Tagged: DC

The Weekly Haul: Reviews for June 5, 2008

Quite a top-notch week in comics, all in all. We had another Secret Invasion entry and the debut of DC’s Trinity (I’ll be doing separate weekly reviews of that one), as well as strong outings from other series.

There seemed to be a viral outbreak of silliness, though, as a handful of comics pushed the goofy too far and suffered for it. Only a couple of outright stink bombs, which are helping me kick off a new section for these reviews: The Dregs. Now, the reviews…

Book of the Week: Secret Invasion #3 — First, let me say there continue to be some serious problems with Skrullapalooza ’08. The series is not even remotely self contained, so any casual fan is probably going to be quite lost, there are a few too many unclear moments (lost either in script or art), and the Skrull invasion force still looks like they were designed by Toys R’ Us.

That out of the way, this issue merits top billing for a few big reasons.

First, the story actually moves ahead after stagnating in the Savage Land. Second, there are some huh-yuge fights, and Leinil Yu takes a bellows and pumps them full of hot air. Third…

We need a big SPOILER WARNING for this. Third, we learn the biggest reveal in modern comics memory, that this colossal, inconsistent prick of Tony Stark who has embroiled the Marvel Universe isn’t really Tony Stark. Gasp. He’s a Skrull.

Runners Up:

Abe Sapien: The Drowning #5 — This series ends with a graceful if unsatisfying issue, filled with more sparsely worded craziness (giant flying eel?!?) and Abe continuing to wonder how he stacks up. "You aren’t Hellboy and you never will be," he tells himself. But, like Hellboy, he learns the crucial lesson that guns usually don’t stop supernatural forces.

The shining light of this series is artist Jason Alexander, who lends everything a perfect ephemeral, abstract air. The good news is he’s going to be doing more BPRD work.

Omega the Unknown #9 — Jonathan Lethem and Farel Dalrymple’s bizarre cerebral odyssey is nearly at an end, and this penultimate issue brings the Omega and robot forces to a head in a big way, with the world at stake. Still, things are never too heavy, and despite a dramatic death it ends up being the most rambunctious issue yet.

(more…)

Review: ‘Starman Omnibus Vol. 1’ by James Robinson and Tony Harris

starman-8359527The true measure of James Robinson’s Starman is how, 14 years later, the series remains fresh and invigorating. The story of Jack Knight reluctantly taking his father’s mantle as Starman and protecting Opal City is endlessly inventive, an odd and challenging riff on the superhero.

Now is a perfect time to appreciate the series again, as DC is somewhat surprisingly collecting the entire [[[Starman]]] run into six omnibuses ($49.99 each). The first holds 17 issues, each filled with Robinson’s elaborately labyrinthine narration and plotting.

The first three issues are a perfect example of Robinson’s creative approach. In one night, Jack’s brother, who had assumed the Starman mantle, is killed amid a massive attack launched by an old Starman foe. While it’s a flurried and violent opening, Robinson stretches the story, mining each angle of the fight for richness.

Through that gradual unfolding of Jack taking up the cosmic rod, his character becomes immediately rich and deep. That, no doubt, helped the book to become such a lasting success.

(more…)

sman62-tm-4127706

ComicMix Six: Celebrity Team-Ups

[EDITOR’S NOTE: In previous editions of ComicMix Six, our contributors have given you their lists of comics’ top political campaigns, the best and worst movies based on comics, and even a few reasons why a Skrull invasion isn’t anything to worry about.

This week, we have a special guest contributor, Vinnie Bartilucci, whose name can often be seen in the comment sections here on ComicMix. We thought he had a great idea for this week’s list, so without further introduction… Take it away, Vinnie! -RM]

Comics work fine all by themselves, in their own little universe. But at some point, just like on television, someone always says, “Hey, let’s bring in a guest star!” 

Maybe it’s because the star in question is a comics fan, or they thought it’d bring the book some publicity if the star help it up on The Tonight Show, or any of the other inspirations that come after a late night of pacing the floor with a stomach full of pastrami. But the real world and the world of comics clashed a lot of times over the years.

sman62-tm-4127706Sure, comics creators would often put themselves in the books – Julie Schwartz made more than a few appearances in the DC titles after the discovery of Earth-Prime, and Stan Lee almost deserves his own ComicMix Six for all the times he appeared in the books. Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis even had their own titles for many years. But it’s the one-shot, “Hey, did that just happen?” crossovers I’m honoring in this article today.

