Like pretty much everyone else, I enjoyed the hell out of Warren Ellis & Declan Shalvey's recent six-issue run on Moon Knight. They did a lot of cool things in those comics, and one of my favorite aspects was how Ellis' scripts were designed to shine a spotlight on Shalvey's art. One issue's entire story was built around getting Moon Knight to dress up in a new costume made of objects that would make him better at fighting the spirits of the dead. He looked like a skeletal crow-man mummy, and it was an awesome and terrifying image. Issue #5 was basically one long fight scene, a non-stop action sequence that Shalvey made sing. And my definite favorite was the most disgustingly enchanting dream sequence I've ever seen, transmitted to Moon Knight's mind through the spores of the brain fungus of a dead man. Ellis' stories weren't at all lightweight, but they were tailored to make Shalvey the series' real star, the main attraction, the point of reading it at all. When I learned that both creators would be exiting the title after issue #6, I was sadder to lose Shalvey than Ellis, because while Ellis gave Moon Knight a new drive and attitude, Shalvey gave him a new world in which to exercise that attitude and satisfy that drive. Without him on board, the book was likely to develop a whole new feel, to perhaps even take place in an unrecognizable version of the same city or with another new approach to the main character that wouldn't mesh with what came before. Would Moon Knight be able to hold my interest without the signature look and atmosphere that had so completely won me over in the beginning?
Then I took a peek at the creative team for Moon Knight #7 and, while still upset to say goodbye to Shalvey, I was instantly far less nervous about the comic's future. Because listed as the artist was one Greg Smallwood, who melted my face off with his work on last year's Dream Thief and was in the middle of a repeat performance in that book's current sequel, Dream Thief: Escape. I was thrilled to see an artist I so admired getting higher-profile work, and though I wouldn't describe Shalvey and Smallwood's styles as similar, I could see Smallwood having fun with the visuals in a way that would carry on the spirit, if not the actual aesthetic, of what Shalvey had established. Plus the world's best colorist, Jordie Bellaiere, who had colored all of Shalvey's issues, was going to stay on when Smallwod joined, so there'd be at least one layer of consistency in the art that might make the transition easier. Even as I hated the thought of Shalvey departing, the Smallwood-Bellaire combo was something to look forward to, and it was nice to have that on the horizon. Plus, it would mean getting two doses of Smallwood art each month for at least a couple months, since I presumed he'd be finishing up Dream Thief: Escape at the same time as starting his work on Moon Knight.
Nope. Turns out that in order to do Moon Knight (or at least I'm assuming that's the reason) Smallwood had to leave Dream Thief: Escape as of issue #3. I can't imagine I was the only one surprised by this, considering he's still listed as the artist online. If there was any current series where the art was the biggest draw even more than Moon Knight, it was damn sure Dream Thief: Escape. Smallwood did everything from the pencils to the letters on that comic, with Jai Nitz on scripts, and while the reality and cast Nitz has assembled is certainly interesting, Smallwood was what made the series great. He played with color, panel borders, and layout freely, but kept the characters more solid so the book had a lot of flavor and dynamism but stayed firmly centered on Nitz's strong, careful character work. In a way, the original Dream Thief and the two Smallwood-drawn issues of Escape have the opposite relationship between art and script as the Ellis-Shalvey Moon Knight run. Shalvey's art was put on display intentionally because Ellis' plots gave it space, offered it the spotlight. Smallwood made himself the star by simply outperforming and elevating what was already a smart, weird, tightly-written story from Nitz.
Tadd Galusha is the new Dream Thief: Escape artist, and a new artist for me entirely. He's very talented, and a good fit for the series in his own right with clear similarities to Smallwood, but it's definitely not the same. It's sort of a reversal, really: the panels and pages tend to be constructed in more standard, rigid ways, but the characters are a little looser in shape. I don't mind that, because the whole premise of the Dream Thief world is about people becoming other people, so for the art to be a little more flexible in its depictions of the characters has a nice logic to it. And everyone is recognizable and expressive, so there's no loss of storytelling ability. Then again, Galusha doesn't do much to demand the reader's attention; nothing pops or delights or surprises quite like it did with Smallwood.
As for Moon Knight, Brian Wood replaced Ellis as writer, and he brings very different approach. It's true to the ideas and even the personality Ellis set up, but way wordier and less willing to leave things open-ended. Wood seems to fear ambiguity and/or silence, while Ellis was comfortable with both. So right there, it was already going to feel different even if Smallwood had totally killed it. Which for the most part, I thought he did. Nothing quite as interesting as his Dream Thief work yet, but it's only been one issue so far, and overall he got the presence and swagger of Shalvey's Moon Knight spot on. However, the one glaring distinction is the way Smallwood does Moon Knight's mask, which is essentially just his face, and therefore a pretty major factor in how he looks/feels/comes across as a character. Perhaps to match Wood's more expository tone, Smallwood's mask is more expressive and human than Shalvey's, which hid some of Moon Knight's emotions and amplified others with its dark, chaotic wrinkles. Those wrinkles have been mostly smoothed out in Smallwood's version, so there's slightly more face-shape to the whole thing, expressing all his feelings more evenly. It's not bad, and like I said it goes well with the change in the writing. Again, though, it's just not the same.
I don't want to be one of those comicbooks fans who automatically recoils in the face of change. Generally speaking, I don't think I am. Sometimes people make a move with a beloved character that I don't like, but we all know a shake-up can be awesome. Kid Loki comes to mind as a recent example, and Spider-Ock, and even something as simple as the current more upbeat take on Daredevil. I mean...Nightwing, anyone? I know that's before my time, but it feels like the most inarguable example of change having the potential to be a good thing. Come to think of it, from what I've seen online Dick Grayson's latest incarnation as a spy (I think...something spy-like) is a role that suits him and has been well-received, so if it sticks he'll be two examples in one. I'm getting a little off-track now, but what I want to emphasize is that my negativity about these artists changing isn't directed at the mere fact that it's something new, but that it's something new about my single favorite aspect of both series. Once the best part goes away, no matter what comes next, it's hard not to miss what used to be.
Which means, of course, that neither Galusha nor Smallwood ever had a chance on their new gigs when it came to satisfying me. I went in with bias, especially in Galusha's case, where I didn't even spot that he was on the cover or the inside credits but simply looked at the first story page and muttered out loud to myself on the T, "What the hell...? Is this Smallwood?" before checking the cover, cursing the unfamiliar name, and reading on. At least with Smallwood on Moon Knight I knew it was coming a couple months in advance, and he was an artist I already loved, so I could be excited and anxious at the same time. Galusha caught me off guard, and that bugged me before I even properly got started with the issue, so that's just plain unfair of me. I know I should reread it with more open eyes, and I will once the series wraps next month.
Right there is the other way in which Smallwood has a leg up on Galusha: Moon Knight is an ongoing series, but Dream Thief: Escape has only one issue left. The longer Smallwood lasts on Moon Knight, the more likely I am to warm to him, unless, I guess, he or Wood turn me off all of a sudden with some tremendously horrible issue or something. Galusha's only got 20 more pages or so, which makes it an even bigger bummer that Smallwood didn't just stick around to finish things off. Galusha could have drawn the entire third volume of Dream Thief—which I'm just assuming is coming because I still really want to read that, with any artist, since at this point I'm fairly well hooked—and I wouldn't have minded at all, but for Smallwood to do the top half and Galusha the bottom of this four-issue affair is a drag. It splits the series in this weird way, because the narrative's not really divided that way, rhythmically. The story seems built to span all four of its chapters with a fairly even pace and tone, so it would've been preferable if they'd looked the same, too.
I'm not walking from either title, and I wouldn't be even if Dream Thief: Escape were going to continue after its next issue. One month's worth of a new artist is hardly enough to make a real assessment of how good they are on the comic in question. I'm not even entirely convinced that I think Galusha is any worse than Smallwood or Smallwood any worse than Shalvey on their respective projects. I just...these comics are new things again, when not long ago they were familiar and reliable, and that naturally disrupts. So I am disrupted, I guess, as a follower of these titles, and I haven't settled back in yet, and until I do I won't know where I stand. For now, I'm in a kind of fan limbo, and that's alright as far as it goes, but not nearly as much fun as reading something I just plain love.
Showing posts with label Moon Knight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moon Knight. Show all posts
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
The Problem is I'm Not Reading Enough Random, Weird, Old Comics Lately
I want to write something tonight. I have the time, the energy, and the inclination. But not the subject. I thought I might talk about Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey's just-completed run on Moon Knight, which was awesome, but it's been getting so much praise in so many other places I don't want to just add to the roar. Except to say that the whole thing was like some suave, dashing exchange student, showing up suddenly with his cool look and weird word choices, then making a graceful exit well before the sheen had worn off. I'm excited for Brian Wood and Greg Smallwood to take over that book, almost entirely because of Smallwood. It feels like a perfect character for his style, and hopefully Wood will be cool enough to let the art be the title's main draw, like it was when Ellis and Shalvey were running things.
