posted
I did read Scarlet tonight, and was very glad to have found a copy after one CBS I visited had sold out. I think this did very well sales-wise and I’m thrilled for Alex Maleev who deserves tons of $$ for his awesome work over the years.
My feeling after reading #1 is I really want to see where this is going and learn more about Scarlet, so in that regard, Bendis & Maleev succeeded in getting me to at least pick up #2 and probably #3 and from there, possibly hook me permanently. I found that while the nuts & bolts of the plot aren’t all that original, the characterization of Scarlet was very intriguing and drew me right in.
Bendis was able to flex his writing muscles less in terms of plot and more in terms of structure and narrative with this story, and in that regard, I liked it quite a bit. Sometimes that is enough to get me really interested, because it makes a comic book stand out. The breaking of the fourth wall was entertaining and made me sit up and take notice; in the interview in the back of the book, Bendis compares it to John Cusack in High Fidelity and I think that’s a good comparison. It didn’t take me out of the story and actually made me get more into the story as I felt I was getting to know Scarlet better.
The other really cool narrative device was the three page sequence that really kicks off the story where several panels act as a summery of Scarlet’s life: ‘Birth’, ‘First Shit’, First Fight’, and so on. I thought it was effective in being amusing/funny while also being very original.
The best part of the issue for me though was the Alex Maleev artwork, as I really love it. I was super-disappointed that Spider-Woman ended and can now let those feelings rest as I’m getting a new dose of Maleev. He really seems to be going all out here as well, as it retains the grittiness of Daredevil that made me a fan, but it also seems more beautiful. Maybe its Scarlet’s subtle attractiveness or the energy of the issue, but it felt more panoramic in a way. Hard to explain what I mean, but I think this was a great artist doing some of his greatest work ever.
I expect the story will get better as time goes on (not that it was bad, it just wasn’t spectacular), but in the meantime, the artwork is gorgeous enough to make me feel satisfied with the purchase.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: Today I read New Avengers: Luke Cage today; the reasons I picked it up and then read it are as follows:
I've never been much of a Luke Cage fan and in fact considered him silly 70's character for a long time. When Bendis brought him into New Avengers and it became obvious he was one of Bendis' favorites, I was against it at first. It was only begrudgingly that I've really come to grow to love Luke over these last couple of years. I think Cage is one of Bendis' great successes at Marvel--he's really fleshed the character out and made him someone I care about.
Meanwhile, I'm loving a ton of gritty crime comics these days--a genre I've always loved--and I've been in the mood for more of it. So I picked this up on a whim.
It sat in my pile until today when I saw Lash's post on John Arcudi made me push it to the forefront of my reading pile.
My reaction was: surprisingly, I'm glad I bought it and I think there's some potential here. It was a pretty enjoyable first issue, I'm curious as to what's going to happen in this little story and will likely pick up the rest of the mini.
A few thoughts:
- John Arcudi is a master storyteller and that shows here. He can balance an issue in a way that progresses the plot, keeps you heading towards each new page with interest and at the same time provide strong action sequences, great humor and good dialogue. He's one of comic's current great under-appreciated writers these days.
- The series starts out as a superhero story with Ronin and Spider-Man making appearances and gradually devolves into a gritty crime story (albeit with Hammerhead and Mr. Negative). I liked how that was done purposely to show the transition from one genre to the other in style as well as story.
- Luke Cage continues to become more likeable over the years. I love his relationship with Jessica and his growing sense responsibility and how that makes him feel more and more confined (anyone with kids would relate as I'm beginning to learn) but he struggles to maintain his principles. And here, he is taken out of that struggle and put into a situation from his older days, but this is still the same, modern Luke. The entire premise creates lots of subtle drama.
- One caveat is the art is not for everyone. Eric Canete is very manga-esque with an overly exaggerated cartoony look that isn't my favorite. But it is pretty dynamic and I can go with it because I liked the story.
The storyline itself will likely turn out to be a solid crime story but not anything that is going to be ground-breaking. I've never collected a Luke Cage comic before and so I'm okay with that--I can always pick up a solid crime story if its of good quality.
Would I recommend it to anyone? Kind of. If the art really isn't your bag, it might turn you off. But if you're looking for something a little grittier with a hero you might know, this might be the thing for you.
Picked up #2 of this mini and I'm glad I'm reading it. I will definitely finish the story and find it to be a good read with all of the above good qualities still prominent in #2.
I think at this point if Luke had his own ongoing and it could be in this vein--street crime drama--I'd totally be buying it. I wish Arcudi could be writing Luke on a regular basis for solo stories while Bendis & Jeff Parker wrote him elsewhere in teams.
(Again, as someone who never bothered to give Luke a second notice until a few years ago, I'm surprised by how much I've grown to like him.)
The final part of the 3-issue Luke Cage miniseries came out and at the end of the day, I’ve got to say this was one excellent little miniseries. If Arcudi was doing an ongoing Luke Cage series, this first story would have me hooked permanently.
As someone who was never a big Luke Cage fan and only warmed up to him begrudgingly through his usage in Avengers, I’m now seeing for the first time how a clever crime drama setting can make Luke’s solo adventure very appealing. Arcudi also showcases something almost always talked about but never really shown well: “street smarts”. In that sense, he’s able to nail an aspect of Luke that many writers have struggled with.
Though the art may not have been everyone’s cup of tea, I think the writing was tight enough and the lead likeable enough to call this mini a big success.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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My review on Titans #26. Some spoilers, I guess.
So, the issue I’ve been dreading since June. The Titans issue when Roy finally joins the Losers for Hire. Why does he join? Cheshire emotionally blackmails him into doing it so the two can kill Deathstroke, who has gotten on the wrong side of the little genocidal maniac. She claims that Roy “owes” her because Lian’s death is supposedly on his hands. In a scene where Cheshire attacks Deathstroke, saying “it ends here”, Deathstroke counters by saying “it’s just beginning”, and Roy shows up, apparently selling Cheshire out by revealing she wanted him to kill her. But he says he wants to join, because he knows Deathstroke is obviously planning something big and wants in. He could use a “real Titan”. Cheshire, mentally, congratulates her “little junkie” for his performance, but wonders if Slade sees through it. I mean, how could he not? The exchange is just so one-dimensional you’d have to be blind. Well, Slade does have an eye missing. But it just feels so wooden. And stupid. The woman smirks in the same as Deathstroke and Roy shake, not even waiting for them to leave.
Then there’s some other stuff thrown in, Cinder being suicidal, Tattooed Man, Osiris acting like a spoiled brat and having a White Lantern vision, child slavers who are actually harvesting children as the main ingredient in a drug called Bliss, blah blah blah *blows raspberry*.
The truth is, I’m not even mad anymore. I can’t feel mad. All I feel is sadness, and disgust. Even if I didn’t get the same feeling in the pit of my stomach as I had with ROA when I read this.
It’s a further degradation of Roy’s character, and the tarnished memory of his daughter Lian, as Cheshire of all people demands repayment from him because of her death. Like she’s one to talk. Roy looks like crap, and someone mentioned that his hairstyle seems to visually resemble J.T. Krul, the author behind ROA, and currently writing Green Arrow and soon Teen Titans. If it is that is incredibly conceited, of course if Fiorentino did this as a homage to him I don’t know so I’ll reserve judgment till later. Roy no longer believes in what he stood for those years ago as a Titan, and it’s… understandable, but to be guilt-tripped by Cheshire, the woman who makes Charles Manson look like a better nanny in comparison, it’s just sad. And that costume and arm are still as ugly as holy hell.
Wallace had this to say on the DCU Blog about the issue:
“With Roy back on drugs and haunted by Lian’s death, he’s fallen into an emotional abyss. Broken inside and making all sorts of bad decisions, he’s now a perfect fit for these dark Titans. That’s because these anti-villains are a team of broken, desperate people. Yes, things are going to get worse before they get a lot better. But ironically, it’s Deathstroke’s uber-mission that’s going to help heal them. That is, if they all don’t get killed first in the process.”
I’m sorry, but I’m not buying it. Why should I? What reason do they have for any of us to believe it? After Cry for Justice, the gratuitous predictability of ROA, the pathetic excuses and rationalizitions behind ROA, and how horrible Villains for Hire was, why should we believe him? And of course if it does heal Roy, Lian’s still going to be dead. It’s about the both of them, but since she’s not an A-List, or even a superhero, they’d have little reason to bring her back. One possible reason is because she ages her father. Big deal. So he gets a little older. It’s a horrible waste of potential on Lian’s part. Just like the deaths of Robbie and Jennifer Long and Cerdian.
