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Weekly review

 
  

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Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
21:03 / 31.05.07
Illuminati #3 was actually fairly entertaining, mostly because Reed and Namor can barely get along and I'm not actually sure why a toy line tie-in crossover needed to be addressed in the series. The retcon is unneccessary, but the end result is that the Illuminati look like idiots without realizing it and prove to be utterly ineffectual in the long-run. Which makes me happy. Plus: no Tony Stark. Cheung's artwork continues to impress, he's demonstrating a bit more skill with differentiating his faces, and we get a shot of mohawked Storm. Next issue is Noh-Varr.

Pascual Ferry is back for the new Silver Surfer storyline in Ultimate Fantastic Four so I picked up #42. With the Ultimate Galactus thing already dealt with, I'm wondering what Norrin's story is going to be, but I'm hoping it ties directly into the cosmic cube and the "I can't believe it's not Darkseid"-emphasizing Thanos arc from earlier on. Looks slick and sexy, story's not bad, we get to see a bit more development of Reed's background and there's Mama Grimm.
 
 
FinderWolf
20:05 / 14.06.07
World War Hulk #1 was mindless, smashety fun. Fun energetic art by JR, Jr. Although when I read it in the store, the final pages of the last regular Hulk issue (the one just before Gary Frank's return to the book) which showed Hulky astride his giant spaceship ready to kick ass were a bit more awe-inspiring than the same sequence in WWH #1.
 
 
Spaniel
06:59 / 15.06.07
Yeah, I liked it alot despite a few ropey panels. Looks set to be much more fun than Civil War. I love the idea that the Hulk is now the second hardest guy in the galaxy because he's sooooooooooo eggy. More eggy than he's ever been. And it was truly cathartic to see Iron Man handed his arse.
 
 
Spaniel
07:00 / 15.06.07
It was also really pacey, which is ace.
 
 
FinderWolf
14:42 / 27.06.07
I highly recommend the book TRUE STORY, SWEAR TO GOD. Tom Beland's bio comic is really one of the best examples of the 'personal/slice of life' books out there. And the latest issue, on stands now from Image, tells the inspiring story of how Beland went from 'guy who sells a few of his minicomics at a convention every now and then' to 'self-published professional.' Seriously moving, and just out and out joycore. The book doesn't shy away from the challenges or thorny day-to-day issues of life, either. Check it out. Really good stuff.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
16:09 / 28.06.07
Ultimate Fantastic Four #43 is out this week, featuring Captain Carol Danvers as another face of S.H.I.E.L.D. (perhaps we're all a little bored of Ultimate Nick Fury?), and referencing the Ultimate Gah Lak Tus hoo-ha (which I have studiously avoided) in relation to this new Silver Surfer. Who is awesome.

The shrinking thing was kind of interesting, and he's definitely a herald of something (possibly the big stinky cloud from the new movie?). Otherwise, it's a mid-arc issue still early into the set-up. Pascual Ferry makes pretty pictures. I can't stand Reed's spontaneously generated little sister, Enid, because I don't see the point of having the cute snarky kid stereotype. That's what Johnny's there for.
 
 
Alex's Grandma
18:00 / 28.06.07
This week I'd recommend 'Thunderbolts' and 'The Boys', the former for featuring a twenty three page fight scene that for once didn't seem like it had been written in ten minutes on the bus, and the latter just for being it's usual loveable old self, though it's not to everyone's taste, I appreciate.

I'm kicking myself for buying 'Daredevil' though, which increasingly feels like it's about a cast of characters that could do with a long rest somewhere.
 
 
FinderWolf
01:15 / 11.07.07
THOR #1 - decent art by Copiel (quite good actually, although why he has chosen to draw the bridge of Thor's nose all weird in profile, looking a bit like Frank Miller's Marv, is beyond me), and a sort-of-ok restart script by JMS...although nothing really happens except....Thor comes back.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
03:31 / 11.07.07
I nearly started a thread but in the end decided not to bother. It's cute. I like the idea that Donald Blake is completely fictional cute still coherent enough as an entity to argue with Thor. We'll see if anything significant comes of the second issue.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
15:04 / 12.07.07
The Busiek/Pacheco run on Superman continues with #664 as we learn a bit more about the government's methods of dealing with potential super-disaster -- specifically, what happens if Superman is mind-controlled again. Arion tries to dominate Superman's will and make him kill other aliens, and this doesn't go over well with anyone.

