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Read all about it HERE
Tags: cartoons, comics, corporations-will-be-the-end-..., internets, movies, nerdy, pop culture, reviews, the internets, the-action-5, video games
Posted by ryan on 10 Apr 2008 at 12:39 pm
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Don’t even act like my opinions about these comic books are not serious. If somebody made a movie out of my opinions about these comic books, my opinions would be played by Sean Penn. That’s how serious they are. And it’d be directed by Darren Aronofsky. These opinions are so serious that, after relating them to my wife, we both sat and cried quietly in our living room.Â
SERIOUS.
THE LAST DEFENDERS #1 by Joe Casey, Keith Giffen, Jim Muniz, Cam Smith, and Studio F - Antonio Fabela. Published by Marvel Comics, 2008.
I’ve been meaning to write about this book for weeks now. I am a massively lazy human being. I’ve also been busy with Shazhmmm…, the pants-soilingly exciting new webthing where Hillary and I gab about comics. It’s like the 1958 NFL Championship Game of comics-gabbin’ sites, from folks with that there gift. That one of gab!
So, Last Defenders #1. Like I said, I’ve been meaning to write about this forever. In fact issue two comes out this week, so not just forever, but for like a whole damn month now. Shit! I want to tell everybody how good this book is because otherwise almost nobody would ever fucking read it. Yeah, Casey and Giffen are both great, but they work so steadily that it’s easy to overlook a single mini-series, especially one about a fifth-tier Marvel property starring a couple of second-stringers and two also-rans. And I mean shit, these ain’t even the Defenders I disliked as a youth, what with the total lack of ankle-winged speedo dude, and that guy what does that stuff with his hands, y’know, and the cape and the highwalls. Why the various curse-words would I ever read this thing?
Because it is good. And highly readable. And is exactly the sort of book people who complain about the unrecognizability of the current Marvel Universe should be reading. Yes, this takes place post-Civil War, and launches directly from that, but almost every other aspect of the comic harkens back to the ’70’s and ’80’s, that era of awesome mediocrity during which most of us cut our funny-book reading teeth. And when I say “awesome mediocrity” I mean that even the mediocre comics were often awesome in a way, be it awesome in their disposability, or their inherent superheroic ridiculousness, or in their adamant struggle to provide stories that would entertain the increasingly aging audience that frequented the then-burgeoning direct market while remaining dumb enough for the youngest and/or dumbest and/or most illiterate of kids. Y’know, back when kids still read Marvel and DC comics. And yes, I’m sure there was a ton of crossover between those two groups.  But I’m off-track again.
Joe Casey has been writing a ton of miniseries for Marvel lately, and the common thread that unites them is that they’re all stylistic throwbacks to Marvel’s past. And also they all sell for total shit. It’s only been one issue, but I bet both are holding true with Last Defenders thus far. Issue #1 is a ’70’s-style Marvel comic plopped down in the modern day, dealing with repercussions from Civil War and the Initiative and all that other tedious stuff, but making something interesting and unique out of the setting. It’s like reading an old issue of Gerber’s Defenders if half of every fourth page had been rewritten by Mark Millar, and if you were so drunk you wanted to cry. And if it mostly focused on Nighthawk, a character whose awesomeness is so understated that even a critic as normally astute as Douglas Wolk could call him “the Very Most Boring Superhero of All Time”. I guess Kyle “Nighthawk” Richmond would bore me, too, were I bored by the triumph of the human spirit, and remained unmoved by the valiant everyman fighting against the odds and trying to do some good in an uncaring world.   Or I guess if I were bored by not just the everyman but by the aimless millionaire trying to one-up richer, more respected millionaires.   Or… okay, yeah, Nighthawk ain’t the most sympathetic of animal-themed crimefighters. Still, an ego-trip is as good a reason to be a hero as any, and nothing makes a superhero or a millionaire (I guess probably billionaire now in the oughts) more sympathetic than a massive inferiority complex. Okay, again, neither point is remotely true, but it is a fairly unique motivation for a superhero, and makes for an interesting character when used properly. Gerber made Nighthawk into a viable character, and David Anthony Kraft helped realize some of that potential, back in the ’70’s; most of it remains untapped, though, due to the character skipping out most of the ’80’s and ’90’s. Maybe Casey can make some good hay out of him. He’s off to a good start with Last Defenders #1.Â
SECRET INVASION #1 by Brian Michael Bendis, Leinil Francis Yu, Mark Morales, and Laura Martin. Published by Marvel Comics, 2008.
