Sunday Readings 04-12-2009

[A new feature where I link to some cool comics-related stuff I found here and there over the week.]

• Scott Morse shows off his skills drawing some of the classic Marvel heroes over at his blog. If you've never seen Morse's work in book form, start with Soulwind, which I first read about five years ago.

• Blog of the Week: Unlike me, Caleb is still addicted to single-issue comics, and therefore wishes that Every Day Is Like Wednesday. One of the first comics blogs I started reading, its best feature is every week when Caleb gives a quick review of the comics he picked up that week. Insightful without spoiling too much or scanning three-quarters of the issue, EDILW helps me keep a general eye on weekly comics while I wait out the trades. But there's much more to this blog, as Caleb also posts longer reviews about the graphic novels he purchases, comics-related media, and other pieces relating to comics (often witty), keeping content going all week long. He also draws some parody comics now and again, which are also a hoot. One of the blogs I check daily, Every Day Is Like Wednesday should be on your feeder's pull list.

• Over at Comics Should be Good, Greg Burgas randomly picks a Wolverine comic from the nineties, and finds the results are, quite literally, not pretty. "I have never heard of Chris Alexander, but he has that whole 'Early Image Style' crap down pat, but it’s a knockoff of the originals (Lee especially, of course), so it’s just painful to look at. Everyone is posing all the time, the anatomy is mind-bending, and Wolverine’s hair changes length panel-by-panel." I actually was reading Wolverine regularly when this came out, and really, it wasn't any better in context than Burgas describes it out of context.

• The Eisner nominations are out, and some are upset at the lack of Manga nominations. Personally, I'm just happy to be allowed to vote on the Ignatz Awards.
  

Losers Volume 5

Written by Andy Diggle
Illustrated by Jock and Colin Wilson
Vertigo

Andy Diggle wraps up his super-spy series (that's set to become a movie, from what I understand) Losers with two story arcs that finally tie all the pieces together.

The Losers, with the only ally in the CIA they can (sort of) trust try to bring Max down once and for all. But before they can do so, Max puts on his power play and changes the shape of the world. With the power affect world politics in a way even his former handlers never envisioned, everything is going Max's way--or is it?

Leave it to the Losers to try what no one else dares to take on. With their lives--and countless thousands of others--on the line, they must be willing to sacrifice everything to get at the man who destroyed their lives. Can they give up family for the cause? Can they give up love? Can they give up their lives?

Well, I'm sure you know the answer to that. But Diggle still manages to make it interesting. He really puts the crew through the ringer, even torturing one of them while the rest have to watch and wait. It's rather harsh to read, but within the context of the story, it works perfectly.

It's hard to discuss this one's main points without wrecking the surprises, but I will say it wraps up all the loose ends in a way that's both entertaining and satisfactory. Steigler, the oil barons, Max's true history (which is particularly clever), Roque, a few one-off ideas that seemed like filller at the time, and the micronational plans all come together in a way that's plausible enough to keep my suspension of disbelief going for the inevitable climax, where things really do end with a bang.

If there's a problem with this one, it's that Diggle really hammers the conspiracy nail pretty hard. He implies super top secret White House backing for Max, our evildoer, and has a fair amount to say about capitalist control of the world. I'm not shocked he went there--the story was definitely trending to a far-left version of the black helicopter theories of the far-right--but it does tend to make a great story drag down a bit as the author puts his personal politics on the page.

(See, I didn't like it in Fables, and I don't think it works here, either.)

Still, the ride is a good one, and Diggle uses his characters to good effect, playing off their character traits to drive the plot (even if one of them ends up being just a bit too stereotypical for my liking). I also appreciate that the series ends after 32 issues, having said all it needs to say. There's no reason to ruin this one by telling additional tales of the Losers. They had a job to complete, and while you might debate if they truly finish the mission, it's definitely over by the time we finish up. Plus, the coda to the story is classic, with Jock's art style meshing perfectly with the digalog, and anything more would ruin it.

