Swamp Thing (2004 Series) #2

April 10, 2004

Quick Rating: Fair
Title: Bad Seed Part Two

Tefé finds help in strange places, while the Swamp Thing declares his separation from humanity.

Writer: Andy Diggle
Art: Enrique Breccia
Colors: Martin Breccia
Letters: Phil Balsman
Editor: Will Dennis
Cover Art: Enrique Breccia
Publisher: DC Comics/Vertigo

As Tefé’s body literally gets up and walks out of the morgue, Swamp Thing and Abby share a tender little moment where he announces his disdain for humanity.

While I do enjoy this title more than Andy Diggle’s work on Losers, I have a similarly blasé reaction to it. There doesn’t seem to be anything exciting, anything that pops and makes me want to keep reading. The elemental who hates humankind scheme has been done and done and done some more, and Tefé’s plotline is just plain confusing. I do, however, give Diggle credit for bringing back an old character that was pretty well forgotten – that’s something I’m always in favor of.

Enrique Breccia’s artwork has both its high and low points. He does a fine job with the otherworldly elements like Swamp Thing himself or the reanimated corpse of Alex Hammond. His human characters don’t work as well, though, including a few police with blank faces that look like they were peeled right out of an old John Severin Mad comic book.

This is a book that will mostly appeal to old Swamp Thing fans, and while most people will find something or other to like, the casual reader probably won’t find enough to come back month after month, not necessarily because there’s anything wrong, but because there’s a lot of other stuff out there that’s a lot better.

Rating: 6/10

Thief of Thieves #1

February 18, 2012

Title: Chapter One-The Thief and His Apprentice

Story: Robert Kirkman
Writer: Nick Spencer
Art: Shawn Martinbrough
Letters: Rus Wooton
Colors: Felix Serrano
Cover Art: Martinbrough & Serrano
Editor: Sina Grace
Publisher: Image Comics/Skybound

Meet Redmond and Celia, two expert thieves – or, at least, one expert thief and a thief in training. This issue not only introduces us, but flashes back to the day they met, and how they began their odd journey together, with Redmond teaching her how to become a master thief. But despite the allure of his lifestyle, just how satisfying a life does Redmond really lead?

I tried this first issue for several reasons. Foremost, I like the creators involved. Nick Spencer is a fantastic writer, Shawn Martinbrough a great artist, and Robert Kirkman has proven himself to be an important creator behind-the-scenes of the comic book world, trying harder than anybody else I can think of to expand the boundaries of what the medium can offer in terms of different kinds of stories, not just doing the same thing over and over again. For that, if nothing else, I’m inclined to at least sample anything he’s willing to lend his name to.

Thief of Thieves #1 isn’t bad. It’s got wonderful art, and interesting characters with a dynamic that doesn’t feel like most other comic book partnerships. The fact that these are criminals instead of heroic characters further places this book outside of the norm, and the way the two of them meet is funny and entertaining.

That said, I’m not sure I’m sold on this book’s longevity. The first issue is good, but I have trouble seeing what’s going to happen long-term. At the moment, it feels like the beginning of a miniseries (which is actually what I thought it was when I read it, until I got to Kirkman’s text piece at the end). And it could be a great miniseries. But it’s a harder sell as an ongoing, and instead of simply finishing the story, the next few issues instead will have the task of convincing me to devote three dollars a month to this title long term. Fortunately, this is a creative team good enough to do that. Hopefully, they’ll pull it off.

Rating: 7/10

Stormwatch (2011 Series) #4

December 17, 2011

Title: The Dark Side Part Four

Writer: Paul Cornell
Art: Miguel Sepulveda
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Cover Artist: Miguel Sepulveda & Alex Sinclair
Editor: Pat McCallum
Publisher: DC Comics

A monster has fallen to Earth from the moon and absorbed the Stormwatch team. On the outside, Apollo and Midnighter are left to face the creature, while the team inside struggles for freedom. Some interesting stuff in this issue. Paul Cornell begins the hinting at the future that readers already know is waiting for Apollo and Midnighter, while showing off the rather strange abilities some of the characters have. All of the heroes are used well, here, particularly Apollo and Jack Hawksmoor, whose basic premise (being the “God of Cities”) makes him a far more interesting character than I would have expected. He’s the sort of character that can be really handy to explore a universe, and with the New 52 being so relatively uncharted, there’s a lot of potential here for him to do exactly that.

