Category: Reviews

Review: ‘Shmobots’ by Adam Rifkin and Les Toil

shmobots_tpb_7-5396725Shmobots is a pretty stupid book on its face. And it’s pretty stupid inside too.

Government negligence leads to a city full of worthless robots (termed [[[Shmobots]]]), and three of the laziest ones hang out with a guy and do pretty much nothing with their lives.

The humore here — from writer Adam Rifkin — is all pretty obvious, heavy on robot cliches and slacker jokes we’ve heard before. Yet the book has an undeniable charm, no doubt because its creators acknowledge those faults and even celebrate them.

Sure, the lead robot character is a carbon copy of Bender from Futurama, but he’s used (at least this is my guess) to make fun of the stupid humor genre even while revelling in it.

There is a more involved plot than I let on: the robots and human friend are constantly looking for money, while unknowingly they’re being stalked by the Shmobot Killer. The plot advances at a marijuana-soaked pace.

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Review: ‘The Number’ by Thomas Ott

The sequence of numbers 73304-23-4153-6-96-8 sit at the top of each page of the superlative new horror graphic novel The Number by Swedish artist Thomas Ott..

Those repeated numbers create a cadence to the book, a dark rhythm drummed into readers’ heads that’s further instilled through Ott’s consistent use of four panels per page.

The wordless story follows a prison executioner who discovers a slip of paper marked only with the previously mentioned number. As the man notices bits of the number turning up in his life, he decides to place his fate in the number, taking it for a wild ride of good luck.

But after a night of gambling success, the man wakes to find the dream turned ugly, and the number only leads him farther into darkness.

It’s not terribly difficult to predict where things end up — after all, the book begins with the quotation “Good people are always so sure they’re right,” from a woman who was executed in prison.

The worthiness of the book lies instead in the way in which Ott unspools his protagonist’s demise. The story moves along briskly, and Ott transitions effectively from the sedate beginning into the surreal and terrifying conclusion.

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Doctor Who in Review: Season Four, Episode #12 – “The Stolen Earth”

The hit BBC series Doctor Who is now in its fourth season on the Sci-Fi Channel, and since we’re all big fans here at ComicMix, we’ve decided to kick off an episode-by-episode analysis of the reinvigorated science-fiction classic.

Every week, I’ll do my best to go through the most recent episode with a fine-tooth comb (or whatever the “sonic screwdriver” equivalent might be) and call out the highlights, low points, continuity checks and storyline hints I can find to keep in mind for future episodes. I’ll post the review each Monday, so you have ample time to check out the episode once it airs each Friday at 9 PM EST on Sci-Fi Channel before I spoil anything.

Missed a week? Check out the “Doctor Who in Review” archive or check out any of the past editions of this column via the links at the end of this article.

Keep in mind, I’m going to assume readers have already watched the episode when I put fingers to keyboard and come up with the roundup of important plot points. In other words, SPOILER ALERT!

Let’s begin now, shall we?

Season Four, Episode #12: “The Stolen Earth”

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Review: This Week in Trinity – Part 8

As Comic-Con starts to lull into submission (begin your hype for ’09!), I finally get a chance to sit down with the latest issue of DC’s weekly [[[Trinity]]] and ask myself again why I ever agreed to do weekly reviews.

Yes, the series is still so much better than [[[Countdown]]] that it’s useless comparing the two, but after last week’s big explanations of some of the major mysteries, issue eight has no tension among much weirdness.

We start off with Morgaine Le Fey, Enigma and Despero all hanging out on the largest moon of Itatoq (funny, I’m vacationing there this winter). Because they’re villains, a fight ensues, but after some “We’re all so evil” dialogue the three agree to form their own evil threesome.

At their disposal is the Cosmic Egg, which confused me, since last issue seemed to imply the JLA had the egg (and the villain inside it) stashed somewhere safe. Apparently they stashed it on the largest moon of Itatoq (miles and miles of sandy beaches!).

After that are scenes of the heroes going about their lives, still filling the generic roles prescribed to them by the universe (aka Kurt Busiek). Bruce is sleuthing, Clark is fighting robots and Diana is… shopping. Ahem.