One of the biggest miffs I have with this is the fact that Lian’s tombstone says she was five, or maybe even four, years old. 2004-2009. There is no way that girl was anything other than six-and-a-half or seven, taking into account OYL and how much time has passed in the DCU since.
If Wallace expects people to feel sympathy for Cheshire because her daughter is dead, he’s barking up the wrong tree. In the Villains United miniseries written by Gail Simone, Cheshire was blackmailed into joining the Secret Six under threat of Lian’s life. Mockingbird, really Lex Luthor, claimed there was a small bomb inserted in the back of her head, which would either kill her or turn her into a vegetable. Cheshire then slept with Catman in order to conceive a replacement child, sold out the Six to the Secret Society, and then left. In the first few issues of the new Secret Six ongoing, Jeannette held Cheshire by her hair over the ledge of her casino’s roof. Cheshire attempted to plead mercy with her by saying she had a little girl. Jeannette’s response:
“I don’t care about your brat, girl. I care about your manners.”
Her second child, Thomas Blake Jr., was recently kidnapped. His father went after the kidnappers, only to learn the child was adopted by a loving family, all in an attempt to screw with Cheshire. Catman told Cheshire that their son was dead in order to protect him. The only time any of us hear about Lian’s half-brother is in Secret Six, and Lian seems to be the only child Cheshire mourns. Even for a super villain, she is not a good mother. Deadshot is a better parent in comparison, heck, Punch and Jewelee are better parents in comparison. She did not, or does not, really love her children. She might care for them, but it’s in the same way somebody cares for a pet, or a toy. If one dies or breaks, you can just replace it. To call her a beast is not fitting, even beasts can truly love their children. She’s a spoiled brat whose had her toys taken from her. Waste no sympathy on this b!tch.
Another matter is Cheshire’s characterization. I might hate this woman, but she’s devolved into the speech patterns of a foul-mouthed sailor. Before, she used words like “my darling” or “beloved”, she now curses more frequently and uses little, if not none, of her former vocabulary.
Speaking of vocabulary, most of the dialogue in this issue read like clichéd one-liners in a bad action movie. Unfortunately, I wrote none of it down for examples as I did for ROA #4, so you might have to take my word for it, whatever it’s worth.
The whole issue feels compressed, with stuff just randomly thrown together and rushed. Granted it’s not a blood bath like the last three issues (counting the “special“), but it is still bad.
Osiris is another example of bad characterization, as he is turning more into Black Adam Jr., saying how once Isis and Black Adam return, these “Titans” will rue the day they crossed him.
I can’t even tell which pages Fiorentino illustrated and which ones Richards illustrated. In certain panels, at least to me, Roy looked like either Austin Powers or a drag queen. And what is that thing he has on his back? A club? A stuff? I have no idea.
On a closing note… is an “abandominium” an abandoned condo?
-------------------- I want to be hated by lies - Bring Back Lian Harper
First off, the artwork is unbelievable. Joe Kubert is a living legend, and should be drawing Sgt Rock every month...okay, I'd settle for every other month.
The story is pretty straight-forward. Rock and Easy have to deliver a package that could help end the war. Easy is loaded with the regulars like Ice, Dozer, Wildman and Sureshot. There are also the characters that may of or may not of been seem before, that you know could be the ones to go. This is after all WWII, and bad things happen to our crew all the time. They do loose a few members along the way, in totally believable ways...and it doesn't feel gratuitios like other comics, as this is about war. Plenty of blood and death in these here pages, but it fits the subject matter.
The package turns out to be a surprise, Dozeer picks up an extra passanger, and there's a baby being carried around by Easy for a while. Nothing is ever easy for Easy, and this collection showcases the no nonsense way Rock deals with his cre to accomplish the goal, while letting them get away with more than probably most other leaders in the war.
There are so many little things that make this book great. Looks that the characters give each other. Nice things that they do for wach other. Dozer and his freind, and what Sureshot does for him after what happens. Sureshot drawing cartooons of their story. Wildman throwing down on a two-timing local they come across.
One thing about this. It's set in Lithuania. May not be a big deal for anyone else, but I'm about 1/3 Lithuanian, so I thought it was pretty dang cool.
Now I wanna go get me some old Joe Kubert war stories...gonna have to hit a local con soon.
From: Turn around... | Registered: Jul 2003
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This is the special that Grant Morrison wrote during his tenure on Doom Patrol, a one-shot about the future DP.