They seem a bit constrained by having to include references to the kid that showed up over in the Donner/Johns Superman book, but it does give us some interesting characterization from Lois - she's started to take to the mothering, apparently, but Busiek uses that more to give her depth rather than act in any way out of character, and we're treated to some strong-willed reporter action right away. And, at the same time, we get Clark having a really bad day and cracks showing in his self-control when dealing with government forces or his teammates in the Justice League. We're introduced to Squad K, who are a group designed purely to watch for possible mind control attempts on Superman. It was, all in all, a good issue. The art had a few odd moments - the first shot of Jimmy gives him very distinctively elfin ears - but was crisp and otherwise clean as usual. Busiek's doing some really fun and wonderful things on this title and it's nice to see I can sit and enjoy a mainstream Superman comic again. Regularly, even.
 
 
sleazenation
19:43 / 12.07.07
Don't bother with Martha Washington Dies. It's just 16 pages of strip, a significant chunk of that being splash pages. The rest of the space is filled with the outline for the original Give me Liberty and a few left over images.

The most galling thing is the house ad at the end for the impending Life and Death of Martha Washington trade makes the whole thing look like a big advert you have to pay for....

Not really worth the entrance price...
 
 
Alex's Grandma
00:16 / 13.07.07
Indeed. It's just utter, godawful rubbish from beginning to end.

(I hold out hope that Frank's trying to keep his powder dry for 'Batman vs Osama Bin Laden', but this month's interlude from the house of Miller doesn't inspire much confidence
 
 
FinderWolf
14:18 / 13.07.07
I actually had two trusted friends (who work at the store I frequent advise me), as they were working, to maybe hold off actually paying money for MARTHA WASHINGTON DIES because they were like "Dude, it's all splash pages and it's 16 pages...someone counted and it's like 32 panels." they were advising me to just read in the store and save my cash *lol* I bought it anyway since I figured I'd support Dark Horse, since I haven't bought anything from them in a long while.
 
 
Essential Dazzler
17:36 / 17.07.07
Not a new release, but I picked up the first three volumes of Paradise Kiss today. I just finished the first book and have ordered the final two.

It's a "fashion manga" about Yukari, a simple girl, with a simple crush on a simple guy who want's nothing more than to do well on her exams and make her parents happy. That is until she's "kidnapped" by the members of the Paradise Kiss design studio, a bunch of art students who want her to model their final project.

The cahracter designs are really strong, punky Arashi, Loli-doll Miwako, towering transvestite Issabelle, and proud bi-sexual head-designer, George. It takes all of ten pages and they're all complete people in your head.

So far the plot has dealt with Yukari:

1.becoming dissilusioned with study after finally meeting people doing what they want, and being excited about it.

2.Falling head of heels in love with George, and out of it with her school boy crush (who is in love with Miwako, who is in a relationship with Arashi (And in love with school boy crush))

3.Agonising over wether or not to take the modelling job, she's doing badly enough at school as it is.

It doesn't sound special, but everything happens with such incredible pace, with an amazingly refreshing sense of humour, that you can't help but be swept along. I haven't been so caught up in a book for so long, I even let out an "Oh No!" when Yukari realises that George has read her student pass, which contains a picture of (almost) forgotten crush.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
20:15 / 18.07.07
All-Flash #1 came out today and I sort of enjoyed it. Karl Kerschl is now in the camp of artists I'll be watching out for - his fill-in during Bart's reign as Flash was the one shining moment for me - and it makes me really said that the Flash has so much recently acquired baggage because Kerschl would be perfect for a clean, adventurous Bart Allen series where he was given more of an opportunity to grow into being a new Flash. Possibly with his own rendition of the costume instead of Barry's cast-offs.

One the complaints I saw about "The Lightning Saga" seemed to be that they didn't explain the twins or Linda being there when Wally returned, or introduce them, or spend any time on them -- this issue sort of works around that by giving us a flashback to the moment of return and Superman meeting the West siblings. Who are, tragically, Kingdom Come characters (and something nags at me about West genes and twins). It was a cute moment. Iris also catches Wally out mid-monologue and it felt like a nice poke Waid was having with his old school "My name is Wally West. I'm the Flash. The Fastest Man Alive" voiceovers.

