posted
Since I'm hoping there may be more posts to come in the FL Looks Back thread about Levitz's 70s JSA run, and since the Doom Patrol threads are all specific to certain eras, I'm going to review the Silver Age Doom Patrol in this thread.
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: DOOM PATROL VOLUMES 1 & 2
The most offbeat series of the Silver Age, Doom Patrol continues to spark revivals more than 40 years after the end of the first series.
And that first series holds up surprisingly well, although Arnold Drake's writing and Bruno Premiani's artwork evolved along different paths, the former getting increasingly in-your-face with its campiness, the latter getting increasingly self-assured and hyper-realistic.
Except for the Brotherhood of Evil, most of the villains are interchangable monsters and they seem like an afterthought. The real meat of the series is the twisted soap opera of two feuding unconventional families, the Doom Patrol and the Brotherhood of Evil, and the eventual destruction of both at the hands of a character who is constantly pulled back and forth between the two and who emerges as the star of the series. I'm talking about Madame Rouge.
Based on her rather conventional villainy and death in the early issues of New Teen Titans, I had never considered Madame Rouge a top villainess until I read the Silver Age Doom Patrol. She was a gem -- morally ambiguous, Euro-sophisticated, and possessed of a power both cool and creepy, like a female Plastic Man with looser morals. How nobody has revived her (Blackest Night doesn't count) is beyond me. And I know exactly how she could be revived, but I won't share that here, in case I decide to do a Madame Rouge fanfic.
None of the Doom Patrol revivals have been to my taste. Greg Burgas' comprehensive overview of the Morrison era is, in my opinion, more entertaining and more coherent than the era itself.
quote:Originally posted by MLLASH: Sounds like I'm still not missing anything. REBELS has been a missed opportunity in my opinion.
It totally jumped the shark with Stealth's death, but wasn't all that great before that either.
I would say that #23 was somewhat of an aberration in terms of its comparatively lower quality, Lash. Most issues are more cleverly written than that, so in a way, it might have earned another donut if it were another series, if that makes sense. REBELS is normally a solid 3-4 donuts.
However, the trend to shove the other characters more and more into the background IS a disturbing trend that's not just limited to this issue. That needs to be corrected A.S.A.P.!
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
re: REBELS #23 - Much as I enjoyed the two Doxes reluctantly working together, I think you're spot on with your criticism of that issue. The original L.E.G.I.O.N. developed the other characters much more, which made it a real team book. We've had glimpses of that in this series, but it's very Dox-intense - and now we're back to more Starro.
re: Doom Patrol Showcases - I love your description of the stories as a twisted soap opera. It's hard to surpass the appeal of the early Doom Patrol, high wackiness but accessible. I found Morrison's DP a little too weird at times. Also, the issues in which Steve Dayton is courting and marries Rita are some of the funniest.
The current series captures the original tone for me, although it has much darker underpinnings, which I find suitable to the times we're living in.
posted
Kill Shakespeare, #1 & 2, by Conor McCreary and Anthony Del Col (writers), Andy Belanger (art)
After seeing the movie Kill Bill, the writers started wondering what other Bills could be killed and came up with Bill Shakespeare as the most entertaining possibility.
This is a world inhabited by Shakespeare's heroes and villains from different plays. The story opens with Hamlet in Denmark; after he accidently murders Polonius, he flees for England. Pirates attack his ship in a storm, he is washed overboard and lands in the realm of Richard III. Richard enlists him to capture the quill of the wizard Shakespeare and thus free the land of the wizard's control - but first Hamlet must find this Shakespeare.
He sets off on this quest accompanied by Iago, is ambushed by supporters of Shakespeare and rescued by Richard and his men. Of course, Richard has ulterior motives and they're not very nice ones...
This is a lot of fun. The story is more complicated than I've presented here; there's good depth to the reading. You probably need some knowledge of Shakespeare's principal characters to enjoy it, but I don't think any great familiarity with the plays is necessary.
There's a trade paperback of issues 1-6 which I've ordered; the series - and the adventure - continues.
quote:Originally posted by Fat Cramer: re: Doom Patrol Showcases - I love your description of the stories as a twisted soap opera.
Thanks, FC.
One thing I forgot to mention in my review is that, as Premiani's art evolves and Rita's look changes, I think she begins to resemble Jennifer Garner more and more...except Jennifer Garner wasn't even born until three years after Doom Patrol was cancelled! And "Alias" itself was as much a twisted soap opera as it was an action/adventure show. Eerie.
quote:Originally posted by Fat Cramer: I found Morrison's DP a little too weird at times.