So here they are, in no fixed heirarchy, my ComicMix Six list of the The Best Celebrity Team-Ups in Comics:

 

SUPERMAN AND ORSON WELLES: One of the earliest examples I’m aware of, the creator of Citizen Kane and later spokesman for the Paul Masson Wineries Orson Welles appeared in Superman #62. While working on his latest film, Black Magic, Welles accidentally stumbles across the launch site for an unmanned rocket to Mars, and while exploring the ship, it varooms off to the red planet, not as unmanned as previously presumed.

On Mars, he is confronted by the Martian’s tyrannical leader, “Martler.” Martler had taken that name because of his admiration of the Earth Dictator, and patterned his armies after the Nazi example. Apparently he didn’t get the last few news items… Welles naturally refuses his offer to become propaganda minister of Earth, and forces them to show him how to broadcast to Earth. He beams an impassioned plea home with news of the coming invasion, but you guessed it, thanks to his little prank a few years earlier, people don’t believe him this time. Well, nobody but Superman.

Superman arrives in the traditional nick of time and helps stop the “Solazi” invasion fleet, while Welles keeps the soldiers on the ground spooked with a few cheesy magic tricks, a skill that would serve him well later in life on Merv Griffin. He eventually knocks out Martler, and using him like a puppet, fakes a broadcast (irony!) to the people of Mars telling them to stand down. Martler is banished to an unpopulated asteroid, where we must assume he remains to this day.

 

(more…)

ComicMix Radio: Marvel Trumps With Another King

While the second run of Dark Tower is coming to a close, Marvel has another Stephen King project in the wings — one that will please his fans new and old, plus:

— The Scarecrow moves to Heroes

— Magic: The Gathering gets a big makeover

— Another great week of new comics and DVDs, including Secret Invasion and the debut of DC’s Trinity

M-O-O-N spells “Press the Button!”

 

 

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-3500375 or RSS!

 

Review: ‘The New York Four’ by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly

ny4-5124195[EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third 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 and Cecil Castellucci’s Janes in Love. -RM]

Brian Wood is a very good writer. Ryan Kelly is a very good artist.  That makes the failure of the duo’s new book from Minx, The New York Four ($9.99) all the more disappointing.

Wood, who has shown a masterful understanding of NYC in his series [[[DMZ]]], shifts his focus here to NYU and a quartet of freshmen, each with their quota of baggage. At the center is Riley, who had a sheltered childhood and finally experiences some freedom.

Not a bad premise, but Wood doesn’t really do much with it. The girls sort of bounce off each other in one low-key scene after another, and their problems are never substantial or interesting enough to invest in the plot.

The characters come alive (one triumph of the talented creators), but even they seem underwhelmed by the mundanity of their lives.

There’s also an air of forced hip-ness to the book, which tosses in little elements like character bio-boxes, New York factoids and half-baked Real World-style confessional moments. And the lesson, as always, is that you can’t fake the funk.

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.

‘White Viper’ Starts June 3 on ComicMix!

 A baby, abandoned.  Surrounded by dead bodies, she is found by a poor monk.  He takes her back to his home for safety, and the company of his brother monks.

Happily ever after?  Think again.

In White Viper, the new series written by Erin Holroyd, with art by the legendary Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin, nothing — and no one — is what it seems.  There is blood and death in the countryside, but at the same time, there is love.   A holy man can teach you how to kill.

And sometimes, no one can be trusted.  And sometimes, you must trust a stranger with your very life.

Frank McLaughlin, providing inks and story, said, "I’ve been working in comics for more than 40 years, and this is the story I’ve always wanted to tell.  It’s a joy to work with my old friend, the great storyteller Dick Giordano.  Inking his work was one of my first jobs, and it’s great to be collaborating on something that means so much to both of us.  We’re very excited that Erin has taken some time off from the Stratford Bard to work with us."

ComicMix Editor-in-Chief Mike Gold said, "I’ve known Dick and Frank since I worked at DC Comics, and I’m delighted to be working with them both again.  This series is the best work they’ve ever done."

White Viper runs every Tuesday on ComicMIx, free and in full color.

Review: ‘Jack Kirby’s OMAC: One Man Army Corps Omnibus’

omac-2752411In the four volumes of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World omnibuses DC recently released, there’s a not-so-coincidental trend of the introductions being more thought-provoking than the comics themselves.

During this latest run of Kirby nostalgia, most recently marked by this week’s release of his OMAC omnibus ($24.99), some of the smartest folks in comics have jumped at the chance to write at length about the King’s deep philosophical messages and revolutionary narrative approaches.

Thank God there’s none of that on hand in the OMAC collection (Mark Evanier’s introduction is more behind-the-scenes insight than anything). OMAC was a simple enough creation, a mutation of Kirby’s unrealized story of Captain America in the future.