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Review: ‘Bluesman’ by Vollmar & Callejo

Bluesman
By Rob Vollmar and Pablo G. Callejo
NBM, August 2008, $24.95

[[[Bluesman]]] was published once before, as three album-sized collections, but this is the first time the entire story has been collected between two covers. It’s a moody tale, told in black and white – but mostly in grays, from the background to the characters.

Lem Taylor is a blues guitarist, wandering through the rural Mississippi Delta in the late ‘20s, hungry and foot-sore. With him is a blues pianist, Ironwood Malcott, and together they make some excellent music. But that doesn’t put food in their bellies half the time, let alone a roof over the heads and a bed at night more than every so often.

As the book begins, their luck is beginning to look up: they get a decent gig at a popular juke house called Shug’s and are invited up to Memphis to record some sides by J.L. Dougherty, a traveling salesman who also acts as a talent scout.

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Doctor Who in Review: Season Four, Episode #11 – Turn Left

The hit BBC series Doctor Who is now in its fourth season on the Sci-Fi Channel, and since we’re all big fans here at ComicMix, we’ve decided to kick off an episode-by-episode analysis of the reinvigorated science-fiction classic.

Every week, I’ll do my best to go through the most recent episode with a fine-tooth comb (or whatever the "sonic screwdriver" equivalent might be) and call out the highlights, low points, continuity checks and storyline hints I can find to keep in mind for future episodes. I’ll post the review each Monday, so you have ample time to check out the episode once it airs each Friday at 9 PM EST on Sci-Fi Channel before I spoil anything.

Missed a week? Check out the "Doctor Who in Review" archive or check out any of the past editions of this column via the links at the end of this article.

Keep in mind, I’m going to assume readers have already watched the episode when I put fingers to keyboard and come up with the roundup of important plot points. In other words, SPOILER ALERT!

Let’s begin now, shall we?

Season Four, Episode #11: "Turn Left" (more…)

the-dark-knight-joker-poster-500w1-3595774

Review: The Dark Knight

the-dark-knight-joker-poster-500w1-3595774Considering the amount of massive blockbusters that have disappointed the fans this year, it is safe to say that all of your expectations will be met going into this movie. [[[The Dark Knight]]] delivers on so many levels that it becomes hard to critique it, and all that’s left is pure childlike enjoyment for approximately two hours.

Those of you who are unaware of the plot for the sequel to 2005’s Batman Begins, this film takes place shortly where we left off: Batman is patrolling the streets, crime is on the rise, and more and more “masked vigilantes” are stepping up to try and take out the [[[Batman]]]. Wayne Manor is still destroyed, so all of the caped crusader’s hijinks are based out of a new penthouse apartment, which is a nice change. Batman’s gal Rachel Dawes (originally played by Katie Holmes) returns, this time played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. This time, instead of Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy filling the evil quota as Ra’s Al Ghul and Scarecrow, respectively, we get the late Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart as The Joker and Harvey Dent, which of course means we get to see a little Two-Face!

[SPOILER WARNING: READ ON AT YOUR OWN RISK]

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Review: New ‘Fables’ & ‘Jack of Fables’ Volumes

[[[Fables]]] is one of the big successes of the current version of the Vertigo line, where every book has a Hollywood-style high concept: all males on Earth are killed – except one!; New York’s mayor can talk to machines!; Refugee fairytales live in the modern world! And, in another Hollywood-esque twist, Fables even has a spin-off of its own, like Diff’rent Strokes begat The Facts of Life.

Last month, both the parent and spin-off series had new collections, with titles that implied a connection. So let’s look at the two of those books together:

Fables, Vol. 10: The Good Prince
By Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, and others
DC Comics, June 2008, $17.99

Fables, as you might know, is a series in which all of the folkloric and fairy-tale characters that you’ve ever heard of are real, and originally lived in an array of alternate worlds. But “the Adversary” – whose identity was revealed a few volumes ago – led huge goblin armies to conquer nearly all of those worlds, sending a few (but mostly very well-known) Fables to our world, to live in secrecy in an enclave in New York City.