I am sort of keen to see a Flash comic with the return of a Flash Family concept, particularly with those costumes on the kids and Linda crusading as a reporter again or possibly helping out at S.T.A.R.

Inertia's fate is a trifle hardboiled.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
21:04 / 25.07.07
I may be the only body on the Lith reading the Ultimate Fantastic Four right now, but the Silver Surfer arc's third part came out today and WOW-EE. Pascual Ferry makes me all happy, and another FF villain is ultimated to be Norrin's lord and master. Kind of an interesting choice, and it certainly makes it seem ironic that Norrin shrank on his way down to the Earth-plane. This run's got a lot of nested universes and Earth as a smaller/lower plane world experiencing first contact with higher/larger god-beings...
 
 
CameronStewart
22:01 / 25.07.07
>>>Karl Kerschl is now in the camp of artists I'll be watching out for <<<

He's great, isn't he? I share a studio with him. Those Flash pages are brilliant. He's also working on a Teen Titans mini at the moment that's utterly fantastic.

Be sure, if you haven't already, to check out his webcomic, The Abominable Charles Christopher, at Transmission X.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
22:04 / 25.07.07
ACC is pretty cool, Cam. I'm sort of looking forward to this Titans mini, and I don't even particularly like the Titans at the moment.
 
 
THX-1138
23:28 / 25.07.07
No, Papers you're not alone. I picked up those issues of UFF *just* because it has The Silver Surfer and that yummy art by Ferry. Good fun.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
00:15 / 26.07.07
Reed's played as being oddly...physical. He seems to punch people a lot with huge putty-fists. And I like Sue being her own variety of super-scientist.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
18:55 / 26.07.07
Furthermore, the current Hellboy series -- Darkness Calls continues to really surprise me, and it's probably some of the best Hellboy stuff in quite a while. Fegredo's artwork seamlessly blends into the Mignolaverse quite easily, smoothly, sketchily...anyway. Delving into Russian folklore as Baba Yaga continues to attack Hellboy, dredging up weird little stories like Vasilisa the Beautiful and gods like Perun.

Doktor Sleepless was actually surprising. It was oddly -- positive? -- for a Warren Ellis comic. The art was a bit up and down (the first page is quite beautiful), but the function of Sleepless seems more positive. He's still got his usual kinks (the pretty but ultimately embittered female assistant) but I don't know. I liked it. The absence of lettercols from the majority of comics out there makes me crave backmatter in my funnybooks and it was nice to see.
 
 
Shiny: Well Over Thirty
04:26 / 27.07.07
I just wanted to agree that Karl Kerschl is utterly fantastic. I've been following the Flash for most of my life and I'd say his art on the book is most perfect Flash art I've ever seen. His art even made issue 3 of The Fastest Man alive feel far better written than the other issues of that otherwise dreaful series, and I think having the trick of making something seem better written is a real mark of the most talented comic book artists.
 
 
FinderWolf
15:21 / 28.07.07
I agree completely - I've been a big Kerschl fan, esp. since his work on Adventures of Superman. His stuff in the past year has just been amazing (and he's about to draw the TEEN TITANS: YEAR ONE mini).
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
21:28 / 01.08.07
Illuminati #4 - well, shit. Bendis really dropped the ball with Noh-Varr, and that's not even getting into the GROSSLY MISOGYNISTIC characterizations levelled on all of the Illuminati members with regard to how they deal with their significant others.

There were some good, funny lines, but they were for the most part funny because they cast the characters in a completely bizarre light and seemed to be written for entirely different characters and Cheung drew these guys instead. Stephen Strange, on why Clea left him: "She decided that it would be a better use of her time to battle demons, goblins, firelords and the Antichrist...than actually be married to me." Stephen Strange as gothic romance comic protagonist. Namor on Iron Man's romance with Madame Masque: "Why would you sleep with a woman who looks like Doctor Doom." They were cold-hearted bastards to each other and seemed to have no respect for their lovers, either.

