Category Archives: The Week In Ink

The Week In Ink: July 8, 2009

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You know, as much as I love the “What was the capital of Poland between 1038 and 1596” joke…

 

 

…it’s really the kind of thing you can only get away with once.

Then again, repetition does lead to comedy, but there’ll be enough time to discuss comedic theory later, because it’s Thursday night and that means it’s time for another round of the Internet’s Most Effervescent Comics Reviews!

Here’s what I got this week…

 

 

…and here’s what we’ll all be thinking about in… the world that’s coming!!

 

 

Booster Gold #22: Last month, I mentioned that while Booster Gold wasn’t spectacular, it’s a consistently enjoyable book that’s always worth picking up. With this issue, though, I thought I ought to go ahead and revise that statement.

Not because Booster Gold‘s suddenly not enjoyable or anything, but because I may have been damning it with faint praise. The truth is that over the past few months, Dan Jurgens has been quietly slipping one of DC’s better titles under the radar every month, and the more I read, the more I like it. I think a lot of it has to do with the new direction for the character that Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz launched the series with. The idea of sending Booster back to any moment in the history of the DC universe is not only one that appeals to the Nerd Hat-wearing fan in every reader (and every writer, for that matter), but also one that fits the character perfectly, with great opportunities for the action and comedy that make the character so appealing, and Jurgens is really using it to its potential. Going from a nominal tie-in to the “Batman Reborn” books to the events of New Teen Titans #2 is not only clever, but Jurgens makes it thrilling and genuinely funny.

It’s a great book even before you hit the Blue Beetle backup story, which–even without an appearance by THINKO!–is just as enjoyable as the first. It’s good stuff, and well worth the extra buck.

 

ISB BEST OF THE WEEK

 

 

BPRD: 1947 #1: I’ve enjoyed all of the BPRD series, but last year’s 1946 was far and away the best of them, with is fantastic execution of a deceptively simple soldiers-versus-Nazi-vampires premise. It’s no surprise, then, that I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while, and as you might expect from the fact that it comes from a series that allowed me to just throw “soldiers-versus-Nazi-vampires” out like it ain’t no thang, it’s awesome.

Mike Mignola and Joshua Dysart’s script is the usual–which is to say fantastic–offering, doing a great job of introducing a new cast and setting the typically creepy mood, but it’s also notable for the reappearance of Varvara. I mentioned back when 1946 was coming out that Mignola and Dysart had single-handedly breathed new life into the tired, evil-little-girl archetype, and that continues here. She’s just so incredibly understated that the creepiness doesn’t feel forced like it does in lesser works, and the interplay between her and the increasingly haggard Professor Bruttenholm is just great.

To be honest though, the real star of the show is the art team of Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon, which probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s seen their work on books like Casanova or The Umbrella Academy. They’re phenomenal, and under Dave Stewart’s colors, they’re perfect on this book, delivering great shots of everything from a group of comically shocked 18th century French aristocrats to the horrors of the D-Day landing.

It’s great stuff that only underlines the fact that the BPRD books are one of the best things going in comics right now, and these are the best of the best.

 

Dark X-Men: The Beginning #1: I don’t really have much of a review for this one, I just wanted to point out that Paul Cornell’s Sub-Mariner story is basically just Namor taking a shower for nine pages and getting a soft touch from Norman Osborn.

That sound you just heard was Rachelle Goguen breaking the sound barrier on her way to her local comic shop.

 

GI Joe Origins #5: All right, folks. I realize that what I’m about to say might be a little controversial, but trust me here: This might be the best GI Joe story ever.

Admittedly, it doesn’t have Destro–which under normal circumstances would be an automatic disqualification–and only an ersatz Cobra Commander in the person of the hilarious/awesome/hilariously awesome Dr. Chimera, but what it does have is more than a match for what it lacks. Yes, there’s the standard GI Joe militaryish action and it’s all very well done by Larry Hama and Mike Hawthorne, but there are really only two things that you need to know here:

1. It is revealed that Cobra Commander (or at least a reasonable mask-wearing facsimile thereof) is behind the current global economic crisis, with an assist from Duke, and

2. Snake Eyes fights a guy while he is on fire, presumably because they can’t grab you if you’re on fire.

It not only makes a great wrap-up for the first arc of Origins, and what’s more, it puts the main book to shame, as that title has yet to have any ninjas on fire. Ball’s in your court, Dixon, and Hama’s up by five.

 

Street Fighter II Turbo #7: Okay guys, serious question here: Is Poison still a dude?

I mean, I know that she was originally intended to be female, and then changed because Capcom thought the American SNES-buying audience would be happier with a transvestite hooker than Mike Haggar actually piledriving a woman, and then replaced with two decidedly male characters for the American release, and the whole thing’s way more complex than it ought to be. Even this issue seems to have fun with it, with Cody’s “you’re not much of a lady” and her irate response, which could be taken a couple of ways.

Not that I particularly mind, you understand, but it’d be nice to know which comics I read involved cross-dressing prostitutes. My filing system is oddly specific.

Anyway, as you can probably tell from this line of discussion, the last few issues have featured some of the characters from the Final Fight series, and there’s even an old-fashioned call at the end of the issue for readers to write in if they’d like to see a Final Fight series, and honestly, I’d love one. As inherently goofy as video game comics are, Ken Siu-Chong’s Street Fighter stories have managed to be incredibly entertaining, mostly because they seem to refuse to take themselves seriously. But you know what? I’ll do one better than just asking for a Final Fight book. Hey Udon Studios: I will write you a Final Fight comic for one dollar. And that’s real.

 

Wasteland #25: Break out the party hats, everybody, because this week brings us the double-sized, double-sexy, full-color 25th issue of everyone’s favorite post-apocalyptic Western!

I’ve mentioned before that Wasteland is one of my favorites, and if you haven’t been reading it, this is probably the one to check out. It’s not so much that it’s a good jumping-on point–which it is, but after all, with four trades, it’s pretty easy to get started at the beginning–but it’s the first standalone story since the incredible Rashomon-style Chuck BB issue, and it’s an incredible read on its own.

One of the most appealing aspects of Wasteland is the world-building, which under a lot of writers can come off as very forced. With Johnston, though–and this might just be a side-effect of the fact that he’s been working on it off and on for fifteen years–it all comes out organically, and after almost three years, it’s all laid into place so well that he can focus on a sharp, clever story that captures the fun and heartbreak of the series all in one issue. And it’s all wrapped up in Mitten’s art, which is just beautiful in this one. Don’t get me wrong, it’s usually good, but going from the normal black and white of the series to the watercolor-style colors is flat-out gorgeous.

It’s a fantastic issue, and while it does carry the price tag of a double-sized story, it’s well worth it.

 

Wednesday Comics #1: And finally, we hae the book that everyone’s talking about: DC’s newspaper-sized Wednesday Comics. I’ve been looking forward to this one since it was announced, and now that I’ve got the first issue in my hand, well, it’s certainly an anthology title.

Admittedly, it’s a good anthology title, and with the talent DC’s brought in to pull it off, it ought to be. I mean, this is a book that is giving us Kyle Baker’s Hawkman, which, in case you missed that, is Kyle Baker’s Hawkman, a pairing that gave us quite possibly the best quote from any interview ever:

“Hawkman carries a mace, so it’s important for a writer to create dilemmas which can be resolved with a mace. A guy with a mace fighting a T-Rex is a good fight to watch.”

And I’m sure it will be. But any anthology is bound to have a mix in quality, and while it’s a triumph in terms of format–the huge, single-page stories are strikingly beautiful and every one is immediately visually engaging–Wednesday Comics is no exception.

