The Savage Critic: February 19th 2003
By Brian Hibbs
Welcome back, my friends, to the show
that never ends.
Short on time this week – lots of things
happening on my side of the world. Too many things, really.
Next week... dunno, I might have to
skip – Bennett goes on vacation so I have to cover all of his hours
for the next two weeks. We MIGHT have a Jeff solo column, or maybe I’ll
just be hauling my AlphaSmart around and the column will come up even
earlier. Too soon to tell. Still, don’t be surprised if a break is taken
here soon.
(Plus Master of Orion 3 comes
out this week, and I’m a sucker for Turn-based Strategy games despite
them being the greatest time sink games of all)
In any event this week I might be a
little short and snippy too – it is already 9:30
on Sunday and I am JUST starting to write this....
AUTOMATIC KAFKA #7: It is oh-so pretty,
and has a few cleverish bits, but I’m not so sure that it adds up to
anything at all. OK
BATGIRL #37: Short and snippy definitely
applies here – another issue and there’s not much to say but Eh
BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #38: Just about
every publisher has at least one “and why is THIS guy writing?” person,
and at DC, for me, it is Scott Beatty. He must give good pitch, but
I’m finding his stories to be very “WTF?!?”. That whole thing with Bane,
and now his taking on Huntress who is rapidly becoming the best-designed
character in comics that no one has a fucking clue what to do with.
Rucka (in that Huntress/Question mini) was the only writer in recent
years who has really seemed to have a clue as how to handle her. I hope
this ends up somewhere interesting, but I’m already hating the “brainwashed
pawn of the government” thing. Plus, Beatty writes the absolute worst
Bruce Wayne that I’ve ever seen. Awful
BIRDS OF PREY #52: Aaaaaannnnddddd...
Metamorpho’s back. Probably didn’t need 3 issues to get here. Eh.
HAWKMAN #12: Yah, I don’t think the
Hawks can sustain their own series – here the first year is up, and
we’re left with virtually no reason to continue reading the series.
Ultimately, I think we’ll find the Ostrander Hawkworld run to
have a better long-term sustainability... and that made it, what, 5
years between the two series? Big Eh here, too.
INVINCIBLE #2: Nice try at “second
generation superhero” as a concept, but I’m worried because we’re already
at the “joining a team” stage. I’d rather see more of the dad, and their
relationship. OK
JACK STAFF #1: Color’s a bit loud (might
be the paper Image is using), but it is Paul Grist doing what Paul Grist
does great. This should be selling twice what it does, damn it. Good
JSA THE UNHOLY THREE #1: More interesting,
so far, than The Liberty Files, but that $6.95 price tag makes
me gag and choke. A buck less and I’d give it a Good, but the price
compels me to downgrade to OK
LIBERTY MEADOWS #30: I’m growing tired.
Cho is a great artist, but it has felt like his story has been running
on fumes for the longest time. Eh
LUCIFER #35: First things first: Look
at this cover, then immediately look at Y The Last Man #8’s cover.
I love that kind of unplanned synchronicity! Anyway, another great issue.
I really think this is the best thing Vertigo is publishing every month.
Very Good
NEW X-MEN #137: The first of this week’s
FIVE (or six, if you count UltWar) X-Men titles, this worked against
my natural enthusiasm for Morrison and Quitely. This issues seemed a
bit formulaic, which is really the last thing one generally says about
Grant’s work. I liked it but didn’t love it – A weak Good
POWER COMPANY #13: I want to like it,
I really really do, but I’m afraid that the structure of most PC
issues is just “off” enough to keep this book from hitting in the market.
When I want to see x, Kurt shows us y instead. When I
get interested in subplot w, the scene switches to z which
I care much less about. Also, this made me think too much about Thunderbolts
and Graviton which Kurt did twice over there – Polaris isn’t sufficiently
different enough. A strong Eh, but it is Eh anyway.
PUNISHER #22: Great complex ending
to an excellently “gray” story. Garth has really been hitting on all
cylinders lately. Very Good.
QUEEN & COUNTRY #14: really liked
this issue – much more human emotion and cost and much less espionage
jargon. A very strong Good.
RED STAR VOL 2 #1: Pretty, but I was
very lost as to why I should care. Which is a shame because I really
liked that Annual. Eh
ROBIN #111: I really only like this
book when it focuses on Spoiler (which is sorta silly considering the
title), so I very much liked this whole issue devoted to her. Good.
SLEEPER #2: Liked it much better
than the first issue, but the flash-back/-forward narrative isn’t working
for me very well. Still, it was less intrusive than issue #1, and I
found the lead to be sympathetic this time out. A low Good with
lots of possibility for that to grow.
SOLDIER X #8: Damn, that was a pretty
looking book. And I liked the story a lot, too – being the first “future
askani” story that I’ve enjoyed. A very strong Good.
SUPERMAN METROPOLIS #1: I really think
the one thing the super-books need is to strip away all of the not-ABOUT-Superman
accretion of the last half decade or so. That includes the Luthor presidency,
and “B13 virus” stuff. And, of course this mini focuses on the latter
while tying in to the former. Despite that, however, I liked this –
Austen did a reasonable job making the backstory exposition palatable,
and the art was great. A low Good.
