And we’re back, with your regularly scheduled ISB programming. Which is, of course, this:
Yes, it’s another Thursday night, and that can only mean one thing: That we’re only six days away from the launch of the first chapter of The Chronicles of Solomon Stone by Chris Sims and Matthew Allen Smith, only on the Action Age of Comics!
Oh, and I guess it also means it’s time for the Internet’s Most Self-Referential Comics Reviews or whatever. Before we get to that, however, it’s time for yet another plug! A friend of mine is doing me a solid and selling some of my stuff on eBay, so if you want to help support the ISB by buying yourself some pretty rad comics, have a look:
Captain America (v.5) #1-40, Featuring a second print of #25 signed by Steve Epting
Madman Gargantua Hardcover, Signed & Numbered by Mike and Laura Allred (#64/300)
Astonishing X-Men #1-24 plus Giant Size, with all the variants.
Ultimates 2 #1-13 plus the Annual, wherein Captain America flash-kicks a dude with lightsabers.
All good stuff, and well worth giving me all of your money checking out! Anyway, here’s what I bought this week…
…and here’s what I thought about ’em!
Amazing Spider-Man #590: ISB readers might recall that with a few minor exceptions–Jackpot’s bullshit “mystery,” Flash Thompson in Iraq, Joe Kelly–I’ve been generally enjoying the post-One More Day direction for Spider-Man. This one, though, hit me in exactly the wrong way.
It’s not that it’s a bad issue, technically speaking; Dan Slott’s script is fun enough with a couple of great moments–like the Macroverse’s reaction to the Thing–and Barry Kitson’s a great artist. The problem is the way the plot’s based around One More Day, and how it changed the status Spider-Man’s secret identity. The fact that this has become the focus of a story and that there’s now a weird “pre-Crisis” type universe for Spider-Man just complicates things to no end. After all, the Brand New Day change was made to ostensibly streamline Spider-Man and give him a status quo that would be more conducive to bringing in new readers, and if there’s no commitment to having it one way or the other, the whole thing falls apart.
It smacks of trying to eat one’s cake and have it, too. The old saw of the Marvel continuity buff is that everything counts, unlike DC’s way too complicated system of reboots, but that’s just not the way it works. As things stand now, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22? Didn’t happen. And if you say it did, but nobody remembers it, and then do stories where you talk about how weird it was before Spider-Man made a deal with the devil, it makes it a lot harder for a reader to ignore the fact that our hero made a deal with the devil.
Then again, nobody’s coming to my house and taking copies of my comics with the Amazingly Married Spider-Man in them, and if Dan Slott wants to try to nudge the universe a little closer to the way he wrote it in Spider-Man/Human Torch #4–a truly phenomenal comic that revolves around both Spider-Man being married and the Human Torch learning his identity–who am I to stop him? I just wish they’d stick with something every now and then.
Captain America 70th Anniversary Special: Despite the fact that he doesn’t manage to throw in references to Chris Isaak and Cole Porter, James Robinson does some great work here, telling the kind of Captain America story that we don’t get too often. It’s a lot of fun, and while it does sort of make the fact that Steve Rogers was sickly and infirm a little hard to believe when he’s taking out two Undercover Nazis, he huffs and puffs enough to let you know that it’s quite an effort, and the whole thing’s so fun that it doesn’t really matter anyway.
But the star of the show here–as his is pretty much every time he does a comic–is Marcos Martin, who was last seen doing Cap in the pages of the totally awesome Sixty-Fifth Anniversary Special
Plus, there’s a Simon & Kirby story in here where Cap plays baseball, and I don’t think any of us want to miss that.
Destroyer #1: You know, call me crazy, but I’m starting to get the sneaking suspicion that Robert Kirkman really likes having crazy amounts of ultraviolence in his comics.