As much as I was excited to see Noh-Var...ugh. The ocmic left a really, seriously bad taste in my mouth. A couple pages of out of charater misogyny followed by Namor beating the crap out of Noh-Varr while Xavier telepathically bullies him. They also don't seem to understand--and Noh-Varr seems to have forgotten-- that he's from another reality's Kree Empire, which would have impacted how he actually reacted to his encounter with them. Only Bendis apparently didn't actually read the Marvel Boy trade or anything before writing this.
 
 
Essential Dazzler
21:45 / 01.08.07
Ugh, I was really looking forward to that.

Oh Well.

I should mention that Paradise Kiss Never dissapointed. I sobbed through the entirety of the fifth (and final) volume.
 
 
Alex's Grandma
05:29 / 02.08.07
Only Bendis apparently didn't actually read the Marvel Boy trade or anything before writing this.

It was inevitably going to happen though, wasn't it? One may as well trust that nutter from 'The Shield' to handle a coke deal sensibly, as Brian to turn in a fast-paced, engaging script about demi-gods with awesome, cosmic powers, that's likely to be over by mid-2008.

Brian's efforts on 'Daredevil' have dated a bit.

All that material about the White Tiger; those attempts to say, in a roundabout way, to his parents, that yes, Brian could have been a bloody good lawyer.

And the obsession with Matt's hair. Reading back over it, Bendis' run on Daredevil, it seems to be more about haircuts than it does anything else. The villains (that present a serious threat; not The Owl then) are uniformly bald.
 
 
Jamie
20:13 / 02.08.07
I see my account still exists, even though I registered years ago and never posted. So, first post.

I picked up two comics and one manga this week: a 25-cent Clockwork Girl introductory issue; this week's Detective Comics; and Mushishi vol 2. I'll give a run-down on the two comics; the manga I haven't gotten to yet.

Clockwork Girl

This is the sort of comic I'd like to see more of: a comic for kids that isn't a media tie-in. It's really just a teaser, with a few pages of story and then some "DVD extra" type material such as character sketches, backstory on the development of the series, and a textless mini called "Electric Boys Hate Clockwork Girls." But for 25 cents, you can't really go wrong, and I enjoyed it enough that I may even put down some hard-earned cash for a full-length issue when it comes out.

That being said, there was a stylistic tick that threw me when I first noticed it -- the panel layout on the first several pages was identical, divided into three panels. It gave it a very "storyboard" feel, with the panels vaguely verging into standard cinematic aspect ratios.

Detective Comics #mumblety-mumble

I don't know the issue number offhand.

I picked this title up because John (Xombi) Rozum told me he was writing it. I'd sent him fan mail a couple of days ago, and he wrote back to let me know that he had a two-issue arc in Detective coming out this week. Intrigued, I picked it up, unsure of what to expect.

I wasn't 100% satisfied, but I am intrigued by the thought of a Scarecrow relying on his grasp of psychology rather than "fear gas" to manipulate people. It feels strange for me to say this in this era of decompression, but I think I would have liked this story to have a bit more room to develop -- I found some of the shifts in POV to be too abrupt, and the story would have benefited from the opportunity to explore just how Scarecrow was getting into people's heads. I did like the bits Rozum used to suggest it ("Mr. Zsasz has started cutting himself, and not to keep track of his victims" and the Arkham inmate -- Killer Croc? -- telling Batman "If you catch him, don't bring him back here.") but I would have liked a bit more show to go on with the (admittedly skillfully done) tell.

Also, I wasn't a big fan of the art, but it certainly didn't stand out as bad, either.

----

So that's my week in review. Oddly, it makes two weeks in a row of buying Batbooks (I'm one of those who really thought #666 was ace) after not buying any for... well, the last one I remember buying was the one with the guy who died while dressed up as Batman for sexual purposes.
 
 
Alex's Grandma
20:47 / 02.08.07
But for 25 cents, you can't really go wrong

Not in theory, no.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
22:54 / 02.08.07
It was inevitably going to happen though, wasn't it? One may as well trust that nutter from 'The Shield' to handle a coke deal sensibly, as Brian to turn in a fast-paced, engaging script about demi-gods with awesome, cosmic powers, that's likely to be over by mid-2008.

It was sort of horribly fascinating, because they sounded like lurid romance comic protagonists, as funnelled through middle-aged men feeling trapped by their marriages and longing for some supposed better days. It also bothered me that while the women in their lives were highlighted by the cover, standing in mocking of the Illuminati--they were never actually in the story, apart from being discussed; only Sue Richards, ironically, was actually visibly present at all, and it was the one page that actually sort of worked in the book.