The biggest disappointment, sadly, was Busiek and Quinones’ Green Lantern, which I was really looking forward to. I get that this is only the first page of a twelve-page story, but it’s also their first opportunity to really use the new format to hook the reader, and while Quinones does a great job with the art, he’s drawing exactly one panel of Green Lantern, with the rest of a 14″ x 20″ page devoted to Hal Jordan’s coworkers and their drink orders. It’s obvious what Busiek’s going for–setting up the contrast that’ll lead into future weeks–but the strip-style format lends itself better to pages that can function as complete chapters in and of themselves, and he’s loaded this one up with way too much setup. There’s even a wordy caption explaining that this is the “New Frontier” Hal Jordan that could be done away with altogether. The Supergirl story, for instance, doesn’t bother to explain that it’s not the Supergirl running around in the ongoing, it just presents a fun, well-drawn one-page story that could work as a gag strip just as well as it sets up future installments.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is the Wonder Woman page, which–again–is beautiful, but just doesn’t do it for me. I can see that Caldwell’s going for a more Little Nemo-esque adventure that does take advantage of the larger page, but it just seems to hit wrong, with Wonder Woman talking to birds and then an honest-to-God “It was all a dream… OR WAS IT?!” ending. It is, however, very pretty, so I’m hoping to get more out of it in future issues.

Lest you think I’m being overly negative, though, the good definitely outweighs the bad. I mentioned Supergirl already (which Amanda Conner does an incredible job with), and the Azarello/Risso Batman story does a great job setting the mood on the first page. More to my taste, though, was Neil Gaiman, who does a passable Bob Haney impression in his Metamorpho story with Mike Allred, which I’m really hoping holds up for the duration. And of course, the biggest shocker for me was the Metal Men story. I mean, I knew the art was going to be great–it’s Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Kevin Nowlan, for cryin’ out loud!–but I wasn’t expecting to see the ’70s styled Metal Men, complete with the Avenging Disco Godfather Who Is Liquid At Room Temperature.

Far and away the best, though–at least until Hawkman starts solving dinosaur problems with his mace–was Paul Pope’s Strange Adventures. It’s a perfect use of the format in terms of layout, and while there’s very little action from Adam Strange himself, Pope gives us a fantastic setup with a perfect piece of dialogue to accompany it. More than anything else, this is the one I’m looking forward to sitting down with at the end of the series and reading one installment after the other.

So yeah: It’s an anthology, but it’s one that does a great job in doing something different, and if the worst it has to offer is a beautifully drawn Green Lantern story that’s not quite as good as it oughtta be, then it’s well worth the trade-off.

 

 

Annnnnnnd that’s the week! As always, any questions, concerns, or speculation on whether or not Scott Gray can live up to the record Jeff Parker’s established on X-Men: First Class (which was highly enjoyable this week) can be left in the comments section below.

Also, I did have a couple of cocktails while I was writing these reviews so uh… I mean… I didn’t offer to write anything for a dollar, did I?

Oh man, not again…

The Week In Ink: July 1, 2009

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Only slightly less well-known than the Wild Agents of Marvel (or W.A.M.) was the House of Ideas’ most obscure official fan-club, an oddly specific group started by Artie Simek in 1964: Friends Of Ol’ Marvel’s Pants…

 

 

…or FOOMP.

And that’s tonight’s history lesson. But now we move onto more recent history, as we take another round of the Internet’s most Long-Lasting, Semi-Permanent Comics Reviews!

Here’s what I picked up this week…

 

 

…and this is the last part of the intro that nobody reads! Suckers.

 

 

ISB BEST OF THE WEEK

 

 

Batman and Robin #2: The second issue of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s new Batman series dropped this week, and surprising absolutely nobody, it was totally awesome.

The standard disclaimers apply here, of course: I am, as the kids say, “totally in the tank for Morrison.” Then again, that probably has a lot to do with the fact that the guy routinely turns in amazing comics that I absolutely love, and this one’s no exception, as he’s in top form here. The whole thing’s fantastic, from the great action of an evil super-circus troupe attacking police headquarters to the throwaway continuity nods, but the best bit comes in Alfred’s conversation with Dick.

Instead of laying on some melodramatic line about “the mantle of the bat” or whatever, Morrison offers up the idea of Dick–and that’s the second time I’ve typed “Nightwing” and had to go back and erase it–playing the role of Batman, which is not only a great way to distinguish his character from Bruce Wayne (and further reaffirm the contrast of having a lighthearted Batman and a super-serious, anger-driven Robin), but a great acknowledgment of what we all already know. Dick’s not Batman. He’s just Batman right now, and in that one scene, Morrison not only addresses the characters’ concerns, but all but tells the readers “Hey, we all know how this is eventually going to go, but for now, let’s have some fun with it.”

And speaking of fun, Quitely is killin’ it on the art. I mentioned last month that while his layouts were dynamic (see this issue’s double-page spread of jagged panels during the big fights) had the seemed to be cutting down on the distinctive cutaway-style shots that he used in All Star Superman (and especially We3), but the more I look at his art in this issue, the more complex it gets. The level of detail is incredible, to the point where I’m noticing new stuff (Nightw–Dick jumping over the desk using two fingers, the separate sound-effect smoke trails for the rocket launcher) even on the fourth time reading through it. It’s just gorgeous.

The only thing I don’t like about this issue is the last panel on the penultimate page, where the scene suddenly cuts from Robin at the evil circus to some of Pyg’s doll-people suicide bombing a different part of Gotham City, which seems like an abrupt jump to a scene that didn’t previously appear in this issue. But for that being the only flaw I can see, I’m willing to look past it and to the scene where Batman fights kung fu acrobat triplets.

 

Captain America Reborn #1: The much ballyhooed return of Captain America starts here, and again, it’s not really going to surprise anyone that it’s good. Not just because Ed Brubaker is a fantastic writer–which he is–but because it plays to one of the greatest strengths, which is to take the most ludicrous aspects of comics and play them straight enough that they seem perfectly normal.

In this case–and this is a spoiler, so if you haven’t read the issue yet, I suggest you do that before you read any more, you know, reviews–it turns out that Cap was shot with time bullets. Which, considering that it was all orchestrated by an immortal Nazi who lives in a businessman’s imagination and a guy with a face where his chest should be a and a camcorder where his face should be, doesn’t really seem that strange after all. Point being, as loopy as it sounds on paper, Brubaker pulls it off with his usual excellence and I’m looking forward to seeing how it all pulls out.

The art side of things, though, was a bit of a letdown. I like Bryan Hitch and Butch Guice both quite a bit, but this issue seemed rushed in a lot of parts. There are some great pages, but then you’ll suddenly get something like the odd, emaciated Sharon Carter on page twelve that’s only made more noticable by the fact that it comes right after a pair of very-Bryan-Hitch close-ups. I suppose the tradeoff for getting rushed art by Hitch is that there’s a chance this book’ll come out on time, but between that and getting yet another redesign for Golden Age Cap (and no, I don’t know why it bugs me so much, but it does), I think I would’ve really preferred it if we’d gotten Steve Epting to draw it instead. I mean, I like Epting enough that I’d prefer most stuff if he drew it, but the same part of me that wanted Steve Dillon to come back to close out Garth Ennis’s run on Punisher wants the symmetry of the team that “killed” Steve Rogers (with time bullets!) to come back for his resurrection.

Beyond that, though, it’s solid stuff. But if you’ve been reading Cap for the past four and a half years, that’s probably not much of a surprise.