The Doom Force one-shot is nothing more than a one-shot filled with horribly proportioned anatomy, cliched lines, and millions of annoying pencil lines drawn on EVERYTHING. And that's the point.
This one-shot was done as a parody lambasting not only Morrison's OWN writing (and he wrote this), but the flood of ultra violent comics heralded by Rob Liefeld's X-Force. This supposedly takes place in the future, where Dorothy Spinner is now a grown woman and Niles Caulder is living on as a head preserved in a block of ice (floating inside what appears to be a giant pink drink). Doom Force is composed of...
*Spinner: As I mentioned, Dorothy Spinner, now sporting Bride of Frankenstein hair and the evolved ability to pull nightmares out of her enemy's psyche. *The Crying Boy: Kenneth Most, who absorbed mystical energy from a cheap painting and now causes heartache and bad luck wherever he goes. He also can't stop crying. *Flux: Danii Melvin, an Australian girl snatched by dingoes into the Outback when she was a baby, and raised by a witch doctor to manipulate the shapeshifting powers of the dreamtime. She's the one with the ponytail and the white bodysuit covered in markings shaped like sperm. *The Scratch: Some say he's Morgan Morgan, a previously well-known hero who accidentally killed an innocent and now works anonymously to atone for it. He can dismantle anything. *Shasta, the Living Mountain: He's a guy who can turn into a mountain. That's it.
They are going up against Count Anton Zero, Count Zero, and his sister Una, who have taken control of a living city. Una can manipulate plants and minerals, and her brother is constantly chiding her for wearing clothes that aren't "revealing" or "feminine" enough, even though it's freezing cold. Her role is a crack at the godawful clothing most women wore in comics back then.
The stereotypes in this book are manifested through Scratch's horribly cliched lines and looking like a Wolverine rip-off, with hardware tools band-aided to his fists and a visor like Cyclops. Flux's ponytail is constantly changing length, at one point appearing so long that it goes literally off panel. The anatomy in this book is shockingly horrible, and at times you wonder how these characters are able to move without being in crippling pain. At one point, Scratch's arms appear to be coming out of the underside of his legs, and Flux's stomach and torso seem to be folding in on itself at one point. Crying Boy and Spinner both appear, frequently, with facial expressions that appear as if they are both constipated. Through all this, poor Shasta is ridiculed by Scratch because of his uselessness. He even tells Shasta at one point to make himself useful and go die. Of course, Shasta does die in this issue, it's even revealed on the cover. At the very end, when it appears that the members of Doom Force are mourning "poor Shasta", Scratch tells him that he's glad Shasta is dead, because he was a creep. And to that, everyone agrees.
"Well, if that's how we all feel, let's all go get something to eat!"
-------------------- I want to be hated by lies - Bring Back Lian Harper
quote:Originally posted by Dev Em: Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy (GN format)
First off, the artwork is unbelievable. Joe Kubert is a living legend, and should be drawing Sgt Rock every month...okay, I'd settle for every other month.
The story is pretty straight-forward. Rock and Easy have to deliver a package that could help end the war. Easy is loaded with the regulars like Ice, Dozer, Wildman and Sureshot. There are also the characters that may of or may not of been seem before, that you know could be the ones to go. This is after all WWII, and bad things happen to our crew all the time. They do loose a few members along the way, in totally believable ways...and it doesn't feel gratuitios like other comics, as this is about war. Plenty of blood and death in these here pages, but it fits the subject matter.
The package turns out to be a surprise, Dozeer picks up an extra passanger, and there's a baby being carried around by Easy for a while. Nothing is ever easy for Easy, and this collection showcases the no nonsense way Rock deals with his cre to accomplish the goal, while letting them get away with more than probably most other leaders in the war.
There are so many little things that make this book great. Looks that the characters give each other. Nice things that they do for wach other. Dozer and his freind, and what Sureshot does for him after what happens. Sureshot drawing cartooons of their story. Wildman throwing down on a two-timing local they come across.
One thing about this. It's set in Lithuania. May not be a big deal for anyone else, but I'm about 1/3 Lithuanian, so I thought it was pretty dang cool.
Now I wanna go get me some old Joe Kubert war stories...gonna have to hit a local con soon.