I also considered doing a whole post on how FBP #13 was kind of a disappointing ending to the "Wish You Were Here" story arc. The whole plot revolved around main characters Adam and Rosa being placed into a semi-fake reality, created and powered and controlled by their minds, so that the whole world was built to satisfy their wishes. Adam got to play out his action hero fantasy, and Rosa got to figure out a way back to the dimension she's from originally. There was a lot of time spent in this alternate reality, like half of the five-issue arc or more, and all along I kept wondering how much of what happened there was going to matter. There were suggestions that some or all of it might come true in the "real" world, but also that maybe none of it would, which made it difficult to know how invested to be. A character was brutally killed, Adam had a new romance blossomed and get spoiled by betrayal, Rosa opened a stable passageway from one universe to another—how much of this was going to stick?
Turns out, the answer is, "Some." The dead character didn't die, so that's two emotional experiences I was robbed of as a reader: 1. when she died I didn't fully feel it because I was skeptical about the permanence of her demise, and 2. when it was revealed she didn't really die, I felt none of the relief, even as Adam was feeling it, because I'd never been all that worried. The ruined romance didn't happen, but the woman Adam fell for is an actual person, so I guess that's something. Not sure what it means yet, but it's bound to have further significance as the series continues. As for Rosa's portal home...that seems like the most real thing, a theory she already had and just needed to test in the proper environment in order to prove it. Time will tell. What I'm saying is the conclusion was too have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too for me to enjoy. They got to have a bunch of crazy shit go down in the safe little playground of Adam and Rosa's fake world, then undo it all, making much of the content of "Wish You Were Here" feel purposeless. Maybe its purpose is yet to be revealed, but it sure would've been nice if the end of the arc felt like it even attempted to make the rest of the arc feel important.
That's about all I have to say about FBP #13, and I probably stretched it out with too many specifics as it is. So no full post out of that tonight, either. And nothing else I've read in the past couple weeks even comes to mind as a hypothetically viable topic. I mean...any comic, any panel could potentially be studied and analyzed and dissected for thousands upon thousands of words, but nothing has sparked in me the itch to blather on about it recently. I'm pretty sure [insert title of post here]. I follow all my weekly, ongoing new series, and I read stuff from 1987 for the CSBG column every couple weeks, but I haven't taken the time to dig into any of the assorted back issues and random crap I've picked up over the years. Nor have I done any back-issue diving at any of my local comicbook shops of late to add to the aforementioned collection of crap. I've been subsisting on a diet of only fresh new comics, and they're just not getting my motor running.
I suppose the best thing for everyone, then, would be if I wrapped this self-indulgent exercise up right now and maybe cracked open one of those random, weird, old tales instead.
I also considered doing a whole post on how FBP #13 was kind of a disappointing ending to the "Wish You Were Here" story arc. The whole plot revolved around main characters Adam and Rosa being placed into a semi-fake reality, created and powered and controlled by their minds, so that the whole world was built to satisfy their wishes. Adam got to play out his action hero fantasy, and Rosa got to figure out a way back to the dimension she's from originally. There was a lot of time spent in this alternate reality, like half of the five-issue arc or more, and all along I kept wondering how much of what happened there was going to matter. There were suggestions that some or all of it might come true in the "real" world, but also that maybe none of it would, which made it difficult to know how invested to be. A character was brutally killed, Adam had a new romance blossomed and get spoiled by betrayal, Rosa opened a stable passageway from one universe to another—how much of this was going to stick?
Turns out, the answer is, "Some." The dead character didn't die, so that's two emotional experiences I was robbed of as a reader: 1. when she died I didn't fully feel it because I was skeptical about the permanence of her demise, and 2. when it was revealed she didn't really die, I felt none of the relief, even as Adam was feeling it, because I'd never been all that worried. The ruined romance didn't happen, but the woman Adam fell for is an actual person, so I guess that's something. Not sure what it means yet, but it's bound to have further significance as the series continues. As for Rosa's portal home...that seems like the most real thing, a theory she already had and just needed to test in the proper environment in order to prove it. Time will tell. What I'm saying is the conclusion was too have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too for me to enjoy. They got to have a bunch of crazy shit go down in the safe little playground of Adam and Rosa's fake world, then undo it all, making much of the content of "Wish You Were Here" feel purposeless. Maybe its purpose is yet to be revealed, but it sure would've been nice if the end of the arc felt like it even attempted to make the rest of the arc feel important.
That's about all I have to say about FBP #13, and I probably stretched it out with too many specifics as it is. So no full post out of that tonight, either. And nothing else I've read in the past couple weeks even comes to mind as a hypothetically viable topic. I mean...any comic, any panel could potentially be studied and analyzed and dissected for thousands upon thousands of words, but nothing has sparked in me the itch to blather on about it recently. I'm pretty sure [insert title of post here]. I follow all my weekly, ongoing new series, and I read stuff from 1987 for the CSBG column every couple weeks, but I haven't taken the time to dig into any of the assorted back issues and random crap I've picked up over the years. Nor have I done any back-issue diving at any of my local comicbook shops of late to add to the aforementioned collection of crap. I've been subsisting on a diet of only fresh new comics, and they're just not getting my motor running.
I suppose the best thing for everyone, then, would be if I wrapped this self-indulgent exercise up right now and maybe cracked open one of those random, weird, old tales instead.
Monday, March 24, 2014
A Late-to-the-Table Review of Moon Knight #1
I know Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey's new Moon Knight series debuted almost three weeks ago, but I just read the first issue yesterday and it stuck with me and so now I'm going to talk about it briefly. The rest of the Internet has certainly already said a lot about this issue, and I have no clue what the consensus is because I've been avoiding reading those reviews until I could read the actual comic. So what follows may be old hat, but it's my hat, and that's all I've got.
Moon Knight #1 was not the best new comic I read last night, nor was it the best-looking or most surprising or strangest or, really, the most anything. But it managed to strike some unique chords in me, some of my favorites and the ones least often struck by my superhero entertainment. Right off the bat, Moon Knight shows up at a crime scene and starts profiling the murderer, shooting out a bunch of hyper-confident conclusions based on his quick yet thorough observations of the evidence. In other words, he was Sherlock Holmes, a character who's having a bit of a renaissance lately, of which I am a fan. Both Sherlock and Elementary are top-notch shows, and Holmes has always been a character whose gimmick I enjoyed. The same is true of Moon Knight, the superhero who's insane, and Warren Ellis' script leans into that, too, but I don't want to go there yet, because I have one more Sherlock Holmes-related point to make. Something I often hear or read about Moon Knight, and it is pretty hard to deny, is that he's basically just Marvel's Batman. Rich guy, throws little boomerang things in special shapes, wears a cape, operates at night, no real superpowers. Dark Knight, Moon Knight...you can see the parallels. That being said, there's an almost-just-as-obvious case to be made that Batman is DC's Sherlock Holmes. Super detective, obsessive to the point of putting himself at risk often, a strange but ultimately beneficial relationship with the local cops. There are echoes of Watson in Alfred and Robin. What I'm saying is, I like the idea of taking a character like Moon Knight who often gets accused of ripping off Batman and, instead, having him steal a page from one of Batman's own influences.
Ellis also plays up Moon Knight's craziness, as I mentioned, and in ways that I like because they are such opposites in tone. From the very start of the issue—which is pretty much just a blogger giving expository background info on Moon Knight to a disembodied voice on the other end of her phone—the topic of Moon Knight's mental state is more of a joke than a legitimate concern. Moon Knight himself is very vocal about the fact the he's nuts, but since he gets results everyone seems to live with it. Some disapprove, and some even question it aloud, but nobody gets in his way because he's brazen enough to get away with ignoring the skepticism. That's a fun way to handle the long-established insanity of the character, by just announcing up top that everybody knows about it and they're letting him do his thing anyway. But Ellis then twists that idea two times before the issue's end. First, in a scene where Marc Spector, the man who is Moon Knight behind the mask, goes to his therapist. She very politely and matter-of-factly (almost callously) explains to him that he does not, as he always believed, have Dissociative Identity Disorder. What he has, his doctor tells him, are the four aspects of the Egyptian god Khonshu living inside of him, forcing him to fight against "those who would would harm travellers by night." His brain tries to give these aspects their own identities because it cannot comprehend their true nature, but he's not truly crazy as the world believes and he claims publicly. He's just a vessel for a god's vengeance, plain and simple. This news does not seem to sit well with Marc, and after he hears it the issue concludes in the second twist, with two near-silent pages of him returning home, sullen and alone. His house is empty, large, and dusty, covered in cobwebs. Marc sits in a chair and sees sitting across from him a figure dressed in a suit with a giant bird skull for a head and it says to him "You are my son" in crazy white-on-black letters. I assume this is Khonshu himself showing up to bring things to a terrifying and incredibly dismal close, an unexpectedly heavy door slamming shut at the end of what had been a pretty fun and equally surprising superhero Sherlock story.