Jock, by the way, did a great job on the issues he worked on all through this series. He doesn't draw things perfectly, but he also never falls into the blurred "edgy" style, and we can always tell who the characters are, even in shadow. I'd be happy to see more of his work.

I'd definitely recommend Losers to anyone, and I'm happy to say it's restored my faith in the Vertigo line. This is exactly the type of story Vertigo's there to tell, and I'm glad they did.

Losers Volume 1 Losers Volume 2 Losers Volume 3 Losers Volume 4

Heroes for Hire Volume 3

Written by Zeb Wells and Fred Van Lente
Illustrated by Clay Mann, Alvin Lee, Leonard Kirk, Ale Garza, James Cordeiro, John Bosco, and Terry Pallot
Marvel

The ending of a low-end title is often not pretty. This one is no exception, as a plethora of pencillers, the addition of a back-up story, and feeling of forced closure hits Heroes for Hire like a brick.

It's pretty bad when this particular World War Hulk crossover kinda makes me think "Gamma Corps" wasn't so bad after all.

I'm not entirely sure this is all Zeb Wells' fault, though honestly, I'm still trying to think of a comic he's written so far that I've liked. (This is nothing personal on Wells, I just don't think he and I have the same taste. People LOVE Garth Ennis, and I'm not a fan, finding his work mildly interesting at best.) Basically, the comic reads like taking the "Avengers Disassembled" theme and applying it to this team, without the long-range plans Bendis put in place.

As a result, what we get just feels like wanton destruction of characters. Black Cat is portrayed as a helpless woman who needs a man (in this case the ever-icky Paladin). Shang Chi goes off the deep end, all because he got a little from the new Tarantula, who goes from badass to being unable to endure a little pain. I don't know Colleen well enough, but she appears to get the "What am I doing here?" role that Black Cat had under Palmiotti and Gray. Moon Boy is separated from his cooler half. Misty ends up looking way too mercenary. Ironically, the only one who ends up intact is Paladin, because he's always been a jerk.

I just don't see the point to doing this, as many of the players involved are going to see use again, at least someday. (Black Cat being registered and Peter being unregistered is a gold mine of a story just waiting to be tapped.) As others have mentioned with DC's penchant for knocking off existing heroes, it just comes off as a waste.

Perhaps it would have been better had the story not been set up in such a way as to present the heroes as being completely unheroic. (Say what you will about all the Disassembled crossovers, at least the characters were trying.) Moon Boy ends up as bargaining chip, making his plot go nowhere. The Heroes try to stop a new Brood from hatching, except that's not anywhere in the rest of the World War Hulk story, so even though this is a "crossover" book, there's nothing really crossing over. These heroes get trounced just as bad as everyone else did, and then the sexy characters get tortured a bit, showing on the page what the reader feels in his or her mind. (This was a bit of a dustup at the time, as one cover was particularly exploitative.)

By the end, people are either dead, acting extremely stupid, or deserting their best friend. Yes, everything is wrapped up by the end of the book, but at the cost of a lot of characterization and good storytelling. Sometimes it's better to just let a series end without trying to solve everything. If nothing else, this trade shows you why that's the case.

The findal volune of Heroes for Hire is a mess, possibly by editorial fiat, but regardless, not something I can recommend bothering with. Back in the day, this would have quietly ended up in the quarter bins as single issues for completists. Now it will live on in trade form, perhaps the first sign that trades aren't perfect. ;)

Heroes for Hire Volume 1 Heroes for Hire Volume 2

Chicken & Cat

Written by Sara Varon
Illustrated by Sara Varon
Scholastic

I really enjoyed the other Sara Varon books I read (see tag below), so I figured I'd grab her children's book and see if it was as good as her other anthropomorphical stories.

The answer is definitely yes.

While the book is clearly intended for younger audiences, Varon's style still holds up for an adult reader who wants to see more of her work. The little touches that make her simplistic style work so well are here in abundance, such as putting a fare sign on the side of a taxi, or a used book store next to a place that sells records (complete with a record on the sign). A child may not get the exact nature of these things, but it's nice to see that Varon doesn't cheat on the illustrations just because it's a book for kids.