Ah, but I kid Kirkman, who once called me out by name in the lettercolumn of Invincible as someone who didn’t care for the occasional head-exploding dustups in an otherwise darn-near perfect comic. I forget the issue number, but I think it’s right before the one where a baby gets electrocuted at the end. Anyway, in a MAX comic, that sort of thing oughtta be both encouraged and embraced, and Kirkman goes for it right on page one, with Cory Walker doing an amazing job with that first panel. It’s memorable–heck, given the first page, last page, and the full-page shot near the beginning, the violence almost overpowers any other aspect of the book–but it’s also hilarious, and I get the idea that he’s playing the Evil Dead 2 amounts of blood and gore for laughs to balance out the more serious aspects of the story. And on that front, brother, it’s a hoot.
It’s well worth picking up, and it’s nice to see another project that revives one of Marvel’s forgotten Golden Age characters, especially since in doing research, I discovered from Wikipedia that the Destroyer “was occasionally abetted by an Allied agent with the, in retrospect, rather unfortunate name of Florence von Banger.” God bless you, Stan Lee. God bless us all.
GI Joe #4: Lately, I’ve been reviewing issues of GI Joe in haiku form, owing to both my love of Japanese poetry that can be applied to RoboCop and the fact that there’s just not a whole hell of a lot to talk about in this book. To be blunt, it’s just not very good, and while it’s been improving with every issue, the quality’s coming in increments fed by a story that’s slower than molasses in January. There are, however, two major things to discuss with this issue.
1) This Dave Johnson cover is totally awesome:
And 2)…
That’s what she said.
Irredeemable #1: Grant Morrison–who I’ll get to in a second–does a better job reviewing this one in his afterword than anything else I could add to it, so I’ll just sum up, for those of you on the fence about whether to pick this one up and give it a shot. Essentially, it’s Mark Waid doing What If… Superman Heard What People Say About Him On the Internet And Went Apeshit, and I gotta confess, the idea of a super-hero so thin-skinned that the potshots that come with even a small amount of celebrity eventually drive him to revenge himself on the entire world is one that I find both genuinely amusing and fantastically appealing.
I mean, this guy probably didn’t even have people telling him how he could’ve made his jokes better.
As to whether it lives up to the hype, I’m not quite sure yet. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good comic–closer to Astro City than what you might expect from Mark Waid–but there’s been a lot of hype for it, verging on the pretentious. I mean, this is a comic book with an afterword, for cripes sake, and when you throw in the “Mark Waid is Evil!” campaign they’ve been hammering on for a while, that’s a lot of swagger for a book to live up to. Removed from all that, though, it’s still highly enjoyable, and well worth a read.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch #101: I’m sure you’re all relieved that I decided not to write a thousand words about Sabrina and blow off everything else this week, but I’d be remiss if I let this one pass without at least a mention.
Those of you who were paying attention last time might recall that I wasn’t really looking forward to this story, where Ian Flynn and Chad Thomas were given the unenviable task of following up Tania Del Rio’s run with a story that not only didn’t feature the title character, but was based entirely around the adventures of her cat when he was a boy. Of course, as we all know, Salem wasn’t always a cat, and this one takes place well before he attempts to conquer the magic realm by force and is sentenced to feline imprisonment.
Which brings up another problem I was worried about: Salem is, at heart, a greedy, power-mad jerk bent on world domination, and casting him as the hero brings up the same problems as, say, the latest animated installment of the Series That Shall Not Be Named: It’s hard to root for the guy when you know how it all works out in the end. Of course, this is Archie Comics, so “world domination” at this scale really isn’t all that bad, but still, I was impressed that Flynn and Thomas manage to sidestep that little trap by casting young Salem as kind of a greedy, power-mad kid. Not so much that he’s what you’d call an anti-hero (though as close as you’re likely to get from Archie), but enough that you’re able to reconcile it with how he goes off the rails later in life, and then repents once he becomes a cat.
Then again, there’s also a talking frog and a big ol’ pile of treasure, so I might just be reading too much into it.
Seaguy: Slaves of Mickey Eye #1: Back when I was evangelizing Final Crisis and the completely and utterly radical Batman R.I.P.
