Uncle Scrooge #329

May 2, 2004

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: The Dream of a Lifetime (and other stories)

When the Beagle Boys invade Scrooge’s dreams, will Donald Duck be able to save his fortune?

Writers: Don Rosa, Lars Jensen, Chris Spencer, Per Hedman, Kari Karhonen & Paul Halas
Art: Don Rosa, Manrique, Marsal & Vicar
Colors: Scott Rockwell, Russ Miller, Barry Grossman, Terry Letterman & Janice Miller
Letters: Todd Klein, Susie Lee, Willie Schubert, John Clark & Jon Babcock
Editor: Arnold T. Blumberg
Cover Art: Daniel Branca
Publisher: Gemstone Publishing

This issue of Uncle Scrooge, like all the Walt Disney comics published by Gemstone, features several short stories. Headlining this issue is the fantastic two-part “Dream of a Lifetime” by Don Rosa. The nefarious Beagle Boys have stolen a machine from Gyro Gearloose that allows them to invade Scrooge McDuck’s dreams as he sleeps in an effort to plumb the combination to his vault. Gyro and Scrooge’s nephews arrive too late to stop them, and since the connection can’t be broken from the outside, their only hope is to send Donald Duck into the dream after them. The result is a hysterical romp through all the various eras of Scrooge’s life. For the first time, Donald gets to see his uncle as he was from the beginning, and for fans of Rosa’s brilliant “The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck” (which was itself culled from decades of stories by Carl Barks, who created the character), it’s a chance to revisit many of those scenarios with a twist, even going so far as to allow Donald to meet his own mother as a baby.

The story isn’t short on action either – there’s plenty of combat in the dreamscape across in a half-dozen settings, from the Australian outback to the streets of Glascow to the deck of the Titanic. Even the action gets comedy fed into it, though, as Donald’s nephews try to subconsciously supply him with weapons by feeding suggestions to the sleeping Scrooge that don’t always go the right way. The art is the same sort of dazzling, detailed work that we’ve come to expect from Rosa. If he had spent his career drawing superheroes instead of ducks, he’d be a comic book superstar. The story ends with the sort of heartwarming capper that proves why Rosa is the best creator to tackle the ducks since Barks himself.

As usual, with this title, the other stories have varying degrees of quality. Jensen, Spencer and Manrique present Gyro Gearloose in “Call of the Wildlife,” in which he invents a whistle that can call any animal, not just dogs. Hedman and Manrique’s “How to Induce a Miser” is a cute story about Daisy Duck inviting Scrooge to dinner to coax a loan out of him, but the meal is a disaster as her broken-down house keeps thwarting her. Halas and Vicar contribute the best back-up tale, “Considerably Richer,” in which Scrooge is horrified to learn he is no longer the richest duck in the world and sets out to confront the new titleholder. Finally, Karhonen and Marsal’s “Bossing the Boss” probably doesn’t work as much as the rest of the book. When Donald complains to Grandma Duck about how hard a slave driver Scrooge is, she tricks him into doing some farm work to convince him to lighten up. This story doesn’t really jive with the original Barks interpretation of the character – one of Scrooge’s defining traits is that he’s not some pampered millionaire, he’s a duck who has worked hard for every dime he has, and it’s hard to imagine he would find chopping firewood or painting a fence as daunting as he does in this tale, even with Grandma going harder on him just to prove a point.

All of the stories in this volume have fine artwork, though, with much of it being clear and brightly-colored enough to have leapt from te frames of a cartoon. This is the sort of comic book that parents can read with their kids and not be bored or feel patronized to. Funny, exciting stories like “Dream of a Lifetime” make this a great title month after month, and the best value for a comic fan who wants to share their hobby with their kids.

Rating: 8/10

PVP (2003 Series) #5

January 4, 2004

Quick Rating: Great

The PVP gang is brought to the brink of doom when they encounter Max Powers, the world’s most passive-aggressive villain!

Writer/Artist: Scott Kurtz
Cover Art: Scott Kurtz
Publisher: Image Comics

Cole Richards, publisher of PVP Magazine, is distraught when his old college nemesis Max Power comes for a visit. Max was always the sort of guy who was so smarmy and annoying that you wanted to kill him, but so charming that you couldn’t raise a finger without looking like a jerk yourself – and Max hasn’t changed. After first ridiculing and belittling Cole’s dreams of running his own video game magazine, Max moves into the building and starts a competing magazine of his own. That’s the last straw for our heroes, and a battle for the ages ensues! (“Battle for the ages” is defined by the amount of flaming dog poop, bees and superglue employed.)

