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Quick Comics Hits
02.25.06 / 10:56AM / Joe
My comics organizational system is as follows: New books land in a stack by the computer. Eventually, they make their way down to the basement for the bagging and boxing ceremony. With any luck, this will happen at least once a year. I have a nice stack going at the moment, so to feel like I'm catching up on my government-assigned comics weblogging, here's the rundown.
 Teen Titans #30-31
I jumped in just for the sidebar Captain Carrot bit, but I didn't mind the main Titans storyline (part two, anyway.) Especially when Kid Eternity showed up. (What's up with Beast Boy mackin' on Raven?!) Ironically, the Captain Carrot story gets far worse in part two... and even though they put Scott Shaw!'s name on the cover of #31, he did not do the art for the interior Zoo Crew pages. Which is a complete shame, because these characters absolutely belong in his pen. I know a lot of Zoo Crew purists hated this story - what with Little Cheese dead and the stunning reveal of Alley-Kat-Abra as a villain - but I would love to see more. I just don't buy that Felina would betray her team like that - my guess is that she's being controlled or replaced or cloned or something - but I would love to see that story develop in a new, genuine, Scott Shaw! Zoo Crew comic. These few pages, which have NOTHING to do with the Titans story, simply have to be a tryout for interest in new Zoo Crew stuff. DC: I am intensely interested. I also request an animated series (hey, you cancelled Titans and Justice League, so you've got the time) and plenty of toys.
JLA #123-125
These are the last issues of JLA before the title gets swallowed up into Infinite Crisis and rebooted. Again. DC is restarting the numbering to make the book come off as an attractive jumping-on point. Which I'm sure it totally will be. (eyes roll) The interior art is pretty lousy (great covers, though), and the story is a mess. It always ticks me off when people draw Green Arrow as if the mask is somehow part of his flesh and not simply something that goes over his eyes. I will say this: I like Manitou Dawn. I had no problems with the JLE storyline that split her up with Manitou Raven (who was essentially a modern take on animation's Apache Chief) and made her the new Justice League magic user. I would hate to see her never used again, even if she is branded with being part of the "dying" League of pre-IC.
JLA Classified #14-16
I did not like the "New Maps of Hell" storyline that ended in 14 and 15. I'm not a fan of overblown stories where some big unbeatable mega-monster dumps into town and forces each Leaguer to "face their worst fears" or some shit. I can't even count the number of times I've read that story. And I really hated the creepy CG covers. #16, on the other hand, starts a new storyline with art by legend Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. even if you've never read comics, you've probably seen this guy's super-hero work, because he drew the model sheets that served as the basis for much of DC's character merchandise. His Superman is iconic. Unfortunately, Klaus Janson's inks aren't doing him any favors, which dampens my enthusiasm quite a bit.
Marvel Zombies #1-3
I'm more than a little surprised than I'm enjoying this one, since it sprung from an Ultimate Fantastic Four arc that didn't do much for me (which may have been more due to that annoying art, but we'll get to that in a minute.) This has become quite the hot little miniseries, thanks to the appealingly bizarre concept of the Marvel heroes turned into a band of flesh-eating zombies who have ravaged the Earth in their search for untainted human meat. The one problem I have with it is that almost none of the characters have a true voice... their lines are interchangeable and nobody really acts in tune with their recognized personalities. Captain America could be Wolverine could be Spider-Man could be Luke Cage. Regardless, I am a known sucker for a Galactus story.
Ultimate Fantastic Four #25-27
Awful, awful artwork. At no point do any of the characters ever visually interact with each other. I've talked about this before. Do yourself a favor and do a comparison between the styles of Greg Land in UFF and Luke Ross in Jonah Hex. Both artists have extremely realistic approaches, yet the Hex work is much more convincing, much more suited to the framework of telling a story via sequential art. His characters make eye contact. Greg Land is merely tracing supermodels out of Cosmo. He doesn't know how to "stage" his characters. Irony: I was all set to drop UFF, but I liked the first part of #27's President Thor storyline. So it's still on my list.
Jonah Hex #1-4
Speaking of Jonah Hex... in addition to a photo-referenced art style that actually works, Hex also has pleasantly readable, self-contained stories. I'm not saying that this book is rewriting the rules on Wild west storytellin'... just that what it does, it does rather well.