Another cosmos-shattering Marvel crossover, but this time the political allegory isn’t as knife-to-the-face obvious.  In fact you kind of have to strain a little to find the sort of commentary that was so lacking in subtlety in Civil War and (especially) Frontline, but that hasn’t stopped a plethora of on-line commentators from doing just that. So, it’s not quite ham-fisted, although there’s definitely some sort of cold cut stuck to Bendis’s sweaty paw. I guess Bendis gets some credit for dressing up his sci-fi b-movie homage with the vaguest patina of political hoo-hah without detracting from the trashy, ridiculous fun, even if most of the politics has been wished into being by said on-line commentators. And it is kinda fun, despite typical Bendis-related issues like every character speaking with the exact same voice and a general lack of action. And, y’know, here’s another over-sized issue with enough plot for half of a pre-decompression comic, but that’s like watering in the wind at this point. What matters is that Secret Invasion #1 was a far more solid comic than I expected, with Leineil Yu’s best artwork in a dog’s age, and with a couple of semi-surprising revelations that make me interested to read more. And that’s the first time I’ve ever been able to say that about any of Bendis’s mainstream Marvel work.Â
ALL NEW ATOM #22 by Rick Remender, Pat Oliffe, and John Stanisci. Published by DC Comics, 2008.
One of the surest signs of a hack-job: when a new writer kills off a prominent supporting character in his first issue. Sure, the apparent death of Panda is looking more and more like misdirection, but it’s still a perfect example of the dreary angst that Remender has lacquered over this once-light-hearted comic. Remender overdoes the inner monologue, clogging up almost every page with unnecessary blue boxes filled with “woe-is-me” text that doesn’t remotely resemble the character Gail Simone helped create. This book’s a total bummer now, and one I don’t plan on reading any further.Â
INFINITY INC #8 by Peter Milligan and Pete Woods. Published by DC Comics, 2008.
I don’t review Milligan too much around here, despite reading everything he writes. At one point I started writing a huge Milligan-centric post, where I’d review all of his Kid Amazo story from JLA Classified, the first few issues of The Programme and Infinity Inc, and the Batman annual that kicked off that recent Ra’as Al Ghul thing. I never finished it, though. Even though Milligan’s still capable of good work, and nothing mentioned above comes close to being as awful as his X-Men run, it’s also been a long while since I’ve read something truly great by the guy. And he’s been one of my three or four favorite writers since I was 14 and getting blown away every month by Shade the Changing Man, so I’ve had a hard time writing about his recent, mediocre stuff.  The Programme and Infinity Inc are probably the best of the bunch, but I don’t know if I’d recommend either to non-Milligan fans. Both are pretty odd comics, and have at least been interesting, if not always good. With Infinity Inc you can tell that Milligan is struggling to make his typical psychological / gender-issue themes and subtle characterization work within a generic superhero adventure framework. Even though he was somehow able to go seven issues without drawing any attention to the total lack of code-names and costumes, Milligan’s plans are too often derailed by the book’s need (or mandate?) to be a superhero comic. The guy’s still got some good ideas, like the nervous stuttering guy who turns into a super-powered and super-confident woman, but trying to squeeze them into standard superhero situations undercuts their transgressive appeal, intead of highlighting it. Overall, though, this is a fairly intriguing comic with a lot of potential; too bad it’ll probably be cancelled any day now.Â
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #555 by Zeb Wells, Chris Bachalo, Tim Townsend, and Studio F- Antonio Fabela. Published by Marvel Comics, 2008.
Brand New Day chugs along with another enjoyable but unexceptional old-school Spidey tale. Wells is the fourth and final new writer to debut, and he writes the best one-liners yet. He overplays Parker’s sadsack whining, though, and the Wolverine team-up reads like every single Spider-Man / Wolverine team-up ever. Bachalo’s art picks up a lot of the slack, thankfully; it’s predictably fluid and beautiful, and, as an added bonus, his storytelling is actually coherent this time. Like Milligan Bachalo has been one of my favorites since Shade the Changing Man, and it’s always refreshing to pick up one of his books.
DAREDEVIL #106 by Ed Brubaker, Paul Azaceta, Stefano Gaudiano, and Matt Hollingsworth. Published by Marvel Comics, 2008.
Writing Daredevil is the easiest job in the world. All you gotta do is pile the most miserable and personally devastating shit you can think of on the guy, and then make sure he gets to whine about it while whapping extras from TJ Hooker upside the head with his feet and/or walking stick. Throw in Foggy standing around in a bow-tie, mention Hell’s Kitchen at least three times an issue, and voila, Daredevil. Anyway, after the overlong Mr. Fear arc, Daredevil’s basically in a holding pattern until the next issue reunites Brubaker with his old Gotham Central partner Greg Rucka. That could be awesome, or it could be the exact same Daredevil story all over again. Odds are it’ll be both.Â
 TO BE CONTINUED, at some later date.