The impact of that conclusion, because it is almost wordless and the only four words spoken are in a very stylized font, is credited entirely to artist Declan Shalvey, colorist Jordie Bellaire, and letterer Chris Eliopoulos. The ease with which they transition at the end into black-and-gray horror after all the bright-white-and-red action of the previous pages deserves much praise, as does everything else they do on this book. Shalvey and Bellaire come together to make Moon Knight's all-white outfit not just pop but dazzle against the grim nighttime city backgrounds. He is so shockingly, abrasively noticeable that you believe it as a tactic against his enemies, a first-round stun affect based solely on style and confidence. Shalvey also makes the bad guy of this debut appropriately memorable but laughable, so we know he's not sticking around but he earned his place in the #1 issue. The best pages were definitely those devoted to the therapist scene, though, starting the gorgeous mountain setting, sliding quickly into the therapist's cruel enjoyment in delivering the bad news, and culminating in a gorgeously unsettling splash page that I would diminish if I tried to describe but, trust me, it's a highlight of the year so far. Bellaire is right there with Shalvey all along the way. She lights the villain is deeps reds, a nice contrast to Moon Knight's stark whites, and then mutes the colors for the therapy scene and beyond, bringing the mood down to something more somber and unnerving. Beyond Khonshu's dialogue, Eliopoulos doesn't have a lot of chances to show off, though he certainly letters every panel as expertly as is usual for him. And he does stellar work on the third-page title sequence, a very tidy and fun way to introduce the book's semi-humorous-with-a-lurking-dread tone.
I said this wasn't the best thing I read last night and that's true, but a lot of that is just because it's too new a book to bring out the same kind of emotions in me as the series in which I'm already heavily invested. Moon Knight was definitely my favorite debut in a couple of months, and is probably the title from the current wave of new Marvel stuff that has me most excited. I was always champing at the bit to see Shalvey and Bellaire on this particular character, and they did not disappoint for a second. They did, however, surprise me quite a bit in their handling of him, from his design to his supporting cast to his fighting style, so that's all great. I also didn't really know how to feel about the prospect of Ellis writing Moon Knight, and I damn sure didn't expect him to write a violent Sherlock Holmes with a death wish whose every move was dictated by the will of a god. That's a concept I'm attracted to for a number of reasons, and now that it has been so delightfully introduced, I'm eager to see the next step, the evolution of all these themes and threads.
Moon Knight #1 was not the best new comic I read last night, nor was it the best-looking or most surprising or strangest or, really, the most anything. But it managed to strike some unique chords in me, some of my favorites and the ones least often struck by my superhero entertainment. Right off the bat, Moon Knight shows up at a crime scene and starts profiling the murderer, shooting out a bunch of hyper-confident conclusions based on his quick yet thorough observations of the evidence. In other words, he was Sherlock Holmes, a character who's having a bit of a renaissance lately, of which I am a fan. Both Sherlock and Elementary are top-notch shows, and Holmes has always been a character whose gimmick I enjoyed. The same is true of Moon Knight, the superhero who's insane, and Warren Ellis' script leans into that, too, but I don't want to go there yet, because I have one more Sherlock Holmes-related point to make. Something I often hear or read about Moon Knight, and it is pretty hard to deny, is that he's basically just Marvel's Batman. Rich guy, throws little boomerang things in special shapes, wears a cape, operates at night, no real superpowers. Dark Knight, Moon Knight...you can see the parallels. That being said, there's an almost-just-as-obvious case to be made that Batman is DC's Sherlock Holmes. Super detective, obsessive to the point of putting himself at risk often, a strange but ultimately beneficial relationship with the local cops. There are echoes of Watson in Alfred and Robin. What I'm saying is, I like the idea of taking a character like Moon Knight who often gets accused of ripping off Batman and, instead, having him steal a page from one of Batman's own influences.
Ellis also plays up Moon Knight's craziness, as I mentioned, and in ways that I like because they are such opposites in tone. From the very start of the issue—which is pretty much just a blogger giving expository background info on Moon Knight to a disembodied voice on the other end of her phone—the topic of Moon Knight's mental state is more of a joke than a legitimate concern. Moon Knight himself is very vocal about the fact the he's nuts, but since he gets results everyone seems to live with it. Some disapprove, and some even question it aloud, but nobody gets in his way because he's brazen enough to get away with ignoring the skepticism. That's a fun way to handle the long-established insanity of the character, by just announcing up top that everybody knows about it and they're letting him do his thing anyway. But Ellis then twists that idea two times before the issue's end. First, in a scene where Marc Spector, the man who is Moon Knight behind the mask, goes to his therapist. She very politely and matter-of-factly (almost callously) explains to him that he does not, as he always believed, have Dissociative Identity Disorder. What he has, his doctor tells him, are the four aspects of the Egyptian god Khonshu living inside of him, forcing him to fight against "those who would would harm travellers by night." His brain tries to give these aspects their own identities because it cannot comprehend their true nature, but he's not truly crazy as the world believes and he claims publicly. He's just a vessel for a god's vengeance, plain and simple. This news does not seem to sit well with Marc, and after he hears it the issue concludes in the second twist, with two near-silent pages of him returning home, sullen and alone. His house is empty, large, and dusty, covered in cobwebs. Marc sits in a chair and sees sitting across from him a figure dressed in a suit with a giant bird skull for a head and it says to him "You are my son" in crazy white-on-black letters. I assume this is Khonshu himself showing up to bring things to a terrifying and incredibly dismal close, an unexpectedly heavy door slamming shut at the end of what had been a pretty fun and equally surprising superhero Sherlock story.
The impact of that conclusion, because it is almost wordless and the only four words spoken are in a very stylized font, is credited entirely to artist Declan Shalvey, colorist Jordie Bellaire, and letterer Chris Eliopoulos. The ease with which they transition at the end into black-and-gray horror after all the bright-white-and-red action of the previous pages deserves much praise, as does everything else they do on this book. Shalvey and Bellaire come together to make Moon Knight's all-white outfit not just pop but dazzle against the grim nighttime city backgrounds. He is so shockingly, abrasively noticeable that you believe it as a tactic against his enemies, a first-round stun affect based solely on style and confidence. Shalvey also makes the bad guy of this debut appropriately memorable but laughable, so we know he's not sticking around but he earned his place in the #1 issue. The best pages were definitely those devoted to the therapist scene, though, starting the gorgeous mountain setting, sliding quickly into the therapist's cruel enjoyment in delivering the bad news, and culminating in a gorgeously unsettling splash page that I would diminish if I tried to describe but, trust me, it's a highlight of the year so far. Bellaire is right there with Shalvey all along the way. She lights the villain is deeps reds, a nice contrast to Moon Knight's stark whites, and then mutes the colors for the therapy scene and beyond, bringing the mood down to something more somber and unnerving. Beyond Khonshu's dialogue, Eliopoulos doesn't have a lot of chances to show off, though he certainly letters every panel as expertly as is usual for him. And he does stellar work on the third-page title sequence, a very tidy and fun way to introduce the book's semi-humorous-with-a-lurking-dread tone.