On the left are photo-referenced characters who never once look at each other. On the right are photo-referenced characters who do. (Click for larger image.) |
The Flash #228-230
Terrible. An awful way for Wally to finish out his title, as he becomes yet another Infinite Crisis victim. I'll be in line for the new Flash, since I've always loved the concept (and costume), regardless of who is under the mask.
JSA #80-82
#80 finished off that bit with Jakeem being the evil overlord of imp world. Which did nothing for me. From start to finish, it felt like a "Boy, we haven't done any stories about the Thunderbolt in a while, so let's crap one out quick." #81, however, was great. A nice character piece on Stargirl. I adore character pieces like this one. It even featured one of my favorite forgotten Golden Age heroes, Liberty Belle. And #82 was even better... probably the best Infinite Crisis crossover ever.
JSA Classified #5-9
Loved them. #5 through #7 wrapped up a spotlight on the Injustice Society... and good villain teams can be so much more interesting than hero teams, just because they're so rare. And hey, the Gentleman Ghost is all of a sudden the Best Character In The World, thanks to this story and his star turn in JSA #82. Who would have thought such a goofy, one-note, Silver Age villain could steal the show. #8 and #9 are a two-parter featuring Wildcat and the Golden Age Flash, which I also liked... simply because of the concise, two-man "buddy movie" vibe. The covers did nothing special to sell it, though. Part one shows the guys running and part two shows them fighting.
Fantastic Four #533-534
Good stuff. Solid artwork, solid story. The key to a good FF story is how you present their personalities, without letting them drift into cliches. Plus, we have a rampaging Hulk to contend with.
Marvel Knights 4 #25-27
I think this is one of those stories that pop up just to keep certain underused characters in copyright. The Salem Seven (Six? Eight? I forget.) are a truly terrible bunch of gormless villains. They're some of the most ridiculous character designs ever, apparently designed by the fantasy minds of eight-year-olds. Not even Mephisto's last page appearance can save this story. (Although I still much prefer his old Infinity Gauntlet-era trickster appearance to the Kubert demon look.)
 Green Lantern #5-8
I'm not sure the new Hal Jordan series has found its element yet. The Black Mercy storyline of #7 and #8 has been the closet thing yet to memorable; very little else has stood out. I'm vaguely annoyed by Hal returning to military duty... he has a Power Ring; I just don't buy that he needs to rebuild a human connection by becoming an Air Force test pilot again. The good news is, Mongal is dead!
Justice #3-4
Now on to another photorealistic artist, the famed Alex Ross. I'm undecided on this one. What bothers me about Justice is that it's basically one man's (Ross) homage to the Super Friends cartoon... which was undefendably terrible. There was no earthly reason for Grodd and Luthor and Riddler and Sinestro and that woman in the leopard skin outfit and everyone else to become the Legion of Doom. And their big schemes were always bent on world domination... as if those guys would actually cooperate and rule equally once they pulled it off. It was pure cartoon logic. Big hero team needs big villain team as its opposite number. So I have trouble accepting the Legion of Doom as the premise here... but Ross's art does give you plenty to look at.
Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty #1-4
I really dig the slapdash art style in this series (by Ashley Wood). It's reminscent of the PS2 game's concept art, but completely at odds with the game's actual detail-heavy visuals. It's a nice contrast and a very interactive read. I'm wondering if they're simplifying the MGS2 storyline somewhat, just to have it make a little more sense on first blush.
The Pulse #13
I like Pulse, because it's character-driven. However, I'm going to have to ask Michael Gaydos to start actually drawing the entire book, instead of doing six panels and then photocopying them throughout. Pulse is starting to look like a shitty webcomic. I get that there can be a dramatic purpose to duplicating a particular panel. It can show that no time has passed. It can show that a character is stunned or surprised or confused or awkward. It can show people waiting for something tense. What it cannot do is effectively illustrate a childbirth scene, which is what happens in this issue. Plus there's a two-page spread of a conversation with D-Man that would embarrass known photocopier Keith Giffen. Marvel needs to drop this guy's rate per page. It's a shame, because both plotlines in this book are really strong: the birth of Jessica and Luke's baby, and Ben's intervention on D-Man.
Three uses of the same panel, for no dramatic reason. And this is just one of many. | 
The dude can't even be bothered to draw Captain America more than once. |
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