Read this when it came out and loved every second of it. Kubert reminds everyone what an icon he is, and gives that gritty war art that made him famous.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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Seems that Joe has done a good number of OGNs (many war-related) over the last decade or so. There's that Sgt. Rock one listed above and "Fax from Sarajevo", and I think there've been at least 2 or 3 others. Unfortunately, his Wikipedia article appears far from up to date as a way of referencing his more recent work. Anyone got or know of a good list I can refer to?
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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"Fax from Sarajevo" is supposed to be a masterpiece, but I've never read it. It was an OGN in the 90's.
"The Prophecy" was a 6-issue mini from a few years ago that is now collected. One other Kubert SGT Rock story in recent years was a mini as well that is likely collected now.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: Hack/Slash was for the longest time the flagship comic book published by Devil’s Due and in recent months has transferred over to Image Comics since Devil’s Due is having major monetary problems. To commemorate things with the new publisher, Tim Seeley (creator/writer) kicked things off with a new miniseries that focuses on the origins of Cassie Hack, the main character.
I’ve never collected the series before because it just didn’t seem like my thing but I thought I’d give it a try since it was a new jumping on point / #1 and it focused more on the character’s origins. I didn’t expect much so I was surprised by much I liked it—certainly enough to pick up #2.
The best way I can describe this comic is it is probably the most like a B-grade teen slasher/horror film out of all the horror comics in the industry, so if you like those kind of movies (and I do), this might just be right up your alley. There is a fair amount of gore but it’s not really overwhelming—it’s probably less than you’d get from a random Blackest Night tie-in issue. Rather, it’s the creepy factor that is so prominent, and the low-level terror is ongoing throughout the entire thing. Seeley purposely has the subtle “teenager anxieties paralleling the horror” that many slasher flicks have constantly within the story but it’s not hitting you over the head. I unfairly thought it was going to be the opposite based on ads & covers for the series. It also has a strong “me against the world” vibe that anyone who remembers their teenage years can relate to (whether they were good or bad) but its more in the ‘cool’ sense than the ‘depressing’ sense which is a nice counter-balance to the horror going on in the story.
Anyone who’s seen a variant cover or marketing ad for this series will assume there is a HUGE amount of T&A involved and I admit I thought that would be the case too. I’m certainly not against some T&A in comics but sometimes it kind of gets on my nerves when its distracting—it’s just not what I’m looking for in comics somedays and I don’t exactly live with my brother and some pals anymore, so I can’t have something lying around I wouldn’t be embarrassed for my wife to browse through. So I was surprised to see I was actually a bit wrong on that front too: sure there is a little bit of T&A but its nowhere near as prominent as you’d think. I can name 30 Marvel, DC and other independent titles with more of it. I suspect it’s only so prominent on the covers to try to draw readers in.
Rather, what I was most delighted about was how strong and interesting the lead character Cassie Hack is. She is beautiful too, but her beauty isn’t always played up in sexy pin-up poses. Rather, what is seen is she is a complex person with a dark background, yet is very intelligent and very capable. As a reader, I liked her immediately, was incredibly intrigued by her, felt a great deal of empathy and above all, just wanted to see more of what she will do next.
I’ve never read any Hack/Slash prior to this, and all of those stories take place after, so I picked a good time to come in as a blank slate. I’m going to stick around for sure. If anyone else has read this before, please let me know what you think—especially horror buffs. I could see this spinning into a thread of its own!
I finally got around to reading #2 of the title and my feelings are much like the first. It's not the best comic I've ever read, but much like I enjoy a solid B-Grade horror movie, I'm enjoying Hack/Slash enough where I think I'm going to complete this first mini at Image. More than anything it's the atmosphere of the series, which feels very much like the aforementioned B-grade horror movies, but particularly the late 70's / early 80's ones like Prom Night and the first two Halloween films, that I'm finding so appealing.
There is a strait-up creepiness factor to just about every sequence, even the more light-hearted ones. Most of the horror movies coming out today have somehow lost that bit of horror-magic, and are much more gore-centric and in your face, rather than the old-fashioned "creep you out to the fullest" (but FYI, there is still some serious gore in this series).
There are many horror comics out there and many bad ones. This seems to be one of the better ones, and I just may be along the ride for awhile.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: Okay LW, I've got a random review for you, and specifically for Lardy. I picked up Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine by Marvel Comics the other day despite initially reading the solicitation and thinking it would get a HARD Pass. The reason is really that who in the world needs another Wolverine comic, or another Wolverine/Spider-Man comic? Well, as a major Spider-Man fan, after a little while, I started to think, maybe I actually do.