I said this wasn't the best thing I read last night and that's true, but a lot of that is just because it's too new a book to bring out the same kind of emotions in me as the series in which I'm already heavily invested. Moon Knight was definitely my favorite debut in a couple of months, and is probably the title from the current wave of new Marvel stuff that has me most excited. I was always champing at the bit to see Shalvey and Bellaire on this particular character, and they did not disappoint for a second. They did, however, surprise me quite a bit in their handling of him, from his design to his supporting cast to his fighting style, so that's all great. I also didn't really know how to feel about the prospect of Ellis writing Moon Knight, and I damn sure didn't expect him to write a violent Sherlock Holmes with a death wish whose every move was dictated by the will of a god. That's a concept I'm attracted to for a number of reasons, and now that it has been so delightfully introduced, I'm eager to see the next step, the evolution of all these themes and threads.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Pull List Reviews 04/27/2012
So...I don't know whether or not Monocyte #4 came out this week. I thought it was supposed to, but they didn't have it at my local store, and the Internet isn't being helpful so I'm not certain if it was pushed back again or if my place just failed to order it. But other than that (and being late a day) pretty fair haul this week:
Astonishing X-Men #49: Some really nice moments here between Kyle and Northstar---a very well-written and emotionally resonant romance. Other than those few pages, though, nothing really stands out. A pretty boring fight with an even more boring and somewhat cliched resolution, which leads us to an even MORE cliched and totally obvious conclusion to the issue. I appreciate that Marjorie Liu gave most of her cast something to do, and there wasn't anything especially bad about this story, but there wasn't anything especially good, either. The same is true of Mike Perkins' art, which is rough and sloppy in places (like the horribly jumbled splash page in the middle of the fight) but generally serviceable if not impressive. And hey, am I supposed to know who the woman revealed on the final page is? Because I do not, and it weakened the effect of the ending, to my mind. Overall I walked away from Astonishing X-Men #49 feeling unenthusiastic about the future of the title. Not a bad read, but not one that particularly makes you want to come back for more.
5.0/10
Daredevil #11: Well, it's official. "The Omega Effect" was a bust. I read all three parts, and while none of them were spectacular, this finale was especially disappointing because it made the entire crossover feel totally pointless. What happened? Plenty, I guess. But what changed? Nothing. The Omega Drive is still in DD's hands, and now he has a "new plan" to deal with it, but based on how much of a waste of time his first plan was (meaning this issue right here) I find myself none-too-excited to learn what comes next. To be fair to Daredevil #11, Marco Checchetto delivered some incredible art, and the first third of the issue was pretty solid in terms of story: fun action with solid characterization of Spidey, DD, and Punisher all. And for just a second it seemed like this whole Omega Drive situation might actually be developed in an unexpected way. But as soon as Murdock took off after Alves---I use the name she prefers, and I honestly don't understand why no one else will---it got boring, everything was undone, and the status quo returned. Congratulations, Marvel, you tricked me into buying two extra comics this month for no reason. Four, arguably, because I probably could have just gone straight from Daredevil #10 to Daredevil #12 without feeling like I missed a thing (and there was that stupid ass .1 issue before TOE really kicked off). It's a bummer, because TOE had massive potential and awesome talent behind it, but alas, it ended with a fizzle rather than a bang.
3.5/10
Justice League Dark #8: I'm not sure how much needs to be said about this issue, which is Peter Milligan's last as writer of Justice League Dark, and you can feel him not giving a shit about it on every page. The super-forced exit of Shade, the Changing Man felt like it might have been the comicbook representation of Milligan's own exit from the title: the chaos of this thing he is supposed to be controlling becomes too much for him to handle, and so he just gives in to it and leaves. Next month we get a shift in the lineup of the team, a new writer, and, fingers crossed, a believable and compelling reason for these characters to even work together in the first place. That lack of focus or motive has been a problem for Justice League Dark since its debut, a fact that has never been more apparent than in this choppy, lackluster crossover issue.
2.0/10
Moon Knight #12: I know there were some naysayers, but I have been enjoying the story of Moon Knight vs. Count Nefaria in spite of their obvious power imbalance. There were definitely a few moments in some of their encounters where it seemed like Nefaria was holding back for no real reason, but in general I thought Brian Michael Bendis did a good job of keeping it believable and interesting. So going into Moon Knight #12, knowing it was going to be the conclusion to that tale, I had my hopes set pretty high. So maybe it's partially my fault for being so excited up front, but this issue was a massive letdown. He calls in the Avengers? Seriously, Bendis? That's the solution you came up with? After a year of Moon Knight steadfastly fighting this battle on his own terms, in his own city, with his own resources, he dials the superhero emergency line and lets somebody else finish the job. In one hit, might I add. Weak. But don't worry, there's a reason for it: Tony Stark gets to tease the upcoming Age of Ultron for two whole pages. WEAK! Don't plug your new project in the final throws of your old one, Bendis, ya schmuck. That's just classless all over. And now we'll never get the innovative, inventive, awesome finale this series deserved. Instead we're stuck with this forever. A cop out closing with below-the-bar art from Alex Maleev, less-badass-than-usual behavior from our title character, and what basically amounts to a commercial for a new title at the end. Nasty.
3.0/10
Rebel Blood #2: Though not quite as strong as its opening issue, Rebel Blood #2 continues to tell a singularly entertaining story of one man trying to cope with unimaginable horror all on his own. Chuck is a great blend of improvised action hero and terrified victim, responding to each new development with a combination of stunned shock and survivalist violence. And the brief trips we take into his unstable psyche in the midst of all this madness help to add both realism and surrealism to the book, grounding it in human fears, memories, and desires while at the same time building an uncertain reality and history for Chuck. As he is swept up by the unthinkable situation that surrounds him, the reader is carried right along with him by the fluid, restless storytelling and artwork from Alex Link and Riley Rossmo. It seems like the primary goal of Rebel Blood is to make the reader and Chuck one-and-the-same as much as possible, as far as our emotional and mental states while the narrative advances. And more often than not, that's exactly what happens. All of his disgust and anxieties are shared by the reader as the issue powers forward, never settling down long enough to let us or our protagonist get too solid a grip on anything. But even with that pacing, because this isn't a typical "group of survivors" story, we are able to fully experience what Chuck goes through, externally and internally, and that's precisely what makes Rebel Blood so good. Well, that and Rossmo's kinetic, brilliant artwork, which highlights the horrific elements of the story perfectly and is just rough enough around the edges to add to the surreality of the comic without detracting any clarity. In fact, in some places, like the flashback sequence, the art tells us more of the story than the letters do. We're already halfway through this series, and while it feels like it'll end too soon, I'd probably also be more than satisfied if the two issues we've seen so far were all that ever came out.
8.5/10
Secret Avengers #26: As far as event tie-ins go, Secret Avengers #26 is an exemplary comicbook. The story it tells, while spinning directly out of the main AvX narrative, stands largely on its own and could easily be enjoyed by someone who isn't following the event proper. It is, perhaps, a bit simplistic---a team of Avengers fight and fail to contain the Phoenix Force in space---but Rick Remender has a good handle on the voices of every single character (and there are quite a few), and gives each of them something to do without ever seeming like he's forcing it in. Each of their roles is logical and natural, and it gives the issue a real "team book" feel that Secret Avengers has been missing since Remender took the helm. And it felt for a while like Noh-Varr and Ms. Marvel were going to be ignored, but turns out they actually have pivotal roles to play in by the end of the issue (or, at any rate, they most likely will have said roles in the next issue). It's a fun and well-orchestrated story, but what really pushes Secret Avengers #26 over the edge is the team of artsit Renato Guedes, and colorists Bettie Breitweiser, and Matthew Wilson. I name all three because the soft yet vibrant colors are a major part of the overall affect, but Guedes is the champion, from his two-page Phoenix spread to his close-up on Captain Britain's nose bleed and everything Remender asks of him in between. As loathe as I am to say it, this tie-in has been my favorite of Remender's issues on Secret Avengers. Best art, best lineup, best story.
8.5/10
Spaceman #6: Losing a bit of momentum this time out, Spaceman #6 had a lot of characters communicating information to each other that we already knew. The scenes that took place on Mars were still good, but even they felt a little more by-the-numbers than they have in previous issues, merely moving the story of the space mission forward a step or two without offering any new insights. The moment where we see The Fence and all that surrounds it was important and well-done, but I wouldn't use those words to describe very much else in the issue. I mean, Eduardo Risso kills it as always, packing detail and emotion into every panel, but so much of what he draws is people standing around and talking that even the art deflates a little. And Brian Azzarello's script is the least interesting or original of this series so far. It's still a cut above any number of other titles, but the progress made in Spaceman #6 is so small that it felt like filler, which you don't want in a nine-issue limited series.
5.5/10
Teen Titans #8: Scott Lobdell clearly knows his cast, and their distinct voices and viewpoints have been a highlight of this title so far, but in Teen Titans #8 the one-by-one characterization was laid on a bit thick. It's still a fun read, but its only real purpose is to lead us into the upcoming "The Culling" crossover, and so that's all we get. I'm not complaining, really, just saying this issue was a tad light. One at a time, the Teen Titans are prepared for whatever Harvest and his followers have in store for them next, which is the main event, presumably, that Teen Titans has been ramping up to for some time. I'm excited for "The Culling" because Harvest is a pretty interesting villain (as are his lackeys Omen and Leash) and Lobdell has been doing good work with this cast. This prelude issue made me a little impatient since not a lot actually happened, but Solstice's dialogue with Bunker made the impending final confrontation between the Titans and N.O.W.H.E.R.E. seem even scarier and more exciting, and nothing here actively dampened my enthusiasm for "The Culling" so I guess, really, it was a solid prologue. Fluffy, maybe, but as good for new readers as old, and a probably necessary first step before leaping into the crossover.