You want me to tell you how great Kill Your Boyfriend is and how The Invisibles changed my life? You got it, brother. You want me to laud Kid Eternity as the pinnacle of Vertigo? Sure, I’m on it. You want me to rush out and buy that Resurrection of Ra’s al-Ghul hardcover because G-Mo’s got two issues in it? … Well, maybe I’m not willing to go that far. But it’s tempting.
Point being, I love Seaguy, and while I’m pretty solid on why I like other Morrison books, this is the one that I have a hard time explaining my affection for. I mean sure, Cameron Stewart’s art is fantastic, and there’s the oddball supporting cast, and the sinister tone that lies just underneath the goofiness of it all, but there’s also something else in there that I just can’t put my finger on, and it adds up to a book that I just can’t get enough of.
Although now that I think of it, it might just be the dinosaurs.
And that’s the week. As always, questions and concerns can be left in the comments section below, so feel free to drop a line. And start preparing yourself now, because next week, Solomon Stone hits like a hammer, and in the immortal words of Martin Lawrence….
Believe that.
Didn’t get anything you got, Chris. I did glimpse the Destro cover . . . it’s just weird seeing Christopher Eccleston’s penciled mug as Destro. I know the Ecc’s got villain experience, but he’ll always be the Doctor and Claude to me.
I take it from the image near the top that you also enjoyed clobbering hour
Man, they’re pushing the Nazi undertones hard in that GI Joe cover.
Not much DC this week.
Have you seen this yet?
http://www.tvguide.com/News/IFC-Adapting-Anita-1004605.aspx
Not to ruin the joke with my cluelessness, but what animated series are you talking about in the Sabrina review?
actually, it wasnt that this spiderman story brought the Satannopact back into subconscious focus that bothered me. its that the major (and seemingly ONLY important) plot point of this new arc is the issue of the secret identity status quo. specifically: the fanaticism that parker displays over keeping his secret from his BFF, while in another book weeks ago he just ripped the damn thing off and said “hell with it” in a room full of people. mind you, a room full of people he barely knows.
if he told logan, sure. fine. he can smell him anyway, but those two are kinda chummy enough. i could see him POSSIBLY getting over it. logans not likely to crack under torture and give the secret away. or even really actually take any interest.
but torch would have topped my list of who he would tell first. and he violently attacked him. no such reaction at NA headquarters. chokes BFF and throws him into a “wall” (with the proportionate strength of a spider) on the one hand; says “aww shucks, lemme tell this room full of dysfunctional goofballs including a woman who cant keep hold of her own damn baby (where is he anyway) AND went to school with me, imagine the gossip she will have to spread” on the other
not buying. and this really better have a good good gooooooood explanation to have rubbed the face of his statue off in a different/parallel/macro universe/box/aboveground pool.
You want me to rush out and buy that Resurrection of Ra’s al-Ghul hardcover because G-Mo’s got two issues in it? … Well, maybe I’m not willing to go that far.
I did.
How do you use “Thor” as an adjective to describe something glacially slow? “This new GI Joe book is Thormatically slow.”
“You want me to rush out and buy that Resurrection of Ra’s al-Ghul hardcover because G-Mo’s got two issues in it? … Well, maybe I’m not willing to go that far.”
I know how you feel. I managed to resist, but the softcover is coming out in a few months. Argh…
He has, in fact, so many times he complained on twitter.
That’s in response to #4. Whoops. That’ll teach me not to refresh.
Seamus: I would assume Star Wars.
I’m kind of annoyed that Sims decides to buy two issues of Savage Dragon in a row after the Obama cover draws him in and the pay off is one of the duller and more emo issues in quite some time. Aside from the whole super-powered cop beating on super-powered hookers bits…
Drew Johnson? DAVE Johnson.
The Thing in a monocle: awesome.
“Not to ruin the joke with my cluelessness, but what animated series are you talking about in the Sabrina review?”
I assume he means the Clone Wars animated series.
“including a woman who cant keep hold of her own damn baby (where is he anyway)”
Um, in the high-chair beside her?
That GI Joe guy looks like Kyle Rayner.
