1. "Deadman" by Dave Bullock and Vinton Heuck. Sadly, virtually no love and attention has been afforded to this comic, which stands above the rest even though it doesn't have any high-profilers in the title or the byline. I'm speaking seriously as someone who never considered himself a huge Deadman "fan" (I'm sure they exist, though): this comic is obviously the work of creators in love with what they are doing, and focused on the goal of making the story visually accessible for those who happen to come in the middle and engrossing for those who happen to follow it. And this time, the ending hook is even better than last week Boston Brand, flying through indeterminate Ditkospace after attempting to save a woman from being murdered, finds himself in hell, maybe, or at least surrounded by fire, and discovers that...he's alive, and somebody named Kalak holding an axe is going to make sure that isn't the case for long. More than any other strip, Deadman is the kind of stuff I can imagine putting up on my wall to admire. The almost aggressively minimalist style echoes both Kirby and Ditko, and Bullock manages to have Boston visually occupy multiple panels in a way that seems more in keeping with the book's style than, say, "Metamorpho." I can't wait to see human Boston versus Kalak, and I hope in time people start giving this strip a bit more of their attention.
2. "Strange Adventures" by Paul Pope. I swear I never get tired at looking at Pope's Mandrillus Sphynx Monkeys, who have yet to make much sense as successful offworld conquerors but are nevertheless oddly engrossing villains. Pope's style--lumpy, amazingly high cheekbones, slick geometric environments--make him more oddly suited for this kind of strip than I would have imagined. Adam Strange continues to look rugged and act heroic, and this time we get to see some of Strange's brain power at work. Pope's visual evocation of zeta beam waves fits the look of the strip whil remaining archly detached from what else we have seen thus far, and there's quite a mystery at the end: if Strange can't control these zeta beams, yet he can find them if they are around, where has he been sent to? And what about Alanna, who has remarkably not been sexualized to the extent one would think she would be? I have no reason to think this strip won't continue to be consistently profound and entertaining.
3. "Hawkman" by Kyle Baker. Of the two strips here where a crucial reveal has human characters turning into alien bug monsters, Hawkman is by far the better. Baker's washed-out and action-centric style works wonders on a book starring a character known far better for his particular look than for any other characteristic. The Hawkman here is something new, I think, in that he has birds help him on his missions (I could be wrong about that), but I would imagine this is going more toward Hawkman the space cop than Hawkman the Egyptian, and I always like the latter more anyway. Baker gets points for the second coolest-looking alien in Wednesday Comics, the hideous Makkorthian (that, readers, is why these were white terrorists, I guess). I don't really know how well their "staged terrorist attack" would really work in provoking the world to war, but that's not what this is about. This is about Hawkman fighting hideous aliens with a sword in one hand and a mace in the other. I can't help but feel sorry for the people on this plane, though. Pretty much everyone says this strip is one of the big successes, and I agree.
4. "Wonder Woman" by Ben Caldwell. I think this is the best Wonder Woman strip yet, and Caldwell should be winning some sort of award for cramming as much as he does in a way that still keeps the book's forward momentum going. Yes, I know I said last time that I already predicted I would get tired of Wonder Woman waking up at the end of every panel and realizing it was a dream, but you know what? This is the closest thing we have to a true, episodic comic, and I am shocked by the amount of people who say it is somehow unreadable because too much is going on. I appreciate this retake on Wonder Woman all that much more because it does seem to be trying something new. Additionally, I know people have been complaining that the art isn't very vivid, and the colors are kind of washed together, but I sort of like that approach in the middle of this collection, and furthermore Caldwell's style--sort of off-Disney but utilizing weirder angles that seem to be hiding key plot points, like David Lynch--seems to be completely his own considering the other stuff people are going for in their respective comics.
5. "Flash Comics" by Karl Kerschl and Brenden Fletcher. The schizophrenic vibe of this book is not as novel as it once was, but this is still great stuff, the connections between the two strips within playing off their respective genre-types in interesting ways while keeping the continuity. I already talked last week about how that old standby time travel is perhaps too obvious of a Flash plot device to use when considering a retro Flash comic, so I'm glad Kershl and Fletcher found other ways to keep it interesting. Is that Wally West's kid at the end? What kind of name is "ether-wiki"? And maybe no one realizes how horrible of a death being thrown off a tower by Gorilla Grodd would be. Why is Barry Allen so callously fucking with the timestream now? Hopefully he will learn his lesson. If I were to judge this book based on writing as opposed to aesthetic success, it would be #1.
6. "Superman" by John Arcudi and Lee Bermejo. I actually liked this strip better than Azzarello's this week, not necessarily because it was breaking any new ground. Still, Superman's relationship with his foster parents has always struck me as one of the most real and affecting aspects of his character, and Bermejo distills the sort of relationship the three of them have: Ma doting, Pa affable and supportive, and Clark comortable and at rest-in three brilliantly-cast panels. Of course, this doesn't necessarily follow why Superman is being such a sad-sack right now (nor does it really excuse why he's going around looking through buildings to see what Lois Lane is up to), but still, give Superman a break. I believe that Arcudi is capable of constructing an engrossing Superman narrative that consisted of 12 pages of him hanging around with his family. In fact, I think it should be done.
7. "Batman" by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso. People forget that Azzarello once wrote Superman, and it was at about the same level as this. Again, Batman is merely a side-character for this episode, hanging outside a window like Spider-Man and listening to the sort of domestic dispute that could have been an outtake from 100 Bullets. Azzarello is clearly indulging his fascination with writing femme fatales as Risso indulges his unbelievable ability to make supposedly beautiful women look distinctive from one another. Additionally, the dialogue between this woman and her nerd son-in-law (I think) is sufficiently complex. I would really like it if it turned out that Luna was a nice enough girl with no evil designs on anybody, but that seems unlikely. This book is consistent, but maybe I'm just suffering from Batman fatigue (like I would imagine half of the western world).