Interesting. I actually found it not weird enough! Or rather, too acutely self-conscious to be truly weird. I will give Morrison credit for one thing, though -- he excelled in the portrayal of Robotman.
quote:Originally posted by Fat Cramer: The current series captures the original tone for me, although it has much darker underpinnings, which I find suitable to the times we're living in.
I'll have to politely disagree there. I think the times we live in demand ever more escapism.
quote:Originally posted by Fat Cramer: re: REBELS #23 - Much as I enjoyed the two Doxes reluctantly working together, I think you're spot on with your criticism of that issue. The original L.E.G.I.O.N. developed the other characters much more, which made it a real team book. We've had glimpses of that in this series, but it's very Dox-intense - and now we're back to more Starro.
Yeah, I have no problem with Dox being the main character (as he was in the old series), but this is still supposed to be an ensemble book. The prior series had very well-developed supporting characters, but Bedard is letting the current cast languish for the most part. Maybe Captain Comet, Starfire and Adam Strange get some memorable scenes, but all of the rest have been little more than wallpaper for a good while.
On the plus side, a review I read of 24 seems to indicate that there's at least some progress along these lines. Hopefully, it's with more than just those same three characters.
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Something I’ve seen very little reaction to online (which is never a good thing) is DC’s Weird Worlds #1 which came out recently. All in all, I thought the first issue had some really great artwork on all three stories, but the actual stories themselves were a bit run of the mill.
I actually like the anthology format and would love to see it actually work for American superheroes one day. If one could thrive it would be the perfect place for new ideas to blossom, and I like the fact that with three features you get more bang for your buck. But what is often the case, anthologies are packed with many sub-par stuff as a way for the publisher to pad the issue. I wish rather than the three stories we had here, there was an anthology collecting all the best back-ups at DC: the Atom, The Spirit Black & White feature, and Justice, Inc.
The art was great on all three, though the Lobo and Tanga stories weren’t overly dynamic. The Garbage Man story by Ariel Olivetti actually was incredibly dynamic and gorgeous to look at though and I wonder if the character had his own single issue if he’d have a better chance?
Ultimately though, Garbage Man felt too much like a Swamp Thing / Man-Thing rip off (with parts of the Toxic Avenger thrown in), and Tanga is just Starfire with attitude and on restraint backed by humorous dialogue so far. The Lobo story is nothing I haven’t read 1,000 times before. I would have liked for these stories to be a bit more original—something to make me sit back and say ‘wow’.
I’m not sure if I’ll get #2—very likely I will not. Too bad, because as I said, I’d love for this format to actually work!
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
A few days ago, I read the finale of Time Bomb, a three issue series published by Radical Comics, written by GrayPal (Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti) and featuring art by Paul Gulacy. Well! What a terrific, satisfying series this was!
Plotwise, we have some familiar story trappings: Nazi doomsday device set off and a crack team sent back in time to prevent it from ever happening. We've seen elements of both before and maybe even combined together before, but with very few new ideas truly out there, what distinguishes one from the other is the story's execution. In my opinion the execution here was pretty impressive!
GrayPal adopt a tone and feel to their story that is very reminiscent of a classic James Bond-type spy thriller. We've got all the trappings here: futuristic gadgets, widescreen action, stuff gettin' blowed up good, dastardly bad guys (can't get more dastardly than Nazis, can ya?) and a good helping of sex appeal that's titillating without leaning to the pornographic.
Paul Gulacy is a perfect choice to illustrate the book. A story that's got a sexy, James Bond edge is right up his alley, if you're familiar with his work. He's got a flair for the dramatic and the sexy and has a sharp, clean line that is instantly recognizable. Sometimes his eyes look a little too much like they're staring at the reader, and occasionally his poses are a little stiff. But more often than not, Paul totally delivers the story. Many "hot" artists would be out of their element here, but Paul is totally in his.
The characters are not incredibly deep, as they rarely are in this kind of story, but they are effective and each have their memorable moments.
The story surprised me with some of its twists. I didn't, for example, expect to see Adolph Hitler pop up. I especially didn't expect him to figure so prominently in the unconventional resolution. I won't spoil it here, but in a way Time Bomb breaks some of the rules of the traditional time travel story by not leaving history alone exactly as we remember it. If you're reading these words and trying to read between the lines, I'd hazard a guess that you're absolutely wrong in what you might be assuming! I think that's a good thing!
Even though each issue was priced at $4.99 a pop, you get terrific value at 48 pages each worth of story. The book comes with the "mature readers" label, due to some violence, a little bit of nudity and plentiful usage of the f-word and other colorful metaphors. I wouldn't put any of these on the level of, say, a typical Garth Ennis book, so it's pretty tasteful and not over-the-top.