6.0/10
Ultimate Comics Ultimates #9: I like Esad Ribic's art a lot, and he has been a major part of why Ultimates has been such an entertaining title, but I always find myself irked by the way he draws widely opened eyes or mouths. Any time anyone is yelling or surprised, and even sometimes in battle scenes, Ribic makes their eyes bug so much you expect them to pop out in the next panel, and their mouths take up half of their faces. Normally, this is a small complaint, but in Ultimate Comics Ultimates #9, for some reason, it happened an inordinate number of times. I'm nitpicking, because the rest of his art was at its typical high standard, but it was something I couldn't help but notice.
Aside from that, a middle-of-the-line kind of issue. Jonathan Hickman advances all of his numerous plot threads, but only a little bit, and not in any truly surprising ways. No one expected Zorn to be the solution to the City, but it was also not shocking when he did have the power to do some actual damage to it. And Reed Richards' retaliation against the U.S., while it looked cool, was pretty much to be expected. A shade decompressed for my taste, but no less high energy or interesting for it.
6.5/10
Uncanny X-Men #11: Kieron Gillen deals with the obligation of doing an AvX tie-in by showing us some scenes which we've already seen in the main title through the eyes and inner monologues of three characters from Uncanny X-Men. It's a fine enough approach, although I doubt it would be the least bit enjoyable for any Uncanny fans not following the event. And while Namor and Colossus both have strong voices here, neither of them says anything that felt all that new. I get why Namor likes mutants, and I get why Colossus struggles with being Cyttorak's avatar, so even though I didn't dislike their scenes, they were very much non-essential reading. Hope's part actually did teach me a thing or two, like Hope and Logan making a deal for him to kill her, or that she has an actual plan in her mind for dealing with the Phoenix (although how much do you wanna bet it doesn't go the way she wants?) but it was an extremely brief section of the issue, plus it's probably information we'll get somewhere else in another month or two, anyway. Greg Land's art was inconsistent at best. He seems to have difficulty with smaller panels, as many of his close-ups look unnatural and stagnant, but he nails most of the fight moments that take up a larger portion of the page.
The press release at the end was just stupid, and I choose to pretend those two pages don't exist.
5.0/10
Astonishing X-Men #49: Some really nice moments here between Kyle and Northstar---a very well-written and emotionally resonant romance. Other than those few pages, though, nothing really stands out. A pretty boring fight with an even more boring and somewhat cliched resolution, which leads us to an even MORE cliched and totally obvious conclusion to the issue. I appreciate that Marjorie Liu gave most of her cast something to do, and there wasn't anything especially bad about this story, but there wasn't anything especially good, either. The same is true of Mike Perkins' art, which is rough and sloppy in places (like the horribly jumbled splash page in the middle of the fight) but generally serviceable if not impressive. And hey, am I supposed to know who the woman revealed on the final page is? Because I do not, and it weakened the effect of the ending, to my mind. Overall I walked away from Astonishing X-Men #49 feeling unenthusiastic about the future of the title. Not a bad read, but not one that particularly makes you want to come back for more.
5.0/10
Daredevil #11: Well, it's official. "The Omega Effect" was a bust. I read all three parts, and while none of them were spectacular, this finale was especially disappointing because it made the entire crossover feel totally pointless. What happened? Plenty, I guess. But what changed? Nothing. The Omega Drive is still in DD's hands, and now he has a "new plan" to deal with it, but based on how much of a waste of time his first plan was (meaning this issue right here) I find myself none-too-excited to learn what comes next. To be fair to Daredevil #11, Marco Checchetto delivered some incredible art, and the first third of the issue was pretty solid in terms of story: fun action with solid characterization of Spidey, DD, and Punisher all. And for just a second it seemed like this whole Omega Drive situation might actually be developed in an unexpected way. But as soon as Murdock took off after Alves---I use the name she prefers, and I honestly don't understand why no one else will---it got boring, everything was undone, and the status quo returned. Congratulations, Marvel, you tricked me into buying two extra comics this month for no reason. Four, arguably, because I probably could have just gone straight from Daredevil #10 to Daredevil #12 without feeling like I missed a thing (and there was that stupid ass .1 issue before TOE really kicked off). It's a bummer, because TOE had massive potential and awesome talent behind it, but alas, it ended with a fizzle rather than a bang.
3.5/10
Justice League Dark #8: I'm not sure how much needs to be said about this issue, which is Peter Milligan's last as writer of Justice League Dark, and you can feel him not giving a shit about it on every page. The super-forced exit of Shade, the Changing Man felt like it might have been the comicbook representation of Milligan's own exit from the title: the chaos of this thing he is supposed to be controlling becomes too much for him to handle, and so he just gives in to it and leaves. Next month we get a shift in the lineup of the team, a new writer, and, fingers crossed, a believable and compelling reason for these characters to even work together in the first place. That lack of focus or motive has been a problem for Justice League Dark since its debut, a fact that has never been more apparent than in this choppy, lackluster crossover issue.
2.0/10
Moon Knight #12: I know there were some naysayers, but I have been enjoying the story of Moon Knight vs. Count Nefaria in spite of their obvious power imbalance. There were definitely a few moments in some of their encounters where it seemed like Nefaria was holding back for no real reason, but in general I thought Brian Michael Bendis did a good job of keeping it believable and interesting. So going into Moon Knight #12, knowing it was going to be the conclusion to that tale, I had my hopes set pretty high. So maybe it's partially my fault for being so excited up front, but this issue was a massive letdown. He calls in the Avengers? Seriously, Bendis? That's the solution you came up with? After a year of Moon Knight steadfastly fighting this battle on his own terms, in his own city, with his own resources, he dials the superhero emergency line and lets somebody else finish the job. In one hit, might I add. Weak. But don't worry, there's a reason for it: Tony Stark gets to tease the upcoming Age of Ultron for two whole pages. WEAK! Don't plug your new project in the final throws of your old one, Bendis, ya schmuck. That's just classless all over. And now we'll never get the innovative, inventive, awesome finale this series deserved. Instead we're stuck with this forever. A cop out closing with below-the-bar art from Alex Maleev, less-badass-than-usual behavior from our title character, and what basically amounts to a commercial for a new title at the end. Nasty.
3.0/10
Rebel Blood #2: Though not quite as strong as its opening issue, Rebel Blood #2 continues to tell a singularly entertaining story of one man trying to cope with unimaginable horror all on his own. Chuck is a great blend of improvised action hero and terrified victim, responding to each new development with a combination of stunned shock and survivalist violence. And the brief trips we take into his unstable psyche in the midst of all this madness help to add both realism and surrealism to the book, grounding it in human fears, memories, and desires while at the same time building an uncertain reality and history for Chuck. As he is swept up by the unthinkable situation that surrounds him, the reader is carried right along with him by the fluid, restless storytelling and artwork from Alex Link and Riley Rossmo. It seems like the primary goal of Rebel Blood is to make the reader and Chuck one-and-the-same as much as possible, as far as our emotional and mental states while the narrative advances. And more often than not, that's exactly what happens. All of his disgust and anxieties are shared by the reader as the issue powers forward, never settling down long enough to let us or our protagonist get too solid a grip on anything. But even with that pacing, because this isn't a typical "group of survivors" story, we are able to fully experience what Chuck goes through, externally and internally, and that's precisely what makes Rebel Blood so good. Well, that and Rossmo's kinetic, brilliant artwork, which highlights the horrific elements of the story perfectly and is just rough enough around the edges to add to the surreality of the comic without detracting any clarity. In fact, in some places, like the flashback sequence, the art tells us more of the story than the letters do. We're already halfway through this series, and while it feels like it'll end too soon, I'd probably also be more than satisfied if the two issues we've seen so far were all that ever came out.
8.5/10
Secret Avengers #26: As far as event tie-ins go, Secret Avengers #26 is an exemplary comicbook. The story it tells, while spinning directly out of the main AvX narrative, stands largely on its own and could easily be enjoyed by someone who isn't following the event proper. It is, perhaps, a bit simplistic---a team of Avengers fight and fail to contain the Phoenix Force in space---but Rick Remender has a good handle on the voices of every single character (and there are quite a few), and gives each of them something to do without ever seeming like he's forcing it in. Each of their roles is logical and natural, and it gives the issue a real "team book" feel that Secret Avengers has been missing since Remender took the helm. And it felt for a while like Noh-Varr and Ms. Marvel were going to be ignored, but turns out they actually have pivotal roles to play in by the end of the issue (or, at any rate, they most likely will have said roles in the next issue). It's a fun and well-orchestrated story, but what really pushes Secret Avengers #26 over the edge is the team of artsit Renato Guedes, and colorists Bettie Breitweiser, and Matthew Wilson. I name all three because the soft yet vibrant colors are a major part of the overall affect, but Guedes is the champion, from his two-page Phoenix spread to his close-up on Captain Britain's nose bleed and everything Remender asks of him in between. As loathe as I am to say it, this tie-in has been my favorite of Remender's issues on Secret Avengers. Best art, best lineup, best story.
