batman Strikes 41
Birds of Prey 114
Black Panther 34
Bomb Queen, vol. 3
Booster Gold 6
In a million years, I never would have thought that Booster Gold would star in a must-buy comic, especially after he and Blue Beetle were made the JL-Bwah-ha-ha's class clowns, but he is. I just hope that the DCU that remains after Final Crisis allows for continued time travel adventures.
BPRD 1946 1
Buffy The Vampire Slayer 10
Captain America 34
Catwoman 75
Clockwork Girl 3
Countdown Lord Havok and the Extremists 4
Countdown to Adventure 6
Countdown to Final Crisis 17-14
Countdown to Mystery 5
Crime Bible The Five Lessons of Blood 4
Daredevil 104
Dark Horse Heroes Omnibus
Death of the New Gods 5
Detective Comics 840
Drafted 5
Dynamo 5 #11
Engineer 2
Essential Captain America, vol. 4
Fables 69
Fantastic Four 553
Flash 236
Futurama Comics 35
Goon 21
Gotham Underground 4
Green Lantern 27
Harvey Comics Classics, Hot Stuff, vol. 3
I don't know what makes me happier, that Harvey comic books from the late 50s through the mid-60s are getting the recognition they deserve, or that the very bad Harvey comics from the mid-70s forward are being ignored.
Hybrid Bastards 2
Immortal Iron Fist 13
Infinity Inc 5
Iron Man Power Pack 3
Jack of Fables 19
JLA Classified 50-51
Jungle Girl 5
Justice League of America 17
Justice League Unlimited 41
Justice Society of America 12
Legion of Super Heroes 38
Legion of Super Heroes In The 31st Century 10
Lobster Johnson Iron Prometheus 5
Madame Mirage 6
This might be the last issue of this title for me. I bought this solely on the basis of Paul Dini's name and the story is o.k., but I have not enjoyed the art so far. If there is another series, I'll look closely at who is named as artist and make my decision from there.
Madman Atomic Comics 8
Maintenance 9
Marvel Adventures Avengers 20
Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four 32
Marvel Adventures Hulk 7
Marvel Adventures Iron Man 9
Marvel Adventures Spider-Man 35
Marvel Masterworks Golden Age Daring Mystery, vol. 1
I never thought I'd say this, but Marvel really has DC beat when it comes to reprinting its pre-Silver Age material.
Mavis 5
Metal Men 5
Midknight 2
Mighty Avengers 8
Mouse Guard Winter 1152 #4
Ms Marvel 23
New Avengers Annual 2
Nexus #100, Space Opera Act 2 Of 4
Nova 10
Order 7
Pax Romana 1, 3
Previews, vol. XVIII #1
PS238 29
PVP 40
Red Mass for Mars 2
Salvation Run 3
Savage Dragon 136
Shadowpact 21
Shark-Man 1
She-Hulk 2 #25
Showcase Presents Ser 1, Superman Action Figure
Showcase Presents Superman Family, vol. 2
Simpsons Comics 138
Spirit 14
Superman 672
Superpowers 1
Teen Titans 55
Teen Titans Go! 51
Teen Titans The Lost Annual
Was there anyone not taken by surprise by this book on the schedule? I wish someone would ask Dan Didio what happened that he "gets" this book now, after famously taking it off the schedule because he didn't get it when it was completed.
Teen Titans Year One 1
I know that this is going to get on my nerves. Already, the half-fish Aqualad shown on the cover and Bat-jerk giving Robin grief in the preview pages annoy me, but I just couldn't control myself.
The Twelve 1
In theory, I should like this, a new story featuring Marvel's more obscure Golden Age heroes, but I know that JMS is going to insist on putting his post-modern mark on the characters, but I'm still a sucker.
Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters 5
Wonder Woman 16
Wonder Woman: Who Is Wonder Woman? collection
You never know where life is going to take you. As a child, I really disliked Mike Sekowsky's stilted art on any title other than Justice League, and here I am buying a trade of his Wonder Woman work.
World War Hulk Aftersmash Damage Control 1
I haven't read a single issue of "Planet Hulk" or "World War Hulk," yet I'm buying this because Dwayne McDuffie is writing it.
X-Men First Class, vol. 2 #8
I know it makes me a fanboy, but as much as I like this comic, I'd like it even more if the costumes the X-Men wear actually matched costumes they were shown wearing in previously published stories.
Y, The Last Man 60
Is it wrong of me to be glad that this comic is finally ending. I mean, it started out strong, but geez, it took forever to get to the end.
Showing posts with label Marvel Universe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marvel Universe. Show all posts
Monday, November 26, 2007
November 2007 DCBS Order
Saturday, October 20, 2007
OML for September, Part 2
Category A (cont.)
Y, the Last Man #58
Is it wrong of me to be happy that this comic finally coming to the end of its story? I'd have to go look at the back issues to tell when it happened, but about two-and-a-half years ago the story started feeling padded to me. Not that there haven't been some nice moments and interesting reveals during that time, but I just kind of feel it could have gotten to the end sooner. Beyond that, those last few pages were a hell of a kick in the head and, for me, kind of disappointing. Especially in contrast with the book's cover.