 

Fantastic Four: Giant-Size Adventures #1: I honestly don’t have much of a review here, because if you want fun, lighthearted Fantastic Four stories, you’re probably already aware of Paul Tobin’s work, and if that’s not what you want, then there’s a good chance you’re reading the wrong blog. Anyway, all I really want to say here is that Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover’s Go-Go Hydra Girls (as pictured above in the shopping list) are probably the best anything ever.

And that’s real.

 

Justice League: Cry For Justice #1: I’m not going to lie to you, folks: As much as I was looking forward to this one, it is not very good.

Then again, I’ve had my doubts about this one since those preview pages first cropped up last month, because man, there’s nothing that makes me want to read a comic more than five pages of people standing around being petulant to each other. Seriously, that’s what they put in to sell the book. Five long pages of Hal Jordan standing around whining, and then closed it with “THE BATTLE CONTINUES!” Like Rachelle said, “I don’t want this battle to continue. If I were in the room with these superheroes I would want to leave.”

If that were just the lead-in to an otherwise exciting issue (or a reaction to a strong hook in an introductory sequence) that’d be one thing, but no. The whole issue’s like that, and it combines the worst parts of the Brad Meltzer relaunch with the worst parts of James Robinson’s dialogue. And really, I like James Robinson’s work. I’ve been re-reading Starman lately, and not only was it one of the high points of an era that included Mark Waid’s Flash, Morrison’s JLA and Ennis and McCrea’s Hitman, most of it still holds up really well today. But it is a talky book, and that carries over here, where everyone sticks to Robinson’s slightly stilted “Compared to you, I’m Chris Isaak” speech patterns.

And to make matters worse, these just don’t seem like characters I really want to read about. I mentioned before that Green Lantern comes off as petulant, and that’s even without anyone reminding him that the last time he wanted to be more proactive and crack down on the bad guys, he ended up killing like 3000 people and blaming it on a giant yellow space-bug. And I don’t really need to see the Atom torturing a suspect by stomping around their head, which is, you know, exactly how his ex-wife killed someone.

I hate to be the guy who pulls out old continuity to show how people are acting “out of character” (NOTE: This is a lie. I love doing that. It’s why I have a blog, for cripe’s sake.), but Robinson’s not only a guy who built his career on referencing the past and making it capital-I Important again, he’s a guy who puts flashbacks to a recent Major Event on page three. And even if you get past those guys, there’s the scene with Mikaal Tomas. I mean, I’m glad to see him back, and I’m excited to see what he does here, and I get that he’s upset, but you know who could use some of that justice that he’s yelling for on page 16? The guy whose car he just blew up on page 15. It’s like Robinson’s going out of his way to cast these guys as pretentious, unlikeable jerks who throw temper tantrums instead of actually doing anything, and that’s not really a comic I want to read.

Even if there’s a talking gorilla out for revenge. And believe me, it takes a lot to get me to turn against a book with that in it.

 

Uncanny X-Men #513: So Matt Fraction totally just did a story featuring an appearance by ADAM X THE X-TREME. Seriously. This is a thing that happened.

And you know what? I’m just gonna come right out and say it: This is the single best comic that ADAM X THE X-TREME has ever been in. I know, I know: I’m like a lightning rod for controversy, but damn it, I’m prepared to stand by that statement. I know there are some of you who are going to point to X-Force #30, and I understand that it says on the cover that things have never been deadlier, but as visceral and heart-rending as ADAM X THE X-TREME‘s duel to the death with Shatterstar was, it can finally lay down its burden. A new champion has been crowned.

 

Betty and Veronica Double Digest #172: Pop Quiz! Is this the “new look” version of Veronica’s mother, Hermione Lodge, or Pete White from The Venture Bros.?

 

 

U-DECIDE!!

 

 

And that’s the week. As always, any questions can be left in the comments section below, as well as comments about the fun 100-Page Super Spectacular format for this week’s Savage Dragon, or how this month’s issue of Buffy was the best of the recent ones (which is still sort of like being the healthiest meal at the State Fair), or how the latest Classic GI Joe trade just makes me confused.

I mean, the reprint quality gets bad and then gets good again three pages later. How the heck does THAT work?

The Week In Ink: June 24, 2009

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Yesterday on Twitter, Clint Hagen said that there was a two page spread in the new issue of Detective Comics that would warm the cockles of my heart.

 

 

Yep. That’ll do it.

And what better way than two boots to two faces to start off another round of the Internet’s Most Cockle-Warming Comics Reviews? Here’s what I picked up this week…

 

 

…and here’s what I thought about ’em!

 

 

Barack the Barbarian #1: All right, look: I know, okay? I know. But bear with me here for a second.

As much of a dyed-in-the-wool Liberal as I am, and as much as I’ve been a supporter of our current president over the past couple of years, I’ll be the first to admit that this whole Barack-Obama-In-Comics thing has gotten way out of hand. The Spider-Man thing was fine (although incredibly poorly promoted to retailers) and the graphic biographies of the major players in the run-up to the election were a decent enough (if transparently cash-grabbing) move, but jeez. It’s worse now than zombies were in ’07, to the point where the dude’s dog is getting his own comic, which makes the line between actual “collector’s item” product and Marvel’s self-parody in the pages of Pet Avengers all but invisible. And in front of the pack, there’s this one, which at first glance is the most egregious of all.

I say “at first glance” because, well, I’ve been holding out hope for this one due to the presence of writer Larry Hama. I honestly have no idea what the guy’s politics are, so I was curious as to the tack he was going to take with the political satire element of it. I mean sure, he did write the Reagan era’s most famous military comic (though “militaryish” might be a better descriptor there), but the more serious issues tended to glorify service rather than combat, which is an idea that even a bleeding-heart Defeatocrat like me would have a hard time shooting down. And yes, Hama’s a guy that famously carried an Uzi in his briefcase and used his concealed weapons permit as his photo ID, but he’s also the dude that told Christopher Priest to “never let the white man take advantage of you.” Any one of those factors taken separately would be a pretty strong clue to some kind of political leaning, but all together, they pretty much just add up to a guy that sounds like he’d be really fun to hang out with.

So yeah, curiosity was a pretty big part of it, as was the fact that in general, I like Hama’s work (excepting, of course, that Batman run), and when I heard that his analogue for Ann Coulter was going to be called “The Shrieking Enchantress,” I thought there might be a chance that this could actually turn out pretty funny.

And much to my surprise, it actually is a pretty sharp political satire.

Admittedly, that’s the MAD Magazine definition of “satire,” but if you’re going into a book called “Barack the Barbarian” looking for anything other than goofy jokes, that’s more your fault than Hama’s. And believe me, most of it is incredibly goofy–it’s a parody recap of a pretty insane sequence of events after all–but there are occasional jokes that just soar. There’s a framing sequence of the whole thing being related as a muddled folk tale passed down to future generations that are suffering through a new Ice Age that leads to cars becoming literalized as chariots pulled around by dead dinosaurs, which is a great sight gag, and honestly? The comparison of Washington under Bush to Robert E. Howard’s Tower of the Elephant might be a groaner, but it’s so maddeningly obvious that I was slapping my forehead for not thinking of it even as I laughed.

And that’s the most important thing: It’s actually funny. And if the rest of the series holds up to the fun of the first issue, it might just be worth reading all the way through.

Plus, there was an Abe Lincoln appearance, and you know how I am about those.

 

ISB BEST OF THE WEEK

 

 

Detective Comics #854: This is a comic book where a bat-themed vigilante takes a double-page spread to kick two people in the face at once, and in the backup story, the Question punches out a dog. Any discussion of why I loved this issue could probably end right there and you’d all understand.