8.5/10
Spaceman #6: Losing a bit of momentum this time out, Spaceman #6 had a lot of characters communicating information to each other that we already knew. The scenes that took place on Mars were still good, but even they felt a little more by-the-numbers than they have in previous issues, merely moving the story of the space mission forward a step or two without offering any new insights. The moment where we see The Fence and all that surrounds it was important and well-done, but I wouldn't use those words to describe very much else in the issue. I mean, Eduardo Risso kills it as always, packing detail and emotion into every panel, but so much of what he draws is people standing around and talking that even the art deflates a little. And Brian Azzarello's script is the least interesting or original of this series so far. It's still a cut above any number of other titles, but the progress made in Spaceman #6 is so small that it felt like filler, which you don't want in a nine-issue limited series.
5.5/10
Teen Titans #8: Scott Lobdell clearly knows his cast, and their distinct voices and viewpoints have been a highlight of this title so far, but in Teen Titans #8 the one-by-one characterization was laid on a bit thick. It's still a fun read, but its only real purpose is to lead us into the upcoming "The Culling" crossover, and so that's all we get. I'm not complaining, really, just saying this issue was a tad light. One at a time, the Teen Titans are prepared for whatever Harvest and his followers have in store for them next, which is the main event, presumably, that Teen Titans has been ramping up to for some time. I'm excited for "The Culling" because Harvest is a pretty interesting villain (as are his lackeys Omen and Leash) and Lobdell has been doing good work with this cast. This prelude issue made me a little impatient since not a lot actually happened, but Solstice's dialogue with Bunker made the impending final confrontation between the Titans and N.O.W.H.E.R.E. seem even scarier and more exciting, and nothing here actively dampened my enthusiasm for "The Culling" so I guess, really, it was a solid prologue. Fluffy, maybe, but as good for new readers as old, and a probably necessary first step before leaping into the crossover.
6.0/10
Ultimate Comics Ultimates #9: I like Esad Ribic's art a lot, and he has been a major part of why Ultimates has been such an entertaining title, but I always find myself irked by the way he draws widely opened eyes or mouths. Any time anyone is yelling or surprised, and even sometimes in battle scenes, Ribic makes their eyes bug so much you expect them to pop out in the next panel, and their mouths take up half of their faces. Normally, this is a small complaint, but in Ultimate Comics Ultimates #9, for some reason, it happened an inordinate number of times. I'm nitpicking, because the rest of his art was at its typical high standard, but it was something I couldn't help but notice.
Aside from that, a middle-of-the-line kind of issue. Jonathan Hickman advances all of his numerous plot threads, but only a little bit, and not in any truly surprising ways. No one expected Zorn to be the solution to the City, but it was also not shocking when he did have the power to do some actual damage to it. And Reed Richards' retaliation against the U.S., while it looked cool, was pretty much to be expected. A shade decompressed for my taste, but no less high energy or interesting for it.
6.5/10
Uncanny X-Men #11: Kieron Gillen deals with the obligation of doing an AvX tie-in by showing us some scenes which we've already seen in the main title through the eyes and inner monologues of three characters from Uncanny X-Men. It's a fine enough approach, although I doubt it would be the least bit enjoyable for any Uncanny fans not following the event. And while Namor and Colossus both have strong voices here, neither of them says anything that felt all that new. I get why Namor likes mutants, and I get why Colossus struggles with being Cyttorak's avatar, so even though I didn't dislike their scenes, they were very much non-essential reading. Hope's part actually did teach me a thing or two, like Hope and Logan making a deal for him to kill her, or that she has an actual plan in her mind for dealing with the Phoenix (although how much do you wanna bet it doesn't go the way she wants?) but it was an extremely brief section of the issue, plus it's probably information we'll get somewhere else in another month or two, anyway. Greg Land's art was inconsistent at best. He seems to have difficulty with smaller panels, as many of his close-ups look unnatural and stagnant, but he nails most of the fight moments that take up a larger portion of the page.
The press release at the end was just stupid, and I choose to pretend those two pages don't exist.
5.0/10
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Pull List Reviews 03/29/2012
First of all, two of my titles were missing this week from my local shop: Astonishing X-Men #48 & Ultimates #8. So those are getting skipped (for now).
Avengers vs. X-Men #0: This is a pretty solid zero issue. Inasmuch as zero issues have any purpose whatsoever (but that's an argument for another time). But if you are going to do a non-essential opening chapter for your story, AvX #0 is the way to do so. Could I have skipped this entirely? You bet. Was it worth the time and money? Sure.
Brian Michael Bendis and Jason Aaron each deliver a clear, complex, and honest character piece. Bendis begins to reintroduce the Scarlet Witch to active superherosim, and in a small amount of space puts Wanda through physical and emotional triumphs and failures. Aaron's Hope story accomplishes a lot of the same things, although in that case it is mostly Hope's triumphs and Scott's failures. We get to see Hope finally confront the issue of the Phoenix, which feels like it's sort of a long time coming. Obviously Marvel has been building up to it by design, but the girl ain't no fool. It makes sense she would have figured out so much already, and it was nice to have her say so out loud after all this time. Also the Serpent Society! Oh man, I have a soft spot in my heart for those clowns, and watching Hope use all of her tactics (including excessive rage-punching) to defeat such a bizarre and ridiculous group of villains was as entertaining as it was unsettling. Frank Cho's art was also solid and consistent. Fun action scenes that had villains which played to his strengths, and good, clear, expressive emotions in the angry-man-talks-sternly-at-woman scenes.
It loses some points because...nothing all that significant happened. No Avengers fought any X-Men. It was issue zero, and it had zero importance. But a fun prologue nonetheless.
6.5/10
Daredevil #10: Daredevil against Mole Man is a pretty interesting match up. Mole Man's natural dimwittedness means that, except for arguably the first page or two, he never puts Daredevil in any real danger, but he's also smart enough to point out that the whole fight is useless because Daredevil has nothing to gain. And it's true. As the narrative captions so kindly point out to us, everybody loses this time. Mole Man may not be a threat to Daredevil, but he's already done all the damage he could do with his little grave-robbing scheme to Matt Murdock. And it is, appropriately, Murdock whose name is attached to the construction of the replacement headstones, granting him the only real victory for any of the characters. A thoroughly satisfying ending to this two-parter.
Then there's the weird part at the very end where...I guess maybe he's going crazy? Or he's overly paranoid? Something's up. Of course, The Omega Effect is next, as we already know, so his paranoia is probably not misplaced. But it was a sort of jarring ending to what was otherwise another great issue from Mark Waid and Paolo Rivera.
8.5/10
Justice League Dark #7: Blech. If they hadn't already announced Lemire taking over, I'd be dropping this title for good as of this week. I have a theory that Peter Milligan never wanted this job or, at any rate, once he got it he regretted the decision for some reason. Because we know damn well he is capable of writing a John Constantine with actual charm and some sliver of likability, but every month in this book all Constantine does it bitch. Bitch bitch bitch. At Xanadu and, sometimes, Deadman, who isn't even bold enough to bitch back. Instead, all he does is whine (yes, there is a difference, but they are equally obnoxious and wrong for these characters). As if that wasn't enough, Shade's only role this month was to be confused and scared. Xanadu, too, until she abandons everybody. Also Zatanna, basically, although she may not have been so scared. A few vampires did get killed, but mostly Xanadu barked orders and the others begrudgingly obeyed. Like always. I get it, Milligan, you can't think of one damn reason this group would be formed, so you just have a magic lady force them together. Stop pointing it out and just tell me a story.
The art was serviceable, but also felt a little bit rushed or...cramped, like maybe Admira Wijaya and/or Daniel Sampere might have liked an extra page or two. A lot of M-Vest activity happened off-panel, and we jumped around from Bat-people back to the main cast in a rapid, disorienting, unsatisfying way.
Basically, boo.
