Catching up, yet again....
I'm a little torn about the format of Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four (#2 written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, pencilled by Barry Kitson, inked by Mick Gray). On one hand I don't like crossovers disrupting a regular creative team's groove, especially if that team does Culturally Significant work. On the other, it's always nice to see how the regular creative team handles the shared-universe responsibilities. Besides, at some point I just want a singular creative voice.
Still, I know it's naive to wish that SI: FF were three issues of the regular book; and it's somewhat petty to say that it's better than Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's work. For someone not reading Secret Invasion, and therefore not looking to reconcile the FF miniseries with the bigger picture, it's simply a story about Johnny fighting his Skrull ex-wife while Ben protects Franklin and Valeria from the horrors of the Negative Zone. Everyone involved has good handles on the characters. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's not Culturally Significant either. At times It can be pretty cute, though ("Yay, prison!").
Tangent: Superman's Reign #4 (written by Dan Jurgens, pencilled by Jamal Igle, inked by Robin Riggs) also falls in the "why isn't this in the main book?" category. It's basically a Justice League story, superficially very close to the JLA/JSA multiversal team-ups of yore. However, it's also something of a sequel to the "Tangent Comics" specials from ten years ago, so I guess that's why it gets its own maxiseries. It's been consistently entertaining, and this issue provides a little more insight into what Tangent-Superman sees as his benevolent dictatorship. Otherwise, more Justice Leaguers (Batman, GL/Hal Jordan, Black Canary, Black Lightning) join Flash and GL/John Stewart on Earth-Tangent, there's a stunning reversal, and we have our cliffhanger. The art is good -- I like Jamal Igle, and while Robin Riggs' inks are a little more loose than I'm used to seeing on Igle's work, he keeps the book from getting bogged down. Every time I read an issue I feel like I'm farther into the story than I actually am. On balance I suppose that's a compliment.
Via Annie, the Long-Suffering Girlfriend, RASL #2 (by Jeff Smith) offers a little more background on our hero and his dimension-hopping, and sets up the next bit of plot. The rest is tone and attitude -- Rasl likes the ladies, Annie has an holistic approach to parallel universes. The issue feels like it's about 8 pages long, not 32, but that's part of Smith's sparse approach. Still, there's enough in the issue (both implicit and explicit) that I didn't feel shortchanged, and I'll be waiting for #3.
Paul Smith returns as penciller of The Spirit (#18 written by Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier and inked by Walden Wong), tackling a story which sends our hero to Egypt to deal with -- what else? -- mummies. This is getting to be the Adam West version of The Spirit, but that's not necessarily bad. Anyway, the ending is a bit predictable, so not quite as enjoyable as the other Aragones/Evanier done-in-one stories; and the art is good as always.
Wonder Girl and Speedy go on a date -- with danger!! -- in Teen Titans Year One #5 (written by Amy Wolfram, pencilled by Karl Kerschl, inked by Serge LaPointe), a thoroughly charming story which incorporates an old Titans villain, the Batmobile knock-off called the Arrow-Car, and a Green Arrow who's about as good a foster parent as you'd think. Of course the date goes wrong; of course Wonder Girl saves the day (the date's told mostly from her perspective, after all); but that's not the end of the story, and that ending sets the story apart. What's more, the art is a very nice blend of linework and painting which I'm guessing was run through some PhotoShop filter ... but technical details aside, it sets a dreamlike tone perfect for a first date. Really great work from Kerschl, LaPointe, and colorist John Rauch. I'll be very sorry to see this miniseries end.
Speaking of Green Arrow, here he is in The Brave and the Bold #14 (written by Mark Waid, drawn by Scott Kolins), essentially providing a body for Deadman to inhabit. Accordingly, this isn't so much a team-up as it is a takeover, but it's still a suspenseful Deadman story. See, Deadman needs to get back to his spiritual home of Nanda Parbat to free it from some evil presence, but along the way said presence keeps throwing mind-controlled pawns in his way. Waid and Kolins effectively evoke the spirit (so to speak) of paranoid thrillers like Invasion of the Body Snatchers; and while I didn't quite buy what the cliffhanger ending was selling, I can't complain about the execution.
The Flash #241 came out almost concurrent with the news that writer Tom Peyer and artist Freddie Williams II may well be leaving. That's too bad, because the current issue manages to use Gorilla Grodd, multiple Flashes, the Fourth-World-flavored bad guys behind the Dark Side Club, and Wally's ironic punishment (torture?) of Flash-killer Inertia, in a fairly cohesive story. It's a little too much to explain, but it all works. Both Peyer and Williams have found their grooves on the title, and Williams especially does good work with Wally's kids.
Birds Of Prey #119 (written by Tony Bedard, pencilled by Nicola Scott, inked by Doug Hazlewood) is, at first glance, a "moving-in" story about the Birds (don't call them that!) relocating to the Silicon Valley-esque town of Platinum Flats. However, in conjunction with Justice League of America #22 (written by Dwayne McDuffie, pencilled by Ed Benes, inked by Sandra Hope), it could be a lesson on How To Draw Super-Women.
