The Savage Critic: April
2nd 2003
By Brian
Hibbs
Welcome back, my friends, to the show
that never ends.
Thankfully, it is a tiny little week,
because, otherwise, I probably would have punked out this week. Hopefully
Jeff’ll be back next week to do a co-Critic because I’m starting
to burn out on Criticism again (HEY! You try to do this every
week – for free – and see how long YOU last!)
Plus, not that we’ve done anything
to celebrate it YET (That’ll wait until WonderCon is in town), but this
week was the 14th anniversary of Comix Experience, and I
have some other, pretty fabulous news, that I want to share with you...
but I can’t for another few weeks. Watch this space, however...
Anyways, on wit’ de show....
100 BULLETS #43: A very difficult issue
to read as it was all set in prison, to prison lingo. In fact, I could
barely follow it at all. I have to mention every six months or so that
I don’t understand where this book is going and, here we are 42 issues
in and I’m not really sure that there’s been any particular forward-momentum
on the “main” story. The art is astonishingly pretty, though. Eh
ACTION COMICS #802: Super-nice cover!
I’m not down with the “Kingdom Come-lite” story though. And the Zod
“payoff” seems way way out of left field to me. The main question I
ask about an issue like this is “If I didn’t read comics, would I grasp
this at all, or feel the SLIGHTEST interest in learning more?” and I
have to resoundingly say “NO!” I mean, this is Superman, fer cryin’
out loud. Eh (and that’s only because the cover was so nice)
ALIAS #21: It’s Bendis week: 3 of his
4 titles shipped in one week. A decent enough wrap up to the storyline,
but what I want to single out is that I really like the way Bagley drew
Silver Surfer: looked like a creepy odd Alien, which seems as perfect
as it could be to these eyes. Good
BATMAN NEVERMORE #1: The problem with
most Elseworlds is they’re often a little too “clever” for their own
good. The posit here is that Poe’s stories were all “inspired” by a
Batman case, but its usage was a little too blunt, often getting in
the way of what was otherwise a nice little thriller. Plus, all that
lovely Guy Davis art... when did he become the Flash? He’s everywhere
these days! Anyway, I’ll go with a tentative Good, though I reserve
the right to sharply downgrade that if this doesn’t pay off properly...
five issues seems from the outside like it could be 2 too many...
BONE #51: I have no idea how Jeff can
satisfyingly wrap this all up in a mere 4 issues, but this is still
strong stuff. Very Good.
CALL #1: So, we’ve gone from a “tribute”
to “real heroes” to Just Another Super-Hero Book? Lovely. In and around
betraying the very premise of the book (and is there ANY person, ANY
where in the world who actually WANTS to read this premise? Cancelled
by 12 is my firm prediction) we get content that, while “off-camera”,
is still way WAY beyond the “PG” rating on the cover. Still, Jeff’s
comment to me in the store about the antagonist’s master-plan has to
be the best: (I paraphrase) “Wait, his ‘Master’ plan is flaming zombies?
What, he expects them to ring people’s doorbells, who go ‘EW!’ when
they stomp them out?” We’re only 1/3 of the way through, but I think
The Call #1 might very well be leading the pack for “Worst Comic
of 2003”. Crap.
DAREDEVIL #45: Another solid enough
“wrap up”, though, really, not much happens – and no, I don’t count
a fight scene with The Owl as anything “happening” since it was all
dismissed so quickly. The bit I liked was the Kingpin scene – everything
that happens next is implied, making MUCH better use of it’s rating
than The Call. Good.
DETECTIVE COMICS #781: The Joker is
apparently a bus – you don’t see him for months, then all of a sudden
you get 2 at once! Oh, I slay me. Anyway, solid issue here too. Good.
DOOM PATROL #19: As usual, lovely art
wrapped in a story I don’t care about. Clever use of Gar Logan, though.
OK
ELEKTRA #21: The third artist change
in one story – w00t! This was pretty “by the book” I thought – let’s
see if Rucka can pull any surprises in next month’s wrap up. Eh
FUTURAMA COMICS #12: Amusing enough.
