Monday, October 05, 2009
The Savage Runaways
All New Savage She-Hulk #1
For a character that's only ever shown up twice before, there's an oddly large amount of backstory here (and eight pages of interviews to talk about it!). It's sort of generic. Time travelling. Fighting some group of soldiery people who's name I forget (HAMMER? SWORD?). I liked the bits in the future with the tribe of women fighting the tribe of people that look kind of like primitive, cut-rate Wolverines. Worth a dollar, not $4 (which is the cover price).
Runaways Vol 3, #11
Noooooooooooooooo! Nooooooooooooooo! Noooooooooooooo!
I was all ready to enjoy Runaways again after the relaunch with Terry Moore writing failed to interest me at all (I read the first issue and I think that was it). This was Katheryn (Patsy Walker: Hellcat) Immonen's first issue, and it even started promisingly, the characters talked more like how I remembered, the art was good, everyone was just hanging out, which is probably what this book should be about as none of the characters want to be superheroes, but then...
But then Immonen had to kill one of my favourite characters. Hell, who am I kidding, I like all of these characters, but so many of them have died in this series already. Stop killing the characters! No! Just stop it. I hate you. I hope that character isn't dead. I guess I'll look for more issues (and I'll probably even read the stuff I missed at some point), but I really don't want more characters in this comic to die. It makes me sad.
Update! Since originally writing this I've read the first trade of Terry Moore's run (bizarrely only including six of his nine issues), which wasn't very good, and heard about/seen some of the final issue of the current run (#14).
The art looks not very good, the colouring is less than awesome (apparently coloured on a laptop at cons), and these combine to create some of the least Asian Nico panels I've seen. Plus the story just stops, it doesn't end. It's just the end of the comic. It seems as though Marvel just cancelled the series before this writer's story could end. Though admittedly this was solicited as a four part story.
Oh well, maybe next time.
For a character that's only ever shown up twice before, there's an oddly large amount of backstory here (and eight pages of interviews to talk about it!). It's sort of generic. Time travelling. Fighting some group of soldiery people who's name I forget (HAMMER? SWORD?). I liked the bits in the future with the tribe of women fighting the tribe of people that look kind of like primitive, cut-rate Wolverines. Worth a dollar, not $4 (which is the cover price).
Runaways Vol 3, #11
Noooooooooooooooo! Nooooooooooooooo! Noooooooooooooo!
I was all ready to enjoy Runaways again after the relaunch with Terry Moore writing failed to interest me at all (I read the first issue and I think that was it). This was Katheryn (Patsy Walker: Hellcat) Immonen's first issue, and it even started promisingly, the characters talked more like how I remembered, the art was good, everyone was just hanging out, which is probably what this book should be about as none of the characters want to be superheroes, but then...
But then Immonen had to kill one of my favourite characters. Hell, who am I kidding, I like all of these characters, but so many of them have died in this series already. Stop killing the characters! No! Just stop it. I hate you. I hope that character isn't dead. I guess I'll look for more issues (and I'll probably even read the stuff I missed at some point), but I really don't want more characters in this comic to die. It makes me sad.
Update! Since originally writing this I've read the first trade of Terry Moore's run (bizarrely only including six of his nine issues), which wasn't very good, and heard about/seen some of the final issue of the current run (#14).
The art looks not very good, the colouring is less than awesome (apparently coloured on a laptop at cons), and these combine to create some of the least Asian Nico panels I've seen. Plus the story just stops, it doesn't end. It's just the end of the comic. It seems as though Marvel just cancelled the series before this writer's story could end. Though admittedly this was solicited as a four part story.
Oh well, maybe next time.
Labels: comics, Marvel, One dollar theatre
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Pirates and space girls
The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury #295
I liked the idea of this, that there have been hundreds of adventures already, so you don't need an origin story. Yes, fantastic.
And the art is pretty good too. However this felt weirdly light. The first half of the story featured things being stolen and space battles and stuff. But then the second half was just talking heads trying to solve a puzzle. I did get a good idea of who Miranda Mercury is, and I am curious about the other issues in this series, but...
El Cazador Collected Edition #1
I was really hoping for the pirate equivalent of Way of the Rat, the martial arts comic written by the same person (Chuck Dixon) and published by the same company (CrossGen) at the same time (2002-03), but, sadly, I did not get it. This is the first three issues of the series (that only lasted six and a special) and it's sloooooow. So many characters and I sort of felt the pirate character who was killed early on had his character developed through his three lines of dialogue than the supposed main characters. Still, it's not like I can think of a better pirate comic produced recently. Oh wait! Scurvy Dogs!