On BOP, Nicola Scott draws a virtually all-female cast: the wheelchair-bound Oracle, the teenager Misfit, and the well-built Huntress, Lady Blackhawk, Manhunter, and Black Canary. Black Canary also appears in Justice League, along with Hawkgirl, Vixen, and Wonder Woman, and Zatanna. In the current issue of BOP, the women mostly do mundane things: talk, unpack, lift and tote boxes, etc. There are a couple of fight scenes, but more character interaction. Over in JLA, the women have some character scenes too -- especially Vixen and Black Canary. However, this reader was distracted by penciller Ed Benes' fascination with Vixen's dinners (her costume's zipper can't take the strain!) and Black Canary's rear. BC gets a Dramatic Reveal as a prelude to a fight in BOP, but Scott makes it heroic and not particularly sexualized. In JLA, though, when the same character delivers a bit of straight talk about the future of the Justice League, Benes gives her the beginnings of a wedgie and thrusts out her butt. What's weird is that Benes used to draw both BOP and Supergirl, and wasn't this blatant on either.
JLA has story problems too -- it focuses yet again on Red Tornado's Search For Humanity, a topic former writer Brad Meltzer pursued at his peril. I will say that if the Vision is currently out of commission, the comics world may be in desperate need of emotive androids, but it feels like this title has had maybe four different plots in almost two years. There's also some business about Red Arrow's relationship with Hawkgirl, and the aforementioned Vixen subplot, and I wonder whether those wouldn't also have come off better had they not been portrayed by Mr. Benes. His work is just too sketchy, scratchy, busy -- you get the idea -- and at this point it's become a distraction. McDuffie I still have faith in; but Benes needs to go.
Finally, I continue to like Trinity #3 (main story written by Kurt Busiek, pencilled by Mark Bagley, inked by Art Thibert). This issue brings in the Justice League and also (in the Fabian Nicieza/Mike Norton & Jerry Ordway second story) introduces Tarot, and it's a pretty decent, old-fashioned superhero story.
I'm a little torn about the format of Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four (#2 written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, pencilled by Barry Kitson, inked by Mick Gray). On one hand I don't like crossovers disrupting a regular creative team's groove, especially if that team does Culturally Significant work. On the other, it's always nice to see how the regular creative team handles the shared-universe responsibilities. Besides, at some point I just want a singular creative voice.
Still, I know it's naive to wish that SI: FF were three issues of the regular book; and it's somewhat petty to say that it's better than Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's work. For someone not reading Secret Invasion, and therefore not looking to reconcile the FF miniseries with the bigger picture, it's simply a story about Johnny fighting his Skrull ex-wife while Ben protects Franklin and Valeria from the horrors of the Negative Zone. Everyone involved has good handles on the characters. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's not Culturally Significant either. At times It can be pretty cute, though ("Yay, prison!").
Tangent: Superman's Reign #4 (written by Dan Jurgens, pencilled by Jamal Igle, inked by Robin Riggs) also falls in the "why isn't this in the main book?" category. It's basically a Justice League story, superficially very close to the JLA/JSA multiversal team-ups of yore. However, it's also something of a sequel to the "Tangent Comics" specials from ten years ago, so I guess that's why it gets its own maxiseries. It's been consistently entertaining, and this issue provides a little more insight into what Tangent-Superman sees as his benevolent dictatorship. Otherwise, more Justice Leaguers (Batman, GL/Hal Jordan, Black Canary, Black Lightning) join Flash and GL/John Stewart on Earth-Tangent, there's a stunning reversal, and we have our cliffhanger. The art is good -- I like Jamal Igle, and while Robin Riggs' inks are a little more loose than I'm used to seeing on Igle's work, he keeps the book from getting bogged down. Every time I read an issue I feel like I'm farther into the story than I actually am. On balance I suppose that's a compliment.
Via Annie, the Long-Suffering Girlfriend, RASL #2 (by Jeff Smith) offers a little more background on our hero and his dimension-hopping, and sets up the next bit of plot. The rest is tone and attitude -- Rasl likes the ladies, Annie has an holistic approach to parallel universes. The issue feels like it's about 8 pages long, not 32, but that's part of Smith's sparse approach. Still, there's enough in the issue (both implicit and explicit) that I didn't feel shortchanged, and I'll be waiting for #3.
Paul Smith returns as penciller of The Spirit (#18 written by Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier and inked by Walden Wong), tackling a story which sends our hero to Egypt to deal with -- what else? -- mummies. This is getting to be the Adam West version of The Spirit, but that's not necessarily bad. Anyway, the ending is a bit predictable, so not quite as enjoyable as the other Aragones/Evanier done-in-one stories; and the art is good as always.
