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Weekly review

  
  

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sleazenation
23:29 / 08.06.06
And Comics Showcase's immenant demise has yeat again furnished me with inexpensive new reading material.

Since reading the first collection of Dan Dare strips from The Eagle, and at the deeply discounted sum of £6 I was delighted to scoop Marooned on Mercury. The Eagle was doing comics in a way that one one else was really doing at the time - using colour in far more subtle and effective ways... and what I find quite interesting is the long shadow it The Eagle casts on artists like John Ridgeway and Chris Weston...

I also picked up a copy of Raymond Briggs' Unlucky Wally Twenty Years On, a fictionalized, self-depreciating semi-autobiography that is quite rending in its own peculiar way. It takes a form more akin to Briggs childeren's books for the 5-8 year olds but tussles with the subjects of mortality, sex, homosexuality and old age in pretty unflinching terms... I don't know of many kids books that feature 'lesbian love frolics'...

Finally there was the last part of Donna Barr's recent series Bosom Enemies... I've never seen her work outside of collections so it was good to finally experience it. Oddly enough it reminds me more of the form taken by late 80s indie comics more than anything being printed today, but then again Barr's work has always been highly ideosyncratic... who else would write a story in which a nazi and American soldier form a rivalry that borders on comradeship with a strong homosexual subtext, find them selves washed up on the beach of san francisco in the 1970s, transformed into half-horse creature and then return again to the second world war era...

um, don't answer that...
 
 
Aertho
03:33 / 09.06.06
I made the mistake of picking up the fnal issue of Claremont's 18 part X-Men: The End series.

Claremont has invoked Kabbalah again. And this time, used the "family" of the X-Men to build a "celestial tapestry" that will "evolve past time, space and other such nonsence".

I know he did this back when they healed the M'Kraan Crystal, but here's the lineup:

Bobby Drake as Malkuth (Reality)
Scott Summers as Yesod (Imagination)
Rachel Grey as Hod (Reason)
Ororo Munroe as Netzach (Emotion)
Jean Grey as Tiphereth (Soul)
Nathan Summers as Geburah (Judgment)
James Howlett as Chesed (Mercy)
Cassandra Xavier as Da'ath (Knowledge)
Katherine Pryde as Binah (Understanding)
Kurt Wagner as Chokmah (Inspiration)
Charles Xavier as Kether (Unity)

Has anyone been following this series? Enough to explain to me why the whole thing ended up with Claremont building a Qabalistic Aviary?
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
01:32 / 11.06.06
How on Earth does he get away with Cyclops equally Yesod and Imagination? If anyone deserves to be Judgement...
 
 
Aertho
06:57 / 11.06.06
Hmmm... well the words in parentheses are mine. Claremont doesn't come out and say which is which, but the illustation in the book is easy enough to read.

Has anyone followed The End long enough to know why a Phoenix-based Tree of Life was the whole point of the series?
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
07:10 / 11.06.06
It's easier to understand than the Summers family tree?
 
 
Mario
10:20 / 11.06.06
Maybe he was tying it into the whole M'Krann Crystal thing?
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
21:16 / 14.06.06
Picked up #1 of the Green Lantern Corps series today. Guy fluctuates back to being a jerk, although I suppose a year without any time off would drive someone a little batty. Seriously, does calling an alien with red skin "Red" instead of her actual name not smack too much like calling someone Blackie? Why hasn't Kilowog called him on it?

Meanwhile, potentially interesting surgeon GL Soranik seems to be an emotional wreck. I like that they're trying to deal with the negative connotations that the Green Lanterns would have on Korugar and I like that while she's a scientist she has a pronounced spiritual side, but she seems to be completely irrational half the time.

I also ended up picking up the Day of Vengeance trade and the special, because I liked the first issue of Shadowpact and, you know, Detective Chimp. After reading the special, I was curious - has Traci 13 always been a Little Traci Hawksmoor type, drawing power from cities? Or is this a more recent addition to clarify her magic?
 
 
Keith, like a scientist
02:14 / 15.06.06
Has anyone followed The End long enough to know why a Phoenix-based Tree of Life was the whole point of the series?

'Followed' is not really the word I pick for readers of this series. More like 'battled.'

I have no idea why I kept reading it. It was definitely one of those carwreck situations.

I will say that the series began and ended with Phoenix...and unfortunately attempted to hit every dot in between.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
20:34 / 12.07.06
What an odd week for comics.

