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The Savage Critic: November 14th, 2001 By Brian HibbsWelcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends. Missed me? Jeff Lester is back from his European Vacation (Chevy Chase was in that, right? Jeff Lester’s European Vacation?), so Lo! Doth the Critic Return! (And one must Die!) Y’know, three weeks of not having to write this &^$%&^$ review thing was pretty sweet... but a deal’s a deal. Let’s see if I can get all the way through it before I have to leave for work this morning. Oh, yah, the novel. Well (*scuffs toe*) I’m not QUITE done with it (yah, yah, I know) – but I DID finish the penultimate chapter... which means I have one to go, which means by this time NEXT week I should (knock wood) be finished with the stupid thing. Let no one tell you writing a book (even a weak genre one) is at all easy. Blah blah blah, I have 1:45 to get this done, let’s rock. ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #598: A plot that only a comic could love: Holographic repeat from the future inspires copycat labor agitator supervillain posse. Mm. I suppose that’s a way to follow up on old plot threads, but it seemed pretty stupid to me. Eh. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #36: Well, I’m glad this comes early in the alphabet to get it out of the way fast. I’ve been dreading writing this one for days now. Hrmph. OK, so JMS wrote a surprisingly touching and strong statement about not letting terrorism affect you, to not become as bad as they are, to support and celebrate the humanity of us all. As a reaction to the 9/11 tragedy it is effective, touching, and all so human. But it’s got superheroes in it. Superheroes do several things really well – allegory, for example; and inspiration. But they look... cheap, tawdry, impotent even when applied to any "real" situation. I hate to say it, but showing the reaction of the Avengers and Spider-Man to the WTC bombing simply reduces it to farce. JMS was walking a very fine line here, and, honestly, I don’t think ANYone could have pulled it off, and JMS came a lot closer than I ever thought would have been possible... but at the end of the day, it was a lousy idea that should have been absolutely and steadfastly abandoned. The record will give it (hey, even us long hairs can be patriotic) a Very Good for intent and execution... but I can’t help but call it Eh for concept. ANGEL VOL 2 #2: Fray is a very good comic that shows Joss Whedon knows how to write sequential strips. This doesn’t. If this could possibly be more generic and formulaic, I’m not sure how. Awful. AVENGERS CELESTIAL QUEST #3: 21st century version of 1977 comics. Guh. Mantis’ "This one" doesn’t really jibe with the rest of her modern speech patterns, resulting in a jarring and muddled book. Eh. BLACK PANTHER #38: I know I’ve read this Iron Fist plot before; and the Mephisto story is dragging on uncomfortably long... but I liked the Coleen Wing pages a whole lot. Dunno, I bounce back and forth between hot and cold on this book. This issue was much more on the warm side. OK CABLE #99: Again, I don’t think fantastic characters have much place in serious, real-world stories – but the economic concept was interesting. Eh. CEREBUS #272: Now that four issues of being tied up is done, maybe (hopefully!) we can move forward again. 28 issues to go – I’m fervently praying Sim can recapture that magic. Oh, and he got rid of his stereo and TV. Nutty. Awful. DETECTIVE COMICS #764: I have faith this is actually going somewhere, though for the life of me I’m not sure which of 4 possibly heartbreaking endings it is heading. I’m going to seriously miss Shane Martinborough though. The Josie Mac backup story is pretty solid too (I liked the sock thing). OK. DOOM EMPEROR RETURNS #1: Leonard Manco is a really good artist, but this is a real waste of talent all around. Does anyone care about Doom if he’s not facing the FF? Eh. DOUBLE TAKE #6: Codeflesh is Codeflesh (you know if you like it by now), but I was kinda taken with Rex Mantooth: Kung Fu Gorilla. On the other hand, I think that’s something very much like Battle Pope where the joke will wear out by the third or so appearance. But, for now, Good. ELEKTRA #4: Interesting stylistic experiment... but the actual execution fell flat for me. Felt like a padded padded issue. Eh. FOUR WOMEN #2: Some things clearly work better in collected form, and this might be one of them. There’s not enough in any issue here to keep me reading this in a serialized format. Eh. FURY #3: A marginal improvement from the first two, but this is still the Wretched Excess Garth. Eh. GREEN LANTERN #144: Blah blah blah, Power of a God blah blah blah, Everything I actually find appealing about Judd’s run (his relationship with Jenny, his gay friend) is basically put on hold for some Cosmic Hoo-Ha. Can I safely assume this’ll be over by #150? Eh. GREYSHIRT INDIGO SUNSET #2: Not working for me, at all. It’s not bad... in fact, its quite accomplished story telling... but I just don’t really care. The cartoonist story was cute enough, but I can’t see dropping $3 for this. OK. GRIP THE STRANGE WORLD OF MEN#1: Gilbert Hernandez doesn’t always make much sense to me in what he’s striking for, and this isn’t much of an exception. Still, I’d take confusing and disjointed Beto narrative any day over Cosmic Hoo-Ha or The Real World: Superheroes. OK. HARLEY QUINN #14: If this series has a goal or a point its completely lost on me. Nice art though. Eh. HELLSPAWN #10: Muddy, dark and muddled. Yuck. Awful. HUNTER THE AGE OF MAGIC #5: I still really wish someone would go back to the original mini-series concept for Tim Hunter... but I guess it is too late now. Still, even though I’m bored with magic schools and Faerie realms, it is well done. OK. IMPULSE #80: Its amazing when you read a comic and it leaves no impression of any kind upon you, other than "why is this damn thing being published?!?" Awful. JACK STAFF #6: Usually when a comic jumps around from story to story with no connections between them I gotta pan it. Paul Grist, however, is intriguing me with this. Not for everyone, but I like it lots. Good. JUSTICE LEAGUE ADVENTURES #1: Uneven in places, this is still tons better than the regular JLA title has been since... well, since Morrison left. And its only $1.99! Good. NIGHTWING #63: Awful awful artwork. Sappy and manipulative heartstring-tugging writing. Awful. ORIGIN #3: Almost certainly not what anyone expected. The weird semi-amnesia thing, though... not supported enough within the story itself. OK. PETER PARKER SPIDER-MAN 2001 ANNUAL: Spider-tribe versus lizard tribe. I vote ME off the island. Eh. ROGUE #4: I don’t see how this fits into any continuity, but, sure this issue wasn’t so bad when looked at alone. God-damn NICE cover by Julie Bell though. Eh. SOJOURN #5: Easily the best of CrossGen’s books – and almost purely from the art. The story is fairly standard fantasy (speaking as someone just finishing a standard fantasy novel!), but it is a decent enough read. OK. SPECTRE #11: Ut? Eh. SUICIDE SQUAD #3: Great googly-moogly that sucked! This may be the worst DC relaunch I’ve ever had the misfortune to sit through. Can it possibly make it through a whole year without cancellation? Crap. TERRY MOORES PARADISE TOO #4: I wish I could pull random things I find laying around in drawers, and abandoned half-ideas and charge $2.95 for it! Crap. TOM STRONGS TERRIFIC TALES #1: I was going to say that there just wasn’t enough in here to justify a second title... and I still probably think that. But Jaime Hernandez’s story just ROCKED, and I really liked the little taste of Jonni Future that we got here. JF should be moved over to Tomorrow Stories, though (replacing First American, I vote), and they should just put out ONE MONTHLY TS title. Very good. TOMB RAIDER #18: That cover sure kicked my ass. Too bad the insides don’t even begin to match. Awful. TRANSMETROPOLITAN #51: Wow, nice to see Royce be something other than a fat bastard. Fave issue of Tmet in a year or more. Very Good. UNCANNY X-MEN #399: A mutant brothel is a clever idea, so, of course, they burn it right to the ground. Sheesh. OK. WONDER WOMAN #175: Missing the deadline, here’s your last Joker’s Last Laugh crossover. Far far far too many characters, this would have worked a lot better without the page after page after page of Who’s Female in the DCU. Jimenez draws like a monster, but he’s a mediocre writer at best. Eh. WONDER WOMAN SPIRIT OF TRUTH OVERSIZED SC: Fabulous fabulous art – I think this might be my favorite of the four specials. But the writing seemed much weaker than the previous three, leaving the character in less of a position than she was when the issue started. There’s also no way I would have understood the "invisible plane" thing had Dini not mention it in the introduction. But for art alone: Very good. X-FORCE #121: And the hits keep coming. I’m really getting into this book... and I’m not sure why because the narrative is often very fragmentary. Still, this is easily the freshest mutant comic that Marvel has ever done... and I have to admit being a little shocked that the national market is responding so well to it. Very good. X-TREME X-MEN #7: And this is the stalest of the mutant books. Doesn’t even have that colored-pencil look the first half dozen did, anymore. Foo. Eh. 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; 4) Porno [oh, like you need me to REVIEW it!], 5) Things that looked SO bad on the racks that I didn’t bother, or 6) I just don’t care. 100 GREATEST MARVELS #5
And, for even MORE completeness sake, here’s a list of books, TPBs, GNs, and magazines 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 #1263 This Week’s TPB recommendation is: several good choices this week – Planetary and Daredevil Visionaries among them. But, ultimately, I have to give it to Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne, just because this was Byrne’s absolute pinnacle. I forgot how much I liked these stories! |
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Average Rating for the Week: 36 books "reviewed" for an average rating of 3.69 (out of a possible 7.00) Pick of the Week: Another moderately difficult choice, but I think that both Jaime Hernandez and Art Adams tilt me over to Tom Strong’s Terrific Tales #1 Pick of the Weak: Too easy, I guess, but this week the vote goes to Terry Moore Cleans Out His Closest... er, I mean Terry Moore’s Paradise Too! #4.
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All Material on this page:
© 2001-2005 by Comix Experience (except the graphic, which was appropriated
from Tales of Suspense #21,
and is probably
© Marvel Comics). Reproduction without permission is expressly
forbidden.