I like the artwork here a lot. Miguel Sepulveda can do sci-fi action really well, and Alex Sinclair’s work on the colors is outstanding. He does a few different effects here, but doesn’t take it overboard. The last page in particular really stands out – a very nice piece of work.

I’m sorry to hear Cornell will be leaving this book after the first story arc. He’s given it a solid start. But whoever takes over, I hope they can keep it going strong.

Rating: 7/10

The Iron Age: Alpha #1

February 4, 2012

Title: The Iron Age: Alpha

Writer: Rob Williams
Art: Rebekah Isaacs
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher
Colors: Andres Mossa
Cover Art: Ariel Olivetti
Editor: Thomas Brennan
Publisher: Marvel Comics

While attending a reception for a library he helped fund, Tony Stark is abducted by a squad of robots, and not even Luke Cage and Iron Fist can save him. Spirited away, he finds himself in the clutches of an old villain he fought once, years ago, who has a new agenda. The Phantom wants to end the world, and all he’ll need to do it is Dr. Doom’s time machine and one of the most powerful threats the Marvel Universe has ever faced.

Rob Williams kicks things off with an interesting concept – a villain who uses time travel to destroy the world, and Iron Man tossed back in time with a chance to prevent it. The format is rather odd – why this was structured as a three-issue miniseries with two “Alpha” and “Omega” bookends rather than just a five-issue miniseries is beyond me. But it’s easy enough to forget about that and just get into the story. Considering what Marvel was working on when this was released last summer, one has to wonder if the reintroduction of Dark Phoenix in this time-travel story wasn’t a warm-up of sorts for Avengers Vs. X-Men. It doesn’t necessarily feel that way, at least not in this first issue, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t weighing on the minds of the creators when they put this book together.

Rebekah Isaacs and Andres Mossa are a good art team, telling the story easily enough and finding ways to visually distinguish between “present” Tony and “past” Tony. All in all, it’s a good set-up. I look forward to reading the rest.

Rating: 7/10

Somebody’s First Comic Book: Roger Rabbit #1

Wondering what Somebody’s First Comic Book is all about? The explanation is on this page!

TITLE: The Trouble With Toons & Good Neighbor Roger

CREDITS:
Writers: Kate Worley & Doug Rice
Art: Rick Hoberg, Dave Simons & Bill Langley
Editor: Len Wein
Publisher: Disney Comics

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: I know Roger Rabbit! He was framed, if my memory serves me correctly.

IMPRESSIONS: The comic seems to pick up shortly after the end of the movie. Roger Rabbit goes down to the Ink and Paint Club to find that it’s been trashed and rushes to his buddy, Detective Eddie Valiant, for help in solving the case. But Valiant has been swamped with business ever since he and Roger defeated Judge Doom (in the movie), so he sends Roger to his buddy Rick Flint. Roger and Flint set out to find the man who destroyed the club, and a new partnership is born.

This comic book felt like the first episode of a movie-spinoff TV show where the producers couldn’t get the original actors in for more than a cameo. Flint isn’t really that interesting a character – he’s a generic old-school detective who doesn’t seem to bring anything to the story that couldn’t have been served just as easily by using Eddie Valiant. I can understand how, if this had been a TV show, getting Bob Hoskins would have been rather difficult. But we’re looking at a comic book here. Why couldn’t they draw Valiant instead of coming up with a low-rent substitute?

The second story, “Good Neighbor Roger,” is much better. This one is set in Toontown, where Roger is upset to learn his new neighbor is a weasel. (Remember them from the movie? Roger, understandably, has a bit of an aversion to weasels.) Roger decides to make nice, though, and hilarity ensues. This one feels like an old-fashioned cartoon with more modern writing, and I liked it a lot on that level.

Not a bad comic book, I guess, but I’d be more interested in reading more of Roger’s Toontown adventures than the Adventures of Rabbit and Flint.