Latest issue of Superman actually compelled me, though I haven't been following so I don't know why Kal feels the need to characterize Clark as being so irresponsible. Mannheim seems lamentable, character-wise. Lois has a couple great moments, although I don't like how Pacheco drawrs her.

The Escapists, this new Brian K. Vaughn thing taking place in the world of Kavalier & Clay, looks to be interesting but I worry about the blatantly obvious love triangle they're setting up. I'm also a little disappointed that Philip Bond's artwork doesn't extend beyond this first issue. Text section at the back is worth it, mostly for the faux-Golden Age Escapist comic covers.

Oddball...I mean, Adjectiveless X-Men out this week with a new story arc, and new creative team. Bachalo was what attracted me to it, especially given his panel layouts and intra-page storytelling seem to have improved (his work has in some ways become so compelling and in other ways completely abandoned the simplicity of his Shade days). I haven't been paying attention to X-events lately but I could follow what was happening. Rogue actually makes me not hate her, although her accent seems to be absent which may or may not be a good thing. Clearly a set-up issue with some potentially dodgy villains that can make even Sabretooth feel fear (Ah, Sabretooth -- brought to us by the Society For Letting Wolverine Have a Day Off). They remind me a little too much of the Marauders and I hope there's something about them worth looking into. Also, Aurora's on the cover and I hope that means she'll show up sometime, and Rogue does something interesting with some stolen powers (and much sniping with Emma Frost). Iceman fights crime in a pair of tight-fitting X-Underpants.

Green Lantern's not that bad, although I'm a little bored of the constant angst about Parallax. I wish they hadn't brought back Jordan because "these mistakes I've made" is going to get so old and make me wish I actually find old issues of Quasar more easily. At least there's a surprise at the end which makes me happy, although it's mitigated by the latest Green Lantern Corps where (a) I begin to wonder if Guy Gardner is the Wolverine of the DCU and (b) I really hope what happens to a certain character is a misdirect. But, you know, Mogo.

And a bunch of old comics like an Action Comics Weekly with Deadman...
 
 
Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo
07:29 / 14.07.06
I just got done reading the latest Franklin Richards one-shot, and if there is a comic that is simply more fun to read, I haven't found it on the stands. It uses Franklin Richards as Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes, and H.E.R.B.I.E. the Robot having to follow him around and keep him out of trouble, as much as he can. It doesn't just read like a kid's comic, but like the best "all ages" stuff, it can really be read by any age.

Hopefully, this comic is finding a market outside of comic shops.
 
 
Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo
07:36 / 14.07.06
Has anyone followed The End long enough to know why a Phoenix-based Tree of Life was the whole point of the series?

I haven't followed it (since I'll but it as trades when it's all done and read it when I feel particularly angry at myself), but in his very early stories about Phoenix, he would use this analogy to wrap up the first Shi'ar storyline. It's only fitting that he would return to it for the "last" story, since it was a pretty heady concept for a late 70's super-hero comic from a mainstream publisher.
 
 
FinderWolf
14:00 / 14.07.06
>> Latest issue of Superman actually compelled me, though I haven't been following so I don't know why Kal feels the need to characterize Clark as being so irresponsible. Mannheim seems lamentable, character-wise. Lois has a couple great moments, although I don't like how Pacheco drawrs her.

Yeah, Busiek did a really nice job here...parts of it felt like Astro City (in a good way - I'm thinking of the Samaritan stuff here, esp. the single issue focusing on Samaritan in the first miniseries) - the notion of showing us that Supes fights & puts away TONS of villains, so many that we see them with a panel each, much the same way you and I put out many fires / accomplish many more mundane tasks during our day.

I suppose Clark being behind at the job is just a necessary consquence of his always running around being Super. I think this is also to contrast his highly productive reporter's life during The Missing Year Before One Year Later, when he didn't have being Superman to take up his time.

Lois - woman of a thousand looks/haircuts, as many artists draw her. I bet Pacheco will give her a new hairdo next issue.

Was that 'new' ex-girlfriend mentioned before in the 'Clark travels the world before becoming Supes' stories DC did back in the 90s? Maybe the Chuck Dixon-written one-shot? Or the brief Dan Jurgens stories about this Batman-like period in Clark's life? Or is this a totally new character Busiek has created and is adding?

Lana Lang being a fancy fashion-wearing businesswoman - shades of her revamp in the Superman animated series, where she's a successful fashion designer. Although - Lana as head of Lexcorp? Kind of bizarre. Talia al'Ghul was a better fit, methinks.
 
