Dork Tower #29

November 24, 2004

Quick Rating: Very Good

Matt’s love life hits critical mass, and everything changes!

Writer: John Kovalic
Art: John Kovalic
Snapdragon Back-up: John Kovalic & Liz Rathke
Dr. Blink Back-up: John Kovalic & Christopher Golden
Lethargic Lad Back-up: Greg Hyland
Cover Art: John Kovalic
Publisher: Dork Storm

Everything John Kovalic has been building to over the first 28 issues of this title finally comes together. His bitter girlfriend Kayleigh has seen the artwork from Matt’s comic strip – starring a girl who just happens to look just like Gilly, the real girl of his dreams, who he doesn’t know is flying off to London to go to grad school. Matt finally drinks himself to a point where his muse appears (in the person of a foul-mouthed pixie named Jim) and spurs him to do something he should have done a long time ago. But will it be too late?

It sounds like a soap opera, but it’s more like a sitcom, right down to the race against an airplane to stop the girl of your dreams from flying away. Kovalic surprises with a nice twist to the ending, however, that nicely sets up a new status quo for a title that’s ostensibly about gamers and dorks, but is really about love and friendship when you get right down to it. This book surprises on many levels, including some surprising characterization for Kayleigh (you mean she really does care about Matt? Who knew?).

There aren’t any Dork Tower back-up strips this time, but we do get a few others. There’s a great Snapdragon two-pager about Ken taking some kids to the latest Harry Potter movie – basically an extended joke strip, but with a great punchline. There’s a three-page Dr. Blink story, although the doctor never actually shows up, it’s really about the requisite Batman knock-off denying some much-needed medical attention. Cute, but not great. Finally, there’s Greg Hyland’s Lethargic Lad, in which an arch-villain sets up a nefarious scheme. As far as superhero parodies go, this strip has never really clicked for me – it treads on material too well-worn and parodied better.

This is a real shocker of an issue, to be honest, but a very satisfying one. Kovalic says he’s got the comic plotted out to issue 50 (which, let’s face it, could take 10 years on this publishing schedule), which makes me hope these cool, clever and heartfelt stories will come at us for some time to come.

Rating: 8/10

(As it turned out, this book wasn’t long for the world. After a few more issues, Kovalic went strictly webcomic with this series. I still read the webcomic, but I miss the longer stories.)

Catwoman #25 (2002 Series)

November 23, 2003

Quick Rating: Average
Title: Fire With Fire

Catwoman and Slam Bradley stalk a killer in their part of Gotham.

Writer: Ed Brubaker
Pencils: Paul Gulacy
Inks: Jimmy Palmiotti
Colors: Clem Robins
Letters: Laurie Kronenberg
Editor: Matt Idelson
Cover Art: Paul Gulacy, Jimmy Palmiotti & Laurie Kronenberg
Publisher: DC Comics

Often when a comic company tries to give a villain his or her own title and make them a hero, the results are a disaster. Catwoman is the rare exception to this rule. It gets to the heart of her character, which Brubaker gets into very well – she’s ruthless without being heartless. She considers herself above the law, while still seeing herself as a protector of sorts for her people.

The only real strike against this issue is inaccessibility. Catwoman spends a large part of this issue concerned about a friend named Holly, without clueing the reader in about who she is or why Catwoman cares – regular readers will undoubtedly know this already, but new readers are lost. Catwoman’s supporting cast isn’t iconic enough to get away with this without some sort of recap or clues for the reader – if you did a Batman story where Alfred is in trouble, even the most tertiary comic book fan will recognize the name of the butler.

I’m very happy to see Brubaker putting the classic detective character Slam Bradley to such good use. I’m a big fan of DC’s Golden Age characters, and between this book and JSA they’re getting more and better “screen time” than they’ve gotten in years.

Gulacy is a good, solid artist, and well-suited to this book. Kronenberg’s colors also work well, the nighttime scenes are gloomy without being too dark to see, the daytime scenes fit much better here than in your average Batman family title. Although, as she says in this book herself, Catwoman doesn’t like to wear her suit in the daylight, with this art team, she wears it well.

This is a decent issue, but ultimately, it doesn’t make me want to run out and grab the next issue, and that’s a problem.

Rating: 5/10

Avengers/Thunderbolts #1

March 13, 2004

Quick Rating: Great
Title: The Cause of Justice

The Thunderbolts are making the world a better place. So why are the Avengers upset?