Then I saw Comic Book Resources gave an incredibly rare 5 out of 5 stars in its review of #1 which made me stand up and take notice. I shouldn't have been surprised: artwork is by Adam Kubert, who I have always loved and the writing is by Jason Aaron, who has been getting a shower of praise from Lardy, myself and the general comic book critic community for a long time. Aaron is the man, and this thread is chalk-full of reviews of comics Lardy has picked up based on his name.
My general reaction was: this is a pretty groovy Spidey/Wolvie story! I'm pretty glad I got it, and I'll definitely get the next two issues (making it highly likely I'll complete the six issue mini). The premise caught me totally off-guard, as I was expecting a street-level type story with ninjas or gangsters, which is kind of the stereotypical team-up these two heroes have. WRONG. We've got time travel, dinosaurs and pure superheroey goodness from the get-go. I can not only dig it, but I was feelin' super-fly about it.
Kubert's artwork is terrific and as a longtime fan who loved his Ka-Zar and Hulk in the Savage Lad stories, I was pleased as pie to see Kubert doing dinosaurs, cavemen, volcanos and all other manner of visual treats. (Spoiler that might influence you: the tale is *not* in the Savage Land).
But the real treat was the writing. Aaron is renowned for his seriousness and grittiness in Scalped but here he shows he can be a completely different writer when he wants to be. The story is serious, but there is a certain amount of fun to the plot. Aaron also just nails Spider-Man's voice, something many writers struggle with. He's funny, he's ironic, he's self-referential, but he's also brilliant, courageous and moral. I'm suddenly wishing he was writing some Amazing Spider-Man stories!
Aaron's real dynamic is the Logan/Peter relationship which he gets very well. These two aren't exactly pals and get under each other's skin quite a bit. They don't hate each other (like the forceful Batman & Superman hate each other nonsense of the late 80's/90's), but they really don't enjoy being around one another. And it makes for all kinds of awkward, tension-filled scenarios that Aaron loads with great dialogue.
I think this was a solid buy. Any Spider-Man fans looking for a Spidey fix but hating the current ASM, this might be for you. It also is a distinctly superhero story with sci-fi overtones.
One disclaimer I'd add though is this isn't exactly the most earth-shattering story of the year in terms of sense of importance, so I don't to overstate it. It fits within the category of 'terrific little yarn but in the grand scheme of things relatively unimportant to the larger mythos', which are types of stories I enjoy quite a bit (unless the maturing friendship between Peter and Logan counts as important to you).
Reading the second issue of this miniseries, I found it just a little bit less good than the first issue, mainly because the actual plot seems to be moving along very slowly. Readers considering this series should keep that in mind.
Making the comic still a very worthwhile buy is the characterization by writer Jason Aaron, who really seems to nail both Peter and Logan with every panel. He also brings out what makes them so likable while ignoring some of the more cliche characteristics of both.
I wouldn't be surprised if this one day became an ongoing Marvel title. (Marvel Team-Up with two of every five issues focusing on Wolverine & Spidey isn't a bad idea, with the other 3 of 5 focusing on under-used characters IMO). If it was with this creative team, I'd buy it.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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And another Random Review for today is a comic I picked up several weeks ago and finally got around to reading, Pale Horse by BOOM! Studios. This purchase was based on the fact that I want to give BOOM! a chance in some of their new products and also because I'm a huge fan of westerns and am always on the lookout for another really good western series like Jonah Hex or Lone Ranger.
My thoughts on Pale Horse are a bit of a mix bag. The premise is pretty good, being a often-times used one but with a twist: an African American in the post-Civil War years in the Old West, whose wife (a Native American) is brutalized and killed, hiding their son for him to find, and he then embarks on a huge revenge quest, all the while teaching his son how to survive and kill. Years later he is a wanted man but also a bounty hunter. Not the most original thing, but the twist of being a black man in the years right after the end of the Civil War adds a level of "the different" that I could get into.
The mood of the series is rough in the same vein as Jonah Hex and the Man with No Name, which I find appealing. My major complaint is there just doesn't seem to be enough meat for me in one issue. This is a common complaint I've had about many series from BOOM! Studios. While that may all go away in the trade format, it doesn't help me right now when I'm buying single issues. And to be quite honest, the chances of me buying a TPB for a series no one is going out of their way to recommend to me is incredibly dismal, while the chances of me picking a single issue off the rack is quite good; in other words--you've got to rope me in with one issue. Because of this huge decompression, I probably will not buy another issue unless I hear down the road that I should have given the series another chance and am missing something really good.