But let’s go on for a minute anyway. I’ve been a pretty big fan of Greg Rucka since he broke into the Batman books in 1999, and with pretty good reason: Queen & Country is an espionage masterpiece, and Gotham Central, which he wrote with the always amazing Ed Brubaker, was probably the best comic DC’s produced in the past decade. His more recent work, though, has been lost on me.

I mean, one would think that criminals getting together with a Crime Bible to worship Darkseid in an occult version of Intergang sounds like a pretty good idea, and so does having the Question track them down and beat them all up with the objectivist martial art known as Ditkarate, but in practice, it all came off as lackluster, and I didn’t even bother to read the Final Crisis tie-in series. Here, though, he takes something of a back-to-basics approach that keeps what works about the Crime Bible cult and ditches the rest of it: There’s no long, faux-King James excerpts to get through this time, there’s just An Evil Cult in Gotham City, and Batwoman is going to stop them by kicking them in the head until they’re beaten. The perfect plot.

Also, Rucka takes a nice opportunity to give us some character development for Kate Kane, who, despite the hullaballoo surrounding her debut, hasn’t really had enough “screen-time” to develop beyond just being Renee Montoya’s ex-girlfriend. Here, though, there are a lot of nice small touches that flesh her out–the scene with the wig is as much an homage to TV show Batgirl as it is a way to show that she’s smarter about being a vigilante than Batman’s giving her credit for–and the idea of her trying to actually balance her life as a socialite rather than just using it as a disguise could make for some interesting bits.

Of course, the real star here is JH Williams III, who is just killin’ it in this issue. That’s not really a surprise, as he drew one of my favorite Batman stories and did an amazing job there too. But in Detective, he’s doing something I haven’t seen him do before: juxtaposing his more painted-style art and interesting, jagged layouts for Batwoman with a more standard art style and gridded pages for Kate Kane in her civilian identity. Both styles are gorgeous, and the transitions are a very neat way to show a more polarized break than you’d see from Batman. Just excellent work all around.

As for the backup, it was enjoyable enough, although–dog-punching aside–not terribly spectacular. As characters, I like The Question and I like Renee Montoya each an awful lot, but Montoya as the Question is something I’ve never quite warmed to, which largely goes back to her apperances being in some pretty lousy books. This one, though, reads like a straight-up story more in the vein of Denny O’Neil’s legendary Question series, to the point where you could pretty much superimpose Vic Sage onto the art and be none the wiser. This of course begs the question of why they bothered to kill Sage off and move Montoya away from the type of stories that she really thrived in, but on the other hand, it’s eight pretty solid pages with some nice art from Cully Hamner, and I’ve always said that I care less about what comics are about than if they’re any good, so who am I to complain?

Overall, it was a good addition to what was already a fantastic, phenomenally well-drawn read, but unlike Streets of Gotham, it’s definitely the main story that’s keeping me interested here.

 

Batman: The Black Casebook: This one actually came out last week while I was off HeroesConning, but I wanted to draw your attention to it, not just because it contains this gem of a panel, but because it’s quite possibly the first trade paperback to come out because I demanded it.

As to whether you should demand it, that depends entirely on your tolerance for ’50s Batman stories (which occasionally make ’50s Superman stories seem like the model of restraint) and how interested you are in seeing the source material for elements that would later crop up in Batman: R.I.P. Me, I’m a sucker on both counts, but like I said way back when, it’s not strictly necessary to read these to enjoy what Morrison does. They are, however, nice to have, and it’s the kind of collection that I would’ve read ’til the binding wore out when I was a kid, so take that as you will.

I will say, though, that the best part so far has been the introduction, where Morrison talks about writing an imaginary four-issue Knight and Squire series, and seriously? Unless your name is “Chris’s Mother,” there’s a good chance I’d stab you to get that thing published.

 

Empowered v.5: Hey everybody, there’s a new volume of Empowered out! You should probably go buy it!

That’s about as much of a review as I’m comfortable giving, since–as long-time ISB readers may recall–I’ve been in the tank for Adam Warren since Fatal But Not Serious. Still, if you’re curious about the actual making of Empowered, then you could do a hell of a lot worse than to check out this interview with Warren by Pal of the ISB Benjamin Birdie, who sheds some light on that guy’s maddening creative process.

In the interview, one of the things that really stuck out to me was Warren’s line about how he was hoping to not be drawing at all at this point in his career, which just blows my mind. It’s not that I think it’s ludicrous for Warren to be able to make it as a writer or anything. Far from it, he’s incredibly gifted, as evidenced by the fact that he was able to turn a bunch of bondage commissions into one of the most compelling series of OGNs on the rack today that’s just overflowing with ideas. It’s just that he’s so darn good that he’s done five trades’ worth of stories with pencils so tight that they didn’t even need to be inked, and yet he doesn’t want to draw. But then again, we all kind of hate our jobs, so it’s pretty understandable.

Anyway, Empowered v.5: It’s very good, and Warren’s writing is sharp enough that he telegraphs the ending at least twice, and yet it only serves to build up the tension rather than detracting from it. It’s good stuff. But you already knew that.

 

X-Men and Spider-Man HC: Every now and then, usually when the subject of the Transformers or Castlevania II is brought up, I’ll make a controversial statement here on the ISB that divides my readership. And tonight, I’m going to do it again:

This is the best story about Mr. Sinister ever.

Okay, okay, so maybe the bar there isn’t set all that high, but still, this thing is a hoot that–despite featuring Marvel’s two most popular properties–managed to slip under a lot of folks’ radars. And that’s a shame, because in addition to the hoot of a story by Christos Gage that works like a slightly more serious version of Dan Slott’s Spider-Man/Human Torch with Johnny Storm swapped everyone’s favorite mutants swapped out, this thing also features the art of Mario Alberti, and that guy is fucking incredible.

I usually stick to talking about writing in my reviews because it’s so much easier for someone to just look at a page and see how good it is for themselves, but man, Alberti’s art on this book deserves all the praise it can get. It’s that amazing combination of the detailed European style that you see on books like Blacksad but with a dynamism that works so well when it’s applied to, say, a scene of Kraven the Hunter blasting Iceman with laser-beams from his nipples.

Yes, that really happens.

Page 17.

 

 

And that’s the week. As always, if you’d like to discuss how Viking #2 was even better than the first issue (and still full color and oversized at $2.99!) or whatever, feel free to leave a comment.

The Week In Ink: June 10, 2009

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Ahhhhhh romance!

 

 

Kinda gets you right here, doesn’t it?

But enough! It’s another Thursday evening in monsooning South Carolina, which means that it’s time for another round of the Internet’s Most Heartfelt Comics Reviews!

Here’s what I picked up this week…

 

 

…and here’s what I thought about ’em!

 

 

ISB BEST OF THE WEEK

 

 

 

Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter #1: When the Green of Eden one-shot came out, I mentioned that Kieron Gillen–of Phonogram fame–really got Beta Ray Bill, and now that it’s spun off into ia three-issue mini-series, I’m pretty sure that was the right way to go.

The plot of this thing is that everyone’s favorite Asgardian Space-Horse has decided that it’s time to take out Galactus once and for all, both in revenge for his destruction of Bill’s own people and to keep him from doing it to anyone else. As the title implies, this is sort of like taking on God, which makes this the Cosmic Marvel equivalent of Preacher. And even though the bar was set pretty high with Green of Eden‘s villain–a Super-Skrull with the powers of the Warriors Three–it’s even more awesome than I was expecting.

