For various reasons, most of which you don't want to hear (trust me), I've been doing a lot of reading in addition to each week's new comics. Recently I finished the last big chunks of Essential Doctor Strange Vol. 1, and today I read all 25 issues of Hourman. Now, of course, I'm trying to think about what to say for the last two 52s, because with a new one every week they tend to blur together.
Now, here's the thing: the Doctor Strange stories were all from his ten-page feature in Strange Tales, but for the most part each led into the next, allowing a much larger story to be serialized over many months. Those stories had very brief recaps of the previous issue's events, maybe a fat caption or two, or a flashback at the most -- but space was at a premium.
Accordingly, each of Hourman's monthly issues contained 22 pages of story, so it had more room to do full-blown 1- or 2-page recaps of the previous issue. This made reading all the issues in one sitting a little rocky, but I know I appreciated those recaps when I was reading the book as it came out. What's more, both titles used footnotes to remind readers of what had happened when, which isn't surprising for an original Silver Age book or for the Silver Age wannabe that Hourman was.
52 does very little in the way of flashbacks and/or recaps, depending on its publication schedule and the reader's own memories to do the job. However, its format is so unusual -- a 52-part story told in 20-to-22-page weekly increments -- that its narrative structure might still not be apparent, at least not to someone like me who hasn't taken the time to read it all to date in big chunks. The big-chunk approach may even miss the point of 52's immediacy, since one can read several "weeks" in an hour or so. (Longer if your finger moves along the page, like mine does.)
Anyway, that may all be elementary to you, but I hope it makes up for some quick and dirty capsule reviews to get me caught up.
November 8
Tales Of The Unexpected #2: I liked Will Pfeifer and Cliff Chiang's miniseries that established the Crispus Allen Spectre, but so far these Spectre stories are a big game of cosmic "chicken," with Spec seeing how far Allen can hold out before the ironic punishment starts. Thank goodness for the hilarious Dr. Thirteen backup. If it comes out in paperback by itself, I'm there.
JLA Classified #29: Still good, although why put the kiddie ads in the book with the naked Wonder Woman?
52 #27: Montoya trains with Richard Dragon, Skeets kills Waverider, and Ralph and the Spectre put the zap on Jean Loring's head. Really, DC, make Ralph and Sue happy again. It won't "cheapen" Identity Crisis. Trust me.
Green Lantern #14: Maybe I'm weird, but you won't bore me by exploring a Green Lantern's jurisdictional issues. However, I agree with Ollie -- never take off the ring. I'm a bit surprised to see the alien villain again so soon. Wasn't he in one of the last Kyle Rayner storylines?
Firestorm #31: Freddie E. Williams II contributes some noticeably different art to about half this issue, and it's only a little distracting. Gehenna and Jason have a nice come-to-Jesus moment, although it's spoiled at the end by what looks like a strange deductive leap on Prof. Stein's part. As far as the fighting and flying and zapping goes, this feels like the end, but according to the last page there are more secrets to be revealed. I'm sorry to see Stuart Moore and Jamal Igle leave, but I trust them to have at least one more good issue in them.
Superman #657: Wow. Post-apocalyptic carnage on par with JLA's "Rock Of Ages," but with a twist that "ROA" only teased. I still can't get over the "meteor" that caused the nuclear winter. Oh, and the new villain also seems superficially similar to Samaritan's arch-foe from the last Astro City special.
Batman #658: "Batman And Son" ends as it began, with a lot of attitude and not so much plot. I was hoping that Damien would be used as a kind of AzRobin, the grim 'n' gritty sidekick who'd even make Jason Todd cringe. However, it's probably more believable that he just wants to please his dad. Also, part of me can't believe that DC would ... I almost wrote "let Batman get pregnant," but you know what I mean. Kid's still alive, and Batman still officially has fathered a child, as far as we know. Shame we have to wait until February for Morrison's next issue, and with the Joker too.
November 15
1602: Fantastick Four #3: The Elizabethan FF in an air/sea battle with Doom and the Wizard near the end of the world, so pretty good.
Astro City: The Dark Age Book Two #1: I was playing Spot The Marvel Event with this one, and I think I picked out the Celestial Madonna storyline. Anyway, the two brothers seem to be drifting towards each other's respective areas, acquiring some shades of gray to go along with the darkening Astro City of the '70s. Sometimes I am really a shameless Busiek sycophant, huh?
Checkmate #8: I had thought this issue was spotlighting the recruit from #5, but I might have been remembering a different recruit. Anyway, another fine undercover installment, with the identity of the mole not revealed (at least to a dope like me) until the last page.