OK
HAWKMAN #14: Jeff mentioned the “Grand
Unification of Hawkman” theory on Friday – they seem dead set to making
everything fit into this new, even-more-convoluted-than-the-last-one
backstory. And, instead of giving the characters a little time to breathe,
we immediately close with the “Hawkworld” Hawkgirl coming to confront
them. I think that people would rather just read a Hawkman story than
try to process all of this backstory, but what do I know... it’s still
selling better than a lot of DCU books at CE. I liked the Gentleman
Ghost better when he was called “Shade” over in James Robinson’s Starman.
Eh
HULK WOLVERINE 6 HOURS #4: Fight scene.
Happy ending. Whatever. Eh
JAMES KOCHALKAS SKETCHBOOK DIARIES
VOL 3: Kochalka’s Diaries give me this happy little tickle in my stomach.
I only wish we didn’t have to wait a year between these. At once charming,
whimsical, revealing, and honest, here’s the book you really NEED to
read this week. Excellent
JUSTICE LEAGUE ADVENTURES #18: I would
have enjoyed this a LOT more if the cover hadn’t given the entire story away.
Still, the concept behind it was reasonably clever and charming. Good.
MARVELOUS ADVENTURES OF GUS BEEZER
STARRING HULK
MARVELOUS ADVENTURES OF GUS BEEZER
STARRING SPIDER-MAN
MARVELOUS ADVENTURES OF GUS BEEZER
STARRING THE X-MEN: I’m going to lump these three together because,
frankly, it is easier that way. I think doing “kid friendly” Marvel
comics is a good idea, and I think the core concept of (effectively)
“Calvin & Hobbes in the Marvel U” is a good one, but the execution
was slightly off for me. The first problem is the two story thing which
I didn’t feel had enough visual differences between the two to make
for a smooth read – if the WHOLE lower story had been done in “stick
figures”, it might have worked better, but my eye naturally wanted to
read the lower tier on most pages. The second problem was the decision
to have Gus ACTUALLY meet the heroes in every case. It worked well in
Spider-Man’s case, because it seemed organic, but in the other two it
just felt too forced. Another thought is that “would a ‘real’ kid in
the Marvel Universe actually idolize these characters?” I can’t actually
think that the Hulk or X-Men would be viewed as “heroic” to a citizen,
y’know? A kid thinking the Hulk was cool, in a world where there WAS
a Hulk would seem to me as to a kid believing, say, David Berkowitz
was cool. Not all that likely, really. STILL, these are fun, and as
long as you don’t overanalyze them (like me!) you’ll probably find these
are good comics to give to kids. Hulk was OK, Spider-Man was
Good, and X-Men was Eh
PS238 #1: Though I think that maybe
I’d give a kid this one instead – not that it is “aimed” at children,
but I think it would have appealed to me more than Gus when I
was 8. Super-powered kids is a potential comedy goldmine, and Williams
hits it well in this first “real” issue – much more so than the short
backups that were collected in #0. Very Good.
QUEEN & COUNTRY #15: Heavy on the
human interaction, super-lite on spying, this was my favorite issue
to date. Very Good.
SENTINEL #1: "Tsunami"
starts here, and, actually, it's quite a good beginning. Sean McKeever
writes young people well (witness The Waiting Place), so this
plays to his strengths perfectly. The "manga" art turned me
off on initial glance, but, actually, it fit the story fairly well once
I actually read it. A good start, and I am tentatively hopeful for this
book. Good.
SPIDEY AND THE MINI MARVELS: And as
opposed to PS238, I think this stuff works much better in small
doses than in big chunks like here. It is cute enough, but since you
could replace the characters with almost any other characters and it
would still work pretty identically (Say, l’il DD and l’il Elektra delivering
papers to Kingpin; or replacing Wonder Man and the Avengers for Wolverine
and the X-Men), I can’t be that enthusiastic. Eh
STRANGERS IN PARADISE VOL III #57:
And my yo-yo on SiP continues – I really really liked this issue
– it was funny, it added to the characters, it had heart and whimsy.