Marvel Comics Presents #1
I'm not sure yet. The point of an anthology, I would think, is that there should be one feature that brings a person back to buy the book. For me, it would be the Hellcat story, and if it doesn't run past issue #3 I'll stick with it, but nothing else really excited me. Maybe I've so distanced myself from the Marvel Universe, ignoring huge chunks of characters and books for years, that the characters featured can't excite me. However, when you have a Spider-Man story, where he meets all the other Spider-Men (Spider-Mans?) from all the other dimensions and alternate realities, and it doesn't generate as much interest in me as any random issue of Marvel Team-Up from the 1980s, something is wrong somewhere.
Wonder Woman Annual #1
When all is said and done, Alan Heinberg's story was a lot about nothing, and that was emphasized by having the chronically late story finish not in the monthly title where is began, but in an annual because the monthly title had to move past waiting for whoever was late, Heinberg, the Dodsons, or both. The best part of the story was the conversation between Wonder Woman and Batman, but then, long before it became part of the character development on Justice League Unlimited, I've always thought the two should get together. I guess I might be more forgiving if, in the end, the story just wasn't so outdated by events currently happening in the DCU titles. However, I did like the back-up story, a Secret Files-like story that presented backstories for Diana Prince, Nemesis, and Sarge Steel, and it was written by Heinberg, too, with art by Gary Frank. The best part of this story, though, was the inclusion of Thunderbolt with the other Action Heroes for a panel. Harbinger that the character is part of the DCU again or mistake? I'd like it to be the former, but I'm pretty sure it is the latter.
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer Season Eight #6
In some small way, I almost wish that Joss Whedon had provided us a bible for the show's eighth season and let fans daydream about would might have been rather then seeing them produced in comic book form. Not that this is a bad series, but it is a comic book series and not a television series, so no matter what, it is always going to feel like a comic-book derived from a television series. I think what I'm trying to say is that if Buffy had started as a comic book, this would be a fantastic continuation, but as a continuation of a television show, it suffers for being a comic book.
Countdown to Mystery #1When the Eclipso back-up story is more interesting than the main story, something is wrong. Why I understand that Steve Gerber needed to include background on where Dr. Fate's helmet had been until showing up here, even without that material, I found the story a little confusing and kind of boring. Like I said, Eclipso fares better, though the background of the character is veering away from how I remember it and while the inclusion of Plastic Man is slightly interesting, would that the character was more like Jack Cole's version and not the "funny" version thrust upon us by Grant Morrison.
The Irredeemable Ant-Man #12
I know I'm supposed to be heartbroken that this canceled, but I'm kind of glad because it is a comic I don't have to buy anymore. It looks like Eric O'Grady could be maturing at story's end. We'll see if that continues into Avengers: The Initiative.
Supergirl #21
Liberty Comics #1
Sergio Aragone's Groo: 25th Anniversary Special
Maybe the best thing about Groo is that the Sergio and Mark Evanier don't feel a need to update the character for a decreasing, aging fan base. I've read Groo sporadically over the last twenty-five years, but I've always liked it, and, even though I didn't know who some of the characters were outside of Groo and his dog, I neither felt I had to go back and buy read all the back issues nor did I feel cheated because a what-has-happened previously page wasn't at the front. Yes, most of the supporting cast was re-introduced in "The Groo Alphabet" and Groo's early years were shown in "Groo for Sale," but those were back-up stories, properly read after the lead story.
Jungle Girl #1
I'm still enjoying the story, even with what feels like Frank Cho's greater participation. Thankfully, because of the inclusion of more unapologetic shots of Jungle Girl's chest and backside, Cho appears to be influencing the art more than the dialogue.
Batman and the Outsiders #50
I did not read an issue of this when Judd Winick was writing the title and I only picked up this issue because I needed to see if this was were the darkening of Batman (something I don't want) was going to start. Thankfully, Batman wasn't the jerk I've disliked prior to Morrison and Dini writing the character, and I didn't mind the comic so much, though the fingernail dropping passing as Metamorpho needs to get rid of Queequeg's facial tattoos.
Friday, October 19, 2007
OML for September, Part 1
I just finished my comments on August comics, and here comes September. I've vowed only comment on those comics that made an impression on me, for good or bad, and to reduce my commentary when I do write. We'll see how that works out.
Category A
Jungle Girl #0
Being a well-adjusted, heterosexual male, I enjoy Frank Cho's art. His writing on the other hand . . . well, I like his writing on Liberty Meadows. I was very disappointed with his writing of the Sheena mini-series from a couple of years ago, though the art was beautiful, so I didn't have much hope for this to be any better, but since it was only a quarter, I wouldn't be out much. Maybe because all Cho did was supply the cover and the plot, but even as a short introductory piece, Jungle Girl #0 was heads and tails better than his Sheena. The story by Doug Murray, the same person who wrote The 'Nam for Marvel, held my interest and the art by Adriano Batista is that clean-line style that I think is best suited superhero and superhero-like comics. I had never come across Batista's art before, but now any book to which he is attached I'll consider buying. I've already bought #1 off the stand and am adding this to my DCBS order.
JSA Classified # 30
Take Doug Murray's and Adriano Batista's work on Jungle Girl, invert it, and you'll get the thick, gloppy mess writer Arvid Nelson and artist Alex Sanchez have produced for the second part of the current Mr. Terrific-centric story. This is terrible in so many ways that I don't even know where to begin. No, that's wrong. I can begin with this, since it shows the trifecta of bad editing, art, and writing:
The first panel is confusing with the poor placement of balloons. Read the first balloon on the left, its speaker not really defined by the balloon's arrow, then move on to Mr. Terrific's. Because Terrific's balloon comes second, it appears that he is responding to the first speaker and that that speaker is Jay Garrick. That then, by the rules of comic reading espoused by Scott McCloud, makes Jay the blobby lug in the next panel where he makes a rather Marvel-esque comment, the bigotry of which is not only out of character for Jay Garrick, one of the traditional nice guys in the DCU, but for any of DC's WWII/Earth-2 heroes who have consistently emphasized that World War II was, among other things, a battle against prejudice.
Now, in fairness, in the panel prior to the first one shown here, Jay is speaking, but I didn't understand that to be the case until I was working with the image. When I first read the comic, I thought blobby lug was Jay and the way the balloons are placed there really isn't anyway reason not to make that assumption. The reason I wanted to post this image in the first place was to show the totally out-of-character comment the blobby lug makes. The comment is more fitting coming from a Marvel character like Magneto. DC's WWII/Earth-2 heroes have never been shown that they consider themselves any different then non-superheroes, yet here blobby lug, who represents Ted Grant, I believe, uses "normals" in the pejorative in what you know is the same disparaging tone some people use when they call a monthly comic book "floppy" or "pamphlet." Character development comes from a consistent characterization, not from a characterization bit dropped in pointlessly.
Infinity, Inc. #1
Not my Infinity, Inc., but the team I'm familiar with hasn't been that team since Crisis on Infinite Earth changed the rules. The first issue wasn't bad, but nothing spectacular either, especially after Peter Milligan's great writing on X-Statix. I've heard at least one person call Max Fiumara's art more fitting for a Vertigo title and I can see what they mean. It is a little dark, but that be more a factor of the coloring. To be honest, in my opinion, the art isn't up to the level of craftsmanship readers expect in a Vertigo title. Still, I'll give it a couple of issues to improve.
Lucha Libre #1
This is not the comic I thought it was going to be and I'm not sure if I liked it or not. It is actually an anthology with stories based around the archetypical character of the Mexican wrestler. I thought the lead story, featuring The Luchadores Five, was going to be the whole book when I ordered it, so I am glad to write that I did enjoy that feature. In concept, it reminds me of the 'Mazing Man series from DC twenty or so years ago, in that the five characters are superheroes, continually in costume, though for the Five "costume" means wearing masks of the type Mexican wrestlers wear and street clothers. None of the Five appear to have access to money like 'Maze did to fund their campaign against crime and injustice; those who have cars aren't driving this year's model and of the homes we've seen, none give the impression of lower middle class. I'm really indifferent to the rest of the comic, and probably would have like Lucha Libre more had it featured just The Luchadores Five and lowered the cost of the comic. Still, being published as a bi-monthly makes the cost more absorable, so I guess I'll stay with this until the lead story ends, if nothing else.
Daredevil #100
Nightwing #136
The art was slightly better than last issue, but not by much. I never noticed Jamal Igle like I should have, but after he was taken off of this comic, I sure notice his absence. Combine that with a lackluster Wolfman story, though you'd think that since he'll soon be leaving Nightwing to write a new Vigilante comic, he'd make the new Vigilante, introduced last issue, more interesting. He doesn't and I'm just biding my time until I no longer receive my pre-ordered issues.
Star Trek: Year Four #2
This is really a rather pedestrian title. Maybe David Tischman is the world's biggest original Star Trek fan, but from the last two issues, I'm not getting that feeling. I guess Tischman deserves some credit for staying within the scope of the stories told on the original, but I'd rather the stories had a little more of the second season flair, rather than the drabness of alien-civilization-as-allegory stories of any season TNG presented here so far. A far greater disappointment to me is Steve Conley's art. I love his Astounding Space Thrills, but where his more cartoony style is perfect for that book, one that he also writes, it just seems a little "off" for Star Trek. Mind you, I'd rather see his style of art than any number of Image-influenced artists working today on any number of comics from Nightwing to New Avengers, but he really doesn't help sell the illusion that the stories are "actual" fourth season episodes. Maybe Conley should start writing ST: Y4 and an artist with a slightly more realistic style be brought in.
Dynamo 5 #7
Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Parallax #1
The Flash #232
I'm sorry, but Danial Acuna's art is not appropriate for conveying speed, at least to me. The way he substitutes color for actual line work might impress some, but it does nothing for me, Yeah, yeah, I know that I supposed to embrace his work because he is bringing a more European style to mainstream comics, but, you know what, there's a reason I'm not buying European comics and pretending to like them. I'm not in high school and I don't have to do things or say I like things because I think that'll make the cool kids like me. If you like Acuna, God bless you, but it isn't for me. Another title I'm giving a few more issues, at least until the alien invasion story ends.
The Immortal Iron Fist #9
The Immortal Iron Fist Annual #1
I need to apologize. Iron Fist really is a good comic book and I only keeping putting it at the top of pile because each month I assume it is going to be a "reimagining" of the character for the more cool modern fan. Then each month I read it and I am impressed with the story and art. It was the Iron Fist Annual, though, that helped convince me that Iron Fist deserves to be more toward the bottom of the pile. I'm a sucker for stories set in the thirties and a sucker for lineage heroes, ala the Phantom, and the annual had everything. Even Howard Chaykin's art was more controlled than I'd seen it in a while. Iron Fist is moving toward the bottom next month.