Omega Men #2: The Omegas fight Superman, Green Lantern, and a few Titans. I think they represent the heroes Marv Wolfman used to introduce them back in the day, which was a nice touch. Oh, and they also fight Vril Dox. The art suits the Omegas and the space stuff pretty well, and it's not so bad with Superman, but Wonder Girl doesn't come off so well. Still, much like the Adam Strange miniseries, it's another space opera involving mistaken identities and running from various planetary governments, and that's all good.
Green Lantern Corps #6: More than Guy and his rookie partner busting up a sentient city (which seemed a bit cruel, but that's how Guy rolls), I enjoyed the scenes with Soranik Natu giving Korugar the big green energy finger. I can see where both sides are coming from, and both are perfectly understandable. However, it and the Thanagarian Lantern's marital problems are more variations on the old Hal Jordan dilemma of splitting time between home and space, so let's find some new conflicts for these new Lanterns pretty soon.
Birds Of Prey #100: The big anniversary finds Oracle and Huntress recruiting a new pool of agents while Black Canary spends time with her "daughter." Really, the Black Canary story was just gravy, because the main one (featuring the new team's breaking into and out of prison) was good enough for me. Let's put it this way: it convinced me to buy a BoP paperback and start catching up.
Aquaman: Sword Of Atlantis #45: Man, I am apparently just a Busiek fool. Arthur's forces fight the Ocean Master's in an Ewoks-vs.-Empire situation, except this time the Ewoks win when Arthur apparently uses some of the old Aquaman marine-telepathy mind tricks. You can put as many sword-and-sorcery elements into this book as you want, but I've always liked the talking to finny friends. Nice and uplifting, with the old Aquaman anointing the new one, and a kind-of surprising revelation about one of Arthur's companions. A fine conclusion of the first story arc and transition to the next.
52 #28: Already I miss the all-machine Red Tornado who's switched bodies in the current Justice League series. Could he turn a junkyard into parts of himself? Of course not. I was a little disappointed with the relatively brief appearances of Batwoman and the Emerald Head, two characters I want to see more of, but at least I got something. Again, like I said up top, 52 pretty much comes down to "did I like whatever random things happened this week?" and on balance, I did.
Now, here's the thing: the Doctor Strange stories were all from his ten-page feature in Strange Tales, but for the most part each led into the next, allowing a much larger story to be serialized over many months. Those stories had very brief recaps of the previous issue's events, maybe a fat caption or two, or a flashback at the most -- but space was at a premium.
Accordingly, each of Hourman's monthly issues contained 22 pages of story, so it had more room to do full-blown 1- or 2-page recaps of the previous issue. This made reading all the issues in one sitting a little rocky, but I know I appreciated those recaps when I was reading the book as it came out. What's more, both titles used footnotes to remind readers of what had happened when, which isn't surprising for an original Silver Age book or for the Silver Age wannabe that Hourman was.
52 does very little in the way of flashbacks and/or recaps, depending on its publication schedule and the reader's own memories to do the job. However, its format is so unusual -- a 52-part story told in 20-to-22-page weekly increments -- that its narrative structure might still not be apparent, at least not to someone like me who hasn't taken the time to read it all to date in big chunks. The big-chunk approach may even miss the point of 52's immediacy, since one can read several "weeks" in an hour or so. (Longer if your finger moves along the page, like mine does.)
Anyway, that may all be elementary to you, but I hope it makes up for some quick and dirty capsule reviews to get me caught up.
November 8
Tales Of The Unexpected #2: I liked Will Pfeifer and Cliff Chiang's miniseries that established the Crispus Allen Spectre, but so far these Spectre stories are a big game of cosmic "chicken," with Spec seeing how far Allen can hold out before the ironic punishment starts. Thank goodness for the hilarious Dr. Thirteen backup. If it comes out in paperback by itself, I'm there.
JLA Classified #29: Still good, although why put the kiddie ads in the book with the naked Wonder Woman?
52 #27: Montoya trains with Richard Dragon, Skeets kills Waverider, and Ralph and the Spectre put the zap on Jean Loring's head. Really, DC, make Ralph and Sue happy again. It won't "cheapen" Identity Crisis. Trust me.
Green Lantern #14: Maybe I'm weird, but you won't bore me by exploring a Green Lantern's jurisdictional issues. However, I agree with Ollie -- never take off the ring. I'm a bit surprised to see the alien villain again so soon. Wasn't he in one of the last Kyle Rayner storylines?
Firestorm #31: Freddie E. Williams II contributes some noticeably different art to about half this issue, and it's only a little distracting. Gehenna and Jason have a nice come-to-Jesus moment, although it's spoiled at the end by what looks like a strange deductive leap on Prof. Stein's part. As far as the fighting and flying and zapping goes, this feels like the end, but according to the last page there are more secrets to be revealed. I'm sorry to see Stuart Moore and Jamal Igle leave, but I trust them to have at least one more good issue in them.
Superman #657: Wow. Post-apocalyptic carnage on par with JLA's "Rock Of Ages," but with a twist that "ROA" only teased. I still can't get over the "meteor" that caused the nuclear winter. Oh, and the new villain also seems superficially similar to Samaritan's arch-foe from the last Astro City special.
Batman #658: "Batman And Son" ends as it began, with a lot of attitude and not so much plot. I was hoping that Damien would be used as a kind of AzRobin, the grim 'n' gritty sidekick who'd even make Jason Todd cringe. However, it's probably more believable that he just wants to please his dad. Also, part of me can't believe that DC would ... I almost wrote "let Batman get pregnant," but you know what I mean. Kid's still alive, and Batman still officially has fathered a child, as far as we know. Shame we have to wait until February for Morrison's next issue, and with the Joker too.
November 15
1602: Fantastick Four #3: The Elizabethan FF in an air/sea battle with Doom and the Wizard near the end of the world, so pretty good.
Astro City: The Dark Age Book Two #1: I was playing Spot The Marvel Event with this one, and I think I picked out the Celestial Madonna storyline. Anyway, the two brothers seem to be drifting towards each other's respective areas, acquiring some shades of gray to go along with the darkening Astro City of the '70s. Sometimes I am really a shameless Busiek sycophant, huh?
Checkmate #8: I had thought this issue was spotlighting the recruit from #5, but I might have been remembering a different recruit. Anyway, another fine undercover installment, with the identity of the mole not revealed (at least to a dope like me) until the last page.
Omega Men #2: The Omegas fight Superman, Green Lantern, and a few Titans. I think they represent the heroes Marv Wolfman used to introduce them back in the day, which was a nice touch. Oh, and they also fight Vril Dox. The art suits the Omegas and the space stuff pretty well, and it's not so bad with Superman, but Wonder Girl doesn't come off so well. Still, much like the Adam Strange miniseries, it's another space opera involving mistaken identities and running from various planetary governments, and that's all good.
Green Lantern Corps #6: More than Guy and his rookie partner busting up a sentient city (which seemed a bit cruel, but that's how Guy rolls), I enjoyed the scenes with Soranik Natu giving Korugar the big green energy finger. I can see where both sides are coming from, and both are perfectly understandable. However, it and the Thanagarian Lantern's marital problems are more variations on the old Hal Jordan dilemma of splitting time between home and space, so let's find some new conflicts for these new Lanterns pretty soon.
Birds Of Prey #100: The big anniversary finds Oracle and Huntress recruiting a new pool of agents while Black Canary spends time with her "daughter." Really, the Black Canary story was just gravy, because the main one (featuring the new team's breaking into and out of prison) was good enough for me. Let's put it this way: it convinced me to buy a BoP paperback and start catching up.
Aquaman: Sword Of Atlantis #45: Man, I am apparently just a Busiek fool. Arthur's forces fight the Ocean Master's in an Ewoks-vs.-Empire situation, except this time the Ewoks win when Arthur apparently uses some of the old Aquaman marine-telepathy mind tricks. You can put as many sword-and-sorcery elements into this book as you want, but I've always liked the talking to finny friends. Nice and uplifting, with the old Aquaman anointing the new one, and a kind-of surprising revelation about one of Arthur's companions. A fine conclusion of the first story arc and transition to the next.
52 #28: Already I miss the all-machine Red Tornado who's switched bodies in the current Justice League series. Could he turn a junkyard into parts of himself? Of course not. I was a little disappointed with the relatively brief appearances of Batwoman and the Emerald Head, two characters I want to see more of, but at least I got something. Again, like I said up top, 52 pretty much comes down to "did I like whatever random things happened this week?" and on balance, I did.
1 comment:
I can only read 52 in bi-weekly bites at best, but have recently taken to holding off till the end of the month to read all four issues in one sitting. I find it easier to follow what's happening. I may lose the immediacy of the action, but at least this way I can keep track of who's where and doing what with/to whom. :-)
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