Writers: Kurt Busiek & Fabian Nicieza
Pencils: Barry Kitson
Inks: Gary Erskine
Colors: Brian Reber
Letters: Albert Deschesne
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Cover Art: Barry Kitson
Publisher: Marvel Comics

This book is exactly what I needed.

Not so long ago, Avengers and Thunderbolts were my two favorite Marvel comics month after month. Then Thunderbolts abandoned the characters I’d grown to care about and got cancelled in six months, and Avengers was hurt by Geoff Johns going exclusive to DC and leaving the book without a rudder. Putting the two teams together with the writers that made them great only a few years ago is a fantastic move, and it results in a fantastic first issue.

Since the first Thunderbolts series essentially ended, the team of villains-turned heroes have been wandering the world, putting down despots, capturing stockpiles of nasty weapons and generally making the world a better place. Back home, former Thunderbolts leader Hawkeye is pleased as punch, while Captain America is none too happy at the way these supposed heroes are taking matters into their own hands.

Only one thing hurts this series, and it’s something the creative team had no control over – the story, at least in this first issue, feels very similar to the recent JSA/Hawkman crossover “Black Reign.” In that story, however, the Justice Society was angered by the actions of former teammates – here the Avengers are taking a stand against former enemies, giving the book a different feel.

Busiek and Nicieza pick up right where they left off, taking a few moments to show the Thunderbolts’ new place in the world and checking in on characters that, while not with either team anymore, haven’t seen a lot of action lately such as Warbird and Mach-3. Every character is written dead-on in character, and it’s like no time has passed at all. If this issue had been published as Thunderbolts #76, guest-starring the Avengers, I never would have known the difference.

Barry Kitson is one of the best artists in comics – he makes his women look strong and beautiful at the same time while his men are rough-and-ready. He draws one of the best mainstream Captain Americas since Ron Garney, and a brief prologue sequence featuring one of Baron Zemo’s ancestors has me itching for Kitson to try his hand at a high fantasy comic. The only artistic complaint one might have is Moonstone’s costume – it’s just plain ugly. Then again, I think every costume Moonstone has ever had has been pretty ugly.

This issue tears me in half. On the one hand, I want issue two right now. On the other hand, I want it to last as long as possible. If you’ve ever been a fan of either team, get this book, and let’s all cross our fingers and hope for a new Thunderbolts series to rise from the ashes when all is said and done.

Rating: 9/10

Formerly Known as the Justice League #5

November 2, 2003

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: The Wrath of Manga Khan

Captain Atom is in critical condition as the rest of the team faces the weirdest alien invasion of all.

Writers: Keith Giffen & J.M. DeMatteis
Pencils: Kevin Maguire
Inks: Joe Rubinstein
Colors: Lee Loughridge
Letters: Bob Lappan
Editor: Stephen Wacker & Dan Raspler
Cover Art: Kevin Maguire, Joe Rubinstein & Lee Loughridge
Publisher: DC Comics

Review: This series, for five months now, has proven that sometimes you can go home again. The Giffen/DeMatteis era of the Justice League was a great ride and a welcome departure from the grim, depressing, “gritty” comics that dominated the industry at the time. This return to form has been absolutely beautiful.

Over the last few issues the “Superbuddies” were kidnapped, brainwashed and sent into the arena with each other, where Mary Marvel beat Captain Atom within an inch of his life (reminding us that, even though this series is mostly lighthearted, we’re still dealing with some extraordinarily powerful individuals and, therefore, the potential for danger is always there). As some of the team tries to get him competent medical attention, the rest take to the skies where a massive alien spacecraft has arrived with one of their oldest and funniest foes – along with an ex-teammate that I’m sure many Green Lantern readers hoped never to see again, but that frankly, I’ve kind of missed.

This is a wonderfully funny title. The dialogue between Maxwell Lord and L-Ron comes across like a comic book version of Abbott and Costello, and even watching the Blue Beetle’s frantic effort to find scientists who can help the nuclear-powered Captain Atom cracked me up.

Maguire is a woefully underrated artist, possibly because he doesn’t do the massive overly-detailed scenes or shots of women spilling out of their costumes that a lot of artists make their names with these days, but he’s a good, solid storyteller and nobody, repeat, nobody drawing comic books today is better at drawing facial expressions. You can tell more story with one glance at Maguire’s Blue Beetle faces than you can in pages of even the best dialogue.

The real downside to this title? Next issue is the last one. Thankfully, DC has already announced a sequel for next year. I’m there.

Rating: 8/10