After all, though comical, these are designed to be two characters in a real city, and that's just the type of things you'll see in a real city. It makes sense, but I'm glad it's not overlooked.

The story itself is straightforward. Cat, a country fellow, moves in with Chicken, from the city. He sees the sights anew, just like I once did when visting my grandmother and aunt in Pittsburgh. But Cat begins to get lonely, so the two of them build a garden! And what a pretty garden it is, too!

This is a nice children's book for those who have kids. Those who like Varon's other works will also enjoy the art style here, however, so it's definitely worth picking up for anyone who, like me, digs her work. After all, anyone who draws a sunburnt chicken is an artist you need to read!

Heroes for Hire Volume 2

Written by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Zeb Wells
Illustrated by Al Rio, Clay Mann, Scott Koblish, Tom Palmer, and Terry Pallot
Marvel

I don't know how or why the writing team changed on Heroes for Hire, but I do know that it's a bit odd for them to change mid-arc, especially in these days of high trade concentration. What I can tell you is that it causes this book, which seemed to just bit hitting its stride, to take a detour into serious-ville, and with the players involved, that's not a good thing.

Let's start with the fun part--while Humbug helps a child find his robot (which turns out to have a pretty powerful former owner), the rest of the gang accepts a mobster's money to stop some bad guys that are even worse.

Hilarity ensues on both counts, as Orka gets a nod to the old Batman movie, the ever-easy to ridicule Headmen try to take away a child's toy, and the Heroes end up doing more work for no pay.

I mentioned last time that this book couldn't decide to be serious or a parody. Well, when Tarantula II (or is it III?) and the Black Cat end up in a horny Marvel teen's bedroom, half-grinning at the reader, I think you know the answer.

Unfortunately, just as the book started to have that vibe of the DeMatteis-Giffen Justice League, Zeb Wells takes over and removes all the humour from the book.

Shang-Chi goes ape-shit on the Headmen and the team is reunited with Paladin, one of my least-favorite Marvel characters. They're off to hunt Moon-Boy and Devil Dinosaur and take the book down into a very dark place, where humbug gets the Underworld Unleashed treatment, Black Cat's issues from Kevin Smith's story are ignored, Colleen and Misty look inept, and Devil Dinosaur's gender is completely changed.

In short, what was a burgeoning fun book, given two rather silly things to do, manages to end up as a ho-hum story about how dark and gritty Wells can make the protagonists. (Yes, I know there's a few funny bits, like the spilled musk, but all in all, the feeling is just as oppressively realistic as most other books, without strong writing to carry me through it.)

On the bright side, at least all of the team members seemed necessary this time around, under both sets of writers. There's not a lot of standing around for the players involved.

It's a shame the book radically changed, because I was just warming up to this one. There's only one more trade to go, so I'll finish up if the library has it, but it's a shame this series got changed midstream, as I think the idea of a humorous merc team within the Inititive setup would have been interesting had it been allowed to continue. Unfortunately, it seems like it was a book designed only to be used for plot points in larger crossovers. A pity, because the world needs more funny comic stories.

100 Bullets Volume 4

Written by Brian Azzarello
Illustrated by Eduardo Risso
Vertigo

I said last time that I was running out of patience with Azzarello's racist depictions in 100 Bullets, and that if it didn't change soon, I'd be stopping my reading of the series.

Well, the depictions don't get much better, but they're at least minimal this time, so I did manage to make it all the way through another trade.

This one's a lot of smaller pieces threading together some of the story of the Trust and the Minutemen. They range from mildly interesting to pretty good, with the implied Joe Dimaggio and Marilyn Monroe story being the best of the bunch. There's also a story that contains pinups from Paul Pope, Dave Gibbons, and Frank Miller, as a man tries hard to unravel the secrets of the Minutemen.