Buddy Blank is an average Joe in The Future who has the fortune of being randomly picked by a super satellite to be zapped and turned into a heroic brute with a mohawk. Why the mohawk? We may never know.

OMAC never really trucks in the existentialism or social mirroring of Fourth World, which too often became jumbled and rambling when it strived for deep and contemplative. OMAC was, as Evanier writes, a creation born of the necessity of Kirby’s contract, which demanded a whopping 15 pages a week! (And you wondered why some of his stories feel rushed.)

(more…)

interview-suit-2896937

Are We There Yet? by Martha Thomases

interview-suit-2896937Every week when I’m considering a subject for my column, I look at the newspapers and the comic books cluttering up my living room. Perhaps this will be the week in which there is a perfect synchronization between the real world and the graphic world! Perhaps a team of comic book writers, artists and editors will perfectly capture the zeitgeist that is our national condition!

Perhaps this primary season will finally end.

I like elections. I like voting. I vote every chance I get. Because I live in New York, I’m accustomed to my primary vote not counting very much. I vote anyway. I voted for candidates I knew would lose, just because I wanted the Democratic Party to know there was a bloc of support for those positions. I’ve voted for Bella Abzug, Al Sharpton and Jonathan Tasini for Senate. I voted for George McGovern, Jesse Jackson and Edward Kennedy for President. I voted for Ruth Messinger for Mayor. I voted even though none of them had a prayer. When I voted for Bill Clinton in 1992 and he won, I didn’t know what to do with myself.

(more…)

The Weekly Haul: Reviews for May 30, 2008

First things first, a rant. This was a banner week for comics (and don’t those always fall after a holiday, postponing releases ’til Thursday?), but I have a pretty substantial bone to pick. This week’s comics were rife with price-gouging from both DC and Marvel, with pointless cost hikes on several issues. The only semi-understandable $3.99 tag came with Final Crisis, which I reviewed on its own right here.

Now, rant aside, the reviews…

northlanders6-5651961Book of the Week: Northlanders #6 #6 — Brian Wood’s series of Scandinavian mayhem has been hit and miss, but this issue’s on target like a broadsword to the brain. Sven continues to kill as many of Gorm’s allies as he can, brought to life with gloriously gory art.

But the key to this issue is how it’s gradually pulling Sven away from his mindless pursuit of revenge, even if it happens with a way too convenient to plot development.

It’s the story of a leader’s birth, but instead of being told through the rosy view of history and legend, it’s an ugly, bitter and brutal story. It could yet turn into a truly great series, as long as it doesn’t stray too far into the trite territory of Braveheart.

Runners Up:

Thor #9 — J. Michael Straczynski is doing so many things right in this book that it’s impossible to single any one of them out as central to the series’ success. Moving the plot in a new direction, he has Loki playing the Asgardian angles for the umpteenth time, only it’s so sly and written so well that it feels completely fresh, and not just because Loki’s now a woman.

The best moments come from the odd and awkward interactions between the Asgardians and the real world, which is now their world: an awkward love connection between god and mortal and the priceless image of two gods stuck in a small town jail after they had a too-public rumble with some monsters.

Green Lantern #31 — The origin of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern continues, and it’s the same balance of good and bad. On the one hand, Geoff Johns is covering ground that’s been covered too many times already, with Jordan getting his ring and starting training on Oa.

As boring as those moments are, the hidden part of the origin, the shadowy "Darkest Night" prophecy, continues to be endlessly interesting. It draws in so many unexplored pieces of Jordan’s and Sinestro’s backgrounds that it’s a shame Johns decides to waste time on the known aspects.

(more…)

Happy Birthday: Mike W. Barr

Born in 1952, Mike W. Barr’s first comic book story was an eight-page backup in Detective Comics #444 in 1974.

In 1980, he started doing semi-regular backup stories in both Detective Comics and House of Mystery. He also wrote an issue of Captain America, which led to regular work with Marvel as well.

The following year, Barr picked up some editorial duties at DC and also started writing Star Trek for Marvel. In 1982, he wrote Camelot 3000, one of the first so-called “maxi-series.”

August 1983 saw the debut of Batman and the Outsiders, probably Barr’s best-known creation, and in 1987 he wrote Batman: Son of the Demon, which is often credited as singlehandedly restoring DC’s fortunes.

Since then Barr has done many more comic book projects, including more Batman stories, a two-parter for JLA: Classified, a relaunch of his Maze Agency series, and a piece for Star Trek: The Manga.

He also wrote a Star Trek novel, Gemini, which included some of the characters he created in the Star Trek comic book series.

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks