| #7 | 6/24/09 | #8 |
DETECTIVE COMICS # 854
Written by Greg Rucka Art by J. H. Williams III Published by DC Comics Reviewed by Stones Throw
Some might say it’s a shame that an artist as talented as J.H. Williams III is wasting his time on superhero books, but I say, keep ‘em coming, J.H.!! He drew Paul Dini’s first issue on this title way back in the days when the DCU was recovering from a CRISIS in which the Batman had gone missing—no, the one before the last one—and I was left wondering why the non-Williams issues that followed didn’t seem so exciting. Then Grant Morrison’s Williams-illustrated “League of Batmen” arc was probably his best work on the character until the new BATMAN AND ROBIN title.Now Williams is back and, no offence to Greg Rucka, but again it’s the art that is the main draw on this Bat-book. What we get is a perfectly serviceable introduction-cum-reintroduction to the young lady who’s running around in that Alex Ross-designed Batwoman costume, but when drawn by Mr. PROMETHEA it becomes something almost epic in scope. Batwoman knocks around a Turk-like stooge in an alleyway for information related to the whole Crime Bible-plot that’s been percolating in Rucka’s books. She has a tense rooftop meeting with the Batman, as is the wont for new characters set in Gotham City. Then she goes home and recuperates before launching an attack on the “Religion of Crime” in an atmospheric church.
It’s perfectly fine, ordinary stuff, probably well-above average in the character work with Batwoman’s father and her older girlfriend, who thinks she’s “playing the field” when she’s actually out fighting crime, but Williams’ art makes it weigh 1,000 tons. Sometimes it’s relatively simple stuff like the way the first page fades in from a monochrome first panel, only introducing color in the bold red and black of Batwoman’s costume as she first appears in a double-page spread—which is made all the more surprising by the way the typical action shot doesn’t appear until the last panel, this being the rare wise crook who decides to stop running and ask the hero what she wants. Or how Williams’ art changes from thick blacks and watercolors when Batwoman is in costume to much clearer linework and brighter colors during the day.
Other times it’s stuff only Williams does and which followers of his art will already know well from his work with Alan Moore on PROMETHEA and Warren Ellis on DESOLATION JONES. The ingenious page constructions which give panels an almost religious iconography, similar to Mike Mignola’s HELLBOY. This time frames are shaped like lightning bolts and bats, best seen in a double-page splash towards the end of the book which reminds me of Frank Quitely on WE3 in which Batwoman wreaks havoc among a crime coven, the central figure of a leaping Batwoman interposed over jagged bolt-shaped panels showing smaller details of action. Or his detailed character design that gives the Alice in Wonderland-inspired leader of the coven a creepiness that matches Rucka’s writing.
The thing looks great and for those of us who didn’t follow all of 52 it’s a fine introduction to a hero who has a pretty interesting setup behind her, with a military father who helps plan her operations and supplies her equipment, while she’s simultaneously trying to carry on with a normal life. My only concern is a minor one but it’s related to both the art and the series this springs from. J. H. Williams had a long lead time so he can bring us these purty pictures on a relatively regular basis, but in the meantime a Batman has come and gone either to a prehistoric cave or a hole in the ground in the pages of FINAL CRISIS. So in the obligatory, impressively depicted standoff with Batman at the start of the book, is it Bruce Wayne or Dick Grayson under the cowl? I can see the answer having a pretty big effect on the premise of the book. We’ve seen Bruce Wayne give the typical hard@$$ treatment to other heroes in Gotham probably too many times but I can imagine Nightwing’s reaction to a potential challenger would be rather different. It would be a shame to see this series handicapped right out of the gate by being out of synch with the other Bat-titles.
The backup, or co-feature as Dan DiDio wants the backups called, is a QUESTION caper also written by Rucka (and illustrated by Cully Hamner). Weirdly, it’s pretty similar to the main feature. You’ve got a lesbian detective hero, an older guy who helps her and a gang they’re investigating. I can see this either being an advantage or a deficit. Either way I see the backups as pretty much a temporary measure before the $3.99 price tag becomes uniform. This one was pretty slight but in the case of the MANHUNTER feature in STREETS OF GOTHAM #1 Marc Andreyko fit more story into nine pages than many writers get in a full issue. So I dunno.
Anyway, it’s great to have the main Bat-books being drawn by artists of the calibre of Frank Quitely, J.H. Williams III and…Ed Benes? Holy outclassing, Batman!
WILLIAM SHATNER PRESENTS THE TEK WAR CHRONICLES #1
Writer: William Shatner & Scott Davis Art: Erich Owen Publisher: Bluewater Comics Reviewer: Matt Adler
To be honest, I was not expecting much from this comic. Up till this point, Bluewater has been best known for its biographical comics featuring well-known figures from the world of politics and entertainment. Usually when small publishers put out comics featuring big celebrity names, the end product appears to be relying solely on that name to attract readers, without much thought given to making it something people would want to read. And while William Shatner is an entertaining actor, I’d never heard him lauded as a writer. I knew that this comic was based on his Tek War novel series, co-written by Ron Goulart, but that was about it.So it took me by surprise when this turned out to be a pretty compelling read. Granted, from what I understand, much of this first issue is directly adapted from the novel, but I have read many weak adaptations even of good novels. Pacing, especially, is difficult to get right when translating from one medium to another, and any adaptation inevitably has to choose what to use from the original and what to cut in order to make the read flow smoothly. All of this is done very well by writer Scott Davis.
Credit also has to go to artist Erich Owen, whose art is as compelling and professional as anything seen at the Big Two; of course, the irony is that when such artists get to show their stuff at smaller publishers, the Big Two invariably take notice and the artists are snatched up. Based on this issue, I feel confident that’s what will happen with Owen.
In terms of story, this one runs along the lines of movies like I, ROBOT and BLADE RUNNER. The lead character is a hard-boiled detective, fresh out of prison, who lives in a futuristic world (the year 2120) filled with androids, brain modification technology, and the requisite worldwide, centrally-controlled information network. Perhaps the most interesting concept here is that our protagonist, Jake Cardigan, is a junkie. His drug of choice is something called “tek”, which is apparently pieces of cybernetic programming that can interface directly with the human brain, giving its user a high. Cardigan has gotten an early reprieve from prison, ostensibly to work for a private investigations firm that needs his help on the case of a missing robotics specialist.
Much of this may sound like ground that has been covered in the aforementioned movies, but sometimes the worth of a book lies in the “how” rather than “what.” The singer, not the song, so to speak. That’s the case here, as the way that the creative team plays this out engrosses you, even given having seen many of these story elements before. It’s this performance of the material that’s the main reason I’m interested to see where this goes next.
X-FACTOR #45
Writer: Peter David Pencilers: Marco Santucci & Valentine DeLandro Published by: Marvel Comics Reviewed by: BottleImp
Okay, so by now, regular AICN readers should know that X-FACTOR (having clung to life through an unfortunate period filled with unnecessary crossovers and some ugly, ugly Larry Stroman art) is one of Marvel’s best comics on the stands. We @$$holes have heaped praise on the title month after month—the great art by DeLandro and others, Peter David’s knack for writing scenes that take the reader’s breath away, the mere fact that a motley assortment of plainclothes amateur detectives make for more compelling characters than the most colorful spandex-and-leather wearing X-Men; I know that I’m not alone in my opinion that X-FACTOR is at the top of its game. So what else is there left to say that won’t turn this review into a feelgood snoozer? Is there anything negative that one can say about this series? Well, I’m going to try. Here goes…If there is any failing in X-FACTOR, it is that Jamie Madrox’s team of unlikely detectives has become very fragmented. At this point in the series, Madrox has been brought eighty years into the future by the time-displaced Layla Miller (wasn’t it great, though, how Layla was brought back into the series? That was so cool how…oh wait, I’m supposed to be being critical), half of the XF Investigations team is focused on solving a case of why a former mutant is being targeted by assassination by someone called “Cortex,” and the other half is off trying to track down Madrox and getting attacked by former X-Forcer Shatterstar (which was a really cool reveal—seriously, who’d have ever thought that a crappy Liefeld creation like Shatterstar would ever…oops. Sorry, got me gushing again). Meanwhile the ultimate adaptive mutant Darwin was in trouble last issue as it was revealed that the telepathic super-strong Monet was under the control of “Cortex” (in a hilarious scene that showed the readers that Darwin was a lot smarter than he looked…shit, here I am looking at the positives again). See? Waaaay too fragmented. Totally terrible storytelling. Seriously, how am I supposed to remember what’s happening to each character when the story suddenly shifts away from one of them at a crucial juncture?
Here’s the good news for all the ADD kids out there: David is slowly pulling all the threads together in this issue. We finally are beginning to see the connection between the goings-on in the present day and the mystery that Madrox is trying to solve in the future. And there’s more—a wonderful glimpse of a future Dr. Doom and Layla Miller’s devastatingly insightful analysis of his psyche (and much more interesting than Millar’s recent take on Doom), the subtle hints (unless I’m totally overreaching) of the return of classic X-Men villains from the Claremont & Byrne days, and here’s the real reason to buy this issue. You know how the MTV Movie Awards have a “Best Kiss” category? Well if X-FACTOR #45 was a film, rest assured that the second-to-last panel on the last page would bring home that crappy gold-plated popcorn.
So there you have it, a completely harsh review of one of the best comics out there. Next time I’ll turn my critical wrath on NOVA—seriously, just because he’s an outer-space policeman doesn’t mean he ALWAYS has to be out in space. And don’t get me started on the annoying non-stop action and excitement…
When released from his Bottle, the Imp takes the form of Stephen Andrade, an artist/illustrator/pirate monkey painter from the Northeast. You can see some of his artwork here. He’s given up comics more times than he can remember. But every time he thinks he's out, they pull him back in.
THE PLASTIC MAN ARCHIVES VOL. 1
Story by: Jack Cole Art by: Jack Cole Published by: DC Comics Reviewed by: Baytor
I’m not a particularly big fan of Golden & Silver Age books. There are a few exceptions, such as Will Eisner’s SPIRIT and EC’s New Trend line, but mostly I give the two eras a pass. Oh, sure, from time to time I’ll lay my hands on a SUPERMAN ARCHIVE or a FANTASTIC FOUR MASTERWORKS and I’ll eventually finish it, but, unlike Doritos, I always want to stop after one story. They’re just too simple minded or illogically plotted for me to get excited by them. I ordered the first volume of the PLASTIC MAN ARCHIVES on a lark. The character had come up in some desperately trivial message board argument; I looked him up on Wikipedia, got to reading about Jack Cole, and decided to give it a whirl.Even without the preface by Will Eisner, it would have been clear to me that Jack Cole was aping the pre-war Spirit. Not content to aim his stories at semi-literate children, he initially mimicked The Spirit’s style and tone, which was more akin to newspaper strips at the time. Plas starts off as a semi-serious gangster turned crime fighter with a friendly rivalry with the head of the police and it’s told with wonky page layouts and lots of captions. In some ways, it’s better than its main influence, because Cole seems to have a natural instinct for pacing and doesn’t run into the problem that plagued a lot of early Spirit stories: cramming far too much plot into its brief page count. It’s still a bit abrupt in places, but there aren’t characters getting killed in between panels and it isn’t dependent on lots of linking exposition.
But over the course of the first twenty Plastic Man stories, you can see Jack Cole shed those early influences, transforming the strip from good to brilliant. The art gets loser, the captions start to disappear, and Plas starts getting truly creative with his powers (although he’s still a year or so away from the sort of shenanigans modern audiences are used to seeing). With the introduction of Woozy Winks, an unrepentant pick-pocket who is protected from injury by nature, the strip bravely steps into the surreal and never looks back. When a mob boss named Pogo is shown to have a pogo stick for the lower half of his body, you don’t even question it; you just accept the madness of Plas’ world.
The comic reminds me of the best children’s cartoons, which never forget that they’re supposed to entertain kids, but doesn’t use their youthful ignorance as an excuse to pass off a lot of tired clichés. Six decades later and a lot of comics under my belt, this still feels fresh to me, and I grinned like mad the whole time I read it.
If there were a lot more comics like this in the Golden Age, maybe comics wouldn’t have gotten the dismal reputation they’ve been desperately trying to shed for sixty years. This is undeniably kid’s stuff, but it’s glorious kid’s stuff. This book may have come out ten years ago, but do yourself a favor and seek it out. PLASTIC MAN is one of the most amazing comics of the Golden Age I've ever read.
EXISTENCE 2.0 #1
Writer: Nick Spencer Artist: Ron Salas Publisher: Image Comics Reviewer: Optimous Douche
A few months ago I read an article in WIRED magazine about a baby-boomer millionaire who was ingesting a steady diet of life-extending vitamins so he could live long enough to see the “singularity” – a point in time when human consciousness could be transformed into digital data and then repurposed anywhere. EXISTENCE 2.0 plunks this concept of “downloading” our brain-being into another body in the here and now, and embroils it into a noir mystery of deceit, assassins and a cat in heat. The concept alone was enough to make ole’ Optimous suffer through reading a .pdf; the fantastic delivery though made it a downright pleasure to scroll through.As I traversed the opening pages, I could not figure out for the life of me how Spencer was going to make the lead character, the inventor of this wonder of modern science, likeable or relatable. An ethics be damned man of tomorrow, he dabbles in the verboten topics of scientific exploration like cloning, cryogenics and gene manipulation with reckless abandon, doling out these discoveries to the highest bidder. His latest invention of consciousness transfer was funded by terrorists looking to supplant their cerebellums with airline pilots so it will be even easier to crash planes. This guy is a Beaker for profit with a frigid wife and piece of ass on the side. Then came the hook; the one redeemable trait this man has is his love for his daughter. When she gives our scientist her brand new kitty to keep him company during his months of lockdown as he finishes his invention, it’s easy to tell what will be the man’s saving grace.
As it turns out the cat they thought was a boy was actually a girl and going through her first heat (I hate cat genitals, practically hermaphrodites the lot of them). Our fallen hero decides to rig the time lock door to get the cat the hell out of his lab and onto the street for deep cat dicking. In those fleeting moments he is murdered and transfers, excuse me supplants, his consciousness into the assassin’s body. Realizing this guy is better looking, living the life of a rock star and is slightly taller, our scientist says good-bye to his old life never looking back--that is until someone shows him a newspaper article of his death (his new existence’s hit) and the fact that his daughter has been kidnapped.
Don’t be fooled by my linear and lackluster recounting of this book’s events. Spencer plays deftly with time ending the book a few moments after it began, and filling the middle with all of the back-story. The dialogue is sharp and most importantly feels real, never posturing and in some cases LOL hilarious (especially when Spencer recounts exactly how the cloning, cryogenics and gene manipulation were put to use). Also of note are Salas’ excellent pencils, not just of the individual characters, but also the unique points of views in each panel (loved the blowjob scene). The muted colors and deep shadows are where I received a definite noir vibe, but since the phrase is so overused these days I would rather say the shading heightens the dark nature of the title.
Probably my only regret right now is that the title doesn’t launch until mid-July (don’t say we never give you guys previews), so I will have to wait at least another 6 weeks before I can see issue 2. Woe unto the reviewer.
When Optimous Douche isn’t reading comics and misspelling the names of 80’s icons, he “transforms” into a corporate communications guru. "What if the whole world had superpowers? Find out in the pages of Optimous’ original book AVERAGE JOE. Read the first full issue on Optimous’ New Blog and see original sketches by fellow @$$hole BottleImp. If you are a publisher or can help these guys get AVERAGE JOE up, up, and on the shelves in any way, drop Optimous a line."
WOLVERINE WEAPON X #3
Writer: Jason Aaron Artist: Ron Garney Publisher: Marvel Comics Reviewer: steverodgers
I jumped on WOLVERINE WEAPON X with issue two when I noticed, while browsing the racks, that Jason Aaron was the writer. Now, I like Wolverine as much as the next guy, but I was on a Wolverine hiatus, which I think even the most-undead Marvel Zombie occasionally needs to go on now and then to stave off Wolverine-oversaturation sickness. I have been on a Jason Aaron binge, however, after finally getting around to reading SCALPED (if you haven’t read it, get the first trade and head on down to the rez with the rest of us). This has led me to read everything Aaron is attached to, even reading GHOST RIDER for the first time since the 90s. And now, of course, WOLVERINE WEAPON X.To catch up, Maverick (Legacy free, apparently) gives Logan the head’s up that there are some shady guys in Latin America— independent, military-contractor types called Blackguard who might be messing around with the old Weapon X mojo—and he better get down there before they start causing trouble. Too late, Maverick! Not only has Blackguard started some trouble, but it has managed to engineer 12 soldiers with healing factors, adamantium-laced bones, and (best of all) gamma-green colored laser claws! Laser claws: right there you know if you want to buy this; there are folks who like comics with guys with laser claws, and there are those who don’t. I am firmly and unapologetically in the camp that loves laser claws. Oh, and they also have guns that shoot cancer bullets. These guys mean business.
Meanwhile, an investigative reporter back in San Francisco for the Post (one of the few who hasn’t been laid off) starts snooping into Wolverine’s business because she needs a story. This leads her to Blackguard’s business, and you don’t want to go snooping into Blackguard’s business, especially since it has a big government contract coming up. This lady should be nervous; after all, Blackguard invented laser claws and cancer bullets. Blackguard sends the “HR” team to deal with her—an opportunity that gives our old friend Maverick a chance to be a hero.
The bulk of this issue is Wolverine wreaking havoc on the spruced-up Blackguard soldiers in the jungle, one furry mutant alone. This isn’t anything that hasn’t been done before, but it’s always nice when it is done well. Aaron has set up the Blackguard soldiers to be tough enough so you know they will give Logan a run for his money. The art by Ron Garney, which would look just as polished without all the fancy coloring and shading, is superb and every panel is put together to move the story forward. I’d forgotten just how good Ron Garney can be, and it’s nice to see him kicking ass on such a fun book.
It will be interesting to see if Aaron will begin to add the mystery and grit that makes SCAPLED such an excellent series. Maybe he will even be able to make the WEAPON X program interesting again. I’m not too worried, however, because right now this book is reminding me that it’s always enjoyable just to see Wolverine doing what Wolverine does best: one mutant alone, impossible odds, just killing a a bunch of guys with laser claws in the jungle. SNIKT!
GOTHAM CITY SIRENS # 1
Written by Paul Dini Art by Guillem March Published by DC Comics Reviewed by Stones Throw, after “the Kid”
Catwoman was balanced upside-down on this big H.R. Giger-looking gargoyle above the streets of Gotham with the evening light reflecting fetchingly off her tight leather costume. Then she jumped down to save this couple who were being attacked by Boneblaster, one of the new villains trying to establish himself in the current topsy-turvy world of Gotham City. He was pretty funny because he was really pleased to get beaten up by a new Gotham City Siren each time. I was like, “I can sympathise, man!”Then Poison Ivy showed up and she was wearing this really tight green swimsuit with just two leaves covering her…y’know. She was saying, “Catwoman and I don’t always see eye to eye, but I’m not going to watch her be manhandled by some meat sack.” And I was like, “I wouldn’t mind manhandling Catwoman’s meat sacks!”
Then Poison Ivy picked Catwoman up and her jacket had become unzipped in the fight so you could see down her…ahem. Poison Ivy told her “necessity makes strange bedfellows” and they went to Poison Ivy’s home where the Riddler was just sitting on the couch staring at them and drooling. She bent down so the Riddler’s face was almost in her…yowza.
The best part of the issue was when Paul Dini’s pet character Harley Quinn came in dressed in a Britney Spears-ten-years-ago outfit with a really short skirt and the blouse buttoned down all the way to her…uh, tchotchkes. She bent down in front of the Riddler too and he was just like, “Whatever you say, Pamela.” And I was like, “I can sympathise, Riddler!”
Artist Guillem March drew a good panel where Catwoman’s ass was in the foreground while she was talking to Harley and Poison Ivy. Then on the opposite side of the facing page there was a similar shot of Poison Ivy. That was a cool use of page layout.
Paul Dini’s second favorite character Zatanna also showed up and all she was wearing was a bathrobe that she was about to take off. Then she fell in the water and her butt was sticking up in the air and when she got up her, uh…magic rabbits were all wet. Poison Ivy was like, Catwoman needs some “positive female reinforcement” and I was like, “Cool!”
But then Boneblaster blasted in and he was like “only Boneblaster’s gonna whack the Joker’s chick!” And Harley was like, “I’ll give ya a night you won’t forget!” Then they all moved into this abandoned animal shelter and Harley said, “There’s something we need to get out in the open before we can be all sisterly and whatnot.” Then Catwoman got drugged and Ivy and Harley both bent down in front of her and I was like, “This would make a pretty good porno.”
Next issue I’d like to see Wonder Woman, Tigra and She-Hulk appear.
RED SONJA: SHE-DEVIL WITH A SWORD #45
Writer: Brian Reed Art: Walter Geovani Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment Reviewer: Mr. Pasty
RED SONJA (rhymes with I’d-Bone-Ya) is one of those comics that lives and dies on the merits of its artwork. Previous incarnations of Sonja have looked more like Doc Samson in drag than a sultry she-devil, but like any fanboy worth his weight in plaid, Walter Geovani has triumphantly mastered the objectification of women. That, coupled with the sort of bold and flashy colors you might expect from Ramon in “Beat Street”, and you have a book that cover-to-cover is about as aesthetically pleasing as they come.Now color me subjective, but I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Big Red. Not even the foul stench of Brigitte Nielsen’s wretched and cardboard performance opposite a shameful Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1985’s “Red Sonja” could dampen my spirits (but they came pretty darn close). Like Conan, Sonja’s been around for quite some time and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say her imprint has been left on other books. I always felt there was a little bit of Sonja in Peter David’s Marlo Chandler character back when she was banging Mr. Fixit in a grungy Vegas casino. But I digress.
Despite the ambiguity of opening lines like “Generations ago…” RED SONJA is surprisingly well executed. Not to worry, you’ll get plenty of shots of a freshly waxed Sonja posing for the masses like a drunken debutante whoring up her MySpace page. But you’ll also find a crisp and fluid narrative that engages you to the point where you find yourself voluntarily paying attention. A less inspired writer might have simply sewn together whatever was left on the cutting room floor from prior books with just enough coherence to move Sonja from one panel to the next. Brian Reed, however, takes the time to craft a simple but engaging story that is violent, seditious and just plain fun.
The only reason I’m giving this book four stars instead of five is because RED SONJA, like most pornos, has a maddening habit of sucking you into a panel full of voluptuous warrior babes engaged in hand-to-hand combat -- only to slam a close-up of a sweaty man’s face into the next frame. Total buzzkill.
Think of the hottest girl you know. Then make her as smart as the nerdiest girl you know. Finally, give her a butcher knife and a bottle of Rumple Minze. That pretty much sums up RED SONJA. Oh, and did I mention there were killer female zombie ninjas with tight asses? What more could you ask for in a comic?
My Rating: 4 vacant shells out of 5.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #598
Writer: Joe Kelly Art: Paolo Siqueira & Marco Checcetto Publisher: Marvel Comics Reviewer: Liam ‘The Kid’
Note: ‘The Kid’ is 8 years old and has been doing reviews on his own site since August of 2008. And you can now follow the kid’s daily ‘adventures’ on Twitter.There are only two more issues until Spider-Man 600. That comic is going to be really great because it’s over 100 pages long and all of the stories inside are going to be new. There isn’t a lot of the old stuff that they put in the comics sometimes for the special issues. I saw Dan Slott again at the Philadelphia Comic Convention and he showed me and Ethan some of the pages from Spider-Man 600 and they look so cool. He said he had a lot of fun working on it and hopes that we’ll like it. There was a lot of cool stuff going on in the pages he showed us, especially with Doctor Octopus so I bet it’s going to be a really good comic.
Spider-Man didn’t get killed when Osborn shot him in the last comic. I knew he wasn’t going to die or else there would be no point for the book. Mr. Fantastic helped make Spider-Man’s new black suit so that all the bad guys would think he was really Venom. It didn’t work too good because everyone figured it out but he still made the mask extra special so it couldn’t be taken off and no one could stab him through the mask or shoot him or anything. That’s how he’s still alive.
So Spider-Man is now a prisoner at Osborn’s base. They have him trapped and Osborn wants Bullseye to figure out how to take his mask off and he’ll give him 10 million dollars if he can figure out how to kill Spider-Man or take off the mask. I like the part where Osborn asks Spider-Man why he cares so much about Harry and Spider-Man makes a joke about his hair that gets Osborn really angry and he sucker punches him. There is another good part where Bullseye is in charge of torturing Spider-Man and Spider-Man tells him a joke that makes Bullseye laugh so hard that he starts crying and then he says he’s sorry but now he’s going to have to finish killing him. It was strange that Bullseye was laughing at Spider-Man’s joke but I still liked it. Bad guys usually don’t laugh at his dumb jokes so I thought it was interesting. There is a weird part where Osborn is showing Harry all of this stuff in his lab about how he’s coming up with a way for Harry to have the same powers as Captain America. There is a picture of a guy with long blond hair in one of the tubes. It kind of looks like Thor but I don’t think Thor is captured. The first Captain America has blond hair but I don’t know how Osborn would have captured him.
The best parts of the book are with Spider-Man and Norman Osborn. Even though he’s not acting or dressing like the Green Goblin, Osborn is still really strong and really scary. I like how he and Spider-Man are always getting into it. My favorite part is when Osborn figures out how to destroy Spider-Man’s mask and it starts to fall apart and Osborn is all happy and tells Spider-Man to smile. Spider-Man breaks out of his trap and grabs Osborn’s face with his fingers and uses his wall climbing powers to have his fingers stick to Osborn’s face and then he rips his hand back and pulls off the skin so Osborn has all these scars. Then when he’s free Spider-Man starts choking Bullseye and takes him out pretty fast.
The problem is Spider-Man is really tired from his fight with Wolverine in the other comic and then Bullseye’s shooting him with arrows and torturing him and his fight with Osborn so when Osborn starts pounding on him he is losing real bad. Osborn is so angry and he’s telling Spider-Man that once he kills him and takes off his mask he’s going to hunt down all his family and kill them too. Even though Spider-Man is a prisoner for most of the comic there are still a lot of good parts, especially when Osborn and him are trash talking. They really hate each other. Spider-Man’s black costume is cool and I think he should keep it for when he goes out for special battles since it is stronger. There was a good amount of action in it too and the coolest part was Spider-Man using his powers in a different way.
The only thing I really didn’t like were the parts with Harry and Lily. She isn’t very interesting at all when she is just Lily and now when she turns into Menace she looks very strange. Harry never seems to know what’s going on so hopefully after this story he won’t be around her much. I liked the ending to this one. It was a little surprising and it will make next issue even more interesting.
Rating: 9 out of 10.
INCOGNITO #4
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Sean Phillips
Published by Marvel Icon
Reviewed by Stones Throw
Dames, huh?
In this latest issue of Brubaker and Phillips’ excellent INCOGNITO, we have our anti-hero Zack Overkill ambushed and overpowered by the good guys in the comely shape of Zoe Zeppelin, daughter of Professor Zeppelin, the founder of the Special Operations Service (S.O.S.). Meanwhile, representing the bad guys, who are marginally worse, Ava Destruction is still causing trouble and by the end of the issue appears to have convinced poor Zack to turn back to the dark side. Plus the sexy co-worker who got him into all this trouble in the first place has finally started paying attention to him, but only cuz she’s turned on by his apparent close shave with a couple of super-criminals.
Dames, huh?
When INCOGNITO first started up its run I felt it might be a little similar to Ed and Sean’s modern classic SLEEPER at Wildstorm/DC, what with its sci-fi noir-ish superheroes and villains under deep cover (inside a super-crime ring in SLEEPER; in the Witness Protection Program here). But where that series, like CRIMINAL, was pretty relentless bleakness, here I’m starting to see elements of wicked humor creep in.
Firstly, the hero, Zack Overkill, is, in the classic pulp tradition, way over his head and just the right side of pathetic. In the first issue he’s a former B-level supervillain (I’m thinking Marvel’s Blood Brothers) who’s reduced to holding down a 9-to-5 job as an office clerk and getting high on lunch breaks. After regaining his powers and doing some surreptitious hero-ing he’s picked up by the S.O.S. (the guys who run the show in this world), but, instead of locking him up or busting out, they just put him straight back into his regular life to act as bait for other super-criminals!
Even more ironic, in this issue Zack is forced to say a few words in memorial for the friend who he was planning to kill, who, after he’d spared his life last issue, was immediately bumped off by two bad guys looking for Zack.
C’mon, that’s damn hilarious.
It’s black humor, but even so, I’m loving seeing this new side from Ed Brubaker. The guy’s proved he’s a dab hand at police procedural (GOTHAM CENTRAL), bleak-as-hell noir (CRIMINAL), old school action (DAREDEVIL) and superhero soap opera (CAPTAIN AMERICA), but this is the first time—without Matt Fraction—that I’ve seen his writing so lively and, well, funny. There are still the same plot twists and turns of the screw that regular readers of CRIMINAL will have come to expect, but it’s backed up by a malicious energy that gels perfectly with characters that fall somewhere between pulp, superhero and science fiction.
Phillips’ art is as hardboiled as usual but it too has a cool larger-than-life knowingness in the designs for villainous characters like Doctor Lester, the Black Death and Ava Destruction. This isn’t like a usual issue of CRIMINAL where characters are confined to a strict three-tier panel structure. Page layouts are much more unrestrained and the colors have a brighter, almost neon palette that works great combined with Phillips’ thick inks. Cleverly, this kind of stuff has become more prominent as Zack steps away from his mundane life in #1 back towards his past. I like it. Too often the grim’n’gritty / superheroes-gone-bad sub-genre is just dark and moody, like (most recently) Waid’s IRREDEEMABLE or, uh, SLEEPER. But Phillips and Brubaker aren’t afraid to embrace the more outlandish side of the genre, like the classic mad scientist in the shape of Doctor Lester or a mini-skirted villainess carrying a stonking great gun.
If you’re a regular reader of CRIMINAL—and if you aren’t, I’ve got a conical-shaped hat you can wear—you’ll know things always end up way worse than you could expect for the main character. I can’t wait to see what more trouble them damn dames are gonna spell for Zack Overkill.
Hey folks, Ambush Bug here with another mess of comics of the independent flavor. Take a taste, it won’t hurt ya!
VINCENT PRICE PRESENTS #10
Bluewater Comics
It was a treat to read this issue of VINCENT PRICE PRESENTS. Sure, it’s got a nice TWILIGHT ZONE feel to it where an everyday guy is thrown into an extreme and bizarre situation, and the twist ending was something I definitely wasn’t expecting, but the best part about this book was to see Patrick Broderick’s pencils again. I grew up reading Broderick’s pencils on GREEN LANTERN, and he’s still got what it takes upping the intensity of this story of a small traffic accident that gets blown waaaay out of proportion with skewed and tense angles and a wonderful looking rendition of the Master of Horror himself.
STRANGE EGGS: JUMPS THE SHARK
Slave Labor Graphics
This was a bizarre and frantic read. Basically, a number of artists got together to do a book with the same theme. Here the theme is a desperate pitch meeting where a group of suits try to save the STRANGE EGG bunch with a handful of wacky pitches. Some are more fun than others, but the talent in this book is evident. Some of my favorites were the scribble art adventure “Magic Unicorn Poop” by Paul Friedrich (it’s one of those stories that looks like it was done by a child, but the level of depravity within suggests otherwise); I loved the art on “Run, Dad’s Home…He’s Gonna Kill Us!” by Kenny Keil & Chris Reilly about a psychotic dad inventor and his out of control inventions; the surreal panels of “Episode XXX” by Jen Feinberg & Todd Meister entertained from corner to corner of the page with the sheer “that’s just wrong”-ness of it all; and JOHNNY THE HOMICIDAL MANIAC & SQUEE creator Jhonen Vasquez offers his usual uncanny drawings to this book in “All Bow Before Gloogh!” With the wide variety and senses of humor present here, there’s a lot to enjoy in STRANGE EGGS JUMPS THE SHARK.
LITTLE MOUSE GETS READY HC OGN
Toon Books
This kiddie book may not be on the radar of comic book lovers, but once you find out it’s written and drawn by BONE’s Jeff Smith, you may just change your tune. Toon Books has quickly become a cool place to go to get quality children’s stories. In this one, a tiny mouse gets ready to go visit the barn and one article of clothing at a time, he prepares for his visit. No, it ain’t Shakespeare, but if you’ve got a kid and want to turn him on to comics, this may be the book for you. This cute little ditty is slickly produced and guaranteed to a child, or the child in you, smile.
Ambush Bug is Mark L. Miller, reviewer and co-editor of AICN Comics for over eight years. Check out his short comic book fiction here and here published in MUSCLES & FIGHTS 3 and MUSCLES & FRIGHTS on his ComicSpace page. Bug was interviewed here and here at Cream City Comics. Look for more comics from Bug in 2009 from Bluewater Productions, including the just-announced sequel to THE TINGLER for their VINCENT PRICE PRESENTS series available in July’s previews (Order code: JUL09 0737) and on the shelves September 30th.
THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST #27
Marvel Comics
The ending of this title is sort of bittersweet for me at this time. On the one hand, I really have enjoyed the past couple arcs (even if I did think the last one ran an issue or two too long) and I think Swierczynski has just started to hit his stride on his take of the generational saga of the Iron Fist and the life of Danny Rand himself. But, on the other hand, this was more of a "just before the middle of the stack" book despite my enjoyment for quite a while, and with comics getting more and more expensive, as you know, seeing three bucks drop off my monthly comics budget isn't exactly something that's going to break my heart right now. I guess you take the good with the bad though, and at the least this has given me some exposure to Swierczynski's work (his novel "Severance Package" is awesome btw) and they've left the story open ended to be taken up in the "Deadly Weapons" minis coming up that actually bother to add extra content per issue for their extra dollar on the price tag. In the end I guess I'm just glad that one of my favorite C-list characters got a shot at making himself something, and I'm glad Swierczynski and crew at least brought the book out on an end note that saw some good character development and moments that can be picked up upon easily if the call ever comes back down to give Danny another shot again in like, 25 years or so. Never know I guess. – Humphrey Lee
THE SPIRIT #30
DC Comics
This was another filler issue, but a pretty good one from Michael Avon Oeming. It reminded me of Darwyn Cooke’s work on the title in its blend of modern day criminal gangs, in the shape of the Yakuza and Triads, with old-fashioned Eisnerian Spirit action. It seems a shame this title is ending in another two issues. What it really needed was another strong writer-artist like Cooke to come aboard and give it some direction. Sergio Aragones was okay but his run got bogged down in corny jokes and hokey mysteries, and the less said about the last three issues by the producers of Frank Miller’s SPIRIT movie, the better. I’d have loved to see Paul Pope’s SPIRIT. But Dan DiDio says the Spirit will be back with the pulp heroes being revived by DC soon, so we’ll see. - Stone
DARK REIGN: LETHAL LEGION #1
Marvel Comics
Although I'm starting to feel the weight of the number of DARK REIGN books out there at the moment, this one is an interesting detour from the norm. Frank Tieri writes this story about a lawyer visiting the Raft who represents a group of super criminals who decide to fight against Osborn's Reign instead of team up with him like every other criminal in the Marvel U. Yes, it's the same basic premise as last week's MR. NEGATIVE, but Tieri's handling of the team, which is made up of a lot of the Masters of Evil who wrecked the Avengers Hydrobase and beat the snot out of Jarvis in that classic story, makes this one unique enough to stand on its own. There are a couple of rocky parts, like when Tiger Shark describes his anxiety attack and references the SOPRANOS, that seemed a bit too obvious, and I thought the Raft was shut down at the beginning of NEW AVENGERS and replaced by Reed Richards’ Negative Zone prison, but I like the cast of villains at play here and the grainy artwork from Mateus Santolouco is going to insure a repeat visit when issue two drops. - Bug
ASTONISHING X-MEN #30
Marvel Comics
So Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi's first arc on AXM after Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's run for the ages end is not over as well, and, uh, that was okay I guess? Okay, here's the thing, I actually like the way Ellis' sort of standard Sarcastically Hard Edged dialogue played its way out through the characters, which I think he actually had a good grasp on as well. But the story itself was only alright, and when a pretty okay story plays itself out over the span of, what, at least a year now? It's just really hard to muster any excitement over. The much maligned delays on Whedon and Cassaday's run were bearable because that was one of the best X-Men runs pretty much ever, but an average book, even with some occasionally cool character moments and playful dialogue, sparsed out over the same amounts of time between issues...it's just hard keep any attention. Now, if this starts shipping more in the semblance of a monthly book, maybe even every six weeks, then I think this would be something I could look forward to, but as is, I think it might have to go the way of another dozen or so books that I've been eying down as cuts as the market has been making itself more expensive during this recession. - Humphrey Lee
FREDDY VS JASON VS ASH: THE NIGHTMARE WARRIORS #1
DC Wildstorm
The key to making a book like this work is making the initial reason for three of horror’s biggest icons getting together and tussling somewhat believable (as believable as you're going to get in a comic focusing on 80's serial killers), and in THE NIGHTMARE WARRIORS, they seem to be doing that in this first issue of the second series featuring these guys. Jason is once again resurrected. The nature of Freddy and Jason's powers (according to this book) come from the Necronomicon--that pesky tome that makes Ashley Williams AKA Ash's life a living hell. This is a plausible way of getting the three of them together, so from the get go, it works in that sense. Not sure if I like the new look for Jason (the lower half of his mask was blown away by Ash's shotgun in the previous miniseries), but the action here is pretty intense as a military squad bent on finding the Necronomicon run into the King of Campfire Resurrection in the middle of a snow covered lake. No sign of Freddy yet, but the set up for Ash to open a can of whomp-patoot has been torn open well in the final pages of this issue. All in all, a decent and plausible start to what looks like another fun series. If you're a fan of any or all of these films, you'll be buying these anyway, but unlike previous incarnations of Jason and Freddy in the funny books, this story is actually pretty good. - Bug
SECRET WARRIORS #5
Marvel Comics
Issue five of this book is just more proof of what I've been saying all along: Who gives a shit about the team when this just needs to be Nick Fury's book? Literally the Warriors themselves showed up for one panel in this book, and I never really noticed. This book's focus now is seemingly all on the shoulders of Nick Fury, now with long time comrade Dum Dum Dugan back at his side, and his war with Hydra. If that sounds like the action comic that needs to be, well, this is now it, with less F-list characters getting in the way except to be used as Fury's big gun in the fight, which is shaping up to be glorious come next issue. Hopefully this keeps itself running this way instead of trying to endear us with the cannon fodder. I came to see Fury kick some ass and right now, I am very content with what I'm seeing. - Humphrey Lee
DARK REIGN: ZODIAC #1 (of 3)
Marvel Comics
This one had me right up the last few pages, but left me with a big "wha-huh?" Joe Casey sets this up pretty well. You've got a masked villain with an identity unknown. You've got some obscure henchmen. You've got a grueling disembowelment scene, followed by a scene where 12 bodiless heads are rolled out of a bag for fun, followed by a scene where 100 HAMMER agents are found hung upside down and killed as if they were in a slaughterhouse (all in a Teen Plus rated comic book, mind you). Lack of parental advisory to the kiddies aside, it was fun seeing the new Zodiac run rampant and scheme to take down Osborn and his HAMMER organization. It was kind of fun seeing him take out the Human Torch as easy as he did (although enraging him by taking swipes at his heterosexuality is a bit on the ugly side making me root against both parties--Zodiac for bringing it up and Johnny Storm for getting so pissed off about the mere suggestion that he's gay). But the thing that really knocked me on my ass back to "what the fuh-?"-ville was the last panel reveal that under the Zodiac hood, is...
Wait for it...
Some sweaty guy.
Maybe I missed something, but after a reread, still, it's just some random, nameless guy under the hood. ZODIAC was fun 21 out of 22 pages; too bad the last panel left such a bad taste in my mouth. - Bug
Editing, compiling, imaging, coding, logos & cat-wrangling by Ambush Bug
Proofs, co-edits & common sense provided by Sleazy G
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