The rest of the stories are pretty much "eh" for me--the opener has gratuitous gangster stuff so Azzarello can use his skills at writing African Americans, the second story is on a junkie who walks through his life to see where it went wrong, and story three is more closely related to the Trust. Graves starts working a bit closer to home, but we're off in another direction before we have time to think about it.

After the pinup story and the Dimaggio piece, we get a three-part story that seems to have no purpose whatsoever. Yes, Dizzy is involved, and yes, we have more low-level crime, but Graves doesn't appear (only his opposite number, Shepherd), and unless the scammer has a bigger role, this feels like a holding pattern, as did much of the trade.

Being honest, I'm pretty turned off this one, and am probably not the best person to be reviewing it as a result. I keep reading, though, to see what the others get in this that I definitely don't. Unfortunately, I'm not seeing it yet.

Isolation and Illusion Collected Short Stories 1977-1997

Written by P. Craig Russell
Illustrated by P. Craig Russell
Dark Horse

No matter what type of comics you read, I'm pretty sure you've run into P. Craig Russell doing something. His works are as broad as they are diverse, ranging from Sandman to older Doctor Strange to adaptions of operas (his Ring adaptations are absolutely beautiful, and I should re-read them soon).

When I saw this hanging around the library catalog, I figured I should check it out. Needless to say, it's a visual treat.

The collection flits back and forth over Russell's career, which I think is a bit of a mistake, but the contents, no matter what time period, are a gem of linework. Whether its Simonsonian depictions of buildings or space shuttles, Kane-like humans trapped in a world they can't fathom, or just funny looking moon creatures, Russell gives the reader everything they could ever want to see in a comic.

With a Bachelor's in painting, it's easy to see that this was Russell's major in college. Most of the time we ooh and ahh over Russell, but it's only in a work like this that you can really see just how talented he is on the page. Great art is one thing--great art in this many different forms is another thing entirely.

Just take "The Insomniac" as an example. Over the course of twelve pages, Russell's art drifts from his own mail style to abstract to nearly Seussian forms and back again. It takes talen to manage things like that in such a short span.

But where Russell shines the most are his adaptations. We get three here: A Lovecraft tale about the horrors of the unseen revealed, something from Cyrano De Bergerac, and "The Gift of the Magi." All three make up the best work here, I think.

The De Bergerac story is by far the standout piece in this collection, at least for me. Given a rather outrageous premise, Russell sets his imagination free, drawing all sorts of crazy creatures with facial expressions right out of Warner Brothers cartoons. Perhaps the best thing of all is that Russell uses dialog only to comment on the scenes, not to move the story. It's a neat trick that works, and makes the amusing story laugh out loud funny at times. Good stuff.

I have to admit, the fantasy stories, while pretty, did not do a lot for me personally. I'm just not a big fan of that type of work, though Russell does it amazingly well. In fact, Russell in black and white may be better than colorized, because you can see his lines better. There's a lot of subtle shadowing that gets lost when the works get turned over to the coloring folks.

"Isolation and Illusion" is even left in pencil form. Look carefuly at the slight sketchwork underneith the finished lines! Amazing stuff, and thanks to Dark Horse for reproducing it here.

This is not the place to start for Russell, if you're new to him. (I'd say if you want a good solo work to cut your teeth on, try one of his books of Oscar Willde's fairy tales.) However, those who love his artwork really need to find a copy of this one and check it out. You'll be glad you did.

Mighty Avengers Volume 2

Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Illustrated by Mark Bagley, Danny Miki, Allen Martinez, Victor Olazaba, and Marko Djurdjevic
Marvel

This trade features the first splice between New and Mighty Avengers, a plan Bendis had that I don't think worked out quite as he'd hoped because of scheduling issues. Spider-Woman has just defected from the New Avengers as a result of some Skrully doings, coming on the heels of Tony turning into a female Ultron. Before you can blink, the Mighty Avengers are called upon to stop a nightmare from the 1990s---the Venom Bomb!