There’s a lot to like here, but I think the best thing about it is how fast Gillen keeps things moving. The plot of Beta Ray Bill hunting and throwing down on Galactus would be enough to sustain an ongoing (or at least, a series longer than three issues), and the events of this one could easily be drawn out to fill more pages. In 22 pages, Bill stops a tsunami with Thor, recaps why he’s going off on his own rather than with his oath-brother, gets flirty with Agent Brand (who seems to really, really like dudes that look like animals), fights Stardust, smack-talks Big G, blows up a friggin’ planet, and still has time to deal with what might be the greatest, craziest throwaway villain of all time, an intergalactic arms dealer/cult leader who plays a space-pipe organ that can generate black holes. It is quite simply everything I want in a Cosmic Marvel Comic, and then some.

Plus, for those of you who have never read it, there’s a reprint of the first issue of Walt Simonson’s Thor–BRB’s first appearance–and while I’ve owned that comic three or four times, I never mind reading it again. So seriously, jump on this one. It’s worth it.

 

Booster Gold #21: It’s been a while since I mentioned Booster Gold here on the ISB, for the same reason that I don’t mention a lot of stuff: While they don’t have the zing (or Wild Dog appearances) of the Johns/Katz run, Dan Jurgens’ issues as writer/artist have been reliably enjoyable super-hero comics that just don’t leave a whole lot unsaid. Though to be fair, I will admit that the big Fantastic Four joke a few months back got a genuine chuckle out of me.

This issue however is a little different, as it’s the first of DC’s wave of books that, while carrying a $3.99 cover price, put that extra buck into giving you an eight-page backup. For Booster, the co-feature is, of course, Blue Beetle, and much like Manhunter–who makes her return in the upcoming and otherwise sketchy-sounding Batman: Streets of Gotham–I’m glad to have him back. By which I mean I’m glad to have both Blue Beetle and Manhunter back, not that Manhunter and I are both glad–you know what? You can puzzle through my poor grammar on your own. It builds character.

Anyway, with as visible as Jaime Reyes has been on the Brave and the Bold TV show–which, unsurprisingly, I love–back in a story that’s pure fun. I’m a fan of Matt Sturges and, well, this story is about the Blue Beetle fighting a giant robot named THINKO!, so I’m pretty much in the tank for it already. As to its placement in the back eight pages of Booster, the fact is that while I would’ve prefered Blue Beetle to keep on as an ongoing series, DC could’ve done a lot worse with placement. Putting the “Blue and Gold” history aside, it might seem counterintuitive to put a book designed to hook new, young readers in the back of a comic that revels in the intricacies of DC continuity and their goofy-ass multiverse, but to be honest, those hints at a larger, more complex universe are the same things that got me and a bunch of readers of a certain age hooked on comics in the first place.

So I say have at it, and hopefully there are enough people who feel the same way to keep the Blue Beetle stories coming for a long time. Especially if they involve THINKO!.

 

GI Joe Origins #4: With as much as I praised the first issue of Origins and then the drop-off that immediately followed with #2, I’ve been a little antsy to see how this one was going to turn out. Fortunately, for the last two issues, my comments about it being Larry Hama at his best have turned out to be pretty accurate, as this one’s got everything you want to see from a GI Joe origin story: a ridiculous psychopathic villain with an even more ridiculous mask, Scarlett using her crossbow, liberal handfuls of military jargon and of course, Snake-Eyes jumping out of a plane with no parachute in a World War I flying ace costume. Okay, so maybe that last one is just something I wanted, and it might be worth noting that that is a list that definitely does not include the Delta-6 Accelerator Suit, but those are both topics for another time.

What matters here is that while the main title is bogged down in the slowest, most boring story in GI Joe history, this is the one that’s got the action and adventure that I want from these characters. It’s a lot of fun, and while it definitely suffers from a lack of Destro, it’s well worth picking up.

 

JSA vs. Kobra: Engines of Faith #1: And speaking of fanatical paramilitary organizations named after snakes, we’ve got this one. Long-time ISB readers might recall that I’m a huge fan of Greg Rucka’s Checkmate–the spiritual successor to John Ostrander’s Suicide Squad, still uncollected despite the promise of a Showcase. What I didn’t realize until this one was solicited, however, was that some of my favorite issues of that run–the Mademoiselle Marie story and the “Castling” arc that closed out the book before Bruce Jones came on and everyone stopped reading it–were co-written by Eric Trautmann.

It’s no surprise then that this one–which pits perennial DC Universe bad guy Kobra against the Justice Society by way of Mr. Terrific, who pulls double-duty as Checkmate’s White King–fits right in with those. More than anything else, I really enjoy the way that Checkmate and Suicide Squad set up espionage adventures with all the trappings of a super-hero universe, and Trautmann continues that here with genetically modified suicide bombers with Nth-metal explosives, and it works out very well.

Still, there’s a part of me that wishes that this story just involved the characters from Checkmate rather than bringing the JSA into it, but that might just be because I haven’t read an issue of JSA in years and was unprepared for the fact that “Citizen Steel” is actually still on the team. And man, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t drinking at work today, but I could’ve sworn I was hallucinating and saw Magog on the cover.

Surely that guy’s not still around, is he?

 

Captain Britain and MI-13 v.2: Hell Comes to Birmingham: Last week, I mentioned the cancellation of Captain Britain, and honestly, the fact that one of Marvel’s best comics is getting the axe has got to be one of the biggest downers of the year for me as a fan. Of course, the bright side to that is that we did get over a year of amazingly fun comics, and this story is a definite high point. Mostly because it involves the Mindless Ones rampaging through the Midlands, and as we all know, the Mindless Ones make everything better.

Seriously, I read this one again today, and beyond the pure fun of it, what really struck me was just how clever Paul Cornell’s scripts are. That’s always been his major strength in his work for Marvel–Wisdom, for all the roughness that was later smoothed out for CB&MI13, is worth it for the plots alone–and here, it’s all on display, from Blade fighting demons with a papier-mache sword made of magic books to Pete Wisdom’s romantic three-way on the moon, guest-starring the Skrull John Lennon. It’s a hoot, and the best thing about it is that as good as it is, the story after actually tops it.

So long story short, it’s a great book, and if you haven’t already read it, don’t let the fact that it got the axe stop you from enjoying some of the year’s best comics.

 

Final Crisis HC: Still lovin’ it.

 

The Flash: The Human Race: Speaking of Grant Morrison comics that I love, the second collection of his work (with co-writer Mark Millar) on Flash came out this week, and while this might just be my experience, this is one of those runs that I just never hear people talking about. It might be because it came as a fill-in year in what was otherwise a hundred issues of Mark Waid’s defining run, or because it’s overshadowed by Morrison’s own better-known work on JLA, but there aren’t a lot of people talking about it. And that’s a shame, because it–and “Human Race” specifically–is one of my favorite runs in comics.

“Human Race” definitely plays up to Morrison’s strengths. The idea of a race of alien gamblers that show up to make the Flash race a radio-creature across the universe under penalty of planetary destruction is one that could’ve come from Cary Bates or Otto Binder; it’s a Silver Age story through and through, but done for the Modern Age. And yet, there’s no wink to the reader, no acknowledgement of how goofy everything is. Instead, it’s presented with the sort of earnestness that’s reflected in the climax of the story itself–almost exactly the same sort of thing that G-Mo would later use in the climax of JLA’s “World War III,” another favorite of mine–and that somehow manages to be (for lack of a better word) wholesome without crossing over into cloying.

It’s the kind of story that gets me in the gut every time, and if you’ve never read it, it’s well worth picking up.