 
FinderWolf
14:19 / 24.07.06
In Brad Meltzer's JLA #0, he shows a bunch of possible alternate futures for the Big 3, one of which is Pa Kent dying. Dan Didido said that 2 of those possible futures are going to be actual upcoming stories...methinks that Pa Kent will soon die in the comics, lining up the Donner/Singer and Smallville continuities of Clark's adoptive parents with the comics, as they did with the Fortress of Solitude design...
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
15:14 / 24.07.06
I'm also wondering if the bit about Diana getting married will happen as well; could be an excuse to explore some interesting ramifications with the Amazons.

Some of the art was great, some of it was - well - terrible. Jim Lee stuff in particular. And writing-wise? Enh. It fluctuated between "I hate you!" and "Best friends forever!" but was always missing something. Occasionally, I could have done with a bit more context. All the sequences were so short and one-note...
 
 
Pooky Is Just My Pornstar Name
14:00 / 26.07.06
Didn't anyone pick up Superman/Batman last week? I believe it was the debut issue of Barbelith's very own Ethan Van Scriver. The art was lovely, with EVS doing his own inking. The story was ok, but pretty standard - the ol' mysterious villain from the past returns with an axe to grind type of thing.
 
 
Alex's Grandma
14:20 / 26.07.06
Methinks that Pa Kent will soon die in the comics, lining up the Donner/Singer and Smallville continuities of Clark's adoptive parents with the comics, as they did with the Fortress of Solitude design...

You want him to die, don't you?

I suppose you'll laugh if he does.

Poor Pa Kent - what's he ever done to you? If you're going to start assigning blame here, FW, I'd suggest you begin with the whole 'not being born on Krypton' issue, and then take it from there.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
04:35 / 17.08.06
Bone! Bone Book 4 - the Dragonslayer! Phoncible Bone in
colour! With dragons!

And I somehow ended up with a copy of the Pollack/Allred The Geek, but I have not read it yet because it scares me. And the issue of What If with the 1950s "Agents of Atlas" Avengers. Uatu shouldn't be allowed to dress himself.

NEXT WAVE GO!
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
14:19 / 17.08.06
The problem with the Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual #2 was that it did it's job too well with introducing the supporting players this time around. The Fantastic Four, well, they practically phoned in their appearance, if a fictional character could ever be accused of "phoning it in." They were there to attempt the rescue, make with their customary banter, but the other four kids completely took my attention away and struck me as more interesting all around - maybe because they're shiny and new, or that we've heard references too them periodically over the course of the series. I walked away from the comic wanting to read further adventures with Strange Josie, Phineus Mason, Sunita, and Gus rather than slog through more Fantastic Four - the FF showed up, beat up some monsters, and then went on their way. The other kids' decision at the end of the story felt like it was opening up into a new "Challengers of the Unknown" adventure comic - From Beneath the Lithosphere - and there I was, wanting more.

The use of Molekevic - Mole Man - and giving a more in depth account of his back story worked well, especially with Frazer Irving providing pencils for the flashback sequences. Well, paints maybe. He does really well with the two-tone painted work, between the sepia browns in this one and the blues from the Klarion comic. We're given a ton of crazed giant underground monsters, a staple of any Mole Man story. Oddly, it felt a bit like Mole Man belonged in a Nextwave story, not just because Stuart Immonen was doing the pencils for the main sections of the story and the book came out on the same day as an issue of Nextwave, but because of the tongue-in-cheek madness of Molekevic's back story - what with the lungfish and the carmelized rifle. He didn't belong in the "supposedly-more-realistic" (cough) Ultimate universe.
 
 
FinderWolf
13:23 / 24.08.06
Bendis is actually telling a creepy and entertaining version of the "Clone Saga" story over in Ultimate Spider-Man....and the latest issue (#99, with Gwen on the cover! yipes!) contains a MAJOR change in the Ultimate Spidey universe. It was pretty shocking, esp. with no solicitation hints, I'd not read anything about it on the internet before or even had an idea that this big development was in this storyline. It's worth checking out.
 
 
FinderWolf
13:25 / 24.08.06
Gail Simone's Birds of Prey also continues to be a consistently strong read...enjoyable action/adventure with solid art. Black Alice is a terrific new creation; glad to see her return (and I think she might get used in other corners of the DCU as well).
 
 
Axolotl
19:04 / 24.08.06
Ultimate Spiderman: That was straight out of the blue, which was nice. I sometimes reckon Bendis's works better in the trades because the individual issues tend to be a little slight.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
06:05 / 28.08.06
Wonder Woman.

