Category: Reviews

Review: In Odd We Trust by Dean Koontz & Queenie Chan

In Odd We Trust
Created by Dean Koontz; Written by Queenie Chan & Dean Koontz; Illustrations by Queenie Chan
Del Rey, July 2008, $10.95

Odd Thomas, in a series of (so far) four novels from Dean Koontz, is a twenty-year-old fry cook in the small desert town of Pico Mundo, California. He has a tough girlfriend – Stormy Llewellyn, orphan and gun-slinging amateur detective – a great way with pancakes, many friends in town, and a secret: he can see the dead. The dead never talk, but they do find ways to communicate with Odd, and to get him to help them.

[[[In Odd We Trust]]] takes place when Odd is nineteen; it’s a prequel to the novels. Very early on, in a scene reminiscent of the great amateur “consulting detectives” stretching back to Sherlock, the local police chief, Wyatt Porter, comes to ask Odd for help. Joey Gordon, a seven-year-old, was killed brutally in a home invasion during the fifteen minutes between being dropped off after school by a neighbor and the arrival of his housekeeper/nanny. The killer left a cryptic note, made up of letters cut out of magazines, but no normal clues.

The police are baffled, as they so often are in stories like this. Sometimes I think the police exist in fiction merely to be baffled while the much smarter and more skilled amateurs do their legwork for them, and then sweep in at the end to do the actual arresting.

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Doctor Who in Review: Season Four, Episode #7 – The Unicorn and the Wasp

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 #7: "The Unicorn and the Wasp" (more…)

Review: ‘Emiko Superstar’ by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Rolston

emiko-3862849[EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fourth in a series of reviews of the five books coming out from DC’s Minx imprint this year. Previously, Van Jensen reviewed Rebecca Donner’s Burnout, Cecil Castellucci’s Janes in Love, Brian Wood‘s The New York Four and Ross Campbell’s Water Baby. -RM]

There are no shortage of comics that feature an "ordinary" central character who decides to venture into the "strange" side of life. Emiko Superstar (Minx, $9.99) follows that well worn path, but it takes a surprising turn and ends up as quite a pleasant read.

Emiko is a teenage girl, something of a dork living a boring suburban existence. A summer of mindless minimum-wage labor is interrupted when Emiko sees a public outburst from an "art freak" and learns of an underground arts scene.

An outsider trying to break into a group of outsiders, Emiko unsteadily inserts herself into the scene, learning all the expected lessons (freaks are people too, you can discover yourself through art).

Ho hum, right? Except not quite, as writer Mariko Tamaki twists the book cleverly, pointing out that cool outsiders have as many problems as most people. That revelation is balanced by another, of the serious problems seemingly normal people have.

Life’s a big mess, Emiko learns, and sometimes you have to work hard to get through. Who can’t relate to that?

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) gmail (dot) com.

Review: This Week in ‘Trinity’ – Part 2

Two weeks down, and things are already heating up in DC’s weekly series Trinity.

We left off last week with [[[Superman]]], [[[Wonder Woman]]] and [[[Batman]]] all under the gun from mysterious forces: A dwarf solar system appears in Metropolis, giant robots attack Washington D.C., and Gotham… becomes Olde Timey?

The main point of interest is the nature of the attacks, and the way in which each hero handles the threat. Superman saves civilians and acts tactically. Batman wills Gotham back to normal by refusing the vision. And Wonder Woman smacks the crap out of some robots.

Based on what we’ve seen so far, the central notion of this series lies in exploring the identity of these three main heroes (in the first issue, this came up in how each saw variations of the same dream). Clark is a protector, Diana is a fighter and Bruce is…

So far, writer Kurt Busiek is leaving that one open, as the bizarre transformation of Gotham could imply a lot of things about Batman. It’s also interesting that Bruce is the only one of the three to remark on the strangeness around him.

Why would Busiek only hang a lampshade with Batman? Maybe it has to do with him being the lone human of the Trinity, and thus a stand in for readers. Food for thought.

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Review: ‘The Incredible Hulk’

Going into this film, you will need to play a bit of a trick on your brain. You need to completely forget everything you experienced in Ang Lee’s 2003 version of the film, while still comparing this film to its predecessor.

You’re going to want to compare this film to Marvel’s previous blockbuster, Iron Man, but you shouldn’t do that — this is a whole new beast (pun intended) and needs to be treated as such.

That said, this film certainly delivers for the franchise, with the only major problem being the anticlimactic fight scene at the end, but we’ll get to that.

Starting off, the abbreviated back-story of this film is given to us in the form of the opening titles. Changing from the books: there is no Rick Jones and no Gamma Bomb, but instead a quiet gamma test on our Dr. Bruce Banner that goes horribly wrong, causing him to “hulk-out” and destroy the facility while also injuring his assistant/girlfriend Betty Ross. He goes on the run from the government, and we come into the story a few years later in Brazil, where Banner has now gone five months without “incident.” The first 15 minutes of the film keep the audience well entertained without the need of the Jade Giant, with some great character development and a fair amount of humor.

On the critical side of things, the biggest change from the first film was easily the look of the hulk and computer-generated imaging throughout the film. This was a drastic change from 2003’s “Shrek on Steroids” look. We’re given plenty of shots of the hulk in plain daylight and in action, and the look is next to flawless. If you are not a fan of CGI to begin with, you have to understand that you are going to see a movie about a gigantic green monster here, and no one is throwing Lou Ferrigno in green makeup this time around.