 

 

And that’s the week! As always, any questions or concerns can be left in the comments section below. As fo rme, I’m going to be going back through my copies of Suicide Squad and seeing if I can’t replace all of Tom Tresser’s dialogue with quotes from Patrick McGoohan.

The Week In Ink: June 3, 2009

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T-UHH!

 

 

Yes, it’s another rockin’ Thursday night, and that means it’s time for another round of the Internet’s Most Onomatopoetic Comics Reviews! But before we get to those, a quick announcement from the always-aggressive Action Age Hypaganda Machine!

Yesterday, Monster Plus #1–which kicks off the story of a vampire zombie werewolf Frankenstein witch doctor from Mars and his battle against the evil Science President Mark Darke in the year 2666–went live at the Action Age, and if you haven’t read it already, you oughtta.

M-Plus was created and written by Chad Bowers, who most of you already know as the co-founder of the Action Age and my writing partner on projects like The Hard Ones, and the solo writer of Impossible! and Danger Ace, and honestly, he’s cranked our signature brand of madness up to eleven for this one–and considering his last book opened with a guy fighting Zombie King Kong, that’s saying something. He’s joined for this one by artist Nathan Kroll with Andrew Kjelstrup on colors and a special pin-up by Matthew Allen Smith, and they’ve made twelve pages of excitement that’s pure fun. Give it a read!

Okay, now that that’s out of the way, here’s what I picked up this week…

 

 

…and here’s what I thought about ’em!

 

 

Agents of Atlas #6: All right folks, let’s kick this thing off with an old-fashioned ISB Lightning Round: All the jokes I can type about this issue in one minute! Annnnnnd GO!

Well, this one’s certainly going to make a certain segment of my readership pretty happy.

What is he, the Avenging Son of Michael Bluth?

Hang on, are they from Atlantis or Atlanta?

Hey, why swim upstream when you can float down the hall?

I guess you could call this one “fincest.”

Okay so Namor and Namora walk into a talent agent’s office and they tell him they’ve got a great act they want to show him. And the talent agent goes “What kind of act?” and Namor says “A family act,” and starts–whoops, that’s my time! Seriously though, great comic.

 

Amazing Spider-Man #596: Last week, I mentioned that after a decent issue of Spider-Man and the actually-quite-good I Kill Giants, I felt like Joe Kelly might be getting back on my good side after years of being persona non grata after his abysmal tour of duty at DC. Well, this issue took care of that little misconception.

Unsurprisingly, it is Not Very Good, and it reads less like an issue of Spider-Man than a perilous balancing act between how interested I am in what’s actually going on in the story and how absolutely godawful Joe Kelly can make the words on the page. As I read it, it didn’t strike me as being all that terrible, but the more I thought about it afterwards–and the more I talked it over with Rachelle, whose vehemence toward this issue was stronger than any emotion I’ve felt since 2005–the more I realized just how bad it was.

Really, I guess it mostly comes down to the dialogue: I’m willing to accept Norman Osborn referring to the Sinister Six Masters of Evil Thunderbolts “Dark Avengers” as “retarded children” because he’s supposed to be, you know, evil and crazy, but J. Jonah Jameson’s father talking like a rejected Judd Apatow script is pushing it, and Spider-Man saying that the sonic device he’s using on Venom feels “a lot like diarrhea pumping through your veins” is [PUN WARNING] just shitty. Much like his painfully unfunny blowjob jokes in the unbeleivably wretched Hammerhead story, Kelly’s attempts at writing a clever, funny Spider-Man just come off as a twelve year-old trying to figure out what swear-words are behind the gym.

Another case in point: Bullseye kills a rat by flicking a booger at him. Seriously, that happened. And not on Fanfiction.net or something, this is a comic that a writer was actually paid for. Bullseye picks his nose, pulls out a piece of snot that’s got actual speed lines radiating from it, and then uses it to kill a rat for what I assume was meant to be comedic effect. It’s not even gross-out funny, it’s just stupid, and the only good thing about it is that it’s a welcome break from the scene where Venom tries to tentacle-rape a hooker.

Man. This thing sucks.

To be fair, Paulo Siqueira does a fine job with the art, but when you consider what he’s been given to draw, it doesn’t really help matters. It’s a terrible issue, and the longer I sit here looking at it, the madder I get at myself for falling for it again.

 

ISB BEST OF THE WEEK

 

 

Batman and Robin #1: So, did anybody not see this one coming?

Yes, my love of Grant Morrison’s work on Batman is well-documented, so at this point, nobody ought to be surprised when I say I loved this issue.

And I did. As much of an eye-roller as the whole BOLD NEW DIRECTION of repackaging “Prodigal” as a “major event” is, Morrison and Quitely are certainly a team that’s capable of pulling it off. And they do, in a far more interesting manner than I expected. There actually is some nice interplay between the characters to set the new tone–my favorite bit of which being when, in typical fashion, Morrison makes Battle for the Cowl irrelevant in four panels–and I’m genuinely interested in the idea of a more lighthearted Batman and a grim, super-serious Robin. Of course, there’s a part of me that thinks it’s a shame that we get the guys that did All-Star Superman for a story that, given a long enough timeline, is going to be relegated to the sidelines as a story that took place before “the Real Batman” came back. But that’s the sort of extremely fannish thinking that I do my best to avoid instead of just enjoying the story.

And in spite of its context–or maybe even because of it–this book is enjoyable. Morrison’s in his usual good form with a straight-up story that even the die-hards are going to have a hard time hanging their time-worn “too weird” complaints on, to the point where I’m wondering if Morrison went out of his way to tell the simplest story he could to make jumping on as easy as possible. It’s pure pop fun in places, with the Flying Batmobile that we all saw months ago, “para-capes,” and yes, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, but it gives way to some genuinely shudder-worthy stuff with Mr. Pyg and his creepy, creepy doll-people. Quitely too does a good job, although I get the feeling that he was rushed. Not because the art suffers from a lack of quality–or the fact that it actually came out on time, rimshot–but because his distinctive layouts are almost completely absent. The only stereotypically Quitely page in the whole book–aside from the integrated sound effects, which I loved–is the shot of Wayne Tower with the cutaway beneath. And again, I can’t help but think that it might not be a rush at all, but a concerted effort to make things as simple as possible to appeal to a wider audience.

In any case, it works and it works well, because Batman and Robin #1 is everything a Batman comic oughtta be: Action-packed, mysterious, and most of all, fun. And I thought it was great.

 

Captain Britain and MI-13 Annual #1: By now, the news about the impending cancellation of Captain Britain has made its rounds, and unsurprisingly, I’m of the opinion that it’s a shame as this is without question of the best books coming out right now. Paul Cornell is doing a fantastic job weaving together a cast that’s varied to say the least–what with the fact that it includes both Kitty Pryde’s ex-boyfriend and Blade–and he’s made it work beautifully with stories that are pure awesome.

As for the Annual, I’ll confess that it’s my least favorite of the run so far. I think it just comes down to the fact that–as someone who’s never read Excalibur or any Captain Britain stories beyond the Alan Moore/Alan Davis run–I don’t really have much of an emotional investment in Meggan, and so a lot of this issue’s resonance was lost on me.

Of course, being the worst issue of Captain Britain and MI-13 is sort of like being the worst hundred dollar bill that you find on the sidewalk; it’s still better than most, and the fact that Cornell is riffing on Chris Claremont’s habit of showing the X-Men playing baseball by getting MI-13 together for a game of cricket is a hoot all by itself.