Time Bomb is a fun spy thriller with some roads taken that are expected and unexpected. I'm a fan of Paul Gulacy's art and was glad to see it here. If you're looking for a change of pace from superheroes and the supernatural and wouldn't mind a spy thriller with a few sci-fi aspects, then I think Time Bomb might be just for you!
Lardy's rating for Time Bomb: 4.5 Donuts (out of five)!
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
^You know, I thought about grabbing this but didn't and your review has me kicking myself for that. It sounds like a great read, and I *must* check it out! Definitely something I'll want to follow-up on.
(Comic Book Review Month is worth it if only for me to find one or two items I know Lardy is reading ).
I'm also a fan of Gulacy's artwork.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: Some time ago I had decided that other than Ultimate Spider-Man, I had given up completely on the Ultimate Universe. After a steady decline for several years, I realized I just didn’t care anymore. So recently when I saw Ultimate Thor on the stands, I passed it by several times before I eventually bought it. The reason for doing so can easily be summed up: Jonathan Hickman. Hickman is so good these days, based on Fantastic Four and especially SHIELD, that his name carries a lot of weight with me.
Ultimately, I made the right call. Just like SHIELD, I was very impressed by the scope of Ultimate Thor and the suspenseful and grandiose method in story-telling which is being used. It already feels incredibly epic: Baron Zemo in WWII; Ragnarok; a young Thor, Loki and Balder having adventures together; Dr. Don Blake visiting Ultimate Thor who may or may not be losing his mind. Hickman can write and I love his style.
Carlos Pacheco, who isn’t my favorite artist, does a fantastic job here, and impressed more than he ever has before. His art looked very clean and exciting.
This was a pleasant surprise and I’m committed to the rest of the series now.
As Jonathan Hickman continues to make SHIELD and Fantastic Four as good as any series in comics, and his independent stuff being reviewed by other posters sounds incredibly cool, I’ve come to expect that everything he does is just quality stuff. His Ultimate Thor story arc reaffirms that theory, as it’s nothing short of awesome in the scope of what he’s doing and how carefully crafted the story is thus far, as it slowly builds together. Just when I thought I’d given up on the Ultimate U outside Spidey, I’m sucked back in.
Hickman crafts three separate storylines here: Thor in the present, per his Ultimates debut; World War II where Baron Zemo uses the sacred Norn Stones to enter Asgard, teaming with Frost Giants to storm their treasury; and the ancient past where the 1,000 year war between Asgard and the Frost Giants ends after the heroic trio of brothers Thor, Loki and Baldur help Asgard gain victory. Each one is fascinating and filled with brief character moments while obviously having a larger, more epic point to them. Hickman does a great job making you feel like what you’re reading is vitally important—especially here, since I don’t care all that much about the past and future of the Ultimate Universe.
He uses Dr. Don Blake interacting with the modern Thor in a very overt, scientific way but because of the regular Blake / Thor relationship you can’t help but be fascinated by it.
The Zemo / WWII sequence is taken to the next level with a major revelation at the end of #2 which ties in how the Nazis have a chance against Asgard (with the takedown of Heimdall).
The Ancient past does a better job showing the love and camaraderie between Thor, Loki and Baldur better than possibly any writer ever has on the main Thor title, making Loki’s eventual betrayal all the more tragic; particularly when Hickman shows exactly why Loki does it (a twist never used before at Marvel). The brief mentions / showings of Karnilla, the Warrior’s Three, Odin’s Ravens and others is also really well done.
I’m really enjoying this miniseries. I guess I can basically say that anything Hickman’s name attaches to now will be on my pull list.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Dark Horse released a one-shot titled The Occultist about a new magic-based protagonist, created by Dark Horse President Mike Richardson and Hack/Slash writer Tim Seeley. It’s a non-Gold Key character that is kind of being lumped in with the Jim Shooter/Gold Key relaunches going on (which are quite excellent). Unfortunately, while this was an okay start, it wasn’t anything spectacular and a lot of it was things I felt like I’ve seen before.
Magic-based protagonists are a dime a dozen these days, particularly teen/young adult ones. So the premise and situations were not anything new, which made it feel stale. Meanwhile, there was some brief characterization and introduction to a supporting cast, but it felt more like very flat, three sentence summary type characters that were not particularly interesting.
Even the artwork, by Victor Drujino, was good but nothing dynamic.
I like buying one-shots from Dark Horse because they usually are a complete story that are interesting for casual readers. This one is probably the first that failed to deliver for me, as it felt like the entire thing was going through the motions but there was no real soul to it.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
I also caught up on Thor / Iron Man, which was a miniseries I was so looking forward to. It’s got everything I want: DnA on writing chores, two heroes I love in Thor and Iron Man, the High Evolutionary, and a bunch of other villains and concepts of Marvel lore. But after reading #2 and #3…the delivery just isn’t there.