I liked the idea of this, that there have been hundreds of adventures already, so you don't need an origin story. Yes, fantastic.
And the art is pretty good too. However this felt weirdly light. The first half of the story featured things being stolen and space battles and stuff. But then the second half was just talking heads trying to solve a puzzle. I did get a good idea of who Miranda Mercury is, and I am curious about the other issues in this series, but...
El Cazador Collected Edition #1
I was really hoping for the pirate equivalent of Way of the Rat, the martial arts comic written by the same person (Chuck Dixon) and published by the same company (CrossGen) at the same time (2002-03), but, sadly, I did not get it. This is the first three issues of the series (that only lasted six and a special) and it's sloooooow. So many characters and I sort of felt the pirate character who was killed early on had his character developed through his three lines of dialogue than the supposed main characters. Still, it's not like I can think of a better pirate comic produced recently. Oh wait! Scurvy Dogs!
Labels: comics, One dollar theatre
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Sweet Tooth
Hey! It's a new comic that's actually supposed to cost a dollar! Awesome. I've bought and read all the $1 first issues Vertigo has put out this year (The Unwritten, Greek Street, and this one) and haven't really been that impressed by any of them. I thought Greek Street was pretty terrible to be honest.
Sweet Tooth was the one I was looking forward to the most. Post apocalyptic! I love that! Fantastic. However, the series doesn't really give me any reason to keep reading after this issue. Even if every issue was a dollar.
The art is good, and its got Jose Villarrubia colouring it, so that's good too. I do take issue with the way the first three pages are laid out though. I don't really understand why you would spent the first three pages carefully drawing each panel so that you can't see that Gus has antlers until the page four splash, when the fucking cover shows you. It doesn't make any sense to me, it's not dramatic or shocking because you already know.
But yeah, the story just does nothing for me. The main character is Gus, who's a weird mutant kid with antlers living in the woods with his dad. He's never met anyone other than his dad in his entire life, as weird mutant kids were killed by people for...whatever reason. Fear. Money. Something.
Anyway, Gus' dad dies, and seemingly almost immediately afterwards some hunters come after him. Some other dude shows up, end of issue one. Um, what? How is this an ongoing series? What's the plot? Oh wait, look in the text pieces included in the issue it tells us what the series is actually about. Gus is going to try to get to "the preserve," a place where mutant kids like him can live in peace. But why don't you include that in the actual issue? The pacing of this just way too slow.
The other major problem I have with this series is nothing against the book itself, but rather just an indication that Jeff Lemire is not someone who produces comics I'd be that interested in. In the text piece he says "My books tend to focus on small-town life, and small-town folks." Now, while that isn't necessarily a deal breaker for me, it does make me less interested. Lemire's portayal of Gus really hammers this home. He talks like a "hick" and was apparently raised by his god fearing father to be a boring god fearing mutant kid. That is like the thing I least want to read about.
So yeah, ultimately Lemire doesn't seem to be a creator I'm that interested in. And at least I found out by spending a dollar, instead of $20.
However, one neat thing is that if you go to Lemire's blog he gives details on how you can get a free sketch from him! Just send him a copy of the issue, plus shipping costs, and he'll send you the comic back signed, and he'll include an original sketch. Nice!
After the end of the comic there's a preview of the Fables novel. Fables is a series that I don't find to ever be super amazing (maybe one volume somewhere along the line, I remember liking some of the older stuff more than the last few I've read), but is at least generally enjoyable. I'd say this preview is pretty much the same. It doesn't blow me away, but if I saw a copy in the library I'd probably pick it up and read it.
Labels: comics, One dollar theatre, Vertigo
Monday, August 17, 2009
Age of the Sentry/Freedom Collective
Age of the Sentry
That the comics put out by Marvel in the '60s were incredibly influential is pretty obvious, not just for the fact that they're still in print, that the characters are still around, that people still talk about the character, but also because people are still parodying/homaging the style.
First off the covers of both these comics: words words words. They are covered in words. And things happening. And "Approved by the Cosmic/Kremlin Code Authority" boxes in the corner. I was amused.
Anyway anyway. The Sentry. I heard the character sucked. I heard his first miniseries and this one were good. I didn't know. I don't read New Avengers (well, I read an issue in Malaysia once). This was a dollar, so I bought it.