8. "Sgt. Rock and Easy Co." by Adam Kubert and Joe Kubert. This book is as high as it is 90% for its art, as the story is pretty much wafer-thin and I'm pretty sure I can see what's coming. But still. Joe Kubert can really draw Sgt. Rock getting beaten with a nightstick, and he frames those panels very well with Easy Co. coming to the rescue. If I were Adam Kubert, I would set up some of this to perhaps go into further detail about the men of Easy Co., or even the mysterious picture taker. This comic is almost the anti-"Wonder Woman" in a way, with big, splashy realism as opposed to WW's experimental fantasy elements. I think the two compliment each other extremely well.
9. "Kamandi: The Last Boy On Earth!" By Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook. Sook's artwork is great and flashy in a different way than Kirby's ever was. I'm afraid I was mistaken last time when I though Kamandi and Prince Tuftan were just going to ignore the rats that were surrounding them. Of course, Dr. Canus can't be far away, helping to carry the two to their destination by blimp. And then in the distance they spot a human female, which is odd because Kamandi is supposed to be the last of his kind. My biggest problem with this is that its paint-by-numbers with Kamandi, which I realize by saying this I am not being consistent, as at least half of these strips are meant to be derivative of silver-age concepts of superheroes. Still, it looks like this strip is picking up speed, and Gibbons can certainly write well, even if he never rises above a pleasantly generic level of dialogue. At least in that respect it is Kirby-esque. I like "Kamandi," but will it dare to do the unexpected? I doubt it.
10. "Metal Men" by Dan Didio, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Kevin Nowlan. The best part of this strip is the title, but the rest is good too. I am pleased by the lack of metal-related puns elsewhere, and its funny how Doc Magnus' unruly crew continues to get them into more and more serious trouble even as their antics get more whacky. If I were Didio and wanted to show I had serious balls, I would have the bank robber shoot the kid at the beginning of the next issue and devote the rest of the strip to exploring Magnus' guilt at having made such thoroughly irresponsible robots. This book also has sort of an old-school X-Men vibe, with an irascible non-powered professor dictating his superpowered and vaguely naive students. This is another strip that is getting no love, probably I would imagine due to a predisposition against anything Didio, which is unfair. The art is great, even if this strip has a way to go before I would elevate it to anything beyond "pleasant."
11. "Metamorpho, the Element Man" by Neil Gaiman and Mike Allred. Let this be a lesson to you, Neil Gaiman: you are obviously slumming it at this point. Could Gaiman have taken more than, say, thirty minutes to write the dialogue for this piece? The message from the Metamorpho fans of America is infintely less clever than last time, and this book seems to be treading on the "Metal Men" comic in terms of metal jokes anyway. Allred's art looks great, of course, but this book is going to have to pick up some massive speed because it doesn't sound at all like Gaiman is really engaged with this material. Maybe the eventual appearance of Urania Blackwell will help things along: I would really suggest going the Caldwell route and stop with the splash pages, which make for good pinups but give very little reason to reread this piece.
12. "Green Lantern" by Kurt Busiek and Joe Quinones. And here is the award for second-best bug alien transformation of the week. Hal Jordan looks odd at the beginning of this, almost semitic, and Carol Ferris continues to be the very definition of a one-note character (at least Iris West doesn't keep repeating the same shit over and over again). This strip continues its streak on being pretty much light on everything. It looks fine, but retro-oriented art of this type is done better elsewhere. Hal Jordan's green tie is a nice touch, though. Am I intrigued about the fate of Joe Dillon? Maybe. I'd like to know if he's going to die, perhaps. Still, I wouldn't care if the rest of the bar was bombed and Hal Jordan went to go do something else in space, where at least people look more interesting.
13. "Supergirl" by Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner. I wish I wasn't giving such consistently low marks to this comic, which is essentially harmless and should be charming for anyone with a soul. Unfortunately, I have none, and "Supergirl" has yet to engage me. What kind of airplane is going to have a big cartoon decal of anything, by the way, particularly one that can be seen from the ground (I forget, Streaky has super cat vision). Also, Krypto committed a federal crime and Supergirl should lock him in jail. The art on this book is beginning to grow on me, and I imagine in time I will be giving this strip a better review once my cold heart finally melts.
14. "The Demon & Catwoman" by Walter Simonson and Brian Stelfreeze. I have next to nothing to say about this comic. I don't even think it fails as a strip, necessarily: it just seems more typical of a regular linear than I am accustomed to, which really shouldn't be as off-putting as it is. I was also really disappointed that Etrigan has already shown up, which means no more regular Jason Blood, who is an interesting character in himself. I haven't been paying attention very well, maybe: is there a reason Catwoman wears goggles and ear plugs? Also, the last line is terrible. That aside, I can't muster that much to say n its defense. Even the device of having a collar that constricts when Catwoman attacks is sadly underused.
15. "Teen Titans" by Eddie Berganza and Sean Galloway. Maybe it's just a bad idea to do team books in Wednesday Comics. For the third week in a row, I can't tell what's going on, and this time there is a confusing new character who looks so generic I was wondering if he was supposed to be Trident in disguise, but then Trident pops up again, but...where are they? What sort of art style is this trying to evoke? Are we supposed to be afraid when, on the last panel, it doesn't even look like Trident's blast is having any effect? This is just a lost cause, art-wise, with this sense that something dynamic might be happening, but it never does.
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