Jack Kirby's Galactic Bounty Hunters #6
So, it ends. Every month or so as new issues came out, I read this and it felt I was reading Jack Kirby. Not the Kirby overflowing with ideas, but the Kirby who squirted out concepts for Topps Comics toward the end of his life. Galactic Bounty Hunters might have been better even if late-in-life Jack Kirby wrote and drew it, but having four credited writers and three credited artists (one of whom is Kirby) didn't really make it better. My suggestion is that Lisa Kirby, Jack's daughter and one of the credited writers, turn the whole thing over to Karl Kesel, credited for art, but he had received writing credit on other issues, have him bring in Tom Grummett on art, and let them go to town. With those two, I'd buy the next mini-series, if such is solicited, but without at least Kesel writing, I don't think so.
Category A
Jungle Girl #0
Being a well-adjusted, heterosexual male, I enjoy Frank Cho's art. His writing on the other hand . . . well, I like his writing on Liberty Meadows. I was very disappointed with his writing of the Sheena mini-series from a couple of years ago, though the art was beautiful, so I didn't have much hope for this to be any better, but since it was only a quarter, I wouldn't be out much. Maybe because all Cho did was supply the cover and the plot, but even as a short introductory piece, Jungle Girl #0 was heads and tails better than his Sheena. The story by Doug Murray, the same person who wrote The 'Nam for Marvel, held my interest and the art by Adriano Batista is that clean-line style that I think is best suited superhero and superhero-like comics. I had never come across Batista's art before, but now any book to which he is attached I'll consider buying. I've already bought #1 off the stand and am adding this to my DCBS order.
JSA Classified # 30
Take Doug Murray's and Adriano Batista's work on Jungle Girl, invert it, and you'll get the thick, gloppy mess writer Arvid Nelson and artist Alex Sanchez have produced for the second part of the current Mr. Terrific-centric story. This is terrible in so many ways that I don't even know where to begin. No, that's wrong. I can begin with this, since it shows the trifecta of bad editing, art, and writing:
The first panel is confusing with the poor placement of balloons. Read the first balloon on the left, its speaker not really defined by the balloon's arrow, then move on to Mr. Terrific's. Because Terrific's balloon comes second, it appears that he is responding to the first speaker and that that speaker is Jay Garrick. That then, by the rules of comic reading espoused by Scott McCloud, makes Jay the blobby lug in the next panel where he makes a rather Marvel-esque comment, the bigotry of which is not only out of character for Jay Garrick, one of the traditional nice guys in the DCU, but for any of DC's WWII/Earth-2 heroes who have consistently emphasized that World War II was, among other things, a battle against prejudice.
Now, in fairness, in the panel prior to the first one shown here, Jay is speaking, but I didn't understand that to be the case until I was working with the image. When I first read the comic, I thought blobby lug was Jay and the way the balloons are placed there really isn't anyway reason not to make that assumption. The reason I wanted to post this image in the first place was to show the totally out-of-character comment the blobby lug makes. The comment is more fitting coming from a Marvel character like Magneto. DC's WWII/Earth-2 heroes have never been shown that they consider themselves any different then non-superheroes, yet here blobby lug, who represents Ted Grant, I believe, uses "normals" in the pejorative in what you know is the same disparaging tone some people use when they call a monthly comic book "floppy" or "pamphlet." Character development comes from a consistent characterization, not from a characterization bit dropped in pointlessly.
Infinity, Inc. #1
Not my Infinity, Inc., but the team I'm familiar with hasn't been that team since Crisis on Infinite Earth changed the rules. The first issue wasn't bad, but nothing spectacular either, especially after Peter Milligan's great writing on X-Statix. I've heard at least one person call Max Fiumara's art more fitting for a Vertigo title and I can see what they mean. It is a little dark, but that be more a factor of the coloring. To be honest, in my opinion, the art isn't up to the level of craftsmanship readers expect in a Vertigo title. Still, I'll give it a couple of issues to improve.
Lucha Libre #1
This is not the comic I thought it was going to be and I'm not sure if I liked it or not. It is actually an anthology with stories based around the archetypical character of the Mexican wrestler. I thought the lead story, featuring The Luchadores Five, was going to be the whole book when I ordered it, so I am glad to write that I did enjoy that feature. In concept, it reminds me of the 'Mazing Man series from DC twenty or so years ago, in that the five characters are superheroes, continually in costume, though for the Five "costume" means wearing masks of the type Mexican wrestlers wear and street clothers. None of the Five appear to have access to money like 'Maze did to fund their campaign against crime and injustice; those who have cars aren't driving this year's model and of the homes we've seen, none give the impression of lower middle class. I'm really indifferent to the rest of the comic, and probably would have like Lucha Libre more had it featured just The Luchadores Five and lowered the cost of the comic. Still, being published as a bi-monthly makes the cost more absorable, so I guess I'll stay with this until the lead story ends, if nothing else.
Daredevil #100
Nightwing #136
The art was slightly better than last issue, but not by much. I never noticed Jamal Igle like I should have, but after he was taken off of this comic, I sure notice his absence. Combine that with a lackluster Wolfman story, though you'd think that since he'll soon be leaving Nightwing to write a new Vigilante comic, he'd make the new Vigilante, introduced last issue, more interesting. He doesn't and I'm just biding my time until I no longer receive my pre-ordered issues.