3.0/10
Moon Knight #11: I will be so sad to lose this title next month. The craziest hero in the game, that's the angle Marc Spector has chosen for himself, and it is working on every level. Alex Maleev draws the shit out of what is mostly just one great and sometimes humorous fight scene between Moon Knight, Madame Masque, and Agent Buck Lime over control of, you guessed it, the head of Ultron. And Bendis continues to develop the interesting partnership between Moon Knight and Buck, as well as hanging onto the Echo and Nefaria threads, all of which makes for the perfect push to what will be the inevitable final showdown in issue 12. Definitely the best title to get the axe from Marvel all year.
8.0/10
Morning Glories #17: Jade and Ike talk to each other. End of plot summary.
This was not a bad issue. This was not an impressive issue. There was some insight given into the minds of both characters, but I would argue that, for the most part, it's not a lot we didn't already know. Jade has some secret knowledge, and it is connected to her killing herself. Yep, knew that. Ike is a prick, but only sort of, because really he's kind of nice and sad and smart and understanding. Duh. Other than Jade's mom's death, which only raises more questions than it answers, nothing was really to be gained from this issue. And that, I think, is a problem with Morning Glories in general. Nick Spencer loves to throw weird and/or unexpected shit at us (see the last page of this issue) and then just makes us steep in it without any conclusive payoff. Example: Jade finally asks out loud what the school is, vaguely says it might be a test, and then...nothing. End of topic. Not helpful.
My interest shrinks with this title more and more. But Joe Eisma always brings his A-game. His A-game is not necessarily dazzling, but it's always right there, looking the same and therefore creating a real sense of consistency to the world of the book. And that is as true here as always.
5.0/10
Scalped #57: Another title which, when it ends, will be every so dearly missed. I must say, I honestly thought we'd be done with all the Diesel stuff. I guess maybe that was stupid of me, but if so I'm glad to be stupid, because I really enjoyed the surprise of it coming back into play here, at the end of everything, in such an enormous way. Diesel's murder (and the whole story surrounding it) was such a key part of the greater arc of Dash's character, really getting him in with Red Crow in a way he hadn't quite accomplished before that, so it seems fitting it would be the thing that might undo Dash in the end.
Of course, it's all really because of Carol's abortion, which is another plotline I wasn't sure we'd ever hear from again (although I was less surprised by this one). And I really, really hope we get to see Red Crow and Carol talk about it before the title comes to a close, because I just think Jason Aaron is going to write that scene into space.
Trail's End is shaping up to be one hell of a closing arc. And I didn't even talk about how it's probably one of the top ten covers Jock's ever done for the series, or how brutal Catcher gets to be one last time before it all comes to a close, or how R.M. Guera does such a great job decaying Diesel's body you feel like you're watching Bones. Only three to go, so Aaron and Guera better already have their next project locked and loaded.
8.5/10
Secret Avengers #24: I am having a hard time pinning down my feelings about this one. I have been enjoying this story, by-and-large, but under Rick Remender's pen, Secret Avengers has started to feel kind of like Justice League Dark, where the biggest common theme from issue to issue is how much everyone dislikes and fights with each other on the team. Now, there is certainly more of a sense in Secret Avengers that, eventually, some of this griping and sniping will resolve. Hawkeye obviously wishes he was doing better, Beast has been trying to keep the peace, etc. but for now I find it sort of grating. Captain Britain and The Torch bicker, Hawkeye apologizes to Beast for last month's bickering, and Flash Thompson just complains out loud to himself for a page. Enough.
However, Gabriel Hardman could not be a better fit for the title right now, I think in some ways because of all the in-fighting and negativity. His lines are rough but always clear, his characters so expressive even when they're not as detailed, and it fits the somewhat gritty and uneven feeling of the team. And he makes Father quite the imposing villain, while still letting some of the humor of a room full of arguing robots come through.
Still, mostly just more losing to Adaptoids and failing to get along for the Secret Avengers this issue. Same as last issue.
6.0/10
Spaceman #5: Coming right in the middle of this nine-issue series, Spaceman #5 is a bit of a slow burn. Each of the various seeds Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso planted in the previous four issues continues to grow. Orson and Tara get one step closer to getting her home once they are spotted by, and then spot, a camera crew from her show. The story of Orson's past on his space mission takes a fatal and, no doubt, highly significant turn. And by the end of the issue, Orson's past gets incrementally closer to catching up with him in the present. Steady as she goes with this story, as well as Risso's art. What can be said that hasn't been said already? He captures the gloom of the world so perfectly, while both Orson and Tara stand out as more innocent and hopeful figures. Even when compared to the other "spaceman" on the last page (whose name escapes me at the moment), Orson is far less imposing or hard in his appearance. It keeps us on his side, even as we learn that his greed led to another's death, or we wonder whether he's the best guardian for Tara at the moment. He may not be, but it's clear he's doing his personal best, and that's good enough (for me, anyway).
7.5/10
Teen Titans #7: Teen Titans is such an insane romp of a comic book, sometimes it zips by so fast it barely leaves an impression. I mean, what even happens this month? The Titans win and win and win but don't get anywhere, argue with each other a bit (Red Robin is a total dick in this issue), and then get attacked by a scary-looking villain. Not the first scary-looking villain to attack them, mind you. Not even the scariest-looking, which sort of detracts from the ending. And something so weird happens to Kid Flash for like half a page that I am guessing will be important down the line.
It wasn't bad, per se, just a bit fluffy. I will say that I found myself actively cheering on Solstice when she was scolding Red Robin, who, again, was such an ass about it. He's really not that great a leader, or even, in this issue, that great a hero. But the rest of his team are such a lively and interesting-looking group, that even when it's not doing much, Teen Titans continues to entertain from cover to cover.
6.5/10
Uncanny X-Force #23: The Otherworld story finally ends, and not a moment too soon. Man, so much about this was a disappointment. Tocchini's art, as has been pointed out elsewhere, is all wrong here. Uncanny X-Force has, to my mind, always been its best when the art has been as down-to-earth as possible. It is a team of grim characters doing dirty work, even when they are battling goat monks from the future and skinless judges, and they need an artist who can show it. Having such blurred and uneven art is a huge drawback.
The story, alas, was only the tiniest bit better. I did like the very, very end of the issue, where Betsy gets to put each of her brothers in their respective places, because Psylocke is a badass and should get to act like one as much as possible. But Mr. Skinless or Weapon III or whatever he's called just runs off, and the reveal about the goat monk's identity, while semi-interesting, was not all that inventive and made the bulk of the fighting in the last few issues seem like a lot of wasted time.
Also, the whole trial of Fantomex thing hasn't really been resolved, has it? I mean, the plan was to erase the guy from existence, and that did not happen. Is the Captain Britain Corps NOT going to come after him again for murdering kid Apocalypse? And if not, why not? And if they are going to come after him again...lame. I don't want to see those British pricks in Uncanny X-Force ever again!
EVER!
4.5/10
Avengers vs. X-Men #0: This is a pretty solid zero issue. Inasmuch as zero issues have any purpose whatsoever (but that's an argument for another time). But if you are going to do a non-essential opening chapter for your story, AvX #0 is the way to do so. Could I have skipped this entirely? You bet. Was it worth the time and money? Sure.
Brian Michael Bendis and Jason Aaron each deliver a clear, complex, and honest character piece. Bendis begins to reintroduce the Scarlet Witch to active superherosim, and in a small amount of space puts Wanda through physical and emotional triumphs and failures. Aaron's Hope story accomplishes a lot of the same things, although in that case it is mostly Hope's triumphs and Scott's failures. We get to see Hope finally confront the issue of the Phoenix, which feels like it's sort of a long time coming. Obviously Marvel has been building up to it by design, but the girl ain't no fool. It makes sense she would have figured out so much already, and it was nice to have her say so out loud after all this time. Also the Serpent Society! Oh man, I have a soft spot in my heart for those clowns, and watching Hope use all of her tactics (including excessive rage-punching) to defeat such a bizarre and ridiculous group of villains was as entertaining as it was unsettling. Frank Cho's art was also solid and consistent. Fun action scenes that had villains which played to his strengths, and good, clear, expressive emotions in the angry-man-talks-sternly-at-woman scenes.
It loses some points because...nothing all that significant happened. No Avengers fought any X-Men. It was issue zero, and it had zero importance. But a fun prologue nonetheless.
6.5/10
Daredevil #10: Daredevil against Mole Man is a pretty interesting match up. Mole Man's natural dimwittedness means that, except for arguably the first page or two, he never puts Daredevil in any real danger, but he's also smart enough to point out that the whole fight is useless because Daredevil has nothing to gain. And it's true. As the narrative captions so kindly point out to us, everybody loses this time. Mole Man may not be a threat to Daredevil, but he's already done all the damage he could do with his little grave-robbing scheme to Matt Murdock. And it is, appropriately, Murdock whose name is attached to the construction of the replacement headstones, granting him the only real victory for any of the characters. A thoroughly satisfying ending to this two-parter.