Yes, folks, the Avengers must stop a vision from the past, as Bendis gets to comment on the whole Venom Venom everywhere fad of Marvel's salad days. And he does so with great relish, having Iron Man complain about too many people with histories as symbiote hosts and Spider-Man discussing how he used to have nightmares about this sort of thing.

It's a clever idea, but where Bendis shines, I think, is in who drops the bomb--Dr. Doom! Think about this for a second--Doom has been sampling with a part of the symbiote and working on a way to release it on a hapless populace. How did he get it? How long has he had it? How did he get it to grow? How can he contain it when Richards could not? How does it live in space without a host?

Those are some pretty interesting questions that a future writer can work on, because where Bendis doesn't shine is in giving details. This arc is about keeping Tony Stark on his heels--he barely has time to recover from when he's fighting symbiotes and mad dictators, not to mention that little Skrull problem in his lab.

So before we know it, we're off to fight Doom, something that's usually the FF's job but, as they used to say in the old editor's notes that no one likes anymore, our Spectacular Sextet was hanging out in space at the time. Besides, as Ares says, this battle gives him something he can hit.

The battle rages, Bagley gets some nice splash pages to work with (more on Bags in a moment), and Iron Man once again faces off against Doom. Before, they were fairly evenly matched, science for science, battle suit for battle suit. (Bendis uses his wordly ways quite cleverly here, having both outfits constantly informing their owners about things like power supply, opponent's threat levels, and the like throughout the rest of the issues.) But this is the Doom enhanced by Mark Waid's run on the FF, and he uses his magics to start turning the tables.

But when you're in a mad scientist's lab and you're breaking shit, something's bound to get hurt, and the next thing you know, you're in 1980 or so and Bagley's drawing the Thing ala John Byrne. Rather cleverly, Bendis works in prior continuity to find a solution to the problem and we're back in the present for one more big fight and the wrap-up.

Problems solved...for now.

I liked this arc a lot better than the first trade, partly because, while there's still dissention ans internal monologes, the team itself functions more like I'd expect a group of Avengers who, for the most part, all know each other to act in battle. I also liked the Doom fight a lot, even though it, too, is something we've seen before. Bendis seems to be unable to think of a really unique thing for this group of Avengers to do.

But hey, that's some great bantering between Tony and Victor! Doom with an acid tongue! It's not typical, but it works.

The main reason I think I liked this trade better is the artwork. Frank Cho is a nice pin up artist, but as I complained in my review of volume one, he seems to be having everyone--especially the women--posing rather than acting. Bagley can still draw an attractive woman and his females have breasts as large as any mainstream artist, but it's less noticable beacuse he keeps them fluid and moving. The Wasp isn't sitting behind things, ass to the audience--she's out there zapping Doombots. In addition, he tends to draw people from the front, which also helps. Hard to do ass shots when there's no ass to shoot.

But the best part of a Bagley-drawn comic is the detail he puts into them, all while staying on a regular schedule. (The man is working on a 12-page weekly comic, for God's sake, and it's shipped on time every time.) Look at the eyes on Doctor Doom. They follow the action. So do everyone else's eyes who aren't wearing masks. Who does that anymore? One woman, turning into Venom, gets bloodshot eyes with every vein pulsing. In other shots, you can see the characters reacting to each other in a way that makes perfect sense in relation to their positions. Again, how often do we see that anymore?

It's little stuff like that which reminds you comics, even superhero ones, can show a quality on a level with any other art form.

While still not my favorite grouping of Avengers, I liked this trade a lot better. We'll see how I deal with the Secret Invasion stuff next.

Ceres Celestial Legend Volume 2

Written by Yu Watase
Illustrated by Yu Watase
Viz

Finally picked this one back up after a long time. Aya is in serious split personality mode as she fights with the celestial legend within her. (And props to Watase for not teasing that plot point out to the point of tedium--she gets right to the heart of the matter in only the second set of issues in an ongoing series, which may be a manga record.)