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Review: ‘Popeye’ on DVD

Next January, E.C. Segar’s cartoon creation Popeye turns 80. That’s a good run, especially for a character who still wasn’t showing many signs of his age in the 2004 TV special Popeye’s Voyage: The Quest for Pappy.

While Popeye might not have aged over the years, he certainly has changed, which is clearly evident in the contrast between two new DVD collections of [[[Popeye]]] cartoons recently released from Warner Bros. Video.

The first, as mentioned in Michael H. Price’s latest column here at ComicMix is Popeye the Sailor 1938-1940 Vol. 2 ($34.98), which contains 31 remastered theater shorts. Created by the Fleischer family’s studio, these are some of the earliest animated Popeye adventures.

One can quickly see why the shorts became a phenomenon, as big or bigger than Disney’s toons (pointed out in an excellent documentary on the Fleischers that’s included). Popeye and the gang are essentially Vaudevillians, pinwheeling through one pratfall after another.

While that means there’s not much narrative richness and little language-based humor (most the characters are unintelligible), the Fleischers were masters of the gags, setting them up as curvaceous rows of dominoes, one slapping down another in orchestrated patterns.

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Review: ‘Water Baby’ by Ross Campbell

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fourth in a series of reviews of the five books coming out from DC’s Minx imprint this year. Previously, Van Jensen reviewed Rebecca Donner’s Burnout, Cecil Castellucci’s Janes in Love and Brian Wood‘s The New York Four. -RM]

Ah, ambiguity. It can be the driving force of great fiction, powering along mysteries, character dramas and horror stories.

And, when wielded irresponsibly, ambiguity can sink a promising book straight into the murky depths of… somewhere or other.

Take Water Baby ($9.99), a new Minx book written and drawn by Ross Campbell. At the book’s start, surfer girl Brody loses a leg to a hungry shark. She sorta tries to get over it with the help of her sorta friend Louisa, but then things kinda get crazy when Brody’s old flame Jake shows up (he’s somewhat cool but a bit of a jerk).

The girls (who have a relationship that meanders toward lesbianism, but never conclusively) decide to drive Jake back home to get rid of him, and things kinda sorta get even crazier when they pick up Chrissie, a girl who’s either cool or a slut or just crazy. Maybe.

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Doctor Who in Review: Season Four, Episode #6 – The Doctor’s Daughter

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, we’ll have our best Who-philes go through the most recent episode with a fine-tooth comb (or whatever the "sonic screwdriver" equivalent might be) and call out all of the continuity checks, names dropped and storyline hints we can find to keep in mind for future episodes. We’ll post our analysis 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 reading our review.

Missed a week? Check out our "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, we’re going to assume readers have already watched the episode when we put fingers to keyboard and come up with our roundup of important plot points. In other words, SPOILER ALERT!

Let’s begin now, shall we?

Season Four, Episode #6: "The Doctor’s Daughter" (more…)

Review: This Week in ‘Trinity’ – Part 1

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This week we begin a new regular feature on ComicMix in which we’ll review DC’s latest weekly series, Trinity, featuring a story by comics legend Kurt Busiek and art by one of the industry’s biggest names, Mark Bagley. Join us every week as ComicMix contributor Van Jensen analyzes the most recent issue of Trinity and decides whether the series lives up to the hype. -RM]

A couple years ago, DC made history by undertaking a weekly series and, miraculously, actually getting an issue out on time every week for a year. As much of a success as 52 was, their following weekly, Countdown, was an utter flop.

Now we have the debut of [[[Trinity]]], which instead of following mostly lesser-knowns, focuses intently on the big three: [[[Superman]]], [[[Wonder Woman]]] and [[[Batman]]]. The creative team is as good as it gets, with Kurt Busiek writing and Mark Bagley drawing, so this has the potential for big things.

Will Trinity come through? I don’t know, ask me in a year, when I’ll either be singing DC’s praises or freebasing illicit substances while muttering incoherently.

Introduction aside, how was this first issue? Pretty not too shabby, which is a vague way of saying it wasn’t stellar and it wasn’t horrible. The story so far:

We start out in the cosmos, with a big flaming face screaming, “Let me out!” Turns out the central three heroes have been dreaming about this entity, which they discuss over a way-too-public breakfast in Keystone City.

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picture21-3506137

Review: Out of Picture, Vol. 2

picture21-3506137Out of Picture, Vol. 2
no editor credited
Villard Books, June 2008, $tk

No one will admit to editing [[[Out of Picture 2]]], though they seem to be proud of it – buried deep on the copyright page is the “produced by” credit I’ve pulled out for the bibliographic information above, but that doesn’t necessarily mean those were the editors. Ah, well – someone was in charge of this book, even if we’re not sure who that was.

Out of Picture 2 is the second book from a group of animators and illustrators connected to Blue Sky Studios – the first Out of Picture was published by a French house, caused a stir at some conventions, and was reprinted by Villard in December. (And I reviewed it then.) Basically the same crew is back for this volume, though they don’t all work at Blue Sky anymore.

And I see, looking back at my review of Out of Picture 1, that it was a gorgeous book, but a bit lacking in the story department – somewhat obvious and clichéd. I’m sorry to say that Out of Picture 2 is the same kind of thing – amazing art, reproduced fantastically well on large pages of nice paper…but telling stories that aren’t all that special.

This time, we open with Jason Sadler’s wordless “[[[Sub Plotter]]],” a cute little story about the effects of sneezing on a gigantic war-map of an ocean. It seems to be set during WWII, and it’s quite visually inventive, using the space of the large pages very well and popping up with more insets than I would have thought possible. But the story told is a silly little vignette, and, even more so, it’s a vignette that would probably be better animated than in its current form.

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