Star Trek: Year Four #2
This is really a rather pedestrian title. Maybe David Tischman is the world's biggest original Star Trek fan, but from the last two issues, I'm not getting that feeling. I guess Tischman deserves some credit for staying within the scope of the stories told on the original, but I'd rather the stories had a little more of the second season flair, rather than the drabness of alien-civilization-as-allegory stories of any season TNG presented here so far. A far greater disappointment to me is Steve Conley's art. I love his Astounding Space Thrills, but where his more cartoony style is perfect for that book, one that he also writes, it just seems a little "off" for Star Trek. Mind you, I'd rather see his style of art than any number of Image-influenced artists working today on any number of comics from Nightwing to New Avengers, but he really doesn't help sell the illusion that the stories are "actual" fourth season episodes. Maybe Conley should start writing ST: Y4 and an artist with a slightly more realistic style be brought in.
Dynamo 5 #7
Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Parallax #1
The Flash #232
I'm sorry, but Danial Acuna's art is not appropriate for conveying speed, at least to me. The way he substitutes color for actual line work might impress some, but it does nothing for me, Yeah, yeah, I know that I supposed to embrace his work because he is bringing a more European style to mainstream comics, but, you know what, there's a reason I'm not buying European comics and pretending to like them. I'm not in high school and I don't have to do things or say I like things because I think that'll make the cool kids like me. If you like Acuna, God bless you, but it isn't for me. Another title I'm giving a few more issues, at least until the alien invasion story ends.
The Immortal Iron Fist #9
The Immortal Iron Fist Annual #1
I need to apologize. Iron Fist really is a good comic book and I only keeping putting it at the top of pile because each month I assume it is going to be a "reimagining" of the character for the more cool modern fan. Then each month I read it and I am impressed with the story and art. It was the Iron Fist Annual, though, that helped convince me that Iron Fist deserves to be more toward the bottom of the pile. I'm a sucker for stories set in the thirties and a sucker for lineage heroes, ala the Phantom, and the annual had everything. Even Howard Chaykin's art was more controlled than I'd seen it in a while. Iron Fist is moving toward the bottom next month.
Jack Kirby's Galactic Bounty Hunters #6
So, it ends. Every month or so as new issues came out, I read this and it felt I was reading Jack Kirby. Not the Kirby overflowing with ideas, but the Kirby who squirted out concepts for Topps Comics toward the end of his life. Galactic Bounty Hunters might have been better even if late-in-life Jack Kirby wrote and drew it, but having four credited writers and three credited artists (one of whom is Kirby) didn't really make it better. My suggestion is that Lisa Kirby, Jack's daughter and one of the credited writers, turn the whole thing over to Karl Kesel, credited for art, but he had received writing credit on other issues, have him bring in Tom Grummett on art, and let them go to town. With those two, I'd buy the next mini-series, if such is solicited, but without at least Kesel writing, I don't think so.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
OML Comments for August, Part 5
I finished reading these just under the wire as the monthly DCBS shipment arrived on the last Thursday of September. Now if I could only write faster. And read faster. (And have more time for both. And have time for uninterrupted video game playing.) I've had the comics for a week and I've only read one of them, and I've not even looked yet at Previews.
Category C (cont.)
Batman #667
See below.
Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #4
As sad as it is that Mike Wieringo died so young and without any warning, at least his last published work, that I know of, was this comic book, which played more to his strengths than any other in-continuity Marvel Universe comic right now. From everything I heard about the man since his death, it sounds like he enjoyed light-hearted stories and that was this four-part mini-series. In a perfect world, Wieringo would still be alive and working on Tellos. Then, in his free time, he and Dan Slott, the writer of this series, would team to create numerous such comics for both of the Big 2, a more appealing, to me at least, version of Loeb/Sales, presenting stories of the characters in a way the reminds readers that mainstream super-hero comic books used to champion a sense of wonder.
Batman #668
Batman is an important character to me. In January 1966, I was four-and-a-half years old and on a cold, I assume, Wednesday night Batman premiered on ABC. Though I had owned comic books by that age, Batman solidified my eternal love of the genre and produced in me a love for the Batman character that can only be produced when one is introduced to something at four and a half. One of the most bothersome aspects of the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths DCU is that a combination of Denny O'Neil, Tim Burton-man, and The Dark Knight Returns, created a vision of the character that could be described as "jerk," but for which "dick" worked much, much better. I couldn't stand Batman for decades and stopped buying most Bat-titles after "A Death in the Family," not for the story in and of itself, but because DC gave fans a voice in deciding if a character lives or dies. I tried a random title hear and there, I was suckered for an issue or two after "Bruce Wayne--Murderer," foolishly believing that Batman after that story would be less of a dick. Hearing that Grant Morrison would write Batman after Infinite Crisis didn't exactly make be feel good; his characterization of Batman in JLA was but one of many flaws in his handling of the team, in my opinion, of course, as he perpetuated the Bat-dick persona (as well as introducing that silly "HH" sound had Batman make, I guess he felt using "hurm" was too obvious) and built the base for the OMACs with Batman's take-down protocols of other heroes. Plus, I never know which Morrison is going to show up until after I've bought a comic, the one who knows how to write based on cultural expectations of the western world or the one that throws out crazy ideas with neither rhyme nor reason and only a loose connection to the concept of a beginning, a middle, and an end. So far, the former Morrison has been showing up and may I say that his handling of the character has been terrific; because of his writing on Batman, and Paul Dini's on Detective Comics, I can buy mainstream Bat-titles again, confident that the Batman presented in each is a hero, not a jerk, and really not "the God-damn Batman".