GRADE: B-

Animal Man (1988 Series) #3

February 18, 2012

Title: The Nature of the Beast

Writer: Grant Morrison
Art: Chas Truog & Doug Hazelwood
Letters: John Costanza
Colors: Tatjana Wood
Cover Art: Brian Bolland
Editor: Karen Berger
Publisher: DC Comics

The reveal which was pretty obvious from the first issue is made here – the strange man who is wreaking a horrible vendetta on S.T.A.R. Labs is the old DC hero B’wana Beast. For those unfamiliar with the man with the goofiest superhero name of all time, B’wana Beast was a white man who protected Africa with the power to merge different animals into a single organism, combining the characteristics of both, and then separate them again. It’s actually kind of a cool, unusual power when you think about it, but that doesn’t excuse his terrible fashion choice or superhero name.

Anyway, while Buddy Baker tries to recover from the rather violent way he was disarmed last issue, B’wana flashes back to the devastation he recently witnessed in Africa, the death of a friend that pushed him over the edge, and how it all led to his targeting S.T.A.R. Labs in the here and now. B’wana Beast’s story is, actually, a little pedestrian for Grant Morrison, a little too by-the-book, a little too much of what we’ve seen before. Of course, this was still an early stage in his career, and the story isn’t over yet, so I could see him putting a twist on the formula, but it doesn’t make this issue as compelling as it could be. Far more interesting is the story of Buddy’s wife and daughter, who have fun across a group of hunters in the woods and now find themselves in the midst of a brutal confrontation. All things considered, this is a fairly straightforward subplot, without the sort of wild mysticism one expects from the writer, but it’s handled here in a well-reasoned, compelling fashion.

Chas Truog, whose second issue was a marked improvement over his first, seems to be going back in the opposite direction in issue three. B’wana Beast shows off some markedly impossible anatomy throughout the issue, made all the more obvious as he’s naked save for his loincloth, boots and helmet. The scenes with Buddy’s family, which are among the best written in this issue, feature the weakest artwork, with flat poses and bizarre proportions in the faces, especially Maxine’s.

The germ of the brilliant story to come is evident, but hopefully the artwork will pick up soon.

Rating: 7/10

TransFormers: The Death of Optimus Prime #1

December 27, 2011

Title: The Death of Optimus Prime

Writer: James Roberts, John Barber
Art: Nick Roche
Letters: Shawn Lee
Colors: Josh Burcham
Cover Art: Viktor Deak
Editor: Carlos Guzman
Publisher: IDW Publishing

With the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons ostensibly over, it should be a time of peace on Cybertron. Instead, the planet is being overwhelmed with “NAILs” – Non-Aligned Indigenous Lifeforms – in other words, Cybertronians who took no side during the war. And as Bumblebee and Rodimus Prime struggle to bring peace between two factions of Autobots, Optimus himself begins to wonder just what his role is in a world without war against the likes of Megatron and Galvatron.

Despite the hyperbolic title, this is just an okay issue. James Roberts and John Barber are here basically to draw the lines between the upcoming “Schism” (to borrow an X-Men term) between the two ongoing TransFormers titles, one showing Autobots under Bumblebee’s leadership, one under Rodimus. They’re also out to explain why Optimus has been taken out of the equation, although the conclusion isn’t as simple as one might think.

The new Status Quo here is interesting enough. The writers have changed things up considerably for this franchise, placing familiar characters in a new situation that neither they nor the readers are used to. If you’re going to do a relaunch of such a classic property, this is a good way to do it, even if this issue itself is a little lackluster.

Nick Roche’s artwork helps a lot. He’s got a good feel for the robots, something that is a little more stylized than the classic cartoon, but not so far as to hit the nigh-incomprehensible “realism” we get from the Michael Bay movies. He makes the characters his own, using them to tell stories instead of sell toys.

Okay issue, but it does pique my interest for what IDW has planned next.

Rating: 7/10

Justice League Dark #2

November 6, 2011

Title: In the Dark Part Two: Dark Matter

Writer: Peter Milligan
Art: Mikel Janin
Colorist: Ulises Arreola
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Cover Artist: Ryan Sook
Editor: Rex Ogle
Publisher: DC Comics

The Enchantress is growing more unhinged, her power more unchecked, and Zatanna know she’s going to have to draw together a team to fight back. Across America, though, the likes of Constantine and Shade the Changing Man are dealing with issues of their own. The book is coming together slowly, but not in a bad way. Like a lot of team books, this first story arc feels like it’s all about bringing the group together for the first time. We see their connections here to Zatanna, we see why they may be needed, and the slow convergence is entertaining to me. The big surprise is just how big a role Dove seems to be playing in the book. Considering her relationship with Deadman, I expected her to show up once in a while, but this issue really makes it feel as though she’s going to be a regular cast member, which would be just fine by me. In addition to a good story, the artwork by Mikel Janin is nothing short of gorgeous. His ability to blend superhero characters with a book that feels like high fantasy is absolutely uncanny, and his faces are very expressive and energetic, telling the story of the characters’ emotions as neatly as the speech balloons convey their words. The “Dark” corner of the New 52 has really turned out to be one of its finest.