 

Jersey Gods #5: Take note, collectors! This issue of Jersey Gods features the first letter I’ve ever written to comic that’s been published (I previously wrote to Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, but it didn’t make it through). As for the content of the letter, well, it’s more or less the same stuff I’ve been telling you guys here on the blog ever since the first issue dropped, which mostly comes out in the form of gushing praise for what Brunswick and McDaid are doing here.

And with good reason: In five issues, these guys have given us the perfect combination of the Fourth World and the RomCom, which is a combination that I honestly never would’ve pegged as something that could work. And yet here we are, with romance that’s sweet without being cloying, action that’s raucous and loud, reveling in its nature as a pastiche without overplaying itself, and best of all, they have excellent taste in pull quotes. Plus, it’s got the art of Dan McDaid, who is fast becoming one of my favorite artists in the industry, especially since he did that piece for a little-known independent title called Solomon Stone.

Really though, it’s a great book, and if you haven’t jumped on already, there’s a trade coming up soon that everybody ought to check out.

 

GI Joe: The Best of Duke: I mentioned in my review of the Cobra Commander trade that IDW was dropping the ball on their “Best Of” reprints, and every one that’s come out has followed the same pattern: The stories look great up until the last issue (or shortly before), then they all go to hell. See for yourself:

From #50, the penultimate issue in the trade:

 

 

Crisp lines, clean colors. That’s what the majority of the book looks like. Then in #80, the last issue of the trade, it all goes to hell:

 

 

EDIT: It occurs to me that you can’t really tell on the reduced image above so click here to see it larger, and note the visible Benday dots, color bleeding, and the halfassed attempt to recolor the balloons that missed the inside of closed letters. The Magic Wand tool isn’t REALLY magic, folks. Also, “Dr. Mi dbender.” Really?

It’s like they scanned a crappy copy and put it right into the trade after the bare minimum attempt to balance the colors. I don’t know if IDW just doesn’t give a damn or if they’re just coasting on what Marvel re-did themselves for Tales of GI Joe, the Baxter paper reprint book, or if Devils Due cleaned up the art when the first round of trades came out a few years back or what, but it’s a remarkably unprofessional way to offer up a paperback, especially when–like the Cobra Commander one–it happens right in the middle of an issue. I ordered these before the first one came out, but I’m not even bothering with the Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow books, and I’d suggest you do the same ’til they get their act together. If Dark Horse can do completely recolored volumes of Conan for $17.95, there’s no reason IDW coudn’t spend more than thirty seconds in PhotoShop to clean up GI Joe.

 

Age of the Sentry: Getting back to the subject of comics with my name in them, we have Age of the Sentry, which hits the trifecta by printing a pullquote on the back cover, reprinting the cover on which the pullquote originally appeared, and listing me as an official member of the Merry Marvel Marching Society on the last page. So why all the attention?

Because I love this comic book.

And obviously, I’m not shy about it either. I sang its praises every month while it was coming out, so I won’t go through it all again, but I will say that Jeff Parker, Paul Tobin, Nick Dragotta, Colleen Coover, Michael Cho, Bill Galvan and Ramon Rosanas did something incredible here. It’s not just that it’s a perfect riff on the Silver Age and its high concepts that I love so much–although really, Harrison Oogar, the Caveman of Wall Street and Truman Capote working for the Daily Bugle in the same story is very close to being the best thing ever all by itself–but the way they weave those elements into a story that takes a character that fundamentally does not work and not only fixes him, but does it in a way that fits both his in-story origins and his metatextual ones.

For a comic involving a bear in a tutu, it’s pretty complex stuff. But it’s also the best mini-series of the year, and if you’ve been holding off, then head to your local shop and get your hands on the Apex of the Art Form as soon as possible. It’s worth it.

 

 

And that’s the week! As always, any questions or concerns can be left in the comments section below, so feel free to discuss the gorgeous art of Exiles, the high-concept hilarity of Werewolves on the Moon vs. Vampires or the dread and apprehension that always accompanies a new issue of Anita Blake.

One last thing before I go, though: You know that X-Men trade that came out this week? Yeah, well, that’s the one where Matt Fraction and Terry Dodson do a story about the X-Men fighting Godzilla a giant atomic mutant super-lizard. So, you know, you might want that

The One-Sentence Week In Ink: May 28, 2009

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Make ’em say UNF!

 

 

Na-na na-na!

That’s right, folks, it’s Thursday night (more or less) and that means that it’s time for another round of the Internet’s Most Punctual COmics Reviews! Although as you may be aware, the Memorial Day holiday caused comics to be shipped a day late this week–unless of course you live in the godless heathen lands of Canada–so in order to give me time to actually read the stuff I’m reviewing, I’m dragging the One-Sentence Reviews (or two, if you count the alt text) back out of retirement for a special engagement!

Here’s what I got this week…

 

 

…and here, in brief, is what I thought about ’em!

 

 

Amazing Spider-Man #595: It might just be a reflection of my recent, unabashed enjoyment of I Kill Giants, but I found Joe Kelly’s return to Spider-Man to be far more enjoyable than his last work with the character, to which my reaction was, and I quote, “it got me to give Kelly another shot, but that’s not a mistake I plan on making again.”

 

Batman: The Brave and the Bold #5: I’ve mentioned the steady improvement of the Brave and the Bold tie-in before–and this issue continues that trend with a script from the always-enjoyable J. Torres that involves flying monkeys and a big red Captain Marvel Dragon–but the real story here is on the letters page, where a kid writes in requesting to see Batman team up with the Blackhawks, and thus proves that the current generation of comics-reading youngsters might just be all right.

 

Godland #28: Reviewing Godland is pretty much an exercise in futility, as it all boils down to how much you like Casey and Scioli’s faux-Kirby cosmic tripouts (in my case, quite a bit), but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that on a purely costume-related basis…

 

 

…this guy right here is the most awesome dude in the universe.

 

Incredible Hercules #129: Jack of Hearts completists–of which I know at least one–will want to take note, as the Cosmic Avenger and Part-Time Poet makes a cameo appearance in this, America’s Finest Source of Sound Effects Since 2008.

 

Spider-Man: The Short Halloween: Uh, hey, Marvel, look, this one’s perfectly enjoyable, and I don’t want to embarrass you guys or nothin’, but did you know you put out your Halloween-themed one-shot by two guys from SNL and the the great Kevin Maguire a full five months before Halloween?

 

ISB BEST OF THE WEEK

 

 

Tales Designed to Thrizzle #5: Just when you thought my reasonably arbitrary ranking system couldn’t get any more farcical, I’m going to go ahead and throw the top honors this week to Thrizzle without even reading it, because…

a) Michael Kupperman is hands-down one of the funniest guys in comics,

b) It gives me a nice excuse to link to Adult Swim’s Snake ‘n’ Bacon, the show based on Kupperman’s comics that features Flight of the Conchords’ Kristen Schaal and NPR’s David Rakoff, and

c) The only reason I haven’t read it already is because it’s the one comic this week that I wanted to take some time to enjoy,

…and yes, that all still counts as one sentence and you can suck it.

 

Wolverine #72: As much as this comic represents a complete and utter clusterfuck–what with #73 shipping out of order for some ill-defined reason and the fact that “Old Man Logan” doesn’t even finish here, instead going on to a special in the vague, far-off future–I’ve got to admit that Mark Millar’s loud, predictable, amazingly stupid lift of all the Marvel dystopian futures just charms the hell out of me every time I read it.