The creative team is all new to me. Artist Christian Dibari is good, but not on the same level as Sergio Cariello, who takes the sting of the Lone Ranger's decompressed nature away with his stunning depictions.
Anyone who picked this series up--I'd love to hear your thoughts!
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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For Superman/Wonder Woman: Whom Gods Destroy #1.
Elseworlds started out with a story about Batman if he had been around during the 1880s. From that point, most of them became stories about putting different heroes in different times. Most, well, a good number of them, such as: *Batman during the Reign of Terror of France in the 19th Century. *Steel during the days of Civil War-era Southern United States. *Superman during the Civil War. *Green Lantern during the days of Tammany Hall.
Some are takes on other literary works. *Superman as the Frankenstein monster. *Batman as Jekyll and Hyde. *Superman living Tarzan's life and vice versa. *A trilogy based on German Expressionist films surrounding Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Metropolis.
And then the more complex stories such as: *Kingdom Come *Batman: The Book of Dead, which deals with Egyptian mythology and the upcoming means to avert a cataclysm in 2012 involving a long dead bat god. *Conjurors: A world where magic was more predominant than science, with no Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman analogues.
Superman/Wonder Woman is a much more complex idea. There's no Batman in this story, and before you realize it, Wonder Woman is not the same. It's 1996, Superman has been around since 1938 but he's as young as ever, while Lois Lane and Lana Lang are both old, but not feeble. Oh, and the Third Reich is still around. Superman can't touch them because of the Geneva Convention, and the result of one time when he crossed them... well, Metropolis is gone. However, this issue demonstrates that Greek mythology will have a giant role to play in the story, as Superman is attacked by a creature definitely of magical nature, and Lois has a vision, or dream, of Superman wreaking havoc, and Lana hanging from shackles with an anvil tied around her feet, a punishment that Hera, Zeus' wife and the Goddess of marriage, once suffered.
A prevalent theme in this miniseries is humanity. Lois and Lana's age, Superman's ties to humanity, and his growing frustrations over his inability to finish his next book, which Lois identifies as a human flaw.
This is one of the few books Chris Claremont ever wrote for DC besides his Sovereign Seven series, and it's one of the more original and engrossing Elseworlds miniseries I've ever read. Abell and Geraci do a good job on the art, not spectacular, but good, and his designs on the Greek Panthenon and the upcoming appearance of Diana in later issues are something to remember.
-------------------- I want to be hated by lies - Bring Back Lian Harper
posted
Robert Bloch was one of the all-time great horror and crime authors in the previous century, and while I’m familiar with him, it’s not nearly as much as I want to be. Early in his career, like many of the other great writers of the last century such as Ray Bradbury, he wrote many stories in the pulp magazines of the day. One of his most famous ones was “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper”, one of the earliest Jack the Ripper tales to be popularized. Bloch was truly fascinated with serial killers—writing the book Psycho based on a fascination with real life killer Ed Gein, which would become the movie of the same name—and it’s only natural he had an interest in the first truly notorious serial killer himself.
IDW is now publishing a comic book adaptation of Robert Bloch’s “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper” by Joe & John Landsdale. To be honest, I generally avoid comic book adaptations of previous material and also, I have no real idea who the Landsdales are; my recent great experience with Darwyn Cooke’s Parker adaptations has loosened me up a bit and I figured I’d take a chance, since I’ve always been equally fascinated with serial killers and this is one of the seminal works of a great author of the subject.
I’m glad I did—I found the first issue to be really engaging and full of atmosphere and tension. The coloring job in black & white lends itself well, and the creators waste no time in moving the plot along; by the end of the first issue, you’re already clearly getting an idea of where the story is going and whether the premise of Jack the Ripper alive and well in the 1940’s is really happening or a hoax…and if the former, how that could be.
The first issue read like a really great time-period crime story and by issue’s end, I’m realizing this is much more of a horror story. I kind of stumbled onto this issue by accident in the CBS while I was looking for other things and bought it on a whim. I’m glad I did!
I’m also very curious about the original pulp story and would love to read it.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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I picked up Wolverine #1 because Jason Aaron is writing it. I'm a fan of Wolverine the character though like most people could do without about half of his appearances these days. I've collected Wolverine's solo comic sporadically over the years when the creative team was strong.