Tags: comics
Posted by Garrett Martin on 07 Apr 2008 at 01:22 pm
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You need to read this comic… it kills.
Tags: brutality, comics, geeks, nerdy
Posted by ryan on 07 Apr 2008 at 01:11 pm
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It is amazing, how this thing time works.  Truly a wonder of the age. It’s like TV, but never ending. All these comics were released on 2/27/08, and were published by various publishers of comics.
JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER SPECIAL by Darwyn Cooke, J. Bone, and David Bullock
If you haven’t already read Cooke’s DC: The New Frontier series, go do so, immediately. (I recommend the Absolute Edition). It’s the best mainstream superhero thing of the last decade, or so; I wrote about it over at MezEclipse a couple years ago (um, bad review alert), and my love for it has only grown since then. In this special, released alongside WB’s animated adaptation of the original comic, Cooke returns to the New Frontier and its Cold War setting. Unfortunately, neither the movie nor the special can match up to the original. It isn’t bad; it’s just the victim of overwhelming expectations.
The main story, written and drawn by Cooke, pretty much boils down to another predictable Superman vs. Batman brawl. Cooke doesn’t do anything especially clever or original with the story, as yet again Batman’s ingenuity and preparation whittles away Superman’s ridiculously over-powered advantage. It’s beautifully drawn, and fun to read, but pales in comparison to New Frontier.
The second story, written by Cooke with art by David Bullock, is probably the most successful of the three. Still, although it’s enjoyable to read and look at, it’s not especially impressive. It’s a short tale about Robin and Kid Flash teaming up to take out some terrorists bent on blowing up the president. Like New Frontier, it channels the spirit of the Silver Age without being condescending or ham-fistedly reverential. It’s also probably the best of DC’s recent spate of ‘60’s Teen Titans tributes, including the one-shot written by original Teen Titans writer Bob Haney. Bullock’s cartoony art is similar to Cooke’s, but his figures aren’t as soft and round and his action not as dynamic. He’s a solid replacement, but he’s not Darwyn Cooke. Overall, it’s fine, but nothing fantastic or particularly memorable.
The third and final tale, by Cooke and J. Bone, is the most blatantly comedic, and also the worst. Wonder Woman gets pissed when a Playboy Club opens in Gotham, and goes to smash it up; a wry Black Canary tags along for the hell of it. There are a couple of good gags, but this story’s done in by Bone’s unattractive art, and its very point is rather muddled. Wonder Woman looks like a fool, even though her heart’s in the right place. And a cameo from a bunny-era Gloria Steinem is confusing; either she’s influenced by Wonder Woman, which makes her look foolish in turn, or else she’s there solely to let us know Cooke and Bone are cool with feminism, despite what this story might make you think. Either way, I wouldn’t really care if the comic was funny, which it mostly isn’t.
After that are a few pages of behind-the-scenes stuff about the movie. It’s pretty interesting, but nothing I’d otherwise pay for. I don’t know if any amount of DVD-style extras could help make up for the five dollar cover price.
Despite my disappointment, this is still a fine comic, overall, especially if you’re a big fan of New Frontier. Just don’t expect anything great.
YOUNG LIARS #1 by David Lapham.
This is like a 13-year-old’s idea of a Vertigo comic about an 8-year-old’s idea of crazy rock’n’roll livin’. Less realistic than COUNTDOWN ARENA, and somehow even less fun.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #552 by Bob Gale and Phil Jimenez.
ASM has been pretty good since going thrice-monthly and jettisoning a single creative team in favor of a communal “braintrust†approach. Dan Slott and Marc Guggenheim both wrote fine old-school Spidey stories that were just entertaining enough to merit as more than mere nostalgia. The first issue from Bob “Back to the Future†Gale falls short, though. His jokes aren’t that good, the dialogue’s too corny, and the drug addict antagonist looks and talks like somebody out of an old Starsky and Hutch episode. Jimenez’s art is good, though, and the first two arcs built up enough momentum to keep me reading for at least a few more weeks.
ALL NEW ATOM #21 by Rick Remender, Pat Oliffe, and John Stanisci
Remender’s got some buzz from Fear Agent and End League, and I think he’ll be teaming up with the unstoppable Matt Fraction on Punisher War Journal. All of which makes me assume his first issue of All New Atom must be an aberration, as it’s really not that good. I don’t mind him taking the book in a more serious, science-driven direction, but he doesn’t seem to have a good handle on Ryan “Atom†Choi’s voice, at least not as established by previous writer Gail Simone. He nails what bit of the supporting cast he uses, Panda and Head, and that’s a good sign. Hopefully his Atom will lighten up a bit and swirl some humor up with that angst.