I will be buying Seaguy but it will be with a slight amount of trepidation as I’m one of those guys whose opinions of creators effects his ability to enjoy their work. (Hence my not ever reading anything by, say, Dave Sim.) Cameron Stewart used to frequent a board I was on a lot and his posts, well, coloured my opinion of him.
Tunnel Rat doesn’t look like Larry Hama at all.
Hey Chris, what did you think of that GI Joe Movie Prequel: Destro? (I didn’t read it) I think this movie is gonna suck major balls. After seeing how Cobra Commander is gonna look I hate it already.
I’m right with you. As another Morrison shill recently finding it hard to keep up appearances, I have nothing but affection and total puzzlement before Seaguy.
Still haven’t found the key to it. But I will friends, I will.
Molasses in January can move surprisingly fast under the right conditions. The devastating wave of molasses in the Great Molassess Flood of 1919 was clocked moving at 35 mph, and this was in the middle of January in Boston.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Molasses_Disaster
Chris,
The secret identity thing doesn’t have anything to do with the devil-deal. You may already know that, though. I believe Reed may have worked with Peter and helped make everyone forget. This keeps the Parker-Richards family tie going and would explain why Reed doesn’t seem too bothered by the fact that the FF can’t remember who Spidey is. This may set up a new controlled reveal of Pete’s identity to certain people after years of A LOT of folks knowing. I would have voted for just the FF, Matt Murdock, and Logan…but the Avengers issue kinda shot that one.
I don’t think you need have anything to worry about Salem-wise. Flynn’s a damn near a miracle-worker, having turned “Sonic the Hedgehog” from an unapalatable mess to one of my favorite monthlies. He’ll do right by your favorite non-Tarot witch.
What kind of douchebag would claim that he could improve your jokes?
Really? No Flash: Rebirth? It was pretty much awesome.
heckblazer, so what you’re saying is that if we pile up enough decompressed storylines they’ll eventually rupture their holding tank/comic book store and kill us all?
Drew Johnson? DAVE Johnson.
Right, right, I mistyped. Er, I mean, I don’t know what you’re talking about. The post says Dave Johnson… just as it always has.
think this movie is gonna suck major balls. After seeing how Cobra Commander is gonna look I hate it already.
Right, because Cobra Commander has NEVER, EVER been goofy before. Like, say, when he turned into a snake that Roadblock gave a piggyback ride to. That was totally for serious.
Really? No Flash: Rebirth? It was pretty much awesome.
I don’t read comics by Ethan Van Sciver anymore, so no.
“Right, because Cobra Commander has NEVER, EVER been goofy before. Like, say, when he turned into a snake that Roadblock gave a piggyback ride to. That was totally for serious.”
That was never my point, and the “wass once a maaan” thing and Cobra-La both came from the movie geared towards kids. I was under the impression that the live movie wasn’t going in THAT particular direction (god forbid. It would be worse than the Street Fighter Van Damme movie that way). But anyway, would you LIKE the movie to go into that direction? I think that would be terrible. Why not have Quaid and Wayans sing the GI Joe theme song in the movie’s opening… I’d much rather see the Commander being portaryed as the most dangerous man on earth, not a goofball.
Is that because of his political views or because you think he’s a hack? Not that it’s any of my business, just being nosy.
Intrigue! Why would you boycott Ethan Van Sciver? Has he made inflammatory anti-face-kicking comments on the interweb or something? Or do you not like his art? ‘Cause I thought the art was kinda good.
NO they killed Lucky El Loro
damn you mickey eye, damn you straight to hell
How was Buffy this week? I ordered this issue since it was going to focus on Faith and Giles (even if it’s not written by Brian K. Vaughn this time), but I don’t get my comics until next week. I know you’d been sort of lukewarm (at best) on the book the last few months, so was this more of the same, or did you consider it an upswing, or was it even worse than it has been?
think that would be terrible. Why not have Quaid and Wayans sing the GI Joe theme song in the movie’s opening
… Yes, actually.
I’d much rather see the Commander being portaryed as the most dangerous man on earth, not a goofball.