I thought it was a pretty solid first issue and set-up. Knowing how good Aaron is from his other works, I'm getting the sense the build-up here is about to explode in the next few issues.
Something Aaron does is make a very real, scary threat in the story. It comes across pretty hardcore. I personally am beginning to suspect Jason Aaron in real life is like Swearigen in Deadwood.
Will I buy more issues? I'm not sure. It was a solid start but the question is do I really feel like collecting Wolverine? Definitely an in-store decision.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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I would just like to say that the solicitation for this issue was completely misleading and untrue. Roy and Deathstroke didn’t have to team up together. Hell, they didn’t even spend most of this book in the same room together.
Following the last issue, the Losers for Hire infiltrated the center of a drug lord named Elijah, who distributes a drug called Bliss… which is made from children. Deathstroke’s pre-school sociopaths were attacked by Elijah’s Dominators.
This issue we finally learn their names, and they are: Pisces, Brute, Spike (a Texan), and, wait for it… DJ Molecule.
As Deathstroke deals with the Dominators, Roy goes in search of the holding chambers, and gives more inner monologue, wondering about justice, the only reason he’s with these “Titans” is because of Cheshire… for Lian… and looking forward to killing Slade when he gets the chance. Then he finds the kids.
“Cheshire was right. This is a harvesting chamber. And children are the crops.”
Roy tries to get one out, and the kid dies.
“If that’s how far Elijah was willing to go to make sure his ‘product’ isn’t tampered with… then Bliss must be one helluva high.”
“…I wonder what it tastes like?”
And then Roy gets attacked by Spike. Here’s an example of the dialogue between them:
Spike: Say yer prayers, Red. I’m gonna slice and dice you like a side of Travis County BBQ. Roy: Stuff it, Tex. You’re about as dangerous as a drunk armadillo crossing six lanes of busy interstate.
Meanwhile, Osiris deals with a Bliss-fueled vision/hallucination of Osiris, talking about bringing her back, the blood he’s spilt and the shadows in his soul, and what he’ll have to do to bring Isis back. And how many people might have to die because of it.
Roy beats Tex, gets the kids out safely. Osiris kills Elijah. Deathstroke and the others leave, with Deathstroke getting what he wanted. DJ Molecule, for some reason.
Back at base, Roy discovers his stash of drugs is missing. Cheshire has it. She offers him something else:
Cheshire: I’ve got something… far more addictive.
And the two have sex. While Deathstroke watches from a security camera, holding a vial of Bliss.
Ugh. Ugh! UGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Even when they write Roy out of character, they manage to write him out of character! The whole reason he’s become like this is because his daughter was killed! I can understand the heroin, or any other drug, but to contemplate using a drug made from children is just contradictory and stupid! And the fact that he actually had a vial of Bliss just makes it worse. (The drug inside the vial is the same color as Bliss). Exactly how long was he in the Villains HQ long enough to get his room in order AND hide a stash?
I’d say that still thinking of Lian and saving the kids would be a good thing, but that gets shot down to hell with the reveal that Roy has some Bliss on him.
More Brightest Day crap with Osiris, who’s temper tantrum can be cleverly written off as under the influence of Bliss. But now it looks like he might have to kill more to bring Isis back. Not to mention he continues to deny that it wasn’t his fault that Ryan Choi is dead, that Deathstroke is the one who did it.
As for the other two? Cinder and Tattooed Man?
Cinder: Die child killers! Tattooed Man (possibly, or Cheshire): Cinder might be nuts but she does get right to the point.
This issue still doesn’t do anything in terms of sympathy for Cheshire. She bemoans that the kids are going back to their parents, unlike Lian. Every time they try to pass her off as sympathetic I just remember what she did in Villains United. To add more to that, the reason she let Roy raise Lian in the first place was because she said she couldn’t. Obviously she was unfit to do so. But she was perfectly willing to raise the child she had by Thomas Blake. The idea of her having sex with Roy makes my stomach turn, simply because there is nothing attractive about this uber-witch, and to pass her off as that is the same as a slap in the face.
Deathstroke managed to subdue DJ Molecule (UGH) by firing… foam? Into DJ’s mouth? Since when could his staff do that?
In the scene where Roy kicks his arm on the floor during his little temper tantrum, the posture of his leg doesn’t make sense given the amount of force applied to that gaudy gold thing.
Hyperpath: Email this page to someone!
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