Most of this issue is spent explaining the legend itself--we learn as the character learns, a nice touch--and following the reaction of Aya, her brother Aki, and the scheming family that wants her dead. Or do they? You there, there's a lot to be said for keeping things in the family, especially when they bring untold power to bear...

Watase places an interesting set of circumstances into play--Aya is not the only avatar of the past, and those she loves the most may be forced away from her as a result. In addition, the only "cure" for when she Cereses out is so shojo it's cute, but works within the framework of a story based on complex relationships. I'll fully admit I don't quite get what's going on with Aya and Aki's relatives, other than they're creepy, but I think that's more my fault than the story. I'm sure I'll get more as the volumes progress.

Watase's line work is strong and the plot is compelling enough to keep my going, at least for now. I do find her dialog to be just a bit simple, especially for the story being told. It feels like a grade school text placed on a teenager story. However, it's not enough to jar me out of the story.

I'd say this one's worth grabbing, but only if your shojo meter, like mine, is high.

Showcase Presents World's Finest Volume 1

Written by Edmond Hamilton, Alvin Schwartz, Bill Finger, Dave Wood, and Jerry Coleman
Illustrated by Curt Swan, Dick Sprang, Stan Kaye, Charles Paris, and a few others
DC

Long-time readers will know I am a huge fan of DC's (and especially Marvel's) decision to reprint their classic comics in an affordable format that lets me read the fun that was the 1950s and 1960s without going crazy trying to buy fifty dollar hardcovers or crappy copies of the originals. The stories generally range from the surprisingly good to the pretty interesting to the "Oh my God That Saw Print?!" (which was my reaction to the awful treatment of Batgirl in her trade).

This particular collection falls under the surprisingly good category, as the World's Finest Trio of Batman, Robin, and Superman are given adventures that, while a bit hokey at times, really are stories that require three heroes to solve. (This is a big problem with a lot of Superman and stories--when one man is so gosh-darn powerful, what do you need anyone else for?)

Though we tend to think of "World's Finest" as Batman and Superman together, every one of these stories also has Dick in them, with his role varying depending on need--he gets to star in one of them for example, when he gains part of Superman's intellect and has to direct the efforts against the master criminal. (An honest Bruce tells him he was giving him a complex!) Robin also serves a mediator whenever there's the inevitable Bats-Supes fight and, here and there, as the damsel in distress. You might think in such short stories (they only run about 12 pages each) the action would be too cluttered with three protagonists, but it works pretty well most of the time.

As far as the stories go, we get several time travel tales, a fair share of aliens, ordinary criminals trying to outwit Superman or Batman or both, and of course a few Luthor stories, one of which even gets Batwoman into the action. Best of these, however, is by far the Luthor-Joker team up (the first? I really don't know) where they put their criminal brains (and comical looks) together to try and outsmart the World's Finest team. It's a winning pair that DC still uses--right up to the amazing end piece of Infinite Crisis--to this day.

The artwork here is mostly Dick Sprang, with Sprang and Swan almost certainly drawing the heads of Bats and Superman for each other, because even when they're not doing the pencils, the headshots look identical. A common DC practice (they even overdubbed Kirby for God's sake), which is a shame, as I've love to see a Sprang Superman head. The other artists aren't bad, but they lack the distinctive stylings of Sprang and Swan, two great artists of the time period.

If you only like comics with "real" plots, you'll hate this tome, but then again, you're unlikely to read it. If you like old comics where you just sit back and enjoy the story rather than obsess over its ability to actually happen, then there's not much finer than World's Finest.

Happy Anniversary to Me!

While this particular site is not very old, today marks the 3rd anniversary of my endeavoring to review everything I read!

It's not always easy, and sometimes it takes a bit, but so far, it's been pretty much everything. Technically, I have not missed a book or comic, but not all the reviews are posted yet.

If nothing else, it's interesting to see what kind of reading trends I've had over the past few years. My manga reading, for instance, has been on a steady decline, while my diet of Marvel trades has increased, because they give libraries a discount.

Here's to several more years of reading and reviewing!