I can't quite decide if its scary sex stuff or if its something more existential than that, something riddled with despair, all these super-heroes reduced to pathetic, schlubby impotence and suddenly unable to look outside of their own asses.
 
 
Janean Patience
12:38 / 03.08.07
Doktor Sleepless did nothing for me and that was mainly, I think, because of indifferent art. On a couple of occasion I wasn't sure what was meant to be happening in a panel, or missed a crucial detail in a sequence and had to go back over it again. There was no sense of a world even though Ellis was using similar techniques to Transmetropolitan; if Darick or Coleen Doran had been drawing this, we'd know where the city was, what it looked like, what the Doktor was dealing with. Instead it was Futuretown, Dystopia City, Anywhere.
 
 
Grady Hendrix
13:43 / 03.08.07
I think I must be drain bamaged because I liked this issue of ILLUMINATI. It was like some kind of weird romance comic gone wrong with all these middle-aged guys trapped in some anonymous locker room grousing over their marriages and their love lifes and feeling sorry for themselves. Frankly, I'd love to see a romance comic about Dr. Strange and Clea - this felt like a potential spin-off in the making.

As for Marvel Boy - I liked the original miniseries but just don't remember enough of the specifics for his characterization here to bother me. People in tight, colorful costumes are all starting to look alike to me.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
13:58 / 03.08.07
Doc Strange does make for good romance comics--just look at the Dead Girl miniseries or The Oath (with Night Nurse) for some recent examples--but that particular sequence was not only out of character for the majority of the characters (only Namor seems to be acting like Namor), but it didn't feel particularly fresh to me. Tired, worn-out misogyny.

I can't tell if Bendis is trying to make them as unlikeable as possible, or if he thinks that impotent, middle-aged men whining abou their inability to relate to their girlfriends or wives or love interests somehow makes these characters more endearing or something.

It does sort of push the Illuminati into this bizarrely perfect metaphor for the Patriarchy -- a bunch of middle-aged men of great power shaking their fists at everyone, and I could almost maybe be convinced that was the point of the series. "Women are bad! Let's go beat up that kid we've never met before for potentially fucking with our ideals!"

The funny thing is that Noh-Varr's original intentions were an angrier, mournful, teenaged equivalent of Mar-Vell's; they both saw room for improvement in the species, and Noh was trying to change things through destruction, and rebirth. "The New Kree Empire" never struck me so much as invading as it was establishing something new.
 
 
Grady Hendrix
14:45 / 03.08.07
I guess you lose me when you call it misogyny. To me, this seems like all-too-typical griping. If these guys weren't whining about how they don't understand women then they'd be whining about the kids today and their internets and YooToobs. To me, and this may be where I'm wrong, misogyny is hatred of women based on nothing more than their biology (ie, it's not black women you hate, it's not poor women you hate, it's not that woman you used to be married to that you hate, it's just all women, because they are built differently/weaker/sneakier or whatever your particular flashpoint is). To me, these men sitting around complaining about how women don't understand them and they don't understand women was no different than that scene in a lot of modern romantic comedies when women sit around complaining about men and how dumb/unfaithful/insecure they are.

I also thought that Bendis either consciously or unconsciously made these guys even more pathetic with Dr. Strange's realization that Clea would rather live in another dimension than marry his creepy ass, or Iron Man's attempt to be top dog was undermined by the realization that he is a machine fetishist and can really only get it up for women with robot faces. And the revelation that Xavier is regarded as an interspecies love god was...kind of creepy. To me this was far more revealing of these guys' petty insecurities than any kind of hatred of women. I'd be curious as to what you saw in it that was particularly misogynistic.

I totally agree with you about Namor: this was the best I've seen him in ages.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
14:53 / 03.08.07
Leaving aside the content of Illuminati 4 - yes, I think that's about where you are wrong, GH.
 
 
Triplets
14:56 / 03.08.07
was no different than that scene in a lot of modern romantic comedies when women sit around complaining about men and how dumb/unfaithful/insecure they are.

Which is actually a low-level as to be invisible form of misandry. Do you see?
 
  

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