Archie #390

June 13, 2006

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Once Upon a Prime Time Dreary and other stories

Archie is on the air!

Writers: Hal Smith, Frank Doyle, Bill Golliher
Pencils: Stan Goldberg
Inks: Mike Esposito
Colors: Barry Grossman
Letters: Bill Yoshida
Editor: Victor Gorelick
Cover Art: Dan DeCarlo
Publisher: Archie Comics

As a long-time Archie fan, I’m going to try to work in the occasional Archie review at this site. I chose this issue for a specific reason – and I’ll get to that in a bit. Like most Archie comics, this issue is a collection of short stories, and we’ll take those one at a time.

First is “Once Upon a Prime Time Dreary” by Smith and Goldberg. Archie has a part-time job as a janitor at the public access TV station, but when a storm keeps the on-air talent away, Archie is forced to do an impromptu one-man telethon to keep the station on the air. This is a classic-style story, featuring the inimitable Archie Andrews bad luck.

“Stop the Presses,” by Doyle and Goldberg, introduces the gang to “Scoop” Scanlon, an eager freshman trying to make a name for himself on the school paper, and messing up things for the gang in the process. Scoop is one of those thousands of characters to cross the path of Archie’s gang once and never again – a nice story, but not a particularly memorable one.

Next is the real reason I decided to feature this comic, Bill Golliher and Stan Goldberg’s “Fed Up with Archie.” The Archies get lost and run out of gas on the way home from a gig, and as usual, it’s all poor Archie’s fault. He boldly strikes out to find the gang some food and fuel to get them all home. What’s Archie’s salvation” A Burger King. I’ve seen a lot of stories lately about Marvel and DC working in more product placement in their comics – a character wearing a Nike t-shirt or driving a specific make of Dodge car. But this issue the product placement is actually a plot point. Not only do they use a brand-name restaurant rather than a generic “Burger Doodle,” but the restaurant is clearly drawn to match the model of the real eateries and the BK logo (circa 1991, at least) is prominently displayed for the rest of the story. Were it not for the four-page length, one could almost mistake this story for the ad comics the characters starred in for the likes of Capri Sun or (going back to the classics) Hostess Twinkies. As an Archie story, it’s just fine. As a curiosity, it’s better.

We also have a one-page “Aunt Hilda and Aunt Zelda” gag and one last comic – Smith and Goldberg’s “The Fight with the Bumblebees,” in which Archie and Jughead accidentally knock a beehive into Mr. Weatherbee’s office and have to find a way to clear them out before they wind up in detention. This goes into seriously zany territory, and it’s entertaining for that purpose if nothing else.

This is your typical issue of Archie, when you get right down to it, but the major ad placed in the middle of the issue got my attention and made me want to share.

Rating: 6/10

Tron #1

May 1, 2006

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Ghost in the Machine Part One

Return to the world of Tron!

Writers: Landry Walker & Eric Jones
Art: Louie De Martinis
Cover Art: Louie De Martinis
Publisher: Slave Labor Graphics

The classic Disney film Tron is one of the favorites of my youth, and when word came out that this was one of four Disney properties that had been picked up by Slave Labor Graphics, I was ecstatic. This was always a property I thought was ripe for comic book translation, and with the advances made in artwork over the last two decades, it could finally look as good as the movie. The results, unfortunately, are a little mixed.

The comic book picks up both from the film and the Tron 2.0 video game, which came out just a few years ago and advanced the story of the film by making Alan and Lora Bradley’s son, Jet, the newest cyberwarrior the way their friend Kevin Flynn was in the original film. I never played the game but the comic, fortunately, gives us a detailed “Previously” page that outlines the story of both the movie and the video game to get us up to speed. From there we pick up Jet’s story as, back in the real world, he tells his father how his experiences in the computer world have begun to wear him down.

The big problem with the comic, from a storytelling standpoint, is that the writers aren’t good enough at establishing a timeline. It’s hard to tell if some segments are in flashback or not, and in fact, I’m not 100 percent certain that the ending of the issue didn’t happen before the “beginning,” so to speak. I’m interested in Jet and I’m eager to see how the 20 years of rapid computer evolution has affected the cyber-world, but the writers have to give us a more cohesive story.

Louie De Martinis’s artwork is another mixed bag. His scenes in the computer world are quite good – stark but colorful at the same time, much as the original film was. His sequences in the “real” world, though, don’t work as well. He throws in more harsh details on people’s faces, but other than that there’s almost not enough of a shift in style from the computer world. Without the contrast between real world and computer world, the story doesn’t work as well.