Morrison's story in this and the previous issue of Batman is a perfect example of everything that is good with Batman now, and with the post-Infinite Crisis DCU. One of the many things that disappointed me with DC's post-Crisis on Infinite Earths output was the random erasure of stories from a character's history because the then-current writer and/or editor didn't like them, deciding that the stories didn't fit into their view of the character. People can bash Dan Didio all they want, but for all of his supposed sins, why does no one ever bring up his statement that DC was wrong to ignore/remove stories from continuity?
It is with that attitude guiding him that, post-Infinite Crisis, Grant Morrison is actually able to respectfully re-introduce the Club of Heroes with a straight face. (I can't imagine such being possible under Denny "urban legend" O'Neil's term as Bat-title editor; better to break Batman's back.) Morrison allows the original story to stand, a photograph of Batman, smiling, standing in the middle of the Heroes is even show, but he also allows time to have passed and the Heroes are older and have evolved. Once they were that team in the photograph, but now each is in a different place. Honestly, that's all I ask: If you envision yourself as a post-modern writer of comic books, don't change past stories to fit your vision. A good writer works with what he is given; a poor writer changes the source material to better suit him. Yes, I am still referring to Justice League: Year One. Enjoyed these first two parts and I am looking forward to the last part.
Justice Society of America #8
Somehow, Geoff Johns is starting to show me in his writing on this comic what everyone else has seen since JSA #1. I still think he draws stories out too long; it would do him good to knock off at least one issue of every story he plots out. Still, the team and the book feels refreshed even if Johns is writing it and I am enjoying the book, not just thinking I should be enjoying it because if features characters named after Golden Age heroes. What Johns has created might all fall apart come the end of Final Crisis and whatever rearrangements are made to the DCU, but, hopefully, Johns won't be treated like Roy Thomas and All-Star Squadron, and he'll get to continue as he started.
The Spirit #9
I have decided that I don't enjoy this comic book as much as I should. I mean, I did, but now the luster of its newness has dulled and I can see it for what it really is: Poor work by Darwyn Cooke trying to be something he is not while being forced to conform to modern expectations of storytelling in comics. Mind you, the art is still wonderful to look at; other mainstream comic books should have the courage to admit that the ugly, jaggedly inked scratchings too many editors try to pass off as art is awful and reach out to more artists like Cooke, Mike Norton, Tom Grummett, etc. However, Cooke's writing is defeating the purpose of hiring a writer/artist, especially a writer/artist who is following in the footsteps of one of the best writer/artist, Will Eisner.
If you have this issue, take it out and really look at it. Look at how Cooke overwrites in the style of the modern comic-book writer. The page where we follow Ebony on his own. There are far, far too many thought captions (and why are those in anyway better than thought balloons). Cooke is telling us, rather than showing us. I am pretty sure Eisner could have presented the same images cinematically. Maybe it is just Cooke's discontent showing through and he didn't want to do the work necessary to present wordless sequences, but, in retrospect, he really has diminished the Spirit, turning the character from classic icon to run-of-the-mill-noirish P.I., by shoving the character into the constraints of modern story telling. The Spirit goes from classic icon,
The Brave and the Bold #6
Booster Gold #1
In my opinion, mainstream comic books fell upon hard creative times because the companies tried to force basically fantastic characters and millieus into realistic straightjackets. Case in point, was DC's determination to remove the ability for characters to easily travel through time and/or space. This led to such things as the decree that any method of time travel can only be used once by anyone. At that time, I thought such things were foolish additions that hamstrung writers every bit as much as if the producers of a Star Trek series or Stargate decided to impose rules that made the intergalactic travel impossible. In retrospect, I must have been right because time travel and intergalactic travel are both back, and both appear relatively easy. I'm not saying they are accessible to every character, but they sure seem easier than they did post-Crisis on Infinite Earths.
I write all that as introduction to my comments on these two series. I love them. They are everything I want in a DC comic: Fine, high-adventure writing with the illusion of character development thrown in, presented with clear, dramatic art by artists unafraid to use their art in service of the story, rather than in service of their ego. The Brave and the Bold was a roller coaster of a story, mixing and matching characters in a joyful way, taking them across space and across time. It does my heart good to see Batman teaming with the Legion of Super-Heroes, and credit must be given to Waid for teaming Batman and Green Lantern in the first issue, recalling . For the first time since Empire, Mark Waid just told a story and didn't feel the need to tweak a character concept by inserting the little "Waidisms" that eventually turn me off of his writing. By not doing that, I finally appreciated what he is capable of doing with company-owned characters. As for George Perez's art, others have praised it better than I am capable. Suffice to say, it is perfect for this book, and superhero comic books in general; would that more editors would look to his work as inspiration when assigning book to artists rather than to the current generation of Image-influenced scratchers.