 

Eternal Smile: Again, this is one that I haven’t had the time to read yet, but since it’s the latest book from Gene Yang, whose Eiser and Printz Award-Winning American Born Chinese was hands-down one of the best comics I’ve ever read, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that it’s probably worth checking out.

 

 

And that’s the week! As always, if there’s anything you desperately want me to elaborate on, or if you just want to talk about how Kyle Baker’s Special Forces is the loudest, smartest, funniest, most horrifying, all-around best war comic in years (which I pretty much covered when the series was coming out anyway), feel free to leave a comment.

But try to keep it to one sentence, folks; we’re workin’ on a theme here.

The Week In Ink: May 20, 2009

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Reading twenty comics a week is kindergarten. So’s finding a kick to the face. But finding one that’s oriented vertically that will look better on the ISB’s template, rather than the standard wide-panel format that the action lends itself to? That’s more difficult.

But far from impossible.

 

 

Thanks, Invincible!

But enough with the slightly modified Batman quotes! It’s Thursday night, and that means that rather than going for the Superboy Trifecta, it’s time for the Internet’s Most Ill-Considered Reviews!

Here’s what I got this week….

 

 

…and here’s what I thought of ’em!

 

 

Agents of Atlas #5: It’s no secret around here that my affection for Spider-Man is only rivaled by my outright love of the complex, multifaceted Batman, so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that this is my favorite issue of Agents of Atlas so far.

Not just because it’s got Luke Cage shoryukening a killer robot’s head off, or because the plot centers largely on a redhead in a flouncy half-toga and her misadventures with webbing, or even because Spider-Man fights a gorilla, although I assure you that those are all pretty big factors. No, it’s because Jeff Parker gets the Marvel characters better than almost anyone else working today, and in this issue, he gives us a perfect Spider-Man. From the fact that Spidey’s the only one who realizes what’s going on with the Agents of Atlas (one of those moments that reminds us that he’s really smart, which we don’t get nearly as often as I’d like) to him being the only one who bothers to keep track of who he’s fighting, to the end where he’s snapping pictures because hey, a guy’s gotta eat, it’s all great stuff. And considering that it’s only one of several great things about this issue–not the least of which is Carlo Pagulayan’s beautiful art–it adds up to something that everybody ought to be reading.

 

Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #3: I’m pretty sure that if you go back through and read my reviews–a task which I by no means recommend that you actually attempt–one of the adjectives that I use most often to describe the comics I like is going to be “fun,” sliding in at a close third right after “awesome” and “kicktacular.”

It is, after all, pretty widely accepted that comics oughtta be fun, and if that’s the case, then Jonathan Hickman’s FF is exactly what comics oughtta be. It’s obvious just from reading this thing that Hickman’s having a blast writing it, giving himself a huge playground of alternate universes that give us everything from flying pirate ships to the Cowboy Beyonder, with all the attendant versions of the Fantastic Four themselves–and Willie Lumpkin!–along with them, and it all leads up to a last page that I’m pretty comfortable in classifying as “a hoot.”

Hickman’s slated to be the next writer of the regular Fantastic Four series, so it’s easy to view his work on this one as a sort of trial run for what that’s going to be like. I’ll cop to doing that myself, and I’ve gotta say, I’m not disappointed. It’s got all the cosmic action, family dynamics, humor and–yes–fun that I want out of the book, and I’m looking forward to more.

 

Doctor Who: The Time Machination: What’s this?! A full-length comic drawn by Paul Grist only one week after the last Paul Grist book?! What wondrous things have we as a society done to warrant such miracles?!

All right, all right, stop your groaning. I know I’ve mentioned my undying affection for Grist recently enough that it’s all still fresh in everyone’s mind–and if it’s not, you could always just read Jack Staff and discover what true joy is like for yourself–so I’ll skip that bit.

I will say, however, that I don’t envy Tony Lee for writing this one. Not because it’s not good; it’s perfectly enjoyable, as was his very, very entertaining Doctor Who: The Forgotten, which I enjoyed even though I’ve actually read more comics and magazines about Doctor Who than I’ve seen episodes of the show. No, it’s because I imagine writing for Grist is a tricky proposition. I’ve only ever read one other book that he drew but didn’t write–St. Swithin’s Day, with Grant Morrison–and they feel so different than his work as a writer-artist, as they tend to lack the best element of his comics: the innovative page layouts. When you’re writing for yourself, it’s probably a lot easier to push the boundaries of the form than if you’re going from someone else’s script, and it shows.

Which isn’t to say that this is an inherently inferior book–other than in the way that every comic not written and drawn by Paul Grist is–there’s just a noticeable difference. And once you get past that, you’ve still got the art itself, which even reined in is deceptively simple and dynamic, and a script from Tony Lee that, while a bit predictable, is still a highly enjoyable time travel romp. It’s worth picking up if you’ve enjoyed IDW’s more recent Doctor Who offerings, or if you’re curious about Lee’s upcoming ongoing Who series.

Or if you’re a total mark for Paul Grist, which, from the loks of those last three paragraphs, I just might be.

 

ISB BEST OF THE WEEK

 

 

Wolverine: Weapon X #2: Those of you who aren’t reading this book might just want to skip this review, take my word for it and jump on now, because in a few moments, I’m going to totally spoil some things that will read a whole lot better if you’re coming to them fresh. Just trust me: This is the best Wolverine comic since the last one Jason Aaron wrote, which–in case you missed that one–had Wolverine teaming up with the Sons of the Tiger to fight a guy that could punch you in the soul.

For the rest of you, the actual review: Anyone who’s read the ISB for more than a few moments–and especially those who have read Ghost Rider, but Aaron’s got that combination of talent and imagination that just sings, and this issue is a perfect example of just how good he is.

Wolverine, after all, works best in the same way that a lot of heroes do: when he’s utterly outmatched and comes out ahead anyway. The problem is that after 30 years of stories about a berserker Canadian samurai secret agent killing machine super-hero with unbreakable bones that can heal from a mortal wound in a matter of panels, it’s gotten awfully hard to raise the stakes. But then comes Aaron, and instead of wringing enjoyment by playing off Wolverine’s unbeatable status and inevitable victory–a technique that literary historians are no doubt going to be referring to as The Ennis Method–Aaron finds a way to outmatch him with a gang of villains that are similarly enhanced, but with guns that shoot cancer and claws made of lasers.

One more time, that’s: guns that shoot cancer and claws made of lasers.

Boom. Review done. I don’t have to say anything else, other than confirm that yes, that is literally what Wolverine is fighting in this story, and yes, it really is as wildly entertaining as it sounds.

The only thing I don’t like about it is that in order to have said fight, Wolverine puts on yet another costume, which is not to be confused with his regular costume (as seen in the X-Men books) or his brown costume (which he was wearing in Wolverine: Origins but has since been ceded, I believe, to his son, Bad Idea Dokken Daken) or the darker costume that he’s wearing in X-Force. Because seriously, Wolverine needs a fourth–a fourth!–costume like he needed… well, like he needed a third ongoing series. But considering that that series has, in two issues, become one of my favorite Marvel books, I’m willing to give it some leeway.

 

Public Enemy v.1: Welcome to the Terrordome: I don’t really have a review here, just a fact: This book ends with Chuck D having a fistfight with George W. Bush.

See your local comics retailer about ordering it.

 

 

Annnnnnnnnnnnd that’s the week! As always, any questions or concerns, such as the sheer indispensable radness of Chris Giarrusso’s G-Man or my thoughts on the GI Joe: Best of Hawk collection (not as egregious in its omissions as the Cobra Commander one, but the reproduction quality still goes to crap at the end) can be left in the comments section below.

And seriously: Laser claws.