More recently, the cold war with the Adversary is beginning to heat up, with Fabletown’s leadership striking alliances with the “Cloud Kingdoms” (you know, where the beanstalk led?) and with the as-yet-unconquered world of the [[[Arabian Knights]]]. (There’s also an unsubtle parallel between Fabletown and Israel that Willingham is a bit too fond of.) As we hit this tenth volume, we know that the Adversary is building for a major attack three years from now, and the characters of Fables learn that quickly as well.

The last storyline, [[[Sons of Empire]]], served to ratchet up tension, but [[[The Good Prince]]] goes the other way; Flycatcher – Prince Ambrose, the Frog Prince – has finally regained his memory, and is grieving over the loss of his family centuries before. But Red Riding Hood goads him out of his misery, and he rushes off to get fighting lessons from Boy Blue.

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Review: This Week in ‘Trinity’ #7

This issue is titled "A third symbol now…" but a more accurate one would be "OK, so here’s exactly what’s going on."

For six issues, Trinity was a fairly opaque book, with several seemingly disparate storylines and a completely mysterious large threat — the one screaming "Let me out!" in issue one.

What do we know now?

All the "disturbances" from issue two are an unknown form of primal energy. "Creation energies." The heroes quickly put two and two together and check on Krona, that Oan who tried to manipulate the beginning of the universe and accidentally created the multiverse (check out Crisis on Infinite Earths or Infinite Crisis for more on this).

Later in the book, it’s revealed that Krona is in fact the mysterious shouter of "Let me out!" that the trinity has been hearing. And, it’s a bit hard to decipher, but it appears that he’s getting close to escaping from the cosmic egg, if he hasn’t already.

The heroes are gathered to talk about all the goings on. They figure out the rash of museum robberies has all been to obtain wands, swords, pentacles and cups, which happen to be the four suits of the Tarot. Which leads them to Tarot, the girl who was kidnapped last issue by Morgaine Le Fey’s monsters.

They also have a third symbol appearing on Wonder Woman’s scar. The three are ancient Egyptian symbols: Strength, the high priestess and the world. Three symbols tied to our three heroes.

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Review: ‘Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko’

As a history of Steve Ditko’s career as a comics artist, Strange and Strange: The World of Steve Ditko is an unquestionable triumph, the latest in a top-notch series of art books from Fantagraphics.

Blake Bell’s book ($39.99) features hundreds of beautifully reprinted Ditko pages, from his earliest horror stories to his triumph with Amazing Spider-Man run to his eventually paying-the-bills work in cartoon coloring books. This art comes with insightful analysis from Bell, who even gives side-by-side comparisons with art from some of the artists who inspired Ditko.

Yet, I came away from the book disappointed, because as well as it explains Ditko as an artist, it hardly begins to explain him as a man.

Admittedly, that’s a tough task, as the reclusive Ditko hasn’t been interviewed since bell bottoms were cool (or thereabouts), but it’s the task Bell sets out upon. The chapters accompanying the art read more than anything like a more-detailed Wikipedia page, full of facts but empty of story.

We hear about all the important moments in Ditko’s career, often fleshed out through the quotes of his acquaintances, but we hear less than whispers of his personal life or childhood. Perhaps Bell put on a reporter’s hat and tried to find some such information, but if so, he includes neither that information nor an account of how he failed to obtain it.

The few included quotes from Ditko are flatly boring descriptors of his work, overladen with parentheticals. And, again, they only hint at who he is.

For people who come in with a familiarity of Ditko’s story, like ComicMix editor Mike Gold, that’s a pardonable offense. But for any more unfamiliar reader looking to [[[Strange and Stranger]]] as a true biography, they’re sure to find it sorely lacking.

There’s a clear narrative to Ditko’s life; it’s a tragic story of a man who followed the philosophy he thought would make him great, but instead Ayn Rand’s objectivism would prevent him from achieving that greatness. And that story remains untold.

Van Jensen is a former crime reporter turned comic book journalist. Every Wednesday, he braves Atlanta traffic to visit Oxford Comics, where he reads a whole mess of books for his weekly reviews. Van’s blog can be found at graphicfiction.wordpress.com.

Publishers who would like their books to be reviewed at ComicMix should contact ComicMix through the usual channels or email Van Jensen directly at van (dot) jensen (at) comicmix (dot) com.

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