Wonder. Woman. Number. Two.

I was moderately underwhelmed by JLA #1 - mostly because there was only, like, 10% Metal Men in it instead of a more sizeable parts-per-million, but Wonder Woman is rocking my world right now.

It would appear that our man Nemesis is mainlining good old Silver Age Lois Lane, what with the presence of this tall, statuesque woman with raven hair and no mask, and all these images of Wonder Woman floating around. Especially given that "Diana" as Wonder Woman is public knowledge. Luckily, at least the villains make the connection. This makes him a frontrunner as her future fiancee.

Heinberg is on his way to making Diana's Rogues a more iconic set of characters. I'm concerned over the wide variety of evil doctorates, though, and what schools have Dastardly Doctorate Programs: Doctor Poison, Doctor Cyber, Doctor Psycho, not to mention Doctor Barbara "The Cheetah" Minera and Doctor Doris "Giganta" Zeul. Looks like, so far, only Osira is stuck in grad school and hasn't made it through her Masters yet. But, you know, give her time.

I'm really enjoying this series so far. Bring back Diana Prince without it being a depowered super-castration gig but a reappraisal of Diana by herself sans tiara and JLA creds, while also using it to get Donna and Cassie to start pulling themselves up out of their mires. Use the cute twirling-transformation gig. Hercules! A cool streamline for the white uniform! Diana with forged credentials!
 
 
Mr Tricks
21:10 / 28.08.06
I AGREE... WW#1 was very enjoyable, #2 was excellent, Diana needs to update her supervillian files. HA!!!
 
 
FinderWolf
01:44 / 29.08.06
Wow, it's been so long since we've seen the DC version of Hercules -- wasn't he a Jack Kirby creation from the 70s?

Osira seems like a new villainess to me, but I bet she's been plucked out of WW villain obscurity...
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
16:33 / 29.08.06
Osira, according to Wikipedia, was some Pre-Crisis Egyptian alien villainess. I'm hoping they develop her, because I liked the silly design for the character with the energy pyramid and such...
 
 
Mr Tricks
17:54 / 29.08.06
I seem to recall reading a Hercules comic produced by DC sometime in the early 70's
 
 
Mario
18:22 / 29.08.06
Yeah, it was early 70's. Walter Simonson did the last few issues of the run (which is the only reason I know about it )
 
 
DavidXBrunt
14:34 / 30.08.06
I may be wrong but Herc turned up sometime around the Messner Loebs run of Wondy. Certainly seem to think I've seen him in one collection or another.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
22:47 / 30.08.06
I'm enjoying Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters so far. #2 just hit the deck and had this snappy bit of dialogue:

Phantom Lady: Just so you know, I'm not shopping for a boyfriend, so get that puppy dog look off your face and open the door.

Firebrand: I wasn't-- I just never met a girl like you before.

Phantom Lady: You were, but it's okay. You're cute. I'd make out with you but I can tell you fall hard for girls. I'd break your heart and walk all over you.

Firebrand: What if I like that in a woman?

Phantom Lady: Then you're an idiot.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
04:00 / 02.09.06
Picked up Mike Carey's opening round of Ultimate Fantastic Four and was astonished to find Reed and Sue bumping violence-uglies with the Forever People...

...or rather, the Fauxever People. I'm hoping these are supposed to be the Ultimate version of the Eternals. And I think we have further confirmation that Mozzer's portrayal of the New Gods in Mister Miracle has had an effect on the cosmologies of various universes..."God War" opens with Reed and Sue shopping up until a gang of young, super-powered godlings with extravagant technology who have apparently hopped in from a higher dimension, saying that they're surprised that a universe like the Ulti-U, nested so far down in the omniverse or whatever, is actually inhabited. Very much sounding like the universes-within-universes approach Mozzer was taking with the New Gods, with the weird added bonus that we have Pascual Ferry's gorgeous art to further make the connection. Between this and Gaiman's Eternals...

They're definitely Kirbians, and totally reflect the Forever People -- young gods on the run with one single sentient computer between the lot of them (Called "Seed") which makes unintelligible noise as communication. There's a telepathic illusionist, a brick, they all more or less match up with the Forever People, and they're from a place called "Halcyon" and are fighting "Acherons" (Archons)...