TOM STRONG #19: A solid OK,
but not much more there. There’s lots of wild ideas and clear solid
story-telling in the Tom Strong books, but there just isn’t that
“spark” one expects from Alan Moore stories. These are just not something
that I think I’d ever need to read again. (This also was hurt by coming
just a week after Terrific Tales – I think I need to build up
a reserve between reading TS issues)
TRUTH RED WHITE BLACK #4: Yee-ikes.
I can’t believe how much Baker is just “phoning it in”. The story isn’t
that much better – characters are casually disposed of with no emotion
of any kind. This certainly will end up with the year-end reward for
the most cynical, mercenary, and mean-spirited comic book of ’03. Crap.
ULTIMATE WAR #4: And we finally get
to the “War” part. All, what? 12 pages of it? Sheesh. For the line of
comics that wasn’t meant to have crossovers unless they were super-spectacular,
this missed the mark by a mile. The fights were cool, what little there
was of them, but Ultimately it’s just a big “So What?” Eh.
ULTIMATE X-MEN #28: Or maybe just to
get the characters to this place. This issue was better than the War,
but I hit x-overkill this week, and can only muster an OK
UNCANNY X-MEN #419: Yadda yadda. All
middle. Eh
WOLVERINE #186: Ouch. I was almost
sorta liking it fine as a Wolverine/Punisher fight comic until we got
to the last few pages. Logan ultimately “beats” Castle by finding men’s muscle mags
in Castle’s bag., and...um, crushing Castle’s self-esteem, I guess.
Let’s put aside for minute that this seems about as out of character
as out of character could be – Castle himself would seem to have zero
sexuality, and, even if he were gay, I can’t imagine any other reaction
than “So what?” as he pulls out another gun and shoots Logan in the
face, right? – but the real crime here is reducing it to schoolyard
“Yeah? Well you... you... you’re a fag!” That’s not only juvenile,
but I think it is irresponsible ESPECIALLY in a “kids buy” title like
Wolverine. They’re pulling smoking out of Wolverine because
of the social message it brings, but they’re going to imply that it
is OK to gay bash? That might be the San Franciscan in me, but that
is a pretty crummy thing. I’m really disturbed this got through Marvel
editorial, and I really hope this doesn’t find it’s way into the hands
of any glbt anti-defamation groups. This could bring a lot of negative
publicity. Crap.
Y THE LAST MAN #8: I very much liked
the “secret” of the town. Very clever idea, and well executed. On the
other hand, I hope this thing with the sister resolves next issue, because
I just can’t swallow the coincidences. Good.
For Sake
of Completeness, here’s a list of all of the OTHER comics that CE got
in this week, that I did NOT read (and, therefore, am unlikely to review!).
Note, that in most cases this is limited to 1) Manga, which I try to
read as it is collected; 2) “Kids” comics like most of the Archies;
3) titles that were subs-only, either by design or accident [this can
include being shorted by Diamond as well]; 4) Porno [oh, like you need
me to REVIEW it!], 5) Things that looked SO bad on the racks that I
didn’t bother, and 6) stuff that I’ve assessed before, and I care so
little about that I don’t want to waste my time reading anymore. You
decide which is which
ASKARI HODARI #1
BETTY & VERONICA #185
BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #113
BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #76
CROSSOVERS #2
CRUX #23
FOREVER MAELSTROM #4
FUSED #4
GHOST IN THE SHELL 2 MAN MACHINE INTERFACE #2
HELLSPAWN #15
LONE WOLF 2100 RED FILES
LOUIS RIEL #9
LOVEBUNNY AND MR HELL A DAY IN THE LOVE LIFE
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE #3
POWERPUFF GIRLS #35
ROUTE 666 #9
SCION #33
SHANG CHI MASTER OF KUNG FU #6
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #120
THOR #60
THREE DAYS IN EUROPE #3
THUNDERBOLTS #76
THUNDERCATS THE RETURN #1
TOMB RAIDER JOURNEYS #10
VAMPI #25
X-TREME X-MEN #21
And, for
even MORE completeness sake, here’s a list of books, TPBs, GNs, magazines,
and other things that CE got this week. I generally haven’t read any
of this by the time I post these reviews. Though I generally attempt
to give at least one recommendation amongst the TPBs each week, since
I HAVE read the material at SOME point.
ANIMERICA
MARCH 2003 VOL 11 #3
EXILES VOL 3 OUT OF TIME TP
FRENCH KISS #5
JLA SECRET ORIGINS BY ALEX ROSS POSTER
LEAVE IT TO CHANCE VOL 2 HC TRICK OR THREAT
NIGHTWING THE HUNT FOR ORACLETP
NO MORE SHAVES TP
PREACHER DEAD OR ALIVE THE COLLECTED COVERS SC
RUSE VOL 2 TP SILENT PARTNER
SAMSON JUDGE OF ISRAEL GN
SPIRITED AWAY VOL 5 TP
STORM RIDERS GN #10
STORY OF TAO GN #3
TOYFARE WIZKIDS WORLD PREMIERE CVR #68
ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 4 HELLFIRE& BRIMSTONE TP
WHATS MICHAEL FAT CAT IN THE CITY TP
WILDCATS BATTERY PARK TP
This Week’s TP recommendation is:
Bad week for trades this week. I’ll go with the ever-charming Leave
it to Chance V2 HC
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