This is the perfect issue to illustrate why people who love the PVP comic strip should be reading the comic book as well. While the Max Powers story did appear online, it was in a different form – Kurtz has added new strips, redrawn some that were on his website and put the whole thing together under a spiffy cover. For the collector, this is the only way to get PVP in a permanent edition.

For those who don’t read the online strip and want to know what all the fuss is about, this is a good issue to come in. PVP isn’t a continuity-heavy title, new readers can pick up the roles and dynamics of the characters fairly easily, plus the introduction of who has become one of the major nemesis of the online series makes this a good point to jump on.

Kurtz often makes self-deprecating jokes about his own art style, but in fact, PVP couldn’t be drawn any other way — the clean, simple style is perfect for a comic like this. It can’t be too sharp or realistic (as a pin-up by Richard Domingez displays in this issue), or it loses some of what makes it so great. I only wish it were in color.

Plus, PVP is just flat-out funny. It works on many levels – as a parody of video games, movies and comic books, as a self-referential “geek’ comic book like Dork Tower, and as an “office” comedy. Occasionally, with the interaction between Brent Sienna and Jade Fontaine, there’s even a dash of a love story, although not so much in this issue.

In addition to the hysterical Max Powers story, we also have a few bonus strips, including the online comics poking fun at The Matrix (Skull’s Matrix Joke crippled me with laughter – not at the deliberately awful joke, but at his earnest delivery and Brent’s disdain for it), and Liberty Meadows fans will be happy to know that there are a few strips with guest-art by Frank Cho in this issue as well (in Brent’s dream sequence).

This is a funny, funny comic book, and if you aren’t reading it, you’ve got to try it out.

Rating: 8/10

TransFormers/G.I. Joe (2003 Series) #2

October 25, 2003

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Transformed

An alliance of heroes is formed while an alliance of villains is strained.

Writer: John Ney Rieber
Pencils: Jae Lee
Inks: Jae Lee
Colors: June Chung
Letters: Benjamin Lee
Editor: Roger Lee
Cover Art: Jae Lee
Publisher: Dreamwave

First, the basic premise for those who came in late: Rieber’s take on the Joes and TransFormers is an “Elseworlds” viewpoint, set during World War II. When the terrorist nation of Cobra enters the war, allied with powerful robots from the stars, the Decepticons, America’s greatest mission force is assembled to combat the threat. In this issue, the Joes find more of the giant alien robots, but this group, dubbing themselves Autobots, claims to be on their side. As the Autobots and the Joe team form an uneasy alliance, the Joe named Snake Eyes is forced into bitter combat with his arch enemy, the Cobra warrior named Storm Shadow.

The initial draw for this series, for many people, was the chance to see Jae Lee reimagining these two classic properties in a World War II context. Joe. Cobra. Autobots, Decepticons… Lee has found new designs for these characters that all fit in perfect with the 1940s time frame, yet are still respective of the classic looks that the readership has grown up with. If anything about this issue can be said to be a disappointment, it’s that we don’t’ really get a good look at the new designs for the Autobots, with the robots spending most of their time in the shadows. We get our best look at Grimlock, the Dinobot reimagined as a tank, which is quite clever and appropriate. One can only hope for a “big reveal” moment for the new forms of Optimus Prime and the others in the next issue.

Speaking of Grimlock, Rieber has nailed the character perfectly, writing a far truer version of him than we’re presently seeing in the regular TransFormers: Generation One comic book. (Or am I the only one who thinks that Grimlock is being written a bit too intelligently these days?) Rieber writes this title like he’s having the time of his life, taking the pieces of the characters we all know, blending them with the proper set pieces and historical pieces for the setting he has chosen, and putting them all together.

It was odd, however, that he chose to give Snake Eyes a running interior monologue. Throughout nearly every incarnation of G.I. Joe, Snake Eyes has been utterly silent – no words, no thoughts, no captions. His characterization has always been handled through his actions and through the respect afforded him by friend and enemy alike. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it was surprising and unsettling to read it. Of course, Snake Eyes gives us a great cliffhanger, so it’s a bit easier to forgive.