I really enjoyed the issue but between this and the annual, I'm finding a trend of foregrounding the opponents or supporting characters to the detriment of the FF themselves; maybe it's just because the FF in some form have been around for so long, but it seems like the writers are really cracking to tell connected stories that don't actually heavily involve the four in any major way - certainly not as viewpoint characters - and they always seem to be bored in the Baxter Building, carousing and playing video games rather than going off and exploring, being active participants in their own lives. I'm enjoying the Ultimate reboot of them but perhaps for the wrong reasons...
 
 
Mario
11:24 / 02.09.06
Acheron is one of the rivers of the Greek Underworld. But Archon may also have informed it's choice.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
22:05 / 26.10.06
Ultimate Fantastic Four and the Slightly-Newer-but-Flimsier Gods has, well, fallen on its face. Blah.

On the other hand, the hand which will probably slap me and laugh at me, pointing at me as being teh suXXor, I picked up Neil Gaiman's Midnight Days collection today and quite enjoyed it. His Swamp Thing stuff and his Sandman Mystery Theatre pseudo-crossover. I quite enjoyed it. Divorced of (mostly) his Sandman trappings they're quite beautiful. I especially liked the Mignola-drawn Floronic Man story.

And, you know, Wesley Dodds reciting "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Owens - especially my absolute favourite three words in the poem ("thick green light" - three stressed syllables in a row!) is wicked. Because, dudes! Owens! Double sonnets are hot and such.

I am foolish, yes, but I don't care.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
23:40 / 28.10.06
Owen, rather than Owens. Actually, if he'd been able to run a bit faster, a tragically avoidable fate could have been averted...
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
23:46 / 28.10.06
Still and all, pretty good week, at least in terms of separating self from money. Planetary (all right, I suppose, but at this point I'd just like it to die, and no sense of wonder is going to help that. Nice artwork on the Shiftship, though), Seven Soldiers 1 (I'm a bit less jismatistic than others here - it feels like the connectivity was shoehorned in a fair bit, especially in the case of Mister Miracle - but a very fun read, especially in the newspaper segments), a new Runaways compilation (strong and steay stuff), New Avengers 24 (bit wank, but we have already established that no Civil war crossover will ever go anywhere, by law), Heroes for Hire 3 (see previous - cheerio, Heroes for Hire), a week-late Wildcats 1 (enjoyable - Authority is growing on me also) and Nextwave (worth it for the piss-takes alone). Found out who the new Daredevil was, as well - turns out I guessed right.
 
 
Sniv
10:04 / 29.10.06
Well, that was an excellent week for comics, I reckons. As well as the obvious stuff we have threads for (your SS and your Planetary) there were some other gems this week too.

We had an absolutely (super)batshit crazy Superman/Batman annual that I wasn't actually looking forwards to that much, but I found to be a very entertaining read. It was written by Joe Kelly (who I've not read before, so I'm not sure what his usual style is like) and was a re-imagining of the first meeting out-of-cowl between Superman and Batman, as told by a very unreliable narrator. Add a dash of the Crime Syndicate and two Deathstrokes and we have what can only be described as a superhero farce.

Highlights include Bruce and Clark sharing a bed (and no, not in the slashfic way...), alt-Deathstroke ripping his own arm off and popping it back on and Clark's inventive way of hiding his and Bruce's secret from Lois. In all, it was a very funny yarn, while purists may flinch at some of the characterisation. But fuck 'em, they have no joy.

We also had Secret Six #5. I've been kind of enjoying this mini so far, but this issue was great. The Mad Hatter is a work of twisted genius, and the fight-scene at the start of the issue with Scandal the only one wearing clothes was both tragic and very funny (and it made a change from usually only having naked women in comics, what with the three other naked men in this scene). "Unorthodox behaviour in the private chamber equals delight for the lucky obsever! Oh, a gift card for such an occasion!"

And, Ultimate Spider-man continues to rock with each and every issue. I'm not entirely conversant with the original Clone Sage, but this is some twisty-twisty stuff, and every issue Bendis continues to up the ante so the reader is never sure of exactly what is going to happen next. And, with this arc he has significantly altered the status-quo of the Ultimate Spider-man universe which was I think a brave thing to do, and I hope he has the skills to pull it off rather than re-setting it all at the end of the arc. I mean, Carnage with that alter-ego would make an amazing nemesis for Peter, I hope it stays that way.

Why have we not got an Ult. Spidey thread anyway? This book is constantly great fun.

So yeah, this week was total dinner, the kind of week that makes you glad you're still reading the funny-books.
 
  

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