As for Booster Gold, I just want to say that anyone who whines out the sentence "Time travel makes my head hurt," is an idiot and should not be suffered to live. Booster serving as an unknown hero is a very cool, and yet sad, concept. He is now the Sam Beckett of the DCU, as he tries to make right what went wrong. If he could actually save Blue Beetle, that would be an enormous correction. Great writing, clear attractive art by Dan Jurgens. Here's hoping this book has a long life, exploring the many possible permutations of the DCU, as Booster serves as a living retcon device.
Countdown ##37-34
Let me say this once, calmly serene knowing I am correct: This is a good series. I will admit that I am not crazy about the artists that have been rotated through, but the stories themselves aren't bad. At least Countdown is following through with its promise of acting as "the backbone of the DC Universe." I read this after I have read everything else and I do not feel that I am missing out on anything, and I think it is filling in blanks for me quite nicely. People still become orgamsic discussing 52, but, to be honest, 52 did not fulfill its promise of filling in what happened during the missing year without Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, and that the series, as good as it might have been, ran out of editorial control with its focus on just Doc Magnus, Steel, etc. I think the only reason DC released the World War III specials was less to dig into the sales of "World War Hulk" and more of a place to try to fill in all the caps that Johns, Rucka, et al. were not filling in 52.
Regarding Countdown, may I suggest that those who think that DC is forcing them to buy other titles is transferring their completest mindset to DC editorial. No one is making you buy the related titles, you anal fanboy you, and I think the story does not suffer for not reading them. Unclench and don't worry about the story than might be taking place over there if you have no desire to read that comic, or that the story in The Flash isn't perfectly in line with the current issue of Countdown. Read Countdown with a more open mind and make it the last book you read every week. I think you will find it is serving as a supportive structure to the DCU.
Category C (cont.)
Batman #667
See below.
Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #4
As sad as it is that Mike Wieringo died so young and without any warning, at least his last published work, that I know of, was this comic book, which played more to his strengths than any other in-continuity Marvel Universe comic right now. From everything I heard about the man since his death, it sounds like he enjoyed light-hearted stories and that was this four-part mini-series. In a perfect world, Wieringo would still be alive and working on Tellos. Then, in his free time, he and Dan Slott, the writer of this series, would team to create numerous such comics for both of the Big 2, a more appealing, to me at least, version of Loeb/Sales, presenting stories of the characters in a way the reminds readers that mainstream super-hero comic books used to champion a sense of wonder.
Batman #668
Batman is an important character to me. In January 1966, I was four-and-a-half years old and on a cold, I assume, Wednesday night Batman premiered on ABC. Though I had owned comic books by that age, Batman solidified my eternal love of the genre and produced in me a love for the Batman character that can only be produced when one is introduced to something at four and a half. One of the most bothersome aspects of the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths DCU is that a combination of Denny O'Neil, Tim Burton-man, and The Dark Knight Returns, created a vision of the character that could be described as "jerk," but for which "dick" worked much, much better. I couldn't stand Batman for decades and stopped buying most Bat-titles after "A Death in the Family," not for the story in and of itself, but because DC gave fans a voice in deciding if a character lives or dies. I tried a random title hear and there, I was suckered for an issue or two after "Bruce Wayne--Murderer," foolishly believing that Batman after that story would be less of a dick. Hearing that Grant Morrison would write Batman after Infinite Crisis didn't exactly make be feel good; his characterization of Batman in JLA was but one of many flaws in his handling of the team, in my opinion, of course, as he perpetuated the Bat-dick persona (as well as introducing that silly "HH" sound had Batman make, I guess he felt using "hurm" was too obvious) and built the base for the OMACs with Batman's take-down protocols of other heroes. Plus, I never know which Morrison is going to show up until after I've bought a comic, the one who knows how to write based on cultural expectations of the western world or the one that throws out crazy ideas with neither rhyme nor reason and only a loose connection to the concept of a beginning, a middle, and an end. So far, the former Morrison has been showing up and may I say that his handling of the character has been terrific; because of his writing on Batman, and Paul Dini's on Detective Comics, I can buy mainstream Bat-titles again, confident that the Batman presented in each is a hero, not a jerk, and really not "the God-damn Batman".
Morrison's story in this and the previous issue of Batman is a perfect example of everything that is good with Batman now, and with the post-Infinite Crisis DCU. One of the many things that disappointed me with DC's post-Crisis on Infinite Earths output was the random erasure of stories from a character's history because the then-current writer and/or editor didn't like them, deciding that the stories didn't fit into their view of the character. People can bash Dan Didio all they want, but for all of his supposed sins, why does no one ever bring up his statement that DC was wrong to ignore/remove stories from continuity?
It is with that attitude guiding him that, post-Infinite Crisis, Grant Morrison is actually able to respectfully re-introduce the Club of Heroes with a straight face. (I can't imagine such being possible under Denny "urban legend" O'Neil's term as Bat-title editor; better to break Batman's back.) Morrison allows the original story to stand, a photograph of Batman, smiling, standing in the middle of the Heroes is even show, but he also allows time to have passed and the Heroes are older and have evolved. Once they were that team in the photograph, but now each is in a different place. Honestly, that's all I ask: If you envision yourself as a post-modern writer of comic books, don't change past stories to fit your vision. A good writer works with what he is given; a poor writer changes the source material to better suit him. Yes, I am still referring to Justice League: Year One. Enjoyed these first two parts and I am looking forward to the last part.