Then there's the weird part at the very end where...I guess maybe he's going crazy? Or he's overly paranoid? Something's up. Of course, The Omega Effect is next, as we already know, so his paranoia is probably not misplaced. But it was a sort of jarring ending to what was otherwise another great issue from Mark Waid and Paolo Rivera.
8.5/10
Justice League Dark #7: Blech. If they hadn't already announced Lemire taking over, I'd be dropping this title for good as of this week. I have a theory that Peter Milligan never wanted this job or, at any rate, once he got it he regretted the decision for some reason. Because we know damn well he is capable of writing a John Constantine with actual charm and some sliver of likability, but every month in this book all Constantine does it bitch. Bitch bitch bitch. At Xanadu and, sometimes, Deadman, who isn't even bold enough to bitch back. Instead, all he does is whine (yes, there is a difference, but they are equally obnoxious and wrong for these characters). As if that wasn't enough, Shade's only role this month was to be confused and scared. Xanadu, too, until she abandons everybody. Also Zatanna, basically, although she may not have been so scared. A few vampires did get killed, but mostly Xanadu barked orders and the others begrudgingly obeyed. Like always. I get it, Milligan, you can't think of one damn reason this group would be formed, so you just have a magic lady force them together. Stop pointing it out and just tell me a story.
The art was serviceable, but also felt a little bit rushed or...cramped, like maybe Admira Wijaya and/or Daniel Sampere might have liked an extra page or two. A lot of M-Vest activity happened off-panel, and we jumped around from Bat-people back to the main cast in a rapid, disorienting, unsatisfying way.
Basically, boo.
3.0/10
Moon Knight #11: I will be so sad to lose this title next month. The craziest hero in the game, that's the angle Marc Spector has chosen for himself, and it is working on every level. Alex Maleev draws the shit out of what is mostly just one great and sometimes humorous fight scene between Moon Knight, Madame Masque, and Agent Buck Lime over control of, you guessed it, the head of Ultron. And Bendis continues to develop the interesting partnership between Moon Knight and Buck, as well as hanging onto the Echo and Nefaria threads, all of which makes for the perfect push to what will be the inevitable final showdown in issue 12. Definitely the best title to get the axe from Marvel all year.
8.0/10
Morning Glories #17: Jade and Ike talk to each other. End of plot summary.
This was not a bad issue. This was not an impressive issue. There was some insight given into the minds of both characters, but I would argue that, for the most part, it's not a lot we didn't already know. Jade has some secret knowledge, and it is connected to her killing herself. Yep, knew that. Ike is a prick, but only sort of, because really he's kind of nice and sad and smart and understanding. Duh. Other than Jade's mom's death, which only raises more questions than it answers, nothing was really to be gained from this issue. And that, I think, is a problem with Morning Glories in general. Nick Spencer loves to throw weird and/or unexpected shit at us (see the last page of this issue) and then just makes us steep in it without any conclusive payoff. Example: Jade finally asks out loud what the school is, vaguely says it might be a test, and then...nothing. End of topic. Not helpful.
My interest shrinks with this title more and more. But Joe Eisma always brings his A-game. His A-game is not necessarily dazzling, but it's always right there, looking the same and therefore creating a real sense of consistency to the world of the book. And that is as true here as always.
5.0/10
Scalped #57: Another title which, when it ends, will be every so dearly missed. I must say, I honestly thought we'd be done with all the Diesel stuff. I guess maybe that was stupid of me, but if so I'm glad to be stupid, because I really enjoyed the surprise of it coming back into play here, at the end of everything, in such an enormous way. Diesel's murder (and the whole story surrounding it) was such a key part of the greater arc of Dash's character, really getting him in with Red Crow in a way he hadn't quite accomplished before that, so it seems fitting it would be the thing that might undo Dash in the end.
Of course, it's all really because of Carol's abortion, which is another plotline I wasn't sure we'd ever hear from again (although I was less surprised by this one). And I really, really hope we get to see Red Crow and Carol talk about it before the title comes to a close, because I just think Jason Aaron is going to write that scene into space.
Trail's End is shaping up to be one hell of a closing arc. And I didn't even talk about how it's probably one of the top ten covers Jock's ever done for the series, or how brutal Catcher gets to be one last time before it all comes to a close, or how R.M. Guera does such a great job decaying Diesel's body you feel like you're watching Bones. Only three to go, so Aaron and Guera better already have their next project locked and loaded.
8.5/10
Secret Avengers #24: I am having a hard time pinning down my feelings about this one. I have been enjoying this story, by-and-large, but under Rick Remender's pen, Secret Avengers has started to feel kind of like Justice League Dark, where the biggest common theme from issue to issue is how much everyone dislikes and fights with each other on the team. Now, there is certainly more of a sense in Secret Avengers that, eventually, some of this griping and sniping will resolve. Hawkeye obviously wishes he was doing better, Beast has been trying to keep the peace, etc. but for now I find it sort of grating. Captain Britain and The Torch bicker, Hawkeye apologizes to Beast for last month's bickering, and Flash Thompson just complains out loud to himself for a page. Enough.
However, Gabriel Hardman could not be a better fit for the title right now, I think in some ways because of all the in-fighting and negativity. His lines are rough but always clear, his characters so expressive even when they're not as detailed, and it fits the somewhat gritty and uneven feeling of the team. And he makes Father quite the imposing villain, while still letting some of the humor of a room full of arguing robots come through.
Still, mostly just more losing to Adaptoids and failing to get along for the Secret Avengers this issue. Same as last issue.
6.0/10
Spaceman #5: Coming right in the middle of this nine-issue series, Spaceman #5 is a bit of a slow burn. Each of the various seeds Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso planted in the previous four issues continues to grow. Orson and Tara get one step closer to getting her home once they are spotted by, and then spot, a camera crew from her show. The story of Orson's past on his space mission takes a fatal and, no doubt, highly significant turn. And by the end of the issue, Orson's past gets incrementally closer to catching up with him in the present. Steady as she goes with this story, as well as Risso's art. What can be said that hasn't been said already? He captures the gloom of the world so perfectly, while both Orson and Tara stand out as more innocent and hopeful figures. Even when compared to the other "spaceman" on the last page (whose name escapes me at the moment), Orson is far less imposing or hard in his appearance. It keeps us on his side, even as we learn that his greed led to another's death, or we wonder whether he's the best guardian for Tara at the moment. He may not be, but it's clear he's doing his personal best, and that's good enough (for me, anyway).
7.5/10
Teen Titans #7: Teen Titans is such an insane romp of a comic book, sometimes it zips by so fast it barely leaves an impression. I mean, what even happens this month? The Titans win and win and win but don't get anywhere, argue with each other a bit (Red Robin is a total dick in this issue), and then get attacked by a scary-looking villain. Not the first scary-looking villain to attack them, mind you. Not even the scariest-looking, which sort of detracts from the ending. And something so weird happens to Kid Flash for like half a page that I am guessing will be important down the line.
It wasn't bad, per se, just a bit fluffy. I will say that I found myself actively cheering on Solstice when she was scolding Red Robin, who, again, was such an ass about it. He's really not that great a leader, or even, in this issue, that great a hero. But the rest of his team are such a lively and interesting-looking group, that even when it's not doing much, Teen Titans continues to entertain from cover to cover.
6.5/10
Uncanny X-Force #23: The Otherworld story finally ends, and not a moment too soon. Man, so much about this was a disappointment. Tocchini's art, as has been pointed out elsewhere, is all wrong here. Uncanny X-Force has, to my mind, always been its best when the art has been as down-to-earth as possible. It is a team of grim characters doing dirty work, even when they are battling goat monks from the future and skinless judges, and they need an artist who can show it. Having such blurred and uneven art is a huge drawback.
The story, alas, was only the tiniest bit better. I did like the very, very end of the issue, where Betsy gets to put each of her brothers in their respective places, because Psylocke is a badass and should get to act like one as much as possible. But Mr. Skinless or Weapon III or whatever he's called just runs off, and the reveal about the goat monk's identity, while semi-interesting, was not all that inventive and made the bulk of the fighting in the last few issues seem like a lot of wasted time.
Also, the whole trial of Fantomex thing hasn't really been resolved, has it? I mean, the plan was to erase the guy from existence, and that did not happen. Is the Captain Britain Corps NOT going to come after him again for murdering kid Apocalypse? And if not, why not? And if they are going to come after him again...lame. I don't want to see those British pricks in Uncanny X-Force ever again!
EVER!
4.5/10
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