Actually, I LIKE Cobra Commander being a goofball. I like that this is a guy who spends millions of dollars researching mind-control chewing gum or making a fake hair metal band, and yet he’s deadly in his ridiculousness that they needed a special government task force just to counteract his bat-shit craziness. The Wikipedia article for him says this “The writers later commented that they only found Cobra Commander’s personality when they stopped writing him as an Adolf Hitler-type and started writing him more in the vein of Yosemite Sam” and really, I couldn’t agree more.
That doesn’t mean that I want him to be a half-snake or anything, but I honestly DO want to see him kicking puppies and saying things like “MORONS! I’VE GOT MORONS ON MY PAYROLL!”
I’m not saying that the GI Joe movie definitely WON’T be bad, just that dismissing it out of hand for being goofy overlooks 26 years of goofy-ass source material, which is what I like about the franchise to begin with. And there’s nothing in a movie based on a toy line that shouldn’t be geared towards kids: If you want serious, adult military action, there’s certainly no shortage of those to go around. Me, I want a Weather Dominator.
Is that because of his political views or because you think he’s a hack?
Political views. I think he’s a perfectly serviceable artist, although I do think he’s overrated.
How was Buffy this week?
Not great, but not bad at all. I was expecting a little more clever wordplay, since that’s Jim Krueger’s stock in trade in his own stuff, like Alphabet Supes or The Foot Soldiers, but it was a pretty straight up Faith ‘n’ Giles Adventure that helped advance this incredibly tiresome Harmony arc.
Well ok, if the GI Joe movie’s gonna fit your needs than good for you, I’m real sceptic towards it. I like Cobra Commander with a dose of that “Yosemite Sam” attitude, sure, but not overdoing it. I’d be more ok with that movie if they just sticked to any of his established looks (or at least come close to it), that’s all.
On that point, we can definitely agree. There’s no reason to not go with a “realistic” take on Cobra Commander’s classic look (like Tim Bradstreet did) because it’s such a good design.
See? We can still be friends!
You want me to tell you…how The Invisibles changed my life? You got it, brother.
I wouldn’t mind hearing that some day.
I’d want them singing the theme, too, but only if it’s the one that goes “GOT! TO! GET! TOUGH! YO JOE!”
“On that point, we can definitely agree. There’s no reason to not go with a “realistic†take on Cobra Commander’s classic look (like Tim Bradstreet did) because it’s such a good design.
See? We can still be friends!”
Sure we can!:D
Yeah, that look is pretty much my favorite. However the makers of the movie dismissed the hood as “too much like KKK” from what I read.. That’s a really big stretch in my opinion.
Actually, Chris, I heard that the ‘Joe movie is indeed made to be an over-the-top, campy experience.
Oh, and here’s some classics:
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/gi-joe-cobra.php
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/cobra-gijoe-alaska.php
Political views. I think he’s a perfectly serviceable artist, although I do think he’s overrated.
Well that’s perfectly fine then, he is a bit of a nutjob.
Another reason not to read Flash: Rebirth: Flash: Rebirth sucked. I cannot for the life of me figure out who at DC thought it would be a good idea to have yet another obsessive, authoritarian, edgy superhero. Other than everyone who works at DC except for Grant Morrison, Gail Simone, and the ghost of Val D’Orazio’s editing career.
Wait….is that other site for real?
If so, that guy is the lamest nemesis ever. I mean, he’s The Spot lame.
Also, Grant Morrison is great. I’m not always there with him 100%, but you gotta love his enthusiasm for the craziness of comics.
As a guy who sees a swastika and punches it, the thing I thought when I saw that Destro cover was “I bet a basketball game between him and Big Lob would beat the game from Escape from LA.”
And this weeks Seaguy gives me a reason to pick up that safety orange Torpedo from the TRU 3 pack.
Thanks for bringing Killer of Demons to my attention with your sort of serious review last month. Second issue was really fun. I wouldn’t mind if they turned it in to a franchise.
Oh, and how was that Marvel Assistant thing?
Not bad. Didn’t care for the D-Man story, but the Mini-Marvels are always a treat, and it’s nice to know that Jason Aaron likes the same shitty movies from the ’70s that I do.