Justice Society of America #8
Somehow, Geoff Johns is starting to show me in his writing on this comic what everyone else has seen since JSA #1. I still think he draws stories out too long; it would do him good to knock off at least one issue of every story he plots out. Still, the team and the book feels refreshed even if Johns is writing it and I am enjoying the book, not just thinking I should be enjoying it because if features characters named after Golden Age heroes. What Johns has created might all fall apart come the end of Final Crisis and whatever rearrangements are made to the DCU, but, hopefully, Johns won't be treated like Roy Thomas and All-Star Squadron, and he'll get to continue as he started.
The Spirit #9
I have decided that I don't enjoy this comic book as much as I should. I mean, I did, but now the luster of its newness has dulled and I can see it for what it really is: Poor work by Darwyn Cooke trying to be something he is not while being forced to conform to modern expectations of storytelling in comics. Mind you, the art is still wonderful to look at; other mainstream comic books should have the courage to admit that the ugly, jaggedly inked scratchings too many editors try to pass off as art is awful and reach out to more artists like Cooke, Mike Norton, Tom Grummett, etc. However, Cooke's writing is defeating the purpose of hiring a writer/artist, especially a writer/artist who is following in the footsteps of one of the best writer/artist, Will Eisner.
If you have this issue, take it out and really look at it. Look at how Cooke overwrites in the style of the modern comic-book writer. The page where we follow Ebony on his own. There are far, far too many thought captions (and why are those in anyway better than thought balloons). Cooke is telling us, rather than showing us. I am pretty sure Eisner could have presented the same images cinematically. Maybe it is just Cooke's discontent showing through and he didn't want to do the work necessary to present wordless sequences, but, in retrospect, he really has diminished the Spirit, turning the character from classic icon to run-of-the-mill-noirish P.I., by shoving the character into the constraints of modern story telling. The Spirit goes from classic icon,
The Brave and the Bold #6
Booster Gold #1
In my opinion, mainstream comic books fell upon hard creative times because the companies tried to force basically fantastic characters and millieus into realistic straightjackets. Case in point, was DC's determination to remove the ability for characters to easily travel through time and/or space. This led to such things as the decree that any method of time travel can only be used once by anyone. At that time, I thought such things were foolish additions that hamstrung writers every bit as much as if the producers of a Star Trek series or Stargate decided to impose rules that made the intergalactic travel impossible. In retrospect, I must have been right because time travel and intergalactic travel are both back, and both appear relatively easy. I'm not saying they are accessible to every character, but they sure seem easier than they did post-Crisis on Infinite Earths.
I write all that as introduction to my comments on these two series. I love them. They are everything I want in a DC comic: Fine, high-adventure writing with the illusion of character development thrown in, presented with clear, dramatic art by artists unafraid to use their art in service of the story, rather than in service of their ego. The Brave and the Bold was a roller coaster of a story, mixing and matching characters in a joyful way, taking them across space and across time. It does my heart good to see Batman teaming with the Legion of Super-Heroes, and credit must be given to Waid for teaming Batman and Green Lantern in the first issue, recalling . For the first time since Empire, Mark Waid just told a story and didn't feel the need to tweak a character concept by inserting the little "Waidisms" that eventually turn me off of his writing. By not doing that, I finally appreciated what he is capable of doing with company-owned characters. As for George Perez's art, others have praised it better than I am capable. Suffice to say, it is perfect for this book, and superhero comic books in general; would that more editors would look to his work as inspiration when assigning book to artists rather than to the current generation of Image-influenced scratchers.
As for Booster Gold, I just want to say that anyone who whines out the sentence "Time travel makes my head hurt," is an idiot and should not be suffered to live. Booster serving as an unknown hero is a very cool, and yet sad, concept. He is now the Sam Beckett of the DCU, as he tries to make right what went wrong. If he could actually save Blue Beetle, that would be an enormous correction. Great writing, clear attractive art by Dan Jurgens. Here's hoping this book has a long life, exploring the many possible permutations of the DCU, as Booster serves as a living retcon device.
Countdown ##37-34
Let me say this once, calmly serene knowing I am correct: This is a good series. I will admit that I am not crazy about the artists that have been rotated through, but the stories themselves aren't bad. At least Countdown is following through with its promise of acting as "the backbone of the DC Universe." I read this after I have read everything else and I do not feel that I am missing out on anything, and I think it is filling in blanks for me quite nicely. People still become orgamsic discussing 52, but, to be honest, 52 did not fulfill its promise of filling in what happened during the missing year without Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, and that the series, as good as it might have been, ran out of editorial control with its focus on just Doc Magnus, Steel, etc. I think the only reason DC released the World War III specials was less to dig into the sales of "World War Hulk" and more of a place to try to fill in all the caps that Johns, Rucka, et al. were not filling in 52.
Regarding Countdown, may I suggest that those who think that DC is forcing them to buy other titles is transferring their completest mindset to DC editorial. No one is making you buy the related titles, you anal fanboy you, and I think the story does not suffer for not reading them. Unclench and don't worry about the story than might be taking place over there if you have no desire to read that comic, or that the story in The Flash isn't perfectly in line with the current issue of Countdown. Read Countdown with a more open mind and make it the last book you read every week. I think you will find it is serving as a supportive structure to the DCU.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)