Rating: 8/10

Hawkeye (2003 Series) #3

December 20, 2003

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Rat-a-tat-tat (The High, Hard Shaft Part Three)

Hawkeye continues to unravel the mystery around the stripper named Peppermint.

Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Art: Stefano Raffaele
Colors: Ben Dimagmaliw
Letters: Dave Sharpe
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Cover Art: Leonardo Manco
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Nicieza has been writing about Hawkeye for quite some time now, thanks to his stint on the late, lamented Thunderbolts, and three issues into the regular series he continues to prove that he’s got a good handle on the character. Clint Barton (sans costume in this story arc) has been on a hunt – both for clues and crooks – to find out why a group of tattooed tough guys have been causing trouble for a woman named Peppermint. Although known mostly for being the cocky member of the Avengers, Nicieza uses this arc to remind us that Hawkeye has a head on his shoulders too. He may not be the world’s greatest detective, but he’s been in this game long enough to know where to look, what questions to ask, and how to find out what he wants to know.

The mystery itself really isn’t that interesting – we’ve seen plenty of “women in trouble” and “disgruntled Vietnam vets” stories before now and this story isn’t taking any particularly original angle on that as of yet (I’m pretty sure I’ve even seen the bit about the tattoos somewhere before). But chances are that you’re reading this book out of love for the character, and Nicieza treats him right. He is at turns tough, smart, charming and even frequently cocky, but never unlikable. He’s out to do the right thing and help people, but he’s not above having a little fun along the way.

Raffaele’s artwork is another story. It doesn’t seem to suit the book or the character. He’s got a grittier style similar to Michael Lark’s work on Gotham Central, which is a perfect marriage for that title – it can be dark and grim and the art needs to reflect that. Hawkeye, on the other hand, isn’t a dark or grim character. He’s not a goody two shoes or a boy scout, but he’s not some brooding loner either. He’s a guy that you could shoot some pool with, get into a fight, get your clock cleaned and still want to buy him a beer. A “fight scene” in an elevator this issue illustrates that perfectly – we get to see Clint reveling in his abilities and an opportunity to show them off. This book would work better with a more traditional art style.

It’s hard to call this a superhero comic, at least at this point. It’s more like an action movie, especially with the total absence, thus far, of Hawkeye’s working clothes. If they didn’t put a big portrait of him in uniform on every cover, you could give this to any non-comic reader who happens to like Chuck Norris movies and get him hooked before he knew he was reading about a guy who puts on tights sometimes. Most likely, this book isn’t selling to much more than core fans of the character, but it’s a solid action series, and so far, it’s a lot of fun.

Rating: 7/10

Detective Comics #788

November 2, 2003

Quick Rating: Average
Title: The Randori Stone Part One & The Dogcatcher Part Four

A convicted murderer gets juiced up with superpowers and begins cutting a path of destruction through Gotham City.

Writers: Paul Bolles & Rick Spears
Pencils: Mike Lilly & Rob G.
Inks: Sean Parsons, Dan Davis & Rob G.
Colors: Jason Wright & Guy Major
Letters: Clem Robins & Janice Chiang
Editor: Bob Schreck & Matt Idelson
Cover Art: Tim Sale & Mark Chiarello
Publisher: DC Comics

This title has felt essentially rudderless ever since Ed Brubaker stepped down from the writing chores, and this two-part storyline screams “fill-in” to me. It’s an average Batman story that does not appear as though it will carry any real changes or consequences to the Batman family. A man, jailed for the murder of his wife, somehow gets incredible strength and invulnerability but goes into a rage, tearing a swath through Gotham on his way to exact revenge from the people who put him behind bars. It’s almost like watching Batman fight the Hulk, only without the attention a crossover would get.

It’s an okay story, but it’s nothing really special or original, and it really feels like the title is just marking time until a regular writer can come aboard. On the other hand, Bolles writes a good interpretation of Batman, far more in-character then the one that Brian Azzarello presented us a few weeks ago.

Spear’s “Dogcatcher” backup story, which ends in this issue, is another matter. It’s been pretty amusing – a dogcatcher finds a dog he suspects belongs to the Joker, and is forced to put it to sleep, even while terrified that the crazed clown will bring down his wrath upon him. This short tale came to a very satisfying conclusion, although I didn’t care for Rob G.’s interpretation of the Joker – he looked even more cartoony, somehow, then the version we’ve seen in the animated series.

Rating: 5/10