I feel DnA are writing both Thor and Iron Man a bit off, as well as the High Evolutionary, who I thought they did a great job with in their space opera titles. The story itself seems disjointed and it’s suffering from too many characters having too little going on.
I’m pretty disappointed (also because I waited until I bought most of the series before reading it, like a sap). This could easily have been a 2-parter.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Prince Valiant by Hal Foster, Volumes 1 & 2
This is a real oldie - these two volumes cover the newspaper strips from 1937 - 1940.
I loathed Prince Valiant when I was a kid. It was one of the really boring newspaper comic strips that my mother thought was educational. Several decades later, my opinion has entirely reversed.
Hal Foster was grew up in Halifax; our local comic store Strange Adventures has had a bit of a push on his work. I was flipping through one of the collections and was so impressed with the art work, I bought the book.
The art is beautiful and richly detailed. I could just enjoy that and ignore the stories, but the stories themselves have a peculiar charm.
Prince Valiant is set in the medieval era, but Foster has taken history and myth, along with different time periods and jumbled it all together. There's lots of Arthurian legend mixed in with adventures in Rome, Scandinavia and the Holy Land, Atilla the Hun and Vikings. The adventure is appealing in its nostalgic innocence, yet there's a good measure of brutal violence (not graphic, but cheerily dispensed by Val) thrown in. I was surprised to see a fair number of scenes of naked or nearly naked men wrestling and bathing together, so maybe there was some subtext there, or the 1930s weren't as stuffy as I thought.
One distinctive aspect of Foster's work is the total lack of word balloons; all the story is told in text at the bottom of each panel.
The volumes are oversized and pricey, but if you find them in your library, I'd recommend taking them out.
posted
After reviewing two other Stan Lee / Boom Studios comics which weren’t bad but essentially were a bit of a bust, I was pretty delighted when I read Starborn #1 and it ended up being pretty fantastic! Unlike the other two, which were incomplete stories where something was really missing, Starborn felt very fresh, fun and exciting. I put down the comic honestly wanting to read more. It had some very cool, deep characters, as well as an overall sense of intrigue that made me curious about the story and where it’s going.
Writer Chris Roberson really nails a great opener unlike the other Boom stories. It is full of energy, and I was surprised at how different the pacing is compared to his other comic I collect, I, Zombie. I think a lot of that is due to artist Khary Randolph, who has a very kinetic, high energy style that is full of ‘pop’. It is a bit anime, a bit cartoonish, and a bit in the mold of Mike Avon Oeming, but yet a very distinct style that is his (her?) own.
The lead character is a writer—which is usually a groan inducing occupation for a lead—but they actually make it work for once as an important facet of the story, rather than the typical self-indulgent crap we usually see.
I put down #1 feeling there is the potential here to have a great space opera series as well as a great down to Earth character piece. I think I’m going to be picking up the next issue!
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Fat Cramer: Prince Valiant by Hal Foster, Volumes 1 & 2
This is a real oldie - these two volumes cover the newspaper strips from 1937 - 1940.
I loathed Prince Valiant when I was a kid. It was one of the really boring newspaper comic strips that my mother thought was educational. Several decades later, my opinion has entirely reversed.
Hal Foster was grew up in Halifax; our local comic store Strange Adventures has had a bit of a push on his work. I was flipping through one of the collections and was so impressed with the art work, I bought the book.
The art is beautiful and richly detailed. I could just enjoy that and ignore the stories, but the stories themselves have a peculiar charm.
Prince Valiant is set in the medieval era, but Foster has taken history and myth, along with different time periods and jumbled it all together. There's lots of Arthurian legend mixed in with adventures in Rome, Scandinavia and the Holy Land, Atilla the Hun and Vikings. The adventure is appealing in its nostalgic innocence, yet there's a good measure of brutal violence (not graphic, but cheerily dispensed by Val) thrown in. I was surprised to see a fair number of scenes of naked or nearly naked men wrestling and bathing together, so maybe there was some subtext there, or the 1930s weren't as stuffy as I thought.
One distinctive aspect of Foster's work is the total lack of word balloons; all the story is told in text at the bottom of each panel.
The volumes are oversized and pricey, but if you find them in your library, I'd recommend taking them out.
Very cool! I've always wanted to check out Foster's Prince Valiant but never have. This is something I actually might consider buying for myself soon. (I'm getting through the massive first volume of Dick Tracy first, which is taking months).
Foster mixing up different time periods so the series has characters from all different eras makes it actually even more appealing!
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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