CASANOVA #12 by Matt Fraction and Fabio Moon
In which shit gets appropriately fucked up. In Casanova #12 Fraction pays homage to GI Joe #21, that classic silent issue where Snake-Eyes royally screwed with some dudes’ sense of hearing. Fraction gets bored after about six pages, though, and starts with the scriptin’. Death and decapitation abound as Zeph and Kubark blitzkrieg through EMPIRE’s satellite HQ. It’s a shame to see the finest mustache in comics go, but it’s a small sacrifice in the service of such greatness. If comics were a platter of Long John Silver’s chicken planks, Casanova would be the crumbly little bits of batter that everybody eats last, ie, the purest distillation of all that makes a very awesome thing very awesome.
Tags: comics
Posted by Garrett Martin on 12 Mar 2008 at 03:09 pm
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Can we believe in anything else?
 All these comics were published by DC and released on 2/20/08. Maybe I’ll mention some Marvel stuff later today.Â
THE SPIRIT #14: Bummer. I couldn’t even finish this, it was so dull. And I was excited for the new creative team of Mark Evanier, Sergio Aragones, and Mike Ploog, too, all of whom are accomplished professionals responsible for a ton of great comics. The Spirit’s appeal has nothing to do with its characters, instead hinging upon the creators’ manipulation of form, both artistic and in terms of storytelling. Unfortunately these new-ish guys aren’t so hot at the form manipulatin’. Darwyn Cooke’s excellent revival didn’t approach the groundbreaking work done by Eisner on either front, but his artwork was reliably beautiful, his design and layouts often inspired, and his stories snappy and pulpy enough to make the finished product a fine tribute to the original. Evanier, Aragones, and Ploog fall short, though. The murder-revenge plot is formulaic, and the dialogue far too often fails at being funny. Ploog’s artwork is fine, and closer to Eisner than Cooke’s work ever was, but it also lacks Cooke’s beauty and dynamism, and can’t help but feel like a step down. I’m sure I’ll get accustomed to the art soon enough, and hopefully by then Evanier and Aragones’s scripts will be more assured.Â
CHECKMATE #23: Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann are off the book as of issue 25, and that really sucks. Along with Ed Brubaker’s Captain America, Checkmate has been one of the tightest-plotted comics around the last couple of years, and its “superhero espionage†slant provids a natural opportunity to explore global politics within the DC Universe (yes, I can enjoy comics that take their fictional settings semi-seriously, and no, I won’t apologize for that). Rucka and Trautmann’s final arc promises to resolve the Kobra storyline that’s been slowly unraveling in the background all along, and issue 23 kicks it off by revealing what Pawn 502 has been up to since he was placed undercover within Kobra back in issue 10 (or whenever). It’s an exciting start, despite feeling rushed. It’s a shame Trautmann couldn’t take over on his own after Rucka’s departure, and please forgive me for being deeply skeptical about Bruce Jones taking over the book. At least Rucka will be rejoining Brubaker, his Gotham Central partner, on Daredevil, which is really quite genuinely exciting, for real. Joe Bennett, meanwhile, dishes out a startlingly vivid double-page splash amid his typically dull DC house-style art. Yeah, Mr. Terrific is in pretty good shape, but since when did he start looking like a dude from Gears of War? Â
BRAVE AND THE BOLD #10: And another founding creator takes leave, as George Perez finishes his run on this BATB revival with the tenth issue. What we have here is another good DC book not nearly selling well enough, which basically describes every book they currently publish that’s worth reading. Supposedly Mark Waid will be off the book soon, as well, at which point they really should just cancel the damn thing. Few writers can modernize Silver Age concepts and storytelling techniques as successfully as Waid, and the ones that can (Busiek, Morrison) have more than enough already on their plates. In this issue Waid and Perez retrieve original ‘50’s Brave and the Bold character Silent Knight from obscurity for a team-up with Superman, and then follow that up with the latest in a series of recent tributes to the ‘60’s Teen Titans in a excellent story that focuses primarily upon Aqualad. Waid cleverly incorporates contemporary disdain for (and incredulity over the necessity and utility of) the Aqualad character into that story, while lightly redeeming him in the process. Both tales further the larger story that Waid’s been seamlessly crafting since the beginning; hopefully he can tie everything up just as successfully before (maybe) taking off. And Perez is Perez, a reliably top-notch super-hero artist that, along with Byrne, completely defined the style for my generation.Â
Tags: comics
Posted by Garrett Martin on 27 Feb 2008 at 02:31 pm
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Read ‘em HERE.
Tags: comics, corporations-will-be-the-end-..., essays, movies, music, nerdy, pop culture, television, the-action-5, tv, useless-lists, video games
Posted by ryan on 03 Jan 2008 at 04:03 pm
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