Rating: 8/10

Herc #10

December 11, 2011

Title: Storybook Ending

Writers: Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente
Pencils: David Hahn
Inks: Roy Richardson & Rebecca Buchman
Colorist: Jesus Aburtov & Antonio Fabela
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Cover Artist: Carlo Pagulayan
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publisher: Marvel Comics

With his father on Earth and powerless, Hercules decides to teach him a lesson in humanity – something that becomes a bit more difficult after a confrontation with the Kingpin leads them into battle with the ancient witch Baba Yaga and the assassin Elektra. Once again, I’m watching as a book I’ve really enjoyed comes to a premature end, although considering that these two writers did have a pretty substantial run with the character before this title, it’s not quite as premature as it seems. Still, the adventures of the non-powered Hercules have been really entertaining. Which makes it even sadder that this last issue is so weak. It feels rushed (and probably was) and ends in a way that ties up some of the outstanding plot threads, but doesn’t really satisfy in the way you would hope. The artwork is, sadly, even weaker. I really like David Hahn in general, and I’ve been a fan of his on many projects, so I have to wonder if this issue’s visual problems aren’t the result of weak inks. The characters aren’t often defined very well, and the expressions on their faces aren’t… well… expressive enough. The Baba Yaga house looks nice, but not spectacular, and Zeus doesn’t carry a powerful look to him at all – which, even on-powered, you’d expect to see in his frame and his attitude. As much as I’ve loved the run of these writers on Hercules ever since they took him into the fold during World War Hulk, and as sorry as I am to see their tenure with him end, this isn’t the way I wanted them to go out.

Rating: 6/10

Somebody’s First Comic Book: The Ferret #1

Wondering what Somebody’s First Comic Book is all about? The explanation is on this page!

TITLE: In the Midnight Hour

CREDITS:

Writer: R.A. Jones
Pencils: Dean Zachary
Inks: Ken Branch
Colors: Keith Conroy
Letters: Tim Eldred
Editor: Roland Mann
Cover Art: Dean Zachary, Mike Miller & Albert Calleros
Publisher: Malibu Comics

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: Not only have I never heard of this “Ferret” individual, I’m struggling to figure out exactly why this comic book is in the shape of his head.

IMPRESSIONS: The story here is actually relatively simple. We meet the Ferret, a superhero who seems to be a bit hampered because he’s a member of a group called the Protectors, and because of that the criminal element of the city knows he won’t kill them. So he has to find alternative ways to brutalize the hell out of them. Meanwhile, in a hospital somewhere, a big ugly green dude called Toxin wakes up and intends to kill the hell out of the Ferret. We encounter the Ferret in his secret identity of Cal Denton, a rock singer wearing clothes he stole from 1972. Despite this, an attractive woman called Midnight Blue (seriously) starts hitting on him after one of his shows and immediately before Toxin attacks him.

Despite the rather silly synopsis, the book isn’t too difficult to understand. I’ve really got no clue who the Ferret is or what he’s about, but as a generic superhero fighting a generic supervillain, he seems straightforward enough. None of these characters seem particularly deep, so I don’t even feel like I’m missing out by not knowing anything about who they are. Heck, the only reason I’m sure that the “Protectors” are a superhero group is because there are a few ads for their own comic scattered throughout this one.

The writing is so-so, and the art is really weak. Nobody poses in the positions these characters routinely employ, and Cal Denton looks dated as hell, even considering that this comic book was published in 1993. And I still can’t figure out why the book is cut in the shape of the Ferret’s head. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the story, it adds nothing to the reading experience, and it actually makes it a little difficult to hold the book without fear of accidentally crumpling it up. I’m starting to understand why this guy didn’t become a superstar some time in the last 18 years.

GRADE: C+