Still, there’s a lot to like here, not the least of which is a great cliffhanger that raises some very interesting questions about the nature of the laser device that sends our heroes into the computer. It’s something that will have to be addressed.

The comic has actually got me excited to go back and watch the movie all over again, which is a point in its favor. I just hope it gets stronger as the story continues.

Rating: 7/10

Ultimate Spider-Man #53

February 9, 2004

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Daughters

Peter seeks the missing Mary Jane, and the mystery of the Black Cat deepens.

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Mark Bagley
Inker: Art Thibert
Colors: J.D. Smith
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Cover Art: Mark Bagley
Publisher: Marvel Comics

After opening this issue with one of his fabled fake-outs, Brian Michael Bendis sends Peter out into the streets to search for Mary Jane Watson, who went missing at the end of last issue. Later, we get a wrap-up of the Black Cat storyline (at least for now) as we learn who she really is and why she has declared a one-woman war on the Kingpin.

Although Bendis really is a great writer, he does at times have a tendency to stretch action scenes too long or to squeeze character-building scenes across an entire issue. In this issue he’s finally struck a perfect balance between the two, showing the depth of emotion between our two young stars, making us feel for them and making them seem real. He manages to work a little action into the first half of the issue and a little emotion into the second half, and that teeter-totter finally finds its point of equilibrium.

Mark Bagley is – and I’m just going to come out and say it – the most consistent artist in comic books. There may be people with a better style than him, but there is nobody in the business that can deliver the quality of artwork he does in the quantity that he does. In a day when most artists can’t handle one monthly title without taking four months off a year, Bagley can handle a twice-monthly comic book, a story arc for The Pulse and various other covers, pin-ups and fill-ins without ever missing a step. The same can be said for Bendis, writing several high-quality comics at a time, but that trait is much rarer in an artist and I don’t think Bagley gets enough credit.

As this is the last issue of the story arc, it wouldn’t be a good place for a new reader to jump on… but is that really a problem? Judging by the sales figures, everyone in America who reads comic books is already reading this title. A lot of books can coast with poor art or writing just by being part of a popular franchise and still hit the top of the sales chart. This is probably a book that could go that route. Fortunately, as long as Bendis and Bagley are on board, it will almost certainly never have to.

Rating: 8/10

Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files 2003

October 27, 2003

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: “A Day After” and “Who Was Donna Troy?”

The writers of the regular Teen Titans and Outsiders ongoing series fill in the blanks from the end of Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day.

Writers: Judd Winick, Geoff Johns & Phil Jimenez
Pencils: Ivan Reis, Carlo Barberi & Phil Jimenez (Plus several others in the profile pages)
Inks: Marc Campos, Norm Rapmund & Andy Lanning (Ditto)
Colors: Sno Cone & Tom McCraw
Letters: Nick J. Napolitano & Comicraft
Editors: Eddie Berganza & Ivan Cohen
Cover Art: Tom Raney, Scott Hanna, Mike McKone & Lary Stucker
Publisher: DC Comics

With DC’s Secret Files series, the stories are almost always sort of superfluous, “fill-in-the-blank” tales that may shed a little light on the regular series, but are almost never necessary to understand the story. The challenge then, for the writers, is to tell stories that are still entertaining in that context. Winick and Johns tag-team to tell what happened in the fallout of Graduation Day, leading up to the regular Teen Titans and Outsiders series they have made into bestsellers. Most of the main characters get a page or two to show how they’re handling the events that tore apart their previous teams, and fans of either series get to peek into their favorites.

The real gem in this book, however, is Jimenez’s short story focusing on the funeral of Donna Troy. This is mostly a showcase for Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl, but Green Lantern, Starfire and Superman each have a moment to share their grief, and there is a wonderful scene with Batman that fits nicely into current events in the JLA title.

The profile pages, as usual, are good to help people brush up on the characters they may be less familiar with, and it’s nice to see different artists’ interpretations of the characters. It’s interesting to note that both Winick and Johns contribute artwork to the profile pages, with Winick breaking slightly from his usual, cartoony Barry Ween style for the Grace page and Johns doing an impressive piece with Kid Flash.

This book is indispensable for people who read either or both of the regular series. For others, it probably won’t resonate with you.

Rating: 7/10