Wonder Girl and Speedy go on a date -- with danger!! -- in Teen Titans Year One #5 (written by Amy Wolfram, pencilled by Karl Kerschl, inked by Serge LaPointe), a thoroughly charming story which incorporates an old Titans villain, the Batmobile knock-off called the Arrow-Car, and a Green Arrow who's about as good a foster parent as you'd think. Of course the date goes wrong; of course Wonder Girl saves the day (the date's told mostly from her perspective, after all); but that's not the end of the story, and that ending sets the story apart. What's more, the art is a very nice blend of linework and painting which I'm guessing was run through some PhotoShop filter ... but technical details aside, it sets a dreamlike tone perfect for a first date. Really great work from Kerschl, LaPointe, and colorist John Rauch. I'll be very sorry to see this miniseries end.
Speaking of Green Arrow, here he is in The Brave and the Bold #14 (written by Mark Waid, drawn by Scott Kolins), essentially providing a body for Deadman to inhabit. Accordingly, this isn't so much a team-up as it is a takeover, but it's still a suspenseful Deadman story. See, Deadman needs to get back to his spiritual home of Nanda Parbat to free it from some evil presence, but along the way said presence keeps throwing mind-controlled pawns in his way. Waid and Kolins effectively evoke the spirit (so to speak) of paranoid thrillers like Invasion of the Body Snatchers; and while I didn't quite buy what the cliffhanger ending was selling, I can't complain about the execution.
The Flash #241 came out almost concurrent with the news that writer Tom Peyer and artist Freddie Williams II may well be leaving. That's too bad, because the current issue manages to use Gorilla Grodd, multiple Flashes, the Fourth-World-flavored bad guys behind the Dark Side Club, and Wally's ironic punishment (torture?) of Flash-killer Inertia, in a fairly cohesive story. It's a little too much to explain, but it all works. Both Peyer and Williams have found their grooves on the title, and Williams especially does good work with Wally's kids.
Birds Of Prey #119 (written by Tony Bedard, pencilled by Nicola Scott, inked by Doug Hazlewood) is, at first glance, a "moving-in" story about the Birds (don't call them that!) relocating to the Silicon Valley-esque town of Platinum Flats. However, in conjunction with Justice League of America #22 (written by Dwayne McDuffie, pencilled by Ed Benes, inked by Sandra Hope), it could be a lesson on How To Draw Super-Women.
On BOP, Nicola Scott draws a virtually all-female cast: the wheelchair-bound Oracle, the teenager Misfit, and the well-built Huntress, Lady Blackhawk, Manhunter, and Black Canary. Black Canary also appears in Justice League, along with Hawkgirl, Vixen, and Wonder Woman, and Zatanna. In the current issue of BOP, the women mostly do mundane things: talk, unpack, lift and tote boxes, etc. There are a couple of fight scenes, but more character interaction. Over in JLA, the women have some character scenes too -- especially Vixen and Black Canary. However, this reader was distracted by penciller Ed Benes' fascination with Vixen's dinners (her costume's zipper can't take the strain!) and Black Canary's rear. BC gets a Dramatic Reveal as a prelude to a fight in BOP, but Scott makes it heroic and not particularly sexualized. In JLA, though, when the same character delivers a bit of straight talk about the future of the Justice League, Benes gives her the beginnings of a wedgie and thrusts out her butt. What's weird is that Benes used to draw both BOP and Supergirl, and wasn't this blatant on either.
JLA has story problems too -- it focuses yet again on Red Tornado's Search For Humanity, a topic former writer Brad Meltzer pursued at his peril. I will say that if the Vision is currently out of commission, the comics world may be in desperate need of emotive androids, but it feels like this title has had maybe four different plots in almost two years. There's also some business about Red Arrow's relationship with Hawkgirl, and the aforementioned Vixen subplot, and I wonder whether those wouldn't also have come off better had they not been portrayed by Mr. Benes. His work is just too sketchy, scratchy, busy -- you get the idea -- and at this point it's become a distraction. McDuffie I still have faith in; but Benes needs to go.
Finally, I continue to like Trinity #3 (main story written by Kurt Busiek, pencilled by Mark Bagley, inked by Art Thibert). This issue brings in the Justice League and also (in the Fabian Nicieza/Mike Norton & Jerry Ordway second story) introduces Tarot, and it's a pretty decent, old-fashioned superhero story.
5 comments:
I feel the same way about the crossover thing. I think marvel are doing it just to confuse use and off course make a lot of money
"which I'm guessing was run through some PhotoShop filter"
That's really what you think? I'll never understand why some people are so anxious to give the credit to a computer program instead of an artist. No filters were used. I use the program to paint, so that's why things look painted.
Very sorry I jumped to a conclusion. Guess I just don't know enough about how modern coloring works. The book looked gorgeous, and I'm more than willing to give you credit, no matter how you did it.
Actually, looking at what I originally wrote, I think I thought the linework had gone through PhotoShop. Still, it's not clear, and I'll try to do better. :-)
No worries. It's a subject I can be a little sensitive about. It seems like a lot of people think Photoshop (or whatever program) is somehow doing the work. I know you didn't mean any insult by it and I am glad you liked the book!
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