The first page kind of just confuses me as to its existence. It's a kid asking his dad to tell him a story about the Sentry. In comic book style. It's drawn/coloured much more modernly than the rest of the comic, and I don't really get the point.
Then there's the first story. Written by Jeff Parker, who I usually like and I should really read the Interman some day, and drawn by Nick Dragotta, who did some X-Statix stuff? I think. The story is ridiculous, but it's supposed to be. The Sentry works for an encyclopedia company? Whatever.
It's the Sentry's origin story, and I have no idea if this meshes with his previous one (does he even have a previous one?) and there's a big pink monster thing, and a guy with three brains, and it's cute and all, but I sort of feel it's trying too hard. What I really enjoy is that the colourist, Val Staples, has made the colouring intentionally shitty. Like the various colours don't quite match the lines on every page. It's good. I like that.
The second story is by Paul Tobin, who has written something I've read I'm sure... Oh, he wrote Banana Sunday! That was excellent. Go read that instead of either this comic or this blog. His story does have beatnik Mad Thinker though, which is fun.
The Freedom Collective
The Freedom Collective is the idea of what comics the Soviet Union would have produced if Stan Lee and Jack Kirby lived there. It doesn't quite live up to it's potential. At least part of that due to the fact that it's in black and white, and as much as I love the Essentials Marvel puts out, a project like this would have benefited from colour. Especially at $5.95 Canadian (while the US price is only $3.95). What the fuck Rough Cut Comics? Have you ever looked at a currency converter? They are _free_ on the _internet_. That price should be about $4.50 or whatever. Thankfully I only paid a buck. Still.
Soviet pop culture is something I'm interested in, and if I had continued studying Russia/Russian I probably would have ended up writing essays on Soviet spy movies and comic books (I just met someone who said their friend had written a thesis on Russian comics, I should find out about that). And while this works to some extent, it's still written by westerners, and is still sort of poking fun at the Soviets. I'm curious as to how much research they actually did for it.
That the comics put out by Marvel in the '60s were incredibly influential is pretty obvious, not just for the fact that they're still in print, that the characters are still around, that people still talk about the character, but also because people are still parodying/homaging the style.
First off the covers of both these comics: words words words. They are covered in words. And things happening. And "Approved by the Cosmic/Kremlin Code Authority" boxes in the corner. I was amused.
Anyway anyway. The Sentry. I heard the character sucked. I heard his first miniseries and this one were good. I didn't know. I don't read New Avengers (well, I read an issue in Malaysia once). This was a dollar, so I bought it.
The first page kind of just confuses me as to its existence. It's a kid asking his dad to tell him a story about the Sentry. In comic book style. It's drawn/coloured much more modernly than the rest of the comic, and I don't really get the point.
Then there's the first story. Written by Jeff Parker, who I usually like and I should really read the Interman some day, and drawn by Nick Dragotta, who did some X-Statix stuff? I think. The story is ridiculous, but it's supposed to be. The Sentry works for an encyclopedia company? Whatever.
It's the Sentry's origin story, and I have no idea if this meshes with his previous one (does he even have a previous one?) and there's a big pink monster thing, and a guy with three brains, and it's cute and all, but I sort of feel it's trying too hard. What I really enjoy is that the colourist, Val Staples, has made the colouring intentionally shitty. Like the various colours don't quite match the lines on every page. It's good. I like that.
The second story is by Paul Tobin, who has written something I've read I'm sure... Oh, he wrote Banana Sunday! That was excellent. Go read that instead of either this comic or this blog. His story does have beatnik Mad Thinker though, which is fun.
The Freedom Collective
The Freedom Collective is the idea of what comics the Soviet Union would have produced if Stan Lee and Jack Kirby lived there. It doesn't quite live up to it's potential. At least part of that due to the fact that it's in black and white, and as much as I love the Essentials Marvel puts out, a project like this would have benefited from colour. Especially at $5.95 Canadian (while the US price is only $3.95). What the fuck Rough Cut Comics? Have you ever looked at a currency converter? They are _free_ on the _internet_. That price should be about $4.50 or whatever. Thankfully I only paid a buck. Still.
Soviet pop culture is something I'm interested in, and if I had continued studying Russia/Russian I probably would have ended up writing essays on Soviet spy movies and comic books (I just met someone who said their friend had written a thesis on Russian comics, I should find out about that). And while this works to some extent, it's still written by westerners, and is still sort of poking fun at the Soviets. I'm curious as to how much research they actually did for it.
Labels: comics, Marvel, One dollar theatre