Very Good
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #39: Nice postscript
to the Venom story. Very Good.
ULTIMATE X-MEN #31: Yah, I knew it
wouldn’t end right. That was a cop-out ending, especially after the
semi-Ozymandias speech at the end of last issue. Here’s a question though:
how can you “hold back” radiation with telekinesis? Eh.
WOLVERINE XISLE #1: Logan takes
his kid to the fair. Not horrible, but there’s nothing compelling to
bring you back for next issue... because that “cliffhanger” was anything
but clear. OK
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.
21 DOWN #8
ARCHIE AND FRIENDS #69
BATMAN GOTHAM ADVENTURES #60
BETTY #124
BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #114
BIG DADDY DANGER #9
BLACKBURNE COVENANT #1
CODENAME KNOCKOUT #23
DAWN CONVENTION SKETCHBOOK 2003
GI JOE #16
GI JOE FRONTLINE #6
GOON #4
HSU AND CHAN #2
KARZA #2
LITTLE WHITE MOUSE OPEN SPACE#3
LOONEY TUNES #101
LOVE & ROCKETS VOL 2 #7
MACE BOUNTY HUNTER #1
MYTHSTALKERS #1
NANTUCKET BROWN ROASTERS #2
NIMROD #7
RADISKULL & DEVIL DOLL RADISKULL HATE LOVE ONE SHOT
ROBOTECH #5
SANDSCAPE #3
SENTINEL #1
SHONEN JUMP VOL 1 #5 MAY 2003
SPELLS CAULDRON OF CHILLS #2
SPIDER-GIRL #59
SUPER MANGA BLAST #30
X-MEN 2 MOVIE ADAPTATION
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.
2000
AD #1329
2000 AD #1330
BEST OF SKETCH MAGAZINE VOL #1
CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGONGN #3
FLASH TERMINAL VELOCITY TP NEW PRTG
FORTEAN TIMES #169
GEN 13 MEANWHILE TP
GREEN ARROW QUIVER TP
GRIN AND BARE IT #8 MAGAZINE
JSA FAIR PLAY TP
JUDGE DREDD NECROPOLIS BOOK ONE GN
JUXTAPOZ MAY JUN 2003
LIBERATORE FROM QUADRI TO PARIS
TP
MARA SUMMER COUNTRY GN
MIKE MIGNOLA ART OF HELLBOY HC
REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST VOL 2 SC WITHIN BUDDING GROVE
SFX #102
SKINWALKER VOL 1 TP
STAR WARS INFINITIES THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK TP
SUPER FRIENDS SUPERMAN AND LEX LUTHOR DLX ACTION FIGURE SET
TRANSFORMERS ARMADA VOL 1 TP
TRIPWIRE MAGAZINE VOL 5 #1
VIDEO WATCHDOG #94
WHEN IM OLD COLL STORIES OF GABRIELLE BELL TP
WILL EISNERS SPIRIT ARCHIVES VOL 10 HC
This Week’s TP recommendation is:
Jeff might’ve recommended the Gen13 TP, because he was a huge
fan of Adam Warren’s run, and I’m tempted to go for the JSA TP,
but as I type this my choices are more towards the wonderful Art
of Hellboy HC (everything that the Frank Miller volume earlier this
year wasn’t), and, the one I’ve decided to go for: When I’m Old:
The Collected Stories of Gabrielle Bell. Mostly because you’ve
never heard of it, and your store probably isn’t stocking it. Bell’s lettering and layouts are a little “cramped”, but she shows a tremendous
amount of promise, and seems to have an excellent handle on how to pace
a story. One quibble, and that’s with the layout of the book – most
stories have a “blank” page between them, but a few don’t, and since
Bell never uses “end”, those ran into each other in a jarring way. Anyway,
ask your store to order you a copy of this book.
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